Danmachi: Luki's Adventure

It was the beginning of the late afternoon, the sky slowly dipping into warm shades of orange.

Luki, Riveria, and Lefiya stood gathered in the center of the courtyard. While Lili, Tiona, and Ais stood to the side, watching. Ais was already casually munching on some baked potatoes she had pulled out from who knows where.

Riveria turned to Luki, getting straight to the point. "Let us start simple. You said your magic is called Blink, right? Do you remember exactly what was written on your back?"

"No Chant. Instantaneous movement magic. Allows the caster to instantly teleport to any location within their field of vision or spatial awareness. Retains the user's kinetic momentum prior to activation, granting full control over their post-teleportation direction and physical posture."

He repeated the description word-for-word from the paper he had checked earlier. Having a flawless memory certainly had its perks.

Lefiya's jaw dropped, her eyes widening in sheer disbelief as she stared at him. "Wait... no chant?! Instantaneous teleportation?!" she stammered, her previous annoyance completely vanishing. "That's ridiculous! A spell like that completely breaks standard combat logic... It's way too overpowered!"

Tiona's eyes lit up as she smacked her palm. "Ah! So that is why he kept disappearing and suddenly popping up everywhere back then! I totally thought he was turning invisible and dashing super fast!"

"Hmph! Of course Luki-sama's magic is spectacular!" Lili boasted proudly, crossing her arms and raising her chin high.

Tiona glanced down at her, raising an eyebrow with a teasing smirk. "Why are you acting so proud, Lili-chan? It's not like your achievements are the ones being discussed here. Besides, let's be honest, you're actually quite weak."

Lili stiffened, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. She didn't cause a scene, but her jaw tightened as she strictly gritted her teeth in pure frustration, glare fixing onto the Amazon.

Meanwhile, Ais remained completely focused on her baked potatoes, munching away with a cute, utterly blank look on her face. However, her internal thoughts were anything but cute.

'He's strong... I wonder if he would accept a duel with me.' In her mind, dozens of combat simulations were already playing out.

Luki suddenly felt a cold shiver run straight down his spine. His senses screamed at him to a powerful threat coming directly from Ais. He quickly shook it off, pretending he hadn't noticed a thing.

Riveria nodded slowly, bringing the focus back. "It truly is an exceptional spell. However, do not get ahead of yourself; no magic is completely perfect. We need to map out all of its limitations first."

She then gestured to the open grass. "Show us a basic demonstration."

"Right, let's see how it goes," Luki agreed.

Without overthinking it, he casually uttered the trigger word. "Blink."

Everyone held their breath, staring at him.

But absolutely nothing happened. He was still standing in the exact same spot, the wind blowing awkwardly past them.

A heavy, awkward silence stretched over the courtyard. Nobody moved, and the wind blew past them with an uncomfortable chill.

Luki blinked, staring down at his own hands before looking around the empty space where he was supposed to be standing. "Huh. That's weird."

"Did you... forget how to do it?" Tiona asked, her casual, playful demeanor dropping into genuine confusion.

"No, I don't get it," Luki muttered, rubbing the back of his neck, visibly troubled. "Usually, it's effortless. Just this morning, I literally blinked back and forth from my house in an instant. I didn't even have to think about it."

Riveria stepped closer, her expression turning analytical. "Did your Mind circulate at all? Did you feel the flow of your magic?"

"Don't ask complex questions just to make me feel like an idiot, woman. I literally found out the name of the spell today; I don't know anyshit about magic flow."

Determined to fix whatever was wrong, he once again turned his gaze on a patch of grass a few meters ahead, and tried one more time.

"Blink."

Again, absolutely nothing happened, and he remained rooted to the exact same spot.

Lefiya smirked slightly, crossing her arms as she looked at him. "What's wrong? Are you just nervous because of the crowd? No pressure, really."

Riveria turned a sharp, stern glare toward her. "Lefiya. Stop this childish behavior immediately."

Desperate to prove she was a mature adult, Lefiya stuck her tongue out at Luki and swiftly turned her face away with a huff. Luki, however, didn't pay her a single ounce of attention.

"I believe I understand what is happening here," Riveria explained, drawing Luki's focus back. "This is quite common among adventurers who have only recently awakened their magic. Even Ais went through a similar phase."

Lefiya immediately opened her mouth to passionately defend Ais's honor, but everyone in the courtyard completely ignored her.

"As you mentioned before, you didn't even know the name of your magic until today. So, how did you use it all this time without even knowing what it was called? The answer is simple. You used it entirely by instinct, just as most talented individuals do with their innate spells. But now that you are trying to do it manually, you don't know how."

Luki hit his palm with his fist as clarity struck him. "Ah, so it's like the whole Wizard and Sorcerer thing in Baldur's Gate. One has to learn spells through intense study, while the other is just some random peasant with talent."

Lefiya furrowed her brow, thoroughly confused. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"Don't worry about it. You wouldn't understand, you uncultured lot," Luki replied dismissively.

Lefiya opened her mouth to snap at him again, but once more, she was entirely ignored.

Finally understanding his mistake, Luki stopped focusing on the word itself. Instead of just speaking the name and waiting for something to happen, he simply focused on the desire to go to the place he wanted to.

Without warning or especial effect, he simply vanished from the courtyard.

Lefiya's jaw dropped, her eyes darting around the empty space in sheer shock. While Tiona, overwhelmed with curiosity, stepped forward and began swinging her arms wildly through the air to see if he was just hiding nearby.

On the side, Riveria remained completely silent, deeply locked in her own analytical thoughts, while Lili stood quietly, already accustomed to his sudden disappearances.

Two minutes passed before Luki materialized back into existence in a soft blink. Lefiya was just about to shout something at him when she suddenly stopped, noticing what he was holding.

Luki was carrying a few of meat skewers in his hand, casually chewing on one of them.

"Shorry 'bout dat," Luki mumbled around a mouthful of meat, his voice muffled and strange. "I shuddenly got super hungry, so I figured I'd grab a quick shnack while I was out. Anyone want one?"

Riveria and Lefiya stared at him with utterly dead, expressionless eyes. Tiona, however, didn't care about his lack of professionalism at all.

"Ooh, I want one!" Tiona chirped, casually stepping close and plucking a skewer right out of his hand. She took a big bite, humming happily. "Wow, this is really good!"

Suddenly, she paused, her eyes widening as she looked down at the stick.

"Wait... did you already bite this one? Oh my gosh, does this count as an indirect kiss? Oh no, I can't get married anymore—what do I do? Who's going to take responsibility for me?" She began twisting her body side to side, blushing furiously and fidgeting with sudden embarrassment.

Before Tiona could enjoy the moment any longer, Lili aggressively intervened, snatching the skewer straight out of the Amazon's hand, her face contorted in furious jealousy.

"Give that! You shameless thief!" Lili hissed, taking a protective step in front of Luki. "You have absolutely no right to be sharing indirect kisses with Lili's boyfriend!"

"Hey! That's not fair, Lili-chan! He offered it to everyone! Sharing is caring!" Tiona complained.

"Not when it comes to Luki-sama's, and definitely not with you!" Lili shot back, glaring fiercely.

As the two girls began aggressively throwing words back and forth in a heated argument, Luki quietly looked down at the empty wooden stick remaining in Lili's tight grip.

'Hey... that was my skewer,' Luki thought, letting out a defeated, internal sigh.

Deciding to be the bigger person in the situation, Luki simply muttered something under his breath and quickly ate the two skewers he had originally bought for Tiona and Lili.

A split second later, he vanished into thin air again. However, before he completely disappeared, Riveria—who had been paying close attention to his movements—noticed something no one elss did.

"Here, I bought one for you too."

"Hyaaa! Th-th-thank you s-so mu-much!"

Everyone snapped their heads around toward one of the distant corners of the courtyard.

Luki was standing right by the edge of the manor walls, casually holding out a fresh meat skewer to someone who had been trying to hide. And from the incredibly high-pitched, panicked voice, everyone instantly realized it was Bell. She had apparently snuck back out to spy on them from a safe distance.

Luki then walked casually back toward the center of the courtyard, handing the very last skewer over to Riveria. However, when he reached Lefiya, everyone quickly noticed that his hands were completely empty.

"Sorry," Luki said, giving her a thoroughly unapologetic shrug. "Resources are scarce, so sacrifices had to be made."

Lefiya crossed her arms, crossing her legs as she turned her nose up at him. "Hmph! It doesn't matter anyway. I wouldn't want anything from someone like you in the first place!"

But from the look on Lefiya's face, absolutely everyone present knew she was lying through her teeth and wanted one too.

Seeing this, Riveria gently held out her own skewer toward her student.

"Here, take it," Riveria said softly. "I am not particularly hungry anyway."

Lefiya froze, caught in a complete dilemma. She had just proudly declared that she didn't want anything coming from Luki, but before she could even open her mouth to politely refuse her mentor, her stomach suddenly let out an incredibly loud, roaring growl.

Flushing bright red from sheer embarrassment, she took the skewer and took a bite. It was undeniably delicious.

Luki flashed a victorious smirk at her reaction, thoroughly enjoying her silent defeat. But just as he was about to say something, he felt a soft tug on the hem of his shirt.

He looked down, he found Ais staring up at him. Her face wore its usual blank, empty expression, but her eyes looked unusually dejected and sad.

"What about me...?" Ais murmured.

It was glaringly obvious that she wanted a skewer too. Luki glanced at her hands and noticed that the baked potatoes she had been snacking on were completely gone.

"Damn, sorry blondie, I completely forgot about you. Hang on, I'll be right back."

With a sudden blink, Luki vanished from the courtyard. But he didn't go alone—Ais vanished right along with him.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING WITH AIS-SAN?!" Lefiya shrieked, her voice unnecessarily loud as she practically jumped in the air from panic.

While Lefiya paced around frantically, Riveria remained completely silent. Her eyes staring at the exact spot where the two had been standing, deeply locked in thought.

A few minutes later, a soft pop echoed, and the duo materialized back into existence.

Ais was now cradling a large brown paper bag stuffed with at least ten fresh skewers, already munching on one, her face as apathetic as always, yet she somehow looked radiatingly happy.

Lefiya glared at Luki, throwing her hands up. "I thought you said resources were scarce?!"

"Hey, the company mascot gets special privileges," Luki retorted smoothly, giving Ais a few casual pats on the shoulder, and the Sword Princess simply nodded her head in full, silent agreement.

Enraged by their sudden proximity, Lefiya bared her teeth like a rabid dog and marched straight between them, aggressively forcing Luki away from her precious idol. Luki didn't even bother to resist; he simply rolled his eyes and casually walked over to stand beside Riveria.

"So? How did it look?"

"I noticed a interesting details," Riveria replied, her tone becoming strictly professional. "But to be absolutely certain, and also to test if there is a time interval between each jump. Could you teleport multiple times in rapid succession, directly around me?"

Luki blinked, mildly confused. "Huh? Sure, I can do that. Why?"

"I just need to verify something," Riveria said, before turning her head toward the rest of the bickering group. "Everyone, quiet down. I need to pay absolute attention."

Slowly, the entire courtyard fell completely silent. Ais stopped chewing her skewer, her gaze locking onto him, and even Bell in the distance was holding her breath.

After a brief pause to let Riveria fully concentrate, Luki vanished. A split second later, he materialized directly beside her.

Then, the sequence truly began.

Because his magic possessed absolutely no flashing light or magical effects, his body simply ceased to exist in one coordinate and instantly populated another. But doing this in rapid succession shattered their visual perception.

His continuous displacement was so violent and instantaneous that it created a dizzying sensory overload—dozens, then nearly a hundred overlapping blurs of Luki seemed to exist simultaneously all around Riveria. It was a chaotic storm of phantom afterimages born entirely from their retinas failing to process his absolute speed.

Amidst the constant rustling of the grass being violently flattened under his shifting weight and the sudden displacements of displaced air, a bizarre, overlapping murmur began to echo through the courtyard.

With the surroundings stripped of all other noise, Riveria's hyper-focused ears picked up a faint, rapid acoustic pattern. It was an almost unrecognizable sequence of overlapping, fragmented syllables blending into the wind.

"...bli... ink... bl... i... ink... bl... bli... ink..."

"How can anyone even do that...?" Lefiya murmured to herself, her eyes wide as she tried to track the fading blurs. "A spell fired at that ridiculous frequency should be draining a monumental, absurd amount of Mind."

What her mind could not possibly conceive was the sheer scale of Luki's reservoir. Even without the Mage development ability that Lefiya possessed as a high-tier Level 3 adventurer, Luki raw energy were already the equivalent of a seasoned Level 4 veteran with every single attribute locked at rank S.

"That is enough, Luki-san," Riveria announced, her voice cutting through the localized storm.

Luki stopped instantly right in front of her, every single afterimage vanishing from the courtyard in the exact same millisecond.

"W-Woah..." Luki groaned, swaying unsteadily from side to side, his eyes felt like they were spinning in opposite directions. "That was... complete madness."

"Luki-sama! Are you alright?!" Lili cried out, her face pale with worry as she rushed forward to support him, letting him lean his weight against her small frame. "Did you deplete too much of your energy?!"

"No, I'm fine," Luki muttered, resting a hand on her shoulder. "It's just my eyes. My brain's spatial awareness can handle the instant changes perfectly, but my eyes seem to be too slow to process the visual updates. It's like extreme motion sickness."

To prove his point, he closed all three of his eyes. The moment his vision went dark and his brain stopped receiving the scrambled visual data, the intense dizziness stopped instantly. He even did a few light hops on the grass to show them he wasn't about to collapse.

"Alright," Luki said, turning his blind face toward the High Elf. "What did you manage to find out?"

"It was like I said before. Luki-san, you are unconsciously reciting the name of your spell in rapid whispers. That is why you never noticed. Even so, it was a fine display of the consecutive use of your magic—truly versatile."

Luki raised his eyebrows. "Really?" He was genuinely taken aback by the revelation.

"Yes. It is a known phenomenon among those with high aptitude, though you have taken it to an unprecedented extreme," Riveria noted, casting a brief glance toward the blonde swordswoman. "When she was younger, Ais would often trigger her Tempest without really thinking about it."

" Uhm." Ais nodded in agreement as she ate her third skewer.

Luki remained entirely silent, not quite knowing how to process the information. Should he feel impressed by himself, or just deeply stupid for managing the hardest part of the system while failing at the most basic mechanical trigger.

"There is no need to brood over it, with time and proper training, you will learn to control it manually without any issues. That is the entire purpose of our agreement, after all. But now, let us move on to the next phase."

Riveria turned her gaze toward Lefiya, who was still standing completely frozen, her jaw slack from Luki's display.

"Lefiya, copy his magic."

"Say what?!"

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