"So, Orun. Now that we're here, you'll answer the question I asked this morning, right?"
After the banter with Lucre wrapped up, Wilcox called out to me.
Yeah, this place should be fine—no problem talking here.
"Sure, of course. The main reason I could defeat the black dragon comes down to two original spells. Since they're original, I'll skip the full details, but the first one is called **Impact: Instantaneous Ability Hyper-Boost**. The effect lasts less than a second—just a brief instant—but it can amplify the performance, power, or output of equipment or spells up to a maximum of 100 times."
"Wha—100 times?! That's insane... Hey, Selma, could you do that?"
Rain-san asked with genuine admiration, turning to Selma.
Rain-san might look young, but the way she speaks and carries herself feels very much like an older woman.
Sorry if it's rude, but the gap is huge.
"...No, I couldn't. I don't even have a clue how something like that would work."
Selma muttered in quiet shock, her expression stunned.
That bug exploit was something I stumbled on by pure chance.
No normal search would ever find it.
So the idea of weaponizing it into a cheat spell like this probably wouldn't occur to anyone.
"The second one is a spell that boosts physical abilities far beyond normal support magic. This one can be scaled in stages, so I haven't given it a specific name."
Strictly speaking it's not a spell, but from an outside perspective it just looks like massive enhancement, so I call it one.
This is another exploit-based cheat, so I can't go into details anyway.
"'Far beyond normal support magic'—how much are we talking?"
Lucre asked.
"During the black dragon fight, I was running about 32 times normal ability."
"What the hell?! That's straight-up cheating! No wonder the Hero Party reached the 94th floor! Wait—how were you ever called 'not strong enough' with that?!"
Only Lucre voiced it out loud, but the other three were clearly thinking the same thing—they just didn't say it.
Yeah... it really is cheating.
"It's an amazing effect, sure, but it comes with serious downsides. First, it only works on myself—I can't boost my allies with it. So back in the Hero Party, everyone only ever got my normal support spells. Those give roughly double strength, so calling me 'insufficient' wasn't exactly unfair. Second, scaling it up requires building an insane number of spell formulas, so it's not suited for long fights. I can't stay in that state constantly during deep exploration. I wouldn't normally use a buff like the one against the black dragon—my head hurts like hell afterward..."
I'd used **Quintuple Status Up** during the black dragon fight because I was aiming for a quick decisive battle.
It ended up dragging on longer than expected, but labyrinth dives last hours overall.
Even if not every second is combat, total fighting time far exceeds a single boss fight.
In future explorations I'll probably use one or two layers of stacking, but six? No way.
"Got it. Now I see why the Hero Party reached the 94th. Even without the ability boost, that **Impact** spell alone is a massive advantage. Finally understand why Big Sis Selma hyped you up so much."
"Yeah... I didn't realize it was that extreme. A 100-fold benefit—I never imagined."
"**Impact** only hits max 100 times in theory—it's not every cast. Building a 100x formula puts too much strain on my brain."
"Any other questions? I'll answer what I can."
"Then can I ask one?"
Rain-san spoke up when I checked for more.
"Of course."
"You were an enchanter in the Hero Party, right? Besides enchanter and frontline attacker—are there any other positions you can fill?"
"If we're talking B-rank upper to A-rank lower level, I can do all of them."
"Wow, that's impressive! So you can handle pretty much anything during exploration!"
"That said, for some reason I can't cast upper-tier or higher spells, so rear-line attacker would be really low-level for me."
"Huh? Why? You're skilled enough to develop original spells—shouldn't upper-tier be easy?"
I consider myself deeply knowledgeable about magic.
Logically, I should be able to cast even special-grade spells.
Yet for some reason, I just... can't.
I have no idea why.
Well, thanks to **Impact** and **Raise-Repeat Amplification Chain**, I can force high-powered magic anyway.
"No clue. It just doesn't work."
"Aww. Hope you figure it out someday!"
"Yeah. It's not a huge inconvenience right now, but I'd like to be able to use them eventually."
"Okay! My turn to ask~?"
Lucre jumped in as soon as there was a pause.
"Go for it."
"Do you have an ability~?"
"Yeah. It's called **Mana Convergence**. Exactly what it sounds like—gathers surrounding mana into a single point."
I raised my hand to chest height while answering.
Palm up, I focused.
Nearby mana rushed in, forming a black sphere in my hand.
"Whoa! Cool!"
"...What do you actually use that for?"
Wilcox asked, staring at the black orb.
"Mostly I make impromptu aerial platforms with it, or disperse the mass for shockwave attacks. Sometimes I weave it into spells."
"Huh. Pretty versatile. So that makes three of us with abilities now."
Abilities are extremely rare.
Even among top explorers, not many have them.
"You have one too, Wilcox-san?"
"Just Will's fine—no 'san' either. And nah, not me. It's Big Sis Selma and Lucre."
I glanced at the two of them.
Abilities are top-secret stuff.
Most people keep them hidden. Even with all the intel I'd gathered on *Silver Rabbit*, I'd never heard about these two having them.
If they want to share, I'll listen—but I won't pry.
"Hehe~ I'll tell you! Mine's **Mana Tracking**! It's kinda plain, though. I can follow the residual traces of magic or spells and figure out where they came from or who cast them. See? Super boring, right?"
"No way—that's insanely useful."
In labyrinth fights, you often have no idea where incoming magic is coming from.
Spells aren't always fired from right next to the monster.
Sometimes they come from the opposite side, with you caught in the middle.
With Lucre's ability, you could deal with the source before the second shot even fires.
Cutting out the search time would be a huge mental relief too.
"Thanks! But Big Sis Selma's is way cooler, right? Right, Selma-san?"
"Don't raise the bar like that... Mine is **Mental Sympathy**. I can connect an invisible 'path' to anyone I choose, letting us communicate without speaking."
Wait... what?
Back in the Hero Party, the one thing I wanted most was exactly this—long-range conversation, silent coordination.
Of course nothing like it was on the market. I'd had sponsors search everywhere too—never found anything.
How insanely useful this would be in labyrinth exploration should be obvious.
Even in daily life it'd be broken.
Take combat.
Labyrinth fights rely on perfect coordination.
Top parties can sync with experience and a few quick calls, but it's never flawless.
Front and rear lines separate, friendly fire happens.
Selma-san's ability eliminates that risk entirely.
In terms of pure exploration utility, **Mental Sympathy** is hands-down the best ability I know of.
(Though all abilities are strong in their own fields.)
"Does that mean everything you're thinking gets transmitted?"
"No. It's more... intentional. You have to actively want to send a message for it to go through. Random thoughts don't leak."
Got it. That's honestly a relief.
Everyone has thoughts they don't want others hearing.
"Distance limit?"
"About a few kilometers centered on me."
That's pretty wide.
Might be inconvenient in daily life, but in labyrinth dives, party members rarely separate by hundreds of meters.
So for exploration purposes, distance isn't an issue.