Kotori who now had a new idea of how her flute skill worked had also realized something.
She was incredibly gated by her mana.
Although her mana stat had nearly doubled after the encounter with the lizard it was still quite low. Although she had no frame of reference to evaluate her mana she was quite sure it couldn't be very high. She had checked the mana stats of the boss and Amelie and although her's was nearly double theirs they rarely used mana in the first place.
It was akin to using a warrior's mana pool in a JRPG and comparing it to a Mage. Of course, her mana stat was higher relative to theirs but in comparison to other mana users, Kotori didn't feel like she was much better.
The village didn't have any Mages though, So Kotori didn't know if she was correct in that assumption.
She tried to increase her mana stat by using her mana pool to its limits and although it did increase by one the mental strain left her tired three days.
It seems the limit of her innate mana pool had been just about reached.
This left her in a conundrum. Kotori was a very healthy child and it seemed that her status hadn't grown much at all in these past two years. Although she had killed monsters with Mari and others she had essentially wasted two years.
She thought she could feel herself getting EXP from last hitting monsters but since it wasn't a stat that was shown by "status" she didn't know how much she had.
For one, Kotori knew that the concept of "levels" didn't even exist in this world. The only thing that she knew gave large increases in stats was when Shu killed the lizard and evolved from a [Minor Earth Spirit] to a normal [Earth Spirit].
[This really is a troublesome system]
Kotori felt like she had to constantly test this world to learn anything about it.
So now Kotori with her free time spent much of her time roaming the forest.
She felt like a wild child, spending much of her free time playing in the forest. Making forts and hanging out with Shu. It was childish but it wasn't like she had anything to do.
Until one day.
Kotori had gone to the spot where she would often practice try and stretch her mana
There was a small pond here which she often used to wipe the sweat from her face after exerting herself.
This time she noticed a curious phenomenon. There was a splashing sound. Kotori stayed on guard. It wouldn't be unusual if animals came here to drink but if it was something dangerous Kotori would have to be ready to fight back.
That was what Kotori thought until she realized that there wasn't anything near the pond. INfast the splashing seemed to come from the pond itself.
[That's odd?] She thought
There wasn't anything that could be causing the water's surface to be splashing and yet something was agitating the surface enough to cause it to splash.
She walked closer to the water's edge to see what could be causing the splashing was and was immediately blasted with a gallon of cold pond water.
"Pftftft" She sputtered in surprise.
The cold water had caught her off guard. She braced herself expecting another attack but all she could hear was a gurgly "Kukukuku" sound like something was laughing.
She looked around to find the source of the sound and all she could hear was the sound coming from the pond
Kotori thought she was going crazy
[A pond is laughing at me] she thought
It seemed that Shu had noticed it as well so Kotori wasn't mistaken at all
She felt shot with a sense of playfulness.
It felt familiar. Almost like the first time she met Shu.
[Wait, is it a spirit?]
As if almost on cue a small shape jumped out of the pond and dived back in, Splashing Kotori and Shu.
[Once again she was blasted with another wave of playfulness]
This time she looked at the pool and saw an otter-like creature lazing upon the surface. Its body was shimmery and made of water which made it hard to track
Kotori was now sure that she was dealing with a spirit. Still, it confused her as to why there was a spirit here of all places. This wasn't a spot where mana could coalesce.
[Unless?]
Kotori had realized something. She had often used this spot to try and raise her mana pool. In doing this she would just use all of her mana pool on mana buffing.
[Does that have something to do with it?]
Kotori knew that fundamentally dungeons monsters and spirits were the same things. They were creatures created out of high mana density. What didn't make sense was that dungeons monsters would dissipate while spirits were much more permanent.
It seemed that Kotori had accidentally created spirit. All of the mana she put into the surrounding land was enough to birth this one little spirit.
"Status" she said
Water Spirit
Race: [Spirit] Age: 0
HP: 10
Mana: 20
Agility: 6
Strength: 2
Defense: 5
Karma: 0
Skills: [Splash]
Traits: [Minor Water Spirit]
Her suspicion was correct and it was indeed a spirit. It seemed she was also right about its cause of birth being Kotori's constant usage of mana in the area.
The little otter hit her with a wave of friendliness
[Don't tell me...]
Kotori had already had shu trailing now it seemed she had made another spirit imprint on her
The otter seemed very happy to see her; It approached the shoreline and rolled upon it's belly for her to pet it.
It radiated a sense of friendliness to Kotori,
Indeed, her assumption was correct and it had imprinted on her.
She gave the otter creature a pat on the belly. It felt like rubbing her hand on watery jelly. When she pulled back her hand it was very wet.
Shu seemed very jealous. She could almost feel his rocky eyes bearing down on her shoulders.
[Sorry Shu] she thought
Though, since it was summer the cool belly of the spirit was quite nice to touch.
The otter seemed to squirm in delight.
Shu's glare grew even more intense
[Ah, I guess you need a name] Kotori realized.
How about, "Umi"?
The Spirit seemed to nod.
She checked its status again
Water Spirit (Umi)
Race: [Spirit] Age: 0
HP: 10
Mana: 20
Agility: 6
Strength: 2
Defense: 5
Karma: 0
Skills: [Splash]
Traits: [Minor Water Spirit]
It seemed that the name was now attached to the Spirit's status
Kotori internally sighed
[I guess I have a new pet]
Some author thoughts!
Some Shu NTR for you all.
Had to slightly adjust a chapter since it wasn't internally consistent with the plot >.<
My first retcon!
this is what happens when you don't spend enough time planning a story!
Thanks for reading!