Chapter 3: A Cinematic Development
Chapter 3: A Cinematic Development
The next day...
“Time to pick up where we left off,” I said, letting out a big yawn.
When I logged in, I was in the guild house.
Just then, someone shouted, “Don’t move!”
I found myself surrounded by soldier NPCs, their lances pointed at me from all directions.
“Captain, we’ve found someone sneaking around!”
“What?! This is literally my guild house!”
A man with a beard and an ornamental suit of armor walked up to me, presumably their captain.
“I’m sorry, but His Majesty has ordered us to seize this guild house for the time being.”
“Huh?!”
“Are you unaware of the incident that occurred here yesterday? We’ve been ordered to search this place from top to bottom for any clues we can find. Until we finish, you are not permitted inside, despite your status as guild master.”
“Aww, man!”
Looks like things are still in motion. What happened to Anita after all that?
“Frankly, you and your guild members are also under scrutiny for potential involvement. However! Out of goodwill, and because I believe the students of Legrand Academy of Magic—the most distinguished learning institution in the world—would never do such a thing, I shall turn the other way.”
“All right, then. Would you happen to know what happened to Anita?”
“Lady Anita has been imprisoned.”
“What?!”
“Should her testimony be false, and she’s revealed to be a co-conspirator, she’ll receive a harsh punishment. In the event she was uninvolved, her failure to protect the princess remains inexcusable.”
“Mmm... I see.”
“We were originally Anita’s subordinates. Naturally, I wish to both save the princess and free Anita from her imprisonment. To that end, I must ask for your cooperation. Please, do not give us any trouble.”
“Understood. If there’s anything I can do to help, just let me know.”
“I will. Thank you.”
Guess the only thing I can do is to go to class, then.
Draco was missing, so Akira or one of the other girls must have already taken him for me.
I headed to our classroom at the academy, where I found the others already present. Draco was, of course, cradled in Maeda’s arms.
“Oh, Ren! Good morning.” Akira gave a little wave.
“Good morning, Takashiro. I brought Draco here with me.”
Yano looked over at me. “Yo. Did you get chased out of the guild house too, Takashiro?”
“Hey, girls. Thanks for bringing Draco along. And yeah, I got kicked out.”
“Figures. Even the guild master gets no respect,” Akira grumbled.
Maeda sighed. “As long as they’re occupying the guild house, we can’t open up shop either.”
“How long do you think they’ll be there?” Akira asked.
Yano offered a shrug. “I dunno, but they said Anita’s been imprisoned. If we ignore that, I feel like things are gonna get worse.”
“For sure,” I said. “The quest isn’t marked as failed yet, but we don’t know when it could be."
“So it falls to us to find the princess, then?” Maeda deduced.
“Seems like it.”
Scratching her head, Yano asked, “Do we have any leads, though?”
“I took some screenshots of the bad guys yesterday.” Akira breezed through her collection and picked out one image in particular.
The picture showed a man in black holding a shortsword—indeed, it was an image of one of the kidnappers.
“Maybe if we take this to an information broker, we might be able to learn something?”
“Ooh, good idea, Kotomi! I’ve got butterflies in my stomach thinking about my screenshots helping with an investigation!”
“We could also see if Anita herself knows something about it.”
“That could work too, Yano. I say we try both angles. Once class ends, we’ll start off by checking on the guild house. After that, we’ll stop by the information broker and then go see Anita. How’s that sound?”
“Works for me, Ren!”
“Same here.”
“Ditto!”
All right. Time to wait for school to end! Gotta pay attention in class, though. Those Merit Points are precious!
Once we were released from school, we headed straight for the guild house as planned. However, the captain and his cohorts still showed no signs of leaving.
Is this supposed to last until we finish the quest or something?
With no other choice, we hung a sign on the door stating that the shop would be closed for a while.
“What a shame. Anyway, off to the information broker.”
At that moment, a player came to speak to us.
“My, are you closed for the day?”
“Hm?”
“Oh, it’s Nozomi.”
Our visitor was none other than Akabane. Of course, she was not without Kataoka, who was stuck to her like a remora.
I figured she was here to try to improve her relationship with Akira yet again.
Sorry, gal. We have no idea when we’ll be able to open again.
Just then, I was struck with an epiphany! I could practically feel the light bulb shining over my head.
“Actually, we’ve just started a quest related to our guild shop. Until we finish it, our guild house is going to be occupied, so we won’t be able to open.”
“Hmm. Well, that’s unfortunate.”
“On that note, if you have time, would you like to join us on our quest?”
“Whaaaat?!” Akira and Akabane shouted at once.
If we joined forces to finish this quest, then the cold wall between them would thaw even faster! Plus, it would make us stronger. Was this not a perfect, win-win proposal?!
Maeda, Yano, and Kataoka were just watching things develop from the sidelines. Nobody seemed especially against it.
“C’mon, Akabane. You want us to reopen our guild shop soon, right?”
I made up an excuse to pump up my proposal in order to make it easier for her. Her true desire, of course, was to quest with Akira! Or so I thought, anyway.
Nevertheless, Akabane would never be able to say such a thing outright. If I hadn’t thrown her a bone, she would’ve tried to escape. I recognized the value of giving someone an easy excuse!
Now, strike an exasperated pose despite your inner joy and come with us!
“Hmph! If you insist, I suppose I’ll lend you a hand. Not that I want to, of course; I’m only doing it because this is an emergency.”
Hook, line, and sinker! That line was so classic, though. What an obstinate girl.
It was kind of cute to see this unfold, considering I knew her true feelings.
I leaned closer to Akira and whispered, “I know you two are like rivals or whatever, but rivals can make the best allies, y’know? Just picture her in a white trench coat, lending you her Brown-Eyes White Dragon!”
Akira chuckled at my example. Nailed it!
“Hahaha, maybe. I’ll leave it up to you. A guild member has to listen to her guild master, right?”
With that, Akabane and Kataoka boosted our party to six people. In Unlimited World, this was the maximum party size.
Come to think of it, this is probably our first time having a full party.
“All right. We’re relying on you two!”
“Glad to be of service.”
“You got it, dude!”
Kataoka seems awfully eager about this. What’s gotten into him?
My wonder only lasted a moment, however, as he muttered something into my ear.
“Wooow, we’re drowning in Hime-chans! They smell so sweet, too!”
No, they don’t! This is a video game!
Food and other items had simulated scents, but there was no way someone could pick up on another person’s smell. This guy was getting all excited over stuff he’d made up.
Man, he’s freaking me out a little!
“Make sure you keep your head in the game, Kataoka.”
“I know, I know!”
“You sure? Uh, anyway, there’s actually something I want to ask you.”
Despite his bizarre nature, he was a member of an information broker guild known as Fountain of Knowledge. Apparently, he had joined just so he could learn more stuff to aid his Hime-chan.
“Sure. What’s up?”
“Akira, show him the pic.”
“Okay.” Akira displayed the screenshot we’d all taken a look at earlier.
“Would you happen to know anything about these guys or who they’re with?”
“Huh. Who’s that?”
“He’s an enemy from our guild shop quest. We fought a couple of them yesterday.”
I gave him the long and short of the quest summary.
Akabane offered her thoughts. “A hidden quest? I’ve heard of those. I suppose that’s why there’s been an increase in soldier NPCs in the city.”
“Hidden quests involving guild shops do happen once in a while. They come with some slight variations each time, but this is the first I’ve ever heard of one featuring a kidnapped princess.”
I would hope she wasn’t getting abducted every single time. That would just shatter the players’ suspension of disbelief and make it feel totally contrived.
This game’s world is essentially alive. The NPCs, with their own wants and needs, are autonomously creating the history of the world... or so it might seem to the inexperienced eye. That much is proof of the incredible game design.
Meanwhile, players’ actions and decisions actually influence the progression of the world at large. The super-high-quality event generator is no simple decision tree; it’s a veritable storyteller capable of moving and shaking the dynamic world!
At least, that’s what the school told us. As for me, I didn’t care about the little details as long as I got to enjoy a good game!
“I was wondering if this could be a useful clue to help us find Princess Lieliz. Does anything stick out to you?”
“Hmm, can’t really tell just by looking at it. We’ll have to access the database back at my guild's shop.”
“Then what are we waiting for?”
Thus, it was time to pay a visit to Bigsmax Info Brokers!
◆◇◆
When we arrived, we saw the shopkeeper of the day: a mustachioed male NPC.
Wow. Larger guilds really do love to use shopkeeper NPCs. We’d better get big enough to hire one!
“Welcome! Why, hello there, Kataoka.”
“Hey, Marx. There’s something I wanna look up. Let me take over for a sec.”
“Sure, no problem.”
Kataoka stepped behind the counter and started operating the Dealer’s Desk.
“Hmm... So this enemy was just called ‘Kidnapper’?”
“Yeah.” I nodded.
“Pretty lame, huh? There aren’t any other enemies in the database with that name, though.”
“What about the design of this emblem on his shortsword? Could that be a lead?”
Marx, who was hovering nearby, interjected, “How about we scan this part of the emblem, upload the image data, and send it through a search?”
This guy knew his stuff! Even better than Kataoka, at that.
I wish we had a capable NPC like him.
“A’ight. Let’s try it!” Kataoka typed away on the Dealer’s Desk. “Hmm... Got it!”
“Oh? Did you find out some info?”
We all turned our attention to the screen on the countertop.
“Yes. Looks like this emblem is used in the Holy Kingdom of Karanaught.”
“Karanaught?”
“It’s a developing nation in Mishr. These past few years, they’ve been ceaselessly feuding with their neighboring country, Mishuria. As you know, Telluna has a strong, close-knit relationship with Mishuria. As such, though Mishuria may not have an immediately hostile relationship with Karanaught, the possibility of one developing is very real.”
I sure did appreciate Marx’s explanation.
“Then if they’re involved in all this...”
“Maybe the princess was taken to Karanaught?” Akira finished for me.
“Soldiers have been scouring every nook and cranny of Telluna. If the kidnappers were lying low around here, they would’ve been found by now. It might be better to search outside of Telluna at this point,” Marx added helpfully.
Yano smiled. “Time to make a little business trip to Karanaught, then?”
“But it’s an entire country. Where would we even start?” I asked.
“Perhaps we could use an Eye of Pegasus?” suggested Akabane.
This item is a navigational tool that allows the user to find a specific person’s location in dungeons and whatnot. It’s often used to get the party back together after they’ve been split up.
People also use it in sieges and city defense events, so you don’t necessarily have to use it in a dungeon.
However, there are some prerequisites before you can use it to search for someone outside of your party.
For example, you have to have been in a party together for a certain amount of time at some point, or you need an item that was once held by that character.
Additionally, it wouldn’t work if you were too far apart. At the very least, people have to be in the same dungeon or city to find each other.
“If we want that, we’ll need an item that belonged to the princess.”
We had never partied up with the princess, after all.
But if we had something of hers, we could use some Eyes of Pegasus while wandering around Karanaught and eventually find her.
“Looks like we have even more reason to go see Anita, then,” Akira said.
She was right. If anyone had anything related to the princess, it would be Anita.
“All that remains is whether we can procure the Eyes of Pegasus, then.”
“We’ve got some in our guild shop's storage room,” Kataoka told me. “They’re fifty thousand Mila each, by the way.”
“That’s a fortune!”
In the past few days, our guild shop had raked in about a million Mila.
Even so, I have a feeling we’re about to go broke!
“If we can find something that belongs to the princess, should we buy the Eyes?” I asked my other guildies.
“Yeah.”
“Yes.”
Okay, so Akira and Maeda are in.
“Money this, money that. That’s all anyone cares about,” Yano grumbled.
Well, you gotta do what you gotta do. Next stop: the royal castle!
Thus, we made our way to the castle to meet with Anita. I figured we’d be turned away at the door, but the guards surprisingly allowed us to see her.
In this game, our only real social status came from our being Legrand students. But that alone was enough to put us in the privileged class or at least make us very trustworthy in the eyes of society.
We were the cream of the crop, the elite who would one day shoulder the future of the floating city! Students the world could take pride in! Or something like that.
Once we had explained the state of things to Anita, she said, “I see. So you’ll search in my stead, then? I thank you. You should take this with you—the princess made it herself.”
With that, Anita handed me a silver ring.
“She has some interesting taste,” I muttered.
The ring was made from expensive-looking silver, and it had a skull inset where a stone would have been. It was kinda punk rock.
I thought that princess seemed like a bit of a weirdo.
Princess’ Skull Ring (O)
Type: Accessory
Level: 1
Effect: Multiplies experience gain by three. However, stat boosts upon level-up will be divided by three.
It multiplies EXP by three?! That’s insane! But it divides your stat gains by three... If each level-up gives you three stat points, does that mean you only get one instead? What happens if you get two, then? Does it round down to zero, or up to one? Do you just end up with a three-times-weaker character at three times the speed?
What the hell? This is useless! It sucks! What is it, cursed?! I’d like to test it to see if there are any loopholes, but...
The EXP boost was an insane effect, making my disappointment all the more potent.
“As a knight charged to protect the princess, I can’t really equip this myself.”
“Figures. It just ends up making you weaker.”
“Regardless of the effects, I am grateful to have it, so I have carried it with me always. But with this, you should be able to use Eyes of Pegasus to aid in your search. If you do choose to equip it, please feel free.”
“Uh, I’ll pass on that. We’ll just borrow it for now. Thank you so much!”
With the Princess’ Skull Ring in tow, we stocked up on Eyes of Pegasus and prepared to set out for the Holy Kingdom of Karanaught.
We ended up buying ten Eyes of Pegasus for a total of 500,000 Mila. If my crafting level was higher, then I could make them myself for cheaper. I wanted to cry a little.
Our journey would be by airship. We headed to the port and boarded a vessel destined for Karanaught. Since we had never been there before, we had to go by airship for the first time.
“Woohoo!” Akira cried. “It feels so good to be on an airship!”
As usual, I could never get enough of our resident sightseeing maniac.
The clear skies and the vast sea were a bright, vivid blue. It was as if Telluna and the isles of the Lagoon were sending us off with a smile.
“Haha. You’ve always been restless when it comes to airships,” Akabane said with a smile, her voice rich with nostalgia.
“Wait, what? We’ve never ridden an airship together before!"
“Ngh!” Akabane immediately realized her mistake.
Yep, she made a little slip-up. Akabane had secretly hung out with us in Eternal Fantasy, so she already knew about Akira’s penchant for taking in the sights.
Akira, of course, was blissfully unaware of this.
“Did you have someone spy on me or something?” She glared daggers at Akabane.
Yeah, I guess her mind would go there first.
“Erm, no, I... You see...”
Girl, just tell her already!
But Akabane, weak as she was to such a direct attack, floundered for a response.
Eventually, she blurted, “Th-That was my stupid follower’s doing!”
No way! She used the old “blame the secretary” trick! What are you, a corrupt politician?! I can’t even laugh because her family is literally full of political figures!
“I’m sorry, Aoyagi! She’s right! I thought it was for the best!” Kataoka hung his head shamefully.
I had no idea how much he knew, but that was some split-second decision making. This man was a professional orbiter.
“Look, Akira. Even he’s apologizing, so just let it slide this time.” I decided to support them as best as I could.
“Well, I’m not gonna tell you again, so you’d better cut out that weird stalker stuff! Are we clear?!”
“Crystal. Right, Kataoka?”
“Yes, Lady Nozomi!”
“All right, it’s water under the bridge,” I said. “Now, how about we take a group photo to commemorate this?”
“Sounds great! Draco, can we get you to snap a pic for us again?” Akira’s frown turned upside-down as she handed Draco the Otherworldly Lens.
“Chichirp!”
All six of us huddled together as Draco took our photo.
“Being on an airship with you guys reminds me of the whole Skyfall thing,” Kataoka muttered.
“Huh. Yeah, that happened. I do appreciate your noble sacrifice, though.”
“No prob. As long as my actions bring even one Hime-chan happiness, then it wasn't in vain.”
“Dude, she's not a Hime-chan. Don’t lump me in with you.”
But Kataoka ignored me completely.
“Besides, it put in enough work to get her to the tournament finals.”
“Hey, speaking of... Did you get any screenshots of Akira in that Angelic Charm armor?”
“Yeah, of course I did.”
“Zip ’em up and send them to me later.”
“It would be my pleasure.”
“Nooo, stop! That whole fight was seriously humiliating! I want to forget all about it!” Akira flushed as red as a beet.
“That really was a heck of a shock.”
“Agreed. I wouldn’t dare wear that myself.”
Yano and Maeda were whispering to each other on the side, apparently experiencing some secondhand embarrassment.
Akabane, on the other hand, seemed unperturbed. “Is that so? If it were absolutely necessary, I would have no problem with it.”
“What?! You’d genuinely be okay with that?!”
“C’mon, Kotomi. Remember that weirdo brother of hers?”
“Oh. Yes, I see your point.”
“Huh?! N-No, you have me all wrong! I wouldn’t do it for pleasure, but if the situation called for it, then what is there to complain about? I have nothing to be ashamed of.”
She was just that confident in her figure.
“That’s Lady Nozomi for you! If I bought you one, would you wear it for me?”
“Yes, I would.”
Wowie. Maybe the complete lack of shame is hereditary?
Akira hurried to change the subject. “By the way, Ren, do you think there might be ambush events on this route too?”
“Hmm... I dunno. What about you, Kataoka?”
“Eh, it’s possible. But just like the other one, there’s a pretty slim chance of it happening.”
Just as those words left his lips, however...
“Where did you come from?! Gah, what are you doing?!”
“Waaaaagh!”
Abruptly, the NPC sailors started to scream.
We quickly turned to the source of the commotion, only to find fallen sailors surrounded by a bunch of silhouettes that resembled the kidnappers from before. The weapons they wielded also bore the same emblem of the Holy Empire of Karanaught.
Speak of the devil, right?!
Still, this ambush was a little different from the norm.
“The fact that they’re here means we’re on the right track! Let’s cut them down and keep moving forward!”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
This time, there were four foes. We had increased our party size by two, but so had they.
Last time, our enemies all had shortswords. This time around, each enemy had a different weapon: brawler’s knuckles, a sword and shield, a lance, and a staff respectively. Their fighting style would probably be completely different.
Furthermore, we were on a smaller battlefield this time. We’d have trouble using our marathon tactic on the deck of an airship.
Once again, the gang was all level 50 crown-marked, rare monsters. But this time, their names were cooler: Shadow Assassin.
Our party was as such: symbologist, sword dancer, another sword dancer, sky pirate, rogue, and scholar. Thanks to all but the rogue being Bummers, we made for a pretty eccentric gaggle of losers. How could our party defeat such powerful foes?
If Akira and Yano were to face them head-on, guard break would turn the situation from bad to worse before long. The same was true for Akabane and Kataoka as well.
We were at a disadvantage in a face-to-face confrontation, and the layout of the area made marathon-style combat next to impossible.
The only way to minimize damage and maintain the situation would be...
“Sorry, Yano. Can I borrow your Parry Ring? I can stop all of them except the staff guy.”
Gotta be polite, considering she owns the thing.
I had borrowed it for the Spring Newbie Spotlight, but I’d given it back as soon as it was over.
“Yup. Here you go!”
“Thanks! Maeda, back me up! Akira, Akabane, and Kataoka, you all gang up on the staff guy. Yano, stay close to Maeda while you attack him. If Maeda takes aggro, use Guilty Steal to cover her!”
The strategy here was to bait three of them while my allies took them down one by one! Much more dangerous than the marathon method, but this was our only choice.
The reason I was the one doing it was because of my full-on VIT investment and my Fanatic’s Staff.
Good thing I stocked up on backup Fanatic’s Staves.
“Looks like they’re coming at us!”
Our foes had decided to make the first move. There was no more time to talk. Fanatic’s Staff in hand, I took the vanguard.
“Maeda, hit me with that Revenge Blast!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Enfeebling Circle!”
I cast an Enfeebling Circle around me and waited for their charge. This was the very same tactic that I’d used in Almishr's Burial Ground.
First to attack was the assassin with the knuckle weapons. I guarded both his left and right jabs.
Shadow Assassin attacked.
But Ren guarded the attack!
Shadow Assassin was dealt 11 counterattack damage!
Shadow Assassin attacked.
But Ren guarded the attack!
Shadow Assassin was dealt 11 counterattack damage!
Nice! No guard break here.
If I were to take damage from either guard break or just fudging up my guards, Maeda would have to waste time healing me instead of attacking. And if that happened, she would take aggro because of her healing, sending the enemies her way. We had Yano to take care of that with Guilty Steal if needed, but then that would just put her in a pinch.
If I had a Taunt skill, then I could try to build up aggro on my own. Unfortunately, nothing can be so easy. After all, my class was never intended to be a tank.
Without the aggro from Dead End, all I could do was to stave off enemy attacks to nullify them entirely while building up little bits of aggro with my counterattack damage.
It was gonna be tough, but nothing ventured, nothing gained!
The hardest part of all was the early stage of this fight, where I had to deal with three foes at once.
After the fist fighter came his sword- and lance-wielding friends.
Shadow Assassin attacked.
But Ren guarded the attack!
11 counterattack damage dealt to Shadow Assassin!
Shadow Assassin attacked.
Ren guarded the attack, taking 21 damage.
11 counterattack damage dealt to Shadow Assassin!
“Ngh!”
Darn it. They’re breaking my guard, even through my Enfeebling Circle!
As lances were two-handed weapons, they had higher guard break than most others. At this rate, Maeda would end up healing me and taking aggro.
I’d better start building up some aggro from the lance guy!
After taking in my current situation, Akira and the others set about attacking the assassin with the staff.
“Haaah!”
A slash from Skyfall sent a shockwave toward him. As it passed by the Shadow Assassins who had attacked me, it closed in on the staff-wielder in the back.
Akira and Akabane stood on either side of him, sandwiching him in.
Between their one-handed and two-handed sword attacks, their hit rate was pretty good. About 70% of their attacks were hitting their mark.
Though he had a much higher level, the staff-wielder was a back-line kinda guy, so his evasion was rather low.
Yano’s gunshots also nullified evasion, so they were hitting every time.
Guns really are some of the best weapons out there.
But the one putting in the most work was none other than Kataoka.
“Scapegoat! Shadow Walk!”
The aggro-switching skill, Scapegoat, came with a damage bonus. Right after, he’d used a damage bonus and concealment skill called Shadow Walk. Stacking these together, he added in an Art that increased damage even more when attacking from behind.
“Backstab!”
With his shortsword in a reverse grip, Kataoka leapt into the air and thrust his fist at his foe.
Shinichi activated Backstab.
Dealt 1,007 damage to Shadow Assassin!
Oooh! He dealt some sick damage! Imagine landing a four-digit wallop without spending all your hard-earned cash!
Thanks to the two sword dancers in our party, Kataoka didn’t have to wait long to use Scapegoat and Shadow Walk again.
“I’ll handle this,” Akabane said. “Sword Samba!”
He attacked normally for some time to build up AP before firing off his combo again.
“Scapegoat! Shadow Walk! Backstab!”
Shinichi activated Backstab.
Dealt 1,011 damage to Shadow Assassin!
Then came Akira’s own Sword Samba.
Shinichi activated Backstab.
Dealt 1,024 damage to Shadow Assassin!
Nice! Our sword dancers’ duet made the rotation quick as a flash. As long as I could hold out, we could do this!
Meanwhile, back to my three-on-one situation.
Shadow Assassin attacked.
But Ren guarded the attack!
11 counterattack damage dealt to Shadow Assassin!
Shadow Assassin attacked.
But Ren guarded the attack!
11 counterattack damage dealt to Shadow Assassin!
Shadow Assassin attacked.
But Ren guarded the attack!
11 counterattack damage dealt to Shadow Assassin!
Shadow Assassin attacked.
Ren guarded the attack, taking 24 damage.
11 counterattack damage dealt to Shadow Assassin!
This was the result of guarding against the knuckles, the sword, and the lance in that order. The damage I took was continuing to add up over time. I moved carefully so that no two blows would land at once, continuing to stave off attacks by guarding.
Still, the lancer’s attacks hurt. He was consistently breaking my guard, leaving me with about 400 HP.
“Do you need healing, Takashiro?”
“No, not yet!”
If Maeda healed me now, she would be overcome by enemies.
The fighter and swordsman were still accumulating aggro from Revenge Blast, so even if she topped up my HP, there was a chance they’d stay locked on me. However, the lancer would almost definitely go after her.
Aggro—essentially, enemy hostility—increases the more you deal damage to enemies and decreases when they deal damage to you.
Between my counterattacks and the lancer’s guard break, his guard break was winning out. In short, the aggro resulting from my counterattacks was being canceled out completely by the decrease in aggro caused by his guard break.
The only reason the lancer was even attacking me now was because he had targeted me at the start of the battle. If anyone else built up aggro, he would immediately switch targets. We had to avoid that at all costs!
To that end, I continued to wait for the perfect opportunity to grab all the aggro I could from the lancer. I had a feeling it would come soon enough.
The counterattack damage from Revenge Blast wouldn’t build up AP, so the fighter and swordsman should have had 0 AP. But the lancer was building up AP from guard break, so he would have some unknown amount of AP.
Finally, the time came.
Shadow Assassin prepares to unleash Spinning Charge!
I was waiting for just that to appear in my log! Thanks to the Parry Ring I’d borrowed from Yano, my AP bar was more than ready!
“Windmill!”
Facing away from the lancer, I activated Windmill and leapt high into the air. As he activated Spinning Charge, the assassin whizzed through the spot where I’d been standing.
Windmill causes the user to jump slightly forward along with the high jump, so my jump drew an arc somewhat parallel to the lancer’s Spinning Charge.
In that moment, some distance opened up between the lancer and his two allies. I was a little closer to the lancer.
Lance Arts are often some variation on a forward charge. Knowing this, I had calculated my actions to separate my foes.
I immediately began casting a magic circle.
“Enervating Circle!”
I made it pretty wide to empty my MP bar before running to the lancer.
“Maeda, I’m gonna use Dead End! Change to Equipment Set B!”
This changed my weapon to Canesword, allowing me to use Dead End!
“Dead End!”
Ren activated Dead End.
Dealt 2,622 damage to Shadow Assassin!
Immediately after, Maeda used her healing magic to give me back a huge chunk of HP. But thanks to all the aggro I’d built up with Dead End, the enemy’s target did not change.
All right, I’ve got aggro for good now! We can totally keep this up!
I re-equipped my Fanatic’s Staff, continuing to parry in the same basic pattern.
Can’t forget to evade the lancer’s Art using Windmill, of course.
Once Akira and the others finally defeated the staff-wielder, they dragged the sword-and-board guy out and whaled on him. After that, they downed the fighter and then the lancer.
We’d finally defeated all four of them.
“Nice, we won! Good job, everybody!”
Akira was all smiles. “Yeah, we did it!”
“The four of them posed a lot of trouble,” said Maeda. “It’s a good thing there were six of us.”
“Heheheh. Delicious EXP!” cheered Yano.
Now Akira and I were level 40, Maeda was level 41, and Yano was level 42. We just kept moving on up!
Akabane and Kataoka were now levels 44 and 41, respectively.
“Lady Nozomi, we’ve done it!”
“With us in the party, a level difference means little. I must say, you did a fine job."
“Aww yeah! I’ll treasure those words forever, my lady!”
“Seriously, Kataoka, you did the most damage out of all of us. Thanks to you, we were able to get rid of one guy right away and control the rest.”
“Heh. Pretty impressive, right? I’m a full-fledged follower. When the going gets tough, I get going.”
“That being said, the MVP was clearly Takashiro for his ability to sustain an outnumbered fight. But that’s no surprise from someone who was able to defeat me.”
“Ooh, I got a shout-out! Nice!”
“Okay, buddy, calm down. It’s lootin’ time.” Akira yanked on my sleeve.
Indeed, once we’d finished off our foes, they had left a big treasure chest behind.
“Doesn’t look like it’s trapped.”
“I’d say you’re right.”
We’d been given the go-ahead by our rogue and sky pirate.
“All right. Wanna open it for us, Akira?”
She was our Lady Luck, after all. I trusted in her ability to roll something good.
“Okay! I’m on it.”
Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump.
My heart drummed against my ribcage. Popping open a treasure chest was the highlight of any MMORPG!
Akira opened the treasure chest!
There was a Nurse Ring in the treasure chest!
There was a Rush Ring in the treasure chest!
Ooh, so we got two accessories.
Nurse Ring
Type: Accessory
Level: 40
Effect: Whoever equips this ring gains the ability to use healing magic.
This is the same effect as the talent Master’s Scroll (Healing Magic).
Rush Ring
Type: Accessory
Level: 40
Effect: Whoever equips this ring gains the ability to learn striking skills.
This is the same effect as the talent Master’s Scroll (Martial Artist - Strikes).
“Dang, this is great! You’re my Lady Luck, Akira!”
“Heh! Yeah, yeah. This is a pretty good haul!”
“With that one, Takashiro, you should be able to expand the scope of your abilities.”
“Heck yeah. For grinding mobs and big scuffles, you might as well have been invisible. But now you can help just fine!”
“We came only to offer our aid. You all are free to use your spoils as you please."
“If Lady Nozomi says so, I have no objections!”
“All right, Ren. Take it away.”
Akira’s command was followed up by scattered agreement from the group.
Wow. They’re all so considerate. I’m tearing up over here!
“Thanks, everybody! I can’t wait to use it.”
Thus, I decided to take the Rush Ring from the loot chest!
Man, I wanted this so bad!
“Wait, that one?!”
Suddenly, everyone jumped on me.
“Huh? Uh, something wrong with that?”
“I-I thought you would go for the Nurse Ring instead!”
“Yeah, what she said! You gotta find some use for your ridiculously high MP, right?!”
Maeda’s and Yano’s cries of disbelief gave me pause.
“Oh, I get it. I usually have to waste my MP all at once, and I’m ridiculously weak when it comes to clearing mobs. Working as a sub-healer would help patch up my weak points during times like that.”
“Then why’d you choose that one, man? Healing magic is top-tier for boosting your follower power!”
You’re going to have to explain what follower power is before you even begin to get through to me.
Even Kataoka seemed doubtful about my decision.
“Well, duh. I’m not the kind of guy to worry about my weaknesses. I’d rather build on my strengths!”
“So you picked Rush Ring to amplify your strengths? C’mon, tell us how!” Akira was suddenly on the edge of her seat.
This kind of thing happened time and time again. Whenever I came up with an idea Akira hadn’t thought of, she was always dying to hear my explanation. It made telling her about it feel pretty darn satisfying.
“Well, get this: striking techniques scale based on VIT, and they also ignore evasion! The only downside is that striking Arts cost HP.”
There are as many martial arts techniques as there are stars in the sky, so their abilities are divided into four categories: punches, kicks, throws, and strikes. Those who choose martial artist as their class can pick any two of the four to start. The other two have to be acquired through talents or equipment.
Yukino’s techniques from the tournament were kicks, by the way. Wielding a weapon and striking out with her feet gave her a wide range of potential attacks. An extremely useful addition, indeed.
The most popular choices are probably punches and kicks. Almost all martial artists choose punches as one of their mains. As for kicking, many other classes need it for their sub-class.
Throws come after these two. This category includes joint-locking techniques and the like, allowing players to get some pretty sick results through debuffs.
Dead last, of course, is strikes. No doubt about it. As for why, it’s because the damage scales off of VIT. Striking involves shoulder charges, tackles, and other similar moves. It’d hurt more if the guy rushing at you was super bulky and heavy, so that’s probably why they chose VIT.
Only tanks really care about raising their VIT, so they’re the only ones who can use strikes effectively. That said, though, even tanks don’t want strikes in their arsenal because the Arts consume HP. Tanks are meant to absorb enemy attacks and live on; they exist to be meat shields. Taking that into consideration, anything that involves lowering one’s own HP is just too risky. It’s essentially exchanging HP for the ability to ignore evasion, and tanks just aren’t willing to pay that price.
Normal strike attacks don’t reduce HP, but if you’re just planning to use normal attacks, then kicks are the better choice; the attacks flow into one another much more seamlessly. Also, there’s far more variety in kicking animations, making it the superior choice either way.
Strike attacks are just one-off hurling moves, leaving way too much of an opening between each one.
But all this worked out perfectly for me! I was no tank—just a guy who put all his points into VIT. My ultimate lowered my HP to 1 anyway, so the Arts weren’t a problem. Without the ability to ignore evasion, all my attacks missed just about anything. But the power of my ultimates was far and away the most dramatic drama cannon!
Hello, developers? It’s me, Ren. I’d just like to thank you!
Anyway, I had the perfect setup to ignore the drawbacks and reap all the benefits of the striking technique. Most importantly, I could actually hit my targets with normal striking attacks!
Was this not incredible progress? I’d always wanted one of my normal attacks to connect, even if it was just once!
Naturally, there were also plenty of new Arts to be learned. My drama cannon could evolve beyond my wildest dreams!
To be honest, I’d had my eyes on this path for a while. In fact, part of my decision to throw everything into VIT was because I’d hoped to take up strikes one day.
The unpopular hidden weapons, and the unpopular striking techniques... Multiply two negatives, and what do you get? A positive!
I passionately explained all this to Akira.
My dream had finally come true when she popped open that treasure chest. They’d given me a choice, but that choice had already been made long ago.
Actually, I’d been planning on studying hard for my next test so I could earn the talent. Pretty lucky for me to get it ahead of schedule!
“Cool! Then I guess you could say you struck gold, eh?” Yano grinned.
“Yeah, exactly!”
Akira smiled awkwardly. “Hahaha... Uh, not much I can say when your eyes are all sparkly like that, heh.”
“Right... Well, I have no need for it either, so it’s not a big deal,” Maeda said.
“Same. But aren’t you the one who can make the most use of the Nurse Ring too, Ren?”
“Nah. I’m perfectly satisfied with the Rush Ring. You should take the Nurse Ring, Yano. You’ll be pretty close to being a paladin again.”
“Me? Well, I guess Akki and Kotomi can both heal already.”
When equipping Master’s Scroll (Healing Magic), even a class like sky pirate that doesn't use MP gets half of an MP bar so it can work like other healers. All you gotta do is equip it, and it should work out.
Yano was originally a paladin, and now she wouldn’t have to buy her own scrolls to relearn healing magic.
“Go for it. With healing abilities, you’ll be able to do a lot more solo content.”
“Then shall we have Yuuna take it?” Maeda asked.
“Yeah. If I ever desperately need it, you could just let me borrow it.”
“Okay! Then I’ll take the Nurse Ring.”
Not long after we’d decided who got what loot, the airship arrived at its destination. I was overjoyed to have my Rush Ring, but we still needed to accomplish our original goal.
It was time to resume our search for Princess Lieliz!