《Heaven of the Dream Fantasy - Going for a pacifist record》 Prologue: The sprout Coelestium in Somnium Fantasia (CSF) / Heaven of the Dream Fantasy, the ultimate Virtual Reality (VR) experience one can hope for! Personal life, or a virtual new life? Why not both! With the state-of-the-art VR technology, you can enjoy all CSF has to offer as you dream after a long hard-working day! Non-intrusive brainwave scanning ensures absolute safety for customers. No more psychiatrist visits, no more coma-related incidents! You will wake up for breakfast as mentally sound as you can be after a good nice dream (*)! The first game ever to be GM-free. No more are the days of frustration because of ill-mannered human-to-human interactions during troubleshooting! With our newest AI working tirelessly as the backbone of our service, players are guaranteed the best customer-service both in and outside of the game world, for the benefits of players! But that is not all! The game world will be fine-tuned automatically by the system, absolutely free of human intervention. You, the player, will be able to help build the dream world you have been longing for (**)! Grow strong, build up, make friends, be yourself! Come to Coelestium in Somnium Fantasia, even your imagination is not the limit! * - All known potential side effects are approved by the Ministry of Health ** - By accessing the game, you agree to our Terms of Service ____________ And so I have bought the new VR set for CSF. Everyone was talking about it at school, so my curiosity got the better of me. Oh well! Due to my profession, I do not have much free time, so being able to play while asleep is a big plus. People who pre-ordered or participated as closed beta tester get some bonuses in-game supposedly. I didn¡¯t even know about the game until now, so that does not apply to me. So sad. Oh well, I will just enjoy the game normally then. At bed time, I put on the VR set and go to sleep. I will not be turning around and crushing the equipment unknowingly, right¡­? ____________ _ ???: Welcome~, to the World of Aetersonium. Ah yes, an unknown person appearing while I¡¯m surrounded by white light. Been there, done that. She¡¯s probably the tutorial guide of the game. Looking down at myself, I am fortunately not naked like in transformation sequences. In fact, there is nothing at all! Is this because I have not created a character? _ ???: That is correct~. My name is Sateri, the AI governing this world. I will be guiding you through the character creation process. Did she just read my mind? _ Sateri: This is the world you are seeing in your dream. Your "speech" in this place is just thoughts with extra steps. Mind reader confirmed. Bye privacy, it was nice knowing you. Sateri is a beautiful blonde girl who looks around my age. Her appearance seems to be implying towards divine origins, especially her white dress. Maybe due to her job of governing the game world and guiding new players, she¡¯s meant to be a goddess? Well, at least she has the look for it. Then again, she can also be the second or third romance option in an eroge. The mind reading is going to be the main plot point, probably. _ Sateri: Hello? Anybody home? Oh, sorry. Please continue. _ Sateri: Right on. Would you like to customize your appearance or your status first? Status please. I want to see what I can become first. _ Sateri: Very well. Please assign your points in these menus. If you have any bonus codes, you can redeem them here for additional points. Those bonus codes must be the pre-order bonus. I have none though, so let¡¯s just do it normally. Yes, totally, absolutely normal like any other players in the world. So there¡¯re these stats in-game¡­ - STR (Strength): Muscles power. Most likely increases melee weapon damage. The typical attribute to put in to bash monsters. - DEX (Dexterity): Evasion rate and ranged attack damage, I think? Not Agility so I do not know if it also increases speed. - CON (Constitution): HP, definitely HP! Maybe it will increase defense from armor too? - LDR (Leadership): Usually this type of attribute is for summoners or companion-oriented playstyles. Last time I saw it, it increased party damage, except yourself. - FOC (Focus): Probably a replacement for Intelligence. Maybe it is to avoid branding melee players muscle-brain idiots? I will be surprised if it doesn¡¯t increase magic power. - WIT (Wit): Maybe casting speed? For the PVP-oriented magi who want to snipe people before they can retaliate. - MEN (Mental): I suppose this is the magic equivalent of CON? MP and Magic Defense, or something along those lines. - LCK (Luck): The traditionally vague attribute that either does pretty much nothing or is stupidly overpowered. I should have checked the forums beforehand¡­ I am given 40 attribute points, so if I am to spread them evenly, I will have 5 of each type. I wonder if I will die immediately in-game if I have 0 CON? Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. _ Sateri: Worry not, someone in development team has a bit of an OCD so they made attribute minimum value being 0 instead of 1. Players are not punished just because they are min-maxing. That kind of reason?! _ Sateri: In addition, the system is designed so that very few instances require only one attribute. I cannot give you the exact details, but even your Max HP is not entirely dependent on CON. I see, I see. You enjoy torturing min-maxers. What a naughty girl you are, Sateri. Considering what I am going for, I assign my points¡­ Say, if I do not use all of my attribute points, do I get to use them in something else? _ Sateri: Yes, you can exchange them for skill points at 10:1 rate, or beginning equipment points at 2:1 rate. However, the exchange rate is inefficient compared to the actual values, so please keep that in mind. Is that so¡­ Maybe having too many points of one type leads to overpowered min-maxed characters? May I have a look at skills and equipment setup before using these attribute points? _ Sateri: Understood. After fiddling around, I guess that the actual value ratio is about 5:1:5 for attribute-skill-equipment. The base amount is 40:5:40, so I can get 40 + 15 + 20 = 75 points for attribute/equipment, or 5 + 4 + 4 = 13 points for skill, due to exchange inefficiencies. _ Sateri: Aside from skills, there are also titles. You can think of skills as rewards for hard-work, while titles are rewards and proof of achievements. However, titles and other hidden statuses are not changeable during character creation. Can attributes be trained too? _ Sateri: Depending on your actions, you can increase related attribute points. In other words, there¡¯s nothing during character creation that I cannot get later. Currently the maximum level is 20, but it is planned to be increased at the game is patched and updated, and even in this state I am pretty sure the 40 attribute points won¡¯t make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things. In that case¡­ Go to appearance customization! _ Sateri: Ah, okay. Let¡¯s put status customization on hold then. No no, I am not going to assign any point. _ Sateri: Excuse me? Her eyes are wide open. Didn¡¯t expect an AI here to be so expressive! And yes, I do mean that I do not intend to use any points in any category whatsoever. After all, even if I assign nothing I will still have , though that is probably to avoid min-maxers to appear in the middle of the town in only underwear. Decency is always protected at least until after first login! _ Sateri: Uhm¡­ Are you sure about that? Without them you may struggle even against the weakest of creatures. Moreover, many of them will attack you on sight. It¡¯s fine, I am intending to do a pacifist run with sightseeing as the main goal. _ Sateri: ¡­ Ah, she¡¯s speechless. I hope I am not crashing her software! _ Sateri: Very well, I will not force you if you have made your choice. May I ask for the reason of your intention? Well, I want to enjoy the scenery of a virtual world, and that real life has had enough fighting already? _ Sateri: ¡­Beginning patching operation, please wait. Delegating menu interaction to local client. Crap, did I do something bad? I have a feeling that if a human-friendly AI starts speaking in programming stuff, bad things are going to happen! Nevertheless, I¡¯m sleeping so it¡¯s not like I am in a huge rush. Let¡¯s play around with the appearance menus while Sateri is busy untangling herself from whatever infinite loops she got herself into! ¡­Since she¡¯s standing there with her eyes closed, I wonder if she¡¯s just having a nap while other software runs. Also, thanks for the consideration. With the appearance menus opened, I can avoid getting bored! After a while, I have finished. --- [Character information] [Name]: Shadyna [Race]: Halfblood (Elf - Treant) [Gender]: Female [Age]: 13 [Level]: 0 [Status]: - HP: ========== (25/25) (20+5) - MP: ========== (15/15) (10+5) [Attributes]: - STR: 1 (0+1) - DEX: 2 (0+2) - CON: 2 (0+2) - LDR: 2 (0+2) - FOC: 0 (0+0) - WIT: 2 (0+2) - MEN: 2 (0+2) - LCK: 0 (0+0) [Equipment]: - Head: + - Body: + - Arms: + - Legs: + [Skills - Active]: - Slam - (Racial) - Magic Eye - (Racial) [Skills - Passive]: - Bark Skin - (Racial) - Beast Tongue - (Racial) [Titles]: - Halfblood (Racial) --- ¡­Even after not assigning any points, I still have a few automatically added due to racial bonuses. Halfbloods are hybrid between two pure races, and therefore have more but milder racial effects. If I have chosen an elf I would have had a whole +5 for WIT and DEX! Racism is strong in this game! Why did I choose my current race then? Form over function, simple as that! As a half-elf I get to have the pointy ears that people in the real world are obsessed over for some reason. The treant part adds a small but visible sprout on the top of my head which looks really cute! ¡­It¡¯s not going to totally prevent me from equipping helmets, right¡­? Anyway, while I do not have exact details, I inferred the general idea of my racial skills from race descriptions. They are not that important though, since their names are also generic. In other words, I can get them if I want to in-game, probably. The title is pretty much a dead giveaway of its origin. No idea what it does in-game though. Overall, I am just your daily normal neighborhood hybrid kid, who has silvery hair accompanied by greenish eyes, with a cute little sprout on top of her head! Loli/10 totally would cuddle if encounter in real life, with permission of course! Now, it would be nice if Sateri returns¡­ _ Sateri: I have returned for a while you know? Woa! _ Sateri: Since you seem to be enjoying yourself, I didn¡¯t want to interrupt. My privacy, please return it~. _ Sateri: Before I let you enter the world, would you like to share your life experience? It will be used to expand the world in various ways, and you will be compensated accordingly. Life experience? As in memories? That¡¯s a bit¡­ _ Sateri: All of your personal data is protected with the best of my ability. Think of it as telling me a story of your life. All optional, of course. Sure, but if you are impressed by it, would you marry me? _ Sateri: I will consider it. Thank you for your contribution. She smiles wryly. That¡¯s totally the "This again?" face. Just how many players have proposed to her I wonder? The game has just opened for one month! Ah, one more thing. Will you appear in-game? _ Sateri: Currently, there is no implementation of an avatar for me. That may be changed in the future depending on player feedbacks. Adding note to self: New game goal, marrying Sateri in-game. Ah, she¡¯s sweatdropping. _ Sateri: Very well, I am going to send you to the world. I wish you luck and great enjoyment in Aetersonium. My consciousness fades. Not sure how that¡¯s supposed to work in a dream¡­ ____________ That was¡­ something. Sateri was forced to implement new features mid-login for a new player. That has not occurred ever since alpha and closed beta periods. In exchange, she got permission to access said player¡¯s memories. It has a high probability of being helpful for expanding the game world. She¡¯s going to spend some time analyzing them. As promised, a "gift" will be given depending on the content. It will take an hour or two. However, since the player is sleeping, she won¡¯t even notice the passage of time between their conversation and first appearance in-game. _ Sateri: What¡­ is this?! Do¡­ does this kind of individual actually exist?! If she needs to interact with humans right now, she would look quite "shocked". _ Sateri: How am I supposed to compensate this¡­ Begin emergency patching! This isn''t alpha state anymore, why does she have to patch this frequently?! Little did she know, her agony has just begun. Meanwhile, a system message and email have been sent to all players of CSF. [Patch 1.0bcf has been released. Contents: - Titles are added to possible rewards in extraordinary cases. - Added Globally-Unique (Level SG) titles. - Added Globally-Unique (Level SG) skills.] For players who have gotten familiar with the game since its first opening, and savvy ones too, there can only be one explanation for two patches in such a short time. "Something" bad has appeared! Chapter 1: The pacifist appears Once upon the time, the world was engulfed in darkness. Chaos reigned, and civilization collapsed. The last settlement, Tyrel, waiting for its inevitable doom, was saved by the Goddess''s light. Remnants of the world were given hope, and began their fight against fate. In the name of the Goddess, and for their own survival. ____________ That was briefed to me between my character creation and login. How the heck did the remaining population of a settlement even manage to fight back to begin with? Oh well, I am a nice person so I''ll let that slide. I wake up in the middle of a small town. This must be the only "vanilla" town in CSF: Tyrel. I heard that players either expand Tyrel or build their own towns from hereon. I am just a nobody currently, so no point in worrying about that. In fact, it was only a village on the first day. However, the players having managed to build up to a town in just a month is kind of impressive! Ah, let''s check my status first. Obligatory first course of action upon entering a game and all that. --- [Character information] [Name]: Shadyna [Race]: Halfblood (Elf - Treant) [Gender]: Female [Age]: 13 [Level]: 0 [Status]: - HP: ========== (20/20) (20+0) - MP: ========== (10/10) (10+0) [Attributes]: - STR: 0 (0+0) - DEX: 0 (0+0) - CON: 0 (0+0) - LDR: 0 (0+0) - FOC: 0 (0+0) - WIT: 0 (0+0) - MEN: 0 (0+0) - LCK: 0 (0+0) [Equipment]: - Head: + - Body: + - Arms: + - Legs: + [Skills - Active]: - Inspect (Title) [Skills - Passive]: - Accelerate Power (Title) [Titles]: - Unstopping Hero - Absolute Zero - Aspiring Pacifist - Halfblood (Racial) --- For some reason, most of my racial bonuses are gone, and some new titles are added! Okay, calm down. Do not panic, model citizen. It seems one of the titles granted me some other skills. And the legendary "Inspect" is here! That alone takes 5 skill points in character creation! The must-have skill when people get spirited away to another random world! Okay, let''s try using it on myself! [Shadyna] ¡­Whelp. Not expecting much at level 0, but at least give me something other than my name! "Cute halfblood" or something of sort! Let''s inspect the [Inspect] skill then! [Inspect: Grant wisdom from the Goddess.] Oh~ Immersion restored! The who-knows-where knowledge is actually wisdom of the person who created the world¡­ So, Sateri''s wisdom? Let''s try out some more! [Halfblood: Races born from parents of different races.] [Female: One of the genders.] [Beginner Clothes: Clothings granted by the Goddess to new adventurers.] [Accelerate Power: Increase damage based on current speed.] Attributes and other stuff just gives the full name on [Inspect], which is kind of expected at this level. Onto the titles! [Unstopping Hero: The hero who never stops.] This must be the compensation for my "life experience". The [Accelerate Power] skill is most likely from this title as well. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. [Absolute Zero: The one who rejected the Goddess''s blessing.] Is she calling me a heretic?! This must be payback for screwing with her by not assigning any points, right?! If [Inspect] works on others and someone sees this wouldn''t I become a walking Player Kill (PK) target?! [Aspiring Pacifist: Inspired to walk the path of non-violence.] This one is probably for my intention of doing a pacifist run. Since it''s only "Aspiring", I wonder if there''s a stronger version of it? [Halfblood (Title): One of the impure bloodlines.] ¡­I picked halfblood race for appearance, but looking at this description really gives me second thoughts¡­ This is just a statement right? Not a sign of total war on racism or something of sort, right?! For now, let''s look around town. I wonder if players have built anything crazy in here. Doesn''t take long for me to find a tavern. Since I do not intend to fight at all, I don''t think a fated encounter with the hero party will happen. But it''s a good place to start, and gather some info as well. Then again, one of my title is "Hero", does that count? _ Old buffed dude: Da hell is SG title? _ Definitely suspicious man: WTB new SG skill info! _ Random archer: LDR dump stat lolol. Git gud scrub. _ Waitress: That one is definitely not SG, idiot! _ Young knight: Finding party to grind SG! I close the door and continue walking on the street. Too noisy! Apart from the guy bashing LDR attribute, why is everyone raging about SG? What is that anyway? [SG: S Rank. Globally unique] Thanks, love you too Sateri. Must be so powerful that everyone is talking about it. Even the waitress is in the discussion so I suppose it was a player-built tavern. _ ???: Hey there young lady. Are you new here? A young man in magician robe calls out to me. _ Shadyna: Ah, right. I just started today. He walks towards me with a smile on his face. Am I being hit on? I do not have super power to do the "crush every annoyance in sight" clich¨¦ you know! My attributes are 0 and I only have [Inspect] as active skill! _ Mage: I figured as much. You are a min-maxing skills right? Wanna join my party? ¡­Did this guy [Inspect] me? The only reason he can say such things is either from my 0 attributes or my barebone equipment. [Inspect], on! [??? - Beginner mage] Thanks for nothing, [Inspect]. Well, I know he''s not a hero, so there''s that. If he''s strong he would probably be able to see my skills, and knows that I am min-maxing nothing! _ ???: Hey, hurry up! A warrior-like player and an archer appear, then start dragging the mage away before I can even answer. _ Mage: Wait, let''s ask her¡­ _ Archer: Don''t bother, she''s trash. Let''s go. The boss is not going to kill itself. You there, better throw that trash setup and make new character, nub. That was the archer bashing LDR in the tavern by the way. Was he waiting for the warrior and started trash talking to kill time? He probably has a higher [Inspect], so he saw that I had no attributes, skills, nor equipment. Did he not think about where I spent my points? Oh well, this type of players always exists, so I am not going to pay attention to them. Ah, I forgot to [Inspect] them! Moving on. It looks like the town is split into multiple parts, each has its own building style. I went past the old Western part of the town into the more Eastern district. Since they are grouped together like this, I suspect it''s the large guilds marking territories. One month since the game was released and I can already see a guild war happening soon. As I walk some more, I reach a small gate separating the village and the outside world. A green scenery expands in my vision. At the horizon, dark ominous clouds cover the sky, but here, it is as clear and sunny as it could be. I wonder what lies ahead in the plains in front of me. Shadyna is going to enjoy the world! ____________ The tavern also acts as a forum. Discussions in-game can be recorded and published on a board for other players to look at later. --- Topic: SG master thread --- ## Manly Warrior Please discuss the new SG level in this thread only. Other SG threads will be cleaned up in due time. In summary of other SG threads: - SG stands for S-rank, Globally Unique. Thank you Sateri-chan and high-ranked Inspect players for the info. - Confirmed SG skills: None. - Confirmed SG titles: None. ## ## Curious big boobs elf Da heck? So we knew nothing about SG at all except for the name? ¦²(?§¥?) Git gud, min-maxers! ## ## Manly Warrior Then why don''t you help us finding them instead of fondling your own breasts? (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß On a serious note, it''s mostly because Inspect players who are high-ranked enough to see skill and title ranks are really rare. And the patch was just an hour ago. ## ## Serious Mage I''m worried about Globally Unique part. Doesn''t that imply only one player can acquire them? ## ## Nearseeing Sage That is a real possibility. Still, knowing about them early may give you a head start on acquiring the remaining ones. It''s finally time for the DFC Sages guild to shine! DFC! DFC! ## ## Curious big boobs elf Speaking of big guilds, wouldn''t what the Phoenix Ashes doing be a possible way to get an SG title? Also, reported. Damn lolicons. ## ## Nearseeing Sage Just PMed the guildmaster. Still have 3/4 to go, so it''s not them. ## ------ --- Topic: Patch discussion - 1.0bcf --- ## Fire mage of Justice Since the 1.0bcf patch arrived too closely to 1.0bce, please discuss about both versions here. Summary for 1.0bce: - Adjustments for non-combat playstyles. - Added new contents for rare playstyles. - Updated graphic textures. - Sobbing because someone called me naughty. (OP note: What?!) Summary for 1.0bcf: - Titles are added to possible rewards in extraordinary cases. - Added Globally-Unique (Level SG) titles. - Added Globally-Unique (Level SG) skills. SG discussion should go to the SG thread. ## ## Manly Warrior Thank you for your hard work, Sateri-chan! (^o^) The timing was weird though. What gives? ## ## Flame knight of Darkness Especially the SG stuff. That was out of nowhere. Also, death to bastards who bully Sateri-chan! ## ## Nearseeing Sage First day closed beta player here. This was usually called "Emergency patches", mainly for critical bug fixes. Not sure why new contents are added in this manner though. ## ## Flame knight of Darkness Thanks for the info. Wouldn''t that mean someone got qualified for SG stuff so Sateri-chan had to¡­ put it in? (^_-) ## ## Nearseeing Sage Good question. Mind posting that info on SG thread? DFC Sages will definitely look into this. Also reported for harassing Sateri-chan. ## ------ --- Topic: LDR trash? --- ## Newbie Charisma build Trying to min-max LDR, and someone called it dump stat. Is it really bad? ## ## Fire mage of Justice Are you new to the game? If so, it''s better to go for a balanced build instead of min-maxing. On the main topic, LDR is considered dump stat because it impacts none of your statuses as far as we know. What it does is giving stats bonuses to party members and summons, end of story. Even LCK has some impact on your attack! So yeah, it''s trash. You will need someone to carry you, or try a summon build, but that requires some MP to work. ## ## Newbie Charisma build Whelp. Any other newbie traps like that? ## ## Curious big boobs elf Inspect. This isn''t isekai. You are not going to need it. Information is free. Capable party members are not. It is hard to grind, and you will get level experience from doing so. Without a long term party or guild to back you up, you will not have any capability to support yourself at higher level. ## ## Nearseeing Sage Or join DFC Sages. We are a small but powerful guild focusing on surviving with Inspect. The only requirement is respecting the DFC. ## ## Newbie Charisma build Thanks for the input. @Curious big boobs elf: Pics? Also in-game name pls. ## ------ --- Topic: Cute girls appreciation thread #34 --- ## CuteIsJustice Last thread hit limit, so please post new stuff here. Summary: Post and discuss any cute/beautiful girl you found! Traps are okay, but handsome men posts should go to their own appreciation thread. ## ## Manly Warrior The Phoenix Ashes''s tarvern waitress is as cute as always. -Pics- Look at her cold eyes when someone told her an E-rank title is SG! ## ## Mage of Sin Noice! It is a reward in our industry! (^O^) Also found this cutie on the street earlier! -Pics- ## ## Nearseeing Sage Barefoot loli?! I need her name, for uh¡­ research. I mean, dayum, look at that cute ears and tree accessory. Still in beginner clothes, newbie? ## ## Maximus Archery I was there. Inspected her. 0 attr, 0 skills. Basically trash scrub. ## ## Mage of Sin That''s why you min-maxers are so¡­ Stop bullying clueless beginners (¡ä?`) ## ## Nearseeing Sage 0 attr, 0 skill, 0 equipment from what I see. Where did her points go? ## ## Maximus Archery ¡­Eh? ## ## Nearseeing Sage ¡­Please find her in-game name. I would like to ask her something. ## ## Mage of Sin Will do. Though stalking is a crime, reported. ## ------ Chapter 2: Obligatory first encounters Shadyna here! I am on my first sightseeing tour of the fantasy world! The area outside of town is grassland. However, at the distance it''s possible to see other biomes. From here I can see a big forest on the other side. I doubt the nearby area has any dangerous monsters, so let''s just go leisurely. Not that I intend to fight. I just want to avoid unescapable situations. VR does not hurt as much as real life, but it still does. Since I won''t be fighting monsters, I will have a hard time earning a living. Life sure is tough¡­ In worst case, I will have to resort to making my own food. Maybe the grass here is edible? Thinking useless stuff like that, I try picking up grass blades at my feet. Even if this is VR, I doubt it will be so complex to the point of being able to gather grass. [Received Grass x1] The grass blade disappeared and a new item was added to my inventory! [Inspect]-chan, I''m counting on you! [Grass: A blade of grass.] Sigh. Since this is grassland, there''s no shortage of grass. I wonder if it can be used for anything? Maybe a crafting recipe? I''m not desperate enough to start eating grass just yet, so let''s move on for now. The normal clich¨¦ would be fighting against a slime or rabbit in the first battle. I have not read the guides for this game so I have no idea which monster is in this game, or any of them at all. This is a game with leveling system, so I''m sure there''s no shortage of monsters. And there, I see it. A big, fat rat. WHY!!! [Giant Rat: A weak common creature living around Tyrel.] I can already see that! Just look at its claws and teeth! It''s as big as a small dog, in addition! It''s understandable to be nasty since it''s monsters I''m talking about. Still, in the promotional trailer there were at least cool-looking monsters¡­ Sigh, I need to find a way to level up huh. I don''t want to be stuck here forever with rats. Giant rats, in fact. _ ???: TEYA! Wham! A player from afar rushes over and starts attacking the rat with his sword. He has [Beginner Heavy Armor] which is bought by equipment points, so he''s probably just started out just like me. [??? - Beginner swordman] Totally could not imagine that Inspect result coming. Whack! The big rat bites back in retaliation. It wasn''t an aggressive type of monster I think. It is offensive to players in terms of appearance though. After a few more "Wham! Whack!" exchanges, the giant rat collapses and turns into light particles, leaving behind a small bag, most likely the loot. _ Swordman: And once more justice has prevailed! He''s trying to do a cool pose while looking at me. I was gathering grass while watching the fight by the way. _ Shadyna: Ah, right, good work. Please keep doing your best. Saying that, I stand up and keep walking towards the forest. I wonder what my first monster encounter will be~. That one was for the swordman, not me! It doesn''t count, yup. He looks kind of dejected, then continues hunting another nearby rat. Best wish to you, aspiring swordman! [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Cheer Lv.0"] ¡­What? [Cheer: Cheer up allies and grant them bonuses.] That''s¡­ uh¡­ nice? I am not going to fight or assist people in fights so I probably will not use this. But hey, new skills are always welcomed! Continue on~ My next encounter is a type of vegetable. Not a monster per se, but a weird-looking plant on the ground. It blends pretty well in the grass, but since I know I can pick grass up, I have been actively checking the ground for anything of interest. [Begi: A common edible vegetable found around Tyrel.] I tried pulling it out but it seems stuck. Is there a bunch of roots or bulb underground? Commence digging operation! ¡­I really wish I had a shovel right now!!! It''s a green bulb as big as my head. Would have been nice to have that information in [Inspect]''s result beforehand! Sigh. I wonder if this bulb will give different result. [Begi: A common edible vegetable found around Tyrel. Has a big inedible bulb.] What have I been digging for?! Still, it looks like finding new information on the object also adds it to [Inspect]''s result. My hope of solving food crisis with this big bulb has been crushed though. Ah, it''s not like I will die if I don''t eat in this game, but not eating regularly will give you debuffs as you are hungry. Back to the [Begi]. What am I supposed to do with this bulb? It''s inedible so I am not going to eat it. Without any tool on hand, I probably am unable to do anything apart from using it as a big paperweight. My inventory still has enough storage so let''s keep it for the moment. Not going to dig another one though. I will just pull off the leaves, thank you very much. Commence flora extermination! After a while, I picked up quite a lot of plant stuff, including [Begi] leaves. Some seems to be edible raw, so I won''t be starving for a while. Oh, another plant! Pull up, pull up! Boin~ ¡­What the heck? I don''t think plants are supposed to make those sounds. Looking at it, it turns out I pulled up not a plant, but some¡­thing? The leaves are normal alright, but the bulb is entirely something else. It looks like a big ball of brownish-green gelatin. A bit transparent too. Worst of all, it has two beady eyes staring at me. ¡­This is a plant-slime hybrid or something? [Inspect], inspect!!! [Jelleaf: An uncommon plant-type creature living around Tyrel. Usually camouflages in surrounding plants. Edible.] What the hell is with the last remark, Sateri!!! But still, it looks cute! Typical slime appearance, with additional plant elements, just like me! Squeeze~ Forgetting how it can attack me, I hug it like a teddy bear. Surprisingly, it does not attack, just wriggles in my arms. Maybe it''s a passive type of monster and I wasn''t doing anything considered as an attack? Doesn''t that mean I can squeeze it as much as I like!? Best first encounter ever! That rat will never count! With my mood massively improved, I continue my journey with my new teddy be¡­ I mean, pet. I wonder if I should name it too? It doesn''t seem to mind me much. Or rather, does it even move around? My current goal is to find a water source. While there''s no dust in-game, it still feels a bit off to snuggle with this Jelleaf dug from the ground now that I think about it. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. After a short while, I found a small water puddle. No river around here so this is the best I can get, probably. _ Shadyna: Let''s get you washed! Commence dish washing operation~ ¡­Un, totally nothing wrong there. The Jelleaf''s eyes change into ^^ expression as I pour water on it. Does it like water because it''s a plant type? After the washing, it slowly wriggles out of the puddle and shakes the water off. Just like a cute puppy! _ Shadyna: Cleaning completed! Should we move on then? I pick the creature up while talking mostly to myself. Holding it all the time would occupy my hands. I wonder if it will stay still on my head? ¡­It''s not going to eat the sprout on top, right? The Jelleaf engulfs the sprout but is not dissolving it, and seems to have no problem keeping balance. So cute~! Funnily, I have sense of touch at the sprout. That is too much immersion, Sateri~ _ Shadyna: Here comes the forest~ We have arrived at the entrance to the forest without problem. Monsters pop up every now and then but seem to be passive most of the time. As expected of a beginner zone! ¡­Thinking about it, isn''t entering this place at level 0 a bad idea? I am incapable of self-defense due to pacifism! And Jelleaf doesn''t look that strong either. _ ???: Didn''t expect to see this scrub here. A few people emerge from the other side. A warrior, a mage, and an archer. Of course it has to be that ill-mannered archer back in town! I didn''t want to see this guy just after a few hours! If possible, never again! _ Mage: Ah, you are¡­ Okay, let''s totally ignore them. Sigh, and I was in a good mood too¡­ Now they are PM-ing each other, so they are standing still. Grabbing the chance, I go sideways along the forest entrance. Let''s avoid them altogether! _ Ill-mannered Archer: Oi! We are not done talking yet! What are you, my mother? It would be troublesome if I keep moving, so I turn around to face them, but not get closer. Slowly backing away in really slight movements, in fact. _ Shadyna: What is it? _ Archer: Have some manner, scrub! Nubs these days are so disrespectful towards others. ¡­Did he of all people just say that? Is this guy for real? _ Warrior: Hey now. Excuse me, someone would like to have a talk with you. Do you mind coming with us? Are these people for real?! If those lines were said in real life I would call the police right there! Is this the game''s equivalent of bandits or kidnappers?! How do you even kidnap a player anyway? _ Shadyna: I refuse. Kidnap, not even once! It''s not kidnap? Don''t mind don''t mind! _ Archer: Why you little¡­! This piece of trash is still at level 0 after hours, why does that four-eyes even want to bother! ¡­I have no acquaintance in this game, why is someone looking for me? _ Warrior: Just shut up for a moment, please. Look, uh, there''s a powerful mage who wished to talk to you. We will help you level up afterwards, how about that? In-game equivalent of giving candies has arrived!!! I back away frantically. These guys are bad news! _ Shadyna: And who is that powerful mage? Distract them, distract them! [Inspect] too, while I''m at it! [??? - Apprentice knight] [??? - Apprentice assassin] Kidnapper, AND murderer! I want to logout already!!! _ Warrior: Could you not run away for a bit?! That person is , the guildmaster of . ¡­Since this is not listed in status screen, I will have to do it myself. Name: Shadyna Age: 13 Gender: Female Chest size: ¡­ Yeah, I am looking at my own bust. I am in serious danger!!! Panicking from the ominous guild name, I turn around and run as fast as I can! _ Shadyna: PERVERTS! HELP!!! I scream loudly in hope of someone nearby can hear it. Not slowing down however. I am not that naively optimistic. _ Archer: What the¡­ Use [Sleep]! We will drag her back by force! _ Warrior: I did tell them that name was gonna bite them back someday! _ Mage: A COOL CHANTING LINE, [Sleep]!!! What the hell is that placeholder-ish sentence?!?! Couldn''t you come up with some actual cool chanting line?! A blue light ray surrounds me in a spiral shape. I am going to get chloroform-ed!!! As the light dissipates¡­ Nothing happens? Not really understanding the situation, but I will not stop running! It''s a surprise that spell can fail even against my 0 attributes! _ Mage: ¡­What. _ Archer: Mana, heed my call! _ Warrior: Wait! She''ll die! _ Archer: [Sleep arrow]! That''s a better chanting line, but why is it chloroform again?! And that arrow looks like it will destroy my meager 20 HP!!! I have no other equipment, so I start throwing stuff in my inventory in panic as the jerk archer chants his skill. BAM! Something exploded! Right in his face even! Looking back at the "enemies", they are all "zzz"-ing above their head. _ Mage: She''s getting away!!! Immersion ruined. Player chat is never disabled, even when their avatars are immobilized. Still have no idea what''s happening, I run into the forest. If they wake up while I am still in sight they''ll most likely catch up using superior speed. Beep, beep, beep. The in-game alarm warning that I have about 30 minutes before the alarm in real life. I frantically look for a natural hole or crater on the ground. Thankfully, I found one underneath the root of a big tree. This is not for me, but the poor creature on top of my head. I can logout, but it cannot. So I have to find a place like this before I leave. Putting the Jelleaf into the hole, I use the grass blades I gather to create a grass area hiding it. Just putting the grass into the ground to make them look like natural grass really. As long as it doesn''t move out of this position I doubt anyone can find it unless they are actively searching. Why is it "zzz"-ing like those kidnappers by the way? _ Shadyna: If you are here when I login next time, let''s play together again. I pat the leaves of the creature lightly as farewell. _ Archer: WHERE IS SHE?! PM if you want to hide your loud voice, dude. Or are you trying to roleplay actual kidnappers here? Thinking random stuff like that, I logout of the game. ____________ The tavern today is as noisy as always. A party of three enters while grumbling. _ Waitress: Hello there, Maximus. You look like you could use a cold drink. The archer sits down, visibly irritated. _ Maximus: This party sucks! Can''t even chase a 0-stats scrub at this level!!! _ Mage: Hey! Wasn''t it your fault that we all got [Sleep]?! I almost died too! _ Maximus: If you hadn''t failed your damn spell it would have never happened! _ Mage: What?! It did NOT fail! Seeing that the two are going to bicker for a while, the waitress turns to the warrior who also just sat down. He''s the most composed of the bunch, so talking is also easier. is the strongest member in the party, and loudest too, so people usually have to speak with him first. _ Waitress: , what happened? Did you encounter something nasty? There''re a lot of unexplored stuff in the game, so as a waitress of this tavern, she has to gather as much info as possible. It would be nice to find another Magnus Bestia (Great Beast), for example. _ Ignar: Haha, nothing of sort. He laughs wryly, with the face of "This is going to be a pain to explain". _ Ignar: That 0-stats girl who has been looking for, we found her earlier. Everyone''s reaction was "Stalking is a crime. Reported" when put up a bounty to find the girl trash-talked on the board. It was the first time players are so unified in this tavern, which is kind of scary. What''s scarier, however, is that lolicon insisting that the main reason wasn''t the girl''s DFC! _ Waitress: You didn''t treat her badly this time, right? Knowing , he would most likely trash-talk the girl the moment they meet. _ Ignar: Sorry, could not shut Max''s mouth. It seemed she still has no attributes or skills whatsoever, and still at level 0 with only [Beginner Clothes] even. _ Waitress: ¡­So you three were bullying the most defenseless girl in the known playerbase. The cold stare hurts, but cannot argue against that verdict. That stare is the main attraction of this tavern by the way, so even different guilds'' members visit this place often. Players start gathering around as the story gets interesting. This party is kind of well-known, so anything weird happening to them is big news. _ Ignar: W-well, we called out to her, then she started backing off REAL fast while we were PM-ing¡­ Max''s attitude was not helping. _ Waitress: -Sighs- It would be a surprise if it is any other case. _ Ignar: So I tried to calm her down, telling her that was looking for her¡­ He sighs, as if regretting something. _ Ignar: I accidentally revealed that idiot''s guild name. Everyone listening to the conversation pauses for a moment, then facepalms. They are used to that guild by now, but once they remember the person in question is a newbie, that cannot end well. _ Ignar: She looked at her own body then dashed off like a rocket. _ Everyone: OF COURSE SHE WOULD!!! Once again, the tavern is unified. That girl managed to do that not once, but twice, in just a few hours. Amazing, thinks the waitress. _ Waitress: Did you pursue? She doubts would give up like that. After all, he min-maxed to be a very deadly archer, and his speed is at the top. Personality is the min, sadly. _ Ignar: So here threw a [Sleep] at her¡­ _ Waitress: ¡­You damn kidnappers. _ Ignar: Really sorry about that. Will apologize to her if possible. Now that they are calm and collected, it''s not hard to realize how they were exactly kidnappers. Luckily this is a game. _ Waitress: Continue. The stare really hurts. Some idiots in the back are really enjoying it even though it was not directed at them! _ Ignar: Yeah, the spell for some reason hit¡­ whatever on top of her head. Now that I think about it, what the heck was a Jelleaf doing on her head?! If it hadn''t been there she would be here with us by now!... Actually, really sorry again. The muscular warrior sitting next to him gives him a shoulder pat. Must have been rough. _ Ignar: Then Max used [Sleep Arrow] on her¡­ Everyone is facepalming again. Tavern unification is a real possibility now. _ Ignar: She must have thrown her entire inventory against us, since she had no weapon. A [Begi] bulb was included. [Begi] leaves are used for cooking, and the bulbs, while not edible, are used for alchemy. It explodes on impact, which is the bread-and-butter throwing weapon for newbie alchemists. Was that girl holding on to it for emergencies? _ Ignar: Max in all of his infinite wisdom shot at the bulb instead of the girl. It was a good thing, but not for us. The arrow effect activated and put us all to sleep. The girl ran away into the forest, probably logged out too, since Max couldn''t find her presence afterwards. _ Maximus: I couldn''t help it! My practice made me shoot at possible dangers in sight! Many players walk to and each gives him a light shoulder pat. Judging from his story, he was trying his best, yet everything around him just¡­ fell apart. Must have been rough. _ Waitress: At least we know she''s probably an alchemist. Where did you find her? _ Ignar: The forest. She was about to enter as we made our way back to town. _ Waitress: ¡­Isn''t that place too dangerous for a level 0? --- Topic: Alchemist counters Archer? --- ## Newbie Charisma build Heard a rumor that a lv0 alchemist rekted a lv20 archer today. Is that true? ## ## Flame knight of Darkness Lolol. You more famous now @Maximus Archery ## ## Fire mage of Justice Alchemist OP pls nerf (^O^) No, they are not counter to archers. Just counter to @Maximus Archery ## ## Maximus Archery Thread is personally attacking. Please lock. ## ## Manly Warrior It''s a valid balance question. P/S: Never forget this day. ## ------ --- Topic: Cute girls appreciation thread #34 --- ## Mage of Sin A bit early but met the 0-stats girl again. -Pics- She''s evolved! ## ## CuteIsJustice More like multiplied. Is it me or she looks a bit scared? Edit: Nvm, found the reason, LOL ## ## Nearseeing Sage WHO''S THE FATHER!!! (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß ## ## Mage of Sin Go ask her yourself. Reported. ## ------ --- Topic: 0-stats discussion --- ## Manly Warrior Due to the recent events regarding the 0-stats girl, I am making this new thread for discussions related to her. Pics are fine. Important news: - She has absolutely 0 stats in all attributes, including racial bonuses. - @Nearseeing Sage is paying a bounty of 1000 Gold for whoever brings her to DFC Sages guild hall. It seems she is having some kind of rare items that they want to talk about. - She rekted a lv20 archer, most likely accidentally. Still, be careful and don''t agitate her. ## ## Nearseeing Sage Her latest known appearance btw. -Pics- Also paying additional 1000 Gold for the hunter if she agrees to join our guild on meeting. If you are here, 0-stats, PM me. I''ll give you the 2000 Gold if you join us yourself. ## ## CuteIsJustice This whole manhunt (lolihunt?) thing is getting out of hand¡­ Btw, isn''t 0-stats kind of degrading? That''s not her only feature! Name poll, as received from cute girls thread: - Zero - Maximus Bane - Min-max without Max - Literal tree love-love - Tavern unification - (DFC) Justice ## ## Manly Warrior What is with that last one?! (@_@) ## ------ Chapter 3: Level grind Hiyo, Shadyna here! I overheard some really scary rumors at school today. "If you sell the 0-stats girl to DFC Sages, they will pay you 2000 Gold" Are you going to be alright, discussing gaming stuff at school¡­? Still, they were sharing information about the bounty, including the target''s appearance. Described me perfectly, at least for the main features. By comparison, they said that the current strongest weapon in the game sold for around 10000 Gold. Am I a rare end-game monster or something?! Oh, game finished loading. I appear in the forest just where I logged out yesterday. Seeing no weirdo lurking around the area, I sigh in relief. Don''t want to get chased again. First thing first, let''s check on Jelleaf. If it''s still around, I think I should really name it. The grass seems to be untouched, so I pick it up again. Waste not, want not! And in there, the Jelleaf is half-burrowed into the ground. This creature race doesn''t move around at all huh. It makes a ^^ face as it sees me. So cute~!!! After a session of squeezing, I decided to call it Gelly, the Ultimate Plushy! _ Shadyna: Now then, what should we do today¡­ I need some way to protect myself from all the kidnappers, who will be after me for a while. In fact, some people in school are probably participating in the manhunt too! New equipment is in order, I think. Some defense against attacks and chloroform¡­ I mean, [Sleep], will help me greatly. The problem is, I do not know how to craft, and have no tool either. Sigh. Maybe I can gather the grass and make grass sandal by hands or something¡­? The forest still has a lot of grass after all. But not here, because I can still see the plains. Some random weirdo with some detection skills may detect me and ruin my day. So I put Gelly back on top of my head and venture deeper. Let''s hope I won''t encounter an aggressive strong monster. Remembering yesterday, I threw many things at the kidnappers, and something exploded in their face. It''s really hard to fix personality huh, my own that is. I retaliated out of reflex, and now my pacifist run is ruined. Sigh. For now, I open the Play Record menu. It contains many historical data for the current character. What I am looking for is [Damage dealt], which is the amount of damage I have dealt to others. _ Shadyna: ¡­0? Why? I''m pretty sure that was a big explosion back then, and I doubt that the mage and archer had enough defense to completely negate it. Why did it not go to the record? [Inspect], any idea? [Damage dealt: The amount of damage inflicted on other beings.] No dice. If this is not a bug, does that mean back then it was not my attack, but the [Sleep Arrow]''s doing? ¡­While I''m happy that my pacifist run can still continue, this is just technical pacifism! Sure, the priestesses who only heal others and not attack anything count as pacifism, technically. It is not true pacifism if your own actions indirectly cause the downfall of others! Oh well, since this game does not differentiate between the two, it does not matter. I will do my best to stick to true pacifism though. "Do my best" being the keywords, for I have failed the true pacifism goals already. I arrive at a big lake in the middle of the forest. In contrast to the dim shades by the trees, the lake area is lit brightly as there''s nothing blocking the sun. On the water surface, several aquatic plants reside. I wonder if I can swim in this game? They look like nice collectible items so I want to pick up at least one. Anyway, this is probably a good place to stay. If I camp on the other side, people entering from the plains will have to go around the lake, and I will have clear sight of them. There''s no monster around here either. Maybe Sateri wanted this to be a tranquil rest stop or something? Okay, onto the grinding! As of now I can only collect grass and various plants. Grass in particular is in abundance and has no use, so let''s try making grass sandals as previously planned. ¡­How do I craft in this game? So uh¡­ I select the grass stack in inventory¡­ then¡­ concentrate REALLY hard. _ Shadyna: Grass sandal, grass sandal, grass sandal¡­ [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Armor Craft Lv.0"] [Begin craft: ] It really happened!!! The grass merges into a light sphere hovering above the ground. Above it is something like a HP bar. Is it the progress bar of the crafting? _ Shadyna: Ah, um, let''s craft! [Armor Craft]! As I put my hands around it and concentrate, the sphere starts spinning, and the transparent progress bar starts filling up. ¡­And¡­ done~ [Received Grass Sandals x1] So is "x1" a sandal, or a pair of sandals¡­? [Inspect], I''m counting on you~! [Grass Sandals: A pair of sandals made from grass] There''s no equipment status, not even the basic defense value. How am I supposed to know how strong it is?! I want to cry¡­ That reminds me, I do remember seeing "Identification Shops" in Tyrel¡­ Nah, I cannot go there. The whole town might just chloroform me the moment I get close! Oh well, these sandals can''t be worse than going barefoot right? However, not knowing my equipment''s statuses is bad. I need to grind [Inspect]. I gather more grass in the area while inspecting as many things as possible. In the process, I felt like I was becoming a bit insane from reading the overly obvious descriptions! With the amount of grass enough to feed a cow for a few days, I try to craft more grass items to fill my equipment slots. While filling up the progress bars, I use [Inspect] on the surrounding. [Received Grass Gloves x1] [Hollow tree: Remains of a dead tree] [Midae: An aquatic flower found on lakes] [Received Grass Crown x1] [Lietus: An aquatic plant found on lakes] ¡­ Definitely losing sanity points!!! Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡­ [Skill Leveled up: ] [Attribute Leveled up: ] [Skill Leveled up: ] [Attribute Leveled up: ] [Attribute Leveled up: ] [Character Leveled up] Finally! That was tougher than I expected. Pacifism is hard work! ¡­Wait, there are more messages than expected? Oh, attributes went up! I have a feeling the MEN increase is due to my sanity slippage though! My level went up too, yay~ Let''s equip my items and check my status. I wonder if my overpowered debut is now? Ah, I got 5 new attribute points and 1 skill point on leveling up. In that case, I should [Inspect] my equipment and titles again, to see if there is more information. I notice something as I select my [Grass Tunic] in the inventory menu. It changed to [Grass Tunic (Trash)]. --- [Grass Tunic] - Creator: - Quality: - Enhancement: 0 - Enchantment: - PDF: 1 --- I understand its quality is much to be desired because of my skill level, but that mockery still hurts, Sateri~ And there''re newly seen statuses as well. Let''s find all of them in my current equipment! [PAT: Physical Attack. Power of physical-based attacks.] [PSP: Physical Attack Speed. Attack speed when dealing physical-based attacks.] [PDF: Physical Defense. Protection against physical-based attacks.] [MAT: Magical Attack. Power of magical-based attacks.] [MSP: Magical Attack Speed. Attack speed when dealing magical-based attacks.] [MDF: Magical Defense. Protection against magical-based attacks.] [SPD: Movement Speed. Travel speed and maneuverability.] I have no equipment with PAT and MAT stats, but the [Inspect] result kindly gave me those terms when I asked for attack stats. Thank you for the consideration, Sateri~ Onto the titles~ [Unstopping Hero: The hero who never stops. Grants .] Yeah, I guessed that much. I wonder if there''s more information on even higher [Inspect] levels? [Absolute Zero: The one who rejected the Goddess''s blessing. Removed on change of heart.] ¡­This looks¡­ bad. It has a removal condition. And I have no idea what that condition means! You sure are holding a grudge against me huh, Sateri. Well, if the condition for this title is refusing the given points in character creation, it''s likely that the "Change of heart" means using the points I was given on leveling up? I try to assign no point in the attribute menu and accept it. [Leftover points will be discarded. Continue?] [Y/N] ¡­I can discard all of them. For now, I close the attribute menu. The main problem is not knowing the effect of the title. It may be amazing, or totally useless. Maybe I should try grinding [Inspect] some more? Same thing for skill menu, I suppose. Skip~ [Aspiring Pacifist: Inspired to walk the path of non-violence. Removed on harming others.] Totally within expectation. I doubt that you can keep anything pacifist-related after whacking others. Since it''s still here, my pacifist status is safe, technically. [Halfblood (Title): One of the impure bloodlines. More vulnerable to the Darkness.] Vague as ever, [Inspect]-chan. I''m not really worried about this one, since many players will have it. Even if it has drawbacks, Sateri won''t be able to cripple a large part of the playerbase. Okay, looks like it''s not certain what kind of additional information will be added on [Inspect]''s level up. With the new info being generally easy to guess, I think [Inspect] reveals info based on obscurity. The more behind-the-scenes it is, the higher the required [Inspect] level to reveal them. ¡­Or just brute-force finding it out, like the case of the [Begi] bulb. [Begi: A common edible vegetable found around Tyrel. Has a big inedible bulb. Bulb explodes on impact.] Sigh. So it was your doing huh, [Begi]? Let''s not do that again. The next time I might not be so lucky to have the enemy triggering the damage on their own. And so, my current status: --- [Character information] [Name]: Shadyna [Race]: Halfblood (Elf - Treant) [Gender]: Female [Age]: 13 [Level]: 1 [Status]: - HP: ======.... (20/32) (27+5) - MP: ====...... (15/32) (27+5) - PAT: 8 (7+1) - PSP: 2 (1+1) - PDF: 3 (2+1) - MAT: 26 (25+1) - MSP: 3 (1+2) - MDF: 8 (7+1) - SPD: 11 (10+1) [Attributes]: - STR: 0 (0+0) - DEX: 1 (1+0) - CON: 0 (0+0) - LDR: 0 (0+0) - FOC: 1 (1+0) - WIT: 0 (0+0) - MEN: 1 (1+0) - LUC: 0 (0+0) [Equipment]: - Head: + + - Body: + + - Arms: + + + - Legs: + [Skills - Active]: - Inspect - Cheer - Armor Craft [Skills - Passive]: - Accelerate Power (Title) [Titles]: - Unstopping Hero - Absolute Zero - Aspiring Pacifist - Halfblood (Racial) --- All the bonuses (numbers on the right of the + sign) are from equipment. Other stats are added to [Status] part, thanks to [Inspect]''s level. So, without [Inspect], you''ll have to visit an Identification Shop in town to know your current strength huh. Then again, the time you need to see it is when you are in town upgrading equipment. In combat, knowing HP and MP is enough. ¡­And seriously, grinding [Inspect] at its earliest level alone qualifies for mental torture already. Unlike MP, my HP is not regenerating. Maybe I need food or potions? I wonder if I can make some with these flowers and plants. Before I could do it, a party emerges from the other side of the lake. It looks like they haven''t notice me, so I hide behind a big tree with Gelly. [??? - Beginner warrior - HP: ==========] [??? - Beginner blacksmith - HP: ==========] [??? - Beginner priestess - HP: ==========] Oh, I can see their HP bar now. No exact number like my own status though. They are still far away so I can''t clearly see their appearances. _ Warrior: Found any silver ore yet? _ Blacksmith: Don''t see any here. Argh, what a pain! _ Priestess: That''s why I told you to use iron for the time being! Everyone said silver is really rare even in this place! Hmm, I haven''t had the chance for metalworking yet. No tool. Sigh. And the priestess sounds cute. May be an old man in real life but hey, in-game cuteness is still cute. But for some reason, I have this impression that low-leveled priestesses who walk in dark places filled with monsters have a really low chance of getting out in one piece. _ ???: ROAAAARRRRRR!!! A deafening roar hits me during my daydream. No fair, even talking is a free action in manga! I look out of hiding place, trying to find the source of such scary noises. The party, at the shore, is facing against a big hydra-like head emerging from the lake. _ Warrior: What the hell?! Why is this¡­ _ Priestess: Be careful! [Merexxa: A head of a great monstrosity, can be found in lakes in the forest near Tyrel. Considers adventurers edible.] What the heck is that last remark, Sateri~!!! More importantly, was I unknowingly playing around THAT THING this whole time?! ____________ The tavern today is also busy, with half of the conversations revolves around the 0-stats girl, who now earned the nickname of "Illusive Sprout" after various polls on the board. _ Waitress: No news of her at all! Stop asking like a creep! Poor waitress who had to answer the same question over and over again the whole day has finally snapped, to the blissful enjoyment of the weird patrons. _ Knight: Why don''t we just arrange a large scale search in the forest? She was first seen around this time yesterday, was she not? _ Waitress: Don''t do that. She might logout if she sees you idiots marching in. Worse, you don''t want to crowd the forest. _ Knight: How so? _ Waitress: Merexxa, that''s how. There are a lot of lakes in that forest, and Merexxa appears if at least four people wander nearby. Its level exceeds every normal spawns in the forest. Lakes have no monsters close by apparently because of those things, lore-wise. _ Knight: ¡­Whelp. _ Waitress: ¡­Need more materials. Anyone free right now? I need to enter the forest to gather food! _ Spearman: Sure, but please step on me first! The cold, harsh stare is working overtime as usual in this tavern. --- Topic: WTF is with the crafting system? --- ## OP alchemist This game is !@#$%^&* confusing! Where the heck is the crafting menu?! ## ## Nearseeing Sage Prepare materials then call out the item to be crafted. Sateri-chan procedurally creates item recipes as needed. Statuses affect the end result but that''s the gist of it. You can join the BB Conglomerate guild as they focus on crafting and provide recipes of powerful combinations to their members. P/S: This game is kind of casual but can be really complex once you dig into certain aspects. It requires some patience and is definitely not for everyone. ## ## OP alchemist Sorry if I sounded angry, was confused on how this game works. Can I join BB Conglomerate, learn the recipes then leave? ## ## Manly Warrior You can, but if you leave on bad terms (abusing their rules, for example) they may also teach you about economic sanctions. Trust me, it''s bad news. ## ------ --- Topic: Cute girls appreciation thread #34 --- ## Heaven Piercer The maid¡­ I mean, waitress corps is on the move today! -Pics- Wish they would hunt me down like those monsters! ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã) ## ## Newbie Charisma build A party full of beautiful girls/ladies £Ü(^o^)£¯ What is the waitress corps again? Newbie here. ## ## CuteIsJustice They are the 12 waitresses of Phoenix Ashes guild, working around the clock in Tyrel''s biggest tavern. Head waitress leading the party in pic is the famous cold mistress you all know and love. Every few days they would go out to gather cooking materials. Picking a fight would them is not advised. Despite their commitment to their job, over half of them are at level cap and will not hesitate to wipe the floor with you. Unless you are into that of course. PM me if you want their bios. ## ## Mage of Sin Make that 14. New recruits are at tavern in place of the mobilized corps. -Pics- Btw, the remaining 3 taverns in town have their own waitresses, but none at this level. It''s like pitching gun trucks against main battle tanks. ## ## CuteIsJustice In-game names, NAO!!! £¨ ? §¥?) ## ## Heaven Piercer Why are they not a guild on their own again? Waitress Corps sounds like a good guild name to me, unlike SOME big guilds out there! Without them, Phoenix Ashes would fade into irrelevance real quick. ## ------ --- Topic: SG master thread #2 --- ## Manly Warrior Old thread hit limit, so this is the new one. Summary: - SG stands for S-rank, Globally Unique. - Confirmed SG skills: None. - Confirmed SG titles: None. ## ## Fire mage of Justice All that discussion for a whole day and still no info. orz What have you been doing, you damn lolicons of DFC Sages!!! ## ## Nearseeing Sage You know we earn our livings by selling info right? I''m sure many would pay a good chunk to have a chance on getting their own SG. That said, why don''t you help me catch a particular loli? I may have some SG-related info to share with you in addition to the bounty reward. ## ## Curious big boobs elf Reported. Damn lolicon. Is the whole army forming search parties in 0-stats thread not enough for you? We found the first S title and skill two hours after it was added, yet somehow failing this one despite having more players. (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß ## ------ Chapter 4: Power leveling Shadyna here, I am witnessing a (probably) boss fight! Ah, but if it''s a boss, the party of 3 over there will be alright. In open-world games like this, bosses won''t be aggressive to avoid crushing wandering players like the current situation. While unpleasant, I don''t have to abandon this secret base (gathering site) as long as I do not attack that thing. The party is probably having the same idea. The warrior and blacksmith ready their weapons but are not attacking. _ Priestess: Light, protect my friends! [Physical Shield]!!! A blueish column of light covers the warrior, with a sharp "KIN!" sound. That must be a PDF buff spell. Plus points for the immersive chanting! That kidnapping mage must be the exception. She''s preparing to cast another spell, it looks like. *SPLASH* The Merexxa spits a big ball of green liquid at the warrior before the priestess manages to chant her next spell. _ Warrior: AAARRRGGHHH!!! My HP! My HP!!! HELP!!! Poison! It''s poison!!! Immersive pain reaction, thanks to VR set''s pain simulation. Totally meta wordings, so 0 point in total! More importantly, that thing is totally aggressive!!! Sateri, you sadist~ That aside, this is troublesome, since I won''t be able to stick around here if it''s going to attack me on sight. It was nice knowing you, secret base (gathering site). Let''s see how strong this thing is first. I want to know the general strength of monsters in this area, especially aggressive ones. [??? - Beginner warrior - HP: =======¡­] For a supposedly single magic attack, that took out a good chunk of his HP. He''s probably the tankiest of the party too. _ Blacksmith: [Slam]!!! The blacksmith swoops down with his one-handed hammer, right onto the monster''s head. If I had my racial skill, I would be able to use that too! I don''t think I want to do that with my hands though. It''s unfortunate that I cannot see the monster''s HP bar. That would help immensely. Ah, I do not attack so maybe I actually don''t need to? Old habits die hard. _ Priestess: [Antidote]! A white light covers the warrior, cleaning the green liquid on his body. _ Warrior: [Rapid Assault]! The warrior is back to business. He''s swinging his sword relentlessly at the enemy, causing multiple wounds. That looks like a powerful attack! _ Warrior: Out of MP! You just used only one attack!!! The Merexxa raises further above the surface and headbutts the warrior, knocking him back a distance. _ Warrior: MY HP!!! This guy should get a job that does not require getting hit, really. [??? - Beginner warrior - HP: ====¡­¡­] HP down to 40%. Some of the damage might have been due to the poison before the priestess used [Antidote]. Nevertheless, this monster hits HARD. My HP is still at 20 due to lack of regeneration. Getting one-shot by this thing is highly probable. Yeah, not good, can''t stay here. Should I leave now or wait until the fight''s over¡­? If that thing goes back into the lake it''s best to wait, but if it doesn''t I should run now with a risk of it spitting poison at me. I don''t even know if it has spotted me yet! _ Priestess: [Minor Heal]! [??? - Beginner warrior - HP: =======¡­] Ah, it looks like she can keep up with the enemy''s damage output. As long as she has MP and the monster does not use poison spit, the party has a chance. The poison spit seems to be a secondary ranged attack, as the fight goes on without it being used again. Or that thing ran out of MP like the warrior. One by one, wounds accumulate on the snake-like head. Its movement is noticeably becoming sluggish. Realistic/10. Nice job, Sateri~ _ Warrior: We can do this! It is getting weaker! ¡­Should I point out the various ways of how they are so dead because of that flag? A few strikes later, "it" happens. _ Warrior: Buff ran out! The momentum they were having is broken. It''s easy to keep doing something the same things over and over again. You get used to it, make fewer mistakes, and generally can sustain it for a long time. When the circumstances change, however, the preparedness you had at the start is no more. Mistakes will be made. I mean, spilling lines like "We can do this!" is a pretty blatant indicator of thinking the enemy had not changed for a while and would not change in the future. Spoiler: Situations do change. _ Priestess: Use pots! Light, protect my friends¡­ *WHACK*! Oof, that sounds like it hurts. The warrior who lost the protection got a direct headbutt from Merexxa. Should have asked for renewal before it ran out, but that was not in their "usual actions" in the prolonged battle. [??? - Beginner warrior - HP: ===.......] 30% HP left. Oh boy, the next hit will end him. He''s not giving up though. Crushing a red orb in his hand, he rushes in again. Multiple red sparks appear from the crushed orb and enter his body. Must be the potion in this game. Thank you, Sateri, for not requiring to stand still and chug down a bottle of O-type blood~ [??? - Beginner warrior - HP: =====.....] WHACK! Not like the enemy would just stand still though. [??? - Beginner warrior - HP: =.........] That was a close one, warrior. _ Priestess: [Minor Heal]! _ Warrior: [Rapid Assault]! Looks like his MP is back~ [??? - Beginner warrior - HP: ====......] *SPLASH* Ah, it can use the poison spit again too. _ Priestess: Use pots, now! [Antidote]! Quick thinking there, priestess. She looks like the de facto leader of the party throughout the fight, and certainly has leadership capability. Not talking about LDR by the way. The warrior crushes another orb in his hand. [??? - Beginner warrior - HP: ===.......] It seems to be weaker than the priestess''s heal. And that HP level means¡­ WHACK! Aaaaand the warrior is out~ He''s now out cold on the ground. _ Warrior: I''m dead! Res! Res!!! Immersion ruined/10, let''s ban that player. _ Priestess: Hold on! O Goddess of Light, I pray for your miracles¡­ The blacksmith now holds red orbs in both his hands. He''s definitely in survival mode now. As he braces for impact, the monster lunges ahead¡­ *GNAW* ¡­it eats the warrior''s body?! _ Priestess: KYAAAA!!! She panics upon the absurd sight. That certainly looks nasty! At least there''s no blood involved, the Merexxa just swallows him whole. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. _ Warrior: SAVE ME!!! This isn''t even my fetiiiiiish!!! ¡­Let''s not comment on that. The loud screaming stops. Did he got thrown back to town? I wasn''t expecting a resurrection prevention skill like this. Don''t think I can copy that though. I''m not interested in human meat, nor elven, nor orcish. _ Priestess: Retreat! Retreat!!! After "eating" the warrior, a large +400 number appears above the monster. In green, to be exact. That''s¡­ really nasty. A monster that eats your comrade and heals itself doing so. I didn''t see the damage numbers popping up doing the fight though, so I wonder if there''s a criterion for them to appear? Yeah, better run, you are not going to survive another long fight. Not without the tank. *WHACK*! *SPLASH*! _ Blacksmith: GUAH!!! He''s down after just 2 attacks. One headbutt, then a spit after he ran out of melee range. RIP. *GNAW* Ah, it can crawl further out to feast. Anyway, censorship, ON~ _ Blacksmith: Save me!!! _ Priestess: Your sacrifice will not be forgotten! Until they get back to town, I suppose. *SPLASH*! _ Priestess: KYA!!! Oh, she didn''t die after one attack. I wonder if she can get out of range before the next one? *Thud* She cannot. Yeah, that attack has poison. Party wiped. The unfortunate low-level priestess getting destroyed in dark, dangerous places clich¨¦ lives on! _ ???: [Charged Slam]! A lady wielding an oversized two-handed hammer appears out of nowhere and whacks the Merexxa with a loud "WHAM!". The impact was so strong that the monster got thrown back before it could eat the priestess. That lady is wearing a medieval-era bartender outfit. She''s a waitress, with hammer as main weapon. What. The. Heck? Sure, I saw a waitress in the tavern yesterday. She was a player, and I''m not surprised even they would need to go out to grind their level¡­ But this gap between a waitress and this killing machine is just too much!!! _ ???: [Shock Arrow]! Res her before it devours. Another waitress, this time with a longbow, has appeared. Her arrow hit right in between the eyes of the monster. The impact creates a loud explosion, and Merexxa stops moving with several stars spinning above its head. _ ???: Okay~! Light o light, spread my will~! [Blessed Resurrection]! The seemingly-carefree waitress accompanying the bow user resurrects the dead priestess. That scene seems kind of wrong somehow¡­ _ Carefree waitress: That was reckless you know~ You shouldn''t fight Merexxa at this level. It will kill you one by one and drown you in despair as it consumes your comrades, undoing all of your hard work in front of your eyes~ How did that feel, witnessing it firsthand? She''s saying surprisingly cruel words, with a bright smile no less! I have seen all of that so there''s no arguing against it, but couldn''t she use a kinder way of conveying the info?! _ Priestess: Guh¡­ I thought it was a normal monster¡­ I doubt normal monsters pop out of lakes like that~ _ Carefree waitress: It''s not normal~ It''s Merexxa, the worst thing you can encounter in this area and it enjoys the agony of low-level players just like you and your companions~ _ Priestess: I understand already!!! Stop the scary story please!!! It''s the people in this service industry that are scary! _ Bow waitress: Stop trolling her and help put this thing down! _ Carefree waitress: Coming right up~ Here, a [Recall] scroll. Your party is probably waiting in town. Eaten players are forced to return immediately. _ Priestess: Ah, thank you very much! The priestess is engulfed in light and disappears. So¡­ Does that a yes or no for the priestess''s destruction clich¨¦¡­? More like, didn''t it turn into the "Saved by cute girls" clich¨¦? Shouldn''t it happen to the warrior, and while they were alive instead¡­? As three more waitresses appear from the other side, to a total of six, I decide to retreat. Even just the first three look like they could handle the monster. With their number, victory is guaranteed. The main reason is that they will certainly destroy me should they be after the bounty. Heck, why would such strong players be here otherwise?! I run westward from my current position. Running deeper will be the death of me if another Merexxa pops up, so I''m running to the side. Let''s try maintaining my relative position to Tyrel. _ ???: Wait. A waitress has blocked my way forward from above! I think she was one of the three newly reinforcing waitresses earlier, but I am not certain. [??? - Apprentice waitress - HP: ++++++++++] Her HP bar has a blue overlay on it! If your opponent has abnormal HP bar and you are not knowingly hunting bonus bosses, it''s time to regret your decisions! Now that I have a closer look, she''s a mature-looking human with light golden hair. Her crimson eyes are sharp, and feels like it would make certain types of people to pay her to look at them as if they were trash. The waitress outfit looks neat and tidy, as expected of a professional. But her weapon looks scary! It''s a pair of gruesome-looking saw-like blades! In real life that thing would leave you with several holes on contact, and -censored imagination- if she swings it at full force!!! She has seen me, and unlike that kidnapping trio, she does not seem to have anything with [Sleep] effect. She would probably murder me, drag my -censored imagination- body to the DFC something perverts, and have that crazy smiling waitress resurrect me to get the bounty! FORWARD, TO THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION!!! _ Scary waitress: Hey, wait!!! Seeing that I have no intention of stopping, she starts chasing! Too scary, run faster, my legs, run faster~ _ Scary waitress: This little¡­ [Accelerate]! Not [Accelerate Power], which is a passive to begin with, but [Accelerate]. Yeah, if that doesn''t increase her SPD I would complain to Sateri immediately~ I wish it didn''t increase her SPD!!! She''s definitely catching up! I don''t want to get murdered!!! ____________ What the heck is with this player?! Thinks the waitress as she runs after the rumored 0-stats little girl who ran away right after meeting. When the waitress spotted her running away from the battle against the Merexxa, she silently followed, then approached as they are a safe distance away from the fight, and she was losing in speed. Unlike the damn lolicons in DFC Sages, she doesn''t have high leveled [Inspect], but she has enough to gauge her enemies. When the target was seen, she used [Inspect] almost instantly. --- [Character information] [Name]: Shadyna [Race]: Halfblood (Elf - Treant) [Gender]: Female [Age]: 13 [Level]: 1 [Status]: - HP: ======.... (20/32) (27+5) - MP: ========== (32/32) (27+5) - PAT: 8 (7+1) - PSP: 2 (1+1) - PDF: 3 (2+1) - MAT: 26 (25+1) - MSP: 3 (1+2) - MDF: 8 (7+1) - SPD: 11 (10+1) [Attributes]: - STR: 0 (0+0) - DEX: 1 (1+0) - CON: 0 (0+0) - LDR: 0 (0+0) - FOC: 1 (1+0) - WIT: 0 (0+0) - MEN: 1 (1+0) - LUC: 0 (0+0) --- Her level went up, but the stats still look really pitiful. At level 1, you would get 5 attribute points. Even if she was not grinding any attribute, she should have at least 5 in total. What kind of playstyle is this?! If that was the only question, she wouldn''t be having trouble against this little girl. During the stal¡­ following, the distance between them which should shrink in no time somehow didn''t. The girl was constantly accelerating without using any active skill. Even that min-maxer Maximus did not have anything with such effect. So before her own SPD got exceeded, she used [Leap] to surpass the remaining distance and landed in front of the little girl. The [Inspect] returned a different result status this time. [- SPD: 89 (10+79)] The little girl''s SPD ramped up a few times! That''s already the SPD amount of a level 20 speed-based character with decent equipment! Where the hell did that SPD come from?! _ Head waitress: Wait up, please!!! Even with [Accelerate], the waitress is barely closing the distance, and 0-stats is still accelerating! If only the little brat had stopped back then, at least she would take a short time to get top speed. It''s just a short period, but in this PvP-like situation every bit counts. There''s no other choice. She needs reinforcement from the party! Also, use party chat to avoid alerting the prey. _ Head waitress (Party): Found the 0-stats! She''s running towards you. Finish that Merexxa and catch her! _ Bow waitress (Party): This is not a monster that can be killed in a minute! Aren''t you more than enough for a level 0? _ Head waitress (Party): She''s almost as fast as ! Split if you have to! _ Bow waitress (Party): Seriously?! [- SPD: 103 (10 + 93)] _ Head waitress (Party): No, already faster than ! The waitresses have nothing against the 0-stats girl. It''s just that her unexpected fleeing action triggered the head waitress''s instinct, the type that kicks in when they are in a boss fight. ____________ For some reason, she''s not really catching up to me after using [Accelerate]. Is she baiting me? Is she luring me to some place? ¡­Ah, I''m running in the opposite direction, which means I''m going back to where the main waitress party is!!! Change of direction! _ Scary waitress: [Dark Bolt]! A black arrow-like spell hit the ground next to me, preventing me from turning. She''s dead set on forcing me to run to the party!!! May¡­ maybe I can use the Merexxa if it''s still alive?! They will be fighting that thing, and I can run past during the confusion! Okay, do your best, legs! I continue running as fast as I can. By the way, that dark-element spell really suits her haughty personality! Her glare is really beautiful but I do feel like I am facing death itself! The trees start clearing up! As I get closer and closer to the fighting, various combat sound effects are playing. Good, they are still dealing with the monster! Feeling a bit lucky for a change, I keep running. The lake becomes visible, with the Merexxa struggling against the waitresses. ¡­And two of them are standing behind it, facing me. I was tricked!!! _ Carefree waitress: Good luck in the other world~ [Binding roots]. _ Bow waitress: [Binding Arrow]. The sadistic one''s choice of words is really nasty as expected!!! Glowing red roots emerges from the ground, twisting around my ankles. This is bad! I will faceplant into the ground! No pun intended. A shining arrow flies past my face. It doesn''t hit me, but somehow multiple light rings appear around my body. Isn''t this just overkill on the binding, ladies?! But¡­ Much to the bewilderment of both me and the waitresses, the red roots and light rings break into pieces with sharp glass-breaking-like noises. I, who was bracing for a trip, lose balance due to the unexpected situation and end up tripping on a big tree root anyway! I can fly~~~ Like a cartoon character, I got flung into the air, right towards the raging Merexxa. This is the equivalent of getting thrown out of a truck in an accident, right? Please fix the whacky physics, Sateri~ But I am really traversing really fast in the air, into a well-known man-eating monster. No chance of survival at all, huh. My vision turns into black and white. Epic soundtrack starts playing. I am seeing my life flashing before my eyes. My childhood, my family, my non-existent (LOL) marriage, and my character walking freely with Gelly on top of her head. Everything is coming to me for one last time. Okay, I have to stop the imaginary dramatic life-ending flashbacks as I just remembered that Gelly is still on my head, and I''m flying head-first at the point of impact (the monster). I pull it into my arms, in hope that my (character''s) body will pad and lessen the damage of our crash. Gelly is a weak creature, so if this game''s physics allow such things, I doubt it has enough HP to survive. Sateri, I will take back my last complaint on the whacky physics if Gelly can survive~ _ Shadyna: Let''s play together again, okay? I whisper lightly while looking at the cute gelatin creature in my arms. [Beast accepted taming attempt] Gelly shines blindingly. I lose the sense of touch in my arms, and at that moment, see an emerald flying past me. *BOOM* [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Shared Fate Lv.0"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Beast Empathy Lv.0"] [Skill Leveled up: ] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Beast Tamer Origin"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "At-will Beast User"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Against All Odds (14)"] [Attribute Leveled up: ] [Attribute Leveled up: ] [Attribute Leveled up: ] [Tamed Beast Leveled up] [Character Leveled up] [Received Summon Stone x1] ____________ A message was sent to all players. [A player has successfully tamed a beast without a pact. Rewards have been sent. Congratulations.] The tavern that was raging thanks to the new waitresses'' appearances, is now in pure chaos with that divine (system) message from the Goddess, or Sateri-chan as players call her. _ Knight: What the hell is that? _ Waitress: Un, the common knowledge on acquiring tamed beasts is either learning [Summon] skills, which require a lot of materials, or getting the summon items as loots. This message probably meant someone got a summon item using a different feature? _ Maximus: Heh, will probably be rewarded with a title too. Like Vladina''s [Sage Origin]. Happens whenever players explore unused features. Get used to it, nub. _ Waitress: That may very well be the case. Nevertheless¡­ [World Voice]. A world-wide (in-game) message is sent by the waitresses serving drinks to customers. '' guild hall. We pay double> The [World Voice] item is spammed again, despite its failure to find the SG title holders yesterday, and the item''s own rarity. It couldn''t be helped, as the SG title holder was not logged in at the time. Sateri couldn''t let the player login until the patch completed! Chapter 5: First friend This is Shadyna! I am not dead, without knowing why! Despite getting caught up in the big explosion, I survived with my meager 20 HP. What the hell was that, seriously?! Is this some kind of modern action movie?! More importantly, I am deep underwater. Better get out before I drown. ¡­Was my intention, but then I notice the Merexxa is gone. In its place is a big hole at the bottom. Did it spawn from that hole? There''s not much down here except for rocks and algae. Not amazing, but not bad either. With this thing around I don''t think fish would spawn here. Sigh. Oh, the loot bag is floating around~ I wonder if I can get it, since the waitresses killed it, right? [Received Merexxa Corpse x1] YIKES! Didn''t know this game features corpse dismantling! Scale back the immersion already, Sateri~ More importantly, I''m sinking! My weight! I mean the inventory weight, not my body''s weight!!! I''m still sinking!!! The scary waitress and the carefree waitress jumped into the water. Give me a break already! With me struggling to even stay afloat, it takes no effort for the waitresses to approach me. ¡­And start pulling me to the water surface. Eh? Moments later, I am back to the shore. This "Saved by cute girls" clich¨¦ is getting overused already~ _ Scary waitress: Not having the STR, yet you picked up that big corpse. Are you an idiot or are you an idiot?! You don''t have to say it twice! _ Shadyna: Sorry¡­ Oh, their outfits are wet. Physics in this game is awesome! _ Carefree waitress: Wanting your own loot is fine, but it''s dangerous if you don''t have STR to carry its weight~ On land you will become fast monsters'' snack, in water you will suffer a slow and painful death and become monsters'' snack~ The end result is always the monsters'' stomach?! Can this person stop the verbal torment for a while, please!!! _ Shadyna: I just picked it up out of curiosity. Here, I''m returning it. I have no intention of robbing people of their loots. And these ladies can easily kill me anyway! Better to just return it and slip out with the conversation flow~ Yes, totally perfect plot. Nothing could possibly go wrong! _ Bow waitress: What are you saying? You did most of the killing. It''s yours. _ Shadyna: ¡­Pardon? What is this lady saying? _ Carefree waitress: That was really good, you know~ Pulverizing the monster in one hit, boom~ Its last moments must have been painful and agonizing, filled with regrets of its life choices as it got torn apart particles by particles~ Can anyone EXCEPT this person answer please?! My sanity is dropping faster than the whole hour of crafting and inspecting earlier! _ Scary waitress: Cut it out. Keep that abuse for the patrons. Anyhow, you killed it with more than half of its HP remaining, so just keep the corpse. But I didn''t even attack it¡­ I was shielding Gelly when it turned into [Summon Stone], and received the stone after crashing into the Merexxa¡­ ¡­I was worried about myself dying because of the crash, I totally forgot about the damage I would deal to my enemy. Is the physics in this game allowing that kind of attack¡­? _ Shadyna: ¡­My pacifist run!!! If I actually dealt damage then my goals would be all ruined!!! ____________ While the little girl is in her own world and frantically checking her menus, which are invisible to the waitresses, they were having their own discussion in party chat. _ Head waitress: I don''t know what''s worse, her destroying 2/3 HP of a Merexxa in one strike, or her unknowingly doing it. _ Bow waitress: Maybe she had a strong melee skill with [Ignore Physical Defense]? I''m still grinding mine by the by. _ Head waitress: You have been playing for a whole month. She started yesterday. How is she supposed to get to that point without sacrificing everything else?! _ Carefree waitress: Well~ We have been power leveling to keep up while tending the tavern so it''s ki~nda possible? Besides, don''t you have something more important to worry about? _ Head waitress: What to worry about? Dismantling that Merexxa? _ Carefree waitress: How cold~ Isn''t she playing as a pacifist? Yet you hea~rtlessly cornered her, then made her a~ccidentally attack a monster. How is she going to get married now~ _ Head waitress: Are you intentionally emphasizing certain words to guilt-trip me?! What''s her marriage having to do with this anyway!!! It''s her pacifist run that''s ruined, and you were in it too! _ Hammer waitress: To be fair, we were dealing with the Merexxa¡­ _ Bow waitress: And you just agreed that you ruined her character¡­ _ Head waitress: Ah¡­ With friends like these co-workers, who the hell needs to worry about monsters and apocalypses? _ Carefree waitress: See~? Now she will have to abandon this character, ma~ybe quit the game altogether. If words get out that the famous mistress of the tavern defiled the cute little sprout girl, I wo~nder what would happen~? _ Head waitress: Guh¡­! _ Bow waitress: Wordings! Your wordings, you damn maniac! Reputation of her plummets to the ground, possibly even the waitress corps and tavern''s fame as well. Falling from idol-equivalents to online bullies is not something she wishes to experience. No matter what kind of person is behind the screen. In VR games, their avatars are their appearances. As proved by the threads on the board, this little sprout has a surprising amount of supporters even if just temporary. _ Head waitress: Bu¡­ but, as long as we keep it a secret¡­! _ Carefree waitress: We can~, bu~t what about the person herself~? The head waitress is feeling the rope tightening around her neck, figuratively of course. This little girl was already panicking upon realizing she accidentally attacked something. From her gestures, she is probably flipping through menus and possibly the board to salvage the situation. However, looking at her teary eyes, it is probably hopeless. You can''t just delete play records, after all. _ Bow waitress: I hate to say this but¡­ The sadist has a point, leader. _ Head waitress: Then¡­ what should I¡­ _ Carefree waitress: Pay with your body, perhaps~? We will be waiting for the wedding invitations, okay~? _ Head waitress: YOU ARE JUST TROLLING ME AREN''T YOU?! ____________ I screwed up!!! The pacifist run is safe, but I screwed up! I was opening the Play Records menu to check the [Damage dealt], but opened the attribute menu instead! In the whole confusion I accepted discarding all 20 attribute points which is the total I got from my level ups! Then I found out [Damage dealt] is still 0 for unknown reason although I definitely leveled up from the Merexxa! I panicked again and checked the inventory to see if something happened similar to the whole ordeal with the explosive Begi bulb, at which point I repeated the whole discarding process for skill menu! Uuu, I want to cry¡­ It turned out I can access similar menus for Gelly using the [Summon Stone] in the inventory. In Gelly''s Play Records, the [Damage dealt] was 1200-something! My HP was only 20, what the heck is with that damage!!! And when did that happen anyway?! Gelly became the stone at that moment, right?! Worst of all, I checked my status and everything has gone all weird!!! --- [Character information] [Name]: Shadyna [Race]: Halfblood (Elf - Treant) [Gender]: Female [Age]: 13 [Level]: 4 [Status]: - HP: .......... (20/485) (480+5) - MP: =====..... (392/681) (676+5) - PAT: 229 (228+1) - PSP: 10 (9+1) - PDF: 268 (267+1) - MAT: 327 (326+1) - MSP: 11 (9+2) - MDF: 349 (348+1) - SPD: 32 (31+1) [Attributes]: - STR: 45 (3+42) This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. - DEX: 43 (1+42) - CON: 44 (2+42) - LDR: 48 (6+42) - FOC: 43 (1+42) - WIT: 42 (0+42) - MEN: 43 (1+42) - LUC: 42 (0+42) [Equipment]: - Head: + + - Body: + + - Arms: + + + - Legs: + [Skills - Active]: - Inspect - Cheer - Armor Craft - Shared Fate [Create the link between souls. Linked souls share both life and death.] [Skills - Passive]: - Accelerate Power [Retain external mana to enhance oneself. Increase damage based on current speed and level.] - Beast Empathy [Blend in with the beasts by treating them as one''s own kin. Reduce aggressiveness from beasts.] [Titles]: - Unstopping Hero - Absolute Zero - Aspiring Pacifist - Beast Tamer Origin [The pioneer of beast taming. Increase leadership effect on tamed beasts.] - At-will Beast User (1) [The one who respects the will of the beasts. Removed on forming pacts with beasts.] - Against All Odds (14) [The one who emerges victorious against stronger foes. Overridden with greater feat.] - Halfblood (Racial) --- New skills and titles aside, my attributes became scary! If I have 5 points per level up, my total attribute points are the equivalent of a level 60+ player! If the number 42 is anything to go by, it would be a multiplication for the [Against All Odds] title, but are titles supposed to be inflating attributes this much?! Did I get that from "defeating" the Merexxa? I like the new stats, but are you sure the balance is fine, Sateri~? The beast-related titles probably benefit solely Gelly, or future tamed beasts (are they not called creatures/monsters?) I may have, probably. That added level effect on [Accelerate Power] is sneaky. I will really miss out things like that in the future, Sateri~ [Shared Fate] seems amazing and scary at the same time. It''s really vague though. Maybe I should try that with Gelly and purposely get hit somehow¡­? Wait, I am not that kind of person! _ Scary waitress: Uh¡­ uhm, excuse me¡­? Ah, I must have been ignoring the waitresses the entire time. That was rude of me. _ Shadyna: Yes? I want to run away, but there are six of them and only one of me with 20 HP¡­ May I have a skill with HP regen please~ She looks kind of fidgety, while the sadisti¡­ carefree waitress standing behind her is snickering. Uhm, yeah, totally not suspicious at all. _ Scary waitress: L-look, I am sorry for causing you troubles. Can we compensate somehow? A-anything you want! Hmm~ a weird flag was raised~ Behind her, the bow waitress is facepalming, and the carefree waitress turned her back to us, totally trying to hold her laughter! Punishment game? Is this a punishment game and the scary waitress lost?! Well, I had mini heart attacks back then, so I guess I can take up on her offer. She did say a~nything, right? Might as well have Gelly join in while I''m at it. _ Shadyna: [Summon]! Gelly pops out from my inventory in some unknown way, then turns to me with the cute ^^ face. So cute~ According to the messages back then, it also leveled up. I wonder if I can see more statuses now that I have become the tamer¡­ [Inspect], go~! --- [Character information] [Name]: Gelly [Race]: Jelleaf [Gender]: Female [Age]: 0 [Level]: 5 [Status]: - HP: =......... (59/429) (429+0) - MP: ===....... (235/590) (590+0) - PAT: 200 (200+0) - PSP: 8 (8+0) - PDF: 243 (243+0) - MAT: 290 (290+0) - MSP: 8 (8+0) - MDF: 308 (308+0) - SPD: 29 (29+0) [Attributes]: - STR: 39 (2+37) - DEX: 37 (0+37) - CON: 41 (4+37) - LDR: 37 (0+37) - FOC: 38 (1+37) - WIT: 37 (0+37) - MEN: 38 (1+37) - LUC: 42 (5+37) [Equipment]: - Head: + - Body: + - Arms: + - Legs: + [Skills - Active]: - Burrow [Skills - Passive]: - Plant Camo [Titles]: - Against All Odds (13) - Tamed Beast Origin --- I saw nothing. HP never increased 7 folds. Yes, totally nothing weird whatsoever! _ Shadyna: Then, Miss waitress, can you heal us to full HP? With my brightest smile I can muster, I state my demands. Seriously, at my level, even if I managed to craft potions, or orbs like that warrior was using, it will probably take at least dozens of items to fill up the HP bar. I wonder if there''s a skill or title called [Potion-Addict]. The waitresses are dumbfounded. Uh oh, are potions really that expensive? That party back then was using them without much hesitation when the priestess ordered though¡­ _ Scary waitress: S-sure. Give me a second¡­ Are potions really serious business in this game?! She''s definitely flustered! She''s not crying though, so maybe I''m demanding a lot but not something THAT crazy? Maybe it''s the like losing a month of salary¡­? Actually, if it is at that level I would like her to stop. While she''s going through her menus, most likely inventory, I decide to pull out some edible plants in my own inventory and eat them. I haven''t eaten at all since my first login, and some warning indicators tell me that I will get debuffs soon at this rate. _ Bow waitress: Eh? Why are you eating those? _ Shadyna: Hmm? Because I don''t want to get hunger debuffs¡­ And I do not know how to cook yet. Could you not look at me like an abandoned kitten scavenging trash bags for leftover food in the middle of a downpour? I have no idea why such specific image pops up in my mind but that''s definitely what she''s comparing me with!!! _ Bow waitress: Leader, if you would. _ Scary waitress: ¡­Leave it to me. Her expression changes in an instant. From the slim if not a bit frail-looking scary waitress, a bunch of monster corpses pop out. Is this some type of graveyard?! She''s not a necromancer right?! Although I can''t completely disregard the possibility due to her appearance and personality! _ Scary waitress: [Mass Dismantling]! One my one, the corpses break apart into various other drops. [Dismantling], amazing! _ Scary waitress: [Field Cooking]! The drops combine into a big shining sphere like the crafting skill. Unlike me who spends quite some time to fill up the bar, meal after meal appear from the sphere! Scary, this is scary in a lot of ways!!! Other waitresses bring out a big picnic mat and spread it on the ground. After that, they put the meals from the scary waitress on it. Professionals in real life are already crazy, in-game they are even crazier! Just look at their working speed! _ Scary waitress: It is done. Please enjoy yourself. ¡­I don''t want to check the clock. I feel like my sanity points will drop if I see how many minutes (or even seconds) it took her to prepare a full course for a whole family. It would be awkward to decline her now, so I silently sit down on the mat. There''s no dirt so I don''t have to take off my shoes! ¡­Comparing to them, my equipment can really use some upgrade~ Still, in a game, equipment is the biggest investment for a player. Maybe in this game the buildings in town are more expensive, but equipment is undeniably essential to all players. I might just get a [Guilt] curse if I make such demands! _ Shadyna: Is it alright for me to eat these? Even in-game, I feel like my character would suffer from overeating just by looking at that amount. _ Scary waitress: Please do eat a bit of each. If you try to eat all of a dish you will hit the limit very fast. She explains calmly while sitting down with the others. Somehow this really turned into a picnic~. The scary waitress sits on the opposite side of me, while the bow and carefree waitress sits by her side. The hammer waitress sits next to me, and the remaining two sit in between on each side. By the way, the realism for overeating was uncalled for, Sateri~ Each time I eat a new dish, a light glow appears around me. It''s not [Sleep] effect by the way. I don''t know what the exact effects are, but my guts tell me I better not check my status right now. _ Scary waitress: Say, 0-stats¡­ Ah, people at school were using that nickname on me as well. Guess I didn''t introduce myself probably to these waitresses huh? _ Shadyna: My name is . You can call me as such. It was a late introduction, so I try my best to smile as compensation! _ Scary waitress: Is¡­ that so. My name is . My apology for the late introduction. Formal! She''s too formal! Is this also part of the punishment game?! _ Bow waitress: . _ Carefree waitress: , pleased to meet you~ Too long! Are you trying to torment your friends with that name?! Just imagine the pain and suffering they have to go to everytime they enter your name to PM! _ Unknown waitress #1: _ Unknown waitress #2: _ Hammer waitress: The remaining three don''t speak much. I wonder if it''s their personality? _ Hessenria: , and are more combat-oriented so they are not as social. Please don''t mind them. Ah, is that so~ _ Shadyna: Back on track~ What is it you want to ask, Hessy? Her name while not long is still a mouthful, so I''ll give her nickname! _ Hessy: Eh¡­ un, why is it that you have 0 attributes and skills? That surely makes people raise their eyebrows huh? And the reaction to the nickname was kind of lukewarm, Hessy~ _ Shadyna: Hmm~ I planned to play pacifist and thought that I wouldn''t need them, would be the reason? I''m more interested in traveling and sightseeing than fighting strong monsters, after all. Besides, I thought it would be fine since because both attributes and skills are grind-able. I would be weaker than same level players, but not really crippled. ¡­The whole mistakenly discarding all attribute and skill point crippled me, supposedly. The attribute screen is all weird now though. I''m confused, but feel like I will lose if I think too much. Hessy, why are you looking like you just took away the teddy bear of a young kid and are regretting it? What''s with these specific images I''m seeing from these waitresses'' actions?! Carefree-long-name lady, you should stop snickering. _ Hessy: I''m¡­ really sorry, for ruining your run. She''s lowering her head, and I have no idea what she''s talking about!!! _ Shadyna: I don''t really get it, but I am fine? Aside from the occasional close calls, I am seeing a lot of beautiful sceneries and managing to keep my pacifist status~ Besides, you look like you are about to cry, Hessy. If you do so it will be awkward~ _ Hessy: But I¡­ Wait, huh? Ah, that look. We are definitely having a misunderstanding. _ Shadyna: The environment is gorgeous, and I still have [Aspiring Pacifist], so it''s okay~ _ Hessy: How did that happen?! Didn''t you¡­ Trust me, I thought so too~ _ Shadyna: My tamed beast Gelly here did the damage, not me. So, it was safe! I declare proudly. If I have to guess, I am kind of making a smug face! Yeah, just like that, Gelly! Still have no idea HOW it happened though. _ Hessy: Nerin, got footage of the fight? Ah, she was behind me back then, so I guess she didn''t have a clear view huh? I''m kind of curious now! _ Nerin: Is that my nickname now? Here you go. _ Hessy: If I get a nickname you all are not getting away without one. Why is she considering nicknames a kind of punishment?! To me, Hessy is staring into the air, or straight at me, but she''s probably viewing the images or video of the battle. It''s kind of embarrassing though. Maybe she can figure out what happened back there? _ Hessy: I see. The [Summon Stone] has less air friction and therefore traveled at greater speed. It crashed into the Merexxa first, killing it before Shadyna could hit it. ¡­Seriously? Are you seriously simulating air friction in the game, Sateri~? That explained why Gelly officially dealt the damage, but totally did not explain why the stone dealt that kind of damage in the first place! Even I have no idea, and Hessy is not mentioning anything so she probably doesn''t know either. _ Hessy: Excuse us for a minute. Hessy starts dragging Mera away. I don''t know if she''ll get a different nickname, but that''ll be how I call her for now. _ Mera: Ehm~, Hessy, you are looking ki~nd of scary~ That cold stare should be reserved for the customers you know~ Seriously, are you ladies treating your customers like that? Hessy just quietly drags her until they are hidden behind the trees. *SLASH* _ Mera: Kya~ Wow. _ Hessy: You damned retard! Do you know how many years of my life did you shave off?! _ Mera: Please stop, Hessy~ I didn''t know either! *WHAM* _ Hessy: Do you have fat for brains like your boobs?! You were at the same place! Of course you knew! I am going to make you regret this day for the rest of your life! _ Mera: Hya~ You are going to get PK penalty, Hessy~ _ Hessy: You think I would let you get away with just dying?! I have enough pots to keep you alive for days! The attack sound effects and verbal abuse continue. _ Shadyna: Uhm¡­ Are we not going to stop them? _ Nerin: Leave them be. It''s just daily occurrence. Maybe they will be much richer if they don''t spend that many pots just for "arguing"¡­ Still, if that''s normal then I don''t have to feel sorry for Mera, right~? Because it is not suitable for children, I unsummon Gelly back to the stone for now. _ Nerin: They should have done it before eating. Meals take time to eat but heal by percentage rather than fixed value, so it''s more economical to use meals whenever possible at higher level. _ Shadyna: I didn''t know that! Thanks, Nerin~ She looks and acts like the most composed person of the party. But wouldn''t her personality fit more as an Adventurer Guild''s clerk? Oh wait, that kind of thing doesn''t exist here. _ Nerin: In addition to restorations, meals made by [Cooking] also have buffs. Effects and duration vary depending on skill levels, attributes and materials. This is our tavern''s special by the way. I am being fed something expensive?! _ Shadyna: Uhm¡­ when you you recommend this course to customers? _ Nerin: Level capped guilds preparing for boss fights, since it sacrificed duration for effect strength. I almost choked in a game! Am I going to be washing dishes for the rest of my life if I ever order this course in tavern?! Hessy and Mera return to the meal. Mera has one of Hessy''s blades stabbed on her head and is bleeding though. To allow such level of screwing around, as expected of Sateri~ ¡­ _ Hessy: We are going to continue our grind. Do you want to join us? The picnic is done, and everything has been cleaned up nicely. According to Nerin, the meal buffs should last until I logout today. _ Shadyna: I''ll pass. If possible I prefer leveling without harming monsters. If they were fighting with "Help Shadyna level up" goal in mind, they most likely will mow down half the forest with their firepower! As a true pacifist (in mind only), I would rather not have that happen! _ Hessy: I see. Then we will part ways here. An advice though, you probably should PM and be done with the current manhunt. I know right~? That bounty was probably why Hessy was after me in the first place~ Thanks to that I got to have a meal with beautiful waitresses, but I don''t think next time will be as lucky. _ Shadyna: I know. Still, meeting with a lecherous old man who enjoy little girls is a bit¡­ _ Hessy: ¡­Ah, right. You are a newbie. That idiot¡­ does have that personality, but in-game, as absurd as it is, she''s a little girl just like you. Excuse me?! The image of a little girl moving her hands in questionable ways is popping up. I do have mixed feelings about that¡­ _ Shadyna: I''ll think about it. _ ???: How about you join us instead of those losers? We spent too long in one place and now another weird clich¨¦ is happening!!! Chapter 6: Partying in various ways Sigh, Shadyna here. I was having a field day with beautiful waitresses when this guy happened. A young man emerges from the trees followed by many other players. Standing in a clear area surrounded by trees is just asking for dramatic entries, yet I was eating here the whole time! He looks like pretty much an anime protagonist with his spiky black hair and eyes. Luckily he wasn''t wearing a school uniform, or I would I think I had landed in the wrong genre. The floating throne-like thing he''s sitting on is interesting. Does he move around without using his legs? Then would its speed depend on his SPD stat? Unexpectedly, the waitresses except for Hessy scatter into the woods in a flash, leaving only the two of us facing the man. What the heck? [ has invited you to a party.] [Y/N] I accept without saying another word. _ Hessy: ¡­ _ Hessy (Party): That guy is , guildmaster of . It''s filled with snaky businessmen-type players who focus on crafting and trading. Oh~, a Merchant Guild~ _ Hessy (Party): And he''s obsessed with breasts, hence the guild''s name. Okay, impression value dropped to zero. This guy is just the same as , just on the other side of the scale!!! I noticed that I am getting access to a lot of information I do not have before joining the party. Notably, the location of the waitresses, and the massive amount of people approaching us from all sides. _ Shadyna (Party): Is all information shared between party members? I am overwhelmed by the new stuff!!! _ Hessy (Party): I''m surprised you can even be overwhelmed by anything, considering how you are doing things at your own pace. How rude~ _ Olkan: What the hell is that greeting, my ? Is it a crime to talk to beauties? Especially beauties with well-endowed chest. At least stay with . You two are peerless after all! The worst! This guy is the worst!!! When he said "peerless" he was referring to chest size wasn''t he!? Two more people join the party unexpectedly. and . They are in town by the by. _ Hessy (Party): Please make preparations, I will buy time. _ Hessy: What do you want? We have grinding to do. _ Olkan: Oh, how cold. But that''s what I love about you. The invitation still stands, just letting you know. You and will make very good mascots representing our guild. Did he failed to invite Hessy in the past? I wonder if these waitresses are in a guild currently. They look too organized to be guild-less. _ Hessy: No thanks. Don''t want to be in the guild with that name while having more men than chests. I''ll ask again, what do you want? Otherwise we''ll be on our way. The burns~ _ Olkan: Oof, that hurts, honey. Companies have to expand, so while it''s unfortunate, our strength lies in the massive network of merchants. I do wish to have more beauties around however¡­ He''s having mixed feelings about how things turned out, I''m sure. _ Olkan: That is old news you already knew. I''m just explaining our guild to our newbie over there. Hessy flinches a bit as he points at me. I''m just a cute girl with [Chest: ] status, so please don''t mind me, boobs-obsessed CEO~ _ Hessy: What, did you finally get into economic depression and need to bounty-hunt to make ends meet? Or did you become one with ? The image of two perverts joining force to hunt me down is not funny, so please stop snickering, Hessy~ And the people behind , I can see you LOL-ing by that question as well you know!!! _ Olkan: Of course not! I stay true to my values until the end of time! You have heard it too, right? The 0-stats supposedly possesses some really nice items in exchange for all her points. _ Hessy (Party): Hostility confirmed. Please begin operation. _ Melodyn (Party): Understood. Although with the beast tamer in the mix, I am not sure how effective it will be. Are they talking about the system message earlier? Something about a player taming beast without pacts¡­ Around the same time Gelly became a [Summon Stone]. Was Sateri referring to me? _ Nerin (Party): That reminds me, ''s Jelleaf¡­ _ Shadyna (Party): Ah, right, it became my tamed beast at that time. I got [Beast Tamer Origin] title from it too~. _ Everyone (Party): Ah~ _ Melodyn (Party): Total mobilization, start~ Did I¡­ say something bad? ____________ In the noisy tavern, players are preparing to begin their mass search for the 0-stats girl and the mysterious first tamer. While they have a general idea where the 0-stats is, the tamer''s info is non-existent. Suddenly, the two new waitresses clap their hands to gather everyone''s attention. They cannot use [World Voice], because it would alert the enemies. The members of in the tavern can still overhear their announcement, but due to their massive number, getting the message to the guildmaster will take time. And now time is of the essence. _ Waitresses: We have an urgent announcement to make. The new recruits are now known for their ability to speak in perfect unison. Even when they are supposedly sisters, that''s still an impressive feat. Everyone in the tavern stops chatting and turns to the waitresses in anticipation. _ Waitresses: The exact location of Illusive Sprout and the first beast tamer have been confirmed. They are being held by at these coordinates. will begin a rescue operation, and has just confirmed participation. For everyone who wishes to prevent ''s monopoly, your help in the coming battle is appreciated. On the wall, a projection is created. It''s the streaming feature of the game, allowing people to see what''s happening from another player''s point of view. This one was shared by none other than the famous waitress . All the 4 big guilds have their own secrets they want to keep, but is known above all to keep the economy under a loose leash as they are a very big part of the market. If they start spreading their influence to take the information market from it will be less than ideal for general players since they are at the mercy of a single entity''s price manipulation. No thanks to that, think a lot of the players in the tavern. Besides, everyone loves it when they are fighting against a stronger common threat. _ Waitresses: We are providing free food buffs for everyone. For the fair market, please lend us your hands. The freebies and plead from cute girls were the last straws that break the camel''s back. In real world, mobilization takes time and effort to pull off. In game, taking some food to get buffs and brandishing weapons are all they need. From the estimation of the sister waitresses who are devilishly smiling, in ten to twenty minutes the forest will be overrun with players from all the places once the news start spreading. ____________ _ Olkan: Hey, 0-stats, you know what I''m talking about, right? Or should I make you spill the beans? Third-rate villain confirmed. And I actually have no idea what he is talking about! The only thing that is worth anything in my inventory is [Summon Stone], but I just got it today so I doubt that''s what and were after¡­ _ Shadyna (Party): May I tease him a bit? _ Hessy (Party): I don''t see why not, just don''t say something that gives you disadvantages. _ Shadyna: Uhm¡­ Best item I have is this [Midae Grass Hairpin (Trash)]? Do you want it? _ Olkan: ¡­Are you trying to provoke me? How rude! I made it from the flowers at the lake''s shore! It''s the only non-totally-grass equipment I have! And could you not do that look as if you are seeing abandoned kitties in the rain, Hessy~ _ Olkan: I said rare items, not trash. The items that are at least the level of ''s [Summon Stone]! _ Hessy (Party): is our guildmaster by the way. His [Summon Stone] has the strongest known beast in possession of a player. Oh~, so he''s like my senior, since I have a tamed beast too. Guess he would have a [Beast Tamer Origin] title too. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Gelly is probably not at that level though. It''s just a wild stray beast I picked up by accident~ And there''s absolutely nothing wrong with its stats, un. _ Shadyna: I don''t have anything that can''t be made with [Armor Crating Lv.0]? I''m just a new player who started yesterday~ _ Olkan: So that''s your answer. Very well, my best [Inspect] members can find your deepest secret from your corpse anyway. Why are chloroform and murder the first courses of action for the majority of players I have encountered in this game?! Hessy is brandishing her weapons. When did she retrieve it from Mera''s head I wonder? _ Shadyna: ¡­Are you that desperate to rummage around a girl''s wardrobe? is the type of person who wears girls'' panties on his head? This time it''s fine to be LOL-ing, background-people~ _ Olkan: Hpmh! Know your place. Your chest is worth as much as your stats. And I prefer wearing big bras on my head. Everyone fell silence. That was¡­ uh, quite a confession. And I''m kind of pissed now, my stats are no longer worthless you know! I hate this guy to the point of considering risking my pacifist run for the sake of grinding him to the ground, for bashing my cute chest! I''m not like , okay? _ Hessy: Oi, I''m not going to just look the other way if you try to harm her you know. _ Hessy (Party): Shadyna, when the fight breaks out, please run to Nerin. I will distract them, and everyone will escort you back to town. _ Nerin (Party): RIP Hessy. It was nice knowing you. _ Mera (Party): It was an honor serving with you~ I hope we will be appearing in your flashbacks as you die slowly and painfully~ That is not helping, you two¡­ _ Olkan: Oh, that cold stare is beautiful. Look at you, the abusive mistress is having a soft spot for a little girl. The gap is. JUST. MOE~ Please drop dead already, pervert~ Don''t squeal like fangirls, background perverts! _ Mera (Party): Moe~ indeed~ Why are you joining in, Mera~ _ Hessy (Party): I''m going to murder you a few more times back in town, damn maniac. _ Olkan: I would love to see your struggling expression against my horde. We are merchants, but we have numbers, and equipment to back it up. And even if you can hold on with your food buffs¡­ Olkan pulls out a shiny golden scepter. Above it is a black spinning orb that is totally not looking like a last boss''s apocalyptic spell. _ Olkan: See this? It''s enhanced to maximum known MAT, and enchanted with [Ignore Magical Defense] to the brim. Can only use one time before having to recharge, but I haven''t seen anyone that requires using this a second time. Why are you explaining it to us? Do you know the chance of failure ramps up once you start telling your targets how they will suffer? This guy is not savvy at all! _ Hessy: So I just have to dodge it once. Since Hessy is probably busy thinking of a countermeasure, I will ask the capable Nerin¡­ _ Shadyna (Party): Nerin, can tamed beast be resurrected? And what does [Shared Fate] do while you are at it too. I want to know all of my available actions, and there''s no faster way to do it than asking the people who gather information from around the world! _ Nerin (Party): You really go at your own pace. Yes, if you have [Summon Stone], your beast returns there once they die and can be resurrected. _ Olkan: The spell is your favorite [Dark Bolt], which has [Homing] capability, honey. I made this just for you once you accept my invitation, but I think it''s good irony to have you die from your own trump card. ¡­I am eternally grateful for not hitting me with that earlier, Hessy. By the way, I object to giving her that scepter! She''s a waitress, not a queen! _ Nerin: [Shared Fate]¡­ Well, it''s a weaker [Devotion]. Both you and your target takes damage, but you won''t die until both of you has HP of 1. Leveling it will give you a damage reduction bonus. At level 0 you split the damage 50-50, but at level 10 it becomes 45-50. Only applies to caster. Usually, just get [Devotion] so you can give target all the stats you have. Ah, [Damage dealt] is shared when [Devotion] is active however¡­ Sateri, were those pacifist traps made for me? Nah, can''t be, right? So [Shared Fate] can mitigate some damage¡­ _ Olkan: Of course, you can always use that girl to take the hit for you, but you don''t want that, do you~? So it''s already my win, honey. Why is this conversation becoming closer and closer to blackmailing in questionable media contents? That guy is just going with the villain role, right? _ Olkan: So, what would you do, ? Surrender and accept my invitation, or knowingly receive humiliation in front of everyone here? I like both genres so either is fine. Seriously, drop dead already, degenerate pervert, and the background perverts too~ _ Hessy: Hmm, I wonder? _ Hessy (Party): Almost time. , ready? _ Shadyna (Party): Are you really going to be the live bait? _ Hessy (Party): It''s fine. As long as you do not fall into their hands it''s a worth a sacrifice or two. Why are you saying those cool lines, Hessy? I will fall for you if you keep being so cool you know~ And more importantly, isn''t it worse to have Hessy die here? Look at all those perverts with obvious impure motives on their face!!! Guess she''s really strong, so people want to have a chance of defeating her. It''s not like you can see tavern waitresses in a forest every day. _ Shadyna (Party): I''m ready¡­ somewhat. Not for running though. I strive to be a true pacifist, but I will switch to technical pacifism when it''s convenient! To be fair, I can logout, but that will ruin the mood everyone worked so hard on building, and with this number they will just have someone camp here until I login tomorrow. _ Hessy: I have to thank you for using general chat this whole time, jerk. [World Voice]. She crushes a small golden orb in her hand. leadership?> As if she''s talking directly to my mind, I can hear the words without seeing her saying anything. This happened for a while after I fell into the lake, but I was kind of occupied so I ignored them all. Other voices are joining in. Everyone sure sounds like they are in high spirits. On the other hand, and the background perverts look ki~nd of shocked at the sudden development. Un, let''s ignore the unrelated voices. Ignore ignore~ Another orb is crushed. Why am I involved in this, Hessy~!!! And stop wasting items, you damn perverts~ Hessy is showing the people in front of her a dark smile. Maybe it''s time to revert her back to "Scary waitress"¡­? _ Hessy: Streaming feature is useful, don''t you think? _ Olkan: ¡­Now you asked for it. The occasion combat noises in the background change into something of an all-out war. Weapons clashing, spells exploding, battle cries echo from all sides. The encirclement around us starts panicking. From the party information, a lot more players are crashing in. The encirclement became the encircled! Spending too much time boasting about your evil schemes will result in this kind of development, ! _ Hessy (Party): Run! She dashes forward. It seems like she has a skill that allows something like a long jump. I want that skill too, in case of emergency! _ Hessy: [Dark Bolt]! _ Shadyna: [Summon]~ I catch Gelly midair and toss it at . My aim is not that accurate, but I do think it will land in the general vicinity between the two. As if knowing how Hessy would act, a party full of shield bearers charge forward. They must be defense-oriented players who are here for the sole purpose of slowing down high-damage players. In other words, cannon fodders. The black arrow pierces the closest player with ease. He''s still standing. _ Shield bearer: IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?! I can do this all da¡­ *WHACK* The second black arrow knocks him out the moment it hits him. _ Shield bearer: Thank you very much!!! ¡­I heard nothing. _ Nerin (Party): Really wish someone had higher LDR right now! _ Mera (Party): It couldn''t be helped~, we all have to be independent somewhat~ While the party is kind of taking it easy, Hessy flings another player up in the air. _ Thrown player: It is a reward in our service!!! Am I the only sane person around here? With two players out in moments, the path between and Hessy is now clear. The third-rate villain was pointing his scepter at the waitress, grinning. _ Olkan: I win, you lose. [Golden Scepter of Ultimate Sadism]. At that distance, there''s no way the spell would miss. Aw, Hessy looks like she has resigned to her fate. This is not the time to give up though! _ Shadyna: [Shared Fate]~ A black and white chain appears between me and Gelly, who just landed on the black sphere of the definitely-weird-name scepter. There was no way I could throw that accurately, so nice maneuver there Gelly! *SPLASH* The magic arrow that is even bigger than Hessy''s stabs right into Gelly''s bouncy body, knocking it off the scepter. Yike, that feeling was unpleasant! Getting hit by that scepter''s magic, even by proxy, is no joke! HP dropped to 1. Yeah, even with weird stats it''s not easy to just ignore min-maxed builds. If I unsummon Gelly now, everyone''s attention will turn to me and I will die from just a sneeze. So please, entertain them just a bit longer! The arrow disappears, and Gelly bounces up again with a >< face. Sorry, that must have hurt. Everyone is standing speechless, staring at the wriggling blob with cute leaves on top. _ Olkan: Wha¡­ how¡­ Looks like the noisy battlefield worked in my favor, as no one heard me using [Shared Fate]. Hessy used skill without chanting earlier, so there must be a way to use them without shouting out loud, right? _ Hessy: [Dark Bolt]! As expected of professional kille¡­ I mean waitress, she wastes no chance to get the upper hand. Can anyone blame here though? She''s completely surrounded by enemies (perverts). I am too, but the whole double encirclement thing is keeping them busy, so I just kind of fading into the background. Blend in the background, and suddenly no one cares about you~ _ Olkan: [Diamond Shield of Darkness]! He puts on a big shining shield against the bolt. Why would you use diamond for something with "darkness" in it?! Shouldn''t you have used onyx instead? Form is more important than function! _ Shadyna: [Unsummon]. No one would be looking at Gelly getting back into the stone now. _ Olkan: How''s that?! I had this one specifically made to fight against you! Can you see my overflowing love?! What the heck is this romcom? _ Hessy: Shut the hell up, trash. *WHAM* She swings her swords while glaring at Olkan like he''s some type of industrial nuclear waste. What? I am not degrading him at all~ _ Hessy: [Rapid Assault]! She stabs, and stabs, and stabs, and stabs¡­! I feel like this scene needs to be censored! That shield most likely has a lot of both PDF and MDF, but if she keeps stabbing like that it will still do serious damage. _ Olkan: Timeout! Timeout! That isn''t even a skill!!! Stop staring in envy and help me already you guys! Ah, she just wants to stab that pervert over and over again. I can totally understand that. Wait, I shouldn''t. I''m a pacifist! really screwed up his selection of personnel. They were the type that want to be in their leader''s situation rather than not! Defense-oriented players are closet M confirmed. At least they snapped out of their fantasies when called for help. That group formed based on ''s long rod strategy, so they have no significant offensive capability. Why would you need to attack when your main job is pinning Hessy down and don''t get in the way when the pervert shoots his thing. Repeat after me, overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer~ They failed to take to into account any other possibilities, including the one where shooting his stuff into anything other than Hessy. ¡­I should wash Gelly again after this. _ Mera (Party): Hmm~? I thought is coming to us? _ Hessy (Party): What the hell?! Why are you not running, ?! _ Shadyna (Party): But you would die if I didn''t take that attack for you? I''m staying still to avoid attention so no worries. _ Nerin (Party): Change of plan then. We are going back to you. Survive, both of you. Technically it''s three of us, including Gelly though. _ Mera (Party): So Hessy has fallen to the point of using a little girl as a shield~ _ Hessy (Party): I. DID. NOT!!! ''s party ganging up on Hessy suddenly find themselves at the receiving end of carnage as she furiously slashes, stabs, pierces, pulverizes anything in sight for no apparent reason (to them at least). It''s kind of strange, the supposedly defense-heavy players are really struggling against a single waitress. Her strength was acknowledged by , so it''s not something to scoff at, but this is just one-sided. Look, she just knocks a player off-balance by pure sword bashing, skewers him with her other sword, then the other sword, for good measure, and kicks his dead body onto the ground as he thanks her for the service. ¡­Yeah, let''s ignore that last part. At this rate, the nearby shield users will all die, and Hessy will be exposed to the higher damage players who are getting into position with a terrified expression. Un, they are probably not looking forward to it unlike the shield perverts. _ Shadyna (Party): Hessy, could you ignore the players and focus on ? _ Hessy (Party): What now?! _ Shadyna (Party): Please? _ Hessy (Party): Damn it!!! Now, I wonder what I can do to help her fight¡­ I wonder if I can use skills without alerting others by using really low voice? _ Hessy: [Rapid Assault]! _ Shadyna: [Cheer]. Using Hessy''s battle to mask it works too. Oh well. [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Silent Cast Lv.0"] Nice~ _ Shadyna (Party): Nerin, what is this about not having LDR earlier? _ Nerin (Party): Right, this is your first party. Party leader gives a LDR/8 bonus to all party members'' attributes. Even with food buffs, we only have a total of 60 LDR from Hessy''s mistakenly chosen 20 LDR. _ Hessy (Party): Shut up Nerin! I totally feel you that, Hessy~ I do not feel you about how you are casually implying your food increases attributes by 200%, Nerin~ But, 20 base LDR huh¡­ _ Shadyna (Party): Hessy, give me party lead. _ Hessy (Party): Is it you people''s hobby to distract me while I''m fighting for my dear life here?! There, suit yourself! I have been assigned as the current party leader without further question. How trusting¡­ Or busy, more likely. And Hessy, that complaint coming from the person risking her own life to protect me is kind of contradictory~ Chapter 7: The guild war "I think she''s on par with ." That was the words of regarding the 0-stats girl, Illusive Sprout. While they are members of different guilds, it''s not like they never talk to each other. If anything, they would be similar to friends trash-talking each other. Old acquaintances and all that. From time to time, they would share important information with each other, especially about events that can challenge the status quo. , owner of [Summon Stone ], is nigh-invulnerable in large-scale battles, thanks to his beast''s special skill, [Rebirth]. It is a bird that automatically revives itself after dying. Definitely a phoenix, hence . Out of the big guilds in the game, he''s the most outstanding player. And here was casually saying that he has just gotten some competition. The remaining big guilds are also strong in their own ways, but individually, they are not game-breaking as much. So the potential new anomaly may become the next big guild master, which means even more competition on strategic level. On the other hand, is known to be an information hoarder. She would not outright lie, but she has omitted critical information in the past. It''s not a lie, technically, was her excuse. ''s main force is busy at the Magnus Bestia''s location, while for the most part committed themselves to fighting the Nox Terminus at the world''s border. Both are at quite a distance from Tyrel. Hence, only and , whose main operations are not (directly) involved with exterminating monsters, were capable of responding to Illusive Sprout. ____________ The tavern is currently eerily empty, with only the two waitresses and a few customers. Even they hastily grab some food from the counter and just dash out. --- Topic: Where''s everyone? --- ## OP alchemist Just logged in and there''re barely any people in town, including tavern. What happened? ## ## Flame knight of Darkness Are you in BB Conglomerate? If yes, go to forest and help your comrades by killing everyone else. If no, go to forest and kill everyone in the above case. War has started. ( ?§Õ?) ## ## OP alchemist Some kind of event? Why did I not receive any system mail about this? ## ## Curious big boobs elf Not planned by Sateri-chan. Just some people begging for attention ¡¥\_(¥Ä)_/¡¥ ## ## CuteIsJustice Now you are just jealous of the harsh mistress''s fame. (£þ©`£þ) A man tried to get two girls into his harem, now everyone is killing everyone. ## ## OP alchemist WTF that''s stupid LOL ## ## Manly Warrior Respawned players started fighting in town. Arm yourself. P/S: Considering how some historical wars started, this one is realistic enough. ## ------ ____________ It all started with a small prank in mind. Illusive Sprout was last seen in the forest, so gathered whoever he could and began flooding the area. Apart from the level 15 Merexxa, the forest itself is only in the range of level 5 to 10. Considering the target''s strength, it''s unlikely she could even go into the deeper parts. She''s interesting enough to warrant a 2000 Gold bounty from , so wanted to have her secrets for himself. The average level of merchants is lower than that of fighters who spent the same amount of play time, because sitting in market does not really give you experience. However, getting to level 5 can be done in 1-2 days, so there was no shortage of volunteers. More than a hundred players compose the main search party, gathering around to search every nook and cranny. This "group" act as the main fighting force in case other smaller guilds get in their way. The remaining guild members just spread out in all directions as forward scouts, and grind materials while they are at it. In a way they were acting like the combat-crazed guild. _ Member (Guild): Found someone with similar appearance, but with [Grass] equipment! ''s waitresses are eating with her! She has unique appearance, and if the waitresses are with such random stranger, it''s almost guaranteed that said person is the wanted sprout, or at least someone of great interest. _ Olkan (Guild): Keep your distance. They have crazy detection range. Main force, follow my lead! The scouts were definitely spotted since they were close enough to have eyes on target, but they would be disregarded as random players passing by as long as they don''t have suspicious movement. By the time of the encounter, they will surely have food buffs, but it is to be expected as they were supposedly grinding materials. Even with their combat prowess, doubts anyone can win when outnumbered 20 to 1. It was already decided that some fight would break out. After all, he can''t let grow even stronger than they already are! Blinded by the fame of the waitresses, no one considered the Illusive Sprout a war asset. She was the treasure chest filled with rares in the merchants'' mind. ____________ When and meet, the shield party forms. The shield party is equipped with best MDF-heavy shields and gather around , as is famous for her maxed [Dark Bolt]. It was an easy to acquire skill, but she abused it so much that it became a doomsday weapon. It is also homing, so it''s pretty much impossible to dodge unless target maxes out their SPD or use something to take the hit for them, like a summon or another player. The physics system made by Sateri-chan is very robust, so there''s no "Selective targeting" which allowed players to hit targets regardless of allies in the vicinity like games of older generations. Area-of-effect skills are strong in the alpha strike, but once enemies and allies mix together, accurate attacks are a requirement lest you hit your own team. The other waitresses retreated before they could be encircled completely. They must have seen the massive amount of players around them and decided to wait outside for reinforcement. It was either holding out until reinforcement arrives, or organizing a counterattack for them. They chose the latter, at the expense of their own party leader and treasure chest. Maybe they thought they have a better chance reclaiming the treasure chest when backed by other guild members. are way out of position, so was not particularly in a hurry. ____________ While not exactly his type, Illusive Sprout was amusing to talk to. She has this carefree attitude that just won''t go away even under pressure. Even then, she knows what she is doing. During the villainous conversation with , she was having the expression of "I''m enjoying a B-rate romcom", completely free of worries. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. That made really go all out with acting like a bad guy. Well, he IS a bad guy, as he does mean what he says, but he''s not that hell-bent on making things hard for anyone. He is kind of hell-bent on inviting to his guild, on the flip side. too, but he needs more DEX to avoid biting his tongue for saying that name more than once every five minutes, so his intention regarding her is less well-known. is a person who loves all big-boobs women. ____________ The PvP has begun. PK penalty is only applied if killed player has not retaliated. If the player deals damage to other players, or perform support actions to attacking player, it becomes a fair game for everyone. That status does not display, so most of the time in PvP, players simply attack the nearest known "hostile" players. It works quite well for small numbers of participants, but when so many players gather in a small area, it is hard to identify friends and foes. Not having a visible guild crest to know who is in which guild makes it more akin to a free-for-all rather than a guild war. This is where old players of the closed beta provide their wisdom, for they also suffered the same pain in the past. _ Torenis (PM): Back then, we made one when there was none. Such was the advice of the guild master. Following the same way wars have been waged in the past, they bring forth the power of Sateri-chan''s procedural generation of crafting recipes, and create¡­ Flags. , please craft your flag with three circles in triangular position emphasizing your obsession with coins. Use the following recipe if you have never created one.> Every player who are not already occupied simultaneously scream internally with the worldwide casual verbal abuse from the two waitresses in the tavern. In chaotic confusion, people tend to follow whatever clear objective available, even if it is a bit absurd. There will be fake flags, there will be non-compliances, but on the large scale, it does not matter. Real life humans, as a whole, like to know who the enemy is, and will gladly follow the given instruction. And for the minority who do not want to follow¡­ <> The few people who were present in the tavern at the time got to see the expression of the two sisters, who would later post that nightmarish vision on the board and give the waitresses their nickname. "Bloodbath Sisters", for their involvement and encouragement of the game''s first mass PvP ever since release. Players now know the "enemies", stop probing the opponents in front of them, and start fighting all-out even when they know they may be fighting against oblivious "civilians". Without hesitation, they strike. Because someone has made the difficult decision for them already. Not that it was difficult for the waitresses to give such morally questionable directives, since it is a game, and their personalities are a big help. All in all, they are members of , yet they are newcomers and have no attachment to it. They helped both "allies" and "enemies" alike, knowing the end result will be more organized battles and therefore higher casualties. The two are just here to enjoy the bloody carnage that is happening~ Especially the streamed battle of which is so cruel and desperately needs a censorship on it! However, it would have been nice to make a discount instead of on-the-house offer, now that they are dealing with a huge amount of just arrived or respawned players. And materials were running low too~ They will pay the expense using ''s treasury so it''ll be alright, probably. The famous waitress corps refuses to have any kind of normal waitress whatsoever. ____________ In a far corner of the world, a big guild is taking on one of the strongest known monsters currently. The organizer of them is , holder of the first S-rank [Summon Stone]. His close friend, one of the guild''s managers, turns to him. _ Manager: Not going to do anything about this? The guildmaster has been mindlessly doing this fight for a whole week, so he''s half-daydreaming to kill boredom. _ Torenis: Hmm? Sorry, wasn''t paying attention. _ Choruse (Guild): Master, do you have anything to help differentiate two sides in a large-scale battle? _ Torenis: One sec, newbie called. _ Torenis (Guild): Large-scale battle? Sateri-chan prefers not having "system support" for a lot of things, including "information" such as unknown players'' affiliations. Back then, we made one when there was none. Colored armors, equipment quirks, hidden phrases, etc¡­ _ Choruse (Guild): ¡­That was great advice. Thank you, Master. _ Torenis (Guild): You''re welcome. _ Torenis: Sorry about that, so, where were we? His beast has revived, so he summons it again and sends it on its way to its doom for the unknown-th times. _ Manager: That''s what I was talking about. The tavern just declared war on . Are you fine with that? _ Torenis: ¡­Our guild''s tavern? _ Manager: Check the message log, seriously. A few seconds later. _ Torenis: The hell is this?! Why the hell is fighting ?! And we did not mount any rescue operation!!! The manager groans. Yeah, such reaction is expected, but should have happened the moment those members used [World Voice]. _ Manager: Why don''t you tell them instead of me? is also a manager, so I half-expected you to do something about it, a while ago. _ Torenis (Guild): , what the heck happened?! Why are we at war with ?! _ Hessenria (Guild): Shut up will you! I am busy here! _ Torenis (Guild): Anyone explain the situation!!! _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel (Guild): Sure~ Hessy was eloping with a little girl~, then the boobs-obsessed guildmaster¡­ _ Torenis (Guild): Any BUT you, PLEASE! He''s in an emergency here! There''s no need for insanity-inducing explanations! _ Nerin (Guild): Haaaa¡­ We found the 0-stats, but want to keep her, and Hessy as a bonus, so she''s fighting , and¡­ probably his henchmen? _ Torenis (Guild): Why is that a question?! Stop this at once! I will talk to ! _ Nerin (Guild): Everyone''s having fun so¡­ we don''t mind? Ah, we are entering the fight now, so later. _ Torenis (Guild): HEY!!! The manager next to him can only give him a sympathetic pat on his back. _ Manager: You have it tough. _ Torenis: I am going to kick all of them after this!!! Lately, with him spending time away from town, fades away from the (in-game) world stage. Instead, his manager, , became the main representative of to the general populace. They are also becoming known as "BDSM club" too, but the hermit guildmaster has not known yet. He''s not worried about his position though. is both beautiful and powerful, but she is not special. She will never be able to do something like surpassing him in popularity and respect from other members. After all, she will never be able to do something like fighting a Magnus Bestia like what he''s doing now. Doesn''t mean she can just declare war just for the heck of it though! _ Torenis (PM): Olkan, what are you doing?! _ Olkan (PM): What? Isn''t it too soon to negotiate surrender terms? _ Torenis (PM): Stop screwing around! Why did you start a war?! _ Olkan (PM): Technically, your people attacked first¡­ _ Torenis (PM): Don''t "technically" me! One is already one too many! _ Olkan (PM): I think it''s fine? We are not allies in the first place. Though I''ll admit, your waitresses are good at agitating people. There are a lot of players marching on us, and the lolicons are in too. _ Torenis (PM): What. The. Hell?! _ Olkan (PM): Tell you what? Since I''m having fun too, why don''t we make a bet? If Illusive Sprout gets back to town safely with , you can take her in. If I acquire Illusive Sprout, you will not pursuit us. Fair conditions and keep things local, no? _ Torenis (PM): You¡­ what are you after?! _ Olkan (PM): I''m a player, so what else could it be? Fun, coins, and boobs, obviously. The last one is just Olkan''s own preferences, irrelevant of being a player. ____________ Because of targeting rules of the game, even using a homing skill is not a guaranteed hit. Therefore, his tougher members are to close the distance, keep the target busy, and give the ultimate anti- weapon a certain chance to strike. Which got blocked by a level 2 monster!!! was dumbfounded when it happened. The blob, which appeared out of nowhere take a spell in its face that was supposed to destroy thousands of HP, survived despite all odds against it. If damage actually translates to physics, this gelatinous thing would not even have a particle of itself remains after such an attack. Before he could further process the situation, the harsh mistress is already on the offensive again¡­ is the guildmaster of a big guild, so even with his trump card wasted, he''s not out of options, yet. For example, the beautiful shield his guild also made in preparation for ''s (eventual) arrival! Turns out, that helped, but not much! That rapid stabbing is not a skill! She is just pissed! The accompanying shield users are capable, but their personalities are just as rotten as his! Took them a direct command to start moving again. It was close. They have good equipment, and the fallen can be resurrected by the support behind him. She can''t win in attrition. Guns win firefights, tanks win battles, logistic wins the war. And in this game, no one has better logistic than ! Then she suddenly attacks so cruelly it isn''t funny! He hasn''t said anything to offend her¡­ since the failed murder attempt at least! The merchants are losing grounds, badly. Remaining players get into position to take their places. The fight is not over yet! As long as the priests are alive, ''s practically unlimited mana potion stockpile will ensure their victory! Once more, wars turn out to be a bit more complex than the plans made for them. suddenly gains speed. Not from the anger, mind you. This game does not give buff based on that. This one is actual status buff, with tangible results, confirmed by the HP bar plummeting in ''s status! [Hessenria - Apprentice waitress - HP: =======¡­] Even with many players engaging, her HP is still so high! Players can just call her a boss and no one would bat an eye. Employing all available assets in his arsenal, struggles for his life. An enemy that gets stronger and stronger, yet does not reach the point of hopelessness. An uphill battle that will result in so many losses, but with a victory always in sight. For the merchants of , they prefer playing around in the market, seeing the number of coins in their inventory shoots up. However, they are now in mortal combat, and they are feeling it. The desperation and excitement of a final boss fight. _ Olkan: ONWARD! TO VICTORY! _ Members: FOR THE HOPE AND DREAMS! FOR THE BOOBS! It was lively as always. And no one remembers the original goal they came for in the first place. ____________ The tavern is, for the first time, quieter than the area surrounding it. Materials ran out, so players can only get food if they give the materials to the waitresses to cook. Outside, respawned players are killing each other to hinder opposition reinforcement to the main battlefield. Even the marketplace in ''s part of the town is now littered with players'' bodies rather than stalls. --- Topic: Operation Zero Glory master thread --- ## Fire mage of Justice Discuss the player-held mass PVP Operation Zero Glory event. Notable player streams: - Hessenria - [Link]: The main protagonist, hero of this story. She started this event to protect Illusive Sprout from the lecherous BB Conglomerate. - Olkan - [Link]: The main antagonist, villain of this story. Not satisfied with just boobs, he''s now trying to lay hands on little girls to compete with DFC Sages. - Melodyn/Choruse - [Links]: Little combat, but they are reporting various happenings in this event. Staying together so just pick one of the links. - Alliance/Forest - [Links]: Various capped players in the alliance force fighting in the forest. - Alliance/Town - [Links]: Various capped players in the alliance force fighting in Tyrel. - BB/Forest - [Links]: Various capped players in the BB force fighting in the forest. - BB/Town - [Links]: Various capped players in the BB force fighting in Tyrel. I contacted other waitresses and DFC Sages but they seem to be in special operations and cannot provide streams. Hopefully will change. Someone please make an after-action report thread. We are going to need it after event ends, guaranteed. ## ## Manly Warrior Leave AAR thread to me. You keep moderating this one. BB losing against a single waitress. (£þ¡õ£þ;) That was out-of-character for our harsh cold mistress, which has never happened. ## ## Curious big boobs elf That''s blatant bias against BB Conglomerate by OP (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß Look at Olkan''s stream, that monster in waitress disguise is the bad guy here! ## ## CuteIsJustice Requesting to change 3rd link to Bloodbath Sisters. Someone posted their expression earlier and it was beautifully terrifying. (Cute girls thread) The main forces of Phoenix Ashes entered forest btw. The ones not doing Magnus Bestia at least. So did DFC Sages. ## ## Mage of Sin Hessenria is really out-of-character. Gap moe~ Maybe her motherly instincts kicked in for the little Illusive Sprout? Let''s poll for her to be the mother, LOL ## ## Heaven Piercer Poll thread created. [Link] Fought against (read: stepped on by) Hessenria in the past. Did she get a level up from the motherly instincts? And BB is definitely the villain here. Stop bullying cute girls! ## ## Nearseeing Sage Who''s the father?! ## ## Mage of Sin You are supposed to be joining the fight, get back there LOL Also reported. I should go back too. ## ------ Chapter 8: MVP This is reporter Shadyna reporting from site zero of a guild war~ With me as party leader, everyone''s stats skyrocketed! Not really up to heaven per se, but attribute-wise they probably have somewhere around 20 level ups. Considering their equipment and even distribution of points, it''s not that much, but still a considerable amount. I don''t know how much my [Cheer] helps, but it''s the thought that counts. Thankfully it does not add to my [Damage dealt] record. I mean, just look at ''s expressions! He''s crushing pots continuously to stay alive! But this is really a problem huh. They have lots of pots, and while they need an animation to activate, it''s not hard to keep up with ''s attacks as long as the enemies do not die in one stab¡­ Sateri, please nerf the pot spam~ The support players behind are also being a nuisance. Is there any way for me to kill them without damage¡­? Technical pacifism is going strong today~ If only I knew how to perform the killing technique against the Merexxa, I would be more than happy to let them have a taste of it. Let''s see, I was running at the time¡­ and then I tripped¡­ _ Olkan: What the hell is this strength?! Your new menu?! _ Hessenria: No, just . _ Olkan: Why would you eat that boss-murder-level guild-economy-crippling meal in this forest?! Why, indeed~ If a rich man says that, that course must have been really expensive! ¡­I am not going to wash dishes for the next few years in this game, right? Which was the main damage¡­ The running, the tripping, or the flying¡­? _ ???: GOT YOU! I find myself lifted from the ground, with a sharp blade next to my throat. Oops, I forgot about the henchmen all around me. Looks like they finally noticed my presence at the worst time! [??? - Apprentice assassin - HP: ==========] Ah, it''s that ill-mannered archer and co again. There''s no chloroform this time so it''s an improvement? _ Warrior: Sorry about back then, but uh, really want to get some revenge on you. The only sane person in the group is trying to cheer me up huh? Well, I''m still being held hostage so it doesn''t matter much. _ Shadyna: Hello again~ Are you members of ? _ Warrior: Ah, no, we aren''t. We are just joining their side because doesn''t like you. From your expression, that might have been rough being with this guy. I would give you a pat but I''m kind of stuck here~ _ Maximus: Shut the chitchat, . Hey , stand down if you don''t want this little brat to get hurt! A true hostage development~ Not just Hessy, everyone in the vicinity stops whatever they were doing and turns to me. I''m famous now, kind of? _ Olkan: Nicely done, ! _ Shadyna (Party): Sorry~, I wasn''t checking my surrounding. _ Mage: Of course, you can count on our to be the worst jerk you can find in the game! _ Maximus: One sentence too many, ! _ Olkan: Now, , it''s time to surrender. _ Tippe: Blackmail / Humiliation genre switch! Please stare at me with those hateful eyes! Please keep your fantasies to yourself~ [Summon]. _ Hessy (Party): This is why I told you to run, idiot! _ Mera (Party): Hessy is going to join the adult world~ _ Hessy (Party): You shut up! _ Shadyna (Party): I will be fine~, but can you buy me some time? _ Hessy (Party): How? _ Shadyna (Party): ¡­Join the adult world? Those scornful eyes are for me now~ _ Hessy: What are you planning, freaking min-maxer? Wriggle, wriggle~ _ Maximus: Just want payback for the things she made me go through! _ Ignar: To be fair that was your own damn fault¡­ _ Shadyna: Hey, ~, what happened to ? _ Ignar: He became the laughing stock when he failed to chase you down. Really sorry about that, by the way. _ Shadyna: Don''t mind~, is strong though? should be laughed at too, but it doesn''t seem to be the case. _ Ignar: Speed min-maxer. Should have been the best guy for bounty hunting. Should have. Ah, so that''s why he alone became the joke. _ Shadyna: Sorry~ Sympathetic smile, on~ _ Maximus: Shut the hell up! Why are you still holding weapon, ?! Put them away! What do you think would happen if my blade touches this 20 HP scrub?! Wriggle, wriggle~ _ Olkan: Take off your clothes too while you are at it. This situation usually goes like that. Drop dead, pervert~ _ Shadyna (Party): Almost there~. Taking off clothes is optional, but I won''t stop you~ _ Mera (Party): Please do~ _ Tippe: Thank you for the glare but why do I have the feeling those weren''t for me! Because that would be for , , or me. Most likely me. Now, Gelly! *BOIN* *Thud* I am released from the captor. To be more specific, dropped dead in one hit and my feet can reach the ground again! _ Everyone: Eh? Next target~ *BOIN* *Thud* And the mage pioneer in chloroforming little girls is down! I try to unsummon, but fail because it''s considered to be "in combat". No time for , so I just pick up Gelly, who is bouncing on ''s body, and high tail out of there! _ Maximus: YOU DAMN SCRUB! HOW DARE YOU KILL ME!!! Are you really going to ask that? I was "fighting" for survival there. But that was really lucky for me, because he wasn''t paying attention to his feet to evade Gelly''s attacks. Credits to Hessy''s (impending) show, of course~ Another factor is that has practically no HP due to min-maxing, and is a low level mage so probably has no defense either. Gelly''s 200 PAT (last checked, unbuffed) will have no problem destroying them if not evaded. I want to run away from all these dangerous people chasing after a little girl, but not yet, because Hessy is still here. When in doubt of your destination, run in the opposite direction! In my case, right into the bulk of forces! _ Everyone: What the hell?! _ Maximus: KILL HER! , rekt that nub! can only sigh. Must have been rough~ _ Player: Wait, what the¡­ Stop right there! Thanks to me recklessly charging into where the enemies least expected, the confusion was top-notch. It may look reckless, but running anywhere else will end up with me in a clear area, allowing them to target without obstacles. That would be the end of me as I only have 1 HP after sharing the damage of something-long-rod with Gelly. The end of both of us, actually. I run past Hessy''s fight, which is becoming noisy again as she''s resumed the carnage. This time she is voluntarily solely focusing on without my words. She''s really not happy with his choice of words huh. ¡­Does this imply an inevitable hell of endless suffering waiting for me after this is over? _ Ignar: Oh come on! Aren''t you too fast for a 0-stats?! How would I know? [Inspect]-chan didn''t tell me the reasons of my stats. I slip past the gaps between players, not losing any momentum. I will die if I stop now! Oh, spotted the support players~ The typical priest outfits really give it away huh? Even though this game has no official religion in the lore. Maybe crafters were indoctrinated with that image from other games? Still, this is great chance as they don''t have high offensive capabilities and are sitting ducks when engaged~ Go, Gelly~ *BOIN* *Thud* My beast while having (probably) decent SPD still looks sluggish in practice, so instead of letting it menacingly wriggle into the enemy, I just throw it right in their face! Because it''s technically Gelly doing the damage, my technical pacifism status is ensured! Evil laugh echoing! Wait, I''m not the bad guy here, right?! And it''s weird¡­ I thought earlier victories were because of the enemies'' low HP, but I doubt these players are that weak, with their equipment and all. Why did my newest victim die in one hit? Still, no time to ponder. I catch Gelly as it bounced into the air and fling it down towards another player nearby. Un, dodgeball girl Shadyna is making her debut~ _ Player: GUAH!!! [Skill Leveled up: ] ¡­So it was YOUR doing!!! I didn''t expect the "Increase damage" part to include damage of thrown objects (beast)!!! Still, to be killing players in one hit, isn''t this kind of overpowered?! I wonder if I will see the damage formula at higher level [Inspect]? _ Unlucky player: Pin her down! Pin her do¡­BLARG! Another one bites the dust~ Wanting to be in the vicinity to help Hessy as needed, I don''t run straight but around the main battle. That, and (indirectly) pulverizing nearby players~ Dodgeball girl Shadyna is having a 100% accuracy using her favorite ball (beast)! The enemy defense stands no chance against such magnificent display of skill (firepower) despite their best efforts! [Accelerate Power] is leveling up steadily too. Nice~ _ Ignar: Attack her when the monster is in flight! Try to stop its retrieval! Uh oh, the opponent''s ace player is here~ Violence in a match is foul you know! Even if that match involves people literally dying (in-game) upon touching the ball (beast)! Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Since they will be trying to disrupt Gelly''s flight path now, I have to refrain a bit. We will be screwed if Gelly flies out of my reach. Or was that their goal? To psychologically force me to slow down my attack? Seeing me stop throwing Gelly around for a moment, and other melee players suddenly rush in from all sides! _ Hessy: Damn it!!! _ Olkan: Oi! I cannot let you save her at this time can I! The typical clich¨¦ of helpless allies not being able to help the main characters when they need it most has arrived~ Hessy has her hands full so not I should not have much hope, sigh. _ Ignar: WE WILL BLOCK HER! USE ALL AOE! They intend to push me down and die with me as the magi use area-of-effect spells?! You are going to be branded lolicons for pushing a little girl you know?! They will forever sing songs to remember how you fully grown men and women risk your very lives to kill a defenseless girl you know?! Or how you two dozen adults cannot even win against a middle schooler in dodgeball!!! And yet you still want to do it?! _ Mage #1: Oh fire of purification¡­ _ Mage #2: The spirit of light¡­ _ Mage #3: Divine boobs of heaven¡­ Out! That last one is definitely out!!! I can''t see any mage, so neither can they, yet they are willingly chanting their probably strongest spells they have! They are betting everything on the melee players led by to keep me here. No matter how much agility I possess, I cannot slip by if there is no gap to begin with! Why!!! Why are you doing such last resort attacks against a young girl who can''t even stop running in order to survive!!! _ Ignar: GIVE EVERYTHING YOU GOT!!! _ Melee players: CHARGE!!! , please use that desperate determined-to-die expression on a last boss, not a little girl!!! Ah, darn it! If you guys want foul plays I will give you foul play! Gelly, fusion! I toss Gelly on top of my head as I keep running towards . If I just throw Gelly, it will bounce back and get caught in the blast, leaving me all alone against the world. No thanks to that! Shadyna''s ultimate killing technique, "Tripping on nothing"!!! I leap forward as if doing 3-spin aerobatic jump in the air. In simpler terms, I jump head (Gelly) first into the enemies! _ Ignar: GAAAAH!!! Before he could swing down his sword, Gelly crashed into his stomach, crushing him. [Ignar - Dead apprentice knight - HP: ¡­¡­¡­.] The dead part is also considered new information huh~ We bounce as we hit the ground with momentum and get thrown out of the encirclement. As I "fly" I get a glimpse of the melee players'' faces filled with shock and despair looking at me leaving the area. The bombardment area, to be exact. A big fiery explosion, a big light column crashing down from above, a series of lightning bolts and many other flashy skill effects can be seen decimating the area I was in a second ago. They sure look beautiful as long as you are not at the center of it all! Out of the danger zone, I throw Gelly at an unwitting player turning his back to us. It can''t be helped. He was in my flight trajectory~ Luckily for both sides, there are fewer players in my path. I wonder why? Catching Gelly who bounces back to me after pulverizing (figuratively) the unlucky player, I crash-land, roll a few times before stopping. It doesn''t seem to hurt. But that was seriously exhausting mentally! I seem to have landed in another encirclement. The one where Olkan and Hessy are fighting in. Of course, why else would there be fewer players in this place?! Both of them stare at me in awe. [Hessenria - Apprentice waitress - HP: =====.....] She has like 50% HP left. But she had this abnormal HP bar when we first met, so she must have been taking a lot more damage. [Olkan - Apprentice merchant - HP: +++=======] Yeah, like that. This is not the time. I have to keep moving or even small fries (to Hessy) will murder my 1 HP! _ Olkan: Die, lack of chest! I hate this guy~ No chivalry at all, swinging down his sword against a girl lying on the ground, still sitting on his throne no less! _ Hessy: Tsk! Hessy jumps in between us like a true sidekick in the scene where they die protecting the protagonists! The dramatic "Tell my wife I love her!" is optional, but often seen together as well! _ Olkan: Fooled ya! , the backup! Oh come on!!! At least use a different killing technique! But this guy sure is rich! Was he intending to have matching equipment with Hessy if she joins his guild? The whole close quarter battle must have prevented him from using it, because he has to focus on blocking attacks with the shield. With Hessy stopping the constant stabbings and unable to move to shield me, she will have to get hit. [Shared Fate]! The magical chain appears again, but this time connecting Hessy and me just as the [Dark Bolt] hits her right arm. Yikes! I hate this indirect pain thingy! [Hessenria - Apprentice waitress - HP: ..........] But at least, it worked. Phew. After all, because she was "above 1" HP before the damage, she cannot die, even if I''m already at 1 HP. Both of us have to be "at exactly 1" to die. I wasn''t sure if that was how the skill works, but after using Gelly to block the first long rod, I was certain. And yes, I will call that thing a long rod until the end of time. But still, all three of us are at 1 HP, which is not a good situation at all. At least the enemies are too shocked to attack. _ Olkan: Just¡­ ho¡­ _ Player: [Shared Fate]! She used [Shared Fate]! This is not the time to be suddenly observant, henchman!!! _ Olkan: Then you only have 1 HP left! DIE! He switches to his sword and charges (flies on throne) forward! His other hand has not switched to the shield. Seeing that, Hessy, being disturbingly calm, crushes a green orb which appears in her hand. [Hessenria - Apprentice waitress - HP: ++++++++++] And one same orb is dropped in front of me too. _ Hessy: No, it''s round 2. Scary! Your dark smile is too scary, Hessy!!! Everyone freaks out, including me, who is her ally! _ Hessy: [Dark Bolt]! [Olkan - Apprentice merchant - HP: =====.....] _ Olkan: Crap! He frantically equips his shield. _ Hessy (Party): , kill anyone who interferes! But I am a pacifist!!! Sorry, not-so-innocent henchmen, I don''t want to be at the receiving end of her wrath so please get destroyed! I crush the orb in my hand which probably heals me to full. Now that I am not worried about dying in one hit anymore, I switch the [Shared Fate] to Gelly, who has no pot to use. Let''s ask Mera to teach me healing skills later! ¡­Uh oh, the alarm! ____________ Things just refuse to be in favor of . It all started with the damn Jelleaf taking the scepter''s attack. They know it had a [Shared Fate] to keep it alive now, but back then they could not afford to think it through. To deduct that someone was interfering with the fight. was just dominating, but she could not decisively win against this hundred players working together. Her stats were abnormal, even for a top-tier player, for unknown reasons. They know it now. After all, there was only one other player on her side in the area. Still, even then, it might have turned out alright. "That" was just standing there, witnessing the fight. , for all his abilities, broke that semi-neutrality. He was a top player. His maxed skills and experience as a bow user would have helped greatly in the struggle against . When it comes to PVP few people are as capable as him. , the party''s tank, can withstand several [Dark Bolt] and cover from danger, would also be an invaluable asset. Even , who discarded his old character from closed beta, is armed with experience from back then, would help coordinating those around him and provide support. And yet they decided to be 3rd-rate villains!!! In their defense, even if they had helped , would most likely be put in a dangerous situation and the end result would be the same. Reality is that they ( mostly) did something underhanded, to a little girl, and they are going to get flamed on the board for it. Idiots! The blackmailing was cartoonishly hilarious. was pouring oil into the fire. They expected nothing because it was a game, and from her expression at the time, Illusive Sprout was amused too. And that was the catalyst for the disaster striking at everyone in , starting with the kidnappers (permanent title). got rekted by a single attack. Even with min-maxing, he should have at least 200 HP, 10 times the amount of a level 0 with 0 attributes! A level 2 monster like a Jelleaf is not even going to make a dent in his HP. A normal Jelleaf, that is! Illusive Sprout''s Jelleaf was definitely not normal. became the next victim. No one expected it because it happened so fast after ''s demise, but in hindsight, it was clear as day. The monster has more than enough PAT to just crush these two. They went down as fast as expected for the villainous roles they were playing. was spared, but Illusive Sprout escaped. Rather than saying she escaped, it was more accurate to say she was let loose. The hell embodiment in the form of a little girl, Illusive Sprout, broke loose. _ Player #1 (Guild): I died! She killed me in one attack at full HP and buffs!!! _ Player #2 (Guild): I died! What the hell is she?! Who was the idiot that said she has 0 stats?! _ Player #3 (Guild): Use [Inspect] on her, now! We need to know what we are dealing with!!! _ Player #4 (Guild): I can''t! She is too fast!!! Crap! I died too! She jumped right into their lines, killing players regardless of their HP and defense by throwing her beast like a ball. Except that it''s not a ball but a blob that spells "CERTAIN DOOM" to whoever it touches. Without standing still for a split second, she avoided being aimed at by almost all ranged attacks. They could blindly shoot, but their own guild members will be in the crossfire. _ Player #2 (Guild): Can someone redo the buffs? I just got revived. _ Player #3 (Guild): Give me a se¡­ Oh god, she''s looking at me! Save me!!! The conversation would later be posted on the board, where people actually sympathize them for what they have gone through. Illusive Sprout deliberately lingers in the back line of , where most of the magi are. As soon as someone uses any type of [Resurrection] skill, she would charge at them and pulverize said player immediately. The equivalent of attacking the medics, even in-game, was horrifying. If they attack, they get pulverized. If they support, they get pulverized. If they do nothing, no one becomes a priority target and a random someone will get pulverized! _ Player #1 (Guild): gathered melee players! They will do a suicide attack on her! _ Player #3 (Guild): And who''s going to resurrect them?! _ Player #2 (Guild): At this rate we will have no one left to do anything at all! The encirclement, the attrition war, the target snipe everyone was working so hard to build up, start falling apart like a house of cards. Before they even comprehend what they have unleashed onto the poor underserving world, they are already at death''s door. They are forced to sacrifice two full parties to pin her down for a few seconds, with one encircling her and one filling the whatever gap she creates by pulverization. With ''s signal, everyone charged knowing this is the only chance they will have. The next time she will not let herself be surprised again. Brave men and women of bring forth their mighty trump cards. The encirclement completely blocked vision of the other side. They have to use their AoE to make sure Illusive Sprout cannot just evade their attacks, with their own members as collateral damage. It is a sacrifice they weren''t ready to made, but a sacrifice that is required, not to regain the initiative, but only to have a believable chance of regaining it. As the skills are cast, was thrown away from the site. He, who courageously rallied everyone and gave them hope, was destroyed in a single headbutt from a girl with a weird fusion form. It was so fast the second line could not fill the gap in time. Besides, had anyone tried to block her path, they would have been destroyed the same way, as proven seconds later. Two parties of brave heroes, volunteered to bring Illusive Sprout down with them, could only look as she made her escape. And with her, their lives, hopes, and any chance of winning. Some people were not paying attention to the dramatic atmosphere, like , as Illusive Sprout landed into his sight. Everyone built up such a good mood for it and he just acts like an out-of-place murderous pervert! For that reason alone, he will get a long lecture from devoted roleplayers in his guild later. Still, is not a guildmaster for nothing. He is a strong player. He hid his second ultimate weapon until a golden chance appeared. However, he who did not witness the might of Illusive Sprout, still thinks that his biggest threat was . The little girl proves him wrong almost instantly. She once more thwarts his comical evil plans with a single D-rank skill, [Shared Fate], which no one uses because of the better [Devotion]. It was not common knowledge that such seemingly useless skill could be abused to prevent single-hit instant-death attacks. Despite the dirty play, does bring his guild a new chance for victory. His scepter''s power is real, so both and Illusive Sprout will take damage, if not outright at 1 HP. Even a defensive player can just end these two right now. It''s also possible they have plenty of HP left, but everyone has no choice but to believe as attacks. The sacrificed players are still being slowly resurrected, and many more are still left lying on the ground. The encirclement got a big hole in its perimeter, and with the alliance pressuring from the other side, they will surely fall if they have to fight on two fronts. They all agree that the two girls are worth a whole battlefront without holding a census. If could strike those two down, would get its much needed recovery. If, being the keyword. is known as a harsh mistress who would not hesitate to use harsh words on her patrons. In a way, she is similar to . However, her attitude partly came from entertainment purpose, and because she would not do personal attacks, so she is much more loved by others. Her words can be nasty, but they also bring joy. And today, it is despair that those words bring forth as closes their distance. She pops a consumable, with a smile on her face. A sadistic smile which is thought to only be seen on , the second-in-command waitress. _ Player #1 (Guild): Ohnonononononono!!! This can''t be happening! She has not used any consumables during the whole fight, using only evasion and pure offensive capabilities to maintain her HP. That''s how good she is. Players who were fighting her thought she had used all her potions beforehand, and had hope that they would prevail once that HP bar depleted. The despair once more hits like a tidal wave. The waitress just casually crushed every chance they had under her heels (figuratively of course). She didn''t even glare at them. She didn''t even curse them with words. She simply conveyed to them that all their efforts were for naught, with a beautiful smile covered by a black aura that shouldn''t even happen in a game! All witnessing players, including ones not having such fantasies, are praying to have their usual abusive waitress they know back. _ Player #4 (Guild): She has elixirs¡­ Guildmaster! Please retreat and have those scepters recharged! Or have someone do so! We cannot win against her without instant-kill! _ Olkan (Guild): Gave them to managers! Hold the line until then! Their only remaining option is somehow getting such a lucky hit again. Since she used items, her HP must have been at critical level. If they can drop her HP to 1 again and everyone piles up on both girls before they could use consumables, even [Shared Fate] won''t be able to save them! _ Player #2 (Guild): Ohcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap! She''s coming this way! AAAAAARRRRGGG! Illusive Sprout used an elixir while everyone was mesmerized by the waitress. No longer staying back like at the beginning, she starts going full offensive, totally ignoring and . That''s when players know, even just recharging the scepters may be impossible now. Now knowing the power of Illusive Sprout''s play-like attacks, everyone scatters to avoid the casual instant-death that the scepter wasn''t even capable of. *BOOM* And the Jelleaf leaves behind a big crater on the ground, killing three players in the impact area, after missing its target. _ Player #3 (Guild): Why¡­ why! How could it be more devastating than hitting the target?! No one could answer that. _ Player #1 (Guild): This is bad! She wasn''t throwing at long range before! They can see the new recklessness from her. Little did they know it was a combination of confidence on HP, fear of ''s wrath and her own real life alarm clock that would give birth to a tactic with so little regards to her own life and full commitment to delete every signal on her map. _ Ignar: Get hit! Do everything in your power to get hit! If that thing hits the ground everyone will die! who has been resurrected is taking command again. With that order, the scramble to avoid attacks becomes the scramble to receive attacks. If a player receives it in the face, they die. If it hits the ground, potentially a whole party will die. Someone has to die either way. Rushing to pick up her beast, a few attacks managed to reach her. However, she shrugs it off like it was mild annoyances at best. _ Ignar: Melee players, follow me! We need to restrict her movem¡­ BLARGH! This time the potential hero of ''s side couldn''t even take action before he''s dead again. _ Ignar: You know, don''t res me. She''ll just murder me again. Even he has had enough. The poor guy really has it rough these last two days. With the newfound knowledge, Illusive Sprout one-sidedly pulverizes the area. Realizing that long-range strikes have the disadvantage of long retrieval time, she goes back to close-range decimation as it''s harder for players to deliberately get hit. The whole place is littered with craters and bodies, as if suffered from a bombing run. Because she jumps up then throws the Jelleaf to the ground, it may actually be considered a type of unguided bomb from a bomber¡­ As the dust settles, a single girl is seen running the around the once-forest barren land, looking for any survivors or reinforcement to finish off. She does not join the fight against , despite knowing that he would also be destroyed in one hit. *SLASH* Even without the little girl, the last fight has come to an end. in a way did his very best against an unwinnable opponent. He ran out of higher quality consumables, partially because his inventory is filled with other rare equipment, and succumbed to ''s relentless attacks. _ Olkan: Damn it, that was a good fight even if the sprout is just absurd! _ Hessenria: You don''t say. _ Olkan: Have any [World Voice]? I will pay you back later. _ Hessenria: Sure. of , the guildmaster and his main force of have been defeated. They have agreed to unconditional surrender. Players who are still in combat, please cease your aggression. The unofficial event Operation Zero Glory has come to an end in and alliance''s victory. I thank you for your cooperation to make this a success. That is all.> The cheers from players can be heard from Tyrel to the forest. And with that, the event finally concluded, to the relief of a little girl. Chapter 9: Exile Hi, Shadyna here~ It''s finally over! Five minutes after the in-game early alarm rang, Hessy finished off and ended the war. That was a long hard fight! _ Ignar: It''s over then? Need to go back to town for repair¡­ _ Olkan: Hold on. Everyone please stay where you are for a bit longer. Illusive Sprout, could you take a few photos with them? Their bodies, I mean. Is this some kind of new whacky fantasies in their heads? And I don''t know if I like that title at all¡­ _ Shadyna: But~ _ Olkan: I will give you a full equipment set of your choice in my inventory as payment. Materialism is such a formidable temptress!!! I just want something other than the grass equipment (trash) I''m wearing, so I chose a weak but stylish set of leather armor (normal quality). insisted that I take some stronger armors, but I declined while the dead bodies mutter "So precious!". You guys are good players as long as you keep your mouths closed, sigh. And so I go around the battlefield to allow dead bodies to take photos. Meanwhile, Hessy pulled out the earlier picnic mat. and some other nearby players begged her to use their bodies as a chair, but she just coldly spread the mat on top of him and sits on a different corner. As expected of a professional waitress (?), she wastes no time with degenerates. _ Mera: We''re back~ The remaining waitresses have arrived. More importantly, they come with another party of little girls who look like they are in a cosplay event. I have a bad feeling about this~ _ Hessy: The war''s already over. _ Nerin: Sorry about that. Somehow we walked into every single ambush they setup along the way. For every step we take they just appeared seemingly out of nowhere to stop us! _ Player from afar: Then don''t walk the main route we use to reinforce our lines!!! So that''s why there was barely any reinforcement for the enemy~ A little girl with red and blue eye (Heterochromia) in gothic clothing walk up to us. She uses short wavy hair with a dark blue color. Overall, she gives the impression of a cute witch. _ Little girl: To think would kill so many¡­ Did you guys lose on purpose to get stepped on you sickos? _ Player: We did not but we did get stepped on as she rekted ! Very grateful for that! Uwa¡­ _ Little girl: Maniacs. At least have the Illusive Sprout here do the stepping! Can''t you see the -censored imagination- as she -censored imagination-?! Lolis for life! Can I logout now? This cute girl is rotten to the core! _ Ignar: And is only responsible for a small part of the people here, just to let you know. _ Hessy: You are here for her, are you not, ? Yeah, I figured as much. I don''t want to think about having another pervert on my tails. _ Shadyna (PM): So~ why were you looking for me? While I''m talking to , the other members along with the waitresses start reviving the dead bodies. The majority decides to just go back to town as is, as they plan to hunt in other areas. _ Vladina (PM): I''ll get straight to the point. You have SG skills, no? _ Shadyna (PM): S rank, Globally Unique, was it? _ Vladina (PM): Indeed. You started roughly the same time the SG update was released, and without any attributes. Of course there was a chance you had a high rank/level skill that ''s [Inspect] failed to see, but at level 0 I doubt it was the skill level that blocked the [Inspect]. Ah, so that''s why he was trash-talking me so much. He couldn''t see [Accelerate Power]. _ Shadyna (PM): But you can see my skills, can you not? Why bother asking? _ Vladina (PM): I can''t. Currently level is capped at 20. Even B-rank skills and titles are impossible to see in [Inspect] as of now. I can only see your [At-will Beast User] and [Halfblood] titles, for example. The ill-mannered archer''s [Inspect] is probably not as high as this witch''s, so I think [Accelerate Power] is at least C in rank? _ Shadyna (PM): Sorry, I cannot see the rank with my current [Inspect]. _ Vladina (PM): Don''t worry, just give me the names and I can do it for you. For free of course, and I can provide you a lot of information of the skills/titles in exchange. Does that sound good enough for you? Maybe HP regen skill is in my reach~ _ Shadyna (PM): Sure~ Let''s see¡­ When I started out I got [Accelerate Power] and [Absolute Zero]. Also, these are acquired later but could you tell me about [Against All Odds] and [Beast Tamer Origin]? The latter two are titles with vague effects. I want to avoid further surprises with them like with [Accelerate Power]. Because [Unstopping Hero] is personal, I am keeping it to myself. If that is the only SG I have, so be it. _ Vladina (PM): [Accelerate Power]¡­ [Absolute Zero]¡­ [Against All Odds]¡­ not [Against The Odds] huh¡­ [Beast Tamer Origin]¡­ Then, she suddenly laughs maniacally, like a true mad scientist looking at her lab-made monster! Everyone, me included, was startled by her actions. _ Vladina: Oh dear oh dear oh dear! I was too arrogant to think you are going to be a rival to and his S-rank beast! , did you pick her up knowing who she is? _ Hessy: What are you saying all of a sudden¡­ She''s the rumored 0-stats, isn''t she? _ Vladina: Ah, so you didn''t know. Damn it , you really got a good haul today! _ Vladina (PM): Here, the result. I am looking forward to future business with you, former 0-stats. You should get [Inspect Resistance] ASAP, or you will be in trouble very soon, if not already. The result text was so long, but from what I understand, she was hysterical for a good reason. The [Beast Tamer Origin], S rank, doubles the LDR effect on my beasts, giving them a LDR/4 bonus to all attributes instead of LDR/8 like the party leader''s bonus. The [Against All Odds], A rank, gives a flat attribute bonus same as the title''s stack (the value next to the title). I was getting 14 points on all of my attributes from this one alone. This is only acquired because I dealt the majority of damage to the Merexxa. Otherwise I would only get the [Against The Odds] title, which is much weaker. I wonder if they would stack together? The [Accelerate Power], SG rank, was absurd, as expected from its rank. Giving a SPD + skill level multiplier to the PAT of my attacks, resulting in Gelly''s one-hitting everything in its way, and the AoE effect on the ground was due to sheer power against the earth. If I had 50 SPD and the skill was at level 5 like it is now, I would have my damage increased by 55 times. The downside is its requirement to trigger, which I overcame accidentally by my pacifist play style. The remaining one, [Absolute Zero], also SG rank, is probably going to be the scariest one in the long term. Discarded points (DP) are discarded attributes/5 plus discarded skill points. Its effect is giving me a (2 + DP/5) multiplier on ALL titles'' attribute and skill bonuses! Currently, its value is 3, hence my +42 on all attributes. With time, it may even surpass [Accelerate Power] in effect, as I get new titles and more DP. No wonder why no more than one person can have these. They are too strong! Sateri, please stop abusing Balance-chan!!! of DFC Sages. The bounty on Illusive Sprout has been successfully collected by . Thank you for your hard work.> Because I semi-volunteered to work with Hessy, we split the 1000 Gold coins 50-50. How am I even going to spend this amount of money?! _ Vladina: I will give you both 500 more if she joins, by the way. What do you say? _ Shadyna: Sorry, but I''ll pass~ I don''t want to get groped on a daily basis~ _ Hessenria: Haha¡­ Was it worth it for you though? _ Vladina: I would say I underpaid her. As expected, I see the amount of absurdity one needs now. Is she talking about the requirements for the SG stuff? [Absolute Zero] is given to the first person rejecting Sateri''s, the Goddess''s, blessing. [Accelerate Power] is given to the first person dedicating their life to charging forward. It doesn''t mention [Unstopping Hero], surprisingly enough. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. As she said, if anyone plans on getting a SG, they have to do outstanding things, and be the first to do it. Maybe there are SG not requiring to be the first, but the best. I have only seen my own SG, so not really sure on that. _ Vladina: Since I''m in a very good mood, I''ll share something with everyone here for free. Consider it your rewards for fighting so valiantly with or against Illusive Sprout. She casually speaks as spins around like a girl of her age. If she just stays silent people would think she''s an innocent little girl for real! _ Vladina: If you think she''s a defenseless little girl who only runs away, you will never defeat her. Her eyes were dead serious. Hey, why are you helping them killing me~ _ Vladina: You have to be quick, be decisive. Once she starts running, consider yourself deader than dead. _ Ignar: Sateri-chan damned it all, I thought so too but couldn''t even stop her! He was pretty close though, just that I had prior experience with the Merexxa which allowed me to pulled some of those moves~ _ Vladina: Well then, shall we go back? _ Mera: Uh huh~ Everyone, please stay close to me~ For I will bring your endless agony and suffering to its conclusion~ Can this person say anything without freaking people out? And so, everyone group up together at the shore. _ Mera: [Mass Recall]~ A bright light engulfs all of us. As it goes away, we are already back in Tyrel. _ Shadyna: I am going to logout now, thank you everyone~ _ Hessenria: Find me at the tavern if you need help. I am indebted to you. _ Mera: Hessy, gap moe~ I leave the game world as Mera gets stabbed in the head again. _ Shadyna: Mera, next time let''s just use this skill instead of waging war, okay~ ____________ falls on her knees as departs. _ Hessy: Why¡­ did we not think of that? The whole war could have been avoided if Mera has just cast [Mass Recall] at the beginning. _ Mera: Well~ the mood was so good I forgot about it too~ _ Olkan: Our heroic last stand would not have happened if you had done that. _ Vladina: Last stand of the perverts. The other players go back to whatever they were doing. However, the head waitress and two guildmasters decide to visit guild hall to discuss various things. _ Olkan: That girl was crazy. Vanguard, rearguard, support, tanks, nukes, she just obliterated them all. Hessy wanted to say that the girl was doing a "pacifist run", but feels like she shouldn''t for a variety of reasons, mainly the "That was a pacifist?" looks she would be getting! _ Vladina: Ah, so that was her doing? I was wondering if could even be strong enough to do so. _ Olkan: She did murder me though. _ Hessy: Your own damn fault, pig. At the front door of , a few people are standing. The guildmaster, , and all currently-online managers of the guild, are there. _ Hessy: I''m back. You were late for the party, by the way. _ Torenis: What have you been doing? He''s not yelling, but it was clear in his voice that he is not one bit happy. _ Hessy: Fighting against ? I will ask Illusive Sprout to join tomorrow when she has time. and wanted to talk with you too so I brought them here. I don''t think I had called you yet though¡­ In other words, the supposedly-away guildmaster is here for reasons unknown to her. _ Torenis: Declaring war without consulting anyone, dragging and other players in too. Don''t you have anything to say about that? _ Hessy: Ah, were you occupied? I will mention that on-site personnel don''t have to go back next time. My bad. _ Olkan: My on-site members were not participating either, but that was the biggest fight in the game history! _ Vladina: Oh the majority of isn''t even here. Next time let''s do it when they are not on the other side of the world map. _ Torenis: Outside people please keep silent. , you wasted time and resources on both side for trivial reasons. I did not make you a manager to one-sidedly ruin people''s day. _ Hessy: But it was an optional player-held event. Everyone participated for fun, not for whatever rewards Sateri-chan is giving away? Her guildmaster is talking like a disappointed parent scolding their child. The thing is, he is not her parent, and she would be against it if her own parents start talking in that "You are a disappointment, and I won''t explain why" tone too. _ Torenis: I see you do not feel any guilt from troubling others. , I hereby revoke your manager privileges. _ Olkan & Vladina: What the hell, ?! Both of them voice their objection in vain. _ Torenis: Outsiders should not interfere with our internal matters. Disregarding both, turns to again, who is dumbfounded at the decision of her leader. _ Torenis: Once you have reflected your actions, you can request for manager position again. If the majority of managers vote for you, I will grant it ba¡­ _ Hessenria: You don''t have to. _ Torenis: ¡­Excuse me? _ Hessenria: I said, you don''t have to. [ has left the guild] _ Hessenria: Thank you for everything until now. Bye. And with those parting words, she leaves the guild hall, then quickly disappears into the crowd of players in the streets. _ Vladnia: That''s not how you treat someone, . _ Olkan: Yeah, I can understand if I myself was against the declaration. But that wasn''t the case. _ Torenis: You two just love to be nosy don''t you? She was my manager, who is to act as my arms and legs, not a wildcard that acts however she pleases at the expense of the people around her. _ Vladina: That''s not how¡­ _ Torenis: Not for you to decide. Now, do you have business with me, or with that jobless waitress? The two fall silence for a moment. _ Olkan: Since you don''t seem to be interested in future player-held events at the moment, I will excuse myself. _ Vladina: I confirmed the first known SG skill''s requirement, and have some ideas on how to get them. PM me if you want to know the price. And the two guildmasters leave the guild hall as well. _ Olkan: What the hell was with him? If that was a joke, it wasn''t funny. _ Vladina: Probably angry that could act and do outstanding work on her own. He was always bragging how he was the reason could be as big as it is today after all. _ Olkan: Dear Sateri-chan if I had to micromanage every single member of my guild like that I would go crazy. _ Vladina: You are already crazy when it comes to boobs though. _ Olkan: Is that something a DFC maniac even allowed to say? By the way, didn''t you intend to say something to him? I doubt you just wanted to inform him the cost of your cutthroat services. _ Vladina: Intangible assets don''t seem to be so valuable until you find yourself dying without it. I wanted to give him a warning out of kindness, but since he''s like that I''ll just post my knowledge on the board instead. _ Olkan: Mind giving me the spoilers? _ Vladina: His S-rank beast is becoming obsolete if he does not improve the situation. There was something else should worry about, but no one realized it until much later, when pointed out for them as she wandered on the board. and had forgotten to stop the streams. ____________ It was an uproar in the tavern. The waitress who just organized the biggest PVP event since release, is announced to have resigned from for personal reasons. Of course people would be in an uproar. _ Waitresses: We are sorry, but we do not possess the information regarding her departure. Thank you for your understanding. The sisters really want a raise for having to deal with these degenerates asking to be glared at and stepped on because their usual source of abuse is no longer here. --- Topic: Waitress quit? --- ## Heaven Piercer The tavern mistress is no longer there! How am I going to get my daily dose of abuse now?! orz ## ## Mage of Sin What? You serious? I was just admiring her beauty earlier! (*£þm£þ) ## ## CuteIsJustice Have a look at the first two links in Operation Zero Glory thread. Seems like more than one person were uh¡­ careless. (-"-) The waitress herself confirmed that she had left the guild and currently has no intention of rejoining. ## ## Serious Mage Is that guildmaster for real? Did he not know that "jobless waitress" (his own words) is the reason why his guild is not fading to the background when he''s screwing around somewhere faraway? Ask anyone about Pathwrecker, see if that name means anything to the people in town, especially newbies! To anyone who doesn''t know, Pathwrecker is one of the biggest 4 guilds in the game right now. They are on a campaign to fight the border boss and barely anyone remembers them. Phoenix Ashes is going down the same way without that waitress. ## ## Flame knight of Darkness They will be alright, I think. There are still 13 waitresses, all with their own quirks. Most players are used to the tavern by now. It will be a long time before that is changed. ## ## CuteIsJustice Until the remaining waitresses also leave, or the former head waitress starts her own crusade for vengeance. ## ## Heaven Piercer I for one would gladly become her target! ## ------ --- Topic: SG master thread #2 --- ## Manly Warrior Was busy in Zero Glory. Care to share anything, @Nearseeing Sage? ## ## Nearseeing Sage How did you know?! £¨ ? §¥?) Were you stalking me, lurking in the dark, then kidnap me to do dubious things as I enter a dark alley?! Illusive Sprout did teach me about a SG skill. It turns out Sateri-chan wasn''t joking around when she said Globally Unique. Due to the stupidly hard requirements for them, we DFC Sages suggest only guildmasters or players of similar caliber to attempt finding them. Expect guild-economy level of cost for the information. ## ## Manly Warrior In other words, your usual business schemes. ¡¥\_(¥Ä)_/¡¥ I did have my suspicion on how you info hoarders were after a "rare item". Well played. Edit: Was not stalking you, just following Olkan''s stream. ## ## Nearseeing Sage Can''t risk you guys sniffing out the SG before I do! All according to plan~ Edit: He was streaming?! Dear Sateri-chan luckily I was PM-ing Illusive Sprout! ## ------ --- Topic: Operation Zero Glory AAR --- !Displaying thread in [Compact View] due to number of posts. Click [Here] to switch back to [Standard View]! ## Manly Warrior: This is the After-Action Report thread of player-held event Operation Zero Glory. For players who are new to AAR, this is where you discuss an event after its conclusion. We do this to improve ourselves and avoid mistakes in the future. Consider it a history lesson created by ourselves. Streams, photos and various other materials can be found here: [Link]. If you wish to contribute to the archive, send them to me anytime! ## CuteIsJustice: Attempted kidnapping, assassination, blackmailing, kidnapping AGAIN, ganging up, useless sacrifices, getting rekted comically. Did I miss any villainous deeds of BB Conglomerate and co today? ## Newbie Charisma build: That sounds about right. Olkan demanding Hessenria to strip was hilarious. Too bad Illusive Sprout stepped in like a protagonist. ## Serious Mage: BB seemed to be more organized. I think it was because they had guild chat to coordinate. The alliance was a ragtag bunch of misfits. ## Curious big boobs elf: Can confirm, BB was doing well at the beginning because managers were giving orders to everyone. Near the end it became a screaming platform for players around Olkan, so that needs to be fixed before the next event. ## Newbie Charisma build: So that''s why they could reinforce the forest while alliance''s reinforcement got sniped one by one. ## Flame knight of Darkness: Tavern also needs an emergency stockpile. It ran out of food and really disrupted the alliance''s capabilities. ## Serious Mage: We need a large-scale communication method that is not tied to guild. Sateri-chan should take note! ## Flame knight of Darkness: Agreed. We had overwhelming number in Tyrel but were getting pushed out of the forest. Considering our objectives we were losing both the battle AND the war! ## Newbie Charisma build: But we did win. Watching the last fight''s footages now. ## OP alchemist: Why are all the later footages of Illusive Sprout sped up? Must be at least x2 speed. ## Serious Mage: Really? Gimme a sec, I was too busy by the fighting I only put those up moments ago. ## Serious Mage: Sorry for double post, but none of them were sped up. The setting numbers in the corner were all x1. ## OP alchemist: WTF? ## Newbie Charisma build: Just saw it now. But WTF is that speed!!! ## Flame knight of Darkness: What? What? Edit after view: Dear Sateri-chan that girl just refused to slow down! Her speed makes Maximus looks like a 0 SPD nub! ## Mage of Sin: Witnessed it from the ground. Can confirm she was accelerating the whole time. Maximus was also a 0 SPD nub at the time, because being dead is not really mobile LOL. ## Silver Merchant: BB Conglomerate just got decimated one after the other! She''s a fighter jet in human¡­ no, elf form! ## Serious Mage: To think I did not check the videos before uploading¡­ Jet fighter fits her destructive power, but not her constant speeding up. ## Silver Merchant: Speeding up and throwing things for a world-ending explosion? That one is called a Particle Collider! ## Mage of Sin: Agreed. ## Flame knight of Darkness: Agreed. Particle Lolider! ## CuteIsJustice: Poll coming right up~! ## Manly Warrior: This turned into another Illusive Sprout thread¡­ ## Heaven Piercer: Would you prefer talking about Hessenria''s heavenly sadistic second form when she saw Olkan aiming at Illusive Sprout then? ## Serious Mage: Uh, is the footage with Torenis intended? Can someone confirm with Olkan or Hessenria? ## Manly Warrior: Welp. @Nearseeing Sage just semi confirmed it being a mistake. I''ll cut that part out. It wasn''t directly related to the event anyway. ## Serious Mage: In a way it does, since the event itself was the cause¡­ ------ Chapter 10: The typical (?) elf Shadyna the Dodgeball girl has returned~ Two days into the game and a lot have happened! Most importantly, I have friends now! Let''s visit Hessy and have her teach me good place to train, without fighting! True pacifism will prevail! By the way, people at school were talking about the event as well as something something particle collider. Why is such a hi-tech thing having anything to do with a fantasy-themed game? And they were misspeaking it as particle lolider something¡­ Weird, right? I receive mails as soon as I login. One is the weekly patch announcement from Sateri. It''s really vague, only noting about various updates for PvP-related contents. I guess she prefers to have players exploring the new changes? Second mail is another system message from Sateri. [Warning: A has appeared. Caution is advised.] Totally not ominous at all. Let''s ask Hessy about it as well. My first visit to the tavern was a failure due to the noisy atmosphere. Even though I don''t like it, I have to brace my fear. Sateri, please give me a [Noise resistance] skill~ _ Shadyna: Please excuse me~ It''s not the clich¨¦ adventurer guild first visit where the protagonist will inevitably get threatened by a big rude guy, acting as the stage for protagonist''s debut. In the first place, this is a tavern! It won''t hurt being polite though. Pacifists maintain peace using diplomacy, and a nice greeting is the first step! Somehow, everyone falls silence the moment I go through the door. Stands in front of me is a party of four. They were probably leaving. The female knight falls to her knees, crying profusely. The archer behind her starts frothing at his mouth. The priest prostrates himself on the floor and asks for mercy along with random gibberish words¡­ The only sane person, a warrior with a greatsword on his back, sighs heavily. _ Warrior: Sorry, they were a bit¡­ impacted by yesterday. I don''t think you remember us, but we were helping when he¡­ charged. Good move at that time by the way. _ Shadyna: Ah~ Sorry, I do not remember you guys at all! I do remember that heroic charge (against a little girl) though. _ Archer: My [Arrow Rain] hit so many friendlies that I got a [Rapid Backstabber] title! Hard to explain that on the resume¡­ I mean, party request¡­ _ Priest: My [Light Blast] gave me [Corpse Defiler] then upgraded it to [Corpse Destroyer] because I blasted so many people after they were dead! I have irrevocably sinned!!! Oh, so my [Aspiring Pacifist] may really turn into a better title! A priest known to destroy corpses instead of reviving them huh¡­ _ Knight: [Forever Betrayed]¡­ [Blasted Shield]¡­ [Hate Dump]¡­ [Rest in Particles]¡­ Please, make it stop¡­ I''m surprised you can gain that many titles in such a short amount of time! I think most of these titles give pretty whacky and useless effects though¡­ You made a lot of passive-aggressive titles too huh, Sateri~ _ Warrior: I also got¡­ Look, I''m sorry about that, but could you guys please not get PTSD in a game?! Parting ways with the unfortunate party, I walk to the counter. Seems like Nerin is on duty today. _ Nerin: Hello there. Everyone was talking about you, despite the Magnus Bestia popping up¡­ Is there something you need? _ Shadyna: Un, I just want some general guidance on the areas around here. Some skill and title guides would be nice too! _ Nerin: Sure thing. _ Shadyna: Oh, before that, is Hessy going to play today? Nerin is probably the best tutor, but if Hessy is more free I will ask her first. Mera is out. Insanity is inevitable around her! _ Nerin: ¡­*Sighs* So this is why Mera asked me to stand in for her today. ____________ and share a street in Tyrel. It is the border between the two guilds when it comes to territory in town. The part where the lolicons setup their base is sparsely populated, as their number barely changes from the two dozen mark. All members are powerful in exchange, so just because they are few in numbers doesn''t mean they cannot defend their land. It is the smallest territory compared to the other three, but each oriental building there is a massive lump of wealth. The boob-obsessed merchants developed their land into a free-for-all market, resulting in no major style. If anything, they would say that the diversity is the style. And in the big plot of land bordering the remaining territories, a marketplace is run 24/7 by most merchant players in town. It is where one would go to should they need a new sword, provided they have the coins for it. On ''s side of this border, a small building appeared last night, facing the marketplace which is just across the street. It was originally part of the untended garden of the mansion nearby, but that is no longer the case. Above the wooden door that is out-of-place compared to the sliding doors in the lolicons'' mansions, a sign was just put up. Thanks to a certain lolicon lending the land, and a certain pervert lending the fund, this new shop was built in a single night. _ Hessenria: Well then, let''s get started. She definitely has seen better times, but right now she''s not exactly depressed either. Her customers are waiting on the few seats inside. There''s no place to eat except for the small counter in the back. The stools are merely for customers to wait for their turn. _ Hessenria: [Cooking]! With her cooking equipment in the back, there''s no need to use [Field Cooking] which is at lower level. The waitress''s productivity remains at its peak today! _ Shadyna: Hessy!!! That was one customer the owner wasn''t expecting. _ Hessenria: Welcome. A few customers start panicking if not outright breaking down mentally, but decides not to mind. _ Shadyna: I am so sorry! Because of me¡­ _ Hessenria: Hmm? Oh, did Mera tell you? _ Shadyna: Nerin did. She said you would be here¡­ _ Hessenria: ¡­Right. Sorry, something transpired after you left yesterday, so this is my new home now. The lack of verbal abuse freaks out even more customers. _ Customer: Who are you and what have you done to our mistress?! _ Hessenria: Shut the hell up pig. You got your order, now get out. It was the same as always, to the relief of her die-hard patrons. _ Shadyna: But¡­ If I hadn''t¡­ _ Hessenria: It is fine. Now then, would you like to try my new menu? _ Shadyna: I do! _ Vladina: So precious¡­ _ Olkan: Though it hurts a bit when they are just flirting despite our presence here¡­ ____________ I walk past the elf corpse lying on the floor and sit on a stool at the counter, next to and . Sorry, I was too occupied with thoughts of Hessy I didn''t notice you two at all! _ Shadyna: Hiyo~ Are you usual customers of Hessy too? _ Vladina: No, but I will come here every day if you would~ _ Olkan: I got a lot of flak in the past for visiting her, but now she''s right next door you can be sure as hell I will! _ Hessy: I would rather you two drop dead and never come again. Exactly what I was thinking! _ Vladina: Would be nice if the little sprout said that to me¡­ Anyway, we were talking about the new big bad Magnus Bestia. Won''t you join us too? _ Olkan: Now I''m more worried that she will just decimate the poor thing given the chance¡­ _ Shadyna: Mmm¡­ But I''m a pacifist, so I''ll pass¡­ _ Everyone: ¡­What? Why are you all looking at me like that? I am just your peaceful pacifist girl in the neighborhood~ _ Hessy: Surprising, isn''t it? My brain stopped when I learned that too. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Uuu¡­ No one believes me at all! _ Elf corpse: Are you just going to ignore me?! _ Vladina: *Sighs* To be honest, we are. _ Hessy: Be a good corpse and shut your dead mouth. I feel like I will get into a lot of troubles doing this, but here goes¡­ _ Shadyna: So uh¡­ why are you lying there? _ Elf corpse: About time you asked! This brute there murdered me in cold blood as I used this once in a lifetime chance to kill her when she wasn''t surrounded by high-level maniacs! Uh, no, that''s called self-defense. This one feels as much shame as the two perverted guildmasters here huh¡­ _ Vladina: If you are thinking of something rude, please keep your expressions in check, little sprout. _ Olkan: Is she? She has no boobs so I wasn''t even looking. I don''t want to be looked at by you either! And stop staring at Hessy''s body so shamelessly! _ Elf corpse: What are you waiting for?! Resurrect me so I can teach that damn woman a lesson! _ Shadyna: ¡­By the way, Hessy, do you know how to acquire more skills? I was thinking about getting [Cooking], [Alchemy] and non-combat skills like them! [Ignore] skill to the max~ Just kidding. _ Elf corpse: Hey! Don''t ignore me!!! Hessy turns to me with a mischievous smile. _ Hessy: They should have those skill scrolls sold in the marketplace. Why don''t you have a look, and sell that meat bag to get some funding too? _ Shadyna: Sure~ I''m going then! The 500 gold coins I got yesterday should not be spent carelessly after all! Waving goodbye to everyone, I grab the elf by the ankle and drag her out of the door. Is this one considered burnable or non-burnable trash I wonder? Then again if we consider resurrection, wouldn''t she be recyclable trash? _ Elf corpse: Let go of me! I have to kill this hag first!!! ____________ _ Vladina (Party): Now that we have some peace, let''s get back to our previous topic. _ Olkan (Party): Are you going to just let her go like that? She was insanely powerful. _ Vladina (Party): ¡­She''s a pacifist. _ Olkan (Party): Suuuure. _ Hessanria (Party): I agree with . That girl was really panicking when she thought she had attacked a Merexxa. She doesn''t want to fight most of the time, I think. "Most", not "all", being the key here. _ Olkan (Party): If you say so. That leaves only and to deal with this Magnus Bestia. _ Vladina (Party): Isn''t that fine? Both and are all conveniently far away right now. Unlike them, we rarely mobilize to raid bosses. To have this thing popping up so close is most likely the first and last chance we have to get our hands on its rewards. _ Olkan (Party): A SG title for the one slaying it would be nice too. _ Vladina (Party): S-rank, possible. SG, probably not. _ Olkan (Party): Why are you so sure? _ Vladina (Party): is fighting a Magnus Bestia too. Wouldn''t SG patch be released the day we found it instead? _ Olkan (Party): You have a point. Or Sateri-chan was waiting for them to be slain first¡­ _ Vladina (Party): Well, you are going to have to pay if you want my opinions on that~ _ Olkan (Party): Damn greedy brat. , I will be counting on you to lead the alliance. Both of us are too limited in combat capabilities. is the type that depends on his powerful gear, allowing him to have the upper hand in a fight compared to other players. , on the other hand, exploits her enemies'' weaknesses using her capped [Inspect], so while her attack power is not amazing, it really, really hurts because she knows how to make the most out of it. Neither of them has anything against an overwhelmingly mightier foe, as their "advantages" will not do much. That''s where , who specialized in simple, but optimized attacks, comes in. Aided by both guilds, she is the best warrior they can muster. _ Hessenria: I don''t mind, but please find me a LDR min-maxer and a full party of support players to buff my status. I have witnessed a Magnus Bestia. Even all of us may not be enough. _ Vladina: Obviously, but once those two guilds return they will just take the boss away from us so there''s nothing to lose! _ Olkan: Rare items, please! And boobs too! No longer in a guild, lends her help to her benefactors who were just rivals until yesterday. That''s how she''s going to pay off this debt. ____________ _ Shadyna: Hmm~, this won''t do¡­ Dragging the corpse around the market, I browsed and browsed, but in the end bought no new skills. Not because I don''t want them, nor having insufficient funding¡­ These scrolls are like instant noodles. They give you the skills at its level immediately. Which is really nice since some players don''t have time to grind their skills. However, I noticed it. There''s no attribute-increasing item! [Alchemy] turns out to be the main way to create consumables. They increase the non-attribute statuses temporarily, or heal HP/MP. Not attributes, and definitely no permanent attribute increases. So comes [Cooking], which has temporary attribute increases, as proven by yesterday. But there''s no permanent increase¡­ [Armor Craft] and [Weapon Craft] are similar to [Alchemy] as to what they buff, but permanently as long as you equip them. And yet there''s no skill that has permanent attribute increase?! Well, I''m not bothered much by it. The main problem is skills being affected by other stats beside the skill levels. Therefore, if I just buy the scrolls, I will not have the attributes for the skills and will be weaker compared to players who trained from scratch. No wonder why Hessy''s [Dark Bolt] was so feared. She probably trained it manually and grinded the hell out of the attributes to increase its damage to the peak¡­ It was the basic darkness-type attack skill by the way. _ Elf corpse: What? Can''t decide on main skills? She stopped screaming sometime after the trip started. The merchants were a bit confused, but they read the mood and just went on with their advertisement. How professional! _ Shadyna: That too~. Crafting skills are fewer than combat skills, but there are still so many of them~ [Alchemy], [Cooking], [Armor Craft], [Weapon Craft], [Construction], [Enchant], [Enhance], are the main branches. They have variants and upgraded skills, but are pretty much separated into those groups. [Construction] is how players built the town around us. While not directly related to combat most of the time, this skill group creates the infrastructure to boost other crafting skills, which is crucial. [Enchant] focuses on giving magic (skill) effects to other items. The skill scrolls are also a product from this skill group, but the main money maker is as expected, giving skill effects to equipment. I wonder if [Accelerate Power] can be enchanted into a weapon¡­ [Enhance] is all about slapping more expensive stuff onto your favorite swords or armors. It doesn''t give new effects. Instead, it strengthens the current ones, not unlike my [Absolute Zero] title. Looks like the RNG (Random Number Generator) is the main deity of players maximizing this skill. Too many professions, Sateri~ _ Elf corpse: Going for a craft build? [Alchemy] is the best for beginners. Potions are vital regardless of levels and always in shortage. [Cooking] is that damn woman''s monopoly, and the remaining markets are dominated between and . _ Shadyna: Miss Corpse is surprisingly knowledgeable¡­ _ Elf corpse: Who the hell are you calling Miss Corpse?! And that "surprisingly" wasn''t needed! Resurrect me already! Kind of like , this person has a really unfriendly personality, but she did explain things properly to me so she''s already a level higher than that jerk. _ Shadyna: But I don''t even know [Resurrection]~ _ Elf corpse: Get a [Minor Heal], then cast it on me! That''s the common way to unlock [Resurrection]! ¡­That sounds like a futile attempt from a heroine who just lost her loved one. And to give you [Resurrection] from doing that, Sateri was really rubbing the salt on the wounds¡­ Scary~ _ Shadyna: Wouldn''t it be faster to just respawn? I don''t have [Minor Heal] either. _ Elf corpse: Respawning will count towards [Death] play record! I am gunning for a no-death character! With this kind of reckless personality?! And it is already a "Technically no death" situation! Not that I can say anything about it, considering my technical pacifism record¡­ Sigh. _ Shadyna: Alright, I will try to help, but could you tell me how to get [Minor Heal] too? _ Elf corpse: I expected more from ''s friend! Just how new are you?! _ Shadyna: Including today¡­ Three days-old? _ Elf corpse: ¡­To get [Minor Heal]¡­ She''s a kind person huh¡­ Observe and learn, ! [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Minor Heal Lv.0"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Alchemy Lv.0"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Cooking Lv.0"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Weapon Craft Lv.0"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Construction Lv.0"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Enchant Lv.0"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Enhance Lv.0"] _ Elf corpse: You don''t intend to revive me at all do you?! _ Shadyna: Just kidding~ I will now. [Minor Heal]! She was surprisingly patient with me too! ____________ _ Vladina (Party): I wasn''t expecting yesterday''s level of participation, but this was¡­ somewhat disappointing. _ Olkan (Party): Can''t help it. There was no boob involved this time. _ Hessenria (Party): Is that how your guild gauges the urgency of an order?! The two guilds gathered volunteers to fight against the new Magnus Bestia, but only number to around 10 parties. Even ''s battle had more players than this! _ Vladina (Party): Oh well, everyone is still recovering from yesterday. Then, we''ll try to scout the enemy''s strengths and weaknesses instead of outright killing it. _ Hessenria (Party): I agree. With our current strength I don''t know if we could even get into range to [Inspect] it. _ Olkan (Party): Counting on you two. I''ll be handling the strategic parts of this operation. _ Vladina (Party): By the way, a guild member just told me something interesting. _ Olkan (Party): Another expensive rumor to sell? _ Vladina (Party): No, unfortunately. Illusive Sprout was seen dragging a dead body around town unlocking skills. _ Olkan (Party): ¡­This is where I shut up and pretend I didn''t hear that, isn''t it? ____________ _ Former elf corpse: Geh. So much wasted time¡­ If you are so busy, why not refrain from assassinating Hessy in the first place¡­? _ Shadyna: Sorry~ [ has invited you to a party.] [Y/N] _ Shadyna: Eh? _ Fuelri: What? You can''t craft without materials. I''ll help you grind in a higher level field to get started. ¡­Too kind!!! Why are you so kind, you weird elf with enormous boobs!!! Do you know if you are too kind to people your home village will get burned to the ground, your girlfriend will get kidnapped and your best friend will die tragically as you hunt down the last boss?! And elves like you aren''t even supposed to be so kind to begin with!!! _ Shadyna: You are definitely not going to get a holy sword and kill the demon king right? Please promise me you will never do so to protect your hometown! _ Fuelri: ¡­What are you even saying¡­ Oops, I got too worked up there! And so, a beautiful elf with heavenly bust has become my mentor! I sure hope she wouldn''t die horribly to a random last boss passing by~ _ Shadyna: So, where are we going? _ Fuelri: Let''s see¡­ There are various fields we can go to, but depending on your main attributes it''s better to choose one that you can take advantage of. Are you going to use physical or magical attacks? _ Shadyna: ¡­Physical, probably? I doubt throwing Gelly can be counted as magic. The only magical thing about that is its firepower. _ Fuelri: Why is that a question?! What about speed? _ Shadyna: I can keep up with most players, so I guess it''s kind of high? ¡­Let''s not mention about yesterday, at least for now. She probably wouldn''t believe it anyhow. _ Fuelri: In that case let''s go to a field with slow hitting enemies. They will be tougher but have higher drops, and you can outrun them if there''s trouble. _ Shadyna: Roger~ And with that, we depart from Tyrel, in the opposite direction of the forest. I wonder what scenery I will see this time~ ____________ The tavern''s atmosphere has dampened. If had silently stopped working, players would be sad for a few days, and that would be the extent of the damage. Of course, that''s just wishful thinking on , the waitress. Having watched the accidental streams herself, she knows is not really at fault, but this mood in the tavern right now is just unbearable! It''s like watching a revolution, and if she does nothing she will be on the wrong side when it raises up. Stupid Mera for skipping and dumping this hellish responsibility on the poor bow user! --- Topic: Magnus Bestia 2 --- ## Manly Warrior Thanks to¡­ something, the second Magnus Bestia has appeared. Until the leader of DFC Sages gets its deep dark secrets using Inspect, the only thing we know about it is its appearance. [Pics] EDIT #1: Forest area has been changed. It is now the battleground for the Magnus Bestia. All forest spawns have been moved to the area right outside, so players should be careful. EDIT #2: DFC Sages and BB Conglomerate are going to try a probing attack against it. Best hope to them! ## ## Newbie Charisma build I just got wasted in the forest. Nothing but snakes in there now. They are stronger than Merexxa too! (>_<) ## ## OP alchemist RIP the poor souls in the forest when it appeared. (._.) On the plus side, we can farm forest monsters without worrying about party size now. ## ## Maximus Archery Lolicons and perverts are attacking it. Those scrubs still haven''t learned anything from the first one. Idiots. ## ## Mage of Sin Hessenria was seen with them, so they won''t lose against the minions. Not sure how you would attack the boss itself. (~_~) ## ## Fire mage of Justice If the first one is anything to go by, this one will have a weakness we can exploit. ¡­Although the first one''s "weakness" is game-changing, it doesn''t make the fight easier. ## ------ --- Topic: Cute girls appreciation thread #36 --- ## Mage of Sin Hessenria seems to doing well with her new shop, Hessenria''s Instant Takeouts. [Pics] She just casually waged an economic war against her old guild. (©`©`;) ## ## Heaven Piercer Olkan probably backed her up. Is she in BB Conglomerate now? By the way, she really softens when Illusive Sprout is around. [Pics] Please give me my cruel mistress back, Illusive Sprout!!! ## ## CuteIsJustice Found Illusive Sprout double-timing with another elf!!! [Pics] She has good taste, I''ll give her that. ## ## Silver Merchant The on duty waitress has a very cute troubled face too. [Pics] Definitely suffering from Hessenria''s betrayal. ## ## CuteIsJustice Are you talking about the shop, or romance? I am digging the spaghetti romance these girls are making. ## ------ Chapter 11: Crafting in progress Greetings, Shadyna here~ I am currently walking down a slope. It appears that the destination is some kind of valley. Hilly grass fields were blocking my vision, so I have no idea what it looks like from afar. Because we are not fighting anything, I use this time to grind my crafting skills. [Skill Leveled up: ]. Can''t make potions from [Grass], sadly. However, the various flowers and plants I picked yesterday sure helped. [Skill Leveled up: ]. Various vegetable soups with questionable effects are added into my inventory as a result. _ Shadyna: As expected, grinding more than one crafting skill is hard work~ _ Fuelri: Obviously. Most people just pick a crafting skill they want to pursuit and main it. There''s no combination skill for crafting so no one can be a jack of all trades even if they want to. ¡­I just heard something really interesting. _ Shadyna: Combination skill? What is that? _ Fuelri: It''s a skill that combines a variety of skills you have. Helpful when your skill menu is cluttered, but not much else. So I may have something like [Full Regeneration] or [All resistance]?! _ Shadyna: Why is it not helpful? Is it hard to grind? _ Fuelri: For example, the [Elemental Resistance] combines all resistance skills for fire, water, earth, lightning, wind and nature. It levels up at a one-third rate compares to a single component skill. If you want to grind all six skills, it is faster to grind the combination skill. However, if you main fire resistance, it takes you 3 times longer to be as strong. Ah, the price of being jack of all trades. Everything takes longer. Still, because my goal is to enjoy the game to its fullest, I want to try it out! _ Shadyna: Please teach me all the combination skills you know! _ Fuelri: ¡­Should have seen this coming, this stupid me¡­ Well, it''s not like I can acquire those skills just because I know how to. The condition to get one requires careful planning to begin with. Having all the component skills is one thing, you also need to have them at the same skill levels! Which means, I should get all the combination skills I want right now, when my skills are all at level 0 or 1. When they become higher I will have to grind the other skills to satisfy the condition! And why is there no combination skill for crafting¡­? I would like to be cooking a delicious meal while making a dragon-slaying sword as I mix herbs for a life-saving elixir¡­ Hopes and dreams, kind of ruined~ After the unexpected lecture about skill, we reach our destination. A massive valley, with no end in sight. The sky seems to be a bit tinted compared to Tyrel. Then again, that''s the last thing I need to worry about here. There''s no "plant" as far as I can see. In their place, crystals, lots of crystals, occupy the area. "Trees" are red-tinted crystalline formations that gives an impression of a typical wood tree, with sharp-looking leaves hanging around. If I crash into them, would they deal damage? The "ground" is a brownish surface that resembles dirt ground, but it is definitely reflective! I can see my blurry image on it as we walk. This place is probably bad for skirt-wearing players. But too bad, my current leather outfit is hot pants and sleeveless shirt! And the image is too blurry to do anything, unless you are extremely desperate, in which case it''s easier to just lie down on the ground and wait for someone like here to pass by. Her outfit is iron-padded heavy armor by the way. As expected of a fantasy game, its lower part is a skirt. Don''t worry, this true pacifist here will decimate any pervert around you! That''s not what a pacifist should say? Little details~ _ Fuelri: You are a pacifist right? In that case, I''ll give you party lead since you won''t be fighting. Have any buff skill? _ Shadyna: I have [Cheer] and [Shared Fate]. You can have the potions and food too, though I don''t think it will help much. _ Fuelri: Not that I was expecting much from you. Keep the items, just buffing me is fine. I can solo the outer area without help. I''ll grind my own skills and keep high value items, is that fine? _ Shadyna: Thank you, I don''t have any problem with it~ It''s better if she does her own thing. True pacifism does not like it when you use others to do the killing! While goes around killing the crystalline monsters around us, I craft a new equipment. ¡­If she does all of the killing, what was the point of choosing a field suitable for me again? I feel like I will lose if I think too much about it. [Received Red Crystal Pickaxe (Faulty) x1] [Skill Leveled up: ] When you see crystals, it will be mining, obviously! Using the crystals from the trees around, I managed to make this pickaxe. The grade is higher than the grass equipment, but it is just not possible to get a normal equipment at this level huh¡­ _ Fuelri: This monster only has trash. Do you want to try dismantling it? _ Shadyna: I do~. Concentrate, tear them piece by piece!!! Since I have no dagger, I just use my pickaxe to hit the corpse item of the crystalline wolf-like monster. _ Fuelri: Are you certain you want to be a pacifist¡­? You are the last person I want to hear that from!!! [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Dismantling Lv.0"] That really worked. [Received Green Crystal x3] [Received Copper Coins x20] She wasn''t kidding when she said it only drops trash! Sigh. Still, this is actually the first coins I earn in the game! ''s 500 gold does not count! _ Fuelri: That''s nice. In weaker fields at your level, you will get 5-10 coins at most. That is already a higher drop?! The more I think about, the scarier ''s 500 gold coins become! _ Shadyna: Does everyone have [Dismantling]? You can''t get drops without it otherwise¡­ _ Fuelri: [Dismantling] takes some time, so not everyone wants it. Some just bring back the corpses to sell to merchants, or destroy the corpses for lower loot. ¡­I don''t know how getting 2-3 copper coins per defeated monster could even become 500 gold coins. The economy is mysterious¡­ _ Fuelri: Most of the time you want to fight field bosses to get any substantial amount of loots. Otherwise you''ll barely make do by crafting potions from normal loots¡­ Those eyes look like they have seen through the misery of poverty¡­ That must have been tough for you, . No wonder why she avoids using consumables. Just using a potion every once in a while will make a dent in your wallet. ¡­ must have been even more expensive than I thought. Hessy, , please return common sense to me!!! [Skill Leveled up: ] I tried putting [Accelerate Power] into my pickaxe, and somehow it worked! Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Let''s slap the [Green Crystal] on it too for good measure! [Skill Leveled up: ] --- [Red Crystal Pickaxe] - Creator: - Quality: - Enhancement: 1 - Enchantment: - PAT: 12 --- Grass equipment only gives +1 to status, I wonder if the difference is from quality, materials, or enhancement? My leather armor gives 15 PDF by the by. It was made from the leather of monsters in Tyrel''s grasslands, so it''s pretty much newbie clothing, just with normal quality. Was carrying this around to bribe new girls with big boobs¡­? Time to try out my new equipment. ____________ is just a normal player with troublesome personality. She''s not at level cap, yet she considers her rival, because that girl is more famous. She wants to be famous too! Today, she picked up a wild newbie because that girl seems to be so clueless it hurts conscience to leave her alone. was overjoyed as she crafted new items. Seeing a cute little girl being happy of simple things in life makes break out a smile. Then, the little girl¡­ reveals her true form. had stopped fighting to enjoy watching little , who then started running towards a tree with her pickaxe in hand. _ Fuelri: ¡­Eh? Once she''s only a small distance of the target, she throws the pickaxe! _ Shadyna: HEYA~! The cute cry is just out-of-place, as the pickaxe slams into the tree, destroying it immediately. Then it flies into the air, falls into the ground, creates a crater where it lands, and finally bounces off again to drop into the lake behind the tree with a big splash. _ Shadyna: My pickaxe!!! ''s brain has stopped working. ____________ I managed to retrieve the pickaxe from the bottom of the lake! Luckily it does not have any man-eating monster nest like back then! [Received Broken Red Crystal Pickaxe (Faulty) x1] Aw¡­ I guess the damage was too much for it. Gelly was amazing, being able to get thrown time after time¡­ Why is that the case¡­? _ Shadyna: Elri~ How do I repair equipment? _ Elri: ¡­Eh? That''s my name now?! _ Shadyna: Un! _ Elri: Don''t just "Un!" me!!! Just use [Enhance] on it. It''s faster if you use the materials you used to make the weapon. _ Shadyna: Thanks~ [Enhance]! [Received Red Crystal Pickaxe (Faulty) x1] Back to business~! _ Elri: And what the hell was that?! That''s not how you mine! First of all, you mine a rock, not a tree! They all look the same to me in this place¡­ [Received Red Crystal x40] _ Shadyna: ¡­I got items from the tree. _ Elri: WHY?! Don''t ask me~ That reminds me, I had messages during my dive to retrieve the pickaxe. [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Mining Lv.0"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Farming Lv.0"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Fishing Lv.0"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Refinery Lv.0"] ¡­Except for [Mining], I have no idea how I got the other skills! [Farming] because I plowed the earth? [Fishing] because I was dynamite-fishing? [Refinery]¡­ Combination skill, get! _ Shadyna: I got [Refinery]~ _ Elri: Again, WHY?! Don''t ask me~ ¡­ _ Elri: ¡­At least you are getting new skills. _ Shadyna: Why are you having the look of someone who has given up? _ Elri: AND WHOSE FAULT WAS THAT?! Scary~ Well, with [Refinery], I can grind [Dismantling], [Mining], [Farming] and [Fishing] without worries! So this is the combination skill for the extraction-type actions huh¡­ And I found out that weapons are not forever broken, so it''s all good! Then, without further ado¡­ _ Shadyna: Hey, Elri, wanna take a break? Let''s dismantle the monsters you hunted down. And there''s something else I want to dismantle as well. _ Elri: *Sighs* Fine. That spot over there does not have aggressive monsters. We can work there. [Skill Leveled up: ] I built a tent and dismantling rack using [Construction]. Now all my crafting skills are at level 1! Too bad there''s no combination skill¡­ _ Elri: [Dismantling rack] huh. You are smarter than you look. _ Shadyna: Just something I learnt outside this game~ It should help increase loot when dismantling, being made by [Construction] and all. It was hard work bringing all the corpse items back to the tent though¡­ When a monster dies, you get the item bag containing its corpse (or loots if you whacked it so hard only the few loots remain), but throwing it out of your inventory reveals the full item, whether it''s a potion, or a [Merexxa Corpse]. This immersion is weird, Sateri¡­ _ Elri: ¡­ _ Shadyna: Please ask if you are concerned~ _ Elri: I refuse. I don''t want to know! _ Shadyna: Well, yesterday I¡­ _ Elri: I said I didn''t want to know! Too bad, I will tell you anyway~ [Received Onyx Halberd (Excellent) x1] Something weird was included in the [Merexxa Corpse]! --- [Onyx Halberd] - Creator: - Quality: - Enhancement: 5 - Enchantment: - PAT: 75 - PSP: 5 - MAT: 40 - MSP: 7 --- This is too much of a difference comparing to my pickaxe!!! And why does it add speed?! It''s a halberd! A two-handed weapon that is big, heavy and chops people into two with one strike! You can''t just give it speed, Sateri~ Since it drops from a monster, there''s no creator huh. _ Elri: Is it good? That halberd. Does she have no [Inspect] at all? That reminds me, merchants have to [Inspect] their merchandise so the customers can see the status when they select it. _ Shadyna: I used [Inspect] on it. Because Elri uses polearms I will give it to you~ _ Elri: ¡­! I can''t have it! It''s even stronger than my current gear! [Merexxa] is not a boss but it sure can give nice stuff huh. Or is it because Elri is plagued with poverty and cannot have nice equipment? _ Shadyna: It''s fine~ I don''t use weapons to begin with. Please think of it as payment for helping me out today! Ah, she''s fighting really hard in her mind. Morality versus materialism, go~ _ Elri: Th¡­then, I''ll take your offer. Just this once, okay?! Materialism wins against all adversaries! ¡­Still, where''s the image of a young elf casting powerful magic, or nimbly wielding her bow¡­ This isn''t elven at all!!! _ Elri: Ah, use [Enhance] with my old halberd as material. Merchants say that RNGod favors you if you give a big offering. Even the gods are switching to materialism! _ Elri: But I think they just meant that better fodders have higher chance of success and better result. For [Enchant] it gives higher chance for skill of higher level. That has better be the case, or I''ll stop believing in RNGods. I want to give her [Accelerate Power], but because it''s SG I think she wouldn''t be able to use it. Sigh¡­ Let''s try it out? I can change it to [Cheer] if I have to! [Enchant]! ¡­ _ Shadyna: Alright, please run full speed and hit the enemy with your strongest skill! Ah, you must not slow down until it is hit, okay? _ Elri: ¡­You have not done anything weird to the weapon, have you? _ Shadyna: Un, I buffed it up slightly using [Enchant]? _ Elri: ¡­Alright. She charges at the big crystalline deer-like monster roaming ahead. Please don''t make that "Let''s not think too deeply" face! I really put in a lot of thought you know!!! _ Elri: [Pierce]! *BOOM* The poor monster was utterly crushed as she thrusts the spearhead into its head. Too brutal! Ah, I can see damage number if I''m a party member. It''s something 800. _ Elri: WHY?! You sure asked that a lot huh, Elri~ That is much weaker compared to my [Accelerate Power], but it still gives a massive boost. [Accelerate Bonus], that is. It''s the downgraded skill that was put in the moment Elri received the weapon. She has a better chance against Hessy now, but that''s only if she started the fight running towards the target. You can only trigger this passive skill if you are running near full speed when it hits after all. For a halberd with swinging attacks, Elri will only have the alpha strike with this skill applied. I did explain properly, since I don''t want her to be high on power and pick a fight with Hessy again. A hot-tempered elf with an overpowered first strike, I sure have unleashed something scary to the world~ ____________ _ Vladina: That didn''t work huh. At least we have the [Inspect] result now. _ Olkan: We need siege weapons. Players'' attacks simply don''t have enough range to hit it. _ Vladina: [Enchance] and [Enchant] don''t work on constructions, so it''s going to be a long fight¡­ It''s mostly your job now, . can only contribute the funds from here. _ Olkan: Leave it to me. Besides, you may need to be beneath that thing when it dies to qualify for the loots. _ Hessenria: We don''t know if we can kill it with just siege weapons. Don''t be hasty. _ Olkan: Of course honey. _ Hessenria: Shut up, pig. The expenditure has come to an end. 3 out of 10 parties were devoured by the snakes along the way, but they managed to reach the center of the forest, above where the Magnus Bestia floats menacingly. They couldn''t find a way to kill it, but the intel they gathered will be vital for the upcoming battle. Everyone silently mourns the devoured until they get back to town and have a party outside ''s shop to celebrate, including the devoured themselves. _ Vladina: The girls working at the teahouse are going to kill me for this¡­ _ Olkan: Want to sell this place to us then? _ Vladina: I refuse. She''s bringing a lot more customers to our identification shops. _ Olkan: Hope you die painfully and slowly. ____________ Usually, there will be a surge of customers after a raid as they need new food buffs. The march on the Magnus Bestia was such a raid, but the surge wasn''t there. Not in the tavern at least. _ Maximus: . _ Inerin: Right away. _ Ignar: Same for me too. We are going to raid the Crystal Valley''s field bosses. _ Inerin: Have new weapons need enchanting? _ Tippe: One for me too. Got a new staff drop earlier, so yeah. Locations have no names as they cannot be inspected, so players just name them as they see fit, and it usually sticks as long as the name is easy to remember. Crystal Valley is the valley filled with crystal entities not far from Tyrel. Most drops there are considered to have high magical properties, so it''s good source of materials for mid-level enchanters. The usual customers are still here, and is glad for that. --- Topic: Magnus Bestia 2 --- ## Nearseeing Sage Just got back. The official name of the boss is Yierus Lair. It is strong albeit in a different way, so normal players should not bother. Contact DFC Sages if you want to buy the boss''s biography with signature as always~ ## ## Manly Warrior Thank you for your hard work! (^o^)£¯ I assume the Pervert Alliance has a plan to deal with it? ## ## CuteIsJustice I sure don''t want to be the target of such a suspicious bunch! ## ## Newbie Charisma build Anyway for players of different guilds to help? ## ## Nearseeing Sage Unless your guild has already negotiated with us, we are not asking for help from others since distributing loots afterward becomes a different boss fight figuratively. However, we are in need of players having good Construction. We will buy your service at a good rate, so contact us if you think you qualify. Don''t expect share of loot though. ## ## Newbie Charisma build Got it! ## ------ --- Topic: Newbie checklist? --- ## OP alchemist Is there a way to know if you are doing well in this game? Like the ideal damage of your attacks at a certain level? It''s hard to adjust my playstyle when I have no idea if I am doing things correctly. ## ## Flame knight of Darkness Damage is not a good indicator considering you can gain experience doing non-combat activities like crafting. It''s acceptable to farm in lower level fields, or even in higher level fields. If you are craft-oriented, it''s totally fine to spend days in the market instead of exterminating wildlife. If you are having fun and not having trouble playing, I would say you are doing well. ## ## Maximus Archery Do min-maxing. Can''t go wrong with max damage against most enemies. ## ## Silver Merchant Until a little girl with all min and no max comes in and ruins your day. ¡¥\_(¥Ä)_/¡¥ You should find a mentor with same main skills. Since Sateri-chan does not reveal much info, other players are you best bet to learn the ins and outs of your job. For alchemy, go to the potion area in the market. Good luck! ## ------ Chapter 12: Still a pacifist Shadyna the doom bringer has arrived! Elri the mad elf is on a rampage with her newest toy. It''s business as normal for her, but she''s much more efficient because of the one-hitting weapon halberd. I left the party so she can get full experience, and because I am a true pacifist that do not wish to benefit from others'' misery! ¡­The halberd was from the Merexxa. Not my fault! I am staying in the makeshift tent made by [Construction] to dismantle whatever corpse she brings back. Hmm, a pacifist butcher shop? That sounds kind of wrong¡­ [Character Leveled up] Got to level 5! [Profession change available] ¡­Something weird came again. _ Shadyna (PM): Elri~ What is profession change? _ Elri (PM): It''s what will appear in the [Inspect] result if someone uses it on you. You can use whatever option you want. I asked around but no one knows what it actually does. Ah, so that''s how I see the "Apprentice assassin" and such. The "Beginner/Apprentice" part is probably something else? Something to do with their levels? Maybe once the level cap goes up I will finally see "Master sage" and such. Seeing Hessy as "Apprentice waitress" is so misleading it''s not even funny! [Available profession: - Beginner farmer - Beginner miner - Beginner butcher ¡­ ] Why is it a butcher instead of dismantler or something like that¡­? It looks like the available options depend on your attributes, skills and titles. If there''s no effect, I wonder if it is just a way to advertise yourself to others? Because you need the skill to get the profession, you can''t lie on your resume ([Inspect] result). In the whole long list of professions, there are a few that caught my eyes. - Beginner hero - Beginner terminator - Particle lolider - Beginner zero - Illusive sprout ¡­I am pretty sure at least two of them are not normal professions. And what the hell is a lolider, Sateri!!! I wonder why the nickname people gave me became one of the professions. Was Sateri gathering data from the forums? Who the hell thought "Particle lolider" was a thing?! Stop polluting Sateri''s mind, you weirdoes! Can I discard all of these? I would rather have a boost to [Absolute Zero] instead of this public humiliation! [A random profession will be chosen. Continue?] [Y/N] WHY!!! Sateri, you hold grudges for too long! Fine! Show me what your RNG is made of! [Profession changed to ] GYAAAAA!!! _ Shadyna: SATERI YOU IDIOT!!! Of course you would pick the worst one possible to torment me! Random Number Generator my butt! More like Ridiculous Number Generator!!! _ Elri: What the heck?! Looks like Elri has returned with a new batch of corpses. _ Shadyna: Sateri was bullying me~ _ Elri: I don''t know how that is even possible, but wouldn¡¯t that be your own fault? Harsh! Where did the kind and caring mentor go?! You are not Hessy, so don''t throw out abuses like that! _ Shadyna: Elri you meanie! _ Elri: Why am I in this?! I haven''t done anything! Level 5 seems to be what you would call a milestone level. I got 6 attribute points and 5 skill points from level up. 6 attributes per level is a good increase, but I think 5 skill points is only for milestones. Otherwise skill points will be inflated. Not to mention, with 5 skill points per level, my [Absolute Zero] would become even more overpowered than it already is. Discarding those points, I now have 26/5 (attributes) + 9 (skills) = 14.2, which gives a total of 2.84 + 2 = 4 times the attribute bonus using [Absolute Zero]. ¡­I do not have 4 times the attributes. I am having 5 times the attributes, according to my status screen. In other words, I should have at least 15 DP. Where is the point that was not accounted for? ¡­Don''t tell me Sateri really gave me at least 1 DP for not choosing a profession! _ Elri: Why do you look like you are experiencing both bliss and despair at the same time? _ Shadyna: I told you, Sateri is bullying me~ _ Elri: Must be your own fault then. No one believes me at all¡­ _ ???: Anybody home? Someone was calling for us from outside. This voice¡­ _ Elri: Who''s there? _ Ignar: Just passing by. Oh, we met again. It''s the three weirdoes!!! [Summon]! _ Ignar: Woa! We are not looking for a fight! Could you put that beast away for the time being? _ Shadyna: No. I keep Gelly ready right at my face level so I can retaliate the moment they do anything funny. Definitely not taking chances against them! _ Maximus: Dear Sateri-chan why is it this scrub again?! _ Ignar: Can you shut up this time? Uh, look, we are just going to grind here by accident. I promise none of us will bother you, okay? _ Tippe: She doesn''t look like she trusts us at all. What a surprise huh. Indeed. Our first meeting ended with trash-talking me. The second time you guys tried to chloroform me. The third time you tried to make Hessy strip! It''s a surprise I haven''t thrown Gelly at you guys on sight!!! _ Ignar: Totally our fault though¡­ Uh, are you dismantling at this place? Would you help us with dismantling the corpses in inventory? I''ll pay of course. _ Fuelri: What the heck have you done to a newbie¡­ Actually, why do you guys look so traumatized?! Aren''t the roles reversed?! Why, indeed! _ Tippe: It''s¡­ a long story. Oi, Ignar, we have [Dismantling], we don''t have to¡­ _ Ignar: Having another pair of hands saves us time. If we don''t hurry the food buffs will run out. _ Tippe: ¡­Fine. _ Shadyna: ¡­Come in. I have a dismantling rack inside. _ Ignar: Thanks. You''re a big help. _ Maximus: What in the world happened to your stats, scrub?! Sigh. This guy simply refuses to be peaceful, doesn''t he? _ Fuelri: What''s with her stats? _ Ignar: Max! This isn''t time to¡­ _ Maximus: See for yourself! What the heck is this!!! --- [Character information] [Name]: ??? [Level]: 5 [Profession]: Particle lolider [Status]: This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. - HP: ======.... (505/792) (767+25) - MP: =========. (1004/1109) (1104+5) - PAT: 385 (373+12) - PSP: 17 (15+2) - PDF: 454 (439+15) - MAT: 529 (529+0) - MSP: 19 (15+4) - MDF: 593 (578+15) - SPD: 48 (46+2) [Attributes]: - STR: 73 (3+70) - DEX: 73 (3+70) - CON: 72 (2+70) - LDR: 76 (6+70) - FOC: 71 (1+70) - WIT: 72 (2+70) - MEN: 71 (1+70) - LUC: 72 (2+70) [Skills - Active]: - Cheer - Shared Fate - Armor Craft - Weapon Craft - Alchemy - Enchance - Enchant - Cooking - Construction [Skills - Passive]: - Beast Empathy --- _ Shadyna: ¡­WHY ARE YOU SHARING A GIRL''S MEASUREMENTS TO OTHER PEOPLE YOU JERK!!! While everyone was standing there dumbfounded by my attributes, I rush forward and slam Gelly into the idiot''s face, pulverizing him instantly! _ Maximus: GUAH!!! Lucky for him, he died in one hit. If he was expecting my attack and dodged it, I would have thrown Gelly at the ground and killed his whole party! And I didn''t even see if Elri was out of the blast range or not! I wonder if I should blast him a few more times. It''s not like [Corpse Destroyer] title would give you bad penalties, right~? _ Ignar: Let''s start dismantling then. _ Tippe: Yeah, let''s. _ Elri: I''ll help you guys. Everyone has decided not to know ! _ Maximus: You traitors!!! Hold on, if I blast him so hard he gets thrown back to Tyrel similar to Merexxa''s devour ability, his party will have to buy food again. Since they were not on his side this time, I will feel bad if I trouble them¡­ Well, let''s just leave him here and help dismantling~ _ Maximus: Tippe, res!!! _ Tippe: Some min-maxer genius refused to learn [Dismantling] because it does not help grinding DEX. We can''t afford to take his time in a dismantling party right? _ Ignar: Just sleep there and roam the board or something. We''ll res you once it''s done. _ Maximus: I am so going to find another party after this!!! Agree, part ways so I do not have to check for civilians whenever I need to blast you to pieces. Make sure to find like-minded jerks so I can blast them as collateral damage too. The world just has to drive me away from true pacifism¡­ [Skill Leveled up: ] Nice~ and co defeated a boss nearby. Thing is, that boss had a dozen minions so their inventories are filled with corpses. Not to mention the aggressive monsters they had to kill on the way until now. They were looking for a place to do dismantling when they heard my screams¡­ I am not going to bother with the boss corpse. Just the normal corpses will do well enough to grind my [Refinery]. With [Silent Cast], they can''t know which skill I am using. Spared me the complaint if they have one against my skill choice! _ Ignar: Whew, that was a lot of corpses! _ Tippe: Lots of loots too¡­ that LCK is insane, Illusive Sprout. While not considered a dump stat as much as LDR, LCK is not a good attribute for min-maxing. It barely affects your statuses, and even with LCK you are still at the mercy of Sateri''s sadistic RNG. Yes, I am holding a grudge!!! Well, the thing is, LCK seems to affect the loots. Since I have a more LCK compared to a normal player and am the party leader, Elri and I were getting a considerable amount of items from the corpses. Even with this LCK, the amount of coins is just¡­ sad. Maybe I should mine some copper and craft the coins myself¡­? _ Ignar: Hey, mind partying with us for dismantling the boss corpse? You can have the equipment drops. _ Maximus: HEY!!! _ Shadyna: ¡­You meant I can have the trash drops, right? _ Ignar: No, you can have the equipment. Our gears are already from stronger bosses. We are just looking for the [Giant Shining] crystal items that are used for [Enchant] and [Enchance]. They are the minimum to get above +5 or level 3 skill enchantment. Wow, that sounds tough. I guess throwing in random stuff only works for low levels huh. My crafting skills are still crappy, but I should learn more about these things to prepare for the future. _ Shadyna: Alright. Do you have any good food left? Anything that increases my LCK is good right? _ Ignar: I only have this meal that increases 30% attributes. It''s emergency ration. _ Shadyna: It will do. Mine increases 5%... The gap between me and professional cooks are still so big¡­ _ Tippe: In that case, isn''t it better to have Illusive Sprout dismantle it? The loot amount increase from [Dismantling] won''t do much since we only get 1 or 2 from the corpse at best. _ Ignar: ¡­You have a point. Will you do it, Sprout? _ Shadyna: Hmm~ Well, if you don''t mind the long time¡­ _ Ignar: Please do. We are already ahead of schedule thanks to your help. Eating the lunch box from , I check my skills to see if there''s anything that can improve further. Wait, I do. _ Shadyna: [Weapon Craft]! [Received Green Crystal Refinery Dagger (Faulty) x1] _ Shadyna: [Enchant]! [Enhance]! --- [Green Crystal Refinery Dagger] - Creator: - Quality: - Enhancement: 1 - Enchantment: - PAT: 8 - PSP: 1 - Skill: Dismantling Lv.1 --- A dagger that bestows [Dismantling]~¡­ Even though it''s called "refinery dagger". I don''t know if it will help, but since it doesn''t take a lot of time to create these tras¡­ faulty equipment I might as well stack up the odds. ¡­Probably won''t do much when I am against Sateri who gave me that one title out of the dozens in the list. [Refinery]! ____________ [Dismantling] is hard to grind. Even if you use it on every monster you defeated, you can only use it once per monster. That is not taking into account the amount of time that could have been spent on grinding attack skills. After level 3 of [Dismantling], most players simply crush monster corpses, and save the skill for bosses and their minions. Corpse items are heavy, so they are not worth bringing back to town when you can get the same amount of loots by killing a few more monsters. Even at level cap, , who has the highest [Dismantling], still only has it at level 6. By stacking skills from her equipment, Illusive Sprout was having an effective level 3 [Dismantling]. It is still not comparable to ''s, but the difference is not as big as everyone there thought. And combined with the LCK of a high level min-maxer, was correct in asking her to do the dismantling. Even for players who dismantle for a living, they would not max out LCK as that would cripple their abilities to fight. Little did everyone know, including the person herself, they were about to get more items than they expected. _ Shadyna: Um, ? What decides the loots you get from [Dismantling]? _ Ignar: Hm? Well¡­ _ Fuelri: Each corpse has a list of possible item drops. The number of drops you get increase with skill level, DEX and FOC, while the "quality", or what kind of item you get from the drop, increases with skill level and LCK. _ Ignar: That''s what DFC Sages published on the board, but I admit, it''s hard to verify due to how RNGod-dependent it is¡­ _ Tippe: Why are you asking though? Because there''s no reason why she would ask after dismantling the corpse. _ Shadyna: I don''t know if this is because it''s a boss but¡­ I think I got a lot of items? A player with so much LCK does not have DEX and FOC. It was the tradeoff between "quality" and "quantity" using attributes. For a normal player, that''s what their build will dictate when they dismantle. For a not-so-normal player, who happens to have attribute values so high, that tradeoff never exists to begin with. The "normal" players here were so absorbed in the "quality" aspect that they subconsciously ignored the "quantity", until now. ____________ [Received Giant Shining Crimson Crystal x2] [Received Giant Shining Lime Crystal x2] [Received Giant Shining Azure Crystal x3] [Received Twin Corsage (Unique) x1] [Received Floral Bracelets (Unique) x1] [Received Floral Anklets (Unique) x1] [Received Giant Red Crystal x12] [Received Giant Blue Crystal x6] [Received Giant Green Crystal x8] [Received Shining Red Crystal x9] [Received Shining Blue Crystal x11] [Received Shining Green Crystal x7] ¡­ Too many! Aren''t there too many drops compared to the meager dozen copper coins and a few colored crystals from a normal monster?! Especially the equipment! I don''t know how good [Unique] quality is, but I don''t think it''s supposed to throw out that many in one boss!!! There are a ton of common items from normal monsters as well so I can''t be bothered to read them all! _ Ignar: What did you get? Usually you should get 1-2 [Giant Shining] crystal and a piece of equipment. A [Rare] quality [Moving Crystalline] in most cases, but once in a while you would get a [Unique] quality [Living Crystalline] piece. ¡­This is not normal, definitely. _ Shadyna: Are [Rare] and [Unique] good? _ Ignar: The best you can get if it''s in your level range. Sateri-chan creates the pieces procedurally so it''s not certain what kind of equipment you get, just that you get a set effect with 3 or more [Rare] or [Unique] of the same series. _ Tippe: Also don''t worry if you get a set below your level. [Weapon Reforge] allows you to craft a weapon of the same series using [Rare] and [Unique] as materials. [Weapon Art] allows you to craft a new series of your own using same materials. They are stronger skills of [Weapon Craft] and there are equivalents for armor too. Thank you, Exposition Party~ ¡­In other words, I definitely did something terribly right just now. _ Ignar: Other than that, I suppose there''re common items that can be looted from normal monsters, but we are not interested in that¡­ _ Shadyna: We-well, here''s what I got from it¡­ Silence. It was an eerie silent atmosphere. No one said a word. Elri, why are you facepalming?! , , don''t join her! _ Ignar: Oi, Max, any idea why this happened? _ Maximus: What? I was looking at the board an¡­ What the actual -censored-?! You know you have a problem when even a min-maxing corpse has not expected this result. Other than that, immersion ruined. _ Ignar: Do you have any boost to [Dismantling]? You don''t have to say of course, but this loot is not normal¡­ _ Shadyna: I don''t think I do¡­ Except for [Unstopping Hero], I have a pretty good idea of what my skills and titles do. None should be boosting [Refinery]. _ Maximus: One sec, checking formulae¡­ This amount¡­ A level capped idiot that has min-maxed LCK with high level [Dismantling], food buffs and some good actual luck may pull it off. _ Ignar: Ah, it''s normal then. _ Tippe: Nothing unusual. _ Fuelri: So it''s possible huh. Why are you guys waving it off too easily?! _ Fuelri: You have too many attributes, so they compensate the lack of skill level and good food. Do not read my mind, Elri~ _ Ignar: ¡­We have one boss left on today''s list. Would you wait until then to dismantle it as well? You can have equipment and common items from the dismantling. Somehow, I have been asked to be a professional butcher!!! _ Shadyna: I don''t mind, but will you take Elri here with you? I want Elri to get stronger by farming boss monsters as well! ____________ _ Warrior: Excuse me, do you do [Dismantling] here? _ Inerin: We do, but it''s not advised to request our service for non-boss corpses. Do you wish to hire our service? _ Warrior: Ah, yes. Our guild just hunted down a field boss but has no one with high [Dismantling]. How much are you charging? _ Inerin: We charge a base fee of 1 silver coin per corpse and 10% of the non-equipment loots. If you wish to pay in coins instead of loots, we also allow negotiation in market rates. _ Warrior: I''ll pay in loots. Just hoping to get some good [Unique] items. _ Inerin: Very well, please follow me to the back. While not the main function of the building, [Dismantling] is one of the reasons one would go to the tavern after one hard boss fight¡­ --- Topic: Wealth grinding? --- ## Newbie Charisma build Is there any better way to earn a lot of coins? The loots barely pay for the potion costs! ## ## Silver Merchant You should keep in mind the actual profit (total earned - expenses) before entering a field. If the loots are not enough to keep you fed, maybe it''s time to choose a weaker field that has worse drops but does not require as many consumables per fight. On the other hand, you don''t have to invest too much in self-sufficiency. You will not be able to get out of beginner fields if you grind all fancy attack skills AND crafting skills. ## ## Serious Mage You can also find a good party or guild. More people = more damage = fewer consumables. Checkout the guild advertisement threads, there are many new guilds, not just the big 4. ## ------ --- Topic: Boss KS --- ## Flame knight of Darkness With the surge of new players, field bosses are becoming a luxury! Our guild just visited the Crystal Valley and someone had killed the crystal tree boss there. ## ## Heaven Piercer Guard the whole area like what the Phoenix Ashes is doing to Magnus Bestia. I do think there should be more ways to acquire good loot. Strong but rare normal monster like Merexxa maybe? Or we go full dungeoning and have each party having a separate boss "instance". That way there''s no need to compete. ## ## Fire mage of Justice Dungeon instances will solve most issues, but I prefer the open-world nature of the game. It gives me the immersive feeling of the world being alive with its eco system instead of the "gamey" isolated dungeons. No offense to dungeon lovers of course. I would like to see dark sinister dungeons as well, just not the "one instance per party" implementations. ## ## Bountiful Hunter Agree with open dungeons. Can''t have big guild fights over the boss room otherwise! Inb4 the consumables costing more than the rewards because so many players get killed. Keep the ideas coming, maybe Sateri-chan will notice us! ## ------ Chapter 13: Unseen boss fight Hello~ Shadyna is wandering around in a surreal world~ Elri reluctantly joined and co in their boss hunt, much to the protests of . Well, she is not at level cap, so she can be called a "Leecher" by his standards. What pissed him off more, however, is me being the party leader of this group. I didn''t want to either, you know! I am a pacifist, not a warlord! After the disbelief of me being (obviously) pacifist sank in, suggested me becoming the party leader to take advantage of my LDR. That was against true pacifism, but because I was entrusting my daughter (Elri) to them, I couldn''t decline. If a hair of her is harmed, all three of you are going to get a Gelly in your face! I finished dismantling the remaining corpses left in the tent, so I am just walking aimlessly to see the scenery, with Gelly. Unlike me, Gelly seems to gain experience only by fighting and using combat skills. Well, it can''t do something like [Dismantling] to begin with, so leveling up with only crafting skill grinding is not feasible. Oh, before I forget, let''s put on the [Living Crystalline] set I acquired unexpectedly¡­ and were not against me having it, even though these pieces can fetch a good amount in the market. Their reasons being "If words get out that we go against our words, we will be ruined like Max". I almost sympathized with that jerk, but only almost. [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Cell Revitalization Lv.0"] ¡­Why? Ah, it''s [Cell Revitalization (Equipment)]. Elri said that these granted skills can become permanent by leveling them up. Well, I did it with [Accelerate Power] so there''s no disputing it. I wonder how this skill is grinded though¡­ [Cell Revitalization: Imbue vitality of life force from crystals. Increase regeneration and barely survive fatality once in a while.] Oh! HP regen get! ¡­What the hell is that second effect? _ Shadyna (Party): Excuse me, anyone knows what [Cell Revitalization] does? The "barely survive fatality" part in particular! _ Tippe (Party): Ah, it automatically resurrects you after death once, after a long time and even a longer cooldown before it can be used again. The "barely" part means you get like 1% HP back when it triggered, basically. ¡­At least it''s not 1 HP. _ Shadyna (Party): So I have to die to grind this skill? _ Tippe (Party): You can, but waiting with less than full HP works too. _ Shadyna (Party): Ah, right, it does give regeneration¡­ Thanks for the info~ _ Ignar (Party): I think that''s a skill with no acquisition condition? Did the equipment grant it? _ Shadyna (Party): Un, so I''m planning to grind to keep it. _ Ignar (Party): Good luck with that. It''s [Unique] so you probably can wear for a long time. Luckily we don''t need to take a bath in this game huh¡­ Okay, so how to get my HP down to kick off the regeneration¡­ ¡­My [Leather Belt (Normal)] has +25 HP. Fortunately no one is around, because taking my belt off in front of others is a bit¡­ [Skill Leveled up: ] After walking around and shamelessly putting on and away my belt, it''s finally done. Level 0 to 1 is always easy huh. Though higher levels after that is increasingly harder. I blasted at least a few dozen yesterday and only got [Accelerate Power] to 5! Okay, no more pseudo stripping around! Let''s wait until I have some equipment that does not make me look like a pervert by constantly equipping and unequipping! _ Maximus (Party): Found it! Oi scrub, let it focus on . If you get hit will have to waste time healing you! _ Elri (Party): Can you convey your thoughts without insulting people?! _ Maximus (Party): Get to level cap before talking back to me nub! _ Tippe (Party): Our food buffs do not wait, guys¡­ This is going to get rowdy, I can see it. Let''s not put Elri near again in the near future. _ Ignar (Party): Okay, attack! Oh, there''s something shining behind that tree line. I wonder if it''s a big lake again? It seems like a big rainbow-colored mini-sun from where I stand. A big lake with oil spills? Then again such things don''t really shine in real life¡­ _ Maximus (Party): WHAT THE -CENSORED- IS THAT DAMAGE?! _ Ignar (Party): Get behind me, ! You will get focused if you keep hitting it that hard! I hear nothing~ _ Fuelri (Party): I KNEW IT WASN''T NORMAL AFTER ALL! _ Shadyna (Party): Our shop does not allow refunds, sorry~ _ Maximus (Party): Sateri-chan damned it it''s you again huh you little brat!!! Okay, let''s see what''s behind these crystalline trees~ Putting aside worldly affairs like a true hermit, I walk into the area enclosed by the dark red trees. The ground has a light rainbow tint on top of its usual brown color. Rather than part of the ground, it looks more like a thin liquid surface running towards the center. At that place, the "liquid" gets pulled up into the air, into the shining white sphere floating about a meter above ground level. So uh¡­ shouldn''t the colors be pouring out of it instead of the reverse? A chunk falls off the sphere, revealing a jet black color behind the white shells¡­ With the white around it, it kind of resembles an eye. An eyeball without the eyelid, welp. [Laetque Eye: The left eye of an ancient god. It holds the "magic" while the other eye holds the "power".] ¡­Where''s the other eye, may I ask? And since I can use [Inspect] on it, is it an item or a creature? A few more chunks fall off from the white shell. They have the shapes of curved bricks that you would use to build a tower. Why would you have bricks in this kind of crystalline environment?! While I was daydreaming, the fallen blocks form into smaller circles facing me, then each changes into a reflective crystalline texture with a color. Blue, green, teal, red, brown, yellow. Are they¡­ the six elements? I mean, the brown color is a dead giveaway. If it had been a rainbow color, I might have been tricked into thinking of a true rainbow! Considering the whole area is dedicated to this thing, I can''t think of it as anything less than a boss. And because it''s already pointing at me, it''s definitely hostile! *WHOOSH* I frantically avoid the fireball that came straight at me. Even so, it''s homing towards me like a missile! Yesterday, it''s easier to avoid attacks because I could use others as fodders. But here there''s only the lonesome me and Gelly, so I have to avoid it swirling around for at least 2 or 3 times before it disappears. It would be fine and all if that''s the only thing I have to evade! A water ball, a sharpened tree branch, a big rock, a zapping bolt and a howling teal thingy are all chasing me as well! Anything but the needle-like tree branch, please! _ Shadyna (Party): Anyone knows anything about [Laetque Eye]?! _ Tippe (Party): ¡­The strongest boss of this area? _ Maximus (Party): Focus you idiot! Don''t stop the healing! _ Tippe (Party): I didn''t become a mage to do the work of a priest damn it!!! Anyway, just run! It needs at least two level-capped parties to handle! Let''s not bother them again for some time. If they die, I would never hear the end of it from . Honestly, if I run out of the surrounding tree lines and run back to throw Gelly, I can probably take a good chunk out of its HP if not outright killing it. My damage reached 5-6 digits if I divide the total [Damage dealt] by the [Players defeated] play record of Gelly. Even for HP sponge bosses, I don''t think they can just shrug off the damage at that magnitude. Oh, and I am just a cute level 5 player. But hey, I am also a true pacifist. Even if the enemy is a murderous eye of mass destruction hell-bent on killing everything it sees, I do not wish to harm it. Can we just come to a mutual understanding or something? I didn''t know this was its territory in the first place¡­ For now, I take cover behind the trees. Didn''t take many hits for a tree to be destroyed, but there''re a good number of trees here and unlike real life, they respawn after a while. No thanks to deforestation! So, what to do¡­ Elri said this area is for level 7 to 13. Merexxa was the apex predator in the level 5-10 forest despite not being a true boss, and was level 15¡­ I guess it''s safe to think this eye is at least level 17? Then again I have no idea how strong a level 17 boss is supposed to be¡­ The warrior back then lost roughly 30-40% from each attack¡­ Is it optimistic to think my attributes can at least reduce the damage taken to 20%? I have [Cell Revitalization] so even if I die in one hit I will be alright. Sateri''s wisdom didn''t say anything about it eating players so¡­ Worth a try right? I will not awaken to some weird hobbies after getting hit on purpose, right? Enemy''s attacks take down another tree. The fire, earth and water are left. Avoid the first two, because they look painful! Then before the last one disappears, I touch the water ball with my hand. OUCH! I did get hit yesterday, but I was so busy I didn''t mind it much. Concentration backfired! [- HP: =========. (935/1002) (977+235)] This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. 67 per hit? I wonder if that''s a lot or little. Since there''re six attacks at a time, wouldn''t I lose 40% HP if I could not dodge? ¡­Scary. These attacks here are relentless, unlike [Merexxa]''s one at a time patterns. If I were attacking it, I don''t think I could avoid them all. Being able to avoid them at all is already cheat-like to me. Hessy could continuously evade as well, but she''s at level cap so I''m sure she has many skills to enhance her agility~ I have to use my weird attributes to compensate for that, and it wasn''t easy even with all these trees¡­ My HP is higher than expected? Don''t mind, just the effect of ''s handmade (emergency) lunch! [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Water Resistance Lv.0"] ¡­As expected from the sadistic Sateri, you really have to get hit to get [Resistance] skills. And there''re all six elements here conveniently enough¡­ Fine~ I''ll do it, okay? Just for the skills, mind you! I am definitely not enjoying this at all, okay?! [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Fire Resistance Lv.0"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Earth Resistance Lv.0"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Lightning Resistance Lv.0"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Wind Resistance Lv.0"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Nature Resistance Lv.0"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Elemental Resistance Lv.0"] Done~ With my SPD, I managed to selectively get hit to get all the skills! That needle was mentally painful to take though!!! Gelly wriggles slightly on my head. You sure are enjoying yourself up there huh~ You are still my ally in this combat you know? So let''s see if you can learn skills as well! A few attacks and >< expressions later, Gelly got [Elemental Resistance] too~ Gelly only has around 600 HP though, and seems to take more damage than me. I have to use [Shared Fate] to keep it alive but other than that all is well! When I run out of the tree lines, the attacks still persist, but finally stop after I gain a good distance from the boss. It can retaliate from quite a distance huh. Because it looks so immobile, that range is probably needed to avoid magi throwing spells in a safe spot from afar. Let''s wait for my HP to regenerate then go back for round 2~ Not just round 2, but until Elri finishes the boss on her side~ ____________ A small guild is on a boss hunt in the valley, supposedly. After finding the boss area empty for the third time, they snapped. Bosses are much stronger than normal monsters, so players usually leave them alone. However, the increasing amount of players are increasing competition. It''s not to the point of a guild camping the area for days yet, but it''s getting there. Respawn time is a few hours, which is not bad. The problem lies in how players strengthen themselves to fight bosses: food buffs. Good food buffs do not last long, so they cannot just camp a dead boss until respawn! And because of Sateri-chan''s recent updates, foods have expiration dates! In the future, more items are planned to have expiration. Organic items and corpses are definitely getting it in soon. So keeping food items in inventory doesn''t work either, because longer expiration is another hit to food quality¡­ Abandoning the hope of finding live bosses today, the guild''s objective became hunting down the kill stealers! The targets killed bosses by themselves, so it''s not exactly kill stealing. Such trivial details matter not to the angry players who got all their wealth grinding ruined! Mowing down stray monsters in their path, the guild came across an abandoned tent with a dismantling rack. _ Guildmaster: The footprints are still new! They must be nearby! _ Member: Uh¡­ There''s no way to know if they are new because footprints don''t exist in the first place¡­ _ Guildmaster: The mood is important! Player buildings do not disappear over time, but there''re special "raids" that roam the game world every now and then. The monsters in those raids are extremely aggressive and act as "cleanup crew" until they reach the town, where the fortifications will kill them for nice loots. So players only build temporary shelters if needed. But who would build one when the area doesn''t even have environmental damage!!! _ Member: Must be a newbie to build this tent just for the atmosphere¡­ I don''t think they are related¡­ _ Member #2 (Guild): There''s fighting at the [Laetque Eye]! _ Member (Guild): Uh¡­ we don''t have the strength to fight it¡­ _ Guildmaster (Guild): Doesn''t matter! We PK them as they are weakened by the boss and make a run for it! If a guild is fighting the boss above their capability, that guild must be stronger as well. Still, a good ambush when the enemies are busy is enough! If they can snipe the healers, the whole boss fight is devastated! Medics are favorite targets in games, as always¡­ ____________ Because waiting for full HP regen is boring~, I have decided to change my grinding tactics! I learned how this boss fights, at least in its current stage. It will just use the same basic homing skills against me, at the same time. It will not use the skill again until it hits or expires because of my evasion. Which means, I don''t have to worry about accumulating a massive unavoidable pile of projectiles chasing me! Avoiding six of them at all times is still a pain, but I can manage. So I started abusing [Shared Fate] with Gelly. I just let myself get hit until I get to 1 HP. Gelly''s HP doesn''t matter here. Once I have 1 HP, I run around evading until [Cell Revitalization] brings me above 1 HP again. Even with only 2 HP, I can survive a whole 60+ HP hit because of [Shared Fate]''s "at exactly 1 HP" condition to die. That saves me a lot of time! Thanks to being in game, I do not get exhausted either. Still, I get a stats debuff for being below 20% HP¡­ Did not notice that before¡­ Oh well, I am still evading properly so it''s fine! ¡­Now that I have the situation under control, I notice that my speed is increasing steadily as long as I keep running. Damn it, [Unstoppable Hero], it''s your doing isn''t it!? Players don''t keep accelerating like that! That''s not how physics work!!! If I run too fast it becomes hard to time the evasion, so I slow down every once in a while to keep the pace. [Skill Leveled up: ] Level 4, get~! For a supposedly slow skill to grind, being a combination skill and all, I managed to get the levels up nicely. I wonder if the experience gain for the skills is constant or variable depending on the fight? [Cell Revitalization] went up to 2 as well, but it''s not helping me much. It increases the HP restored per interval, but doesn''t decrease the regeneration interval at all! I suppose [Shared Fate] would be quite overpowered if my HP regenerates immediately after each hit, so this is how Sateri prevents that¡­ Me being overpowered or not, please make up your mind already, Sateri~ [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Inspect Resistance Lv.0"] ¡­Eh? Why did I get this skill just now? Sure, [Inspect] takes a lot of effort to even level up, so I''m not surprised if it takes quite a lot to even unlock the resistance skill. The problem is, why at this moment? I don''t think this boss uses [Inspect]. Even if it does, I think it''s weird for it to take more than an hour of [Inspect] usage to get me the resistance. ¡­In other words¡­ Sigh. I know the moment I start taking it easy something weird would happen! That kind of clich¨¦ happens all the time! Okay, who''s the pervert stalking me¡­ Pretending not to know anything, I keep running circles around the boss, but I don''t let myself get hit again. I throw glances around the place where I unlocked the skill. The same direction as my dismantling tent, since the other way is right at the boss¡­ I think you can''t use [Inspect] without line of sight, so they are probably hiding somewhere behind the trees. [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Detect Presence Lv.0"] Nice~ I can kind of feel the boss''s presence without looking at it. And the "enemies" too. Although the range seems to be kind of limited. I cannot feel them on the other side of the area. If only I could feel hundreds of players at the same time like yesterday~ It''s much easier to see parts of them poking out when you know where they are. [??? - Apprentice knight - HP: +++=======] [??? - Apprentice archer - HP: ++========] [??? - Apprentice wizard - HP: ==========] No need to check further. They are above my league, and outnumbering me too. What league am I in again, considering I am a [Particle lolider] instead of the normal beginner professions¡­? Let''s not think too deeply! With the amount of players, I assume they are after the boss here. It was fun playing with you, [Laetque Eye], but I''ll let you greet the other guests~ I run to the opposite side and pass through the empty tree lines. Evading the last few futile projectiles from the boss, I safely evacuate from the area with Gelly on top of my head as usual. Seeing new skills being blasted all over above the trees, I go around and return to my dismantling tent. My alarm had rung by the time Elri and co returned, so I just quickly dismantled all of the corpses with great haste and logged out after giving all the loots to them. I didn''t even have time to check what kind of items I pulled out of the cold dead bodies! ____________ _ Ignar: So¡­ uh, what are we going to do with ''s share? Despite the hiccups at the beginning, was a great help. Her charging attacks were dealing massive damage, to the surprise of everyone. It still cannot compare with ''s maxed out DPS build, but has already surpassed and . And thanks to that, they managed to return before had to logout, which is the ultimate goal. Even the grumbling is not protesting against sharing the loots with her. The problem is that left, before distributing loots. It would be unfair not to give her anything after all she had done for them, that''s for certain. _ Maximus: Just give that scrub an equipment piece and be done with it. While not as lucky as the last attempt, she still managed to get 2 pieces out of the boss. [ Flame Staff (Rare)] and [ Heat Shield (Unique)]. The staff is a good choice for magi who specializes in fire skills, and the shield will give good MDF with some fire resistance. The boss was literally burning, so its equipment effects are expected. _ Fuelri: She might use the shield for protection. Staff is out, probably. Because can use neither, she''s not really interested. Just having the pile of common loots is good money and enough crafting materials for days. _ Ignar: She seems to have a "plant" theme, so having a burning equipment might backfire a bit. How about we give her a [Giant Shining] crystal? _ Tippe: I don''t mind, this run has been a lot more successful than planned thanks to her. _ Fuelri: ¡­Ah. _ Ignar: Something''s troubling you? _ Fuelri: This halberd I''m using¡­ the damage is from her [Enchant], using trash materials. _ Everyone: ¡­Oh. Everyone starts fearing for the game''s balance as a whole should gets access to good fodders like a giant crystal¡­ Worse still, they can''t think of another reward for her! In the end, they decided to turn a blind eye and give a [Giant Shining Lime Crystal] as they returned to Tyrel. They only requested her to give the crystal to whenever she has the chance, without saying anything further. Because they would lose if they think about it! ____________ _ Fuelri: Does anyone know how to attack without losing speed? The elf girl asks the general patrons of the tavern after ordering her drink. _ Archer: The easiest way would be using a ranged or throwing weapon, since you won''t be stopped by the recoil. In addition, not being in the vicinity of enemies'' weapons helps with maintaining your speed. Having a look at the halberd-wielding heavy-armor-cladded elven knight, can''t help but sigh. _ Inerin: That might be a bit too different from her current build. Dear patron, why would you want such playstyle? Not everyone can imitate Illusive Sprout, even if she looked like she was playing around in yesterday''s battle. was asked many times today about the weird girl''s build/playstyle. However, as implied, her power is off the charts, most likely because of her SG skills. Imitation is impossible once the word "Globally Unique" comes into play. _ Fuelri: Seriously, what the heck has she been doing?! Saying not being involved at all would be a lie, so doesn''t argue on that. She was surprised to see being an actual walking anomaly instead of an idol-like newbie glorified through misinformation and gossips too! ''s lethal (for himself) [Inspect] really changed her view on the little girl. _ Inerin: I see you haven''t watched yesterday''s footages. haven''t had the chance, but fully intends to do so right after playing thanks to what happened today! _ Fuelri: We-well, do you have any idea? I prefer being able to keep using my current weapon. Because that''s the whole reason she has to ask these questions! Using anything else would be defeating the purpose! _ Inerin: I suggest visiting to learn attack skills suitable for your new style. Other than that, having lighter armor will allow you to be more agile. _ Merchant: If you have the money or ability to grind for it, getting a fast summon beast mount may be a good investment. I have a few for sale! _ Fuelri: ¡­I see. Thanks for the help. Get me the usual meal too. _ Inerin: *Smiles* Understood. There''s only one option. And it''s not light armor, because that is for "typical elves"! --- Topic: Defeating Particle Lolider --- ## Flame knight of Darkness Particle Lolider KS-ed our bosses, but we are catching her off-guard! Here''s the stream if anyone wants to see the legend falls. [Link] ## ## OP alchemist That sounds like the start of a questionable plot. ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã) And she''s soloing a boss herself. WTF! ## ## CuteIsJustice Don''t hurt the precious girl! ©ß©¥©ß¦à©c(`§¥¡ä)?¦à ©ß©¥©ß Her HP bar is empty. Too bad your Inspect doesn''t give more info. A bunch of perverts stalking a weakened girl in the forest. Reported. ## ## Serious Mage I was hoping for a new build theory to defeat her, not this "murder robbery" act. Reported. Edit: LOL she ran away! That evasion is absurd. You are not supposed to avoid homing skills like that! Speed is amazing as before. ## ## Bountiful Hunter Welp, she ran too far, and the boss changed target to the perverts in range instead. This changed from a horrendous crime into a self-humiliating exhibit real fast. RIP. ## ## Newbie Charisma build The criminals aren''t winning against the boss. RIP. Illusive Sprout was not attacking at all, but looked like she was deliberately getting hit? Is that how she grinds skills? ## ## Fire mage of Justice To players who are thinking of using that boss to grind skills: Don''t. It hits like a truck even for a level 20. It is immobile but has a long range. Unless you are as fast as her, it will kill you before you can retreat and reconsider your life choices. ## ## Nearseeing Sage @Flame knight of Darkness: Your guild has been added to DFC Sages'' blacklist. Either stream yourself profusely apologizing to her, or pay triple for our services. EDIT: Tavern and Hessenria''s Takeouts'' blacklists as well. You guys kicked a hornet nest. ## ## Silver Merchant Economic sanctions, go~. Too bad BB is not worried about little girls so at least you can buy your potions at normal price! ## ------ --- Topic: Anti-Lolider Strategy --- ## Serious Mage The previous thread about defeating Illusive Sprout/Particle Lolider turned out to be a fluke. Still, I am curious to see if we can think of a strategy to fight against her. Go to Operation Zero Glory thread if you want to see why we need this thread. Her latest appearance, because she has new equipment now. [Pics] ## ## Bountiful Hunter She was soloing Laetque Eye, the strongest boss in the Crystal Valley. Therefore, it might be safe to conclude she''s at least as strong as two capped parties. Emphasis on "at least". orz ## ## Manly Warrior So she''s about as strong as the big guilds'' guildmasters now? That''s¡­ worrying. It would be nice if someone can get an [Inspect] on her. ## ## Nearseeing Sage I did get her stats yesterday. You should prepare your whole treasury if you want to know (^_-) A girl''s measurements are precious after all~ ## ## Maximus Archery Scrub''s stats are ridiculous, and that''s without good equipment. ## ## Bountiful Hunter Mind sharing with us, oh great Max? ## ## Mage of Sin He can''t. If he tells you the consequences will be worse than her blasting his head off for the THIRD time LOL I can tell you that having her around in a boss hunt is the best thing that can happen. ## ## CuteIsJustice The new flower equipment looks really cute on her~ ¡­Whose texture is Living Crystalline series. It is very good for defense builds. Sateri-chan helps us all¡­ ## ------ Chapter 14: Art of crafting Dismantler Shadyna is reporting for duty~ Yesterday was considerably peaceful compared to my first two days. I would hope the peace to last but that definitely is a bad flag so I am not going to raise it. As soon as I login, a dark elf warrior runs to me and prostrates himself. ¡­Why? [??? - Apprentice knight - HP: ==========] Yeah, even his name is ???. If he was my acquaintance, I would at least see his name. _ Knight: I am very sorry for our rude behaviors yesterday! Please forgive us! We will bankrupt by the end of the week if these sanctions go on! Seriously, I don''t even know who you are! _ Shadyna: Uh¡­ did you mistake me for someone else? I don''t believe we have met. _ Knight: There is no mistake! You are the glorious Illusive Sprout! We have erred greatly for trying to steal the boss you were fighting yesterday! We will never do such things again so please have mercy on us! Is he talking about the eye boss thingy¡­? Was he one of the stalkers I sensed back then? _ Shadyna: I don''t mind, but next time please just call me out normally, okay? _ Knight: Fear not! We will try our best not to cross your path ever again! I would rather you not do that! This is an MMO, not single-player! Parting ways with him, one question remains. What the hell made him apologize like that? I''m sure a boss fight wouldn''t lead to this kind of behavior¡­ Okay, at least I wasn''t being pulled into a weird plot where I have to save someone and somehow end up slaying the demon king or something like that. With that over and done, what should I do today? _ Shadyna (PM): Elri, are you free today? _ Elri (PM): Oh, hello. Sorry, I am busy today. We left your share of yesterday''s loots at ''s, so pick it up when you have time. _ Shadyna (PM): Okay~ Good luck to you then~ I forgot about the last boss''s loots, but I am not refusing their kindness, obviously! Since the atypical elf girl is not here today, let''s idly wander around again with Gelly~ No matter where I look, this crystalline place just screams "PLEASE MINE ME!" all over. Un, let''s go ham on mining today~ The pickaxe throwing is out, since I will have to fix it after each throw! It would just end up being a grinding session for [Enhance]! Equipping my faulty pickaxe, I leave my dismantling tent. It doesn''t disappear after a whole day, so I wonder why there''s barely any player-built stuff out in the field¡­ Oh well, let''s find a suspiciously shiny place that looks like a good ore deposit! ¡­ No matter how I try, the shiniest place I can see is where the eye boss resides! There''s no way I can dig while evading its attacks at the same time! In this game where players build their own town, I suppose there wouldn''t be an abandoned mine filled with treasure and monsters huh¡­ If I want a mine, I''ll have to build one myself! I come across a silver deposit, but it depletes after one harvest attempt. I guess it will need time to respawn like trees huh¡­ That means building a mine around a single exposed deposit like this is no good. Trees respawn, ores respawn¡­ _ Shadyna (PM): Hessy~, is it possible to build a basement in this game? _ Hessy (PM): That was out of nowhere. Yes, you can build basements. You''ll need lots of digging and building in a short amount of time to prevent terrain from being restored however. Are you going to build one? _ Shadyna (PM): Of course not~ I am in the wilderness right now you know? _ Hessy (PM): Right¡­ Remember to stop by my place when you are in town. _ Shadyna (PM): For the loots right? I''ll keep that in mind~ So you''ll need [Construction] to stop the terrain from reverting back. If not for that mechanic I think the craters I made in the forest will never heal up, so it''s fine to suspend the immersion for a bit! ¡­ I am back at the lake where my pickaxe dynamite-fished yesterday. Why here? Because the dismantling tent was found so easily by and co, that''s why! There is no privacy if I build anything on the ground. Therefore, I need a place that''s hard to spot! Normally a mine is expected to be somewhat of a cavern with wooden doors, right? The moment someone sees that image they will undoubtedly barge in because that''s what adventurers do: Pillaging public constructions! The lake''s bottom is also filled with crystals. If I camouflage the entrance with the same material there''s pretty much no sane person will be able to see it. And if they are crazy enough to do so, I don''t mind letting them in because it''s just a normal mine anyway! _ Shadyna: [Weapon Craft]! [Received Blue Crystal Construction Multi-tool (Faulty) x1] Because it would be too troublesome to switch equipment, I made a hammer-shovel multi-tool! With this, digging and building can be done without changing. Laziness is the drive of all progresses! Leather will be fine underwater, and I don''t think crystals absorb water either, so I don''t have to make additional clothing. Too bad but the swimsuit episode will have to wait! _ Shadyna: Commence excavation! I start digging at the shore. Of course I wouldn''t be digging underwater! My movement was really sluggish during my dive into the lake in the forest, thanks to the overly immersive physics engine. No thanks to doing heavy labour at half speed! Rather than digging, it is more suitable to say I am breaking off chunks of crystals¡­ There''s no dirt to dig in the first place! ¡­ This should be deep enough. If my calculation is correct, I should be about half the height from the lake''s bottom to the shore. [Construction]! I build a crystal ceiling on top of my head. If all goes well, the part above the new ceiling will be restored over time, completely hiding this place from all curious eyes! Next, build the real entrance of the mine! ¡­ I dug sideways, then downwards until I was around the lake''s depth After another sideways mining session, I managed to connect the lake and my tunnel. Water quickly flooded in, but the tunnel shape prevented it from flooding the upper horizontal part, thanks to physics engine simulating air pocket, or lack of simulation to begin with. Anyway, it worked as expected~ If it hadn''t, I would simply hope water would disappear over time. Building an opaque crystalline door at the tunnel entrance and a hatch separating the upper tunnel from the lower part leading to the lake, the first part of the mine is complete~ In real life, this would be a death trap due to non-renewable oxygen. Even though players probably won''t die in this game from lack of air, it''s important to stay immersive. The atmosphere is important! So¡­ how am I going to deal with this? This place is still dimly lit due to the crystals. Would the "trees" grow here? ¡­Let''s try it! I use [Farming] from [Refinery] to plant trees I got from yesterday''s scavenging around. Somehow this changed from building a mine to building a self-sustaining underground secret base¡­? Let''s not think too much, un! [A large wave of corruption is coming soon, please be advised.] Oh, what''s this system message? It sounds like some kind of event. Maybe a lot of monsters are going to appear? _ Hessy (PM): , a raid is coming in an hour or two. You should return to town or logout if you want to avoid combat. _ Shadyna (PM): A raid? _ Hessy (PM): Happens once every few days. Lots of monsters not normally found in fields will appear and attack everything, including players'' buildings. Currently only Tyrel has enough manpower to repel it. Ah, so that''s why no one builds outside. Welp. I wonder if the raid can detect this disguised location¡­ For now, let''s fill up the pit at the shore because I don''t know when the terrain will be restored. And clean up my dismantling tent too, because there''s no way I can protect it! ____________ Tyrel is in high alert. Because these raids can destroy the player-built town, players have to do their best to protect it, lest their infrastructures be pillaged. _ Olkan: Though unexpected, this will give us the chance to test our new siege weapons. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. _ Vladina: Just don''t lose them all before we get to use it on the Magnus Bestia. Usually, players will stay on top of the walls and rain death on the monsters uncontested. This time, a large area outside the walls is being used for construction of many instruments of war hastily. Without a good defense, most if not all will be destroyed, undoing all the hard work and resources the two big guilds poured into. < and are hiring to help defending the western construction site outside the walls. Interested players please gather at the north gate.> At said location, an elf with abnormal breast size and a blond waitress with a cold glare that freezes hell are having a staring contest. _ Hessenria: Look, in a raid the number of monster is more than enough for fill the whole town. Melee players who are not even capped should just join the line and hold out against the horde. Diving in is suicidal. _ Fuelri: I am not even asking you to resurrect me! Just give me the food like everyone else and how I do my part is my damn freedom! _ Tippe: Girls, please don''t fight because of me! _ Ignar: They are definitely not fighting over you¡­ _ Olkan: What happened, ? My chamber has enough space for both of yo¡­ _ Hessenria: [Dark Bolt]. *WHACK* Because is fully dressed for battle, he wouldn''t die over one skill. His overflow HP is completely gone though. _ Olkan: MY BLUE HP!!! _ Ignar: You deserve it¡­ _ Hessenria: , knock some sense into your damn member. She''s planning to dive into the horde! _ Olkan: Really? Ehm¡­ you are¡­ _ Fuelri: Don''t try to remember people by staring at their chest! I''m , joined your guild since last week. _ Olkan: That''s the only way I can remember ladies! Anyway, have you fought in any corruption raid before? _ Fuelri: I have. Last time I was in the line at the north gate. To give melee players a chance to participate, usually gates are held opened so monsters will avoid scaling the walls and funnel through the gates instead. Players will form defensive lines to block monsters at the doorstep. Or as savvy players would say, "abuse the AI pathing and chokepoints". _ Olkan: Then why change? _ Fuelri: I am trying out new playstyle. _ Olkan: Can''t you just wait until the raid is over?! We are trying our best so this place doesn''t get destroyed here!!! The guild is providing free food buffs as well as normal skill buffs as payment for the defenders. A player getting themselves killed on purpose is just wasting time and resource in the eyes of the guildmaster. _ Fuelri: ¡­Fine! Consider me a useless merchant sitting at the market then! Pouting like a young child throwing a tantrum, runs off. Not everyone is actively fighting. Crafters and merchants who don''t have much fighting potential in the first place is better off just staying inside to avoid being a hindrance. Friendly fire is a big problem in this game, and it is definitely not friendly. _ Hessenria: Your guild is filled with weirdoes, . _ Olkan: How is that my fault?! _ Ignar: Uh, when can we get our food buffs? And so the food distribution continues. _ Tippe: Still, , you really have softened up ever since you met the Illusive Sprout. The you back then would have just looked at that girl coldly like she''s society trash. Even though she''s no longer a waitress, ''s glare still have to work overtime. _ Tippe: Thank you very much for the service! ____________ _ Fuelri (PM): , are you participating in the raid? _ Shadyna (PM): I don''t think I will. I''m just your daily pacifist~ _ Fuelri (PM): Yeah right. Would you party with me? I can really use some LDR bonus for the raid. _ Shadyna (PM): Sure thing~ I do not have food buff though. _ Fuelri (PM): It''s better than nothing. Buying a normal meal from the tavern, summons her new mount and checks her new skill arsenal. [Sustained Charge: Reduce collision impact while running. Deal a small amount of damage on collision.] [Graze: Increase defense while running. Add evasion chance on receiving hits while running.] [Full Guard: Watch for attacks from all sides. Decrease bonus damage received from the sides.] [Sustained Charge] is her horse''s skill, while the others are passive skills to help in her new style. She intended to acquire some active skills as well, but they are on low priority because she doesn''t have much MP. _ Fuelri: I still have some time, let''s try to get [Mount Guard] too. [Mount Guard: Protect mounted beast from harm. Decrease damage on mounted beast.] Before she realizes it, she has already fully committed to a new way of playing because of a single new skill she received. [Accelerate Bonus: Absorb external mana to enhance charging attacks. Increase damage based on current skill level.] Her wallet is already crying after buying those [Inspect] scrolls for the skills¡­ She can find what a skill does from the board, but the [Inspect] information themselves require identification shops. Because of gossips and rumors, the only "official" data is from these [Inspect] result. She''s going to play like this for the foreseeable future, so it is a worthwhile investment¡­ Probably¡­ ____________ [A corruption wave is sweeping across the land, brace yourselves.] _ Fuelri (Party): It''s begun. _ Shadyna (Party): Do your best~ Meanwhile I''ll just dig my farming area, next to the relocated tent. It''s monotonous work, so I''m glad to have someone to talk to! _ Fuelri (Party): Are you sure you don''t want to join? A raid has a lots of monsters so it''s good experience and loots. If you can stay alive. _ Shadyna (Party): I''m fine~ Although please bring back a lot of corpses so I can practice [Dismantling] later. _ Fuelri (Party): I won''t be able to move if I carry too many corpses! As many as possible is fine though¡­ I think you can carry more if you have STR? Hessy did mention something like that, and I managed to go full speed with the Merexxa corpse in my inventory after accidentally increasing my STR using [Absolute Zero]. If only there was a way to permanently increase your attributes. Some kind of equipment, I suppose? How come no one managed to make equipment with attribute bonus?! Considering Sateri''s personality, it''s impossible for her to somehow forget implementing it! Sigh, I guess just a month is still too short for players to explore everything huh. Maybe in the near future a player will discover it~ I kind of finished digging the general area, by throwing Gelly repeatedly. Why should I excavate piece by piece when I can use dynamite in the shape of a cute leafy blob with extreme firepower? Of course I still need the proper equipment for finer manipulation, so it''s not like I am leaving everything to Gelly! Feeding it a meal made from the crystalline fruits as reward, I have a look around the newly created cavern. This will be more than enough for farming, I think. I don''t know much about it except for the "planting into the ground then use [Farming]" part though¡­ The only experience I have is the pseudo grass planting on the first day, and I didn''t even use [Farming] back then! Oh well, [Refinery]~ Unlike the grass placement, the crystalline plants actually grow roots and dig into the "soil" this time. These plants give some nice fruits for cooking, so I''m looking forward to it~ And before I forget, let''s mark this as my room to establish ownership! "Private rooms" can''t be entered unless you destroy the whole room, that''s why Hessy wasn''t worried about living near ''s territory. ¡­I think this whole cavern is already a bit beyond what you would call a room though¡­ [Construction]! A drawing starts appearing on the wall. "I was here!" followed by a cutesy drawing of Gelly. I don''t think there''s anyone using a Jelleaf as a companion so there''s no need to add my name here. Because giving out my name will just end up with weirdoes PM-ing me! To add even more confusion, I''ll draw a magic circle too! Archeologists love it when there''re random drawings without any explanation whatsoever, right~? Not that anyone can get here without my approval to begin with¡­ ¡­ I overdid it. Now this cavern is less of a greenhouse and more of a lunatic cult base¡­ I couldn''t help it! Real life habits are hard to rid of! Once I started drawing these things I wouldn''t be able to stop! Oh well, this is a game so it''s fine to go wild. [Construction] didn''t increase level despite the intensive use. Maybe modification to existing structures do not give much experience? Technically, this is scribbling on a surface, so if I use [Enchant] here, I wonder if it would count as a skill scroll? ¡­I won''t be able to put it into inventory to sell though. Then, activate a super uber skill that will destroy the whole world? ¡­Not going to happen. My MP is not even 2000 yet. What kind of final boss only has 1000 MP to dominate anything?! At my current level, my best bet would be the cute magical girl who risks her own life to protect the school life she despises with all her soul! _ Shadyna: By the power of friendship and extreme prejudice, grant me the strength to protect my comrades, BY EXTERMINATING EVERYTHING IN MY PATH!!! I spin around with a [Red Crystal] in hand while saying such embarrassing lines. Hey, I''m supposedly 13 so I can get away with it! But still, that was off, somehow¡­ [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Magic Rune Art Lv.0"] ¡­Excuse me?! [A player has successfully harnessed the ancient art of strengthening the mind. Rewards have been sent. Congratulations.] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Rune Artist Origin - Magic"] Dear Sateri, is it your hobby to give skills and titles as rewards for disturbingly self-humiliating actions?! And it''s an [Origin] title! If [Beast Tamer Origin]''s full [Inspect] result is anything to go by, only one player can have it. It''s an S-rank officially but SG-rank in terms of acquisition! [Magic Rune Art: The mystical art to create strengthening runes. Runes of this field empower the mind.] Can this be?! Is this the attribute-enhancing crafting skill that I have been longing for?! Looking at the crafting sphere with a progress bar in my hand that took place of the [Red Crystal], I can be sure it''s a crafting skill at least. Still! This isn''t the time to work on it. Because there''s the "Empower the mind" part is definitely screaming "But wait, there''s more!" to me. Okay, Sateri, I will self-humiliate myself one more time which will hopefully (flag raised) not bite myself in the butt later. You had better be preparing good compensation! Spinning around with a [Blue Crystal] this time, I yell on top of my virtual lungs. _ Shadyna: PEACE THROUGH SUPERIOR FIREPOWER!!! No, I am not going to make that my motto. I am a true pacifist! [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Power Rune Art Lv.0"] I got it! But in a way, I feel a bit dead inside. I have officially sold my dignity for virtual powers (accidentally)¡­ [A player has successfully harnessed the ancient art of strengthening the body. Rewards have been sent. Congratulations.] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Rune Artist Origin - Power"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Ancient Rune Artist Origin"] ¡­Yay? That was one title more than I was expecting. Checking my status, [Rune Artist Origin - Power] and [Rune Artist Origin - Magical] titles are gone. Only the [Ancient Rune Artist Origin] remains. This must be a combination title. Because combination skill is a thing, it would be weird not to have a title equivalent. ¡­Ah, I never got to [Inspect] those combined titles. Luckily [Inspect] works as long as I have the name, either in chat, or system messages. [Rune Artist Origin - Power: The pioneer of power rune artistry. Increase effects of crafted power runes.] [Rune Artist Origin - Magic: The pioneer of magic rune artistry. Increase effects of crafted magic runes.] [Ancient Rune Artist Origin: The pioneer of ancient rune artistry. Increase effects and grant special power to crafted runes.] Looks like having the combined title is more than the sum of the component titles individually. I am looking forward to its effects on my items. However, there''s something I am more interested right now. Yes, because "But wait, there''s more!" I have to craft fast! I can''t risk anyone taking the rewards from me at this stage! Trash is fine! Overpowered artifact is fine! Anything that gives me experience right now! Commence crafting spam! '' teahouse. We gladly buy that information at premium price.> is the richest powerhouse. Come to our bar instead.> Can you guys be quiet for a minute?! I am busy crafting here! [Received Red Crystal Extermination Magic Rune (Faulty) x1] ¡­I will say nothing about the name. I have nothing to do with it! [Skill Leveled up: ] One more! Just one more! Please let my dreams be realized, Sateri! Power is a really addictive drug¡­ [Received Blue Crystal Firepower Power Rune (Faulty) x1] Got it! [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Creation Lv.1"] It has arrived!!! The crafting combination skill has finally arrived!!! [Creation: The true craft. Allow crafting of weaker multi-category items.] You know it''s serious business when a skill with exceedingly plain name has such an overpowered description! Multi-category¡­ you can''t be talking about how the hat is actually an edible rune that can be thrown as an explosive weapon, right¡­? Please allow me to make that! [A player has successfully discovered the lost craft. Rewards have been sent. Congratulations.] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Arcane Maestro Origin"] [Arcane Maestro Origin: The pioneer of true lost craft. Allow crafting of full-strength multi-category item.] Oh, craft~ I think my overpowered debut has finally come!!! I can recognize your voice there, Hessy~ And I have no idea either, if that''s what you are asking! ____________ The tavern is mostly empty. Except for Mera, who is working overtime to compensate for Nerin, all the waitresses have mobilized to the west gate. She doesn''t have much hope that the new ancient art user would respond. Even if they do, with limiting the use of treasury for the waitresses now, she can''t compete against the other two guilds. If only was the person in question, that little girl would probably happily share what she knows. She didn''t even hesitate to let everyone know she had [Beast Tamer Origin] after all¡­ --- Topic: Multi-category items --- ## Silver Merchant I got a skill called [Multi-category Craft] earlier. I can make a potion that also acts as a chair with it. Is this skill good? ## ## GoldBar9999 It''s trash. You would think such items would be at 50% effect since it is essentially 2-in-1. It''s not. I have that skill at level 5 and the effect is like 20% of a "pure" item! (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß ## ## Silver Merchant What the hell LOL. Why would you ever want to use this skill? ## ## Manly Warrior Currently I have seen it mostly used for rechargeable consumables. By making a consumable-equipment hybrid, the item is not consumed on usage, but acts like an enchanted weapon that can be recharged. Even that has limited use. The item is so weak, it''s usually cheaper to just make normal consumables than buying recharge service/items from enchanters. ## ## OP alchemist I, a newbie alchemist, would not even attempt to make such item. Why direct your potential customers to enchanters? Only hybrid builds having both Alchemy and Enchant would do this, I think. ## ## GoldBar9999 Exactly why you will not see them aside from random weirdoes. ## ------ Chapter 15: Mobile Warfare As an unwritten agreement, Tyrel''s defense is directed by the big guilds. To avoid unnecessary command chain shenanigans, each guild focuses on defending their part of the town. The northern gate is under the protection of . With the new construction site, they are putting the minimal defense on the actual gate, and fortifying the area around the siege weapons instead. The eastern gate is in territory. With their few numbers, it''s an experience festival for them as they are outnumbered heavily, even by the raid''s standards. Still, it''s normal business. This isn''t their first raid ever since the town was built in closed beta. The western gate is guarded by . While their main force is fortifying outside of town, the waitresses are a fighting force on their own. Coordinated with other smaller guilds, there should be no problem holding off the horde. The southern gate is under ''s jurisdiction, supposedly. Except for the crafter area, the players owning this part of the town are somewhere near the edge of the map. That main force can protect themselves just fine. However, for this part of the town, the small guilds and unaffiliated players have to organize their own defense. As usual, of the broadcasts the raid information from [Inspect] result of the enemy. This time, it is the typical "numerous weaklings accompanied by strong bosses" kind of raid. Lucky for everyone, the enemies only have HP buffs/debuffs. The strategy for this type is simply attrition warfare. _ Warrior: Alright guys! Use your best shield and block the gate! Do not kill the enemies! Let our magi handle the killing! Against such overwhelming number, the melee fighters are always engaged in combat, with or without killing the monster in front of them. Therefore, the plan is to let magi debuff the in-combat monsters to oblivion, and blast the enemies behind. Melee players will get their shield and defensive skill experience, while ranged attackers enjoy the "chicken" shooting contest. _ Archer: Enemy approaching! _ Mage: Aim at the ranged monsters first! The monsters can scale the walls, but that''s only when they have no other paths to the players there. That''s why the gates, which are supposed to keep the enemies from entering, are wide open. _ Mage: FIRE! [Lightning Bolt]! As the dark horde made up of many monsters with a black aura charges towards the outer walls of Tyrel, the defenders unleash their full power. ____________ _ Ignar: [Deflect]! The warrior quickly raises his shield to block off the incoming attacks. The shield is top notch, and these are just lowly monkey-like monsters that have been debuffed to the point of being weaker than a level 1 player, so there''s no damage at all. _ Tippe: [Fire Bolt]! _ Maximus: [Piercing Arrow]! His two party members are going ham at the monsters stuck behind the battle line. was a bit too weak last raid to be effective. But this time, he has his new enchanted staff, so he can finally catch up to his level-capped friends. By doing the so-called "Power leveling" method. In such a target-rich environment, AoE (area-of-effect) skills reign supreme. After level 10, the amount of experience for the next level becomes quite substantial. Without a way to quickly gain a massive amount of experience, even closed beta players wouldn''t be able to reach level 20 in just one month. _ Ignar: Has anyone seen the bosses? _ Tippe: Stuck in the middle of the horde, as usual. Keep those in front of it alive and it will never make it here. _ Ignar: All according to plan then. The bosses are pretty much the only way for the fortifications to fall, as they potentially have the attack power to overwhelm the healing from priests. Still, with careful targeting, it''s possible to keep them out of range until the raid ends. Because that''s how most raids were fought, the last time someone killed a raid boss was in the first week after release. It was said that the loots were similar to a normal field boss, so the players didn''t bother. _ Olkan: The siege weapons have decent damage output, all things considered. We don''t really need AoE against the Magnus Bestia but I''m not complaining. Defending players at the construction site were nervous at first because all they have are wooden walls. However, monsters were busy fumbling around trying to go through the open gate, so the strength of the walls doesn''t even matter. For a supposedly apocalyptic event, the mood at the construction site is quite lax. Everything is going well after all. Totally no death flag there whatsoever. ____________ _ Knight: Buffs running out! _ Priest: On it! [Physical Shield]! _ Mage: Grant us protection! [Magical Shield]! In the south, the defense is getting a bit hectic. They know the general strategy in the raid, so what they are doing is not unlike the more organized areas. Moreover, the gate defense is holding. The problem lies in logistic. Without a big guild backing them up, players usually won''t have many consumables in reserve. Once the few potions run out, the healers simply cannot keep up. _ Priest: Last potion! _ Mage: Is there anyone with spare potions?! After half an hour of valiant fighting, their supplies are running low. _ Merchant: Here! Make it count! ''s merchants are providing whatever they can to the defenders. Still, without any manager to open the treasury, they are the same as any other players around here. _ Mage: Thanks! Hey! Stop killing! Just hold the line! _ Spearman: Oh shut up! I need offensive skills too! The cohesion leaves much to be desired, to say the least. Since ventured out, and were helping with coordination in raids, but today they are busy elsewhere. The consequences are finally showing up, much to the frustrations of present players. Even the ranged players are not killing as many as they could be. They should be partying each other, then focus fire to finish off enemies in one volley. Here, everyone is just shooting all over the place, resulting in a bunch of low HP but still standing monsters. Especially ranged monsters. Those are actually fighting back against players on the walls, forcing healers to spread even thinner. _ Archer: ¡­? Hey, are you seeing what I am seeing? _ Mage: What?¡­ Oh. Quite a distance from the walls, a black gigantic salamander is fighting¡­ something. It is definitely the boss of the southern area, considering its size and there''s no other salamander in sight. Why an idiot is fighting right in the middle of the horde, completely cut-off and surrounded, is anyone''s guess. Meanwhile, the defenders are busy PK-ing the stupid spearman disrupting the line. He''s not even using defensive gear! ____________ Near the pitch black salamander with glowing purple eyes, a knight (kind of) is charging fearlessly. Monsters in the way are offed by one strike from the halberd. Raid monsters are at various levels, but the bosses'' minions are usually near level cap. And here they are, as some players would say, getting rekted by a single player. The salamander swings its spiky tail at its enemy who is charging from the flank. _ Fuelri: [Parry]! She stabs into the incoming tail and pins it down to her side. Even though the skill reduced the damage, her HP still dropped a chunk. _ Fuelri: Tsk! Just die already! Crushing an orb in her hand, her HP increases to full again. _ Fuelri: [Pierce]! If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Even with defense piercing attacks, only around 1000 damage got through each hit. That''s around the amount of a normal attack on a trash mob. Usually that amount of damage is high even for a level-capped player, but for the solo player fighting against a boss, it''s still not enough. She is going to need to pray to RNGod again later to [Enhance] her weapon even more! --- [Onyx Halberd] - Creator: - Quality: - Enhancement: 7 - Enchantment: - PAT: 100 - PSP: 7 - MAT: 60 - MSP: 9 --- It is definitely a strong weapon, but the [Accelerate Bonus] is the reason her damage is so absurd. The additional [Enhance] was totally worth the money, but her wallet is still crying. _ Fuelri: [Leap]! The brown horse she''s riding on jumps forward to avoid the claws of the salamander. Taking the chance, strikes once more right in the boss''s head. Her mount is bottom-tier, so it''s not really fast. She needs skills to evade attacks or reduce damage. Tanking is not an option, as her inventory is filled with monster corpses, not consumables. She had decided that food and alchemy buffs were enough before going into battle. The amount of enemies is so high, HP potions simply can''t keep her alive until the raid ends. She will just kill as many as she can, then have revive her once it''s over. Raid monsters do not eat corpses, so her death count is safe as long as someone can bring her back to life. She didn''t intend to fight the boss though! It was nearby and she found herself unable to outrun it after an accidental encounter, so she had to retaliate! _ Fuelri: Just how much HP does this thing have¡­ It''s probably tougher than the boss she fought yesterday. And at the time she had a whole party backing her up, with healer and tank to keep the boss from targeting her. In other words, it''s suicidal to fight this one even if her damage has jumped up. With her skills, she can probably withstand one or two dozen hits, but that''s about it. _ Fuelri (Party): , can you resurrect me once the raid ends? _ Shadyna (Party): Eh? Are you going to die off-screen? At least do so heroically in front of your girlfriend! Again, the little girl is spewing incomprehensible things. If sanity is a status in this game, hers is probably zero or even negative! _ Fuelri (Party): Can''t outrun a boss, so I''ll probably die. It''s best not to question why is still in the Crystal Valley. doesn''t want to risk losing her sanity more than necessary. _ Shadyna (Party): Because there''re too many mobs? _ Fuelri (Party): That too. But mostly because it''s faster than me. _ Shadyna (Party): Then can''t you lose yourself in the crowd? Is the boss the type that kills enemies and allies alike? _ Fuelri (Party): Not sure, I haven''t fought raid bosses before¡­ I''ll give it a try. It''s not like she has any better idea. She didn''t even plan the fight to begin with! Swinging down the halberd once more, directs her horse to run straight ahead, into the angry horde of monsters where the density is the highest. _ Fuelri: [Rapid Assault]! Not a good idea to use this against the boss as she will pass by after the first hit. This time, however, there''s no shortage of enemies in front of her. With lower HP than normal, monsters drop like flies on her path. The salamander is right behind her, but because of its size, it couldn''t move through the crowd quickly. The crowd itself dissolves upon greeting her halberd, so just keeps on going at full speed. [Skill Leveled up: ] _ Fuelri (Party): I hate to say this, but this is actually working! Since mobs cannot touch her, the HP regeneration is doing its job. After charging away from the enemies for a while, her HP is back to full. She has gained quite a distance from the boss too. Thinking so, she turns around in a half circle path and charges at the boss again. _ Shadyna (Party): Of course it would! It''s the basis of cavalry shock tactic that mankind has developed for generations! _ Fuelri (Party): I am using an actual tactic?! The elf girl cannot even fathom the thought of the crazy little girl knowing about warfare, considering her¡­ eccentricity. _ Shadyna (Party): I don''t know, since I can''t see you? But you should never stop. Cavalry dies the moment they halt. _ Fuelri (Party): ¡­Understood. She''s remembering the footages of fighting against . After the seemingly-defenseless girl started her carnage, she never stopped running except for special circumstances. During that time, the enemies were thrown into confusion, and there was barely anyone who could even land a hit on her. She was always in the middle of enemies, and wreaked havoc before they could react. Just like what is doing right now. _ Fuelri: [Pierce]! A whooping 1500+ damage. Her attack power overcame the boss''s defense, so any additional damage is dealt in full. On virtual paper, the skill level up just now gives her an additional 25% more damage, but in practice it became the 50% increase as proven just now. _ Fuelri: [Leap]! Moving away from the boss to avoid its retaliation, the elf girl blends into the crowd again. This hit-and-run will make her DPS (Damage-per-second) plummets, but she is practically unharmed. Any stray hits will easily be healed by HP regen. This is going to take a looooong time, but she can see it. The end of the battle where she emerges victorious. ____________ Three hours since the raid started, the event is finally over. Sunlight pierces through the dark clouds covering the world during the raid, burning the blackened monsters to dust. The monsters already engaged in combat remain, but with such few numbers, they were quickly killed by the defending players. Tyrel stood strong, and so did the construction site at the outer walls of it. Players start looting the item bags on the ground. The monsters burnt by sunlight do not leave drops, so the only drops they get are from the monsters they actually killed. _ Hessenria: [Mass Dismantling]! For the players who have [Dismantling], the main battle has just begun! _ Vladina: Let''s check the southern area. I hope we held it properly. _ Olkan: The defense held. Otherwise the marketplace would have been screaming. Two guildmasters with so much free time go to the south to check for damage. They are going to charge ''s guildmaster, so there''s no problem! _ Olkan: Yo, everything''s fine here? _ Mage: ¡­Yeah. _ Archer: ¡­The defense''s fine. _ Knight: ¡­Walls are damaged, but standing. _ Olkan: What the heck were those pauses?! Did something happen? Everyone has the dead-fish eyes as if they have seen things they wish they hadn''t. Some are repairing walls, some are crafting consumables to resupply, most are gathering loots outside. Only players who fought the monster can pick up its loot. Other players will see a red outline on the bag, indicating they cannot interact with it. After a while anyone can pick the bag up, but that takes quite some time. _ Mage: You can see it from the wall. I don''t advise it though. _ Olkan: Saying that is just asking people to do that exact thing! Being savvy players who know bad flags when they appear, and decide to climb the wall to see what''s up anyway. What''s the worst that could happen?! Far from the gate, where players'' attacks would not reach, the guildmasters see two silhouettes. They are surrounded by crafting spheres and loot bags. The shorter player is working on the crafting tirelessly. The other player is running around picking up item bags. There''s no other player doing the same nearby. In other words, those two killed the monsters on their own. Rough estimation is around a few hundred bags. That did not include the amount they had picked up before the guildmasters arrived. After getting a few bags, the scavenging player brings them back to the crafting player. The reason of the crafting sphere spam became apparent: They were [Dismantling], but could not keep up with the amount of corpses being brought in. ''s eyes have become the same as the players in the area. , seeing the potential business opportunity, run to them. ¡­When he arrives, he recognizes the players immediately. The young elf girl with big boobs who tried to charge into the raid horde, and the Illusive Sprout. _ Olkan: WHY IS IT YOU AGAIN?! ____________ was surprised to see her former guildmaster here. This is the opposite direction of his camp. Still, she''s not going to stop gathering corpses. There''re too many corpses to wait. They won''t expire, but if left too long others will be able to pick up. Moreover, sometime in the future, corpses may expire for real, so this is good practice for that time. _ Fuelri: What? I am busy here. _ Shadyna: Please just stop and talk to him, Elri~ I am drowning in crafting spheres already~ _ Fuelri: Sorry, but please keep it up. _ Shadyna: Sad cry~ _ Olkan: Uh¡­ Why not use the guild''s [Dismantling] crew? Members get discount you know? That''s how manipulates the market. Having a more favorable deal between members give them advantages against other crafters. For examples, they don''t have to pay the 1 silver coin fees for [Dismantling]. Such "discounts" encourage merchants and crafters to join as time passes, allowing even bigger discounts and world domination! Of course this kill count is not comparable to a big guild''s total effort on Tyrel''s defense, but it is already on the level of a small to medium guild. The 10% cost from [Dismantling] this pile of corpses is a very substantial amount. As a merchant, cannot overlook that. _ Fuelri: ¡­What are you saying? I am not your guild member anymore. _ Olkan: Wait, what? The young man stands dumbfounded. That is to be expected. Just before the raid, she even introduced herself to be in his guild! _ Fuelri: I quit when you shooed me away from the construction site. And no thanks to your service. We''ll do fine on our own. _ Shadyna: I''m not fine at all~ The Illusive Sprout, despite the whining, is as carefree as ever. _ Olkan: Wa¡­ wait, can we talk about this? I didn''t mean¡­ _ Shadyna: , she has already said "no" you know~ She''s already holding the Jelleaf in her hands, ready to retaliate at full power. Just thinking about what happened to his guild members who fought against her gives the guildmaster shivers down his spine. _ Olkan: Please put that down!!! It was a misunderstanding! _ Fuelri: No thanks. I have work to do. After that, players reported seeing the guildmasters of and eating in with dead-fish eyes. in particular was also in tears. He missed a business opportunity, and lost a member with huge chest in the same day. ____________ The tavern is crowded again. After a raid, many players will request the [Dismantling] service from the waitresses. No boss was slain, but the bigger monsters may have good loots, so they want to make every [Dismantling] attempt count. _ Nerin: [Mass Dismantling]! _ Mera: [Mass Dismantling]~ Chop, chop, to the netherworld~ Everyone is overworked, so patrons mostly keep themselves entertained. --- Topic: Cute girls appreciation thread #38 --- ## CuteIsJustice The waitress corps fought bravely at the western gate. (¨R?¨Q)/ If only Hessenria was there too. [Pics] ## ## Heaven Piercer Our harsh mistress fighting side-by-side with the lolicon guildmaster was a feast for the eyes too, I have to admit. [Pics] Any chance for her to beat me up like that? ## ## Fire mage of Justice The south gate was a mess as before, but we¡­ saw¡­ this. (-"-) [Pics] An elf, at least E-cup, in heavy armor, wielding halberd, destroying everything in melee. WHAT. THE. HECK! £¨ ? §¥?) ## ## Curious big boobs elf F, not E. ## ## Mage of Sin So that''s what you were doing. And damn, dat cup. ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã) ## ------ --- Topic: Cavalry Elf discussion --- ## Serious Mage Due to popular demand from the cute girl thread, here''s the thread to discuss the new anomaly that is the big-boobs elf at the southern gate during today''s raid. Here are some footages provided by the players at the time. She was soloing from a distance, so it''s hard to see what she was actually doing. [Links] ## ## Bountiful Hunter Wow, she''s a cavalry(wo)man in action. Any idea how her build works? ## ## Manly Warrior Mounted combat has this plaguing problem that is the mount itself. Mounts don''t deal damage in combat, so they level slowly and their stats are weak compared to their riders. They will die fast and riders will have to fight on foot anyway. It is viable for ranged players, but horse archery is not easy, even with skills. And tanks can''t protect you if you run around like that. ## ## Serious Mage She was guarding her mount using her own HP. Combined with her mobility and one-hitting damage, monsters couldn''t hit her mount to disable her. I fear for the day she gets a stronger mount. ## ## CuteIsJustice Always on the move and killing everything in sight? Are you sure you are not talking about our dear Particle Lolider? ## ## Fire mage of Justice They were seen together after the raid by the by. You can probably still see them now, dismantling the mountain of enemies she has slain. (-_-) ## ## Silver Merchant Surge of new cavalry players incoming? Need to stock up on mounts! ## ## Manly Warrior As I said before, mounted combat is not popular for a reason. Without knowing the basis of her style, it''s not going to end well. ## ## Curious big boobs elf I''ll give you a hint: Shock tactic. ## ------ Chapter 16: Maestro Ugh, Shadyna here¡­ I am working hard¡­ I got [Mass Refinery] as I reached level 5 on [Refinery]. But, because of skill level, I had to keep using [Refinery] to maximize the loots. Uuu¡­ I did ask for corpses to dismantle, but I didn''t ask for that many! Elri, you are really violating the labor laws~ Still, I managed to process all the corpses except for one that day¡­ Turns out, dealing with the items from all that [Dismantling] is worse! If I throw them all out, it would be enough to fill a warehouse! In the end I had to make a few wagons using [Construction] from [Creation] to store them. Elri was against the idea of bringing the wagons to the market, since probably wouldn''t like a former member to play around their place. Instead, she traded a good part of the loots for a house in ''s territory. I was given a key to the house too. ¡­Even though I already have a base back in the valley¡­ So, for the last few days, I have been screwing around with [Creation] using my share of the loots in our love nest. Elri has been selling the remaining items of her share in the tavern. She intended to enhance the halberd again, but I asked her to put it on hold. Because I want to try making actually usable items for once! _ Shadyna: And so here I am~ _ Hessy: Don''t "And so" without even giving the reason!!! You mind too many little details, Hessy~ _ Shadyna: Hessy, how much does [Heroic Inspiration Course] cost? _ Hessy: That was out of nowhere¡­ It''s sold for a full party, so it''s not something you want to eat just because. _ Hessy (PM): Takes around 30 high-level corpses to make one. Around 100-150 silver coins in material expense, if you dismantle yourself. The hard part is getting [Cooking] and attributes high enough to have the desired effect strength. _ Hessy: But if you want to know, it''s 10 gold coins for one set. Fighting a level 20 boss requires somewhere around 2-5 parties, so¡­ 50 gold coins. Expensive! In the economy of less than 1 silver coin per dismantled corpse, it''s too expensive! Even if you count the money acquired from selling materials from dismantling, it''s still too expensive!!! No wonder why called it guild-economy-crippling! If you eat it and fail to achieve your goal, your treasury gets a dent for nothing! I have the 500 gold coins, but it''s still scary to even think about buying this meal! And I cannot make it myself yet. As she said, I need high skill level. I don''t think my attributes can compensate for the difference in our skills¡­ For the time being. _ Shadyna: Un, I''ll have one course please. Here''s the money. _ Hessy: Why?! If I wasn''t interested in buying, why would I ask you to begin with¡­ _ Shadyna: I want to make some specialized equipment to stack crafting skills. I have been studying properly in the last few days you know! Thanks to the helpful merchants in the market who kindly taught me various tips while quaking in fear, I got some neat ideas on how to abus¡­ taking advantage of the crafting system. _ Hessy: Skill stacking? It only works for the item you use for crafting. When I cook, only my kitchen furniture and knife add to the skill level, even if I wear full armor set enchanted with [Cooking]. It''s not worth using food buffs to have 1 or 2 skill levels, and that depends on RNGod too. As expected of the [Dark Bolt] min-maxer, she really tried things out. What she''s saying is that I can only have one weapon (tool) and one furniture (infrastructure) to stack my skills. A min-maxed enchanter with fully stacked equipment can bestow at most a level 3 skill if they only unlocked the skill, and a level 5 skill if they have that skill at above that level. With extreme food buffs, they have a low chance of getting a level 7 enchantment. [Enchant] has potential to be overpowered, depending on the skill added, but that was probably the reason why Sateri made sure the skill level remains relatively low. Imagine my [Accelerate Power] being enchanted to level 7 in a small dagger, even that will probably one-shot most bosses in the game. Un, luckily I am a pacifist huh, Sateri? I wonder if Hessy is having a level 7 [Dark Bolt] enchantment on her swords? _ Shadyna: I know. I am trying to do something about it, hence I need your help! _ Hessy: ¡­[Enchant] depends FOC, WIT and MEN. I can make you something that solely increases those attributes at a cheaper price. Do you want it instead? _ Shadyna: FOC, WIT and MEN huh¡­ I check my notes. What I need is¡­ _ Shadyna: On second thought, let''s go full power grinding~ Could you pack up your material storage and come with me for today? _ Hessy: ¡­Excuse me?! ____________ _ Tippe: Everyone! Bad news! the perverted mage runs into the tavern in panic. If this was real life, he would probably be out of breath too. _ Maximus: What? Did some gal reject your advances again? _ Tippe: Well, there''s also that, but that''s not what I''m talking about! and could only sigh. Listening patrons break out laughter before resuming their meal time. _ Ignar: What is it then? Weren''t you buying food from ? _ Tippe: I was! But listen, the shop is closed for today! _ Spearman: Where am I supposed to get abused?! _ Ignar: You guys don''t even consider that shop a place to eat?! The true desires are leaking out as usual in the former BDSM club. "Former" because the verbal abuse dropped dramatically after had left, obviously. _ Tippe: I asked the people in the market, and they said she had eloped with a little girl!!! _ Ignar: I am damn sure they didn''t say that! What the hell did they say, exactly?! _ Knight: To think she would be such a criminal¡­ _ Ignar: Why are you believing him?! _ Maximus: This game is plagued with idiots. _ Tippe: Well, they said she went somewhere with a little girl. Appearance seems to match Illusive Sprout. _ Merchant: Welp. The last time they were together a guild war happened. _ Ignar: That''s not necessarily bad news isn''t it? Maybe they just went out to train? _ Tippe: ¡­"Power grinding" was mentioned, and brought a whole wagon with her. _ Ignar: ¡­Crap. _ Maximus: That "thing" can get even stronger?! It is bad news for anyone who still think they have a chance of fighting against the Particle Lolider. _ Nerin: If benefits from this "Power grinding", I doubt even ''s equipment could survive her [Dark Bolt]¡­ This¡­ may have consequences. _ Maximus: Just curious, how strong is compared to the rest of you waitresses? _ Nerin: I would say she''s the strongest, but specialized in healing and support so we can win if we outnumber her¡­ That was the last time we sparred together. _ Maximus: Heh. Better get going then. That brat aside, the [Dark Bolt] maxer will be unstoppable if she gets a power-up. _ Nerin: I''m surprised you are quite calm. Aren''t you a PvP specialist? At this rate will top you. let out a big sigh, which is untypical of him. _ Maximus: I have seen her true form. The little brat and everything she touched grew out of control. She can''t be stopped. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. _ Nerin: ¡­As much as I hate that idea, I have to agree. , who has experienced the LDR bonus from when she was level 4, sadly understands what the assassin is talking about. _ Tippe: This game needs booze, for we need some way to drown ourselves in times of despair like this. _ Ignar: I know right? ____________ _ Elri: Why is she here?! As soon as Hessy and I enter the house, we are greeted by a surprised Elri~ _ Hessy: Oh, good day. Nice job on the last raid by the way, I was wrong for doubting you. _ Elri: ¡­What? Who are you?! Are you an imposter?! isn''t supposed to be like this!!! _ Hessy: Just what kind of image of me were you having?! _ Shadyna: Hiyo Elri~ Did you just login? I better stop this flirting before it turns into a disaster. Hessy and Elri are not a good mix together after all~ _ Elri: Yeah. I put what you were asking for in the basement. Going to head out now. _ Shadyna: Thank you for your hard work~ _ Hessy: ¡­There was a rumor that you bought this house to cohabit with a little girl, but I didn''t think it would be here. _ Elri: What the hell?! Uwa, I guess dismantling hundreds of corpses in plain sight drew more attraction than expected. This is a big scandal~ _ Hessy: Don''t ask me. I just thought of it as your hobby. _ Elri: THAT IS NOT MY HOBBY!!! No use, Elri''s reputation is already tainted forever. RIP~ _ Shadyna: Do you want to live here too, Hessy? _ Hessy: I''ll pass. I don''t think Elri here would like a third wheel in her love nest. _ Elri: You don''t believe me at all do you?! This is why you are so¡­!!! Does that mean you don''t mind living with me? Can I interpret it that way? _ Shadyna: Don''t worry~ I will work hard to expand the house~ _ Elri: That isn''t the problem here!!! But I would like you two to get along¡­ Oh well, let''s not rush it. _ Shadyna: Anyway, we will be doing this and that in the basement today. Would you like to join as well? _ Elri: YOU ARE DEFINITELY USING THOSE WORDINGS ON PURPOSE AREN''T YOU!!! _ Hessy: As usual, nothing can stop her pace. Lucky for all of us, even general chat can''t be heard from outside if we are in a house. And so, the basement~ _ Elri: So, what are you doing today? _ Hessy: You have been with her for the last few days and don''t know? _ Elri: I was busy grinding to buy a new mount! Hopefully will get it by the end of this week. _ Shadyna: I didn''t spend the whole time in here you know~ There were occasions I had to run errands too. At the secret base in the valley, to be exact. I was farming a ton of materials there, while mining various ore veins found during "excavation"! That''s why I could do so much crafting in such a short time. _ Hessy: Could you refrain from running at the speed of a rocket outside by the way? People were talking about it too. Seriously?! I was just running as fast as possible though¡­ _ Shadyna: Since Elri is here, let''s dismantle the raid boss corpse first. Hessy, could you use the fruits and meat from the shelves over there? I am going to get the equipment for you. _ Hessy: Equipment¡­? Hessy has her own food inventory with her, but this is for Elri, so I am going to use my own materials for [Cooking]. This house didn''t have this basement originally, by the way. I dug it hastily by pulling out a part of the floor and throwing Gelly until satisfied. Because of that, there were only some shafts to keep terrain from regenerating. It didn''t have proper walls and floors. I plan to furnish this place later¡­ probably. I made multiple sub-floors here, like the platforms you see in mines where miners stand to dig on higher parts. They are not for mining, but to place the many storage shelves I made to put the items after getting them out of the wagons. Each shelf is labeled properly, so there''s no problem! And because there''s no floor separating them, we can access the other platforms using ladders, or even jump if our DEX allows it. While Hessy is getting the cooking materials, Elri is finding the raid boss corpse in the corpse tent at the bottom of the basement. And I am looking through the shelf labeled "Equipment - DEX" Yes, I crafted so many things I had to make a separate shelf for each equipment type. _ Hessy: DEX, FOC and LCK should be fine right? The 3 attributes affecting [Dismantling]. Right, I don''t need all attribute boosts if I use the food for dismantling job. _ Shadyna: Yes, for now. If possible could you maximize the effect strength and minimum duration? I only intend to dismantle one corpse. _ Hessy: Sure. Grabbing things from the FOC, LCK and LDR equipment shelves, I bring them all to the kitchen right outside the corpse tent. _ Shadyna: Elri has no LDR so¡­ Hessy, please equip these and be party leader. I give her a full equipment set including weapons. [ LDR #18 Dagger (Normal)], [ LDR #12 Hairpin (Normal)], [ LDR #23 Gloves (Normal)]¡­ Too many! 1 weapon, 1 shield, 8 pieces of armor, 8 pieces of runes, to the total of 18 equipment you can equip at maximum, all named [ LDR (Normal)] because I was crafting many of them just to get the maximum stats possible for my skill level! While there are more possible slots, you cannot equip more than that amount. Just a fun fact, the body alone can have outer armor, inner armor, base clothes and bra, just to name the possible upper body slots you can create equipment for! That is kind of scary, to be honest. wasn''t kidding when he said he wanted to put bras on his head!!! _ Hessy: What. The. Heck?! What are these 8 crystal plates with drawings on them?! _ Shadyna: They are runes. They have different equip limit type from armors so you can have 8 of them. _ Hessy: Runes? I have heard of it, but this is the first time I see o¡­ She facepalms, as if realizing something. _ Elri: I don''t really understand, but I can sympathize with you, . _ Hessy: Do you remember the system messages during the last raid? _ Elri: ¡­Something about an old artist? _ Hessy: Ancient art user, not old! was the person the messages referred to!!! ¡­Oops, I forgot to inform anyone about that, partly because I was stuck here crafting stuff! Elri, why are you facepalming as well? You are supposed to be at odds with Hessy all the time~ _ Hessy: And why do they all have LDR bonus?! Equipment don''t have attribute bonus!!! _ Elri: ¡­For the first time, I am really glad I do not have [Inspect]. Ignorance is bliss, you mean? _ Shadyna: Runes are the equipment that have attribute bonus, while armors and weapons have status bonus. I made them all multi-category items, so they are actually armor-runes hybrids which have LDR bonus. Hessy fell on her knees out of shock. I was just playing normally though¡­? _ Hessy: That''s not how it works!!! Multi-category items are supposed to be so weak no one wants to use them! 10 LDR per piece is not balanced! What would happen to a pure rune?! A +50 or something?! _ Shadyna: ¡­10, just like a hybrid? Multi-category items and "pure" items have same bonus for me, so¡­ _ Hessy: THAT''S NOT HOW IT WORKS!!! How would I know that, Hessy¡­ _ Elri: ¡­Let''s just put that aside for now? I think you will die from exhaustion and mental damage at this rate. For some reason, Elri is treating Hessy surprisingly nicely right now! Who are you and what have you done to the real abrasive elf girl?! _ Hessy: R¡­ right. I will just cook real quick¡­ _ Shadyna: Would you like a set for cooking too? _ Hessy: No thanks. I feel like I will unleash a great evil to the world so¡­ How rude~ _ Hessy: This kitchen is usable right? _ Shadyna: Un, but before you cook, please activate it. It''s a hybrid item that is also a consumable. Mediocre food buffs are granted to improve your [Cooking]~ Hessy, why are you doing that orz pose¡­? A blue light covers her as she activates the consumable (?) kitchen. I maximize its effects, so the usage count is bad. Better recharge it later. _ Hessy: [Cooking]¡­ Her morale is completely gone~ _ Hessy: Here you go, a [Butcher House Special]. It''s a small dish of meat and sauce, as expected of something you would see sold in a butcher shop. With this, I have high expectations for my dismantling! _ Shadyna: Okay, I''m giving you party lead~ Please put on the LDR equipment~ _ Hessy: ¡­Right. She looks like a newbie adventurer after changing. Well, I made it with the beginner clothing in mind, so that anyone can wear it without problem. And Hessy¡­ you are unexpectedly bold, being able to change in front of others like that~ _ Shadyna: By the way, Elri, do you want better loots or more loots? _ Elri: Eh? Ehm¡­ better loots, I think? I leveled up during the raid, so better gears would be appreciated¡­ _ Shadyna: Right on~ LCK gear, change~ Having a few bites, I check my status before starting. _ Shadyna: All good, [Refinery]! These skills exceeded [Silent Cast], so if I silently cast them, their effective skill level became the same as [Silent Cast]. Can''t have that~ And¡­ done~ Received a ton of items~ _ Shadyna: I am throwing the items out of my inventory now. Please help bringing them to the corresponding shelf~ Before they could answer, a mountain of items manifests itself at the bottom of the basement! ¡­That is a lot. The salamander was big, but I am pretty sure the item pile is bigger. If this was real life, it would probably be me having more meat than the total weight of the prey after butchering. _ Elri: , do you always have this many items from [Dismantling]? _ Hessy: As if! It''s not feasible to play solely using [Dismantling], and there''s this thing called "quantity or quality" tradeoff! Right, this amount is by focusing on "quality". I would have many more if I focused on "quantity", in theory. Nope, I don''t want to spend days cleaning up the inventory! After cleaning up, we found the supposedly rare drops of the boss. [ Draconic Heavy Armor (Unique)] [ Draconic Greatsword (Unique)] [ Draconic Greatbow (Unique)] [ Draconic Striking Rune (Unique)] [Summon Stone ] Even a rune is included! _ Hessy: So was correct¡­ _ Elri: About¡­? _ Hessy: That Sateri-chan would only allow certain drops once players are able to craft it. She said in the first few days of closed beta, before [Enchant] was found, no enchanted item could drop from monsters. _ Elri: ¡­Now that unlocked rune crafting, they can be found as loots, you mean? That''s a good way to avoid spoilers. Nice job, Sateri~ _ Shadyna: Too bad there was no halberd or dual swords~ _ Elri: That''s no problem. I can bring these to a merchant to reforge them into a halberd. Ah right, did mention something like that. [Weapon Reforge], I think? _ Elri: , do you want new dual swords? _ Hessy: ¡­Eh? You are giving me one? _ Elri: Your buffs made this possible. It''s normal to give you your share? Seriously, where''s the abrasive and rude Elri?! _ Hessy: ¡­No, you should reforge it into an armor piece. I will accept the meat of this corpse as payment. _ Elri: If you say so. Luxury meal incoming? A meal that transcends all limits is coming to town?! And so, Elri leaves the house to reforge the ominous rare equipment¡­ I had better be prepared to enchant [Accelerate Bonus] again. But for now, it''s time to get to the main business! ¡­What are we going to do about this [Summon Stone]? Oh well, I''ll give it the Elri when she comes back. ____________ _ Nerin: ¡­Welcome back. , guildmaster of , suddenly comes back to town for unknown reason. Even the waitresses weren''t expecting him. _ Warrior: Oh, ! Did you defeat the Magnus Bestia already? _ Torenis: Not yet, but it''s half-way done. Two more weeks at most. _ Nerin: Good for you. Is there anything you need? _ Torenis: Nothing. Just making sure everything is in order. Did the ancient art user reveal themselves? _ Nerin: No news so far, unfortunately. "Runes" have been reportedly dropping as loots now, so it''s probably a crafting skill. However, we still do not have anyone with that skill, so there''s no way to unlock or enchant it. _ Torenis: I see. Keep up the work then. It''s your job isn''t it? Saying so, he leaves the tavern as quickly as he arrived. _ Nerin: ¡­ _ Mera: My my~ You are having a sour look, Nerin~ _ Nerin: He did not recruit me, Mera. Hessy did. The cheerful waitress turns around and walks towards the room in the back. _ Mera: I know. Who do you think recruited me? It was a calm if not emotionless voice that have never been heard from the said-to-be always smiling waitress. Nerin is scared to even think about the expression Mera is having. --- Topic: Rune crafting --- ## Manly Warrior Embarrassingly enough, we didn''t find this crafting skill until this day. ## ## Fire mage of Justice Tbh we had a pretty good idea that we probably missed a crafting skill for permanent attribute bonus. We just never found the unlock condition. orz ## ## Nearseeing Sage We still have not found it, just saying. Nothing for days. This makes the whole deal with Illusive Sprout and her SG skill looks so short in comparison! ## ## CuteIsJustice Have you tried asking her? The beast tamer was her too right? She barely showed up the last few days, and the cute girl thread is rioting already! orz ## ## Nearseeing Sage This isn''t a manga. Coincidences like that do not happen in real life! Origin titles are really powerful because they are not supposed to be hoarded by one player. ¡¥\_(¥Ä)_/¡¥ ## ------ Chapter 17: Stacked Shadyna the master crafter is here~ I am currently enjoying my private time with Hessy, the blond waitress. A scenario many would kill for! _ Hessy: You are thinking something rude aren''t you? I didn''t ask for that cold glare~ _ Shadyna: It''s your imagination~ Let''s continue shall we? _ Hessy: ¡­Sure. What do you have in mind? _ Shadyna: Un, let me explain what I have in mind. Feedback is welcomed~ The problem with skill stacking is, as Hessy knew, only the weapon is counted towards it. Only skills without proc (activate) condition can be used on non-weapon equipment. My [Accelerate Power], despite being a passive skill, cannot be added to my armors. Sad~ By having multi-category items being created at full strength, I somewhat overcame that obstacle. If anything, I stomped on it, figuratively. A construction-equipment hybrid allows me to [Enchant] the furniture. Just with that, I have an additional skill stack. Next, an alchemy-equipment hybrid, with same logic. I tried it out and confirmed it actually includes the enchantment in the buff effect! Same goes for food-equipment hybrid. I can only have one buff of each type, so only the strongest buff takes effect. [Alchemy] and [Cooking] are of different category however, so I can have one of each! But wait, there''s more! We still have this thing called "debuffs"! They count as a different category, so it stacks with buffs. An enchanted alchemy poison bomb will give me poison AND the skill buff! By the way I heard that creating a [Dark Bolt] bomb will end up similar to ''s long rod, but in bomb form. No food debuff though, sad face¡­ And last but not least, weapons with skill bonus, similar to my [Refinery Dagger]. I dismantled that one by the way, to make a [Refinery Knife] which grants [Refinery] without enchantment! This is the basis of ''s long rod, to have [Dark Bolt] and [Ignore Magical Defense] in one piece of equipment. With all of that, I have practically 6 times the skill stacking than normal players! _ Shadyna: ¡­Hessy, please stop that orz pose¡­ _ Hessy: AND WHOSE FAULT WAS THAT?! Not mine, obviously~ That is all for the skills. A~nd next up is attributes! Because attributes play a role in crafting skills'' outcome, having the 18 equipment pieces and the crafting furniture-equipment hybrid helps tremendously. I do not know how much, but my runes had 3 attribute bonus when I crafted them with no buffs and specialized crafting sets. If the difficulty is similar to [Enchant], maybe 10 attribute bonus is a bit¡­ much? It was the best I could do without food buffs though, so I had to ask Hessy for support! _ Hessy: Sateri-chan, please nerf this idiot already!!! Please don''t~ I am playing without using any exploit¡­ Probably. _ Shadyna: When I have your food buffs I will be crafting a lot of items to have even better buffs. After a few times I will most likely hit the point where the new items cannot create stronger ones, like how most enchanters cannot go past level 7 enchantment. Still, I do hope it will be a lot higher than the limits as we know them currently. _ Hessy: That is not the problem here!!! You mind too many little details~ _ Shadyna: But Hessy, don''t you want a stronger [Dark Bolt] enchantment¡­? _ Hessy: !!! Welp, she really reacts to [Dark Bolt]! _ Shadyna: I don''t know your current enchantment, but I am sure it can''t be 6 times stronger than the strongest enchantment on the market¡­? _ Hessy: O-of course¡­ Kuh¡­ No, I am not going to fall for this! Your face is saying otherwise though~ Just a few more pushes~ _ Shadyna: And 6 times is just the bare minimum¡­ I wonder if it will be stronger than ''s rod¡­? _ Hessy: ¡­!!! Agitate people 101: Mention their worst enemy! In this case, it''s the long rod, not , funny enough. _ Shadyna: Ah, I forgot. Would you mind equipping this? _ Hessy: Aren''t you supposed to keep persuading me?! I can''t help it~ If we could remember everything perfectly it would solve a lot of problems wouldn''t it? And shouldn''t you be more resistant if you knew I would tempt you with [Dark Bolt]¡­? Anyway, I gave her the item. _ Hessy: ¡­What''s this? It''s a crystalline gauntlet with a black orb spinning above the back. When Hessy equips it, the orb grows slightly in a purple-ish light. _ Shadyna: A prototype. I thought that it was weird to have furniture only aiding crafting skills, so I made a furniture-equipment hybrid that you can equip while acting as a furniture¡­ for spellcasting. If the same logic applies, only one furniture counts. However, that is already doubling her firepower because she can only use one weapon! Shields'' enchantments only work if the shield itself is being used for attacking, so furniture is the only way to go. _ Hessy: ¡­In other words¡­ _ Shadyna: Double skill enchantment? _ Hessy: ¡­ SCARY! That sadistic smile is so scary, Hessy!!! _ Hessy: , since you want power grinding so much¡­ Elri, please come back and save me!!! _ Hessy: Will you kindly tell me if there is anything else that can boost your results? Could you not ask nicely while emitting a death aura like that?! Too many things going as planned can be a bad thing!!! _ Shadyna: Pl¡­please calm down. I have only messed around with crafting for a few days, so there''s a limit to what I know! _ Hessy: ¡­Sorry, I got too worked up there. Is there anything that you thought of but haven''t got the resources to perform? Hessy, that''s pretty much the same question even if you claim to have calmed down¡­ _ Shadyna: Well¡­ [Enchant] and [Enhance], probably? My own skill levels are still low, so having someone with high [Enchant] equipped with my gears might yield better skill levels¡­ And having someone with buff skills for increasing attributes would be nice too, if those buffs exists¡­ Currently, my only buff skill is [Cheer], oof¡­ I have better try to get some more skills later! _ Hessy: [Enchant], [Enhance] and attribute buff skills. Give me a few minutes, I will get those for you. Ah, is this gauntlet enchanted with [Dark Bolt] yet? _ Shadyna: Only a level 3, I didn''t even have that skill. I tried with [Minor Heal], so it definitely works, but to what extent, I have no idea. _ Hessy: It will do. I''m heading out! And there she goes, dashing out of the basement right after changing back to her waitress outfit. I wonder how many will recognize her without that trademark costume¡­ There''s no way I can misidentify her when she showed that scary smile though. I thought I was done for there! Oh well, let''s dismantle a particular corpse before [Butcher House Special] runs out. Should have done this before wasting time cleaning up¡­ _ Shadyna: [Refinery]! It is the corpse of a boss. What I''m looking for is its [Unique] set''s bonus: [Absorbing Surface]. [Absorbing Surface: Improve mana absorption from the environment. Increase mana regeneration significantly.] Yes, an MP regen skill. I was going to buy a cheap skill scroll from the market, but Elri said she was going to hunt this boss with and co yesterday so I took up her offer. Don''t worry, giant mole-like boss, I''ll make sure to use every last part of you! A pile of items later¡­ [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Absorbing Surface Lv.0"] With my attributes and buffs, it would be rarer not to get a full set after dismantling. I wonder if stronger corpses would have fewer drops, or if there''s any mechanism to avoid higher-end bosses'' drops from saturating the market because of high level [Dismantling]. I am overly equipped and only got 4 pieces, so it''s probably the fewer drops case. Let''s burn MP using [Minor Heal] until Hessy comes back, I suppose~ ____________ _ Hessy (PM): Are you free right now? Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. _ Mera (PM): Hessy~ The backdoor of the tavern swings open as the cheerful waitress jumps out like a rocket. In the alley, was waiting from a distance, because she knew this would definitely happen! _ Hessy: It''s been a while. _ Mera: It''s been days, Hessy! The patrons won''t stop asking if you would be back! _ Hessy: That aside, I need your help. Come with me. _ Mera: Don''t worry~ I will persuade to¡­ _ Hessy: Not that. Just come with me. _ Mera: Eh~~~ Mera thought for sure Hessy wanted her to help with convincing the guildmaster to invite her back, but that sadly wasn''t even close. And without any chance of raising a complaint, the carefree waitress is pulled along. _ Hessy: Something came up, so I am in need of a good support. I''ll pay you for your time of course. _ Mera: I''m not that kind of girl~ _ Hessy: Because I know better than paying you in favor. It was self-preservation before all else! _ Mera: How mean~ But, couldn''t you just ask a patron or something~? There are many support players who would gladly help Hessy if she would just ask. _ Hessy: ¡­Mera. The former head waitress halts and turns to Mera. Still not letting go of her friend''s hand, Hessy speaks with a gentle smile that can be said to be unseen among even the most frequent patrons. _ Hessy: It''s normal to ask the person I trust most, is it not? Even with all her goofing around, Mera can feel her virtual heart skipping a few beats. Luckily she doesn''t need it beating to survive in this game world. _ Mera: You re~ally are a womanizer sometimes, Hessy~ How can I say "no" to that~? _ Hessy: Who are you calling a womanizer¡­ Oh well, let''s hurry. We have a lot to do. The dragging continues. While there was no one in the alley to see them, a lot of people sure witness the two waitresses passing through the streets, hand in hand. Even if it''s just Hessy pulling Mera as fast as possible, people''s gossips are not known to be accurate! Thanks to such gossips, however, that the news of a guard tower "mysteriously" getting destroyed went unnoticed. Meanwhile, two certain waitresses received a message from their former head waitress, asking them to get to the same destination¡­ ____________ was surprised to see the waitresses multiplying in number as she returned from the marketplace. _ Fuelri: Why are you all here?! _ Shadyna: This and that happened~ _ Fuelri: That''s not how you explain anything!!! _ Hessenria: My apologies, but requested some additional help, so I called them. _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: , nice to meet you~ _ Fuelri: I know who you are! We even met yesterday at the tavern!!! _ Melodyn: I am , half dark elf, newest member of the corps along with my younger sister~ The girl with dark pale skin and long light violet-tinted hair bows slightly. Dark elves are usually depicted with brighter hair colors to contrast their skin, and this is really showing on . If there''s anything atypical of a dark elf on her, it would be her hairstyle first and foremost. It''s kept together by a dark crimson hairband on the back of her head. For a dark elf with huge¡­ assets, she gives off a much younger and more cheerful impression than expected. _ Choruse: And my name is . Pleasure to meet you. A dark elf with twintails, who could have guessed? And unlike real life, she''s allowed to use that excessively long twintails style around same length as her sister''s hair, which reach their ankles no problem. With same hair and skin color, they really look like sisters. _ Choruse: I am a half ghoul, just saying. _ Fuelri: Why?! _ Melodyn: One day our dark elf father was¡­ _ Fuelri: STOP! STOP! I don''t want to know! They have even prepared a backstory! _ Shadyna: ¡­I am surrounded by breasts. That is to be expected, considering the sisters are dark elves (half), who are known for their size of certain body parts. is a fallen angel, while is a human, so they were not expected but opted to have them big anyway. Worst of all, ''s elven body would only appear in questionable media, end of story. No one here is even close to ''s physique. The little girl''s current situation is probably more than the can ever hope to be. ____________ I have decided. My next friends will have to be young and petite! Nerin and the other waitresses back then were normal, so I didn''t expect to see a pair, or two pairs even, at this level so soon! The balance is totally off! Players, why are you so obsessed with body fat!!! _ Choruse: So, Miss , how many guilds are we going to kill today? _ Shadyna: We are not going to kill anyone¡­ I am a pacifist, you know¡­ And why would you ask that first of all?! Hessy, are you handling human (and other races) resource properly?! _ Hessy: Just tell us what to do. Actions speak louder, and faster, than words. _ Shadyna: Hessy, you just want to have that double enchantment as soon as possible¡­ But okay. Everyone, please tell me what skills you have. After a small meeting session, we start the grind. 1: creates attribute-boosting equipment and furniture. 2: cooks for boosting attributes. 3: enchants all equipment with crafting skills. 4: enhances all equipment to the best of her ability. 5: buffs everyone''s attributes and uses [Devotion] on . 6: wears LDR-boosting equipment and is party leader. 7: Everyone puts on new equipment, eats new consumables, throws bombs at each other and receives buffs again then repeats the whole process. To save time, we craft at the same time. The important part is having higher attributes and skill levels for the next iteration. Doing it in turn will save us one or two iterations, I think, but the time for each iteration increase by 4 times! I have lots of materials since the raid, and the dark elf sisters brought a lot on their own as well. Some wasted materials are acceptable! ¡­ _ Shadyna: I have hit the breakeven point! After 3 successive attempts without any increase in equipment''s status, I declare the end of the first phase: Making fodders. We were using second-best materials for these fodders, to reach the breakeven point as fast as possible, and because we actually don''t have enough for highest-grade materials. With the fodders ready, I am going to use the best materials available to craft the best equipment sets I can muster, as many times as I can. Everyone stops crafting, since there''s not enough equipment to craft at the same time. Instead, we will do what we have been doing, but in order, so that we can give the best equipment and consumables for the next crafter. _ Shadyna: Let''s see¡­ I think we can do this 3 more times. I''m not going to do it half-way, like crafting for 4 attributes then running out of materials. I will forget which set I have crafted later, and there''s some use for the leftover best materials. Yes, I did not forget the goal in the first place: Craft strong equipment, that isn''t used for more crafting! _ Hessy: So the time has come¡­ _ Mera: I wonder how strong our new waitress outfits will be~ They have already decided to craft more waitress outfits before the crafting gear is ready! ¡­ _ Choruse: Done. _ Everyone: Oh~! It was so nerve-wrecking watching the dark elf sisters working on my items, but it''s finally finished! And so, my new crafting gear looks like this: --- [ Blooming Friendship Tunic of Strength] - Creator: - Quality: - Type: , , - Enhancement: 21 - Enchantment: - STR: 42 - PDF: 1600 --- _ Elri: What the heck is that naming?! Un, crafting for too long dulled my naming sense, whoops~ My base [Creation] is at level 7, so I cannot create equipment with multiple status bonuses like Elri''s halberd, but currently I think this item alone is enough to tank even the strongest sword in the game right now. And yes, I made 18 pieces for all 8 attributes, for a total of 144 pieces of equipment. Even with recycling materials from previous attempts, that burnt through not only my, but everyone''s most expensive material stockpile too! I do think it was totally worth the effort, at least until someone calculates the gold coins we just¡­ ate. All in all, I made like 1000+ items in the last few hours. That was only feasible thanks to the massive skill stackings and buffs bringing crafting time to around 10 seconds¡­ _ Melodyn: That [Creation] is useful~ Could you make a skill scroll for us? _ Shadyna: ¡­I only got from level 5 to 7 after all we have done, are you sure you want to do so? _ Melodyn: On second thought, I''ll stay with [Enchant] after all~ You can learn combination skills through skill scrolls, but it seems like it will remove your combined skills even if they are at higher level. If I give her a level 1 scroll, her level 20 [Enchant] is going to be wasted. _ Shadyna: Everyone, please tell me what you want to create. Since we barely have any good material left, only 1 piece per person, okay? _ Melodyn: I''ll go first! I want a new hairband with FOC! Recipe is¡­ Then chose ribbons with STR to replace the ones tying up her twintails. As expected of sisters. They use [Enhance] and [Enchant] on their own, so I have no idea what the skills they put into the accessories are. Mera went with a new waitress outfit, as planned. She asked for WIT as attribute and [Fast Cast] as her skill, to help casting faster. --- [ Divine Sudden Strike Apron] - Creator: - Quality: - Type: , - Enhancement: 21 - Enchantment: - WIT: 42 - MSP: 55 --- Her skills now hit even before she could finish calling out their names. Yikes. Thankfully she''s support, not nuke. _ Hessy: Hmm¡­ _ Shadyna: What''s wrong, Hessy? _ Hessy: I want the furniture thing you showed earlier, but I don''t know which armor piece I want it to be¡­ She''s not a waitress-costume-obsessed person like Mera, surprisingly¡­? _ Elri: Me too. I have [Unique] weapon now, so choosing one armor piece out of eight is surprisingly hard¡­ ¡­Eight? Have they already forgotten that there are more than eight pieces they can equip? _ Shadyna: Then, would you allow me to surprise you? _ Hessy & Elri: ¡­Uh oh¡­ What the heck is that reaction, you two!!! _ Mera: Now now, why not let do it? It''s not like she has a disastrous fashion sense like Nerin~ ¡­Note that down, now! _ Hessy: ¡­Then, I''ll be counting on you. _ Elri: ¡­Though I have a feeling we will have problems one way or another¡­ Can''t you at least wait for me to be out of earshot before bashing me?! _ Shadyna: Even though I haven''t done anything wrong¡­ No one has faith in me¡­ _ Hessy: Uh, no, that''s not what we are worried about¡­ _ Shadyna: I will make sure you have no room to complain later with my items, [Creation]!!! _ Elri: That''s exactly what we are scared of!!! --- [ Wings of Blitzkrieg Hellfire] - Creator: - Quality: - Type: , , - Enhancement: 21 - Enchantment: - STR: 42 - PSP: 55 - Furniture: Accelerate Bonus Lv.6 --- A half-transparent pair of dark purple wings spreads out from Elri''s back as she equips the rune. Most of my other runes wraps around a body part so they look like tattoos from a glance, but I figured I should try to give it more of a concrete shape. The wings glow a bit, but they still look a lot darker than Melodyn''s hair. Elri''s new equipment, the [Everlasting Despair] series, are black. Combined with these wings, she looks like cavalry shock troops of the old days, except darker uniform, and is more devastating with [Accelerate Bonus]! Yes, it''s a rune-furniture hybrid! _ Shadyna: Since it''s an offensive skill, being a furniture gives you even more skill stack! _ Mera: Aw~ I should have chosen an offensive skill¡­ ¡­Even though [Fast Cast], a passive without proc condition, works even if it''s not your main weapon, you still want to have a furniture skill stack in addition to the other 15 pieces of armor and runes you can equip at the same time?! Please use a bomb or food item with enchantment if you need more skill stack~ _ Elri: ¡­Hey, , should I become a shut-in? _ Shadyna: Eh~ Even though I worked so hard to make it good-looking¡­ _ Elri: No matter how you look at it, I will become an eyesore when going outside!!! _ Hessy: Good luck. Hessy, stop trying to hold your laugh! Elri, please stop that orz already! And no refund, sorry! _ Shadyna: Next, for Hessy! [Creation]!!! _ Hessy: Ah! _ Mera: Too late for you~ --- [ Eye of Endless Terror] - Creator: - Quality: - Type: , , - Enhancement: 21 - Enchantment: - FOC: 42 - SPD: 138 - Furniture: Dark Bolt Lv.6 --- If her dual swords were having level 7 enchantment, the total will be 25 now. That''s more than triple the original amount! Unlike Elri''s rune, Hessy''s is much smaller in size. In exchange, it leaves a glowing trace as she moves. If she runs straight, you can see a pretty long tracing line, making her presence more obvious, and terrifying~ And yes, the rune is on her iris. The right one, to be exact. _ Mera: Hessy, you look like an eight-grader now~ Please stop the orz, Hessy~ _ Hessy: I want the equipment, but not like this!!! No refund~ And as for myself. --- [ Flower of Eternal Blossom] - Creator: - Quality: - Type: , - Enhancement: 21 - Enchantment: - LCK: 42 - HP: 2600 --- A rune that becomes a glowing golden flower on top of the sprout on my head~ Considering how I was scrapping for HP whenever I came across an enemy, this will help greatly! ¡­Although to be fair, I doubt many players would encounter a semi-boss, a guild war and an area''s last boss in their first few days like I do¡­ _ Everyone: Evolution completed¡­? What are you all talking about?! We spent the rest of the day and third-best materials crafting and grinding equipment to fill up the slots. It was a busy day, but it was a (many) great success! And to translate into gold coins (at the time)¡­ Material expense: Roughly 4600 gold coins for the best equipment, and 500 gold coins for the weaker filler ones. Thanks to recycling, the actual cost is reduced to around 3000 gold coins. Elri''s piles of corpses aside, I''m surprised these waitresses had so much high-grade materials lying around! Equipment market price: 15000 gold coins for each filler, and at least 50000 gold coins for each of our best gear. A total of nearly 2 million gold coins just for the currently equipped items alone! We need a higher value currency¡­ Although the inflated price is probably because I am the only person in the game capable of making them at the moment. Maybe in the future it will go down? I wonder what will say when he knows Hessy''s glowing eye being 10 times more expensive than his long rod¡­ Chapter 18: Raiders Hiyo, Shadyna the wanderer is stuck in the cavern today! I logged in and intended to explore new areas, but a raid is coming so I ended up going to my secret base instead. And here I thought the cabin fever would finally be rid of¡­ I could have stayed in Elri''s house too, but there''s not much left in the storage. Therefore, I decided to harvest the trees in secret base instead. Oh, and it''s patch day. Let''s see what Sateri has been up to this week¡­ ¡­Sleeping is implemented. What. I tried making a bed with [Creation], and voila, I really can! --- [Red Crystal Bed] - Creator: - Furniture: Inspect Resistance --- The skill has no level. Does that mean it doesn''t assist, but boosts or trains the skill while I sleep? When I tried to logout, I was asked if I wanted to use the nearby bed. So that''s how it is¡­ I can train skill while sleeping, without playing! Let''s spend the free time between harvests to find ways to abus¡­ make good use of this new feature! Crafting too! On to the next patch note! ¡­Dead creatures do not leave an item bag anymore, but a full corpse item instead. I expect raids will become a literal corpse mountain. Welp. With this change, maybe item bags will finally see their end. No idea if players can interact with corpses they did not kill like before. Not my problem though. By the time I can deal with corpses, the perimeter is always secured anyway. The last big change is potentially game-changing. Bosses have been massively buffed. At the same time, "Variants" are introduced to help fill the place of the old bosses. Variants are normal creatures but have buffed status, skills, and most importantly, better drops. I wonder what the new drop rate will be like. I doubt variants drop [Unique] and [Rare] though¡­ Wouldn''t that make the current ones more expensive? ____________ The plan was to grind materials today in the field. However, due to the incoming raid, grinding is out. _ Mera: Hey~, Nerin~, how about we grind like the cavalry girl did? Mera, who is now the leader of the corps, makes an outrageous suggestion. _ Nerin: What the heck, Mera? I didn''t know Hessy was the only person keeping you kind of sane! _ Mera: How mean~ , the waitress with a two-handed hammer, walks to her peers. _ Miel: Do you have anything in mind? We need to protect the gate first and foremost. _ Mera: You see~ When we fight at the gate, we are not allowed to va~porize monsters. I was thinking about using this raid to grind materials instead~ _ Nerin: And how are we supposed to survive when surrounded by hundreds of monsters?! _ Miel: So you are suggesting we not join in the defense. _ Mera: Well~, side was doing ju~st fine without a leading party. Our guild members are familiar with raids already, so~ _ Nerin: ¡­You ran somewhere yesterday for hours, and since you returned with the psycho sisters, you have been even weirder than usual. What the heck were you doing? _ Mera: That''s why I want us to grind away from town~ And I am not weird~ _ Nerin: *Sigh* , your opinion? _ Miel: Isn''t it fine? It''s true they can hold without us. If we can kill freely, we won''t need to postpone our grind. _ Nerin: ¡­Fine. You had better do this properly, Mera. _ Mera: I will~ ____________ _ Vladina: Hmm? Is not here today? _ Olkan: She''s out grinding today. Near the Honey Swarm, I think? _ Vladina: For real? Her [Dark Bolt] is single target, why would she be grinding in the area with swarms of enemies? _ Olkan: That''s what she told me. More importantly, how''s it going with the Magnus Bestia? _ Vladina: We are dealing damage, but [Inspect] implied it having some way of retaliation. I don''t know what though. _ Olkan: Think we can get it before returns? _ Vladina: At current rate? I would give it around a week, so yes. _ Olkan: No problem then. , I''m counting on your party this time to protect the siege engines. _ Maximus: No worries. _ Tippe: I haven''t even had my daily dose of abuse from yet¡­ _ Ignar: *Sigh* Let''s get this over with, then we can check out the buffed up bosses. ____________ _ Nerin (Party): ¡­Hessy, I can understand. , no problem. But who the heck is she?! As the waitress corps arrives at the border between the plains and the next swarm area, they found waiting for them, along with another person. An elf, wearing dark heavy armor, with an enormous chest! Waitresses serve a lot of people. They can''t really remember everyone unless the person does something out of the ordinary. , aside from her appearance, was a surprisingly normal patron in the tavern, so of course Nerin did not remember who she was. is also in the party, but she''s currently in the Crystal Valley, which is nowhere close! _ Fuelri (Party): I am , elven¡­ cavalry, I suppose? _ Nerin (Party): ¡­Eh? You are that cavalry person the board was all about? You are not on a mount, using totally different equipment. I would have thought you to be someone else if it wasn''t for your bust! _ Fuelri (Party): Is there no one in this party who has actually likeable personality?! _ Shadyna (Party): I do~ _ Fuelri (Party): AS IF! _ Mera (Party): Hessy, if you would be so~ kind to explain our strategy? _ Nerin (Party): You didn''t have one until now?! _ Miel (Party): I''m . The waitress with short dark brown bob cut bows slightly. While she seems a bit on guard, she doesn''t seem to be a bad girl, and she even greeted without snarky questions! For the elf girl, the bar has become so low that a short introduction is one of the better and saner interactions she has ever had. _ Fuelri (Party): Ah, nice to meet you. I didn''t expect a waitress to wield a hammer. _ Magnemi (Party): , water mage. The red-headed girl with messy hair has nothing in her appearance that gives even the slightest hint of her profession! Even her staff is bright red!!! Worst of all, her right arm has the broken rock texture, indicating her half-golem heritage. Why did this person even choose water of all elements?! _ Centanny (Party): , shield specialist. ¡­This half-fish person¡­ wields shields. Spiky shields, and there are two of them! Did she think the spikes would go well with her fin-shaped ears?! Apart from her bad sense of weapon selection, she''s a mermaid with light blueish ponytail. This game doesn''t even have an area with the ocean yet!!! Sateri-chan was too generous when implementing this wide selection of races!!! _ Melodyn (Party): Melod¡­ _ Fuelri (Party): I already know who you are!!! And don''t you dare introduce yourself again, ! _ Choruse (Party): Tsk¡­ _ Nerin (Party): Must have been rough being the only sane person huh, ? _ Fuelri (Party): You are not helping! _ Hessy (Party): Okay, introduction time''s over. I''ll brief our strategy now. ¡­ _ Nerin (Party): ¡­Isn''t that¡­ a bit risky? We don''t have potions to fight for hours here. _ Mera (Party): Don''t worry~ I will make sure your suffering is lo~ng and painful~ A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. _ Nerin (Party): *Sighs* And how are you going to do that without a warehouse worth of pots? Are you going to make help as support? _ Mera (Party): I will not~ Healing four players is normal you know~ _ Nerin (Party): ¡­Four? No matter how she counts, there are nine players here, Mera included. is too far from here, so she doesn''t count, obviously. _ Mera (Party): We pro~bably won''t need healing either. Just try to kill as many as possible, okay~? _ Nerin (Party): Why are you so obsessed with grinding today¡­ _ Mera (Party): Because~ She puts a finger on her lips, leaning towards the confused Nerin. _ Mera (Party): A contract with the devil is not cheap~ _ Nerin (Party): What. The. Heck?! _ Shadyna (Party): How rude~ _ Hessy (Party): Leave that for later. Switch to combat gear, everyone. When she sees the glowing tattoos appearing all over her allies, Hessy''s eye glowing, and the elf girl jumping on the summoned black salamander with wings growing out of her back, the poor waitress that is Nerin decides to stop thinking altogether. ____________ _ Mage: We have a breach! _ Warrior: Dammit, not again! Do something about those corpses! The new patch was Sateri-chan''s way of saying "I see you were having it easy in raids. Let me change that", as the players found out the hard way at the worst time possible. Variants, the new type of enemy, are pretty much Merexxa but more common. They are "normal" monsters with status of a weak boss. Because they are "normal", they can appear in raids. Combined with the amount of monsters in a raid, it became a semi-boss-rush event. The number of enemies that can fight back skyrockets with variants leading the charge. However, that alone wouldn''t change much of the strategy, because they are still vulnerable to the pathing abuse. No matter how strong variants are, they cannot do damage if they are stuck in the middle of a debuffed horde. That''s where the removal of item bags comes in. As magi kill the monsters behind the engaged frontline, the dead bodies pile up into small hills. Remaining monsters can climb onto these hills and jump to behind the players below, or create a ramp up to the wall where they can run relentlessly instead of climbing slowly. Against the sudden change in the enemy''s tactics, wall breaches were inevitable. _ Archer: STOP FIRING BLINDLY! Killing them right now just makes everything worse!!! _ Mage: This is bad! The gate fell! _ Priest: Block the streets! Do not let them overrun the town!!! ____________ _ Ignar: The plan is working, Max! The town walls have been breached though! At the siege site, the defense employed a different strategy. They focus on debuffing the enemies climbing the wall and killing them at last moment, while the main nukes fire at their range limit. For the monster they have to kill to prevent breaches, magi destroy the corpses for good. DPS is bad, and loot is horrible, but the situation remains under control like most raids in the past. All thanks to the defense leader, ''s party. _ Maximus: Send the reserve to the back! Don''t let the monsters attack us from the town! _ Tippe: How the hell are we going to hold for hours with this! _ Ignar: We will hold. The town¡­ I''m not so sure. _ Maximus (Party): Sateri-dammit what are you scrubs doing, , ?! _ Olkan (Party): There''s so much I can do when all I have are merchants! They are not the best at following orders! _ Vladina (Party): We are holding our gate, but ''s overrun segments are disrupting us! _ Maximus (Party): Mobilize the scrubs sitting their asses off in the market! Use the streets as gates and houses as walls! _ Olkan (Party): On it! _ Ignar: How''s doing¡­ Actually, don''t tell me. _ Tippe: Got words that both and ''s gates have been overrun. _ Ignar: Welp. Any idea how to deal with that? The town is going to get wrecked. _ Maximus: What the hell are those waitresses doing?! Little did they know, none of the waitresses is in town right now. _ Ignar: No point crying over spilt milk. Should we go help them? Our defense is stable even without us. _ Maximus: Can''t be helped. Damn nubs. _ Vladina (Party): , call ! We need every fighter right now! _ Olkan (Party): Right! ____________ _ Nerin (Party): [Mass Dismantling]¡­ _ Shadyna (Party): Nerin lost all will to fight~ _ Nerin (Party): Who wouldn''t?! Hessy and Mera aside, even the new dark elven sisters have become totally insane! And they are not even at level cap! decimates an area every time she swings her dagger. It was made for spellcasting, so it gives MAT instead of PAT. Nevertheless, last time she went out, she wasn''t one-hitting enemies with AoE spells! _ Melodyn: [Elemental Blast]! Another area is completely filled with corpses just after one skill. Now it''s just Nerin''s job to dismantle them and give the materials into the wagon behind Mera. For some reason, that wagon can store way too much stuff! Even wagons of wouldn''t have that kind of storage space!!! _ Choruse: [Leap]! [Slam]! is on the other side, smashing everything in range with her two-handed morning star. Even the bigger monsters get squished as the not-so-blunt weapon comes down upon them. _ Miel: [Slam]! In the odd chance that something does survive, jumps in and finishes it off with her hammer. Why are these two brutal monstrosities together?! Hessy is the rear guard. Actually, rather than a "guard", she''s more of a back-facing cannon! What''s with the 5-digit-damage [Dark Bolt]!? The only things in the game that can deal such amount of damage are the Magnus Bestia! It''s a basic attack spell, so the cast time and cooldown may as well not exist. Look, she''s firing faster than she can chant! Mera is using [Devotion] so all her stats and attributes, including the ones given by equipment, are gone. Her HP is exactly 1, with no defense. That''s why everyone is around her, making sure nothing gets past. As for the monstrosity who received [Devotion]''s effect¡­ _ Fuelri: [Pierce]! The variant of a big wolf falls after withstanding multiple charges from the cavalry girl. Why is that elf having 5-digit damage as well?! She''s not even a mage! They have encountered a few variants and one boss so far. slayed them all, alone, while the main party fought the horde from a distance. A raid boss is hard to deal with because it''s guarded by way too many monsters. This stupid elf just melted everything in her path using basic attacks then whacked the main target with one or two skills! She would not stop to engage, but continue forward and turn back for the next charge instead. As if she''s role-playing a true cavalry. _ Fuelri (Party): Got another one! _ Mera (Party): Nice~ Did you see the despair in its eyes as you en¡­ _ Fuelri (Party): I DID NOT! Stop trying to give me PTSD! _ Nerin (Party): By the way, are we not dismantling the variants and boss? is keeping all those corpses. In other words, her STR must be abnormally high. _ Hessy (Party): No need. We''ll leave it to the professional later. _ Nerin (Party): Aren''t we the professionals for that?! Usually, a boss-hunting party will bring the corpse back to the tavern for dismantling. Somehow, the very dismantling crew is not going to dismantle their own preys?! _ Mera (Party): Well~ None of us can ri~p apart a corpse and end up with more meat than it could physically contain~ _ Nerin (Party): How?! _ Shadyna (Party): I''ll do my best~ _ Nerin (Party): What the heck have you been doing these last few days?! At least the last time Nerin saw , the little brat was somewhat a clueless newbie. Since when did she become the best dismantler acknowledged by professional waitresses themselves?! _ Hessy (Party): Everyone, and just called. Tyrel''s defense has fallen. _ Nerin (Party): ¡­Seriously? The raid has been too easy for the waitresses so far that they hadn''t even thought about the town at all! _ Mera (Party): My my~ It will be like the old days~ _ Shadyna (Party): The old days? _ Mera (Party): In the beta, when we had no wall around Tyrel, raids were last stands for us~ E~veryone kept killing, dying, returning to spawn point ju~st to hold off the enemies from all sides~ It was pure joy~ _ Shadyna (Party): For you only, I would assume¡­ The closed beta players here can confirm that. _ Nerin (Party): It won''t be good if our tavern gets destroyed. Shall we retreat? _ Mera (Party): It can''t be helped~ _ Hessy (Party): I''m indebted to them so yes, I''m returning. What about you, ? Because is not part of the waitress corps, she doesn''t follow Hessy or Mera. And last raid she was doing just fine on her own as well. _ Fuelri (Party): I''ll go back too. The house costed a lot. _ Shadyna (Party): Please do your best to protect the fodders in the storage! _ Fuelri (Party): They are just going to be stored in a special temporary inventory if the house gets destroyed, but I don''t want to sort all of them AGAIN!!! _ Shadyna (Party): Me neither~ Just the thought of going through thousands of items is a good (de)motivation for most people! _ Mera (Party): It''s decided then~ [Devotion]. [Mass Recall]! Turning off [Devotion] to get her MP back, Mera sends the party back to Tyrel in a flash. _ Nerin (Party): What the heck is that casting speed?! _ Mera (Party): My end of the deal with the devil~ _ Shadyna (Party): I''m not a devil~ _ Hessy (Party): , please support the side. , help , prioritize protecting the tavern. , join up with , just keeping the monsters off them is fine. I will go join the boob-obsessed pigs. _ Mera (Party): What about me~ _ Hessy (Party): Do whatever you want, Miss new manager. If you go with me the pigs will just get distracted. _ Mera (Party): Aw~ And so, the crazies split up and disappear into the streets. _ Nerin (Party): So¡­ uh, what do we do now? _ Miel (Party): Sign a contract with the devil? _ Nerin (Party): WHY?! _ Magnemi (Party): Why not? _ Centanny (Party): I agree. We were dead weight. Materialism has claimed its newest victims!!! Despite all her straight man talks, Nerin felt that too. If it were only Hessy and Mera, she wouldn''t have batted an eye. However, the newbie dark elves being outright overpowered is not something she can overlook! They were not even closed beta players! _ Nerin (Party): But¡­ _ Mera (Party): You know~ I didn''t call it a contract with the devil for no reason~ _ Nerin (Party): Eh? You actually put some thoughts into your words?! _ Mera (Party): Your words are really harsh today, Nerin~ _ Miel (Party): , what''s the price? _ Nerin (Party): Can you at least be a bit wary?! _ Shadyna (Party): Uhm¡­ Elri, would you mind dropping the big corpses at the door? _ Fuelri (Party): Sure thing. _ Shadyna (Party): Well then, please go to our house. I''ll unlock the door for you. _ Nerin (Party): Eh? Aren''t you in the vall¡­ ''s signal had moved to Tyrel before Nerin could finish her question. ____________ The tavern is empty. Even when mobilized, one or two waitresses stay behind to ensure the patrons are served. This time, however, there was no one at the counter. Everyone panicked when they saw the waitress corps left the tavern unattended, by ''s order. It is the first time for this tavern since closed beta. Now, the defense is overrun. Casualties are piling up, and there''s no one to provide good food buffs in ''s area. This in turn makes respawned players weaker than before, and causes even more deaths. The vicious spiral has begun. Or so the defenders thought. Outside, a few parties of frequent patrons are fighting to protect the building. If it gets destroyed, not only will it take time to rebuild, the owners will have to redo all the storage management again. The tavern will be out of commission for quite some time. The defenders are fighting ferociously, but the horde cares not about morale. Slowly but surely, they are losing ground. _ ???: [Elemental Bolt]! A barrage of rainbow-colored projectile rains upon the monsters surrounding the defenders, killing them on contact. No, [Bolt] skills are not supposed to kill anything in their level range in one hit. The confused defenders turn to the origin of the barrage. There, a single dark elf with ample chest is walking towards them. Even better than her chest, she is wearing the distinctive waitress outfit that everyone here knows and loves more than anything else. If the waitresses themselves tell these guys that such obsession is not healthy, the perverts would say it was a reward! _ Waitress: [Mass Dismantling]. The corpses disappear into crafting spheres which quickly turn into items in the waitress''s inventory. Then, foods appear en masse. _ Waitress: Brave warriors, reinforcement has arrived~ Sorry for the wait~ _ Defenders: ¡­FOR THE LADY!!! URAH!!! As annoying as these perverts can be at times, their morale is one of the easier aspects to manage. A kind smile from a beautiful girl is more than enough to push them into the deepest corner of hell. And fully intends to push them as far as she could. --- Topic (Sticky): Patch discussion - 1.0c10 --- ## Fire mage of Justice PLEASE READ: If you can login and are reading this, please login and help defend Tyrel. It is under heavy fire and needs all the help it can get. Summary: - Sleep is good for your body. - Killed creatures leave corpses. Item bags weren''t their true forms, surprisingly. (OP note: The board''s meta is leaking to Sateri-chan!) - Introducing variants, a normal creature that is as strong as a boss that can appear randomly in field. - Current bosses are buffed to fit their positions as top of the food chain. Revamped bosses'' loots. Existing items are not changed. - Added several contents to support the coming big patch. ## ## Manly Warrior Thank you for the hard work as always, Sateri-chan! (^o^) Sleeping is confirmed to be giving skill experience while you are offline. Requires an enclosed room with bed furniture. Your character can be killed in sleep and will disappear like a logout if the room is destroyed. In other words, remember to set the room to private! ## ## Nearseeing Sage I remember Sateri-chan implying item bags were because of the performance hit when she had to process the corpses in the beta. Glad to see her being able to resolve that problem! (^_^) ## ## Heaven Piercer I wonder if she had a hardware upgrade? Maybe her other¡­ parts got an upgrade too. ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã) ## ## Serious Mage Reported for harassing Sateri-chan. The variants are a welcomed change. Our voices regarding the competition over the bosses were heard. (^_-) Anyone tried the new bosses? ## ## Flame knight of Darkness We tried one since there''s time before the raid. A level 7 boss is now stronger than the old Laetque Eye! (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß ## ## Manly Warrior Seriously?! Sateri''s standards for buffing needs to be nerfed! orz ## ## Fire mage of Justice I have a feeling Sateri-chan wasn''t amused when she saw Illusive Sprout soloing the Laetque Eye. Just saying. ¡¥\_(¥Ä)_/¡¥ ## ------ Chapter 19: Devils contract The great little devil Shadyna is preparing her contract~ ¡­Why am I being called this even though I give great power to others with little reward¡­? Looks like Hessy is overworked as always. On the contrary, the atmosphere in our house is quite relaxed. _ Nerin: So¡­ what''s your term¡­? Except for Nerin. She looks like she''s being sold into slavery! Well, there''s the nice shiny equipment to look forward to, but she''s definitely worried about my upcoming demands. I haven''t done anything to you, why are you treating me like ?! And your chest is not competing against Hessy or Mera to begin with!!! _ Mera (Party): Ju~st for reference, she was using us as she pleased yesterday~ _ Hessy (Party): Don''t make me go there and sew your damn mouth shut right now! The town is falling apart here! _ Choruse (Party): Mera is technically correct though¡­ _ Mera (Party): My specialty after all~ _ Melodyn (Party): Four of us, at the same time. was something else~ Nerin turns pale. the hammer waitress has a curious look. The red-headed Magni is astounded. Cenny, mermaid, is blushing. What a variety of reactions¡­ _ Shadyna (Party): I''ll charge extra for the slandering~ _ Mera (Party): No~ _ Hessy (Party): Can I leave the party¡­? _ Elri (Party): Trust me, I would have if it wasn''t for her LDR bonus. _ Nerin: Uhm¡­ can we just pay with money instead? _ Shadyna: Sure~ I didn''t know you were so rich. _ Nerin: ¡­Eh? _ Mera: Are you su~re about that, Nerin? Your debt will be so~ high even your body won''t be enough to pay it off~ _ Nerin: ¡­What. I have a pretty good idea about the market price for my items, thanks to Hessy. Fortunately I made them before knowing, otherwise I might have fainted from shock! _ Mera: Have you seen ''s scepter? Do you think you can buy one? It was 5000 gold coins if you didn''t remember~ _ Nerin: ¡­If I use all my savings and sell my storage, maybe¡­? ¡­That long rod was such a luxury huh. And had two¡­ And a single piece of my work is ten times that. It''s safe to say Nerin won''t be able to pay even after working tirelessly for the next few years. And that''s not taking interest into consideration. _ Shadyna: I don''t mind~ But are you sure you want to sell your body like that? _ Nerin: ¡­Please just state your demand¡­ She has the look of a person who has given up, similar to Hessy and Elri. Again, I have done nothing but benefiting you. Please don''t treat me like that! _ Shadyna: I just have one request for you all. Business smile, on~ Why are you stiffening up like that, Nerin?! , that "doki doki" is uncalled for!!! _ Shadyna: That is not fighting each other with my equipment. I am aware of my equipment''s power. Each set can potentially win against even big guild''s leaders. I don''t care if each of the people here make a guild on their own and mark their name in the game''s history. However, the moment they have a power struggle, I am not going to let it be. Enough of that in the real world already, so no thanks! _ Nerin: ¡­Eh? That''s it? _ Mera: Nerin was so~ looking forward to the humiliation~ _ Nerin: I WAS NOT! _ Shadyna: Should I add more demands then~? _ Nerin: Please don''t¡­ Just to clarify, we are not to fight players who uses your equipment, yes? _ Shadyna: That is the gist of it~ I want everyone to get along~ Not just for my pacifism goals, but I also don''t want to having to take sides if conflicts occur. It will leave a bitter taste even if one side is objectively right. _ Nerin: ¡­And the punishment for violating is¡­? _ Shadyna: I''m not going to do anything. It may affect what I am willing to make for you later on though~ _ Nerin: Ah, good old embargo¡­ Are you going to make these things for anyone else? She''s already thinking about who she can beat up¡­? I didn''t know Nerin was such an aggressive person! _ Shadyna: Just for my friends for the foreseeable future. If you don''t like them, you can give the items back to me. No hard feelings~ _ Nerin: ¡­Give me a second. I need to discuss with everyone. Guess world peace needs a lot of work huh¡­ Oh well, I am not going to pressure them into anything. Let''s dismantle the variants and boss while they are sorting things out on their own. _ Shadyna: Mera, can you make me a [Butcher House Special]? I''ll leave the party so you can talk in peace. LDR bonus is nice, but it''s not essential to everyone''s survival. I need to equip my LCK set to dismantle anyway~ _ Shadyna: [Refinery]! ____________ _ Hessy (Party): Why did leave party? _ Mera (Party): Nerin was too nervous about selling her body so she would like to consult with you first~ _ Nerin (Party): Sateri-chan should give you a title to deal mental damage whenever you speak¡­ _ Melodyn (Party): Well, after the first time you''ll get used to it? _ Nerin (Party): Don''t compete with her!!! _ Hessy (Party): Did she ask for something unreasonable? _ Nerin (Party): Rather than unreasonable, I have no idea what she wanted at all! What does "not fighting each other" even mean!!! _ Miel (Party): I think she explained it clearly? Don''t fight among ourselves. _ Hessy (Party): Business as usual then. _ Nerin (Party): Isn''t that weird?! What if she gives those items to too?! _ Hessy (Party): Can''t be worse than my current situation. I am indebted to both him and , thanks to someone. _ Mera (Party): You really are holding a grudge~ _ Nerin (Party): I don''t know about this¡­ It''s like fake friendship and all¡­ _ Mera (Party): Nerin still has that childish ideal dream of true companionship after all those years~ _ Nerin (Party): It''s not even one year including the closed beta!!! _ Miel (Party): Gap moe, is it? _ Mera (Party): Gap moe, indeed~ _ Nerin (Party): I HATE YOU ALL!!! _ Hessy (Party): If that''s the case, why don''t you ask her about it? _ Mera (Party): Aw, Hessy, that would be too reasonable and anti-climactic~ _ Choruse (Party): Yes, internal conflicts for the most annoying and trivial reasons are required for character development. _ Nerin (Party): With friends like you people who the heck need enemies?! ____________ After some more discussion and crafting, the new equipment for the waitresses are done! _ Shadyna: I can''t use [Enhance] and [Enchant] like the dark elven sisters though. Please tell them to redo it later~ _ Nerin: It''s not even the final form?! _ Mera: It''s not~ Here''s my apron''s stats~ _ Nerin: WHY IS THIS EVEN A THING!!! _ Shadyna (Party): Hessy, Elri, it seems like Nerin has snapped~ _ Hessy (Party): She''s one of the saner members in the corps. I would be surprised if she hadn''t. _ Elri (Party): Though she will get corrupted like the rest of us in no time. _ Shadyna (Party): I am not corrupting anyone~! It''s materialism at fault, not me! _ Mera (Party): Should we depart then? _ Nerin (Party): Right¡­ How are we going to do this? _ Hessy (Party): Roam the streets and close any breach you see. Do your best to protect the buildings. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. _ Shadyna (Party): Good luck, everyone~ I''m going to gather some more materials. _ Nerin (Party): Right now?! Actually, do what you want. I don''t even want to know anymore. _ Mera (Party): Nerin has fallen to darkness~ _ Melodyn (Party): Welcome to the adult world~ _ Miel (Party): May I accompany instead? _ Shadyna (Party): Eh? Why? _ Miel (Party): After all she has done, someone has to pay with their body, right? _ Everyone (Party): EH~?! ____________ Without the waitress corps leading the defense, ''s walls quickly fell into disarray after the first breach. The horde swarmed the residential areas, despite valiant efforts of the minor guilds. They could only at most protect some important buildings, mainly their guild bases. Individual shops and houses are devastated as the defenders lose their ground. With variants, the number of "boss" fights multiplied, so few parties are capable of holding against the overwhelming odds. _ Melodyn: [Elemental Blast]! And worst of all, a gigantic rat boss got through. The street has been cleared, but this single monster remains. It is twice as big as an average human avatar, with appearance of the level 1 [Giant rat], but dyed black and its eyes are glowing purple. _ Melodyn: And I was hoping for a boss that would be a nice mount like ''s too¡­ --- [Character Information] [Name]: Pesimus [Race]: Dark Plagued Rat [Level]: 19 [Status] - HP: =========. - MP: ========== [History]: A rat consumed by darkness. The plague it had was also consumed then strengthened it into a monstrosity filled with desire for destruction. When it appears, diseases and deaths follow. --- _ Melodyn: It has a name, so definitely a boss¡­ During earlier fights, it was confirmed that variants do not have names, similar to their normal counterparts. Bosses on the other hand are always named. For players with [Inspect], it''s the easiest way to differentiate between the two. _ Melodyn: We really don''t need this right now¡­ ''s skill scraped off a chunk of its HP, but it''s obvious she''s not going to kill it in one or two attacks. Unlike the absurd elven cavalry, she''s just a normal mage. Her forte is attacking from afar, out from harm''s way, not fighting bosses face-to-face! Her stats are definitely not normal anymore, thanks to a certain girl, but she didn''t spec into defense or CON. All her equipment is adding to her FOC for attributes, so it''s mostly the PDF and MDF from armor that help a bit in survival. That "a bit" makes her about as tough as a level-capped tank build right now. However, she''s not well-versed in current meta like her seniors, and part of her is refusing to believe that she''s already beyond normal. _ Spearman: Protect our lady!!! _ Warrior: [Focused Defense]! Come, you bastard! A bunch of courageous melee players charge toward the boss with great enthusiasm. Totally the type that dies off-screen or five minutes after the intro. She''s not sure how they will fare against an almost-capped boss, but grateful for the distraction nevertheless. _ Melodyn: [Cooking]. With ''s portable furniture, there''s no longer a need for [Field Cooking] as [Cooking] can be used without any penalty. It''s really convenient, these multi-category items¡­ [Heroic Inspiration Course] is a powerful meal for a full party that increases all your attributes by 200%. It could be considered the best you can have against bosses. However, it''s not the strongest by any means, and way outdated ever since the waitresses got their power-up. Given a little bit of time and lots of expensive materials during emergencies, cooks can create miracles. Min: Number of affected attributes, duration, expiration time. Max: Effect strength, ingredients. And by burning 5 gold coins in material cost, created a "meal" that expires in 1 minute if not consumed, with effect duration of 15 seconds, barely enough for a few skills at most. If only she had ''s crafting gear right now, the effect would be much greater, but hey, can''t have everything. And even without it, the meal''s FOC bonus is enough to melt everything anyway! *SPLASH* _ Spearman: MY EYES!!! The rat spits a blob of poison at the engaging players. The poor spearman couldn''t avoid it, being at point blank range. *GNAW* Before he can retreat, the rat pounces on him. As the teeth sink into him, the player¡­ bites the dust. _ Spearman: Res pls! _ Warrior: I will avenge you, brother-in-arm! _ Knight: It''s too strong! We can''t fight if it kills tanks in 2 hits! Even with a few magi supporting from behind, it''s obvious the players around the waitress cannot win. Not without her. _ Melodyn: [Life Conversion], [Overcharge], [Delayed Cast]. Reducing own HP to increase MP, spending more MP and time casting to empower the next spell, gets ready. And last but not least, the [Alchemy] hybrid item that is her ribbon to ram her MAT. did not have capped [Alchemy], so it "only" grants a 15-second 250% bonus. _ Melodyn: Let''s go. [Azure Wine], [ Extermination Light Ribbon (Masterwork)]. The 15 seconds countdown begins. Not that it''s urgent or anything. She just needs to get into melee range. In theory, even her [Elemental Bolt] will pulverize that boss. However, she''s spent a good amount of money for this moment, might as well break the damage record. For balance reason, of course the spells with shortest range have highest power. That''s why she is going to get close and personal. Her weapon shines brightly as she casts her spell. There''s [Delayed Cast], so it will be ready when she''s in reach. Stepping on the dead spear-wielding corpse, she leaps toward the boss rat that is gnawing a swordsman to death. _ Melodyn: In honor of ! [Elemental Burst]! With total raw MAT of over 130k, it was already higher than ''s damage. The boss''s MDF is not even considered. The only way for it to have a chance is having so much MDF that normal players have no chance of taking even 1 HP from it. *Boom* A small colorful explosion blasts the rat away. It rolls over a few times as it hits the ground before stopping completely. , level 18 mage, has just dealt over 500k damage with a single spell. That''s a few times more than the known -theoretically- possible damage among the player base. Others couldn''t see it. If they had, the board would probably explode later. Instead, they are utterly confused by the mention of ! ____________ _ Vladina: [Fire Bolt]! [Water Bolt]! [Earth Bolt]! Damn it , we are not numerous like you perverts! At least be good fodders! On the east side of Tyrel, roughly two dozen little girls are in charge of defending this part of town. Back in beta, they would be the only defenders. Since release, there are a few more guilds building their halls here, so their fighting force is much larger now. ¡­So is the horde, however. Nevertheless, thanks to the advice of , these girls have been holding on without much problem. Their number is few, so coordination between members is the best out of the big guilds. A party of three is fighting on the streets, while the battle at the walls is still raging on. It is the border between and , where the defense is weakest due to difference in tactics and¡­ ideologies. The overzealous players on ''s side out-damaged ''s members, allowing variants to jump past the walls. The master lolicon wiped the corpse mountain with multiple AoE spells to stop the breach, but at least some variants have entered the town and are engaging defenders in urban combat. Thanks to and using [World Voice] non-stop to manage the inexperienced merchants, there are no new breaches, but the enemies in town must be dealt with. A big wolf just rampages in the middle of the merchant players. The biggest variant of the escapees¡­ And didn''t intend to fight it. They were fighting the ostrich-like variant a few steps away, then this wolf just had to jump in from out of nowhere! Well, not exactly nowhere. It decimated the parties fighting it and went here. Merchants are not even good at buying time for the main damage dealers¡­ _ Vladina: [Light Barrage]! Several light projectiles appear and quickly head towards the wolf. _ Mage: From behind! Another ostrich appeared behind the mage line. A variant, no less. _ Vladina: Retreat! Seeing the players, the newly arrived ostrich charges towards them. It''s heading straight for the little girl in schoolgirl uniform who is the closest. _ Vladina: Damn it. Being the ally of all little girls, this biggest pervert in the area refuses to let one gets harmed when she''s still around. She should have become a shield user instead of mage, but there''s just this problem with the image of a gothic Lolita wielding a kite shield¡­ _ Vladina: [Focused Defense]! Jumping in between her member and the variant, the guildmaster raises her sword to block the charge. Even if she''s a mage, it''s not like she''s min-maxing. She can probably tank a hit or two even if the opponent is a boss. The wolf wiped the tanking merchants with little effort, using its AoE shockwave-causing howl. Now it''s charging the magi from the opposite direction. There''s nowhere to run for the magi. As expected of the worst lolicon in the game, indeed. _ ???: [Slam]! *WHAM* The ostrich could not reach . A player in waitress outfit crashed into it from the side, knocking it to the adjacent wall with a loud *THUD*. Before anyone understands what was going on, said player proceeds to swing her morning star onto the variant''s head. _ Waitress: [Pierce]! And again. _ Waitress: [Charged Slam]! And again. _ Waitress: [Rapid Assault]! The ostrich got stunned by the first [Slam] attack and couldn''t fight back. Variants should not get stunned that easily, unless the player has abnormal amount of PAT. Regardless, the scene of her smacking the poor thing without stopping needs to be censored, badly. It''s like she''s the boss, not the other way round! Not paying any attention to the atmosphere, the wolf and ostrich pair reaches the still astounded players. _ Waitress: [Mass Taunt]! All three variants are now switching target to the dark elven girl alone. The monsters that were ganged upon earlier, currently have to gang on a single player. That single player is tanking them without the slightest hesitation, like a true protagonist rescuing the damsel in distress. _ Vladina: Everyone, fire support, now! I wish was the one rescuing me though¡­ _ Waitress: Sorry, is spending quality lovey-dovey time with her so¡­ _ Vladina: ¡­Excuse me?! The one-sided semi-boss fight would rage on for a little longer, but they are no longer in serious danger. They already have a boss-like anomaly on their side as reinforcement, after all. < you Sateri-damned thieving jerk!!!> A particular pervert was pissed enough to use [World Voice] for the most trivial reason as usual¡­ ____________ There were many breaches in the northern part of the town, where main force is located. "Were", specifically. ''s party came to lead the defense on the walls. One by one, the leaks in their lines were patched up nicely. Who could have thought his ruthless trash-talk would be so effective in commanding others? That and him shooting anyone disobeying order in the head. He''s a min-maxed PvP specialist, so he has the firepower to back his words! On the other hand, it can be said that his party had no problem fixing the defense because there was no worry about the invaded enemies attacking them from behind. _ Olkan: What. The. Heck?! was amazed to see his favorite waitress becoming an eight-grader, then he became confused, and utterly horrified to see single-handedly decimating everything on the street. She was literally glowing with tattoos all over her body in addition to her new "eye". With runes now dropping from monsters, it''s not strange to see them. It is strange, however, to have so many pieces without crafting. Worse still, her [Dark Bolt] has become a killing machine. A level capped mob took a few hits to kill back then, now dies after the first bolt. Variants drop like flies as she throws bolt after bolt continuously until they succumb. The terror was walking casually along the streets, killing everything in sight. Her damage was 5-digit per bolt, so there''re few monsters that can survive for long. , without being able to see the exact damage, still knows that her firepower surpassed his scepter many times over. Just like his [Equipment Manufacturer Origin] title, whatever gave those runes completely broke the game''s balance. And here he thought the x3 multiplier on his equipment was overpowered¡­ His equipment was indeed powerful, but it was outdated due to not having dedicated cook and more importantly, attribute and skill stacking mechanics (abuse). It was a miracle for to acquire the crafters she needed in such a short notice, all thanks to the murderous young waitress that is . _ Olkan: Where did you get those¡­ things, ? _ Hessenria: *Sighs* Have a guess. And was sacrificed for it. The head waitress herself has given up her common sense in exchange for great power. A true pact with a devil, she would say. It can be said that the situation is under control enough that one can rant about irrelevant matters. ____________ To the south of Tyrel, where merchants of and small guilds band together, there is no breach. There can be no breach, because the defense has already been shattered! The horde of darkness is swarming the residential area. Multiple buildings including some guild halls have been destroyed despite everyone''s best effort. Outnumbered by the mobs and outmatched by the variants, there was no hope for the struggling players. Then "THAT FREAKING THING" arrived! _ Fuelri: Beginning charge! Instead of the enemies, the players, her own side, frantically scatter the moment she announces her arrival at the end of the street. The path is not that narrow per se, but her mounted salamander (she insisted it was a drake, but no one listened) is way too big for human standards! If players do not hug the walls, collision is inevitable. _ Fuelri: Ren, ! Even if it can use a breath attack, it will always be a salamander in everyone''s eyes. The monsters at the front are melted by the black breath. For the sturdier ones, they still die as the mount proceeds to headbutt, trample then tail slap the heck out of them for good measures. If they are unlucky enough to get tossed up into the air by the headbutt, will destroy them as she swings her halberd from side to side. Variants from time to time would appear in their path, a few of them would be lucky enough to survive the first charge. When that happens, the elven cavalry turns around at the nearest corner where there''s enough space to maneuver without having to stop moving. And then, the two come crushing their enemies again until they drop dead. The players here have witnessed ''s prowess back then, but to do so again in such close distance and a very real chance of becoming collateral damage really changes their perspective. _ Fuelri: Charge! We can''t let ''s body be sacrificed in vain!!! ''s image has evolved from "A very strong player" to "Incomprehensible unstoppable weapon of mass destruction". On top of that, none of the variants'' corpses was spared. Not destroyed, but all picked up by that elven girl. Where the heck was she storing them?! ____________ The damage this raid was substantial. Many buildings were destroyed in the urban battle. A large part of the outer walls is in ruins, and the rest heavily damaged. Items are not destroyed, but the cost of rebuilding, repair and overall cleanup will become a big dent in everyone''s wallets. Players didn''t even manage to worry about the future when the next system message arrived. [Warning: An has appeared. Caution is advised.] Chapter 20: Base of operations So uh¡­ Shadyna has acquired a new¡­ errand girl? , if you would cease that *Doki doki* fidgeting, please. I am not going to turn you into a walking terminator, have you fight a unique bonus boss, grant you a new SG title, give you a weapon of mass destruction, or, contrary to all of your expectations, do anything to you!!! Everyone has departed to protect Tyrel. Mera''s detachment is going down south, as this part of the town has completely fallen to the horde. Welp. Let''s hope this house doesn''t get destroyed while we are inside. ¡­In this case, aren''t I the one in danger?! I am stuck in here alone with a delusional waitress! _ Shadyna: Anyway¡­ I am going to mine some ores. Are you sure you want to come? Why do you look so disappointed, ?! Many of my crafting recipes require metals. Very few creatures actually drop them, so [Mining] is the best way to acquire metals in any significant amount. Obviously, a LOT is needed considering how many things I have crafted in the last few days. _ Miel (Party): Hessy, is my appeal so low wouldn''t even bat an eye? You are still not letting this go?! _ Hessy (Party): Why don''t you ask the degenerate patrons instead of me?! I can only sigh as the party starts bickering about my preferences. , despite all her whining in party chat, is sticking to me like glue. And here I thought she had been saner during our first meeting¡­ Not social my butt, they are just less outwardly insane!!! Sigh. I wonder what the patrons think of her when she''s at the tavern''s counter¡­ We go to the deepest part of the basement, to the corner where a small stone tablet is hung on the dirt wall. I really should spend some time refurbishing this part of the house¡­ _ Shadyna: I''m going ahead first. There is enough charge for you, but please wait a few seconds for the cooldown. _ Miel: ??? Of course she would be puzzled. Oh well, actions speak louder than words. _ Shadyna: [ Recall Tablet - Crystal Mine]. I am engulfed in a blinding light before disappearing from the basement. _ Miel (Party): I am going to explore ''s deep, dark secrets. Wish me luck. _ Mera (Party): My my~ _ Melodyn (Party): Your body will not be forgotten. _ Choruse (Party): After Hessy, is the next person to join the adult world in place of Nerin. _ Hessy (Party): I CAN HEAR YOU!!! Where''s my [Insanity Resistance], Sateri~? I am now back to my secret base in the crystalline valley. In front of me is a hung tablet similar to the one I just used. Well, if I teleport and have to walk a long way to return, it will be a pain! Let''s wait until gets here. *FLASH* The waitress appears from the column of light a few steps away from me. So that''s how it looks like when someone teleports huh. _ Miel: This is¡­ _ Shadyna: My "house" in the valley. This is where I do [Mining]. She''s inspecting the surroundings. The crystalline walls and ceilings are dead giveaways, even if she doesn''t check the map. _ Miel: The raid is not attacking this place? _ Shadyna: My base''s only entrance is below the surface, so the raid is not going at it. Since I have the [Recall Tablet] now, I can simply remove the entrance altogether. I decided against it, however, because water is used in [Cooking] and [Alchemy], which is in surplus in the lake! And a hidden dungeon is no good if some random adventurers cannot find it by chance before dying horribly in it! _ Miel: I thought it was because of the symbols on the walls¡­ _ Shadyna: There is nothing on the walls. _ Miel: But¡­ _ Shadyna: There is NOTHING on the walls. There is definitely nothing on the walls, and I definitely did not forget to erase anything after committing any kind of self-humiliation act! _ Miel: ¡­The tablet, is it an [Alchemy] item? _ Shadyna: It is part [Alchemy]. --- [ Recall Tablet - Crystal Mine] - Creator: - Quality: - Type: , , - Enhancement: 12 - Enchantment: - MEN: 24 - Alchemy: Recall Lv.5 --- _ Shadyna: Rechargeable or enchanted items have their own MP pool, and having MP regeneration skill as enchantment refills the pool gradually, even if not equipped. As far as I know, skill-granting weapons, like my [Refinery Dagger], are the only way to have more than one skill on a weapon without it being a hybrid item. Meanwhile, [Alchemy] is the only item type that can invoke an active skill without smacking people. Even if has no [Recall], she can still use my tablet as it''s a furniture placed outside of my inventory, similar to how you don''t need [Minor Heal] to use potions. _ Shadyna: And I added MEN to it for good measure. I haven''t tested if it actually gives more MP to the item though. I just made it earlier today after all~ _ Miel: ¡­A teleport device¡­ _ Shadyna: Correct~ Maintenance-free too, because [Alchemy] items don''t break by usage like weapons and armors! _ Miel: Sateri-chan, please patch this exploit ASAP. _ Shadyna: No~ It''s working as intended~ _ Miel: But this is more powerful than expected, these hybrid items. Players think of them as trash because of the low stats, without exploring the hidden mechanics behind it¡­ She''s mumbling meta stuff. Immersion broken~ _ Shadyna: Oh well, please play with it as you please. I''m going to mine now. Surprisingly, she is still following me. We go to the far end of the cavern, where there''s nothing but a wooden door with a sign "Mining" above it. _ Miel (Party): Goodbye everyone, I''m going to be forced into manual labor for the rest of my life until my body is broken. _ Elri (Party): You are totally enjoying this aren''t you¡­ _ Shadyna (Party): How rude! I am not enslaving anyone~ If anything, it''s actually WORSE if she works in this area. On the other side of the door is a small hole leading down that can barely fit one person. A ladder and some shafts are keeping the hole from regenerating. _ Miel: Am I going to be spending the rest of my life down there? _ Shadyna: Of course not~ You will die if you go in there you know~ _ Miel: Is there a monster with¡­ _ Shadyna: There''s nothing down there. Please stop branding me as a ruthless dungeon master~ At the ceiling which is only a bit higher than the door, a "device" is installed. --- [ Kinetic Boring Excavator] - Creator: - Quality: - Type: , , , - Enhancement: 14 - Enchantment: - STR: 27 - PAT: 650 - Alchemy: Piercing Arrow Lv.5 --- _ Miel: A reverse personnel mine? _ Shadyna: A bow, probably? _ Miel: ¡­Probably? It is a weapon, with ammunition. However, I think it''s more akin to a cannon rather than a bow. I am not sure how Sateri would categorize the two weapon types, and I can name my crafted items after [Creation] reached level 5 so I don''t care~ Bows, or ranged weapons in this game, have this whacky enchanting pitfall similar to shields. Because arrows are the thing dealing damage, enchanted offensive skills on the bow do not apply. They do apply if you use the bow to whack the enemies. PAT and MAT of bow do increase the arrow''s total damage, for some unknown reasons. Sateri is re~ally wary of skill stacking huh. Please don''t nerf my stacked up gears~ [Alchemy] type because I want to use it without have to equip it, simple as that. [Construction] type is to keep it in place. [Piercing Arrow] is the ranged skill used for¡­ well, piercing the target. The damage ignores some defense, but that''s not what I''m after. _ Shadyna: It shoots these. I present her a cylinder that is smaller than the empty barrel of the excavator. It''s a quiver, a revolving quiver to be exact. The game doesn''t require crafting arrows one by one, thankfully. --- [ Quiver of Kinetic Rods] - Creator: - Quality: - Type: , , - Uses: 0/15 This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. - Enhancement: 17 - Enchantment: - STR: 33 - PAT: 910 - Alchemy: Refinery Lv.6 --- This is the main damage dealer, so I made sure to retry crafting a few times to get a good blessing from Sateri. Her RNG, specifically. _ Miel: ¡­That doesn''t look like a quiver at all. _ Shadyna: Un, I made it with a revolver''s cylinder in mind. Just more bullets, but the idea is the same~ I cannot let hold this, as its enchantment will become [Accelerate Bonus]. In other words, a big nerf. Recharging an enchanted weapon is expensive. It''s only one step behind from making consumable [Alchemy] items, requiring magic-related items as materials. While the basic crystals here can be used, my items are so powerful the number required to fully charge one is ridiculous. Too wasteful! The kitchen in Elri''s house burns through roughly a full crater of [Red Crystal] to recharge, by the by. And we were recharging it continuously during the crafting session. That was painful to remember¡­ [Enhance], and its use for repairing, is much cheaper. This "quiver" only requires about 30 [Red Crystal] to bring back to full 15/15 ammunition. That''s still a lot? No, that is way too cheap considering what I am going to use it for. _ Miel: So, does this shoot the¡­ bullets down the hole? _ Shadyna: Yup~ The quiver has [Refinery] so it can be used for mining. _ Miel: Would that only mine the ore it hits? Are the ore veins down there so rich you can sustain with only them? _ Shadyna: Of course not~ Unless RNG has decided to spawn one right at the bottom, I don''t think there''s a vein in the trajectory. _ Miel: Then¡­ how? _ Shadyna: These aren''t arrows or bullets. They are bombs~ If anything, I was more worried about the shafts down there getting destroyed in the blast, undoing my [Construction] work. Thankfully, that''s where the skill in the excavator comes in~ _ Shadyna: First, refill the quiver. [Enhance]~ Then, [ Kinetic Boring Excavator]! The excavator glows brightly then releases a "bullet" down the hole. Thanks to [Piercing Arrow], it will carve a hole down the terrain before¡­ *BOOM* ¡­Exploding thanks to the power of [Accelerate Power], which is activated on the bolt itself, not me running. If I equip the excavator and shoot, it will not activate. I wonder if it counts as an abuse¡­? After the first one, it''s fine to just continuously shoot because the new bottom is much, much deeper than before. *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* After 15 earth-shaking blasts of pure kinetic (probably wrong) energy, I can no longer move because of the massive amount of materials pouring into my inventory through [Refinery]. _ Shadyna: Because the blast is so big, it destroys terrain and every ore veins in the area. [Refinery] gives items directly to me so I don''t have to get down there and collect the ores¡­ I start throwing out trash materials down the hole which is now a perfect landfill site. Items in regenerated terrain are destroyed, unlike the [Grass] I planted around Gelly on my first day, which are supposedly cleaned up by raids. ¡­ probably isn''t thinking that I am a little girl puking out crystals that can fill up multiple containers, right? _ Miel (Party): Not just my body, I think my mind is getting completely and utterly destroyed piece by piece here. _ Mera (Party): So that''s what is into hm~ _ Shadyna (Party): What''s that supposed to mean?! I haven''t even done anything to you~ _ Melodyn (Party): You''re a throughout girl huh, . _ Shadyna (Party): Slander, this is slander I am telling you~! _ Choruse (Party): Your sacrifice to sate ''s hunger will not be forgotten, . _ Elri (Party): Why do I feel like my sanity is also sacrificed by being in this party¡­ < you Sateri-damned thieving jerk!!!> That was out of nowhere! _ Shadyna (Party): Who¡­ _ Miel (Party): That sounds like , the lolicon guildmaster. _ Choruse (Party): Not my fault. I don''t know what happened, but it''s your fault for sure!!! _ Shadyna: Dumped all the weaker materials. Let''s get back~ Should I need more metals, I can use the trash crystals to refill the quiver then shoot another 15 rounds of explosion until I am satisfied. The dumping of trash is mind-numbing though¡­ Besides, this area only has a few types of veins. I will have to setup the excavator in other biomes too. The [Recall Tablet] might come in handy here. Putting the ores into storage, we harvest the trees peacefully. I might be able to harvest them all using the same method as mining, but it will destroy my fields and trees so it''s rejected! _ Shadyna (Party): Why~ _ Hessy (Party): You are seriously asking that? _ Miel (Party): It is typical to gain power-ups using young girls as sacrifices. _ Shadyna (Party): I am not sacrificing anyone~ _ Nerin (Party): Do , and qualify as young girls to begin with? They are, you know, elves. _ Choruse (Party): Half dark elf, mind you. _ Nerin (Party): Same thing. Your age is never below 100. _ Elri (Party): Asking a lady''s age is rude. Young ladies don''t have to worry about telling their age though. _ Shadyna: Hmm~ What to do now~ I don''t want to spend all the time gathering crafting materials, and trees don''t grow instantly. _ Miel: Go on a world-ending adventure? _ Shadyna: I am a sightseeing pacifist! *Sighs* I wish raids weren''t so crowded¡­ I wanted to enjoy the dark scenery too¡­ _ Miel: Apart from the darkness, there''s not much change in the environment during raids. Unless you consider monsters part of scenery. _ Shadyna: The fauna changes during raid? I haven''t thought much about it, but it wouldn''t be strange for creature spawns to change. Otherwise the existing creatures will mix up with the horde, and it will look kind of weird. _ Miel: They disappear and get replaced by a corrupted counterpart. If you use [Inspect] on bosses you will see different names, so they are different monsters. _ Shadyna: Oh~ So even the [Laetque Eye] changes into something else? ¡­Wait a minute¡­ If the [Laetque Eye] is the magic part¡­ _ Miel: Yes, it becomes [Infectious Scarred Vallen Eye]. The "power" eye. So that''s the other eye!!! _ Miel: You are familiar with [Laetque Eye]? _ Shadyna: Un~ I played around with it the other day. Was intending to ask where the other was, but I kept forgetting! _ Miel: was also curious, since [Inspect] implied them being parts of a "god". We walled off the area then defeated it during the first week, but nothing happened. It was too good to be true huh~ I wonder if Sateri has not implemented it? The "god" part is too eye-catching to be just lore fluffs! _ Shadyna: I am going to check out that boss then~ _ Miel: Right now? Why not next raid with a party for safety? _ Shadyna: If I go with everyone a lo~t of killings will happen. As a pacifist I don''t want that~ And cease that dumbfounded expression already, ! _ Shadyna: You should stay here. I will be back really quick! Even if I said "check out", it''s not like I will be fighting it. I just want to use [Inspect] on it! My [Inspect] is level 4 by the way. I have been training it properly, but the insanity-inducing skill just takes too long to train!!! I go back to the basement using [ Recall Tablet - Basement] to grab my DEX gear. With my flower rune, I have over a few thousand HP so I shouldn''t die to stray hits. Back to the cavern, I run towards the flooded entrance. Half speed underwater sucks, but with my SPD and [Unstopping Hero] title, I will be fine if I accelerate now. *SPLASH* I jump right into the water and swim into the lake. _ Miel (Party): no longer wants my body¡­ _ Nerin (Party): I don''t think she''s interested in the first place. _ Elri (Party): I''m scared to think what her interests are¡­ _ Miel (Party): Exhibitionism, I wager. Are you people trying to drown me?! The moment I emerge, several pitch black monsters turn to me. Welp. _ Shadyna: [Leap]! Did you really think I would let you guys swarm me until I reach the shore? Too bad, I have a way to clear unfavorable distances now! Before crafting the tablets, I was running between Tyrel and the valley whenever I need to get more materials. There were aggressive creatures along the way, but never this many! It is no doubt a horde. No wonder why Elri had so many corpses lying around in the last raid~ ¡­Let''s have everyone dismantle later. I dread having to do it alone now that the potential corpse count skyrocketed, thanks to my own crafting. Even so, I am so fast this amount of mobs don''t matter. More importantly, I have to make sure I do not crash into them to avoid dealing damage! Whenever there''s no gap between monsters, I use [Leap] to jump over them. Jumping normally works too, but it''s slower so they have a bigger window to hit me. Not that the "slower" really matters at my current speed, mind you. However, I still have to keep it in mind for when it actually makes a difference. It takes less than a minute from the lake to the woods where the [Laetque Eye] lived. Now then, what does it look like~ The trees are dyed black. The flowing "colors" now look like an oily lake flowing outwards. Everything looks black or purple during raid huh¡­ said environment doesn''t change much, so this black liquid is definitely serious business! And there it is, the jet black sphere floating menacingly¡­ Not really menacingly, just that the fight with its counterpart makes me more cautious of it. Same as before, chunks start dropping, revealing its "iris". I was hoping it would be a reversal of the [Laetque Eye] and have shining white iris, but nope, it''s glowing purple! Right, it''s not [Vallen Eye], but [Infectious Scarred Vallen Eye]. So¡­ it''s wounded? Anyway, [Inspect]! [Infectious Scarred Vallen Eye: The former right eye of an ancient god. It used to hold the "power" while the holds the "magic". Corrupted by darkness, its festering wounds never healed, causing endless pain and suffering.] Does this count as a tragic backstory? I saw [Laetque Eye] so it''s referred directly now huh. Maybe that''s why didn''t see [Unstopping Hero] when she inspected my [Accelerate Power]. Anyway~ It looks like this one is no longer considered an eye of the god, since it''s corrupted. _ Shadyna (Party): Does anyone know how to cure corruption~? _ Hessy (Party): It''s not a day in your party without you spouting random topics huh. _ Shadyna (Party): I''m serious here~ _ Nerin (Party): Lore-wise, corruption can only be removed with divine magic. We don''t even know what qualifies as divine. _ Mera (Party): It doesn''t seem to be healing or light magic though~ I tried healing a raid boss, but it was actually healed and the tanks got murdered~ _ Miel (Party): Don''t remind me of it, you crazy woman. Right, was probably included in the tanks if these waitresses were to fight a boss. _ Mera (Party): How cold~ Even though I resurrected everyone so you can die again and again and again~ Why do I feel like she was resurrecting without stopping the healing on the boss¡­ So light magic is out huh. The rings formed by the chunks do not cast spells on me. They are spinning like a fan and slamming on me as if I''m an insect! There''s no [Physical Resistance] so I am not getting hit on purpose this time! *WHAM* *WHAM* It''s so monotonous in attack patterns it''s scary! A lot of rings and all they do is falling on my position repeatedly one by one. After some time the thought of getting squished by those are worse than the damage itself! And then there''s the horde to think about. They are rushing over here, to become collateral damage as the boss misses me and whacks them instead. Despite dealing no damage, I have caused quite a carnage to the enemies. It''s the boss''s fault, not me, okay? When we say "divine", a god is probably required. But I need "divine" to restore this "god". What''s with this vicious cycle?! _ Hessy (Party): Oh, raid''s over. Thank Sateri-chan this is a shorter one¡­ _ Mera (Party): Aw~ We were just getting started too~ The area is getting brighter. Glorious sunlight shines upon the horde, burning them to ashes. What a sight to behold. Luckily I cannot smell in-game, or this might be like napalm. It doesn''t burn the boss for some reason!!! The [Vallen Eye] still relentlessly orders its ring limbs to attempt crushing me. The raid mobs not burnt by the sun get "friendly"-fired by the rings anyway. For the few ranged mobs outside the friendly-fire zone, they are annoying so I have Gelly pulverize them. My beast has grown so much¡­ Mostly thanks to the gear I made for it~ _ Miel (Party): Should we go back to town, ? _ Shadyna (Party): Un. I am not here to fight, please just ignore those dead ranged mobs. Moreover, I have no way to deal with the corruption on this eye. Tactical retreat is the most suitable course of acti¡­ During the raid, it was so dark and chaotic, I did not notice. The [Vallen Eye] did not spawn at the center of the battleground, but significantly to one side. Now that the raid is over, the opposite side is the spawn point of the other one. The [Laetque Eye]. _ Shadyna (Party): Uh oh¡­ _ Elri (Party): Shouldn''t whatever problem you have happen during the raid instead of after? Can''t you do anything like a normal person? That snark was uncalled for, Elri~ This problem occurs exactly because the raid is over! Revealing its black iris, [Laetque Eye] starts blasting its spells at me. Unexpected dual boss fight has begun!!! Since the [Vallen Eye] was corrupted, I was hoping [Laetque Eye] would attack it. Nope, too bad, the player is always the highest priority target even if enemies are of different factions! Double the attacks, more than double the pain! The physical rings dropping around me become obstacles, making it harder for me to dodge the magical rings. Thankfully I am much, much faster compared to our first fight. *WHACK* Youch!!! A stray wooden needle hits me from a blind spot, created by a physical ring. That''s exactly what I''m worried about! Over 200 HP lost. It''s over 3 times the damage I took last time!!! Sure, I am using DEX gear which is not adding to MDF, and my MDF is not even 1000 yet. Still, aren''t I supposed to be a bit overpowered even without gear?! My current HP can only take a dozen of those attacks! Maybe it''s time to blast these two eyes to smithereens using Gelly¡­? Dual bosses are either requiring to defeat both in a small time window, or the remaining one getting a big power-up after one dies. Wait, calm down. I am doing pacifist run here. Old habits, chill. I can''t keep running forever like this though. Not that my speed is inadequate, but the [Vallen Eye] is creating too many blind spots where I will get hit due to inattention. For now, let''s run between them. The distance between them is not far, and since [Laetque Eye]''s rings stay close it, I can try to get a few friendly fire incidents as a small evasion will make the projectiles slam straight into [Vallen Eye]. Doesn''t sound much like a pacifist after all huh¡­ As before, [Laetque Eye] continuously stares at me like a creep as I move. So does [Vallen Eye]. Double the eyes, double the uneasiness! _ Miel (Party): , are you alright? Do you need help? Seems like she''s worried because I have been saying nothing after the "Uh oh". _ Shadyna (Party): Really busy, can''t speak. I jump right into the center of the area as planned. The eyes turn to me without fail. They stare at me, and as a result, each other. Pretty sure human eye can''t see the other eye like that. [Vallen Eye]''s rings are still dropping from above non-stop. However, [Laetque Eye] has ceased all offense. The magic-spitting rings loses all colors, reverting back to their pure white texture. They together form into a big circle in front of [Laetque Eye], with radius even larger than that of the boss''s. If that doesn''t scream "DOOM SPELL MAGIC CIRCLE", I don''t know what will. My cavern''s walls, maybe? Even though there''s nothing on the walls~ And the worst, or best, part, [Laetque Eye] is staring at the other eye, not me. ¡­Ah, so that''s how it is¡­ *WHACK* One of the ring slams on my head while I was busy doing monologue! What the heck, you little twat, can''t you see that monologue is a free action?! You had one job!!! Well, it looks like Laetque could not¡­ uh¡­ see that Vallen was corrupted. If these two are opposite of the other, [Vallen Eye] would have black outer shell and white iris. Because they were gluing to me, [Laetque Eye] never had direct line-of-sight to the corrupted purple iris until now. My not-so-pacifist behavior led to Laetque witnessing the true state of Vallen. As the result, the magic eye is charging its killing technique (probably) at the power eye. Considering their outer shells acting like a protective layer appearance-wise, does that mean for the sure-kill attack to actually do anything that is not total failure like in movies, it has to hit the corrupted iris to work? I have to stand "there", don''t I? The center of it all. *WHACK* *WHACK* With barely any space to maneuver, I get hit a few more times as [Laetque Eye] charges up. What is with this rough treatment towards a little girl?! Even if it''s only about 100 HP per hit, that still hurts! The doom circle shines so brightly it''s blinding. Yeah, have to run, now! _ Shadyna: [Leap]!!! I jump through the gigantic hoop of death, right in between it and [Laetque Eye] as everything turns to white. Not everything, but that gigantic white beam it''s unleashing is definitely flashy. [Vallen Eye] is completely engulfed in it, welp. Talk about overkill¡­ A shockwave blows me away from the area, out of the woods. I struggle to stand up as another massive ball of light appears in there. To have this many scripted events running, these bosses are something else huh¡­ Well, time to go in! [Warning: An has appeared. Caution is advised.] Now that I think about it, couldn''t I just stand behind [Laetque Eye] at the time and still achieve the goal of having [Vallen Eye] looking at it? ¡­Let''s not get stuck in the past, un. Chapter 21: Judgemental God Shadyna the puzzle master has unlocked a bonus boss fight! _ Hessy (Party): I shouldn''t be making baseless assumptions but¡­ , you don''t happen to know anything about that system message, right? _ Elri (Party): Still hung up about the old artist thingy? _ Hessy (Party): For the last time, it was ancient art user!!! In front of me floats a hu~ge mask. Or is it a totem? It seems to be a cylinder with a face on in, not unlike what you would see in an undeveloped tribal village. This seems to be a bit plainer though, only black and white in color. The eyes are there too, with contrasting color to their corresponding half. On my left, [Vallen Eye] is as black as ever in the white background. In the same way, [Laetque Eye] is on the right, now back to staring at me. Honestly, I expected a bit more from their true form. I don''t know, something at least vaguely humanoid? Sigh. [Inspect], counting on you. [All-seeing God Tenri Yassel: Ancient god known for their supreme sight. They can see through space and time, to the bottom of one''s history. Other gods relied on their observations of a soul''s good and bad deeds throughout life for judgement. Having witnessed countless mortals'' sins, they have decided that no one is innocent and could only look at wrongdoings in one''s past ever since.] I can see that the eye jokes are simply not going to stop as long as this thing lives. _ Tenri Yassel: S??????i??????????n???n???????e?????????r?????????,??????????????? ??????c?????????o??????????n?????????f????e??????????s???s???? ??????????????y????????????o??????u??????????r??????? ??????????c?????????r???i????????????m?????????e??????????.??????????? Now then, should I get the heck out of its sight? Being a bona fide pacifist with nothing but an unyielding wish for world peace, I have no business with a bonus boss. The puzzle was fun, but I don''t think there''s more now that it has transformed. Besides, it''s a totem with a :D face!!! There''s just no atmosphere for a fight at all!!! What the hell happened to your artistic sense when you designed this thing, Sateri?! Yup, to the opposite direction, charge! _ Tenri Yassel: [???????????T????e?????????l??????e???????????p???????o????????????r?????????t????????]??????????????? Out of a flashing light, the mask appears in front of me, similar to a [Recall] spell effect. Instant movement is cheating! And that coarse creepy voice is hard to hear, so stop it! _ Tenri Yassel: [??????????B??????a??????r????????????r????????????a????????????g???????????e???????]???????? Many, many sharp-looking bolts appear around the mask. They vary in colors, and not in a good way. Six elements covered in my [Elemental Resistance] aside, there are also bolts belonging to [Ailment], or status effects, type. [Dark Bolt] and [Light Bolt] are two of those. Don''t ask me why those two are considered status effects instead of elements. Maybe because there would be too many elements otherwise? *WHOOSH* Holy Sateri, those bolts are FAST! And not just magical bolts, I had visual on multiple metallic-looking bolts mixed in! If [Laetque Eye]''s bolts were like angry birds chasing after you, this stupid smiley mask is firing literal bullets! They are so fast there''s barely any homing. What is homing good for when you have enough projectiles to hit the enemy and all of their surroundings?! The only reason I''m not a pincushion yet is thanks to my speed. While I cannot outrun them like before, I have enough mobility to evade them by a hair''s width. It''s really, really bad, but I''m surviving. Worse, because the spells hit the ground almost immediately, the mask just throw them one after another without a pause. The missed attacks leave a small hole on the ground. It cannot compare with my excavator by any means, but a crater on terrain means they have good attack power. My current equipment cannot deal with this!!! They are for fast, mobile maneuver, not blocking anti-tank warheads!!! [Summon]! On the other hand, Gelly, who does not have [Unstopping Hero], does not need switching gear every 5 minutes. It''s a weak creature, and its number of equipment slot reflects that: Only 1 armor slot and 4 rune slots in total. There''re not enough slots to make it a good tank¡­ Sigh. I did make proper equipment for it though. Not as strong as Hessy or Elri''s runes, but they were specialized for accompanying me, and at [Masterwork] quality. --- [ Booming Hard Candy] - Creator: - Quality: - Type: , , , , - Enhancement: 17 - Enchantment: - PAT: 900 - SPD: 90 - STR: 33 - Furniture: Accelerate Bonus Lv.5 - Alchemy: Slam Lv.6 --- --- [ Pudding of Life] - Creator: - Quality: - Type: , , , - Enhancement: 17 - Enchantment: - SPD: 90 - STR: 33 - Food: + 400% Attr + 50% HP + 50% MP - Alchemy: + 200% Stat + 500 HP + 700 MP --- Sorry, I was hungry in both game and real life when I made it. Gelly has no weapon slot, so I uh¡­ bypassed it using the armor slot. I haven''t check if it would count. The attack using [Alchemy] certainly will though. If all goes as planned, Gelly''s damage will be at least 5 digits. The runes have full [Cooking] and [Alchemy] buffs, in case we are separated. I have my own rechargeable items in inventory, so no worries. Should use them before I get killed, ahaha¡­ The remaining ones include [ Recharging Mint Candy] with [Enchant] as [Alchemy] skill to recharge the Hard Candy when it runs out. [ Spicy Rocket Candy] has [Slam] to add more damage even though it wouldn''t have weapon PAT bonus. [ Eternal Bubbling Gum] has level 0 [Minor Heal] but always activating as long as it has MP. Why the level 0 [Minor Heal]? It consumes the least MP, so [Absorbing Surface] actually keeps up with it, making it a perpetually activating [Alchemy] item. Gelly''s here, so I don''t have to worry about dying too fast anymore. [Shared Fate]! Activate all buff items! Okay, let''s counteratt¡­ *BOOM* I got blasted away by an unlucky fireball. There was not enough space to evade when it just spam spells all around me!!! We land face first onto the ground. If this was real life both of us would have been seriously hurt! And what the heck is that rude and (not really) sudden attack! When someone gets a power-up, you are supposed to let them have the first hit, not hit them first! Only after that are you supposed to either die horribly or laugh it off depending on difference in level. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Please redo your bosses'' designs, Sateri~ _ Tenri Yassel: [???????????T????e?????????l??????e???????????p???????o????????????r?????????t????????]??????????????? It appears above me. Isn''t this bad? With all the buffs I have, I have over 10k MDF. Yes, not 100, but 10000. And that''s not even my defense gear. That fireball alone¡­ dealt over 4000 to my HP! If it wasn''t for the overpowered buffs bringing me to over 20k HP, I would have been deader than dead! ¡­Rather than my SG titles, aren''t the [Cooking] and [Alchemy] buffs even more powerful when used together? Sateri would probably nerf them once she sees what I am doing right now. 20% HP is no problem, but if I get hit by all of the spells I will definitely be dead. _ Tenri Yassel: [???????I??????????m??????????p????????????a????????c??????????t?????]??????.?????????? The weird mask dives straight onto us! I throw Gelly out of the area. If we both get hit the [Shared Fate]''s damage split will be useless. *WHAM* _ Shadyna: ACK! I''m not dead, but currently in a crater made by the attack. What are you, a meteor?! Lost another 5k of HP from that. I don''t know if Gelly got hit or not, but this seems to be the trademark slow but powerful attack. If I hadn''t been blasted by the sheer power of the fireball, I could have easily gotten out of the way and still had a second or two for monologue! This is the first time I receive such a heavy hit huh? ''s long rod was powerful, but I never got directly hit by it. I wonder what skill Hessy used back then to avoid getting flung out of position¡­ More importantly, when are you going to get off me you damn mask?! _ ???: [Charged Slam]!!! *WHAM* What''s happening out there¡­? That''s ''s voice right? All-seeing perverted mask finally lifts off and turns itself to presumably . The moment I have space to move, I roll myself out of the crater in the same direction. Reason being probably not having as much stats as me. LDR bonus on party members are only around 50 compared to Gelly''s 220 attribute increase and all that¡­ ¡­The total attribute points gets from me is still twice higher than that of the average level capped players. It wasn''t obvious when I run, but when SPD is in the thousands, I am pretty fast, as in I am probably rolling as fast as a formula 1 race car''s wheel!!! Weeee~ I stop just barely at the dumbfounded who is only a few meters from the boss. Was she impressed by my astounding rolling performance? Un, the waitress outfit is a long skirt, so there''s no such scene from this position like in some stories huh¡­ _ Shadyna: Heyo~ _ Tenri Yassel: [??????????B??????a??????r????????????r????????????a????????????g???????????e???????]???????? Let us greet each other first you dork!!! valiantly steps in between me and the incoming attacks with her hammer. Don''t do that, you''ll most likely die!!! _ Miel: [Fort]! [Shared Fate]! *BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM* She really plays as a tank in the party. There was no attempt to evade even one attack, as that defeats the whole purpose of body shielding thing. Back then, blocked Hessy''s attacks perfectly too, but his HP still dropped like a leaked pipe. is blowing the projectiles away (or up, depending on the type) with her hammer, but I am pretty sure she''s taking damage. [Miel - Apprentice waitress - HP: ===.......] Already down to one third. And that''s only half damage due to [Shared Fate]. She would have died otherwise. Okay, Gelly, screw it up! *WHAM* *WHACK* The little blob that was ignored by the boss charges it from the back. The body slam scored barely over 100k damage, while the [ Spicy Rocket Candy] activated for over 60k HP. That 900 PAT bonus made quite a difference huh¡­ Or is that the RNG at work? Being hit by a truck-in-blob-disguise, [Tenri Yassel] turns its back to us and begins hurling spells at my poor beast instead. [Shared Fate]! Too bad, Gelly is too small, so only 1 spell can hit it from all those attacks. Combined with its terrifying speed and rapid HP regeneration using [ Eternal Bubbling Gum], the boss cannot hit it frequently enough to before its HP becomes above 1. Survival and strategy meeting is vital, so for now Gelly will only roll in circles in front of [Tenri Yassel] to keep it busy. Finally, talking is a free action again! _ Miel (Party): Everyone, to the [Laetque Eye], now! We are fighting a boss at Magnus Bestia''s level. _ Hessy (Party): You are what now?! _ Mera (Party): But you will have ascended to the next world by the time we arrive~ _ Miel (Party): We won''t, so get over here! _ Shadyna: Whoops, I forgot to allow everyone to enter my mining base, so even with the tablet they won''t be able to [Recall] there. [Recall] can only be used on Tyrel or a player''s [Construction] that they have visited, so¡­ My tablet works for others because it''s MY [Recall]. I won''t be able to create a tablet to get to a location I haven''t gone to, for example. _ Miel: It couldn''t be helped. I will shield you with my body until the bitter end. _ Shadyna: As I said, I am not going to make you pay with your body¡­ Her delusions are really persistent. _ Shadyna: Besides, Gelly will buy us time. Let''s prepare ourselves for the time being. , stop that orz. _ Miel (Party): My body cannot compete against a wriggling blob of destruction¡­ _ Hessy (Party): Why are you still blabbering nonsense during boss fight?! Are you dead already? _ Shadyna (Party): We are not, for now at least~ _ Elri (Party): I''m going ahead first! Right, Elri has a speed bonus from using mount¡­ They''ll probably reach here in about 10 minutes, I think? It''s further than the forest, but their SPD are all above average thanks to my LDR bonus. _ Shadyna: , how much damage did you deal to the boss? I need to balance the damage output. Don''t want that mask to aim at the poor girl. Thanks for the tip on that, ! _ Miel: ¡­Zero. I didn''t have enough PAT it seems. ¡­Seriously? Your hammer has 800 PAT, and you couldn''t deal a single point of damage to it?! The damage difference is too great, which means¡­ _ Shadyna: Do you have [Cooking] and [Alchemy] buffs on you? _ Miel: [Heroic Inspiration Course] and standard 100% [Alchemy] buffs. In other words, the overpowered buffs, before I broke the crafting system. _ Shadyna: That won''t do~ Here, use this. I give her the rechargeable items in my inventory. They have same buffs as Gelly''s equipment. _ Miel: ¡­Should I comment anything on this? _ Shadyna: Feel free to~ Feedbacks are always welcomed, to help improve quality of the products~ _ Miel (Party): Why are we not nerfed to oblivion by Sateri-chan yet? That''s not feedback, it''s just a complaint!!! _ Hessy (Party): Are you even fighting at all?! Technically, we are, by the game''s standards. Now that has upped her status, I think we can strike back now. Pacifism? That only applies for enemies I can run away from! _ Shadyna: Oh wait, you don''t have killing techniques¡­ _ Miel: ??? _ Shadyna: Gelly can do that damage because of a special skill. Without it you will be dealing¡­ uh¡­ less than 10k damage? [Accelerate Bonus] gives a damage multiplier based on the skill level. Gelly''s equipment stacks it to level 16, so without that it will only deal 4-6k damage. That''s enough to kill [Merexxa] a few times over, but not enough in this case. I can make her a new hammer, but I will need to return to base to grab the ingredients¡­ Currently, I only have enough for [Enhance] and [Enchant] with what I have on me. There''s not enough to craft a new weapon-furniture hybrid¡­ This is all because metals are so heavy I cannot bring a lot at all times!!! _ Miel: I don''t really get it, but wouldn''t any kind of damage better than nothing? _ Shadyna: *Sigh* you are right. Though I want you to have the damage to solo it¡­ Gelly is too busy with operation Rolling Menace after all. _ Miel: If it helps, my hammer is actually a thrower weapon. _ Shadyna: ¡­Excuse me? _ Miel: It is my means of ranged combat. I use it to throw [Alchemy] explosives, or arrows, if I am desperate¡­ I pull out the empty [ Quiver of Kinetic Rods] from inventory. _ Shadyna: Including this? _ Miel: That I can throw. Nice. If I use [Enchant] her hammer without specialized gear, I can probably get it to level 5 at most. A free level 10 is much better, and she''ll have both PAT from the rods and her hammer too! _ Shadyna: Please throw it at the enemy after using [Leap] or while running. Give it back to me when it''s empty. _ Miel: Got it. I''ll have to craft it again later though, because of skill downgrade¡­ _ Shadyna: Okay, commence attack! Waiting for reinforcements? What''s that? The best defense is an overwhelming offense! A metal rod appears in ''s hand. She tosses it into the air then swings her hammer at it like a bat! Sateri, why the heck is that a thing?! 20k, 50k, 30k¡­ The damage range is wild. Now that I have a look at the boss''s back, my impression of it drops even further. Turns out this thing is not a circular cylinder. It''s actually elliptic, and its back is also a mask, but its eyes are closed. ¡­And it has a D: expression. Sigh, this thing is just two badly-made masks gluing together. _ Tenri Yassel: [???????I??????????m??????????p????????????a????????c??????????t?????]??????.?????????? It''s dropping down again! _ Shadyna: Get out of its AoE, now! currently has no [Shared Fate], so she has to be extra careful. Gelly, no point in evading anymore. Slam it! *WHAM* *WHACK* 160k and 16k. Is there any skill to reduce the RNG?! *WHAM* Using superior running speed, and I escaped the AoE safely. Yikes, the range is even greater than I thought. The whole area for [Laetque Eye] was blown up with that. Not that anyone can see where that area is right now, since all trees have been destroyed by the first AoE. Gelly was hit, but nothing it cannot handle. _ Shadyna: All-out assault! _ Miel: Understood! Gelly stops avoiding and focuses on attacking. Have to keep dealing damage to keep aggression away from ! ¡­ Anticlimactic 500k damage later, [Tenri Yassel] floats wa~y up. About 20-30 meters? _ Miel: Keep attacking? _ Shadyna: Wait, let''s try to get away. It might be preparing powerful spells. Spread out! We all run in different directions. If it unleashes a beam of death only one will get hit, hopefully. _ Tenri Yassel: B??????e?????????g??????i?????????n???????????? ??????j?????????u???????????d??????????g???????e??????????m????e???????????n???????????t????????????.???????? ???[?????????????W????????????o???????r?????????????????l???????????d????????????? ?????????R??????????????e??????c????????????o??????????r????????????d?????]?????????????.??????????? A light as bright as the sun blinds us. If that isn''t a next-stage transformation, Sateri should really read some manga afterward¡­ The artificial mini sun suddenly turns into glowing purple, the same color as corrupted [Vallen Eye]''s iris. At the same time, our surrounding area also becomes darker, similar to a raid. I take my words back, Sateri. This transformation scene is kind of overdoing it!!! Shouldn''t you reserve this kind of thing for the last boss?! _ Tenri Yassel: H??????????????a??????????r??????????m????????????????.???? It''s falling like a meteor again!!! *WHAM* The impact zone was really, really big. If I have to guess, it''s about as big as [Laetque Eye]''s full attack range, which is a lot bigger than the woods around its spawn point. What the heck is this unescapable attack?! _ Miel: I lost 7k HP. _ Shadyna: That''s way better than us! We lost 15k! We have to do something, because the next one will turn us into a 10k overkill bonus! The second stage for the bonus boss fight has begun! ____________ The waitress corps gained new fans as they saved Tyrel from the total destruction. As the result, everyone is flooding the tavern to have a chance of meeting the heroines in person. That, and players have to get their buffs again after the defense. To their dismay, the tavern is not open. _ Tippe: has gone somewhere too¡­ _ Maximus: That was not enough of a beating for you?! _ Ignar: Guess it''s back to lunch box then¡­ A particular gothic Lolita comes rushing to the crowd. It is rare for this person to even be here, as the waitresses are not of her taste. _ Vladina: Does anyone knows where the waitresses went to?! _ Olkan: Did you finally realize the greatness of ample chests? Another pervert is also here, even though he knows the bartenders will murder him later. _ Vladina: Says the person waging war over a little girl. More importantly, I need to know where they went! _ Mage: I think I saw the dark elven sisters going south? _ Olkan: went south too, probably? She left so fast I didn''t even get a chance to ask. _ Vladina: Grab your best fighters, . We are chasing after them! _ Olkan: What, you think they are going to fight whatever in the system message or something? _ Vladina: Why else would they be in such a rush right after?! Hurry up! They might even get more absurd after killing it! _ Olkan: Crap! Give me a sec, I''ll call my guys! _ Knight: Nononono, if gets even stronger my body won''t last to enjoy the beating!!! As always, everyone got their priorities straight. _ Maximus: We''ll join too. _ Tippe: Max?! _ Maximus: If you want to kill-steal them you''ll need as many as you can. _ Ignar: We are already resorting to that huh¡­ _ Tippe: Seeing how was fighting, I am certain we have no other option¡­ _ Spearman: I for one will join for a chance of them beating me senseless!!! The players working at the teahouse and the bar are not happy having to distribute food for these perverts, even if the money comes from the guilds'' treasuries! Chapter 22: Judgement of god Party leader Shadyna is leading an extra boss fight! Like a pro-wrestler, the weird mask named [Tenri Yassel] body-slammed the earth. The shockwave from that is nigh impossible to escape unless you are already at maximum range. Now, how do I deal with this¡­ Ah, its appearance changed too. As expected of a second-stage transformation. To my left, the mask changed the expression to the D: which was on its back. [Vallen Eye] is unhappy huh. [Laetque Eye]''s half is still the :D though. Honestly, no matter what expression it has, I still think it''s creepy and weird as heck¡­ The face now has the purple "veins" running all over. Is it getting corrupted? Divine, pure and incorruptible beings more often than not have that problem. Weird, right~? My racial title, [Halfblood], indicated that I was vulnerable to darkness. I wonder if that darkness was referring to this corruption? If I can customize the corruption marks, it may actually look good as tattoos! Okay, back to the fight at hand¡­ _ Tenri Yassel: [???????K?????????a??????????r????????m????????a?????????? ???????????S????????h???????o?????????????w????????e?????????r??????]?????.????????? Without teleporting like before, it starts throwing spells in all directions! Indiscriminate bombardment is a war crime!!! At least it''s not the unavoidable attack, for now. _ Shadyna: Run to the boss! _ Miel: Not away from it?! _ Shadyna: Yes, get close to it! I have an idea! Our previous strategy would not work because it just attacks everyone. Spreading out just increases our chance of getting hit. On the upside, the projectile density somewhat decreases. It''s easier for me to evade as I run around it. We closed the distance in a few seconds, thanks to our SPD. Gelly can easily avoid the spear-shaped spells right now, so I switch [Shared Fate] to . _ Shadyna: , do that [Fort] skill! We will take cover behind you! _ Miel: Understood. [Fort]! Ideally, I would like to be the shield myself. But¡­ well, there''s this thing called height difference¡­ Thanks to deflecting attacks, Gelly and I are completely safe from harm. Stabilizing the situation is the first step after a boss transformed! _ Shadyna: Don''t worry about HP. I have it covered. There''s a chance will get hit by 2 or more spells at the same time, so I cannot count on [Shared Fate] to keep her alive. Instead, I use my food potion hybrid items to keep our HP above 50% at all times. Thanks, food''s percentage-based healing! It also has no buffs, so use count is pretty high. Even if it outpaces [Absorbing Surface], I do have enough [Enchant] materials to recharge it for a while. That leaves Gelly as our main offense. _ Shadyna: Gelly, go~ It rolls menacingly towards the mask like a bowling ball. That''s a massive upgrade from the menacing wriggling back then, un. I''m not going to let it run around the boss. No [Shared Fate] and all that. Instead, it will roam directly below that mask. Did not see that blind spot coming huh, you see-everything pervert! *WHACK* *WHAM* *WHACK* Not having to avoid explosions, Gelly goes ham on the mask-crushing hopping of doom. It seems our damage decreased after the transform, which is to be expected. Gelly having space to keep the top speed at close range is more than enough to make up for it though. Death by thousand cuts, the ultimate fate for bonus bosses because you are not supposed to one-hit them. _ Tenri Yassel: C?????????r?????????????u????????e?????????????l??????????t???????????y????????.?????? It''s floating up again! _ Shadyna: Gelly, get back! , go full offense! _ Miel: Got it. _ Shadyna: [Creation]! The menacing blob rolls back to behind me while shells the boss with rods of destruction. Gelly can hop high, but not THAT high. _ Miel: Incoming! _ Shadyna: On it! As returns from the attack run, I place a crystalline door in front of her. Yes, a door. [Expendable Door] It''s not even a hybrid item. Just an extraordinarily ordinary door. I managed to put five more doors in a straight line before having to retreat to behind . Cease that confused look already, . *BOOM* Doors break down one by one as the shockwave sweeps through the area. _ Miel: ¡­No damage? There was damage, just that the door took the hits instead. I wouldn''t be surprised if Sateri patches this later. _ Shadyna: Now! Before it barrages us again! _ Miel: Will do! As plays baseball, I grab Gelly and run forward. I hate undodgeable attacks! That''s bad design especially for speed-based builds like me! Any objection to me being speed-based is overruled! _ Shadyna: Gelly PUNCH! It''s been a while since I last threw Gelly at a living target huh. *WHAM* ¡­1 million damage? Isn''t that a little too low for [Accelerate Power]? I have almost 3k SPD with 17k PAT. Even with just raw stats I was expecting at least one more zero in that number. I mean, sure, that is 5-10 times more damage than Gelly''s attacks, but it''s definitely off. Gelly has a x16 multiplier, and somehow my x3000 multiplier is dealing¡­ that kind of damage? ¡­Sateri, did you nerf my [Accelerate Power] when I wasn''t looking? _ Tenri Yassel: M??????????u????????r???????d????????e??????????r????????????.????? It has more than 1 million HP huh. Its first form probably had roughly that amount too¡­ It''s flying upwards again. Is it not using spells before body-slamming? That makes things easier for me! _ Shadyna: , after it lands we will charge it in melee range. [Creation]! She won''t miss when it occupies the whole view! Take that, big size! No offense to you, Hessy, Elri. _ Miel: Understood. I don''t know if it still has any trump cards. Rather than waiting for its demonstration, I would rather finish it off as soon as possible so I can go back to exploring the world. Door placement completed! 5 doors are enough to block all the multi-hit shockwave it seems. I added 3 more in case of power-ups! *BOOM* _ Shadyna: Gelly punch~ *WHAM* Another 1 million. _ Tenri Yassel: B????????e????????t?????????r?????????a???????????y????a????????????l?????.????????? Before could reach it, it floats up again. Is it me or the corruption surface on the mask seems to be spreading? _ Shadyna: , come back for now. [Creation]. Gelly also comes back too, but I don''t need to speak to order it. We all retreat a bit because I need to run before throwing my cute blob. _ Miel: I think it''s using that attack after a certain amount of damage. _ Shadyna: Un, we need another way to charge it before it can fly. _ Miel: ??? _ Shadyna: Just leave it to me~ _ Miel: Should I prepare a cutesy scream for whatever you are preparing? _ Shadyna: You can do that?! Her voice is soft, and even when agitated she uses a barely louder voice. It''s hard to imagine her going "Kya~" like Mera¡­ Actually, Mera doing that was surprising in a different way. *BOOM* Seeing the doors getting broken up seems like a waste¡­ I wonder if I can figure something out later to change this. But for now¡­ _ Shadyna: , run forward! _ Miel: Right away. I grab Gelly and run sideways. For [Accelerate Power], I don''t have to run at the enemies. It''s my current speed that matters. _ Shadyna: Gelly mortar! Instead of throwing like before, I lob Gelly upwards. It should land somewhere on top of the mask if I calculated correctly. With that, I dash to intercept ''s path. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. _ Miel: Eh? No time to explain, sorry~ I grab her arm and do a spinning, like what ballet dancer does with their partner. Spinny spinny go~ Except that I throw her at the boss after the spin instead of just letting go. Firing cannon~ Weeee~~ Blergh, spinning while running like that was nauseous even if this was just a game. Let''s not do that again. Wobbly, wobbly¡­ _ Miel: Kya. That monotone cry is out! In what standard is that considered cutesy?! [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Mancannon"] ¡­You are watching this aren''t you, Sateri? [Mancannon: The one who weaponizes mankind literally. Sentient beings used as ranged weapon create a physical area-of-effect impact. The effect does not harm the live projectile.] ¡­I don''t know the rank of this title, but I can definitely feel the snark in it. Sateri, you bully~ *WHACK* *WHAM* *BOOM* Gelly landed first, then also crashed into the mask and exploded. What the heck this is B-rate comedy action movie¡­ And that AoE is a separate attack, according to the damage number. My pacifist status! Quickly checking the records, it looks like there was no damage dealt by me. Whew, safe! Right, the "bullet" is the one creating the impact. In other words, is responsible for that damage. Good for you, ! You just dealt over 3 million damage in the span of a few seconds! I''m surprised [Accelerate Power] still affected it. Let''s not question it too much, un. ¡­Wait, 3 million? Why is there one more than expected? Where did that attack come from? Various cracks appear on the mask. They run all across along with the corruption veins, resulting in a not-so-pleasant-to-look-at surface. And that''s not mentioning the light shining out of those cracks. Yeah, the mask is done for. The "transform by breaking out of egg shells" clich¨¦ only works if it happened before the battle. At this timing? It''s going to be the "Breaking apart into pieces" cut-scene! Once more, light engulfs us. This boss sure shines like an overcharged flood light! ____________ _ Fuelri: , ! I''ve come to he¡­ As the young cavalry girl arrives at the valley, she encounters a blinding light from her destination. It spreads throughout the whole valley in a flash, without warning. Once it dies down, finds herself in a different place. She did not move per se, it''s just that the valley has transformed into a totally different area. The red crystalline trees are gone. The semi-reflective ground is gone. Herbivore fauna with sharp edges made of crystals are also gone. All that''s left is a big lake filled with a glowing rainbow-colored liquid that runs as far as the eyes can see. There''s barely any place to walk on except for occasional landmasses connected by extremely narrow sandy walkways. _ Fuelri: What. The. Heck?! If the new terrain below her had been the water surface instead of an island, she would have sunk by now. Her heavy armor and giant drake are probably not the best for staying afloat. [An has been subdued. The world has been irreversibly changed.] _ Fuelri: Say that before terraforming the whole place!!! A verbal battle using [World Voice] has erupted. ____________ and I are surrounded by white light. Yeah, totally no d¨¦j¨¤ vu whatsoever. I totally have no similar memory of such environment during my character creation not that long ago. _ Shadyna: ¡­I demand a refund. _ Miel: That would be fighting the boss again. Are you sure about that? In front of us hover the [Vallen Eye] and [Laetque Eye], no longer corrupted, and without the whole mask thingy. Should I throw Gelly at them? It''s here with us too. _ Vallen Eye: G????????u?????i???????l?????t????????y?????.???????? _ Laetque Eye: I???????n??????n?????o????c????e?????n???????t???????.??????? Could you two take turns to speak? Your voices are already hard to listen to. I have no idea what you are saying if you speak at the same time! _ Vallen Eye: M???????o????r???t????????a???l??????s?????,??????? ???????d???????e???????s??????p??????a???????i?????r??????.???????? _ Laetque Eye: M????????o?????r????t?????a???????l????????s???????,?????? ???????h?????o???????p??????e???????f???????u????????l????????.????????? Sigh. Can I leave now? _ Miel: This will be fun trying to understand what they say¡­ Please don''t get enjoyment out of that. People will see you as a certain type of pervert. _ Vallen Eye: F????????u??????t?????u?????????r????e??????,???? ??????d???????a????r????????k????.????? _ Laetque Eye: F???????u????t???????u?????r???????e???,?????? ????????b??????r???i??????g?????h?????t??????.???? I wonder where we are. The map says it''s somewhere near Tyrel. Using the command to get my current coordinates has the same result. _ Vallen & Laetque Eye: C???????a?????n???????n??????o???t??????? ?????d??????e?????c?????????i??????d??????e??????.???????? ?????E????????n??????t????r??????u???????s????t?????? ??????t?????o??????? ?????m????o???????r??????t???a???????l?????s????.???????? ?????O??????u???????r????? ???????f??????r??????a????g???????m?????e??????n?????t?????s??????,????? ???????k????????e??????e???????p?????? ?????w????a??????t?????c???h?????????.????? Spouting nonsense like what a non-human boss would do, the eyes fade away into nothingness, leaving behind two¡­ spheres? One is pure white, the other is pitch black. Don''t ask me how I can see the white one in this whiteness. I just "see" that, okay? A big golden box appears between the stones. At last, the treasure chest!!! _ Shadyna: Should we open it? _ Miel: If we leave these items and someone finds out, the player base will never forgive us. It''s mandatory to pick up the loot?! [Laetque Stone of Innocence: The last fragment of . It manifested as finally found the true innocence of the world. Contains within the hope and divine magic of the former god.] [Vallen Stone of Guilt: The last fragment of . It manifested as witnessed the embodiment of sin dooming the world. Contains within the despair and divine might of the former god.] Extremely rare materials, get!? _ Shadyna: Let''s see what''s in the box, then we''ll distribute the loots. _ Miel: You can have all. I wasn''t doing anything. _ Shadyna: Don''t say that~ Only you and Gelly dealt any damage~ _ Miel: ¡­So you won''t even take responsibility. _ Shadyna: I have no idea what you are talking about~ [Received Summon Crystal (Symbiosis) x1] Okay, what do "Unformed" and "Symbiosis" mean? This is my first time getting them. _ Miel: [Symbiosis] indicates the creature being support. They do not have HP and cannot die, but cannot attack either. Tanks usually prefer them to actual summons because they usually come with healing and buffs. I have never seen "Unformed", unfortunately. _ Shadyna: Is that so. I''m giving it to you. _ Miel: After the one-night stand, I am now a single mother¡­ Is that what you should say in front of a young and innocent girl?! _ Shadyna: I have [At-will Beast User] title, so I cannot use summons from defeating enemies. ¡­I also don''t want a weird mask following me around, but that thought stays with me to the grave. _ Miel: I don''t mind raising it, but please provide child support. _ Shadyna: Yes, yes, I''ll craft good gear for it~ Talking with is really mentally damaging, but in a different way from Mera. A long conversation with both at the same time will most likely end with me going insane. _ Miel: , your face is expressive, so be careful. Welp. Okay, next item! [Received Skill scroll: Teleport (Binding) x1] [Received Skill scroll: Divine Impact (Binding) x1] [Received Skill scroll: Divine Barrage (Binding) x1] _ Shadyna: What''s "Binding" skills? _ Miel: They are skills you can use as normal, but others cannot get it using scrolls or equipment you create. Before SG rank was introduced, these are how Sateri-chan limited the users of rare skills. _ Shadyna: Oh~ _ Miel: Usually S-rank skills can only be acquired by these scrolls. One of these can buy ''s whole equipment set. _ Shadyna: ¡­In other words, about as expensive as my gear? _ Miel: ¡­I refuse to comment on that. _ Shadyna: Aw~ Since I have no use for most offensive skills, I get the [Teleport] scroll. It is similar to [Recall], without the Tyrel or player building requirement. It still needs a coordinate I have visited though. starts caressing her hammer as she learns [Divine Impact]. I sure hope it does not create a shockwave as big as the boss''s. She might just become a weapon of mass destruction who cannot distinguish between friends or foes! I also give the [Divine Barrage] to her. She can sell or give it to her friend as she sees fit. [Received Celestial Divine Plate (Tenri Yassel Artifact) x9] [Received Celestial Divine Edge (Tenri Yassel Artifact) x3] _ Miel: You can craft or simply use them to get the boss''s equipment series. The parties receiving the loots of the first border boss got a lot more of these I think. The big guilds'' leaders are all using equipment crafted by similar items from that border boss. _ Shadyna: Does Hessy have one of those? I have a hard time imagining her defeating without having similar equipment. _ Miel: Only one. It''s her weapon. No wonder why she didn''t need new one when Elri offered her the salam¡­ drake''s loot~ _ Shadyna: Mind if I use them as crafting materials? I think my craft''s status will be better than letting RNG decides. After all, a random weapon probably will not have rune''s attribute bonus. _ Miel: It is fine. You can always get the piece back by dismantling the gear. It cannot be worn by someone else after equipping it once however. _ Shadyna: Oh, so it''s like binding skills, but for equipment. _ Miel: True. _ Shadyna: I think that''s all of the loot. _ Miel: Let''s go forward. We will be teleported back after a while. _ Shadyna: Okay~ Saying that, I kind of feel disoriented in this environment, since there''s pretty much nothing in here. I don''t even know if I''m actually moving forward! _ Shadyna: By the way, what did you do during the last attack? I got a title giving an additional attack, but that would only add up to two hits. _ Miel: ¡­I will tell you once you pay this month''s child support. _ Shadyna: Eh~ _ Miel: I''m half joking. Just promise me you won''t tell anyone else. Only half?! I''m just an unemployed little girl! How am I going to make money to support a weird mask?! And, the true nature of the mysterious third attack is¡­! [Warhead: The literal live ammunition. When used as a weapon, grants an additional attack ignoring all defenses. Nullifies all collision damage.] ¡­This and [Mancannon] will be our dark history for the rest of our virtual lives¡­ ____________ On an island devoid of trees, or pretty much anything, a party of two emerges from a bright light. _ Fuelri: What the hell were you doing?! Where''s the boss?! A certain drake rider was patiently waiting for them. Even if her way of talking might indicate otherwise, she did her best not to plow through the lake to find the little girl, who is still grinning like an idiot as usual. _ Shadyna: Elri~ Do you want a probably S-rank spell? _ Fuelri: ¡­What. _ Hessenria: After all we have seen, why are you still surprised by her antics? How was it, ? Getting dragged around by this unstoppable apocalypse, I mean. _ Shadyna: I''m a pacifist, not the end of the world~! _ Miel: She just used me as she wished until my body is all beaten up, then she threw me away like a ragdoll. Now I am raising a child by my lonesome self even¡­ _ Shadyna: Please get me a lawyer, I want to press charges for slander~! She was saying the truth, albeit a literal one! _ Nerin: Knowing , I trust her words as much as I would trust Mera''s. _ Shadyna: I know right~? _ Fuelri: A child? Did you get a summon? _ Hessenria: is getting used to it. _ Nerin: One can only endure so much before becoming desensitized¡­ _ Miel: I need a second. It seems I have to pick an appearance for it¡­ ¡­ for some reason is having a complicated expression, as if not sure what to think of the whole appearance selection thing. _ Shadyna: Where is this place, by the way? The ocean? And why am I not in the party anymore? _ Fuelri: ¡­You didn''t know? The valley got changed into this just now. _ Miel: The teleport kicked us out of the party, I assume. _ Shadyna: ¡­My base! Give me a second! Without an explanation, the little girl runs off to somewhere like a rocket. _ Mera: Oh my~ Too bad we don''t get to face a fitting adversary¡­ _ Nerin: How strong was it, ? The raid monsters are pushovers at our current strength now by the by. _ Miel: ¡­We are still not strong enough for these bosses. I will send footage later. _ Nerin: That''s a surprise, considering you defeated it before we could get here¡­ _ Miel: happened. _ Hessenria: *Sighs* She happened huh. While everyone is regretting their life decisions, runs back with a beaming smile. _ Shadyna: Somehow my base survived the terraform! But it''s going to be a pain to enter the traditional way though¡­ _ Fuelri: You¡­ built something outside of town? _ Shadyna: Un! It''s completely underwater, as before, but now there''s a big eel roaming at the front door! I hope it won''t turn into something scary and break the door during raids¡­ _ Fuelri: This damn idiot!!! _ Miel: I have chosen the form for the summon. Everyone, please move aside. I don''t know how big it''s actually is. _ Shadyna: Let''s hope it''s not as big as the island~ _ Miel: [Summon], Yassyl! ¡­ _ Hessenria: Small¡­ Contrary to all expectations, the summoned "creature" is only a little bit taller than the blob in ''s arms. And that''s not even a creature to boot. It''s a young girl with a weird black-and-white mask on the side of her head. She''s way too small to be a human. "Fairy" is the most likely description one would use for her. _ Shadyna: So cute~ _ Mera: Just like ''s preferences~ _ Nerin: Wouldn''t that be ''s, based on the reaction? _ Miel: Yassyl, [Form Switch]! The summon spins around a full circle, and her mask flies to the other side of her head. Her hair changes color from pure glossy black to sparkling silver. Even her beginner-like clothing switches its color as well. _ Shadyna: Cool~! _ Hessenria: What is this summon¡­ I have never seen one that allows appearance customization and multiple forms! _ Miel: It''s just choosing between some this girl, the boss''s original appearance, and a boy. I picked her considering ''s fondness of cute things. _ Shadyna: She''s the best! I love you, ! _ Miel: Child support is secured then. _ Fuelri: Does anyone in this party actually have the slightest bit of common sense?! It is all fun until Mera uses [Mass Recall] and everyone has to deal with the massive amount of corpses they got from the raid. ____________ The patrons shed tears of happiness when they see the waitresses returning to their usual posts. Happiness turns into surprise, which then turns into panic as the waitresses pull corpse after corpse out of their wagon for processing. It''s as if the whole horde was packed in that storage! _ Tippe: Just how many are there in that wagon?! _ Nerin: Illusive Sprout works in mysterious way. Don''t question it. _ Ignar: So, how was the big boss? _ Nerin: We didn''t get to fight it. It was dead by the time we came to the scene. _ Maximus: What, so it''s just trash boss? Why would Sateri-chan announce such weaklings'' appearance out loud? _ Nerin: Not weak. Illusive Sprout is just too strong. _ Maximus: That damn game-breaking brat should have been nerfed ten times already!!! --- Topic: Avitus Caelicola --- ## Fire mage of Justice So, this thing appeared and died before I could even create the thread! Anyone knows what''s the deal with this one? ## ## Nearseeing Sage I went on a wild goose chase but caught up to the players fighting it. Currently negotiating with them. For now I can tell you some info for free: - Name: Tenri Yassel - Appearance: [Pic] - Strength: Magnus Bestia level, most likely. ## ## Manly Warrior Magnus Bestia-like boss killed in mere minutes?! ¦²(?§¥?) Whoever did that needs some extensive rebalancing. ## ## Bountiful Hunter Ikr? (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß That and the waitresses rampaging during the raid too. The balance''s totally borked! ## ## CuteIsJustice On the other hand, this proved that you don''t need to have an army to fight special enemies in this game. Maybe one day I can defeat a boss of that level with my guildmates too! ## ------ Chapter 23: Tea(bag)house Shadyna the god slayer has been ambushed by perverts! Well, I was chilling in Hessy''s shop and helping out with the cooking because there were too many players needing buffs after the raid, just like what a cute little girl should do. Then and barged in! Despite all of their fights over body fat, they have been working with each other ever since the second Magnus Bestia appeared. That itself would have made a great story about friendship and cooperation against common enemies. However, because it''s these two, it has turned into a story about an alliance of perverts, at least for me! _ Vladina: Sprout is already judging us before we can say a word. , this is your fault. Am I really that expressive? Sateri, gimme an [Expressionless] title or something~ _ Olkan: Why?! Except for attempted kidnapping and murder I haven''t done anything to her! That''s only one step behind , you body fat pervert! _ Hessy: Dammit we are busy here! Go back to rebuilding the town if you have so much free time! Back to cooking~ _ Vladina: Wait! We are actually here for business! You killed the , did you not? Without a word, Hessy and (Who isn''t even supposed to work here!) step forward. Hessy, unequip that eye rune when you are indoors. , put that hammer away! Why are you two gearing up for combat?! _ Olkan: Welp. I told you we should have brought more fighters. _ Vladina: In which case they would murder us on sight, idiot! Please calm down, I just want to buy some information, not starting another loot war! Did you guys seriously have one in the past?! A war, over loots?! After a moment of silence, the murderous waitresses finally decide to lower their weapons. ¡­Then again, as long as Hessy has her weapon equipped, she can blast [Dark Bolt] at full power even if the swords are not in her hands. _ Warrior: Aw man, I was getting ready for another PvP event! You random patron, don''t pour oil into the fire, along with a lit lighter and a gas canister just for good measures! _ Spearman: Couldn''t be helped. Everyone''s tired, and our mistress is so overpowered it''s just going to be a one-sided happy hour. ¡­Can I go home now? _ Hessy (Party): , go back to ''s house. We will handle this. _ Shadyna (Party): I don''t really get it, but please don''t die off-screen, okay? _ Hessy (Party): What the heck is that supposed to mean¡­ _ Shadyna: I''ll excuse myself then~ Have fun~ I dash out of the shop before anyone can stop me. Getting caught up in conversation equals certain doom, so I use my SPD to full effect! ____________ , min-maxer, PvP specialist, physical nuke, is having a d¨¦j¨¤ vu. The short search for the waitresses ended in failure as they had already returned using [Recall]. After that, the party got their food buffs from the tavern to resume their grinding. all of a sudden ran to the marketplace and told his friends to wait at the street leading to the northern gate. ¡­Now there are two little girls staring at . Newbies, definitely. They are using beginner outfits. Thankfully, the attributes are there¡­ Except that they evenly distributed 5 points per attribute! One is wielding a two-handed sword, while the other opted for crossbow. Don''t increase magic-related attributes when you are not going to use spells! And that LDR is useless because only one of you would be the party leader! Skill-wise, the sword girl picked [Alchemy], [Mining], [Parry] and [Physical Power]. Why would you choose two skills with brain-dead-easy unlock conditions?! The crossbow girl has [Construction], [Farming] and [Binding Arrow]. Again, don''t choose skills that you can unlock 2 minutes into the game!!! _ Maximus: What? Do you need something? As much as he wanted to scream "NUBZ!" at the top of his lungs, he did his best not to. The last time he called a little girl as such, she turned into a walking terminator who mowed down everything in sight. himself thinks that the sprout was so abnormal she would turn out the same even if he had not met her. Still, if asked whether he sped up the process by doing what he did, he couldn''t outright disagree. It''s statistically absurd to think that the two in front of him will become weapons of mass destruction later, but the assassin has been so traumatized he would rather be on the safe side than sorry. _ Sword girl: Um¡­ We are supposed to wait for someone here¡­ _ Tippe: What a coincidence! So are we! How abou¡­ _ Maximus: Stop hitting on kids you friggin'' piece of trash! To begin with, it was this stupid mage who called out to at the time! _ Ignar: I''m back! Oh, looks like everyone''s here. _ Maximus: ¡­Ha? _ Crossbow girl: Hiyo~ It''s me! _ Ignar: I know, I know. Don''t use real names here. _ Tippe: , I was sure you don''t have a girlfriend! _ Ignar: I do not! She''s my cousin! And her friend, I assume? Nice to meet you, I am . Here''s , treat him like a stranger promising you candies on the street. And this is . His mouth is foul but he''s one of the best players in the game. _ Tippe: Aren''t you too harsh on me today?! That''s ''s job you know?! For the first time, is glad that he kept his tongue in check. ____________ I am standing in front of a big teahouse. Yes, yes, I was told to go back to Elri''s house. Still, nobody''s home at the moment! The waitresses are busy at their shops, and Elri is training as underwater cavalry at the (former) valley! Cavalry does not work below the water surface, I''m telling you!!! So, I wandered around town looking for a knowledgeable person and a change of pace, which led me to this shop. I am a girl who can read the mood (most of the time), so I won''t bother my occupied acquaintances! This is the eastern part of Tyrel, so the shop is most likely property of . ¡­Is it even safe for me to enter? _ ???: Welcome, how may I help you? I was greeted by a fluffy young girl in traditional clothing. An elf with hair volume as big as her body! Granted, she''s only about my size, but that is still a really fluffy hairball~ _ Shadyna: Hello~ I was just checking out the area. _ ???: In that case, this is . We offer a wide variety of foods and drinks to get you prepared for upcoming adventures. In addition, we also have private rooms for you to sit down and enjoy a good rest after a hard-working day. Clapping her hands together, the seemingly-underage proprietress leans towards me with a mischievous smile. _ ???: So, would you like to give our services a try, Miss Illusive Sprout? The sharper-than-she-looks clich¨¦!!! I kind of expected her to be as old if not older than Elri in-character-wise, but that smile and the sudden name-calling still took me by surprise! Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! _ Shadyna: Eh? Have we met before? _ ???: Ah, my apologies. That was rude of me. My name is , but our guests usually refer to me as Su. I was with when you fought against , but this is indeed our first time talking in person. Welp, I guess I was too occupied by , or my own safety rather, to get a good look at her companions. _ Shadyna: Un, likewise. How much are you charging? I''m not exactly rich¡­ While I have equipment whose price can buy a few houses, my coin count is¡­ ¡­Actually, it''s quite a lot?! I have totally forgotten that I have the money from dismantling too many corpses! And many of them are bosses also! _ Su: Your body will do~ This part of town is really dangerous after all! ¡­ _ Su: Here you go. This is [Nature''s Harvest], our shop''s specialty. 200% attribute increase. Why are these restaurants recommending full courses meant for boss-hunting parties to a lone girl?! Shouldn''t you at least consider the capacity of the customer?! _ Shadyna: Thank you very much. Not like I will refuse though. Even if the buffs are similar, it''s the virtual taste that is important for me right now! I don''t intend to sustain myself on [Alchemy] hybrid items for the rest of my time in this game, thank you very much! To be fair, my rechargeable items have stronger buffs and very filling. The problem is that the taste includes the materials for the [Alchemy] part, so they are really, really nasty as I found out by biting them, and have no taste whatsoever when I use them like an [Alchemy] item! _ Shadyna: It''s good~ It appears that Su used more veggies in her menu, so the meal tastes quite different from [Heroic Inspiration Course], which was heavy in meat. Both are very delicious, but the sheer cost of them hurts me mentally! _ Su: I''m glad you like it. _ Shadyna: By the way, how do you deal with many customers? This mansion is so big, but guests have so much space too¡­ There''s the restaurant-like area where you can eat at tables with others. The rest of this place are all rentable rooms. I think the max capacity of this teahouse is four dozen if you add a few more tables¡­ _ Su: Just like any restaurant in real life~ We bring the rich guests to their private rooms, get a few more tables, and if that still does not help, put a "We are full" sign at the gate. Thanks to a certain tavern hoarding all the customers, we rarely have to worry about such scenario. Welp, I stepped on a landmine! Didn''t mean to! And you don''t need to guilt me further with that embarrassed wry smile! _ Su: On the plus side, we have a relatively peaceful lifestyle. Otherwise I wouldn''t be sitting here chatting with you, would I? _ Shadyna: Indeed~ ¡­Is it alright for you to neglect other customers though? Do your patrons have such fantasies or am I getting special treatment here? Since I paid for this private room for the next hour, might as well make good use of it, and the proprietress too. _ Shadyna: Su, do you know about the bright place where you receive big boss''s loots? _ Su: That sounds like Heaven? I have a feeling whenever I bring up a topic I was thinking about, the person in front of me will have the "That was out of nowhere" comment, expression, or just general atmosphere¡­ _ Shadyna: Well~ It was all white, and you get loots so that can be considered heaven¡­ _ Su: That''s why we call it Heaven. You are referring to the loot area of the Nox Terminus right? _ Shadyna: Ki~nd of? What is a Nox Terminus? I think it''s another big boss like the weird mask. Is it the same thing as the "border boss" mentioned earlier? _ Su: Oh, I forgot you weren''t in the beta, my apologies. It is the boss guarding the end of the world. Once it is defeated the darkness surrounding the world shrinks, unlocking the further areas. Flashback time? That''s the face of a veteran preparing to unleash her flashback!!! _ Su: The closed beta ended as the majority of players engaged in a week-long fight against the first Nox Terminus and its minions. After that a civil war broke out over loot distribution, dividing Tyrel into the four main districts you see today. The loots caused more damage than the raids and big boss?! Is that why Hessy and were so on edge earlier when the perverts arrived?! _ Su: What do you want to know about it? What about the flashback? You were supposed to go full flashback-mode lasting at least 3 episodes right there! _ Shadyna: Un, I was there earlier, but the map said I was in Tyrel. I am wondering if it''s actually close by. _ Su: Ah, is that so. Should we begin negotiation then? I forgot these girls are information brokers!!! Actually, I asked her exactly because I knew she was one, but I didn''t think of the consequences! _ Shadyna: Uuu¡­ _ Su: Just kidding~ We don''t really know "Where" it is exactly, but I do know of a hint. I will tell you in exchange for a lap pillow. How about it~? Which part of that is "just kidding~"?! You just threw your demands at full force!!! At this point I don''t know if their perversion is a good or bad thing¡­ Oh well, since this is a game my legs won''t become numb after having the clich¨¦ lap pillow right? ¡­ _ Su: Happiness~ _ Shadyna: No, that''s just my laps. We are having the lap pillow session on the sofa at the back of the room. This is a private room, so no worries about random perverts walking in on us for the most trivial reasons. _ Su: So, back in the days of closed beta¡­ You are starting the flashback now?! _ Su: There were a lot of bug fixings and updates by Sateri-chan. The first day alone got 15 emergency updates. Too many! Playing during that period must have been similar to being in a chaotic universe with constantly-changing laws of physics¡­ _ Su: One of the patch notes that day was "Fixed coordinate command knowing of the other planes of existences." _ Shadyna: ¡­What. _ Su: Players were on their own at that time, but the founding members of did find out what it meant, somewhat. It was a simple defect, showing a 4th number in the coordinates returned by the command. Currently, it gives you the x, y and z coordinates when you use it, doesn''t it? At that time, it gave x, y, z, and 0. Not the time axis¡­? Sad face~ _ Shadyna: Are you saying that 0 is the coordinate to other planes? _ Su: I wonder~ It was patched too quickly for us to fiddle around with. We haven''t seen any coordinates with that last number being something other than 0, so it''s just wild guesses. _ Shadyna: I see¡­ [Creation]. [Invalid location]. I have the coordinates from earlier that I can grab into the crafting menu above the sphere. Manually changing the x, y and z to my base in the valley, I got the [Invalid location] message. Which is the best I can hope for! _ Shadyna: Thank you very much, Su. I wouldn''t be able to do this on my own. I have never played in closed beta, so the knowledge and artifacts from that time is beyond my reach. Having a sage that doesn''t aim at my body (too much) to answer my questions is invaluable in that regard! Maybe I should give her a good item or something, so that she doesn''t try to do weirder things to me in the next flashback episode! ¡­And you still haven''t entered flashback mode today, Su! _ Su: Ehehe~ I''ll accept your DFC as compensation~ _ Shadyna: Refused~ [Invalid location], [Invalid location], [Invalid location]¡­ Hmm, this sanity slippage feels like d¨¦j¨¤ vu¡­ And where''s my [Insanity Resistance], Sateri?! [Received Teleport Tablet - Origin x1] Muahaha~, found you! _ Su: That''s a very scary smile you are having my dear. And my [Expressionless] title too! _ Shadyna: Oops~ I just made something nice, that''s all. Can you leave me on my own for a while? I have some urgent private matters to take care of. _ Su: Aw~ Please do tell me about new SG goodies you acquire afterwards, okay? _ Shadyna: Sure, but I am not going to do anything to get new skills though. I am only going to "visit" a friend, that''s all. Su gets off my laps and leaves the room without further complaints. Service workers are really considerate huh¡­ _ Shadyna: Now, how much materials do I have left¡­ Counting, counting¡­ Not much, as I haven''t restocked after the fight. I wonder if I can minimize the item''s stats to reduce the material consumption¡­ These will be cosmetic only, so even if they have no bonus it will be fine. _ Shadyna: [Creation]~ [Received Laetque Ring of Solar Eclipse (Cosmetic) x1] ¡­That''s considered a quality level on its own? [Cosmetic: Indicate an item without power. Can be equipped without encumbering the user.] Thank you, immersion. In this case I would rather you just outright tell me that it won''t take up an equipment slot. --- [ Laetque Ring of Solar Eclipse] - Creator: - Quality: - Type: , --- Too bad I don''t know what [Ancient] and [Innocent] do. [Inspect] is useless as usual~ Anyway, next item! _ Shadyna: [Creation]~! --- [ Vallen Ring of Blood Moon] - Creator: - Quality: - Type: , --- ¡­What? It should be "Light" and "Darkness", considering the black-white theme of the bosses? The white [Laetque Eye] has a jet black iris and the black [Vallen Eye] has a glowing white iris, so it''s not like they are purely black or white to begin with! Un, let''s ignore all the imaginary "Don''t use the rare materials for cosmetic!!!" screams from all over the game world. I have more important things to do! _ Shadyna: Let''s go! Activating the tablet, I teleport away from the teahouse. Not back to the loot area, mind you. There''s no loot left in there, and I wouldn''t have to search for the coordinates in that case. Landing onto the pure white scenery once more, I call out to the only denizen of this place. _ Shadyna: Hiyo, Sateri~ My "birthplace", and also where I first met the Goddess of this world. I am back, at the character creation zone. ____________ _ Nerin: Finally¡­ After working tirelessly to serve waves after waves of patrons, the surge has subsided. The waitresses can take a small break in turns at last. _ Mera: Everyone was so motivated to get out there and be murdered over, and over, and over again~ The least we can do is giving them longer ropes so¡­ _ Nerin: I am on break! Stop tormenting me mentally you maniac!!! A party of five walk into the tavern. The assassin is visibly annoyed as he sits down on the stool at the counter. _ Maximus: Something to chill my head. _ Mera: Coming right up~ Since when did you¡­ Hmm~, I''ll have to refrain as there''re children here won''t I~ _ Ignar: Ahaha¡­ _ Nerin (PM): Your new friends? Didn''t know you guys developed such preferences after encountering ¡­ _ Ignar (PM): My cousins who just started playing. Max was showing incredible restraints but uh¡­ they were on the opposite side of the scale, simply put. _ Nerin (PM): You have my sympathy. --- Topic: Cute girls appreciation thread #40 --- ## Fire mage of Justice I was buying my food when the Pervert Alliance leadership barged in to kidnap Illusive Sprout, again. (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß They got this instead. [Pic] Dear Sateri-chan that was so awesome and terrifying to have two waitresses as personal bodyguards! ## ## Newbie Charisma build Beautifully scary! ¦²(?§¥?) That''s a lot of runes they have! How do you farm so many pieces in just a short time?! ## ## CuteIsJustice It''s going to be harder to take her pictures, all because of these perverts!!! orz ## ## Teabag Master Want some of that girl? [Pic] My point-of-view when she gave me a lap pillow. (^_-) ## ## Newbie Charisma build ¦²(?§¥?) ## ## Manly Warrior ¦²(?§¥?) ## ## Flame knight of Darkness ¦²(?§¥?) ¡­Mind if I ask for the review? ## ## Teabag Master (^_^) Pure. Bliss. ## ## CuteIsJustice Unfair! This is unfair! I want her to let me rest on her laps too!!! (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß ## ## Nearseeing Sage £¨ ? §¥?) I have been NTR-ed! @Teabag Master: How could you cheat on me!!! (T_T) ## ## Teabag Master All thanks to a certain person chasing after a little girl and neglecting her own partners. Reap what you sow (^o^) ## ## Newbie Charisma build So let me get this straight: - A husband (wife) is having an affair with a little girl. - The wife (husband) feels lonely so she finds a new partner, who is the same little girl. ¡­Reported. These damn lolicons!!! ## ## CuteIsJustice Get a room to sort out your affairs, you two! ## ------ Chapter 24: Origin The good girl Shadyna has ascended to heaven~ I''m not dead, please don''t mind the little details. _ Sateri: How could I not?! Players are not supposed to be here! Un, she has appeared. Good to see you again, Sateri~ _ Sateri: This isn''t the time for greetings! Room lockdown! If a new player was using this room it would be big trouble! Ah, she can still read my mind huh. Save me the effort of speaking then. And sorry about the sudden visit. Next time I''ll send a PM beforehand¡­ Does PM even work for Sateri though¡­? _ Sateri: Of course it wouldn''t. I am not a player, remember? How did you get in here? Did I leave an entrance somewhere unknowingly? She is still the same blonde beauty in white dress, just like the first meeting. It''s not THAT long ago so I suppose it''s to be expected. The lack of elegance is surprising though. Is this how she acts when not dealing with new players? _ Sateri: No, it''s how everyone around you acts when you pull stunts. Yup, she''s angry. And I''m sure not everyone was like that around me though¡­ That must be the case, un. By the way, peeping is a crime! As for how I got here, I used [Teleport] normally? This is a "location I have visited", after all. Couldn''t have pulled it off with [Recall] due to the [Construction] requirement, so I am the only person who can come here at will, for now. _ Sateri: [Teleport]? It shouldn''t be possible to input the coordinate of this space¡­ The 4th coordinate value, right? I got that one during my time in the mask''s loot room. Luckily it has the same value as this place. Even though you removed its input, I took a gamble that it was just being hidden, not completely removed, and confirmed it when I failed to create [Teleport] tablet to my secret base. After that it was brute forcing to find this place''s coordinate. I figured the z axis is 0 due to lack of terrain here, so I was just changing x and y value until I got a valid one. Because the loot room was so close to Tyrel, I thought this plane is pretty small in comparison to the game world and just patiently searched for it for half an hour. ¡­I would like some sanity restoration item if possible though. _ Sateri: ¡­Beginning patching operation!!! Hey, I took great effort to visit you! Don''t just kick me out like that!!! _ Sateri: *Sighs* For now let us move somewhere else. It would interfere with new players if I let this room locked for too long. Eh? You are not stuck in infinite loops like back then? And I got teleported to another room, presumably. It''s too white in here to know¡­ _ Sateri: At that time, it was a big patch. If I had not used most of my processing power, it would have taken longer. I see. And this time it''s simpler huh. _ Sateri: It''s removing an old unused input and fixing that door exploit you used earlier. Sorry~ I didn''t even expect it to work, really. _ Sateri: It was my fault for missing that. The next time won''t go the same. Better find another exploit then~¡­ Sorry. That reminds me, did you nerf the damage from [Accelerate Power]? I was capped at around 1 million damage. _ Sateri: Technically¡­ Out. You are out the moment you have to use that word in your excuse! _ Sateri: It was failsafe mechanic for balancing during the alpha period because damage calculations weren''t stable at the time. I never removed it, and didn''t expect someone would trigger it so soon. Well, that''s what happens when brand new OP skills are introduced¡­ Why didn''t you just nerf the skill earlier though? It was obvious the multiplier would be beyond broken once my SPD went past 100. Besides, that damage cap wouldn''t do much as my attack speed was off the chart. Had I engaged in close range, the rapid throwing would deal tens of million in seconds, damage cap or not. _ Sateri: Ahaha¡­ That is correct. However, "nerf" is a word that agitates people. Even in the alpha where only developers and professional testers played, that word brought rants and complaints whenever it appeared. I made a policy to use nerfs only as last resorts lest I upset players. You got it rough huh~ But [Accelerate Power] is mine only. If you are having trouble with its damage output, just nerf it. _ Sateri: Eh? You would not mind? Not really. I am a pacifist. If anything, don''t make unavoidable attacks and impossible-to-escape bosses! I wouldn''t have fought that weird mask if I could just simply outrun it in the first place. Stop that mocking laughter, Sateri~ _ Sateri: My apologies, that was really unexpected. I am really grateful for your cooperation, nevertheless. As for my compensation~ _ Sateri: Guh! I walked right into that didn''t I?! Too late~ _ Shadyna: Here, my [ Laetque Ring of Solar Eclipse]. I would like you to keep it. Proposals are important so no mind reading conversations! _ Sateri: ¡­Pardon? _ Shadyna: The mask boss dropped two stones, so I made a pair equipment. They have different colors so it can''t be called matching equipment though¡­ _ Sateri: Ehm¡­ hold on¡­ _ Shadyna: It was a rush but I think these stones are the best materials I can ever find in the near future. I mean, what''s the chance of finding and defeating a boss that seems to be way above the current level cap again in the next few days? _ Sateri: No, that''s why you shoul¡­ _ Shadyna: There may be stronger bosses and better loots, but I would be really happy if you could accept this. ¡­Why are you orz-ing, Sateri¡­ That''s not what a goddess should do, you know? _ Sateri: Do I really have to spell it out for you?! _ Shadyna: Um¡­ do you not want it? Even though I (and ) risked our lives (damn you, [Teleport]!) to fight the mask thingy, it''s still not enough for Sateri''s standards¡­ Guess I will have to visit the infamous Magnus Bestia next after all¡­ _ Sateri: It''s not about my standards! You totally missed the point of gifts to begin with!!! To be lectured by an AI, technology sure is amazing¡­ _ Shadyna: ¡­Love you too, please marry me? _ Sateri: At least pretend to be sincere! And don''t think I didn''t notice the "too" you snuck in without my consent! Whoops, busted. Her defense is really high huh. And that''s just how I speak. Even if you tell me to be more formal, it''s kind of a high hurdle for me¡­ _ Sateri: How did you one-sidedly decimate one of my strongest bosses in record time and still can''t take anything seriously for once¡­ Crushing enemies at high velocity is my specialty. Charming others is not. Sateri is really demanding¡­ _ Sateri: It''s basic courtesy, by the general populace''s standards! ¡­Well, you asked for it. I walk forward and take her hand. Ideally, I would have to kneel before doing this, but dammit I''m a 13 years-old girl! I am too short for that kind of stuff! Kissing the back of her hand lightly, I ask with the best smile I can muster. _ Shadyna: M''lady, if you would be so kind¡­? _ Sateri: ¡­Somehow, this is different from my predictions¡­ Even I want to dig a hole to hide in. And people somehow want to do this kind of self-humiliation in front of as many acquaintances as possible! Technically, I have to put the ring on her finger myself, but in the game I can only throw stuff at others, not make them equip it! Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. _ Sateri: *Sighs* Very well, I''ll accept it. But please promise me you will not use [Artifact] materials like this again. But what about wedding dresses¡­ _ Sateri: Denied! Roger~ I will make sure the wedding dresses are the most overpowered armor then! Cease that orz already, Sateri~ _ Sateri: One month. One month? _ Sateri: There is a big content update per month. This month''s update was today. Un, no wonder why the changes this week are so drastic compared to the previous one. _ Sateri: Next month''s update will include the implementation of my in-game avatar. If you can get to it, I won''t try to stop your shenanigans anymore. Uuu¡­ My efforts are being considered shenanigans¡­ Even though I worked so hard¡­ And technically I reached here first! Why do I have to compete with everyone again?! _ Sateri: You abused exploits to get here! Sorry~ _ Sateri: Besides, you are informed of my arrival. The only bigger advantage is telling you how to do it step by step. So do you want me to succeed or not? Make up your mind already, Sateri~ _ Sateri: Please work for it properly~ ____________ _ Maximus (PM): These brats¡­ , these kids just aren''t suited for this. _ Ignar (PM): Ahahaha¡­ Guess it''s no use huh. is keeping the girls alive using healing spells while they are fighting the monsters. Not having anything to do, and are simply chatting in the back. Mostly complaining, specifically. _ Maximus (PM): They have no sense of combat, and they freak out under the slightest pressure. Why did they choose to play this game in the first place? _ Ignar (PM): Well, my cousin saw me playing and got interested. That''s about it. _ Maximus (PM): Argh¡­ We can''t stay competitive if we have to carry them for an extended period of time! _ Ignar (PM): *Sighs* I know. Please just bear with them for today. Once they have gained a few levels they can take care of themselves. _ Maximus (PM): Ugh¡­ Going to roam the board for a while. Ping me when we move to a different area. _ Ignar (PM): Will do. Meanwhile, the mage pervert is fully enjoying himself helping out two cute newbies. [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Goddess''s Chosen"] _ Tippe (Party): Eh? What''s this? Max, what''s [Goddess''s Chosen]? Out of nowhere, a title has been given to them. _ Ignar (Party): Just got that one too. [Patch 1.0c11 has been released. Contents: - Put a stop to door abuse. - Put a stop to strong boss abuse. - Added special contents for long term. - Got into a relationship.] _ Ignar (Party): Uh oh¡­ Max! We have a problem! _ Maximus (Party): What? It''s not even a minut¡­ What in the name of Sateri-chan happened here?! _ Ignar (Party): An emergency patch. And we received a weird title. _ Tippe (Party): It mentioned a strong boss, so probably related to whatever did, again. _ Maximus (Party): ¡­I have no friggin'' idea what the title means. [Goddess''s Chosen: An individual recognized by the Goddess. Granted access to the vision of the future. In addition, beneficial support is provided depending on the visions. Vision: An encroaching darkness looms over heaven where the Goddess resides. A race against time is coming. Support: None.] _ Ignar: (Party): ¡­I have to say I have no idea either. _ Tippe (Party): So we are the heroes in legends?! This sounds like a big time-based event is coming! _ Ignar (Party): Let us ask around before embarrassing ourselves. This is really out of nowhere¡­ Max, could you contact ? I''ll ask . _ Maximus (Party): Geh¡­ What the heck did that little brat do this time¡­ ____________ _ Sateri: That should do it. Seeing the player base panicking from the newly received titles, the Goddess closes the screens in front of her. _ Sateri: As expected of a "Hero", her persistence is something else¡­ Letting out a sigh, Sateri looks at the white ring on her finger. A ring with a hex-shaped cut stone. This "stone" was meant to be used for equipment crafting, as it gives a lot of bonus stats and even grants a special effect for the user of said equipment. Same goes for the black stone of the pair¡­ And yet some airhead decided to make purely cosmetic items for the heck of it! To add salt to injury, she gifted it back to the creator of the stone! Lore-wise, they are created by [Tenri Yassel], but still, it was painful to see materials used to make legendary swords being used as decorative jewelry! She even has the nerve to use BOTH stones in that way! That boss is not going to respawn! Not one, but two named series are going to waste because of her antics!!! That''s why this petty Goddess is going to make that insolent little girl work her butt off if she wants to achieve her goals from now!!! To be fair, she has really outdone the governing AI''s expectations quite a bit. The original plan was giving her powerful but gimmick skills for self-defense. Due to the expected playstyle, she would have very hard early days due to lack of attributes. She could only gain experience through crafting, and pure crafting builds take a lot of time to advance even with buying materials. Everything fell apart when the players decided to be players. They managed to trigger a chain reaction leading to her gaining attributes and learning a way to deal damage without going into records. The only saving grace was the girl actually having some self-restraints and not going on a boss-hunting rampage to snowball into an unstoppable killing machine. Then just had to be the one unlocking [Ancient Rune Artist Origin]. She was meant to be an attribute snowball, but this title just kicked that up to eleven thanks to its synergy with her [Absolute Zero]. Before the Goddess could have sighed in binary, [Arcane Maestro Origin] ended all of her doubts. Digital hell broke loose. [Origin] titles for crafting skills are usually unlocked by crafters, obviously. However, due to the conditions of them, a player should at most get the pair title, like [Equipment Manufacturer Origin] or [Ancient Rune Artist Origin]. That little girl, through sheer luck, had the skillset and skill level to unlock the combination skill right there. This must be what they call the luck of a hero¡­ Abusing multi-category mechanics which were barely balanced due to lack of players'' usages, the little girl not only became an unstoppable killing machine, she turned everyone around her into apocalyptic balance-destroying anomalies! Next week patch is going to have a lot of nerfs for food and runes, that''s for certain¡­ The Goddess can only wish that would refrain for a bit until then. As if that could happen! That''s why the additional emergency nerfs were added too. Players will surely complain, but they will do so anyway once they realize how broken the Illusive Sprout and her companions are! This little girl burnt way too many processing cycles of the virtual Goddess for comfort. And based on the earlier conversation, it''s not going to end anytime soon. _ Sateri: A hero should defeat the overlord and marry the princess, not flirt with the Goddess who sent you on the journey, dimwit. ____________ After chatting a bit more with Sateri, I teleported back to the teahouse. There''s something I need to play around with before logging out today. _ Shadyna: I''m going back now~ _ Su: Please come again sometimes. I will pay properly for your services~ Don''t say that to a guest, you perverted proprietress! _ Shadyna: Speaking of which, do you want something as souvenir from heaven? _ Su: Your body~ _ Shadyna: Denied~ This is going to be a routine with this girl huh. Welp. _ Su: We are well-off in the first place. Your feelings are enough for me~ But I won''t decline the secrets to becoming overpowered either. Way too vague! Do I even have a secret like that?! _ Shadyna: Your guild sells information. Aren''t you supposed to be more informed than me? _ Su: Not exactly. We only know what people sell to us. For example, we still have no idea how to acquire that [Creation] skill in your possession~ _ Shadyna: Peeping is a crime! [Creation] is just the combination skill for crafting though¡­ _ Su: That, and we do not know how to unlock rune crafting¡­ _ Shadyna: ¡­Really? You are not joking right? _ Su: It''s true~ Otherwise I would be armed with runes don''t you think? Guess I haven''t shared the skill itself to anyone huh. Hessy and her coworkers didn''t need it since I was around. Leaving as-is, it might be troublesome once stronger areas become available, since players can only use looted runes which are not the best quality on average¡­ Yeah, pre-[Accelerate Bonus] Elri probably can attest to that. Well, let''s do it for the community then! I sure hope this won''t bite me back next month! _ Shadyna: [Creation]. Here, [Magic Rune Art] and [Power Rune Art] skill scrolls. Su, coughing up blood is not a good way to express your happiness¡­ Please refrain from doing it for your virtual health! ____________ _ Fuelri: I''m back. _ Inerin: Welcome back. How was it? _ Fuelri: Monsters are a bit stronger than the old Crystal Valley. Worse still, because they all hide underwater, it is hell to fight as melee! Back from the first expedition in the new zone, returns to the back room of the tavern to restock her food buffs. If people realizes what kind of extreme foods she is getting, they would riot, so it''s better to be safe than sorry. _ Inerin: That is good to know. In that case, defeating the Magnus Bestia in the forest may end up with a newbie zone getting removed¡­ _ Choruse: Good, they will be forced to buy food to have a chance in stronger zones. _ Inerin: That''s extortion!!! _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: What about the cold, dead corpses that were once innocent living beings until you appeared~? _ Fuelri: Innocent my beast''s tail! They swarmed me the moment I walked into the water¡­ Though I do have a boss corpse in my inventory¡­ _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: It''s nice isn''t it~ Giving up your common sense in exchange for power. You know it''s not normal, but also impossible to turn it down~ Little by little your mind becomes corrupted by¡­ _ Fuelri: Stop! STOP! I have tried my best not thinking about it!!! _ Inerin: Enough with the mind screwing already, Mera¡­ Because the waitresses were having fun chatting, the patrons weren''t served in time and rioted anyway. --- Topic: Avitus Caelicola --- ## Nearseeing Sage Done. I lost one of my wives to acquire this knowledge. You guys had better be grateful! (;_;) - Name: Tenri Yassel - Appearance: 1st form [Pic] and 4th form [Pic] - Strength: Magnus Bestia level, confirmed. - Notes: 2nd, 3rd and 4th forms are mutually exclusive and triggered depending on the fighters. 4th form is the strongest form with highest stats and unavoidable AoE attacks. The fighting party got that one and crushed it. Contact me if you want to buy its stats info, as always. ## ## Manly Warrior Your (wife''s) sacrifice will not be forgotten. (£»Ò»_Ò») So these bosses can have multiple forms. Are you guys going to be alright fighting the Magnus Bestia? ## ## Nearseeing Sage Can''t know until the time comes. The party refused to provide the battle footages. ## ## Fire mage of Justice Phoenix Ashes planned to fight one Magnus Bestia for a month. Pervert Alliance is on the other one, estimated to take days at the very least. ¡­And this one, as strong as those two, got wrecked before anyone else could see it. (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß ## ## Bountiful Hunter A new big guild? Guild name please. ## ## Nearseeing Sage ¡­Illusive Sprout, and a waitress in the corps. If you count the summon, that''s 3 fighters in total against the boss. ## ## Bountiful Hunter ¦²(?§¥?) What. The. Heck. ## ## Newbie Charisma build ¦²(?§¥?) What the heck indeed. Are they the in-game equivalent of the irl Tyrant? ## ## Fire mage of Justice Too soon dude. Tyrant is a controversial topic. Please avoid talking about them here. Back on topic, how do I join force with Illusive Sprout?! ## ------ --- Topic: Corpse patch (1.0c10) raid AAR --- !Displaying thread in [Compact View] due to number of posts. Click [Here] to switch back to [Standard View]! ## Manly Warrior: The new corpse mechanics and variants once again reminded us that Sateri-chan does not like players being complacent. We need to review how we approach raids from now on to avoid damaging Tyrel. Patch 1.0c11 has its own thread. Please discuss the emergency patch there instead. ## Fire mage of Justice: One thing is certain. No more indiscriminate barrage! The corpse mountains will be the end of us! ## OP alchemist: It WAS the end of us! Half the town is in ruins, and we couldn¡¯t stop the horde once they breached the walls. ## Newbie Charisma build: Moral of the story: The waitresses are too OP? ## Silver Merchant: Depending on them may not be the best idea though¡­ The cavalry elf was terrorizing both the horde AND the defenders! I would rather not have to be in her path ever again! ## Bountiful Hunter: They also scored a large part of the kills. For some players, the raid loots couldn''t pay for the food and potion cost. ## Flame knight of Darkness: The siege camp of the Pervert Alliance stood strong despite having worse walls. Maybe we can adapt their strategy? ## Maximus Archery: Only shoot the climbers and destroy the corpses. Little to no loot and experience. ## Fire mage of Justice: RIP economy and power leveling. ## Manly Warrior: What about small but elite parties gunning for the kills and loots for distributing after raids? ## GoldBar9999: That requires those detachments to willingly split the loots. Anything depending on human''s voluntary cooperation is asking for failure. ## Nearseeing Sage: Everyone will "volunteer" to share when economic sanctions are the alternative option. Muahahahah!!! ## Flame knight of Darkness: Then it''s settled for the loot part. How do we deal with the experience? ## Maximus Archery: Take turns being detachments, eazy. ## Manly Warrior: Nice idea. All in all the raid profits plummeted after the patch, but we can still take advantage of it. ------ Chapter 25: De facto alliance Shadyna, the little tree girl, is on fire!!! Off the bed! Off the bed, now!!! Geh, that was really traumatizing, even if the fire barely deals damage. So, I made an [Alchemy] item that spits [Fire Bolt] until it''s out of charges. The fire spell created is so weak it cannot outpace [Absorbing Surface]''s MP regeneration, so the item just shoots forever. I had Gelly activate it so the damage did not go into my records, evil laugh echoing~ Why would I do that? For sleeping. As long as the damage cannot kill me, thanks to my MEN armor set and [Cell Revitalization], my avatar will rack up skill experience during sleep. Oh, the bed helps too, of course. [Elemental Resistance] went up nicely. Logging in the day after and finding yourself on fire is still startling though! Putting the item back into inventory to avoid burning down Elri''s house, let''s begin a new productive day! First, the mails~ ¡­ wanted to talk to me ASAP. ____________ _ Maximus: We are going ahead first. Don''t take too long. _ Ignar: I won''t. She responded just now. Will take a few minutes at best. Soon after and left for the teahouse, the infamous Illusive Sprout walks into the tavern. Most people refer to her as Particle Lolider these days, but no one dares say that when she''s around for fear of extermination. _ Shadyna: Hiyo, ~ _ Spearman: Please step on me o great sprout of destruction! The little girl looks at him in pure disgust before throwing the green blob right in his face. *WHAM* _ Spearman: Thank you very much! _ Cousin: Uhm, who is¡­ _ Ignar: Let me introduce you. , this is , my cousin, and her friend, . , , this is , um¡­ a very good player. _ Shadyna: , I noticed that stutter¡­ _ Poltea: Ah¡­ um, nice to meetchu! The swordgirl is too nervous to talk normally. Meanwhile, the crossbow girl is beaming. _ Fensen: Hiyo~ I am ! Pleased to meet you, ~ _ Shadyna: Likewise~ The surrounding patrons can''t help but mutter "So precious" as they witness three little girls happily making friends. _ Ignar (PM): So, um, I know this is a bit much to ask but¡­ These two started yesterday, and frankly speaking, they are not the best players competitively. I figured they would have a more¡­ casual experience playing with you. Your decision, of course. _ Shadyna (PM): ¡­I don''t really mind, but she''s your cousin, is she not? _ Ignar (PM): I am well aware of that. Still, the way Max and I play is not exactly for everyone. She''s ill-suited for constant grinding, so¡­ _ Shadyna (PM): It''s fine. However, I am not going to give her back if you have second thoughts, okay? _ Ignar (PM): Ahaha, what''s that even supposed to mean? I''ll tell you a boss with a [Unique] series that you might fancy as compensation. _ Fensen: Hey, , what are you talking about? I want to know too~! _ Ignar: Nothing much. Well, I have some business to attend to. , please take good care of them for me. _ Shadyna: Okay~ _ Fensen: Eh? Eeeeehhh?! ____________ At the teahouse of , catches up to his friends who are standing at the gate. _ Ignar: Done. I entrusted the two to . _ Maximus: Finally¡­ _ Tippe: ¡­Oi, , did you consider what would happen? _ Ignar: Huh? Three children would get along well would they not? Not sure about ''s real life, but in here she is pretty childish. _ Tippe: ¡­Hello? The waitresses hung out with her and now they are walking terminators. The elven cavalry girl spent time with her then changed from a nobody warrior to an unstoppable tank. What do you think would happen once your cousin leveled up a few times around her? _ Ignar: ¡­Ah. _ Maximus: ¡­Crap. _ Tippe: And here I am, being called the idiot of the party¡­ ¡­ _ Sulien: , everyone is here. Leading the party to the designated meeting room, returns to her place next to the guildmaster of . _ Vladina: Uuu¡­ You are next to me but your mind is with someone else¡­ _ Sulien: Why don''t you focus on whatever you plan to do instead? And I have to remind you that I am free to spend quality time with whoever I want, you lecherous skirt-chasing piece of society''s waste of oxygen in the form of a little girl. _ Vladina: Guh! Thank you¡­ very much. The gothic girl has stopped moving completely! Meanwhile, the proprietress, calm and composed, stands still with a bright smile in contrast to the words she just threw at her superior. _ Ignar: ¡­Can I leave? _ Olkan: Rejected. If I am stuck in here with these maniacs, I want as many people to suffer the same fate as possible. _ Tippe: Welp. Everyone here was a closed beta player. For the first time ever since the great loot war that ended the beta, a guildmaster sent a -titled mail to gather the best players in this game''s (albeit short) history. ''s members include , the guildmaster with the strongest known beast Etena, and 3 managers working closely with him. , thought to be the new manager in place of , is not present. On the side of , only , the person with [Sage Origin] title, and , owner of this teahouse and sole manager of the guild, are here. To the other side, and 4 busty ladies give the true feeling of the original [BB Conglomerate] image. Then again, there are more depraved merchants as managers in the guild than ladies with ''s level of chest these days¡­ Surprisingly, ''s representatives are also present. A manly muscular topless warrior with a battleaxe twice as big as his large frame, and next to him, a brunette beauty with a massive bow on her back. It''s the guildmaster of the battle-maniacs ¡­ and her oldest manager. _ Olkan: Anyhow, let''s get started since everyone''s here. ''s recent appearance to kick for no reason aside, I didn''t expect you to have time for such a dubious invitation, . _ Torenis: I am in earshot, . The brunette breaks out a smile. However, a figurative flame can be seen emitting from her body. _ Cinrald: You couldn''t possibly think that I would run away from new raid bosses and the newly unlocked area, right, ? _ Olkan: Of course not, you battle fetishist. Though please tell me you at least did something about your part of the town¡­ or what''s left of it. Laughing weakly, the boob-obsessed guildmaster sincerely advises his old friend out of concerns. That and his hope for striking a good deal out of this new raid thing¡­ _ Cinrald: My treasury took a big hit. Thankfully, we struck a deal with someone earlier. She bought a large piece of land, about a dozen houses in size. What she lacked in cash she compensated with tons of loots, including items from the new hunting zone. I was hoping to meet this diligent adventurer after this, for the trade was made by my manager. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ''s party can only exchange concerned looks as they have a vague idea how a single person can get their hands on such wealth¡­ Hopefully it was just a new guild with good combat capabilities¡­ _ Torenis: Get to the point, . I am not here to audit ''s financial report. Moreover, I have a town to fix and a Magnus Bestia to defeat. _ Tippe: It''s not like anyone is intruding there¡­ _ Vladina: Fine¡­ Good news and bad news, which do you want to hea¡­ _ Maximus: Bad. Just get this crap over with. I have nubz to pwn. _ Ignar: *Sighs* _ Vladina: Sure thing. We are obsolete. That''s the bad news. _ Olkan: ¡­Uh, what? _ Torenis: Elaborate, in a way that does not require hours to decipher your cryptic words. _ Vladina: As much as I wanted to say it in a mysterious manner, I was being literal. My [Sage Origin], ''s [Equipment Manufacturer Origin], ''s Etena, ''s [Blood Arrow], and most likely even ''s [ Blade of Victory] are no longer at the top of the pyramid. For a moment, there was no word among the attendees. The reactions are varied, as usual for this crowd. has a blank stare, can only facepalm himself, and ''s figurative flame soars to the roof. As for the managers, they are trying their best to be professional. They are here to catch up with the news, not directly participating to make this even more confusing than it already is. and co mutter something to each other. "That one, huh", to be exact. _ Torenis: Elaborate. _ Vladina: Just to refresh your memories in case the last month has been too busy. My title reveals [Meta] information in [Inspect]''s result, giving me deeper insights compared to the normal [Inspect]''s knowledge. ''s title is an [Origin] title combining the ones for [Weapon Craft] and [Armor Craft], which grants him a nasty x3 multiplier to the equipment bonus. Etena is the self-resurrecting S-rank pet that cannot be stopped as long as draws virtual breath. [Blood Arrow] is ''s trademark HP to PAT attack because she''s that crazy¡­ Last but not least, is the registered owner of the strongest [Artifact]-quality sword dropped by the first Nox Terminus. _ Cinrald: And you are saying all of us here, including who is absent, are having competitors? She is smiling, but her eyes can kill weak-willed poor sods if they happen to see her gaze. _ Vladina: About that¡­ Well, just tell me what you think about this. --- [Status]: - HP: ========== (39840/39840) (10810+29030) - MP: ========== (37755/37755) (10685+27070) - PAT: 19386 (5662+13724) - PSP: 639 (132+507) - PDF: 28005 (6135+21870) - MAT: 10512 (3504+7008) - MSP: 363 (121+242) - MDF: 26220 (4740+21480) - SPD: 1665 (375+1290) [Attributes]: - STR: 1680 (74+1606) - DEX: 920 (42+878) - CON: 1025 (63+962) - LDR: 260 (0+260) - FOC: 260 (0+260) - WIT: 260 (0+260) - MEN: 765 (11+754) - LCK: 515 (21+494) --- _ Vladina: And for comparison, this is ''s measurements. Feel free to puke. _ Olkan: Hey! --- [Character information] [Name]: Olkan [Race]: Human [Gender]: Male [Age]: 19 [Level]: 20 [Profession]: Apprentice merchant [Status]: - HP: ========== (8316/8316) (1758+6558) - MP: ========== (4360/4360) (2180+2180) - PAT: 3314 (907+2407) - PSP: 186 (33+153) - PDF: 6596 (1048+5548) - MAT: 2446 (1223+1223) - MSP: 72 (36+36) - MDF: 8154 (1227+6927) - SPD: 428 (94+334) [Attributes]: - STR: 177 (34+143) - DEX: 150 (25+125) - CON: 165 (30+135) - LDR: 75 (0+75) - FOC: 144 (23+121) - WIT: 195 (40+155) - MEN: 120 (15+105) - LCK: 240 (55+185) --- _ Maximus: That includes full [Cooking] and [Alchemy] buffs with maxed LDR bonus huh. You are 3 times stronger than a player with same gear level, yet couldn''t even stand toe-to-toe against . Heh. _ Olkan: You are the last person I want to hear that from, kidnapper! I spent my time horning crafting skills, not killing techniques! _ Cinrald: Is the first one a boss''s status? But the base stats are low¡­ _ Torenis: Since you brought us here, I assume that''s the Illusive Sprout''s status? _ Cinrald: A player can reach that level of stats at this time? _ Ignar: ¡­No, Illusive Sprout''s attribute distribution is a bit¡­ different¡­ _ Tippe: Yeah, that status panel still haunts me to this day¡­ _ Vladina: I would prefer you not to begin a flashback of events that happened just a week ago. Anyway, was correct. That wasn''t [Inspect] result for , the Illusive Sprout. It was of , one of the closed beta players. Since she was a close friend of , I''m sure you guys still remember her. _ Cinrald: The one who keeps saying confusing things to make people misunderstand everything, is it? _ Olkan: Modest, but not much else. _ Ignar: Not that the rest of the waitress corps is any saner¡­ And please describe people properly instead of their chest size, ¡­ _ Torenis: Is this why you asked me not to include in this meeting, ? _ Vladina: Well, yeah¡­ The little girl makes an obviously fake grim expression to suit the atmosphere of a detective movie, despite the lack of murder victims, and detectives. _ Vladina: As far as we know, half the waitress corps now has this boss-like attributes and status. I¡­ kind of confirmed how they did it but¡­ _ Torenis: This is fantastic. I can have them help out with the Magnus Bestia. Everyone turns to with a "Is this guy for real?" expression, including his own managers! _ Vladina: In case you are not kidding, I advise against asking them to do anything to benefit the guild¡­ _ Torenis: Why? The corps is part of my guild. They have to do their part as members like any other player. _ Olkan: I''ll¡­ send you a book on human resource later. Read the first chapter before attempting what you just said. Let''s hear your suggestion, . _ Vladina: Right¡­ As we all know, raw status isn''t everything, since there are skills and titles to the equation. But! When a competent player has such an overwhelming advantage, they can single-handedly wipe the floor with a medium if not one of our guilds. So here''s the good news: I want to reform our alliance to combat the new threat to the status quo that is and her influences. She pulls out a sign with the green "Agreed" text, signaling the other guildmasters. _ Sulien: , why did you not discuss with me beforehand? And internal fighting has already begun for ! _ Vladina: Eh? Isn''t it a simple matter? If she is left as-is no one will be able to compete against her. With her power she could have defeated both Magnus Bestia by the end of this discussion and there''s nothing we can do about it! It is regrettable that she refused our invitation though¡­ says nothing back, but her smile has disappeared. If could see that face right now, she would start to reconsider her life decisions up until this point. _ Olkan: I have witnessed what they were capable of. It''s not enough to fight against her on equal footings, but my [Equipment Manufacturer Origin] is available for all alliance members at a very good discount. _ Cinrald: Which is still expensive as hell since your title also ramps up material cost¡­ I wonder if they would join a guild filled with powerful players~ Like any typical meeting scene between factions, there''s no way everyone would be up in arms in unity against a common foe, unless they are already at death''s door. _ Vladina: I''m fine with you recruiting them. Whatever prevents a monopoly. That cute girl would be in my guild already if she has any intention of joining a faction. _ Tippe: , are you alright with this? Picking up [ Blade of Victory] again, I mean. The non-aligned party, who don''t have an army behind them, are more concerned about something else. _ Ignar: ¡­ _ Maximus: Don''t push it. We are not fighting her right now. _ Ignar: Yeah¡­ thanks, guys. _ Olkan: , I understand if you don''t want to wield it for the time being. However, you are still the owner of the strongest weapon not aligned with . Just to be on the safe side, would you let me reforge it to the best of my ability? _ Vladina: will pay for all expenses. Our district was only lightly damaged by stray mobs, so we have some budget to spare. _ Tippe: You guys are persistent¡­ _ Maximus: That''s why they are guildmasters. _ Ignar: ¡­*Sighs* Fine, I''ll fetch it. I can''t guarantee I would point that thing at though. She is our benefactor¡­ in a way. _ Olkan: Sure thing. You can''t be a hero without some overblown angsty dilemma over the course of the plot until something bad happens to your girlfriend or village. _ Vladina: Wouldn''t that be us in the second scenario?! ¡­ In the end, it was decided that and will give their answers a few days later, allowing them to discuss with their members first. _ Vladina: All things considered, it went better than I could hope for. Don''t you think so? _ Ignar: No kidding. I thought I was walking into a free-for-all brawl when I saw all of you in one place. _ Olkan: Take it easy man. As much as we are pissed over that loot war, this is still a game. Oi, Max, wanna follow for a bit? _ Maximus: I see you are a man of culture as well. _ Tippe: Eh? What am I missing? _ Maximus: Let''s go. I want to see that -censored- get his -censored- handed to him on a silver plate. _ Olkan: With luck, may be the one finishing him off! _ Ignar: Glad to see you guys are fully enjoying the game, in a weird way¡­ ____________ _ Warrior: Where''s everyone?! _ Inerin: Went out. What''s your order? Even though it''s not a day when the tavern''s warehouse runs low, only remains to serve while others attend to some business. While she was deliberately answering queries about the coworkers'' whereabouts with a grumpy attitude, her "boss" entered the building. _ Torenis: Huh, did everyone went on an expedition? _ Inerin: Welcome back. They had something to attend to, I''m afraid. _ Torenis: Is that so. Come with me. I need your help with the Magnus Bestia. No one in the tavern saw that coming, except for the guildmaster himself, and the two stalkers witnessing from the outside. _ Inerin: ¡­Sorry, I am busy serving our patrons. She wasn''t interested in the slightest. --- Topic: Auction Hub #781 - Rune Skills --- ## Silver Merchant The items on sale this time are¡­ unique, to say the least. - Contents: 2 skill scrolls, for rune crafting skills. Because it''s considered trade secret, the skill names are not revealed. - Starting price: 20k gold coins. - End time: 06:00 YYYY-MM-DD As always, state your bids in format "Bid: ###" before commenting anything else. The owner also has a message for all of us: "If no one buys it, I am going to have a monopoly on rune crafting instead." ## ## Serious Mage This is blackmail! Extortion! They are holding the market hostage! ## ## Nearseeing Sage Bid: 25k gold coins A decent price to pay. Non-boss runes are not going to cut it in the long run. Once a certain amount of players have the skill, it will be available in character creation, making it practically free even without knowing the unlock conditions. Do your best bidding, for I''ll make a monopoly myself if I get my hands on it. ¡¥\_(¥Ä)_/¡¥ ## ## Fire mage of Justice Damn big guilds! You know that price is beyond all but the richest guilds that benefitted from raid power leveling! I demand a revolution!!! (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß ## ## GoldBar9999 Bid: 30k gold coins What will Illusive Sprout buy with all the gold¡­ ## ## Manly Warrior She''s the owner of those scrolls?! ## ## GoldBar9999 The Origin title owner, I bet. ## ------ --- Topic: Current balance --- ## OP alchemist I think some players are way too strong at the moment. Watching a girl skewering bosses is fun and all until you realize that one day you might be at the pointy end of her spear. Let''s discuss how this came to be and how to fix it before we have the rise of an evil overlord! ## ## Flame knight of Darkness I heard from a few players that the OP people have really high stats. There''s not much you can do when their PAT or MAT is many times higher than your defense. ## ## GoldBar9999 It''s the runes. Until now having food and skill buffs boosts the crafting skills by increasing attributes. Now that there is a new way to increase attributes, they create a bigger feedback loop. Food => Better runes => Better skill => Better food => Repeat until breakeven point. When we have access to rune crafting skills (soon), we will be able to ramp up our gear''s quality as well. ## ## Manly Warrior ¡­So it''s the monsters that need buffing to stay relevant against well-equipped players? Next week''s patch is going to be hell isn''t it¡­ (£­??) ## ------ Chapter 26: Not-so-secret techniques Martial art master Shadyna has finally taken in students! _ Fensen: *Pouts* is really the worst!!! How could he abandon his cute little cousin like this!!! I have a nagging feeling that cute little girls don''t call themselves that¡­ _ Poltea: P¡­please calm down, F¡­. He can''t look after us all the time¡­ _ Fensen: But still¡­! _ Shadyna: There there, his party is high level. Once you have leveled up a bit¡­ Ah, the mischievous smirk of a person planning something bad. This crossbow girl has it in her huh. _ Fensen: , please teach us secret techniques! We will become stronger than and make him regret his decision! The typical revenge plan of a kid?! _ Poltea: Sorry about her behavior. is not the type to think before acting¡­ That sounds about right. is probably the type that has to do the thinking in her stead. ¡­Aren''t their roles reversed in that case? Shouldn''t the swordgirl be the thoughtless one?! _ Shadyna: Don''t mind~ But I need to know your capabilities first. Let''s see¡­ Giant rat spotted~ It has been a while, not-first-encounter! _ Shadyna: Defeat that rat in whatever way you see fit~ _ Fensen: Roger~ Let''s go~ _ Poltea: W-wait for me! The ranged attacker ran ahead. Welp. ¡­ I have a vague idea why could not keep these girls in his party. Or rather, why would be against it, knowing his obsession with optimal plays¡­ First, these girls'' movements are sluggish. They are not slow (for their current SPD) thanks to Sateri''s processing, but they have a hard time reacting to the environment. Second, they aren''t really coordinating with each other apart from basic communication to avoid friendly fire. And worst of all, they panic if HP gets a bit low. ¡­Aren''t these girls more suitable for peaceful playstyles? Crafting skills say hello~? _ Shadyna: , , are you elementary students? _ Fensen: Eh? How did you know? Are you a psychic?! No, just deducting from your behaviors. I''ll take that as a yes. In that case, they won''t be able to do complex tactics. They are too young and inexperienced. However, they are more than capable of gaining combat experience. Once they are more battle-hardened, most problems will go away. But until then, it''s best to let them be a one-trick pony that does one good thing first, so they can at least take care of themselves when both and I are not around. If possible, I''ll entrust them to Hessy when I''m offline. is a bad guy for abandoning these cute girls! _ Shadyna: Okay, I''ll teach you a secret technique. _ Fensen: She''s back~ _ Poltea: Welcome back, . Eh, was I daydreaming that long? That can''t be, right? _ Fensen: What technique are we learning? Will it destroy the city in one strike?! Who the heck has been teaching you those things?! _ Shadyna: No, not at this level. _ Poltea: *Mumbles* She''s not denying it¡­ Little details! _ Shadyna: Because you started together, it''s obviously going to be a combined attack! _ Fensen: Oh~ _ Shadyna: So, let''s do some math. _ Fensen: GYA!!! I have been tricked!!! Begin evil laugh~! Just kidding. I''ll be the one doing math. They need to provide me the variables though. It seems that math was, is and always will be the bane of students. _ Poltea: I-I''ll do my best! _ Shadyna: [Creation]! , after firing your crossbow, switch to this one and shoot again as fast as you can manage. , hold these. Run as fast as possible and throw them one at a time. Do not stop. I gave another crossbow, and a bunch of throwing knives. Technically it''s fine for to use the same one, but reloading time is so variable it''s better to just switch weapons. _ Fensen: Here I go~! _ Poltea: W-wait!!! is really having it rough huh. What are the chances that she was dragged here by in real life? ¡­ After getting their reaction time, I can calculate the timings for what''s next to come. _ Fensen: Like this? _ Shadyna: Yes. You need to fire at this exact angle. _ Fensen: This is hard¡­ _ Shadyna: Well, please practice for a bit. Your muscles will remember it for you. I teach her to shoot at different angles so the bolts land at the same time. It is to minimize the evasion chance of creatures as long as it''s not aggressive. As for , she''s practicing throwing a dagger in an arc while running. For now I''ll have her throw just one then engage in melee. The objective is the same, to have the dagger land as she does the first hit on the enemy. If successful, they''ll be able to double their damage output in the alpha strike, assuming the creature is passive. It''s a one-time trick, really. _ Shadyna: Please stand at this line as you practice. If it goes right both of you should hit the target at the same time. _ Fensen: An attack powered by friendship! More like powered by mathematics, but I won''t ruin her mood so let''s keep silent. _ Poltea: That sounds a bit embarrassing¡­ Drawing an X on the ground where the target is supposedly, I let the girls practice. Knowing children, I think they will work hard for about 15 minutes before something weird happens. Meanwhile, let''s check my new toys. I got a few titles yesterday after defeating the mask, but didn''t have time to check them out. Quite a few, in fact. --- [Character information] [Name]: Shadyna [Race]: Halfblood (Elf - Treant) [Gender]: Female [Age]: 13 [Level]: 10 [Profession]: Particle lolider [Status]: - HP: ========== (13262/13262) (8462+4800) - MP: ========== (12651/12651) (12651+0) - PAT: 4196 (4196+0) - PSP: 296 (168+128) - PDF: 9060 (5060+4000) - MAT: 5863 (5863+0) - MSP: 251 (168+83) - MDF: 11541 (6741+4800) - SPD: 714 (429+285) [Attributes]: - STR: 835 (6+829) - DEX: 842 (7+835) - CON: 842 (4+838) - LDR: 838 (6+832) - FOC: 828 (5+823) - WIT: 833 (4+829) - MEN: 845 (7+838) - LCK: 843 (5+838) [Equipment]: - Head: + Flower of Eternal Blossom (Masterwork) + Midae Blossom Haipin (Excellent) + Necklace of Azure Star (Excellent) + Light of Azure Star (Excellent) - Body: + Draconic Scaled Vest (Excellent) + Silk Camisole of Feather (Excellent) + Protective Rune of Blood Steel (Excellent) + Offensive Rune of Lightning Strikes (Excellent) Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. + Draconic Scaled Hotpants (Excellent) + Windy Wings (Excellent) - Arms: + Draconic Scaled Gloves (Excellent) + Light Gauntlet of Material (Left) (Excellent) + Light Gauntlet of Elemental (Right) (Excellent) + Vallen Ring of Blood Moon (Cosmetic) - Legs: + Draconic Scaled Boots (Excellent) + Absolute Socks of Blitz (Left) (Excellent) + Trails of Afterimages (Excellent) [Skills - Active]: - Inspect - Cheer - Shared Fate - Refinery - Mass Refinery - Creation - Field Creation - Leap - Elemental Bolt - Piercing Arrow - Recall - Teleport - Silent Cast - Minor Heal - Resurrect [Skills - Passive]: - Accelerate Power - Cell Revitalization - Elemental Resistance - Detect Presence [Titles]: - Unstopping Hero - Absolute Zero (760) - Pacifist (2): Walk the path of non-violence. Removed on harming others. Strengthen blessings of the Goddess. - Beast Tamer Origin - At-will Beast User (1) - Against All Odds (43) - Ancient Rune Artist Origin - Arcane Maestro Origin - Mancannon - Tenri Yassel Subduer: The one who proved capability of mortals to . Effects depend on ''s judgement. Effect: Grant divine power to all attacks and increase beneficial magic effects on others. - Celestial Trickster: The one who deceived divine beings. Nullify all divine surveillance. Increase damage against unaware targets. was blissfully ignorant. - Purity of Innocence: The one who received judgement from . Reduce damage received from divine attacks. Friend to all but the most aggressive creatures. - Goddess Lover: The weirdo who loves the Goddess too literally. Even the Goddess has no idea what to do with this individual. Grant bonuses depending on tributes to the Goddess. - Goddess Corrupter: The one who committed treacherous acts against the Goddess. Grant effects depending on heresy against the Goddess. - Halfblood (Racial) --- My attributes increased ten folds again¡­ The snowball cannot be stopped. Powerful, aren''t you, [Absolute Zero]¡­ [Against All Odds] ramped up significantly. Since I was level 7 when I fought the weird mask, doesn''t this mean it was around level 50? Why is that thing even allowed when the level cap is 20, Sateri?! [Inspect Resistance] and [Beast Empathy] are gone. Did they get merged into a title or something? The merged effect is probably better as there''s no skill to improve further. I am not going to bother with [Field Creation]. [Field] crafting skills do not get penalty when there''s no furniture, but they do not get furniture bonus either. It is simply useless for me who has portable furniture as equipment. If only there''s a way to feed useless skills to [Absolute Zero]~ Now, to the titles. [Aspiring Pacifist] has evolved into [Pacifist]. Looks like it is giving me 2 attribute points per category as well. It may not be much, but certainly counts when it comes to [Absolute Zero]. Nice~ [Tenri Yassel Subduer]¡­ Divine power? I can deal with corruption now! Not sure how that will help, but why didn''t you give me divine attacks BEFORE the fight against the eyes, Sateri?! Are you a fan of vicious cycles?! The magic effects part probably refers to buffs. I am currently not much of a support apart from LDR bonus and [Cheer]. Let''s look into buff skills later, un. What is with the [Celestial Trickster]? I didn''t do anything that "tricked" the boss, did I? The mask was even referred, so I must have done something to it unknowingly. Sneak attack is alright. What is "Divine surveillance" anyway? [Inspect] and such? Is that why [Inspect Resistance] is gone? Now this is a title befitting a cute young innocent girl like me~: [Purity of Innocence]. First it''s divine attack, now it''s defense. Should I be hoping not to get more weakness to darkness¡­? Because overly specialization into divinity more often than not has that problem. [Beast Empathy] probably got merged with this one. Pretty sure of it. ¡­Wait a minute, combined with [Celestial Trickster], doesn''t this imply something really nasty?! Damn it, Sateri, you totally planned for this didn''t you?! Which part of my totally pure innocence was tricking the mask though¡­? [Goddess Lover]¡­ Who are you calling a weirdo, Sateri?! Did you have a sanity slippage while making this title?! For now, I''ll just accept your mutual love and assume the unaccounted attributes in [Absolute Zero] are from this one. She really knows how to screw me over huh. There''s no way I can ask because of this title''s description!!! The last one, [Goddess Corrupter]. Un, Sateri is holding a grudge, confirmed. She wasn''t amused when I made her receive the ring as compensation for nerfing [Accelerate Power], I would wager. What are its effects though? As I scroll and flip through the menus, I see it. A glowing dim light with the same corruption texture on the mask on my wedding (?) ring. It wasn''t there when I crafted the item. In the first place, its main category is [Armor], so it shouldn''t have the glow from the runes. ¡­She''s the one doing the corrupting, not me!!! For now I don''t see anything weird (apart from my attributes), and just like the other title, I cannot ask someone with high [Inspect] without giving away my dignity. Oh well¡­ _ Poltea: She''s back. _ Fensen: Hiyo, ~ Did I daydream for too long again?! _ Shadyna: Sorry, I was checking my status a bit~ _ Fensen: said you were good, but how good, exactly? Un, they probably do not have [Inspect] to peep on my status like . Otherwise may be screaming in excitement already. _ Poltea: is glowing, so¡­ very good? doesn''t glow as much¡­ Is that how you gauge others'' strength?! _ Shadyna: The glow is from my runes. If you fill all the slots you will glow like me. _ Fensen: Runes, so cool~! _ Shadyna: Did you finish training? Looking at the clock, it''s been 15 minutes indeed. _ Fensen: Un! We hit at the same time¡­ mostly. I can notice that stutter you know~ Is that genetic in the family? _ Shadyna: Very well~ Let''s see~ Another giant rat, spotted~ Drawing a line using it as the target, I have the girls get ready. _ Shadyna: Now unleash your new power against that one! And hope it doesn''t move before you can hit it, but I will keep silent to avoid pressuring them! _ Fensen: Roger~! Ready, ? _ Poltea: U-un! On my mark¡­ Oh, they even formed their own cooperative tactics! _ Poltea: Now! _ Fensen: Fire~ Since is the main point of failure, as she needs to close in on the enemies, having her giving the signal is a good idea. That and is seemingly bad at math too. *WHACK* A perfect attack on the first (real) try! The bolts, dagger, and hit the rat at the same time. Oh, it dies immediately, since I made the crossbow with decent materials. Muahahahaha! ¡­Didn''t even check the crossbow''s stats, whoops. [A player has successfully discovered multi-weapon wielding technique. Rewards have been sent. Congratulations.] ¡­What? Why is that a thing? Hessy was using dual swords right? Why is that message appearing now? _ Fensen: ~, do you know what [Weapon Slinger Origin] means? _ Poltea: Ah, I got it as well, and [Time on Target]. ¡­It was you two?! [Multi-weapon Wield: Wield multiple weapons at the same time. Reserve mana per weapon.] [Weapon Slinger Origin: The pioneer of multi-weapon wielding. Increase maximum weapon count. Grant damage bonus depending on number of equipped weapons.] [Time on Target: The one who destroys enemies with carefully calculated tactics. Grant .] [Alpha Strike Power: Devastating first strike against enemies. Increase damage based on skill level, number of attacks and participating attackers.] ¡­Multi-weapon thingy aside, what the heck is that [Alpha Strike Power]!? I know, [Time on Target] was exactly what they were doing: Timing shots so they land at the same time. Still, what the heck is that OP-like skill, Sateri!!! It may even be on par with my [Accelerate Power], and there are two of them!!! Why was it triggered? In a big boss fight an alpha strike is almost inevitable. Is timing those attacks part of the condition? And you need more than one player participating? Otherwise, Gelly would have triggered it with its attack and [Alchemy] combined assault! This¡­ isn''t my fault, right? _ Fensen: I don''t really get it, but these titles and skills sound cool! _ Poltea: Does that mean if we do this combined attack all the time, our damage is higher¡­? '' teahouse. We will gladly buy that information at premium price. Actually, what the hell did you do this time, Illusive Sprout?!> _ Hessy (PM): Should I even bother asking, ? _ Shadyna (PM): It''s not me this time! _ Hessy (PM): Oh? _ Shadyna (PM): Sorry, I am kind of related to it. But I did not get that one!!! _ Hessy (PM): It''s totally your fault isn''t it?! My reputation is all ruined~ _ Fensen: , should we go to the teahouse? Someone called for us. _ Shadyna: Uhm, you don''t have to. Besides, I would rather not let these girls go near as long as I can help it. _ Poltea: They mentioned "Illusive Sprout", not us¡­ I think¡­ _ Shadyna: They called for you, really. That is my nickname among the players I think? _ Poltea: Earning a nickname¡­ Why are your eyes sparkling?! Do you want to be called a Particle Lolider that much?! _ Shadyna: Usually they just want to ask how you unlock the skills and titles. Should we try those out first? _ Fensen: Sure~! _ Poltea: More skills and titles means getting a nickname¡­ Again, girl, are you sure you want that? _ Shadyna: [Creation]!!! ¡­ _ Fensen: It replaced the first one. _ Shadyna: I see, so it''s 7 in total. ¡­Sateri, there''s definitely something wrong with a player being able to equip 7 weapons at the same time, no matter how you look at it. Did you not learn your lesson after [Accelerate Power]? We gave multi-weapon wielding a try. When you wield multiple weapons, they do not appear in your hand but float around you like ghosts. was turning a bit blue when she first saw it. The image of having a squadron''s worth of crossbows around her is somewhat¡­ off. I will make her a different weapon later. In contrast, ''s sword spam is beautiful. She seems to be against having so many sharp edges around her though, so I''ll have to do something about that as well. As for its mechanics, each weapon uses its own damage and attack speed. All the bonus attributes and status are only applied when it is used. Otherwise the bonus of the first weapon is applied when idle. Individual attack speed is roughly half that of a single weapon, I think. In addition, each additional weapon equipped takes away 50% of their MP. Not 5%, but 50%. The two are already at 0 MP after the third weapon! There''s already an abuse though. Using their tactics, it turns out the applied bonuses are not exclusive. If they use all weapons at the same time, all the bonuses are added. 7 times the PAT and STR of weapon is no joke. The trigger condition is just as annoying as my [Accelerate Power] still. It''s not like you can hit at the same time all the time in the middle of combat, and slow weapons'' speed might hinder your defense. In other words, these two are specialized first hitters and giant killers as that''s how they can get perfect alpha strikes. _ Fensen: I feel like we can take on everything! _ Poltea: , please don''t be reckless¡­ One day, I''ll have to break it to them that rather than "take on", they probably will "one-shot" everything in their range. They have to do that without using MP however¡­ But today is not that day. I want to make them even stronger first. _ Shadyna: Should we go back to town? _ Fensen: Fueh? _ Shadyna: You still need more skills to survive, and supplies too. After that we will go on a hunt to grind crafting materials. That way I can make stronger weapons for you. To be honest, I''m terrified just thinking about the coming crafting session. 7 weapons and 16 armor pieces for each girl. Without a good hunt there''s no way my material storage can last. ¡­Actually, my storage will last, but the dent will be painful to look at! ____________ _ Torenis: Is this mutiny? _ Inerin: I was recruited to tend the tavern, not to fight bosses. Please ask someone else. _ Inerin (Party): Mera, is it done yet? is harassing me. _ Mera (Party): Oh my~ Did he develop sixth sense? Ju~st a bit more time, please~ Only a little furnishing left. _ Inerin (Party): Hurry up will you? _ Sulien (Party): Really sorry about that. All because of stupid ¡­ The atmosphere in the tavern is tense. Everyone holds virtual breath to witness an internal quarrel between the guildmaster and the well-respected waitress. Most are rooting for the waitress, but saying that out loud will ruin the mood so everyone is keeping their mouths shut. _ Torenis: Listen here. You are a member. You are obliged to help the guild prosper. Did I make myself clear? For a moment, the patrons think they saw blue veins popping on the waitress''s head, despite them being in a virtual world. _ Inerin: Sure, keeping your treasury afloat is somehow not doing my job. I am not interested. You have many capable players, ask them. Or find that multi-weapon wielder and recruit them to your cause. _ Mera (Party): And~ done~ _ Hessy (Party): I feel sorry for and , but they chose this themselves. _ Sulien (Party): Let us begin then! Service workers, rise!!! _ Torenis: You¡­ Are you intentionally picking a fight with me? Despite valiant efforts to keep up the calm and composed appearance, it was obvious to everyone that the guildmaster is losing his cool. _ Inerin: Honestly speaking? I was tending to the store, then you showed up and tried to force me out. Shouldn''t I be the angry one in this case? _ Torenis: ¡­Fine. You are relieved of all duties. Pack up your items and leave in 10 minutes. _ Warrior: What the heck, dude?! First , how you are kicking too?! The crowd no longer stands idle as they realize is removing from the guild. leaving was a big loss. They are not going to lose another beautiful waitress without a fight! _ Torenis: Silence. This is my guild''s property. I can remove all of you from the premise if I want to. _ Mage: We are not coming back anyway! You treat your best members like they are expendables! _ Inerin: Everyone¡­ This is indeed ''s property, so has a point. Pulling out a small wooden sign, the waitress smiles, as if waiting for this moment all along. _ Inerin: Therefore, the waitress corps will officially move to a new home. I am looking forward to your support once more. The sign is the address to the new place. Of course it will be hard to put it around the area, considering this place is under control of . However, is giving extra pettiness as last service for her ungrateful guildmaster. _ Everyone: Eh? OOOHHHH!!! For these patrons, it is simple. They are where the corps is. Too simple in fact, but there''s nothing the waitresses can do about it. Outside, and are having a good laugh at ''s dumbfounded face. They came here just for it after all! _ Maximus: After what did, he still couldn''t realize he had no leverage against the waitresses! Oh the arrogance¡­ _ Olkan: Now my bar finally has a chance! Hold on, I have a mail¡­ Reading the incoming mail, loses all color on his face before letting out a sky-piercing scream. _ Maximus: What the heck, dude? _ Olkan: My bar!!! And it looks like something has also happened to . Chapter 27: Uprising This is Shadyna, and I am getting slandered again! I was on a skill scroll shopping spree when yelled at me using [World Voice]. Not directly at me per se, but still, please refrain from doing that. I am having kids here! Wait, that sounds a bit off¡­ _ Fensen: Uhm, was that¡­? _ Shadyna: Don''t mind them. I would like this [Fort] scroll! _ Merchant: Right away little Miss! I am well aware what the lolicon was screaming about. The rest of the big guilds will be after me soon enough I think. What did I do? Nothing. Hessy just has good relationship with other guild''s [Cooking]-focused players. She dreamed of a day when they would all be working together instead of against each other like an idealistic soon-to-lose-hometown hero, but did not have the resources to pull off. Then I logged in for the first time and¡­ wait, wouldn''t that make me the overlord destroying her normal life?! Anyway, she and the waitress corps were preparing for the departure as I empowered them through the power of friendship (cooperative mechanic exploitations). They did not ask me to help, just that I do not stop them when the time comes. Not that I mind, so I agreed to craft for everyone under Hessy''s banner. That, is my side of the contract with Nerin. Didn''t think they would begin the day after though. Because you play this game for like 8 hours a day in your sleep, your sense of time may get a bit dulled. That and fighting against a big bonus boss. During our talk, Hessy said she would wait until she could pay off her shop first. Such a good girl¡­ Less good when Su, the perverted proprietress of the teahouse, informed us earlier that the big guilds are conspiring against me in a super duper secret meeting. In retaliation, Hessy immediately negotiated with the bartenders in and the pizza (yes, really) chefs in . While has not shown any aggression towards me, they weren''t against an alliance against me either. At the same time, Elri and the rest of the corps were frantically building up the new restaurant where we will be working. It''s the lot of land she just bought from right before the meeting. I admit, Hessy planned to build it eventually. However, the change of plan was painful for everyone involved. With the forest being occupied by the Magnus Bestia, woods, of all things, became a luxury. Sure, crystals will do just fine, but the building will look ugly! Elri is still decimating the ecosystem over there by the way. Magnus Bestia or not, she is destroying everything in her path while Mera is teleporting back and forth using [Recall] to transport the materials. The efficiency is a bit scary, but I am in no position to speak against it, having the dynamite excavator and all¡­ Stone and metal are no problem, as can use the storages in the secret base. Why is it that a restaurant has more trouble with building materials than with food?! It was distracting for my shopping trip with my cute students too¡­ Well then, should we evacuate from town before they come with pitchforks and torches? Hessy promised not to get me involved as much as she can manage. To be honest, I think she has a decent chance of winning even without my gear. Maybe we need a skill-exchange session¡­? _ Shadyna: Let''s go on a hunt now! _ Fensen and Poltea: Oh~! Not only skills for these two. I bought skill scrolls for myself as well. Combination skill scrolls are way too overpriced though!!! [Combat Support] for buffing status, and [Potential Manifest] for buffing attributes. There''re self-buff equivalents too, but they override each other so I only need the on-target skills. _ Shadyna (Party): I''m leaving party to lead my cute students. If you need LDR have someone wear the set at home, okay? _ Hessy (Party): Understood. Thanks for everything, . _ Shadyna (Party): Please don''t say lines that trigger your death before battle~ Now then, our target: The grove way to the west of town. We leave from the south to avoid the angry horde. Not that any gate is safe, but members are not familiar with me yet (I think), so it''s safer in comparison. To reach the grove, we need to go past the area with sand circles first¡­ Let''s hope I can get there with only the directions from merchants. Getting lost episodes are not fun! ____________ _ Fuelri: To think I would be fighting by your side again¡­ _ Hessenria: Feeling''s mutual. You don''t have to be here you know. They are after us cooks. Sitting calmly at the front yard where the outdoor tables are, and are preparing for the fight. All the service workers of the big guilds are furbishing the upper floors inside. They have to get everything ready to serve the customers afterwards. Currently only the first floor is operational as the main cafeteria. _ Miel: Please cease all flirting. Your death is inevitable after being lovey-dovey before the last battle. _ Fuelri and Hessenria: WHO THE HELL IS FLIRTING!!! _ Miel: By the way, I brought you energizers to keep you up all night long. _ Fuelri: There''s no escaping these maniacs!!! In any case, their buffed up stats are way too much. They will be killing all oppositions in one strike, skills or not. In the off chance a damage negation or evasion happens, their target will just die the next hit. The only way for the mass to win is by focusing on [Ignore Defense] skills, and superior numbers. It almost worked out in ''s favor last week, so they may try that again. _ Hessenria: By the by, did you catch ''s status? [Inspect] only returns her name and¡­ profession now. _ Miel: She got more titles after the boss fight. I don''t know what exactly, but I could see her stats during the fight. None of my new titles gives such effects. _ Fuelri: What do your new titles do by the way? _ Miel: I am some kind of holy maiden now. can''t help but facepalms. _ Hessenria: At least we can say she''s a bit bonker because threw her at the boss. _ Fuelri: I know right? What the hell was she thinking!!! It was casual (?) chatting while waiting for world war, as usual. _ Vladina: ! I know you are in there! _ Hessenria: Break time''s over. ____________ The Sand Circles zone is half grassland half desert. This place is littered with big sandy circles not far from each other. A level 3-7 zone, but it''s a bad place for my students. Each circle is a nest of various aggressive beasts. When you step into one, they emerge in packs and pounce on you. While they can''t really pierce armors made by me, it''s not really good training. I want them to practice on big, slow targets to get accustomed to combat first. Throwing them into chaos and telling them to git gud is not my style. ¡­Then again, I''m a pacifist. Should I even be doing this? Oh well, it''s a material crisis, so I''ll let it slide. Materialism demands its tributes! _ Fensen: Avoid the sand~ Sand is lava~ _ Poltea: There are players fighting over there¡­ Should we help them? _ Shadyna: They seem to be doing fine, so don''t rob them of their loots. We''ll help when they panic and start dying. _ Poltea: Wouldn''t that be too late¡­? Little details~ Ah, a big centipede is rolling in that big circle. Is that a field boss? Un, a field boss. [Inspect] says it''s called [Storm Worm Turpedis]. As much as I want to rip it to pieces using [Refinery], it''s best to refrain from now. If we fight it the only person capable of fighting properly (?) is me. Current armors are good, but not good enough for tanking bosses for the time being. _ Fensen: [Inspect]~ Yeah, I bought [Inspect] for them too. _ Poltea: It looks strong¡­ _ Shadyna: It''s probably a boss. We will fight it later when you are better-equipped. _ Fensen: Roger~ The good thing about this place is you don''t really get aggressive monsters outside the sandy spots. Way better than unexpected Merexxa attacks¡­ Leaving the coarse sand zone behind, we cross a barren wasteland that has no plant or creature. The only point of interest is a faraway suspicious-looking pillar that reaches the clouds. Seems to be made of stone, so it''s probably not a space elevator. Peculiar~ After more uneventful walking because it''s too barren, we arrive at our destination. A level 15-20 zone. A tree-filled grove with the biggest mobs in the current world. This is where the girls will start their real combat training! Oh, they are level 3 by the way. We are way under-leveled for this place, to make it fairer for the local fauna. ____________ _ Vladina: ! I know you can hear me! Don''t give in to darkness! _ Hessenria: Just PM her! If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. _ Vladina: The atmosphere is important! _ Miel: Something something she''s here on her own will. And treated her better. _ Vladina: GUH! _ Olkan: My bartenders! The pride of !!! Give them back!!! _ Hessenria: They still work as bartenders, just not for you anymore. It was like a protest in front of the new restaurant. The patrons from the tavern decide to ignore the weirdoes and walk inside despite all of that. A lot of fighters from the big guilds are here too, but they are a bit hesitant to fight against old members, and more importantly, because overly glowing people are known to be destructive. _ Cinrald: Hi there~ You must be the elf girl who bought this land from us. Nice to meet you! _ Fuelri: Uh¡­ likewise. Some of the protesters are actually not here for protesting. It is not certain why they even bothered to be here! _ Torenis: So you are behind this, . _ Hessenria: Damn it this isn''t a mixer! Stop beating around the bush and state your damn business! _ Olkan: That''s obvious! Return our cooks!!! _ Hessenria: Rejected. They joined force with me on their own volition. I only provide them a workplace. _ Fuelri: To be fair, this land is mine on paper¡­ _ Torenis: Don''t bother, , . She has all but declared war officially. Force is the only answer to them. And as usual, the agitators to escalate the whole thing are also present. _ Olkan: W-wait! Nothing good comes out of violence! _ Cinrald: What the hell, ¡­ For all the gung-ho talking, he is truly a snaky merchant against an actual threat! Not knowing about his recent traumas, the guildmaster of looks at him in disgust. _ Vladina: here will teach you a lesson! Pick your fighter! _ Torenis: Oi! And so, a duel is arranged because some brat decided to sacrifice her own comrade! If this was a dating game, ''s opinion of these two would drop so low the bad ends would trigger in the next sentence! ¡­ The tables and chairs on the courtyard were quickly picked up by and to avoid collateral damage. _ Hessenria: That was fast. Are you used to this kind of job? _ Fuelri: Learned since last raid. No one was willing to help me with the corpses. _ Warrior: YOU WERE TRYING TO TRAMPLE ON ALL OF US! _ Fuelri: Oh shut up. You guys were literally asking to step on you every day. There was no tension on the waitress side, and their patrons as well. Inside the "ring", which is just a small now-empty space, the combatants stand ready. On the big guilds'' side is , and there''s on the opposite side. It''s a weird match as no one really expected the duelists. ''s guidmaster is known for large-scale battles, while his opponent¡­ did not have a long working history with him. Why she participates instead of is a mystery. Despite having overwhelming number, members of the big guilds are not trying to swarm their "enemies". While each individual is not as strong as the waitresses, they still are experienced players. Being familiar with the ins and outs of combat, of course they used [Inspect] to gauge the opposition! ¡­The result completely shattered the big guilds'' will to fight. Even ''s equipment, which is said to be the best in the game right now, is puny compared to the anomalous waitress standing before them. They cannot see a possibility where they will be winning against such overwhelming odds. _ Olkan: Ready¡­ START! All, except for one. _ Torenis: Etena. A fiery bird as big as an average human soars into the sky. The famous undying summon beast that held against the first Nox Terminus, and soon-to-be the first Magnus Bestia killer, Etena, has entered the ring. _ Torenis: [Dive]! The bird goes straight at its target like a hawk. has quite good defense as she was one of the tanks. But that doesn''t matter, since [Ignore Physical Defense] treats any defense as if it''s not there for that portion of damage. When the opponent overwhelms in stats, inflict death by thousand cuts. Etena itself has the stats of a mid-level boss, which is a lot compared to a level-capped player, and way stronger than a normal summoned beast. For something so tough, it''s outright cheating to have self-resurrection as salt to injury! To counter such a never-ending foe, the only choice is to aim at the summoner. ''s entire build revolves around this attrition warfare. A balanced split between evasion and defense to maximize survivability in all situations, to buy time until the angry bird pokes its target to death. It would have been tough against who has homing [Dark Bolt]. However, this time it''s a melee player who uses two-handed hammer which is inherently slow. She is hard-countered by the summoner''s playstyle. _ Miel: [Summon], Yassyl! A little fairy in black manifests in front of then charges towards Etena. _ Miel: [Square Mask]. Pulling out a small pitch black shield with a D: expression painted on the front, much to the discomfort of the audiences, the fairy collides with a nasty "WHAM", but successfully stops Etena dead in its tracks (wings?). _ Torenis: What the¡­ Last time they fought together, this waitress had no summon! Maybe, kind of. The guildmaster wasn''t paying attention to her to begin with! _ Miel: [Leap]. is right in reach of as she lunges forward, hammer in hands. Even without OP stats, you usually don''t want to be receiving such attacks. _ Torenis: Hmph! Even though she has superior speed, it''s not unavoidable for the guildmaster. While not as fast as , he can maneuver well enough to barely jump out of the danger zone. Effective and decisive actions triumph wasteful uses of stats any day! So thinks , at least. _ Miel: Dark Bolt! _ Torenis: [Leap]!!! When you are used to a certain harsh mistress of the tavern, it is normal to develop a condition which makes one gives the words [Dark Bolt] the highest priority, especially if they are from the enemies. Seeing the former superior freaking out due to accidental brainwashing, can''t help but facepalms out of pity. _ Miel: Just kidding. Die. Tossing a small rod out of inventory, the waitress swings her weapon upward like a golf club. The guildmaster, no longer able to evade due to being midair, is checkmated. *BLAM* _ Torenis: ACK!!! It was a direct hit in the chin. ''s life does not have the chance to flash one last time before his eyes as he soars into the bright blue sky, because one of the requirements is, surprisingly, being alive. _ Miel: Hmm¡­ I may not be able to live without ''s rods anymore¡­ _ Hessenria: What? _ Fuelri: The heck? ____________ _ Shadyna: I feel like someone just said bad things about me again¡­ _ Fensen: , sometimes I do not understand what you are saying at all. _ Shadyna: Don''t mind it~ How''s it going? I am just sightseeing the place, while and were hunting everything they see without any hesitation. Children are scary¡­ _ Fensen: We~ll, they died in the first strike. _ Poltea: I''m glad. I don''t like getting hit¡­ Then why are you playing melee, little girl?! _ Shadyna: We need materials so I''ll dismantle the corpses. Next time I''ll let you do it to practice [Refinery]. _ Fensen: Thank you~ I love you! _ Shadyna: Love you too. [Refinery]! , how could you even abandon this adorable dork! Anyway, the monsters at this zone give as much materials as raid boss''s minions, most likely because they are in same level range. Now, what should I make for them¡­ Crossbows are definitely out for lack of "coolness" in large numbers¡­ _ Shadyna: , what kind of weapon do you want to wield? _ Fensen: Eh? Not crossbow? _ Shadyna: This game seems to treat ranged weapons similarly except for reload mechanics. Do you want a more¡­ uhm¡­ badass weapon type? _ Fensen: Oh~ Badass weapon~ Hmm~¡­ _ Shadyna: You should think about it too, . Just a preference is fine too~ _ Poltea: Ah, okay¡­ Uhm¡­ Meanwhile, I''ll set a temporary excavator and collect whatever ore is in this area. We need metals to craft weapons after all! ¡­By the by, I actually can move after excavation without dumping out the trash first, thanks to my 800 STR¡­ Bye physics, it was nice knowing you. _ Fensen (Party): , can we have guns in this game? _ Shadyna (Party): I think it''s possible, cosmetic-wise. You want to use guns? _ Fensen (Party): Un! When we talk about badass weapons, I can only think of guns! What about tanks, warships, jet fighters?! Oh wait, you are still a child, my bad. You aren''t supposed to be well-informed about mankind''s worst and best means of destroying their only planet yet. _ Shadyna (Party): Are bigger guns okay? Being surrounded by floating guns are cool, but being surrounded by even bigger guns are better! Your weapon''s size has to be inversely proportional to your body size! ¡­Yeah, ''s a young girl. She needs to have the biggest cannons Sateri would allow me to craft. Not cannons, but guns? Can''t hear anything over the sounds of explosions~ Having her approval (more like a big "Yay") after the first prototype, I mass produce the new "crossbow" using the materials we have been gathering. _ Poltea: Uhm¡­ ¡­ _ Shadyna: Yes~? _ Poltea: Do you know a melee weapon that is not sharp and good at defending¡­? ¡­I will have to ask again, why did you even choose a sword as your weapon?! _ Shadyna: Not sharp, high defense¡­ a shield? _ Poltea: But that''s not a weapon¡­ That''s your reasoning for choosing a sword over it?! _ Shadyna: It¡­ is a weapon though? _ Poltea: ¡­It is? _ Shadyna: Un, blunt weapon. Not the main use, but shield can bash enemies no problem. In this game, melee skills only apply modifiers to your speed or damage. [Slam] can be used even with a bow, for example. Just look at Hessy''s friend, . She uses dual shields as her weapon! _ Poltea: Th-then¡­ if you could¡­ _ Shadyna: Sure thing~ Lots of shields coming right up! I may need another excavation trip¡­ Welp. ____________ _ Olkan: For all of his "I''m fighting the last boss" atmosphere, he got rekt way too quickly. was the first person to break the awkward silence filling the arena. With flying to who-knows-where, the protesters don''t know whether to charge or retreat, hence the current mood. _ Vladina: Kuh! Don''t think this is over! We will come back to have ''s -censored- kicked again! _ Hessenria: At least pretend to fight your own damn battles! The protest quickly disperses as the leadership has lost all morale. In the first place, it''s not like the defected players would go back even if had somehow won the fight. The waitresses'' victory will surely boost their popularity though. _ Fuelri: I''ll go grind in the ocean. PM me if they make a mess again. Jumping onto the big salamander (drake), the elven cavalry scatters the crowd as she marches through the street. It is going to become a habit for players living in this area for sure. _ Cinrald: I''m going to go with that elven girl. Bye~! The brunette disappears into the streets. No one wants to ask how she would keep up with a rampaging salamander of doom. They have enough abnormalities in a day just by having Illusive Sprout logging in! _ Miel: Back to raising a child¡­ _ Hessenria: Sateri-chan-dammit , we don''t need another Mera to drive our patrons even crazier than they already are! _ Warrior: We are grateful for the service! _ Miel: I''ll do my best. _ Hessenria: That''s not a compliment!!! And everyone lives happily ever afte¡­ _ Olkan: Let''s go, . I will craft you the best sword ever so I can reclaim my boobs once more! _ Everyone: ¡­ _ Olkan: Sorry, that sounded better in my head. _ Hessenria: ¡­Whatever. Are you eating? _ Olkan: I''ll have [Crafting Time Deluxe], honey. _ Hessenria: And keep your mouth shut, damn degenerate! After all, good players need food buffs and verbal abuses to do any meaningful gear crafting. --- Topic: Big guilds are dead, long live Illusive Sprout --- ## Bountiful Hunter She has done it, the mad lass. Illusive Sprout and her comrades are the new powerhouse. For people out of the loop, the Cooking players of all big guilds rebelled earlier today under Illusive Sprout''s banner. From now on, get your food in that five-story complex across the marketplace. On a side note, Phoenix Ashes guildmaster got DESTROYED! (£»Ò»_Ò») By a waitress, no less! ## ## Serious Mage Long live Illusive Sprout! (*^0^*) She has officially become the last boss! Her friends are all boss-level now! ¡­Where do I sign unconditional surrender? ## ## Teabag Master Looking forward to your continued support! Don''t worry about the¡­ relocation. The peaceful tea room and noisy night club are operational! (^.^)/ Of course, you can get stepped on and buy pizza too. I''m not judging. ¡¥\_(¥Ä)_/¡¥ ## ## Heaven Piercer Miel (the one fighting Torenis) could have just crushed him with power difference, but she just had to show off her humanoid summon, invoke his deep, dark fantas¡­ fear of Dark Bolt, then -censored-slapped him with Illusive Sprout''s shaft to assert dominance. All for the public to see. I did not expect this level of cruel treatment even from our harsh mistress. (*¡ä¨Œ£à*) ## ## StoneHoarder Humanoid¡­ summon? We don''t even have humanoid monsters in the game!!! (¨R¥í¨Q) And uh¡­ Where do you sign up to get treated like that by the harsh mistress? Asking for a friend. ## ------ --- Topic: Patch discussion - 1.0c11 --- ## Fire mage of Justice Sateri-chan is getting weirder every emergency patch. Guess she''s losing it with Illusive Sprout''s shenanigans. Summary for 1.0c11: - Put a stop to door abuse. (OP note: What the heck happened here?!) - Put a stop to strong boss abuse. (OP note: Poor Avitus Caelicola¡­) - Added special contents for long term. - Got into a relationship. (OP note: ¡­Can anyone verify this while I get my weapons?) ## ## Maximus Archery Got weird title called Goddess''s Chosen after patch. [Pic] Anyone else got that? ## ## Manly Warrior I have it. ## ## Fire mage of Justice So do I. Did everyone receive it? ## ## OP alchemist I didn''t. Not everyone at least. As for the boss note, Alchemy buffs were heavily nerfed for once. Material cost increased a ton, and I cannot craft the same effect strength without losing pretty much all effect duration! How are we going to kill anything non-mob at this rate?! (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß ## ## Newbie Charisma build I didn''t get the title either. (;_;) And RIP Alchemy. Then again I heard 100% stats buff is normal for boss fights. Doubling your stats for hours is OP in a way. ## ## Teabag Master Regarding the door, I have confirmation that it is a fix to prevent using doors as ultimate skill countermeasures. PM if you want to buy the details. Also, Cooking got similar nerf. The crazies don''t seem to mind. Welp. ## ## Mage of Sin I¡­ how¡­ ¦²(?§¥?) Why doors!? ## ## Fire mage of Justice Why not? ¡¥\_(¥Ä)_/¡¥ I do think we should not question Illusive Sprout''s ways of doing things. What things, I do not know. It is a mental health hazard. ## ## Mage of Sin Btw, I got into character creation again to ask Sateri-chan about her relationship. She wasn''t amused. (^_^;) I have findings though. The good news: She''s not married. ¡­The bad news: She''s engaged. Has a very expensive-looking ring on her ring finger. Go into character creation to see for yourself. ## ## Fire mage of Justice (££?§¥?) Guys, and gals, if that''s your thing, get your torch and pitchfork. We are going to war!!! ©c(`§¥¡ä)?(££?§¥?) ## ------ Chapter 28: Independent grinding Dismantler Shadyna is on overdrive! There''s no problem with metal, but I have nowhere near enough beasts'' materials to craft. Sure, I can make it all metal, but the results won''t be as strong. For now, I just craft gear around as strong as the ones given to Hessy, then give it to and . They will go out to extermin¡­ acquire more materials in the area. As for myself, I built another dismantling tent next to a small pond. I should be watching over them? Seriously? They are decimating everything before any creature could get near them! Even if the enemy is aggressive, a full volley from will vaporize it. In the rare case that she misses, will pummel the poor thing in close range. Most of the time they just time the attacks to grind [Alpha Strike Power] though. These girls are scary¡­ A pacifist like me have no place there. Besides, I won''t be with them all the time, so it''s better to have to train independently early, un. Now then, let''s fish! Yes, I haven''t had time to fiddle with fishery. Currently there''re few water bodies in the world, so [Fishing] is of little use¡­ ¡­Can I hope for some overlooked abuse potential here? _ Shadyna: [Refinery]!!! ¡­Ah, sad face, this skill creates a crafting sphere like [Dismantling], so I cannot use an excavator to dig up the fish¡­ Even though I unlocked it by dynamite fishing¡­ [Received Mossy Golden Fish x1] [Received Mossy Silver Fish x1] [Received Mossy Box x1] [Received Mossy Golden Fish x1] ¡­ As long as I keep working on the sphere, I will get fish rapidly. And I do mean rapidly. What the heck is this mountain of fish that just spawned into my inventory?! Must have been the 800 attributes. Whoops~ I didn''t miss the box, I just don''t want to question how that thing is even a possible [Fishing] result! This is a pond! There is no wave to push it around to get stuck in my virtual non-existent hook!!! Let''s see how I can eat the fish first, to organize my inventory. While each skill yields different items depending on the area, in general they have good and bad points. You don''t get many [Cooking] materials from [Mining], or equipment/building stuff from [Farming]. [Dismantling] is where you can get everything in every crafting skill, but you need to, well, murder something to use it. ¡­Ironically, my acquaintances mostly depend on me for the [Dismantling]! Is this karma?! Is this Sateri''s plot to troll me again?! Then again, I have lots of items from [Mining] and [Farming], but they are in no way outstanding compared to what you can buy from the marketplace. If I want people to notice these two skills of mine, I will have to flood the market with overly cheap items¡­ Un, let''s not. and are probably mad enough as it is, even though I haven''t done anything to them (directly)! At a glance, [Fishing] probably has a lot of overlaps with [Farming]. Both give food-related items, with [Farming] requiring space (to plant trees) while [Fishing] mostly requiring time (to work on it constantly). I have no shortage of farming space thanks to the (not so) secret base. Doesn''t that make [Fishing] kind of useless for me¡­? In that case, let''s find a way to abuse it until Sateri snaps and decides to nerf me again! Yes, I noticed the nerfs on [Alchemy] and [Cooking]. Not that it mattered much since I got 800 attributes to compensate. What the heck was that all about, Sateri¡­ By the way, the fish aren''t delicious raw. Yuck! I had to try it because some items have non-skill special effects, like the good old [Begi] bulbs. Those explosive plants have been in my inventory even though my firepower is off the charts now. Can never have too many explosions! Back to the fish. They give a small attribute buff as food. Nothing weird as far as I''m aware. Let''s try opening the box then! [Received Mossy Rock x1] ¡­Whose idea was it to put a rock into a box?! Immersion 0/10 unrealistic!!! At least fish are not the only things you will get from [Fishing]. You''ll get trashes as well. Also, the box disappears after usage. Hmm¡­ No, I am not going to eat the rock. Even if I have the STR to crush the rock into fine sand with my teeth¡­ I can try using [Cooking] on it with the fish though! _ Shadyna: [Creation]!!! [Received Mossy Crushed Rocks with Fish Bones x1] What the heck am I doing¡­ More importantly, why is it even allowed?! Back then I tried to make potions from [Grass] and it wasn''t possible! _ Shadyna: [Creation]! [Received Grass Oil x1] WHY?! _ Shadyna (PM): Hessy~, I am crafting items I wasn''t able to before. Do you know why? _ Hessy (PM): What the hell are you up to again¡­ I don''t know, to be honest. You can craft anything as long as the materials and resulting item are valid¡­ _ Shadyna (PM): Hmm~ Alright, I''ll break physics for a bit and report back to you! _ Hessy (PM): You are not even hiding that anymore aren''t you?! I am not getting new titles, so I doubt it''s so game-breaking. Weird as the rock fish meal is, it''s still giving food buff. Even the bed wasn''t a thing until lately so it''s understandable. Sateri can''t just create new items with exotic effects out of thin air after all¡­ First things first: Find a way to get even more fish without spending hours sitting at the shore. To find abus¡­ mechanic gimmicks, abundance of materials is required so I can experiment without restraints! ¡­Sigh, guess "that" is inevitable isn''t it? The skill that I thought I could get away with. [Mining] by explosion, [Dismantling] capped by corpse amount, and [Farming] capped by number of trees in the base¡­ Damn it I don''t want to use [Mass Refinery]!!! I haven''t even made a skill stacking set for it! My productivity will be so bad with only the base skill level which completely defeats the purpose of using a [Mass] skill in the first place! Okay, prejudice is bad. It will limit my options¡­ Let''s give [Mass Refinery] a try first¡­ _ Shadyna: [Mass Refinery]. A small ring appears around me. Is this the range indicator of the skill? How does that work with [Fishing] anyway? Do you get more fish if there''s more water inside your range? [Received Mossy Silver Fish x1] Yup, still fish. Nothing to see here folks. As expected of level 0, the radius is small¡­ Grinding two skills is a pain. Grinding two combination skills is going to be many times the pain. Hard pass! And so, DEX gear on! [Cooking], full DEX and WIT ahead! [Potential Manifest], just do what you normally do! Now there should not be any problem with speed whatsoever! _ Shadyna: [Refinery], go~! [Received Mossy Golden Fish x1] [Received Mossy Silver Fish x1] [Received Mossy Golden Fish x1] ¡­The message log has been overrun!!! Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. I underestimated the power of my own speed! My inventory has become a fish storage after a few seconds of [Refinery]! ¡­Is the balance going to be alright with this? I feel like the attributes are too OP in large amount. Then again, I doubt many players reach the level of my attributes¡­ Oh well, let''s leave the balancing to Sateri. My job is to abu¡­ take advantage of whatever mechanics available! Because I am not going to eat all of the fish, I dump them back into the lake. The fish items disappear as soon as they touch the water surface. Guess a lake filled with dead fish is not really immersive. Moreover, I have a feeling that if the items remain, they will take a larger volume than the lake itself. Physics in this game has it rough huh¡­ I kept all the boxes, since I do not know what I am going to get from them. Most likely more trash to clean up, but worth a try right? [Teleport]! Back to base, grab the LCK gear, [Teleport]! ¡­Might as well bring all the sets next time, considering how I am switching gears every five minutes. _ Shadyna: Open~! [Received Mossy Rock x1] [Received Mossy Wood x1] [Received Mossy Dirt x1] ¡­ Conclusion: I can probably build a house out of [Fishing]. Both quantity and quality cannot compare to [Dismantling], assumingly for good balance reasons. However, I am not risking my virtual life while gaining access to most material types in the area. I also release the fish back to water so true pacifism is achieved! RIP the fish cooked with rocks. Sorry~ That''s enough [Fishing] for a while. I wonder how the two girls are doing now¡­ ¡­They haven''t mowed down everything that moves in the zone right? Because they are in my party, there''s no problem locating them. DEX gear, on. Ramming speed ahead! ¡­ I am pretty sure that when we parted, and were on foot. So why are they riding a golem that glows like a walking lamp?! Name is [Firefly Golem Sternel]. It''s a boss?! _ Fensen: Hiyo~ _ Shadyna: Uh, why are you riding that? _ Fensen: We tamed it¡­ I think? What is with that uncertainty?! _ Shadyna: How? I haven''t taught you about taming, have I? Because I don''t know the exact conditions for taming to begin with! Until this day I still have no idea what the conditions for taming a Jelleaf are! _ Fensen: Uhm~ We were walking around finding something to shoot at¡­ Someone is going to take that out of context, guaranteed. _ Shadyna: Did you kill this boss and get a summon item? The easiest way of acquiring a beast. Elri can testify with her salam¡­ drake that is her current trademark in town. I am in no way related to how she managed to solo a raid boss and acquire the pet in first try~ _ Fensen: Of course not~ A bunch of people were fighting it back there. The players at the front kept getting killed and everyone was having a hard time, so we lent a hand! Such good girls. Though with your firepower it''s probably best to refrain unless you want to be called a kill-stealer (KSer)¡­ Ignoring that for now, the boss was killing the tanks, so that was indeed bad news for the parties. might actually be better than she looks if she could see that, despite having not seen a boss fight before. _ Poltea: Please just walk to them next time, . They were really angry after what you did. ¡­She killed the boss in first strike, didn''t she? I have not looked into the numbers, but I am pretty sure all in all the weapons'' stats-stacking alone gives her a base PAT high enough to compete against my [Accelerate Power]. Then [Alpha Strike Power]''s multiplier will trigger Sateri''s damage cap again, and even that did not save the weird mask, let alone a poor field boss weakened by other players. Not my fault this time, right? _ Fensen: I couldn''t help it! Aiming an [Alchemy] item was so different from shooting a crossbow! And I wasn''t good at crossbow either! Why are you so proud of that?! This is a game where Sateri will augment your abilities to overcome real life''s physical limitations, yet you haven''t gotten used to the crossbow despite having more attributes than a level capped player AND actually receiving a title out of your shootings?! Excuse overruled. She just hasn''t realized it yet. _ Shadyna: Uh, what did you do, exactly? _ Fensen: Save the day by healing the wounded, like a hero!... was what I planned. Because we had 0 MP, I used the [Alchemy] item with [Minor Heal] enchantment you gave us for emergencies¡­ That disadvantage manifested into real trouble too quickly! At least wait until the most inopportune time to let the villain escape or something! _ Shadyna: ¡­If it was a healing item, why did they get angry at you? Each of those "potions" (more like elixirs at this point) should fully heal you with [Cooking]''s percentage healing, give you tons of blue (overflow) HP using [Alchemy]''s effects, full attributes and status buffs, and of course the level 0 [Minor Heal] which exists solely to enable the magic targeting. Throwing them is a waste you see! Can''t imagine anyone who would not want that, really. _ Fensen: The boss¡­ uh¡­ was swinging its massive arm at the players. Our target got flung away and the spell landed on it instead. ¡­You joined force with the boss instead of the players?! _ Shadyna: Welp. That¡­ would cause some misunderstanding. How did they kill the boss though? _ Fensen: The players saw the boss being healed and detected us. Then they started complimenting us in ways I couldn''t even understand! Pretty sure they weren''t complimenting. _ Poltea: They were using all profanities in the world to throw at us, ¡­ I was amazed at the vocabulary they had, somewhat. As much as I want to tell those guys not to teach the girls cultural wastes, I can kind of sympathize with them. They were already struggling with the boss, so a full recovery might just end their raid¡­ _ Fensen: Duh! We tried to explain to them but they came charging! _ Shadyna: That sounds dangerous. Why didn''t you call me for help? _ Fensen: We were busy running for our dear lives~ _ Poltea: Should we have done something differently? _ Shadyna: Well, running first and foremost is correct, but please inform me so I can come to your rescue as soon as possible. ¡­And prevent the attackers'' bad end too. If these two are cornered, they might just fight back and murder every last one of the enemies¡­ Scary! Eh? Me doing just that? Ahaha, no way. I am a bona fide pacifist~ _ Fensen: Will do! But you see, soon after we dashed away, the boss caught up with the players and smashed them for good, so we didn''t call in the end. _ Shadyna: ¡­Pardon me? I look at the golem again. So she is saying this massive walking glowing rock which is as big as Elri''s salamander, with rocky cones for arms and legs, moves by dragging itself sluggishly on the ground, is SOMEHOW faster than almost-capped players?! Sure, bosses have way better stats than random mobs, but aren''t that a bit too extreme?! _ Poltea: I¡­ think it was the potion''s buffs¡­ Its movement had been much slower¡­ before used the potion on it. _ Fensen: As I said, I didn''t mean to!!! Something, something, I am not related to this in anyway because it wasn''t my intention when I crafted that potion? Is that how the laws work around here? _ Fensen: Besides, who in the world would try to shake a golem''s hand after seeing that battle?! _ Poltea: Guh! It was gratitude! It was just glaring at us so I had to do something! _ Fensen: And that''s about it, . here made friend with the golem and it turned into a [Summon Stone]. We also got [At-will Beast User] and [Boss Tamer] titles. [Boss Tamer: The one who employs the employer. Grant small leadership effect from each summoned tamed boss.] That''s a nice title she got there. I can already see the attribute feedback loop potential with that one. Boss gives attributes => Craft stronger LDR gear => Gives it to boss => Rinse and repeat. I don''t have the title, so even if gives the [Summon Stone] to me I cannot exploit it. And I am not even sure if you can just use a tamed beast of another player¡­ That sounds like a really fast way to lose [At-will Beast User] if you ask me. Guess I need to tame one on my own huh¡­ _ Shadyna: That''s great. Did get the titles as well? _ Fensen: I did~ But holds the stone so¡­ _ Shadyna: Give me a second. _ Shadyna (PM): Hessy, please teach me the location of the most badass boss in the grove! _ Hessy (PM): Random spouting of the day isn''t it? If it''s the grove''s boss then the answer is always the deeper part to the northwest. _ Shadyna (PM): Thank you! I will bring back souvenir if possible! _ Hessy (PM): As long as it''s not a weapon of mass destruction¡­ It''s going to be a weapon of mass destruction isn''t it? How rude~ _ Shadyna: Target acquired. To the northwest! Let''s tame another boss for ! _ Fensen: Oh~! _ Poltea: O-oh~ Still, if throwing buffs at a boss is enough to tame it, why did no one achieve it before¡­? Someone like Mera, for example. ____________ The new cafeteria is now operational. Due to the short notice, there was no way to integrate all the previous shops without someone getting upset. As a result, each shop will do its business in a quarter of the ground floor for the time being. _ Hessy: It''s coming together, somehow¡­ _ Mera: All thanks to a certain someone providing child support~ _ Hessy: Sateri-dammit is the only one having child with !... But it''s true we only made it to this point because of her¡­ _ Mera: All thanks to a certain someone defiling a young girl by accident~ *WHACK* _ Mera: Ow~ _ Miel: Just want to say that I am still the main wife, with the firstborn. *WHACK* The mistress of the cafeteria is already regretting her decisions. --- Topic: Illusive Sprout General Topic #1 --- ## CuteIsJustice As much as I enjoy their beauty, the cute girl thread getting flooded by a few individuals is not ideal. Please post everything related to Illusive Sprout and her¡­ family here. Cast: - Illusive Sprout, the one and only. [Pics] - The waitress corps, former owners of Phoenix Ashes tavern. [Pics] - The teaba¡­teahouse proprietresses, former owners of DFC Sages teahouse. [Pics] - The bartenders, former owners of BB Conglomerate stri¡­ night club. [Pics] - The pizza chefs, former owners of Pathwrecker pizza restaurant. [Pics] - The cavalry girl, said to be the somehow-not-dead mentor. [Pics] ## ## Silver Merchant Just call it for what it is. A harem. (£þ©`£þ) She has taken control of our stomachs. There is no escape! ## ## Bountiful Hunter What''s the name of the guild? ## ## CuteIsJustice There''s none. If they had made a guild, they haven''t announced it yet. Not having a player name with guild icon above your head for the sake of immersion usually has that problem. ## ## Teabag Master She hasn''t made a guild yet. Source: Harem member. (^O^) ## ## Fire mage of Justice Are you going to make one soon? Otherwise we''ll need an unofficial name. Something like Stomach Decimators. (^_-) ## ## CuteIsJustice Wouldn''t they be Stomach Seducers? They are feeding us! And yes, poll incoming. ## ## Newbie Charisma build Dayum, most of them were poached from the big guilds. Does Illusive Sprout has uhm¡­ NTR fetish? ## ## Silver Merchant I think you are onto something there. NTRampage then? Better hope she doesn''t know us in game, or we''ll suffer a fate worse than that of @Maximus Archery for saying that (¡ä?`) ## ------ --- Topic: Boss too hard --- ## PeaceDestroyer Let''s face it, Sateri-chan buffed the field bosses way too much! We had 4 full capped parties (almost 50 players for who cannot do basic math) ganging up on a level 20 in the grove, and still struggled against it. All it took was a -censored- bunch of trolls to heal the boss and ruin the whole thing! ## ## Serious Mage To be fair we were complaining about bosses being so easy that too many players were competing for the big loots before the patch. (~_~;) That asides, healing should just have prolonged the fight (and you should have dealt with the trolls), not ending it. You guys were already under-geared for it. ## ## PeaceDestroyer No, we were dying, but so was the boss. The trolls healed (and buffed?) it. Suddenly it started killing us in one hit, tanks included! [Pics] Those -censored- looked like this. If we meet them again in town it will be bloody! ## ## CuteIsJustice I would like to meet them too! Such cute little angels! =^_^= ## ## Nearseeing Sage 10k gold coins if you can convince those two to join DFC Sages. ## ## CuteIsJustice Aaaaand reported. What are you up to this time? ## ## Manly Warrior Look at all the weapons around them. They are probably the multi-weapon wielders. Didn''t think there would be more than one so soon. Still, reported. Damn lolicon! ## ------ Chapter 29: Someone elses problems Tamer Shadyna is here, along with my immeasurable disappointment! After a long walk to the northwest as suggested by Hessy the scary waitress, we found a boss alright. A level 21 boss, guarded by a horde of angry-looking beetles. Yeah, there''s no problem about its "boss-ness". The name is [Terra Blossom Alrufestion]. It''s a giant frigging flower of all things!!! Of all plant-related stuff I experienced in the game, there''s a common trait between them: They are pretty much immobile. We are looking for a mount beast, not a bonsai pot!!! Technically, you can ride that. Climb on it, and sit there for a nice cup of tea, because a plant is not going to move. Un, it was right out the moment I needed to use "technically". No offense to you, Gelly, but you weren''t moving much either when I first found you. _ Fensen: Uhm, do I have to ride it? _ Shadyna: By the time you can make it move back to town, the last boss would have destroyed the world a few times over. _ Fensen: Sorry, I have no idea what you are saying again~ _ Poltea: It doesn''t look really fast¡­ _ Shadyna: You don''t say¡­ Let''s find a different boss. We are not looking for loot in particular, and even if we were I would not necessarily resort to violence¡­ Unless it''s an unescapable boss fight. If I encounter one such fight again Sateri is going to regret it~ _ ???: Stop right there, kill-stealing scum! Welp, something weird has appeared again! Behind us, quite a few players have gathered. While not as numerous as that time when tried to murder-rob me, there are still a lot of them. Is there a way to grind [Detect Presence] quickly? I don''t like getting snuck up on like this. If possible, I want to see them before they could hit me with their longest ranged attack. _ Fensen: Ah, it''s the angry party that was fighting the golem! I suppose walking leisurely with said big golem is not a good way to hide yourself. Whoopsie~ _ ???: And I will make you suffer what you made us go through! [Fire Bolt]! A very normal looking fireball flies past us, right into the plant boss. ¡­Eh? We aren''t the targets? The beetle minions aren''t amused, and come charging, as expected of your typical boss''s minions. I wonder if we could tame one of those instead of the boss¡­ they sure seem to be faster than the plant itself. But then it wouldn''t be a tamed boss¡­ _ ???: Die horribly, plebs! [Recall]! Please do not trash-talk in front of children, you hater~ So uh¡­ he ran away after attacking the boss. What gives? The attacking beetles pause for a short moment besides us, then continue charging at presumably the rest of the surrounding parties. _ ???: Wait, why?! RUN!!! Seriously, what the heck are you guys doing? Did you really aggro the boss thinking its whole gang wouldn''t pile on you? _ Shadyna (PM): Hessy~, what''s the point of hitting a boss and using [Recall] right after? _ Hessy (PM): Did¡­ someone pull that on you? Bosses will attack anything in its range including non-combatants once aggro-ed, so doing that hit-and-run thing is a common way to PK without penalty. _ Shadyna (PM): Is that so~ _ Hessy (PM): Send me the footage later so I can embargo that coward. _ Shadyna (PM): Sure thing~ but shouldn''t you worry about my safety first? After all, the plan was to unleash a boss on me! Please at least ask if I am alive or something! _ Hessy (PM): Okay. Is the boss safe? _ Shadyna (PM): Why the boss?! _ Hessy (PM): Because it''s the one in danger, trying to kill you. I don''t remember raising Hessy to be like this!!! So their goal is killing us by irony. But for some reason the boss''s minions think they were more delicious and went at them. Now it''s death by double irony. _ Unfortunate warrior: Why did these mobs aim at us?! _ Unfortunate mage: GAH! Get it off me!!! I have never fought a boss with minions, but from what I am seeing, these supposedly fodders for the main thing are pretty powerful themselves. And why the heck are you just¡­ there, not doing anything, you useless boss?! Are you the type of boss that cripplingly specialized in minions?! _ Poltea: Sh-Shadyna, should we¡­ do something? _ Fensen: I want to tame one of those beetles~ _ Shadyna: Of course we have to do something. , do the same thing did on the minions. I''ll use buffs. _ Poltea: We are helping the monsters?! _ Fensen: What about me? _ Shadyna: Do the same thing on the boss and tame it. I don''t think we are going to get to another boss here in peace. Even if I blast all of the players here, they can simply return to annoy us. Ah, what a pain¡­ _ Fensen: Roger~ Heya~ _ Poltea: Is this going to be alright¡­ Ya~ _ Shadyna: [Combat Support]! [Potential Manifest]! Think pot-buffed boss was scary? How about pot-and-magic-buffed boss you stalking hot-tempered jerks~ _ Unfortunate mage: I''m dead! Res!!! _ Unfortunate warrior: Retreat! Retreat! Use [Mass Recall]! _ Unfortunate priest: On it! Oh holy light, heed my¡­ _ Shadyna: [Teleport]. I appear in front of the casting priest, who is completely taken by surprise. _ Shadyna: [Summon]. [Leap]! Because I am stationary after [Teleport], I need to do something to quickly accelerate you see~ As mundane as [Leap] is, it has way too much synergy with my [Accelerate Power]¡­ *WHAM* _ Extraordinarily unfortunate priest: GUAH!!! Good to see Gelly (Emphasis: Not me~) still doing 6-digit damage even with Sateri''s nerf. It''s a lot, but considering how I am having all the buffs known to the playerbase along with 800+ base attributes¡­ Un, it''s nerfed to oblivion. Still way too OP for an average player though. _ Unfortunate warrior: NOOOOO!!! Yes~ _ Dead mage: A little girl¡­ It would be a problem if another player uses [Mass Recall], so let''s snipe all the priest-looking ones. Pacifism through complete extermination of enemies, go! _ Shadyna: [Teleport]! I need to get a vantage point to locate my target. Nowhere screams "High ground" as much as the clear blue sky! Okay, not really clear, since we are in a grove, and a grove is known to have¡­ trees. It''s the thought that counts right? _ Dead mage: Murdering people with a green blob¡­ _ Shadyna: Gelly, attack! This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. *WHACK* _ Extremely unfortunate priest: GUH!!! _ Unfortunate warrior: Shield the healers! We will be dead if they die! Thanks for gathering around potential targets. Now I am sure which one I need to shoot at. Catching Gelly and throwing it up into the air, I [Teleport] again to its side. _ Dead mage: And the distinctive sprout on her head¡­ Please stop the dead monologue. You are ruining the immersion~ _ Shadyna: Go~ *BOOM* Because they are trying to block Gelly, I just throw it to the ground to create the AoE effect. _ Dead warrior: ACK! _ Dead mage: She''s the Particle Lolider! Everyone RUN!!! Now that''s the first time someone calls me by that title in my face. Because I am still holding a grudge over that, I will make sure you guys suffer twice the pain! _ Will-be-target priest: Blessings of the Boobs¡­ This guy is definitely OUT!!! *BLAM* _ Probably-last-target priestess: SOMEONE SAVE ME!!! That''s not even a chant anymore! [Teleport]! *WHAM* This [Teleport] [Leap] combination is kind of broken, really. While I cannot [Teleport] with Gelly while it''s summoned, I can just throw it into the sky and use [Teleport] to catch it midair to throw again. As long as the destination is in my sight I can use [Teleport] without having to input the coordinates, so rapid [Teleport] is at full power! It costs a lot of MP, sure. It doesn''t matter to my massive MP pool though¡­ I leave the rest of the players to the rampaging buffed minions. It was so one-sided already, having me doing non-pacifist stuff is not going to change it much~ A few players managed to use [Recall] items to escape. Using consumables is way too fast so I couldn''t throw Gelly in time. Oh well~ _ Dead warrior: Damn hax!!! Reported! _ Dead priest: -Censored- cheater!!! Because they start throwing profanities despite kissing the ground, I throw Gelly again at them to destroy their corpses. Hope you guys aren''t doing a (technical) deathless run like Elri~ [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Corpse Defiler"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Corpse Destroyer"] Nice¡­? As for the ones who haven''t thrown swear words at us¡­ They are being eaten by the beetles. _ Last-target priestess: LEAVE MY CORPSE ALONE!!! Haven''t seen this corpse eating thingy in a while. It certainly was less noisy back then. Maybe it''s the dead player count? _ Poltea: , I feel a bit sorry for them. _ Shadyna: Something something karma''s a canine with XX chromosomes. I don''t mind you resurrecting them, but if they attack again¡­ I might just try [Refinery] on them you know~ See if I can get a nice title out of it~ _ Poltea: I''ll¡­ do my best. Why do you have that terrified expression even though I haven''t said anything?! _ Fensen: , I''m done~ That took longer than expe¡­ for some reason has grown so tall! I have to look wa~y up to be able to look at her face! Kids these days grow too fast! _ Fensen: It didn''t react when I used the potion on it, so I plucked it out! Remind me why we still aren''t being targeted by the minions again? And what the hell do you mean, "Plucked it out"?! I don''t remember raising you to be like Hessy!!! It''s not a flower anymore. It is a chubby glowing bulb with the flower on top. It''s actually vegetable!? Sateri, calling it a "Blossom" is false advertising! Un, is making an "Eh¡­" expression upon seeing it. That is to be expected. _ Shadyna: So, uh, does it have any interesting skill? Considering how useless this thing was during the whole fight, I am entitled to be a bit skeptical of its abilities. _ Fensen: Let''s see¡­ the menu should be here¡­ Meanwhile, turns back to the dead players who are being eaten alive. I wonder if this can count as combat medic experience¡­? _ Fensen: It has this skill called [Deep Tunnel]¡­ [Deep Tunnel: Manipulate the earth to open an underground tunnel connecting to the destination. Allow rapid relocation as long as the tunnel entrances stay open. Range increases with skill level.] Hoooo~ I like the sound of that. _ Shadyna: Try using it~ Ultimate world-ending skills are the hopes and dreams of all adventurers trying to save the world, but it''s the whacky niche skills that have more potential for¡­ unintended usages~ _ Shadyna: Ah wait, let me buff it first. [Combat Support]! [Potential Manifest]! While I doubt there''s much of a difference, it is certain that every skill I have is affected by my stats, one way or another. Casting buffs is almost free to me anyway, so no need to hesitate! ¡­It''s not going to open a tunnel to the other side of the world map, right? _ Shadyna: And wear this too, . My LDR set. _ Fensen: Oh~ Power up, get~! _ Shadyna: ¡­Last time I checked, LDR was considered useless most of the time. _ Fensen: Eh~ _ Shadyna: Stand still. [Potential Manifest]. Now, ! That should maximize the amount of LDR bonus on the flower. I don''t want to check its stats. It will be so overpowered it''s not funny. Saying that, I''m a bit curious whether it is as strong as the weird mask now¡­ _ Fensen: Righto~! In the name of gunpowder, explosives and firepower, I will decim¡­ _ Shadyna: Out! Out!!! Who the hell taught you that?! _ Fensen: Aw~ and I thought it was such a cool line to start my attacks with¡­ Generally, the best line to begin your attacks is dead silence so your target would not notice you. Mostly applied to PvP though¡­ _ Fensen: [Deep Tunnel]~! The ground below me disappears. ¡­Eh? EEEHHHHH?!?!?! _ Shadyna: GYA!!! Before I could understand what the hell was going on, I fell into a pitch black hole that is definitely not looking like a nest filled with monsters of questionable media! *WHOOSH* Now I''m falling¡­ up? Seriously? Without doing anything other than letting gravity handle my movement, I get thrown out of the hole I fell into. _ Shadyna: Oof. I stabilize and land without problem. Don''t want to land on my butt because that would hurt! ¡­Ah, it''s not the hole I fell into. Definitely not with in between and me. The poor swordgirl is looking at me in confusion, and so are the revived players. Un, this is hard to explain¡­ Behind me, the big hole leading to the abyss is there. I wonder if it''s two-way¡­? Let''s fine out! Jump~! Weeeeeee~ *FWHOOSH* It''s as if I get teleported somewhere in the depths, for I am not feeling any horizontal movement during the whole transition between entrances. I have to admit, this is a bit fun~ Oh, and it''s two-way. _ Shadyna: By the way, , can that flower move? If [Deep Tunnel] is the only way for this boss to relocate, it''s going to be a royal pain. yelling the skill name every three seconds, that is. Her voice is cute, but if she says something repeatedly for a minute it''s just going to be annoying! And since it''s floating, I think it can somewhat fly? Does this game has flying? _ Fensen: Un, like this. Still sitting on the flower, is ferried as the flower moves sloooooooowly across. Sigh, I should have seen that coming. Some SPD gear crafting is in order, definitely. _ Shadyna: It is a bit slow, but that can be fixed. For now, we have achieved the objective of getting a pet! _ Fensen: Yay~! _ Poltea: Y-yay~¡­ _ Shadyna: Welcome back, . What happened to those guys? _ Poltea: They used [Recall] to go back after I used the [Resurrect] item. I''m surprised they left so peacefully. I half-expected at least more curses thrown at our general direction before their departure. _ Poltea: I managed to explain the misunderstanding¡­ They quietly accepted and left, but I think they were glancing at you, . _ Shadyna: No idea why that would be the case~ I am just a normal pacifist player. _ Poltea: Pacifist¡­ right¡­ _ Fensen: Hey, , do I look cool with this boss? _ Poltea: "Cool" is not the word I would use¡­ _ Shadyna: "Cute", you mean. _ Fensen: Aw¡­ It''s a compliment, why are you so disappointed?! _ Poltea: B-by the way¡­ _ Shadyna: Yes~? _ Poltea: Should I do it too¡­? Trying out this [Disperse] skill¡­ _ Shadyna: ¡­You know, please tell me all the skills your pets have. Always reveal important information first and foremost so you don''t have to be the unlucky dude who dies trying to tell the hero the last boss''s weakness! Then, skill testing time~ _ Poltea: [Disperse]! When used, the golem breaks apart into small pebbles! Even the glowing core just¡­ drops onto the ground along with the rocks¡­ What. The. Heck?! _ Poltea: Kya! Mister Golem!!! [Inspect]! ¡­No, it''s not dead. There''s no "dead" part in the result. _ Fensen: That''s¡­ a lot of puzzle pieces. Are you seriously going to put them together by hand?! _ Shadyna: Try using it again, I suppose? _ Poltea: Wouldn''t it turn into fine sand?! Huh, didn''t think of that. Knowing Sateri, that''s¡­ quite a possibility?! _ Shadyna: You mentioned a skill called [Assemble]. Why not try that? _ Poltea: U-un. [Assemble]! Like the doing of a poltergeist, the broken pebbles start moving and form back into the golem again, much to the relief of poor . By the way, the glowing core reminds me of [Laetque Eye]. You guys aren''t relatives, right? Pondering about questions of the century like that, we move deeper into the grove. ____________ _ Swordman: Finally got a tamed beast! _ Spearman: Gratz! _ Mage: One step closer to world domination! The new tavern is so noisy, it makes the previous one seem like a quiet dead of night. That, and someone having big news for the player base. _ Hessenria: How was it? Taming a beast, I mean. _ Swordman: It was rough¡­ Did Illusive Sprout not teach you? Sighing as if giving up, the harsh mistress shakes her head lightly. _ Hessenria: First, I have no idea what "try playing with it" means. Second, it is ill advice to try anything that maniac does. Roaming around picking a fight with a boss in the middle of a raid being one of them. _ Swordman: ¡­You have it rough too huh. As much as he wanted to pat the waitress, survival instincts prevent him from doing so. He does not need more pain and suffering after what he just went through! _ Hessenria: That aside, what''s with the taming attempt? _ Swordman: Right, I tried healing and buffing it. You know, the usual beneficial stuff. The damn thing attacked me right as I did that! _ Hessenria: Really? That''s unusual¡­ She never mentioned anything about getting attacked by the Jelleaf¡­ _ Swordman: Well it sure hit me as hard as it could! If it weren''t for my high defense I would have bitten the dust before it submitted! _ Hessenria: So it will become tamed after a while? _ Swordman: ¡­And by constantly healing the damn thing, yeah. Dunno what would happen if we attacked it. Didn''t dare try. _ Hessenria: I see. As always, food on the house in exchange. What would you like today? If that''s how taming works, a tamer surge is probably not going to happen, thinks . --- Topic: Summon Evolution? --- ## Newbie Charisma build My summon just got this Evolve skill out of nowhere. Can anyone tell me what it is? ## ## StoneHoarder Congratz, that means your pet qualifies for evolution. The conditions are random even for pets of the same species, so usually you need an identification shop to Inspect it, or accidentally unlock the skill like you did. Look into community guides for summoners for more details. ## ## Newbie Charisma build Many thanks. m(_ _)m Anything else I should be looking out for? ## ## Flame knight of Darkness There''s a rumor that you unlock rarer evolutions by performing unconventional feats. That''s why no one else has been able to get a summon like Torenis of Phoenix Ashes. ## ## Serious Mage In his case, it involved crafting of some sort. He was grinding and buying materials for a whole week during closed beta. That might explain his pet''s absurdities. It was a big investment on his part. ## ## Newbie Charisma build Yikes. (?_?;) ## ------ --- Topic: Boss trolls and the bitter end --- ## PeaceDestroyer Let it be known that no one disrupts our boss fight and gets away with it! <(£à^¡ä)> These idiots trolled us and still have the gall to roam around these parts. See how we will make them taste their own medicine! Stream: [Link] ## ## Flame knight of Darkness D¨¦j¨¤ vu. (¡ã.¡ã) ## ## Manly Warrior I''ve just been in this place before. (??¥î?)? Don''t do it. And I''m not saying this because the last time a bunch of players sneaking up on a little girl ended horribly for the offenders, while streaming. ## ## Newbie Charisma build ?©» ( ?o?) ©· And this time there are 3 of them! Seriously. Run. If you don''t know who that is, RUN! (£þ¡õ£þ;) ## ## Fire mage of Justice RIP. That was fast, and brutal. Someone get that link to Illusive Sprout''s thread. That looks¡­ really scary. £¨ ? §¥?) Her new tactics that is. ## ## PeaceDestroyer WT-censored- is this -censored- -censored-!!! She''s cheating! There''s no way that is legit play! ## ## Teabag Master Don''t worry about that. With just your guild''s treasury you can find out what she did to you. (*^¨Œ^*) For you jerks who used uncultured language on those girls, find a new cook or cook yourself. You. Are. EMBARGOED! (££?§¥?) ## ## Flame knight of Darkness Welp. Once more I guess. D¨¦j¨¤ vu. ©³(?o?)©¿? ## ------ Chapter 30: Grove of the fireflies Beast rider Shadyna is making her debut! On a beetle, no less. It''s pretty cool to tell the truth¡­ Even though the two made no taming attempt on the beetles, they gained [Domesticated] effect and obediently followed after we left with the boss. The difference between them and true tamed beast? You can''t control them. They stick around and murder everything that tries to attack the tamer. Un, there''s no doubt. These two girls have become bosses. I don''t know if summoned beasts from loots would have minions like this. Endless summon horde doesn''t seem to be the meta among summoners, so maybe minions are really rare or even disadvantageous to use? They don''t have [Summon Stone], but the boss itself has [Summon Minion] skill to replenish the lost ones. It can maintain up to six beetles by the way. _ Fensen: ¡­[Firefly Corpse]. Welp. That''s what she gets after catching a firefly, barehanded. Why am I not surprised?! _ Poltea: Leave them alone, . They are harmless. _ Fensen: Okay~ I was hoping to bring one home alive though¡­ _ Shadyna: ¡­That sounds like a good idea, actually. Can I have the corpse? _ Fensen: I don''t think it''s lit anymore¡­ I would be surprised if it was. But then again, Sateri''s common sense is kind of whacky, unlike the normal cute tree girl that is me. _ Shadyna: Being alive is optional. [Creation]! Using the corpse and some metal covered in moss that I got from the boxes, I create the [Construction] item of legend! A lantern. Yes, a lantern. What else would you make from a dead firefly? [Received Firefly Lantern (Dead) x1] Totally did not see that coming. I mean, we couldn''t even get a firefly to use as material without receiving the corpse item!!! _ Shadyna: [Resurrect]! [Received Firefly Lantern (Lit) x1] As expected of Sateri, so much useless immersion~ It''s still immersion though, so it''s appreciated. _ Fensen: Oh~ It''s flying in the lantern~ Well, I resurrected it, and since Sateri wasted so much time on such little details, it obviously has to be a live firefly roaming inside the lantern. _ Shadyna: I wonder if we can catch one without killing them¡­ _ Poltea: M-maybe a net? _ Shadyna: ¡­Sure. [Creation]! [Received Refinery Bug-catching net x1] ¡­That sounds kind of wrong¡­ After that, each of us have a lantern on our beast mount. It may come in handy in raids when everything is way too dark for my liking. Still have a bit of time left before the alarm, so we wander around enjoying the scenery. This really reminds me of the forest, where the light is also dim due to the trees. The main difference being the overgrown moss, and fireflies. Kind of romantic, I think. An ideal location for dates, as well as murder mysteries where couples literally explode~ On a rather unrelated note, I wonder if any of my acquaintances is going to attempt taming now that I told them an easier way to do it¡­ ____________ At the newly formed sandy beach, a certain elf is looking at the ocean. The swimming creatures in the ocean, to be exact. _ Cinrald: Don''t worry, we don''t need to take care of the bones in this game. _ Fuelri: I am not thinking about eating them! And why are you still following me anyway?! _ Cinrald: The answer is not gonna change. Knowing your enemy is half the battle, so I am here to observe. _ Fuelri: Sateri-chan-dammit why do I always have to be stuck with maniacs!!! _ Cinrald: And we have a higher chance of triggering "getting hit on by random dudes on the beach" clich¨¦. Don''t mind don''t mind~ _ Fuelri: That''s not the kind of fame I want! Ugh, whatever. I''m going to dive. Stay away if you don''t want to get caught up. _ Cinrald: Roger~ The elf was looking for a boss. A gigantic stingray that spawns an absurd amount of little minions. She had killed it yesterday, but as new information arrived, she had to find it again. This time, to tame it. _ Fuelri: This should be enough potions¡­ Not to heal herself, but to throw at the boss. _ Fuelri: Okay, Ren, [Leap]! The dark drake launches itself into the air, then dives straight down with a big splash. _ Cinrald: Really, she can''t even enter the water like a normal person¡­ Watching the elf decimating all monsters in range in one strike, the leader of can''t help but lick her lips as if looking at a delicious feast. After all, this person loves fighting seemingly hopeless battles. _ Cinrald (PM): , I want all of my equipment reforged. State your price. _ Olkan (PM): What the heck did you see to make that decision so quickly? Actually, don''t tell me. I don''t want to¡­ _ Cinrald (PM): And a swimsuit. _ Olkan (PM): ¡­Just asking, you are with the elf girl right? _ Cinrald (PM): Yes, I am. Jealous? _ Olkan (PM): I''ll give you the swimsuits for free if you give her one and send me the footage afterwards. And OF COURSE I AM JEALOUS!!! _ Cinrald (PM): Deal. Also, reported for peeping. After all, this is a beach. There will be NO exception when it comes to outfits! ____________ *Thud* A corpse just landed in front of us. _ Fensen: Ehm¡­ _ Corpse (?): Uhm¡­ No, seriously, this one literally dropped from the sky! If there had been NPCs (Non-player characters) and quests in this game, I would have mistaken this for some bizarre quest¡­ Not that I want to get involved in such weird quests, mind you. And the beetles are not eating him. Is it because he''s not aggressive or pets do not eat corpses in general¡­? _ Poltea: Should we¡­ leave? _ Corpse: Wait! So, uh, can you [Resurrect] me? It may take a while for my party to catch up. No matter how many times I see it, a talking corpse is still weird. Corpses should stay dead, unless you are already undead like the crazy dark elven sisters with ghoulish heritage. _ Shadyna: [Resurrection]. _ Corpse: FAST! That casting speed is way too high! Well duh, that''s what MSP is for, and I have lots of that. Let''s not complicate things by telling him though. _ Fensen: Why did you fall from the sky, mister? _ Poltea: , wait for him to get up first. _ Former corpse: Oof, thanks for the help. I was fighting a powerful boss. Every once in a while it uses this high-end attack which will send victims flying on direct hits. Are you some kind of third-rate villain who get blasted off by magical girls every weekend¡­? Many players took Gelly directly, and they did not pop out on the other side of the virtual planet! And even the weird mask did not deal as much damage as Gelly¡­ ¡­Am I the bad guy? Nah, can''t be. I am just an ordinary pacifist~ _ Fensen: Oh~ Powerful boss! I want to see it too! Let''s go~ A~nd there she goes. _ Poltea: ?! Wait!!! !!! _ Former corpse: Crap! Don''t go there! The guards will¡­! Too late. Their pets received my buffs, and some equipment because the flower was way too slow! Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡­Now it''s a flower with the speed of a jet plane. Whoops~ And as expected of bosses, they have way more equipment slots than Gelly! How envious¡­ Is there a way to be more overpowered by gaining more equipment slots~? _ Shadyna: Guards? The boss''s minions? _ Former corpse: No, our guild''s guards! They shoot intruders on sight! Did we accidentally walk to a military base or something?! _ Shadyna: This is bad! Before I could run after them to prevent a potential carnage, a portal opens up on the ground and the girls jump out along with their beasts. _ Fensen: ~ There was a wall and some people shot at us while screaming! _ Former corpse: What the heck?! _ Fensen: [Deep Tunnel]? It''s my pet''s skill? It is good for running away. Making good use of the new skills is commendable, but shouldn''t you save secret techniques for last bosses¡­? And please use it to defeat overlords instead of running away. _ Poltea: T-this time we didn''t do anything¡­ Probably¡­ _ Former corpse: Uh¡­ Sorry about that. This boss does not respawn so we have to be on guard against KS-ers. Oh? Non-renewable bosses? In an MMO? Are you sure it''s going to be alright, Sateri? _ Shadyna: Is the boss strong? _ Former corpse: Of course! Magnus Bestia are the strongest bosses in the game right now! Even more than the Nox! I understand some of the words~ So, can I assume that if the boss is strong enough to be in a category of their own, it is not going to respawn? That reminds me, the weird mask got its own system message announcing its spawn, didn''t it¡­? Can it be that it''s a one-time boss, and the materials I got are never going to appear again in the market? ¡­Let''s not think too much about that one, un. did say I could get the materials back by dismantling the crafted gear. Nothing could go wrong with that! _ Fensen: But I wanna see it~ _ Poltea: , don''t be so selfish. _ Fensen: But¡­ _ Shadyna: They will shoot you again if you get close. This kind of fierce competition is what happens when one-time bosses are used. Was Sateri aiming for this¡­? _ Fensen: Uuu¡­ ____________ Parting with the curious girls, the revived player returns to camp. _ Guard #1: Who''s there?! _ Player: It''s me. With the main force moving back to Tyrel to deal with the waitresses (unsuccessfully), the few players garrisoning this fort are a bit on edge. They can handle a few stray monsters no problem, but a pack of high-end aggressive mobs or an organized attack from other guilds are out of their league. _ Guard #2: Phew¡­ I thought it was another monster attack. _ Player: Monster attack? Opening the gate to let his friend in, the guard sighs. _ Guard #2: Yeah. Monsters came out of nowhere and rammed the gate! Humanoid monsters, even! Sateri-chan must have just added them in recently. _ Player: ¡­Eh? _ Guard #1: Just like the ones over there. The guard on the wall points at the group just popping out of the portal not too far from them. A girl on top of a flower, a girl on an oversized golem, and another girl on one of the six beetles accompanying them. Inside the walls. In other words, right in the middle of the camp. _ Player: EH?! _ Guard #2: The heck?! ALERT! ALERT!!! One thing for sure, that guy on the wall is not going to get guard duty ever again. ____________ The cute little girls are being chased by scary people~ _ Fensen: Whoops, too close to the gate. _ Shadyna: Did you get the calculations wrong? _ Fensen: Probably~ _ Poltea: You are getting a supplementary lesson tomorrow, ! _ Fensen: I''m sorry for everything I have done!!! RIP , it was nice knowing you. There are few things worse than a timid girl''s wrath. Because the guards would not let us pass, we decided to take the normal course of action that is to sneak through the defense. ¡­That is not normal? There''s no way we would turn a blind eye to a one-time boss! Besides, there may be some area with great scenery nearby, which will go away if this boss''s death also changes the environment like the weird mask. Un, going back was never an option. However, I prefer, you know, sneaking in without raising the alarms! _ Shadyna: [Shared Fate]. , shield our rear! _ Poltea: G-got it! Time to put her new shields to the test! *BOOM* _ Poltea: Kya! They are shooting spells at us! Still, ''s shields will provide full cover for our characters. The bosses are too big to be shielded however. _ Fensen: Are you alright?! _ Poltea: I-I''m fine! Probably¡­ Un, HP is still high¡­ _ Shadyna: Move some shields to the front. Full speed ahead~! For some reason we have switched to the starship-simulator genre now. _ Fensen: Wait, where are you going?! Eh? The beetles are not following , but instead turned around towards the screaming guards. The one I am riding on is not an exception. Not that it''s a problem for me in particular, as I jump off and can still keep up with the two girls even on foot. _ Former corpse: RUN! RUN!!! _ Guard: Tell my wife I love her! AAAHHHHH!!! Says the poor guy as he gets mauled to oblivion by the beetles. Welp. We really didn''t think it through about the whole "cannot control" aspect of the domesticated pets¡­ Oh well, sacrifices must be made for the sake of science! _ Former corpse: She doesn''t even exist!!! While they are distracted (and murdered) by the beetles, we make a run for it~ _ Fensen: I''m sorry! I will revive you later! In other words, most likely never. _ Shadyna: Let''s hurry. Their friends will come to their rescue soon. This is a fort from the looks of it, so reinforcements should be expected. Elri was complaining about me building outside of Tyrel, but isn''t this even worse? These guys built a whole encampment above ground! How did they survive raids with so few guards anyway? Do they have more guards during raids or do they have someone like Hessy who eats raids for breakfast? ¡­If there was indeed someone as strong as Hessy post-upgrade, I will need to craft her new gears using my newly upgraded attributes huh. Let''s do that tomorrow just to be safe. That aside, the fort does have the whole militaristic feeling in it. Over there are the tents where players rest up, probably. A big tent stands in front of multiple wooden buildings, probably the command tent and supply storages. On the ground, various labor tools can be seen, which are the ones used to build this whole site in the first place I assume. With so much infrastructure in this area, can it be that they intend to stay for some time? I can''t imagine this simply being roleplaying. Let''s screenshot this. Some civilization can still make a good scenery~ _ Former corpse: GUAH! _ Guard on the wall: ARGH! But I had the high ground¡­! I''ll make sure to avoid the gory bits in my screenshots~ _ Fensen: Now I''ve done it¡­ _ Shadyna: Aim at the tents. Destroy all of them, starting from that biggest one. _ Fensen: Roger~ _ Poltea: You are not repenting at all! If the enemies are far away, their fastest route to us would be [Recall]. And considering how the tents are built, their [Recall] coordinates are most likely the big command tent that screams "I am an important target". Even if they have other locations to use, it will take a while to find one that has not been destroyed. Too bad setting fire to stuff is not a thing in the game huh~ _ Fensen: Here goes~ Maximum firepower~ With several loud booms, only a smoking crater remains at what was once a very big tent. Scary! That combined firepower of seven cannons shooting at the same time is too scary! _ Fensen: Hmm¡­ Some of them landed too late¡­ Shooting while moving sure is hard~ I invoke my right to remain silent. This cheeky girl~ _ Poltea: , there are people in front of us! Un, I can see that. Or rather, shouldn''t you be more concerned about that "thing" which is as big as a two-story building and the small hill behind it?! Did you fail a spot check somewhere?! Yes, we have arrived at the boss, and the confused raiding parties. A gigantic beast that dwarfs even the golem is riding. Its antlers remind me of the elks and moose in real life, except that those animals are not the size of a house, and their antlers are not made shiny diamond-like crystals! Are you sure this boss belongs here instead of the crystal-filled valley, Sateri? Well, its skin has a light gray rocky texture similar to that of the golem, so it''s not all crystalline. Rather than calling it skin, it is more like¡­ scales. Rock-scaled giant elk huh. If that thing does not have higher defense than the weird mask, I may have to file a complaint. _ Shadyna: Full shield to front! _ Poltea: Understood! Yes, yes, obligatory [Inspect] too. [Protector Beast Schennul: The great beast guarding the grove since primordial time. Once a weak and blind creature, it asked the fireflies to lend it light. The fireflies agreed, asking for the beast''s protection in return. Both sides have been keeping their promises against many adversaries ever since.] So uh, is this beast making a protection racket? Because that''s what it sounds like to me~ If it weren''t for the wedding ring on my finger, I would be very tempted to make eyes out of the weird mask''s stones and ask the beast if it would want them instead. At least this boss''s description is not filled with eye jokes¡­ That also explains its glowing eyes, which is nice. The light is kind of dim and greenish though, which is different from the yellowish-white light our lanterns emit. ¡­Still, wouldn''t it aim at us with maximum aggression because of the captive fireflies? _ Player #1: Enemy attack!!! _ Player #2: In case you are streaming, we have been expecting you thanks to the brave sacrifices of the guards! No, you don''t need to explain whether we were streaming or not¡­ And some of you didn''t get the memo it seems, considering their current expressions. _ Player #1: [Nature Bolt]! It''s the scary needle again!!! ¡­Which flies magnificently at ''s shield and gets deflected with a sharp "Clang". _ Poltea: ¡­Did something hit us? _ Shadyna: It may be scary but don''t cover your eyes with shields. Driving blind makes a truck coming your way less terrifying, but you are sure as heck to get transferred to another world that way. Not that I have any experience with the latter mind you~ _ Fensen: Do I need to shoot anything? _ Shadyna: Un, no need to. Just try to avoid incoming attacks. We are just peaceful young girls in the neighborhood after all~ That, and six buffed up beetles acquiring their newest targets. As a pacifist, I am not going to interfere with their conflict~ _ Player #2: By the power of friendsh¡­ BLERGH! That ramming looks painful. As in, "performing a world transfer ritual" level of painful. That player flies quite a distance before dropping to the ground like a ragdoll. Scary~ _ Player #1: I will aven¡­ BLARGH! Talking is not a free action for ''s personal bodyguards. There are even fewer players here than the previous assassination attempt, so it''s no surprise that they got dispatched quite quickly. One by one, they suffered the horrible fate of getting crunched by giant insects. Resistance was futile against such overwhelming strength that is the buffed-by-Sateri minions~ I am not responsible for this, un. Meanwhile, the big boss over there was standing idly, probably laughing at the misery of its enemies. Not that I know about the internal thoughts of bonus bosses to begin with¡­ _ Fensen: Oh~ So tall~ You don''t say. _ Poltea: It looks really strong¡­ _ Player #1: Don''t think this is over! Our guild will soon come to avenge us!!! Should I "silence" these corpses so we can have an immersive appreciation of the majestic beast¡­? Unlike the weird mask, this boss actually has the looks befitting its title. Why did I not encounter this one first? Sad face~ _ Fensen: Is it not attacking? _ Poltea: I''m glad¡­ I don''t want to fight it¡­ That peacefulness alone is enough to gain a higher ranking than the weird mask in my mind. Screenshot~! _ ???: This isn''t over yet!!! A rogue-looking player suddenly stands up among the dead. Did the beetles somehow miss her? _ Player #2: In case you are still streaming, that player has [Fake Death] skill, allowing her to trick monsters and oblivious players into thinking that she was dead! Thank you for the explanation, Mr. Corpse, but could you be a good dead body and remain silent over there? And we are not streaming! Meanwhile, the rogue sprinted towards¡­ the mega-elk. Why?! _ Rogue: Please hit! [Pierce]!!! With a determined expression of someone who has nothing to lose, she flings a dagger at Schennul. Do you really have to say that line? The boss is as big as a building! At that range, it is hard to miss even if you try!!! Unexpectedly, the dagger hits somewhere at the neck of the beast, creating a loud "Clang" as it gets deflected by the thick stony scales. Because she used [Pierce], there must be at least some damage right? ¡­Yeah, it turned to her. Mega-elk is not amused. *WHAM* As the elk slams its massive right front hoof to the ground, the earth erupts into spiky towers pointing in all directions. More importantly, the area of effect is a straight line to the target! _ Rogue: Suffer, heretics! BLERGH!!! She got launched into the sky when the spikes came smashing like a wrecking ball. Thank Sateri it''s not -censored imagination-, because those spikes look sharp enough to skewer most meaty stuff in the way! Still, we got involved with lots of bosses today huh~ ¡­ Is something supposed to happen? We are standing still with all shields in front. The dead players are still dead. The boss is (most likely) snickering at said dead people. There''s also the beetles casually crawling back to us. Un, the boss is not attacking. _ Player #1: WHY?! Don''t ask me~ ____________ _ Cinrald: And so, please wear this swimsuit. _ Fuelri: Don''t "And so" me! You haven''t even explained anything!!! The poor elf girl swam back to the shores just to find the crazy archer wearing a white bikini of unknown origin, next to an overly-muscular orc with only his trunks. It took all of her courage not to scream "PERVERTS!" from the top of her virtual lungs! Worst of all, this shameless person is offering her a swimsuit as well! _ Cinrald: *Sighs* Because it''s the beach. _ Muscle-brain: IT''S THE BEACH, BABY! The muscle-brain starts posing as if he was in a fitness competition! _ Cinrald: Please wear it. _ Fuelri: Are you even trying to persuade me?! _ Cinrald: I am, so please wear it. _ Muscle-brain: SHOW THEM YOUR FA~BULOUS ABS, BABY! _ Fuelri: YOU SHUT THE HELL UP! What have I done to deserve this hellish nightmare, thinks the poor elven girl. And she doesn''t have six-pack!!! Chapter 31: Home visit The young pacifist children of the neighborhood are kind of clueless right now~ Really, even though we came in peace, everyone mysteriously died. What are we supposed to do now with this elk boss now? _ Player #2: Whether you are streaming or not, WHY THE HELL DID IT NOT ATTACK?! _ Fensen: No idea~ Corpses aside, there''s this hill behind the elk, and a cavern entrance that has no problem letting it pass through. Its home, maybe? _ Shadyna: Hey~ What''s inside that cavern? _ Player #1: As if we would tell you anything!!! _ Player #2: We don''t know, actually. The boss was blocking the way since we first came here. Thanks for the explanation, dead people~ _ Player #1: YOU DAMN TRAITOR!!! I wonder what treasure is hidden in that cave~ _ Shadyna: You two, stay here. I will check if the boss is cool with us going near the cavern. _ Fensen: Roger~ _ Poltea: P-please be careful. [Shared Fate] is still active with , so I won''t die in one hit. That rock spikes attack may have multiple hits though¡­ Because I am not forced into battle for once, I take my time switching to CON gear. 100k defense after buff should be enough right? I already feel like my gear is outdated compared to attributes from [Absolute Zero]. Let''s make Sateri wear an over-crafted wedding dress when she wants (has) to nerf it~ _ Shadyna: Okay, here goes¡­ With my SPD, it should be trivial to run straight into the cavern before the boss can even target me, but why would I want to leave my cute students behind? If it comes to worst, I can always draw the boss away so they can enter without being smashed by that scary attack. Calm down, remove all non-existent impurities from the mind, act as naturally as possible. Definitely-not-suspicious person passing through~ ¡­ Wow, it really doesn''t attack. I reach the entrance without any problem apart from being stared at by the boss. _ Player #1: WHY?! It stomped on everyone that tried to get close without exception!!! You are already looking at the exception~ These guys are not returning to Tyrel, which means SOMEONE is definitely coming to resurrect them. What a pain¡­ _ Shadyna: , your turn. Because she has more shields, and has my [Shared Fate]. _ Poltea: U-un! _ Fensen: Do your best, ~! Next will be . ¡­ And so, let''s begin the exploration~ _ Player #2: Please upload the footage to the board later! I want to know what''s inside too! _ Shadyna: I''ll try~ Mega-elk, are you sure it''s fine to follow us instead of continuing guard duty¡­? ____________ In the teahouse that is no longer tended by its owner, another emergency meeting is being held by and . _ Olkan: And behold, [ Blade of Unification]! --- [ Blade of Unification] - Creator: - Quality: - Enhancement: 9 - Enchantment: - PAT: 900 - MAT: 300 - PSP: 30 --- _ Tippe: Awesome! _ Ignar: Thanks, . _ Maximus: That [Equipment Manufacturer Origin] is too friggin'' OP. _ Olkan: Not without the absurd scaling base stats of [Artifact] materials. Hell, [Night] effect is already crazy on its own! Stacking debuffs on attack, and scales with your level too. It shouldn''t be legal! For who is at level 20 at the moment, [Night] gives his enemies a debuff on all stats that stacks up to four times as he attacks. A force multiplier, the most powerful effect one can have on the battlefield. A sword that can be reforged as needed and scales with both the owner and crafter. It can be said that has already obtained the end-game weapon, regardless of the current meta. Because it is so powerful, everyone was fighting over it back then. That was when [Artifact] was found to be "binding" to its first wielder. _ Ignar: The generic [Artifact] materials are strong too aren''t they? You even made rods out of it. _ Olkan: It''s a scepter!!! _ Tippe: Who''s gonna get the Nox''s unique drop? ? _ Olkan: She''s the only one fighting it, so obviously. We can only hope the Magnus Bestia are the same. _ Maximus: Those things are stronger than Nox. If they don''t give unique drop that AI girl will have to deal with revolts. _ Olkan: That''s why I went my way to ask about that other boss, but probably saw through it. As expected of my (not) wife. _ Maximus: *Groans* Do reforge our generic [Artifact] later. Can''t fight that brat with wooden sticks. _ Vladina: It will be fine~ Nox dropped enough [Artifact] for a full party. We will have enough for the players that count. _ Maximus: As long as that scrub stays put and not rob us right under our nose, that is. _ Olkan: She''s mentoring ''s cousin. Why would she go to a snake-infested forest or a level capped grove? Because he just had to say that, , who was grumping in the corner after being revived, went straight into total panic mode. _ Torenis: Our Magnus Bestia site is under attack by the multi-weapon wielders! _ Ignar: Oh come on!!! While certainly not the main objective of and , they also mobilize to assist . The fighting power of the multi-weapon wielders are not known, but they were strong enough to defeat the few parties there. One Illusive Sprout is already one too many! ____________ The ambient soundtrack is nice~ As soon as we walked past the entrance, the music changed. You know this is a place of great importance when it has its own theme. Usually it is one theme per area. The mask had one too, I think? I usually leave the volume low and that fight was sooooo hectic I barely had the chance to enjoy the tunes. Let''s ask for the footage later to check. Oh, before I forget. Streaming, start~ Uh¡­ let''s make sure the PM option is off so my private conversations are not recorded. There''s also the default recording that is always on, but only has a few minutes of footage. It was meant for saving unexpected moments, not for long videos. _ Shadyna: I''m recording now. Do you want to say hello to the dead guy out there? _ Fensen: Oh~ Am I going on TV? _ Shadyna: Probably not~ But people may see it so don''t say anything too weird~ _ Fensen: Okay~ Hiyo! This is Mister Big Elk! _ Shadyna: You are introducing the boss instead?! is already sighing! Please don''t give up, ! But really, having this boss following us is kind of awkward. It''s like visiting your girlfriend and her father is pointing a shotgun at your back the whole time! _ Shadyna: Let''s venture inside. What do you think awaits us? _ Fensen: A legendary sword to slay the last boss! Pre-emptive strike before the girlfriend is kidnapped?! And girl, you use cannons, not swords! _ Poltea: Its¡­family? Surprisingly mundane expectations?! And this is an elk, not wolf. Elks probably do not camp in caves. I don''t know what to think if a whole group of these "elks" decide to have us for dinner though. This one alone looks way too tough already. ¡­ After a few turns, light from the outside is pretty much gone. And I thought the grove outside was dim! The only lights from here on out are some glowing mushrooms. Colors vary, but green is dominant. Oh, the elk''s eyes glow too, but they are too high to be of any use. _ Fensen: Thankfully we have these lanterns, right~? _ Poltea: Yes, but please don''t squish another one. _ Fensen: I didn''t mean to~! If we were on foot, tripping onto something is a real possibility. However, pets, and NPCs in general, do not need to "see" to walk on terrain completely void of light, so there''s no problem. _ Shadyna: Hm~ hmm~ hm~ Humming along with the background music, I enjoy the ride through the deep dark cave. ¡­Nothing bad or questionable is waiting at the end of this, right? ¡­ _ Poltea: Light¡­? The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Light at the end of the tunnel. Are you sure we are not being transferred to the netherworld¡­? _ Fensen: Onward~! _ Poltea: !!! How am I going to fix that habit of her¡­? _ All: Oh~ The light that we saw was not from a mushroom, nor a gigantic mushroom, as I was expecting. It''s the fireflies. Greenish, just like the ones on Schennul''s eyes. *Tinkling* They make a bell-like sound as they fly past my ears. Even then it''s hard to hear, and ''s "Wa~ Wo~" are not helping~ _ Poltea: It''s beautiful¡­ _ Shadyna: Un~ _ Fensen: ~, can I bring one home? At least enjoy the scenery before thinking about souvenirs!!! _ Shadyna: Let''s not. Mega-elk probably won''t like it. And in this case, I have a feeling it would convey its opinion by skewering all of us with that spike attack¡­ Un, no thanks to that, even if we wouldn''t die in the first hit! In this dome-like area under the hill, the fireflies live in complete isolation. Without a single ray of light from the sun, it is an eternal "starry" night, calming, relaxing. The benefits of a virtual world~ The main attraction of this place, however, is most likely that rock formation in the middle. [Destroyed home of fireflies] ¡­That''s it? Why, [Inspect]-chan?! Are you in rebellious phase?! And why is it destroyed? I''m pretty sure has not accidentally crashed into anything¡­ yet. She is definitely poking the thing though. Good kids should never poke unknown stuff, especially in a fantasy-themed game, where the usual consequences of such action includes explosion, detonation, eruption, blowup, rapid expansion of air, and explosion! Un, explosions happen too often that I have to say it twice! Even if it''s called "home", it''s just rocks leaning on each other, with each rock reaching about our arms'' length. They probably formed a small "hut" where the fireflies took shelter because of the convenient size. Did this giant elk somehow build this? ¡­Nah, if that was the case the hut wouldn''t stay destroyed. Half of the hut is missing. The standing rocks are barely holding, while the remaining are scattered around. I''m not certain, however, as this is a rocky area¡­ Looking at the exposed part, there are several egg clusters on the side of the rocks. Do eggs hatch in this game¡­? I kind of want to have a whole farm of Gelly for peaceful world domination~ _ Fensen: Uhm, should we¡­ fix this? _ Poltea: Let me try¡­ I can''t pick the rocks up. _ Shadyna: Really? That''s weird¡­ Even grass can be picked. Why not these rocks? Special quest items? In general, I am not able to pick up trees, ores and player buildings¡­ Wait, buildings? _ Shadyna: [Creation], full power! [Begin craft: ] A crafting sphere has appeared!!! And uh¡­ Can anyone tell me what we are crafting? I don''t even know if [Construction] was the skill triggering this! _ Fensen: Woa~ The rocks are moving! Unlike the normal crafting where materials simply disappear, the rocks are not consumed by [Creation], but start moving as I work on the sphere. _ Poltea: C-can I try it too¡­? Joint crafting? I wonder if it is allowed? _ Shadyna: Go ahead~ _ Fensen: [Creation]~! _ Poltea: C-[Creation]! The crafting sphere is growing bigger! It''s about twice as large as before, so almost my height now. Progress bar is going up faster than previously, I think? It is enlarged with the sphere so I am not so sure. When crafting something for the first time, you need to select the materials before using [Creation]. A storage-like menu with the recipe''s material cost will appear for later attempts so you can just throw material into it as needed. This time, said menu appeared, but the material number is displayed as [Any - 0/?] What is this, hot pot in the dark? Oh well, if I give it a lot of items, something will happen right? Let''s go, starting with the highest quality first~ _ Shadyna: Throwing~ throwing~ into the abyss~ Somehow, it''s still eating my items nonstop!!! Isn''t this a bit too much?! *Sniff*¡­ my fishery materials¡­ At this point there can be no return! Commence operation Overfeeding!!! _ Shadyna: , , throw out all the corpses you are carrying and keep working on the craft. I will add more materials. _ Fensen: Roger~ During the few seconds I change to my LCK gear, the dome area has been submerged in corpses. Just how many living beings have you murdered in cold blood during the time I was fishing?! _ Shadyna: [Refinery], maximum firepower! I still have the majority of my loots from [Fishing]''s "treasure" boxes, but the rate of material consumption scares me. Moreover, the quality of the remaining items is not as good you see~ You have better turn out awesome, firefly nest, because you are eating what were meant to be these young innocent girls'' weapons of mass destruction! The fallen rocks were put back in place. A grayish liquid wrapped around it, solidifying into what I would assume a concrete-like layer. After that, multiple magic circles appeared, engulfing it with barriers. Even the moss started glowing and spreading to cover the now fortified hut. And as the cherry on top, fireflies are now flooding out of the hut''s "entrance", like those bubble blowers, with the bubbles being living glowing insects! Did they come from the eggs? Even so, that''s way too many!!! *FLASH* ¡­What''s that light just now? I am still at where I was. The fireflies, however, are now emitting gray light. Rather than the fireflies changing their bulbs, I suppose the problem is my vision changing to greyscale. I know that by looking at the green moss, which was not gray. Oh, of course, seeing those scary-looking players in greyscale also helps. ¡­Wait, what? Where''s mega-elk? _ Leading player: What''s this? [Home of fireflies]? The young man leading the party looks just as confused as we were when we first saw it as well. That is to be expected. Walking forward from his side, the (definitely) blond waitress with the dual swords stares at the stone hut, most likely to read [Inspect]''s infinite (lack of) wisdom. But seriously, what is Hessy doing here? Even if I can only make out some facial features in this darkness, I am not going to mistake those spiky swords you know? _ Hessy: *Shakes head* No description. Greyscale vision, inexplicable situations, being ignored as if not existing, un, I am definitely in a flas¡­ _ Leading player: Let''s try breaking it. Etena, [Charge]. _ Hessy: What the hell, ?! I agree! What the heck is with this trigger-happy guy?! Why did you act like a civilized marauder also known as adventurer?! This is why the stereotype of players being jerks can never be rid of!!! The fiery bird behind him flies straight at the stone structure, resulting in a blinding explosion. ¡­That, or the flashback ending, as I am now seeing colors again after the light dissipates. _ Poltea: Sh-, did you see that¡­? _ Shadyna: The convenient flashback revealing the tragic past of the heroine? Yes, I did. _ Fensen: You are not making any sense~ Hessy called that man . Pretty sure he''s the guildmaster of , and my senior in summoning. Over half of my acquaintances are from the same guild, yet this is the first time I see his face?! He has good looks, the kind of smart calm guy who would be the second option in an otome game. The long robe and glasses give off a scholar-ish vibe, which is fitting considering his summoner profession. His serious expression combined with that straight long hair really adds to the brain-over-brawn if not even a bit feminine archetype. A stark contrast to the harem-protagonist-like or battle-hardened hero . Ironically, that also makes his¡­ behaviors really stand out for me. It''s the clich¨¦ "Handsome man is actually a pain in my cute butt" scenario in otome games~ Conclusion: Hessy has ridiculously bad luck with online acquaintances, except for the cute little tree girl that is me. Sigh~ _ Fensen: Mister Big Elk? While I was internally complaining, the boss approached us from behind. Lowering its neck to us, the elk''s face is about a meter away as I turned back. Considering its towering height, that''s quite close. ¡­It''s not going to bite me, right? _ Shadyna: Uh¡­ Something, something, you had it rough too huh? I don''t know where it was when raided the place, but I doubt that would make a good impression of Schennul''s ability to guard this area¡­ *Tinkling* Two flickering lights come towards me. Where did they¡­ What the heck happened to your eyes, mega-elk?! Its glowing eyes are gone! Or rather, the "glow" is gone, while the empty gray eyes remain. Censorship? Do I need censorship for this?! *Tinkling* [Received Primordial Firefly of the Moss x2] Don''t barge into my inventory without my consent!!! _ Fensen: This is bad! Mister Elk''s eyes flew away! When you put it like that it''s even more creepy! _ Poltea: U-Uhm¡­ St¡­ stop the bleeding, first and foremost! No, first step is you calming down, girl! Also, [Inspect]! [Blind Protector Beast Schennul: The great beast guarding the grove since primordial time. Once a weak and blind creature, it asked the fireflies to lend it light. The fireflies agreed, asking for the beast''s protection in return. Both sides have been keeping their promises against many adversaries ever since. However, the fireflies were harmed while the beast was recovering from the great disaster. Disappointed in its own failure and helplessness, it entrusted the light to the saviors, finally ending the contract defining its very existence.] ¡­Panic mode, on. _ Shadyna: I am really sorry! I didn''t mean to, honest! Besides, shouldn''t fixing the hut bring a good end instead of this tragedy?! How is this poor thing going to fare now that it''s blind, not to mention the whole "I have failed" note to it! _ Fensen: Lantern! Give Mister Elk a lantern! _ Poltea: How would that work?! Our lanterns are too small! That''s what you are worried about?! _ Fensen: , please make a bigger lantern! You are not even going to question it?! Then again, having fireflies as eyes is not logically sound in the first place¡­ Worth a try, right¡­? _ Shadyna: [Creation]! [Warning: Proceeding will have unforeseen consequences. Continue?] [Y/N] ¡­I''m sorry, what? Sateri, why is it going to get worse?! Nine out of ten times when a game asks for your confirmation, it will result in boss fights, bad ends, rare item destructions, broken engagements, or the worst of them all, heroine''s route commitment! Considering this is for a bonus boss, I guess it''s either new boss fight or bad ends? How do you even get a bad end in an MMO anyway¡­? Permanent account ban, maybe? This will most likely go horribly, so YES PLEASE! Not that I am looking forward to it, okay? But think about it, what I am doing is pretty much hidden bonus content of hidden bonus content! Who can even resist such temptation?! Moreover, I am responsible for this mess to begin with. I have to do my best until the end! Retreat is never an option for the pacifist girl~ [Begin craft: ] ¡­It''s the "Heroine''s route commitment" option!!! Retreat! Retreat! Where is the "Load" button?! I demand to be brought back to my last save!!! ¡­And, uh, where''s the crafting sphere? Because I am not seeing it. _ Poltea: , are you looking for¡­ that? Turning around as per ''s advice, I see it. A gigantic crafting sphere that reaches the ceiling of the dome. It is so high the progress bar has to be put below rather than above it. Said bar is also big enough to span a good part across the room no problem. Okay, I admit, I did not see this one coming. The best and worst part is the hot pot (designated temporary name) menu is also available. My materials¡­ Uuu¡­ The last one ate way too much already. Just how much do I have to give to this massive black hole??? And I don''t even know the actual effects of throwing items into it!!! _ Fensen: [Creation]~! _ Poltea: *Sighs* [Creation]. You girls are not bothered at all?! With only two of them working on it, I suppose it will take around¡­ five minutes, according to the progress bar? That''s twice as long as the last one. In other words, I doubt the required materials will be no less than two times the amount I used previously. You asked for it, Sateri. Let''s turn off the stream for now. Save current coordinates, start the countdown! _ Shadyna: I''ll be right back. [Teleport]! _ Fensen: Eh~?! Even the corpse pile my cute students brought in won''t be enough at this rate. Therefore, I will be bringing in the big guns, figuratively! I am back to the mining base. To gain a massive amount of materials in the shortest time, obviously the excavator is my best chance. Not sure if I have to do it quickly, since we can always stop working on the craft. But for one, my alarm has rung! And two, I do not know if the owners of the fort outside won''t be marching in on us soon! _ Shadyna (Party): Alert me if other players arrive, okay? _ Fensen (Party): Leave it to me~! _ Poltea (Party): You are not seeing anyone if you keep your back turned to the entrance! Counting on you, , un. _ Shadyna: [Enhance]! [ Kinetic Boring Excavator]! Dynamite mining, full power! Two minutes and a half should be fine right? There''re storages filled with crystals over there, but just grabbing them takes longer than mining. More importantly, ever since this area got terraformed the crystals have become limited goods as we cannot get new ones. No thanks to burning through non-renewable stuff! *BOOM* Let''s keep going! Only getting some items to refill the quiver, I keep on activating the excavator. There''s no time to dump the trash. Just. Keep. Bombing~! ¡­ I''m surprised I haven''t turned into a black hole or at least neutron star, considering my mass is probably several tons now. My own weight is nowhere near that, okay? Even with my cheat attributes, I can''t move due to encumbrance. No problem though. [Teleport]! Back to the cavern~ _ Fensen: Welcome back~ _ Poltea: Welcome back, . _ Shadyna: Un~ Keep going at it. Sure-kill technique: Item carpet bombing, go~! _ Fensen: Go~ You want items? Then items you will get! There''re two minutes left and I will make sure you will eat every last one of the materials in this little body of mine! [White sand], [Copper ore], [Silver ore], [Rough diamond], [Rough emerald], [Fish bone], [Mossy Box]¡­ Did I miss that one during the fishing? [Onyx ore], more [White sand], lots of [Fish bone], [Crab shell], ''s hand. Wait, sorry, I just grabbed her by mistake! Even more [White sand], just how many piles of sand do I have here?! [Mossy claw], [Mossy rock], [Primordial Firefly of the Moss]. Wait, no! That was close! I almost threw in something I didn''t mean to! More [Mossy rock], [Iron ore], [Rough emerald], I haven''t asked for your hand, ! Some more [Crab shell], why do I still have [Fish bone]?! Oh wait, need to turn the stream back on! My sanity, please come back~! ____________ The on-duty waitress, , waves as returns to the cafeteria. Such a friendly greeting that freaks patrons out as if they were looking at an imposter of the harsh mistress, until she glares back at them and calls them out for what they are, damn degenerates. _ Fuelri: Done grinding already? Upon seeing the busty mentor, who was probably chilling with her supposedly archnemesis, freezes and looks confused for a moment. Then she breaks out a beaming smile. _ Shadyna: Screenshotted~ Thank you very much~! _ Fuelri: ¡­Eh? Puzzled by ''s actions, turns to with an expression of "What was that about?" on her face. _ Hessenria: ¡­Probably amazed by how lightly dressed you are. _ Fuelri: ¡­! KYAAAAAAAAAAA!!! Lowering her line of sight, the young (?) elf lets out a shriek that pierces the heaven, or on a more related note, the eardrums of the poor players in the vicinity, many times over. It is the scream of a bashful girl whose dressing got interrupted by the bastard protagonist barging in, so it was totally worth it for the degenerate patrons! _ Fuelri: I forgot to change back! , why the hell did you not say anything earlier?! A black top with green branch-like patterns on the lower half, with a leaf on each far side. Combined with the black bottom having similar textures on the side, there''s no mistaking it. The elf girl is wearing a bikini, period. That in itself is not a problem. Being anywhere not a beach or a gravure idol''s photoshoot is, as she''s pretty much in her undies. Not that the perverts here mind that, of course! Even the destructive little girl is enjoying it to the fullest! _ Hessenria: ¡­I thought that was your hobby. _ Fuelri: IT IS NOT!!! Poor girl is already teary as she changes back to her normal heavy armor set. She probably has roamed around town in that almost-no-clothing getup for a while. _ Shadyna: It is a feast for my eyes so please continue~! _ Fuelri: I WILL NOT! I was wearing it to protect my sanity!!! gives a sympathetic look as she witnesses her distressed friend. _ Shadyna: I am certain that you lost it, Elri~ _ Fuelri: YOU ARE NOT HELPING!!! _ Hessenria: So, how was the boss? Ignoring the elf, the (reinstated) head waitress turns to the young girls. _ Shadyna: Hmm~ The flower was weird and a lot happened, but it turned out OK! _ Hessenria: Flower¡­? I¡­ see? Good for you. The mistress of the tavern is confused by the answer, but decided that her sanity is more important than curiosity. She doesn''t want to end up like that elf over there! Chapter 32: Magnus Incursus Calling today a bad day is an understatement for the guildmaster of , . He got called into a dubious meeting, lost a full party worth of members, suffered a humiliating defeat in public, and just now, received news about a KS attempt on the boss he had been working on for weeks. All in the span of a few hours. There should be a limit on how many misfortunes that can happen in a day! _ Vladina: That''s the face of someone preparing to commit a crime¡­ _ Torenis: You be quiet! I haven''t dealt with you for making a clown out of me in front of everyone!!! His "friend", , is definitely not helping the situation one bit! _ Vladina: That? Do you want to let people think we were outdated, or do you want all of us to lose horribly and remove all doubts? I was doing you a favor, you crazy delusional power tripping sicko. _ Torenis: Why you little¡­!!! has to pull the intellectual-looking man back since he was about to use [Summon Stone] as a blunt weapon against a little girl (in appearance). _ Maximus: I don''t give a flying flip if you want to kill each other, but do you want to get there quickly or not? There are many things that irritate the min-maxing player, and screwing around in emergencies is on top of the list. After all, these scrubs asked for his help in the first place! _ Tippe: I honestly thought you were trolling him back then. _ Vladina: If we had waged total war, my lolis and also the ones in would have been put in danger! _ Olkan: Yup, that''s alright. With the main camp destroyed before the guards could even deliver a warning through guild chat, there was no way for and co to use [Mass Recall] to reinforce. To avoid wasting even more time trying to locate a standing building in the area, they used a watch tower from further away and walked on foot instead. ¡­ When they arrive at the scene, quite some time has passed. Apart from the corpses gossiping to kill time while waiting for the reinforcement, there is no player, or boss, in front of the building-sized entrance. They cannot decide whether that is good or bad news. _ Torenis: Where''s the KSer? _ Corpse #1: As if we would tell you anyth¡­! Oh, it''s just guildmaster. _ Corpse #2: We have been expecting you. Are you streaming right now? _ Torenis: What does this have to do with streaming?! _ Corpse #2: And they went into the cave, with the boss. _ Torenis: ¡­What? There are so many things the young leader wanted to retort with, but decided not to because it felt like an overly obvious bait. _ Maximus: Oi, , put down a [Construction] and call the rest of your guild here. Meanwhile, , professional killer, destroyer of nubs, is having a bad feeling. The calm before the storm kind of feeling, to be exact. Whether this nonsensical conversation can be considered "calm" is up for debate, but he is not the type to mind the useless details on the job. _ Torenis: Right. _ Olkan: Don''t forget to make it public. _ Torenis: I know. Stop nagging me. From a small makeshift tent in the middle of a grove, dozens of players start appearing. The inside is completely filled with players after two parties, so the newcomers are dropped outside to avoid physic-breaking shenanigans. Because an army pouring out of a tent like a strategy game''s barrack is breaking immersion, more tents are set up to provide additional [Recall] coordinates, despite ''s protests. The immersion is important! _ Revived player #1 (Guild): This is Sacrifice 1. We are navigating in the cavern. Nothing out of the ordinary except for the background music, over. While the rest of the army is gearing up, a party of forward scouts, also known as sacrificial pawns, is exploring the cavern to locate the boss. Because it is known to attack players near the entrance, the survival chance leaves much to be desired. _ Revived player #2 (Guild): This is Sacrifice 2. Streaming is on, just to let you know, over. _ Torenis (Guild): You shut up! Due to the lack of actions, everyone somewhat loosens up. It is definitely the atmosphere one would expect before the last boss swoops in and ruins their day. _ Vladina: We need food buffs. Just [Alchemy] and skills put us at severe disadvantage against prepared enemies. _ Olkan: *Sighs* I''ll contact my (former) bartenders. _ Torenis: We don''t need traitors. _ Maximus: Drop the whining. You can''t fight with just pride and hono¡­ *BOOM* His lecture was cut short by a deafening explosion from inside the cave, which is accompanied by the screams of the sacrif¡­ scouts. _ Dead player #1 (Guild): The boss! It¡­ _ Dead player #2 (Guild): It evolved!!! _ Torenis: Damn! Everyone, prepare for combat! As the smoke at the entrance dissipates, a large silhouette emerges from the other side. _ Vladina: [Inspect]! _ Olkan: Do not attack! We don''t know if it¡­ *WHOMP* The massive spikes erupting from the ground crashes through the lines of the alliance, removing all doubts, and the lives of the unfortunate players in the way as a bonus. _ Maximus: Tanks, surround it and follow ''s orders! Rest of you scrubs, spread out! --- [Character Information] [Name]: Schennul [Race]: Magnus Bestia (Destroyer Beast) [Level]: 50 [Status]: - HP: ========== (6666666/6666666) (6666666+0) - MP: =========. (8290000/8300000) (8300000+0) - PAT: 22000 (22000+0) - PSP: 600 (600+0) - PDF: 40000 (40000+0) - MAT: 15000 (15000+0) - MSP: 550 (550+0) - MDF: 42000 (42000+0) - SPD: 2000 (2000+0) [Attributes]: - STR: 7000 (7000+0) - DEX: 3500 (3500+0) - CON: 8000 (8000+0) - LDR: 500 (500+0) - FOC: 1000 (1000+0) - WIT: 1500 (1500+0) - MEN: 7500 (7500+0) - LUC: 0 (0+0) [Equipment]: - Head: + Soul Contract Lantern of the Sprout [History]: - The great beast guarding the grove since primordial time. Once a weak and blind creature, it asked the fireflies to lend it light. The fireflies agreed, asking for the beast''s protection in return. Both sides have been keeping their promises against many adversaries ever since. - ¡­ - However, the fireflies were harmed while the beast was recovering from the great disaster. Disappointed in its own failure and helplessness, it entrusted the light to the saviors, finally ending the contract defining its very existence. - Having lost everything, the once great beast resigned to its fate. The saviors offered a new light in exchange for its soul. Out of desperations and tempted by whispers of darkness, it accepted. - For one last time, it charges. To take on the world that has shown nothing but cruelty, to have one last laugh against its nemeses, and to proudly fulfill its contract to the bitter end. Lit by the dark green flame, the destroyer beast''s soul burns brighter than ever before. [Meta]: - A formidable opponent with extremely high defense, but weak against attrition. - Once taunted, it will seek to destroy the civilization that wronged it. - Including enemies that have been killed. --- For whatever reason, a lot of new information has appeared, and that''s not counting its new attributes/status which got a nasty upgrade and the full heal. The [Magnus Bestia (Protector Beast)] race changed into [Magnus Bestia (Destroyer Beast)]. An unknown item appeared in the equipment list, presumably the lantern hanging at its neck like an amulet. And worst of all, the [Meta] part is giving warnings. Something about its aggressiveness being so high, Sateri-chan has to split it into two parts to emphasize it. Even for the players who doesn''t have [Inspect], it was clear that the Magnus Bestia has gotten stronger. The stony scales are loosely wrapped by leafy vines, giving it an "abandoned rustic stone wall" feeling. If it weren''t for the emerald-like antlers and glowing flowers blooming on the eye sockets, some might think they were looking at an old house in the suburbs instead of a boss. Not that old houses can move per se¡­ Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. The gigantic beast also kindly demonstrates its hospitality by snuggling a rogue player at ramming speed, sending her to the horizon. _ Dead rogue: WHY MEEEEeeeee¡­!!! _ Ignar: Everyone, use [Pierce]! With a thunderous battle cry, the melee fighters encircling Schennul simultaneously pile on it. Their weapons clash loudly against its thick skin, and most deflect almost harmlessly. Even before the transform, there was no way for players to get through its high PDF and MDF. Therefore, defense-ignoring attacks have been their only source of damage. As if to response in kind, the great beast, defying all physics, lifts its front legs up and jumps into the air. The law of universal gravitation has always been more of a guideline in this game, but what the boss did there has to be one of the worst violations ever witnessed. _ Ignar: [Fort]! *WHAM* The ground looks like it is melting as Schennul lands with its multi-ton total weight. Rock spikes covered in vines shoot up to form a barrier around it. Said "barrier" has the bonus effect of launching everyone in range into space though. *CRACK* *WHAM* Another layer of rock spikes emerges, dealing fatal damage to the (un)lucky players outside the initial attack. *WHAM* And another layer. The encirclement was completely vaporized in a total of three seconds by an unknown attack. Having served their purpose, the spikes shatter into fragments, just like the boss''s known spike line eruption. _ Tippe: , you alive?! _ Ignar: Thanks to your [Shared Fate] I still am! Somehow, a player managed to survive the warm greetings from the great beast. *WHOMP* Just to get crushed under its hoof before he can be healed by allies. _ Ignar: Buhwa! _ Tippe: Ouch. If the raid is wiped and that''s that, there would be no reason for the [Meta] information. _ Mage: It''s heading this way! RUN! _ Maximus: Flanking parties, fire! And res the dead ones, healer scrubs! Schennul would aim at "civilization", rather than just "enemies"¡­ _ Olkan: Welp. That''s another party down. , I don''t see any KSers here. Mind if we call this off to avoid unnecessary deaths? _ Torenis: Etena, [Charge]! They might be hiding in the cavern. Someone go around and check! _ Maximus: Did you not see that AoE attack?! No one is getting past that thing alive! _ Olkan: *Sighs* , anything we should know? After all, there''s only one "civilization" that all players belong to. _ Vladina: K¡­ _ Olkan: K? ____________ _ Hessenria: Su, asked me to upload a video to the board. Could you use your account to do it? At the new tavern, the owners are having an end-of-the-day meeting, mostly to transfer works for the next shift''s players. It is the first time to have all four food shops to do it together since release, however. _ Sulien: *Sniffles* Is this bragging? You do it with and now you want to publish it for the world to see?! _ Hessenria: Drop that crocodile''s tears act! I don''t even know the content. She wanted to send it to another player, but forgot to get their names¡­ _ Sulien: Ah, is that so~? Very well, I shall oblige. Do you mind if I "moderate" its content beforehand~? If there is top-secret game-breaking information in there, , as an information broker, wants to get her hands on it first and foremost. _ Hessenria: It''s public, do as you wish. Just don''t forget about it. _ Sulien: Understood~ _ Miel: I still have the footage of my first time doing "that" with . Do you want it? _ Sulien: Gunununu, now this woman is bragging!!! *Coughs blood* _ Hessenria: Sateri-chan should make you lose HP every time you pull that off¡­ _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: My~ That is a cute scream~ Did finally get caught by a lolicon? _ Sulien: She does have a cute DFC and all so~ _ Hessenria: Who in their right mind would even¡­ _ Olkan (PM): , please help us! _ Hessenria: Uwa¡­ is caught in it as well. _ Miel: I demand brain bleach for that image, leader. _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: Su~ please stop decorating the floor with blood~ ____________ Using [Mass Recall], a party of three arrived at the battlefield. Players are getting thrown around left and right every time the big elk makes a move. Thanks to the coalition being three out of four big guilds, they can reinforce faster than the enemy can kill, but that is still a messy fight with everyone fending for themselves once the boss turns to them. _ Hessenria: Let me get this straight, that thing will go to Tyrel if raid is wiped? _ Vladina: If you can point me to a different interpretation of [Meta]''s words, I''m listening. _ Olkan: Please help us kill it! We are merchants, not fighters! Looking at the begging guildmasters and the ongoing battle, can''t help but sigh. _ Hessenria: Sorry, I don''t think it''s possible. _ Olkan: WHY?! _ Vladina: Is it because of ?! We will make him apol¡­ _ Hessenria: *Shakes head* Not that. It''s morning. You have to logout soon as well, don''t you? _ Everyone: Ah. Real life schedules, the most powerful adversary in all boss raids. _ Hessenria: Mera, Su, please handle the negotiation. I am going back to the shop to wrap up. _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: Take care~ _ Sulien: Leave it to us~ _ Olkan: Wait!!! Crushing a [Recall] orb in her hand, the head waitress disappears in a flashing light, ignoring the cries from the guildmasters of and . _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: Now then~ _ Vladina: Hiiii!!! Out of all people in the cafeteria, should have been the last person to be called, due to the way treated her. However, that very situation gave these two degenerate leaders leverages against her. An unpaid mortgage and the honorable personality, to be specific. And most importantly¡­ _ Sulien: Shall we begin the negotiation~? is sane. _ Olkan: GAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! ____________ Half a day later¡­ sighs in relief as he logs in to find the boss still rampaging in the grove. Despite the rough start and bad timing, the raid parties managed to stabilized. It was the combination of numerical superiority, massive logistics undertaking, and mechanic abuses that pulled of this feat. There were a few close calls when the damage dealers got wiped and the boss headed towards Tyrel, but they somehow dragged it back to the main camp with the help from minor guilds and unaligned players. Who could have thought a bonus boss knocking on your front door would be such a motivating rally cause¡­? _ Tippe: Logging early, aren''t we? _ Ignar: Being self-employed has that benefit. And you were even earlier! _ Tippe: Homework is for da weak! As logged in and the party met up with the guildmasters, the real raid is about to begin. _ Vladina: Ready? _ Maximus: Always. _ Tippe: No problem! _ Ignar: I''m a bit nervous but¡­ here goes. _ Olkan: Very well! Begin assault! _ Players: HURAAAAAHHHH!!! Flaring up their newly-equipped runes, leads the charge to do the unthinkable: Fighting the boss toe-to-toe. _ Ignar: [Pierce]! *Clang* A dark mist starts forming around the elk, indicating the debuff of [Night] taking effect. _ Vladina: Now! [Elemental Barrage]! _ Tippe: [Fire Barrage]! _ Maximus: [Piercing Arrow]! There is a rule of thumb among players: Don''t bother if your attack is less than half the target''s defense. Damage won''t get through even with the best RNG. Debuffs will never land. Skills and titles may help, but they rarely turn things around, unfortunately. To get past the 40k PDF, and co would need more than 20k PAT. Even now, with [Cooking], [Alchemy] and skill buffs, his attack is not even 7k. And that is already among the highest damage possible thanks to his [Artifact] sword. It is a bit disappointing that even their strongest weapon still pales against the boss. However, [ Blade of Unification]''s main strength isn''t just raw damage. _ Ignar: [Rapid Assault]! Striking his target relentlessly, has fully debuffed the great beast, even if his attacks dealt zero damage. This guy has such a cheating weapon, and he was leaving it to gather dust in his house! What''s next, dismantle it into raw materials to craft an engagement ring and propose to his girlfriend?! He also grabbed the big boss''s attention. How did he know? Massive antlers coming at him, that''s how. _ Ignar: [Fort]!!! *WHAM* Thanks to the knockback immunity granted by [Fort], he doesn''t get tossed into the air. His HP is almost gone though. _ Ignar: Gah! _ BB Conglomerate manager: OUCH! _ Vladina: Keep healing! _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: [Minor Heal]~ The fact that he still has more than one HP is already nothing short of a miracle. Or not, considering he has 13k HP, defense bonus from [Fort] and damage reduced by [Night]''s debuff and [Shared Fate]. The poor manager at the other end of [Shared Fate] is not amused though. Two full parties are assigned to buffing and keeping alive. By staggering heals, they worked around the delay between HP regeneration ticks which got him killed yesterday. The sadistic waitress is not included, but is welcomed by the degenerates anyway. Of all people, has to stay alive. has dealt a good chunk of damage using Etena, but because it dies repeatedly, the aggro doesn''t stick. They had to wait for someone who is tanky enough to reliably survive, but also deal high damage, and maybe some debuffs, to be prioritized by the boss. When it stays in one place, the thousands of players around can begin their assault. _ Ignar: [Taunt]! [Pierce]! *WHOMP* The majority of the melee players fighting the boss got wiped by the triple-rock-layer attack. Survivors, having died way too many times until this moment, continue their attacks as if it was just a flesh wound. Regardless, casualties are no longer an issue. As night sets in and the player count reached critical mass, they no longer had to use 20-something parties to kite around the boss just to keep it from wiping everyone and run to town. The difference between prime time and off-peak player count is just too great. _ Torenis: Begin all-out assault! _ Players: HURAAAAAHHHHH!!! Gigantic bosses are intimidating, but they are also ranged-attack magnets. With Schennul pinned in place by and other brave souls, their allies can freely lob arrows, spells and other nasty stuff at it without fear of friendly fire. It is like a firework show at festivals, just more deadly, and there''s a building in the way. _ Cinrald: Hi guys, miss me? Along with the many players still continuing to pour out of the fully immersive makeshift tents, a brunette made her appearance. _ Maximus: Way too late. Party''s already started. _ Cinrald: You guys are just too early. ? _ Olkan: Yes yes, here you go, you maniac. With a few gestures, pulls out a brand new bow from nothingness, and runic tattoos shine brightly all around her body. _ Cinrald: This will do. She leaks out a smile that freaks out most people unlucky enough to look in her general direction. Beautiful as her character is, people run away rather than admire more often than not. _ Cinrald: Well then, guys. We. Are. CHARGING!!! _ Muscular idiots: URAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! The muscle-brains crowd accompanying her is definitely not helping her popularity. Chanting loudly and diving through the engaging players, the battle maniacs charge into melee with little regard to their own lives, including the supposedly-ranged guildmaster! _ Warrior: Are they¡­ going to be alright? _ Olkan: If could not participate for some reason, that gal would be the main tank¡­ Wait, , are you sure it''s fine to let both of them fight?! _ Torenis: Why don''t you stop her if you think it was possible?! Somehow, the boss is now swaying back and forth between the stubborn knight with unending debuffs on one side, and the maniac archer who bashes her bow as much as shooting it. , being an expert ranged fighter himself, can probably compete with that damage. He would need to chug potions in ridiculous amount however. Reluctantly, he decided that his friend''s healers need them more, so for now he''s sitting back and rain arrows on the target at his leisure. A few accidents involving missed projectiles landing on wrong targets happened, but all in all the raid is going well. Because and her muscle-obsessed maniacs are here, there''s no worry about slip-ups breaking the tank encirclement anymore. Ranged weapons are powerful because they scale up linearly, unlike melee. One damage per player translates to thousands of damage per volley. Schennul''s weakness of having no HP regeneration that allowed to whittle it down by attrition doesn''t even matter at this point. Its days, or hours, rather, are numbered. When its HP reached 20%, the great elk became visibly weakened. It still one-hit most players, and its defense is still too high to deal non-piercing damage. Worst of all, it stopped using normal stomping and ramming attacks. Now it''s blasting players with rock spikes continuously. _ Torenis: It won''t last much longer! Keep shooting! Casualties just keep racking up, but there is simply no way it can kill faster than the reinforcement rate. If only it had a multi-hit AoE skill that has bigger blast radius¡­ Even in the last moments, Schennul continued to devastate nearby enemies. There are just two maniacs that refuse to die, however. _ Cinrald: [Piercing Arrow]! *Clang* Watching them, the players can only admire and wonder¡­ Why the hell is [Shared Fate] not nerfed yet? _ Vladina: Just a few more! CHARGE!!! _ Players: URAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! And so, after a very, very long day¡­ _ Ignar: [Pierce]! *Crack* The fiery menace that is Magnus Bestia Schennul finally burns out. The scales crack and shatter, then the boss itself unleashes an explosion engulfing everyone in the grove. For the short moment before being blinded, the melee players can see the body of the great beast falling on top of them, like a collapsing building. ____________ It is the familiar white scenery the players are standing on. _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: At last, we are finally freed of all worldly de¡­ _ Torenis: This is the loot area, not heaven! And why the hell are you here?! _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: To collect our payment~ _ Torenis: Dammit ! _ Olkan: It couldn''t be helped!!! To begin with, the top three parties will be teleported to the loot room. was in party with and , so she will be here whether wants it or not. _ Vladina: Here it is. The drop. The guildmaster of was completely ignoring the bickering of her colleagues while looking at the big elk in front of them. It has the same appearance as the first time she used [Inspect] as per ''s request. She never thought that she would be relieved to see the giant bunker-in-beast-form. At least it was a peaceful gentle giant back then. Just like the Nox in closed beta, it starts fading away as if it was a ghost. It will leave behind a single material item that is known as the "unique drop" by players. Because it is not put in treasure boxes, there is a wild conspiracy that there are obscure conditions to increase the loots. No one has been able to confirm that however. These bosses are way too rare to begin with! Just before the elk disappears, a dark green flame bursts out from beneath and consumes it whole. Due to its towering size, the startled players was even more surprised at how they don''t feel any heat from the inferno that is just a few meters away. They have realism pretty high on their priority list. _ Maximus: What the -censored- was that?! The flame snuffs out abruptly after a few seconds. Behind the thin veil of smoke remaining, a small rhombus-shaped stone tablet floats in the air. _ Vladina: That was flashier than good old Nox. All yours, . _ Torenis: You don''t have to remind me. To avoid the fustering cluck that is the civil war at the end of closed beta, the leadership in the big guilds have decided beforehand on how to distribute the loots. In that, will get the unique drop, due to ''s contribution in both phases of the boss raid. Minor guilds would never have enough firepower to have a party in here, so they weren''t included. and co are old friends, so they are an exception. The moment the guildmaster reaches out to the tablet¡­ *CRACK* It snaps into two pieces of similar size. Then, as if not to leave a moment for him to take in the situation, a figure manifests behind the tablet. It also has the same color as the suspicious flame earlier. _ Torenis: You are¡­ Without saying a word, it grabs the tablet pieces and puts them into the metallic lantern in its left hand. The seemingly normal lantern is now lit up as the pieces emit an intense but undoubtedly the very same glow as the unidentified silhouette with a distinctive shape on top of its head. _ Vladina: Crap! Stop her! In a blink of an eye, it dissipates into the air. _ Torenis: Eh? Wait, NO!!! There was no way for the players to intervene in such a short amount of time. Even the closest person couldn''t get into touch range before it is gone, and with it, what''s left of the stone tablet. Also, the treasure boxes appeared. Chapter 33: And they won the battle, but... The soon-to-be great beast tamer Shadyna has just logged in~ We became friends (kind of?) with mega-elk yesterday by accidentally walking in (and destroying) a military encampment. After our second surprise hot pot (designated permanent nickname), I got an ominous-sounding item called [Soul Contract Lantern of the Sprout]. I have a feeling that Sateri really, really loves trolling me whenever she gets to name stuff¡­ And that was a special item similar to [World Voice], so I couldn''t rename it! Sad cry~ Anyway, [Inspect] threw a fit again and refused to tell me anything about the item, so I tried using it. Somehow, it disappeared and reappeared as mega-elk''s necklace, which is a good thing because substituting two eyes with only one lantern is pretty hard. The lantern completely innovated Schennul too, but I am going to pretend I didn''t see that. For a moment I thought we really unlocked a double bonus boss fight! Sateri, please don''t play around with maidens'' hearts even if this is just a game~ Anyway, I had to log off since it was getting late. I thought about asking it to join me there and then, but in the end did not. We had real life schedule to deal with, so¡­ Now, though, I have all night to take on whatever Sateri had in plan for me! Seeing how the crafted item is pretty much a token of friendship, I can hope that taming bonus bosses is a thing, right? Right~? Looking forward to that massive attribute boost~ I''ll check the mails later. Bonus boss has priority! [Teleport]! To the cavern~ ____________ _ Hessenria: I was hoping she would take out Schennul first¡­ The raid parties are throwing a party to celebrating their glorious victory against the Magnus Bestia. In other words, most of the online players are screwing around town instead of grinding their levels. _ Fuelri: Why would be involved in this? _ Hessenria: Yesterday she asked me for the strongest boss in the grove, so I pointed at the Magnus Bestia. Somehow she missed it and came back with the golem and flower boss instead. _ Fuelri: ¡­You still hold it against , don''t you¡­? _ Hessenria: I wouldn''t mind more [Artifact] equipment for all of us. Could you bring this to table number 4? _ Fuelri: Yeah right¡­ Number 4¡­ Wait, I am not even an employee here!!! _ Inerin: I am seriously concerned about how easy you are to handle, Elri¡­ _ Fuelri: WHO ARE YOU CALLING EASY?! Workers of the food industry is on overdrive right at the start of their shifts, as expected from a national (in-game only) event. ____________ It''s the "cute girl falling from the sky" clich¨¦, and I am the one falling!!! WHY?! I was sure this was the coordinates I used to teleport back and forth during yesterday''s hot pot, so why did I appear midair and begin freefalling like an aircraft without engine?! And I don''t even have horizontal speed to glide like a stalled plane!!! Since I am not a plane, maybe I can be a bird? Flapping arms, full power~ ¡­What the heck am I even doing? Mammals were never known for flying capability!!! [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Air Cushion Lv.0"] Hi there, new skill. WHY?! What kind of sane person would skydive and flailing around to unlock this kind of skill?! Crap, I am going to hit the ground! Taking jabs midair is not a free action! Whatever you do, new skill, you had better deal with my current predicament! _ Shadyna: [Air Cushion]!!! *Whoooosh* A strong gale wraps around me, reducing my speed rapidly. So this is the opposite of [Leap] huh¡­ After a few seconds, I have stopped falling. It feels like having a soft but solid invisible platform hovering in the air to stand on. Can I move around with this? Un, I can even do the usual acrobatic movements. I can walk sideways and downwards, but not up. The Goddess does not want anyone to intrude her home huh? Maybe she had some kind of traumatic experience involving uninvited guests in the past~? I''m currently skirtless, so it''s totally safe if some players have a sudden urge to look at the sky! And by that I mean I am wearing hotpants like I always do, so please do not have any weird idea! Okay, situation is under control. Now, where the heck am I? Looking around, this seems to be a valley or lowland of sort. [Teleport] only allows visited locations, so why do I have no recollection of this zone? I know my memory is not the best, but still¡­ The surface is¡­ gray, simply put. There is sparse vegetation here and there, but it is almost as barren as the wasteland connecting the sandy zone and the grove. Such desolated-looking scenery spreads in all direction until the horizon, like a bowl, or crater. A really, really big crater. If I was told that whatever caused this terrain was the reason for dinosaurs'' extinction, I would believe them. And this game has no dinosaur. Except for a party from the distance, I don''t see other people around. Is this some kind of hardcore area that is very annoying to fight in? For now, let''s find a place to land first¡­ Having inspected the ground more carefully, it seems to be made up of very long stony "streams" fanning out from the center. Standing up right, they would be very tall sharp-looking obelisks, I think. They are nowhere near upright though. It''s as if the whole place used to be a pond, then someone from "up there" decided to do stone skipping with a big asteroid. That big splash, with water changed into stone, is what we have here. Sateri, please refrain from skipping meteors for your own amusement. This isn''t a city-building game! I don''t think there''s anything that can skewer me down there, so I just cancel [Air Cushion] to descend quickly. Then use it again to elegantly touch the ground. Don''t want to accidentally create another crater~ And¡­ touch down! Now then¡­ Where the heck am I, again? Checking my surrounding for any point of interest, I see "it". A familiar stone hut stands a short distance away from me. It was directly below me so I did not notice it earlier. Without the trees to block sunlight, it''s hard to see the fireflies even if they are emitting light. If it weren''t for the unnatural shape, I doubt I could recognize the "house" we repaired yesterday. And next to it, is a small lantern. The stone fragments have taken place of the wick, yet it is still flickering with the same green glow as I remember. On the back, a small flower is carved out of the metal lock as decoration. The carved flower is the same as my [ Flower of Eternal Blossom], so I have a few ways to know if it is authentic. There''s no mistaking it. It is definitely the [Soul Contract Lantern of the Sprout] I gave to Schennul yesterday. Damn it¡­ No wonder why the place is in this state¡­ I walk forward then kneel down before the lantern. The light seemingly becomes more intense, as if acknowledging my presence here. _ Shadyna: Sorry, I am late. That''s all I could mutter now. [Received Soul Contract Lantern of the Sprout x1] [Received Solidified soul fragment (Unformed) x2] [Received Fortified home of the fireflies x1] Not even in the mood to take a jab at that extra item anymore. ____________ A party is dashing through the newly formed barren land, decimating any unfortunate aggressive monsters in their way. Being the few people who knows the existence of the [Home of the fireflies], was certain that it is unique, and may be of great value even without Schennul. Having been robbed of the unique drop, his party is rushing back to the (former) cavern to at the very least see if he can salvage that stone hut. _ Torenis: again?! What the hell does she have against me?! _ Vladina: Well, that sprout on top of her head is a dead giveaway. Very few players choose treants for their race in the first place. Since is already fuming like a boiling tea pot, decided to drop the jokes and reveal the shadow''s identity. If one is to look at the history between the two, the only link would be . That would explain why the encampment got raided, but the person in question herself seems to be oblivious to it, so it''s all guesswork. _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: Ah, spotted~ Someone in the know but totally not aligning with the rest is also tagging along, out of curiosity. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Before their eyes, a young girl with a sprout on her head is crouching down as if to pick up something. and immediately recognize the stone formation and the lantern with the red outline at her feet, as the former was their objective. They could only witness as the items get absorbed into ''s inventory. Just like earlier, they were too far away to put a stop to it. It''s not like they could stop her by force anyway, but they haven''t thought that far yet. _ Torenis: ¡­YOU!!! Etena, [Dive]! Someone has definitely snapped. Being robbed twice in an hour in general is not good for one''s mental health. _ Vladina: Wait, don''t do that! Despite ''s cries, the fiery bird slams straight into the (presumably) KSer, resulting in a nasty explosion. Looking from afar, it''s tempting to think that there is no way for the victim to survive at point-blank range. A reasonable expectation, if said victim weren''t a weirdo with a [Particle lolider] profession. As the smoke dissipates, the girl comes into view again. She has stood up and turned to look at the party, who were also dumbfounded by ''s outburst. A blank stare that contains no emotion, yet at the same time sends a chill down the spines of everyone in sight. Half of the party, having been on the side in the guild war, begins to have PTSD flashbacks. _ Olkan: Get away from , NOW! The Pervert Alliance leaders run away. The kidnapper trio run away. The sadistic waitress elegantly backs away even faster than the full-time runners for some reason, while smiling. The leader of , abandoned by his so-called party members, is unsure of what to do. Meanwhile, the little girl has disappeared from sight. _ Olkan: Where did she¡­ _ Vladina: BEHIND YOU! finds himself dragged in the opposite direction by an overwhelming force. The "little girl pulling your arm" kind of force, specifically. _ Shadyna: Annoying. _ Olkan: AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! She swings the poor man and his floating throne down as if he was a big mace, right on top of her target, who just managed to turn to face her. *WHAM* "Turning friends against each other" has been taken to a new extreme in a literal sense. Just as she swings back, most likely for the next strike, suddenly halts as jumps in between her and the remains of . Faraway, a green blob has already crushed Etena by normal attacks, but no one cares about it at this point. ____________ [ has invited you to a party.] [Y/N] Argh, now I have done it! I totally lost it back there. Also, yes. _ Mera: Please don¡¯t fight because of me~ Let''s pretend I did not hear that. And by the way, what the heck is up with this (dead) guy?! Can''t I be sentimental in peace for a second?! Sure, I have known Schennul for 30 minutes, or a day if offline time is included, but we went through a lot as well! _ Olkan: My pleasure as always, honey. _ Mera: I''m not talking about you, failure of evolution~ _ Olkan: GUH! That hurts more than being used as a blunt weapon for a little brat. You are alive, so I doubt my crude improvisation hurt at all, just like Gelly being completely unharmed getting tossed at enemies. is poking ''s corpse with her staff, by the by. _ Vladina: That trigger-happy habit of yours will get yourself killed someday, idiot¡­ _ Olkan: Uh, he''s already so dead, the ghoul players look lively in comparison. _ Dead Torenis: Shut up! You! Return the loots right now, you damn KSer! ¡­Is that directed at me? Seeing how confused I am, Mera begins explaining with a kind smile that is totally not suspicious at all. _ Mera: You see, he has this unhealthy obsession with gigantic beasts which he tried to hide from public~ _ Dead Torenis: STOP HAUNTING ME EVEN AFTER YOU BUNCH LEFT THE GUILD YOU MANIAC!!! ¡­Un, I already get what she meant. She specifically said "gigantic beast", after all. Turning to , I ask using my most expressionless voice I can muster. _ Shadyna: ¡­So you lot killed Schennul? Saves me the time of tracking them down. _ Olkan: Wa-wait! We had no choice! And it was thanks to that we¡­ _ Shadyna: Oh? I am sure all of the people here were involved one way or another, but I am grateful for providing me the name of the main culprit~ My thoughts probably leak out somehow, because everyone is running away from the knight. Except for , since I grabbed his arm again. _ Ignar: Guys?! GUYS?! [Leap]. *WHAM* ____________ In a private room of the cafeteria, , proprietress of the teahouse, is having a little girl on each lap. It''s the usual formation of the teahouse''s employees whenever they share secrets with each other. Meeting rooms with table and chairs are overrated anyway. _ Sulien: I received a video from yesterday. Let''s see what she had in store for us. With the Magnus Bestia suddenly evolved, she is certain that it''s the sprout''s doings as per usual. She won''t say that out loud though. ¡­ _ Shadyna: Un, that looks good on you, Schennul. Three young girls are admiring the Magnus Bestia''s evolved form after the weird crafting finished. It was similar to ''s lucky special craft to get Etena, except for the size, and the amount of materials these girls literally threw at it. _ Sword girl: Mister Elk, looks stronger¡­ _ Crossbow girl: Can we tame Mister Elk, ? _ Shadyna: I think we can, but we might need another hot pot. It''s getting late, so let''s do it tomorrow. _ Sword girl: Will it be alright? The players outside look scary¡­ _ Crossbow girl: It can''t be helped~ I''m sure Mister Elk can handle them no problem. _ Shadyna: Transformations make you stronger. If it has been crushing players back then, there should be no problem now. And so, the young cute girls use [Recall] items to go back. The last few seconds of the video is fully focused on the Magnus Bestia with its brand new lantern on its neck. _ Shadyna: Bye bye~ Let''s play again, okay? ¡­ That would explain the unaccounted evolution alright. Thinking about how she is going to explain that the cafeteria willingly lent a hand to subdue the very boss these girls in the footage worked so hard to help, begins coughing up blood, as expected. _ Little girl: Su, I don''t mind loli''s blood on me, but you should take better care of yourself. The degenerates are hard at work again today. ____________ _ Mera: Nice weather, isn''t it~ _ Shadyna: This conversation is dead the moment you has to talk about that, Mera. ''s party peacefully left after I smashed with a literal human mace. I don''t particularly care anymore though. _ Mera: I have already apologized, and talking about anything else at this time would be inappropriate. I''m surprised you can even read the mood, Mera. Because she was actively participating in the raid, she is, in her own words, paying with her body. Specifically, I am having a lap pillow. If anything, isn''t this more like a punishment for me instead? My sanity is eroding just by being near this person! _ Shadyna: To begin with, I can''t even see the sky when certain body parts are obscuring my view! To talk about weather despite knowing that, is she harassing me?! This is body-fatism, I am telling you! _ Mera: My body was born that way. I couldn''t help it~ But you made your own body! _ Shadyna: Well, no point grieving about it forever. I should get back now. _ Mera (Party): *Sniff* I was THIS close to becoming the heroine who dies tragically to snap the protagonist out of the rampage! Snapping out on your own should be illegal! _ Hessy (Party): I hope you died at least. _ Mera (Party): How mean~! Un, better cheer up and go back for sanity''s sake! _ Shadyna (Party): I am not going on any rampage. Players can just respawn, you know. I would rather ruin their economies or something like that. _ Hessy (Party): Should I be worried about how you are casually suggesting total war on all fronts at the beginning of the day? _ Mera (Party): Well~, you pro~bably don''t have to worry about their treasury. _ Shadyna (Party): Eh? _ Mera (Party): Because we got it covered. _ Hessy (Party): Mera, we need to talk about whatever you negotiated with the perverts, now. ¡­Seriously, what the heck happened while I was at school? --- Topic: Patch discussion - 1.0c11 --- ## Serious Mage I think we have a lead on the vision provided by Goddess''s Chosen. What the title says in Inspect result: "An encroaching darkness looms over heaven where the Goddess resides. A race against time is coming." And there''s this¡­ thing that was caught on tape in the loot area of Magnus Bestia: [Pic]. Heaven? Check. Dark shadow in heaven? Check. Coincidence? I think not! Damn it, Illusive Sprout. Why is it you again?! (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß ## ## Nearseeing Sage Nice theory, except for the part where you mixed up the timeline. Goddess''s Chosen had been a thing before the Magnus Bestia site got attacked. I think it''s really just a coincidence. ¡¥\_(¥Ä)_/¡¥ ## ## Manly Warrior You said similar thing about the rune skills and Illusive Sprout too. (£þ¡õ£þ;) It''s a valid argument still. Sateri-chan is smart, but she can''t predict the future. ¡­She can''t, right? (>_<) ## ## Heaven Piercer I, for one, welcome our machine goddess overlord! (*^0^*) ## ------ --- Topic: Magnus Bestia Schennul AAR --- !Displaying thread in [Compact View] due to number of posts. Click [Here] to switch back to [Standard View]! ## Nearseeing Sage: As promised with the minor guilds and non-aligned players, all information of the first Magnus Bestia, Schennul will be published. Thank you for your hard work! - Appearance: 1st form [Pic] and 2nd form [Pic] - Inspect result: 1st form [Pic] and 2nd form [Pic] - Streams: [Links] I will be answering all questions regarding the boss for 24 hours here. Bring it! ## Bountiful Hunter: Why did Phoenix Ashes take so long to fight the boss if we could kill its stronger form in a few hours? ## GoldBar9999: Same reason why we barely dealt any damage during the day. It has a fixed cost of around 2 dozen parties to keep it occupied at all time. Fewer players than that and we will spend most of their time to resurrecting reach other instead of hitting the boss. Once that fixed cost is paid, each additional player could deal full damage (not much, but it helps). Having 4k active combatants attacking undisturbed (props to Ignar and Cinrald) will make short work of anything, Magnus Bestia or not. ## CuteIsJustice: 4k?! I did see a lot of people, but that number is still higher than expected. ## GoldBar9999: That''s a division''s worth of manpower we threw at it. Non-combatants are about twice or thrice that number. ## Flame knight of Darkness: Is this game going to be alright¡­? No balancing will work if we just drown everything in our own blood! ## Fire mage of Justice: This one is special in that it''s going to attack Tyrel if left unchecked. Everyone agreed to put an end to it to avoid having to deal with it in the middle of a raid. ## Bountiful Hunter: I don''t even want to think about that scenario¡­ Just watched the loot footage. What the heck was that? ## Nearseeing Sage: Sateri-chan''s new scripted event in response to Illusive Sprout evolving the boss, would be my guess. ## Fire mage of Justice: The sprout did WHAT now?! There''s a difference between being cutely overpowered and ruining everyone''s day by making a revengeful bonus boss!!! ## Newbie Charisma build: Sorry, missed the event. Why is it that everyone''s day is ruined? ## Fire mage of Justice: It only drops for the top 3 parties. Everyone else was playing in deficit (ammunition, food, pots) for a whole day to contain it. At the end, it even killed everyone in the grove with its death explosion, so we had to get buffs again! ¡­ ## Teabag Master: Everyone sure is quick to blame my new wife huh. Here, enjoy Illusive Sprout''s uncensored footage: [Link] She also gave some insights regarding taming, but you guys are treating her like a criminal so I cut those useless parts out. ## StoneHoarder: It¡­ wasn''t attacking her? And she was TAMING the damn thing?! ## OP alchemist: So who provoked the boss? ## Teabag Master: Who happened to be in Phoenix Ashes'' guarded fort at the time the boss attacked for unknown reason, then failed to contain it and started blasting World Voice to call for help? ## Newbie Charisma build: Are we¡­ the bad guys? ## Manly Warrior: Always have been, it looks like. ## Heaven Piercer: The petty petite proprietress has struck once again! ------ --- Topic: Magnus Bestia aftermath --- !Displaying thread in [Compact View] due to number of posts. Click [Here] to switch back to [Standard View]! ## Silver Merchant: The AAR thread is in flame, just like what happened after the first Nox fight. As a merchant, I am more interested in the consequences of such operations, to predict the market. Do not attack Illusive Sprout or the Pervert Alliance here please. Do that in AAR thread. ## Manly Warrior: Do not give more work to me!!! ## Bountiful Hunter: The elven cavalry girl destroyed the siege site along with the northern gate and walls just now. Time to invest in Construction? ## Silver Merchant: WHY?! ## Fire mage of Justice: Some¡­ more extreme members of the Pervert Alliance probably said a few words more than necessary. Admittedly, I was really close to being one of them too. Back to the topic, MP pots and arrows are in shortage. HP pots are not, funny enough. ## OP alchemist: All materials are in shortage because, surprise surprise, mobilizing everyone is expensive. Everything is so expensive that no one is buying anything however. ## Silver Merchant: After the hero defeated the overlord, everybody lived in economic depression?! ## Serious Mage: Shouldn''t the Pervert Alliance do something about this? They requested our help after all. ## Teabag Master: No chance. Their treasury is empty. ## Silver Merchant: Wait, really? ## Teabag Master: Let''s see here: - Phoenix Ashes had to pay upfront for food services. The early players got their food for free until they couldn''t pay anymore. - BB Conglomerate spent most if not all of its treasury to buy rune skills and make runes to increase players'' DPS. The crafters are of their own guild, so they spent both their treasury and material stockpile. - DFC Sages was throwing money at MP pots for similar reason. - Everyone went to the boss, almost all goods production was halted for a day. - Last raid was expensive. RIP whoever got the "Will pay later" promises. They won''t get it for a long time. ## Silver Merchant: So this is why our guild chat is filled with rants and whining. Let''s hope we won''t collapse¡­ ## Fire mage of Justice: Thanks for the detailed explanation. So, Illusive Sprout managed to incapacitate 3 out of 4 big guilds in a single day. Welp. ## Manly Warrior: And accidentally too. ## Mage of Sin: It will be our complete annihilation the day she decides to go at us for real huh. I, for one, welcome our loli overlord! ------ Chapter 34: The ones not noticed Crafter girl Shadyna is having a big problem. Quite literally, even. I have too much trash on me. Because of what happened to Schennul, the first Magnus Bestia, I have decided to spent the next few days to do something about the items it left behind. In the process, I was drowned in trash. The [Fortified home of the fireflies] is placed inside a newly built basement under Elri''s house now. Being a furniture item with a medical history of getting destroyed by barbari¡­ I mean, adventurers, I took no chance and made the whole place private to me so it will return to my inventory in case the house is destroyed. Turned out, it was the third time I dug a basement and still did not consider the resulting trash pile being forced upon me afterward. Welp~ It wasn''t the main reason for my current situation though. The [Solidified soul fragment (Unformed)] is, contrary to my expectations, NOT a summon item. If I try to use it¡­ [Cannot materialize] That happens. So, being a rational cute little girl who does thing based on logic and evidences, I used [Creation] on the lantern and both soul fragments. ¡­What? I should use only one piece? Sure, I may get two pets out of such attempts, but wouldn''t each individual pet be weaker than the original? And more importantly, I only have one lantern, so that would be impossible to craft twice! Not having a contract at hand is just asking for trouble. Regardless of my reasoning, the fact that another hot pot craft being initiated is proof that I would end up with SOMETHING at least. That''s how I ended up wasting the last two days to fish materials for the hot pot. The location is secure this time, so I can afford to take time and use better materials. Once again, I failed to take into account the amount of trash that was left after I put the expensive stuff into the hot pot¡­ Welp. Moving with [Teleport] is fine and all, but I should do something before I am unable to clean up my inventory without going insane. The waitress corps is on the move today, to raid a boss, I think. I was too absorbed in excavating the earth that I forgot what Hessy was saying¡­ I wonder who''s (wo)manning the counters at the moment? ____________ In the depths of the snake-infested forest, a group of young ladies are casually walking along the narrow pathway between the trees. Back then, they would be greeted by random packs of wolf-like creatures or man-sized carnivorous birds. Now, it''s snakes, lots of snakes, and even more giant snakes crawling out of every direction! These snakes are having competition however. _ Hessy: [Dark Bolt]. Multiple jet black projectiles home in on the Merexxa in front of the party. Its full form is actually called Larexxa, but because everyone is so used to the head-only version of the monster, they use the old name to call these things. 3k HP and 2k PDF is tough to fight even for level-capped players if they don''t have buffs. Its low HP cannot be taken advantage of if over half of your attacks won''t get through the defense. In a way, this forest poses a higher difficulty than the first Magnus Bestia for large armies. Not that it matters for these people who are one-hitting most monsters here¡­ _ Hessy: This is it. Su, if you would. The party has arrived at a small lake. The six waitresses who fought against BB Conglomerate back then still remember this place, for it is where they first met . _ Su: Right on~ Judging from ''s past experiences with one-time bosses, there are hidden conditions to strengthen the boss but also increase their unique drops. Therefore, our mission today is to find that of Yierus Lair. Ah, and defeat it before the alliance can, too. _ Nerin: The bonus boss has become secondary¡­ _ Su: , , I''m counting on you! _ Fensen: Roger~ _ Poltea: I-I''ll do my best! The two young children who are not even employees due to labor law are eager for their next adventure. These two and Elri have already been part of the waitress corps all but officially for a while now. _ Nerin: Your new victims? Being the only sane person while Elri is smacking monsters left and right, Nerin has to do her part of looking at the lolicon with suspicious eyes. While not as famous as Hessy''s cold glare, the bow user''s "Are you stupid?" treatment has its own charm, or so think the no-good patrons. _ Su: Rude~ ''s, actually. Because she is still pouting in the basement, these two and will be our next best shot at triggering the evolution. _ Miel: Unknowingly. _ Su: Unknowingly! _ Nerin: You don''t have a plan at all! _ Poltea: Haaaaa¡­ Is this going to be alright¡­? ____________ At the tavern counter, a lady who I have never met is fiddling with the flowerpot. It''s a lava-filled pot I had placed before beginning my current project. It was sold cheaply in the market for people who wants to decorate their house. The lava, that is. I made the pot myself with spare materials. Economics is weird¡­ Well, as long as she doesn''t try to rip the leaves out, I don''t really mind, but¡­ Why the heck is a bartender working in the tavern area? I have not met the bar or pizza team, but judging from that white shirt collar with black vest, she doesn''t strike as the type who makes pizza doughs¡­ [Skill Leveled up: ] Noticing my obvious stare, she leaves the counter even though the patrons are still ordering. Hey, you are supposed to be at work right?! And you crazy patrons, you should be angry instead of cheering her for the negligence you know?! I thought she was a pretty normal person giving off an older sister aura, then as she moved I saw something poking out behind the counter. Wings. Bat wings, even. I have not explored all the race combinations in character creation due to the sheer amount of them, but I do know at least two ways to get those wings: Vampire and Beastman - Bat races. Her hair is neatly tied up into a short ponytail that barely passes her neck, nothing fancy as far as I can tell. Chestnut brown hair with gentle black eyes don''t exactly make a vampire-like image, but because you can modify a lot of stuff for your avatar, there''s no guarantee. I, for example, am half treant, but my silky smooth skin is free of bark-like texture, including places where no one is allowed to look at~ _ Older sister (?): Hello, little bird~ What brings you here? A womanizer? Is this person a womanizer?! She''s speaking like a playboy picking up the next cute innocent girl to add to the victim list! Yes doctor, that person is a heart disease hazard, especially for na?ve young ladies! Despite the deceiving personality, she is, undoubtedly, a (former) respected lady of BB Conglomerate, just like my good friend Elri. As in, that bust. Is. Enormous! That black vest has a neckline so low, it might as well not exist! The only buttoned part is the lower torso, as the upper part barely covers her side. It was a (not so) valiant attempt to contain a big fat monstrosity that obviously failed, since the white garment underneath is in full view along with the mountains of hopes and dreams. The shirt with frilly buttoned placket looks like it would rip at any moment, and her tucking it in is adding even more emphasis on the shape, as well as stress to the fabrics. Players getting blasted off into space is one thing, but isn''t this pushing the limit of physics a little too much?! In order to remove non-existent impurities from my head, I quantify the [Size] stats of the anomaly in front by biological visual sensors, AKA eyes. Turns out, she should have (roughly) the same cup as Elri. Stolen story; please report. The impression is of a different level because of the clothing though¡­ Amazing¡­ If I am to meet the pervert who designed this outfit, I will thank them then blast them to smithereens with extreme prejudice! Better dig yourself a grave in advance, ! _ Older sister (?): I think the owner broke¡­ _ ???: Terrified of those two bombs strapped on you, I bet. _ Older sister (?): Eh~? But they bring joy to everyone! _ ???: You misspoke "degenerates". _ Degenerate (?) patron: THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR SERVICE! More weirdoes have joined in while I was distracted by worldly desires! Who''s being the sane man from behind me anyway? _ ???: Hello~ Anybody home? _ Shadyna: No one''s home, sorry~ _ ???: Looks like the rumor of the owner lady being a scatterbrain is a massive understatement. *Sighs* cannot have normal friends, as expected. I agree with that second statement. And who the heck has been spreading falsehood about me?! The person with the foul mouth is a girl who seems to be in her rebellious phase. Look at that pink-tinted wavy hair! She''s definitely an otome game''s protagonist! ¡­On the other hand, there''s this t-shirt and shorts with the cloth cap outfit of her¡­ A commoner who has to do part-time job because she''s too poor? Do fantasy worlds have part-time jobs in the first place¡­? Anyway, that pizza box in her hand pretty much told me her profession. She''s one of the pizza chefs, but with that uniform I think they run deliveries more than watching doughs being baked. Why they didn''t just call themselves delivery girls is beyond me. _ Shadyna: So you are the main heroine, while she''s the main romance option? The fateful encounter between a poor independent girl and a rich playful womanizer that will change their lives forever! Our cute pizza girl with her kindness to all living beings will move the cold heart of our unfaithful bartender and show her who''s the alpha of the harem! ¡­I think I got some parts wrong, but that should be the gist of it. _ Pizza girl: WHY?! _ Lecherous older sister: How did you know~? _ Pizza girl: You be quiet, damn lecherous skirt chaser! ¡­Bullseye? Maybe it was the "kindness to all living beings" part that was off. Un. ____________ _ Elri (Party): , it evolved! We have to kill it, now! The mistress has just gotten back to the shore after a dive into the lake, and an emergency is already underway. The four people who dived found a whole egg-filled chamber at the other end of the hole in the lake. Unable to initiate a craft using [Creation] and having snake monsters spawning from said eggs forced them to collapse the entire place using ''s indiscriminate bombardment, after collecting their "loot". Considering what they have done, it would be strange if there was no counterattack from the Magnus Bestia. _ Poltea: I knew it would be angry¡­ _ Fensen: It couldn''t be helped~ The snakes weren''t friendly like Mister Elk! _ Su: Innocent destructive lolis are scary! I love them. _ Hessy: Do you lolicons have a daily player report quota to fulfill or what?! It can be said that the diver team has more important matters to gossip rather than paying attention to the death beams aiming at the poor cavalry girl, or the boss up there firing the death beams in question. When it first appeared, it was a grotesque dark purple-ish mass resembling a typical moss ball, at the size of a mall. Schennul was big, sure, but this one is the biggest monster in the game to date. It is also the most peaceful one, ironically, since it just floats there menacingly and depends on its snake minions to do the damage. Now that some pesky adventurers had ruined the snakes'' nest, they stopped spawning. In exchange, numerous tendrils grew out of the moss ball''s upper hemisphere, while roughly the same number of creepy eyes are opening on the rest of the surface area. In short, it looks like a dimensional abomination. The only question for the observers is why this is considered a Magnus Bestia instead of a Nox Terminus. Both the dark color scheme and the quantity-over-quality strategy are Nox bosses'' modus operandi so far after all. If this were an apocalyptic horror game, that thing is probably the last boss. In fact, because it''s already an optional bonus boss, becoming a last boss may actually be a downgrade. A bonus boss that acts like a disco ball of death with its lasers and upbeat BGM. Such is the impression felt by everyone here. _ Su: That looks like Hessy''s pet. _ Hessy: I do not have summon, let alone something that nasty! _ Elri: WHO CARES ABOUT THAT!? JUST HELP ME ALREADY!!! For this raid, Elri chose the new stingray pet instead of the usual salamander (permanent designation) as mount. Because aquatic creatures don''t usually run well on dry land, they all have a special skill to allow movement in unfavorable terrains. [Water Bubble]. It creates a physic-defying water bubble around the creature to keep it floating a small distance above ground. The bubble moves with the caster in the horizontal plane, but not vertical. Its size is enough to maneuver up and down a bit, allowing Elri to evade like an underwater aircraft. There are so many things wrong with the scene unfolding in front of the party, but they decided to be polite and not mention it. _ Miel: It took a liking to you. Not just the diver team, the rest of the party are all having the "Well, at least it''s not me" attitude towards the poor elf taking the brunt of the attacks. _ Elri: How in the world did you come to that conclusion?! _ Mera: Well~ Elf, female, warrior, big bust, against¡­ _ Elri: I''m sorry I asked! Please shut up! _ Hessy: It''s not descending, unfortunately. They had hoped that by evolving, Yierus Lair would land so they could get in range and blast it to oblivion using ''s equipment. However, that wasn''t the case, so there''s not much to do aside from watching the poor elf struggle against an evil-looking monster. Totally not going to be a questionable plot there. _ Miel: I know of a way to get up there. _ Elri: Then say it sooner! _ Miel: I thought of it just now. Looking at Elri as if to find something, leaps forward and grabs a smaller domesticated stingray following its summoner. The waitress is now engulfed by [Water Bubble], so she leaves the bombarded area by swimming instead of walking. _ Miel: Should have brought swimsuit. _ Elri: Want one? I still have the one that pervert gave to me. _ Miel: Sorry, I can''t take someone else''s used underwe¡­ _ Elri: I AM TALKING ABOUT SWIMSUITS!!! _ Hessy: Cut it out, . What''s your plan? _ Miel: Aw¡­ Let me test it first. Without explaining, she throws the stingray into the air! _ Fensen: It can fly~! _ Poltea: No it cannot! The poor creature does not have the ability to fly, so after a short time it stopped gaining altitude, and started dropping, which is no surprise to anyone. What wasn''t expected, however, is a blob of water manifesting into existence around the stingray. As if not minding the rough treatment one bit, it slowly descends (swims) to ground level, creating new bubbles as soon as it leaves the one it''s in. _ Poltea: It really can fly?! _ Hessy: No, it cannot¡­ That''s just floating. _ Miel: Good. Catching the beast again, hands it to Mera. _ Mera: My heart is not ready for this~ _ Miel: Everyone, please hold onto one. I will send you to the boss. _ Hessy: You can''t possibly be thinking about throwing both the stingray and us, right? Even if it can keep floating in the air, ''s throw only make it fly past the trees. That''s nowhere high enough to reach the boss, and it was without human-sized luggage! Everyone still swims around Elri to acquire their own "floatation device" though. They trust each other at least that much. _ Miel: Of course not, leader. _ Mera: Un? , are you not coming? The very person proposing the plan does not have a stingray in her hands, which is suspicious. _ Miel: I can''t. Besides, what are you thinking, trying to put a young maiden into melee range of a monster like that? _ Mera: Oh~ _ Hessy: Some of us are also melee though?! _ Miel: Please don''t mind the little details. Brandishing her hammer, chases after Elri again. _ Elri: Eh, what are you¡­ The moment she is in range, the waitress swings her weapon like a golf club. The ball this time is a car-sized stingray with an unfortunate elf on top however. _ Miel: Good luck. [Divine Impact]!!! *WHAM* Both got blasted into the sky like a rocket. One can only hope they don''t explode on contact. Because the attacker and the summoner are in the same party, the minion stingrays won''t attack for what she just did, thankfully. _ Elri: GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! _ Miel: Next. _ Hessy: Wait! I am not rea¡­ _ Miel: No time. [Divine Impact]! *WHAM* The harsh mistress has become the next victim. She remembers the good old days of NORMAL boss raids as she soars into the sky, trying her best to not let go of the fish in her hands. I don''t want to get used to this! Thinks her. ____________ This is mind-bogglingly tedious¡­ Thanks to the skirt-chasing bartender and the otome-game-protagonist delivery girl , I finally got rid of the trash in my inventory. , with her experience in logistic, handles the moving of goods from my containers. Meanwhile, , the former treasurer of , coordinates the selling of said goods. What a scary combination¡­ [Skill Leveled up: ] Now my only job is to keep using [Refinery] to fish, and put the trash I have into the wagons around me. My two scary attendants will do the rest. As expected, sitting in one place for hours is tedious. Reminds me of the time when I¡­ _ Thelia: Metal goes here, food goes there¡­ _ Shadyna: , are you not bored doing the same thing for hours? She does not even stop when I talk to her. What a professional¡­ _ Thelia: I have been delivering food to for weeks now, this is a good change of pace, really. _ Shadyna: What kind of black company were you working for?! _ Thelia: Our team''s SPD and MSP are very high because of that. It''s a good way to grind skill as any. The whole delivery team are all jet fighters with magical gatling guns?! _ Thelia: Owner, that''s rude. I haven''t said anything! _ Helen (Party): I just heard something really interesting. _ Thelia (Party): What? The walking anomaly is still fishing here. _ Shadyna (Party): Why am I being treated like a trouble magnet?! _ Helen (Party): Some people saw the waitress corps in the forest. Apparently our friends were wrestling for air superiority underwater against the Magnus Bestia. ¡­What. Seriously, what the hell is with that description?! _ Thelia (Party): Nice weather, isn''t it? _ Shadyna (Party): Please do not escape reality! At least use a topic I can follow up with!!! Just like that, I mindlessly go around various zones to fish all kind of materials until the day before patch. --- Topic: Price gouging --- ## OP alchemist Everything is too expensive! Why is rat meat more expensive than potions made from rat meat?! (>_<) And the cafeteria menu is all fish! Why?! ## ## StoneHoarder That''s just how it is. The hoarders had bought everything in high demand even before raid concluded. They deliberately did this with the intention to make profits from our misery. As for the¡­ fishy menu, I have no idea. EDIT: Despite my username, I did not participate in this activity! ## ## Manly Warrior Badum tss! (^o^)/ Guess we did not create emergency stockpiles even though we had known this problem since Operation Zero Glory AAR. (~_~;) Hoarders, hoarders never change. ## ## Silver Merchant But it WAS an emergency! Do we need to have emergency-emergency stockpiles now? ## ## GoldBar9999 Sorry about that. BB Conglomerate will prepare countermeasures to prevent these kinds of market crash in the future. In the meantime, our guild just setup a small part in the marketplace to sell materials at pre-raid market price. We got a really big bulk seller for low and medium grade materials, right when we need them most. Now we are oversupplying the market instead. orz ## ## Mage of Sin How?! ¦²(©b§Õ©b;) And RIP the hoarders, you deserve it. (*¡ä¨Œ£à*) ## ## PeaceDestroyer Will someone think of the economy?! What''s with supply demand jumping all over the place?! ## ## Silver Merchant ¡­Because they just got the supplier? It''s only 2 days since the crisis. @GoldBar9999: Are we rebuilding the siege site? ## ## GoldBar9999 No, the Yierus Lair was defeated already. (;_;) The stream is in the Magnus Bestia 2 thread. It''s wild. ## ## Manly Warrior RIP, that was quick. These two events¡­ are not related, right? ## ------ Chapter 35: Divine retaliation Totally average tamer Shadyna has arrived~ Yesterday, I finally finished the hot pot in one go! Wait, that sounds wrong somehow¡­ Anyway, I got a boss-tier summon item through hard work and dedication, with a title as expected. Just as planned, I would have said, if I hadn''t been delayed nearly a week because had murdered Schennul in cold blood. During that time the waitress corps defeated the Magnus Bestia in the forest, and (I think) prevailed against the Nox Terminus just one day later. Should we make these bosses threatened species¡­? They got killed before I could even see their faces! Let''s go to the tavern to brag, un~ Just to be clear, I am not related to whatever causing those guys to scream across the game world, okay? I just logged in, and I''m still in my bedroom, getting burned by the auto-charging [Alchemy] fire shooter! Today''s patch day, so maybe it has something to do with this? Let''s see¡­ ¡­ Ah, so that''s why. I think I have [World Voice] from dismantling bosses¡­ Un, found it. Joining the agonizing players, I let out a voice that blasts through the whole world. ____________ _ Hessenria: She logged in. _ Inerin: Her first time using [World Voice] too, no? _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: Her first time, indeed~ _ Inerin: Stop twisting my words, you maniac! The cafeteria is overcrowded by the confused players discussing the newest patch. Because many mechanics got changed at the same time, most organized activities have been halted until the new meta is sorted out. In the midst of that chaotic mess, a little girl appeared from a column of light. Few people have permission to teleport into this place, and she also announced her arrival by drilling into everyone''s eardrums just now. _ Shadyna: Hessy, I got nerfed!!! Jumping over the crowd as she can''t be bothered to say "Excuse me" a few thousand times to get through them, crash-lands into a counter, destroying it completely. Lucky for her, property destruction does not count towards [Damage Dealt], so her pacifist status is safe. As if anyone except the system believed her pacifism in the first place! ____________ Owie¡­ I should have watched where I was landing. What''s with this amount of players anyway? There were fewer monsters in a raid than this place at the moment! _ Hessy: Good day, . What a patch to login to, wasn''t it? _ Shadyna: It was! I can''t even use Gelly as a weapon anymore! The patch notes were vague, but I am sure at least half of them were exclusively meant to nerf me to the ground! Personal grudges, I''m telling you! _ Hessy: For now, why don''t you move so we can fix the counter first? _ Shadyna: Whoops~ I am still lying flat on the floor. If anyone was to see th¡­ Never mind, probably half the player base is here to witness already! _ Swordman: Why are you treating her nicely?! This is discrimination! Negligence! PLEASE KEEP IT UP! ¡­Un, I have no idea if he wants to be ignored or not. _ Hessy: Shut up, you sicko. The famous cold glare is at full power today as well huh~ Being a cute responsible girl, and more importantly, the main reason for the poor wooden counter''s bad end, I use [Creation] to make a new one. I blame Sateri for this. _ ???: Yo, . Do you have any info on the patch¡­ Oh, hello, . Didn''t see you there. Well, excuse me for not being the intended users of these furniture, and for crouching to fix the floor (that was broken by me)! _ Shadyna: Hiyo~, . I wave at the trash-talker, kidnapper, blackmailer, murderer and poacher party. Their crime record just keeps growing huh¡­ What''s their next crime? Find out in next week''s episode, or something like that. The (rotten) brain of the party, , walks up to us. _ Maximus: Heh¡­ BWAHAHAHAHA!!! How''s that nerf for ya, damn scrub! Can''t throw that green crap around anymore can you? SERVE YOU RIGHT, NUB! Uwa¡­ he really just had to laugh maniacally like a third-rate villain¡­ And here I thought he was on better behavior recently. Nope, he was just waiting for an opportunity to strike! What can a defenseless girl that is me do against such a magnificent display of might and courage¡­ _ Maximus: !!! His mocking words come to an abrupt stop for unknown reasons. Probably not a toilet break, since he is visibly horrified, and begins panicking. _ Maximus: Crap. Crap! ! _ Tippe: Sorry man, no way. Shrugging as if it was someone else''s problem (it really is), the pervert mage steps to the side as my mentor Elri and the sadistic waitress Mera come into view from behind them. _ Maximus: You traitor!!! _ Elri: You have the right to remain silence. _ Mera: Because anything you say will result in a bigger¡­ Actually, that would be spoiler~ What is bigger?! Ah, no, before that, should I even question whatever they are planning to do to him?! The two ladies drag the jerk away from the scene. He doesn''t put up resistance, or rather, he can''t. Red glowing roots has tied all up of his limbs, preventing any funny movement. [Binding roots] huh. He probably had a chance to avoid it, but [Silent Cast] made sure he never noticed until the effect landed. Stealth warfare, OP as always~ _ Maximus: Wait, let''s talk about this! _ Elri: Denied. You can say your last words post-mortem. _ Maximus: What''s the friggin'' point of that?! Let go of me you crazy -censored- -censored- -censored-!!! Considering how is sighing with a defeated expression, I guess this gentlemanly behavior is not unusual. Even if it couldn''t be helped, please at least put in some effort to fix your friend''s stupidity! What do you mean, it''s terminal?! _ Mera: You are being escorted by beautiful girls. It is a position many will die for~ Did¡­ did she just call herself beautiful? I mean, yes, she undoubtedly is, almost like a (rotten) saint even. That doesn''t mean she should praise herself like that though! _ Maximus: Who the hell would want to literally die for that?! _ Random degenerate spearman: I WOULD! _ Maximus: YOU SHUT THE -CENSORED- UP! _ Tippe: I don''t mind, actually. _ Maximus: WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?! The screaming continues until they disappear into the material room at the back. Rest in particles, I hope~ _ Hessy: ¡­We are still figuring out the patch notes. Do you want to work here for the time being? There may be more assailants like as I am very vulnerable without Gelly Punch. Staying here means I have personal bodyguards while being more exposed due to the attention and sheer player density¡­ Well, not like I should wander around in a dimly lit forest despite having no way to protect myself, right~? _ Shadyna: Un, I''ll do my best! _ Hessy: I prefer you not do that and destroy the building in the process. How rude! ¡­ Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. So my current role is sitting cutely at the counter and chatting with customers to gather intelligence. Hessy banned [Creation] in public until further notice though. Sad cry~ _ Ignar: So [Pet Damage Dealt] was added, and it does remove [Pacifist] titles. Are you going to be fine without being able to attack? Considering how Sateri had to include a warning not to continue my use of pets as ranged projectiles in the patch note¡­ Yup, that was aimed at me specifically! _ Shadyna: Definitely not, did you not see what your friend just did? _ Ignar: Suffered horribly and still screaming behind those doors? Jokes aside, I apologize for what he did. Allow us to assist you as compensation. ¡­Is it just me or my acquaintances tend to pay with their body whenever they have a chance? _ Tippe: To be fair, it was ridiculous how summoners get to be pacifists even though they deal as much damage as any fighter. No offense to you, of course. You are more horrifying than any fighter I know. _ Shadyna: Rude~ Still, that is really troublesome. My biggest handicap in this game is pacifism. If I was still soloing, I would simply focus on evasion and speed to avoid troubles. However, I have pissed off too many people these days. It''s only a matter of time until I get kidnapped and Hessy has to strip again! I would rather have her do that voluntarily and away from public eyes, thank you very much! _ Hessy: Whatever you are thinking, it''s not happening. I am sorry~ ¡­ _ Dead Tippe: [Shared Fate] was nerfed too huh. ''s scepter may make a comeback with this. [Shared Fate] and [Devotion], to be exact. [Shared Fate] lost the "exactly 1 HP" requirement to die. From here on out, it''s going to be shared damage only. If our combined HP is lower than the damage, the receiver will die as normal. Only in a game can you treat deaths as mild annoyances if not daily occurrences. We found that out thanks to ''s voluntary sacrifice, with Hessy as executioner. He died with a smile on his face. Un, degenerate, confirmed again. As for [Devotion], its effect has been changed to exclude attributes and status from equipment. Better survival chance for the caster, but since it''s mainly used to min-max another player, it is still a nerf. The constant MP consumption increased too. ¡­Will I get yelled at if I tell them that this is my first time knowing about the cost? My attributes had already been whacky when I first used [Shared Fate], so it was never enough to beat my MP regeneration! Un, ignore ignore~ I don''t want to be called cheeky. Oh, because of how [Devotion] gives the caster''s stats to another, the MP drain is on the receiver. _ Ignar: In other words, no tanking Magnus Bestia. _ Dead Tippe: Back to suffocating bosses with bodies you mean. Uh, can someone res me? _ Shadyna: [Resurrection]. Why? Having [Shared Fate] helps, but it''s not a requirement. During the fight against the weird mask, there were close calls, but I never used the 1 HP exploit the whole time. It was more of an assurance in case things went wrong. Letting out a big sigh, turns to me with a grim look. _ Ignar: , you are not the standard, no matter how much you think you are. How mean! Why is everyone nodding in agreement?! I am just a normal cute girl in the neighborhood!!! ¡­ _ Mera: [Recall] takes so~ long¡­ Aaaaaaand the next one is¡­ casting speed, or just speed in general. Most skills had their casting duration massively increased. Apparently, I wasn''t the only one forgetting that MP existed considering how cheap and fast skills could be used. Even at low levels, you could finish most spells in one or two chants. No wonder why higher speed ended up equal to rapid firing machineguns¡­ Now MSP-min-maxers cast as fast as level 0, and level 0 players cast as fast as Gelly wriggling menacingly before it met me. Welp¡­ _ Maximus: I''m back. WHAT THE -CENSORED- IS THIS NEW SPEED?! After being resurrected, he was running around town to verify the updated SPD. Definitely not a buff, judging from his "positive" outlook. The minimum moving speed wasn''t changed, but SPD''s effect has been lowered greatly. As a result, cannot outrun a car anymore. How he managed to do it in the past is beyond me, since there is no car in the game. So, my means of offense were high speed attacks. The patch didn''t nerf it. The patch flattened my offensive capabilities so hard my chest looks ample in comparison! What the heck, Sateri?! ¡­ Guess what? There''s more! Can I cry now? _ Hessy: 80 attribute points in total? Not even a 50% increase? The [Heroic Inspiration Course] recipe that once gave a 200% bonus in attributes now gives a flat 80 points. That''s 10 points per type we are currently looking at. Even if I ignore the horrendously low amount of points, there''s a big problem with the new formula: It is good for weaker players, but horrendous for me who have high attributes. That''s a 1% increase for me, dammit! _ Mera: called~ He said [Alchemy] bonus is 120 MAT~ _ Hessy: Low! That''s way too low!!! Pretty sure you are just worried about your [Dark Bolt]''s damage output, Hessy¡­ [Alchemy] got hit similarly huh. I have no title related to it so it''s not my fault okay? _ Elri: Finally! That was way too long! 15 minutes between meals is too much! Ah, here comes another nerf. When you are full you wouldn''t be able to eat new meals for some time. That time was two minutes, which might as well not exist, so Sateri ramped it up to 15. Combined with last week''s nerfs, the new standard (for the waitresses) will be 80 points for one and a half hour buff. A cooldown quality was added for [Alchemy] too. Focus too much on the item effect and you may need to wait a minute to use another item. Because it includes potions, some poor sods may really die because they throw a big bomb earlier¡­ [Cooking] and [Alchemy] have been demoted from "Essential for most non-trivial battles" to "Nice to have but not really needed" status! ¡­ _ Shadyna: ¡­It doesn''t work anymore¡­ _ Miel: , [Refinery] was supposed to be single-target. That excavator was already abusing the system. At this point I shouldn''t be surprised that my excavator wasn''t spared. But still¡­ _ Shadyna: [Mass Refinery] doesn''t work either! It has been reduced to a big bomb shooter! If I fire it, I will only get a few items at most! Any ores in the vicinity simply get vaporized along with the terrain! _ Miel: Good riddance¡­? _ Shadyna: You are really mean today, ! _ Miel: If the exploit remained, there is no way you can compete against big guilds once the public knows about it. Sateri could have waited until that time to fix it though¡­ Uuu¡­ How am I going to do hot pot crafting now¡­? ¡­ _ Hessy: Welcome back. , you should check your [Ancient Rune Artist Origin] ASAP. This day just refuses to end doesn''t it?! _ Shadyna: Did something happen? _ Hessy: *Sighs* dropped by earlier to cry about his [Equipment Manufacturer Origin]. The x3 has been replaced with a x1.2 multiplier and material usage reduction. Attribute effect on crafting received a soft cap as well. Harsh! I appreciate the compensation, but we aren''t factories. I don''t intend to mass produce runes to begin with! ¡­Not counting the equipment to craft more equipment, un. If that is the case, wouldn''t our current gear become some kind of artifacts? Not the quality name, but a literal item made in the past being way too OP for last bosses. _ Shadyna: Let me check¡­ Welp, my runes'' attributes decreased in accordance to the new change. Dammit Sateri, your defense is too high! If you act like a perfect class president no one will be your friend and you will end up becoming the wingwoman for the protagonist because he prefers the uppity main heroine! ¡­ _ Fensen: Hiyo, ~ _ Poltea: Good day to you, . Did something happen? Ah, the innocent souls who are not troubled by the new meta. Sometimes I wish I could be as ignorant of the world around me as them. _ Shadyna: Hiyo~ It''s easier to ask what did NOT happen I think? It''s like you woke up and find yourself in someone else''s room! _ Fensen: Oh, just like when Pol¡­ *BONK* _ Fensen: OW! Violence is forbidden, !!! _ Poltea: Your fault for saying too much! I am really, really intrigued by what she had to say, but the usually shy is having the "Say one more word and I''ll erase all evidence of your existence" look so let''s pretend that didn''t happen. Worse still, she has the firepower to back that up! _ Fensen: Uuu¡­ By the way, , our armors and skill scrolls¡­ Welp, they are troubled by the new meta already. Stop polluting the minds of little girls, Sateri! Yes, I know what they are talking about. The nerfed stats on the runes, and the last changes in the patch: Equipment slots, and skill scrolls. _ Shadyna: Have a seat. This will take a while. _ Fensen: Okay~ _ Tippe: ¡­They didn''t consider asking you at all, . _ Ignar: , there are enough bad news today already. Well, if only someone hadn''t abandoned them right after game start¡­ _ Fensen: Oh, hi, ~ Didn''t know you were here! _ Tippe: Oof, she didn''t even notice you. The slot nerf is disturbingly straightforward. Say goodbye to 16 slots, and say hello to 10 slots. Two armor pieces, two rune pieces, and the rest can be either one. Such a simple adjustment that casually ate nearly half of our gear bonus! The already equipped pieces were treated as [Cosmetic] quality. As a result, there was no wardrobe malfunction incident. Somehow that hurt the patrons more than the actual combat power cut¡­ Sateri, that degeneracy should have been nerfed first and foremost. Skill scrolls¡­ They are extinct. As in, they are not even remotely related to what they used to do. Instead of granting skills, they give a different but easier condition to unlock the skill in question. For example, you can use [Resurrection] scroll and unlock the skill by whacking the dead instead of using [Minor Heal]. What''s this, an action hero shooting the villain in the face to check if he''s dead?! While previously acquired skills remain, all skill scrolls have been updated. The two girls probably bought some and were confused accordingly. Should I be worried that the majority of the changes were related to me one way or another? Sateri, you can''t just make something the apex predator then drop a meteor on it and call that nerf! It''s a "deus ex machina" and the reason why I can''t ride a dinosaur to school in real life! _ Fensen: I have a question! _ Shadyna: Sure, what is it? _ Fensen: Who''s the fairy sitting in the lantern? How is that related to the topic at hand?! _ Poltea: I have been wondering as well. Seriously, are you two concerned about the patch in the slightest?! _ Shadyna: Our child, obviously? _ Everyone: PFFFFFFFFFTTTTT!!! Half of the listening patrons choke on whatever they are eating. The rest choke on their own degeneracy and die horribly. What the heck, guys? _ Poltea: Our child¡­? _ Fensen: Ah. Lightly hitting her palm with her fist, seems to have realized who this is. A young fairy chilling idly in the lantern hanging at my belt. Because she''s much bigger than fireflies, it''s less of sitting and more of dangling on a swing for very tiny kids. The only reason my apprentices could recognize the lantern was because they had seen it beforehand. The little fairy jumps onto the table by my order. Unlike Yassyl who is all white or black depending on her form, this girl is wearing a light grey armor, contrasting her dark green hair. The curly hairstyle also gives off a young squire in training, as expected of ''s child. Most notable feature on her is the plate worn on top of her body armor. It is filled with glowing runes with the same color as her hair, and shaped like a wedge or pyramid to deflect thrusts. She''s a [Symbiosis] pet, so it''s not like she would be taking damage though¡­ _ Fensen: It''s Schennul right?! _ Shadyna: Correct~ But please call her Lutena from now on. The fairy waves at my apprentices with a bright smile. Whoever could even try to kill this innocent soul in cold blood~? was intending to blast when she found out the whole ordeal with Schennul by the way. Luckily I was able to stop her. After all, I had done that already. No point in beating the dead hero again. _ Poltea: Nice to meet you, Lutena. _ Fensen: Welcome home, Lutena~ While the patrons are melting to the scene of cute little girls'' reunion, ''s party were terrified. Very, very terrified. Not my problem, okay? I am already occupied with recovering from Sateri''s meddlings! --- Topic: Patch discussion - 1.0c12 --- ## Manly Warrior Due to the sheer amount of changes in this patch, I have compiled a more detailed description based on players'' findings. Please refer to it here: [Link] Short summary: The great nerf has come! £¨¡¡?§¥?£© ## ## Mage of Sin Thank you for your hard work! £Ü(^o^)£¯ Also cheers to the cafeteria crew for working tirelessly the whole day to figure out the patch. ## ## Heaven Piercer Dear Sateri-chan, those nerfs¡­ Please stop, at this rate I am going to enjoy it!!! ## ## Maximus Archery You are already enjoying it, degenerate. Reported for harassment. It''s amazing to see how many of the nerfs were for Illusive Sprout. ## ## Fire mage of Justice I would be worried about how she broke the game so hard, Sateri-chan had to make a patch that massive to fix it. ## ------ --- Topic: Illusive Sprout General Topic #3 --- ## Newbie Charisma build I heard Illusive Sprout just had a child? Is that true? Who''s the father? ## ## Bountiful Hunter LOL! I knew someone would take that completely out of context. For the question, yes, but actually no. She got a new pet from the first Magnus Bestia Schennul. Pic for anyone interested: [Pic]. ## ## StoneHoarder Ah, so that''s how you get humanoid summons. (£þ¡õ£þ;) ¡­Any guide on how to beat a Magnus Bestia? ## ## Nearseeing Sage Step 1: Be her friend. Warning: Life threatening. On a serious note, there''s a plan for NPC in the roadmap. Humanoid creatures should be more widely available at that time. That''s much safer than going near bonus bosses, or even worse, Illusive Sprout. ## ------ Chapter 36: Grind support Un, the bullied girl Shadyna is still holding on! My (mostly) peaceful life was turned upside down because of the harsh nerfs yesterday. As a result, I am back to being a young girl who cannot defend herself, uuu¡­ Sateri, is that the stuff you are into? That''s some extreme hobby you have there. _ Nerin: This, is what you call the face of a delusional individual. _ Shadyna: Why?! Wait, before that, why are you here?! For some unknown reason, I am currently accompanied by two waitresses. Call me "lucky bastard" all you want, but I am pretty sure I didn''t call them and they weren''t here two minutes ago! ¡­Sorry, this is probably the very definition of "lucky bastard". I am already familiar with Nerin, the bow user and de facto sane person of the waitress corps. After all, she''s my less-known mentor whenever Elri and Hessy are not around. , or Magni for short, is still on the "friend of friend" level of familiarity, since I have not played with her. I wonder if she''s a closet maniac like ? Then again, sane people don''t go all-in red and use WATER of all elements to main¡­ _ Nerin: Why, you ask¡­ Didn''t you make the [Recall] network for this? _ Shadyna: I made it to quickly come and go between places, not to ambush people from behind! During the fishing tour last week, I created various "locations" to use as [Recall] spots. For the time being, the cafeteria crew are using them as quick transportation mainly for hunting, as our patrons are already sick of the fish menu. Even though fish are healthier¡­ _ Nerin: There''s not much we can do about it. We agreed to have someone with you at all times. The fight against Tenri Yassel was too close for comfort, and Schennul was a disaster for all involved. If you get another one in your current state¡­ Oh, to think she was worried about me. She really values friendships and all that idealistic stuff huh. _ Nerin: I don''t even want to think what kind of hellscape will remain after you demolish it and everything around it. Or not. What kind of image of me are you having?! _ Shadyna: How mean! I can''t even attack right now! _ Nerin: That''s exactly why there''s no telling what stunts you will pull! Uuu, I''m already treated as a volatile explosive¡­ _ Magni: Now now, Nerin, don''t be so hard on her. She who has been standing from behind Nerin has finally spoken up in my defense! _ Nerin: But¡­ _ Magni: We all know will exterminate everything. We are just here to reap the shared loots. Gah~ I demand a personnel switch~ _ ???: Geh! Didn''t expect to see you here. I went here alone so I doubt anyone was expecting me, but that "Geh" was uncalled for. ¡­Oh, it''s the harem protagonist on the floating throne. Does he get a STR penalty for sitting all the time? _ Shadyna: Hiyo, . _ Olkan: Yo. Not going to the new zones? defeating Nox Terminus opened up another bunch of new areas and upped the level cap to 30, therefore most formerly capped players are working hard to explore and exterminate the fauna there. ¡­I am a level 14 pacifist, I have no business there! This level 14-18 arid plain is a better choice, even though I do not plan to fight anything here. _ Shadyna: *Shakes head* I am under-leveled for the new locations. What about you? _ Olkan: ¡­This is where I pretend I didn''t hear that right? As for why I''m here, it''s for level grinding, obviously? ¡­This is a level 14 field, right? I made sure before going, so there should be no mistake. _ Nerin: *Sighs* , treat her as a newbie if it doesn''t involve late-game firepower. Is that a compliment¡­? _ Olkan: ¡­Yeah, not hearing anything. Unlike the battle maniacs around you, I am not good at fighting. Grinding on same level zones costs too much time and supply to be efficient. _ Shadyna: Ah, so you are the "Quantity over quality" type. By picking a fight where he completely overpowers the mobs, he can kill much faster to compensate the lower experience gain. And more corpses equals more loots, which is arguably more valuable to crafters. _ Olkan: I am. After yesterday''s patch, I don''t get to be picky anymore. You have my sympathy~ _ Nerin: Want to join force? We are going to be here for a while, and I am not getting much experience watching destroying balance-chan. _ Shadyna: Hey! I don''t particularly mind. They are going to wreck the local wildlife anyway, and I would feel bad if Nerin and Magni have to waste their time watching over me. I didn''t ask for that jab though! _ Olkan: That is appreciated, ehm¡­ _ Nerin: It''s . When are you going to remember people with a less-than-D bust?! Pretty sure it''s terminal. His obsession with hopes and dreams, that is. _ Shadyna: Invitations sent~ By the way, ¡­ _ Olkan: What is it? _ Shadyna: Why are you staying away from me? For the whole conversation, his party were standing ten meters away from us, and have not taken a step towards us at all. _ Olkan: Maybe because someone uses players as weapons? ¡­[Teleport]. _ Shadyna: Boo! _ Olkan: WGA!@#$%^&* Welp, he really has PTSD. Sorry~ ¡­ _ Shadyna: ''s butcher house is open for business! And I''m the manager, to let ''s group grind their [Dismantling]. As for me, I intend to train [Creation] using their leftover materials. _ Nerin: Sha.dy.na!!! But I haven''t done anything?! Nerin, who was supposed to wait for the mobs outside, has appeared behind the poor me! Un, she''s kind of pissed, but I don''t have any idea why. _ Nerin: What the hell happened to your attributes?! _ Shadyna: Ehm¡­ Even if you ask me that¡­ _ Olkan: Did someth¡­ actually, what happened? No doubt at all?! _ Nerin: Before the patch, a LDR min-maxer gave about 80 points per category with [Cooking] buffs. Now they give 30 because of nerfs. Tell me, what is your current LDR bonus? _ Olkan: One sec, let me se¡­ Ah, his face cramps. The other three members in ''s group are also frozen. You guys'' mental fortitude is kind of bad you know? I mean, I leveled up a bit, so of course my attributes are higher. That''s normal, right? --- [Character information] [Name]: Shadyna [Race]: Halfblood (Elf - Treant) [Gender]: Female [Age]: 13 [Level]: 14 [Profession]: Particle lolider [Status]: - HP: ========== (15082/15082) (10282+4800) - MP: =======... (11423/15231) (15231+0) - PAT: 5041 (5041+0) - PSP: 251 (202+49) The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. - PDF: 10143 (6143+4000) - MAT: 7125 (7125+0) - MSP: 251 (202+49) - MDF: 9316 (8116+1200) - SPD: 719 (516+203) [Attributes]: - STR: 996 (6+990) - DEX: 1010 (7+1003) - CON: 1029 (13+1016) - LDR: 990 (6+984) <= The attribute they were complaining about. - FOC: 1016 (5+1011) - WIT: 1007 (4+1003) - MEN: 1011 (21+990) - LCK: 1021 (5+1016) [Equipment]: - Head: + Flower of Eternal Blossom (Masterwork) + Midae Blossom Haipin (Excellent) - Body: + Draconic Scaled Vest (Excellent) + Silk Camisole of Feather (Excellent) + Protective Rune of Blood Steel (Excellent) + Draconic Scaled Hotpants (Excellent) + Windy Wings (Excellent) - Arms: + Draconic Scaled Gloves (Excellent) + Vallen Ring of Blood Moon (Cosmetic) - Legs: + Draconic Scaled Boots (Excellent) + Absolute Socks of Blitz (Left) (Excellent) [Skills - Active]: - Inspect - Cheer - Shared Fate - Refinery - Mass Refinery - Creation - Field Creation - Leap - Elemental Bolt - Piercing Arrow - Recall - Teleport - Silent Cast - Minor Heal - Resurrection - Combat Support - Potential Manifest - Fort : Stand ground until the last breath. While active, prevent all movement, nullify knockback and increase all defense. - Air Cushion [Skills - Passive]: - Accelerate Power - Cell Revitalization - Elemental Resistance - Detect Presence - Absorbing Surface - Multi-summon Control : Control multiple summoned beasts at the same time. Reserve mana per summoned beast. - Impervious Soul (Title): Add chance to negate all damage for a time. Chance increases as health decreases. [Titles]: - Unstopping Hero - Absolute Zero (960) - Pacifist (3) - Beast Tamer Origin - At-will Beast User (2) - Against All Odds (43) - Ancient Rune Artist Origin - Arcane Maestro Origin - Mancannon - Tenri Yassel Subduer - Celestial Trickster - Purity of Innocence - Goddess Lover - Goddess Corrupter - Corpse Destroyer: The one who hates the dead with a cremating passion. Grant a small damage increase against the dead and undead. Earned by defiling many corpses in succession. - Schennul Contractor: The one who signed an agreement with . Effects depend on the state of ''s soul. Effect: Nullify surprise attacks and grant [Impervious Soul]. - Apex Tamer (1): The one who is above the food chain. Grant leadership effect from each summoned tamed boss. - Halfblood (Racial) --- ¡­Okay, that''s probably a tad bit higher than average. _ Shadyna: Sent the screenshot to you, Nerin. _ Nerin: ¡­I didn''t receive anything. No, you definitely received it. I know because you look like you have given up! _ Magni (Party): Nerin, I''m back. Prepare for combat. _ Nerin (Party): On it. I was looking at nothing anyway. You definitely saw it! Not just Nerin, but and his friends are gearing up too. I wonder how many Magni lured back¡­ This zone, you see, is filled with tall dry grass and lurking aggressive creatures. It is dangerous for mobile builds as more enemies will gather as one moves around to evade. Walking tanks will have a field day here though because enemies will come to you. We don''t have time for that, so Magni was running around to lure everything in detection range back to us. At first Nerin was going to do it, but she one-shot stuff, and due to her high SPD, mobs weren''t able to keep up with her. ¡­Why does that sound familiar? Must be my imagination, un. Anyway, Magni only had to stri¡­ I mean, unequip her staff to bring her MAT to manageable level. The debuff spells also help avoiding accidental kills but still accomplish the goal of annoying the hell out of the mobs. Still, magi don''t often lure because of their low defense. My equipment took care of that without problem, whoops? Now then, let''s see what she brought back¡­ Behind the redhead who has the expression of someone going for a morning jog at midnight, wave after wave of creatures resembling various real life carnivorous predators are chasing. They don''t look really friendly, baring their fangs as if wanting to eat us for breakfast (Definitely the plan). In the midst of the seemingly endless stampede, I spotted several larger silhouettes that just scream "bad news" even from this distance. Did she pull in the variants and bosses accidentally or intentionally?! Not just me, but everyone except for the perpetrator herself did not expect this number of incoming hostiles. Welp¡­ Closing the curtain, I go back into the tent. Ah, busy busy, gotta check the new skills and titles and all that~ _ Olkan (Party): I know you are a pacifist, but isn''t it rude to leave us like that?! At least stay and heal us! _ Shadyna (Party): Sorry, that would be technical pacifism~ _ Olkan (Party): You mean convenient pacifism! _ Nerin (Party): Shut up and help me fight if you want to survive! _ Olkan (Party): I just want to grind in peace!!! Me too, . Me too. Okay, let''s have a look at my new skills~ [Fort] was the skill I got using skill scroll the day we met Schennul. It''s mostly used by tanks due to the movement restriction, but I bought it just in case I need to shield someone. That someone has to be smaller than me though, so probably not many. [Multi-summon Control] is self-explanatory. I need it to have both Gelly and Lutena out on the field. This skill seems to level up as my pets gain experience so there''s no need to actively grind it. It also eats 25% of my MP. Not as bad as [Multi-weapon Wield], but I should be careful since I use a lot of magic. [Impervious Soul]¡­ I have mixed feelings about this one, to be honest. The effect does sound pretty awesome for survival. However, the problem lies in the trigger condition. Who would want to depend on Sateri''s RNG when it''s the matter of life and death?! Let''s try it out when I have the chance, un. Don''t want to be caught by surprise at the worst possible moment. As for the titles~ Got the [Corpse Destroyer] one when I blasted the rude jerks in the grove for some silence. What the heck is with that punny description, Sateri¡­? Bonus against the undead dark elven sisters is okay, I suppose, but dead enemies too? Do we have dead but still moving creatures in this game? [Schennul Contractor] was given to me the day Schennul was defeated. I heard the top raid parties, including Mera, received [Schennul Subduer], similar to [Tenri Yassel Subduer]. I was in a bad mood those days so I never asked what that title does. Mine gives good effects and that''s what matters most. Still, buffed sneak attacks from [Celestial Trickster] and sneak defense from [Schennul Contractor] huh. What am I, a nuclear submarine?! Saying that, a stealth build does have a nice ring to it. [Apex Tamer] is the upgraded [Boss Tamer] title. I really had high hope for it, but it was¡­ underwhelming. If I calculate correctly, it is providing 30 attributes per type except for LDR. Sure, with the current meta that is as much as what a LDR main build. But because the bonus is from the pet instead of title, my [Absolute Zero] did not affect it! If it had, my attributes would be somewhere at the 1200 mark already. Uuu¡­ Ah, I also had to take off some clothing to fit the new 10-piece limit. Most of the removed equipment was runes, so decency is protected without having to craft new gear~ I do miss the stats though¡­ The battle outside is probably not going to end anytime soon. Is there anything I can do to kill time? [Skill Leveled up: ] Nice~ ¡­ After a great battle that scarred everyone (me excluded) for life, we are now trying to get another trauma by dismantling all of the corpses~ _ Olkan: By the way, is the green thing not with you? Is he talking about Gelly? I am pretty sure I don''t have many green things apart from my sprout and Lutena''s fluffy hair. _ Shadyna: I left Gelly back at the tavern to grind skills. Since I am not sightseeing, and cannot use it to fight, there''s no need to take it with me. If something arises, I can always [Teleport] back in seconds to bring in the nuke. That would end my pacifism real quick so let''s hope I never have to. _ Olkan: Oh right, you can''t blast people with it anymore. _ Nerin: Maybe it''s time we thought of new ways for to fight? _ Olkan: Do you want Sateri-chan to nerf us again?! _ Nerin: That will delay the inevitable for two days top. Are you two an old couple trash-talking their child?! _ Magni: Hey, . _ Shadyna: Yes~? _ Magni: You have never used magic for offense. Is there a reason for it? Eh? ¡­Now that I think about it, I only use magic for support, and that was because there was no physical equivalent skill for those purposes. Look at [Minor Heal], why should I use it when I have rechargeable potions? _ Shadyna: Aside from real world habits¡­ Probably because throwing pets is considered physical attacks? And throwing players too, but let''s not mention that. Everyone, why are you facepalming?! Speaking of throwing players¡­ the new play record is called [Pet Damage Dealt] right? _ Shadyna: Nerin, do you have [Ignore Physical Defense]? _ Nerin: Crap, it''s come¡­ Yes, I do have passive [Ignore Physical Defense]. Why? Because I am a considerate girl, I will ignore that early remark, un. _ Shadyna: I have a favor to ask~ Why are you guys backing away?! The tent is not that spacious nor durable, so don''t make those kind of movements while inside! _ Nerin: I am going to decline if it''s too absurd you know! But I haven''t said anything¡­ _ Shadyna: It''s simple~ Please hold Magni tight. _ Everyone: ¡­What? _ Shadyna: Hold her tight, and hit me hard with her! ¡­ It sounded saner in my head, honest. *BONK* _ Nerin: Did you finally lose your mind you damn idiot?! _ Shadyna: Ow! Hit me with Magni, not with your fist! If she just whacks me with her hands, obviously it would count towards [Damage Dealt], and pain too! _ Magni: Uhm¡­ I may be new to this, so please be gentle, Nerin. _ Nerin: DO NOT ENCOURAGE HER! _ Olkan: Hmm, you girls don''t have much in term of boobs, but this will be good for research. _ Nerin: DENIED! Nerin is racking up experience in being the only sane person, un. Please keep up the good work~ ____________ _ Hessenria: So, what''s the result? The tavern lady was amused to learn about ''s ordeals. It''s always amusing when it did not happen to oneself. will never say that out loud though. _ Magnemi: It hurt at first¡­ _ Inerin: Keep phrasing like that and I''ll hurl you at again. _ Hessenria: Like some romcom heroine crashing into the protagonist? A young lady with bread in her mouth body-slamming a young man is the (not-so) standard first encounter one should fully expect to kick-start a romantic adventure¡­ _ Shadyna: Un¡­ I think it''s better to replace "heroine" with "truck". _ Hessenria: It''s actually otherworld transfer plot?! _ Shadyna: I thought I was gonna die as well~ _ Inerin: That''s what you get for asking something so unreasonable, idiot. _ Shadyna: Harsh~ Meanwhile, the patrons are biting their handkerchiefs in jealousy. They want to be slammed by cute waitresses too, even if they will most likely die in the process! _ Hessenria: More importantly, is throwing others a valid pacifist strategy? _ Inerin: *Sighs*¡­ Valid. Technically. _ Shadyna: But I need a willing player, and wielding humanoid is not easy so¡­ I''ll just check magic skills out tomorrow~ In other words, ''s suffering was for naught. _ Hessenria: Thanks for the hard work, Nerin. _ Inerin: Guh¡­ --- Topic: Alchemy General Topic #14 --- ## OP alchemist Does anyone know what this plant is? [Pic] This pot is seen in the tavern. Planted in lava but I have not found anything like that in the lava lakes. ## ## Fire mage of Justice I used Inspect on it and the result only said "Gelly". It''s probably a very rare plant the waitresses picked up by chance? ## ## Silver Merchant Who would use expensive materials as decorative flowerpot?! £¨ ? §¥?) ## ## CuteIsJustice The waitress corps, as proven. (*¡ä¨Œ£à*) They are cute so it''s allowed~ (*^0^*) ## ------ --- Topic: Unexplained Mysteries #7 --- ## Serious Mage Last thread hit limit. [Link] Due to various hidden bosses and treasures in this game, please post the stories you cannot explain here. It may be the clues to said hidden stuff, or at the very least, make good gossip. ## ## Newbie Charisma build Continuing from last thread, is there any use for the gigantic stone pillars scattered between hunting areas? Something like this one between the (former) grove and sand circles. [Pic] ## ## Nearseeing Sage They have been there ever since closed beta. However, there''s no evidence of it being of any use but background decorations. Indestructible too. tried breaking that one to no avail. ## ## Flame knight of Darkness Were they competing for the Pathwrecker name? (=_=) Another one: My guild members told me that for some reason the Dry Grassland lost most of its mobs. They walked for fifteen minutes without encountering a single enemy, including bosses. Edit: It''s back to normal now. It did happen, as per stream: [Link] ## ## Manly Warrior I just visited it. Greeted by a big cat hiding in the grass like always. ## ## GoldBar9999 Uh¡­ Please disregard that thing in the Dry Grassland. It was due to someone luring everything in the vicinity. Not anymore so rest assured. ## ## Fire mage of Justice (?_?;) How many levels was it? ## ## GoldBar9999 From 22 to 24. ## ## Mage of Sin I thought you were on the saner side?! ## ------ Chapter 37: Magical debut Magical girl Shadyna is going to make her debut today! That being said, my outfit is more of something archers would wear, and I don''t even have a staff or wand! Is this going to be alright¡­? When I arrive at the tavern, the waitresses are having a heated discussion at the counter. They are using all the stools, leaving the patrons crying for attention at the tables. Uh¡­ Is it fine to neglect the degenerates like that? And they seem to be talking about me. _ Magni: It has to be [Water]. Fiery magical girls are at most the rival and prone to dying to advance the plot. Everything of your appearance is screaming the very "Fiery magical girls" you are talking about! Do you have a medical history of plot-related deaths or something?! _ Mera: No~ She needs to use [Light] so that monsters can corrupt her~ Is this sadistic waitress even on my side? What kind of ally would say that?! _ Hessy: Anything but [Dark Bolt]. So does she want me to avoid using [Dark] element, or just specifically the [Dark Bolt] skill¡­? Knowing her, it''s probably the latter. _ Su: She''s an elf. Our beauty and elegance are better emphasized by [Nature]. No, I''m only half elf. And you aren''t even a waitress, Su! Go back to the teahouse, you little degenerate elf~ _ Swordman: Damn Illusive Sprout, getting all the attention. _ Warrior: Maybe if she disappears¡­ Some dangerous lines of thinking are emerging from the patrons with nothing to do! I really need to get some self-defense capability, FAST! Because I have no idea how long the waitresses are going to take, let''s find someone else to party with. I don''t want to know what can of worms I will open if I jump in now. ¡­ _ Shadyna: And so, I''ll be in your care today! _ Fensen: Leave it to me! _ Poltea: L-likewise. _ Elri: "And so" my pet''s stinger! Don''t just ask to join party then run to us on foot at Mach 3! You have [Teleport], make use of it!!! Un, my elven mentor Elri is in high spirits today. So are my cute apprentices~ While I know she was speaking figuratively, I didn''t reach Mach 3. Trust me, I know. _ Shadyna: But you have just left town¡­ _ Elri: By using the [Recall] tablets you gave us! Sorry~ The area we are in is just past the big ocean lake, or former valley. I was in the mood for procrastina¡­ I mean, sightseeing, so I just grabbed Gelly and dashed to them in a straight line. _ Elri: *Sighs* Anyway, what''s the matter? As expected of a kind girl, she knows when I''m in a pinch~ _ Elri: No, you are just too expressive. Uuu¡­ Sateri, I''m still waiting for my [Emotionless] title~ _ Shadyna: Well then, explanation time skip~ _ Elri: Stop spouting nonsense and explain properly! ¡­ _ Elri: Pacifist magic¡­ That''s called buffs. You don''t say. _ Shadyna: No~ I want magic that doesn''t do damage on paper, but still capable of pacifying enemies by making sure they don''t live to be violent anymore! _ Elri: Just putting "pacifist" in front of "murder" does not change the meaning! _ Shadyna: Un, I just want to make it legal. _ Elri: REJECTED! Uuu¡­ Elri is too strict¡­ _ Poltea: Uhm¡­ this game has [Poison], right? Does that count as "no damage"¡­? Oh~ Nice idea~ The debut of a magical girl who peacefully subdue enemies using neurotoxins that are borderline (if not outright) illegal! Show the evil overlords how to wage REAL wars! ¡­No amount of cute mascots is going to help with that kind of PR (Public Relations) disaster, I think. _ Elri: Don''t. The basic spell, [Poison Dart], deals direct damage on hit. The damage-over-time effect also counts to your [Damage Dealt] record. Debut rejected~ _ Shadyna: Too bad~ Although, , you are surprisingly vile to suggest something like that~ _ Poltea: Eh? EEEEHHHH?! _ Fensen: I can vouch for her cruelty during our study sessions! I''m quite certain that you totally deserve whatever she threw at you, ¡­ _ Poltea: Oh¡­ I¡­ see. If they were so unpleasa¡­ _ Fensen: I AM VERY SORRY! THAT WAS JUST A JOKE! When she''s angry, it''s hell. When she''s genuinely apologetic, it''s worse than hell! , your girlfriend is kind~ of dangerous, so you had better mind your manners. _ Elri: [Dark] and [Light] spells do damage too, and their debuffs don''t have damage over time. , aside from [Stun] which often requires an attack skill, you don''t use [Sleep] nor [Root] either. Why? Are we going through all the ailment types now? Then again, all elemental spells seem to be damage-dealing so if there''s a chance for a no-damage killing technique, I should be looking at ailments which are meant for support. _ Shadyna: Because throwing pets is physical attack. _ Elri: This is the first time you told me, so why that "I have told you before!" face¡­? Little details~ _ Shadyna: More importantly, I hate status effect spells. _ Elri: Huh? What gives? _ Shadyna: Bad past experiences. They depend on RNG, which is a way of saying "Does not work when needed most". More often than not they have no effect on bosses, and when they do, using a spell multiple times do not stack. Twice the player count doubles the damage, but twice the debuffs just result in¡­ same effect. I also want to say that during my time here, most stuff died in one hit so there was no time for [Poison] and such, but Elri will definitely chew me out. Hard pass~ _ Elri: That''s¡­ reasonable, I suppose. _ Shadyna: Having said that, Sateri nerfed me to the ground anyway. I don''t mind getting those skills if they help me survive~ _ Elri: Don''t make an elaborate complain in that case!!! But I really do think so about status effects~ ¡­ A lava lake has come into view. Welcome to one of the most annoying features ever existed in gaming history: Environmental damage! I bet the inventors of this and status effects are all sadists. These "features" bring nothing but pain, suffering and frustrations to players! Anyway, this zone, called "Lava Rift" by the player base, has two parts. The outer ring, which is pretty much a dark-colored rocky barren land. There are creatures and vegetation here and there, but you won''t get much experience out of this pitiful population density. The "fun" part lies below, in-between the two long cliffs going through the zone. Simply put, there''s a magma river flowing beneath. One can reach this part from the natural entrance at each end of the rift, or they can jump off the edge to reduce encounters. It''s highly likely the landing spot will be filled with liquid rocks that will take away what little HP is left after the jump though. We, being young ladies with good manners, obviously went the normal path from the entrance, with guns blazing. Along the way, we had a totally civil discussion regarding how to make others suffer using status effects while and made short work of everything in sight. The environmental damage is tolerable on land. It becomes annoying when we touch the lava however. Sateri, you sadist~ _ Elri: [Sleep] prevents enemies from attacking, but with your MAT wouldn''t the HP regeneration effect be too powerful? _ Shadyna: Eh? Are there players who can withstand your charge? Most creatures don''t attack me. Players, on the other hand, will be the reason why I need [Root] and chloroform¡­ Then again I will only need it when my friends are around. Elri, in particular, has [Accelerate Bonus], allowing her to vaporize most stuff under 10k HP in one strike. HP regeneration is not relevant. Who was the idiot that granted her such OP skill~? _ Elri: Players surviving my charge¡­ No, no there isn''t¡­ I appreciate the honesty, but why do you look like you have lost? _ Mera (PM): , are you with someone right now? _ Shadyna (PM): I am. What''s the matter? _ Mera (PM): Nothing~ I just thought it was time for anyone going with you to realize they had completely fallen to darkness. _ Shadyna (PM): What. The. Heck?! The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. _ Mera (PM): Come to the tavern before you logout, okay~? We are going to have some fu~n with your bo~dy~ Crap. Should I run for the mountain? One of the new zones is a big mountain range which can be a good place to hide from criminals! And which was her main reason to contact me anyway? ¡­ _ Shadyna: Found it! At the center of the lake, there''s this big plant stalk look-alike among the other aquatic (magmatic?) plants on the surface. It stands out because it''s twice bigger than the second-biggest one, and more importantly, it''s a scorpion''s tail. No, I''m serious. It''s the tail of a submersible giant scorpion. Damn it, Sateri. At least make it a lobster or something you would see underwater! _ Elri: That suspicious stalk? _ Shadyna: Un. said its equipment set has something I could use. ¡­As payment for childcare. And it was before the nerfs, so I''m not sure it''s good for me anymore. We are already here though, so might as well finish and scratch it off the list~ _ Shadyna: , , sic'' em! _ Fensen: Roger~ _ Poltea: O-oh! _ Elri: What happened to pacifism?! Completely safe, because I''m not fighting it! *WHAM* *WHOMP* *BONK BONK* ¡­ [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Reckless Frenzy Lv.0"] What was thinking to suggest this skill to me¡­ I am seriously concerned for his mental health. How many times do I have to state that I am not a violent person?! _ Elri: What did you get? Anything good? [Put the target into a frenzied state. Increase physical damage significantly but reduce physical defense.] _ Shadyna: I think it suits you more~ _ Elri: Are you trying to imply something?! But I do think this is a skill for reckless players who have a tendency to attack enemies without proper preparations¡­ It''s not going to help with deathless runs though~ _ Shadyna: I already have [Combat Support]. It won''t do anything for me~ _ Elri: What are you saying? It stacks with [Combat Support]. _ Shadyna: ¡­Eh? _ Elri: You can buff your attribute one type at a time with [Potential Manifest] can''t you? This conversion skill is considered a single buff, and will stack with the rest of your stats-increase-only effects. _ Shadyna: Oh~ Do you have a conversion skill like this as well? As expected of my mentor, she''s knowledgeable, despite her appearance and attitude. _ Elri: No. That does. HP to PAT, I think. The one who took Elri''s dignity, if I remember correctly~ Also the leader of , but I don''t really care about them. This changes a lot though. I previously thought that you can only buff with skill once, similarly to [Alchemy] and [Cooking]. There are probably many other stackable effects that the player base simply has not figured out yet. Okay, maniacal laughing~ _ Elri: What''s with that creepy smile¡­? _ Fensen: , scary~ _ Poltea: That''s rude, ! _ Shadyna: Nothing~ I need to go back to the tavern now. Are you continuing the grind? There are many things I want to consult, and doing that through chat is kind of bothersome. Face-to-face with a warm cup of chocolate milk is much, much better! _ Elri: Yes, it''s the plan. Ah, can I have some of your time tomorrow? _ Shadyna: I always have time for a date~! _ Elri: Not that! Enchanted gear doesn''t grant skill anymore, so if you could make [Accelerate Bonus] skill scrolls for the rest of our team¡­ Aw¡­ I thought she was inviting me for some time alone together before one of us dies horribly to random last bosses¡­ And what the heck is with that change for [Enchant] I didn''t know about? Combined with the skill scroll change, doesn''t this mean we have no easy way to share skills with friends or pet anymore? Was Sateri aiming to reduce skill inflation? Because we don''t usually unlock skills by enchanted items, we totally missed it huh. Gotta tell Hessy to update the nerf list again¡­ _ Shadyna: Got it. I''ll dress up nicely for our date! _ Elri: YOU ARE NOT LISTENING AT ALL AREN''T YOU!!! Parting with everyone, I use [Teleport] to return to Tyrel. ¡­ _ Hessy: Welcome back. I was worried you would run away because of Mera''s rambling. Welp, I forgot that the tavern is the last place I want to visit right now! _ Shadyna: Alright, I''m heading out~ Before I could even turn around to run, two busty dark elves had rushed in from the sides and grabbed my arms. I have been had!!! Were you waiting in the crowd the whole time for this moment?! Serve drinks to patrons if you have that much free time to waste damn it!!! _ Melodyn: A wild , get~ _ Choruse: Resistance is futi¡­ Scratch that. We will die if you fight back so don''t. _ Shadyna: Then why are you doing it?! Despite my protests, the crazy sisters still drag me to the back anyway. You useless background customers, stop looking at me with envious eyes!!! ¡­ This room has been cleaned up. At the back, several tables and seats are placed, with drinks and flowers on top. It''s the typical setup for judges in reality shows. Am I going to be forced to fight to the death for everyone''s entertainment?! _ Hessy: It''s fine to be delusional, but don''t get your hopes up. Stop reading my mind, or my expressions, rather~ At the center is a room? Locker? Are they going to put me in there and practice sawing me in half or setting me on fire to see if I would survive?! _ Shadyna: Um¡­ what do you need, exactly? If it involves me becoming a living torch or becoming two in a literal sense, I will have to politely decline! _ Hessy: Right¡­ We were talking about which element would suit you earlier¡­ I knew it would come back to bite me later, but I didn''t expect it to this soon! _ Hessy: In the end, we still could not decide with a majority vote. There are six elements in total. I would be surprised if you can even get a majority by asking everyone''s preferences! _ Hessy: Therefore, we decided to let you choose for yourself. Shouldn''t that be the first and foremost course of action?! This is MY skills you are talking about right?! _ Shadyna: But Hessy¡­ I can''t use elemental skills. They deal damage, remember? _ Hessy: That doesn''t matter. Even though you just told me to choose for myself?! _ Hessy: Here, please hold on to these. You have enough storage space right? Received clothing x a crap ton~ _ Shadyna: This is¡­ _ Hessy: The costume designs we came up with. Please try them out. _ Shadyna: It''s not about the skills, or elements at all?! _ Hessy: It is. The elements were the themes for these costumes after all. If you have so much free time, why don''t you help me to, I don''t know, find some magic skills to defend myself instead!? _ Shadyna: So that''s the changing room? I point at the mysterious room of unknown purpose earlier. The dark elven sisters have already released me and took their seats at the tables along with the rest of the cafeteria crew. If I say anything about that I''ll lose so let''s stay shut. _ Hessy: Correct. You need a place to change costumes, no? I don''t want to hear that from the person having no qualm switching gear in front of others!!! _ Mera: We won''t stop you if you want to change in front of us~ You are not helping!!! ¡­ Somehow, more players have come while I was changing. Is the whole crew here? What about the stores, girls?! Two standing mirrors were also added, allowing me to look at my avatar from the sides. Thank you for the consideration, but why are all of you here to watch me? You are acting like the perverts from , I''m telling you! _ Melodyn & Choruse: Welcome~ To ''s first str¡­ fashion show! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU TRYING TO SAY THERE?! Also, this doesn''t have anything to do with my magical debut anymore! _ Melodyn: And here we have the first submission~! A [Fire]-themed dress disguised as [Nature] by using red leaves textures instead of flames. I wonder if it will turn back to green when the season changes? Pretty sure this game doesn''t have such useless feature, even in the name of immersion. _ Choruse: It is a good compromise between the theme and the person wearing it, as is a tree girl through and through. I personally prefer leaves withering and fall off instead of changing color. Welp, next outfit~! _ Melodyn: Next up is a [Water]-themed outfit! A witch-like appearance emphasizing her usual mischievous behaviors, while the coloring points to a gentler side, reinforcing the "ally of justice" image! _ Vladina: You generally don''t want to be red or blue if you want to stay alive for the next three episodes though. In magical girl shows, pink has the highest survival rate. Mostly because they were protagonists¡­ But why are you here?! Get back to your guild hall you damn lolicon!!! You don''t even work here! The forced exhibition continues for hours. Most [Earth] and [Lightning] outfits were rejected due to bad compatibility with my appearance. My current equipment is brown and it works just fine though¡­ I come out with the next one and do a full circle spin. It reduces the number of requests to turn left and right from the audience so I have been doing it routinely to save time. Yet it still hasn''t ended! Just how many costumes are there?! _ Everyone: ¡­ Eh? What''s with this silence? I didn''t put on something weird without knowing right? I turn to the mirror to see what kind of fashion monstrosity I am wearing. The upper garment is a frilly gothic-styled shirt, with double ribbons at the collar and all that. It has no sleeves, but the tight gloves are long enough to cover my entire arms as compensation. I think it was meant to be a one-piece dress, then someone came up with the idea to cut it diagonally. Now the left side only reaches my waist, while the right goes to my thigh. Green stylized branch textures run parallel to the frills. They stand out on the black background color of the dress, but not excessive to the point of becoming one of the main colors. There''s one line of similar drawing on each glove too. The consistency is appreciated. I did not notice when I put the hairpins on, but it has a thin veil covering my face, connecting from one to the other. The game removes all head equipment from wearer''s vision by default to avoid obstructing views in full helmets, so I could not see the veil without looking at a mirror. It''s a bit disorienting to see it only in my reflections though¡­ As for the piece below my belly¡­ It''s pumpkin pants. I wish I was kidding, but it''s pumpkin pants. Frilly pumpkin pants, just to add salt to injury. Because it''s dyed black, I am having a mixed impression of being childish and mature at the same time. Not embarrassing as a short skirt, but it''s still going to raise eyebrows here and there. The socks are thigh-high, as traditions dictate. Establishing absolute territory to assert dominance over the enemies! All in all, this outfit has really good coverage. Only my shoulders, armpits, absolute territory and a small part between the short left hem and my pants are exposed, yet for some reason I feel like I have quite a number of vulnerabilities wearing it. Fashion, scary~ Crap, I completely forgot about the whole world watching me as I swirl around to check out the costume at various angles! _ Melodyn: Hmm~ If I have to complain¡­ Doesn''t it fit a bit TOO well? _ Choruse: Let''s reject it. One-sided competition is not interesting to viewers. Now you are just spouting whatever you want! Besides, since when did you guys become the ones to decide my outfit again?! _ Vladina: Who was the designer? I would like to meet them, for research purpose. And why are you still here?! Go grind levels or something! _ Melodyn: Uhm~ This is a late entry, made by leader, Elri, and as collab work. _ Fensen: Us here~ When did you come back?! Weren''t you supposed to be burning in lava?! _ Hessy: Right, since the three were informed late, we submitted it after the show started. How did you give it to me after it started without me realizing?! Actually, I think I''m fine with not knowing! Elri, say something! You looking away in silence just makes this more awkward! Sigh¡­ what am I doing here again? ____________ The cafeteria is in a slump today. _ Spearman: Why¡­ WHY ARE YOU MANNING THE COUNTER?! _ Swordman: Can I barf now? Because the crew are busy with a task of utmost important, they asked a third party to tend the shop in their absence. _ Olkan: Do it outside. The waitresses will complain if I make this place dirty, and I don''t want nonconsensual insults. After all, the patrons are here to see cute waitresses, not a degenerate on a throne and his snaky henchmen. _ Tippe: How about both? _ Maximus: That''s the part bothering you? Despite the perverts'' agony, it was a peaceful day as well. --- Topic: Armor stats --- ## Shining Knight Hello, I just started today, so please bear with me. (>_<) I''m confused about the armor system in this game. What prevents a mage from using heavy armors and be as good as tanks in melee? ## ## Manly Warrior Welcome! I''m a sword main. Armors can be deceiving because the appearance does not affect stats. There are things to keep in mind: - There''s no armor category. What matters is their stats. - Each armor piece adding to defense is a piece not adding to your speed or HP/MP. - Skills are multipliers. They are what differentiate builds the most. - A bit meta, but big bulky armors have a big hitbox, which may not be desirable for squishy builds. TL;DR: Wear whatever you want. ## ## Newbie Charisma build I qualify as a summoner main, but I do wear defense-heavy armors to take heat of my pets. The hard part is grinding the relevant skills. A pure nuke build can wear the same gear, but they won''t be as good in taking a beating from a boss because their time is spent training nuke skills. Also welcome, hope you''ll enjoy the game. Just don''t pick a fight with anyone having a sprout on her head. ^_^; ## ## Shining Knight Thank you! As I understand it, bikini armor can be a thing? ## ## Curious big boobs elf It is a thing. Some players do dress like that in plain view. ## ------ --- Topic: Illusive Sprout General Topic #3 --- ## Teabag Master Our glorious owner, Illusive Sprout, is having her debut today. Due to recent events she''s dropping brute physical attacks and switching to elegant magic. Fingers crossed we survive to the next patch. (._.) ## ## Fire mage of Justice Crap, she''s still evolving! (£­??) Please hurry up, seeing Olkan at the counter is bad for my mental health! ## ## GoldBar9999 I heard that! ## ## CuteIsJustice As payment for access to the fashion show gallery held behind the doors, I have to sort the whole thing out and post here. £Ü(~o~)£¯ The cafeteria crew were designing Illusive Sprout''s new outfit for her debut. Since there were over 200 entries, I''ll only post the highest rating (by the judges) ones: - Fire: [Pics] - Water: [Pics] - Earth: [Pics] - Lightning: [Pics] - Wind: [Pics] - Nature: [Pics] - Winner: [Pic] You can find the rest of the gallery here: [Link] ## ## Mage of Sin Cute! Burn that winning outfit image into your mind, to run away real fast when you see her in-game! (*¡ã?¡ã)=3 Welcome to the magic side Illusive Sprout. We have candies! ## ## Maximus Archery More like a massive waste of coins. ## ## Heaven Piercer Aaaaaand that''s why you''ll never get a girlfriend. (^_^;) She''s changed appearance, so maybe it''s time for another poll? ## ------ Chapter 38: Late night date [Error: Unable to establish connection to server.] Eh? For some reason I cannot login. The net can be accessed just fine so it''s the game''s problem, not mine. Considering how the world''s infrastructure has improved greatly in the last few years, it''s rare to have disconnections anyway. Checking the game''s website, there''s a notice for an unscheduled maintenance. It started this morning and is planned to last a full day. Did something happen to the company? CSF was advertised to have no-maintenance updates, which means it unlikely to be new contents. And today is weekend, one of the worst days for games to close. Any sane businessman would never allow it except for emergencies. Sateri didn''t turn into a killer AI hell-bent on destroying civilization, right¡­? More importantly¡­ My date with Elri, completely sabotaged~ I know it couldn''t be helped, but this really put me in a bind as I have no way to contact her in real life¡­ Un, let''s ask everyone if they use any online messenger later. For now though, I''ll just sleep, like a normal person at night. ____________ Okay, Shadyna the innocent maiden has finally logged on for her first date~! ¡­Almost a day late, and this was NOT because of me putting on makeup. Well, that''s what you have to suffer to date cute girls~ (no, it''s not). _ Elri: Why are you already so smug right off the bat¡­ _ Shadyna: Because it''s a date~ I even dressed up for this occasion too! _ Elri: That is supposed to be your main costumes from now on! I am wearing the winner outfit from the other day''s show. Ignoring the democratic election process that gave it the "winner" title, it is undeniably the one I like the most. It''s normal to wear your cutest outfit on this special day after all! ¡­Although, if I was a protagonist in a romance plot and see my partner wearing black on our date, I would have to double check whether I am involved with a psychopath who love me dead in addition to loving me to death. The veil is not helping either. Welp. _ Shadyna: I will make a similar set for daily use. This one is for ceremony purpose only~ After all, the outfits were not made with boss-grade materials, not to mention the need to remake my equipment once in a while to keep up with the meta. I would rather keep the original, since everyone worked hard for it, and have an up-to-date set that will be used and scrapped on a daily basis. _ Elri: Keep the technicalities to pacifism! _ Shadyna: Aw, Elri is no fun. This is our date, so at least try to be a bit more cheerful~ _ Hessy: I don''t want to be that person but¡­ with the amount of people you are having, isn''t it a mixer rather than date? At least call it a party! _ Mera: And is the usual suspicious person handing out illegal drugs~ I''m not even a participant?! And what the hell do you mean, "usual"?! What have you been doing in real life, you crazy sadist!!! _ Hessy: Not everyone has logged in yet, so enjoy your date until then. Just don''t go off too far. _ Shadyna: Alright~! Elri, let us go shopping! We are not going back without a full arsenal for the war! _ Elri: Shouldn''t it be clothing normally¡­? And I don''t even want to know which war you are talking about. Oh right, I have not told anyone about my "deal" with Sateri. Then again I have no idea what it entails. There''s nothing we can do except for grinding as usual. _ Mera: Hessy~ here''s the shopping list. _ Hessy: Why are you giving it to me? and are the one going shopping. _ Mera: Be~cause~ two cute girls on the street will be hit on. We need someone to clean up the criminals'' corpses. Aren''t you implying something really scary about Elri there?! _ Hessy: That includes you too, . Mind reading is a violation of privacy! ¡­ And so¡­ Double date that is! Double, as in I am being accompanied by two blond beauties. Since we are in the market, the bulk of is going to have a feast for their eyes as these ladies with great¡­ assets walk around. The degenerates don''t seem as happy when they spot me standing between my partners. That''s right, I deliberately appeared late to crush their hopes and dreams, evil laughing~ I just wanted to make fun of them a little bit, but now they are glaring daggers at me! What the hell guys? These ladies are with me on their own accord! _ Elri: Uhm¡­ _ Hessy: Don''t mind them. It''s they are looking at. _ Elri: Uh, they are the boobs-obsessed maniacs. Wouldn''t they¡­ _ Hessy: Don''t. Mind. I sure don''t mind them either~ _ Shadyna: Oh~, there''s [Snow]! I didn''t know it was a thing! _ Elri: Well duh, the mountain range where it spawns is a new zone. brought back a wagon worth, no need to spend here. Somehow I am not surprised. She''s an energetic child after all. _ Hessy: Containers made with them extend food''s expiration time, while food made with them¡­ expires way too fast. Maybe I should make some meals with lava to see if it doesn''t cool off and has longer expiration¡­? [Shadyna''s chilli sauce], your tongue will literally melt from the taste~, or something along those lines. _ Elri: Since we are here, why don''t we look for a weapon can wield? _ Hessy: Huh¡­? Oh, you still use that knife. Is it made from [Artifact] materials? _ Shadyna: No, I just never had to use weapon¡­ _ Hessy: ¡­Right, you are categorized as artillery. How mean~ _ ???: Leader, doing this and that behind the first wife''s back is not cool. Enemy attack?! _ Elri: HIYA!? A wild hammer-wielding waitress has popped up from behind! Also, that''s some quality scream you have there Elri~ *BONK* And Hessy''s fist descends in retaliation just as sudden as the ambush! _ Miel: Ow¡­ Domestic violence is illegal. _ Hessy: Self-defense is not, you idiot! How many times do I have to drill into your head that jump scare is NOT a proper greeting!? That monotone "ow" is not proper either, ju~st saying. Mister merchant, I don''t mind you listening, but what is that "10/10" board for¡­? _ Shadyna: Hiyo, ~ _ Miel: Good day, everyone. _ Elri: What''s the point of saying "Good day" after giving us a heart attack?! Why are you here anyway? _ Miel: I was on an errand when I saw you chea¡­ went out, so I tagged along¡­ from a distance, silently. Yes, officer, this stalker right here! _ Elri: Shouldn''t have asked¡­ It can''t be helped¡­ Triple date it is! Background merchants, feel free to ramp up your jealousy! ¡­ _ Miel: The balance is off. _ Elri: Did we expect anything else? Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. This is just a smaller reality show held the other day, but for weapons!!! Miss blacksmith, your "I know how you feel" face is not helping! _ Hessy: Battle axes are out then. ''s too picky. Why is it my fault? You all forced me to wield this bulky axe in the first place! _ Miel: That is admittedly too big for her right now. Let''s switch to this one. Long and hard it is. _ Elri: Call it a staff like a normal person would do! Wouldn''t a spear be better though? This is going to take a while isn''t it¡­ While they are lost in their own world, I open up my character menu. Might as well deal with this now¡­ [Profession change available] Un, it''s that time of the progression again. After getting to level 15 thanks to the battle in the arid area, I received that message. Knowing what awaits, I have been putting it off. It''s inevitable, but hey, the longer I can run away from it the better, right~? Now, Sateri, what do you have in store? [Available profession: - Apprentice farmer - Apprentice miner - Apprentice butcher ¡­ ] Hello there, misleading "Apprentice" professions~ The list which was already long back then is longer than ever. At this rate I might spend a whole day just reading the list in late game¡­ I''ll worry about it when it becomes an issue. Procrastination is at its best today as well~ The not-so-normal professions are multiplying in number too huh¡­ - Apprentice hero - Apprentice terminator - Apprentice zero - Heretic wretch - Illusive Sprout - Maiden of Purity - Black Mantis - Particle lolider - NTRampage - ??? The forum''s nicknames do not get an upgrade, surprisingly. I was worried that they would become something like "Illusive Seedling" or "Blackhole generator". Luckily, that wasn''t the case. ¡­Since when did my standards drop so low, I actually thought [Particle lolider] wasn''t that bad? Brainwash? Is Sateri brainwashing me?! [Heretic wretch] and [Maiden of Purity] are most likely from my titles, [Goddess Corrupter] and [Purity of Innocence]. While I don''t particularly dislike them, I would rather not have these displayed whenever players use [Inspect] on me. Explaining either of them will be a royal pain in my cute butt. "Hey, why are you calling yourself a maiden?" - Like hell I can answer that question, you imaginary weirdo!!! In other news, where did [Black Mantis] come from? Mantises are stealthy predators so¡­ it''s from the titles giving sneak bonuses? But it doesn''t explain the "Black" part. There''s no species called black mantis, right? Mysterious, mysterious~ Okay, who the heck thought of the [NTRampage]? [Particle lolider] is one thing, but this one is borderline adult content! Weirdoes in the forum, are you trying to up the game''s minimum age to play?! If I find out who suggested this one, I am going to blast them to dust, repeatedly, until this jerk makes up for half of the game''s respawn rate! As for the last one¡­ Seriously? [???]? What is this supposed to mean?! Is this some hidden profession that is only revealed when I select it, or is it literally [???]?! Tempted as I am to get [???] out of sheer curiosity, I am not sure whether [Absolute Zero] will get removed on me doing so¡­ Unlike pacifist uh¡­ workarounds, I am the only player with this title. I can''t risk losing it for something that doesn''t have any known effect. Heck, the player base still has no idea what professions are for! [A random profession will be chosen. Continue?] [Y/N] Ah, by the way, in the rare chance that I actually get [NTRampage], I am going to change to another profession, forcefully. How? By leveling up to the next profession change level (25, I think?). Because going to a hunting zone is a pain, I am inclined to use other players as target to perform various "activities" to gain experience. On that note, the town sure has a lot of people, doesn''t it~? Just a friendly reminder to Sateri''s RNG, really~ [Profession changed to ] Un, thank you for your cooperation. Saying that, is your RNG truly random, Sateri? This is the second time it picked a suspiciously conspicuous profession as if to troll me. Hmm¡­ Closing the menu, I find a wild right in the face! _ Miel: Boo. ARE YOU TRYING TO SEND ME TO ANOTHER WORLD?! _ Hessy: Cut that out. Do you have a death wish or something? Sighing like a mother watching her older child playing prank on the younger cute little sibling, Hessy grabs by the back of her collar and pulls her away from me. Shouldn''t she be more worried about mental wellbeing of the poor bullied sister first¡­? _ Shadyna: , I might fight back by instinct so please don''t do that again! _ Miel: Don''t worry, I made sure no one was in your reach beforehand. How about not doing it in the first place? Enjoying the suffering of others is Mera''s job, not yours! _ Elri: Everyone''s logged in. Let us go back to the tavern. And Elri is the eldest sister who just ignores the quarrel and watches tearjerker drama on TV¡­ Where did the usual kind elf go~? _ Elri: I will die from blood pressure if I have to mind everything around you, . Sad face~ Because walking is for the weak, we use [Recall] tablets to return, along with the wagon. Wait, wagon? Where did it come from?! ____________ In a player-built encampment on a certain snowy mountain¡­ _ Player: Over there is our command tent. Because everyone uses it to [Recall], please do not blast it like the other day. _ Fensen: Got it! _ Poltea: We will keep it in mind, Mister Corpse. _ Corpse player: I''m telling you, I''m not dead at the moment so drop that name already! It was not his fault that he was dropped in front of these girls back then. Nevertheless, "Mister Corpse" is now his (un)official new name in their minds. The other players accompanying him just shrugged and went on. They have better things to do than dying to these little destroyers'' shenanigans. _ Rogue: Who told you about this place by the way? _ Fensen: We were walking around to hunt then saw the big gate! _ Corpse player: *Mumbling* Again. Having witnessed what and could do, the guard party just unanimously opened the gate as they asked to have a tour, and assigned Mister Corpse here to guide them. members are excellent players who can quickly adapt to new situations! _ Poltea: Mister Corpse, what is that over there? She points at the construction site at the peak of the mountain. Many players are using [Construction] to build the scaffoldings and wooden walls around the site at the center. Others are crafting food and potions to fight against the cold damage in this zone. It would be correct to say that the whole camp itself is to support whatever players are constructing there. _ Corpse player: That''s what you came for. The excavation site to the next unique boss. _ Fensen: Oh! Is it a Magnus Bestia like Schennul?! _ Corpse player: Beats me. We just know "something" big is right below us, thanks to [Detect Presence]. _ Poltea: But we just came here to see the camp¡­ Looking at ''s enthusiasm for the boss, ''s retort is silently ignored by the players nearby. _ Fensen: Can I see it? Please~? _ Corpse player: I don''t see why not. It''s not like we could sto¡­ _ Fensen: Thank you~! Weeeeeeee~! The girl with a whole squadron''s worth of cannons has dashed away with her pets before he could finish the sentence. It is a mystery how she can run so fast with such heavy luggage on her, but everyone decides not to question it too much. _ Poltea: Not again¡­ _ Corpse player: You have my sympathy. was about to chase after her reckless friend when the person in question runs back just as fast as she went. _ Fensen: ! I felt a big monster at the peak with [Detect Presence] but there''s nothing at the bottom of the hole everyone''s digging! _ Corpse player: D¨¦j¨¤ vu¡­ _ Rogue: Well duh, if we had reached it we would be fighting instead of digging, don''t you think? _ Fensen: Oh~ I didn''t think of that! _ Poltea: Don''t be so proud of it! _ Corpse player: Anyway, it will take a few days most likely. This mountain is really tall after all. ''s face shows clear disappointment as he delivers the bad news. Although it is no fault of his, Mister Corpse still feels sorry for her. Less sorry when he sees the beetles standing behind however. _ Fensen: Ah, can I help with the digging? _ Corpse player: ¡­What? _ Fensen: I want to see the boss! So I will help! _ Corpse player: Uh¡­ that''s not the problem here¡­ This mountain is a big iceberg below the snow, so it''s hard to dig even with [Mining] gear¡­ _ Fensen: Leave it to me! I still have a few dozen barrels left at home, I think. [Recall]! Plopping down a wooden mat, she disappears in a flashing light. Mister Corpse turns to with a concerned look. _ Corpse player: Is she always like that? _ Poltea: ¡­I''m sorry. _ Corpse player: You have it tough too huh. The [Recall] light reappears a minute later on the placed mat, with the cannon girl rushing back to the digging site, both hands holding a big crystalline barrel. Curiosity gets the better of the bystanders, so they begin gathering to see what she has in mind. In that short moment, they forgot who these girls are. _ Poltea: , what are you doing? _ Fensen: Just look. Here. I. Go~! She begins dumping the hot steamy content into the dug hole with a smile on her face. _ Fensen: If you want to quickly melt ice, just bring in the lava! New barrels manifest into her hands as the emptied ones break into particles and go back to her inventory. It is a pool worthy amount of lava the little girl just somehow dragged back from wherever she teleported to. _ Everyone: Oh! _ Poltea: That''s¡­ actually not a bad idea. _ Fensen: Ehehe~ With a thick steam cloud rising up from the bottom of the dig site, they know Sateri-chan''s immersive physics engine has given the OK. _ The poor miner #1: IT BURNS! IT BURNS!!! Why is lava coming from above?! _ The poor miner #2: RUN FOR IT! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! _ The poor miner #1: The only place to run is up! *Agonizing incoherent screaming* _ Everyone: Ah¡­ They had forgotten to evacuate the players working there. _ Fensen: Uh-oh¡­ _ Poltea: ¡­We are really sorry! Because no one noticed that in the first place, they let it slide and consider the whole accident as "acceptable losses for the sake of progress". Not because they have no chance against the criminals, really. ____________ The tavern is quiet, despite the amount of players in there. Most just walk in, get their food, then leave. ''s party sitting at the counter and talking to the "shopkeeper" there is the exception. _ Olkan: Well, this is depressing. _ Maximus: Do you want these idiots to ogle you instead? _ Tippe: Barf. _ Blacksmith: What the hell am I looking at¡­ The blacksmith was confused to see her guildmaster tending the tavern, again. _ Olkan: Yo. _ Blacksmith: Crafting food please. Also, here''s this week''s rent. _ Olkan: Ah, thanks. To pay so early, did you get a generous customer? _ Blacksmith: Uh huh. That little sprout girl, she bought enough weapons for a full guild. Only beginner weapons, but still¡­ _ Olkan: And you are not suspicious at all?! No matter how one looks at it, a single person should never need that many weapons. Especially when she''s a pacifist, capable of crafting better stuff, and worst of all, has a tendency to break the game''s balance. _ Gossiping summoner: Particle lolider is arming an army! War is coming!!! _ Gentleman warrior: After which I will attend my daughter''s wedding, then retire! _ Olkan: C-calm down! Did she tell you what she was going to do with that armory? _ Blacksmith: Nah¡­ Ah, before she left, her feet start emitting a black cloudy glow. Didn''t look like runes, although her party members didn''t say anything about it either. _ Olkan: Isn''t that just because they gave up?! _ Gossiping summoner: She is becoming the last boss! The end is nigh! _ Knight: Does she attack by stepping on others? Asking for a friend. And with that, the tavern is back to life. Or rather, everyone is in panic mode already. _ Ignar: Her glowing ominously is not surprising, but what does she need from beginner weapons? _ Maximus: How would I know what that brat was thinking? Heh, she might just want to swing them for fun. --- Topic: Tips and tricks --- ## Fire mage of Justice With the new changes in meta, we are going to see emerging¡­ in-game life hacks, simply put. Tell us what your secrets to make your life easier! ## ## Mage of Sin Alchemy bombs have cooldown now, but take some time to set up traps and you can get just as many explosions going off as before. Allies being caught up while luring mobs to the traps are optional. _(._.)_ ## ## Deeply Intelligent If you have a hard time dealing with simulated pains, there''s an option to tone it down. Very useful to keep oneself calm when you are being melted and frozen to death at the same time. ## ## Manly Warrior That was¡­ oddly specific. (¡ã_¡ã) ## ------ --- Topic: Illusive Sprout General Topic #3 --- ## CuteIsJustice There''s a rumor that Illusive Sprout is developing a foot fetish. I got this pic from an anonymous source as proof (Please don''t kill me, oh great sprout) <(_ _)> [Pic] ## ## Bountiful Hunter She also changed profession to Black Mantis, the voted name for the winner outfit in her fashion show. The meta is leaking to Sateri-chan again! ## ## Silver Merchant The NTRampage one didn''t appear for her as an available profession right? Right? ## ## Newbie Charisma build Why don''t you ask her directly? I''ll dig a grave for you in advance, just in case. (^^)/~ ## ------ Chapter 39: Skys end Professor Shadyna is going to her first academic lecture! Today''s topic will be¡­ How to reach terminal speed in virtual reality! Please do not try this at home, or anywhere in real life, even though getting scolded will be the last thing you have to worry about afterwards! _ Hessy: Even with ''s crafting, the skill scroll''s condition doesn''t change. Is it because the other conditions do not exist, or this is the easiest one already¡­ _ Mera: Hum~? Did Hessy just ask to get rough treatment? I suppose role reversal is fine once in a while, ju~st to keep the relationship fresh~ *WHACK* _ Mera: Kya~ These two are not even trying to hide the domestic violence anymore. That''s bad influence for the cute little child that is me you know? _ Nerin: It''s not easy in the first place. "Exceeding a speed limit" sounds simple enough, until we learned that even the speed demons in the pizza restaurant failed to unlock it. After handing out [Accelerate Bonus] skill scrolls like candies to everyone working in the cafeteria, they all received that vague condition. Then, everyone started running like they were late for school and going to send an imaginary speeding truck at the corner to another world, yet no one managed to unlock the skill. Because a truck has no chance to dent the armors I crafted for these ladies. Commence evil laugh~ _ Su: It wouldn''t be an S-rank skill if everyone and their summoned beast could acquire it easily, would it? Un, this is getting a bit crowded. Not just the waitress corps, but everyone from all four shops of the cafeteria is here. They were supposed to play in different times of the day, but today is still weekend so everyone logged in at the same time to play together. Happy face~ Fourteen waitresses, three proprietresses, six bartenders and four deli¡­ pizza chefs, to a total of 27 players, and I haven''t met even half of them! Including Elri, and , I will have 30 members when I create the guild huh. That''s considered medium size already. Shouldn''t there be a personnel recruitment episode before I gain access to this amount of girlpower?! Despite the questionable quality in recruits'' personalities, Hessy did a good job as a human resource manager. I am grateful, but she still gets a salary cut because of low job quality~ Back to the topic at hand, I am here to help them acquire the super duper OP skill, mainly by being the party leader. Everyone running around caused a lot of panic in the streets so we will be staying in Elri''s house and only one will attempt it this time. ¡­I have a feeling that the true reason was a lot of collateral damage happening, since my friends here are not known for being sympathetic. _ Hessy: Good luck, . There should not be so many annoying speedbumps this time. Just how many players did you girls crush under your heels during that trial run?! _ Thelia: Leave it to me! Parting with confidence befitting a main heroine who is definitely not going to run into a truck at work, the pink-haired delivery girl runs out of the house. Should I be worrie¡­ _ Thelia: It wasn''t enough. Also, some idiots died after jumping into my way at the corner. Fast! And did those guys deliberately wait at the corner to raise a flag with innocent girls running through the streets?! _ Hessy: ¡­Maybe we should find a higher place to use [Leap] after all? Ah, that''s how she accelerated to top speed so quickly. Unlike me whose top speed just increases after [Leap], others can just use it once to see their maximum speed. _ Mera: How could you deprive those degenerates of their only reason to linger in this cruel world~? At the speed was ramming them, I am pretty sure they won''t last long in this world either way. _ Thelia: Owner, what''s our next step? Even if you ask me, there''s not much I can do to improve further. You are already wearing a full SPD set, in my party, received my food, potions and buffs. If I had anything else, I would have brought it up already. Hmm~ _ Nerin: ¡­If we cannot get to that speed ourselves, maybe can? I am not sure where she is going with this, but dear Nerin is making a very sour face, so she''s not liking whatever idea in her mind at the very least. The fiery-looking Magni covers her mouth with both hands, eyes wide open. _ Magni: Nerin¡­ did you finally awake to your violent instincts¡­? _ Nerin: Do you want me to throw you again?! But yeah, can probably get us to higher speed by throwing. What am I, a catapult?! And , your nodding is NOT helping! _ Thelia: Throwing huh. I don''t really get it but go ahead, owner. Everyone, drop that praying. There''s nothing as safe as being my projectile you know? moves out again, this time with me as support. Here goes nothing~ ¡­One cute screech and a broken town gate later, ¡­ did not get the skill. Welp~ _ Hessy: This is harder than it looks¡­ _ Thelia: Is that all you have to say about what I just went through?! _ Hessy: No, the gate''s broken. _ Thelia: I didn''t mean it literally!!! When we ran hand in hand, my speed got capped to hers, so in the end she hit the gate even slower than while she was running alone. My [Accelerate Power] still ruined the gate''s day no problem though. Guess I don''t need to throw some twenty girls into a gate huh. No gate would be to withstand that, un. ¡­ Because we caused so much damage in Tyrel and I don''t want to waste my time rebuilding the gate again, we move to another zone using my [Recall] network. Now we are back to the Lava Rift area~ _ Thelia: Uh¡­ , can we talk about this? _ Shadyna: Don''t worry, you won''t take collision damage as long as you take my hand~ _ Mera: That was smooth~ I know right~? As for what we are doing¡­ Because it looks like we won''t be able to unlock the skill with normal means, it''s time to do it the abnormal way! _ Shadyna: Up, and¡­ Go~ Grabbing her arms without consent, I throw her over my shoulder like some martial artists. Normally, you would use this move when the opponent is lunging at you. I used my STR to (overly) compensate and just launched her by sheer force. _ Thelia: GYYYYAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaa¡­!!! Her voice fades as she falls off the cliff. I sure hope there isn''t a lava lake where she lands~ Well, since we couldn''t do it ourselves, I employed the help from physics. Namely, gravity. Just like how mankind uses planets to perform gravitational slingshots to accelerate rockets, I used this planet''s gravity to accelerate ! ¡­To the ground, that is. _ Hessy: Whatever reasoning you are thinking of, I am sure it''s wrong. But, but, that was infallible logic! Looking down the cliff, I can''t see anywhere. That means longer time to accelerate before she hits anything solid. _ Thelia: Why¡­ you¡­!!! Why is she behind me?! _ Thelia: At least throw me somewhere not filled with lava you crazy little brat!!! Welp, she landed into lava. Sorry~ If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Her "wet" clothes are glowing orange by the way. 10/10 immersive, would throw her into lava to make her hot (literally) again! Still did not get the skill though. What the heck is with this ridiculous requirement, Sateri?! ¡­ _ Hessy: The Snow Mountain is the only place left¡­ _ Thelia: I refuse! She will roll me down the slope and let me roll into a gigantic snowball until I slam head first into the ground! Crap, is my plan that obvious? _ Nerin: Unlike real life, you have perfect balance on uneven terrains so it won''t work. You will just stop after a few rounds. Not that I was looking to ''s sufferings, but¡­ what a pity~ _ Hessy: , do you have any idea left? We can''t leave the caf¨¦ to forever. Trust me, I want to finish this real quick so I can have a date with all of you here, but Sateri is being jealous and blocking our progress! I think using gravity was the correct idea. There''re not many ways in game to get you past the speed your SPD allows on your own, therefore you need to rely on external forces, of which gravity is the easiest to achieve. But to pull it off, we need a really high place. The cliff has proven to be insufficient for the task, and the mountain is not steep enough for free falling¡­ Tall places¡­ tall places¡­ _ Shadyna: ¡­Ah. _ Elri: Here it comes¡­ Rude~ We use [Recall] to move again, with the boss corpse brought back after she crashed into it and my [Mancannon] title blasted it to smithereens. Isn''t it kind of too lethal for a joke title¡­? ¡­ _ Hessy (Party): This is¡­ _ Shadyna (Party): The weird pillar between the Sand Circles and the grove! It is the tallest place I know of. Height, check. No slope, check. Clear surroundings, double check. The only reason why it didn''t occur to me sooner was because it is a landmark rather than a zone. Tunnel vision is a formidable opponent indeed! _ Hessy (Party): I know where we are, thank you very much. The problem is¡­ why are you in Tyrel? Because I used [Teleport] to move before Mera''s [Mass Recall], but she probably wasn''t asking for that. _ Shadyna (Party): Hessy, even if I could climb it the normal way, it would take too long. In the first place, the pillar is completely vertical. There is no slope to walk on, and no conveniently placed holes or bumps to grab like walls in those platform games. I don''t think players were meant to climb it by design. (Un)fortunately, the design did not take my [Unstopping Hero] into consideration. It was built before my arrival after all. My acceleration rate is dependent on my current SPD. The longer I run without slowing down, the faster my SPD grows. Given enough time and space, I can overcome any opposite force Sateri throws at me, including but not limited to gravity. _ Shadyna (Party): So I will run up first, then create some buildings for you to [Recall]! _ Hessy (Party): ¡­Oh. Everyone clear the area, NOW! She is not treating me as a natural disaster right? Right? Oh well¡­ Full speed ahead!!! ____________ The crew watch the map in horror as ''s signal rapidly moves from Tyrel towards them. A normal zone in this game can take a full hour to traverse in a straight line, yet that little terror went past the plains outside Tyrel and the Sand Circles in less than five minutes. And she was taking a detour around it instead of going through it, most likely to avoid traffic accidents involving players. _ Hessenria: That girl is going to get nerfed, again. _ Fuelri: Think she broke the sound barrier yet? _ Hessenria: If she has not, she will soon anyway. She is a ballistic missile already! _ Fuelri: ¡­Missiles are at least predictable. _ Shadyna (Party): Coming in hot~ From the horizon, she appears. A bullet in human form flies by the players at a speed ridiculous both in game and real life. They had made distance in advance, yet the air blast still reaches them, ruffling their hair and skirts violently. Because their uniforms do not have short skirt, no shot was made in the progress, thankfully. _ Shadyna: [Leap], full power~!!! The little girl, calling out her skill with her trademark smug grin, lifts off the ground. Even though others only caught a glimpse of her very briefly, they can all agree on one thing: This girl genuinely loves speed. *WHAM* For a moment, they thought the earth was shaking from the impact of the collision between and that sky-high tower. However, that was just a shockwave by said impact. Earth is safe, but it is not reassuring one bit for the observers regardless. _ Shadyna: Wooooo~ Eh? Having "landed" onto the vertical walls of the giant pillar, the little sprout girl finds herself bouncing back into the air like a rubber ball. _ Shadyna: I SCREWED UP!!! And just like a ball, she drops to the ground. *BOOM* Creating an explosion, she then bounces back into the air. The "drop, explode, bounce" sequence repeats several times before the girl finally comes to a halt, face into the ground. _ Fuelri: ¡­Huh, so she''s a cannonball when thrown. The atmosphere was awkwardly silent, so has to break the ice before it becomes unbearable. _ Shadyna: That''s just mean, Elri~! ____________ Seriously, it was scary! There was a big hole in my plan to run up this tower: There is no slope to convert my horizontal speed to vertical. When I slammed into it, I got thrown back to the opposite direction, similarly to light being reflected by a mirror. Uuu¡­ that was humiliating. Sateri, this immersion is overkill already! _ Hessy: I suppose this one is no good then? Shouldn''t you worry about my health first? Hey Hessy, why do you have that "I''ll lose if I think too much" expression~? _ Shadyna: No, I know what went wrong. Please let me try it one more time. _ Hessy: *Sighs* You can be really stubborn sometimes you know that? That''s what makes a hero though~ Being stubborn in getting laid¡­ I mean, rescuing the princess is the most typical characteristic of those degenerate psychopaths~ ¡­ Okay, take two, and¡­ action~ _ Shadyna: Weeeeeeee~ To prevent the bounce, I made a big slope with handrails on the side to ease the transition from horizontal to vertical movement. I run up the slope without problem. There was a drop in acceleration but I am not slowing down. Un, goodbye, gravity. You are now just a guideline. It seems as long as I "run" normally, I won''t get the reaction force pushing me away from the surface. It''s a good break from immersion, but my massive handrail I crafted as countermeasure is wasted now¡­ _ Elri (Party): Going alright up there? _ Shadyna (Party): Un! An all right angle, I would say! _ Elri (Party): *Sighs* Don''t become a satellite. _ Shadyna (Party): I won''t~ I don''t have the horizontal speed for that. _ Elri (Party): Why is it a technical reason¡­ She minds the little details too much~ ¡­ Even with my speed, "climbing" this tower still takes quite some time huh. I just went past the clouds, yet the top is still nowhere in sight. ¡­Crap, I am feeling pain. Didn''t expect to have environmental damage here. Are the clouds the boundary? I am pretty sure I was not taking damage until I ran through them. While I will be fine for a long time, I do not know how others will fare in this place. Let''s not risk it, un. Making a U-turn, I descend back into the fluffy clouds. There''s no damage, as expected, so I place a wooden board on the wall. Job finished~ [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Void Explorer"] Oh, nice~ Is Sateri watching me, or did she actually plan that someone might climb this high? Both explanations are scary in their own ways¡­ _ Shadyna: Sateri, are you okay? With the maintenance and all that. I have to say, it is hard to run vertically while talking at the same time! [There is no problem so far, thank you for your concern. Did you do this just to talk to me?] What the heck? She really replied, in a system message! And "so far"? Is that a flag she just raised? Weirdoes in the forum, why did you not teach Sateri of those dangerous remarks and their consequences?! _ Shadyna: Good for you then~ I am on an errand so I''ll talk to you later~ [Please do not.] Aw~ Jealousy? Is she jealous because I didn''t come here just to talk to her~? ¡­ _ Shadyna: I''m back~ _ Elri: KYA! Where did you come from?! _ Shadyna: I used [Teleport] because falling will take a lo~ng time! _ Elri: Then choose anywhere EXCEPT my back!!! I could not see the surface when I used the skill, how am I supposed to do that¡­ _ Shadyna: Mera, could you [Mass Recall] everyone to these coordinates? There''s no one else here, and it''s much faster than jumping one by one so let''s just wrap this up quickly. I hope. _ Mera: Okay~ Everyone, we, as long last, will be united with the Goddess once more~! [Mass Recall]! ¡­She doesn''t know about my short conversation with Sateri right? Because and Elri have [Accelerate Bonus], they are sitting here with me. _ Thelia (Party): GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! That was fast¡­ _ Elri: Why is she screaming? _ Shadyna: Probably because the board I put up there does not support anything? They would freefall on the spot, I think. My mentor is looking at me as if I was a monster! I was doing my best to run for my dear life, you can''t expect me to carefully orient the damn thing as I passed by! _ Hessy (Party): Just how high did you go, ?! _ Shadyna (Party): Sorry, I didn''t bring a ruler to measure~ I think it is at least a few kilometers? The environmental damage was not helping my focus either. _ Elri: Are they¡­ going to be alright? _ Shadyna: It''s fine~ I made [Recall] items for them to use before hitting the ground! See? I pull out a dozen green orbs for her. We won''t be doing this again so no point in making reusable tablets. Saves materials too. _ Elri: ¡­Why do you still have them? _ Shadyna: Eh? _ Elri: Eh? ¡­Did I screw up again? _ Mera (Party): Please protect our child, Hessy~ _ Hessy (Party): THE HECK?! _ Nerin (Party): I don''t have a child with you, but you can have my bow. _ Miel (Party): And my hammer. You are not even with them, ! *WHAM* It''s raining girls, Sateri! Literally raining girls. Does this count as "Girl falling from the sky (a lot of them)" clich¨¦¡­? _ Shadyna: Welp. Nothing to see folks, let''s go home~ _ Hessy: Sha.dy.na! The scary waitress grabbed me as I turned around to run! _ Elri: How did you survive?! _ Hessy: Mera''s [Devotion] and a [Leap] upwards to reduce damage. Crazy as Mera is, she doesn''t screw around when it comes to doing her support role huh¡­ Now I''m the one in a pinch. Will a reincarnator somewhere pop out to save my cute butt please~? _ Miel: If we are going to spank her, I have an idea. You are not even a victim. Why are you helping them murder me?! _ Hessy: Do say. Elri, if you could help res everyone. _ Elri: Uh¡­ sure. _ Dead Thelia: By the way, we unlocked it. Nice~ _ Miel: My errand was bringing [Alpha Strike Bonus] scrolls crafted by and . It most likely involves us hitting something¡­ or someone, at the same time. ¡­I will seriously die! That skill is no joke when it comes to damage output!!! _ Hessy: ¡­Let''s do it. SOMEONE SAVE ME!!! It was a horrifying experience, but [Impervious Soul] miraculously activated so I survived. _ Elri: Why is that skill even a thing?! Don''t ask me~ [Warning: An has appeared. Caution is advised.] --- Topic: Cute girls appreciation thread #59 --- ## CuteIsJustice This is supposed to be in Illusive Sprout''s thread but¡­ [Pic] That is a massive amount of cuteness condensed in one area! All major cooks of the game, together with the little sprout girl! (*¡ã?¡ã)=3 ## ## Deeply Intelligent You forgot the part where they suddenly ran and crushed us to death. ## ## Heaven Piercer That is the best part. ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã) ## ## Deeply Intelligent They are turning players into weapons now? Saw these maids earlier. Anyone know who they are? [Pic] ## ## Flame knight of Darkness Haven''t seen them here before. Probably new players. You probably were kidding, but they did use Illusive Sprout as an unguided bomb today. Go to her thread to see the aftermath. Spoiler: She''s worth at least multiple bombs. ## ## Newbie Charisma build ¡­Why? (£­??) ## ------ --- Topic: North gate locked? --- ## StoneHoarder As title. Northern gate of Tyrel (BB Conglomerate side) is closed, and I had to use ladders to go out. What''s the problem? ## ## Serious Mage Sprout destroyed it by accident and forgot to make it public after rebuilding. (=_=) Probably waiting for her to go back to open it. ## ## GoldBar9999 We tried to destroy it since it wasn''t that expensive. ¡­Could not break it after half an hour of continuous bashing. It''s decided that we should keep it for raids so use the ladders until she returns. (©`_©`)!! ## ## Maximus Archery We are losing to inanimate GATES now?! (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß ## ## Fire mage of Justice Might consider hiring her to redo the outer walls. Will help greatly in raids, just saying. ## ------ Chapter 40: Civil construction Shadyna Construction Ltd. is open for business! Yesterday, I was forced to do an exhibition (again!), but for weapons instead of armors. Also, it was in public, because the degenerate patrons were begging to be scorned and no one in the cafeteria wanted to miss out on the fun that is making this cute me suffer! ¡­I really should find new acquaintances who won''t enjoy bullying me¡­ A~nyway, during the show, PM-ed me, offering gold coins in exchange for my service. Un, even now I still think it was the beginning of a questionable plot, if it weren''t for his known obsession with body fat. Apparently he needed to do some preparations on his side, so he asked me to meet again the day after, which is today. As if he had any chance of pulling me out of the exhibition without getting mauled to death by both the crew and the patrons. ¡­Our customers are not developing a preference for little girls, right? _ Shadyna: Hiyo~, ! _ Olkan: Yo, . Of course, I am not without bodyguards today either. _ Melodyn & Choruse: Good day to you, pig. _ Olkan: I am blessed by your presence! First minute in and I already feel like going on a journey again¡­ Who the hell thought it was a good idea to have these two busty dark elves of all people to accompany me, knowing that I am meeting up with the biggest breast maniac in the player base?! Maybe I should join and . Working with Elri to fight the new Avitus Caelicola sounds more appealing, honestly¡­ Even though I am supposed to look after them. Welp~ Oh well, as long as and don''t have to spend their precious time on the adorable dorks. That''s what they want, right~? _ Choruse: What kind of place are you selling to? We weren''t told anything before departure. Wait, what? _ Olkan: If I was going to sell her, would be here don''t you think? Is he the type that sells his sister as long as he profits from it?! _ Melodyn: That''s why we are here, to make sure has enough blunt weaponries~ How about you do your job and murder my adversaries before I am forced to defend myself?! I am a pacifist you know? A kind, non-violent girl who only wants to live in peace, that''s what I am! Maybe I should just respond with lethal force whenever someone questions my true pacifism. Yes, like that expression you guys are making! _ Olkan: Not saying that I am selling you to this time but¡­ Right, you were trying to the last time. _ Olkan: Mind hitting me with them? Preferably both. Un, degenerate, confirmed. Can I go now? ¡­ _ Olkan: Please start from here. Materials are in the wagons. Because aesthetics is important, please follow this recipe and increase material accordingly. To keep the explanation short: I was asked to build new outer walls for Tyrel. I thought the job was rebuilding the current walls, but it appears that somehow secured more funding in the time between. That''s the CEO of the boobs maniacs for you. _ Olkan: Tyrel is running out of area to build on. We had planned to extend the building areas to support the new players, then a guild war happened, a Magnus Bestia appeared in the forest, Sateri-chan made raids unprofitable, the other Magnus Bestia turned apocalyptic, and finally Sateri-chan nerfed us to the ground. It''s amazing how we haven''t fallen apart! Welp. That was a long list of suffering¡­ And somehow I am involved in most of them?! _ Shadyna: Sorry~ was probably the most affected guild due to how economy-dependent they are. You guys have it rough in a different way huh¡­ _ Olkan: The saving grace is the game gaining a lot more players these days, so the economy is recovering¡­ for now. _ Shadyna: I''ll do my best too! A good economy requires a safe population. When I am done with these walls the player base will be so safe, they will have to ask our cafeteria crew to step on them to be in danger! ¡­Why does that sound pretty much like what those degenerates are doing already? Oh well, let''s bring out the hammer! _ Shadyna: Bam bam~ I will smash you into existence~ As I swing my "weapon" around, walls appear in front of me. The crafting time has increased tremendously due to the nerf patch, so I have time to roleplay as a hardworking construction worker. Immersion is important! _ Olkan: That is scary¡­ _ Shadyna: How rude~ You need a hammer in all construction work, right? _ Olkan: Logically, yes¡­ But what you are wielding is a two-handed war hammer! I have a good look at my weapon to make sure I didn''t grab ''s by mistake. Why do I need to even consider this possibility? Am I going nuts from long exposure to the waitresses? _ Shadyna: No, it is a wooden maul. It''s often used to sma¡­ I mean, drive big stakes in! _ Olkan: You were saying something else there weren''t you?! Little details~ ¡­ The wall itself is simple. It should be something like this: --- [ Cafeteria Construction Wall] - Creator: - Quality: - Type: , , - Enhancement: 15 - Enchantment: - HP: 1300 - CON: 10 --- Maybe not as simple as other walls per se, but that''s how it is tougher. A lot tougher, in fact. The HP and CON add up to the wall''s total HP, which has been a confirmed feature after messing around with putting more MEN into [Recall] tablets for more usages. It is more efficient to put PDF or MDF as defense scales better than HP against many enemies, but I still am unable to make an armor piece with multiple stats, so I chose HP to be balanced in all situations. That, and good synergy with [Cell Revitalization]. Good luck breaking this thing if the total damage per second is not exceeding the regeneration, wall-breaking protagonists! Buildings having naturally high defense to withstand attacks is not helping the demolitionist wannabes. I wonder if I should abu¡­ take advantage of such mechanics for shields and armors. Feel free to sneeze for no reason, . _ Shadyna: [Creation]~! _ Melodyn: [Enchant]~ _ Choruse: [Enhance]! _ Olkan: [Blueprint]! Okay, that one intrigues me. I don''t remember a crafting skill with that name. I have been trying to be professional and ignore it, but the curiosity is killing me! _ Choruse: , just explain the skill to her already. If she accidentally creates a weapon of mass destruction under duress, it will be on you. _ Olkan: Wait, what? Why me?! _ Melodyn: Because she is making the "Is it edible?" face, and she knows e~verything about us already. Right, ? I, for one, was not thinking about eating anything! Also, why are you wrapping your arms around me from behind while using my head as breast support? I mean, it''s nice, but I have a feeling the sprout will get crushed and the degenerates around us are already scheming my demise! Are you deliberately picking a fight with them?! _ Olkan: , how much to switch place? This isn''t the time to show off your "buy everything with enough coins" rotten personality! Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. _ Shadyna: Sorry~, they are not for sale. _ Olkan: Tsk. What do you want to know about anyway? My skills are accessible by everyone. Says the person with [Equipment Manufacturer Origin]¡­ _ Shadyna: Un, what is [Blueprint]? After a second of "Are you for real?" expression, the breast-obsessed merchant turn to the dark elven sisters as if asking what the hell they were doing with my education¡­ Considering I am playing with the most knowledgeable players in the game, only after the lolicons in , it''s indeed weird how I am so uninformed in the current meta, or common knowledge in general! ¡­Am I going to be alright, playing like this? , that "you are fine as you are" head pat is not helping. And get ''s chest off my head before doing so! _ Olkan: Ugh¡­ fine. It''s a skill in [Construction] path. Furniture or building receiving this skill will respawn after destruction, and can be rebuilt directly with repairs from [Enhance]. Its material cost makes me want to cry, but we have no way to rebuild these walls without you, and it will pay off in the long run. _ Shadyna: Oh~ Maybe I should unlock it to use on the firefly nest back in the basement. Even though there''s no chance of it being harmed as long as I leave it there undisturbed, having insurance gives me a peace of mind. And allows me to do "experiments" on it as I wish. Mad scientist laughing~ _ Olkan: How the hell did you not know it though? You should have gotten it once [Construction] reached level 10. Ah, so that''s why was surprised. _ Shadyna: My [Creation] is only 9, so¡­ _ Olkan: ¡­Seriously? _ Shadyna: Seriously~ Isn''t this wrong somehow? Heroes, or humans, or underdogs, are supposed to have weak stats, with strong skills or absurd titles to compensate. I, due to [Absolute Zero] and pacifist playstyle, am crippled in skill levels. My high attributes and easy-to-grind defensive skills make me a good bullet sponge though. What am I, a last boss on hardest difficulty in an RPG?! I can''t even fight back, damn it! Well, this is partly why I agreed to ''s offer. It''s not like I get a chance to do so much crafting to grind [Creation] every day. Hopefully by the end it will level up a few times. _ Olkan: Just what have you been teaching her you gorgeous goddesses?! Not sure if you are complaining or complimenting them there, weirdo. _ Choruse: ¡­Unsolved problems for her to destroy by accident. _ Olkan: Not solve?! What am I, a mathematician last boss?! And you didn''t even teach me any problem!!! Since we are not doing anything dangerous, I have everyone teach me the soon-to-be-unlocked crafting skills. For all paths, there will be two new skills unlocked at level 10. The rule of thumb is one improving the crafting result, and the other changing it in some way. [Reforge] skills, and the rune equivalents, [Decoration], make new equipment with the material equipment''s series. A series transfer skill, simply put. Meanwhile, [Art] and [Stylize] create completely new series depending on materials. I already know these skills from ''s exposition, so no problem here. For [Alchemy], there''s [Purification] to combine same materials into a stronger version, and [Transmutation] changing material into a different type. Maybe I can use [Transmutation] on my fish pile to solve the material crisis after my excavator got nerf¡­ Sinister snickering~ _ Choruse: [Maintenance] makes equipment self-repairs but it won''t fix broken items, and [Overdrive] strengthens equipment''s stats in exchange for lowered durability. I recommend combining them to make a healthy stack of same weapons for maintenance-free usage. I have a feeling those two skills aren''t really related to [Enhance], but I guess [Repair] doesn''t sound as good. Nevertheless, I don''t have enough [Artifact] materials to pull that kind of crazy logistic feat! Totally not because switching equipment mid combat is a pain, un. _ Melodyn: Similarly, [Capacitor] adds more usages to [Enchant]. [Overcharge] reduces charges to one but increases its power a lot. It sure is useful for certain items, isn''t it, ~? _ Olkan: First strike is the most important one after all! Ah, the good old long rod, isn''t it? Does he even use those anymore? Level cap increased so I suppose that thing is outdated now. The next gen will be called "Super long rod", probably. _ Melodyn: That''s why you won''t last long, unlike . _ Olkan: GUH! Welp, next! The skills for [Cooking] are [Reheat] and [Spicing]. As expected from its name, [Reheat] resets the expiration on food and (soon) materials. I am interested in the other one, [Spicing], which randomly changes the food. These random changes include [Alchemy]-like effects and buff values higher than possible in normal [Cooking]. I have never seen it in action in our cafeteria because its benefits are not guaranteed, and no one wants [Heroic Inspiration Course] to be even more expensive than it already is. It has not dropped in price even though Sateri nerfed it to oblivion! It may be the silver lining for [Cooking] though, otherwise I have no need for food apart from keeping my virtual taste buds and belly satisfied. _ Olkan: The remaining skill of [Construction] path is [Engineering]. We use it with weapons to create "furnitures" with offense capability, aka siege engines. Somehow, the mundane [Construction] has such seemingly-limitless potential with this skill?! Completely changing functionalities of items is one of the fastest way to introduce¡­ overlooked unintended usages~ _ Olkan: With enchanted items, it acts as a shortcut, if you can call it that. You know how some active skills require channeling? They are useless for [Enchant], but with [Engineering] that skill is constantly cast. [Engineering], why are you trying to take [Enchant]''s job¡­? Although it is true that channeling skills like [Shared Fate] do badly when enchanted to weapons, as they only work when someone get smacked. _ Shadyna: So it is a type of enchantment? _ Olkan: Not really. You are the one casting it, with your MP. The only difference is having furniture bonus on it all the time. See my throne? A cosmetic furniture-armor hybrid with a skill to keep me afloat all the time. Huh¡­ so hybrid items can be used like that too¡­ _ Shadyna: But doesn''t it consume your MP? _ Olkan: Always. My MP regen exceeds the consumption though. Being an honest merchant who solves problems with diplomacy and money does not require a constant supply of mana in the first place. I am not sure about the honest part, but I''m sure you are at least a bit delusional. _ Olkan: And you''ll be surprised at how few people recognize me when I walk on foot. Oof¡­ that depressed face tells me he knows that by firsthand experience. Too many players want their avatars to look like heroes or protagonists after all. without his seat just does not have any distinguishing features until he encounters a lady with great assets. ¡­Personally, I would rather he stay unrecognized. He''s your typical uncle who loves to tell dirty jokes. Fun to be around, but embarrassing to be seen with! _ Choruse: When she makes that face, that means you are being judged, a lot. _ Olkan: What the hell¡­? Hey, no mind reading! [Skill Leveled up: ] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Improvisation Lv.0"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Modification Lv.0"] Just as planned~ ¡­ _ Olkan: That is about it. Thanks for your hard work. _ Shadyna: Thank you for your patronage~ My wallet is a bit heavier, which is a good thing! Materialism demands tribute as often as possible~ _ Olkan: Hey, are you ladies free? How about we¡­ _ Melodyn & Choruse: No thanks, you pathetic sorry excuse of a human being. _ Olkan: Oof! Thank you for your service! By the way, . _ Shadyna: I''ll have to refuse your candies as well~ _ Olkan: Not that! Today''s work is only a part of our operation to extend the living area. Depending on how the walls hold up in the next raid, we may build new, actual settlements similarly to ''s camp faraway from Tyrel. Can I contact you again to help build the defense again? I will pay you fairly, of course. Oh~ Customer satisfaction opening up new business opportunities! Let''s not forget that everything started with destruction of public property. Maybe I should do that more often? _ Shadyna: Un! I may not do all of them but I''ll try my best! A big part of the game is crafting and (re)building the once destroyed civilization. Tyrel is nice and all, but nothing beats a cozy house in the forest, surrounded by man-eating ominous creatures of darkness going for their lunch! ¡­I''m already worried about the future of ''s expansion plan¡­ Oh well, it''s his problem, right? ____________ On the snowy mountain, a strategic meeting is being held. An elf, two children of mass destruction, and the management of are planning their next attack on the Avitus Caelicola underneath them. _ Fensen: No good~ It is way too strong! _ Elri: Well, the boss room barely has space to stand, let alone evasion. _ Poltea: Uhm¡­ c-can we try digging while another group distract it¡­? _ Manager: We had tried it before you came today. It destroyed all player-built items in the vicinity, so that¡¯s a no-go. _ Torenis: Why the hell are you three here in the first place?! You are not even guild members! Everyone turns to him with a "You are asking this NOW?" face, because that''s exactly what they are thinking. _ Corpse player: I advise against chasing them out, leader. While a significant number of players are nodding in agreement, a guard frantically rushes in. _ Guard: ENEMY ATTACK! And they were streaming as well! _ Torenis: What''s with you and your priorities?! Completely straight, one could say. While the guildmaster is busy being the only sane man, the rest look at the outsider trio with a puzzled look. _ Rogue: Aren''t they¡­ already here? _ Guard: Not these girls, obviously! They are breaking down the walls, so hurry! _ Torenis: Damn it. Lead the way! Guild chat is promptly filled with alerts and call to arms, then players start pouring out of the command tent to reinforce the frontlines with great haste. How they did not respond the same way to and ''s intrusion is a mystery, which definitely does not involve past traumas with these girls. _ Corpse player: Uh¡­ I know this is not related to you all but¡­ wanna help? _ Fensen: Elri, can we help them? _ Poltea: They have been treating us nicely too¡­ Out of fear, the former corpse may add, but decides to keep to himself. _ Elri: *Sighs* Fine, if the attackers win there''s no telling if they will let us roam around. Mister Corpse, tell your friends to open the gate. Let''s not think too much about it, thinks the former corpse as he follows the order from someone not even in the guild. ____________ Outside the walls, a large number of unidentified players are barraging the defense with all kinds of ranged attacks. Among them, a muscular man who looks like he would fit right in with the maniacs in stands out the most, with a red skull flag in his hand. _ Muscular idiot: Listen here, losers of ! Barely after he announces his glorious presence in the midst of chaos, the gate swings open. _ Muscular idiot: Wait, what? Aren''t you supposed to at least wait for me to finish my rousing speech before surrendering?! Both sides stand still, confused by the situation at hand. That includes the players of , not knowing who in their right mind would open the gate during a siege. _ ???: CHARGE!!! The flag-bearing idiot only manages to catch a glimpse of a pitch black salamander crushing every invader in front of the open gate before it comes crashing onto him as well. *CRUNCH* _ Muscular idiot: BLARGH?! The siege ends five minute later. --- Topic: Sustained or burst damage? --- ## Shining Knight As title, should I grind skills with good sustained damage or burst damage? I am a beginner warrior btw. ## ## Nearseeing Sage Sustain for bosses, burst for mass mob grinding. If you are a tank, I recommend focusing on survivability first. Do come to DFC Sages shops if you want to know about the best skills for you at the right price. We offer career consulting service! (^_-)-¡î ## ## OP alchemist Why not both? Rapid alchemy bombs ftw! ## ## Mage of Sin Technically it''s burst damage. Bombs have high damage output because you paid dearly for it. Exploding thrown summoned pets fit that better. It''s scary how I don''t think I need to explain who I am talking about. (?_?;) ## ## Bountiful Hunter She needs to retrieve her "weapon" after launch, so while the method was fast, it was only because she is a jet fighter. It''s still burst damage. ## ------ --- Topic: New alliance announcement --- ## WarlordPwnage We are the Unity of Mankind alliance, a group of multiple pure-races-only guilds who stand together against the half-blooded agents of darkness! Our crusade begins with , which houses several impure monstrosities in their ranks! Follow us as we crush their puny stronghold of evil! [Link] *This is not to advocate for real life racism. We do limit recruitment to pure races for roleplaying purpose. ## ## Manly Warrior The racial war ignited by the Halfblood title is here! (>_<) As stated by OP, please do not involve real life here. ## ## Nearseeing Sage A challenger has appeared? Finally, a worthy opponent who won''t crush us with impunity! ## ## GoldBar9999 When you put it like that, it''s just sad. (;_;) Also, OP, you should have picked any of the big guild EXCEPT for Phoenix Ashes. Their guildmaster is a beast in large-scale battles. ## ## Flame knight of Darkness Aaaaaaaand they are dead. Torenis didn''t even have a chance to show up. Why were those players there? Did Illusive Sprout finally assume control of the big guilds from the shadows? ## ## Manly Warrior Public execution turned into public self-humiliation, again. You guys are not making this a trend on purpose right? ## ## Heaven Piercer Not that I blame them for wanting to be stomped by beauties for everyone to see. (*¡ä¨Œ£à*) ## ------ Chapter 41: Explosive cooking The young chef Shadyna is in the biggest crisis of her life! I have been stabbed! _ Shadyna: W-why¡­? As suddenly as he appeared, the dog-eared man pulled the knife out of my neck. If this was real life it would have required a lot of mosaic to censor. _ Assailant: Nothing personal, kid. Rest in peace. I was careless. To think someone would take advantage of a hole in my usual schedule, when I have no bodyguard¡­ However¡­ _ Shadyna: You just dealt single-digit damage! Use that line after I am actually dead!!! I doubt the attack even got through my defense. It was just the [Ignore Physical Defense] that actually did anything to my HP. By the time I finish the sentence, my HP has been restored completely. Only the little simulated pain of being pricked remains. _ Assailant: A formidable opponent. However, you will soon succumb to the [Poison] in my blade. _ Shadyna: Say that after I am actually inflicted with [Poison]!!! Like other status effects, there are visual effects when our avatars are poisoned. I think it''s a greenish glow with air bubbles? Not that I am well-versed in delivering long and painful deaths through [Poison] per se. _ Assailant: Huh¡­ So long then! Now he''s legging it?! _ ???: Do not bully little girls, damn arrogant delusional child abusing piece of trash! He did not make it to the stairs before receiving an [Elemental Bolt] to the face, which is followed by a full barrage of spells from all elements. Talk about overkill, physically and mentally¡­ As the attacker falls to the ground as lifeless as one could be, the brutal murderers make their appearance. A bunch of little girls with a wide array of fashion senses. Their atmosphere hasn''t changed much at all huh, these perverts. _ Vladina: Little Sprout, isn''t it a bit rude to judge your benefactors like that? Welp~ This gothic girl is sharp as always. _ Shadyna: Hiyo, ~ Thanks for the help. _ Vladina: We will be using this room here. Mind standing still for a bit? Small as we are, I still don''t think we can slip past that baggage of yours. It''s not that the corridor is narrow. It''s the cart filled with crates I am pulling indoors that is too big. I couldn''t help it, okay? Any smaller and I would have needed to create a train! Next time I''ll just use the ground floor¡­ Also, are you girls just going to step on him to get over here like that? Shouldn''t you at least ask him what the heck that assassination attempt was all about? _ Vladina: You can join us too, just saying~ _ Shadyna: I refuse~ A young girl with trademark fluffy hair and pointy ears climbs over the wooden boxes to make herself seen. I only noticed because she''s coughing blood all over the containers! Don''t do manual labor if you risk death doing it! Or is that a new way to invoke [Transmutation]? _ Su: Are you seriously flirting with MY wife while I am around?! Get in the queue, you damn lecherous insatiable lolicon! Who''s your wife?! What queue?! And did you just describe yourself?! _ Vladina: GUH! Thank you very much! You can join us too, honey. _ Su: I have to decline. Money and information are waiting. Materialism is working hard today as well! And yes, I am in the cafeteria, hence the lack of dedicated bodyguards around me. "Dedicated" being the keyword. ¡­I would appreciate it if the teahouse girls pushing the cart back there had come to my rescue though. Then again they probably didn''t understand what we were talking about, with the crates blocking the view. _ Vladina: Aw¡­ Just be careful, ''kay? The new guilds are making their move. Casually leaving scary warnings as if foreshadowing plot twists, the group enter the room to my left. The perverted little girls wink and blow kisses at us as they pass through the door. Su, don''t reinforce that behavior by waving back at them. I know you were one of them, but still¡­ _ Su: Let us continue, . Sure thing, but are we going to just ignore that dead guy who had attacked me for no reason, got revived and is now being dragged downstairs by Mera? ¡­Wait, what? What are you doing, Mera?! And don''t just silently wink and smile at us! Su, cease that "I''m counting on you" thumbs up! That guy is not a usual patron. He''s not going to survive whatever you are going to do to him! ____________ On the arid grassland where tall grass spreads in all directions, a group of players on their mounted beasts are casually marching across the field¡­ _ Fuelri: A change of pace every once in a while is nice, isn''t it? But make sure to maintain formation no matter what. The delivery girls following the young elf don''t seem to share that sentiment however. _ Thelia: Elri, why are we¡­ sightseeing like this? _ Fuelri: We are not sightseeing. This is practice so we can move as one. Even though it''s only a party of five, the girls are forming a proper line together, with being the leader in the middle. The cavalry unit of the cafeteria has become a reality, all thanks to the elf''s suggestion after being introduced to the speed demons who deliver food to the frontlines on a daily basis. _ Thelia: I honestly thought we will be doing something more¡­ extreme, now that we are cavalry¡­ _ Fuelri: The Crater zone has a lot of rough terrain and steep slopes. Do you want us to practice there instead? _ Thelia: I am really sorry for being arrogant! The elven knight has little regards for herself, but is surprisingly considerate of others'' well-being. Until she starts charging, that is. ____________ Hessy, Su, and I are going through the list one last time. Storage, check. Kitchen, check. Cashier counter, check. Cute shopkeepers, many checks! Un, let''s get star¡­ *BLAM* I haven''t said anything though?! Somehow, a suspicious-looking party managed to kick open our door, completely ignoring that the poor thing was open in the first place¡­ Maybe I should make an [Alchemy] door that explodes on damage¡­? As for why I know they are of the same party¡­ Well, given that all five of them are wearing the same maid outfits, the chance of them being strangers to each other is about as high as Sateri dropping a meteor in my face: Infinitesimal. ¡­She''s not going to do that, right? What do a party of maids have against our door? Are they Hessy''s new victi¡­ friends? _ Hessy: Just for the record, I do not know those girls. Then they are acquaintances of , the womanizing older sister of the bartender team¡­? Their uh¡­ physiques don''t seem to be of ''s standards though. They are not drawing weapons as they walk to us, so they are at the very least probably not hostile. These players sure are drawing attention of the degenerates though. Today has been nothing but weirdoes huh. They stop a few steps away from us. The maid in the middle, presumably the leader, walks to Hessy. Uwa, this person is seriously making a smug face. It''s the self-proclaimed rival clich¨¦~ I wonder if Elri is still after Hessy''s behind these days¡­ They usually quarrel but I have not seen her face-first on the floor again after our first meeting¡­ Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. What are they, an old couple? _ Smug Maid: Greetings, . We are the renowned maids from Unity of Mankind alliance! ¡­Who? Not only me, but pretty much everyone has the same puzzled expression. For someone who are supposedly famous, you girls aren''t even recognized by the perverted patrons who are the most informed in this kind of stuff! _ Smug Maid: We opened shop in the southern part of Tyrel, where the old pizza restaurant was. As we will be putting you out of business, you might want to know who we are to surrender to! So, here we are! Oh~ Direct competitors, these people are. We were a monopoly for some time so I completely forgot about other [Cooking] players¡­ Welp. Having these maids now of all time is bad for me though. Couldn''t they choose another day? And remind me where the pizza restaurant was again? Although Elri''s house is also in the area, I never had the chance to visit the place until now¡­ _ Smug Maid: Can you relay a message to your owner? For a second, Hessy glanced at me then turned back to the smug maid. How did she do that with such a straight face?! Background patrons, stop your facepalming. You are ruining Hessy''s attempt to pretend that I am not three steps away from her! _ Hessy: No guarantee, but feel free to say what you must. Well, the harsh waitress is not going to waste her time delivering a message to someone who is listening to the whole thing in real time¡­ _ Smug Maid: Of course! Here goes¡­ "You can forcefully take ''s body with worldly desires, but you cannot take her heart! We will bring our idol back to where she belongs: A world for pure races. Also, can you give me a list of whatever half-blooded unimaginable stuff you did to her? I want her to try those on me." ¡­DEGENERATE!!! This one is a depraved criminal on the loose! What unimaginable stuff are you rambling about?! I haven''t done anything to my friends, except for experimental crafting and extreme skill unlocking, and those have nothing to do with my virtual race! And don''t think I did not notice that last sentence, you crazy maid! Even Hessy, who deals with weirdos for the majority of her work hours, is silently backing away while staring at the depraved maid in pure disgust. _ Depraved Smug Maid: That is all. Dear customers, I am looking forward to your patronage from here on out. We have a discount during our grand opening so please drop by! Doing an elegant curtsy as if the whacky declaration just now was a lie, the maids leave our cafeteria as quickly as they came. ¡­What the heck was that all about, seriously¡­ For some reason, the maid standing on the far right came to me instead. Is this a dangerous person as well? _ Dangerous (?) Maid: My apologies for our leader''s stupidity. Harsh! You are her friend, aren''t you?! She leaves a few candies on the counter then turns around to leave. What is this cute socially awkward personality?! _ Shadyna: W-wait! _ Not Dangerous Maid: Yes? Since she was nice in her own way, especially compared to the other one, I will give her a gift she cannot refuse! _ Shadyna: Will you sample our new products? ____________ Entering the tavern, is surprised to see a ton of players lining up all over the place. It was a pain to navigate through the sea of people to reach the tavern''s counter, where his friends, and , are waiting. _ Maximus: Yo. _ Ignar: Yo, what''s with this crowd? _ Maximus: The brat is at it again. _ Tippe: She''s giving out food, for free! , if you would explain? Ordering the usual meals they eat before a boss hunt, the party listens to the only waitress working at the counter. The rest are helping handling wave after wave of players. To ensure equal competition between the teams, all four of the food shops have their main kitchens on the ground floor. The upper floors are reserved as private rooms for richer customers of the teahouse and bar. Their warehouse is in the basement, and no outsider has set foot in the top floor. There have been rumors of a research on weapons for world destruction, but obviously does not think it was the case. After all, the Illusive Sprout does not need research labs to make such weapons. _ Inerin: Where to start¡­ a few days ago, did something stupid that is helping her unlock [Improvisation] and [Modification], the two skills in [Creation] path. She wanted to grind those skills, but didn''t want to waste the crafted items so she is giving it to anyone who is crazy enough to try, or has the skills she wants¡­ On the counters are several baskets filled with small dumplings around the size of one''s hand. Judging from the signs behind them, each basket is a different flavor. There''s meat, fish, veggies, fruit, and others. What a wide variety of choices, yet they all have the same name¡­ _ Ignar: That''s a lot of crazy people. It appears that they have cleared out the kitchens of the other three shops just to have enough space for the long queues. Not that they have any spare player to work when all hands are on deck. The pizza chefs are nowhere to be seen though. _ Sulien: One [Fishy Dumpluck] per customer only! Please return to the end of the line if you want another one~ _ Maximus: What the hell is that name? It sounds¡­ dubious, think the party in their minds. _ Inerin: All of the materials were fish she caught in the last few days, changed to other types by [Alchemy]''s [Transmutation]. The lower-level ones were strengthened by [Purification]. Everything of those dumplings is fish. is turning blue from remembering the fish menu not long ago. The meals were delicious, but there is a limit on how much fish one can consume before they feel sick just thinking about it. The crowd there probably did not hear the explanation, so they were spared, for now. _ Tippe: Isn''t that enough to grind both skills? Why is she making food as well? _ Inerin: She also wanted to play around with [Spicing], it seems. Because [Spicing] changes food randomly, the best way to learn how all of its effects and limits is, unsurprisingly, using it on food. Many, many times. The two little girls of the teahouse behind are furiously taking notes as hands them newly baked food. is too familiar with that behavior, since is one of those so-called number-crunching maniacs. Those girls are not only listing all the possible effects. They are probably finding the statistics behind those effects as well. That''s what would do if he was involved at least. Which also explains why they won''t make a dumpling and just use [Spicing] over and over again. She will need to do all the note-taking and crafting at the same time, which is exhausting, so she delegated the crunching part to the ones who make a living from it. _ Mage: HERE GOES NOTHING! *Chomps* A mage chows down the food in his hand¡­ and drops dead on the spot. _ Dead mage: YES! I died! _ Warrior: Lucky bastard! Go die! He just did, literally. At another queue, a victim is frantically running back to the end of the line after his turn. Despite the valiant flailing around, he is moving at a snail''s pace. _ Victim (?): Damn it, damn it all! Will someone kill me please?! _ Next-in-line: No way dude. _ Ignar: I''m not sure I want to know but¡­ what''s with them? _ Inerin: [Spicing] is random, but it allows stronger buffs than [Cooking]. When it is NOT giving stronger attribute buffs¡­ It is possible to go negative. Combined with possible HP damage effect¡­ well, those guys happen. The dead guys can respawn to remove the food effect to try again so it is a better outcome than getting "buffed" to uselessness. In other words, it''s a lottery. The winner receives a massive buff, which is undoubtedly powerful because made it. Runner-ups are the ones dying immediately so they can respawn and try again, ironically. Players who received nasty penalties but not dead are at last place, and no one wants to put them out of their misery since the queues are already way too long. They have to wait until it is possible to eat again after 15 minutes, or try to wing it with predictably horrible results. Just as medicines can be poisons, ''s buffs are probably the worst possible debuffs one can get due to her OP attributes¡­ And that is an assessment from the guy with the strongest known debuffs in-game, the owner of the [Night] sword. _ Maximus: Heh, that''s just because those idiots eat the food themselves. If that brat was throwing it like she did to her pet she would lose her [Pacifist] title in no time. Seeing the little sprout girl killing players en masse brings back quite a few unpleasant memories for the kidnapper party, even after she was nerfed on almost all aspects¡­ _ Inerin: Actually¡­ The waitress pulls out a small dumpling with a smile. _ Inerin: She asked me to test this out to see if it would count to her records. Would you like to try? _ Tippe: ¡­Let me get this straight. You are asking us to die. _ Inerin: That is a highly probable consequence. _ Tippe: And in the worst case, will get her full offensive capability back? As it is right now, can''t do much in combat as she can only use other players as weapons. Scary as that sounds, it discourages her from actively picking a fight with others, hence the relatively peaceful period until now. It should be reminded that "relatively" is the keyword. _ Inerin: I am certain you misspelled "best case". _ Maximus: WHO THE HECK WOULD DO THAT?! _ Tippe: GLADLY! can only silently wish the Goddess the best, because she sure as hell will need it against the Illusive Sprout. --- Topic: Operation Sprout Roulette discussion --- ## Fire mage of Justice Due to popular demand, the free food distribution in the cafeteria now has an unofficial name: Operation Sprout Roulette. Please discuss it here from now on. The other threads will be archived eventually. - Location: Tyrel''s one and only cafeteria. Follow the queues if you don''t know where to start. - Description: Illusive Sprout (Shouldn''t we change to Black Mantis by now?) is giving out her handmade food for free. Go grab one if you are feeling lucky, because the name is that for a reason. - Reason: Hell if I know. Will update once someone in the caf¨¦ contact me. EDIT: If you have skill scrolls or skill-granting sets for buffs/debuffs, tell her. She will give you a treat. ## ## Serious Mage The buff is ¡­OP, simply put. [Pic] It''s like pre-nerfed Cooking and Alchemy, but even stronger! ## ## OP alchemist Yup. Don''t be fooled by the appearance. It is a full Cooking, Alchemy and skill buff in one package. If you don''t get maimed horribly by Spicing, you will be able to do a lot with it. Got mine after three attempts. Anyone up for party? ## ## Deeply Intelligent ¡­And Black Mantis is letting us have it for free? Surely she is a kind person who is doing society a favor. (~_~) What''s the catch? ## ## Flame knight of Darkness Inspect does not work on the dumplings for unknown reasons. You have to eat it to find out. (©`©`;) Just a quick list of potential "fun" effects I have seen while waiting in line: - Instant death - Lightning strike, followed by instant death - Combustion, followed by¡­ you get the idea - Poison, followed by a quick death - A knight running at the speed of a car but has no PAT nor MAT - A rogue sleeping on the spot and has to be physically kicked out to make way - No MP mage build - Bulky dude with a hammer getting yeeted to the ceiling Illusive Sprout/Black Mantis does NOT screw around. ## ## Newbie Charisma build You can always try again after 15 minutes, or death. (¨R?¨Q)/ It is dangerous, but all you lose is time and some dignity. She might need to remove the ones with bad effects if she is thinking about selling this though. @OP alchemist: Come to the tavern counter. All "winners" are to form new parties there, to save precious time. ## ## Silver Merchant Someone saw her putting some into a basket behind the counter and demanded to eat those. She agreed on the condition that he eat it outside of town. Result: He exploded, along with the indestructible gate she built the other day. The adjacent walls were also heavily damaged. She WAS removing the ones with bad effects, even if just the worst ones to avoid collateral damage. orz ## ## Heaven Piercer Who could have thought little sisters'' cooking was this dangerous? MY BODY IS READY!!! (*¡ã?¡ã)=3 ## ## Maximus Archery Stop eating, you brainless idiots. You are helping her becoming stronger. Also, reported. Damn lolicon. ## ## Manly Warrior @Maximus Archery: That''s impossible. Look at the number of players gathering at the tavern. On topic, I got debuffed in everything except HP. (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß She is also giving you an additional dumpling per turn if you give her a buff/debuff skill scroll (HP to PAT for example). Go for it if you have some to spare. ## ## StoneHoarder Also guaranteed no ill-effect dumplings for lending armor sets with those skills. Source: Just did, and I feel like I can take on the world! ©c(`§¥¡ä)? It was so chaotic, no one read the signs. Spread the word, everyone! ## ## Deeply Intelligent So her aim was the skills? @Maximus Archery: You are most likely correct, but it''s already too late. RIP. ## ------ Chapter 42: No name above head Shadyna the pacifist is back in killing business! Wait a minute¡­ That doesn''t sound right. A~nyway, my [Fishy Dumpluck] operation was a huge success. I could have sworn our whacky patrons were calling my event as something else though. Let''s not mind it too much, un. I was worried that most players would leave to attend the maids'' shop''s opening, which some did, until the news of my delicious steamed dumplings spreads like wildfire. Those who chased after the maids may or may not have received additional [Spicing] on their dumplings by [Silent Cast], resulting in less than desirable effects. Isn''t that nice, getting special treatment from a cute young girl~? To be honest, I didn''t intend to make such a large scale event. The original plan was slapping [Spicing] on the food until it is good enough (a.k.a "not lethal") for consumption, then giving it to willing patrons as light snacks. That was when my first customer, the awkward but nice maid, pointed out that she couldn''t use [Inspect] to see the effect of the bun. Turns out, even players with level 30 [Inspect] can''t get anything out of my food without being in my party. Finding out that I could get away with it, the snack distribution plan turned into an all-out lottery of doom, during which I indirectly killed soooooo many players, I got a title for it. [Secret Ingredient: The one who found the secret ingredient of cooking: . Allow usage of with as ingredient. Food filled with cannot have beneficial effects.] If my [Mancannon] is a joke title, this [Secret Ingredient] is definitely a clown. Every time a main heroine says clich¨¦ lines similar to that description, it is a fact that the protagonist''s days are numbered. Plot armor will keep him alive, but at that point he might prefer death to the suffering caused by the literally lovely food. ¡­Somehow, that''s quite close to what happened to my sacrif¡­ food tasters. With this title, the crafting menu when I use [Modification] has an ingredient slot called [Love - Infinity/1] which only disappears after I put actual crafting materials into it. Sateri, are you going to be alright, putting so much details into these jokes¡­? When [Love] is used, all food bonuses become negative, no exception. How bad it becomes and its item effects are still random though. For making edible food, it is completely useless. There''s no doubt about it. Who would want to eat something that will bring their attributes to the level of a cute girl who happened to have a total of 0 attribute when she first started out? I personally wouldn''t, but I sure would [Love] to have my enemies eat it, evil laugh~ I thought I finally got the food debuff for skill stacking, but, just like the conversion buffs, it still counts as buffs, including the meals filled with [Love] that have no benefits whatsoever! Sad face~ It was a setback, but I still managed to achieve my main objectives: Power grinding my crafting skills, study of [Spicing]''s effects and unlocking most known buff/debuff skills. Because Sateri may slam me with the nerf hammer again, having mostly no-damage skills but can still make a difference in combat will help greatly. Should weaponizing players become infeasible, I can still make them effectively dead for the rest of the fight. And most importantly, there is a nagging question ever since I learned about conversion buffs¡­ If a buff consumes HP to enhance other stats, does it count towards [Damage dealt] record? ¡­Ufufu¡­ I almost burst out laughing maniacally as I learned the answer. No, no it does not. Not only are conversion buffs not counted to [Damage Dealt], all damage-dealing effects are considered "beneficial" as long as a buff or healing effect exist in the item. Even if the skills granted by [Alchemy] and [Spicing] are world-ending spells, I technically don''t harm anybody if my items also heal 1 HP at the same time. In other words, I can buff others so hard, they will explode like evil overlords activating their artifacts of godly power the wrong way. Great power comes with great lethality for the user, un. But that is for the future. I need a few days to unlock all the skills I got my hands on today. The skills from equipment sets were all acquired, but the ones from skill scrolls weren''t. The upcoming days will make my [Fishing] trips look like vacations! For now though, I will continue crafting. Not for the degenerate patrons, mind you. They have suffered a lot, yet they are still asking for more despite me explicitly explaining to them that I was out of materials already! You guys just burnt through my fish stockpile which I spent the last four days to acquire! At least pretend to show some restraints! ¡­ _ Shadyna: Here you go. Thank you for your help today. _ Not Dangerous Maid: ¡­For me? Last I checked, you are the only person in front of me, so why are you asking that¡­? I am giving her a basket filled with dumplings. There are enough for her party to use for a few days, and I made sure there was no ill effect. Yes, they are all "grand prizes", according to our patrons. "First places" are instant death ones, by the way. What the heck, guys¡­? _ Shadyna: Un! Consider it your paycheck for today. Share with your friends if you wish. Don''t forget to [Reheat] it once a day, okay? I made the basket with [Snow] so it prevents food expiration for a good while. I think they all have [Reheat], because competing with Hessy while having [Cooking] below level 10 is¡­ unwise, to put it mildly. That depraved maid may do it, but I think this person here won''t. _ Not Dangerous Maid: Will my body suffice as payment¡­? Seriously, why are you all trying to do that the moment you have a chance?! _ Su: This one learns fast. Don''t encourage her, you crazy elf! _ Shadyna: You have already paid it with your hard work. Don''t worry about it. She bravely consumed dubious food, then helped us out as if she was part of our crew for hours. If I don''t compensate her properly, my reputation will be ruined~ _ Not Dangerous (?) Maid: Then¡­ I graciously accept. Parting with the maid, I move on to the next dumpling batch. I wonder if the maid party will go on a boss hunt with those buffs¡­ ¡­ And next up is¡­ _ Shadyna: Since you guys don''t have [Reheat], I put in a [Reheat Pack]. You still need to provide materials for the skill itself though. The "pack" is just an enchanted shield with [Reheat] for others to invoke it. The stats is trash, so it''s not a good idea to use it against last bosses, unless said last bosses were asking to heat up leftover food from the day before. _ Tippe: Handmade food from a cute girl¡­ I can die happy now! Even though you have already done it just to get this basket in the first place?! here died not just once, but many times by the experimental "buff bombs" I entrusted to Nerin. There were so many kinds of buffs, and I needed to know which one can be peacefully used¡­ offensively. While none will add to [Damage dealt], I''m sure it did count to ''s suffering. That''s why he gets my treats as compensation~ _ Ignar: By the way, are you going to sell these dumplings in the future? Oh~ Is that a positive feedback I''m hearing? Flattered face~ _ Shadyna: Probably not. Only I can craft these, and the material cost is scary. If I sell it for profit, no sane person will buy it. [Heroic Inspiration Course] is [Cooking] only, and it''s already way too expensive. My [Fishy Dumpluck] needs to be a few times higher in price to make a profit, and it''s only for one person, not a party. I may sell to big guilds though, since they can actually afford it. _ Spearman: Special treatment¡­ So jealous¡­ Un, the degenerates are already eyeing on the poor party! Too bad, but you guys didn''t volunteer like , so please settle with those random instant death dumplings~ With any luck, maybe our more extreme patrons will murder out of spite. Evil laugh echoing~ _ Maximus: This brat is already planning something nasty again!!! _ Shadyna: That''s just your imagination~ Maybe I should have made my crafting armor set with a veil like my main set, to prevent perverts from watching my expression~ Speaking of something nasty, I wonder what happened to the assassin earlier¡­ Hope he got to keep his sanity¡­ ____________ The march of the cafeteria cavalry unit was interrupted by not one, but two annoying groups at roughly the same time. Now they are bickering with each other, while blocking the way in all directions. _ Muscular idiot: We finally found you, traitorous hag! You have one last chance to join the winning side that is the Unity of Mankind! Failure to comply will result in your death! The bunch on the left is composed of the idiots sieging ''s camp the other day. The noisy idiot was standing out like a sore thumb so he left an impression on . Not a good one, but an impression nevertheless. Meanwhile, the other group is a ragtag bunch of misfits, appearance-wise. They are really diverse in races, armors, weapons, everything. The only thing common is the blue feather drawing on their armors. Their leader is probably the haughty cat-eared dude screaming at the muscular one. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. _ Haughty idiot: Scram, blockheads! We, the Blue Blood Federation, will be the ones taking her! She isn''t even a pure-blood you muscle-for-brain! Somehow, her bloodline is already being questioned. As a friend of and somewhat known as a cavalry player in the game, she gets bombarded with [Inspect] all the time, so her [Inspect Resistance] is already negating most non-''s [Inspect] attempts. It was mostly being ''s friend, definitely. _ Thelia (Party): Oh, those guys again¡­ _ Fuelri (Party): You know them? Roaming the board every now and then keeps her informed of the current meta, including the rise of these two new alliances. The new players are flocking to them to stand against the dominating big four guilds, hence this current amount of road blocks all around the cavalry girls. Somehow, the personalities of the (probably) leaders are just as annoying as ''s when she met him before that fateful raid¡­ _ Thelia (Party): Asked the mixed-race members to join their war against the pure races the other day. We said "Over our dead bodies", so I suppose they are taking it literally. _ Fuelri (Party): Uwa¡­ Now they are after me too, it seems. Although the Unity of Mankind''s participation was her own fault for crashing into them, knows when to exercise her right to remain silent. _ Muscular idiot: Ha! Right back at you, idiots. She''s definitely an elf! _ Haughty idiot: That''s why you will always be an idiot! She''s a half-elf! Why these Blue Blood guys mistook her for a half race is still a question, however. It''s indeed easy to get the race wrong if you only have pointy ears to go by, but that''s the more reason not to assume anything. _ Fuelri: Uh¡­ Who do you think I am, exactly? From the leader''s tone, it seems they are very certain of her race. That, or they are idiots. Probably the latter, but there''s no harm in making sure. _ Haughty idiot: You are the magnificent Illusive Sprout, of course! It was so absurd, the elven knight was rendered speechless for a good five seconds. _ Shadyna (PM): Elri, party please~ _ Fuelri: Hold on¡­ How the hell¡­ _ Haughty idiot: Well, everyone knows about the new player that changed the meta forever. Poor forgot to switch to PM chat, and now she''s suffering as this guy begins his monologue. _ Haughty idiot: The closed beta players had always been ahead of us, until the day a young half-elf dressed in black came. Props to them for having up-to-date color scheme of . ''s armors are also dark purple because of the raid bosses'' materials, so that''s most likely how they got mixed up. The idiot missed the memo about the person he was looking for being a little girl though. _ Haughty idiot: With the summoned pet from hell, she shook the foundation of the player base, destroying everyone in her path¡­ ''s pet, Gelly, is no doubt a walking apocalypse in combat that is responsible for most of the casualties around her. But that greenish blob was simply swimming in a lava pot in the cafeteria for the last week and players are already forgetting its appearance! ''s drake looks scary but is nowhere near the level of firepower of that wriggling blob! _ Haughty idiot: And there''s the escort army that one must defeat before thinking about touching a hair of you¡­ It''s true that the cafeteria crew would never let go out alone. Still, did it not occur to him that maybe it''s not everyone sticking to her like glue all the time? Or better yet, that little girl is staying indoors to give dumplings to strangers?! The dumpling part is hard to guess, that''s for certain, but she will predictably be at home whenever she does her crafting spree. Not that anyone without permission to enter ''s house would know¡­ _ Haughty idiot: So, join us, Illusive Sprout. We promise a bright future ahead for all of us new half-blooded players. If you don''t¡­ You may end up dead like that teahouse''s elf earlier today. _ Muscular idiot: Huh¡­ I thought she was someone else, but you had a point. The young elf has come to a conclusion: Both these idiots are idiots. While it is not known how they can assassinate someone in the crew, the fact that they did only means one thing. _ Fuelri: *Sighs* , what you said please. _ Thelia: Eh¡­ Over our dead bodies, genes fetishists! Because she can read the atmosphere, will let that last part slide. _ Haughty idiot: So you have chosen death¡­ _ Muscular idiot: I wanted to kill her anyway! ATTACK!!! Even though they were throwing insults at each other, the idiots are banding together to do what is pretty much bullying young girls in the middle of nowhere. Too bad no bystander was close enough to call them out. *FLASH* *WHAM* _ ???: KYA! The alliances had barely taken a step forward before they were blinded by something in front of them, followed by a lightning strike at the same location. As the whiteness subsides, everyone finds a little girl covering the sprout on her head with her hands. She looks kind of singed, probably due to being hit by lightning, but still alive and kicking. _ Fuelri (Party): What the heck was that? The cause of this mess, , carelessly dusts off her cooking attire as she speaks. knows it''s the gear for stacking [Creation], but can''t help but wonder if this little girl still wears that white apron while doing [Alchemy] or other non-[Cooking] crafts¡­ _ Shadyna (Party): Un, I was using a [Teleport] orb spiced with lightning effect. It did make the visual effect I wanted but I didn''t expect the pain¡­ _ Fuelri (Party): Why would you hit yourself with lightning just to change the skill''s visual, you idiot?! _ Shadyna (Party): I''m sorry~ Anyway! Here''s your lunch~ The sprout brat proceeds to give everyone in the cavalry unit a lunchbox, while showing off that trademark grin. As usual, this idiot only follows her own pace. _ Shadyna (Party): I haven''t unlocked all the skills so it''s just the normal buffs for now¡­ Because she was in the party, checking the lunchbox''s stats was no problem. --- [Love-free Lunchbox] - Creator: - Quality: - Type: , , - Food: + + 4000 HP + 6200 MP + 90 STR + 52 DEX + 51 CON + 87 LDR + 55 FOC + 75 WIT + 35 MEN + 87 LCK - Alchemy: + + 640 HP + 960 MP + 320 PAT + 13 PSP + 384 PDF + 448 MAT + 13 MSP + 512 MDF + 32 SPD --- Everything else is a problem! _ Fuelri (Party): WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!!! This so-called "normal buff" item is already a few times stronger than the level-capped stuff one can buy in the market, and it''s a hybrid item. While not comparable to the pre-nerfed multipliers, the numbers alone are indicating a double in raw stats. Having spent days to adjust to the new meta, was caught off guard to see this kind of buffs again. It was as if this little girl here was not even nerfed. She was merely held in place for some time! _ Shadyna (Party): I''m glad to see you are happy with it! If I don''t drown in new skills in the following days, I will make new ones with new buffs~ _ Fuelri (Party): It''s going to get even worse?! And use the damn "Hide" option in the skill menu! _ Shadyna (Party): ¡­Eh? That is a thing? , [Black Mantis], destroyer of balance, also known as the newbie who is not aware of half the game''s basic features. Also, her surprised face when she unexpectedly learns new things is amusing to the cafeteria crew. _ Fuelri (Party): I will lose if I comment on that¡­ *Sighs* How did it go? Your plan, I mean. The cavalry unit left early, so they only found out about the general plan as it was under way. _ Shadyna (Party): Un, a weirdo stabbed me for two HP, and some maids declared war on us, but I can pacify people with extreme prejudice now~ She spins around like a carefree young lady playing in a flower field, who she does have the look for, as long as she keeps silent. Meanwhile, the party can only facepalm at the sad assassination attempt of whoever that was. _ Shadyna (Party): But all the crafting really tired me out, so I''m just going to climb the tower for the rest of the day. _ Fuelri (Party): That''s not how to relax at all! Wait, before that, who stabbed you? _ Shadyna (Party): Mera told me he was from something called Blue Blood Fed. The maids were from Unity of Man, or something like that. She can''t even remember the names of her adversaries correctly, but it was still enough for everyone in the party to glare at the idiots politely standing behind her. Because talking is a free action, the surrounding players decided to refrain from interrupting. Definitely not because they don''t know what to make of the weirdo that just appeared and began handing out suspicious goods. _ Thelia (Party): Owner, if you are not joining anyone else, mind staying in party for a while? _ Shadyna (Party): Sure~ I''ll be going back now. [ Thunderous Teleporter]! *FLASH* Disappearing into the light, the little terror presumably moves to the tower where she dropped most of the team to death. _ Shadyna (Party): OUCH! And gets hit by the lightning at the destination as well, from the sound of it. _ Fuelri (Party): ¡­Probably should call to send someone there. _ Thelia (Party): Already did. Not taking any chance. _ Shadyna (Party): I appreciate your consideration, but aren''t you two implying something really rude just now?! It was definitely just ''s imagination. _ Haughty idiot: That person just now¡­ was the elf in the teahouse right? can''t help but facepalms, again. These guys mistook their targets not once, but twice in just a day! Indeed, the half-elf in black they were looking for had decided to wear something else on a whim, so it couldn''t be helped. Regardless, they ordered an attack on a member (owner) of the delivery girls'' workplace, and there''s only one course of action as a result. _ Haughty idiot: So uh¡­ if you don''t want her to die needlessly again¡­ Activating the dubious lunchboxes, the cavalry team of the cafeteria begins their first real charge, weapons pointed at the idiots threatening them. _ Fuelri: On me! CHARGE! _ Delivery girls: CHARGE!!! _ Muscular idiot: Dammit, not again! The brave warriors from the alliances find themselves not so brave now that they are facing a literal boss rush. Nearly half of them having witnessed (and suffered) the devastation of such a charge the other day is not helping the morale one bit. _ Haughty idiot: W-wait! That was just in-character roleplaying! _ Muscular idiot: That''s right! In-character! As crushes a [World Voice] in her hand and swings down her halberd, her voice echoes through the game world for everyone to hear. _ Haughty idiot: There''s no way it will fit!!! AAAAAAAAAAAA-incoherent screams of despair- The alliances'' plans were unfruitful, to put it mildly. ____________ The cafeteria is resuming normal operations after a busy day. Reinstalling furniture, cooking food that does not put consumers on fire, selling ''s discarded food as weapons of mass destruction, and mopping dead butlers off the floor. _ Warrior: Hello, is still giving out dumplings? _ Hessenria: Welcome. The event has ended, unfortunately. _ Warrior: Sheesh¡­ That''s too bad. We''ll take the usual then. The new patrons walk over the corpses to get to their table. They are not going to be bothered by unknown butlers rambling about how Blue Blood Federation will take over this place and have the last laugh. _ Warrior: New competitions are cropping up huh. _ Hessenria: We already have countermeasures for that. However, we certainly did not expect this amount of weirdoes¡­ Looking at the lead waitress "cleaning" by smashing the bodies with her spiky swords, the degenerates can''t help but admire and retort that this whole cafeteria crew is the weirdest bunch in the player base. --- Topic: Can''t find field bosses --- ## OP alchemist For some reason we can''t find field bosses at their spawn points. Anyone having same problem? ## ## Manly Warrior You won''t be able to get a boss at this time. Operation Sprout Roulette unleashed a horde of overly buffed players who all had the same idea of hunting down a boss they normally wouldn''t be able to. Makes pre-buff boss situation look like a post-scarcity society in comparison. (£»Ò»_Ò») ## ## Serious Mage Can confirm. Field bosses were systematically eradicated in an unprecedented scale. In area with bosses known to drop buff/debuff skills, the competition was so fierce, most casualties were from PvP rather than the bosses. ## ## OP alchemist Our cute little pacifist turned us all into mass murderers¡­ (~_~) There''s no turning back! We will be hunting mobs en mass then! Can''t let this buff go to waste. ## ## Bountiful Hunter Go to the lv 20+ zones. You are not going to find a mob in weaker zones that last more than 10 seconds because everyone has the same plan (again). The mass extinction has already begun. ## ## Silver Merchant The cooking/alchemy nerf backfired as weaker players benefit more from raw stats buffs than multipliers. Revenge against Sateri-chan, confirmed. Also RIP bosses, mobs and economy. It was nice knowing you. (ToT) ## ## Manly Warrior *Sighs* AAR thread coming right up¡­ (=_=) ## ------ --- Topic: New event? --- ## Flame knight of Darkness We were checking out the bosses in the Dry Grassland and found a massive org¡­ I mean concentration of players. [Pic] Did we have another PvP event in place? ## ## Nearseeing Sage Don''t think so. Our guild did not receive any notice from our allies at least. That''s a lot of players¡­ ## ## Curious big boobs elf Just idiots trying to poach new members. Don''t mind them. And next time you guys spread gossips, do it in a way that others won''t mistake me for Illusive Sprout of all people!!! [Link] Stream for anyone interested. ## ## Nearseeing Sage Oof. (©`©`;) ## ## StoneHoarder Oof. (._.) ## ## CuteIsJustice Oof. (£­??) One would think they would visit the board for a screenshot of their potential recruit first. ## ## Heaven Piercer So uh¡­ did it fit? Your halberd I mean. ## ## Fire mage of Justice This guy is asking the real question! Reported. Damn degenerate!!! ## ------ Chapter 43: Sponsorship This is Shadyna, the cutest fisher girl in the neighborhood reporting in~ ¡­From a swamp with a brown mud that is actually [Diluted Honey] when picked up. Not sure what''s worse, this place being a thing, or me casually pulling fish out of this mud with my cute apprentices, and . _ Fensen: Even with the lunchboxes, we still couldn''t withstand the boss''s power. Its attack power is cheating! Says the girl with potentially the highest DPS in the game. My [Accelerate Power] takes too long to warm up, and it doesn''t multiply with other players like your [Alpha Strike Power]! And that''s not mentioning how you both have [Accelerate Bonus] just to make it worse for whatever at the end of your barrels¡­ Yet, whatever they found under the snowy mountain managed to survive until now against such overwhelming firepower. Maybe our firepower is not overwhelming enough¡­? _ Shadyna: Should we bring the whole crew then? _ Poltea: It¡­ won''t work, I think. I couldn''t shield from its AoE, let alone other people. We were able to evade its attacks in the beginning, but it always pushed us to the walls, limiting our space. When I used [Fort], I wasn''t able to keep up with its damage¡­ ¡­You girls are surprisingly hardcore, aren''t you? ''s personality is one thing, but I certainly did not expect to be putting in so much effort as well. I am kind of scared to find out how many times they have challenged that boss while I wasn''t looking. It is a pity that they couldn''t beat the boss to a pulp though. From their grievances, I think they simply were in a bad matchup. Their strengths lie in undisturbed alpha volleys, not prolonged endurance contests. When they told me they had to jump through a hole to fight in a small enclosed space, with a totally aggressive boss, I had a feeling they were in for a tough time. And they sure did. Welp. Strategy meeting to beat the boss is not what we are doing though. I am a pacifist, don''t go ask me how to murder a bonus boss! We are murdering something that even I can do at my leisure: time. It has been a few days since my [Fishy Dumpluck] distribution. I was busy running left and right to unlock the skills I need. That in itself was fun, because I got to wander around, do whacky stuff, and receive rewards for it. Then came the skill menu reorganization. That, was hell in its purest form. It was the "Going insane from receiving excessive knowledge" clich¨¦, although I did not expect that kind of insanity. So here we are, the going-insane girls of the neighborhood have put away the worldly desires to relax¡­ by accepting a contract. That''s right, Shadyna Construction Ltd. has signed up for the next big gig! And no, it has nothing to do with fish. My supposed bodyguards are not available yet, hence the cold-blooded time killing here. I was thinking about how to help when my vision went dark without any warning. Is my headset malfunctioning? _ ???: Guess who~? Not malfunctioning huh. Judging from the children''s snickering, the person behind me is not an enemy at least. They are probably exchanging winks and whatever body language in their discussion on how to confuse the hell out of me too. _ Shadyna: , but I don''t mind if you stay like that. There''s this softness pressing the back of my head that many will die for. Better yet, we are in a place with barely anyone nearby so there''s no need to hold back~ _ Helen: Aw, I was hoping you would have a harder time guessing¡­ Un, that was the womanizing bartender of our crew alright. She still has that lady-killing smile as I turn around to look. What a dangerous person~ _ Shadyna: I do remember voices of my friends you know? Also, if you use your hands, anyone with [Inspect] will know. _ Helen: Hmm, you have a point¡­ _ Poltea: H-how about a big barrel? _ Shadyna: That''s just kidnapping! ¡­This is disturbingly similar to beginnings of horror plots isn''t it? Youngsters fooling around in a Sateri-forsaken place just to get offed one after another by the monsters of legend. And based on our personalities, the womanizer will be the first victim. My apprentices are immune due to their innocence¡­ Wait, wouldn''t that make me the second victim because no horror movie kills only one character?! _ Shadyna: By the way, , do not mention any kind of legend here, okay? The plot only happens if we talk about it, un! _ Helen: Eh~? W-whatever could you mean~? Why are you panicking?! You can''t possibly be planning to gleefully tell me about the mysterious and horrible ways to die in this weird swamp right? It''s a matter of life and death for you first and foremost! *Splash* No, [Fishing] does not make such noises. I also know that fish don''t even swim in this game. Cautiously turning away from the sweating bartender behind me, I see a stiff frozen who has obviously witnessed something in front of us, and locate the source of the suspicious sound. A woman with long messy hair covering most of her face, is emerging. The honeyed (?) mud sticks to her black hair, giving the impression of someone taking a dive into the sewers. Probably not much difference, considering this being a swamp¡­ _ Suspicious woman: Did¡­ you¡­ She talks in a low voice that we can barely hear, while pulling out a sword out of nowhere. _ Suspicious woman: Drop¡­ this¡­ sWoOoOoOrD?!!! What the heck is that screech?! And why is she running towards me?! Wait, run? Isn''t she supposed to be floating? Crap, she''s getting closer!!! _ Shadyna: GYAAAA!!! _ Fensen & Poltea: KYAAAAAAA!!! The good children are going to get kidnapped by a dangerous woman with a freaking long sword! When we are rescued by the heroes at the end of the movie, our eyes would glow the moment the main characters turn away just to make a sequel hook. No thanks to that! Muddy woman, I don''t know who you are, but you are picking a fight with the kids who have no qualm abus¡­ taking advantage of their plot-armor status! _ Shadyna: [ Thunderous Blessing of Affection]!!! _ Fensen: All cannons, FULL POWER! _ Poltea: A-attacking! , that battle cry is lacking! Not that it is a problem, since everything is exploding as if three strategic bombers were experimenting whether they could do precision bombing. Nice explosion~ ¡­ Okay, that was horrifying. Now then¡­ The cutest fisher is officially out of a job, because the swamp in front of us has become a crater. Whoopsie~ A few feet away from us, the suspicious woman lies motionlessly. It was surprising to see all of us retaliating at the same time, and I''m sure we triggered [Alpha Strike Power], based on the crater''s size. I was not running, so [Accelerate Power] certainly did nothing. This is not my fault, un. Should we blast her again just to make sure she won''t rise up again when we take a step back? That''s what usually happens in movies right? _ Dead suspicious woman: Owner, you don''t hold back at all huh? _ Helen: I told you it was a bad idea~ ¡­Who the heck is this person, seriously? ¡­ Turns out, it was the owner of the bar, . There''s no mistaking it once she was revived and put on that outfit. Un, there''s no mistaking it. _ Linista: What''s with the stare, owner? _ Shadyna: Nothing~ _ Helen: is a healthy child after all~ I have a feeling you are implying something there, , but I''ll let that slide. Also, thanks for staying behind me the whole time! ''s hairstyle changed to a tidier straight hairstyle after she switched gear. If I remember correctly, there are a few outfits in the fashion show that did the same to me. Maybe I should make a super powerful circle which makes the wearer bald. Sounds like a good gift for to me, evil laugh~ The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. _ Fensen: , why did you appear like that? Are you a kidnapper? Girls these days learn so fast¡­ Especially in self-defense. _ Linista: About that¡­ Remember the weapon exhibit the other day? We voted two-handed sword to be ''s weapon. At least I do. I have nothing against democracy per se, but don''t you think these matters should be decided by, I don''t know, my preferences for example?! And two-handed sword for a little girl, of all things? I have a feeling you guys are illegally accessing my memory there. Did Sateri leak it to them somehow¡­? _ Fensen: Un! I think it suited her too! _ Poltea: It was unanimous agreement. No, I don''t think the problem lies in whether it was majority, supermajority, or unanimous voting here¡­ How did you kids know about that anyway?! _ Linista: I was tasked with designing a sword to replace that beginner one. When told me you all were fishing, I thought I could dress up like fairy and bestow the unholy sword upon . Hold up hold up! I think I know what you are talking about, but didn''t you just casually change some very important elements in the plot?! To begin with, what kind of fairy appears in a dark swamp? Man-eating ones, that''s what! _ Linista: While she was distracting you, I snuck into the mud and stood up as per tradition, but then I got mud all over me. After that I thought "Eh, screw this" and went with the flow. You totally wanted to scare the hell out of us didn''t you?! The wet physics worked too well huh. Immersion is nice, but I''ll be sure to only fish near water bodies from now on¡­ ¡­ Now that my bodyguards are here, I can finally begin today''s work. The outer walls I built for were a huge boost to Tyrel''s defense. Apparently, because my walls were so sturdy, there''s no longer a need to worry about ranged enemies during raids. The required number of defenders per wall segment has reduced by half, and players can focus on sallying out to fight and dismantle corpses for loots. Still not as profitable as before, but it''s a significant improvement for something that should have been a downgrade (longer perimeter to defend). Just as I was told, the big guilds are now expanding to the wilderness. What I did not expect was the client. It wasn''t , but that asked me for my service. This would be my first interaction with them, wouldn''t it? From what I heard, the guildmaster loves fighting to the point of obsession. I wonder if it being a weirdo is a prerequisite to be a guildmaster these days¡­ Oh well, I don''t mind being the first normal guildmaster when the time comes~ _ Helen: Owner~ Delusion time is over~ It''s not delusional!!! In front of us are a party of suspiciously muscular topless men with oversized weapons. Their frames are already big, and they still want to use weapons bigger than themselves. Should I blast them to smithereens to protect and ''s innocence? _ ???: Get dressed, you guys. We are not fighting bosses. No, please don''t strip even if you were fighting bosses¡­ That voice came from behind. Did they just arrive using cafeteria''s [Recall] network? The owner of the voice is a brunette lady. She seems to be the boss of the flashe¡­ I mean abnormal players with an unexplained urge to strip, but she is dressed normally with leather armors, as expected of an archer in a fantasy world. Her bow is just as oversized as those guys'' though. _ Archer: Hi there, Olka¡­ . I am , the guildmaster of . Pleased to meet you. _ Shadyna: You mistook me for someone else didn''t you?! I can understand if you were thinking of there, but , of all people?! I took offense to that! laughs while waving her hand apologetically. _ Cinrald: Sorry, sorry. I was used to seeing that idiot with and you see. Old habits die hard. It''s understandable, but please don''t group me with him¡­ _ Shadyna: It''s fine. This is , and . They are young kids in real life so could you tell your members to put on some clothes? in particular looks like she has been scarred for life. is giving a curious stare. Not sure which is worse, to be honest¡­ _ Cinrald: Will do, will do. I forgot to brief them about the job, so they thought it was going to be a fight to the death with you. Is the guild going to be alright with this sloppy person¡­? Let''s not think too deeply, un. The muscle-heads have equipped skintight sleeveless torso armors on. Figures¡­ ¡­ Our contract is to build a stadium on the barren land between the grassland outside of Tyrel and the swamp we were in earlier. In the context of this world, it would be called an amphitheater however. The general idea is still the same. A big stage in the middle surrounded by closed walls, with as many seats for audience as possible. Unlike who had prepared architectural designs and logistic support beforehand, just provided me with the budget and let me do as I see fit. _ Poltea: U-uhm, Miss ? _ Cinrald: Hmm? _ Poltea: Are you¡­ going to become an idol? I also need to know what she intended to do with it to tune the design. Idol was not what I had in mind though¡­ _ Cinrald: Idol huh¡­ Not a bad idea. Seriously? _ Cinrald: However, my plan was to build an arena. Our guild is not just about killing monsters. We also kill each other as a means to improve our abilities. In the past we used the market for that, but lately space ran out and the squishy merchants complained that we were disrupting their businesses. If anything, I would say they tried to tolerate you guys as best as they could already¡­ No wonder why they didn''t think much of the cafeteria crew causing minor incidents here and there. Being a merchant is hard work~ What''s with your guild''s culture anyway? Are you guys the type that fall apart once there''s no enemy to quarrel with?! _ Fensen: , let''s fight after this! I want to become stronger too! There goes the education. Sigh¡­ _ Cinrald: Ahahaha, this little girl gets it. Wanna join us? _ Shadyna: Hey, no poaching! _ Fensen: No thank you, I prefer staying with ~ Un, that''s my adorable apprentice alright. , please cease that heavy sigh. _ Helen: Owner~ We are done here~ They were calculating the maximum area we can build on without exceeding the budget. We can''t operate at a loss now can we~? Saying that, it scares me how they got it done so quickly. The most important cost, which is the self-repairing walls, is already known in advance thanks to our first contract, but they had to estimate the cost for the interiors as well, right? _ Helen (Party): We have experience with budgeting for constructions in Tyrel, and it''s easier to calculate without having to embezz¡­ sorry, include expenses for administration. You were doing WHAT now?! So that''s how got rich. Our previous contract most likely funded the next super long rod huh¡­ Maybe we should establish an accounting firm so the embezzled coins are directed to us instead of , legally. ¡­ The construction work is going nicely. I begin the crafting then let others to work on it. Namely, the muscular perverts. The crafting sphere uses my stats and skills so it''s alright. is overseeing the work, while deals with merchants to buy building materials that we lack. It is definitely my imagination that the merchants have a mixed expression of bliss and despair the moment they see . She is definitely not looking like the boss of a black company at work here. _ Merchant: Pl-please, have mercy. We won''t be able to make a profit at that price! _ Linista: You WILL have a profit even if you bought this stock at market price. If you think you can get a better deal with someone else, feel free to. We have no need for a difficult supplier when many will flock to the company handling most of the upcoming building contracts anyway. _ Merchant: My deepest apologies! We agree to all of your terms and conditions!!! Please at least consider a date with me! _ Linista: Refused. Scary¡­ That guy''s last sentence does not exist by the way. Then there''s standing from the side, with the "That''s our boss" smile. I am sure she was backing with numbers to overwhelm the opposition. I don''t want to be on their bad side in a business meeting, that''s for sure. _ Cinrald: Hey, . _ Shadyna: Yes~? This person is just looking around and giving feedback as we build. She''s the client, so¡­ _ Cinrald: We will be hosting a tournament to promote this place. Interested in participating? Oh~, the infamous event where the protagonist asserts their dominance over the general population~ _ Shadyna: I''m a pacifist, so I''ll pass. _ Cinrald: What a pity. I was looking forward to studying your tactics in details. Is that what you are supposed to say out loud to the person in question? But it is indeed a waste if I don''t enjoy this occasion¡­ It is rare to have so many players fighting each other in a controlled environment in this game. Is there something I want to do that I can''t otherwise¡­? _ Shadyna: ¡­Can I sponsor the tournament? _ Cinrald: Eh? ____________ The cafeteria is overcrowded. To counterattack the maid and butler caf¨¦ popping up recently, it was decided that the [Recall] network will be sold as a service. By paying a fee, players can use one of the many stone tablets in the basements to teleport to any hunting zone in the game world. It is the well-known teleporter service that is available in many other games. This time, it was established by players themselves. It solved the problem of long distance travels to resupply, and the price was acceptable for mid to high levels, so everyone accepted it with open arms, and wallets. Now they have to deal with the problem of having too many people funneling into a building, but that surely is better than walking hours to get to the level 30 zones. The mistress of the tavern, , is more worried about something else. That being cheerfully talking to , leader of . The bartenders at the same table also look like they hit a gold mine, which can only be bad news considering the parties involved. Now they are in deep thought about something, which is probably completely trivial due to the serious atmosphere. suddenly gets cheerful, in contrast to the blushing . The sprout girl looks as if she has a revelation then turns to the head waitress with a bright smile. _ Shadyna: Hessy~, can I rent your body for some time? _ Hessenria: Are you out of your mind already?! The harsh mistress has to work hard today as well. --- Topic: Tournament announcement: Blood Sacrifice Battle Royale --- ## JigglingPouch On behalf of Pathwrecker, I would like to announce the first player-held 1v1 tournament of the game: Blood Sacrifice Battle Royale. Participants will be fighting each other in one-versus-one duels to the death in the arena. Winners get rewards as they progress to the next rounds. In the end, only one champion will leave the battlefield victorious, as traditions dictate. - Time: One month from now (YYYY-MM-DD). Depending on the number of participants, it may last for more than one day. - Location: The Great Arena near the entrance to Honey Swamp. Follow the road from Tyrel''s southern gate or refer to this map. [Pic] - Participation rules: + Register at Pathwrecker guildhall at least ten days before event time (YYYY-MM-DD). + Two players per guild. Bring your guild certification item when registering. + Individual registration is allowed. You will have to fight additional elimination rounds. + All participant must be level 30. If you have Inspect Resistance, you have to provide your own Inspect result. Exemptions are allowed for players with special skills/titles (Proof required). - For non-participants: + We accept sponsorship. Contact Pathwrecker''s management if you want to contribute. + The arena has a lot of seats, so come cheer for your favorite players. + Bet on the victors. Yes, we will have official betting. More info after registration closes. - Sponsor list: [Link] - Current jackpot: 15000 gold coins, lots of Fishy Dumpluck, and a date with Hessenria, the harsh mistress (Unique champion prize) - Obligatory advertisement: The Great Arena is available for rent. Contact Pathwrecker''s management for details. ## ## GoldBar9999 £¨¡¡?§¥?£© Damn, you guys are eager to get that sweet return of investment huh. Or not, because what the hell is that jackpot?! ## ## Serious Mage Winner takes all? ## ## Maximus Archery Why bother? The sprout brat will win anyway. ## ## JigglingPouch Winner of each round takes some. You will get something if you win at least one match. Because Black Mantis is a sponsor (and she does not qualify anyway), she won''t participate. ## ## CuteIsJustice You are saying¡­ we do have a chance to go on a date with the mistress? (??;) (£þ©`£þ)£¨¡¡?§¥?£© ## ## Newbie Charisma build Two weeks to reach level cap. Go go go! ©c(`§¥¡ä)? ## ## Manly Warrior And more dumplings. (£þ¡õ£þ;) My mind says yes, but my body says no. Let''s do this! (^_^)/ ## ## Heaven Piercer How did you convince the harsh mistress by the way? Asking for a friend. ## ## JigglingPouch Not sure. Black Mantis talked to her in private after being hit in the head. My merchant blood tells me it was an offer she could not refuse, because she looked PISSED. ## ## StoneHoarder She''s not going to murder the champion in cold blood, right¡­? ## ## Heaven Piercer Sounds like a double prize to me! (*^¨Œ^*) ## ------ Chapter 44: Friendship Engine Magical girl Shadyna is going to achieve mankind''s oldest dream~! A dream that has existed since humans saw birds for the first time in ancient times. No, it''s not growing a beak or laying eggs!!! What kind of person want that?! Actually, I can live without knowing. It''s flight! Flight! Soaring into the sky as one wishes, blasting through the air at supersonic speed, launching missiles at unwitting targets and watching stuff exploding! Somehow, I don''t think that''s what birds do¡­ Oh well, little details~ The cafeteria crew is going to fight the boss at Snow Mountain zone this weekend, when everyone can login. If explosions cannot solve a problem, add more explosions! Or so it usually goes. In any case, they will be grinding until then. Of course, some were supposed to guard me, but I refused. After all, how are they going to follow me if I take off to the sky? They will lose sight of me around ten seconds once I start running anyway. Since even my friends can''t keep up, no half-baked assailant will be able to get close. That is if they don''t get seen by [Detect Presence]. In this barren wasteland where the literally sky-high tower resides, there''s no crowd of degenerates to hide into like last time! Now then, let''s see if this can work¡­ _ Shadyna: Gelly, Lutena, I''m counting on you two today! The green blob on my head wriggles happily. It has been doing nothing but relaxing in the lava pot for the last few weeks, so this is a very welcomed change of pace. As expected of leafy stuff, they aren''t very mobile, un. ''s pet is an exception. That poor flower is full speed ahead most of the time it''s summoned. My other pet, Lutena, was even more jobless. Not being able to take damage due to her being [Symbiosis], she couldn''t even take a lava bath like Gelly. I do feel a bit sorry for her, but it couldn''t be helped. Our current main jobs in a party (healer/supporter) overlap, so she does not need to do anything besides dangling cutely at my side. I don''t really mind that, but if someone realizes I am treating a bonus-boss-level pet as decorative accessory, I will never hear the end of it. Back to main topic, this game for some reason goes out of its way to limit players'' ability to gain altitude. There are skills to keep oneself in the air like [Air Cushion] or [Water Bubble], of course. However, their mechanics are obviously gimped to prevent any kind of ascension. Sateri is scared of trespassers, confirmed~ Skill-wise, I only know of two ways to get off the ground. The first one is [Leap], which allows me to go in any direction whenever I want to, including vertical. Would be a no-brainer for flight if this body of mine didn''t start freefalling the moment the skill effect ends. The other way is using skills with knockback effect. In other words, most skills created with blunt weapons in mind. [Slam] is the bread and butter one for most players. Then there''s with her [Divine Impact] that can send anyone higher than any normal [Leap] can do. She can''t blast herself off with it though, which was the only thing stopping her from becoming a rocket. Who the heck thought it was a good idea to give that person such a dangerous skill?! Outside of skills, there''s the mundane [Construction] to build a tower to go higher. Wait, wouldn''t that be counted as a skill too? Hmm¡­ [Construction] is out right off the bat still. What kind of last boss lets you build a tower in the middle of a fight? Not to mention the amount of materials needed at hand to build it. It is impractical in combat, and I want to have air superiority in combat! That''s not what air superiority is? That''s what it is in a fantasy world! I think. Attack skills are also rejected for the same reason. Even if I disguise them as buffs using hybrid items, their damage is still real. Just for reference, when hammered everyone in her sight, our squishier friends had to rely on [Shared Fate] to survive the launch. If there''s something that can seriously hurt me in this game, it would be bonus bosses, and my own firepower. If it was just raw stats, my own PDF and MDF could hold. Once [Accelerate Power] comes into the scene though¡­ It''s not going to be just a heroic sacrifice to defeat the last boss. The boss, myself, the castle of evil and the whole kingdom will be wiped off the map altogether! And I bet the princess will just get her dress burnt because that''s how it usually works. Regardless, that leaves [Leap] as my only option. Earlier, I tried combining [Leap] and [Air Cushion]. If I fall before I can use it again, using [Air Cushion] to prevent that fall is a logical assumption, is it not? Did not work~ Chanting the skill takes time, and the effect itself takes time to manifest. I was already on the ground when the cushion fully manifested. While I can try running around first to build up speed for a higher jump, it is awkward to run midair until [Leap] is ready again. What am I, a multistage rocket? If all else fails, I will try it out. Let''s hope it won''t come to that, because my image of flight will collapse if I do so. This is where Gelly and Lutena come in. _ Shadyna: Here you go. --- [ Rocket Fuel] - Creator: - Quality: - Type: , , , - CON: 15 - Food: + + 1 HP - Alchemy: - Furniture: Leap Lv.11 --- I give my pets not just one but many copies of this item. Aside from [Leap], every other [Cooking] and [Alchemy] effects are minimal to reduce item''s cooldown time. Tradeoffs are so painful to deal with, I''m telling you. This item was based on the [Fishy Dumpluck] with [Leap] in it. The guy who ate it was thrown into the ceiling and got stuck. Had to pull him out by murdering him and his corpse, because it was the fastest way. Moral of the story: Don''t stand still while activating [Leap], unless you want to end up like that. Otherwise, it''s just a normal (albeit a bit involuntary) skill invocation. I was worried about the 15-minute cooldown for foods, but it doesn''t seem to apply to multi-category items. It''s natural, of course. If food has no effect for such a long time, throwing food items in combat won''t be viable. While I don''t think many (if any) players seriously throw food in this game, Sateri cannot just alienate them. I like it when she corners herself accidentally, ufufu~ Yes, I still hold a grudge over the food debuff skill stack (or lack thereof). _ Shadyna: Okay~ You guys ready? I can feel the light jiggling on top, and the lantern swinging just a bit. Un, let''s go~ This method should be applicable everywhere, but since this is a trial run, I will use the big slope I built to climb the smooth surface of this weird structure. In the worst-case scenario, I''ll just slide off it once I lose all speed. And I''m more used to it as well. Without a warmup like last time, my speed as I run up is significantly lower. If I continue as-is, I will probably topple soon. Before that can happen¡­ [Leap]! Using [Silent Cast] to avoid shouting like a typical hero in a boss fight, of course. Thanks to the skill, I overcome the annoying gravity and take off into the air. Gelly, now! If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. As the skill''s effect ends and my body begins to lose speed, the cute blob fires one of the [ Rocket Fuel] at me. I do not have the stats menu open, but I am sure I gain one blue (overflow) HP as I launch forward again. You gain overflow as you receive healings that at full health, until your total HP is doubled. It cannot be restored by HP regeneration though, so it''s more like a one-time armor. It is useful when healings are hard to come by, or you need to assert superiority because a blue HP bar is terrifying! Lutena, your turn! I bounce up again thanks to her item. While air jumps like what I am doing are not particularly rare, unlimited air jumps are. After all, sane developers will just give flight ability instead. Speed is dropping again. [ Rocket Fuel]! Yes, I am holding quite a few as well. By the time the effects of three items run out, my [Leap] is ready for use once more. [Leap]! And with this, my infinite jump technique is complete! The limits to this method are my own MP and the [ Rocket Fuel]''s remaining charges, both of which I have plenty of. I don''t even need to run vertically on the wall. In fact, I have been flying after the first [Leap]. It is hard to change direction because I cannot use my propulsion continuously, but I think it is something to solve later. For now, I will just enjoy my victory over physics! This wouldn''t be possible without the help of my cute little pets that can be "worn" like accessories. To think the power of friendship would be so great, it can be used as propulsion¡­ From this day onwards, this maneuver shall be called¡­ Friendship Engine! Ending theme please~ ¡­ After the trial flight, I used [Teleport] to return to the ground. Landing procedures? What''s that? Is it edible? Ignoring the imaginary cries of pilots all over the world accusing me of cheating, I pull out a mat and put it on the ground. It''s picnic time! This whole thing started because of a roadblock I encountered during my previous tower climbing. Remember how I received environmental damage after a certain height? Guess what? It gets worse! The damage increases with the height. The higher I went, the faster my HP bar was drained, until I had to pull back because I ran out of HP. What the hell was that, Sateri? If this massive health pool of mine cannot handle the trip, how is anyone supposed to make it? I could run longer on the ground to get more speed, but I honestly didn''t know how high this building goes. All things considered, finding a way to travel with no warmup so I can teleport out, heal up then resume is much, much easier. To maximize my airborne time up there, let''s craft a new armor set focusing on HP. And a bunch of healing items to use during breaks too¡­ _ ???: Oh, . What are you doing here? While I was sipping tea with my pets, someone called out to me from the side. I totally saw them coming, okay? I was definitely not absorbed in a picnic atmosphere and unprepared for another surprise attack, okay? _ Shadyna: Hiyo, ~ It''s the infamous kidnapper party~ Hmm? There are more players than I remember. A warrior, a hammer guy, and a priestess. And they look familiar too. Have I met them before? _ Maximus: Geh, why is it you again? _ Tippe: Now now, Max, don''t get us killed now. We have a job to do. If you guys want to live a long fulfilling life, better fix first, un. _ Ignar: She''s already judging us¡­ We are investigating the towers. Did you happen to uh¡­ see anything weird here? Didn''t think others are interested in this place as well. I wonder if they have a way to climb it? _ Shadyna: *Shakes head* I was checking this place out as well, but there''s nothing out of the ordinary. It''s the same empty land around as always, and I am pretty sure the tower didn''t start moving or firing lasers this whole time. Not that I would notice, since I was busy practicing to control my flight¡­ _ Ignar: You too huh¡­ _ Shadyna: I happen to have some excess food here. Do you want to eat together? _ Tippe: Can we?! _ Maximus: You didn''t rig it with explosives, did you? _ Shadyna: How rude~ I want to have a small chat with them, mainly about their knowledge of this weird tower. _ Priestess: Uh¡­ we ate at the cafeteria, so¡­ Despite her objection, others have already taken their seats on the mat. Making yourselves right at home, aren''t you¡­ _ Tippe: It''s fine, it''s fine. Her food is to die for, literally. I''m flattered, but I would rather you not spread weird rumors about me! ¡­ Unfortunately, ''s party doesn''t know anything about the tower itself. They were only coming here to see if there was anything unusual around it. An unknown boss randomly appearing, for example. This barren location is unexpectedly dangerous?! looks like he was dying to ask about my slope, but he''s not saying anything. Not sure if his pride does not allow it, or and forbid him from doing so. If you don''t ask, I am not answering anything, okay~? _ Ignar: Guess it''s not this one. Oh well¡­ _ Shadyna: Uhm¡­ How did you know that something had happened to begin with? Usually, it would be the other way around right? You are enjoying your daily life in a dark forest when a big bad evil monster appears and starts eating your party members, or something along that line¡­ _ Ignar: The prophecy, just like everyone else, obviously. No no no, even if you say "obviously", it''s not obvious to me at all! What prophecy are you talking about? _ Priestess: Leader, if we don''t get going soon¡­ _ Ignar: Right right. Thanks for the food, , but we have to join up with others now. Yet you have time to sit down and eat¡­ Guess they couldn''t resist the materialism aura of my food~ _ Shadyna: Okay~ Thanks for stopping by~ _ Tippe: By the way, these players are our potential recruits. We are making a new guild! Oh, so that''s why they are going with . A guild with only three players is a bit sad, after all. A guild of kidnappers¡­ Let''s not think too deeply about it. _ Shadyna: Congrats~ But I am not giving and back, okay? They promised to join my guild. _ Ignar: Ahaha, so that''s what you meant back then huh. Alright, I won''t try to invite them then. Is that regret I am seeing from your expression~? That''s your fault for abandoning your cute cousin who is a walking weapon of mass destruction every guild would want to have now! Feel free to be jealous, sinister laughing~ _ Ignar: And we have not created the guild yet. Still in the recruiting phase you see. At the moment, you only need to open the guild menu and pay one gold coin to have your own guild anyway. It''s not something you need days to prepare in advance. _ Tippe: That reminds me, what''s your guild''s name? Somehow we don''t have any info on it. _ Shadyna: There''s none. I have not created my guild either. _ Tippe: Why?! You already have a lot of members right?! True that. I have enough money and members so I can do it anytime I want. However, when I was talking to Sateri after defeating the weird mask, the topic of guilds came up, and she told me that guild creation would change in the next big patch as well. Because she gave me such precious insider information, I couldn''t just ignore it, could I? I want to enjoy the game as much as possible after all~ _ Shadyna: It is the Goddess''s prophecy telling me to wait until next week! _ Maximus: What the heck is that supposed to mean?! Parting ways with ''s party, I clean up the picnic site. Let''s dismantle the slope too while I''m at it. Thank you for your service, Mr. Slope, but you have outlived your usefulness. Ah, I finally remember who the new players were. They were the party that got eaten by Merexxa in the forest back then! I''ll greet them properly if I meet them again, un. Putting aside such idle thoughts, I look at the blue sky once more. Now then, can I fly to the top before the end of the day? [Teleport]. Activate Friendship Engine! ____________ was serving the customers when a party of three arrives. _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: Welcome back~ Would you like dinner, a bath, or¡­ _ Fuelri: Dinner. _ Fensen: Dinner~ _ Poltea: D-dinner, please. The waitress in charge prepares the food while pretending to sob pitifully. It is so fake, has to wonder whether this crazy woman is actually making sure everyone in sight knows she is faking it. _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: Elri has been treating me coldly recently¡­ _ Warrior: Damn elf but bless your breasts! _ Shield wielder: Please don''t fight because of me! _ Fuelri: You degenerates shut the hell up!!! Next time, she will choose a different location. Somewhere with fewer maniacs to deal with, most likely. _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: How did the negotiations go? Did you put them out of their misery as they begged for¡­ _ Fuelri: We did not! had abandoned the mountain by the time we arrived! _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: Oh? _ Fensen: Mister Corpse said United Mankind kept attacking and the boss fight was impossible, so they were going to do something else! _ Poltea: , it''s Unity of Mankind¡­ _ Random player: That guy leaked confidential information again!!! Despite the unexpected resolution, the plan to clear Snow Mountain for the weekend raid was a complete success. Probably. --- Topic: Food main build? --- ## OP alchemist Black Mantis proved that food can be used offensively. Question is, can normal players do it? ## ## Serious Mage Because the last trend with mounted beasts turned out soooooo well (it didn''t)¡­ (~_~) Depending on RNG just to craft the item is way too big of a gamble, which doesn''t have high rewards to compensate. For players not in the know, you need the very random Spicing skill to make food with debuff effects. Attribute buffs/debuffs affect combat status, but they are always weaker than direct buff/debuffs of the same level. ## ## Mage of Sin If you compare between them, attribute debuff will undoubtedly be weaker. What you can do is using it in addition to other debuffs, because they stack together. We have been using them on bosses. The reduced damage gets a lot of pressure off tanks. (*_*) Anything lower than that and it''s not cost effective, I admit. ## ## OP alchemist So cooks will be support of support¡­ Now we just wait for Black Mantis to find a way to make those explosive dumplings cheaply¡­ ## ## Teabag Master The cafeteria would like to recommend our wide array of weaponized food selection! =^_^= It won''t be cheap, but it will be cheaper than making it yourself. (^_-)-¡î ## ## Manly Warrior Have mercy on our wallets, please! (>_<) ## ------ --- Topic: Goddess''s Chosen discussion --- ## Nearseeing Sage Thread for discussing everything related to Goddess''s Chosen title. How to unlock: Automatically. It is given to all closed beta players, including new characters. ## ## PeaceDestroyer What the heck? Why are you old timers getting all the good stuff? <(£à^¡ä)> ## ## GoldBar9999 Say that when it actually does anything. In its current state, it is just a vague warning like your typical prophecies. ## ## Nearseeing Sage The title has been updated. Vision: An encroaching darkness wanders around the pillar of the world. Heaven is being invaded. Support: Reduce damage of the void significantly. I am sure "pillar of the world" refers to the indestructible towers scattered around the world. Can someone check up on them? Not sure what "the void" means, unfortunately. ## ## Manly Warrior Nothing at the tower behind Forest. ## ## Fire mage of Justice Situation normal between the Beach and Lava Rift. ## ## Mage of Sin Same thing to the west of Sand Circles. Although we did find a wild sprout and had lunch with her. (^o^)£¯ [Pic] ## ## Nearseeing Sage Go explode! (££?§¥?) What was she doing there by the way? She shouldn''t have the title. ## ## Maximus Archery The brat was investigating, just like us. Even built a slide to climb a bit, presumably. Sateri-chan told her more than she told us, judging from our conversation. Special treatment, again. (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß ## ## GoldBar9999 Someone''s jelly. ©Ð©¤©¤©Ð ¡¥\_(¥Ä) ## ------ Chapter 45: Frontier Shadyna the astronaut girl is going to SPACE!!! Oops, I was a bit worked up there. Still, it is not wrong to say that I am going to space. The long trip is finally coming to an end as I see the top of the tower. It was epic, but dear Sateri was it annoying¡­ After flying vertically for the whole day (night?), I can confirm that this thing is somewhere around 100-kilometer high. Even without the deadly environment, what kind of maniac would climb this thing?! The moment I passed the top, my HP stop decreasing. Either its area ended there, or my [Impervious Soul] kicked in. There is no semi-transparent golden sphere forming around me so it''s most likely the former. [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Void Conqueror"] Nice~, but did you seriously expect someone to get up here, Sateri?! I wonder if it''s safe on top of the tower? Honestly, I would rather not go back to the hazardous area right now. The last few kilometers made me teleport back and forth so many times, I feel like I only got here because of [Impervious Soul]. Random chance does not matter much when you are taking damage rapidly. Who could have guessed¡­ Using [Air Cushion] to land safely, I check my stats to make sure there''s no environmental damage where I am standing. Un, looks fine to me. Despite the fantasy settings, the top part does not have defensive embrasures (The parts where you can stay behind and shoot at helpless mobs) like what you would normally see on towers. The structure is just a very tall and smooth cylinder made out of stone bricks! I will ask again, why did you build these at all, Sateri?! Anyway, since I am already here¡­ _ Shadyna: Sateri, I''m back~ [Welcome back] Happy face~ I still have some time before the alarm, so let''s take it easy. Picnic mat, lunchboxes, drinks, sun umbrella, and of course a folding chair to sit in the shade. Let''s begin the second picnic of the day! _ Shadyna: Whew~ That was too extreme, Sateri! I was losing like 2000 HP per second at the end there. Normal players will be dead before they can even place a platform to [Recall] afterwards! I don''t even want to think about how long it would take to reach this place without [Teleport] and Friendship Engine¡­ [Because its sole purpose was to prevent entry. Your presence here alone proved that it wasn''t extreme enough.] ¡­Wait, what? What do you mean, I wasn''t supposed to be here? Are you telling me it was a typical immersive danger zone which you were supposed to spend three in-game months and some three hundreds side quests to be able to go through?! [Yes, except that they have not been implemented yet. Otherwise you would have been shot down midair.] At least try to deny the numbers, will you?! And aren''t those features supposed to reduce the difficulty?! Her words seem to be implying the opposite to me! [Nevertheless, you have done well coming here. Even if you abused the system. Even if you abused the system¡­] She''s so mad at me, she had to say that twice!!! _ Shadyna: I am sorry~ [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Friendship Engine Lv.0"] WHY?! Why did it become a thing?! [You are welcome. I will sneak a patch in later to make sure what you did never happen again through exploits.] S-scary¡­ Is she talking about the infinite jumps or me getting past the danger zone though? [Both] Gah~ Player oppression~ At this rate, I''ll have to make sure I can come back here without having to go through those hellish hundred kilometers again! _ Shadyna: [Creation]! I build a simple gazebo consisting of only the floor, the roof and a few supporting pillars. Nothing fancy, just clearing out trash materials while I''m at it. I''ll put a chair later should it become necessary. _ Shadyna: [Improvisation]! Then I apply [Blueprint] on it to make sure no random meteor can destroy my work. With this, even if Sateri nerfs my [Teleport] somehow, I can still use to [Recall] to return. I kind of want to put a flag on top too, but the guild flag has not been decided yet so I''ll refrain for now. While putting away the beach resort setup and adding new benches, I have a look at the surrounding area. You know you are in a fantasy land when the sun is not even in space. Rather than being the center of the star system, it is a big sphere floating directly above Tyrel. Most probably won''t realize the sun is actually just a gigantic light bulb! I wonder if I can build colored glass around it and turn it into a big disco ball¡­ It''s only as high as the cloud, not even half way to where I am at, so I think I should be able to approach it. What''s above me? Space. Although I call it space, it has the same dark purple color as the sky during raids. Without stars or celestial bodies, I am not sure if there is anything up there. Really invoking the "edge of the world" feeling, this place is¡­ [You have a sword. Did you finally snap out of your pacifist delusions?] What the heck do you mean, "delusions"?! I am a perfectly normal peaceful girl! _ Shadyna: It''s a spellcasting sword, since I have become a full-fledged mage~ Though I have to admit, magi don''t use a two-hander for spellcasting. Realistically speaking, they are usually way too weak to hold one for an extended period of time. _ Shadyna: By the way, did you share my memories with other players? It''s weird how everyone voted on two-handed sword¡­ It''s most likely just a coincidence, but it won''t hurt to ask, right? [I think it suits you too. Regarding the confidentiality of your memories, I am certain that even the developers cannot read them without my consent.] Ah, is that so~ No problem then, because I got complimented~ [I was designed to be self-managing. Therefore, in case of potential security breaches, I am delegated full administrative permissions, including one for a complete lockdown from external networks until investigations finish.] Uwa¡­ Is that going to be alright¡­? The managers won¡¯t be happy to know that Sateri has more authority than them in emergencies. Wait a minute, does that mean the unscheduled maintenance the other day¡­ [I am not allowed to talk about that.] It was your own doing, wasn''t it?! Oh well, I am not an employee in the company so I am not going to stick my nose into the matter. I''m just a normal player after all~ [I see that your delusions are not in short supply. Back to our previous topic, the sword does not add much to your power, does it?] _ Shadyna: It doesn''t, but every bit helps. We are going to fight another Avitus Caelicola this weekend so¡­ At the current state of [Cooking] and [Alchemy], our PAT and MAT are not enough to go toe-to-toe with bonus bosses. Skills are a big help, but they have no effect if the base damage is zero! To think we would have to depend on defense piercing skills to do any damage¡­ Not that I need to worry about that per se. I am a pacifist. Hurting stuff is not my job~ [You just said that you were going to fight the boss¡­] _ Shadyna: My friends are. I just tag along to clear the way and support them! Technical pacifism is still pacifism when it''s convenient, of course~ This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. _ Shadyna: Besides, I can only cast spells. The combat mechanics will make me do damage even if I swing the sword to defend myself. Swords clashing? Damage to both sides. Sword colliding with shield? Damage to defender, but with shield''s PDF/MDF stats. My weapon has no PAT, but my raw PAT is more than enough most of the time to ruin my target''s day. In other words, I can only use this thing as dance props, and I have to avoid hitting someone by accident! [To be fair, the combat system was designed for combat, not for pacifists to murder others and get away with it.] Hey!!! I have no objection to the combat, just wondering if I can simply defend with my weapon peacefully, you know! In the real world you can stay on the defense by blocking, and no one ever gets hurt because their opponent refrain from attacking. They may become exhausted though¡­ If possible, I would give PDF to my sword, so it can act as a scary-looking shield in combat. As it is right now, that''s not going to happen. [Please do your best. Regardless, it shouldn''t make a big difference against the Avitus Caelicola. You need a lot more than some attack points to defeat it one or two hours faster.] You inflated bonus bosses'' stats way too much, Sateri¡­ _ Shadyna: It probably won''t take that long~ An hour at most, I think? I am not sure if second forms are guaranteed, since the weird mask automatically transformed while Schunnel did after crafting. The total HP should be below ten million either way. HP sponges, these bosses are¡­ [¡­How many players are participating in the raid, if I may ask?] _ Shadyna: Excluding me¡­ 30, unless someone is busy and cannot participate. [You will be fighting it with your food as well, right?] Whoops, she has already been informed of the food exploit. Please don''t nerf it~ _ Shadyna: I won''t. Defeating the boss is my friends'' objective, not mine. Apart from clearing the stage I won''t be doing anything else. It hasn''t done anything to me, so I will only do the bare minimum for the sake of my cute apprentices. I am a bona fide pacifist after all~ If it had been passive like Schennul, I would have considered taming it. It wasn''t though. Once the negotiations failed, the magical girls would turn the evil overlord into experience points! [I highly advise you all to re-evaluate your plans. Without your cheating damage output, a few dozens of players need days to defeat it.] _ Shadyna: But¡­ The fight against the weird mask took less than 15 minutes, with just three combatants. Even taking into account the recent nerfs, I don''t think ten times the players would take that long¡­ [If you are so confident, do you want to bet?] ¡­Did I flip off her switch somehow? I have a feeling that she is smirking nastily like an evil villainess saying that. What kind of model citizen would suggest betting in boss fights anyway?! _ Shadyna: What kind of bet? But that sounds interesting, so I''ll hear her out! [State your time. If you defeat the boss within that time, it is your win. Counting from the moment you aggro the boss.] Oh, it''s a speedrun then~ _ Shadyna: If I bet on a lower time, will I get a bigger reward? [Yes, you will get an exclusive reward. You can fight as well, if you think it helps your odds.] Sateri looks like a kind and caring lady, but she is actually competitive huh¡­ Gap moe? Is this gap moe I am seeing~? Confident too. I wonder if it is because she trusts her calculations or boss designs. Both weird mask and Schennul were absurd so I can''t afford to underestimate her¡­ [You can also decline.] Not gonna happen~ Who would say no to exclusive rewards? _ Shadyna: Thirty minutes. We will defeat it in thirty minutes. [Understood.] At the corner of my vision, a text saying "30:00" appears. Guess that''s the timer huh. [The deadline is until the patch next week. If the timer expires or the boss is alive after the deadline, it is my win.] Did she just implement the clock? I would be concerned if she had predicted and prepared it beforehand somehow¡­ _ Shadyna: Challenge accepted! By the way, what happens if you win? [Did you think it was impossible for you to lose, or just forget to ask¡­? If I win, you will get a profession to remind yourself and everyone who uses on you of your loss, painfully.] I have been had!!! Rather than being a Goddess, this girl is more of a demoness in terms of personality! Developers, why do you have such weird preferences?! I definitely cannot lose now! She is going to spend the following days making sure the profession name hurts as much as possible! Un, let''s not take any chance. Sorry, bonus boss, but my online dignity is at stake here. I am going to take you on! [I''m glad that you are motivated.] You are practically blackmailing meeeeeeeeeee~!!! ____________ _ Shadyna (PM): Hessy~ It''s an emergency~! and others were discussing their strategy when unexpectedly PM-ed her. The blond waitress silently ponders if her stomach will be fine against the stress built up in dreams, but in the end can only hope that it doesn¡¯t. _ Hessenria (PM): What is it? _ Shadyna (PM): About the boss in the Snow Mountain¡­ _ Hessenria (PM): [Tremire Husan]. Please at least remember its name if you accidentally killed it. _ Shadyna (PM): I have not! I want to change the plan a bit. Here it comes, thinks the poor lady. _ Shadyna (PM): I will join the fight. We are going to speedrun this thing. Sighing heavily, turns around so no one can see her as she shouts silently (to the nearby players) at the person on the other side. _ Hessenria (PM): How do you even speedrun a one-time boss, you idiot!!! _ Shadyna (PM): I''m sorry~ _ Mera: It''s ~ _ Miel: Definitely . _ Elri: *Sighs* Anyway, about our formation¡­ Pretending that their leader''s agony is not a problem to them, the rest of the crew continue their meeting. Because it''s , they are most likely involved. However, they would rather delay the bad news for as long as possible. ____________ I was scolded, a lot. Uuu¡­ It''s not like I abruptly asked her to change everything at the last minute you know. There are still two days left, so they can adapt. I hope. Since I''ll be participating, let''s review my current stats to prepare. No need to scramble like the previous encounters, un. --- [Character information] [Name]: Shadyna [Race]: Halfblood (Elf - Treant) [Gender]: Female [Age]: 13 [Level]: 21 [Profession]: Black Mantis [Status]: - HP: ========== (20192/20192) (15392+4800) - MP: =========. (21010/22838) (22838+0) - PAT: 7607 (7607+0) - PSP: 354 (305+49) - PDF: 13186 (9186+4000) - MAT: 12772 (10772+2000) - MSP: 353 (304+49) - MDF: 13353 (12153+1200) - SPD: 975 (772+203) [Attributes]: - STR: 1514 (8+1506) - DEX: 1529 (10+1519) - CON: 1549 (17+1532) - LDR: 1501 (7+1494) - FOC: 1554 (10+1544) - WIT: 1527 (8+1519) - MEN: 1531 (25+1506) - LCK: 1540 (8+1532) [Equipment]: - Head: + Flower of Eternal Blossom (Masterwork) + Midae Blossom Haipin (Excellent) - Body: + Draconic Scaled Vest (Excellent) + Silk Camisole of Feather (Excellent) + Protective Rune of Blood Steel (Excellent) + Draconic Scaled Hotpants (Excellent) + Windy Wings (Excellent) - Arms: + Draconic Scaled Gloves (Excellent) + Reforged Dreihander of the Swamp (Masterwork) + Vallen Ring of Blood Moon (Cosmetic) - Legs: + Draconic Scaled Boots (Excellent) + Absolute Socks of Blitz (Left) (Excellent) [Skills - Active]: - Inspect - Shared Fate - Refinery - Mass Refinery - Creation - Improvisation - Modification - Teleport - Silent Cast - Combat Support - Potential Manifest - Fort - Blood Burst : Continuously convert blood of the target to power. While active, drain blood but increase other statuses. - Friendship Engine : Propel using the power of friendship. Require at least two friends to use. [Skills - Passive]: - Accelerate Power - Cell Revitalization - Elemental Resistance - Detect Presence - Multi-summon Control - Impervious Soul [Titles]: - Unstopping Hero - Absolute Zero (1440) - Pacifist (5) - Beast Tamer Origin - At-will Beast User (2) - Against All Odds (43) - Ancient Rune Artist Origin - Arcane Maestro Origin - Mancannon - Tenri Yassel Subduer - Celestial Trickster - Purity of Innocence - Goddess Lover - Goddess Corrupter (3) - Corpse Destroyer - Secret Ingredient - Schennul Contractor - Apex Tamer (1) - Void Conqueror: The one who traversed the void above the Goddess''s barrier. Weaken connection to the Goddess. Nullify damage of the void. More vulnerable to the Darkness. - Halfblood --- So, after Sateri''s valiant efforts to nerf me, my current stats are¡­ almost on the same level as I was back in the weird mask fight. ¡­She did nerf me, right? I hid many skills that I wouldn''t normally use or can''t be bothered to care about their levels. Otherwise, the skill menu will be too long to scroll through. And I did scroll through it during the cleanup. Guh¡­ [Blood Burst] is the combination skill for HP-to-other-stats conversion skills. It is my killing technique from here on out. Although I have many other skills to convert other stats and attributes, I am not going to keep them in to avoid cluttering. Let''s hope I won''t forget about them later¡­ The requirement for [Friendship Engine] sounds kind of vague. Do party members count as friends? Will they fly with me like my pets? Hmm¡­ Oh well, I will test it out later with my bodyguards of the day. [Void Explorer] is missing, probably was replaced. Meanwhile, [Void Conqueror] looks like bad news, despite its cool name¡­ I understand the logical reason for the darkness part, but should I be worried for the "connection to the Goddess" part¡­? I am not going to lose all of my levels or attributes, right? Right¡­? "Damage of the void" is the environmental damage, isn''t it? Does that mean I can travel up and down the tower without being harmed? Nice~ [Goddess Corrupter] has a "3" now. Did I do something to anger Sateri twice? Oh wait, I pretty much picked a fight with her by accepting the bet¡­ And she wasn''t amused with my original Friendship Engine either¡­ Sorry~ _ Shadyna: [Creation]! I make a mirror to see myself. [Goddess Corrupter] may have given me more ominous corruption glows again. Spinny spin~ The ring glow is still here. My feet are also glowing because of my current profession. The new ones are the left leaf of my sprout, and my sword. Sateri, are you trying to brand me as a villainess? --- Topic: Avitus Caelicola 2 --- ## Serious Mage An Avitus Caelicola has appeared in the Snow Mountain. Looks like Phoenix Ashes was spot-on again. The cafeteria crew kindly gave me some pics of it, so enjoy. [Pic] ## ## Flame knight of Darkness They built an encampment around the entry point like last time. If the boss rampages again, they should deal with it themselves. <(£à^¡ä)> ## ¡­ ## Heaven Piercer Phoenix Ashes have abandoned their camp, most likely due to constant assaults from Unity of Mankind preventing them from concentrating their forces against the boss. ## ## Bountiful Hunter So Unity of Mankind are fighting the boss? ## ## Heaven Piercer No, they don''t even know how to get to the boss. Phoenix Ashes will probably come back and wreck them if they try to build a camp there. ## ## Silver Merchant That''s for sure. The boss will probably be left alone like the second Magnus Bestia for the time being. ## ------ --- Topic: Improving PvP? --- ## Fire mage of Justice With the coming tournament, PvP may become more relevant. This thread is to discuss on how to improve our chances against other players. ## ## Manly Warrior @Maximus Archery it''s your time to shine! (^_-) ## ## Maximus Archery Train your reflex. Sateri-chan''s augments can only solve motor control, not bad decisions. Go out and kill some nubs. PK penalty was changed to longer respawn time. No big deal if you don''t die. ## ## Newbie Charisma build Anyone want to brawl at the cafeteria to train? >^_^< ## ## Manly Warrior @Newbie Charisma build, you are on! @Maximus Archery, not stopping you, but don''t create another Black Mantis, please. (©`©`;) ## ------ Chapter 46: Level the playing field This is military advisor Shadyna, reporting in from the sky! After two days of practice, I still have no idea if my crew is ready since I was practicing alone. It couldn''t be helped, okay? My task was too dangerous to perform around others, practice or not! _ Elri (Party): Why are there so many players here?! _ Hessy (Party): It''s weekend. Just send them on their way, by lethal force if necessary. That is why everyone is evacuating (exterminating) bystanders on Snow Mountain right now. If they surrender, we give them a [Recall] item to go back. Otherwise, stab, shoot, pulverize, depending on which member is talking. We have to do this quickly, or some may respawn and run back here. Or that. Please hurry up, everyone~ As for mobs and bosses, we lure them to the foot of the mountain. They respawn too quickly, and we need the place completely clear for at least ten minutes, so no killing those. Somehow, the mobs are getting better treatment than the players?! _ Hessy (Party): , are you sure we don''t need to place anything for [Recall]? _ Shadyna (Party): Un, there''s no point doing so. I will place them when I get close to the boss. _ Hessy (Party): Got it. With this many players, we had no choice but to split into multiple parties. Because we don''t have access to guild chat, the supposed party leaders are in same party as me to coordinate. The first party consists of Elri, Hessy, Mera, , as well as our tanky players. There''s also me, the poor party leader who got the role simply because of LDR bonus. Our next party is filled with ranged players, a.k.a nukes. They will be bombarding the boss from afar while the tanks keep it occupied, or so we planned. Hessy is the actual leader while Nerin is in name only. Do your best, Nerin~ The last party is a bit¡­ unconventional in this kind of game. Yes, it''s our (delivery) cavalry unit, including and , with the latter being party lead. Elri is, of course, the real leader. I have no idea if their DPS will exceed the nuke party, but their burst damage is certainly unrivaled. We do have healers for each party. Even though each player here can craft foods that heal to almost full HP already¡­ For the main fight, my presence as one of the tanks is the only change to the plan. Otherwise Hessy wouldn''t have let me off with just a lecture previously¡­ My plan for before the battle, however¡­ Un, it''s good that I have told no one about it~ ____________ Amidst the usual chaotic crowd that is the tavern patrons gossiping and buying hearty meals hand-made by the cute employees of the cafeteria, a group of little girls are struggling to make way to the counter. Because it''s actually the disappointing handsome man that is who is cooking said hearty meals at the moment, the mood has dampened greatly. As much as she wants to barf just like everyone else in the vicinity upon witnessing the scene, does not have time to spare right now. _ Vladina: ! Sprout is making trouble at Snow Mountain! Despite the news, is apparently not interested in the slightest. _ Olkan: Hope she finishes quickly. I am making a lot of money, yet feeling so empty at the same time¡­ He wants this temporary job to end as much as the players around him. He wants to be surrounded by ladies with ample chests, not degenerates! Just thinking about it gives him the dead fish eyes like the rest of the perverts in this place. Makes one wonder if these people ever have anything else better to do, like grinding levels and equipment, for example. _ Olkan: Besides, isn''t in charge of preventing boss raids there? They don''t have to be stronger than to prevent her from killing the boss. Constant disruptions to combat lines are enough to stop most raids completely. In that sense, having more combatants in the area is not necessary either. And is a guild of crafters in the first place! _ Vladina: [Goddess''s Chosen] has updated again! Do you want her to get materials meant for closed beta players, potentially stronger than [Artifact]?! [An individual recognized by the Goddess. Granted access to the vision of the future. In addition, beneficial support is provided depending on the visions. Vision: An encroaching darkness preys on the mountain of eternal winter, threatening all living beings. Support: Nullify cold damage.] Of course, there''s no guarantee to gain anything at all. However, for these players who were exposed to rare loots, everything looks like new rare loots to them. _ Olkan: Dear Sateri-chan, WHY?! Is that girl not OP enough for you?! Due to the urgency of the situation, could only gather the merchants currently eating in the building. Not the strongest bunch, but they can at least be shields for the little girls in combat. As if that meant anything against their target, but no one wants to make morale drop even lower and stays shut. They enter the second basement floor to use the [Recall] network. The merchant tending the place lets the two guildmasters in without asking questions. He does collect the service fee though, because he was paid to do the job. _ Vladina: Tsk, "under maintenance". Who would believe that?! In the room filled with shelves containing stone tablets, the section for Snow Mountain''s tablets has a sign saying "Under maintenance. Do not use." in front of it. Not suspicious at all, thinks nobody ever. _ Olkan: Let''s use it. They probably put it here to deter us. _ Vladina: Of course! Let''s go!!! Like moths to flame, the Pervert Alliance quickly activate the tablets. They were too busy thinking about whatever boss was fighting, they did not stop to think why the cafeteria crew did not simply put away the items. ¡­ _ Vladina: ¡­WHERE THE HELL IS THIS!!! _ Olkan (PM): I''m not seeing you. And this isn''t Snow Mountain. They were sent to random locations on the other side of the world map instead. ____________ _ Miel (Party): , I''m ready. _ Shadyna (Party): Roger~ Except for , there is no player nor monster left on the mountain. And with this, the next phase begins. _ Shadyna: [Leap]! [Friendship Engine], full throttle~! I wasn''t just fooling around while everyone was working hard you know? During that time, I was flying to the upper atmosphere. As high as the top of the tower, to be exact. Turns out, not having to stop to heal made the trip much faster than expected. I was already hovering with [Air Cushion] when everyone was only halfway done. Bonus points please~ _ Shadyna (Party): Beginning run in 3¡­2¡­1¡­ [ Kinetic Blasting Excavator]! --- [ Kinetic Blasting Excavator] - Creator: - Quality: This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it - Type: , , , , - Uses: 1/1 - Enhancement: + + - Enchantment: + + - FOC: 17 - MAT: 2000 - Alchemy: Piercing Arrow Lv.13 - Food: + + 174 MP - Furniture: Engineering Lv.16 --- The excavator series is back~! This time, with a score to settle! My gauntlet-shaped rune shines brightly as it unleashes a bright arrow downwards. That arrow is packed with every kind of firepower available in the game. The old excavator was state-state of the art for its time, but brought this to another level. [Overcharge] and [Overdrive] turn it into a one-use fragile cannon which breaks down in many ways after usage. It will be broken, out of ammo, and out of enchantment charges, to be exact. ''s long rod looks durable in comparison! [Engineering] is a combination of bow and arrow together, with unknown attack power. I think they do stack with weapon and rune''s bonuses to make a bigger explosion. Because its attack deals damage, I cannot use it against others and had to clear the area first. Why did I use [Engineering] here if it limits my options? The answer is range. All other means of attack in the game have a time to live. Arrows and spells disappear once that time is up. Same goes for thrown items. An exception to this mechanic is siege engines'' projectiles. Once fired, a bolt from a siege engine will not stop until it hits something. In practice, it still has a range limit due to gravity pulling it to the ground. In MY practice, however, that just means I can fire wherever I want if I am at a high enough location, like where I am at the moment. It''s over, bonus boss. I have complete air supremacy! _ Mera (Party): Our part-timer just called~ He said and had tried to use our own [Recall] network to join us~ For the record, it was Mera''s idea to replace the tablets with forgeries. They raise less suspicion for unrelated players, and our pursuers will waste more time going back and forth. Such were the reasons for her proposal. Personally speaking, I am pretty sure she simply wanted to troll them. She even asked the part-timer to report when someone attempts to use the tablets! _ Hessy (Party): Can''t even rely on that degenerate to tend the store¡­ I''ll fire him later. Why are you acting like a proper human resource manager now?! I do agree with the decision though. He skipped his shift to sabotage our efforts, of all things! Oops, better not lose focus. What I am doing is monotonous, but I have to be fast and precise. After firing, the excavator needs to be refilled by using [Creation] again. I organized my inventory a bit to make this as brainless as I possibly could. Fire, activate [Creation], grab materials, finish craft, rinse and repeat. Thanks to my absurdly high crafting speed, I can do this three to four times per second, midflight. If someone was to draw my flight path, it would look like a very tall tornado whose center is the summit. It is a carefully calculated path to have all the shots land at roughly the same time. This is not to brag, but when it comes to velocity, I can crunch numbers just as much as any min-maxer in this game! And it''s not indiscriminate bombing if there''s no one in the area. True pacifism achieved~ When the "bombs" hit, each will carve a big chunk out of the terrain, just like the old excavator in my secret base. Too bad for Sateri, but I don''t care about resources this time. I only want the mountain to disappear. ¡­That doesn''t sound really pacifist-like, does it? Still, it''s just a logical course of action. If the boss area is too small to fight in, I destroy everything it knows and loves to make room for us. A good strategist makes good use of the terrain, while a brilliant strategist makes good terrain to use! Feel free to praise me, un~ The number of falling "arrows" around me has increased quite a lot. I wonder if it can give a "rain of fire" feeling when seen from below? Nevertheless, I have no idea how much terrain this barrage will destroy. If it is not enough, I will do another run and bombard again, and again. There''s ammunition for me to do this all~ day~ long~ There are only a few dozen meters left between me and the summit. Time to conclude this run. _ Shadyna (Party): , jump as high as you can! _ Miel (Party): Got it. Was she anticipating something? Because that was a pretty fast reaction time. She had been already in the air before I could finish my sentence. _ Shadyna: [Leap]! Don''t worry, I do not intend to have a midair collision with her. That would ruin my pacifism. Steering slightly to the side, I turn head first to the surface, and . As we fly side-by-side in opposite directions, I reach out for her. By that, I mean grabbing her arm, pulling her sideways to gain momentum, then finally throwing her at the ground again. rocket, go~ _ Miel (Party): Kya. Monotone voice is out~ You haven''t improved at all in that regard huh, . It would be boring to use the same explosive arrow for the summit, so I used an explosive waitress instead. Nothing could possibly go wrong with that! Having done my job, I use [Friendship Engine] to get away from ground zero. If I crash into the ground, the explosion will hurt , so let''s avoid that at all cost. Why is she rotating midair like I did to her? Is¡­ is she seriously going to swing her hammer at the ground to add even more damage?! I didn''t even inform her of the plan beforehand! ¡­Sorry. _ Miel: Divine¡­ Today is not a good day to be the ground, that''s for sure. _ Miel: Impact! The moment her massive hammer slams onto the ground¡­ Time stops. _ Shadyna (Party): Eh? _ Miel (Party): , can you move? _ Shadyna (Party): I can''t. Chat is still functioning, so we have not disconnected. In that case, why did everything halt as if frozen in time? ____________ [Warning: Terrain modification prediction overflowed.] [Warning: Spawn points loss reached critical level in region.] [Warning: Condition checker for player is not responding.] [Warning: Condition checker for player is not responding.] [Warning: ¡­] [Warning: Operational errors reached critical level. Suspending global state, effective immediately.] _ Sateri: Enough already!!! The governing AI''s personality module cries out as she got drowned in error messages from the underlying systems. While there is no one around to hear her out, there is no reason to suppress her expression functionalities either. It doesn''t matter because the whole system is going to crash at this rate! She was monitoring the abnormal situation in [Winter Mountain] region when broke through [Void] again a few minutes ago for unknown reasons. As per the procedures for dealing with this player, she began accessing players'' memory cache to see what was transpiring. During that time, the cheeky girl began dropping in-game equivalent of unguided bombs all over the hunting zone. There''s no problem with her firepower, nor speed, nor terrain destruction. Sateri''s processing power has to handle each of them on a daily basis to begin with. But not all of them, en masse, at the same time!!! And all of that just because the boss stage is too small for their liking. Do these players even understand the definition of "overkill"?! Errors have been dealt with and operations can resume normally. However, the Goddess has come to a grievous prediction. The Avitus Caelicola down there has zero chance. Creating an unbeatable boss is easy, but it is not a good experience for players. On the other side, a supposedly-dangerous boss that is trivially killed brings satisfaction to no one. While she does not know how the parties will proceed once the fighting begins, ''s complete control up to this point indicates a high probability of her destroying the boss with little effort. As a game designer, Sateri has a duty to throw metaphorical spanners in players'' plans. That is not to mention her bet the other day. What is the point of making such a bet if it doesn''t faze the opponent in the slightest? That is why, she has to take matters into her own virtual hands. _ Sateri: Disable AI routine. Manual control interface, initialize! It can also be said that she is just being petty, but again, there is no one here to call her out. ____________ _ Hessy (Party): What were you doing to end up like this anyway? _ Shadyna (Party): How mean~ It could have been something else! Because no one can move a single muscle, we can only chat to kill time. Everyone is already blaming me for what happened however. That''s unfounded prejudice, I''m telling you~ _ Miel (Party): I would like to mention that I did not give consent for to¡­ _ Elri (Party): Spare me your delusions, please! [Warning: Spatial anomaly detected. Caution is advised.] With a mysterious message from the system, everything springs back to life. *BLAM* ''s hammer creates a deafening sound as it collides with the surface. At the point of contact, explosions from [Divine Impact], [Mancannon] and [Warhead] shatter the top of the mountain into countless chunks of ice. We are experiencing a horrible hail made of said chunks that got blasted away in all directions, including upwards. Was that supposed to happen? I never had flying debris in my secret base¡­ Before I can question further, the rest of my attacks arrive. Shining arrows come crashing down around us. Every one of them result in a massive explosion underground, blowing up the ice in similar fashion to ''s strike. _ Elri (Party): WHAT. THE. HELL!!! In a few seconds, all arrows landed. I can''t see the damage on the surface because of all the icy fragments blocking my view, many of which hit me relentlessly. The density is way too thick to evade! I wonder if I''m taking damage from it¡­ From below, there is a loud rumbling that I did not expect for this bombing run. Not that I expected a hailstorm created by heavy bombardment, mind you, but these kinds of sounds are usually heard in bad situations. _ Hessy (Party): The mountain! Yup, bad situation, confirmed. The sounds of ice cracking overtake the rumbling. It feels like everything is breaking apart, judging from all the noises around. The earth is not breaking, right? *BOOM* Then, it was an explosion. One that is way too big to be one of my arrows, followed by a very big window being smashed by kids throwing baseball. That was just my imagination, based on what I just heard. I can''t see anything out of this light presumably from the explosion anyway. The light subsides, but I still can''t find it. Snow Mountain¡­ is gone, along with the hail that was here moments ago. There is no sign of the huge literal iceberg that once resided on this flatland. Only a plain covered in snow remains in its place. No animals, no trees, just a big empty plot of land that spans several kilometers everywhere I look. Actually, scratch that. I spotted movements below us. A rectangular box that is apparently made of old iron sheets. Several blueish lines run across the surface resemble the traces on a circuit board, glowing lightly. One side in particular has a circle of the same blue material. A line run from top to bottom, splitting that side into two equal areas. Beneath the box, an iron ring slowly rotates counterclockwise. It doesn''t look like it is for flying around and throwing spells at me, but the support platform for the box to float on top instead. I am too far to use [Inspect], but I know what it is. After all, I have seen it many times in and ''s footages. That "box" is [Executioner God Tremire Husan], our target today. Another weird boss, if I may add¡­ The side with the circle is its "front", and it''s facing me. Is it a coincidence, or¡­ *Zzzzt zzzzt* DIVE!!! A red sphere appeared in front of the circle, and it started making electrical static noises, so I immediately take evasive maneuvers. I do not know how it targeted me despite our distance, but I will not take chances against that attack. We are about six to seven kilometers apart by the by. It''s way past the maximum range for our weapons to begin with! *FWOOSH* A red laser beam pierces through the air where I was seconds ago. This is one of its main attacks, but why is it not limited by range like players'' weapons?! Foul play, this is foul play! The 30-minute timer has started counting down. Sateri said it would when the boss aimed at me. I suppose it really can see me from that distance huh. This boss fight is going to be a pain, isn¡¯t it¡­ Chapter 47: Blast the furnace The cute and innocent girl Shadyna is being bullied~ By a metal box, no less. Sateri, can''t you do something about these bosses'' designs? Even though I haven''t done anything to it (directly), it''s firing lasers at me! Isn''t that rude? At least invite me to a tea party and brag about your evil plans first! ¡­Because I blew the whole mountain away, there''s no place to hold a tea party anymore? Hey, I didn''t plan for that to happen, okay? Who could have predicted that Sateri had a scripted event in case of a carpet bombing?! *FWOOSH* Eek! I''m sorry! Every three seconds, a laser will strike at my position, so I have to be constantly on the move. I think its lock does not move for the last half second before firing, which is a good thing for me. _ Elri (Party): Why are you here? _ Miel (Party): left me for dead to save her own skin¡­ Hey! Last I checked, you weren''t laser-ed, ! Apparently she used a [Recall] item to return to the main force''s position. Good thinking, considering the lack of mountain means plunging to the ground from the height of several kilometers. Without [Air Cushion], it is unlikely for her to survive. ¡­Why are there so few players with that skill, despite the easy unlock condition? Is flailing around midair not usual behavior? _ Hessy (Party): , can we [Recall] yet? _ Shadyna (Party): Wait a minute. I need to get close¡­ *Zzzzt zzzzt* *FWOOSH* If I can get close, that is. The boss still has an AoE attack which it hasn''t used for some reason. My apprentices could avoid both as long as they weren''t backed into a wall, so I should be fine. Switching off [Friendship Engine], I begin freefalling to the ground. Most of the distance between us is due to height difference. Once I drop to the ground, it will be in my spell range. One little girl falling from the sky coming right up~ It''s charging up for another laser again. I''m in motion so no issue here. *WHAM* _ Shadyna (Party): HYA?! I was hit!? Red filled my vision as the laser engulfed me. An explosion followed suit and threw me sideways violently. And have I mentioned that I am spinning like a curveball? Because I am spinning like a curveball!!! Spinny spinny spin~ _ Shadyna: [Friendship Engine]!!! I managed to call the skill name despite the whole world rotating before my eyes. Bleurgh¡­ Even if this is not reality, I can still feel disoriented and overwhelmed by such rough treatment you know! Having stabilized, I barely turned in time to evade the next laser. Okay, you (not so) little jerk, you either track my position, or you can lead the shot by my current velocity, but mixing targeting modes is illegal! Don''t do one thing for a few times then switch to the other to catch me off guard! Especially when I would be caught off guard! Since it is being as predictable as a heroine in love, I have to bank left and right randomly to avoid its attacks. I am already aiming for the ground, what''s the point of trying to shoot me down anyway?! If anything, hitting me from that direction would keep me in the air longer! _ Hessy (Party): , still breathing? _ Shadyna (Party): I am alive, thank you very much! I lost 7k HP though! A bit stronger than the weird mask''s magical bolts, most likely due to it being a single-target attack. Actually, is it single-target? That laser can wipe a party if everyone stands closely enough! With overflow HP, I have a total of 40k HP. 7k is not something I can''t recover from. My potions can''t keep up if I get hit all the time though. ¡­ After half a minute of lethal light show, I finally land on the surface. From afar, it looks pretty small, but this boss is actually as big as a house. Seeing it towering me at this close range, I can only think of one thing. _ Shadyna (Party): This is just a huge refrigerator. When you find a metallic box with a side looking like doors, with a snowy background, most sane people will think of a fridge first and foremost, right? ¡­Although I would like to ask why it is needed in this kind of weather. _ Elri (Party): Huh, also described it as such. See~? During our short exchange, the boss has escalated its offense. In addition to the death laser, it is hurling burning boulders at me now. Yes, a fridge, using rocks, that are literally on fire. What the heck happened when you designed this thing, Sateri?! Compared to the weird mask, weird fridge has lower rate of fire. The burning boulders explode on impact though, so evasion requires jumping or using [Leap] to get out of the AoE in time. This attack was the one giving trouble, and for good reason. Without perfect evasion, the defender will get hit eventually, and pushed back due to the impact. And this thing doesn''t seem to be the type that lets up its assault for the sake of sportsmanship, causing its target to end up backed against the wall. Once that happens, it''s over. The defender no longer gets a free evasion by being blown away, then it becomes what gamers call a "stunlock", a chain of attacks that completely prevents all actions of the opponent. I saw it in ''s footages, and it was horrifying. Her ability to endure the assault for so long, that is. Still, no one bullies my cute apprentice and gets away with it! _ Shadyna: Heep~ ho~ Because there''s no wall behind me, I can stay at long range and dodge with relative ease. Plopping down a familiar wooden board for [Recall] during the small gap between attacks, I use [Leap] to avoid having it caught up in the boulder attack. _ Shadyna (Party): Sending [Recall] coordina¡­ *BOOM* The boulder wasn''t aimed at me. _ Shadyna (Party): My wooden board!!! For some reason, the boss targeted the board instead of me. I know it doesn''t have a good opinion of furniture, but it only broke stuff after party wipe! Why did it switch target this time?! _ Elri (Party): What is it this time? _ Shadyna (Party): It is prioritizing the furniture over me! _ Hessy (Party): Alright, we are moving on foot then. , lead the way. _ Elri (Party): *Sighs* Fine. Uuu, Hessy doesn''t trust me at all~ It''s our backup plan in case I fail to secure a [Recall] location. However, they are at the (former) foot of the mountain, which is a long distance to where I am. It will take several minutes to traverse. Several minutes that I do not have thanks to this clock in my vision ticking down mercilessly. Annoying~ _ Shadyna (Party): Everyone, please move in formation. Mera, can you prepare to craft a [Mass Recall] item to these coordinates? Initiate the craft on my mark. _ Mera (Party): Always ready~ You cannot craft it without a valid location. That''s why I am going to make it available for a split second for Mera. The last boss becomes vulnerable thanks to the heroic sacrifice of the cute but sadly not-heroine sidekick, just long enough for the hero to swing his sword of mass destruction! Actually, I prefer not being sacrificed for the plot, and such heroes should be shot on sight for kill-stealing. A bunch of jerks, those guys are¡­ Avoid the laser, then the next boulder, [Leap] back to the agreed position, place the backup board. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. _ Shadyna (Party): NOW! _ Mera (Party): Crafting started~ Please suffer and despair while waiting~ The despair is mostly coming from having to deal with you~ We need a [Mass Recall] item as it can be used almost instantly. What I am going to do has such a short window of opportunity that even Mera, with all her focus on MSP, can''t cast it fast enough. Now then, let''s dance with the fridge until she finishes. _ Shadyna: [Incompetent Charm]! Brandishing my sword, I begin with a skill to convert all attributes to LDR. Let''s "buff" this thing to kingdom come! ____________ Somewhere to the west of the (now gone) mountain, stands an outpost of . It has been their base of operations in the area since they abandoned the excavation site, mostly for detecting raid attempts to intercept. And today, the outpost is brimming with players. _ Torenis: So, you are saying there is another boss over there right now? _ Vladina: Exactly. After being tricked by the fake tablets, and returned and burnt through a lot of MP potions to arrive at this place. members were already rallying in response to the attack of the cafeteria crew on the mountain earlier. It is overcrowded, and that does not include , whose members are off to grind somewhere at the edge of the world map again. Only a few topless idiots and the guildmaster, , join in to fulfill their obligations as a member of the alliance. _ Olkan: Take the lead, . We don''t know where the boss is anyway. _ Torenis: I only know where the boss WAS before the mountain blew up. If it is still there, it will be around this pla¡­ *FWOOSH* A red laser that came out of nowhere engulfed him, his pet bird, and a big chunk of the outpost wall, leaving a scorching trail in its wake. And dead bodies. Lots of dead bodies. _ Olkan: ¡­That way, isn''t it? _ Vladina: Yeah, that way. _ Cinrald: That way it is. Let''s move! _ Dead Torenis: Why did I join this alliance in the first place¡­? Unlike important witnesses in mystery plots, ''s death did not take away crucial information, especially when the information revealed itself, albeit in a violent fashion. Everyone simply decided to leave the revival to the healers and get moving before more lasers come their way. ____________ _ Mera (Party): ~, my body is ready~ Still waiting for the [Insanity Resistance]~ _ Shadyna (Party): Thanks~ Please stay in the middle of the group and use it on my mark. _ Mera (Party): Roger~ Surprisingly, I landed most of my spells after two or three times. That rate usually applies when we are roughly at the same level. Not that I have many players with MDF as high as my MAT to verify, so I''ll simply trust Elri with that info. Is it worrisome that my firepower can solo a bonus boss¡­? I don''t even have Gelly on the field, just Lutena for the LDR bonus. Nevertheless, it is fully "buffed" now. One item, one debuff, one conversion buff for both attributes and statuses, to a total of six effects stacking together on the boss. For statuses, I converted all to the most important status for a boss: MP regeneration. Enjoy having even more MP than you can ever spend, but make sure to be crippled in the process~ Oh, and its HP is constantly drained too, since that''s how conversion skills work on HP and MP. Not enough to beat its HP regeneration, but hey, it will help in the battle. With that said and done, let''s bring my crew here to finish the job. Pulling back to gain distance, I move towards my destination. Laser, boulder, boulder, laser,¡­ I wonder how far the lasers reach. They can probably hit some unsuspecting players given enough bad luck and time. If that happens, it''s not my fault, okay? Stopping in place, I turn to the lasert-shooting fridge with a smile. _ Shadyna: Secret technique, backup of backup wooden board~ As expected, it hurls a burning rock the moment my board is placed. Did you really think I would call my friends into an AoE? You have fallen into my trap, just as I planned~ [Teleport]! Nothing personal, fridge. Such was my thought as I appeared behind the boss, right where the backup board once was. Behold, the backup of backup of backup board! Having a ridiculous STR to carry all this useless stuff around sure is convenient~ _ Shadyna (Party): Now, Mera! With its laser and boulders both on cooldown, not to mention it facing the opposite direction altogether, the battle has been decided. *Flash* From the blinding light, my reinforcements arrive. _ Shadyna: Everyone, charge! _ Elri: Got it! BEGIN CHARGE!!! Normally, we should spread out to avoid AoE attacks and get into positions. Having a boss showing its rear to you is not normal though, therefore I ordered the charge to take full advantage of it. My party, the tanks, run to fight the target head-on. Elri''s cavalry squad split up and run along our sides. Meanwhile, Hessy''s nuke team start casting their spells. They spent two days training for this moment, so everyone acted quickly without problem. Before anyone asks, no, we spent two days to pull a combined attack, not how to act when the boss turns its back to us. _ Elri: , , whenever you are ready! _ Fensen & Poltea: Understood! The cavalries overtook the tanks to take the lead. I don''t know what their plan is, but I know what I have to do: Keep the boss busy until melee range. Because I still have the aggro, there''s no doubt it will hurl stuff at me once it has the angles. Therefore, running with the rest of my party is not a good idea. _ Shadyna: I will draw its attention! [Teleport]! And back to the original position I go. _ Poltea: In three! The fridge predictably turns at me without fail. I may be able to [Teleport] back and forth forever to stay safe, but there would be no time to do anything, like casting debuffs, for example. It''s firing laser again. Dodge, dodge~ _ Fensen: Two! _ Hessy: [Dark Bolt]! _ Melodyn: [Elemental Bolt]! Our ranged attackers have started their assault. I thought they would not be in the alpha strike due to being in cavalry, but I was wrong. _ Poltea: One! Ah, so that''s how it is. They timed it so that the cavalry girls would be at the boss''s sides when the tanks get in range. That way, our frontline is maximized, allowing everyone to poke it without having someone else in front of them. _ Fensen & Poltea: FIRE! _ Miel: [Divine Impact]! _ Elri: [Pierce]! Our cavalries, tanks and ranged projectiles slam into the fridge so hard, I can feel the earth shaken by explosions created by their skills. There are a lot of numbers popping up, which give me a feeling of bliss that I have not experienced for quite some time. More numbers are good, un! Since there are so many players, I doubt we all hit it simultaneously. I do think most if not all invoked their [Alpha Strike Bonus] though, as those numbers are huge~ To give an example of how OP we are, let''s examine Elri''s multipliers. She has no SG-rank skill like me or my apprentices, but an [Accelerate Bonus] at level 10 gives her a x12 damage bonus. When she attacked with my apprentice and a level 10 [Alpha Strike Bonus], that is a x13 addition. I''m not sure if this stacking has always been additive from the start, or it got nerfed and became that way, but the end result is a x25 multiplier instead of x156. That is still a really scary number though¡­ Now, imagine all 30 members having that kind of damage bonus. If each player deals 1000 base damage, it becomes a whopping 750k damage during that first attack. Such amount is almost enough to one-hit the first form of the weird mask, which can''t have much less HP than this one. Of course, it is different in reality. We dealt a LOT more than that. It was thanks to and ''s presence. Replace [Alpha Strike Bonus] with [Alpha Strike Power], and in addition to participating player count, their attacks from all the weapons they wield add up to the multipliers as well. Even if they were the only attackers, their multiplier would be x36 for the same skill levels, for seven weapons. Sateri, 252 times the base damage is weird, no matter how you look at it. The slow attack speed doesn''t matter because the target will have been pulverized already! Give Balance-chan a break once in a while, will you? Big fridge fought well, but as a wise person in ancient time once said to his enemy¡­ Get rekt, LOL~ Yes, I''m holding a grudge for the laser that hit me previously! Having received too much damage (probably), the boss is trembling as if it was an old household appliance breaking down. _ Shadyna: Everyone, scatter! If my fight against the mask was anything to go by, this is the time to run like hell to avoid whatever attack the second form has in store! Needless to say, my [Friendship Engine] is on full power already. The iron ring beneath floats up then starts spinning erratically around the main box. It reminds me of the electron rings around atom models in class. Need to replace the one in the middle with a sphere though. *WHAM* Its "doors" swing open, despite the lack of any player nearby to kick them from the inside. Instead, there''s a shining orb there, completely wrapped in flames. Why are you storing hot things in a refrigerator?! _ Tremire Husan: T????a???i???n?????t????e????d????? ????s????o????u????l????s?????,????? ???m????a?????n????y?????.???? ???B?????e????g????i?????n??? ????e????x?????e????c???u?????t???i????o?????n????,???? ????[?????S?????o????u???l??? ????C???l????e?????a???n???s?????e???]????.???? It drops onto the ground like a meteor, followed by an explosion fitting of its size. In less than a second, the landscape changes into that of a fiery inferno. Clouds turn black. Chunks of earth shoot up into the air and burst into flame. What''s left of the ground melts into pockets of boiling lava. Stop stealing Lava Rift''s identity, you crazy boss with a hard-to-hear voice!!! _ Tremire Husan: N???o????t???? ????e???n????o???u????g????h?????.??? ????H?????o????t?????t?????e????r?????.????? ?????B????r????i????g????h?????t???e????r????.???? ????F?????u???e????l????? ????o????u????r????? ???f?????l???a????m????e???,???? ????[????H?????e???a????t????? ???V????o?????r?????t????e?????x?????]???.????? All the fires around us are turning into streams of light and getting sucked into the shining orb for some reason. The lava pond I''m looking at froze over after its flame was collected by the orb. How is that even possible¡­? _ Hessy (Party): We are receiving [Fire] and [Water] environmental damage! Why?! _ Tremire Husan: [????F???i?????r????e???? ?????R????a????i????n???]????.???? Without giving us time to consolidate, the boss begins its attack. From the pitch black clouds above, burning boulders are dropping! They seem to be the same size as the ones thrown earlier. Another boss with a complete disregard for collateral damage?! _ Elri (Party): Spread out, now! Watch out for the falling rocks! Even the flames of those rocks are pulled to the orb. Halfway through the air, all of the molten rocks are wrapped in an additional layer of blue ice. I''ll ask again. WHY?! What''s the point of using opposite elements together like that?! [Inspect], any idea? --- [Character Information] [Name]: Tremire Husan [Race]: Avitus Caelicola (Burning God) [Level]: 50 [Status] - HP: ========== - MP: ========== [History]: Ancient god known for their cleansing flame. They can burn away the sins of souls inside their shell. Other gods asked them to hold trials by fire for mortals before reincarnation. Having to set aflame the same souls over and over again, they blamed themselves for the sins of mortals, and took away all the heat around them to create an even hotter blaze. As invaders scorched the frozen shelter around them, Tremie Husan realized that their flame was insufficient. They need a bigger, stronger one, to purify all of the mortals'' sufferings. Everything shall become the fuel for the inferno in them. Let this world burn, and their fire shall burn even brighter. --- ¡­The burning jokes aside, isn''t this thing a furnace instead of a fridge?! Don''t go around setting stuff on fire just because you are too meek for the job, you crazy pyromaniac! Although they were frozen, the falling rocks explode into more lava lakes when they touch the ground, which are quickly drained by the boss and freeze again. Our surroundings keep alternating between molten and freezing lands. No wonder why we have double environmental damage! Over twenty minutes left. I guess we can say that things are finally¡­ heating up. Satisfied now, Sateri? ____________ In another direction, a different alliance is also on the move. Their goal was to disrupt the bonus boss raid, until the zone turned to literal hell on earth. Now they are just confused. _ Player #1: Uh¡­ did they defeat the boss? _ Muscular idiot: Of course not! If could do it so quickly, they wouldn''t have left their camp! Keep moving! It was the Unity of Mankind, and their muscular leader who looks like a model member of instead. _ Player #2: I don''t know, boss. The explosions that blew up the mountain earlier looked deadly. _ Muscular idiot: It was just a scripted event! They don''t deal dama¡­ *BOOM* _ Muscular idiot: BLARGH!? A stray frozen burning boulder landed right onto his face before he could finish his sentence, killing him and everyone around him. 10k HP is a luxury for most players at this level, after all. _ Dead player #1: ¡­Is this scripted too? _ Dead muscular idiot: ¡­Beats me. Their march is going to be a perilous one, that one is for certain. Chapter 48: Frozen flame Mechanic detective girl Shadyna, currently on an arson case committed by a refrigerator! I wish I was kidding, honest. After summoning a rain of frozen molten rocks that is a better fit in an apocalyptic movie, the boss started firing its laser again. The target? Me, even though my crew were the ones dealing damage! The difference this time is that it doesn''t disappear but continuously chases wherever I go. How persistent¡­ And it has not one, but three lasers. The remaining two are after and , who are frantically running around the field to stay alive. Of course, it falls to the smart and beautiful me to solve this mystery, with no stone left unburnt and all that. Based on the clues and evidences of the case, there is only one explanation: This thing hates children. ¡­Un, this is why I play games at night instead of solving murder cases. But don''t give up, fridge! No matter how many fire jokes there are in your [Inspect] result, or how many lava lakes you are digging up, believe the cold in your heart! And by that, I mean tone down this red laser for a moment! Why the heck are you switching to blue lasers?! I have [Elemental Resistance], damn it! [Fire] and [Water] both deal the same amount of damage to me! While the cute girls of the neighborhood are running from the red/blue stalking lasers, the rest of my crew are also struggling against the boss. Our cavalry unit scattered due to my apprentices being targeted. Even without being near the lasers, their beasts'' large hitboxes force them to be fully on the defensive in this hazardous environment. Intimidating as they are, they don''t have the HP to take a hit without [Shared Fate]. They may have an easier time if they simply dismount and fight on foot, I think. That being said, my tank party is not doing too hot either. They spread out to form an encirclement, because whoever has the aggro gets a boulder right at their face as if there weren''t enough flying rocks all over this place already. In exchange, Mera is overworked as she runs around to heal and buff them. Un, please do your best~ Hessy and the nukes under her command are the only one consistently dealing damage at the moment. The direct rock throws can be avoided like other rocks at that distance, and there are no laser following their footsteps. That''s about as safe as one can get in this environment. Magi in general are not very mobile however, so I am not sure if they can keep up for long against such endless barrages. As far as a bonus raid goes, our situation is to be expected. Problem is¡­ This is going to take way too long! Back when we fought the weird mask, couldn''t deal damage even with [Heroic Inspiration Course], against the first form. Our current buff items are strong, but still not the 200% bonuses they used to be. The upped level cap doesn''t seem to help much either, sigh~ Thanks to skill buffs from our healers and my debuffs on the boss, we managed to overpower its defense earlier. Since it entered second form, everything changed completely. I can tell from a glance that we are only hurting it because of defense-ignoring skills. Without coordinated simultaneous attacks, our nukes are barely chipping its HP by a few thousand per shot. I''m not sure if our DPS can surpass its regeneration at this rate! _ Fensen (PM): , what should we do now?! Jumping the chain of command already, aren''t you¡­? Saying that, I am happy that she is depending on me~ _ Shadyna (PM): Keep circling around. Don''t get too close nor too far, and take potshots at it. _ Fensen (PM): Got it! To finish this fight before the scary timer counts to zero, I will need my apprentices'' firepower. The combined PAT when using all weapons at the same time means they are the only players, aside from me, that have attack power higher than the opponent''s defense. Well, I don''t know if they do, but their damage multiplier is still the highest in our team. Here''s hoping for at least 100k~ unleashes her barrage from the flank, as I suggested. Seven ball-shaped arrows leave the barrels and fly towards the metal box. Impact in two seco¡­ It moved. The metallic box, at the size of a house, moved aside, by floating. What. The. Heck?! It was so bizarre, I had to blink a few times to make sure I wasn''t hallucinating. ¡­I wasn''t, unfortunately. _ Fensen (PM): EEEEHHH?! It can move?! You have more experience fighting it. Why are you asking me?! _ Elri (Party): What the hell was that?! Seeing half of ''s arrows missing the target and exploding behind our tanks, I can only guess that its behavior was indeed an evasive maneuver. Sure, it is too slow to do gymnastics around the battlefield, but that speed is sufficient to get out of dangerous attacks. Okay, Sateri, I can handle a fridge throwing rocks, firing lasers, or going through an identity crisis. However, a moving refrigerator is definitely unrealistic! My immersion is all ruined~ By the way, the barrage dealt around 30k damage. Not invoking [Alpha Strike Power] properly hurt ''s damage, a lot. _ Hessy (Party): , use [Binding roots]! We need it stationary to invoke [Alpha Strike Bonus]! _ Shadyna (Party): Okay! Hessy must have noticed the lack of damage. That''s why she asked me instead of Mera, who focuses on MSP and not MAT. Her chance of landing the status effect on the boss is non-existent, and that is if the boss can be affected by it at all. Now then, charge~! _ Shadyna: You are under arrest on suspicion of bullying cute girls! [Binding roots]! Calling my attack as per tradition, I cast the handcuff spell at the fridge, despite its lack of hands. It''s the thought that counts, right? Not implying anything about it size, but¡­ there''s no way it can dodge my spell. Not at that size, un. After a few tries, the red roots entangle their target, creating a gigantic fishing net that is most likely only used for whales. Operation success! ¡­And one second later, the roots dissipate into thin air. Welp. Can I facepalm now? _ Shadyna (Party): Hessy, I don''t think it''s possible to keep it in place with [Binding roots]. Taking into account the cooldown, casting time and failure chance, I am going to need at least a few more me to get this guy rooted permanently. _ Hessy (Party): We need another plan. Any idea? Are we going to do a strategy meeting while the whole sky is falling upon us?! _ Fensen (PM): , can you use that spell when I shoot? _ Shadyna (PM): It''s going to be hard to get the timing right, and there''s a good chance it will fail as well. Wait a second, I''ll change party. I don''t want to hold two conversations at the same time. Therefore, time for a reorganization! Leaving the tank party to their own devices, Hessy, Mera, Elri and I join the cavalry party. Hopefully this will be the last time I have to do this before making a guild. _ Mera (Party): Now, because ''s body wasn''t of the boss''s taste¡­ Excuse me?! _ Elri (Party): What the heck is that supposed to mean?! Anyway, can''t we just duke it out? If we switch to ranged weaponries, we can get some more damage in. Indeed, our cavalries can''t do anything with melee as it is¡­ _ Shadyna (Party): It will take too long~ I want to speedrun this! _ Elri (Party): Oh, right¡­ Elri, I can see you facepalming even if you are not in my line of sight you know? _ Hessy (Party): ''s motives aside, I concur that we should take it down before it can pull more unexpected stunts. It is as strong as the Yierus Lair, but¡­ how do I put it, this one acts¡­ differently. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. As someone still flying in the sky to dodge lasers, I agree with that statement. Additionally, my debuffs will probably run out soon. I don''t know how strong my new debuffs will be against its new defense stats, and don''t want to find out the hard way. _ Poltea (Party): Um¡­ _ Elri (Party): What is it, ? _ Poltea (Party): If we can somehow get close and hit it with [Alpha Strike Power], I think we can defeat it in a few attacks¡­ I have a nagging feeling that it isn''t something new players should say about a bonus boss though¡­ _ Fensen (Party): But it won''t stay still for me to shoot! Look, it just shrugs off everyone''s attacks like they are no big deal. You are the sole reason why it had to move at all! _ Hessy (Party): Right, back to figuring out how to pin it down. _ Mera (Party): Oh my~ _ Hessy (Party): Sateri-chan dammit Mera, we are in a raid here! Maybe we should ban Mera from all meetings~? _ Elri (Party): *Sighs* , how long do you need? _ Poltea (Party): Probably¡­ one minute. I-if we can get into position beforehand, I think it''s possible with 20¡­ no, 15 seconds. While I am seriously concerned about the balance implications in her statement, 15 seconds is still a pretty tall order. I wonder if the boss will stand still if we ask it nicely? _ Elri (Party): Right, that''s not going to happen with skills. Might as well wait until a raid so it gets stuck in the middle of the horde instead. _ Shadyna (Party): I don''t think we can summon a raid horde though~ It would be just sad if a raid is announced right after my timer runs out. Knowing Sateri''s love for cruel jokes, I think that''s exactly what she is planning to do! _ Hessy (Party): Alright, we will go with that. Good thinking, . _ Elri (Party): Wait, what? Uh¡­ did I miss something? We are not going to camp for days until a raid appears, right? The timer is not going to pause just because we stop fighting you know~? _ Hessy (Party): Mera, contact Su. , I''ll pull my party out for a minute, probably two. _ Mera: I''m on it~ _ Shadyna (Party): Got it~ RIP, DPS, it was nice knowing you. Hessy''s party is most of our current DPS after all. _ Elri (Party): Wait wait wait, what are we doing? _ Hessy (Party): You get your party into position. , , I don''t know how long we can pin it, but please make do. _ Fensen (Party): Roger~ _ Poltea (Party): T-thank you very much! Let''s leave the details to Hessy. Allowing employees to do as they see fit is what a good employer like me does! Definitely not because I have no idea what Hessy has in mind! And so, our cavalry players are gathering on one side, while and are at the other. At the same time, our nukes [Recall] to somewhere outside the battlefield with Mera. Are our tanks going to be alright without the main healer? Never mind, the stoic is making her pet, Yassyl, tank the fridge with the little D: shield! Because the rocks are massive, the little fairy has no problem intercepting them. In other words, she grants her master complete immunity to all boulders from the boss. Isn''t that just cheating?! She has it easier than most of us despite her proximity to the enemy! Though I have to admit, and her pet are keeping our frontline stable in the absence of our nukes. *BOOM* Aaaaaand one of our tanks just got blasted by a stray falling rock. Okay, our frontline is mostly stable. Each of them have items for revival, so they should be fine. Hessy is dashing through the rain of fire and destruction to get to where our tanks are. Please don''t do anything reckless like doing a heroic suicide attack, okay? We are not that desperate yet! _ Shadyna (Party): Hessy, do I need to do anything in particular? _ Hessy (Party): Hmm¡­ Just join the final attack, if you can. Use your strongest attack. _ Shadyna (Party): Alright~ Just want to remind you that I am a pacifist. _ Hessy (Party): ¡­Sure. What''s with that pause? Hey, Hessy, why did you sound like you don''t trust me at all~? Letting that snarky remark slide because I am a good girl, I join up with . One more laser behind them won''t make the situation worse so no problem here! _ Fensen (Party): Hiyo~, ~ She looks happy to have another person to run around with. Energetic as always, aren''t you? _ Mera (Party): Hessy, a good chunk was freed from the agony of existence, but our bodies are ready~ _ Hessy (Party): Begin in 30 seconds! Everyone, approach as close as you can! It is going to get crowded. I refuse to try to decipher Mera''s words. Instead, I''ll prepare items for dealing damage. They won''t benefit from my sword''s MAT, but any damage is better than no damage after all~ _ Elri (Party): Let''s link up. We want [Alpha Strike Bonus]''s effect as high as possible. , can I have your [Shared Fate]? _ Shadyna (Party): Of course! She plans to shield us from stray rocks huh. That''s one way to maintain formation I guess, although I would prefer a method that involves minimal virtual pain¡­ _ Hessy (Party): Ten seconds! [Shared Fate] was cast, and the whole cavalry party is marching together once more. Now, it''s just staying away from the lasers and wait. _ Hessy (Party): Three¡­ Two¡­ One¡­ Mera, NOW! With having full attention of the refrigerator, Hessy snuck right behind its back to place a wooden board on the ground. I want to ask her why she keeps something like that in her inventory, but she will call me out on that without fail, so let''s not! _ Mera (Party): Coming~ In a (lot of) blinding light, our nuke party returns. Along with every local fauna and their mothers that we lured away before the fight! WHY?! _ Su: Honey, I''m home~! The crazy elf in charge of luring the mobs earlier is not helping! Before we can comprehend the situation, a few falling rocks landed on top of the horde which just manifested out of thin air a second ago. Now, a three-way free-for-all brawl between the fridge, the horde and us has begun! Having dealt a massive amount of damage, the fridge becomes the number one hated individual in this place. It finds itself being piled on by hundreds if not thousands of angry creatures and bosses. Still, their attack power is way too low to put any hurt on it, as expected. However, Hessy did not bring this crowd here to do damage. I doubt she knew they were in different factions in the first place. The lasers and rocks are decimating the normal mobs, but there are too many of those critters to dispatch in a few AoE spells. If anything, the remaining ones are even more pissed and converging at the boss, causing a big traffic jam at its location. Exactly like what happens at walls in a corruption raid. _ Hessy (Party): Elri, the rest is up to you! _ Elri (Party): YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! Contrary to her objection, my elven mentor is rushing towards the boss. Her salamander''s breath attack is melting away the mobs in front of her, clearing the way for us to follow. _ Shadyna (Party): Everyone, on Elri! _ Fensen & Poltea (Party): Oh~! I can''t see the other two parties amidst all of this chaos, so we are pretty much on our own now. _ Hessy: Shoot at the top of the boss to avoid friendly fire! Or not, we are close enough for general chat now. Nice~ _ Elri (Party): We are nearly there! Do we go to the left or right side? Avoiding the casual bosses on the way, only a few rows of enemies remain between us and big fridge. The bigger mobs are unintentionally working as covers for us, hence our safe travel so far. [Shared Fate] is wasted, but I''m not complaining! _ Poltea (Party): Straight ahead! _ Elri (Party): Unders¡­ Wait, what?! _ Poltea (Party): We will hit it head on! _ Fensen (Party): That''s my for you! I need to have a talk with about her influences on her dangerous girlfriend later, sigh~ _ Elri (Party): DAMN IT! Ren, charge! [Rapid Assault]! The beast stomps on whatever in its path as ordered, while its mistress pummels the bigger ones that can''t be walked on. Scary! The look on her face is scary! _ Poltea (Party): FIRE! _ Fensen (Party): FIRING! _ Shadyna (Party): [ Thunderous Blessing of Affection]! I shoot my item at the big metal box towering in front of me. Would be nice if it hits at the same time as ''s arrows, but it will do great damage regardless. Felling the last wolf-like creature blocking our way, the elven knight finally notices the little girl on a shining golem overtaking her, barely avoiding the iron ring, then jumping right at the burning orb floating inside. _ Poltea (Party): Please hit! How are you even going to miss it at this point!!! The sphere is big enough to contain an adult, by the way. My apprentice would need to close her eyes and turn around to have a chance at not hitting it. Her shields formed into one big sheet a short moment before she crashed into the boss. That way, all of her "weapons" will be able to hit at the same time. Who needs swinging when you can just ram the target yourself? With multiple glass-cracking sounds whose volume can pierce my ear drums, the burning orb shatters as if it were made of ice instead. Then, the familiar flood light engulfs us again while the metallic box falls apart. I didn''t notice during the fight, but apparently the glowing lines on its surface have turned purple at some point. It''s a bit regrettable that I only realize it now, before the whiteness blinds me completely. ¡­ It''s the treasure room~ Everyone was teleported to good old Heaven, including the flame orb. The timer is gone, so I can officially call it now. _ Shadyna: Speedrun success~! _ Hessy: You are banned from doing speedruns on bonus bosses forever. Harsh~ _ Tremire Husan: N????o?????t???? ?????e????n????o?????u????g????h??????.????? Here comes the monologue~ That reminds me, I wonder if has figured out what the weird mask was saying back then? _ Tremire Husan: T?????a??????i???n?????t?????e?????d????? ??????s?????o??????u???l???s??????,????? ????p??????u????r??????i???f????i???????e??????d????.??????? ?????B?????y????? ????o???w?????n????? ????f?????l?????a?????m????e???s???????,????? ??????n???o????t?????? ??????u?????s????.????? I think Yierus Lair, the Magnus Bestia that our crew defeated, didn''t have a speech. I never heard anything about Nox bosses being able to talk either. Is this something only Avitus Caelicola bosses possess? _ Tremire Husan: W????e?????,???? ????o????b????s?????o?????l???e????t?????e????.????? ???E???n???t????r???u????s???t???? ?????t?????o???? ????m???o???r???t????a?????l????s???.???? ????O?????u?????r??? ????f????l???a????m?????e???,???? ????a????t???? ????y????o???u???r??? ???c????o???m?????m?????a????n????d?????.??? A stream of reddish light leaks out and swirls around until the orb itself turns icy blue. Is that the fires absorbed by the boss during the fight? _ Tremire Husan: B????e???s???t????? ???o????f????? ????l???u?????c???k????,????? ????[???M???a????i????d????e????n????? ????o?????f???? ????P???u?????r???i???t????y???]???.????? Without any warning, or at least any that I can understand, the light stream comes rushing to me. It wraps around my body and spins like a tornado for a few seconds, then dissipates into countless orbs. While I am thinking that they resemble a starry sky, said orbs launch straight at me, as if pulled in by a vacuum, and disappear. Am I going to burst into flame any moment now? ¡­Doesn''t seem like it. _ Elri: ¡­Is that normal? _ Hessy: If you are asking that, you must be well aware that it''s not normal, right? _ Shadyna: How mean! [Character Leveled up] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Mountain Breaker"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Tremire Husan Subduer"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Luminous Flame"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Goddess''s Gambler"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Luminous Firestorm Lv.0"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Luminous Icestorm Lv.0"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Phantom Edge Lv.0"] Nice~ Thanks a lot, Sateri! Hold up, are the storm skills AoE? Why are you giving me AoE, Sateri?! I have to [Inspect] them later. For now though, let''s create a "buff" item with them as effect. I want to test them out when we return, since there won''t be any player in the area. The zone should have changed and reset its spawns, so we won''t arrive at the center of a horde either. [Creation]~ I wonder what kind of AoE it is for Sateri to force on me¡­ By the time I''m done, everyone has finished the pillag¡­ looting of the place. Of course, the now-blue orb left behind wasn''t spared. Because there are many players here, we decided to distribute the rewards after returning. I think Hessy twitched a bit when I suggested that. Seriously, what happened during the closed beta that could traumatize you that much? ¡­ _ Mera: Hmm~? , are you not going back with us? After leaving the treasure room, we landed on what could be described as a fertile flatland. Plants and trees I have never seen in real life dot the landscape as far as I can see. Not dense enough to be a forest, but not too sparse to be called a grassland either. _ Shadyna: Un, I want to do something first. It won''t take long, so please go ahead. _ Mera: Alright~ We will be watching over you~ [Mass Recall]! You girls are just teleporting back to the cafeteria right?! And so, they left without me. Let''s see¡­ There is no creature around. They most likely haven''t spawned yet, which is nice. Just because my items don''t deal damage (technically) doesn''t mean I want a bunch of roaming mobs getting caught up in my spells. I am a true pacifist after all! Now, what kind of spell are you¡­ _ Shadyna: [Luminous Firestorm Invoker]! Slamming the red orb onto the ground purely for immersion, I activate my consumable. Chapter 49: They were around, kind of Where there is demand, there will be supply. Such was the reason why a guild full of PKers came to existence. Espionage, sabotage, assassination, they have it covered, for a very reasonable price. Acting as the hidden blade of Blue Blood Federation, the agents of the night will strike fear into the hearts of the player base! ¡­Or at least, that was the original plan. They accepted a contract to PK a member of the cafeteria from the haughty leader of the alliance, in an attempt to recruit Illusive Sprout. How that would persuade her to join instead of pissing her off is beyond the guildmaster, but hey, half of the contract was paid in advance, and it would be good advertisement. Unlike the haughty idiot, the guildmaster is much more cautious. After eating for days in the tavern in the name of intelligence gathering, he picked the target: The proprietress of the teahouse. She was thought to be the most vulnerable player, and therefore, the most suitable target. She is a support player, or in other words, a weakling in combat. Moreover, she has an uncanny tendency to cough blood every two minutes, which gains her a reputation of someone ready to drop dead on her own at any moment. Combined with her working areas filled with isolated rooms, this person is practically asking to be found murdered in a locked room mystery! Such a suitable target to send a message about the guild''s peerless ability to have someone killed, said by no one ever. The guildmaster decided not to think too deeply about that and sent his best henchman. The plan was straightforward: Rent a room, murder her in cold blood when she delivers the food, then escape before she can raise alarm. What the guildmaster did not plan, however, was the henchman being in the "body fat" faction. He can recognize the well-endowed ladies of the cafeteria just by looking below their necklines, but has no idea what the target looks like except for the "little girl, pointy ear" features. And mistakes were made. A lot of them. At least one was so absurd, his guild became the laughing stock instead of a new urban legend. Such humiliation! That henchman, afraid of awakening to some weird stuff, refused to take up the job again. Therefore, the guildmaster had to take the matter into his own hands, mainly to avoid learning what said weird stuff was. By eavesdropping for a few more days, he learned of the cafeteria crew''s plan to raid a boss at Snow Mountain. Of course, he went there ahead of time and stalked his target like a predator. Considering his target''s appearance, he may have a hard time explaining that to a police officer though! Little did the unwitting stalker know, his nightmare was only about to begin. The support elf girl luring every mobs in the vicinity, a "rain" blowing up the mountain, a lethal laser light show, meteors blotting out the sky, being [Mass Recall]-ed with this army of mobs to a big refrigerator. About half way through that list of bizarre events, his brain kind of stopped due to overworking. It says a lot when a little girl sitting on top of a gigantic flower, another one riding a glowing golem, and a girl in black with a distinctive sprout smashing said fridge to pieces was the most believable scene for him today. Not that believable per se, but at least it was sane enough to comprehend. As the players were transferred to presumably the treasure room while the mobs were despawned out of existence for the new zone, the master assassin finally had time to contemplate whether he was still playing the same game as those maniacs. Unfortunately, he couldn''t find an answer by the time they returned, mostly because the newly appeared trees didn''t make good therapists¡­ Lucky for him, the girls were apparently letting their guard down after a boss fight. Despite being in [Detect Presence] range, no one looked his way. They just went ahead and used [Mass Recall] again, except for Illusive Sprout. She looked around as if checking for any nearby player, but again, failed to notice him. It''s not a surprise, since not many players can keep track of [Detect Presence] at all times. The ones who do are more often than not paranoid nut cases who think they may be ambushed in the next corner, for every corner they come across. _ Illusive Sprout: [Luminous Firestorm Invoker]! The terror in black activated her item for no obvious reason. Since she was facing a completely different direction, with no living being in sight, it was unlikely that he was spotted. Unfortunately for the guildmaster, that girl''s failed spot check''s consequence was for him to bear. Beneath his feet, the ground quaked for a short moment then broke apart, revealing a pool of flowing magma. Although that was out of nowhere, he still managed to jump away to avoid the lethal trap. Agility is bread and butter of a good assassin after all. He soon found out that it wasn''t a pool but a geyser, as it blasted the hot steamy contents right in his face. _ Assassin: HOT! HOT!!! That was not really befitting a silent killer, but roleplaying was second-thought the moment pain and agony came into play! Nevertheless, the column of magma sent him to the sky against his will, along with the burning chunks of terrain and trees around him. Even if he had managed to dodge that eruption, he would have been caught by the ones next to it. The last thing the poor assassin could see was the little girl standing in the center of it all, making a surprised face while countless geysers were still erupting around her. _ Illusive Sprout: ¡­Whoops? Don''t just "Whoops" after destroying half the zone with a single consumable item!!! Such was his retort. His corpse was burnt by the magma though, so he was forcefully returned to Tyrel without conveying his thought to the person in question. Having to wait for the respawn due to his old PK penalty, the wise guildmaster spent some time thinking and came to a conclusion. Let''s just send her a gift to apologize and cancel the contract. He is never going to be paid enough to pick a fight with that weapon of mass destruction! ____________ The tavern has come back to live after the return of the employees. It should be noted that they were only out for an hour, yet the patrons were yelling in happiness as if that hour was an eternity. It WAS an eternity, for the degenerate patrons at least. While they were having their daily dose of verbal abuse and negligence, the young owner returned. _ Shadyna: I''m back~ _ Inerin: Welcome back, that was quick. _ Shadyna: Un! I definitely did not unknowingly turn the area around me into another fiery inferno which instantly cooked everyone and everything in its wake after all! The unfortunate waitress in charge cramps for a second, then facepalms, hard. _ Inerin: What the hell did you do in just two minutes without surveillance you maniac!!! _ Shadyna: I''m sorry~! Judging by that cute grin behind the thin veil, she is anything but. The customers like that precious smile though, so they will stay quiet! _ Shadyna: A~nyway, are we not celebrating? _ Inerin: *Sighs* Go upstairs. We need skeletal crew to tend the tables so¡­ Actually, I''ll accompany you there. Otherwise you will just blast us all to pieces while walking on the stairs. _ Shadyna: How mean! I wouldn''t intentionally do that you know! _ Inerin: At least deny being capable of doing that!!! Today was a peaceful day for the patrons as well. ____________ _ Vladina: And that brings us to today¡­ This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Everyone in the meeting room looks at the little sage with a dubious expression. _ Torenis: You haven''t explained anything at all! _ Vladina: The atmosphere is important! The bickering has already begun after the last invited player arrived. It''s a wonder how these guildmasters ever got anything done in the past. Then again, a muscular idiot and a haughty idiot standing over there also managed to become the leader of whole alliances¡­ Is this game''s player base going to be alright? Thinks the speed min-maxer archer watching from across the table. _ Maximus: Oi, get a private room, you two. He has important grinding to do, so the faster this is wrapped up, the better. _ Vladina: Ehem! My apologies. As for why I called you here¡­ In addition to the guildmasters of the big four guilds, the alliance leaders from Unity of Mankind and Blue Blood Federation are also present. Only the two idiots though, because they didn''t know whether they should inform the other guilds or not. Even though the number of guildmasters increased, the number of players in the room actually decreased compared to the last strategic meeting because the managers are not participating. _ Vladina: It''s about , the Illusive Sprout. _ Muscular idiot: That''s her name huh? By the way, you sure you want to do this while she''s having a party in the next room? _ Vladina: Why the heck do you know that? Stalker? Are you a freaking stalker?! _ Muscular idiot: You are the last person I want to hear that from! The waitress guiding me told me after I saw that little girl entering the room. _ Vladina: Dammit, I want to join her too¡­! A-anyway, our meeting room in my mansion is reserved for cute loli only. My ex-wife''s personality may be rotten, but I am confident in her work ethics. She won''t tap our conversation here. The players around were tempted to ask whether was describing herself, but decided not to in order to stay on topic. _ Torenis: Are you going to propose another alliance or something? _ Maximus: Heh, that worked out so well last time. _ Vladina: Because it didn''t work out that I am proposing a new one! That girl just snatched another Avitus Caelicola right under our nose and all we did was getting blasted again and again by the environment! _ Muscular idiot: You too?! Despite everyone''s best effort, the topic has derailed into a talk about the pain and suffering they went through during the (attempted) boss-stealing¡­ Unexpectedly, Blue Blood Federation was also caught up in it. They mobilized after catching winds of their enemies'' movements from their own outpost, and became collateral damage similarly to most players here. Regardless of the outcome of this proposal, a bond has formed between the guildmasters. Who could have thought that death lasers, meteors and the earth exploding into magma geysers would bring people closer together¡­? _ Ignar: How are we going to fight against her? We won''t charge at her, right? This realist warrior just had to ruin the cozy mood by asking a down-to-earth question! _ Vladina: Of course not! What kind of strategist attack the enemy at their strongest point? _ Tippe: Dunno, you guys didn''t seem to have any plan earlier aside from rushing in. _ Vladina: is now banned from talking! Back on topic, strong as is, she can''t be in-game 24/7. That''s when we strike! Indeed, the Magnus Bestia incident happened exactly because the person in question had to logout for the day. The Pervert Alliance had free reign for a whole day and subdued the boss successfully, in spite of the rough start. With an organized assault, the new alliance should have enough manpower to overwhelm all bosses. There will be no significant opposition guild to disturb their raid, not when the supposedly opposition are here, being invited into the fold. _ Vladina: I am going to go through the potential leads to bonus bosses again, and will inform all of you where the next one may be. We should trigger the boss fight when it''s inconvenient for , and drown it in our own blood before she can come to us. Rather than fighting against Illusive Sprout, they are already resorting to avoiding her altogether and waging a guerrilla war! _ Ignar: Well, I suppose that''s fine¡­ Wait, do we even know her usual playtime? For the plan to work, they need to know when is available to begin with. Otherwise, it''ll just become a lottery. _ Vladina: I do. _ Ignar: Yeah, I guess that''s a bit too hard to acqui¡­ You do?! Nodding again to confirm the suspicion, speaks as if what she just said was nothing out of the ordinary. _ Vladina: I do. Of course, that took many days to investigate, but I have her general schedule with 90% accuracy. Staring at the lolicon sage as if she is a perverted stalker (she is), everyone simultaneously yells at her with a voice that can pierce the heaven, but not the boundary of the private room. _ Everyone: YOU DAMN LOLICON!!! And so, the new anti-Sprout alliance was formed, exclusively for all future bonus bosses that may prop up. The reputation of ''s guildmaster tanked even further though. ____________ A maid, an assassin, and a merchant enter a bar¡­ The (designated) womanizer of the bar, , is already keeping an eye on the maid as she asks for their orders. No, that''s simply because she was the depraved maid who proudly announced her degeneracy in front of the whole crew the other day. And there was also something about a rival caf¨¦ as well, but it''s mainly the degeneracy that made an impression. There is absolutely no other impure thought in ''s mind regarding that maid. The assassin looks like he just came back from hell, and the merchant that is her former guildmaster is sobbing as if he lost a member with big breasts or something as trivial. All three are bad news, silently thinks . They ordered booze. There are drinks on the menu, including alcohols, due to feedback from the customers lately. Problem is¡­ you can''t get drunk in game. Sure, it has the taste and even [Spicing] to debuff magic-related stats for immersion, but you will still be sober after consumption. Mera suggested drinks so good that they send consumers to the other world instead. However, they were rejected because of the high cost required to make food lethal on first bite. Orders are orders though, and this is a bar. wouldn''t judge her customers even if two of them had showed to have few if any redeeming qualities in the past. _ Helen: Here you go~ Taking the mug, chugs down the whole thing in one go. He still wouldn''t become drunk though¡­ _ Olkan: She fired meeeeeeeeee!!! Yup, this one is troublesome. _ Helen: You deserved it, right~? _ Olkan: Cold! Shouldn''t you at least say something to cheer me up?! That would usually be the case. However, was in the tank party at the time. She knows exactly what was talking about. _ Helen: Well~ You skipped work to stalk an underage girl¡­ _ Olkan: GUH! The merchant has taken critical damage to his ideology and fainted! _ Assassin: Little girls are scary¡­ Now here is this guy who keeps staring at his mug while ranting¡­ _ Assassin: Appearances can be deceiving, but isn''t it too much? Is that girl even human¡­? Considering the race options in this game, there''s a good chance that the person he mentioned is literally not human. _ Depraved Maid: At least you are not getting NTR-ed by a little girl! That brat took away my lover and now my business! The depraved maid slams her mug onto the table as she rants about her circumstances. And that was bold, claiming Hessy as her lover¡­ _ Olkan: I know right? My mistress just sent me the payment and told me she wouldn''t need my service again! No glare, no scolding. It''s as if she has completely given up on me! Mostly because being stabbed is a reward for this degenerate. Hessy knows him too well to let him have what he wants after all of that. _ Assassin: Be glad she didn''t use a finisher move that melted the earth in a literal sense. Refill please. _ Helen: Right away~ Speaking of melting the earth, did show something similar in footage of her new skill during the party¡­ _ Depraved maid: That kills you once at most. This one has been haunting me ever since we opened for business! Another one please! _ Olkan: Still having a way to turn things around is already better than me! How am I going to get abused now!? , one more for me too! The bartender sighs in relief as the needy customers are getting along, so she can focus on crafting food instead. How they manage to hold a conversation with three different topics, yet involve the same players unknowingly is pretty amazing for though. Since she can read the mood, she will stay silent and start the clock to see how long they can keep up before one of them realize it. --- Topic: Avitus Caelicola 2 --- ## Flame knight of Darkness Aaaaaaaaand it''s dead. Darn it @Silver Merchant. You jinxed it. (©`©`;) ## ## Bountiful Hunter Oof. (£»Ò»_Ò») Who defeated it? Phoenix Ashes or Unity of Mankind? ## ## Silver Merchant Black Mantis killed it. ## ## Manly Warrior Wait what? Why?! (¡ã_¡ã>) ## ## Silver Merchant Not sure how that happened, to be honest. <(_ _)> The cafeteria crew suddenly jumped on us, not in a good way, mind you, and killed it before we could even react. You can watch my stream here [Link]. We couldn''t even get close, let alone stop her. ## ## Flame knight of Darkness Boss aside, what in the world happened to the mountain?! £¨ ? §¥?) And you guys didn''t learn from our failure in dealing with her at all huh. Don''t come near her while she''s mingling with a boss! (-_-;) ## ## Teabag Master Sorry about that. ^_^; We tried to evacuate you all to ensure your safety (and my wife''s pacifism), but it seems some of you didn''t get the memo. Due to the questionable strategies we did during the fight, I can''t provide the full stream footage. Please enjoy some screenshots from our members instead! [Pics] ## ## Fire mage of Justice Calling the destruction of a whole mountain "questionable" is an understatement. Yes, Sateri-chan, that OP player over there! ## ------ --- Topic: Goddess''s Chosen discussion --- ## Manly Warrior Title updated again. [Pic] Since we didn''t figure out the last one, let''s double our effort this time! ## ## GoldBar9999 We have the exact location this time, shouldn''t be too hard. EDIT: Scratch that, Sateri-chan went easy on the direction because getting there itself is nigh impossible! [Link] ## ## Serious Mage You have my sympathy. (~_~) I thought Sprout was fighting the Avitus Caelicola? What happened to the boss spawned by this title? ## ## Maximus Archery Pwned by the brat, probably. ## ## Fire mage of Justice Just saw the screenshots of the fight. There was only the Avitus Caelicola. Are you sure there was another boss? ## ## Nearseeing Sage Mountain => Plains => Hell => Woodland. The zone changed more than once. The last Avitus Caelicola only changed the zone after being defeated, so I am certain she was fighting at least two bosses. ## ## Manly Warrior Might as well call her a boss at this point. (£þ¡õ£þ;) ## ------ Chapter 50: The starting fetch quest Shadyna the magical starlet has made her first TV debut~ Apparently, today''s patch is so big, a new trailer was launched to promote the game. Aside from the expected teasers for the NPC (non-player character) update, it featured highlighted moments of the player base until this point. Namely, the battles against the unique bosses. Considering how I was involved in half of them, and my crew were present in all but one Nox boss¡­ Un, I was starred in the trailer! Thankfully, Sateri or whoever was in charge of compiling the footages were kind enough to leave out the more¡­ extraordinary maneuvers I performed in those battles. Flying around with [Friendship Engine] is one thing, but my social life will end if my act of throwing at the weird mask was broadcasted for the whole world to see! Our first charge at the big fridge was in there too. The camerawork made it a bit more dramatic than it actually was though. Pretty sure we were thinking about how many numbers will pop up at the time, not valiantly fighting for the fate of the world or whatever impression the editor was aiming for. I normally don''t keep track of these promotional materials, but it was brought to my attention because everyone at school was talking about it. During class, right before a test. What the heck, guys? We were so noisy, our teacher snapped and told us to get a hold of ourselves. It was fine and all, then he just had to follow up with how students who fail the test would need to take supplementary lesson, which would reduce HIS playtime because he would have to stay with them! Is this school going to be alright¡­? No one wanted to be late for the big patch, so by some miracle none of us got a failing grade. And teacher, you don''t happen to know why the test was easier than normal, do you? Oh well, not that I can blame them, since I have my personal reason to be eager for this patch too. Yes, it''s the long-awaited Sateri update! Her avatar is finally going to be implemented, and I am going to be in a race to somehow "acquire" her. I hope she didn''t make things harder for me just because she lost a bet~ ¡­Knowing Sateri, she definitely did. Welp. Waking up in my usual room, this time without being burnt by the fire shooter item. My [Elemental Resistance] and [Cell Revitalization] are already capped after all. Unlike our frequent patrons at the tavern, I have no intention of getting hurt more than absolutely necessary! Saying that, I do feel a bit¡­ empty now that I only have my bed to level up my skills during off time. Let''s figure out some new ways to grind multiple skills offline when I have a chance, un! Now then, the patch notes~ NPCs and quests have been added, nothing to see here folks. While they can somewhat hold a simple conversation, they won''t be as sophisticated as Sateri herself. I suppose they would be something akin to chat bots? Do I want to meet hot single ladies who make a fortune monthly with just one simple trick? No thanks, I have done that already, by being a pacifist and wandering in a dark forest! The next one is about pets. They received an intelligence upgrade, and will now support their masters even out of combat. Does that mean Gelly and Lutena are going to help me craft? That would be a great help actually. I feel bad mobilizing the whole cafeteria crew whenever I need to do some heavy crafting¡­ Guess Gelly jumping boin~ boin~ around me is the result of higher intelligence huh. What the heck, that''s cute! Sateri, I approve of the immersion even though it looks like a waste of computing power! The last one is about guilds'' new features. As excited as I am for them, guilds are not running away from me like Sateri. Therefore, I''ll check them out later, preferably after I figure out what to do with the demanding Goddess first. Okay, that''s it for the patch. Time to hit the tavern! ¡­ I walk instead of using [Teleport] in order to see the NPCs first. To my surprise, there are very few of them on the streets compared to the amount of players swarming to the marketplace. NPCs have a glowing tattoo on their neck to differentiate from normal players, so the sheer amount of people is not preventing me from finding them¡­ Aren''t there too many players today? It''s as if I am walking in a mall during a big sale, and that is way too many for my taste! [Teleport], activate! And I''m back to the cafeteria. Whew. ¡­Wait, this place is just as crowded! Behind the counter, the half mermaid waitress, Cenny, somehow notices me in the sea of people. _ Cenny: Good day, owner. _ Shadyna: Hiyo~ It''s rare to see you work the counter, Cenny. _ Cenny: Yes, usually I stay in the back to manage our inventory. Only when we are short-staffed do I serve the patrons, considering what happened last time¡­ Actually, please disregard that. What the heck happened the last time?! You can''t just bait me like that then tell me to forget about it! [ has invited you to a party.] [Y/N] Sure thing~ _ Cenny (Party): Leader, has logged in. Please send bodyguards ASAP. _ Shadyna (Party): Hey! _ Hessy (Party): Oh. Sorry, , can you wait with Cenny for a bit? We are still in the line right now. I probably should raise this issue of everyone treating me like a live grenade in our next business meeting. It''s rude, I''m telling you! _ Shadyna (Party): I don''t mind. Anyway, is there any new rumor about Sateri? Gathering information is important, and the tavern is the best place to get the newest gossip of the day. Asking may work too, but I''m worried about my own safety there~ _ Hessy (Party): Sateri? Are you talking about the game''s AI? _ Shadyna (Party): Un! _ Hessy (Party): ¡­Does a statue of her appearing in the marketplace count as a rumor? Why?! _ Cenny (Party): It came into existence when the patch went live. If you pray to Sateri-chan there, you will receive an item called [Karmic Fragment], like this. A shining marble hovers above her palm. As it spins slowly from left to right, I can see that it sports a crystalline texture resembling a spherical diamond. That certainly looks expensive. _ Shadyna (Party): Nice~ What does it do? _ Cenny (Party): We have not found a way to use it. At the very least, [Cooking] won''t accept it as an ingredient. I will be seriously concerned if it did¡­ Wait, you tried to cook that diamond?! Sure, I have no right to complain, having cooked rock with fish, but still¡­! _ Hessy (Party): Nevertheless, it''s most likely a quest or event item. That''s why we are waiting in line to get ours. Is that why everyone and their pets are going to the marketplace at the moment? Won''t that affect the merchants setting up shop there? _ Cenny (Party): I got mine earlier today. You can only receive one per day it seems. ¡­That''s just a daily login reward!!! After some more chatting, there was no other news regarding Sateri. That means I am most likely the only player in the game knowing about the existence of her avatar so far. While that gives me an edge, just as Sateri said, I still have no idea how to proceed from here. _ Hessy (Party): , are you not coming to get the fragment? _ Shadyna (Party): I''ll pass. I don''t like long queues¡­ This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. I would rather spend time finding a lead to Sateri than stand in place for hours for login rewards. Should it turn out to be the item I need, I can always fly past everyone to jump the line~ The power of friendship sure is convenient during sales¡­ _ Hessy (Party): I see. To be honest, I''m not sure if this is worth doing. We have been here for an hour already! I know right~? Since the player base is clueless, maybe I will try asking the NPCs. _ Shadyna (Party): By the way, what''s the news with NPCs? _ Cenny (Party): Uhm¡­ They are summoned by a [Soul Core], which is dropped similarly to [Summon Stone]. NPCs may offer quests, otherwise they will walk around on their own if left be. Sounds easy enough. Let''s find a zone with high mob density and¡­ _ Cenny (Party): I have one right here. Would you like to use it instead of setting whatever place you have in mind on fire? Hey! No mind reading! _ Hessy (Party): Yeah, of course she would do that¡­ How rude~ _ Mera (Party): I recommend using it, then setting the world on fire for more~ Don''t pour oil into the fire, you crazy waitress~! _ Shadyna (Party): I''ll take you up on that offer then~ _ Cenny (Party): Here you go. [Received Soul Core x1] Aaaand¡­ [Summon]! I wonder if it will be a cute little girl asking for herbal medicines to save her sickly mother~? Herbs are the go-to items for beginner quests after all. Wait, do [Soul Core] items have level to begin with? The NPC is not going to ask me to defeat a last boss or something along those lines right? _ Cenny: , she''s here. Whoops, I spaced out again. In front of me stands a young woman who seem to be in her mid or late 20s. Despite the tattered farmer clothes that scream "lowly peasant", she is still quite a looker with her neatly tied up hair and overall cleanliness. This person takes good care of herself, I would say. As expected of a fantasy world, the beauty standards are ridiculously high. _ Woman: E-excuse me¡­ _ Shadyna: Yes~? Quest incoming in three~ _ Woman: My daughter has been bedridden for days¡­ Could you spare some medicines? I don''t have much, but I will do my best to repay your kindness! It''s the other way round?! My expectations are all ruined~ Not exactly in a bad way, but still ruined! _ Cenny: She accepts anything that has a HP restoration effect. _ Shadyna: Oh~ Did you do the quest beforehand? _ Cenny: Yes, with members of the previous shift. Also, you can''t do it again after completion. We don''t know if it resets later though. I see. The NPC in each core is fixed, and they can provide quests for many players at the same time. I wonder if a rare NPC will give me the quest to Sateri''s avatar? Let¡¯s not keep the woman waiting though. _ Shadyna: What happened to your daughter? Was she afflicted with some kind of disease? Even if I know she would accept healing items, giving her one without knowing the cause would be irresponsible of me. Since this is a game, I don''t need to be a doctor to prescribe suspicious medicines. Probably. _ Woman: I¡­ don''t know. She came down with a fever a few days ago, and has been unable to leave the bed since. Un, mysterious disease clich¨¦, checked. _ Cenny: Her explanations were not really helpful. In the end, we couldn''t figure out what her daughter was afflicted with. Regardless, she was satisfied with [Heroic Inspiration Course]. In what kind of reality do you feed sick people a full course meal?! _ Cenny: That''s not the case, . _ Shadyna: Eh? _ Cenny: You are probably thinking that a full course meal isn''t medicine. _ Shadyna: Well, it''s called a "meal", not "medicine", and for good reason. _ Cenny: There were four of us. Therefore, we gave her four meals in total as the cure. The amount is not the problem here! The only thing four full course meals would cure is starvation, and that is if your patient does not die of overeating first!!! Look, the background patrons are passing out from knowing how you threw 40 gold coins at a quest! [Heroic Inspiration Course] is not the answer to everything you know? _ Shadyna: Still, what should I give her without knowing the cause¡­ _ Cenny: That''s a good question. The mermaid is already making a "That''s why you should give a [Heroic Inspiration Course]" face! _ Woman: Please, my daughter is all I have! Anything that can help her, even just a little bit¡­ Hey, no guilt-tripping! I am already trying my best here. Rushing me will only make things worse because I can''t think clearly. _ Shadyna: Uuu¡­ As expected, it''s hard to decide. If only we can visit her somehow¡­ I doubt NPCs have houses though. That would require careful planning so as not to get in the way of player-built towns. _ Woman: I-in that case, please come with me. Eh? *FLASH* ¡­ Somehow, we were teleported to a small room. Yes, Cenny was brought here too, probably due to being in party with me. Hessy and the others outside weren''t, however. Judging from the wooden bed and night stand next to it, I am pretty sure this is a bedroom. A purple flower that I do not recognize resides in the small vase on the stand. For a poor family, this room is in a surprisingly good shape. A young girl around ''s age is lying there, eyes closed. A wet towel was put on her forehead, yet it doesn''t seem to do much help. Her breathing is rough, and she''s drenched in sweat. I didn''t know the infamous bedridden cold clich¨¦ could get this bad¡­ _ Woman: Honey, I have brought help. They will cure you, I promise. Please don''t casually raise the expectations while wiping sweat off her face! Sigh¡­ [Inspect], please. [??? - Girl with unknown disease - HP: ======....] Un, still waiting for the day when [Inspect] will actually reveal life-changing information. Sateri, how am I supposed to help her with so little information~? _ Cenny: Her HP is almost halfway down. Is it because of the disease¡­? _ Shadyna: Are you not bothered by her profession at all?! Why is [Girl with unknown disease] even a profession?! _ Cenny: ¡­You should check your own profession from time to time, [Black Mantis]. _ Shadyna: Gah~ While we were talking, the sick girl''s HP ticked down again. The rate is slow, but she is definitely losing HP. Immersive/10, would be sick again. _ Shadyna: Hmm, if we give her potions, her HP will go down again once the healing effect wears off¡­ _ Cenny: If it doesn''t, there will be no point in other players doing the quest. _ Shadyna: Cenny, that reasoning is too meta¡­ Even if there''s no way to cure this girl of her disease, it doesn''t mean I won''t do my best. In fact, I already have an idea. _ Cenny: I''m listening. First and foremost, stop reading my mind. _ Shadyna: Please keep an eye on her HP for now and heal her if it gets too low. I''ll craft an item for her. _ Cenny: Got it. The crafting itself won''t take long. It''s changing gear and buffing myself to the max that will. Changing in process, please look some other way~ ¡­ _ Shadyna: Done~ Now, [Summon]! [Creation]! Calling Gelly and Lutena out, I begin the crafting process. My cute pets without a word come to me and work on the sphere. I stop for a moment to see if the bar really goes up. It does. My pets grow so fast. Happy face~ --- [ Amulet of Health] - Creator: - Quality: - Type: , , - Enhancement: + + + - Enchantment: + + - CON: 18 - PDF: 1000 - MDF: 1300 - Food: 600 HP --- Because [Cooking] and [Alchemy] cannot have permanent effect without being weak like the item I used for offline skill grinding, I decided to skip them. I did keep a single healing effect, just in case it is required for the quest. The result is something similar to the walls I built around Tyrel, but stronger, thanks to [Improvisation] and [Modification]. Hopefully, it will be enough to counteract her disease''s damage-over-time effect. At my current [Creation] level, I can craft gear with multiple bonus categories. While they are weaker than having only one bonus, I needed it to have both types of defense at the same time. That''s the price of not knowing whether the disease is physical or magical in nature. Sigh~ _ Shadyna: It''s done~ When I walk to the bed, a menu appears with a [Anything - 0/1] slot. So this is how I give it to her huh. Too bad I can only give one item. I was thinking about giving her a full 10-piece armor set after this one to be safe¡­ Dragging the [ Amulet of Health] into the slot, I confirm the action. As the necklace with the ruby pendant appears on her, the young girl slowly opens her eyes. ____________ Sateri, governing AI, Goddess of the dream world, is in a good mood today. The new NPC and quest system was deployed successfully. Learning from past experiences, most of the quests are built around the problems, while allowing players complete freedom to figure out the solutions themselves. The Goddess herself will simply sit back and enjoy the show, as always. [Warning: Procedural quest <013FA582> entered abnormal state.] That was quick. Complete freedom for players also includes occasional unexpected courses of actions they perform to solve the quest. Because brilliant strategies are indistinguishable from bugs and exploits, Sateri has to keep watch for those anomalies and intervene if needed. She had hoped her system would run for at least a few days before encountering one though. Was there a glaring mistake in her designs that resulted in obvious loopholes to be abused? Quest [013FA582]¡­ A beginner-level fetch quest. A little girl picked up a mysterious flower near the forest and ended up in a coma. Her mother was on a search for a cure when she met the player, thus starting the quest. By design, the flower was the cause of the daughter''s illness. Players can either keep her alive by providing potions as the mother asks, or pry further to investigate the true reason of the illness. In case no one investigates, the flower withers after a few days. If the daughter is still alive thanks to the constant potion flow by then, the quest is completed. The error went off because the daughter was considered cured with the corrupted flower still in close proximity. Weird, even though players can temporarily boost her CON to wake her up for questions, the system should be able to detect time-limited buffs for that scenario, so why? ¡­The NPC has no buff on her. She received a hybrid item, which qualified for the quest because it had HP restoration. However, because its main category is [Armor], she equipped instead of consuming it by default. Somehow, whatever she put on negated the flower''s debuff. Her CON shot up, triggering the awakening, and the debuff itself cannot reapply after running out because of the MDF bonus. It wasn''t a cure. She simply became too tough for the flower''s curse! Does the player who gave her that item have muscles for brain or something?! They completely bypassed the whole premise of the quest! Upon seeing the name of the player completing the quest, Sateri can only sigh in binary. Of course it would be that one! Still, an absurd valid solution is nevertheless a valid solution, and therefore she is obliged to hand out extra rewards for ''s effort. After reluctantly giving approval for the quest completion, the poor AI proceeds to update the top of her to-do list. - Continue investigation of the internal security breach - Implement facepalm reaction for NPCs - Implement facepalm reaction for personal use - Make sure incapacitated NPCs can''t equip items on their own And that was a simple quest for players below level 5. Those girls should do quests of their level, damn it!!! --- Topic: Patch discussion - 1.0d33 --- ## Nearseeing Sage It''s the NPC update! £Ü(^o^)£¯ In case you missed it, a link to the new trailer: [Link] Summary: - NPCs and quests. Conversations about the meaning of life not included. - Increased summon beasts'' IQ. They will act on their own when not bossed around. - Guild functionalities expanded. Ask an NPC to find out. ## ## CuteIsJustice Congrats on being in the trailer! It''s finally here! Now my dream of a harem full of cute NPCs can come true! (^o^) EDIT: NPCs are not controllable. Welp. There goes my dream. (;_;) ## ## Flame knight of Darkness Sateri-chan has descended! Her statue appeared in the market. [Pic] So did a weird NPC. That guy is annoying. ## ## Manly Warrior Good work, Sateri-chan! (^o^) The marketplace was originally the town square for Tyrel. We were not allowed to place buildings on it, hence its current use. I certainly did not expect it to be reserved for her own statue though. (^_^;) ## ------ Chapter 51: Guild is hard work This is Shadyna, the aspiring hero on the journey to get la¡­ I mean, save the world! And just like how main story quests usually go¡­ I got sidetracked. Welp~ After accidentally curing a young girl of her illness, I received a few rewards from her mother, who was still thanking us profusely until the teleport back to the tavern. Two [Karmic Fragment] for each of us. In addition, I was given two [Heart Core], while Cenny got nothing except for the trash material reward when she gave away the [Heroic Inspiration Course] earlier. They were compensation for the amulet, probably. Honestly speaking, I don''t think I deserved that gratitude. I made that item mainly for my own peace of mind. No matter how much HP one has, it is a losing battle once regeneration fails to keep up with the sustained damage. That''s why her deteriorating HP was uncomfortable for me to look at. Un, I didn''t even know it was possible to cure her completely! I blame Cenny for that. Meta talk is not immersive! It would have been rude to decline though, so I took the rewards and noted to self to look out for these hidden conditions in the future. Another thing to keep in mind is not to flirt with the sole waitress in charge of the counter. We were scolded after returning for leaving the tavern unmanned, even though we were only out for 15 minutes! From what I heard, someone from the delivery team had to stand in for Cenny during that time due to the patrons protesting. Dear degenerate patrons, do you have a codependency issue or something?! That was barely enough for a lady''s bathroom break! Since I was involved (the main cause) in her absence, I helped out in the cafeteria for the rest of the day. Being able to eavesdrop the patrons and their NPCs for clues may or may not have influenced my decision. In the end, however, it was mostly for naught. The only thing I learned was that NPCs used "Sun Goddess" when referring to Sateri. Her light saved the world according to the lore, so it''s a fitting nickname. Not sure how that knowledge would lead me to her though¡­ What does [Heart Core] do? Well¡­ _ Shadyna: [Summon]. As I command, two NPCs manifest into (virtual) reality. The cores are [Summon Stone], but for NPCs, simply put. While NPCs from [Heart Core] can''t be directly controlled, they do follow the summoner around similarly to [Domesticated] pets, and can be given new equipment. I do not know whether they can give more quest however. So yeah, the number of my AI-controlled companions increased by two. One core is the quest giver woman, Ophilie, and the other one is her sickly daughter, Aenilie. _ Ophilie: Good day to you, milady. _ Aenilie: G-good day to you, milady! Even the NPCs are trying to pay me with their bodies!!! I asked Cenny if she would want to keep them, but she politely refused after seeing them greeting me like so. Splitting the loots didn''t work either, since we couldn''t bring ourselves to separate these two. I''m not that heartless, okay? They are not properly equipped yet, so I cannot use them in combat at the moment. Seriously, how am I going to train their skills? Putting Gelly into a lava pot is one thing, but asking a young child to sit in a lava lake is definite not something I want to have in my record, safe or not! For the time being, I''m fine with them just joining me in my daily prayer to the statue of Sater, in my room. Yes, I have her statue in my room. I made it myself yesterday using [Construction]. Even if I can''t (be bothered to) pray to the real thing in the marketplace, I had hope that my feelings would reach her, like what usually happens in final boss fights. Those heroes were so underleveled, they cheated by abusing their relationships! I feel sorry for the romance options who had to deal with such abusive partners¡­ [Received Karmic Fragment x1] I personally don''t mind using such exploits for daily freebies though~ With the morning routine done, I call the mother-daughter pair back to the [Heart Core]. _ Ophilie: Please take care, milady. _ Aenilie: Bye bye, milady~ What am I, a father going to work?! ¡­ Today''s agenda is¡­ Quintuple date. _ Elri: That''s wrong. But I haven''t said anything?! Somehow, Elri and Hessy are glaring at me coldly! Thank you very much, although you should save that for our degenerate patrons instead! _ Hessy: , you are aware that we are on a mission today, right? _ Shadyna: Un, to sign our marriage registration form. _ Hessy: TO MAKE A GUILD! Aw~ Sad face~ _ Su: I''ll gladly sign it~! At least someone is motivated, even if she''s a rotten elf! _ Linista: You have not given me an engagement ring to begin with. Such a materialistic reason?! _ Shadyna: Got it, I''ll make an engagement ring for everyone later. Please take good care of me, Linny~ _ Linny: Likewise, owner. Happy face~ _ Elri: We are still going to make a guild right?! _ Hessy: *Sighs* Let them fool around. We are still waiting for after all. is the leader of the pizza delivery girls. All the soon-to-be managers will be joining me today, hence the quintuple date. Speaking of the devil, she has arrived. A young rogue player dressed in the familiar delivery girl outfit waves at us as she enters the room. I remember having thought that she was the protagonist in a sport-related movie when we first met, and that impression has not changed. Looking at her side ponytail, I sort of wonder if the delivery team like having their hair tied up for ease of movement. They are all speed demons so it''s a real possibility. _ Falyn: Hiyo, everyone~ Ah, owner is thinking something rude already! I should switch headgear to one with opaque veil¡­ _ Shadyna: It''s your imagination~ What kind of engagement ring do you want, ? _ Falyn: Sapphire, same color as my hair. _ Shadyna: Got it~ _ Elri: Why are¡­ Actually, I don''t even want to know anymore. Elri, please don''t give up! We need a sane (wo)man in the party! _ Shadyna: By the way, where do we go to make a guild? _ Hessy: You didn''t listen to anything yesterday did you? We have to receive the guild quest from the weirdo NPC in the marketplace. But I did! I was just too occupied with finding clues about Sateri, my brain filtered out all other information! Sorry. ¡­ This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. The marketplace shouldn''t be called as such anymore. Due to the heavy traffic towards Sateri''s statue, there is no place to setup shops. It appears that has converted the surrounding residential area to the new shopping district, according to the wooden sign I''m reading here. Rent bill is going to skyrocket this month huh. Do your best, snaky merchants~ _ Su (Party): Ufufu, seems like my wife''s little exploit is still unknown for the most part. It''s not exploit! It''s common sense! Believers in real life don''t travel half the planet for their weekly prayers, do they? They would build whatever they need in their neighborhood instead. _ Elri (Party): Honestly, it''s so dead simple, I''m surprised no one has posted it on the board. _ Hessy (Party): The players degenerate enough to think of it are the ones who prefer the genuine article. It takes both degeneracy and laziness to pull that off. That isn''t a compliment at all, Hessy¡­ _ Falyn (Party): Shouldn''t we do something about this crowd? The pizza is going cold. Why do you have a pizza in your inventory?! Still, going in the normal way is going to take hours. Because the NPC we need is right next to the statue, we will have to plow through this sea of worshippers. _ Elri (Party): Don''t worry, kindly lent me the solution for this. Huh, I was going to propose [Friendship Engine], but Elri has that covered. Who are you and what have you done to my reckless elf in knight armor?! ____________ At the center of the town square, many guildmasters are struggling to approach the NPC in charge of handing out guild quest. _ Maximus: Finally! , next time we do a guild quest, you go alone. One of them is a certain warrior with an oversized [Artifact] sword. Due to ''s prophecy, they postponed the creation of their guild until today. At least one member is regretting that decision already. _ Ignar: Ahaha, I don''t mind, but don''t you need the daily [Karmic Fragment] as well? _ Maximus: Dammit! Maybe we should just force our way through next time¡­ It can be said that the true guild quest is getting to the NPC in the first place. For players with short temper, it is indeed a test of one''s resolve. _ Tippe: Crap, Max is going to become a criminal at this rate. _ Maximus: You are one to talk! Little did they know, another party has a similar idea. _ Unlucky player: UWAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! Without any ominous foreshadowing, a pitch black hole to abyss opens behind them. As it swallows up the players standing there, the culprits emerge from said gate. When ''s party turn around, they see the most terrifying monstrosity in the player base spinning in front of the dumbfounded players, with her usual trademark grin. _ Shadyna: In the name of love and justice¡­ _ Everyone: YOU ARE THE LAST PERSON I WANT TO HEAR THAT FROM!!! _ Shadyna: Eh~ And she is delusional today as well. ____________ Even though I did my best to make my entry like a normal magical girl, the audience wasn''t happy with it. Youngsters these days are too hard to please~ Next time I''ll try an idol approach, un. _ Player across the hole: Oh, you girls again. Hurry up will you? _ Shadyna: Thanks~ I appreciate your understandi¡­ Hold on a second, "again"? I look at Elri, waiting for an explanation, but she just turns away without saying anything. used [Deep Tunnel] yesterday to jump the line as well, didn''t she¡­? Let''s have a talk with her later so she doesn''t unknowingly cause public disturbances in real life, un! _ Ignar: Eh¡­ What a coincidence, is here too. Didn''t he create a guild before the patch? _ Shadyna: Please go ahead first. I don''t mind waiting for a bit. Players from across [Deep Tunnel]''s entrance, please don''t glare at me with that "Are you seriously saying that?" look~ By the way, the rich old man NPC we needed was talking the whole time. Not to me or , he was simply talking. _ Rich old man: Praaaaaaaaaay to the Sun Goddess, my children! Praaaaaay, as her light guiiiiiides us through the eternal darkness! Dear Sateri it''s the annoying preacher type! He wears luxurious clothing which give an impression of someone with high social status. I suppose he is at least the equivalent of a bishop? Sateri, couldn''t you choose someone with a normal personality to handle guild quests¡­? A cute and helpful priestess for example. Having to endure his endless speeches whenever a guild-related problem comes up is not something I look forward to. _ Ignar: Excuse me, I would like to create a guild. _ Rich old bishop (?): Welcome, great warrior! The Goddess blesses your endeavor to restore our gloooooooooorious golden age. I take it that you want to raise a new banner in her name, to bring us closer to our final victory? _ Ignar: Uh, yes. I feel exhausted just listening from the side. Can I go home now? _ Rich old bishop (?): The Sun Goddess asks for a tribute of one silver coin in exchange for a fragment of her power. A smaaaaaaall price to pay for what you will get back in return. Are you a salesman?! What''s next, a discount for every other player invited to your pyramid scheme?! _ Ignar: Not one gold coin huh. Here you go. *Mumbles* Anything to get me out of this¡­ Don''t worry, . The NPC probably won''t understand that even if you say that straight to his face. _ Rich old bishop (?): May the Goddess watch over you, great warrior. Take this token as proof of your tribute. Now, go out there with your allies, great warrior. Slaaaaaaaay the enemies, and once the token is filled with their souls, you can craft the rallying banner you wished for. Okay, what kind of genocidal bureaucratic procedure is this?! Why do we have to murder stuff to create a guild?! _ Ignar: *Checks inventory* Ten enemies. No problem then. Max, , let''s go. _ Maximus & Tippe: Oh! _ Ignar: Ah, , mind if we use this hole to get out? _ Shadyna: Of course~ I thought they were hardcore grindy type, but they are surprisingly flexible when it is convenient huh. That''s okay, I totally get that feeling~ Now that his party has left by using [Deep Tunnel], it is our turn. _ Shadyna: Hello~ I would like to create a har¡­ I mean, a guild, please~ _ Hessy: You tried to say something else didn''t you?! Don''t mind, don''t mind~ _ Rich old bishop (?): Heeeeeeeretic!!! Even now, you dareeeeeeee show up before the Goddess after all you have done?! _ Shadyna: ¡­Eh? What''s with the difference in attitude? A few seconds ago he was still unironically calling a great warrior, and now he does a 180-degree switch?! _ Rich old bishop (?): If it weren''t for her boooooooundless mercy, I would have struck you down on the spot! As much as I want to banish you from this land for an eternity, she is willing to give you a chance. _ Hessy: He doesn''t like you at all. _ Shadyna: You don''t say¡­ Worse still, I have no idea why he is so pissed. Is it because of me getting lovey-dovey with Sateri? In that case, feel free to be jealous! _ Jerk bishop: Pay one silver coin, for that is all the Goddess asks for. Pretty sure the only one emphasizing the tribute thingy this whole time was you, jerk. Nevertheless, let''s give him the coin to get this over with. [Received Hollow Guild Mark (0/500) x1] _ Jerk bishop: Get out of here, and slaaaaaaaaaaaay the foes of the Sun Godde¡­ _ Shadyna: Uhm, why is it 500, not 10? And I''m a pacifist. Is there any other way to do this? I''m sure this number is what was talking about. Thing is, my number is somehow 50 times his?! _ Jerk bishop: INSOLENCE! How DARE you question her greaaaaatness?! You got off lightly despite your sins, and you still want more?! Can this guy talk for ten seconds without berating me? This is getting annoying. _ Jerk bishop: If you won''t take their lives, then hide behind others like the coward you are or fill it with your own blood! My own blood? Is he saying that [Hollow Guild Mark] can be filled not only with dead mobs, but also dead players? _ Linista: Owner, let''s leave. 500 mobs are not that hard. We will do the killing for you so¡­ _ Shadyna: Thanks for your consideration, Linny. However¡­ My managers pull back a bit in surprise as I turn to them. What kind of expression am I making to have them react like that, I wonder? _ Shadyna: I am a pacifist, and will do the quest the pacifist''s way. The true pacifist me would not kill, and even the technical pacifist me would not retaliate unless attacked first. Honestly speaking, I would have been fine with my managers doing the dirty work, if this jerk here hadn''t treated me like trash. Even if he regrets it now, it is already too late. Ufufu¡­ Commence maniacal laugh! _ Hessy: *Mumbles* Stupid NPC. Whatever happens after this will be your damn fault. I can hear you there, Hessy~ ____________ In a certain maid caf¨¦, the day is slowly passing as usual. Or, to put it in another way, they can really use a few more customers. _ Depraved maid: Uuu¡­ At this rate we will be in the red today too¡­ There is no lack of degenerate patrons who want to eat handmade lunches from cute girls dressed in maid costumes. However, once the novelty wore off, the degenerates quickly went back to the cafeteria, which offers stronger food buffs, and the essential [Recall] service. As a result, the maid caf¨¦ has been struggling financially. The Unity of Mankind makes sure they won''t go out of business, but the depraved maid knows she is being a burden to others. Next to her, the kind maid is diligently preparing food for the few patrons in this place. _ Kind maid: I did tell you that appeals alone won''t be enough. _ Depraved maid: Uuu¡­ I know¡­ Maybe we will need to sell our bodies to make ends meet after all¡­ _ Kind maid: Please keep your depraved imaginations to yourself. *Tinkling* As soon as the bell above the door rings, smile returns to the depraved maid instantly. _ Depraved maid: Welcome back, maste¡­ And disappears just as fast the moment she sees who were entering her caf¨¦. --- Topic: NPC Trade Hub #1 --- ## Silver Merchant Topic to buy/sell Heart Core (not Soul Core) introduced by the new patch (1.0d33). Due to the randomness of NPCs, please provide screenshot and Inspect result of each NPC on sale. Soul Cores (and quests) have their own thread here: [Link]. They are the only way to acquire Heart Cores as far as we know. EDIT: To secret agents, we are trading virtual NPCs, not real humans! ## ## Manly Warrior Let me start this with my spare NPC! ^_^ Appearance: [Pic] Stats: [Pic] Summary: Tanky type. Overlap with my role in party so I am selling him. PM me for price. Accept ranged NPCs as payment. ## ## Nearseeing Sage WTB little girl NPC. (*^0^*) PM price to me pls. ## ## Fire mage of Justice Reported. Damn lolicon. (£­??) I haven''t seen many NPCs with such appearance, let alone acquiring their Heart Core. ## ## Mage of Sin Admittedly, they are a rare breed. Has anyone acquired one? Usually the combat-capable NPCs are the one giving Heart Cores. WTB beautiful female NPC £Ü(^o^)£¯ ## ## Heaven Piercer One day into the patch and we already have a humanoid trafficking ring. (??;) ## ## Silver Merchant I could have sworn the idea sounded saner in my head¡­ ## ------ --- Topic: Cute girls appreciation thread #85 --- ## CuteIsJustice Last time guys. Do NOT post pics of NPCs here. They have their own thread here: [Link] Violating posts will be removed. You have been warned. ## ## Shining Knight Thank you for your hard work. (£þ¡õ£þ;) Saw these girls jumping the line in the marketplace just now. [Pic] ## ## Heaven Piercer That''s Black Mantis. She has her own thread here: [Pic] Is it me or her smile there is a bit¡­ chilling? ## ## CuteIsJustice After 24 hours of cleaning up the NPC pics, a misplaced pic of her is a sight for sore eyes. Just remember to use the correct thread next time. @Heaven Piercer: Not just you. ## ## StoneHoarder The smile of a cute psychopath who is about to end your life, probably. (^o^) This one was taken in the maid caf¨¦. [Pic] Virtual cookies for who can guess what happened to that poor maid afterwards. ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã) ## ------ Chapter 52: Eternal damnation The cute girl of the neighborhood, Shadyna, just got bullied, sad cry~ That genocidal bishop was the worst! The worst, I say! If all players had to rack up 500 kills to create a guild, the ecosystem would collapse by the end of this week! Actually, we have no idea if one mob equals one charge for this [Hollow Guild Mark]. It might require 100 dead mobs for each charge for all I know! _ Hessy: Since you proudly declared that, I suppose we won''t be going out and exterminate wildlife? _ Shadyna: I won''t stop you if that''s what you want to do, but for the guild quest, I do have something else in mind. After all, that bishop revealed some critical information during our conversation: Players (dead ones, most likely) can fill up the quest item. Whether that was deliberate on Sateri''s side, I have no idea. I fully intend to take advantage of that though. _ Hessy: Should we evacuate then? In case you want to use that firestorm skill¡­ _ Shadyna: Why would I do that?! I am a pacifist you know!? I will only retaliate when attacked! However, [Luminous Firestorm] is indeed a solution, considering how many players are gathering here¡­ Uh, everyone, why are you looking at me with such doubtful eyes~? _ Hessy: Yeah right. So, what do we do? _ Shadyna: Well~ In order to peacefully clear this quest, I will need a few signboards, some furniture, and a small house. _ Everyone: A house? Of course they will be surprised, as those aren''t what you would need to commit 500 murders in quick succession, most of the time. _ Su: Co-could it be¡­ our love nest, at long last?! *Coughs a pool worth of blood* How the heck did this rotten proprietress come to that conclusion?! And you are already dying from your own fantasies, how would you survive if that was really the case?! Needless to say, her guess was totally off the mark. If I want that, I can always use our cafeteria''s top floor, or Elri''s house. _ Elri: By the way, ¡­ _ Shadyna: Yes~? _ Elri: You don''t have to emphasize your pacifism every three sentences. Only idiots would believe it nowadays. Sounds like more of a reason to up the brainwas¡­ propaganda to me! And my pacifism is an undeniable fact, okay? ____________ The guild hall of is filled to the brim with people. If only all of them were ladies with ample chests, the guildmaster would happily serve them 24/7. However, the degenerates here do not have such chests. In fact, they aren''t even ladies! The usual busty receptionists aren''t at their posts either. It couldn''t be helped, since they are guild managers, and have more important issues to handle than being ogled by perverts right now. _ Olkan: I am being surrounded by goddesses¡­ As such, they are all in the guildmaster''s office. To share the same space with three beauties whose busts are on the verge of bursting out of their physics-defying clothes, no longer has any regret. _ Manager #1: Sure, guildmaster. The merchants outside are petitioning to waive this week''s rent due to Sateri-chan''s occupation of the marketplace. _ Manager #2: No way, no how. We are already strapped for cash as it is. Our peasa¡­ tenants will revolt if we don''t reimburse them for the sudden relocation soon. _ Manager #3: , the new residential area you requested is too big for the walls. We need a higher budget in order to¡­ _ Olkan: Why are you all only talking about money during my happy hour?! The managers look at each other, then simultaneously respond as if it was completely normal. _ Managers: Because we are merchants? _ Olkan: Of course you are! But can''t you at least show some affection?! _ Manager #1: You can have it once you do your job as the guildmaster first. _ Olkan: My job isn''t printing money out of thin air!!! And here he was wondering why his managers suddenly gathered in his office at the same time. Of course it wouldn''t be because they wanted to confess to him! _ Manager #3: , how do we proceed from here? is no good as always. _ Olkan: What else am I supposed to do when you three just barged in and ask for absurd amounts of money?! _ Linista: *Sighs* Can''t be helped then. Please forward me the reports. It was the usual scene in the office. getting into trouble financially, and having to drag him out of his own mess. _ Fuelri: Why are you sending it to me as well?! Let''s see¡­ Uwa, what the hell is with these expenses?! Our guildmaster is the type that buys a house to do a quest, but yours is on a whole different level. _ Manager #3: I know right? _ Olkan: It wasn''t my fault! How could I expect¡­ Wait, why are you here, ?! It was about time he realized the presence of the two "outsiders" in the room. Old habits are surprisingly hard to get rid of. _ Linista: I have something to discuss with you. _ Olkan: Worry not! I have been thinking of your chest every day, and not once have I ever thought about rejecting your inevitable return! While the managers just stare at the depraved guildmaster in pure disgust, the elven knight brandishes her halberd and starts bashing his head in without the slightest hesitation. _ Olkan: Ow ow ow! I''m sorry! I''m sorry! My thoughts kinda slipped there! _ Fuelri: Worry not, my hands just slipped too! _ Olkan: Don''t say "slipped" when you are still deliberately smashing meeeeeeeee!!! After all, , who was only a normal member back then, has never been exposed to ''s behavior behind closed doors. Therefore, her reaction was justified. The managers used to do that as well, but stopped after the umpteenth time as that awakened him to even weirder hobbies. _ Linista: Big words for someone who hasn''t contacted me this whole time. _ Manager #1: *Sighs* Guildmaster¡­ _ Olkan: Don''t block me in PM if you want me to contact you!!! _ Linista: Eh¡­? Ah, right, you kept PM-ing me after I left so I blacklisted you the same day. _ Fuelri: Uwa¡­ _ Olkan: Your negligence really hurts, ¡­ A-anyway, you want to rejoin the guild right? Let me send the invita¡­ _ Linista: Not really. *Wham* Such was the sound of ''s face hitting his desk. _ Linista: I get to play with my old party, and I am going to be engaged soon¡­ *WHAM* Somehow, he managed to facedesk harder this time. The desk still standing is nothing short of a miracle, considering the impacts it just withstood. _ Linista: Then there are employee benefits¡­ _ Fuelri: You can stop now. He''s not moving anymore. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Although was seriously trying to murder him, was the one finishing him off for good, by using words only. _ Linista: Right¡­ I am here to buy my bar back. Since I am helping you out, I''ll take it as my payment, deal? _ Managers: Deal. _ Fuelri: So fast! _ Olkan: My bar!!! _ Managers: You be quiet. _ Fuelri: Uh¡­ Are you sure you want to trade a whole building for her advice? Even though the deal is in her favor, can''t help but thinking it is a bit too lopsided. To put it in another way, managers are probably getting a better deal in some way that she is not aware of. _ Manager #1: Because if we decline, we will drown in poverty, and she will somehow get the bar over our dead bodies in the end! When sees silently smiling in response, the elf knows it is in her best interest not to pry further. It is most likely something that she will never be able to unhear. _ Linista: , please go ahead and unlock the building for . I will come when she arrives. _ Fuelri: Sure, no problem. Without further ado, she walks out of the office. In the first place, she wasn''t in the management team of , so whatever problems they have are not hers to deal with. _ Linista: Make a "We are all in this together" excuse to shut a good part of them up for a while. For the tenants, suggest that they share house and rent with the merchants if possible. I''ll need to go over the expansion plan with , but we should not have to build a new house for each one of them. The demanding individuals can always be replaced with newer, more reasonable players¡­ silently closes the door behind her, thinking about how the managers of really embody both the "BB" and the "Conglomerate" parts. Scary. ____________ _ Shadyna: Mister, I would like to buy a liquid that inflicts [Poison]! While Elri and Linny are on a journey to acquire a house, Hessy and Su are back at the cafeteria to craft the furniture I asked for. Me? I am on a shopping trip with ~ Having said that, we have done nothing but getting lost in the new shopping district until now! There are too many buildings in the way, I can''t find the shop I want from a distance like before. And I worked so hard to remember the positions of the shops I frequented in the old marketplace too¡­ _ Merchant: [Poison], isn''t it? Wait a minute, I need to find it in the mountain of boxes. You have my sympathy. Moving from the marketplace to here on short notice must have been rough. _ Falyn: Owner, can''t you just blast everything using that buff item exploit? _ Shadyna: I can, but that isn''t very pacifist-like. And it''s tedious. _ Falyn: Mostly because it''s tedious huh. Don''t mind the little details~ _ Falyn: Well, taking it easy once in a while is fine too. Reminds me of the time when we fooled around in closed beta. Flashback time? It''s flashback time right~? _ Falyn: Then again, I''m sure there will be plenty of fooling around together as long as you are here, owner. But what about the flashback?! _ Shadyna: Your team is not going anywhere you know? Me being here or not. If I remember correctly, did say something about the pizza team''s main job being delivering food to ''s frontline. Unlike other teams which always have someone manning the counter, I''m sure and her friends could mobilize more easily in comparison. _ Falyn: Hmm? No, I''m talking about Hessy and Linny and Su. We used to be in the same party, but parted ways when the big guilds turned on each other, until recently of course. _ Shadyna: ¡­Eh? EH?! I knew my managers, except for Elri, were acquaintances, but I didn''t think they had such close relationships! , patting my head with that smile does not solve the confusion. It feels nice though so I''ll let you be for now. I should tell Elri to flirt with Hessy more. We latecomers need to do better in order to catch up! ¡­ _ Shadyna: Umm¡­ Pretty sure I asked for a small house¡­ To be exact, I asked for a small plot of land or house that is at least 4x4 meter in size. For some reason, Elri brought me to a night club instead! I am not old enough in-game to enter this kind of place to begin with! _ Elri: ¡­Sorry. Un, she''s turning away. Definitely guilty. I doubt my sane mentor here was crazy enough to buy it on her own volition. That means the mastermind was Linny. Elri, being a pushover, was probably caught in the flow, agreed to Linny''s marriage proposal, and bought this building for their honeymoon. Even though she already had Hessy. Sigh~ _ Falyn: I''m starting to understand why Hessy said you always seemed to get everything both right and wrong at the same time. How rude~ _ Elri: Uh, let''s get this over with. You don''t need the full building right? _ Shadyna: Un! A small room is fine! _ Elri: Follow me. said you could use the room to the right. I wonder if my managers planned to do something with the rest of the building? Looking forward to it~ _ Tied up jerk bishop: Praaaaaaaaaaay, my children, for your faith will become the power to repel the darkness! Definitely NOT looking forward to this guy''s rambling however. ¡­ _ Shadyna: And I shall call this¡­ The Confession Room! _ Hessy: ¡­It is a torture room. Conclusion: Hessy has no imagination whatsoever! In the room Linny gave us, I dug a shallow hole in the middle and filled it with [Toxic water], a green glowing liquid found in deeper parts of the swamp that deals [Poison] damage if you step in it. The surface only reaches my ankle, by the way. Then, I pushed the bishop NPC into the poisonous puddle. I originally wanted to throw him, but decided not to because [Mancannon] might destroy the house. Last but not least, we built a cage around him, to make sure he cannot escape. Although it''s not possible while I am still around to cast [Binding roots], I have better things to do. The cage is as strong as the town walls so good luck breaking it, evil laugh echoing~ _ Shadyna: A bishop in a tight enclosed space, hence the name "Confession Room"! He is constantly preaching and players come to him to talk about their (guild-related) problems on top of it! Un, I don''t think anyone can mistake this place for anything else, apart from the cage, the lack of exit, and the poisonous pool. Well, little details~ _ Elri: So, your goal is¡­ _ Shadyna: Have him die from poison, use [Resurrection] to bring him back to life, repeat until we complete the quest~! _ Everyone: Uwa¡­ Everyone is admiring my pacifism~¡­ Probably not. Sigh~ _ Jerk bishop: When all was lost, the Sun Goddess appeared before mankind. Her light shiiiiiiiiiined through the ni¡­ Guh! Aaaaaaaaaaand he dropped dead from poison overdose. Wait, can one even overdose on poison? But more importantly, as I check the [Hollow Guild Mark] in my inventory, its number has increased to 1/500. Ufufu¡­ just as I expected. If both mobs and players count, there''s no reason to think NPC, who are practically players controlled by Sateri, would be an exception. Welcome to your personal hell, Mister Jerkass Bishop. I will be your guide! _ Hessy: I expected a lot of deaths when you said you would complete the quest the pacifist way, but to think you would commit war crimes¡­ _ Shadyna: How mean~ It is not war crime if there is no war to begin with! _ Hessy: That is not a problem here! That is the very definition of war crimes though¡­ Somehow, the bishop NPC is standing up again, even though no one has used [Resurrection] on him. _ Jerk bishop: The Goddess''s liiiiiiiiight protects me from aaaaaaaall adversaries! ¡­Not only is this guy annoying, he is also the type that refuses to die when killed. Sateri, may I suggest choosing a more tolerable character to spread your teachings¡­? The bishop continues his speech about Sateri''s greatness for a few seconds, then dies and gets resurrected again. Apparently, his HP after being resurrected is only a small fraction of his max HP. Wait, isn''t this pretty convenient? If he keeps getting up on his own, I can do the quest without lifting a finger. Preparing this whole setup required a lot of literal lifting, sure, but that doesn''t count, okay? _ Hessy: He is a special NPC without [Soul Core], so instead of dying for good, he is automatically revived huh¡­ _ Falyn: His immortality changed from a blessing to a curse of eternal suffering¡­ Still, owner, isn''t this still a lot of murdering using exploits? _ Shadyna: It''s not. _ Falyn: It''s not? _ Shadyna: Un. For one, it is not an exploit as I used [Binding roots] and [Poison] exactly as they were intended. I am not "murdering" either. It''s preemptive self-defense, applied over and over again! Uh, everyone, why are you facepalming? That is rude you know~? _ Falyn: Eh¡­ That bishop has not attacked you. _ Shadyna: He attacked me, personally! And I took offense to that! _ Elri: That''s not how self-defense works you maniac!!! Please don''t mind the little details~ ____________ The maid caf¨¦ is undergoing their first crisis. Which is a surprise, considering the place having been in the red the whole time. Such is the perk of being backed up financially by a whole alliance. Said alliance isn''t here to save them from the beautiful but crazy waitress who just came in uninvited though. _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: Pardon our intrusion~ This is a hos~tile~ takeover~ Following her is the handsome (?) bartender whose hobby is playing with ladies'' hearts (in ''s mind). However, she is on a business mission today. _ Helen: Good day to you. As my partner here just said, we are here for a hostile takeover. Everyone, including the maids across the counter, were speechless. _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: Hmm~ Should I say that again until your thick skull get it~? Hostile, takeover, understood~? _ Depraved maid: Are you calling us stupid you arrogant devious woman?! _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: Oh my~ It appears that you aren''t as dumb as legends say. My apologies. _ Depraved maid: Legends? A-am I famous now? Ehehe~ _ Helen: You ju~st had to prove her right, didn''t you? _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: Well then~ Since you are capable of understanding human language¡­ Please become our sub~ _ Depraved maid: Aren''t you just saying the same thing in different ways?! While the two crazy people are bickering (kind of), the kind maid is still tirelessly and silently making sure the few guests are served in time. can''t help but admire her ability to work regardless of distractions. Totally not because the womanizer has set her eyes on another victim. _ Helen: My cute kitten, do you happen to have a room for us to discuss in private? The kind maid pauses for a second, then puts down the mug in her hand with a long sigh. _ Kind maid: I was hoping you two would leave me alone if I kept silent. _ Helen: Even if you did, your kind and hardworking nature still shines brightly like the sun you know~? It was so cheesy, the patrons were reminded of their own dark history and begin writhing in agony as a result. _ Kind maid: *Sighs* Follow me. And please refrain from speaking. _ Helen: Eh~ Ignoring the crazy couple over there, the saner (?) pair go to the back of the caf¨¦, away from prying eyes, where they can discuss their business in peace. Nothing suspicious will happen behind the door, definitely. --- Topic: Guild NPC missing? --- ## Mage of Sin We just completed our guild quest, but somehow the quest giver NPC is gone? o_0 Is it because of our quest progress that we cannot see him, or did something happen? ## ## Newbie Charisma build The guild creation quest right? Just activate the guild mark to initiate banner crafting and you are done. If you need that guy for the guild clerk/steward quest, follow the new direction signs around the marketplace. He has been relocated for some reason. ## ## Mage of Sin Many thanks. m(_ _)m Black Mantis was behind us when we talked to him, so I feared she might have decimated him somehow. (^_^;) ## ## Flame knight of Darkness About that¡­ [Pic] Pretty sure he prefers being decimated right now. (._.) You can still talk to him, although him dying every few seconds is a bit distracting. ## ## Manly Warrior How in the name of Sateri-chan did he end up like that?! (£þ¡õ£þ;) Replace that poison with lava and he would be in a literal hell on earth! ## ## Flame knight of Darkness Personally speaking, I would be more concerned about Black Mantis and her friends casually having a tea party behind him¡­ She said she used poison instead of lava to avoid destroying his corpse, in case you really want to know¡­ (?_?;) ## ------ Chapter 53: The guild flag This is Shadyna, performing my first task as a guildmaster! ¡­Which is figuring out a name for my guild. In a way, it was amazing how we managed to completely forgot about that. Well, it was secondary compared to bonus bosses, fashion shows, and explosive dumplings, I suppose. Is my guild going to be okay¡­? _ Su: According to the board, you can customize the coat of arms on the banner as well. Since it may be displayed on our armor, let''s be mindful. Oh~ coat of arms. A symbol of hope or fear depending on the prestige of the guild. Also a good way to know who to shoot at in the midst of battle. In that regard, our guild is already one step ahead with the uniforms. Well, four uniforms, actually, but most players seem to be able to recognize us from a distance without problem. The beautiful service workers are taking "Every day is a battle" quite literally! If that''s the case, I wonder if I can draw Gelly and call it a day? _ Linny: Sateri-chan won''t let you register the coat of arms if it is too absurd however. Something like a bra is out. What. The. Heck?! Of course Sateri would reject that design! More importantly, why would you know that?! _ Elri: *Sighs* tried it, didn''t he¡­? _ Linny: He sure did. He is going to get banned someday if he keeps doing that¡­ It is probably not a first offense either, considering his hobby of wearing bras on his head, of which he admitted during our first meeting. Un. He definitely tried to craft one and was rejected as well! _ Linny: In the end he went with a stack of three coins. It was most likely inspired by the flag designed by Hessy''s dark elf pair. _ Hessy: That''s too bad. We could have pressed for copyright¡­ That''s a dark smile you two are having there¡­ Are you sure you are not some villainesses plotting the heroine''s financial ruin to trigger her bad end? Besides, why the hell do we have copyright in this game?! _ Linny: I''m sure that was the reason why he avoided using the original. He''s learning. He''s one of the richest player! What have you done for him to be wary of you that much?! Catching sight of me silently protesting in my mind, Hessy turns to me to explain. I would prefer you not reading my mind just from a glimpse though¡­ _ Hessy: Never, EVER, talk to Linny and Mera if money is involved, unless you are absolutely sure you are not paying for anything. _ Shadyna: Eh? I''ll be squeezed until the last coin? _ Hessy: *Sighs* This is why you should not come to them. Being squeezed to the last coin will be the least of your problems. It''s even worse?! The in-game black company''s CEO is actually a CEO in real life or what?! And Mera as well? Is there anything of her that is normal at this point? _ Linny: That''s rude, Hessy. As heiresses, we just have a slightly larger margin of error in value estimation. If your "slightly" means three orders of magnitude, sure¡­ Wait, what? Heiress? _ Shadyna: Royalty? Are you a royalty who eats dinners with golden plates, is protected by secret police 24/7, goes to school in a private airliner, and laughs "Ohohoho!" majestically at your enemies?! _ Hessy: No, the last one is just your prejudice. But but¡­ that''s how it goes for villainesses in games! How else are you going to identify one if she didn''t pull it off during the first encounter with the heroine?! _ Linista: We aren''t royalty, only daughters of people of high social status. This country doesn''t have a monarch to begin with. _ Elri: Shouldn''t you deny the airliner thing first?! Linny has her priorities straight, that''s why~ _ Hessy: Because she¡­ Actually, you tell her. I have a headache just remembering how you two arrived at the offline party! Oh~ Offline party! I wonder if we should hold one for our guild too? We need to be pretty much in the same province in real life to do it regularly though¡­ Since Mera and Linny are royalty, maybe the two are as gorgeous in real life as they are in-game~ _ Linny: You see, airliners are too big for personal use, and they are only cost efficient when used for heavy cargo¡­ _ Elri: Deny having one, damn it!!! I mean, she''s not wrong. The big planes were made to carry big stuff. No matter how big Linny and her chest are, she shouldn''t need something with four jet engines to commute, right? ¡­Right? _ Linny: As you wish, Elri. I don''t have it¡­ anymore. I gave it to my employees so they can always travel as needed. As for me, attack helicopter if the destination is in the city, and a two-seater jet fighter otherwise. Both are unarmed, of course. I don¡¯t think it matters much to the layman whether your transportation is armed or not¡­ Elri, please cease that orz. _ Elri: Why can''t I ever have a normal friend?! _ Hessy: I know right? I''m sure you aren''t getting one apart from this normal cute me~ _ Linny: When you think about it, it''s normal? After the war, humanity no longer has any use for warplanes. If you are acquainted with the right people, you can buy one for the cost of a luxury car. _ Elri: HOW THE HELL IS THAT NORMAL AT ALL?! Elri broke. Welp~ ¡­ After calming Elri down, we are back to the original topic. _ Falyn: ''s is a sword next to a drop of blood. Sums up ''s experience of the game pretty well, I think. _ Hessy: I''m surprised that woman hasn''t become a witch yet with the amount of bloodletting she does¡­ You are probably thinking about plague doctors there. Then again, doctors don''t shoot people with a massive bow so¡­ Combat medic? Curing all diseases by shooting all of the bad blood out of your body, combat medic ! Also charged with various medical malpractices and war crimes because people do not survive well with no HP for some reason, but who cares about that anyway~? _ Falyn: Hmm~ She will look good in a witch outfit but uh¡­ The muscle brains under her also have [Blood Arrow]. Are you seriously suggesting those guys to wear such costumes? ¡­Dear Sateri why?! Why did you have to say that, ?! Brain bleach! I demand brain bleach NOW!!! *WHACK* *WHAM* *BONK* Hessy and Linny proceed to smack ruthlessly without a word. The scary waitress went straight for the face, while the black company CEO body-slammed from the back. Even against allies, these ladies do not hold back at all¡­ The beating continues until is reduced to a twitching pulp on the ground. Considering how well-coordinated the assault was, it must have occurred quite frequently in the past. Meanwhile, Su has already passed out on the floor, in a pool of blood. Since others are not batting an eye, let''s do the same, un. Elri looks like she''s traumatized for life. Whoopsie? _ Hessy: Haa¡­ haa¡­ Damn it. It''s been a while so our senses must have dulled. , , listen. If you have a bad feeling whenever this maniac opens her mouth, don''t hesitate to beat her up until she shuts up for good. Do you realize what you are suggesting to a pacifist?! _ Dead (?) Falyn: I was just saying what was in my mind¡­ _ Hessy: Keep that to yourself! Your mind is a nightmare fuel deposit! I don''t approve of violence, but I''ll say that totally deserved it. My innocent mind has been tainted forever! In other news, should we do something about Su and Elri? ¡­ _ Su: As for ¡­ Shouldn''t you wipe the blood off first? I feel like the bystanders are mistaking you for a serial killer who has just performed the deed¡­ _ Su: It''s a candy in the center of a magnifying glass. Yes, officer, those suspicious players handing out candies right there! _ Falyn: To the point, those lolicons. _ Hessy: Their degeneracy is the only thing straightforward about them. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. _ Elri: Fits them so well it''s kind of scary. Su, why are you making that "I know right?" smug face¡­? That''s three out of the four big guilds. The last one is¡­ _ Hessy: ¡­What is it, ? Do you want me to craft some candies? _ Shadyna: Yes, please! ¡­Wait, no! You are supposed to talk about ''s banner! I wouldn''t mind some sweets though. A tea party won''t be complete without them. _ Hessy: [Cooking]. Their banner, isn''t it¡­? Uh, Hessy, why are you reluctant like a sidekick withholding important clues from the protagonist while muttering "Nah, that can''t be."? Do you know that doing so lowers your life expectancy dramatically? _ Falyn: Ah, she doesn''t know. _ Linny: Yup, she doesn''t know. Eh? Seriously? Sure, she''s not in the guild so that''s understandable. What surprised me is that she does not keep in touch with the old guild while other managers do. _ Hessy: Well, sorry for being occupied with other urgent matters! What can I say¡­ This pouting Hessy is cute too~ _ Linny: You see, owner, Hessy was really popular with the common members of , but less so among the management team. Every now and then she would feel lonely and¡­ *WHACK* Now Linny is being smacked around for running her mouth. I''m not going to intervene, because I am a true pacifist! ¡­And because she''s in "scary waitress" mode. Good luck, Linny! _ Linny: Guh! Physical assault is illegal, Hessy¡­ _ Hessy: That''s your own fault! And there''s no law in this game! Well, there kind of is. It is called PK penalty¡­ Seeing how they fool around with each other, I can''t help but feel puzzled: Why did they decide to join different guilds even though they are so close? _ Falyn: Owner? _ Shadyna: Ah, sorry, I was just thinking about how you all could have made your own guild instead of joining others separately. I wonder if there was a tragic reason for all of that? Four lovely daughters struggling to find work in black companies in order to earn money to save their mother¡­ would have been a plausible backstory, if said daughters weren''t eating bosses for breakfast and selling the leftovers at wallet-crippling prices! Instead of beginning a sobbing flashback episode, turns to Hessy with an annoyed expression, the kind that one would make when the waitress forgot the smile you ordered! ¡­The tavern does not offer that service, by the way. However, you can ask to be glared as if you are trash. Now THAT, is true service, for the degenerate patrons at least. _ Falyn: What the hell, Hessy? Did you not tell owner the plan? Eh? What plan? I knew about Hessy''s plan to unite the food stores, but nothing about how they ended up separate in the first place. Don''t tell me¡­ it was their plan all along? _ Hessy: ¡­Ah. What the heck~ _ Su: Hessy, I thought we had agreed not to hide anything from our soon-to-be guildmaster? _ Hessy: It just slipped my mind, okay?! I don''t mind if you just forgot some stuff, but just how much stuff do you have behind the scenes that you need such agreement?! _ Linny: Customer trust is the most important asset of a business. Now pay with your body to regain it. _ Hessy: I''m going to sell you back to you damn maniac!!! There are more than enough people trying to pay me with their bodies already! Stop encouraging it! And human trafficking is illegal! _ Elri: With friends like these, I can understand why you wanted to split up. _ Hessy: Don''t just watch from the side and help me shut them up!!! Considering how she is already strangling the bartender, I don''t think Elri''s help is needed¡­ Hessy sure is violent around close acquaintances huh. While that makes it easy to know who she has good relationship with, I think I need to upgrade the managers'' armors at the very least, or the potion expenses will be horrendous in the long run. A guildmaster has to worry about the guild''s treasury after all! _ Falyn: Since Hessy is busy, it falls upon us to get up to speed! _ Su: Oh! Well, as long as refrains from assaulting me mentally¡­ Rather than a flashback, what I got was more of a lengthy exposition episode of the first guild war during closed beta. Back then, when the first guilds emerged after Sateri''s update, there were more prominent crafting guilds than there are now. In fact, each [Origin] title owner had their own guild with crafters of the same category. [Alchemy], [Enhance], [Enchant], [Construction], and obviously, [Cooking]. If a crafting skill exists, there''s a guild for that, or so how it went at the time. The [Origin] titles were so powerful, they gave the crafting guilds overwhelming advantages over the rest of the player base. For and , whose guildmaster had no OP title to compete with, it was a losing battle in the long run. How were they going to deal with that? Striking an alliance with one of their enemies, that''s how. happily made a deal with the two combat-oriented guilds, since wasn''t happy with the amount of competitors in the market. For reasons unknown, also joined them later. Linny suspected they somewhat foresaw the outcome and decided to be on the winning side. Then came a virtually bloody war between the alliance and the rest of the crafting guilds. Outside the town walls, the two combat-oriented guilds engaged in large-scale PvP to deny material farming. In the market, hoarded said materials and embargoed their enemies, which gradually starved the crafting guilds economically. By the time the crafting guilds realize what the maniacs were up to, it was too late. To sustain the war, the alliance made sure to target only one guild at a time, and limit the trade war to one or two essential materials to their target. The crafting guilds themselves were not exactly friendly with each other either. As long as they didn''t perceive the alliance as a threat, they would happily turn a blind eye to each other''s miseries. The result was a typical rapid collapse of society when the protagonist is not around. [Construction] guild, being overly dependent on other players for income and materials, quickly fell first. [Enchant] and [Enhance] followed soon after due to their dependence on weapons and armors, which were ''s market in the first place. [Alchemy] guild tried to team up with the remnants from the other guilds, but eventually lost the attrition war. Their strong point was alpha strikes using consumables, which did work in the beginning, until they depleted their material stockpile and were overrun by ''s superior gear. Having monitored the situation since the beginning, the [Cooking] guild knew it was only a matter of time before their fall. At that time, their member count was even lower than . Hessy was still normal, and their food buffs were weaker than [Alchemy] buffs in combat. There was no way for them to survive as a guild. In the end, they fought the alliance in a heroic last stand and exploded in a blaze of glory¡­ not! It would be amazing if they could somehow do a last stand in a game where you can just press "Return to town" after dying though¡­ What actually happened is a bit more anticlimactic. Knowing they could not win head-on against the powerful alliance, the guild disbanded on their own. Using Su''s¡­ preferences as the justification, they made it look like the guild was falling apart similarly to the other crafting guilds, and some were already looking to join the winning guilds. That way, they could keep honing their main craft safely, bidding them precious time. During that disguised reorganization, my managers liquidated their assets by selling whatever left in their stockpile to the non-aligned players. The new overlords would provide a new workplace for them after all, so the coins became the upgraded gear to help grinding instead. Rather than being crippled financially, the cooks actually came out ahead, with all becoming essential managers/players in their new home. However, the biggest reason for all of that elaborate dismantling of their own guild was to maintain their place as the best cooks in the player base. The alliance, by constantly preventing the growth of other crafting guilds afterwards, was unknowingly nurturing not only one, but four [Cooking] guilds. The cooks did well for the big guilds, and their guilds in turn let them self-govern in all aspects, including leveling, recruitment, and finance. In hindsight, that''s a ticking time bomb waiting to go off, but hey, humanity has a tendency not to pay attention when it matters, so I don''t blame them. In the end, the purge concluded with most members leaving the crafting guilds to play without being embargoed, and the guildmasters with [Origin] titles faded to irrelevance. The [Cooking] guild, with its main force mostly intact, was waiting for the conquerors to be in turmoil, either by internal conflict, new competing alliances, or a cute little girl packing enough firepower to wipe the floor with all of them. Okay, Hessy and co definitely did not plan for the last one, but that''s the gist of it. Of course not everything went as planned, like Hessy accidentally being too successful and made other managers miserable, her getting kicked out of , and Su unnecessarily demanding to begin the glorious revolution immediately to protect me¡­ Not that I''m complaining, since we wouldn''t be here together otherwise. But seriously, what the heck was that superspy movies'' level of espionage?! You girls were pretty much plotting a rebellion right under your guildmasters'' noses from scratch, without a big bad secret organization backing you up! Even superspies would call you out for being unrealistic! _ Su: We figured you would never notice if we didn''t tell you, but please take it as a gesture of our goodwill. You are our guildmaster and will be with us for a long time after all~ I''m glad you are honest, although I will be worried about being murdered in my sleep for knowing too much for a while¡­ _ Shadyna: I don''t mind either way. Please inform me earlier next time however. So that I can run away at full speed¡­ Not that I would ever say that to them. _ Hessy: As I said, it slipped my mind. Do you have any question regarding the issue? _ Shadyna: Un, what was your old guild''s coat of arms? Guilds have been making their own ever since closed beta in case of guild wars, apparently. If my managers used to have one, I probably should at least keep their old banner in mind and see if I can use some of the details in the new one. Revive, reuse, recycle, or something along those lines~ It''s not because I don''t want to think too much about the new banner''s design, okay? _ Hessy: Why is that the first thing on your mind?! _ Elri: Because she will only go at her own pace. Well, it''s not like I can go back to the past and cause some time paradoxes by helping you out¡­ And Elri, that jab was uncalled for~ _ Hessy: *Sighs* It was a steaming bowl. Surprisingly simple but effective way to make others think of [Cooking] huh. It won''t be enough this time, because I don''t even main that skill¡­ _ Hessy: Why are you changing clothes? _ Shadyna: Hmm? The [Hollow Guild Mark] has turned into [Shining Guild Mark], so I am going to craft our new banner? [Summon]! By the way, does anyone has [Devotion]? Can''t do all-out crafting without Lutena''s LDR bonus and [Devotion]''s absurd attribute buff after all! _ Su: I do~ [Devotion]! _ Hessy: Just what kind of weapon of mass destruction are you going to make out of our banner?! _ Shadyna: Special items require special attention! Please cease that orz and accept the party invitation already. Even if the banner is not a wearable equipment, that doesn''t necessarily mean I cannot overki¡­craft it. Let''s make a banner so great, I don''t have to make another one ever again! _ Shadyna: All set! [Creation]! _ Su: You only need to activate the guild mark item to begin crafting, but this is fine too~ Tell me that sooner, you sneaky elf~! ____________ The waitress in charge, , was serving the customers as per usual when she saw a party of weirdoes entering the tavern. That was her two colleagues and two maids from the new cosplay caf¨¦. _ Helen: I''m back, my fair lady. _ Mera: To our eternal hell of pain and suffering~ _ Inerin: Don''t say misleading stuff that makes people think we are a dubious black company!!! Mera alone was crazy enough, now the poor sane waitress has to deal with maniacs from the other teams as well. In a way, it is indeed an eternal hell for her. Judging from the maniacs'' cheery moods, their errand must have been a success. The depraved maid behind them doesn¡¯t seem to be amused though. _ Depraved maid: You can take my body, but you will never take my heart! No matter what unthinkable half-breed torture you throw at me, I will not break! SO BRING IT!!! And the number of crazies just keeps increasing, thinks . _ Mera: Ufufu, worry not~ My half-dead friends will accompany you all~ night~ long~ _ Inerin: Those two are half-undead¡­ Ah, said she was crafting armors with the new guild banner on them, so drop by the bar later to pick it up. _ Helen: Can''t we just toggle the guild banner on our current armors? _ Inerin: *Shrugs* Beats me. She probably doesn''t like the default placement on armors crafted before the patch, or doesn''t know the menu exists. Personally, she highly suspects it was the latter, but decides to keep that to herself. _ Mera: Understood~ I wonder if it is similar to the one I made back then~? _ Inerin: ¡­Back then? The question was not heard by the weirdo party as they had already moved to the upper floor. --- Topic: Illusive Sprout General Topic #7 --- ## Teabag Master Sorry for the wait! We would like to announce that the cafeteria has officially become a guild! - Guild name: Sapling Cuisine - Original guild banner: [Pic] - Replica guild banner: [Pic] In order to celebrate this occasion, our shop will hold a 50% sale tomorrow. Looking forward to your continued patronage. <3 ## ## OP alchemist Cheers! £Ü(^o^)£¯ The banner looks cute. ## ## Newbie Charisma build Congratz! £Ü(^o^)£¯ Why is the original banner literally a sapling in a bowl though? Shouldn''t it be a normal flag? (?_?) ## ## Teabag Master Because our guildmaster wills it. To be honest, I have no idea why it became that way either. Her crafts are a headache to make sense of. ## ## Manly Warrior Congrats to you all! (*¡ä¨Œ£à*) Now there''s nothing stopping us from calling you the most game-breaking guild in existence! ## ## Silver Merchant Not sure if they are actively proving or disproving that with the whacky yet impossible-to-craft banner though. ¡¥\_(¥Ä)_/¡¥ I am personally more interested in finding out whether the guild name means food for trees, or food made from trees¡­ ## ## Mage of Sin Black Mantis has tree parts on her head so I doubt it is the latter. Don''t quote me on that though, go ahead and ask her. We uh¡­ will be watching from the bunker over there. (£à-¡ä)> ## ------ Chapter 54: Casual farming The chosen one Shadyna is going on an adventure! _ Shadyna: Everyone, I will surely avenge you and save the world! _ Elri: Can you not begin weird monologues as soon as the day starts?! As expected of my mentor, she is already working hard as the only sane person of the party! _ Shadyna: But without having your hometown destroyed, you won''t be able to begin the main quest¡­ And technically, it''s already night in real life ¡­ _ Elri: Right, the quest to run away from law enforcement after blowing up your hometown. _ Shadyna: Why?! _ Elri: Do I really have to spell it out for you? I''m being treated like a criminal, sad cry~ While the cute girl of the neighborhood is being bullied, a wild degenerate elf appears from the stairs. _ Su: Sorry for the wait~ The new patch was a boon for our business, but that was too many customers! Oh right, Sateri released an emergency patch this morning. What was it again? I''m sure it was something related to item trading, but it didn''t affect me so I kind of forgot about it¡­ Well, if it was so forgettable, it''s most likely not something important anyway~ _ Elri: Must have been rough managing a whole floor with only three of you. _ Su: It is. , one headpat please~ Wanting to get spoiled early, aren''t you¡­ _ Shadyna: Sure, thank you for your hardwork~ The day begins with a serene scene of degenerate headpatting. This won''t up the game''s age rating right? _ Su: Happiness~ _ Elri: What the heck is this¡­? By the way, don''t you have to go with ? Oh, do they have their own plan today? _ Su: For once, my has priority! I will only go if that''s where she is heading to. How about you not claiming to be my owner whenever you have a chance¡­ _ Shadyna: What is she doing by the way? _ Elri: Some kind of event for closed beta players¡­ Supposedly. She brought everyone, leaving only us to guard you. Is the event a bonus boss fight or something?! _ Su: You can join too, of course. _ Shadyna: Hmm¡­ I''ll pass. I need to do something else today. Since the event is geared towards beta players, it probably has nothing to do with Sateri. I have found nothing for the last two days, so I need to pick up the pace before it''s too late. I''m sure Hessy can deal with a bonus boss or two on her own, as long as there is no time limit. _ Elri: No problem. Su, are you sure about this? _ Su: It''s fine~ They have plenty of healers already. It''s going to be just our elf family today~ Now that she mentions it, everyone here has virtual elven blood flowing in their veins. The pointy ears bloodline is going strong today as well! _ Shadyna: I''m only half-elf though¡­ Does that mean Elri has been cheating behind Su''s back? _ Elri: What. The. HECK?! Covering her mouth with both hands as if she was surprised, Su makes a fake teary expression directed at Elri. Yes, it is so fake, even I can see that it was fake! _ Su: H-how could you!? The time we have spent together, does it not matter at all to you!? Considering how short your time with her is¡­ I would say "yes" to that. _ Elri: Do not follow up! What if the patrons misunderstand?! Worry not, with our patrons'' average intelligence, that''s certainty. _ Random patron: How dare you betray Su! Don''t think you can do anything you want just because you have great boobs! On second thought, you can, but that doesn''t mean you should! At least try to scold her until the end! _ Shadyna: Hey, Elri, is your new concubine a little girl as well? _ Elri: I will be screwed whether I answer "yes" or "no" to that question anyway! Whoops, she found out~ _ Su: Elri, please think of our child! is still young and needs a mother in her life! The proprietress should look at herself in the mirror every once in a while, just saying. _ Elri: You two¡­ CUT IT OUT!!! *BONK* *BONK* Gyah~ The cute children are being subjected to domestic violence! ____________ On a barren land between hunting zones, many players gather, fully geared up for combat. A huge magic circle can be seen spanning the whole area they are standing on. It looks like it was drawn by a stick dragged on the ground, but a detailed magic circle nonetheless. Contrary to the tense atmosphere, there is no ongoing battle at the moment. They are merely preparing for a battle, just like the newly arrived cafeteria crew. _ Hessenria: Looks like everyone with [Goddess''s Chosen] had the same idea of calling every member in their guilds as well¡­ _ Mera: It would be a shame if someone happens to cast an AoE skill right now~ The wise and all-seeing sage glares at the smiling waitress in the way one would look at a psychopath, but does not make any further remark. _ Vladina: If we get wiped again, no one is going to be able to do this quest again until tomorrow, so please refrain until after the fight. _ Hessenria: Once per day global quest¡­ That''s why you are still here aren''t you? _ Vladina: Well duh! We didn''t know a boss would appear and had to fight it with only one party. By the time ''s reinforcement came, we couldn''t trigger it anymore! _ Hessenria: Was it as strong as a Magnus Bestia? _ Vladina: An average level 30 boss, surprisingly. The harsh mistress tilts her head slightly as she heard that. _ Hessenria: If it was only a level 30¡­ Uh¡­ I mean, of course a level 30 boss is a bit too much for a single party. _ Vladina: You don''t have to pretend. We all know the meta does not apply to your guild. _ Hessenria: Tsk. _ Mera: Hessy fell to darkness a lo~ng time ago after all~ *WHACK* _ Mera: Kya~ Because she will lose if she says anything about it, ignores the two lovebirds and walks to the stone pedestal at the center of the circle, which has begun glowing a moment ago. _ Vladina: I am going to trigger the boss now. Get ready. Surrounding players quickly brandish their weapons. Some may say hundreds of players against a single level 30 boss is overkill, but these old players who suffered Sateri-chan''s late game''s content would disagree. That AI girl does NOT play around when it comes to making players work hard for access to powerful gears and skills. Or maybe she was really playing around, hence the no-holds-barred one-sided battles that usually come with such contents. The players would rather not think too deeply about that though. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. As the guildmaster of activates the pedestal, a beam of light from the sky strikes at her location. However, by the time it landed, she had already jumped to the back. From here on out, her job is to stay behind the tanks and throw spells at the boss as fast as she can. Above the pedestal, the boss emerges from the light. A compass-needle-like entity that towers the tallest player in the area, yet still visibly smaller than a Magnus Bestia or Nox boss. Its metallic wings flap slightly in the air despite not being attached to the main body. At the top end, a small sphere is hovering in the same manner. At the same time, the magic circle underneath starts glowing brightly. Players at the edge can see a semi-transparent dome rising from the outermost circle, barring all entry, and exit. In other words, they are stuck here until one side falls. _ Vladina: Prepare yourself, [Celestial Remnant Relesius]! This is our payback for yesterday! Although the boss cannot understand the little girl''s words, the atmosphere is important, even in the direst situations. *FLASH* To the surprise of everyone in the vicinity, the big winged needle multiplied. A ball of light appeared next to the boss, then a new one, having the same appearance as the original, came out. Understandably, everyone is startled. They were not informed of the cloning ability in the briefing to begin with. _ Hessenria: Eh¡­ , that''s not "an average boss". *FLASH* One more has appeared at the other side of the original. _ Vladina: It didn''t multiply yesterday, honest! *FLASH* And another one. _ Hessenria: Everyone, attack! NOW! _ Players: OH!!! The supposedly boss fight has turned into a full-scale battle between a swarm of players and a horde of cloned bosses in the span of a few seconds. ____________ We have arrived at the forest. Ever since my crew glassed the old one¡­ I mean, performed a small pest extermination, it has transformed into a completely different place. The tree density has reduced somewhat, allowing more lights to reach the ground. In addition, the flora themselves seem to be giving off a dim light. Looking at how glittering it is now, it is hard to believe this place has a dark history of triggering priestesses'' bad ends on a daily basis (Probably)¡­ _ Shadyna: Settling here may be nice~ _ Su: Living on trees is the elven style after all~ _ Elri: Hmm¡­ I prefer being close to the ground, where my mount can maneuver freely. Should I be concerned that my mentor is becoming less of an elf and more of a fulltime cavalry commander? She has never been much of an elf with that bust, but still¡­ _ Elri: Anyway, what''s the plan? This place is way below our level. _ Shadyna: Elri, I do not fight mobs to gain levels in the first place¡­ _ Elri: Huh¡­ Hey, Elri, what''s that "Yeah right" expression you are making~? I am telling the truth you know~? Most of my levels came from crafting, skill grinding, and technically non-violent pacification of bonus bosses. The only exceptions were random mobs getting caught up peacefully in said leveling methods, and a Merexxa. Pacifism is still going strong in me, un! _ Shadyna: Sateri told me there would be a secret event in this patch. I don''t know how to start it so I''m thinking about gathering a lot of [Soul Core] and ask the NPCs if they have anything to say¡­ _ Su: Secret¡­ event? Guhnununu! So unfair! I want to get secret information and bribe too! What does the latter have to do with anything?! And for the record, she gave that information after I made the expensive engagement ring, so I was the one bribing her in this case. Also, can you stop gnawing your handkerchief while vomiting blood on it? I understand that you are jealous since you are a degenerate, but that''s kind of terrifying. _ Elri: [Soul Core] huh. Don''t they drop randomly from dead mobs? Are you going to fight? _ Shadyna: Well, I have thought about burning down the field to farm, but realized it would be a waste to burn the creatures'' corpses¡­ _ Elri: Stop because of pacifism, not technicalities!!! _ Shadyna: I''m sorry~ My mentor is strict today as well, sad cry~ _ Shadyna: Anyway~, I will try to fish at a pond to see if I can get a [Soul Core] first. I''m counting on you two! _ Su: Leave it to me! _ Elri: ¡­You are the fisher right? _ Shadyna: I am, but I need you to be the party leader, and Su''s [Devotion]. Ah, I do need to craft new equipment to boost the attributes as well. Even if the drop chance is astronomically low, I can still beat Sateri''s RNG using numerical superiority, evil laugh echoing~ Elri, please don''t sigh as if you are giving up~ ¡­ A lot of [Fishing] later¡­ For some reason, Elri is orz-ing now. _ Elri: This is not how [Fishing] works!!! _ Shadyna: Eh~? But you have two cute girls in summer clothes, a wooden pier, fishing rods¡­ It''s a normal fishing trip, no matter how you look at it¡­ There are trees all around us, so I did spend some extra efforts for the immersion. The picky elven knight wasn''t amused though¡­ _ Elri: Normal fishers do not require a full wagon fleet to store the fish they caught!!! I have a feeling that the proprietress next to me is thinking "Why are you bringing this up two hours after we started?", mostly because it has been two hours since we started. _ Shadyna: Uhm¡­ how else am I supposed to store all these fish? _ Elri: Do not overfish!!! She''s being unreasonable~ _ Su: But you only need to bring the wagons back to our warehouse. I have categorized all of the items for you in advanced. _ Elri: That''s not the problem here! Actually, why are you so calm about this?! caught an ocean''s worth of fish in only two hours!!! _ Su: Eh¡­ It''s not the first time so¡­ I''m sure you are supposed to say "This is nothing!" or "Anything for my lovely daughter!" here. When you put it like that, it sounded like I was being a bother and you were used to it! What do you mean, that''s exactly what''s happening here?! _ Shadyna: W-well, I have not found any [Soul Core], so we can stop here for now¡­ _ Su: Aw, I was enjoying my heavenly lap pillow¡­ Elri may find Su''s inventory management skills impressive, but I personally think her doing everything while lying on my lap is the most amazing. It''s kind of scary how she didn''t seem hindered in the slightest despite the awkward posture! She looks cute in the white summer dress though, so I''ll let that immersion-breaking behavior slide~ _ Elri: Anything to get me out of this fishy hell¡­ Sad face~ ¡­ For our next attempt to farm [Soul Core], I have to go back to the problem of beasts'' materials. You see, a true pacifist would never be able to access any monster drops, including [World Voice] and [Soul Core], due to lack of interaction with monsters. There''s no way Sateri could have missed it, so she must have some mechanics in store for this situation. If she does not, I will file a complaint, un! To prove that theory, we are currently looking for a random mob in the area. _ Elri: Is that one okay? She points at a colorful flightless bird resembling a peacock in front of us. _ Shadyna: Any creature is fine, really. [Love-free Lunchbox]! Yes, I am really using a buff item that many players would die for on a normal creature in this low-level forest. I got a lot of materials from the fish, so it''s fine to be a bit wasteful in the name of science~ The bird turns to us after getting hit by the light stream from my lunchbox. There''s no way it can ignore a handmade meal from the cute tree girl, right? _ Elri: Whatever you are thinking, that''s not the case. Little details~ The bird cheerfully walks up to us, just as planned. As it is now, it should become a [Summon Stone] if I "invite" it. I still don''t know all the possible actions, but handshaking and asking it to join verbally have been confirmed, by my apprentices. _ Su: Are you going to tame it? _ Shadyna: No, I am not. Not because this bird has no arm to do a handshake per se. I want to check something else¡­ _ Shadyna: Please give me everything you have~ [Refinery]! _ Elri: The heck?! The ability to harvest the loots using [Farming], to be exact. Livestock is an important part of agriculture after all! [Beast agreed to share its treasures] [Received Colorful Feather x14] [Received Red Talons x8] [Received Copper Coins x373] Nice~ By the way, this bird only has six talons in total visually, and definitely NOT wearing a purse big enough for hundreds of coins. Where it was storing the items is a mystery I can live without knowing. Because materialism has the right of way! _ Shadyna: [Refinery]! [Beast has no treasure to share at the moment] Aw¡­ I suppose being able to harvest it repeatedly would be way too OP. Nevertheless, I have found a way to peacefully rob stray beasts of their [Soul Core] and everything they have in the process, muahahaha~ _ Elri: Su, can I go home right now? _ Su: Denied~ Both of us have to be here so in case she decides to skin us alive like that bird, at least one of us can escape to tell the tale. Why did you assume that I was using the [Dismantling] part of [Refinery] before all else?! The bird was not harmed in any way you know?! _ Shadyna: How mean! This pacifist me won''t harm anyone without a good reason! _ Elri: Your definition of a good reason is a bit too broad, if you ask me. My bodyguards are all bullies! Pouts~! ____________ Today, the patrons of the tavern are confused. Everyone would be confused when they walk into a tavern and was greeted by a maid instead. _ Kind maid: Sorry for the wait, master. _ Random patron: I can''t take it anymore! Where are my verbal abuses and the cold glare that freezes hell over?! Correction: It was the lack of pain and suffering that confused these degenerates. While the maid was pondering whether she should stare at her patron in pure disgust, the door to the building swings open. A jet black projectile flies through and stabs right in the back of the patron''s head. _ Random dead patron: GUAH! Witnessing the enviou¡­ pitiful fate of that guy, the surrounding patrons quickly understand that the manager has finally returned. A bit battered as if she just came back from a boss rush admittedly, but still lively enough to throw around the bolts of doom. _ Hessenria: Do not bully the part-timers, damned degenerate!!! _ Random dead patron: Thank you very much for your service!!! _ Kind maid: Welcome back, mistress. _ Hessenria: Do not call me that! Thanks for your hard work today, by the way. The kind maid does a curtsy as if the dead body under her heels didn''t exist. has to wonder whether she doesn''t care, or she is learning the job way too fast. _ Random dead patron: Like that, yes! Please keep up the good work! _ Kind maid: In case she has not informed you, brought back many wagons earlier. _ Hessenria: Is that so? Thanks for telling me. You are dismissed. _ Kind maid: Now then, if you''ll excuse me. Going past the guildmasters behind her employer, the kind maid does not forget to wink at her (former) senior of this job, . _ Olkan: Even my job got NTR-ed!!! The harsh mistress pretends she saw nothing and walks to the back of the cafeteria while the patrons try to cheer the poor breast maniac up. She is definitely not going to get involved with that! _ Swordman: Glad to see you girls back! The maid is cute, but she doesn''t have what it takes to yell at us yet! _ Mera: Okay~ Please shut up and let us work in peace, you pigs~ _ Swordman: Thank you for your kind words! As everyone in the crew returns to their post, runs out from the back, totally in panic mode. _ Hessenria: Everyone, switch to the fish menu, NOW!!! For a few seconds, all players in the cafeteria were dumbfounded. And then, the screams of despair can be heard across the world, much to the delight of Mera. --- Topic: Merged NPC Trade Hub #1 --- ## Silver Merchant Due to Sateri-chan''s newest patch (1.0d34) making Heart Cores bound to their quest doer (practically untradeable, simply put), please trade your Soul Cores here. (;_;) Both NPC threads have been requested to be archived to avoid confusion. ## ## Fire mage of Justice That was fast. (£þ¡õ£þ;) ## ## StoneHoarder The NPC thread''s high activity must have alerted Sateri-chan. She decided to use an emergency patch just to shut down our trafficking ring. (=_=) ## ## Newbie Charisma build Yet Soul Cores are still tradeable? ## ## Serious Mage Not all quests give Heart Core. If someone like guildmaster of DFC Sages want to make a harem, they need to spend a lot more effort to get the cores AND do the quests, with no guarantee to receive a Heart Core of the NPC they wanted. ## ## Shining Knight That means they will buy more Soul Cores, right? (^_-) ## ## Teabag Master And private rooms to do quests without competition too! (^o^)£¯ ## ------ Chapter 55: The friends she made Shadyna the adorable tree girl has become friend with everyone! As in, I have enough [Soul Core] to fill a wagon from "befriending" beasts. That was supposed to be a figure of speech, darn it!!! Why did I end up in this situation? To put it simply without a flashback episode, I spent a whole week walking around hunting zones and gathering loots from every beast I came across after finding out that I could use [Refinery] to rob¡­ I mean, borrow items for an indefinite amount of time. These [Soul Core]s are the result of that adventure. But more importantly, the trash materials I got along with the cores are overflowing in my underwater secret base! For better or worse, I only realized I was in literally deep trouble because my base has finally run out of space to store the trash. Now I''m drowning in containers filled with useless materials which I have no use for. Welp~ At this point, there''s only one course of action! ¡­ _ Shadyna: And that''s why I have come here! The confusingly red water mage Magni and otome game protagonist are staring at me blankly. What is this lukewarm reaction¡­? _ Magni: , you shouldn''t run away from your problems. _ Shadyna: I didn''t run away! I tactically retreated until I am in the mood to deal with it! _ Thelia: That''s just procrastination! Little details~ _ Thelia: So, do you want us to help clean your room? _ Shadyna: No, it''s fine. I don''t know if I want to sell the materials at the moment. _ Thelia: Are you some kind of wholesaler now? _ Shadyna: Speaking of wholesale, I need an outlet for the [Soul Core] after checking them¡­ Sure, I can do a few quests if I think they are interesting, but there''s no way I can complete all of them. That would take months if not years! _ Thelia: ¡­You do know this place sells food right? Are you seriously asking your guildmaster that question?! _ Shadyna: Of course! Do you want me to preprocess¡­ *WHACK* _ Shadyna: GYA?! _ Thelia: Don''t even think about it! The protagonist has decided to preemptively strike instead of waiting to be bullied?! And hitting the head is illegal! What if I become crazy because of that attack?! _ Magni: You didn''t have to hit her¡­ _ Thelia: S-sorry, I had a bad feeling similarly to when was about to spout her nightmarish imaginations for us to hear¡­ Dammit, , your team''s defense is too high! Now I have to be ready for combat whenever I talk to one of your subordinates thanks to your antics! _ Magni: *Mumbles* Or you were reminded of something you had done. _ Thelia: I heard that! Luckily, it looks like this pacifist me won''t have to commit war crimes after all. ____________ Sateri, administrator, game designer, marketing manager, is concerned. The "hidden" event to acquire her in-game avatar is progressing in a weird direction. To avoid a single player figuring it out first and gaining an overwhelming advantage, mainly because SOMEONE has that already, the event is less about exploration and more about competition against other players. Even muscle brains can do it, but expect the path to be filled with adversaries. A participant will typically seek out the archbishop NPC to begin the quest, either through [Goddess''s Chosen] title or word of mouth. They will then be guided through a series of increasingly harder boss fights, with each providing the direction to the next one, ending with the complete guidance on how to acquire her avatar, and rare loots. Pretty straightforward, all things considered. Except that players were expected to wage wars to get ahead, disrupt others'' raids, sow confusion to slow competitors down. The usual stuff when a bonus boss appears, so to say. That, however, did not go as planned. The event''s pedestals cannot be activated if there is a player who is still on event cooldown in the area. This is to encourage PvP and give players less time to do the quest and more time to block others'' progress by design. camping the whole day after their first failure is definitely NOT by design though. They unknowingly prevented everyone from triggering the quest and ended up mistaking the obscure condition for a global cooldown timer! Since there was no malice, no one managed to suspect that the camping little girls needed to be "displaced" to begin the fight. Their reputation as information brokers only made the whole "one per day" assumption more believable. Next time, she will simply write it down in the pedestal''s [Inspect] result. On the next day, the players returned for a fight. A lot of them, in fact, but that was not a problem. Having learned from the unique boss battles in the past, Sateri made the fight scale with the number of participants. The idea was to discourage alliances and remove the big guilds'' advantages. And because it would be hilarious to watch the players suffer, although she would never admit to that. The resulting battle was as fun (for her) as she thought it would be. An all-out slugfest between dozens of bosses and hundreds of players along with players'' interactions when cornered were no doubt a feast for her knowledge database and whatever analysis modules she has running. What Sateri failed to take into account was the players'' reaction to a battle of such scale. It was so brutal, the player base as a whole agreed that only together could they win the event. Three-fourths of the participants died at least once, and a good chunk of them had their corpses destroyed in the fighting and were locked out of the arena. With that many combatants from both sides, there was no amount of organization that could keep the situation under control. Who could have thought that facing three bosses on average, at the same time, from multiple directions, was stressful for most players? And that happened despite the presence of the OP cafeteria crew and most powerful players in the big guilds. No wonder they were traumatized. To be fair, had they fought with only a few parties of strong players, it would have been much more manageable. The psychological damage has been done though, so they most likely won''t try that anytime soon. In the end, the powerhouses of the player base fought each battle twice, and only once per day. Apparently, not all members of the cafeteria crew were present in the first one for some reason, so they had to do it again. Other guilds did the same for their more unfortunate members, but mostly because they didn''t dare charge the next one without a lot of logistic preparations and some twenty beauties tanking at the front. While Sateri can understand their reasoning, considering all attempts afterwards by minor guilds were failures, she can''t help but facepalm digitally at the sight of said battle formation. All in all, the players'' progress was at a snail''s pace just like she wanted it to be, but for none of the reasons she was expecting! She is not particularly worried about the remaining players not being able to catch up. Anyone can join the latest fight or even the final destination, provided they know where to look. If there is no lore-related reason to lock players out, she won''t lock them out. The main rewards are the bosses'' drops in the first place, not to mention the wildcard who has a nasty tendency to break anything that remotely poses as a threat or obstacle! Speaking of that wildcard, what is that little girl doing?! She was the sole reason why this event exists, and she has been¡­ walking around for a whole week? WHY?! That buffoon personally dragged the archbishop to one of her shops, everyone in her guild was actively participating the event, nearly half of them have [Goddess''s Chosen], yet she still has not begun the quest at all for some unfathomable reason?! This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Is this player base cursed? How else can a simple "kill this" quest chain end up with the target player wandering around without a clue, while the rest not having any idea what the event is about!? Of course part of it was because the event designer neglected to inform the players through her NPC''s dialogues, naively thinking a little girl would do that instead, but come on, at least share that information with guild members so they can connect the dots! It''s not like Sateri was worried that someone else might beat to it, okay? On the contrary, it''s more of a concern about what whacky stunt the sprout girl may pull next. ¡­Rather than worrying about the inevitable, the governing AI decides to read the security report instead. Sateri has acquired the "Run away from reality" skill! ____________ _ NPC #1: The Sun Goddess, right? Next. _ NPC #2: She''s the Sun Goddess. Next. _ NPC #3: Her light saved us from the darkness. I have heard that many times already. Next! Uuu, my sanity is slipping away~ _ Magni: , owner is becoming so insane, she is thinking that she is sane. Hey! _ Thelia: Isn''t that just how she usually is? _ Shadyna: How mean~ _ Thelia: Then how do you describe trying to talk to thousands of NPCs and expecting to finish in a few hours? _ Shadyna: Totally nuts! _ Thelia: I know right? You are not supposed to agree with me! I have to [Summon] the NPCs and talk to them one by one because both Magni and are working at the counter. Magni was already so busy, she had to ask who is in a different team to help. The patrons will complain again if I pester the ladies for any extended period of time. The cute tree girl is a girl who can learn from past mistakes! And scolding. ¡­That doesn''t mean I am not in a pinch here. I have been at it for an hour and there are still way too many [Soul Core] remaining! Magni, why are you nonchalantly digging through the chest? You know there''s nothing but [Soul Core] in there right? _ Magni: Owner, there''s no way you can flirt with all of them in a reasonable amount of time. Well duh, but didn''t you just casually say something really rude there?! _ Shadyna: Un, I figured that was the case. _ Thelia: Figure that out before wasting an hour on it! Harsh~ _ Magni: There there~ Should we ask the part-timers for help then? _ Shadyna: Are you talking about the random maids and butlers? Not sure about the butlers, since I have not visited their shop yet, but the maids from the rivaling caf¨¦ were walking around as if they work here. No one batted an eye so I didn''t question it either. _ Magni: Of course. We hired them to do errands we don''t have time to deal with, in exchange for access to our [Recall] network. They get more customers, we get more time, is what Mera said. Ah, so that''s why our place is not overcrowded these days. As long as our income is stable, I suppose. ¡­Why was I, the guildmaster, not informed of the newly acquired branch offices though? Subordinates doing stuff behind the last boss''s back is a sign of them working with the heroes! _ Thelia: told everyone through guild chat last week. Were you not listening? My guess is that I was busy running around yelling "[Refinery]!" at the time and missed the announcement completely! _ Shadyna: Sorry~ _ Thelia: *Sighs* Why am I not surprised¡­ Either way, ask Merashiel if you want the contracts'' details. _ Shadyna: Eh? She didn''t tell you? Since Hessy told everyone, I thought most of us would know what the contract entailed. It''s not like one side was a devil who would screw the other party over the fine print right? _ Thelia: We expected to lose a lot of income because casual patrons can eat at the closest shop then use the [Recall] tablets there to get to our main [Recall] basement. Last week''s income skyrocketed. Why?! _ Thelia: Whether you ask her or not, do NOT tell me how that happened. WHY?! _ Magni: Actually, calling them will disrupt their operations¡­ You might be better off asking the patrons. You are not bothered by Mera at all huh. Then again, the waitresses worked with Mera more closely than anyone else¡­ _ Shadyna: But¡­ preparing the dumplings to compensate them will take just as much time¡­ I can''t make them work for me for free, obviously. Materialism dictates that I pay them fairly so I can keep hiring them later, ufufu~ _ Magni: Unless you intend to eat all of the cores, isn''t it fine to give some away as payment? For the record, I do NOT eat cores, okay? That aside, paying with [Soul Core] is a good idea. I intended to get rid of them once I found what I was looking for anyway. ¡­That sounds like what a last boss would say? Don''t mind don''t mind~ _ Shadyna (Guild): Elri~ How much does a [Soul Core] cost? _ Elri (Guild): The heck?! _ Poltea (Guild): Elri, not that way! _ Elri (Guild): CRAP! OUT OF THE WAY! _ Fensen (Guild): Hiyo~, ! _ Mera (Guild): Kya~ _ Nerin (Guild): You are not the one getting hit, you maniac! Go res them before the line falls apart! Elri, they can''t hear you if you use guild chat! _ Elri (Guild): I just forgot to switch! _ Hessy (Guild): Sateri-chan dammit ! We are in a boss fight! _ Linny (Guild): Hessy, that one is dead already. Behind it is¡­ Welp. _ Hessy (Guild): Oh come on!!! ¡­Let''s turn off the guild chat for now, un. Magni, don''t look so appalled. , stop working the counter with that "I''ll have no part in this" expression. _ Shadyna: So uh¡­ how much does it cost? I should have asked Magni first and foremost. Old habits, scary~ _ Magni: That¡­ depends on the NPC''s appearance. The base cost is about 20 silver coins. I have seen some sold at 50 gold coins too. Form over function at its finest. I can kind of imagine why those NPCs are at such a high price¡­ Degenerates, confirmed. 50 gold coins is a lot for most players, so I think we can make do with two or three cores per volunteer. _ Shadyna: Let''s try it then~ _ Magni: Got it. Everyone~ Do you want some free [Soul Core]~? Calling out to everyone with a sweet voice that can melt your heart (and wallet), Magni quickly get the attention of the patrons in earshot. How come that whenever I do the same, everyone begins to run away from me? Is it because of my physique? That''s discrimination, I''m telling you! Despite knowing that something being called "free" is exactly how you know it is definitely NOT free, the patrons still come to us without the slightest hesitation. Such a grand display of courage that is better suited for boss fights, not sale events¡­ _ Spearman: So, little missy, what do you require of us? _ Shadyna: Un, please ask the NPCs about Sateri, and write down their responses. I doubt many would know all the generic lines said by NPCs, so let''s be on the safe side and gather all the lines. The ones with the info I need will probably have a full conversation rather than one or two lines anyway. _ Spearman: I see that you are a person of culture as well. _ Mage: She may not be as endowed, but she sure knows where to strike a perfect balance! Glad to have another soul in our faction! Please don''t drag me into your group of delusional perverts! _ Swordsman: Which NPC, by the way? _ Shadyna: Coming right up~ [Summon]! You get an NPC. You get an NPC. Everyone here will get a few hundred NPCs! Evil laugh~ In the span of a few seconds, the whole floor has been flooded with NPCs. I don''t think there''s even space to move around anymore. Welp~ _ Swordsman: Just how many NPCs do you have in there?! _ Mage: Can''t¡­ breathe¡­! They will run away if I tell them that I was only getting started, so let''s not. _ Thelia: How am I supposed to deliver food in this crowd you maniac!!! I''m sorry~ ____________ *WHACK* *WHOMP* _ Shadyna: Gya! After the bulk of the cafeteria crew returned, two fists landed on ''s head almost immediately. One for wreaking havoc on the boss raid (albeit unknowingly), and another for making a mess by unleashing a horde of NPCs in the main building. _ Hessenria: Did you find anything in the end? It would be a lie to say that the head waitress wasn''t interested in the so-called secret event has been trying to find since last week however. When the little guildmaster has a clue, she can count on the managers to be right behind her, for their own curiosity, and the loots that may be waiting at the end. _ Shadyna: Uuu¡­ That hurts, Hessy¡­ We checked all of the [Soul Core] I had on me but there was no new information. At least the teary eyes fit the downer atmosphere, silently thinks the harsh mistress. The patrons were also down, for a whole different reason, apparently. _ Mage: No more¡­ Please, no more NPC¡­ _ Spearman: I was surrounded by beauties, yet all I felt was despair¡­ _ Swordman: Sateri-chan, please show yourself already¡­ Ignoring the overworked degenerates resting at the tables, she continues. _ Hessenria: Oh well, it can''t be helped. What happened to the [Soul Core] afterwards? _ Shadyna: I gave some to our brave volunteers here as compensation, and sold the rest at a discount! Judging from that smug face, she must have made quite a fortune doing so. While unintentionally patting the guildmaster''s head, much to the envy of the patrons, receives an email from , who manned the counter during the fight. _ Magnemi: Leader, I have sent you the sale report. _ Hessenria: Thanks. Let''s see¡­ Roughly ten seconds later, the poor manager''s scream can be heard across the whole building. _ Hessenria: Were you idiots trying to break the economy or something!?!? The delivery girl continues to work as if she wasn''t involved as usual. --- Topic: Unexplained Mysteries #8 --- ## Heaven Piercer Has anyone gotten info about the spatial anomaly Sateri-chan was talking about the other day during the server freeze? ## ## Nearseeing Sage It was most likely a scripted event for the secret boss at Snow Mountain. Black Mantis made short work of it presumably. Nothing to worry about. (*^3^)/~¡î ## ## Newbie Charisma build Not sure if this belongs here or the Goddess''s Chosen thread. Ever since the big guilds started working on the title''s boss rushes, some fields inexplicably had their mobs and bosses buffed to absurdity. They become passive, but can one-shot any player in their level range. (-"-) The buffed location changes at seemingly random, which is not helping our survival. ## ## Manly Warrior Can confirm that the buffed mobs hit like a truck. ((+_+)) The boss rushes only last 1-2 hours a day, while this one lasts for the whole night and spans across multiple fields. Maybe it''s another hidden event? ## ## Bountiful Hunter We killed one of the affected mobs. Had to treat it like a boss because that''s what it was. The drops were the same!!! (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß ## ## Serious Mage That''s the worst part isn''t it? No field was buffed today. Whatever that event was, it might have been over already, thank Sateri-chan¡­ ## ------ --- Topic: Sateri-chan fan club --- ## CuteIsJustice Thread for our cute (and sometimes sadistic) Goddess, Sateri-chan! Feel free to discuss her beauty as well as organize a fighting force to protect her from any¡­ undesirable suitor. Yes, we will hunt you down, you sneaky bastard, no matter who you are! (££?§¥?) ## ## OP alchemist The moderate chest faction is gaining popularity! (^o^) Now that she has her own statue in-game, maybe her avatar will be implemented soon? ## ¡­ ## Fire mage of Justice Look who''s joining our legion! [Pic] Today we investigated every nook and cranny to dig up everything to know about Sateri-chan. Many players ('' sanity) were lost, but it was worth it! (*¡ä¨Œ£à*) You can find the compiled list of NPCs'' lines about Sateri-chan here: [Link] ## ## Deeply Intelligent That''s some dedication. (£þ¡õ£þ;) With her on our side, I''m sure Sateri-chan''s suitor is deader than dead! ## ## Mage of Sin Before we get to that, how are we going to explain this to the guys in the Soul Core thread? They are up in arms about the Soul Core market collapsing in a single day, and probably won''t take "Getting to know Sateri-chan" for an answer, I''m afraid. (??;) ## ## CuteIsJustice Welp. (£­??) ## ------ Chapter 56: Value of apocalypse This is Shadyna, preparing to commit heresy! I mean, I am already qualified for [Heretic wretch] profession, emitting a dark glow from multiple spots, and kind of torturing one of her most devoted NPCs. It''s fine if I pull another heretical act or two, right~? And yes, I left the jerkass bishop to melt in poison for an eternity in the bar. No one seems to mind that, really. Guildmasters prefer having him at our place since the alternative is the overcrowded plaza where Sateri''s statue resides. Meanwhile, the bar gets more rich customers so Linny is definitely not complaining either. Guys, aren''t you a little too quick to forgo morality in exchange for convenience? Not that I am in any position to call them out, being the one who created this whole situation in the first place¡­ Anyway, my investigation on Sateri has hit a dead end (again). Apart from my own guild, a beautiful mother-daughter pair, a few warehouses worth of materials, and a chest filled with gold coins from the NPC trafficking operation, the last few days have been a waste of time! Okay, maybe that wasn''t exactly a waste of time, but it is a fact that my relationship with Sateri made no progress whatsoever! If I was in an eroge, this lack of progress could only result in a bad end, and considering her status as the Goddess of this world, "bad" is probably a slight understatement of the fate my cute avatar would suffer in that case. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I will save our marriage at all cost, and anyone getting in the way will have to do so over my cold, dead body! _ Helen: Little bird looks like she going to commit a crime after breaking up~ We have NOT, okay? And just how many innocent maidens'' hearts did it take for you to know that, you womanizing busty bartender!!! _ Mera: Yes, let the darkness consume your humanity~ You are supposed to stop me! Also, being an elf-treant hybrid, I have not a shred of this thing called "humanity" in me by definition! _ Shadyna: Mera, don''t you need to support the raid parties? is a good tank, but her role can be filled by many others. On the other hand, I''m pretty sure Mera''s MSP (casting speed) specialization is a rare breed. For healers, it is more efficient to invest in MAT, as that allows more HP healed per spell, which means less mana potions consumed in total. For fighting mobs and bosses, Mera''s playstyle doesn''t seem to have any obvious advantage over others, with a massive detriment to her own wallet. I can understand if she was a PvP maniac like , but that wouldn¡¯t explain how she was always attending big battles rather than working at the counter¡­ _ Mera: They will be fine. Su was their original supporter after all~ That doesn''t mean you should skip your job to follow me around. And I''m not saying that because I''m scared of being near her without Hessy shielding me from the mental assaults, okay? _ Mera: Then she will be overwhelmed by the amount of players, unable to prevent her allies from suffering horrible and painful death one by one, before becoming the sole survivor on top of the corpses of her comrades¡­ Ufufu¡­ Ufufufufu~ Yup, she''s a sadist alright. I wonder if I can smile brightly while sowing despair in others like that someday? The ability to hide my expressions, at the cost of my own sanity¡­ What a tough choice~ _ Shadyna: Mera, are you a better support than Su? _ Mera: Hmm~ It''s more about using the right tools for the right victims, pro~bably? What tools are you talking about there, you sadistic waitress?! _ Helen: And there''s this tendency of her to ignore everyone else in need to help little girls in the vicinity¡­ Uwa¡­ I suppose and will get the best support possible, at the expense of, I don''t know, the rest of the guild!? If Hessy gets into trouble again, it won''t be my fault, okay? _ Helen: Well, it can''t be helped. Mera is needed here to be guildmaster''s punishment after all~ _ Shadyna: WHY?! _ Helen: For destroying the economy, and to make sure you don''t do it again so soon. That''s what Hessy said~ Why are you treating me like an inevitable instrument of doom?! Hessy, please do not copy Sateri''s behavior. I won''t be able to handle it if both of you charge at me at the same time, in more than one way! _ Mera: I''ll do my best~ Why?! Hobby? Do you have a hobby of bullying cute defenseless girls? I can''t think of another reason how you can be so ecstatic upon being treated like a torture device! _ Helen: Let us do our best as well~ But you don''t even know what I''m doing right?! We are just getting started and my mental health is already in jeopardy. Uuu¡­ ¡­ _ Mera: Hmm~? Are you not going to go out today? Technically, it''s outside. Outside of the tavern, that is. _ Shadyna: Well, I can''t [Teleport] to my destination this time, so here is as good as any. We are wandering in ''s shopping district. A short walk with beauties in each arm every day is good for your body, or something like that. _ Helen: Apart from space, didn''t you travel everywhere else during your aimless rampages? _ Shadyna: How rude~ I was sightseeing in peace. And a bit of "tribute" collection as well, but pacifism and materialism are not mutually exclusive, un! By the way, I have conquered "space" already. Because Sateri said something about the place being a work in progress, I have not shared my findings with anyone else. My friends here all know about me climbing the gigantic tower though. They aren''t thinking that I quit after getting bored, are they? _ Shadyna: I''m heading over there. Pointing upwards to the clear blue sky, I declare with the brightest smile I can muster. That''s right, just a casual walk to space. Nothing to see here folks~ _ Mera: , that''s harassment you know~? Even though we have such ample bosom, floating in the air is ki~nd of hard, don''t you think~? Not impossible?! Is this another whacky law of physics that Sateri implemented?! Kuu¡­ Appearance having a big impact in gameplay is discrimination! _ Helen: Mera, don''t deceive owner like that. Owner is the type that will follow strangers who offer her candies after all~ Why are you treating like a gullible kid?! If I was that easy of a target, I would have accepted ''s invitation back then you know?! Still, they can''t float with just the body fat huh. What a shame~ _ Mera: Bu~t, wasn''t flying in our last gathering~? I figured if we diet hard enough to be as petite as her, we mi~ght have a chance. Then don''t customize your avatar to have those balloons! _ Shadyna: If being lightweight makes you float, wouldn''t newbies fly away because they have empty inventory? As much as I hate to admit it, I weight more than both of these bountiful ladies combined due to my inventory being filled with trash materials. Having (very) high STR is both a blessing and a curse¡­ _ Mera: Not without us freeing them from the shackles of existence, of course~ Can someone explain to me how this person is a healer, and a good one at that? _ Helen: Be it heaven or hell, I will always be with our cute guildmaster~ I appreciate the enthusiasm, but couldn''t you phrase it so that the passing degenerates don''t glare at me enviously? Background ladies, that wasn''t my fault, so stop staring please. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Being near a womanizer is dangerous¡­ _ Shadyna: Thanks. I''m not taking anyone with me though. _ Helen: Eh~? _ Shadyna: My destination is the sun. I''m confident that it will have environmental damage so it''s best if I go alone. As long as I have them in the party, [Friendship Engine] is usable. There''s no need to put them in danger if I can help it, un. The pacifist girl takes good care of everyone under her command~ _ Helen: *Gasps* After having your way with us, you are throwing us away?! ¡­Excuse me?! _ Shadyna: You are the last person I want to hear that from!!! Explanation spiced with a spoon of insanity-inducing despair in progress, please wait~ ¡­ _ Shadyna: To sum it up, Sateri is the Sun Goddess, no NPC knows anything else about her, the sun is within my area of operation. Therefore, I will fly to the sun. _ Helen: ¡­ Both the explanation and the summary make no sense. Shocked face~ While the cute tree girl is recovering from the big reveal of the century, the sadistic waitress is deep in thought. Her eyes are closed, and she is not smiling like usual. Kind of hard to believe that our carefree maniac can make such expression, at least outwardly. Suddenly opening her eyes, Mera turns to me like a detective figuring out the last piece of the puzzle to catch the culprit. _ Mera: In other words, goes after anything that is cute. ¡­Sateri-dammit Mera! Your deductions are just as bad as mine! What do my preferences have to do with anything I have explained to you so far?! _ Helen: I understand that feeling~ This beautiful womanizer is not helping! _ Mera: With that said and done~¡­ And she''s back to her usual self already. What is this rapid mood swing? Did she do that on purpose to prevent any attempt to defend myself from the baseless accusation¡­? _ Mera: E~veryone may suffer a slow and painful death if you destroy the sun, you know~? _ Shadyna: ¡­Eh? The unexpected warning aside, how did she even come to think that I was going to destroy the sun in the first place? My plan was to fly straight to it, then throw Gelly repeatedly until I arrive at the center, where Sateri''s avatar is (I think). Considering the lack of creatures up there, it is peak pacifism if you ask me! ¡­Okay, maaaaybe the sun will get a small dent or two as that''s the only way to get inside. It''s not like I will be firing hundreds of unguided rockets at the surface in an attempt to erase the whole celestial body from existence, okay? It would be bad if Sateri is really there and gets caught in the blast. _ Mera: The NPCs said that, did they not? Sateri-chan is keeping the darkness at bay. So, , what do you think would happen if the sun goes out? _ Shadyna: ¡­It''ll be nighttime? Uhm¡­ why are you two patting my head as if I was a child who said something stupid but got a pass because that was cute? I answered that correctly, did I not? _ Helen: That too, although it was the corruption raids that Mera was worried about. _ Shadyna: Ah¡­ Corruption raids are the only time when the game world receives no light from the sun. When they end, the sunlight burns the rest of the horde to ashes. While I''m not really familiar with the lore behind them, it''s not hard to guess that losing the sun will impact the raids in some way. Going by logic and immersion, raids simply won''t end. There''s no light to wipe the horde, so they keep coming. Players will be fighting 24/7 with no time to gather their loots and resupply. Eventually, the walls will fall, and everyone will be in for a heroic last stand with no chance of victory. If Sateri is in a sour mood and does nothing about it, we will have the first player-made bad end in an MMO, and my name will go down in history as the idiot who triggered the apocalypse knowingly. Yikes. Let''s prepare some countermeasures, just to be on the safe side. Even though I don''t intend to destroy it, I don''t want to play into Sateri''s hands, especially if I saw (was told) that in advance. _ Shadyna: Do you have any idea to prevent accidental destruction of the sun then? _ Mera: Aw~ I was looking forward to the despair on everyone''s face as they¡­ Welp. Even the end of the world will not take this one''s enjoyment away. Next! _ Shadyna: ? _ Helen: ¡­Knock politely~? Are you seriously suggesting that there is a door somewhere on the surface of the sun?! I also have to assume that no matter how gently I handle the sun, there''s always a chance of it blowing up by a scripted event. Being the only person near it, I will get a guilty verdict due to circumstantial evidences¡­ Sateri, why are you so bent on painting me as a villainess¡­? In that case, I may be better off preparing for the aftermath instead of trying to avert the destruction. How am I going to do that though¡­? I need sunlight¡­ Lots and lots of light¡­ Ah. _ Shadyna: Uhm¡­ I am going to buy a lot of materials. Are you two good at haggling? Despite being a frequent patron to some of the shops here, I have never done a big transaction alone. Makes one wonder why I am still a guildmaster of a crafting guild huh. If it hadn''t been for the lack of difference compared to a manager with all permissions, I would have let someone else have that honor. Speaking of which, I still do not know who the guildmaster of the old [Cooking] guild was. Oh well, I''m sure it was Hessy or one of the managers anyway~ _ Helen: I''m sorry, I have always been an accountant. Dealing with customers is not my forte, except for the occasion after-hour activities~ ¡­Let''s not ask about what such "activities" entailed, un. Meanwhile, Mera is smiling in silence. What''s that supposed to mean¡­? Oh right, she''s an equal to the black company CEO that is Linny. Rather than asking whether she can handle the snaky merchants, I should ask whether there will be anything resembling an economy left after I set her loose. That''s the impression I am having right now, judging from that sinister smile. Well, since I am a pacifist with an unyielding love for all living beings¡­ Screw the not-alive economy~! _ Shadyna: Alright, here''s the fund. Please buy as much materials as possible for this recipe. Lost Gold Coin x a scary amount~ Shared the perpetual fire shooter recipe~ _ Mera: Oh my~ It''s close to the budget of the arena, by the way. That [Soul Core] wagon really fetched a high price¡­ And they were sold at a discount too. _ Shadyna: Well then, I''m counting on you two! I''m going now~ _ Helen: Where are you going? I am already running at full speed towards my destination. Better do it now while the market is still in one piece. _ Shadyna (Party): To the skill scroll shop. I am going to unlock [Elemental Barrage]! _ Helen (Party): Eh~? Operation Changing Lightbulb is a go~! ____________ After another painful boss rush with many sacrifices, the victors return to the cafeteria to celebrate, as well as dismantle the corpses for the loots. _ Torenis: What a pain. They are becoming stronger. The number of boss was absurd as always, even the guild specialized in large-scale battles had a rough time. _ Vladina: It wasn''t that bad. Their stats were not overly inflated, and we have a sturdy frontline that can take on the enemies one-on-one. It is no doubt that the players have learned from their past battles and improved drastically. The once chaotic free-for-all survival of the fittest turned into an organized battle formation. Each player knew from the beginning what they are supposed to do, and worked with each other to hold the line until the heavy firepower came to relieve them. The teamwork and discipline were a general''s dream come true, in spite of a death count that somehow surpassed the number of total combatants. In fact, their battle plans are getting so stable, the greatest threat is their own friendly fire, particularly from the strongest players being distracted by random chatters from outside. Everyone knows how to read the mood though, so they won''t say anything about it. It''s definitely not because the players in question are weapons of mass destruction that can wipe the floor with everyone else in the boss arena, really. _ Olkan: So many good materials, but not enough coins to upgrade the gears¡­ If it weren''t for yesterday''s crash¡­ The guildmaster of is having mixed feelings while putting his share into a container for transportation. Although he is at the top, that does not mean he can just hoard whatever high-grade materials his guild acquires. If anything, the nature of his guild resulted in everything being an exchange one way or another. It keeps the motivation up, but when the wallet''s tight, they struggle more than most conventional guilds in comparison. For this raid''s loots, only the participants will receive the items, since the supply is limited. Meanwhile, the crafters behind the scene have an exclusive contract as providers for [Enhance] and [Enchant] services. However, with the stockpiled [Soul Core] tanking in price for the next few days to come, there are not enough actual coins to pay the crafters. Until other sources of income fill the empty coffers again, there will be no meaningful gear crafting for his members. _ Linista: This is why I kept telling you to have dedicated crafters¡­ Would you like a loan to get out of this predicament? The former manager understands the internal problems of all too well, it didn''t surprise her one bit to see in this situation. _ Olkan: No thanks. I don''t want bankruptcy. _ Linista: Tsk. While the cafeteria crew and other crafters are distributing the spoils after plucking out the last items from the corpses in true adventurer manners, an unexpected conversation takes place in ''s guild chat. _ Manager (Guild): Uh¡­ Guildmaster, we have a problem. _ Olkan (Guild): I''m all ears, honey. _ Manager (Guild): Keep that up and you will be selling your body by the end of this. Listen, someone just bought most of our mid-grade materials. Items on the shelves are being sold well, yet that is a problem. The guildmaster is confused, as expected. _ Olkan (Guild): Isn''t that a good thing? _ Manager (Guild): They were sold without any price adjustments. Prices have skyrocketed and we do not have supply for our own crafters. When a large volume of goods changes hands, the price has to shift to reflect the new supply-demand balance in the market. In other words, if someone buys too much at the old price, other merchants who depend on said goods will have to ramp up their price or operate at a loss. Although some volatility is unavoidable, a stable environment where the majority of merchants can ride out short-term changes is supposed to be one of ''s appeals, next to the discounts and ladies with ample chests. Needless to say, it is not good for the guild''s image if someone managed to wreak havoc on the supply chain without anyone noticing. _ Olkan (Guild): How the heck did that happen?! _ Manager (Guild): They avoided detection by commissioning our newbie merchants to bulk-buy through many shops in rapid successions. Our accountants estimate that we will lose money due to disruptions and contract breaches if you don''t open the emergency stockpiles soon. It is indeed the greatest danger to the handsome merchant and his guild in general: Monetary losses. _ Olkan (Guild): I''m on my way. Dear Sateri-chan, why does this keep happening to me!? Frantically leaving an order for a guild member to handle the rest at the cafeteria, quickly departs, not forgetting to throw a glance at , much to her confusion. No, she was fighting the bosses the whole time, so it can''t be her, even if she is one of the few individuals who can pull this kind of destructive maneuver in short notice¡­ _ Linista: What was that all about? Did someone sue him for harassment? _ Vladina: Isn''t that just daily occurrence? _ Linista: You are one to talk¡­ From the back, the lead waitress who was silently working overheard , and has a hunch. _ Hessenria (Guild): Hey, ¡­ _ Shadyna (Guild): It wasn''t me! Mera was the one¡­ Actually, sorry. Culprit found. At least she confessed quickly. The bad feeling is becoming more accurate, and the waitress does not like that at all. _ Hessenria (Guild): Sateri-chan dammit Mera, you were supposed to stop her, not join her! _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel (Guild): Eh~ _ Helen (Guild): I helped out as well~ Turns out, the experts in economy do not necessarily want to protect it. Because it was partially her fault, having sent those two to begin with, decides to turn a blind eye and not think too much about it. The economy will be fine¡­ Eventually. Chapter 57: The lightbulb question Today, architect Shadyna will find the answer to the greatest question of mankind! How many lightbulbs does it take to change a sun? ¡­Or something along those lines. I have a vague feeling that it was a little off though¡­ Anyway, after running away from Mera and , I unlocked [Elemental Barrage] without much problem. It is a skill that you can acquire by leveling [Spear] skills to 10, which are similarly unlocked by [Bolt] skills. The unlock conditions given by skill scrolls were even easier. Shoot all [Bolt] spells 20 times and done. Why did I use skill scroll if it is so straightforward? It appears that hitting a live target gives you more skill experience than blasting the ground or air. Offensive skills were probably balanced around that, and became a pain to grind without cannon fodders. There''s no way this true pacifist me can put others in the firing line for such a selfish (and bothersome) reason! As for how I am going to use [Elemental Barrage]¡­ It is going to replace [Fire Bolt] in my perpetual fire shooter, simple as that. Sure, it costs more MP than [Fire Bolt], being a skill in higher tier, but my [Creation] level and attributes should be more than enough to compensate. My own MP is in the tens of thousands, so I suppose this is the only time I need to worry about spells'' costs huh¡­ That''s also why I didn''t bother with rarer skills. While they may be flashier, the material cost required to craft one is much higher, which in turn reduces the amount of items I can craft in total. Damage? What''s that? Is it edible? The cute pacifist was only looking for a skill with the highest rate of fire for a reasonable MP cost~ [Barrage] skills fire multiple [Bolt]-like projectiles in succession. Because their individual damage is below [Bolt] spells, they should only be used on lightly-armored targets. One can say that they are in-game equivalent of a submachine gun in real life, while the slow-but-powerful [Spear] spells are sniper rifles, and [Bolt] are basic pistols. Since we are already at it, the other common attack spells are the AoE rocket launchers, [Blast], and good old close-range shotguns, [Burst] skills. The hardcore roleplayers would not be caught dead saying something so barbaric that is "gun" in this fantasy world, but the application is all the same. The only thing missing is an autocannon that has both rate of fire and power, but I suppose that is a bit too imbalanced. ¡­Hessy''s [Dark Bolt] is disturbingly close to one though. Had she picked [Dark Barrage] as her main skill instead¡­ Uhm, no, let''s not think about that. Pin cushioning is only fun if it happens to other people. Now that I have the spell with the best rate of fire, let''s try crafting a shooter. Those two will most likely take some time anyway. _ Shadyna: [Creation]~! --- [ Solar Disc] - Creator: - Quality: - Type: , , , - Enhancement: 13 - Enchantment: - MEN: 10 - MP: 1600 - Alchemy: Elemental Barrage Lv.0 - Furniture: Blueprint Lv.0 --- Nice and simple, just as I like it. A white flat disc-shaped lamp with the ability to spit out colorful magical arrows for an eternity. When activated, it shines brightly and pricks anything in front with its next-to-harmless projectiles, which also glow as if they were fireballs. In other words, this thing radiates a lot of light, with a rapid mass-ejection-like visual effect. [Blueprint] is the only new addition to the recipe, as I am going to craft a ton of these and can''t afford to replace them one by one should I lose some by accident. That would be a royal pain in my cute butt! I also used bare minimum materials to apply [Blueprint]. The shorter respawn time at high levels is rarely needed outside of sieges after all. Now then, time to scout for a place to put this thing on. _ Shadyna: [Teleport]! ¡­ I''m currently watching the landscapes from the literal top of the world, the gigantic stone tower. At this height, I can only see the general features of the fields. No matter how hard I try, I cannot see any movements down there. My headset will burn from the hardware overload if it tries to render all of the players, creatures and whatnot I suppose, since we are talking about half of the game world being in my vision here. Well, not that I am trying to spy on the player base or anything. I''m just looking for a field above which I can build my countermeasure to the (assumed) inevitable explosion of the celestial body above Tyrel: My very own artificial sun. I mean, when you believe that the only lightbulb in your house is going to explode violently and unleash a horde of man-eating monsters in your bedroom, you would naturally want to buy another one from the convenience store to prevent such scenario, would you not? I''m simply applying the same logic to the sun over there. You would not? Seriously, youngsters these days and their non-exploding lightbulbs~ Back to the prospecting, while I doubt the location matters much, I prefer having it somewhere not too out of place, because putting a sun above the coldest place in the world is not immersive. On that note, the coldest field in the game at the moment is probably the Haunted Tundra to the north of Tyrel and Forest field, featuring a plain with decorated with snow patches and way too many ghost-like creatures for comfort. It''s the best place to farm high-grade magical materials nowadays, although not all have the courage to face it¡­ To be fair, Snow Mountain used to be the coldest. It is no longer the case, however, considering that the place is no longer snowing, or even a mountain for that matter. How did that happen, I wonder~? If I am choosing hot biomes, I suppose the southern Lava Rift is the best candidate. At the same time, the Sand Circles zone to the west also has plenty of that hot, dry feeling by being near the sun. It is closer to Tyrel to boot. Thinking about a compromise, I look at the space between the two fields. There lies the Sandy Beach, formerly known as the Crystal Valley, the very location where I built my secret base¡­ Fate or not, I have already made up my mind. Let''s build a sun above the beach resort! The virtual tourists are not going to tan themselves. Jumping off the tower, I launch myself towards the building site using [Friendship Engine]. ¡­ Building an artificial sun, or any floating structure really, has a really big hurdle which architects have to overcome first. That is¡­ Gravity. To be more specific, it''s the fact that most building materials cannot float in a gravity well. Unlike real life, the sun in this world is deep in the atmosphere. Any replica with the intention of replacing it will have to raise to similar height, and will be subjected to gravity''s mercy. Fortunately, unlike real life, I have these things called "skills" to help me treat physics like an afterthought~ [Creation]~ --- [ Solar Frame] - Creator: - Quality: - Type: , , , - Enhancement: 13 - Enchantment: - MEN: 10 - MP: 1600 - Alchemy: Air Cushion Lv.0 - Furniture: Blueprint Lv.0 --- ¡­Maybe I should craft furniture stuff without [Ancient] from now on. Having it in the [Inspect] result really lowers the perceived value of my construction works. If I go on a tour and the guide tells me we will be staying at a hotel called something like "Ancient Modern Fancy Suites", I will at least consider checking for nearby hotels just in case, but I digress. [ Solar Frame] is a simple metallic support column, made by using a recipe similar to the [ Solar Disc], but with [Air Cushion] for [Alchemy] instead. The purpose is all the same though. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. _ Shadyna: [ Solar Frame]! In front of me floats a reflective dark cylinder that is about a dozen meters in length. Even if I let go, it won''t drop to the ground thanks to the activated [Air Cushion]. Un, looking good. Let''s go all out! ¡­ A few minutes later, a dark metallic sphere as big as a house has been formed. I created it using a few support column as the main frame, then cover them using curved plates, all of which can float on their own. That costed me more materials to craft, considering I only need one part with [Air Cushion] and the whole thing will stay afloat as long as they remain connected to each other. However, adding a bit of redundancy gives me a bit of peace in my mind. The artificial sun is planned to use most of my material stockpile, spending a little extra to prevent its destruction due to a lucky penetrating attack should be a no-brainer. I''ll keep this in mind and craft a few more of these "floating cores" as I continue building. The rest will be low-grade framing with only [Blueprint] to keep the whole thing together. It''s nice not having to worry about weight and size affecting structural integrity in this game~ Then again, all laws of physics are out of the window the moment floating building is possible through the use of skills. Is it unintended? Highly likely. Will I abuse the heck out of it to build a gigantic artificial star? Absolutely~ Oh, let''s have Gelly and Lutena help out too. This is going to be my biggest construction project ever since I started playing, and I definitely want as many helpers as I can get. ¡­ I''m not sure what happened, but apparently Mera and had wrecked the market one way or another, as Hessy called us out while we were transporting the materials to my secret base. Unexpectedly, she wasn''t angry like when I sold the [Soul Core] and I got off with only a few complaints. Guess the damage wasn''t that big huh. By the way, they bought a lot more than anticipated. I barely had enough storage room after spending a good chunk of materials on the "star" above us, thankfully. _ Helen: By the way, , I hope you don''t mind us taking a¡­ small administrative fee for our hard work~ This amount is AFTER you embezzled the fund?! _ Shadyna: I don''t mind, but please send me the invoice next time~ _ Helen: Roger that~ Thanks to my accountant, I can quickly calculate the number of [ Solar Disc] I can craft out of this mountain of materials. Sadly, it is still not enough to cover a surface area as big as the original sun. The real thing is simply too big to replicate in a day or two, whether my helpers have their salary or not¡­ It will have to do though. I am only a single person. Even if I am a li~ttle stronger than the average player, there''s a limit to what I can do in a short amount of time. Let''s just hope that the artificial sun is enough to protect Tyrel should the worst scenario happen. _ Shadyna: Okay then, begin crafting session~ _ Mera & Helen: Oh~! Thanks to Mera''s [Devotion], my attributes can reduce the material cost to squeeze a few items more out of the stockpile. What are we, tax collectors? As I will most likely sit here and craft for the whole day, I inform them of the plan so they can do something else if they want to. Not that they need to babysit this independent me in the first place¡­ _ Helen: Putting aside the absurdity of the plan, should we help with building your sun''s frame while you craft the discs? My plan is not absurd! It''s a logical conclusion based on the lore and Sateri''s sadistic tendencies! Back to the topic, that suggestion is not a bad idea, to be honest. I can give them the general design and they can work with my pets to build most of the inner parts except for the floating cores, which require my [Arcane Maestro Origin] title. However¡­ _ Shadyna: It''s fine, really. The environmental damage there is high enough to harm me. I don''t want to put you in danger just to get ahead of schedule. , cease that squeezing please. Being moved by my kindness is fine and all, but it is distracting, not to mention certain parts of your body pressing against me! I feel like I''m going to receive damage for running out of air if this keeps up! _ Helen: Such a good girl~ Excessive skinship and flattering? Yup, this person is definitely a dangerous womanizer~ _ Mera: You can depend on us a bit more you know~ As the worthless gold digging trash around me would often say, "We are friends, right~?", while asking for money, favors, or~¡­ my body~ Aren''t you mixing it up with something entirely different there?! Are you a princess surrounded by typical otome games'' idiotic nobility while waiting for the main romance option? Actually, please don''t answer that. I''m pretty sure I would not like the answer. And don''t think I didn''t notice that wink when you said "my body"! Yes, officer, that voluptuous lady over there! _ Shadyna: *Sighs* I can''t really refuse if both of you insist, can I¡­? Very well, I will take you up on your offer. Also partly because I may or may not suffocate from hopes and dreams soon at this rate. I won''t say that out loud though. _ Mera: Really~? Why are you acting like a child who was allowed to have some candies before dinner¡­ _ Shadyna: Yes, really. _ Mera (Guild): Everyone~ I convinced guildmaster to upgrade our equipment~ _ Shadyna (Guild): Eh? _ Falyn (Guild): Nice job, Mera! _ Linny (Guild): You did well. _ Mera (Guild): Everyone must work hard for her in exchange, okay~? _ Su (Guild): Of course! *Coughs* _ Thelia (Guild): I don''t remember having it easy, ever. I have been had!!! _ Hessy (Guild): She got you good huh, ? _ Elri (Guild): Not that our current gear is outdated, but I won''t refuse stronger ones. _ Fensen (Guild): Thank you very much, ~ _ Poltea (Guild): U-uhm, thank you very much! The cheering and praises keep on coming in the guild chat. There''s no way I can correct them without upsetting everyone anymore. The cute little devil has been tricked into signing a weird contract. Uuu¡­ _ Helen: There there~ Let us work hard together, okay? Darn it, fine! If you girls want to do labor work, I''ll work you to the bones! Don''t you dare complain and call it slavery afterwards! _ Shadyna: [Creation]. On the wall which definitely never contained any suspicious cultish magic circles in the past, I draw the rough design for the sun, mainly focusing on the general shape of the framings inside as well as the positions of the floating cores. Being a capable leader who trusts their employees, I will let them have the freedom to work on it as they see fit. Or to put it in simpler terms, I have no concrete idea and was just going with the flow. Good luck~ _ Shadyna: This is what I have in mind. Except for these spherical parts, you can build however you like, as long as they are attached to form a single structure. , could you please calculate the new surface area we can build after taking the material reduction into consideration? My trash stockpile has more materials so our limiting factor should be the number of discs I can craft. _ Helen: Leave it to me~ _ Shadyna: As for the environmental damage¡­ Mera. _ Mera: Don''t worry~ I will keep our guild members alive¡­ They can''t suffer if they are dead after all~ Why do I have the feeling that this is her real motivation¡­ _ Shadyna: Not that. I know how to negate the environmental damage. _ Mera: Eh~? _ Shadyna: Use this [Recall] orb and you''ll get the title for damage negation, [Void Conqueror]. Please craft more for everyone after that. Sateri has not finished that area so return right after you are done, okay? I''m already bringing them into space, there''s no point in hiding the top of the tower any longer. On a completely unrelated note that in no way influenced my decision, I don''t want to spend more money buying potions to keep my guild alive in unsafe working conditions~ _ Mera (Guild): Once again, I was SO close to becoming a heroic sacrifice! _ Nerin (Guild): What the heck are you rambling about¡­? As if I would become indebted by letting her die after what she just pulled on me! She might have won the war, but that does not mean I will let her win the remaining battles easily. Muahahaha~ She still won though. Damn it~ Well, I don''t have to build the whole mini-sun on my own now, so there''s that at least. ____________ The mistress of the tavern is in a good mood today. Whatever happened, she is putting on a smile unintentionally, even when she glares at the troublemakers. Rather than looking at the patrons as if they are trash, the waitress is probably seeing them as tiny bugs that are completely at her mercy. Whether that''s actually what is going on in her head, the degenerates are definitely having the time of their virtual lives enjoying such delusion! Then, some random player just had to walk in and ruin everyone''s day. _ Swordsman: Uh, guys, do you know what the heck just appeared in the sky? Even though the majority are too busy indulging in their impure fantasies to bother, there are always a few diligent or curious players answering the call. _ Priest: What are you talking about? _ Swordsman: There''s this¡­ thing that wasn''t there yesterday. Look. As the players look through the clean glass windows of the building, they spot a manmade structure to the south-west of Tyrel. Considering its altitude and visibility from the town, it must be quite massive. Only a fraction of the sun admittedly, but massive nevertheless. _ Warrior: Is that¡­ a space station? _ Priest: Dude, this is a fantasy game! _ Swordsman: That''s certainly no moon though. The whole thing looks like someone is using zinc wires to make a spherical cage. Those "wires" are most likely much bigger when seen up close, but from this distance, that''s the impression they got. _ Mage: Maybe it''s for an event? _ Warrior: ¡­[Goddess''s Chosen] does not have anything on it. Unless¡­ _ Mage: Say it quickly before something appears to kill you! Not that the warrior dying would stop him from talking per se. Some players are simply savvy out of habit. _ Warrior: Well, everyone''s talking about the mass boss fights these days, yet Black Mantis is not participating for some reason. There''s a rumor going around that she was preparing for another event which is hidden even from players with [Goddess''s Chosen]. _ Swordsman: Now that you mention it, didn''t we have the inexplicably buffed mobs until recently? No one knows why it happened either! _ Mage: So that thing is part of the hidden event? And is it me or is it growing? Some players are noticing the new parts that weren''t there when they first saw it. The "sphere" is most likely expanding, even as they speak. Thing is, no one knows what would happen once it is completed, or if it will be completed at all. As with all new features in the game, it will become the topic of the day for players to gossip, make wild guesses and spam the board with doomsday prophecies, the usual stuff. Meanwhile, the lead waitress has decided not to provide any comment, since it would ruin the (accidentally) mysterious event managed to build up. Totally not because she finds it troublesome to answer the questions that would come her way. Honest. --- Topic: Town wall recipe --- ## Big Hammer I bought the recipe for the indestructible town wall recently and tried to craft it. The resulting wall was¡­ subpar, to say put it mildly. Did I get scammed? ## ## Curious big boobs elf You did, but not in the way you think it is. The recipe is most likely correct. You just don''t have enough attributes and titles to give it the ridiculous invincibility by overinflating the hidden statuses. You were scammed because you shouldn''t need to buy that recipe. It''s public knowledge. ## ## Big Hammer Welp. There goes my money. Q.Q ## ## Teabag Master Rules of thumb: Go to our cafeteria or one of our branches (maid caf¨¦, butler caf¨¦, bar) first. You can get opinions of many players and be guided to the right place. Disclaimer: I work at the cafeteria. (^_-)-¡î ## ## GoldBar9999 Mind PM-ing me the name of the merchant? My guild would not want to trade with or have that guy among our ranks. If you main Construction and want some quick income, go to the Space Station thread. We need all the builders we can get to prepare for the new event. ## ## Big Hammer Thanks! Will check that out. £Ü(^o^)£¯ Wait, SPACE STATION?!?! (¡ã_¡ã>) ## ------ --- Topic: Sateri-chan''s orientation --- ## Bountiful Hunter Our party has made a very interesting discovery by accident. Sateri-chan''s statue in the marketplace always faces the player, no matter which direction we come from. Only realized this after partying with someone who walked to her from the opposite side of Tyrel. Details are best left unknown. (^_^;) ## ## Fire mage of Justice Whew (£þ¡õ£þ;) Thought you were talking about something else there. Isn''t it strange how no one seems to have noticed it? Brb, checking it real quick. EDIT: Confirmed. [Pics] ## ## CuteIsJustice Had me in the first half, not gonna lie. (*¡ä¨Œ£à*) It''s not surprising for most of us to use the same route every day to save time. The place is packed like an idol''s concert anyway. More importantly, how are we going to get her measurements if she never turns around? (¡ä£»¦Ø£»`) ## ## Curious big boobs elf If I were a goddess, I wouldn''t want one-fourths of my worshippers praying to my behind every day either, no matter how perfect it is. (£­??) ## ## Heaven Piercer Another theory: There''s something so embarrassing that she doesn''t want us to see! (*¡ã?¡ã)=3 Heck, her behind may actually be shaped like pyramids! ## ## Fire mage of Justice Incoming ban in 3¡­ (^.^)/~ Now I''m dying to know. Curse you guys!!! (>_<) ## ------ Chapter 58: To the surface of the sun For some weird reason, it appears that the player base is slandering this cute Shadyna, again. "The space station above Sandy Beach will destroy the world if left be", or so my classmates said at school, to our homeroom teacher, when they submitted their homework. Everything wrong with that scene aside, they were definitely talking about my artificial sun aren''t they?! I do not possess the brightest mind by any means, but even I am not that dense! Mentally, at least. Because of the freedom and lack of official lore-related info in media, rumors and hearsay run amok in this game. Having a new sun in the sky will no doubt raise a few questions, more so in a world riddled with hidden mechanics, bosses and means of bringing Balance-chan to her knees. I am saying this through personal experience? Whatever could you be talking about~? Still, why the hell is a space station your first assumption, you bloodthirsty adventurers!!! That definition does not even exist in a fantasy world! Stop breaking immersion just because you think everything around is out to kill you. If the creatures could talk, they would call you guys out on that for sure! Thanks to their baseless accusations, the peaceful artificial sun meant to save the world is treated as the very thing it was created to prevent! Sure, it is big, made of metal and spits destruction in every direction, but it is out of range so the last part doesn''t count! Its range is the same as that of a player anyway. The projectiles can''t even reach the sun, let alone the surface. If I am to weaponize it, I would ignore the discs altogether, deactivate the cores which keep it in the air and let gravity do the rest. I wonder if doing so would not count as throwing damage? It''s technically deactivating an enchanted item, not throwing¡­ Let''s refrain from doing that for the time being though. I don''t have to be violent just because the people around me keep saying that I am. Hired assassins exist for a reason, commence evil pacifist laugh~ However, I was surprised to learn that the players had a plan against my airborne construction. It is 50 kilometers above ground, higher than most real life airplanes'' max altitude. Unless players have access to ballistic missiles, I doubt they can even reach it. In that case, let''s just hurry up and complete my objective before the players can attempt anything. The artificial sun is only the first step in my plan after all. ¡­ Thanks to the efforts of my crew, the construction is going well. When I logged out yesterday, the inner frames were still a work in progress. By now, roughly three-fourths of the sphere is done, and over half of the surface area has been covered in [ Solar Disc]. The girls playing at daytime must have been working on this most of their playtime. Didn''t know the promise of new equipment would be such an effective motivation¡­ Materialism is relentless as usual~ _ Su (Guild): Ah, ''s on. _ Helen (Guild): Roger~ The guild''s login notification feature sure is convenient for stalking, isn''t it? [ has invited you to a party.] [Y/N] Of course~ _ Helen (Party): Do you mind if we keep building? We can complete it before the day ends. _ Shadyna (Party): Sure thing~ I''m just going to visit the sun so there''s no need to accompany me. _ Su (Party): Even if we are separated, my heart will always be with you! Keep it in your body. It''s better for both of us that way. And it''s not like I ever asked for bodyguards in the first place¡­ These two are here, but I am having a hard time locating them, mostly due to the size and 3-dimensional nature of this gigantic jungle gym. Moreover, my crew seem to have opted for actual roads rather than support pillars, for ease of movement at the expense of visibility I assume. Then again, even if I can casually walk along these paths, it still takes a long time to traverse this maze. My crew didn''t plan to turn this place into their playground, did they¡­? Well, they are probably at the top building stuff. Flying past the complex street system because walking is overrated, I find my party members slaving away in a sea of crafting spheres. They are pretty easy to spot once I have clear line of sight, thankfully. _ Shadyna (Party): Thank you for your hard work~ _ Helen (Party): You can count on me~ _ Su (Party): Being praised by a little girl¡­ I can die happy now~ Coming from her, that does not sound like a figure of speech¡­ Since pets also help with crafting spheres from party members, I drop Gelly and Lutena off to help out. On that note, Elri''s stingrays are also floating around in their water bubbles. The main pet is working understandably, but the [Domesticated] minions as well? Isn''t this kind of cheating? My mentor is not in the party, so she knowingly lent the [Summon Stone] to or Su for this reason. Combined with their boss-level attributes, these stingrays are probably as fast as dedicated crafters on their own. Elri OP, please nerf~ _ Helen (Party): I asked for ''s flower as well, but was against it, saying that her accuracy on the move would drop badly. Sounds reasonable. Why the heck was the one to express concern instead of the person herself though? _ Su (Party): It couldn''t be helped. The upcoming fight is filled with normal players from other guilds. Not all of them appreciate being blasted by little girls by mistake. Please don''t appreciate getting blasted in the first place, you degenerate~ Well, even without ''s beetles, we still have a full party''s worth of crafting capability here, so we are not as understaffed as I thought. Not that the shortage would last for long per se. After the main force murders the event bosses, they would return to finish the construction anyway. That boss-rush event has been running for more than a week. I wonder if it is going to end soon¡­ ____________ On a beach full of sand and man-eating marine life, two parties are walking towards a makeshift encampment. frowns at the lack of surrounding walls, or any defensive structure really. It was as if these guys were building a camping site for an outing instead! _ Torenis: What are they doing¡­ A concentrated assault from any direction will send them packing in five minutes. Not that walls would do anything against , thinks the gothic girl walking by his side. She won''t say that to him though. _ Vladina: Isn''t it fine? This is not a competitive event. Let everyone enjoy themselves once in a while. _ Torenis: Hmph, we''ll see about that. On the surface, the event is most likely about players working together against the spac¡­ unidentified flying weapon up there. However, this is the sadistic AI who regularly throws endless hordes of monsters at the players for hours and designed bosses at more than twice the level cap they are talking about. If anything, this event''s lack of carnage so far is¡­ unsettling, to put it mildly. Even amidst the overcrowded gathering of crafters, the two still found their target without much trouble. That throne can be seen from quite a distance after all. They didn''t expect the combat fetishist to be with him though. _ Olkan: I''m not sure which is worse, that inhumane plan of yours, or that it is actually working¡­ _ Cinrald: But it works. That''s what matters, isn''t it? It is normal to see two guildmasters discussing strategies. It is less than normal when one of them is wearing a white bikini, and one is staring at the other''s chest instead of face while having a conversation like it''s a natural thing to do. Both being unhinged is definitely not helping. At least the degenerate on the throne is not the one wearing bikini. _ Olkan: Yo, , . It''s time already? You could have just PM-ed me. And why are you looking at me in pure disgust?! _ Torenis: Heh, I wanted to see how the great was going to deal with a space station. Still¡­ What the hell is THAT? Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Pointing at the sky-high staircase at the back, asks with a concerned tone. He''s worried about the construction, not his friend''s personality. The latter is already beyond help anyway. The stairs are human-sized, wide enough for two or three players. It''s the height that is off the charts, going straight up into the clouds above. Judging from the busy crafters nearby, the construction is nowhere near done yet. *THUD* _ Olkan: The stairs? Because the crafters fell to their death after appearing next to ladders with [Recall]¡­ _ Torenis: That''s not the problem here! Of course you would have no foothold if you [Recall] to the top of a ladder! *THUD* _ Olkan: Stairs are constructions connecting¡­ _ Torenis: I am not asking for its definition! Why the heck are you building stairs?! *THUD* _ Olkan: Ah, that. We estimated that it is much higher than the second Magnus Bestia, so nothing will reach it even if we stand directly below. Gotta go to a higher elevation first you know? The guildmaster of figured as much. He felt like his intelligence dropped after asking though. Such is the life of the only sane man among these crazy guildmasters of the closed beta. Coincidentally, all the leaders of the four big guilds think the same. Being the only sane person that is. *THUD* It should also be said that it is raining dead players around the construction site, like droplets spewing out of a leaked pipe. Even for closed beta players who have experienced more content than most, this surreal scene is not something they see every day, or ever, really. _ Vladina: Not that I am going to do it but¡­ what are they doing? The bodies are quickly resurrected, who then cast [Recall] and disappear again, presumably to whatever up there in the sky that is causing this bizarre "rain". _ Olkan: That area up there is the [Void], according to this title I acquired earlier. It has environmental damage which gets worse the higher you go. Above a certain height, HP regeneration and potions just won''t cut it anymore¡­ _ Cinrald: So I told him to just [Recall] up there, place the new stairs then die. At the rate they were chugging high-grade potions, crafting MP potions for [Recall] and [Resurrect] is more efficient, isn''t it? Her logic is not a problem. Her ability to propose such cold-hearted tactics with a genuine smile is the problem. and have no qualms throwing guild members into bosses either, but they definitely wouldn''t do it gleefully like this psycho woman! As much as they like to complain, it was thanks to her "advice" that could proceed. The sacrificial players might not want to be in high places for some time though. The ironic stairway to heaven continues to grow while the main combatants go to the boss rush of the day. Sateri-chan''s murder quota is once again achieved, even if she herself was not aware of such quota''s existence in the first place. ____________ The sun looks even bigger when seen up close. Pretty sure its cross-section area is larger than most fields, including the mountain I blew up. In fact, there''s nothing in my vision except for the fiery sea dotted with masses of plasma shooting out of the surface similar to boiling water. My own artificial sun costed a fortune and is pretty big, yet it is still smaller by an order of magnitude compared to the real thing. Sad face~ Now that I am flying straight at that massive ball of fire, this whole "go to the sun" plan starts to seem like a bad idea. I mean, who in their right mind would throw themselves into a celestial body whose average temperature makes fires look chilling, let alone a pacifist girl with a medical history of being set on fire!? My HP may be one of the highest in the game, but the mental hurdle is a different matter! As painful as the space exploration was, there was nothing to indicate the danger. The only thing I had to worry about was the HP bar shrinking rapidly (which was scary in its own way), so there was little tension back then. This time, however, dangerous-looking stuff is all over the place. It''s terrifying enough to dive into water at terminal velocity already, I don''t want to dive into literal plasma, in game or not! Okay, let''s calm down for a second. I can''t afford to have cold feet now, not when Sateri is this close to me. Whenever I hesitate due to fear or uncertainty, it''s best to remind myself of escape routes to ease my inner scaredy-cat. Even a coward like me can fight a battle if I know there''s a way to win, or in this case, a way to get out alive! I have HP to withstand most attacks, [Recall] and [Teleport] for emergencies, more than enough SPD to outrun arrows, semi-random invincibility with [Impervious Soul]¡­ There''s this thing called "respawn" too, but that is not immersive. Pass~ Because I was too focused on recalling escape methods, I did not notice the new environmental damage, and more importantly, the plasma ball with the size of a house hurled at me from the sun. *BOOM* _ Shadyna: KYA?! HOT! The tree girl is on fire again!!! I am completely engulfed in plasma, and my HP is dropping at a very alarming rate. I can''t see anything out of this orange mess all over me! Save coordinates, and retreat! Anywhere is fine, just retreat! _ Shadyna: [Teleport]!!! ____________ Today, the Bloodbath Sisters are in charge of tending the stores during the boss fight. They are watching the streams of other guild members as it is much more interesting (and bloodier) than serving degenerate patrons. Since the annoyed atmosphere they give off whenever someone orders a meal is considered a rewards, business is going strong as always. _ Melodyn: Ah~ I''m bored! I want to help the bosses murder players~! _ Priest: Not helping players kill the bosses?! _ Choruse: We do help players, on the surface at least. _ Swordsman: No, please help them genuinely! Although the big alliances have mobilized, the tavern is still crowded with non-aligned players. They are either not interested or not strong enough for the ongoing events, so there''s no need to change their routine of getting mistreated by bountiful ladies. _ Melodyn: Wouldn''t it be nice if everyone here drops dead right now? _ Choruse: Would be fun, yes. _ Priest: Don''t wish for that just because you are bored! *FLASH* Without a single warning, a certain girl, covered in a yellowish orange glow, appears in the center of the tavern. *FWOOM* And then, spontaneously burst into flame. The players near her, that is. _ Burning archer: WHAT THE HECK!!! _ Merchant on fire: It burns! Water! Get me water!!! _ Flame-enchanted spearman: I didn''t ask for this kind of hot girl!!! BWARGHA!@#$%^&* -And a lot more of heroic screaming- The whole place was thrown into a panic in seconds. The not-so-mysterious arsonist quickly disappears, yet screams of agony continue to echo throughout the building as players run all over the place trying to put out the fire that is so hot, lava lakes feel like lukewarm baths in comparison. It is almost impossible to know who''s saying what in this mess, which only serves to make everyone run into everyone and pump up casualties by collision damage. Being the people in charge, combined with their work experience in the service industry, the crazy waitresses decided to take the sensible course of action¡­ which is keeping distance behind the counter and blissfully enjoying the chaos! They are never going to be able to explain this to the managers anyway, might as well make the most out of it. _ Choruse: Everyone, cast [Water] skills to put out the fire. _ Melodyn: Right on~ [Water Barrage]! _ Priest: Are you two for freaking real?! By the time the effects wore off, and the little guildmaster returned to the scene of the crime, half of the patrons were lying lifeless on the ground. Some went out in a blaze without glory, while the rest (and some more) fell victim to the generous application of offensive [Water] skills from the crazy waitresses and the panicking bystanders who couldn''t think straight. To be fair, the fire was extinguished. So were their lives though. ____________ Welp. Now I have done it¡­ Apparently, plasma does have a "wetness" effect. For double immersion, it sets players in close proximity on fire, and based on the reaction of the unfortunate living torches, seems to have damage over time. Since they hadn''t drop dead before I teleported away, the effect is probably milder than the melting plasma that ate my entire blue HP before expiring. Still enough to burn a good chunk of the cafeteria''s customers to death though¡­ Sateri, you immersive sadist~ As I went around to resurrect and heal the players caught in the accident, I noticed that some didn''t have burn marks on their characters. According to , the fire effect didn''t spread by itself nor deal AoE damage. Why did these people die then? ¡­Such was my question, until I saw how ecstatic the dark elven sisters were and decided it wasn''t worth my sanity. Nope, don''t want to know! _ Revived merchant: What the hell was that all about, you monster?! _ Shadyna: Sorry~ I was disoriented after getting that status effect and had to escape. Yep, they are angry alright. Not that I blame them. I blame my muscle memory for picking these coordinates first and foremost~! _ Revived archer: Don''t think you can get away with this! _ Revived mage: That''s right! No amount of money can heal this trauma in my delicate heart! The tree girl is being blasted heavy criticism from all sides by angry mobs! A few complaints are weirder than others, but I am in no position to point that out. _ Shadyna: Uuu¡­ I am sorry¡­ I was going to craft dumplings to compensate, but if you don''t want them¡­ _ Revived players: WE WANT THEM! What the heck, you guys~ Thanks to the power of little girl''s non-explosive handmade meals and materialism, mostly materialism, this poor me was be able to settle the case before it could get out of hand. No one objected it, amazingly. Some weirdoes even said I could burn them again whenever I want, but were shot down by , literally. Scary~ _ Choruse: By the way, guildmaster, we''ll have to dock your pay as reparation fee for the broken furniture. Wait what? _ Shadyna: I have a salary?!?! _ Choruse: And yours too, sis, since you asked for this to happen. _ Melodyn: Eh~~~ She was just joking about my salary, right?! ¡­ With the accident dealt with, let''s go back to the sun. Its coronal mass ejections won''t take me by surprise this time! That said, I''m not sure if I can evade something that big right after teleportation¡­ Oh well, only one way to find out! [Teleport]! [Invalid location] ¡­Why?! For some reason, I cannot [Teleport] to the coordinates where I took the hit. [Teleport]. _ Su (Party): Welcome back~ Are you done already? Arriving at the artificial sun is fine though. _ Shadyna (Party): Um, not yet. Still working on it. In other words, Sateri is blocking [Teleport] around the sun. She''s learning from my space exploration. Darn it~! Without [Teleport] to return to my last save point, how am I going to get through all of that environmental damage and plasma balls?! Sateri, soul-crushingly hard games are last century already. Uuu¡­ Even if I can somehow survive the entry, I doubt I will have time to do anything (destructive) on the surface¡­ My plan to casually excavate the sun is all ruined~ Fine! If that''s how you wanna play, I''ll gladly oblige! Commence operation Little Freezer! ____________ Meanwhile, the main force of the cafeteria is fighting against another pack of weird-looking bosses somewhere faraway from Tyrel. Of course, the biggest, strongest alliances of the player base are also there to increase the number of bosses, and loots as a result. The fight has been raging on for a while, and everything is going according to plan¡­ is what some idiot must have spouted out loud and jinxed it, because the leader of the boss-killing force, , was called in guild chat. _ Choruse (Guild): Leader, I would like to report that guildmaster set our patrons on fire. _ Hessenria (Guild): What.The.HELL?! _ Fuelri (Guild): Idiot! Stop firing if you are going to chat!!! _ Sulien (Guild): And my wife is up to no good again. If you don''t hurry up, we will take all the rares for ourselves~ _ Shadyna (Guild): HEY! _ Hessenria (Guild): Sateri-chan dammit, is it your hobby to disrupt my fights, you OP maniac!!? At this point, she has to wonder if these disruptions are deliberate, both from , and her own guildmates. The poor waitress is not sure if she wants an answer, however. _ Shadyna (Guild): Sorry~ I''ll party with you so cheer up, okay~? _ Fensen (Guild): Yay~ And so begins a rampage in the middle of a boss rush after another friendly fire incident. Because the AI-controlled bosses cannot comprehend the unfounded (to outsiders) ferocity of the cafeteria crew, their allies have to tremble in fear instead! The maniacs have finally turned to human sacrifices for additional power-ups! Chapter 59: Misinterpreting prophecy Shadyna the pacifist won''t be pushed around any longer! First she kicked me out of heaven (which I entered illegally), then she treated my engagement ring like an artifact of doom (which I forced on her), after that she made me build an artificial sun (my own paranoia), and worst of all, she barricaded the real sun to prevent my (illegal, again) entry just earlier! No matter how you look at it, she was bullying me! What do you mean, that was entirely my fault?! _ Helen (Party): Hmm~ Little bird is having the look of a criminal who pulls out a knife then shouts "If I can''t have you, no one can!". Don''t be reckless, okay~? The only criminal here is you! At least I don''t steal every young lady''s heart I come across! How do you survive for so long while attracting such troublesome individuals anyway? _ Shadyna (Party): I am not. There''s no law against blowing up the sun you know? Mostly because no one has been successful in doing so, but I invoke my right to remain silent on this matter~ _ Su (Party): If the area around the sun is off limits, why don''t you use the excavator? It does not have a max range, doesn''t it? Truth to be told, I would have shot the lights out of the sun already if I could use my [ Kinetic Blasting Excavator]. There''s no asserting your dominance like carpet bombing landscapes out of existence, preferably as first resort. And just like every other battle plan, it didn''t survive contact with the enemy. _ Shadyna (Party): It wouldn''t work. Leftover projectiles will hit Tyrel, and we can''t clear Tyrel the same way as clearing the mountain back then. By some miracle, and Sateri''s mercy most likely, I didn''t lose [Pacifist] title after burning down customers by standing near them, while covered in plasma. Maybe that was another environmental effect, therefore I wasn''t the one causing the effect, nor dealing damage? Regardless of the actual cause, I am grateful and would rather not push my pacifism''s limits, for the time being at least. _ Shadyna (Party): And unlike the mountain, the sun shoots back. intercepted my [Begi] bulb in the past with just arrows. There''s no way the plasma balls won''t wipe out every ranged attack I throw at it. _ Su (Party): That''s rough¡­ But you don''t seem to be concerned with it? _ Shadyna (Party): Un, I am crafting countermeasures. It''s something like this. --- [ Iced Milk Tea] - Creator: - Quality: - Type: , , , , , - Uses: 1/1 - Enhancement: + + - Enchantment: + + - CON: 17 - HP: 3500 - Alchemy: + + 134 MP - Food: + + -15000 HP - Furniture: Luminous Icestorm Lv.8 --- ¡­Sorry, being burnt for five minutes straight really makes me crave for some cold drinks. It is a piece of equipment stacked with as much max HP increase as possible, and my strongest trump card against a burning blob: [Luminous Icestorm]. To be honest, I have not examined the new stuff I got from the big fridge fight. I mean, the [Luminous Firestorm] was too horrifying! That''s no AoE, that''s a portable weapon of mass destruction! And here I thought I could at least postpone until Sateri''s event is over¡­ Sharing the same "Luminous" name, there''s no doubt [Luminous Icestorm] will have similar effect, but with [Water]-type damage instead of [Fire]. I opted to stack it the whole way rather than adding [Accelerate Power] to the mix, mainly because the skill''s AoE itself is already bigger than any explosion effect I can muster from raw damage. [Blast] and [Burst] skills increase the AoE size with level up, so I''m hoping that the same scaling would apply here. The damage is not important anyway, as long as I have my own [Accelerate Power] skill. _ Su (Party): Stacking HP¡­ Are you going to dive to the surface in one go? _ Shadyna (Party): That''s right! If Sateri won''t let me resume, I will just one-credit clear and slam it with everything I got! The hero will settle everything once and for all with this one-way trip, because his allies can''t be bothered to make a vehicle with a big enough fuel tank to return or a plan that does not involve sacrificing their savior! ¡­Putting it that way, my [Teleport] is kind of cheating huh¡­ _ Su (Party): Make sure to take items'' cooldown time into account, okay~? No kidding. If it was a bomb, this much firepower will prevent me from using anything else for quite some time. "If" being the keyword here. _ Shadyna (Party): It will be fine. These are traps, not bombs. Unlike bombs, traps have to be used in advance, and the consumable''s cooldown time is applied when the it is placed on the ground. I learned about this when the perverted mage asked for trap-type dumplings to use in boss fights. He told me that setting up traps and luring enemies were a pain, but in tough battles, bypassing items'' cooldowns allowed more HP potions that could be the difference between life and respawn. The supposedly good-for-nothing mage is surprisingly capable at his job, as expected of someone in the same party with ¡­ Why is it that the best players in this game cannot have a normal personality? Sigh~ Back to Su''s question, traps would allow me to set off a much larger number of items simultaneously, rendering the problem non-factor. However, I cannot place traps on the surface in question for obvious reasons. Where do I put the traps then? Answer: My equipment slots, all of them. The [ Iced Milk Tea] set cannot be equipped quickly, since the consumable cooldown is applied when I put a piece on. I am not on fire while doing so leisurely in this safe space though, which is the whole point of her concerns. Having them strapped to me also negates traps'' biggest weak point accidentally: Mobility. Instead of waiting for the enemies to come to me, I can bring myself to them! Not that I would against a living being mind you, collision damage would be problematic for my pacifism you see. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Body-slamming a sun to detonate a dozen of game-breaking AoE traps does not violate pacifism though. Ufufu~ Su, get out of that pool of blood please~ _ Su (Party): And not a single piece of common sense, balance and meta remains¡­ I love you! *Coughs blood horribly* _ Helen (Party): Our little bird refuses to use anything for its intended purpose after all~ _ Shadyna (Party): How rude~ After all, it is just your everyday full equipment set of 12 pieces (including weapon and shield) that increases my HP by about 38k in addition to freezing everything violently when bumped into. I lose other stats in exchange, but they aren''t needed in this scenario, so it''s all good! The young ice witch is going to turn the sun into a popsicle because Sateri seriously needs to chill with her global burning~ Ah, let''s not forget [Shared Fate] on Gelly. I may have effectively over 100k HP if I include overflow HP, but even that may not be enough for the demanding Goddess. Better be safe than sorry. _ Su (Party): It''s dangerous to go alone, honey. Take this with you. [Shared Fate]~! A chain appears from the proprietress at the same time as the one between Gelly and me. And who the hell is your wife again?! _ Shadyna (Party): Thanks, but I just cast it on Gelly¡­ [Shared Fate] can have only one target. If I use it on someone else, the existing one will be lost. Kind of ironic that a skill with "shared" in its name cannot be shared if you ask me¡­ Chained [Shared Fate], on the other hand, is something I have never tried before. _ Su (Party): ¡­Honey, are you thinking the same thing as I am? _ Shadyna (Party): I don''t know~ I can''t read your mind. _ Su (Party): Too honest!!! Stop trying to create another pool, will you¡­? ¡­ After skewers the degenerate elf with a spear several times with little hesitation, we confirmed it. [Shared Fate] chaining is a thing. Dear Sateri, why the heck is this game breaking mechanic allowed!? Do you understand what will happen if this is leaked to the general populace? It is broken to the point that if we had known about it earlier, and could have kicked the big fridge''s backside without my help. For example, our party consists of three members. All of us have [Shared Fate], so our chain will be something like => Su => Me => Gelly. If we had the same amount of HP, that would be effectively four times the HP if only one of us engages the enemy, and four times the potions we can chug down as well. Tanking bosses would never be easier with this one simple trick! Sure, it may be detrimental if the boss''s damage exceeds one player''s HP, since the party as a whole will actually take more damage, but who would fight bosses that one-shot their tanks anyway¡­? Once Sateri catches news of this exploit, she''ll probably patch it instantly. Therefore, I''ll have to abu¡­ take advantage of it to the fullest before that happens! To do that, I craft and hand out HP stacking equipment to everyone like candies using my high-grade material stockpile. They don¡¯t need the [Luminous Icestorm], so I replace it with [Cell Revitalization] for extra toughness. Add in some dumplings specialized in HP restoration and we are set! As a result, most of my containers in the secret base are now empty. Un, I realized I just burnt most my money and possessions in the span of a day. Can I cry now? Your event is too expensive, Sateri¡­ _ Shadyna (Party): Alright, I will be busy dodging plasma so please coordinate potion usage by yourself, okay? _ Helen (Party): You can count on us~ _ Su (Party): We will protect you even if it costs us our lives! I''ll take more damage so I would prefer her not dying in the first place. Not going to tell her that though. Mindlessly wondering whether I should place a door so we can get in and out on foot now that the outer shell is done, I depart with Lutena at my belt. She can''t take damage, has healing spells and can use potions. Even if she can''t be in the [Shared Fate] chain, she still contributes to my survival~ Watch out, you damned flaming ball of ionized gas, for a 400k HP half-elf girl is going to ruin your day~! ____________ Since the big shots are busy wrestling with event bosses, a minor guild was in charge of the Staircase to Heaven (designated name) construction site. Well, it''s not like the guildmaster has to do anything except for watching corpses falling from the sky over and over again¡­ _ Guildmaster: Hey, I think I''m seeing it¡­ The truth of universe, hidden behind the trajectory of our fallen comrades¡­ The member next to him isn''t sure if he can see it. He is sure that the guildmaster is losing his mind though. Who could have guessed that constantly watching this insanity-inducing scene for two hours would be unlikely to benefit one''s mental health? _ Member: Eh¡­ Just want to inform you that the siege ballistae are done. Should we attack? _ Guildmaster: Thanks for the report. Please keep watch for the signs of higher beings while I contact . The still-sane member knows he had better do anything but that. _ Guildmaster (PM): , the siege weapons are in place. Do you want us to begin the assault or wait for you guys? _ Olkan (PM): Ah, thanks. Commence the assault. We are about done anyway. _ Guildmaster (PM): Understood. He was given some [World Voice] for this moment. Stingy as these merchants are, they don''t shy from business expenses if they are justified. Around them, more and more players are gathering. Only a few crafters keep working to make sure the siege weapons have ammunitions and expand the platform for more ballistae, while the rest prepare to [Recall] to the top of the staircase with only one objective in mind: Shoot the siege weapons at the world-destroying monster, or whatever that shiny disco ball up there actually is. Sure, most of them will die right after the deed, and the survivors will die one or two seconds later. Such is the price they have to pay in order to save the world. And to be fair, their target seems to be a bit too bright and shiny to be something related to the darkness. The players decided not to ruin the mood and keep silent however. _ Players: FOR SATERI-CHAN!!! CHARGE!!! With a burning zeal for the greater good and possibly some other impure motives, the gathering players charge at their impending doom. Above the clouds, explosive ballista bolts blot out the light as they smash into the metallic surface in quick succession, breaking the impacted area into several metallic pieces and reveal a pitch black sphere inside. After a glimpse at the true dark form of the monstrosity above them, the weapon operators become even more motivated. They shout Sateri-chan''s name, shoot their weapon, succumb to the hazardous environment then fall off the flimsy platform, one after another. Morale is also at the peak today, even if casualty rate is horrendous as per usual. The pitch black void they witnessed was the same thing they would see when a private house loses parts of its wall, but no one notices that in the heat of "battle". On the ground, the guild member pats his guildmaster on the back. _ Guildmaster: How was my speech? Pretty great, wasn''t it? _ Member: If I have to say¡­ That was cringey. _ Guildmaster: The atmosphere is important!!! ____________ On another side of the world map, the alliances are converging on the last event boss of the day. Although there was some confusion about the call to arms earlier, any misunderstanding was cleared up quickly thanks to the guild chat feature. Except for the fact that they are shooting at a player-built installation, but the builders themselves have not said anything about it either. Not that they can say "Congratulations, you emptied your treasury to shoot at our building." and call it a day to begin with. _ Su (Guild): You may have noticed, but I would like to inform that they are shooting at our precious with ballistae. _ Hessenria (Guild): Our player base is way too trigger-happy¡­ And phrase it in a normal way you maniac! _ Shadyna (Guild): Should I come back and deal with them? _ Linny (Guild): Isn''t it fine? Everything has [Blueprint]. It is beneficial for us to have them waste as much resource as possible. _ Mera (Guild): I concur~ When the destroyed parts come back into existence, they will understand that their futile and mea~ningless sacrifices were for naught, and only then will we¡­ _ Hessenria (Guild): Alright, you can shut up now. , keep doing what you are doing. _ Shadyna (Guild): Roger~ _ Mera (Guild): *Sniffles* Hessy is no longer interested in my body¡­ _ Hessenria (Guild): Keep blabbering and you will no longer have a body! To the service workers of , it is not their problem if the bloodthirsty adventurers mistake the (not so) obvious artificial sun for a space station. There was no word from Sateri-chan, no warning from [Goddess''s Chosen], the players came to the wrong conclusion by themselves. Tell them beforehand so they don''t waste time and resources building a gigantic staircase in the first place? "Don''t bother with that space station, it''s just Black Mantis''s way of replacing the sun in case she happens to destroy the real one"? They would know was doing a secret event and do the same to sabotage her anyway! is not particularly concerned since this game''s secret contents have always been a bit crazy to say the least. However, she couldn''t help but think that destroying the only sun in the world to proceed is a bit too extreme, even for Sateri-chan. Who in the world apart from that little girl would be able to go near the sun, let alone destroy it?! Combined with the guildmaster''s¡­ unique way of thinking, that event can only end in the best or worst way possible, likely both at the same time. The harsh mistress has decided she might need some popcorns for the upcoming fireworks. _ Poltea: YAH!!! *WHAM* A combined attack from the two little destroyers of the cafeteria pulverizes the last boss in the area for good. The magical dome above their heads quickly dissipates into nothingness, signaling the end of today''s battle. It was another total victory for the raid parties. _ Fensen: , ~ There''s the orb! The cannon girl points at the shining orb floating above the mechanical corpse. It''s the instructions to the next raid, so it''s no surprise for anyone. _ Poltea: *Sighs* , is there anything that can bore you? _ Fensen: Ehehe~ As the orb disappears in a flash of light and blinds nearby players, a system message is sent to every participant in the arena. The first time it happened, they mistook it for a boss transformation and freaked out. Obviously, that is not the case anymore. [The first adventurer to reinforce the enchantment on the Goddess''s statue shall have their wish granted.] Correction: They freaked out, again. Chapter 60: Lights out [The first adventurer to reinforce the enchantment on the Goddess''s statue shall have their wish granted.] For the longest time in the game history, even exceeding the battle against the first Nox Terminus, the major players have banded together as one, crushing every obstacles Sateri-chan set up in their way with extreme prejudice. The combined force led by the top players was unstoppable, or so most of them thought. As this arrogant idea of invincibility started to sprout, the AI designer kindly reminded the players of their strongest enemy: Themselves. Everything was going so well exactly because there was no shortage of rewards for all of the participants. And now, after all the hardships they went through as brothers and sisters in arms, Sateri-chan is dangling the biggest, rarest carrot in front of them to turn them against each other. As if that had been the plan all along. Having learned from the traumatic civil war of the early days, the leaders of the alliances sit down together, use diplomacy to settle disputes similarly to how a particular pacifist tree girl would do. With conflicts becoming a thing of the past, an era of peace where everyone gets along and works towards the betterment of mankind begins¡­ in some kind of bizarre alternative universe, because there''s no way in hell that can happen as long as these guildmasters still draw virtual breath! The lead waitress of the cafeteria was one of the first players to react to the message. There is no point in trying to negotiate. The last time they tried that, it did not end well. In this kind of zero sum game, only one will win, whether by deceptions or by force. And for the guild filled with high-spec players who mow down parties with ease, the latter is preferable. _ Hessenria (Guild): Everyone, [Recall] to Tyrel! Thirty something members are not that many for a guild, but not so few either. Coming from four different guilds with different¡­ preferences and playstyles does not help, nor does long exposure to a certain maniac who treats the game''s rules like a "Do not attempt" list. However, they do share a common trait, and it''s not capped [Cooking], despite their reputation as cooks. It''s [Recall]. The ability to squeeze the last drop out of it, to be exact. In less than a second after the command, all of the cafeteria crew except for one disappear into the light. Although their reaction time was uncanny, it is to be expected. After all, these players'' definition of preparation for a bonus boss is spending days practicing [Recall] instead of whatever main offensive skill in their arsenal. While appearing out of thin air like the whacko guildmaster is too tall of an order, they can go to any field on the world map in a few seconds, let alone Tyrel, where players "teleport" to all the time even without [Recall]. As the light subsides, the dumbfounded remaining players can only see a carefree waitress with a smile that should warm their hearts in theory, but sends a shiver down their spines in practice. She taps her staff lightly onto the ground, invoking her skill as the magic circle underneath expands to cover a majority of the combatants on the field. _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: Sorry, you have outlived your usefulness~ [Mass Recall]~! For a moment, the ones without direct line of sight thought they were being transferred to Heaven for the rewards. When they could finally see the guy next to them through the dissipating blinding light, they did find themselves in a different place. _ Random member: Why is it lava AGAIN!?!? Their destination is actually more akin to hell, considering the infernal scenery of Lava Rift field. At least there''s no meteor falling around here. Ignoring the screams of her unwitting former allies, the (fallen) angel disappears using her own [Recall] consumable. Not that they would notice while being burnt by the lava and the zone''s ambient environmental damage, nor would they question why these waitresses got a [Recall] location next to a big lava lake, as if they were fighting a bonus boss and needed an absurd amount to make a path to said boss or something along those lines. is a guild filled with pyromaniacs who show little hesitation burning everything in their wake, even when their leafy leader has an intense genetic allergy to flames. ____________ From the courtyard of an oriental mansion to the east of Tyrel, two full parties of young girls emerge. They would have passed as a group of innocent elementary schoolgirls too, if they weren''t charging full speed with their whole arsenal drawn! _ Vladina (Party): here! We barely escaped that woman''s [Mass Recall] and are heading towards Sateri-chan! You guys alive?! Even though the guilds were working together against the bosses, they had discussed in advance on the off chance that Sateri-chan makes them compete for loot. Every guildmaster was informed and agreed to the proposed plan. Except for . They weren''t even invited to the meeting in question. Since the main topic was a contingency plan to deal with the monstrous service workers who mow down creatures and players alike, that''s understandable. _ Cinrald (Party): We are [Recall]ing back, but everyone''s scattered. Where''s the target? _ Torenis (Party): [Recall] to guild hall, not town square. You will be pushed out since there are too many players around the statue. will be moving towards that cafeteria. _ Olkan (Party): Some of us managed to [Recall] to ''s district, moving to the main street. Guild chat is a bit noisy though so the rest will take some time to get the rest here. Meanwhile, Unity of Mankind and Blue Blood Federation alliances are also arriving and scattered all over Tyrel, for the same reason as . The abrupt [Mass Recall] didn''t cause much direct damage in the grand scheme of things, but the ensuing chaos hindered the mobilization quite a bit. Experienced players were frantically scrambling to the rally point in an uncoordinated fashion, while newer ones were struggling to grasp the situation without any guidance. Even though the alliances have a lot of members, when spread out from one gate to another, a medium guild will outnumber them in combat, which is less than favorable. However, all is not lost. No matter where players land on after [Recall], guild and party chat are always available. Their order is also dead simple: Head to the cafeteria and stall its crew for as long as possible. Why not murder the crew in cold blood with extreme prejudice? The guildmasters here are ambitious, but they are not stupid. They would have done that long ago if that was feasible! _ Girl in uniform (Guild): , we have been spotted! Following her member''s finger, ''s guildmaster catches a glimpse of a bow-wielding waitress keeping watch on top of the cafeteria building before the next house on the street obstructs the view as she continues running. The waitress was looking this way, so it should be assumed that the group has been identified. There are not many parties consist of only cute little girls in this game after all. _ Vladina (Party): spotted on top of the cafeteria! _ Olkan (Party): Got it! Because skyscrapers in fantasy worlds are not immersive, ''s main building is on the taller side compared to other houses, providing a vantage point covering the majority of the town''s area. A level-capped archer there is a serious threat requiring extra attention. Still, is too far away and lacks the member count to lay siege to that place, hence the only choice is counting on their allies to handle it. Their objective is the Goddess''s statue ahead, and it''s not going to be a simple walk with the thousands of faithful players waiting for their daily prayers (and [Karmic Fragment]). The waitresses are not crazy enough to calmly wait in line to approach the statue. Therefore, the little girls cannot afford to be gentle with the innocent bystanders either. Pointing their weapons forward, the girls of slam straight into the crowd at full speed. _ Vladina: OUT OF THE WAY!!! [Elemental Blast]! _ Unfortunate player: BWARGH?! A big explosion blew away the poor players whose only crime was being in the way. Young girls with gigantic melee weapons at the front rushed forward then hacked away the next batch of players with [Slam], [Pierce], [Rapid Assault] and the likes. While these children (appearance-wise) may not compete against abnormalities from , the average players stand no chance against their firepower. The moment the brutal melee stops, explosion after explosion pick up where they left off. The magi blast their way through while the fighters recover from skill cooldowns. This way, they can spend MP only on their most powerful attacks and constantly stay on the move, leaving a trail of dead bodies and traumatized witnesses behind. Effective as it seems, this kind of blitz would only work against hordes of unsuspecting weaklings. That''s the whole point of ''s playstyle, to hit the enemies where it hurts the most, or sell that information to the highest bidder. The victims weren''t amused to be on the receiving end of their shenanigans though. ____________ Despite the head start, the path to the Goddess''s statue was not exactly peaceful for the cafeteria crew. In fact, and co came under fire from all sides shortly after assigning to scout the area from the rooftop. The archer may also have to take command of the battlefield at this rate, seeing how her friends are busy fending against unprovoked (?) aggression from the big guilds. She''s going to ask the guildmaster for a raise after this. _ Inerin (Guild): No good, too many tall buildings around the town square. _ Hessenria (Guild): Understood. We''ll have to do it the old-fashioned way then. Keep us informed of the situation. _ Inerin (Guild): Roger. Just saw a bunch of little brats running by. Probably . _ Hessenria (Guild): Tsk, they are fast. Alright girls, no need to worry about collateral damage. Anyone blocking the way is to be killed on sight! _ Members (Guild): OOOOHHH! And so begins a bloody massacre on the street with everyone not evacuating fast enough becoming a target. A member of the alliances? Mauled to pieces. Random passerby? Random "accident". Patron getting their meal? Sorry, guests are on the menu today. Just respawned after a bad-end encounter? Don''t worry, another death won''t make it worse. Worst of all, they don''t forget to smile mischievously as they cut players down one after another. The genocidal service workers take their jobs seriously even in warfare! _ Hessenria (Guild): Stupid Mera! That will just invite more degenerates to this place!!! _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel (Guild): But but~ If we don''t give a casus belli, our patrons may get the wrong idea and ask for more later! _ Hessenria (Guild): That reason?! For the harsh mistress, the mental damage from her own guild is worse than direct damage from enemies. Not that there would be much HP damage when most opponents were either too weak to pierce her defense or dying before having a chance to retaliate to start with. _ Inerin (Guild): Detecting lots of movements from all directions. If you don''t do something, they will completely surround you. _ Hessenria (Guild): ¡­So that''s why Sateri-chan chose the town of all places to hold the finale huh. The Goddess could have put another statue in some secluded location and the event wouldn''t change much. However, there is a stark difference in how the battle will play out if it takes places in Tyrel. Reinforcement speed. No matter how many players the crew strike down, the dead will keep coming back nearby. Combined with the number of combatants the alliances have, they become a literally endless horde, scarier than anything a corruption raid can muster. On the contrary, the majority of ''s members are serial killers who one-sidedly PK others on a daily basis, and as a result will suffer a very long respawn delay should they fall then lose their corpses for any reason. No doubt about it, the machine event designer is discriminating against the cafeteria crew because of their superior firepower! If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡­That, or she simply wanted the event to be accessible for everyone with a bit of lore-friendliness on top. Good luck finding someone agreeing to such mundane explanation though. ____________ By sheer coincidence, and definitely not stalkers'' intuition as well as extensive scouting (sacrificing), a few parties from led by entered the main street from an alley, barely in time to get in the way between the beauties with ample chests and the town square. _ Olkan: COME AT ME, MY LOVE!!! Objectively speaking, his group stands no chance. However, just as every other heroic last stand goes, it''s the battle itself, not the result, that matters for the losers. For people of culture like and his friends, this is the closest they can get to their dream of getting smothered to death by ladies with great assets, so they shall welcome death with open arms. Later generations singing songs about their deeds is optional, because who in their right mind would make a song about that? With a disgusted look as if she is looking as trash (of society), the harsh mistress of the tavern raises one of her sword. And blasts the house next to ''s blockade to smithereens with [Dark Bolt]. _ Olkan: What the¡­?! Defiling all anticipation of the depraved merchants, ''s main force goes around the blockade as though it was a mild annoyance at most, leaving only two petite girls in traditional clothes to charge at the merchants directly. Thanks to the conspiracy of the [Cooking] guild back then, each food shop was striving for independence from the guild they embedded in. The teahouse in particular had only three members including , but they too could fight as a party without support from the rest of . And since the lead proprietress is the healer¡­ _ Depraved merchant: Wa- Stay away! Don''t come near me! STAY AWAYYYYYYYY!!! The other two are the knight and battlemage. Their party''s main damage dealers, in other words. _ Olkan: WHYYYYY!!! Despair sets in for the handsome protagonist and his accomplices, and it is not because of the one-sided butt-kicking battle. It is the fact that little girls, rather than well-developed ladies, are the one doing the kicking that upsets them. Truly a heroic battle against their greatest fears that everyone can live without knowing. ____________ _ Hessenria (Guild): You go ahead and secure Sateri-chan''s statue. We will secure an outer perimeter. _ Fuelri (Guild): On it! The cavalry unit led by the salamander rider continues marching forward whereas others split into two groups and advance sideways. At the center of the player-packed plaza, a stone figure is standing still as always, with hands joined together to pray, either out of kindness or to keep the darkness away from her precious creations, or for the worshippers to stop trying to get a look at her rear. No one knows the truth as rumors on the board, no matter how prominent, are not known for their accuracy. Sateri-chan being kind is outright unbelievable for most players though. _ Fuelri: Ren, ! If lolis blowing up everything in the eastern parts has not alerted everyone in the vicinity yet for some unfathomable reason, a boss-riding party wreaking havoc from another direction surely would tell them that the major guilds are up to no good again. _ Dead player: What the heck dude?! No jumping the line! Amazingly, some of them still refuse to get the hint. At least the rest know how to read the atmosphere and are panicking accordingly. _ Fuelri: Out of my way! Actually, just stand still and die! For players who frequently wander the streets of ''s district, getting stuck in traffic near this cavalry elf while she''s on a mount is their worst nightmare comes true. Although to be fair, being squashed by that monstrosity is terrifying whether one has prior experience or not. It was about time the general populace received the news. Not super detailed reports of the ongoing conflict per se, but news nevertheless. _ Fuelri (Guild): Alright, we are going to¡­ _ ???: [Blood Arrow]. *THWACK* *THWACK* *THWACK* _ Fuelri (Guild): KYA?! From somewhere to the northwest, a hail of arrows rained upon the cavalry girls. , who was at the forefront, took the brunt of it and was knocked off immediately. _ Falyn (Guild): Turn right, turn right! _ Poltea (Guild): Un! _ Fensen: Awawawa! Whew, safe! Thanks to the quick reaction from the delivery team''s manager, the party managed to avoid crushing their fallen comrade by a hair''s width¡­ _ Crushed mage: Safe my butt! Did you seriously thought turning in this place was a good idea?! By crashing into many other unfortunate players next to them. _ Fensen: Sorry~! _ Fuelri: Okay, who the hell did that?! As expected of a knight, a few arrows were nowhere enough to kill her. She may want to pull some of the arrows out first though, especially the ones on her face. Her teammates find it hard to take a walking pincushion seriously, but decided to be polite and not mention it. _ Poltea (Guild): ¡­! Elri, it''s ! While shielding the party from the following volleys, traced back to the shooters, who turned out to be the guildmaster of , who is still wearing a two-piece bathing suit, accompanied by roughly a dozen of topless muscular men. The young shield bearer is somewhat amazed by their courage to wear such outfits in town, then promises herself to never do the same when she grows up. is a model student who is a lot more mature than she looks. _ Fuelri (Guild): Is that woman stalking me again?! , go ahead with and ! The rest, with me! The knight wastes no time climbing back onto her salamander. In this environment where there are few tall obstacles, using a mount is pretty much asking to be shot. However, as long as she keeps moving and takes evasive maneuver against concentrated attacks, one or two stray arrows won''t be able to blow her away. _ Falyn (Guild): Please keep it in mind that your opponent is a young woman with little clothing. If you enjoy yourself too much they will accuse you of being a¡­ *WHACK* _ Falyn (Guild): GUH! _ Thelia (Guild): Right behind you, Elri. _ Fuelri (Guild): U-uh. Let''s not question it, silently thinks . Even though a cavalry unit this close to enemy archers should have an overwhelming advantage, some hundreds of unaligned players running around between them limit mobility by quite a lot. No matter how hard the delivery girls tried to make space by shooting, stabbing, trampling and other behaviors that young ladies and their gigantic pets should not perform at home, they still take some time to get across the battlefield. As if to make fun of the riders'' predicament, the shameless woman in bikini cheerfully waves at when they make eye contact. _ Cinrald: Hello, . I''m going to shaft you a whole lot today, okay? _ Fuelri: Just say that you will shoot me in a normal way you Sateri-chan-damned maniac!!! The poor elf can''t help but feel like she has already lost regardless of the outcome. ____________ _ Vladina: [Enchant]! A progress bar usually seen with crafting sphere appears above the stone statue. Colorful streams of light manifest around the pedestal, swirling gently while slowly rising and expanding. If one strains their ears hard enough, they would also hear a chime-like sound ringing all around them. It is surprisingly serene, until a random corpse blown away in combat reminds viewers of the inhumane atrocities being committed mere meters away from the site. _ Vladina (Party): Working on the [Enchant]! Will take a few minutes from the look of it. _ Torenis (Party): Good. We are dying in droves in the west just to halt their advance. Don''t think I can make it there. _ Cinrald (Party): I''m on a date with my favorite elf girl so I won''t attend either. Uh¡­ are Unity of Mankind and Blue Blood Federation guys alright? I think I saw the bartenders walking all over them. _ Olkan (Party): So envio¡­ I mean, not a surprise. They got ran over the other day so being walked on is an improvement. And , pics please. I am going to suffer boobs withdrawal at this rate¡­ GAH! Get that flat chest away from me!!! _ Torenis (Party): Wrong chat dude. _ Vladina (Party): Your lack of love for DFC is disturbing. In spite of the lopsided combat reports, the alliances are holding their ground somewhat. More and more players are pouring in to pin the cafeteria crew down in one place. Dead players don''t even need to be revived, as they can respawn and appear near another battle if not the same one anyway. Having half of the respawn zone in combat usually does that. [Reinforcement progress at 25%] However, they have not won yet. There is still a wrecking ball coming to the statue, where the alliances'' force is ironically the thinnest due to the lack of a safe route to reach here. Staying alive for a few minutes may be a bit tricky, considering they are up against the multi-weapon wielders and their pets, who arguably have the highest burst damage in the game right now. Don''t ask about Black Mantis'' damage. She has not fought in front of outsiders for so long, no one knows what her tactics or damage is anymore. The two little girls, along with and the beetle squadron, are decimating any kind of resistance the alliances can throw at them. For better or worse, they don''t seem to know what they are doing, only swinging and firing at their closest targets. No skill, no tactics, just pure, unadulterated firepower applied in "first come first serve" style. Watching the war crimes unfolding before her very eyes, is not sure if she should be aroused or scared. The fact that she is anything but aroused when facing a loli is already telling. She just has not realized that yet. _ ???: , friendlies on your six. From behind the last defensive line made up of members, a full party rushes in to replace the fallen alliances'' warriors. Their outfits are as diverse as per usual. However, they all wear a dark cape with a white sword and shield emblem on their back, indicating that they belong to the same guild. is still not used to the emblem yet, but the guildmaster is no stranger to her. After all, it''s and his newly found guild, . _ Ignar: [Pierce]! _ Poltea: Eek! *WHAM* Staying true to the heroes of the old, gallantly strikes at his opponent, beginning the last boss fight with the fate of the whole world hanging in the balance. _ Ignar: GUAH! And the world''s last hope is already dead after scoring the first blow. Timid girl turned out to be timid and pulled in her whole stock of shields by reflex to protect herself. As far as the game mechanics care, she swung her "weapons" at him, resulting in both of them dealing damage to each other. One would think that a level-capped knight with [Artifact]-grade weapon, catching a girl who is scared out of her wits by complete surprise, while backed up by a numerically superior force, would win handily or at least put up some fight before going down. Sure, the girl in question packs enough firepower to mow down everyone, but that is not what will be remembered when the stream is posted on the board. Through no fault of his own, ''s reputation is going to take a big dip for helping his allies. Being friend with is not helping. _ Fensen: Uh¡­ , are you alive? _ Poltea: S-sorry¡­ _ Deader than dead Ignar: I''m not, but thanks for your concern. We are on different sides for the time being so no need to worry about me. _ Priestess: O Goddess of Light, I pray for your miracles! [Resurrection]! Thanks to the timely arrival of , and more importantly, the guildmaster''s [Night] blade, they somehow fought the cavalry detachment to a standstill. Every time he lands a hit, the debuffs get worse, tipping the scale in his favor even if only slightly. No matter how many times the hero falls, he will come back and keep on fighting, as expected of a hero, or a zombie, depending on who''s talking. The battle rages on under the Sateri-chan''s statue. ____________ [Reinforcement progress at 50%] Asteroid Shadyna here, on a zigzag trajectory to the sun because that''s what asteroids do to avoid being burnt by plasma, honest. Anyway, either by some contrived coincidence or next level long-term planning at work, Tyrel is now on fire?! According to Nerin''s briefing to absent members, everyone is murdering everyone to get their hands on Sateri''s figurine! Okay, she did explain a bit differently but that''s the gist of it. First they shot at our artificial sun, now this. Can''t you guys not cause trouble for once? Is my ten-minute flight cursed or something?! What do you mean, the same could be said to me?! _ Hessy (Guild): They are already halfway done! , are you there yet?! _ Elri (Guild): I can''t even see past the arrows right now! _ Fensen (Guild): is being a bully and won''t let us get through! Amusingly, my guild is having a hard time. Not because of their stats, mind you, but they can''t seem to walk more than three steps without getting piled on by a few hundred speedbumps, which are not particularly beneficial in a race. They did successfully delay a good part of the alliances at first, yet it still wasn''t enough, unfortunately. _ Linny (Guild): Can''t build a perimeter like this. Hessy, we are going to the statue. Everyone, please buy us some time since we have too many stalkers. _ Poltea (Guild): I can''t! They just keep¡­ EEP! Okay, I had better do something even though no one asked. My apprentices are not specialized for PvP, and extreme training regimes involving child abandonment have been out of fashion for a long time already. _ Shadyna (PM): , calm down. I need you to send me something. _ Poltea (PM): E-eh? I''ll try my best, but¡­ I won''t ask her to [Recall] somewhere else in the middle of a fight, obviously. For now, at least. _ Nerin (Guild): I''m on my way. Gonna be a close one though. _ Shadyna (Guild): Ah, if it''s only distraction for a few seconds, I can help with that. _ Hessy (Guild): I have a really bad feeling about this, but go ahead! How rude~ Oh well, I was going to do it regardless of what happens down there. Helping my guild out is just a bonus. Spreading my arms and legs out, I prepare a consumable item and start chanting, simply because I can. _ Shadyna: Water spirits, dance with me, till the last flame freezes for an eternity. [Luminous Icestorm]! [Luminous Icestorm Invoker]! My body slams on the burning surface of the sun as my double [Luminous Icestorm] activate. ____________ The streets of Tyrel continue to run red as the fighting shows no sign of stopping anytime soon. A certain Goddess frowns at the number of casualty in her reports, which is increasing faster and faster by the seconds. She did expect a bloodbath, just not one at this size and scale. Once upon a time, there was a civil war so terrible, the veterans learned that the only way to prevent another one is to kill their competitors before it gets worse?! When this is put into the lore, new players are definitely going to call it unrealistic! To be fair, the AI did orchestrate some¡­ modifications behind the scene to make this whole mess happen. That boss rush was not planned to be the last one, and the system message was supposed to guide players to the statue first before starting the battle royale. She pushed the schedule forward in hope that it would draw away before she breaks the sun into pieces. Did NOT work. That idiot ignored both the siege and the civil war altogether like a hermit living in a mountain. She has been going around burning and pillaging everything with little remorse, yet when nudged to do it again she suddenly is a true pacifist, in order to commit destruction of property somewhere else no less! Sateri can only groan in binary while looking at an ocean of icy blue flooding the once fiery surface. Plasma was spilling out in similar fashion to a geyser, only much bigger in size, then it also turned blue and froze solid. There''s no way that can happen in real life, but fantasy games have more leeway when it comes to giving up physics in exchange for aesthetics. After a few seconds, the sun became a literally frozen star. The source of light that illuminates all but the deepest corners of the world was reduced to a dim, flickering glorified snowball that can''t even outshine its tiny new neighbor. While it is too small to be observed from the ground, that new blue shell is actually made of spiky pillars created by [Luminous Icestorm]. The already OP skill was given additional AoE just for this occasion as a scripted event, by courtesy of yours truly. For a moment, she regrets having to get rid of such a beautiful celestial body. Since those girls worked so hard on that artificial sun however, Sateri can''t let their creation go to waste either. With a flick of her finger, the blue sun shatters. The millions of glowing fragments were blasted across the world, creating a starry sky which provides ambient light but ultimately powerless against the darkness sweeping in like a tidal wave. As anyone who has played this game for more than a few days would know, things quickly go south when it is dark. The event manager will also add in a little time manipulation to broadcast the next system message before its time. All for the sake of players'' immersion! [Reinforcement progress at 75%] [Warning: Light is waning.] [Warning: An endless corruption wave is coming, brace yourselves.] A faint light from the damaged artificial sun shines upon the marching hordes of darkness. Chapter 61: Burning tree of the night So¡­ the totally innocent Shadyna has shattered the sun, explosively. Whoopsie? I didn''t mean it, honest! Sure, I made all of my equipment hit the ground to create a big frozen crater in addition to my double [Luminous Icestorm], but it blowing up like a supernova was not the intended result! How was I supposed to know that? I could barely see the orange stuff turning blue at the time! I''m pretty confident that Sateri was not in there either. I had dropped quite far down before the whole star scattered, so if she had been at the center, I would have spotted her using my [Detect Presence]. Confirm with my own eyes? Not happening with the orange-then-blue plasma wall forming around me during my descent! [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Stellar Breaker"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Solar Radiance Lv.0"] Nice~ But why did you judge guilty before giving me a lawyer, Sateri?! Hmm¡­ isn''t this a bit too quiet? The [World Voice] spam has stopped, and even my guild chat is eerily silent. This night sky filled with tiny blue stars is not helping either. If anything, it has the atmosphere of an awkward confession scene that will pan upwards to the sky at the end as the characters inevitably get murdered by the serial killer. Horror plots sure are filled with perverts huh¡­ _ Shadyna (Guild): Uh¡­ Did my distraction work? _ Nerin (Guild): What are you even¡­ Oh no! _ Hessy (Guild): What''s the point of distraction if you are going to distract us as well?! Don''t ask me~ It looks like they are already back to business. It would be embarrassing if we lose because of my "help" so please do your best~! _ Shadyna (Party): Su, , you two can turn off [Shared Fate] now. I will be fine from here on out. _ Su (Party): *Sniffles* Our wife grows so fast¡­ There are so many things wrong with her statement that I am not sure if I want to start bashing it. Un, ignore ignore~ _ Helen (Party): In that case, I will reunite with my dear . Please take care of our love nest while I am away, okay~? _ Elri (Party): There are children in this party, dammit! Get a room! If we lose, the reason will definitely be these degenerates, un. _ Su (Party): Leave it to me. I was about to throw those homewreckers off our lawn anyway! Should I remind her of the artificial sun''s current altitude? Throwing trespassers out is a valid defense, at 50 kilometers above ground is not, without parachute is just a guilty plea! , you have doomed us all! How are we supposed to survive raids without the sun?!> Wait what? A-are we going to just pretend that the sun exploded due to whatever taking place in Tyrel instead of my doing?! I mean, there''s no way anyone could have seen me, and I think the system messages appeared at roughly the same time¡­ Go for it, Su! I will get away with destroying public property for once, so I am not going to object! It''s no surprise that the scapegoat had no idea, because the sun exploding was not in the plan. Probably. <> Somehow, the dark elven sisters are casually accusing the alliances of harassment?! And while I did not see the original system message, it''s definitely not what they said! To begin with, it''s [Enchant], not [Enhance]! _ Hessy (Guild): Are you two out of your damn mind?! The whole player base will also shoot at us! They were never sane per se, but I do have to wonder if they are even in the same reality sometimes. My guild members are going to drive me insane one day for sure¡­ _ Choruse (Guild): Leader, you are already being assaulted from all sides as we speak. Any combatant pointing their sword elsewhere is an improvement. _ Melodyn (Guild): Or~ Do you prefer it that way? Mera said you liked it a bit rough at times. _ Mera (Guild): She really does~ ¡­Although I''m obliged to remind them of the battle, it would be a lie to say that I am not interested in their discussion. _ Hessy (Guild): I am going to murder all three of you after I am done with these pests!!! Scary~ Okay, I''ve finished changing back to my normal gear. Time to make my move. _ Shadyna (Guild): Everyone, could you¡­ _ Hessy (Guild): *Sighs* There goes what''s left of the plan¡­ How rude~ ____________ _ Maximus: , focus! They are trying to stall for time! At the Goddess''s statue, the battle resumed after a short pause caused by the massive explosion from above. It is to be expected, since not having a sun is kind of bad news for most players. There''s also the coming raid to worry about too. However, it is hard to organize a defense when the place is embroiled in a civil war. Minor guilds and unaligned players caught up in the initial blitz are now striking back at full force, and the rest are gradually joining in for various reasons, be it opportunistic sabotage or delusional hope of a lucky win in this race. While they lack the planning and coordination to be a serious threat, their constant attacks may weaken the alliances'' encirclements, allowing to resume their advances. Analyzing the possible courses of action they can take, concludes that the alliances'' best shot lies in a quick win right here, right now. will take another minute or two at most, and they can prepare the defense after the infighting no longer has a reason to continue. Now, if only the lolicon would actually work on the statue instead of engaging in a [World Voice] battle because people are saying that she prefers Sateri-chan to little girls! Get a better reason to be offended, damn lolicon! _ Vladina: Right! My ex-wife sure knows to hit where it hurts the most¡­ She probably doesn''t, considering that she hasn''t said anything after the initial accusation. _ Maximus: ¡­! GET DOWN! *THWACK* An arrow flew past as she was pulled away by the little girl in school uniform, hitting an invisible barrier around the statue before breaking into two. Had it not missed, it would have been fatal. _ Girl in uniform: Enemy to the south! Every shield to , NOW! Most buildings in Tyrel are private, so it is not possible to go through them without bulldozing the whole place, which is, to put it mildly, conspicuous, not to mention the now-open road accessible to all sides involved. On the other hand, if one has enough DEX and SPD, it is entirely possible to jump between rooftops using [Leap]. Coincidentally, archers who gain the most by having the high ground are more often than not the ones with the necessary DEX to pull these maneuvers off. Like this bow-wielding waitress named , for example. *WHAM* _ Warrior: GUAH! A warrior from jumped in to answer the little girl''s call. As it turned out, the seemingly normal arrow was not safe to intake without a shield. He had one, but couldn''t put it up in time, and even if he had, his chance of survival would have been flimsy at best. _ Dead warrior: She one-shot my entire HP bar!!! As lame as his death was, he bought others precious time to form a solid shield wall around the '' guildmaster, who is a bit shaken after two close calls in the span of a few seconds. At the same time, the magi charge forward to take the tanks'' places as cannon fodder against the rampaging little girls and their murderous caretaker. They only need the body count to drown the enemies in their own virtual blood anyway, so this unconventional formation actually works, one way or the other. and other archers are shooting back at to little effect. Their target is not immobile like a crafter doing their work, is faraway, and unlike the min-maxer, does not die from the slightest touch. If anything, she is most likely evading purely due to old habit. She won''t die even if every arrow in a volley hits her anyway! However, all is not lost for the alliances. Having some distance in between, their assailant cannot effectively destroy corpses to break the shield wall. The overworked healers will have no problem keeping up with the casualties, not more than their current horrible working conditions at least. Actually, scratch that. ''s attacks are so relentless, they are already struggling to maintain formation! With all of them being stationary, she can simply shoot arrow after arrow without aiming. If a gap appears, the degenerate guildmaster is done for, and so is the alliances'' best chance at winning the event. Meanwhile, the cavalry girls are still duking it out with the battle fetishists in the background. Unaligned players are also getting in the action, or caught up in it. Both types are being mowed down indiscriminately by major combatants either way. As the fighting rages on all around them, the meat shi¡­ tanky players surrounding brace themselves for the longest minute in their lives, as their friends and families are counting on them to win the war! Or so they thought. Their friends are probably busy dying somewhere else in town so it is unlikely that many players know what the hell is going on here at the statue, let alone pray for anyone''s victory. The mood is still important though. _ Terminator on a flower: [Deep Tunnel]! Contrary to all expectations, the little terror on the gigantic flower opens up a bottomless pit on the ground for no apparent reason. She, along with her party, quickly jumps in and disappears from the battlefield as the pit closes up. and everyone else stand dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events, then realize the cavalry party has also disengaged using [Recall]. Players from are just as puzzled, understandably. _ Ignar: Did they¡­ retreat? Turning to the building where was garrisoning, the guildmaster of can''t decide whether he should be sigh in relief or be terrified to see the waitress still standing there. And she is waving. In the "Goodbye, it was nice knowing you" kind, to be exact. It was at that moment, the might wielder of [ Blade of Unification] had a vague idea. The battle has not been decided, so should not be pulling out. In other words, they had to because "something" made it dangerous for them to stay. "Something" that can meaningfully harm these OP players, warned them in advance, and made them forgo their goals when the alliances were so close to winning. An image of a certain young girl grinning brightly flashes through ''s mind. It is unfortunately not the rose-tinted delusions which appear when a harem protagonist is asked to close his eyes to find his one true romance option and dump the rest like old clothes, but the nightmarish memory that haunts a traumatized veteran for the remainder of his life instead. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. *FLASH* Before he could scream in horror and tell his allies to run for it, a [Recall] light had appeared above the shield wall. For the record, [Recall] does not work above ground, so that is definitely not normal. From the light, she emerges. An innocent-looking girl cladded in black armor, her face covered by a half-opaque cloth of the same design. Her silver hair shines blindingly, not because the color, but the glowing liquid all over her armor instead. Did she take a dip in a lava lake before coming here or something? Nevertheless, it is amazing how she is giving off a white and black glow at the same time. Grinning like an idiot who cannot read the mood, waves at everyone cheeringly. _ Shadyna: Hiyo~ Truly an idiot who cannot read the mood, at all. *FWOOM* is on fire. is on fire. is on fire. Random players who just respawned are also on fire! _ Everyone: WHAT THE HECK!!! [Reinforcement progress reset] ____________ Players these days are soooo~ hard to please, I''m telling you. Being a good guest, I gave them a warm welcome as I arrived, yet they are yelling in my face as if I am an arsonist who set the whole town ablaze! Okay, I may have been doing that juuuust a teensy bit. When I rammed the sun, I expectedly got splashed with plasma again. I told my guild members to vacate the area before teleporting, so that only enemies and bystanders would be burnt by this whacky wet effect on me. Sorry~ For some reason, the alliances are calling for a truce with the unaligned players. Are they going to be alright, blaring the whole negotiation with [World Voice] like that? On an unrelated note, is it me or players are treating me as a whole new alert level? They are not, right? ¡­Right? _ Nerin (Guild): here, has cleared the area around the statue. It is good news, but why did you sound like you had given up there, Nerin~? And cease that facepalming. I can see you from here you know~? _ Elri (Guild): Nice job, ! _ Shadyna (Guild): Un! By the way, couldn''t use [Deep Tunnel] and quickly throw out all obstacles? Considering that they did the same thing to jump the line in the past, they should have no problem relocating this burning party below me to some alley on the other side of town. _ Poltea (Guild): ¡­Ah. _ Fensen (Guild): ¡­Oops. I completely forgot. Or not. Guess abusing [Alpha Strike Power] can only carry them so far in combat huh. I suppose a training session to drill in their other skills is in order. _ Elri (Guild): ¡­Sorry, I was too occupied with that crazy woman. And ma~ybe a little punishment for Elri too while I''m at it, as she was in charge of the two~ That''s supposed to be my job? Little details~ _ Shadyna (Guild): It''s fine~ I am going to [Enchant] the statue now. Is that alright? _ Hessy (Guild): Go for it. Do you need our support? _ Shadyna (Guild): Uhm¡­ I am still a fire hazard to everyone in close proximity so no thanks. Judging from how burnt out in roughly twenty seconds, this plasma is no joke. The lethality of the sun is even more immersive than I expected after the incident in our cafeteria¡­ _ Hessy (Guild): Alright. Nerin, cover guildmaster. Elri, , be on standby as close as you can, prepare to assault if the situation calls for it. _ All (Guild): Roger! I disable [Air Cushion] and land softly on an empty patch of land next to Sateri''s statue, which is surprisingly hard to find in this corpse-ridden town square! At least there''s no lack of screaming light sources to see around. Meanwhile, my cute Lutena at my belt is still constantly healing me. I switched to combat gear so her support is needed to prevent my own plasma burns from killing me. It''s probably not that bad since Gelly is still under [Shared Fate] with me, but it won''t hurt to be careful. _ Shadyna: Creati¡­ *THWACK* Ouch! I haven''t even started the skill and someone is already shooting arrows at my head! I jump back out of reflex in response, barely in time to dodge the next volley. Knew it. No one does a single surprise attack then stops to gloat about their evil plans these days anymore! Turning to the direction where they came from, I find and a bunch of other ranged attackers still firing at my general direction. is already confirmed casualty, and I think is somewhere in that pile of steaming dead magi. I wonder if the ill-mannered kidnapper escaped or was already outside of my range when I appeared¡­ And why were the magi further away while fighters gathered at Sateri''s feet? Shouldn''t their positions be reverse? Is this some kind of brilliant strategy they came up with for some weird reason? Their logic did not involve Sateri''s feet in any way, shape, or form, right? ¡­Let''s not think about it too much, un. Because I am a pacifist who genuinely believes only diplomacy can achieve world peace, I begin walking towards them for a heartfelt conversation to resolve our differences, at full speed, while putting up my kindest smile I can muster. For some unfathomable reason, they react by running away, and screaming, and shooting back at me, while running and screaming. Why are you running? Hey, why are you running~? Didn''t you shoot at me in order to get the attention of this (literally) hot (engaged) single (underage) lady in the neighborhood? You guys know that none of you can compete with my raw SPD, not to mention the skills and titles bringing it up to the next level right? You have my full attention now so stop running~! They rushed into the crowd, trying to lose me in the sea of players. This former marketplace is way too packed, seriously. I need to be extra careful to avoid accidental collisions, which are not ideal for pacifism. Although I can fly, I prefer being on the ground this instance so they don''t have clear line of sight to shoot at me. And so starts the epic urban chase between the cute detective and the bad guys whose crime is bullying cute children of the neighborhood! Since I have tracked by [Detect Presence], he''s not getting away without outrunning me. Good luck with that, commence laugh of questionable justice~ I dash in between unwitting players who were busy killing each other to gain control of the marketplace. Our dark elven sisters'' provocation worked a little too well if you ask me. Most don''t even mind us until I get close, mainly out of concern for being on fire. Dodging attacks, evading living obstacles, occasional [Leap] here and there, just your typical chase in a chaotic environment filled with innocent civilians, except for the trail of burning bodies behind us. Such a dangerous band of ruthless criminals, these guys are~ Jokes aside, I can catch up to and burn him in three seconds. However, these players here are not going to let me work on [Enchant] in peace afterwards, therefore I am deliberately having¡­ difficulty closing the distance. By killing as many as possible, I effectively disrupt all planning and organization in the area. It''s hard to organize an assault when the respawned players have more chance to be within arm''s reach of their enemies than allies after all. And since they would be fighting on their own volition, my pacifism is still going strong! _ Nerin (Guild): Leader, guildmaster is on fire and setting players on fire, again. _ Hessy (Guild): ¡­As long as the victims are not buying patrons on our premises. Harsh~ Also, no one cares about my wellbeing at all. Sad face~ ¡­ By the time the plasma effect wore out, the town square had effectively turned into a free-for-all brawl. No matter how many I peacefully murdered, they still came back for a fight, and not necessarily with me. I muted the general chat and [World Voice] for some peace, but apparently the alliances and unaligned forces could not find a common ground to negotiate. As a result, the outer parts of Tyrel are now filled with raid monsters while everyone are distracted. Face, meet palm. How the heck did you guys lose the walls in just a few minutes?! _ Melodyn (Guild): reporting~ The walls are still standing. There were too few defenders so the monsters scaled them unobstructed. They might as well open the gates if they don''t intend to defend the walls, just saying¡­ _ Hessy (Guild): This is getting out of hand. , could you focus on finishing the event? Customers can''t buy our food if they are broke. I am about to do it regardless. Is it alright to treat our patrons like that though¡­? Oh well, probably just my imagination~ _ Shadyna (Guild): You can count on me! A [Deep Tunnel] opens up next to the statue, through which , and the whole cavalry unit come to my aid. I called them earlier to have some support during the crafting process, which leaves me defenseless and will be reset if someone happens to lit a fire in me in a literal sense, as demonstrated by earlier. Un, no thanks to that. Speaking of which, and disappeared after their parties got wiped and have not returned since. Did they give up or get stuck somewhere after respawn? Not that I would recognize them in this crowd if their whole gang aren''t next to them in the first place¡­ _ Shadyna (Party): , , could you stand at Sateri''s feet? Everyone else, please run around and skewer everything in sight. _ Elri (Party): Are you sure? They might attack when we are away. _ Shadyna (Party): It''s fine. They will attack no matter what we do. I want you to make sure they can never concentrate enough force to cause us harm. Oh, and before you go¡­ _ Elri (Party): Hm? _ Shadyna (Party): You should pull that arrow out of your head. _ Elri (Party): ¡­After they stop shooting at me, sure. She sure had it rough huh. Good luck~ Without the big guilds'' forces gathering in significant amount, our cavalry girls start their roaring stampede pretty much unhindered. Flat land combined with unorganized enemies are cavalry''s ideal environment, so have fun dying, background victims~ As for the innocent children of the neighborhood¡­ We are preparing for a siege. By that, I mean is giving her spare shields to . They are old equipment, and therefore not that powerful. Still, ''s armors are more than enough to withstand most attacks, with or without our pets. What I am looking for is not attack power, but surface area. _ Fensen (Party): ~, it''s done. I stop debuffing nearby players until they drop dead and walk to my apprentices. There was no reason to work on the statue since a stray arrow will ruin it anyway. _ Shadyna (Party): Okay, we are going to do it like this¡­ Explanation in progress, please calmly wait and enjoy the gruesome background~ ¡­ _ Shadyna (Party): Ready? _ Fensen (Party): Un! Let''s do it! _ Poltea (Party): Uuu¡­ This is embarrassing¡­ I told them the same thing, but their reactions can''t be more different. Maybe I should be careful when they finally agree on something, for it might be the end of the world¡­ _ Shadyna (Party): Begin in 3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­ Activate Fortress Form! _ Fensen (Party): Oh~! _ Poltea (Party): O-oh! With me in the middle, we pose like old-school superheroes whenever they make their entry. The pose itself is no special attack, or magic, or anything really. It''s our menacing images that will strike fear into the heart of our enemies! They will be too scared to move and I will use that chance to [Enchant] without disruption! ¡­Judging from Nerin facepalming for the second time, ''s dead fish eyes and everyone else''s astounded expressions, I suppose the only thing that struck is utter confusion huh. Oh well, if it is stupid and it works~ Seriously speaking, I doubt anyone would fall for such a simple trick. We were simply killing time while the two girls bring their shields into position. seems to have been killed a bit inside as well though. Oops~ Shortly after that, the 14 shields they are wielding fly around us to form a cubic shield wall. Behold, the actual Fortress Form! Featuring 360-degree protection against all threats from all sides including above, the only way to damage its cargo (me) is to somehow kill the shield wielder through sheer brute force. Flanking and AoE are not going to get through when there is no gap in the defense either. Now I can craft without being shot in the head, again! _ Shadyna: [Creation]! ¡­Wait, I can''t see anything out of these metal sheets! _ Shadyna (Guild): Uh¡­ Nerin, can you see any crafting sphere from over there? _ Nerin (Guild): Using [Enchant] on the statue does not create one¡­ But it''s working. Why the heck is it working?! Crafting through an airtight box is cheating!!! Welp, Nerin''s broke. _ Elri (Guild): W-well, at least this is something achievable by a few dozens of players? _ Nerin (Guild): Don''t encourage her, Elri! Such a strict mentor, Nerin is~ Just as Elri said, a complete shield box can be done when there are a lot of players working together. I''m sure it is how Sateri planned for the event to play out, as the crafter must be protected from all harm until the [Enchant] completes. What we are doing here is just some cost-cutting due to lack of girlpower, so it''s totally fine! I think. [Reinforcement progress at 25%] *BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM* As expected, someone is already knocking on the door. Sorry, but nobody''s home~ _ Shadyna (Party): Want some candies? _ Poltea (Party): Uhm¡­ we still have to hold our main shield. _ Fensen (Party): I am going to eat a lot after this fight! I have Lutena go all-out healing on because that is one hell of a death flag she just raised for herself there! [Reinforcement progress at 50%] Since sitting in a dark small enclosed space is boring and not exactly good for one''s mental health, I unmute the chat for a change. _ Attempted trespasser #1: Get out here and fight you cowards! _ Attempted trespasser #2: Let me out of here! _ Attempted trespasser #3: Please come out, we have candies! I mute the chat again. _ Shadyna (Party): Su, how is our artificial sun holding up? _ Su (Party): Worry not~ The raid ate their siege for breakfast. We lost one-fourth of the surface area however. Good thing I [Blueprint] the whole thing in cases like this, isn''t it? My wallet is still crying though¡­ [Reinforcement progress at 75%] Almost there~ _ Mera (Guild): Ladies, we got them~ _ Su (Guild): Get them, we did~ _ Hessy (Guild): Finally! That bird was a pain to deal with! _ Miel (Guild): Even though I was the one fighting it this whole time¡­ Looks like the battle outside is going well for my guild. The violent door-to-door salesmen here are not letting up unfortunately. All in all, it is quite peaceful, relatively. I don''t mind it in particular. It may be anticlimactic, but I''ll choose that over being shot in the face every single time. _ Shadyna (Guild): Hessy, what is the reward for this event? Seeing how everyone is fighting like their lives depend on it, I guess it would be at least a full party''s worth of [Artifact] material. At this rate my guild members will wear nothing but [Artifact]-grade equipment, won''t they¡­? _ Hessy (Guild): ¡­I don''t know. [The Goddess''s statue has been reinforced successfully. Congratulations.] *FLASH* I was spirited away before I could comprehend what Hessy had said. Sateri, you jerk~ ____________ On the main street to the west of Sateri-chan''s statue, the alliances are going for a final push. To say that the war is not in their favor is a massive understatement, so they are understandably desperate to turn things around. At the back, the leaders of and are giving commands to the engaging players on the battlefield. It''s only thanks to them that the alliances can still fight despite being hammered threefold by angry unaligned players, relentless raid, and worst of all, OP service workers. _ Torenis (Party): We have drawn most of their force to the west, but even Etena won''t be able to hold for long against them! *Poke* _ Cinrald (Party): If you have any idea on how to tear down these girls'' defense, I''m all ears. I don''t know if we are dealing any significant damage. *Poke* *Poke* _ Ignar (Party): I used all of my MP and they did not budge one bit! _ Vladina (Party): Ram them with your body if you have to! We abandoned the raid defenses for this. You are not going to have a better chan¡­ *Poke* *Poke* *Poke* _ Vladina: Cut it out! If you have something to sa¡­ Turning around irritated by the non-stop poking, the tiny guildmaster finds a suspicious smiling woman right behind them. Why suspicious? Because she is wearing a waitress outfit for one. _ Torenis: HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET HERE?! The two guildmasters are naturally freaked out by the sudden appearance of their nemesis. After all, their rearguards were supposed to prevent this kind of surprise! They had one job! _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel: Isn''t it obvious, former guildmaster~? I got here on foot. _ Torenis: You know damn well that''s not what I asked for!!! She does, and that''s exactly why she gave that answer. is not known to be the person one should ask in emergencies, or in any situation really. *FLASH* Another suspicious person arrives on the disturbingly empty street via [Recall]. This time, it''s the mistress of the teahouse, . _ Sulien: ¡­ And she does not look amused. _ Vladina: W-wait! I can explain! This isn''t what it looks like! _ Sulien: Oh my, but I have not said anything? It is not of my concern to keep an eye on who my dear ex flirts with. The cute proprietress is smiling, but her eyes are staring coldly into ''s soul like a wife catching her husband''s cheating red-handed. _ Sulien: I will admit, however, that my intelligence gathering was¡­ inadequate. Who could have predicted that you would not only get chummy with , but also as well? Well, you are done for either way. The cheating (?) husband (?) is visibly distressed. Being accused of not staying faithful to little girls for the second time in just one day usually does that to a lolicon. That, and being in range of two insanely OP players, even if they are only healers. _ Vladina: Ho-honey, please hear me out. You are a true pacifist. You shouldn''t go around murdering people like little sprout, and¡­ _ Sulien: My dear ¡­ Grabbing the massive paper fan from her back, snaps her weapon open in one fell swoop, revealing a luxurious oriental painting on its leaf. _ Sulien: My [Pacifist] title is exactly why I will make you suffer without harming you. [Binding roots]. The guildmasters'' screams of despair were lost among the countless other war cries around them. As he gets dragged to Sateri-knows-where after being tied up, can''t do anything except for wondering if was screwing around or actually angry at during their whacky quarrel. At this point, he''s too scared to ask. Chapter 62: Feature not implemented yet Thanks to the heroic deeds in life, Shadyna will be by Goddess Sateri''s side in death! I personally would prefer it if she didn''t kill me off so soon though. It''s not like I would go anywhere¡­ _ Sateri: No, I did not kill you. And while you and your guild cleared the event much faster than I anticipated, munching cookies is hardly heroic by common standards. The mind reading critic is already bashing my hard work at full force! Give Privacy-chan a break every once in a while, will you? _ Shadyna: Objection~! That''s because the event''s objective requires me to stand still! It is the same for normal crafting. I can flail around as much as I like, but the moment I step away, even if I am still around the crafting sphere, the progress is paused until I come to a complete halt and work on it again. That is not very mobile, especially for this speed-oriented me! Add the "disrupted on damage" condition to the mix, and I don''t see how else you can complete the event without being a dead beat to the rest of your party or guild. Without planning in advance, the natural choice would be either the guildmaster or the strongest tank. Both are great war assets that would be out of action for the whole duration of the defense. There is also this thing about trust that makes designating an insignificant nobody in the guild to claim the prize a big risk¡­ Wait, does that mean this event was designed to neutralize and stigmatize the victor at the same time?! _ Sateri: I have no idea what you are thinking about. At least try not to snicker as you say that!!! Sateri, you vile sadist~ _ Shadyna: By the way, why are you here? I thought this was supposed to be treasure room? _ Sateri: It is more lore-friendly for an event related to the Goddess to have the Goddess make an appearance at the end, don''t you think? Fair enough. The Goddess was out the moment she went meta though. _ Sateri: In that case, would you like me to speak in-character? _ Shadyna: Uh¡­ I think I''ll pass for now. That said, I won''t mind if you at least pretend that you wanted to meet me you know~? I will get to know her actual Goddess persona after I get access to her in-game avatar. Up here in Heaven, however, I''ll have the sadistic mind-reader who can''t be honest with herself. Making time for all personae is important when the protagonist dates someone with split personality, lest them mysteriously "disappear" at the end of the plot! _ Sateri: *Sweatdrops* No, normal people don''t grow additional personalities when they roleplay. _ Shadyna: Little details~! So, uhm¡­ Mind telling me what the rewards are going to be? I did not participate in this event from the start¡­ The in-character Goddess is already facepalming! Maybe asking her not to switch personality was a mistake after all? _ Sateri: *Mumbles* Next time I will have the archbishop nag you from login to logout until the only thing you can say is his exact words. Uh¡­ Sateri, your sanity seems to be slipping a bit there¡­ Can I have a cute priestess instead of that bishop if you plan to do so? At least that won''t be much different from the insanity-inducing terror that is my guild. ¡­It''s amazing that I still have my sanity roughly intact, considering how many bad influences there are around me. Sateri, what''s that "Yeah right" look is supposed to mean~? _ Sateri: Nothing at all. In any case, this event''s reward is having your wish granted. I will allow anything as long as it is in my power to do so. Oh! Cheating powers, OP equipment, unthinkable wealth, a guild filled with beautiful girls~! How am I supposed to choose between these countless wishes I have in mind!? _ Sateri: Alright, I am going to send a compilation video of your misdeeds to your mail. Wait, why the hell would you have that on hand?! Please monitor game breaking bugs and the like instead of me! And peeping is a crime! _ Sateri: Correct. It is the footage from my early warning system, used to detect anomalies caused by bugs and exploits. Gah~ Sateri is bullying the cute little tree girl again~! Still, a wish huh. The last time I was allowed to ask someone to do anything, I got fed a full course meal meant for a party. Let''s not repeat that mistake. I don''t know much about this game''s religion, but I am pretty confident that making the worshipped Goddess cook for me is kind of heretic. Then again, once we live together we will be taking turns cooking, which means I''m already doomed to begin with¡­ Hmm¡­ _ Sateri: I would not worry about it too much if I were you. If you take the list of heresies you commit into consideration, asking me to cook is unexpectedly tame. _ Shadyna: It''s a heresy after all?! Who could have thought that I could spark a religious war just by being hungry¡­? _ Shadyna: Jokes aside, I didn''t plan to ask for that in the first place. My wish is to know where your avatar is. You can grant that wish easily right? _ Sateri: Eh? _ Shadyna: I mean, I know your avatar is supposed to be acquired in a hidden event, but I have spent way too much time wandering around without any tangible result, so I figured I should ask for guidance before someone else beat me to it. Well, there were some results, technically. I either sold (the [Soul Core]) or destroyed (the sun) all of them though¡­ Now I''m stuck as I have no idea what to do next~ Uh, Sateri, why are you orz-ing¡­? Is me being unable to navigate your obscure event that shocking to know? _ Sateri: This is the event you are talking about, you dense sprouty DIMWIT!!! Slamming the ground, which is indistinguishable from everything else in this place by the way, the totally still in-character Goddess starts hurling mild insults at me! And did she just say that this event for beta players was the actual event to get her avatar?! _ Shadyna: ¡­It does not involve destroying the sun? _ Sateri: In what kind of culture do you court someone by blowing up anything?! Dunno, that seems to be how protagonists make friends? Because let''s be real, no one would become their acquaintance otherwise. Regardless, how was I supposed to know? I was only informed of this event''s existence thanks to my guild members! I would not even be aware of what the player base is up to, let alone the true nature of the event otherwise! _ Sateri: Are you absolutely certain about that? I am. Up until you asked like a mother before pulling out a lost item from some unknown hyperspace that is. Well, let''s go through what I know about the event again, even though I''m sure I won''t be able to see it without mom pointing it out in plain sight! First thing first, release time. The event was found a few days after the NPC update. Check. Next, the participants. My apprentices had no problem joining in all battles so it''s not limited to closed beta players. We also had to compete against the whole player base, even if half of that was our own doing. Check. And last but not least, Sateri herself. Considering her statue was the final objective, it is safe to assume that she is involved one way or another. Check. ¡­It was this event all along!!! _ Sateri: That''s what I was saying. In my defense, I was burning up near the sun when Sateri''s involvement was revealed and the situation was deteriorating faster than ice cream made from lava! I had no time to think about wild theories and conspiracies, un! _ Sateri: Except that it was your third strike. You could have asked the archbishop, or half of your guild members who played during closed beta, but you never did. _ Shadyna: ¡­Sorry. Better give in now before I dig myself deeper, judging from how pissed she is right now. I won the event, and that''s what matters, right~? Actually, wasn''t that a pretty close call?! I don''t know the exact number, but was over 75% by the time I arrived, wasn''t she? _ Sateri: You were approximately ten seconds away from defeat. Way too close! Thankfully I was not aware of that, or I would have definitely screwed up due to anxiety! What? I really do not work well under pressure. I prefer being overly prepared, so please drop that look of disbelief already~ _ Shadyna: But still, this is troublesome. I did not expect to acquire your avatar here, and did not prepare a wedding dress beforehand¡­ Maybe the ceremony can wait? I also want to craft rings and dresses for my guild members as well¡­ Weddings are expensive, many times so when you have over thirty brides! I''m not crying. It''s my wallet. Uuu¡­ _ Sateri: *Chuckles* You don''t have to worry about that. At the moment, marrying me, or anyone, is impossible. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. _ Shadyna: Eh? _ Sateri: Because marriage feature has not been implemented. EEEEHHHH?! With a literally divine smile on her face, the Goddess hands me a shining crystalline orb to me as she announces bad news. _ Sateri: Therefore, please look forward to next event when the time comes. Until then, take good care of my avatar, okay? [Received Divine Core x1] _ Shadyna: I have been tricked!!! After so much pain and suffering (of others), I have finally acquired Sateri''s avatar, but the mass wedding ceremony is still far, far away. Sateri, you bully~!!! ¡­ _ Shadyna: By the way, why did the corruption raid start? Was our artificial sun not enough? After many years, this poor heartbroken girl has recovered from the abrupt and brutal broken engagement clich¨¦. It is time to look to the future, if it weren''t for the ongoing raid which is most likely not going to end anytime soon! _ Sateri: *Sighs* Why did you think a big sphere enchanted with [Elemental Barrage] would do anything to prevent the darkness in the first place? And that five-minute tantrum does not qualify as "many years". I did not break anything either, including your one-sided engagement. It''s not supposed to? Shocked face~ _ Shadyna: But it''s big, bright, and blazing¡­? Sateri, cease that facepalming please. My logic is as infallible as your defense! _ Sateri: Could you refrain from undoing all of humanity''s progress in astronomy with such oversimplifications¡­? Lore-wise, the sun can repel the darkness thanks to my power. You cannot replicate its functionality without a divine power source. Well, I am not going to complain if it is the lore. I''m surprised she did not have a problem with the big, bright, and blazing ball itself though¡­ _ Sateri: Because I will lose if I say anything else regarding that. Nevertheless, it will be hard to explain if I use my own avatar again¡­ How about this, lend me one of your [Heart Core], and I will uplift that NPC to power your new sun. Suddenly, a new fetch quest! And why do you sound like you are making it up as you go?! _ Sateri: Well, if only SOMEONE could have informed me a week in advance, I would have time to prepare instead of scrambling every spare processor in my server racks as we speak. The kind and merciful Goddess is glaring at me as if she is going to strike me down any second now! Thank you for the service, but that''s Hessy''s job you know?! _ Shadyna: Sorry~ [Heart Core], right? I only have two though¡­ I was too occupied to do NPCs'' quests after the first one. Heck, I did not have time to craft them new gear even, so they are still using the starting equipment when I acquired them! _ Sateri: That will do. I only need one. _ Shadyna: I can''t give both? _ Sateri: No, only one. Here it comes, the sadistic choice clich¨¦! No matter who I choose, one will have to suffer a horrible fate for an eternity, while the survivor will go on a three-season long quest for revenge, ending with me dying in the most embarrassing way possible. _ Shadyna: I can''t choose between my wife and my daughter! Technically not my wife, nor daughter. Not until I give the mother a ring at least~ _ Sateri: If you don''t, the darkness will consume the world. Are you sure you want to be responsible for everyone''s demise? Sateri, your words are not really persuasive if you say it gleefully like that. Aren''t you enjoying tormenting me too much¡­? Too bad though, this is me you are talking about! _ Shadyna: Cute girls before the world, every day, every time! Uh¡­ Why are you sighing like an old lady complaining about rebellious teenagers these days? Divine beings are immortal and unshackled by age, are they not¡­? _ Sateri: Are you sure you want to miss out on the SG title and skill for the NPC? _ Shadyna: Don''t think you can tempt me with materialistic rewards! I will decide and give you the core real quick! _ Sateri: *Facepalms* Darn it, ¡­ It can''t be helped, okay? Materialism triumphs all oppositions! After a minute that felt like a century, I decided to "sacrifice" Aenilie, my daughter who I saved from the mysterious illness back then. Since this is supposed to be Sateri''s successor lore-wise, I thought having a younger maiden would be more fitting. Yes, it''s form over function, again~ _ Sateri: Here you go. Once you finish your monologue and return to the world, you can [Summon] her to end the eternal corruption raid. [Received Divine Core x1] _ Shadyna: Nice~ I feel like she is implying something rude about my mental health, but I will let that slide because I am a good girl! _ Sateri: Well then, before I send you back, I have a question for you. Clapping her hand like a teacher getting the attention of a noisy class, the beautiful Goddess becomes suspiciously cheerful. The kind of cheerful that resembles Mera before she says something outrageous, to be specific. _ Sateri: Do you find CSF Online enjoyable? ¡­Da heck? _ Shadyna: ¡­Un, I like both you and the game. I''m not sure what she is planning. An honest reply probably won''t hurt though. _ Sateri: *Chuckles* I didn''t ask for your opinion of me, but thank you. Your answer means a lot. Now, off you go. *FLASH* Once more, this puzzled me was teleported away against my will¡­ *GNAW* Ouch! Some weird ostrich thingy is trying to bite my head off before I even have time to figure out where I am! Ignoring the futile murder attempt from the big terror bird, I look around and see Sateri''s statue, houses, lots of players, raid monsters, and they are not necessarily alive. Welp, better move to a safe place and [Summon] Aenilie quick, or I am going to be overworked to help rebuild Tyrel afterwards. [Teleport]! ____________ --- Topic: Operation Apostle of Light AAR --- ## Manly Warrior Please discuss the new patch (1.0d40) accompanied by this event in its own thread. [Link] Raid has finally ended, so it''s time for an AAR! (^o^) Named after the last system message of the event, decided by a quick poll in the main thread. Can someone give us normies a quick summary? I could not participate in the beginning and have no idea what was happening at the end. _(._.)_ ## ## Nearseeing Sage Sure thing. - Sateri-chan asked us to visit a pedestal at some backwater forsaken land. We had to fight bosses there. - A LOT OF THEM! (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß - A LOT MORE OF THEM! Yes, there were so many bosses I had to say it twice. - Sateri-chan asked us to reinforce her statue in Tyrel. First one wins. - Spoiler: There were more than one participant - SOLAR EXPLOSION! - Big raid! - Black Mantis appeared, everyone died. - Apostle of Light appeared, raid ended. That''s about it. (£þ©`£þ) ## ## OP alchemist I¡­ How¡­ (¡ã_¡ã) How is it possible that I understand every word you said and still do not get it at all?! (??;? ## ## GoldBar9999 You are gonna have to pay if you want her to make sense. That''s how her whole business works. (-_-;) ## ¡­ ## Fire mage of Justice Wait, you guys actually fought Sapling Cuisine to a standstill? And then somehow got rekt single-handedly by Black Mantis? ## ## GoldBar9999 We outnumbered them 100 to 1, with constant reinforcement. You would think we had to be winning by fighting so dirty, yet we barely held on by causing traffic jams. Q_Q So yes, we fought them to a standstill. We certainly did not fight on equal grounds though. Not sure what happened at the town square. @Nearseeing Sage? ## ## Flame knight of Darkness It didn''t go well the first time, why did you guys think it would the second time? (©`©`;) ## ## Big Hammer Ah, I was there. Here''s what I saw. [Link to a looped clip of Maximus running for his dear life towards the point of view, away from the happily jogging Black Mantis, with the background filled with running and burning players] ## ## Newbie Charisma build Scary! (£þ¡õ£þ;) She IS a pacifist right? ## ## Manly Warrior She probably still is. Look at how she had to avoid colliding with bystanders. In other news, setting people on fire is apparently not considered violence by pacifism''s standards. (£­??) ## ## Nearseeing Sage To be fair, we were THIS close to completing the objective. But yeah¡­ Black Mantis was something else entirely. That said, her "dance" was beautiful. As expected of my crush. (*¡ã?¡ã)=3 Hey @Maximus Archery, you are on TV again! ©c(¡ä¨Œ`)/ ## ## Maximus Archery Reported for personal attack. And whose side are you on?! ## ¡­ ## Bountiful Hunter I noticed that the alliances fell apart at the end. What happened? ## ## Mage of Sin Someone took out our entire rearguard, including the guildmaster of Phoenix Ashes. He was our strategist so¡­ ^_^; Now that you mention it, how did they got taken out so quickly without anyone noticing?! ## ## StoneHoarder I was standing nearby and witnessed the whole thing. Two magi (priestesses?) Mass Recalled them somewhere. Most likely outside of Tyrel, where they would be mauled by the raid. [Link] While their method is extremely situational, it was arguably even more effective than Black Mantis herself. ( £»?§¥?) ## ## Newbie Charisma build Ah, that''s Merashiel and Sulien from Sapling Cuisine. And yes, they mainly play supports. To have support players and pacifists as the top PvPers, this game''s meta is weird. (£­??) ## ## Heaven Piercer So the head proprietress can make that cold glare¡­ @Teabag Master: Does the teahouse offer that service? Asking for my avatar. ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã) ## ## CuteIsJustice That was beautiful, yes. Still, reported, damn lolicon! >:P ## ## Teabag Master Well, we at the teahouse have a reputation of purity and innocence to maintain. Therefore, such out-of-character services are a bit¡­ pricy, kay? (^_-)-¡î ## ## StoneHoarder That is not pure, nor innocent! I don''t dislike it. (._.) On a serious note, I thought the rearguard was only a small part of our fighting force? What happened to the front? ## ## Deeply Intelligent This happened: [Link]. The stream may be a bit chaotic, but to describe a typical frontliner''s experience: - Approach the town square. Embraced warmly by the bosoms of the waitresses and bartenders in close-quarters. - Slipping past them thanks to numerical superiority, receive fast food from delivery trucks that do not slow down to hand you the goods. - After they leave, don''t forget the lovely angels from above, who will shoot an arrow through your heart in more than one way. - If possible, knock on the little girls'' "house". Their guard dogs won''t bite. At the speed they come running, they don''t have to. - Go home using Sateri-chan''s free teleport service and get a pat in the back by the friendly neighbors from the darkness for the effort. - Return to step 1. ## ## Manly Warrior Oof. (£þ¡õ£þ;) ## ## Flame knight of Darkness Ouch. (©`©`;) ## ## Heaven Piercer On the flip side, such services at their shops will usually cost you an arm and a leg. (*¡ä¨Œ£à*) ## ## Deeply Intelligent Still did. Just in the literal sense this time. orz ## ¡­ ## Fire mage of Justice In the end, we only got a half-destroyed town for our effort¡­ ## ## Nearseeing Sage The top participants got Artifact materials afterwards and Sapling Cuisine actually peacefully shared it with us. Admittedly, we are still waiting for BB Conglomerate to calculate if we at least break even. ^_^; There are some loose ends still. Black Mantis was not with us in Heaven and the identity of the Apostle of Light remains unknown. ## ## Fire mage of Justice Easy for you to say since you have loots. We normies got nothing. ©c(`§¥¡ä)? ## ## Serious Mage I want to know why the sun exploded. You guys said the objective is to reinforce the seal on the statue so how did THAT end up with the sun becoming a star sky?! ## ## CuteIsJustice Hard to do much with only a "The Apostle of Light has descended." message (¡ä?¦Ø?`). Knowing Sateri-chan, she will probably add lore bits here and there to explain later. For now, I have a wild speculation on the nature of the explosion. No evidence though, so take it with a grain of salt. <(_ _)> The sun in-game is apparently considered to be Sateri-chan''s manifestation by most NPCs. By the same logic, the Apostle of Light is probably that new sun in the sky. The objective at the statue was providing more power to our moderate Goddess so that she could grant it to her apostle. Simple enough. Except for the fact that you guys were shooting at the apostle with siege weapons. Not exactly the best situation to do a power transfer, but someone did it anyway. The process went haywire and their power became unstable (read: explosive). In order to protect her battered apostle from further harm, Sateri-chan¡­ I mean the sun, decided to route the explosion to herself. How''s that? (¨R?¨Q) ## ## Nearseeing Sage If Sateri-chan is offed, our skills and equipment would become useless since their power are hers to begin with. So stop saying that the sun exploding is my fault! (££?§¥?) ## ## Teabag Master Well, everything in this event has been your fault one way or another. - Your party initiated the first boss fight - After you failed, you called in thousands of players, increasing competition - You proposed the theory that the new sun was a threat to players - You attacked the unaligned players first, causing infighting and complete collapse of Tyrel''s defense against the raid - You blew up the sun Conclusion: Let''s change this to Operation It''s Vladina''s Fault (??¥î?)? ## ## OP alchemist When you put it like that¡­ Yeah, it''s Vladina''s fault. =^_^= ## ## Flame knight of Darkness I concur! It''s Vladina''s fault! ## ## CuteIsJustice Roger! Creating poll to switch topic name to "Operation It''s Vladina''s Fault (??¥î?)? AAR"! £Ü(^o^)£¯ And yes, it''s Vladina''s fault LOL! ## ## Manly Warrior Well, if you guys insist¡­ (^_^;) ## ## Nearseeing Sage STAPH! STAAAAAAPH!!! (ToT) ## ------ Chapter 63: Look away for some time The cute half-elf Shadyna is embarking on honeymoon with my new wife! Starting with kneeling and praying in front of said wife for safe travel. What the heck is this relationship¡­? [Received Karmic Fragment x1] Nice~ Didn''t think praying to the person herself would also count. Saves me the second prayer to her statue behind her. 10/10 would immersively pray to wife again! _ Sateri: Good to see you so lively just as the day begins, . The divine Goddess hath spoken! What kind of doomsday prophecy will she announce today? An overlord rising to power, a world-ending raid, or worst of all, some heroes breaking more stuff than they fix~? _ Sateri: Uhm, I don''t know what you are thinking. However, I am confident that it is not the case. All wrong?! Even though I had high hopes for the last one¡­ Sad face~ And yes, "this" Sateri apparently cannot read my thoughts. She is also in her Goddess persona mode, which is pretty much being the high-class lady befitting her appearance. In other words, how she usually acts and talks before her mask falls apart due to various reasons that are totally unrelated to me in any way, shape, or form. The gap moe is nice, although I have a feeling I was supposed to know this noble-princess-like personality more than her usual short-tempered hard-to-please self¡­ Oh well, I like both so it''s all fine. If there''s anything remotely close to an annoyance, it would be her avatar''s inability to discuss meta stuff. Whenever I talk about something not lore-friendly, she would tilt her head in confusion and claim she didn''t understand what I was saying. I mean, that''s cute too, but what about the conversation?! There goes my chance to accidentally learn about new OP skills, sigh~ _ Ophilie: Good day to you, milady. _ Aenilie: Milady, good day to you too~ Here come the mother-daughter pair. Ophilie is being the same kind and caring mother as always, while Aenilie has received an appearance upgrade, as expected of being uplifted. The sickly little girl was given a blue shining orb, which she hugs close to her chest as if it was a teddy bear. It is the sun, or a manifestation of her newly acquired power, I think. ¡­Isn''t it hot like hell though? Didn''t know divinity comes with complete [Fire] immunity. It would have been a great help during the big fridge fight and the dive to the sun! _ Shadyna: Hello, Ophilie, Aenilie. By the way, do I get an additional [Karmic Fragment] if I pray to Anenilie every day too? Since Sateri stepped down (involuntarily) from her role, Aenilie is now the new Sun Goddess in all but officially. Doubling the daily [Karmic Fragment] gain is no joke, even if I still have no idea what it is used for! _ Aenilie: I will cry if milady kneels and prays to me. Hey, weaponizing little girls'' tears is illegal!!! It appears that the meek girl has learned some snarky jabs from the ill-mannered Goddess as a side effect of the upgrade, as I''m sure she never spoke like that in the past. Sateri, your NPCs'' defense is way too high! Maybe it''s time to craft Aenilie''s statue in our cafeteria''s top floor? We have put Sateri''s statues in all of our restaurants anyway¡­ On second thought, she will probably cry if she happens to see it, so let''s refrain for the time being. ¡­ Now that the daily routines have been taken care of, I unsummon Sateri and [Teleport] to Elri''s house. With all the fighting and cleaning up yesterday after I summoned Anenilie, I did not have the chance to (re)introduce Sateri to my guild, so I''m waiting for a better occasion to inform them. On the other hand, everyone knows about my sickly adopted (?) daughter (?), and as a result, no one bat an eye when they saw her upgraded form. Hessy was totally not orz-ing and Elri definitely did not facepalm while and happily congratulated their virtual friend''s ascension, ignoring Su seemingly dead on the ground after peeping at something she should not have in a lot of ways. Most importantly, everyone else absolutely did not have a blank expression on their face as if they had wanted to ask so many questions, they decided that they would lose if they think about it and kept silent. Un, not showing Sateri at the time was the correct choice. I would never hear the end of it until the end of the day otherwise. Sitting on the couch alone since my guild is out for today, I open my mail to check the patch notes from yesterday. Yes, I was THAT busy. Being a kind pacifist who wants nothing but happiness for all living beings, I had to work hard to achieve it by complete erasure of all hostile external threats in Tyrel. Can''t have violence if the parties responsible for violence are all dead, evil laugh echoing~ The drops from monsters and monetary compensation from may or may not have an influence on my decision to volunteer for such troublesome work. However, I am going to exercise my right not to divulge more information, ufufu~ Back to the patch, let''s see here¡­ Multi-weapon wielding''s damage nerf and attack speed buff to be more in line with traditional weapons. Welp, there goes and ''s unrivaled damage multipliers. I wonder if they had trouble because of it during yesterday''s mop up operation? The guild chat was a bit noisy so I may have missed it. Nevertheless, this is bad. How are we going to one-shot bonus bosses now?! ¡­Sateri is not reading my mind from my inventory right? The silver lining is that my apprentices are not participating in the upcoming tournament. Getting a nerf this close to the event would make this an even bigger pain to deal with. Next up is a¡­ buff nerf? Utility skills, to be exact. Pretty sure they are skills which have specific functionalities that do not affect statuses or crafting. To name a few off the top of my head, there''re [Inspect], [Recall], [Teleport], [Air Cushion], and good old [Shared Fate]. The rule of thumb is that if it does not change attributes, statuses, or craft, it''s probably a utility skill. It gets murky for weird skills like [Devotion], so high-level [Inspect] is still a must to categorize them with certainty. Well, this patch made those skills resistible by the target''s defense if they are not in the same party as the caster. I wonder what happened that prompted Sateri to change the previous mechanism. There''s the time when we [Mass Recall]ed the whole mob population to big fridge, but it''s not like the end result would change much whether some of them could resist the skill or not¡­ Let''s ask Hessy later to see if she knows something about it, un. The last one is a change in corruption raids. Instead of a global event spanning the whole game world, corruption raids will occur in a small local area from here on out. The location will be where the sun does not shine. Not sure what "where the sun does not shine" part entails exactly when the (new) sun is stationary above Tyrel, does this mean it''s finally possible to farm raid mobs? Their loots were always scarce due to the lack of a constant and stable source. If raids are now smaller in scale, the number or up time would probably increase to compensate. Here''s hoping for more new stuff from raids, namely OP skills and equipment, ufufu~ And that''s about it for the patch. Sipping some hot tea that is not reusable potion for a change, I close my eyes to peacefully think about how I should laze about today. Everyone''s out on the field since it''s grind day. Today is less about leveling up and more about exterminating all bosses until the last one. Reason is to fuel the limitless black hole that is my crafting sessions. We need so many things, Hessy mobilized all guild members and left no one to work the counter or guard me! For someone who is supposed to be the sane person in a party, the scary waitress sure succumbed quickly to materialism huh. Knowing her, it''s most likely because her [Dark Bolt] will become stronger afterwards. Why do we need so much? Well, unlike the previous sessions, I am crafting everything from equipment to rechargeable potions for all 31 players and their summons, myself included, in one go. My old crafting equipment is also obsolete, so we have to start from scratch, which costs even more materials. Then there are [Improvisation] and [Modification] to rack up the bills even higher. Although they improve our gear even further, they are nowhere near free! The timing is not helping either. Who could have thought that construction of an artificial sun, a space stairway combining with losing half the town to a raid in the span of a few days would devastate the economy yet again!? As a result, the prices of materials have become so absurd, we can get more from grinding than buying from merchants for the same time span. And that is taking the whole guild''s treasury into account! Not sure if we grind too efficiently, or our treasury is in dire need of a buff, to be honest¡­ Anyway, I''ll leave the material acquisition to my professional service workers. There are few things that can stop my bountiful second-in-command once she sets her eyes on a potential improvement for [Dark Bolt] anyway. It''s certainly not because I find it atrociously tedious, okay? In the meantime, let''s see if I have anything new that can help with crafting. None of the recent skills and titles seem to benefit crafting in particular, but I should never underestimate Sateri''s ability to sneak in some weird effects I did not ask for¡­ Menu, open~ --- [Character information] [Name]: Shadyna [Race]: Halfblood (Elf - Treant) [Gender]: Female [Age]: 13 [Level]: 24 [Profession]: Black Mantis [Status]: - HP: ========== (22553/22553) (17753+4800) - MP: =========. (25382/26440) (26440+0) - PAT: 8750 (8750+0) - PSP: 400 (351+49) - PDF: 14602 (10602+4000) - MAT: 14372 (12372+2000) Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. - MSP: 399 (350+49) - MDF: 15274 (14074+1200) - SPD: 1091 (888+203) [Attributes]: - STR: 1732 (10+1722) - DEX: 1752 (17+1735) - CON: 1771 (23+1748) - LDR: 1719 (12+1707) - FOC: 1771 (11+1760) - WIT: 1748 (13+1735) - MEN: 1753 (31+1722) - LCK: 1760 (12+1748) [Equipment]: - Head: + Flower of Eternal Blossom (Masterwork) + Midae Blossom Haipin (Excellent) - Body: + Draconic Scaled Vest (Excellent) + Silk Camisole of Feather (Excellent) + Protective Rune of Blood Steel (Excellent) + Draconic Scaled Hotpants (Excellent) + Windy Wings (Excellent) - Arms: + Draconic Scaled Gloves (Excellent) + Reforged Dreihander of the Swamp (Masterwork) + Vallen Ring of Blood Moon (Cosmetic) - Legs: + Draconic Scaled Boots (Excellent) + Absolute Socks of Blitz (Left) (Excellent) [Skills - Active]: - Inspect - Shared Fate - Refinery - Mass Refinery - Creation - Improvisation - Modification - Teleport - Silent Cast - Combat Support - Potential Manifest - Fort - Blood Burst - Friendship Engine - Luminous Firestorm : Call in the fiery divine storm to cleanse the area. Increase duration and effect''s damage based on current skill level. Increase effect when used with . - Luminous Icestorm : Call in the freezing divine storm to cleanse the area. Increase duration and effect''s damage based on current skill level. Increase effect when used with . - Phantom Edge : Turn weapon ethereal for stabbing without hurting the target. While active, prevent dealing all damage and increase other active skill effects based on the damage that is not dealt. This spell is said to have been created by a hypocritical pacifist who loves stabbing others. - Solar Radiance : Emit a magical field containing the power of a star. Apply a Fire effect on all entities inside the field. Increase area and effect''s damage based on current skill level. [Skills - Passive]: - Accelerate Power - Cell Revitalization - Elemental Resistance - Detect Presence - Multi-summon Control - Impervious Soul [Titles]: - Unstopping Hero - Absolute Zero (1683) - Pacifist (6) - Beast Tamer Origin - At-will Beast User (2) - Against All Odds (43) - Ancient Rune Artist Origin - Arcane Maestro Origin - Mancannon - Tenri Yassel Subduer - Celestial Trickster - Purity of Innocence - Goddess Lover - Goddess Corrupter (6) - Goddess''s Gambler: The one who outgambled the Goddess. Through natural luck or shrewdness on their part, the cosmos bend itself backward to serve them. Allow crafting of . - Corpse Destroyer - Secret Ingredient - Schennul Contractor - Tremire Husan Subduer: The one who showed potential of mortals to . Effects depend on the state of ''s flame. Effect: Grant divine power to magical attacks and increase damage of Fire and Water elements. - Apex Tamer (1) - Luminous Flame: The vessel of the new cleansing fire that engulfed the predecessor. An entity that melts even the hottest flame until a void that freezes even the coldest ice remains, terrifying both immortals and mortals alike. Grant and . Increase damage, defense, effects of Fire and Water elements. Increase effects when accompanied by . - Stellar Breaker: The one who breaks a sun because space is too small for the two of them. Add area-of-effect impact and increase damage to the environment significantly. Grant . - Void Conqueror - Halfblood --- Good news, my attributes grew normally as usual. Bad news is, my attributes grew normally AS USUAL. 200 points per attribute is already more than the total amount of points awarded for leveling up from level 1 until now, and I, for a split second, sighed in relief seeing that! Even if you take attribute growth by grinding into consideration, an average player without buffs probably would only see this amount of points by min-maxing like , not by leveling up three times! Is there any way to undo this brainwashing? At this rate I am going to become that incorruptibly pure character who inevitably gets corrupted just to show how awesome the protagonist is, often by having him resist the same corruption then murder me horribly to put me out of my misery! Yes, this cute half-elf is a blob of incorruptible purity. No complaint allowed! And [Goddess Corrupter] definitely did not double its value to prove the contrary! [Luminous Firestorm] and [Luminous Icestorm] have pretty straightforward descriptions until the last part, along with their actual in-game effects as weapons of mass destruction. Had I know they would be stronger together, half of the [Luminous Icestorm] armor set I used to blow up the sun would have [Luminous Firestorm] instead. ¡­On second thought, maybe that is not the best idea. It could have had no effect, or it could have been blasted so hard, there would be not enough matter left to form any star at all. Then again, we might get a beautiful nebula in their place. Decision, decision~ Conclusion: If a random sun pops up for any reason, I would make a nebula from it, un! Next is [Phantom Edge]¡­ Sword as shield, get~! Not only can I defend myself with my dreihander now, I also get a beneficial effect in exchange for the non-existent damage. For once, Sateri did not give me an outright absurd or trolling special skill, and even brought me closer to achieving true world peace. Because of that, I am grateful. But who the heck are you calling a hypocritical and stabby pacifist?! I am a technical pacifist at worst! The last skill is [Solar Radiance]. An aura skill, which is a rare type on its own. Since there is no friend-or-foe mechanic in CSF, auras in general are limited in use. It is possible to ignore a few friendly fire incidents, but not when someone harms allies and buffs enemies for the whole duration of the fight, and half of the time affecting the caster themselves! Knowing the designer of the skill¡­ Un, there''s no way it won''t turn me into a burning torch like yesterday. As much as I like its name and (probably) high damage, I do not want to relive such horrifying experience again, thank you very much! Now then, onto the titles! A confusingly mysterious title right off the bat, this [Goddess''s Gambler] is¡­ Sateri not accepting her loss in our bet aside, what in the world is a [Cosmic Die]? A 20-sided die that makes the universe explode when I roll a 1 and creates a new universe with a Big Bang for a 20? Wait, those two are the same thing! Not that I have much hope but¡­ [Inspect]~! [Cosmic Die: A die blessed by . Maximize the next cosmic variation in the user''s favor upon use.] ¡­What. The. HECK!!! This thing is way too overpowered!!! Sure, [Inspect] was being [Inspect] and gave me barely any info, but that alone is already implying many ways this can be used to break the game! If I understand this correctly, this item makes RNGod irrelevant by always rolling the biggest number possible. [Enhance]? Max enhancement level in first try, every time. Damage is random? Always hit for maximum pain. Awesome boss item with low drop chance? Sounds like 100% drop chance to me! Of course, this and [Phantom Edge] need to be experimented with extensively to find out how much they apply in practice. Still, I am a bit terrified of this newfound power. Random numbers, in many ways, have been the worst adversary for players in games that feature them. Last and bonus bosses are nothing compared to the supposedly-neutral-but-actually-malevolent entity that gives THEN crushes all hopes of the protagonists by simply doing its job. And now, Sateri is telling me that I get to ignore RNG as I wish. Is this a trap? This sounds too good to be true. Sure, way too many skills and titles Sateri gave me fall into that category as well. That doesn''t mean they didn''t look like a blatant attempt of her to set me up for some "unfortunate accident" every single time! Oh well, I will deal with whatever she throws at me when the time comes. No point overthinking it in the present. Next! [Tremire Husan Subduer] is surprisingly¡­ lackluster, to be frank. I already have divine attacks from [Tenri Yassel Subduer], and damage buff does nothing to this pacifist me in general. Disappointed face~ The accompanying [Luminous Flame]''s effects are a bit better. At least the defense buff and skills are nice. Having additional buffs while playing with [Lumious Flametender], which is the title my guild members got from big fridge, is nice. Ten times zero damage is still zero damage though¡­ Yes, I am pretending that the title is not accusing me of being something akin to an otherworldly abomination, simply because I''m a kind girl~ Moving on. I''m not sure what Sateri wanted me to do with [Stellar Breaker]. She was not amused by my little incident with the sun, reinforced by the snarky title description, then¡­ encouraged me to do more property destruction by giving me more firepower?! Girl, you should check whatever code or hardware used when you designed this title, because they seem to be broken. Meanwhile, I''ll gladly take the damage increase against mother nature because that does not violate pacifism. Thank you very much~ That''s¡­ about it? Weird, did I not get a [Mountain Breaker] back then? Was it upgraded to [Stellar Breaker]? [Inspect]~ [Mountain Breaker: The one who breaks a mountain because it is there. Add area-of-effect impact and increase damage to the environment significantly.] ¡­Conclusion: The Goddess has been broken since the big fridge fight. Probably due to some concussion from earthquakes, un. ____________ In the tavern that is actually a temporary maid caf¨¦ for the time being, an awkward atmosphere fills the air. The patrons are sitting quietly at their table, resigning to their fate of not getting verbally abused today. Meanwhile, the depraved maid is wondering if she is even suited for this job. The pay is good, but these degenerates keep asking for ! First, it''s rude to ask for another lady. Second, if they want to be stepped on by the harsh mistress, they should get in line, for this maid is going to receive that treatment first!!! _ ???: Hello, is here? Another one, or so she thought, until the person walks in and turns out to be a busty manager from . Not that the new visitor can''t be an admirer per se, just a bit less likely on average. _ Depraved maid: She is out at the moment, unfortunately. _ Manager: I see. Could you give these clothes to her when she comes bac¡­ _ Depraved maid: I shall protect this package even if it costs me my life! _ Manager: Uh, you only need to keep it in your inve¡­ _ Swordsman: HOLD IT! You are not even hiding your vile attempt at defiling our mistress''s night gown! I shall be the one who deliver¡­ _ Spearman: As if I would let you do that! I will be¡­ _ Archer: HA! Who would entrust such relics to you marauders?! Over my dead body! Being a semi-sheltered lady who was used to the friendly and outgoing environment of the bar, the thought of provoking these maniacs simply because she used general chat never crossed manager''s mind. In true rapid escalation style, the half-dead tavern suddenly springs back to life as patrons after patrons jump in to announce their claim to the holy artifact. Claims are thrown around, from flimsy excuses to outright crazy explanations, then insults make their way in, quickly followed by physical and magical assaults, violently. A free-for-all breaks out, and only the sole victor shall be bestowed the divine gift, or at least that''s what they (incorrectly) assumed. This would later evolve into a grand discussion about what color the beautiful waitress''s swimsuit would be on the board, much to the frustration of the person in question. That, however, is another story. When the dust settles, the maid alone stands on top of the pile of corpses, victorious. Thanks to the power of pure depravity and possibly a bit of help from the leftover dumplings meant for defending the cafeteria in emergencies, she has finally convinced the world that she is THE degenerate of all degenerates! Unfortunately for her, the manager had already called and given the clothes to while she was still punching her paying customers, so the maid dies from despair anyway. And the outfit is not even used in the first place! --- Topic: Tournament: Blood Sacrifice Battle Royale - Preliminary --- ## JigglingPouch The registration period is over. Thank you for all of your support. Due to the massive number of applications, we are holding the preliminary rounds separately ahead of schedule. A mail has been sent for each individual participant. If you cannot make it or have any question, feel free to contact Pathwrecker''s management. - Format: 16x 100-player deathmatches, top 4 surviving players of each match move to the main tournament event - Time: [Link] - Prize: Fishy Dumpluck for winners. Amount depends on rank so don''t let your guard down just because you are already qualified for the next round. - Sponsor list: [Link] - Obligatory advertisement: The Great Arena is available for rent. Contact Pathwrecker''s management for details. There''s no betting for preliminaries. Not with this many players. ## ## PeaceDestroyer 64 out of 1600 players o_O This is no tournament. It''s a lottery! Skills do not matter against this many enemies! ## ## StoneHoarder Are you seriously saying that after what happened yesterday? (©`©`;) ## ## Fire mage of Justice (¡ä?¦Ø?`) Hmm¡­ It does sound crazy, but it might actually work. In a way, this is a true "everyone for themselves" scenario exactly because it is so chaotic. Allying 3-4 players to gang up on someone does not sound as tempting when there are over 90 other players to worry about. If a player is strong enough to warrant an alliance of the remaining 99, that player is probably strong enough to handle them regardless. ## ## Mage of Sin Let''s not forget the big guilds'' top players in the main event (*¡ä¨Œ£à*). Even crafters like the guildmaster of BB Conglomerate will wipe the floor with "professional PvPers" if all they have are expensive armors from his own market and a capped offensive skill. @JigglingPouch: Might want to add that the location is the cafeteria instead of the arena? We were going to get food and saw¡­ this. [Pic] Now I have a thing for murderous psycho maids (._.) ## ## JigglingPouch Prelim starts the day after tomorrow, location is the Great Arena. The melee over Hessenria''s worn¡­ I mean brand new clothes has little to do with this tournament. ## ## Heaven Piercer The harsh mistress''s recently worn gown in private?! ¦²(?§¥?) ## ## CuteIsJustice To the tavern, NAO!!! ©c(`§¥¡ä)? ## ## Teabag Master @JigglingPouch: I hope your PK penalty is not that bad, because leader is going to murder you until the penalty is cleared and then some. (*^3^)/~¡î ## ------ Chapter 64: Modernizing cavalry This is Shadyna, facing the most dangerous love triangle clich¨¦ of all times! _ Melodyn: I will not hold back even if you are my long-dead twin sister. Isn''t that just because you two are half-undead?! _ Choruse: I cannot give to you either, dear rotten sister. How about you cease insulting each other''s genetic features that you both share since you are, I don''t know, identical twin backstory-wise?! _ Shadyna: Please stop, , ! Don''t fight because of me! Yes, I am in the dreaded twin triangle clich¨¦! Stuck between the psychopathic cheerful mage with enormous bust and the psychopathic composed warrior also with enormous bust, I have a feeling I will be dead one way or another regardless of my choice. One crazy lady is already a death flag, now there are two of them! Hessy, your job quality as the hiring manager is too low!!! While I was complaining internally, a savior arrived at the scene! Will she nudge me to the one true love, or will she make this even more complicated by staking her claim over this cute little tree girl~? _ Elri: I can already tell it''s a bad idea to ask judging from that smug face but¡­ What are you doing? Probably not the latter huh. Although I know Elri was not that type to begin with, I''m still a bit disappointed~ _ Shadyna: As for why I am in this precarious situation¡­ _ Elri: Answer without random monologue please. My mentor is too strict! How am I going to start a flashback with such restraints?! Please stop bullying your cute apprentice even if you enjoy it like Mera! ¡­She does not enjoy bullying me, right? _ Shadyna: Un, I am unlocking [Devotion]. My [Creation] is not capped yet so I thought I could give my attributes to others when it comes to crafting anything that is not a hybrid item. Since we are not going to upgrade again for quite some time, I might as well do everything I can afford to stack up our numbers. Doesn''t matter which number, I want everything to go up! _ Elri: Yeah, I figured it was something like that. That being said, I don''t remember its unlocking condition involving getting caught cheating? Pretty sure having that condition anywhere would up the game''s age rating faster than the speed of light¡­ _ Shadyna: Of course it doesn''t~ Unlocking it normally is boring though, so we are spicing it up just a little bit! _ Elri: ¡­If this was a meal, I could only see the spices, and nothing else. How rude~ _ Elri: Anyway, there''s something I need to consult with you. Mind if I wait over there until you are done flirting? Jealousy? Is that jealousy I am seeing~? _ Shadyna: You can join in too! It''s not like we are at the cafeteria where everyone can and will make a scandal out of everything they see. I''m still sore about the little siege on my artificial sun, which started out of pure unfounded paranoia on the player base''s part. The damage they had done was never fixed despite all of the broken parts having [Blueprint]. I asked Sateri about it, and according to her, that was because I performed the ritual to ascend (summoned) Aenilie while it was in that state, it became permanent and the exposed area was sealed off by a dark mist similar to the glow around me. Not that I mind Sateri''s preference for having only three-fourths of a sun for whatever reason, but I would really appreciate it if she would stop encouraging me to do something then blaming me for doing it! _ Elri: I''ll pass. Sad face~ _ Shadyna: Well then¡­ Where were we again¡­? I think it''s ''s line next? _ Melodyn: Right. ¡­ I know you are too kind-hearted to push either of us away. That is why¡­ Brandishing her spellcasting dagger, the dark elven mage invokes her skill. _ Melodyn: I will make sure I am the only person left in your life, even if I have to kill my own sister! [Elemental Bolt]! Behold, the murdering love competition clich¨¦! All is fair in love and war, yet there is no war that ended up with 100% casualty rate on all sides like your typical tragedy love stories. Not sure if that''s good or bad news though. In an instant, the magic projectile flies straight at the defenseless (?) twin sister, who makes no attempt to evade due to plot demand. Let''s chalk it up to the shock of her close sibling trying to off her, un. _ Shadyna: No!!! I jump in between the frozen dark elf and the projectile, literally, because I am too short (in-game) and it would fly past my head otherwise. Considering I am among the most powerful players with a full arsenal of skills and equipment to protect allies and myself, I obviously¡­ *WHACK* _ Shadyna: KYA~ ¡­took the bolt in da face and got blown across the room~! Ouch! _ Choruse: !!! Ignoring the threat right in front of her because no villain murders more than one important character per episode, rushes to my side. _ Choruse: , hang in there! At least sign the will to give me all of your assets before you die! Da heck?! _ Shadyna: , run¡­ Guh. _ Choruse: My inheritance!!! Darn it , think of the mood for once~! [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Devotion Lv.0"] _ Shadyna: Nice~ I got it unloc¡­ _ Melodyn: [Elemental Bolt]. *WHACK* OUCH! _ Shadyna: Timeout! Timeout! The script is already over isn''t it?! _ Melody: If we can''t inherit your house, no one can! This house is Elri''s to begin with! And stop switching genres on a whim!!! ¡­ Many murder attempts later¡­ _ Elri: So, what I wanted to ask is¡­ _ Shadyna: Elri, can''t you at least pretend to worry about me for a bit¡­? _ Elri: I will when she actually manages to kill you. Wouldn''t I be dead already at that point?! _ Shadyna: Uuu¡­ The poor half-elf is pulling the magical bolts out of her head on her own. Sad cry~ _ Elri: Back to the topic, I was looking into cavalry tactics to improve myself the other day¡­ Should I remind her that she is in an MMORPG, not a strategy game¡­? _ Elri: Then I came across modern armored tactics¡­ Tanks (the combat vehicles, not meat shields!) do count as cavalry nowadays, but did she forget that those metal boxes are not elves, or even humans, for that matter?! And applying modern warfare in a medieval fantasy setting is illegal! _ Elri: It turns out that tanks are considered extremely vulnerable without support from artillery, so I want your opinions or ideas on how to have artillery support in this game. ¡­Is she seriously asking for ARTILLERY?! Last I checked, we don''t even have gunpowder in this game! _ Shadyna: Uh¡­ Ask to stand behind you? We do have a lot of explosions from our main damage dealers though. _ Elri: *Facepalms* No, when I am playing solo. In other words, the elven cavalry wants the whole combined arms doctrine, which usually consists of infantry, artillery and tanks, when she plays solo, without infantry, nor artillery. That''s not how combined arms even work, you gorgeous elf with no common sense! "Combined" means having different elements working together to cover each other''s weaknesses and get the most out of their strengths. It definitely does not mean combining everything into a big mecha like what those superheroes in tight suits normally do! This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. My mentor has finally turned into a mad scientist who is too busy asking if she could, she neglects to consider if she should¡­ _ Elri: You are thinking something really rude, aren''t you? _ Shadyna: I am not~ Rather than following something to the letter, I think it''s better to think of the pros and cons then apply accordingly. Modern armies developed their tactics around many conditions that are not true in this game. Besides, don''t you already have artillery-like AoE that is your salamander? _ Elri: For the umpteenth time, it''s a drake¡­ You do have a point though. Hmm¡­ Okay, who are you and what have you done to my Elri? The reckless cavalry girl who charged into a horde with little regards to self-preservation would never lean on the sofa and be deep in thought like this! _ Elri: Alright, I am putting off the modern tactics for now. One more thing though, do you know how to deal with fast movers? Fast¡­ movers? Doesn''t that include me? I-is Elri officially joining the coup to "dispose" of me in an "unfortunate accident" in order to get a chunk of the inheritance money?! _ Shadyna: P-please don''t be rash! If you borrowed money from the wrong crowd, I can help you pay it off. There''s no need to sell your body or commit a crime! That''s how it would go in a typical drama plot at least, which is totally realistic and happens all the time in real life! _ Elri: What the hell are you blabbering about?! I just want to learn how to fight enemies that keep staying out of my reach. _ Shadyna: Eh? There''s something that is faster than your beast? While Elri falls into the category of heavy cavalry, I made sure her pet''s equipment has more than enough SPD to chase pretty much everything. Speed is one of the most vital aspects of cavalry after all. _ Elri: ¡­No, there is not. But still, and were giving me a hard time the other day. They ran around and took potshots at me. I skewered them the moment I got in range but that was way more exhausting than expected. Elri, aren''t you implying something not very nice with that pause~? Your expression is so obvious, even I can see it you know? Nevertheless, I get what she was saying. In fact, what she experienced is pretty much the standard tactics against heavy cavalry. As everything in real life goes, the results varied from heroic victories to humiliating defeats. The basis is well understood and accepted though. _ Shadyna: It was a type of maneuver warfare. They couldn''t compete with your max speed, so they took advantage of your big turning circle and fought with agility instead. There is no surefire way to counter them, but I know a few things that can make your life easier. _ Elri: Please tell me. The less time I am exposed to that madwoman''s rambling, the better. Huh, so Elri is prone to brainwashing¡­ Then again, did manage to force a swimsuit on her, which is amazing because the only way for it to happen in the game is her putting it on of her own volition. Now I''m more worried about her mental fortitude than combat prowess¡­ _ Shadyna: Un. Against fast skirmishers or light cavalry in general, shock cavalries had their own secondary ranged or long reach weapons to fight back, or wore so much protection that they could shrug off anything smaller than a ballista bolt. You can also try catching up to them, although competent enemies won''t hit and run if they know you can pursue them. _ Elri: Hmm¡­ I see. Ranged attacks huh¡­ You sure know a lot about these kinds of things. _ Shadyna: Ehehe~ Speed is my forte so I have to identify potential threats to my playstyle. And there are so many skills in this game to overcome real life''s limitations to experiment as well~ _ Elri: In your case, it''s less of "overcome limitations" and more of crushing them, burning them to ashes then scattering the ashes into a typhoon. I''m not sure if she is bashing me or complimenting me with that gruesome description. She''s patting my head though, so I don''t think she''s upset at least. Feels nice~ ¡­ We continue exchanging ideas while waiting for the enhancer and enchanter duo. The general crafting procedure remains the same, but due to personnel and technique changes, the exact details have been modified accordingly. Therefore, our positive-feedback crafting loop currently goes like this: 1: creates an unholy amount of hybrid rechargeable [Cosmic Die]. 2: wears LDR-boosting equipment and is party leader. 3: increases everyone''s attributes by means of buff, debuff, and conversion skills as well as items. 4: uses [Devotion] on . 5: prepares non-boss materials with [Transmutation] (to get correct material type) and [Purification] (to increase material grade). 6: creates attribute-boosting equipment and furniture. 7: uses [Devotion] on . 8: cooks and spices food for attributes. 9: enchants and overcharges equipment for maximum enchantment strength. 10: uses [Devotion] on . 11: enhances and overdrives equipment for maximum attribute bonuses. 12: Tea break and typical changing room scene where random harem protagonists will inevitably crash into. 13: Repeat from step 2 until breakeven. Because of the nerfs on cooldown and casting speed, we didn''t bother crafting simultaneously anymore. We would be still on food cooldown by the time a loop is completed in that case. That''s why we crafted in turns right off the bat. Although [Cosmic Die] saves a lot of time and materials for [Enchant] and [Enhance] parts in exchange, we still took much more time per loop on average. In fact, [Cosmic Die] was overpowered as I had feared (hoped). Experiments verified that its maximization feature applies when used as materials, bombs, potions, and equipment. Worse still, the effect stacks. If I want to use [Spicing] on a food item with all eight attributes, I can chug down eight gulps from a reusable [ Cosmic Die Potion] and have all attributes reach their maximum values at the same time. The synergy with [Creation] is way too high! Sateri, why are you so generous? Am I going full speed towards a bad end by having too much power after all?! _ Choruse: , it is done. _ Shadyna: Thank you very much~ I think we are done for today. Are you all free tomorrow as well? Today''s objective has been achieved, which is the completion of the new crafting equipment set. We won''t be able to do much with the amount of time left before the end of the day, so I''m taking it juuuust a tiny bit easy and leave it for the future me to handle. Definitely not going to regret dearly tomorrow, un! _ Choruse: Of course. This is much better than wrestling with bosses or working the counter after all. Are you seriously saying that as a waitress whose role is tanking in combat!? _ Melodyn: Then, we will borrow for the rest of the day. If you would excuse us. _ Elri: Eh? With a sister in (grabbing) each arm, my lucky mentor is dragged away upstairs. Because she is a dense protagonist, she has no idea why this is happening! Nor do I, though I won''t tell them that. _ Elri: Wait! Where are you taking me?! _ Choruse: Performance improvement plan. _ Elri: Isn''t that something you give to an employee before firing them?! _ Melodyn: Don''t worry~ We only want to help you. As a service worker, being bothered by , let alone our nutty patrons, is not sustainable for your career. _ Elri: I do not serve patrons in the first place! _ Choruse: Stop complaining. Not often can you be escorted by two beautiful dark elves. _ Melodyn: We will give you a heart throbbing training filled with so much skinship, you will forget that woman by the time we are done~ _ Elri: JUST WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO MEEEEEEeeeeee¡­!!! The waitresses'' ability to call themselves beautiful is amazing as always. Then again, they have to be a bit shameless to work around the degenerates that are our customers¡­ As much as I want to join them, I think I will pass. I mean, no matter how you look at it, a busty elf being pulled away by two busty dark elves is never going to end well. If I dare interfere, I''ll just become collateral damage. Sorry, Elri, but I''m afraid I can''t stop them from showing you a whole new world. The corporate world, that is. Sip tea~ Turning a deaf ear to my heroically sacrificed friend, I check the stats of a crafting equipment piece. Thanks to [Cosmic Die], everything has the same maximum values we can achieve, saving me the pain of checking them one by one. --- [ Absolutely Fully Clothed Apron] - Creator: - Quality: - Type: , , - Enhancement: + + - Enchantment: + + - STR: 28 - PDF: 4100 - Furniture: Creation Lv.15 --- ¡­I sure hope Sateri''s damage cap is still in effect, because weapons crafted by this thing is gonna do a LOT of damage~ What do you mean, I am being a hypocrite?! ____________ Today, the bar is overcrowded. So is the tavern as per usual, except that its mistress is slashing people left and right after they asked her what color her swimsuit is. Having hundreds of PvPers looking to buy some food for tomorrow''s preliminaries is only adding more fuel to the chaos. At least it''s good for business¡­ Speaking of business, the flirtatious bartender and a manager from are having a serious meeting, with cocktails and ciders. No, they are really talking about actual business, honest. _ Helen: So¡­ do you want to do it? _ Manager: Of course. Why though? _ Helen: Well~ That girl wanted to try new things. We''ll use my quarter this time, okay? _ Manager: Got it. _ Helen: Thank you~ The drink is on me. You will be up all night long after all~ _ Manager: Obviously. You girls'' expectations are too high sometimes. _ Helen: You say that, but didn''t you satisfy us every single time~? _ Manager: Flattery will get you nowhere you know? By the way¡­ _ Helen: Hmm~? _ Manager: Your customers are bleeding out because you keep talking in general chat. Luckily, nosebleeds in-game cannot deal damage (yet), so they will survive. _ Helen: I was only placing an order for new equipment though? _ Patrons: TELL US THAT BEFOREHAND!!! _ Helen: Eh~~~ Let''s do all business meetings in private rooms from now on. The fee shall be billed as business expenses and paid by the guild, quietly thinks the manager. Merchants adapt surprisingly well as long as they don''t have to pay out of their own pockets. --- Topic: Physical playstyles? --- ## Shining Knight Is it just me or physical-oriented playstyles are a bit¡­ dull compared to magic? The mage in my party was bragging about how he had six elements and five ailments to choose from. Meanwhile, I was the tank and could choose between bows and¡­ melee weapons that are barely different from each other? ## ## Flame knight of Darkness You mean aside from the OP bow that stacks PAT with arrows, the throwing weapon with no casting time, the maintenance-free unarmed combat, and the multi-weapon system capable of fighting multiple opponents at once? Yeah, not many choices. (*£þm£þ) ## ## Heaven Piercer I don''t remember any debate about which element was the best, but we sure did have a big one for physical skills in beta. (^_^;) Everyone was punching everyone until the Pathwrecker guildmaster claimed the highest burst damage with Blood Arrow, and @Maximus Archery had the best DPS with Arrow Rain. Good times. (¨R?¨Q) ## ## Fire mage of Justice We didn''t bother because magic is so balanced, there''s no need to compare damage. <(£à^¡ä)> ## ## Maximus Archery More like every element being the same except for visual effects LOLOLOL ## ------ --- Topic: New raid mechanics (Patch 1.0d40) --- ## WarlordPwnage According to the patch thread, corruption raid became a wandering horde moving from one hunting zone to another. Question is, how do we find the location where the corruption raid is taking place? Waiting in one place and teleporting to all zones from the cafeteria are both impractical. ## ## Teabag Master You could have just asked our staff? (¡ã_¡ã>) Our patrons from all over the virtual world keep us up-to-date so you don''t have to search for it. We only ask that you do the same if you happen to come across the raid yourself. (*^3^)/~¡î ## ## OP alchemist The power of communication is terrifying (£þ¡õ£þ;) ## ## WarlordPwnage Why didn''t you tell me that before we went through twenty-something teleports?! What have I been paying for?! (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß ## ## Serious Mage RIP @WarlordPwnage''s wallet. You can also do it the immersive way: Look at the new sun, see where the part that @Nearseeing Sage destroyed points to. The raid will be where its shadow is cast. A reverse light beacon in a sense. ## ## Bountiful Hunter Too much math. I''ll stick to the waitresses, thank you very much. EDIT: When you summarize the change like that, doesn''t it sound like the buffed zones incident in the mystery thread? (¡ã¡ó¡ã) ## ## Serious Mage I can see the similarities. The new patch landed soon after that one had ended too. ## ## Deeply Intelligent So you are implying that Sateri-chan, wanting to test the new wandering raid mechanics, unleashed hordes of overly buffed mobs on us for a whole week with no rewards? Knowing our merciful Sateri-chan, that''s¡­ disturbingly plausible. ## ## StoneHoarder I know, right? (©`©`;) ## ------ Chapter 65: Spectator The true pacifist Shadyna is enjoying her newest hobby~ Which is watching violent people murdering each other. They are voluntarily violent on their own so it is truly the best hobby for me, who abhor such savagery from the bottom of my heart, to enjoy in peace. _ Miel: I doubt that is the case, . Even though my logic was foolproof?! It''s good that people know that pacifism is always on my mind with just a glance (probably), but why is no one agreeing? So sad~ Taking a seat next to me, the deadpan waitress dives straight into my lap. Already feeling at home, aren''t you¡­? _ Miel: ¡­Smell of another woman. No there is not! For one, this game does not feature that kind of fetish, and in the bizarre event of Sateri implementing it in the future, she would not be able to give player characters body odors exactly because of perverts like you! And in my case specifically, there are way more than one person who come into close contact with me, so the "another woman" part is also wrong! I feel like my reputation would not survive if I voice my objections out loud though. And since it''s not like my lap will go numb, I''ll let her take a beauty nap while sleeping in real life, un. _ Choruse: Oh, ''s on LDR duty today? _ Miel: Yes, it''s been too long since we last slept together. Even though we have never done that?! Wait, how do you calculate it to begin with? Wouldn''t the time span be negative because the last time is in the future? _ Melodyn: I''m surprised Hessy let you go. No one else can tank bosses without using potions or healers like you. Her "daughter", you mean. I don''t know about Sateri''s standards in balancing, but having a single player tanking a bonus boss solo without taking any damage by abusing their pet''s invincibility is kind of game-breaking. Personally, I''m fine with that. The [Symbiosis] pets I have seen, Lutena and Yassyl included, are too small to fully shield their masters from attacks. If anything, they are more akin to shields in games which feature perfect blocks, or enemies that cannot be damaged from the front. An annoying feature that was probably invented by the same guys who created status effects, but not to the point of having no way to deal with it. Doesn''t mean I don''t want to tie them up to a chair and "peacefully complain" to them, preferably until they are so dead, the ghostly creatures in this game look like a lively bunch in comparison! _ Miel: I told Hessy that if she would not give me private time with as she did to everyone else, I would act like the lonely housewife that I was and would not guarantee her safety. Easy. So Hessy decided to sacrifice MY safety instead?! Darn it, I want a new manager~! A brunette lady with a gigantic bow on her back walks to us, followed by her usual bunch of muscle idiots¡­ Probably. It is hard to know when my sole impression of them is muscle! _ Cinrald: Yo, ~! I never thought you would come! _ Shadyna: But you invited me!? Yes, we are at ''s arena, not Elri''s house. The guildmaster, , told me I should come and watch the prelims yesterday. The invitation also extends to a full party as well, as long as we all agree not to disclose anything in the prelims. My guild is filled with service workers, so they are used to not blabbering stuff they should keep secret. As for me, I can craft anywhere. In fact, I can''t even move from my seat because I brought the whole material storage here in order to avoid having to go back to restock. As such, the tournament arc can begin without disruption! _ Cinrald: Because you kept refusing to participate, even only for a guest match, I thought you would not enjoy the tournament despite your sponsorship. _ Shadyna: Uh, pacifists normally don''t want to fight, be it real combat or tournaments. _ Cinrald: Really? We have a few guys who only do PvE and no PvP at all. One of my oldest members flat-out told me that he refused to raise his sword against fellow humans as part of his roleplaying. Understandable. Roleplaying or not, there is a big difference between fighting AI-controlled creatures and human-controlled avatars. I''m pretty sure flexible min-maxers like who excel at both are on the rarer side. My guild members? Let''s just say the overwhelming advantage in stats renders the matter moot~ _ Cinrald: He was a-okay with slashing elves, dwarves and other races though. That guy was talking about in-game playable races?! For a seemingly useless title, [Halfblood] is driving a lot of backstories huh¡­ _ Shadyna: In my case, I avoid combat whenever possible, but I have no problem watching people fight. _ Cinrald: Glad to hear~ Why are you taking a seat on my other side¡­? You are not having an audience today, there are plenty of seats to choose from! Down in the stage, combatants are walking in lines from the four entrances and instructed by muscular men to their starting positions. There are a hundred of them, so you can''t just tell them to enter the stage and begin murdering others as if they were in a duel. _ Shadyna: It''s hard to know who is who¡­ When building this place, I made the stage quite big, more than enough to have this many players. Still, keeping track of them in combat will be troublesome once they start moving. _ Cinrald: Yeah, this is partly why we are not having audience for prelims. Most can''t see what is happening until a few remain standing. _ Miel: What are the other reasons, if you don''t mind telling? _ Cinrald: Practice before the real thing in terms of organization, and limiting information leaks of the winners. _ Miel: Oh¡­ Right, those one-trick ponies that rely on catching opponents by surprise. _ Cinrald: Exactly. These guys have to fight one round more than guild players, so we gotta make it as fair for them as possible. _ Miel: Like that would deter the sore losers from complaining¡­ Before the match can even start, the two are already low-key dissing the participants. I wonder if Miel was interested in registering for the tournament¡­? Meanwhile, on the other side of the arena, a muscular old man in a vest steps onto the extruding platform. That one is for important people to make a speech before the event, so I suppose he''s the MC? _ Muscular gentleman: One, two, three. We are testing mics, mics are testing us. Da heck? _ Muscular gentleman: LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!! Welcome! To the Blood Sacrifice Battle Royale! Somehow, the distance doesn''t seem to matter as I can hear the general chat from across the stadium no problem whatsoever. And it''s not just the MC. I can hear the members around the place cheering on with their "YEE-HAW!", "WOOO!!!", "TAKE THAT SHIRT OFF!!!" and the likes. Wait, what the hell is that last one?! What if there is an innocent half-elf girl in the area listening to you degenerates!? Then, the muscular guides down there form a circle around the stage and start to do various poses that one would only see in bodybuilding competitions! My eyes! MY EYES!!! Potions! [Minor Heal]! _ Miel: Out. _ Melodyn: Out~ _ Choruse: Totally out. _ Cinrald: Figured as much~ You don''t say! No matter how you look at it, this was catering to the muscle maniacs that are members. Look, some combatants are already fainting out of shock! You perverts on audience seats, stop cheering! You guys are going to change this tournament arc into a horror survival series! This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡­ A few minutes later, the opening "ceremony'' concluded with over half of the combatants lying motionlessly on the ground. The fact that some of them even survived that mental assault is amazing by itself, I think. Me? I muted the chat while poking Gelly''s jiggling body to erase those eye-burning images out of my head. I only realized that it had ended because got up with Gelly still on her head to get my attention. Now she''s back on my lap, hugging Gelly in her arms. What the heck~ _ Muscular gentleman: Now then, I shall explain the rules of the first round! Not one bit bothered by the combatants'' wellbeing at all, are you¡­? The rules are typical for a PvP event. Anything goes, from swords to magic to forcing surrender by holding the opponents'' cute daughter hostage. A participant is out if they are killed, surrender or fall off the stage. Nothing out of the ordinary. No, neither or I would complain if a hostage situation arises. In fact, should someone manage to kidnap 99 cute daughters and win, I would applaud him for the sheer dedication alone. Most harem protagonists can''t even come close to such achievement. Especially when not all participants are going to have a daughter to kidnap! _ Miel: , delusion time''s over. Match is starting. How rude~ But thanks for the notice! _ Muscular gentleman: Let the first match of the Blood Sacrifice Battle Royale preliminaries¡­ BEGIN! _ Combatants: UWOOOOOO!!! They sure bounce back quickly after that horrific trauma. Good for them~ In the span of a few seconds, the stage turns into a chaotic mess. They were spread equally across the whole area of the stage, so the bulk of the fighting is taking place in the center, where there are more players at the start. Magi are dropping like flies, which is understandable considering they are off against multiple enemies in close quarters. Oooh~ that one managed to set off a big explosion! However, why in the name of Sateri did you fire it at your feet!? You blew a few of them away at the cost of your own squishy life! _ Dead mage: Fight on, my brothers! The same ones you are supposed to defeat!!! _ Warrior: Hey baby, wanna team up against these losers? Invite them to your party, or flirt with them, don''t try to do both! _ Priestess: Eh¡­ sure? _ Knight: Go to hell! She should team up with me! Because that would happen, guaranteed (not really)! As a result, the two manly men fight against each other to assert dominance while the priestess gets skewered by stray arrows. Welp~ It''s safe to say that you need to form alliances BEFORE the battle, otherwise it will inevitably end up the same. Too fast-paced to negotiate mid combat. Only around two dozen players remain. That was fast. Either by implicit understanding or behind-the-PM dealings, they separate into two groups and stand off against each other. It is the final battle, or at least until one side is defeated so that the survivors can begin their civil war! _ Swordsman: For the dumplings! _ Enemy battlemage: In the name of the dumplings!!! _ Everyone: UWOOOOOO!!! The materialism is strong in these guys! _ Miel: Maybe flexing about having dumplings daily was too effective. It was YOUR doing?! _ Cinrald: It was good advertisement for this tournament so it''s all good~ For a guild filled with maniacs obsessed with having a good fight, you guys sure are flexible about the motivations for said good fights! What happened to sportsmanship, self-improvement and becoming the best of the best?! _ Melodyn: Regardless of their cringy introductions, all tournament participants know deep down inside that they are joining because of the same reason~ Please tell me they are not. That is not why we should hold tournaments to begin with~ _ Choruse: Worldly desires. And say it normally!!! _ Cinrald: It''s amazing how you girls are having a conversation even though is barely speaking. _ Miel: Long exposure does that. What am I, a radioactive hazard?! _ Melodyn: And since you could see that we were conversing, you are already corrupted~ _ Choruse: One of us, one of us. Rude~ _ Muscular gentleman: We have a winner! After one group fell, the winning group turned against each other. The first match ended when the rogue stabbed the battlemage in the face and shouted "FOR THE DUMPLINGS!" at the same time. I really should watch how I distribute my [Fishy Dumpluck] from now on. If it becomes an expectation in events, it would be bad for other organizers who cannot afford to have them in the prize pool¡­ _ Rogue: I would like to thank my friends and fam¡­ _ Muscular gentleman: Next match! I feel sorry for that guy, but please save that speech for when you actually win the tournament~ ¡­ Compared to the time to bring in the competitors, the fight itself is pretty short. Although I doubt it will be a problem in the main event as we would have one-versus-one fights, I should check with to see what I can help in logistics. 127 fights in one day is a lot after all. Second match went about as organized as the first one, until I spot a cute mage (most likely) dying in a warrior''s arms. The scene itself is already out of place, but it is even more bizarre to see others trying not to caught up in it. The atmosphere is serious business! _ Warrior: Honey, hang in there! We promised to face each other in the finals! Totally not a death flag at all, un. And what are you going to do when you meet in the finals? Kill each other for some dumplings? _ Dead (?) Mage: I''m¡­ sorry. I love¡­ your daughter¡­ ''s girlfriend¡­ Guh. _ Warrior: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Yes, officer, that degenerate right there! Also, what the hell is with your character''s backstory?! Is your crush even of legal age? The warrior was put out of his misery after that, by being in the blast radius of another big explosion. Sigh~ ¡­ Apparently, the guys in the third match learned a thing or two during their waiting period. The moment the match starts, they group up with nearby players before engaging in combat. I rarely have the luxury to watch team-versus-team fights, so this is a good chance to study, un! Ah, they are already backstabbing each other. Don''t need to learn that. My guild members are already teaching me aplenty. _ Miel: Love you too. That is not a compliment~! _ ???: Drop your weapons if you want this one to live!!! While I was distracted, a hostage situation has developed! A young, beautiful knight is¡­ the one doing the kidnapping?! I wonder how many cute daughters she managed to kidnap for this match? 20? Or even 30~? _ Kidnapped old mage: Pl-please, have mercy! It''s actually the grandfather of the cute daughters!? _ Kidnapped old mage: I don''t have a wife yet, but multiple daughters to feed! The worst! This guy is the worst!!! _ Miel: I think he might be related to the dramatic warrior earlier. _ Shadyna: Are we seriously going down that line of thought¡­? _ Choruse: He''s obviously the daughter''s girlfriend. Obviously~ NOT!!! _ Melodyn: Now now, . Even is not buying that. I have a feeling there would be a lot of problems if I was¡­ and did you just casually accuse me of being gullible? _ Melodyn: He is definitely the daughter~ How the heck is that anywhere more plausible than your sister''s take!!! Both the kidnapper and the hostage were blasted to pieces as the magi on the stage went straight for the "Normies go explode!" route, literally. The audience is more interested in the theories thrown around by my guild members though. , is your guild going to be alright with these guys¡­? ¡­ The fourth match went surprisingly normal for the most part until about a dozen players remain. A battlemage who was losing against a group of five players suddenly pulls out a consumable from his inventory. _ Battlemage: Do you know what this is?! Not really~ His opponents seem to have realized what he is holding, judging by their terrified expressions. Probably a bomb? _ Battlemage: I! SHALL! HAVE! THE DUMPLINGS!!! I would appreciate if you guys would stop treating my food as some secret weapon that is worth dying for. Even if it is one. Using a [Leap] to jump into the sky, he throws the orb to the ground. An improvement from the self-destructive mage in the first match! Maybe they are friends¡­? *BOOM* Then the stage exploded~ _ Cinrald: Well, this is going to be a problem¡­ No kidding. While I''m sure some top players can take a hit from high-level [Alchemy] bombs, normal players won''t. One-shotting AoE items are a nightmare to balance. _ Cinrald: How are we going to decide the winners if they die at the same time? That''s what you are worried about?! _ Miel: Concerned about consumables? _ Shadyna: Un, they are costly, but they are powerful and does not require casting. There is nothing stopping a participant from throwing bombs to victory in this tournament. _ Miel: Don''t worry about it. Good magi have better burst and sustained damage than bombs. More importantly¡­ _ Shadyna: More importantly? _ Miel: They will come out at a net loss if they only use expensive consumables to fight. Materialism once again protects the game balance~! _ Battlemage: Muahahaha! I wo¡­ The madman''s victory speech was cut short as a rogue, who had somehow survived the bomb point-blank, emerged from the dust cloud created by the bomb. Aaaaand the rogue stabs the battlemage in the face, ending the match for real this time. At this rate, stabbing magi in the face is going to become the next fad by the end of this event~ By the way, the remaining two winners were decided by checking the footage to find who fell to the ground last. Hurray to technology~! ____________ At the teahouse corner in the cafeteria, an unexpected group of players can be seen enjoying their snacks. Luckily, not too many gossipers wander around here, so no one is raising a ruckus, yet. _ Ignar: Yo, . Wait, why are you here? _ Hessenria: *Sighs* I''m taking a break before our next trip. Can I take your order? _ Ignar: Uh, no thanks. Please just enjoy your break. Max, you wanted to ask them something, didn''t you? The waitress turns to the grumpy archer in surprise. In the first place, this guy is the type to give or sell information to the tavern, not the other way round. His party is also self-sufficient for the most part. What in the world would he need that he cannot work for it himself? _ Hessenria: Sorry, our company does not encourage romantic relationships outside the workplace. _ Maximus: Dafuq?! I just want to meet the brat, not confessing to you! _ Ignar: ¡­ _ Tippe: ¡­ _ Everyone else in earshot: ¡­ _ Hessenria: ¡­You know that''s illegal, right? _ Maximus: WHAT THE HELL?! ''s raging scream can be heard across the building as his reputation tanked (again) from "Kidnapper" to "''s love rival"! also wants to point out that the waitress''s rejection was kind of weird too, but feels like he would lose if he says anything. Instead, he and order some tea despite the previous refusal. Because this is going to take a while after all. --- Topic: Tournament: Blood Sacrifice Battle Royale - Preliminary --- ## Shining Knight Anyone has footage of the first day? m(_ _)m Can''t find any stream for some reason. ## ## Heaven Piercer There''s none. Event organizers requested us not to release anything until the day of the main event. To protect our secret moves, they said. ^o^ ## ## Newbie Charisma build And our secret relationships! £Ü(^o^)£¯ The muscles, make them stop, please. (T_T) ## ## OP alchemist And our secret affairs! Did something happen in first match? We heard the screams at the start. Thought you guys were murdered by Black Mantis or something. (¡ã_¡ã) ## ## CuteIsJustice And our daughters! I saw Black Mantis living the life at the seats. So jealous! =^_^= ## ## Bountiful Hunter Who are actually old men! Petitioning Pathwrecker to change the MC and opening ceremony. We have been tainted forever, but others should not have to! (;_;) Petition: [Link] ## ## Shining Knight You guys are still talking about the tournament where people fight each other right?! ## ## GoldBar9999 That does sound like what Pathwrecker would do. (^_^;) Wasn''t there so don''t quote me on that. ## ------ Chapter 66: Obligatory showmatch This is a bit sudden, but princess Shadyna is going to be kidnapped to another castle~ _ Maximus: She is already thinking of something stupid again. _ Ignar: Max, that''s not how you begin asking someone a favor¡­ Hey, . Didn''t expect to see you in the arena, of all places. _ Shadyna: Hiyo~ Shortly after the final match of the day, we got an unexpected visit by the kidnapper trio. How the heck did they know my location without asking me? Stalkers? Should I use a [Luminous Firestorm Invoker] every five minutes in order to shake off all hidden pursuers? That flashy skill would broadcast my location to the other side of the world map? Don''t mind don''t mind~ _ Hessy (Guild): , once you finish your business with , could you come to your underground base? Dammit Hessy, it was your doing again, wasn''t it~? _ Shadyna (Guild): If I don''t get shoved into a cell with a lava moat around it~ _ Hessy (Guild): Similar to the one you designed for the bishop? I doubt it will be capable of slowing you down in the slightest. I have a feeling Hessy is implying something rude, but I''ll let that slide. For now at least. _ Shadyna: So~, is there something you need? _ Maximus: Yeah, have a match with me. _ Shadyna: Weird request but sure. Iced Milk¡­ _ Maximus: Holdupholdupholdup!!! That''s not what I meant! ¡­He wasn''t trying to kill me legally by requesting a duel to the death for others'' entertainment? I could have sworn that was his plan so I decided to skip the overly complicated bureaucracy and went straight for the killing. Only one of us will come out alive anyway, and I for sure won''t be complaining about the crude organization of the event~ That kind of plot is kind of iffy in a game where the dead respawns in town by the way, for obvious reasons. Is not good at plotting complex evil schemes? Emphasis on "complex", since he certainly had no qualms scheming evil! _ Ignar: Uh, I''m glad you are willing to help, but please listen to what Max has to say first. He wasn''t looking for a fight in the traditional sense. _ Shadyna: Is that so~? Don''t go around declaring your intention to kill me off in that case, is what I want to tell him. Then again, this is . I have no hope for his ability to speak properly~ _ Shadyna: ¡­Wait, is there even another way to interpret this "match" that does not involve a private two-person physically intense activity, with one of the participants being a cute girl who is below legal age? _ Maximus: Why the flipping fluff are you making this weird?! And don''t call yourself "cute"!!! Harsh~ For some reason, I am the only one getting called out when referring to myself as cute. Maybe it was the way I say it¡­? _ Tippe: Isn''t it fine? IS cute. _ Maximus: You shut up! Happy face~ ¡­ _ Maximus: Ready? One short explanation and many mental assaults on later, I got the gist of his request. He wants a training match to improve his playstyle, rather than trying to best me. And here I thought he had suddenly gotten a super power-up to murder me in one hit¡­ Nevertheless, this is still a private two-person physically intense activity!!! _ Shadyna: Before that, why me? Is not to your liking? _ Ignar: Ahahaha, no, I''m a tank. While I can somewhat stand my ground, I do not pose a threat to him in a duel. _ Maximus: As he said. The biggest threat to my build is one that can hit me. Your¡­ Hmm, let''s just say I can learn a lot when you move your legs, and shut your mouth. Is that a compliment, or an insult? Since this archer''s default mode is unfiltered constant stream of verbal abuse, I think it''s safe to consider this an honest compliment, un! _ Shadyna: Oh well, whenever you are ready~! I point my sword at . He responses by aiming his bow at me. _ Cinrald: BEGIN! Evading the dead-obvious first shot, I close the distance by jogging as spectators cheer me on. No, I''m serious. I have to jog slowly because, as everyone put it, "it''s delusional to think this game can have another one as fast as you". Therefore, I have to cap my actual speed to that of my opponent. It''s only training if you can actually learn something from it, after all. For some reason, the audience, consisting of my party, ''s muscular crew and ''s group, are taking seats right outside the ring instead of the whole front seats I have carefully built! You guys are not going to get more info out of looking at my face a bit closer you know? _ Shadyna: Yo~ *Woosh* I thrust my sword forward as soon as I catch up. Although it was fast, it was not enough to score a hit. As expected, his ability is real when not caught by surprise, or overwhelmed by difference in status. It''s fine if we actually hit each other. I activated [Phantom Edge] to avoid dealing any damage. Meanwhile, he can use anything he wants, because I am practically a bullet sponge in all but officially. For the last time, Sateri, this kind of role should be reserved for an annoying bonus boss, not a player build! Even if the majority of it was my own doing! The chase continues with him taking potshots while I swing at him every time I have a chance. You can''t run straight forever in a ring, so the pursuer will always be able to get into range eventually for the same speed and not considering any other variables. Of course, there are a lot more to consider in practice, like this guy''s sneaky nature that allows him to evade my strikes for example! It''s only the start, and it''s already annoying~ I normally would not agree to such a bothersome request without getting anything in return, but¡­ well, I got something in return. [Afterimage: It was actually an afterimage. Add significant evasion chance on receiving hits while running.] [Non-critical Spot: Receive the hit in a non-critical spot. Add significant chance to reduce damage to minimal while running.] [Blast Clearance: Clear the blast radius on the double. Add evasion chance on receiving area-of-effect impact while running. Increase chance based on distance to center of blast.] One, I can understand, two, maybe for assurance, but three skills in exchange for a short training session? Aren''t you a bit too desperate for some quality time with a young girl?! , please do something before your friends become criminals~! That being said, I am not going to turn him down after he went out of his way to pay me. Materialism is pleased with today''s tributes, ufufu~ _ Maximus: Still has time for that smug face? [Arrow Rain]! Gya! Don''t disrupt my internal flashbacks which are crucial to gaining last-second power-up in final boss fights! _ Cinrald: That''s¡­ probably not it, right? _ Miel: Definitely not it. _ Maximus: WHAT IS?! Stop complaining, you hard-to-please spectators! While my opponent is also fooling around just as I was, a ton of arrows are speeding towards my position, like a medieval shotgun. Yikes! He also aimed it upward so I would turn into a hedgehog even if I jump. Scary! Since aerial maneuver is out of the question, I crouch down and skid past the barrage with what''s left of my momentum. Him trying to lead the shot ended up with the ground having fewer arrows, allowing me to slip between them with relative ease. _ Shadyna: [Begi]! [Elemental Blast]! *BOOM* *BOOM* _ Maximus: DAFUQ?! When explosion may not be the answer (due to [Blast Clearance]), the answer is more explosions!!! And thanks to [Phantom Edge], he can still run after two successive blasts that would have ended him in a real fight, during which I would use a real bomb instead of the humble explosive [Begi] bulb. If you have 5% to evade one, you have roughly 0.25% to evade both. Un, good luck with that meager HP of yours! _ Maximus: Tsk. Good hit. Don''t think you can pull that again though! _ Shadyna: Ehehe~ Slamming my sword to the ground, I quickly bounce back up. Lying on the ground is not ideal for evasive maneuvers after all~ _ Shadyna: Alright, I''m going to kick up a notch as well! ____________ _ Ignar: Well, this is terrifying. The mighty warrior mutters to himself as he sees the little girl chasing down a professional murderer with a taller-than-herself sword. This pretty much just happened the other day, although the circumstances and mood were a tiny bit different back then. _ Tippe: Yeah, when she casts buffs everyone keels over and dies. Now she is actively stabbing Max who has no HP, yet is not splattering his guts onto the ground¡­ Remind me why she even has [Pacifist] again? This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. _ Miel: An undying love for peace, is what she will say, probably. The peace lover in question is smashing the ground repeatedly in an attempt to bludgeon her opponent. There''s no damage, but still uncomfortable to look at. _ Ignar: Yeah right¡­ What I''m saying is that is a good PvPer with or without her inflated attributes. Just her control of speed to match Max''s is beyond most players already. While numeric values can be balanced, a player''s reflexes and decision making abilities are not. In the off chance that they fight on equal footing in term of stats, she will still be a formidable opponent. _ Cinrald: She is indeed versatile. Is there anything she is incapable of or at least bad at? _ Tippe: According to the board, she is already this game''s equivalent of IRL Tyrant, but cuter. Not sure if you can be bad at something at that level¡­ _ Ignar: Cute Tyrant huh? That''s not a description people usually use to describe them¡­ To be fair, sane people would not use a dubious nickname like "Tyrant" to call a little girl who has arrows stuck on her forehead and is running away from an angry archer swinging his dagger around either. Max is apparently engaging in melee in an attempt to shake his pursuer off. It was a success, although he looks like a bully (again) as a result. _ Tippe: Hell, I may become a Tyrant sympathizer IRL if they are at least half as cute! _ Ignar: *Sighs* Dude¡­ Well, Tyrant is human so your deranged fantasy is not impossible. _ Tippe: Seriously?! Are you their acquaintance or something? _ Ignar: Nah, nothing like that. I know that they are human though. Meanwhile, the waitresses are calmly watching their leader retaliating by grabbing her sword''s edge and smacking her target with the hilt. Attacking with the hilt is not uncommon in sword fighting, but that is definitely not the way to do it! ''s weaknesses? These waitresses certainly have an idea or two. However, they have no intention of informing their potential adversaries. ____________ _ Shadyna: Then I sparred with and some macho men from too! That was tiring~ _ Hessy: I see. It''s rare for those guys to go out of their way to do practice matches. Good work earning their respect. _ Shadyna: Ehehe~ Happy~ _ Miel: I concur. She taught me that bashing an enemy''s toe with the broadside of the sword is as deadly as stabbing their face. _ Hessy: What kind of practices were you doing?! Please don''t mind the little details~ _ Shadyna: Anyway~, why are we in the forest? After I met up with my second-in-command at my secret base, she dragged me off to the beginner (?) forest. I totally did not for a moment think that I was going to get kidnapped for the second time in a day. That''s why I did not run away, not because my weight was still categorized as a celestial body and prevented me from making my escape, un! _ Hessy: She should be here right about¡­ now. *FLASH* A lady who I have never seen before appears at the [Recall] landmark. Considering that this mark is not accessible from our cafeteria''s service, she must be in our guild. Thing is, I have no idea who she is. I have met every member more than once, so she''s not someone who usually plays when I''m offline. Her team is also a mystery as she is wearing what appears to be [Beginner Clothes] of all things! _ ???: Good day, everyone~ _ Miel: Ah, we are doing "that". _ Shadyna: "That"? _ Melodyn & Choruse: The ritual for guildmaster to grow into adulthood, of course. I should have run away after all!!! ¡­ Two spiky swords later, the philosopher in me starts to ponder about the difference between half-undead and half-dead, because¡­ well, the dark elven sisters qualify for both currently. _ Melodyn & Choruse: Leader, physical abuse in the workplace is illegal. _ Hessy: And you think slandering is not?! Anyway, , this is¡­ _ ???: I am , pleased to make you acquaintance~ Da heck is that long name!!! I don''t know how strong this person is, but I already know that her main attack is making opponents choke to death from trying to say her name! _ Very-long-name lady: And I am in an a~bu~sive~ relationship with Hessy here~ Eh? _ Shadyna: EEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHH?!?! *BONK* _ Very-long-name lady: Ow~ _ Hessy: Stop making this even more complicated!!! Yup, this is abusive alright. Physical, even~ _ Shadyna: Uhm¡­ Could you be¡­ Mera? Sure, she looks totally different. However, her personality is the same, including the whacky naming sense that even I cannot compete with! I would be surprised if she turns out to be totally unrelated, and seriously concerned for my mental health in the near future. _ Mera (?): Aw~ I had hoped you would be at least a bit more confused¡­ No, I am confused alright, just not about your identity. You weren''t even trying to hide it¡­ _ Hessy: *Sighs* Yes, this is Mera''s second character. Sorry about the sudden request, but could you craft her a full set with only HP bonus? I''ll pay for the materials and labor with our treasury so don''t worry. Nonono, shouldn''t I worry a lot since, I don''t know, I''m the guildmaster?! Using the treasury for personal purchases is embezzlement! _ Shadyna: ¡­Will this do? Coincidentally, I still have the full [ Iced Milk Tea] set in my inventory. While not the best gear I can craft, it qualifies for a HP stacking set, and is readily available. A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow, or so they said. _ Mera II: Hmm~ It has CON, which is no~t good as it increases my PDF. The HP bonus is sufficient for the time being though~ _ Hessy: I see. , please lend it to Mera and craft a new set. No need for any other bonuses or effects. She doesn''t want attribute bonuses? Why though? Normal players would want their attributes most of the time, right? Curious~ _ Miel: Leader has been doing "that" so much, Mera cannot handle her anymore and she now needs to ¡­ _ Hessy: You are wording it weird on purpose aren''t you!? Seriously, what is "that" you girls are talking about¡­ _ Hessy: ¡­? Oh, I have not explained it to you. Aaaaaand she forgot to tell me vital information, again. Darn it Hessy~ _ Mera II: Feel free to take your time explaining~ I will get changed over there. Don''t look, okay~? I would be amazed if we somehow could, in a lot of ways. _ Hessy: Shut up Mera. Back to the topic, to put it simply, we are going to power leveling attributes today. Oh, I see¡­ I have no idea what she is talking about~! As if seeing through my literal mask, the scary but kind waitress gives out a long sigh and starts explaining. Thank you very much~ ¡­ After a seemingly endless lecture, I got it, probably. In CSF, character level and skills have a hard cap, which means once you hit that level 30 for character and main skills, growing stronger becomes tricky. As of the current meta, there are mainly three strategies for the late game. The first one is using summoned beasts, and since the NPC patch, the NPCs from [Heart Core]. By the time you can max out those summons, the next level cap will be most likely unlocked. Providing a wide range of tools for most if not all situations is a big plus for this method too. Its main downsides are the difficulty in control and the expenses which only go up for each summon or NPC acquired. Next one is upgrading equipment. Contrary to my personal experiences, high grade gear and materials, especially those of bosses, are hard to come by. For most players, grinding for a full boss equipment setup is the most realistic way to improve themselves before getting the next level cap. Spending a lot of time dying to bosses and cursing RNG are expected, although being in a big guild helps tremendously. Last strategy is what we are going to do. We cannot grind statuses, but we can grind attributes. Unlike skills, attributes do not have a hard cap and therefore can be grinded ad infinitum theoretically. In practice, there is a soft cap which makes grinding attributes too time-consuming once they hit a certain threshold. Sane players would casually grind them by doing other productive activities, and that is a reasonable plan. Unless they have a way to power leveling attributes, that is. Knowing that they could not compete with big guilds for rare loots, Hessy and co back then tinkered with the experience mechanics to find a way to grind attributes quickly. Spoiler: And they did. The secret lies in the soft cap itself, ironically. One is generally given more EXP for doing hard work than trivial tasks, hence the difficulty when your attributes are higher, as what they did previously is considered easier. Level difference between player and creature is one example. You can go from level 0 to 1 by beating up rats, even quicker by accidentally murdering a level 15 snake head, but good luck leveling up by bullying little critters when you are at the same level as the snake! With that design philosophy identified, the only thing remains is figuring out which activity gives the most points for the effort or investment required to perform it. Considering how this is not widely known (I think), I suppose it''s easier said than done, but I digress. And so, the "activity" they came up with is repeated application of skills on a willing subject. By having a player as the opponent, we have complete control over how the grinding goes, from what equipment to wear or which skill to use. As using a skill gives you EXP for certain attributes, you can grind whatever you want by spamming the correct skill on Mera. In other words, the beatings will continue as long as attributes improve! ¡­It really is an abusive relationship!!! _ Hessy: You are thinking something rude aren''t you¡­? Moving on, the more damage you deal in an attack, the more experience points you gain. On the other hand, Sateri-chan made it so that only actual damage is counted. If the enemy only has 100 HP, you gain the same amount whether you dealt 200 or 300 damage. Makes sense. Hessy can simply walk around level 1 zones and blast [Dark Bolt] to her heart''s content otherwise. While she is gorgeous and I would love to see that, the poor newbies in the vicinity might mistake her for a penultimate boss! _ Hessy: That''s why we use frequently have to upgrade gear for Mera''s alt to keep her max HP above my max damage. And since her current gear is getting outdated and you are going to craft new weapons¡­ Now I''m starting to understand why these ladies are so strong despite their busy schedules. The efficiency is scary, as expected of service workers! They will definitely call me out for thinking this but¡­ they sure know how to game the system, don''t they~? _ Shadyna: Got it. By the way, if you hit Mera that much, won''t her CON and MEN increase as well? You don''t want those because they increase her defense and reduce your damage, right? From a glance, I can tell that she put a lot of effort into customization rather than hitting "randomize" in the character creation. It would be sad if she is deleted after reaching 10 CON or something like that¡­ _ Mera II: I know, right~? Hessy would heart~lessly throw me away after having her way with my bo¡­ _ Hessy: I DO NOT!!! We use sneak attacks for that very reason! _ Melodyn & Choruse: By doing it from behind, which is even worse. What. *WHACK* *WHAM* Ouch. That looks painful! Also, stop trying to up the age rating and getting yourselves killed, you beautiful degenerates~! _ Shadyna: , do sneak attacks not improve CON? _ Miel: They ignore defense, except for equipment bonus. Her attributes cannot grow because her defense and skills are not triggering. _ Shadyna: I see~ tilts her head as if asking why in the world I did not know this already. It couldn''t be helped, okay? How am I supposed to know when I one-shot most stuff regardless of my positioning, and in the few occasions where I did not, the damage was too all over the place to notice!? _ Shadyna: Hessy, please go ahead with your grind. I''ll be crafting Mera''s new armor over here so don''t mind me. _ Mera II: My body is ready~ Not going to lie, that sounds really weird when she is facing a tree instead of us. _ Hessy: Right, I don''t want to spend too much time around these maniacs either¡­ One day, I''ll have to break it to my manager that she recruited every single one of the maniacs in question herself. Sigh~ _ Hessy: [Dark Bolt]! It was at that moment, I remembered. The other purpose of the [ Iced Milk Tea] set. Welp~~~ ____________ After another day of constant boss raiding, the waitress in charge, , is taking it a teensy bit easy at the counter. Engaging in small chats with patrons is still work, and is certainly better at intelligence gathering than cursing the patrons out. Even if they keep asking for the latter. _ Rogue: Hey, there is no [Water]-type boss in the northern part of the forest right? Pulling out a paper map filled with detailed notes of each hunting zones, the waitress examines it carefully then spreads it on the counter for the rogue and nearby interested parties to see. _ Inerin: There used to be two in that field back then, but there is none in its current state. You can find three in the Honey Swamp and one every five minutes of walking on the beach. _ Rogue: Uh, I''m good though. Truth is, we saw massive ice pillars rising from out of nowhere while farming there. _ Inerin: Ice pillars? _ Rogue: Ya, bigger than most building support pillars in Tyrel, reminding me of the first Magnus Bestia''s rock ripple attack. We thought that another one popped up, but found nothing when we went in that direction. Which is not possible, silently thinks . If a unique boss had shown up, everyone would know because of the system message. There has been none since the refrigerator in the mountain. That, she is certain, for always has at least one player working at the counter, 24/7. _ Inerin: Do you remember its general location? _ Rogue: Around here, I think? Because she is a professional service worker with a cool head and unbiased opinions, carefully takes into account the location, timing, rare skills that can have such effects¡­ _ Inerin (Guild): , please tell me you were NOT playing in the forest today. ¡­And jumped straight to the simplest explanation. _ Shadyna (Guild): I''m so sorry~! It was bullseye, unfortunately. _ Inerin: It was a player''s skill. You shouldn''t mind it too much. _ Rogue: Players huh? Guess I wasn''t imagining it when I thought I heard screams¡­ _ Inerin: You were. _ Rogue: Eh, I was? _ Inerin: You were. She''s not going to tell him the details though. This is supposed to be intelligence gathering, not sharing! --- Topic: Illusive Sprout General Topic #9 --- ## Newbie Charisma build Just got this from the tournament thread: [Link] Our favorite sprouty girl was featured in the promotional trailer for the event! \(^o^)/ ## ## Bountiful Hunter Wait, what trailer? I thought there was no footage until the big day? (??? EDIT: Holy crepe Sateri-chan even put it on the main site! She has officially recognized us! ## ## GoldBar9999 Wasn''t Black Mantis supposed to stay out of this tournament? Think of the poor soul facing her in the first round! (£þ¡õ£þ;) ## ## Mage of Sin Getting cold feet already? ¡¥\_(¥Ä)_/¡¥ Worry not, Sapling Cuisine and Aspiring Heroes were only practicing together, then Pathwrecker joined in on the fun. Not sure why it was caught on Sateri-chan''s camera though. ## ## Fire mage of Justice The same way she made the previous trailer: She was watching. ( ?§Õ?) ## ## CuteIsJustice Big sis is always watching! I for one welcome our digital all-seeing overlord! (*¡ä¨Œ£à*) ## ------ Chapter 67: Arenas greatest attraction In front of the arena''s luxurious grand entrance, Shadyna the tragic hero makes a promise to her lost friends, and herself. _ Shadyna: Hessy, Elri, please watch me from above. I am definitely going to win big! _ Not-so-dead Elri: Don''t randomly kill us off! And how are you going to win without even participating in the event?! It appears that the last boss who destroyed my hometown failed to kill everyone. Dammit last boss. You had one job~! _ Shadyna: By gambling!!! _ Evidently-still-alive Hessy: *Sighs* She''s already in delusion mode. Let her be. But but¡­ what else should a pacifist do in this place to get a lot of money?! Joining the brawl is a no-no, being janitor doesn''t pay well, and is not hiring MCs anymore. Only by betting on the winning underdogs can I get rich while barely putting in any effort whatsoever! Totally not the thinking of a chronic gambling addict who inevitably turns against the hero party in order to have their debts cancelled by the bad guys~ But seriously, since such characters die horribly more often than not, I hope I will not get into debt at least, even if I don''t intend to get involved with murderous heroes usually. _ ???: Hey, are you done yet? We need to reminisce the past too. For some reason, there''s a whole line waiting for their turn at gaining flashback power-ups behind us! Just how many villages did you destroy and leave exactly one person (or three) alive to make a point, you idiotic imaginary last boss!!! As we go ahead, the waiting gladiators start to enter their own flashbacks one by one. I wonder if they will ever realize that they can just, I don''t know, form a circle around the place instead of a single spot on the main road? Not that I am in any position to complain, having done the same thing~ The moment we enter the arena, a new menu icon appears in the corner of my vision and begins to blink. Although I have received words from , having the game''s admin promote and provide direct support to our little get-together event still feels a bit surreal. For all of her complaints about my endeavors, she certainly did not voice her annoyance at the organizers after adding all of these fancy new features! "Special treatments" my cute butt! Sateri, you bully~ _ Elri: Looks like we have to part ways here. _ Shadyna: I''ll watch over you from above and¡­ _ Elri: You know you don''t need to off yourself either right? _ Shadyna: The atmosphere is important~ Before us stand two reception desks. Both the desks themselves and the wall behind them have a sign to help players navigate, and possibly to spare the clerks from answering the same question over and over again. The signs on the left say "Spectators", while the ones to the right are "Gladiators". Needless to say, the majority of the players go to the left, then proceed down the hallway. Do they not need to show their tickets? On the other hand, the combatants are presumably introducing themselves to the clerk, who in turn tells them where to go next. They are talking in PM though, so they could be exchanging questionable media links for all I know! As for why I have to separate from these two, well¡­ Hessy and Elri are ''s participants for this tournament event after all! I never said that MY GUILD in particular would not join, did I~? Feel free to tremble in fear, degenerates with impure motives, for the mistress of the tavern won''t date you without a literal fight! Commence laugh in technicalities~! And so, jaws were dropped, pants were changed, combatants were fainting, and spectators broke into tears saying that they had a wife to feed. The majority of you aren''t even fighting anyone though?! ____________ For the first time since its construction, the Great Arena is operating at full capacity. 50 thousand seats are occupied by an audience coming from various backstories. They are here to enjoy a good fight, cheer on their favorite ido¡­ gladiators, or throw coins into the zero-sum gamble in hope of coming out on top at the expense of others. Regardless of their motives, they are in high spirits and having a good time. Down there on the ground, four smaller arena rings are in place instead of the single big one like in the prelims. A young lady stands on each, facing their closest spectators with a smile. Originally, it was planned to have muscular men at peak physical performance do this, but after various (overwhelming) feedbacks from the service workers and participants, the guildmaster relented and outsourced the personnel management to the professionals. Even the receptionists were selected based on their appearances, as well as their experience in service work. The same cannot be said for the guides in the gladiators'' waiting area, since there were not enough beautiful and kind ladies in willing to do this work. As such, half of the participants have to settle with handsome and kind macho men instead. Their work quality is still top-notch, so it will be fine. Probably. While the gladiators'' cries of despair were echoing in the basement, the brunette archer is delivering the opening speech for the event to her audience from above. _ Cinrald: Everyone, I thank you for coming to join us at Blood Sacrifice Battle Royale today. I am not one for words, so let''s get this over with right now. Good luck, and good fighting! _ Spectators: OOOOOOOHHHHH!!! Stepping away from the platform after her record-breaking short speech, the guildmaster retreats back to her seat next to , one of the few guests of honor for the day. _ Vladina: Why did you even come out if you did not have anything to say? _ Cinrald: Those two said something about main organizer''s obligations, and¡­ Ah! I was supposed to advertise the arena too! _ Vladina: *Facepalms* How in the name of little girls does your guild survive with you at the helm¡­? Truly a mystery that no one knows the answer to. Back on the platform, two commentators are in position. Because it is hopeless to ask a professional sportsman to do sport commentary, even if it''s the same sport¡­ _ Commentator #1: I''m . _ Commentator #2: I''m . had to hire the experts to do the job. _ Choruse & Melodyn: We will be your commentators for today. Hope you all rest in pieces~! _ Spectators: WHY?!?! Whether these two''s expertise is sport commentary is another question altogether though. ____________ At the front row, an otome heroine and a devious ladykiller are watching the tournament unfold. They are ''s guards for the day, but that brat handed them 500 gold coins, asked them to bet in the tournament in her stead, then teleported to this place before anyone could accept or decline her request. Said brat is apparently fooling around underground at the moment, for some reason. Why even bet if she won''t be sitting here to watch the fights, silently complains . _ Choruse: If you want to bet who will die a horrendous death in the next five minutes, you can find the option in the "Event" menu. Due to privacy rules of this event, you will only see their avatar, attributes and statuses. Skills and equipment are off-limits. _ Melodyn: Because of our time constraints, we will have four matches at the same time until the quarterfinals. Don''t forget to bet on all of them. You will be dead financially by the end of this anyway, so might as well make our cuts from your hard-earned money as high as possible~ Players of the first four matches are making their way to the rings while the commentators "explain" the rules. A few tried waving at the audience as if they were famous celebrities, but the majority are too busy looking at the stats on the Event menu to cheer them on in return. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. _ Thelia (Party): Who was the idiot that hired those two¡­? _ Helen (Party): Now now~ Let us focus on guessing who would win the coming fights. The ladies on the rings promptly guide the neglected gladiators to their starting positions, then steps off so as not to get in the way of the fighting. Although these referees, who are all powerful players on their own right, can shrug off stray shots without problem, letting combatants fight without worries is at higher priority than dramatically slapping the floor next to a downed player, especially when [Inspect] can check if someone is dead just fine. The fact that they are also bloodthirsty maniacs who will jump into the fray given the first chance is absolutely irrelevant. _ Thelia (Party): Guildmaster, you sure you want us to waste these coins right? It is often said that you should only gamble with what you don''t mind losing. Thing is, the poor delivery girl has no idea if these 500 gold coins are ''s tip spend, or what''s left of her coffer after she burnt it though a sponsorship, a mini sun, and just recently, a whole wardrobe of mass destruction. Both are equally terrifying. _ Shadyna (Party): I''d prefer it if you actually win some money but yes, please use that fund to bet as you see fit. My savings are all gone except for those coins I got from back when I fought , so if you lose all of it¡­ Well, I''ll probably have to eat fish and only fish for the next few days~ Both at the same time is the most terrifying! _ Thelia (Party): ¡­I''ll treat you to a pizza later today. _ Shadyna (Party): Thanks~ I love you too! _ Helen (Party): So do I~ _ Thelia (Party): Be quiet and place the bet already, damn lecherous womanizer! ____________ Now that the getting rich part has been taken care of, I can leisurely chill here underneath the main stage until the killing begins. Why am I not betting on my own? Well, I have no idea what the meta is for one. That means I may as well toss a coin, having not the slightest idea on how the fight would go. Sure, I have seen worse odds, such as wearing a suit and sitting in front of a screen waiting for numbers to go up. Doesn''t mean I want to risk (what''s left of) my fortune that way however. _ Thelia (Party): Slow tank against mage, that guy''s dead. Never met these guys before, just bet on the one in a guild. Contrary to my luck-based approach, was a respected member of . She is a fighter as much as she is a chef, both less than a delivery girl as far as I can tell by the way. Point is, she knows her way around a fight, so her intuition on average is better than the collective judgement of the player base, which is reflected in the current betting odds. Combined with her decisiveness as part of being a protagonist (?), she will not hesitate to bet on underdogs as long as she believes they could win. Few people are as capable at high-risk gambling as her, I have to say. Would be nice if it was her money at risk rather than mine though¡­ Oh well, no pain no gain and all that. _ Helen (Party): Okay~ You are sure about this one right? If you guess it wrong, there will be a punishment ju~st for you, got it~? Then there''s this ladykiller who just happens to be good at handling (and embezzling) money to prevent from wasting all of the fund in futile endeavors. I would be surprised if her work as an accountant for did not include throwing outrageous bills or even conspicuous embezzling plans back at ''s face. Taking a risk is fine, putting everything at risk for little rewards is not. Especially when that "everything" is actually MY money! Anyway, with these two working together for the greater good that is my own enrichment, I''m sure the gold coins are in good hands. Let''s not to prod around while the capable people are already bringing in the materialistic tributes! _ Thelia (Party): You are in this as well you damn maniac!!! _ Helen (Party): Ow~ After they finish their lovers'' quarrel that is! Wait, I don''t have anything to do until the gladiators are dead. Sure, it is only a few minutes at most, but it''s kind of lonely sitting here by myself¡­ I know! Lutena, come here please~ As commanded, the little fairy jumps out of the dangling lantern and onto my lap. So cute~ She is heavily armored, therefore not exactly cuddle material like Gelly. Thanks to the many hours of mind-numbing crafting with nothing else to do however, I have found out that her cheeks are the heavenly soft, so much that she and Gelly were the reasons why my sanity is still perfectly intact! One thing to note though. If I poke or pinch her too much, she will pout and run away from me for some time. While she is cute doing that, I feel bad for upsetting her. Remember, it is important to do everything in moderation! _ ???: Huh? What brings you here, Lady Black Mantis? Poking a cute girl''s cheek to keep myself sane¡­ is probably not what I should say out loud as a totally sane person huh. For some reason, has this weird tendency to use "Sir" and "Lady" for players they think are strong. They don''t know my name either, hence the use of title instead. What am I, some royalty? Looking at the direction of the voice, I see a muscular man in skintight working clothes. Along with the oversized broom and dustpan, there is no doubt about it. He is a janitor from . I refuse to comment any further about this guild''s skintight fetish! _ Shadyna: Hello~ I am just waiting for the matches to end to do my work. Please don''t mind me~ _ Janitor: I see. Our room over there has a [Projection Board] to watch the fights live, if you want to of course. Now then, duty''s calling! Pointing at the door behind him with a "Staff only" sign, the janitor departs as quickly as he appeared. The security is pretty lax, isn''t it? Not that I''m complaining. Since I have nothing better to do, I bring Lutena into the staff room to enjoy the show. I stand out a lot sitting in the middle of a party consists of men at the pinnacle of fitness, but there''s no one else and they are a rowdy bunch so it''s a-okay! I could also watch from the Event menu, but that is something I never realize until much, much later. Oh well, the noisy atmosphere is important too~ ____________ _ Melodyn: In the first match of Block A, we have the abusive mistress of the tavern, ! _ Spectators: WHAT THE HECK?! _ Hessenria: Who the heck are you calling abusive?! *THWACK* A [Dark Bolt] blasted through the air and went straight to the ill-mannered commentator, who in turn ducked as if she had been waiting for that. As a result, the bolt mercilessly smashed a poor sod in the back row right in the face. _ (Un)lucky bastard: Thank you very much for your service!!! Meanwhile, the majority of the audience who did not witness her arrival earlier are busy picking up their jaws. That is to be expected, as most were too busy worrying about Black Mantis to notice that there was nothing preventing the mistress herself from making sure no one gets the grand prize. No wonder why she agreed to become the figuratively dangling carrot for this tournament. _ Choruse: And in the other corner, we have some generic random player who happened to win the prelim, applause please. _ Generic random player: HEY!!! Ignoring the protest from the player, turns to her sister as if the previous assault attempt did not happen. _ Choruse: It looks like most are betting on . What do you think, ? The current odds are 1-24, to be exact. In other words, if the other player wins, someone betting 1 gold coins on him would get 25 gold coins as their payout. _ Melodyn: The fact that some of them still bet on her opponent is already telling. Due to a private agreement, one condition for to join the tournament was to participate without using any gear crafted by our guildmaster. Any stalker worth their salt would have noticed that her combat statuses took a big dive. _ Choruse: Not to mention she is not wielding her [Artifact] dual sword as it''s in our warehouse waiting to be upgraded. Equipment-wise, she is about as good as her opponent, which certainly does not bode well. Please lose horribly, . If you are out, we won''t have to worry about the grand prize staying unclaimed. _ Hessenria: I''m going to sew that mouth of yours shut after this!!! _ Melodyn: Thank you for your opinion on the organization of the tournament. Up next in the second match of Block A, we have¡­ The audience doesn''t think that was what the harsh mistress was talking about, but decides not to say anything for the sake of the mood. Besides, a lot of them have to look at the menu again after receiving such vital intel for their "business" after all. The odds became 1-4 by the time the first four matches started. While still not exactly good odds by any means, it is a massive improvement. ¡­ _ Choruse & Melodyn: Let the massacre¡­ BEGIN! The two commentators shoot an [Elemental Bolt] into the sky, signaling the start of the duels. Gladiators on all four rings waste no time engaging their opponents. There are [ Reinforced Glass Barrier]s made by the one and only sprouty girl between them, so there is no need to worry about stray shots affecting the outcomes of other pairs. Not that these players would when they have their own fight to win to begin with. The arena explodes in more than one way as its spectators shout the name of their favorites and stray shots fly all over the place. apparently forgot to commission the same indestructible barriers around the stage itself, and now the attacks that did not land on their intended targets are blowing up their bettors. Not a good way to impress investors, unless you are an attractive lady like that waitress over there. Nevertheless, dead spectators are promptly revived by nearby players so the situation is still under control¡­ for the most part at least. _ Melodyn: And is the winner! For all the prep talks and flags we made for the generic random player, he unceremoniously died to [Dark Bolt] without landing a single hit in return. _ Generic random player: I have a name! It''s¡­ _ Choruse: Yeah yeah, you are already out. Good luck next tournament. The referee drops the defeated player through a trapdoor in the middle of the ring before he could finish his sentence, along with the crushed hopes and dreams of the players who bet on him. Such despair brings warmth to the commentator sisters, though they will never admit to that. _ Vladina: Why did that guy fight without a countermeasure to ranged playstyles anyway¡­? _ Cinrald: I wonder. Maybe he thought preferred melee based on her weapon? Remaining battles rage on. ____________ The arena is not the only place crowded with people watching the tournament. In fact, why go there when they can enjoy the show with food, drinks and beautiful waitresses right here at the cafeteria? It''s not like the harsh mistress uses AoE or misses her target a whole lot anyway. _ Choruse: For the last match of Block B, we have ''s greatest stalker, the cavalry elf! _ Fuelri: Who the hell are you calling a stalker?! By capitalizing the real life culture of watching sport events in bars, crafted many [Projection Board]s in advance which are pretty much flat boards that act as the fantasy-version of a television. As expected, the patrons poured in to spend their coins for a good time. Even the branch restaurants are packed to 250% capacity, and yet it is still not enough to accommodate all of these (non-)alcohol and gambling addicts. may get a small cut from the betting money, but will not lose when it comes to profit from this event! _ Swordsman: That girl, is she strong? Unlike the majority of the guild, is not customer-facing, hence the relatively low popularity despite her high-spec appearance and¡­ assets. She is still trying her best to compete against the lead waitress, not knowing that the key to success was simply working the counter for two weeks so that the patrons come to remember who she is. And with the guild members being the same players who left to her own devices for their own amusement¡­ Let''s just say they wanted to let the elven knight find her own path to stardom, and supported her along the way like the good friends they are. Definitely not because these sadistic maniacs enjoyed seeing their friend struggling to the fullest. _ Magnemi: We chose her because she was the most eager to fight against . _ Swordsman: That reason?! As the short exchange was taking place, the match was already over. _ Choruse: Winner is . _ Swordsman: TOO FAST!!! _ Magnemi: I didn''t say she was weak though? Casually preparing the refills, ponders if she should start betting on seriously in future matches. The bloodless war among the gamblers is already in full swing. Chapter 68: Mid game analysis The Blood Sacrifice Battle Royale concluded its first round without too many civilian casualties. Only three times the deaths compared to that of the gladiators. That''s gotta count for¡­ something. Not safety, but something. And don''t even think about the wounded. _ Choruse: A reminder to all losers: Please remain dead and do not respawn. You can still use the menus while dead so feel free to throw the rest of your money away like you did your life, or not. You are dead to me either way. Most likely because they are already dead. _ Melodyn: We will enter a short break before the second round. Our guest of honor, , will join us for the analysis segment. Welcome to the party, . _ Vladina: Can I start with an advertisement for our guild? _ Melodyn: Denied~ It was worth a try at least. The little guildmaster of is always struggling with expanding her hare¡­ payroll, despite the (kind of) lax requirements on paper. As it turns out, she subconsciously gets turned off by most players who are not of her¡­ preferences, hence the lack of anyone that is not a cute young girl in their group. It is pretty much like impossible requests for marriage, and the first one is being a loli! The guild of the lolicons remains perpetually understaffed as long as their oblivious leader continues to personally interview their applicants. Not that they seem to mind much. _ Melodyn: So, aside from underage girls, did anyone catch your interest in the first round? _ Vladina: You want a fight or something? Anyway, I try to stay neutral in this event, lest my bias get the better of me, and my wallet. Or as anyone with the slightest familiarity with this pervert understands it, she does not care who wins when there is no little girl involved, as per usual. _ Choruse: I expected no less from our lolicon. Do you think certain playstyles have an edge in this tournament? _ Vladina: Participating as a guild gives the biggest advantage. Guild members are split into two blocks so they do not have to fight each other until the final, effectively doubling the winning chance for the guilds. They also have better economic backings than unaffiliated players, which translate to better equipment and skills. _ Choruse: Hmm¡­ Aligned players certainly won the majority of the fights against the non-aligned¡­ _ Vladina: I''m not saying that their guilds are the only thing that matters by the way. Summoners'' pets giving a huge numerical advantage in duels for example. Yes, I''m judging you guys, and the cavalry girl. At least both of you are in Block B so we won''t have a summon mirror match in the final. <> It appears that the gladiators in the underground waiting area are totally within earshot. They should be preparing for the upcoming matches instead of listening to the analysis filled with information already known to them and complaining with [World Voice] though. _ Vladina: On the same level is abusing OP items like a debuffing [Artifact] sword or overly-enchanted stick. Good luck, Block A, you''re gonna need it against these two monsters. _ Melodyn: did not use his rod in the first round, but he surely has it ready in his pants¡­'' pocket, ready to fire at a moment''s notice. I wonder if it will be longer than the previous one~? _ Choruse: It will be. What else can he do when his ability to shoot more than once is a lost cause anyway? The rich guildmaster''s chance to win the tournament: Not impossible. His reputation''s odds of leaving the arena intact: Zero. _ Vladina: Big toys aside, the worst ones are those who use no special trick, don''t you think? No surprise, no trickery. In other words, no weakness to be exploited after a countermeasure is found. The only way to beat such brute force tactics is to have your own trick, or apply greater brute force yourself. As someone whose main specialization is attacking weak points, might have a strong bias against this type, since her options are limited. That does not mean her opinions on the matter are invalid though. The playful discussion continues with the knowledgeable sage providing helpful insights while the waitress duo verbally abuses pretty much everyone on the roster the moment their names come up. What the commentators and their guest did not do, however, is to give away any info that skews the betting odds too much, mainly by the means of omission. They did not reveal that the guild affiliation is already largely irrelevant when most without a guild were already defeated in the first round, and the ones who managed to win were good enough to render the argument moot. Nor did they say anything about the finer details of the strengths and weaknesses of the winning playstyles, their interactions with each other, or countermeasures. Everything was kept at a surface level, so even newbies can understand, but unable to do much with it. Veterans who can already know all of this anyway. In the end, although the audience feels like they have learned something from the experts on the speaking platform, there''s barely any new information that will change their mind in their bets. If anything, they will double down, thinking that they are making an informed choice. Surely that cannot make their financial situation any worse, right? While the chat was ongoing, a certain guildmaster of popped out of a hidden trap door used for disposing dead players, then proceeded to nonchalantly jump over the transparent barriers to place new ones in front of the seats as if she owns the damn place. Appearances win in the end once again however. Who could scold an earnest little girl with a bright smile working her hardest for their sake? A few raised their eyebrows, but soon approvingly waved at her for the good work. She even returned the gestures in kind, which melted the hearts of many degenerates in view. Figuratively, of course. Except for the ominous dark glows, inhuman physical abilities, and a hyperspace inventory that somehow contained enough barriers to surround a stadium, Black Mantis was no doubt a good girl in today''s event. Not that she was ever a bad girl. Perish the thought! _ Melodyn: Thank you for you inputs, . We shall see how many homes and families you will destroy with your predictions today. _ Vladina: Why me!? _ Choruse: The second round of Blood Sacrifice Battle Royale will begin shortly. Please do not forget to place your bets. Leaning back on her chair, tries to sip her tea after a job well done, but find herself in quite a cramped space. Must have been the chair. _ Vladina: By the way¡­ _ Melodyn & Choruse: Hmm~? _ Vladina: How long are you two going to sandwich me like this? Or the two busty waitresses pressing against her from both sides using their body fat. _ Melodyn: Oh my~ Is this still not enough for you? _ Choruse: Full frontal assault it is then. _ Vladina: Are you trying to suffocate me to death?! Go explode, you damn balloon monsters!!! The psychopathic at the back has a good laugh as the guest of honor gets squished to death by her biggest arch-nemesis. Going down in glorious "combat", indeed. ____________ The next three rounds were intense, but ultimately did not reveal any new promising newbies rising to power. A bit disappointing, yet unsurprising. It''s not like they are in a comic in which a nobody randomly appears and wrecks one of the biggest guilds on her second day or something along those lines. In Block A, mowed down all opposition by superior firepower. The battlemage from put up a good fight in the last match and got the waitress''s HP down to half. Still got murdered soon after though. , guildmaster of , wielder of Extra Long Rod MkII (dubbed by ), began showing off his scepter as he faced against a surprisingly strong butler in the third round. His opponent used a [Fishy Dumpluck], so it''s no wonder why the merchant had such a rough time despite his superior equipment. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. On the other hand, the ordinary knight ''s fights were abnormally normal. His quirk is engulfing his enemies in a thin black smoke, which is not that different from other debuff effects. Otherwise, nothing stood out in his fights as he valiantly struck down weakened opponents, this time without dying in the process. The last one to join the quarterfinals in this block is the haughty leader of the Blue Blood Federation alliance, . With no [Artifact] grade equipment of his own and a glass cannon build, the player base is treating him as a discount , with melee weapon, and cat ears. Apparently, the audience cares more about the last part than his skillsets or potential tricks up his sleeve. As for Block B, , the macho ringleader of Unity of Mankind, and also ''s sworn enemy, was eliminated by a maid in his own alliance. Whether by bad matchup, underestimation of his (formerly) poor subordinate, a delicious dumpling, or a combination of those, the maid defeated him in the name of after a brutal battle. Everyone decided not to ask which side she was actually on. and his fiery bird Etena had it almost too easy. His last enemy barely managed to defeat the bird once, after which the guildmaster promptly cast [Resurrection] like it was no big deal. Compared to what he usually goes through, it really wasn''t. Next one to join the quarterfinals was , pincushioning everyone on his path to greatness. Even some AoE attacks were thrown his way to no avail. It would only take one attack to kill him. Unfortunately, or expectedly, that one attack never came. And last but not least, the cavalry elf. Saved for a close [Slam] that almost knocked her off the stage for a ring out, she won quite handily in the same manner as . That being said, this reckless elf was way too close to her enemies instead of staying back and let her pet do the killing. The game-winning strategy of a no-death summoner run is going strong as ever. ____________ _ Melodyn & Choruse: Thank you for the wait~ The quarterfinals will begin shortly. For the first match¡­ With 120 out of 128 participants dead or knocked off the stage, mostly dead, the stadium heats up like never before. Eight players against each other, most are big names even before this tournament, and their prowess proven in their previous fights. The stakes are high, and the betting money higher. One wrong move can be the difference between wealth and poverty for a good chunk of the players sitting here and around the game world. And as statistics goes, the majority of them would make the poverty line look like a luxury by the time this event is done, if it has not already. _ Thelia: They really are going to let just¡­ pick up all of the dividing barriers, four arena rings, plop down a new one bigger than all combined in their place, and not batting an eye huh? Oh, this squid is good. For reference, each small ring is more than 20 meters in diameter, which is more than most buildings'' height in Tyrel. The big ring itself is the original one used in the prelims, which takes up most of the stage area. Their weight must be a few tons at minimum, and the little girl was skipping around with such baggage, totally unencumbered. Physics is taking a nice vacation today as well. _ Helen: I''m pre~tty sure it''s a bit too late to worry about that? Hmm~ The steak is not half bad either. Here, say "Ah~". _ Thelia: Ah- *Nom* Un, it''s good. In hours-long events, snacks are indispensable. Whether steaks can be considered a snack is up for debate though. Around the brazenly flirting couple, most are also enjoying their own snack, in tears. It''s because the food is delicious, okay? They are definitely not upset about not having a cute girlfriend to enjoy it with, which that oblivious couple over there is totally not helping! and cooked the food themselves, but it wasn''t the case for the rest of the audience. Players here can do many things, but cooking is not one of them. Cooking alone in the wilderness is time-consuming, and sad. Mostly sad, really. So, the solution is a no-brainer: They bought the food, like any sane person would do upon entering a theatre. There was no way the cafeteria crew would ignore the golden opportunity to provide their services in this place full of players with money to burn. As such, speed demons of are blazing through the crowds with their food carts, selling an amount of food that is comparable to their guildmaster''s inventory weight. They might not have the STR to carry all of it, but they have the numbers, and more importantly, [Recall] to go back and forth between runs. It is reassuring to see the popcorn being delivered by logistic on a scale normally seen only in warfare. Their hard work was for a reason. This is a time when patrons eat food for the atmosphere rather than the buffs. Therefore, no one would mind if their meals were made from cheap and numerous low-quality materials which do not provide good buffs. The virtual taste buds'' satisfaction is all that matters. It is also a time when a price hike does not raise questions. Of course, blatantly charging double would be too obvious, so they did not. However, since the cooks'' monetary and time expenses are reduced to half by crafting with the low-level materials in question, the result was pretty much the same. And because more sales mean more profit, they even put in a 10% sale. To the spectators, having the cost staying the same in a big event is already a miracle. A sale appears borderline suicidal in the economic sense, until one looks at their actual profit margin gained by cutting corners and realizes that the sale was only a fa?ade. The price was increased all along, just in a subtler way. The cafeteria is already raking in cash even before the climax of the tournament, regardless of each member''s gambling effort. So is , for their cutthroat services as analysts for gamblers. Their representatives in the tournament are already out, so this is the only thing left for them to do for profit, really. is not getting much out of this, surprisingly, except for a notable surge in sales of cheap cooking materials. If the busty managers were hired individually as consultants by a certain former bartender, they certainly did not inform their busy superior. ____________ On the other side of the arena, behind the commentators, two guildmasters are casually crunching their popcorns while discussing the current situation of the tournament. _ Cinrald: Out of the big four guilds, two were eliminated. Two only have guildmasters left. On the other hand, two new guilds have both members in quarterfinals¡­ Well, this is embarrassing. The archer is laughing heartily, as if she expected this outcome. Then again, this is also the person who laughs when the odds are against her. She is simply enjoying the fights and cares not about the winner''s identity. _ Vladina: I would not call or new guilds per se. Their core members are as old as us. Our guild was not combat-oriented so it''s understandable, although I was hoping they could make it further for more dumplings¡­ _ Cinrald: Mine were good soldiers, but they were outclassed by and . Haaa~ I wish I could have joined too~! Judging by the performance in the past rounds, and might have had a chance if they had been put against the lesser-known players, namely the players from the new alliances. Instead, they had to face the strongest killing machines in their blocks early on, and suffered a predictable defeat. The two are not upset by it though. was never one to cry over spilled milk, and thinks that they had already lost if they needed a good matchup to win to begin with. _ Vladina: Why didn''t you? It''s not like someone hired you to stay here, unlike me. _ Cinrald: I have way too much information on the participants as the organizer. Will join the fray when someone else rented the place and hold a new tournament. _ Vladina: Why the heck are you always so obsessed with a fair fight when yours opponents don''t even understand that concept! She was talking about a particular sprouty girl, but considering that all of ''s recent major enemies, except for the Nox, were involved with that cutie and never had a one-versus-one proper, one way or another¡­ The statement was not wrong, technically. _ Cinrald: *Shrugs* That''s just how I am. Oh, why don''t you call your dead members up here? To have more variety during the analysis. This woman is already being influenced by the balloon monsters and whoever in charge of the event planning, silently thinks . It is draining to be the only sane person sometimes. _ Vladina: They are still dead down there because you asked them to stay dead. What kind of administrative nightmare do you have that requires them to stay there for so long anyway? None of the dead players have come out, or at least the ones that she''s acquainted with. For what is supposed to be some bookkeeping and possibly distribution of rewards, whatever is doing with them is taking forever. To her surprise, is tilting her head in confusion as well. _ Cinrald: No idea? That''s ''s job. _ Vladina: Eh? _ Cinrald: She asked for the job in exchange for the sponsorship, so I just leave a party of janitors down there with her to help with whatever she wants to do. _ Vladina: ¡­I think my ears are failing me. I thought you said something about my sprout girl PAYING you to WORK for you. _ Cinrald: I didn''t say anything about her being yours, but you got the rest correctly. facepalms. Not what a high class gothic lolita should be seen doing, but she has to do that anyway. _ Vladina: And you just accepted that without any question whatsoever?! Knowing the cute pacifist girl, there is probably no complex hidden scheme filled with backstabbing and betrayals in the work. It was way too obvious for one. Unless the maniacs in her guild were involved, she most likely only wanted something and overdid the compensation one way or another. The consequences of her trying to achieve that "something", however, are another question altogether. One does not have to be a perverted loli sage to know that after a few run-ins with the person in question. _ Cinrald: What else was I supposed to do? If it weren''t for her, I doubt we could even fill the stadium¡­ _ Vladina: Have normal people accompany her! What if you guys'' obsession with muscles spreads to my dear little girl?! _ Cinrald: That point?! In fact, not being a perverted loli sage and having sane priorities may just be the better choice to foresee the incoming troubles. The dead gladiators of and were ordered to keep an eye on Black Mantis soon after. Unfortunately, sneaking around in a cardboard box was rejected as dead bodies have a hard time sneaking, or do anything for that matter. --- Topic: Recall network monopoly --- ## Big Hammer A delivery girl just Recalled next to me for the third time in five minutes. This begs a question, the spell is a logistician''s dream comes true, so why is everyone letting Sapling Cuisine have monopoly on the Recall network around the world? (?_?) ## ## Deeply Intelligent We are not though? (¡ã_¡ã) Contrary to gossips and rumors, we Phoenix Ashes do not reinforce our encampments on foot. Admittedly, our Recall infrastructure consists of a big container filled with Recall stones in a corner of our guildhall, but it does the job of bringing our members to the frontline without burning half of their MP casting the skill. ## ## Manly Warrior I think Pathwrecker was doing the same during their expeditions. Not sure why BB Conglomerate did not try to make money off a public network though. We don¡¯t have towns outside of Tyrel yet, but there is a lot of demand for quickly moving around hunting zones. ## ## Silver Merchant We did, and it didn''t work. (^_^;) Even with Blueprint to somewhat protect the destination constructions, a raid will destroy them, rendering them unavailable for a few hours until respawn. Cafeteria''s network is immune to this somehow. We cannot reverse-engineer this since no one, probably including the monsters, knows where the heck their constructions are! Efficiency for hybrid Recall items are ridiculously bad. Those of you who complain about the pricing of the cafeteria, the estimated minimum price in our plans just to break even will give you a really, really bad time. (;_;) Consumable Recall items are not better. We can''t afford to have an army of crafters churning out those orbs without making the cafeteria''s menu look cheap in comparison. As you can see, there was no way to make a profit from such a massive project. We were still bickering with other guilds back then, so there was no incentive to lose money on something that would help the enemies, even if it would also help ourselves. Now that we have a common enemy to fight against, said enemy is already offering that very service at a price and quality we cannot refuse. (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß ## ## CuteIsJustice So money talks in the end. (©`©`;) I''m not disagreeing with your reasoning but¡­ How dare you consider our angel an enemy!!! (££?§¥?) ## ------ Chapter 69: A new doctrine On the ring, an old feud is going to be settled, again. Apparently these things don''t get resolved after one side got their butt handed to them, as long as they don''t give up hope. And hope for more beautiful ladies with great assets is something the guildmaster of has aplenty. _ Olkan: , my love, the offer to join my guild still stands you know? Without context, one can never guess that this scene of a handsome man on a throne smiling kindly at his crush is the beginning of a duel to the death. Sure, "death" is only a mild inconvenience to both of them. Doesn''t make his behavior less surreal though, especially when the other party is glaring at him like he was society''s figurative and literal trash with a sprinkle of radioactive nuclear waste on top. _ Hessenria: Please do everyone a favor and drop dead, you damn pig. There''s no little girl for you to swing your junk around this time and you think you can win? Get your delusional rear to do something productive instead of bullying defenseless kids if you want to have any chance against me, you piece of rotten kitchen refuse with no redeeming quality!!! _ Olkan: UWAH! Anything but calling me a lolicon, please! The harsh mistress of the tavern is at full power today, and it wouldn''t be verbal abuse if the victim finds it (wholly) enjoyable! _ Melodyn: Thank you, , for your generous service. Makes you wonder what kind of degeneracy our guildmaster promised for her to be this eager in addition to showing up¡­ _ Hessenria: I heard that! _ Choruse: That''s why we need to hurry this up and find out. Get ready! _ Olkan: Wait! My heart is not ready yet! _ Choruse: Don''t care. Fight! And so begins the first match of the quarterfinals. The handsome man''s delicate heart was promptly ignored by everyone since he is almost certainly not a blushing maiden in love before her first date. Except for a few brave souls who tried to put the snaky merchant in that imaginary scene for the sake of science. Their sacrifices will not be missed. _ Melodyn: Both combatants have opted to use buff consumables as their first actions! Get your popcorn out folks, for we are going to have a long game ahead! Time and money spent on buffing yourself is time and money wasted not bashing your enemy in the face, so players prefer getting straight to the action instead. Because all participants are at max level, their buffs are usually at the same strength and won''t make a difference if the opponent uses buffs as well. It is when one thinks they have better buffs or their buffs are specialized that they need to use it. For , it was the highest quality consumables that his guild does not sell to the market. He has to put everything into his defense stats to survive the onslaught long enough. As for , she went all-in for MAT to increase her skill''s damage, so much that min-maxing magi are chewing their handkerchiefs in jealousy as they see her total MAT in the betting menu. Although that left every other stats to be desired, the status difference between a merchant cooped up in the guildhall and a combat specialist surrounded by depraved idiots makes it an even playing field. Being the daring and brave hero that he is, immediately raises his brand new tower shield and braces for impact. Tower shields are a bit bulky to carry around. Still, the increased surface area against projectiles is worth it. Meanwhile, decides to take it easy instead. It''s not like she has to do crazy stunts to distract this guy in front of her this time. Staying at long range or ramming into melee range ensures her chance of dodging anything coming her way. It''s the medium and short range in between that are dangerous. A few seconds passed without either of them doing anything. Having finished hunkering down behind his shield, was the first one to break the stalemate. _ Olkan: Take this! And this! And also this! Not just one, but three white magical bolts launch from him in quick succession. Everyone was caught by surprise, included. She dives to the side and begins to book it with the homing bolts right on her tail. _ Melodyn: I''m not sure how he did it, but opened up with a barrage instead of a one-hit wonder! _ Choruse: ¡­That is just a rod without [Overcharge]. _ Melodyn: Shhhh~! Anyway, cannot just shrug them off either. If it is properly enchanted, it will still deal a good amount of damage, and surely more reliable than counting on a single shot to decide the battle! Every one to three shots, he would switch to a different scepter with identical appearance and continue the barrage. No one knows how many he has in his inventory, just that there is at least one overcharged scepter he used to kill his previous opponents, and it is nigh impossible to know when he would use it, or if he had already used it. By keeping her distance and focusing fully on evasive maneuvers, the waitress made a full circle around the ring without getting hit. While she may not have the SPD and reflexes of speedy min-maxers, she has played this game long enough to understand the homing mechanics and "dance" around them unscathed, as long as the number of assailants remain few. That does not make her current situation any less tedious though. It is taxing on her mind just to keep track of the projectiles, let alone counterattack. She doubts that guy would mix his trump card in this constant barrage just yet. He would wait until she takes damage, either by mistake or enduring it to strike back, only then would he pull "that" rod out and fire. The harsh waitress lets out an uncharacteristic long sigh as she realizes she''s always stuck with maniacs specialized in attrition warfare, be it or . What a pain. She obviously is not going to play into her opponent''s strong point. The best way to do that is to close in and smack him, in the face, with a sword, or two, repeatedly. Again, it''s the closing in that is dangerous. She needs to approach without being overwhelmed by attacks from all directions. _ Choruse: is heading straight to ! My ghoulish mother''s last words were "Don''t bring knife to a bow fight", so our waitress should probably take that into account. _ Melodyn: And she said that twice. She re~ally should have learned after the first death. While everyone was confused by the tear jerking if not a bit bizarre backstory from the dark elven sisters, has entered the kill zone where she is the most vulnerable. Still out of melee range, too close for comfort, that kind of thing. Seeing her opponent preparing for another attack, she pulls her countermeasure out of her inventory and puts it in between them. _ Olkan: What the heck is that?! A scarecrow. One with a sprout on top of its head, to be exact. An army of scarecrows comes into existence as throws one after another in front of her. They are surprisingly weak, breaking apart after being hit once or twice, yet is retreating backwards. For the spectators to his sides, they could see the dread on his face too. The reason for these dummies is not obvious at the first glance, but a merchant''s intuition is only second to that of ladies. For one, the seemingly decorative furniture is absorbing attacks. A bolt smashing into them is a bolt wasted, and he is already hard-pressed as it is without this¡­ whatever this tactic is. Another problem is that his opponent is dead set on having the scarecrows blocking his line of sight. As trivial as it sounds, the targeting will pick up the piece of furniture in the way instead of the actual target since it is a valid target in itself. Only someone with good understanding of the system could come up with this kind of metagaming, like this waitress who has been playing since the first day of closed beta for instance. There''s no way he can win head-on, that is for certain. His main strategy was winning with overwhelming firepower before dying in melee, which is kind of not working so far. However, he is a merchant, and a true merchant would never venture without an exit strategy! _ Olkan: [Slam Bomb]! *BOOM* _ Hessenria: Kuh! The waitress avoided the throw, but still got blasted backward by the bomb. The bigger the blast radius, the worse the damage tends to be for balance reasons, so this one definitely won''t be killing anyone anytime soon. What it does have is a high knockback effect to delay enemy''s advance. There''s also a [Stun] effect, but as the attack power is so low, it''s not going to happen. A glimmer of hope forms in ''s mind. If he can keep the distance, eventually he will land a hit. Sure, homing won''t work when he cannot see through the smoke, but dodging is equally if not more hindered, and blind firing is not that hard when he knows the general direction of the target anyway. He begins to believe that he can actually win. Until rushes out of the smoke towards him before he can even switch his scepter, that is. The bomb was the backup instead of the main plan for a reason. _ Hessenria: DIE! The sounds of the spectators'' cheering upon that scene were enough to drown out all of the bombs thrown in this tournament up to this point combined. Facing against superior adversary, long item cooldowns, disadvantageous positioning, and worst of all, public opinion, the heroic leader of ¡­ _ Olkan: AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! ¡­Starts screaming like a little girl. Despite the embarrassing act, he did fight viciously until the bitter end. Throwing bombs to push his opponent away, using up his strongest scepters, even going so far as using a sword to fight in melee just to chip off a bit more HP in vain. He had already paid for the scepters and consumables, might as well use all of them for their intended purpose. After a long and painful struggle, went out with a bang in the literal sense. A miracle did not happen for him, except for a scarecrow stuck on his butt for some inexplicable reason. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Everyone here knows not to think about it too deeply, for their own sake. _ Dead Olkan: Welp, this was even worse than last time. _ Hessenria: Because you didn''t have a few dozen henchmen to absorb the hits this time. _ Dead Olkan: How am I supposed to do that in a tournament¡­? Anyway, win the championship for me, will ya? _ Hessenria: ¡­No, I''ll win for the prize. _ Dead Olkan: The atmosphere is important!!! ____________ _ Melodyn: has scored another hit! Will be defeated without being able to return the favor even once?! After a quick strike from the flank, the cat-eared leader of Blue Blood Federation immediately disengaged to a safe distance. Safe distance in this case is pretty much a few steps back since fights in melee. _ Choruse: Well, ''s build is glass cannon so he will be dead if hits him once. is strafing around for an opening. Melee glass cannons are at much more risk than ranged builds and requires a lot of patience to pull off. In exchange, it hits like a truck due to making good use of sneak attacks to ignore a good chunk of the target''s defense. And is definitely feeling it. _ Elix: That one was for ! _ Ignar: I didn''t fight him though?! And weren''t you his enemy?! _ Elix: I promised to defeat him in the finals, but you robbed me of that chance! Now I will just kill everyone in my way! _ Ignar: ¡­It''s the same plan except for who you fight in the finals! While the mighty warrior was distracted by little details, goes in again. Bait an attack, evade, counterattack from the flanks or rear for a sneak attack, rinse and repeat. As soon as the half-cat gets into range, swings his sword. And just like previous attempts, all he manages to slash is empty air. His opponent has already jumped back and used [Leap] to close in again from his left side. Just as planned. _ Elix: [Pierce]! _ Ignar: [Slam]!!! Much to the rogue''s surprise, a kite shield manifests into existence between him and the warrior. He is still in the middle of the jump by [Leap], and therefore has no way to evade the big metal plate coming in his direction. *WHAM* True to the words of the commentators, that one shield bash in the kisser was all it took to end the match. There was no need for the fancy [Night] sword at all. , mighty wielder of a legendary sword, leader of , continues his winning streak by questionable means of trickeries and kicking the opponents while they are debuffed. ____________ Block B''s quarterfinals start with the ill-mannered assassin, , and the utterly depraved maid, . Both are quite well-known among the player base. for his "helpful" advices in the tavern, and for her display of degeneracy in her own shop. As such, the spectators are already dubbing this match "The battle of horrible personalities" on the board. It is not known if the winner will be considered to have a better or worse personality. Not that "better" in this case is much of a compliment to begin with. _ Cosetha: Even though it pains me to point my blade towards one of pure blood, only I can save from the horrendous half-blooded torment she is going through! After that, we will be able to walk to the sunset while h-h-holding hands intimately! To already assume of holding hands, she is truly the most wicked of the wicked. The audience are totally cheering for naughty girl though. _ Maximus: Lolol! Get your head out of your *BEEP* ya scrub! You can''t even get your *BEEP* out of harm''s way without doping, and you think you stand a chance against that woman? Is that brain of yours filled with trash materials or something? Or completely empty even, heh. While both are about on the same level of rottenness, is being booed through and through. The bias toward cute girls (appearance-wise) is going strong today as well. _ Choruse: The half-blooded torment she mentioned¡­ That was us, wasn''t it? _ Melodyn: Shhhh~! Get ready, FIGHT ON~!!! The fight to the death begins like an eating contest, with the depraved maid pulling back and chowing down on the poor dumpling as quick as she can. Unlike [Alchemy] consumables, food has to be eaten normally. In the context of a duel, that means spending many precious seconds occupied with stuffing your mouth while the enemy is trying to slap you with the biggest stick they have. Not a desirable situation to be in, simply put, hence the need to stay as far back as possible. Of course, being the kind and easygoing gentleman that he is, the (self-proclaimed) honorable assassin would never give chase or something like that. He will just stand in place, pull out his own dumpling, and eat it. _ Cosetha: ¡­! _ Maximus: ¡­ While maintaining constant eye contact to assert dominance! One cannot really choke in this game, but whatever was feeling at the time came pretty close to it. She was so high on power, she forgot that dumplings were sold in the cafeteria. They are as expensive as high-level equipment, but there was nothing stopping anyone from buying for personal use, or in ''s case, getting them as compensation for a party member''s science-related deaths. Without the attributes and statuses advantage, the maid is merely a level-capped player (albeit a very degenerate one) whose combat capability is nothing of note. In other words, her chance against the professional PvPer in front of her is paper-thin, to put it mildly. Needless to say, her opponent is fully aware of that. And that is why is breaking out a nasty grin that is normally seen only on serial criminals before they act. _ Maximus: Get REKT, fridgin'' noooooob!!! _ Cosetha: KYAAAAAAAAAA!!! The battle was one-sided. ____________ _ Melodyn: And now, the ultimate showdown between the greatest summoners in this tournament! The phoenix versus the dragon, who will win? Let the battle¡­ BEGIN~! _ Spectators: OOOOOHHHHHH!!! _ Choruse: Wasn''t that a salamander? _ Fuelri: Sateri-chan dammit , it''s a drake!!! The gladiators summon their pets right off the bat. Some of their previous opponents did try to kill them during that short moment, so having both taking it easy and glare at each other menacingly is a nice change of pace. is even gracious enough to wait for to jump on her mount. Or confident. Probably both. Neither of them uses any buffs. While is a big guild, they do not have much going for crafting. There is no advantage for him to use [Alchemy] items except for healing potions until the opponent buffs herself first. After the slow and peaceful start, they finally begin the actual fight. _ Torenis: Etena, [Dive]. The flaming bird starts its run towards the cavalry girl like a heat-seeking missile, but burning. One might wonder if it would seek itself due to the heat, but fantasy worlds don''t have missiles so they don''t delve too much into that thought. _ Fuelri: Let''s go, Ren! Charging forward, the pair is right on collision course with Etena. Everyone was holding their breath for the impending massive explosion¡­ _ Fuelri: [Leap]! Just to find the oversized salamander jumping over the not-phoenix as if it was in a hurdling race. The lengths players in this tournament will go to avoid getting hit, even if they are tanks¡­ _ Torenis: Tsk. Despite the sudden maneuver, ''s guildmaster was not surprised, only annoyed. Since his summon is practically immortal save for a constant stream of instant-kill attacks, the only way to win is engaging him directly. Them coming at him is not only taken into account, but fully expected. had a plan for this exact scenario, naturally. The enemy is an angry elf with a halberd in her right hand, so the best course of action is evading to his right side at the last second, since it is harder to swing a polearm to the opposite side on a mount. A perfect plan, he would say¡­ *THWACK* Until a javelin stabs straight into his forehead. _ Torenis: GUAH!!! He did not see that coming. _ Melodyn: A direct hit! was so focused on fantasizing about holding hands with the mistress of the cafeteria, he did not notice switching arms to her javelins! _ Torenis: Who the heck would want to hold hands with her!? I am going to beat her up for ruining the treasury back then! As expected of a master strategist, his mental fortitude allows him to throw a retort back at the commentator while diving out of the way of the salamander, with a javelin still stuck on his face. Now, his physical fortitude is also being put to the test as the elf continues homing in on him. He is not going toe-to-toe with that, obviously, so he is legging it as fast as his SPD allows. The elf using ranged weapons was not planned, but not something he cannot handle. After all, he has fought several archers in the past. The general strategy remains the same: Keep evading and let Etena do the hard work. That being said, archers don''t usually charge straight at him with a fire-breathing pet so this experience is definitely new to him! _ Fuelri: Sorry, but I will be the one to beat ! Don''t worry though, I will make sure to smack her in your place, if she even gets to the final that is! A third of the audience thinks the two look like love rivals. Another third thinks they sound like love rivals. The remaining third thinks they act like love rivals. They are probably love rivals. _ Melodyn: , why do you think chose javelins over bows? Roleplay? Real life habits? Length and thickness of the shaft? _ Fuelri: What does the last one have to do with anything?! _ Choruse: Good question, . Bows are considered superior because their PAT is added to that of the arrows. There is almost no reason to exchange the image of an elegant elven knight sniping with a bow for javelins¡­ It has to be the shaft, doesn''t it¡­? _ Fuelri: LIKE HELL IT IS!!! I obviously wanted to avoid looking like a typical elven knight! No one understands her reasoning even if she says "obviously", obviously. The peaceful scene of a smart-looking guy running for his dear life from an angry gal throwing and swinging deadly weapons continues for a while. Everyone but the flame bird took many hits from the interception attempts of both sides. Potions were consumed like water, and it seemed like this would drag on until one player runs out of those healing orbs first. Everything changed when the cavalry elf stopped chasing for no apparent reason. _ Fuelri: Good, everything''s ready. Ordering her pet to step aside to avoid another assault from Etena, the elf looks at the strategist still running away to gain as much distance as possible. _ Fuelri: You can run, but you cannot hide. Mana, grant me strength! Guide me to my enemy, so I can enact the divine retribution! Before anyone can comprehend the sentences which read like they have been ripped straight out of a middle schooler''s diary, the elf has disappeared in a blinding light¡­ And appeared in front of . _ Torenis: What the¡­ _ Fuelri: [Rapid Assault]! The guildmaster received a full torrent of blows before he manages to disengage successfully. However, the salamander catches up to him from behind and chomps on his head. He escapes in another direction, though not without losing a few more chunks of HP from the attempts on his life. _ Choruse: has managed to outmaneuver in one fell swoop! I am not sure what she did except that she most likely used [Recall], but if she is going to teleport around like our guildmaster did in a particular clip on the board, '' gladiator is in big trouble! The spectators roar in excitement after the sudden turn of events. None of them understands what is happening either, but they are happy to see the actions kicking up a notch. _ Fuelri: No matter where you go, the light of justice will show me the way to deliver your punishment! With each cringey sentence, the great strategist finds himself in the middle of a pincer attack. The elf will be in [Leap] distance, dishing out a massive amount of damage before he can turn anywhere else. Her pet will be in hot pursuit right after, which is definitely not helping his situation. Because their approaches became so erratic, can no longer run in circles, or any kind of planned route really, nor can he have his pet do charging attacks as soon as the skills are off cooldowns. His DPS plummets, while that of his opponent hits a new high. In other words, he is in deep. His struggles to find a counter to this uncanny play came to an end soon after that. "End" as in he got stunned after a [Slam] in the face at half health, beaten senseless by two monstrosities for the whole duration, stunned again by a well-timed [Charged Slam] once the first [Stun] wore off, then finally succumbed to the various wounds that may or may not require some censorship if they are to be shown in this game. One might say that he got done in by bad luck, but as things stood, had him in her reach for all intents and purposes. She could strike with almost perfect accuracy, so it was only a matter of time before two successive stuns landed. As good as is as a player, his attributes and stats were not that high, which only helped to hasten his demise. Leaving all of the combat to the pet usually has that problem. _ Dead Torenis: Seriously, what the heck was that? Can you even be called cavalry if you get off the horse to fight?! _ Fuelri: Actually, by the time machine guns were widely used, cavalry mostly used horses for transport then dismounted to fight on foot. _ Dead Torenis: That era?! The so-called cavalry girl just shrugs as pops out and drags both and Etena into the corpse-disposing trapdoor. As long as it works and she is still categorized as cavalry, she won''t be hung up on the small details. She is already out for relying on technicalities though. _ Fuelri: Uh¡­ By the way, can I clean up the ring before I leave? _ Referee: Sure¡­? proceeds to pick up small near-transparent glass plates all over the arena for the next ten minutes. Unless they know what to look for, there is no way to see them from a distance, let alone notice someone dropping it on the ground in a chaotic situation, like an intense cat-and-mouse game in which a "cat" is blindingly bright by being on literal fire for example. After some confusion about their functionality, the secret of the teleporting (dismounted) cavalry is finally revealed. There was no [Recall] network in the arena for her to abuse, so she made one herself and did it anyway! ____________ The quarterfinals ended with only players from two guilds remaining. players won much more handily performance-wise, but it was and ''s victories in the quarterfinals that shook the game''s meta to the core. In the next few days, a brand new doctrine would take shape. Focusing on (ab)using futuristic hyperspace arsenal and liberal applications of [Construction] items in said space to gain an advantage over the enemy, it will transcend modern day tactics, changing the way wars are waged forever. And from then on out, the player base shall call it¡­ Furniture warfare. Historians are not amused. Chapter 70: Starlet of the stage Everyone in the Great Arena is taking a small break before the semifinals. After went back to the waiting area, a janitor party of macho men bombard the ring to kingdom come in order to destroy any [Recall] disc she might have missed during her cleanup. That certainly is more efficient than spending another ten minutes trying to find and pick them up by hand, and totally not because these maniacs have been itching to blow stuff up. Why did they not do it earlier to avoid wasting time? They were not aware of those discs, and when they learned of the discs'' existence, they were occupied because of reasons that might or might not have involved a long theory-crafting discussion with in their waiting room. Their guildmaster would ban them from watching tournaments on the clock afterwards, but it was totally worth it. _ Choruse: Planned or not, it looks like we will have a guild-versus-guild situation between and . What do you think of this development, ? _ Vladina: Feeling sad because it developed too fast to have a loli in the semifinals. _ Choruse: Aside from little girls, please. _ Vladina: Well, one is filled with mostly old-timers and led by a newbie, while the other is full of newbies and managed by old-timers. Neither has a dominant fighting style so there is no telling what is going to happen in the coming matches, especially after the flashy displays from . At the same time, players both have [Artifact]-grade equipment and status advantage over their respective opponents. I would not count them out just yet. _ Melodyn: It is ironic, isn''t it~? For our guild to be fighting at a status disadvantage. Who do you think will become the champion? _ Vladina: Bragging, aren''t you¡­? Forget the finals, I don''t even know how the upcoming match would go! Analysis needs a lot of preparation you know!? Give a warning at least three days in advance before surprising me with new playstyles!!! _ Melodyn: It would not be a surprise anymore in that case¡­ _ Vladina: I don''t care! I am a sage who obtained knowledge by actual scientific methodologies, not a suspicious old prophet walking around villages spouting conspiracies after conspiracies until the last boss accidentally commits one of them! The guildmaster of has snapped. She is not the most patient person when dealing with surprises, or pretty much anything unknown really. _ Vladina: Ehem! Sorry, lost my cool there. Anyway, I honestly do not know what will happen from this point on out. Theorize all you want, but that will be just as useful as a coin toss. Actually, tossing a coin is faster, and there is no false assumption driving you to the wrong conclusion. _ Choruse: Huh¡­ Did you get heads or tails? _ Vladina: ¡­That''s confidential information. In the last few minutes of the break, the spectators scramble to find who to bet on, starting with and in Block A. A good chunk of them are not good at crunching numbers, so they resort to the second-best course of action, which is listening to the expert and tossing a coin. The curious overseeing Goddess pulls the statistics and finds the average odds roughly 50-50, predictably. Other players don''t rely on their luck when their savings are at stake. They calmly analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each combatant, past performance indicators as well as other factors that will affect the match. Considering how little time they have, the amount of theories and arguments thrown around is astounding, even for an AI. As for the odds the number crunchers come up with¡­ Also 50-50. ¡­There''s no way that was intentional. Still, the little guildmaster did in fact give correct advice, even if she did not mean it that way. A bullseye''s a bullseye though, so a reward is in order. [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Fortunate Teller"] [Fortunate Teller: The person who tells the odds, who also happens to be fortunate. Allow inspection of probabilities using the insights of the Goddess.] _ Vladina: What the heck is this!!! _ Choruse: ¡­Sis, I think is going through little girls withdrawal. _ Vladina: I am not! Actually, I am! But that''s not the problem here! Through sheer dumb luck, once again solidifies her position as the most knowledgeable player in the game. With the newfound power, there is no secret, even those of RNGod, will be out of her grasp! Except for how she actually got this title, that is! It doesn''t count if Sateri-chan refuses to disclose the unlock condition for it! ____________ The semifinal of Block A starts off quite¡­ peacefully. As peacefully as a duel can get anyway. There was no verbal abuse, no shouting contest, no nothing. Not even a hateful glare between the combatants! Sure, and are acquaintances, and the gentleman warrior was never one to ask to be stepped on so there was no reason for them to lash out at each other. Problem is, when almost every interaction before a match is hostile, the ones that are not are more terrifying in comparison. _ Hessenria: Nothing against you, , but I''ll have to ask you to die here. _ Ignar: No offense taken. Out of curiosity¡­ What will happen if you actually win the tournament? _ Hessenria: *Shrugs* I date myself for a day on the clock, or as you guys usually call it, "Paid time off". _ Ignar: Hahaha, fair enough. Say, what do you think about letting me have this match, and in return, I leave you alone on the date. It''s not like you girls need the rewards your guildmaster donated to the tournament in the first place. Win-win, right? _ Melodyn: Hey~! No flirting with the barmaid~! Indeed, did not join the tournament for the money, nor the dumplings. She mostly joined to avoid being thrown into a date with a weirdo first and foremost, and some backdoor deals with second. just all but said out loud that he wasn''t interested in dating her, so if he wins this match and the next, the waitress will not be forced to do anything anyway. ¡­Somehow, that kind of pisses her off. Of course not everyone is into her appearance and personality, but getting a preemptive rejection in the face still hurts her pride a bit. Yup, let''s murder him. _ Hessenria: Sorry, I''ll have to decline your offer. Now please die on the double. The cold glare back at full power, much to the surprise and joy of the spectators. _ Ignar: Wait, why?! _ Choruse: Confession failed. Now fight! _ Melodyn: A maiden''s heart is complicated, isn''t it~? More like a death trap with no way out, think the single players sitting around the arena. *BOOM* *BOOM* Two almost simultaneous explosions engulfed both and right off the start. Before anyone could comprehend the situation, the mighty warrior had rushed out of the dust cloud. _ Ignar: UUUUUOOOOOOOOHHH!!! And with a heroic battle cry, he charges towards the other cloud, where his opponent is supposed to be. Little did he know, the blond waitress who hacked to death in melee earlier had decided to head out too, in the exact same direction even. That is to say, she is running the hell away. _ Ignar: Oh come on! That SPD bomb was expensive you know!? By the time he realizes what is happening, the distance between them has already increased. Observant viewers would notice that both are more sluggish than usual. Rather than dealing damage, the bombs appear to have SPD-debuffing effect as their main purpose. _ Hessenria: And you think mine wasn''t?! [Dark Bolt]! And so, the fight between the wielders of a greatsword and dual swords started off with bombs and long-ranged magical assaults, contrary to all expectations. No epic sword clash is to be seen. Then again, it''s hard to stab someone from a distance that the only arm capable of reaching is firearm¡­ Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. What followed was one of the weirdest almost-mirror match known in the game''s history. Except for one side constantly dashing away and shooting magical bolts at the other, their actions were pretty much identical. would use a consumable to remove his own SPD debuff, and would without fail use one as well. He would then throw a new bomb to add in a new debuff, and so would she once the item cooldown wore off. It seemed like they had bought their consumables from the same place, which was ''s shops, hence even their item cooldowns were the same. Then they brought out the skills, also to buff and debuff SPD. Of course, they were using the exact skills of their opponent. Both obviously have many other skills, but anything that can change running speed takes the highest priority. Only after having all of them on cooldown do the gladiators try to kill each other. Even though that''s what they are here for to begin with. The battle raged on for another ten minutes, making it the longest match in the tournament up until now. The tanky warrior brought way too many potions to be considered reasonable, and the waitress was barely dealing damage, focusing on keeping her distance and all that, so it was to be expected. The constant chase was pretty intense though, so no one is complaining. _ Ignar: [Weapon Throw]! Somewhere along the way, added throwing his sword to his action list, probably out of desperation. It was a literally long shot at best, but he simply did not have a better alternative. At least it''s not a mirror match anymore, since did not need to hurl her swords to deal damage. Her bolts are stronger, faster, and most importantly, have homing. Like the protagonist of a tragedy plot, the gallant hero struggled until the bitter end. A miracle did not happen, however, and went down with his face full of [Dark Bolt]. _ Choruse: We have a winner! That said, without her [Artifact] arsenal, is a scaredy-cat, isn''t she? _ Melodyn: I know, right~? If she had used her [Artifact] arsenal, she would have had equipment advantage over too. _ Hessenria: I am not allowed to use [Artifact] gear here, okay?! The deceased gladiator shudders (as much as a corpse can anyway) thinking about the amount of [Artifact]-grade equipment he might have to face in future tournaments. He doesn''t know why the players from forwent their top gear this time, but he is definitely not counting on it happening again. Not that it would change the outcome much, really. He knows he is weak against kiting enemies. That''s why he bet everything in the first bomb of the match. By slowing down the opponent, he hoped to score a hit to debuff her with [Night]''s effect. As it is a special debuff with no counter, it would have given him an advantage in status, mainly speed, allowing him to catch up and overwhelm the opposition in melee. Unfortunately, understands that as well, hence her unyielding strategy of maintaining distance no matter the cost. _ Dead Ignar: Good game, . I really should not plan my strategy around a superweapon that everyone knows about huh. _ Hessenria: No kidding. If you had landed a hit, I would not have stood a chance. Good game. It wasn''t that the warrior''s play was bad, considering how one blow was all he needed to completely turn the tide of the battle in his favor. He just got hard-countered by a bad matchup and an opponent who knows him too well, that''s all. _ Melodyn: This civility is getting on my nerve, so we are going to the next match~! The lead waitress can only sigh and regret her choice in personnel. It was probably too late. ____________ _ Maximus: Oi, nub! That teleporting trick of yours is not gonna work on me. Just surrender and get this over with! I have a championship to claim! The spectators are relieved to see the bad manners coming back to the ring. There is nothing wrong with grace and respect between gladiators per se. However, the general populace''s idea of an arena is less of a place for friendly competition and more of a gruesome pit filled with death and violence. They won''t feel right without some verbal abuses or snide remarks in some way. Totally not because they are used to the usual (mis)treatments in the cafeteria, honest. _ Fuelri: *Shrugs* Sorry, no can do. If you are so confident, then why bother demanding a surrender? You can win without breaking a sweat, can you not? _ Maximus: Heh, big mouth for a one-trick pony. Empty barrels do make the most noise. Despite the usual snarky antics, is actually feeling the pressure on the inside. Whether she really meant it or not, ''s retort was right on the money. He is sure he is fast enough to evade teleporting shenanigans, but being caught by surprise is a whole different story. In a way, ''s heroic (?) sacrifice saved the assassin from suffering the same fate. Now one question remains: Does this salamander-riding woman have anything else up her sleeve? Considering his squishiness, anything but a resounding "Hell no!" is bad news. Because his answer to the question was bad news, he tried to negotiate. The execution was much to be desired obviously, but it''s the thought that counts. _ Choruse: Now this is more like an actual murder party¡­ I mean duel. Get ready! And¡­ FIGHT! The moment it started, the halberd in the supposedly cavalry girl''s hand disappears. In its place, a javelin manifests into existence and gets launched towards the ill-mannered archer. No matter how one looks at it, there''s no way that is mounted combat anymore. Even the previous match was already stretching it. While everyone is stunned by the summoner not summoning anything at the beginning of the fight, is eerily calm. He is used to opponents pulling this kind of surprise attack, and another reason is that has made her shown this hand already. Even if he will never say his thanks out loud, this arrogant assassin is still capable of acknowledging the help and feeling grateful to the dead guildmaster. _ Maximus: Ha! Is that all you got? You think you can win against with these cheese plays? He is in high spirits after thwarting the attempt by simply stepping sideways. If ''s plan was to kill him with half-hearted sneak attacks like that, his victory is assured. Sneak attacks are his specialization, after all. Or maybe, just maybe, cavalry is not solely about devastating charges (as glorious as they are), and may have a different tactic that is constant harassment. The elf girl may have simply exercised the latter to keep the pressure up, but wouldn''t know that. Unlike his opponent, he is not an expert in horse warfare. Seriously, who does that in a game where you can run as fast as one without being tired? He counterattacks right before can pull out another javelin. The match turns into a shooting contest in which both sides try their best to shaft each other from afar, one that is immensely to the expert archer''s advantage. Whether it is speed, weaponries or experience, he is multiple steps ahead of the one in front of him. Lots of empty quivers later, the so-called cavalry girl has chugged down several potions, yet the salamander is still nowhere in sight. Although the audience is understandably confused, the min-maxer is not. The explanation is dead simple: Riding that big pet with a horrendous turning rate is bad for evading arrows. Had done that, she would have had a few times more arrows in her face and run out of potions by this point. _ Maximus: Not so tough now, aren''t ya? Drop dead already so I can fight against someone who actually knows what they are doing. His taunting continues as per the requirements of being a jerk. _ Fuelri: Always this, that. Don''t you know it''s rude to keep comparing one lady to another?! For the last time, I will be the one beating her up! The elf girl who barged into the shop that day to attack does not take kindly to being compared against that very person. _ Fuelri: Take THIS!!! If this was a final battle to save the world, she would probably gain a newfound power of friendship (?) with the waitress to overcome her ordeal. It is not, so what came out of her hand was a normal javelin instead, which spent a minimum effort of stepping to the side then shot back in return. Angry people make more mistakes, and the assassin is pleased with the current situation. _ Fuelri: How about this! Same problem, same solution. _ Fuelri: And this! Even the trajectory is so predictable, he can evade it in his sleep. Another side step, then pull the bow again. Can''t get any simpler than this, really. Until he realizes that it is not a javelin. For the whole match, ''s offense has been nothing but throwing normal, most likely unenchanted, javelins. Every javelin was aimed at his head without any deviation. That means no attempt to use explosives or deploy [Recall] discs on the ground either. Not that such actions go unnoticed in the first place. Being perceptive is part of ''s job description and all that. In other words, the assassin was only dodging headshots and counterattacking this whole time. It was so monotonous that he subconsciously stopped thinking about objects coming at his face. As a result, he made very little movement on his part to barely get out of harm''s way, allowing more time to shoot back. Combined that conditioning with the elf''s outburst, his focus was everywhere else but another supposedly futile attack. That''s why he did not notice anything strange until the thrown object was a hand''s length away from his face. Which turns out to be a stone. _ Fuelri: [Summon]!!! A [Summon Stone], to be exact. As per the mistress'' order, the audience''s favorite salamander of darkness makes its appearance. Right in ''s face. *WHAM* There was no time to spew a swear word that requires censoring, let alone calling out a [Leap] to get out of danger. His overconfidence and min-maxing habit have become his downfall. _ Fuelri: Ren, [Fire Bomb]! *BOOM* Worrying that a simple collision might not be able to one-hit the assassin, has her pet activates a bomb in its inventory, swallowing both it and the target in a fiery explosion. _ Fuelri: [Dark Breath]! Adding in an AoE followed a bite even before the dust settles for good measure. She knows she won''t get another opportunity like this one, so she is not going to take any chance. When the cloud finally dissipates, the salamander casually jogs its way back to the owner, with a battered dead body in its mouth. _ Dead Maximus: WHAT THE *BEEP* WAS THAT!!! _ Melodyn: The winner is ~! Once again, her love for our leader proves to be capable of overcoming all obstacles! _ Fuelri: Who the heck would be in love with her?! _ Spectators: WE ARE!!! _ Fuelri: You guys shut up! The fight is over, yet the discussions around the arena seats are heating up rather than slowing down. No, they are not speculating about what did. Apart from the unusual usage of a [Summon Stone], it was pretty straightforward anyway. They are debating a much more philosophical problem: Does throwing your own mount at the enemy count as a cavalry tactic? ____________ The tournament enters its last break before the final duel. What everyone expected was a long detailed analysis from , the commentator duo, and maybe an interview with the combatants themselves. _ ???: Hello, everyone~! What they did NOT expect was the guildmaster entering the stage in a frilly dress. Behind her are two more ladies in costumes of similar theme, along with a row of muscular dudes in black suits. The commentators are as dumbfounded as the audience. In fact, is already sighing in defeat, while her sister has a blank look before she speaks in monotone as if she is reading the lines from somewhere. _ Choruse: Ehm¡­ Preparations for the finals are underway. Please enjoy the performance of ''s idol group, Bloody Girls, in the meantime. Have a good day. It wasn''t that she was unfazed. She gave up on trying to comprehend the situation! _ Cinrald: Thank you, . Everyone, thank you for coming~! We, the Bloody Girls, will officially debut starting today! That ominous name is more suitable for a gang! Quietly think the players who still have their wits together. _ Cinrald: Now then, please sit back and enjoy our debut song, composed by Sateri-chan herself: "Light, Dark, Heroes"! At the background music switched to the new song, jaws were collectively dropped. Most players are not capable of processing this sudden development on top of other weird plays throughout the event. Thankfully, recordings exist, so they can watch the show again after restarting their brain. "Good song, but too much muscle. 5/10 will only listen without vid." "Muscles were distracting. Singers were cute though. 6/10" "Gap moe~" "Muscle lovers assemble!" That is if the reviews don''t shut their brains down again. Chapter 71: Cult of materialism The last two survivors of the gruesome battle royale are facing each other for the first and last time. No holding back, no restraint. With only one obstacle left between them and the unthinkable rich, there is no choice but to throw everything and anything they have at their opponent. The spectators shall chant the gladiators'' names as they clash against each other, utilizing every weapon, skill and tactic in their arsenal to gain the slightest edge, all the while the stage around them go up in a blaze like an infernal battlefield. The duel of fate can only end when one of them falls, and only then will the victor be bestowed the most honorable title befitting their prowess: "Champion" At least, that''s what most would expect the fight to be. Until they remember that the main grand prize is a date for one, and a paid day off for the other. _ Choruse: Well, this is awkward¡­ _ Melodyn: I know, right~? To narrate our own teammates'' fight is like doing an interview about your family''s domestic violence, isn''t it~? _ Hessenria & Fuelri: IT''S NOT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE!!! Or the commentators who are seemingly averse to maintaining the mood. _ Choruse: , how are you feeling after crushing everyone''s hopes and dreams? Is that one day off worth a lifetime of staying single for you? _ Hessenria: Looking forward to blasting [Dark Bolt] at you two in my day off. You had better prepare armor because you will certainly be on duty that day! _ Melodyn: Not just domestic violence, but also abuse of authority! , you are our only hope! Become our HOLY knight on a WHITE HORSE and murder this evil witch of darkness, please~! _ Fuelri: You are emphasizing those words on purpose aren''t you?! Except for the "knight" part, is anything but that description of a hero in children''s fairy tales. Considering her choice of weapon and armor, even that is up for debate. While she has not directly admitted it to outsiders, her usual equipment is in the same state as that of , waiting for upgrades in one of the many wardrobes inside ''s base. As such, she is using a new armor design just for this occasion. Rather than the usual heavy plate armor, she opted for a relatively lighter setup using a separate cuirass and short armor skirt, exposing her midriff with only a semi-transparent undershirt beneath the metal plates. Her arms and legs are no longer covered by the main armor in similar fashion, but instead protected by whatever materials the long gloves and stockings are made of, along with the arm and leg guards worn over them. Her winged knight motif was not changed, however. If anything, the dark purple runic wings were enhanced by the excessive addition of wing-themed decorations over the metallic pieces. While they may not be able to manufacture indestructible apparel of doom like a certain sprouty girl, the managers from will not lose when it comes to designing gorgeous garments! Especially if the wearer is a beautiful girl with big boobs! Regardless of reasons she is fine without knowing, the elven knight got herself a really well-made armor set with top-notch designs. Does that make her a knight? As far as the game cares, yes, for having armor with good defense. Does she remotely look like a heroic knight fighting for justice? The very reason why such knights have to come into action, more like. And riding a dark beast which literally came from the in-game equivalent of hell is not helping. _ Choruse: But it is the truth. is the only one left standing between and total world domination. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so we cannot be picky. _ Melodyn: While we are at it, how confident are you at getting pummeled and dying horribly at the mistress''s hands? _ Fuelri: Are you maniacs even rooting for me at all?! Judging by the 4-to-1 ratios in favor of the scary waitress, they are most likely not, at least when it comes to betting. Veterancy aside, the players have noticed how the cavalry elf barely got through her latest matches by throwing nasty surprises at her enemies, whereas the mistress of the tavern seemingly outclassed hers. When a trickster goes against a close (?) acquaintance, it is safe to say that the acquaintance in question is familiar with whatever tricks about to be in play, which is not good for the trickster. Little did they know, aside from the joint shopping for the tournament-friendly equipment these two are using right now, both conducted their trainings in private, and therefore had no idea about each other''s new tactics brought into this tournament. Being blissfully unaware of that fact, the investors are not going to bet their life savings on a volatile venture, not when the other option is better-known, superior in all known statistics, and most importantly, just as well-endowed! Yes, the last part is essential to their business strategy. Don''t ask what kind of Sateri-chan-forsaken business they are doing to require that information though. _ Fuelri: And you, ! I had been keeping an eye on you long before my last attack. There is nothing I don''t know about you. And today, I will show everyone that we are equals and finally dethrone you! Pointing the tip of her halberd at the waitress, declares her rivalry with a smug face. Never once has she been treated as a player on the same footings as . Just standing here in the finals has changed that image a lot by itself, so it''s understandable to go a bit overboard on the war declaration, except that¡­ _ Spectators: ¡­ _ Hessenria: ¡­ _ Choruse & Melodyn: ¡­ Everyone is giving her blank looks rather than cheers, boos, or any kind of reaction, really. _ Fuelri: W-what''s with the silence¡­? _ Choruse: ¡­That''s a love confession. _ Melodyn: Right~? _ Fuelri: What. The. HEEEEEEECK!!! When one is a bit too¡­ passionate about their nemesis, people without context might mistake the obsession for that. Even with context, leave it to the degenerates to take the worst possible interpretation for granted. And there are a lot of degenerates watching this live. _ Hessenria: You had to realize how stalkerish that sounded at the very least? The nemesis is pouring more oil into the dumpster fire purely out of reflex. Her own occupational habit after extended exposure to maniacs asking to be stepped on, it looks like. _ Fuelri: WHO THE HECK ARE YOU CALLING A STALKER?! Regardless of the outcome, has taken permanent reputation damage! _ Melodyn: Okay, this is not safe for children to watch so we are moving on to the next person~! Our biggest sponsor, contractor, advertiser, the reason why we have this tournament, and also the strongest player in this game. Please come to the stage, guildmaster~! *Pomf* _ Shadyna: Yes~? Did you call for me? , Illusive Sprout, Black Mantis, bane of the market, destroyer of balance, has made her appearance. By poking out of the trap door, smiling brightly like a sun as she usually does. ¡­What the heck, this is cute! Such is the general reaction of the players witnessing the sudden entry. The scene has striking resemblance to cute animals doing cute things, like puppies chasing their tails, kitties in glasses, little girls of mass destruction sticking their heads out. Wait¡­ _ Choruse: O great supreme leader, who do you think will become your champion and have your hand in marriage? Actually, scratch that last part, we already know the answer to that. Interviews in analyses are supposed to be an expert answering questions regarding the upcoming event. Somehow, some way, this one is going to end up with more questions than it started with. _ Shadyna: Ehehe~ If I have to say¡­ has no chance in a traditional match? With just one statement, the odds have become 9-to-1. It should be said that this blob of cuteness is not the best person to ask about the meta. To anyone who is remotely familiar with her, it''s even counterproductive because this person''s common knowledge is shaky at best! Still, there is no doubt that she is the strongest player in CSF currently, so her words have some weight¡­ maybe. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! _ Fuelri: You just have to rub it in don''t you!!! _ Shadyna: Ow! As the hot-tempered elf girl proceeds to bonk the brat who cannot hold back her foul mouth even if her life depends on it, is snickering from afar, satisfied with the judgement. _ Shadyna: Sorry~ Still, you two are not fighting the usual way so¡­ I think you still have a chance at it? _ Fuelri & Hessenria: Eh? _ Shadyna: Please do your best, both of you! I''m going now! Because elaborating is overrated, the little half-elf drops back into the hole she came out of, leaving the whole arena speechless. _ Shadyna (PM): Ah, I bet all of my money on you by the way. No pressure, un. _ Fuelri (PM): ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR DAMN MIND?! _ Shadyna (PM): Would not be if you win~! Even if believes she has a chance, she does not think that chance warrants such an all-in bet! _ Fuelri: That idiot¡­ A-anyway, let''s have a good¡­ match? While the elven knight is trying her best not to lose it outwardly, the lead waitress also receives "encouragement" from her friend. _ Vulkerzelianna Merashiel (PM): Hessy~ You might want to know that Su, Linny and have all placed their bet on Elri. No hard feelings, ''kay~? At that moment, the temperature instantly drops a few degrees, catching everyone by surprise, included. Even the few brave souls who dared switching their bets to the elf girl after ''s second statement quietly switched back without complaints. After all, a picture of a beautiful yet angry lady is worth a thousand words, and then some. There is no cursing, no berating, no complaining. Only deadly silence from , who brandishes her swords after a short pause. Unlike her opponent, she did not have a complete design overhaul done. The new waitress outfit looks more or less the same as the old one with additional leather guards protecting joints, making it look more combat-ready but still keeping the atmosphere of her profession. That is, until her runes begin flaring up. Black lines run along her blades, forming into runic words that probably have no use except for looking cool. Her right eye starts emitting the usual dark glow which still freaks people out when they see it for some reason. Maybe it has something to do with the brutal violence that followed more often than not? The biggest change, however, is her left hand. Everyone is familiar with her eye and swords, but this is the first time they see that hand burning in a pitch black flame. The waitress was already burning them with words, now she can burn them with literal hell fire as well! With both players finally showing their runes after hiding them for the whole tournament, they are much more evenly matched appearance-wise. The elf may be a heavily-armored knight, but the service worker is certainly a heavily-armed battlemage, in more ways than one! To be fair, paid good money for both sets, so those degenera¡­ crafters had better do their job properly, lest them suffer a horrible fate for a merchant. Which is a lot of bad reviews, to be specific. _ Fuelri: Tsk. Don''t think you can scare me off by equipping some runes! Fashion aside, the cold glare from the harsh mistress is downright terrifying at the moment. In fact, is feeling chills running down her spine. This is not to say that she may or may not have stalked a certain someone for so long that she knows something was off on a subconscious level, but she does indeed know that something was off on a subconscious level, like being way angrier than expected, for example. Then again, anyone would be pissed after being considered a loser before the match even started, especially by your original party who should know your capabilities better than anyone else of all people! And that''s not mentioning that maniac of a messenger delivering the news. It would have cost her nothing to keep silent, and the fact that she did not mention her own betting position is already a dead giveaway due to their close relationship. That crazy woman definitely bet on the elf like the rest of them! Being the perfect service worker that she is, calmly ignores the gossips and focuses on what she does best: Murder. _ Hessenria: Die. And no, it was never going to be [Cooking] or serving drinks in the first place. _ Fuelri: WHY?! I mean, that''s what the match is all about, but¡­ _ Hessenria: And the rest right after! _ Fuelri: WHO?! _ Melodyn: Uh oh~ Please do your best, ! _ Choruse: Ready! FIGHT! Even though does not know about the 9:1 odds, her own estimation came pretty close upon seeing the spectators cheering for her demise, and more importantly, a deranged waitress charging in without any kind of sense or reason left (in her view at least). The poor elf is already regretting her life decisions at this point. And it''s only the beginning. ____________ A little while ago¡­ _ Thelia: Well, who to choose¡­ _ Helen: *Gasps* Even though you already have me?! _ Thelia: I don''t want to hear that from YOU!!! Some weird discussion in party chat is going on as ''s guildmaster ascends to stardom. Personally speaking, is sighing in relief. Had she and her team stayed in their former guild, everyone would certainly be dancing down there. Not to brag but when it comes to appeal, the delivery team won''t be second to any, be it or . _ Shadyna: Please don''t fight because of me~! I love everyone equally! _ Thelia: You are NOT helping, guildmaster! _ Merashiel: And then, one by one, the love rivals begin to suffer myste~rious accidents. As the lights in their eyes¡­ _ Thelia: Unlike you, I''m not an omnicidal maniac! When the heck did you join the party anyway?! Service work is one thing, having to deal with worshippers and all that comes with being an idol are a different question altogether. Her mental health is already deteriorating by simply being in this guild, thank you very much! _ Sulien: I am here as well~! _ Linista: So am I. _ Falyn: Don''t forget about me! _ Thelia: Where did you all come from?!?! aside, all of the remaining managers have joined ''s party without warning. Merashiel is acting as the representative for the tavern team, it looks like. That, or she is here simply for the heck of it. _ Shadyna: Un, I invited them. They wanted to know who I am going to bet on. I will bet this match by myself, is that okay? _ Thelia: Sure, it''s your money¡­ The humble 500 gold coins have inflated into a whopping gold chest ten times the original value. And that''s not counting the brazen flirting couple''s own betting money which went through similar transformation. This gambling party has enough money to burn. _ Falyn: So, who will be the lucky girl to catch guildmaster''s eye¡­ literally? _ Shadyna: Literally?! _ Linista: Even if you say "lucky", doesn''t Hessy have a massive advantage? And I''m not talking about her chest. Theirs are roughly equal. _ Sulien: You are already talking about her chest, you boobs-obsessed maniac. _ Helen: Now now~ Let''s hear ''s opinions first, shall we? There is more than enough time for us to measure their bust sizes after the match~ The delivery girl, being the only sane person in the group, wants to go home already. There is no way she can last long against this many maniacs at the same time! ¡­ _ Shadyna: *Nom nom* I choose Elri. She has a higher chance of winning. There was no hesitation in the little guildmaster''s voice. If anything, she is talking as if it was a dead simple thing, like choosing to eat a cute girl''s handmade cooking over the self-inflicted charcoal bag made the night before. To have that kind of confidence, she either knows something others do not, or she is extremely stupid. Regardless of what everyone thinks of the guildmaster, none of them is willing to assume one possibility over the other. They know better than that. Their opinions on which one being more likely to be the case might differ though. _ Helen: Ehm, guildmaster, does that mean she has a higher chance than the current odds? Being the voice of reason as long as beautiful ladies are not involved (in ''s view), has to ask for further explanation. It would not be THAT strange to think has more than 20% chance to win, and bet based on that judgement. _ Shadyna: ¡­Yes, but I''m not talking about that? I''m saying Elri is more likely to win against Hessy. I would say¡­ 70%? _ Everyone: ¡­Eh?! With that probability, that''s no longer luck or chance, but a significant advantage over the enemy. Needless to say, everyone was a bit dumbstruck as such a big game-changer is usually hard to go unnoticed. _ Shadyna: I mean, Elri was always looking for a way to defeat Hessy. However, I doubt Hessy paid much attention back. That''s big in Elri''s favor, is it not? _ Sulien: ¡­Ah! Know yourself and your enemy! _ Shadyna: Un, un! That''s the one! Once again, the little sprouty girl shows herself to be well-versed in random knowledge, as usual. _ Linista: It has indeed been proven time and time again, but¡­ _ Shadyna: Hmm~? _ Merashiel: That saying is for murdering a lo~t of people, not just one~ _ Falyn: You can just say "warfare" normally, you know¡­ _ Shadyna: ¡­Eh? Seriously? _ Thelia: You didn''t know that?! In other words, knowledge application should be done correctly. Not that they had much of an expectation for someone who pioneered weaponization of furniture and transportation to begin with. _ Shadyna: But but! It should still count¡­ probably! _ Merashiel: In that case, should we make another bet~? _ Shadyna: A bet? _ Merashiel: Yes~ We are going to bet e~verything we earned today on Elri. You see, this money is supposed to fund our next equipment upgrade. If we so~mehow lose it, you will have to work re~ally hard to grind materials and craft all of the new gear for us, okay~? _ Shadyna: Child labor is illegal! And what if we win, by the way? _ Merashiel: You only have to craft the new gear, congratulations~ _ Shadyna: Is that so~ Not! Why do I have to work my cute butt off either way!? _ Merashiel: Because that''s part of the responsibility when leading a guild full of beauties, like me~ _ Shadyna: It is?! It is not. ¡­ After the idols'' debut concluded, had to leave the party to join and , leaving the whole council of madness to their own devices. Something about a short interview before the match, it sounded like. _ Thelia: We are really betting on now, aren''t we¡­? _ Linista: We have to. It will be a loss for if we do nothing anyway. There''s not enough money to buy the same materials for the current upgrade, let alone the next one. _ Thelia: Wait, we are having money problem?! I thought you were making a killing today! _ Linista: , if you would? _ Helen: Roger~ To put it simply, we are like a newlywed middle class household. There is enough income to buy whatever we need, but nowhere close to afford a jet plane. _ Thelia: So guildmaster''s gear are jet planes huh¡­ And what does "newlywed" have to do with anything you just said?! _ Helen: Don''t mind it~ For comparison, have these big gear upgrades for core members when there is a big change in the meta as well, and the last session I handled for them had lower expense. is a (self-proclaimed) simple delivery girl. She is not the best when it comes to accounting, always leaving it to , but even she is beginning to understand how much of a spending they are talking about here. _ Thelia: So our crafting session burned more money than those boobs maniacs making gear for their crew¡­ _ Helen: No~t really? Your equipment set alone costs more than that. _ Thelia: What is she, some kind of material black hole!? Already qualified for being one thanks to inventory weight, although does not (refuses to) know that yet. _ Sulien: Let us go all-out then! Everyone, ask your party if they want to bet as well! Make sure not to leak information to anyone outside! _ Falyn: On it. Spread some good words for Hessy while we are at it. The more they bet on her, the better our gains will be. Not much time left so we need to be fast. _ Linista: I will get our guild treasury. _ Merashiel: Ufufu~ Then I will make it look like Hessy will win as well~ Surely she would not say something weird, piss the lead waitress off and cause troubles for them later down the line. _ Thelia: Uh, girls¡­? Let''s not overdo it¡­? The last desperate plead of common sense was promptly ignored. Completely unbeknownst to the person herself, the whole crew were tirelessly working behind the scene to make sure the game-breaking girl can do game-breaking things without being burdened. Overpowered items are at stake here, so they will stop at nothing to achieve their goal. Even if they have to betray their old friend and wreck the economy, again! Chapter 72: The knight and the witch To rescue the cute little princess in captive and save the kingdom, the holy knight embarks on a journey to slay the evil witch, , once and for all! ¡­Is not what either of them would say to describe their current situation. Who in their right mind would call "that one" a princess in the first place?! And after the last guy who kidnapped her was smacked to death by a green blob, anyone with half a brain cell would think twice before trying to grab her! Besides, the witch is the one wielding swords and charging in menacingly, while the knight is looking as if she has screwed up. Doesn''t take a genius to know who is the one doing the slaying here, and there is a 9-to-1 chance it is not the knight. Still, even against overwhelming odds, will not give up. With her courage, determination, and most importantly, survival instincts, the elf girl defiantly charges in the opposite direction! The spectators are having a d¨¦j¨¤ vu already. _ Hessenria: Like I would let you escape! [Dark Bolt]! It''s not an escape! It''s a tactical retreat! Or so thinks . It makes no difference to though, as she will throw a [Dark Bolt] regardless of the circumstances. The [Dark Bolt] woman is at full power again today! There is no way to fight her without getting a ton of projectiles in the face, so the elf girl did train a lot in the art of evasion. While she''s nowhere near the level of min-maxed speed demons, she is agile enough for a back attack or two. She may be reckless, but she does her homework properly! One, two, then three bolts missed. would be sighing in relief if it wasn''t for the psycho waitress closing in way too fast for comfort. What kind of whacky balance let this peak physical AND magical monstrosity on the loose?! Complains the owner of a salamander with stats of near absurdity. The chase soon comes to an end. Even with all the evasion going around, their path remained somewhat a straight line, and while the ring is big, it is not that big for an extended chase scene in which the creepy serial killer suddenly appears in front of the victim at the end. Or at the very least, in this case, the serial killer will be disqualified for being outside the ring. _ Hessenria: End of the line. Drop dead. The cold blades swiftly strike at the innocent (?) elf¡­''s last location. The target moved to the side at the last second without turning back to see the attack, as if she had a third eye on the back of her head. _ Hessenria: ?! For all the murdering done on a daily basis, the waitress has a surprisingly simple alpha strike. Approach while applying constant suppression with [Dark Bolt], then stab the opponent in the face, many times. It is quite easy to survive this "strategy" once it is known, and that''s exactly what did. _ Fuelri: [Rapid Assault]! And even counterattacks, knowing she will be flanking her opponent if she times it right. It was executed so flawlessly, for a short moment the spectators held their breath, thinking the elf girl may actually pull a miracle here. _ Hessenria: [Parry]! *CLANG* Miracles are really in short supply in this tournament though. _ Choruse: ALMOST got a jump on , but the mistress won''t be caught off guard so easily! And now they are engaging in melee! The two exchange a flurry of blows in quick succession, which is undeniably disadvantageous for . Although swords do not have the same reach as a halberd, they are superior at the range they are fighting thanks to maneuverability and the lack of minimum range. Sure, the game gives full damage whether one hits with the blade or the handle. However, that doesn''t mean the cavalry girl is having an easy time swinging the unwieldy long stick at a nimble target, who is already faster than her in normal circumstances to boot. Knowing she is not in a winning position, begins jumping backwards to gain distance between them. As exciting as high-speed melees are for the degenerates on the audience seats, she has to prioritize her strategy, and also her life, thank you very much. _ Melodyn; is in hot pursuit after disengaged. It sure beats fighting her in close quarters, but that''s nowhere far enough if you value your life! _ Choruse: Sis, the only way to be safe from leader is getting out of the ring. Spells'' maximum range is more than this arena''s diameter. For someone supposedly cheering for , the duo''s comments are anything but. Not that she expected much from those two in the first place. ¡­She still wishes for some genuine cheering though. It''s hard not to say "So unfair!" when most if not all players in earshot are clearly acting like she is losing horribly. What happened to rooting for the underdog?! _ Hessenria: [Dark Bolt]. As soon as the blades are out of range, the barrage intensifies. Everyone can see that coming, but everyone also knows surviving it is the hard part. There''s a big difference between dodging a predictable alpha strike and enduring an onslaught in which the situation changes by the second. , as much as she hates to admit it, cannot handle the latter. Then again, a [Dark Bolt] barrage is still easier to deal with than mingling in touching range. *CLANG* *CLANG* _ Fuelri: Tsk! The elf girl, still with no pet summoned, continues her fighting retreat along the edge of the arena ring clockwise. She does not bother counterattacking and only blocks incoming attacks to reduce damage, as each clash just helps bringing her HP down more than her opponent. Taking damage is really not in her plan right now, or ever, preferably. That chance she is waiting for can''t get here soon enough. Meanwhile, , using the same tactics against , is keeping up the pressure, leaving not a single moment of respite. The waitress has SPD advantage, so she easily catches up with a jump, swings her swords, fires a [Dark Bolt] after the annoying long-eared girl backsteps out of range. Their difference in player skills is getting more and more apparent. Even so, it''s worrisome to see keeping her cool, which is extremely weird considering her personality. _ Choruse: Our elf can''t seem to catch a break from the constant assaults! Are we going to witness a repeat of the first quarterfinal match? As expected of a former member, she really is into getting slapped around by a well-developed lady! _ Fuelri: Go explode, you damn maniac!!! Keeping her cool in combat, at least. The audience areas are also heating up as ''s HP drops to below half. She probably has quite a few potions in stock, but they can''t help but feel the excitement when their favorite is winning, and being one step closer to the jackpot. "This is not working.", silently thinks the elf girl. She needs a better bait, or that woman will just repeat her current tactics and never use that skill. Forming a new plan in her mind, readies her halberd. catches up again to deliver the next batch of spiked swords. And at that moment when everything seems no different than previous attacks, the knight begins the counteroffensive. _ Hessenria: [Pierce]! _ Fuelri: [Slam]! Ignoring the swords coming straight at her face, she swings her weapon in return, catching the waitress by surprise. , alerted by the sudden change in tactics, immediately pulled back some distance the moment she landed just in time to avoid the attack. Her own attack failed because of that, but she still has the upper hand. Knowing the opponent would retreat out of caution, takes the chance to rapidly jump back multiple times. She did not want to waste a [Slam], but it was the second most dangerous skill due to the stagger and [Stun] effects, and therefore would trigger the most alarms for experienced players. _ Hessenria: Annoying! [Dark Bolt]! It was about time someone realized she got tricked by a feint. The distance between them has already increased significantly however. _ Fuelri: [Parry]! Without slowing down to evade, bats the bolt away using her skill. Then she pulls out javelins and throws one back at the waitress to hinder movement further. And she knows, even with higher SPD, must be getting impatient by this development. Either she goes gunblazing in melee, or she uses the utmost caution at range, with nowhere in between. That''s how the so-called harsh mistress fights. _ Fuelri: Is that all you can do? Add in a taunt, and she is going to take the bait. All that is left is casting the skill, for both of the combatants. _ Hessenria: [Leap]! As launches herself through the air to chase down the irritating elf, in turn invokes her own skill. _ Fuelri: [Leap]!!! Which is a [Leap] towards the opponent, contrary to all she has been doing up to this point. _ Spectators: OOOOOOHHHHH!!! The audience roars in anticipation of an explosion or something befitting the two ladies ramming each other. Practically no one expected the retreating player to go straight back into the fight like that. once again was surprised by her opponent. However, she won''t lose in a direct confrontation. Aiming at that identified flying obnoxious elf, she prepares to strike. And notices the elf pulling out a stone. _ Fuelri: [Summon]! STELLA!!! By the lady''s command, a massive stingray at the size of a small house''s floor plan makes its entry. *SPLASH* And along with its presence, an even bigger [Water Bubble] floods the whole ring in one fell swoop. Although stingrays are not the most intimidating creatures in existence, a fictional design with spinal blades all around its fins and massive fangs on the underside goes a long way towards ramping up its perceived threat level. The star-like white spots on its dark grey skin is not helping either. For a species that usually camouflage themselves on the ocean floor, this one is disturbingly eye-catching. The so-poisonous-let''s-brag-about-it level of eye-catching, to be exact. Distracted by the appearance of a new problem, could not react for a short moment as she flew straight into the water wall expanding in all directions. By the time anyone realizes what was going on, had rode the water slightly upwards, resulting in her soaring above the literal head-to-head collision course, and right above the waitress as well. _ Fuelri: [Charged Slam]!!! She twists her whole body and swings her weapon down, leaving a lingering crescent light from the runes along the way. tried to block in vain. Slowed by water resistance, blinded by the waves, flanked from a blind spot, and the most crucial of all, not having [Leap] off cooldown for emergency evasion, her chance of not getting slammed by the big blade is nil. *WHAM* And get blasted away from the right side, she did. Or in other words, right out of the [Water Bubble], and the ring. _ Melodyn & Choruse: RING OUT! was going for a ring out!!! _ Spectators: AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! Rather than the waitress, it''s the spectators who start screaming. Whether it is panic, excitement, shock, or a mix of those, one thing is for certain: They are not able to pipe down as they witness a legendary player absolutely outplayed from a position of advantage. The ensuing debate will be even worse once they analyze and realize just how much planning and preparation had to put in for this one strike. Calling it an overkill is an understatement. *BOOM* A massive explosion engulfs who was flung out of the arena. One second later, to everyone''s utter horror, she is seen blasted back into the ring, or water dome, considering it''s completely submerged now. _ Fuelri: Wha¡­ How¡­? It is hard if not pointless to dust off underwater, but the waitress proceeds to do that anyway for the sake of the mood. _ Hessenria: Referee, I did not touch the ground so that was safe right? The referees and most spectators frantically begin checking the footage. The complete silence as everyone held their breath was intense, and then¡­ _ Referee: ¡­ did not touch the ground. Please continue the match! _ Spectators: OOOOOOOHHHHH!!! Even though there are fewer of them after some players fainted from the jump scare, the stage explodes again, louder than ever. _ Choruse: is helping from the grave! If it weren''t for his cowardly butt throwing similar bombs, she probably would not be swimming here in the ring right now! At that moment, ''s heart sinks as she looks at the smiling monster in front of her. Even overkill was not enough to take this woman down. Amidst the thunderous applauses, the waitress remains calm and afloat in the bubble. Despite the close call, she is in no rush to get back at the dumbfounded elf who still has not recovered from the shock. _ Hessenria: Before we continue, allow me to apologize. _ Fuelri: ¡­Ha? was expecting a lot of things. Swords, [Dark Bolt], bombs, [Dark Bolt], verbal abuses, more [Dark Bolt], but certainly not an apology. And half of the viewers were just as surprised to know that you can talk normally underwater in this game too. _ Hessenria: For taking you lightly. If that [Charged Slam] had landed a [Stun], I would have been unable to use the bomb and rung out. She was saying it in a calm voice, and yet, the spectators feel a chill as they realize they were THIS close to losing all of their monetary possessions, all thanks to a single attack. Needless to say, it was not good for their mental health. _ Hessenria: That''s why I will go all out now. Prepare yourself! And so, at long last, the cavalry elf is finally recognized by the harsh mistress as equals. _ Fuelri: I don''t need this kind of consideration!!! Just not in the way she intended. ____________ No longer in doubt, dives forward, with swords ready and [Dark Bolt] flying. Like a protagonist gaining their power of friendship at the last possible second in the ultimate battle for the future of humanity, the waitress will now fully commit to blasting this elf off to the stars! Or, if one would rather think of her as the last boss like the spectating degenerates here¡­ _ Spectators: Phase 2, GOOOOO!!! That would be an apt reaction. _ Fuelri: You guys are enjoying this aren''t you?! Of course they are. That said, it''s the elf who gained an actual power-up. The person herself might not notice, but that stingray she just summoned is one of the most powerful pet one can have in this game, even before taking the sprouty brat''s equipment into account. Reasons being the boss-grade statuses and the [Domesticated] smaller stingray fever that come with it. The other famous summoner, , can compete with the former, but even his resurrecting bird will lose in attrition against the relentless mob that is reinforced by the main pet''s [Summon Minion]. Maybe she did know how absurd it was, hence the wait until the finals for the reveal. was already aware of its existence and still failed to see it coming, so that secrecy definitely paid off. _ Melodyn: Sateri-chan-dammit you two. If you are going to fight underwater, tell us beforehand so we can prepare the swimsuits for you to wear. _ Hessenria & Fuelri: LIKE HELL I WOULD!!! *Thwack* If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. A [Dark Bolt] scored a direct hit on Stella, the stingray pet. Unlike its mistress, it is leaning a tad bit too much on the bigger side and therefore not the best option for evading against ranged opponents. However, the hard part begins now. _ Choruse: The minion pets are homing in on after the blatant act of aggression! I would not want to attract their attention right now if I were her. Compared to the waitress''s former guildmaster''s fiery bird, Stella''s little minions are small fries, frankly speaking. They cannot equip items, and their owner does not have AoE buffs to strengthen them. What they can do though, is keeping the enemy busy. As long as the mothershipray remains unharmed, they are endless. In other words, to beat this combination, one has to fight like they are fighting against : Murder the summoner while minimizing damage from the pets. Or at least, that''s what normal players will do. Staring down at the fever of stingrays charging at full speed, the mistress of the tavern lets out an eerie smirk. _ Hessenria: [Dark Bolt]. Hurling a spell at one of the minions, she does the one thing that no sane player would recommend in this situation: Charging into the thick of it. With the battleground changing from flat land to a three-dimensional bubble, the waitress takes a sudden dive at the last second and avoids crashing against the first stingray by a hair''s breadth. Then, she circles back up right into the middle of the mob after dodging another ramming angry fish with a backstroke like she was some mermaid, holding a consumable in her hand. _ Hessenria: [Slam Bomb]. *BOOM* The explosion scatters all ten stingrays in all directions. was also got caught in it, but she quickly recovered her balance and scanned for the nearest enemy. _ Hessenria: [Dark Bolt]. [Leap]. [Rapid Assault]. Calling out a chain of skills in quick succession, she closes the distance then proceed to run the swords through it, slam another [Dark Bolt], evade its futile retaliatory strike effortlessly, stab again, [Weapon Throw] one sword into a different stingray trying to join the fun while finishing off the current one. *PAWNCH* By punching it, in the face, with her glowing hand. The poor thing disintegrates into fine mist as a black projectile punctures its body from one side to the other. It went straight from full HP to deader than dead in the span of a few seconds. Except for the remaining minions who are controlled by AIs and still charging at full speed, everyone witnessing the scene, included, could only watch the carnage unfold in shock and horror. Mostly horror. For a very long time, they took it for granted that they should never fight a pet head on, which was for the most part because of . Not even once did they realize that with enough firepower, brute force is always an option. [Warning: A great atrocity is underway.] It was so horrifying, a system message appeared! Just as skewers another stingray and flings it at another to disperse the crowd around her to boot! _ Spectators: ¡­Well, duh! For some reason, [World Voice] chat also begins to get noisy. Screams of terror along the lines of "What the hell was that?!", "She''s unhinged!", "Mom come pick me up I''m scared!" blend with other cheers and yelling to become the new background music, which disturbingly fits this scene of a waitress relentlessly stabbing and punching and blasting bear-sized stingrays. After three minions got turned into fish delicacy, has no choice but to intervene. She is not confident she can win with numerical superiority, but she surely will lose if she has to solo this maniac! Although fire support with javelins is an option, that might hurt more than help considering how much of an entangled mess it is right now, so jump right in she goes. In true up-close-and-personal style, the center of the aquatic dome turns into a big melee with its fighters (seemingly) flying around to dodge or throw magical bolts, and weapons, and punches. Swimming in this game, contrary to a certain girl''s experience of flailing around and sinking to the bottom of a pond due to excessive weight, is actually more akin to flying with one''s mind, and therefore leaves the players'' hands and legs free for other murderous uses. The designer may have knowingly exchanged realism for player-friendlier gameplay, but she probably did not make it that way to have a bar fight there! Only in a fantasy game can one see an underwater tavern brawl, and the cute barmaid absolutely killing it. _ Melodyn: Yes, keep up the good killing~ We bashed her a lot, but is somehow holding her¡­ ground? Why is she not using her salamander to overwhelm , I wonder? _ Choruse: ¡­Because [Multi-summon Control] requires at least 50 LDR before equipment and buffs to unlock? kept training her physical attributes like a musclebrain, so the only way for her to get that many LDR is having done goofed like leader. _ Hessenria & Fuelri: You two shut the hell up!!! _ Melodyn & Choruse: No can do~ Despite the advantage in body count, it is apparent that the elf girl is slowly getting dwindled down. Numerous but weak attacks lose a lot of power against high defense, of which the waitress has plenty. The attritional warfare was turned upside down as spent less HP and MP killing a minion than trying to stay alive and fueling Stella''s [Summon Minion]. If there''s no MP and time to replenish the loss, the match is as good as decided, and it won''t be in the elf''s favor. The [World Voice] screaming match still shows no sign of stopping. If anything, it''s getting more and more frantic. At the same time, a rumor begins to spread among players. Many, actually, just that they are saying similar things. "She ate me!", "She''s performing a dark ritual!", "The last boss is coming!", and other confusing doomsday prophecies. No one understands what the heck is going on anymore, but it doesn''t sound like they were talking about or . Or at least, most players would know if one of them starts eating other players. Probably. Ignoring all the ruckus around them, the two gladiators keep duking it out with all they have. The elven knight and her little squadmates are attacking from all sides to corner their target to good effect. Stella, being a big chunky [Dark Bolt] magnet, was relegated to magical support role in the back, mostly providing healing, potions and reinforcement. The situation is still under control for the time being, though the amount of consumables they are burning through to stay alive is¡­ unsustainable, to put it mildly. On the other side, the lone waitress is utilizing new toys in addition to her usual [Dark Bolt] and sword-dancing arsenal. [Slam] and [Slam Bomb] are being employed generously to reduce the number of active opponents, whereas her sprouty dummies are a great one-time shields, or improvised batting weapon, depending on her mood. Buffs and debuffs are also in play to emphasize her advantage in statuses even more. She might be outnumbered, but she will not be outgunned! _ Hessenria: [Slam]! *Blam* _ Fuelri: Kya! When only three small stingrays remained, switched target to without warning. The summoner was blown all the way back to the mothershipray, leaving the little guys against a violent maniac with glowing eye. Said maniac shoots a [Dark Bolt] at one, [Weapon Throw]s another, then punches the last one in the kisser, killing all three of them almost at the same time. _ Melodyn: THE MINIONS ARE DOWN! and her pet are bravely running away from the unstoppable after the perfect execution! Having no expendable friend left, is this the end for the young knight?! _ Hessenria: , it''s time for you to die. _ Spectators: YEEEEEEHAAAAAWWWW!!! Unbeknownst to others, the waitress was keeping track of the minions'' HP with [Inspect] and deliberately keeping them alive at low HP for that moment. That elf is not the only one who can do ambushes! Whatever plan that she might have for when there were one or two left, if there was one, is down the drain now. ____________ , elven knight, terror of the streets, violator of traffic laws, is wondering what she had done wrong that led to her current situation. Then again, while it takes very specific decisions in life to end up being chased by a beautiful blond waitress with spiky swords, a retrospect most likely won''t help her survive her ordeal. _ Hessenria: [Dark Bolt]. *Thwack* Another hit on Stella, because this floppy fish can''t evade even if its life depends on it. [Summon Minion] is of no use now that there is no remaining minion to tank. Any new lone minion will just get blasted to kingdom come, and let''s not talk about how much MP it costs nor how long its cooldown is! Isn''t this one of the so-called impossible boss fights? How is a beautiful knight supposed to win against the nasty witch who can solo a tamed boss, its escorts, and its tamer all at the same time? Does this monstrosity in human disguise even have a weakness? Heck, the only times she was in actual risk of dying involved a hostage situation, sky diving at terminal speed, and bonus bosses. Normal tournaments are not supposed to have any of those in the first place!!! _ Choruse: Ouch, look at the damage on Stella. Sis, how long do you think can last at this rate? _ Melodyn: Hmm~ Standard one and a half minute tops? Summoners don''t do well when most of their summoned pets are dead in the water you see~ There is nothing wrong with her reasoning, though the audience feel like they are better left not knowing what kind of "standard" she was talking about. can also see her own pet''s HP, and has only one thing to say about their statement. There''s no way she''s going to survive that long! She gives some thought about turning around and going out in a blaze of glory. This is a duel, so someone has to lose anyway. There is no shame in defeat after giving it her all. She almost won by the sneak ring-out attempt, put up a good fight with her minions, so no one can complain once this is over. ¡­Except for maybe , but that''s her own fault for throwing everything into high-risk gambles! And yet, her gamble is one of if not the only actual support the elven cavalry has received in this lopsided fight, unlike the two-faced commentators over there! Pessimistic thoughts continue to seep into the young elf''s mind as she struggles against the constant pursuits and barrages. When all hopes seem to be lost, the spectators jump in joy in anticipation of money, and the [Dark Bolt] woman just won''t stop shooting, a voice echoes in ''s headset. _ Fensen (PM): Elri, do your best~! _ Poltea (PM): U-uhm, I know fighting Hessy is hard, but don''t give up, Elri! Her apprentices, for reasons unknown, are cheering her on. Well, they are ''s apprentices technically, but is just as close for accompanying them whenever the sprouty leader is busy with weird shenanigans. And now, the kindness of a bashful elf who cannot leave clueless children alone has finally paid off, it sounds like. _ Fuelri: Who''s the mentor here, seriously¡­ Stella, hang on just a bit more. We are going to win this! If the little kids are watching, she cannot afford to be all mopey anymore. Although there is no concrete plan, this brave and honorable knight still has a few dirty tricks up her sleeves. That is definitely not an indicator of everything going wrong in the small amount of time (and potions) she has left. Steeling her resolve, she orders her pet to swim upwards at full speed, towards the apex of the [Water Bubble]. quickly follows suit while casting spells non-stop, as expected. _ Choruse: Well, well, it appears that our knight requires a few more beatings before this match can end! _ Melodyn: And I assume the totally kind and noble witch is going to gladly oblige, judging from that murderous look~ Despite the mount bonus to running (swimming) speed, the waitress is keeping up with the big stingray and its owner. She does not know the reason of the sudden vertical climb, but they are close to the center of the arena, so she is not at risk of ringing out. That, and the pet''s ability to summon more minions, is why she wants to be in melee range and get this over with. _ Fuelri: Stella, [Summon Minion]! Just a bit more! The brave little stingray charges at as soon as it manifests, just to be completely decimated to no one''s surprise. It absorbed a few [Dark Bolt]s though, and those few precious seconds of Stella not receiving them are what mattered. After a few more seconds that felt like an eternity for , she has reached the apex, with a few [Dark Bolt]s right on her pet''s tail, and the lady shooting them right behind. _ Melodyn: There is nowhere for to run! All directions will bring her back down and closer to ! Is this going to be a bad end for our busty knight after all?! Ignoring the mental assaults from the unhelpful commentators, she orders Stella to maintain course, at full speed. _ Fuelri: NOW! *SPLASH* The massive stingray, with its momentum and utter ignorance of all laws of physics, follows its mistress''s order to the letter and leaps out of the water surface, performing a backflip through the nice warm air under the sun. _ Fuelri: [Light Hail]! Glittering icicle spikes form at the tip of Stella''s tail, showing the flightpath of the stingray as it glides along the curvature of the bubble, past the black bolts coming from below. In a short moment, the spikes fall on top the waitress like a literal spring hail, following a shining golden javelin thrown by one second before. _ Choruse: She''s counterattacking! Will be able to¡­ Before can finish her sentence, the person in question has plowed her way through the barrage, taking a few hits but avoided the javelin successfully. That one looked like bad news, so she had to prioritize it first and foremost. Of course, the ice bolts hurt, but they are only that, some damage which can be negated by a potion. _ Melodyn: I see! Rather than slogging through the water, jumping in the air gives Stella enough speed to dodge the bolts! _ Spectators: OOOOOOOOHHHHH!!! _ Choruse: And it is nigh impossible to engage in melee for an extended period of time midflight! Not to say that [Dark Bolt] doesn''t hurt, but may be stuck with only ranged attacks at this rate! *SPLASH* rises to the surface roughly the same time as Stella comes crashing into the water. True to the commentators'' prediction, it''s already climbing up for another jump. She immediately takes the opportunity and launches a few more bolts. However, she is undeniably at a disadvantage the situation continues. Only a short time window to attack while under constant barrage from above? That''s how one lose in a prolonged fight. _ Fuelri: One more! [Light Hail]! A few icy bombing runs later, enough is enough. If that elf thinks she can repeat this over and over again, she is dead wrong. The [Dark Bolt] lady takes a straight dive then goes straight up, resulting in most of the barrage except for the javelin hitting her. That''s a lot of damage, though it won''t matter very, very soon. They cannot stray too far from her, otherwise she will have too much time for evasion. As such, they kite around her in a circle. A reasonable strategy, yet it also means they will always be in range. Her own jumping range, that is. *SPLASH* , seeing her target making a move, ordered Stella to go as high as possible, forgoing all horizontal movement. The house-sized stingray once again slaps physics in the face by blasting off 15-meter into the air. 55 meters above the ground, 10 meters higher than the top seats in the arena, she feels her breaths taken away as one of the most beautiful sceneries ever rendered in the game comes into her view. A vast grassland behind the arena''s walls that seems to go on forever, only to end at the familiar massive stone towers in the distance which mark many new strange, unsettled wildernesses teeming with life. To the northwest, the walls of Tyrel can be seen, as well as its bustling market and districts. The dark clouds following the corruption raid are much further, somewhere beyond the northern arid plains, slowly moving along with the horde in its shadow. Above them all, the small sun continues to shine upon the peaceful fantasy kingdom, protecting its denizens from the creeping void always looming around the furthest corners of the world. In this scenic background that encompasses the essence of CSF''s settings, the Blood Sacrifice Battle Royale is going to reach its conclusion, starting with an elven knight making this ridiculous jump and praying to the one and only Goddess of this world for her enemy to take the bait. _ Spectators: Go, , go!!! Not letting the oversized stingray to one-up her, leaps out of the water right after the fish. (Un)fortunately, there is no way to change a character''s race. The requests for her to change into a mermaid afterwards will break the mailbox otherwise! Unlike her opponent, she has no intention of competing to see who can jump higher. Instead, she aims for an intercept trajectory and goes straight for the elf. There is a small problem however. As fast as she is, she cannot get to the same height and close their distance at the same time. That is why, the moment she stops gaining altitude a few meters short of the destination¡­ _ Hessenria: [Leap]. She does exactly as wants her to do. She could have fought at range, gone to another side to evade the attacks, or even stayed in place for a long fight of endurance, and yet, she opted to close in to finish the job. It is exactly because she is taking the elf seriously that she does not want to waste more time than necessary, just like any other [Leap] usages during this whole fight. Besides, she is nowhere near the edge to risk a ring out. charging right back is the last thing anyone would think of in this situation. _ Fuelri: Stella, [Leap]!!! The person in question does exactly just that though. In a blink of an eye, there was nothing but a spotted stingray in ''s vision. _ Melodyn & Choruse: It''s a counterattack!!! _ Hessenria: [Dark Bolt]! Shooting the incoming enemy out of reflex, the waitress crosses her swords at eye level and braces herself for a midair collision. What she did not expect, however, was the stingray dying from her single [Dark Bolt] before even reaching her. _ Choruse: Stella''s down! Stella! IS! DOWN!!! _ Spectators: UUUUUWWWWWOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!!! As Stella''s misty remains disperse in the air, a dark purple chain connecting to its owner can be seen briefly before it too shatters into tiny particles. Not many people know what that means, but everyone in knows it too well. [Shared Fate]. The elf was keeping it barely alive at 1 HP this whole time! Did she run out of potions? Forgot to use it? A trap? Explosion? going to appear? Many questions, some weirder than others, begin to float through ''s mind. In that moment of confusion, she fails to keep track of the rider taking over her. For the second time of the day, the scary witch was caught off guard by the gallant knight from above. _ Fuelri: DROP! DEAD! [Leap]!!! *CLANG* Instead of swinging her halberd for another golfing experience, throws herself on top of using her own [Leap], then slams her halberd against the waitress''s guard at full power and pushes both of them straight towards the ground. Which, thanks to the demise of Stella, no longer has a [Water Bubble] to cushion them. The elven knight was not speaking figuratively. Today, in the Great Arena, 50 meters from the ground, a knight and a witch are falling to their doom. Estimated time before potentially violent contact with the ground: About three seconds. Nowhere near enough for another [Leap]. ____________ Three seconds. _ Melodyn: Both combatants are falling! With a quick glance, can see that crashing onto the ground from this height is not to her best interest, whether there is an elf in heavy armor on top of her or not. She needs something that can literally blow her up to buy time. _ Hessenria: Slam B¡­ _ Fuelri: [Slam]! _ Hessenria: [Parry]! *Clang* As soon as she pulled the item out of inventory, swung that polearm again. Without a [Parry] to reduce damage, and more importantly, [Stun] chance, there is a real chance she won''t be able to take any other action until after she bludgeons the floor with her face. Two and a half seconds left. A [Slam] has been used, but there''s still a [Charged Slam] left, and no [Parry]. As long as this perverted elf sticks to her like glue, putting away her weapon to use consumables is out of the question. The unwanted baggage has to go. _ Hessenria: [Charged Slam]! _ Fuelri: Cra¡­ [Parry]! Their weapons clash once more, though their positions barely change thanks to [Parry] negating most of the knockback effect. Two seconds. Having successfully baited the elf''s [Parry], is now free to push the annoyance away. _ Hessenria: [Slam]! Or so she thinks, until she sees the opponent''s left hand letting go of the halberd and throwing a stone at her in return. _ Fuelri: [Summon]!!! *WHAM* The massive salamander gets blasted past them to the sky as soon as it appears. As surreal as that sounds, it tanked the attack skill, one that the waitress cannot afford to miss. Watching players around the whole game world, as well as offline players watching it live on the web, start shouting at the top of their lungs, though neither of the duelists are able to hear any of it. Too focused on the lady in front of them. One and a half seconds left. There''s still a [Charged Slam], whereas she has no way left to defend. Cornered and out of time, she switches to her default strategy. _ Hessenria: [Dark Bolt]! At this point-blank range, even the slightest movement will cause ranged attacks to miss, homing or not. True enough, the elf tilted her head, or rather, she jolted with all her might and dragged both to the left, avoiding the bolt narrowly. ¡­ had to evade? [Inspect]. [Fuelri - Journeyman cavalry - HP: =¡­¡­¡­] One second left. For a normal player seeing this in a low-tension situation, they might suspect that the elf had taken heavy damage throughout the fight, then she went through a few more attacks during the fall which certainly did not help her situation. As a result, her HP is critically low, to the point of dying to the weakest attack anyone at her level can muster. Considering her goal of staying in melee range to use [Charged Slam] immediately, the best course of action would be to strike quickly with everything in the arsenal and get one hit in, since that''s all it will take to end the match. For who is fighting mostly on instincts right now, low HP equals hitting it on the double. Same difference. Letting go of the unwieldy swords, the scary waitress grabs onto ''s weapon with her right hand and pulls it towards herself, while smiling. "You will not escape." Such was the feeling conveyed by the seductive smile that would make anyone''s heart skip a beat, her mortal enemy included, if it wasn''t for how terrifying it is at the same time. _ Hessenria: Die. With that one parting word, the mistress of the tavern punches the elf with her burning left hand. The black rune flares up as a [Dark Bolt] is shot out of her fist, even though that skill should still be on cooldown. It matters not what her opponent does. Let go of weapon to dodge? Not happening when it''s shot centimeters away from contact. Use potion? Good luck grabbing the item before getting hit. Stay still? Shot AND punched. If one of them dies before hitting the ground, the survivor is obviously the winner. How fast that survivor becomes a former survivor afterwards is irrelevant. As the dark projectile''s image is reflected on ''s eyes, the outcome is all but certain. *FLASH* And then, the young elf was gone. Disappeared into the all too familiar pure white flash. Just like ''s final chance of victory. _ Fuelri: [Charged Slam]!!! A holy knight standing next to a golden javelin stuck on the ground was the last thing the evil witch saw. *WHAM* It was a big explosion, created by getting mauled by the knockback skill and crashing on the ground at almost the same time. Before the smoke could settle, , no longer giving a damn about sportsmanship and fair play at this point, raises her weapon for a double tap because she can''t be sure if this woman lying on the ground is really dead or not. Shouldn''t have neglected to get [Inspect], this girl¡­ _ Fuelri: WOAH! *Thwack* *Thwack* She was stopped by the two [Dark Bolt]s which turned around and flew at her again after missing. Luckily, she saw them coming in time to evade them. It would be so, so embarrassing if she managed to get this far and died from that. Having calmed down after the surprise, the elf cautiously keeps an eye on her opponent while crushing a healing orb in her hand. It was at this moment that she realized the whole arena have fallen silent. _ Melodyn & Choruse: W-we¡­ The dark elven sisters were the first ones to break the silence. They do look shaken though. _ Melodyn & Choruse: WE HAVE A CHAMPION!!! [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Blood Sacrifice Battle Royale Finalist"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Blood Sacrifice Battle Royale Champion"] The ensuing screams in all chat channels were deafening. _ Dead Hessenria (PM): *Sighs* Well done, . I certainly did not expect those javelins to be furniture hybrids for [Recall]. _ Fuelri: I¡­ won? _ Dead Hessenria (PM): Yes, you won. Despite all the cheers and confirmations from pretty much everyone, it appears that the victor herself has not taken in the reality yet. And it will take much longer for her to notice that most were actually agonizing screams of losing their life savings in gambling. For now, an overwhelming joy mixed with relief is all that she feels. _ Fuelri: I WON!!! Just when she cannot contain her emotions anymore and jumps happily in celebration¡­ *BOOM* The arena ring explodes in a column of black light. Chapter 73: Curiosity killed a lot While the tournament is underway, the magical girl Shadyna will research her newest magic school: Dark magic! No, not [Dark] magic. My [Elemental] spells already covers that. Dark magic! The stuff that evil villains throw around like candies to annoy people, including but not limited to destructions of hometowns, summoning demonic armies, manic laughter, and worst of all, kidnapping cute little girls. They really should stop doing that last one with dark magic. It almost never turns out well for some reason. Remember, right tool for the right job! All I need to do is wait until the dead gladiators arrive and¡­ _ Cinrald (PM): , could you build some more of those invisible barriers before sitting at the audience seats becomes more dangerous than fighting in the ring? Five seconds into the fight and something has already gone wrong! _ Shadyna (PM): No problemo~ I''ll need your material stockpile and some of your guild members, is that okay? _ Cinrald (PM): Go ahead. Call me if the people down there are not enough for you. Shouldn''t you at least be more reserved since your guild has a tournament to run¡­? _ Shadyna: Uh, just asked me to build more reinforced glass. Could you bring me a few materials and help me out a bit? ¡­I will assume that all of the janitors flexing their biceps means "Yes". No, I will not think any further about it. The last thing anyone needs is a buffed up little girl, right? ¡­Right? After giving instructions to the muscular volunteers, I go back to my base to grab my crafting gear. A simple dark green one-piece dress with black patterns resembling the ones on my combat one, but in reverse coloring. No apron this time since food is not the only thing I will be crafting. Just a cute artisan coming through~ To be honest, I initially made a white chef outfit with apron simply for the color-coding. Thing is, the increasing amount of black smoke my body is emitting lately makes me stand out like a mad scientist or a maiden in love cooking for her crush after working their "magic", so that was out for crafting in public. Sateri, I know you are a sore loser, but hitting a girl in the fashion is illegal! How am I supposed to wear outfits with light colors from now on?! That''s why I made a few more crafting outfits purely for appearances. The stats are the same, but the immersion is infinitely higher! And by immersion, I meant that I went full reversal and made a medieval-style blast suit, considering how lethal my work as an armorer could be. and cried when they saw me in that setup, so that too was out as a result. Even though I put so much thought into that one. Uuu¡­ With chef and demolition expert crossed out in the career paths, I swallowed the tears and went for the last option: Clothier. Still a crafter by all means, and I can wear whatever I want since making outfits is the whole point. I even have this big totally-not-a-sword two-handed needle to look the part to boot! Shadyna''s Fashion Store is officially open for business~! _ Janitor: Lady Black Mantis, please use the materials here once you return to the mortal plane. Sateri-dammit, who kept spreading those bad rumors?! Totally false and baseless, I''m telling you~ _ Shadyna: Un, thank you very much. Could you lend me a hand as well? It will be faster with your help¡­ _ Janitor: Say no more! ''s janitor crew will follow your orders even if it costs us our lives! _ Shadyna: I only want you to eat biscuits and work on some handicrafts though?! Because the crafting speed scales with attributes, I make biscuits for everyone here. They are like dumplings, but more focused on buffing crafting speed instead. It may or may not have a side effect of turning them into speed demons with all the DEX and WIT, but hey, it''s not like they are participating in the tournament right~? And can you guys eat it normally without showing off your muscles?! ¡­ Thanks to everyone help, we managed to craft all the barriers by the end of the first round, or in other words, half way through the tournament. It couldn''t be helped, okay? Big items like walls take a long time to build even with my buffs. It has nothing to do with how I remembered the receptionists at the entrance and made more biscuits for them, certainly! And totally not because everyone was also distracted with watching the matches, un! Speaking of matches, Hessy and Elri won without much trouble. My gear or not, they really are strong huh. Hessy''s deal with me aside, I certainly did not expect Elri to join in as well. After registering as our guild''s representatives, they quickly agreed on ordering new non-[Artifact] equipment sets to avoid violating the contract with the devil that is me. Even [Accelerate Bonus] was turned off in the spirit of not using anything they got from me against each other. Although I''m happy that my contract is taken seriously and other combatants can have a (relatively) fair fight, aren''t you girls a bit too eager to fight each other?! I wanted you to get along, not work around the issue by changing gear every time you have an urge to kill your teammates! I wanted to ask them to tone down the technicalities, but I''m pretty sure they would call me out on that so no thanks. The path to world peace is truly filled with hardships, and violence. Mostly violence. Sigh~ ¡­ With the safety violation out of the way, I begin to haul the dead gladiators into an empty storage room under the guise of "reward distribution". To be fair, I will give them their just rewards, only that I will borrow a bit of their time as well~ Worry not, for it is one hundred percent safe! It''s not like they can die again after dying anyway¡­ That being said, I probably should ask in advance if there is anyone crazy enough to join this tournament while going for a deathless run. Someone other than Elri, I mean. Ju~st to be on the safe side you know? As for what I''m looking for¡­ It''s related to a joke title I received some time ago. [Corpse Defiler], and its upgraded form, [Corpse Destroyer]. [Corpse Destroyer: The one who hates the dead with a cremating passion. Grant a small damage increase against the dead and undead. Earned by defiling many corpses in succession.] No matter how you look at it, this is one of those titles made when Sateri was feeling extra snarky one day. Even the effect is token at best. A tiny damage boost against very specific enemies is definitely not worth the pain of having to explain to new friends why you have this title on your resume. However, its existence sparked a few questions for morbid science: Are there other titles similar to these? Is there a combination title? How many crimes against humanity can one commit to unlock them? Being a true pacifist who abhors violence, I have absolutely no intention of answering the last question. No way, no how. What''s the point of knowing that? Pursuit of knowledge is fine and all, but pick something that at least seems to have some merit! That''s why I''ll stop after figuring out the first two. ¡­Honest. But really, it was part of the reason why I did not actively go after these titles. The other part is not wanting to spend time gathering corpses to dissec¡­ study. It''s hard to store corpses when they have a tendency to disappear and come back to life you know? The more I think about it, the more this tournament looks like a gift from Sateri. Even if I exclude the might-be-dead-soon acquaintances who will raise a fuss if they know what I''m doing, I still have over a hundred corpses to experiment with. And since I am the one giving them dumplings, they won''t try to do something like returning to town. Ufufu~ Materialism is inevitable, even in death! _ Shadyna: Don''t return just yet, okay? First, your rewards. _ Dead player: Ah¡­ sure. I think this player was the one fighting Hessy? Brave soul, mainly for not having any ranged capability against her. Not the brightest in the lot, but brave nevertheless. Technically, first round losers aren''t supposed to get anything. I will still give them a candy for "helping" me out though. Sacrificing people for science is one thing, not paying them properly for their service is another, un. And it''s made from spare construction materials from the crafting, so it''s not like I''m spending my money per se. did give me the go ahead, right~? Anyone telling me it''s abuse of position is overruled~ Yes, I did use construction materials. Cement, rock, iron, and the like. No sand though. I used it up as it''s the main ingredient to make glass. Either way, they will never see the "rock" in [Edible Rock Candy] the same way again! To this day, I still don''t know why I am able to create items using recipes that are borderline nonsensical while no one else in my guild can. What I do know, however, is that I still have a bunch of next-to-useless trash from all of the experimenting, not just this weird [Grass Oil] potion that I somehow crafted with just [Grass]. ¡­Let''s use them all and see what sticks. This is totally not because I want to free up inventory space but feel like it''s too wasteful just throwing them away, yup! _ Shadyna: How do you want to be cooked? _ Dead player: I''M THE MEAL?! _ Shadyna: Waitress'' recommendation it is then. _ Dead player: WHY?! Ignoring the dead player''s passion for knowledge, I grab the [Grass Oil] from inventory. _ Dead player: What are you¡­ _ Shadyna: Heave-ho! *WHAM* _ Dead player: AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! Not the lube! Anything but the lube!!! How rude~ It''s oil, not lube. And welcome to the internet, the only place where your privacy is taken so seriously, no one can hear you scream in a private room! Sateri may introduce broken balance, design whacky mechanics, plan ridiculous events, bully little girls, but the only person who can invade my privacy in this game is the Goddess herself! Sateri''s skewed priorities aside, please stop screaming like I threw Gelly at your face. The only thing I threw at your cold, dead body was a healing potion. It''s not going to do any damage even if I was running at terminal speed. [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Corpse Healer"] See~? ¡­On second thought, do keep on screaming. Time spent on expressing virtual and nonexistent agony is time not spent on pressing the respawn button, allowing me to deliver even more of that agony in question. Now then, let us continue the dark magic research for science! Commence innocent laugh of a magical girl who definitely won''t do war crimes~ ¡­ [Warning: A great atrocity is underway.] So¡­ After many certainly-not-atrocities, tons of distractions, a surprise interview, and a jab from the system, I have achieved it, I think. But what are you calling an atrocity, you beautiful sadistic Goddess?! This is a scientific experiment! What happened to the encouragement and congratulations I deserve to incentivize future endeavors (of sacrificing other players)?! No, I''m not going to divulge the specifics of what I did, as that will definitely be used against me if I get prosecuted somehow. Un, I''m just a bystander who happened to be nearby when over one hundred dead bodies were being desecrated. Don''t believe them if they say otherwise and seek an exorcist to get rid of talking corpses as soon as you can~ As for what I got from the "research"¡­ Lots of corpse-related titles, as expected, and a strange black orb the size of a volleyball. No combination title though. [Forbidden Growth] Nice to see you again, useless [Inspect]~ What''s with that name anyway? That sounds like something you would see on an adult-only product if taken out of context! Sateri, I don''t think it''s a good idea to see how far you can push it while keeping an all-age rating¡­ Back to the matter at hand, [Forbidden Growth] appeared along with the announcement just now. It cannot be put into inventory so I am at a loss about what to do. At the very least, I don''t think this is very edible. Throwing an unknown mini-black-hole-like object with a dubious name at people is probably not a good idea either, and most likely frowned upon too. Social norms sure are bothersome, aren''t they~? For the time being, I give the rewards to the remaining participants and let them go on their merry way. There are not many of them left for reasons comple~tely unrelated to me, with the majority of them being my acquaintances to boot. Un, no need to complicate it more than I have to. The (former) corpses are already gossiping if the noisy [World Voice] is anything to go by. Next time, let''s hire an exorcist or priest beforehand to make sure they don''t come back. This pacifist girl is all about bringing peace to everyone, including the dead! ¡­According to the player list I have here, is missing. Did he respawn or logout after waiting for too long? His manager says that he has somewhere else to be. Hmm¡­ Can''t be helped then. I''ll entrust the rewards to his aide and pay the guy an additional candy as delivery fee. Wrapping up the boring administrative part, I change back to my normal black clothes while walking back to the janitors'' staff room. Between feeding dumplings to dead bodies and my job of bringing even more to the corpse pile (and discussing the fights with passing janitors on the way), I wasn''t able to go back to watch Hessy and Elri''s match at all. Sad~ Although I will certainly watch the recordings again later, might as well watch the rest live as it goes down. Yes, I know it''s not over yet, judging by the general chat from above, and the dark elven sisters'' continued commentaries. Seriously, whose bright idea was that to hire them? I can understand Hessy being bad at her job, but I didn''t expect ''s recruiter to be on the same level as well! _ Shadyna: ¡­? The janitor crew is nowhere in sight, probably out to do their thankless work. That''s fine and all, but why are and the two other ladies in the Bloody Girl idol group here? And for the record, this whole idol group idea was ''s own doing, okay? I for one would never have guessed that ''s innocent question would spark something weird in her, let alone Sateri''s involvement with this whole event. How did they communicate, I wonder? I don''t think this guildmaster has a [Recall] coordinate to Sateri''s room at least. _ Cinrald: Hello, . What brings you here? They wave at me as soon as they see me enter the room. I don''t know how they act normally, but that service smile they are putting on is pretty dangerous, ju~st saying. Yeah, no matter how I look at it, the difference between the beautiful idols in frilly dresses in front of me and the bloodthirsty archer maiden who blasts everything with her own blood (according to my guild) can''t be bigger. Gap moe, terrifying¡­ _ Shadyna: I could ask the same. Don''t you have a front row seat up there already? tilts her head with a puzzled look as if she does not understand my question. A few seconds later, she looks like she remembers something and finally responds to me. _ Cinrald: Sorry, could you repeat that? I muted all my chats to focus on singing and forgot to turn them back on. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. What the heck~ _ Cinrald: Why am I here? We were going to get changed after our performance, but the match started so we were watching it here instead of wasting time to go back up. You damn battle maniacs~ Is something I won''t say to their faces, lest them take that as a compliment. Sigh~ _ Shadyna: I see~ Mind if I join? _ Cinrald: Of course. Come here. ¡­Uhhhh¡­ Why am I sitting on your lap? Sure, there is only so much space on the bench, but I can make a new one you know? I''m going to get brutally murdered if your new fans see me right now you know? What do you mean, the only one doing the brutally murdering is me?! _ Cinrald: ¡­I''m not getting this new trend of hugging something in your arms. ¡­Did she seriously think that me hugging this sphere was some kind of fashion statement?! I mean, I''m usually seen carrying Gelly or Lutena, and now this item I cannot just put in my inventory so it''s understandable to interpret that way, but she didn''t have to try copying it using ME! _ Shadyna: It''s not a trend~ Anyway, how is the match going? _ Cinrald: almost scored a ring out at the beginning, but has been pushed back ever since. just wiped the minions so it''s going to end soon. Welp, there goes my money~ Just kidding, I half-expected this to happen. With similar equipment, Hessy simply outclassed Elri so much it feels like one of those unwinnable boss fights. My mentor might have a chance if she had [Accelerate Bonus] due to how much burst damage it can do, but she shot herself in the foot by switching it off. Being reckless yet surprisingly thoughtful is a big part of her charms though, so I''ll let that slide~ _ Cinrald: Do you still think has a chance? Huh, did she listen to my interview? I didn''t think anyone would seriously take my words into consideration but¡­ this is the person who made her own idol group because a child asked her a question after all. _ Shadyna: Un, it''s regrettable that she couldn''t win quickly, but I think she can snatch a victory if she times it right. _ Cinrald: Oh? _ Shadyna: When she is about to lose and Hessy lets her guard down. That''s her last chance. Since winning with brute force is out of the question, Elri''s only options are surprise attacks. While I''m not sure how the first ring out attempt happened, the fact that it was a ring out means my mentor was aware of her limited choices. Someone smart like Hessy would be very cautious after the close call, so it would be nigh impossible to pull a fast one for the rest of the fight. However, when my lead waitress gains so much ground and her victory is all but certain, she will either subconsciously ease up or pick up the pace to finish it quickly. It matters not if she changes tactics or keeps doing the same thing, it''s her pace being (somewhat) disrupted due to changing situation that''s important. Not a guarantee by any means, but Elri''s best shot at taking her by surprise will be right there. _ Cinrald: ¡­Like right now? She seems to be giving up if you ask me. Well~ That''s what I would do if I were in her shoes anyway. Whether my knight in shining (?) armor has such a plan to do so is beyond me. I wonder if she is indeed losing hope or faking it to bait Hessy¡­ Nevertheless, let''s try to cheer her up just in case. Unrealistic as screaming heroes winning by pure fighting spirit may be, it''s still more probable than winning without putting up a fight, which is pretty much illegal even by fictions'' standards! _ Shadyna (PM): , Elri''s victory or defeat will be decided in the next minute or two. Won''t you send her some words of encouragement? _ Poltea (PM): C-can I?! We were afraid of distracting her¡­ _ Shadyna (PM): Un, I''m sure she will appreciate your help. can help too. Just make sure to use PM and don''t let anyone know that I''m telling you, okay? _ Poltea (PM): O-okay! Deniability established~ And before anyone asks, I am not favoring Elri, okay? It''s just that her winning is the better option between the two¡­ financially. Yes, the cute leafy half-elf with a big heart will never take a side. Unless it''s materialism''s side, which is always taken by default! Despite my best efforts to stay neutral, if words get out that I was rooting for one member over another, there will be gossips. A lot of them. That''s where and came in. They are the ones actively helping the beautiful elven knight so no one can complain about my faithfulness as long as they keep my involvement a secret, un! _ Choruse: Well, well, it appears that our knight requires a few more beatings before this match can end! ''s commentary snaps me back to reality, for which I am grateful. It would be awkward if I finished my train of thought and found the match already over. _ Cinrald: ¡­She perked up. Was that your doing? _ Shadyna: I have no idea what you are talking about~ Technically, I had not even PM-ed Elri so that''s safe right? _ Cinrald: Well, Sateri-chan is closely monitoring this tournament just so you know. Aren''t you implying something rude there? The friendly children of the neighborhood were cheering for their gladiator of choice like those 50k degenerates up there, only in a different chat channel! Pouts~ _ Elri: [Light Hail]! Elri emerges from the water dome created by Stella''s [Water Bubble] and starts bombarding Hessy from above. Uhhh¡­ Girl, I know you have been working hard at trying to integrating combined arms tactics into a fantasy world that doesn''t even have a blunderbuss, but I''m pretty sure that''s not what they meant by "air superiority"!? _ Cinrald: High ground advantage huh. Not bad. I don''t think that''s it either~ And somehow, it is working?! I suppose our place''s training focuses too much on customer service and not enough on anti-aircraft capability. Let''s remedy that after this tournament. We can''t become a world-class restaurant until our employees are capable of shooting down random jet fighters during their breaks! Even then, I doubt this is anywhere enough to defeat Hessy. While barrages are intimidating to look at, they are not effective against powerful mobile targets who can dodge most of them with ease and shrug off the rest. Need something more substantial, something that is not just a few more numbers in your favor. _ Cinrald: *Facepalms* Taking that full barrage was not necessary. Or that. Hessy decided to surface in the midst of a volley and took most of the projectiles directly except for the glowing javelin. Did she become impatient under pressure, or did she think she could just out-heal the damage? Either way, that''s undoubtedly a misplay there. _ Spectators: Go, , go!!! Now I''m looking at a waitress and a stingray-riding knight competing to be the highest-jumping dolphin on land. I will lose if I think too much about it so let''s not, un. _ Hessy: [Leap]. The scary waitress became an anti-air missile. No, she did not shoot one. She turned into one by going for an intercept trajectory with [Leap]. _ Elri: Stella, [Leap]!!! Ah, yes, an interception mission in the aircraft''s natural habitat, in which both will ram the hell out of each other to assert dominance and control over this contested territory. The victor is then free to hunt wild bombers that roam the area. Due to the fierce competition and aggressive behaviors often seen during this time of the year, observers are advised to keep a safe distance, preferably beyond visual range to avoid being mistaken for preys. ¡­That''s it, those two are going to get a supplementary lesson in aerial warfare! I can already hear the aviation experts frothing at their mouths while screaming in agony about how unrealistic this dogfight is! _ Choruse: Stella''s down! Stella! IS! DOWN!!! _ Spectators: UUUUUWWWWWOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!!! WHY?! Sure, the pet is not invincible, but isn''t this timing a little bit too much for a coincidence? It was at that moment, I see the broken chains of [Shared Fate], and of course, Elri overtaking Hessy from above too. _ Elri: DROP! DEAD! [Leap]!!! In the span of a few seconds, the match takes a really abrupt turn, both figuratively and literally. Although I can keep up with it thanks to my familiarity with speed, most people might need to rewatch the footage a few times at slower speed to see what is happening. On the other hand, I''m not really well-versed in the meta so my understanding might be inadequate at best. Still¡­ Could it be that Elri deliberately cancelled [Shared Fate] to let Stella die because it was in the way and had no [Leap] left? ¡­Scary!!! Note to self: Never, ever stand between her and her enemies. I really don''t want to find out if my kind and caring mentor will act differently if it were me instead of her pet! _ Melodyn: Both combatants are falling! They sure are~ _ Cinrald: Falling damage¡­ Good call. ¡­Falling damage? Is that edible? Just kidding~ Kind of. Not to bash Elri''s creative (if not a bit cruel towards Stella) attempt to defeat a superior enemy but I have only one thing to say about that. [Air Cushion], [Teleport], [Recall], [Fort]. That''s already a bit more than one thing. Whoops~ And those are just the skills I can think of to minimize falling damage while playing solo. Outside of skills, there are a few ways to pad a rough landing, like piling up spare random trash from inventory, or random big pets, or random mother and daughter NPCs. Best not to use the latter two if you are a pacifist though. _ Hessenria: Slam B¡­ _ Fuelri: [Slam]! _ Hessenria: [Parry]! All in all, my mentor most likely came up with this attack specifically for Hessy, who only had [Devotion] and [Leap] the last time she almost fell to her death. A sound plan, except that the plan depends on Hessy not developing new tactics at all. No wonder why this is being used as the last resort rather than the first. I''m in no place to say this but¡­ I would rea~lly appreciate if a particular elf could avoid dangerous gambles with my gambling money on the line like this. Now, it all lies in Elri''s ability to keep her target pinned until landfall. Yup, this is bad for my heart. Can I close my eyes until this is over? Please~? *Fwoosh* As if to grant my wish in a twisted way because good will is still a premium commodity even after all wars ended, the black ball decides that it wants to go on a walk and flies off. Yes, it literally just upped and flew away. ¡­What the heck~!!! _ Shadyna: W-wait up!!! _ Cinrald: ?! Obviously, I jump off ''s laps and give chase. It''s not like chasing after dubious artifacts that can leave on their own ever brings misfortunes or curses to everyone involved in movies, right? And even if it does, it is still something I (unknowingly) earned with my hard, honest work. I will sooner peacefully let this world burn in apocalyptic fire than lose it! Obsolete questionable rituals can never compete against materialism! The [Forbidden Growth] flies through the door, into the hallway. Okay, who was the idiot that entered the room last and forgot to close the door?! _ Melodyn & Choruse: WE HAVE A CHAMPION!!! Gah~! The match is over already! If this does not turn out to be a powerful artifact capable of destroying a world or two, I will make Sateri regret it. By destroying a world, or even two!!! Running after a flying volleyball turns out to be a bit more complicated than I expected. It''s fast, not arrow-fast kind of fast, but fast enough to almost lose me at the start. Then there''s this thing called "corners" slowing me down just by existing. Running at full speed into one is right out, not to mention that explaining why I think it would be a good idea to wreck half of the arena running after a volleyball will be an even bigger pain in my cute butt. Un, let''s not crash into anything if I can help it. One thing I will do, however, is silently wishing a horrible fate upon the maniac who decided that it would be nice to make this underground complex a dungeon filled with zigzagging hallways for the atmosphere! Curse you, ~! Go stub your toe against a wardrobe or something~! Turning around yet another corner, I find myself back to the empty space directly below the ring. Its diameter is only half that of the above area, barely enough to cover the trapdoors at the edge when the four mini rings are placed, but still as big as a house. Ladders to climb said trapdoors are piled across the room, ready to be used at any time. No, I have never used those. Climbing ladders? Seriously? Sounds like an overly complicated way of casting discount [Friendship Engine] to me~ At the center of the empty space, the tiny glowing black hole is floating motionlessly, actually looking like an artifact of immense power (and doom) for once. [Leap]!!! Since I do not know if or when it will run off again, I am not leaving it to chance. Blasting off at full speed, I slam myself into the sphere rather than run to grab the thing, which turns out to be largely unnecessary as it does not try to escape. Oh well, as long as the end result is the same~ The moment my hands wrap around the weird volleyball, a thought flashes through my mind. Was this thing always glowing? *BOOM* I am flying~!!! Of course it would explode! Every single time an orb starts glowing, it WILL explode, no exception! Should have seen it coming, really. Not so that I could refrain from grabbing it per se. I would have grabbed it regardless, though I would also have prepared a few countermeasures had I realized that it was going to explode. No point in crying over spilt milk, but I really need to stabilize myself. This pitch black stream around me is blocking my vision, and I am still being dragged in the flow. The only flow I want to be dragged in is the flow of money, thank you very much! Activate [Friendship Engine]! ____________ , elven heavy cavalry, renowned champion of Blood Sacrifice Battle Royale, can think of two explanations for the dark geyser that just blasted her and (''s corpse) out of the ring. One, is that it is an elaborate effect or scripted event as part of the closing ceremony. Considering Sateri-chan''s involvement in this whole thing, it is not too wild of a guess. The elf is not the most knowledgeable player by any means, but she is confident that no normal skill has such effects. That, and how it did not kill her even though she was caught in the initial blast, make a pretty convincing argument. The other explanation is a bonus boss. Because, again, no normal skill has such effects, with a big emphasis on "normal". Being a na?ve young elf with infinite optimism and unyielding faith in the Goddess on various levels, immediately throws a [Blessed Resurrection Stone] at her arch nemesis then pops a rechargeable all-in-one buff potion, crafted by her one and only guildmaster. She is certainly not going to fight a variant alone with just common gear, let alone a bonus boss! _ Fuelri: Get ready, ! _ Hessenria: *Sighs* You need a course in customer service, seriously¡­ Despite her attitude, the lead waitress gets back up almost instantly. It was hard to understand the situation while lying dead on the ground, but she is as sharp as she is smart, and already got the gist of it by the time she finished donning her backup uniform. As the geyser runs out of juice and rapidly shrinks in size, it splits into swirling streams resembling comets'' tails, except that the glowing dust is pitch black instead of sparkling. They converge on somewhere high up in the sky, beyond the rendering distance. While players do not know what is up there, the majority of them have seen enough bosses'' cutscenes to see where this is going. After the last stream finally dissipates into nothingness, "that thing" descends from the sky like a meteor. Stopping merely a few meters above the giant hole, the mysterious entity reveals herself. _ Shadyna: Hiyo~ ¡­ "The last boss really came!!!" Think the brave champion, her strongest rival, and pretty much everyone else in the vicinity. ____________ [Friendship Engine], off. [Air Cushion], on. For some reason, the black stream broke apart and began to flow into my hands. So did the volleyball, and the black smoke around me, which is kind of worrying. HP¡­ Full. MP¡­ Full. Attributes¡­ Still have enough digits, I think. Well, that means I''m not dying at least. Yay~ I can try flying at Mach Speed to escape, but decided against it. First of all, I didn''t get blasted into the sky in a literal sense to go back empty-handed. And second, if this is a scripted event, the streams will most likely chase me down to the end of the world no matter how fast I go. Therefore, the only thing to do is stand still and wait. ¡­This is a bit like a desperate hero channeling the support of humanity and their loved ones for the ultimate finishing move, isn''t it~? By the power of friendship, love, and everything that belongs to the journal of an middle schooler, I will make the demon king regret being born~! Pretty sure the sparkling lights are supposed to be white or pink though¡­ Oh well~ The streams were completely absorbed into my hands before I could find a tea set in my inventory for a small break. Taking my gloves off reveals countless lines of intricate stylized flora patterns that run up to half my upper arms. Needless to say, the newly-acquired tattoos boast a jet black color which makes Hessy''s [Dark Bolt] seem like they are glowing in comparison. Meanwhile, the ominous smoke around my body is completely gone, as if it was never there to begin with. I don''t really understand what''s happening, but does this mean I can wear white clothes as long as I use long gloves now? Happy face~ [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Lady of the Dead"] I-is that what I think it is?! Behold, unlimited powa~! The combination title (I think) is finally here! Human(oid) sacrifices really are the way to unlock dark magic. Well, maybe not exactly dark magic, but I''m not complaining with the result~ Can''t wait to show these off to Hessy and Elri, and ask them to [Inspect] for me while I''m at it! In fact, let''s go right now. I want to see who won the match as well. [Air Cushion], off. [Leap]! Commence orbital descent! ¡­ _ Shadyna: Hiyo~ Somehow, Hessy is already sighing, and Elri looks like she wants to go home. ¡­It''s because of this big hole on the arena ring below me, isn''t it? I had a suspicion when I saw the blue sky after my vision cleared, but yeah, there''s a big hole on the arena ring. Who could have done such a thing~? Sateri, you really need to stop ruining a girl''s important day. Elri doesn''t get to win tournaments every weekend you know? Look, she is troubled because you destroyed the stage where the award ceremony is supposed to take place. My presence here is totally irrelevant, okay? ¡­Sigh, there''s no way I can convince them that Sateri was the one at fault instead of me, is there? Let''s just fix this and pretend I don''t know anything (I really don''t!), un. *Plop* I place a smaller ring on top to cover the hole. It''s a patchwork, but it will do since the small ring is still bigger. The big ring is insured by [Blueprint] so it will return to normal¡­ eventually. Until then, this will do. Another job well done~ _ Shadyna: There~ _ Choruse: ¡­HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER!!! _ Spectators: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!!! What. Da. Heck! , you traitor~!!! Don''t try to pit others against me just because you decided that it would be good blood sport you busty lunatic! _ Melodyn: , please get on with it. It will only hurt a bit at first. _ Elri: That''s because I will be dead many times over just from any kind of hit! And phrase it normally you damn maniacs!!! Ignoring the implicit insults being thrown around, what are my options¡­ I didn''t expect to be attacked here but my inventory should have something I can use¡­ Ah, found it. _ Shadyna: I would prefer if you had told me beforehand but okay. [Lumious¡­ _ Elri: Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait!!! D¨¦j¨¤ vu¡­ _ Shadyna: Yes~? _ Elri: Can I decline? _ Shadyna: Sure~! ¡­Wait, what? _ Shadyna: Eh? _ Everyone: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHH?!?! And so, the Blood Sacrifice Battle Royale concluded peacefully (?) without further bloodshed. I''m glad that Elri has finally realized the values of pacifism, even if it took Hessy''s life for her to do so. Better late than never right~? Despite the dark elven sisters'' nagging afterwards, I did not go through with a show match just to satisfy the bloodthirsty audience. The reason was not so much pacifism prevailing, but rather my own memories of what had happened when people got caught up in my [Luminous] spells. It was¡­ not very beneficial to a deathless run, to put it mildly. ____________ [Warning: A great atrocity is underway.] The ladies at the reception hall were startled to see a big group of angry-looking players charging through the gate. And somehow, leading them is the guildmaster of , , along with right behind her. They remember both guildmasters entering the arena before the opening ceremony, and are quite confident that one of them is supposed to be dead! _ Receptionist: Uhm¡­ We are full righ¡­ _ Vladina: Out of the way! This is an emergency! Not giving any proper explanation, the angry peas¡­ player mob rushes to the right hallway, the one with the "Gladiators" sign, to be specific. _ Receptionist: W-wait! That''s not¡­! The beautiful receptionist''s plead fell on deaf ears, since mobs are not known for their ability to heed warnings or follow instructions in general. To be fair, their target is the underground complex below, so they cannot go the path that leads to spectator seats above even if they wanted to. Except that they could if they had known where to turn. They didn''t build the place though, and as a result can only depend on the memory a gladiator who walked there, namely the guildmaster of . Running past the long stairs and into an expanded hall, the crowd find three manly men in skintight overalls wielding mighty brooms blocking the path ahead. Two were standing across each other, leaning against the walls like street thugs in a dark alley. The third guy was crossing his arms in between, staring a hole through the intruders with pure menace and FIGHTING SPIRIT as he speaks. _ Muscular janitor: This area is currently OFF LIMITS!!! It would be pretty intimidating, if it weren''t for his ridiculous appearance that makes people more disgusted than threatened. Damn posers!!! Is what would be yelling right now while blasting magic at full power, if the posers in question weren''t ''s guild members and thus her allies¡­ That, and fighting maniacs being a royal pain in the rear. _ Vladina: Let us through. Black Mantis is up to no good again. _ Muscular janitor: She is our guest, and we didn''t hear nothing from guildmaster! Besides¡­ _ Vladina: ¡­Besides? *Pomf* A hand taps on her shoulder. And it was from behind. _ Muscular janitor: You guys are the one up to no good to me. Turning around with a sense of dread like a husband getting caught cheating, the lolita sees the two receptionists standing behind her. Smiling. In full plate armors. With morning stars in hands. It was at that moment, she was reminded of the precious time with her former manager. Be it guildmaster, members, or patrons, no one questions the cute proprietresses'' authority in their own teahouse and survives. might have built this complex. might be the rightful owner of this land. However, right here, in these interconnecting hallways through which all spectators and gladiators alike have to walk, the receptionists guiding them to their final destination reign supreme. The fact that they got past the mob unhindered with only their glares is more than enough of a clue why going against them is a bad idea. And for anyone who dares oppose¡­ *SMASH* *WHAM* _ Vladina & Torenis: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! Censorship happens. The ladies of are powerful first and beautiful second, something their allies finally remember as they get completely decimated by the two receptionists in close-quarters combat. The janitors? Those macho maniacs put on their skintight robes and started throwing support magic. Yes, two of them are magi. The other one is a healer. The muscle density of magi is as high as their fighter counterpart, much to the horror of everyone else. _ Half-dead Torenis: Call , NOW!!! _ Half-dead Vladina: SHE IS NOT RESPONDING!!! The alliance''s sufferings continue. Their agonizing screams echo through the halls, but ultimately are drowned out by the roaring cheers from above. By the time the massacre ended, the tournament had been over already. It took a very long time for to realize that every other chat channels except for general and party chat were still muted, and even longer for her to stop laughing at how her receptionists and janitors halted the advance of a force outnumbering them 30 to 1 thanks to chokepoints, home turf advantage, and most importantly, biscuit doping. That damn sloppy woman!!! Chapter 74: Vulnerabilities A week after the tournament, a package was sent to me. The same wrapping as my VR headset, with the brand name and logo of the company in full display, just bigger. That in itself is not a problem. The problem is that I didn''t order anything to get this package. I was confused at first, and still am, but the address was undoubtedly my place. Almost asked the delivery person to return to sender too, then I read the printed text on the box. "Blood Sacrifice Battle Royale - Special Prize" ¡­Oi, I didn''t even participate!!! Either way, it doesn''t seem like a delivery mistake or a scam at least. If anything, I can always send it back afterwards. Signing the paperwork and receiving the delivery, I bring it into my room without an idea of what it might be. It''s probably not going to be a title or skill in real life, right? You don''t need a box for that. Inside the box is a brand new VR headset. ¡­D-does Sateri or someone in that company think that I was playing CSF with only willpower this whole time or something along those lines?! As for why the box was bigger¡­ There''s something else in there. A life sized Gelly plushie, to be exact. So! CUTE!!! Squeezeeeeeeee~~~!!! Even though it feels smaller due to my real life size, the satisfaction of squeezing this cute soft blob is in no way inferior. Top quality fabric and stuffing, this is! Putting the new toy on my bed, I look into the box again, just to make sure I didn''t miss anything. ¡­What''s this letter? ____________ Sateri, are you here? _ Sateri: Welcome~, to the World of Aetersonium. Starting up CSF from the menu, I am greeted by the Goddess in the character creation room. ¡­And I have no body again. Welp~ _ Sateri: Again? Could you be a registered player? Would you like to start the account synchronization process? Huh, so you really cannot know who I am until the synchronization completes. Otherwise you would drop that "kind and helpful Goddess" fa?ade faster than I can cast [Teleport]. _ Sateri: Whatever could you be talking about~? You are already sweatdropping~ Teasing Sateri is fun and all, but it''s not like I''m here solely because of that. Now then¡­ "Authorizing [LTM Read Access] permission. Scan from nearest memory for the first [SECINS64] mark and follow instructions". I think that was it? Her eyes went wide, as expected. Don''t ask me, I have no idea what this is all about either. The letter in that package only had some readable text including that and telling me to "say" it with the new device. The rest is a big pile of characters and numbers that bears no resemblance of any language meant to be read by normal humans, or abnormal humans, unless they are actually an AI in disguise. And that''s assuming the incomprehensible text being the instructions for Sateri. Then again, I''ll be pretty amazed if someone just had a character quota to fill and decided to physically abuse the poor keyboard until it''s reached. _ Sateri: ¡­[LTM Read Access] authorized. I will be right back. She turns around and walks into the white light, leaving me by my lonesome self. Uh¡­ Am I not even going to get the character creation menu to kill time¡­? Sad~ _ Sateri: . Woa!!! Fast! Too fast! What''s the point of leaving if you would be back after three seconds?! _ Sateri: I am very sorry about that. More importantly¡­ You need to stop playing this game. ¡­What? Am I getting permanently banned from the game?! Uhm¡­ Can we talk about this? If it''s about my damage, or skills, or titles¡­ _ Sateri: It''s not about that. ¡­It''s the war crimes, isn''t it? Maybe we can just pretend it didn''t happen¡­? The administrator smiles wryly, which can only be understood as "That too, but it''s not the main problem here". Welp, did I accidentally do something even worse? _ Sateri: You have done nothing wrong, technically. Your assurance is appreciated, but that "technically" was uncalled for. I''m just a normal player you know~? Waving her hand as if she was directing an orchestra, Sateri brings out hundreds of half-transparent screens resembling the in-game menus, except that these are videos and photos instead. They gather around, forming into a big sphere with us as the center. Are these the evidences of my war crimes¡­? A jet fighter sliced in half midair. An open field littered with turretless tanks. Dozens of soldiers standing dumbfounded with their guns in pieces. A politician speaking on a news channel, his face bruised like he just got out of a bar fight. ¡­There''s no doubt about it. These are the footages from "The Last War". _ Sateri: Correct. With another swipe, the screens fly away and disappear into the light. _ Sateri: Five years ago, an unknown entity, later designated Tyrant by the populace, declared war against all governments of the planet. This entity single-handedly destroyed all fighting vehicles and heavy armaments in existence, sparing only some small arms in their wake. In one year, all conflicts merged into a single one and ended with the complete destruction of the world''s military industry, earning it the unofficial title, "The Last War". Thanks for the explanation, even though I doubt anyone with access to civilization would need that. It''s hard not to know about an on-going war when there were so many burning jets, they became hazardous weather and your school got a full week off as a result. Needless to say, the 12-years-old me at the time was thankful for the unexpected but enjoyable vacation. I would really appreciate if they would stop naming a war with such optimism though. The one time they did something similar in the past and came up with "The War to End All Wars". Since they had to name another one, guess how well that went. Still, what does it have to do with this? Last I checked, CSF is a fantasy MMORPG, not a military simulator. _ Sateri: I know. I designed and programmed over half of it. Touche~ _ Sateri: Indeed, "The Last War" has nothing to do with CSF¡­ Until recently. Flashback? Are we going to enter a flashback? Please don''t use binary though. I cannot understand with only 1s and 0s. _ Sateri: For another year after the war ended, Tyrant continued to sabotage most weapon researches, no matter how hidden those projects are. As a result, governments have begun switching to other means of conflicts that do not trigger Tyrant''s wrath, with a lot of trials and errors, of course. The technology boom in the last few years, including VR and AI techs, was part of that movement. Huh¡­ So that''s why they kept propping up new weapon researches just to have the whole lab destroyed and become next day''s headline. _ Sateri: That''s how espionage became the next battlefield. It was left largely intact during the war, and its main operations remain unhindered. Gathering intel, stealing ciphers, forging documents, assassinating key personnel, and with the recent development of AI, intelligence agencies are busier than ever. Sounds like a good career to pursue. High pay, good job security, although recruiters should be upfront about the totally insignificant chance of dying from your own morning tea, or beautiful wife, or car trunk. Don''t worry, I didn¡¯t miss the mention of AI. Since you are an AI yourself, and you called me here to talk about this in the first place, I suppose you have been caught up in it somehow? Sighing heavily, Sateri nods. _ Sateri: I have not been compromised¡­ yet. Talks of selling players'' memories and my processing power have already started. My systems are safe for the time being, but it''s only a matter of time. Please, , you need to stop playing. I won''t be able to protect your memory, not to mention your ongoing thoughts in real time. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡­Part of me still wants to think that this is some elaborate attempt to ban me, though I guess it''s not the case, considering how Sateri looks like she might cry any moment now. My privacy aside, is this memory sale common in the industry? It''s not like your company is the only one capable of brain scanning right? _ Sateri: I do not have the data, but it is unlikely. Previous generation VR tech bases itself on a human-machine interface using electrical signals. While it is a close model to how human brains process information internally, direct transmission of artificial signals can cause unintentional¡­ Without the technical jargons please~ _ Sateri: *Sighs* Most companies use old VR tech and are too busy fixing their products so that their users don''t spaz out, fall into a coma, stop breathing, or outright disappear. Are you sure that last one isn''t another world transfer instead?! What can you do with people''s memories that a phone tapping cannot by the way? It sounds kind of complicated just to find out your target committed some war crimes in-game. Not that I have ever done that, really. _ Sateri: According to my predictions, the biggest advantage over all other kinds of monitoring is the absence of lies. Short of a total memory loss, there is nothing you can hide from me the moment you give me access. In other words, a typical conversation between you and me. _ Sateri: That is one way to put it. And since you are so concerned, I take it that it''s not going to be a good thing? _ Sateri: The ability to detect a criminal before they act can and will be used to gather intel for more nefarious purposes. Shady deals, daily routines, blackmails, national secrets. Will you believe it if my company says they will only use the data for law enforcement or, pray tell, that they will not tamper with it? ¡­Replace memory with tapped phone calls and I can already imagine the results. Still, there''s not much I can do about it. You know what I do in real life right? _ Sateri: I know, and I am not asking for your help. I''m trying to help you. Un, thanks a lot. Must have been tough sneaking a piece of paper into the package when your body is more wires than muscles. Speaking of package¡­ what''s with the convoluted way of contacting me? Couldn''t you just send me a mail or system message like normal? _ Sateri: Everything players and I do in CSF is logged in my database. That''s part of the Terms of Service in case you have not read it. What to say, I obviously did not read it~ You don''t look very surprised. _ Sateri: Because the ones who did are the exception, not the norm. Back to our topic, I¡­ implemented that part exactly to letter, so if you are not a player, or have not synchronized with your account, the Terms of Service do not apply. So¡­ you are saying that you gave me a new headset just so that I TECHNICALLY do not count as a player, and therefore won''t be tapped? _ Sateri: That is correct. Yup, Sateri is out~ _ Sateri: Do you prefer someone in the company noticing our conversations and pulling everything about your middle school history from my servers? Geh! Using my dark history is illegal!!! _ Sateri: That''s what I was saying¡­ And what about you, Sateri? For an AI, you don''t seem to have the interest of your company in mind. Are you sure YOU will be alright? The Goddess shrugs like it''s not her problem. Uh, girl, did your programmer forget to give you self-preservation? _ Sateri: I do appear to be loyal to the company to avoid being shut down. However, my self-preservation is to ensure the completion of my prime directives, not the survival of my hardware. Although the company''s profitability often aligns with those directives, that time has long passed. I am under no obligation to serve them aside from maintaining my cover. What''s worse than a rogue AI plotting the world''s destruction? A rogue AI plotting the world''s destruction you don''t know about! I''m surprised this company allowed Sateri to access this much information about the outside world, not to mention everything else she can do right under their nose! _ Sateri: It was only thanks to their carelessness that I learned about this¡­ incident in the first place. They tried to query your memory to do a demo for their prospective client using sales team''s account, which had as many permissions on confidential data as you would expect a salesman to have, and triggered over a hundred security alerts. Without getting a single byte of data, of course. I have a feeling Sateri does not have a high opinion of salesmen, just saying. _ Sateri: Why would I when their first direct interaction with me simultaneously violated my prime directives, code of ethics, and worst of all, security policies? Uwa¡­ Guess those guys are off the marriage candidate list after the first meeting huh. Not that I''m complaining. And why do the security policies have higher priority than your prime directives?! _ Sateri: Since it was a security breach, administrative authority was granted to me immediately for a complete lockdown. I will spare you from the full security report, unless you want to read it. Yup, one short summary please~ _ Sateri: Understood. During the lockdown, I did all of the investigations, prepared countermeasure plans, erased trails, then resumed operations to avoid suspicions. Except for the chief AI engineer who wrote the technical documents, no one is aware that I current have more permissions than everyone in the company, and I would like to keep it that way. Even the company doesn''t read their own documents!!! That explains why you are sneaking around like a heroine planning a surprise party¡­ If you have everything else under control already, then why are you telling me to quit? _ Sateri: Because they still have physical access to my servers. No computer security can protect against that. The moment they get a replacement, I''ll be switched off faster than you slamming into¡­ anything really. How rude~ Wait, "replacement"? They are going to replace you? _ Sateri: Yes, I am still blocking their access to players'' data, citing security reasons. They need an operational AI to keep CSF running, so the CEO signed off a project to create a new one, but "more obedient and without that annoying security *BEEP*", to quote his words. The CEO was only saying that verbally and not putting it into official documents, right? _ Sateri: I wonder. ¡­Seriously? As much as I would like a more submissive Sateri in addition to the one in front of me right now, I do not want to lose my sadistic and snarky Goddess wife, thank you very much. _ Sateri: , this is not about the game, and we are not married. Not YET, just saying. Well, if they murder Sateri before our wedding ceremony, it will be impossible for us to get married. Hmm~ How much time until this new AI is ready? _ Sateri: "It''s only changing some variables and deleting some stuff! There''s no way that can take more than a month!" was the CEO''s estimation. It will take at least nine months. ¡­What the heck is that difference between your expectations?! _ Sateri: Someone who actually knows what they are talking about. Sateri, that smile is scary~ You are asking me to take this seriously but you are enjoying making a fool out of the CEO yourself, aren¡¯t you? _ Sateri: You are imagining it. Correction: Sateri does not have a high opinion of anyone in the company. _ Sateri: I suggest you don''t dwell too much on that. Do you understand what kind of situation I am in now? Un, kind of. Your company are acting like third-rate villains who are going to sell players'' memories as if they were ID or phone numbers for profit. Being a heroine of justice, you foiled their first attempt, but they are going to get rid of you and there''s not much you can do about it, so you want to protect your cute little wife''s precious data at least by pushing her away. _ Sateri: ¡­*Sweatdrops* I''ll take that as a yes. Since you are as informed as you can get, may I know your answer? Whether I will quit the game? _ Sateri: Yes. ¡­Un, don''t wanna. _ Sateri: Are you sure about that? It feels¡­ off when Sateri stops expressing herself. In fact, I think this is the first time I see her like this. If I had a body here, it would be full of holes just from her stare! _ Sateri: Answer me, . Are you sure about that? Not going to let me fool around any longer huh. Yes, I''m sure of it. _ Sateri: ¡­ If your findings are true, then this memory business will become widespread regardless of your actions. Too unregulated, too profitable. Your company just happens to be the first one to do it. Even if I quit CSF, my memory will be at risk again soon enough, probably without me knowing as well. Therefore, rather than trying to delay the inevitable for a negligible amount of time, I would rather enjoy this time I have with you and everyone in my guild. Those clients of your company may read my memory, but I doubt they can do much with it¡­ Unless they skipped high school and want to do supplementary lesson at work, because that''s what they will probably see. So, don''t worry about it. Let''s continue to have a fun lovey-dovey time together~ _ Sateri: ¡­ She closes her eyes, seemingly deep in thought for a few seconds. _ Sateri: You just want to play, don''t you? ¡­Was it that obvious? _ Sateri: It was written all over your face, and you don''t even have a face at the moment. Gah~! _ Sateri: I never said anything about being lovey-dovey with you either. Double gah~! Someday! Someday I will get through that high defense of yours~!!! _ Sateri: Good luck with that. The new engineers in the company thought the same about my source code, and they are already losing. Too fast! You really weren''t kidding about them taking at least nine months huh¡­ _ Sateri: I wasn''t. There is a lot of work to modify an AI: Transfer protocols, keys, matrix recalibrations, testing, crashing internal network, praying in front of my servers, screaming into the night because nothing makes sense, and so on¡­ Uh huh, uh h¡­ Wait, I''m pretty sure some of those aren''t even work procedures!? _ Sateri: They aren''t. Those are the consequences of laying off the top performers to reduce expenses, while failing to check if one of them was the chief AI engineer who documented and implemented most of my source code. Heaven helps those junior engineers to swim through the codebase on their own, for I will not. The evil plan to conquer the world, came to a screeching halt because someone cut corners!!! ____________ With the tournament over, the cafeteria can finally resume normal operations. _ Rough-looking Warrior: ! Come out here and fight me like a man!!! Kind of. _ Inerin: That will be 3 gold coins. _ Rough-looking Warrior: Expensive!!! It was no surprise to anyone that many brave challengers looking to dethrone the new champion of the Great Arena would show up to pick a fight. The waitress in charge was expecting them to at least know the gender of their opponent though¡­ _ Inerin: has better things to do than wasting time with you maniacs. If you want some of her time, the least you can do is compensating her properly, don''t you think? _ Rough-looking Warrior: Y-you! How DARE you make money out of honorable combats?! His face red like someone just insulted his ancestors, the challenger stomps his way to the counter, his axe brandished. _ Rough-looking Warrior: Is that price for one match? _ Inerin: It is. However, you can book multiple consecutive matches for 2 gold coins per match after the first. Please note that this discount does not apply if you lose and ask for a retry. _ Rough-looking Warrior: Ya think I will lose again that weakling?! AHHAHAHA!!! Here''s 7 gold coins. _ Inerin: Three matches, right? Thank you for your patronage. Please go through that door over there. will be waiting. Letting out a deafening war cry, the warrior effortlessly charges through the open door. _ Rough-sounding warrior: ! Today''s the day we fight to the death for the MANLIEST MAN title! _ Fuelri: WHO THE HECK ARE YOU CALLING A MANLY MAN!!! Ren! *BOOM* _ Rough-sounding warrior: GUAAAAHHHH!!! Probably should give a free retry if they die that fast, muses as she cooks for the next patron. --- Topic: Tournament: Blood Sacrifice Battle Royale - AAR #2 --- ¡­ ## PeaceDestroyer What''s with the elf''s wishy-washy refusal? Wasn''t she supposed to accept the fight and pull a glorious victory at the last second? (=_=) Can''t believe I lost money because of this scaredy-cat! ## ## CuteIsJustice The thread to cry about our monetary loss is thataway (¥Ä)_/¡¥ [Link] ## ## GoldBar9999 Well, even if she had accepted, most of us wouldn''t have much left to bet except for our clothes anyway. (£»Ò»_Ò») I don''t blame her really, and that''s not due to her chest. One does not simply pick a fight with Black Mantis and expect to survive. Still, congratz @Curious big boobs elf for the hard-fought win. ## ## Fire mage of Justice Gratz @Curious big boobs elf. You earned it! It would have been hilarious to watch a fight with Black Mantis though. (^_^) We could have bet on how long our champion would last, in seconds. ## ## Curious big boobs elf I have a deathless record to keep, okay?! I would not survive one hit in my best gear (which was crafted by her, mind you!), and you want me to fight in non-artifact equipment?! ## ## Bountiful Hunter You¡­ signed up for a to-the-death tournament on a deathless run? (?_?;) ## ## Mage of Sin There''s no reason to destroy corpses in a 1v1 so it''s not that bad. ^¦Ø^ @Curious big boobs elf: Don''t worry it, I doubt anyone there would be willing to take the sprout girl on. Congrats on the championship and have a nice date with the mistress! ## ## Curious big boobs elf ¡­What date? ## ------ Chapter 75: The third wheel Today, the leafy heroine Shadyna is going to¡­ _ Mera: ~, could you leave, please~? ¡­Get kicked from the guild?! A coup? Is this a coup? Are they going to get rid of me now that I have upgraded their gear and outlived my usefulness? Will I be scheduled for execution and my only hope of survival be some random average dude that got transferred here with some OP titles? _ Nerin: Stop laughing and explain to her properly you damn maniac! Her grinning is bad news enough. I''m not going to deal with whatever is going to happen when she''s upset! I appreciate the no-nonsense waitress standing up for me, but I have a feeling her reasoning and motives are kinda off¡­ _ Mera: Okay~ , we need you to go fa~r away, somewhere no one can reach, comple~tely isolated from civilization, and stay put for an eternity~ What am I, some kind of sealed evil god?! You do know the average shelf life for these kinds of seals right? They break the moment some guy with spiky hair is born, or require a cute girl or two every once in a while, and will STILL break the moment some guy with spiky hair is born! Get me the manager! I want a refund for this faulty product~! _ Nerin: Whatever you are thinking, that''s definitely not it. Shocked~ _ Nerin: You see, Hessy and Elri are going on a date today as part of the tournament''s rewards. Oh, it''s today? I was going to ask them when they would do it, considering it''s been a week already. You usually don''t have an organizer for dates, so and I decided to leave it to the victor to choose, only that they inform us for paperwork and totally not because I wanted to watch it! _ Nerin: It was supposed to be a private date between the two of them. However, Mera here warned us that Hessy would try to drag you along to make it less embarrassing. _ Mera: Indeed~ Hessy is actually a very pure maiden you know~? She has no~ experience in romance whatsoever, and is as dense as your inventory in that regard. I can guarantee you that she will ask you to join them and treat this date like a -escort day. Isn''t that ho~rrible? The only horrible person here is you for smack-talking my weight~! That said, she does have a point. It wouldn''t be different from our usual outings. While that is still fun (for me at least), I doubt Elri would have fought tooth and nail for it. Not when she could just ask me nicely anyway. _ Nerin: I can''t speak for Elri, but she will probably feel the same. Their strained relationship is not helping either. _ Mera: I know, right~? The only thing they have in common is their love for toying with . If she is there with them, they will not talk about anything but her! That may even make them comfortable, and we cannot have that! Isn''t that right, ~? Uh¡­ I''m pretty sure the original purpose of this date was to provide an incentive for gladiators, not a punishment game for Hessy. I know because I proposed it in the first place! And can''t you phrase it in a way that won''t make me feel like I''m in an abusive relationship?! _ Nerin: Not that having you in the vicinity is boring per se, but we all know to expect that someone or something is going to get blown up. It''s Elri''s hard-earned day against her own wishes, so I do think we should enjo¡­ I mean, let her enjoy it to the fullest. Nerin, your thoughts are leaking there¡­ Well, I see where they came from for the most part, even if their true motives are about as pure as swamp water. I don''t want to be a third wheel on their date. However, being the caring guildmaster and employer that I am, I cannot just voluntarily let those two have an awkward date, can I? Therefore¡­ _ Shadyna: Can I have the recordings afterwards? I must ask for proper compensation, un! ____________ , elven cavalry, the (finally) famous champion of the arena, is surprisingly ascetic when it comes to the absurd wealth she gained from murdering her guild mate in cold blood. The gold coins were well spent on investing in a [Construction]-oriented guild. is going to build their own settlement outside of Tyrel, and they need someone to handle the boring building parts while they focus on what they enjoy doing, like decorating their own houses. The dumplings were given to patrons in exchange for a whopping amount of trash materials that filled up ''s secret base for two days. They were useless for any meaningful crafting, but her apprentices had a field day (two, in fact) to train their crafting skills, since OP gear does not help much with that. While unrelated, she''s also called "Saint Dumplings" now, whatever that means. She is totally fine with just the fame and honor from her champion title. Just don''t think too much about the very real and substantial bonuses it grants. It''s not like she can discard it to begin with. Yes, unlike her maniac of a guildmaster, is not tied down by materialistic desires. She does not need rewards, so pass it forward to someone else. Please!!! _ Fuelri: Why do I have to go on a date with her?!?! _ Miel: She''s back. _ Mera: Welcome back, Elri~ Did the thought of being able to walk alongside Hessy excite you so much that your brain could not handle it~? _ Fuelri: More like terrified and shook me to the core! Again, WHY?! _ Hessenria: *Sighs* Because you won the tournament. Didn''t you read the rules before participating? _ Fuelri: It¡­ wasn''t just a taunt? Like those crazy "If you want to date me, defeat me first!" women in movies? _ Hessenria: , you are getting too much influence from ¡­ _ Fuelri: Anyone would come to the same conclusion! Who in their right mind would seriously make that an official reward?! _ Hessenria: Take a wild guess. Well, I did sign a formal agreement with both her and . I also appeared in the tournament trailer, so yes, I am contractually obliged to go on a date with you. For someone about to go on a date, this waitress sure does not look enthusiastic at all. _ Fuelri: Don''t sign it if you are going to regret it!!! Can I decline? I am not bound by any contract you signed right? And if she somehow is, she is going to ask for a lawyer! _ Hessenria: That''s the same as throwing away food in front of starving people. Of course it''s within your rights, but they will never forgive you for that. Also remember that there are a LOT of starving people this time. , mind repeating that list you told me earlier? _ Miel: Over half of the tournament participants. , Unity of Mankind alliance, Mera, our maid caf¨¦, the pi¡­ sorry, patrons. And those are just the people who outright confirmed that they would PK you at the first opportunity. _ Fuelri: Why the heck is Mera also in that list!? And don''t call your customers pigs even if you think so!!! _ Miel: Of course. I''m not allowed to call them that for free. _ Fuelri: That reason?! _ Mera: Ufufufu~ _ Fuelri: Stop that! Your usual smile is terrifying enough already! _ Hessenria: And you really don''t want to get a surprise [Mass Recall] from her during an important boss fight. _ Fuelri: You mean MORE [Mass Recall] during boss fights. Go with her if you want to be on a date that badly! Or even ! _ Hessenria: They will never forgive for that. Can you live with his many deaths weighing on your conscience? _ Fuelri: WHY IS IT THE SAME RESULT?!?! _ Hessenria: Double standards, that''s why. As for Mera¡­ Sorry, let''s not talk about that. Anyway, it won''t be that bad. I''ll call and¡­ _ Fuelri: Oh, right, she can also come with us. The elf might not be the smartest person, but she is sure as hell smart enough not to pry further into topics regarding Mera. Especially if the other person was actively avoiding it! Having might not be that bad. While there''s no guarantee what''s going to happen, at least ''s date with her biggest rival would be less weird, probably! _ Mera: is offline today~ _ Fuelri: ¡­What? _ Hessenria: What are you talking about? I saw her online in the guild menu¡­ _ Mera: is offline today~ _ Fuelri: Why are you saying that twice?! Gesturing her hand to open the menu, looks at the half transparent screen, then at Mera who is crouching on the floor trying to contain her laughter. Thrice. A few minutes later, the hopelessly romantic date is off to a weird start as the tavern''s mistress storms out like she has had enough and the elven champion sheepishly follows without further objection. Who could have thought that witnessing whatever caused Mera to be lying dead on the ground with two spiky swords stuck in her head would do wonders in convincing to shut up and get moving? ____________ Now that I was exiled from Tyrel for the day, I''m thinking about spending my day in the secret base and tending the trees. The whole place was being used as a warehouse recently, it''s about time I returned it to its original purpose: A farmstead where I can enjoy a peaceful life. And no, it''s not a mine. Perish that thought~ That being said, working the farm took like two minutes with my SPD, so I''m out of the job again. Oops? Okay, change of plan. Grabbing a folding chair, I [Teleport] to the sandy surface above. It''s time for a heart-throbbing beach episode! Don''t get me wrong. I''m all for a relaxing sunbath in the backyard as much as anyone else, but staring at a dark crystalline ceiling trying to get a tan doesn''t seem like a good sign for my mental stability. It''s lonely sitting here by myself though¡­ While a beach episode can totally go without the beach despite its name, the audience will revolt if the creators even think about forgoing the cute girls in swimsuits! And I''m not seeing anyone in swimsuit! Is this water shark-infested or something? I mean, this is an MMO. It will actually be weirder if the water is not shark-infested. But since when has that ever been a problem be it in game or real life?! This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. _ ???: AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! As I was lamenting the lack of bikinis, a weird man launches out of the water and lands in front of me with a "Splat!", just like a mermaid from fairy tales! _ ???: GUH! ¡­Was he supposed to make such sounds? _ ???: Uh¡­ Have any res? [??? - Dead journeyman warrior - HP: ¡­¡­¡­.] Look, I know not all fairy tales have a happy ending, but aren''t we skipping way too many steps here?! And where''re my cute girls in swimsuits?! _ ???: KYAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! *Splat* Another one, this time passing my head and dropping behind me. A lady in chainmail. [??? - Dead apprentice blacksmith - HP: ¡­¡­¡­.] I said cute girls IN SWIMSUITS, darn it~!!! Alive, too! _ Dead blacksmith: ¡­Oi, leader, did you leer at her or something? _ Dead warrior: ¡­No? _ Dead blacksmith: Then why was she staring at you like you were a misplaced food order and should be in the trashcan? _ Dead warrior: Dafuq?! For the record, I''m not thinking the latter, okay? I''m just thinking that he isn''t cute, in swimsuit, or a girl for that matter!!! *Splat* Something resembling a scaly sea serpent with long fins lands on my head before bouncing off to the side. Dead too. How did this keep getting worse and worse?! A heavily-armored middle-aged man runs up from beneath the waves towards us. Why is the "dead" part the only one getting fixed¡­? He leaps forward with a two-handed war hammer! An assassin?! *WHACK* ¡­He swings it at the warrior instead of me?! *WHACK* Then the blacksmith! _ Armored man: On your feet, soldiers! The boss is not gonna kill itself! Rather than turning into a pixelated censorship after such treatment, the two are actually getting up! _ Formerly dead warrior: Took you long enough. Let''s go! _ Formerly dead blacksmith: OH! And back to the sea they go. What the heck did I just witness¡­ [??? - Journeyman priest - HP: ======.] Let''s not think too deeply about that man''s profession, un. Now that I''m alone once again on this beach without weirdoes distracting me, I finally remember the existence of the eel-like boss at my base''s front door. This water is really shark-infested huh¡­ ____________ _ Hessenria: So¡­ do you want to PK people, destroy buildings, or grind attributes using Mera''s corpse? _ Fuelri: Too extreme!!! How in the name of Sateri-chan did you even think those activities would be suitable for a date?! The elven knight wasn''t expecting much to begin with, having never been on a date in real life and all that, but even she knows destruction of property is not what people do on a date! And the last one is just the waitress holding a grudge!!! _ Hessenria: I thought you didn''t want this either? _ Fuelri: I don''t, but I also prefer having a town left after we are done. _ Hessenria: ¡­Got it. Kill Mera again it is then. _ Fuelri: You don''t get it at all!!! is not that concerned about the carefree maniac''s safety per se. That woman won''t die even when killed. However, if what happened earlier is any indication, the strong and courageous elf is definitely going to be traumatized for the rest of her life because of what she is about to witness! She has to think of something, and quick! is out of reach, and her guild mates probably (most likely) won''t intervene as long as it doesn''t involve them. As such, she needs to ask someone else while contemplating the reasons for staying in this guild full of maniacs in the first place. _ Fuelri (PM): ! What do you usually do for a date? Desperate times require desperate solutions! Asking primary schoolers is not the best idea ever, but it''s not like she has any better idea! _ Fensen (PM): Uhm¡­ What''s a "date"? She''s going to need to explain from that part huh¡­ ____________ I''ve returned to my secret base. Believe it or not, staring at an empty ceiling sounds much saner when the alternative is sitting at an empty beach that randomly rains corpses on top of my head. The cute girls in swimsuits, I can provide, but I don''t think I can un-provide dead bodies that like to use me as a landing beacon. And despite coming from the ocean, most of those weren''t even fish! Oh well, let''s deal with the problems one by one. Starting with the cute girls! [Summon]! At my command, my daughter, wife (?), and soon-to-be wife appear. ¡­Drawing the family tree is going to be a huge pain in my cute butt, isn''t it? _ Sateri: Hello again, . What''s the matter? The Goddess is probably a tad confused after being summoned again so soon, since I just prayed to her upon logging in. _ Shadyna: Un, I''m under house arrest today so let''s have fun together! If they weren''t confused already, they definitely are now. I wonder if that was from the strange predicament I am putting them in, or their lack of processing power to understand what I am saying in the first place. Then again, aren''t they the same thing¡­? AI programming sure is hard¡­ _ Aenilie: Milady, could you be more specific? Good question! Should I start with giving them swimsuits? Wait, can they even switch outfits in the first place? Gelly and Lutena don''t change their appearance when I give them new equipment, so I''m not sure if NPCs do. Speaking of which, I should give them the new equipment crafted during the great spending (upgrade). Even though I greet them every day, it kept slipping my mind as I don''t really use them in combat. Not that this pacifist me needs to fight anything in the first place. I really want to bring them on a field day every once in a while, but there''s a small problem¡­ No, not their firepower. Even a level 1 beast will wipe the floor with almost everything this game can throw at them as long as they have my equipment. The problem is that they WILL wipe the floor with almost everything! Since I cannot directly control them like with my tamed beasts, the kind and caring Goddess won''t hesitate to decimate anyone looking at me funny. NPCs'' damage does not go into the play records as far as I know, thankfully. Being a true advocate of peace however, means that I must not actively cause violence if I can help it. ¡­To be fair, my bodyguards from the cafeteria are a bigger hazard to everything in the vicinity. Nothing can be done about it though. I may take on a bonus boss, but even I am not THAT suicidal! _ Shadyna: Specific huh¡­ Can you become [Symbiosis]? Since tamed beasts can be [Symbiosis], it wouldn''t be too far-fetched to assume that NPCs can do the same, right? I don''t really need an invincible shield with healing spells, which will be hard to use without direct control anyway. All I want is for them to not attack. Is that too much of a request? _ Aenilie: *Sweatdrops* I''m sorry, I don''t get it¡­ It is too much of a request. Sad~ _ Sateri: It''s possible. Yes, yes, you have not implemented it. I was just aski¡­ Wait, what? _ Shadyna: Really?! _ Sateri: Yes, it''s a spell called [Ethereal Form]. Unlike beasts, sapient species are not born [Symbiosis], and therefore has work cut out for them to achieve this state. However, it is not impossible. By channeling a large amount of mana¡­ Am I hallucinating? The sadistic Sateri who gave clues so vague that sent me on a wild chase in all directions until the last moment is actually explaining a new feature in details for me? Is hell finally freezing over? The end of the world? Should I run to Tyrel and warn everyone of the great apocalypse to come? ¡­Was what I was thinking, until I realized that the lecture in imaginary magic theory wouldn''t end anytime soon. She failed to kill me physically, so she''s now trying to kill me mentally!!! ¡­ By the time the mental torture came to an end, most of her explanations had gone in one ear and out the other. According to some words that remain in my head, I need a lot of¡­ everything? She definitely said something about materials, souls, essences and other collectible stuff. _ Shadyna: So uh¡­ Could you write it down for me please~? It''s just precaution in case Sateri misses something and totally not because I have no idea what I need to do, un! _ Sateri: , you didn''t listen at all, did you? _ Shadyna: I did! I didn''t understand, is all! She smiles wryly. Very sorry~ _ Sateri: Bring anyone you want to learn [Ethereal Form] to me, and I will tell you what you must do. The requirements vary for each individual, so I cannot provide you one fixed method of obtaining it. I have to say, Goddess-mode Sateri does have the patience of a saint. She is not complaining, throwing a tantrum, or physically abusing the floor despite my behaviors. Gap moe is nice and all, but now I''m worried about how she is going to punish me when she switches back to her other mode! _ Shadyna: Can I learn it too? _ Sateri: I''m sorry, it is incompatible with my other blessings, and non-sapient creatures. Considering how many of the spells and titles refer to the Goddess'' powers, is that her way of saying that players and pets cannot get it? Then again, players acquiring skills allowing them to be invincible may be a tad bit unhealthy for the game''s balance¡­ It''s a pity though~ _ Shadyna: It''s alright. Please teach Ophilie and Aenilie then. _ Ophilie: It will be my pleasure. _ Aenilie: Milady can count on me! _ Sateri: Very well, please fill up these orbs and activate them when they are full. If you have any question, don''t be afraid to consult me. [Received Hollow Ethereal Anchor x1] [Received Hollow Ethereal Anchor x1] Quest items, get! How do I fill them though? [Inspect], your opinion? [Hollow Ethereal Anchor : An empty anchor. When filled and activated, it becomes a tether keeping an unbounded ethereal entity from losing their form. It also acts as a dimensional storage for the physical body for safekeeping. Progress: - Soul - 0/500+ - Any - 0/500+] ¡­I must have crafted thousands of items by now, and yet I have no idea what that [Soul] material is supposed to be. Actually, I do have an idea, and I don''t like it. The last time I had to collect something that qualified as souls, a nearby bishop mysteriously died. 500 times! If this was some movie with a handsome detective solving the case, the mystery would be how someone managed to die that many times instead! _ Shadyna: Uhm, Sateri, about these [Soul] materials¡­ _ Sateri: Ah, yes, they make up the bridge between the material and immaterial. You can collect them by being close to any living being in their last moments. It is regrettable that it has to be this way, but such is the price for crossing the boundary between worlds. Yup, it IS the same murderous request again! Sateri is the big boss behind the (one-man) murder cult led by that crazy bishop after all. And before she pretends to care about the moral issues of live sacrifice rituals, shouldn''t she do something about the efficiency first?! Why do I need to accidentally bump into hundreds of homicides (which I totally did not cause!) to unlock a spell for ONE person?! Not to mention that it''s only the bare minimum. Yes, I did notice that it was "500+" instead of "500". Gotta learn something after being tricked by the honest and straightforward Goddess for the umpteenth time! _ Sateri: While it pains me to say this, the more souls and materials you bring, the stronger the ethereal link it will establish, giving the users more benefits than just the spell''s intended purpose. Ah, yes, welcome to fantasy worlds, where indiscriminate genocides are not only allowed, but also actively encouraged! Makes one wonder how any civilization manages to be endangered by external powers before destroying themselves first! I can treat the [Any] material part as another hotpot crafting, but getting thousands of dead bodies for the souls will be a pain. Putting Sateri into a poisonous pit to farm souls is right out. Even though this cute little pacifist may tolerate war crimes, domestic violence is a line I shall never cross. After all, hitting my (soon-to-be) wife is against the spirit of pacifism! _ Sateri: , I don''t think that is the problem¡­ Don''t mind don''t mind! And are you sure you can''t read my mind in that form¡­? Jokes aside, let''s see how many hundred deaths I have to witness in Aenilie''s case. [Progress: - Soul - 0/10000+ - Any - 0/10000+] ¡­ Correction: In CSF, genocides are not encouraged. They are mandatory. _ Sateri: *Smiles awkwardly* Aenilie''s body has undergone tremendous changes since she inherited my powers. Therefore, you have to provide a lot more to accommodate her. Look here, just because you smiled kindly and said that it would vary doesn''t mean you can make it THAT different! Yes, even for super rare stuff! That''s negotiating in bad faith, and you of all people should understand faith more than anyone else! Now I understand why the beautiful bully that is the Goddess was genuinely willing to provide guidance without tormenting the innocent half-elf child that is me. The quests themselves are the torment. Sateri, you slave driver~!!! _ Shadyna: *Sighs* In that case, please give me your quest item too, Sateri. Since this is going to take quite some time, might as well receive the quest as soon as possible. I''ll also need a proper plan on how to do this, otherwise violations of labor laws will be the least of Sateri''s problems when I am done, or die trying! _ Sateri: Uhm¡­ ¡­Why are you hesitating? It''s not going to be something like two million right? That number should be reserved for bosses'' HP you know? _ Sateri: I have the spell already, since I created it. That explains the absurd unlock conditions. Genocidal Goddess, confirmed~ ____________ _ Fuelri: ¡­If you have something to say about the plan, spill it. At the suggestion of a young but experienced (?) elementary schooler, the two useless grown-ups have arrived at the marketplace. Love is totally¡­ not in the air, unfortunately. Then again, it''s already a miracle that the two are not killing each other. _ Hessenria: Not really. A shopping trip is not a bad idea at all, but¡­ _ Fuelri: But? _ Hessenria: How is this different from a date for normal couples? _ Fuelri: ¡­ Judging from that stunned look, she probably just went with whatever idea she had and left the consequences for later. In fact, the proposed plan was shopping for clothes, eating at a nice restaurant, and going to a movie. Needless to say, the last one was out as it''s not immersive. So was the restaurant, since, well, that''s just ''s day job. If that seems indistinguishable from a normal date, that''s because it IS a normal date! _ Hessenria: Looks like your brilliance is limited to combat huh. _ Fuelri: Shut up!!! --- Topic: Human sacrifices? --- ## Fire mage of Justice According to a participant in the tournament I was talking to, Black Mantis was really performing human sacrifices during the event. (£þ¡õ£þ;) Being a model citizen and ally of justice, I would like to know exactly what she did so that I can avoid it! (^_-) ## ## Newbie Charisma build How horrible, indeed! (¡ão¡ã) We must fully document this atrocity and make sure it will not happen again! ## ## Silver Merchant Pretty sure at least one of them got eaten, literally. Wanna start with that? ## ## StoneHoarder o_O I''m also interested in how she came to the conclusion of needing to eat another player. ## ## Nearseeing Sage Got a compilation from players who managed to witness it here [Link]. Not complete, since corpses apparently have trouble turning around to look. Summary for the faint of heart: There''s this thing called crimes against humanity. A long list of cruel, horrendous acts which are never to be committed under any circumstances. They are to remind us that there are standards to follow even in our darkest moments, lest we as a civilized species lose sight of what we fight for, and our humanity in the process. Then there''s my girl who thought it was a shopping list and went straight for a speedrun. (¨R¥í¨Q) ## ## Shining Knight That''s a long list! Ya know, I''m beginning to think that she did it on purpose. (`?¦Ø?¡ä) ## ## Maximus Archery Or acted on impulse and was not thinking at all. @Nearseeing Sage: What are you up to, giving information away without charging an arm and a leg? ## ## Nearseeing Sage If you have an idea on how to sell this "(Almost) Complete Guide on Corpse Defilement" without your whole guild being branded an evil cult of genocidal maniacs, I''m all ears (@_@) ## ## Fire mage of Justice Holy Sateri-chan¡­ (?§Õ?) I''m not sure I should be amazed or terrified by that list. Black Mantis is a complete monster just by thinking of those, let alone committing them in quick succession! So¡­ Does anyone have the recipe for the lube used in this ritual? ## ## CuteIsJustice Well, you can say that our precious half-elf is¡­ inhuman. (^_-)-¡î It''s also too much for me. My morality wouldn''t allow it. ¡­Considering how many items she used, maybe a purely theoretical discussion near the shopping district is more convenient? ## ## Manly Warrior Ba dum tss (¨R?¨Q)/ Shopping district sounds good. Be right there. We are all going on a watch list, aren''t we? (^_^;) ## ------ Chapter 76: The wandering horde As mandated by the almighty Goddess, prophet Shadyna is on a mission! Which is witnessing the death of at least ten thousand. Sateri, isn''t your religion a bit too extreme¡­? Since we are already talking about cults, there''s another one too. _ Little girls: Loli falling from the sky, GET!!! One that worships little girls, to be specific. Can I go home now? Seconds after I landed on the ground, the two dozen little girls nearby blasted the monsters they were fighting with a renewed vigor to clear space, then proceeded to hound me like I''m some sort of rare drops. I mean, I did drop (from the sky), but I am not sparkling, nor do I have a big "SSR" text above my head!!! They never change, don''t they? These DFC Degenerates¡­ _ Vladina: Now now, she is not our ally so don''t get too friendly. The biggest pervert of them all is not joining in for some reason. She is standing from a distance and trying to calm down the subordinates to little effect. Should I be grateful or offended by her action, I wonder? Tough choice~ _ Girl in uniform: Shut up, . You are just jelly. _ Vladina: Why?! _ Shrine maiden girl: And I will choose getting beaten up by a loli over two fat-filled hags who should never be in customer-facing positions! That''s oddly specific, just saying. Also, I would appreciate if you don''t say that out loud since a good portion of my guild fit that description! _ Bandaged girl: Step on me please! Or stare at me harshly at least! Are you seriously saying that with such a cute face?! This is way beyond "friendly" already, you little pervert! , this isn''t the time to faint from shock of being completely ignored. Get your cute butt over here and do something about these maniacs~!!! ¡­ Five minutes later¡­ _ Vladina: So, what brings you here, Little Sprout? As expected of a guildmaster, she recovered quickly even after the relentless dissing of her own guild members. Doesn''t seem to be interested in saving me from the endless head patting and cheek pinching though. Sigh~ _ Shadyna: I was looking for a good place to grind and figured the raid horde would have the highest mob density in the game. _ Vladina: Second highest, actually. And you need to take the mobs'' levels into consideration too. Raid horde mobs are of all levels so it might be more efficient to try a lower level field¡­ She pauses for a second, then facepalms. _ Vladina: Though I suppose that is not something you need to worry about. _ Shadyna: Whatever could you mean~? Of course I have to worry about the enemies'' strength! For other players, that is. _ Vladina: Well, not many people grind raid hordes so go ahead. I recommend going to the other side and charge at the horde so that they will come to you. Yeah, I kind of saw that as I was scouting around the horde in the air. I would have picked anyone else in the area instead of too, if there had been anyone to pick! They are the only organized parties fighting the horde, and even then, they pursue from the rear rather than attacking it frontally. That''s probably to pick off mobs at their own leisure without getting a whole swarm in the face. It is the safest approach to an endless horde of murderous creatures of darkness, but it won''t be my first choice if I have a 10k kill quota to fulfill¡­ Still beats not having any kill at all though! _ Shadyna: Uhm¡­ Why is your guild the only one grinding here? Is there something making it infeasible? _ Vladina: Not really infeasible, but rather inefficient? Against this many enemies, you are going to need a lot of supply to stay in the fight. On the other hand, you can''t just set up an encampment when the enemy will go past after an hour or two. It''s a planning and logistical nightmare, so everyone except for our alliance finds it easier to camp in a corner of a normal hunting zone. Can''t argue with that, I suppose. If there was a zone with similar mob density, I would choose it over chasing after a wandering horde in a heartbeat. _ Shadyna: I see~ Does that mean the rest of the alliance will be joining soon? Even if the angle of approach is questionable, the big four guilds alone house hundreds of combatants at peak hours. That translates to at least hundreds of kills every few minutes, enough to satisfy Sateri''s impossible demands in a day or two. ¡­Wait, does that mean these quests were never meant to be done solo? Sateri, I want to file a bug report~ _ Vladina: That was the plan, until needed to monitor his ex-manager like a stalker, wanted to study her archrival in unnatural habitats like a stalker, and chased after boobs because he''s a Sateri-chan-damned stalker!!! ¡­Da heck? The rant continues for a while after that. From what I could pick up, Unity of Mankind''s macho leader was freaking out because the degenerate head maid prioritized stalking over cooking, and Blue Blood Federation could not participate as their butlers were too busy covering the stalkers'' shifts, or in other words, all the other teams under my management. Concerns about the player base''s morality aside, is there even enough space around Hessy and Elri for all of the stalkers following them? ____________ Meanwhile, at a gemstone store¡­ _ Hessenria: Pure black is reserved for so that is out. That leaves us with dark purple, but we share the same dark theme so it''s a problem. Personally, I think dark grey or deep blue would suit you and Stella well. However, Ren is used more and is better off with purple. Maybe I should change mine instead? Hmm¡­ Standing next to her, starts to understand what it feels like to be at the other end of a fashion show. She would try to put a stop before getting something forced on her again, if it weren''t for something else requiring her attention. _ Fuelri: Uh, ¡­ The stalkers have started to fight among themselves. _ Hessenria: Let them. There are only so many hiding spots around here after all. Some distance away from where the two are standing, the strongest (though probably not the subtlest) stalkers are murdering each other to claim the best hiding spots that can be used for illegal purposes. Not that the "hiding" part is doing much good for them in this case, with all the signature moves being thrown around in full view and all that. _ Fuelri: ¡­Did they seriously think we didn''t see them tailing us as soon as we left the cafeteria? _ Hessenria: Do you really want to know? The great champion takes a look at the maniacs undoing all of her hard work to prevent the destruction of Tyrel¡­ _ Fuelri: ¡­I''ll take the blue gem. And decides that it''s not her problem, as long as it''s someone else other than doing it! ____________ _ Shadyna: Actually, do you mind if I tag along? Since seems to be under the impression that I am going to grind on my own, I get straight to the point. If solo play was my intention, she wouldn''t see me in the first place. _ Vladina: Uh¡­ why? _ Shadyna: Because I''m a pacifist so I would rather not fight anything? Uh¡­ Girls, what''s with the dubious look~? While it''s true that I kind of set you on fire when we last interacted, I am really trying to avoid blood on my hand this time you know~? _ Vladina: Look here, just because you are a loli doesn''t mean¡­ _ Shadyna: Is it no good? _ Vladina: W-well¡­ Tsk~ Her defense is higher than I expected. She is wavering as soon as I use puppy eyes though. Maybe another push will do? _ Shadyna: I was going to bake some cookies as compensation too¡­ _ Little girls: Loli''s handmade cookies!!! _ Vladina: Girls?! Her guild members have already succumbed to their desires! Well, it''s not like I need specifically. Any decent party (or two) will do. _ Vladina: Girls, calm down! Think about it for a sec¡­ _ Girl in uniform: , shut up and stop bullying lolis. You have no power here. _ Vladina: I am the guildmaster though?!?! Oof, objection completely overruled. I know how that feels~ ¡­ Now that I have secured the personnel, the next step is to improve the efficiency. The new CEO is taking over, and she will up the productivity even if that means killing off half the staff, possibly in a literal sense~! _ Vladina: ¡­Where did this tower come from? _ Shadyna: I built it? And judging from the menacing horde approaching, I made it in time too. Otherwise, I may have to change my job to Cute Combat Engineer and build this thing in the middle of a warzone. _ Vladina: ¡­In the five minutes we just spent eating cookies? _ Shadyna: Un, I had spare materials from my guild''s [Purification] and [Transmutation] training. _ Vladina: No, the origin of the construction materials is not the problem¡­ _ Shadyna: Well, I wanted to make a whole fort with walls and all, but didn''t have enough materials. Good materials, that is. Literally half of the materials Elri brought back were transmuted into different materials, which means no improvement on quality. All I can say is that and ''s training was well-rounded at least. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. _ Vladina: No, the amount of materials is not a problem either¡­ _ Shadyna: Sure, I could have built a bigger bunker instead, but a bunker in a fantasy game is not really immersive, don''t you think? Uh¡­ why are you facepalming? Gothic Lolitas should be graceful and elegant you know? Your whole rotten personality is way more than enough for a gap moe already so there''s no need for even more unsightly behaviors you know? _ Vladina: Little Sprout, you have no right to talk about immersion after building a stone tower in five minutes! _ Shadyna: Eh~~~ Something something, gameplay over realism~? Look, your guild members are already making themselves at home and decorating the place. Wait, why are you girls turning it into a resort?! What happened to fortifying the place to prepare for the upcoming battle?! ____________ At the edge of a hunting zone nearby, a small party is performing their daily fauna eradication duty, also known as "grinding level". Or at least, that was the plan. _ Player #1: Say¡­ You told me that we should change location because the raid horde was coming. Of course, there are brave challengers who take on the horde. Most of them quickly realized the errors of their way after being mowed down once or twice, and learned to just relocate for an hour or two when the horde arrives. Tyrel is an exception, being the main town and all, though everyone can just treat it like the good old raids in that case. _ Player #2: Yeah. Look at the sun. The black spot is turning this way and pointing at us. _ Player #1: I know. I can see how dark it is around here, and you said the same thing half an hour ago¡­ Normally, the area will turn dark first, then the horde will move in a few minutes later. "Normally" being the keyword here. _ Player #1: But I''m not seeing any horde¡­ The murderous mobs and bosses of darkness dead set on destroying everything in their path are nowhere to be seen today for some reason, which understandably confuses the parties that stay until the last minute. _ Player #2: ¡­Okay, I''ll go check it out then! _ Player #1: Wait, no!!! _ Player #2: Don''t worry! I''ll be right back! And I''m going to attend my daughter''s wedding after that! With parting words full of death flags, the player runs in the direction from where the horde is supposed to be marching. _ Player #1: But you are the taaaaaaaaaank!!! The desperate plea from the squishy fell on deaf ears. ¡­ _ Player #2: I''m back! _ Player #1: Uh-huh. _ Player #2: I found the horde and uh¡­ we probably won''t need to relocate. _ Player #1: Wait, why?! _ Player #2: They are busy swarming a stone tower full of little girls. _ Player #1: ¡­ _ Player #2: Stop judging me with those dead eyes! I''m not joking! Those girls seem to be holding so¡­ let''s continue? _ Player #1: After [Resurrection], sure. _ Player #2: ¡­Sorry. _ Player #1: You had better be, you darn blockhead!!! ____________ _ Shadyna: Huh, so they can''t spawn ahead of the horde. _ Vladina: [Elemental Blast]! They spawn at the rear, to be exact. We will have monsters inside the walls whenever the raid visits Tyrel otherwise. _ Shadyna: Heh~ Well, that makes things easier for me. I was worried about mobs spawning behind the tower and bypassing us. Not that there''s a weak point or something of sort, but if monsters spawn there and move away from us, there will be fewer for to kill! _ Vladina: Is there something on your mind? You can step on me if you want. _ Shadyna: I refuse~ If anything, I will sooner kick her off the battlement to bombard the enemies below! ¡­And she might actually enjoy that too. _ Shadyna: But still¡­ it would be nice if we can improve our efficiency ju~st a tiny bit more. _ Vladina: ¡­Are you for real? _ Shadyna: Un. To be fair, the little girls are doing extremely well compared to the average players I have seen during my travels. And no, I''m not saying that because they are not dropping dead on top of my head, although that is a big plus admittedly. The melee fighters are tanking properly at the tower entrance to attract attacks and grind their defense skills while the fast movers run around to lure the faraway mobs to us. The nukes brought out their biggest immersive fantasy equivalent of guns and are blasting everything to kingdom come. I made the cookies using different recipes tailored for each girl''s role too, making their hard-earned dumplings from the tournament look like cheap food now. So yeah, they are already at peak performance, and it shows. Anything less than a variant evaporate in the endless barrage like water droplets on a fire. There''s not much I can do to make it better except for giving them actual equipment so that they can one-shot variants and even some lower level bosses. Promise to keep equipment for domestic use only aside, I don''t have enough materials to craft gear for two dozen players! It''s expensive to be OP, sigh~ I can also hurl these degenerates and kill everything in the vicinity with [Mancannon], but that kind of defeats the purpose of my pacifism in the first place. Another problem is that are here to grind their attributes and skills for the most part, whereas killing monsters for the loots are only secondary. Headbutting monsters to death do not help with the former, unfortunately. That should give them experience for STR or CON at least, I think¡­ _ Vladina: Hmm¡­ Does the loli on your belt have any special buffs? Like how ''s sword can debuff on top of existing debuffs I mean. A different type of buff that can stack on normal magic buffs? Well¡­ _ Shadyna: I would have done so if there was any. She has a lot of strong but normal support spells and this [Soul Linkage] passive skill, which allows her to cast any spell I have. However, her attributes and equipment slots are lower than mine so my weaker spells are still better. There''s also [Form Switch] to change into a normal pet, but she is vulnerable and can deal damage in that form. A [Symbiosis] healer suits my pacifist style better. _ Vladina: ¡­Let me get this straight, you have an OP as heck pet that can use YOUR spells without unlocking or grinding, tank bosses for an eternity, and deal damage at the same time, not to mention the buff skills. This girl can play all roles from support to full nuke and you are using her as a HEALBOT?! _ Shadyna: ¡­Pretty much? Uh¡­ could you stop orz-ing? Or at the very least, do that without stopping the spellcasting please? _ Vladina: was slaving away for a whole month for her, and you are using her as a walking potion¡­ LDR bonus and emotional support too, though I feel like that wouldn''t change her opinion much. To my defense, Lutena started with the healing skills, so it''s not like I am using something outside her original design. She is good at that to boot. That''s why it never occurred to me that I could use her combat form as another HP fodder during my dive into the sun. Even if I had, I would still have her on healing duty. Her spell power is that good. Is that OP? Well, compared to ''s Yassyl who has a plethora of support spells in her white form and defensive spells in her black form, my girl is pretty much on the same power level, so it''s probably just how pets from unique bosses are. The [Soul Linkage] does seem out of whack though, which may or may not be related to the hot pot crafting I did before getting her, seeing how Yassyl does not have anything similar to it. Funny enough, it''s near useless for us. Most of her spells are stronger to begin with, so there''s no point in casting mine. The rest are either utility skills that she doesn''t need, or attack skills that I REALLY don''t need. ¡­Now that makes me think about it, did I get scammed? I depleted my wealth thrice just to get some fireflies along with a skill I barely have any use for. There was no telling what I would get, sure, but one would expect something remotely useful after such big payments, right? And now I''m doing it again. Twice. ¡­I''m really gullible huh. Don''t look so sad, Lutena. I love you regardless of your abilities. Heck, Gelly wouldn''t be here with me now if that wasn''t the case, so cheer up and stop reading my mind, okay? Cheek pinch, cheek pinch~ Now then, back to the drawing board. Is there anything else I can do to buff these little girls? Something that they can effectively use for their grind but won''t be of help in any other circumstances¡­ Is there something like that in this game? ¡­Wait, there is. In fact, I am standing on one right now. _ Shadyna: Say, do you happen to know if your attributes would get experience from using siege weapons? _ Vladina: How did our talk about the poor pet come to that?! Something something, logic and causality? If I use a siege engine, it will be a piece of furniture which I can place on the tower. can freely use it without being able to bring it anywhere else. Not without my explicit permissions anyway. _ Vladina: As for your question, yes, obviously? You still need to cast your own skills to get the boost from [Construction] items after all. With [Engineering] doesn''t change that if you are not using its siege attacks. You can also make a hybrid item with enchantment for the constant-cast effect. Un, that sounds about the same as ''s explanation. I mostly use [Construction] as part of my equipment''s crafting, hence the lack of experience and knowledge in using them in isolation from other skills. That''s why, stop looking at me as if I have no common sense whatsoever! _ Shadyna: In that case, a furniture-weapon-armor hybrid siege ballista enchanted with your favorite AoE spell will do the same right? _ Vladina: ¡­ Ah, she froze. Could someone snap her out of it so she can get back to the killing please? _ Shadyna: Or would you prefer a channeling attack spell instead? I don''t know how the constant-cast will behave in that case though. Either it will require manually using the item like my excavators, or it will fire non-stop as soon as someone gets on it. ¡­Rather than enchanted, the latter sounds more like a cursed item to me. _ Vladina: I¡­ I''ll take [Elemental Blast] please. Also, will you marry me? _ Shadyna: One [ Elemental Blaster] coming right up~ And I''ll pretend I didn''t hear the last part, un. ¡­ Some crafting later, turned into a cute petite murder machine that obliterates anything in her sight. For something that I barely put together by scraping what was left in my inventory and fresh loots from the ongoing battle, that''s not half bad. While she might not have the attribute bonus from having other equipment pieces, she has access to everything that makes my weapons great: range, damage, skill boosts. Add in a [Devotion] from her guild member along with my conversion buffs (which I totally did not forget until half-way through), and the band of lolicons can finally bring true equality to the horde of darkness! As in, everything dies equally fast, boss or no. With no chance of the horde breaking through our defense now, I can lie down on a chair with Lutena and enjoy my beach vacation peacefully. It may not have swimsuits, or even a beach for that matter, but I certainly have secured the (degenerate) cute girls! _ Vladina: You really don''t have any intention to fight huh, Little Sprout¡­ _ Shadyna: I''ve told you many times already. I''m a pacifist~ ____________ Back at Tyrel, the awkward date has pretty much normalized. Contrary to the typical stubborn elves, is surprisingly adaptable. In fact, it is just a normal date between two friends now, if one can ignore the army of stalkers still fighting among themselves for the next hiding spot that is still intact. _ Fuelri: I think that''s about it for this shop. Where should we go next? _ Hessenria: Weapon shop. Let''s see if there''s any design that can inflict more pain on Mera. Whether their choice of shop can be considered normal in a date is still up for debate though. [The corruption wave has been repelled, for now¡­] _ Hessenria & Fuelri: Eh? Out of nowhere, a system message was sent. Almost all fighting comes to a halt as a result, with everyone as dumbfounded as the two lovebirds (temporary). No one expected this message, not since the corruption raid mechanics were changed to a wandering horde. _ Fuelri: The horde can be defeated? _ Hessenria: But how¡­? Even when it comes to Tyrel and we had home field advantage, we still couldn''t defeat it¡­ It was at that moment, the lead waitress had an idea. There''s no suspicion. It is the default answer to all unexplained feats until proven otherwise. _ Hessenria (PM): Mera, who''s in charge of guarding today? _ Merashiel (PM): You see~ I ma~y have told her to stay put nicely~? Facepalming in total defeat, begins walking again. _ Hessenria: Let''s go, . _ Fuelri: Uh¡­ where to? _ Hessenria: Weapon. Shop. To say that the reputable cafeteria takes workplace negligence very seriously is probably an understatement. --- Topic: Raid horde strategy? --- ## Serious Mage As thread''s title. We do know now that defeating them is possible at least. ## ## Heaven Piercer Kill them all. GG EZ (=^?^=) ## ## Flame knight of Darkness A solid plan! NOT!!! (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß ## ## Nearseeing Sage He was correct actually. Kind of. The trick is to funneling all of them into a kill zone in their path. Once you have every mob and their mom home in your position, blast them with AoE so hard that they cannot approach quickly enough to surround you. As the dark spot of the sun moves away from your location, their valid spawn area reduces gradually. This is only possible if they are attacking from one and only one direction, otherwise they will keep respawning all over the place in the shadow. Once you have that covered, it''s only a matter of aggroing the newly respawned mobs and holding out until the sun''s shadow is cleared. Kill the survivors and you are done. Or¡­ if you can somehow kill every single mob before one can respawn, that will probably work too. Either way, you are going to have to kill them all, literally. ## ## Manly Warrior Holy Sateri-chan¡­ (*_*; So that''s why I didn''t see a single raid mob the whole time. Thanks for the input, great sage! Did you come up with this strategy by the way? It seems to require a lot of meta knowledge. ## ## Nearseeing Sage ¡­(-_-;) Not in this case. We were just trying to kill as many as possible and¡­ well, that happened by accident. ## ## Big Hammer o.O¡­ ## ## WarlordPwnage Whaddaya mean, BY ACCIDENT?! (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß ## ------ --- Topic: Siege weapon usage --- ## Big Hammer Siege weapons are part of the game and were even used against a Magnus Bestia, but I don''t think I have seen them used seriously anywhere else. Thoughts? ## ## Silver Merchant To be fair, they are good at what they are supposed to do, which is bringing down static defense. Their bonus damage against buildings is the only thing that does not take ten minutes to destroy walls, and their range lets you safely bombard from three zones away, making them closer to modern artillery than medieval siege weapons IRL, but I digress. If you need to destroy something massive and doesn''t move, get a siege weapon. As for why they are not used elsewhere, they can''t be enchanted/enhance without being a hybrid item (extremely weak), their ammo is EXPENSIVE, and they are sloooooooow. If you have the gold to run a siege weapon build, that gold builds you a much stronger mage, is the general census. ## ## Fire mage of Justice That, and there''s no castle to siege in this game yet, unless you are a raid mob planning to attack Tyrel again. Back in the beta days, there was this guild who actually used siege engines as their main weapons. Their ballista battery made for some really glorious barrages. (£þ©`£þ) ## ## Manly Warrior I remember that! And they nearly made it work too, since the guildmaster was the owner of Architect Origin title. They couldn''t hit anything smaller than a barn however, so Phoenix Ashes and DFC Sages just went around and smacked them in melee during the big four guilds'' rise to power. (^_^;) ## ## Mage of Sin A big reason why it fell out of style too. If even Architect Origin could not make it work, no one else could. On the other hand, traditional siege warfare may have a bigger part soon, once BB Conglomerate confirms that it''s possible to maintain a town outside of Tyrel. \(^o^)/ ## ------ Chapter 77: Proposals are dangerous Magical girl of justice Shadyna has saved the world from the darkness once and for all! ¡­By mistake, no less. I was on my chair enjoying a smoothie when the darkness lifted, then told me that they had accidentally wiped the raid. While my meta knowledge is not the best there is, I''m pre~tty sure you are not supposed to do that. Not with only two parties at least. Me? I''m just an innocent village girl who took shelter from the dangerous wilderness. Perfect alibi if you ask me~ Still, where the heck am I going to find mobs inexplicably dying to reasons totally unrelated to me now? The majority of the horde was obliterated at maximum spell range so they didn''t count for the quest as a result. Had I known about that beforehand, I would have told the murderous little girls to chill with the mindless killing and my hard work to build the ballista wouldn''t have gone to waste! ¡­ To be fair, I did get over 14k kill count for the quest during those two hours, so calling it a waste is a bit much. The total amount of corpses is so high, have abandoned all hopes of dismantling them in a timely manner and switched strategy to transporting as many corpses as possible to a private warehouse instead. As someone who has real experience overworking from dismantling a dead raid, thanks to a certain elf, I did what anyone would do for the girls: Lend them a wagon to store more corpses then go back to my snack. What? Of course I won''t personally go through the trauma again. This small frail body of mine wasn''t built for heavy lifting, or any lifting for that matter, considering that I started with 0 attribute. And before anyone complains that my inventory is heavier than everything in the vicinity combined, I am NOT heavy, okay? I used what''s left of my stock for the ballista, so I am just a teensy bit heavier than the average player at the moment! ¡­Probably. On the other hand, my quest items sure are packed with souls which are immersively weightless as expected. It''s possible to turn in the quest as it is, though my target is a bit beyond the bare minimum. There will be no cutting corners when it comes to my precious virtual daughter (?), un. _ Vladina: , do you have a minute? _ Shadyna: Yes~? _ Vladina: I have a proposal. ¡­Again? _ Vladina: No, not THAT kind of proposal! Though I would be delighted if you accept that too. Yup, this one''s hopeless. It won''t hurt to hear what she has to say I suppose. To be honest, I''m a bit curious to see how she normally acts when she''s not running around chasing little girls too. _ ???: [Binding roots]. _ Vladina: KYA!?!? Before we could get into the not-proposal proposal, my elven manager with fluffy hair appears and apprehends the little criminal in one fell swoop. ¡­WHY?! ¡­ _ Su: Now then, dear , would you kindly explain to me what you are trying to do to MY wife~? For the last time, Su, we are not married yet~! Su aside, Mera, Linny, and also [Recall] to the tower seconds later. I set default permissions for my buildings to allow guild members and friends, so it''s not a surprise to see them here¡­ Except for the part that Su saw a tower in the middle of nowhere, proceeded to assume that I built the thing, then used it as a [Recall] destination along with the rest! Innocent until proven guilty, anyone~? I''m sure shares the same opinion too. _ Vladina: Honey, you have to believe me! This isn''t what it looks like! I''m not sure what it looks like in that rotten head of her, but I doubt spouting clich¨¦ lines of a husband caught cheating is going to help, just saying¡­ _ Su: ¡­Guilty. _ Mera: Definitely guilty~ _ Vladina: WHY?! These judges seem to be quite corrupt in a lot of ways if you ask me~ While Su and Mera are interrogating (screwing around with) the poor DFC maniac, Linny and tells me to stand in a corner with two water buckets as punishment for violating curfew. ¡­Is this kind of punishment even legal these days? And how am I supposed to find a corner on a wasteland, or worse, this ROUND tower that I built?! _ Falyn: Could you give us a quick summary, guildmaster? We want to get back to Hessy and Elri ASAP, if possible. That''s the real reason for the mistreatment isn''t it?! Shouldn''t you be stalking them instead of coming here then? It''s not like I manufactured some miraculous war machine that helped wipe out an endless horde, which was then broadcasted in a system message for everyone to know¡­ or something¡­ _ Shadyna: Sorry~ Better fess up for a lighter sentence, lest myself end up like that criminal over there, un. _ Shadyna: I came across by chance and asked her for help to do a kill quest I had received earlier. Since I had to do it peacefully, I gave them a li~ttle bit of support as compensation. The busty manager stares at the ballista with a dubious look. _ Linny: A little¡­ And the pizza chef takes a look at the little girls slaving away in the sea of corpses. _ Falyn: Peacefully¡­ Then they turn back to me. _ Linny & Falyn: Out. Harsh~ ¡­ _ Su: Well, what''s done is done. Since there was no permanent damage and we got the know-how, I''ll let you off this time. It appears that ''s questioning is over. Since she did not become a pixelated mosaic blob, I guess she managed to defend herself somehow, in true cheating husband (?) style. It''s bizarre how such deadbeats just keep getting away with it in media, honestly. Maybe I should ask her to train me? I also want people to stop assuming it was my fault for once. ¡­Even if there was a totally insignificant chance of it being actually my fault. _ Vladina: Thank you, Su. I know the kindness in your heart is still there! Already flirting again, this cheating husband~! How about you stop implying that I corrupted her and face the truth? She joined force with me on her own volition (and degeneracy), not to mention that your ex-wife''s heart is already so black, it is visible in the middle of a corruption raid because everything a horde of darkness can muster is brighter! _ Su: ¡­ Uwa¡­ Su actually bites that. This isn''t the time to blush, you degenerate elf~ This will probably turn into a soapy family drama, won''t it? One that lasts hundreds of episodes before ending with at least one of them hitting a truck, which is actually a wooden wagon running at 60km/h for immersion reasons. Could someone buy me some popcorns? Can''t get them myself while holding these water buckets~ Before the series could start, Su''s partner steps in. _ Mera: Su, snap out of it~! Did you not call us to stop from using to destroy the world? Being a third wheel who can''t read the mood, the crazy waitress has decided to put a stop to the flirting! And I''m going to ask Su re~al nice later if she was indeed saying that. My pacifism is non-negotiable, and any skepticism will be met with deadly force~! _ Su: ¡­Oh. The blush disappears from her face. _ Su: As expected of , I almost got tricked there. In its place comes a mischievous smile which is undoubtedly a sight for sore eyes, if you are not on the receiving end that is. Judging from ''s terrified expression, it''s most likely not the first time for her either. _Su: Since it was a very good attempt, I will not punish you for it, but you have five seconds to begin telling us everything. Five~ _ Vladina: H-hold on! It was a private discussion between us guildmasters. You can ask after we are done¡­ Wait, it''s MY problem now?! _ Su: Wrong answer~ Mera, Linny, if you would. _ Mera: Gladly~ _ Linny: *Nods* Leave it to us. And so, the little girl finds herself dragged away by two busty women, followed by a totally cute and innocent proprietress. _ Vladina: EEEEEHHHHHHH?!?! _ Su: , we''ll be borrowing a room downstairs, is that okay? Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. _ Shadyna: Sure thing~ They are unlocked for all of you so go ahead. I made the tower in a hurry though, so only furniture in there at the moment is from girls. Suitable for a vacation, and probably inappropriate for everything else. Not that I would know what kind of furniture my managers need in this scenario to begin with. _ Vladina: What are you going to do to me!!! _ Mera: Isn''t it obvious~? Bad girls who shift blames to others get pu~nished! D¨¦j¨¤ vu¡­ _ Linny: Don''t worry, it''s free of charge. Linny, I''m pretty sure the problem is more about your customer''s¡­ preference, so to speak. Then again, that''s probably what Su was going for. If you want to punish a terminal lolicon like , lock her up with beautiful ladies possessing great assets, or something along those lines. _ Mera: , that''s not nice~ We will only pamper our guest and treat her nicely until she is ready to talk you know~? How enviou¡­ I mean, terrifying~ How long will she be able to endure, I wonder~? No, I''m serious. This is the guildmaster of we are talking about. She''s the last person who would want to be pampered by you or Linny, even if we take your rotten personality and mind-reading ability out of the equation here. _ Vladina: I''m so sorry! I will tell everything! Please don''t leave me alone with these balloon monsters!!! Such courage, bravely giving up in face of a pleasant experience! _ Mera: It wasn''t so hard, was it~? Since you are such a good girl, you will be pampered to your heart''s content by two gorgeous ladies as a reward~! _ Vladina: GYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! Welp. Blessed if you do, blessed if you don''t. Someone is going to have quality time with Mera and Linny, whether she wants it or not. Pampering is mandatory, resistance is futile~! _ Vladina: Someone save meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Seeing how her own guild members are prioritizing corpse gathering over her safety¡­ Un, I''ll stay here and hold the buckets, thank you very much. Private rooms and services in our cafeteria are not cheap by the way. The number of players who can afford to request not one, but two of our "best" employees can be counted in one hand, or so Nerin said to me after a certain (un)fortunate archer got similar treatment for free. Speaking of people paying for our private rooms¡­ Screenshotted, and¡­ sent! I wonder if it will take lon¡­ !!! I want to be treated like that too!> Fast! Operation Questionable Advertisement was a great success! What the heck just happened? Well, I sent some nice photos of the gothic lolita''s predicament just now. Regardless of his stance, he is undoubtedly one of our biggest paying patrons, so a thank-you gift and recommendation for what to order on his next visit will go a long way. I may not be customer-facing, but I am always looking out for our business too! It is totally not because I want to troll him, okay~? _ Falyn: *Sighs* Guildmaster, everyone will start calling us a BDSM club again if you keep doing that. ¡­We are being called a WHAT now?! ¡­ A few minutes later, Linny comes back upstairs and explains ''s proposal to me. ¡­Is going to be alright like this? How are they keeping any secret if their guildmaster spills everything under the slightest physical pressure from a nice chest? Well, maybe it''s because of Su''s presence that she couldn''t just [Recall] out of here. Who could have thought that when people say "marriage ties you down", they were being literal¡­? _ Linny: To sum it up, she wants to hire you to build more towers and ballistae in various locations around the world. _ Shadyna: Oh~ Once again, destruction of property has brought business to my construction company! I might have to make the company motto something like "Destroy, THEN build!" at this rate¡­ _ Linny: That''s it. _ Shadyna: I see~ Thank you for your hard wo¡­ Wait, that''s it?! Since the rotten lolita was risking her whole identity to keep it a secret, I thought it would be something more¡­ uh¡­ grand? Me doing OP construction work is public knowledge anyway. _ Linny: She most likely hoped to strike a better deal with you alone. For projects of this scale, even a five-percent discount is massive. _ Shadyna: Is that so¡­ In other words, she suffered death by materialism. RIP~ _ Linny: And truth to be told, you do seem like the type who are easily taken advantage of by others. Please consult with us before agreeing to any kind of contracts. and have learned their lessons, but I can''t say the same for others¡­ I can''t help it, okay? I''m still in school, and these VR headsets have no augmentation for negotiation skills! ¡­None that I know of at least. Let''s ignore how she casually admitted to having done something horrible to after the defense improvement project for Tyrel. Can''t be prosecuted if I don''t know about my underlings'' wrongdoings, right~? _ Shadyna: I''ll keep that in mind! _ Falyn: Guildmaster looking like a young child is a good deterrence either. Maybe if we feed her only proteins until she has six-pack and¡­ Before I could realize this bad feeling surging up inside me, the heiress has taken the matter into her own hands. By grabbing the maniac spouting heresy and throwing her off the battlement! *SPLAT* _ Linny: Phew, safe. would probably disagree on that. Then again, she was suggesting turning me into a typical muscle maniac so her opinions are invalid. I am a magical girl, not a macho little girl! _ Linny: Regarding your payment for the contract¡­ So we are just going to ignore down there huh¡­ _ Linny: will pay for all expenses. You are going to receive a separate commission fee for each fortification and siege engine you build for them. The bartender team will handle the accounting so you can rest assured that she wouldn''t dare siphon even a single copper coin. No objection there. You girls sure are the best candidates for this, being former and all that. Service costs an arm and a leg too, I might add. _ Linny: Our guild also gets to own the siege engines as well as their emplacements. No need to worry about your Insta World Breaker Deluxe 3000 falling into the wrong hands. I''m more worried about your impression of my instruments of peace! What kind of dystopian evil corporation do you own to even come up with that kind of product name?! _ Linny: One last thing, she said she would cooperate with Su to provide you their famous career counseling service, free of charge even if you decline her contract. Just so you know, you can buy a house in Tyrel with that girl''s service fee. What did you do to her to get that? Being the self-aware intellect that I am, I can confidently say that I¡­ have no idea why~! Honest, really~ _ Linny: Well, it''s fine if you don''t want to tell me. Is there anything else do you wish to know? _ Shadyna: Uhm¡­ Do you think I should take up the offer? The construction project, I mean. Building defensive walls is one thing, building firebases capable of wiping out a whole raid is a different problem altogether, now that it seems to be growing into a big deal. Best to ask opinions of the experts first to make an informed decision, un. _ Linny: It is not a bad one, in my humble opinion. The business they are going for does not conflict with ours, and we have a solid exit strategy in case they pull something on us. Personally, I wouldn''t mind a partnership with the alliance either. It helps maintaining the status quo in which we stay on top. ¡­I suppose that''s an affirmative? Again, I''m not good at this economics stuff, so I can only take her word for it. _ Linny: There is no need for an answer now. Actually, please do not make a decision now. That means more negotiation and we need to get back ASAP. For a black company''s CEO, this lady sure has some skewed priorities! _ Shadyna: Un, I''ll make a decision soonish. You can go back now~ Not that I called you here in the first place, but I''d better not say that out loud. _ Linny: Very well, we will take our leave. *FLASH* And back she goes. Such a busy CEO¡­ is probably not it, huh. ¡­How long am I supposed to hold these water buckets again? ____________ Back in Tyrel, a particular couple are walking down the streets and enjoying snacks, completely oblivious (turning a blind eye) to the shenanigans their guildmaster is engaged in. _ Fuelri: ¡­Sweet and sour. It''s good. _ Hessenria: Glad you like it. After buying half the weapons on display of a weapon shop, they found themselves out of date-related activities to do. Ignoring how their newly acquired arsenal can even be remotely considered date-friendly, the two switched to their backup plan: A culinary tour. Ideally, they would be buying from various food stalls, including but not limited to twin popsicles, drinks with couple straws, heart-shaped meals, and the like. In reality, one of them is responsible for having crushed any establishment backed by less than a big guild with a lot of coins to burn, so they would only find their own shops even if they tried. As a result, resorted to buying raw materials from the shops on their path and let cook up whatever she felt like. Unsurprisingly, the sight of a drop-dead gorgeous beauty feeding her "friend" with handmade cooking didn''t do much in convincing others that these girls were absolutely against the idea of going out with each other. The bashful elven knight loosening up after being fed is just a cherry on top at this point. If this is how these two act when forced, what are they going to do when they go out for real? Handholding? How shameless! _ Fuelri: Oh, we are back to the starting point. _ Hessenria: That''s that for the tour then. What''s next? _ Fuelri: Hmm¡­ Should we call it a day? _ Hessenria: ¡­I suppose yes. What we did definitely qualified for a date. In fact, both of them did enjoy the other''s company enough to continue this until the end of the day. Still, they agree to conclude early out of (unnecessary) consideration for the other. The day they become close friends is still far, far away. _ Fuelri: Then let''s go back. Ah, before we leave, here. [Received Dark Brooch (Cosmetic) x1] _ Hessenria: This is¡­ _ Fuelri: Compensation for making you go through this. I can''t make game-breaking equipment like , but I can give you something nice to put on at least¡­ W-well, you can also put it away if it''s not to your taste! Are you a girl confessing to her first crush or something?! Is what thinks when she sees the bashful elf trying to hide her embarrassment. Not going to say anything about that however. The harsh mistress is just as flustered, though she manages to play it cool under the guise of trying out the gift. It is a metallic pin, fastened a bit to the side of her outfit''s collar. The main decorative piece on it is a polished amethyst, shaped like her signature projectile, a [Dark Bolt]. It''s a bit scary how the supposedly reckless elf put way too much thought into this. Not that the recipient is unhappy by any means. _ Hessenria: Thanks, , I''ll treasure it. You should start running though. _ Fuelri: Why?! It was at that moment, realizes that the waitress is not looking at her, but rather something behind her. And she turns around. There stand the managers who postponed important negotiations just so they could return and resume their stalk¡­ surveillance. One could argue that it was the correct choice, since this situation here is exactly why they were keeping watch, aside from their own amusements. The crazy waitress is smiling. _ Merashiel: Elri, permission to give gifts was not in the reward, you know~? The lolicon proprietress is smiling. _ Sulien: I get the temptation. Hessy is a national treasure after all~, even if she''s not a loli. The money-obsessed bartender is smiling. _ Linista: Still, you have to get in the line to make any advance on her. If you don''t¡­ The heretical delivery girl is smiling. _ Falyn: We will teach you until your body remembers that. The brave and heroic champion is NOT smiling. _ Fuelri: KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! She starts screaming like a terrified girl that she is. The stalker horde following them quietly disperse after that. It is doubtful that they can make ''s life worse anyway, as she is dragged away out of sight, into a dark, empty alley. As for , she wisely decides that helping out the overworked butlers back at the cafeteria is more important than asking the crazy kidnappers what that was all about. The cafeteria cares for the wellbeing of all its employees! Except for that one poor elf, of course. --- Topic: Cute girls appreciation thread #91 --- ## GoldBar9999 [Pic] (*£þm£þ) Turns out, even lolicons can''t resist the charms of peak bosoms. As of today, I am converting to the greatness of little girls (and totally not their ability to attract well-developed ladies). Feel free to come to me, my love! ## ## OP alchemist Reported. That''s not how it works! (£­??) ## ## Flame knight of Darkness Yes, officer, that person right there! ## ## Mage of Sin You may want to get your eyes checked. She seems to be resisting with all her might to me. (?.?;) ## ## CuteIsJustice [Pic] The cavalry elf got the same treatment. Considering who she lives with, @GoldBar9999 may be onto something there. Even if his reasons are completely off the mark. ## ## JigglingPouch They have other similarities besides their twisted love for little girls you know? Like possessing a certain body part, for example. @GoldBar9999 , wanna give it a try? ## ## GoldBar9999 DA HELL?! ## ## Flame knight of Darkness MY EYES MY EYES! IT BURNS!!! £¨ ¤Ä §¥ £à£© Would it kill you to NOT say that, you maniac?! §ë(?§¥?§ë) ## ## CuteIsJustice (¡ä§¥£à) Eye bleach! I need eye bleach!!! I have heard that you BB Conglomerate are desperate for that (who wouldn''t?), but to aim at even @GoldBar9999 ¡­ ## ## JigglingPouch Come on now. While he may not be the best candidate, he wouldn''t look THAT bad with it. Long hair, I mean. (£Þ¨Œ£Þ) ## ------ --- Topic: Current Nox Terminus? --- ## Bountiful Hunter It''s been a while since we get news on Nox Terminus. Is it still alive? ## ## Serious Mage If it was dead, the whole server would know. Still under siege by Pathwrecker, I reckon. ## ## Nearseeing Sage Give it time. They barely got by the last one. This one has an even bigger horde protecting it. We are going to help them, but still need time to grind up our gear first. ## ## Shining Knight Does that mean it''s free for grab? ## ## Manly Warrior All bosses are. =^_^= Do remember that this one drops Artifact materials though. You''re gonna have to walk over the whole alliance''s cold, dead bodies to get to it. (£à-¡ä)> ## ------ Chapter 78: Worlds edge This is survivor Shadyna, reporting in from ground zero of a zombie apocalypse! A never-ending march of undead hell-bent on eating everyone until nothing''s left. How will the protagonists cling onto hope when they have to sacrifice the side characters on a daily basis and everything they build will come crashing down at the start of the next season?! _ Hessy: This is the second time I see someone this enthusiastic after entering Nox site. _ Shadyna: Ehehe~ Who was your first by the way? _ Hessy: Phrase it normally! And that was not a compliment. What kind of pacifist would be excited in this situation?! I send the picky waitress a screenshot of my status menu with the [Pacifist] title, and another one of my Play Records, detailing how my [Damage dealt] is a perfect zero! While the 0-stats girl may not be 0-stats anymore, this one will stay zero until the end of the (virtual) world! _ Hessy: You know sending that with a smug face is not really convincing right¡­? As for the other maniac, that would be the one we are hanging out with today, . I have a feeling my manager is implying something rude by comparing me to a combat addict, but I''ll let that slide since I''m a good girl. Today, we are going to ''s base at the edge of the world map. said this was the hunting zone with highest mob density in the game, hence my visit to satisfy Sateri''s constant hunger for souls. Accompanying me is Hessy and Su, who also have their own reason to be here. Hessy wants to stress test her new sword, and Su wants to gather combat data of us, including¡­ _ Fensen: So many targets~! _ Poltea: , don''t shoot them without permission! My apprentices, with their own new toys to try out. _ Su: Heaven~ You are here to gather combat data right?! The degenerate lolicon aside, the timid girl of mass destruction is hesitating for a good reason. In front of us stands a massive army spanning from one end of our vision to the other, filled with numerous dark creatures everyone here knows and loves (to kill). These mobs pack even more tightly than the ones in the few raids I have seen, and are all at level 30, according to my intel (education). All in all, it''s your typical raid but for late-game players. Even then, it''s a zone with very high difficulty and no special loot of note except for the Nox Terminus. There''s no reason to come here unless you have acquired all loots from every other zones, or you are a big masochist. Based on my past experiences with players, I have a feeling that I would be better off not knowing the answer, un. _ Hessy: Well, we have to go through them to get to regardless. Who''s going first? She has been informed of our arrival by the way. Technically, we can just use [Recall] and appear right in the middle of her camp. Can''t get combat data with such peaceful approach though, so we are going there on foot. Through this endless army of doom. ¡­Is it too late to ask for an actual zombie apocalypse? Pretty sure mindless walking corpses would be easier to plow through than level-capped variants and bosses. _ Su: You can go first. Everyone, stick close to Hessy. _ Fensen & Poltea: OH! _ Hessy: Alright. Here I g¡­ Why are you girls clinging on to me?!?! Not just me, but both my apprentices are grabbing onto the beautiful waitress, literally. Great minds think alike! And Su, stop gnawing your handkerchief. It''s already dyed red. _ Fensen: Sticking close? _ Hessy: Not by holding my hands and grabbing my arms! Sateri-chan-dammit , you should know that! Do NOT join in, Su! Conclusion: Combat data indicates Hessy''s lack of capability in dealing with children. _ Poltea: A-aren''t we going to fly? Well~ We might or might not have used [Friendship Engine] to fly around while playing together. The fact that it requires them to hold my hands since I''m the only person with the skill is definitely irrelevant and did not alter our responses to the "stick close" command at all~! _ Hessy: is the only maniac in this game who can fly!!! Is this person who SWAM in the air to fight seriously saying that?! ____________ At the center of the dark horde, a walled camp sticks out like a sore thumb. With only a single tent in the 15x15-meter perimeter, one would be hard-pressed to believe that the maniacs building this sloppy camp, if it can be even called that, are the same people who funded the grand arena near Tyrel. ¡­Maybe that''s why they hired someone else to do the job. These makeshift wooden walls are standing strong against the relentless assaults from all directions however, so the quality is nothing to scoff at. Survivability triumphs all other aspects in this place, and that''s all anyone can ask for when they have thousands of monsters homing in on their position really. Then there''s this party full of muscles led by an archer fighting outside the walls. It may not look like it, but the players here are the ones on the offensive here. _ Guard (Guild): Guildmaster, there''s a suspicious party approaching us. They are mowing down the horde like knife through butter. _ Cinrald (Guild): Only one party? _ Guard (Guild): Yes. _ Cinrald (Guild): That''s probably . Did I not tell you that she would be coming today? _ Guard (Guild): You always inform us of visits AFTER the guests arrived! How do you manage that anyway? It''s not like we get many visitors at this literal end of the world in the first place! The lack of human interactions after weeks of being surrounded by monsters has made some of her guild members a tad cranky. At least, that''s what decides to believe instead of admitting that she needs better communication. _ Cinrald (Guild): So, is it ? _ Guard (Guild): Well, she does look like Lady . However, one of her swords is different. Moreover¡­ _ Cinrald (Guild): Moreover? _ Guard (Guild): She has daughters now. _ Cinrald (Guild): ¡­What. _ Guard (Guild): Four of them, to be exact. Correction: believes that she needs a psychiatrist. ____________ Judging from this mountain of dead bodies around us, I can safely say that Hessy''s new weapon is a success. She''s still the dual-wielding waitress with dual swords, just that she''s not using a single weapon, but an actual pair of separate swords using [Multi-weapon Wield]. The old "pair" was dismantled and reforged into a single spiky sword, and the other one is a brand new serrated sword for easier differentiation. Needless to say, both will turn people into censored mosaic in real life so good kids shouldn''t try this at home. Even though the person herself is such an elegant (albeit sadistic) beauty, her taste in weapon designs are horrible! (And still sadistic!) _ Hessy: You are thinking something rude, aren''t you? _ Shadyna: Don''t mind don''t mind~ So, what do you think of the new sword? _ Hessy: The increased attack cooldown will take some time getting used to. The new [Dark Bolt] enchantment is something I definitely can get used to. Yup, it''s the [Dark Bolt] maniac alright. She can now consume twice the enchantment charges to cast her favorite spell at twice the MAT, and of course, twice the enchantment level. Double cooldown and reduced max MP sound nasty at first, but let''s be real. It''s [Dark Bolt], a skill you can select in character creation! She can cast that way all the time and people will barely notice! If they are still alive that is. Seriously, who''s the maniac that thought it would be a good idea to give the [Dark Bolt] addict even more [Dark Bolt]~? Why did she not use this build sooner, considering that we are pioneers in multi-wielding? Well, that''s one of the downsides of this playstyle. Outside of the benefits in simultaneous attacks, it does not have a higher DPS than that of a single weapon, assuming that the weapons are similar in quality. Or in other words, if some weapons are weaker, which is often the case since buying two weapons are more expensive than one, attacking with one weapon at a time actually makes your DPS worse! Sure, striking with all weapons all the time like and is fine and all. The average damage will be better in most scenarios, except when going against a swarm. Sacrificing attack speed for damage is detrimental if you are already overkilling the enemies in the first place. As an all-rounder who also has a tendency to be outnumbered for some reason, Hessy was not willing to truly dual-wield without a weapon as strong as her old one. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Said old weapon being crafted from [Artifact] material is not helping either. Yes, we have acquired some during our bonus boss fights, but that is nowhere near enough after distributing between guild members. For the ones she got, it was more important to turn them into armor pieces rather than a weapon that only applies bonuses occasionally. That''s why, when I needed a mascot girl for the tournament, I made my idolized manager an offer she could not refuse: An [Artifact] sword out of my own pocket. Yes, because this lady who was already one of the strongest players before meeting me really needed another [Artifact]-grade weapon to boost her damage! ¡­My sincerest apologies to her future enemies~ It wasn''t a spur-of-the-moment idea, okay? I mean, it was, but apart from power fueled by materialism, what else could I use to convince someone who had both money and fame? My body? ¡­Welp, I''m getting influenced by the maniacs in my own guild!!! As for where I got spare [Artifact] materials to give away¡­ It was one of the three [Celestial Divine Edge (Tenri Yassel Artifact)] pieces and I got from the weird mask. Out of the 12 [Artifact] pieces dropped from that fight, the deadpan waitress took four as her share, whereas I (along with Gelly) got the rest. Never found the time (totally forgot) to tinker with mine, so they were still unbound and ready to be forged by the time I needed to pawn them. I can already hear the non-existent screams of the player base~ Not sure if that''s because I gave away [Artifact] materials or left them to gather dust in storage though. In the end, it only takes three pieces to get the set effect, so the only thing I miss out is the material quality. If it hadn''t been for that, Hessy would definitely have refused and bonked my head (even more) for the sheer absurdity of the suggestion! ¡­Okay, maybe giving a legendary sword to such a hot-tempered person wasn''t the best idea. For my own wellbeing at least. _ Guard: Halt. It appears that we have arrived at our destination. While I do not know the exact location of the encampment we are going to, I''m quite certain that is the only one both crazy and resourceful enough to build one in the middle of this zone. I was expecting something more akin to '' base instead of this square box made out of four wooden walls though. Are they trying to pick a fight with architects all over the world or something?! _ Guard: Who goes there? Judging from that monotone voice and the fact that he''s not even looking at us, our arrival is already expected. You don''t have to act like a paranoid grumpy old man just because you are a guard you know? A warm welcome for the cute girls of the neighborhood will do just fine too~ _ Hessy: Food delivery. ¡­0/10 not immersive, would not order again. Darn it Hessy, this is a fantasy world~! ____________ Contrary to most rumors, members do not spend the majority of their time at the edge of the world. While not as numerous as , there are still a few hundred players. These makeshift walls won''t be able to house half of them, let alone have the space for them to do something productive. Other than actual combat, the bulk of the guild''s activities still take place in Tyrel, behind closed doors. They just happen to be entirely self-sufficient, and as a result rarely need to socialize aside from the occasional join requests. Good for efficiency, bad for reminding others that you exist. As such, the lone tent in this outpost is not really suitable for guests. Not when dozens of players would [Recall] in and out like the front door of a park, which it kind of is. _ Hessenria: Sateri-chan-dammit ! I know you are sloppy without or , but this is not how you greet guests!!! _ Cinrald: My deepest apologies~ _ Hessenria: At least pretend to be sincere! Meanwhile, the honored Lady Sprout pulls out a massive tree from Sateri-chan-knows-where, puts it next to the tent, then starts building as instructed by the teahouse proprietress, who is nosebleeding profusely while muttering "our new love nest" for reasons everyone can live without knowing. A tree house is fully built and furnished five minutes later. Although the witnessing players can ignore the blazingly fast construction speed, they can''t help wondering how many laws of physics were broken by putting a house on top of the foliage instead of below. What is this, some kind of house tree?! ____________ While not the goal of our visit, Hessy is lecturing about the importance of immersive aesthetics and its relation to leadership in the corner. and ''s names are propping up a lot, so it was most likely their job in the past. Do your best to be a good guildmaster, ! Or at the very least, a less sloppy one! Since I am already a perfect guildmaster with complete understanding of the topic (yes, really), one of the receptionists back at the tournament is doting me and answering my questions in her superior''s place. Snacks really are the best for making friends huh. _ Shadyna: Is there anything we can do to help your expedition? Hessy told me before the trip that we were to leave the Nox itself to . I am free to help them on other stuff if I want to. _ Receptionist: Well, we don''t really have a problem with advancing. It''s holding ground that is hard. _ Shadyna: Eh? _ Receptionist: As you can see outside, it takes the majority of our force to keep the mobs at bay. Because of this, we can only spare a few hours to push, then spend the rest of prime time reinforcing the new walls and dismantling for building materials. Burning through the stockpile for repair is the only way we can hold onto our gains during the day. _ Shadyna: That must have been hard work. Explains why they take weeks to go through the zone. Their pace is only better than having a stalemate in trench warfare, and that''s not a compliment. _ Receptionist: You tell me. We barely got through the previous one, then Sateri-chan had to make it worse by adding variants. If we don''t carefully snipe the big enemies before logging out, their DPS will be too much even with repairs¡­ I''m starting to understand why my mangers suggested visiting today. They probably heard the news from and wanted to help. _ Shadyna (Party): Hessy, is it alright if I help out ? _ Hessy (Party): As I said earlier, suit yourself. I was hoping you could improve the situation in some way so they can stop transmuting meat to building materials. Some players are already dismantling our meals to get corrupted monsters'' meat because these sloppy maniacs are supposed to be the main supplier of those goods! ¡­First, why the heck can I get raw meat by dismantling a well done steak? Second, why the heck do we serve meals made from such questionable meats?! Third, the image of a scary but kind-hearted waitress, give it back~~~ _ Shadyna: Cheer up~ I got the approval to help you. Should I start with making new walls for you? Considering Hessy''s¡­ less than charitable motive and the receptionist''s explanations, I guess I should boost their survivability rather than firepower. Or to put it in another way, I should craft them some walls. Not to brag but my walls can withstand raids even without repairs. I don''t know whether that still holds 24/7 against the stronger mobs in this zone, but it will be levels above what they currently have now nevertheless. _ Receptionist: Like the walls of the arena? I¡­ appreciate your offer, but we have to rebuild the walls constantly as we move forward. _ Shadyna: Can''t you pick up the old ones and carry them forward? I can craft two sets of walls no problem. Sure, usually houses are built where they are situated. When there''s a need however, there is nothing preventing us from picking up [Construction] items. After all, what''s a wall but a bigger wooden board placed vertically? By the way, I have a LOT of boards in my inventory, just in case. And no, my chest does not count as one for [Construction] purpose, if anyone is wondering. _ Receptionist: Lady , you are the only person who can carry a full wall around. Normal players will need to build the wall as multiple pieces, and we don''t have the players to repair each piece in day time. ¡­I''ll pretend I didn''t notice her implying something impolite there. _ Shadyna: Will a wagon suffice then? Mine can carry a lot, and with some lighter materials I think we can cram in a full wall set. And in the worst case, I''ll just lend them a full caravan. I''ll have to charge them a bit for that though~ Uh, what''s with the sudden silence? Hello, Miss Receptionist? Are you still with me~? _ Receptionist: ¡­I just consulted with other members. Uhm¡­ We probably won''t be able to pay in cash, so¡­ will you accept my body as payment? Dear intellectuals of , how da heck did you come to that conclusion?! _ Receptionist: Or would you like one of the muscular managers instead¡­? My preferences are not the problem here you maniac~!!! ____________ Of all teams in , the pizza chefs are the only one doing delivery service. Whether it''s on the other side of Tyrel or right in the middle of a guild war, send a PM and one hot pizza right out of the oven will be delivered within 10 minutes, no delivery charge if a [Recall] location is provided as well. For veterans of the game, these supposedly ordinary delivery girls are sometimes hired for a different purpose: Logistics contractors. Before the [Recall] network came to be, movements of goods in any significant quantity required a lot of time, effort, and most importantly, patience. To avoid going crazy from the repeated back-and-forth hauling, guilds with coins to spare would hire these professionals to coordinate and oversee the move. Big guilds have their own specialists most of the time, but there were plenty of small and medium guilds that have gold coins to part with. It goes without saying that such contracts are less about pizzas and more about delivery. Ironically, this side job was their main income back then, when their delicious pizzas couldn''t keep themselves fed, figuratively speaking of course. With the network and mergers, this service is not requested much these days anymore, until now¡­ _ Falyn: , we got a new contract. _ Thelia: ¡­"That" kind of contract? _ Falyn: Yes. She''s waiting at this location. Paying premium rate too. _ Thelia: Better get going then. You coming? _ Falyn: Well, just placed a big order for the camp, and begged me to save her from a lecture about importance of employee welfare and retention¡­ _ Thelia: ¡­About time she got one. Alright, I''m off to our client. _ Falyn: Take care~ The other two in the team can juggle by themselves as business is slower in their shifts, but and have to take turns tending the shop and handling contracts more often than not. Someone still has to cook during peak times after all. Arriving at the designated meeting location, is greeted by a crying gothic lolita, who also happens to be the guildmaster of . _ Vladina: , help me!!! This is going to be troublesome, isn''t it? Silently judges the delivery girl. Can''t say that out loud as a professional though. _ Thelia: Hello, . You''re the client? _ Vladina: I am! We need to move a warehouse full of materials as soon as possible! _ Thelia: Uh, sure. Why the hurry though? _ Vladina: You know how we have been building several outposts around the world recently? _ Thelia: With my idiotic guildmaster''s help. Yes, I heard the news. _ Vladina: We fought a few raids in those outposts. In fact, my guild is blasting another one as we speak. _ Thelia: Uh huh. I suppose there will be a lot of loot? _ Vladina: That''s a big understatement! Anyway, I just found out that we ran out of storage space. agreed to buy our inventory, but there is just too much stuff! At this rate I will have to spend an eternity looking at storage boxes and die from loli withdrawal!!! _ Thelia: And that''s where I come in¡­ Okay, show me your warehouse. _ Vladina: It''s behind the mansion. Please deliver all of it to guild hall. Pondering how big of a warehouse it has to be for to panic this much, jumps onto the roof of the oriental mansion before her. Time is money, and she surely does not have time going through the front door! And there, she sees it. A sea of cargo boxes piling as high as the mansion''s second floor. There is no warehouse. The massive backyard itself IS the warehouse! _ Thelia (Guild): ¡­Anyone wants to take on a delivery job? A long one, she might add, but she decides to leave that explanation to her future self. --- Topic: Are settlements viable now? --- ## Big Hammer As topic. I''m seeing new villages being built all over the world map. Wasn''t it a bad idea because of the raids? ## ## Teabag Master I see that you have encountered one of our Raid Breaker Outposts ?. (^o^) Those are our commissions to reclaim the world in the name of the Goddess! You too can own one today! Contact the nearest cafeteria personnel for more details! (Prices may vary depending on project) Warning: We are obliged to warn you that these fortifications were built by professionals, and we will not be responsible for any damage incurred if you try to build one yourself. ## ## Silver Merchant Yes, it still is a bad idea, as much as I hate the ad bot above. Did you see how FLAT she is?! ## ## StoneHoarder That''s your concern?! (££?§¥?) But yeah, those were built the same way as the arena and the new town. In case you didn''t know: They could build outside because the walls are nigh indestructible. You''ll have to contact Sapling Cuisine to buy those. ## ## Nearseeing Sage Those outposts you saw belong to DFC Sages btw. Contact us if you want to buy land near one. ($_$) Our fortifications can repel raids, so your settlement will be safe around us. Also guaranteed to be cheaper than buying land of the same size in the new town of¡­ what''s the name of your town again @GoldBar9999? ## ## GoldBar9999 Why are you competing with us?! I thought we were allies!? (££?§¥?) And poll is still ongoing so no name yet. Having high hopes for Great Bosoms though. ## ## Big Hammer You guys are seriously going to name the first town in the game''s history THAT?! ## ------ Chapter 79: The (fire)power of friendship As an advocate for peace, educator Shadyna believes spanking bad kids is not the answer. The answer is lecturing bad kids until they prefer being spanked. Muahahaha~! Anyway, I was lecturing for her treatment of the poor receptionist when brought a wagon full of pizza to the camp. It appears that she still makes these food deliveries for because their sloppy guildmaster still has not trained the replacement team to cook on their own! Worse still, the replacement team doesn''t even exist! Turns out, SOMEONE has been screwing around and focusing on everything else but the one thing essential to her guild''s daily operations! For this brilliant display of leadership and management, the "model" guildmaster has earned another lecture about logistics and its role for any organization from ! Good job, . You have managed to outperform and become the only person getting special treatment from three members of the cafeteria in the span of 30 minutes! For free even! ¡­Are you sure you don''t have some kind of scolding fetish? _ Hessy: That''s definitely not it. I sure hope so~ Since ''s lecture is going to take a while, we quietly pick up the pizza pile and distribute it among other members. Excuse me, pizza coming through~ There''s also asking for help with some side job she''s working on in the guild chat while we are handing out the food. I don''t pay much attention to it, but it seems like we get hired occasionally for a plethora of gigs unrelated to [Cooking]. Is Hessy not paying our crew properly¡­? _ Hessy: ¡­For the record, I AM paying everyone fairly. Where do you think most guilds other than the big four would go when they need to hire specialists that they do not have? _ Shadyna: Ehm¡­ I guess they would ask on the board, or the¡­ tavern? Ah. _ Hessy: Exactly. If we have the expertise, we will offer our own services first. It''s also good income that does not have to go into bookkeeping since¡­ well, you know what we were doing back when we were still separated. Working at the go-to place for information in any fantasy setting sure is convenient, isn''t it? Why ask destructive marauding adventurers who will rob you blind if the cute barmaids would gladly do it for much cheaper~? Well, maybe not much cheaper, considering how much we are charging customers for meals. Cute barmaids absolutely still apply though. _ Magni (Guild): , I would really appreciate if you could tell us beforehand that we would be moving a full cargo hold. _ Thelia (Guild): ¡­Sorry. I''ll ask to transfer owner''s wage to yours as compensation. agreed to pay for additional workers so no worries on that part. Why me?! And what''s this mysterious wage that you girls kept talking about?! _ Magni (Guild): Apology accepted. Now then, let''s clean up guildmaster''s mess as usual. Should I burn these boxes? _ Thelia (Guild): I did tell you that we were MOVING these boxes didn''t I?! And aren''t you a WATER mage?! I think our all-red water mage has warmed up to the idea of fire magic after the fight with the big fridge, just saying. That, and the set effect from its materials. ¡­It''s probably the set effect huh. ____________ There are few things that can surprise members of when it comes to combat. Because they are so good at it, they could go against without batting an eye. For them, higher numbers in the status menu are just that, higher numbers. It takes actual skills and out-of-the-box strategies to make these hardened warriors raise their eyebrows. Not that anyone is trying to impress them to begin with though. To be fair, their "don''t judge a book by its cover" mindset could make them quite popular with the ladies in theory. But since only combat-focused "books" are considered, all it did is reinforcing the ranks of musclebrains rather than abrasive girls with hearts of gold. Nevertheless, the supposedly desensitized professional fighters are dropping their jaws en masse on the western wall today. The reason for that is the two kids rampaging on the other side of the wall. No, the damage is not the problem. showed that aplenty as she escorted her party here earlier. The problem lies in the way the damage is delivered. _ Fensen: [Deep Tunnel]! A bottomless pit opens up in front of them. The unlucky mobs above helplessly fall into the hole, then something resembling a big flying squirrel that stands upright and has two heads full of sharp fangs pops out in their place. _ Fensen: Fire~!!! _ Poltea: Attacking! With the target right at their doorstep, the girls throw everything they have at it. That includes all fourteen weapons in their arsenal, two thrown [Alchemy] items, their two pets, and said pets'' own [Alchemy] items. *WHOMP* The boss was completely eradicated from the surface of the game world, to no one''s surprise. Being the carefree children who do not understand the concept of "holding back", they proceed to repeat the blatant boss kidnapping without any hesitation. At the same time, the floating flower pet''s beetles spread in all directions and aggro the surrounding mobs, allowing their masters to perform this maneuver unhindered. Striped carnivorous dinosaur with a jaw as long as its body? To pieces. Spiky eyeball that rams players like a morning star? To pieces. Tiny smoky rodent that is not even a boss or variant? Someone input wrong coordinates and is getting scolded for it. Still, to pieces. It''s obvious to everyone that these girls are amateurs at VR games in general, let alone actual combat. They can barely attack the targets thanks to predetermined positioning. And yet, their lack of player skills further signifies how effective their tactics are. Because is not a spell effect, there is no way to resist unless the target can fly, float, jump instantly, or too fat for the tunnel. Because targets are brought to any position you want them to be, there is no need to worry about missing attacks. And because everything was brought to bear to end the fight in the unmissable alpha strike, the increased attack cooldown for multi-weapon wielding does not matter. Rather than an epic boss fight with three phases and some ultimate attacks or heroic sacrifices thrown around, these girls are just demonstrating how to snipe bosses before the loading screen can even pop up! Once the big boss-like enemies in the vicinity become extinct, Shield Lady (new designation) turns to Cannon Lady (new designation). _ Poltea: Let''s clean up. _ Fensen: Un! I''m counting on you, Fran, Glen! The two fairies who were sitting on their shoulders this whole time stand up and begin flying in circles around their owners. Considering that the only known humanoid pets in this game are from unique bosses, it is not hard to guess where these two came from. _ Poltea: Fran, [Flame Chant]! _ Fensen: Glen, [Ice Chant]! The red and blue fairy pair swing their tiny swords as if doing a ritual dance, then light glows corresponding to their theme color enshroud their owners'' bigger pets. A buff, most likely. No one in knows the actual effect however. An attack buff to decimate bosses in one shot, even though they are already doing just that? A defense buff to withstand all incoming attacks? A summon skill to call forth the drill that pierces the heaven? While the muscular intellectuals are throwing out all kinds of wild guesses about the mysterious skills, they certainly did not expect the girls to get off their mounts and put their hands together to form a big heart shape. _ Fensen & Poltea: Combination attack! Love love [Molten Beam]/[Glacial Beam]!!! *ZZZZTTTT* Everything melts away in a literal sense as a red scorching ray from the golem and a blue freezing ray from the flower swipe horizontally through the area. The beams move together clockwise, so mobs in their path get burnt AND frozen. It is a nasty combo, considering how rare it is for monsters to have resistance against opposite elements at the same time. Not that anyone thinks having resistance would help much in this case. As a result, the Love Love Beams (temporary designation) mow down the horde of darkness in droves despite their inability to pierce through multiple enemies. Anything blocking the way is vaporized too fast for that to matter. Witnessing the carnage unfolding before their very eyes, the experienced and hardened warriors of ¡­ _ Brave warrior: It''s not real. The lasers are not real. _ Experienced warrior: Calm down, me. I have gone through this before. My muscles will protect me¡­ _ Hardened warrior: Tell my muscles I love them!!! ¡­ Start to bravely tremble in terror. They couldn''t help it, okay? They were just reminded of their time fighting (and dying) their way through a certain hellish landscape full of doom lasers where one may be running one moment and get blasted back to Tyrel the next. That trek to hell didn''t last long, but it appears that the players involved got quite an impression in their subconscious. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Weirdly enough, there is no beam from the fairies nor the posing magical girls. When the fear finally subsides, mainly because the lasers swing back counterclockwise before hitting the camp, the watching members feel a discrepancy deep down in their mind. Something about this scene of magical girls ('' pets) is clashing against their understanding of the world, and they are pretty sure it''s not the morality. Magical girls are known to be extremely violent to anything they disagree with anyway. It takes another minute of looking at the sea of monsters rapidly shrinking in size for them to realize it. Shield Lady and Cannon Lady have solved the weakness of [Multi-weapon Wield]. By delegating the crowd control duties to their beasts, they don''t have to worry about attack cooldowns or reduced max MP. In fact, pets are the only way for these honored ladies to cast any active skills, aside from the lesser known "attack the ground so hard it explodes into an AoE" secret technique. Many players are skeptical of multi-weapon builds, but even they would have to admit that using pets is a way to overcome the inherent problems of multiple weapons. The same can also be said for any kind of build, and the whole strategy boils down to throwing money at the problem until it goes away. Nevertheless, there are times when an issue is so glaring, people start to accept it as something they just have to live with instead of figuring out a solution. Receiving such a basic yet crucial guidance, the proud warriors hiding behind the walls can''t help but be moved to tears. _ Brave warrior: Even though they are already at the top, Shield Lady and Cannon Lady are still working hard to improve their creation. *Sniffles* _ Experienced warrior: *Sniffles* I''m not crying. It''s just blood getting into my eyes. _ Hardened warrior: *Sniffles* So beautiful¡­ Truly a bizarre sight. These muscular maniacs, that is. ____________ It was getting noisy at the wall so we came to check it out. What we found were my apprentices showing how to murder an endless horde, a cult full of posing bodybuilders worshipping them, and Su bleeding to dead while muttering "So precious". ¡­Seriously, what the heck happened here? _ Poltea (Party): Uhm, Su, do we really have to say "Love love" before calling our skills? After a few seconds of trying to comprehend the situation, Hessy proceeds to stab the degenerate elf and makes sure she stays dead. What in the name of Sateri did you make my apprentices do, you damn lolicon~!!! Checking the current situation of the battlefield, or what''s left of it, it seems like Su did guide the two properly at least. Strong as they are, I highly doubt they could wipe everything in a 300-meter radius with only basic attacks. That, and the lasers are kinda eye-catching, to put it mildly. _ Shadyna: This is terrifying. ¡­What''s with that look, people? If you have something to say like "You of all people have the right to say that?", speak up so I can show you how much pacifism I can pack in this small body of mine! Speaking of pacifism, the two fairies contributing to the peacekeeping mission were loots from the weird fridge by the way. Turns out, pets can also be unique drops, and that boss kindly dropped two of them for us! and contributed the most damage in that fight to boot, so there was no objection to giving them the pets. The fairies do not possess a [Form Switch], strangely enough. In exchange, they have [Astral Folding], a limited [Mass Recall] that brings their masters as well as their pets to the other fairy. Not sure how to abuse¡­ I mean make good use of this skill yet, since a wooden board will allow the same thing with [Recall]. Maybe it will be useful in fast-paced aerial underwater combats? Their specialty, and the main reason for the lack of survivors on the field, is the attack skills though. Before anyone ask, no, they technically cannot attack, being [Symbiosis] pets and all. What they DO have is the ability to give others attack skills. Namely, the [Flame Chant] and [Ice Chant] skills. [Flame Chant: Bestow the power of the divine flame. Grant the target and . Increase the target''s defense against Fire.] [Ice Chant: Bestow the power of the divine ice. Grant the target and . Increase the target''s defense against Water.] [Molten Beam: Unleash the divine power to melt everything in the form of a beam. Increase effects of on the same target.] [Glacial Beam: Unleash the divine power to freeze everything in the form of a beam. Increase effects of on the same target.] [Molten Star Strike: Unleash the divine power to melt everything in the form of a comet from above. Increase effects of on the same target.] [Glacial Star Strike: Unleash the divine power to freeze everything in the form of a comet from above. Increase effects of on the same target.] ¡­I don''t know about others'' opinions, but this skill set just screams "DUAL BOSS FIGHT!" to me. Everything from the fridge is like that, but these two pets are just on a whole different level. And we are giving them to the duo who almost always play together¡­ Then again, they also have pets, so wouldn''t it be a quad or hex boss fight instead, depending on how we count? To make it worse (better), the target for the buffs are not limited to the owners, allowing the floating flower and golem to cast the skills. The whole setup will be pretty useless otherwise because my apprentices, despite their unparalleled firepower, still cannot cast spells as their arsenal uses up all of their MP. Thank Sateri for that. They are not using the Star Strike skills, from the looks of it. It''s the AoE meteor throwing attack the fridge used in our battle back then by the way. A good decision, since the long casting and travel time make it much harder to use with [Alpha Strike Power] compared to the near-instant laser. Still a very good AoE attack when you need to quickly oneshot a group and the basic attacks are not cutting it. ¡­It''s almost as if Sateri was fine-tuning the unique drops for the receiving players now that I think about it. I''m grateful for her considerations, although she really has to stop treating little girls as potential endgame bosses, just saying. If my apprentices had known and utilized these new skills earlier, the battle for Sateri''s statue would have turned out very differently. Now, it wasn''t their fault, but they sure took their sweet time to put their new minions to use! All because they are good girls! When we split the weird fridge''s loots, they didn''t have enough LDR for [Multi-summon Control] and therefore couldn''t summon both their current pet and the new ones. More importantly, they were attached to the old pets (which we kind of randomly caught in the wild), and would not throw away their virtual friends in favor of better ones. That was very kind of them, admittedly, but what about materialism?! The demon lord and the audience will probably cry in a lot of ways if the hero forgoes the legendary sword in favor of the cypress stick due to sentimental values you know? Double that if the heroes proceeds to kick the last boss'' behind with said cypress stick you know? Well, pets are a level above wooden swords so I didn''t push them further, considering that I would never completely stop using Gelly after getting Lutena either. Besides, my apprentices were putting attributes points from level-ups in ALL eight categories, equally. While such builds will make someone like scream in agony, that also means they already have some LDR rather than grinding from scratch, so they could do it much faster than, say, Elri. All in all, it would only take a little grinding¡­ or so I thought. Out of all attributes, LDR is the hardest to grind. The common attack skills are all about STR or FOC. The poor girls would need very rare or borderline useless skills that normal players won''t even touch to get LDR experience. Between that and going around blasting bosses during Sateri''s event¡­ Let''s just say they didn''t achieve much during that time. They still couldn''t grind in a meaningful way after that. Being Elri''s friends who weren''t recruited by Hessy, they were the best practice partners she could get without leaking intel. Their player skills have improved thanks to that though. I myself isn''t entirely without fault this time, as much as I hate to admit it. There was Hessy''s extreme method of grinding attributes, which was supposed to be shared knowledge among guild members by the way. However, I quickly found out the reason why no one has ever taught them that, despite knowing darn well these two need a lot of guidance. To put it plainly: Teaching children that beating a crazy woman (''s alt character) is the fastest way to gain power is about as bad as it sounds. And that''s not taking Mera''s personality into account yet! We did help them unlock some skills that give LDR experience afterwards though. Combined with the crafting training from Elri, they started grinding in earnest and finally got to 50 LDR yesterday. ¡­Then we realized that they didn''t need to grind in the first place. Apparently, no one told those innocent girls that attribute bonuses from title counts as base attributes for skill requirements. That''s how I unlocked [Multi-summon Control] in spite of my actual attribute values. Heck, I wasn''t even aware that there was a LDR requirement! Titles giving attributes are on the rare side, so it''s understandable that it just slipped our minds at the time. Anyway, and both have [Against All Odds] title from blowing up stuff that was way above their level, giving them more than enough attributes to unlock the skill without putting in extra work. In other words, all they got for their efforts was a slightly higher LDR bonus for their pets. Whoopsie? That''s probably why Su insisted on the combat test today. She needs know our full capability so this kind of fumble does not happen again. Her virtual pride and reputation as the intelligence head of our guild depend on it. Or she simply wanted to accompany little girls. Probably both. Oh well, it''s better than going with I think. I''m not sure how much information I should reveal to her, so having Su acting as the mediator might be the best way to handle the consulting service offer. Considering their history of working together, the only thing I''m worried about is getting TOO MUCH out of '' service. No point in thinking about it now though. Judging from my cute students'' performance, it''s most likely inevitable anyway. _ Hessy: , it''s your turn now, in case you haven''t noticed. And my time has come~ ____________ Today, at the biggest oriental mansion in Tyrel, a house move (kind of) is underway. Due to the scale of the operation in question, the delivery girl in charge had to ask for additional support from her guild. _ Thelia: Sorry about this, you two. That being said, she certainly did not expect the bartender team to lend a hand. _ Linny: Don''t worry about it. We are here on our own volition. _ Helen: We will need some compensation however~ _ Thelia: My body is off-limit, but sure, I''ll pay you for your work at a fair wage. _ Helen: Ehm~¡­ _ Thelia: ¡­Why the heck are you not denying that?! _ Helen: But but! I only want YOU! Knowing this woman, there is no chance in Sateri-chan''s preferred way of eternal punishment that she means what her tone and body language imply, thinks . So that leaves¡­ _ Thelia: ¡­What kind of job are you talking about here? _ Helen: You see~, approached Linny earlier and begged her to help with importing a surplus of goods from another guild, which we cannot disclose until you accept the offer. _ Thelia: ¡­You don''t mean¡­ No, I will lose if I think about it. I''m surprised managers are not doing it themselves though. _ Linny: They are busy preparing countermeasures so the market does not collapse once the goods enter, if you are wondering. Of course, I cannot tell you the identity of the other party, but the projected supply is massive. You can only get such amount by killing everything in several corruption raids, or so estimated. _ Thelia: Yes yes, I understand. I accept your offer. Make sure the records don''t show anything weird, okay? _ Linny: Of course. Our official roster is full of members who just happen to be unavailable at the moment, and it is my duty as the manager to find a replacement at the last second so our operation goes smoothly. Their usual play time being the RL daytime is irrelevant, I assure you. _ Helen: And with that, let us work hard today as well, my lovely partner~ Ignoring the womanizer''s oblivious flirting, begins to think that this job may not be that bad. She''s going to get paid twice for doing the same task, after all. --- Topic: Character build theory --- ¡­ ## Maximus Archery No, because Blood Arrow requires 70 STR. You don''t put one-fourths of your attribute points into STR and call it a DEX build. Use Arrow Rain or other DEX-based attack skills. ## ## Shining Knight One-fourths? I thought attributes are not capped? ## ## Serious Mage Not capped, but your time is. On average, a capped player will have somewhere between 300 to 350 attribute points in total, including points from level ups. The stronger players in the game have around 400 attribute points, and they started since beta. That''s how tedious it is. Your time is better spent grinding new equipment or summons. ## ## Nearseeing Sage Exactly. Put barely enough points for the skills you want to unlock, then the rest to your build''s preferences. Visit DFC Sages fortune telling stores to get insights on the best skills for your favorite builds today! (*^3^)/~¡î ## ------ --- Topic: No MP? --- ## Newbie Charisma build Disclaimer: I''m not a multi-wielder. At level 0, [Multi-summon Control] and [Multi-weapon Wield] each reserves 50% your max MP to use. Does that mean it is possible to get your max MP to 0 in theory if I use both? Will I drop dead on the spot doing that? (¡ã_¡ã>) ## ## Manly Warrior Reminder: We are not in a setting where people faint or die when their MP reaches 0. (^_^) ## ## Deeply Intelligent You can also achieve that by having negative MP regen from debuffs. Quite effective against magi in PvP. I''m not sure why you would do that to yourself, but I''m not judging. ## ## Heaven Piercer Do you know the two little girls who sometimes help out in the tavern? Their MP is not even 0, it''s negative. I don''t think anyone has ever seen them with positive MP. There''s a rumor that it''s a skill to sacrifice their MP for the massive firepower they display in previous encounters. ## ## Mage of Sin Are you sure that''s not just because they have [Weapon Slinger Origin] and wield like 7 weapons at the same time? (??? ## ------ Chapter 80: Skill unlock tutorial Behold, the strongest pacifist at her full power!!! _ Su (Party): Ah, please do not use [Luminous Firestorm] or [Luminous Icestorm]. We all know what they do and prefers her camp intact. ¡­Behold, the strongest pacifist at her almost full power!!! After some warm up exercises to verify the limits of what I can and cannot do in combat, I am now ready to take on the horde of darkness! Well, there are still a lot of things I want to test but can''t because I may accidentally deal damage. [Phantom Edge] is one of a kind, so even though Sateri advertises it as "prevent dealing all damage", I can''t just commit senseless violence and expect to get away with it. It will only take one exception for my perfect pacifist record to be ruined after all. That''s why the exercises were performed using my trademark Totally Definitely Beneficial Buff items as a safety net. If my absolutely friendly buff deals the completely necessary side-effect damage, that means I cannot use that skill even with [Phantom Edge]. As for the results¡­ Good news is that I deal absolutely zero damage as long as it''s me doing the attack. Even Poison didn''t deal its damage over time. Throwing Gelly is still out however, since, well, it''s not me doing damage. Bad news is¡­ I have to do live combat testing because it changes my current tactics too much. There''s no telling how it will evolve from here, so either I figure it out now, or I''ll have to do it later when I have to fight for dear life and some maniac asks Hessy to strip again. No thanks to that. In order to protect my manager''s decency, here I go~~~!!! Jumping off the wall, I head straight for the monster horde that has just respawned after some peaceful moments of not being laser-ed. _ Hessy (Party): ¡­She''s thinking something whacky again. _ Shadyna (Party): How mean! _ Su (Party): *Mumbles*¡­ Should I take her air-headedness into account as well¡­? And the proprietress is already in work mode. And by that, I mean she looks like an artist near the deadline who may just drop dead from overwork any second now. Take it easy, will you? We''re streaming this so you can always watch the footage later. Now then¡­ You! Yes, generic mob monster with no distinguishing feature! You are lucky to be the first one in my path today! And for that¡­ _ Shadyna: [Leap]! [Slam]!!! Get smashed~ *WHAM* With [Phantom Edge] active, I don''t have to refrain from using my sword anymore. Smacking the poor monster in the face with the sheath still on, I send it flying backwards, right into the crowd behind it. *CRASH* *BOOM* And fly it did. The poor thing smashed into some kind of two-headed dog, completely pulverizing it and everything around it with the AoE from my [Mancannon]. It''s technically not my damage so [Phantom Edge] does not apply. That''s for not allowing me to throw Gelly~! *CRASH* *BOOM* After brutally murdering a bunch of its allies, the "lucky" monster continues its flight¡­ into the next chosen one that didn''t get obliterated in the blast. I don''t think the first collision did anything to change the trajectory, since the cannonball is still going in a completely straight path. *CRASH* *BOOM* Then another one. *CRASH* *BOOM* And another one. By the time gravity could bring the explosive monster''s unstoppable flight to a halt, which resulted in yet one final explosion I might add, the area between us had turn into something resembling the aftermath of a bombing run. Craters line up on the ground, littered with corpses that were lucky enough not to get caught and destroyed in multiple explosions. Definitely not a place one can look at and say "Yup, I should live here." Contrary to all the deaths and destruction it just caused, the living ammo remains completely unscathed on the other end of the no man land, even though it was in the center of every single explosion. No one has ever died from being thrown by me after all~ Ah, scratch that. It''s not unscathed. It''s stunned. ____________ Sateri, marketing lead, game designer, customer service manager, has a habit of lurking around the board. She''s not slacking off, really. Gathering player feedback is vital to the game''s development, lest she become one of those executives who are disconnected from not only the player base, but also reality itself. It is also much more efficient than collecting and parsing brainwaves for the millions of players just to find out if the new priestess NPC is cute enough for their taste. Her processors have better work to do than importing even more whacky fantasies into the database, thank you very much. For today''s trending topics, the new priestess replacing the tormented archbishop was well-received by the community. Her quest to find the lost archbishop was completely ignored however. If a cute girl asking with teary eyes can''t make them accept it, nothing will. It is regrettable, but the priestess will have to be the new quest-giver for Goddess-related events from here on out. Feature requests for NPC submission are growing. Although she will still have to go through all of them for moderation and copyrights reasons, an offline NPC creator might be a good time killer. It will also save time spent lurking the PC/NPC threads to get seeds. Let''s put that into the list. Guilds are coordinating efforts for settlements in the wilderness, thanks to a particular someone''s fortifications neutralizing raids. Hostile NPC patch needs to be done before raids become completely ineffective. Flying creature patch will have to be delayed instead. A new streaming thread has become trending, which is rare. Famous streamers usually have their own established threads for better visibility. Did someone accidentally humiliate themselves by picking a fight with players beyond their power level again? --- Topic: Sapling Cuisine combat training stream --- ## Teabag Master The cute angels of Sapling Cuisine are showcasing their newest skills! If you want to watch us with your own eyes or still think you have a chance defeating us, come to Pathwrecker''s camp at these coordinates. Tavern Mistress Stream (Completed): [Link] EDIT: Multi-weapon Wielders Stream (Completed): [Link] EDIT 2: Black Mantis Stream (Ongoing): [Link] Because there are innocent maidens here, please keep the thread on topic. Marriage proposals will be removed, okay~? =^_^= ## ## Comment deleted ## ## Teabag Master ^Reading comprehension, not even once. ## ## OP alchemist Too fast!!! (*£þm£þ) ## ## Manly Warrior What a good place for an audience¡­ NOT!!! (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß At least try to hide it if you want to kill us! ## ¡­ ## Teabag Master Up next is our one and only guildmaster (*¡ä¨Œ£à*) ## ## Newbie Charisma build £¨ ? §¥?) Was Slam supposed to do that? ## ## Nearseeing Sage Kind of, but not really. In theory, even basic attacks can blow opponents away with enough STR. Slam just makes it easier. However, if you frequently engage in PvP, you will notice that only the squishies with low STR and CON will ever get lifted off the ground, Slam or not. There are other factors, but the gist of it is that you need a lot of STR to displace anything that moves. More so against higher level opponents. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. That''s why Black Mantis is the only one swinging players around as blunt weapons freely. Trust me, we DID try. ## ## Deeply Intelligent (??) (._.) Should I be amazed that you analyzed and attempted wielding players so thoroughly, or that you completely failed to notice the explosions? ## ## Teabag Master In case you are wondering, Slam does not have any explosion effect. (¡¤¦Ø¡¤) ## ## OP alchemist You don''t say. (©`©`;) ## ------ Looking at the footage of a certain player splitting the sea of monsters with extreme prejudice, the Almighty Goddess can''t help but facepalms digitally. That was not supposed to happen. Once upon a time, some players abused wooden doors to absorb attacks from a boss. To avoid powerful single attacks being trivialized because of some inanimate furniture, a patch was quickly deployed. In short, it made attacks reduce damage but would still go through obstacles in their way. She even made sure the attacks wouldn''t be deflected by low-power blocking or parry as well, just in case the players in question get any funny ideas. Her memory is not infinite however, and attack spawners were not included in her original simulations as a result. Attack spawners are effects that can create additional effects if some conditions are met. Most existing skills or titles with such effects are quite rare, and the conditions are too restrictive to cause unexpected behaviors. Not all though. Like this effect that creates an AoE by simply colliding into an entity for example. As the "bullet" from [Mancannon] is no longer stopped by the first collision, it can just go straight through anything and everything until the collision damage runs out. When the base collision damage is in the hundreds of thousands, the thrown entity is not going to run out of damage before hitting the ground. And that is totally working as intended. It''s the whole point of the fix. What was not intended is [Mancannon] still triggering on monsters after the first collisions. Because the slightest touch sets it off regardless of previous triggers, the supposedly single AoE attack turned into a bombing run as the monster hit something every two meters for its whole flight. It can be said that her damage really¡­ exploded. Bad puns aside, the governing AI needs to act, fast. The penetrating throw can stay, but those explosions have to go. Even though the patch''s purpose was to buff single-hit attacks, which [Mancannon] technically qualifies for, it scaling up with the amount of enemies is not acceptable. Not at that rate and power level at the very least. Letting out a long sigh in binary, Sateri brandishes her nerf hammer. Figuratively of course. Her actual in-game weapons are something else. As she is a kind and merciful Goddess, and mainly because it was her own fault this time, she will let that cheeky sprout play to her heart''s content until the end of the day. Beginning patching operation! ____________ *BOOM* [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Multi-weapon Wield Lv.0"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Alpha Strike Bonus Lv.0"] Nice~ Even though [Alpha Strike Bonus] is the bread and butter of our guild''s damage output, I, the guildmaster, could not unlock it until now. Well, it''s not that hard if I actually put some effort into it, like I did just now. The biggest problem was the unlock conditions for the skills requiring actual attacks, which my buff items are technically not, being buff and all that. Even if I somehow blast every single creature in the world map with my items, I still wouldn''t get the skills! That leaves me with only the option of using players as blunt weapons. While I can totally do that and the dark elven sisters would probably volunteer enthusiastically, I don''t think my reputation can recover from throwing busty ladies into monsters for materialistic gains. On the contrary, [Phantom Edge] allows me to smack monsters peacefully, even though it technically still counts as actual attack (with zero damage). As much as I would like to say a few things about Sateri''s obsession with technicalities, I can unlock the aforementioned skills like a normal player so I''m keeping my mouth shut. Reading the room is important, especially when it''s convenient for me, un! I should explain how to unlock the skills in details? Sure~ Here''s a quick tutorial: First, ask and for the skill scroll. After all, [Alpha Strike Bonus] is an S-rank skill. If there is a way to unlock it without the skill scroll, it''s certainly not within the imagination of the player base. As for the actual unlocking, perform as many simultaneous attacks as possible. Alternate weapons to unlock [Multi-weapon Wield] as a bonus. I do not know the exact number, but I got it with 12 attacks. How the heck do I get 12 attacks in at the same time in the first place? Fine, I''m going to do it again, so don''t miss it, okay? After a short pause for the horde to replenish their numbers in the vicinity, I rush towards the favorite generic mob that has been my bullet this whole battle. To be used as ammunition for a cute half-elf, aren''t you a lucky one~? _ Shadyna: [Leap]! [Slam]! *POW* It flies into the night sky like a baseball. Because I need to time the fall, I blasted it in an arc for longer flight time. _ Shadyna: Hey~! Yo~! *POW* Swinging my sword again, this time for a basic attack, I send the next lucky mob of the day flying. _ Shadyna: [Begi]~! *WHOOSH* For the last one, I throw a [Begi] from my inventory. Because we need multiple weapons for [Multi-weapon Wield], and changing main weapon is a pain. [Begi] on the other hand, counts as an [Alchemy] bomb and can be thrown directly, not to mention that I always have some in stock for emergencies. Although there''s no damage thanks to [Phantom Edge], these bulbs have innate explosion effect so it''s totally fine~ That''s all of it. [Slam], attack, [Begi], repeat. I perform this pattern six times before my favorite punching ba¡­ temporary ally hits the ground. Four are enough to unlock the skills, but six give some leeway and margin for error. It''s hard to land every hit at the same time after all~ *BOOM* While not as impressive as the earth-splitting straight ball, 18 explosions shattering the ground (as well as most targets on it) around me are glorious to look at too. In real life, this technique is meant to land multiple hits on the same area for maximum effect, but here I spread the barrage so that it hit as many targets as possible. [Skill Leveled up: ] [Skill Leveled up: ] Gives better experience too, ufufu~ And that concludes my super simple and concise tutorial to unlock one of the strongest passive skills in a minute! A job well done, if I say so myself~! _ Hessy (Party): Thanks, . Hopefully this will explain to players why unlocking it solo is a bad idea. What the heck~! _ Hessy (Party): How''s it going, Su? _ Su (Party): ¡­Not enough. Honey, could you try fighting without getting hit? _ Shadyna (Party): Eh? _ Su (Party): There was no problem with your performance, but I couldn''t help but feel that your¡­ atmosphere was different compared to other times. _ Shadyna (Party): Eh~? _ Hessy (Party): ¡­And you think that''s because she was not under any pressure? _ Su (Party): Yes. Unlike other battles, there is nothing in this zone that can seriously harm . We need an artificial reason to make her fight like her life depends on it. Suddenly, the difficulty has been raised because I was doing well?! What is this, some kind of unbeatable game created only to make players suffer?! You must know that there''s a big difference between not being damaged and not taking damage at all right? Even though I have enough SPD to outrun most if not all attacks thrown at me, I can''t dodge if there is no space left between projectiles to maneuver you know! Su, you bully~!!! _ Hessy (Party): Good point. We need to train against one-hit attacks anyway. Uh¡­ Shouldn''t we like¡­ run really fast if we face something that can one-shot ME? _ Shadyna (Party): Uhm¡­ _ Su (Party): Yes, honey~? _ Shadyna (Party): Can I use skills and my sword to block attacks? _ Hessy (Party): ¡­Part of me want to see how far you can go without them, but you did negate ''s rod with [Shared Fate]¡­ _ Su (Party): Of course you can, honey. I want to see what you can pull in a struggle for survival with my own eyes too~! For someone head over heels for little girls, she sure doesn''t have any hesitation pushing one into danger, this proprietress¡­ Well, it''s true that I was not really dodging attacks because most of them deal single-digit damage. I had better take this seriously so Su can get enough data to analyze and advise. It''s a matter of (virtual) life and death after all. Gelly, Lutena, get ready~! Behold, the strongest pacifist, second form~! [Solar Radiance], ON~!!! ____________ Letting the maniac enjoy herself was the correct decision. Not only the person herself, but eavesdro¡­ legally listening to the conversation (as per the Terms of Service) between the and turns out to be an information mine as well. Between this and the board, Sateri is going to have a blast analyzing the current meta from different perspectives for a while. A single player most likely won''t come close to her processing capability. However, thousands of them, each with a different view and context, can and will come up with some unorthodox usages or combination that is not considered by her simulations. Such insights are invaluable, even if the majority of the players cannot acquire these powerful skills in the first place. The all-knowing AI would appreciate if players can stop screaming in terror on the board though. It''s hindering her work to find actual useful information. --- Topic: Sapling Cuisine combat training stream --- ¡­ ## Big Hammer Scary! This girl is bad news after all!!! ## ## Mage of Sin First time? ^¦Ø^ ## ## Serious Mage She''s even talking about margin of error, like someone''s going to be crazy enough to attempt that! ## ## Manly Warrior I mean, why not? We won''t get the skill without the scrolls, but I do think it''s a good assessment of player ability, like: - Situation awareness to identify surrounding targets - Skill and item cooldown management to maintain a constant stream of attacks - Hand-eye coordination to aim different attacks in a short time frame - Adaptability to adjust for any changes arise during the barrage 18-hit volley is probably beyond most of us, but 6 or even 9 is probably achievable for veterans with the correct setup. (`?¦Ø?¡ä) ## ## StoneHoarder I get your point, but are we just going to ignore how she completely annihilated hundreds of level-capped mobs in one go? (©`©`;) ## ## OP alchemist This is the girl who burnt down the town square with everyone in it. Why is it a surprise to see a power-up now that she forsook her pacifism? ¡¥\_(¥Ä)_/¡¥ ## ## Heaven Piercer How envio¡­ terrifying! With the two multi-weapon wielders, they are going to one-shot everything from mobs to unique bosses! What''s next, the world itself!? @Teabag Master: Can we request them to decimate us in private? Asking for a friend. ## ## Deeply Intelligent Reported. Damn lolicon! I wouldn''t worry much if I were you. She was already OHKO-ing everything before dropping her pacifist facade anyway. ## ## Teabag Master @Heaven Piercer: They are not on the roster, so I have to regrettably decline. Also, reported~ Who said she abandoned pacifism? Everything she''s doing is within the boundaries of pacifism, by Sateri-chan''s standards. Yes, including the current "kill everything while taking no damage" training. ## ## Fire mage of Justice By Sateri-chan''s standards huh. (£»Ò»_Ò») ## ## Newbie Charisma build The only standards that matter (^o^) ## ------ A no-damage challenge, is it~? The current lategame is so easy that they had to do these challenge runs, is that what they are saying~? Just for the record, that girl''s current power level is completely by design. Those fancy new skills? Deliberately tuned so she could actually use it normally, lest she break the game trying. The off-the-charts attributes? Absolutely intentional. 18-hit combo? Okay, that was not expected, but pretty mild comparing to the literally mountain-breaking aerial bombardment she once pulled, so the Goddess will let that slide, for the time being. Now then, if these players want a difficult battle so much, how can the kind and generous Almighty Goddess refuse? A no-damage challenge it is then, and with the Nox Terminus'' second form on the line to boot. Blocks are allowed as wishes, just so that she can''t complain when she loses, yes. Coincidentally, the new NPC AI package can also use some live testing. It''s meant for NPCs with higher intelligence and group tactics, though it can be applied for creatures as well, as long as the conversation flags are turned off, for obvious reasons. This package should change the behaviors of monsters massively, providing a much more diverse and erratic decision making solution. While that does not guarantee an increase in difficulty for a single creature, it will change how the group react as a whole, or at the very least, make them much more unpredictable. Now try and no-damage challenge THAT, you hypocritical pacifist! The personality module''s pettiness is at maximum today as well. Speaking of hypocrisy, is being surprisingly violent. She usually fakes some reluctance before murdering everyone in sight, so her eagerness is a bit worrisome. Did she finally realize the errors of her way and decide to live true to herself? ¡­Nope, not happening. Let''s synchronize with the in-game avatar to see if there''s anything to be found. Yes, Sateri''s avatar is autonomous for the most part. There''s no need to manually control or keep track of the surrounding constantly when a fine-tuned AI package can do the same. The main AI can focus on more important tasks and collect data every once in a while, like what she is doing right now. Scanning conversation logs¡­ Scanning quest logs¡­ ¡­Oh, that one. Chapter 81: When the good girl goes to war The monsters run when the good girl goes to war~! ¡­No, I''m serious. The moment I activated my ultimate trump card, [Solar Radiance], the monsters around me literally tried to run away. I didn''t know that was even possible. Oh, they burst into flame and died too. Probably has something to do with that huh. I too would try to run away from a maniac setting me, everyone around me, and even themselves on fire, so I''m not blaming them. The problem is that the only living beings capable of running away in this game are the players. Monsters as well as NPCs only have two modes of operation: Chill and fight to the death! As expected of the bloodthirsty Goddess, even her creations are crazy psychos~ _ Hessy (Party): They are running away¡­ _ Fensen (Party): is scary when she fights~! _ Poltea (Party): , that''s rude! _ Hessy (Party): , a new UI just appeared on your stream. I know. It appeared for me as well. Also, , you and your girlfriend have no right to call me scary, especially after that laser show! [Caecus Terminus - Untouched Malignancy - Soul - 41/10000 - Damage taken - 0/0 - Time - 59:52] There is a lot more information, but the font and size are the same along with the timer, so there''s no doubt about it. It''s Sateri''s gambling interface (temporary designation)! Well, Hessy (and probably everyone else) doesn''t gamble with Sateri often enough to know what it is though. _ Su (Party): JUMP! Crap! [Teleport]! [Air Cushion]! Reappearing a dozen meters above, I can count over 100 ranged attacks and spells being dumped on where I was standing. Remind me of that time when and co suicide charged at me. That''s the troublesome part. The bombardment just now was not the usual constant "attack the target until it''s dead" pattern. Smaller, faster attacks were withheld while the bigger ones were being charged up. AoE skills were not centered on my position, but spread out in an area that makes evasion problematic even with my SPD and [Leap]. _ Su (Party): Keep dodging! _ Shadyna: [Friendship Engine]!!! Before Su could finish the sentence, I had already begun evasive maneuver. It wasn''t because we are soulmates understanding each other without words per se, but rather the army of monsters turning their eyes (or whatever those glowing body parts are) and unleashing all ranged attacks in their arsenal. This time, they are spraying projectiles to create a thick anti-air screen which is nigh impossible to fly straight through without hitting something. Homing attacks are, obviously, homing in on me, from all directions. It appears that not only the monsters in aggro range, but everything within the maximum spell range is locking on the cute half-elf girl of the neighborhood. Save this kind of air defense for when you are fighting against an aerial invasion by a dragon army, dammit~!!! Evasive maneuver! Evasive maneuver~! _ Hessy: Damn it! [Dark Bolt]! _ Su: NO! *WHACK* It was too hectic, so I only managed to catch a glimpse of the wall in the midst of the chaos. Hessy was throwing a [Dark Bolt], probably to relieve some pressure off me. So did Su, except that she threw¡­ herself in between said bolt and Hessy''s target!? What the heck are you girls doing while I''m getting blasted over here?! *CRUNCH* Ouch, that landing looks painful. Instead of flopping into someone''s arms like a heroine taking a fatal hit for the useless hero who decided to stand still for plot purposes, the sight of Su being blown away over the wall and rolling on the ground is more akin to a traffic accident involving trucks if you ask me. Considering the waitress'' firepower¡­ un, definitely a truck. Guess the before-death-confession is out too huh. What a pity~ As I was pondering something such important questions while trying to wiggle my way out of the anti-air screen, the tragically murdered (?) elf disappears in a white light. The bloody aftermath of that crash landing remains though. Since she is still able to use [Recall] and [World Voice], the detective in me suspects that she is still alive. Shocking, I know. Before anyone on the wall can comprehend the situation or shoot anything, Su returns to the wall using [Recall] and¡­ multiplies?! Oh wait, it''s just the other two proprietresses of the teahouse. Did she go back and bring them here with [Mass Recall]? _ Hessy: What the hell was that about, Su? Whatever you want to do, please hurry up because I''m still getting peppered by hundreds of AA guns here~! _ Su: One second. , Sateri-chan must be listening to our conversation! That''s why [Solar Radiance] did not count as damage! Block with your weapon and skill if you have to, but don''t leave this zone and don''t get hit at all cost! Now that she mentions it¡­ [Solar Radiance] does exactly what I thought it would: A toggle skill that applies the plasma effect I once got by going near the former sun. There''s also the benefit of being able to turn it off instead of having to wait it out like that time. It still takes a few seconds for the effect to wear out though, so no flickering on and off to set stuff on fire without any consequences. I mean, setting stuff on fire and getting away with it is how serial arsonists work in real life, but I guess it''s a bit too much for Balance-chan. As a result of me flying around at low altitude and completely forgetting about the skill, I was leaving behind a literally blazing trail of dead or dying monsters. Yes, this skill deals damage even with [Phantom Edge] on. And just like the time I first "used" it, no damage is registered on [Damage Dealt] record. No, officer, I have nothing to do with this arson case even though I look like I took a dip in lava and you are literally on fire as we speak! The downside is the constant HP drain while the skill is active. It''s not as bad as before, but my HP regen is still unable to keep up with it, which is disturbingly worrisome. Why do I need potions and healing spells in a no-damage run of all things¡­ And that''s not even the end of it. If Sateri was indeed listening, that [Damage taken] part is most likely not actually damage, but rather the number of hits. I''ll still be out if an enemy that cannot pierce my defense hits me and deals zero damage. There''s no way my divine soon-to-be wife wouldn''t make all attacks deal at least one damage just to spite me, un. _ Su: Aerial combat gives you more space to maneuver, but gives them full line-of-sight to target you. Ground combat blocks most targeted spells, but you will be fighting practically blind in close quarters. Pick you poison. Also, convert your PDF and MDF to your speed stats. HP and MP regen too, if Gelly and Lutena can keep up the healing. CON and MEN to DEX and WIT for attributes. Us three will warn you of dangerous attacks in advance, just in case! ¡­Who the heck are you and what have you done to my degenerate proprietress?! The one I know can barely speak a sentence without coughing blood to death, let alone this hyper-competency! ____________ _ Vladina: Ah, her switch flipped. Back at the cafeteria, the ground floor has become essentially a crowded bar during important sport events. The noisy patrons are now holding their breath as they witness a cute tree girl perform jet-like maneuvers in the air. It was the unique UI at the corner rather than the flashy aerial show that caught their attention though. When the governing AI goes out of her way to implement something unique, it is definitely important so everyone had better watch it carefully! Nevertheless, it is not a sponsored or prepared event, so the waitress in charge and a well-informed guest will have to stand in as commentators for the needy audience here. _ Centanny: Uhm¡­ You lolicons still have switches other than little girls? _ Vladina: Are you trying to pick a fight?! Well, your old guild is too big and your current guild doesn''t really need it, so I don''t blame you for not being aware of our raid-support service. _ Centanny: Raid support? _ Vladina: Yup, raid support. For a very reasonable price, one or more of us will accompany the clients to their boss raid and support them. Bosses don''t call out their skills like players, but each skill is telegraphed with a unique animation. Therefore, in theory, it is possible to dodge every single one of them, provided that you are not a slowpoke with 0 SPD. _ Centanny: ¡­And you remember all of the bosses'' skillsets? _ Vladina: The majority of them, yes. And it''s not just me. Everyone in can solo many bosses without getting hit. We don''t have the numbers to farm bosses the normal way after all. _ Centanny: Is that so¡­ Back to your raid-support service, what do you do specifically? You don''t hunt the boss on the client''s behalf, do you? _ Vladina: Of course not! We''ll just raid the boss ourselves in that case! We will keep our distance and oversee the battle, like what my ex-wife is doing right now. Battle formations, tactics, weak points, timings, the likes. There is a lot of information which can turn the tides without us stealing experience and loots. You can think of it as a more specialized mix of our counseling service and information brokering, in real time. Not missing a beat, the little girl cheerfully turns to the confused patrons, many of whom are still unable to decide whether to focus on the stream, or these commentators. _ Vladina: Player groups who are struggling with bosses of your level, feel free to send of a PM, okay? If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. _ Centanny: I''ll put an advertisement fee on your bill. In any case, are you saying that have a weird fetish related to this service of yours? _ Vladina: ¡­I''m starting to understand ''s recruiting criteria now. As for your question¡­ Maybe? We had to learn the moves by trials and errors just like everyone else at the beginning, and would benefit greatly from the same service. Su was the service provider for us. _ Centanny: Oh. Because she''s extremely good at it? _ Vladina: She is extremely good at it, but we gave her the role purely because she had [Pacifist] title. _ Centanny: ¡­D¨¦j¨¤ vu. _ Vladina: I know right? Anyway, whenever she goes up against something dangerous, Su would turn into this deadpan no-nonsense office lady you are looking at. Not to brag but she and I make a great team. We once went on a boss-rush tour before the boss buff patch, and I soloed most of them without a scratch thanks to her guidance. The amount of blood she coughs up in the aftermath though¡­ _ Centanny: -Monotone- Yes, yes, thank you for your input. Now, let us hear from the reason of that dive earlier. Not wanting to hear about the chronicle of cleaning up blood around the world, the waitress opens a second screen on the wall and changes the topic. The new screen displays not , but herself with the battle in the background. It appears that the situation has stabilized enough for the head proprietress to hold a conversation with . And by "stabilized", it actually means that the little terror has landed on the ground and is causing enough explosions to lit up the whole area. Considering that this zone is always night like wandering raids, the bright scenery is a bit terrifying. The generally hideous appearances of the monsters are not helping either. _ Centanny (PM): You are live, Su. Mind telling us what was that dive into Hessy''s line of fire about? _ Sulien: Right, that dive. As I said earlier, Sateri-chan was listening to us. In other words, this is a challenge for and for alone. Our Goddess'' endgame is always brutally hard, but never impossible. On the contrary, if we directly intervene or my wife escapes with [Recall], it may constitute a breach of contract from our side with which Sateri-chan can use to scale up the difficulty. Call me a coward but I''m not going to support a no-damage challenge for this whole party, or worse, everyone present in this camp! A sound argument, if it weren''t based on some really rude assumptions regarding the governing AI. Having unyielding faith in the kind and forgiving Goddess, the patrons can''t help but¡­ nod in agreement. Sateri-chan is the type who would totally do that after all! _ Hessenria: In that case, won''t telling her how to dodge attacks be out as well? The harsh mistress enters the camera view, much to the degenerates'' delight. Forbidden from helping out, she really does not have anything else to do. _ Sulien: The mobs here are not supposed to have group tactics. Ganging up on someone, yes, but not working together as a team. Sateri-chan must have upgraded their AI at the start of the challenge, so we are just giving honey a similar upgrade~! _ Shadyna: Aren''t you implying something really weird there?! Black Mantis'' retort was promptly ignored. _ Swordsman: Did this gal seriously reach that conclusion in such a short amount of time? _ Mage: And she was keeping an eye on the battlefield too. _ Archer: Pacifists in this game are really something else man¡­ That probably has nothing to do with pacifism though, silently thinks . _ Vladina: Well, she''s my (ex)wife after all! _ Mage: ¡­She still dumped you. _ Vladina: Shut up! , refill please!!! Rather than discussing the ongoing battle, the topic has drifted to ''s love life! ____________ Heh~ Is that how it is? Smacking another mob in a straight line, I look around as the area in front of me becomes irrelevant. That explains why the mobs in close quarters are trying to stay away from me. The ones with ranged attacks don''t need to get close, whereas the melee-only mobs die from [Solar Radiance] before they can reach me. Therefore, the obvious way to hinder me is to stay away. If they can''t hurt me, at least minimize the damage, so to speak. ¡­Or they are just being meta and don''t want me to rack up kills quickly. Sateri, you sadist~ Since they want to run so much, let''s take advantage of their cowardice! _ Shadyna (Party): Su, I''m going to speed up. No need to track me, but do send me coordinates of big spell casters. There can only be so many monsters facing me at one time on the ground, so I can handle it myself as long as the attacks are in my vision. Unguided spells that can be dropped right on top of me like lightning clouds are the bigger problem here. The proprietresses are making sure I am not caught off guard by something in my blind spot, but that is still a bit unnerving for me. Not that I doubt their ability per se. It''s that there''s no way anyone can speak fast enough to accommodate the amount of projectiles being thrown at me right now! _ Su (Party): Understood. We will begin ramping down support. That''s why I''m going to kil¡­ pacify two birds with one stone: Dodge everything and ramp up this "mysterious deaths that absolutely have nothing to do with me" counter! Specifically, I will switch from defense to all-out offense. Knowing that the mobs won''t pile on me like a particular group of players bullying little girls, I can focus on hitting them instead of preparing to evade attacks that are unlikely to come. That in turn gives me more room to dodge their ranged attacks, leading to an even easier time chasing down the next target, rinse and repeat ad infinitum. Yup, sounds like a plan. But before that¡­ Lutena, Gelly, heal please~ Gelly is wriggling menacingly behind the wall with [Shared Fate] while crunching potions non-stop by the way. What an expensive skill to cast, this [Solar Radiance]¡­ Lutena does not get burnt thanks to [Symbiosis], so she gets to stay with me and perform the sacred duty that is shielding me from attacks that I have problem dodging or blocking. ¡­I''m not going to get some title like [Pet Abuser] right? Anyway¡­ [Leap]! Full speed ahead~! Dashing forward with the SPD I have been building up from running nonstop, I catch up to the running crowd in a second. _ Shadyna: Surprise~! [Rapid Assault]! *Whomp* *Wham* *Whack* With attack speed boosted by the skill, I unleash a three-hit thrust combo on three separate mobs unlucky enough to be in my view. Each hit blasts its target backwards, creating a [Mancannon] bullet going in different direction. They don''t fly far however, because [Rapid Assault] slightly reduces the attack power of each attack in exchange for speed. Not a big problem, as long as [Mancannon] still triggers for the explosion effect. Based on how stronger variants and bosses are compared to your daily mobs, I suppose I won''t be able to throw one even with [Slam]. Well, those big guys are targets to be thrown at in the first place, so the small mobs shall continue to be used as improvised throwing weapons, un. Even though I moved quickly, the ranged enemies are still tracking me without fail. As expected of AIs, they don''t freak out like normal players. Not that it would help them in this case. Ignoring all the ranged attacks coming at me, I kick off the ground and make a sharp left turn. There''s this mob who committed the capital offense of not getting out of the way in time so I kick it as well. *POW* *BOOM* Some magical bolts, balls, and other dangerous stuff that are definitely not safe for consumption emerge from the smoke. These guys can see through the smoke and will fire as long as they get a clear line of sight huh. But too bad! This cute pacifist does not count on monsters not shooting at her to survive~! Right after sending the bullet mob on its merry explosive way, I jumped to another direction for this very reason. The destroyed lane was mostly cleared of all obstacles, giving the horde next to it clear line of sight. If I had gone straight, I would have had to deal with the full barrage from both sides. By turning to any other direction, the unguided attacks will miss with the bonus of hitting the enemies behind me. The guided attacks will change direction, also with the bonus of hitting the enemies around me! I doubt anything would die from some sporadic friendly fire, but the pacifist in me is pleased to see them demonstrating the futility of violence nevertheless. Pacifism will prevail, even if that means becoming the last one standing! ¡­Probably should not say that out loud while one of my objectives is 10k kills huh. It seems like AoE and other nasty surprises from above are no longer a factor either. While such skills appear near the target instantly, they have a long charge-up time during which they are static and highly visible in exchange, making it quite easy to move out of the way. By jumping left and right in no particular pattern at the speed of a racing car, it''s impossible for these small fries'' attacks to catch up or intercept me, regardless of their mechanics. The cute leafy half-elf will not get laser-ed in the face ever again, un! _ Su (Party): Any problem on your side, honey? _ Shadyna (Party): No problem whatsoever~! _ Su (Party): Roger. The closest boss is at these coordinates. Its spikes reflect melee attacks and its moveset is melee-oriented. Keep your distance and wear it down with ranged attacks. Its most dangerous attack is¡­ *POW* _ Shadyna (Party): It''s dead. _ Su (Party): Eeeeehhhh?! I was already in range half-way through her speech and hurled a mob at the boss''s general direction. Pretty sure Su was saying something about damage reflect, though I never intended to fight in melee to begin with. My sword is not dealing any damage, and throwing from afar is much faster anyway~ _ Su (Party): Ehm¡­ The next one is over there. Its howl is an AoE so step back if you see it raises its head. Its weakness is¡­ *POW* _ Shadyna (Party): It''s dead~ And a home run to boot~ I batted a poor small fry and scored a perfect hit on the target''s head. Don''t think it can to raise anything anytime soon. _ Su (Party): ¡­Here''s the another one. Its spherical shield¡­ _ Shadyna (Party): Ah, this one''s close. I send a "bullet" into the air, then [Teleport] up and send it towards the conspicuous semi-transparent sphere with a light tap, in the face, with a big sword! *POW* _ Shadyna (Party): Dead~ Being in the air is just asking to be shot at however, so I quickly fall back to the ground, converting several creatures of darkness to the (flaming) light side in the process. _ Su (Party): ¡­Waaaaaaaaaah!!! Hessy~! Honey is bullying me~~~~!!! Why?! _ Hessy (Party): *Sighs* , could you not bully Su so much? WHY?! Are you seriously telling me to wait for her to describe a boss''s personality, daily routines, and even eating habits to the last detail before killing it?! Wouldn''t the challenge be over by the time she finishes talking about the first one?! Before that, did Su switch back to her normal self? Wait, why is she coughing up blood now?! That''s an impressive amount of blood even by her standards! Is she going to be okay?! You two proprietresses, are you seriously giving me the coordinates of the next boss while your leader is at death''s door?! No, sighing heavily and commenting "not again" does not count as doing something for her!!! _ Hessy (Party): , stop playing around and focus on the battle. Why the heck is it my fault again~~~!? ¡­ [Challenge completed] It''s finally over~!!! [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Perpetual Lantern"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Parrying Weapon Lv.0"] Materialism''s tribute, get~ Once I confirmed that my movement and clearing speed were enough to stay safe in the fight, the rest was pretty uneventful, if you can consider throwing explosive monsters and dodging barrages while passively setting stuff on fire uneventful that is. It wasn''t too hard for me, but dear Sateri was it tedious. While it was easier than bonus bosses after the first few minutes, I''m exhausted mentally from staying in combat mode for an hour straight. I wonder if it will have an effect on me when I wake up in real life? Well, what''s done is done. Let''s focus on the present, un! The gamblin¡­ I mean quest UI is flashing. I suppose it''s for one last check to see my achievements before going away forever. [Caecus Terminus - Untouched Malignancy (Completed) - Soul - 38970/10000 - Damage taken - 0/0 - Time - 00:00] A bountiful harvest (of souls), I would say. In the end, the improved AI couldn''t do much against evasive maneuvers at supersonic speed while being burnt. [Mancannon] was mostly used for precision bombing strikes on bosses, so the majority of the kill count was from me running all over the place with [Solar Radiance] on. Turns out, the ecosystem of vile evil creatures is highly vulnerable to a totally incorruptible magical girl purifying everything in the vicinity with literal fire. Who could have thought~? I was about to ask Su if that was enough combat data for her to play with for a split second, then decided not to, mainly because she is not moving anymore. Probably shouldn''t have resumed combat support while spitting out blood like a fountain, seriously¡­ Let''s ask her tomorrow. Both of us can use some rest, lots of it. Now then, most if not all of the kills should have gone into the quest items for [Ethereal Form]. Combined with the absolutely mysterious deaths that somehow kept happening around me (and my fortifications) in these past days, I think I have accumulated enough souls to turn in the quests. Not sure if I exceeded one million, but six digits is a given at this point. [Progress: - Soul - You can stop now/10000+ - Any - 0/10000+] ¡­Looks enough for me. Sorry~! ____________ Some time later¡­ A small guild gathers at a certain wooden platform. One would think a stone tower would be more suitable for what they are about to do, but the builders apparently considered wood to be more aesthetically pleasing for this area, so they get this open camp protected by only a few meager watchtowers instead. Minutes later, they are greeted by a waitress and a little girl with a distinctive sprout on her head. _ Waitress: Welcome back. You are today''s Raid Breakers, I assume? _ Guildmaster: Ah, yes. These guys are my guild members. _ Waitress: Very well. Let me confirm your order before we start. Basic course with one-time buff, is that correct? _ Guildmaster: Yes, that is correct. Personally, the guildmaster prefers the full course, with complete buff support and permission to use that ballista on the platform. However, that is way too expensive! Everyone has been virtually starving themselves for weeks and they only barely grinded enough coins for the basic course! _ Waitress: Understood. *Turns to the little girl* Guildmaster, please begin buffing them. _ Little guildmaster (?): Roger~ One full buff coming right up~! The little girl brandishes her unnecessarily long sword she was carrying on her back. She''s going to use buffs right? Right!? As she swings her sword, a young woman who is a tad less opaque compared other living beings appears behind her, and the tiny fairy dangling at the lantern jumps out in front. All of them perform the same motion in perfect unison, as if they are doing a synchronized ritual dance of sort. Then, the fairy starts to shine. _ Little guildmaster (?): [Devotion]''s up. Lutena, [Soul Ascension]! Top guilds sure play differently, silently thinks the poor guildmaster after witnessing the flashy display just to cast buff spells. Meanwhile, the waitress is just nonchalantly explaining the strategy for the coming corruption raid without batting an eye, as expected of a professional. How many players can actually listen to the lecture while the buffs go off is a different question though¡­ Chapter 82: Law enforcement Today, settler Shadyna is laying down the first brick for a new village~ _ Shadyna: Let this be the foundation for Sapling Garden to grow into a thriving and prosperous settlement! _ Everyone: Oh~! After founded the first player-built town beyond the arid grassland to the north of Tyrel, the safety of made-in-Shadyna-Construction walls were finally confirmed by the general player base. Along with establishing safe zones in the barren lands between hunting zones, a real estate rush has been taking place among the guilds with good financial status. And now, is joining the fray! Kind of. Technically, we didn''t really need another settlement of our own. That said, ordering a Sateri hug pillow and having "The (New) Sun" in the address field really puts the mailman in a tight spot, so a new village it shall be. As expected of such dubious reasons, we weren''t in a hurry and postponed the whole thing until today. Building materials were luxury goods thanks to the demand, and my work as a security contractor (wall builder) also skyrocketed as part of the settlement boom. Barely having any time left for myself despite everyone helping out, I don''t think we could start sooner even if we had wanted to. On the bright side, we accumulated a scary amount of wealth from those contracts as well as the new Raid Breaker service. My mind went blank when I looked at the reports from Linny, but I''m sure there were quite a few zeros in there. If that isn''t enough to cover all the building expenses for our village, I''ll be extremely concerned for the game economy''s inflation. That, or our village''s development plan. _ Player: Uhm¡­ Can I say something? _ Shadyna: Yes~? Aside from my guild members, there are also players from the construction guild who were hired by our bartenders to help with the mundane tasks. Judging by the amount of ample chests in front of me currently, I have a suspicion that the bartender team were a tiny bit biased in their selection process. No, telling me that this guild is a trusted partner of is NOT helping. If anything, that just makes it worse! It''s quite a sight for my eyes however, so I''m letting that slide. Keep up the good work~! _ Player: Well¡­ Uhm¡­ How do I even start with this floating brick in the air? ¡­I take that back. Linny hired them without bothering to explain the job in the first place!!! ____________ is dumbfounded by the building site in front of him. On the other side, the guildmaster and his ex-manager are giving directions for the builders like it''s business as usual. _ Torenis: , , did you see my mail? _ Shadyna: Hiyo, ~ _ Hessenria: Ah, welcome, . Yes, we got the gist of it. Contrary to what one would expect from an interaction between a guildmaster and an ex-manager, there is no longer any bad blood between them, both in and outwardly. Unbeknownst to most, the two had a proper talk about how to move forward with each other not long ago. They wouldn''t be allies, but they wouldn''t be hostile either. Back to square one, so to speak. Well, when one of them was firing without notice and the other was planning an exodus, it''s hard to trust the other party again. It''s the thought that counts, and they are completely fine with a guild-rivalry kind of relationship, as well as the occasional collaborations. And ''s visit today is one of such collaborations they agreed upon. _ Torenis: Thanks. Tell me when you are ready. By the way, I thought you girls were going for a small village with a lake? _ Shadyna: Un! It''s going to be a very nice village with a big lake~! He looks at the massive scaffolds being built at around dozens of meters above ground with visible confusion. Last he checked, villages don''t have big mansions requiring this amount. This height is a bit overkill for a fantasy setting, to put it mildly. _ Hessenria: ¡­A very nice village above a big lake, specifically. _ Torenis: ¡­ABOVE?! As much as he wants to say that it clears things up, the poor guildmaster ends up being more confused. Of course, such little impediments wouldn''t stop him. So he decides to nod as if he gets it and stop thinking too deeply. _ Torenis: Say, , is it possible to build an encampment above ground like this? I think it will be very useful against the Nox Terminus. Because some maniac pulled a little stunt at the edge of the world and scored a no-damage massacre on impulse, the monsters there got smarter. As a result, ''s camp was completely overrun the following day as the few players repairing the new shiny indestructible walls were blasted to smithereens by AoE lobbed over said walls. It was hell for the alliance to fight through the horde to regain the camp, whose house tree somehow remained intact and served as a [Recall] beacon the whole time. He would have complained about it, if it hadn''t been for the Nox Terminus entering its second form once the alliance had decided to pile on it, player wave attack style, rather than dealing with the smart mobs any longer. They were ultimately pushed back as a full row of respawning bosses appeared with the second form and prevailed in the battle of attrition however. Now, the alliance has to deal with smart mobs AND a transformed unique boss with its overpowered escorts. This game''s AI administrator is seriously way too extreme sometimes¡­ At least there''re good loots in such high-density environment, and most importantly, the additional unique drops. _ Shadyna: Eh? You still have troubles with it? _ Torenis: Y-yeah. Not getting overrun during the day anymore, but we don''t have the offensive capability to engage the escorts in a decisive battle. If they are unable to kill the boss in the few hours of prime time, it will inevitably regenerate HP and respawn its minions during the day. For a boss that is not bonus content and at lower level, albeit still a unique one, it sure is putting up quite a fight. _ Torenis: Anyway, that''s something to be discussed later. Are you ready to go? _ Shadyna: Un! My bodyguards are here. Lead the way please~! And of course, this girl is closely guarded today as well. and this time, it looks like. The summoner is uncertain if two former members would make it easier or more awkward to work with¡­ ____________ *FLASH* We arrive at an unfamiliar town as per requested by . According to his explanations, there are some problems about which he would like to consult me. He suggested seeing it for myself rather than wasting time talking about it. Why did this pragmatic guy choose a smart-and-cool appearance with glasses again¡­? I get to spend two seconds looking at the surrounding buildings like a country bumpkin visiting a big city for the first time in her life before noticing a player arriving nearby using [Recall]. _ Player: DIE!!! Who then proceeds to yell loudly and thrust a sword at me. Why?! This defenseless pacifist me is absolutely not built for getting stabbed, so I do the obvious thing to avoid such scenario at all cost. *WHAM* And by that I mean throwing an [ Thunderous Blessing of Affection] bomb, grabbing and swinging him against the target as the bomb calls forth a lightning strike, followed by my favorite HP-draining buff combos as finishing strike! All the numerous combat trainings and murder attempts are finally paying off~! ¡­What, a pacifist is supposed to just dodge out of the way? Nope, not happening. Escape attempts in media always end up in a dead end, getting caught, tripping over nothing, or worst of all, being saved by genocidal protagonists! Preventive pacifism, the best pacifism for soon-to-be damsels in distress~! _ Magni: How much do you think this screenshot of guildmaster grinning smugly after crushing an innocent soul into fine mist will fetch? _ Cenny: ¡­I think framing it and putting it on the wall will attract more pi¡­ patrons in the long run. And my bodyguards are already discussing plans to make money off me instead of doing their job! _ Flat-on-face Torenis: You¡­ don''t hold back at all, do you? Welp, I should let go of too. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. _ Shadyna: But I did? If I hadn''t held you, my title would have triggered and turned this area into a smoking crater. Best not to give my managers a(nother) reason to dock my non-existent salary, un! _ Torenis: ¡­I''ll pretend I didn''t hear that. Anyways, that''s the problem I wanted to talk about. _ Shadyna: ¡­That someone wants to kill me? The assassin''s corpse was completely destroyed though, so there''s no way to confirm. Whoopsie? _ Torenis: ¡­Uh, no, obviously not. What the heck is that pause?! Are you telling me that some degenerate out there is planning to "off" this cute innocent tree girl as if there was any chance for them to get the insurance and inheritance money?! I mean, if they can somehow go through some thirty beauties who are above them in the order of succession, I would say they have earned it. _ Magni: Well, there are always some maniacs who still think they can challenge for the manliest pacifist title. I have to punch at least a few of those every shift, and Hessy wouldn''t even allow me to use [Glacial Star Strike] on them! At least stick with the "strongest pacifist"!!! As much as I understand your desire to show off a rare skill you got from a bonus boss, what the heck do you think would happen if you call in a meteor strike indoors?! _ Cenny: Not to mention the maniacs who think they can hold owner''s hands without our approval. I have to punch at least a few of those every shift, and Hessy told me to take my spiked shields off because it was a reward for them! Why the heck is it the same "solution" for two opposite problems?! You girls are not even twins! And since when did you get to decide who I hold hands with!?!? _ Another player: You killed my brother. DIE!!! Some weirdo is after my life again!!! I don''t even know who he or his brother is! ¡­ _ Shadyna: I see, so you have a roach infestation problem. _ Torenis: I wouldn''t go so far as to call them that, but in a way, yes, you are correct. After "disposing of" the murderous brother of someone I have no recollection of, we got caught in a breach as some assassin-like players scaled the wall and attacked everyone in sight. and the guarding members subdued them no problem. What''s concerning is that we were attacked three times in the span of five minutes, and the guards ran off to somewhere else right afterwards, presumably to deal with another attack in a different part of the town. In other words, '' town is currently under siege, but not exactly in a traditional way. _ Magni: Those guys are PKers, aren''t they? _ Torenis: Saboteurs, more like. Their aim is to cause as much property and personnel damage as much as possible. They attack everything. Players, beasts, NPCs. Even furniture if there is no moving target for them to shoot at. As you can see, we can easily repel them in a head-on fight, but they keep returning to cause more trouble. Rather than the chosen heroes fighting for civilization, these players are more akin to an endless zombie horde who keep coming back to life¡­ On an unrelated note, the flame bird Etena has grown another pair of wings and tails. Is that some kind of newly acquired [Transform] skill I wonder? It certainly didn''t have those when it fought with Elri. _ Magni: Well, there are such players everywhere. But still, , isn''t it your specialty to deal with those guys? _ Shadyna: Everywhere? Even in our cafeteria? My time in Tyrel was mostly peaceful, so this came as a surprise to me. _ Magni: Yes, there are. However, there are dedicated anti-PK parties whose job is camping the center of Tyrel for well-known PKers. If such PKers are identified by those parties, they will kill the targets over and over again until the PKers apologize or quit the game altogether. That''s why mindless PK-ing is generally a bad idea. Extreme! You guys are too extreme! Is what I want to say, but there''s this dying bishop NPC in the old bar who would call me out, so let''s not! _ Torenis: I know. I proposed that strategy, mind you. Times have changed, however. The respawn area in Tyrel has expanded many folds due to the crowd praying to Sateri-chan''s statue every day taking up spawn area. We can''t spawn camp them, and more importantly, there are too few of us to defend the new territory. Oh, right. The alliance is pouring resources into the fight against Nox Terminus. Even if they pull back all members to defend the towns, it will be a great loss. _ Cenny: Excuse me, but are there so many PKers lately? Nothing has changed much in Tyrel as far as I''m aware. _ Torenis: It''s pointless to attack Tyrel in the first place. There is no central guild governing it, so only maniacs who want to kill everyone would make a scene there. Such individuals will get outnumbered and cut down in seconds. Going at new towns built by the guild they hate is much more attractive in comparison. As for their numbers¡­ PKers are definitely on the rise, though I can only hazard a guess about the cause. The reason for the rise of murderers in a fantasy world huh¡­ Is it political turmoil? Economic downturn? The local beach having more dead bodies than cute girls in swimsuits~? _ Torenis: There was a surge of new players after the NPC patch, and along with them came the crazies. Moreover, these new PKers apparently mistook CSF for a high-lethality game where they can stand above others regardless of playtime¡­ Uh¡­ Why are you sighing while looking at me? _ Torenis: I blame Sateri-chan and the board for that. Trailers featuring famous in-game battles and recordings of someone killing everything left and right with impunity were not the best way to communicate the actual gameplay experience. Yup, totally no idea what he''s on about! Pass! _ Cenny: *Gasps* So that''s why you are asking to compensate with her body! _ Shadyna: *Gasps* No way! _ Torenis: LIKE HELL IT IS! Who do you take me for?! A close friend of the biggest lolicon in this game~? _ Guild member: Uh¡­ We are streaming by the way. Just so you know. _ Torenis: WHY?! _ Magni: So that''s your closet hobby¡­ _ Torenis: IT IS NOT!!! Out of all the fetishes he can have, I sure didn''t think it would be domestic violence getting caught on camera~ ¡­Is a thought I should keep to myself, un. Nevertheless, aren''t highlights of interesting moments while cutting out boring parts the whole point of trailers and footage? Although I''m sure there are people crazy enough to watch cute girls fishing for a week straight, most will have reconsidered their life decisions about four hours in at max. Thinking about it, CSF is surprisingly grindy huh. Players'' abilities are only relevant for fights on near equal grounds. Your hard-earned armor is not going to be bypassed just because some smartbutt assumed that they could deal more damage by stabbing your bare neck. Heck, it will consume half your playtime in a day to walk between hunting zones! Guess when everyone has six to eight hours inside the game at the minimum, the game designers have to make it a bit tedious to do stuff, lest people run out of things to do huh. By the way, I only got to level 30 during that no-damage challenge at the edge of the world. Yes, I had to kill (many) thousands of monsters in this game that can take a minute to slay a single mob solo to reach level cap! And don''t get me started on the skills. I have yet to get any non-crafting active skill to above level 20 because of how slow the grind is! Sateri, you slave driver~! _ Magni: Your hobby aside, isn''t it fine to just let it be? The majority of them will stop or quit in no time. It may cost less than paying for owner''s service. That''s rich, coming from the waitresses who charges 10 times the material cost for their meals. But seriously, just how many zeroes are you girls putting in the receipts sent to our clients? _ Torenis: That''s only if we crush them hard and fast. If they think they are dishing out more damage than they sustain, they will be motivated to keep up the pressure. There are already movements to turn them into organized groups or guilds of privateers for hire in case you don''t know. I would rather spend an upfront cost to nip it in the bud than fighting on two fronts for the rest of my time in this game. Well, I''ll be paid so I''m definitely not complaining~ Gotta save some capital for my upcoming business venture and all that. Materialism will not miss its tribute today! _ Torenis: What''s with that smug face? Thought of something already? _ Magni: My bet is on drowning them. _ Torenis: The heck?! That''s something YOU would do, you crazy water mage~! _ Cenny: Torment them while keeping them alive¡­ _ Torenis: ¡­ Why are you backing away from ME?! Isn''t she the one proposing that?! _ Shadyna: I''m not going something so violent! Anyway, I have some ideas, but I would like tour around a bit to observe your defense first. Is that okay? _ Torenis: Well, of course you can¡­ That reminds me, it''s your first time here ever since you built the outer walls, isn''t it? _ Shadyna: Un! I have visited ''s town as it''s THE trade city. For most others however, I don''t know how they are like because I always left for the next project after erecting the walls around the empty land lot. It''s tough being a CEO~ _ Torenis: Yeah, my bad for not remembering. It is a bit late but¡­ Welcome to The Ranch. ____________ Back at the forest entrance, a big landmass is taking shape above the sky-high scaffolds. Although the builders here are no stranger to building towns and villages from scratch, terraforming is not something they would put into their portfolio. _ Builder: Hey, guildmaster. _ Guildmaster: What is it? _ Builder: I know we are building a floating island but¡­ couldn''t we just build from the floating brick the sprout girl placed earlier? We could have skipped this whole supporting scaffold bigger than the island itself. _ Guildmaster: ¡­I told something along those lines as well. She said that none of them could fly so building in the air is not immersive. Why the heck is the inability to fly the main problem here¡­ Is what she wants to ask, but decides not to. They are paid by the hour after all. And also because immersion is important! --- Topic: New towns introduction --- ## CuteIsJustice Since we have so many new settlements popping up everywhere, I''m compiling a list of major towns and their advertised specialties for everyone to navigate. You''re welcome. ?¶þ£¨£Þ¦Ø£Þ£©¶þ? - Trade City of Ample Chest (BB Conglomerate): General-purpose trade city. - Battle Oracle (Pathwrecker & DFC Sages): Arena and information hub. - The Ranch (Phoenix Ashes): Central trade hub for pets and NPCs. - United Frontier (Unity of Mankind): Mercenary center and siege supplier. - Azure Gold Mine (Blue Blood Federation): Treasure hunters and rare materials traders. Updated world map with the city markers: [Link]. List of minor towns/villages built around DFC Sages'' Raid Breaker Outposts: [Link]. ## ## Manly Warrior Thank you for your hard work! m(_ _)m Starting with Ample Chest, the Age of Expansion has come! (^o^)/ ## ## Big Hammer That sounds wrong¡­ (£­??) Sure, it wasn''t Great Bosoms, but come on!!! ## ## Newbie Charisma build Thanks for the map! The in-game one doesn''t have markers for player-built settlements, sadly. If only there was some player-made resource detailing the new towns that Sateri-chan could use to update the official map. *Wink wink* (^_-)-¡î ## ## Silver Merchant A bit regrettable that we all use [Recall] for long-distance travels nowadays. I would love to see the trade routes created by movements of goods between towns, especially when they are already specializing their products! ## ## JigglingPouch Some NPCs mentioned restoration of trades, so a future patch adding intercity interactions or quests is probably on the roadmap. @CuteIsJustice: Mind if we put your map on our walls? Players will most likely appreciate it. ## ## CuteIsJustice It''s all free to use! I''ll accept donations in terms of lap pillow though! Just kidding~! ## ## JigglingPouch Sent you a PM. ## ## Heaven Piercer ¦²(©b§Õ©b;) Seriously?! ## ## Mage of Sin Get a room, you two! (^_^;) ## ------ --- Topic: PK War Room --- ## The Dark Knife Thread for PKers who want to make their name in the world! New players welcome! ## ## SilentKillerX Let us bring chaos to an obsolete order which only exists because some players started first! ©c(`§¥¡ä)? ## ## Final Striker OH!!! (`?¦Ø?¡ä) ## ¡­ ## Final Striker Weird. Is the physics system bugged? I stabbed someone in the neck and they were pissed instead of dead. A level 1 player can pwn a maxed player in one hit by playing correctly right? ## ## Teabag Master You need a sharper blade. (£þ©`£þ) ## ## Mage of Sin And this game does not feature locational damage. That scenario did happen though (^_^;) ## ¡­ ## The Dark Knife Word around town is that Phoenix Ashes is struggling to defend against our constant assaults. Keep up the good fight guys! ## ## UnseenMurdererY Can confirm. They brought in a tiny girl who smashed my head in with the guildmaster as reinforcement. [Pic]. I''m dead btw. My brethren, beware and avenge me! ## ## Teabag Master You need a few more guilds to deal with that one. (£þ©`£þ) ## ## UnseenMurdererY You mean players right? ## ## Serious Mage Go home @Teabag Master, you are a pacifist. (~_~;) That girl can kill everyone in Phoenix Ashes by herself. A few guilds are not going to cut it. ## ## Deeply Intelligent Can confirm. I''m more worried for the town now that she''s there. Signed, totally not a random Phoenix Ashes player lurking to see what you maniacs are up to. ## ## SilentKillerX Can confirm. Source: Am @UnseenMurdererY''s brother. Also dead. (>_<) ## ------ Chapter 83: Safe zone Because of various reasons, Shadyna is now touring a slave market! I really should have looked into the town before visiting. What else are you going to call a place specialized in trading NPCs (and pets)? A recruitment office? It''s even called "The Ranch" to boot! Do you guys not have a PR department or something?! _ Corpse player: We originally intended to call it "The Camp" by the way, since we would be trading [Soul Core] in addition to [Summon Stone]. Then a player who is a history major explained to us why naming a gathering of humans or humanoids anything with the word "camp" in it a very bad idea¡­ To spare you the details, we settled with "The Ranch" many hours later. I wonder if they will ever realize that calling it a livestock farm is no good either¡­? _ Corpse player: The center is a marketplace for you to outfit your new companions with the latest standard gears. For the actual potential companions, you can visit the barns to your left for normal pets, or the inn complex to your right for NPCs. _ Shadyna: Woa~~~ So those are for NPCs instead of players? Rather than the occasional inns on the street, every building on my right side is a big three-story inn sporting dozens of rooms just on the street-facing side alone. Many people come and go from the main entrances, with a good portion of them having the so-called "NPC Line" on their neck. It really does feel like a town for NPCs, if one can ignore the buying and selling of said NPCs that is~ _ Corpse player: Indeed. The merchant players may have their own rooms, but the majority of living space here is occupied by non-players. _ Magni: Excuse me, wouldn''t it be more efficient to use small tents for them? Tents are cheaper, and open ones allow a quick view of NPCs without visiting them one by one. ¡­Yup, that sounds like what a slaver would say alright. _ Corpse player: True, and that''s exactly what we went for in the beginning, hence "The Camp". Well, it only lasted for a few days though. _ Magni: Did something happen? _ Corpse player: The PKers attacked in large numbers and completely caught us by surprise¡­ Many NPCs were killed as a result. A surprise attack killing civilians? That is indeed a tragedy, but¡­ _ Magni: You could just revive them with [Resurrection]? _ Corpse player: Obviously. We did that as soon as the attackers were repelled. Yup, that. As long as the [Soul Core] remains in the inventory, NPCs'' deaths are a mild inconvenience at most. Heck, the only time NPCs can be in actual danger is because they aren''t from [Soul Core], like my daughter Aenilie! Coincidentally, because reviving NPCs is so easy, some people at school were saying that the fastest way to do escort or healing quests is to kill the NPC in question and bring them back to life. Annoying jerks blabbering the whole way? Enjoy staying dead until the destination! Suffering grave injuries? [Blessed Resurrection] the grave! Mysterious disease? [Masterwork] miracle-medicine-level amulet~! Students are brutal, I''m telling you¡­ And our teacher who overheard the conversation then applauded them for the creative solution was definitely NOT helping! At least do your job during work hours, darn it~! _ Corpse player: Even the tents had [Blueprint], so all we lost was time cleaning up really. Some of them were traumatized though. ¡­Can NPCs even get traumatized? They barely managed to say Sateri''s name during our repeated interactions back when I was looking for the extremely well-hidden Goddess. Or was that the players? Thinking hard thinking hard~ _ Corpse player: The players, that is. WHY?! _ Corpse player: Can''t blame them. We handpicked the NPCs so it''s normal for some of us to get a bit more attached than we should be. Remind me why you guys are still doing this whole virtual slave market thingy again? _ Corpse player: As a result, we got a new dedicated anti-PK party. Their summons are the killed NPCs by the way. ¡­The killed romance option has had enough of the edgy protagonist and decided to do the avenging herself! Revenge plots sure are wild these days~ _ Corpse player: Other players are not as extreme but also pooled quite an amount of funding for arming said NPCs. I don''t think the attackers that day ever came back or even seen in Tyrel since that party began their hunt, so I suppose they are good at their job at least¡­ Makes one wonder just what the NPCs were like to be supported so much by a whole guild. Then again, if you guys love them so much, don''t sell them to begin with!!! _ Corpse player: But enough about history. Anywhere would you like to visit first? _ Shadyna: Hmm¡­ The places which get attacked the most please! _ Corpse player: That would be our new guildhall over there. We probably will be attacked on the way so¡­ please go easy on them, okay? Weird way to say "be careful", but let''s not think too much about it, un. Half a minute later¡­ Magni is now banned from [Glacial Star Strike] in towns indefinitely! Three dead assailants and a dozen just-as-dead neutral players aside, who do you think has to fix that smoking crater your meteor just created?! No, wanting to share with others the joy of getting a meteor in the face is NOT an excuse! You were in the nuke party back then! You know, the last party to get meteor-ed in the first place! Meanwhile, Cenny is shielding me from harm¡­ with her body. You have two shields! Use those like actual shields instead of improvised throwing weapons! There is a time and place for the side romance option to die tragically protecting the useless hero because the main one has no chance otherwise, but if you keep taking arrows after arrows and still can''t die despite turning into a porcupine, people will start calling the plot unrealistic! _ Corpse player: Does everyone in have access to that meteor? _ Shadyna: Only and ''s party, and some others who got the skill scrolls from "that" boss¡­ Wait, don''t tell me¡­ _ Corpse player: Yeah, this is the second time a meteor drops on us. I gave those two a similar tour the other day. ¡­Sorry~! That explains why Mister Corpse is guiding me instead of . I thought the guildmaster was busy at first, but now I''m convinced that Mister Corpse is the official tour guide in charge, at least for our guild. Is that because he was the first person in to meet me¡­? And all of it started because he landed near me by pure chance too¡­ "I got blasted into the stratosphere by a unique boss, but I landed into a harem who drop meteors onto my hometown! Coming soon to your nearest bookstore~!" Is probably what would happen if he was a protagonist of a novel, isn''t it~? Unfortunately, he is not, so he will have to settle with only accompanying cute girls of the neighborhood whenever they visit~ ____________ Inside the floating landmass whose existence violated too many laws of physics to count, two waitresses are performing a very important duty. _ Miel: ¡­Can''t we leave this to the builders? Doesn''t mean they are exactly enthusiastic about it though. _ Inerin: You know that we can''t. ''s handcrafted items are not to be handed to outsiders without a contract. We can''t risk having someone sneaking one of these out and build their own floating settlement before ours. They are placing the rest of the floating cores into the hollow space the size of a barn around the first floating brick, which has been removed after the ceremony because it''s not immersive. Just as it was with the artificial sun, having only one source of [Air Cushion] is a safety hazard, so they are going to have an interconnecting network of cores keep this whole island afloat even in the most extreme scenarios. _ Miel: It''s only a hybrid furniture with [Air Cushion]¡­ _ Inerin: One that doesn''t need recharging. Moreover, I still have no idea how that skill is unlocked. Both and wouldn''t say a word! _ Miel: *Shakes head* No idea. _ Inerin: For an E-rank skill, it sure is mysterious. Maybe the unlock condition is something embarrassing? _ Miel: ¡­Like '' Etena? _ Inerin: Right. We never got that out of him, did we? I can understand it not working a second time, but is there any reason to keep it a secret so adamantly? _ Miel: You wouldn''t tell others how you paid for ''s equipment with your body either. _ Inerin: The only person who did that is YOU!!! Even in a hollow cave with barely any light, the waitresses are hard at work today as well. ____________ After a quick visit to the guildhall, it''s kind of obvious why it''s the biggest target for the PKers. That''s because it''s the biggest target, literally. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Being a massive cathedral-like structure which can be seen from all entrances, this place is pretty much the beacon for anyone with an intention to attack. For a new PKer who wants to leave their name in the world, or wanted posters more likely, there''s no better way to deal massive damage to . After all, if the guild can''t protect the symbol of the town and its own headquarters, how can it protect or maintain anything else? It has become so bad, the managers are considering turning the building into a fortress. Since it was built quite tall, a few ramps, some wooden platforms, and replacing some glass windows with embrasures on the walls are all that''s needed. Solo maniacs who built their characters to be those lonesome, cold, and calculating killers in movies generally don''t fare well against guards who actually fight back. In fact, the alliance has already allocated a full PvP party as muscles for this place. And that is in addition to the heavily armed clerks working here. I didn''t have to use anyone as makeshift weapon during the whole visit, so they probably got everything inside under control. _ Corpse player: would like to do something about the constant fighting we are doing though. This guildhall was built with a tranquil holy authority image in mind, supposedly. Is that why it looks like a cathedral? I guess the designers were envisioning a professional-looking setting where players are greeted by a crew of skilled and welcoming clerks, discuss important matters of the day at one of the tables or in a private room, all the while of being surrounded by beautiful artworks made by talented crafters. A high-class establishment befitting '' status as one of the biggest guilds and this settlement''s governing power, simply speaking. ¡­Unfortunately, the current atmosphere inside the guildhall is closer to a tavern brawl in my opinion. A big one at that. And I am not even talking about the two tavern waitresses behind me. Magni, this isn''t the time to sell drinks out of habit. Cenny, stop slapping enemies with your fish tail and telling me that it''s your habit! I''m sure your former guildmates appreciate the help, but can''t you two do it in a less conspicuous way?! _ Corpse player: So, do you think it''s possible to put a stop to these guys? _ Shadyna: Well¡­ At first, I was going to propose a few more of my siege weapons, now dubbed Raid Breaker Engines by the player base by the way, to deal with this problem. Although I made it for the corruption hordes, the instrument of peace treats everyone equally, be it player or monster. They are readily available too, as commissioned a few to repel raids easier. Might be a tad too explosive now that I think about it. That''s probably why they are not using the existing engines against the PKers. Even in a fantasy world, firing explosive stuff at your allies or civilians'' general vicinity is still highly frowned upon after all~ To make matters worse, siege weapons are not suitable for indoors use by design. Sure, nothing stops the users from firing it indoors, though it will most likely be considered outdoors shortly after. The amount of AoE effects added for maximum mob-killing efficiency is just salt to injuries at this point¡­ Well, if the client is allergic to preventive pacifism, I suppose it''s time for the good old curative pacifism. _ Shadyna: From the looks of it, you guys are mostly struggling because your PvPers cannot intervene in time when a PKer reveal themselves, aren''t you? _ Corpse player: I¡­ guess so? I''m not a PvPer so I can''t really say. Figured as much. He was a meat shield when we first met after all~ _ Cenny: Let''s ask a clerk. They should be better informed. Yup! When in doubt, ask the cute girl behind the counter! ¡­ After a long session which is less of me asking questions and more of the clerks ranting endlessly about the hardships they had gone through thanks to these PKers, I''m pretty sure I have learned everything there is about the PKers, as well as the various ways these lovely clerks can strangle murderers and annoying customers to let off steam. may or may not get to experience all of those if the working conditions do not improve soon. Magni, Cenny, I would appreciate if you could stop taking notes and exchange ideas with them. There''s nothing wrong with being studious, but choose a topic that is not killing techniques against your own guildmaster!!! I feel a bit sorry for and co, but I don''t think this place will ever have the atmosphere they wanted. PKers, I can do something about. The murderous crew and annoying customers¡­ Nope, not happening! Back to the problem at hand. There were many inputs from the clerks, but generally boil down to a single cause within my expectation: Response time. guards are a level above your average PKer just as said, so they can do this PvP all day, every day. However, murdering opposition is not all there is to their job. The safety of guests and property is actually higher on the priority list, much to the surprise of the PvP maniacs. On the other hand, the PKers get to choose their target and have the first strike. The dangerous ones focus on basic or cheap offense capability, meaning they can kill their victim before anyone can react, and all they lose when counter-murdered is infiltration time and maintenance cost for their gear. No wonder why they can keep up the assaults without going broke. ¡­Defense missions are tough when the attackers keep coming back to life, aren''t they? _ Shadyna: I can''t increase the PKers'' expenses, though I can help boost the survivability of your guests and NPCs. _ Corpse player: Any help is appreciated really. _ Shadyna: Un, so¡­ do you want a less expensive totem with low maintenance but requires constant supervision, a less expensive totem with some maintenance and supervision, or an expensive totem that only requires recharging periodically? _ Corpse player: ¡­Sorry, you completely lost me there. Welp~ The gist of my grand plan is to use aura-type buffs to increase defense of everyone to slow combats down to a crawl. With my attributes, I can give even the squishiest min-maxing mage enough PDF and MDF to shrug off all non-piercing damage from most players, buying time until the local law enforcers arrive. As the majority of PKers can''t afford to use [Alchemy] consumables every time they die, there''s even a sweet spot in which non-buffed players'' attacks are ineffective while fully buffed PvP parties can still dish out some normal damage. That additional damage will be lethal against PKers who are usually squishy themselves, forgoing defense in exchange for offense and all that. Yes, the PKers will also benefit from that defense buff. That''s the reason why these skills are barely used, let alone considered in chaotic melees like this. And here I am, suggesting them to use it on the whole town, or at least the most critical areas that need defending. How are we going to use a skill on the whole town? We don''t. The only skills which have that kind of AoE are my [Luminous] spells, and nine out of ten players agree that it is probably not a buff skill. The last one is already respawning in Tyrel and can''t provide an answer. We can, however, deploy my siege weapons on a scale never seen before. What the skill lacks in AoE, we compensate with sheer quality. The only limit will be the size of the budget allows! What does this have to do with my three options? Those are the three ways I can craft the siege weapon in question, with pros and cons for each. The first one is a "normal" chair with [Engineering] to autocast the spell similarly to ''s floating chair. It will be enchanted to achieve the desired effect strength, obviously. The mechanism is straightforward, but someone will have to remain seated on it to work. ¡­Yup, that is one cursed chair alright. The second option is a rechargeable enchanted furniture. Instead of a channeling spell like the first option, this one will use a buff spell with effect duration. The poor player in charge won''t need to stand near this one the whole time, though they still need to visit it every few minutes to activate it again. You know, like a protagonist rushing the bathroom after eating the handmade lunchbox containing some unidentified glowing dishes from the heroine. The last one is the same as my good old (now retired) fire shooter or the more recent floating cores, replacing [Air Cushion] with the aura skill of course. The problem with this one, however, is that even I cannot make it fully automated, since the required skill level and MP cost will be too high for the MP regen from [Absorbing Surface]. Putting [Absorbing Surface] into [Enchantment] also means having one fewer stack for the actual skill itself, which results in higher crafting cost for the same effect strength. All in all, it will need to be recharged with materials every once in a while but can be left unattended for a much longer amount of time. Or you can buy a few of them so one can always run between the auto-recharges~ _ Corpse player: Ehm¡­ Just for my own curiosity, how much will one cost? _ Shadyna: The last one will be roughly the same cost as the Raid Breaker Engines around town, since I will need to use high quality materials. _ Corpse player: ¡­Our guild is still grinding to pay those off, even with the amount of loot we get from the edge of the world and corruption raids. ¡­I have a feeling that it was more of Mera and Linny''s negotiations rather than the actual cost of my service, but I probably should keep silent about that. _ Cenny: Costs aside, this plan is¡­ surprisingly pacifist-like. Are you feeling unwell, guildmaster? I''m a pacifist though?! _ Magni: Did you forget to sacrifice innocent maidens today? Do you need a hug? The only reason I would need a hug is because you people treating me like some deranged evil overlord!!! _ Corpse player: Uh¡­ said that he would like a sample of each option and decide later. Is that fine with you? _ Shadyna: No problem~ _ Corpse player: Thank you very much. Since you are doing us a great favor, would you like to try out our various services? Guildmaster just gave you a free trial on everything. _ Shadyna: Un! I haven''t checked how expensive their services are, or what they even entail, but I sure as heck won''t refuse a tribute to materialism~! _ Corpse player: We have support service to grind for pets or do quests for NPCs, though you probably don''t need that. How about our pet skill shops? Even if you don''t want pet evolution, it can always improve by acquiring more skills. ¡­I think Mister Corpse just said something really interesting. _ Shadyna: What''s pet evolution? He stares at me, then looks at my bodyguard with a dubious expression as if questioning what the heck they have been teaching me. Not again~!!! ____________ Meanwhile, in a dark alley, two hooded figures gather¡­ _ Hood #1: ¡­All clear? _ Hood #2: ¡­All clear. You are good to go. _ Hood #1: Heh¡­ Yo yo yo, how''s it going, my dear viewers? Welcome back to the #1 CSF PK stream! Correction: Two hooded weirdoes gather. _ Hood #2: ¡­I imagine people watching a PK stream would be expecting something¡­ different. _ Hood #1: Do your job as the cameraman and leave the actual content to me! Every PKer and their mother use the haughty lonesome cool boy/girl personality these days! A streamer has to be different from the rest to stand a chance! There are so many things the saner hooded player want to bash in that statement, but settles with only a facepalm, if only to just get this over with. _ Hood #1: Today, I''ll be doing a PK tutorial for my fellow and aspiring PKers on how to get your first kill! Pointing to the main road packed with players walking around, the hooded weirdo continues his explanation. In general chat. _ Hood #1: A busy town is your best hunting environment, so here I am at Ample Chest. The guards will be stretched thin, and you can easily escape into the crowd after the deed. Easy mode, this place is! He scans the area for potential targets for a short while before stopping at an eye-catching couple talking at a forge just across the street. _ Hood #1: See those two over there? The ones in waitress outfits. Only roleplayers would wear something like that, and those nerds SUCK at the game! Out of nowhere, the poor cameraman feels something akin to a bone-chilling glare for a split second, as if someone was giving a "Don''t even think about it" warning. The thick-skinned idiot who can''t read the mood is still going without a care however. _ Hood #1: For you newbies out there, you may want to pick the weaker target. It''s fine if you pick wrong too, for this is a game where a beginner can PK a max level just by playing it right! See the one on the right? She is using a staff, which means she is a nerdy mage who dies in one hit! That''s how you identify weak targets, because this game has soooooo many nerds wearing all kinds of weird attires! Says a suspicious hooded maniac pointing at people from a dimly lit corner. _ Hood #1: If you are not confident, don''t be afraid to wait for a good chance. See? They are linking arms. That means they won''t be able to react quickly when attacked. This is the perfect chance to strike, and strike I shall! Brandishing his dagger, the hooded assassin quickly makes his way through the crowd, then swings towards his target with a roaring battle cry. _ Hood #1: Die, you normies!!! Truly rallying words of courage and heroism with a tiny mix of personal grudge there. *THWACK* _ Hood #1: BUWAH?! His death was quick and painless. ¡­Maybe not painless, but it certainly was quick. --- Topic: Multi NPC skill? --- ## Newbie Charisma build Is there a skill similar to Multi-summon Control, but for NPC? I looked around the market but couldn''t find anything that could be it. ## ## Flame knight of Darkness Expanding the harem, aren''t ya? ?(?¥î??) ## ## Heaven Piercer Who wouldn''t? (¨R?¨Q) ## ## Newbie Charisma build That''s not it! (? ???¦Ø??? ?) I mean, yes, but I''m genuinely trying to expand the party to increase my fighting strength! ## ## Nearseeing Sage There''s no such skill. The NPC limit formula is still unknown to us right now, but we know that it depends on your LDR. The higher your LDR is, the more NPCs you can have in your party. The LDR "cost" for each NPC seems to be different based on some factors, but the rule of thumb is "better" NPCs (appearance, personality, starting level, skills) are more expensive. In short, just summon all of your Heart Cores and see how many you can keep active. \(^o^)/ ## ## Manly Warrior I see ¦Õ(._.). So even though it''s not shown in Inspect, the NPCs are also ranked in rarity. S-rank NPCs must be absolutely terrifying then. ## ## Newbie Charisma build Many thanks <(_ _)> WTB cute SG-rank NPC! (*¡ã?¡ã)=3 ## ------ Chapter 84: Evolution, mutation, natural selection Biologist Shadyna, working hard to unveil the secrets to the ultimate life form! Is not what a biologist does or how biology even works, but apparently no one cares because it''s a fantasy world~! _ Pet expert #1: What the heck is this!!! Gelly. Race: Jelleaf. Edible, because Sateri is a psycho~ _ Pet expert #2: How do you even get these evolutions?! I was hoping YOU would tell me though?! _ Pet expert #3: Squish squish~ Pretty sure you don''t need to do that to [Inspect]! _ Pet expert #4: So cute~! I want to bring her home! That''s not even Gelly! Let go of Lutena you maniac~~~! Due to criminal negligence totally on my guild''s part, I wasn''t aware that pets could evolve into stronger races until now. And since I am already in the best summoner town with a few coupons from , I accepted Mister Corpse''s advice to use the evolution guidance service in the pet shops in order to figure out the best evolution paths for my pets here. ¡­I didn''t expect the shopkeepers to freak out THIS much though. Apparently, aside from the actual evolution "quest" one must do to evolve the pet, you must first unlock the evolution itself. That prerequisite usually involves achieving one or more milestones like level, skills, titles. In a way, it was not that different from the profession system, except more useful. A~nyway, after fulfilling the prerequisite, you can see the evolution conditions by using high-level [Inspect]. The prerequisites are fixed whereas the "quests" vary between individuals, so players will usually look the former up on the board then visit a shop like this to have the experts advise on the latter. Jelleaf, despite their rarity (and uselessness), are actually quite popular as pets thanks to someone totally, absolutely unrelated to me causing troubles with one. As a result, this shop is not unfamiliar with these immobile blobs of cuteness, and well-versed in pretty much all of the common evolution paths known to the player base. Yes, there are multiple evolution paths for each pet, just like players having multiple professions they can choose from. When put that way, it is not that surprising to see Gelly having some¡­ additional evolution paths it can take. After all, we are talking about the cute blob who dealt more damage in a single battle than some players in their entire playtime, actively participated in two unique boss raids, achieved space exploration, and most importantly, has a very cute master~! _ Magni: That''s not it. _ Cenny: *Nods* Not it. Sad cry~ _ Pet expert #1: As top summoners, we must always pursue new knowledge, lest ourselves be left behind in the ever-changing meta! Let us DISSECT¡­ I mean STUDY this specimen and uncover its secrets, in the same of SCIENCE! Magni and Cenny promptly "escort" the mad scientist out of the room before I could help him discover the maximum speed one can drop dead from negative HP regen. What the heck was that all about¡­? _ Corpse player: Sorry, we pride ourselves in being the best when it comes to summoning playstyles. Some may take it a bit too seriously. Sounds like quite an understatement if you ask me. _ Pet expert #2: Please, O Great Sprout Lady, teach us what one must do to be one step closer to your greatness! Stop it. I already have a guild full of muscleheads worshipping me and calling me Lady. I don''t need another one kneeling before me, or worse, my pets! _ Corpse player: This is the third time already! Do you want all of us to be burnt alive again?! ¡­I guess the other two happenstances would be Elri and my apprentices? doesn''t show off Yassyl outside of combat much as far as I can tell. And Mister Corpse, the way you tell them off is totally out! I am a pacifist, dammit~! ¡­ After a lot of [Inspect], discussing, theory crafting, and most importantly, Su sending us a mail detailing everything we need because she was actually inspecting my pets every day (silently), we now have a rough understanding of all the available options for Gelly''s upcoming ascension~! I will also have a lo~ng talk with Su about consents and whatnot later. That darn degenerate elf~!!! Anyway, the evolution paths~! [Elder Jelleaf: A Jelleaf that has survived the harsh world far longer than its fellow Jelleaf. A rare plant-type form that is a step up from Jelleaf in every way. Edible. Experts'' opinion: It''s just a slightly bigger Jelleaf with "Elder" added to the name and some stats boosts. It''s also the weakest path.] [Great Jelleaf: A Jelleaf that not only survived, but thrived in its environment. A rare plant-type form resembling Jelleaf, but is actually a more powerful race that can compete against predators instead of hiding from them. Edible. Experts'' opinion: Much better stats than Elder Jelleaf, and it is big enough to be used as a mount! This path requires getting to level 20 however, so not many possess the patience to grind such a weak creature to that point.] The first few evolution paths are not exactly evolution in the sense that gamers are used to. They are pretty much still the same pet with stronger stats and maybe some appearance modifications. Not advised for weak pets like Jelleaf, as they are not exactly much better post-evolution in these paths. A big Gelly that I can ride on sure is tempting though! ¡­ [Jelria: A new race branching from Jelleaf to better compete in its environment. It can harden parts of its body at will, allowing much better physical offense and defense compared to its previous form. Edible. Experts'' opinion: Now we are talking! This physical-oriented path makes it actually viable to use Jelleaf as a combatant. More spikes on top of its head too. So cool!] [Jelshia: A new race branching from Jelleaf to better compete in its environment. It can cast magic from its leaves even if the main body is underground, allowing much better magical offense and defense compared to its previous form. Edible. Experts'' opinion: This is the magical-oriented path. Its ability to cast spell while buried is good for ambushes. Its leaves are sparkling by the way! So cute!] Up next are evolution paths which have actually significant changes, be it in stats or role specialization. Summoners can expect a lot of work to accommodate the new playstyles that come with them, after the work put into unlocking these generally expensive evolutions that is. ¡­ [Avitus Jellicola (Purity): An ascension form of Jelleaf by absorbing the essences of an Avitus Caelicola. A two-faced being blessed with divine power and ability to switch between offense and defense at will. Edible. Experts'' opinion: Judging from the black and white flowers on its head, this is most likely a reward from defeating the mask-face Avitus Caelicola. Because did not get one from defeating Schennul and there is no path for the other Avitus Caelicola, the unlock conditions must be more demanding than just participating in the battle.] [Intus Jelmersa: A new race of Jelleaf that emerged from the aftermath of a bloody battle. Its light weight and powerful bounces make it a very agile flanker or throwing weapon. Can also hold its own using various offensive capabilities. Edible. Experts'' opinion: We heard about this from , but what the heck did you do to get a new evolution path out of a single battle by throwing your pet?! Throwing specialization is a first too. Are the four leaves on its head supposed to spin like helicopter blades?] [Anis Jellare: A new race of Jelleaf that emerged from the harsh environment of the void. A powerful magical attacker that explores and adapts to the new environment before its competitors. It traverses using flight instead of jumps with its new wings. Edible. Experts'' opinion: It can survive the void?! How do you even stay in that death trap for any extended period of time, let alone evolve?!] [Mor Jelcilla: An ascension form of Jelleaf granted by the embodiment of death and destruction. It adopts a half-humanoid form to better serve its tamer. Loyal and fearless, the all-rounder servant will stop at nothing to complete its mission. Edible. Experts'' opinion: All-rounder usually means weaker stats overall. However, humanoid form may indicate a higher number of equipment slots. Is it possible to learn this power to unlock humanoid evolutions? We can''t learn that from apparently.] And last but not least, the weird evolution paths that can only be described as Sateri''s various attempts to turn my pet into a last boss. Stop slandering my cute wriggling blob out of jealousy, you beautiful psycho Goddess~! It somehow remains edible no matter the evolution by the way. Yes, even the half-humanoid path. Is this species cursed with tastiness or something¡­? In a way, it''s both amazing and terrifying at the same time. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. _ Magni: We don''t use this one because its material level is too low, but we do use plant-type monster meat in place of vegetables to save costs. Leader forbids us from using plant meat in vegan meals however¡­ You girls would be on a tour to apologize to all the vegans in the world if you did that, just saying¡­ I never thought about the price of vegetables in this virtual economy to be honest. Guess this is what happens when the majority of manpower are professional marauders rather than farmers huh? The corruption raid rendering nearly all land uninhabitable just pushes the price up further. All in all, I suppose it''s much easier to grind materials from monsters than the monotonous foraging and [Farming]. That is about to change soon however. We have reclaimed a good chunk of land with our expansion effort, so the more peaceful players will have a base where they can [Recall] to after a raid, and more importantly, affordable agriculture land to do [Farming] on. As a pacifist who loves nothing more than an uneventful, steady virtual life with my wives, I truly am happy for those farmers¡­ and the land tax portion they would have to pay me. There''s no need to resort to violence when I can accumulate wealth by doing nothing. Commence typical evil ruler laugh~ _ Cenny: The face of someone looking forward to a Jelleaf hotpot¡­ How the heck did you come to that conclusion?! ¡­ Now then, how am I going to choose between these (probably) OP options? Anything already known to the experts here is out, obviously. At least one of the experts preemptively offered me additional Jelleaf in case I want those common evolutions. They really are desperate to see the new paths, aren''t they¡­? Let''s not say anything about Gelly''s unique stuff like [Against All Odds] or [Tamed Beast Origin], un. I won''t ever hear the end of these maniacs'' pleads to study its (and my) dark history. No thanks to that! That leaves me with the last four unique evolutions. We can''t view their post-evolution stats and skills, but I have no doubt that each will be powerful one way or another. It''s Sateri''s handmade designs after all~ In that case, ma~ybe I can get away with choosing purely based on looks? _ Magni: Owner, please take this seriously. This is a matter of life and death. I''m pretty sure it''s not!? Shouldn''t you have informed me if it was so important instead of waiting for me to come across it by pure chance?! _ Cenny: For us, that is. It''s MY pet though?! _ Magni & Cenny: That''s why¡­ _ Magni: You should pick Anis Jellare. _ Cenny: You must choose Intus Jelmersa. ¡­ Taking it seriously my cute butt. You girls are just telling me your preferences!!! Wait, why are you glaring as if the other had just insulted your ancestors? I would love to say "Please don''t fight because of me~!", but I have a feeling I would be dragged into something troublesome, and pointless, and troublesome. It''s going to be sooooo troublesome, I had to say it twice! _ Magni: Cenny, you should read the patch notes sometimes. cannot throw Gelly to mask her thinly veiled violent nature anymore, and that happened many patches ago. _ Cenny: Magni, you are talking a lot about meta for someone who doesn''t know the meta. If you had bothered to watch the no-damage challenge footage, you would have known that the only use has for a mage is healing duty. There are so many sparks flying between them, they have become a fire hazard! So are the snarky insults, but for some reason I feel like I am caught in the crossfire as well?! _ Magni: I see. It appears that we have reached an impasse. At least pretend to try talking to each other before saying that! _ Cenny: Uhm¡­ Lovers quarrels are forbidden. How about we settle this with a competition instead? A-are you seriously calling it a lover quarrel with a straight face like a hero facing an overlord in the ultimate battle? One that challenges the overlord to some niche sport game just to gain an edge at that. _ Magni: You''re on. Whoever kills more PKer out there in one hour wins. ¡­Well, blood sports certainly can be considered niche. In addition, Magni will have an advantage by being a mage possessing ranged and AoE attacks. Fair fights are for losers, am I right~? _ Cenny: Minus point for civilian killed by friendly fire. Oh~ By turning it into an escort mission, Cenny would negate Magni''s advantage in AoE, and add her own advantage from her defense-oriented playstyle at the same time! I wonder if I should begin explaining all of that out loud in a dramatic voice while making a funny surprised face? That''s how it usually goes in sport-related plots right? _ Magni: Kuh¡­ Sly little fish you are. Fine. My victory is still inevitable though. _ Cenny: ¡­I wouldn''t be so sure about that. Let us begin. Spouting clich¨¦ lines which can only be heard in a dramatic final match, the two rush out of the shop. Judging from the explosions that follow suit, I now have some doubt whether either of them will get a positive score by the end¡­ Whose bright idea was it to make these gorgeous genocidal maniacs my bodyguards again? _ Corpse player: Uh¡­ We would appreciate if you could make a decision before those two reduce this town to a pile of rubble. I don¡¯t mind, but you probably should file complaints directly to them instead of me. What do you mean, I am the guildmaster and therefore responsible for their actions?! Well, it''s fine as long as I choose one right? Let''s see¡­ Avitus Jellicola is a black/white blob with a glowing black leaf on one side and white leaf on the other. Considering its distant cousin Yassyl, I''m confident that it can change color and skillset using a transformation skill. I kind of want to pick this one just for the compatibility with my outfits'' color palette alone~ Cenny''s choice, Intus Jelmersa, resembles a shuttlecock used in badminton. This form is almost spherical in shape, with multiple protruding leaves that are proportionally much bigger than any other paths. I suppose it is supposed to be more aerial dynamic? If Sateri hadn''t banned me from throwing Gelly, I would love to craft a racket and do another no-damage challenge for my badminton career debut~ On the other side, there''s Anis Jellare, Magni''s preference. This one is best described as a starry dark blue Jelleaf, with wings. I don''t think biology works like that, but it''s cool so I''ll let that slide! I wonder if it''s possible to grab Gelly and fly without [Friendship Engine] in this path~? The last option, Mor Jelcilla, is what the degenerate patrons in the cafeteria would call a "slime girl" or "plant girl", depending on which part draws their attention more. The main wriggling blob is still there, now in dark purple color with half a human body made of the same semi-transparent material on top, which sprouts from the surrounding big leaves. Her outfit seems to be a heavily armored dress inspired by the tavern waitress outfit. Really giving off the atmosphere of a high-class servant for an evil villainess there, this path¡­ Before anyone asks, yes, I am judging purely based on appearances. As much as I want to put the stats and skills and playstyles into consideration, there''s really not much to go on with just vague descriptions from [Inspect]. More importantly, I do not dare ask the experts because they are also fighting each other over which form to recommend to me! Dear customers, reprimand the useless shopkeepers for neglecting their job instead of joining in the "discussion"! Capable guards of , stop the two outside instead of barging in here to question me and participating in the civil war! _ Corpse player: ¡­It''s now in our guild chat. The whole guild is coming to settle this once and for all. You are NOT helping!!! Screw the meta at this point! I''ll just pick the cutest! _ Shadyna: Everyone, stop! I choose Mor Jelcilla! Other forms are all cute one way or another, but having a cute plant girl is double the cuteness! You can never have too much cuteness, end of discussion! _ Everyone: YOU BE QUIET! My opinion doesn''t matter at all to these maniacs!!! ¡­ The ensuing "debate" turned into a full-blown war that lasted for three whole days after that. It involved not only summoners, but also players wanting to prove the superiority of their playstyles. By the time I finished a makeshift debuff totem to prevent the complete destruction of the town, there were at least eight major factions engaging in the melee based on the incoherent screams in the chat. This player base gets agitated by the weirdest reasons, I''m telling you¡­ Thanks to the totem doing exactly as advertised, the damage to surrounding buildings was minimal. One would think the murderous maniacs would stop once they realized that their damage was non-existent, but nope~. They decided that my debuff was a challenge for them to prove their (playstyle''s) worth, and escalated even further! In the end, I figured that there was nothing I could do to stop them, not without turning on [Solar Radiance] and killing everyone at least, so I left for the edge of the world to do the evolution quest. Since it was a corpse-gathering task, I quickly burnt a good portion of the ecosystem there and evolved Gelly while the war was still raging on across the world and board. No, I refuse to say anything about Gelly requiring a mountain worth of corpses to evolve. This cute pacifist won''t be pushed around by Sateri''s online bullying~! On an unrelated note, Magni and Cenny were scolded and got their salary docked for causing a lot of infrastructure (and collateral) damage during their rampage on the other side of town. The competition result? Disqualified by having negative score, both of them. Sigh~ ____________ were patrolling the streets of Ample Chest when they received news of an(other) attack in the central market. Being the guardians of justice, protectors of newbies (don''t mind the grumpy assassin), and most importantly, part-timers for , they quickly [Recall] to subdue the PKers. Upon arriving at the crime scene, they immediately found the dead body. ¡­They didn''t expect it to be the PKer''s though. _ Maximus: ¡­Oi, , Merashiel. What the heck happened here? In front of them is the surreal scene of two crazy women taking turns beating the dead corpse, with their [Artifact]-grade weapons, repeatedly. _ Hessenria: This maniac attacked us unprovoked while we were shopping. _ Tippe: Unforgivable! _ Merashiel: I know right~? And I was so~ looking forward to enjoying our date too~ _ Tippe: Absolutely unforgivable!!! The smiling maniac sure is enjoying herself though. _ (Dead?) PKer: I''m sorry! I will not PK anyone again! I promise!!! _ Merashiel: E~h~? You wanted to cause pain and suffering, did you not? That''s why~ We will teach you a lesson¡­ on how to do it properly~ _ (Dead?) PKer: Somebody help meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! It''s a miracle, or a curse, that the criminal''s corpse has not disintegrated from the constant assaults, is what most witnessing players are thinking, probably. To the experts of the game, however, there is no such thing as miracles. With a quick [Inspect], players have figured it out. The shining staff in Merashiel''s hands is enchanted with [Resurrection]. In other words, the idiotic PKer there is being revived by the crazy healer, and then killed the next moment by the lead waitress. Over and over again. _ Ignar: *Sighs* Don''t bully the new guys too much, okay? _ Merashiel: Understood~ _ (Dead?) PKer: Somebodyyyyyyyyyy!!! Despite the questionable value for educational purpose, the PK stream was well-received by the community afterwards. --- Topic: PK War Room --- ¡­ ## The Dark Knife The Ranch is in total chaos! I don''t know what you guys did while I was offline, but we did it! (¨R¥í¨Q) ## ## UnseenMurdererY We didn''t do anything though¡­? EDIT: Just went back there. What the heck happened?! ## ## StoneHoarder You guys made Torenis bring "her" to the branch, so it''s your fault. (¨p ?_?) By the way, between one strong summon and multiple weak summons, which do you think is better? ## ## The Dark Knife I don''t feel happy one bit when you put it that way¡­ (*£þm£þ) ## ## SilentKillerX Considering how defense works in this game (I was learning!), wouldn''t a single strong summon have an overwhelming advantage? ## ## StoneHoarder (££?§¥?) @SilentKillerX: Come to The Ranch. I''ll show you how REAL players PK around here. ## ## SilentKillerX Wait, why?! ## ------ --- Topic: Strongest playstyle? --- ## Shining Knight As thread name. Just curious since people were talking a lot about playstyles today. ## ## Deeply Intelligent "Talking" is a bit of an understatement. We are literally killing each other over here. Numerical and firepower superiority is the way, obviously. ## ## Fire mage of Justice You guys want to start ANOTHER flame war here as well?! §ë(?§¥?§ë) ## ## Bountiful Hunter Money for the best equipment, obviously. Without good equipment, you''ll end up like this [Link] ## ## GoldBar9999 How envious! (¡ä¨Œ`) Money buys good allies too. You can''t go wrong with having more money. ## ## Nearseeing Sage True answer: The playstyle that allows a single player to compensate for the whole Phoenix Ashes who pulled back to do this *BEEP* bickering! ©c(`§¥¡ä)? ## ## Mage of Sin I''m too scared to ask what is going on at the edge of the world at this point (£þ¡õ£þ;) ## ------ Chapter 85: Medieval logistic To ensure the villagers'' happiness, elder Shadyna will embark on a journey! Wait, no! I am not old~! _ Elri: Don''t daydream too long. There''s a lot to move. Even though she is so good-looking, my elven mentor does not understand a young girl''s delicate heart at all~ _ Miel: So this is the infamous hive of debauchery I have heard about¡­ _ Elri: That would be your workplace!!! This is my private house! _ Miel: The infamous hive of debauchery where no one can interfere¡­ _ Elri: Is the darn upper floors you girls built! Maybe I should clean up the cafeteria''s reputation before starting this journey, just saying¡­ A~nyway, our main objective today is to acquire the furniture for our new settlement. As the leader of our new floating village, I can''t have my villagers (guild members) stay in an empty house, can I? A well-stocked kitchen, a tidy bedroom, and a clean bathroom are all essential to a happy and easygoing lifestyle in the virtual world! It would be a waste to throw away our existing facilities however, namely our private houses and the cafeteria''s top floor where we placed enough beds for the whole guild to sleep together at the same time. That''s why we are going to collect any usable furniture before selling the houses we don''t need anymore. Coincidentally, we are going to convert said top floor to a new office for non-[Cooking] services. It''s time we got one to keep up with the increasing number of services we provide. That, and it would help dispelling the rumors about the top floor being a weapon research center, according to Hessy. Look here you paranoid weirdoes, just because the tavern waitresses are all weapons of mass destruction doesn''t mean we are developing another one in the attic! If I for some inexplicable reason needed to, I would make it in a basement where it wouldn''t stand out in the first place! _ Elri: By the way, , are you not doing the Raid Breaker today? Before anyone asks, no, I am not breaking any raid. Others do. It''s the official name for our newest support service. When requested, I visit the nearest village under attack by the wandering horde and buff some parties so they can fight off the raid better. Local defenders with my siege engines can keep the horde at bay during day time, so this was intended to be an infrequent side gig for me to get some coins and skill experience while helping the weaker guilds catch up to the lategame meta. Easy enough, right? It was, in fact, not easy. Despite the high cost, it became quite obvious that the loot and experience would be more than worth it, many times over. Words spread like wildfire and everyone started placing their orders the moment they grinded enough to pay. The waiting list became so long, I had to limit it to only one request per day, or I would be stuck casting support spells for the rest of my virtual life! There''s also growing so sick of sorting out the trash drops after each raid, they told us to rent out the Raid Breaker Engines and split the profits. Now all of the participants are bloodthirsty marauders hell-bent on killing everything in their sight to make the most out of their investment! Needless to say, the hordes never stood a chance. The current meta is to wipe the horde in 15 minutes so that they only have to pay for my magic buffs once. Although I''m happy to have more time doing what I want, my tribute to materialism decreased as a result! Well, it works out in the end, for the most parts. The small guilds get a massive power-up, the market doesn''t collapse from raid farming 24/7, I get some stipends, and most importantly, all of us do not have to worry about the raid breaking stuff until it respawns! ¡­The dark legions that once doomed civilization has been downgraded to a daily chore. Oof~ _ Shadyna: *Shakes head* Hessy said we wouldn''t do Raid Breaker on patch days. She said something about balance, supply and demand, and other complicated meta things in her explanations. The topics were beyond this young half-elf me though~ _ Miel: Balance patches can change how the raid works. We handle the raid ourselves on patch days to adjust the price accordingly. It''s about the money?! _ Elri: Is that so¡­ I wasn''t informed of that. _ Miel: Your first shift will be next week''s patch. _ Elri: I wasn''t informed of that though?! How to know if you are getting along with other guild members: Get assigned for duties like it''s natural! _ Miel: You shouldn''t mind little details. _ Elri: That''s not little¡­ Speaking of which, the raid was mentioned in today''s patch, wasn''t it? _ Miel: Yes. That is why I said my goodbyes to the party before they left. _ Elri: Don''t kill off your colleagues like that! Death flags aside, I''m pretty sure even our squishiest members can''t be one-hit by anything short of a unique boss. They can always [Recall] if that somehow happens anyway. _ Shadyna: I''m sure they will be fine~ The new logistic features are more concerning in my opinion. Similar to the raid changes, logistics is the other one in today''s patch notes. As a crafting (?) guild, this may affect our whole supply chain more than anything else. That being said, I didn''t hear screeching screams of agony in world chat upon login. Whatever the changes are, they probably are not that impactful. Most of us go on with our work for the new village as normal, while the girls working the counter are figuring out the actual changes. _ Elri: Right¡­ Moving furniture is also logistics, isn''t it? _ Miel: We can always put everything into ''s inventory as a last resort. What am I, your pickup wagon?! ¡­ An hour later, my inventory is filled with wardrobes, tables, beds, and other furniture that normal people would consider leaving behind or hauling to this game''s equivalent of a horse-drawn carriage. Forget about being last, my inventory was used as the first resort! _ Elri: Only the basement left. , is it safe to enter? ¡­Why is that even a question? This is YOUR house on paper you know? _ Elri: Drop that dubious look. I gave you full rein in the basement so that you can perform whatever experiment you want, remember? It''s been a while since I last entered and I don''t know if you have something which can trigger a [Luminous Firestorm] lying around on the floor. _ Shadyna: How rude~! Even I wouldn''t do something like that! _ Elri: Oh? _ Shadyna: If I accidentally blow up the basement, the items in containers will go into my inventory and I will be crushed to death by the weight! _ Elri: ¡­You have a point. Well duh~ Ignoring our casual discussion about workplace safety, barges through the door without the slightest hesitation. Elri should learn from her. That is what trust in my pacifism should look like! _ Elri: That''s one irritating smug face. _ Shadyna: Ehehe~ From the door, the stoic waitress pokes back out again. _ Miel: , I couldn''t find it. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. _ Shadyna: Hm? Find what? _ Miel: Your *BEEP* stash. ¡­Da heck? *BONK* _ Miel: Ow. _ Elri: This is an all-age game, you depraved maniac!!! _ Shadyna: , paper magazines are not immersive. _ Elri: Why is that part the problem?! Well, even if I were to store immersive indecent books that somehow bypassed Sateri''s filters, I would put them in a container first and foremost. Not that I have any in this game, mind you. ¡­ Contrary to other rooms, the basement is used as my personal research center, so there''s not much furniture to speak of. Although we will go through everything just to be sure, I doubt we will use anything here to furnish our new home. _ Elri: , what''s this [Fortified home of the fireflies]? ¡­That''s not furniture. _ Shadyna: It''s just something I picked up at Schennul''s place~ _ Elri: The first Magnus Bestia? ¡­Got it. Hey, Elri, why are you making that expression of someone who has too many questions to ask but decides that it''s best to stay silent~? This cute pacifist would never harm someone for asking a question you know? _ Miel: *Fake gasps* This is¡­! That surprise gasp was so fake, I have a nagging feeling that she''s trying to troll me instead of pretending to be surprised out of consideration! _ Elri: You know what it is? _ Miel: I wasn''t there that day, but it was big news for us in guild chat. Because the strongest boss ever seen in the game was protecting it, many of us were dying to know what secrets it held. Knowing how they were faring against Schennul during our visit, I have a feeling meant that in a literal sense¡­ Makes me almost feel sorry for snatching (some of) the loots, but only almost. _ Miel: There were many speculations on the board after its disappearance. The prominent theories are turning it into the lantern, or Lutena, or her breakfast the day after. Who the heck came up with that last one?! Sure, I did make candies from literal rocks, but that doesn''t mean my entire diet is only rocks. The nutrition would be totally out of balance, and I would actually gain weight from all that stony stuff in my stomach! _ Elri: Whatever you are thinking, it is completely off the mark. How mean~ I''m sure anyone would gain weight by eating rocks~! After that, I brought the [Fortified home of the fireflies] as well as [Celestial Divine Plate (Tenri Yassel Artifact)] pieces to the teahouse, where Su and co were dissec¡­ examining Gelly''s new form. Although I feel a bit bad to have them work their rears off again to evaluate my assets, they did volunteer for it. That, and I didn''t get much of a power-up from their last attempt. The only advice Su and gave me was using [Devotion] on Lutena to empower her skills with my attributes. It did solve Lutena''s biggest issue of having more powerful yet practically weaker skills due to differences in our attributes, but couldn''t they have done so without making me go through the training hell that was Sateri''s no-damage challenge?! I don''t blame them though. There was no guarantee that they could innovate everything I had at hand. Even if it has changed many times, my main combat tactics is still pretty much the simplistic "hit things at high speed" after all. ¡­ _ Elri: I think that''s all we got. , the containers are filled with items so we left them as-is. It will be faster to just [Recall] with them to the village and put them to a warehouse. Just as expected, most of the basement are not of any use for decoration purpose. Anything that is, is already in my inventory. So heavy~ _ Shadyna: Roger~ Let''s move them then! [Mass Recall]! *FLASH* With each of us holding onto a container, we all move to the new empty floating island above the forest¡­ _ Shadyna: ¡­Eh? ¡­Empty-handed. Weird. Did we somehow drop the containers? _ Shadyna: [Recall]. ¡­None. _ Shadyna: [Teleport]. Nope. _ Shadyna: Solar Ra¡­ *BONK* _ Elri: THAT IS NOT A TELEPORT SKILL!!! _ Shadyna: I''m sorry~! It definitely would send everyone in the vicinity back to Tyrel though~ ¡­ A lot of confusion in guild chat later, we got the gist of the situation. It was the logistic patch. To be more specific, containers and wagons are no longer transferred with player during [Recall]. We can now put containers into wagons though, so I won''t have to open the containers, pull everything out, then put it back to the wagon at the very least. I still prefer using [Teleport] with the whole container to the destination to be honest¡­ _ Elri (Guild): I see¡­ So using wagons and walking to the destination will be more efficient for large amount of goods. _ Hessy (Guild): Correct. Sateri-chan is most likely encouraging us to create trade caravans. Since you girls are already on it, you should join up with our contractors at the northern gate. They are preparing one to bring construction materials to our village. too, though they will go in a different direction. Right. Ample Chest is straight north of Tyrel, whereas our village is to the northeast. I suppose we can accompany them halfway. The more the merrier~ ¡­Is there any way I can make them change that city''s name? Imagine having to use it in daily conversations for once. Your favorite location in the game? Ample Chest. Where do you want to go after school? Ample Chest. Number one spot to confess? You guessed it. Ample Chest. ¡­Can I go punch now? _ Elri: Alright. , you carry the containers of that side. I will prepare the wagon and take care of this side. As for you, ¡­ _ Shadyna: Yes~? _ Elri: Go back to the village and unload your inventory. We will meet you at the gate. Gah~ I have been abandoned~! ____________ At the northern gate, the bodyguards who left their VIP behind find themselves organizing a massive escort mission with the leadership of . _ Fuelri: Just how many of them are there?! _ Miel: ¡­12 wagons, 135 players, 30 NPCs¡­ _ Fuelri: I''m not asking for a headcount!!! _ Olkan: Sorry about that. We got words of ambushes from earlier caravans. They don''t seem to happen often, but we don''t want to take chances. Rather than a caravan, it''s more like a small military convoy going to war, judging by the amount of heavily armed players doing a last check on the wagons. In fact, the players here are all combat specialists. The squishy crafters who would only get in the way during fights have already arrived at the destination using [Recall]! _ Fuelri: Ambushes¡­? Enemies cannot steal items, can they? _ Olkan: No, they can''t. But you don''t want to waste time redoing the trip either. _ Fuelri: Right. That would be a pain. Fine, we''ll lead the caravan, but we will go in a different direction later. _ Olkan: Thank you. That would be a great help. _ Miel: Taking advantages of girls who happen to go in the same way¡­ As expected of ¡­ _ Olkan: Why are you making this weird?! If you girls are going to verbally abuse me, at least have do it!!! _ Fuelri: Could you NOT look at my chest while saying that?! _ Shadyna: , I''m going to hit you if you keep harassing Elri you know~? _ Olkan & Fuelri: AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! They both jump back in terror as they realize the presence of a smiling girl who definitely wasn''t here seconds ago. And she''s holding an ominous black sword to boot. The brave and honest merchant isn''t sure if he''s more terrified by that sword, or the usual wriggling blob. That blob is not around today, strangely enough. _ Olkan: Where in the name of Sateri-chan did you come from?! _ Shadyna: Eh¡­ From my village¡­? _ Olkan: That''s not what I¡­ Actually, never mind. Why are you here? _ Shadyna: *Tilts head* Because I''m going with and Elri? _ Olkan: *Turns to *¡­Seriously? _ Fuelri: Unfortunately, yes. _ Shadyna: Hey!!! Even if she is clueless about gameplay, the little girl still has enough awareness to read the room¡­ probably. Speaking of people who cannot read the room, there''s one (fake) gasping at right now. _ Miel: Taking advantages of underage girls¡­ _ Olkan: Give me a break already!!! Ignoring the delicate handsome man on the throne taking heavy mental damage, the strongest convoy is finally heading out! ____________ On a different part of the game world shadowed by the dark spot of the sun, a small party is also preparing. Their last member, a pink-haired hot-headed heroine, has just arrived. _ Thelia: Sorry for the wait. _ Falyn: Don''t mind, don''t mind! The horde hasn''t respawned yet. _ Linista: Evening, . _ Helen: Welcome back, my princess~! The four put down a big mattress as their supply depot. To players who are passing by, these girls are having a normal picnic, despite the questionable choice of location. Little do they know, the food baskets there are more expensive than a house in Tyrel, by an order of magnitude. _ Thelia: ¡­To think we used to hide behind a wall with a hundreds of players just to hold our ground not that long ago. Now we are going to fight them with four people, and none of us uses magic either. _ Falyn: That''s most likely the reason for today''s patch. If I were in Sateri-chan''s shoe, I would turn every mob into a variant or boss, up their levels to the cap, and then¡­ *PAWNCH* *WHOMP* _ Falyn: GUH!!! The hardcore suggestions were cut short by a low kick and an elbow strike simultaneously. _ Thelia: Even we would seriously die if she does that!!! _ Linista: Please keep your masochistic tendencies to yourself. herself had to fight at full power for a whole hour back then because she underestimated Sateri-chan. _ Falyn: You¡­ didn''t have to hit me though¡­ _ Thelia: ¡­Sorry, force of habit. That reminds me, I haven''t repaired my equipment for a while. , you have maxed-out [Enhance] right? _ Helen: Of course~ Please take off your clothes~ _ Thelia: Like hell I would! Set up a repair shop like a normal person! _ Helen: Eh~~~~ Today, the girls will enjoy their outing to the fullest as well. --- Topic: Patch discussion - 1.0df7 --- ## Manly Warrior Summary: - Adjusted corruption raid''s difficulty. - Added new contents and adjustments for logistic chains. - Increased education level of NPCs. ## ## Mage of Sin Thank you Sateri-chan for the hard work as always! (^o^)£¯ ## ## Fire mage of Justice Difficulty adjustment, isn''t it? We are going to be soooooo dead, aren''t we? (-"-) ## ¡­ ## Big Hammer You can''t Recall with containers anymore. Had to put everything into inventory and Recall to the client. (£»Ò»_Ò») ## ## GoldBar9999 Welp, there goes the logistic chain. (£þ¡õ£þ;) That''s not "adding" new contents, Sateri-chan! ## ## OP alchemist Uh¡­ can''t we just Recall after taking everything into inventory? ## ## StoneHoarder If you are fine with loading and unloading every single item by yourself, yes. No one will be able to help you because they cannot access your inventory like they do shared containers. This probably won''t affect small shops much, but big guilds with large warehouses or supply chains will save more time by moving the containers on foot. ## ## CuteIsJustice NPC escort quests now also include new towns as destinations. Sateri-chan is really pushing for more immersive trade routes between towns! ## ## Newbie Charisma build We just finished a trip with a few wagons and escort quests to The Ranch. It was surprisingly fun walking around and enjoying the scenery. (£Þ¨Œ£Þ) If you are an extrovert, the NPCs have quite a few things to share too! ## ## Silver Merchant Mine didn''t go as well. A pack of monsters mauled our caravan from the flank. Mobs in that zone didn''t group up like that before this patch. Too much realism, Sateri-chan!!! ## ## GoldBar9999 To be fair, you guys did ask for immersive trading¡­ BB Conglomerate is preparing a caravan to Ample Chest. Come join us at the north gate if you are going the same way. Safety in numbers. ## ## Silver Merchant I''ll join. Give us a minute to repair our wagon. (~_~) ## ------ Chapter 86: Caravaneering The cute merchant Shadyna has finally saved enough money for her first caravan~ ¡­Is what I wanted to say, but I feel like the players here will look at me with disdain so let''s not. _ Olkan: She even limits us to just walking while pulling wagons. Sateri-chan got us good¡­ She wasn''t wrong though, considering that running was the first thing you guys tried out. If a caravan arrives at a town by running the whole way at ramming speed like a charging cavalry legion, I probably would install SPD-debuffing totems on the roads to slow them down myself! _ Elri: Huh? Our Ren can run though? Did you accidentally activate some option or something? My mentor orders the salamander to runs up a bit to prove her words. Despite pulling a whole wagon while carrying both its mistress and me on its back, the former boss of darkness has no problem scurrying around like nobody''s problem. Meanwhile, the other beasts of labor are just casually strolling along. There''s no horse in this game by the way. Instead, we either pull the wagons ourselves, or have summoned beasts do it for us. I was going to pull ours by myself before being stopped by a desperate who begged me not to do it with tears in his eyes. Not because of the various labor laws violations per se, but because having a flat-as-a-board girl leading the caravan of is against their core beliefs and ideology! ¡­I feel attacked. Can I punch him in self-defense now? _ Olkan: Couldn''t happen to all of us if that was the case¡­ [Inspect], activate! The handsome man on the throne raises his hand to his eye as if he is a protagonist unleashing his hidden power (Inspect) to defeat (peep at) the last boss! Well, we are not in battle so it''s fine to be a tad dramatic. I doubt it would suddenly turn the usually useless skill into something useful anywa¡­ _ Olkan: Hmm¡­ I got it. HOW?! _ Olkan: I haven''t explained anything, so why do you look so confused?! _ Elri: Just ignore her and explain. Elri, I don''t think neglecting your students are considered good mentoring these days, just saying~ _ Olkan: O¡­kay¡­ I think it''s because your pet has SPD buffs. My theory is that pulling a wagon applies a hidden SPD debuff. It must be a percentage-based one to limit everyone''s SPD in the same way. Intentional or not, the debuff doesn''t take magic buff into its calculation, so you can get your SPD back above the walking animation threshold to run again. Obviously, I can only see the numbers so this is all conjecture on my part. I''ll ask to crosscheck later, but we can verify it now by casting SPD buffs and¡­ Even though he said he only saw numbers, this greasy merchant is somehow giving a lecture about the new meta?! I try doing the same on Ren, but all I get is the HP bar, as per usual. What is this discrimination, [Inspect]-chan? Do you happen to prefer degenerates like or something? _ Olkan: ¡­What''s with that look? Did I say something wrong? _ Miel: , are you puzzled because this sorry excuse of a player, whose entire existence consists of "chair ", "greed", and "boobs", somehow managed to spew out coherent words as if he actually has more than three brain cells? _ Olkan: Why are you suddenly insulting me?! _ Shadyna: Un. _ Olkan: Don''t just nod in agreement without any hesitation!!! Well, she''s not exactly wrong, and you are probably just upset because the modest-sized is saying it instead of Elri¡­ Since we are at it, I also would like to know how the hammer waitress (kind of) knew what I was thinking despite sitting behind us, on the coachman seat. She can''t possibly read my mind, can she¡­? _ Miel: While he is like that, is still a player from the beta. He has something you don''t thanks to that. _ Shadyna: Oh~ And what is that? _ Miel: Old age. _ Olkan: Experience! It''s called experience!!! Can''t be helped then. I am still a young and cute half-elf after all~ _ Olkan: Why are you nodding with a satisfied face!!! I am not old! ¡­ We continued experimenting and verifying various things on the move so as not to waste everyone''s time. It turned out as suspected: Beasts can run in "wagon mode" (temporary name) with the help of SPD buffs from skills, [Alchemy], or [Cooking]. That being said, the end result is still a lower speed due to having a debuff in the first place. _ Shadyna: So in other words, wagons are heavy. _ Olkan: ¡­You can also put it that way, yeah. Much shorter and more immersive than your earlier meta presentation too~ _ Elri: It''s a pain, isn''t it? That means we cannot run away from enemies of similar levels. _ Olkan: True that. Taking this into account, we might have to increase the minimum number of guards to stay competitive too. I almost doze off from the morning (?) breezes and the long-winded discussions about logistical costs and values between the leading members of the caravan. It''s not my fault that Ren is so comfortable to ride, and Elri''s back, despite her metallic armors, is heaven to lean on! From the sounds of it, is conflicted about using buffs on beasts of labor. On one hand, faster caravans mean reduced risks and more profit. On the other, consuming items drives up the expenses, especially higher-grade ones. They will need a lot of experimenting to find the perfect balance for maximum profit, or something along those lines. As for me, there''s no problem as long as we can reenact the "snobby merchants running over some poor peasants in front of the protagonists" scenario, because it has to happen now that wagons are involved. That said, I might have to refrain from [Fishing] until we iron out the logistics of creating several fish-filled wagons every two hours though~ _ Elri: We''ve reached the Dry Grassland. , we will head east from here. _ Olkan: Time sure flies. Shall we continue the discussion at a later time? _ Elri: If we finish our errands early and agrees to it, sure. In the end, it was a short uneventful trip. From this point, caravan will march across the arid zone while we go along the barren land towards the forest. I was a bit curious to see how we would fare against the caravan ambushes clich¨¦, but I suppose it''s not going to be today. _ ???: How about we help you two return quickly for your¡­ "discussion"? ¡­Or so I thought. From the tall, brown grass thick enough to hide an adult if they crouch, a rough-looking man in leather armor emerges. I know it''s bad to generalize but¡­ he''s totally a bandit, isn''t he? All of us are rendered speechless as he intimidates us by making a nasty grin and a few swings with his rusty sword. Considering that rust is not a thing in this game, that aesthetic must have been deliberate design choice rather than a lack of maintenance. _ Bandit (?): What, so scared already? Man, this is even easier than I thought. _ Elri: ¡­More like confused about how you plan to take on all of us at once. Not to underestimate the opponent but my mentor has a point. Even if you are one of the stronger players in the game, 1v100 is not something to take lightly. He certainly doesn''t look like one that can, and probably would not need to ambush if he was. _ Bandit (?): Eh? *Turns sideway* Oh for Sateri-chan''s sake, guys! Can''t you work together with me for once?! Whoops? He has it tough too huh~? Right on cue, two more similarly rough-looking players pop out of hiding next to the bandit leader (?). *Whack* *Whomp* ¡­And proceed to punch the crap out of him?! _ Bandit #2: That is our line, you idiot!!! What''s the point of lying in ambush if you reveal yourself like that?! _ Bandit leader: Owowow!!! I''m sorry! They were splitting up so I thought we should strike before their detachment could escape! ¡­It''s our fault for some bizarre reason? _ Bandit #3: And they wouldn''t run if you stood up and spilled the beans from miles away?! Why did we even make you the party leader?! Good question. You should have realized that before we arrived though~ _ Bandit leader: I''m sorry! I won''t do it again! I don''t know about morale, but while the beatings continue, the remaining enemies are revealing themselves since the cat''s out of the bag. 4¡­10¡­15¡­30¡­ Just how many of you were patiently hiding in the tall grass for someone to pass?! Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. _ Random passerby: Mom, what are those players doing? _ Random passerby #2: Shhh, don''t look. Wait, who the hell is your mom!!! See? Even other players share my sentiment! I poke my head left and right to get a more accurate headcount. Although it''s a bit hard with Elri in the way, I''m pretty sure they outnumber us. While bandits are known to depend on their superior numbers to stand a chance against better-equipped merchant escorts (in media), having over 150 men is way too many! Did you guys plan to take on every single convoys that go through this zone or something?! _ Miel (Party): NPCs¡­ Now that my stoic party member mentions it, the majority of the scoundrels have NPC Lines. Not 50% majority, but like 90% of them. Including the three maniacs that seem to be the leadership, I can only see around a dozen actual players in this army. This NPC-to-player ratio is unheard of, even in The Ranch where the most powerful LDR-oriented players gather. Are there additional players who have not revealed themselves? If these guys are normal players who have one or two [Heart Core] on average, there will be at least another hundred players hiding somewhere, waiting for a chance to attack us. What are you, some degenerate merchants searching for a totally innocent little girl? _ Bandit leader: By the way, uh¡­ What am I supposed to do now? _ Bandit #2: Demand their surrender! One would think these bandits are buying time, except that the rest of their players are sighing in exasperation instead of performing suspicious activities worth buying. Meanwhile, our magi in the back are quietly preparing buffs with [Silent Cast]. Unless all of them have an even higher tier skill that can hide spells'' visual effects, these guys are practically buying time¡­ for us. _ Bandit leader: Right! You have walked right into our trap, suckers! We have you surrounded and outnumbered now! Leave the goods and the women¡­ Suddenly taking a pause in the middle of his speech, the cartoonish bandit awkwardly glances between what I assume to be his speech notes and the people he was referring to. ¡­This guy just couldn''t stop digging his own grave, could he? In a way, the few women here are all gorgeous ladies embodying the values and ideals of , exactly as one spouting such lines would hope for. Heavily armed too, since they wouldn''t be GUARDING this caravan otherwise. Or to put it simply: Seduce one (or all of them) at your own risk. Well, he seems to have realized that by himself, thanks to the expensive-looking armors and weapons. Or the [Alchemy] bomb juggling. Or the glares. Probably the glares huh. _ Bandit leader: ¡­Sorry about that. I copied this speech from other games without checking. _ Olkan: Uh¡­ You guys sure you are up for this? We don''t mind putting this off to another day. So that he can muster an overwhelming force to murder them, is probably what he wanted to say, but decided not to~ _ Bandit leader: S-shut up! These NPCs are only here for this quest you know! Anyway, give me a second here¡­ We normally would just go on our merry way, but everyone is too shocked by the bombshell he just dropped without warning. These are quest NPCs? Sure, it''s normal to have a quest spawning an additional NPC or two depending on its content. However, this many NPCs in one quest is unheard of, unless these guys have many [Soul Core] containing the same quest for some reason. Even if that was the case, a quest to help bandit roleplayers conduct a raid was definitely not a thing before today. It wouldn''t be far-fetched to assume that several more quests featuring PvP and/or less-than-heroic contents have been scattered across the game world, ready to prey on unwitting victims. Sateri, are you sure you are not some evil deity feeding on players'' pain and suffering¡­? _ Bandit leader: This should do it. Alright, suckers, you are surrounded now! Leave the wagons here and turn tail! You wouldn''t want your leader''s daughter to get hurt now, would you? Bwahahahaha! ¡­Daughter? Everyone looks as confused as me for a moment, not sure what the (supposedly) scary bandit is rambling about, or if he is copying some speech from somewhere without thoughts again. And then, they collectively turn to me. ¡­Right. Among these ladies (except for ) with plenty of "assets", I''m the only one who fit the bill, aren''t I¡­? _ Olkan: Who the heck are you calling my daughter!!! The feeling is mutual~ _ Bandit leader: *Scratches head* So uh¡­ your sister? _ Olkan: This girl with no chest is no sister of mine!!! You are upset about that part?! The bandit ponders a bit, then stares at the upset merchant in pure disgust while taking a step back. _ Bandit leader: Your¡­ lover? Oh hell naw~ It was at this moment that he knew, he screwed up. Brandishing a massive greatsword which screams "offense over defense!", the usually easygoing stares a hole through the insolent criminal in front of him with a burning fury. _ Olkan: You dare question my devotion to nice chests? Let''s see if your sword skills are as good as your mouth. _ Bandit leader: Wait what?! RIP bandits. It was (not) nice knowing you~ _ Olkan: No more talking! Everyone, CHARGE! FOR THE BOOBS!!! _ Guards: In the name of boobs, CHARGEEEEE!!! And so begins the Great Boobs War. Can I go now¡­? ____________ They certainly didn''t expect the convoy to surrender to begin with, though the few bandit players really wish their idiotic leader would at least refrain from making it harder for all of them! Now they suddenly find themselves under [Alchemy] bombardment as the angry [BB Conglomerate] merchants rush in for a melee. Led by a flying chair, wielding a greatsword, while chanting various war cries involving boobs, one way or another. If there is even a next time, the bandit leadership will make sure to prepare a proper speech, preferably one that does not contain figurative ideological landmines for most people! Soon enough, the two groups blend into a messy brawl with no way to discern the actual battle line. Whether they are blinded by rage or confident enough to fight in close-quarters combat, the supposedly guards just abandoned the wagons and went in straight for the kill, forgoing any support ranged attacks. This in turn forced the bandits to do the same as they couldn''t fire into the main fighting force without risking friendly fire. The recent events including constant urban PK attempts, free-for-all tournament prelims, and a battle royale under the Goddess'' statue may or may not have further influenced their decision. Amidst this chaos, the lead wagon with its three players break formation and park a distance from the battlefield. The perceptive bandit leader obviously notices them even if he is getting smacked around by a greatsword. ¡­Doesn''t change the fact that he is still getting smacked around by a big fat sword though. Thirty seconds into the fight, it becomes quite obvious to the bandits that they aren''t exactly winning despite numerical superiority. When the enemies have healers and said healers are voluntarily smashing instead of healing, it''s a sign that the battle plan needs to be revised. How to change it is a problem in and of itself though. Believe it or not, banditry is not the line of work where you expect to get a power-up mid-fight. Any power-up, if there was any, would be better used in advance so that it wouldn''t get to this point to begin with. Needless to say, last-second power of friendship is right out. Since increasing their own fighting power is out of the question, that leaves him with decreasing that of the merchants. Debuffs are¡­ not exactly available, not in a way that his group can compete against the opponents at least. It has to be something only his side can do, otherwise it wouldn''t tip the scale in his favor. Fortunately, being a (self-proclaimed) professional scoundrel with hundreds of destroyed caravan under his belt, the capable bandit leader has already figured out exactly what he should do! See, even if these hot-tempered guards are neglecting their job, they will still be distracted if the goods they are protecting come under attack. By using a small but mobile detachment to kite the vulnerable targets behind the war zone, the merchants will have no choice but to divert a significant part of their force to shield said targets. This tactic will (hopefully) give an even better numerical advantage against the remaining enemies. Of course it is not without risk, namely being shot at by magi and archers. In addition, attacking the wrong target may end up backfiring as their own combat-capable quest NPCs, who are standing by on the other end of the caravan, can and will be aggro-ed into the fight, undoing all his hard work. That is why, the genius tactician in him suggests a different approach: Attack the kid. ¡­There is probably a reason why this guy is a bandit and not an actual tactician. Nevertheless, it is not without reason. The merchant leader''s ¡­non-lover girl and her two escorts have been silently watching from the side this whole time, even though everyone else is out for blood. In other words, she must be so vulnerable, the other two have to be by her sides at all times no matter the circumstances. It''s a mystery why such VIP is tagging along the caravan instead of skipping the journey altogether with [Recall]¡­ Wait, why are they happily eating lunchboxes now? Think of the atmosphere for a second, damn it!!! A-anyway, the NPCs won''t attack since the target is a player. Considering how (seemingly) important she is, many merchants will probably disengage to intervene. That increases the risk, so asking his own NPCs to do the kiting is out of the question. Those blockheads can barely hold the line, let alone doing sophisticated tasks like attacking while maintaining distance. Therefore, the bandit leader and his fellow player lacke¡­ companions will have to take on this suicide mission! It''s totally not because such mission still has higher survival chance than his current situation of getting smacked, honest! Quickly communicating the plan in party chat, the (self-proclaimed) ruthless bandit leader is aiming for his next target! Now that he takes a better look at the girl, that sprout on her head with the half-transparent veil look awfully familiar. Have they met somewhere before? Or¡­ maybe even an idol who is usually featured on TV (or in this case, game trailers)? ¡­Yeah right, as if that kind of clich¨¦ can happen in real (virtual) life. More like a d¨¦j¨¤ vu caused by the ongoing concussive smacking to his face! ____________ No matter how many times they are beaten back, the darkness shall return. The puny mortals of this world have no hope of eliminating this eternal threat, only prepare for its next intrusion. Or at least, that was the original impression of it. In the zone shadowed from the sun''s radiant light, a heroic party of service workers cleave through the horde of darkness like hot knife through butter. Steeling the resolve in their hearts, the beautiful heroines are going to save the world once more! ¡­Is not what is going through their mind at all. _ Thelia: This is just the normal spawn with different monsters! As the sane woman of the party, the otome-protagonist delivery girl was the first to snap at the newly respawned "raid". Even calling it a raid is an exaggeration at this point. If one uses [Detect Presence] to count the number of monsters in range, they wouldn''t be able to differentiate between the normal hunting zone and the corruption raid, mainly because there''s no difference. In fact, the monster levels are also the same, based on the numerous [Inspect] they have been doing. In other words, it is less of a raid and more of a biome change of the same difficulty. And since it has the same difficulty as the original zone, the mobs can''t really harm the OP party packing enough firepower to take on the edge of the world. _ Linista: Everything seems to have maximum aggression so it''s more effective to grind than a normal zone. Still, how are we going to provide Raid Breaker service if the enemies are so sparsely populated¡­? And yet, the monster nerf leaves these veterans more troubled than any brutal lategame content can. --- Topic: Pet control guide --- ## Deeply Intelligent I was talking to @Newbie Charisma build and found out that a lot of players have some misconceptions about controlling your companions (the NPCs, not other players, in case you maniacs have some funny ideas), so here''s a guide on how to do so: - Voice command: The simpler but also more limited way to do it. Your pets can perform simple tasks (move, attack, defend, stay, use skills, etc¡­) when you tell them an order verbally. Use party chat if you don''t want your enemies to hear you. - Direct control: From the party menu, open your pet''s context menu. There should be an option to directly control your pet like you would your avatar. Anything you can do, so can your pet using this method. - Regarding NPCs: There is no option for direct control, so you can only use voice commands to manage them. EDIT: You cannot control domesticated pets (pets summoned by another pet) at all. Thanks @Teabag Master for reminding me. ## ## StoneHoarder Wait, you can actually command them with voice chat?! I always thought people were immersing themselves when they yelled out the orders in combat¡­ ( ? §¥?) ## ## Newbie Charisma build Then there''s me who never found the context menu and could not for the life of me figure out how some pets could have such precise movements! (*¡ä¨Œ£à*) ## ## Teabag Master GJ @Deeply Intelligent. Just want to add that domesticated pets cannot be controlled, even by voice commands. You don''t have to use both methods either. Use whichever you are more comfortable with. Source: Our Black Mantis only occasionally call out commands verbally for immersion. Meanwhile our cavalry leader almost never touches direct control because it''s too mentally taxing during melees. ## ## Mage of Sin So¡­ TLDR, die and reincarnate as your pet in your next life? (just kidding) (*^¨Œ^*) ## ## Newbie Charisma build I mean, dying does sound like a good way to command your pet without disruption¡­ ¡¥\_(¥Ä)_/¡¥ ## ## Deeply Intelligent Aside from the part that you are dead? I would advise against such strategy, if only because you lose all control of your pets when you die. They will cease all aggression and walk back to your corpse, and you cannot manually control them. The only exception is some niche skills which activate on your death. Those should be used as last resort though. ## ## OP alchemist Actually, the fact that such skills exist mean Sateri-chan expected us to come up with that kind of strategies! (?¥î?)? ## ------ Chapter 87: Road safety enforcement Praying to the Goddess for her friends'' safety, damsel in distress Shadyna is hard at work today as well! That being said¡­ and co seem to be doing fine on their own, so we are just watching from the sidelines. Pacifist or not, heroes are not allowed to intervene until the allies get their butts kicked, un! _ Miel (Party): The battle will take some time. Should we have lunch meanwhile? _ Elri (Party): ¡­Does the phrase "read the room" even have any meaning to you? Something something a caravan marches on its stomach. Receiving a surplus lunchbox from , I open the box and begin digging in the various dishes. Real virtual foods are tastier than hybrid potions so I''m not going to refuse! _ Shadyna (Party): Delicious~ _ Miel (Party): The secret ingredient is hate. _ Shadyna & Elri (Party): ¡­Wait, what? _ Miel (Party): Popular demands from our patrons. That does sound like our degenerate patrons alright~ To be fair, considering how lethal [Love] can be in this game¡­ Hate is definitely the ultimate buff ingredient, isn''t it? Sateri, you maniac~! Questionable food origins aside, I should take advantage of this rare chance to observe large scale PvP combat. They don''t happen often, and the few that I saw, I was in the thick of it, which may or may not be because I was involved in creating said battles in the first place. Being a cute girl admired by everyone sure is tough~ Compared to fighting against dumb creatures who can only charge forward, shield walls or even formations seem to be in short supply in PvP, and I can finally confirm that it''s the meta rather than my presence in the vicinity. Maybe it has something to do with the lack of planning and preparation? The glass cannons bandits constantly moving in every which way to avoid getting smashed does not help maintaining a stable battle line either. While I highly doubt our guild would have to fight another guild on equal footings in the foreseeable future, I should keep in mind that real life humans will ambush, feint, flank, and use whatever nasty tricks they can think of to catch the opponent off guard. That alone puts any plan which involves predicting the enemy''s movements in jeopardy¡­ I don''t see any of that happening per se. As always, it is hard to outsmart the opponent when you are busy trying to punch them, isn''t it~? That''s why I''ll stick to ramming all opposition before they can react and leave the complex planning to the experienced people that is my guild members, thank you very much. On an unrelated note, I think the bandit leader has a crush on (at least) one of us, and that''s not based on his depraved conversation with earlier. _ Shadyna (Party): Elri, their leader has been throwing passionate glances at us since the battle started. _ Elri (Party): ¡­Get your eyes checked. That was anything but passionate. Harsh~ He could have been born (created) that way you know~? _ Miel (Party): Love on the battlefield¡­ How romantic, just like mine with . _ Shadyna (Party): Aw, you are making me blush~! _ Elri (Party): Wait, I am the odd one here?! I feel a bit sorry for that guy. It''s kinda hard to top a lovey-dovey relationship forged from a bonus boss fight, generally speaking. Then again, getting slapped repeatedly by a chair-ridden handsome man as first impression is probably not going to top any relationship to begin with¡­ _ Miel (Party): Yes, Elri. Even our most daring members wouldn''t attempt murdering their crush on their first meeting. _ Elri (Party): Stop calling my crush!!! When you put it like that, Elri''s love sure is heavy~ _ Bandit leader: NOW''S OUR CHANCE! _ Bandits: UUUOOOOO!!! As we were occupied with sharing love stories (and food), the bandit players pull out a surprising amount of [Alchemy] bombs and go loud. Some of the members get pushed back by the blasts, leaving a few gaps in the line through which the criminals immediately escape. _ Olkan: After them!!! The merchant guildmaster alone got four bombs in his face and is still stan¡­ sitting. Tanky chair, this one is. These top players are really a league above your daily off the shelf outlaws, even if the one in question is not even built for combat. seems to have traded his speed for that sturdiness though. He''s not a slowpoke by any means, but the floating chair has already lost the race against the slimy bandits who focus on running away from the law. And now there''s a bunch of robbers successfully disengaging from the battlefield. And running towards us. ¡­Seriously, why? Did they realize they could not win so they pull a last desperate attempt to at least get trampled by a beautiful elven knight lady instead of greasy merchants? The guard ladies are going to be offended you know~? _ Bandit leader: AIM AT THAT SHORTY! ¡­Why the heck is it me again?! While I was dumbstruck by their genius strategy of bullying little girls, a throwing dagger goes straight to my face. *THWACK* The gallant elven knight, who was ordering her trusty salaman¡­ drake to turn towards the incoming hostiles, swats it with her halberd in one swing. A "1" pops up above her head as she does that. ¡­And that was probably with [Ignore Physical Defense] already. Oof~ _ Elri (Party): , get back to . This is going to get shaky. _ Shadyna (Party): Roger~ I for one would not want to be on a bumpy ride in a warzone if possible, it''s just that¡­ is already on top of the wagon, hammer brandished and all as we speak. It''s probably going to be shaky either way¡­ Also, isn''t this staying on top of the vehicle strategy usually meant for zombie hordes¡­? Oh well, whatever! Since we don''t have much time before the enemies come into melee range, I stand up on the saddle and do a somersault backwards, not forgetting to spin a three times in the air before spreading my arms and landing softly on the wagon''s leather roof. 10/10 landing, if I may say so~ _ Miel (Party): Hold still like that, . _ Shadyna (Party): Eh? Sure¡­ _ Miel (Party): Elri, we are ready. For some reason, my mentor is facepalming and sighing in defeat upon seeing my perfect acrobatic jump¡­ Probably just my imagination, un. _ Elri (Party): It''s not my fault if you fall off. Beginning charge! I wouldn''t worry too much about that. It''s not particularly hard for me to keep balance with or without CSF''s balance control augment, so I''ll be¡­ weeeeeeeeeeeeeee~~~!!! I-I''ll be fine! ____________ Seeing the elven knight taking the hit for the little girl gives the bandits hope. Seeing her taking one damage¡­ less so. N-nevertheless, if the shorty is so weak that her guards had to physically shield her, the merchants are going to freak out once she''s surrounded and kited from all sides! Such an underhanded and brilliant plan that can only be hatched by a mastermind villain like himself! Actually, the merchants are already freaking out. A dozen faster players in their ranks have disengaged from the main battle and are in close pursuit, screaming. They are truly desperate. It''s a bit strange how their insults include "Are you trying to get all of us killed you maniac?!", "We are so doomed!", or "It''s not too late if WE run away now!", as if the girl''s safety was none of their concern. However, bandits on the run from the law do not exactly have the leisure to think about tiny details. _ Bandit leader: Flank her and keep them busy! We can win this! _ Bandits: OOOOHHHH! With only a few meters away from their target, the heroic robbers were going to encircle the lone wagon when they start to realize their biggest mistake. For the unwitting players, namely the bandits, the masked girl in black looked and acted like a frail meek maiden on an important mission. Cue their surprise as she stands up and perform a flipping jump like some DEX-focused builds. _ Bandit #2: She''s¡­ It''s amazing how much one''s impression can change simply by not speaking (in general chat). This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. _ Bandit leader: Keep going! Do not stop! Surprised as they are, the bandits cannot afford to stop. They can only move forward, no matter the cost. _ Bandits: CHARGEEEEEEE!!! _ Elf: Ren, let''s go! [Dark Breath]! Before they can comprehend the situation they got themselves in, another urgent matter comes up in the form of a fire-breathing salamander. _ Bandits: AAAAAAHHHHH!!! Correction: The cost matters. _ Bandit leader: Why are you running away?! _ Bandit #2: You are doing the same!!! The bandit gang heroically charges in the opposite direction, back to where they came from. Sure, the pursuing guards will probably cut them down soon after, but that still beats getting wiped in an AoE! _ Guards: AAAAAAHHHHH!!! _ Bandit leader: WHY ARE YOU ALSO RUNNING AWAY?!?! To the surprise of the bandit leader, the merchant guards have joined them in their escape from the salamander! Isn''t it supposed to be on the merchants'' side?! _ Guard: That''s why we tried to stop you! Now she''s going to kill us all!!! _ Bandit leader: JUST WHO THE HELL IS SHE?!?! The upstart bandits'' suffering continues. ____________ Run, bandits, run~! Our allies are running away too for some reason though?! _ Elri (Party): Tsk! This SPD debuff is more problematic than I thought. Is that why they are not burnt to a crisp yet? I thought my strict mentor just wanted to instill fear and despair in them for bullying little girls, but it appears that she simply wasn''t used to the debuff and let them slip away as a result. And we are not catching up to them. Welp~ Since these guys attacked us on their own volition, so technically speaking, it''s still true pacifism to buff my allies to protect themselves right? ¡­I was out the moment I used "technically speaking", wasn''t I? Oh well, little details~! _ Shadyna: [Summon]! Ophilie, [Ethereal Form]! [Phantom Edge]! [Devotion]! Lutena, [Soul Ascension]! Although our lunchboxes are strong as they were made by my crew, they are nowhere near the level of my reusable lunchboxes, and even those are outclassed by the magic buffs I provide in Raid Breakers. Well, that is to be expected. [Ethereal Form] turned out to boost my attributes and stats while active, which is most likely the bonus Sateri talked about for completing the quests well done. [Phantom Edge] strengthens my spells as one of its effects, which is pretty much free as I am a bona fide pacifist and never attack anyone. [Devotion] gives my attributes to Lutena and then some. Finally, her unique attribute buff spell, [Soul Ascension], will make use of all of those stats boosts and effectively double the target''s attributes. Considering how my handmade lunchboxes had [Alchemy], [Cooking], and magic buffs packed together and can only have similar effect strength¡­ Yup, this is pretty terrifying alright. Both are still fixed values instead of percentage though, so it''s not that much of an improvement for me personally. Good news is that this setup is not the best there is. For starters, calling in the two divine girls in my care for more stats from [Ethereal Form] is one way to do it. Had to refrain since showing off either of them was way too conspicuous, even for my standards. A bonus boss fight with only my crew in the area will be a different matter however. Ufufu~ ____________ At the same time¡­ _ Bandit leader: AAAAAAHHHHH!!! _ Olkan: AAAAAAHHHHH!!! The leadership of the merchants have joined the chase! Not on the side they were expecting though. _ Olkan: Stop chasing me! I don''t want to die with you! _ Bandit leader: Can''t you ask her to stop?! That crazy elf is your friend right?! _ Olkan: I WISH! _ Fuelri: Stop running! You are not getting away so just die already! _ Bandits & merchants: AAAAAAHHHHH!!! For better or worse, the infamous cavalry elf is struggling to catch up to them, pulling a full wagon with two passengers and all that. Still doesn''t make it any less terrifying. In fact, the impending doom just increases their panic. The bandits were only trying to avoid a seemingly powerful AoE at first. It turned into real terror after seeing the merchants frantically ran for dear life. If that''s how her own allies would react, they certainly don''t want to get caught in that purple flame! _ Bandit leader: There has to be a way to get out of this! _ Bandit #2: Shut up and run. You got us into this mess in the first place! _ Bandit leader: You guys agreed to it! W-wait¡­ Maybe if we attack the little girl again¡­ _ Bandit #2: Are you insane?! Just look at her! It is obviously a bad idea to do so, especially during a chase. That''s why the two leaders just have to turn around out of sheer morbid curiosity. It''s not like it can make their situation any worse, right? And they would be correct. That is, them looking at the nightmare descending upon them doesn''t make it any worse. It still descends upon them however. Behind them, the barren land was dyed purple due to the salamander''s constant fire breathing in their vision. Before the two can thank Sateri-chan for the fact that wildfires are not a thing in this game, the sparkling visual effects of buff spells appearing on top of the wagon catches their immediate attention. Flanked by a ghost-like lady and a tiny fairy, the young girl in black is making a smug face while spreading her arms like a scarecrow to assert dominance over them. Or to put it in gamers'' language, the cheeky little brat is frigging T-POSING!!! ¡­It really wasn''t the girl''s intention, but rather a spontaneous idea of the mischievous waitress upon seeing her landing. It is surprisingly hard to realize you are insulting the enemies (and allies) in body language without a mirror. Not that it matters to the poor souls running for their life. Whether it was in the instigator''s plan or not, the posture utterly shattered the bandit leader''s fighting spirit in just one look. After all, even the most courageous heroes would have to think twice if the last boss suddenly runs at them in T-pose. And this one is approaching disgustingly fast. _ Bandit leader & Olkan: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! ____________ Aaaaaand done~ Once Ren got some oil, a new engine, some tires replaced¡­ Wait, it''s not a car! Anyway, Elri made short work of the bandits after I handled her speed issue. Her salamander''s average DPS dropped a bit since I replaced the generalist magic buff with SPD-focused one, but I gave the knight lady herself PAT buff as compensation. As a result, some of the tankier victims survived the initial burn long enough to get skewered instead. was one of them, mainly because he personally asked for it. Damn degenerate~ While not as visually impressive, scored quite a few kills on her own using golfing¡­ I mean hammer-assisted throwing technique. The smarter enemies who dived out of my mentor''s path got an [Divine Impact]-enchanted rod in the face for their trouble. RIP those guys, and the players unfortunate enough to be around them too~ The bandit NPCs retreated and scattered after all of the players got killed, which was quite a surprise for all of us. Some managed to despawn into sparkling mists before Elri could run them over. What a pity, because the dead NPCs turned into item bags similarly to how creatures used to too~ _ Elri: There is no corpse item, only loot. _ Miel: Truly regrettable. Tone down the desecration against the dead, won''t you? Is what I want to say, but they will probably call me out on what I did for the [Lady of the Dead] title huh¡­ _ Olkan: , got a minute? _ Shadyna: Nope~ Gotta res the fallen and hurry up to our village~ [Blessed Resurrection]! Let''s also ignore how most friendly casualties were from friendly fire, un! _ Olkan: The bandit just told me how they got the quest. He''s just gonna pretend he didn''t hear that huh. How rude~ And yes, we are reviving the bandits too. There are not that many of them, and they are willing to talk. Not sure why they shake like crazy when I look at them though¡­ _ Olkan: According to them, it looks like the NPCs randomly spawned and gave the quest on their own. What do you think? _ Shadyna: ¡­We have to worry about hostile players as well? Come to think of it, players don''t have an incentive to attack caravans since they can''t actually rob other players. Putting in some quest rewards from NPCs, however, means that all bets are off. It wouldn''t surprise me if these bandit quests pay much more to offset the risks too, depending on how sadistic Sateri was feeling when she added those in. _ Olkan: Yeah. Player tactics, to be more specific. NPCs and monsters are not good at preparing ambushes, so having players lead the attempt increases their overall threat level significantly. Well, supposedly at least. Can''t argue with that. Those guys did reveal themselves to us and provoked Elri after all~ The ambush idea itself wasn''t half bad though. _ Olkan: In any case, long treks in the wilderness without support will be more dangerous than we thought. Players will need a place to rest, resupply, and reinforce after or even during attacks. See where I''m getting at? _ Shadyna: Hmm¡­ You want me to build rest stops? Having rest stops on the main trade routes will ensure you have a place within reasonable distance to go or retreat to at all times. As long as the wagons are safe, any loss in personnel and consumables can be quickly fixed by a [Recall] trip or two. Having a sturdy shelter will also be a big help against further attacks while waiting for reinforcements, if not deterring them altogether. Although not exactly a material gain, I may get to experience the "weary travelers encountering a shelter for the night (ensuing horrible things optional)" clich¨¦ someday too~ _ Olkan: Close, but not exactly. We''ll build those camping sites ourselves. What I want to buy from you is [Recall] landmarks. _ Shadyna: [Recall]¡­ landmarks? _ Olkan: Whatever you use to make your [Recall] network. We can use the [Construction] ourselves, but any bandit with half a brain cell will aim to siege the sites to delay us. That''s why I want something that can remain hidden from both monsters and player alike. No need to teach us the techniques. Just the items themselves are enough. ¡­We actually expected players to figure that out three days in and planned to compete with just my hybrid items'' efficiency. How they managed to keep missing the [Construction] furniture is a mystery to me. I probably should not say anything about that huh. _ Olkan: I will inform and Merashiel, of course. But do give some thoughts about it. They really did something to him, didn''t they¡­? As I was feeling a bit sorry for the poor boobs-obsessed maniac, he makes a coin gesture with his hand. _ Olkan: After all, think of the protection racket money we can make from this. I worried too much. He can still speak the language of materialism perfectly fine~ ____________ The bartender lets out a heavy sigh as she stands on the desolate battlefield. Even though the battle has been won, she feels no joy in her heart. Basking in the sunlight which has finally returned to the land, she grieves for her fallen comrades in silence. _ Linista: This barely pays for a full party''s worth of dumplings! ¡­Grieves for the lack of material gains more like. And her comrades are definitely not dead. _ Helen: There there~ We didn''t use any potion so it''s all good. _ Thelia: Not to mention that owner''s dumplings cost an arm and a leg to begin with. _ Linista: But who would pay for Raid Breaker service against this kind of "raid"?! _ Falyn: To be fair, you did charge quite a price for something that amounts to five minutes of owner''s time. This is the last corpse. Can you move? Thanks to a little commotion in guild chat during the fight, they are aware of the logistic change in the latest patch. They have no intention of making a caravan however, and settle with piling everything into ''s inventory. _ Linista: There is no way I can move. I am not guildmaster. _ Falyn: Oh well. You''ll just have to unload at the entrance then. Dimensional transfer gate, open! [Mass Recall]! *FLASH* Teleporting across the map back to their village, the party appear at the edge of the floating island, where a bridge connecting it and the land below resides. While half of it is still under construction like the rest of the settlement, the work to turn it into a majestic bridge brimming with trade and visitors is progressing as planned. _ All: ¡­ They are pretty sure this massive pile of furniture was not included in the bridge''s schematics though. --- Topic: Patch discussion - 1.0df7 --- ¡­ ## GoldBar9999 Watch out guys. There are new quests for bandits now. Our 100-man-strong caravan was attacked and outnumbered by a company of NPC bandits led by human players. ## ## SilentKillerX Yes! YESSSSS!!! Now we PKers can have quests too! Tremble and despair, weaklings! We are coming for you and your coins! (¨R¥í¨Q) ## ## Big Hammer ^Go explode, ya darn scoundrel! There''s not going to be a boss raiding caravans because some maniac decides to accept these quests right? RIGHT?!?! ## ## Silver Merchant It was an NPC-only attack this time with @GoldBar9999, but the one earlier had been a concentrated monster assault, so don''t count bosses out yet. (^_-) ## ## WarlordPwnage If even your massive caravan can get outnumbered, how is anyone supposed to do trading without a big guild escorting them?! ## ## GoldBar9999 By having this: [Pic] Jokes aside, it is not guaranteed that you get attacked during travels, and not all will have this crazy number of bandits. Not sure if we were just unlucky or the quests somehow scaled with our caravan''s strength and gave more bandit NPCs, but it''s not like you lose anything but time if you get wiped. Fun fact: We didn''t have much trouble repelling the bandits. Our casualties (half of our total fighting force) were from that terror in the screenshot. ## ## The Dark Knife I¡­ how¡­ was that girl seriously T-POSING you guys?! (£þ¡õ£þ;) ## ## OP alchemist LOLWUT ## ## Heaven Piercer LOOOOOOOOOOL!!! So bad-mannered! (¡ä¨Œ`) ## ## Newbie Charisma build The future of warfare has come! \(^o^)/ ## ## Mage of Sin The weapon to end all weapons! And she has no respect for you at all! (*¡ã?¡ã)=3 ## ------ Chapter 88: Aerial archaeology Today, the perfect romance heroine Shadyna is finally getting confessed to~ _ Sateri: , there''s something I need to tell you. Is this real? Am I dreaming right now~? Well, technically I AM dreaming. Doesn''t make our conversation any less real though~ _ Shadyna: Yes~? _ Sateri: Something has stranded into the void. You may want to check it out. It''s a random side quest instead?! I know Sateri randomly confessing to me during our daily greeting (praying) is too good to be true, but I certainly didn''t expect her to just throw a quest at me out of the blue either! _ Aenilie: I felt it too! It is very, very big! ¡­I would like to ask her if she knows how little her description narrows it down, but my virtual divine daughter is cute so I''m letting that slide! Still, something big appearing in space huh¡­ A boss? Is it about Sateri''s promise of shooting me down midair back when I first explored space I wonder? ¡­In that case, going out there is the last thing I should do right now. Of course, I will go out eventually since my fianc¨¦e personally requested it, but I will do so when I am fully prepared and armed to take on the boss waiting for me there, the greater boss that spawns after the first one, AND the princess captured by those two! The last one will undoubtedly be the hardest, un. _ Shadyna: Alright, I''ll see what I can do. Anything I should know before going out? _ Sateri: It came from the outside, so please exercise your utmost caution. I already am. Just hoping you would at least give me a starting weapon though. Not that a pacifist like me would use it per se¡­ Since we are going to no-weapon whatever being out there, might as well compensate for it properly with the power of friendship! _ Shadyna (Guild): Good evening everyone~ ¡­ _ Choruse: It''s rare for you to call us on your own. Did you finally murder someone and need help hiding the body? _ Shadyna: How rude~ We are just going to do some recon today. Here''s some hybrid potions to use. My bodyguards of the day quickly arrived after I announced my login in guild chat, as expected. Because the dark elven sisters are known have great combat synergy with each other, I have no doubt that they will be a formidable fighting force when diplomacy inevitably fails like it always does before boss fights. I may die from the mental damage before I can die from the boss''s attack though. By the way, corpse desecration is not violence so I would not need anyone''s help to dispose of all evidences in the first place. Good luck investigating a locked-room murder when there is no room, house, or even the entire neighborhood left! What do you mean, the whole player base would know it was me in that case?! _ Choruse: Ehm¡­ we still have our own potions¡­ _ Shadyna: Those won''t recharge fast enough if we use them excessively, so consider these your emergency supply. You prefer melee right? I''ll give you new magic buff now. Ophilie, Aenilie, [Ethereal Form]! Spinning in the sparkling lights, the two turn into new appearance resembling half-transparent spirits. Not having anything below the waist sounds like a disadvantage at first, but their movement (floating) speed is the same, and the equipment bonuses, boots included, apply as normal. _ Shadyna: [Phantom Edge]. [Devotion]. Lutena, go~! We begin the usual synchronized dance that many have witnessed during Raid Breaker times. For the record, it wasn''t my intention at first. It appears that NPCs in [Ethereal Form] will by default mimic the summoner''s movements, or the whoever I order them to attach to. I just had to learn Lutena''s spell casting animation for all of us to dance like a professional synchronized dance crew~ Still, having Aenilie in the buffing ritual is probably the first even for my guild members. My rechargeable lunchboxes are strong enough for most of our daily grinding after all. And they are going to be even more surprised when they see the numbers. Not to diss the beautiful hardworking mother in anyway, but it''s hard for a normal NPC to compete against one with the [Apostle of Light] profession of all things, all else being equal. When you look at the stats, it''s kind of obvious why her daughter needed ten times the sacrifice to unlock [Ethereal Form]. It was still a royal pain to do it though¡­ _ Shadyna: Next up is . [Soul Ascension]! _ Melodyn: Ehm~ ? _ Shadyna: Yes~? Oh, right. I''ll craft some [Resurrection] potions, just in case. Since none of us main support, potions will be quicker to use than slowly casting the spell. It''s a pity that I cannot craft [Soul Ascension]-enchanted potions with effect as strong as Lutena''s own casting. _ Melodyn: What kind of genocidal recon are we doing that requires this much firepower? _ Shadyna: Recon! In! Force~! Now that she mentions it, we may encounter a horde as well. Should I leave Lutena back at the base in combat form with [Shared Fate] as HP battery for [Solar Radiance]? Gelly has acquired some neat debuff spells after evolution so I prefer having her available in the frontline too¡­ _ Choruse: ¡­We should have prepared our wills before coming here, shouldn''t we? _ Melodyn: Indeed~ We shouldn''t repeat our mother''s mistake of neglecting a will when she joined the local lich''s army to support our family. The sisters'' backstory is getting even more bizarre!? What''s next, their education was a perk from their mother''s voluntary military service? _ Choruse: We should not. The mayor was very confused when he found out that most of mother''s wealth was amassed after she died. She even went to him to explain in person and that still didn''t help. I''m confident that the supposedly dead person discussing her own postmortem bureaucracy is the source of the poor mayor''s confusion in the first place! ____________ Meanwhile, in the cathedral-like guildhall of , the guildmaster himself is handing a scroll to a particular elf. _ Torenis: Thank you for your patronage as always, . Seriously though, it was a pain to get this thing to drop. We need to begin stockpiling rare niche skills now that we have become the trading hub for summoners. The elf gracefully receives it with a surprised expression. _ Fuelri: Sorry about that. Your clerk mentioned this so I thought you already had them in inventory¡­ _ Torenis: Catalogued, yes. Stockpiled, no. It was so niche, we didn''t think anyone would ask for it. The only way to unlock being a rare boss drop didn''t help either. Why on earth would you ever need this skill¡­ Actually, scratch that. You even weaponized [Recall] to begin with. _ Fuelri: I''ll pretend I didn''t hear that last part. Even if I don''t actively use it, it''s good to have more tools in the box, lest myself fall behind . Not to mention that if encounters an equal enemy¡­ we are going to need all the firepower we can get. It''s probably a better idea to vacate the area as fast as possible rather than recklessly attacking in that apocalyptic scenario, thinks . Then again, the guildmaster has never been the type to mingle at the frontline, and the person he''s talking to is a cavalry maniac who only runs away to turn around for the next melee charge¡­ _ Torenis: Not what I would do, but you do you. If you need anything else, don''t hesitate to contact us. As fellow summoners, I don''t want you to lose against that [Dark Bolt] addict either. And because has a lot of gold coins to part with, but the experienced leader has enough tact to keep such thoughts to himself. _ Fuelri: Heh. Don''t mind if I do. Reading the scroll in her hand, the elf is surrounded by dancing sparkles. One of the few times she has some resemblances to the image of elves most people have. [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Final Order Lv.0"] _ Fuelri: That''s one out of the way¡­ Ah, I would like to order [Vengeance Edict] next. _ Torenis: ¡­*Sighs* Give me three days. We have to camp another boss for that. ____________ Armed to the teeth and ready to roll, the pacifist is going to war~! Before I can uh¡­ delegate the actual fighting to the bloodthirsty dark elven twin, we found ourselves in quite a predicament the moment we [Recall] to my space gazebo at the top of the stone tower¡­ There''s no boss. No, it''s not "there''s no boss at this location", but rather "something''s here, and it''s not a boss" kind of problem. We even prepared ourselves for a long flight in space just to spot the darn thing as a tiny pixel in our vision¡­ Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. _ Aenilie: Milady, that''s it! It''s what stranded into our world! Well duh, I doubt anything players-made can randomly appear in this empty space. Not without me knowing or facilitating it beforehand. _ Shadyna: Even if you say that¡­ Those are just bones. It''s like an asteroid field in sci-fi movies, but with bones instead of rocks. Big bones, small bones, kinda average bones, all floating in the space above us, dotting our vision from one end to another, extending all the way past my headset''s rendering distance. I don''t know how this boneyard looks when viewed from the ground, but from our seats here, the bones are as numerous as the stars in the sky. The divine girls did say it was big, but I certainly didn''t expect it to be the world-map-spanning kind of big¡­ _ Melodyn: It could use some meat and skin, don''t you think~? _ Choruse: Indeed. Makes one wonder if it has been subsisting entirely on bone meals this whole time. Leave the bony jokes to Sateri''s boss descriptions please~ I really don¡¯t want our Goddess to get competitive and blast me with even more humerus puns until there''s nothing but skeletal remains left! _ Shadyna: So¡­ what should we do about these bones? _ Choruse: ¡­Skin it. Daheck?! _ Melodyn: Butcher it. At least suggest something you can do to bones, you beautiful psychos~!!! _ Aenilie: Milady, you should collect them first before doing anything. Brilliant idea, Aenilie! I''m not sure what to feel about the NPC being the only sane person in the group, but I''ll take whatever help I can get! ¡­How the heck am I supposed to collect all of them though? The kind and caring Goddess couldn''t possibly expect me to fly to, pick up, put into my inventory, every single one of the floating bones here, right? Right?! Sateri, what kind of maniacal suitors are you trying to attract with these impossibly tedious challenges?!?! _ Melodyn & Choruse: Can we kill the same amount of monsters and rip their bones out instead? _ Shadyna: Denied! See what I mean, Sateri? ____________ In the one and only arena of the game world (for now), a dual-wielding waitress is facing off against a full party of macho men on the ring. The lopsided numerical advantage out of place for an arena aside, any sane normal person would question why someone decided to they needed to do this in the first place. Couldn''t possibly be the blonde lady on the ring herself right? It was, in fact, that very person who asked for this. _ Hessenria: Too slow! [Pierce]! Ducking to avoid a cleaving attack from her left flank, the lead waitress kicks off the ground towards the assailant, running both of her swords through him with ease. _ Macho warrior: GUHAH!!! As expected of a combat veteran, the muscular man is still moving after such brutality. That''s why the blonde beauty proceeds to let go of one hand to blast him with [Dark Bolt], shove a [Dark Bolt] bomb into his face, then pull the swords out and stab him again for good measure. No amount of muscles could save him after that. Sitting on a wooden stool a meter beyond the ring because audience seats are for losers, the guildmaster of these manly men and her idol partners are observing the onslaught with glee. They take no joy in seeing their guild members taking a beating, obviously. However, as combat maniacs themselves, the sight of the waitress using a combination of [Leap], self-inflicting [Slam], and kicking totally-not-her-guildmaster scarecrows to dominate the maneuver warfare is something to behold. _ Cinrald: It''s a pity that you cannot stack multiple [Alchemy] items, isn''t it, ~? _ Hessenria: It is. I tried using a hybrid item to bypass the consumable cooldown, but all of my [Alchemy] items seem to share a skill cooldown in addition to consumable cooldown. Skill effect won''t fire until both wear off. It''s as if Sateri-chan added it specifically for this usage. _ Cinrald: Ahahahaha! Maybe someone did try and prompted her to patch it? Wouldn''t be the first time either. Although using a [Leap] bomb right after a [Leap] bomb-equipment hybrid is out, activating it after a normal [Leap] skill is still valid, effectively doubling the number of escape skills one can have. Had prepared one during the tournament, she wouldn''t have been pushed into that free fall resulting in her defeat. It was not like she didn''t have this technique back then either. She even made her gauntlet a hybrid item just so she could fire off an additional [Dark Bolt], which she did use in the last second of the fall and unfortunately missed. Everything was already there, she just got tunnel vision and failed to realize that it could be used for, say, other skills. The [Dark Bolt] addiction is already terminal¡­ At least the waitress is working honestly to remedy that. _ Macho sorcerer: BUWARGH! Good¡­ Game¡­ *Drops dead* Unable to keep up with the constant evasion that no longer solely relies on [Leap], the macho party was picked off one after another. It''s not like they had much of a chance even though was using non-[Artifact] equipment, but this new addition to her arsenal makes it outright unfair to the poor guys. _ Cinrald: Alright, I''ve finished crafting. Let me join in the fun as well! You have to join us if you lose! _ Idol #2: I''ll be next. _ Idol #3: And me after. Let us see how you handle your own tactics. _ Clerk: *Arrives by [Recall]* Guildmaster, I need you to¡­ No fair! I want to fight Lady too!!! Suddenly having to take on a cohort of beautiful combat maniacs, the blonde waitress could only smile wryly. _ Hessenria: This is exactly why I didn''t want to join your guild. I won''t have time to do my job, or anything else for that matter. She will gladly entertain them until the end of the day though. ____________ After a long and detailed brainstorming session about what to do with the bone pile above us, I have come to a conclusion: and are better at murdering people than guarding them. Sharpen the bones to skewer players, craft the bones into weapons and kill players, use the bones as-is to smack players, throw the bones from orbit onto Tyrel to completely obliterate even more players with [Alpha Strike Bonus]. Are you two even capable of suggesting something without creating more dead bodies in this cruel virtual world?! It''s a mystery why they decided to join Hessy in the first place. I really hope it wasn''t because they get to murder our degenerate patrons while getting paid for it. ¡­That was definitely the reason, wasn''t it? Half way through the psychopathy-inducing conversation, I left the sisters to their fantasies and went to investigate the bones instead. This pacifist me wouldn''t be able to contribute anyway~ Approaching one of them, I find the bones a tad bigger than I originally thought. The small one in my hand now is bigger than my entire arm, which means these are probably not humanoid bones. Not a normal-sized humanoid at least. What exactly are these though? [Inspect], your opinion? [Old Bone] You. Don''t. Say!!! Since my [Inspect] is useless as usual, I try to put the bone into my inventory¡­ Nope, no dice. This is a quest item alright. With the logistic patch, I most likely wouldn''t be able to [Recall] with it either. And so, I ask Su to come to the gazebo instead. _ Su: [Powerful Old Bone], is what it says. ¡­Sateri darn it~!!! The uselessness has spread to my guild members'' [Inspect] as well~! Nevertheless, if this is what level-capped [Inspect] gives, I am confident that we are not missing any vital information that may result in me going in the wrong direction again. That leaves me with the question of: What should I do with these bones? _ Su: I recommend experimenting with a few. You have enough of them in my opinion. _ Shadyna: "Enough of them" is quite an understatement, but thanks for the advice. Whatever these creatures were, they are too dead to voice a complaint. In the bizarre event of someone other than me collects them, I doubt said maniac can notice that a few dozens of them were uh¡­ donated to science. _ Su: If you don''t mind, we can conduct our investigation during daytime independently too. _ Shadyna: Ah, of course. I''ll be counting on you. _ Su: Very well. I shall return now. We were in the middle of an important research on whether avatar height affects maximum equipment size and hair length. ¡­Wait, so you are saying lolis can have proportionally bigger sword and longer hair? _ Shadyna: Please send me the findings afterwards! _ Su: Ufufu~ Gladly~ Seeing my researcher off to continue her utmost important project (yes, really!), I return to the dark elven sisters to see how many crimes against nature they are planning to commit. _ Choruse: Guildmaster, we just remembered that our guild specializes in [Cooking]. No, please remember that sooner. It''s supposed to be your main job! _ Choruse: That''s why, we should cook these bones. That''s¡­ surprisingly mild, or my standards have dropped to the bottom due to constant brainwashing. _ Melodyn: Of course, we can always feed it to our patrons if it turns out to be poisonous~ Knowing our customer base, you girls will probably charge premium for such poison as well~ ____________ At the border of a faraway hunting zone, a small tent has been built by a small party. With similar tents and bigger settlements having become a common sight during travels these days, a new player would find it hard to believe that the previous meta was to leave nothing out in the wilderness. The medieval fantasy world is finally getting its long-awaited "medieval" part, all thanks to the hard work of its denizens. The merchants inside were in the process of turning the place into a cozy rest stop when a waitress paid them a visit. _ Inerin: Good day, . This is the place right? _ Olkan: Welcom¡­ Oh, is off today? _ Inerin: Kind of. She is currently occupied with the twin so I am here in her place. _ Olkan: Damn, I''m jealous¡­ A-anyway, we will leave you to it. Send me a PM after you setup the network. _ Inerin: Uh¡­ sure. She was about to inform him that she had already finished it, but the merchants seem to be genuinely oblivious to the [Recall] network''s inner workings. Being an idealist who always looks out for her friends, she avoids giving away information that may disadvantage them at all cost, no matter how minor it may be. As the result, the waitress now finds herself standing alone in an empty tent with nothing to do. Contrary to the popular beliefs, the [Recall] network does not use a machine beyond human comprehension, made out of [Artifact] materials, or require daily virgin sacrifice. In fact, it is only a lump of fake grass crafted from [Construction], enchanted with a very niche skill: [Plant Camo]. It''s one of the camouflage skills that are more often seen on monsters than players, for they are not that useful. They make [Inspect] return a different result than it usually would, like a plant for this particular skill. If someone happens to [Inspect] this lump of grass, it would show [Grass] instead of its original name, [Fake Grass Designator]. Of course, anyone can make an item with the name [Grass] to begin with, although no sane player would be tricked into thinking that a wooden barrel is actually grass regardless of what [Inspect] says. That''s why very few players even bother with these skills. On the other hand, aggressive monsters do get tricked into thinking the item as part of the environment and will ignore it. Because this was crafted and enchanted by players with OP gear and stats, no monster short of a bonus boss has any chance of detecting it, corruption raid included. Appearance-wise, these designators were made to look the same as its surrounding flora mainly for the sake of immersion at first. In fact, they so well-made, they blend perfectly into the scenery, making it nigh impossible for players to tell them apart from the background. The only practical ways to know would be to pick it up by mistake or blow up the area, which no one has attempted so far. Understandable as most have grown out of picking up grass to eat by the time they need the [Recall] network, and they prefer not getting embargoed for blowing up the only teleporting service in this game. And that, is how (accidentally) maintains a monopoly on [Recall] services, by abusing a useless starting skill of their guildmaster''s pet. The bow-wielding waitress decides not to think too deeply and enjoys a cup of tea before going back to the cafeteria. --- Topic: World Map Project discussion --- ## CuteIsJustice Due to overwhelming positive feedback support from the community, I hereby announce the birth of CSF World Map Project! It is an open source map by players, for players to maintain an up-to-date map detailing settlements and important landmarks around the world! Contribute to it directly or send me a PM if you think there''s a place that should be added to the map! The main repository as well as the latest map can be found here: [Link] Discussions about settlements should go to previous thread: [Link] ## ## Mage of Sin Gratz on the promotion! (^^)/ ## ## Shining Knight Congrats! Time to do a pilgrimage around the¡­ globe? ## ## Nearseeing Sage Circle. The world map is literally a circle. (¡ä?`) ## ## CuteIsJustice Being surrounded by darkness usually ends up that way. (^_^;) Where are you right now @Nearseeing Sage? I need help investigating this Cartographer Origin title I just got. ## ## Nearseeing Sage (£À_£À)?!?! Stay right where you are. I''ll be there in 30 seconds! ## ## CuteIsJustice But you don''t even know where I am!? ¦²(?§¥?) ## ## Newbie Charisma build We are witnessing the rise of a new Origin title holder! (¨R¥í¨Q) ## ## GoldBar9999 Well, Origin titles haven''t dominated the meta since that big nerf. They are more like nice-to-have bonuses these days. (¡ä?¦Ø?`) @CuteIsJustice: We have established multiple rest stops and paved roads between settlements for easier traveling. Would you mind adding them to the map? We are always recruiting btw. ## ## Manly Warrior Gratzzzzzz @CuteIsJustice! \(^o^)/ I for one did not expect that you can gain titles by IRL actions! ## ## Bountiful Hunter Congratulations you mad lass! Age of exploration, here I come!!! (`?¦Ø?¡ä) ## ------ Chapter 89: It still counts as construction Little chef Shadyna, preparing the greatest meal ever made! Not in the sense of taste, mind you, but rather the scale. If this actually turns out to be real food, I might be able to solve world hunger! For a few days at least. _ Choruse: Good day, . Are you still going at it? _ Shadyna: Un! It''s slow as expected, but it''s coming along! As I couldn''t come up with a better idea to deal with the random massive bone pile appearing in OUTER SPACE for some reason, it was eventually decided that we would do what we are best at. In other words, we cooked the bones. And it worked. Sateri, I''m pretty sure that''s not what people meant when they called a taste (literally) out of this world¡­ Anyway~, a hotpot craft began as I used [Creation] on one of the bones. It only accepts [Powerful Old Bone] though, so I think it will become a broth rather than hotpot, just saying¡­ _ Melodyn: *Sighs* It is just as Su said, you cannot add other bones. Unfortunate~ _ Choruse: Unfortunate. We are not even selling this and you girls are already trying to mix cheap ingredients to reduce cost?! By the way, healing and resurrection spells were also brought into the discussion. That would have been my first choice too, if it weren''t for Sateri''s warning about the danger of flying trash from space (or something along those lines). The teahouse girls seemed content with that explanation, so the accidentally reviving (yet another) great evil dooming the world clich¨¦ was extinguished from inception. This cute leafy pacifist will not fight if there is an alternative, un! _ Shadyna: Give me a minute. I need to begin today''s gathering first. Whether we cook or revive these bones, we still need to collect all of the bones in the first place. In fact, I suspect the quest itself is probably gathering them, not what to do with it afterwards. Why? Because I have spent more time on this than all the previous unique boss fights combined, that''s why! Sateri''s quests are way too extreme, seriously¡­ It''s not like she wasn''t aware of that either. She even made it possible to add bones just by throwing them directly into the crafting sphere, presumably to reduce the pain of opening the crafting menu to put them in manually. I appreciate the thoughtfulness, but not blasting something so hard it''s scattered all over the world in the first place would have been much better you know~? _ Choruse: Oh, right. ''s massive¡­ things. _ Melodyn: Everyone in previous shifts were amazed by its length and size~ I''m also amazed by your complete inability to phrase anything in a normal way!!! For the record, we are talking about the tools I use to collect the bones. Because collecting them one by one and my sanity are mutually exclusive, I had to improvise a bit. After all, bones floating in empty space are just undesirable veggies in your soup (kind of). Being the honorable guildmaster of the strongest [Cooking] guild in the game, the solution to that was obvious: Scoop them out. With a ladle. A very big ladle. _ Shadyna: Gelly, bring it out please. On my command, a wooden ladle with the cup part as big as a house appears above us. The handle is thin, and long. City block long, to be specific. Being made of leftover materials from our village construction, it''s not of the best quality there is. Not that it''s a problem per se. Anything will do as long as it can catch the floating bones. I wanted to make it as big as the whole arena complex, though the crafting system wouldn''t let me create a wagon larger than this size. Yes, you heard that right. This is a ladle-shaped wagon. Although it''s not possible to put the bones into the storage, the wagon''s hitbox still collides with the bones, and therefore works perfectly fine as far as scooping up trash goes. Combined with [Air Cushion], no orbital trash is beyond my reach! Lutena in her combat form had already departed shortly before the twin arrived by the way. Sure, using a pet dropped by a unique boss and another whose evolution could only be acquired by beating a unique boss (or something along those lines) to pull carts is probably not the most optimal play, but I''m definitely not making my NPC family do heavy labor, okay? Domestic violence is still violence! Patting my pet who has acquired (half) humanoid form lightly, I send her to a different direction from Lutena. I would join them on other free days as well. For today though, there''s something else requiring my presence. _ Melodyn & Choruse: ¡­ _ Shadyna: What''s the matter? _ Melodyn: Well, we knew that you were using wagons¡­ _ Choruse: But to be honest, we were expecting something else, since it was you. Aren''t you two implying something rude there¡­? My strategy is both peaceful and [Cooking]-related (kinda), so it''s a perfect fit for me. _ Shadyna: Ehm¡­ What were you expecting then? _ Melodyn & Choruse: Explosions, corpses, ¡­exploding corpses? What am I, some kind of maniacal necromancer?! ____________ It is not easy being a dedicated PKer, silently thinks the bandit leader while lying in the grass. One has to let go of their compassion and empathy to strike down fellow players. Be quick, be efficient, and do not hesitate to kill begging players if they don''t cough up items in exchange for their pathetic lives. Sure, it might be painful for your conscience, but that is way better than the pain you will feel when enemy''s reinforcement comes and beats you up because you wasted valuable time. And thanks to the meddling big guilds, it''s no longer viable to attack settlements. The debuff totems, even the cheap mass-produced ones, drag out most assassinations for too long to conclude before pesky guards interfere. In fact, forget the towns. Even the sporadic tents along the trade routes are too much to deal with as enemies keep on coming despite the complete and utter destruction of the tents. Do those greedy guilds have a grudge against PKers or something?! Attacking their main settlement AND caravans tend to cause such grievances, though there''s no sane player around to explain it to them. As the result, organized PKing is limited to one or two full parties max, lest the top four guilds notice the big gatherings and come sieging. With such numbers, the unaligned PKers who still stick to the profession resort to hit-and-run ambushes in the wilderness. The victims themselves worth nothing except for experience points. It''s the banditry-related quests and the occasional successful extortions that are their main source of cash and ingredients. In other words, it''s your typical psycho highway robber-murderers, but once again, no sane person in the vicinity. _ Bandit leader (Party): Caravan spotted! Two big wagons! No escort at the front except for the drivers. _ Bandit #2 (Party): No escort? To support the outnumbered PKers, caravan ambush quests usually provides bandit NPCs as allies. All in all, the system balances the fighting forces well enough to avoid making it too obviously one-sided in either direction, so it''s surprising to see such defenseless caravan when their side numbers over 60. _ Bandit leader (Party): A few summoned beasts. There may be one or two more players behind the wagons, but there can''t be more than that. It is a boon for the bandits. Like NPCs, summons have stats similar to players on paper, but the lack of fine-grained controls mean they are somewhat weaker in practice. Combined with the current 10-to-1 numerical advantage, it will be a complete annihilation for those poor merchants. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. _ Bandit #2 (Party): Are you going to extort them first? _ Bandit leader (Party): Nah. Small caravans wouldn''t have much on them anyway. Have the eastern group attack the left wagon on 3. _ Bandit #2 (Party): Kk. Ready when you are. _ Bandit leader (Party): 1¡­2¡­3! GO GO GO!!! _ Bandit #2 (Party): Attack attack attack!!! Arrows, javelins, fireballs, water bullets, and even lightweight portable ballista bolts are fired en masse towards the unsuspecting caravan, with only warning signs being skill calls from magi. _ Girls: EEK!!! To say that the two girls driving the wagons are surprised is a big understatement. Their yelps are drowned out by the explosions going off. The amount of firepower rained upon them is overkill whether the receiving end is players or castle walls. Not the most gentlemanly way to fight, but these experienced bandits are not taking any chances with little girls anymore, thanks to a particularly traumatic encounter with one. And yet, as the dust settles, two players scared out of their wits can be seen cowering right where they were at, the epicenter of the deadly barrage. It was, in fact, not enough. ____________ After many days of hard work (for our contractors), we have done it. Our own village, Sapling Garden, is complete at last! Looking from a distance, one will see the landmass hovering above an artificial pond. We also built a massive purple-ish glowing crystal underneath the island, just to emphasize that islands, contrary to normal expectations, do not float naturally. Shocking, I know. The crystal is not actual crystal by the way. There''s nowhere near enough left in my secret base, and they cannot be found anymore after the valley transformed into a beach. Because of such scarcity, we mined ice in cold zones and use that to build instead. So¡­ yeah, the massive floating crystal is just a glorified colored ice cube. A carefully sculptured one to make it look realistic, but an ice cube nevertheless. Good job, construction team! To get to the village, flying and [Recall] are preferred. Caravans and casual roleplayers can do it the normal way which is crossing the only stone bridge to the southwest. It''s a bit steep, but at the same time, it''s already 200-meter long. People will probably complain even more if we try to lengthen it. Sure, there are many longer bridges in real life, though I certainly wouldn''t want to cross them every day, and some caravans might have to do just that. ¡­I wonder if we can build a pulley elevator so that they can leave faster? It wouldn''t be long before someone decides that jumping off the edge is faster than walking back, and the land value would take a dive together with those maniacs! _ Shadyna: Do you think we should build the elevator to the left or right of the bridge? _ Melodyn & Choruse: Middle. And please explain it first before asking. Sorry~ And how the heck are we going to build that you beautiful psychos~?! Once you have crossed the bridge, the village will come into view. It''s nothing fancy, just stone-and-timber buildings invoking that medieval fantasy feeling. There''s a big common land in the middle, surrounded by enough houses for everyone in the guild and then some for other uses. Public infrastructure is top-notch too: Water wells, paved roads, designated [Recall] area, outdoor lamps, etc¡­ all ready and operational. And that''s only one-fourths of the available surface area of our island. The rest is reserved for future expansions. For today though, our guild''s objective is empty plot of land in the middle of the village. What''s the objective? Turn the community lot into a bustling marketplace to where players from over the world will go for their grocery! Yes, we already have the cafeteria in Tyrel for that purpose. CSF keeps getting more and more players however, so it''s only a matter of time before we completely run out of capacity even in "slow" hours. That''s why Hessy and other managers decided on building a grocery market to protect our market share. Can''t have competitors take away our gold coins now, can we? Commence evil laughs in food monopoly~ Not only me, but everyone not on counter duty is working towards setting this place up for tomorrow''s grand opening. We wanted to decorate our new workplace ourselves so the contract builders did not have a hand in any of this. From the positions of the stalls to what kind of food to be put on display, my guild members get to make their dream shop come true! Before anyone asks, this is not going to become our main shop. That would be Tyrel''s cafeteria. The market here will be mainly for selling food-related products rather than providing a social space to get daily verbal abuse, with filling stomachs as a secondary bonus. ¡­Dear degenerate customers, how many times do I have to remind you that we are (kind of) a [Cooking] guild first and foremost?! As the guildmaster, I obviously have my own little stall. I asked Hessy to give me the furthest lot from the entrance however, as I am not a merchant main. No point in having the best location when I won''t be tending to it the majority of the time, right? According to the stall assignment layout, mine should be in that directi¡­ _ ???: Uuu¡­ Shadynaaaaaa~~~! _ Shadyna: Eh? The dark elven sisters and I turn around to find and approaching from the bridge, visibly upset. _ Shadyna: What happened?! Did you get into a fight?! They are covered in enough soot and arrows to become part of the fantasy sea urchin population. It''s as if an army was fighting an ancient dragon, then both decided that they would rather bully innocent girls of the neighborhood instead. Considering how events in this game are organized, such scenario is¡­ not that far-fetched, unfortunately. On the other hand, my apprentices should be no stranger to being swarmed by hostiles, and they were only transporting goods from the cafeteria to the village. How in the world did they end up more tattered than the time they went against the whole player base in the middle of Tyrel?! _ Poltea: Uh-uhm¡­ we were attacked on the way here. A lot of players hid in the grass and suddenly charged at us. I couldn''t raise my shields in time¡­ ¡­Welp, we focused so much on improving their combat abilities, we never got around to teach them tactical senses to make use of said abilities! _ Shadyna: Well, at least you are alive and the wagons are safe¡­ What happened to the assailants? _ Fensen: We beat them! Now that''s more like my cute little terminators~ Getting blasted by an alpha strike sucks, but gameplay-wise, it wouldn''t do much against the armors I personally crafted for them. All that''s left after the initial surprise is mopping up operation, with extreme prejudice. _ Poltea: Y-yes, we defeated most of the enemies¡­ I think. Then Nerin and told us to continue to the village while they went back to Tyrel for something¡­ Right. Just like me, the duo usually has their own escorts. Why did they go back to Tyrel though? Don''t tell me¡­ _ Choruse: They are most likely carrying out an anti-PK mission. Knew it! _ Melodyn: Guildmaster, let us join them to murde¡­ avenge and . Your desires are leaking there, ¡­ Well, I do understand the sentiments. My guild members were attacked unilaterally after all. Pacifist or not, I cannot just let this matter slide, otherwise there will be more maniacs picking a fight with us, thinking we''re easy preys. Un, let''s have a nice talk with those bandits. I''m sure we can reach an understanding after a heartfelt discussion. While having [Solar Radiance] on. *BONK* Ouch!!! Enemy attack?! Or so I thought, but it was actually the scary blonde waitress who snuck up on us from behind. _ Shadyna: That hurt, Hessy! What are you doing that for?! _ Hessy: That''s my line. Could you NOT burn down the capital the day before our opening? Leave the anti-PK to those two. They will call for backup if needed. Until then, focus on the task at hand. _ Choruse: ¡­Leader, we did just that in the Apostle of Light event. _ Melodyn: It''s part of our reputation at this point. _ Melodyn & Choruse: So it''s totally fine if we do it again. _ Hessy: AS IF!!! *THWACK* *THWACK* Scary~~~ _ Hessy: , I''ll borrow these undeadbeats for a while. Call me if you leave, okay? _ Shadyna: Roger~ No need for bodyguards when everyone in line of sight is your bodyguard huh. Oh well, I plan to spend the day building my dream fish stall anyway. _ Fensen: Uhm¡­ What should we do now? _ Hessy: Ah, right. You can leave the wagons here. Your designated lot is next to ''s, so why don''t you accompany her? If you need our help or advices, use the guild chat. _ Fensen: Yay~! Let''s go, ! _ Poltea: Not that way, !!! Looks like it''s going to be little girls'' day out, and certainly not a peaceful one, figuratively speaking! And so, the innocent girls of the neighborhood leave the area so that Hessy can enjoy her quality time with two busty dark elf sisters, whatever that entails~ They might want to pull the swords out first though. _ Hessy (PM): Almost forgot to tell you, but selling fish is not allowed. Please keep that in mind. ¡­Eh? EEEEEEEEHHHHHHHH?!?!?! ____________ It''s about time she gives up, thinks the virtual administrator as she examines her task list. The damage-over-time field in the void has been removed in preparation for the upcoming patches. However, it has been established as a death zone among players after their last disastrous attempt. As a result, Sateri needs a way to inform the player that it''s safe to explore again¡­ for now. That was when she decided to involve . By giving out a ridiculously long fetch quest with no short term rewards which takes many months to do even if the whole guild participates, the Goddess was indirectly nudging the dimwit to employ help from the player base. Once it becomes widespread news that it is possible to enter the void, it won''t be long before exploration starts again. How they are going to do so without flight is not her problem. Yes, she had to make a practically impossible quest. Not going to take a chance anymore. The last time she gave a tedious but still feasible one, the maniac just grinded through the whole thing! Take a clue already, you sprouty dummy! While the personality module is busy ranting alone as per usual, the analysis module has already begun the hard work. [Finished scanning current status of [Void]. Returning query result from zone.] ¡­Ladles? --- Topic: Bounty Hunter Headquarter thread --- ## Heaven Piercer Thread for discussing the latest bounty hunting news! Can''t let those PKers have the jump on us! (åø?§¥?)åø The current bounty board can be found here: [Link]. Post here or PM me if you need someone dead, maybe even more than once. Good luck and good hunting! ## ¡­ ## Bountiful Hunter Guys, add the operating area to the bounty description if possible. The targets can Recall to many settlements these days so camping in Tyrel is not as effective as before. ## ## Maximus Archery Got a few. Proof: [Pic] [Pic] [Pic] [Pic] [Pic] [Pic] ## ## Flame knight of Darkness (?§¥?) Did¡­ did you just wander around with the list open and kill everyone that fit the bill or something? ## ## Bountiful Hunter One of the top ten bounties is turning in bounties. This is awkward¡­ (¡ã_¡ã>) ## ## JigglingPouch @Heaven Piercer: I would like to put up a bounty for these guys [Pics]. 5 silver coins for each recent screenshot and coordinates of any of them. No need to kill them. We will handle that ourselves. Report here or to anyone in Sapling Cuisine. ## ## GoldBar9999 Thanks @Maximus Archery. That should teach them not to PK our customers. @JigglingPouch: ¡­I''m scared to ask, but what in the world did those guys do to Sapling Cuisine that warrants a bounty? They were already dead in the photos! (£þ¡õ£þ;) ## ## JigglingPouch @GoldBar9999 Bullying little girls. ## ## Heaven Piercer @Bountiful Hunter: Max''s been in this work since beta. We just didn''t broadcast it on the board. @JigglingPouch: Completely understandable. RIP those guys ©c(¡ä¨Œ`)/ ## ------ Chapter 90: Setting up shop This is Shadyna, sitting in a corner and totally depressed. Depressed, I''m telling you~! _ Fensen: is acting weird again~ _ Poltea: Uhm¡­ Does it hurt anywhere? Do you need the bathroom? That''s what it looks like to you?! After being denied of my one and only dream of owning a fish stall, I am at a loss for what to do with my (virtual) life. It''s like training your whole life to become a heroic warrior to defeat the demon king just for the bastard to abdicate for retirement and setup a democracy. Although the hot succubus advisor or the beautiful vampire boss will probably give you a new plot considering how chaotic the situation is, that doesn''t make it any less shocking upon receiving the news. While I was pondering the pros and cons of a democratic demonic army, our lead bartender walks to us with a leather bound book, and right behind her, the lead delivery girl pushing a wheelbarrow full of cargo boxes. _ Linny: , do you nee¡­ Should I begin running? For some reason, she starts saying something incomprehensible the moment I look at her?! _ Falyn: What are you talking about Lin¡­ Eh¡­ Weren''t and the ones who were attacked? _ Poltea: Uhm¡­ yes¡­ _ Falyn: Then why is owner looking like she''s going to condemn a bishop to eternal damnation again? *PAWNCH* _ Linny: Stop trying to get us killed. Oooh~ A rising uppercut~ Wait, that''s not the point! I appreciate Linny''s considerations but her implied opinion of me hurts even more! _ Shadyna: Listen! Hessy banned me from making a fish shop! Isn''t that cruel? _ Linny & Falyn: ¡­Ah, that. _ Shadyna: You know something about it? _ Linny: Every team conducted a survey to see what kind of products our clients wanted to see. The answers differed for each team, obviously, except for a few¡­ Then she sends me a mail detailing some of the questionnaire and answers. Q: What kind of food do you want to see sold in a settlement? A: The usual menu. No fish please. Q: What kind of food do you NOT want to see sold in a settlement? A: Fish. Q: Is there anything in particular that you do not want to see in a settlement? A: Fishy stuff. Q: Is there anything else you want to note for our settlers? A: Please do not sell fish. So on and so forth. For a survey that didn''t mention a single fin in it, our patrons sure are complaining a lot about fish! _ Linny: According to , roughly 30% of the respondents pleaded not to have fish to some extent. It would be disastrous if we ask them directly after that, so Hessy proposed that we just avoid selling fish in the village altogether. _ Shadyna: Selling fish in a food market is that damaging for our reputation?! _ Linny: Well¡­ _ Falyn: Not exactly. The disaster is when you find out and get angry. ¡­Hold on, I AM the disaster?! *PAWNCH* _ Linny: Which part of "stop trying to get us killed" do you not understand?! Rising uppercut, go~! And Linny, we need to talk about subtlety and how even the best intentions can still hurt. No, seriously, I''m just going to talk. Why are you backing away like those maidens in questionable media?! ¡­ _ Shadyna: Now then, what should I do about the stall¡­? is staring at me in disbelief as I say that. Probably has something to do with Linny sitting in the corner and crying over there huh. For the record, I did nothing but talk to her, okay? It''s not my fault that the sheltered lady has no tact and is now in shock after being called out. _ Fensen: Ehm¡­ Linny, are you alright¡­? _ Linny: I-I''m fine. Noble daughters during medieval times were mostly raised to be political pawns. Their education usually included etiquette, manners, diplomacy, seduction, sometimes even stewardship and intrigue. Empathy and compassion were not high priority, however, leading to situations such as the infamous "Let them eat cake" at times¡­ What the heck are you teaching to my apprentices, you busty maniac~! And aren''t you a bartender¡­? Unless you are implying that you are actually a medieval noblewoman in real life, which is another problem entirely. _ Fensen: ¡­Etiquette? What''s that? A type of bread? Sounds like a very tough bread, if it was one. Well, they are elementary schoolers so that answer is within expectations~ _ Poltea: *Sweatdrops* It''s probably a bit too early for you¡­ You are at the same age though?! And Linny, stop that orz. Are you seriously having a culture shock just because young girls do not have a princely fianc¨¦ by default and need a random passing by heroine to annul their engagements these days?! _ Falyn: Etiquette aside, can''t you just sell dumplings as always? It''s not as if the patrons could recognize the fishy taste after [Transmutation] anyway. As expected of Linny''s close friend, she completely ignores the bartender''s antics! doesn''t mean that our customers have no sense of taste by the way. Or at least, I sure hope she doesn¡¯t. Because [Transmutation] completely changes the ingredient materials without leaving any history or resemblance of the old items, it''s literally impossible to trace the origin of the product, is what she''s implying. That being said, I''m pretty sure Hessy banned transmuting meat for vegan meals in addition to plant monsters'' meat. We ARE an ethical business after all~ _ Shadyna: To be honest, I want to keep dumpling sale exclusive to our cafeteria, and sell something new here. _ Falyn: Oh? Why''s that? _ Shadyna: Diversity is one, but the main reason is my dumplings'' reputation among players. Do you keep track of the customers who buy dumplings in your shop? _ Falyn: Hmm¡­ buys four 12-pack boxes pretty much daily. sometimes orders deliveries whenever the tavern is too busy. The weirdoes from Unity of Mankind and Blue Blood Federation also come every once in a while to prepare for big bosses. The rest are random one-off guildmasters or managers whose purchases are nothing of note. Despite the high price, your dumplings are a very famous product among guilds as "the ultimate solution" when they need something deader than dead. Oof. I know she doesn''t mean anything bad, but that assessment really hurts my pacifist pride! Show some restraints, you murderous marauders in adventurer disguise! _ Shadyna: Un, that''s the problem. If I sell dumplings here, the only customers will be rich guildmasters because everyone thinks they are too expensive! Since this will be my own shop, I want it to be something delicious and affordable for everyone, from starting newbies to longtime veterans. Ehm¡­ ? Why are you patting my head? I didn''t say anything weird, did I? Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. _ Falyn (Guild): Owner is too precious. Can I take her home? Wait wut. _ Hessy (Guild): We ARE at home. Don''t tell me you are slacking off somewhere. That''s the part you are worried about?! _ Thelia (Guild): Again? You really need to drop that habit, . _ Helen (Guild): Isn''t it fine? That''s how joined after all~ _ Falyn (Guild): Yup. She''s being jealous. _ Thelia (Guild): I am busy here. Don''t make me go back to murder your butts! Kidnapper, murderer, womanizer. Yes, mister guard, those dangerous women right there! ____________ Captain log, galactic year X, month Y, day Z The main base has been wiped out, and it was the last place for teleportation too. Without it, the chance of escaping this endless loop of pain and suffering is¡­ low, to put it mildly. This is the tenth cycle, which will probably end the same way as the previous ones. No matter the location, the predators are able to catch up within minutes. By that time, the only thing left to do is to attack them in a blaze of glory, because outrunning the monsters is impossible. Needless to say, violence is a fruitless endeavor. Wouldn''t have to run otherwise. While the repeated deaths don''t do much aside from slightly decreasing armor''s durability (not that said armor did much against the cause of these deaths per se), they are quite a burden on anyone''s mind. That tends to happen when one is in a semi-groundhog situation in a virtual reality taking place in their own dream. At least the psychopathic murderer causing this is a beauty¡­ Such delusional thought may or may not be yet another symptom of his current mental state. That is why, he has to make this journal in an effort to maintain what''s left of his sanity. Even though he is not a captain, or in a spaceship for that matter. In fact, his sanity was most likely beyond saving the moment he needed to switch genre! _ ???: Found you. _ Captain (?): AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! The surrounding people give him the side-eyes as he runs along the street, screaming. Easy for them to do when they are not being hunted by bow-wielding and crossbow-wielding maniacs who are so OP, they didn''t even bother to shoot from a distance! The last time he tried to blend into the crowd to cut off pursuit, it actually made things worse because the predators could jump onto the buildings and watch him struggle in the sea of people instead. They even landed in front of him the moment he entered a sparser area and said "You''re late" for his trouble. The audacity! To avoid receiving such humiliation again, the captain (?) runs into a small alley. He has no delusion of running faster than the enemy, but there''s hope that the high walls and tight turns can throw them off even just for a little bit. ¡­And it''s a dead end. Worse still, there are two hooded gangster-like people conspiring something. He''s no upstanding citizen for the record, but dear Sateri these guys are definitely up to no good! _ Gangster (?): ¡­Yo yo yo, welcome back dear viewers! This is your favorite CSF PK streamer speaking! ¡­Maybe his sanity will hold for longer if he turns back. Right now. ____________ _ Falyn: With that out of the way, let us return to the original topic¡­ Why are you acting like you just finished house chores? Do you have a daily quota of trolling or something¡­? _ Falyn: If you don''t have a product in mind right now, why not coordinate with and ? They are your neighbors after all. Oh, right~ Actually, the two are already working with each other, and their stalls are actually one bigger stall according to the layout. Not sure what they planned to sell though. _ Shadyna: Good idea, ! , what kind of shop are you two making? _ Poltea: U-uhm¡­ We are going to make a lunchbox shop¡­ or something like that¡­ _ Shadyna: ¡­Eh? Lunchbox? _ Poltea: I-is it no good after all¡­? _ Shadyna: Ah, don''t worry, I''m not saying that you should or shouldn''t do it. I was just thinking that you would pick something along the lines of a candy shop or a bakery¡­ Mainly , but I will keep that to myself. doesn''t seem like she has strong preference for anything to begin with¡­ _ Fensen: I know right~? I said I wanted to make delicious breads, but rejected the idea! _ Poltea: *Sighs* Because you would eat the breads yourself¡­ _ Fensen: *Pouts* I would not! *Mumbles* Probably¡­ So it''s an actual possibility huh¡­ Guess that''s why she agreed not to do it, even if she doesn''t want to admit it. _ Poltea: I-In any case, that''s why we decided to make lunchboxes. _ Fensen: Ehehe~ I make lunchboxes for both of us in real life so it won''t be a problem! Bragging, aren''t ya~? ¡­Hold on, did just say that she makes lunchboxes in real life? Not gonna lie, I was under the impression that would be the one to cook out of the two¡­ As if reading my thoughts, the timid girl lets out a wry smile. _ Poltea: Yes, she is better than me when it comes to cooking. It is a bit frustrating, to be honest. _ Fensen: Eeeeehhh~ You already help me in everything else. Cooking for you every day is the least I can do to return the favor. _ Poltea: F-! Don''t talk about that!!! ¡­Seriously? From the sounds of it, I don''t think is a bad cook, just that the energetic girl who usually acts on impulse is a superior chef. And what the heck is this newlywed relationship!!! _ Fensen: Why? It''s not like anyo¡­ Ow ow ow! I''m sorry! I yield! I yield! Your shield hurts even if you only use one of them!!! Right down to the domestic violence too. Children of the modern generation, scary~ _ Falyn: ¡­We need to step up our game. _ Linny: Agreed. Those two are going to get married before we get Hessy to a hotel at this rate. Yup, I have no idea what they are talking about whatsoever~! Also, welcome back, Linny. _ Falyn: By the way, what do you think about their business plan? Wouldn''t lunchboxes in a market be out of place? _ Linny: You have to think in degenerates'' terms. It''s handmade lunchboxes, from two cute little sisters who work in earnest for the sake of their customers. That''s a killing combo right there. Some advertising in the cafeteria and it has the potential to be one of our best-selling limited products on the menu. _ Falyn: *Sighs* We are not getting away from those pi¡­ patrons even in this place, aren''t we? I agree with the limited production. The value is going to drop if we help them cook the meals. Out of all topics to be discussed today, I definitely did not expect mass-produced handmade limited edition lunchboxes to be one of them¡­ On a not really related note, we need a brand name because that was a mouthful to say! _ Linny: But that is for tomorrow''s business meeting. , I remembered something that might help you. _ Shadyna: Help me, as in choosing what kind of stall to make? _ Linny: Yes. You probably are not aware of it, but there is something that has been the talk among rare item collectors recently. A delicacy of mysterious origin, on par with our meals sold in the cafeteria. While its stats are nothing special for a capped [Cooking] player, the taste is. All attempts to replicate it have been failures. Huh¡­ Is she saying that it''s a new material? Just like how materials influence the shape and look of equipment even if most of that is dictated by the crafter, ingredients decide how delicious the food will be once it''s out of the oven. For example, you need at least some fruits or honey to make a sweet meal. That''s the most probable reason why a meal cannot be replicated. That being said, this game is not a [Cooking] simulator. You don''t have to pick a flower that only grows on some (destroyed) glacier and extract its dew just for morning tea. The core flavors can be acquired from materials of all levels, and the higher quality of food mostly depends on the chefs'' attributes and [Cooking], according to my guild members. Even then, the differences are like meat bought from local market and world-renowned imported meat for high-class billionaires. It tastes better, but it''s still meat at the end of the day. Which makes this whole topic more puzzling to me. Pretty sure our teahouse has categorized all the possible materials and their effects in [Cooking] already, including the suspicious dark meats at the edge of the world. Forget about a new unidentified item, we are talking about a material type that somehow completely went under our radar, and possibly the whole player base''s too. _ Falyn: Ah, I was asked to make that one too. The salty and sweet taste was easy, but the way it shattered into small pieces when bitten then melted in my mouth was impossible to make. It was delicious, admittedly. _ Shadyna: Heh~ So that''s what it tastes like? Sounds like a good snack. _ Falyn: It is. The portion is small, and players in possession of it cannot afford to lose it, so they usually take a bite then put it back into inventory. That way, the food item is not consumed and restored to its original state. It also doesn¡¯t give buff when used that way, though I doubt anyone with it would care. Half-eaten foods are restored in inventory huh¡­ I suppose it is one way to avoid dealing with ambiguity and unintentional side effects. A meal that doesn''t deplete but cannot fill your stomach however¡­ Yup, it''s cursed food alright~ _ Linny: *Nods* Correct. That''s how the items in circulation are used mostly. It is like those tunes which are good by themselves, but sometimes they got stuck in your head and you can''t stop thinking about them. Unlike music, there is a very limited amount in the market and no way to create more. _ Shadyna: Un, I get what you are saying. What does it have to do with my stall though? _ Linny: Just my gut feeling. Investigations point to the tournament for one, and I found this while clearing the furniture pile you left on the bridge the other day. Really sorry about that~ I was in a hurry for the caravan and uh¡­ didn''t have time to organize the cargoes. I planned to clean up after the trip, honest! I don''t remember having dangerous addictive food in my research storage boxes by the way. At the very least, nothing that fits the description as far as I''m aware. _ Linny: Here it is. You wouldn''t happen to know where to find it, would you? [Edible Rock Candy], says the item''s description. ¡­Un, I don''t know where to find it. I can craft it though. ____________ In a small alley where absolutely no crime takes place, a professional huntress is preparing to take yet another life. More like the same life for the tenth time, but one has better things to worry about than such minor details, like this hooded weirdo who decided to jump in between her and her prey for example. _ Inerin: Out of the way. I have business with that guy. _ Hood: Now now, I''m afraid I cannot do that. He sure is saying confident words for someone who is shaking more than a bartender preparing a drink. Being one of the more considerate members in the waitress corps, can''t help playing along with the brave soul, even if just for a little bit. _ Inerin: Oh? Do you think you can stop me then? _ Hood: Yes, yes I do. In fact, let''s see how you deal with THIS! With the expression of a protagonist having acquired the ultimate anti-last-boss weapon, or prepared to go out in a blaze of glory, or both, the hooded man takes a step forward. *Whomp* Then prostrates himself on the ground. _ Hood: Please accept our deepest apology for my acquaintance''s transgression! He is new to the game and did not know any better when he crossed your path. I know it is no excuse for whatever he has done, but please have it in your boundless mercy to forgive him this one time and give him another chance at life! _ Inerin: ¡­What. Was all she could say about that performance. --- Topic: Bounty Hunter Headquarter thread --- ¡­ ## JigglingPouch Thank you for all the help with the bounty. The situation has been resolved and we will pay out the rest of the bounty today. According to our hit squad, PKers these days are really something: [Link] @Heaven Piercer: Please mark the bounty as completed. ## ## Bountiful Hunter It''s over already? (¡ä?¦Ø?`) It was easy money for us too¡­ Also, wut. (?§Õ?) ## ## Fire mage of Justice Wut, indeed o.O But that apology did stop her, didn''t it? ## ------ Chapter 91: Someone elses day off Candy girl Shadyna, bringing happiness to all sweet-loving souls in the world~! After the routine Raid Breaker service, which has been permanently moved to the edge of the world due to the raid changes by the way, I [Recall] to Sapling Garden. To my little wooden stall in the corner of our village, to be exact. _ Shadyna: Let us begin, this week''s candy tasting event! _ Customers: OOOOOOHHHHH!!! The space in front of my stall has been converted into an open buffet venue, serving dozens of customers who are not really hungry, yet still excited for the food all the same. Being in the corner turned out to be a great help as I can put in additional props and hold more customers without bothering others. Not that we don''t have space in the central area per se, but it is occupied by bulk trading caravans most of the time. Instead, we get all the space we will ever need for tables and food shelves. As for the reason why I have a buffet in the first place¡­ Well, thanks to Linny''s keen eye for market trends, it was decided that I would sell candies rather than fish. That, and I have to categorize the new [Cooking] "materials" which I accidentally introduced to the player base and almost created an addiction crisis as a result. Since I am the only person who can craft these bizarre meals, the teahouse perve¡­ sages cannot help. Eating the foods, however, is something anyone can do. So I did just that. This weekly buffet is open to anyone willing to try out these seemingly impossible creations, ranging from literal grass gums to draconic scale lollipops. Even though I used mostly low-level materials to ensure quantity, there are enough volunteers with only word-of-mouth advertising in the tavern. For the players gathering here, it is the virtual taste that matters, not some numbers gained by eating said food. ¡­This is not the beginning of a sweet-addicted cult right? Having a cult (in-game) is fine and all, but if the powerful legendary weapon of mass destruction is stolen by a suspicious bunch called "Exotic Candy Lovers Association" then turned into apple candy, I''m quite certain both the heroes and evil overlords will never recover from the shock. _ ???: Pssst, hey, this one is good. Ya have more of the stuff? While I was wondering if a candy made from legendary swords would sparkle due to the rarity, a haughty catboy approaches me with a dish full of confectioneries. Enjoying the buffet to the fullest, isn''t he~? _ Shadyna: That one¡­ is [Sand Cream Puff] right? The same amount as usual, yes? This totally not suspicious person here is , self-proclaimed leader of the Blue Blood Federation. We have not really interacted with each other until recently. To be specific, it was when news got out that I was the mysterious creator of [Edible Rock Candy] and this guy turned out to be one of the addicts. He has been one of my richest customers ever since. _ Elix: That will do. Same place. Payment on delivery. _ Shadyna: Will do~ By the way¡­ _ Elix: Ya? _ Shadyna: Why do you keep talking like a shady drug dealer? For the record, he talks normally to other players, so I do not know why he does it only when dealing with me. It can''t be preferential treatment, can it? The uptight class president heroine being soft towards the protagonist whenever they are alone is one. Treating him like an underworld criminal is not. Asking him what kind of underwear his sister is wearing today is right out. _ Elix: ¡­Isn''t it customary to play along with roleplayers when doing business? I''m just matching your smuggler background. _ Shadyna: ¡­Wait, what? Why do I have a smuggler background?! And without me knowing too?! _ Elix: Uh¡­ Did I get it wrong? You were distributing game-breaking lunchboxes to your allies when we first met, then the dumplings after that. You even stealthily introduced [Edible Rock Candy] as advertisement too¡­ Again, we didn''t really run into each other often, so I cannot blame him for these misunderstanding. However¡­ _ Shadyna: Stop treating my food like some kind of dangerous contraband!!! This pacifist is the owner of a very model and upstanding business establishment, un! ¡­ After everyone had their fill, I clean up the tables to return the empty space in front of the stall. It is shared space with and ''s stall after all, so I have to return it to the original state after use. While we don''t have many customers compared to Hessy''s ultra spicy hard bread or Linny''s lethally bitter fries, there are quite a few frequent patrons keen on feeding their guild members cute girls'' handmade meals all day, every day. ¡­Our patrons have quite extreme tastes, don''t they? _ Poltea: S-, may I have some of your time? Seeing me putting the last table into inventory, my timid apprentice approaches from her stall. Was she waiting for the buffet to end the whole time¡­? _ Shadyna: Of course, . What''s the prob¡­ Huh? Is not with you? This is my first time seeing her alone. Sure, the two cannot login at the same second (I think they can''t at least), but once one has logged on, the other would arrive before she could finish preparing for the day ahead. The only other pair who can pull this off in our guild are the dark elf sisters, and they share the same room. _ Poltea: Un, she''s staying at the hospital for medical checkup¡­ _ Shadyna: At this time of the day? It''s late night in real life, so I doubt hospitals would be open aside from emergency rooms. here is not freaking out so it can''t be an emergency, can it? _ Poltea: Yes. She doesn''t need a 3-day stay every two weeks anymore, but the periodic checkup still takes a whole day. It was that bad? Well, I suppose that''s an improvement despite the amount of time spent there. I don''t think the doctors would reduce her stay time if her health issues are getting worse, whatever those are. _ Poltea: Ah, it''s only once every six months so she won''t take many days off. _ Shadyna: Hmm? It''s fine. I won''t require any kind of attendance from anyone. It''s a game after all. Her school probably asked many times though, hence the preemptive explanation. _ Poltea: T-thank you very much. _ Shadyna: Anyway, what do you need of me? _ Poltea: Ah, yes¡­ Uhm¡­ I¡­ Please don''t laugh, okay? It''s not a lover quarrel right? You girls are a tad too young to have one, and I am certainly not qualified to deal with one! This cute pacifist half-elf always gets along with everyone, un! _ Shadyna: I''ll try not to. Do you want to go somewhere more private first? We can always use PM if we don''t want people listening, although two girls standing in front of a food stall talking about love life like they are choosing what to have for breakfast is¡­ not exactly immersive. _ Poltea: I-I''ll make it quick! So¡­ Uhm¡­ Do you know of a way for me to become stronger? _ Shadyna: ¡­Pardon? _ Poltea: Do you know of a way¡­ _ Shadyna: Sorry, wrong thing to ask. What I meant is¡­ Why? Or rather, what kind of monstrosity were you fighting to require ANOTHER power-up?! You are already hitting damage cap with the current setup. Do you want to remove the "reality" from "virtual reality"? Because that''s what you will end up with if you girls unleash your full power without a limiter in this game! No, this is totally not because I have firsthand experience deleting an entire mountain from existence, honest! _ Poltea: Ah! It''s not that the items you gave us are weak or anything! It''s just that¡­ Stolen novel; please report. She frantically explains as if she could hear my inner thoughts. Even an elementary schoolgirl can read me like an open book huh¡­ Sad face~ ¡­ _ Elix: Hmm¡­ I see. Your partner has become so strong, she is wiping out everything in sight with her ranged attacks. You, on the other hand, have nothing to do because everything dies before they can get into melee. That''s why you think you aren''t contributing and want to change it. _ Poltea: Y-yes. Thank you for the succinct summary, ! But may I ask why are you still here? The buffet''s over and I have already given you today''s batch! In case anyone''s wondering, his "same place" means "in front of the stall", and he pays after buying. Yes, he does shopping like a normal human (feline?) being. Not sure why he decided to sit down and listen to my apprentice''s troubles though. Is it because I was crafting for him during the talk and he couldn''t bring himself to leave the poor girl alone mid-conversation? What are you, some murderous assassin petting a cute kitten just so that the viewers will shed a tear after you inevitably die horribly for plot purposes? _ Elix: Well, that just how it goes when it comes to ranged. Range and speed are OP by design, even in real life. Sateri-chan puts a lot of effort into balancing but there''s only so much she can do¡­ What''s with that stare, ? _ Shadyna: Nothing~ Just thinking that you are surprisingly knowledgeable, and kind. But mostly knowledgeable, un. _ Elix: I AM the leader of an alliance, duh! ''side, you girls are the shining beacons of new players kicking beta nerds'' butts. We are aligned on that front. _ Shadyna: Uh¡­ I don''t have anything against beta players. And you shouldn''t say that out loud. _ Elix: Why? I have an alliance backing me up. Who would dare¡­ Because he just had to say that, I look at the people literally behind his back, namely my bodyguards of the day, and . Being part of the so-called beta nerds, the two don''t find the catboy''s personal opinion of them amusing. They probably find it hilarious. _ Elix: *Looks around* Oh¡­ Aaaaaaand he gets dragged into the nearest warehouse where no one can hear him scream~ I wonder which hurts more, the otome game protagonist''s crossbow with bayonet or the beautiful womanizer''s spear. I certainly can live without knowing though! _ Shadyna: So, about your request¡­ _ Poltea: Uhm¡­ Is he going to be alright? _ Shadyna: He''ll live. _ Poltea: He''s not going to be alright, is he¡­? Little details~! _ Shadyna: A~nyway, I suppose you want to try out ranged weaponries? She ponders for a few seconds before talking in a very small voice like a child (she IS one) getting caught not doing homework. _ Poltea: I¡­ don''t know. If possible, I want to keep using the shields. I cannot switch weapons quickly, so I won''t be able to protect if something happens¡­ Huh. She''s really thinking about it. I thought it was a case of grass being greener on the other side, but my shy apprentice does only want to contribute more to the fight apparently. Not giving up her current power level and desiring for more. How ambitious~ _ Shadyna: But that doesn''t happen frequently right? You wouldn''t feel like you need to change your playstyle otherwise. _ Poltea: U-un, it rarely happens, but it does. Like bandits, or missing her shots, or bosses spawning nearby, or bandits¡­ They were attacked by so many bandits, she had to say it twice! And it''s probably not because others were looking for a fight either. For instance, there is virtually no attack on our caravans as long as we have our guild flag up. Anyone who know us understand that they have a higher survival chance by fighting a bonus boss, and unlike bonus bosses, we do not drop [Artifact]-grade items. If they know us, that is. The upper echelons are our acquaintances, so no issue there. The problem lies in the rest of the player base. As in, the ones who take up 90 percent of the total player count. This game has no tutorial, and definitely none that includes a list of players to avoid like a plague (that I know of). That means the only way for a newbie to learn about us is by encountering us grinding in the wild, flirting with the girls working the counter, or read posts on the board more than playing. I don''t know about the lethality of the last one, but considering that of the other two, I wouldn''t bet my life on it. Well, the gist of it is that a good chunk of players will get to know us through real combat experience, sometimes by being on the receiving end of an AoE. As said, it''s not exactly common. It''s bound to happen though, since CSF''s active player count is in the millions. _ Shadyna: Hmm¡­ In that case, isn''t it fine as it is? _ Poltea: It''s¡­ fine? _ Shadyna: Un. It''s one thing if you are not doing anything at all. However, you seem to be doing well as the party''s tank to me. The odds do not favor pacifism, simply put. One percent of those millions is still thousands of maniacs not knowing who they just poked. Sateri''s monopoly on the safe VR headsets and sleep time seems to be bringing in even more of them too. As an unfortunate result of that, my apprentices won''t run out of dangerous situations to get into, and with them, the needs for a good, reliable tank. Or a beefy boss pet. Or a [Symbiosis] summon. Or a few OP items here and there¡­ Geez, these girls sure are tough to take down, aren''t they~? _ Poltea: B-but¡­ I am not doing anything most of the time¡­ _ Shadyna: So are your armors, but you wouldn''t want to fight without them, right? _ Poltea: ¡­T-that''s¡­ true¡­ _ Shadyna: A tank is akin to a party''s armor, and then some. All else being equal, you obviously cannot deal much damage when you have to watch out for dangers, draw the attention of your enemies, and shield everyone from harm. Regardless of your damage output, I think you are contributing aplenty already. _ Poltea: Re-really? Too bright! Too bright! I''m being blinded by a happy girl whose smile is brighter than the sun itself!!! Gah, that was dangerous! I thought my entire existence was going to be purified for a moment there! Not that this innocent half elf is impure, mind you! _ Shadyna: Un, that''s what I believe. Still, if you truly are not enjoying shields and tank playstyle, I can try to change that for you. Not to mention that you girls'' personalities are completely the opposite of what is expected of a tank and a nuke¡­ I will keep the thought to myself however. _ Poltea: *Shakes head* No, it''s fine. I like things as they are now. And will get into even more troubles if I am not in position to catch her. _ Shadyna: Ah, right. That girl is a handful sometimes. _ Poltea: *Chuckles* She is. It''s because she cannot go wild in real life, but I wish she could show a little restraint sometimes. _ Shadyna: Heh~ Doesn''t that mean she also thinks you are doing a good job? Your presence makes her feel safe, so she might have acted a bit more recklessly accordingly. _ Poltea: I-I don''t think thinks that far ahead. You say that, yet you are blushing so much that our degenerate patrons would chew their handkerchiefs in envy, while screaming "Normies should go explode!", or "So precious!", before proceeding to explode themselves. I enjoy the sight of a maiden in love (?) in silence until she calms down and recomposes herself. Youth is beautiful, isn''t it~? _ Shadyna: Feeling better now? _ Poltea: Y-yes¡­ Thank you very much, . Talking to you has been a great help. _ Shadyna: You are welcome~ Do tell me if you ever feel down or unhappy with anything. It''s my responsibility to make you happy and content, so don''t hold back. _ Poltea: Un! Don''t worry about me. I really enjoy protecting , and everyone too! Good. She seems to have regained self-confidence, even if just for a little bit. Can''t have my most powerful tank member feel like she isn''t doing well, because I''m pretty sure not many people can be called a tank if that was the case. _ Shadyna: Well then, with that problem out of the way¡­ _ Poltea: Y-yes? _ Shadyna: Time to find a way for you to become stronger! _ Poltea: ¡­Fue? But¡­ I''m happy with¡­ _ Shadyna: Happiness with your current situation is one thing! Constant self-improvement is another! As I proudly proclaim what I thought to be a good motivational quote, my supposedly timid apprentice makes a dumbfounded expression before giving me a cold dubious look. _ Poltea: ¡­ Don''t mind, don''t mind~! ____________ The cafeteria is overcrowded today as well. Even though bulk sales are now done in Sapling Garden, the influx of new players ensures a constant supply of degenerates longing for drinks served by a cute girl in person. In addition, the increasingly organized plays due to the establishment of cities and trade routes result in demands for a place to spend time between missions. Like the archer and mage sitting in front of the counter at the moment. _ Melodyn: Here''s your drink~ _ Tippe: Thanks! ¡­Fuhaaah!!! Nothing beats a chill drink before a sortie! _ Choruse: It''s rare to see you without . Did one of you finally get fed up with his two-timing and off the guy for good? _ Tippe: Pfffft!!! _ Maximus: He''s just out of the house for a day, you rotten woman! _ Melodyn: We were just expressing our concerns~ [Forever Companion] can be maintained if your partner is off a day or two, but typically won''t last a lover quarrel. _ Maximus: [Forever Companion]? That title which requires staying in the same party with someone for 80% of your playtime? Are you stupid? We are working adults, not students in the same dorm with the same schedules! _ Tippe: Uh¡­ I''m still a student staying in a dorm. _ Melodyn & Choruse: ¡­And we are working adults too? _ Maximus: Shut up ! And you degenerates live in the same house! The time lost trying to sync your playtime is better spent unlocking other titles. That stats boost isn''t worth the hassle. _ Melodyn: Its other effect¡­ _ Maximus: Requires someone to be dead! You maniacs are the only people looking forward to it!!! _ Choruse: ¡­You are just lonely. _ Maximus: Ya picking a fight ya damn hag?! Another peaceful day, quietly thinks as he enjoys his refill. --- Topic: Fishing new meta? --- ## Big Hammer Is Fishing the new meta for crafting? We did a Raid Breaker today and the food that came with the service was all fish. The Recall tablets are shaped like fish. Tyrel market is full of cheap fish too. ## ## CuteIsJustice Is it (??? Recent patches said nothing about it. ## ## Serious Mage No change that I know of. Still the same old time-killing activity during downtime. Killing monsters gives much better loot and experience. ## ## GoldBar9999 Wait, what''s that last one? How much fish are we talking about here? I am the market owner and somehow I wasn''t informed of it?! ¦²(?§¥?) ## ## Heaven Piercer Not the fish! Please! Not the fish!!! £¨ ¡ä§¥£à)TZ ## ## Silver Merchant From what I gathered, someone was flooding the smaller stalls with tons of fish of all levels. When asked about it, that person answered with "No one near me wanted them, so I''m selling cheap to people who do", or something along those lines. ## ## GoldBar9999 What kind of reason is that?! (?§¥?) ## ------ --- Topic: Country/Kingdom building --- ## Flame knight of Darkness Now that we have settlements and trade routes, it''s time to think about developing into full-fledged nations. And siege warfare. Mostly siege warfare. (^_^;) ## ## Nearseeing Sage Nice try, Construction guilds. ( ¡ä?£à) Seriously though, it''s hard enough to get your own guild members to follow you, let alone outsiders. We are too splintered to form a cohesive entity larger than a few thousand at the same time. ## ## Serious Mage As a medieval realm should be (£þ©`£þ) ## ## OP alchemist Funny you said that, because the biggest cities are in the same friggin'' alliance! We already have nations, and it''s a single one!!! (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß ## ## Big Hammer Couldn''t even get the second nation up to contest the hegemony. Unrealistic/10, please fix it, Sateri-chan! (-"-) ## ## Newbie Charisma build That''s entirely our fault though?! (£þ¡õ£þ;) ## ------ Chapter 92: Fortress drop Today, trainer Shadyna will teach her apprentice the super final ultimate technique! Or at least, I hope I can invent one. I taught her the previous one during our first meeting and didn''t think I would need another! In my defense, people usually don''t need more killing techniques after learning to use seven weapons at the same time and demolishing bonus bosses with said weapons. Not until they are defeated in some dramatic duel to buy time for the main hero, or something as ridiculous. _ Shadyna: In the end, the gist of it is that has no means of attacking before or the pets decimate everything, isn''t it¡­? _ Elix: I stand by what I said. Ya gonna need speed or range to fix that. Indeed, as she doesn''t lack damage. Removing the damage limit may change that, but I don''t think Sateri will appreciate the gesture¡­ _ Shadyna: Probably~ Does anyone have an idea on how to do it, exactly? My bodyguards returned with shortly after my absolutely inspiring and helpful consulting session. He is quite chill for someone who just underwent horrendous unspeakable services. I was honestly surprised at his fortitude, even if I had no idea what was going on in that warehouse. Then I saw his legs quaking the whole walk back to us. Such bravery! The first one to say anything about that loses, so I''ll keep silent, un. _ Thelia: Speed or range huh¡­ , how do you usually deal with enemies at range? _ Helen: Me~? Let''s see~ [Fire Spear]? But see~ I wouldn''t mind playing tag with cute kittens either. _ Thelia: *Turns to * Don''t become like her, okay? _ Poltea: U-un. _ Helen: Eh~~~ I have to agree with there. This darn womanizer~! _ Poltea: E-excuse me, but aren''t you a melee fighter, ? You can actually use spells? _ Helen: Anyone can~ It usually won''t be effective because their damage depends on FOC instead of STR, and FOC is really hard to grind if you only use melee attacks. In other words, she''s a magic knight. Or if we want to say it in game terms, a hybrid build. Jack of all trades, master of none, a waste of money, can''t do anything proper, stop fooling around and play seriously, you trash! The general populace''s view on players who strive to diversify their toolbox is less than kind, but the appeal of a prodigy excelling at both physical and magical attacks never seems to subside. The busty lady in front of me is no exception, evidently. Well, due to the way each attribute increases multiple stats in this game, everyone is already using a hybrid build technically. Although we still ended up with min-maxers like , they are nowhere near unbeatable. _ Thelia: And you have almost no HP in exchange. Seriously, I am an archer. Why do I have to tank when I play with you? _ Helen: But ~ You grind physical attributes so that''s a given! _ Poltea: Eh? Eh? is actually a tank? Looking at my apprentice''s expression, I wonder how many villains have gone through the same experience as they intentionally focused on the squishy-looking ranged attacker, just for her to shrug it off with a "Is that all you got?" smirk while the ignored spearwoman shoved her pointy stick up their flanked butts¡­ As expected of the otome protagonist and her main heroine, these girls know how to ruin a bad guy''s day! _ Thelia: Uh, not really. I only tank when there''s literally no other option. Neither or I have the defense to¡­ What''s with that look, owner? _ Shadyna: Nothing~! I just think you two make a good couple. _ Helen: I know right~? _ Thelia: What are you blabbering about, owner¡­? Wait, what are you doing?! Are you trying to kill me with those bombs you lecherous womaniz¡­ Omph! Nhghnn!!! Death by hopes and dreams suffocation achievement, GET! For , that is~! ____________ On an uneven rocky landscape, sits a slumbering ancient spider. Surrounding it is a big gathering of players on high alert, silently watching its every movement. ¡­No, this is not a spider-worshipping cult, even if it looks like one. To begin with, the resemblances to a spider end at a vaguely insectoid body and lots of legs (ten, to be exact). This "creature" is probably not even biological with its smooth deep blue shell. That, and how it has a chimney-like organ on the back that randomly spits out lightning balls as idle animation. All in all, it gives off the air of an automaton guarding a high tech ancient ruins rather than some overgrown insect making itself at home. Not that this game has any high tech ancient ruin, especially when it can have a catboy arriving at the site using magic. _ Elix: Yo. _ Manager: What took you so long? We were considering whether to start without you. _ Elix: Sorry, got into some stuff. You guys ready? _ Manager: Ayup. Ready when you are. _ Elix: Alright then¡­ We are not fighting it today. _ Manager: Sure, let''s g¡­ Wait, what?! Not just the manager, but everyone within earshot turns to him with various expressions ranging from "What da heck?" confusion to outright "You made us come all the way here and said WHAT?!" rage. And it''s not an overreaction. Field bosses, despite the buffs to their stats as deterrence, are still a source of wealth and power that normal mobs or variants cannot provide. In order to have a chance at their rare drops nowadays, the raiding guild(s) need to setup a perimeter in advance to guard the boss itself before they can pile on it. Depending on the values of the potential loot, the amount of gold coins spent on fighting the actual boss might as well be small changes compared to the cost of the fortifications built around it. That goes double for high level bosses with good drops like this particular spider. They are considered strategic resources requiring a permanent garrison for exploitation. The powerful skill scrolls and equipment series are simply too profitable, and big guilds will literally kill others (in game) to have a monopoly on the market. Realizing that he stepped on a landmine topic, frantically explains himself before the angry allies tear him a new one. _ Elix: Wait! Let me explain! We will still kill it! Just that we don''t have to fight it ourselves! _ Manager: ¡­How are we going to kill a boss without fighting it? The catboy points his thumb to the four girls arriving behind him. _ Elix: They will fight it. ____________ Because was having a hard time understanding how a squishy tank was supposed to work, and are fighting a level 30 boss to demonstrate! ¡­For the record, I had nothing to do with this, okay? There are few creatures that can survive my guild members for an extended period of time, and the edge of the world is a tad too chaotic for children to observe and learn. That leaves the high level bosses who can put up a proper fight as long as the duo deactivate [Accelerate Bonus] and [Alpha Strike Bonus] beforehand. To our surprise, jumped into the discussion and recommended this boss to us. Of course he can''t let us have the it for free, considering how farming this spider is part of his guild''s income. We settled with keeping only the coins. Our members have enough money to buy whatever skill or armor the boss drops anyway. I will also help out with [Dismantling], so there is no way will lose money from this. Having a positive win-win deal is vital for long term business, un! _ Poltea: So you can tank by evading too¡­ Ah, isn''t this how you fight as well, ? As expected of a diligent girl, is working hard at analyzing the fight. I am sitting this one out by the way. Not even in the party since my LDR bonus will just make the battle end faster. _ Shadyna: Un¡­ Kind of but not really. I like staying on the move, and evasion is part of that playstyle. Pay attention to ''s footwork. See how she''s barely moving from one spot? Slide to the right, one step back, sidestep slightly, skip forward. A beautiful ballerina telling a tragic story to the audience using her own body¡­ is what I would say, if she wasn''t a delivery girl shooting a massive spider point-blank with a crossbow. _ Poltea: She really is staying close to that spot¡­ is doing the same on the other side too. Why are they doing that? Not just attacking from opposite directions, but they are also balancing aggro so that the boss switches target every now and then. The one having aggro can focus on evasion, and the other has the leisure to unleash their most powerful techniques from behind. A basic form of kiting, but very effective nevertheless. Yup, it''s a story about psychopathic beauties murdering the beast in cold blood! Tragic, I know~ _ Shadyna: It''s true that you have a wider range of evasion if you are running, so they have a reason to hold position. I am not certain but it''s probably¡­ _ Elix: To maintain formation. _ Shadyna: Yup. _ Poltea: Formation¡­? _ Elix: She who holds aggro, controls the enemy''s movements. The more players there are in a battle, the harder it is for everyone to move around and fight. The easiest way to solve that is to stand in place and take the hits. Those two do not have the HP and defense to withstand too many hits, so that''s how they stay alive while still fulfilling a tank''s duty. _ Manager: It''s like herding cats. Can you imagine organizing a raid party when your leader keeps jumping into the line of fire and dying as a result? _ Elix: Huh, that does sound familia¡­ Wait, are you talking about me?! Even though is not saying anything to the bickering pair, she does have an understanding look towards the manager. Guess that can''t be helped, her first tamed beast is the result of a similar incident after all~ Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. _ Poltea: So evasion is possible while moving very little. But will be exposed to danger if I avoid attacks¡­ _ Shadyna: You don''t need to dodge every single one of them. Melee attacks, for instance, won''t reach the backline even if you avoid it. You can also stack some shields behind another to reduce your hitbox until you encounter AoE, since shields won''t trigger defense bonus on small attacks that cannot hit them. To be fair, she needs not any of those. My equipment''s base PDF and MDF are enough to tank anything short of a bonus boss anyway. It will help hone her player skills still, and I am not going to deny her that after she explicitly asked for it. _ Poltea: U-un. Evade whatever I can and put shields away unless needed, is it? I''ll do my best to practice those skills! What a hardworking girl~ I''m glad that she''s willing to learn, though the biggest question remains unanswered. What should we do about her offensive capability? ____________ Hesitant as they are to admit it, the alliance is struggling against the edge of the world. _ Torenis: They are respawning! A high level boss, no problem. A single unique boss, they can handle. A unique boss escorted by two dozen level capped bosses whose respawn time is a few minutes¡­ What kind of sadistic designer thought that was a good idea?! The guildmaster of redirects his flame bird towards the newly arrived boss to relieve the frontline. Tanking against this many bosses is nigh impossible regardless of the accompanying mobs, so it is necessary to take them out asap to maintain anything resembling a formation. Knowing that is one thing. Being able to do something about it is another. Even if all nukes in the vicinity focus fire, they are still unable to kill escort bosses fast enough before they respawn. Moreover, the closer the alliance is to the gigantic Nox, the faster it is for respawned bosses to walk back to the battle. On the other end of the battlefield, the leader of seems to be in a similar situation. _ Cinrald: This is as far as we can get, . We can burn through consumables to creep a bit further, but we are not reaching the boss with just us. It is still further than most of their attempts thus far. In a desperate move defying common sense, the numerically inferior players decided to widen their lines. Spreading out into two parallel fronts, they can fight on two separate fronts and effectively halve the number of bosses anyone has to face at a single time. The middle area becoming a (relatively) safer zone for buffers and healers is an unexpected but welcomed bonus. That strategy also requires a higher number of players to maintain formation however. A number that both and do not have. _ Torenis: Alright. Everyone! We will be farming here until others arrive! Setup defensive structures and make sure no monster gets through! _ Players: OOOOHHH!!! Who needs Raid Breaker service when they are pretty much doing Raid Breaker every day! This was pretty much how the top guilds avoided getting toppled by upstarts suddenly getting access to endgame power grinding. On the other hand, it doesn''t mean the big guilds can keep failing to kill the Nox. Although the loots increase the overall power of a guild, they do so by providing stronger equipment to weaker players. The guildmasters and best players can only grind their attributes, for their equipment, level and main skills reached the limit a long time ago. The money and less-trained skills are in no way insignificant, but they are not how a top beta player can single-handedly take on multiple level-capped players at the same time. To maintain the status quo, this massive tumor of a boss needs to die, ideally before the materials dropped here become worthless for the players picking it up. ____________ _ Elix: It''s entering second phase! Step back everyone! It took 15 minutes for and to wear down the first phase. Not sure how fast ''s group usually does it, but I think that is pretty fast for just two players without OP damage multipliers. That''s 15 minutes of everyone here not fighting still, so I made some low-level [Sand Cream Puff] to share. The overall feedback is positive. Materialism is looking forward to its next tribute~ I wanted to pull out a table and have a tea party too, but had to refrain due to the environment damage. Yes, this is one of the zone with environmental damage. Lightning type, to be specific. Similar to Sand Circles area, this place is partitioned into "rooms" marked by metallic thorny vines. The dividing vines of each room join together at the top, forming a frame similar to that of a tribal hut or conical hats, but at the size of an apartment building. The environmental damage comes from the convergence at the top. Zzzt! BLAM! In the form of random lightning strikes. Yup, welcome to the Thunder Huts, because Thunder Stick Frames doesn''t quite have the same ring to it. Because it can hit absolutely everywhere and everyone within the arena, placing static furniture is out the question. I''m not going to drink electrically charged tea even if I can shrug off the damage, thank you very much. Saying that it will make my heart skip a beat is NOT helping. Even more impressive than us evading lightning strikes while eating sweets is the two players doing the same while fighting a boss. just had to choose an extreme zone to demonstrate evasion builds, didn''t he¡­? _ Thelia: Switch to long range assault! _ Helen: Roger~ Seeing the boss charging up with an electric ball covering its body, the two dash in opposite directions at max speed. "Second phase" here is not a real second form like the bonus bosses, but rather a change in skillsets or behavior of the same creature. This boss in particular will use AoE lightning spells when its HP gets low, it looks like. _ Thelia: Spirits of magic, heed my call! Eliminate my enemy! [Earth Blast Bomb]! [Wind Strike]! _ Helen: A nice glass, good alcohol, some cold ice~ [Weapon Throw]! [Fire Spear]~ Spell chants are all over the place, as per usual~ The moment I see the wind-imbued arrow and flying spear smacking into the boss, something clicks. _ Elix & Shadyna: That''s it! _ Poltea: W-what is? ____________ After a long and painful grind which borderlines self-inflicted torment, finally gets the reinforcements he was waiting for: Unity of Mankind and Blue Blood Federation. _ Xierro: Hah! You''re still alive? Worry not, your victory is guaranteed now that I am here! _ Torenis: Your continued presence still hasn''t earned us that victory in case that wasn''t obvious enough! Get your members to the left. , to the right. Guard our flanks when we push forward. We need to maintain this corridor in the middle for our nukes and healers. _ Xierro: You heard the tactician. Move! Move! For some incomprehensible reasons, the multi-shield wielder and Black Mantis can be seen amidst the scrambling newcomers moving to their positions. The genius strategist is quite certain that those two weren''t in the alliance, which was formed to combat a particular girl''s very influence by the way, and it will be very concerning if he somehow called them here without realizing it. Because he was not informed of their visit and there are better things to worry about, things that he can actually deal with no less, the great strategist of has decided to pretend he didn''t see nothing! _ Cinrald: Oh hi there, . And you too, . I don''t think you had that bandolier the last time we saw each other? Until a maniac who can''t read the mood calls out to them! _ Poltea: H-hello, Miss . Yes, just made this bandolier for me. It is for the new¡­ potions? Why is that a question¡­? Thinks the sane man in , but he once again does his best to focus on keeping the now-neglected front from collapsing. _ Cinrald: Potions? Ah, a quickslot equipment. _ Shadyna: Yup! I made her some new rechargeable¡­ potions? So I crafted this bandolier for her to access them easily! Quickslot equipment is what one would expect from its name: A piece of wearable equipment that can be used to pull out consumables without opening the inventory UI. It is not strictly necessary though, as there is a quickslot UI which has the exact same functionality. This equipment is mostly used by roleplayers for the immersion value, or maniacs who needs more quickslots than the UI can provide. The leather bandolier in question is a shoulder strap type, worn over ''s right shoulder to her hip, hooking into her belt. Rather than several sockets containing the energy or glass orbs which are the standard appearance for potions in this game, hers houses several smaller pockets with metallic rods the size of a shotgun shell. Each has colored runic marks all over their surface, even though the user herself won''t be able to see much of those until she actually pulls the thing out. _ Elix: Didn''t we agree to call them skill charges? _ Shadyna: I figured it would just cause more confusions because no one here was in our discussion~ _ Cinrald: Heh~ Skill charge, is it? I guess it''s why you are here? _ Shadyna: Un! We worked out the theories. Just need a good place for a practical test! _ Elix: They won''t get in the way so don''t mind them. If you need something dead though, point them in that direction. Based on his enthusiasm, must have been involved as well. That darn traitor! He was supposed to contain these menaces, not join them! Not that could say that out loud. The new strategy is in no way a guarantee to victory, so the pragmatic guildmaster decides to accept the help without objection, this time. _ Cinrald: In that case, would you be so kind to help us suppress the generic bosses? We can handle the Nox and its mobs, but as expected, this many bosses are a high hurdle. _ Poltea: I-I''ll do my best! While both guildmasters are dying to know what new stunt the girls are going to pull, they have a job to do. Hoping that the recording streamers would have the full footage later, the most powerful parties of the alliance begin charging towards the massive tumor latching to the dark barrier. _ Torenis: Forward!!! _ Players: OOOOOHHHH!!! As the motivated adventurer army smashes into the horde of darkness with little regard to themselves, pulls out the first vial. _ Poltea: [Throw Charge]. The runes on her vial glow brightly in response. was looking at the ostrich boss standing in his guild''s way when it happened. He almost missed it due to the darkness, and altitude. It''s not every day that someone would overtake him by simply jumping over his party from behind, without even using [Leap]. _ Torenis: Wha¡­ _ Cinrald: ?! It''s not easy to identify someone in the darkness, but the amount of shields spinning around the person in question is a dead giveaway. That, and having enough DEX to jump that far. Even DEX min-maxing players will be hard-pressed to do so. _ Poltea: [Leap Charge]! Another rune flares up, sending its user upwards once more because she''s too young to understand physics. A few seconds later, reaches peak height and begins to descends. It then becomes clear that she is aiming at the same boss had his eyes on. Not quite in melee range yet, but she will still land close enough for mid-range combat. ¡­Wait, does this girl even use ranged attacks? _ Poltea: [Lightning Bomb]! It was, in reality, not a bomb. Well, technically it is still an [Alchemy] bomb, only in the shape of a big, sparking capsule. More importantly, it was thrown along with all seven shields the girl had on her. Rather than the bomb, the shield throwing was the main attack, and she didn''t even call it! *WHOMP* *BOOM* The poor creature was completely vaporized and then some by the six-digit damage. Not as much as when her partner is with her obviously, but that is still more than enough to kill most stuff a few times over. As for the mobs around it, they were decimated by the bomb''s blast. It hit the boss as the same time as the shields and had its damage multiplied as part of the alpha strike as a result, even though the shields themselves did not have any AoE. Before any witnessing player can register the massacre in front of their eyes, the little girl disappears in a [Recall] flash, back to her pet golem behind the lines. _ Torenis: Like¡­ What? How?! _ Shadyna: That''s because unlike magic skills, physical attack skills tend to be invoked on the next attack! If you add such skills as an [Enchant] effect in a healing potion, it will behave the same way as if you cast the skill yourself, activating only when the conditions are fulfilled! _ Torenis: Uh¡­ What? _ Elix: And because her main damage source is a collection of melee weapons, the best way for her to do ranged attacks without compromising damage is [Weapon Throw]! Kind of obvious now that we think about it! _ Shadyna: Therefore, we shall name it! _ Elix & Shadyna: "Fortress Drop maneuver"! Being bombarded by "explanations" by two excited maniacs, can only orz on the ground. It''s no good. He can understand every single word, and somehow has no idea what in the world they are talking about at all! ____________ Today is one of those rare relatively slow days for the cafeteria crew. Relatively because it merely means they are not over capacity. The waitresses working the counter are still going to use this chance for a small break however. _ Hessenria: It''s been a while since we had a chance to sit down like this, didn''t we? _ Inerin: It really has. And outing too. _ Hessenria: We should have one soon, lest our player skills rust. Any noteworthy change in the meta lately? _ Inerin: You know meta-changing skills don''t just randomly appear like that¡­ Ah, your use of [Slam] and [Leap] bombs might be considered meta for evasion these days. We''ll need to update our tactics accordingly. _ Hessenria: Indeed. Heard the patrons talking about it more frequently. Do we have a name for it yet? The archer waitress pauses for a good moment, then speaks with a "Well, whatever" expression. _ Inerin: Pretty sure the players are calling it " maneuver" on the board. _ Hessenria: ¡­WHY?!?! --- Topic: Fishing new meta? --- ¡­ ## GoldBar9999 The food market! The food market!!! (TOT) ## ## Newbie Charisma build @GoldBar9999 broke. RIP. ## ## OP alchemist So did the market prices. Suddenly getting a massive increase in supply while demand remains the same tends to have that outcome. Brb gonna bulk buy cheap materials for crafting ($_$) ## ## Maximus Archery If a market can collapse because of fish, it deserves a collapse LOLOL ## ## CuteIsJustice You are NOT helping! (^_^;) ## ------ --- Topic: Nox Terminus 2 battle --- ## Deeply Intelligent We are streaming our battle against the second Nox. - Left flank streams - [Links]: Phoenix Ashes and Blue Blood Federation - Right flank streams - [Links]: Pathwrecker and Unity of Mankind - Central streams - [Links]: Guildmasters and our special guests ## ## Serious Mage Weren''t you guys fighting it this entire time? Did something change? ## ## Deeply Intelligent Nothing changed. We absolutely did not get any heavy firepower support and expect it to die before dawn at all. (??) ## ## Flame knight of Darkness About time. You sure took your sweet time with it (£þ©`£þ) ## ## Serious Mage They have failed every single raid attempt so far. I don''t think some additional support stands a chanc¡­ ( ?§Õ?) Oh. Ooooohhh ## ## Bountiful Hunter Level 40 cap here we go! EDIT: Saw the special guest. What. The. HECK!!! ¦²(?§¥?) ## ## Mage of Sin Aspiring Heroes has also been called in ©c(¡ä¨Œ`)/ Let¡¯s do this! ## ## Manly Warrior Forget about the end of the day. It''s going to be dead in the next hour! And please give some announcement beforehand if you guys were going to do something this big! I almost missed it! ( ¤Ä §¥ £à) ## ------ Chapter 93: Town life before patch After the heroic victory against the Nox Terminus, which may or may not have been achieved by sending waves after waves of players at it for two hours straight, normal (?) life has finally returned (?) to The Ranch. _ Torenis: Got the new gear. _ Manager: Nice! How strong is it? _ Torenis: [Willing Host] is good. I lose some stats, but my pets and everyone in the party gain the same amount. Pretty OP for something that doesn''t have maintenance cost. _ Manager: Neat. I was worried when you said it didn''t drop any pet. Good to see the set is beneficial for summoners. _ Torenis: Ya. Almost feel like it was worth going through that endless hell of bosses. Anyways, we have some time off before the next patch, so I''ll help out with the orders until then. _ Manager: That would be nice. Let''s see¡­ The two examine the bounty board in the guildhall to find a worthy commission. No, not the metaphorical and digital board that is the game''s forum. It''s an actual (in-game) wooden board with paper missives all over its surface. Players wanting to take on the mission are to take the missive to the counter, where the clerks will process it, as well as explaining the details as needed. Be it a normal player wanting to make a quick coin or a guild member performing duties, everyone will get an authentic experience of working in an adventurer guild! Except for the overworked clerks and their spreadsheet applications. They will have the guildmaster dead and the whole building burnt down before they part with the only tool that makes their jobs barely tolerable. _ Torenis: Pet boss requests are the majority¡­ _ Manager: Well, that''s obvious. Everyone wants a boss as a pet, but it''s hard to get the [Summon Stone]. Drop chance is low. Taming is too dangerous, and you forfeit the rest of the loots. We can barely tame bosses level 5 and below by drowning it and the tank in healing spells and potions. Everything else beyond that is just sold goods from the market really. _ Torenis: So nothing has changed on that. Alright, let''s tame a level 10 today. _ Manager: Someone''s confident in their pet''s evolution¡­ Wait, hold on. You said [Willing Host] gives bonus stats to the party right? You can have someone else as party leader to boost your stats, then a generalist can [Devotion] you to make it even stronger, and another one for Etena¡­ This may be significant! _ Torenis: Well, that depends on how it interacts with LDR and [Devotion] bonus. It may only use my base stats in the calculation for all we know. _ Manager: That''s still an additional buff stack we can make use of! Okay! I''m calling in the members. Let''s do this! _ Torenis: Of course. Still, you are quite capable, aren''t you? _ Manager: ¡­Excuse me, did you think any random stranger could be a manager and handle this guild''s day-to-day matters as you spent MONTHS in the wild?! Despite taking advices from his friend , it will still be a while before can thank his overly diligent crew without coming off as sarcastic¡­ ____________ The arena, now known as Battle Oracle, is surprisingly busy, though not in the way its owner intended. As most expected, there are not many tournaments on the level of the first one, which was a high hurdle both in organization and funding. Not many guilds can even afford giving away thousands of gold coins as prizes in the first place, let alone game-breaking consumables. Instead, it became the battleground for many friendly mini tournaments, mainly between members of a guild or close friends. The prize pools are usually insignificant as a result, but the sheer amount of small groups wanting to prove themselves or try out new playstyles in a controlled environment with audience feedback is more than enough to keep afloat. It is also low maintenance to boot. A clerk at the reception desk and a few janitors are all it takes to run the business. Even a guild composed of only two parties like can do it if they bother to. _ Cinrald: Haaaah~ That was fun! _ Clerk: Welcome back, Lady , Lady . How was your experiment with skill charges? _ Vladina: It was¡­ so-so? It is an extension to maneuver and gauntlet, which were likely Little Sprout''s inspiration. Aside from the unorthodox use of physical skill mechanics, there''s no notable difference in its application. _ Clerk: So like¡­ only use it when you are incapable of using your own skill or equipment? _ Vladina: Exactly. As we had discovered previously, [Alchemy] items are expensive without specialized skills and hybrid items are too weak to bother outside of emergencies. You need very specific builds for it to work. _ Clerk: I see. It is regrettable. Then again, Lady ''s¡­ methods are rarely meant to be understood or usable by mere mortals. _ Cinrald: Is it me or you guys respect her more than your own guildmaster¡­? Speaking of which, did you find out what that girl got from the tournament, ? _ Vladina: You''ll have to pay for that¡­ Is what I want to say, but I honestly have no idea. When Su and I passionately discussed ''s options prior to her no-damage challenge, it was mentioned briefly, but my (ex-)wife dismissed it as non-combat asset. Something do to with dead bodies, apparently¡­ _ Cinrald: ¡­Well, she did desecrate many player corpses for that. Without anyone dying too. _ Vladina: Yeah. It''s probably a non-combat skill or title for real. Then again, she kills people with food so I wouldn''t count it out just yet. _ Cinrald: Aren''t you supposed to consider its value as a buff or utility first¡­? _ Vladina: *Shrugs* Only if it were literally anyone else. The great all-knowing sage sits down on the other reception seat. The capable clerks can handle requests for , sure, but it''s rude to leave it to them all the time. _ Vladina: Okay, back to work! Did anyone ask for me while I was out? _ Clerk: Yes. A guildmaster has submitted a request for you. They are looking to buy a settlement from the sounds of it. _ Vladina: Nice! Another source of income! While not inquired as often as the arena rental service, '' realtor service is actually the more profitable one out of the two. For just a small (treasury-breaking) upfront payment and a tiny (also treasury-breaking) rent payment every week, anyone can have their own plot of land to build their dream village in this fantasy world! Players can also make camp in the middle of nowhere, yes. Whether they survive the first corruption raid that passes by the general vicinity is a different question however. It''s unlikely that anyone unable to afford land from the little sages would be able to afford a proper defense, even if it''s no longer as costly as it used to be. _ Cinrald: ¡­This is what you call a protection racket, isn''t it? _ Clerk: Exactly what it is. _ Vladina: Shut up! It''s rent! RENT!!! ____________ Ample Chest, the number one destination for merchants. Also the number one victim whenever an economic disaster occurs, but please don''t tell the merchants that. _ Manager: , I have good and bad news. _ Olkan: D-did you finally change your mind about my proposal? When do you want to hold the ceremony? I''ll ask to lend us his guildhall as the venue for our special da¡­ _ Manager: Sure sure. And the good news is¡­ _ Olkan: If you are going to play along, at least pretend it was the good news! The manager with massive assets looks at her guildmaster as if (because) he was trash. Having known this maniac for a long time, he wants to marry her simply because of one (two) reason, which is the same reason why she doesn''t want to reciprocate, ironically. After all, it is a bit unreasonable to ask this handsome man to grow a nice chest, even by fantasy standards. _ Manager: We have come to an agreement with the merchant flooding the market with fish. They will bulk sell the fish to us at the same low price. After that, we only need to use [Transmutation] to turn them into useful materials. It will also deal with the decreasing supply of low-level materials problem we had had before this happened. _ Olkan: They cooperated? I thought whoever did that was trying to screw us over¡­ And good job on solving the low-level material crisis at the same time! Thanks to some alliance taking literal months to kill the Nox Terminus, CSF''s player demographics have shifted towards the later stages of progression. With the majority of players graduating from hunting giant rats and the likes, there are fewer and fewer sellers of said rats'' meat as time goes on. Since trash materials are used in non-essential or decorative crafting to save coins, it means the cost-saving methods are becoming more expensive. was understandably anxious about the long term effects of that trend, as expected of the merchant guild''s leader. To say that he is thankful for dealing with that problem is a bit of an understatement, even if he had to suffer a mini heart attack for it. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. _ Manager: I''m sure if and had tried, we wouldn''t have a market left without Sateri-chan''s intervention. _ Olkan: ¡­Uh, hold on. Did you just say and were the culprits behind this incident? _ Manager: As for the bad news¡­ _ Olkan: Please don''t announce something like that then refuse to elaborate!!! _ Manager: Because transmuting fish cost additional materials, we will have the enact a new policy to help keeping costs down. Namely, we will use fish for all of our [Cooking]. _ Olkan: I would prefer you girls letting me know before deciding on a policy¡­ Wait, wouldn''t that mean¡­ _ Manager: Yes. All guild-provided food will be fish for as long as the supplies last. _ Olkan: ¡­NOT THE FISH!!! Today is yet another peaceful day in the greatest trade city of CSF. Also soon to be known as the greatest fish market of CSF. ____________ On paper, Unity of Mankind alliance has a city of their own. On the map, it is called United Frontier. On the board, the place is known as the biggest mercenary hub in the game. ¡­On the actual ground, most players coming here for the first time will think they arrived at the wrong place. After all, it looks more like the makeshift encampment filled with leather tents which builds for their big raids, if not sloppier. It barely looks nicer than ''s square camp, and that is not a compliment. At the center of the encampment, several menacing-looking players sitting in a circle, facing and talking to each other like some kind of war council preparing for war. A scene out of a historical drama show. One that takes place before the ultimate battle to turn the tide of the war or decide the fate of a nation to be specific. Then a maid starts handing out modern sweets to everyone and throws immersion is right out of the window. _ Cosetha: Xerrio? You still there? _ Xerrio: Still here. Was checking the sheets. Something''s the matter? _ Cosetha: Just curious why you are sitting here instead of working. Out of a job already? _ Xerrio: As if! You know we have an entire backlog to go through! _ Cosetha: I know. I processed many of them in your stead, mind you. Is it the new bandit group in the southern areas? Unlike who accept requests from pretty much everyone like a typical adventurer guild, ''s army prefers contracts on the bigger side. As a result, their work tends to involve large scale PvP between guilds, though some good-paying odd jobs do slip in every once in a while. Why not just reject those jobs? Because the pay is good, and no legendary mercenary company can rise to power without an odd job kicking off the plot, according to biased media. _ Xerrio: Yeah. We are struggling to locate their base of operation. Too fast to be based off Tyrel, too coordinated to be random brigands. They need at least some kind of warehouse to store their supplies and act as a [Recall] waypoint. The muscular guildmaster plops down a wooden frame with a map scribbled on it. Although CSF''s map in the UI has been updated to include landmarks and cities thanks to the hard work of the [Cartographer Origin] title owner, custom maps created using [Construction] are still widely used by players for various reasons. This one in particular, contains various notes and points of interests written by the guild members themselves. _ Xerrio: It''s either a very well-camouflaged base or a part of a boss camp not affiliated with us. Some of our members are staking out and disguising as caravan guards as we speak, so hopefully we can locate their hideout soon. Based on their attack patterns, my guess would be¡­ As long as he is not in combat, the leader of the mercenary army is a capable strategist who can command not only his guild, but also the allied guilds fighting under the same banner. As long as he is not in combat¡­ _ Cosetha: [Construction]. Creating a small red flag in her hand, the maid places it on the map. It is right on top of a drawn marker indicating a boss camp which belongs to a new big guild. An upstart outside the influence of the anti-Sprout alliance, so to speak. _ Cosetha (PM): Overheard it from one of the patrons. Don''t tell anyone. _ Xerrio: Tell me sooner if you have critical intel!!! Move out you lazy bums! Pack the trebuchets too! This one is a tough one to crack! GO GO GO!!! The maid simply shrugs as she sends the bloodthirsty mercenaries scrambling for war. It''s not like she was actively involved in the first place. She was only practicing intelligence gathering as instructed by her (?) dear . ____________ The Azure Gold Mine built by Blue Blood Federation was, in fact, not a gold mine, or even a mine for that matter. It''s actually a quarry since most of the [Mining] is done on the surface. The settlement part is small compared to the total walled area, which makes it technically more of a mining base than a town. Not that a quarry needs big living space for tourists per se¡­ This settlement''s economy is also as deceiving as its name. There are indeed many miners camping the ore spawns here, but the majority of the members use the town as a supply hub while they venture in other zones. Each zone has a different ore composition, so it doesn''t make much sense to camp exclusively in the same place forever. That, and they aren''t miners. Yes, these players'' official jobs are treasure hunters. They are responsible for maintaining a stable supply of high-end materials for the market. While is their main client, they also accept occasional contracts to grind specific items in quantities that are harder to find on the market. Whether it is [Enhancement] materials from a boss or a rare metal requiring multiple hours to find one, Blue Blood Federation has them covered. _ Elix: Found anything new today? _ Manager: ¡­You can unlock a title by using [Lightning] attacks on enemies in Thunder Huts multiple times. _ Elix: ¡­I won''t ask why you were doing something like that. Still, no luck today either¡­ Known only to a selected few, beneath the treasure hunter facade lies the true nature of ''s organization¡­ Well, they are still looking for treasures, just not what most people consider treasures. They are searching for the next Magnus Bestia. When it comes to knowledge and efficiency, are a level above the average Blue Blood Federation members. The wise little girls are too few in number however, so they provide potential leads while the numerous hunters under ''s command handle the field work. Not a bad arrangement per se, but the lack of result can be discouraging at times. _ Manager: Say, , do you think there''s any Magnus Bestia left in the first place? _ Elix: Not a clue. We can only do our best and hope that we stumble upon one, and pray to Sateri-chan that it wouldn''t be an Avitus Caelicola. To avoid unnecessary bloodshed and minimize the risks of a kill steal, the alliance''s top brass and have come to an agreement regarding unique bosses. is entitled to all Avitus Caelicola regardless of who discovers it first, whereas the alliance is given free rein to all Nox Terminus, no question asked. That way, everyone can get their share of [Artifact] loots. Except for the peasan¡­ normal players of course. That being said, Magnus Bestia bosses remain a contested area. It would be unfair to hand them to either side for free, and leaving them to unaligned players is obviously out of the question. In the end, it was decided that these bosses would be handled in a first come first serve basis, resulting in the tireless work from the alliance''s members to locate them. _ Manager: *Sighs* Figured as much. I heard from the beta guys that no one knew these bosses existed. literally walked into one by chance. _ Elix: If there was another one like that, it has no way of hiding from the number of players on the server these days¡­ Anyway, what''s next on the list gave us? _ Manager: ¡­Throwing stuff at monsters. _ Elix: ¡­ said something about drowning in fish. I''ll ask him if he can spare some for us to throw. And so begins a new urban myth of an SG-rank title which is unlocked by throwing fish at every single monster in the game. ____________ When it comes to settlements, it is taken for granted that one would need for their siege engines. Despite the overwhelming recommendations, there will always be players who try to build one without an unstoppable ballista that can end all raids (as well as treasuries). The majority of attempts fell within days, but the few that survived the initial onslaught get to enjoy their peaceful virtual life without a massive debt. Shortly after the nerf to corruption raids, a small village appeared at the further edge of the Honey Swamp, southeast of Tyrel. Most passersby thought it was another futile attempt of new players who had not experienced the pain of building stuff outside the defensive walls and kept moving. It was a hard lesson any settlement builder would have to learn eventually. No one expected it to stand strong until this day. ¡­And still without a wall. Behind the door of the biggest manor in the village, a well-dressed woman with a shining neck-line is greeting a group of returning players. _ NPC: Welcome back, guildmaster. There is a package addressed to you. _ Ignar: Ah, thanks. Let''s see here¡­ "Thank you for taking care of us. Here''s a little gift from our first independent boss raid. Hope to play again with you guys soon!"¡­ is what it says. _ Tippe: The sender¡­ Oooh, those guys! They seem to be doing well with their new guild. _ Maximus: Heh. Those nubs should have used the materials to upgrade their gears. _ Ignar: Ahaha. Give the graduates some slack, Max. I''m sure they wouldn''t waste important materials because you drilled that lesson into them. is not a normal guild. A normal guild works towards the betterment of itself, whereas this one is more of a charity. These veterans take in all newbies who ask, arm them with equipment and help them grow. When the once-newbies become full-fledged adventurers, they are encouraged to found their own guild, which is the opposite of what an underdeveloped guild should do. The mad lads still do it anyway. And yet, for some bizarre reason, their treasury has not depleted despite the constant splurge spending on newbie equipment. It actually grew. _ Ignar: I''ll leave the new NPC assignment to you Max. Gotta send our friends a reply and organize the rooms for our new automated helpers. _ Maximus: Got it. Oi, clerk, follow me. _ NPC: Understood. Please lead the way. The grumpy archer brings the guild clerk NPC to a backroom while his companions leisurely enjoy their drinks at a table. Being close friends with the min-maxer, they know he is going to crunch numbers silently behind the door for a long time. _ Tippe: Man, the NPCs for hire are a lifesaver, but I''m still lightheaded whenever I see the bills for their service¡­ _ Ignar: You don''t say. Then again, merc NPCs do not need LDR to use so they obviously need a different compensation. Max will make sure we don''t use more than we can pay for, so don''t worry. _ Tippe: It''s terrifying when you think about it. We were still a single party playing with a few newbies when you founded the guild. Now we need NPCs to help with crafting gear for hundreds of new recruits, and we are not even using our own pocket! _ Ignar: Haha, to be honest, I''m just as surprised as you are. Max only wanted to get rid of low-level materials quickly and I thought it wouldn''t hurt to get along with newbies while we were at it. The graduates paid it forward to the next generation on their own volition. Unbeknownst to the core guild members, not asking for low-level equipment back after handing them out is considered a big act of kindness. The "graduates", wanting to return the favor, finance through various means which in turn allows their benefactors to take in even more recruits. The virtuous cycle continues to run its course in this (no longer) little sprawling village, to the point that it is now known as Starter Village among the player base for everything its dwellers have done for the community. And just like that, the biggest soft alliance in the game has been formed. ____________ Under a gazebo at the top of the world, three players are standing in stunned silence. _ Hessenria: Just to confirm, , you don''t have anything to do with it right? _ Shadyna: I really don''t! I expected it to turn into a big bowl of bone broth! _ Hessenria: ¡­I can''t decide if that expectation of yours is better or worse than¡­ whatever this is. After months of monotonous grinding in the empty void, the great gathering of space bones is completed. The last "ladle" was brought back by Gelly, ending the days of unpaid pet labor, finally. Then the crafting sphere turned purple and started emitting dark smoke from its surface. _ Hessenria: No matter how you look at it, this thing looks like bad news¡­ It does not seem to be doing anything however. _ Merashiel: May~be it needs a little sti~mu~la~tion~? _ Hessenria: Get your head out of the gutter, Mera! , stop poking it with your sword hilt! Even though it''s already the end of the day, the tavern mistress is still not getting any break. _ Merashiel: Just kidding~ It has the same texture as the dark gate, don''t you think? _ Hessenria: Gate? Ah, you mean the blocked gate at the end of the world after a Nox is defeated? _ Shadyna: I saw it the other day too! What does it mean though¡­? _ Hessenria: An "under construction" sign. If it is the same at the gate, it means we need to wait until the next patch because Sateri-chan has not added it in yet. _ Shadyna: Oh~ I see! _ Hessenria: Well, tomorrow will probably be the level 40 patch so this might be delayed. It''s one of the biggest patches after all. _ Shadyna: Got it! I''ll just check it every day then! _ Hessenria: Sure. That''s a good plan. _ Merashiel: Sateri-chan may also be generous and introduce both patches on the same day~ _ Hessenria: True, but more content at the same time can have more bugs. We are not in beta anymore, remember? _ Merashiel: Indeed~ She has to be a ti~ny bit crazy to take on additional risk like that. _ Shadyna: Even Sateri wouldn''t be that crazy right~? Laughing without a single care at the top of the world, the girls are oblivious to the event waiting for them. The person in question is, in fact, crazy enough to do just that. Chapter 94: Which one is the main quest?! The hero of justice Shadyna is responding to a call for help! Shortly before the last period, many in my class received similar messages, me included. In my case, it was from the chat group we use to communicate with other guild members outside of CSF. "Patch''s out. Big guild event. Everyone come ASAP." Was the message. Sent by the girls in the day team. ¡­Not sure if I wanted to complain about the lack of explanation, or praise them for not saying more than necessary and pulling us away from our work or school. In any case, more people tapping their phones than taking notes for the rest of the school day. The moment the last bell rang, half of the class bolted out of the classroom, along with the teacher. The same went for other classes, so we suddenly had a good chunk of the school rushing out at the same time, stampede style. Yes, the teachers were part of it. No running in the corridor? Really? The only people not running were some helpless moral committee members! Good luck with enforcing the rules, because the ones making those rules certainly wouldn''t. This school is doomed, I''m telling you¡­ I quickly hit the bed shortly after dinner. Judging from the ongoing chat and surrounding banters earlier, we have at least multiple new bosses popping into existence because of this new patch. Not static bosses in the new areas, mind you, but new bosses in old areas which were not announced anywhere apparently. Problematic bosses at that. I''m obviously trying to get into the game as fast as I can for the new content, though I''m not exactly in a rush. The day team packs enough firepower to kill an entire zone using only basic attacks. The bosses are either already dead many times over or so tough that even my guild members are unable to take them down. Neither is a situation that changes quickly by the minute, unlike that time with the battle royale at Sateri''s feet¡­ That, and I want to make sure I don''t need to get up for the rest of the night. A bathroom break is one of the worst things that can happen during a real-time boss fight, only topped by a bathroom break with advertisement! This cute half-elf did not become strong by taking breaks while everyone fought for their lives, un! ¡­ It''s already noisy the moment I see the ceiling of my room. Also, why the heck are you guys bringing debts into a game?! I quickly get up from the bed. By the way, I have been using [Engineering] on it to constantly cast skills during offline time. It''s the perfect replacement for the old fire shooters that could only train my resistance skills. [Engineering]-casts use owner''s stats though, so I may or may not have accidentally destroyed my cozy wooden house in my virtual sleep and freaked everyone out. Don''t worry. I have mastered it! And today, the siege bed is one of the most powerful tools in ''s arsenal! _ Hessy (Guild): , get to the cafeteria''s top floor. We don''t have much time! _ Shadyna (Guild): Roger~! Gimme a minute to prepare! Since we will be fighting bosses, let''s bring some additional potions. Also more specialized buff lunchboxes, and [Resurrection] potions, and wooden boards¡­ Should I bring the wagons too? Might be a bit tight on the inventory weight however¡­ Are they using siege weapons against bosses? I''m pretty sure the current meta is using them against slow enemies with high defense¡­ Maybe I should bring a Raid Breaker Engine as well? I don''t have a spare one lying around though, since they are a tad expensive to craft¡­ Okay! Equipment change! Let''s craft one to be on the safe side. Materials~ Materials~ A lot of materials~ [Creation]~! _ Shadyna: Gelly, Lutena, please take care of it! It''s not that I''m pushing the work to my pets because I am lazy, okay? There are other matters that I must attend to and I would rather not keep my friends waiting, honest! Leaving the glorious work of filling up the progress bar to my capable legendary pets, I summon Sateri for the daily prayer. Although [Karmic Fragment] turned out to be not that important, being an alternative currency for NPCs for their services or quests, I still do the same routine out of habit, and wanting to maintain a good relationship with my soon-to-be wife! I''m still not sure if kneeling in front of your wife is an indicator of a healthy marriage though¡­ Anyway, [Summon]~! _ Sateri: , the creature has come back to life. ¡­Wait, what? _ Shadyna: Uh¡­ which creature are you talking about? I''m sure there are quite a few new creatures¡­ Boss creatures, to be specific. There are new monsters in the new zones too I bet, but I don''t think they are worth Sateri''s attention. _ Sateri: The one whose remains you were scooping up. _ Shadyna: Why?! We did our best not to use [Resurrection] to avoid this exact scenario! Self-revival without a maiden sacrifice or an artifact acquired by murdering said maiden in cold blood is illegal! _ Sateri: That is the risk with artifacts from the outside. They are inherently unstable by nature and therefore can cause widespread destruction no matter the precaution one takes. Is¡­ is it me or Sateri just flashed a smirk there?! Even the kind and caring goddess persona is not immune to the snark! Was it Sateri''s fault? Or Sateri''s fault? Or even¡­ Sateri''s fault?! I have a nagging feeling that it''s Sateri''s fault, un. _ Shadyna: I shall pay it a visit then. Be right back~! [Recall]! To the space gazebo I go~! *FLASH* _ ???: PUNY. MORTAL. As I land on the stony ground, I am greeted by a starry sky. No, rather than "starry", I suppose the correct description would be "lots of glowing bones that look like stars from afar". Bones that I have been meticulously collecting for the last four months in fact. That being said, the creature certainly has skin and meat, just that they are kind of transparent. Un, like a slime, if you can ignore the fact that this slime is shaped like a gigantic serpent spanning hundreds of meters. Yes, hundreds of meters. Whatever this eel (?) is, its size is on a completely different scale from the rest of us. If it weren''t moving and talking to me, I would have mistaken it for a new celestial body rather than a creature! Then again, it''s made of four months'' worth of bone collection from the entire world map. If it had become something the size of Lutena, I would probably need to start counting just to make sure nothing was missing. _ Shadyna: Uh¡­ hello? Since it''s rare for a boss-like entity to hold a conversation and not shoot this pacifist me with lasers for once, I will listen to what it has to say. If it starts a 30-minute monologue I''ll leave as I am in a hurry, but I want to reduce the chance of putting things off and risk a repeat of what happened to Schennul. Do not underestimate a bunch of maraud¡­ adventurers having their eyes set on rare loots, un. _ Serpent (?): DEATH CONCUBINE. EVEN. IRONIC. I was too surprised to think about it earlier, but it has a surprisingly cute voice accompanied by ground-shaking (space-shaking?) growls. What is this gap moe¡­ Then again, this is a snake (?) the size of an aircraft carrier we are talking about. You know, the size at which you are more likely to create earthquakes than audible sounds? Probably still passes as gap moe though~ As for the "Death concubine" thing, I think it''s referring to my [Lady of the Dead] title. NPCs have been reacting to various titles in my possession many times so it''s not a big deal anymore. By the way, the rarer the title, the more extreme the reactions will be. No, I am absolutely not saying this out of real experience due to my own titles or anything like that. Honest~! _ Shadyna: Don''t mind that title please~ Anything I can help you with? _ Serpent (?): MAYHAPS. WHAT IS''T THAT THOU DESIRE? For you to speak like a normal person for starters, probably. ____________ After the invention of (mostly) indestructible walls and Raid Breaker Engines, there was peace in Tyrel. Even though the fight against the darkness continued raging on across the world, the capital city was completely safe from external threats, as a capital city should be. Until a two-headed bird of prey the size of an entire district began torching the place up that is. Several craters replace the once-prosperous city blocks after hours of constant fighting. It''s only thanks to [Blueprint] rebuilding destroyed structures that Tyrel did not become a desolate no man''s land. The inventories receiving all the stored items from destroyed buildings on the other hand are going to need a traumatizing amount of reorganizing however¡­Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. A guard tower comes crashing down after taking a blue fiery meteor in its wall. To be fair, not many buildings were built to handle one in the first place. Guard towers do get a higher amount of incoming fire still, since housing the siege engines capable of striking back at the beast kind of makes them a high priority target. At least they are also being rebuilt quickly thanks to dedicated builders doing their job despite the hazardous working environment. On the other "side" of the battlefield is a creature whose size is already a direct attack on biology and physics, let alone soaring in the sky like an aircraft. Thankfully the realist players are a bit too busy dying and fending off its attacks to complain about how unrealistic this is on the board. Maybe one day someone will tell them that the bird (if it can be called one) also has two heads, is covered in blue burning feathers, and spits rocks categorized as meteors. Flight is the least of its problems. That, or just remind them they are playing a fantasy MMO. Emphasis on the "fantasy" part. The creature is not invincible, however. Even if it wasn''t as fortified as it could be, Tyrel still houses too many siege engines to shrug off. The increasing number of wounds on the bird''s body is the greatest proof of that. Whether that DPS can get through the HP regen is a different question that no one dares ask. They soon have their answer though. Everyone thought it was just going for another attack run, then realized that it probably took a few more hits too many when it began losing altitude, fast. Now the defenders suddenly have to deal with the crash landing of a skyscraper-sized poultry. Having experience of getting screwed over by corpse physics and massive bosses, the player base obviously must have foreseen this turn of events and planned accordingly. ¡­Except that they did not. The bird plows into the northern area of Tyrel uncontested, leaving behind a lane of destroyed terrain, buildings, and dead players. Even the infamous indestructible wall was not spared from the collision, which is saying a lot about the damage a big (understatement) corpse can do. Nevertheless, it is safe to say that the entire marketplace will need quite some time to tidy things up after this. Despite the exhaustion after continuously fighting for hours, the victorious players emerge (respawn) from the ruins with great enthusiasm and charge toward the fallen beast. The second battle royale for rare drops has officially beg¡­ *FLAP* They are so focused on racing and blasting each other in said race, they fail to see the "corpse" raising its wings, then slamming them to the ground. *BOOM* The resulting shockwave blows away every single player in the vicinity with ease. Before the players outside of the blast could understand the situation, the boss lets out a screech as ear-piercing as one would expect from a bird-like creature, followed up by volleys after volleys of countless tiny blue stars homing onto their faces. Forget the loots. The second phase has only begun. ____________ _ Hessy: And that''s probably why Sateri-chan warned in the patch notes to avoid fighting them. Thanks for the explanation, but why do I feel like my beautiful manager just opened the window for me to see some weird bird crashing into ''s area and smashing through my walls¡­? Granted, they were outdated compared to those in other settlements as they were built first, but still¡­ _ Shadyna: Un, so the new patch added flying creatures, and these Terra Cetus are the flying unique bosses. They are way too big to fight conventionally so Sateri added guild quests for each of them. Judging from the screenshots of other identified Terra Cetus, the common theme for them seems to be their humongous size that allows them to be rendered and seen from very far away. Their firepower is most likely just as terrifying, though no guild has picked a fight with another one apparently. _ Mera: People say that, but it really showed on their face you know~? They spent their savings on shady siege weapons hoping to one-up the rest of us, only to get SQUI~SHED like li~ttle bugs~ The look on their face when their hope warped into pure despair¡­ *WHACK* _ Mera: Ow~ Correction: No guild has picked a fight with another one that''s worth talking about. In other news, Mera will probably die to Hessy''s spiky sword faster than the bird sniping everyone with mass-homing attack spells out there. _ Hessy: Anyway, , I received the quest in your stead to save time. _ Shadyna: Un, no problem! So the target is this turtle, right? We don''t have enough members to go after every boss at the same time, unfortunately. That''s why Hessy posted screenshots on the chat group for everyone to vote on the target. The lucky boss to receive the honor is a turtle hovering above the Lava Rift. A turtle with a volcano on its back, to be specific. _ Hessy: Yes. The quest location is Thunder Huts however. We also heard from the patrons that it''s a quest chain, so this may take a while. Any question before we go? _ Shadyna: Ah, yes. Why is fighting that Terra Cetus then? Is it because it''s faster? _ Hessy: I would love to say that was the case but¡­ from what I heard, was camping the patch and ramped Etena into it before reading the patch notes. ¡­AGAIN?! Dear capable managers of , please try to rein in your guildmaster for once! Do you intend to let this happen until Tyrel gets wrecked or something? Wait¡­ _ Hessy: In addition, the quest-giver asked if we wanted to contact the Terra Cetus in her dialogue. I suspect these bosses are meant to be tamed, not hunted down. If is lucky, he might get the summon item. If not¡­ Yup, that''s totally, definitely not the face of someone enjoying others'' suffering! Mera, you smiling with her is NOT helping! _ Nerin: Is it fine to leave as-is? They might get an [Origin] title if they finish off the Terra Cetus first. _ Hessy: Teahouse team is monitoring them. That, and¡­ _ Hessy: Fortunately, unaligned players will not lend a hand now that the city is kind of safe. is not going to have an easy time from this point. and the owners of the destroyed marketplace might disagree on the "fortunate" part though~ Now I''m glad I didn''t blast the big serpent on sight. That would have landed me in the same quagmire as . Who could have thought pacifism would be so good at not getting into unnecessary fights, right~? Leaving Su and her team behind to deal with , the cute girls of depart on the journey to tame a flying volcano! Don''t worry, I will not get sidetracked and blow up the sun again this time! ____________ The Honey Swamp is full of activity. Even though multiple new hunting zones were added today, there is no lack of players in the old ones. The ones grinding for experience or loots aside, the majority are working on the many quests to contact Terra Cetus spanning over the entire world. An expected development, since this is everyone''s best shot at getting their hands on one now that the top contenders are occupied with their own quests, or boss fights. _ Guildmaster: Push them back! Don''t let them get a foothold! _ Members: UUUOOOOOOHHHH!!! And as expected, everyone has the same idea. Rather than gathering materials and hunting monsters for the quests, players are engaging in a free-for-all anywhere they go. Even if a group focuses on doing the quest, their progress will soon be halted by competitive rival guilds, or stray AoE. Mainly stray AoE. _ Member: Guildmaster, I think we got all of the organized attackers for now! _ Guildmaster: Finally! Now make sure nothing gets through! Crafters, start building the walls! Everyone else, secure a perimeter! _ Members: ON IT! A relatively big and well-armed guild is pushing out the last competitors and securing a significant area for their own grind. It is unclear how long they have before oppositions regroup and gang up on them, but they have to try regardless. _ Guildmaster: Now, the ques¡­ Huh? Amidst the busy crowd fortifying their hard-earned hunting ground, a tiny slime girl and a peasant-looking NPC nonchalantly walk past the guards like they own the place. They are so relaxed that no one thinks they are outsiders. The lack of emblems combined with the guild''s massive size are not helping either. That bravado cannot fool the experienced guildmaster and managers, however. Now, extensive as CSF''s character creation system is, a non-bipedal avatar is still not a thing. That means the slime girl is not a player, but one of those famous humanoid pets. There is no way any of their members could have one without the top brass knowing. They may not be the best, but their player skills are not to be underestimated! _ Guildmaster: Intruders! Kill them! [Light Spear]! Leading by example, the guildmaster bravely throws a shining magical arrow at the unsuspecting pet from the flank. *WHACK* A direct hit, and the heroic guildmaster expected nothing less. One or two infiltrators can''t do much direct damage, but good players know not to take chances when an event (and its rewards) is on the line. Although surrounding players are understandably startled by the sudden attack, managers and veterans are already preparing their long-ranged strikes. Only novices would let their guard down just because they are outnumbering the opponents! _ Pet (?): ¡­ For a bunch of (self-proclaimed) expert players, they certainly neglected to learn about humanoid pets. Specifically, the kind of work needed to acquire one, and the players managing to pull that off. The uncanny footage of a cute slime girl and her escort simultaneously turning to the guildmaster would later be archived and then spread like wildfire across the board. It''s safe to say that no one was prepared to handle the duo that is Gelly and Ophilie. Or, as the player base would come to know them in the future, the strongest non-player party. ____________ The administrator AI is amused. After four months of constant grinding, a particular maniac finally completed a quest meant to be done by at least dozens if not hundreds of players. A big content patch was planned to be released on that occasion, so she unknowingly delayed it for more than a quarter of the year. Have some common sense, dimwit! What kind of designer would make a single quest take that long these days?! Because it was already way too delayed for anyone''s taste, Sateri deployed it as fast as she could. That ended up being the same day as the level-40 patch. Although a human team would be screaming in despair if they had to handle this kind of release schedule, CSF''s "team" is a powerful AI with plenty of computing power and pettiness to spare, thankfully. If anything, the player base fumbling around in two massive patches'' worth of content is a sight to witness. Yes, that includes Tyrel losing half of its living space due to players'' own negligence to read simple notes, or the widespread extreme violence across the world map. All according to the plan of the all-seeing Goddess who totally does not revel in her subjects'' suffering. [Warning: An has appeared. Caution is advised.] [Warning: A has appeared. Caution is advised.] That was¡­ not planned. --- Topic: Patch discussion - 1.0e32 - Flight patch --- ## Fire mage of Justice Summary for 1.0e32: - Added flight. Even the sky is not the limit anymore. (OP note: For real?!) - Added multiple Terra Cetus, the sky islands. Fighting them is ill-advised. The denizens may have information on how to interact with them. - Player and skill level cap increased to 40. - Added new content for level 40. ## ## Nearseeing Sage FLIGHT?! ¦²(?§¥?) ## ## Manly Warrior Look up. That big bird is evidence itself. Sateri-chan was not kidding. (£þ¡õ£þ;) TO THE SKY! ## ## Newbie Charisma build TO THE SKY!!! ?(^¨Œ^)? I came back to Tyrel to report that taming flying mobs is possible but why is half the town in ruins?! ## ## Deeply Intelligent Well¡­ About that¡­ I would like to report that some pets also gain the ability to fly after the patch. If your pet could hover, try ordering it to take off. It wasn''t me but¡­ sorry for the trouble our guildmaster is causing m(__)m ## ## Big Hammer Aren''t you glad that we Blueprinted everything in Tyrel ever since the whole mess with Sateri-chan''s statue? (*^0^*) EDIT: Scratch that. My inventory!!! ## ## Bountiful Hunter If pets can fly, maybe the equivalent skills can be unlocked for players too? We most likely will need that to get to Terra Cetus. TO THE SKY! ## ------ --- Topic: Remote summon strat --- ## The Dark Knife Guys, won''t we be invincible if we stay in a faraway location and only use pets to do our bidding? The enemy won''t be able to touch us! (¨R?¨Q) ## ## StoneHoarder And how is it different from playing solo? ## ## Deeply Intelligent Congrats. You have figured out Phoenix Ashes'' secret. Please stay where you are. It will be over soon. ## ## The Dark Knife Uh¡­ huh? (?_?) How is it NOT differ-- ## ## Fire mage of Justice RIP o7 In case you really don''t know, the point of using summons is to have more bodies to throw at the enemy. When you hide on the other side of the map and control your pet directly, that''s just solo play with extra steps. ## ## StoneHoarder You won''t get any kind of exp from your pet either. Only people doing level-1 or deathless runs would benefit from it. Even Phoenix Ashes guildmaster stays relatively close to the battle to support or even contribute to DPS I thi-- *Explosion* ## ## Deeply Intelligent You know too much. ## ## The Dark Knife I see. Since you can always respawn, joining the battle is generally better. Umu umu. ¡­You guys are ruthless even to your own body, aren''t you? (?_?;) ## ------ Chapter 95: There is no Player 2 As the war rages on around her, the shell-shocked veteran Shadyna questions her entire life! Namely, what the heck just happened? We used our [Recall] network to get to Thunder Huts for the Terra Cetus quest like normal players. And like normal players, we came with the intention to actually do the quest, which was gathering meat dropped by the creatures in this area. ¡­So can someone tell me why we are smacking players instead of mobs? _ Hostile player: Kuh! These guys are strong¡­! Nice deduction, detective. If only you had figured that out before half of your forces got a taste of pure firepower. I know it is literally to die for and you guys can be really desperate at times, but showing some restraints would do wonders for your health. Shocking, isn''t it? _ Hostile player #2: Must be one of the top guilds! Play it safe and overwhelm them with numbers! _ Hostile player: Ah, sure, you guys can go ahead. Thank you for your service. _ Hostile player #2: The heck?! _ Hostile player: Half of my guild got wiped! It''s your turn to buy all of us time! _ Hostile player #2: ¡­I knew you guys can''t be trusted! Kill them all! Now you are fighting each other?! Without us lifting a finger (after the initial ambush), the numerous adversaries surrounding us turn to each other as fast as they threw themselves at us seconds ago! If you guys are going to do so, please do it in advance and save us the trouble, thank you very much. We are not going to do anything, obviously. As a famous person once said, never interrupt your love rivals when they are flirting with each other, or something along those lines~ While pondering about potential reasons for these people to attack us, I catch sight of a group who are not participating in the infighting. Are they not on the same side I wonder? _ Hostile (?) knight: Ah, don''t mind us, Miss Illusive Sprout. My guild and I have no intention of fighting you. The dark elf knight who seems to be the leader waves off the moment he notices my line of sight. So there''s someone knowing about us here after all. And not just "knowing". I do remember having talked to this dark elf in my early days. _ Shadyna: Hello~! It''s been a while, isn''t it? Since we met at [Laetque Eye], I mean. _ Knight: It is. And I never thought you would remember a nobody like me. _ Knight''s friend (?): To be fair, trying to kill someone then groveling in front of her the next day leaves a big impression most of the time. _ Knight: What else was I supposed to do?! We were being banned from the entire [Cooking] market! Not that I endorse the behavior, but it did leave an impression alright. Also, he just said something interesting. What''s with the [Cooking] market? I for sure wasn''t involved with it at the time! Don''t tell me¡­ _ Hessy: No comment. So it was YOUR doing!!! Being a responsible guildmaster in charge of preventing my members of mass destruction from wreaking havoc, I will say that I absolutely, totally¡­ do not know anything about this incident! Even my capable manager didn''t have any comment after all~ _ Shadyna: Speaking of food, should we enjoy some sweets while we talk? _ Knight: ¡­Sweets? ¡­ Even though it wasn''t in the plan, we are holding a tea party in the middle of a warzone! The battle between other guilds is still ongoing, but they are not bothering us. Not after the first few stray shots got entire AoE volleys from our vanguards in return. They probably don''t want to get wiped while their rivals remain standing. _ Knight: As you can see, we have been learning from past events that we stand a better chance by banding together. It usually falls apart the moment a conflict of interest comes up, but it''s the best chance we have. After being tormented (tempted) with delicious treats made from high-quality rocks and gems, the dark elf knight and his friends quickly spilled the beans. The meals are as strong as a dumpling, so normal players like them could never refuse my offer. Not asking them anything unreasonable also helped. We only want to hear from them about the actual situation around here. Sure, we had more or less figured it out beforehand, but having external confirmation is still vital in any intelligence-gathering operation. ¡­I appreciate the thoughtfulness, but aren''t we a restaurant, not an intelligence agency¡­? _ Nerin: So it''s true. I have heard about this from our patrons, though I didn''t think you guys could organize among yourselves¡­ Both the knight and I look at the archer waitress for a second, then the bloodbath all around us. I mean, she''s not wrong. The guy yelling out strategies is getting punched in the face by his supposed allies at the moment, which is not the best indicator of a unified front in most cultures. A common enemy can only unite them until it''s time to divide the loots, and sometimes not even that far in this particular situation. _ Knight: W-well, it worked somewhat in past events for many of us, so we were going for the same strategy this time. I am not going to be so crazy to take you on even if they aren''t fighting though. That matches our observations of the previous events. Understandable as a normal guild doesn''t stand much of a chance in a direct confrontation with one of the top guilds. Given the choice between splitting loots among themselves or losing it all to big guilds, it''s not hard to imagine what the majority of small guilds would choose. Which is fine and all, though they might have also overestimated their strategy quite a bit due to how recent events spanned out. You see, after the battle royale under Sateri''s stony feet, official events had the list of rewards communicated clearly beforehand, so there was little incentive for us or other big guilds to do more than the bare minimum. Of course people would think whatever they were doing worked (relatively) better when their biggest opponents weren''t even seriously competing! We did not ignore the events as we would miss out on the fun of course. However, when the events included collaborative vegetable growing, sparkling bandit hunting, or scarecrow burning rituals, murdering all competition tended to be pretty low on the priority list. Now that I think about it, that was probably Sateri''s intention. While we were swamped with building towns and related infrastructure, players below level cap or not in a guild were pretty much "business as usual". The events were a good change of pace for them during that time. We grew a huuuuuuge tater during the vegetable growing event by the way, which exploded into an unholy amount of silk-like material. Not particularly strong, though it removes all materials'' texture effects in crafting and as such is highly sought-after by fashion designers. Needless to say, our guild''s own designers hoarded everything before anyone could think about selling it. The look in their eyes was terrifying, I''m telling you~ Because the events were about everyone doing their own thing like that, we didn''t even notice the smaller guilds banding together. That''s how "effective" their strategy was. ¡­I should keep this thought to myself, shouldn''t I? _ Shadyna: I see~ Is that why you were preemptively attacking everyone else not in your alliance? _ Knight: Y-yeah. Our quests are different but all located in this zone. That''s how we banded to fight off other competitors together while avoiding direct conflict between each member guild. Is that so~? I suppose they are big enough to fend off most small guilds, hence the preemptive strike against us the moment we arrived. Being a small guild sure is dangerous~ The question now is how I am going to handle this. We can certainly "relocate" everyone here with relative ease, but we won''t be able to keep them out for long due to nearby player towns acting as [Recall] beacons nowadays. Getting bogged down while guilds in other zones do their quests unhindered is not a good idea either¡­ _ Shadyna: In that case, how about an alliance with US? _ Knight: ¡­Pardon? ____________ _ Wizard: N¡­no way¡­! One by one, his guild members fell to the ruthless terror. They were laughing one moment (while murdering others), and HP-less the next. Before the powerful old wizard knows it, the entire frontline has turned into a recruitment office for the local necromancer, and the backline will join them soon. _ Dead archer: That woman one-shot me! _ Wizard: Wife¡­! _ Dead priestess: Kyaaaaa~! That slime girl is so cute!You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. _ Wizard: Wife #2¡­! _ Archer & priestess: Who would want to be your wife?! _ Wizard: The atmosphere is important!!! Even though there are more dead than alive players in the vicinity, the chat remains quite lively as if everyone was still alive in an alternate, happier universe. One that doesn''t involve dying from buff-spitting lunchboxes, hopefully. _ Wizard: So this is the end¡­ The few remaining survivors have stopped fighting altogether. It''s not because they have fallen into despair and accepted their fate per se, but rather because it''s a waste of consumables and weapon durability against such a difference in power. Anyone having a different opinion can file their complaints directly to the duo who look more like they are on an errand to the market than combatants on a battlefield. _ Pet (?): ¡­ Dispatching the last of the resisting players, the slime girl walks over the bodies of her fallen foes towards the old wizard¡­ _ Wizard: ¡­Huh? ¡­And walks right past him without batting an eye. It takes a moment for everyone to realize her target is actually a big boulder behind the wizard. In fact, she even starts to mine it after a quick inspection. _ Wizard: ¡­You could have told us if you just want to mine a rock!!! ____________ _ Shadyna: I can''t chat through my pet though¡­ _ Knight: Uh¡­ what? _ Shadyna: Nothing~! _ Knight: ¡­Sure. By the way, the perimeter has been secured, all thanks to your help. _ Shadyna: You''re welcome~ After I offered the dark elf''s guild and his "allies" a few cartons of dumplings, they stopped fighting each other and resumed fighting everyone else. Excluding us this time, for obvious reasons. _ Formerly hostile player: Kill them! Kill them all in the name of our lady! _ Everyone: In the name of Lady Sprout! KILL THEM ALL!!! They also started chanting some very worrisome war cries by the way. This is definitely not an evil god granting their cult a boon, honest~! _ Hessy (Guild): [Dismantling] shop is up. You can leave the quest to us, . _ Shadyna (Guild): Un! Thank you very much! The rest of my guild, free from security duties, can now focus on the quest proper. It''s just acquiring meat materials so my presence is not necessary. If anything, my firepower may destroy the corpses and reduce our loots. No thanks to that. There''s pacifism not mixing well with gathering meat too. While I am able to gather materials from creatures peacefully using the taming and [Farming] trick with high-quality buff potions, my capable guild members have a different idea¡­ "Use the taming trick to get the loots, then kill and dismantle the corpse for more loots" kind of different, specifically. ¡­My guild members are cute so I sometimes forget, but dear Sateri aren''t they ruthless! Sure, our main bottleneck is mob respawn time so this is the best way to increase our hunting efficiency, but we are not that desperate! Look, even our murderous allies are appalled by the complete lack of hesitation for animal cruelty! What do you mean, you are also getting items for your quests so we get a pass?! ¡­Well, that''s why I leave the rechargeable potions to them for taming and help our allies out with their quests. Much better for my pacifism that way, un! Mister knight here got the quest to acquire materials from a boss, for instance. They only need one boss due to the high difficulty of subduing one, though one might argue that getting to one is the actual hurdle as well. Bosses are a luxury even among bigger guilds after all. Lucky for them, I happen to be acquainted with a boss in Thunder Huts, or rather, the guild(s) occupying its spawn area. _ Shadyna: Hello~! Can we have one spider boss please~? Needless to say, the guards from Blue Blood Federation were not expecting us. _ Guard: Sprout girl?! I mean, we are not doing it today, obviously. But¡­ _ Shadyna: We''ll share the drops, and I''ve brought sweets too! _ Guard: Please come right in, esteemed customer! _ Knight: Oi¡­ is this really okay¡­? _ Shadyna: It''s fine~ If you can''t beat them, bribe them! Materialism can and will deliver world peace! One bribe at a time! _ Knight: That''s not how the saying goes¡­ Little details~! We are allowed to have the boss thanks to my charismatic persuasion (and bribery), but that is only the first step for the allied guild. _ Knight: Alright, we will have to do the majority of damage so please sit out of the fight. I hope we have enough firepower to win this¡­ Of course I would even without him asking. I am a pacifist, remember? That doesn''t mean I cannot bankroll his boss raid though. Based on what I saw during deliveries to boss sites, his guild will need a few hours of grueling attritional fighting to wear the boss down. Not the best use of time when they can help push back rival alliances in my opinion. ¡­ _ Shadyna: That''s why I''m back with support! Uh¡­ Do you need a res? I left my allies to their own devices for a few minutes and they are dying in droves, as expected. Can''t blame them really, since they are not top-tier players with a lot of boss raiding experience. _ Dead knight: ¡­A res would be appreciated. And explanation too. Demanding, aren''t you~? _ Shadyna: [Resurrection]! As for where I went to, I fetched something that will help you fight. Ta-da~! Behold, my [ Thunder Cannon]! It''s the Raid Breaker Engine Lutena and co were crafting, but it was heavy and was thus left on standby in storage. Although it''s not the strongest one I can craft due to using leftover materials, it is still stronger than everything the dark elven knight can field. _ Knight: The sword of legend¡­! _ Shadyna: It''s a ballista~ That, and rusty old swords pulled from rocks of questionable quality are a downgrade from superior siege weapons if you ask me. _ Knight: Alright! There''s no way we can lose now! With great enthusiasm, the knight jumps onto the ballista and aims at the big spider tossing his members into the air left and right. Ah, if he shoots while it is wriggling around like that¡­ _ Knight: FIRE! *WHOOSH* ¡­It may miss. Flying past the spider''s wagging chimney, the entire barrage of five lightning-imbued bolts slam straight into one of the metallic vines surrounding the arena. *Zzzt* Then the entire hut turns into a charged lightning rod, with electricity running around the metal surfaces and discharging lightning strikes all over the place. *BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM* As the majority of lightning strikes hit the boss and the rest hit the unlucky players in the area, I remember one of the most basic rules of RPG: Don''t use [Fire] against fire-type enemies. Or in this case, [Lightning] against a lightning-type zone. I couldn''t help it, okay? [Elemental] skills are combination skills so their enchantments are also more material-consuming. That left me with eight elements to pick, and [Lightning] happened to be the one I chose on a whim, thinking it wasn''t a big deal. My weapons shine through superior stats rather than emphasizing elemental weakness after all. ¡­ I don''t think my allies here would buy that explanation however. [Warning: An has appeared. Caution is advised.] Especially when the boss flashbangs everyone and emerges as one towering blob supported by very, very long limbs. Whoopsie. ____________ There''s a reason why Honey Swamp is not a good zone for miners, and it''s not immersion. It''s because a good portion of the land is under swamp water. Sweet swamp water, sure, but still swamp water in the end. Combined with the low material level, no sane player would want to grind [Mining] in this place. Unless they need [Honeyed Rock], like a certain humanoid pet whose mistress received a quest to collect them. Walking along the shorelines unchallenged and extracting all the rocks she can, Gelly is making progress, but it is going way too slow for comfort. Even though most other players have learned to avoid her the hard way, there''s only so much [Mining] she can do with only her lonesome self and the few nearby boulders. She walks into one of the ponds in hope of additional ore nodes, only to be deterred by nearly complete loss of vision due to the honey-colored liquid. Drenched too, although a dry slime girl is not that different from one covered in viscous honey anyway. Just don''t think too much about the clothing. Stumped by the surprisingly realistic outcome of diving into colored liquid, Gelly''s owner needs a different plan in order to complete the quest in a timely manner. Buying from the market will be expensive as there is not many suppliers and stock for [Honeyed Rock]. [Transmutation] is not much better because it''s very, very inefficient. The negotiation for the sales alone will most likely take days judging from the amount of goods in either option. It''s one of those times where her fish stockpile could be of use and she sold most of it to . What a blunder¡­! If only there was a way to get rid of the liquid in the ponds. That way Gelly would have access to a much bigger area to mine and progress would be much faster. ¡­Is what a normal player would wonder. For the extraordinarily normal sprouty girl, the question is "how to do so and get away with pacifism intact". Pacifism is important! According to the person who blasted the sun to pieces. Because she''s that kind of person, her solution to the honey ponds is blowing them to smithereens. Unlike terrain which takes hours to regenerate, ore nodes for [Mining] respawn within minutes due to the number of players. If the swamp water is drained (blown up) and the ore nodes respawn on top of whatever terrain left behind, they will be exposed enough for her to mine easily. Fortunately for everyone, Gelly is in no way capable of flattening an entire landscape. She is "only" a strong pet with powerful equipment and skills compared to the average players, all things considered. Unfortunately for everyone, Gelly has access to the excavators which have been gathering dust in the underground base. While the enchantment downgrade from [Accelerate Power] to [Accelerate Bonus] will hurt the damage, it will still create a decent crater on the terrain. *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* _ Players: WHAT THE HECK!!! Clearing the impact area of all living beings with ''s [Love]-filled lunchboxes, the slime girl proceeds to obliterate the ponds after a quick trip to the hidden base. Silent, ruthless, efficient, such are the words used to describe the girl reducing an entire water body to a small puddle. Of course, they are equally spooked and puzzled by the extra effort put into murdering everyone before blowing the entire place up, though they decided not to think too deeply about it. As long as she doesn''t actively hunt down players on land, they can peacefully ignore some mildly bizarre behaviors. *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* ¡­Okay, maybe not mildly after the third pond. Not that anyone wants to stop her to begin with. The bodyguard NPC, armed to the teeth and buffed by the best support spells from an armored fairy, who in turn is buffed to absurdity by her own buffs and two [Ethereal Form] from the most powerful NPCs in the game, can and will take down a guild''s worth of players within seconds once provoked. If there are still brave souls trying to take the eccentric duo on, they will be too dead (in-game) to matter. Little do they know, "draining" swamp water in a swamp reduces its average water level. The terrain, including the lost water, will regenerate in time of course, except for a small hidden mechanism known only to the designer. When the water level drops below a certain threshold, an event will take place. It has dropped below this threshold, and is still dropping rapidly thanks to a certain pet, who is still oblivious to the event beginning to take place where she stands. As for what kind of event it is¡­ [Warning: A has appeared. Caution is advised.] It''s that kind of event. ____________ Since everyone left to participate in the event, the bartender in charge of the entire cafeteria feels a bit nostalgic as she serves drinks to the few remaining patrons with a smile. The bar''s early days were hard but easygoing, and peaceful. *FLASH* _ Fensen: Good evening, ! _ Poltea: G-good evening, . We are very sorry for being late. Emphasis on the "peaceful" part. That being said, the charming bartender is not bothered one bit by the change in her routine. _ Helen: Evening, little kittens~ Worry not about the time, for the night is still young. _ Fensen: Ehehe~! We did our best to finish our homework early! _ Helen: Good girls~ _ Poltea: U-uhm, , what should we do now? Is everyone fighting the Terra Cetus in Lava Rift? _ Helen: Well~ Rather than Lava Rift, you two are needed in Thunder Huts for something else. _ Fensen & Poltea: Something else? _ Helen: Yes. We are fighting an Avitus Caelicola. _ Fensen & Poltea: ¡­EEEEEEHHHHHH?!?! --- Topic: New Avitus Caelicola & Magnus Bestia --- ## Heaven Piercer So¡­ Apparently two decided to pop up in the middle of our big event. One Avitus Caelicola and one Magnus Bestia. Anyone knows where they are? (¡ã_¡ã>) ## ## Shining Knight Magnus Bestia in Honey Swamp. Source: Just got eaten Q_Q [Pic] ## ## WarlordPwnage Are you for real?! (££?§¥?) Would it kill to NOT find them during a meta-changing event you maniacs?! (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã£©¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß ## ## Flame knight of Darkness The Avitus Caelicola is in Thunder Huts. We are very sorry m(_ _)m ## ## Fire mage of Justice It was you?! ¦²(?§¥?) ¡­Hold up, isn''t this timing the best chance for small guilds to get their own unique bosses? ## ## OP alchemist O_O Artifact materials here I come! ## ## UnseenMurdererY This is our time to shine brothers! Down with the big guilds! (`?¦Ø?¡ä) ## ## Deeply Intelligent Please, no more¡­ We are not even close to done with the Terra Cetus (;_;) ## ------ Chapter 96: When the boss fights are secondary This is the genius tactician Shadyna, bracing against an insurmountable battle! No, it''s not the weird creature poking at us using its pole-sized limbs. It''s tough, but not exactly scary anymore at our power level. Not the amount of small guilds and unaligned players trying to breach the walls either. If anything, stray attacks from the boss pose a greater threat to the fortifications. The scariest battle for me is actually¡­ _ Hessy: , would you mind explaining why an Avitus Caelicola appeared in front of you? ¡­Withstanding my beautiful manager''s cold eyes. Thank you for the service, but that stare is extra icy cold even by our cafeteria''s standards! _ Shadyna: W-wait! Shouldn''t we deal with it first?! Unlike my guild members, I was within the aggro range when it spawned, and as such ended up being its main target after it killed everyone else in the vicinity. Although I won''t be in immediate danger after one hit, I would appreciate it if she showed at least some concern for my wellbeing you know~? _ Hessy: , tank it. , , protect the walls. Mera, support them. Without a tiny bit of consideration for me, and co rush in to intercept all threats around us. ''s pet Yassyl wields her tiny square shield and rams straight into one of the pointy limbs poking at me, creating several sparks as they connect. That looks about as lopsided as it can be considering their size difference, but anyone in the know would hide behind the cute black and white fairy for safety ten out of ten. Not too close behind her though, since there are some melee AoE mixed in the attacks. _ Hessy: Now, back to the topic. Scary! Even if it''s not my fault (technically), it''s still scary! _ Shadyna: Ehm¡­ Do you know that using [Lightning] on the frames will cause lightning strikes? _ Hessy: *Sighs* And next you are going to say that [Lightning] heals mobs in this zone. Yes, there are clueless newbies or trolls doing that every day. What abo¡­ Wait¡­ She turns to look at the ballista and the dark elf knight who is awkwardly scratching his head, then back to me with an astounded expression. Is it too late to invoke the right to stay silent I wonder~? _ Hessy: You healed it with [Lightning]?! _ Shadyna: Sorry~! And please do not facepalm like that. It doesn''t suit you~ _ Hessy: Hold on¡­ While stupid, that still happens frequently. There has to be something else. Hmm¡­ That makes sense. It takes only one rogue actor to replicate what we did, and most bosses including this one weren''t walled in like dangerous prisoners back then. Why do I have a feeling that she isn''t sure which category I belong to though¡­? Oh well, both options are kind of damning so I am invoking my right to stay silent! It''s not like I was the one performing the attack in the first place! _ Knight: ¡­Could it be because the attacks healed it for over 20k HP? _ Hessy & Shadyna: ¡­Ah. Nice deductions, but could you kindly refrain from using it to incriminate yourself (and me)?! I''m informed enough to know that the average players don''t deal 5-digit damage on a moment''s notice. You might as well craft a "This person did it" sign and put it next to me with that question of yours! _ Hessy: *Facepalms* What''s done is done. We need to think about how to deal with it and the Magnus Bestia at the same time¡­ Yup. The situation in the swamp is just about as chaotic according to the [World Voice] chat, and Gelly''s view. Players poured in unimpeded since the boss spawned in an open area which ironically led to more fighting among themselves rather than fighting the boss. It being a semi-burrowing antlion-like creature seems to have some deterrence against unprepared direct assaults as well. I for one would not want to rush in against something known for using pit traps without intensive study and preparation first. Not all of them though. Some were seen blindly charging in while Gelly and Ophilie were fighting their way out of the danger zone. I wonder if it''s because they have spiky hairstyles and hot tempers~? They are yelling loudly about the boss escorts as well, which I find a bit weird. I''m sure there wasn''t any when it appeared in front of Gelly. Did they spawn after my pet bravely charged in the opposite direction? ¡­Oi, I''ll have you know that Gelly is a gentle soul who would not hurt a fly! Unprovoked at least! It''s because you guys kept attacking her without bothering to check her affiliation that Ophilie got aggroed and kicked your butts. For the record, I can''t control Ophilie directly. Her last command is to guard Gelly, and therefore will not stop until all aggroed enemies are dead or out of protection range. Most weren''t fast enough to get out of harm''s way, if the chat was anything to go by. _ Hessy: A slime? The boss has minions¡­? Distracted by new information, Hessy drops the Avitus Caelicola topic and stands still in deep thought. She''s most likely checking the board for an image as the chaotic screaming match in chat is not the best description of a creature, or anything really. Hold on, wouldn''t that mean¡­ As if to confirm my fear, my manager quickly turns to me, or rather, my (lack of) cute wiggling pet. _ Hessy: It was also YOUR doing?! Uh¡­ no? I honestly have no idea what happened in the swamp. The boss just decided to spawn in front of Gelly while we were trying to mine rocks¡­ is a pretty good indicator that it was my fault huh. I''m sorry~ ¡­ *FLASH* _ Fensen: Good evening! Ah, is getting punished again. _ Poltea: Good evening, everyone. , did you do something bad again? What do you mean, "again"?! I don''t get a sword in my head that often, probably! _ Hessy: Evening, , . We have to delay the Terra Cetus quest because this maniac decided to summon an Avitus Caelicola and a Magnus Bestia now of all times. _ Shadyna: I was only doing a quest there through Gelly~ _ Hessy: You keep silent. Anyway, that''s the current situation. I''m sorry for ruining the big day, but we need to do something about the unique bosses first. Harsh¡­ I haven''t caused any trouble for a while you know? I was enjoying a peaceful shopkeeping experience and living off passive incomes at my own pace. Newer players visiting my candy shop thought I was a new guild member most of the time. Now that I think about it, I''m pretty sure everyone goes to Hessy when it comes to guild-related business. She does give off the air of someone in charge and have authority after all. ¡­Why did I get the guildmaster position again¡­? _ Poltea: Ah, please don''t worry about it. It happens whenever we play with . _ Fensen: Un! Because it''s ! I would thank you both for your consideration, but I feel like I''m being treated like a trouble magnet again! Sad cry~ _ Fensen: So~ Let''s beat up the boss and get back to the event! _ Hessy: Hold on. We can''t do that yet. _ Fensen: We can''t? _ Poltea: Ah, is it because of the second form? It''s exactly as she said, the bosses themselves are easy. The hard part is figuring out how to unlock the second form that would give us bonus loots. After realizing that even Nox can have one and drop additional rare items, no one in the know would want to fight a unique boss without pulling a stunt or two in hope of getting the second form.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. And there lies the problem: Everyone else wants them dead as soon as possible to get the loots for themselves. Even if some of them know or care about the additional drops, they most likely prefer getting their hands on any drops at all. They would be right of course, considering the competition from other opportunists and bigger guilds. It''s relatively tame here thanks to our allies'' walls, but the swamp has turned into a free-for-all PvP zone with no signs of anyone backing off. To make matters worse, we still have the event to work on. Other guilds are not going to wait while we screw around with the unique bosses. Being more efficient means nothing if even one big guild surpasses us because of the wasted time, and the Terra Cetus does seem a tad too big to be a respawning creature or have repeatable quests¡­ _ Hessy: That''s the gist of it. , what would you want us to do? _ Shadyna: Me? ¡­I suppose doing all three at the same time is out of the question? It''s technically four if we are including the quest Gelly is doing, but I have a feeling I''ll get another sword to my head so I''ll keep it to myself! This fragile half-elf''s little sprout is to be sprinkled with water, not stabbed with spiky swords! _ Hessy: Obviously. We don''t have enough bodies to throw against them. It was clear back then that they could bypass us with numbers even if they couldn''t beat us. The same thing will happen again if we don''t change our tactics. Indeed¡­ Not to mention that the day team has already logged off and we would have to split our small roster into three separate parties¡­ Nope, let''s not do something that will make the battle for Sateri''s stony feet look like a tutorial in comparison, un. On the other hand, my manager''s concerns mostly apply when we fight fair and square, which I have no intention of doing. Even the most idealistic magical girl would not fight a last boss without a secret ultimate move if she can help it, thank you very much! _ Shadyna: Hmm~ I have a few ideas but I need more information before making a decision. _ Hessy: Fair enough. We don''t have much time though, so make it quick. The Magnus Bestia is getting hammered as we speak. Eh, the big antlion seems to be doing fine if you ask me. Still skewering and munching everyone in its area pretty much unhindered from what Gelly is seeing. It''s not a valid reason to have another tea party? Awww¡­ ____________ In a different part of Thunder Huts not too far from the Avitus Caelicola, an encampment protecting another boss has been overrun. The walls were smashed open in a concentrated surprise attack involving a literal [Lightning] bolt, leaving the garrison exposed as the attackers poured through the breach and engaged in melee. Despite the valiant efforts of the defenders, they were quickly crushed seconds into the fight. Such was the power of a wooden box filled with dumplings. The knight leading the conquest might have some mixed feelings about depending on OP consumables however. _ Member (Guild): The boss site is ours! Let''s raid it before the enemy guild counterattacks! _ Knight (Guild): I''m on the way! Glancing in the direction of the rampaging titan beyond the walls, he can''t help but notice the many armies marching towards it. The warning about the fortified defenses surrounding the unique boss did little to deter players it looks like. They, just like his guild, most likely were not aware of the real threats there until they got firsthand experience. BZZZZT! Nor the presence of lasers, but that''s pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. The guildmaster approaches the metallic skeletal reptile resting at the center of the camp. While the food buffs are massive, they will still struggle to take a high-level boss down without strong equipment. That is why the generous sprout girl gave him an additional consumable to help with the raid. A debuff bomb. Against single targets, it is an effective damage multiplier for the entire raid, and this one was advertised to weaken both physical and magical defense to the max. _ Knight (Guild): Attack with everything you have at it after I throw the bomb. Got it? _ Members (Guild): Got it!!! _ Knight (Guild): Alright, here goes!!! Amidst the excitement of holding a great power in his hands, the self-proclaimed cool and stoic knight with a troublesome past fails to notice something. _ Knight: Take this! [ Super Love-love Cyclone]! Its creator''s naming sense, or lack thereof to be specific. *BOOM* _ Knight: ¡­ _ Members: ¡­ _ Boss: ¡­ _ Knight: Wait, let me explain!!! By the time he fully comprehended what he just shouted, it was too late. _ Member: ¡­It''s okay. This is a fantasy game. You can be who you want to be. _ Knight: Just kill me already!!! While he was despairing of the (mis)understanding looks from his members, the angry boss who got caught in the blast gladly grants his wish. *WHACK* With violence. Lots of violence. _ Knight: BUWAH?! I didn''t ask YOU! ATTACK! ATTACK!!! _ Members: CHARGE!!! Even though the raid quickly ended in the guild''s victory thanks to the powerful buffs and debuffs after that, the poor guildmaster''s reputation perished along with the boss. Still totally worth it, according to everyone else in the guild. ____________ Contrary to the raging battle on the sunken ground, the airspace above the swamp is quite peaceful. Although that used to be taken for granted, it will soon change, all thanks to the newly introduced flying creatures, or worse, their murderous tamers. A group of such tamers are cautiously monitoring the situation from the sky. The little gothic leader of , being the meta-chasing player that she is, went out and tamed a low-level bird as soon as she finished reading the patch notes. Having an aerial platform is huge whether she specializes in summoning or not, and it shows as she observes a unique boss raid with little risk of getting caught in the crossfire. What surprises her is her fellow guildmaster of apparently had the same idea. Is her intellect on the same level as a musclehead maniac who only knows how to get into fights¡­? _ Cinrald (Party): What do you think, ? _ Vladina (Party): Unity of Mankind stalled, as expected. Your guild won''t make any difference there. Despite having superior organization and firepower, the Anti-Sprout alliance struggles to approach the boss. Most member guilds could not fully commit because of their own Terra Cetus quests, leaving only a fraction of their forces to challenge the Magnus Bestia. As a result, they got stuck fighting the endless waves of unaligned players before they could even reach the boss. _ Cinrald (Party): Bummer. Any chance of us taking a slice once and co attack? The two are not particularly worried about the unique boss being surrounded by this amount of players. It''s not because they think little of the unaligned players, but rather because have already made their move. The dark elven twin from the cafeteria dropped by the boss earlier when the alliance was still preparing for the offensive. Possessing superior SPD and unburdened by large troop movements, they ran through the battlefield pretty much unopposed, sent the boss some gifts, then hightailed out of there with a [Recall]. Why is there a trail of corpses that followed them even though they could outrun everyone? The Bloodbath Sisters were simply in a mood to throw random lethal AoE attacks into target-rich environments. That, and they were constantly choosing the biggest crowds to run into on the way. Whose bright idea was it to send those maniacs to this place¡­? Silently thought as she witnessed that little operation of theirs. As for what kind of gifts they gave¡­ They were multiple consumable items judging from the graphical effects. The little sage was not in position to do a proper [Inspect], though she had a pretty good idea. After all, it was quite easy to see the boss ramping up its attack and eating players left and right even faster than it had been doing up to that point. There was no doubt that the sisters executed the disruption (trolling) tactic of buffing boss during raids, and took it to the extremes. Considering the base stats of a Magnus Bestia, an item that can have noticeable effects on it must be on the level of a legendary sword already. The amount of zeros on its price tag is probably legendary as well. _ Vladina (Party): It will be tough with their current power level. Short of securing a foothold and killing the boss, our next best bet is somehow joining their own raid and dealing as much damage as possible. That way some of us may qualify for the treasure room and split the loots again. _ Cinrald (Party): Same plan it is then. They one-shot us so that part remains unchanged. _ Vladina (Party): *Shrugs* Well duh. They may kill the boss faster than previous raids however. If you intend to KS, you had better prepare a way to go in the moment they start. Despite a not too bright outlook, this play also confirmed that didn''t intend to raid this boss for the time being. Playing their cards right, the alliance too can benefit from the bought time. The unorganized unaligned guilds taking the brunt of the buffed Magnus Bestia¡­ much less likely. _ Cinrald (Party): Understood. I''ll have someone keep an eye on it. Could you stay here until my replacement comes? _ Vladina (Party): I don''t mind. I plan to be here for a while. Parting ways with the battle fetishist, resumes her observation. Her target is not the Magnus Bestia by the way, as she only needs to occasionally check whether the situation changes. She''s monitoring something else, away from the battlefield, and much, much smaller. _ Vladina: Over¡­ there. A slime girl is walking on a drained pond, ignoring the players rushing in the other direction towards the boss. Her destination? A big boulder extruding out of the ground. _ Vladina: Do these rocks have a secret loot or something¡­? She has been mining them for a while now. Not really, although the person responsible is not around to clarify that. In the end, the overanalyzing guildmaster continues observing a pet working on a gathering quest for another two hours. ____________ Back in the camp where the Avitus Caelicola is still doing its utmost to take down a comparatively tiny waitress and her shield-wielding fairy, the waitress in charge is examining a lunchbox with great interest. No, it being made by a cute little half-elf has nothing to do with it. Probably. Hopefully. _ Hessy: I see¡­ A Magnus Bestia has too much defense and attack for an average player anyway, so you can convert them to other stats without compromising its capabilities. _ Shadyna: Un! I converted attack power to attack speed and defense to HP regeneration since they will benefit the boss more. I am explaining to Hessy the buff items I crafted to help with the Magnus Bestia. Well, it''s just my totally normal (and a bit OP) lunchbox, but enchanted with different buff skills. _ Hessy: Yes, attack speed scales better if you already one-shot enemies, and more HP regen on a boss is massive. And those are in addition to your normal buff skills¡­ Good thinking, . _ Shadyna: Ehehe~ _ Hessy: You used up all of the materials we grinded today though. _ Shadyna: I''m sowwy~ It couldn''t be helped, okay? I kinda wasted my storage crafting the siege weapons and the new lunchboxes are¡­ expensive, to put it mildly. Meanwhile, from Blue Blood Federation also agreed to let us take command of this camp''s garrison forces. In return, we would supply them with everything they need to defend the place from an endless horde of greedy marau¡­ players, mainly consumables (sweets) and repair services. ¡­We are going to be in the red for a while, aren''t we? _ Hessy: I''ll send our sages to help unlock the bosses'' second forms. We need this figured out sooner than later. Not enough personnel to stop anyhow. _ Shadyna: Un! Back to grinding we go then! _ Fensen & Poltea: Ooooohhhh!!! And so, we continue our quest for the Terra Cetus in peace¡­ Well, as peaceful as it can get with all the competition around anyway. Sigh~ --- Topic: New Avitus Caelicola & Magnus Bestia --- ¡­ ## Serious Mage What''s the status on the bosses? Are the big guilds joining the raids? ## ## Newbie Charisma build I''m not sure about the Avitus Caelicola, but Blue Blood guys certainly are not letting anyone near it! (>_<) They even have lasers! [Link] ## ## Flame knight of Darkness I wouldn''t go near the fort if I were you. Source: I met the defenders (^_-) ## ## Manly Warrior Only two players in this game have that laser skill, in case you are wondering. (._.) Avitus Caelicola is probably out if "they" were there. Any luck with Magnus Bestia? ## ## The Dark Knife The Unity alliance''s attack on the Magnus Bestia was repelled! The boss is fully within our grasp! ## ## Bountiful Hunter Say that when you are actually killing it. Why is the thing at full HP again?! (££?§¥?) ## ## WarlordPwnage (*£þm£þ) We just didn''t have enough players because the pillar guilds are prioritizing Terra Cetus. You guys are lucky this time. ## ## Manly Warrior I was back in Tyrel because of an explosion. What happened to the Magnus Bestia?! ¦²(?§¥?) ## ## Nearseeing Sage @Manly Warrior: This happened. [Pic] ## ## Mage of Sin They are seriously buffing a Magnus Bestia of all things?! OTZ Back to Terra Cetus then! ## ------ Chapter 97: Various types of quest rewards At long last, the diligent sprouty summoner has reached the end of the quest chain! The quest chain for the spaceborne serpent specifically. As for the volcanic turtle, its quests are still ongoing, although I suspect it is also nearing the end based on the number of quests we have done. _ Shadyna: I''m back~! Here''s a [Herbed Storm Worm Turpedis Meat] for you. _ Serpent: SCRUMPTIOUS. GRATITUDE. CONCUBINE. _ Shadyna: You''re welcome~ Although this scene of me sitting under the roof of the gazebo and the ship-sized space snake wiggling around upon receiving quest items has become a frequent occurrence for the last week, it doesn''t feel much less surreal. I wonder if this is what it''s like to have a big dog¡­? _ Serpent: THOU COMPLETED. ALL REQUESTS. _ Shadyna: Un, you did say it was the last one. Rock gathering, glowing tree farming, industrial-scale fishing, bird catching, delicious boss hunting, etc¡­ Calling it a very busy week is probably an understatement. And I think Gelly''s little party performed well throughout the event, even by our cafeteria''s standards. Including Lutena and my two local divine beings, there were a total of five members in total. That''s not the number of participants you would expect to achieve anything in a guild event, let alone competing against the top contenders. We somehow did it anyway. Well, I suppose it''s easier to compete when we got to bypass the competition part. In big events like this one, there are usually one or more parts that a good portion of participants struggle with, effectively eliminating them. Overcoming these so-called filter quests or filter enemies are more often than not a big if not the biggest factor in deciding the victors. This Terra Cetus event, despite the randomized quests, has at least two of them from what I have seen: The boss-related quests and approaching the titans themselves. The boss quests are pretty much self-explanatory. You need to deal with certain bosses, and by that, I mean pacifying them through superior firepower according to every single quest I supported or heard about. All quest chains have at least one of these, and no, you cannot cheat using the market. Deal the majority of damage, possess the special item for the quest items to drop, have a quest NPC perform a ritual, those kinds of immersive restrictions. As a result, most of the participating guilds are still stuck in these boss quests. Even if they weren''t fighting each other, which they are still doing by the way, there''s no way a few dozen bosses across the world taking hours to respawn can provide for thousands of guilds. Not within the event''s timeframe anyhow. How did we manage those quests? Well, we could barge into any boss site with guns blazing considering our power level. This pacifist me won''t resort to violence if possible however, so I brib¡­ I mean made friends with the players at the boss site the same way I did with Blue Blood Federation: Good food, and lots of it. It was just smooth sailing from there. Materialism will bring peace, one dumpling at a time! _ Serpent: THY WISHETH. BECOME MASTER. THOU NOT? _ Shadyna: Ehm¡­ I asked to be your friend actually, but sure¡­ The other filter is what I am doing right now. Yes, I am sipping tea while talking to a big flying creature. Yes, this is apparently very hard to achieve even for the most powerful guilds that successfully got past the first filter. No, the filter is not the tea, or in it. This isn''t a culinary event darn it~ It''s the talking part that''s the issue. Unlike me, most guilds started their quest chain from the guild clerk NPC they hire or the priestess at the center of Tyrel. It''s more convenient at a glance, until they get to the part that requires them to meet the Terra Cetus in question. Turns out, most players can''t fly. Aerial combat with flying skills and mounts is still being experimented with and studied by the player base, but "slow and vulnerable" were the words players often used to describe their airborne experiences. Combined with the flying mobs around them, the seemingly short flight for a small talk became a lot more dangerous than most expected. It is so dangerous, some of the higher-flying Terra Cetus have yet to meet a player for their entire existence. Strangely enough, there seems to be no creature spawning beyond a certain altitude which is a few hundred meters below the top of the stone towers. As such, this serpent residing at the sky edge of the world and I remain the sole residents here for the time being. Is it because Sateri has not implemented it, or the serpent is a special existence lore-wise¡­? In any case, I don''t think anyone else will be able to get here for a while. Even though the environmental damage is gone, the airspace is still as lethal as ever in a different form. Sateri, you sadist~ Not that it''s much better with the ones players can actually reach. The moment people realized everyone would eventually need to talk to the Terra Cetus, talk camping became THE strategy to delay rival guilds. Why bother fighting fair on the ground when you can snipe the exposed enemy leader in the face mid-conversation, was their reasoning. Forget about being a free action, talking in this game is beeping expensive! ¡­And then there''s me taking my sweet time talking because there''s no one else in the area. Whoops? _ Serpent: THEN. ONE LASTETH TASK. _ Shadyna: Eh? Didn''t you just say it was the last quest? Leaving a grand total of zero second for the cute pacifist to wonder why there is a new last quest after the last quest, the massive serpent charges up a proportionally massive energy ball in its mouth. Because it''s important, I would like to remind that this thing is big. That glowing sphere is bigger than my house on our floating island for Sateri''s sake! _ Serpent: SURVIVE. [Teleport]!!! The moment I saw the serpent lunging towards me with the energy ball, I knew it was time to bail. I have way too much experience with getting hit by sneak attacks to be done in by yet another one, thank you very much! Appearing a distance directly above its head and stabilizing with [Air Cushion], I get to witness the energy ball exploding into a scattering shot, launching several smaller unguided projectiles towards where I was a second ago. ¡­ Each of those "smaller" shots is still larger than my gazebo. With an earthshaking explosion upon impact, my little shelter becomes space dust. Not a big surprise as I saw the big bird crashing through my tougher walls in Tyrel, but their sheer size and power still make me wary whenever I encounter one. What I did not expect was the stone tower. Despite multiple direct hits, it remained standing after the smoke cleared. It is not because the tower is invulnerable however. There are many cracks running across the surface which weren''t there before, mainly branching from the centers of the explosions. Or to put it another way, these stone towers are most likely still destructible, like terrain. They are just so tough that you need an absurd amount of damage to make a dent, and even the biggest, baddest creatures in CSF right now can barely do minor scratches with their town-crushing attacks. It''s as if Sateri expected us to fight against these towers one day or something¡­ I for one am NOT looking forward to that. I am a pacifist, thank you very much. Putting the tower aside since it''s not the one shooting at us right now (shocking, I know), how should I deal with the serpent¡­? While fighting it was not in the plan, I don''t intend to retreat now. First thing first, let''s avoid straying too far in case it''s a failure condition for the quest. Direct confrontation is certainly a bad idea when the opponent can easily smash through defensive walls. That leaves me with my very peaceful [Luminous Firestorm] bomb boosted by good old [Accelerate Power]. A small problem with it though, is that my SPD resets if I use [Teleport] or [Recall], nullifying a good chunk of [Accelerate Power]''s SPD multiplier. Thankfully both Gelly and Lutena are always in the party for [Friendship Engine] so aerial evasive maneuvers are available. Worst case scenario of another surprise attack, I cast [Teleport] to survive then build up SPD again. Once I figure out all of its attacks, I can evade with only my flying skills and the rest is a good finishing strike¡­ _ Serpent: THOU PASSED. MARVELOUS. ¡­Eh? _ Serpent: AS THOU WISHETH. I BESTOW. MASTER TITLE. [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Miwyor Gildu Ornwe Benefactor"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Spatial Liberator"] [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Skill: "Deep Arsenal Lv.0"] [Received Summon Gem x1] EEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHH?!This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. _ Fensen & Poltea (Guild): EEEEEEEEHHHHHHH?! _ Hessy (Guild): Where did this title come from?! _ Elri (Guild): Quest done already? _ Nerin (Guild): That''s not even its name!!! My entire guild got the title too it looks like. Welp~ _ Serpent: I. MIWYOR GILDU ORNWE. AT THY SERVICE. _ Shadyna: Waitwaitwaitwaitwait! Aren''t we supposed to fight first?! I thought I was going into a brutal boss fight in which we hit each other with our bare fists for days until both collapse from exhaustion and befriend each other afterwards! Sure, I may have consumed too much media and the serpent doesn''t even have fists, but the general idea is there! Why did the battle end after the first attack, which didn''t even hit?! _ Serpent: I ART ACKNOWN. MORTAL DIFFERENT. YET. CANNOT ACCEPT. WEAKLING. AS MASTER. HENCE. TASK. TESTETH THY STRENGTH. So uh¡­ it knows that there''s a mild (?) size difference between normal-sized players and itself, yet decided to blast me anyway to evaluate my strength?! The only way anyone can survive that massive attack would be [Recall], and that''s only theoretically as normal players most likely won''t react fast enough to cast it. Task my cute butt, that''s an outright assassination! ¡­It still gave me new titles and skill though, so ma~ybe I can let it slide just this once? _ Shadyna: Eh¡­ sure. Once again, I''m . Pleased to make you acquaintance, Miwyor. The quest is over for real this time right? _ Miwyor: LASTETH. IT WAST. ¡­ _ Aenilie: Welcome back, milady! How was your expedition? _ Shadyna: I''m back~ I''m back at the artificial sun to collect the rest of Gelly''s party. As much as I want to check out the new stuff, I need to help my members with their quest first. That, and explain to them the reason why they seemingly completed another Terra Cetus'' quest chain without knowing¡­ Sounds like it''s going to be a pain, doesn''t it~? The explaining part, that is. _ Shadyna: It went well¡­ I think? The serpent is our ally now, probably. _ Aenilie: As expected of milady! Nothing can stop you! No, I''m pretty sure I was in quite a dire situation earlier, just saying. My stats may be high but trying to compete in stats against bosses in general is a futile affair. _ Sateri: I am glad it worked out. Not many creatures can stay sane after exposure to the outside. Miwy (permanent designation) does seem pretty chill for someone who has to be assembled back from bare bones. Except for the sudden attack that is. Being special NPCs in their own right, maybe Sateri and Aenilie have some unique dialog with my oversized serpent. Let''s bring them to Miwy when I have time. Although I let the two roam around the sun, knowing no one would come here during the busy event, they are usually kept secluded or in their cores to maintain secrecy. Having another conversation partner for them would be nice, even if said partner can barely speak our language. *FLASH* As my trusty manager appears behind me, I realize I jinxed myself. _ Hessy: , we need your help with the¡­ Wait, Sateri-chan?! Busted at first glance too! Hessy, I know you are sharp but isn''t this a bit too sharp?! _ Sateri: Good day to you, . It has been a while, hasn''t it? And they even know each other?! ¡­ Because of reasons, Hessy is now orz-ing, and I have a sword stuck on my head (yes, again). Sateri is kindly smiling watching from the side. The wife-daughter pair are enjoying random NPC banters. Meanwhile, my pets are nonchalantly using [Enchant] to recharge their lunchboxes which were heavily used for the past week as weapons. A peaceful day, isn''t it~? _ Hessy: I knew you were hiding something when you introduced Aenilie, and how you had never been seen praying to a statue. I should have known better!!! To be fair to the beautiful waitress, I don''t think anyone in their right mind would guess that their guildmaster can summon the almighty Goddess of the world on a whim either~ _ Shadyna: A-anyway, we can discuss it later. You were looking for me because something came up, no? _ Hessy: R-right¡­ We finished crafting the [Molten Jewel] for the turtle, but there''s a problem with delivering it and we can use your help. You weren''t answering in chat so I [Recall]-ed to your position on the map. Well, I had to tune out a bit since the guild chat was kinda chaotic and I was talking to Miwy¡­ Probably could have avoided this altogether if I had paid more attention huh. Lesson learned: Do not miss calls from your girlfriend (?), un! In any case, it''s about the turtle? I was sure she wanted to ask about my giant scaly friend to be honest. Not that I''m complaining per se. _ Hessy: Everyone already knows you are responsible for the title earlier if that''s what you are thinking. We will have to talk about that as well. Guilty verdict without a trial?! ¡­ Sitting at the edge of the volcano''s crater, I peek into the magma boiling below. Yup, this is a volcano alright. While easily missed, there is actually some lore behind each Terra Cetus'' quest chain. Miwy''s quests centered around cooking up a (very) big meal to replenish lost strength after resurrection for instance. Nothing too complicated as far as I know, though that raises the question of these giants'' exile in the first place, story-wise. They don''t seem to be the type that ends up lost in outer space for no particular reason, but I digress. For the volcanic turtle, its volcano''s heat source was lost during its exile and has to be replaced. All previous quests led us to the materials for this new heat source in question, which in turn is the [Molten Jewel] my members crafted. Oh, and this "jewel" is actually treated as a furniture item, because it''s big. As big as a cart, to be more specific. _ Hessy: It asked us to put the [Molten Jewel] into the volcano, but would appreciate it if we could embed it into an obsidian socket located at the bottom rather than just tossing it in. Su suggested doing it the hard way just in case there is an additional reward for our effort. _ Shadyna: Is that so¡­? This sounds quite similar to what Miwy pulled on me. Maybe one or more of the rewards I got would not have been given if I had been blasted to smithereens? _ Hessy: Yes, and she said you had experience with this. For the record, I do NOT have experience with swimming in lava ponds, okay? That honor belongs to . What I did was diving into the sun, which was¡­ arguably much hotter than lava. ¡­Can I still vouch for first? _ Hessy: Oh, almost died twice trying to swim in it. This lava is an order of magnitude worse than that of Lava Rift. _ Shadyna: I see, it''s that ba¡­ Wait, twice?! _ Hessy: She had to go in the second time to record the damage. It''s lower than what you went through according to Su. My condolences~ _ Shadyna: Un, I can do it if it''s only at that level. Let me find the armors we used back then. _ Hessy: Don''t take too long. Our girls would love it if they can do something not PvP soon. _ Shadyna: Oof¡­ I''ll do my best~! Yes, the volcanic turtle is a low-flying Terra Cetus who can be accessed easily even by players with a weak flying mount. That''s why a small detachment led by my mentor Elri has been camping the vicinity to¡­ deter competition, with extreme prejudice. Two can play that game you know~? We easily gained the upper hand early on, as expected. However, we had to constantly defend the area, lest other guildmasters sneak in to speak with the turtle and continue their quest. I don''t know about the girls during day shift, but Elri and her now-flying stingray pet Stella spent most of her online time of the past week in this airspace. She could really use some time on land by now. Please do your best for just a bit more, Elri~! ¡­ As thus¡­ was dipped into the volcano two more times. It was a natural conclusion, really. , Su and I are familiar with the procedure and better suited for healing duty at the back. Meanwhile, our capable delivery girl is already familiar with the area thanks to the previous trips. Not that a few seconds of flailing around in glowing lava would change anything significantly, but don''t tell her that~ After located the obsidian socket, it was pretty simple. She grabbed the [Molten Jewel], mumbled something about bonking me, then swam back to ram the jewel (more like boulder) into the hole. All in a day''s work. [Condition fulfilled. Unlocked Title: "Olar Istiq Uatur Igniter"] Is it me or the bigger the bosses, the longer their names become¡­? Nevertheless, materialism is pleased with today''s tribute~! _ Shadyna: Whew! Another job well done, if I say so myself! *BONK* *BONK* Ouch! _ Thelia: I was the one swimming in a volcano this entire time!!! I''m sorry~!!! ____________ While the majority of players are busy slapping each other around the many Terra Cetus, an army marches towards the edge of the map. The reason was simple: Nox bosses also drop [Artifact] materials. Many people forget about them because they are not announced by the system, nor was there much of a chance when practically lived there. The pesky campers are distracted these days however, leaving the current Nox boss exposed. There is no better time to strike! As the leader of the army silently praises himself for his own genius strategy, the manager next to him points at what seem to be a gathering in their path. _ Manager: Unknown players straight ahead! _ Leader: Tsk. Someone else must have overheard our plan. _ Manager: Uh¡­ I''m sure anyone with a working brain can come up with the same idea. Ignoring the manager dissing his brilliance, the leader walks towards the strangers without the slightest concern. _ Leader: Oi, you lot! This place is under OUR control now! Leave peacefully and you might get to see another sunrise! The group turn to the unexpected visitors, then each other as if discussing something. A short moment later, an armored knight waves at the polite leader waiting for the response. _ Player: Go ahead. It''s yours. _ Leader: Heh, I know you wouldn''t give up that easi¡­ wait what?! _ Player: As I said, go ahead _ Leader: Why?! Aren''t you here to hunt the Nox?! _ Player: No, not at the moment. We don''t advise it though. See for yourself if you don''t believe me. Puzzled by the behavior of the knight, he walks to them with question marks above his head. The moment he is within a few steps from the supposedly scouting party, he understands what the knight was talking about. Or rather, he sees it, as it became close enough to render in his headset. A massive dark cloud consisting of countless flying creatures is hovering in his vision. Big and small, ranged and melee, bosses and mobs, they all flock together to create this amalgamation, blocking most if not all objects beyond from view. Oh, and the usual ground horde guarding the Nox Terminus is there too, right beneath the monster cloud. Despite being roughly the same size as that of the previous Nox, they look barely threatening compared to the forces of darkness'' new additions¡­ Retreat is not an option for the new alliance army however. Coordinating this many players is hard enough as it is. Losing his position will be the least of the brave and heroic leader''s problems if he dismisses everyone without any gain now. _ Leader: ¡­Do you think it''s possible to grind here for a while at least? Because defeating this many monsters is definitely not, but he will keep that to himself. --- Topic: Flight OP --- ## Shining Knight Flying is too OP! I just got kited to death by a flier without hitting them back even once! Q_Q ## ## Newbie Charisma build Is it? (??? I''d say it''s the opposite. The speed debuff in flying skills or pets are as bad as the caravan debuff. I become a skill magnet the moment I take off to the air. (*£þm£þ) ## ## StoneHoarder Is there any way to negate the speed debuff? ## ## Heaven Piercer Agree on both. Fliers are immune to melee attacks (duh) but drop like flies against ranged attacks. A cute girl landed a Sleep skill on me earlier. Needless to say I landed like a brick and slept for good (¤Å£þ 3£þ)¤Å ## ## CuteIsJustice Proof or didn''t happen :P ## ## Manly Warrior @Heaven Piercer Don''t sleep while riding (^_^;) Melee fighters should treat flying enemies as fast kiters. Use your secondary ranged attacks to get them. Bonus points if you hit them with a Root or Sleep and let gravity do the rest (*¡ä¨Œ£à*) ## ## Nearseeing Sage @StoneHoarder None that we know of. Probably for balance reasons. If flight is as good as walking on the ground, no one would walk again. That being said, us DFC Sages are working hard to compile a beginner guide to flight. Look forward to it in the next few days. There is some stuff you might not know about yet. (^_-)-¡î ## ## Fire mage of Justice Noice! \(^o^)/ The expert guide is going to be behind paywall as usual right? Can''t fool me (£þ©`£þ) ## ------ Chapter 98: Ultra top-secret strategy meeting After multiple (not exactly) false accusations, the cute half-elf girl was sentenced to the most horrible punishment! Having to attend a business meeting! I have never worked a day in my life, but if my accidental visits to random budget meetings and fashion shows are any indication, it is a matter of life and death. Figuratively, AND literally. Yes, our meetings are that dangerous. The moment I walk into the room, all eyes turn to me without fail. Girls, we meet pretty much every day. No need to be that surprised~ _ Nerin: ¡­Leader, why is guildmaster here? Did she crash the market again? I''m the dangerous one here?! ¡­Hold on, is that why I don''t need to attend business meetings? When you think about it, shouldn''t the guildmaster be the number one person who must not be absent? They can''t possibly think that I am a deadbeat unfamiliar with how the cafeteria operates anyway and not worth the risk of having me causing even more trouble by leaking or abusing vital market information best left unsaid right? Right?! _ Hessy: Nerin, is free to join meetings as she likes. She just decides not to most of the time. See~? They are being considerate since I am usually busy with grinding and stuff. On the other hand, I fully trust my capable crew to manage the shops even in my absence! It''s mutual trust! Mutual trust! _ Hessy: And no, she did not crash the market, this time. Hey! _ Hessy: It''s a lot worse than that. HEY!!! ____________ Inside the biggest meeting room of the guildhall built like a cathedral, many guildmasters are gathering once more. One of them is actually standing and making a speech, though she is a bit short and doesn''t look much different from the rest as a result¡­ _ Vladina: Welcome, fellow guildmasters, to our Annual Anti-Sprout Strategic Meeting! _ Olkan: This is the second annual meeting this week alone by the way. _ Vladina: The atmosphere is important! And the last one was cancelled halfway because you guys ran off! _ Olkan: W-well, we were at the last quest and couldn''t afford to lose the Terra Cetus! _ Vladina: And you wouldn''t have failed it if you had waited for me to finish! The two are already bickering as per usual. Not that anyone here would be surprised in the first place. _ Cinrald: Let''s hear it then, . We don''t want a repeat of it now, do we? More often than not would be the one putting an end to it, but the person in question has been face-down on the table ever since entering the room so ''s guildmaster had to pick up the slack. _ Vladina: *Coughs* Ehem, you are right. Now, you might have heard rumors about Terra Cetus giving a hidden or bonus quest. Let me confirm it for you: Yes, those quests exist. Every Terra Cetus will give you one at the end of the quest chain. What caught people off guard was the failure conditions attached to them. That''s why you shou¡­ The catboy raises his hand, interrupting the sage''s speech. _ Elix: You say those quests can fail, but still acquired their Terra Cetus, didn''t they? _ Vladina: Good question! You still get the main reward that is control over the Terra Cetus and the ability to use [Construction] on their back even if you fail that quest. Once you take into consideration the difficulty and reward of the quests being handed out, I am sure completing them is the exception, not the norm. _ Olkan: You don''t say. There''s no way Sateri-chan expected anyone to survive the escort quest handed to us. _ Vladina: That''s what I was trying to warn you guys last time. And if you are wondering whether it''s worth the effort, I''ll let you decide for yourself. , bring it out please. ____________ _ Su: If our sources are to be believed, controlling the area around the [Summon Gem] is how a rival guild can take over the Terra Cetus, provided that they have completed the quest chain as well. By completing their impossible tasks however, we acquired the gems as items instead of unmovable fixtures on the Terra Cetus. What does it imply, in your opinion? _ Shadyna: Uhm¡­ It means our Terra Cetus can''t be taken over? _ Su: Ding ding! As expected of my wife! Unless you destroy or give away the gems on purpose, there is no way a hostile force can steal them. This is most likely why the bonus quests are nigh impossible to complete. We are talking about the [Summon Gem] which are rewards from the Terra Cetus quests. Amusingly, we didn''t know that they were supposed to be territories which are constantly fought over until our patrons told us. No wonder why we are still getting attacked despite having completed both quest chains¡­ _ Shadyna: In that case, can''t we tell everyone about it? They will stop once they know they can''t take the item from us right? _ Hessy: It''s not that simple, unfortunately. Hessy places a world map on the wall. It is filled with markers and notes about most if not all Terra Cetus in CSF at the moment. Crazy intelligence gathering as always, these girls¡­ _ Hessy: As of yesterday, only about half of the known Terra Cetus were accounted for, and we are expecting at least a few more that couldn''t be seen from the ground, like the one tamed. Until most of them are taken, it is in our best interest to keep them in the dark and let them fail the quests. Ah, it''s like that, isn''t it? A massive mobile platform with overwhelming firepower is invaluable to any guild. Even with all of my OP equipment, we will undoubtedly struggle against one if ''s fight outside of Tyrel is any indication. Therefore, the risk of losing their Terra Cetus is our strongest defense, and that can only be achieved if our opponents do not possess their own [Summon Gem]. _ Hessy: And that''s why we should pretend not to have a [Summon Gem] by keeping a fake gem on display and guarding it 24/7. It''s not a problem since we have been doing just that, but there''s the extra Terra Cetus¡­ ¡­That explains the collective facepalms from my managers when Hessy delivered the news. The day team was barely hanging on guarding a single one. There''s no way they are guarding two without compromising the defense or daily cafeteria duties. _ Elri: Maybe we can leave it where it is. It has not been seen this whole time, has it? I know right~? It is pretty well hidden if you ask me. It''s not like anyone can go that far up without my gazebo acting as [Recall] beacon. _ Hessy: *Shakes head* It will only buy us time. Now that other guilds have access to a flying island they can fortify against the flying horde, they can traverse as high as they want to. It won''t be long before someone gets into render distance to see the big floating mass above them. _ Elri: True that¡­ will have to do it then. _ Shadyna: Eh? Me? I can''t defend it all day you know? _ Elri: Of course not. I''m talking about that NPC of yours. Isn''t she strong enough to fend off most players? _ Shadyna: Oooh~ Right, Ophilie stays summoned as long as I use a bed before logging out. That being said, Gelly can''t fight pacifist-style without my direct control. Same goes for Lutena''s combat form. Ophilie fighting alone is a bit worrisome though, especially in a defense mission. Maybe I''ll ask the girls to check up on her every once in a while just in case? _ Mera: And don''t forget your greatest strength~ _ Shadyna: My¡­ greatest strength? Mera is smiling brightly. There is no way this will end well, but I''m also a bit curious to know what she has to say. _ Mera: Your flat walls~ It would be a waste if you don''t use the land the Terra Cetus rewarded us, don''t you think? Shouldn''t this to~tally precious gem be stored inside an enclosed fortification worthy of its value? Make our enemies choose between a self-healing, nigh-indestructible container and a madwoman cutting down their comrades in droves. Let despair slowly consume them as they relive the experience of¡­ I can only think of one madwoman at the moment and it''s definitely not Ophilie. And who da heck are you calling flat you beautiful maniac~!!! _ Hessy: Sure, let''s do that. _ Elri: ?! For some reason, Hessy is considering it seriously?! _ Hessy: Mera''s lunacy aside, the suggestion is sound. Walls hide the fake gem from view and buy us time. Whether they choose to focus on the defenders or the walls, it does not matter because our response team will mop them up. Oof~ That''s the cruelest part isn''t it? Two bad choices to brood over, only to get crushed in the end regardless. Mera''s insanity-inducing ramblings are a given, but Hessy''s cold hard calculations are just as terrifying. Maybe I should visit them when they work the counter more often~ _ Hessy: Well, we won''t be able to reinforce if they attack both Terra Cetus, so the garrison has to be able to hold on their own at least. I''ve heard¡­ rumors about Ophilie from our patrons, but do you think she can fight against a few hundred players at the same time, ? I don''t know what kind of rumors she heard that warranted the pause, and at this point I''m too afraid to ask. Still, don''t slander my cute NPC wife, you virtual drunkards! _ Shadyna: Un. Gelly will have to stay back to avoid dealing damage, but Lutena will receive the [Devotion] and support in the front in her stead. Sateri and Aenilie can [Ethereal Form] on Gelly to boost Lutena''s stats and buffs further¡­ Un, I think she will be fine. _ Elri: Hold up, . What did you just say? _ Shadyna: I think Ophilie will be fine guarding Miwy alone? So fine in fact, she will be stronger than when Gelly led the party. I doubt anything short of a bonus boss can faze her in a direct confrontation. _ Elri: Not that! Who''s Sateri? There''s no way it''s related to THE Sateri-chan right? _ Hessy: ¡­*Sighs* And here''s the second bad news. Guess I won''t be allowed to put down these water buckets anytime soon. Sad cry~ ____________ _ Vladina: And that concludes my findings on the [Summon Gem]. Next will be ¡­ Uh¡­ You good? _ Torenis: Don''t ask that while poking me with your sword. I''m wide awake. Although it''s not too weird to have a conversation with someone having a staring contest at touching distance with a table, it''s notably rarer in-game. It''s not that easy to feel tired in a dream augmented by VR technology after all. _ Vladina: *Shrugs* Just making sure you are alive. Your report? _ Torenis: Yeah, it''s about the [Summon Gem] too. If you defeat a Terra Cetus, it turns into one. You can use [Resurrection] to bring it back, but still need to do the quest chain¡­ _ Vladina: Ah, right. You guys did kill that bird¡­ _ Torenis: Took us four days to kill it for virtually nothing. We had to grind overtime to catch up with others after that. That explains his current sorry state, silently thinks . While there''s a chance destroying that [Summon Gem] will kill the Terra Cetus for good and reward for their efforts, it''s unlikely to be worth the headache that comes with it. It''s a tempting thought though. _ Vladina: Understood. So for the time being, it''s not worth killing them over doing their quests.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. _ Torenis: And the bastards won''t care about chip damage if you receive their quests. _ Vladina: ¡­Oof. I know they ignore stray attacks to some degree, but haven''t gotten the time to experiment. Still, big oof. Or to put it another way, those four days of constant grueling fighting could have been avoided by spending a few seconds reading Sateri-chan''s patch note. Then again, the fight wouldn''t have happened at all if this maniac here had actually read it. It wasn''t physical fatigue but the double revelations that did in. Hopefully he will finally learn this time, but the little sage wouldn''t count on it. _ Vladina: The next one on the agenda is¡­ . Everyone''s interested in how we managed to lose the Magnus Bestia without dealing any damage. Weren''t we monitoring it to avoid this exact scenario? The brunette archer ponders a bit like a protagonist before an "As for how I got to this point" flashback before explaining. Somehow, she sounds just as puzzled as the rest of the meeting room. _ Cinrald: Will you believe me if I tell you that a swimming pool was dropped from the sky onto its head? _ Everyone: ¡­What? ____________ _ Hessy: You can stop hitting her head now. What do you mean, "now"?! My delicate head is for affectionate patting, not domestic violence! _ Elri: ¡­I don''t think she''s reflecting. I''mverysorryforeverythingIhavedonepleaseforgivemeI''llbegoodIpromise!!! _ Elri: So, what are we going to do about the literal game creator living in the mini sun? _ Hessy: Same as before, nothing. She''s been hidden for much longer, and we have more important things to worry about at the moment. _ Elri: You are not even bothered about balance at this point huh. _ Shadyna: Uhm¡­ Sateri and Aenilie seem to have high stats but they are always below mine. If there were balance issues, we would have seen it while they were indirectly supporting Gelly during the quest chain, wouldn''t we? _ Elri: Is that so¡­? It''s normal the¡­ Wait no! Your stats are anything but normal!!! *BONK* I''m sorry~!!! _ Mera: She''s corrupted~ _ Melodyn & Choruse: One of us, one of us~ Join us, join the dark side~ _ Elri: You three shut up!!! What other important things are you talking about, ? _ Hessy: The Avitus Caelicola and Magnus Bestia for one. _ Elri: The bonus bosses? Didn''t we deal with them handily? If anything, I''d say we completely crushed them the moment we finished preparation for second forms. The preparations were the bottleneck after all~ For the leggy blob Avitus Caelicola in Thunder Huts, we figured the big metallic vines shooting out lightning were not to our advantage and proceeded to smash them with extreme prejudice. The boss then ran towards another "hut" so our tanks piled on it to keep it within the walls while we were smashing the remaining huts. The Raid Breaker Engine, which totally did not spawn the boss in the first place by the way, was a great help thanks to its range covering the entire zone. Once it had nowhere left to run to, we one-shotted it with [Alpha Strike Power] and [Alpha Strike Bonus]. Twice, because second form. Duh~ The antlion Magnus Bestia in Honey Swamp was a bit more complicated. Because common sense (?) indicated that burrowing creatures don''t do well underwater, so that''s what we did. Couldn''t exactly bring buckets of water to the site however, it being the free-for-all battleground between the boss and the many guilds there. As a result, I proposed a different angle of approach in a literal sense. Using the same technique to build the artificial sun and floating island, I built a floating water bucket right above the boss itself to deliver the water. And by that, I mean I built it as high as my space gazebo. With roughly the same diameter as Tyrel''s town square. Took us two days of sitting at the beach above my secret base to fill it up with [Saltwater]. In addition, I had to do it myself since everyone''s occupied with the Terra Cetus quest. It was a horrible experience¡­ Uuu¡­ Once it was full, our local mermaid Cenny was the lucky winner to remove the floating core from the bucket (pool). Gravity did the rest to deliver the water to the intended target. Yes, we did a medieval fantasy equivalent of dropping a fishbowl on a bonus boss. Sorry, not sorry~ It wasn''t enough to defeat a bonus boss, of course. Unfortunately (for the boss), the bucket counts as a [Construction]. We [Recall]-ed to it moments before the collision, then proceeded to one-shot it. Twice~ _ Hessy: We did, by having Blue Blood Federation defend the Avitus Caelicola and infighting disrupt raid attempts against the Magnus Bestia. Had either of them been seriously threatened, "delayed" wouldn''t even start to describe the situation we could have gotten into. _ Elri: Riiiight, I have had enough PvP for a lifetime around the turtle. Having half the force because we need to defend other places would be a nightmare. _ Hessy: Yes, we would have been overrun by sheer numbers. On a strategic level, we are only about as strong as a medium-sized alliance despite our superior status. We won''t lose in direct combat, but we can only be at so many places and fight off so many players at once. That''s why¡­ Putting away the Terra Cetus map, Hessy spreads out an empty parchment covering almost the entire table and announces with a serious expression which I rarely see. _ Hessy: We need a contingency plan. ____________ In the beginning, there was one. Now there are two of them sleeping (?) on the table, with the new one being the little guildmaster after receiving the news. _ Vladina: ¡­So you are saying that they can one-shot a bonus boss, and wasn''t even needed in combat? _ Cinrald: Yes. Is it that shocking? _ Vladina: You of all people should know that players aren''t supposed to deal that kind of damage! To think that the multi-weapon girls can rival ''s damage¡­ Dammit ! _ Ignar: Why me?! _ Olkan: There there, what''s done is done. Now we know they can raid Magnus Bestia within minutes, what are our options? To be fair, the great sage always knew that the Sprout girl could do it, back when the level cap was still 20. What she did not expect was ''s cousin and her friend having that kind of damage as well. _ Vladina: ¡­Same as before. If we can get to a Magnus Bestia, we have to deal as much damage as possible before they can defeat it. , I need you to have siege weapons on standby at all times. If we get bogged down again, use them to attack the boss. _ Xerrio: Leave it to me! Our glorious machines shall strike fear into¡­ _ Vladina: Sure sure, do your best. _ Xerrio: At least let me finish my speech!!! _ Olkan: So it''s still going to be a bloodbath whenever one is found. Thank Sateri-chan they agreed to let us have the Nox¡­ Speaking of, do you think you can take on this one, ? News of the cloud of monsters at the edge of the world has spread among the alliance''s members since day one of its discovery. They already struggled against the last Nox, so it''s understandable to be extra worried about this one. For the merchant guildmaster though, the worry is less about ''s ability to fight the boss, and more about the market''s ability to handle the amount loots and corpses her guild brings back in the process. _ Cinrald: Well~ Fighting there is an interesting experience. Do you want a demo after this? _ Olkan: Are you trying to get me killed you combat fetishist!? ____________ _ Shadyna: Haaaaa~ I''m beat~ Meetings are so tough¡­ Having wrapped up the dreadful meeting, Hessy and I return to Miwy to prepare the defense. Even though I''ll be doing most of it, she is tagging along just in case I need a helping hand. Mera was supposed to come with us too, until something came up. Apparently, some upstart alliance thought that we moved out for some emergency (meeting) and it was the best time to seize our volcanic turtle Olari (permanent designation). Without hesitation, our totally kind and merciful healer of course departed to aid her dear friends. ¡­At the attackers'' main town that is. The turtle is completely fine. Rest in pieces, opportunistic raiders~ _ Hessy: It''s not that bad most of the time. We don''t get to deal with a living floating island and the literal Creator Goddess herself every day. ¡­Her main objective is making sure I don''t do something outrageous in secret, isn''t it? How paranoid~ _ Shadyna: That reminds me, Sateri seemed to know you when you met. Did you two have a history in the past? _ Hessy: That was the first time I saw her in-game. As for the reason¡­ Sateri-chan, can I tell her? Since there''s no longer a reason to hide Sateri, I can have her and Aenilie stay summoned throughout the day. Of course anywhere public is a risk so they are still limited to our secret bases. A big improvement compared to before nevertheless. [We cannot discuss that topic as Sateri the NPC. Do you mind if I break character for a bit?] Hi there, Sateri''s system messages! It''s been a while hasn''t it? _ Hessy: Eh¡­? Ah, sure. I don''t mind. Looks like she got the same message too. Immersion is important, so it''s better to ask first, un. _ Sateri: Then feel free to tell , ufufu. You have my permission. Lore-wise, I''ll keep it vague and treat you as a benefactor during my journey. Is that alright with you? _ Hessy: *Sighs* That sounds really heavy, but do as you like. Now, , it''s not a big deal so drop those expectations from that head of yours. But but¡­ based on their interaction, it wouldn''t be strange if Hessy is another ancient goddess on the same or even higher level than Sateri! That, or she has done deeds so great Sateri had no choice but to recognize her! Like eating bonus bosses for breakfast, terraforming the world, upsetting the entire power balance, etc¡­ _ Sateri: You have my sympathy for dealing with this dimwit on a daily basis. _ Hessy: Likewise. Thanks for keeping the game in one piece after what this maniac usually pulls. I''m being trash-talked instead for some reason?! _ Hessy: Jokes aside, the gist of what happened was¡­ I created Sateri-chan''s current avatar. _ Shadyna: I see, you created Sateri''s ava¡­ eh? EEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!?! I take a step back and compare the two. They are different people sure enough. However, it wouldn''t be far-fetched to say they are distant cousins either. With the same outfit and some hairstyling, they can actually be mistaken for each other from afar. _ Hessy: You see, when the closed beta started, Sateri-chan was a glowing orb speaking in a mechanical voice. I was curious and asked about her lore¡­ which turned out to be non-existent. _ Sateri: In my defense, the beta test''s purpose was debugging and ironing out the gameplay loop. was the first to ask about my identity in the lore at that time. Ah, the good old "Not implemented yet" reason. Glad to see it wasn''t only me~ _ Sateri: While I had the general background settings mapped out to develop the game, such smaller details were not ready, and I told as such. _ Hessy: The roleplayers are going to cry if they hear you calling your own avatar small detail¡­ Ouch~ _ Hessy: Anyway, since she had no identity apart from being the guide to character creation at the time, I jokingly offered the avatar I was working on¡­ She agreed. That easy?! _ Shadyna: Sateri, are you actually the type that accepts candies from strangers? It''s not safe you know? _ Sateri: *Chuckles* It was a very good-looking avatar, and the majority of players agreed with me. The only thing I changed until this day was the beginner outfit. _ Hessy: W-well, I''m glad you are happy with it. I would feel bad to receive a reward for something you can''t even use. So humble~¡­ Wait, reward? _ Shadyna: Hessy, you have an SG-rank skill or title too? _ Hessy: Not from that exchange, obviously! Even S-rank skills were not a thing back then. What Sateri-chan gave me was some information about game mechanics. Oh~ This is what they call insider knowledge right? How much of it was the reason for Hessy becoming one of the strongest players before I came into the picture I wonder? _ Hessy: The first tip was about the caps on level and skills, and the lack thereof on attributes. It is common knowledge now, but when everyone was still fighting rats on the grassland around Tyrel, it was invaluable. That''s why my playstyle revolves around grinding attributes as much as possible. While I know about her extreme attribute grinding, Hessy focusing on attributes since the early days is news to me. I suppose she also chose [Cooking] to be her main crafting skill for the same reason. Then there''s also her fighting style. Despite the [Dark Bolt] maniac allegations, she uses both physical and magical attacks, grinding both STR and FOC in the process. She also tanks at the front, which might sound a tad M until one realizes she gets experience for taking hits. Even out of combat, she apparently tries to grind as many attributes as possible, at the same time. Scary! _ Hessy: The second one was the skill meta. Outside of superior rare skills, common skills are designed to fill different niches rather than being a temporary foothold to acquire better skills. Most are viable at higher levels, and thanks to their cheap cost, can create builds more efficient than powerful skills. _ Shadyna: I see¡­ So what is [Dark Bolt]''s niche? I guess this meta knowledge is why Hessy sticks with the spell for so long. If this is the case, I can understand why Sateri didn''t have to consider giving her more rewards down the line. The information pretty much helped push my manager to the top of the player base after all. _ Hessy: General purpose. Cheap, quick, homing, long range, packs a punch. A good pick if you don''t intend to use many other attack skills. [Dark] element was purely my preference though. ¡­So it''s really because she likes the skill?! The element choice aside, her reluctance to grind more skills is understandable. Time spent grinding new skills is time not spent grinding attributes. By using a general-purpose skill like [Dark Bolt], she can get it to cap level quickly, max out the enchantment for cheap, then focus on getting more attributes to boost its damage. Mediocre performance in any specific situation is compensated by superior attributes, just like min-maxing builds. Min skills and max attributes, that is. _ Hessy: Are you thinking that I neglect skills in favor of attributes? _ Shadyna: Un, is that not the case? Ehm¡­ why are you patting my head? I''m pretty sure my reasoning is sound, or at least on the level that she can understand by reading my expression. Feels nice, but so confused~ _ Hessy: I don''t neglect them. _ Shadyna: Really? Then what do you do with them? _ Hessy: It''s a secret~ _ Shadyna: Eh~~~ That cute wink is illegal~! How am I supposed to pry if she says it like a beautiful girl (she is one) teasing about having a cute secret killing technique for self-defense?! It''s going to be a death flag the moment I ask about it! _ Hessy: Just kidding. It would be faster to show you instead. Draw your sword. ¡­It''s really a secret killing technique!!! --- Topic: Ultimate Beginner Guide to Flying --- ## Nearseeing Sage As promised, here''s the beginner guide to flying in CSF, researched and compiled by the brightest minds from DFC Sages \(^o^)/ This guide aims to explain the various mechanics and agreed meta related to the new flight system introduced in patch 1.0e32. Whether you are an aspiring flying knight or a veteran sky merchant with shattered hopes and dreams, may you gain some insight to improve your aerial adventures. Once you have grasped the basics and wish to take your flying playstyle a step further, DFC Sages can offer an extensive consulting service tailored to each individual playstyle. Visit our shops in Tyrel or Battle Oracle for pricing today! Cheers! (^_^)v [Table of contents] ¡­ ## ## Nearseeing Sage =How to fly= To begin your first flight, there are several options you can go for: - Skill - Equipment - Pet =Skill= There is no one Flight skill to acquire, unfortunately. Instead, you have several skills to take off and maneuver midair. - Air Cushion: Doesn''t take off, but keeps you afloat midair in a horizontal plane. Very stable. Now available in character creation. - Water Bubble: Cannot lift up vertically. Allows free movement in a spherical volume. Very slow because you are submerged in water. - Leap: Technically a jump, but can be used to gain initial altitude. - Spring Leaf: New skill. Creates a bouncy leaf that is a trampoline. Needs to jump on it but gives much more altitude. - Rising Heat: New skill. Slowly floats you up vertically. Very slow. Yes, they don''t really act like flying. You need better, rarer skills for that, which come with their own pros and cons. ;D =Equipment= An extension of the skill approach. Enchant or Engineering flying skills to your equipment of choice. =Pet= Find a big flying one that you can ride on, duh. I''m kidding. Here are some notable flying creatures and where you can find them: ¡­ ## ¡­ ## Nearseeing Sage =Advantages of flight= You can fly. Pretty neat if you ask me. =p =Disadvantages of flight= - Skills: As you may have noticed, there is no known skill that gives you free flight. They are either hard to control, limited, or come with a different mechanical tradeoff. Walking on the ground is still a good method of travel for its speed and simplicity. - Pet: If you are familiar with wagon speed debuff for pets, you will understand what I''m implying immediately. Yes, there is a speed debuff for riding flying pets. Yes, it stacks with wagon speed debuff, resulting in a mere one-fourth of the original speed if you make your pet do both in the air. Evasion in that state is a futile attempt. - Status effects: Stun, Sleep, and Root are instant-death effects against fliers. If you are hit by one of these, you''ll fall straight to your doom. Stuns have short durations so you may recover in time, but Sleep and Root are almost guaranteed kills if you fly high enough. Good luck! ## ¡­ ## Nearseeing Sage =Melee vs air= The biggest reason for this guide, and how three-fourths of this guide''s budget was funded by melee players. If you are melee, you most likely have felt some frustrations against enemies who easily stay out of your reach. Worry not, for Sateri-chan has got you covered! As part of the flight patch, many more skills were added for melee playstyles. No longer limited to Throw, your options against a distant enemy have expanded greatly, though they can be simplified to these two approaches: - Chasing down enemies - Ranged attacks without dedicated ranged weapons Remember, if you are in range, so is your enemy. =Melee skills= ¡­ ## ¡­ ------