Free Life Fantasy Online

Chapter 35: 35 Arts Confirmation And Western Boss

35 Arts Confirmation and Western Boss

It’s summer break, so I take my time doing stretches in the morning and… before I log in, let’s upload the homework. I had the VR unit load the data and linked it with FLFO. ...Alright. I can do it anytime now.

Let’s log in then.

Since I’m going out from an inn in the Starting Town, let’s first do stretches here before leaving. As expected of the summer break’s Sunday 9 a.m., there are a lot of people.

Now, I haven’t decided on anything to do today… the Old Temple’s quest. Let’s make that my objective for a while. In other words, I need to raise my level. Enemies there are around Lv35, so I need to get to at least Lv25+ before I go take revenge.

“...You already fought Living Dead that were 25+”? That place is completely different from my home… Fellows in my home don’t have weapons and I always get to attack preemptively. And they can’t move properly. And I get to fight 1v1 at all times. It’s really advantageous to me.

I could take Alf-san and Ske-san with me, but links would become pretty harsh… There is no time limit, so let’s take my time solo.

For now… I need to reconfirm my arts. Let’s start with close combat ones.

?Slash?

A simple slash. The attack is the same as normal, but it has a little more damage.

?Distance Sword?

The so-called flying slash. Releases flying slashes, that’s all. I sometimes use it.

?Ironcutter?

An armor-ignoring attack you can often see in games. It has a long cooldown so I don’t use it.

?Attack Stance?

Increases attack but decreases defense, can be put on and off. I use it in PT.

?Rush?

A triple slash, that’s all. Has quite a long cooldown.

?Delay Slash?

Deals damage again in the same place you slashed earlier. Ignored.

?Penetrate?

A piercing attack that additionally deals three times the damage when hitting weakness. Just slightly better than normal attack when not hitting weakness. My main attacking art.

Yup, it’s my rough evaluation.

In this game it’s possible to use non-magic arts during channeling. And so, it is possible to use?Distance Sword?during channeling, but considering my MP it might be better to use only magic… is what my intuition says. By the way, the ratio at which you can get your channeling cancelled is dependent on your SPI. So it’s up to your guts.

Next, defensive ones.

?Defense Sense?

Makes it easier for you to guard… apparently? It’s a mystery to me.

?Magic Guard?

An art for protecting against magic. Almost never used. In my case only used for AoE attacks.

?Guard Stance?

Opposite of the Attack Stance. Lowers attack damage but increases defence. Stance-type arts can’t be used at the same time.

?Area Guard?

Blocks not only attacks on you, but also the area. Was this here before…?

?Blocking?

When you lose less than a certain percent of your maximum HP from an attack, causes the enemy to stiffen. In my case it’s nonexistent.

?Parry Sense?

Defense Sense’s parry version. Also a mystery.

?Magic Parry?

Parries magic. One of my main.

?Parry Stance?

Increases probability of a parry but decreases defense. Most likely decreases requirement for successful parry.

?Counter Parry?

Deals a normal attack’s damage to the enemy whose attack you parry. Only works in close combat. Did I see this before...?

?Break Parry?

Makes the enemy lose balance when you succeed in parrying.

?Royal Defense?

?Guard?and?Parry?merge. Can’t do anything without this.

?Royal Counter?

?Arrow Guard?and?Arrow Parry?merge. Has nothing to do with countering.

?Royal Step?

What you call a movement skill in other games… ignored.

?Area Guard?is nonexistent.?Counter Parry?doesn’t seem bad, but it doesn’t look all that great… but I haven’t tried it yet. Arts use MP as well. The only exceptions are very basic arts such as?Royal Defense?. It’s simply defense activation and parry, after all. In other words,?Counter Parry?uses MP for normal attacks. My normal attacks are pretty strong thanks to my weapon, but I hesitate to use it since I don’t have a method to recover MP. If it uses few MP, I will use it. But I need to make it a habit or I will forget about it.

?Royal Step?is… «But?», right. I’m not an avoidance type, so it’s better for me to deflect. And so, it’s nonexistant. It only makes me slip to the side in a strange way and it’s not like I’m invulnerable during that. I guess it’s based on AGI?

Next is magic? I roughly use… a few of these.

?Light Heal?

Light magic’s healing spell. Recovers the target’s HP. Heals from passers-by using it are more trouble to me than help.

?Light?

A light floats above my head. Considering I have night vision racially, it’s not just nonexistent, but also needless.

?Light Enchant?

A buff temporarily increasing SPI. Nonexistent for now.

?Light Resist?

Increases resistance against ailment of this element. In other words, it gives resistance to Confusion. Racially needless.

?Light Burst?

An area of effect spell that works in a circle around me. I will die if I use it, so I don’t.

?Lumen Explosion?

Coordinate-specified explosion-type AoE spell. It’s dangerous so I don’t use it.

?Night Vision?

Just like the name suggests. I have the same effect from my race so It’s needless.

?Dark Enchant?

A buff temporarily increasing INT. I use it sometimes.

?Dark Resist?

Increases resistance against ailment of this element. In other words, it gives resistance to Darkness. Racially needless.

?Nox Explosion?

Haven’t used it so far.

Heals from passers-by that use?Light Heal?are… simply an attack. Small kindness, a big bother… hm? Speaking of which, Alf-san’s and Ske-san’s appearance makes it pretty clear, but aren’t I in danger? Well, it’s not like I will get damaged much near the town, though.

?Light?and?Night Vision?, as well as the resist spells are dead to me. Let’s consider it being easier on me.

While at it, let’s confirm the spells that I often use.

?Light (Dark) Ball?

Shoots a ball of light or dark. Has low channeling time for an attack magic, but has slow projectile speed. Good for making enemies falter?

?Light (Dark) Arrow?

Shoots an arrow. Has fast channeling time just like Ball and has a fast projectile. Bad at making the enemy falter? Covers it by being good for aiming at weaknesses.

?Light (Dark) Lance?

Throws a long lance thing. Has slow channeling and high power. Projectile speed is a bit faster than that of a ball.

?Lumen (Nox) Shot?

Has quick channeling and high damage, but extremely low range. A favorite of magic swordsmen.

Yup, this should be about it.

About the Shot-type spells, it seems like they are difficult to put into good use. In order to deal good damage with them you need to have high INT. Furthermore, if you lose your balance or receive damage and have low SPI, the channeling will be canceled. Although its channeling is fast, it still takes about four seconds. MP is used not only by spells but also by Arts, so it makes MP management harder… and in order to increase MP you need INT and SPI.

Well, a magic swordsman is a fantasy class popular in MMOs. In a way, making one in this game is on the easy side.

What’s left is… «High-Class Magic Ability»-types?

?Burn?

Livelihood magic #1. Good for putting things on fire. Valuable for cooking.

?Water?

Livelihood magic #2. Allows you to make water as long as you have MP. Valuable for cooking.

?Heat?

Livelihood magic #3. Heats things up. Valuable for cooking.

?Cool?

Livelihood magic #4. Cools things down. Valuable for cooking.

?Breeze?

Livelihood magic #5. Sends a breeze.

?Clean?

Livelihood magic #6. A super useful spell that I want in real. Cleans all dirt in an instant.

?First Aid?

Livelihood magic #7. Heals a tiny bit of HP. Absurdly nonexistent. It’s flavor magic if anything?

?Meditation?

Increases the speed of MP Recovery, but without a magic catalyst you cannot move when using it.

?Magia Trace?

Allows you to see magic power, but racially needless to me. Already included in «High Immortal».

?Lock?

Magically locks things.

?Unlock?

Magically unlocks things.

?Psychokinesis?

Allows for moving objects without touching them, based on INT and SPI.

?Delay Spell?

A passive art increasing the time a ready spell can stay ready after channeling finishes.

?Shorten Channeling?

A passive art decreasing the channeling time.

?Magia Amp?

Temporarily increases magic attack power.

?Magic Power Control?

A passive art decreasing MP consumed.

?Overspell?

Increases the consumption by two, and also increases the spell’s effect by two.

That is about it.

Normal livelihood magic is very valuable to me when I cook. I think?Lock?and?Unlock?will be used in dungeons? But until then, nonexistent. The things you learn from Magic Ability are handy spells and abilities altering magic.?Meditation?doesn’t have any negatives for me, so it’s constantly used. It’s pretty sweet.

?«Spatial Magic» reached level 5.?

?«Spatial Magic»’s?Raum Escude?was acquired.?

?Raum Escude?

Creates an INT and SPI-based shield in front of you that nullifies range attacks.

The number of attacks nullified is dependent on the skill level.

Ahh, yes. It’s up to the duration of the skill and MP consumption. Let’s try using it… hey, not enough MP? I disable?Inventory Expansion?for now and try using it after my MP recovers. ...30%, huh. Certainly, there isn’t enough. A small icon was added to my vision showing a 1. I can guess that it means only one attack will be nullified… The duration is 360...minutes? In game it’s one day, in real - six hours. The number of attacks nullified will increase, so I can shut my eyes on the high consumption. I can use it when I have a leeway… and the rest depends on how many I can nullify, but for now I can’t test that.

To conclude, if my Skill level increases it will be a good spell… probably. It works only in front of you, but I can assume there will be a higher level version that protects me or others from all directions. It’s a staple in games.

And the number of my inventory slots is increasing, but the MP consumption did not change so far. Let’s hope it does at Lv10...

Now, the result of confirmation is… just the fact that I need to try using?Counter Parry?. And so, should I do combat today? In which case, the hunting grounds would be… the places where I can die give me nice experience, so I could go to a shallow place in the third area.

Otherwise, I could also go unlock the Western area. I would receive SP, and I do want to open up a portal there.

I could also go take a look at the dungeon that was added Northwest of the Starting Town.

Or go do homework in the library. There are plenty of things to do.

...Let’s go open West. It should be easy, I did a big part of the homework yesterday, and there is no need to hurry and go to a dungeon made as crowds countermeasure. So let’s head to the West gate right away. ...Looks like they are making way for me as always.

“Ah, it’s Princess. Yahoo.”

“If it isn’t Fairellen-san, good day.”

She’s a fairy, so she came from above. Seems like the sky is peaceful even with the crowds caused by the second batch.

“So this is the Moses effect! It’s really easy to notice from above.”

“It’s a mystery why they make way for me, but I’m grateful for it since it makes it easy for me to walk.”

“I don’t think there are many people who would so imposingly walk through the middle of it...”

“It’s not like I asked them to do this, and I will end up walking through the middle anyway, right?”

“Ahhh… certainly?”

It’s fine. Regardless of the reason behind this, it doesn’t inconvenience me in any way, far from that - it makes it easy for me to walk around.

Fairellen-san only approached me to say hi after spotting me, so she said “see you!” and flew up to the sky.

When I left to the outside through the Western gate, I saw a lot of second batch’s players fighting. Mobs were killed instantly after respawning, so it looks like I will be able to get to the forest right away.

There of course were solo players, players who had first batch’s acquaintances watch over them, as well as multiple parties fighting out there.

A wolf player being mistaken for an enemy and attacked by a mistake is a pitiful sight… But it could be called fate. Horse… fox… oh, there’s even a Goblin player. Or rather, aren’t those four in a party together? It makes for a good opportunity, so it’s a good thing.

I ignored them and headed straight for the forest.

It was my first time in the Western forest, but it looks like enemies here are insect-type. Forest Spider, Forest Snake, Fighting Ant, Forest Owl. These Fighting Ants must be lower level versions of fighters from the mines. Also, the others are simply spiders, snakes and owls.

There are many enemies in the West and it’s hard without Burst-type spells. But if you have Burst, it’s fairly easy. Without it, cartoonized but still real-looking insects gather on you to make your life hell.

But honestly speaking… not only do I have a higher level, but there are enemies within the range of my «Physical Immunity» so I can completely ignore them and go forward.

When the enemies come at me, I cut them down and absorb them with?Dark Ritual?, when multiple come, I use?Dark Burst?and absorb them again. They are all 1 capacity, so let’s go to the boss right away. They aren’t tasty at all at this point.

I already had the ant skeleton and ant zombie blueprints from the mine shaft in the North, so I acquired a snake and spider here. Also owl. Let’s take my time confirming them when I get to the town.

“Aaahh!”

Aaah? That sounded like it came from nearby…? Aaah… looks like a player that looks like a yellow carrot has been caught by a Forest Owl and carried away… The plant types do look like they are bad against attacks from air.

I use?Dark Arrow?with?Overspell?to shoot down the Forest Owl.

“Ahhh?! Phew!”

The carrot(?) dropped from the air, has rotated in the air and splendidly landed. Not bad. And she has come to me on two short legs.

“It’s Princess! Thanks!”

“Oh no, I just happened to be nearby.”

“I’m Clementia. Sexy Radish’s second stage, a Sexy Mandragora.”

“I am Anastasia. Zombie’s Extra second stage, an Immortal Princess.”

“Gathering materials, Princess?”

“No, I came to unlock the West.”

“Ohhh, can I go with you? Other mobs are one thing, but owls are a pain, you see… I won’t die when I’m caught, but they are in my way of going to the bossss.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Thanks~.”

Sexy Mandragora sure is cute. She’s swaying the leaves on her head, and the tip of her body splits up like legs, and also has short arms. I had a hard time choosing between that, and zombie… Cuteness-wise, a Sexy Radish is better, but a zombie had human shape. Also, there is no point in all the cuteness if I can’t see it, this is a game where you see from the first perspective.

With that said, I send an invite to party to Clementia-san and the two of us go deeper in.

“What are your combat skills, Clementia-san?”

“It’s mainly Monster Skills and I mostly use «Wood Magic», I guess?”

“So it’s ranged magic, right. Then in some cases I will go in front.”

“Rogeeer.”

Plant-types have «Wood Magic» right from the start as a Monster Skill, so it must be pretty high. We are much higher level than the enemy, so I only need to be careful for Forest Owls as we quickly proceed into the back.

Our goal is not materials or leveling, but unlocking an area, so we both unequipped «Disassembly» and moved to the boss area while beating everything with magic.

Along the way I disabled the?Inventory Expansion?. I probably won’t have enough MP otherwise.

“The boss had a lot of adds, right.”

“Apparently there are small worker bees, but there is no poison any more~.”

“I can’t get poisoned right from the start so… I’ll hold the boss.”

“Roger. Let’s quickly clean up the weaklings with AoE. I have a useful skill for that.”

It’s the staple skill unique to mandragoras which causes the surroundings to lose consciousness, apparently it’s called «Scream of Rejection».

“When I stand in front of you, Princess, please hit the boss with magic.”

“Understood.”

After doing the last check, we enter the boss area. We have our controls taken away by the system, and along with a buzzing sound, bees have appeared. And rather there being a lot of small ones… there was a big boss bee.

Just like I was told by Clementia-san, when she trotted in front I shot a?Dark Lance?with?Overspell?at the boss. That moment, the boss’ escort, which was a mass of small bees… these bees gathered into three swarms which flew ahead of the boss and at us.

Clementia-san who walked in front, matched the timing and activated «Scream of Rejection», which spread an effect with her as the center in a range higher than that of a burst’s range. The three swarms caught in it have fallen down all at once. There, my?Nox Explosion?and Clementia-san’s?Frons Burst?burst into them. An explosion of dark and a green membrane spread, eradicating all swarms.

With the escort cleaned up, we focus on the remaining boss. Looks like the bee’s weakness is also joints.

Actually this bee, it doesn't have many attack patterns. Or rather, non-human shaped enemies have few attack patterns overall. It has a tackle, a grapple and a needle shot.

I deflected the needle shots with?Royal Counter?and tried?Counter Parry?on the tackle, there were lots of openings when it attacked with grapple, so I thrust at it from the front.

“?Counter Parry?isn’t too bad...”

“?Frons Bind??Frons Entangle?”

When I was trying out the Art, vines came from below and entangled around the boss, then further started squeezing it to deal continuous damage. There, an additional attack came.

“?Snipe Seed??Parasite?”

A spat seed hit the boss, and from where it hit it grew tentacles, and another icon was added displaying continuous damage.

I also attack before the bind is released. Let’s use?Libertà?for the first time in a while. And also?Penetrate?to attack the weakness. I remove a bunch of boss’ HP with the flashy graphical effect.

“Ohoo, your firepower is amazing, Princess.”

“I did use a Skill that has a limited amount of uses.”

When the boss managed to release itself from the bind, its HP was in red zone already. There, escorts appeared again but were struck down with «Scream of Rejection»… and from there we erased them with burst attacks. And the boss who was also hit by that, had his HP reduced to 10%, so we bid him farewell with just a few more hits.

?Your Race level has increased.?

?«Slender Sword» reached level 10. You gain “1” Skill Point.?

?«Slender Sword»’s Art?Assault Pierce?was acquired.?

?«Enten-style Princess’ Self Defense» reached level 10. You gain “1” Skill Point.?

?«Enten-style Princess’ Self Defense»’s Art?Royal Stortz?was acquired.?

?With the elimination of the Western boss, you are now capable of entering the Western area. You gain “3” Skill Points as bonus for eliminating the boss.?

Oh my… new Arts?

?Assault Pierce?

An Agility-based charge, releases an attack carrying the speed’s impetus.

?Royal Stortz?

The more you defend or parry, the more your attack power increases.

I see. A charging strike and a buff-type. The first one aside, the latter one… is a passive Art, huh.

“Good job! Next, we go straight to the town then.”

“Thanks for the hard work. Let’s go unlock the portal.”