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The wooden sword seemed like it was created by an immature middle schooler. However, when he held it and inspected it closely, Seiji could feel that the wooden sword was definitely no ordinary item.
It was difficult for him to describe the feeling it gave him. Mystical was the most appropriate word he could come up with.
Seiji had a sudden urge to copy a pose from Gintama and wield the wooden sword, twirling it around like the Lake Touya sword.
“How do you use this sword?” he asked.
“Try injecting some Mana into it.”
Seiji did as Natsuya said. After he cast [Astral Vision], the runes on the wooden sword lit up. Seiji instantly felt as if the wooden sword he was holding was connected to his hand; as if it were a part of him.
When he tried swinging it around, the runes on the sword gave off a faint white glow, which seemed rather cool to him.
“Try attacking one of the target dummies,” Natusya suggested.
Seiji walked into the practice target area, and Natsuya used the computer to bring out a humanoid target dummy for him.
Seiji sliced down forcefully with the wooden sword.
*Clang!*
When he struck the dummy, the sword made a clear sound.
“The power of that attack just now would be sufficient to slice through a wall of average hardness,” Natsuya said. “Try injecting more Mana into it. Try to inject as much as possible—the absolute maximum.”
Seiji nodded and concentrated on injecting even more Mana into the sword.
The runes on the sword lit up even brighter than before and enveloped the entire sword. The rune-light slowly expanded, transforming the wooden sword into a much larger sword!
“This is
”
“A spiritual manifestation—one of the effects that a high-level spiritual artifact is capable of,” Natsuya explained. “This spiritual artifact should be capable of achieving even more than this. Can you inject any more Mana into it?”
Seiji attempted to do so but shook his head shortly after. “I can’t—I don’t have any more Mana to inject.”
“Then just try attacking the target dummy again in this state.”
Seiji headed for the humanoid target once more and sliced down with the “sword of light” in his hand.
*Boom!!*
It made a much louder sound than his previous strike. The target dummy now had dark black streaks, reminiscent of burn marks, on it.
Natsuya recorded the numbers on her computer before she walked out to the practice field and said, “Let me try.”
Seiji stopped using his Mana on the sword, and the wooden sword’s glow quickly faded.
He handed the sword that had now returned to its original state to the president and walked out of the practice field.
Natsuya injected her own Mana into the wooden sword.
The runes lit up again and the light rapidly expanded, rapidly transforming the sword into the “longsword” that Seiji had used earlier.
The “sword of light” grew longer and longer, until it was approximately seven or eight meters long. Various tiny gear-shaped spell formations appeared on its surface, and they turned slowly in unison, just like real gears would.
‘This sure is cool.’ Seiji felt that the “greatsword” seemed like an ultimate weapon from Final Fantasy.
Natsuya raised the “greatsword” and brought it down upon the target dummy.
*Snap!*
The sound was actually much smaller than before, but the target was cleaved in half with ease!
“It’s beyond the computer’s program to measure its capabilities
 and this still isn’t its maximum power.”
“It’s still capable of even more power?” Seiji asked in shock.
“Yes, because this is only the result of forcefully injecting Mana into it. If we knew the correct way to use it, we would be able to conserve our Mana while simultaneously bringing out more power from it.”
Natsuya stopped injecting Mana into the sword. The tiny gear-shaped spell formations vanished and the “greatsword” stopped glowing as it reverted to its wooden sword form.
“Next up is the  kendama .”
The kendama ‘s test went similarly to the wooden sword’s test. As the amount of Mana they injected into it increased, it spiritually manifested itself, and the ball portion of the kendama transformed into a giant spiked ball of light!
The ball of light floated on top of the hilt. It would fly out as the wielder moved the sword hilt and crash into its target.
Its power was incredible. When Natsuya tried using it, just one blow smashed a target dummy into tiny smithereens, like a destructive bomb.
“It’s such a pity that we don’t know the specific way to use it,” the president lamented. “We can only slowly figure things out by ourselves.”
Finally, it was time to test the board game. Natsuya led Seiji into a spell formation that they took the boxed board game into.
There was a gigantic pentagram drawn on the ground, with complex runes carved into the spell formation.
Each point of the pentagram was engraved with smaller spell formations, which were respectively colored white, red, blue, green, and yellow. There were also five runic flags of matching colors.
“Take the board game out and set everything down here.”
Seiji opened the box and put all the player pieces, dice, and board on the ground.
Natsuya started muttering an incantation.
When she began her incantation, the pentagram on the ground lit up. Various lights danced through the runes, and all the smaller spell formations and flags shone as well, glowing in their respective colors.
A five-colored barrier of light appeared, covering the entire area.
Then, a complex spell formation manifested above the board game, gold and red circling each other endlessly. It was just like what he had witnessed yesterday.
“Take a player piece and put it on the board,” Natsuya said when she finished her incantation.
Seiji randomly picked up a male player piece and placed it on the board. Instantly, a gold-red glow enveloped the player piece and shot a beam of light at him.
The scenery before him changed as he entered the board game’s illusion. It was the forest filled with cherry blossoms.
This was the same forest Seiji and the others saw after they beat the game. The trees were in full bloom, and cherry blossoms rained down from the branches.
“What a beautiful scene,” the president said from beside him.
Seiji turned around to see Natsuya wearing gold-red Sakura Island clothing; the sight of her stunned him momentarily.
‘Compared to these falling cherry blossoms, you’re even more beautiful
’ he couldn’t help but think.
Well, there was no helping it. The president was rocking the Sakura Island dress, which would look overly extravagant on an ordinary girl. This clothing accentuated her elegant demeanor; it was no wonder she looked so alluring.
“She’s here.”
Seiji regained his senses when Natsuya spoke. When he turned back to the front, he saw the black-veiled woman walking out of the forest. She headed towards them.
She was still wearing the black-and-white Sakura Island clothing. Her white hair and black veil exuded a mysterious aura.
She stood in front of Seiji and Natsuya, a motionless statue.
A moment of silence fell between them.
“If I may ask
 Who might you be?” Seiji asked the same question he had asked yesterday.
Just like yesterday, there was no response.
‘What should we do?’ Seiji looked towards Natsuya for help.
The president’s eyes flashed as she focused on the black-veiled woman.
“She is a Guardian Spirit.”
“Eh?”
“She’s not whatever this sealing artifact is sealing. She’s the guardian of the seal.”
“The guardian
” Seiji looked towards the black-veiled woman again. “Can you communicate with her?”
“It should be possible, but I don’t know how to do so.” Natsuya paused for a moment. “There’s also the option of using force, but that might end badly.”
“Such as?”
“The Guardian Spirit counterattacking, the destruction of this spiritual sealing artifact, and the release of whatever is being sealed inside
”
“Then let’s not use force.”
Not even mentioning what the Guardian Spirit’s counterattack would be like, this spiritual artifact belonged to the landlord, so Seiji felt that it would be wrong of them to break it. Besides, they didn’t know what was sealed within it, and if something terrible escaped

“How about trying to touch her?” Seiji suggested.
“You can try if you want.”
And so, Seiji walked towards the black-veiled woman.
“Hello, I don’t have any ill intentions. I merely wish to talk to you. If you are able to speak, would you mind saying something?”
Seiji tried to be as courteous as possible to the black-veiled woman, but there was still no response.
“If you don’t speak, I’m going to take off your veil.”
He raised his hand, and there was still no reaction. Seiji slowly reached out towards her black veil, and just as he was about to take it off