abcnovels
Chapter 18
Chapter 18
18
Six in the morning. In game it just turned morning. There were few players, but it was not completely empty.
Now, what shall I do today?
I can level my Cooking by three levels so that it evolves, or I can go hunting...
For the time being let’s do the core training’s stretches and leave the inn.
?«Balance Control» was unlocked due to your actions so far.?
?Specific requirements were fulfilled, «But?» was unlocked.?
Oh my? Did I get the thing I was looking for? It also appears that I unlocked something else as well.
«Balance Control»
Adds bonus adjustment to your body balance.
It will be easier for you to move your body as you please and more difficult to lose balance.
«But?»
Adds adjustment to your body balance and your footwork.
You will move your body as you please, it will be more difficult to lose balance, and you will tire less on difficult terrain.
Mm-mm-mm…?
Seems like «But?» is better than «Balance Control»? Based on the log, it seems to be a little special. Umm... it requires «Footwork» and «Balance Control», as well as a special race to unlock «But?»? Then, should I take «But?» instead of «Balance Control»? It does sound more princess-y.
?You are acquiring a special derivation Skill, if you acquire it, your previous skill will be removed. Do you proceed??
A troubling message popped-up...
What will be removed is «Footwork». Certainly… it was the initial skill I took during the rebuild. I raised it up to 26, so it feels like a waste… no, how about I level it to 30 first to collect Skill points? It will go up just by walking, too… let’s do so.
Let’s postpone getting «But?» to until «Footwork» reaches 30.
Should I sort my inventory?
With that said, the needless things are… Wolf Leather and claws, as well as Deer Horns. I sold Boar Leather to Ertz-san. The price he purchases it for went up from 2000 to 2500. With the upcoming combat tournament, it looks like new equipment is on demand?
Alright, for now… let’s leave the inn and replenish vegetables.
I make my rounds through stores and buy Salt ×27, Sugar ×5, Pepper ×14, Onion ×51, Cabbage ×50, Bay Leaf ×5, Carrot ×50, Garlic ×1 and Cooking Wine ×2 for a total of 6070. It was unexpectedly costly...
Next, let’s head to the union and deposit money. With 100k more deposited, I have 400k in the union and 10k on me, my total assets being 410k. I don’t plan on spending it now, so let’s continue saving.
Now, let’s go off.
Alright, I log in in the afternoon.
Before noon I replenished my steak inventory. My Skill level did not increase, but currently it is the dish that increases Satiety the most. It’s very important merchandise.
When making steaks I used up garlic, so I replenished it again.
What should I do in the afternoon…?
“Oh, Princess.”
“Heyaaah.”
“My, good day. Going to hunt?”
“We plan to go to Eastern forest~.”
“Are you coming, Princess?”
“I guess. Let’s go then.”
“Oh, then I’ll pass the lead to you.”
From behind me came Alf-san and Ske-san, with whom I formed a 3-man party. From there we head to the union to take extermination quests and proceed to the Eastern forest.
“I want to level my magic Skills, so can I stay in the back? They feel a little behind compared to the rest.”
“Alf will tank so no probleeem.”
“Enemies in the Eastern forest come one by one so it’s fine.”
“I guess that eventually linked mobs will appear~.”
“Will there be mobs that react to channeling, or special actives, I wonder?”
They are a staple, mobs that react when you start channeling that is.
They react when Magic Power starts changing into magic… would probably be the setting. Well, they can make up any reason they want.
To players, it’s a reaction to channeling.
“There probably will? To people who did MMOs, it’s a fairly common knowledge.”
“In this game, the most troublesome would be links of… the sight and sound, right?”
“Inside a dungeon, sound-type linking does seem like it would be the worst.”
“Speaking of which, there’s no dungeons in this game, are there~.”
“Well, there might be none just in this first area.”
My home(Catacombs) did not feel much like a dungeon...
While talking we charged into the Eastern forest.
We headed into the back, sometimes stopping to gather herbs and mushrooms. I will probably use them to level my «Alchemy» after all.
Alf-san held up a large shield as he walked in the front, tanking, and behind him walked me and Ske-san.
Alf-san was a complete front guard. As for me, well, anything goes. Ske-san was a complete rear guard.
At this moment the sun was up high so we received almost no recovery bonus, but Ske-san and I had?Dark Heal?, so there was no problem with Alf-san’s healing. Above all, there was no enemy in the East that could get past his large shield in the first place.
Enemies here were solitary and did not link, so there was no worry of being surrounded either.
Well, it meant that we wouldn’t die.
We immediately found a boar and Alf-san used?Appeal?to pull him in, then from a slight distance Ske-san and I only shot magic at him, making it simple work.
“By the way, what do we do about drops?”
“And what do you two usually do?”
“When we beat mobs we take turns stabbing knife into them and take drops as is. It’s a pain otherwise.”
“The two of us have been playing together since beta, after all. We’ve known each other for a while now, so.”
“I see. Then it would be all right if I joined the rotation, but...”
“You want the meat, right Princess?”
“INdeed… As long as I get the meat, I don’t need anything else.”
“Then… we exchange our meat for all of your drops except for meat, Princess?”
Considering the price at which the union and players trade meat… the price goes down by a lot. First of all, the demand is completely different so the problem is “selling difficulty”.
But personally, I use meat to raise my «Cooking» Skill level and I also sell the finished products to earn money. If the two received leather and horns from me in exchange for their meat, they would earn more than for selling meat. We both profit from it, so there is no problem.
“Yes, I guess. That would be good. If anything, I can give you 47 horns I have lying in my inventory, too.”
“1 of meat isn’t really worth that much. How about 3 meat for 1?”
“I don’t mind.”
“The meat is still cheaper...”
“If I process it, it will go up in value for me, so you need not to be bothered.”
“Alriiight, then let’s do the exchange after we finish hunting.”
While beating enemies we proceeded into the back of the forest, passed right through the Safe Zone and entered the back of the forest. From here bears start appearing, so it’s the main hunting ground.
But still, lately there have been several parties who started appearing in this place. Up until now I have hardly seen any at all, so it looks like top players have finally advanced.
“I’m seeing other parties lately, but it does not seem like the rate at which we fight is much different, or is it?”
“Yeah, it’s this kind of game. One where the number of players in the area affects the mob spawns. Which is why it’s sometimes better when there’s a certain amount of people in it rather than having the entire area for yourself.”
“Server savings… is it?”
“I bet~. But it’s better for us this way, so I don’t mind. Well, there seems to be a limit to the spawn rate.”
“If there wasn’t, the plains at the Starting Town would be in terrible state. Like, covered with Rabbits and Wolves.”
“That’s a sight I kind of want to see.”
Talking as we walk around searching for an enemy sure is a charm of playing in PT.
“Yeah, it’s just… there is a possibility it will spawn right beside you, so a hunting ground full of enemies might be hard.”
“The so-called shit spawn.”
“But as long as it’s not full to the brim, you don’t need to waste time looking for the next enemy.”
“This does happen sometimes. The problem is that from the first perspective, if one appears right behind you...”
“Yeah~.”
When we were talking like that, a bear spawned right beside us.
“And here it is… welcome!”
“We immediately recover the flag, thank you very much.”
“But that’s not a perfect one. It would be perfect if it appeared right behind us.”
Then the bear was beat up and disassembled. I mean, it is an enemy I hunt solo by myself. There is no way a single one appearing right beside us would pose any problem.
Even if one more appeared in the middle of combat, Alf-san can take one and I can take the other.
“It’s easy with Princess being with us.”
“Our stats go up, and in case a new one spawns, she can subtank it.”
“I mean, I have no close combat skills at all~.”
“Compliments will get you nothing.”
While Alf-san and the mob beat on each other from the front, I shot light and dark magic interchangeably aiming for enemy’s weakness.
Although we were hunting, it was one where we followed a pattern. When you follow a pattern, it means you are playing stable. It would be a problem if you didn’t have one. Players move in response to enemies’ patterns to defeat them as quickly as possible before going to the next enemy.
After fighting the same enemy several times, you gradually optimize your movements. It means that you stop doing needless moves.
The enemy’s attack motions are in general pre-decided, so as long as you look at their movement you can tell what attack will come. If you know the enemy's movements it’s easy to attack their openings. Predicting enemy movement from motion is a basic thing in action games. Or rather, without that you can’t play close combat in this game at all. First perspective field of vision is really narrow.
And most likely… or rather, definitely, the enemies’ attack motions will become harder and harder to tell apart. Like, humans doing feints?
Well, what I want to say is… it’s really interesting.
It’s not like I’m moving my actual body, but being able to move as I like seem to relieve stress.
As for people who like the physical tiredness after exercise… I don’t know how it is for them.
“Ah, could you wait a moment?”
“Did something happen?”
“I turned 20 and can evolve now.”
“A little more for me, too.”
“I see, understood.”
Ske-san is level 20 now.
The experience in Catacombs is nice, but… either Zombie’s experience table values are lower than those two’s… or maybe both. My total level is already 35, after all...
After Ske-san’s body was enveloped by light, when he appeared, his body changed from red to metallic.
“I became a Metal Skeleton Mage! So, when will I get the extra…?”
“Was it just one choice?”
“Just onee.”
“I wonder when...”
“Yup, looks metallic. Seems strong in defense.”
“I grew a little more resistance to blunt. Well… I was in negatives before, and I’m still in negatives. In short, the difference is tiny.”
Skeleton-types are weak against blunt attacks to begin with. In exchange, they are strong against piercing attacks. In my case it was the «Decomposing Body» and the ×2 Fire Damage Taken, but in bones’ case it’s blunt ×4. In exchange, he has increased piercing resistance.
“The red was strange, but metallic is also weird, isn’t it?”
“At least it seems to be matte?”
“That’s great. It would really stand out if I was all shiny.”
“So, you are made out of metal. Are you heavy?”
“I don’t feel too heavy, so I wonder myself?”
Alf-san raised him up to check, but it seems he was quite a bit lighter than me.
Which means, can it be…?
““A metal-plated skeleton...””
“That makes me really sad, so let’s make it be a super-light fantasy metal, okay?”
“I guess... let’s do so.”
“Well, back to hunting. Seems like I will get an evolution soon, too.”
“I wonder when will my evolution come, mm? Speaking of which, there was nothing at level 10...”
“You had a rebuild on level 20 and turned level 1 right, Princess?”
“Yes.”
“Then, the next evolution is probably on level 30?”
“In which case, there is still a long way.”
From a race I turned into at 20, the next one is being on level 30… sounds very likely. I’m level 15, so it’s still far ahead of me. But right now, rather than the Race Level I would like to raise my Skill levels, so I’m not bothered by it.
Also, it seems like Ske-san’s «Dark Magic» has evolved to «Darkness Magic». Apparently, he learned an Area of Effect spell.
“By the way Princess, do you have parts maybe?”
“Parts… oh, you mean the parts for recovering lost limbs?”
“Yup, those.”
“I have three of them.”
“Where did you get them?”
“At my home, they are a rare drop, most likely.”
“At home… you mean Catacombs? So there’s no choice but to aim for rare drops from undead mobs?”
“Yeah. I would like to stock a few of those. I might be in care of them from now on...”
They are talking about Dark Parts. The item required for recovering lost body parts.
Fortunately, I haven’t used any yet.
“Bone, ghost and zombie-types? Are dropping them, so there’s a high possibility that it’s a rare drop shared between all undead.”
“It would be good if we could craft it. I can’t craft anything myself, though.”
“Through crafting… most likely, it would be «Alchemy»?”
“Well… it would be mostly just us who use it, so it would be cheap to buy.”
“If there are places where Undead are worth hunting, that is. Oh, a bear.”
When we shot magic at the bear from a distance, it dashed straight at us and leaped at us. Alf-san moved in between us and received it with his large shield, after which we just ganged up on him.
The light passing through the foliage started to dye red, and before we realized that evening had come. It was a fantastic sight… is what I would like to say, but inside the forest, evening was eerie if anything. It will only grow darker, so fear will win out. Well, it has nothing to do with us however.
“Oh, it’s evening. What do we do? Take a toilet break?”
“Ahh, I do want 10 minutes. I want to take in the laundry.”
“Agreed. I want to take mine as well, let’s head to the Safe Zone.”
We beat the enemies all the way to the Safe Zone and when we arrived, the three of us logged out for roughly 10 minutes.
I stretched my body lightly, rehydrated myself and folded the laundry before logging in.
Alf-san returned first, then when Ske-san returned, he started to agitate Alf-san.
“Alf’s laundry got wet with rain, serves you riiiiight!”
“Yup, same to you. I know where you live, y’know?”
“Ha ha ha ha… haa, dammit...”
“Was yours okay, Princess?”
“It was all right in here. We had a clear sky.”
“That’s good. It just started raining over here, but they were big droplets and...”
“C’mon, let’s go vent it!”
Venting anger aside, we’d still go hunt anyway.
The evening starts at 3:30 p.m.. And then the night lasts until 6 p.m., so the number of parties in the area has decreased? Vision is pretty bad in a dark forest. While everyone used?Light?and?Night Vision?as countermeasures, just the three of us walked normally.
After hunting for a while, we arrived in a strangely open place.
“Ahhh, that’s the boss area.”
“Riight. How about we go right in?””
“Hmm...”
“Then how about we go?”
“Oh, raring to go, Princess?”
“I already intended to go for him during the combat tournament, after all.”
“Is your money all right?”
“I just deposited before noon, so I’m fine.”
“No problem here either.”
“Then let’s go take a look. If we die and get a death penalty, we might as well go have dinner...”
“Agreeed.”
Going for the boss by the way… well, this happens quite often.
Before entering, we review the information on the bosses.
The bosses of North and East are level 22. Western and Southern are level 20. Although North and East have nothing special about them, their stats are simply high. Western and Southern have either poison or fly, but have slightly lower levels.
Compared to the Golem in the North, the bear has lower power and defense, but compensates for it with speed and higher number of attack patterns. Looks like we can only fight head-on against the Eastern boss.
After consulting with Ske-san and Alf-san on the topic of recovery, Ske-san used the?Dark Enchant?increasing INT on himself and on me before we charged in.
Might as well take a video.
With Alf-san in the front, the three of us entered the boss area.
There, for the first time in a while that my body’s control was taken away by the system and I automatically walked to about the middle of the arena, before looking as the boss flashily jumped out of the forest.
After the bear’s roar, my body’s control has returned.
Fighting Bear?Lv22
An extremely fighty and dangerous bear.
His attacks have both speed and weight behind them, so it’s better to be careful.
Element: ??Weakness: ??Resistance: ?
Genus: Animal?Family: Bear
State: Normal
It’s not a raid boss, so there is only one HP bar. It was one size larger than a Brown Bear.
It is a boss fight, so let’s go with reliability.
After confirming Alf-san’s?Appeal?I switched to?Attack Stance?and started attacking.
According to «Discern» there was no weakness, but «Uncover» did display a weak part. I shared this information with the two, let’s aim for that part as much as possible.
“Alright, no problem at all!”
“Problems start when his HP goes down and he gets angry.”
We learned that there was no special need to hurry with heals, so it looks like we can focus on attacking until the boss' pattern changes.
I attacked with lance-types in general, and when it was easy to aim for the weakness I used arrow-types. For the time being, I’m in charge of Alf-san’s healing.
Ske-san attacked, and instead of healing he cast enchants to maintain buffs on us.
Alf-san was a tank, so he used?Guard Stance?and single-mindedly gained defensive exp.
Fighting Bear… huh. From the looks of it, he’s completely a martial artist. His movements weren’t like those of a bear at all… but I guess it’s pointless to retort to a game. It’s interesting, so let’s leave it be.
His HP is going down at a fairly good pace.
And… both of Fighting Bear’s arms started to let out a red light. His special action started when he had 60% HP left.
“A rush is cominggg!”
“A’ight, come!”
Alf-san put his right hand on the back of the large shield, and also he lowered his waist to add his left leg. He engages the approaching enemy in a fully-defensive posture...
Ske-san and I started channeling?Dark Heal?.
The Fighting Bear raised a shout to raise his fighting spirit(?) and swung at Alf-san.
Starting with a straight right, he continued with a left hook and right upper, before moving onto six right straight attacks. Every time a strike hit the shield, an amazing sound rang out and Alf-san’s HP was reduced.
However… there was no problem, and once the rush ended the two of us used?Dark Heal?on Alf-san, recovering him to full HP.
“The first and hardest part is done!”
“Alf, be careful from now on, ‘kay.”
“Of course! So, will the pattern change now?”
Actually that rush was something tanks could not endure, which is why no one went past it, and there was no information of what was ahead.
Since Alf-san was racially full-plated and used a large shield, his defense was really high.
The Fighting Bear’s movement pattern changed, and, surprise… he started using kicks.?
What splendid flying kicks he does. They are blocked, but Alf-san still loses HP over the defense. Let’s focus on keeping Alf-san’s HP at full if possible.
“Princess, MP?”
“I’m at 60%. Still got a leeway.”
“50% here. Looks like there’s no problem.”
I just thought, but we Immortals can’t use potions, can we? What do we do when we run out of MP? What we have in skills is «Automatic HP Recovery». I do have an MP recovery effect on my set equipment, but don’t others have trouble without bonuses and just automatic recovery…?
“Is this guy really a bearrr?!”
“You retort, you lose.”
As the Fighting Bear started to do kickboxing, Alf-san single-mindedly defended his attacks with the large shield. He even started doing roundhouse kicks. It’s kinda cute with his short legs.
But the sound that comes from the large shield is very uncute.
With that said, we had a main shield so there was no problem even if the ratio at which we heal him increased. Then boss’ HP bar changed from the 60% 's yellow to the 30%’s red.
In addition to the Fighting Bear’s arms, his legs also were clad in red.
“Alf! Art is coming!”
“Ha HA! There is none who will pass my defenses!”
“His attacks already go past it!”
“I know nothing of ittt!”
The two are in high spirits. If they had faces, they would probably be smiling, but unfortunately they are bones and armor. No facial muscles to be seen.
The rush has started again, but this time legs were added in and the number of attacks has increased. Then the attack stopped, so we started heals.
“Wai-... stop please?”
“It’s going dooown!!”
“Isn’t he attacking too much?!! Ah? AAAAHH?!”
“A-Alfff?!”
“Fufu...”
...Is this the TRUE bear hug?
With the last attack of the rush, Alf-san lost his balance, was caught from behind and hugged. Then, the living armor that was made of full plate was raised up and…there was a backdrop.
So it’s 12 attacks + bear hug backdrop. What a splendid chain of attacks.
Struck in the head, Alf-san’s upper half was buried in the ground and started flailing his legs. He did have a status ailment, so it must be a Bind?
From the full HP state he was cut down to 20%, and even as we healed him he eventually turned back to 20%. We quickly healed him up as we moved toward the bear.
“Ske-san, take care of Alf-san!”
“Okaaay!”
I shot?Dark Ball?and?Dark Arrow?one after another at the Fighting Bear, but he did not change the target...
When Alf-san was hit by the Fighting Bear while buried deep in the ground1, the damage he received was no joke.
“Healing won’t make it!”
“?Libertà?!?Rush?! Whoops... there he comes!”
“Nice, Princess! C’mon, get out!”
“I can’t get out!”
I used up one Orb, but it was a necessary expense. When I did a triple?Rush?attack enhanced with?Libertà?, the Fighting Bear changed his target.
At the same time he did a backhand blow, which I avoided by instantly crouching and it passed right above me. From there, he turned around and stared straight at me.
Changing my stance to?Parry Stance?I kept the target for the time being. His speed is increasing compared to up until now, isn’t it?
Alf-san is in that state, so the moment I try?Guard?I already lost, so let’s parry everything with?Parry Stance?.
Using the rapier to parry, I damaged him with magic. In any case, my main firepower is magic, so there is no need to force myself to attack with the rapier, is there? I don’t have attack speed, so I will attack when an enemy shows an opening… is what it seems my style will stabilize on.
The problem is that despite the fact I’m?Parry?’ing, I’m still receiving some damage? Even with automatic recovery, it’s still decreasing slightly. I can heal myself, but still, did I receive damage during the fight with the general, too? I didn’t notice.
“As expected of Princess! But… I can’t get him out!”
“I can’t move y’know.”
“I don’t have STR so I can’t pull up full plate… ah, right.?Psychokinesis?...Hnngh!”
“O, one, two, three...YEAH!””
“Alright, back to combat!”
Alf-san’s HP recovered and he got to move, so I held back on attacks and continued to focus on parry.
Even when he used?Appeal?from behind, the target remained on me. Only when he used defense-ignoring?Ironcutter?on the boss’ back and then?Appeal?, that the boss switched back to Alf-san.
Meanwhile, Ske-san cast?Dark Enchant?on himself and on me.
The target changed, so I switched to?Attack Stance?.
“Alright, there it is!”
“There was an unexpected event, but it feels like we will somehow manage!”
“It does look like it.”
On 30% there was a special action, and with my?Libertà?and?Rush?it turned to about 20%, so we should be able to finish it.
“Ske-san, my heals alone might not be enough.”
“His attacks sure are faast.”
“Okay, I’ll also heal.”
“Please do.”
Clearly the Fighting Bear’s attack speed was increasing.
Isn’t it faster than when I tanked it…?
“Hmm…? Did the bear's defense go down?”
“Is he the type that increases attack speed as his HP goes down, but also loses defense?”
“It started at 30%? Well, let’s quickly beat him. We’ll stop making it with our heals.”
“Agreed.”
As the attacks repeat, they were certainly getting faster, is what Alf-san said. The sound the shield made was extremely frequent as well.
“This, if I wasn’t Immortal, my hands would go numb… the impact sure is amazing.”
A partial paralysis… I guess? I wonder if there is one?
10% remaining...
“Whoaa! He’s going too savage”
“It looks like he’s moving in fast-forward, it’s kind of interesting.”
“Agreed. From the side it looks interesting.”
“Hurrey?? Hurrey beat 'im?!”
Alf-san’s HP started going down at high speed, so let’s quickly finish it. With that said, what we do did not change.
Ske-san’s and my magic hit the Fighting Bear, and along with a scream he extended his four limbs and fell down.
?Your Race level has increased.?
?«Defense» reached level 25.?
?«Defense»’s Art?Area Guard?was acquired.?
?«Parry» reached level 25.?
?«Parry»’s Art?Counter Parry?was acquired.?
?«Light Magic» reached level 25.?
?«Light Magic»’s?Light Resist?was acquired.?
?«Dark Magic» reached level 25.?
?«Dark Magic»’s?Dark Resist?was acquired.?
?«Magic Ability» reached level 30. Gained "2" Skill Points.?
?«Magic Ability»’s?Channeling Reduction??Magi Amp?were acquired.?
?With the elimination of the Eastern Boss, the Eastern Area was unlocked. As a bonus for the World First elimination, you gain 6 Skill Points.?
?You have fulfilled specific requirements and acquired “Title: Liberator of Belstead".?
?The party “DELIVERY TIME!” led by Anastasia has delivered the Eastern Boss. From now on, the Eastern Boss will be weakened and the goods distribution restored.?
““No wayyy.””
“The PT name we put in as a joke...”
“Heck, that “has delivered the Eastern Boss”...”
“The management joined in on the fun?”
“6 SP is nice… And a title, tooo.”
“Agreed. Now, let’s disassemble him. Who will do it?”
“I guess you can do it, Princess?”
“I’m busy evolving, so take care~.”
“Oh, Alf, finally.”
"...Well, we’ll split the boss’ materials equally.”
I headed toward the Fighting Bear and pierced the Disassembly Knife into him.
Behind me, Ske-san was staring as Alf-san started to shine.
Let’s change the PT name… “CHARGE! YOU’LL BE DINNER!” should be fine.
Oops, and let’s end the video.
Name: Anastasia
Race: Immortal Princess?Woman?Lv16
Element: Dark
Genus: High Immortal
Family: Royal Zombie
Skill Points: 64
Skills:
«Sword Lv25» «Defense Lv25» «Parry Lv26» «Armor Lv25»
«Light Magic Lv25» «Magic Ability Lv30»
«Sensing Lv26» «Uncover Lv25» «Footwork Lv29» «Cooking Lv27» «Alchemy Lv5» «Gathering Lv20» «Appraisal Lv18» «Disassembly Lv15»
«Identification Lv23» «Discern»
Inactive:
Monster Skills:
«Dark Magic Lv26» «Aura of Darkness Lv20»
«Physical Resistance Lv20» «Physical Immunity Lv16» «Magic Resistance Lv5» «Automatic HP Recovery Lv26»
«Immortal Royalty Lv17» «Royal Authority Lv15» «High Tier Immortal»
Titles:
Elegant and Calm Princess: Improves the impression given to others and makes it harder for them to become wary of you.
Liberator of Belstead: A commemorative title given to the first to liberate the town East of Starting Town.