《Golden Experience》 CH 1 Year 12 of the new calendar. Before striving to break free from the fetters of Earths gravity, humanity has poured all its energy into escaping the fetters of the flesh. Through the development of Virtual Reality technology. Once defined as a digital version of reality, now, when the term precedes technology, it has advanced enough that it is no exaggeration to consider it another actual domain of existence. It was initially developed for the purposes of healthcare, but it expanded into education, various infrastructure operations, manufacturing, the service industry, engineering, architecture, real estate, finance, and of course leisure It had practical applications for every field imaginable and thus advanced society. Huge numbers of office workers connected daily to virtual office spaces. There, they could do work, attend meetings, and even oversee and operate robots that performed work in manufacturing factories. Financial matters were also handled via Internet banking and virtual currency, all connected through the use of VR. Legal documents could be signed and notarized in VR. You could even go from getting a loan straight to gambling at a casino. For meals, if you went to the enormous VR grocery store, you could check how fresh food was with your own hands. With the latest full-scan technology, products stored in warehouses could be virtually reproduced down to the tiniest detail. Whatever you bought would be immediately packaged and sent right to your home via the underground transportation network. Your purchases would arrive within an hour. The grocery stores warehouses were stocked with produce from a large-scale farm. Using the perfect replication achievable in VR, agricultural technologists can monitor fields and direct the robots to plow, water, or harvest. Sports can also be watched in VR. In stadiums, players tiniest movements are captured through real-time scanning, and the match can be viewed from any angle desired in VR. You can create specialized rooms for friends to join and get rowdy and watch games, or you can go to public spaces to hit it off with other similar fans of your preferred team. If youre feeling ill, you can go to a VR clinic. Your VR equipment can perform scans to give your attending physician real-time updates on your health. You can even have a physical examination, then get any prescribed medications sent to your home that day. If its something serious that cant be resolved during a standard office visit, unfortunately youd still have to go to an actual medical facility in person. However, there are no doctors there. You lie on a bed assigned by the medical technologist, then medical robots treat you. Of course, youre actually being treated by a qualified physician via VR. Virtual reality was truly another reality. Indeed, this refers to how the VR space has come so close to the real world. However, at the same time, it also refers to the way real-world society has come to embrace VR. Boot Hour, Shoot Curse A new game announced in this modern age. It wasnt particularly innovative, being an orthodox, fantasy MMORPG, but it was the newest title from a company that had released numerous smash hits. Both fans and the industry had high expectations for it. After several closed alpha and beta tests, they finally announced a large-scale open beta test. The open beta would of course function as the final test before release, but since all the previous tests had already resolved the vast majority of balancing problems and bugs, it was widely asserted that this was essentially just early access to the game. It had been previously announced that the same account would be used for the full release, and that all character data would be migrated as well. Since it was still a beta test, it would be free to play until the full game went live, but it was made very clear that it was possible for the game to go down for maintenance at any time. Before the open beta, only small bits of information about the game were available to the public. The contents of all the prior tests were protected by strict NDAs, and the game was configured so that players couldnt take screenshots or record videos. That said, people still talk; information about the game was shared anonymously on social media, and it became hard to tell what was true and what was false. In any case, everything would be revealed very soon. It appears that the basics are all the same from the closed beta. Looking at the character creation mode window, the data displayed here seemed to match what she remembered. This game doesnt have levels. It doesnt have discrete classes either. Even with no levels, you still earn experience (XP), and that XP can be spent to boost stats and learn skills (special abilities), which is how you improve your character. That was the basic gameplay system. After your character is created, this system gets explained and the player receives 100 experience points. There are 7 different races: Human, Elf, Dwarf, Beastkin, Goblin, Skeleton, and Homunculus. Based on the race you wanted, it could cost experience points; for example, humans dont cost any XP, and elves cost 20 XP, but goblins give the player an additional 120 bonus XP. It costs 10 XP to raise any stat by 1, and the currently available skills cost between 10 and 40 XP to learn. Everything up to here was the same as it had been during the closed beta. After checking for differences in costs for the learnable skills, it seemed likely that nothing about skills had changed from the closed beta. There had also been skills locked behind prerequisites, so the skills displayed here shouldnt be all of them. In any case, what was interesting was this Characteristics category. This hadnt existed during the closed beta. There appeared to be a natural bonus for the character here, which was automatically generated when you first went through the full scan that generates the default avatar. Looking at the Help documentation, just like your race, you could only customize it during character creation. Characteristics also involved XP, so letting the system automatically give you a characteristic meant you were letting it spend however much XP was necessary. If you removed the characteristic, you got your XP back, but it looked like it could have a major impact on the avatars appearance. Innate Characteristic: Beauty One time I went to the VR library and happened across a book about an antique game; I think that game had a similar system 20 XP was pretty expensive, but she felt like shed lose something else if she messed around with her appearance too much, so she just left it, whatever. This game doesnt have regular level ups or anything, but the ability to spend experience to strengthen your character could be done at any time. In other words, there was no reason to use the 100 XP during character creation; you could just use it later after starting the game. Setting aside the fact that her characteristic used some of her 100 XP. Choosing to be an elf used up another 20 XP. But then she took another characteristic, [Albinism]. Innate Characteristic: Albinism XP Cost: -20 You were born with white hair, white skin, and red eyes. Spending too much time exposed to the sun will afflict you with light burns. Burns: Until healed, depending on the severity, causes damage over time. A way to get XP back without fiddling with her appearance, basically. If she just changed her schedule so that she only logged into the game at night, she figured she wouldnt suffer too much from the drawback. This game did make it so that enemies were stronger at night, but, personally, she hadnt thought the difference was that much during the closed beta. Plus, elves were already a race with pale skin, so an albino wouldnt really stand out much at all, she reasoned. Since she had already gone this far, she might as well try to get back the 20 XP for picking elf, too. Innate Characteristic: Poor Eyesight XP Cost: -30 Your eyesight is poor. You cannot target objects that are too far away. Accuracy against mid-range targets is reduced (Medium). You cannot attack long-range targets. Thats a damn harsh penalty. However, if she had no plans to engage with mid- or long-range enemies, then it was more or less irrelevant. Anyway, it wasnt a fatal handicap given that she could get her hands on an item like, say, eyeglasses, or a magical something or other that could shore up the difference. Keeping that in the back of her mind, she finished creating her character. Her characters name was [Rare]. She could pick a short name like this both because she was a beta tester and as a natural perk from being an early-access player. She currently had 110 XP. Thanks to these innate characteristics, she could start the game with extra XP even after choosing a good race. This was a huge advantage. Assuming that farming XP was the same as it was in the closed beta, at least. CH 2 The tutorial could not be skipped. The support AI displayed an overview of basic game information that the player needed to know on top of an image of the game world. That was fine and all, but as mentioned, there was no way to bypass the tutorial, and it would periodically ask Did you understand that? to check that you were paying attention, so you couldnt even zone out or daydream until it was over. You could skip the tutorial in the closed beta, so some tester must have run into some serious problems after skipping the tutorial for them to have changed it. To summarize, the bits that were probably the most important were: The game system doesnt treat player characters (PCs) and non-player characters (NPCs) any differently. To the system, the only difference between PCs and NPCs is whether or not they can receive system messages. The system does not differentiate between NPCs and monsters. While the player is logged out, the avatar remains in the same spot in-game and goes to sleep. The tutorial had gone on for nearly an hour when the support AI made sure to emphasize another point: The AIs given to NPCs versus those given to monsters differed in terms of knowledge, but each individual AI was also unique. When that came up, Rare interpreted it as an attempt to instill a sense of ethics or morality. In other words, you shouldnt mistreat NPCs just because theyre NPCs, you shouldnt callously massacre monsters just because theyre monsters, and you should try to behave with some amount of consideration, something like that. After the unskippable tutorial ended, Rare spawned in some kind of gloomy, damp place. Seemed like some kind of cave or backstreet alley. There was also some kind of sour smell. It was weird that even though there were no lights anywhere, it wasnt pitch black; maybe it was because this was a starting area. Glancing around, as far as she could tell, there were no enemies. No other players either. When starting the game, you can roughly choose your initial spawn zone. There were six countries on this continent, and if you chose one of those countries, there were a number of predetermined locations you could randomly spawn at. Normally, a newly created character would only spawn at a place with enemies of an appropriate difficulty, and an area without enemies would be near a town or village. Using that town or village as a starting point, you would steadily expand your area of operation and eventually move to areas with stronger enemies; that was the basic progression loop in games like these. However, for those who choose goblin or skeleton as their starting race, being placed somewhere near a human settlement would be problematic. The six countries all belonged to humanity; one mostly had humans, one belonged to the elves, one had mostly dwarves, one mostly beastkin, etc. In the games world, they were all countries run by these so-called races of humanity. Thus, under the influence of these countries, goblins and skeletons were targeted for extermination. Choosing to be a goblin or skeleton came with all that extra XP to help balance out this disadvantage. For this reason, if a goblin or skeleton were to start right next a town, there was a huge risk of the citizens finding and reporting it and dispatching an extermination squad. If they were to be killed, theyd get a death penalty on top of respawning at the same starting area again. And if soldiers were to patrol the area, theyd be done in again in no time at all. What do you know C a self-perpetuating death penalty-awarding system. That said, the soldiers and citizens had rather sophisticated AIs, so if they noticed vanquished monsters repopping in a certain area, theyd set up cages or traps at the spawn location, resulting in an endless death loop that could never be broken without outside interference. No idea what would happen if a monster-race player were captured alive by the human races, though. And so, to avoid those kinds of instant-checkmate situations, you can also select starting areas outside the six countries. The residents of the nations refer to these areas as monster territory. As a matter of course, there were naturally no havens of humanity in the monster territories. While it was hard to guarantee that you wouldnt be attacked by someone of the same race, it was at least better than the no-questions-asked slaughter youd face in the human countries. Rare had chosen to spawn in one of those very same monster territories. She was an elf, one of the races of humanity, but she didnt pick a spawn area based on her race. Naturally, she would have to take responsibility for any penalties or hardships incurred by her choice, since managements policy was well, thats where the player wanted to be. Even if a goblin were to be captured by humans, it was still possible to enjoy the game, unpleasant as it may turn out to be. As an elf, and as someone given the Beauty characteristic by the system, it wasnt too hard to imagine what atrocities Rare might suffer if she were to be captured by monsters. She might be forced to reenact one of those scenes only found in thin, self-published books, but the official game response is nothing like that could ever happen, and from a gameplay perspective she would simply have to reskill and shed be able to keep playing. The AI for the monster races in the starting areas didnt know how to deploy traps after all, unlike human soldiers. The reason that Rare made this choice in spite of the risks was due to her innate characteristics. [Albinism] made her weak to the sun, and [Failing Eyesight] meant that open fields with good visibility would put her at a disadvantage. In all likelihood, this was a cave-type starting area meant for skeletons or something, but due to the random nature of spawns, a simple roll of the dice determined where Rare ended up. Monster races dont want to be involved with any of the six human countries, so since Rare didnt choose a country either, she would naturally wind up somewhere like this cavern for her starting location. In which case, this place must be somewhere in the monster territories, but she wasnt sure which country was the closest one. For an elf like Rare, her surroundings were filled with hostile enemies. If this was a place that skeletons could choose as their starting location, then it stood to reason that there were probably tons of undead monsters. In any case, her first order of business was to secure a base of sorts. She wasnt sure if such a place could be found in this cave, but if she had been a skeleton, she should have been faced with the same problem, so it should be reasonable to find some kind of safe area. As they say, dont overthink, make a decision and take action. If this was actually an alley, then shed be attacked and fall into an infinite reskill loop. Since Rare hadnt learned any skills yet, shed have to rely on just her characters base athletic ability. If the starting enemies were the same difficulty as those from the closed beta, then she should be able to handle them barehanded with her current stats. If she could have her druthers, then she hoped theyd be humanoid enemies. Sticking to the wall at the first intersection, she stuck half her head out and peeked around the corner. No one was there. Even though it was dark and she couldnt see anything clearly due to her Poor Eyesight, she could at least tell that there were no moving objects. After waiting for a bit, still nothing moved. Leaving a mark on the stone wall, she moved over to the right side. Continuing down the path by hugging the wall, she could see a faint light coming from around the next corner of the cave. If that was the entrance, then that would be sunlight, and leaving meant shed take damage. However, it was still necessary to know where the cave entrance was. She cautiously walked toward the light. As she got closer, she could make out the sounds of people talking. There are humans in this monster territory cave? She couldnt be sure they belonged to the human races, though. Maybe they were monsters who could speak in human tongues. Either way, from the way the voices echoed, it didnt feel like the entrance to the cave was nearby. If the entrance wasnt there, then there was a high chance that someone purposely brought a light source to this cave. Monsters probably wouldnt do that. In which case, they were probably humans. Maybe they were players who also happened to spawn in this place. In order to make sure, shed have to discreetly verify what exactly was on the other side of the wall. I gotta go pee quick in the back. CH 3 Finding this cave was a stroke of good fortune. It was dangerous to wander around for too long in monster territory, but this cave was here. It was probably fairly well-hidden, but the sharp-eyed Riley spotted it with no problem. Theyd make this place their hideout for now. There was no place for these girls in the human countries, after all. The catkin girls were originally children from a settlement. However, due to the monster territory expanding, fewer crops were being harvested and less game was hunted, so the settlement struggled to maintain itself. When the four of them learned that their families were thinking of selling them off, they ran away. However, children would have a hard time surviving on their own. There was already little to eat around the settlement, after all. Because they were so close to monster territory, they could be attacked by vicious monsters as well. And if the people from the settlement found them, theyd be dragged back and, this time, sold off somewhere. The oldest, Kerry, desperately escaped with her three childhood friends. They ran to the next settlement, hid until it seemed like they wouldnt be found, then scavenged for food from the fields. They waited until after dark and snuck into a house near the outskirts of the settlement. All they had were the clothes on their backs, and if it were any colder they might have all perished. They needed warmer clothing. While searching the kitchen for salt, the youngest, Marion, happened to find a pile of laundry. That would be worth taking. Then the houses owner woke up. They were discovered. If they didnt run, theyd be sold off. The second youngest, Remy, got caught. Theres no way they could run now. Marion threw the laundry at them, completely covering their face. They let go of Remy. It was now or never. If this person wasnt silenced, the girls would be caught and sold. She grabbed a knife that was nearby. The person had crouched down while getting the clothes off their face; she stabbed them in the back of the neck. She was shocked at how far it went in. After jerking back, they fell to the ground flailing, then didnt get back up. She felt no guilt. Only relief. All four of them felt that way. The second oldest, Riley, found a whetstone. She always had sharp eyes. The knife was used to cook dinner, and had probably just been sharpened. Thats why it slid in so easily. How lucky. For them, at least. They didnt find anything worth money, but they stole a hatchet and a hand sickle. They also took the blood-covered clothes. They snuck into another house. This time, they headed straight for the owner. They covered the persons face with the bloody laundry, then ran the knife across their throat. They left the bloody clothes there and took the clean clothes they found instead. This house had salt this time. There were also enough knives for each girl. Before morning came, they left the settlement. After that, they robbed a number of settlements, sometimes killing more people as they ran. About two years passed, and whether it was thieving, killing, hiding, or scavenging, they had gotten pretty decent at it. Back then, they would sometimes run into groups of grown-ups doing the same things they were doing. They would try to run away before they were discovered, but if it was faster to kill rather than run, then theyd kill. These grown-ups had much better weapons than hand sickles and hatchets. Some of them had bows, like the ones settlement hunters used, or other projectile weapons. The girls had been surprised, but it was incredibly difficult to hit catkin in a forest at night with a bow and arrow. While Kerry dodged arrows, Marion would sneak up on them and slit their throats. Thats how they got their hands on bows and arrows. Another two years passed. They focused on practicing how to use their weapons. If they wore down their blades or lost too many arrows, they would attack other rogue groups to replenish. It was good practice. Unlike the residents of the settlements, these groups had money. With money, they could go to a town and buy food and cloth. That was how the grown-ups in the settlements got clothing and stuff. They spent their days sleeping in hollowed trees or thickets and their nights journeying. It had now been five years since they had left the village they grew up in. At some point, they ended up in monster territory. And Riley found the cave. That was the cave they were in now. From the cave entrance, there was a narrow, winding path, but at the end of that, a large space opened up. The four of them decided to make this cavern their base. This was a rather strange cave, though; they had no idea how or why, but the walls shone with light. Thanks to that, they were able to see without much difficulty even without a fire. Still, it wasnt bright enough for everyday life, so they lit a campfire in the room. Normally, a campfire should produce smoke, but, mysteriously enough, the cave didnt get smoky. It was convenient, though, so they didnt worry about it. There was a tunnel high up in the rear wall, and inside, the path split in two. One path was blocked off, while the other went down a long, narrow incline, ending up at a lake. They decided to make the blocked-off path their toilet area. Thanks to the lake, they wouldnt have to worry about water. Monsters also couldnt get into the cavern. After they finished exploring the cave, Marion went to relieve herself. The other three prepared food at the campfire, but Marion didnt come back. The toilet wasnt far from the entrance to the tunnel, and there was no reason for her to have gone all the way to the underground lake. Ill go check up on her. You guys go ahead and start eating first. After saying so, Kerry climbed up into the tunnel. She didnt see Marion. She decided to peek into the dead end tunnel; if Marion wasnt there either, shed go down to check the underground lake. As soon as she rounded the bend where the path split, she felt an impact that robbed her of consciousness. CH 4 Oh, I see now. I was wondering why there were humans in monster territory, but it turns out theyre just bandits, trash mobs for the starting area. After ambushing the bandits one by one in the tunnel, once there were only two left in the big cave, Rare went and knocked them both out, then kicked the first two sleepers down as well. She didnt think she hit them hard enough to kill them, but even after falling down, neither of them woke up from the impact. Thinking back on it, if she had instead met a monster avatar in the monster territory, and everyone around her was the same kind of monster, if they were able to communicate properly, she didnt think shed be able to casually convert them all into XP. But if she had spawned near a human territory and run into bandits there instead, even if they were players, regardless of if they had a human or monster avatar, she probably wouldnt have hesitated to ice them. Kinda makes you wonder. Keeping the warnings given by the support AI from the tutorial in mind, Rare wanted to stop short of ending lives, just in case. She always could kill them later whenever she wanted, but NPCs wouldnt respawn. Plus, even without killing, she could earn tons of XP just by successfully incapacitating them. Actually, combat isnt the only way to earn XP in this game. You can earn XP from crafting, and even in other ways such as stealing it and escaping somewhere no one can find you. The amount of XP received is based on the relative difficulty of the action taken compared to your current overall player status. If a player who hasnt earned any XP at all picks up a craft, theyll earn way more XP than a player with boosted stats and tons of skills who picks up the same craft. Obviously, succeeding in crafting items awards more XP than failing, so in that respect, when taking up a craft, it was most efficient to raise your success rate as much as possible. Having not used any of the 100 XP from character creation, and in fact raising it up to 110, the system considered Rare lower than a novice. There was no point in holding onto XP without using it; it only had value in the form of improving stats and learning skills. But, looking at it from Rares standpoint, this was simply her play style. Because of her family circumstances, she had mastered martial arts for self-defense. Their clan had built up a storied reputation of diligence, and it was expected of all children in the family to study hard. While they were constantly tutored, they also built up stamina, muscle, and dexterity, learning aikido and ancient martial arts, adhering to the Confucian concept of Li, and striving for the self-defense ideal of defeating an opponent without receiving a single scratch. This perspective dictated that muscles should not be taxed, so they did not go through typical strengthening exercises. For the children in this clan, what is paramount is femininity and beauty. Naturally, those who loved martial arts had scorned the school and long complained how they were obsessed with nothing more than an unrealistic ideal. However, with the rapid advancement of VR technology, that perspective was flipped on its head. After all, it was now possible to train the mind as much as desired without training the body. It was now possible to defeat an opponent without using any of your own physical strength; this was the quintessence of Li. The mind could be disciplined perfectly, and the only thing necessary in reality was to align ones body with ones own mental image. As soon as Rare gained awareness, she was spending every free moment in VR training toward this ideal. For her own avatar to have low stat values was actually desirable. The game was balanced around the assumption that the initial XP would be spent. That was what happened in the closed beta, after all. Whats more, the expectation that experience would be earned at the same rate as in the closed beta was what led to the idea behind this playstyle. The XP compensation due to increased difficulty was huge; from disadvantaged to same level to advantaged, the difference in XP gained between each level was as high as a factor of ten. When gaining XP through combat, defeating a superior enemy could be worth as much as 100 times more XP than defeating an inferior enemy. However, this was ultimately only theorycrafting; in actuality, trying to fight an enemy worth 10 times more XP would usually result in death, and along the same lines trying to craft an item worth 10 times more XP would simply be a waste of materials. Internally, Rare giggled in glee at the unexpectedly huge amount of XP she earned. Her actions just now were worth a total of 300 XP. Including what she had to begin with, she now had 410 XP. She wasnt sure why exactly she had gotten so much, but for the time being she didnt plan on using any, opting to think about it later while she tied up the unconscious bandits. They didnt have any kind of rope around, so she stripped them instead. Since it didnt seem like they were going to wake up any time soon, she bound their hands and feet with their clothes. She then rolled the bandits apart, giving them each space, and one by one tried to force them awake. Finally, it was time for her first contact with NPCs. The ambushes didnt count. This was her momentous first contact, and she was pretty excited about it, but once the bandits woke up they just started wailing and thrashing around, rendering any attempts at communication moot. Rare had no choice but to politely placate them whenever they raised a fuss. It seemed like language wasnt getting through to them in this situation, so she had to rely on more primitive, efficient methods of persuasion. This happened over and over again as the bandits gradually became more civilized. Finally, first contact was about to begin. Once again, all this placating didnt count. Hey, I guess Ill start by introducing myself. You can call me Rare. As you can see, Im an elf. And I presume you guys are beastkin? Whos your leader? Ah, lets say that only the leader is allowed to speak, Rare said in a kind voice. The bandit who had been the noisiest fearfully named herself. Ids Its Kerry Who, who da fuckre Fuck? Your mama didnt teach you how to speak properly, did she? Im the one sitting here properly while you guys are tied up on the ground. You should be able to figure out which of us has the power here without thinking too hard, yes? Ergh! Ahm zor, Im sorry! I din mean anydin by id! My parents din teach me! Oh, is that so. Your household must notve been big fans of education. My misunderstanding. Fuck is a vulgar word; it lacks elegance. I encourage you to take that to heart, otherwise you may experience avoidable injuries in the future. On another note, you seem to be having difficulty speaking, would you perhaps like a magic potion? Saying that, Rare pulled an LP (Life Point) Potion from her inventory and placed it in front of Kerry. Inventory is a function usable after starting the game for players to store things they obtain. During the closed beta up until now, there hadnt been any stories of full inventories, so no one knew the maximum number of items it could store. This potion was included in everyones inventories from the start; Rare now had nine left. In the closed beta, they only started with five, but players also received a starting weapon that matched one of the skills they learned; since she didnt get a weapon, maybe thats why she started with five additional potions. In any case, it was hard to say that she had too many. While normally you might think having five would be a lot, if she had to use four here on the bandits, it was hard not to feel the loss. Peering at the LP Potion with uncertainty, Kerry let out a groan. Whats Whats dat? Poison? Are you gonna kill us? You dont even know what a potion is? Arent they pretty common? Maybe just not in this region? During the clos Some time ago, when I was in town, Im pretty sure they could be purchased from all sorts of shops. No way Da only tings you can buyre clothes and food Oh, really now. This is a magic potion that heals wounds. It cant completely heal everything, but it should at least make it so you can talk more comfortably. Here, Ill help you drink it, so dont move. She opened the vial and poured the potion into Kerrys mouth. Apparently the wounds in her mouth stung since she pulled a grimace for a second, but that quickly passed as she looked up at Rare in surprise. It was then that Rare thought for the first time, maybe these four girls werent bandits. They were an armed group of dirty girls in a cave in monster territory. It seemed self-evident that they lived here, and they did attack her right away, but it was possible that there was a more peaceful explanation for their being here. Perhaps they were mercenaries who had been tasked with exploring this area. Perhaps they were hunters from a nearby village who just stopped by to rest. Assuming that the only things near a spawn point would be trash monsters was peak metagame mentality; thinking back on it now, this game more than any others wouldnt conform to ideas like that. When the game was first announced, they claimed this groundbreaking new game would push the boundaries between games and reality, and it was rumored to be a test of a working world simulator. If there were any truth to that rumor, then an otherworld simulator wouldnt have separate special environments for each and every player. Looking at the facts, theres no way mercenaries wouldnt know what a potion is, and hunters would have at least heard of them. It also felt like they only had weak connections to the town and village community, so the bandit theory was the overwhelming frontrunner, but Now then, if the pains gone, lets talk a bit. Tell me about yourselves. How you lived up until now, and what you want to do going forward. CH 5 In all her fights to the death, Riley had never been beaten so badly before. If it ever felt like she would get done in, she would immediately run, but she was even able to squeeze out a victory when attacked by monsters or wild beasts. None of their group had ever suffered a serious wound. The white girl in front of her was unnaturally powerful. She wasnt that tall; at the same time, she wasnt that short either. Probably around the same height as Riley. The fact that her ears were on the sides of her head piqued her interest, but if she remembered correctly, that was in fact where those elf people were supposed to have them. Her white hair went all the way down her back, and it barely swayed it all as she dodged Rileys attack. Shes really strong or shes really fast, neither of those assessments were true at all, yet none of Rileys attacks were effective. She immediately realized that it was because the white girl was doing something. Even though both she and Remy had engaged her at the same time, they were both completely powerless. Riley had a feeling that she had to do something or they were sure to lose. And that premonition came true. At some point she blacked out, and when she woke up, all four of them were tied up and lying on the ground. Kerry was struggling and flailing, trying to get free, but the white girl just touched her or grabbed her and then Kerry began to scream and cry like she had never before. The white girl frowned, wanting Kerry to be quiet, and slapped her. It looked like that cut Kerrys lip, and she began to bleed. Seeing that, Riley, Remy, and Marion all began to raise hell, but they quickly stopped. It was the most well-behaved they had ever been in their entire lives. They had never seen the patient Kerry cry like that. They didnt think theyd be able to take the punishment she was getting. After that, every time Kerry caused a scene, the same thing would happen again. Eventually, Kerry also became quiet and obedient. The white girl gave her name, and Kerry did the same. Kerrys rough way of speaking caused the girls mood to sour a bit, which made everyone elses faces pale in turn. After calming herself, the white girl made Kerry drink something from a weird little bottle. Almost immediately, Kerrys swollen cheeks deflated, and her face returned to how it usually looked. Kerrys eyes became as round as plates as she looked back at the girl. The other three girls all did the same. So this was what a magic potion did. Kerry began telling the story of how they got here. The other three girls piped in with details when necessary too. They thought the girl would get mad if they spoke up without permission, but instead she just smiled and listened. Maybe the white girl was actually a nice person. They attacked her, but she didnt kill them, and it didnt feel like she was going to take them somewhere to sell them off either. If she wanted to sell them, she didnt need to ask Kerry about their past, and she wouldnt have needed to use a magic potion on Kerry either. They had never met a human like this. And not in the sense that she wasnt a beastkin. If their mothers had been like this girl, strong and kind, the four of them might well still be living in the settlement even now. Riley wondered if the other three girls were thinking the same thing. Kerry kept talking while crying. She was the most patient one among them, so Riley thought she didnt cry, but she was wrong. Kerry just thought she couldnt cry since she was the oldest. She had to be strong, for them. Since the white girl was here now, and she was stronger than Kerry, Riley hoped that Kerry didnt have to hold it in anymore. After hearing the general story of the bandits lives, Rare heaved a sigh. It was certainly a lot heavier than she was expecting, but from the way they told the story, it was clear that the girls memories were based on their actual experiences. Shed have to consider what that meant. Ignoring the world simulator rumor, this games world was extremely large. Or, rather than extremely, it might be better to say it was unsettlingly expansive. If the publicly revealed specifications were accurate, the surface area of the game world was twice as large as Earths. They apparently employed a random map-generating algorithm and spent many years running calculations and building map and object data, but would that really be enough time to complete this realistic of a field twice the size of the planet for players to run around in? Not only that, putting the size of the area aside, even if the various races were set to coexist without any problems, how many AIs would it take to realize such a thing? Even if the number of digital creatures equipped with AIs on the level of intelligent life had a lower population density than that of the humans on Earth, if they had to compete with stronger creatures for territory, with the amount of land in this world being twice that of Earth, they would need at the very least a few billion individual high-spec AIs. That would be all the races of humanity, the monster races, and whatever else included. Who the hell could program these memories for all those AIs? And to then scatter those AIs across a world twice the size of Earth, there cant be any inconsistencies in any of their stories. How was this even possible? Beyond all of that, a few years before the servers went up, there was another rumor that the world simulator ran on accelerated time, a thousand times faster than real time, something even more unbelievable. But now, it really had to be true: This game was an otherworld simulator. That said, Rare wasnt well versed in technology, so she wasnt suited for unraveling these kinds of mysteries. In the end, these were just the ramblings of an amateur dancing to the influence of hearsay. What Rare didnt know was whether those tasks were possible to complete in seconds with AI; for example, by developing a specialized AI that can develop another AI Maybe there was actually technology that would allow for a super efficient and surprisingly simple solution to those issues she speculated about. She sighed again and decided to just stop thinking about that stuff, instead telling herself to start thinking about the bandits who were right in front of herthese little girls. They were all pretty shabby. Their hair had grown out untended, the fur on their ears and tails had become all clumped and knotted and felt unpleasant to touch. The four of them appeared to have the same color fur at first glance, but in truth they were just all so dirty that it was hard to tell what color it should be. They were all young girls, and considering how few of them there were, they could be mistaken as just naughty thieves or burglars, but they were actually serious bandits who were ready to kill. Kerry and Riley, the older two, were about the same height as Rarea little under 160 cmand seemed healthy enough, but the younger two, who should be close in age, were clearly much smaller. They must not have gotten enough nutrition in their childhood. Their lives and circumstances were pitiful, and its not like she didnt feel sorry for them, but the fact that they didnt hesitate to take lives in order to defend themselves and survive with everything they had endeared them to Rare. In both the real world and in this world, their way of life branded them as felons. However, they didnt seem to have a price on their heads, they moved their bodies well, and they seemed to have a talent for knowing when to run. She had confirmed that they were bandits now, but it felt like a waste to simply turn them into XP. Was there a gameplay system for NPCs to permanently follow you? I see Thank you for telling me about your histories. Youve all done your best. However, today you were forced to submit to me; if you continue doing things the way you have been, one day someone will take everything away from you. Do you understand that? The four girls all looked shocked after hearing Rares evaluation. Apparently they had never thought about it before. Maybe it was best not to expect too much. In order to survive, youve all needed to commit various crimes, but you need to be more discreet. And by discreet, I dont mean you should avoid people altogether, but rather you need to become someone that people dont think of as special when they remember you. You only go to town to buy clothes and food, so to the townsfolk, they wonder, how do you normally live your lives? Where did you get your money? You probably got that money from killing other criminals or traveling merchants, but as soon as they know that for sure, youll have bounties on your heads before you know it. Well, actually, killing other criminals probably isnt a problem. But wait, when we go to town, we dont have a place to sleep, and there arent any other people like us, so we gotta steal money. Ahh, I gotta start from there, huh Rare began by teaching them how money was earned legitimately. She had to explain how a monetary economy worked, what economic activity was, how society was structured, how the six countries came into beingthis history could be found on the official game website, so she just parroted that back to themand other basic information. It got to be too much seeing them all bound on the floor, so at some point she freed them and they put their clothes back on. Rare let them ask whatever questions they wanted, so by the time the lecture was over, around five hours had passed. She had originally planned to blast off right out of the gate and kind of sped through character creation, but now that proved to have been a pointless endeavor. However, considering how she was able to forge a connection with these NPCs instead, maybe it didnt turn out so bad. Although she had yet to find out how useful these NPC girls would be. With these thoughts occupying her mind, she glanced over at the girls. They were all staring at her with sparkles in their eyes. She didnt know if the passionate gazes came from respect or affection, though. Miss Rare the elf knows a lot. Weve never met someone like her. And shes nice. And shes really strong. And really nice. Kerry and Riley were falling over themselves to compliment her with twinkling eyes. The younger pair were also nodding their heads in agreement. Nah, Im not really that nice you know. I just enjoy explaining things to people, so really, Im just doing whatever I want here. Yeah, but no ones ever politely explained all this stuff to us before. Even back at the village, when we asked bout something we din unnerstan, they just said don ask bout stupid stuff and hit us. That sounds pretty harsh. That said, villages tend to have a mentality of population = labor, so maybe thats just how things were. If they were to spend their whole lives in that village, then they didnt need to know about monetary economies or the founding of the nations. The villagers mightve reacted that way simply because they didnt know the answer to the girls questions. She herself mightve reacted like these girls did now sometime in her past. See, you really are nice, Kerry said, looking straight at Rare. Then the reverence faded from her eyes, replaced by uneasiness. Miss Rare the elf. I have a request. I want you to become our leader. <> Well thats an interesting error message. CH 6 Huh? What? Tame? I can tame her? An NPC? The fact that it appeared she could tame a human NPC was of course shocking, but more importantly, there had never been any whispers of a taming system at all before. It wasnt available in the closed beta. Maybe she just never found out about it, but whatever the case, Rare was currently completely clueless. She had no idea what kind of system it was, but based on the error message she received, something happened that caused a tame action to activate. Normally, youd think it came about due to Kerrys request. I want you to become our leader; in other words, from a gameplay perspective, a Rare wants to tame expression of intent, or so she believed. However, because Rare didnt have a skill related to taming, the Accept/Decline part of the process was stymied which prompted an error message. During the closed beta, she tried all sorts of builds in the character creator, using different combinations of skills and improving her character to see more skill trees. She discovered countless skills and the conditions for unlocking their skill trees. In order to try out that many builds, she had to reroll countless times, which meant she restarted the game that many times. During all that testing, she had never found any skills related to taming. This probably meant that either they didnt exist during the closed beta, or their prerequisites couldnt be met with only the starting 100 XP. If it were a new system that didnt exist during the closed beta, then if people rerolled now, there was a possibility theyd already be able to learn these skills. However, you couldnt skip the tutorial anymore. In order to test by rerolling, youd need to invest a huge amount of time. Including the one-hour tutorial and the amount of time it took to actually create the character, if she wanted to try five different builds, it would require as much time as shed spent in the game so far. Not to mention that she didnt know if she could find the skill in just five rerolls. The other possibility was that taming had always existed, but that 100 XP was insufficient to meet the minimum requirements to unlock it. It was also hard to imagine any other players discovering this skill at this point in the games life. After finishing the tutorial, theyd have to go earn more XP, and theyd be looking for a taming-related skill that they dont even know the prerequisites for. There probably werent any players who would waste time farming XP for no concrete reason. In either case, that meant there probably werent any players out there who had information on taming-related skills; if there were, there wouldnt be many of them, Rare herself being one. Rare was beginning to feel pretty excited about this situation. In particular, she was stealing a march on other players and getting a leg up in the struggle for information. She wasnt planning on hoarding information, but being the only one who had this piece of info was terribly alluring. Without needing to consult with anyone anywhere about this situation, she could meticulously conduct investigations all by herself. It was also possible that, like her, someone could somehow meet the conditions and receive this error message, but considering how she got here, it was hard to imagine the stars aligning for another person. I guess were no good, huh, Kerry muttered sadly. Oh crap. I ignored the all-important taming target. Thats not it at all. I dont believe I have any qualms with becoming your leader. In fact, I should be the one asking you. Its just that Right, I need to consider some things first. My apologies, but please make yourselves more comfortable. What about your meal? It slipped my mind, but you were in the middle of eating, werent you? At Rares suggestion, the four girls relaxed, allowing the tension to drain, and went about warming up their food at the campfire. Rare fell into thought, considering the implications of the [Subordinate] skill that the error message mentioned in relation to taming. The most likely possibility was the [Discipline] skill tree. NPCs that had been [Disciplined] could be [Subordinated]; that sounded logical. However, during the closed beta, the [Discipline] skill tree contained only [Discipline] and nothing else. Plus, the active skill [Discipline] was described as When successful, allows you to command the target for a fixed period of time. For example, while battling monsters, the skill was used to turn one monster hostile to all other monsters. This didnt seem to match the idea of taming; it was just a kind of quirky crowd control skill. Along the same lines, another possibility was the [Mental Magic] skill [Confuse]. You couldnt control the target, but confused enemies would simply begin attacking the nearest target, so the end result was something similar. It was also very cheap to activate. Speaking of [Mental Magic], those skills were much more expensive to acquire than [Discipline], but [Charm] and [Fear] both had very high success rates. When used in conjunction with their prerequisite skill [Stupefy], the success rate increased even further. In addition, when using the [Control] skill on targets afflicted by [Charm] or [Fear] Could the key maybe be [Mental Magic]? It wasnt the most ludicrous idea. [Control] resonated conceptually. However, going down the [Mental Magic] tree to get [Control] cost at the very least 150 XP. It was absolutely impossible to get there with the starting XP. It was still worth noting [Control] as a possibility on the list, though. Testers werent allowed to share information about the closed beta publicly. Instead, perhaps to avoid building up too much frustration, there was a closed beta social networking site where the beta testers could chat about the game all they wanted. Since no one was allowed to talk about the beta anywhere else, it got a lot of activity. Groups of volunteers shared the results of their data collection, and those results inspired both new investigations and more players to help out, resulting in a positive feedback loop. Thanks to those volunteers investigating as much as they could during the limited closed beta period, they found a ton of new skills by trying various combinations that wouldnt normally be explored. She wouldnt have enough XP to get [Control], but she could get as far as [Charm] and [Fear] and still have enough for [Discipline]. Just by the name [Control], one would think itd be overpowered, but she didnt think any testers had tried it out. Or at least, Rare couldnt think of anyone who had. That being the case, either learning [Control] was necessary, or it was a red herring. Considering what exact in-game conditions shed need to fulfill, the first was obviously being connected to the right NPC; if she learned some useful skills that turned out to be unrelated, she could just go earn more XP and try again. The catkin girls had sophisticated AIs, so even if Rare were unable to tame them, she could still cooperate with them. She was going to be their leader, after all. Which means she should just consider the information she had on hand and determine the plan that had the highest chance of success. She could set aside [Mental Magic] as the first possibility and consider alternatives. When thinking of the word tame, the meaning was a bit off, but there was also the [Summon] skill. Just like with [Discipline], the [Summon] skill tree didnt have anything but [Summon]. This skill let you summon a random monster to your side and command it. Unless the summoned monster died, it would return to wherever it came from either after the time limit of ten minutes or when the summoner perished. While looking through the Help documentation for details on obtainable skills, Rare had learned that the summoned monster could choose whether or not to respond to the summon. If it refused, the summon would attempt to resist. If it succeeded, the [Summon] would misfire and end immediately. Since the type of monster summoned was random, the chance of it resisting a summons would vary based on its overall stats. In other words, [Summon]s fatal design flaw as a skill was that its success rate varied too much. Testers all considered it a trash skill. In the first place, why was it designed to only summon something at random? By the way, speaking of [Discipline], it was hard to suss out the reason for designing something as inefficient as a skill tree with only one skill in it. Another tree with only one skill was [Alchemy]. After learning the [Pharmacy] trees [Pharmacy] skill, the Alchemy tree gained a skill to craft magic potions, [Formulate]. However, the [Alchemy] skill itself seemed to have a totally pointless effect: Required to use Alchemy tree skills. Alchemy tree skill effects gain a bonus, which led to the conclusion that there must be hidden skills in the tree. If that could be extrapolated to [Discipline] and [Summon], then the follow-up question was how to unlock them. For now, she could hypothesize that [Discipline] and [Summon] had hidden depths and designate them as the second possibility. Next, she would consider not the idea of taming, but instead the idea of subordinating. Rare thought that, out of the initially available skills, the one that came closest to the concept in her head was [Necromancy]. The common perception of necromancers was someone who controls the souls of the dead. However, just like with the previous two trees, the [Necromancy] tree only had the one skill. Its description was Turns a corpse within mid-range into a controllable undead for 5 minutes. When the effect ends, the corpse is destroyed and returned to the earth. While it seems useful at first glance, if the soul of the corpse was still there, then, just like [Summon], it could resist the [Necromancy]; if there was no soul, the resulting undead was so weak that it could be felled with a single blow. A rather questionable skill. She was just now realizing this, but lining up all the most likely skill trees, it seemed way too conspicuous for them to all be weird one-shot skills. Or maybe that was just her wishful thinking, wanting there to be a reason behind it. Glancing around the cavern, it seemed like the girls were about done eating. They periodically came to offer her food, but she wasnt hungry or more like this wasnt the time for her to be eating, so she always politely declined. Either way, time was about up. She needed to wrap things up and come to a decision, then just start taking action. CH 7 After all that brainstorming, Rare had come up with three major possibilities: She had no basis for any of this, and her plan was starting to seem more and more desperate, but at least she had come up with something. Based on her calculations, she did have enough XP to start testing things out. However, once she committed her XP into any single investigation, Rare wouldnt be able earn any more XP here. To earn back the XP she used, shed have to go somewhere else to defeat stronger enemies. But if she only picked up weird skills, the chances of her being able to beat enemies of an appropriate difficulty would be, frankly, low. No matter how prepared she was, it wouldnt be enough to mitigate all the risk. Setting aside the most expensive tree, [Mental Magic], she would first try [Discipline], [Summon], and [Necromancy]. It cost 60 XP to unlock those three skills. After that, she double-checked each of their skill trees, but the list of unlockable skills hadnt changed at all. Well, that wasnt exactly outside expectations. No need to panic yet. If the prerequisites could be met with just these skills, then someone should have figured it out by now. Which meant the next one to try was [Mental Magic]. In order to unlock up to [Control], first [Stupefy] required 10 XP, then [Charm] and [Fear] were 40 XP each, and finally [Control] itself cost 60 XP, so she needed a total of 150 XP. Thinking it over again, if this plan was a complete bust, in order to earn more XP with all her trash skills, she would at least have a decent [Mental Magic] spec to use. [Mental Magic] wanted MND, so if she dumped all her leftover XP into it, then she could at least fight competently. Boosting MND would also increase her MP pool for using all these skills, so that was a convenient silver lining. With that decided, there was no more reason to hesitate. Rare used 150 XP to grab all the [Mental Magic] skills up to and including [Control]. If her hypothesis was correct, she should have unlocked additional skills. All right then, Ill start checking from [Discipline] The [Discipline] skill tree didnt have any new skills. The [Summon] skill tree also didnt have anything new. The [Necromancy] skill treehad a new skill: [Bind Soul]. Yesss! Got it! I was right! Excited, she didnt hesitate to spend the XP. Her new skill [Bind Soul] read: [Steal the soul of a corpse that died within the last hour. When using [Necromancy] on a corpse that still has a soul, the [Necromancy] target cannot resist. If you have a soul in stock, you can spend it to make [Mental Magic: Control] usable on [Undead], [Homunculus], and [Golem] targets.] This is amazing! I think, maybe? Hmm At first glance, the [Steal the soul of a corpse] part felt too vague: its effects and usage werent intuitive. It basically felt like flavor text. However, to learn this skill, youd have to have at least [Necromancy] and [Control], and each of those skills had significant downsides in the forms of low success rate and can only be used on living targets. This new skill eased those limits, giving it immediate value. The soul stock must refer to the souls stolen using [Bind Soul]. However, the skill cost 60 XP, and setting aside the cost of all the prerequisites for a moment, it was the same cost as [Control]. When aiming specifically for this skill, everything up to and including [Control] and [Necromancy] required 170 XP, making it impossible to reach with just the starting XP from character creation. It was easy to reroll during the closed beta, but innate characteristics didnt exist then, so right now there shouldnt be very many players who have discovered this skill. Even if they did know about it, not many would immediately take it and build around it. So it was probably unlikely that anyone knew about the existence of [Bind Soul]. Furthermore, [Bind Soul] only worked on corpses that had died within the last hour. Considering this along with [Necromancy]s fine text, you could extrapolate that the souls in this world only remained attached to their corpses for an hour. Surprisingly, no one had verified [Necromancy]s if the soul was still attached to the corpse condition in the closed beta; everyone assumed it was just lore or because the corpse degraded too much after an hour or something. Anyway, she now had a skill that passively improved both [Control] and [Necromancy]. She had spent two-thirds of the XP she had earned, so she hoped she could make do with what she had gotten. She still worried that she stood no chance against field or dungeon bosses, though, since they had unnaturally high resistances. Well, this build isnt like, a super-specialized meat cleaver that can literally only be used to cut meat. I do still have other options. Rare relaxed a bit. She had avoided the worst possible outcome where there was no possible path forward, so now she felt pretty blas about it all. She decided to recheck [Discipline]. Nope. Nothing changed at all; the skill tree still only contained [Discipline] and nothing else, which made it a pretty lame tree. With these idle thoughts floating through her mind, she opened the [Summon] skill tree. She had unlocked a new skill, [Contract]. She half reached out to buy it just on impulse. Its description was [Forge a contract with the soul of a successfully summoned target. You may now choose to summon a contracted target when using [Summon]. Undead created with [Necromancy: Bind Soul] can be added to the contract list.] Just like with [Bind Soul] and [Necromancy], it was a pure upgrade to the base [Summon] skill. Furthermore, it improved [Bind Soul], one of its prerequisites. This was really powerful. It had cost at least 310 XP in order to get all these skills. Right now, it was fair to say that Rares three pillars of combat were [Mental Magic], [Necromancy], and [Summon]. It was an expensive journey, but it was well worth it. All of her earlier postulating was being proven correct. Rare now had no doubt that a new skill would appear on the [Discipline] tree. And just as she hoped, the [Discipline] skill tree did in fact now have a new skill. She had finally unlocked [Subordinate]. CH 8 Rare was over the moon. She did it. At this moment in time, she was the only player in the game to discover the [Subordinate] skill. In order to get it, you needed a whopping 390 XP, nearly four times the starting XP. No sane player would use all that XP on crap like [Summon] and [Discipline]. And she only realized it after the fact, but the skills that she learned all happened to be only the exact ones that she needed. [Discipline], [Summon], and [Necromancy] were all prerequisites, but getting [Mental Magic] first was truly the hand of fate. Or wait, conversely, if she had gotten the three trash skills first, once she got [Control], she would still have discovered the same skills anyway. She was lucky. She really felt like she had used up all the fortune shed ever have just now. But well, she did spend a lot of time thinking about it. This wasnt only due to luck, it was also a result of her own resourcefulness. Rares adventure was only just begi Ack, right as she thought that, she remembered that she hadnt actually learned [Subordinate] yet. Talk about putting the cart before the horse. After buying it, next was to check its effects. [Tame the target, making them your follower. If the target successfully resists, [Subordinate] fails. Souls contracted via [Summon: Contract] cannot resist. Undead created via [Necromancy: Bind Soul] cannot resist. Targets under the influence of [Mental Magic: Control] have reduced resistance to [Subordinate]. Experience is shared with all followers. You may now choose to summon a follower when using [Summon]. If a follower dies, they cannot be summoned for one hour.] Truly an ultimate skill that incorporated all the previous skills required to unlock it. With perfect timing, just as she finished verifying the skill details, she received a notification for a system message. <> Apparently, Kerrys request earlier had been paused. If the required skills and conditions were not met, then stuff could be deferred. It would probably be silly to assume that the deferment would last indefinitely, though; there was probably a time limit, but it seemed like the system waited throughout their preparing meals and cleaning up and whatnot. She could tame Kerry now. She apparently didnt even need to use the skill; maybe when the target actively wanted to be tamed, there was no need to cast [Subordinate] since they wouldnt resist. As soon as the tame went through, Kerrys head shot up and she looked at me. I apologize, that took a long time. I believe you already understand, but you just now became my follower. I have become your leader, in more than just name. Yes, Boss! Thank you so much! She checked, and Kerrys stats and skills could now be viewed in the same way she could view her own. Kerrys XP had dropped to zero, but that made sense since it was now shared with Rares. The reason why Rares XP had increased was probably because all of Kerrys unused XP had been consolidated with Rares when the tame occurred. Kerrys build was focused on melee combat, and this was reflected in both her available skills and how much XP had been used to raise her stats. Or rather, more XP had been spent on just her stats than all the XP Rare had earned. If there had been an actual fight, it would have been impossible for someone who had just finished creating their character to have ever won. Haaah Ive never felt anything like this before I can sense the Boss, and I just feel so safe She looked like she had just snuffed some catnip. Well, shell get used to it or so Rare had no choice but to believe. The other three girls looked at her enviously. She urged them to quickly declare their loyalty as well, and they did so right away and all became tamed. Immediately after that: <> <> <> Theres a housing system?! That wasnt the first thing she shouldve reacted to. Kerrys group had apparently been some kind of unique boss. In other words, Rare had spawned right next to that unique boss. It was true that the recommended starting areas for the monster races were caves, volcanos, or ruins, and it wouldnt be weird for such an area to include an early boss, but it was a bit unreasonable to spawn literally on top of a boss. She was beginning to feel that the monster races starting areas were unusually difficult. Choosing a monster race did result in getting extra XP, after allor actually, since Rare was unlucky enough to spawn near a boss, if she hadnt gotten so much XP right off the bat, she mightve been royally screwed. The weakest race, goblin, starts with 220 XP, and copying Rares choices, theyd barely be unable to get [Bind Soul]. If they went straight for [Control] then dumped the rest of their XP into MND, factoring in a goblins base stats, it was hard to imagine [Control] working on an opponent like Kerry. Rare had tried to maximize her new characters potential by going for a super economical build, she attempted to offset her weaknesses by starting in monster territory, was extra careful due to starting in monster territory, because of that somehow beat a boss by catching it off guard, purposely chose not to finish them off, by some strange coincidence learned about the ability to tame, and just barely had enough XP to tame that boss. If anything had gone wrong in this long chain of events, things wouldnt have turned out this way; this all had to have been planned by some higher being. In that case, no need to look a gift horse in the mouth. This place was fine to use as a home. Even though it was a gloomy cave. Actually, for a near-sighted albino like her, it was actually a perfect fit. Indeed, praise be to the gods. There was a housing menu for designating a place as your home. While verifying all the details, it appeared that even the underground lake was included as part of this home. She had thought this was an unnaturally large location, but actually the path was extremely tight, wasnt it Anyway, a new chapter in the legend of the [Mountain Cat Bandit Group] was about to Er, huh? By the by, you named yourselves the [Mountain Cats]? No, arent we cat beastkin, not mountain cats? Thats not what I meant. ? Looks like they didnt give themselves that name. Then where exactly did this [Mountain Cat Bandit Group] name come from? She should keep this discrepancy in the back of her mind. The girls themselves may not have realized it, but it was possible one of the towns had put out a bounty on the [Mountain Cat Bandit Group]. In any case, the fact that these girls were considered a unique boss cleared up a number of questions that Rare had, including why she had earned so much XP from them, why they were so much stronger than she expected after becoming her followers, and finally why she had gotten so much XP just now. The explanation for the last was that it was a reward for successfully taming a boss. Rare now had 320 XP. She didnt want to increase any physical stats like STR or VIT, so her options were to boost other stats, learn new skills, or spend them on strengthening the catkin girls. Even if she were to use it on the girls, she still wanted to know how earning experience with followers worked. Also, while she wouldnt test it proactively, she also wanted to find out whether followers got the death penalty when they died. In any case, even if she used all 320 XP to buff herself up, Kerry would still be stronger than her. Since her build synergized so much with MND right now, shed throw 200 XP into MND, then use another 40 XP to learn the [Mental Magic] skills [Confuse] and [Sleep]. She reasoned that this was technically a boss encounter, so this was her reward. Now then, this home base needed to become more home-like. Because the avatar goes to sleep when the player logs out, it would be nice to log out in comfort, so a place to sleep was necessary. She wouldnt demand a bed, but she did at least want something to offset the cold, hard ground. If she had to, she could just bear with it, but she shouldnt neglect furnishing this place properly. If that could be arranged now, then she could test logging out right away; she needed to know what happened to her followers while she wasnt online. It had been nearly eight hours since she had initially logged in, but she didnt really have any plans in the real world, so she didnt mind pulling an all-nighter. Either way, her body here would be sleeping. Although for her testing, shed be logging out then back in immediately. As far as a makeshift bed went, animal fur or monster fur would be fine. She didnt know what things lived outside the cave, but there must be some kind of furry animal. Maybe one lived in the forest. CH 9 Rare wanted to leave the cave with the girls and explore. But first, the four of them were filthy, so everyone went down to the underground lake to wash up. They only had plain water, so there was no way to get really clean down to the cuticles, but they could at least wash off most of the dirt. They were so dirty that the color of their washed hair barely changed compared to before, but after some patient, spirited scrubbing, it was at least evident under torchlight that they had each different colored hair. Kerrys hair was probably a bright reddish-brown. Maybe like a copper red. In a well-lit area, it would surely shine brilliantly. Though Rare couldnt say if shed ever get the chance to see it. Rileys hair was sepia-colored, something close to an olive-brown. In the cave, it was the least eye-catching color. Remy had the brightest-colored hair. Yellow ochre might not be the most flattering image, but once her cuticles were healed, it might be a nice, deep blonde. Marions hair took the most work to clean. It felt like she could scrub forever and dirt would continue to slough off, but it was also apparently just a brown color. It was much darker than Rileys. She wanted to find some kind of hair-cleaning oil or chemical to get them even cleaner, but for now, this was all she could do. Scissors would be nice too, so she could cut it, try to untangle it a bit, and generally just tidy them up, but shed just have to settle for this kind of wild, disheveled look for the time being. They may be leaving, but since the cave was now her personal area, only Rare and her followers were allowed to enter it. No need to leave someone at home. This meant that the cave could no longer be randomly chosen as a starting location for a new player. Rare certainly hadnt intended to completely take over one of the monster races random spawn points. But then again, considering the size of the continent, there must be countless caves like this out there, so even if the number of spawn points went down by one, its not like suddenly new players couldnt start a new game or anything. It was dark outside the cave, enough that it was hard to see anything right in front of you. It must be way past sundown. Something Rare welcomed. She didnt have to worry about sunburn, and either way she wouldnt be able to see too far in front of her anyway. It appeared that the moon was out, but the dense trees completely covered the sky, so no moonlight could get through. She could hear the high-pitched cries of some faraway animal. There must be a lot of nocturnal beasts. Kerry, are you familiar with this forest? Nah, we havent been in this area that long, so I dont know much. We only just found that cave earlier this morning. Now that she mentioned it, Rare felt like she had already been told that. Even though they just got here, it had already become the [Mountain Cat Bandit Groups Base]. Perhaps it was a seed planted for future development. The base designation and becoming a unique boss, that is. Boss, where were you hiding in the cave? When we found it, we searched the whole thing, so there shouldna been any monsters or anything in there. Ahh, I actually dont know myself. I dont know how I ended up all the way in the back of the cave. And then you girls a bunch of armed strangers found me, so I just ended up attacking you. Zat so I guess weird stuff happens sometimes. Maybe it was because we were bound together as master and follower, but she was damn gullible. Or maybe she was just an idiot since her INT was lowshe just blurted out whatever was on her mind. If that really were the cause, even though she was a melee DPS, she still needed a certain amount of INT. Rare could boost it, but her current store of XP was too low. In any case, the five of them needed to farm XP. Their current objectives were furs, food, and XP. In other words, they needed to find something furry and edible to beat up. After explaining that, Marion crouched down and began sniffing. She had the [Enhanced Smell] skill, which she must have activated. Boss, I smell a wild boar. Rare indicated that Marion should follow the scent, and Remy focused on listening to their surroundings. Remy had the [Enhanced Hearing] skill. With Marion at the front and Rare in the center, the group of five slowly and carefully traversed the forest. Having lots of experience walking through woods from other games, Rare skillfully avoided all the roots and leaves on the ground. Marion and Riley in front cleared all the hanging vines and impeding underbrush with their hatchets. Stop, Remy said to hold back the group. I hear fighting. Another beast? Marion also spoke up. I can also smell blood. Probably a boar and a wolf. Riley, go up and sneak a peek, Kerry directed. Kay. Riley went to go scout alone. She had both the [Enhanced Vision] and [Hawkeye] skills. [Hawkeye] was in the [Archery] tree and gave a bonus to accuracy when shooting at long-range, but it also had a secondary effect of making it easier to spot objects beyond long-range. If you couldnt see it, you couldnt target it, after all. Ah, sorry Boss, for giving orders. Its just a habit Not at all, I dont mind. Rather, when were in a small group like this, or when an immediate decision is necessary, just get my permission after. Actually, weve been talking normally, is it all right not to hold our breaths or something? Yeah, its fine. Boar and wolves both have noses better than ours, so theyd know about us way before we know about them. Ah, gotcha. In other words, its hard to ambush wild animals in a forest. Obvious fact is obvious. But if a beastkin, who already had enhanced senses, strengthened their sense of smell with skills and was still outperformed by a wild wolf, she wondered how normal players were supposed to hunt wolves. Rare, who hadnt explored the forests much during the closed beta, had no idea. After a bit of time, Riley returned. Since everyones range of vision was so severely handicapped, it almost looked like she had just suddenly popped into existence. Just like Marion said, its a wolf. It probably attacked the boar we were tracking. Got it. Boss, what should we do? Apparently Kerry decided her role was to handle minor orders then check with her boss, Rare, for feedback and direction. They had a surprisingly competent command structure or something that felt kind of close to how a wild pack of beasts operated. Well be opportunists; wait for the boar to go down, then attack the wolf although we actually want the boar to still be alive then take them both out. XP is precious. Got it. Lets move, girls. As soon as Kerry said that, she immediately turned to Rare. Ah, Boss, sall right if we go? Of course. If thats what youve decided, Kerry, then dont mind me, just bring me their heads. With a ferocious smile, she melted into the darkness. The other three followed after her. Rare listened for the sounds of battle to make her way to where she thought it was taking place. CH 10 There was a clearing in the forest that was slightly illuminated, where the sounds of combat were clear. Hidden in the shadows of the trees, Rare observed the battle. There, a three-way confrontation between the wild boar, the wolf, and the mountain cats unfolded. Holy shit, theyre huge! The hell kind of boar and wolf are they?! Theyve gotta be goddamn monsters, not just wild animals. The wolf was a little bit taller than Kerry. Eyeballing, it was probably over two meters long. The boar was even bigger than that. It had to have been at least three meters tall. The clearing had been smaller, but the two rampaging monsters kept knocking down trees, so it ended up turning into a large, open area. Apparently the wolf had been attacking the boars legs, since the boar seemed to be shaking on its feet. Kerry was keeping the wolf at bay while also aiming for the boars legs with her sword. A boar the size of a large car was charging around and she hung around slashing at it like it was nothing; Rare couldnt possibly imagine herself succeeding in the same position. Kerrys [Quick-Wittedness] and [Acrobatics] skills were putting in some work. Finally, the boar heaved forward and collapsed on the ground. An arrow suddenly came flying in out of nowhere, piercing right through one of its eyes. The boar let out a screech, arching its back up and swinging its head around. At the end of one swing, its head stopped for a split second before it was going to be swung back the other wayzeroing in on that instant, another arrow sunk into its other eye. Must be Remy and Riley; they both had the [Archery] skill. Because it was so huge, though, the arrows that had speared both of its eyes didnt appear to reach its brain, so the boar still struggled. However, neither the wolf nor the girls paid it any more attention. My hands are all sweaty just from watching this play out, but its not like they told me not to get in the way or anything. This was the perfect chance to test her skills and stats. All right, first is [Stupefy]. She felt something pushing back for a moment, but that feeling crumbled away and the wolf stopped moving. Its eyes wavered, unfocused. It was now afflicted by the Stupefy status debuff. Boss, did you just do somethin? Yeah. Kerry, dont attack. Continuing on, [Charm]. [Stupefy] only debilitated a target for a few seconds. In that time, you needed to follow up with either [Charm] or [Fear]. This time she didnt feel any resistance at all. Targets afflicted by Stupefy had decreased resistance to [Charm] and [Fear], after all. The wolfs eyes half-closed, and it lowered its head and padded toward Rare. That was most likely what [Charm]s caster, Rare, wanted. Looks like it worked. Next is [Control]. There was a little bit of resistance as the wolf walked up to Rare and hung its head down. Now for the finisher. [Subordinate]. The wolf lay down on the ground, then rolled over to show its stomach. It barely resisted at all. Hmm. Success. Even against highly hostile enemies, I can still easily Subordinate them. As far as she could tell from watching Kerry and the girls fight, the wolf was stronger than they were. They could easily defeat it as a team, but one-on-one, they would have to run. Part of the reason it was so easy to use [Subordinate] could be because Rare used it in the middle of a fight, while it was distracted, but the biggest factor was simply her enormous MND stat. Since her overall stats were so much lower compared to Kerry and the girls, she probably should have used her XP to help close the gap, but instead she put way too much into MND. Thinking about it objectively, she had casually spent 200 XP, but that was twice the amount that a starting player received. No sane player would ignore skills and waste 200 XP on just MND. While Kerry was above Rare in terms of overall strength, Rares MND was three times higher than Kerrys. Monsters that were only a little stronger than Kerry shouldnt have enough MND to resist. Or like, the girls are a composite four-person unique boss, and the wolf and boar were only a bit weaker. For early-game enemies, theyre pretty damn strong. What the hells with this forest? Rare was starting to wonder where exactly she had started out. She had no regrets at this point, but she was starting to feel kind of bad for the innocent skeleton players who started out in similar places as this. In any case, that was a good hunt. Lets bring this boar back. Boss, itd be better to butcher it here. If we dont drain the blood right after it dies, the meatll go bad. Aha, youre right. Go ahead, then. Remy and Riley will monitor the area. Ah, actually, hold on. She could put their new comrade to work instead. Hey, you. Youre mine now. Do you understand? Were gonna make this boar easier to eat, so while we do that, I want you to make sure no other beasts come near us, she said while mussing up the fur on the wolfs stomach. After hearing its orders, the wolf immediately got up and began circling the edge of the clearing, its nose and ears twitching occasionally. As soon as it was tamed, the girls immediately recognized the wolf as their ally, so they completely trusted it to watch their backs. Rare, having nothing else to do, decided to check out the wolfs status. It had a number of skills she had never seen before. They must be ones with special conditions to unlock. These were skills that seemed possible for the girls to learn, but looking at their skill trees, none of them were available. They were apparently skills with unlock conditions outside of having the right combination of skills. She was glad that [Subordinate] wasnt like that. The wolf also had innate characteristics like [Keen Smell] and [Keen Hearing]. Monsters and wild beasts get to use their innate characteristics as soon as theyre born, it seemed. On second thought, for wolves to be unable to use their noses until they learned a skill was kind of silly. These types of innate characteristics must only be available to certain races. The wolf was an [Ice Wolf]. Yep, it really was a monster. For an ice wolf, though, its belly had been quite warm when she had rubbed it. The spot for its name was blank. She should probably name it. The butchering was almost done, though, so she could come up with one after theyd gotten back to base and settled in. Boss, were done. For now, we wrapped up the meat in the fur; we dont want the entrails so well bury them, but what about the bones? Itd help if the wolf could carry the meat, but adding the bones would be too heavy. Its fine, I can take it all. Here. After saying so, Rare put everything in her inventory: the meat, the fur, the bones, and also the entrails. Boss, the meats all gone! Did you do that? Yes, I did. Its called an inventory. Its a way to hide things in a secret place. Wow! How do you do that? How Well Hmm Its like, theres an invisible bag I can use to store things; if I want to put something away, I cover it with this big bag, then I just close it. Something like that. Since the system just did it for her, it was extremely difficult to explain how an inventory worked. Only players could use it anyway, so even if she could explain it properly, they wouldnt be able to use it anyway. I dont really get it Its fine, I can explain it again later. Anyway, weve accomplished our goal, so lets return to the cave. Vaguely handwaving the topic away, Rare stood up and made to start heading back. The wolf, who had been keeping watch, came up to her and pushed its nose into her stomach. Huh? Whats wrong? Family? You werent just a lone wolf? Apparently, the wolf had family. CH 11 A lone wolf might sound cool, but generally they were actually just wolves who had lost a power struggle in a pack. Rares group hadnt encountered any other wolves of this type, but thinking back, this wolf didnt seem weak enough to be kicked out of a pack. While it had faced off against the girls and the boar, it hadnt felt at all in disgrace. Although now that it was Rares follower, it was hard not to see it as just a big house dog. But thats fine. If youve got family, we might as well take them all in. Im not heartless enough to force you apart, after all. At this point in time, Rare wasnt concerned with the demerits of having more [Subordinated] followers. Shed need increasing amounts of XP to support them all, but she came to a realization from seeing the catkin girls fight: it would drastically reduce the risk whenever they went into battle. Speaking of that last battle, the XP she got from incapacitating a wolf that was about the same or slightly higher in power level was probably about the same as shed get from defeating an equal enemy solo. Having to split that XP in five was obviously a big decrease, but it also meant the duration of battle decreasing by a corresponding amount. Even still, doing some mental math, while soloing would still be noticeably more efficient, there was still a lot of value in doing things this way where the XP earnings would be more stable. If the number of her followers increased, then shed just have to earn that much more XP. While Rare had gotten excited and recklessly splurged when she first discovered the [Subordinate] system, she originally wasnt planning to proactively participate in raids or PvP; she just wanted to enjoy the game at her own leisure. She was looking forward to the game so much that she signed up for not just the open beta but also the closed beta, which is how she became a tester. Besides, there were a lot of things she wanted to try out with more followers. There were things she could investigate about the very act of getting more. If she could spec each follower however she liked, then she could build characters who were completely different types from her. Shed have to order the NPC around instead of playing herself, but still, she could have a lot of fun researching and optimizing builds. Like, seeing if increasing Kerrys INT could elevate her from her idiot status or not. They followed the wolf deeper into the forest. They technically used an animal trail, but it wasnt hard to traverse since these animals were so huge that they could just walk the trail normally. After a short time, they arrived at a cave entrance that was similar to Rares current home. Apparently, this was a wolf den. The wolf wanted to go into the cave alone, so she agreed to wait outside. Rare had tamed the alpha wolf, so she figured everything would be fine, but if she had gone inside with it, she couldnt discount the possibility of some disgruntled packmates deciding to attack her. Having no idea what the state of things were in the pack, that was the one outcome she wanted to avoid. Eventually, the wolf came back out. Behind it, more of what looked like the same kind of wolf followed it outside. Looks like she really had tamed the largest one, since the next one was slightly smaller, and the other six were about the size of larger breeds of dogs in the real world. Well, they were about as big as real wolves, but their anatomy, like their faces and legs, were a lot thicker. In other words, they were more like giant puppies; thats what they reminded her of. God, they are so adorable The wolves apparently knew what happened since they all came before Rare and bowed their heads. <<[Ice Wolf], [Wolf Pup], [Wolf Pup], [Wolf Pup], [Wolf Pup], [Wolf Pup], [Wolf Pup] can be tamed.>> This was probably the same as what happened with the catkin girls. There was no need to activate the skill at all. All right, your pack will become my family starting today. Im your pack leader. Got it? After that declaration, the wolves came closer and, after rubbing their noses on her legs, all rolled over, showing their bellies. All right, gooood boys and girls, good, good The wolf pups tummies were even warmer than the alpha wolfs was. They were all so big that it took some time to get around to rubbing all their bellies, but Rare stood up satisfied. The wolves said (though not with words; they couldnt talk, after all) that they might be one pack, but they apparently werent all related by blood. A pack had gotten attacked in the past, and all the wolves had scattered; somehow, these pups all ended up next to the two larger ice wolves, who protected them until they were all able to escape safely. This species of wolf normally lived further north. They are ice wolves, after all, so that makes sense. I did wonder why they were in a place like this. That said, Rare still didnt know where this area was in the first place. Based on the air temperature and humidity, she assumed that the latitude wasnt very high, but that was all she could conclude. By the way, were planning to return to my base now. But first, do you mind if I take a peek at your den? Is there anything left in there? Sensing their permission, Rare decided to explore the cave. She had left her base in order to find some furs, but it felt like little by little her objectives kept changing in the wrong direction. Even though Rare just wanted to casually enjoy the game. Well, no worries. Plus, the alpha wolf was able to match up about evenly with the four catkin girls. Just like with Kerrys group, if all these wolves had been waiting in the cave together, they would have been a huge threat. It was possible that they together were also a composite unique boss. If this was a boss lair, then she might be able to obtain it as another home. If so, then she wanted to check the interior layout; if it was better, then she could move her home here instead. Fortunately, they hadnt left anything behind back at the other base. This cave was bigger than the other one. Rare only remembered this once she entered, but the entrance to the other cave was too narrow, so only the wolf pups could have gotten in. There had been no choice but to abandon the first base as soon as she tamed the alpha wolf. Aside from the difference in size, the layout was similar; after a short walk, a large cavern opened up, and it continued further in as well. This space was kind of gourd-shaped; there were two spherical chambers that were connected via a gentle slope in the middle, and there was a tunnel entrance high up in the rear wall. Unlike the other caves, this wasnt a crack or fissure, it was an unnatural, round opening. It appeared large enough for something human-sized to crawl through. Hm, wonder what that is The wolves had said that there was nothing left inside, but that probably wasnt true. She should assume there was another resident in the tunnel; it was just way too suspicious. But if she wanted to make this cave her new base, then she couldnt leave anything suspicious alone. There was no system message when she had entered the cave informing her of a new personal area, but if they got rid of the unknown resident, that might trigger it for her. Since she had absolutely no idea what defined a personal area, it was entirely possible that some other reason prevented her from making this her home. If that were the case, then shed just have to give up and figure out a way to expand the old base. I want to investigate that hole, but whats the best way We just gotta dive in, right? We got no idea if anythings there, so if someones gonna go, then well go take a look first. Vowf! Ah, wait, I hear something! Apparently, both the alpha wolf and Remy heard something. Everyone held their breath at the same time and stared up at the hole. No one moved at all; it was so still that her ears started buzzing. After some time, Rares ears also made out a faint noise. Like a clacking or clinking of some kind, as though someone were swinging a pickaxe into the ground over and over again. That uniform sound began to get closer and closer, louder and louderas soon as she thought Its here!, something black and shiny emerged from the hole. An ant. Its an ant! CH 12 The mysterious hole was actually a tunnel leading to an ant nest. The ant part was fine, but these things were freaking huge. The situation was probably that since this was the ice wolves den, they never used the tunnels on this side. The ants probably aimed to come when only the wolf pups were supposed to be here, based on their reconnaissance, and that just happened to be right now. Depending on the size of the nest, Rare would have thought they could easily trample over eight giant wolves with pure numbers, so there must be some reason they never did that. Monster ants Damn pain in the ass. What do we do, Boss? What do we do How should I know? Rare retorted mentally, though she was already formulating a plan in her head. Tame the ants. If they can be used as labor, then it would be easy to enlarge the cave. If these ants had the same kind of ecology as the kind she knew from real life, as soon as she tamed the queen ant theyd be victorious. In that case, theyd need to venture into the depths of the nest. Is there any way for us to get to the deepest part of the nest? Was what came out earlier a worker ant? If she had tamed it when it was here, then they could just tame their way through the nest. However, to do that, theyd need to make contact with an ant, since the one from before already left. Right now, the only way they had to access the nest was this tunnel, so the only option now was to take the plunge. Not only that, Rare herself had to go too. Its suicidal to charge into a place where only our movements are restricted That said, Rares skillset didnt contribute much in terms of direct offensive power. She was quite confident in her combat ability without relying on skills or stats, but that was still at best only useful against single, individual enemies. But when facing six-legged creatures that didnt even come up to her knees, it was hard to expect a proper one-on-one duel. In which case, whether or not Rare had freedom of movement didnt change much in terms of strategy. If it came down to it, leaning on her [Mental Magic] and going alone was probably the most logical option. Plus, if theres a big enough room in there, then I can [Summon] my followers to me. So then the next question was, were ants susceptible to [Mental Magic] or not? Would be nice if you dropped by again, Mister Ant Should I go catch one? Marion offered. If it was Marion, the smallest, compared to say Kerry, she should be able to move around a bit more easily, but still No, hold on a second. Considering everyones current fighting capability, their group was heavily skewed toward physical attacks. The ice wolves could technically use ice elemental attacks and [Ice Magic], but right now they couldnt even fit in the tunnel so it was a moot point. Which meant that this might be a good time to consider obtaining magic as a potential countermeasure. From the looks of them, physical attacks probably wouldnt be terribly effective on ants. Even if they didnt end up fighting these ants this time, there could be enemies where that was the case in the future. She originally wanted to have more numbers in order to stabilize their battles anyway; that being the case, having more diverse tactics available was also a high priority. With the ice wolves joining the party, they now had a total of 200 XP. Having to manage that between eleven individuals would be a nightmareit wasnt enough to do anything, basicallybut it was enough to invest all into one person. Additionally, if they just wanted to catch or lure one ant, with a little more planning, it wouldnt even be necessary to spend all of it. Marion, as you offered, Id like you to capture an ant. However, before that, Id like to show you how to use magic. Magic? Magic! Can I use magic too?! Have you seen someone use magic before? My papa back at the settlement could use magic. Knowing magic meant you got to wear nice clothes and eat until you were full. A beastkins base stats made them less suited to being mages, so a beastkin NPC that could naturally use magic was probably very rare. Depending on what element of magic they could use, they could have been a local celebrity in a mountain village. Since the girls settlement was very close to monster territory, it was quite likely that they had a mage as part of their defenses. Is that so? I eventually intend for all of you girls to learn some kind of magical ability, so first is you, Marion. The question is what kind of magic is suitable for you. Right now, she wanted to pick something that would be effective against the ants, but she wasnt sure which element that would be. Fire was the classic anti-insect element, but that only applied in reality. Not to mention its not as though insects were especially vulnerable; most living things died to fire, really. And since most things were vulnerable to it, it meant there were countless ways to utilize it effectively. Fire might be good, but it might not be a great idea to use in an enclosed space. We dont want to burn up all the oxygen. Rares first base had some kind of magical ventilation, but she didnt know if these tunnels had it too. On the other hand, oxygen deprivation could be a card to play. She wasnt sure how these ants were different from real ants, but considering they were insects, they should have a number of spiracles on their bodies. They still needed oxygen to function, so if the concentration of oxygen dropped, it could slow them down. However, if their caves did have magical ventilation, then it would be a wasted endeavor. Furthermore, their size was a concern. Compared to real ants, they should need more oxygen to function. That would be a normal conclusion to reach, but since this was a game world, maybe their bodies had some magical ability that let them operate normally with low levels of oxygen. And actually, to begin with, she wasnt even sure if magically created fire consumed oxygen at all. Now she was curious and wanted to investigate, but in order to prove it one way or the other shed need various lab equipment. Its really annoying to fight magical enemies I guess we gotta counter with magic ourselves. If fire was too hard to use, then what would the next best element be? Not that fire had been determined to be effective or anything. It was probably best to just forget about real ants for a second and go over known information. They didnt know much about these ants right now. First, they were about as large as typical house dogs. They were fast, but their movements didnt appear irregular in any way. Next, they were able to make a pretty clean circular hole in the wall of this cave, which was hard bedrock, so they were good at excavating. She had no proof that an ant was what created that tunnel originally, but she at least couldnt believe that it had occurred naturally. In which case, it would be better to presume it was within the capabilities of their foe. These were all the facts they had. They knew nothing that could lead to identifying a weakness. Ah, Boss. Maybe theyre not so good with wolves, dont you think? Rare had been mumbling to herself while thinking, so Riley offered her input. Indeed, as Kerry said, it wasnt just her [Enhanced Eyesight], she was sharp in many ways. Rare had also considered the possibility, but only spent a moment considering it before getting distracted. Running with the idea, what exactly did it mean to be not so good with wolves? Considering the current situation, its not like they couldnt carry them. If it wasnt the wolves that they didnt like, then maybe instead it had to do with magic. Considering their constitution, an ant wouldnt normally be able to win in a straight-up fight. If that were the reason, its not like she couldnt understand, but they should still be able to crush the wolves with numbers. In the real world, ants were able to protect themselves against small animals that were tens of times their size by banding together. And the ants in this world were gigantic. The wolves were larger as well, but not to the degree that the ants were. A group of giant ants should easily be able to protect themselves. That meant that there was another factor distorting the usual relationship between ants and normal animals in this case. For example, something unique to this world. A magical kind of factor. Ice wolves Could this mean the ants are weak to ice? CH 13 The ants must have seen the ice wolves use ice attacks while scouting or something. Ice wolves werent monsters native to this area. They had been ousted by a competing species, and this wolf pack ended up fleeing south. If the ants were indigenous to this area, it would be difficult to suddenly have to find a way to deal with an unknown species like ice wolves. Considering the climate, there probably werent any other monsters in this region that could use ice. Even so, the ants should still have the advantage by virtue of their overwhelming numbers, so maybe ants became weak when the temperature dropped. Well, insects in the real world were also weaker in low temperatures, but in this world, perhaps the ants didnt have any kind of magical defenses to cope with it. Or, maybe the ants were weak to ice for an entirely magical reason instead. Well, for now, lets just try it out and worry more later. At this point, there isnt anything left to consider. She would have Marion learn ice magic. First off was [Magical Affinity: Ice] and [Freeze]. She would like to get the [Ice Bullet] offensive spell as well, but the effect they needed right now was the ability to lower air temperature, not the ability to kill, particularly since their current goal was to capture an ant. Regular magic attacks dealt damage based on the INT stat. Marion was a beastkin, and her INT was also extremely low, so her magic wouldnt be very potent. But even before that, she didnt have the minimum required stats, so she wasnt even eligible to learn magic yet. So first, Rare needed to spend some XP on increasing Marions INT stat. She didnt want to run empty on XP, so she spent in moderation. Still, Marion now had as much INT as a newbie elf specializing in casting magic. Thinking of how she was already a prodigious ranger, now all she needed was offensive magic and she would probably be able to take out a player at first sight. Not that Rare had any plans at the moment to go PKing. Well, Marion? Now, you should understand the basics of [Ice Magic]. Oooh So cool I do I know how to use it too Is this your power, Boss? Thats right. Arent you glad? It wasnt technically Rares power, but rather a function of the game system, but it was true that Rare was the primary impetus. This goes for all of you as well: if you work properly for me, then I can give you magic, power, and more. Marion, this is my down payment on you, but youll work hard, right? Yeah. Ill go freeze the ants and catch em! Good girl. Well all wait for you here, so its up to you. Marion dove into the nest. All that was left was to wait and see what happened. As long as they werent too far away, Rare vaguely knew the status of her followers. If she judged that things had gotten too dangerous, she should be able to summon Marion back here. Until Marion returned, she should think about how to spend the remaining XP strengthening everyone else. It slipped her mind while thinking about teaching her magic, but since Marions INT went up, its possible that may have affected the NPCs cognitive ability as well. From the start, the catkin girls builds were oddly unbalanced, with only INT being low, so she was thinking it would be good to increase it for all of them. She didnt exactly dislike their crude language, but if they were going to go to town in the future, it would be better if they learned how to be more polite. She wasnt sure if their ability to study would also go up with INT, but it was worth trying. If it turned out it didnt work that way, then at least it wouldnt be wasted since it still let them learn magic later. If she were to use most of the rest of the XP, it would be on raising Kerry, Riley, and Remys INT. There wasnt enough to get them each as high as what Marion had now, but she could at least get theirs up to her own base INT. Players actual intelligence wasnt tied to the stat, so everyone having the same INT didnt annoy her or anything. That said, she only had 20 XP left, and since she might want to learn standard magic for her own use in the near future, maybe she would raise her own INT. Hers would then be higher. In and of itself, there was no ulterior reason for her to do this. But man, Marions really was high. But now she was out of XP. Not that she felt inferior, or really cared or anything. Boss, Marions coming back. Her ears having picked up on something, Remys report interrupted Rares mental monologue. Apparently, Marion was successful. But it sounds like an ants coming too. I can hear its footsteps. In other words, Marion was being pursued. She might be able to get away on her own, but there was no sense in taking needless risks. [Summon: Marion]. The ground before Rare glowed, and an instant later, Marion materialized within the light. She was holding a frost-covered ant. Ah, was that Bosss magic? Thank you for helping. Before Rare could explain, Marion had already guessed what had happened and expressed gratitude. Whether it was due to her increased INT or she was just that kind of person, it was wonderful that no explanation was needed. Although [Summon] was a skill, not magic, but that wasnt particularly important at the moment. Not at all. You appear to have completed your task. Good job. Now, you must be cold. Go ahead and just set it on the floor. The ant Marion was carrying wasnt completely frozen, nor was it dead; it was barely moving. She had maintained it in a perfectly incapacitated state. Remy, what happened to the ant that was chasing Marion? I think its panicking around where Marion disappeared. Probably because the thing it was chasing suddenly vanished Do you think itll come investigate all the way here? Im not sure Ah, it just left. Maybe its going back to report? Remy was also voicing her opinions now. It wasnt ideal for reports to be weighed down with prejudice or wishful thinking, but that was something she could warn them about over time. It was good that they were thinking for themselves and felt comfortable voicing their conclusions, though. If they had more XP leeway in the future, she wanted to increase the girls INT some more. It was possible that they had been so quiet before now because they were unable to comprehend the situations at the time. Anyway, first, lets thaw out this ant. It wouldve been nice if I had someone learn [Fire Magic] But since were out of XP, all we can do is wait for it to thaw out by itself Id prefer not to give the colony that much time, though Say, Boss. Yes, what is it, Kerry? You can test [Subordinate] on it whether its frozen or not, right? As long as its healthy, we got what we wanted, yeah? Holy smokes. Kerry was totally right. There was no doubt about it; this was because their INT went up. While Rare still had a higher INT stat, she had a feeling that Kerry was now smarter than her. Players intelligence werent tied to their statsthis was the opposite case playing out. Well, you know, it was a good thing, having smart subordinates. Just like with Remy earlier, though, shed have to teach them how to clearly differentiate between observations and opinions, but if that could be cleared up, it should result in an increase to their combat potential that couldnt be quantified with stat values. I see; a magnificent observation, Kerry. Its exactly as you say. Ill try it out right away. Rare cast [Stupefy] on the ant. It was hard to tell since it hadnt been moving much in the first place, but it should have been successful. Since she barely felt any resistance, she started to worry if she had actually activated it or not. [Mental Magic] spells werent flashy and didnt leave clear visual indicators of their effects, which was pretty inconvenient. Next shed use [Fear]. Normally she would follow up with [Charm], but since shed never used [Fear] before, she wanted to test it out. When she had used [Charm] on the ice wolf earlier, there was nearly no resistance, but right now with [Fear], she could feel quite a bit of it. It still ended up working, though. This might mean that ice wolves had less charm resistance than ants had fear resistance. It was true that she had a hard time imagining insects feeling fear. Another explanation was that Rare herself was simply better at using [Charm] than [Fear], but from a game system perspective, there shouldnt be any diff Ah, that reminds me, I did have that [Beauty] trait, didnt I The innate characteristic [Beauty] had the effect [Favorability with NPCs is increased], didnt it? Apparently it modified the success rate of [Charm]. Thinking it over, that shouldnt have been unexpected. Maybe being able to immediately tame the catkin girls after spending five hours with them was also in part due to its effects. In any case, [Fear] still got through. Now she just needed [Control] to work and then [Subordinate] should be guaranteed. [Control] good. Then [Subordinate] Huh? <<[Subordinate] cannot be activated. The target [Infantry Ant] has already been tamed.>> CH 14 This one error message gave me a ton of information! First, the name of the ant. It was an [Infantry Ant] monster, so like a foot soldier ant. Diving deeper into the name, these ants were probably social insect monsters, so if this one was an infantry unit, then it was probably being commanded by a higher unit. And that higher unit was probably the tamer, or at least thats how she was reading it. In all likelihood, it was the queen somewhere in the nest. The follower system seemed to be structured kind of like a company or a business. There was a boss at the top who received profit from those belowin this case XPand distributed that profit back down to the entire organization. Everyone cooperated as though they were all part of one whole. This also resembled how social animals like ants and bees functioned. Maybe the [Subordinate] skill was actually developed specifically for these kinds of social monsters. Just like how ice wolves had skills like [Claw] and [Bite], special skills that were unique to monsters race. Well, maybe players could get them if they had bear arms or something, like their bodies were reconstructed with monster parts, maybe then they could learn these monsters skills too. But for the most part, they were limited to monsters. If that were the case, then even if they had the [Subordinate] skill, if it really was created specifically for monsters, its possible they wouldnt have the prerequisite [Mental Magic] or [Summon] skills. Nah, that conclusions way too optimistic Maybe they didnt have them, but if they did, theyd be a real pain in the ass. The current Rare could probably resist an enemys [Mental Magic] since she maxed out her MND, but that wasnt the case for everyone else. Thankfully, both [Control] and [Fear] worked on the soldier ant, so if Rare went alone, that would minimize any collateral damage. Ill be going in by myself. [Control] seems to work, and even if I brought more people with me, only the person in front can fight anyway, Rare declared. But Boss, if the ants all try to attack you at once, theres no way you can [Control] all of them, right? No matter how you slice it, its too dangerous. You at least need to bring someone to guard you, Kerry argued. You should at least bring me. The cold makes them slow, so that would buy time for Boss to use magic, jumped in Marion. I think I should come too; my [Enhanced Hearing] lets me know what the antsre doing, Remy offered. The tunnels are dark, so I dont think my eyes will be very useful, but Well, its better to have more people to shield you, right? Riley threw out hopefully. In the end, all the humans would be going. The ice wolves couldnt possibly fit in the tunnel, so they would all be staying behind, watching the entrance to the nest to make sure the ants couldnt come take over the cave. The wolf pups could probably fit, but there was no point in taking them. Ah, before we leave, I should give you guys names, Rare commented. She had put it off before, but she needed to name the ice wolves. Without names, she couldnt [Summon] any specific wolves. All she could designate was ice wolf, but she wouldnt know which one would be summoned. Even though Kerry would be acting as her shield, if the tunnels opened into a larger area and the ants tried to crush them with numbers, there would be nothing they could do. If such a situation arose, being able to [Summon] an ice wolf could give them a huge advantage. First is you. Youll be [Hakuma]. And since youre a girl, [Ginka]. The kids will be, starting from you, [Mizore], [Arare], [Hyou], [Fubuki], [Kogome], then [Zarame]. The alpha wolf that Rare first used [Subordinate] on was now Hakuma. The other adult ice wolf was Ginka. Hakuma refers to a catastrophic snowstorm. Ginka is a name that originated from likening snow to a flower. For the pups, Mizore and Hyou were boys while Arare, Fubuki, Kogome, and Zarame were girls. After naming the wolves, the group entered the tunnel in the order of Kerry, Rare, Marion, Remy, and finally Riley. The tunnel was cramped and dark; the five of them had to crawl on their hands and knees, so progress was slow. The ground and walls were smooth for some reason. The best guess she had for the material was limestone. But again, it was hard to imagine these round tunnels forming naturally in a limestone cavern, so something must have made them. If it were any other rock tunnel, then Rare in her starting equipment would have completely torn up her palms and knees, so she should at least express her thanks to whatever that was. Even though it was smooth, crawling on the hard ground in reality would cause the skin on her knees to become calloused, which she would be afraid to risk since it would ruin her shapely legs. If something like that actually happened, she would surely be punished by her household. There were many things that she could only experience within the worlds of VR. Without encountering any ants, the cramped tunnels finally opened up into a space where they could just barely stand and walk. While a few dozen ants could fit here comfortably, this also allowed the group to get into formation. This is where I caught the lookout ant before. On the way back, other ants probably saw the lookout was gone and came after me. I see. I wonder why there isnt a lookout or anything here now, then? After that incident, it should have been clear that there were intruders. Are they holing up in a more defensible location? If they had never been attacked from this direction before, perhaps they were overreacting. That was understandable considering the intruders were probably associated with their archnemeses, the ice wolves. Its still pretty cramped, but looks like we dont have to crawl anymore. Lets just keep going. They formed a line in the same order as before and proceeded down the tunnel. Kerry was on guard, wielding her one-handed sword; Remy and Riley also unslung the bows from their backs. Before, Marion might have taken out some kind of weapon as well, but now she just watched her surroundings with empty hands. Maybe she could use some kind of item that helped her with magic. It might be faster to steal one from someone; they certainly didnt have the funds to buy one. They had to walk as quietly as possible so that Remys ears could track the ants locations. Ahead of us, I think theres lots of them. Even though theres so many, theyre not moving much, so maybe an ambush? Finally, there might be a battle. Rare kept her mind focused, ready to order Marion to let loose a chilling spell or to use [Charm] herself in a wide net. Without leading with the single-target [Stupefy], the success rate would decrease, but if there were a lot of enemies, rather than guaranteeing success one target at a time, she would prefer to try lowering their overall combat strength by using a low-success spell over a wide area. They came to a slightly more spacious room packed tightly with clamoring ants. There wasnt a central light source, so it vaguely appeared as though the floor was covered in a lumpy, shiny black mass. Rare wasnt particularly bad with insects, but that sight still made her feel an instinctive revulsion. However, if she considered that in some hours they would all be under her command, maybe it would seem rather dependable instead. She should probably refrain from counting her chickens before they hatched, though. The ants should have noticed that they were there, but they still hadnt moved; perhaps theyd received no orders. Maybe the queen or whoever had a plan in mind, but Rare didnt intend to wait to find out. [Charm]. Nearly all the ants turned at once to face Rare. They were the ones that failed to resist [Charm]. The ones all the back in the back were larger, and only about a third of those successfully resisted. It was way more effective than she predicted it would be. Marion, if you would. Yes, Boss. Marion took a step forward. Her [Freeze] filled the room, and since the vast majority of ants just stood there, unmoving, the few who had resisted [Charm] were helpless. [Freeze] wasnt a particularly powerful spell, but if its numerous targets couldnt move, then it was childs play to affect them all. Marions INT was quite high compared to a new players. If Rare considered the ants all players who had just started the game as well, even though it wasnt a combat spell, they shouldnt be able to resist Marions magic. The cave Rare first ended up in was home to a unique boss. Right outside the cave, there was another one. In that case, where were all the weak trash mobs for her early progression? In all likelihood, she believed they were these ants. Shortly thereafter, frost started to form on all the ants. The only things in this room that could still move were Rare and the catkin girls. Drat, I should have turned that boar skin from earlier into a coat. It had gotten quite cold in these tunnels. Plus theyd have to step on all these frozen ants in order to proceed, too. It wasnt so bad that she couldnt suck it up, but she had to be ready to expend a lot of stamina weathering the low temperatures. Well, I didnt originally plan to spend that much time on this little romp, so lets just hurry up and get this over with. They had left the captured ant with Hakuma and the wolves; when they departed, it didnt seem like it would thaw out any time soon. Maybe Marions INT was so high that they would remain in suspended animation until the freeze status was lifted. Or maybe the nests temperature was low from the start, making it take longer for things to thaw. As for the ants in this room, they probably wont be able to move for at least a few hours. This room had become much colder than the wolves lair as well. This battle concluded without issue. She might even say it went too smooth. Really, no one even executed a real attack at all. According to Remy, there was another room filled to the gills with ants up ahead. So then, before those ants came here as reinforcements, Rares group should go and repeat what they just did here to wipe them all out. If they acted quickly enough, it was possible the queen wouldnt know about what happened here yet. If they could make it to her before she realized their strategy, that would be perfect. All right, lets go. Be careful, but be swift. After that, they continued through a number of cramped rooms with low ceilings, each time using the same method to take out the ants there. Having seen more of the nest, Rare confirmed the layout of the tunnels and rooms was as she guessed. There were many branches, but she hit on the fact that the rooms serving more important functions were located as far away from the entrance as possible; that being the case, they wanted to keep delving down into the earth whenever they could. They had incapacitated a considerable number of ants. They had gone without stopping, and while it was completely one-sided between their combat strength and the overwhelming effectiveness of their spells, they had still earned a ton of XP. Each ant was only worth about 4 XP on average, but they had already accumulated 400. Nn Up ahead is different from the rooms before; there isnt a big group of ants, theres only one. Apparently they had completely wiped out the defense network. Unless they had arrived at the wrong room, like an egg room or food storage, it was the queens room. Guess she didnt have any royal guards or anything like that. All right. Time for the big finale. TL notes: Hakuma: ħ is literally white demon, but is also a term that refers to heavy snowfall Ginka: y for silver flower, as described in the chapter, its simply a poetic description of snow All the wolf pups were named in katakana, but given the theme, Im confident these are the correct kanji: Mizore: for sleet Arare: for hailstone Hyou: for hail Fubuki: ѩ for blizzard Kogome: from ѩ (kogomeyuki) for powder snow CH 15 The chamber they arrived at was about as big as all the previous ones, but the ceiling was much higher. And all the way in the back, there was a single ant, but far larger than any they had seen thus far. It had wings too. That must be the queen. Since she had wings, she must have only begun building this nest rather recently. Either that or it was just a feature of that type of ant. GICHIGICHIGICHI She was trying to say something or so Rare thought, but unfortunately she had no idea what it might want to say. Either way, she wouldnt give her opponent the initiative to attack. Since there was only a single enemy, she would start things off with [Stupefy]. [Stupefy]! Ohh, it worked. I thought shed be immune since shes a boss. All right then, [Charm]! Arg, so she can resist that! Given Rares build, she wanted to lead off with [Stupefy] for the debuff followed by [Charm], which would have its success rate increased by Stupefy. That didnt work, so maybe the queen had some kind of special resistance. Or because they were the same sex, the charm wasnt as effective. And because the queen resisted [Charm], she also recovered from the Stupefy debuff. [Mental Magic] was inextricably linked to its debuffs; if even a single spell was resisted, the chain would break and the targets mental state would return to normal. That was how this style of magic worked. Marion! Use [Freeze]! Everyone else, keep it in check from a distance! I need you to buy me a little time until my [Stupefy] cools down! Roger! [Freeze]! Having come back from being Stupefied, the queen tried to charge at Rare. Aiming at her initial movements, Remy and Riley let loose arrows that hit the queens front legs, causing her to fall to the ground. The Freeze spell had an immediate effect, so even though she quickly tried to stand back up, her movements were sluggishand she was immediately struck in the head by the sword that Kerry had thrown. The sword bounced off harmlessly with a metallic clang, but it did seem to stun the queen. In that time, Marions Freeze had lowered the temperature even more, causing the queens movements to slow even more. While she continued trying to get back up, Riley and Remi both threw their own melee weapons, trying to keep her down. Kerry then picked up someones thrown weapon and once again aimed at the queens head, this time attacking her directly. By that time, the queens body temperature had dropped low enough that she could barely throw a proper attack, but it was still one that Kerry couldnt avoid. All right, [Stupefy]! It worked, so this time, Ill try [Control]! This being the second successful [Stupefy], its effective duration was even shorter. Without [Charm] being chained first, its success rate wouldnt be as high, but Rare gambled on [Control] to end it. She could feel the queen putting up quite a bit of resistance, but in the end the Control went through, and the queens dull movements stopped completely. I hope I wont find out that even you were already tamed by someone else. Now, lets dive in. [Subordinate]. The queen wasnt moving even an inch, so it probably couldnt even perceive what was happening right beside it, but Rare could feel that the queen had completely surrendered to her. She could now see the queens stats. She could also see its race name: Vespoid Queen. Huh? You werent an ant? The name indicated that she was a vespinae. Rare thought she was an ant, but she was actually closer to a hornet. The soldier ants didnt immediately come under her controlshe could feel that there was a time lag before it would happenbut the queens followers did indirectly become her own underlings. <> <> <> As she had predicted, this was the same thing that had happened with the Mountain Cat Bandit Group. Queendom felt like it was on a scale too grand for what took place here, but like with the catkin girls, maybe this was a unique boss that was still maturing. There certainly were a lot of enemies, but nothing on the level of a nation. In any case, she could finally take a break. She would make this place her home base, which would free up the previous base. That would let another player find it and make it their home. It was close to a human country, but it was within monster territory, so she wasnt sure whether a human-race player or a monster-race player would end up claiming it. Ah, shoot. I wonder if theres a source of clean water here. Itll be hard to live here if theres no water nearby. The queen still couldnt move yet, but she was still able to convey her thoughts. According to the queen, while expanding the nest, the ants had apparently uncovered an underground lake. Rares first base was naturally connected to an underground lake, but here they had dug their way to one. The two bases werent very far away from each other, so perhaps the two lakes shared the same source. If possible, they should really survey this entire area before someone else claimed the other base as their home. Or actually, if we made a tunnel from here to the other base, would the two become recognized as a single home area? I wonder This matter required some investigation. Rare could feel excitement growing within her. In order to test it out, well need the ants to all heal back up. One day probably wouldnt be enough time I could summon Hakuma and the wolves to this room, but then they couldnt get back out. This place needs to undergo some serious renovation. Weve gotten tons of XP, though; I want to teach everyone some magic. Her current login session would soon hit twelve hours. She would soon receive a warning message if she didnt log out briefly. She would have wanted to use the boar pelt she had obtained, but it hadnt been tanned yet, so it was quite pungent; she could tell as soon as she took it out. Tanning required the [Leathercraft] skill, which should be able to do the deed even without the right chemicals through the power of magic. It would be useful to have someone learn it. I apologize for the abrupt announcement, but Im going to take a nap. When I wake up, well discuss our future activities. Aah, its fine if there isnt a place to sleep. Ill just lay down over there. See you later, then. They would need to work on making the base more comfortable, but it was also important to make do with what they had sometimes. After stopping the catkin girls from taking off their clothes to make a temporary bed for Rare, she quickly lay down to sleep and logged out. CH 16 First, gotta make a character. Having returned home from work, he booted up the VR apparatus in his room to let it warm up while he ate, bathed, and took care of other chores. This was the latest VR machine available on the market, so while it may not look the same, it had the same high specs as the machines used in healthcare. It cost many times the amount an average office worker took home each year, but he didnt have a job that took place in VR, he was required to go on-site to work, and that meant his earnings could easily afford the luxury. In other words, he was very well compensated. With the propagation of VR technology, people rarely needed to leave their homes, but there were still places that required staff to be there in person. Even though the healthcare industry was integrated with VR, patients still needed to go to healthcare facilities to be hospitalized and for things like surgery, so healthcare workers were needed there as well. He was one of those workers. Due to the nature of this work, compared to a more common occupation like office worker, he had to spend a lot more time commuting. Therefore, the time he could spend on his only hobby, video games, was very limited. Because of that, he spent all his pay on gaming peripherals and premium paid content. He had purchased this brand new VR apparatus just for the game he was about to log into and play. Since all information about the closed beta test was going to be completely hidden from the public, he had applied to the beta, got in, and spent what little time he had available enjoying the game. He had become so enamored by it that he decided to dip into his savings to pay for this VR apparatus. He was hoping it would arrive before the games official launch, and it got delivered just before the open beta was announced. He finished setting it up yesterday, and so it was all ready and waiting for him once he was done with work today. After creating a character with just about the same build that he had in the closed beta, he named his character [Wayne] and dove into the game world. Having chosen [Handsome] from the new innate characteristic system, he didnt have enough XP to get everything he wanted, but if he spent a few days grinding he was sure hed be able to get one or two spells. All right, let my otherworld adventure begin. An hour later, he finally found himself standing in a wide open prairie. Why does it take an entire hour to get through the tutorial? They should have let people who were in the closed beta skip it or something. The tutorial support AI kept going on and on about basically the outlook of the world and the games ambiance and whatever. Having played hard during the closed beta, he thought this all came way too late. The AI back then was already nearly perfect; he didnt feel any uneasiness about NPCs acting human. It was pointless for him to now be told that there was no difference between NPCs and PCs. Or I guess since the system cant tell the difference between PCs and NPCs, it has to treat everyone the same from the very start, I guess. There was a horror story posted online: During the closed beta, a player inappropriately touched a shopkeeper, thinking they were an NPC when they were actually a crafting-specialized player. After that incident, no player would sell that person any items for the rest of the closed beta. Switching gears, Wayne looked around at the prairie. He could vaguely make out a townscape far in the distance. Wayne had chosen one of the human countries, [Hiers], for his starting area. Hiers was a coastal country, but it had mountains and valleys as well. It thrived off its primary industries, farming in particular. It also had three large rivers running through it, which it used for transporting and distributing lumber and minerals. The countrys largest fishing harbor sat on one of these rivers, and it played a crucial role in exporting crops and other products. The abundant riverhead and plentiful firewood also allowed blacksmiths to flourish, so there really wasnt any industry that the country lacked. There werent any particularly wealthy residents, but neither was there extreme poverty. It was a stable country. Wayne picked this country partially for its stability, which meant it was quite safe, but also just because it was where he began back in the closed beta. It was a country that could easily support whatever activities a new player might want to pursue, making it good for beginners, meaning a lot of players started here. Wayne promptly took out a beginners one-handed sword from his inventory and fastened it to his waist. If he had learned [Shield] then he would have also received some kind of buckler, but in games like this it wasnt a good idea to start off burdening both hands at once. It was his style to choose only one thing to master at the beginning, anyway. Wayne had learned [One-Handed Sword], [Parry], and [Quick-Witted] for his starting skills, then put the rest of his points in STR and AGI. A stereotypical speed-based melee build. At some point he would learn some magic and aim to become something like a mage knight. To that end, he chose to be human for the balanced starting XP. According to the tutorial, until he got to the city, Wayne as he was now should be able to easily defeat any monsters he encountered. As a new character, he would set himself up in that city and just work on earning XP and money for now. As he got closer to the city, he spotted a forest on the other side of it. Probably monster territory. Due to monster territory being so close, he also saw a sturdy wall separating the two. Wayne wasnt familiar with this particular city, but a players starting location was chosen randomly, so that was just luck of the draw. If the country were poor or politically unstable, then it couldnt afford a wall, even to protect the city from monster territory. Or, the order to build a city wall wouldnt have come from the country itself. But Hiers wasnt like that. It would of course install a wall to defend against threats from monster territory; it would protect its borders as fervently as it did its capital. The forest was probably a good source of both XP and money. It was located in a beginner zone, after all. He didnt think thered be any particularly powerful monsters. Oops, its a Wild Rabbit. From its name and appearance, it really was just a wild hare, but hed take damage if he took it easy. He probably wouldnt die to it, but that mentality was also a form of hubris. With Waynes build and his own skill as a player, he could probably avoid getting hit even if he only had starting equipment. The wild rabbit all of a sudden flattened itself against the ground. [Parry]! He timed his [Parry] to intercept the wild rabbit that had leaped at him. The skill either defended against an attack and dealt counterattack damage, or repelled the attack and caused the opponent to stumble. If [Parry] were successful, the player repelled, but if it failed, the player only partially blocked. Here, the wild rabbits faltered, and it was completely open to an attack from the side. Yes! Take this! Wayne stabbed his one-handed sword at the wild rabbit over and over, defeating it. A results screen appeared and awarded him a small amount of XP. At this rate, I dont know when Ill be able to learn some magic. Guess I really should get to town, set myself up, then go check out that forest. Earning XP was always a time consuming activity. In all the old MMORPGs, endgame content was just characters at max level farming for newer and better equipment and items, and those games focused all their efforts on extending the game in that manner. However, people began to tire of that gameplay model and complained that it alienated newer, younger gamers. At that time, VR technology had begun to make huge leaps in advancement, so gaming entered an age of fully immersive VR. There had already been a period where gamers played games by actually moving their bodies, but the industry was looking for something new, in a different style from that. Then came the rise of games where the player wasnt expected to play for a long time after hitting max level, but instead the very act of hitting max level required an enormously long time. As it so happens sometimes, there was even a period where lots of games had players hit max level extremely quickly, but they died out simply because character progression was bland and uninteresting. With the advent of VR technology, games focusing on the journey of the character itself grew in popularity, and games that focused primarily on endgame content vanished. Influenced by that trend, todays hardcore gamers enjoyed very slowly taking tiny steps to earn experience points and level up their characters. Once I get to the city, the first thing Ill do is find an inn and rent out a room. Then Ill go to the sellsword guild and check if there are any quests in or around the forest After putting the wild rabbits carcass in his inventory, Wayne resumed his journey to the city. By the time he arrived, he had hunted several wild rabbits. CH 17 The city was walled, so guards were stationed at the gates. They were there to keep criminals out, of course, but the walls primary purpose was to defend against monsters, so entrance procedures werent very strict. For Wayne, or really for any players who didnt have any form of identification, they could enter as long as they didnt have any contraband in their possession. Players all had inventories, though, so they could get past that sole restriction with ease anyway. After asking the guards where to find a good inn, he began to make his way to that part of town. Now that he was inside the city, there shouldnt be any danger to his person, but he wanted to promptly update his respawn point. You generally respawned at the last place you logged in, so he was planning to log out quick at the inn. The inn recommended by the guard was pretty rundown, but unlike NPCs, he wouldnt actually be sleeping there, and his belongings were stored in his inventory so they couldnt be stolen. Inns were also designated as safe zones, where thievery and other kinds of hostile actions couldnt be initiated. Finally, he didnt want to waste any money on his first inn anyway. After checking in, he found his room furnished with a wooden bed, straw mattress, threadbare blankets, and nothing else; the very picture of a cheap hotel room. From the perspective of the guard, Wayne was wearing a cheap shirt and pants, and he had a dull short sword; he was the perfect example of a newly minted warrior. Since the guard assumed that he probably didnt have any money, it was with all the best intentions that he recommended this inn. And that assumption wasnt wrong at all. Since Wayne did want to save money if at all possible, he really was thankful. Log out for a second, then immediately log back in. He had three days off starting tomorrow, so there was no need to worry about real life. This next-gen VR apparatus was completely wireless, so he wouldnt even have to disconnect to eat or use the bathroom. That said, after spending three whole days playing, hed have to remember to do some light stretching and exercise before going in to work. As soon as he logged back in, Wayne immediately went to the sellsword guild to look for a quest. After getting directions from the innkeeper, he went down the main street to get there. He might be in the city, but he could still get into trouble if he ended up in the alleys or other less-frequented areas. In order to emerge unscathed from those kinds of encounters, hed need to be a bit stronger first. Knowing the way there, he wasnt in danger of getting lost. This being a city built at the border inside a wall, it required rather detailed blueprints, and its construction followed them to the letter. If he did get lost, he could just find his way back to the main street to regain his bearings. Since it was the middle of the day, the sellsword guild didnt have many sellswords at the moment. For normal businesses with daytime hours, most people would be working now. He headed to the counter to let them know hed be working out of this town for the foreseeable future. There wasnt any kind of registration. Sellswords were mostly outlaws, in the first place. They were prone to dying or deserting at the drop of a hat, so there was little value in overseeing their activities. Furthermore, rewards were all or nothing. If you didnt return successful, even if you worked yourself to death in the process, you wouldnt get paid. Ignoring the fact that players couldnt die. Next, Wayne asked about selling the wild rabbits he had killed on the road. The bodies could be sold as they were as materials, minus the fees for processing and commission. Normally, dead bodies would slowly degrade, so carrying them back like that would mean their price would drop like a rock. However, Wayne had stored them in his inventory, so they were still fresh. He pulled out five wild rabbit corpses and placed them on the counter. So yer a safeholder. Ya got a rare skill, ya do. The receptionist looked mildly surprised. NPCs rarely were born with a skill that they called a safe. It was essentially the same as the inventory that Wayne used. That meant that NPCs all recognized players as people with this skill. Though actually, its not so much a rare phenomenon as its just the number of players who can use inventory dwarf the number of NPCs who can. If the day came that he heard Ive been seeing a lot of folks like you recently, he was 100% sure that all those people would be other players. After getting paid for the wild rabbits, he immediately went to find the quest board and browse the requests. The sellsword guild posted all the requests it received there. However, requests that were taken off the board by mercenaries were voided. They just had to confirm the request, report its completion to the receptionist, and that was when the request would be taken down. Lucrative requests resulted in lots of competition, but there was no way to know if someone else was out there working on any given request. Thats why it was important to check the board before anyone else, and to complete requests before anyone else did. It wasnt rare for someone to spend a day working, then come back to find that someone else had already completed a request they had tried to do. Unless it was a wholly unique job, it was best to find another, similar request that you could switch to if necessary. This being how requests worked, the clients also had to carefully consider how to designate the rewards. If the reward was high, it would naturally get completed quickly, but splitting the reward into multiple requests could also result in immediate results. However, if the ensuing reward ended up too low, then the commission fee could scare people away from taking it. It was hard to find the right balance. There was even a demand for specialized reward brokers. Wayne wanted to find low-reward requests. Ones that had been posted some time ago. Those kinds of requests were unlikely to be undertaken by others. Apparently, requests that necessitated going near the forest were not very popular. How convenient. After leaving the sellsword guild, Wayne immediately set off for the forest. The guards warned him on the way out that the edge of monster territory was somewhere in the forest. Making up a random excuse to leave the city anyway, Wayne entered the forest. Even if monster territory began in the forest, it should just be a regular forest up until that point. The forest was dense and overgrown with trees, to the point that it was dim and gloomy in the middle of the day. He could only see his own footprints in the dirt, so he questioned whether the locals ever came here. While he wasnt exactly used to walking in forests, he did have some experience, so he was somehow able to work on his quests. Making it through the forest was a lot more trouble than Wayne had been imagining. He didnt think he would be able to get by with the equipment he had now. He needed a hatchet to clear the brush and vines, and he needed clothes that covered up more skin. His starting equipment would quickly fall apart at this rate. Having concluded that delving any deeper would be equivalent to suicide, Wayne decided to head back to the city for now. He couldnt finish any quests, but it should be fine to put them on hold for now. Until he saved up more money, he would return to that prairie to hunt more rabbits, and if possible, look for quests that could be done there as well. In the end, Wayne went back to the starting prairie and hunted another ten or so wild rabbits that day. CH 18 Im trying something new, so I want to look completely different from the usual me. It was finally time for the open beta test of this highly anticipated game. Normally she wouldnt be interested, but because she unexpectedly had a huge block of free time, she thought shed try her hand at VR gaming, which she had always disliked for no real reason. This VR apparatus was normally reserved for healthcare purposes, but it could also be used for other things; she thought she might as well see how it worked for gaming, another reason to do it. She had heard that this game was revolutionary compared to all the VR games that had come before it. The game truly brings you to another world, or so all the famous celebrities claimed. If she could really live in another world, then she wanted to see how a life completely different from the one she had led up until now played out. With that thought in mind, she declined to let the avatar be generated from a full scan of her body and dove right into the character creator. Skeleton I wonder how thatll look. Maybe itll be cute. Ill pick that as my race Whoa, its really just all bones! Whered all the meat go?![2] For someone like her, who didnt game, she didnt really have a concrete concept of how skeleton would work as a race in a game. She didnt think it would literally be just a skeleton. However, this was a rare chance to try something new. She may not have realized it at the start, but now it was the race that she had chosen. It might have felt a little too foreign at first, but as far as different from the usual her went, nothing could be more different than this. All right! Ill be a skeleton! After picking a race, next was configuring skills. That said, she had no idea what skills were good in games. I wonder what skills would be good for a skeleton Ive got no clue Ah, itd be cool to be able to use magic. Lets learn some. Since I have no idea whats good, Ill just pick whatever sounds neat instead. She went to the trees for [Fire Magic], [Water Magic], [Wind Magic], [Earth Magic], [Ice Magic], and [Lightning Magic], and learned one skill from each. I still have some XP left Ah, since Im a skeleton, I got an extra 100 XP! Cool beans~. All right, lets use the rest on my stats. Magic probably gets better with this INT one? Then Ill just use it all on INT, since its my leftover XP anyway. And so, she finished creating her character. My name will be Lets go with [Blanc]! Ive got beautiful white skin after all. Cuz its really just bones. Next, Blanc chose to start in a cave in monster territory, then logged in. After sitting through the tutorial, Blanc spawned in a dark, wet cave surrounded by natural stone walls. Dark was a bit of an understatement, though, since there was absolutely no light, making it pitch black. For Blanc, though, it really was only dark due to the effect of her [Skeleton] race special ability [Night Vision]. According to the tutorial support AI, apparently new players would spawn somewhere with enemies that they could defeat. Blanc decided to first find the entrance to the cave. However, since she had no idea where it could be, she just picked a random direction and started walking. Having never been in a natural cave before, neither in real life nor in VR, she kept tripping on various objects. After several minutes of walking, the road split: on one side, the cave continued as normal; on the other, it turned into a passage, or more like a tunnel, that was so small that shed need to crawl on her hands and knees to keep going. However, the tunnel looked smooth and slippery, like it was clearly trying to say that it led somewhere. After pondering for a moment, Blanc chose the suspicious tunnel. This was her first game, after all. She wanted to make choices that she absolutely never would under normal circumstances. The floor of the tunnel was smooth as well, so crawling on it didnt hurt. However, she should feel some pain simply from crawling while supporting her own body weight. Her knees and palms should have turned completely red as well. Fortunately, she currently had a body of bones; she felt lighter than she normally was, had no skin that could be harmed, and had no muscles to get sore. Blanc patted herself on the back for being insightful enough to choose to be a skeleton as she continued clattering down the tunnel. The cramped tunnel finally ended, and she found herself in a place that was just barely high enough to walk. I seem to have reached some kind of room There was an ant here. But it was about the size of a Shiba Inu. Eee And it wasnt alone. Three ants turned toward Blanc and began to approach her, their antennae constantly flicking around. They would normally have just been black silhouettes in the darkness, but with her Night Vision, Blanc could see them looking right at her. She recognized something about them; she had seen something similar before in the VR library, in the pages of an illustrated reference book depicting insects from the far past: the face of a hornet. GYAAAAAAAAAH!!! Blanc screamed reflexively. The ants interpreted the screaming as hostile and rushed to attack her. Ah, fuck! This aint no time for screaming! Monsters! I-I need to attack, um, magic The ants were fast, but not so fast that Blanc wouldnt be able to react in time. As long as she calmed down, she should be able to cast her magic. However, the ants got to her first since Blanc wasted too much time calming herself down. While she was going over how to cast magic in her head, the ants were already chomping at her legs. Waaah, the ants are eating me! The ants mercilessly crunched on Blancs leg bones. The dog-sized ants had large pincers, while her boney legs were quite skinny. They vigorously broke off one of her legs and chewed on it in their mouths. The games default settings filtered out most of the pain, but seeing her own leg being held aloft in the jaws of giant ants was a brand new, horrifying experience. And even if there was barely any pain, the sensation of having her bones being attacked directly was unforgettable on a primal level. Ohshitohshitstopitstopit! Blanc tried to somehow kick off the ants, but since she was all bone, her kicks didnt have much effect; the ants jaws actually dug further into her leg, causing her even more damage. After she kicked again, a different ant clamped onto her remaining leg, causing her to fall over. Agh! Eh? As though waiting for Blancs head to drop down, the last ant pointed its butt at her curled-up body. Or wait, since this was an insect, it wasnt its butt, but rather its abdomen? Hol Wai The ant sprayed a foul-smelling liquid from the stinger at the end of its abdomen connected to its poison sac, and it splashed all over Blancs upper half. Her body began letting off unhealthy-looking streams of smoke as it dissolved. Ugeh Blancs field of vision faded to black. In the total darkness, the only thing she could see was a message accompanied by what looked like a timer steadily counting down. <> Ah, so I died But for real, having my legs bitten off and getting sprayed in the face with acid is way too hardcore! Why the hell does it feel so realistic?! It didnt really hurt, but still This could really fuck someone up in the head! Wow, this game is haaard Youve gotta be good to play this. Or maybe I just really suck. But well, it might be gross, but its not like super painful or hard or anything; if I think of it like paying for my own mistakes, then I guess I just gotta get over it She had gotten confused when the first other living thing she encountered in the gamesetting aside the question of whether a skeleton was livingwas suddenly so hostile to her. Now that she could consider things rationally, though, she just felt frustrated, thinking to herself I should have done this at that point or I shouldve been more like that. All right, if I wait and revive here, the ants will probably attack me again, so respawn? That way Id return to where I first started. Ah, I wonder if theres some kind of penalty for dying. Before she respawned, she should check out the Help for details on the death penalty. Looks like if you die and the system determines that you need to be respawned, you lose 10% of your XP. Thats harsh! Ah, but if your total XP is low enough, then there is no penalty. Lets see, the max amount with no penalty is 200 XP Skeletons are right on the line, huh. If goblins die once, then theyll end up weaker than they started. Ew. Monster races took on demerits to start with more XP, but youd lose all that if you messed up even once. Pretty crazy. I guess skeletons really are the best. So Ill just respawn there. After a moment of dizziness, Blanc was once more standing in the cave where she first woke up. This time Ill be more careful or rather, this time I wont go into that tunnel. I bet Im not supposed to go that way until I get stronger, yep. TL notes: Hoo boy. Japanese puns. [1]: Stereotypical L/R joke that only makes sense in Japanese. The characters name is ֥, which can be read as Bran or Blan. The title of the chapter is clearly a riff on Brand New Game, but the naming joke is because she went with Blanc, as in French for white, which is why she jokes about having white skin. [2]: Ȥ󡭡äƤʤʤ󤫤襤푤NϤǡäƹǤ󣡡ˤƤ̤Ǥ磡 Literally: Sukeruton (skeleton) I wonder what that is. It sounds kinda cute. Ill pick that as my race Wait, its just bones! Even if its supposed to be see-through (sukeru/͸), this is a bridge too far! It would have been hard to think of a joke revolving around misreading skeleton without making her sound incredibly stupid or like illiterate, and I didnt want to go back and change the race name for the sake of this one joke, so I just avoided it altogether and relegated the explanation to TL notes! CH 19 Before Blanc went back out into the cavern, she wanted to make sure she knew how to cast magic. She wanted to be ready to fire some off at a moments notice, so she would be a lot more cautious while walking around this time. She couldnt tell the difference between the walls, so she just picked one and followed it. Blanc wanted to go in the opposite direction from the first time, but all she did was go in the opposite direction of where she was looking when she respawned, so she didnt actually know if this was the way she really wanted to go or not. She progressed a lot more slowly, taking much more time than before. When she finally hit a fork in the road The tunnel from before Ah, wait, last time the tunnel was on the left, but this time its on the right If she had accidentally ended up going the same way as last time, then the tunnel should be on the same side as it was before. But if she had gone in the opposite direction, and the tunnel was on the opposite side, that would mean that based on the way she was facing now, the ant colony should be on the right half of the cave. So I should keep going into the left half. Doing her best not to look into the side tunnel, Blanc chose the left fork. But as soon as she got close to the tunnel, a familiar foul smell tickled her nose. Ah. Acid poured over her from the side. She lost all feeling in her body, and, unable to stay standing, she clattered down into a sitting position. Even more acid rained down on her head, and Blancs vision went dark. <> For real? Even though she did her best to avoid the ant nest, if she were to encounter an ant, she had been prepared to blast it instantly. She never imagined that she could die immediately from a surprise attack, though. Those ants are really bloodthirsty, huh Now that it had come to this, she should just aggressively dive into their nest and kill them all, otherwise shed never get out of here. Having made that determination, Blanc psyched herself up as she accepted the system respawn. Huh? There was an ant right in front of her. A monster was suddenly at her original spawn point. Apparently that could happen. However, Blanc was done being caught off guard. She instantly switched gears and cast her first magic spell. Its just an ant! All right, [Flare Arrow]! Right after she shouted the activation keyword, an arrow made of fire materialized right before her eyes and flew straight at the ant she targeted. The arrow pierced through the ants head, then conflagrated its entire body. Once the fire burned itself out, only the ants abdomen remained. Magic is hella awesome I burned one of those super strong ants to cinders with just one attack The ashes smelled kind of weird, but Blanc approached them to survey the remains. I thought there would be uh drops? or whatever, monster materials, but maybe that spell was overkill But wow, this smell. Its the same as the smell as from grilling dried squid. Man, there might be no pain in this game, but it sure just shits out trauma For the time being, Blanc decided to just store the ants abdomen in her inventory. The acid that had melted her twice should be in that part. No reason to throw it away if it could turn out to be useful later. In any case, she discovered an effective method of fighting ants. Shoot [Flare Arrows] from outside the range of their acid. As long as she had MP, it should work. Kill them before they kill me was the attitude she adopted. The current question was where to go from here. No matter which way she went, the ant nest would be connected. Although since she did plan to actually kill all the ants, then it didnt matter which way she picked. Blanc decided to stop worrying too much about it. She just picked a direction randomly and started walking. Before long, she spotted a tunnel to the left. She approached it cautiously, then nervously peeked inside. There were no ants. So now, Blanc was conflicted. Since the coast was clear right now, she wanted to keep going. But these bastards had already killed her twice. She wasnt sure if she should just let that pass. When she had respawned the second time, she thought about proactively going into the tunnel and wiping them all out. If instead she ignored them and continued on, she couldnt be sure that she wouldnt run into the nest again later. She might even start jumping at shadows. Blanc decided to take the tunnel. The same one as the first time, except this time she would be on her guard while she crawled. She should be coming up on a chamber soon. She was thinking about what magic she should use when she saw a bunch of ants waiting at the entrance to the room. Ah, crap Her only option was to retreat. However, she couldnt turn around in this cramped tunnel. As she kept her eyes on the ants in front of her, she slowly began to crawl backward. Clonk. Her bony rear hit something hard. She gingerly turned her neck to look behind her. What her butt had hit was an ants head. Well obviously! What else could it have been?! <> <> It was an ambush. So they could do that too. Now that she thought about it, the AI person from the tutorial did say something about the system seeing players, NPCs, and monsters as the same. The monster AI was probably learning and developing countermeasures. She was dying in the same general area over and over, so they came up with strategies to deal with that. She should probably just forget about the tunnel. In the first place, when she respawned the first time, she did consider that it was an area that required her to be stronger to go in. That was what she had originally thought, unrelated to the ants. Obviously, if she encountered any anyway, that was another story. She had to kill or be killed. How many times had she accepted the respawn now? And of course, an ant was already waiting there right before her eyes. I knew this would happen! [Flare Arrow]! However, that wasnt the only ant here. I thought this might happen! [Flare Arrow]! Huh?! I cant cast it! Why not?! Ah, theres a cooldown. <> <> Uuuuugh Isnt this game just way too hard? What am I supposed to do? This time, Blanc decided not to respawn right away and started looking into how to cast magic spells in succession. She needed to wait an hour to respawn anyway, so it should be fine to do some research in the meantime. Blanc opened up the games official social networking site. It had a bulletin board system, which was pretty rare these days. She didnt know what the term meant, though. Probably a board where things were bulletined or something. She looked for threads on the bulletin board that were about magic. Some were started by players who did a lot of testing, and those threads got a lot of replies. She searched for ones that explained continuous casting. According to a player who went by the weird moniker nameless elf, you cant use the same spell multiple times in a row, but you can cast a different spell right away. However, if you do, the first spells cooldown will be paused until the second spell has cooled down. In other words, if you cast a [Flare Arrow] followed by [Ice Bullet], where each spell had a cooldown of five seconds, [Flare Arrow] couldnt be used again until ten seconds after the original [Flare Arrow] had been cast, it seemed. How confusing. But well, I guess I get it. Since I learned six different kinds of magic, that means I could cast up to six spells in a row. Some of her spells trees didnt include any offensive magic, but she was still capable of an attack barrage of five. She was starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel now. If she coordinated her cooldowns correctly, and she tried to fight a group of ants while running away, she probably wouldnt die immediately. Even if this plan didnt work, she had already lost the XP for killing the one ant to the death penalty. She had nothing left to lose. All riiight! Ill give it a try! A penta-cast! She was psyching herself up out loud, but in her head she was still calmly working out the order for casting each spell and the timing and such while preparing to accept the respawn. <> Huh? Eh? Blanc had been staring at the word respawn for so long that she started to experience Gestaltzerfall. Once she could see again, she looked around but didnt recognize the area. It was certainly some kind of cave, but it was much more spacious than the place where she had been respawning all this time. Where is this? She didnt actually know where the first cave was anyway, but she did at least recognize that this was a different cave. She could tell the color of the rock face was different, among other things. Or more like, how did my spawn point end up in someone elses area? CH 20 Before just now, she should have been able to respawn without problem. There had been ants everywhere, though, so she wasnt actually respawning completely problem-free. But still, now its someones private area so I cant respawn anymore. I had only been looking at the message board for like twenty minutes, and in that time, someone did they buy a whole plot of land, including that cave? Or like, can you buy land? Once I get better at this game, I totally want to buy a house for me to rest my bones. But that first cave should have had a ton of ants in it. Can you buy land even when theres still monsters there? If so, then as long as you had enough money, you could beat all those monsters without fighting. If you had the budget of a country at your disposal, then you could just buy up all the land in order to get rid of monster territory. However, the human countries and the monster territories were constantly fighting for land. Normally youd think that if someone were already there, then you cant just become the owner of that area. That means that in the however long I was dead, someone was able to kill off all the ants? Was something like that even possible? Even if there were players who had started the instant the game became available, the game had only been out for about half a day. She didnt think anyone could possibly get strong enough to farm those super-strong ants in such a short amount of time. Ahh, I get it. There might be people whove been living in this world all along who are that strong. I just assumed it was a player, but I guess NPCs can also have personal areas. Or like, if NPCs can do it, then monsters should be able to do it too; maybe the ants themselves were the ones who had owned the place first. If they were like regular ants, then it wouldnt be strange for there to be a queen ant. The ants could have been in the process of taking control of the cave at the queens orders. Blanc could have been an intruder that happened to suddenly appear out of nowhere. Then, while she was dead, their extermination force could have eliminated all other remaining enemies, turning the cave into the ants territory and thus rendering Blanc unable to spawn. That seems like the most likely explanation. But this happened while I was trying to accept the rez, meaning my corpse should have been there. I wonder what would happen if someone rezzed me after the ants had taken control of the zone Blanc tried to look it up in the Help documentation, but she couldnt figure out which section might have the answer. The Help consoles suggested questions spanned too many different categories, and her vague search terms werent enough to lead her to an appropriate Help topic. Lets just try conditions for resurrection first. Go. The conditions to resurrect were: Im curious about the third and fourth conditions She wasnt sure if there was more than 50% of her corpse remaining. Blanc couldnt remember which attack ended up being the fatal one, but since she died almost instantly, she doubted it had been a biting attack. If it was acid, then depending on how many ants had done the deed, it was possible for less than half of her body to be left after a number of seconds had passed. She didnt know how to tell if an area didnt allow resurrection, but it was possible that after the ants conquered the cave, it turned into a no-rez area. Blanc had killed two ants, though, and she was pretty sure they couldnt respawn without limit. However, the zone declaration only specified resurrections, so enemy respawns were probably unaffected. But then yeah, over half of Blancs corpse was missing, so the system identification should have updated the classification from Blancs Corpse to Blancs Drops. The system message said One hour until automatic resurrection, but if someone tried to rez her, theyd probably get some kind of error. It was possible for her to receive a rez, but she wasnt necessarily eligible to be rezzed. Since Blanc didnt leave any items behind, the ants conquest conditions were met, and the cleared cave became their territory. Something like that probably happened Dammit, I swear Ill go clean out that ant nest once I get stronger. That said, she had no idea how far away her current cave was from the ant nest. Before she powered up, she needed to get the basics of the game down first. Lacking that foundation was one of the reasons she kept dying to ants, you could say. Blancs only weapon was magic. She thought that using [Fire Magic] on the ants had been overkill, and maybe early enemies had a weakness that let her take them down in one attack. But she had to avoid letting her guard down. She couldnt forget this lesson she had learned from the ants. Ive already gotten in the habit, so I should be ready to instantly cast [Flare Arrow]. All right then, first it was ants, whats next? Regaining her focus, Blanc started cautiously exploring this cave. It was more expansive and well-lit than the ants nest. Just like before, though, her Night Vision was doing a lot of work, so it was probably actually rather dark. If I conquer this place, I wonder if I can make it my own base? Its nice and bright here, so itd be neat if I could. Her current goal was to take over this cave. As long as there were no other players competing for it, it shouldnt be impossible for her. Also, as long as the monsters werent ants. As Blanc walked through the cave, the decor suddenly changed. In particular, the walls changed from bare, natural rock face to something man-made. Looking at it, the stone structure seemed very old, since it was full of holes and gaps and covered in moss here and there. This feels like some kind of ruin. Im glad its not another ant nest, but I wonder what kind of animals live in ruins. Even though this was a starting area, its not like the possible enemies were limited only to wild animals, but the ants left such a strong impression that Blanc could now only imagine monsters based on real animals. Plus she got freaked out, screamed at them, couldnt react in time, and ended up dead. She felt so immature. Ah, somethings here Uwah! Bodies?! Are these zombies?! Gyah! Gross! Stop making me fight shit that bites!!! <> CH 21 After taking care of some chores, she logged back in. She opened her characters eyes and saw the exact same scene before her that she had seen when she had logged out. She had been logged off for about an hour. The queen was still covered in ice; the surface of her body looked very slightly wet, but that was probably due to condensation rather than from the ice starting to melt. The queens status was currently listed as [Frozen]. Youre already up, Boss. You all right with that short a nap? Hello, Kerry. Yes, I do not need all that much sleep. But sometimes I do sleep for much longer. There might be times where she has something suddenly come up and cannot log in. She couldnt think of anything specific that might come up at the moment, though. Rare asked if anything had happened while she was asleep. Apparently, Remy had gone back to check on Hakuma and the rest of the wolves. She was on her way back here now. The wolves were just resting back in the cave. In other words, in the last hour, her followers still had new experiences, and not only that, while their master was logged out, they could still act freely according to their own judgment. Thinking about it, while the player was logged out, their character was left behind sleeping. It wouldnt really make sense for the followers to disappear. Followers were also living residents of this world. In which case, while the player was logged out, maybe it was possible for the followers to go grinding for XP. Inconceivablewas this a way to officially bot? If it was, it would probably get patched immediately. Shed just have to try it out. She didnt particularly want to exploit the game or anything. If there were legitimate means to accomplish that within the game, though, then it was simply another way to enjoy the game. She had no malicious intentions. Kerry, sorry to ask so suddenly, but please go out to the forest and find anything really, a small animal, and hunt it for me. Im going to doze again for a little bit. Ill try to wake up after about the same amount of time, so just stand by after that in the cave until I do. Sure thing, Boss. Is it all right if I bring the others with me? Yes, of course. I dont mind if you ask Hakuma and the other wolves to accompany you either. You can hunt whatever you like, but if youre going with Hakuma, then you can aim for bigger prey. Just dont bite off more than you can chew. In that case, if Hakuma can come, maybe well go for something around the same size as that boar we killed. Ill leave it to you. Oh, one moment. I want to speak to Remy. What is it, Boss? Ahh, Remy. I have another job Id like you to do. Rare brought up Remys skill screen and had her learn [Leathercraft]s [Tanning] skill. She then took out the boar hide from her inventory and laid it out before Remy. I think you understand already, but youve learned the [Leathercraft] skill, Remy. You should now know how best to treat this hide, yes? Aah Yes, Boss. I got it. I have to Good. Do you need any tools? Itd be nice if I had some but I can do it without any, probably. She could even tan it without any special tools; how conveniently magical these skills were. Well then, while Im sleeping, please go ahead and take care of that. Its fine if youre not done by the time I wake up, its more important to do it correctly. Can you do that? Yes, Boss. Well then, I shall once again go to sleep, for about the same amount of time as before. All right then, Kerry, Remy, Ill leave it to you. Okay. Yeah, I got it, Boss. An hour later, Rare logged in again. Welcome back, Boss. It was Remy. There was a beautiful boar rug laid out on the ground. Hello, Remy. I take it that you finished tanning the hide? Yes, Boss. It took a lot less time than I thought it would, so I was watching Boss sleep. Oh, how embarrassing Did I do anything strange? You breathe real quiet. Oh, and your eyelashes are really long. It really seemed like Remy just watched her sleep. However, if an NPC had been staring at her and didnt notice anything off, then it really was true that the players character just slept the entire time. This was an unexpected finding. Kerrys group is still out? Yeah. Should I go check? No, its fine. Im sure theyre on their way back. In the meantime It was about time she gave the queen a name. Along with that, Rare would teach Remy [Fire Magic] so that the queen could be melted. It seemed the person herselfthe ant herself was just patiently waiting as she melted, but while Rare did start to feel bad about her frozen state, in truth she was just getting sick of how cold the room was. Queen, your name is [Sugaru]. The queen couldnt move, but Rare could tell that she had accepted the name. A sugaru is not an ant or a hornet, but the Japanese word for the red-banded sand wasp, which also goes by the name jigabachi. However, jigabachi was also an old term for women with attractively thin waists. It seemed like a fitting moniker for a queen. Rare herself used to affectionately be called wasp girl by her grandparents; she wasnt sure how old they had to have been to use that term. You really shouldnt give children pet names based on trivia thats so far removed from current modern sensibilities. Next, she acquired [Fire Magic] for Remy. Remy, this is your reward for your leatherwork. This is magic? I get to use it too You did a wonderful job, Remy. Now, theres no need to wait, why dont you try it out right away? Rare took hold of Remys hand and brought her before Sugaru. Here, if you use [Heat], you can melt Sugaru from her Frozen state. Be gentle with it at first. Since she also gave Remy [Magical Affinity: Fire] at the same time, Remy probably wouldnt mess up, but Rare still cautioned her to be careful. Remy timidly began to cast [Heat] on Sugaru. If everything went well, all the other ants in the room could be freed in order as well. Even if they had to wait for Remys MP to regenerate, it would be faster than letting them melt naturally. Ah, Boss. Looks like Kerry and the others are back. Even while casting [Heat], Remy was still able to make use of her exceptional hearing. Since it was probably way too far away to hear normal sounds at the cave entrance from here, Kerry had probably shouted that she was back or something. Please continue to take care of Sugaru like that, Remy. I will go greet the others. Rare made her way out to the main cave by crawling on her hands and knees through the tight tunnels. There, Kerry and the other girls were butchering their catch. It looked like some kind of tanuki. Probably. This thing sure is large. The tanuki was about the same size as that boar from before. Considering how dense the trees grew in this forest, she wondered how all these giant beasts lived here. This was a very large forest, though, so maybe in the deeper parts, the trees werent as close together and huge animals could live comfortably. Perhaps only the outer edges of the forest were dense. Although youd normally think itd be the opposite. Were back, Boss. Whaddaya think? Big, right? Yes, its amazing. Where did you find it? Somewhere far? Rare wanted to estimate the rough distance from the response. It probably wasnt too far away. Nah, we brought it down pretty close to here, actually. We couldnt really find anything good to hunt. When we finally found something, I guess we ended up chasing it all the way here. We just finished it off a bit ago We took too long, didnt we Kerry finished apologetically. Rare lifted a hand and waved it in a dont worry about it! kind of way as she pulled up everyones skill windows. The reason she guessed that they mustve killed it near here was because of this screen. When she had logged back in, it was very clear that nothing was earned from tanning the boar hide since she had the same amount of XP as when she had logged out. However, when she opened the skill window to teach Remy [Fire Magic], she had suddenly gained more XP. That was probably the moment that Kerrys group had killed the tanuki. This incident had established that when a player logged out, their followers could act independently afterward, and they could receive and follow orders beforehand. While they could accomplish tasks during this time, no XP would be earned for it. In all likelihood, as soon as they became followers, they lost the ability to earn XP for themselves. Instead, they receive XP from their leader, and their feats become the leaders feats. As a result, when the leader, the XP receptacle, is logged out, no one can earn XP during that time. Her dreams of officially sanctioned botting had been splendidly crushed. Well, not that she was expecting it to work in the first place. However, as far as farming money goes, that should still work. In fact, both Remy and Kerrys group had produced something of monetary value. Not only that, if she gave them tasks that would require time to complete while logged out, then later logged in with the right timing, it was even possible to level up while sleeping. Not that levels existed. However, to actually make such a system effective, she would need to do a lot of testing regarding exactly what kind of orders she gave and how long theyd take to complete. And while doing all that, it would be best to determine the most efficient ways to earn money and XP. Now that she had so many followers, Rare needed to earn huge amounts of XP. It wasnt something that absolutely needed to be done at any cost, but she did want to be as efficient as possible. Kerry, the feat of hunting this tanuki deserves a reward. I saw the hide that Remy tanned earlier, and it was wonderfully done. So, Remy has already been rewarded, but now all of you will also be granted the gift of magic. Rare had Kerry learn the [Lightning Magic], [Magical Affinity: Lightning], and [Thunderbolt] skills, then she had Riley learn the [Water Magic], [Magical Affinity: Water], [Wash], and [Water Shot] skills. Ooh Its finally my turn to get magic B-Boss, you gave me three spells, are you sure about that?! Ah, well, one of them was [Wash] after all I didnt want you to think to yourself Thats it? Here, Marion, you as well. She next had Marion learn [Ice Bullet]. Now she just had to find a reason to have Remy learn [Flare Arrow], and all of them would have some kind of offensive magic spell at their disposal. Thank you, Boss! With this, next time I fight the ant queen, I can beat her by myself maybe? Sugaru was still quite a bit stronger than Marion, but if she got a preemptive attack off, she might have a chance. Right now, Sugaru didnt have any long-range attacks. When she had Remy learn [Flare Arrow], Sugaru should also be given something too. However, Sugarus build made her pretty unsuited for melee combat. Her style was more to send out her ants. In that case, maybe giving her a skill to buff her own subordinates would be more effective. In any case, Rare had need of a lot of XP. After the ants had all thawed out, she would consult with Sugaru and formulate a plan for this area. The cave needed to be modified so that it was a little more comfortable for humans and ice wolves, and she wanted to teach the catkin girls more about etiquette. There were just so many things to do. CH 22 Oh, thats right, Boss, that uh in-vin-tor-ee thing from before, tell us more about it. Ah, yes, thats right. Damn, she actually remembered. Its probably because her INT went up. But what Rare had said before was just something random she concocted because she didnt feel like explaining it. If we could use it too, then we coulda brought this thing back without damaging its hide. Now that she looked at it more closely, there were many little tears in the tanuki all running in the same direction. Since it was even larger than Hakuma, they probably had to drag it back here. True, if they had access to an inventory, that would solve this problem perfectly. If all the girls had an inventory, the convenience would be immeasurable. However, the inventory was part of the game system. Players could use it right from the start, but NPCs could not. For the time being, she could just describe how it felt for her when she used her inventory. If they were unable to understand it, she could think about having them learn [Space Magic] sometime down the line. Not that [Space Magic] had been confirmed to have any particular relation; it was unclear if there was a skill that functioned similarly to the player inventory. Let me see I think I said before, but its like theres an invisible bag thats either right next to me or kind of overlapping my body. I open the mouth of the bag in the palm of my hand, then I can put whatever I want into it. If its too big and I dont think I can put it in, then I can do this and cover it with the bag. While explaining, Rare put the tanuki pelt into her inventory. And like so, it goes in. No need to use force. The bags mouth is very large, very flexible, and, well, its just a very convenient thing to have. Its something that couldnt possibly exist in real life; it could only be actualized in a game. Trying to be any more specific would be difficult. Rare felt that her own explanation became increasingly vague and useless the more she talked, but there was no real other way to explain it. She really had no idea what she was talking about anymore, but if she thought of it as deepening her bonds with her followers, then it didnt feel so bad. Vowf! All of a sudden, Hakuma barked. Rare blinked in dumbfoundment. The meat that had been laid out right in front of him was gone. He didnt eat it did he? Yeah, thats not Huh? What the hell? Did he really eat it all? Just as she was about to shout at him in anger, the meat appeared in front of Hakuma. She could scarcely believe her eyes, but it looked like he had just taken it out from his inventory. An NPCor actually, an ice wolf would probably be classified as a regular monsterhad just figured out how to access its own inventory. Hey look! I can do it too! Marion cried out next. The white cylindrical things she presumed were the tanukis bones were blinking in and out of existence. Rare was having trouble following the situation, but if she suppressed her common sense, then if Hakuma was able to do it, it would follow that Marion could too. The system didnt discriminate between NPCs and monsters, after all. She was still reeling in confusion, but Rare started to feel more excited than she ever had before. It was common sense for only players to have access to an inventory. However, no player had ever proven that to be an absolute fact. Normally, one could not prove that something was absolutely impossible. This was the so-called Devils Proof. There was always the possibility that someone out there could do the impossible but pretended that they couldnt. During the closed beta, whenever a player used their inventory, the NPCs always reacted in surprise, saying Ive never met someone who could do that. That was why players always believed that only players were able to use that system. And truly, no one had ever met an NPC who could use their own inventory. However, while no one had encountered an NPC who could use it, that didnt preclude the existence of one who could. The idea that only players had inventories was not only held by players, but by all the NPCs as well. It was just common sense. But the catkin girls were different. They had never been taught that fact. Thats why they expressed interest in Rares use of the inventory and asked to be shown how to use it themselves. After arriving at this conclusion, Rare felt a shock akin to being smacked in the face. Words she had heard before suddenly came to mind. Those all-important words that the tutorial support AI had imparted: To the system, the only difference between PCs and NPCs is whether or not they can receive system messages. Rare thought those words were meant to encourage players to be ethical. But she was wrong. They meant exactly what they said. Anything players could do, NPCs could also do, and even monsters could do. While Rare was still frozen in shock, Marion and Hakuma were showing off their inventory skills while trying to explain it at the same time. Hmmm I kinda get it and I kinda dont So frustrating, man. I totally dont understand anything youre saying. Can you start over one more time? As Rare collected herself and observed the others, she suddenly had an epiphany. Hakuma and Marion could use inventory. Since they were able to use it right after Rare explained, to them, her explanation shouldnt have been that difficult to understand. So why couldnt Riley or Kerry do it? And not just them, Ginka was being shown by Hakuma, but it was clear that she felt bewildered and a little bit irritated. The wolf pups had all just given up and were playing with the tanuki bones. They had licked all the little bits of meat clinging to them clean off. Since Hakuma and Marion could use it, that at least proved that both monsters and NPCs were capable of accessing their own inventory. That didnt necessarily mean that every character had the capability as well, but if not, then what was the difference? Even though neither of them could do it, as far as Rare could tell, she believed that Kerry and Riley probably had some variance in their comprehension. Perhaps there was a condition that needed to be met. Rare checked her followers stats. This was probably it. If it was due to a lack of sufficient comprehension, then the ones who could use it and the ones who couldnt should have a difference in stats. And that should be INT. Currently, the two with the most were Marion and Hakuma, who had the same INT value. Next was Rare, but her inclusion wasnt necessary right now, so the next after that were Riley and Remy, then Ginka, followed by Sugaru. Kerry, a moment? Sorry, Boss, even though you tried to teach us No, dont worry about it. But I thought I would help you out a bit. Since Rare was a player, she couldnt test it on herself, so for the time being she raised Kerrys INT up to the same as her own. Now, can you try again? What do you think? Can you do it now? Ah Compared to before, its But, it still feels like Im not there yet, like I just need a bit more Looks like she had found the answer. Rare increased Kerrys INT to be the same as Marions. Ah! I get it now! I need to do this! Thats what I needed! I got it, Boss! Yes, well done! It was worth spending the time to teach you. Next is Riley and Ginka. Can you come here for a second? This was it. What allowed NPCs to use the inventory was a high INT stat. However, if that were the only condition, then a lot of NPCs would naturally have figured it out on their own. Since she hadnt heard of that being the case, either all the ones who could use it were keeping their mouths shut, or there was another condition that needed to be met. If it were the former, then any NPCs with high INT would try things out when they first encountered it; but if it were the latter, the possibilities she identified as most valid were either they must be a players follower or someone who can use the inventory has to explain to them how to use it. Or perhaps there was a condition of after learning how to use it, you have to truly believe you yourself can do it too. And when all the right conditions were met, then NPCs could also access their own inventories. No matter what the specifics might be, at present, there was nothing left to investigate. Once Sugaru was completely melted, Rare would have to meet up with her and Remy to raise their INT and teach them how to use the inventory. CH 23 Hakuma was left in charge of the tanukis meat; Rare told him the wolves could just use whatever they needed for food, then she and the catkin girls crawled back into the ant nest. They returned to the (provisional) queens room, where Sugaru, who was completely thawed, and Remy were waiting together. Marion immediately went to brag to Remy about being able to use inventory. While watching them out of the corner of her eye, Rare dumped a bunch of XP into Remys and Sugarus INT stats. How about you try it too, Remy? Marion, why dont you teach her how. It was a good opportunity to see if Remy could successfully access her inventory with Marions instructions. At first, the expression she made screamed what the hell is this girl talking about?, but after seeing Marion manipulate her inventory a number of times, it immediately clicked for her. The hypothesis that anyone could explain how to use the inventory seemed increasingly likely. Furthermore, seeing someone use it before their very eyes was probably also necessary for learning how to use it. If those were the only conditions, then it would be possible to learn just from watching an explanation from afar. If that were the case, then pretty soon, as more players interacted with more NPCs, there was a chance that the number of NPCs who could use the inventory would increase. If that came to pass, what kind of effect would that have? First, the logistics industry would collapse. Just talking about luggage, having even a single capable person would be more than sufficient, so horse carriage demand would probably drop like a rock. After carriages, anything related to logistics would suffer irreparable damage, transportation costs would fall dramatically, and even costs of living would decrease. It would probably cause historic deflation. Fresh ingredients could be transported to any location regardless of the distance. Any related services that were valued due to their speed would lose that value. Foodstuffs as a whole would drop in price as a result, aside from any that were naturally limited in availability. Next, the efficiency of mercenaries hunting monsters would skyrocket. Currently, they had to butcher their prey on the spot and only carry what little they could back to town to sell. But now, they could bring the entire corpse back with them. Because there was no cost to transporting food and water, there would be no need to pace military campaigns, so no matter how long the journey, no matter how much they hunted, logistics would never be the cause of failure. Supply trains would cease to exist as a concept altogether. And that moved the theorizing to military matters. Whichever country implemented inventories into their armies first would gain the initiative in controlling the continent, and the entire continent would become engulfed in war. With regards to the construction industry, only a single person would be needed to move around any amount of stone and lumber. Expensive furniture would never get damaged in transit either. It would benefit the fishing industry, too; the amount of fish that could be caught at once no longer relied on the size of the boat. Even the farming industry would be affectedwhenever there was a bumper crop, freshly harvested produce could be shipped out at a moments notice. Taken to its extreme, it would be beyond simple to commit tax fraud; it was impossible to interact with anything that was stored in someone elses inventory. And what Rare suddenly realized was along the same lines, but on a completely different scale. After all, with an inventory, one could even argue that a person technically wouldnt even need a home, meaning they wouldnt need land at all anymore. Without being bound by the shackles of land ownership, people wouldnt need to be bound to countries either, and that would cause the economy to collapse. Gold would lose its value, and trading would have to be done via jewels and precious metals. If things devolved that far, then no one would be comfortable with their personal information being available to the general public. Most people would still have some kind of profession, but it would be common sense to completely hide it from others. If your assets and home were both hidden, the only form of tax that could be collected was a poll tax. But without a permanent residence, the country couldnt ascertain if someone was a citizen or a visitor from abroad, so even that would be hard to collect. Anything that was out in the open could be flawlessly stolen by anyone, and thered be no way to prove it one way or the other. And if no one ever took anything out of their inventories, then jewel trades would need to be conducted with trustworthy documents of guarantee. However, until such a system of documentation was developed and became reliable enough, the simple act of trading itself would probably transform into something unrecognizable. If the use of the inventory were ever to spread, it would herald the birth of a completely new economic system. Even after having those ominous thoughts, Rare figured it probably would never actually turn out that way. If this were actually an emulation of another world on hardware powerful enough for a full world simulator, and the entire economy were about to collapse, the system administrators were likely to step in to prevent that, not to mention how improbable it was that things would develop exactly as Rare predicted anyway. This was just like the time she had speculated about the games AI; Rare was not well-versed in economics, she was just influenced by someone close to her that did enjoy thinking about these things. As the proverb went, its hard to tell a poor thinker from a sleeping one[1]; in other words, since she didnt know any better, she shouldnt think too hard about it. If no one wanted to spread the knowledge, then there was the possibility the technology wouldnt be passed on. Or it was possible that people would just be unable to learn. Right now, Sugaru was also trying to do it, but it didnt seem like she was having much luck. All right Remy, it looks like youve gotten the hang of it, so Id like you to try teaching Sugaru. Make sure youre showing her your own inventory as an example, too. Remy began to instruct Sugaru on how to use the inventory. Rare decided to check Sugarus skills, which she had put off before. As she suspected, there were numerous skills she had never seen before. Skills that she couldnt imagine players ever obtaining like [Haplodiploidy] and [Fecundity] piqued her interest somewhat, but what really caught her eye was [Enhance Follower: STR]. It was on the list of learnable skills right now, Sugaru didnt have it yet, but Rare couldnt help wonderingif there were a related [Enhance Follower: MND] skill, and Sugaru had it, would it have been quite as easy to conquer the ant nest? And what intrigued her was that [Enhance Follower] skill was not off by itself, but it was under the [Discipline] skill tree. That meant it should follow how most skill trees workedafter learning [Discipline], anyone could learn the skill as long as they met the prerequisites. The question was how to clear those prerequisites. Now that she knew this skill existed, Rare definitely wanted to learn it. If she were to have access to this family of skills, the first thing she imagined was that she wouldnt have to use so much XP on her followers, so it would be a long-term gain in XP spending efficiency. Looking at Sugarus skills, the prereqs didnt require anything special. Or they didnt look like they should. Assuming at least that skills like [Haplodiploidy] and [Fecundity] were out. Rare brought up her own learnable skills screen and tried to find a connecting thread. First, since Sugaru didnt have any magic skills, it was hard to believe that magic would be related. That was when she realized. Sugari didnt have [Mental Magic]. Despite that, she still had [Subordinate], which meant that her [Subordinate] was a race specialty. This also meant that her [Discipline] tree was special, implying that maybe Rare could get the skills she wanted without meeting any prerequisites. In other words, there were no hints to be gained by looking through Sugarus skills. If these skills were in fact related to magic, then the most likely candidate was [Enchantment Magic]. This skills tree contained spells that allowed enchanting people or objects, just as the name said. The [Enchantment Magic] tree didnt have any other skills aside from [Enchantment Magic]. But just like with [Alchemy], it was obvious that there were derivative skills, which were mostly all discovered back in the closed beta. These skills were: [Enchantment Magic] + [Fire Magic] = [Enhancement Magic: STR] [Enchantment Magic] + [Water Magic] = [Enhancement Magic: MND] [Enchantment Magic] + [Wind Magic] = [Enhancement Magic: AGI] [Enchantment Magic] + [Earth Magic] = [Enhancement Magic: VIT] In all likelihood, once she learned a given [Enhancement Magic] spell, it should also unlock the corresponding [Enhance Follower] skill. If her conjectures turned out to be wrong, she wasnt planning to participate directly in combat much herself, so she wasnt opposed to learning a suitable element of magic. The bigger problem was whether this experiment would cost her a huge amount of XP or not. Once Sugaru was completely melted, Rare would have to meet up with her and Remy to raise their INT and teach them how to use the inventory. TL notes! [1]: ֤οݤƤ, literally (having) poor/uninformed thoughts is akin to sleeping CH 24 After teaching Kerry and the other girls magic and raising their INT high enough for them to access their inventories, right now Rare only had 144 XP left. [Enchantment Magic] took 20, the cheapest elemental magic would cost another 20, [Enhancement Magic] was yet another 20, and finally [Enhance Follower] was the sole 40. If these calculations were correct, then shed only be able to learn one type of enhancement for now. In order to raise the groups safety margins, she wanted to boost VIT. However, considering all the battles shed seen so far, the catkin girls had never taken a serious hit. Well, technically, there was that ambush where she had established first contact, but that had nothing to do with stats, Rare had used her familys secret techniques, so it didnt count. Or like, she had already decided to erase that ambush from the chronicles of their first meeting anyway. That meant the next best stat to improve would certainly be AGI. It provided the most synergy for both the catkin girls and the ice wolves. The problem was the ants, but, strictly speaking, they were Sugarus followers, so they shouldnt be eligible for Rares [Enhance Follower] skills. All she had to do was use the remaining 44 XP to have Sugaru take [Enhance Follower], though, then the ants would also have a buff available to them. On the other hand, another approach was to go offensive; depleting more of an enemys forces in an initial attack was a viable strategy. Since Rares forces were numerous, they simply had more hands to play. If those hands were powerful enough, then most opponents could simply be crushed with brute force. The best candidates for that strategy were STR and INT, now that everyone had both magical and physical attacks at their disposal. To take someone by surprise, or to knock an opponent off balance, it might be better to focus more on magical attacks. After all, their side consisted of beastkin, wolves, and ants; theyd never expect magic to suddenly be flung in their faces. Yet another approach would be to learn an element of magic that no one else could currently use, so that the diversity of attacks at their disposal increased. The options here would be [Earth Magic] or [Wind Magic], which meant VIT or AGI. After mulling it over, since never being hit meant taking no damage, and not being able to hit was useless too, the choice was clearRare went for AGI. She picked up [Wind Magic]s [Air Cutter]. She also considered [Desiccate], but she felt that wouldnt contribute to the teams variety. Next she learned [Enchantment Magic] and [Enhancement Magic: AGI]. And in the all-important [Discipline] skill tree As predicted, [Enhance Follower: AGI] was unlocked. So now, until Ive learned all of these skills, Ill need to funnel all of our XP into myself. In order to master the entire category, they would need to farm up another 300 XP. Rare grimaced at the thought. And now to check the all-important [Enhance Follower: AGI]s effects The skill read [Increases the AGI of all your followers by 10% of your own AGI]. Holy cow! Its a passive skill! That means it should stack with [Enhancement Magic]! Wait, huh? That also means If that was the case, then if Sugaru also learned [Enhance Follower: AGI], 10% of Rares AGI would count toward Sugarus AGI which would trickle down to all the other ants. Hot damn. It was probably incredibly unlikely for a character with [Subordinate] to control someone else with [Subordinate]. However, once both Rare and Sugaru had all the [Enhance Follower] skills, depending on Rares own stats, it was becoming more and more likely that the ants would end up becoming the primary attack force. But first, I havent actually verified if I even get XP when the ants beat something. Most of them are still frozen, though. Crap. Thinking logically, any XP the ants earned would go to the queen, and any XP the queen received would go to Rare, so as far as XP was concerned they should count like any other follower. In any case, the ants were all thawing out right now. For the time being, Sugaru should also get [Enhance Follower: AGI]. She had been messing around with her inventory, but paused to look over at Rare and nod. Now the group only had 4 XP left. They really needed to go out and earn more, but it was also important to shore up the base. She wanted to thaw out all the ants first, but there was something else that had to be done before that. Kerry, Riley, Remy, Marion. Youve truly done good work today. I think its time you had some rest. None of you have had an opportunity to sleep for very long, have you? No, were Its important to get real sleep. You wont be able to operate at your best otherwise. Dont worry, Ill work you hard when you wake up, so just rest for now. For now, shed have the mountain cat girls rest up. Fortunately, they had the hide that Remy had tanned here. After half-forcing them to go to sleep, Rare took Sugaru into the next room. This room was still full of frozen ants, but it looked like about half of them had thawed out. The ones closest to the entrance seemed like they were nearly back to normal, even. With the queens guidance, these ants were moved over to a room that hadnt been frozen. One of the ones that Rares group hadnt gone through in their raid. In that room, all the ants turned at that same time to stare at Rare. Wah As one, the ants then all looked down. While they werent Rares direct followers, it seemed they would faithfully abide by her will and follow her orders. Ah, my apologies, I didnt mean it. I dont mind if you look at me. Im the boss now. Ill be relying on you. Rare looked back over at all the ants. She didnt observe them closely during the raid since her group had just used [Charm] and [Freeze] to wipe them all out en masse, but now that she was reevaluating them, she noticed that there were lots of different types of ants. There werent all Infantry Ants. Rare couldnt check the ants statuses, so she had Sugaru do it. While she could somehow communicate with them as Sugarus followers, she was unable to see anything specific, like names or titles. According to the queen, she could see this information on her own skill window, so Rare open Sugarus skills up again to check. The most likely candidate was [Haplodiploidy]. This wasnt a skill in another tree, but the name of a skill tree itself. [Haplodiploidy] was a skill exclusive to Vespoid Queens, and listed underneath it were options like [Infantry]. It seemed the skills here corresponded to the types of ants that the queen could produce. In other words, the ants were born as that type to begin with. This would explain why the nest didnt have any eggs or ant larvae. The other available types aside from [Infantry] were [Combat Engineer] and [Cavalry]. The [Combat Engineer] skill created an ant of a different color than the infantry ants called [Engineer Ant], but Rare wondered what [Cavalry] did. Maybe ants riding on something else? It was an amusing thought, but apparently it just referred to a higher rank of ant above infantry. In terms of fighting ability, though, it seemed the difference in strength was equivalent to how much stronger a mounted knight was over a foot soldier. However, it cost quite a lot of LP and MP to produce one as well. In any case, what interested Rare right now was the Engineer Ant. If they were really combat engineers, then it followed that this nest was probably constructed by them. The tunnels with the smooth walls must have been the result of some kind of skill. She wanted to see how they dug tunnels. The Engineer Ant bent its body, stuck the end of its abdomen out, and sprayed out some kind of foul-smelling liquid. Ants in real life did the same thing. Real ants sprayed venom or formic acid, but the stuff the Engineer Ants sprayed began to melt the solid rock wall. With such a deadly solution in their bodies, even able to melt stone, predators must think twice about eating them. They appeared to have much more firepower than one would expect from combat engineers. But no, apparently, the liquid had no effect on anything but rock. She had them spray some of the other ants nearby, but their exoskeletons were just fine. Rare gingerly touched the liquid herself, but it didnt do anything to her aside from producing a sensation of stinging pain. This sure was some magical acid. The queen explained that it wasnt that it could only melt stone, but, to put it in game terms, it was dependent on the type of mineral, or more specifically the rarity of the mineral. So stuff like calcium could also be melted, which includes human bones. But I touched it just now and my nails are fine. Rare was too high-leveled, so it wouldnt affect her. Apparently. Having XP invested seemed to determine a living things rank. To put it another way, a player who had just started the game could have their nails and equipment melted. Maybe to a beginner skeleton player, they might find this acid to be their worst nightmare. Considering how many starting cave areas there were, though, if someone did spawn in one with ants, they must have the worst of luck. CH 25 Rare immediately had the engineers start digging a tunnel that connected the wolves den directly to the queens chamber. She was initially planning to just widen the route she had originally taken during the raid on the nest, but a direct route would be shorter. There were ten engineers who could work, so for now shed have them all take turns working on it. She would then have any other engineers who recovered start working on a new tunnel that connected to the old mountain cat base. While the engineers got started, Rare wanted to look into Sugarus [Haplodiploidy] skill tree more. Considering the skill names and the type of ants that could be produced, the three current options, [Infantry], [Combat Engineer], and [Cavalry], couldnt be the only ones. There should be ways to unlock more types, like say [Artillery]. Actually, isnt this part just like a strategy game? Strategy games were fun in their own right, but only when the rules were made clear beforehand. Right now, there were five [Infantry] and one [Cavalry] ready for action. They had been grouped together and sent out to patrol the caves surroundings. The six of them formed a squad; for the time being, there wouldnt be different ranks of squads, theyd just be mixed like this. She could use this group to determine an operational cost-benefit analysis of the ants based on the XP and resources they earned. Then she could come up with strategies and apply them within the boundaries of the game rules. There just werent enough ants this time, so the squad was almost all infantry, but in the future it would be better if each squad had a more balanced makeup. This would include [Engineers] and, if they existed, [Artillery]. That said, as far as actual military activities went, as long as they didnt pick a fight with one of the six countries, their enemies wouldnt be organizations or militaries but private forces at best. In which case, for the most part, even if their side only had the weaker types of soldiers available, they should still be pretty much unbeatable. By the way, Sugaru, did you spend any XP on your ant followers stats at all? Currently, Rare didnt have enough XP to spend on the hundreds of ants on her side, but she wanted to know how their status was. It seemed, though, that Sugaru never gave them much thought and just treated them like disposable pawns. If that were the case, then no matter. Or rather, being able to work this army to the bone without worrying about the consequences was perfect. They could even be replenished by using Sugarus LP and MPit was like being able to grow and harvest soldiers from your own field. And potions basically became fertilizer. The possibilities excited Rare. Speaking of disposable, what happens when ants die? Is there some kind of penalty? Like maybe they get weaker for a period of time? Specifically, do they lose XP, or maybe is the individual ant itself lost forever? Sugaru seemed unclear on the details. If the corpse could be recovered, it was, but after confirming that it was dead, it would disappear. And since she didnt have a revive skill, she didnt know if they could be revived at all. She only ever considered pure numbers, so it was faster to just produce a new ant over reviving a dead one. She had just never thought about it. Incidentally, it appeared that Sugaru didnt have an accurate grasp on the total number of ants under her control. Rare had never heard of running an army without knowing its exact composition, but that seemed indicative of how little value the ants lives had. However, she didnt want to treat Kerry, Hakuma, and the others that way. She wanted to come up with some method of reviving them in case the worst ever came to pass. That said, she was pretty sure no revive skills had been discovered yet. In any case, what was important now was to build up military strength. At the very least, she wanted Sugaru to be constantly producing more ants at a rate that matched her natural LP and MP regen. Well, having you at full LP and MP is a waste, so lets have you use some up. For now, lets increase our [Engineers]. Theres a mountain of work to do, and its not like [Engineers] cant fight at all. When incorporated into combat squads, they can be used for diversions and as smokescreen from a distance. Not to mention, most people wont be able to tell the difference between [Infantry] and [Engineers] anyway, so theyll be good for intimidation. Actually, looking at them closer, they were slightly different in color. It was hard to tell in the dark, though. Is there a room you can use for production? The girls are using the queens room right now. The entire cave was controlled by their allies, so it didnt really matter where she did it. In that case, this room here was as good as any other. According to the Help documentation, there were no larvae, they were born as full-fledged ants; she was mildly interested in exactly what kind of lifeforms they were supposed to be. Rare watched the birthing process closely while simultaneously monitoring Sugarus status. [Engineers] werent that expensive, so she could pop out several eggs without worry. Or like, I didnt realize she actually laid eggs. Ah, theyre already hatching. Rather than shattering, the surface of the egg ripped apart like fabric, and from within a dark-brown [Engineer Ant] emerged. The five newly born [Engineer Ants] already began lining up before Rare. This meant they already had a sense of self-awareness. Insect monsters developed really fast. Hmm, so if I said I want [Infantry] right now, can you make them immediately? Is there any kind of cooldown? Sugaru explained that [Infantry] could be produced right away, but it was currently impossible to make more [Engineers]. While there was no system limit on how many eggs could be laid at once, the maximum effective number was based on how much LP and MP she had. With regards to the current situation, it was possible to produce [Infantry] right after making [Engineers], but the cooldown for [Engineer] would be frozen until [Infantry] finished cooling down. In other words, it worked the same as it did for casting magic. It was nice that they shared the same system. I appreciate the explanation. It was very easy to understand. It was easy, but Man, it really is inconvenient that you cant talk It wouldnt help when were far apart though Hmm. If there were a skill like [Contact Follower] or something, that would address all her concerns, but none of the skills that she could learn looked like they fit the bill, and there was nothing promising in Sugarus skills either. Is there really nothing? Something that lets me communicate with my followers in my head It would be best if it was something that allowed us to talk when were far apart. Something like telepathy, or a long-range phone call Hm? So actually, all of Rares followers, including Kerry, could access their own inventories now. That was a result of reversing the words she had heard during the tutorial, about how the system saw nearly no difference between players and NPCs. In which case, maybe If I added my followers as friends, couldnt I chat with them via friend chat? CH 26 Lets have Sugaru act as the first test subject. Sugaru, Im going to add you as a friend. Right now, there was no reason not to tell it to her straight. Sugaru looked back at her blankly. This wasnt exactly the response she was expecting. Rare wondered what she had to do to add a friend. Normally, just asking Do you want to be friends? would work. However, what mattered here was how the game defined friends. How exactly did one become friends with someone else? The sinister darkness that plagued modern society gushed forth from within, and that commonly accepted method of making friends in real life paralyzed her body for a brief moment. If the system operated in largely the same way, then similar actions should lead to similar results. First was to try what two players would do when they wanted to friend each other. Unfortunately, Rare never wanted to friend anyone during the closed beta. All the account data would be wiped at the end of the test, after all, and she just had too much fun exploring all the game systems, which wasnt what most players wanted to do. In this open beta as well, she didnt have any players she wanted to friend. Rare had to rely on the Help documentation again. How to friend players should work. And search. Managing your friend list: In order to add someone to your friend list, you need a friend card. Friend cards are created whenever you retrieve them from your inventory. You will always have access to your own friend card; what you take out from your inventory is always a copy. Give your friend card to another player and have them store it in their inventory to become friends. If you would like to remove a friend, take their friend card and destroy it or throw it away. Removed friends can be friended again by repeating the same steps again. Oh, I see It was a simple system, basically like exchanging business cards. Rare checked her own inventory and found the Friend Card section. You could see the all contents of your inventory via the menu, but to take something out without using the system you had to focus on the specific item. NPCs wouldnt be able to understand the concept of friend cards, so friending could only be initiated by players. Rare gave the friend card she retrieved to Sugaru and told her to store it in her inventory. <> And just like that, they were friends. Now, how do I access friend chat again or well, Ive never done it before. Ah, here we go. Sugaru jumped in surprise. The catkin girls still spoke to her rather casually, but Sugaru was a bit more formal. Or rather, Sugaru wasnt actually using formal speech, but her thoughts were being translated into this form of speech to Rare. Friend chat was logged and stored temporarily, so that was probably why it automatically got translated into human speech. Now that she knew friend chat could be used, the number of hands she could play would increase rapidly. And now, after having investigated the followers shed obtained so far, Rare found herself arriving at a single startling conclusion: If NPCs could use the system the same way that players could, and if the system didnt distinguish between players and NPCs as far as gameplay went, then there was nothing preventing players from being tamed. If this were actually true, then she could siphon all the XP that other players had gathered for herself. Kind of like how some female characters get worshiped by male players, carried through content, and given free stuff.[1] Since your avatar moved based on your actual body, and you used your own voice to speak, it was relatively hard to fake your sex in this game just like in other VR games, but it wasnt impossible. Therefore, so-called nekama[2] did exist out there. And if her thinking was correct, even XP could be donated in this game. It was possible that this darkness that has existed throughout the history of online gaming was crystallizing into a more perfect form here. That said, in terms of what could be done in the game, it was really hard to imagine a system that breached a users consent. If a player really did get tamed, the system would probably throw some kind of warning or system error message and allow them to void the effect. That would be a big difference compared to NPCs. That line from the tutorial, the only difference between PCs and NPCs is whether or not they can receive system messages, might refer to this. Rare itched to go try it out. However, if she were to test it at this point in time, the existence of [Subordinate] would definitely become public. In which case, she could only test it on an exceptionally trustworthy player. Furthermore, that player would have to consent to possibly being tamed by Rare. As could be expected, Rare didnt have any such confidante. Or more like, she didnt really know anyone period. Now that she thought of it, she hadnt seen any other players yet, but she wondered how many started in monster territory. And if those players were far outnumbered by the total possible spawn points in monster territory, then it could be effectively impossible to find anyone to cooperate with or friend. There was a really high chance that a given person in the game world could never meet any other player. What would you do if you wanted to play with your friends? Regardless, Rare didnt really want to play with friends anyway, so she didnt care either way. If there was any content shed have a hard time beating solo, she could just have Kerry and the other girls come along. If necessary, she could raise their INT even more, then they would probably be better than a random shitty player anyway. What a wonderful system shed stumbled upon. She had nothing but gratitude for the developers who came up with it. Once the girls woke up, shed have them work on their manners. After they had more XP to spare, she also wanted to raise their INT and aim for them to be The Actually Capable Elite Four, a specific qualification that doesnt come up in stories very often. For the right now, they would wait for all the ants to recover, suppress the surrounding forest, and save up XP. Once Sugarus LP and MP recovered and she could produce more ants, their saved XP would be spent on acquiring more Enhance Follower skills for both Rare and Sugaru. But first, lets focus on conquering the entire forest. [1]: The literal term is hime-play, which specifically means when players treat a female character like a princess, pampering them, giving them items, and protecting them from harm. Theres a definition that someone posted on Nico Nico. [2]: Nekama originates from net okama, where okama is slang for homosexual men. However, nekama are not strictly homosexual; the term refers specifically to the behavior of a man who pretends to be a woman online. There is no inherent motive ascribed to the term nekama. CH 27 Including the first day, he spent about three days hunting Rabbits. As a result, Wayne was finally able to replace all of his starting equipment. Perhaps due to all the Rabbit corpses he sold, the price of Rabbit Leather dropped, so he also got a full set of Rabbit Leather Armor. He didnt know what the low-quality starting short sword was made of, but he bought an iron sword with higher attack power to replace it. Cast-metal goods were also considered cheap, but the price of iron tended to go up, so it was an acceptable purchase. Because he funneled his income into improving his combat effectiveness, he still hadnt obtained a hatchet or any clothes suited for foresting; it was frustrating not to have made any progress on that front, but that was just how things went. Apparently the nearby mining sites had fallen into monster territory, and they were currently home to all sorts of beasts. That was why iron was so valuable right now. In all likelihood, the early towns were fixed in ways like this so that they couldnt produce higher-quality goods. The NPCs all had sophisticated AIs installed, so regardless of the game administrations mandates, if they had the right materials available, they would make and sell better items on their own. There was no doubt that was why the ore supply was hit. A mine recovery quest would probably go up sometime soon. If it turned out to be a large-scale quest, then it probably would even be announced on the official site as some kind of special event. Hed have to remember to look out for it. Until now, Wayne hadnt seen any other players in this town, but it was possible there were some around, just that each of their playtimes never overlapped. Since Hiers was a kingdom that was attractive for new players, maybe they had added a lot more starting towns for the open beta. Back in the closed beta, a given city would have around ten players. If the number of starting spawn points had multiplied, perhaps it was feasible for a town to only have a single player. Plus, the city Wayne was in right now was quite a bit smaller than the ones he had seen in the closed beta. Given the scope of this city, he could believe that the starting spawn table had changed. If a large-scale quest did get posted, it would be pretty hard to complete. A single player couldnt do much on their own. Normally hed have invited friends to play together, but, while it could have worked out during this vacation, on most days it was hard to find time to play with his VR friends, who all had work as well. He still hadnt had a proper chat with any of the NPC sellswords, but thinking about it now, cooperating with NPCs didnt sound bad. Since NPC lives were rooted in this world, the sellswords who lived in this town shouldnt foolishly try to do anything criminal or fraudulent. That made them much more trustworthy than random players he had never met before. Back in the closed beta, Wayne had a horrible experience with a PKer. At first, this PKer pretended to be a NPC. When Wayne was having trouble, this NPC reached out to him and offered to lend an ear. They said that it would be best to speak elsewhere, led him by the hand to an alley, then, after ensuring no one was around, assaulted him and stole his stuff. No one could take what was in his inventory, but that conversely meant that anything not in his inventory could be stolen. Wayne found that he was too shocked to accept the systems offer of <> Perhaps having anticipated that, the PKer stripped off Waynes expensive equipment first, starting with his weapon. When he finally respawned, he only had his undergarments and some cheap gear left. The PKer had only stolen his equipment, but what he lost included his ability to trust other players, as well as XP. Ever since that day, Wayne made every effort to determine if anyone he met was a player or an NPC. He never found another player dressed as an NPC, but he discovered a way to detect whether someone was a player through conversation. The key was the inventory. Players would always carefreely access their inventories. It was one of the game systems available from the very start, so of course they would. However, NPCs would absolutely never use it. They couldnt, after all. So Wayne used the inventory as a test to distinguish players from NPCs. However, since he never found another player posing as an NPC, knowing this difference never proved to be of any use. In any case, his vacation was nearly over. On weekdays, hed only be able to log in at night. The next time he had time off would be when the game officially launched, meaning the number of players would go up, which should mean more players would be appearing in this town. If any large-scale quests were to be released, it would probably be after the launch. One weekday night, after logging in, he went to the sellsword guild. Since time in the game passed 1.5 times faster than it did in the real world, it was morning here. The official launch of the game was scheduled for two days from now in the real world, so it was announced that tomorrow the game would be down for maintenance for a full day. That meant this was the last day of the open beta, or the early access period. Somehow, he managed to acquire some magic skills the day before. What he had learned were [Fire Magic]s [Magical Affinity: Fire] and [Flare Arrow]. The early game had a lot of monsters that were particularly weak to fire, and it also had comparatively higher attack power than other elements did. In PvP, the speed of [Lightning Magic] was superior, but if you could survive the first attack, being able to counterattack with [Fire Magic] would result in a higher damage output. Assuming both players had similar stats, at least. He had learned some magic, and his gear was also in order. With that, he should fit in well with the local sellswords. Due to his real life obligations, it was always difficult to find opportunities to team up with those sellswords. But if a large-scale quest were to go up now, it would be easier to cooperate with people he knew in passing over people he had never met before. It wasnt bad, slowly getting acquainted from regular contact. However, for some reason, someone called out to him today. Since it was still early today, there were only a few sellswords lingering around the guild. The old receptionist guy had been worriedly looking around at no one in particular when he noticed Wayne. Hey, its you. As soon as I saw ya, I remembered something I wanted to tell ya. Huh? Me? What did you need me for? Before now, the receptionist had never needed to talk to Wayne about anything. Even if there werent a lot of sellswords around, that didnt mean that he had nothing to do. There was probably a special reason the receptionist needed to talk to him now. Yer a safeholder, right. I member thinkin it was rare, but yesterday, another safeholder showed up. I thought you might know each other. I dunno why, but safeholders have always hung around with other safeholders. It must be another player. Wayne had thought he was the only player in this town, but apparently not. Well wait, based on what the receptionist said, they only showed up yesterday. That meant they were a new player who started the game either yesterday or earlier today in the real world. Seeing that they came to the sellsword guild, it was probably a proper player. If it were a PKer, they wouldnt come here. Whether a criminal was a player or an NPC, townsfolk didnt care; it was robbery or murder either way. Not to mention PKers were unlikely to brazenly make use of the towns accommodations. And most of all, you couldnt tell a player from an NPC at first glance. In most cases, since PKers were focusing on PKing, they only saw NPCs as sources of XP. They wouldnt even think of coming to the sellsword guild to find work. Oh, speak o the devil. That girl there, shes the safeholder. Wayne turned around and looked at the person in the entrance. It was a female cat beastkin. She had swept back bright, reddish-brown hair. While overall she seemed kind of unattractive, she didnt feel unpleasant, even strangely cute. Maybe it was because he was a cat person. The catkin girl went straight up to the receptionist, pulled out a Rabbit corpse out of nowhere, and placed it on the counter. It was exactly the same thing that Wayne had done before. She appeared to have mostly starting equipment. The sword at her waist was different, but she had probably invested the money she had earned into a new weapon. A very gamer-like decision. Something an NPC would never consider, since they had to worry about permanent death. There was no question that she was a player. The old receptionist guy eyed him as though to ask So, you know her? The catkin girl noticed the man looking away and followed his gaze, laying eyes on Wayne for the first time. Are you a player? Ah, sorry. Im Wayne, Im a player too. The girl looked slightly surprised for a second, then gave a wide smile in response. Ah, just like you thought, Im a player, same as you. Call me Rare. Charmed. CH 28 Zoooombiiiies I never saw that coming Blanc hung her head while waiting to respawn. But really, considering she was a Skeleton, it stood to reason that there could be Zombies too. Or really, zombies were more humanlike than skeletons were. Dont we both belong to the Theyre already dead! group? Maybe I could think of them as friends Nah, totally no way. Well, whatever, no need to get down! If theyre not friends, then I can just burn them up! Blanc swore that this time she would learn her lesson and not let her guard down as she set out. At the place where the natural cave wall transitioned into man-made wall, the zombie from before Well, she wasnt exactly sure if it was the same one or not, but a zombie was shuffling around there. While she did jump at first, she remembered her lessons and, without letting herself stay frozen stiff for too long, fired off a [Flare Arrow] to start. She wasnt sure if it was maybe because of gases that were let off from decomposition, but the zombie burned really well. Even though they were way bigger than the ants were, they took a lot less time to burn up. Magic sure is strong Or like, I dunno if [Flare Arrow] is normally better or if all magic is just as good. Ah, I did put all my points in INT. So maybe its my magic thats good But if [Flare Arrow] was an instant kill right now, then she didnt need to go out of her way to try out other spells. If she ended up not killing something in one hit, then she might suffer additional mental trauma, not to mention that itd be a waste of MP. [Flare Arrow] was producing results, so [Flare Arrow] was fine. For any weapon at all, reliability was paramount. The Zombie dropped something although honestly, she had absolutely no idea if the burnt bottom half of a Zombie had any value whatsoever. Not to mention she didnt want to touch it at all if she could help it, so she decided to just leave it there. Unfortunately for her Waaah, theres another one!!! Another Zombie appeared and began eating the charred remains of the previous one. Since it looked more or less human, the speed at which it consumed the corpse made her feel sick to her stomach. So I still get traumatized either way As her face paled, she fired a [Flare Arrow] at its defenseless head. Well, not like my face actually changed colorits already white after all. However, due to the sound of the spell and the smell of burnt meat, more and more zombies ended up coming to Blancs location. There was an old movie that had a scene just like this! Umm, [Thunderbolt]! Brilliant lightning gathered in Blancs hand, then instantaneously stabbed through a Zombie. When it did, the Zombies entire body immediately lit up with electricity, then its scorched remains collapsed to the ground. Apparently [Thunderbolt] could also defeat things in one hit. [Ice Bullet]! [Water Shot]! [Air Cutter]! Casting spells one after another, she took care of the Zombies in short order. Given Blancs high INT, it didnt matter which spell she used, they could all one-shot a Zombie. The only difference between them was how the dead body looked afterward. No wait, theyre Zombies, so arent they already dead bodies? At least as far as Blanc could see, the Zombies she defeated and the ones standing and walking around were the same. And why was that? Because any Zombies she beat would immediately get swarmed by more Zombies. Welp, I guess its just that kind of game. Or actually like, what the hell, how many are there?! They just keep coming! She had already fired off five spells in a row, so she couldnt attack again for a little bit. She still needed to wait another 20 seconds until [Flare Arrow] was ready, which was the first spell she had launched. She had no choice but to fall back and stall while her spells cooled down, then continue defeating enemies one at a time. Luckily, the cavern behind her wasnt too spacious. Only two shambling Zombies would be able to attack her at the same time. Without taking her eyes off the Zombies swarming around the corpses, Blanc slowly moved backward. Regardless of how many Zombies there were, Blanc also continued to produce more corpses. There was still some time before the feasting would end. Hm, I guess Ill use [Air Cutter] first. Another corpse fell to the ground. Paying no attention to Blanc, who had just attacked them, the Zombies dove greedily for the new meal. As long as there was bait somewhere, it seemed like they wouldnt choose to attack Blanc. And my cooldowns up. [Flare Arrow]! At her current pace, she believed she could keep casting spells in between waiting for cooldowns without problem. She was more worried about her MP running out. If she waited a bit more between each spell, her natural MP regen should be able to keep up, but in terms of making sure there was always something for the Zombies to devour, it would be too slow. This feels just as horrifying as watching a horde of ants swarm at me, except this way takes a really long time Even still, she couldnt relax given what was going on here. In a dimly lit cave, endless dead bodies were greedily consuming other dead bodies, while slightly separated from them, a lone humanoid skeleton observed it all happening. No matter how you looked at it, this was a scene from Hell. So what do I do I think Im just royally fucked here This game has gotta be aimed at the really, really hardcore gamers. Ive just gotten super lucky so far, otherwise I feel like Id have gotten completely fucked a long time ago. Firing off [Flare Arrows] as necessary, she tried to think of some way out of this. If everything continued the way she foresaw, nothing would improve. In that case, even if her overall situation got worse, it might be best to prioritize her MP regen; as long as she had MP left, shed at least be able to do something, even if it ended up being pointless. Finally, there was only one corpse left for them to eat. Her MP hadnt fully recovered, but she had enough to fight. Once they ate that body, what would the remaining Zombies do? She should wait to see that first before she decided what she would do. Having finished devouring the final corpse, the Zombies all stood up. They looked over at Blanc, but Huh? They arent coming to attack me. They shuffled around aimlessly at the invisible line where the natural cave wall turned into the manmade wall. Occasionally one would see Blanc, but as soon as it took a single step toward her, it would immediately stop and go back to shambling. They cant leave the ruins or something? Is that it? She slowly and quietly approached the Zombies. More of them noticed her now, but they still couldnt seem to attack her. They really cant come over here. Huh? Could this be? She had stumbled onto a bonus stage. Blanc timed a rotation based on her natural MP regen and began slaughtering the Zombies. CH 29 Some minutes later, Blanc started getting the impression that the number of zombies was decreasing, meaning she was finally close to clearing out the entrance to the ruins. She had no idea how many she had killed. The zombies ate all the dead bodies, so the only things left were the remains of the final zombie and the one it had been eating. Hm? I wonder what happens to the ones that get eaten. Anyway, she could finally start exploring the ruins. Her original goal had been to kill off all the enemies, then try to claim the zone as her own base. She carefully stepped over the zombie bodies and peeked into the hallway. Nothing was there. She went in all the way. She didnt hear any sounds. Did I really get em all? Even if there were any zombies left, Blanc should be able to outrun them. Fortunately, this hallway was easier to traverse than the cave was. The zombies wouldnt be able to chase her all the way out to the cave. If she ever got surrounded, as long as she could take down one zombie, that should redirect all the others to the corpse. If she only had to worry about zombies, she didnt think she would have any trouble. Ive been at it for a while now Whoa, its already been eight hours!!! Hnn, well, whatever. I dont got anything to do tomorrow anyway. She didnt know what era these ruins were from, but being able to explore them was an experience shed never have in the real world, or even in other VR games. Blanc felt touched at the idea. In a full reversal from the literal hell she had experienced earlier, she completely morphed into a tourist now. A more experienced gamer would have mapped out the place while proceeding, but Blanc just blithely wandered around. It was basically impossible for her to return to the first cave from this one, after all. Eventually, she came upon a massive door covered in elaborate carvings. Ooh, this feels a lot like a final area! But nah, I have no idea where I am in the ruins, so I have no clue if this is the deepest room or anything. Or like actually, am I lost? At least in terms of returning to the first room where she spawned in this cave, Blanc was definitely lost. That meant she had nowhere to go but onward. Although she wasnt actually sure if she was strong enough to open the door, she still resolved herself and tried anyway. The door rumbled heavily as it opened, but it was much lighter than she expected it to be. And actually, it opened on its own partway through. In the room beyond the door, there was a throne all the way in the back upon which sat a beautiful man with blond hair. A trespasser How long has it been since the previous one? I have not seen my servants for some time now. Did you defeat them, trespasser? Whoa, he talked to me! Or like, its a person! Its my first random villager! It was the first time since starting the game that she had come across an NPC capable of communication. Blanc was super excited. How dare some skeleton call me a villager Answer my question. I would hear if you defeated my servants. He sure sounded pompous. At least he wasnt referring to himself with the royal-we or something. Looking at the rooms decor and the extravagance of his clothes, that style of speech wasnt out of place per se, but under normal circumstances, it was pretty cringey. It made Blanc feel pretty embarrassed herselfan empathetic shame response. Not that a scientific-sounding term mattered right now. What servants are you talking about? The only things I ran into in these ruins (is that what they are?) were zombies. Those very zombies were my servants! And what ruins do you speak of? This is my castle! Are you mocking me?! Im not mocking anyone! Im sorry for setting all your servants on fire!!! Those zombies werent actually some kind of bonus stage, but actually this arrogant guys attendants. She thought they seemed kind of worthless as servants, but maybe there wasnt an interview during the hiring process. You set them on fire? You appear to be empty-handed, though It cannot be, are you capable of magic? A mere skeleton is? Yeah, well But before all that, you are an intelligent skeleton capable of conversation? What exactly are you? She thought it was obvious that she could speak, but this dudes minions definitely didnt seem very talkative. He must have been starving to talk to someone. If you just wanna talk, I dont mind at all. Im so tired from all the fighting. She was willing to chat, but she never said that they would necessarily understand each other. Hmm Well, I am interested. I permit you to become my servant. In a shocking turn of events, Blanc was just offered a job. However, she only happened to spawn in this cave with the ruin; if possible, she wanted to leave and go exploring. Shed be happy to use this place as a temporary base, but it wouldnt be good for her to be bound here. Eh, no thanks. Ill make do as is. Good luck with your company, though. Your will is irrelevant! [Charm]! <> Suddenly, to Blanc, the hot dude on the throne started becoming even hotter. No way! Hes somehow getting even more dreamy! Huh?! I cant say anything! I cant move either! And everything is turning pink for some reason! What the hell! Is this a status debuff?! Blanc was in a Charmed state. She was unable to express her will or control her body, nor could she speak. The fact that he seemed more attractive and everything seemed to be covered in a pink haze had no gameplay effect, though. Good, it succeeded. Now [Control]. <> And finally, [Subordinate]. Thus, you are now my servant. <> <> <> I cant keep up with all these system messages! Hold up a second! <> Ah, phew, its waiting for me. Lets start from the beginning. First was that Resistance has failed message. It appeared when the guy the system called [Count de Habiland] or whatever used [Charm], [Control], and [Subordinate]. Blanc didnt know any specifics, but she did glean that they were skills of some kind. Considering the zombies that were servants and the fact that he was sitting on a throne in the middle of this old castle, this count guy was probably a vampire or something like it. And now Blanc was under the effects of the vampires Charm and Control. Or rather, she failed to resist them. Because of that, she couldnt move her body and was about to be tamed or whatever. Next was the You may now reincarnate line. Squire Zombie must be those things she roasted back out in the hallway. She didnt know what the reincarnate system was, but if she were to accept it, apparently she would end up turning into the same type of zombie. Hold up now, she was not on board with that. Last was the tame part. She also didnt know anything about a tame system, but logically speaking, it sounded like the duke would be able to order Blanc around. Apparently, NPCs could control players? No wait, the system deferred it, so it was ultimately up to the player to allow it to happen. NPCs couldnt receive system messages, so if she had been an NPC, she would have gotten tamed just like that. Odd, I did not sense very much resistance, but I do not feel you bending to my power at all You truly are an intriguing skeleton. He was still talking to her, but shed come back to that later. The part that interested her was how reincarnate into a servant and serve someone came in separate messages. Normally, youd think they meant the same thing. If the system worked exactly as described in the messages, the implication was that even if she accepted the reincarnation into a servant, she would still be able to refuse the tame part. After letting her body change, she would be able to escape before her mind changed as well. Wow, thats just like the first Masked Biker[2]. But comparing this to Masked Biker, there were some inconsistencies. It was a legendary Japanese live-action TV show that was still spoken of today, but that main characters strategy wouldnt workit was impossible to lead a normal life. Which is one of the lines that everyone wants to say at least once in their life. Blanc was conflicted. Fortunately, the count was patiently waiting while still mumbling to himself. She was not unhappy with being a skeleton at all. She had beautiful white skin, after all. She also never had to worry about her weight. If she had to complain about something, she had a hard time controlling her expressions (since she was just a skeleton), her head always felt light (physically speaking), her boobs were small or literally nonexistent. And she instantly died whenever she met any ants. Thats weird, she actually had a lot of problems as a skeleton. All that said, she was still highly opposed to becoming a zombie. It was nice that they seemed more human-like than a skeleton did, but she had no desire to become more human. If she had wanted it, she would have just picked the human race from the start. But its really just, I want to get a makeover. Wait, no. thats not it. I want to try reincarnating. In the end, Blanc decided to accept the reincarnation. And of course, she rejected the tamed part. <> Wait, Revenant? As long as it wasnt a zombie, then anything was fine. What Blanc was focused on was the makeover part, not the becoming a zombie part. <> Waaaaaiiitaminute!!! <> Being a player is super convenient! Lesser vampire. In other words, something like the count sitting in front of her. The lesser part probably meant it was somewhat inferior to the count, but that was still better than being a servant or a dead body. She might not be able to go out into the sun, and she might become weak to garlic. But, shed never actually seen the sun in this game anyway. And she already didnt like garlic, so she effectively saw no downsides. Blanc had earned a bunch of experience from those zombies, so she spent half of it to reincarnate into a lesser vampire. [1]: This is one of those things where it has Japanese characters that say one thing but theres a reading above that says something different. In this case, the kanji translate to vampires servant while the reading is Squire Zombie. [2]: Pretty sure this is a reference to Kamen/Masked Rider. CH 30 To all players: Thank you for playing [Boot Hour, Shoot Curse]. Server maintenance prior to the official launch began today at 12:00 AM, and it has now concluded as of 11:00 PM. With the conclusion of maintenance, the game version has been updated to 1.01. The official service will begin tomorrow at 10:00 AM. With the official launch, a subscription will now be required to access the servers. After logging in for the first time after maintenance, please be aware that you will need to agree to the updated [User License Agreement], [Service License Agreement], and [Privacy Policy]. Here are the gameplay changes that will be included with the start of official service: Some spawn locations for some races were deemed too difficult. The available random spawn locations have been adjusted so that new players are presented with a suitable degree of difficulty. Starting spawn locations were found to be overly biased based on the population of the nearest city. It has come to our attention that some of the game systems did not receive sufficient explanation. There have been questions regarding a countrys use of the skill [Subordinate]; certain Non-Player Characters, such as nobles, have access to [Subordinate]. Allowing yourself to be influenced by this skill in the system allows you to join groups such as [Knight Orders]. Based on the nature of this influence, it is possible to unlock new skills and/or [Reincarnate]. EXAMPLE: A human character is subordinated by a vampire character. The human may now reincarnate into a Squire Zombie. By fulfilling specific conditions, characters in the game can trigger specific events which allow their current race to be changed. [Reincarnate] may also require experience points. Characters affected by [Subordinate] no longer have a respawn timer after dying. After revival eligibility has expired, they will automatically respawn. In addition, [Subordinated] characters are unable to earn their own experience points. All experience points earned by [Subordinated] characters are controlled by the subordinating character; please speak with that character to request that experience points be spent on your character. On the Customer Support page, navigate to the [Comments / Requests] form, select the category [In-Game Requests] and subcategory [Remove Subordinate Status], and include the details about the removal request in the description. We hope you continue to enjoy your time in [Boot Hour, Shoot Curse]! To all players: Thank you for playing [Boot Hour, Shoot Curse]. To celebrate the official launch of the game, a server-wide event is currently in development. The event will begin two weeks after the official launch at 8:00 PM and last for 2 hours. For this event, time in the game will be provisionally accelerated; players will experience 48 hours during the 2-hour timespan of the event. Players cannot join the event partway through. Players who retire from the event early will not be able to rejoin. Players who wish to participate in the event will be required to sign a new license agreement. Underage players who wish to participate in the event will need the consent of a legal guardian of age. More information about the event will be announced on the official website at a later date. We hope you continue to enjoy your time in [Boot Hour, Shoot Curse]! CH 31 It was finally time for the full release. Today was Waynes payday. It was also the day before a holiday, so hed have three days off again. As someone who started playing during the open beta, he didnt need to worry about the glut of new players; all the ones starting after the official launch would have to compete against each other for all three days of his vacation, or two days for those who didnt start until tomorrow. Yo Wayne, been waitin long? No, I just got here too, Rare. Two days ago, he met the player Rare, and they promised to explore the forest together on the day of the official launch, today. However, Rare still had the starting armor, so first they had to upgrade it otherwise itd be too dangerous. Fortunately, Wayne had been able to scrape together enough money for a hatchet and an overcoat, and Rare also hunted enough rabbits to afford new armor and her own overcoat. It helped that the cost of Rabbit Leather was down, too. Since rabbits were also sold for their meat, even if the market was oversaturated with leather, the price per head wouldnt drop all that much, which was great for beginners. They only had Waynes hatchet between the two of them, but since they didnt have any more people joining them, as long as Wayne took the lead, it should be fine. Part of him also wanted to look good in front of this newer player. Since gaming was a special activity for Rare, it seemed she enjoyed the roleplaying aspect a lot. To that end, they didnt really talk about being players, pretending they were residents here, both with each other and with the NPCs. The games NPCsor the residents of this worldbeing what they were, Wayne wasnt opposed to acting the part. In spite of that, she had a friend who was playing separately, as occasionally she would clearly be using friend chat to talk to them. He wondered why they didnt play together, since they could friend each other in advance during account creation, before character creation, which would let them spawn together, but they hadnt known that. When Wayne told the friend this via chat one time, it was comical how shocked they were to find out about it. What an innocent person. Wayne thought about adding Rare to his friend list, but he wasnt sure if she trusted him yet, so it was hard for him to ask. That was how things were in this day and age: Even in VR games, it was dangerous to formally connect with people using the system unless you trusted them. In the real world, the criminalization of stalking had finally begun being enforced in earnest, but it was still hard to build a case for victims of VR stalking. Friending someone in a game could be used as a pretext for stalking. But of course, Wayne had no interest in stalking. He had also spent time messing with his appearance in the character creator until it matched with the [Handsome] characteristic. As far as he could tell, Rares appearance looked completely natural. That said, it also didnt feel like she had done a full scan and just kept the default face. If you were to spend the time changing your face, most players would opt to be attractive, and those who didnt would usually just take the default that was generated from the full scan. If she had changed anything, it surely must have been her hair color. This vivid red-brown didnt exist in the real world, and no one would ever willingly dye it that color either. Though that might just be Waynes preferences talking. While his characters looks werent bad by any means, Wayne was starting to have regrets over the way he designed it. Perhaps it wouldve been better if he had also brazenly started with the game avatar based on his real self. If he had, maybe he would also be able to confidently ask Rare to be friends. Overcoats and leather armor were both sold at leathercrafting shops. Wayne brought Rare to the one that sold the Rabbit Leather Armor he had bought for himself. There were a number of other players here too who had just started the game. This was probably due to the updated starting spawn location algorithm described in the recent announcement. He had happened to meet Rare and teamed up with her, but if not for that change to starting spawns, things would have become more and more difficult as time went on. This games world was massive, so even if he wanted to go to another city to find people to group with, it would take some days to travel in game time. It was kind of odd to realize that it only took about a day in real-world time. It wasnt something he could just decide to do on a whim. Anyway, Wayne thought it was good that more players were joining the server. That way, if a large-scale quest did get announced, there was a higher chance that it would be completed successfully. By the way, Rare. Did you hear that they officially announced a server-wide event? Ah, umm Yeah, now that you mention it, I did get that notice, Rare replied after thinking for a second. He had a hunch that she hadnt actually seen it and had just used friend chat to check. For a second, a murky feeling of jealousy for Rares friend surged up, but the way she tried to cover it up in case he noticed was endearing, so the feeling dispersed soon after. Her friend was apparently female, too. What kind of event will it be? Wayne wondered. I think itd be pretty hard for all the players scattered across the continent to participate, so I wonder what the developers have planned exactly. Are you gonna check it out, Rare? Well Its just, I might not know until the day of, maybe. You cant join in the middle, and youre stuck if you drop out after it starts, right? I think itll depend on how I feel that day Im not too sure right now. I see This is just an idea, but Uh, do you want to try doing the event together? Of course, if your friend can join us too, itd be fun to form a group together. Ah, yeah, if it looks like Ill join, would that be okay? Ill tell my friend too. After that, they bought two overcoats and Rares Rabbit Leather Armor from the leathercrafting shop, then left the city. This time, the guard at the gate didnt stop them. Perhaps it was because their new equipment gave them the look of qualified sellswords, or perhaps it was because they were a party of two. Wayne entered the forest at the same spot as the last time and hacked away the vines and brush, clearing the way for Rare. Even though it was the middle of the day, the forest was dark and gloomy, and visibility was poor. They shouldnt have entered into monster territory yet, but he didnt know exactly where the boundary was anyway. You havent been over this way yet, right Rare? Ah, mm, yeah. Never been here before. It must have been hard for her to hike in the woods; Rare seemed distracted when she responded. I think itll be more efficient to grind XP here compared to hunting more rabbits back at that prairie. Plus the people in the city dont seem to come here at all, so any materials we gather could sell for a lot. Hed never seen Rare fight, so he wasnt sure what style she used, but judging by appearances she seemed to be some kind of warrior. Beastkin did make for good warriors, after all; they were nimble, and they had more power and stamina than humans did. On the other hand, their compatibility with magic was much lower. It would have been better for Rare to take the lead while Wayne used magic for support. If he saw an encounter where it made sense for him to join the frontline, then he could. Normally, a mage knight build like Waynes tended to be a jack of all trades, but where they really shined was in their versatility to adapt to different situations based on the condition of their allies and enemies. It was hard to tell how long or far they had walked over the course of traversing this forest, but according to the system clock it had been one hour. They had traveled about as far as they had originally planned, and they should now be getting close to monster territory. They hadnt encountered any monsters yet, but the probability of it happening would be very high from here on out. We should start seeing monsters soon. Be on guard. Aah, yer right. Soon, huh. Got it. They kept walking forward cautiously, vigilantly watching their surroundings. Before long, it seemed that something else was stepping in the brushwood aside from the two of them. Stop; somethings here. A giant ant appeared before them, coming out from a thicket. Giant was only insofar as they compared to real ants, though; this was barely shorter than Waynes knees. Rare doesnt seem to have any physiological aversion to giant insects, Wayne thought when he looked over his shoulder and saw her calm expression as she faced the ant. It must be because she was following Waynes instructions diligently and had kept her guard up. Or maybe she was used to seeing giant bugs from some other game. Insect monsters usually came in large numbers, so many games liked to use them as trash mobs. Rare, can you take point? If so, then Ill support you with magic! Yeah, Im good! Saying so, Rare unsheathed her short sword and lunged at the ant. Her movements felt awkward to him for some reason, but, perhaps due to her beastkin stats, she quickly closed in on the ant. The ant tried to dodge but didnt make it in time, losing a leg from the failure. It was unable to stay upright. All right, [Flare Arrow]! Waynes spell hit the ant, burning it to cinders in a flash. He cast it as support, but it ended up basically doing all the work of defeating the ant. However, because of Rares single attack, she probably also earned some XP. After checking how much XP he earned, Wayne concluded that it was a little more than he got from grinding rabbits solo. So thats magic, huh? Sure packs a punch. Yeah, well, you know. But we dont get any materials, so next time we should try to defeat them with our swords if we can. Got it. After that, they kept hunting ants right up until they had planned to head back. By the time they got back to the city, the sun was just about to set. The next day, Rare had plans or something came up, he wasnt sure, but after they sold their materials at the sellsword guild, they split up. If Rare didnt appear at the guild the next in-game morning, then Wayne would go back to soloing. CH 32 Makes sense; if my followers kill Sugarus, they get nothing, even if they shouldve normally gotten XP from it. Looks like we really cant break the game that way, Rare muttered to herself while watching Kerry fight an Engineer Ant. Next to her, Sugaru nodded, noting that shed never tried having her followers attack each other. As a result of reconstructing the ant caverns, they had made a new [Queens Chambers], which was where Rare observed Kerrys battle. Not counting the day of maintenance, it had been about one week in the real world. During that time, Rare had expanded her territory to include nearly all of the great forest that was considered monster territory, which surrounded the cave. Aside from some groups of monsters set aside for supplies and provisions and a goblin village that was left alone to be used to farm XP, nothing that lived in the forest dared defy the rule of Rares group. After conquering the great forest, Rare had set her home base to an area near its center. While it was all under her control, it seemed she couldnt set the entire cavern system as her home, so only the queens chamber and the rooms around it were considered her private area. In the process of expanding the underground ant nest to encompass the entire area of the forest, they accidentally stumbled onto a mine that was on the edge of monster territory, where they ran into human NPCs. Since it was so close to their territory and gave them access to mineral resources, they went ahead and conquered it anyway. In addition, around the underground edges of the forest, they were producing peat alongside a water vein, and they had also found coal. The ants were able to easily procure underground resources without needing to perform open-pit mining, and if they could use the coal to refine iron ore, then their supply of metals would improve dramatically. Rare had Remy learn [Blacksmith] skills, and right now a forge was being constructed in one corner of the nest in order to start producing metal equipment. A number of the Engineer Ants, who wouldnt see much combat, were taught the [Blacksmith], [Leathercraft], and [Clothcraft] skills, then assigned under Remys command with the ultimate goal of mass production. With the great forest under their control, they started eyeing the prairie. Ant tunnels extended deep underneath the area, and exit holes were dug for the ants to observe the zone. Using these, they could spy on the people there. The ants were under strict order not to let anyone catch sight of them, but they were allowed to hunt rabbits as long as they stayed within a certain limited range of the exits. If the human side were to consider them a threat, the country could decide to invade the prairie and the great forest, which would not be good at all. On the few occasions when they were accidentally seen, the witnesses were unable to defeat a group of five ants working together, so they were quickly turned into XP for Rare. It seemed that humanoids were worth a bit more XP than monsters of the same level; this was the same as in the closed beta. It was probably because their items and equipment counted toward their combat capability. Thinking only in terms of XP efficiency, they made for wonderful prey. The most efficient course of action would be to farm players, who come back to life, but they hadnt found any yet in the area they monitored. If the number of players increased with the official launch, she would have to keep tabs on the changes in their population while they regularly farmed those players. If a squad were unable to defeat someone, then, while that squads ants were being killed, things were arranged so that other nearby squads could come and continue the fight. Even if they could manage to beat a single squad, apparently no one could possibly beat a full platoon consisting of several squads. Since this was a starting town, that much was obvious. On another note, they found out the reason ant corpses would disappear. Apparently, they automatically respawned after about an hour. Sugaru wasnt interested in keeping track of all her ants so she never noticed, but once Rare started managing them she instantly noticed it. At the time, she wasnt sure if this was a special ant trait or what, but the official news the other day revealed all the details about how [Subordinated] followers worked. She thought that in the worst case, she would have to use [Summon] to facilitate an escape, but apparently even that wasnt necessary. In order to gain full control of the great forest and the prairie, Rares side needed to increase their influx of XP by an order of magnitude. She initially wanted to use their XP to fuel the growth of her followers and all the ants, but after discussing it with Sugaru, that plan was scrapped. The first step would still go as originally planned: having both Rare and Sugaru learn the [Enhance Follower] skills. Since the [Enhance Follower] bonus was based on the masters stats, the next step was to raise Rares stats. For followers where it made sense to raise stats individually, she would do so. Finally, raise Sugarus stats. Right now, even an infantry ant would be pretty difficult for a new player to defeat. For the engineers, whose stats werent suitable for combat, using magic their enemies were weak to allowed them to win with ease. What was great about [Enhance Follower] was that XP could all be spent on the master; there was no need to use any on the followers themselves. Leaning on this system, enhanced followers could challenge somewhat stronger enemies and be nearly evenly matched. The ants that were working to secure the great forest and the prairie were squads made up of mostly infantry that didnt have any XP spent on them. By the systems calculations, though, they were always disadvantaged in battle, so they were able to earn a lot of XP. In all likelihood, Sugaru probably would have done the same thing if Rare hadnt interfered. Of course, Rares methods were much more efficient, but all the same she would have been earning abnormal amounts of XP. After all, this cave and the great forest were supposed to eventually become the [Vespoid Queendom]. In other words, Sugaru wasnt a fledgling unique boss, but a fledgling raid boss. She had discovered a new skill that supported this theory. Sugarus [Haplodiploidy] tree now had an entry for [Flying Soldier]. This skill had been unlocked after Sugaru learned [Wind Magic]. Originally, Sugaru could not learn any magic-related skills. However, opposite of how it was for Rare and other humanoid races, learning [Enhance Follower: AGI] had unlocked the ability for her to learn magic. While Rare had been planning to prioritize the other [Enhance Follower] skills since she didnt want Sugaru to participate in battles directly, since having her learn [Wind Magic] unlocked [Flying Soldier], she decided to investigate further. [Wind Magic] unlocked [Flying Soldier], which produced [Soldier Vespoid]. They were giant wasps. Since the trees were so dense in the outer parts of the great forest, they were forced to fly up in the sky, but in the deeper parts with more room they showed off some amazing footwork and offensive ability. They cost quite a bit to produce, but once their stats went up, their LP and MP also rapidly increased, so Sugaru used them as her regular infantry now. [Fire Magic] unlocked [Shock Trooper], which produced [Assault Ants]. These looked similar to fire ants, and they sprayed not venom or acid but fire from their abdomens. Compared to real-world flamethrowers, they had superior range and firepower. What they did was ignite a highly combustible liquid, so even after shooting at a target, the fire would remain for some time. This was a dangerous ability to use in the forest, so while they got produced, they normally stayed in the nest and helped the engineers out. The ones who were assigned to active squads were also under strict orders to never use their flamethrowers without seeking and getting approval first. [Lighting Magic] unlocked [Sniper], which produced [Sniper Ants]. In the real world, snipers werent a separate branch of the military, they were just specialized infantry, but here, infantry ants couldnt learn sniping skills, so they were considered separate units. Compared to regular infantry, they had longer feelers; skinnier bodies; and their stingers were different as well: they were straight, long, and narrow like a gun barrel. Snipers also bent their abdomens up over their thoraxes in order to snipe targets, visually similar to scorpions. When she analyzed one of the shells they fired, after melting the hard covering with acid, inside was some kind of incredibly hard substance that felt almost like metal. Maybe they used [Lightning Magic] to fire them off like railguns. When sniping, they made hardly any noise at all; what fearsome assassins. [Earth Magic] unlocked [Artillery]. Compared to snipers, the [Artillery Ant]s range was shorter and its reload time was longer, but a single one was capable of area suppressive fire at range. By appearances, they looked like fat snipers. Their shells were, simply put, highly explosive, but they could also fire ones that wouldnt explode; they had the potential to turn the tide in both small-group and siege warfare. Not that she had seen them in action in either scenario yet. [Ice Magic] unlocked [Scout], giving birth to [Scout Ants]. Once again, conventional thinking would lead one to believe they were the same thing as infantry, but apparently they also served in communications; scout ants could send and receive messages directly to and from other scout ants. However, all the squad leaders were already registered as friends with Sugaru, so the need for a specialized communications unit was low. However, one was still included in every squad as traditional scouts with high stealth capabilities. [Water Magic] unlocked [Suppliers]. The resulting [Transporter Ants] were unfortunately the most obsolete. The Infantry Ants already had enough INT from [Enhance Follower] to use their inventories. The entire concept of supply trains was null and void. For testing purposes, a small number were produced, but they were all assigned to mind the nest. With Sugarus current strength, if she were to produce a huge number of these ants, the human countries would be torn apart like paper. The strength and variety of mobs guarding the way to the raid boss were no joke. And since she learned a ton of magic, Sugaru herself was powerful enough to be a fearsome mage-type boss. Or rather, that was the kind of force Rare was raising under her. Rare was watching Kerry do her best to go easy on an Engineer Ant, pulling her punches as they fought each other, as usual. Indeed, Rare was currently watching through Kerrys eyes. CH 33 After learning all the elemental magic types for the [Enhance Follower] skills and boosting all her stats, Rare had more XP than she knew what to do with and was thinking about how to spend it. She could just keep dumping it into her stats, but that could be done at any time. It would be better to only increase stats based on what was needed at the moment and instead improve her countermeasures for others skills. That said, she didnt feel like investing in weapon skills. Not only was Rare not planning to ever participate in close-quarters combat, but also weapon skills would be taken by regular players already, so there would be buzz on social media about any skills that were especially good. She could just wait to learn them until after that information spread. She was also reluctant to get any more crafting skills. The engineers were already constructing a factory, but Rare had no confidence in her own creativity. And good tools required good design. So what Rare decided to learn was a type of magic she hadnt yet: [Space Magic]. This element of magic required [Enchantment Magic], [Wind Magic], and [Earth Magic] to unlock. These requirements were discovered during the closed beta, so a lot of players probably had it already. This type of magic was powerless on its own; the skills in its tree assisted other types of magic. It was similar to the way [Bind Soul] improved [Summon]. With the [Space Magic] spell [Perceive Coordinates], you could change the casting location for spells. When mastered, you could be face to face with an enemy and cast a [Flare Arrow] behind them and have it hit them in the back. However, this didnt affect the spells power at all. While it was incredibly useful to use for surprise attacks and bluffs, there were also a lot of conditions in order to learn it. If you really had all the XP to learn it, youd be better off directly improving your combat strength. Since most players thought this way, [Space Magic] tended to get a bad rap. [Perceive Coordinates] was also limited to your own perspective, so in general you were limited to your own field of view. To start, Rare wanted to test stuff like whether the [Summon] location could be moved to a specified position. She had already learned all the prerequisite skills, so she only had to pay for the cost of learning [Space Magic] itself. Since Rare had already acquired quite a number of skills and fulfilled a lot of conditions, she was excited to see if she unlocked anything in the [Space Magic] tree beyond [Perceive Coordinates], but nothing new appeared. As she hoped, it was possible to designate the [Summon] location, but it really was dependent on her own limited vision. Since Rares vision was bad, even though it was a magic skill, she couldnt really use [Perceive Coordinates] to its full potential. She started to think this was a wasted purchase, but then she realized that, conversely, [Space Magic] itself could have fulfilled some prerequisites for other skills, so she decided to check her other skill trees. [Discipline] had a new entry called [Perceive Follower]. This skill informed her of her followers coordinates, where they were at the time. Based on the skill name and the effect, there was no question that the unlock condition was [Perceive Coordinates]. After learning it, she checked all her other skill trees again. All this checking and rechecking brought back that feeling of excitement she had during the first day of the open beta. The next tree she checked, [Summon], had a new skill available called [Summon Vision]. This skill allowed her to summon just the vision of a follower she was tracking via [Perceive Follower]; by closing her eyes, she could jack into that followers eyes. She could not even begin to express how useful this skill was. For example, with a bird-type monster tamed, a commander would be able to perform reconnaissance themselves. What was even better, since she saw through her followers eyes, her own bad eyesight never came into play. When she originally took Poor Eyesight, she thought she would someday have to find a method to cover for it, but out of nowhere she had already solved that problem. So Rare had gotten Kerry the [Enhanced Vision] and [Enhanced Hearing] skills then dispatched her as a sellsword to gather information about nearby cities. Being able to watch live through Kerrys eyes meant she could immediately give orders whenever a quick decision was necessary. The [Enhanced Hearing] was since Rare also learned [Summon Hearing], which got unlocked after she took [Summon Vision]. When she had Kerry go to the city near the great forest, she had Kerry call herself Rare. Since Kerry could use the inventory, if someone saw her doing it, then information about NPCs being able to use it would get out. Instead of letting that happen, Rare thought itd be better for her to pretend she was a player instead. She didnt know if there was a player also named Kerry, but it would be problematic if there were and it turned out there wasnt a way to hide your name in this game. However, if Kerry went by Rare instead, she knew she herself wasnt going to suddenly appear out of nowhere, so it would be fine. Regardless of whether or not names could be hidden, Rare was the safest alias either way. To avoid inviting suspicion while pretending to be a player, she had to make-up an explanation of what players were for Kerry and the other girls. Something like how players were from a world connected to this one, and while they slept here they had separate lives in the other world. Because of this, it was possible for players to share information with one another regardless of where they were or how far apart they were. When they used terms like developers and official whatever, that referred to divine intervention that players were convinced existed but they held no particular reverence toward. Rare was honestly quite proud of the story she concocted. Since it would be unusual for players at this stage in the game to have gear like Kerrys, worn out leather armor fit for thieves or bandits, Rare took off her own starting equipment and had her use it. Kerry stored her own armor in her inventory while Riley went to town to buy some secondhand clothes for Rare to wear. They cost a pretty penny; going by the design, they were probably nobles clothing. Right now, some of the ants were making new clothes using these used clothes as reference. In order to focus on gathering information in town, Kerry was told to just pick simple, random requests to fulfill, but if she were to run into another player, she should call out to them first before her cover was blown. Even if some of the things Kerry said were inconsistent, if she were to explain it away as roleplaying, she should be able to play dumb. Rare had pretended to be an NPC before, and there were surely other players who had tried to do so as well, but it was unlikely that the opposite were true, for an NPC to pretend to be a player. That should mean it was very unlikely that Kerry would get exposed. After getting whatever was unlocked in the [Necromancy] tree, the other summon sense skills aside from vision and hearing, and whatever those sense skills unlocked, Rare would stop learning new skills for the time being. What she needed for now she more or less already had, and she wanted to be more efficient with her XP spending. Looking ahead, she also had to consider having Sugaru unlock the [Summon]-type skills, but otherwise it was better to refrain from unnecessary spending. Rares most pressing objective was to get her hands on a new follower capable of flight for extended periods of time. Ideally, this unit would also have the [Night Vision] skill or an innate characteristic that provided a similar effect. For aerial combat, there were the Soldier Vespas, but they were Sugarus followers, so Rare couldnt summon their vision for herself. The most promising candidate was the owl-type monster in the great forest, but compared to the Solder Vespas, they werent very powerful. They wouldnt be bad for scouting, but she really wanted something that could fly long distances to gather information from far away locales. Owls wouldnt be able to take on such missions. Something that could operate for a long time outside of forests, ideally with night vision, that doesnt stand out and can hold its own in battle It would sure be nice if there were conveniently a monster that checked all those boxes. CH 34 While Kerry scouted out the city, Riley patrolled the great forest. There shouldnt be any monster in the forest that Rares group wasnt aware of, so while they had their pick of owl monsters, Riley was told that if she saw any other flying monster that seemed strong, she should bring it back unharmed. Whenever it didnt seem necessary to jack into Kerrys vision, Rare would instead jack into Rileys to observe what was going on in the forest. Rare used the queens chambers to do this, where she, naturally, sat on a throne. After having the engineers process a rock into the vague shape of a throne, she spread a bunch of pelts from large monsters theyd hunted over it until it wasnt uncomfortable to sit on anymore. The seat portion was rounded while the back portion leaned back slightly, which helped distribute body weight since there was more contact with the thrones surface area. It was modeled after the drivers seat in a car from yesteryear to be comfortable even when used for long periods of time. Recently, she had even been simply sleeping on the throne whenever she logged out. Right next to the throne was Sugarus bed, which was basically where she produced ants. As soon as they were born, they were taught how to access their inventories, as well as friend chat if they were commanders, then assigned to squads. In general, as ant nests grew, they would expand their living areas. That meant they had to obtain more supplies in order to support all the ants in the nest. As far as Rares group went, since they didnt have any larvae or pupae, it was easier to manage than real ants would be, but that also meant that as the scale of their operations increased, they had to turn the entire area of the great forest into their hunting grounds in order to keep up with the number of mouths to feed. That was why they had aggressively taken over the forest. Since they were managing it like a giant farm, some of the monsters and wild animals were actually more populous than before. Then again, those monsters probably didnt realize that they were being raised in that manner. While she was jacked into Rileys vision and hearing and vicariously enjoying her exploration of the forest, Kerry contacted her via friend chat. After her normal vision and hearing returned, she saw that Kerry was back in the queens chamber. She was wearing a full set of Rabbit Leather Armor. Haha, whats with that armor? Nah, it doesnt look weird. You do look like a proper sellsword, at least. Im so sorry. I used our funds to buy this crummy armor Well, you earned the money yourself while blending in, didnt you? You say our funds, but I dont really mind at all. In the first place, we dont really need that much money anyway. As long as we have one high-quality sample, we can now use it to produce our own better version. Rares group had taken over the mine that supplied the citys metal stores; the same was true for fuel and raw materials like coal and lumber. The great forest was also the only place where monsters could be hunted for high-quality pelts, and silk from caterpillar-type monsters could be gathered. With a sample in hand, it was actually harder for them to produce an inferior copy compared to what was sold in the city. They did allow the citys lumberjacks to cut down trees on the edge of the forest. Due to that, Rares subordinates and the monsters being raised never appeared there, so the citizens probably considered that area the edge of monster territory. In any case, trees with lower-quality wood grew dense all around the edges, and even if they chopped down enough wood to supply the entire city, all the trees would grow back in about ten days. Because of this irregular growth cycle, the city could never process all the felled trees fast enough, which might explain the formation of peat and coal layers underground. Boss, as you heard, theres a server-wided event or something, but Ahh, thats right What should we do about that? Kerry and uh that Wayne player were talking about it, and Rare was also interested in the event. In games like these, events were usually very involved, so she wondered where exactly theyd hold it and how it would operate. She first needed to learn more details before she could decide whether to participate or not. Plus, either way, Rare herself would probably be disinclined to make an appearance. Since they had the opportunity, she wanted to have Kerry join in, as Wayne suggested, but she wasnt sure if that was even possible in the first place. Anyway, I need to check the official site for news That was from Riley. Kinda weird was way too vague to use in a report, but Riley wouldnt have said anything unless it was important. Riley herself didnt sound so sure of the situation. Based on her report, it could have possibly been her mistake in judgment. Rare looked at Sugaru sitting next to her. She had instructed Sugaru to get updates from the same area, and the ants accompanying Riley should have given a similar report. However, they apparently didnt have anything notable to say since she was shaking her head. However, they had near complete control of the forest, and in the central region where Rileys group was at present, the ants surveillance net should have been able to catch any possible intruders. There were ants monitoring land routes, the air space, and the underground. Sugaru messaged in a panic. Bones? Do you mean skeletons? What do you mean by suddenly? Any losses? She wasnt sure how to interpret that. W-18 was just east of the center of the forest. Sugaru said they were near the goblin farm, but was there anything else in that area? Thinking on it further, it would be faster to just have someone verify the situation. Luckily, Rileys group was close. She could jack into Rileys vision and hearing. Sugaru, is there any particular reason this army would be attracted to the goblin farm? Weapons? Ahh, I remember now, they did have some rusty swords This being a game, nothing felt off about it, and goblins werent strong enough to crack the ants carapaces, so I didnt pay it much mind. But the operative question is, where did they get them? The patrols stayed away from the farms since the goblins seemed to reproduce much more slowly when they were also worried about the ants, but Rares group should have investigated the area more thoroughly. The underground tunnels also extended below the farms, but if the engineers never mentioned it, that meant all this equipment was probably buried near the surface. The reason Sugaru would not have reported it was probably because even if they excavated all the weapons and armor, they were inferior to what Rares group could produce themselves, so there was no point in bothering with them. It seemed she wasnt concerned about farm livestock playing around with trash. Its true; even if she had brought up the topic, without an irregular scenario like what was happening now, Rare also wouldnt have thought it worthy of attention. Well, its fine. If there are a bunch of forgotten armaments buried somewhere, that means it would stand to reason that the original owners of said armaments are probably buried nearby. We may not know exactly who they are, but I believe I know what they are. Ill wait for Rileys report to confirm before I make an appearance. If theyre really undead, though, then I should be the most suitable person to be the host. This would be a great opportunity to try out that new [Necromancy] skill. [1]: The original chapter title is Ӥĥκgʡ which translates more literally to An easy XXX for not just polishing a chair with your butt. This could be a reference to a line by Arbeo Pippiniden in Mobile Suit Victory Gundam, but it basically makes sense on its own so Im not sure if its intended to be a reference. CH 35 Based on Rileys investigation, the bone army had sprung up from something like an armory near the goblin farm. For the sake of convenience, lets just call it a cemetery. All right, Ill go. Sugaru, you stay here. Kerry, why dont you come along too? Yes, Boss. Rare walked through the caves accompanied by Kerry. When the ants had extended the tunnels to connect the great forest to the prairie, they enlarged them for humanoid races to be able to walk comfortably. These underground routes had handrails installed and, since there were no lights at all, they made traveling along them very safe once you got used to them. She eventually wanted to install some lights, but right now she didnt know of any light sources that didnt use fire. Since the ants navigated the underground tunnels using their feelers, the only ones who needed light were Rare and the four catkin girls, so she would put off the thought for later. While proceeding down the tunnel, Rare touched base with Riley, then instructed Sugaru to send infantry to keep the enemy confined to the area around the cemetery. Their destination wasnt that far away from the queens chamber. Rare and Kerry would soon arrive beneath it, after which they would head for the door leading to the surface so they could meet up with Riley. Emerging into the cemetery, there was indeed a large army of bone-type enemies there. However, she couldnt tell skeletons apart from any other kinds of monsters at a glance. Part of the army was outside the cemetery but being harried by ants, while the rest of it inside the cemetery was being constrained by other ants from spreading out. How convenient. All right, Ill just go ahead and try it out now. [Necromantic Barrier]. When Rare activated [Necromantic Barrier], a glistening-black hemispherical magic circle appeared over the area. The arcane construction completely engulfed the entire cemetery, as she wanted. All the skeletons inside the magic circle froze on the spot, then turned as one to face Rare, the caster. Necromantic Barrier Create a barrier at a designated area. All corpses within the barrier are turned into undead under your control. If there are any hostile undead inside the barrier, the barrier casts [Control] on them for no cost. Each undead may individually resist. Your MP is consumed while the barrier is active. If the barrier is canceled or you do not have enough MP to maintain the barrier, any [Control] effects generated by the barrier are canceled. This new skill was unlocked after learning [Spatial Awareness] in the [Space Magic] tree. Ignoring the conditions for unlocking [Spatial Awareness], it was essentially an area-of-effect composite of [Necromancy], [Bind Soul], and [Control]. It drained her MP like crazy, but if she wanted to suppress large groups of enemies, this would handle any weak undead. Since the barrier also raised any corpses, other enemy undead wouldnt appear later, and any undead enemies that resisted the [Control] were easy to identify. Rare ordered the undead under her control line up and leave the cemetery. At the same time, she ordered Sugaru to have her artillery destroy all those undead. It would be faster to burn them all to ashes with flamethrowers, but that wasnt a good idea here in the forest. The only enemy that remained in the cemetery was a larger skeleton wearing battered decorative armor; it was probably quite extravagant long ago. This was the only monster that couldnt be controlled. Since maintaining the barrier was a waste of MP at this point, after confirming that the controlled undead were mostly destroyed, Rare canceled the [Necromantic Barrier]. That last skeleton appeared to be trying to moan something. It wasnt speaking with human words, but, possibly due to [Necromancy] or some other skill, the system allowed Rare to somehow understand what it was trying to say. About how it would never forgive the countrys founders, who had sent them to this forest to be massacred. According to the skeleton, they were a countrys knight order. She had no idea which country it meant, but maybe it was whichever country the closest city belonged to, the one Kerry was operating in. Based on what the player Wayne said, that country would be [Hiers]. However, it seemed this guess was incorrect. The skeleton didnt have a good grasp on time, and it couldnt tell how long ago it had died, so in all likelihood this country had already perished. It said that there was only one country on the entire continent at the time, so clearly it was not any of the current six countries. In other words, this skeleton was a knight from a lost kingdom, and the entire knight order had perished in this forest. She had read the simple backstories describing the six countries on the official site, but there was never any mention of there being a single unified nation in the past. If what this skeleton was saying was true, then there was more history here that hadnt been officially published on the website yet. How interesting So what is your groups objective? Or I guess youre the only one left. Ah, my apologies, but your subordinates were just now demolished. I dont wish to continue hostilities, but your desires may clash with mine. Let me first hear what you want. The skeleton appeared to want vengeance for his men, but this wasnt directed at Rare. The way he saw it, the entire knight order, including he himself, had already been laid to rest in this cemetery. For some unknown reason, they were all reanimated, but this one skeleton was the only one to regain his sense of self, and he wanted to let his comrades sleep peacefully here. Therefore, the targets of his revenge were those who murdered his order, which was tasked with protecting the country; those who let that past country rot; those who divvied up the country among themselves; those shameless, pretentious weasels who sought to rule the continentin other words, the current rulers of the six kingdoms. In all likelihood, those specific people had long since passed away, but she wasnt sure if he understood that since he seemed to jump straight to their descendants are my enemies. Well, if there were someone whose race had long lives like elves, its possible theyd know who the backbones of these countries were back then. I understand now. Im not sure if you can tell from my appearance, but Im not exactly affiliated with any of the countries. You could consider me as an outlaw of sorts. Im sort of the leader of a bandit group, and now Im also sort of the ruler of a kingdom of ants Well, you could say that Im kind of in charge of a number of organizations. The skeleton didnt appear hostile to Rare since he just quietly listened to her speak. Now, you have a number of choices before you. Lets see First, you can face defeat here at the hand of my forces. Next, you can become one of my followers. Last, you can leave this forest and go wherever you wish. While she was interested in his story, it wasnt something she absolutely had to hear from him. And if he became associated with her, she would naturally become an enemy of the human countries. Well, its not like she could say her relationship with them was currently positive anyway, so it wouldnt change much. They did take over that mine, after all. How about this? If you choose to be my follower, I could grant you more power. It would be fun to help with your revenge against the human countries as well. In return, I would have you heed my orders in other matters. She could have just forcefully used [Subordinate] on him, but it didnt hurt to occasionally play the part of a villainess and make declarations like this. This was a game, after all. It was important to enjoy yourself. <> Deas became Rares follower at the same time as she received that system announcement. His race was [Terror Knight]. His stats and skills were very good; he wasnt a raid boss, but she could probably believe that he was a somewhat strong unique boss. After the [Subordinate] succeeded, Rare did gain a small amount of XP. Considering how she barely got any for destroying all those skeletons in the fight just now, that could imply that Deas was actually pretty powerful. If Rare had stayed her hand and instead let the ants deal most of the damage, they could have earned a decent amount of XP, but the primary goal was to test out [Necromantic Barrier], so it wasnt a big deal. With such a niche skill, there were few opportunities to use it in actual combat. Having this incident occur at this timing was quite serendipitous. Leaving some ants to clean up, everyone else prepared to return to the queens chamber. If they loitered too long, the sun would begin to rise. She asked Deas what they should do with the skeletal remains and all the equipment buried in the cemetery, but the souls of his men had long since dispersed, so he said there was no point in holding any ceremonies. She didnt know what religion he observed, but if that was what he thought, then it was fine to just leave it all there. The goblins were sure to make use of it sooner or later. If what Deas said was true, then why did only he regain his ego? Why was it only his soul that remained? And if the rest of the knights souls had vanished, why did their bodies all of a sudden get reanimated as undead now of all times? But no matter how many questions she asked, she had no answers for them right now. Rare instructed Riley to continue searching for an owl-type monster, then had Kerry and Deas escort her back underground. CH 36 Ever since, Blanc would spend nights in the game grinding in the wild outside the castle. Whenever the sun was about to rise, she would return to the old castle and either logoutsleepor chat with the count. That was how she spent her time in the game. There was a day when she couldnt log in, and then the game officially launched. There werent any issues, though, since her virtual wallet was already linked to her account, so the subscription fee would be paid automatically. She barely glanced at the terms of service before agreeing to them. Back then, after reincarnating, she selfishly refused the [Subordinate], like the original Masked Biker, expecting to get beaten black and blue, but that actually left a good impression on Count Habiland. He really respected how she chose to become a Lesser Vampire under her own will and treated her as a close friend, saying that she was free to use his castle as she wished. Had you become my servant before becoming a vampire, then I would be able to control you. However, since you became a vampire as a result of your own choices, I cannot easily bend you to my will. After one of the castles guest rooms was prepared for Blancs exclusive use, she got a system message saying that room was now her personal area. To put it another way, instead of buying land and building her own house, she was renting a room from a landlord. That said, if she had the chance, shed sure love to get her own castle or country one day. Blanc just meant that she wanted her own home, but the count took it literally and laughed while saying hed point out a convenient country nearby that was ripe for destruction. Once she got stronger, she should try attacking it, stuff like that. So that country, on the official I mean, uh, I heard before that its not a rich or poor country, but its national power is very stable, or something like that Mm. It is indeed often said that it is stable. However, for both man and kingdom, stability is but a delayed decay. I see, I see I think Ive heard something like that from somewhere else, too. Even still, that country has long since become stagnant. A country whose human resources have stagnated will start to rot. Eventually, while it may or may not completely fall apart, its central pillar will certainly crack. There is already a fierce faction war taking place in the shadows, so it is simply a matter of time. Even though youre always holed up in this old castle, how do you know so much about whats going on? Old castle Well, fine. I have rats keeping tabs on them. You have spies?! Thats so cool! Nay, I mean literally Rats. I have [Subordinated] rats monitoring various organizations. Hmm Hum I think that squeaks in! Fuh hah hah! I see, it squeaks in, does it! But that sure sounds nice. Itd be so cool to have my own minions. Are you not already capable? When you reincarnated into a vampire, [Subordinate] should have become available to you within the [Discipline] group. Learn [Discipline] and see for yourself. Blanc did as he said and took [Discipline]. It cost 20 XP, but right now she had a good amount of XP saved up. Youre right! [Subordinate] showed up! If there is not a large difference in strength, then [Subordinate] by itself will not be very effective. You would do well to combine it with [Charm] and [Control] from the [Mental Magic] group. Oh, sure, that must have been the status effect combo that the count used before. It would take quite a lot of XP to get down to [Control] in the [Mental Magic] tree, but there werent any other skills she wanted at the moment, so she went ahead and got them. I learned everything up to [Control], Coach! Fuh hah hah! So I am your coach! How amusing! Now, [Control] and the other spells connected to [Mental Magic] rely mainly on mental fortitude for their effectiveness. It would therefore be prudent to train that mental fortitude. The mental fortitude that the count was talking about must refer to the MND stat. She had a feeling that the explanation for stat points had said something like this. Blanc decided to trust in the count and spend the rest of her XP on her MND. Now it was about as high as her INT was. All right! Ill head out when it gets dark and find something to [Subordinate]! Indeed. Go forth and do as you wish. If you are able to [Subordinate] a combat-capable monster, the efficiency of your training will improve. As the sun set, Blanc left the old castle and thought about what she should try to tame. Normally, she hunted zombies and skeletons in the castles vicinity. These zombies were wild ones, not the counts servants; Blanc didnt really understand how zombies could be wild, but she decided not to think too hard about it. Since she had gotten her hands on the vampire-exclusive skill [Subordinate], if she was gonna use it, she wanted to tame some kind of cool monster. Zombies were already the counts thing, so she didnt want to tame one of them. But its not like she hated zombies or anything either! For now, while killing zombies and skeletons like usual, she decided that today she would venture out further. Ever since she turned into a vampire, she raised her STR and VIT much more than when she was a skeleton, to the point where she could probably beat up a skeleton with her bare hands before being hit back even once. No one knew how little stamina skeletons had better than Blanc did. After delightfully reporting this to the count, he looked at her with pity and presented her with a stick. It was made of iron or some sort of metal, and it was way better than using her bare hands to whack things. It also assisted in casting spells; it wouldnt affect their firepower, but it did lower their cooldown times a bit. Blanc primarily used magic to deal with zombies since she didnt like getting close to them, so she was very grateful for the stick. Along with the stick, the count also gave her clothes. Apparently he couldnt stand the fact that a vampire, one of the ruling races, looked so shabby. Which referred to her starting equipment. What Blanc had on now were the counts hand-me-downs, which was a standard outfit for vampires: clothing for nobles. These were clothes that nobles would use when going hunting. Of course, the counts old clothes were for men, but since she hadnt done a full body scan during character creation and also hadnt touched the shape of her body, her current appearance was androgynous, so with mens clothes on she looked like a smaller man. Blanc was quite taken with this look, since it was different from the usual her. She didnt like the idea of actually being a different sex, but acting like a man seemed fun. That being the case, Blanc, looking for all the world like a full-fledged vampire, energetically made her way north while defeating trash mob zombies and skeletons. She chose her bearing at random, deciding not to worry about it too much. However, she was a bit concerned about her XP intake. Compared to yesterday, she was earning a lot less; killing all these monsters was barely getting her anything. Ah, its because I learned [Subordinate] and [Mental Magic] and got stronger. I think I got some kind of explanation about that before. Using those skills could make fighting easier, sure, but its not like using [Control] or whatever will let me kill these guys in one hit or anything. This must have just been bad timing. She felt like she shouldve found something she wanted to tame first before learning all these new skills. However, she was also ecstatic at getting advice from the count, so she didnt regret it either. CH 37 After traveling for a bit, right about when she could still make it back to the castle if she ran should the sun begin to rise, Blanc found a neglected cemetery. A little further ahead she could see what looked like a town, but seeing that it was completely dark, it had probably been deserted. All the residents must have moved somewhere else. Well, there are tons of zombies and stuff around, so it mustve been tough living here The cemetery was filled with zombies and skeletons, so the deserted town was probably in a similar state. Blanc started thinking it was about time she turned back. Not like Im thinking I gotta tame something today or anything At worst, I thought nabbing a skeleton would be good enough. If she were going to [Subordinate] a skeleton, she was curious about how it might compare to when the count did it to her. If it simply turned into a Squire Zombie, she would wonder why it turned out different from her. Maybe it was because she knew six different elements of magic, or because her INT was high. Was one of them the condition for Revenant, or maybe did both things fulfill the requirements for Lesser Vampire? But since she couldnt raise a skeletons INT or teach it magic before she tamed it, there wasnt an easy way to experiment. Shed need to find some way for it to reincarnate after being tamed. The count said that after he tamed me and I became a vampire, it did seem like he could control me, so lets ask him later. That being the case, then she might as well check out what was in the cemetery. Unlike out in the wild, the cemetery appeared to also have living monsters along with the undead. Like these bats that were attacking her. Wagh, that scared me! A bunch of bats swarmed her. She didnt know what they wanted; probably food. If they happened to be vampire bats, then they mustve wanted to dine on the blood of a vampire, e.g. Blancs. Blegh! Heres a [Fear]! Damn you! Be afraid! The bats fell to the ground in a flutter. Phew. Im glad that worked I think I heard somewhere that it didnt have a high success rate, but since Im a vampire and these are (probably?) vampire bats, maybe it was super effective. The bats cowered on the ground, shivering. Seeing them like that, she started to feel bad. Or actually, since starting the game, all Ive encountered are ants and undead So these are the first living mammals Ive seen These creatures might not be so bad. They were pretty vampire-y, and with this many of them, even if they were kinda weak, they should be able to defeat a zombie. If it came down to it, they could be used as a smokescreen, and best of all, they could be used as spies just like what the count did with his rats. If I remember right, bats are also known as rats with wings, so as the counts student, wed match too! Blanc went to all of the prone bats around her one by one and cast [Subordinate] on them. She left out the [Control] part, but that was because, as the count had said, there was such a big difference in power between them. The taming succeeded without a hitch. So there are nine of them in all. Their race is Desmodus? That sounds pretty metal. The bats all scampered over to crowd around Blanc. I didnt know that bats could walk! And theyre also speedier than I expected! It would be hard for them to follow her like that, so she carried them in her arms. If this were in the real world, Id have to worry about rabies and stuff, but whatever. Actually, even if something were to happen to me, Im a vampire here, so yeah. Since Blanc achieved what she set out to do, she returned to the castle. Her new followers may not have been cool or strong, but she liked that they were plentiful. Well, at least theyre pretty cute, so whatevs. All right, lets head back. Her trip back was a bit hurried, but she somehow managed to arrive at the old castle before the sun rose. Im back~! Hmm What do you have there? Are those bats? Arent they vampire-y? And theyre kinda like rats too. I cannot say if they are inherently suitable for vampires or not, but bats and rats are different races. Ehhh~ Then why were they called rats with wings? W-Well, whatever. By the way, Coach, you said that after you tamed me and I became a vampire, you felt like you could control me too, but have you ever heard of a tamed monster reincarnating into a vampire? Hmm. When special conditions are fulfilled, it is possible to have them to reincarnate by drinking a special kind of blood. Special blood? The blood of a high-ranking vampire. For example, if a Revenant were to drink my blood, it could be possible for it to reincarnate into a Lesser Vampire. I have not tested this, thus I can say no more than that. So it wouldnt work with my blood? Indeed You may need to increase your rank somewhat first. If it were for a Squire Zombie to reincarnate to a Revenant, yours may very well already be sufficient My rank It should not be too far off. See, you have already shed the [Lesser] rank. As they chatted, she checked her own status and found that it was true; she had changed from a Lesser Vampire to a Vampire. When did that happen? I imagine when you learned [Mental Magic] or [Subordinate]. Those spells command a considerable rank. In other words, earning and spending XP did the trick. But I dont get that much XP from grinding the zombies around here anymore The count thought for a moment before responding. If you take the tunnels in the cellar, you will arrive at a water vein. If memory serves, a group of lizardmen made a nest there. They should prove to be more satisfying prey than zombies. Lizardmen! So those exist too! And this castle has a cellar? You first entered this castle via the cellar, the count spat, exasperated. Well, I am sure you just got lost and somehow arrived here while trying to make your way back I shall write down simple directions for you. Go and see for yourself; the light of the sun does not reach there. It can serve as your entertainment during the day. Yessiree! Fuh hah hah. And about those bats, I do sense a connection with us. It is possible that with the right conditions, they could also reincarnate into something else. Raise them well. Yeah! Ill do my best! When she had first met him, she saw him as a cringey, overdramatic older brother. Now that she had gotten used to the way he talked, though, she was starting to find it kind of cute, strangely enough. Here, a map. Tis simple, but it should keep you from getting lost after leaving the castle. You are able to use [Mental Magic] as much as you want on lizardmen. You should not have much trouble, so allow your bats to gain experience when possible. What do you mean I can use it as much as I want on them? Hm? Did I neglect to explain? [Mental Magic] does not work on undead. Therefore there is not much opportunity for its use around this castle. Ive never heard that before, for sure! But wait, when we met, didnt you just blast me with [Charm] and other stuff? Well, there are certain tricks. You shall learn in time. That piqued her interest, but since he said hed show her someday, there was no need to worry about it now. She also wanted to hurry up and grind more XP. Okay then, Im off! Indeed. Be off. Blanc immediately went down to the cellar and headed for the underground water vein. She at long last found the place where she initially spawned, but it seemed to be blocked off now, so she couldnt get there anyway. Her bats were under her cape, hanging off Blancs body. As long nothing crazy happened, everything should be all right. CH 38 To get to the water vein, Blanc went through a hole in a corner of the castles jail. The count considered this the normal way to get to the underground, but regular people would never consider this a standard doorway. It would be more apt to call it a secret entrance used to invade the castle. That guy sure likes his secret loopholes The castles jail was already pretty deep underground, but from there the path went still further down. Eventually, she heard the sound of running water. The cave with the water vein felt much cooler than the castle was. She wasnt sure if this was because of the humidity or because the underground water was itself cold. The cave was large enough for a person to walk comfortably, and it followed alongside the vein; it must have been completely filled with water a long time ago. It was so dark that the water looked pitch black, so much so that there was no way to tell if there was anything in the flowing stream. Even if there were lizardmen in there, trying to fight them here would be pretty dangerous. She needed to be ready to cast magic at the drop of a hat if she didnt want to end up dead. Blanc cautiously proceeded down the tunnel. As she kept descending further and further underground, she wondered where this water originally came from and where it was going. Since the castles cellar was already quite deep into the ground, she also wondered how far down she was now. Or maybe the castle was actually built on high ground or something. Since it was surrounded by wilderness, it was hard to imagine that being the case, but it could be similar to the Guiana Highlands; with extreme topography like that, anything was possible. It wouldnt be surprising if it were, since the count seemed to like high places. How far had she gone down into the ground? As per usual, Blanc hadnt been keeping track whatsoever, but anyway, her route led her to a slightly larger cavern. Within was an enormous underground lake or something close to that. Carefully peeking into the room, she saw numerous humanoid shapes around the lake. Those were probably lizardmen since they had long tails. They must have made a village; there were quite a lot of them. Urg, farming XP off them might be a little hard She didnt know how strong lizardmen were, but she was sure they were stronger than zombies and skeletons. Since the bats didnt seem like they would be very useful in combat, Blanc at her current strength really couldnt wipe them all out by herself. One of the bats on her chest had some kind of plan it wanted to propose. Bait? No way Isnt that risky? Ah, I know you can fly Hmm, all right, so Ill go somewhere far enough away that the village cant hear; can some of you guys go and lure a couple of them to me? Three bats zipped out from under Blancs cape. After watching them fly off, Blanc retreated all the way into the back of the cave where sound wouldnt travel too far. She waited there a bit before two lizardmen came, chasing after her bats. The lizardmen lost track of the bats in the darkness and steadily got closer to her corner of the cave while looking for them. Theyre making a pretty big deal of just three bats Maybe they need them as a source of protein or something. If that was really the case, then she should be able to lure out as many of them as she wanted using bats. Then again, this was their home, so if they were smart enough to get suspicious when their comrades didnt come back, then it would get harder and harder, she imagined. In any case, first is to make sure these two dont turn around and head back. Blanc focused, getting ready to cast magic. Lizardmen were a race that lived in the water, so it would be good to lead off with [Thunderbolt]. Since there were two targets, shed have to instantly cast a second spell, but she couldnt use the same spell twice in a row. Blanc figured the best option would be a neutral spell like [Air Cutter] to try and mangle one. Alrighty A little closer Just a tiny bit closer Perfect! [Thunderbolt]! [Air Cutter]! The lightning left an afterimage in the air as it instantly struck one of the lizardmen; a second after, an invisible slash tore into the other lizardman. The electrocuted one died instantly, but the other one that had been sliced by [Air Cutter] was still alive. It tried to crawl away. Hmm? Can I not kill it for sure if Im not using an element its weak to? [Ice Bullet]. After the pebble of ice pierced its body, the lizardman collapsed, its remaining lifeforce gone. Blanc checked her status; these guys really were worth a decent amount of XP. Theyre not really that efficient, though. Set bait, go hide, blast them with magic; thats a lot of work Is there any way to blow them all up as a group? Blanc checked the screen where she could learn skills. There was a new tree called [Vampiric Magic]. Obviously, this wasnt available back when she was a skeleton; it must have been unlocked when she became a vampire. Opening it, the first skill she saw was [Mist]. Its a skill that creates a bunch of mist over a wide area, huh It allows any [Vampiric Magic] and [Mental Magic] I use to affect everything in that area Oh right, Ive only ever used Mental Magic on bats before. In addition, inside the mist, ones field of vision would be diminished, and detection effects would be obstructed as well. After casting [Mist], she could use [Fear] to handicap, then defeat enemies one by one with magic; that seemed workable, but itd be a pain if [Fear] got resisted. She didnt think itd be a good idea to test the strategy in a real battle. It wouldve been nice to test on the two lizardmen just now Hmm. After thinking it over for a bit, she decided to have her bats lure some lizardmen over one more time. She first had to learn the skill; she got [Mist] as well as [Lightning Magic]s AOE spell [Lightning Shower]. It cost a lot of MP, but the fact that it could hit many enemies at once was huge. The firepower from a single cast was also lower, but she could use [Mental Magic] in advance to cover for that. She had to spend XP again, but considering how much XP she just got, she would still end up earning more XP overall than she had yesterday from those zombies. This time, she added in a little trick by sending only two bats out to the lake. The idea was that the lizardmen would see them, then assume the first two guys hadnt come back yet because they caught one of the bats and were eating it. Basically, she wanted to minimize how suspicious they might get. She didnt know how the lizardmen decided what to do, but this time three of them came out. After the three were guided to the kill zone, her first step was to create [Mist]. Because of how dark and humid it was, it didnt feel like the lizardmen paid any attention to the fog. The next step was to activate [Fear]. The three lizardmen all stopped in place and their tails began to quiver. That worked. Great, [Lightning Shower]! Countless bolts of lightning arced from the ceiling of the cave to the floor. Many of them struck the lizardmen who were within the designated area. The electricity made them convulse, their spines warping backward violently. The spasming lizardmen fell to the ground, unable to move. However, they werent dead yet. She didnt know if it was from the lightning damage or the effects of [Fear], but either way it was convenient for her. Blanc approached each one in turn and stabbed them in the head with her stick. Now if I go to that lakeside village, I just have to hit em with a [Fear] first and things should work out. Sweet! Blanc went back to the cavern to observe the underground lake. Spying at it, she saw that a number of the lizardmen would glance in her general direction periodically, as though curious whether the bat hunt was successful. She shouldnt dawdle much longer or they might realize she was there. [Mist]. She wasnt sure if it would reach from here, but she doubted they would notice, so if she did need to get closer, she could just wait until the spell cooled down and try again. The description wasnt kidding when it said wide area This could easily cover a small town. But the range of [Mental Magic] isnt all that large, which is a problem. Since [Mist] lasted until it was canceled, it sucked up MP for as long as it was active. As soon as she cast [Mist], she needed to take care of things as quickly as possible. Blanc slipped into the mist and followed the wall toward the village. To Blanc, the mist didnt hinder her vision at all; while she was aware of the fact that there was a thick fog, she could still see everything around her the same as usual. If any of the lizardmen acted like they noticed her, she was ready to blast [Fear] at them, but since they seemed to have no idea that she was there, she was able to get pretty close before running into one. Well, getting in this close is totally cool. Heres a [Fear] for you! Beginning with the lizardman closest to Blanc, all the lizardmen in range froze in place, shivering. It was certainly not powerful enough to affect the entire village, but it was easily able to cover anything close enough to reach Blanc. And for my next act, [Lightning Shower]! The ceiling in here was much higher than it was in the previous area, but lightning still filled the air between the ground and the ceiling. She was curious how it would work outside, in the open air, but she would have to shelve that thought for now since she had to go around finishing off all the fallen lizardmen. Even though her attack just now was really flashy and should have been bright enough to completely light up this corner of the cavern, there were a lot fewer lizardmen coming to attack Blanc than she was expecting. Is it because of the mist? If so, its crazy powerful for a race-limited skill. The limited part does make it sound pretty strong, though. She shot the lizardmen that got close to her with a single [Flare Arrow] and [Ice Bullet] each, then delivered the finishing blow with her stick. It would usually be better to finish them all off with another area-of-effect attack, but it would be bad if she were unexpectedly attacked by a big group of enemies, so she just settled for finishing them off one at a time. Finally, she couldnt see any more lizardmen alive near her. All that was left was to check those embankment-looking structures around the lake, which were probably houses. Are those doors facing the lake already open? If so, it would probably be dangerous to poke my head in. Blanc thought about demolishing the structures with magic, but on second thought she just decided to cancel [Mist]. There might be children or eggs inside Well, she didnt know if these things laid eggs, but anyway, there might be something like that inside, so if she left them alone, she could come back later to grind more XP. She also didnt know if the corpses had anything useful on them, but she decided to go around storing them in her inventory as a way to wrap up her excursion. Allll right, lets head back. For the time being, I shouldnt use XP on myself anymore or itll make farming lizardmen less efficient, so after I get back Ill look at buffing my bats. Blanc started on her way back to the castle in high spirits. CH 39 To all players: Thank you for playing [Boot Hour, Shoot Curse]. While planning the server-wide event celebrating the official launch of the game, it has come to our attention that it would be too difficult to use one of the areas in the game as originally intended. To circumvent this issue, all players will instead be invited to a special zone (exact date and time TBD) for a battle royale PvP event. Due to this change, while the original event specifications would have prevented players not participating in the event from logging in, those players will now be able to log in normally, and there will be no restrictions traveling to or from the special event zone. Registration for the battle royale event will be open until 10:00 AM the day before the event begins. Players who do not register for the event will be restricted to the spectator area of the special event zone. Please be aware that both the special event battlefield and the spectator area will be accelerated by a factor of 6. For safety purposes, please refrain from excessive travel to and from the special event area. Per the [Neurological Faculty and Mental Safeguard Act], players may be required to read and sign the [Cautions and Warnings Regarding the Acceleration of Cognitive Processing] waiver prior to gaining entry into the special event zone. More information about the event will be announced on the official website at a later date. We hope you continue to enjoy your time in [Boot Hour, Shoot Curse]! Frequently Asked Questions This list of [Frequently Asked Questions] and [Troubleshooting Tips] has been compiled from player submissions. The answers on this page may be able to resolve your questions or issues, so please check here before submitting an inquiry. In addition, please be aware that some questions regarding game content or specifications may not be addressed here. Q: After overwriting your respawn location with a new one such as an inn room, what happens if that inn is destroyed or the new respawn location is otherwise gone? A: You will respawn at your previous respawn location. If no previous respawn locations are available, then you will randomly spawn somewhere within your initial spawn zone. Q: Are there any party or clan features? A: Parties: [Boot Hour, Shoot Curse] does not have any party features. Please cooperate with other players or NPCs in order to overcome difficulties. Experience points are earned by all characters who contributed to battle, and the amount earned is based on that contribution. The division of drop items should be discussed among all characters involved; we recommend that arrangements are determined in advance. A: Clans: There is no clan system in place, but it is possible for multiple characters to buy or lease a single property. You are free to use that location as a base and form an unofficial group, so please take advantage of this feature. Q: Is there a pet system? A: We are unable to answer that question. Q: How does the death penalty work when you dont have enough experience points to pay for the respawn? A: When you respawn, you will be asked to choose skills and/or stat points to refund in order to pay the penalty. Any leftover penalty will be taken from your available experience points. If you do not have enough experience points, the most recent skill and/or stat point expenditures will be automatically refunded to pay for the penalty. The skill/stat point refund screen can only be accessed after respawning. If a prerequisite skill is lost in this manner, all dependent skills will be automatically refunded as well. If your question was not answered on this page, please submit an inquiry using the following form. CH 40 After spending a bunch of XP getting all the [Enhance Follower] skills and [Space Magic]-related skills, Rare no longer earned any XP from the enemies around the great forest. However, she could still earn XP indirectly via the unenhanced ant squads to grind groups of goblins. It wasnt a huge amount, but between that and the farm, it wasnt too bad for daily XP income. Either way, she wasnt fighting anything herself anyway. She had long since stopped worrying about the loss in XP due to being overleveled, as it were. That being the case, it might be a good time to start trying to break a new skill. Rare sunk into thought while watching her XP go up by itself. There was only one skill that piqued her interest from the start that she seriously wanted to look into. That skill was [Alchemy]. Youd think this would be the skill tree for the kind of alchemy popularized in modern fiction, but even on social media, you could only find discussion about the [Refine] skill unlocked from [Pharmacy] and [Formulate]. Of course, players could be hiding information the same way Rare was doing with [Subordinate], but that still meant that you couldnt discover new skills the usual way. The reason why [Alchemy] caught Rares eye was the fact that homunculus was one of the races that could be chosen during character creation. Homunculi were the fabled artificial lifeforms produced via alchemy. It was natural to believe that there was a connection here in this game as well. In the closed beta, homunculi had the appearance of smaller humans, and their stats were around the level of humans but with higher INT. That meant that they had more overall stats than humans did, despite not requiring any additional XP to choose. There was a huge demerit that justified this, though: while they could live normally in cities in the human countries, once they were discovered to be homunculi, the town NPCs would treat them like monsters and try to kill or capture them. Because of this setting, it seemed reasonable to think of them as artificial lifeforms, as creations of mad alchemist using forbidden knowledge. Rare wanted to know if she could crack open the [Alchemy] skill and find a way to produce homunculi. For now, lets learn [Formulate]. If that didnt unlock anything, then shed have no choice but to pick up [Pharmacy] as well[1]. In any event, all the XP she had was basically leftover anyway, so it was fine to pick up any cheap non-offensive magic spells. Stuff like [Wind Magic]s [Dessicate] and [Fire Magic]s [Heat] felt like they could be connected to [Alchemy] in some manner. Starting with [Pharmacy], she also had to learn [Refine], [Dessicate], [Heat], [Wash], [Conduct], [Freeze], and [Demolish] before she unlocked the [Alchemy] skill in the [Alchemy] tree. It took way too much effort just to get the [Alchemy] trees namesake skill. Immediately after learning [Alchemy], she also unlocked the [Philosophers Egg] and [Athanor] skills. Since they just appeared right away, that meant whatever the prerequisites were, Rare had already fulfilled them. She had no idea what skills those were, though. But then Isnt this the name of a tool? Checking the help text, both skills read Requires [Magnum Opus] to cast. Increases the effect of [Alchemy]. Even if that was the name of prerequisite skill, this description was just utterly unhelpful. Well, if I complain too hard at this point, thats just inviting trouble on myself Shaking off her misgivings, she learned [Philosophers Egg] and [Athanor]. That caused another skill to appear. And there it is. [Magnum Opus]. If she could perfect the use of [Magnum Opus], then, according to general fantasy lore, she would be able to craft the ultimate alchemical tool: the Philosophers Stone. She wasnt sure if it was possible to get all the way there, but since she had come this far, she went ahead and spent the large value of 100 XP to learn the skill. Interesting So the primary external factors like environment and conditions can be influenced by supplementing it with magical catalysts, it seems. All I need are the materials. In addition, in order to cast [Philosophers Egg], [Athanor], and [Magnum Opus] one after the other, I also need an enormous amount of MP. Well, not that thats a problem for me now.[2] Rare had thought she might need a homunculuss traditional ingredients, but, as might be expected of a game, the requirements only included various monster parts and mystical metals instead. Unfortunately, some of them were unknown to her. She would probably learn more about these materials once she encountered them for the first time in the game. The only ingredients she needed more information about were [Monster Heart] and [Soul]. She had never seen a [Soul] in item form, but she wondered if this was the soul that was stolen from a corpse during [Bind Soul]. If thats really the case, then it would imply that even artificial life cant be produced from absolutely nothing. Since she had the skills, Rare was now overcome with an inherent desire to use them. Only one of them could be used right now, though. Although, unlike with the homunculus, this one there was only the name itself that she didnt know. I wonder if this makes something. I think its probably in the same category as a homunculus, though, some kind of blasphemous artificial lifeform. But all it requires are a bunch of different metals As for weird materials, theres this [Knights Grudge] What is that? Since I can see details for it, that means Ive encountered it before. If it was something to do with knights, or more having to do with grudges, then Rare knew of one place that fit the bill: the knight orders cemetery. I wonder if something dropped back in that cemetery. Damn, there was so much stuff lying around, but all I remember seeing were pieces of armor and shields and swords and stuff. Was there really some kind of special item there? Sugaru friend-chatted Rare in response to her talking to herself. Because of this, recently Rare had gotten into the habit of talking aloud to herself more often. Yeah, lets do that. Sorry, can you have some of the patrolling ants do that? Also, metals. All thats written here is [Refined Metal Ore], I dont know if I can just use anything, but For now, I want the best metal we can get from our ore deposits. Sugaru, have someone bring that to me as well. The deposits in the great forest were originally excavated by the NPCs in the city, but now they were under Rares control, and her forces were managing it. She didnt know whether there had been a technological problem or they were just afraid of delving too far into monster territory, but the humans had only done some shallow open-pit mining. However, with the entire great forest as her base, and with an endless supply of ants to mine, Rare didnt need to be so restrained. In addition, the engineer ants could melt rock and minerals with acid, but any materials that were a higher rank than the ants themselves couldnt be melted. Making use of that, they expanded all the tunnels and just collected all the leftover iron and silver ore, as well as all the unknown magical metal ores, which made mining super efficient. Currently, the central area of the great forest was where they refined metals using acid and coke made from coal, and Remy was in charge of that. Ahh, thats right, I need to have Remy learn more non-combat magic spells. As with [Alchemy], new skills could become unlocked in [Blacksmith], [Clothcraft], and [Leathercraft]. Shortly after that, infantry ants brought the items as requested. Remember to note that chapter 6 was updated because information in this chapter made me realize some stuff was mistranslated. [1]: This seems to be a mistake. In chapter 6, the author put that [Formulate] could only be unlocked with the [Pharmacy] skill, but here she learns it first before learning [Pharmacy]. [2]: I believe shes talking about the skill to create homunculi, but its never explicitly laid out what shes talking about here, so Im not sure. CH 41 Thank you. All right, so I have materials now, but Sitting before Rare was a huge pile of crumbling armaments and bones from dead knights, as well as glittering lumps of metal. At least some of it should turn out to be ingredients she needed. If a skill doesnt require any souls, that means it produces something that doesnt have a soul, right? I suppose that applies to most game items already However, it was found in the same category as the homunculus recipe. If these skills produced regular items, they would surely be in a different row altogether. In fact, [Magnum Opus] had unlocked a ton of recipes in their own separate grouping. Not that she knew any of the ingredients that they required. Well, whatever, lets just try it out. Okay, Ill start with [Philosophers Egg]. After saying so, a giant egg-like crystal appeared in front of Rare. Based on the explanation, this was supposed to be some sort of flask, but it was hard to tell at first glance whether it was hollow or not. As instructed in the [Magnum Opus] recipe, she brought a lump of metal close to the egg. It would be a waste if this fails, so first, lets try with about five kilograms. As soon as the metal touched the egg, the egg morphed, creating an opening that swallowed the lump of metal. I see now; I was wondering how to get it inside, but there was an arbitrary magical method. Well, in the first place, the egg was floating in midair, so this indignation came rather late. The problem now is the Knights Grudge. If its taking the place of the [Soul] that a homunculus would need, then maybe it means the soul or spirit of a fallen knight or something? In that case Rare picked up a rusted sword and fed it to the egg. If there were one thing that would be most likely to contain the soul of a knight, then nothing was more fitting than their sword. Even if it fails, I have more items to try, so lets just run with it. Activate [Athanor]! Underneath the floating egg, a golden light appeared that began to heat up the egg. So an athanor isnt a furnace. But isnt this basically just an alcohol burner? Despite claiming that, Rare had never seen an actual alcohol burner before. She had used one in VR school before, though. Not that there was much different about her current situation. After some time, the eggs contents melted into a rainbow of color and began swirling around like a whirlpool. So is it ready now? [Magnum Opus]! The egg emitted a golden light after it sucked up a significant amount of Rares substantial MP. I wonder if I could use this for light in the caves, heh. The light faded after a few seconds, and finally the only thing left inside the egg was a single sword. Huh? All that metal just disappeared? Did it fail? Ah, youre right. The design didnt change that much, but it got a lot cleaner. Its also floating inside the egg Before long, the egg broke open, and the sword inside gently floated down right in front of Rare. Is the Philosophers Egg a consumable item? That thing eats up a decent amount of MP. The sword hung suspended in the air in front of Rare, completely unmoving. This looks just like a regular weapon, doesnt it Is it maybe a monster? Hmm It doesnt seem to be Subordinated. However, Rare could somehow very faintly feel a master-servant connection with the sword. Well, its fine. If its a monster, then I should be able to Subordinate it. [Subordinate]! The sword didnt move, but she could feel it become her follower without any resistance. Peeking at its status, its race seemed to be [Living Sword]. So thats it! Its a living weapon! It certainly does seem like one. But, how do I put this, I barely sense anything resembling a consciousness Well, anyway Rare reached into her inventory and pulled out a piece of meat that she didnt remember hunting. Can you try cutting this apart? As soon as the last syllable left her mouth, the sword swung so fast that her eyes could barely tell it moved; it left a half-moon afterimage in the air, and the meat was cleanly cut into pieces. Wow, that was amazing! If I make a bunch of these, then I could reenact tons of cool action scenes! Plus theyre quite deadly, arent they. Since she had only wanted to experiment this time, she only had one sword brought along. Sugaru. Excellent work, Sugaru. Most of the infantry and engineer ants work on rotation. Ants dont sleep, but they still need many hours of intermittent rest throughout a day, which was what the rotation was for. There werent many transporter ants, and they were not assigned to squads. They also were not given any specific assignments, so they usually took care of menial tasks and personal care. I think I can make one more, so this time Ill try it with armor. That would most certainly require more metal Ill go with fifty kilos this time. Rare activated [Philosophers Egg] one more time, tossed in the materials, then heated it up with [Athanor]. Just like last time, it marbled into rainbow colors. [Magnum Opus]. After the golden light faded, a full set of armor appeared within. This time, it stood on its own feet at the bottom of the egg instead of floating. Its independent, isnt it? And unlike with the sword, the armor had changed quite drastically. Perhaps because it was created by Rare, it looked to be just the right size to fit her perfectly. The pot helm look was gone, replaced with a sharp with a pointed visor. The chestpiece, epaulets, gauntlets, and greaves in particular changed a lot; they werent exactly decorative, but definitely artistic to the point of appearing sculpted, and everything was even thicker than before. Chainmail covered the joints and openings, preventing the armors weak points from exposure. And last was the color. It was all black. Most likely due to the Knights Grudge. The egg cracked open and the armor immediately alighted, kneeling in front of Rare. If its about my size, then If it were made out of iron, then itd be around thirty to forty kilos? Since I put in fifty kilos of metal, is that why the armor got thicker? When she had fed the metal to the egg, she was pretty sure it had weighed around 50 kilos. Normally she might think that would be too heavy to float, but with her current stats, Rare could lift that much with one hand. Stand up. The armor clattered to its feet. Try to lift up that block of metal there. The armor casually lifted the indicated mass up into the air. It behaves pretty much like a normal human. Ah, right, [Subordinate]. Rare checked the armors status. Its stats are mainly in STR and VIT. Its DEX and AGI are human-level, oh, but its INT and MND are really low! Doesnt seem like itd be able to resist [Mental Magic], but Does [Mental Magic] even work on it? Normally, [Mental Magic] didnt work on homunculi or undead. According to the description of [Bind Soul], as long as she had a stock of [Souls], she could make it effective, but that did basically imply that if the target didnt have a [Soul], then [Mental Magic] would have no effect. However, despite the use of a [Soul] being necessary to create a homunculus, the resulting being still had no soul. One that requires a soul, a homunculus, and one that doesnt, this what is this exactly? I forgot to check its details. Well, its about what I imagined. The race name is She wondered what the difference from this [Living Mail] was. Assertiveness, maybe? Ego? Both the living mail and living weapon seemed to have very faint egos. It seemed they would faithfully follow orders, though. I see, I see I can try a homunculus once I get the materials, but living mail and living weapon are both usable. The other day, she learned a new [Summon] skill. She had requested the cooperation of her followers and conducted some tests, but it hadnt seemed all that useful. However, that might be different with this living mail. The battle royale event is coming up soon I cant wait now. CH 42 The day of the server-wide event. Rare had signed up for it yesterday, before the deadline. She wondered if her followers could also enter, but since it required seeing system messages, it seemed that only players could enter. Due to this, it would probably be hard to get them into the event zone as well. As written on the official site, Rare headed for an event zone access point. This point could be found in each town and every safe zone, which included old castles and volcanoes. These were obviously not places that could be found in a town, so they were probably for the players who had monster races to use. For Rare, though, the closest safe zone wasnt in the city, but inside the great forest, so thats where she went. There were a total of five safe zones in the great forest, all around the central area. Normally, no one but players would even approach these zones, but, maybe because they were Rares subordinates, the catkin girls, ice wolves, ants, and even Deas could all enter without issue. I wonder how these safe zones distinguish between players and anything else? If, as the tutorial AI said, theres no system-defined difference between characters, then these zones could be the only exception Rare looked upon a quiet stream surrounded by a field of blooming flowers. It would have been picturesque if not for the horribly misplaced giant ants and the undead knight. Deas usually kept to himself in a corner of the queens chamber, but he always followed along whenever Rare left to go anywhere. There was a faintly shining magic circle to the side of the safe zone. It seemed that it would only react to players; ants would sometimes step onto it unknowingly, but nothing happened to them. Deas objected immediately. Even though Rare was in command, he referred to Rare as Princess but Sugaru as Queen; she wasnt sure what that was all about. Maybe when he was alive, he had served a princess, or aspired to such a position. Thats correct. Im probably the only one who can go. Youre free to try to come after me, but I dont think itll work. Plus, I wont be alone. Rare was dressed from head to toe in black armor that she had created with [Magnum Opus] the other day. On top of it all, she was also covered in a hooded cloak. Since it was daytime, she needed all this in case she popped out somewhere with a lot of sunlight. Underneath the cloak, she carried a total of five swords, arrayed across her back and waist. These were also all Living Weapons. As such, it should all count as equipped and be allowed to accompany her to the event zone. Well then, its almost time for me to leave. Deas, escort Sugaru back to the queens chamber. I should return in about two hours. Deas responded after an extended pause. Until later. Rare entered the magic circle in the safe zone. Just as the event announcement described, multiple warnings appeared; she skimmed them all then marked her consent to dismiss them. A moment later, Rares field of view changed, and her character disappeared from the bank of the stream. It was probably some kind of teleportation; she found herself standing before something that looked just like the Colosseum of Rome. Considering the number of contestants, this area shouldnt have been large enough to fit all those people, but there mysteriously wasnt any overflow from the arena. Despite the fact that there were clearly too many people in the grounds, it didnt feel crowded in the least. In the distance, the spectator seats were also filled with people; they had probably come to watch their friends and acquaintances who were participating. The official event explanation stated that any players who lost in the battle royale would be moved to the spectator seats. Of course, they could also leave those seats, which would take them out of the event zone altogether. A voice announced that the event would be starting shortly; it sounded like it was a system message. Finally, it felt like the area was being accelerated to six times the normal speed of time. Actions that used to take five minutes to do would now awkwardly require 30 minutes in the event zone. According to the system message, this area was only for kicking off and closing the event, and for the spectator seats; all the contestants would be transported directly to the battlefield. The field was appropriately huge, and it would be divided into 32 blocks. Contestants would be randomly assigned and sent to a block. Afterward, the remaining 32 players who survived in each block would participate in a championship free-for-all. Rare ended up in block 16. It was mostly forested. Since she tended to spend a lot of time exploring the great forest through the eyes of her followers, she had an advantage in this field. After being transported, Rare immediately started looking for a hiding spot. While going through the forest, she occasionally ran into other players whom she would instantly cut down with her Living Weapons. It had only been two weeks since the official launch, so any metal armor they had was weak enough to be no better than cloth against Rares swords. That reminds me, I hadnt checked carefully, but I wonder what kind of metal these swords are made from. Rare was experienced with the naginata, but not very familiar with how to use western straight swords. With her current STR and DEX, she could competently line up the blade and slash, but she wasnt skilled at it. So she thought she would leave it up to those who studied the sword for their whole livesshe held the weapon, but the weapon itself performed the attacks. While all that was happening, Rare found a tree with a hollow she could completely hide in when she wasnt wearing armor. If she used leaves and brush to camouflage her cloak, she would be hard to spot as well. Good. Ill use this place. However, Rare wasnt planning to hide herself until the number of contestants had gone down. Only looking at stats, she believed hers were among the highest. If she just went around fighting randomly, she could probably get into the finals without much thought. The problem was her innate characteristics. She didnt regret the ones she had chosen, but that meant she couldnt operate in the sunlight, and anything somewhat far away from her would be hard to see, both huge disadvantages. It wasnt smart for her to be idiotically straightforward and fight everyone head-on. Rare quickly shed her cloak and armor, then worked on camouflaging the cloak. The armor could move itself, so it was surprisingly quick to put on or take off. After putting back on the now-camouflaged cloak, she curled up completely in the tree. All right, Ill be borrowing your body. By the way, you really need a name Okay, from now on youll be Yoroisaka[1]. And all you Living Weapons, in order of when you were produced, will be Kenzaki Ichirou through Gorou[2]. Then, inside the tree hollow, Rare closed her eyes and activated the [Summon] skill she had learned. [Summon Caster: Mind]. [1]: I modified this, but the original was Ͻ񤫤zŮͤzव󤫤ʣ, which is From now on, youll be Yoroisaka-kun. Ah, since youre female armor, maybe Yoroisaka-san instead? Since Im not using honorifics in my translation, I just merged the two halves. The name Yoroisaka (z) doesnt have any special meaning except that Yoroi means armor (z). The Saka () part just means hill; I assume it was the first Yoroi name she could think of. [2]: Kenzaki (), like above, is probably just the first surname Rare could think of with Ken (sword, ) in it; the Saki (Zaki) () part just means cape (as in a major protrusion of land extending into water). As for the first names, Ichirou through Gorou (һɤ) are specifically Ichirou, Jirou, Saburou, Shirou, and Gorou, which are common names that just mean first son, second son, etc. CH 43 After learning [Space Magic] and various other skills, the [Summon Caster] skill had appeared in the [Summon] tree. Since Rare had already learned a ton of skills, she didnt know what the conditions for unlocking it were, nor did she have any way to find out right now, but this skills effect was Summon yourself to a followers location. Setting aside how the only applicable target was Self, it was activated via the usual [Summon] skill, and it used the same list of available summons. In that list, Self was its own category, and the equipment she currently wore went with her. While it was limited to things she could equip, this meant she could use it to deliver items. Using [Summon] normally on a follower included all their equipment, so this was simply the reverse of that. In this list, there was also an entry for Mind, which allowed the caster to have their consciousness take over a targeted follower. As a result of possessing a follower in this manner, she had all her stats buffed by 10% due to [Enhance Follower]. The amount of a time that the possession lasted depended on the casters MND; with how much MND Rare had right now, she could maintain the possession for a few days. However, this skill ultimately only let her move the follower; the caster couldnt use any skills the follower hadnt learned. Because of this, Rare taught Yoroisaka the [Sword] and [Nimble] skills. Skills that moved the players body gave Rare a sense of malaise, so she never learned any for herself. However, she didnt have that feeling when possessing Yoroisaka, either because her entire body was just metal armor or because she was no longer controlling her own body, so she wrote it off as a benefit of this being a game and went ahead with having Yoroisaka learn those skills. The first time she activated the skill, she was sitting on her throne in the queens chamber. When she saw through Yoroisakas eyes her own character sleeping there, she thought it was really weird to essentially play another VR game inside of a VR game. However, she remembered seeing in the librarys old news articles that it was popular even really old MMOs to play mahjong within the game, so she changed her mind and concluded that humankind didnt really change all that much. In this state, controlling her followers avatar, when she spoke it would come out with the followers voice. But since Yoroisaka couldnt speak, that meant Rare also couldnt speak now. Well, its not like I was hoping to have any friendly chats with other players anyway. And since now her inventory was actually Yoroisakas inventory, she couldnt friend other players either. Rare took another look at her arboreal hiding spot and made some adjustments before leaving to go find some prey. The event details said that each block would be assigned around 200 players. That seemed somewhat low considering the maximum number of simultaneous connections and the total number of registered participants, though compared to the typical number of players in a given city, it was an extremely high number for a single area. Even after the official launch, the nearest city only had around a couple dozen players. Thinking that shed run into players no matter which direction she went, she decided to just wander around randomly. After a short time, one of the Kenzaki brothers strapped to her back (probably Saburou) suddenly unsheathed himself to cut an arrow out of the air. Interesting; even without explicit orders, theyll automatically take appropriate countermeasures against incoming danger. The utility of Living Weapons climbed up one step higher in Rares head. If thats how they worked, then even without possession, if she just wore Yoroisaka normally, she could expect her to act independently as necessary. Arrows came flying at her one after another, but as long as she knew which direction they were being fired from, she could dodge them or even grab them out of the air with her hands. Wha! She heard a stifled cry coming from far away. For exactly times like these, shed had Yoroisaka learn every sense enhancement skill. Now, all five of her senses were sharper than Rares were normally, especially her vision, which was on an entirely new dimension. Because of this, in terms of XP investiture, Yoroisaka was easily number 3 after Rare and Sugaru. Are these arrowheads made of iron? I can bend them pretty easily with just a finger or more like I cant even put a single scratch on these fingers! For real, what are you made of, Yoroisaka? Youre so sturdy I dont even need to bother dodging. The gaps in armor were stuffed with the same material as the kimonos she wore under the armor, and the armor itself was lined with thick fur from the great forest. The fur helped cover the joints along with the kimono, but it also rendered the armor nearly unwearable under normal circumstances. Without Yoroisakas active assistance, it was impossible to put her on or take her off by oneself. The fur came from a powerful monster that could even repel Rileys arrows, so for normal arrowheads, the fur would be sufficient defense all by itself. It might even be as sturdy as bulletproof and stabproof clothing was in the real world. There was little reason to be on guard against this quality of projectile. Rare decided to ignore all the remaining incoming arrows while she started leisurely walking in the direction they were being fired from. This is starting to feel pretty fun. Hah hah hah! Useless! Utterly useless! Puny insect! She got quite close before the player finally realized that there was no point in continuing, that his efforts were all for naught; the tree he had climbed shook the thicket as the player tried to run. Its no use! You cant run from Yoroisaka! With her high AGI stat and the [Nimble] skill, Yoroisaka could run much faster than the average player. She may look slow and heavy from her appearance, but the armor herself was only 50 kilos, and even including all the swords, altogether they weighed less than 80 kilos. They were quite a bit lighter than a typical rugby player who could sprint across a playing field. And her physical strengthdespite having no muscleswas worlds above a humans. Rare ran straight after her quarry, spraying wood shavings all over; the trees here were as brittle as candy bars compared to the ones in the great forest. Hearing the ominous sound pursuing him, her prey turned to look behind, then screamed, What the hell is that?! That things allowed?! However, she felt like the archer was fleeing with too much assurance. Almost like this wasnt his first time in this forest. If that were really the case, then up ahead would be They left the forest and entered a slightly open area, where countless arrows came flying at her from every direction. It really was a trap. But, you know There were probably a bunch of people with archery-type skills temporarily cooperating, making this area a kill zone using one person as bait. While Rare had looked for somewhere to sleep in the forest, these players had been forming an alliance. The event rules said that if there were too many players still alive when the time limit was almost up, they would be forcibly transported to the arena to determine a victor. In other words, sudden death. If all these archers were able to hunt down all the other players, then only archers would be transported to the arena. There, they would be at a disadvantage against any close-range builds, but if there were only other archers then it would be an even playing field. Decent plan. Whoever proposed this plan totally has a melee skill, though. While tons of arrows rained down, none of them could wound Yoroisaka. So, without paying the arrows any mind, she maintained her speed to close in on the bait player and grab them by the neck. But, because she had been running at max speed for a long time, and her senses were slightly different from usual, she miscalculated her grip and accidentally crushed the players neck, killing him instantly. Agh, damn it. Ah well, whatever. What?! Jeans! They killed a player with just their grip strength?! Dont lose focus! They just dumped everything into STR! If you dont get caught, they cant kill you! If I had put everything into STR, then I couldnt have caught up to this guy in the first place. Since there were so many arrows in the air, unlike before, she couldnt tell where exactly they were coming from, but with her enhanced hearing, she was able to discern generally where that short exchange just now came from. Actually, theyve gathered all these long-range archers, but theyre close enough to each other to chat, so whats the point Rare pulled out Ichirou from her waist and, in the same movement, chunked him toward the voices. Kenzaki Ichirou spun through the air, cutting down both trees and the players hiding behind them. What the fuck?! Thats one insane max STR build!!! Shit, run for it! This aint gonna work! Unfortunately, you cant run from the Kenzakis either. The thrown Kenzaki Ichirou kept on flying through the air under his own power and, per Rares orders, continued cutting down trees in pursuit of more players. Most players could never have imagined that the sword had been thrown in an arc and was coming to cut them down as well. Because of that, almost all of those players ended up retiring without having any idea how they died. Rare didnt know how many players there had been here, but using Yoroisakas enhanced hearing, she could tell that there were no more people trying to flee in the area. For now, she should clean things up here. Kenzaki Ichirou reported eleven kills, so including the one she crushed to death, that made twelve. If she included the people she killed before she had changed, itd be fourteen. I want to hurry and finish things up here so I can get started on the next hunt. Fortunately, I found out that its not difficult to run through the forest. If possible, Rare wanted to quickly win this block before the time limit so that she could check out the other matches from the spectator seats. She wanted to observe what kind of players ended up winning in those other blocks and their approximate power levels. Using her ears and nose, Rare dashed around finding more players. However, she soon realized that she was making too much noise and drowning out the sounds around her, so she stopped. Until she found more prey, it was better to refrain from running. CH 44 After that, whenever Rare found a player, she would sic the Kenzaki brothers on them. Actually, at this rate, Yoroisakas [Sword] skills will be completely neglected! She decided that the next player she found would die directly by her hand. However, that was only if time permitted, since she was having a bit of trouble locating her next victim. The other players were probably fighting each other and their numbers were rapidly dropping. But so far, every player she beat took only a single blow to send them to their graves; none of them felt like they were still alive because they had emerged victorious after defeating another player. In which case, there should still be a strong player here. With those thoughts, Rare began to stay on guard while moving around. Since she was decked out in full armor, there was no way for her to achieve perfect stealth, so she had no choice but to leverage [Enhanced Hearing] to pick up the noises they made first. If her opponent also had some kind of strengthened hearing, then shed lose this advantage, but there was nothing she could do about that at this point in time. She quietly advanced through the forest while concentrating solely on her ears. At long last, she caught the faint sound of clashing. There was the unnatural ring of metal, and the sound of footsteps mixed in. It was probably someone in combat. Rare focused primarily on those noises, still staying aware of her surroundings, and carefully closed in on them. The sounds led her to the sight of two players locking swords. From the sword skills that they used, they must have invested quite a lot of XP. In addition, it was clear that they were both naturally skilled at the blade. In other words, this was the perfect time to test Yoroisakas skills. Rare purposely made a lot of noise as she stepped out before the two. Huh?! Its another player! Dont be in such a rush. Ill take you on after taking care of this guy, so dont get in the way! The two of them noticed her, but neither seemed interested in stopping their match. Rare casually walked up to them and swung her sword. What the?! You bastard! All right then! Youre first now Wonderful, theyre strong enough to chat while fighting. Using Yoroisakas [Slash] skill resulted in sweeping sideways with a Kenzaki. [Slash] was, as advertised, a skill that generated a slashing attack with a sword, but the orientation of the sword when the skill was activated changed whether it was a vertical or horizontal slash. Rather than deliberately aiming at a specific player, since the sword was in her right hand, it slashed to the right, at the chatterbox guy. He unconsciously reacted to block with his sword, but his sword was poor quality. Without any meaningful resistance, slash went right through the raised sword. Yoroisaka and the Kenzakis made a formidable team. No way!!! The slashed player died instantly, so the one who shouted was the other player. Now completely on guard against Rare, he jumped back to put some distance between them and readied his sword. However, against Yoroisaka and the Kenzakis, such little distance was akin to nothing. The [Flash Step] skill was found far down in the [Nimble] tree; using it instantly closed the distance between them, and a vertical [Slash] cut the second player in half. I thought they would be pretty strong, at least based on the mood Rare felt a bit disappointed. She had no idea how many players were left, but it would be pretty difficult to devote the rest of the time limit to hunting them down. If there were any players who were also hiding, it would be hard to find them. If there was one thing she could take back from this experience, it was that she could use some sort of searching or detection skill to help her out a bit. Wait, hold up a sec. She suddenly looked over at the Kenzaki brothers. They were able to fly on their own. Jirou, Saburou, Shirou, and Gorou, fly up above the forest and look for players. If you find any, report in Ah, no, just cut them down on the spot. She didnt need to continue testing out Yoroisakas capabilities. What shed seen so far was more than satisfactory. After watching the four swords fly off, Rare resumed her own search for more players. However, after that, Rare didnt encounter anyone else, and eventually the notice came that her blocks preliminaries were over. A minute later, Rare received another notification about being automatically transported to the spectator seats; she quickly canceled the possession, crawled out of the tree hollow, then summoned Yoroisaka to her. She had Yoroisaka help reequip all the armor and put on her cloak before a glow appeared at her feet and she was transported. Made it by a hairs breadth. The accursed sunlight apparently didnt have any lasting effects if she only spent a short time exposed in the shade under trees, and she didnt feel like she had taken any damage either. Knowing this, perhaps she could be a little more cavalier in the future. The spectator seats were packed with players, and the standing gallery on the outer perimeter where Rare materialized paid her no mind. She had her cloak on, which helped temper Yoroisakas impressively intimidating appearance. Looking into the arena, numerous monitors were floating in the air, which allowed any person from any seat to see the action in any block. However, there was no way to watch just any battle taking place; she wasnt sure where they were, but the monitors only showed the fights that the camera focused on. In addition, as far as she could see, they only filmed actual battles; there was a good chance that the place Rare had been hiding and the place where the archers had laid in ambush, background scenes, were not shown on any monitors. The players around her were all abuzz about the one monitor that went black, which was probably the one showing Rares block. According to what she overheard from the players chatting about it, the last thing it had displayed was the battle between those two players and Yoroisaka, after which her four swords flew away in all directions while Yoroisaka stalked off. They didnt see the final scene of Rare quickly getting into the armor. I wonder who that was, the black armored knight? They were way too overpowered. Do you think it could be some kind of special event boss the admins added? That might be a bit of a stretch. If that were the case, wouldnt the players in block sixteen complain? With so many players excited about participating in the event, itd be shitty for there to be an unbeatable boss. Theres no way. So you think that was a player? What the hell did they do in two weeks to afford a complete suit of armor? They probably robbed a merchant, yeah? They easily cut a player in half, so its gotta be someone pretty stone-cold. Right, that parts weird, isnt it? How much STR would you need to cut clean through that guys sword? As she expected, she definitely stood out. Based on the amount of XP she had earned, Rare didnt doubt that her power was at the top, but she thought there should at least be some decent players who could put up a proper fight against Yoroisaka. If there were actually someone at that level, then after defeating Yoroisaka, then she thought she could play at unleashing the final bosss second form, but she didnt think that was likely to happen anymore. The monitors captured the myriad battles unfolding in various places. Many of them included tricking opponents into falling for traps, so they served as great study material for Rare. With them as reference, she could try applying that knowledge in the great forest. CH 45 Yoichi absolutely loved nurses. Since he used to get sick a lot, he was a regular at the VR clinic. Whenever he got anxious before an exam, the kind nurse ladies always kept him company. They were probably actually specialized AIs, and ideal nurses like them didnt exist in real life, or more like the nurse profession probably didnt even exist anymore period, but regardless, Yoichi loved nurses. He loved them so much that whenever he was able to choose his clothing in games, he always went with nurse outfits. These outfits could only be found in historical literature now, but even still, the overall aesthetic remained popular in games and other creative works. However, Yoichi didnt want to lie about himself, so he never posed as a different sex or became one of those nekama people. Therefore, he always played with a male avatar using his real name, Yoichi, whenever he played any games. In deference to Yoichis pride, people thus dubbed him: Nurse Yoichi. Yoichi was quite taken with this nickname, so in order to live up to it, he preferred playstyles that specialized in archery[1]. As long as there were bows in the game, no matter how unpopular it was for any reason, he would prove that he could nevertheless reach the top ranks with it. He was even experienced in archery in real life; the present Yoichi was unrecognizable from the sickly child of the past. In this game, bows werent particularly bad or anything, so aiming for the event championship should have been a suitable goal. Since the start of the game, Yoichi stoically chose to use nothing but the bow. Considering the skills he learned, his stat values supporting those skills, and his archery ability in real life, then not just with bows but even in terms of weapons in general, not many could match up to Yoichi. Since that was the kind of person Yoichi was, then it was a matter of course that he would make it through the preliminaries. Not only that, but he emerged victorious with quite a bit of time left before sudden death. However, after Yoichi was transferred to the spectator seats, he only saw 30 monitors displaying preliminary fights; two of them were already blacked out. Someone cleared the prelims even faster than I did! He was shocked. To bring out the best in the bow, he had learned the [Enhanced Vision], [Enhanced Hearing], and [Enhanced Smell] skills. With them, he was able to find enemies faster than anyone else could and snipe them with arrows. If there was a duel in progress, he could use sound to determine their locations and kill them at a distance. If they were hidden, he needed only a whiff of their scent to find an opening through which to fire an arrow. If they were coming after him themselves, he would wait until they exposed themselves and shoot straight at them. Therefore, the person who had earned the most kills was Yoichi himself. Since Yoichi had killed players with maximum efficiency, he thought he naturally had to have had the fastest clear time. What kind of player could have Yoichi had found a rival. In other words, this was proof that there was a player out there with as much love for a single thing as Yoichi had. Yoichi was excited for the championship. Finally, all the preliminary blocks finished, and only those advancing to the championship would be transferred back down to the arena. One player among them had completely devastated block 16. All the players here looked fierce and resolute, but one of them fixed a terrifying glare at Yoichi. However, he was used to this kind of intimidation and it felt like nothing more than a breeze to him. Before long, the system announced the start of the championship battle, and the 32 contestants in the arena were transported away. He landed in a meadow. For an archer like Yoichi, he would be at a disadvantage in an open field, but he spotted a forest a little bit away. If he could make it over there, he should be able to find a lot of hiding places. Yoichi began to make his way toward that forest. On the way, Yoichis boosted hearing caught the sound of footsteps. He turned to look in that direction and saw a thin youth wielding two short swords approaching him. You were able to detect me at this distance. Im even using a skill right now. Guess the rumors really are true. Without letting down his guard, he readied his bow while observing his opponent. This player was dressed head to toe in tight black clothing. From what he could tell based on the two weapons, this was a speed-focused melee fighter. Wait, since they tried to get closer while using a skill, maybe their fighting style was like a ninjas or a thiefs. Am I famous or something? I dont believe Ive done anything worthy of attention in this game yet, he asked while continuing to observe his opponents approach. He didnt know what rumors these were, but it was bad for his opponent to have information on him. It was true that Yoichi adopted a similar playstyle in every game, though, so if they knew him from one of those games, they could easily predict how he would fight here. Nah, I dont really know that much about you. All Ive heard is that youve picked up quite the arsenal of skills. Well, I did confirm that to be true now. The black-dressed person tried to get closer while talking, but Yoichi kept them in check with his readied bow. Even still, Ive been stoically honing my archery. You wont find it easy to get closer to me. At that, the black-clothed person looked taken aback. Stoically?! Did you say stoically?! Bullshit! You should actually look up the definition of stoicism in the dictionary for once! You damn poser. That instant, or he wasnt sure exactly when, but before he knew it, Yoichi found himself in the spectator seats. In other words, he had been killed. Did that black-clothed boy do something to me? But would he really have deliberately interrupted himself in order to launch an attack? If he really had done that, then he had some truly fearsome assassination skills, to aim for that momentary lapse in attention span. He soon realized that this was a mistaken impression right away. Yoichi dumbfoundedly noticed that the boy in black was standing right next to him; he had also been defeated, probably at exactly the same time. You bastard also died? When did? The boy was also staring blankly back at him. He was probably going through the same mental turmoil as Yoichi right now. They had been facing off against each other while on the highest alert, and yet another championship participant, so close to the start of the match, could kill them both at the same time without them even realizing it. As though sharing some kind of secret signal, the two both turned at the same time to check the monitors. However, they saw nothing there in the meadow except flowers swaying in the wind. [1]: Nurse Yoichi is naasu no Yoichi, which is a single syllable off from Nasu no Yoichi, a samurai famous for shooting a folding fan off a pole with a single arrow when both he and the pole were on separate boats both rocking in the water. CH 46 There were 32 monitors. There were also 32 players in the championship. Which meant it was possible for each monitor to focus on a different player. If that were turned out to be the case, then it would be way too embarrassing for every spectator to see her change, hide herself, and possess her armor. She had been far too na?ve during the prelims. If she happened to get caught on camera, then she would have been in a whole lot of trouble. Rare had no choice other than to compete in the championship as-is with Yoroisaka and the Kenzaki brothers. She would have to give up on the final bosss second transformation act. There probably wouldnt be any players who could push Rare that far anyway. This was the perfect chance to let Yoroisaka take control and see if she could still use her own skills. If she could, then there would be almost no reason for Rare to learn any weapon skills, which would be super convenient. But even if Yoroisaka could use her skills, if the person inside, Rare, had to be careful of the drastic movements or risk injury, then it wasnt very practical anyway. This was something that needed to be tested. Of course, she had her cloak covering her. Since there werent any other players who had completely hidden their faces with a cloak, the spectators already knew that Yoroisaka was underneath, but Rare had the fastest clear time in the prelims, so none of the other contestants knew who was under the cloak. Her transfer destination was next to a stream. A forest was behind her, and across the stream there was a meadow, a sea of grass undulating from the strong wind. Rare used [Summon Vision], [Summon Hearing], and [Summon Smell]. Since she was now jacked into Yoroisaka, she could survey the meadow without problem. Rare looked around. She thought she saw something moving in the forest. She crouched down and focused on her ears. There was a noise. It was probably a player. Still crouched, she slowly and quietly approached them. They still hadnt noticed her. Rare decided to try giving Yoroisaka the reins here. After conveying instructions to her, Rare stopped moving. If she didnt let her body go completely slack, she could be hurt, so this was a moderately nerve-wracking situation. Everything would be fine once she got used to going along with Yoroisakas movements, though; this would work. They closed the gap to get Yoroisaka into range including [Flash Step]. As soon as they did, she activated [Flash Step]. It was important not to reveal their skills as much as possible, but it was even more important to perform the necessary tests. [Flash Step] brought along Rare who was inside. Above all, she didnt feel as though her limbs were moved in any strange ways. This [Flash Step] felt exactly the same now as when she had done it while possessing Yoroisaka. Which meant that she only needed to be careful of Yoroisakas own considerable athletic prowess. Surprisingly, other players probably always felt this way when using these physical-type skills. Furthermore, from a system perspective, her stats were all higher than Yoroisakas. So theoretically, there was no logic behind the idea that she wouldnt be able to keep up with Yoroisakas movements. Gotcha! [Flar The player they were stalking had apparently realized that Rare was aiming for them. They were completely ready to shoot off a spell. However, she wasnt sure if they didnt know about the [Flash Step] skill, or maybe they didnt think she could use it. Either way, she probably came much more quickly than they were expecting, so before they could finish calling out the spells keyword, their bodys left half had already been parted from its right. The overwhelming difference in power turned this into a straight-up murder, but it also reminded Rare of something that had slipped her mind. Yoroisakas endurance had never been tested. This was also true for the Kenzaki brothers, and for Rare herself. Given their current stats and equipment, she wasnt sure how many attacks or how much damage they each could take. If possible, it would be convenient to investigate that here. Since she didnt plan to reveal herself in most cases, her own endurance wasnt as important. Actually, ever since she added [Summon Caster: Mind] and Yoroisaka to her arsenal, if it werent for this event, she would never purposely go out herself, not that she really cared about it this time. In any case, Yoroisaka would probably find herself in the line of fire a lot in the future. Fortunately, iron arrows couldnt even leave a scratch on her, they were basically as harmless as toys, so she needed to investigate the effects of swords, axes, maces or other blunt weapons, and also magic to see how well she held up against them. It might have been better to have been hit by that spell just now. Even if she had gotten hurt from it, she had potions in her inventory. The potions were made from [Alchemy], and she could make as many as she wanted; she currently had enough on her to fill an entire bathtub. They were cultivating the necessary medicinal herbs and mushroom ingredients in one part of the great forest. The engineer ants switched off harvesting the materials then using [Alchemy] to mix low-quality potions, which were subsequently stored in the transporter ants inventories. At first, Rare didnt have much use for the transporter ants, but without specific work for them to do, they had settled in as housekeepers and mobile warehouses. Now, Rare wanted to find a new target with an additional goal of taking one attack. Which meant that rather than hunting in a place with lots of hiding spots, she should find somewhere where she would stand out. She left the forest and headed for the open field. As soon as she set foot in the meadow, she spied some players off in the distance. It was something she wished she hadnt seen, but, unfortunately, Yoroisakas eyesight was too good. There was some kind of pervert wearing a nurse outfit, with his hairy legs proudly sticking out from the skirt, and said pervert was chatting with someone else in full-body black tights. Even with enhanced hearing, she couldnt tell what they were saying, but she immediately knew as soon as she saw them that they needed to be erased from existence as soon as humanly possible. She absolutely did not want to be attacked by them. Especially not the nurse guy; he was holding a bow anyway, so there was no real need to get data on it. Kenzaki Saburou and Shirou flew up high into the sky, then dropped straight down, skewering them both. Now there were 28 players remaining. That many should be a sufficient sample size. Before she crushed them, she would try to take at least one hit. Rare traveled through the meadow along the edge of the forest. This way, she would be able to keep an eye on both the forest and the meadow. Just as she hoped, she kept being attacked by spells and arrows flying out from the forest. A lot of them were [Thunderbolt], seeking to take advantage of the inherent weakness of metal armor. However, none of them were able to overcome Yoroisakas defensive might and reach Rare within. The arrows werent even worth sparing a thought. Yoroisakas LP never went down at all. She wasnt sure whether that was because it was immediately recovered from natural regen or because she literally never took any damage, but either way, Yoroisakas toughness had been confirmed. These were wonderful results. The players who attacked them were immediately cut down by Saburou and Shirou. After dealing with the two degenerates, she asked them to just monitor things from the sky. If they spotted any players, they were to wait until Rare had gotten attacked, then, no matter the results of that attack, promptly dispose of them. Since arrowheads always broke against Yoroisaka, no matter how powerful the bow or how skillful the player, whether the arrow with the busted point bumped her a little bit harder or not made no difference. But magic was different. If someone was specialized in magic, then there was a real possibility that they could injure Rare. That said, could was the operative word here. In reality, Rare had sunk an order of magnitude more XP into every one of her stats such that she still surpassed a regular player who dumped everything they earned into a single stat. Due to that, even if she took a direct, full-powered attack to the face, at best it would only shave off a couple percent of LP. The question here was Yoroisaka. She still seriously had no idea what kind of metal she was made out of it, but it seemed that magic had little effect on her. After eating attacks from around five players, Rare started thinking that there was no point in continuing this experiment. At this early stage in the games life, there was probably no player who could present a legitimate threat to her. In that case, she could just hole up in her territory and experiment her heart away for the time being. So even though she had gone out of her way to make some connections, Wayne probably wouldnt have any use anymore after this event. But neither did he need them. In any case, at his level, there was no way he could have made it to the championship, so he had no further reference value. Since it didnt seem like she could expect to take any real damage, she didnt need to aimlessly wander around anymore either. This forest was just in the way, obstructing her field of view. She was pretty sure they had created it specifically for this event; after today, it shouldnt be used for anything else. So they shouldnt really care if it got burned to the ground. [Hellflame]. This was a high-rank AOE spell in the [Fire Magic] tree. She was sure that some other magic spells were required before being able to learn it, but since she went and invested in all the magic trees equally, she wasnt sure what they were. Then there was her high INT stat, as well as [Magical Affinity: Fire] and [Elemental Ruler: Fire]; these all further augmented a spell that was already powerful. In the blink of an eye, a great conflagration flared up, quickly rampaging across the forest, swallowing it up. Trees were incinerated in an instant, nearly evaporating, leaving not even charcoal behind. The spell was a lot more powerful than she expected. This was her first time casting it, so she was astonished. Now she knew that this spell was 100% forbidden in the great forest and the caves. One of her reasons was certainly the forest is irritating, but a bigger reason was her desire to try using this spell to clear out the trees. She didnt exactly have anything against greenery, but there was also a primal appeal to doing something she absolutely wasnt supposed to ever do. People always encountered moments where they couldnt help but feel that urge. Rare felt enormously satisfied. The forest was all gone. Literally. This zone was made for only 32 people to begin with, so it wasnt nearly as large as the blocks used for the prelims, and the forest was comparatively small too. There were no players in the empty lot that used to be the forest. All that were left were the stream and the meadow, but the stream had been brought to a boil and was even now still steaming. There most likely werent any players hiding in there. Rare turned to look at the meadow, wondering now how she should deal with it. CH 47 Actually, now that she thought of it, her spell just now hadnt smoked out any players. They just burned along with the forest. There was too much firepower to even create any smoke. In which case, a water approach would work better for the meadow. If she just flooded the entire thing, that should force all the players out. Okay then, [Tidal Oh? Right when she was about to cast her spell, she saw numerous shadows dart out at her from the meadow. As a result of obliterating the forest, she actually did succeed in flushing out some players. I thoughtcha were a sorcerer with yer hood up like that, but I see ya got some hardcore armor on too. Well, just goin by what ya did, yer still a sorcerer through and through. A flame sorcerer, by the looks of it But man, that firepower is something else. As long as we watch out for that, we could take him down with enough people probably. Dunno why youre so impatient, but why did you show your hand so quickly? If you stand out too much, then other players will just wanna take you out first. Kinda like whats happening now. Apparently, the players who saw Rares spell and judged that she was too much a threat formed an impromptu alliance against her. They could have attacked her instead of chatting her up, she thought to herself, but maybe they had some kind of personal policy against doing that. They didnt seem to have seen her kill anyone prior to casting [Hellflame], so they had her pegged as someone specialized in magic. Since the opportunity had come to her, she wanted to try taking their attacks. She may have to fight players who banded together to oppose her in the future, so this could be a dry run for that. [Thunderbolt]! [Thunderbolt]! Haah! The two mage-looking players both cast [Thunderbolt] to restrain her movements, while the one with the sword dropped his stance and shot straight at her. Behind him came a warrior wielding a mace and shield, and another one with a spear was apparently hiding in the warriors shadow. There were no projectiles like arrows, though. Any bow mains would have probably been hiding in the forest, which in turn meant that they were probably all dead. The [Thunderbolts] intended to keep her in check had absolutely no effect on Yoroisaka, so Rare ignored them and stepped forward to face the swordsman and his blade head-on. Since it was the height of stupidity to strike plate armor with a bladed weapon, the attack was of course aimed at the armors joints, but in reality there wouldnt be much difference no matter where he hit. Clong! There was an unpleasant noise as he slipped past. No damage. They really wouldnt be worthy opponents. Lets wait for the mace-wielding warrior. No way! It had no effect! Was that a skill?! My sword did nothing either! Its the armor! Not a skill! Thats my cue! Graaaah!!! He let out a roar as he swung his mace. Right, that part was important. Particularly for a heavy warrior like him, in most cases his target already knows hes coming. If so, then instead of a quiet, stealthy attack, its better to let loose a war cry to maximize your strength in that split second, even just a tiny bit more. Rare found this heavy warrior to be the most competent player in this party. Sadly for them, that wouldnt be enough to produce a favorable outcome. He was simply repelled by her armor, and the shock of the impact traveled back into the heavy warriors hand, causing him to drop his mace. A fatal mistake. Its so damn sturdy! What the hell! Looking at the fallen mace, it looked completely mangled now, completely bent out of shape. Almost like someone had just finished smelting the metal and somehow coaxed it into a rod shape. Considering the blowback didnt totally destroy the mace, it must have been harder than iron, meaning it was probably made out of a superior metal. Even still, it couldnt even scratch Yoroisaka. Actually, even if she did get injured, Yoroisaka was a monster, or closer to a character, so her LP automatically regenerated. As long as she didnt die outright or have part of her entirely removed, she would heal, meaning any injury would disappear. She was a piece of equipment that needed zero maintenance or upkeep. The Kenzaki brothers were the same. A group of probably the strongest players on the server only amounted to this much. With even more people, what would be known as a raid party in other games, they likely wouldnt fare any better. Yoroisaka picked up the mace and threw it. It flew through the air, spinning like a disc, knocking off one of the mages heads before disappearing off into the distance. Yoroisaka also had the [Throw] skill; she wasnt even bad at long-distance combat. Aaah! Rare didnt want to communicate with them. Talking, listening; it was better to just kill instead. It was simply more efficient. The swordsman was saying something as she crushed his head. Pulling Ichirou out from her belt, she hacked at the heavy warrior who had dropped his mace. She hesitated for a second, wondering if she should wait for him to raise his shield, but it was made out of the same material as the mace, so it wouldnt change anything either way. The spear-wielding player stayed collected and continued to attack her. Rare was impressed. He aimed for the opening her visor presented; true, if there was any chance at victory, that was the only place she could think of to target. However, whether Yoroisaka had anything to say about that was a separate issue. Using her open hand, she simply grabbed the tip of the spear and destroyed it with a crunch. It must have been iron. With one [Slash], the spearmans head separated from his body. Rare didnt even have to lift a finger. The results of this test were outstanding. All that was left was the lone mage squatting a short distance away. Since he appeared to have lost any motivation to fight back, Rare tried to think if she had anything else she wanted to try. She was able to test out defense, and she had gotten sufficient data on offense as well. She was even able to try out spells she never had a chance to cast before. For the time being, she seemed to have completed everything on her list. Anything else could wait to be done in the great forest. Finally, Rare cast [Tidal Wave], flooding the meadow and taking out the mage at the same time. Apparently, all other players in the championship had died. She received a system message congratulating her victory. Following that, there was a request for her to join in some kind of exhibition match. There wasnt anything like that on the schedule, but the battle royale did conclude very early. That was probably mostly Rares fault; if the accelerated time were reverted now, only a little over an hour would have passed. The exhibition match would be a battle royale where anyone currently in the event zone would be invited to join, even if they hadnt registered for the event. Rare asked. She had already finished testing her own capabilities, as well as Yoroisakas and the Kenzaki brothers. Plus, even if they included players who didnt sign up for the event, they would be clearly weaker than the people she had just demolished in the championship. On the contrary, there might not even be as many people as there were in the prelims. Rare contemplated what she would get out of accepting this request. If she had to name one thing, itd be the chance to steamroll weak players to her hearts content. The death penalty was suppressed during this PvP event, but she didnt want to expose her abilities and lose XP back in the regular game because people came up with countermeasures. Her name as the champion would be widely publicizedwhen she signed up for the event, she was pretty sure she assented to something along those linesso PKers flooding the great forest looking for someone with the name Rare would be the least of her worries. Still, she couldnt imagine those players being able to break through the army of ants she had hiding in the great forest. Not to mention all the platoon commanders would be able to use their heavy weaponry to execute guerrilla tactics in their own backyard. Plus, they would literally be coming up from under their enemys feet. To put it bluntly, those players would just be walking buckets of experience. And they would be masochistic, economical resources that would get back up whenever they died, too. How odd. Now she couldnt see anything but advantages to accepting this request. At this point in time, she felt increasingly inclined to just go ahead and accept, but in a negotiation, rather than justifying the benefits for yourself, it was better to see what the other party offered. Therefore, she just waited for the admins to give her their response. <> Not a bad proposal. Since there was no death penalty during this event, that conversely meant that there was no way to earn XP. That said, if she just wanted XP, waiting for players to invade the great forest would be the same in the end. Even if she didnt get any visitors, she would still accumulate XP over time with the goblin farm. In which case, she wanted something only the admins could provide, something special that she could squeeze out of them. Something that was difficult for her to get on her own right now. <> That area was enormous. Trying to explore it without a map was suicidal. That said, if she just had the ants zerg the place, with time, she might be able to produce a detailed map herself. It was something she would need to obtain eventually, but if she could get the map for free then that would be preferable. She had just about capped out on what resources she could obtain from the great forest. Those resources included ones that were extremely rare, and some of the higher-rank alchemical ingredients unlocked more information about materials, but she didnt have access to all materials. There were some lower-rank materials that she hadnt unlocked any information on yet. <> CH 48 Wayne had no idea what was going on. He hadnt met with Rare again after they had gone into the forest together. Whether she was busy in real life or their login times just never coincided, Wayne had no way to contact her since they werent friends in-game. Meanwhile, the day of the server-wide event arrived. He figured if she were going to be in the event, then hed meet her there. However, he didnt see anyone that looked like her at the arena. Feeling put out, Wayne was eliminated from the prelims in block 2, then watched the championship from the spectator seats all alone. Compared to the prelims, the championship match finished insanely fast. A mysterious player wearing a full suit of black armor completely massacred all the other players. What happened next totally blew Waynes mind. <> <> <> < > Rare. The system just said Rare. You couldnt choose a name that was already in use in this game. That meant that Rare should only refer to the player Wayne knew and no one else. But was that person in the black armor really Rare? What happened in the two weeks since he had last seen her? When they had first met, she had surely been wearing starting equipment. She also made a remark the first time she ever saw magic. That kind of stuff. In any case, he had to meet her. Had to make sure. Wayne went down into the arena. They announced that registration was closing, and that participants would be transported to the field momentarily. Wayne found himself in a meadow. Now he just needed to find Rare. According to the system announcement, if you helped defeat Rare, youd get a special reward or something. Which meant most of the participants would be targeting her. Any player who assists meant that even if a bunch of players helped beat her, they should all get the reward. In other words, it was just like how XP was distributed after combat. Therefore, if defeating Rare was your goal, then you wouldnt consider any other participants your competition. That meant that if there were a lot of players grouped up somewhere, Rare should probably be nearby. So first, he should look for those players. After leaving the meadow and approaching the forest, he saw a gathering of players. He had the feeling they had already long known he was coming since they didnt particularly react to his appearance. In other words, their target was Rare. They werent wary of him at all even as he got closer and closer. Yo. You looking for the champion? As soon as he was close enough, someone called out to him. Yeah, I am. You guys too? Of course. This is supposed to be a battle royale, but if we all fought each other, thered be no way for us to beat the champion. So if any of us regular players wanna survive, we gotta team up to vanquish the final boss first. Final boss, huh Fits perfectly, dont it? Even if we cant win, we at least wanna see whats under the helmet. Wayne already knew that itd be the rugged face of a catkin woman, though. Yeah, sure He decided to travel with them. Even if they were just searching randomly, with more people itd be easier to find her. The trees werent too dense, so they could see a fair distance into the forest. He occasionally saw other players in there heading in approximately the same direction. Think those players have the same goal? Maybe they have a friend who found the boss and are in touch with them. All right, lets follow them. After leaving the forest, they came upon a ton of players. Rare was probably somewhere on the other side of this crowd. He had to meet her. All right! This is probably enough people! Lets go! Its a raid!!! Someone led the charge, and the battle began. Wayne could fight in both close quarters and at range, but his objective was to talk to Rare, so he wanted to be at the front of the group. Since combat had already started, everyone naturally split up to secure their own positions or line of sight, making it easier to move up front. He dashed across the battlefield, squeezing out before all the other players. When he got to the front lines, all the shield-bearing players with metal chest protectors had surrounded a single player in black armor. Various magic spells and arrows flew in from far away, and swordsmen and spearmen who could dodge them went from playing meat shields to launching attacks. Wayne mixed himself into that group. He would have been left out if they were all as strong as the championship players who had formed a temporary party to challenge Rare, but they werent that powerful. Players with widely varying levels of strength had formed a united front. So even if Wayne joined them, he wouldnt be called out for it. While preparing to attack, Wayne shouted, Rare! Rare turned toward Wayne. None of the attacks hitting her had any effect; if she was concerned about him, then she wouldnt outright kill him. Rare! What happened?! How did you?! Hey you! You know the champion?! Guy, lets talk later! Give us a hint for how to get that strong!!! This was no time to deal with other players. Rare!!! However, without responding either to Wayne or to any other player, Rare suddenly raised one arm and started mumbling something. Immediately after, countless bolts of lightning leaped out from Rares hand, spinning in a maelstrom and mowing down every player around her. Wayne found himself back in the spectator seats in a daze. Hey, you were trying to talk to the champion just now, werent you? You friends? The person talking to him had been one of the shieldbearers in the front lines just now. Not friends, we just grinded XP together a few times. Ah, is that all? But right now, no one knows anything about that player, so youll be the only one with any information on her. Is there any way you can get in contact with her? Maybe, if I can meet with her. I need to ask about today. As far as I know, she shouldnt be that good or strong of a player. Then she found some way to get really strong really fast, maybe. This is getting more and more interesting. Hey, mind friending me? If you find out anything, be a pal and let me know. After saying so, he held out his friend card. Wayne sluggishly accepted it, then put it in his inventory. <>[1] Call me Gil. I wanted Gilgamesh, but it was already taken. That meant Gil wasnt an abbreviation of his player name, but its not like they were actually friends, and Wayne didnt know his real name. So calling him Gil anyway wouldnt cause any problems For an instant, Wayne felt like a mental puzzle piece was about to slot into place. But he was having a hard time thinking straight right now. After parting with Gil there, Wayne decided to log out for the day. He had completely forgotten about the reward for participating in the event, but it was automatically sent to his inventory after maintenance. [1]: This is a fun translation. So Gilgamesh in katakana is spelled 륬å, but this guy chose the name Υ쥬å. So he uses the no and re kana because, when next to each other, they look like ru . And whats the Latin alphabet equivalent of this trick? :) CH 49 Apparently that Wayne guy was also doing the event. Rare was surprised when he suddenly called her by name. Shed have liked to have responded to him, but since her voice sounded completely different from Kerrys, it would be annoying if he were to become suspicious of her. Thus, she whispered a spell keyword as quietly as possible in order to indiscriminately kill all the players around her. Rares [Thunderstorm] caused massive casualties; all the tanks in the front lines were wiped out. The ones positioned a bit behind them had shields and thick armor, but all of it was leather and none wore a metal chest protector, so they barely made it out alive. Lightning-based magic attacks were extra effective against metal armor, after all. Due to the difference in health, Wayne and other light-armored warrior players all died and were sent back. Since their playstyles focused on evasion, they had high AGI, but few of them put any XP into VIT. Normally they could dodge this type of magic, but the speed that lightning magic activated and traveled was the highest of all elements of magic. Its AOE spells had especially narrow zones of effect compared to other elements, but against players of this level, it was still wide enough to be unavoidable. The only players left were the leather-wearing tanks right in front of her as well as the ranged classes who were outside her spells AOE. Rare had forced a reprieve in casting her spell, but soon the rain of arrows and magic would resume. She could drop another AOE spell on all the ranged, but if she just shot them out one after another before her cooldowns finished, shed be slowly running down her options, especially since high-rank spells had long cooldowns. It would take more time, but she should use her sword to take the rest out. As she slaughtered each leather tank in a flash, Rare made her way toward those in the rear. The one walking was Yoroisaka, but the sword being waved around was Kenzaki Ichirou moving himself. It was a test to see if Yoroisaka could sync with the Kenzakis movements. Right now, there didnt appear to be any delays at all. They had superb coordination. Having swept away all the leather tanks, Yoroisaka pulled Saburou out with her left hand. With the two Kenzakis held loosely in her hands, she used [Flash Step] to close in on a nearby mage. Shocked, he could only stare blankly as his head was lopped off. The other people around him didnt even start to move until they saw the blood begin spraying from the disappearing corpse, but everyone had been clumped up in the rear. She could see them hesitate to shoot anything that could accidentally hit an ally. Such an illogical conundrum. Even if they had teamed up to bring down Rare, this was still a battle royale. Other players were still enemies. That meant it was perfectly fine to just blow everyone else away with your attacks. If that took out Rare, then good; if not, then if any other players died from collateral damage, then theyd still earn some kind of points. It was a choice with absolutely no downside. Rare could not understand why no one else could reach that conclusion. Actually, if Rare were in their shoes, facing an enemy that didnt seem to take any damage from her magic, she would have opted to off all the weaker players under the guise of accidental friendly fire. That would have been the most profitable course of action. That said, if anyone tried that now, the current Rare wouldnt be so appreciative. Since the XP she could have gotten from killing players would decrease. Therefore, before anyone else opted for that tactic, shed just have to take out all the players first. She went around killing every player she found with liberal use of [Spinning Slice], [Slash], [Flash Step], and [Throw]. The Kenzakis she [Threw] killed as many additional players as they could without arousing suspicion, then stabbed themselves into the ground. Having thrown one sword, Yoroisaka grabbed Shirou from her back and Jirou from her waist, then fought her way over to the thrown Kenzakis using a mix of normal attacks and skills. She used [Throw] with one of the Kenzakis in her hand, then recovered one in the ground with her now-free hand. The remaining players finally decided to bite the bullet and just attack without regard for any other players safety, but by then those still alive were too scattered anyway. [Flare Arrow]. Rare hated being canceled out, so she only used magic on players holding bows, then threw projectiles at mage players, steadily taking them out one by one. There was a combat effect when two offensive spells collided called canceling. If they were the same element and about the same power, it would create an explosion and both spells would be destroyed. If they were instead, for example, fire and ice spells, elemental combinations like that would cause their offensive values to partially cancel out, reducing the strength of both spells. When a difference in INT resulted in a large difference in firepower, or when they were different skill ranks in the same tree, the weaker spell would be completely canceled out while the stronger one would be weakened when they collided, and the now-weaker spell would continue on to its original target. When one person is singled out and focused down during a contest of magic, collisions and cancellations happen often. Concerning the current situation, that meant that Rares firepower could easily be mitigated; whenever she wanted to cast magic, she had to carefully examine the MP costs to be paid and the risks incurred from cooldown timers. However, the players surrounding Rare had regained their cool by now, so even if she were to fire at an archer, the many mages behind them could repeatedly shoot their own magic to completely cancel out Rares spell. At the same time, there was a player here who was capable of altering the trajectory of the Kenzakis she threw using arrows. This was a big surprise to Rare. There was in fact a skill that could accomplish that, but considering the Kenzakis could move under their own power, hitting them such that they couldnt evade took considerable real-world talent. Out of the corner of her eye, Rare saw a familiar nurse outfit. She reflexively unleashed a spell. [Hellflame]. Her magic disintegrated all the players to her left, where she had noticed the nurse outfit. The surviving players all froze, pausing their attacks; the power of that AOE spell could not be mitigated at all using cancellation. Even though they were concentrating all their fire on Rare, their chances had only been 50:50 at best. With half their number lost in a single breath, it would be easy for Rare to clean up the remaining shell-shocked survivors. The anti-Rare alliance had been thoroughly decimated, and they were unable to continue cooperating. The battle royale ended soon after. Apparently, every other participant in the exhibition match had been solely targeting Rare. This was how the curtain fell on the first official server-wide event. In the end, no one found out what kind of event the administrators had originally planned to hold. CH 50 To all players: Thank you for playing [Boot Hour, Shoot Curse]. The first official server-wide event, the battle royale, was a resounding success in no small part due to the players. We are extremely grateful that so many players participated. We are planning more events for you to enjoy, so please stay tuned for future announcements. We hope there will be as much enthusiasm and participation for them as well! We hope you continue to enjoy your time in [Boot Hour, Shoot Curse]! Maintenance Announcement Thank you for playing [Boot Hour, Shoot Curse]. The servers will be down for scheduled maintenance following the conclusion of the server-wide event. In response to feedback from a portion of the playerbase, a game system change will be implemented during maintenance. The names of spells must be used as a spoken keyword to activate magic spells and active skills. Many players have expressed their discontent with these skill names. After conducting a detailed internal investigation, characters will now be allowed to change the activation keyword required to cast spells and use skills. If no change is configured, the current keyword will continue to work normally. We hope you continue to enjoy your time in [Boot Hour, Shoot Curse]! Maintenance period: 10:00~19:00 (Exact end time is subject to change) Frequently Asked Questions This list of [Frequently Asked Questions] and [Troubleshooting Tips] has been compiled from player submissions. The answers on this page may be able to resolve your questions or issues, so please check here before submitting an inquiry. In addition, please be aware that some questions regarding game content or specifications may not be addressed here. Q: There is an abnormally powerful player in the game; is she actually a member of the administration team, or is she cheating in some way? A: This is not the case. Because knowledge of the inner workings of this game provides an excessive advantage over regular players, employees and any persons associated with our company are expressly forbidden from playing on the server with the public game population. It is well-known that in the 5th generation VR systems, consumers cannot initiate unauthorized behavior via the client-side framework. In addition, since the system AI is equipped with live bugfix functionality, it is virtually impossible to exploit any potential bugs in the system. While we are unsure which player is being asked about, we do acknowledge that the existence of abnormally powerful players is within developer expectations. All game systems are confirmed to be working as intended. We hope you continue to enjoy your time in [Boot Hour, Shoot Curse]! Hello Rare, Thank you for playing [Boot Hour, Shoot Curse]. The administration team believes that the first official server-wide event, the battle royale, was far more successful than anticipated due to your involvement. Because so many players were able to have an enjoyable experience, we would like to show our appreciation on behalf of the entire development team. To that end, we would like to include footage from the event which showcases the character Rare in battle in a commercial for a public advertising campaign. We are contacting you today to request permission to use this footage. The footage we would like to use is CH 51 After maintenance was over, Rare logged in and received a bunch of notifications. There was the usual notification about the maintenance, but it had been sent before maintenance so, after skimming the title, she ignored it. A recording of battle footage, huh. Well, as long as it doesnt show me changing, then whatever. Lets see, so theyll also ask for my permission after Ive been given the edited footage to review Since my face doesnt appear, then yeah, whatever. Ah, thats right Something came to mind that she had written down as a possibility. If it worked, then things might get interesting. Great, so all thats left is that Wayne guy. Whats going on with Wayne? asked Kerry, who was standing by next to Rare. After going to the forest with Wayne, Kerry had spent nearly all her time in the queens chambers. Apparently, while she had been pretending to be weak, having to attack her allies, the engineer ants, caused her quite a bit of stress. Unless Rare ordered it, she didnt intend to maintain her relationship with Wayne. Regarding the event the other day where I was gone for about two hours, there was a little incident. She wasnt sure if her followers could tell if she was logged in during those two hours. Since she had predicted that there wouldnt be a way to earn XP while in the event area, she had ordered her subordinates to go out and randomly kill stuff in the meantime, curious if she would still get the XP. However, since she ended up earning a ton of XP during that last exhibition match, it was hard to tell whether she had gotten any or not. No, that wont be necessary Okay. Lets do this. Kerry will go out to the city, and Ill use [Summon Caster: Mind] to possess her. Like that, Ill make contact with Wayne lead him into the great forest, then kill him for XP. After Kerry arrived at the city, Rare activated [Summon Caster: Mind] to take control. She had borrowed Kerrys avatar before when she was testing out how the skill worked, but for some reason it felt uncomfortable now, like she was overly conscious that it wasnt her own body. Though that was natural since it wasnt her body. Yoroisaka was completely subservient, so that felt more like controlling a robot, or playing that kind of VR game; to put it plainly, the experience was so alien that, conversely, it didnt bother her at all. So if its a character with an extremely strong sense of self, so much that they have their own mannerisms, that might be the cause of this incompatibility. In the real world, since every given person has their own unique way of walking that uses their own personal habits and quirks, their muscles and nerves are optimized in a way to accommodate those quirks and minimize any discomfort. Because of that, if a stranger were to take over that persons body and try moving in it, they would definitely feel ill at ease. She couldnt believe that the game would go that far to replicate that feeling, but at the same time, she felt that since it was this game, then it wasnt that odd at all. How did it go, Any sufficiently advanced technology[1]? she muttered aloud as she made her way to the sellsword guild. Her habit of talking to herself had gotten worse. It was fine when she was in the queens chamber, but she really needed to watch herself when she was out and about. There werent that many sellswords in the sellsword guildor so she had been expecting, but there were actually more here than usual. Looking closer, they seemed to be players. She didnt see any of that desperation characteristic of someone looking to lay down roots in this city; to put it negatively, it felt like they had come to the boonies on break in order to kill some time, like they were the grandkids of the neighborhood old folks or something. As someone raised in the countryside in real life, Rare was rather familiar with people like that. To this city, these players were city slickers, as it were. With the advent of VR, there were fewer opportunities to go outside, so the gulf between the countryside and the city got even wider. While the feeling of being trapped that was characteristic of living in the countryside had faded, so had the positive spirit of wanting others to know more about their own hometown. Now, is Wayne Ah, there he is. He was in a corner of the lobby, sitting on a bench and staring at the floor. For a split second, the heavy atmosphere confused Rare; was she actually in a game right now, or was she in a VR employment center? Not that shed ever been in one of those before. Yo, Wayne. Keep ya waitin? !!! Rare! Ah, not at all You came to see me. Yeah. Its written all over your face; you got a bunch of stuff to ask me. And we havent talked since coming back from the forest. As she spoke, Rare mentally clicked her tongue in irritation. A number of other players appeared to be looking their way after hearing Waynes response. That lack of consideration was probably why he didnt have any friends. Not that she could judge; she had no friends herself. I dont mind chatting, but we stand out too much here. Id like to go somewhere more quiet; lets head to the forest. If I remember right, there arent many monsters or people around the edge. Wayne stood up and, with a nervous look on his face, nodded in assent. Rare accompanied him out of the sellsword guild. It didnt seem like anyone followed them. Not that shed particularly care if anyone had. On the way to the forest, Rare did her best to walk in a way that didnt seem unnatural. In order to accomplish that, she had to trace Kerrys habits. She wasnt sure how closely Wayne had been monitoring Kerrys behavior, but for Rare, it felt like she was on a mission in disguise to converse with someone she didnt know. After framing it in that manner, she couldnt help feeling a bit pumped up. Since things had already become like this, she wanted to do her best not to get found out. When they got there, they decided to find a spot about 20 minutes into the forest. Last time Kerry had come here, if she remembered correctly, they leisurely wandered around for an hour before an engineer ant had been set on them. Even after just 20 minutes, no one would be able to see them from the edge of the forest, so last time there was no need to wait until they had gone in as deep as they had. Even after they had gotten that far in, though, no ants would have come without being ordered. The forest was originally Kerrys home turf, though, so doing all this was actually good practice for Rare. As far as avoiding discomfort, she found it far easier to move about in the forest. Riley and the others also had regular patrols; maybe itd be good for Rare to occasionally go with them via possession. All right, this should be far enough. So Wayne, what do you want to know? Are you really Rare? Of course I am. Im obviously Rare. Who else would I be? Since she was currently possessing Kerrys body, the person talking to him was unmistakably Rare. In fact, all the previous times actually werent Rare. I feel like youre not the same Rare I know. [1]: The third of Clarks Three Laws CH 52 What went wrong? She was outed right away. Either this Wayne guy had much better intuition than Rare thought, or he was just plain sharp. Or maybe Rare was just way dumber than she thought she was. Not a conclusion she particularly wanted to entertain, all things considered. I dont know what youre trying to say, but you need to authenticate your brain waves in order to log into the game. Its absolutely impossible for me to be someone else. Well, if it required a fingerprint or iris scan like they used to have ages ago, there mightve been ways to fool those. And this avatar was undoubtedly Kerrys, whom Wayne had met before. In other words, the person before Wayne was the Rare that Wayne knewKerrys bodyand at the same time also the actual player named Rare. For Wayne, this was the highest purity Rare he had ever met. So was that what you wanted to ask? If so, then are we done here? Hold on, you still have answered my question! Huh? Were still going with this topic? Rare thought. Whats making him go this far? Fine. Then let me ask this instead: Why dont you think Im Rare? First is the way you talk. Rare really gets into her character, like roleplay. How do I put this, she really talks like a female mercenary. He was correct; before Kerry learned to speak more politely, she had a rather crass style of speech. When she had met Wayne for the first time, Rare had a feeling she spoke to him like that. This was a blunder on Rares part. Aha. Well, I thought it was bout time to switch it up. Cant blame me for that, can you? She somehow adjusted her style of speech to match. Since Kerry recently started only speaking formally, she couldnt remember the specifics. Next, the way you walked in the forest. Last time we came, you followed after meand I got the sense you were nervous. But today, you led the way in such a brisk, confident manner. Its true that its been two weeks since then, but even in a game, its hard for me to believe that you got completely used to traveling in a forest in such a short time. He was exactly right. Right now, Rare was mimicking the way that Kerry navigated the forest. Rare had originally gotten accustomed to walking in the woods from another VR game, but it was true that it wasnt a skill that could be mastered in a short period of time. Last time, Kerry did in fact kind of plod after Wayne slowly. The reason why she built up so much stress was from pretending to be weaknot just in combat, but in all sorts of ways such as this. This was another blunder on Rares part. Another thing; when you talked about login authentication just now, the impression I got from talking to Rare before was that she wasnt all that knowledgeable about hardware or software. Seeing that Rare going out of her way to explain outdated biometric authentication security measures is incredibly unnatural. Of course she didnt understand any of it. The residents of this worldNPCs like Kerryknew nothing about VR equipment or computer systems. Rare talked too much out of habit, but here it sure came back to bite her. This was yet another blunder on Rares part. Goodness gracious. Rare was a certified idiot. Arent you the friend that Rare would sometimes talk to via friend chat? Also, I dont know if Rare even is a player name. Since I never friended her, I just know she called herself Rare when we first met, but I never checked if that was her actual player name. Rare had indeed been incredibly careless, but it was also true that Wayne was very sharp. She never imagined that he could reason out this much with such pinpoint accuracy. Spectacular. She didnt think shed get to experience this murder-mystery feeling of a perpetrator being steadily cornered in this game. Despite the fact that the game did include the freedom to do almost anything. It should be possible to come up with various perfect crime scenarios, especially when including magic and skills into the mix. She should really consider doing that if she ever found some free time; she added that to her mental to-do list. I see, I see So what youre saying is that there are two players with the exact same physical appearance, one being me, and the other being the Rare that you met before? Here she would casually suggest that it was a trick with two players. As far as Rare was concerned, as long as he didnt somehow land on the actual truth, that Rare herself had a completely different appearance and NPCs had a way to use inventories and friend chat, then there was no problem. If the fact that Rare didnt look like Kerry got out, then it would naturally connect to the question of how she could control Kerrys body; she didnt want knowledge of these skills to get out. So that really was it Having interpreted Rares words as a confession just now, Wayne hung his head. If youre going to ask why I did something like this, well, I cant say there was any particular reason The reason was really that Rare just didnt want to go to town herself, but if she said that, it would lead to learning that she didnt look like Kerry, so she would say no more. It wasnt exactly a badger game, but, well, it was to PK unsuspecting players. You can only hunt NPCs once and thats it, but with players you can do it over and over again, so that was part of why. Even in the closed beta, I pretended to be an NPC to dupe stupid players and kill them off You did what? You pretended to be an NPC in the closed beta to PK? And now youre Thats right. It was my best work. I did it a bunch of times, but Id get found right right away if I tried again in the same city. So I had to immediately move That was you! One of those stupid players you killed was me!!! Rare jumped at Waynes sudden outburst. But now the pieces were falling into place. He looked completely different now, but while Kerry was pretending to be Rare, that goodie-two-shoes feeling she got from him did remind her of one of those idiots from before. Not that she knew exactly which one among her past victims he was, she just vaguely had that impression. So that was it! What a twist of fate! It was laughable how moronic you had been before, but this time, for you to see through my scheme and reveal my cards, I must applaud your tremendous growth! It makes me so happy! Grrgh! Damn you! Ah, feel free to draw your sword. I intend to do the same. You said this was some kind of badger game! Then why didnt you do it yourself?! If you had the same face, then why why did you involve her in this?! Because they didnt actually have the same face, and in the first place she just blurted out badger game without really thinking about it, but she couldnt reveal any of that now. I think you should have realized, but acting is not my forte. However, for her, shes honest at her core, so she was better at it. She built up a lot of stress, though, so I wont have her do it anymore. But you were the one who caused that stress!!! Actually, no, if anyone, you were, Wayne. But again, there was nothing to gain from saying that. After feeding him one last bit of misinformation, she would have him exit the stage. Ive made this forest my domain. I havent thought of how exactly yet, but I plan to go out and PK as many players as I can from here on out. And youll be the first. Fuck you! If you think Ill let you get away with this! Youll do what, exactly? Are you going to band together with everyone else to kill me? Thats fine by me. If I kill you enough times, one day youll be so weak you wont even be able to lift a finger against anyone else. As she made that declaration, Rare raised her hand to the sky. Kenzaki Ichirou, who had been on standby high up in the air, dropped down right into it. That sword Well then, ta ta for now. Ill be waiting for you. Before Wayne could blink, she closed the distance with [Flash Step] and took his head with a [Slash]. CH 53 There had been a server-wide event or something, apparently. Before she knew it, the registration period was already overor more like the event itself passed her by; the maintenance that followed it was the first time she had even heard of it. Blanc had a routine of going to the underground lake, hunting lizardmen, then spending XP on her bats, rinse and repeat. When the number of lizardmen dropped too low, she would travel a little bit further to find a different group of monsters to farm. The further away from the lake she got, the more XP she earned; maybe the lizardmen had lost a turf war and were driven all the way to their current home or something. If that was really what happened, then the further she traveled, the better the living conditions were, meaning it was very possible that following the underground water vein would eventually lead her outside. Her random theory that the castle was on some kind of super highland suddenly gained some traction. The bats didnt get any particularly different builds. She couldnt imagine herself using individual bats for different tasks, so it made more sense for all nine to be raised approximately the same; it made things simpler regardless of whether she decided to have them all act in concert or split into smaller teams. There was absolutely no connection to the fact that Blanc couldnt tell them apart. But, hm. I kinda feel like, one bat could take out a lizardman solo; they exude that kind of aura now If all nine went out, I bet they could wipe out a village on their own. The amount of XP Blanc had used on each bat was already close to how much shed spent on herself. And she wasnt sure what caused this, but at some point even her [Vampiric Magic] showed up in their list of available skills, so she had them learn it to test out skills before she took them herself. She also taught them [Mental Magic], which synergized well with [Vampiric Magic]; this appeared in their trees after she got [Summoning] and [Necromancy] at the counts recommendation. She was vaguely aware that the conditions for learning a skill were related to other learned skills and an individuals race, but the fact that a followers skills might be reliant on the lords skills as well was something she had completely missed. Because of this, she couldnt only spend XP on the bats, but as a result it would become much harder to earn XP from the lizardmen. That is the state of things. It must happen eventually, regardless of the path you take. If it is for the sake of improving your strength, then those lizards are still useful, the count responded after Blanc consulted with him. Oh, hmm, like how? Indeed; you have learned [Necromancy]s [Bind Soul]? Then use [Necromancy] to raise lizardmen corpses; if you succeed at [Subordinating] them, then you will have undying soldiers. I see But undead, huh Blanc wasnt very happy at the prospect of having zombies tagging along with her. If I give those undead lizardmen my blood, can I turn them into Revenants? Hmm Normally, lizardmen are considered superior to the human races. Therefore, lizardmen zombies are similarly superior to human zombies or they should be. In that light, it is hard to think you would be successful but you lose nothing by trying. If you fail, you will only lose some of your vitality. If you use too much, heal yourself promptly. Vampires and vitality? Blanc thought the two words didnt belong together, but in game terms he probably meant LP. In other words, for vampires, the act of imparting their own blood translates into a cost paid with LP. I getcha! All right, Ill go give it a shot! The place where she excitedly decided to experiment was at the underground lake where she found her first lizardmen. As far as Blanc knew, the lizardmen here were the weakest; that meant that when raised as undead, they should be weaker as well. If so, then there was a better chance of them being able to reincarnate using her blood too. [Mist]. After letting the mist spread, Blanc let off a [Fear] at the raised ground she presumed were homes. Sneaking a glance at the lake, there were lizardmen in there that shrunk back in terror. [Thunderbolt]! She used [Lightning Magic] to take out each lizardman one by one. Within Blancs arsenal, it could leave behind the most pristine corpses. After repeating this numerous times, she got her hands on three largely undamaged lizardman bodies. She considered storing them in her inventory, but based on what she read in the skill details for [Necromancy] and [Bind Soul], they said something about how the soul only stayed in the body right after it died, so she changed her mind. She didnt remember ever getting a [Soul] item after storing a corpse in her inventory, meaning she didnt know where the soul went when a dead body was put into an inventory. The bodies were all carried to the shore by the bats. Normally, that would be physically impossible, but three of her bats were able to hold up one lizardman body. And it was more of a problem with balance; if it were only a matter of weight, a single bat could handle it. The bats had become massively powerful after having so much XP invested in them. The lizardman corpses were laid down on the underground lakes beach. Uhh, [Necromancy]. A pitch black haze leaked out from the corpses. Even though there was barely any light around the lake, she could somehow tell that this stuff was even darker. It was probably some kind of effect rather than an actual loss of light. The haze enveloped the bodies, then she heard a wooshing noise, like the sound of air being expelled. She could no longer make out the lizardmen. A few seconds passed like that, then the haze started to fade away naturally. Then the lizardmen stood up. Or only their bones did. Only their skeletons are left!!! However, the bones clearly belonged to lizardmen. Their silhouettes, with their tails and the shapes of their heads, brought to mind dinosaurs from picture books. Ehh, I guess its better than zombies Alrighty, [Subordinate]. <> <> Um, do not permit. <> <> Are they gonna make me do this for each one? Do not permit. <> <> Nuh uh, do not permit. She considered letting one of them reincarnate into a zombie, but decided not to. Most groups of three consisted of two who got along real well and a leftover, a third wheel; going out of her way to create the impetus for such a divide to form felt wrong. I didnt expect being asked about it I got to make the ultimate decision for myself However, NPCs couldnt receive system messages. Which means that for all the counts [Subordinated] zombies, either there was some other method for triggering it, or they were actually just unilaterally forced into becoming Squire Zombies. In which case, its possible there werent any NPC vampires with tamed skeletons. So, no one knows what would happen if I gave blood to these skeletons? The count had already assured her: Even if she failed, all shed lose is LP. In which case, giving out enough for the three shouldnt be a problem. Blanc cut her finger on one of her canines, then rubbed her blood on the foreheads of the three lizardman skeletons. Oh wait, these arent canines, theyre actually fangs! She was immediately overcome with weakness, making her entire body going limp and causing her to unintentionally fall to her knees. She checked and definitely had lost LP. Furthermore, even though her max LP had gone up quite a bit by this point, she suddenly lost half of it. Thats a huuuge chunk You left out that part, coach She wondered how she could teach a vampire count inside of a game the importance of Ho-Ren-So. <> The skeletons standing before her became dyed in red. Oooh? Its like theyre powering up I was worried it might fail. Hang in there, Life Points! Their color wasnt the only thing that changed; a bunch of little spikes rose up on their spines, from their backs down to their tails; their fingers and toes tapered into sharp claws; and all their bones became thicker, stouter. To cap off the transformation, two little horns sprouted up from the backs of their heads. Holy cow! They look wicked! Theyre totally different now! What the heck! Umm Spartoi, sown ones? Seriously, what the hell are these? Did I plant some seeds or something? Their race name was a complete mystery to Blanc, but in any case, she successfully reincarnated them. CH 54 Hoh, spartoi. They are quite powerful undead. As always, your actions are inexplicable to me. Fuh hah hah. When she went to brag to the count, he complimented her. Just as he said, the spartoi had total stats comparable to Blancs when she had first turned into a vampire. Normally, she wouldnt have been able to [Subordinate] them since theyd resist it. [Control] and [Subordinate] required a large gap in power in order to succeed. Incidentally, did you not impart any of your blood to the bats? If the new spartoi were given it first, I would not be surprised if they were dissatisfied. Huh, really? When she opened her cape to look at them, they looked back at her with their cute little eyes as though to ask Yes, what is it? They didnt seem bothered in the least. But still, just as the count was saying, the bats had been doing their best all along, so giving blood to the skeletons first was kinda unfair. But Id need a lot of LP for all of them A needless concern; should my aid be required, I shall lend it. Simply do what you must without hesitation. I am also interested in the outcome. If the count said he would support her, then she should just do it. A chance like this was unlikely to come again; he might change his mind as soon as the day changed, so if she was gonna go for it, it had to be now. Okay, here goes nothing Just like before, Blanc bit into her finger with a fang, then let each bat lap up a drop of blood. After every bat had gulped it down, she gently set them down in the center of the throne room and stepped back to observe the results. Guh Almost immediately, she was overcome with the sensation that came from her LP being drained. She was ready for it this time, so she didnt shamefully fall to her knees again, but she lost as much LP as she had before. <> A black mist appeared that completely obscured the bats from sight. There werent any noises like there had been with the skeletons, but the mist steadily expanded. There was so much that it could have covered up a few humans in addition to the bats. Since there was an announcement, the reincarnation mustve succeeded But nothing is coming out Be silent and watch. Look, the haze is clearing up. While she thought Ah, is it haze, not mist?, she watched the haze dissipate as the count said. What sat there where the haze had been were definitely not bats. Who are they?! And how come there are only three of them?! Hoh. Intriguing, intriguing It appears that three bats reincarnated into a single mormo. A single bat was too weak by itself. Mormo? Indeed. A type of vampire that specializes in transformation. A vampire! There were three beautiful women seated on the floor, mostly human-looking but with pale faces. They were stark naked. Um, count? Fuh hah hah. What a helpless child you are. Fret not; clothing shall be prepared. Thankies! Even after being given clothes, they didnt know how to wear them, so they simply tilted their heads while holding up the clothes in their hands. Blanc helped them each get dressed and stood them up, but they immediately squatted back down. They were bats until just now; they are unused to standing on two legs. They must now practice walking, using their hands well, all human movement. Ohh, I see Aaau ueeh en. No, its fine. Its my responsibility to make sure you can all do everything by yourselves. While you can glean their intent as your followers, they also cannot speak. This was their first time trying to use words. Now that he mentioned it, he was totally right. There was no way bats could speak. However, they had always listened to her talk, and she had always understood their thoughts, so they did know words. In which case, it shouldnt take long until they could handle conversations. After that, Blanc spent her time helping her followers learn to walk and speak. Occasionally, she would take the spartoi to the underground lake and beyond, letting them defeat lizardmen in order to earn XP. At the counts suggestion, she used some XP to teach the mormos [Body Control] and [Nimble], which dramatically improved their movements. Before long, their training sessions ended, and the XP being earned went toward teaching the spartoi the same skills. When she had the mormos fight lizardmen, they earned almost no XP at all. She realized that each mormo contained three bats of invested XP. Though she only gave them basic race-limited skills, they had an abundance of them, so they each were essentially three times Blancs level. Obviously they would earn no XP from lizardmen. So like, theyre way the hell stronger than I am, so good thing there isnt some kinda mutiny system There isnt, right? They are completely bound by [Subordinate], so it cannot be done. Even if that were not the case, the one who raised them and gave them blood to allow them to reincarnate was none other than you. Their wills hold not even an inkling of rebellion. Ooh. Alrighty then. More importantly, as I said before, mormos are a race that excel in transformation. You would benefit from testing it. It is a masters duty to fully comprehend the servants capabilities. She checked and they could all learn the [Transform] skill. Maybe due to the fact that they had learned so many skills, all their trees were full of new entries. Hey you guys, what kinds of things can you turn into with the [Transform] skill? Lets try it out. The three immediately nodded their heads, after which they vanished in a black haze, or rather a black mist. After a few seconds, the mist cleared, and standing there were three Blancs. Whoa! Its me! Thats so awesome! When she went to check the skill again, [Transform] had become a skill tree, and the skill under it was [Change Individual]. This skill allowed the caster to adopt the appearance of someone whose blood had been ingested. The effect would persist until the user canceled it or they were hit by some kind of offensive action. The reason they could [Transform] into Blanc was probably because they had consumed her blood when they reincarnated. Next, the three of them used [Transform] to turn into bats. Each one split into three bats. Why do they look familiar Oh, youre the bats from before reincarnation! Aw, I missed you guys Ah, what happens if one of the bats dies when theyre transformed? In all likelihood, when they revert, they would lose a third of their vitality. When turning into multiple organisms, I believe that as long as one body survives, after canceling the [Transform] and resting, a complete recovery is possible. You sure know everything, coach! Fuh hah hah! How long do you believe I have been a vampire? My title of count is not just for appearances! The mormos could also use [Transform] to turn into wolves. For now, those were their only options, but as long as they sucked the blood of enemies weaker than they were, they could increase their list of [Transform] options that way. That means Im weaker than these girls are That kind of put Blanc out, but after the mormos all pat her on the back sympathetically, she felt even more pathetic, so she decided to get over it. Ah, I forgot! I need to give you all names. The spartois too. Blanc wasnt that great at thinking up names. Though that should have been obvious from looking at her own name. All right, Ill start with the mormos. Youll be Azalea. Youre Carmine. And then youre Magenta. For the spartoi, youre Vermilion, youre Crimson, and youre Scarlet. They were all names having to do with red. Blanc thought it was a pretty neat idea for something she came up with. And since her own name was also based on a color, it was cool that they all followed the same theme. But man, our power level has really beefed up now. Its about time we take over a country or maybe not quite yet, but a city at least might be doable, how about it? Oh right, this was the topic that started everything. TL note: The mormo isnt classically considered a vampire, but it seems to have turned into a type of vampire in modern times, perhaps in the literary pursuit of finding monsters to use in stories that arent the typical mainstream ones. CH 55 Apparently, the game staff had made edits to the commercial footage to align with what Rare had proposed. A certain player stumbled onto a way to dramatically power up, then decided to participate in the event and show off. This method was considered acceptable by the game staff, and they thought it would be good advertising for the game, so they slapped together a video to release publicly. However, that player didnt want to reveal the method to anyone and just holed up in the great forest. Hopefully the way the video was cut or comments on the video would lead to that kind of misunderstanding. Management must not have found any problems with this type of misdirection, so her suggestion was accepted. In fact, Rare had entered the event in order to gauge the progress of other players, and she hadnt meant to show herself off. Rather, if she had wanted to show off all her cards, there wouldnt have been enough time in the event to do so, something no one could have possibly fathomed if Rare stayed silent. In addition, that Wayne guy released everything he knew about Rare on social media. He explained about Kerry, another player with the same appearance who had done nothing wrong and was obeying Rare, and a bunch of other stuff; since pretty much everything he wrote was completely wrong, she had no problem with it at all so she didnt do anything about it. In the first place, even if she wanted him to correct anything, if she went ahead and reached out to him directly on social media, that might render all his hard work moot. The mastermind should stay silent. The only time she needed to confess was after shed been cornered. Right: just like what she had done the other day. Anyway, her plans were proceeding smoothly Well, not that she was doing anything, but it had been a week since things had kicked off. Right now, more and more players were gathering at the Great Liebe Forestshe had only recently found out that was the name of this forest. The nearby city of Erfahrenanother name she only just learnedwas experiencing a surge of unprecedented economic prosperity as a consequence. It was as though they were preparing for war against the great forest. In other games, this many players would only gather around raid dungeons. If all these players misunderstood that Rare obtained her strength within this forest-turned-dungeon, then she could consider her ploy successful. To help sell the dungeon setting, Rare was actually playing another game, a dungeon management one, and bringing her experience from there over here. The engineer ants produced low-rank metal weapons and armor with materials from the ore vein, which were planted in the outer areas of the forest. If a player found one and took it with them, another item of the same quality would be hidden somewhere else. And it wasnt only weapons and armor: low-rank potions; lumber, nuts, berries, and fruits from trees in the middle layer of the forest; monster pelts; and various other materials were strewn about at random. They were more than sufficiently stocked on supplies gathered from the middle layer nowadays; since it was a lot of trouble to have everything brought back to the queens chamber to give to the transporter ants, the ants who collected them were being told to just hang onto them. Scout ants were constantly tracking both the distributed items as well as player movements. Because there were so many players, they urgently needed to start producing more scout ants and form specialized monitoring squads. After letting the invading players kill monsters (mostly ants) and collect treasure to their hearts content, the bloodthirstier ants like the cavalry and snipers would then kill a moderate number of them. This was what Rare realized: if ants killed other ants, they wouldnt earn even a single point of experience. However, if players killed ants and earned experience, then those players were killed by other ants, Rares group could gain much more XP. On the whole, players had around the same amount of XP going into the forest as they did after they died and came back, so they would want to adjust the kill timing a bit so that players ended up a little ahead. Trying to finely control the players power levels required precise calculations, and it was for that specific reason that she increased Sugarus INT so much. Because of that and [Enhance Follower], every ants INT had increased a bit, so they could work together to do those calculations. A fringe benefit was that it also raised the effectiveness of engineer ant acid. To be specific, they could now melt bronze. Even the weakest engineer ant would now be enough to deal with players wearing equipment made from bronze or the bones of weak monsters. On a related note, Erfahrens supply of metals from the Great Liebe Forest ore vein had been stopped due to the occupation of Rares group, but now it had been indirectly restored by putting it in the hands of players. As a result, the price of iron had dropped. However, what the players brought back was refined equipment so much better than cast-metal goods that they stopped going to blacksmiths to buy gear. However, metal equipment did require maintenance, so the demand for blacksmiths didnt completely disappear. Still, she heard that quite a number of blacksmiths ended up leaving town. And who provided this intel? Remy. Now that the production lines were fully up and running in the great forest, Remys responsibilities as general manager had relaxed and she now posed as a wandering alchemist to sell low-rank potions and items in town. While players could find potions in the forest, they at least werent dumb enough to just go diving in without any from the start; on the contrary, some players had too many and wanted to pawn them off. While there had always been apothecaries and alchemists in town selling potions, they didnt buy potions, so Remy was able to carve a niche for herself and became rather successful. There were a lot of players who wanted to sell their potions and buy one-time-use talismans and charms; they became her regulars and would come to her shop even when they had nothing to sell simply to stock back up on potions. Since Remys shop was well-known among players, she would hear about any reputable players who had come to town. When those players went into the great forest, Rares group would butter them up by letting them find better equipment, then take payment in the form of XP. Ever since launching the attraction known as the Great Liebe Forest dungeon, Rares XP earnings had gone through the roof. It was so efficient that they neglected the goblin and monster farms, resulting in overpopulation. Since they were around anyway, the ants lured them into killing players; the players were surely sick of fighting ants all the time, so it served to change up the routine, alleviate boredom. Goblins were as weak as engineer ants, but the farm-raised monsters were quite strong. Normally they could just be trampled by the sheer number of ants, but they were actually powerful enough that multiple parties of players wouldnt be able to defeat them. It would be great if those players thought of them as midbosses or something and enjoyed the variety. Sugaru was the sole administrator of the entire operation. With the support of the transporter ants, she would be able to handle most emergencies. If she needed someone with overwhelming battle power, she could recruit Deas to help her. When Kerry equipped Yoroisakas little sister, she was nothing to sneeze at either, but she wasnt often away from Rares side. And so, Rare had made a lot of free time for herself. She also had enough XP saved up for an experiment. Right now, she was just waiting for a report from Marion, who was out on business, so it was time to continue tinkering with alchemy. TL note: Fun coincidence, when I picked a romanization for the name of the country, Hiers was at random, but turns out it actually is a German name. Now we also get the Great Liebe Forest (love) and Erfahren (experienced, learned). CH 56 First was to make another living something with the usual metal and Knights Grudge. She had already made a ton of armor and swords, so now shed try with bones. It was full-blown blasphemy, but sacrifices were necessary for the sake of technological advancement; Rare did not fear criticism. From a certain viewpoint, bones should house far more resentment than armor or swords did. She had a feeling that she would end up producing undead from this, but even if she did, it would be a brand new discovery in the field of alchemy. Based on Rares sensibilities, living mail and such already qualified as undead, but the system didnt classify them that way; it grouped them together with homunculi and golems. Time to get started. [Philosophers Egg]. The crystalline egg that appeared swallowed up the lump of metal and the knights remains. She decided to splurge and threw in more metal than usual; she found this out when making the Kenzakis, but when too many materials were put in, any excess would be left over. She originally tried putting in a bit more than she needed, but, while the egg accepted the extra, activating it would only use what was necessary. Incidentally, if there werent enough materials, the skill would fail, and while the ingredients wouldnt be consumed, the egg would break and her MP would be used up. Since it would be difficult to procure more remains, Rare only put in a single rib in order to preserve as much of them as she could. After she activated [Athanor], the inside of the egg turned a marbled rainbow as usual. Which meant that some kind of monster would be born from this. Next, activate [Magnum Opus]. That reminded her, in one of the announcements, there was something about being able to change the activation keyword for skills. Maybe she should change it to something cooler. Right now, there was no need to change the name of any of these production skills, but there was strategic value in changing the names of spells cast in battle. When enemies were in hearing range, if they could guess the type of spell from the activation keyword, they would have a chance to prepare a defense. As she thought about all that, the light coming from the egg faded. Inside the egg stood a black skeleton wearing armor of the same color. Is this a skeletal knight, perhaps? It was really black. Since bones had such a strong association with the color white, the sight of black bones caused a sense of wrongness that was hard to articulate. When the skeleton broke open the egg to emerge, Rare immediately cast [Subordinate] on it. She had gotten used to this process and knew that monsters she produced would never resist her [Subordinate]. It was probably similar to how Sugaru could immediately command any ants that she birthed. Its race is adamanknight? It was a horrible pun, but she unexpectedly knew the name of this metal: a well-known fictional metal, adamantite. She didnt know if the full name in this game was adamantite, or adamantium, or something else, but it was probably adaman-something. In most games, it was known for its hardness; it was true, Yoroisaka and the Kenzaki brothers were indeed extremely hard. But that said, the skeleton part of this adamanknight also appeared to be made of adamantite; thats probably why it was the same color as its armor. And just like with the living mail, it wasnt undead, but it was some kind of monster similar to homunculi or golems. Its weight seemed to match that of all the materials used in its creation, but only a single bone from the knight remains was needed for this adamanknight. She might not be able to get her hands on more remains that housed this much Knights Grudge, but right now she could use up only a portion of what she had to create a new knight order of adamantite constructs that far surpassed the size of the order that had been abandoned here. They would be a tremendously powerful unit. Theyd be made out of the same metal as Yoroisaka with about the same stats. Yoroisaka had a bit more STR and VIT, but their INT was higher instead. They basically had the same stat distribution as humans, except they were many times more powerful. Rare requisitioned MP potions from the transporter ants, then single-mindedly chugged them down while producing more adamanknights. As a result of doing the same thing over and over again until she ran out of knight remains, she made some discoveries: Bones that were too small, like ones from fingers, were insufficient and the skill would fail. In those cases, she could get it to work by putting in lots of little bones, but even if there werent any torso bones included in the bunch, it would always produce an adamanknight. Because of that, the adamanknights were the most plentiful. She did her best in identifying bones to use, so there were a sizable number of adamanscouts and adamanmages, but she couldnt do much about the adamanleaders, who ended up the least plentiful. However, after coming under her command, the adamanleaders were already about as powerful as Deas was. Considering his combat experience, though, they were still inferior to him, but the same was not true for players. No matter what players they faced, they would emerge victorious, hands down. Unfortunately, near the end, all she had left were unidentifiable bones, and all the raw adamantite had been used up, so Rare ended up using other metals that were more plentiful. What she ended up creating were carknights. For a second, she wasnt sure what they were made of, but then she thought of carbidean ultra-hard carbon alloy. It wasnt a magic metal at all, and how could it have already been an alloy when it was just a lump of metal that came from ore? They certainly produced a lot of it, but they didnt know which stratum the ore vein under the forest was in. Rare had never heard of a stratum where both coal and rare metals could be found, but maybe there was some kind of magical reason for it. In any case, these carknights had a hardness that rivaled the adamanknights. However, they had lower VIT, so maybe they were more brittle. They did have about the same amount of STR, so their offensive capabilities were unusually highperhaps due to their weight. That might also be why they had lower AGI. She ended up using up all the remaining materials on carknights, so there were quite a lot of them. By the time she finished, they outnumbered the adamanknights. The fact that they were weaker and more brittle was only when compared strictly to adamanknights; when struck by iron swords, the shock would still be returned to the wielder, and they would ruin those blades sharpness too. They were only susceptible to mace attacks, so you could say they were weak to blunt damage. They seemed to be strong against heat due to their ultra-hardness, so most [Fire Magic] spells didnt work on them. [Water Magic] fared no better, but if they took alternating hits from [Fire Magic] and [Ice Magic] spells, that would cause a lot of damage. They also didnt have any particular defense against [Lightning Magic], so that was still effective against them. Due to their simple hardness, [Earth Magic] essentially had no effect, and their high weight similarly granted them a natural resistance to [Wind Magic]. Since they were metal monsters, it would be correct to attack using [Lightning Magic], but players who saw them for the first time wouldnt necessarily identify them as being made out of metal. They would most likely see them as undead and attempt to fight them with [Fire Magic] instead. Since they were weak to blunt attacks just like normal skeletons were, it would be easy to conclude that warriors with blunt weapons would have an advantage, but that was only as far as pure compatibility went. Rare didnt think there were many players at a level where compatibility would be relevant in a fight against them yet. Anyway, she needed to see them in action; just like what she had done during the event, she had to run performance tests. Even if the adamantite series passed for cheaper versions of Yoroisaka, she really wanted to see the carknights in combat. To that end, Rare had a carknight go after one group of players. Well, putting it more simply, she just wanted to send her new toy on a test run. CH 57 Rare would have liked for some powerful player to randomly come by, but nothing that convenient could be expected to happen. She tamed the monster that Riley had captured, the forest owl that now went by the name Ominous, and now she borrowed his eyes to search for suitable prey. There was a weak party in the great forest, only on the level of the people she had fought in the event finals. She chose to have them participate in her test; as thanks, they would receive some decent equipment to take back. Rare ordered some ants to leave swords and armor that had been forged for testing purposes in an inconspicuous location along their route; these items should be superior to their cast-metal gear. They excitedly swapped in the newly found items, then headed deeper into the forest in search of additional rewards. Recently, Rares group had been packing down dirt to create artificial animal trails to facilitate travel, which also doubled as a way to lead players around the forest. This was the point where most players would have decided to turn back; instead, the carknight would be making its debut. The party panicked at the sudden appearance of this brand-new foe that no one had ever seen before. That looks like bad news! Is it like an area boss?! The only enemies thatve shown up here were ants and goblins, so why is there an undead boss all of a sudden?! Unnatural or not, if we cant run, then the only option is to fight! With the gear we just picked up, even if its a bit stronger than the trash mobs, we should be able to put up a good fight! It was commendable that they came to grips with the situation quickly, and they also made a sensible decision. However, if they were so weak to think that their new equipment was any good, then any choice they made would lead to the same result against the carknight. These new swords were supposed to be their remuneration, but if they were used against the carknight, they might end up as worthless lumps of metal. Next time, Rare would have to be more thoughtful about the prizes she handed out. According to their instructions, carknights would allow themselves to be attacked first. No matter how weak it was, Rare already knew from observation that players of this level were about average for the city as far as power level went. In which case, if the carknights could withstand their attacks, then she could approve of their combat capability. No matter how things turned out, she had a lot of carknights anyway. While the carknight stood there, unmoving, one of the players dove in, slashing with his new sword. Hah! [Take this]! He apparently had used a skill, but which skill exactly was a mystery. He changed his activation keyword to be something hed normally yell when he attacked. Not bad. Its true that she couldnt tell at the time the skill activated which skill it was, but by observing his movements afterward, she knew it was [Slash]. If more players like this appeared from now on, then it would become important to memorize every skill that could be used by other players in order to keep up in high-end PvP. Fortunately, the different units in the adamantite series could represent each of the different fighting styles. If she taught them all the different skill systems, Rare would be able to study all styles without having to learn those skills herself. But thinking it over one more time, that didnt actually mean the XP expenditure would be reduced; in fact, since there was an armys worth of adamantite units, she would need an obscene amount of XP. In which case, she needed players to come in droves to enjoy the forest. While she was pondering all this, the battle continued to play out in front of Ominouss eyes. After the probably-[Slash] skill finished, likely having no effect, the player dropped his weapon, just like that heavy warrior from before had. Since the party didnt seem to have a mage, the other members piled on their own weapon-based attacks. The inclusion of a mace attack showed that they had a keen eye, but it didnt even leave a dent on the carknight. Part of the mace had flattened out; that was probably the part that had hit the carknight. Which meant that mace was probably made out of iron. Things would have gone better if they had brought a mage along, but the great forest primarily only had ants and goblins as foes. For players of this level, they could get by without one. Mages would make grinding more efficient, but mages also contributed more in battle, so they would get more of the XP earned. Either way, the presence of a mage wouldnt change the fact that players who earned more than a certain amount of XP would be killed before they could escape the forest. It didnt seem like Rare could get much more from this party. Just like Rare had done during the event, the carknight grabbed a players head and squeezed, crushing it. It was a perfect way of demonstrating exactly how much STR it had. It then chased after the players who tried to run away and killed them in the same manner. If she remembered correctly, carknights had lower AGI, but it was still high enough to catch up to anyone who didnt funnel their XP into AGI. If they didnt get discouraged from this, she would love it if this party came back with more effective countermeasures. Rare didnt earn all that much XP from the encounter, but it was still a considerable amount considering the huge difference in strength. Players truly were the most succulent fruit. As far as the test went, it was great for testing the carknights combat ability, but overall it was a failure in terms of leaking information about a new monster in the great forest. If word spread that monsters like this one were wandering around, then no one would dare delve any deeper. She needed a monster that was suitably weaker. Or, player levels needed to be higher. Maybe she should order the ants to switch to wine & dine mode in order to encourage player growth. From now on, they should raise the ceiling for how much XP players can earn before they get killed. Even if they got too strong, Sugaru would still be able to handle them. By Rares order, the adamantite series could be deployed via Sugarus request without requiring Rares approval, so she would just leave Sugaru to deal with any complications. Given the combined might of all the ants, and adding in the combat strength of the adamantite series, even if all the players got a little stronger, they still wouldnt be able to conquer the great forest. In fact, the current Rare would probably have trouble trying to clear it solo. Rare suddenly thought to herself, That actually might be a problem. There probably wasnt a military force of this level that was hostile to her, but that was only true as long as there were no other players at Rares level. And if a player could achieve this, then it was possible for an NPC or a monster to have already gotten this powerful. More like, it definitely did already happen, which was how the six countries came into being. Things were currently stable, or rather Rares forces werent officially enemies of the state yet, but she could say with confidence that there would never be friendly relations. In which case, she should strengthen her forces to prepare for when the country did become antagonistic. If a master were to die, she didnt know what would happen to any followers. This could be fatal for her forces if she were to ever be defeated. While players didnt die in any real sense, this wasnt true for NPCs. But she needed to consider that hypothetical where if she were to die, then all her followers could be forced into some kind of death-like state. Operating off that assumption, Rare needed to strengthen herself to the point where even in that worst case, she couldnt die. Since raising her stats was directly linked to all her units strength via [Enhance Follower], a certain percentage of the XP income was already earmarked for routinely increasing Rares stats. However, she might need to think up a different method of improving her strength. She really wanted some kind of super overpowered skill to have as a last resort. As soon as she thought that, the [Reincarnate] system suddenly came to mind. According to one of the official game announcements, if you became a vampires underling, you could reincarnate into a Squire Zombie or something. That was only the example given, and the notice also mentioned that characters who fulfilled certain conditions can trigger certain events. If that was true, then there should be other ways to reincarnate. Rare did think of one possibility. She could use the greatest secret of [Alchemy], [Magnum Opus], to create a Philosophers Stone. This game might have its own rearrangements, but the classic legends surrounding the Philosophers Stone mostly spoke of granting eternal youth and eternal life, or transforming a commoner into a noble. Extrapolating from that, a character in the game should be able to use it after fulfilling the right conditions to change their race and stuff. Even if that turned out to be impossible, something surely should change. Rare really only had these vague stories to go off, but anyway, she just wanted to try making alchemys masterpiece. She needed to find the appropriate ingredients. If it could be mass produced, then she would want to use it on everything she could get her hands on. Rare decided to study the recipes within [Magnum Opus] more closely. CH 58 Of course the recipe for the Philosophers Stone wouldnt be in the list. Perhaps it didnt even exist in this game. But considering homunculi and alchemy did exist, it was hard to believe that would be the case. Rares mental logic was most likely flowing in the most convenient direction based on her observations, but since this was supposed to be a fun game, she wouldnt mind even if her findings were subpar. Believing in her own optimism, she decided to just try her best. The recipes she thought were worth investigating were the ones that required a lot of materials, and the ones that were the only ones in their subcategories. Rare would mark these as provisional Philosophers Stones and work on crafting them. She still needed to find six more ingredients for these recipes. Right now, the ones she had unlocked and could see were mercury, sulfur, iron, monster heart, and potent acid. The last ingredient she had no information on. The fact that potent acid had been unlocked meant that Rare had encountered it somewhere. Since the acids she had seen mostly came from the engineer ants, whatever they produced should work. It shouldnt be an issue if their levels were too high, so she would pick some engineer ants for Experimental Use Only and dump a bunch of XP into them to improve their acid as much as possible. If this recipe turned out not to produce a Philosophers Stone, they would suddenly just lose their old jobs, but given their new status as high-spec units, they should be able to find some place else to shine. Mercury and sulfur could be gathered from the ore vein. After mining sulfide minerals, they could be [Refined] to obtain sulfur. Mercury was just found normally within the ore vein; they came out of the walls from digging tunnels. Of course, they also produced a small amount of cinnabar: mercury sulfide. She probably couldnt just use cinnabar, though, even though it was made of both mercury and sulfur; if it was necessary for them to be combined through the magical means of [Alchemy], not a regular process like sulfidation, then there wasnt anything she could do about it. Speaking of cinnabar, old documents actually called the mineral itself the Philosophers Stone. After learning the [Alchemy] skill, Rare had spent some time while logged out researching real-world reference material about alchemy in the VR library. Cinnabar was famous in ancient China as an ingredient in the miracle medicine known as the divine elixir. That being said, it was still mercury sulfide in the end, just a toxic substance. What if the mercury and sulfur listed were meant to make the cinnabar form of the Philosophers Stone? In that case, why did she need the other materials? Whatever case, the mercury and sulfur would probably be used to create cinnabar, so she should consider the purpose of the other ingredients. First, she was interested in why a comparatively common material was in the list: iron. It must be there to preserve the mercury. Mercury can form alloys with lots of metals, but she had the impression that it couldnt do so with iron. Or was there another reason for irons presence? If there were some other reason, then perhaps she could deduce that reason from the last material. Assuming that cinnabar is the physical form of Philosophers Stone, then it was time to think about how the other materials would be needed in its mystical creation. Speaking of other things aside from cinnabar that were known to be called Philosophers Stones, another item of note was yellow prussiate of potash. Yellow prussiate of potash was potassium ferrocyanide, but if she remembered correctly, in the Middle Ages they made it with livestock intestines and other organic matter high in nitrogen, along with iron and potassium carbonate Ah, so thats what the iron is for. That meant the monster hearts were a substitute for livestock intestines. Which further followed that the substitute for potassium carbonate must be the final unknown ingredient. Either some kind of suitable magical substance, or something that contained potassium carbonate. If purity was irrelevant, the simplest way to get potassium carbonate was to soak plant ashes in water. However, this brought to mind what Rare did during the event. Although her firepower back then had been too high, so the trees went past the ash stage and simply evaporated, that didnt mean that no ashes were formed at all. She was right next to that stream that had been turned to steam, so it wouldnt have been impossible for a small amount of potassium carbonate to have been created at that time. However, the ingredient name was still locked for her. Therefore, what she probably needed wasnt specifically potassium carbonate, but a magical equivalent. A suitable land-based plant, turned into ashes then, somehow magically empowered If what Rare needed was, for example, [Ashes of the World Tree], then shed have no choice but to give up in despair. Even if such a thing actually existed, she didnt know where to find a World Tree. Nothing of the sort was written on the map she had received from the admins. Plus, iron, sulfur, and mercury were all simple substances that required no extra consideration, but monster hearts and potent acid were both exceedingly vague. When she had been making living mail, the materials she used simply determined the resulting rank and type of finished product; it was the reaction generated by those materials that caused the change. Keeping that in mind, as long as she fulfilled the broad criteria of magical plant ash, she had a feeling that the recipe would succeed. Although she had no idea what item name she would unlock for that ingredient. For the time being, I should look into different types of magical wood. The trees that grew in the Great Liebe Forest were not normal plants at all. There were ones that grew unnaturally fast, and ones that were harder than iron. They already used the wood from these trees to produce charcoal, but the fact that the ingredient in the recipe was still locked meant that they werent magical enough. Not that she had a lot of conviction in that conclusion. If she couldnt get her hands on this item in the great forest, then the only other option was to look outside the forest. Most of the materials that could be bought in town came from either the prairie or this forest, and she didnt think the farms within its walls were raising any magical crops. So my only option is to wait to hear back from Marion, huh With the map now in their hands, there was less of a need to blindly explore the area around the great forest. Due to that, she had ordered Marion and Ginka to go out and survey the monster territory closest to the forest. From their periodic check-ins, it seemed their journey was proceeding smoothly, and she could use [Coordinate Awareness] to track them on the map and make sure they were headed in the right direction. At their current pace, they should reach the monster territory soon. Since this territory was a forest type, it had a similar climate and environment, so if possible Rare really wanted to take control of it. It was also possible that it had a different ecosystem than the great forest; if it had the same ecosystem, then she wanted to try mixing in the monsters they were raising in farms here. She couldnt say if it was possible to conquer it without seeing it for herself, but once Marion got there, she could travel to her coordinates with [Summon Caster], then [Summon] the adamantite series as their subjugation force. If that forest had a different ecosystem than the Great Liebe Forest, then it would be ideal if different kinds of magical trees grew there as well. While Rare waited for Marions next report, she could kill time by setting loose her overpowered boss on unsuspecting victims. Indeed; she had completely forgotten about her plan to increase the visiting players levels. [1]: The romanized chapter title, ̿ޥꥦ, is tansan majikariumu. ̿ᥫꥦ is potassium carbonate. European readers might recognize potassium better as kalium. So majikariumu = magikalium = magical kalium. Since I use Americanized English, being that I am American, I moved the portmanteau over to carbonate to get Potassium MagiCarbonate :P CH 59 Two days later, Marion sent notice that she had arrived at the other monster territory. Rare left managing the Great Liebe Forest to Sugaru and Riley, and teleported to Marion accompanied by Kerry and Deas. Like the last time she went out, she wore both an overcoat and Yoroisaka. Its been a while since we last met in person. Marion, Ginka, its good to see you. Thanks for coming, Boss. Marion and the ice wolf Ginka got along quite well, perhaps because the first element of magic that Marion learned was [Ice Magic]. During their travels, whenever they got ambushed by bandits and monsters, they would work together to take care of their attackers. We practiced fighting as a team, but we only got attacked by weaklings that either one of us could beat all on our own Well, you know, theres a world of difference between getting some practice and getting no practice, so its better to have gotten some in. While joking around and catching up on recent events, the party headed over to the monster territory. The neighboring forest had a slightly different feel to it than the Great Liebe Forest did. According to the map, this forest was considered monster territory from as far out as where there only scatterings of trees about, as opposed to the great forest where the boundary was well inside the treeline. Just like how Erfahren bordered the Great Liebe Forest, there was also a city in this area on the frontlines that opposed the territory. However, it was quite far from where Rares group was currently located. The road that led to that city ran parallel to the forest, as though fencing off the monster territory; it was the same road that Marion and Ginka had used to get here. There was a decent bit of distance from the forest to the road, about the same distance to that nearby city. Comparatively, the Great Liebe Forest and Erfahren were closer to each other, which explained why there werent stronger monsters in the great forest. That could also be the reason Hakuma and the ice wolves fled there. Rare didnt know why things were so peaceful up until now, but she posited that it was probably because the area was intended to be a staging ground for Sugaru. Or maybe it was Deass instead, but either way, the forest was probably there to nurture a raid boss. Maybe Sugaru couldnt mature into a raid boss in time for the early access beta since the city was too small. Or perhaps her development was to be adjusted based on how many players there were in Erfahren. Thinking over it again, when the city was constructed and the road paved, the reason there was so much distance between them and the forest could be because this monster territory was just that much more dangerous than the one in the Great Liebe Forest. Still, its something to look forward to. I wonder how we measure up to our rivals here. Hm While it is a bit of a shame, I suppose I must oblige. The plan here in the first place was to become powerful enough to never be killed, so courting death now would be putting the cart before the horse. Rare was disappointed that she wouldnt be able to experience the forest from the front of the group, but she shouldnt need to lift a finger unless their conquest faced significant difficulty. Deas was more than powerful enough by himself, so she should first allow him to take charge. Rare had never actually seen him lead before, so this was also a way to verify exactly how competent he was. Deas, I was thinking of summoning some of the adamantite series; how many do you think would be good? I suspect that the territory in this forest is a level above ours in Liebe, but if that is your wish then so be it. If you find that your forces are lacking, feel free to speak up at any time. Then, Rare summoned a platoon of thirty units: one adamanleader, nine adamanmages, six adamanscouts, and fourteen adamanknights. Even though it was only a platoon, the fact that theyd be operating in a forest made it feel quite crowded. Theres no raid system in this game, but I wonder if this would be considered a raid party? In reality, though, trying to assemble thirty or more players would be quite an ordeal. Even if all their troops were adamanleaders, they would not pose a threat to Rare. Even without Yoroisaka, that wouldnt change. As long as it wasnt daytime, at least. Generally speaking, the adamantite series and the carknights are programmed to obey my orders, Sugarus, and Deass. If we arent around, then the catkin girls will be prioritized. If none of us are available, then I think theyll act according to their own judgment. But since theyre living object-type monsters, I believe the only choice theyll make is to kill their enemies as efficiently as possible. After saying so, Deas gave a curt order to the adamantite platoon, and the six scouts scattered into the forest. Considering their entire bodies were made out of adamantite, they disappeared into the trees with unbelievable agility. Regardless of their composition, since they were scouts, they were more lightly armored, and their muscles and organs were extremely lean, so they didnt look heavy at all either. They probably weighed about as much as an equivalent human race individual. And since they didnt generate any heat like warm-blooded organisms did, snake-type monsters with infrared night vision wouldnt be able to detect them. They were perfect for covert activities. The adamantite series and carknights were all given armaments, but, because they were so numerous, they only had lower quality mass-produced items. Since whacking something with their bare hands would be several times stronger than using a low-rank club, they all got bladed weapons in order to increase the variety of damage they could inflict. As far as what would deal the most damage, it was possible that simply using their bodies as battering rams would be the best. It would have been ideal to give each one a living weapon, but there wasnt enough Knights Grudge. The reason they were marching on this forest was the hope that another order of knights from that ruined kingdom, separate from the ones Deas led, had come here and met their end. There certainly were a lot of remains from Deass group, but for what used to be a continent-spanning kingdom, the scale was far too small. Remains from those knight orders should be all over the continent. While the scouts dispersed into the woods, Deas had the rest of the unit continue marching. The main group took a different type of care than the scouts did. They progressed slowly, clearing away brush in order to create enough space for combat. Normally, one would begin evaluating someones ability to command from how well they could control their subordinates, but next time that criterion could be skipped and she could simply look at how they commanded on the field. Speaking of which, Deass commands were careful but very logical and concise. Rare felt satisfied watching Deas and the adamantite soldiers. She made a note to create more combat units of similar strength to this one for the Great Liebe Forest. If she could compare the combat strength of this campaign to other units, she could come up with an objective evaluation for the overall strength of all her forces in the great forest. Rare slowly proceeded along the path that Deas and his soldiers created as they marched. Kerry and Marion flanked her while Ginka brought up the rear. Including Yoroisaka, everyone here had enhanced sense skills. There was no chance they could be ambushed unless their attackers were significantly more powerful than they were. It would have been good for Ominous the forest owl to have come along as well for reconnaissance, but he wasnt very strong. If there was a powerful monster here that was capable of flight, he might not stand a chance. Since forest owls were built for living in the woods, they had smaller bodies, which meant lower combat capabilities. After some time, Deass group in front came to a halt. After Rare asked what was happening, she learned that apparently the scouts had found some kind of monster. Deas received the scouts report then contacted her via friend chat. CH 60 If they were once Deass brothers-in-arms, that meant that this forest, just like the Great Liebe Forest, was also the site of a mass raising of undead of an unknown source. The obvious conclusion was that someone had cast these spells on purpose, but in the great forest, outside of the undead that suddenly appeared, there were no other oddities. The undead that had appeared back then werent very strong, with one exception: Deas. In the end, Rare eliminated all of the other undead, and Deas, the only one with a sense of self left, swore to avenge his fallen kingdom and surrendered to Rare. She wondered if there was another special undead like Deas here. If there were, she would really like to add them to her forces. It would be nice for Deas to have a colleague to work with, but mostly she wanted another sample of an undead that retained its ego to study. It was a little awkward that obtaining more Knights Grudges was inversely related to her desired outcome. If she was unable to get an undead army but instead refilled her stock of Knights Grudges, then she could still create more skeletal soldiers with iron or something. However, the thought of having to pull more overtime chugging MP potions to do it really put a damper on Rares spirits. Plus she wouldnt even be purely strengthening her troops, but purposely making weak ones. It would be a waste, in various ways. After that, Deass troops switched from marching in a straight line to a much more strangely meandering route. Apparently they now avoided the enemys patrol lines. Any lookouts that couldnt be evaded were quietly eliminated by the scouts. It would have been nice if Rare could have used [Necromantic Barrier] to put them all under her control, but if these undead were already under the control of another character, then they were not susceptible to either [Control] or [Subordinate]. Deas and the undead who appeared with him were considered wild undead, but Deas started with skills from the [Necromancy] tree as well as [Subordinate], so if left alone he would have taken control of all those undead and conquered the entire forest. She had been wondering why the Great Liebe Forest, the cradle for a raid boss, housed the two separate forces of Sugaru and Deas, but maybe one of them was supposed to end up as fodder for the other. If that was what had happened in this forest, then the undead had won the power struggle. That meant that the leader had successfully become a full-fledged raid boss. Oh, this will be fun This forest was quite expansive as well. It would take a fair amount of time to reach the center. Deas and the adamantite series wouldnt get fatigued because of their races, but that didnt hold true for Rare, Kerry, Marion, and Ginka. They would need to find a place to camp. Since they would stop earning XP as soon as Rare went to sleep (read: logged out), she wanted everyone else to avoid combat during that time as much as possible, but it could be unavoidable if her timing was bad. That said, the Great Liebe Forest was also constantly under assault by players, so there would naturally be squandered XP either way. Even though they had XP income from their farms, it was hard not to consider all that loss as a waste. After that, Deas picked up the pace. They still remained cautious, but they were marching much more boldly now. Occasionally, they would run into an undead, and at first glance they appeared to be skeletal knights or something similar. It wasnt that the scouts werent finding them, but rather that there were too many to assassinate so they purposely let them through. It generally only took one slice of an adamanknights sword to cut them down, and their corpses werent they already corpses? Well, their remains were gathered up. According to the map, the place where they set up camp that day was about a third of the way to the heart of the forest. Considering how large this forest was, it was definitely an unthinkable pace. It was largely due to the fact that they took nearly no breaks. By the way, while they did make camp, it wasnt to pass the night; Rare typically only operated after sunset, so they were currently camping during the day. All right, Im going to sleep for a bit. Lets see, Ill be up in just under five hours, so please guard this campsite until then. You can continue exploring, but if you come across any unknown monsters or materials, I would like to see them as well, so please wait before engaging or gathering them. Well then, I will return to Liebe to sleep. What will you girls do? Would you like to come back for a bit with me? Yes, Boss, well accompany you. Got it. Ill head there first. Rare then used [Designate Coordinates] to lock onto Sugaru, then cast [Summon Caster]. Having returned to the queens chamber, next she used [Summon] on the rest of the girls. Ive returned, Sugaru. And welcome back, Kerry, Marion, and Ginka. Were home, Sugaru; long time no see. Like always, Rare settled herself deep into the throne then prepared to log out. Kerry and Marion also divested themselves of Yoroisakas younger sisters, then disappeared behind the partition in the corner of the room. Beds were set up there for Rares attendants to use for napping whenever it was time to rest. Ginka curled up at Rares feet on the giant bear pelt that was spread out there. As an ice wolf, she was comfortable sleeping on the floor. All right, I will see you all later. Good night. The next night, Rare returned to Deass side at about the time she predicted and asked for an update on what happened during her absence. Well then, did you end up getting attacked during the day while we slept? There is nothing for you to apologize for. So something that wasnt undead came out, huh. Which means that this forest is home to undead at night and some other kind of monster during the day? Since its a plant-type monster, that would mean its active during the day because of photosynthesis? If its going out of its way to attack others, is photosynthesis insufficient for its nutrition? Is it capable of ambulation due to the lower half of its body? If thats the way it developed, that would mean its roots probably degenerated, so clearly it would be harder to absorb nutrients There must have been a problem with its evolutionary direction, no doubt about it. But this was good news. There was no more magical plant than plant-type monsters. If they could catch one, they could try to start a big farm for them back in the Great Liebe Forest. Anyway, capture the next one you see. Do you think more will come? I see. Well, Ill think on it more as we move. If undead dont come out during the day, then that would be an opportunity to cover more distance. And if theyre going to attack a campsite, then theres no reason to believe they wouldnt also attack while were on the move. Perhaps Rares words tripped some kind of switch of fate. As soon as they set off, they got ambushed. Now I get it! They camouflage themselves as trees! Thats why they dont get detected by our scouts! When Rares forces were camped in place, then the monsters had no choice but to move themselves, making them easy to detect. However, when Rares group was on the move, then the monsters only had to wait, meaning they wouldnt be found out. Still, even in a situation where trees suddenly transformed into monsters to attack them, the adamantite soldiers under Deass command were calm and composed. Not that they could really be anything but calm and composed. The soldiers must have been trying to show off to Rare. Even if they were hit, they wouldnt take any damage, but an adamanknight purposely blocked a downswung branch with its shield, and an adamanmage attacked with [Lightning Magic]. That single strike tore through the plant monster, ripping it in half vertically, and the bifurcated tree fell to the ground. Elsewhere, Deas held his sword horizontally and cleaved through multiple plant monsters in a straight line. That was all it took to cut them all in half, instantly killing them. Considering that their fibers ran vertically, it would have been easier to cut them lengthwise, but this also must have been a show for Rare. Deass skill with the sword was one of his strengths, but cutting vertically was more efficient, so the truth was that choosing to pointlessly waste stamina by attacking horizontally was a misjudgment. This was complicated, honestly evaluating his performance. In any case, the adamantite platoon consisted of 30 members. Even though they were completely surrounded, that posed no problem at all. The battle ended quickly; all that remained were pieces of wood scattered everywhere. Do these monsters coexist with the undead? Or do they both share the same leader? Whichever it was, they would find out eventually if they kept going. Rares group collected all the wood and marched forward. CH 61 Rares group continued advancing through the forest. They confirmed that plants attacked them during the day while undead attacked at night. But how Deas saw it, daytime wasnt a good reason for undead not to be active. Or maybe Deass rank was so high that he specifically was able to function during the day. If that were the case, then he should understand that most undead wont come out while the sun is up. The reverse was true for plant monsters, too; essentially, if they couldnt perform photosynthesis, then they wouldnt really be all that active. Whatever the case may be, the only things that attacked them now were low-ranked trash enemies. Probably around the same level as what they found at home in the Great Liebe Forest. Certainly stronger than the ant engineers and infantry, but not all that different from the knight or ambush units. For how much more mature this forest was, by Rares observation at least, their military strength was quite conservative. Given how things have developed, it seems theres no real need to be so vigilant. Theres a chance that someone is playing us, the way we do it back home, but Ill simply keep that possibility in the back of my mind. That day, they traveled as far as they had planned to, then made camp around sunrise. Now they were about two-thirds of the way to their destination. Even if there really were someone screwing with Rare, after her group got this far, there was no way they would simply stay quiet about it. If she were the one behind the curtain, then she would have long since eradicated this interloping group. However, while the sun was out today, the attacks they endured were at about the same level as ones from the day before. If this forest actually was under someones control, maybe that person just couldnt regulate things. Deas had more than proven his ability to lead a force of this size. Rare instructed him to head straight for the heart of the forest with minimal clearing and no more pointless shows of strength. None of the monsters they had encountered were capable of inflicting any damage on the adamantite soldiers. That meant they could be more aggressive as they maintained their march, pulverizing anything that got in their way. After that shift in mentality, they arrived at the heart of the forest a little earlier than planned, just as the sun was about to come up. But man, theres nothing here anyway. Its just more forest. The cemetery where Deas and his men had been buried was in fact a bit removed from the center of the forest, and the forest itself was not a perfect circle either. For the time being, they could use this spot as a temporary base and slowly explore their surroundings. Rare wanted to call up some engineer ants to construct a provisional headquarters using the trees in the area, but they were Sugarus subordinates, so she couldnt target them with [Summon]. If instead of Knights Grudges I had Carpenters Grudges or Cooks Grudges, I wonder if I could make like adamantite craftsmen Maybe it was possible, but knowing would be of no help now. And even if she could, it was hard to justify wasting the adamantite on them; if combat strength was unnecessary, then it was better to use a less rare metal. However, if she did want to conquer this forest, she needed to consider how to maintain and oversee it afterward. The Great Liebe Forest would more or less be fine as long as Sugaru and the ants were there; if it became necessary, the ice wolves were there too as not-quite bodyguards. If she also had this forest, then shed need personnel who could manage it, but the only manpower Rare could spare were the heavy-metal skeletons, who essentially were good for nothing but combat. It would really be best to have a local monster oversee this place once we take control of it. Id really like to tame an undead or plant boss. For now, it was about time to log out. She would head back from here for a short time again. She ordered Deas and the rest of the soldiers to set up the temporary base. Deas, as the leader of knights that had gone on expeditions, should more or less know how to set one up. By the time Rare returned, it was just past noon in-game, but the platoon was still energetically processing lumber. Good morning. Youre certainly working hard. But with the sun so high up in the sky, their attacks seem to be quite aggressive. Looking around, there was wood lying around everywhere. Since some must have been stored already, there must have been a ton overall. The fact that youve been attacked by all this means that either their growth cycle is extremely fast, or theyre someones followers and just respawning that quickly. In either case, once they took control of the forest, the potential profit was huge. Whether they wanted an XP farm or a second theme park, both options seemed practical. For starters, Id like to try turning all this wood into charcoal, but first lets clean up the area. We can have fun later. Rare [Summoned] more adamanscouts from Liebe and assigned them to Deas. Prioritize exploration first. If we need, I can call the Kenzakis over to search from the skies as well. After some thought, Rare decided not to call the Kenzakis. It would still be extremely hard to find a human-sized target in an overgrown forest from the sky. Their efforts would be largely wasted since they werent even sure one existed. And if the boss was actually a plant monster, then it would be camouflaged unless someone got close enough anyway. Well keep waiting for reports from the scouts. In the meantime, Id like to try chopping down some of these monsters as well. If they cant scratch the adamantite soldiers, then they cant possibly hurt me either. Yoroisaka unsheathed Kenzaki Ichirou, then joined the adamanknights on the front lines. In a display of skill that distinguished her from the adamanknights, she cut down a giant tree all by herself. She didnt even need to use a skill. Rare was thinking of casting some kind of support spell but decided against it. Oh, that reminds me. I havent used it recently so I almost forgot about it, but I can try [Subordinate] on them to see if theyve already been tamed or not. She could also test whether [Mental Magic] worked on plant monsters. [Stupefy]. Hmm, nothing happened, I dont think? [Sleep], [Confusion] neither seem to work, do they. What about [Fear] and [Charm]? [Charm] seems effective. I wonder why? So plant-type monsters do have minds, but the way theyre structured is different, perhaps? Since something worked, then this would go faster. Continuing on, she cast [Control], which appeared to succeed, so then she activated [Subordinate]. She didnt sense much resistance, so the Camphor Treant stopped moving and looked at Rare or maybe it didnt (since there were no eyes), but anyway, its consciousness reached out to her. If I can tame them, then that speeds things up. Lets just tame them all. A short time later, all the camphor treants that had attacked them were under Rares control (though it would have taken about the same amount of time to simply kill them). Since I could tame them, that means they were all just wild monsters. Which in turn means that either there are tons of them here in this forest, or they just reproduce extremely quickly. Looking at their skills, they had a skill tree called [Overgrowth] within which were skills like [Root Division] and [Photosynthesis]. The tree contained mainly skills related to the growth and reproduction of plants. She checked other unlocked skills and found that they did indeed have fast growth cycles. There are some weird requirements, too. If their population within a fixed area exceeds a specified amount, they start to die off True, with these stats, if they kept reproducing without any limit whatsoever, they would take over all the human territory in a flash. It wasnt impossible for this to be a evolutionary form of natural thinning, or a way to maximize the amount of nutrients gained from a given area, but it was more likely that the developers programmed them this way. The result of a previous disaster that came about from allowing them to propagate freely, perhaps. Will these treants be able to take root in Liebe, I wonder? Well, since they can walk, take root isnt really an applicable term. When they just stood there quietly, they looked just like regular trees; to compare them to a humans anatomy, everything from below the ankle was stuck into the ground. Well take the biggest one back and try to plant it. If we make use of root-related skills in the [Overgrowth] tree, it may be able to settle in as a tree. The rest of them will stay here in this forest. Keep reproducing here, and exterminate any others that dont belong with us. She was curious how the offspring of the [Subordinated] individuals would be treated. A new tree grown from a seed should be a completely new individual, but since they werent social monsters like the ants were, she would probably have to tame them separately. But what about new trees grown from [Root Division]? Would it be accurate to say that it was a duplicate of the same tree? If so, it should also automatically be one of Rares followers. Well have to investigate a bit. All that was left was the undead. They generally didnt come out during the day, but it was possible for particularly strong ones to ignore that rule. Those were the ones she wanted to find, so she could search for them at any time of day. The scouts could ignore treants now, so for the time being she would have them only look for undead. If any could be found near the heart of the forest, then considering the radius of their search, she could probably get news at any time now. In any case, it would get dark soon. Time for all the undead to start waking up. It was difficult to find a single undead monster that was active during the day, but being able to analyze the behavior of the entire undead horde might make things a tad easier. CH 62 The day slowly faded away. The treants didnt seem to have trouble moving or anything, but Rare still ordered them to become trees and rest while they waited for the undead to appear. Yes, I know. Lets go take a look. Just then, the scouts had reported back about one place where undead were gathering. As a whole, the undead in this forest hadnt all awoken yet, so if there was already activity at a certain location, that must be the epicenter of undead activity. Even if it wasnt a jackpot, it was still some kind of key location, no doubt. No, everyone will come. While this may be our temporary base, theres nothing of importance here, only the sleeping treants. Theres no merit in protecting this specific location. They knew the distance and topography to their destination from the scouts report. No undead were active in this area yet, and all the treants were already converted, so there were no enemies. Therefore, they could safely prioritize speed. Even if they were only going to another location around the central area, this forest was huge. It would still take a decent amount of time to get there. At some point, the sun had completely set, and they began to encounter undead starting to wake up. Since they were crawling up from the depths of the earth, normally they would have suffered from ambushes, but Rare and Deas could both generally tell where they would emerge. This was probably because they both had quite a lot of XP invested into [Necromancy]. They hurried along, trampling over any zombies that rose in their path or inside their formation; it felt a little like whack-a-mole. I knew it; skill trees arent only for learning skills, you can also get some kind of bonus based on how much total XP youve spent in that tree. Its not represented in any way in your stats or anything, though. She would have liked to study this hidden feature more, but if it only showed up as masked data, it would be very difficult to do any research. Even more so when it was this feeling that acted as an undead sensor earned from [Necromancy]. If, for example, [Fire Magic]s bonus effect increased firepower, there was a logical way to calculate the difference. However, since Rare hadnt used magic all that much in combat, the only data she currently had was her firepower after having dumped a ton of XP into those trees. We did feel like the strength of our magic had gone up, but we thought that was because of our INT Kerry remarked. You girls had every element of magic maxed out, didnt you. I suppose the only way to test this is to kidnap someone from the human races who hasnt learned any magic at all. Maybe I should ask Remy to get an NPC sellsword to venture into Liebe. The only people who went to the Great Liebe Forest were more or less players. Players went there because, when all was said and done, there were a lot of things they could obtain there, although if they earned too much XP then theyd be hunted down and lose 10% of it. That was how things went for players, but that wouldnt fly for NPCs. If they got in over their heads, they would definitely die. Without some kind of fallback, such as belonging to a knight order or being someones follower, your average sellsword would simply perish and that would be the end. They wouldnt want to take that gamble. However, if it was a request from the young girl who ran the citys famous potion shop, they might be willing to go gather medicinal herbs from the edges of the forest. There werent many ants to be found along the outskirts, so there wasnt as much risk of death. Or, I could work on gathering the materials for the Philosophers Stone, then try to make homunculi. Maybe that wasnt such a far-off future. Now that she had a map of this country, they could efficiently go on expeditions just like this one. This area was completely occupied by the forest, but if they found a completely different biome, then they would be able to gather a greater variety of materials both known and unknown. Or perhaps they could find a city to attack. That would result in new monster territory in the form of ruins. If she took more undead under her wing, she could have them live in and manage that city. It would be hard to turn into a source of fixed XP income like the farms in the forest, but it should be manageable as a theme park, the way Liebe was set up now. Surely the kingdom would send many guests that way, hoping to liberate the city. Hmhmhm. I cant wait. But first was this forest. She wanted these undead. There was nothing wrong with the carknights, but setting the mood was important. Carknights simply looked too pristine; they wouldnt belong in a ruins locale. And since they were too powerful, players and NPCs wouldnt be able to explore those ruins. Without suitably weak trash monsters, itll gain a reputation as an overly difficult zone and no one would come. Thats just how it is. As Rare considered various topics, they continued trampling over the undead that rose up from under their feet. A lot more were appearing now, but they were also closing in on their destination. The reason she was able to sink into thought without worrying about anything else was because Yoroizaka was the one walking for her. She only needed to speak up whenever she detected an undead coming up, then it would automatically get whacked like a mole. Truly the height of convenience. There was a conspicuous tree in that part of the forest with malignant air stagnating around its base. Rare wasnt sure whether it was some kind of visible energy or the [Necromancy] skill was allowing her to perceive something invisible, but it was clearly there before her eyes. Inside the cloud stood a skeletal knight who looked similar to Deas. All around him, more and more skeletal knights rose up out of the ground. This was definitely the epicenter. Someone you know, Deas? Youre one to talk. It was time for Rare to step forward and try to tame him as quickly as possible. Since [Mental Magic] was largely ineffective on undead, she would have to make him yield via combat, then try to force through a [Subordinate]. Back when she tamed Sugaru, she didnt have the strength to best her in battle, but now she was more than capable. Plus, thanks to Deas, she had a general idea of what kind of attacks he could use; he wouldnt be able to hit her with anything completely unexpected. All right, fall back and leave this to me Wait, actually, keep the skeletal knights in check. Id like to convert as many as possible, so try not to deal too much damage. Silently leaving the rest of the group behind, Rare headed toward the undead boss. The closer she got, the more oppressive that strange air felt. It almost felt like her steps had gotten heavier. But she wasnt just imagining it; her steps really were heavier, it was just that Rare wasnt the one doing the walking, it was Yoroisaka. Hes got an aura that debuffs nearby enemies! Hes stronger than Deas! He seemed stronger than any other character Rare had met to date. And that was before factoring in this debuff aura. He must definitely be a raid boss. Furthermore, more monsters were regularly spawning as reinforcements. It was hard to estimate how many players would be needed to put up a decent fight against this boss. Okay, lets go, Yoroisaka. She instantly closed in on her target with [Flash Step], swinging down with Kenzaki. She also used [Slash] at the same time. By this point, Yoroisakas attack could not be dodged or blocked. Even if someone knew that this exact move was coming, it was still far too fast to deal with. Whoa! However, the boss before her parried it. He instantly judged that evading was impossible, and even realized that his sword could not match hers, so he ended up parrying. He had strength beyond his stats. It really did feel like he was another knight captain just like Deas was. Yoroisaka continued attacking, but the enemy was able to avoid taking any critical hits. He mostly parried or dodged vertical strikes, and for horizontal ones that were hard to evade, he let his shield take the hit while backstepping to minimize the damage to the shield. He avoided thrusts by a razor-thin margin; his armor and cloak became peppered with holes, but his actual body, his bones, had thus far taken no damage. [Flare Arrow]. During one such instance, Rare kept him in check with some magic. Since she wasnt trying to kill him, she aimed for his feet and shoulders, intending to incapacitate him. None of the spells hit cleanly, but he didnt completely avoid them all either; his shoulders and greaves were rather scorched. His moves were slowly losing their sharpness as well. [Thunderbolt]. Out of nowhere, this fast spell struck his leg. While dodging Yoroisakas attacks, he had gotten used to [Flare Arrow]s speed, so even he couldnt avoid this; the undead boss had finally fallen down on one knee. Rare took a step back, observing to see if he would get back up or take some other action. He tried to use his sword like a cane in order to stand, but one of his knees had been completely obliterated; it was all he could do to simply stay kneeling upright. Considering his STR and DEX values, she thought that he could continue fighting with just one leg, but all the other damage he had accumulated probably weighed him down. Rare stared into the undeads eyes well, since they had long since rotted away, she looked into his skulls eye sockets instead. As far as she could tell, rather than resolving himself to keep struggling, it felt like his hostility had waned instead. Perhaps he had yielded to Rare. If you have, then accept my [Subordinate]. Without any resistance, the undeadthe Terror Knight [Sieg] became her follower. No resistance Or perhaps our battle just now could be considered your resistance. Thinking of it that way, if there wasnt a huge difference in MND, forcing an enemy into submission via combat first could increase [Subordinate]s chance of success. At present, there werent any characters out there who had comparable MND to Rares, so she couldnt easily test this theory. If she were to ever meet someone like that, it might be better to just hit first and ask questions later. With Sieg under her control, more undead stopped emerging from the ground. They were apparently an effect of Siegs [Conscription] skill in the [Necromantic General] tree. It produced undead for a short period of time that could be controlled at will, but they would be destroyed if exposed to sunlight. The skill cost both LP and MP to use. Interesting how Sieg looked at Deass current appearance and concluded that he was well; he seemed to be pretty broad-minded. Or maybe it was the oppositehis head was too empty so he just reflexively spouted out canned greetings. So you really did end up knowing each other. Were you Deass colleague or something? CH 63 Their former kingdom had six knight orders, each with their own unique duties. Deass First Order were the royal guards, while Siegs Third Order, as well as the Fourth through Sixth Orders, all served as pure military strength. That being the case, the knights of the Third Order were each far less skilled than those of the First Order, but far more numerous as well. However, the entire Third Order had not been dispatched in the expedition to this forest, only its first company was; in other words, they wouldnt actually find a full quarter of the kingdoms knights resting here. While I do want to know how Siegs company ended up here, why were the royal guards, Deass men, sent to the Great Liebe Forest? Dont tell me because the royal family went to that forest?! Rare had heard that they were caught up in a plot hatched by leading officials in the kingdom, but she didnt know that it was a conspiracy to depose the entire royal family. It made sense now why the captain of the royal guard would have nurtured such a strong grudge. Even though the victims were now all long gone, she could sympathize with the feeling of wanting to destroy the kingdoms that rose to power as a result of those machinations. For Rare, it served as an impetus to commit to in-game goals. VRMMOs nowadays trended toward the fun of developing your own character; games storylines had long since stopped receiving much care or attention. In exchange, the games were studded with AI auto-generated short quests like stars in the sky. To put it another way, there were countless games that lacked a concrete plot-driven player objective. This game fit that mold as well since it set absolutely no goals. However, while there were indeed many players who had fun just minding their own improvement, there were still players who wanted to aim for some kind of objective within the game. Some liked finding long consecutive quest chains to clear, while others liked hunting world-threatening monsters, which were usually raid bosses designed by the development team. Rare also wanted to see content like that. Having thought that, she could always issue a quest to her NPCs-turned-followers, something like Destroy all the human countries! Their final task would be to defeat a raid boss that was the country itself. Rare felt excitement permeating her body. So Sieg, do you also resent the six kingdoms that currently rule the continent? This was indeed where the conversation was heading, but Rare hadnt exactly declared in front of Sieg that she wanted to bring down those kingdoms. However, she wouldnt say that he was mistaken, either. Either way, when faced with a grand quest such as this, she wasnt opposed to doing everything in her power to clear it. I see. Then we are agreed. But still, Ive been holed up in the forest for all this time. The only information I actually have on these kingdoms has come from rumors and hearsay. Its important for us to determine how exactly we can topple them Right, this desire to bring ruin belonged to these two undead. In other words, monsters. In which case, if they kept taking over monster territory like they did this time, over time their territory would expand. If they just swallowed up all the territory where humanoid races lived, then that would essentially be the downfall of those kingdoms, wouldnt it? What do you think of that strategy? It appeared that Sieg had a much more annoying personality than Rare would have expected. However, right now she was technically the leader of the ant colony, so even if she did end up making a new country, it should be fine to just throw the responsibility of leadership onto one of her followers. The thought made her feel better. All right, so our first step is to take control of this forest. Sieg, take your subordinates Ohh, youve got quite a lot of them. Theyre spread all throughout the woods All right, Sieg, I gift you this locationit shall be a haunted forest that swallows up humanity whole. According to Sieg, since he had awoken, no human who had entered the forest left alive, so it became known as the Forest of No Return and no one dared enter it anymore. Even during the day, the treants would kill anyone on sight, so the humans didnt even know what monsters lived here. But if there were any players among the people that Sieg and his forces killed, then that was a different story. Even supposing that the treants could kill them without being detected, at night it would be undead, and players would recognize them. And when players died, theyd revive in town. It was possible that no one wanted any materials dropped from undead, but it should have been different for treants. Which meant During the day, I shall have my subordinate treants entertain the guests. If they come at night, then Sieg, have your weaker followers fight them as appropriate, allowing a suitable number of them to win. That should hopefully attract more humans here, which in turn means a lot more killing will occur here as well. Speaking simply of stats, it could be due to Rares [Enhance Follower] increasing his INT and MND, but that probably wasnt enough to explain a dramatic change like this. After being subjected to [Subordinate], it was possible that something in his AI had also become unlocked. Im glad that your mind is sharp now. Next, lets see, you should learn how to access your inventory from Deas. He has been at my side observing things for some time now, so he should also be able to advise you on the administration of this forest. Deas, once things here have settled somewhat, contact me and I shall [Summon] you back Yes, I know. Ah, thats right. Rare then looked over at where Sieg had been sitting, up at the giant tree behind him. Is that just a tree? Or is it a treant? Since they dont move at night, I cant tell Sieg responded. I see. However, maybe it was just lazy, or it was afraid of taking a lot of damage if it messed with you, so its possible its just pretending to be asleep maybe. Okay, lets see if Im right. Even if it wasnt doing anything right now, if it was a monster then it had to be conscious to a point. If she cast [Subordinate] or something then it should react in some fashion. [Charm]. The trees branches rustled. From what Rare could tell, it was resisting quite a bit. However, Rare had more MND and was able to brush aside that resistance; [Charm] seemed to be working. Hah hah! So youre the treant boss! [Subordinate]! CH 64 Even though it had already been [Charmed], it was still able to put up a resistance. This was a rather powerful monster. But eventually, the furious shaking of its leaves stopped. It had accepted Rares [Subordinate]. So its an Elder Camphor Treant. Its a lot stronger than those treants from before <> Reincarnation! She never would have imagined that a follower would fulfill the conditions before she could. But this was a perfect opportunity. She would have to think about what the exact conditions were later, but for now she should jump on this chance. Right Even if I have to use up XP Wait, 5,000?! Thats expensive! Even for Rare, paying 5,000 XP wasnt something she could just blithely accept without batting an eye. She did have enough, though. She certainly did, but I wonder if theres some way I could take out a loan? No, its nothing, just hold on a second <> No, I wasnt talking toNever mind, that helps. This here was peak confusion. However, she needed to force herself to calm down and think things through. She wasnt sure if this was the only chance she had to reincarnate the treant. If she let this opportunity pass, would there be another? The condition was unmistakably linked to the act of taming. The question was whether the timing was while it was being tamed or after it had been tamed. If it was the former, then this was her only chance; if it was the latter, then it was possible at an unspecified future point in time for her to trigger a reincarnation. She really wanted to test this out. But that was also really risky. She couldnt waste this chance. Plus, Rare found that she was having trouble suppressing a compulsion born out of pure curiosity. In any case, it cost 5,000 XP. No normal person would be able to go out and just earn that much XP on a whim. Who out there would choose to go forward with the reincarnation? Who aside from Rare, that is? All right, lets do it. I permit the reincarnation. <> Immediately after, the elder camphor treants bough began to shake, and little grains of light began to sprinkle down. The grains covered its branches and trunk until the entire tree started to shine. Boss?! Whats Her other followers already recognized this tree as one of their allies, so they didnt sense any danger, but that didnt stop them from being startled. Deas and his fellow knights used to be human but were now undead; that meant they should have gone through reincarnation at some point, but they probably had never seen it happening themselves. Neither had Rare, but she simply found the experience of watching in and of itself fascinating. Before long, the light-covered treants entire body began to shiver, then, with a creaking noise, it started to grow. It had already been the tallest thing in the forest, but now it grew even taller, to the point where the top of the tree was no longer visible from the ground. Its trunk was becoming thicker as well; Rares group had already backed up, but the space where Sieg had originally been was already taken over by the still-expanding trunk, tearing up the earth and piling it into constantly growing mounds. At that point, the trees at Rares back suddenly began to fall over. As she wondered why that would happen, she realized that the elder camphor treants roots were growing as well, displacing those trees from under the ground. It was quite an unbelievable sight. But now, it was no longer an elder camphor treant. When Rare checked its status screen, its race had become World Tree. Impressive So that was five thousand XP. <> Wait, huh? This time it even told her the race name in advance. Maybe because it was happening to the player instead of a follower. Perhaps a useless You may reincarnate into a World Tree system message had also been delivered to the elder camphor treant earlier (which it couldnt read). Of course she would accept. There was nothing to consider. She also knew what the trigger was: It was most likely Have command of a world tree. <> She immediately accepted. The amount was more than reasonable. However, it wouldnt do to forget that while the world trees 5,000 XP was mind-bogglingly expensive, 200 XP for high elf would still normally be considered pricey. <> She was overcome with an odd sensation, almost like being tickled. If she opened her eyes, she would probably look the same as the treant had earlier: excessively luminescent. Boss! Rare heard her followers worried cries, but she casually raised her hand to head off their concern. Her own transformation ended quickly and the light that had enveloped her faded. She felt strangely powerful, like she had just pumped all her stats up with XP. Just now, I reincarnated into a high elf How is it? Has anything about me changed? Yes, um Your face hasnt exactly changed but, well, you seem a lot prettier than before? Yeah Plus your hair got longer. And your ears too. Marion tacked it on like an afterthought, but ears didnt normally grow out like hair did. That must have been the visible difference between elves and high elves. Kerrys remark about her beauty must have been due to this racial characteristic. Racial Characteristic: Extreme Beauty Your race is considered unusually beautiful. All other peoples are meant to prostrate themselves at your feet. Favorability with NPCs is increased (Large). Characters under your control have increased combat morale. This truly was a race suited for ruling others. And it was unnecessary since Rare already had it, but apparently [Subordinate] was learned at birth for high elves. It even had its own skill tree. The game announcements had said something about this, how some NPC nobles had [Subordinate]; maybe this was what they were referring to. High elves must occupy the noble class in elven countries. That meant a higher rank of human probably existed as well, one that might be ruling over a kingdom like Hiers, for example. When Rare had read that old announcement, she thought that if she ever antagonized the kingdom, she would have to be wary of nobles using [Mental Magic], but seeing this now she realized that might not be the case. If they only received [Subordinate] as a racial bonus, then its possible they wouldnt have any [Mental Magic], [Necromancy], or [Summon] skills. If so, then the advantage Rare held was immeasurable. This could be a key to victory. However, she couldnt rule out the existence of NPCs who learned skills unrelated to their races. At best, this discovery would only slightly improve her odds. Unexpectedly getting a world tree already made this trip a resounding success, but I was also able to reincarnate myself, which was why I wanted to make a Philosophers Stone in the first place Ah well, its all good. With this much wood, I can make tons of them, then play around with them as much as I want. Additionally, after turning the elder camphor treant into her subordinate, she found out why it had just been sitting there, unmoving. Camphor treants didnt match up well against undead. The treants were full of life and purity, as expected of monsters that could evolve into world trees, meaning they were diametrically opposed to undead. Therefore, since Sieg was already emitting noxious air at its feet that gave it a weakening debuff, if it tried to move and had to fight Sieg, it would have stood little chance. Due to that, it had been completely immobile ever since Sieg had awoken as an undead. The reason Rares [Charm] succeeded may have been because of that debuff as well. Other treants were only active during the day, but less because of photosynthesis and more because all the undead clamoring about at night weakened them. If thats how it is, then leaving Sieg and his forces here would be a problem Ill leave World Tree in charge of this forest instead and take all the undead back to my forest. Theres a lot to do. Listen to what Deas tells you, and do your work properly. Ill let the undead loose in Liebe to entertain the human invaders. It was great that they were getting along so well. Visually, though, their eyes werent sparkling with camaraderie since they were dead and lifeless. All right, now its time to head back and continue my research. Oh right, World Tree, sorry to bother, but could I have one of your branches? CH 65 The branch she had gotten from the World Tree was the size of one of those roadside trees in town. To the gigantic treant, a branch of this size was probably akin to a nail clipping, but this much wood would be enough to supply all kinds of projects Rare wanted to do. She could process some into charcoal and ash for use in experiments. Any extra could then be turned into staves to see if they could make weapons that assisted in casting magic. Can staves be created via woodcrafting? Oh, thats right, its used to make bows too. I wonder if there are any deer-type monsters or anything in Liebe whose tendons can be used for bowstrings And what about glue? I can make glue when gettin the tendons. The recipe uses the waste materials I get from tanning leather. Ah, Remy, long time no see. Now that Ive brought World Tree into the fold, can you try crafting whatever you can that we have materials for? Yeah. I came over because I already heard. After returning to the queens chamber, Rare had started mumbling to herself again, so Remy had overheard and proactively came over to help. Remy was currently running a kind of odds-n-ends shop in Erfahren, but since Rare was planning to make the Philosophers Stone today, she had been called back to assist. I dont think we have a lot of woodcrafted weapons here. Even without World Tree, I believe we still have a lot of suitable wood for woodcrafting, so I wonder why we havent been making anything. We havent really needed any, I guess? Weapons that need to be made of wood are the ones you mentioned, staves and bows, and also long weapons like spears. None of those are useful for ants. Ah, now that you mention it, youre absolutely right An ants main weapons were its mandibles and poison stinger. They had no need for anything extra. The adamantite soldiers were ostensibly equipped with low-rank weapons, but in close combat they could just smack things with their own bodies for good damage. Wooden weapons just didnt have a place here. Well, since were going to have more and more skeletal troops, it might be good to include bows in our weapon stores. We can make ones for you and Riley to use from World Tree too. The adamanmages can just use staves made from regular wood or treant remains. If World Tree could handle it, then it should be possible to get any number of branches the same size as this one, but Rare wanted to avoid information on these weapons leaking. She wouldnt know anything for sure until she actually put them into production and tested the performance, but if weapons that were too powerful became known to the general public, then theyd only be tightening a noose around their own necks. All right, so first off is charcoal. Making it properly requires about a week, I believe? Go ahead and get started on that first, then. Yes, Ill take care of it. She let Remy handle processing the World Tree wood for charcoal production. The one doing the cutting would be the Kenzaki leaning on the wall. Recently, he had been predicting Rares needs and acting on his own like this; maybe it was a result of spending almost all their time together. Lets try making ashes from a bit of the leftovers. That said, it was extremely important to be prudent in their current location. The offensive [Fire Magic] that Rare and Remy had learned was too powerful; no matter how well they controlled it, it would still be destructive enough to burn the queens chamber to the ground. Even with a single-target spell like [Flare Arrow], a direct hit had enough heat to completely sublimate wood. Oh, I just had a great idea. [Philosophers Egg]. Rare used her skill to create a crystal egg. With it in hand, she approached a piece of wood, causing it to get swallowed into the egg. All right; next up, [Heat]. She proceeded to warm up the entire egg using [Fire Magic]s [Heat] spell. Well, warm up may be the wrong verb considering the temperature inside the egg would soon surpass several hundred degrees. As Rare watched, the wood finally caught on fire and began to blaze merrily. She canceled [Heat] and just continued watching the fire. Since the crystal was airtight, there werent any problems with smoke. However, oxygen had to be getting in somehow since the flames didnt change in intensity. What a truly magical container. Or, because the heat was generated magically, maybe this was a form of combustion that didnt require any oxygen? If so, then putting aside an oxidation reaction happening at the molecular level, maybe she couldnt even call this combustion at all and it was something entirely different. After some time, the fire died out, and all that remained inside were the world trees ashes. Mm, I thought we could make charcoal from this wood, but it just burned up normally. Maybe we need to consider a more magical method. We might be able to do it using [Athanor] or something, Remy suggested. Aah, youre right. Go experiment with that and let me know how it turns out. Yes, Boss. After the flames disappeared completely, the crystal egg broke apart on its own and disappeared as well. Aww, so it did end up breaking. That was kind of a huge waste of MP, but, well, what can you do Rare picked up the pile of ashes that had fallen to the floor and scrutinized it closely. She wasnt able to tell when it had been inside the egg, but looking at it closely like this, she could see that it glittered subtly. Considering how poorly lit this room was, the ashes themselves might actually be luminescent. I guess thats what you get with ashes made from a World Tree. Now then, what was that recipe Rare quickly reconfirmed the recipe for [Magnum Opus]. Looked like these were indeed Ashes of the World Tree, and they could be used in various other recipes as well. With how much she had here, she could produce quite a few new items now. As she had originally planned, the first of those would be the provisional Philosophers Stone. She was glad that the final piece turned out to indeed be ashes from magical wood. However, the item required in the recipe was not Ashes of the World Tree but rather Treant Ashes. Rare had no memory of obtaining Treant Ashes, so Ashes of the World Tree must count as Treant Ashes as well. Since other items that were unlocked specifically had Ashes of the World Tree listed in their recipes, then what she held in her hands should in fact be Ashes of the World Tree. If it didnt matter which one she used, then the higher-ranked ingredient should work fine. In fact, using better materials should result in much more interesting products. Ill try with Treant Ashes later too. But for now, lets just make it with these ingredients. She called over some transporter ants to retrieve the necessary items from their inventories. She put these into a [Philosophers Egg], then heated it up with [Athanor]. It took on a marbled pattern as usualexcept this time it was already radiating a rainbow color. Normally, it wouldnt start glowing until she used [Magnum Opus]; having gone through the process thousands of times before, she was absolutely not mistaken in the sequence of events. Is this maybe an indicator meaning great success? An alchemy game I used to play a long time ago always had those kinds of theatrics. Well, its probably good that its shining. All right, Ill use [Magnum Opus] now. As soon as Rare activated her skill, the crystal began to shine even more brightly than before. But instead of the glow coming from the contents of the egg, it seemed more as if the egg itself was what was letting off all that light. It was so intense that she had to shut her eyes. Once the light finally settled down, she opened her eyes to see that the [Philosophers Egg] was gone. In its place, there was a crystal egg the size of a regular chicken egg floating in midair. Did the crystal egg shrink? Did it turn into a container? I wonder if this red liquid inside is the Philosophers Stone, then. As soon as Rare touched it, she somehow understood how to use it. Like it came with its own manual. Hmm, so just like skills and magic spells, after saying the activation keyword, the egg will break on its own and the liquid inside will be absorbed by the target. The effect is Im not too certain, but apparently it improves the target by two stages? Or thats the image Im getting, at least. I dont think its a negative effect, but, well The explanation was clearly insufficient. Being a Philosophers Stone, the effect seemed to be exactly what she imagined it might be, but she hesitated a little to blindly use it on herself. Id really like to try it on a test subject. But first, I should see if it can be mass produced or not. Remy spoke up. I might be overstepping, but I suggest that we see if I am able to produce the same item as you did. Ah, youre right. Stats and other skills could play a role in it. Keeping all that in mind, lets make a bunch of them. If we run out of materials, we can just go get more, even if that requires going to the farms or to the other forest. After that, the two of them crafted a whole bunch of Philosophers Stones. CH 66 We sure made a lot of them. With this many, we can just burn them on whatever we want and it wont be a big deal. Both Rare and Remy were able to craft Philosophers Stones that werent significantly different. However, when the ingredients included formic acid from weaker engineer ants, or normal Treant Ashes, then there was a big difference: They didnt shine when using [Athanor] to heat them up. The marbled product did glow slightly, but that was the normal, expected reaction based on all their previous trials. In other words, it probably meant that the result wouldnt be a great success. The differences were also clear once all the finished products were lined up next to each other; the ones made with Ashes of the World Tree were more vibrantly red, and they also faintly sparkled. You can tell right away when you hold one in your hands, but the dull-colored ones only improve their targets by one stage. Which means that Ashes of the World Tree essentially double the resulting effect. They tried synthesizing different combinations of ingredients, first always using low-rank formic acid, then always Treant Ashes, but the results in all those cases were the dull-colored stone. Only when both ingredients were the high-rank version did they get the vibrant Philosophers Stone that sparkled from the start. First, I want to try the ones that raise a stage by one. If Im to be the final test, then ideally wed want to try it on a character whos close to me in stats first, not a material or item. The possible candidates are Deas volunteered. Hmm, I would have wanted to use the sparkly ones on our top brass, but From what the instructions say, using two one-stage items should have the same result However, if theres a maximum number of stones that can be used on an individual, that would be problematic This time, Sieg responded. Good idea; worst case, I can still use him as a boss monster. Lets do it. Call one up, if you would. A single skeletal knight was summoned into the queens chamber. After Sieg gave an explanation, the knight nodded his head. The two of them almost seemed like a manager and employee at a normal office. Great; take this. Once youre holding it, you should automatically understand how to use it. Whenever youre ready, use it on yourself. The skeletal knight immediately raised the egg. The crystal shone as it broke apart, and the red liquid inside poured down as though it were a powder. Rather than simply falling due to gravity, the powder seemed to be drawn to the knight instead. Wherever it touched the skeletal knight, it was absorbed into his bones, like how powder snow melted. Once all the powder had dissolved into its body, the skeletal knight began to shine. This was the same light Rare saw with World Tree. It looks like hes reincarnating. So I was right, raising a characters stage really does mean reincarnating into a higher-ranked form. Before long, the light settled down and the skeleton standing before them wore not the rotted, decayed equipment it had on before, but a splendid suit of armor fit for a knight. The bones of his body had become much more stout, and he had grown in height as well. I see. Good, then he did go up a rank. Right now, there werent very many leader-level units in their forces, so it might be good to fill out those numbers a bit using these Philosophers Stones. Or she could use them on skeletal mages to have them reincarnate into a more advanced type of mage, in order for Rares forces as a whole to strengthen their magical firepower. There were countless ways to make use of this item. We can try using it on materials and items whenever we want, so lets leave that for later. Next is to see whether he can keep using more Philosophers Stones. Rare handed another egg to him. The skeletal leader took it and stared at it for a time, but eventually gave it back while shaking his head. So theres a cooldown of twenty-four hours for the power-up effect. Its good to know that there isnt a limit to the number of times an individual can use it, though. Does this mean that as long as we can procure all the materials, we can keep reincarnating over and over again? Its hard to believe they would allow something as ridiculous as that, but The devs would absolutely hate bugs that led to infinite power-ups. There was no question that the system AI was always running its automatic bugfix function. For the time being, once the cooldown was up, she would have this skeletal leader come back and try reincarnating into a skeletal general or something. All right, next we should try the sparkly Philosophers Stone. Deas, would you like to take the plunge? Just like before, the Philosophers Stone Deas received flared with light before breaking apart. While Deas hadnt raised it up, the liquid inside turned into a red powder and got sucked into him from the front as it slowly fell. <> < > < > So when going up two stages, I can choose which one I want, huh. Since Deas was her direct follower, Rare received a system message requesting her approval. He was able to reincarnate from Terror Knight to Death Knight, then Death Knight to Death Lord. Unlike with me becoming a High Elf, this is more of a job change than a race change. I guess thats just how monsters work. Anyway, since Deas had used one of the good Philosophers Stones, Rare spent the XP and allowed him to reincarnate into a [Death Lord]. His entire body shone as his appearance began to change. The armor he wore became less sinister-looking but thicker and more ornate. His skeletal body gained a layer of skin, making him look more like a mummy. Red lights flicked around then flashed on and off in his eye sockets; he must have been blinking his new eyes. Your appearance certainly got an upgrade, although now youll make children cry as soon as they lay eyes on you. Your skills You can learn many more now. This [Miasma] is the same one that Sieg has. Its a skill tree that has buff and debuff auras; you can buff ally undead while debuffing enemy forces, it seems. I wonder how it determines whats an enemy? On the whole, she felt confident saying that the testing was a success. Now she wanted all her top brass characters to reincarnate into higher ranks. But reincarnating often seems to require XP, so it might not be possible for everyone to do it together. Furthermore, just like it was possible to learn new skills this time, it was also possible for some skills to no longer be learnable after reincarnation. When Rare became a High Elf, she unlocked a bunch of new skills like [Light Magic], so if possible it would be best to learn all available skills before reincarnating. Lets switch to stockpiling XP for now. Were in no particular hurry, after all. Ah, indeed You have a point. Then first, let me see what skills I have left to get When Rare had reincarnated into a High Elf, she unlocked the skill trees for [Light Magic] and [Ruler]. The [Ruler] skill tree was packed with skills that buffed all characters under her control, such as the [Enhance Subordinate] grouping, and another one called [Castling] which let her switch locations with a subordinate once per day. [Enhance Subordinate] had the same kind of effect as [Enhance Follower], except that the description of all characters under your rule was very broad. It seemed like it would affect a followers followers as well. That nuance implied that it could even apply to characters that were under the influence of [Control] and [Necromancy]. Learning [Light Magic] led to unlocking [Plant Magic]; it probably required [Light Magic] and something else as its prerequisites. The likely contenders were [Earth Magic] or [Water Magic], but this wasnt something she could easily find out anymore. She had also unlocked and learned [Holy Magic], which she had no idea what the prerequisites for it were. Every time she learned a new skill, more got unlocked, seemingly without end. However, now that Rare had come this far, she wanted to learn them all. She thought it would be more constructive to just plan to earn more XP in the future than to skip taking a skill now and later regretting that decision. Plus, even if she were to learn everything she could, the amount of XP it cost was still a drop in the bucket compared to the 5,000 she had paid to get World Tree. Rare and Remy also earned XP from crafting all these Philosophers Stones. They must be the highest quality of crafted item considering that even Rare, with all the XP she had invested in herself, could still earn XP from crafting them. And that about does it. With how much XP Ive got left, I should still be able to pay whatever amount it asks for in order to reincarnate. Rare picked up a sparkly Philosophers Stone and spoke its activation keyword. She briefly wondered how races that couldnt speak could use the item, but since Deas had no problem, there must be a way to switch from a spoken activation if one were mute. Activate [Philosophers Stone]. Just like what happened every time before, the crystal melted into light, and the red liquid inside got sucked into Rare. As she absorbed all of the red light, she could hear a flurry of system messages. <<[Greater Philosophers Stone] has been used.>> <> <> <> <> <> CH 67 Hold on a minute, too much just happened! <> Rare needed to analyze everything in order. First, the item name. Apparently, its official name was Greater Philosophers Stone. Nice. Wait, no, that wasnt important at all. Okay, so Living Spirit must be in the same family as high elf, probably one rank above. That would mean Spirit Lord was one rank above that, and it needed 3,000 XP in order to get there. That put it in the same ballpark as how much she paid for World Tree, though still cheaper. Next was Dark Elf. Since the rest of the notifications were prefaced with A special condition has been met, Rare believed this must be some kind of special reincarnation path or something. She wasnt sure whether this was triggered from a skill she had learned or due to some other factor, though. As for how the proceeding Demonic Spirit and Demon Lord were related, she inferred that dark elf corresponded to high elf, demonic spirit with living spirit, and finally demon lord with spirit lord. She could probably assume that one set of races was based around light and the other around dark. What should I do? Boiling everything down, there were ultimately only two options: become a spirit lord, or become a demon lord. Whichever she chose to pursue, there was another huge problem to tackle first. Damn, I dont have enough XP. If she had known it would come to this, she would have put off learning all those skills for later. Well, no, even if she didnt need any of those skills to meet the conditions for unlocking all these options, she still needed to have learned them. For example, it was hard to believe that she would still be allowed to learn [Holy Magic] after reincarnating into a demon lord. Rare wondered how long she could keep this deferred action on hold. Although, even if she had to abandon the action, all she would lose was a sparkly Philosophers Stoneer, a Greater Philosophers Stone. It would probably count as her one use for the day, but she should be able to use another one tomorrow. In any case, she would just calmly make the system wait for now, and if that didnt work then she would figure it out then. Sugaru. I need everything currently in this forest thats not one of ours turned into XP. I need as much XP as I can get. Do it as quickly as possible while being as efficient as you can. Ah, but leave the livestock set aside for breeding alone. This should generate a lot of XP. It would take quite some time to get the farms back up and running again, but it was a necessary sacrifice. Rare sent the same orders over to World Tree. They didnt have any invaders over there, but there were still a lot of treants that werent under their control, so cleaning them up would help speed things along. She impatiently watched her XP go up while wondering when a system message was going to pop up reminding her of her deferral. The number on the screen increased ever so slowly until finally, after about two hours, it breached 3,000. Yes! Reincarnate into Demon Lord! Rare didnt have any particularly compelling reasons for choosing demon lord. First: because it required a special condition. In other words, it wasnt a standard reincarnation route. That in itself meant that any players trying to follow in her footsteps should have a harder time since there were additional conditions to fulfill. While there could still be other players with the same race, she predicted that the overall number would be small. People wanted to be unique, to some extent, and Rare was no exception. Then there was what she had said to Deas and Sieg, about establishing a kingdom to unify all the oppressed monsters. If she were truly going to rule over all the monsters, then there was no role more suitable for her to take than that of a demon lord. Just like when she became a high elf, Rares body was enveloped in light. Last time she hadnt felt any other changes aside from the light, but this time, her head began to feel itchy. She also felt something squirming around her lower back area. But all that discomfort soon faded as the light surrounding her dispersed. How sublime! Rares followers all cried out in admiration at seeing her new form. We dont have a mirror, do we? Yeah, thats a no. How do I look? From your reactions, I seem to have changed quite a bit. Umm, first, your ears are shorter. I think theyre still a little pointier than normal human ears. And you have gold horns now. There are two of them, side by side, on the top of your head, and they point behind you. Like, goat horns. They look kind of metallic. When she reached for her head where described to check what they told her, she did indeed feel hard, smooth horns. Her wings were soft and flexible enough for her to move in front of her hips, letting her see them for herself. They were extremely white, no blemishes whatsoever. That piqued her curiosity; she was supposed to be a demon lord, after all. When she checked her status, it did in fact say Demon Lord. She also gained a number of additional characteristics. Racial Characteristic: Wings You have wings. If you wish it, you will be unaffected by gravity. Gain skill [Flight]. Racial Characteristic: Horns You have horns. It is impossible for you to bow to inferior races without horns. Increased resistance against races without horns when afflicted by [Mental Magic], [Ruler], [Subordinate], and [Contract] (Large). Success rate increased against races without horns when using [Mental Magic], [Ruler], [Subordinate], and [Contract] (Large). Racial Characteristic: Demonic Eyes Your eyes hold power. None can escape from your sight. Unlock skill [Demonic Eyes]. However, she still had all of her other characteristics as well. Extreme Beauty was there, as well as Poor Eyesight and Albinism Ahh, maybe thats why my wings are white. They should probably have been more like crow wings originally, black and ominous-looking, but Albinism had turned them white. Her hair and skin color were the same white as always, but perhaps reincarnating down the dark elf path was supposed to darken those as well. Because of her innate characteristics, Rare had been reborn as a pure white, angelic demon lord. How amusing. I picked up Albinism on a whim because I thought it wouldnt be that conspicuous as an elf, but as a result I now stick out like a sore thumb Ehh, I dont plan to show myself in front of people anyway, so whatever, its fine. More like she couldnt carelessly show herself in front of anyone anymore. If a demon lord appeared in town, there would obviously be a huge panic. She wondered what she would do about server-wide events. If she had to go out then she could always wear Yoroisaka, but what would she do about her horns and wings? They would have to add holes into Yoroisaka for them. Also, she realized this when reconfirming her characteristics, but the innate characteristic Beauty was still there. She thought it would have been automatically combined into Extreme Beauty, but apparently innate characteristics were retained after reincarnation. Did the increase in [Charm]s success rate against NPCs stack? She hadnt had an opportunity to use [Charm] on one since way back when, so she had no idea. Anyway, looks like my reincarnation went off without a hitch. Checking her XP, she had gained a little bit more since getting what she needed before. Sugaru, if you havent stopped the farming already, then its fine to return to the usual routine. Give me a report on the farms later as well. She would let World Tree keep hunting. Since they hadnt set up any farms over there yet, there was no problem with killing off all the opposing treants. If possible, she wanted to bring in monsters from somewhere for the treants to raise in farms, but that was a plan for later. <> What was that? She had just received a system message that felt different from the usual ones. Only players were supposed to receive system messages. Aside from that, outside of events, only the recipient should be able to hear it. Rare must have gotten this message because the stuff about the demon lord was referring to her. The other stuff, though, meant that every character with some specific skill also received it. These emergency measures were probably taken because of the relatively short amount of time it had taken for Rare to become a demon lord. What skill exactly qualified allowed characters to hear that message? And what the heck was a being of calamity? Like Godzilla? Rare wouldnt be able to figure anything out no matter how much she ruminated over it. That said, she couldnt exactly send a support email either. Even if this situation was possibly considered normal and she could actually get answers, if she went through the official site then she would publicly reveal that a player somehow became a special being of calamity, an event worthy of triggering a special admin announcement, which would only make things harder for her. For now, until she got her hands on more information, she would have to let it go. There are still many things I need to verify, and Id like to learn the new skills Ive unlocked. Plus all of you need to reincarnate as well, so we need to focus on earning as much XP as we can. Finding new areas to invade would be the easiest solution, but According to the map, there was a volcanic belt to the south which was monster territory. Since itll be a hot zone, I dont think the ice wolves can go there. Should I send someone else instead? Oh, Hakuma. You may be right, which means we should hold off on any more expeditions until everyone has reincarnated. For the time being, it seemed that the best course of action was to safely earn XP in the Great Liebe Forest and the other, haunted forest. Rares job was to devise a way to earn fixed XP from the haunted forest while also using [Alchemy] to craft as many high-rank items as she could to earn XP. Lets steadily build ourselves up. Since I have now become a demon lord, then my forces also need to be worthy of going up against the human kingdoms. CH 68 Countless magnificent chairs were arranged in a giant circle inside an equally magnificent, spacious room This was the conference hall on the first floor of the Hiers royal castle. Normally, members of the church would rent out this room to hold religious meetings, but today it held an assembly of the people in charge of the kingdom. This included leaders from the church, starting with the patriarch of the Holy Church of Hiers and extending to other prominent bishops. received an oracle. A new threat to humanity has been born. Furious whispers filled the hall in the wake of the patriarchs words. One of the guards standing by against the wall, Thomas, felt the frenzied commotion vibrate through his body as though there had been an actual shockwave. For those gathered here, the news was in fact that shocking. And that was true even for a common soldier like Thomas. Threats to humanity. The six catastrophes. The harbingers of despair. The incarnations of carnage. There were many ways to curse them, but they actually all referred to the same things. On the western continent, rumors claimed that the lord of the infamous Genesis Castle was a true vampire. In the north pole, there was a giant wall of ice known as the Crystal Wall. Since ancient times, a golden dragon had been sealed within, one that had descended from above the heavens. In the vast sea of trees on the southern continent, it was said that beyond the gate that connects to the realm of demons, everything had been conquered by a greater demon. Far to the east, in an island nation populated by demihumans, there were whispers that its sovereign was the king of insects. That same island nation was separated from the central continent by the worlds largest body of water, the Great Aegir Sea. At the bottom of that sea, the lord of mermen reigned over the entire ocean. Finally, while no one knew where it was, everyone knew of the flying castle. On its throne sat an archangel, leader of the abominable angels, who looked down on the lower world with contempt. How can this be Where? Where is this newest disaster? Here, on this continent. In the eastern part of Hiers, near the city of Erfahren, God has declared that it was birthed in the Great Liebe Forest. Ohh how terrible How can this be? How can it? Some of the attendees hung their heads, others looked up to the heavens and prayed, others still tumbled out of their chairs. The only thing they all shared was an overwhelming feeling of despair. And Thomas was no different. He nearly dropped the standard-bearing spear in his hand. Was it really true? A threat to humanity was this close? These calamities had never threatened the central continent before. That could perhaps in fact be the reason behind this development. The residents here knew about the existence of human life on the other continents and islands from trade, but civilization in those places wasnt very advanced. That was because their circumstances made it hard enough just to survive, so they lacked an opportunity to even consider improving their lifestyles. And that was due to the six catastrophes. Their existence riled up monsters and wild beasts, leading to the appearance of powerful creatures the likes of which were incomparable to what was found on this continent. Wanting to raise the standard of living in such an environment was a dream within a dream. None of the six catastrophes settled on the central continent, so the people there only ever had to worry about the angels from the flying castle, who would appear at random to conduct raids. While they certainly suffered great losses from these attacks, it was always a temporary thing, completely different from living in constant fear of something that lived nearby. Thus, life was much more luxurious on the central continent compared to all the other major landmasses. However, it appeared that such a blissful status quo would soon end. The worst part was that this was the birth of a brand new threat and not the relocation of one of the six catastrophes. Where once there were six, now there were seven. Simply put, the entire world would suffer from this development, and they could not expect to receive any outside aid. There are no past records of a catastrophe being vanquished. However, there are also no records of a newly born catastrophe being challenged. If we were to act now, perhaps it could still You have a point. If it was just born, it could be just a child, meaningright now, it may be possible to defeat it! Form an extermination force at once! In contrast to the rest of the people in the hall who flared up with enthusiasm, Thomas felt his blood running cold. An extermination force? Who was in charge of that? Obviously the person making that declaration wouldnt be leading it. There was no way anyone here would be doing battle themselves. In which case, the ones mobilizing and facing off against this catastrophe would be soldiers like Thomas. This was no joke. Just because there was a disaster brewing on the edges of the kingdom didnt mean it was going to be destroyed right away. So who in their right minds did they think would want to proactively march off to an early grave? If the nobles here had been lords of knight orders, then things would be different; as long as their lord was unharmed, knights couldnt die. In order to become a knight, you had to swear loyalty to the lord, signing away your entire life, but in exchange you were freed from having to die alone. In most cases, knights who were subordinate to a lord were much more proficient in battle than the masters were; since knights were expected to constantly protect their lord from danger, there was little appeal for lords to entrust their lives to people who were weaker than they were. Rather, lords tended to die during political power struggles, far away from the battlefield. Thus, almost no regular soldiers became knights; the only people who did belonged to families who had pledged their servitude for generations, or servants or slaves who had no other option but to go into servitude. It would have been better to send knights like that out instead. If they could, then they could launch an offensive without having to worry about loss of life. But at the same time, Thomas already knew that it would never happen. Knights were armor for nobles; they would never be allowed to stray far from their lords. And no nobles would be willing to risk their own lives for a greater cause. Knights were the professional soldiers who served in personal armies for royalty and nobility. Therefore, conscripted soldiers became indispensable as a national military force that maintained order and stability, and they served for a period of three years. Just a year ago, Thomas was simply tending to his fields in the village that was his home. It was a poor but peaceful life. In other words, he had two years of service left. As far as he knew, there were no wars on this continent, so conscription should consist of standing guard, putting down bandits, and maybe monitoring town gates. Basically, activities like what he was doing now. So when he heard about the birth of a new calamity, Thomas foresaw the way the conference was heading and cursed in despair. Then it is settled. All that is left is to inform the king. Can I trust you all to take care of everything else? Leave it to us, patriarch. This crisis threatens all of humanity. We must do everything we can while there is still a window of opportunity. The meeting had slowed; there was no more progress being made. Instead, it was now concluding having cobbled together a unanimous response with shocking speed. They had only come up with a single objective, and the way the legislators coordinated and distributed the work was astounding. In other words, they abandoned the problem to their chosen sacrificesthe conscripted citizensto solve. Normally, assigning any excessively dangerous task to a conscript required consulting with both the soldier and their family first. However, since this was an extraordinary worldwide crisis concerning the birth of a seventh catastrophe, they just drafted up a new, emergency wartime law right here and now, and they would use a free pass resolution at the next conference to force it through. And to fill out the numbers, they would be reconscripting former soldiers who already completed their service as well as lowering the eligible age for conscription. This law was the worst nightmare for the kingdoms laypeople. Partway through the meeting, Thomas found himself trying to escape from reality by daydreaming the best way to smuggle his family out of the country. Once the discussion was over, the nobles with domestic responsibilities left the venue. Thomas silently held open the door, his head bowed as he saw them off. The only people left in the conference hall were the patriarch and bishops from the Holy Church of Hiers. Patriarch Um, you seem despondent, is something? Yes. About the catastrophe Sure, what about the catastrophe? By definition, a threat to humanity cannot be a threat if its only beginning to develop In other words How can I say this There wouldnt be any reason for a newborn disaster that was still in a weakened state to elicit an oracle As soon as we received the oracle, the calamity may have already reached maturity That is my fear, at least The bishops all fell silent. However, nothing could now overturn the conclusion that had been reached at the assembly. In fact, even if they had determined that it could not be defeated and they could only monitor it, it wouldnt change the fact that the future of the kingdom had become shrouded in darkness. Whether or not Hiers made any moves, a threat to humanity was still an existence capable of thoroughly massacring the humanoid races around it. If it had been far away, then the potential damage could be minimized somewhat, but it was right here within the kingdom. Even in the best case, the Kingdom of Hiers could still be wiped off the map. Thomas looked over at the distraught bishops with their heads bowed; he had already stopped thinking and now only wanted to leave as soon as possible. CH 69 Hakuma conveyed this to Ginka at his side as well as to the pups. This actually did not come directly from Bossfrom Rare; it was information passed through Sugaru, but if Boss wanted it done, then whether or not they were orders made little difference. He didnt understand the specifics, but they needed a ton of that XP stuff. Hunt prey, drive away invaders, do this over and over again until, suddenly, you achieve growth as you desiredXP was the power that made this possible. Since all the XP was gathered by the leader of the pack, Rare, even if Hakuma and the other wolves didnt hunt, they could still get stronger. Truly the power of the gods. Though Hakuma didnt know what a god was, so those were just words he repeated from Kerry. When they had first met, his only impression of her was a foolish cat who was just a little bit nimble, but now things were different. Since she looked just a tiny bit like Boss, she was given various kinds of jobs, and now she had turned rather intelligent. Just recently, Ginka and the cat named Marion formed a tag team, successfully leading Boss to a far-off place. Ice wolves, just like all wolf-type monsters, typically hunted in pairs. Normally, that meant Hakuma would have gone along with them, but they couldnt take their eyes off the pups. Because of that, ever since fleeing from the north, the two of them would each go out and hunt alone, even though they knew it was more dangerous. They could ask the ants to watch them, but since one pup was generally stronger than one ant, they looked down on them, and it was hard to imagine that they would behave under their care. Not to mention it was already unusual for there to be so many pups in a pack and so few adult wolves. Hakuma knew all this, so he had chosen this path and harbored no regrets. The pups were starting to get bigger as well. However, they were still only the size of coyotes; their fur was still soft and fluffy, and their bodies were more round than they should be, so it was about time for them to go out and learn to hunt, even if it was just play-hunting. Thinking on it, perhaps this was a good opportunity. If it was only for training, then there were so many ants that they would be acceptable, but including the goal of obtaining more XP, it wouldnt be a bad idea to also train the pups at the same time. He immediately contacted Sugaru about this, and while the ants were going to take care of the large monster farm, in exchange, Hakuma was allowed to deal with the goblin farm. They were not to kill the ones used for breeding, though. Either way, with goblins, Hakuma and Ginkas participation would only hinder the acquisition of XP. Since they intended only to oversee things, this would not be a problem. The pups responded that they knew, they already knew. They could convey their feelings directly to members of the same race, but they were unable to talk to other races. Boss said it had to do with something called int, but since Boss didnt have any particular role for the pups to play at the moment, she also didnt particularly strengthen them. Its fine to just raise them at your own pace, she had said. However, being raised in a pack meant you had to have a role. It would be nice if Hakuma and Ginka could help them figure that out while they were little, but recently Hakuma didnt have any particularly extravagant work to do. Boss said something about being bodyguards, but since wolves didnt understand insurance, Hakuma didnt really get what it meant. With the pups in tow, they all went to the goblin farm. After arriving, Ginka was left to monitor the ones that they absolutely needed to keep alive, and they would see how the pups did trying to hunt down the rest. After being given that warning, the pups were let loose. They dashed forward as an unruly group, jumping on the goblins and biting into their heads and tearing off their limbs playfully. Since their lives in this forest were stable and they were able to eat high-quality meat, the pups had developed rather refined palates, so they didnt even spare a second glance at the horrid goblin meat. Whatever they bit and tore off they also spit out right then and there. Compared to how hunting should normally be, this was rather deplorable behavior, but such reprimands could be put off until they matured more. For now, it was fine to learn how to attack enemies and avoid being hit. Since letting any escape would reflect poorly on both Boss and Sugaru, who had agreed to this arrangement, the pups were told to chase down any goblins who tried to flee the grounds. Goblins may be quick, but there was no way they could escape from wolves, even young ones. Hakuma hoped they would one day be able to see the bigger picture and not leave openings for the goblins to exploit in the first place, but this was acceptable for their first hunt. Goblins tried to escape, the pups chased down the goblins, and Hakuma chased after the pups; this repeated for some time until Hakuma got a message from Sugaru. Boss had got enough XP. After this, the farms management would be returned to the ants. Hakuma saw the ants from afar, so he gathered all the pups together. The pups all ran up to him, their claws and mouths dyed red. All of their eyes were sparkling; apparently they had really enjoyed this outing. They may still be children, but they were also built for hunting. Perhaps he could ask Boss to allow them to simultaneously train and play like this in the future. Suddenly, for some unknown reason, he felt himself bursting with pride. Looking at Ginka and the pups, the expressions on their faces indicated to him that they were going through the same thing. It was just instinct. What probably happened was that Boss had gotten much stronger. Hakumas chest was bursting with a sense of safety from having someone mighty standing behind him, and a feeling of superiority from being allowed to kneel at that persons feet. He wanted to bask in Bosss presence and burn her appearance into his eyes as soon as he possibly could. But before that, he needed to find somewhere to wash the pups. CH 70 To all players: Thank you for playing [Boot Hour, Shoot Curse]. We are happy to announce the second official server-wide event. It will be a large-scale defensive battle event. Undead are overflowing from the continents monster territories, and there are reports that they seem poised to raid nearby cities and villages. Players will side with either the monsters or the races of humanity to either invade or defend these locations. The event will be active across the entire continent. The XP bonus will still be available through the end of the event even after an area has been successfully invaded or defended. The XP bonus and modified death penalty will end when the event ends. However, invasions in progress will continue until they have finished. While the event is active, you will be able to teleport once per day from a town safe zone to a neighboring towns safe zone. This feature can be used in conjunction with the event messaging system to optimize player group distribution. We hope you continue to enjoy your time in [Boot Hour, Shoot Curse]! Hello Rare, Thank you for playing [Boot Hour, Shoot Curse]. We are contacting you regarding the second official server-wide event. Please review the event details sent to all players. The game administration team would like to request your cooperation again for the upcoming event. Both the Great Liebe Forest in the western part of the Kingdom of Hiers that you have designated your home as well as the Treu Forest where you obtained a world tree are under your control. Therefore, the monsters in these territories are your Subordinates and the administration team cannot have them attack their neighboring towns as intended. In light of this situation, we would like to request your cooperation in assaulting the Kingdom of Hiers in a limited fashion appropriate for the event. Of course, we will respect your decision either way, so if you decline our request, we will announce to the playerbase that the relevant towns will be excluded from the event. In that case, you would be free to participate in the event with as large a force as you wish. If you do agree to cooperate with us, the administration team will prepare a special reward for you as compensation. We hope you consider our request and look forward to a favorable response. [Boot Hour, Shoot Curse] development & game management teams CH 71 Mmm, since we finished preparing, I was planning to send an expedition south to that volcano Rare muttered aloud while reading the information about the next server-wide event. What, is there some kinda problem? Kerry looked at Rare curiously. After checking out the effects of the demon lord characteristics and all the new skills she had unlocked, Rare had learned them all and mostly finished reincarnating her subordinates. She had gathered all of her main followers that day to plan the expedition to the southern volcanic belt. Nah, its just something came up. Apparently theres going to be a huge invasion from monster territories all across the continent into human territories. I received an appeal for collaboration or, well, a kind of request of that nature. Its unfortunate, but the volcano expedition will have to wait until after this is over. Ever since Rare had reincarnated into a demon lord, Deas and Sieg stopped calling her Princess or Highness in favor of Majesty. All the other members still called her Boss, but they didnt get any grief from the undead knights for it. Deas had a tendency to be overly serious, so she thought he might get grouchy about her form of address, but maybe his standards only applied to himself. That should be obvious; the invaders, of course. If we cooperate. We could just watch instead of working with the invaders. As for the human side, weve long since burned that bridge. Uhh, lets see, it just says undead here, so probably mainly undead. I wonder if theres undead in every monster territory There was no way that could be true. The admins said they were going to make undead overflow from all the monster territories. But they couldnt do that with the territories under Rares control. She wondered what would have happened if she hadnt been here. They would probably have used Deas and Sieg to lead the invasions. In other words, the admins had prepared all this. Deas and Sieg were put in place for this purpose. Perhaps they even wanted to launch this event even earlier. Thinking back on it, the game announcement did say that the first server-wide event had some trouble with the intended implementation, which is why it got turned into a battle royale. It was possible that, since Rare had tamed Deas, their plans had been completely thrown off. And now, since Rare had become a demon lord, they decided that she was qualified as a raid boss even though she was a player, and that was why they sent an appeal for collaboration. I see, that seems logical. If her assumptions were correct, then it was her fault that things had gone awry. In which case, she really should work with them. Just as Rare was enjoying the game as much as she could, other players also had the right to enjoy the game. If she didnt help out, then these neighboring towns wouldnt be able to take part in the event, and that would be no good. Either way, if Im going to participate, then Im aiming to win. And Im just another player, so even if some cities get demolished in the process, thats just something that happened because of the event. Hm, Sugaru brings up a good point. Theres a possibility that a different race of monster in another region is commanding a horde of undead, but the majority of the armies will probably be all undead. Not to mention Rare directed a glance at Deas and Sieg. Just maybe, with so many of these armies, theres a good chance that some of them are connected to Deas and Sieg. If there used to only be a single kingdom on this continent, then it would make sense for traces of it to have been scattered all across it. Well if you both insist. Be that as it may, Rare still wanted to bring any of them they found into the fold if possible. From what she heard from Sieg, the knight-captains of the Fourth Order and above were not particularly outstanding, and if anything they apparently only earned their statuses because of their noble bloodlines. Those ones she could do without, but the same couldnt be said for the Second Order. Knowing that the First Order was the royal guard and the Third Order was effectively the First Army, she hadnt been sure what the Second Orders role was, but it turned out that they were military police. Due to the [Subordinate] system, it was impossible for Rares followers to rebel against her. That should have been true back in the time of this ancient kingdom as well. In which case, why did they need to police the military? All of them, including the Second Order, should have been under the control of the person to whom they had sworn their loyalty. She really wanted to find out more about that. And if they seemed useful, then she wanted to integrate them into her own forces. Cities should be protected from intruders by a knight order or a local militia. If any of them are [Subordinated] by the lord, then when they die, they would probably respawn in a guardroom or somewhere similar. The event would last for one weekby the game clock, ten days. If the guards kept respawning as long as the lord was alive, then maybe they could exploit this event to spawn camp those guards. Same with enemy players; instead of attacking the inns directly, they could monitor them from a distance then pick off any players who left an inn. Deas stated. Why not? Rare understood his point. This explained the existence of military police. Deas didnt say this directly, but the two groups that were probably made up of all [Subordinated] followers must have been the Firsts royal guards and the Seconds military police. She didnt really understand the part about the burden of [Subordinate], but assuming there really was something like that, then the resulting system was quite rational. In other words, taking over the city will go surprisingly quick, is that it? I dont know if its that surprising. If theyre only at the level of Erfahrens sellswords, I dont think they could even hold us off for an hour. Since Remy was the one saying it, the only one here who had frequent contact with the sellswords in the city, then she must be right. What about the soldiers? How well can rank-and-file soldiers who arent [Subordinated] fight? I dunno? Higher class people dont come to my store But the city guards are at about the same level as the sellswords. Lately, the sellswords living in the city have been going to Liebe, so all of them are getting stronger, and Ive heard townspeople saying that you could die trying to stop a fight between two drunk sellswords. In that case, this was a problem. It was a ten-day event, and they would finish up in less than half a day. But still, she also didnt want to go easy on them. It would feel disrespectful to the players participating in the event. Plus, Rare was still only human. Even if this was just a game, she worked hard at it every day. In the end, she still felt a base desire to show off what she had accomplished to others. All right, lets check the map. Erfahren is here, and near Treu Forest theres the town of, uhh, Lourdes I think? Well definitely hit these two, and then Rare slid her finger along the map. this one too, La Colline. This is a key location, the traffic center that connects this region. If the roads are arteries, then at the heart would naturally be a trade city. If we destroy it, then Hiers will set its sights on us, and theyll definitely come to take it back even after the event is over. CH 72 In contrast to the previous event, this event was supposed to follow the theme of an extension of everyday life, or at least that was how the admins described it. Therefore, there was no formal kickoff to the event. The NPCs must not have had any idea what was happening. The townspeople were just going about their normal, everyday lives. On the other hand, some sellswords were frantically racing in and out of the city, and the residents just watched them with bemusement. Those ones must have been players. Rare was currently high up in the sky, looking down on Erfahren. She wasnt watching through Ominous or a Kenzakishe was up there herself. Of course, she was wearing Yoroisaka. After reincarnating, Yoroisakas race became Divine Fortress. She had gone from Living Mail to Divine Mail to Divine Fortress. Not that Rare knew what exactly was divine about the latter two. She still had the slender build of a female body, but the most dramatic change was her size; she was now about three meters tall, almost twice as tall as Rare was. To explain how Rare could wear her now well, strictly speaking, she wasnt. There was a kind of door in Yoroisakas lower back, and Rare could enter her from there. Going inside was like being transported to an extra-dimensional space that was about 4.5 square meters large. If Rare moved her own body in the space, Yoroisaka would perform the same movements. Inside this little room, what went on outside was projected all around her except behind her, where the entrance to the room was. This meant she had no blind spots except that one spot behind her; the only way to check that spot was for Yoroisaka to turn, but that was true for normal armor too. Rather, since there was no visor limiting her field of view, and she had a wider range of view than a normal humans, it was easier to see things in here than with her own eyes. Since Yoroisaka had learned [Enhanced Vision] and [Enhanced Hearing], both of which were replicated in this space, Rare had an extraordinarily complete grasp on what was happening outside. As for her battle effectiveness, the fortress part was right on the money. When they set up a sparring match between Yoroisaka and the adamantite series, none of the adamantite soldiers attacks had any effect on her. As a last resort, one of the adamanleaders abandoned its sword and just tried to punch her directlythe most powerful attack they could performbut even that didnt leave a scratch on her; in fact, the adamanleaders fist ended up breaking apart first. Magic was the same. No matter the element of spell the adamanmages tried to shoot at her, she took no damage. Even when they tried again using treant staves, there was no appreciable difference. With world tree staves, only [Lightning Magic] was able to inflict damage, but even that was quickly recovered with her natural regen. Then there were her attacks. With a single swing of her arm, she could lay out several adamanknights. With Kenzaki Ichirou in hand, there didnt seem to be anything she couldnt split in half. Speaking of the Kenzakis, all five brothers, Ichirou through Gorou, became just as big as Yoroisaka did. The choices available when the Kenzakis evolved were longsword and greatsword, so Rare chose greatsword. Realistically thinking, as greatswords they were just too big for a human to lift, but with enough STR it wouldnt be a problem to swing them around. But with Yoroisaka as she was now, their proportions to one another were preserved, so it still appeared as though she was wielding a normal one-handed sword. The Kenzakis current race was Divine Arm. A weapon of the gods. Since everyone had already been exposed to Yoroisakas new size first, their gigantic evolution wasnt as surprising. Yoroisaka still equipped all five Kenzakis, the same as before, but their positions had changed; in order to leave the back open for Rare to enter and leave, the three swords on her back and one on the right side of her waist were changed to two on each shoulder. In order to accommodate that, Yoroisakas epaulets had been reforged to hold two swords each. Even though she had the full arsenal equipped, Rares [Flight] skill allowed her to easily ascend high up in the sky. Rather than wearing Yoroisaka, it would be more accurate to say that Rare was piloting from her cockpit instead, but either way the game still considered Yoroisaka to be equipped, so Rares skills could still be used on the outside just as normal. When she wanted to use magic, she could also use Yoroisakas field of vision when activating [Designate Coordinates]. She even learned the [Aerial Maneuvering] and [High-Speed Flight] skills, so Yoroisaka was currently able to fly freely through the air. However, Rare usually did the piloting, since it was extremely difficult to share control of Yoroisakas body with her. If they ever had a midair battle, Rare needed to be in full control or they wouldnt be able to fight properly. From here, if she were to use [Designate Coordinates] to fire off a bunch of huge spells at the city, Rare could easily claim victory for this regions invasion event. She would have been fine with doing that, but in her mind, Rare as an entity extended beyond her power as an individual being. Like a proper demon lord, she would order her troops to capture the city, but if they seemed likely to take too many losses, she wouldnt hesitate to blast everything to smithereens instead. There was also going to be a siege. The enemy didnt exactly have a castle, but there were city walls. Rare could finally conduct large-scale tests with the artillery ants. Plus, since this would be their first offensive campaign outside of a forest, she would be able to see for herself how powerful the assault ants flamethrowers were in actual combat. Today, they would be able to go all out and show off the full extent of their abilities. She closed her eyes and jacked into Ominouss eyes far away in the skies high above Treu Forest, where she watched a grove of treants also leaving the forest. It had been one week since receiving the event notice, and any leftover XP she spent on making more treants. The [Root Division] skill, in simple terms, allowed the treants to spend XP in order to clone themselves. Since treant followers didnt have their own XP, Rare just had to give it to them and they could use it to replicate. The rows of treants rustled noisily as they emerged from the treeline; it almost looked like the forest was expanding by itself. It didnt seem like any of the townspeople in Lourdes had noticed what was happening in the direction of the forest yet. There must not have been many players there; unlike in Erfahren, there were no fidgety sellswords to be found anywhere. Since there was so much distance between the city and the forest, this could hardly be called a surprise attack, but with that many treants, she didnt think the city wall would hold for very long. World Tree could take care of things without any need for concern. Rare opened her eyes back at Erfahren then looked down at the city below her once more. Ants were skittering out of the nearby Great Liebe Forest in droves. Soldier vespoids took flight from the middle of the forest in orderly formations and headed toward the city. Since they didnt have any way of performing long-range attacks, they would ultimately just serve as insurance in case there were any aerial battles. Since the enemy didnt seem to have any air forces, though, they would probably just spectate. Ah, thats right. Between [Enhance Follower] and [Enhance Subordinate], their STR has gone up a fair amount, so I wonder if they could fly while carrying artillery ants. If they can, then I could use them like bombers, or with sniper ants they could allow for high-altitude sniping. Rares dreams just kept getting grander and grander. But its too late to change anything for this battle. Ill try it out when we go to La Colline. Now that I think about it, though, I dont need to preserve any buildings for prisoners or anything like that, so I really just want bombers. Just kill everyone and blow everything up. When humans found monsters, they did the same, so its just deserts. Plus, a trade center would probably have a lot of knights [Subordinated] by nobles, so she would have an opportunity to observe how NPCs with lots of invested XP and stat growth dealt with aerial attacks and sniping. It was hard to believe that anyone, players or NPCs, really had any effective antiair countermeasures to deal with Rare as she was now. However, if someone like that did exist, she might be able to force them out into the open. Now then, I see that players and other parties are starting to come out from the city, so its time to get this show on the road. This is gonna be good. CH 73 The first person to notice the invasion was a player casually leaving town. He yelled something, after which sellswords flooded out of the gate one after another. Rare was too far away to tell what they were saying, so she descended a bit and used the [Light Magic] spell [Camouflage] to ensure she wouldnt be spotted as she got closer. The [Camouflage] spell shielded the target from sight using light. There was a noticeably unnatural refraction if you looked at the camouflaged object from different angles, but unless you knew there was something there to scrutinize then there wouldnt normally be any reason to do something like that. Ants! I knew it! The event monsters for this city are the ants from that forest! I heard it would mainly be undead, but we cant just turn a blind eye to the monsters native to this region either! Theyve got compound eyes, after all! Uhh Anyway, there was talk of there being an undead boss monster in the forest, so we might get undead too! It might have been hard inside that dark forest, but out here in the sun, an undead boss is probably weaker! Also, weve got tons of players here, and when the city is being attacked then the NPC sellswords will probably also help out, so we could probably at least keep it from getting in! How wonderful it was to see players having such a good time. Dammit! Why are there monsters attacking the city? Nothing like this has ever happened before! Its probably because those newbies kept going to the forest and pissing them off! Those bastards! The angry yelling probably came from the NPCs. The newbies they referred to were clearly the players, but this invasion wasnt their fault. However Since Rare was in fact doing this for them, and the administrators had set up this event in the first place for players to enjoy, then from a certain perspective it really wasnt wrong to blame the players. How confusing. Well, whatever, we can just say its all because of the players. In that case, they should pay for their sins with their lives. Lets start off with cannonfire. Id have wanted to keep them in reserve for siege purposes, but since there dont seem to be any defenses to worry about, we have time to wait for the cooldowns. All right, load shrapnel rounds! Sugaru responded from the queens chamber, now operating as the command center. When she repeated the order, this also communicated it out to the artillery ants. Below Rare, those ants stopped in place and bent so that the tips of their abdomens pointed forward. What are those? They look different from the regular ants. Are ants supposed to do that? That looks more like what scorpions do. Or like, doesnt that look bad? Feels like theyre going to shoot something, doesnt it? Dont be stupid, theyre ants. Theyre just Fire. Instantly, every artillery ant produced a loud boom from its abdomen gun barrel, and the projectiles they fired made a beeline for the sellswords in front of the city gate. The shells exploded before the gate, raining fine buckshot on the hapless victims. Ag Gue The sellswords could only watch blankly before being turned into minced meat without having a chance to utter even a single word. Shortly after, the remains disintegrated entirely. Some of the bodies didnt disappear; those ones must have been NPCs. Rares forces didnt have the expertise to kill only players with shrapnel bombs, so their only choice was indiscriminate fire. One or two rounds of buckshot wouldnt do much damage, but there was an excessively large number of artillery ants compared to enemy sellswordsafter all, if they only did a small amount of damage, then the answer was to shave down their health by blasting as many rounds into them as possible. If someone could completely nullify the damage, then they would have to use another type of attack, but there didnt appear to be anyone like that out here. If their objective is to protect the city, then our goal is to destroy it. I bear no grudges against them, but, well, its the same in any game: defeat enemies for no other purpose than to get XP. Rare offered a token moment of silence, then commanded her forces to load the next round of shells. They had wiped out the sellswords in front of the gate, but they needed to be ready to shoot the next wave that would come out. Normally, while the enemy was in disarray, she would want to send in the infantry ants to fight inside the city since that would cause more damage, but this was a good opportunity to try the high-explosive rounds as well. She looked forward to seeing how powerful they were in a siege. The players may have felt differently, but the NPC guards seemed to lose all will to fight after seeing the last attack, so they closed the gate and tried to bulk up their defenses. Nice. Once its completely closed, attack the gate. Also, Id like to see if we can break the walls, so shoot some explosive rounds at it too. After the gate finally closed, the city of Erfahren had retreated into itself like a turtle to maximize its defense. The artillery ants bombarded the gate. Unlike the shrapnel shells from before, these high-explosive shells wouldnt explode until they hit. These shells were produced specially to behave kind of like HESH rounds[1]; when their tips were squashed, they would adhere to the surface of the target. Immediately afterward, the magical material inside would ignite. These shells were crafted to attack from the inside if they couldnt destroy walls directly, but these walls were apparently a lot more brittle than the shells were; the tips werent getting squashed at all, the shells were just getting embedded in the wall and exploding like that to open up huge holes. Since the gate was made out of wood, after a single bombardment it caught fire, and soon it could no longer function as a gate. Awww. Well, of course this would happen. Maybe catapults would have been sufficient for this invasion. Given how things were currently progressing, if she could have ordered bombing runs with soldier vespoids carrying artillery ants, the city could have been reduced to a flaming pile of wreckage in the blink of an eye. Well, Ill have to save that for next time. Anyway, once weve taken care of the wall, send in infantry and shock troopers. The shock troopers will take point with their flamethrowers, and the infantry can clean up whatevers leftover. At Sugarus command, the assault ants and infantry ants on standby next to the artillery ants left the formation to surge over the rubble and into the city. Many guards had been blown away with the city wall and gate, but the ones that survived along with sellswords who were probably players ran over to block the ants. Even if theyre monsters, they wouldnt bomb their own allies! Lets take care of them in melee combat! If were up against ants, then were already used to them! If we hold them off here, then our mages can fry those bombarding ants! Since ants were the ones primarily entertaining guests in the great forest, many sellswords did have experience defeating them. However, assault ants couldnt be used in the forest, so they had never faced off with players before. This was probably the first time these players had ever seen them before. In other words, it was a fantastic chance to teach them the difference. As the sellswords got closer, the assault ants calmly pointed their abdomens forward, then greeted them with a stream of fire to the face. GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! Wh-Wha! AAAAAAAAAHHH!!! It didnt matter whether they wore metal or leather equipmentthe sellswords burned to death all the same. The assault ants skillfully controlled their weapons, sweeping them back and forth in a fan shape, letting their flames scorch everything in range. The combustible gel they sprayed took a while to burn off, so any sellswords who werent hit directly still took damage from the quickly rising temperature. The mage-looking sellswords tried to extinguish the fire using water- and ice-type spells, but there were just too many ants. It was like trying to put out a bonfire with a squirt gun. Heh heh. Well, this is entertaining in its own right, but just spamming flamethrowers doesnt feel like theyre living up to their role as shock troopers. They need assault rifles or something or maybe not. You cant really charge while holding up a gun. In the first place, this wasnt that kind of game. With regards to infantry units, combat tended to be close range with bladed weapons in a world like this. Basic military tactics dictated that infantry went to the front lines while snipers should support them from the rear. However, if Rare did that, then she wouldnt have been able to test out the assault ants flamethrowers. In the end, I think this probably worked out for the best. They did well. The mages in the back gave up on putting out the fires and shifted tactics to just attacking the ants themselves. Since the remaining enemies could only attack from range, they wouldnt just stand there glaring from behind the wall of flames. The assault and infantry ants stepped back to let the artillery ants that were hiding in the shadow of the wreckage of the city walls bomb them from above. Because of the rubble, they had to fire at a high angle, but with vespoids sighting from a higher elevation, the economical shrapnel rounds easily shredded the mages apart. The remaining enemies hiding behind buildings had two options: either be cooked alive by the heat from the flamethrowers, or be blown apart along with the buildings. The ants were also learning on the fly, improving their coordination with each other while efficiently advancing their battle lines. This side of the city had completely stopped functioning. The guards had been completely wiped out, the sellswords and players were no more than corpses, and the residents were fleeing in a panic, having never even contemplated the idea that their city wall could be brought down. The ants had been directed to kill any character that posed a combat threat, but the regular citizens were designated as unimportant, so they were ignored. Their goal was to level the city, not kill its people; any deaths were simply a byproduct of accomplishing their primary objective. Around when the ants invasion neared the city center, the lords knights appeared. However, they were far too late by any metric. Even if Rare had withdrawn her soldiers that instant, the destruction was too severe; the city could no longer be reclaimed. Ah, its because the lords mansion is near the middle. Rather than them coming out to repel us, the knights are only here because were approaching what theyre really protecting. [1]: High-explosive squash head CH 74 Since they had come this far through the assault ants hard work, Rare kind of wanted to let them just burn everything down, but the soldier vespoids had only been observing all this time and didnt have any other tasks. If the kingdom didnt have any air forces, then the soldier vespoids would primarily be fighting ground forces from here on out, so she wanted to let them take care of these foes, which would also double as practice. Thats why Im leaving this to them. They are free to decide how they want to handle it. Have the assault and infantry forces fall back to where the artillery are. At the same time as Sugaru responded, the soldier vespoids, who had been monitoring the progress of the invasion from high up in the air, suddenly dropped into nosedives. Waaah!!! There are more enemies aside from just ants! Fuck, how come we didnt know about this?! Those sellsword shits! Why didnt they report about them to us?! The knights laid all the blame at the sellswords feet, but in this situation no one could have been expected to do any better. The soldier vespoids skimmed the ground as they pulled out of their dives, then picked up the knights one after the other and climbed back up into the air. Dammit! Stop! Let me go!!! After flying up about fifty meters, they simply tossed the knights to the side. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! The armor they wore was much more lavish than what the sellswords had, but it did nothing to reduce fall damage. When they collided with the ground, they sunk into it about halfway due to the weight of the armor, but that did nothing to mitigate the lethality of the impact, thus none of the fallen knights got back up. Most of the knights got a free bungee jump, without a cord, by way of the swarm of soldier vespoids, and as a result the city lords knight order was decimated. If any of the knights had been officially [Subordinated], then they should eventually respawn if left alone, but NPCs would only automatically respawn after one hour. Players were able to respawn immediately, but NPCs didnt receive system messages, so they had to wait out the full timer. This was why spawn camping NPCs was inefficient. That means we dont really need the lords mansion for anything. Lets just crush it and move on to the next target. She ordered the artillery ants to rain fire on the mansion. In the blink of an eye, it had become a mess of flames and rubble. She didnt know if the lord had been in there or not, but if they were, then surely all that remained would be a corpse by now. If they were still alive, then Rare would like to get rid of them for the XP, but stacked up against the value of destroying the city, the amount earned probably wouldnt be any more than a rounding error. Just in case, have the infantry look for someone who looks like they could be a lord. All other forces will continue the invasion. This city is so close to the forest that theres no real meaning in taking it for ourselves, so I dont mind if it turns into an empty plot of land. Rare did want to create a new ruins-type monster territory. However, she wanted to find a place with more impact, in a position of power. The most suitable place would definitely be the royal capital, the symbol of the kingdom. She would purge it and turn it into an undead-infested wasteland. Well, I should save that for after Erfahren and Lourdes have been subjugated or actually demolished and after La Collines been handled. Can we do all that within ten days? Were basically done here, but I wonder how things are going over in Lourdes Rare was still piloting Yoroisaka in the air, and it was dangerous to look away from the road while driving, so she descended to the ground first. After landing, she could give control back to Yoroisaka. After all that was done, she closed her eyes in order to sync with Ominous the owl. The city of Lourdes was surrounded by a number of giant treants, and the excessively tall city walls were covered in some kind of ivy. Since she saw it from so far away, what she thought was ivy was actually tree branches and roots. The inside of the city also overflowed with greeneryan extension of the Treu Forest. From her birds eye perspective, it looked as though the forest was swallowing up everything. Considering that Rares World Tree was at the center of that forest, and its trees all comprised Rares treant forces, that wasnt actually a metaphor; the city really was being consumed by the forest. As she watched, branches grew from inside houses, breaking through their roofs. The houses were then subsumed by the rapidly growing tree trunks. Treant seeds were scattered all over the place, sprouting and quickly maturing into trees. The treants [Overgrowth] skill tree had a skill called [Scatter Seeds] used to spread seeds around, as the name implied, but the skill didnt cause these seeds to grow more quickly or anything. The abnormal growth was due to the grains of light all around the city. These lights floated down like pollen from the treants encircling the city, the giant treants that looked very different from other treants. These were elder camphor treants produced using World Trees [Root Division] skill. Normal treants used [Root Division] to convert XP into exact copies of themselves. However, world trees werent allowed to create endless copies of themselves, so they made copies of the race they were previously. In World Trees case, they was camphor treants. Monsters produced through skills were weak, but they didnt cost XP to create, they used LP and MP instead. However, these camphor treants could also act as skill relay points for their parent, World Tree. For example, when World Tree wants to use a seed dispersal-type skill, or a buff or debuff skill that has an area of effect, these treants can act as its terminals, and the effect then originates from their locations. Right now, those flickering lights that filled the city of Lourdes were produced from World Trees skill [Magnum Beneficium]. Its effect is to induce accelerated growth to all plants within the area of effect. The normal plants that were already growing in the city also began to grow abnormally fast, but without pollination their flowers quickly withered away, and most of them began rotting without bearing any fruit. Meanwhile, treants were not given extended lifespans in this game. It took them about one year to reach the size of a normal tree, then they would continue to slowly grow over decades and centuries, eventually becoming elder treants. However, [Magnum Beneficium] caused the scattered seeds to mature immediately, becoming gigantic in a matter of minutes. The camphor treants who initially surrounded the city wall had already grown into elder camphor treants due to the [Magnum Beneficium] they themselves were producing as World Trees terminals. Here in Lourdes, there werent many treants who were proactively attacking people. There just wasnt a need. The ground was already completely covered with rampantly growing tree roots, and not a single house was spared from the violent overgrowth. Anyone who had been in those houses, or walking around outside, was instantaneously crushed by the trees or trapped between them, unable to move a muscle. Even the sellswords and knights who had been able to initially escape such a fate couldnt do so forever since they couldnt predict which branch or root would experience explosive growth next. After World Tree gave that reply to Rare, the specks of light began to fade away. At the same time, the trees stopped growing, and a silence settled into the city, as though time had stopped. Rare knew that it was saying that with complete earnestness, but coming from a follower who had already sworn devotion to her, she felt uncomfortable since it was hard not to interpret it as over-the-top flattery. For now, she would pretend as though she hadnt heard anything and instead confirm the status of the city. Normally, players were able to respawn immediately, but if the place they designated as their base had been conquered by monsters, then they wouldnt be able to do that anymore. There was a bit of a ruckus from Treu Forest as treants flowed out to reclaim the land up to the highway. That road had originally detoured all the way around the forest, and the city had been built quite a distance from it as well. After absorbing all that land, the Treu Forest had massively grown in size. That said, there wasnt really that much to do back at Erfahren. After it had been leveled, the infantry would be left here to take care of any loose ends while Rare took the flying and artillery troops to La Colline for a little picnic. TL Note: The first chapter of this web novel was originally posted on October 1, 2019, and this extra story was included with chapter 74, which was posted on November 1, 2019. To commemorate my first month, I wanted to share a little something that probably wont be included in the main story, but shouldnt spoil anything either. I started posting this series exactly one month ago, but right at the start of the second chapter, there was the line The tutorial could not be skipped. After the open beta began, the reason for this was never explained, so I would like to give you that explanation now. Although readers with good intuition may have already figured this out. The first thing the game explains in the tutorial is that the only difference between PCs and NPCs is whether or not they can receive system messages. You may have thought that not being able to skip it was because it was important for the game characters to hear the full explanation, or to discourage people from resetting their accounts and starting over, but actually neither of those are the main reason why. In chapter 22, NPCs learned to access their inventories for the first time. Rare hit upon this by remembering what the tutorial AI had told her. This chapter posited that the reason the tutorial could not be skipped was to make sure the importance of those words was imprinted not only on the players, but also on the readers, which was a bit of a misdirect. In the research that Rare conducts afterward, she concludes that the conditions for using the inventory are must have at least a certain amount of INT and must see the inventory in use themselves. Actually, must have a certain amount of INT isnt strictly necessary, only must see the inventory in use themselves is the correct answer. To explain, why is it that PCs, who shouldnt be any different from NPCs within the system, are able to access the inventory right off the bat? Right before they log in for the first time, they have to go through the tutorial, and thats where the support AI lectures them on how to use the inventory. In other words, after seeing a tutorial on how to use it, players are able to use it as well. When the game was in closed beta, the old tutorial could be skipped and testers would submit reports that the inventory is inaccessible. So, for the official release, the tutorial was changed so that it could not be skipped, and that is the explanation. Thank you for reading. CH 75 A server-wide event! This time Im totally doing it too! Blanc was in her room that the count had given her, actually reading game news for once. Just a bit ago, Blanc had obtained three mormos and three spartoi, and the count tried to persuade her to attack a city. Oh right, that sounds fun! she had thought for a second, but then immediately changed her mind. Blanc didnt know how many times she had died because of naive thoughts like that. It wouldnt hurt to be just a little more careful this time. Plus, there was one thing different from back when she was a skeleton: Blancs life was no longer just her own. She now had followers. What the count had said was that if the master, Blanc, died, then her followers would also die. She didnt know if they would then respawn along with her, but she couldnt bring herself to try and see what would happen. Just a bit more; just a little bit more; just in case; just in case for the previous just in case. This was how she slowly, slooooowly gathered XP and strengthened her followers, rinse and repeat, and at some point she had added another thirty spartoi to her forces. She had gotten scolded by the count for that, but since they seemed to get along with his zombies, they all ended up patrolling the castle together. Blanc didnt create any more mormos aside from her original three, but the count followed in Blancs footsteps and [Subordinated] some bats from somewhere. Now, he had a handsome butler who always served at his side; this was the mormo that the count had reincarnated. This butler was insanely capable, so much more so than Blanc that it made Azalea and the other girls look like dunces. In combat, they were all about equally powerful, but when it came to their ability as servants, the mormo girls tried hard to take care of Blanc, but the butler would usually anticipate her needs and have everything prepared before they even got started. Plus, since the butler was the counts follower, he only ever served Blanc after his masters needs were already completely fulfilled. Then, he would always drop this stinger: Even though you three were also here. Whenever that happened, the three girls would grind their teeth, frustrated, then take over Blancs bed and cry into her pillows. The days passed uneventfully as Blanc focused on steadily strengthening her forces until she received the event notification and snapped out of her XP-earning fugue. Plus, this event was going to be an invasion, a large-scale battle between monsters attacking cities and humans defending them. This was the ideal push Blanc needed to muster up the will to go a-conquering. Coach! Im gonna attack a city, so gimme some pointers! Your spontaneity is at full strength, I see! Attacking a city, is it? Hmm, pointers Oh, well, it was the first suggestion you gave me, and I know Ive been dragging my feet on it, but Im finally ready to give it a shot! Nay, for those of us with eternal life, time holds no meaning, but If you are to march on a city, I take it you will be bringing those spartoi? Yeah, probs. Thiss why I made a lot more friends, after all. At that, the count tapped his finger on his well-chiseled chin and fell into thought. It was quite a rare thing to see him do. Is there something bad about that? There is nothing quite bad, but I am sure you have also realizedor, well, it is very possible you have not, but this castle is high up in altitude, in the so-called highlands. There is a city that shares these highlands with us, but it was destroyed when this area became raised, so only those ruins remain and there is no point in assaulting it. Therefore you would naturally target a city in the lower world instead, but I want to know how you will get all those spartoi to the lower world. Blanc quickly realized, Oh, this is some kind of backstory, so she decided not to pay too much attention and just waited for the count to finish his explanation. The count was also expecting Blanc to reply, but after realizing she was spacing out and thus wasnt likely to respond, he gave a deep sigh and continued on. Here now. You know the water vein underneath the castle, correct? There is a river that goes through a wasteland in the lower world. The water vein is its source; it flows underground through cracks in the rocks and into that river. This is how you can get outside. If what the count said was true, then why did the lizardmen get stronger the further she went downstream from the underground lake? Blanc had been pretty certain that it was because they had moved from the outside to the underground caves, and the weaker ones were forced to settle deeper into the caves, but apparently she had been wrong. When she asked the count about this, apparently they had already been living there long before he found out about them. Since the only sources of food around the underground lake were little bits of moss and some small fish, there just wasnt enough to sustain lizardmen. Sometimes larger fish would swim upstream through the cracks in the rock and reach the underground caves, so thats why all the stronger lizardmen hogged the spots downstream. Well, even I do not know why those reptiles developed that kind of classist society. Either way, you are the one who turned the healthiest of the lizards into your red skeletons, so there is little value in expressing curiosity now. Yeah, he wasnt wrong about that. However, if going through the underground water vein didnt end up working, then they had no way to get down to the surface. Wondering what she should do, Blanc crossed her arms and groaned. If I may be so bold, I would like to offer a proposal. The butler at the counts side stepped forward and bowed. What is it? You may speak. Thank you, my lord. With Mistress Blancs power, I had the foolish idea that her magic prowess could be used to widen the cavern running alongside the underground water vein. Is this paltry suggestion of any use? True, with Blancs stats, it would be easy to tear down some stone walls. However, if she used too much force, it could cause a cave-in, which would be a huge pain. It is of some worth However, it is also risky. If you would like to attempt it, then your mormo followers should be the one to execute it. Or like, if we had pickaxes, we could just throw a bunch of people into it and dig our way outta there. She proposed using pure manpower instead, but in reality the caves only had enough room for a few spartoi to excavate at the same time. Humans would get tired, so they would have to be switched out periodically, but undead didnt feel fatigue, so that part would be unnecessary. Pickaxes? I see. If we have an excess of laborers, then simply digging would be the best solution. Do you have any pickaxes? What foolishness are you spouting? Your spartoi have claws that are far harder than iron. Oh, right. Spartoi were actually pretty high-ranked undead, after all. Blanc found the spartoi who were talking to the zombies in the castleor at least it just looked like they were talking; in actuality, none of them should be capable of speaking, so she had no idea what they did togetherand ordered them to go underground, find where the water was flowing out of the caves, and expand the hole. Itd be nice to just make it really wide, but there wasnt that much time until the event started. For the time being, she decided that a human-sized hole was good enough, and anything bigger than that was icing. So is that the wasteland? Will I find a city if I go out there? If you travel along the river, you should come upon one. There are no monster territories in this wasteland, no forces for humans to fear. If I had to name something, then there is my castle, but before now there was no passage to the lower world from it. Therefore, this city does not have a wall, at least not like the ones around cities that are founded near monster territories. It is a base that is easy to assault and hard to defend, essentially. Well, if you only plan to destroy it, then it is convenient for you that it is difficult to defend. Gotcha! Nice! If there arent any monster territories nearby, then there shouldnt be anyone used to fighting monsters like play uhh, I mean, sellswords I think theyre called? people like that there, so thisll be perfect as a tutorial! A too what? No, I care not. If that is your target, then the spartoi should hm, you do not need this many. You should be able to claim victory with just a few spartoi. Theyre the just in case for the just in case! If were so much stronger than they are, then theres no way Id die, right?! If I may be so bold, those words would have been better left unspoken the butler lamented. [Developer]: wouldnt it have been better if we set up at the start that pcs got inventories and npcs didnt? [Developer Support AI]: PCs were given the same basic structure as the NPCs that already existed within the game to minimize the introduction of bugs, so changing that would have meant that we would be unable to release the game. It is also unrealistic to apply a patch to the billions of existing NPCs. [Developer]: you got a pointi think [Developer Support AI]: However, if this was explained to the playerbase, then the number of NPCs capable of using inventories would increase. If any of them were to travel into the world, there is a possibility that it could cause an inventory pandemic, so this information should be concealed as much as possible. [Developer]: we shoulda just changed the specs [Developer Support AI]: That would be illogical. [Developer]: you just dont wanna do it cuz its a pain, right? [Developer Support AI]: Self-diagnostic results: Emotive fluctuation values are within the permissible range. [Developer]: you jus thought it was a pain in the ass, didnt you!!! This has been the Useless Unit. CH 76 They finished making the entrance to the underground water vein before the event began. They were also able to widen the opening to be as big as the cave itself. With a hole this wide, it should be able to fit tons of people at the same time. Allllll riiiiight! Lets go, everyone! Wait; it would be best to wear a mantle. It would be bothersome if the sun were to rise while you were out. The spartoi would only become somewhat sluggish, but you have not become a daywalker yet. You may not be able to find a roof under which to recuperate every day. In particular, since you do not plan ahead, I cannot help but envision you crumbling into dust in the middle of the wasteland. As Blanc accepted the mantle from the count, she could almost taste the pathetic tears she was shedding in her mind as she found out how little he trusted her. But now, she could say that her preparations were perfect! Okay, time to go! The event lasts one we ten days, so after taking out the first town, Ill hit the road and see how many more human cities I can smash up over the next ten days! Indeed. Remember to be careful of the sun. The way you say that is like telling me to look both ways before crossing the street or something. That evening, as soon as the sun set, Blanc set out in high spirits. Her first stop: a human city. Now that I think about it, I guess thisll be the first time I run into people on the human side, right? Since Im gonna try to kill everyone I meet, I think Ive also become pretty monster-like, havent I! The mormos flanking her smiled helplessly. When the count and butler werent around, Blanc shot up to the top of the dunce rankings and the mormos were now at the bottom, so they calmed down considerably. The group exited through the cave entrance that the spartoi had created then followed the river downstream. The ones in charge of the spartoi squad were the original three spartoi. They were the ones who had been given names, so Blanc gave them the reins. In addition, since they were the first, Blanc had been more gung-ho about investing XP into them, so their stats were also higher than all the others. Spartoi didnt get fatigued, so they didnt need to take breaks. They didnt require food either, so they also didnt produce excrement. They didnt even need equipment to weather the elements. They had minimal gear; more accurately, they were as naked as could be. Therefore, their marching speed was extraordinary. As a result, the journey was as smooth as could be, and before long they spotted a city in the distance. The event should have begun that morning in the game. In other words, it had been a bit over half a day since starting. However, the town seemed quiet, and there were no lights to be seen. It didnt seem like any other monsters had attacked it. The fact that there were no lights meant that in order to save on fuel, the residents had simply developed a habit of going to sleep as soon as it got dark outside. Just as the count said, this city didnt have anything protecting it like a wall. Blanc saw a single dim light up in the air, which must have been from a guard tower or something of the sort. As they got closer, she also occasionally saw lights moving in the city, which were probably guards on night patrol. Since Blanc just let her forces continue to leisurely approach the city, she saw the light at the top of the wooden structure she assumed was a patrol tower begin to move around frantically. Soon after, a bell rang out, and the lights inside the city started to gather at the edge of the city in Blancs direction. It appeared that they had been spotted. Well, weve got a huge group of red skeletons here heading for the city, so of course theyd notice The mormos looked at Blanc with eyes filled with pity. Dont look at me like that! Come on, could we really have done anything about this? It was completely unavoidable, seriously! What she said wasnt complete nonsense; the humans had a completely unobstructed view of the riverbank, and there werent many ways for Blancs forces to have stayed hidden while marching. Putting us aside, couldnt the spartoi have marched in the river? Since they were originally lizardmen, that should have been doable Ah. But it was already too late now. Carmine, the one who spoke up, only seemed to have realized it just then anyway, so this wasnt only Blancs blunder. Had that capable butler been here, he most certainly would have interjected with a if I may be so bold before they reached the town. The butler isnt here right now, leave him out of this! I didnt even say anything!!! Blanc and her followers could more or less understand each other without speaking a single word. Thats because when the mormos had still been bats, they all had spent so much time communicating nonverbally. Now that they could converse, though, it seemed that there wasnt really all that much merit to it. Well, either way, theyve already spotted us, so it doesnt matter! All right, you lot! Take care of em![1] This was one of those famous lines Blanc really wanted to say once in her life. Normally, she would never be in a situation where she could say something like that in such a brazen manner, so getting to do it here was truly exhilarating. At Blancs order, the spartoi began to run toward the city. The patrol squad milled about in confusion, uncertain if they should flee or intercept, whether they should prioritize defending or retreating. It seemed that these guards werent terribly experienced. This really is like a beginner level. Doesnt it look like well win even without any kind of plan? If you had a plan, then it would have been best if you had explained it before you ordered the charge Nah, I didnt have one, thats why I was like phew! Blanc and the mormos left the fighting to the spartoi and just observed. Since it would be catastrophic if by some freak accident Blanc were to die, the mormos, the count, and even the butler urged her to never engage directly in combat. The mormos had also determined that the spartoi by themselves would already be more than sufficient to destroy a city of this size, so they didnt intend to lift a finger. Ooh, Im getting good XP from this. Theyre all so weak, so I wonder why? Isnt this more than I get from lizardmen? Could this be like a bonus stage? Broadly speaking, Blancs guess wasnt actually wrong. First, she was getting bonus XP from the event. Second, since human races tended to be equipped with weapons or farming tools, that also made them worth a bit more XP. So for monster players, this invasion event could really be considered a kind of freebie. In the previous battle royale event, almost no players with monster races had participated. The main reason why was timing; there hadnt been that much time since the games official launch, and monster players had an exceptionally difficult early game compared to human races. They were almost always completely surrounded by enemies, and unlike the inns in a town, safe zones in the wild didnt come with a convenient signboard. Even the lucky ones who could establish a base and start earning XP didnt have a way to sell materials or buy new equipment in order to strengthen themselves materially. These demerits were offset by their starting bonus XP, but even after factoring that in, it would be difficult to outpace human-race players who were able to progress much more efficiently. Since the event type had been changed in a rush, the players who had chosen to be monsters felt resignation, since there was nothing they could do about it, but also more than a little dissatisfaction. This was partially offset by the battle royale awarding no XP and participants not receiving much in terms of item rewards, though, so there wasnt very much outspoken criticism online. Partially as a result of that lingering sense of discontent, the underlying goal of this event was to get all players to participate, which was how this large-scale battle was conceived. But it wasnt just that any player could join, they were essentially forced to, given that the event affected the entire world. To compensate for that, the death penalty was changed for the event so players wouldnt lose XP. NPCs couldnt tell monster players apart from regular monsters, so those players could blend in during invasions to kill as many NPC residents as they could to earn XP. Townsfolk didnt have equipment so they were worth less XP than a soldier was, but the human races tended to be less belligerent, so individuals were generally weaker than monsters of an equivalent rank. It was somewhat balanced, in other words. As far as the soldiers went, players who had farmed a bit of experience in the early game could grind town guards for XP with no problem. Since this doubled as a way to obtain weapons and armor, many players proactively looked for soldiers to kill. However, if they participated in a poorly planned invasion of a walled city, it was possible they would encounter well-geared players who had sided with the defenders. These players were much stronger than the average town guard was. What was most important for a monster player during this event was to ascertain whether a city was likely to have any player defenders, and thus how to go about grinding XP in the most efficient way possible. That said, Blanc didnt need to worry about any of that given the city she was assaulting. There was no city wall, so she didnt need to consider siege tactics. There were nearly no players, so there was no chance of a stunning reversal. The biggest threat was the town guard, but as she had already seen, they were already faltering to the spartois fierce attack. Just as Blanc said, it was a bonus stage. [1]: ǰäƤޤA famous catchphrase by the Yatterman villain Doronjo. Still gets referenced occasionally. CH 77 Master, it appears the guards have mostly been handled. The spartoi who had entered the city still hadnt returned, but the sounds of battle had died down. The roars and screams that had constantly filled the air also became much more sporadic. Then next, I want you to go searching each house one by one and kill anyone whos hiding! I wanna make more skeletons using [Necromantic Arts] on the bodies, so if theres a wide open space somewhere, have the others bring em all there. The spartoi commander at her side, Vermillion, clacked his teeth to call for other nearby spartoi. The spartoi who responded got the gist of Blancs wishes, then ran off to disseminate the order. Itd be nice if there were like, radios, or some kind of skill where I could give orders over a long distance What fantastical thing are you envisioning If something like that existed, messengers would no longer be necessary, and letters and carrier pigeons would lose all value. They sure would. Right, thats where civilization is at here Is there some kind of magical, fantasy way to do it then? There was no point in lamenting what didnt exist. If messengers were necessary right now, then it would be more constructive to think about making a specialized follower for the role. Since Im making more skeletons from this city, I should make ones especially for carrying messages. That is a good idea. Human-base skeletons should already have higher intelligence, so it would be ideal to prioritize increasing their agility if they are to act as messengers. I should remark, there could be problems when they need to interact with other forces. If they cannot speak, then they cannot relay orders. As far as that went, it was hard to imagine that Blanc would ever cooperate with wild monsters, and other players could be registered as friends like in other games, so Blanc didnt think that was a very important thing to consider. In those cases, one of us can just transform into bats and fly off carrying our masters words, Magenta offered. Ahh, and when you get close to the recipient, you can turn back into a mormo to talk! Quite so. While Blanc chatted idly with the mormos, the spartoi messengers carried out their tasks, and they started hearing periodic screams again, just like before. They had begun breaking into homes and slaughtering the inhabitants. As Blanc had ordered, the corpses of the citys residents were being gathered near the center of the city, where there was a large open space. These people are worth a lot less XP than the guards were. But at least they give something. I guess humans are pretty high up the food chain. Character creation was fair for players; when choosing to be a monster, the differences in environment and ability were compensated with XP. But NPCs didnt get any such consideration. Whether they were born as a weak monster or a privileged human, there and then, the difficulty for their entire lives was set in stone. Well, thats true for players too; as soon as they log out of a VR module and go outside, then theyre also in that same boat. Once the spartoi finished sweeping for leftover residents, there was probably very little reason to be cautious anymore. Blanc, accompanied by her retinue of mormos and Vermillion, set foot into the city. In her head, she was imagining houses burning with a single hand sticking up out of the rubble, or bodies littered everywhere that they had to step over, but there was none of that. We, the invaders, did not use any fire, after all. The guards may have had torches, but most of the houses were made of stone, which dont burn very well. And you told the spartoi to clean up the dead bodies, too. Azalea, Magenta, and Carmine explained away all of Blancs confusion for her. It was super convenient. It was, but They walked through the city without another soul in sight, without any other sounds to be heard. By the way, wheres this clearing exactly? Have you been walking all this time without knowing?! So, do you know where it is, Magenta? Azalea? Would you be so kind as to provide the answer? Carmine. I shall leave it to you. Ahem. Uhh, Scarlet, why dont you take the lead. Are yall daft? After Scarlet began leading the way, the clearing quickly came into view. There, the spartoi who had finished their duties gathered together, and at the center there was a towering pile of corpses of the citys residents. Wooow, what a crazy sight. And the stench is intense but it doesnt really bother me all that much. Is it because I became a vampire? Is this really okay? I wonder if Ill be all right around the smell of blood in real life too. She was fine when she smelled her own blood, but if it was anyone elses then Blanc would immediately feel sick. Its true that with VR medical support, it was possible to treat trauma-induced health complications using manufactured experiences. However, that kind of service required mountains of paperwork in order to deliver all the waiver information and obtain the necessary consent. That said, Blanc couldnt say that the super-long terms of service didnt contain all that legal language, either, since she just barely skimmed through it herself. Ah, whatever. Anyway, can I assume that all the people here were killed in the last hour? Itll be an hour soon? Then I better hurry. First off, [Mist]. [Mist] was a spell that vampires learned in the [Vampiric Magic] tree. It had been strengthened by the skill that was unlocked after it, [Death Mist], which improved the success rate and effectiveness of [Necromancy]-type skills cast in the mist. Continuing on, Blanc cast the [Necromancy] skill. This was something she had also heard from the count, but the soul of a person remained with the body for an hour after they died. If she used [Necromancy] on them during this time, the soul would remain attached to the body, and it would turn into a new undead monster. Once an hour had passed, the soul would leave the body, and using [Necromancy] on it would only give her a weak undead that would die a short time after. Normally, a soul could resist [Necromancy], meaning trying to turn a corpse into an undead while the soul remained wasnt very likely to succeed. However, Blanc had the [Necromancy] trees [Bind Soul] skill, as well as [Death Mist], which boosted the success rate. For the NPCs of this town, this meant that she was basically guaranteed to get undead from them. Alrighty, I wonder if Ill get em all. But then again, theyll turn into zombies, wont they Man, Id rather have skeletons. Zombies are always really slow, arent they? How about just leaving them here? Theres no need to force them to come along with us. Hmm, maybe. Zombies get a big penalty in the sun, so if we bring them along then they might just die on the way. If that happens, then they would just be resurrected back in this city, so there isnt much difference between bringing them or leaving them. That makes sense. Okay, Ill use [Subordinate] on them all, then leave them here. Ill have them go into their houses when the suns out so that they dont just die for no reason. Blanc spent quite a lot of time casting [Subordinate] on all the undead. Since they were already zombies anyway, she just let them reincarnate into squire zombies too. CH 78 All right, if any humans come into town, then kill em, capische? After receiving this command, some of the zombies started shuffling toward a certain building. Huh? What? Is something wrong? Blanc looked over and noticed that it was the biggest building facing the clearing. There was a sign hung over the door that read: INN THE WASTELAND COYOTEAHOUSE Gah, thats such a stupid pun! But its an inn Hrmmm. An inn in a city. She couldve sworn there was something important about that. Something she read somewhere. It wasnt in one of the system announcements. She hadnt read the online game manual either. If she remembered correctly Ah, from that social networking site. Right. I think it said that inns are safe zones for cities. Back when Blanc had been looking up tips on casting magic, this topic had gotten a pinned thread. The SNS bulletin board topic list only showed each thread title and first post, that was where she read about someone not knowing where to find a safe zone like an inn. While Blanc was lost in thought, the zombies had barged into the inn. Huh? If its a safe zone, then how can monsters get inside? But once she stopped to think about it, her room in the counts old castle was also a safe zone, but the mormos could barge in at any time. They would even take naps on her bed whenever they wanted. I guess the rules are different if theyre followers. I wonder what would happen if they came across other players. You cant PvP in safe zones, right? They went into that place after you ordered them to kill any humans, so wouldnt that mean there are humans inside? I shall inspect the building. Azalea, Carmine, watch the Master. Wait, why did that sound like dont let that kid out of your sight? Leave things to us. Do be careful, Magenta. Magenta elegantly strode into the inn, disappearing from sight. Inside the inn, the zombies had surrounded a human man and were groaning incessantly. What are you doing? You cannot attack? Ahh, perhaps this is that safe zone that the Master spoke of. Theres another one! Huh? A person? Um, are you a player?! Blanc sometimes talked about players, so he must have come from the same place that she had. Magenta noticed that this person instantly looked relieved upon seeing her face, so she realized that as long as she were also a player, he should let his guard down. Indeed, thats correct. Are you as well? Oh, Im so glad! Ah, outside, what happened outside?! When I got back from grinding XP, the town was being attacked by these red skeletons I got killed right away, and as soon as I revived the inn was already surrounded now even zombies came inside! Why the hell can monsters get into a safe zone?! Well, I can explain. Why dont we go outside first? Dont worry, these zombies wont really do anything to you. While talking, Magenta showed him that she could head outside. The player-man fearfully skirted around the zombies and followed Magenta out of the inn. Crimson the spartoi was right there waiting and, with a flick of his claws, the mans head went flying. Hey, that guy will respawn in the inn soon. If we wait, hell come out again and we can kill him, Blanc said. What kind of idiot would keep respawning in the same location just to get killed? Yeah, youre right. If spawn camping was no good, then there was no reason to keep standing around here. Blanc felt like she saw somewhere what would happen if someones safe zone was gone when they respawned, but she couldnt remember where. They probably wouldnt spawn on top of a pile of rubble, though, that was for sure. If she was going to leave zombies in this city, then it would be annoying for enemy players to keep respawning here. The zombies would also respawn, so the numbers wouldnt change, but as they kept killing each other over and over again, the players would earn XP and start to get stronger. On her side, though, all the XP they earned was shared, and it didnt make sense to keep powering up these zombies just to deal with the players. Ah, what if we made a deal with that person to earn unlimited XP? Normally, youd lose 10% of your XP with the death penalty, so kill trading in PvP would only result in a negative XP income. But since players didnt lose XP during this event, it was now possible to kill trade. Actually, unrelated to the event, it was possible to attempt something similar by having followers kill each other, since they werent affect by the death penalty. However, XP calculations included a clause where killing an unresisting hostile target would give no XP, so actually trying to do it was horribly inefficient. By the way, unresisting hostile target meant a character that recognized you as an enemy but still deliberately didnt resist, so it didnt include sneak attacks or traps. Lets figure out if thats possible later; for now we should think about how we can keep killing this player to earn more XP And in considering that, I think its clear that just attacking another city would be more profitable. Thinking that sometimes Blanc wanted to get in on the action, she tried to destroy the inn by casting [Lightning Strike]. Since she couldnt completely level it with just one cast, she had to wait for the cooldown to cast it again. Some minutes later, this now became the location of a former inn, and the Coyoteahouse had been forcibly shuttered. Hmm. I thought he wouldve respawned one more time by now, but he didnt come out. Maybe he got killed when you blew up the inn? I wonder what happened to him if he did? Or like, seriously, what happens if your respawn point gets destroyed? Blanc would have to look that up later too. She would be drowning in game-related homework at this rate. Eh, its fine if I dont know! Okay, you zombies stay here; were off to the next place! If we stick to the road, we should reach the neighboring town, right? Yes, we should. Blanc led her forces from the city and onto the road. While traveling, they would periodically see groups of skinny coyotes eyeing them from a distance. When the spartoi saw this, they would gnash their teeth menacingly, and the coyotes would immediately run off somewhere. Hm, they wont attack us. Since the spartoi are clearly stronger, I dont think they would dare attack us with inferior numbers Ah, I guess youre right. On the other hand, if they did attack us anyway, that would mean there might be something we dont know to watch out for. That may well be the case. Some time later, she saw a human shape on the road, far in the distance. Blanc was only able to see them with her racial characteristic Night Vision, but she couldnt tell whether they had noticed her group as well or not. A bandit or something, probably. Itd be nice if it was. But as they continued to close the distance without concern, the person immediately ran off after noticing them, and they didnt show up again thereafter. Just like those coyotes. Humans are clever, so of course theyd run. After that, they kept marching onward without encountering anything to fight. Soon, the eastern sky began to lighten, signalling the end of night. Crap, the suns beginning to rise. I gotta put on my mantle. Things turned out exactly the way the count said they would. You will have to thank him later. Shaddap, I know! They kept walking, and before long they made out another city. Wow, thiss horrible timing. Fighting at this hour is kinda What should we do? Hold that thought. We may not have much of a choice. Why not? That city looks like its completely prepared for battle. I believe they are on guard against us. Seriously?! Perhaps it was that person from earlier. They could have been from this city. Ah True; if any people were in this wasteland, they would most definitely either be already visitors of that city, or planning to go there next. If this was the closest city to where they had seen that person before, then they should have been able to predict this outcome. Sure enough Dont you bring up that butler! I wasnt even thinking about him yet!!! CH 79 Anyway, what shall we do? Carmine always lashed out in anger to any hint of the butler, but Azalea could at least stay relatively calm about it. Blanc didnt know how Magenta felt exactly, but at least whenever they all sulked in her bed, she just copied what the other two did. Right, so its gonna be morning soon. I dont think well be able to do the same thing we did before What if you use the XP we earned from wiping out the last town to strengthen yourself, Master? If you can obtain some kind of resistance or countermeasure against sunlight, then a city like that should not be any threat. Oh, good idea, Magenta. Ill do just that! Blanc told the spartoi to keep an eye on the city from a distance, then opened up her skill window. Since she didnt know what exactly gave resistance to sunlight, she would look for that later and find ways to improve her forces performance while exposed to the sun for now. In any case, since Blanc mostly fired magic from far away, strengthening the close-combat spartoi made more strategic sense. All that in mind, maybe a buff with a wide area of effect? Is there something like that? In that case, I believe you want to improve your [Vampiric Magic] skills. [Mist] is quite useful, is it not? Ooh. Its got a huge range, and it gives a bonus to undead. Right, since we only have undead on our side, that might be amazing. She went into the tree to take a look and saw that she could learn [Magic Mist] and [Mistform]. [Magic Mist] modified [Mist] by increasing the damage of offensive magic cast into the mist. It was basically the attack spell version of [Death Mist]. [Mistform] would let Blanc turn her body into mist once per day. It went on cooldown as soon as it was cast, and it required twenty-four hours in-game before it could be used again. While it was in effect, her physical body would completely turn into mist, and she would be immune to all physical damage. However, the downsides were that this form took significant extra damage from fire and lightning elemental attacks, and it couldnt resist any wind-type effects that interfered with movement. The effect lasted until it was canceled, but she couldnt perform physical attacks or cast offensive magic while transformed, so she needed to have a firm grasp on the state of battle to determine when to keep it active or when to cancel it. Isnt this super great as, like, an emergency way to avoid getting hit? Unless the attack theyre using is something like a Lightning Slash or something, then Id just get instakilled. But since Blanc mainly had magical attacks, [Magic Mist] was perfect for her. She decided to learn both skills. Hmm, nothing new is showing up Maybe different skills had something useful show up, or maybe if you learn other skills then more will be unlocked here. Oh right Hm Ah, I have a new one called [Dark Magic]! Blanc had focused almost entirely on earning XP and strengthening her followers, so she had barely checked her own skill window. She had no idea when this might have been added to her available list. There must have been some kind of trigger, right? Ah, whatever. I bet this would probably have [Light Resistance] in it. The different magic elements had various resistance skills for other elements in their skill trees. For instance, [Fire Magic] contained the [Ice Resistance] skill. The rest of the elements were as follows: After taking four skills in [Dark Magic], Blanc finally got her hands on the [Light Resistance] skill she wanted. Arent there, like, a lot of support effects? Like this [Dark Curtain], it makes it darker around you, whats the point of that? If you use it during the day, I think it would probably reduce the effect of sunlight. Ohh, I see. And if I use it together with [Mist], maybe I can make conditions better for myself whenever I want. In other words, she was now perfectly equipped for midday battles. The early morning sun shone from far off in the distance, and a gentle wind blew by. However, with the [Light Resistance] skill, Blanc was taking no damage. She had a feeling that it was difficult for her to gather her strength, but that wasnt something she could do anything about right now. Looking at the spartoi, despite not having [Light Resistance] themselves, it didnt seem like they were taking any damage from sunlight either. Considering the idea that as her status increased, she would reduce the negative effects related to any character demerits, Blanc thought that maybe she could get complete resistance to sunlight if she kept strengthening herself. I wonder if Im becoming more like that daymonger thing that the count mentioned? I think you mean Daywalker. Vampires that can walk around in the day. A daymonger would be someone who loves the sun so much they went crazy, and now they run around preaching about it. I dont think you would come to like daytime that much just from getting a little resistance to sunlight, would you? Excess hatred begets love a hundredfold,[1] was it? Although the saying Ive heard is the opposite. Stop teaming up to make fun of me! I just misspoke a little bit! Somehow or another, she now had the choice of operating during the day. However, nothing had changed about the fact that her minions were much weaker compared to at night. Anyway, moving on. Last time, the spartoi wiped out the city all by themselves, but now its daytime and they already know were here, so I dont think things will go quite as smoothly as before. The people in the city warily observed Blancs group, but since she was keeping her distance, it didnt seem like they were planning to take any particular action yet. However, the sun was still rising, so it was possible that once the sun was at its peak, they would launch an offensive while her side was at its weakest. Whatever the case, it was unlikely that they would just aimlessly wait like this until night fell. Okey doke, lets get just a little bit closer, then Ill use [Dark Curtain] and [Magic Mist] to blast them with a bunch of spells! Once I break their formation, the spartoi will charge! Be careful not to get hurt as we approach them, otherwise it seems a good plan. As far as I can see, they dont seem to have a way to attack us at range. If they fire magic back in response, the three of us shall endeavor to cancel out their spells, so please rest easy. None of the soldiers seem to have any bows either. If they didnt have any bows and arrows, then perhaps none of the residents in that city were hunters. But this area didnt seem to have any animals other than coyotes and rats, so maybe it just wasnt suitable for hunting. Which meant that they must mainly get fish from the river. Other than that, she also saw fields of corn or wheat, as well as rows of palm trees. Well, none of us need their food anyway, so it doesnt really matter I guess. It would kind of annoy me if theyre just gonna rebuild again later, like theyre gonna undo all of our hard work, so lets just burn those palm tree things and their fields and everything! I believe those are date palms and barley, for the record. Youre so smart, Magenta! There is a library in the counts castle. They only resemble the pictures I had seen, but given the local climate and their present living conditions, I believe I am correct. Well done, Magenta. Master, that means that we can assume those fields are the citys lifeline. Therefore, if you were to use magic to set them on fire, wouldnt the humans come out, desperate to put it out? Just the kind of thing Id expect from nasty queen Carmine! Lets do that! Oh no, I do not particularly enjoy being cruel I just determined it to be the most rational course of action. All right, lets keep going toward the city, but casually inch toward the fields so that they dont notice. Once were close enough to the fields, umm, [Hellflame] should be fine, right? Even as Blancs forces crept closer, the citys guards didnt react in any substantive way. The spartoi walked straight toward the city, but Blanc and the three mormos nonchalantly shifted within the formation so that they would be closer to the fields. After getting a little closer, she could see that the front line of soldiers, the ones watching Blancs group, was restless and fidgeting nervously. [1]: äƿɐۤٱ. The commonly known phrase is its reverse, as mentioned in the chapter, ɐۤäٱ. This phrase means roughly the greatest love can turn into the deepest hate. CH 80 Blancs group kept approaching the city, but there were no other major movements on either side. The group of red skeletons should have been in plain sight from the city by now, but both sides must have determined that as long as they didnt meet then no fighting would break out. However, Blancs group had more than just skeletons. Ah, were close enough. [Mist], [Dark Curtain]. Without a sound, mist and darkness exploded out of Blanc. Rather than true darkness, though, it was more like dimming the lights. Since the sun was still rising, when it expanded together with the mist, the [Dark Curtain] severely hindered visibility. Isnt this totally amazing? If I use it at night, I bet no one would be able to see anything, but actually, theres no point in making things dimmer at night Its good that you noticed that on your own. At least it was an effective skill for right now. The human defenders had started moving about frantically as soon as the mist suddenly appeared. But youre too late! [Hellflame]! Searing flames instantly billowed out, as though the mist itself had caught on fire, and tongues of fire ignited the barley fields. Thats so cool! Its like the mist itself caught on fire! However, the mist just improved the effects of magic, it didnt actually ignite on fire. Thats why only the area she targeted, the fields, burned up, while the fire didnt touch the spartoi who were also within the mist. When they saw the field going up in flames, the citys defenders ran about in a panic. The man she thought was the commander yelled something, and she saw some of the other guards gather around him. Ahaha! You know, Im so happy everything went exactly as planned! Thats because things rarely go as planned. All right! Chaaarge!!! All of the spartoi ran toward the city at Blancs command. On the other hand, the human guards were in complete disarray. Some were heading to extinguish the burning fields, some shrank back at the incoming spartoi, and some were completely failing to rally everyone to focus on the same objective. However, none of that made any difference to the spartoi. They simply charged at the city as fast as they could. From here, I think I can just barely reach the edge of the city with one of my spells. I shall provide support, Azalea said as crystals of ice gathered before her chest to form an arrow. She was casting [Ice Bullet]. It launched forward in a straight line, between all the spartoi, to stab into the ground right at the frontmost guards feet. It came up short. Azalea sighed. That was on purpose. It was a ranging shot. After seeing that, Carmine and Magenta advanced a number of steps toward the city, then fired their own [Ice Bullets]. This time, they were bullseyes, and two guards fell to the dirt. Seeing the dead bodies in their midsts, the groups panic reached its apex, and some of them began to flee into the city. This area was far from monster territory, so the only threats the city ever got around here were wild animals or small monsters that werent very dangerous. These people may have been part of the city guard, but they had probably never experienced a situation where their lives were on the line before. While the city was right on the highway, it never got attacked by bandits. Even presuming there was anything worth stealing, this region wasnt friendly enough for thieves to steal something then survive on their own outside of the city. In exchange for how poor it was, it gained peace. That ended last night, though. Even though those people escaped into the city, all they changed was the order of death; they all would still be dying today. The mormos let them go and focused on sniping the guards in the front lines who hadnt lost their will to fight. Meanwhile, the spartoi finally reached the guard squad. Since they expected a melee to break out, the mormos stopped their sniping. Master, how are the fields looking? Lookin good. The barley fields have now become burned fields! Im sure theyll have a huge harvest of ashes next year, even without anyone to plant seeds! Slash-and-burn fields are indeed a type of shifting cultivation, unsuitable for farming that relies on rich soil coming from being near a river. Is that also from one of the counts books? Yes. Whenever Blanc didnt know about something, she would just ask Magenta, since it felt like she would always get an answer to anything she wanted to know. The charging spartoi mercilessly cut down the guards. Most of them wore leather armor or padded clothing, and only the commander-looking guy from before had metal armor. Against the spartois claws and fangs, however, they may as well have been naked. Speaking of the commander, he had been trying to fall back to the rear, but a bunch of guards were trying to move toward the burning barley fields, so he was having a hard time of it. Which meant that no one was giving orders at the moment. Although were just too strong for them to make up the difference with leadership and strategy. Yeah Im happy that things are going well for once, but doesnt this feel like were still just winning by force? The spartoi havent taken any damage at all from the guards even though theyre weak from the sunlight. Rather than things going as planned, the humans are just far too weak. While our forces are indeed weakened while it is not night, they are still more capable than the average human, Carmine answered. Hmmm All right, so next time, what if the spartoi ran in first, then if things look bad I use [Mist] and stuff to support them? If things still look bad after that, then everyone starts shooting magic too. I do not really recommend staggering our offense in that manner If you would like to try fighting in that manner, first have the spartoi charge, then, whether or not it succeeds, they will need to recover from the attack, so we follow up with spells to completely break down their posture. Does this plan sound better? The tactic that Master suggested was to merely split our offense into turns, but what Azalea said has much more strategic value as a saturation attack. Oh, I see now So wait. Arent you guys like my kids? Youre super duper smart, though. Statswise, we have the same INT though or more like if we only look at INT, mine should be higher. Blanc responded in kind of a dejected way, but the mormos noses twitched in delight. She wasnt sure which part exactly had made them so happy. Eh, anyway, its good that things are going well here. Once things are under control, well do the same thing we did in the last Well, if we do that, the zombies will just die right away. Well first wait until it gets dark, zombify everyone with [Necromancy], then toss them back into their houses. CH 81 The door was a masterpiece crafted by four well-known craftsmen; it was extremely solid, expensive, stately, and Hiers ebony-made. There was a knock on said door, after which it immediately opened. I have an urgent report!!! For someone entering the office of a countrys prime minister, there was a distinct lack of decorum. However, anyone who had enough authority to enter this area of the royal castle should have been well aware of the expected etiquette. Said rude party claimed he had an urgent report to give. The prime minister of the Kingdom of Hiers, Marquess Douglas OConnell, unconsciously stiffened at the prospect of dire news. PPlease forgive me, if you are preoccupied with more pressing matters Its fine. If its so urgent, then out with it. What happened? The news would prove to be shocking for Prime Minister OConnell, widely known for his sharp mind. Yes sir! Every region across the kingdom is reporting hordes of monsters flooding out of the monster territories and assaulting our cities! What?! Monsters leaving the monster territories. That in and of itself wasnt a rare occurrence. Monsters were just another form of life that inhabited this world. If their populations grew too large for their habitats, then some would leave their territories for the outside world in order to sustain their livelihoodsto put it bluntly, they would invade other areas in order to expand their territory. This had happened many times before, and specialized organizations were established on the borders in order to watch for those signs. However, the prime minister had not received any recent reports about such activities from the border cities. Without any indicationmonsters suddenly began to overflow Impossible. On hearing the more detailed report, he learned that the monsters abruptly descended on the cities near the border, engaging with the local garrisoned forces. The monsters had already breached the walls in a number of cities, causing damage to the town and killing residents. The castle had received pleas for help, but they were unable to send reinforcements; the kingdoms troops had been organized into a subjugation army in response to the new calamity that had appeared to the east, and that army had already departed. Which meant that every border city had to rely solely on their stationed troops to deal with the monster attacks. I would have liked to have absorbed all the armed forces in every region into the subjugation army, but Organizing the expedition was so hectic that we were unable to get that done, but it seems that failure turned out for the better Another person barged into the room out of nowhere, this time without knocking. I have a report! Stand down! I am currently in the middle of My deepest apologies! I was ordered to deliver these last words from our guard squad! Last words?! Where did you The citadel cities of Erfahren and Lourdes have fallen! Impossible Douglas gasped. He was glad he didnt ruin his dignity by crying out disgracefully, but in fact, that was only because the news was just so shocking that he had forgotten to breathe. The patriarch had been the one to bring news about the aforementioned new calamity, and Erfahren was the city closest to where it could be found. The subjugation army was currently on their way there. Normally, there would have been a ceremony revealing the formation of this army, and they would have held a parade to raise the soldiers morale and inform the citizens of what they were off to fight. However, since the calamity had just been born, they skipped those events and sortied right away before it could mature. With a preeminent focus on speed, logistics werent considered at all, so they intended to supply themselves on the road by commandeering supplies from the cities they passed on the march. This was a drastic decision that could only be made because they were marching entirely within the kingdom. They didnt make it in time So its powerful enough to destroy a city already Wait a minute, Lourdes? Where is that again? While he was the prime minister, Douglas didnt have a good enough memory to instantly remember where exactly every citadel city was along the border. Sir, it is a border city that is near Treu Foresta monster territory that is more commonly known as the Forest of No Return. I remember now. The city was constructed without issue, but no one who entered that forest ever returned, so it was too dangerous for the town to expand. It somehow got by on monitoring the region and acting as a relay point for Erfahren and other cities Its not possible! After taking Erfahren, it went ahead to Lourdes as well?! If so, then this beast was frighteningly fast. While the kingdom was busy planning the army expedition, Erfahren had already been destroyed. If that wasnt the case, then Douglas should have received word sooner. All the border cities had carrier pigeons and trained messengers; in times of emergency, they knew it was their duty to send word, and they had many different methods available to them. No, thats not From what I could gather, Erfahren was assaulted by a huge army of ants and wasps, while Lourdes was beset by a giant army of treants Both cities seem to have fallen around the same time. Knowing that they reportedly went down at the same time made a certain amount of sense. Word of each of their destructions arrived at approximately the same time. While Lourdes was a little bit closer to the capital than Erfahren was on the highways, they were more or less the same distance away in a straight line. If both cities sent out pigeons at the same time, then both birds could have arrived here at the same time. Sothere might be two separate forces, then According to the patriarchs oracle, there should have only been one catastrophe. What else could have happened? By chance, a threat to humanity emerged at the same time as another disaster-level monster capable of destroying a city? That would be too much of a coincidence. Something ridiculous like that cant possibly But the prime minister had no answers. The plan had been to use Erfahren as a base from which to subdue the Great Liebe Forest, but they had already encountered a huge setback. Douglas cradled his head in his arms. Early the next morning, Douglas was already at his desk. Though already should instead be always since he was still there from the night before. Requests for aid had come from every region of the kingdom, so he had to write letters informing them that those requests could not be fulfilled. At the same time, he worried over how to tell the subjugation army that Erfahren had already been destroyed. Reporting in! Once again he was faced with sudden intrusions. What is it now? I cant believe this is happening so early this morning Weve just received word that the town of Alto Riva has been lost! What?! The prime minister desperately combed his memory. Was there a border city with that name? He stood up, knocking over his chair, and went to stare at the map on the wall. ItIts over here. The official who delivered the report pointed at a spot on the map. Thats Thats noton the border at all!!! It was technically on the edge of the kingdoms lands, but this was the region bordered by the highlands known by the name A Buon Mercato. According to legend, there was an old castle far above in those highlands, but since no people lived up there it had turned into monster territory. Either way, the cliffs couldnt be scaled, so the highlands had always been considered the equivalent of a giant wall. On the other side there was the neighboring Kingdom of Welthe, but the highlands prevented any meaningful trade from taking place between the countries. The city of Alto Riva was built along the Fiume il Confine, the border river that came from the highlands, which gave them fertile soil, allowing them to grow crops like barley. The lord collected a barley tax on the residents, which was sold to other towns, allowing Alto Riva to sustain itself. There werent any dangerous monster threats in the vicinity, but the city was also rather poor, so they didnt really get any bandits. Why would such a peaceful city? The message came from a pigeon from the neighboring town of Ernstthal, and it says that a guard who escaped from Alto Vista claims that the city came under assault from an army of skeletons In addition, he reported that this army came from the direction of Verde Sud It cant be That would mean this skeleton army has already destroyed two cities!!! What the blazes was happening? Monsters were appearing all over the kingdoms borders. In a single day, they had already lost four cities. And the only forces they had for defense had been mostly assigned to the army which was on its way to deal with the catastrophe. Douglas wondered if it was a blessing in disguise that said force was already headed in the direction of Lourdes and Erfahren. I wonder how the subjugation army fares. We should be receiving regular updates from them. Considering how much time has passed since they departed, I believe they should be passing through La Colline either today or tomorrow La Colline was an important transit hub for the kingdom. Travelers were able to head in the direction of both Lourdes and Alto Riva from there. From their last communiqu, the army should not have arrived at La Colline yet. The city had a special pigeon house; after they arrived, they would have to send their pigeons outside of the regularly scheduled pigeon flights. It would be no exaggeration to say that this army carried the fate of the kingdomno, the fate of the entire continent on its shoulders. Hiers hadnt requested aid from other countries yet, but they did have official emissaries. Pigeons couldnt be sent to other countries, so the only way to get someone there would be by horse, but it was unclear whether their neighbors already knew about what was happening in Hiers yet or not. Basically, the kingdom had to deal with the threat on its own for now. Unfortunately, for the residents of the destroyed cities of Alto Riva and Verde Sud, they dont produce anything essential, and the governing lords arent from influential noble families. So, that region would have to be abandoned for the time being, then, once the main threat was subdued, they could go back and reclaim it. So the subjugation armyshould just continue as planned to the Great Liebe Forest, I suppose. They can take a detour around Lourdes, which should keep them away from the Forest of No Return as well. I believe the road around there should have been laid to avoid that forest already. The city of Erfahren wasdestroyed, but how much is still standing? If they can take it back from the monsters and it can be used as a temporary military base, then maybe In any case, since the armys current location was unknown, they couldnt send out a pigeon to them. Douglas didnt know when they would reach La Colline, so while waiting to find out, all he could do was compose a letter with all the information that needed to be shared with them. I have a report to make! For the first time in a while, someone exercised all the proper etiquette while also knocking before entering. This was, after all, the prime ministers room deep inside the kingdoms castle. There were procedures to be followed. The subjugation army has informed us that they have reached La Colline! Douglas was relieved that the report didnt lead off with the destruction of yet another city. I see. Then I shall compose a letter with information and their next set of orders What? Is there something else? Yes sir! The report also says that they will make contact with the enemy shortly! Ma-Make contact? Meaning the enemy is already there?! How?! If they went out of their way to let us know they would engage an enemy, then it must not be the typical monsters or bandits Right, sir! It says that there areswarms of wasps carrying ants. CH 82 <> <> <> What?! When Wayne opened his eyes, there was an empty wasteland before him. The sun had nearly set, though, so in the fading sunlight he couldnt tell if this area was all wasteland or not. Overhead, a sea of stars twinkled around a full moon. Even after the sun was completely gone, it wouldnt be pitch black. I died which is fine. Well, its not fine, but well, not much I can do about it. If my spawn point couldnt be found, that means Waynes respawn point was set to that rundown Erfahren inn, meaning it must have been destroyed. Ever since the official launch, he couldnt remember ever logging out anywhere else. And since he had no other possible spawn points, he was forced to randomly respawn at one of the starting spawn points. Which meant that, even if he didnt know exactly where he was, this wasteland should at least be in the Kingdom of Hiers. While this event was centered around monsters attacking various border cities, it had still only been one day since the event began. It seemed highly unlikely for every possible starting spawn point in Hiers to have been rendered unusable in such a short amount of time. So, since Wayne chose Hiers as his starting area, the game should have chosen from the available options within Hiers. Normally, it was impossible for starting spawn points to become unusable. If the inn was no longer available, Wayne should have respawned back in that prairie outside the city. However, during that update after the official launch, the starting spawn points were adjusted in order to lower the difficulty level for new players. According to the game website, it was no longer possible to get a starting area that would be considered hard. Since Wayne didnt respawn at the prairie, that meant that the prairie had been designated a high-difficulty zone. So it must have been taken over by monsters, by those scary ants. It was nice to know that newbies couldnt be spawn camped at one of the starting areas, but being transported to who knows where in the middle of an event was a pain in the ass. That said, at Waynes level, he wouldnt have been able to survive more than a few minutes if he had respawned in that ant-infested prairie. Nah, itd probably be the same for anyone Those monsters never showed up in the forest. If it were Rare or someone else who had been grinding in the forest, maybe they could survive. Rare said she would be PKing players within that forest. Even if she was a PKer, though, she wouldnt just ignore the monsters. So when she wasnt hunting players, she should have been grinding monsters. Maybe Rare could easily farm monsters like those ants. Groups of those scary-ass ants. It felt like she should be at least that strong. Strong enough to put up a good fight against a force capable of destroying an entire city. Dammit, I still cant reach her. But she cant farm XP like that forever. The more XP you used, the harder it became to earn more XP. Thats why most players would steadily change where they farmed as they progressed. If she kept hunting in the same place, no matter how many people she PKed, someone would eventually overtake her. No, he had to stop thinking about Rare. What was more important was his current situation. The places that were safe in Hiers were far from monster territory. Aside from the event causing monsters to flow out from monster territories, any starting spawn point should now naturally be safe. But since there was an event right now, that was a huge disadvantage. Since there was no XP penalty from dying, some might think that this was a big bonus stage where you could keep fighting forever without worrying about dying. However, they were wrong. If you die, then obviously you have to respawn. And if you lose your respawn point, then you end up like Wayne did. He was too late to realize it. What the human side should have been protecting were not the cities themselves or the NPCs, but the inns. No, that was also incorrect. NPCs couldnt respawn when they died. It was the right choice to protect them. Maybe because he had been thinking of Rare, his thoughts had begun to depart from the idea of valuing human life. He really needed to watch himself. In any case, since Wayne was unable to protect either of them anyway, he was still too weak. The event wasnt over yet. Even if he had gotten transported to some remote, backwater place, there were still nine days left to go. He should still be able to do something. But for now, he would have to start with walking. Since there were no visible landmarks in this wasteland, Wayne didnt know where he should be going. There could have been some city in the far distance, but in this darkness he wouldnt be able to tell at all. But there was nothing to be gained in worrying about it either. If he ended up choosing the wrong direction and found himself going away from where he wanted to be, he could just die and bet on randomly respawning somewhere better. There wasnt any permanent penalty to dying during the event, after all. He could just keep dying until he hit a jackpot. That was his plan: Respawn Roulette. After picking a direction at random, Wayne set off. He first wanted to find a road. Starting spawn points were always near a city. And if there was a city nearby, then there had to be a road as well. Wayne kept plodding forward while fending off the coyotes that occasionally attacked him. Without the sun to light his way, Wayne relied on the full moon and the stars. After walking for a while, the sound of his own footsteps changed. He had found one. A road. Im finally on a road. Now I just need to decide which way to go down it He stood in the middle of the road thinking. Then he realized that he could make out the faint sound of running water. Is there a river near here? That means this road might travel along that river. So my options are to go upstream or downstream now I feel likegoing downstream gives me a higher chance of finding someones house. He didnt really have any basis to believe that. Although everything hed done so far was without basis anyway. For now, Ill go find the river and see which way it! Footsteps. Lots of them. Wayne strained his eyes, staring into the darkness; a group of somethings was coming down the road. He stood there observing them for a while, but they kept on coming, giving no indication of whether they noticed he was there or not. As soon as he was finally able to make out their silhouettes, Wayne also reflexively started running in the opposite direction away from them. It was a group of skeletons. They had a pretty dark color, but not one meant for blending into the darkness. They mightve been a reddish color or something. However, he couldnt exactly turn around to check now. Those were bad news. Wayne couldnt possibly beat them. It would be fine if he died here and got to play Respawn Roulette, but he didnt want to die either. If he was going to die, then it would be more efficient if he could take something down with him and earn even a little more XP. If he kept going down this road, he should come across a city. He would inform them of the skeletons, help them prepare their defenses, then wait until morning to intercept them. If he had a city backing him up, then it was possible for them to emerge victorious. If any of the skeletons gave chase, Wayne wouldnt be able to outrun them. They couldnt incur the Fatigued status, after all. Fortunately, perhaps because they had no interest in him, he didnt get the sense anything had come after him. He didnt know how far it was to the city, but Wayne was resolved to keep running throughout the night. CH 83 It had been eight days since they had departed from the capital. Now, they could finally see La Colline in the distance. They left the campsite at sunrise, very early in the day. Nine days ago, the notice suddenly came to form an expedition force, and those who normally would be too young as well as those who had already finished their service were forcefully conscripted. Where they were going to be dispatched was a mystery; all anyone knew was that the kingdoms officials determined that those in active service wouldnt be sufficient. What exactly were these soldiers being tasked to fight? As far as the majority of the kingdoms citizens knew, there had never been a war on this continent. The troops had simply been gathered together and supplied with arms with no idea of where they were going or what they would be facing. It made no sense. Without knowing where they were going, they couldnt plan a march. That also meant they couldnt prepare a supply train, not that the kingdom had provided any means of transportation or supplies. After being rushed to finish preparing without really knowing what was going on, once they were finally ready to leave the capital, a knight from the royal guard tasked with the direct protection of the royal family finally got in touch with the commander, an individual who outranked even a centurion, that this force wasnt going on an expedition but a subjugation, and also informed him what their target was. A threat to humanity. There was nearly no information about this catastrophe. It was apparently spreading its evil influence in the Great Liebe Forest next to the city of Erfahren. This information came from the patriarch of the Holy Church of Hiers, so it was reliable. Speaking of the church, apparently the bishops had received an oracle from God. Even among them, though, the patriarch was given more detailed information, and with regards to this expedition, he was the only one who had been told where the catastrophe could be found. When they had learned all of this, the commander and the other officers fell into despair. A catastrophe was not something that humans could defeat. They were akin to natural disasters; even the angels from the flying castle that would appear suddenly every so often were powerful enough that even ten men may not be able to prevail against one. The actual catastrophic being was purported to be the archangel who led the angels, but there had never been any witness accounts to his existence in history. Rumors abounded that any who met him ended up dead, without exception. This army was tasked with vanquishing such a catastrophe. No matter how many soldiers they had, they could never accomplish something like that. The leaders of the kingdom should have known this. So then why was this plan approved? Then the knight from the royal guard disclosed another thing to the commander and the officers. This catastrophe had only come into being very recently, so it should be nowhere near as mature as the catastrophes found on other continents. Therefore, if they attacked it now, they might be able to defeat it. Might Thats not very convincing I know, I completely understand. But, we also cant just ignore it. This catastrophe was born in our kingdoms lands, after all. Its as if the flying castle suddenly landing in the corner of the courtyard. If you think about how we might have to live with the threat of the catastrophe hovering over our heads every day, versus betting on a possibility, we must attempt to kill it. Sir royal knight, I understand. I really do, but Commander, the subjugation army has already been formed and is about to depart. The die has already been cast. The present situation came about from the influence of an ungodly number of nobles. Even if you run away and try not to fight Theres no place for me in the kingdom anymore, is there In that case, we should at least keep this from the soldiers, just let them believe were going to the forest to cull some monsters Certainly, that was our plan from the start. Thats why I only informed the leadership. At this point, there was nothing else that could be done. And if thats how it was going to be, then all they could do was grit their teeth and hope for the best. Above all else, there was no way that the commander and the officers could appear weakhearted in front of the soldiers. On the road, they faced no issues or obstacles, and they even made better time than expected toward the conclusion of the journey. Since they had prioritized speed above all else, they set off with barely any rations or other provisions. They relied almost entirely on resupplying at every town along the way; normally, such an army couldnt expect a warm reception, but the reactions were unexpectedly subdued. Of course, orders had come down from the capital to these towns beforehand, but what the hell did they say to convince them to be this accommodating? They took the shortest route to their destination, which meant they stopped by various border cities situated near monster territories. Even when traveling on the highways, when there were so many humans so close to monster territory, monsters would observe them and sometimes try to make a pass. Even if those encounters ended up as nothing more than light scuffles with no casualties on any sides, between the personnel and safety checks that had to be performed every time, time could still easily be eaten away. However, this march had none of that. It was as though the monsters had more important things to do. Things were so unnaturally quiet that they felt it had to be some kind of ill omen, and the commander was overcome with a sense of dread. Well, its good that things are going as planned. Right now, all I want is to reach our destination even one second faster. The only thing on my mind is finishing this mission. All of a sudden, there was some kind of commotion at the front of the formation. Those in the lead had spotted La Colline. After passing through here, their next stop would be the Lourdes, on the border. Beyond that was their final destination: Erfahren, and then the Great Liebe Forest. There were no monster territories near La Colline, and it was also an important traffic hub, so it didnt have a city wall. The city was built on slightly elevated land, and it positively glowed as they saw it spread out before them. Even without a city wall, its size rivaled the capital, and its energy far surpassed it. For the soldiers who were seeing it for the first time, their excitement was understandable. One of the centurions, who was supposed to be in charge of the leading squad, ran back to the commander. If it was just to report that they had arrived at the city, it should have been fine to send a messenger. This wasnt a job the squad leader had to personally perform. What is it? Sir! We will be arriving at La Colline shortly! However, look, up in the sky On horseback, the commander had only been paying attention to the ranks and files of soldiers who were below his line of sight, so he then looked up for the first time. Far in the distance, he saw La Colline sitting atop a small hill, and the foremost of the subjugation army about to enter the city. This was unchanged from before. The problem was above that. Beyond La Colline, it appeared as though a dark cloud was approaching the city. No, it was too coarse to be a cloud; it was more like a bunch of grains that were steadily growing larger. What the hell are those? We arent sure, but it would be best to hurry up and get inside the city as soon as possible. The centurions suggestion was sound. No matter what they were and whether or not they had to be dealt with, now that the army was here, they had to consult with the city lord. If those things were the catastrophe or monsters related to it, then it wouldnt only be La Collines problem. It would be a problem the subjugation army would have to solve. Although if that were the case, it would mean that the catastrophe had already left the great forest, and the subjugation armys chances of victory would have dropped to nearly zero. Youre absolutely right. Have all the troops march double-timeget them into that city. Within La Colline, which was normally bustling with activity, all had fallen silent. Normally, it wouldnt have been odd for the morning market to still be open at this time. But now, the residents were holed up in their homes, anxiously looking outside through their windows. Seeing their expressions of relief when they spotted the subjugation army was a source of comfort. They were all worried about the skies to the east, though. After getting into the city, they were able to identify the strange cloud. It was actually a swarm of wasps carrying ants. Even though they were still far away, they were so large that it was possible to make out their shapes. Their sizes were so different from the wasps that the commander was familiar with that the longer he stared at them, the more he felt his sense of distance warp. He wondered if they were coming to La Colline, but apparently they had stopped in midair a certain distance away from the city. From a different point of view, he thought that maybe they were waiting for something. First, inform the city lord of our arrival. Then send a pigeon to the prime minister as planned. In the message, mention that we will be making contact with a swarm of giant wasps carrying giant ants, and that we seek the prime ministers guidance. The wasps were flying in from the eastern skies. In their original plan, they were to rest for one day at La Colline, camp outside the city for a night, then head for Lourdes the next day. However, it would be extremely difficult to recuperate in the city or camp at night with that huge swarm of monsters hovering over their heads, not to mention that Lourdes was east of here. He didnt know if they could just march underneath the wasps without instigating them. In any case, it would take a few hours for the pigeon to return. Though the army arrived earlier than planned, once the bird did return, the sun would be up. They couldnt expect the enemy to just wait patiently until it did. They had sent their report, but chances were the situation would require immediate action before they received direction from the prime minister. The soldiers were clearly worried, but this army was originally put together to defeat a catastrophe. Since the only catastrophe the Kingdom of Hiers had ever faced were the angels, many soldiers had received training on how to fight enemies who came from above. The conscripted youths hadnt received any training yet, but they were paired with the veterans who had already retired from service. This group could both follow orders competently and function as a support team. All along, though, the main combat force would be the soldiers in active service; this operation required precise coordination, so even the veterans had to be excluded since they hadnt trained regularly with the rest of the troops. Most angels engage in hand-to-hand combat without a second thought. Facing them would be soldiers experienced in coordination. Were facing wasps and ants, but the fact that well have to fight them in melees makes them no different from angels. If there are only that many enemies, we should be able to fend them off. None of this generation of soldiers had any first-hand experience fighting angels, but since they were trained according to their historical records, that should minimize the amount of losses. It was self-evident that the training methodology was very effective. The commander left the support team in the city while ordering the deployment of all active-service soldiers to attack squads to the east of La Colline. They were ordered to be careful not to incite the enemy by straying too far from the city, though. As the centurions set off, the messenger returned from the city lords mansion. The lord wanted to meet, it seemed. The commander left his adjutant in charge then left for the lords mansion. It was fine. There shouldnt be any problems. CH 84 Im grateful that youve come. Please, have a seat. After introducing himself at the lords mansion, the commander was brought to a reception room. While he had at least removed his helmet, he was offered a sofa while he still wore his armor. He wasnt even asked to hand over his sword. This would normally be a severe breach of protocol. Please leave us. If I need anything, I shall ring the bell. Otherwise, no one is to come near this room. The lord cleared the room, then had a knight stand guard outside the door. He may have been the army commander, but it was unheard of for a noble to speak alone with a military man who had no noble blood. Youve seen them, havent you, commander? Those insects hovering in the eastern skies. Do you believe they have something to do with the catastrophe? Ah, theres no need to be on guard with me. Ive heard the news from the capital about its birth. The commander let out a sigh of relief. It would have been difficult to discuss the handling of those monsters without being able to touch on the topic of the catastrophe. Based on the prime ministers response, he may have to abandon this city in order to focus on defeating the catastrophe first. He didnt know whether the lord would agree with that decision, but being able to share information freely was a huge boon. If they are unrelated to the catastrophe, then your forces will have to prioritize the catastrophe over my city. Am I wrong? I cant say anything for certain yet. At present, I have relayed the situation here at La Colline to the prime minister, and now I am waiting for his orders. I see Regardless, I am thankful. Given your position, Im sure you would like nothing more than to pass right through here and get to Erfahren even one second faster. Not at all, this is simply the situation. We only do what we must My apologies While things were quiet right now, the commander had visited this city before in the past, and he had felt that it was both a peaceful town and also full of energy. It was far from monster territory, and it was located at the intersection of many roads, which meant that it was easy to start a business. However, none of that had explained how bright its residents were. No matter how ideal the location was, if those in power were greedy or tyrannical, the people could never have smiled the way they did. He felt it again when seeing the lords mansion. Although this would be his first time meeting directly with this particular lord, he noticed that the size of the estate was far smaller and the number of knights on guard far fewer than what he would expect of a typical local lord. The number of servants appeared to be comparable, but there should have been many more knights. Were those knights off on some errand, then? In all likelihood, they were out patrolling the city, helping to assuage the citizens fears, and monitoring the status of the monsters. The commander had come to the mansion immediately when he was summoned, but if he had delayed, perhaps he would have seen those knights cooperating with his men. The commander wished to cooperate as much as possible with this lord within the limits of the authority he had been granted. Prime Minister OConnell wasnt a particularly close-minded person, but he was responsible for the health and interests of the entire kingdom. If it came down to it, he could be forced to abandon this region in order to safeguard the country. The commander himself was not just a soldier but a general tasked with defending the land. If the prime minister made that decision for the countrys sake, he would follow his orders without complaint, resolutely turning his back on this city in order to accomplish the mission. And the lord understood all of this as well. I know you and your men must be exhausted from the long journey, and we would like to show our appreciation for your efforts, but the situation wont allow it. This is La Collines greatest shame. No, please, you neednt lower your head to me. As you said, the situation is what it is Suddenly, a clear knock came on the door. Since it almost sounded like a door knocker, it must have been one of the knights using the back of their gauntleted fist. The knight had been told not to let anyone through, but he was now deliberately interrupting them. The commander and the lord exchanged glances. Whats wrong? Did you need something? Sir! Weve spotted a messenger from the expedition army. There may be an emergency for the comman Right then, a dull sound rumbled through the mansion, almost like a bolt of lightning had crashed down far away. More unidentifiable noises sounded intermittently, giving rise to a feeling of uneasiness. What was that?! What happened?! The door promptly opened accompanied by a panicked shout. Pardon me! Commander! The wasps have begun to move! Which meant whatever those sounds were, they had provoked the wasps. What could have produced those noises? My deepest apologies, my lord. I must go out to the city. Im sorry; were counting on you! My knights are also out there, and they will cooperate to follow your orders! Use them as you need! You have my thanks! Until we meet again! After leaving the mansion, the noises became much louder. He could see smoke rising into the sky from the east. He wanted to hurry over there as soon as possible, but all the citizens running around panicked made that nearly impossible. The commander somehow pushed his way through the crowds and ran through the city, noticing that there were people other than screaming residents mixed into the confusion. They were members of his army. The youngest soldiers. They were on the support team, and these ones had been stationed in the eastern side of the city. It exasperated him that they werent helping the people around them, but they had never received any formal training either. Until very recently, he could have also expected them to have been caught up in this panic. Hey! Whats going on?! he yelled at a soldier he was able to catch. A-Ants, sir! The ants are shooting rocks Ants? The ones the wasps were carrying?! Yeah, those ones! Those ants fire black rocks that suddenly explode at the city fire Right, the wasps were carrying ants. He had frivolously thought that they had attacked some ant nest somewhere and taken ants as prizes. He didnt really think about what the relation between the ants and the wasps were. He was completely wrong. That wasnt a swarm of wasps holding ants. It was a swarm of wasps transporting ants, in order to orchestrate an attack from the sky. The commander had never heard of monster ants that could shoot exploding rocks. They should be a completely different race from the wasps. But there was such a huge swarm Thats impossible This situation would normally be unthinkable unless something had subdued both the ants and the wasps and now commanded them both. The only thing capable of such a feat was This has to be the work ofthe catastrophe The tremor-like noises continued to go off even now. Nothe commander had already stopped moving, but the sounds were getting closer. In other words, this was the sound of those exploding rocks. Even though he could hear them clearly, he simply could not conjure up an image of what was actually happening. At some point, the soldier he had grabbed ran off. But in this situation, there was nothing they could do. Maybe it would be better if they all fled. Anyway, he had to link up with the main force that was outside the city. He wasnt sure what they could do once he did, but he knew they wouldnt be able to do anything without his presence. The commander took the messenger with him as he hurried to the east. Commander! Theres a bell tower this way! You can look out on most of the city from the top! Unable to make much progress, the commander had felt his impatience reaching its limits when he heard the messenger call out to him. Yes Before they reunite with the main army, it might be best to collect himself and try to get a firmer grasp of the situation first. While the bell tower the messenger had indicated was no fire lookout tower, it was still taller than any of the other buildings in the area. It could at least be used to survey the state of the city. The first thing the commander wanted to do after climbing the tower was confirm the location of the subjugation army. After that, decide the best course of action to take to combat the situation, then make their way to the army. However, none of that was necessary. Outside of the city, the land to the east was all plowed. There was so much land that it distorted his sense of scale, but there was something wrong with those fields of prepared farmland. He couldnt see the main army anywhere out there. No wait, that wasnt outside of the city at all. It was a section of the city. There was no physical boundary between the outside and inside of the city, and about a fourth of all that land had been plowed for seed planting. And now, that area had expanded even further. Off to one side, there were ranks of wasps carrying ants. The ants were shooting black somethings from the ends of their abdomens. Even from far away, he could tell that the objects traveled very fast. As soon as they touched any of the houses in the city, they exploded, scattering fire and organic fragments all over. The line of wasps left nothing behind in its wake. They kept raining rocks down seamlessly, as though being chased by something. There was no hope for the people who had been caught in the middle of all that, but the same wasnt true for the subjugation army. While houses crumbled from a single hit, it was possible for a trained soldier to withstand such an attack. Even now, he saw some pushing aside the rubble and standing up in the citys fields. However, just after they stood fully erect, blood would suddenly spurt from their heads and they would fall flat on their faces. He didnt know what was happening there, but he did know that they were dead. The initial attack of exploding rocks wasnt powerful enough to be fatal to a first-class soldier; the fact that they could take it and immediately get back up was proof that they didnt take a lot of damage from it. But then something else was occurring. As soon as they were standing, they were killed by some unknown attack. But really, even if the soldiers did survive, they lacked a way to oppose the wasps that hovered far up in the sky. At that height, normal magic couldnt reach them, nor could bows. However, the same wasnt true for the insects; none of their attacks would ever be out of range. After all, even once their projectiles used up their initial velocity, they would still fall to the ground. Even if humanity was able to repel the angel attacks, this was the reason they could never be entirely rid of them: They could not attack the flying castle. Angels only ever engaged in melee combat, but if they happened to see and learn from this rout, the thought of them switching tactics to dropping rocks brought only feelings of despair. The commander already knew. The subjugation army had effectively turned into a reserve force running blindly through the city. And, in all likelihood, any survivors would, in the near future, disappear along with the city of La Colline itself. The commander could maybe survive by himself. He didnt know what that strange attack was, but as long as he protected his head, he should at least avoid dying instantly. Perhaps some of the officers and highly skilled troops would be able to figure that out. The lord too. He led those spirited knights, after all. He himself must have been strong as well. And if the lord survived, then his undying bodyguards would too. But that was it. No matter how strong any of these people were, it was impossible to protect the citizens against an attack like this. This city was doomed. The subjugation of the catastrophe failed. Let alone the catastrophe, they couldnt even do anything against its vanguard. How would the kingdom handle the loss of one of its key transit hubs and commerce hubs? It also lost its main military force, its reserves, and its future soldiers in the youths who were conscripted for the subjugation, all in one fell swoop. There was no longer any way to mount an organized resistance to the catastrophe. Speaking of the future If that swarm of wasps flies straight to the capital Even if the nobles survive, what will happen to the people CH 85 After desolating the city of La Colline, Rare had the flying and artillery troops descend. She put the flying/sniper pairs on clean up duty, ordering them to take care of any survivors with headshots. Amazingly, there were a number of soldiers who were able to defend against the sniping. Since they all wore proper armor, she presumed they were knights. Their helmets were effective, too. Not many players they had disposed of in the forest wore helmets. I thought I saw too many military uniforms in there; I wonder if they were reinforcements from the capital? Looks like capital soldiers can respond to saturation attacks and even protect themselves from headshots. But hm, reinforcements seems wrong when I only took down Erfahren yesterday. They couldnt have responded this quickly. So then why would they have sent an army out here? The surviving knights and soldiers took in the devastation and moaned in anguish. But then they also looked up into the sky and glared at the wasps with hate-filled eyes. Since they didnt die from any of the stuff before, if I have the vespoids take them cordless bungee jumping, its possible one of the soldiers could defeat a vespoid in the air. And if they could survive bombing and sniping, then they might even be able to survive a fall from a great height. They could be too much for the ants to handle. The only ones in this city right now were Rare and the aerial squads; they were the only ones who could make it from Erfahren to La Colline in a day. Rare could just take care of the soldiers herself, but she still had forces who hadnt had a chance to shine in real combat yet: the adamantite series. The only thing they had gotten to do so far was be lumberjacks. After this, she planned to head straight for the capital while ignoring the smaller towns, but since she wanted the capital to become a ruins-type territory, she couldnt just carpet bomb the place. So that meant she could have the aerial forces rest for now. Good work. Bring them back into the forest, Rare instructed Sugaru, who used [Summon] on all the ants. So now lets see, three platoons should be good. Still floating in the sky, she [Summoned] three groups of adamantite soldiers at the same time. Since Rare was using the [Light Magic] spell [Camouflage] to hide herself, it would have appeared as though they suddenly materialized in midair. There was no real point to the theatrics, but it was certainly very eye-catching. This was an event, after all, so it was worth putting on a show. The [Summoned] adamantite platoons fell to the ground, causing the earth to shake and kicking up great plumes of dust as they planted themselves in the tilled land. After recovering from the shock of landing, one by one they crawled up out of the ground and ran to engage with the human soldiers. What surprised Rare the most was that the soldiers were able to evade the adamanknights slashes. The players who came to have fun in the great forest would have died from the first attack. After dodging, the soldiers swung their weapons at the adamaknights; these attacks didnt seem hard to avoid, but somehow they ended up finding their marks anyway. The adamanknights were sturdier than the soldiers weapons, so they got away unharmed, but if their opponents had better equipment, the living mail probably wouldnt have been able to win. The soldiers were steadily culled mainly due to an overwhelming difference in pure specs, not from any lack of ability. They had honed their martial skills to this degree only to die because their equipment was so poor Rare lamented that it was truly a waste. On the other hand, she had nothing but praise for these soldiers; first they survived the bombardment unhurt, then they immediately faced off against the adamantite soldiers, trying to stop them from advancing. They were essentially on par with adamanleaders; they were marvellously talented. This also meant that they were about as strong as Yoroisaka was back during the first event. Since there were only three platoons, that meant there were only three adamanleaders as well, each in charge of the adamanknights and adamanscouts in their respective platoons; the adamanmages were providing cover and keeping the battlefield under control. While there werent that many of them, with these knights protecting it, this city would have been much more difficult to conquer using ground forces. It was the right decision to have deployed her aerial forces. But the knights truly were both strong and scarce. Perhaps they were actually formal knights. In which case, if Rares forces didnt kill their master first, then they couldnt truly be killed. If that master was in this city, that would mean they had also survived the bombings. Anyone who had risen out of the rubble was already in combat with the adamantite soldiers. If their master still lived, then they were still buried within the wreckage. Or, perhaps they were already among the knights in battle. The fact that the knights didnt try to find their master and instead dove into battle without hesitation meant that they had absolute confidence in their masters survival. She didnt see any of them awkwardly try to cover any of their comrades, so she didnt think the master had disguised themself among the knights. So, maybe they werent actually in this city. Rare didnt think they would respawn in a destroyed city even if they died here. Just like players, followers would respawn in the last place they had slept, but for NPCs, she wasnt sure what would happen if that place was no longer available.. While Rare idly searched for more survivors from the sky, enough human soldiers died to break the fragile equilibrium, and control of the battlefield fell entirely into Rares hands. Once she returned to the ground, the soldiers and knights bodies had all been lined up. They could wait here for an hour to verify what happened to the knight corpses, but there wasnt much point in that. The master wasnt here, and if the knights respawned somewhere really far away from here, then it would have been a waste of time. She had the adamantite soldiers store the bodies in case they had anything useful on them, then began to think of her next move. I dont have any way to carry you adamandudes, so All you can do is stay here. Ill fly by myself to the capital, then summon you once I get there. [Flight] is really convenient. She took her map out of her inventory to check. It appeared that she could reach the capital by going more or less west from here. She could fly in that direction, look for the road once she got pretty close, then just follow that the rest of the way. It was far enough away that it would take a number of days to walk there, but it would barely take any time by air. The wind felt great. Or thats what shed have wanted to say, but Rare couldnt tell at all from inside Yoroisaka. Her field of vision did let her see everything around her at once, which was wonderful. She didnt want to cause some kind of freak accident by looking down, though. That said, there werent exactly obstacles up here in the sky. Very rarely she would spot birds, but birds didnt spend every second of their lives in the air, and they had their own habitats which they didnt stray far from. But, one bird did catch her eye. It flew quite far below Rare, but she saw it coming from quite far away. Even after passing Rare, it kept flying straight ahead without wavering. It was a small bird. Probably a pigeon. A lone pigeon flying through the sky like this. It wasnt an impossible sight. Most wild pigeons formed flocks and lived together, but that wasnt necessarily the case in this world. Pigeons that flew long distances Well, they could exist. Maybe it had been driven from its home. However, what was more likely was that someone owned this pigeon, and it was being used to deliver messages. In which case it must have a specific destination. And the only thing in its path would be a mountain of rubble. That rubble used to be a city, which meant there was a person there that was using this pigeon to communicate. Curious, Rare decided to catch it. But, sure enough, she used too much power and crushed it. Maybe it would be better to call Ominous here to deal with any more of them. As she examined the corpse in her hand, she saw something attached to one of its legs. So it really was a messenger pigeon. She wanted to take time to read the letter, but she also wanted to avoid wasting time. After coming up with an idea, Rare [Summoned] Ominous and had him fly toward the capital in her place. For now, she dropped to the ground, then came out from Yoroisaka in the shade of a tree. Then she carefully pulled the tube off the pigeons leg so that she wouldnt get blood on herself. Some kind of cloth was stuffed into the tube; after opening it up, it turned out to be larger than she was expecting. What was written on it slightly surprised Rare. But she was also convinced of its veracity. According to the message, the unusual number of soldiers at the last city had been apparently assembled to take out Rare. It said that they were to subjugate a catastrophe, and their ultimate destination was the Great Liebe Forest. Based on a clue she had, the catastrophe had to refer to Rare herself. That clue was the system message from before, when she had reincarnated into a demon lord. One of the kingdoms higher-up NPCs must have also gotten that message. The person who sent this letter was Hierss prime minister, and that wasnt someone that just anyone could meet. Unless the person who received the system message was directly involved in the countrys management, the prime minister would never have heard about Rare. This letter was being sent to a commander, probably the person in charge of that army. Since messenger pigeons could be intercepted by tamed birds of prey, it was foolish to include specifics without encoding the message. That said, this was being delivered within the kingdom, and they werent at war with another country right now. While it could be said that they were at war with Rare, normally they wouldnt have to worry about a monster army having spies. Now she knew why there was such a large army in that city. They had been dispatched to fight Rare, and they just happened to stop by. But since they were met by a huge swarm of wasps, they must have requested new orders. According to the letter, they were supposed to overlook the destruction of La Colline and prioritize taking out the catastrophe. They werent able to defeat Rare, but La Colline did get destroyed, so they were able to follow half of the order, maybe. But they actually sent an army to vanquish me She wasnt sure how they even knew that the Great Liebe Forest was her home, but clearly Rares mere existence was a scourge on the kingdom. And they even thought it would be possible to beat her with only an army of that size. They were completely underestimating her. She really wanted to retaliate. She hadnt actually been attacked yet, but her enemy did in fact raise their fist. Whether or not they decided to follow through and take a swing was up to them, but as far as Rare was concerned, as soon as they threatened to punch, they could no longer complain about being punched first. She didnt actually spend that much time reading and thinking about the letter, but since she had this chance, she wanted to test a skill while also regaining that time anyway. Rare once again donned Yoroisaka, then activated her skill. [Castling: Ominous]. After a second of feeling like she was floating, Rare found herself back in the sky. Rare had exchanged her body with Ominouss, who had flown ahead. She activated [Flight] in a fluster to avoid falling back down to the ground. So thats how it works. Before using [Castling], I should use [Summon Vision] to check where Im swapping to first. But if Im going to do that, then I might as well just use [Summon Caster]. I bet it was designed as an emergency escape-type skill, but I wont have a chance to use it that way. Rare directed Ominous to return to base however he saw fit. If that ended up being too difficult, then he could entertain himself while she finished her errands, then she would [Summon] him to her. She had intended to find the road once she got close to the capital, but it was in clear sight without even having to start looking. Being the center of the kingdom, there were many roads that led out of the city. Rare didnt know if the road directly beneath her was the one that went to La Colline or not, since it twisted and turned all over the place. That was unavoidable, though, since it had to circumvent forests, hills, and traverse rivers. In any case, if they followed the road, they should end up at their destination. She would have to reactivate [Camouflage] soon. Time to conquer the capital and turn it into a city of death. CH 86 <> <> <> Haah It had been completely useless. Even though there were NPCs in that city who were supposed to be guards, they were way weaker than Wayne was. The Erfahren guards were at least as strong as Wayne was now, so he had been hopeful, but those guards were much too unorganized. Considering it more deeply, perhaps that was only natural. If there were monster territory nearby, then people would need to be able to fight to protect the city from those monsters. But without that kind of looming threat, the guards didnt need to be particularly skilled. Its expensive to employ people who were strong, so if there was no need for their strength then no one would hire them. Thus, people who could fight well would relocate to the border towns closer to monster territory instead. Right off the bat, the enemies had set fire to the towns lifeline, the barley fields, which really hurt. The flames were unnaturally fierce, so there had been a dispute over whether to focus on putting out the fire or repelling their foes, and before they knew it the fields had burned up. The officers lack of leadership and inability to clearly decide what to prioritize had resulted in this tragedy. If they had been used to dealing with monsters in an organized manner, it wouldnt have gone so poorly. In the first place, if there were any border towns in the area, they should have already been attacked by monsters for the event. This of course meant that there was a possibility that other cities nearby could also be assaulted. In which case, after the update that changed starting spawn locations to be much safer, the probability of him spawning there should have been very low. That said, when Wayne had to respawn before, there was probably no way of predicting that something dangerous was about to happen. Continuing on, while he had absolutely no idea why a pack of undead would suddenly appear near such a peaceful city, maybe he had been sent to aid players who were based there or something. For those specialized in crafting or other non-combat builds, it may have been unsolicited meddling, but perhaps the admins had been thinking something like that. However, if the event was configured to only react to logged-in players, then why did undead appear there? There werent any other players in the city; the only one there had been Wayne. I wonder if it was my fault Because I had respawned in that wasteland, maybe thats why they No, that couldnt possibly be why. It was simply unrealistic for an event to take into consideration each and every players individual circumstances. Then maybe the undead just happened to spawn there, found Wayne, and chased him all the way to the city. That scenario felt a lot more plausible. But then it still would be my fault No matter how much he might regret it, there was nothing he could do about it now. He had to rein in his feelings and start thinking about what to do from here. The sun steadily climbed up into the sky. This marked the beginning of the second day of the event. This time he had an easier time finding a city. It was daytime this time around. In the light of the sun shining down, the city he spotted had a gorgeous castle, the likes of which he had never seen before, as well as a formidable city wall. At first glance, he thought the wall indicated that he was at a border city, but there would never be a castle as flashy as this one out in the sticks. So this must be the capital. It was the safest place to be right now, which meant it was also the furthest place to be to find event battles. However, he had no other choice but to go there. If he remembered correctly, during the event, there should be a teleportation system that allowed him to instantly travel to a neighboring town regardless of the distance. Using that, he would be able to slowly make his way back out to the border. Once Wayne arrived at the city gate, he was greeted by a cheerful guard. He thought that guarding a gate had to have been boring work, but apparently the guard didnt share that opinion. The man went about his job so enthusiastically it was like he was thanking God for having created gates for him to guard. Following after the guard, whose name was apparently Thomas, Wayne headed for the sellsword guild first. If there were any players here, he wanted to talk to them. As expected of the capital city, the townscape was very picturesque. It wasnt often that he enjoyed simply walking around. When he arrived at the guild, it had a very different atmosphere from Erfahrens more relaxed counterpart. Apparently they shared the building with a restaurant, since there was a very appetizing smell throughout the room. It was still wasnt even noon in-game yet, and Wayne hadnt had breakfast. However, he still felt somewhat full. From a financial standpoint, it would be better if he munched on some shortbread he had in his inventory, although he couldnt say much for the taste. There was nothing to be gained from buying food here. It would simply be wasteful spending. A whiff of lard, the crackle of sizzling. The aroma of burnt sauce. Maybe Illget a light snack. As soon as Waynes feet started dragging him toward the restaurant, he heard the sound of loud footsteps outside the guild, then turned to see a knight wearing extravagant armor enter the establishment. Normally, a fine knight like that would never come to the sellsword guild; something must have happened. He wanted to find out what was going on, but that matter would have to wait; first, Wayne needed to order something to appease his grumbling stomach. While waiting for his food, he was able to check on the knight, who was apparently trying to gather sellswords. He seemed to especially want people who were safeholders. Hey man, sorry to tell ya, but we aint seen any o the safeholders since yesterday. Usually theyre always here messin around at all times o day, but somethin musta happened to em. The knight wanted players for some reason. The ones who hadnt shown up since the day before must have been doing the event, so they had gone to cities closer to the border. Wayne had also come to the guild to see if he could find any players, but it seemed to have been a wasted trip. Not that there was anything that could be done about it now. After his hot food was ready, Wayne pulled money out of his inventory to pay to the woman. Oh? Yer a safeholder? Yeah, I am. I also came here to look for other safeholders, but seems like there arent any here today. As soon as he heard Waynes voice, the knight came over to speak to him. Pardon me! Are you a sellsword safeholder? Uh, yeah, thats right. Is it true that safeholders have a way to communicate with other safeholders, no matter how far apart they are? He must have been referring to friend chat. It could only be used with people already registered as friends, though. Right now, Waynes only friend was the guy he had met in the previous event, Gi1gamesh. However, using the event messaging system, it would be possible for him to call out to the player community at large. Well, youre not wrong. We cant do anything, but Superb! My deepest apologies, but I would like you to accompany me to the castle. There is an emergency! CH 87 She died. She never could have imagined that she would die there. This was her first ever death since the official launch. It was a good experience. She could test out some things she had never been able to before. Apparently when Rare died, all her followers would also die at the same time. And all those followers would respawn after an hour. In other words, she would have to spend the next hour all alone in this huge cave. Since Sugaru had also died, there werent even any ants around. She was worried about the farm. With the ants monitoring it gone, she wouldnt know if something were to happen to it. Since there wasnt as much livestock anymore, nothing that crazy could happen, probably. It was only for an hour. It should be fine for that long. Hm, maybe that was incorrect. The only one respawning after an hour would be Sugaru. If the ants timer only began once Sugaru was respawned, then it would actually be a total of two hours before they all revived. That kind of felt like a long time. And it was the same with Siegs undead. She should really go check on the farm, but she didnt really feel like doing it at the moment. Same with Treu Forest. The only ones there had been treants. In other words, it was completely unattended right now. She also needed to check how far Kerry and the other girls had traveled. She wondered where they would respawn. All she knew was that it wouldnt be here. Well, I could say that it was a good thing this happened. Mm. I was really getting ahead of myself. Im glad it was during this event, since I wont lose any XP. Since I spent a ton of XP on reincarnating myself and World Tree, if I were to lose ten percent now, I dont know what would happen to us. How lucky. Right, Im actually quite fortunate. She could tell her voice was trembling. This was a good lesson, I always need to leave ten percent of my XP fluid. Mm, yeah. Knowing how to hedge risks is essential. Anyway, Im no expert in investing, so I couldnt have really known in advance. As long as I pay attention from now on! Her voice caught on the lump in her throat. This was amazing. Her game avatar could even replicate this feeling. Technology had advanced so far. Nnngh! Uuukghhh It was frustrating. So frustrating that it felt as though her stomach had tied itself into knots. Her emotions were running so raw that she couldnt stop the tears. Her throat was so constricted that she could barely even cry out. She wanted to look presentable and wash her face before her followers respawned in an hour, but was that even possible? If this were the real world, her eyes and face would remain red and swollen until the next day. She didnt have a mirror, so she had no idea how she looked. No, maybe it was better that there wasnt one. If she saw herself now, her miserable crying face would be forever burned into the back of her eyes, an eternal reminder of her failure. Surveying the capital from the sky, what stole her attention from the magnificence of the city walls was the beautiful townscape. Ruining this city meant defiling that beauty. She absolutely couldnt wait. Rare was wondering where would be good to drop off the adamantite soldiers when suddenly Yoroisaka unsheathed the Kenzaki at her waist, the sound of metal on metal ringing out. An arrow had come flying at her. Something like this had happened before, but how did Yoroisaka notice while Rare was oblivious? They should both be sharing the same field of vision. Was it because Rares attention was primarily on the city, or was there some kind of hidden stat outside of vision and hearing? She was also concerned about the attack just now. Rare had hidden herself with [Camouflage] and was hovering in the sky above the capital. In this state, it was nearly impossible for anyone to see her. How were they even able to shoot an arrow at her? When she looked down, a bunch of humans were gathered outside of the city wall. Every single one of them was looking right at Rare. While her eyes did meet with a few of them, oddly enough, most of them felt like they were looking past her. It seemed that some of them definitely could perceive her, but the rest were just copying them and looking up at the sky. This was about the same number of people that she had smacked around in the first event. They must have gotten stronger since then, but that applied to Rare as well. Things were probably going to turn out the same way as they had before. Time to turn them all into XP. But she couldnt forget her objective here, which was to get her hands on the capital. First, she should [Summon] a bunch of adamantite soldiers here in the air and let them fall down into the city. Since Rare could cast [Summon] while flying, no matter how sturdy the city wall was, it would be useless against her. She had also learned how to unleash the [Summon] skill, allowing her to use it on a ton of followers at once. There was a way to select multiple targets to [Summon], but Rare was able to mentally drag the selection box to reach the maximum number of targets. Using it in this way caused all [Summon] skills to be unusable for a period of time, but since she probably wouldnt need to use it again today, she wasnt concerned about the drawback. Rare ordered the adamantite soldiers to take care of the soldiers and knights while doing their best not to destroy any buildings. Thinking of the powerful knights who had been in La Colline, she also gave a strict order to only engage individual knights in groups. After she finished with that, next was to take care of the group outside the city wall. Given the motley arrangement of gear, they must have been a group of sellswords. She saw some who looked like players, but if they were, she didnt know why they were here in the peaceful capital while there was an event going on. Since they already knew where Rare was, she deactivated [Camouflage] to save MP, then descended down to the ground right in front of all the players. She wondered why no more arrows had been shot at her. That meant she couldnt determine who had fired the first arrow. The group of players before her were reminiscent of the group she had pulverised in the last event. While their equipment was indeed far superior, she couldnt imagine they had any metal gear that surpassed adamantite. Even if they did have adamantite weapons, they wouldnt be effective against Yoroisaka as she was now. Compared to before, it seemed that there were only the bare minimum of heavy-armored players, so-called tanks, which worried her, but, well, she may have just been paranoid. So thiss the catastrophe. I cant believe its already invading the capital on the second day of the event Are the admins trying to overthrow the country or something? I cant believe it actually came but maybe this was worth gambling on! If we take out the catastrophe, well get MVP for sure! Well, the NPCs wouldnt lie to us about this, and considering were in the middle of an event, I think it was a pretty good bet, personally. Thats how we got here, with all the top players on the server to boot. And just now, it dropped a ton of undead from above, so its gotta be the undead boss for this invasion. Do we need to worry about those undead? Lawsons group should be in the city, ready to engage them. Just gotta trust theyll be all right. But man, this thing is huge! What is it, exactly? Its an undead, right? Maybe a dullahan or something? While the players chatted, about ten of them stayed there while the rest, who looked like support, fell back. It was a trivial distance, so Rare didnt worry about it. All they probably had were arrows and magic, so as long as she had Yoroisaka on they werent worth worrying about. After she took care of the ten people right in front of her, she could kill the rest at her leisure. It sucks that we couldnt get in touch with Rare, the champion from last time, but whatever. Weve leveled up a ton, so even if a bunch of Rares came at us, we would wipe the floor with them, so even an event boss should be easy with this group. Surprised, Rares eyebrows shot up. Even if a bunch of her came at them, they could win? She wondered if they were saying that seriously. In that case, she would have to correct their misunderstanding. It was time to recreate that exhibition match. Yoroisaka soundlessly approached the man in front with [Flash Step], then unleashed a [Slash] while pulling back. The only one who could defend against this attack to date was Sieg. Plus, Yoroisaka had gone through two reincarnations, so her stats were incomparable to what they had been before. Even if he could repel it, his shield would end up sliced in half. Ahhhhholy crap! If I was paying attention I woulda been offed! But he dodged it. Impossible! If she had been on the defending side, even Rare herself wasnt confident she wouldve been able to dodge it her first time seeing it. Although since it was simply an attack straight from the front, as long as you knew that in advance, it wouldnt be impossible to avoid. That meant that it wasnt the first time for this man. He had seen it somewhere before. Its the same move the champion used! Best to assume this thing can use player skills too! From the previous event. During the battle royale, she did in fact use this combo many times. It was so convenient that she probably overused it, and now it had become ingrained in Yoroisaka. What an unfortunate habit. Next time, she would have to have Deas and Sieg help her practice some kind of non-skill-based technique. However, both last time and this time, since she left everything to Yoroisaka, there was no verbal component that went along with the skill activation. Because of that, apparently the player thought that the entire series of actions was a single skill. In which case, if she used [Flash Step] to connect with a different skill or a normal attack, they might not be able to avoid it. Rare conveyed this to Yoroisaka via friend chat. Just as directed, she used [Flash Step] to close in on a different swordsman, then swept sideways without using a skill. Because of the extreme difference in height, Yoroisakas horizontal sweep must have felt like a three-dimensional diagonal slash to her target. As expected, he couldnt dodge it, and while he was able to thrust his shield up in time, he was sent flying by the attack. It was like a batter hitting a baseball, but while she was able to cut through it, there was quite a lot of resistance, and the cut was deflected. That shield wasnt made of iron. Gil! Im fine! I aint dead! Dammit, I spent a fortune on a magic iron shield, and it got pulverized in one attack! Because the shield was too sturdy to slice through cleanly, apparently the only thing that got cut off was that swordsmans left arm. Things werent going smoothly at all this time. When Yoroisaka had those practice battles with the adamantite soldiers, she was able to move more nimbly. While she was indeed moving better than she had during the first event, was this really all she was capable of in the wake of two reincarnations? Leave it to me! [Medium Heal]! [Regeneration]! Some kind of spell came flying in from a mage in the rearguard. It hit the swordsman who had just lost his left arm and covered him in light. The light expanded to include the shape of his left arm, then, when the light disappeared, the arm was back, just as it was before. The gauntlet that went flying with the arm didnt come back, but all the damage to the player had been neutralized. Healing magic! Ive never seen it before! Since this was a fundamentally multiplayer skill, there was no point in hiding information about it. If Rare had checked the message boards, she should have probably been able to get it as well. This was arrogance. Since she earned the most XP, she already knew about the most skills. But that wasnt true at all. Rare purposely avoided learning a lot of skills, such as melee attack skills. Thus, there must have been countless players who experimented with all the skills Rare had passed up. Rare wasnt the only person playing this game, after all. After this event is over, Im gonna have to explore skill usage again for the first time in a long time. But even before that, Ill need to hit the forums, check up on all the information thats been making the rounds, and after looking at all of that [Lightning]! With a boom, she felt her field of view rock. This was no time to be thinking about the future. Apparently she had gotten hit by a magic attack. Yoroisaka had taken damage. But that wouldnt be a problem. If it was just this much damage, she should naturally regenerate it momentarily. Wait, the problem wasnt the amount of damage, it was the fact that Yoroisaka had even taken damage at all. In all Rares testing, the only thing capable of dealing damage to Yoroisaka was an adamanmage equipped with a World Tree staff. Considering how strong adamanknights were, adamanmages should be as strong as high-leveled mage players. Those same adamanmages needed to have the best equipment available to Rare in order to inflict damage to Yoroisaka, and that player had just done it. She couldnt say that it was absolutely impossible, but it was truly hard to imagine happening. But no, she needed to save her analytical disbelief for later. Right now, she had to deal with these enemies capable of damaging her. That meant she needed to prioritize killing them first. Yoroisaka was already looking at the player who had cast that spell just now, and she used [Flash Step] to get right next to them. However, just before that, suddenly she was submerged in darkness. What the hell?! I cant see! Awright! It worked! Its blinded! Now! She didnt know what was going to happen now, but she had an extremely bad feeling about whatever it was. Rare promptly cast a spell. [Hellflame]! This wasnt the time to be concerned about people hearing her voice. What was that just now?! Who did that?! Generally, AOE magic required visual confirmation of the target area in order to activate. However, there were exceptions. Such as when you yourself were the center of the spell. Every AOE spell allowed only that one exception to successfully cast without seeing. It was kind of inane to have to look at yourself every time you wanted to cast strengthening-type magic, after all. You are casting magic at yourself, so the fact that you know where you are without having to look is a matter of course. Agh! Its fire! Shit! Who cast that?! That wasnt part of the plan! No! It was the catastrophe! It cast the spell on itself! It can do that?! This should burn up everyone within range. However, her vision didnt return. And since she didnt know whether this effect was from a spell, a skill, or an item, she couldnt counteract it either. H-Hey, is everyone all right?! [Area Minor Heal]! She heard the voice of the healer from before, and she also heard words of thanks from all around. That meant that none of the players around her had died. Impossible Rares [Hellflame] was powerful enough to melt adamantite. She had cast that spell knowing that it would deal quite a lot of damage to Yoroisaka. For players with shields that could be cut off with one swing of a Kenzaki, none of them should have been able to withstand it. Actually, why is Yoroisaka mostly fine? She did in fact take damage, but it was a lot less than expected. field debuff saved our asses. It was a pain to set up, but the effect is legit. Good thing we all set up this area in advance and lured the boss here. If we had to fight it normally, this wouldve been totally impossible. Shut up! Dont talk about that! The event boss might have a super intelligent AI! Whatll we do if it comes up with a countermeasure?! A field debuff? That sounded like the [Miasma] skill that Sieg and Deas had. No, this was even stronger than their skills. They said it was a pain to set up. In other words, they had prepared in advance for it to activate in this area. And Rare walked right into it. This was no longer something on the level of letting her guard down or being arrogant. She had been convinced that no one could possibly defeat her either way. She looked down on these players, condescendingly hoping that maybe someone could put up a good fight against her. She was full of herself. And this was the result of that. If it had been a normal fight, then like before, it probably would have been her overwhelming victory. But she had been baited into a field debuff, forced to fight while weakened, allowed all her attacks to be healed, had her sight stolen, and been reduced to this pathetic mess. She was infuriated at her own foolishness. She couldnt forgive herself; it was easy to forgive others, but it was much harder to forgive herself. No, it wasnt actually that easy to forgive others either. She wouldnt let these guys off the hook. She absolutely did not want to lose to them. Rare was an extremely sore loser. If she couldnt see herself, then she just had to let the Kenzakis run wild. They each could see on their own. Its vision shouldnt have recovered yet! And the spell it just cast should still be cooling down! Nows the time! Leave it to me! [Fear]! <> However, right then, Yoroisaka stopped moving. Rare tried to control her, but she wouldnt move at all. By the looks of it, it would be reasonable to assume she had been afflicted by the status effect [Fear]. However, that only applied to Yoroisakait wasnt true for Rare. That was clear from the system message. Even if she was weakened by a debuff, it was inconceivable for the horned Rare to fail to resist [Mental Magic] from a human. However, in reality, she was currently stuck in place. Why was that? In all likelihood, it was because Yoroisaka was her armor, and while Rare had her equipped, she was still a monster at the same time. Therefore, even if she counted as equipment, if either of them failed to resist a status effect, both would suffer the consequences. Considering that even when equipped, Yoroisaka was still able to move independently, this certainly made sense from a gameplay standpoint. In other words, right now Yoroisaka was paralyzed with fear and unable to move as an independent action. I never even considered that! I cant believe there was a drawback like this! But Yoroisaka was supposed to be immune to all [Mental Magic] spells! The catastrophe is stopped in its tracks! [Fear] worked! Even though its been debuffed, how much min-maxing did you do to bust through an event bosss resistance?! Its because of Blind! Targets affected that cant see have lowered resistance to [Fear]! Plus, I used one of my soul stones! I knew this thing was undead! This was news to her. So [Fear] had a modifier like that. But this wasnt something she would have ever realized on her own, since Rare had never gone out into any bright places. She always used [Fear] when it was already dark. She knew that her [Beauty] characteristic boosted [Charm]s effects, but apparently [Fear] had also always been buffed by the environment. Although, since each of them were buffed by different things, there was no point in comparing them to each other. She didnt know what a soul stone was either, but from the name it seemed to have a similar effect to [Necromancy]s [Bind Soul]. [Bind Soul] lets the caster store souls for later use, but that item might function as an expendable replacement for a soul. Yoroisaka wasnt undead but closer to a homunculus or a golem. Both of those beings required the consumption of another soul in order for [Mental Magic] to affect them. Since Yoroisaka and the Kenzakis were immune to [Mental Magic] and couldnt cast magic, Rare hadnt spent any XP on raising their MND stats. All they had was the boost granted by Rares skills. Since they had been further debilitated by the field debuff, of course they would fail a resist roll. The Kenzakis similarly werent responsive; if Yoroisaka failed to resist the [Fear], then it was unthinkable for any of the Kenzakis to resist it either, meaning they were all paralyzed by fear too. Now! All-out DPS! Magic came flying at her from every which way. However, Yoroisaka only took chip damage from it. If they just tanked all the spells and waited for [Fear] to wear off, Yoroisaka probably wouldnt die, but Rare didnt want to do something lame like that. She had decided that these people were all going to die, after all. With both her vision and movement sealed, there was nothing Rare could do from inside Yoroisaka. Considering that they were only blasting her with magic right now, that meant that there should be no one right near her. She assumed no one was in range of the self-destructive spell she had cast at herself earlier. This was no longer a situation where she could be concerned about letting herself be seen. She wanted to crush them with all her might. See them with her own eyes, then rip them apart with her high-level magic. [Whiteout]. Whoa! What the heck?! Whats that light?! I cant see!!! This [Light Magic] spell blinded everyone in an area, although it didnt last very long. Rare used this opening to come out from inside Yoroisaka. She opened the hatch in the back, quickly emerged, then put a hand on Yoroisakas shoulder and crawled up. She used the wings on her back for balance and propped herself up with one foot in Yoroisakas hatch. Something came out! So someone was inside it?! Calm down! This is just the bosss second form! The players had already recovered from [Whiteout]s effects. Its duration was extremely short. This debuff thing was sure putting in some work. If possible, she wouldve liked to have taken care of some people before it wore off, but the spell had actually affected Rare as well. The sun was dazzling. She couldnt open her eyes without squinting, which made it hard to survey her surroundings. Come to think of it, how long had it been since she had been outside with her real avatar? Last time had to have been in the forest, where the trees shaded her from the sunlight, so it hadnt been as radiant. But now, there were no obstacles in the way. Even though the sun had fallen somewhat from its zenith, that didnt change how much she suffered from direct exposure. The only penalty to her vision should have been [Poor Eyesight], but maybe it interacted with [Albinism] to unlock some kind of additional special effect. Wait, thats Sweet Jesus, now thats what I call a queen What is it? There was a boss kinda like that in a really old game. It was the ant queen. Well, that boss looked like an ant except for its wings. More like, isnt that just an angel? So what was behind all the undead outbreaks was an angel all along? I see, so it was an angel It really is too beautiful for words. You cant even say its beauty was sculpted; its so overwhelmingly gorgeous that I can feel it in my soul. Its so lovely that I cant even be jealous Actually, isnt this really bad? If its an angel it wont work on it No, its clearly working. It may look like an angel, but we already know that its undead! Its probably some kind of angel zombie, I bet! Even though this was a battle, they were just happily chatting away. They must have thought they could afford to do that since Rare hadnt done anything yet. But that wouldnt be true for much longer. The sun was still way too bright, but since the players spent so much time talking her eyes had been able to adjust to it. She could at least open her eyes a little bit now. Enough to make out where her targets were. Their front liners werent as far away as she thought theyd be. They mustve thought it would be fine to be this close since their target had been both blinded and paralyzed. Theyll regret letting their guards down. Because Rare originally had [Poor Eyesight], it was hard for her to properly attack enemies who were at mid-range or further away from her. Plus, with her vision further impaired right now, it was much harder for her to aim her magic than she expected. So, she would just have to get up close and beat the shit out of them. Rare swiftly jumped down from Yoroisaka, darted to the closest melee-looking player, and aimed a roundhouse kick right at her neck. Even though she was weakened by that debuff, as long as her opponent was humanoid, the methods for incapacitating a body had been ingrained into her muscles. Actually, speaking of the weakening debuff, Rares regular stats were too high, so it was difficult to control her avatar since it was too responsive. Due to all the long years of training she had gone through, she felt most comfortable moving her body when it hadnt been strengthened with any stats whatsoever. However, even though an avatar closer to her real body would allow her to perform at her peak, this was the game world. A regular person could never compete against a monster whose specs were multiplied by their STR and AGI stats. Most in-game attacks were impossible for an average human to avoid, and given the difference in raw power, even if it seemed possible to turn one aside, a glancing blow would still result in a broken limb. Suppressing her sense of disorientation, her reckless kick was meant to rob her target of consciousness, but instead it robbed the womans spine of its vertical integrity. The unfortunate player crumpled on the spot. She would probably disappear shortly after in order to respawn, but Rare didnt have the luxury of watching the show. Grabbing the fallen players arm before she hit the ground, Rare haphazardly tossed her in the direction of the mages in the rearguard. The flying corpse, thrown with her ridiculous STR stat, spun wildly in the air; after it had gone far enough to turn blurry in her eyes, it turned into light and disappeared. The system must have respawned them. Tch! This thing is way stronger than she looks! I thought shed be a mage-type! What kind of angel bludgeons people to death?![1] Did the Fear already wear off?! Her status effects probably cleared when she came out of the armor! Anyway, front liners, get as close as you can! Dont let her move around so much! Rare dashed toward the voice who shouted just then, cracking open her eyelids just a bit when she got near to check their position. She dropped her hips, then drove her palm right into the center of her targets trunk. In the real world, she wouldve broken her hand with this move, but the Rare here with her ludicrous stats would never lose a joust like this. However, the place her palm strike hit was much softer than she anticipated and her hand pierced right into the players body, momentarily stopping her in place. The other players werent about to let that opening slip them by. Something came flying at the side of her face, but because of her nearsightedness, Rare couldnt tell exactly which direction it had come from. She twisted instantly with her arm still inside the other player, pivoting him to be used as a shield against the projectile. [Fear]! <> It was no use. [Mental Magic] wouldnt work on a demon lord. It didnt work! God dammit, but the leader! Shit, she blocked the Squid Ink Ball! But now we know for sure! We need both Blind and the field debuff in order for [Fear] to land! No, wait! I used six soul stones on that first cast, but Ive only got four left now! They might not be enough! They were wildly off base, but she had no obligation to correct them. The six soul stones must have been used for each of Yoroisaka and the five Kenzakis. But she did learn something useful just now. The thing that was thrown at her was the same thing that had blinded Yoroisaka. They called it a Squid Ink Ball. It must have come from the ocean. Once this was all over, maybe she should head there herself. [Lightning Shower]. As thanks for the information, Rare glared in the direction of the voice who had cast [Fear] and unleashed some AOE magic in recompense. Since her accuracy would tank when she couldnt see her target clearly, it was next to impossible for her to hit someone at mid-range with magic. However, AOE spells could somewhat cover for that in exchange for larger MP costs. Since the range of her vision stopped a bit before being able to see the source of the voice, that was where she was forced to cast her spell. Because of that, she couldnt hit them directly, but based on the cries she heard, it seemed she had barely caught them inside the area of the magic. Gaaah She got MentaiList! Even weakened, she can still one-shot the rearguard She aint a warrior-type or a mage-type! Shes stupid strong enough to be either! Rearguard, you guys back up even more! [Area Minor Heal]! Apparently other players also got caught in her spell, so someone had cast AOE heals within that area. However, that was a bad move. From the start, Rare had only heard one voice casting healing magic. In other words, they probably didnt have another healer. In which case [Snowstorm]! [Prominence]! [Earthquake]! [Hurricane]! Before their AOE heal cooled down, kill them all by piling on spells. Rare was prepared to hit herself by casting them with her own position as the nexus. It was the quickest way to cast them consecutively. This way she didnt have to squint to designate a position in order to cast the spell each time. Aside from the damage from her own spells, her skin had been feeling prickly for a while now. That must be due to her weakness to sunlight. She couldnt afford to waste any more time; she needed to finish this up quickly. Unless they had somehow managed to slip in a heal between one of her attacks, all the players near her should have been wiped out. She could have perhaps cast an even more powerful spell instead, but since she herself would be at the center of it, she wasnt sure if she would have been able to withstand it. Plus, she still hadnt taken any real damage from an enemy yet. After getting rid of all the front liners, the rearguard would probably start pelting her with magic, but she really couldnt imagine such a barrage doing more damage than she had already done to herself with her own spell. She could ride it out. Between all the offensive spells, the healer did cast some heals, but their AOE heal must have been on cooldown. Even if they were able to heal, it would only affect one or two people at a time. If that was all, then she could leave them alive and not run into any problems. However Rare wondered why this player she gutted hadnt respawned yet. He was convenient as a shield, and even after she switched to mainly casting magic she had just kept him around, but she wondered exactly how long he intended to decorate her arm. Just as she thought it was about time to pull out her arm and throw him aside, she felt someone else cling to her waist. If she remembered correctly, this was the guy whose arm she had cut off, a player named Gil. He had taken on the rare tank role in this raid. Just as a tank should, he must have had a lot of stamina in order to stay alive for this long. Well, no, even putting the weakening effect aside, Rares magic was powerful. Which meant that between Rares casts, the healer was deliberately healing this guy But why? Now! Break it!!! he suddenly yelled. With Rares vision, she couldnt really tell, but the rearguard players were doing something quite far away. Then she heard what sounded like a crystal shattering, and suddenly her body became a lot heavier. She knew exactly what this was: the field debuff. But why did it get stronger all of a sudden? At the same time, it felt like strength was being drained from her body. She almost couldnt stay standing. The man holding onto Rares waist came loose and his feet began to drag on the ground. He was probably dying. This wasnt just a debuff; it probably also drained LP. And unlike before, it also affected the other players now. That was why this Gil person also died. And this dead body hanging onto her arm was heavy; Rare was forced onto one knee. This was why he didnt respawn. She had to escape from this field as soon as possible. It wasnt dealing damage, but it was reducing her maximum LP instead. And the damage she had already taken before this new effect wasnt being maintained as a percentage of her current LP, it was a fixed value of LP lost. That was probably the primary reason for Gils death. And Rare had taken a huge amount of damage from her own spells. Furthermore, she had been also been debilitated by that powerful weakening effect. Her LP was already in the red zone, and she only had a sliver left. To make things worse, the [Light Burns] from her Albinism were starting to gradually shave even more LP off. This was bad. But the man at her feet was in her way, and she couldnt even take a single step. God, his armors so heavy. But in the worst case, I can just use [Castling] No, wait, she couldnt. Before she got here, she had frivolously used it up, and it had a 24-hour timer. She also couldnt use [Summon Caster] to escape. There was still more time before she could use any [Summon]-type skills. Plus, with all these corpses coiled around her, she didnt even know if she would be able to activate it. Everything she had done today ended up backfiring on her. This was all because of her arrogance, because she didnt consider the consequences of her actions. It was galling, but she had to run away. She could just cast high-level magic from the sky to carpet-bomb the entire area. She used [Flight] to float up in the air and used all her strength to shake off the corpse on her arm. At that moment, her eyes swept across his face. She knew him. He was Suddenly, she felt the sharp tang of bloodlust. She spun around reflexively. Right before her eyes, there was an arrow. Oh right, someone fired an arrow at me right at the start It would probably pierce her right between the eyebrows. A headshot. <> <> Authors notes The only thing I had decided before I started writing this chapter was that Rare would die. If that hurts your impression of this chapter, I think thats a fair response. Thank you very much for reading. The ones who benefit the most from the reduced death penalty are the ones at the top. This is a game where the more experience you gain, the greater the cost of dying becomes, so since the top players cant afford to die, as they get stronger, they also become more careful. At least, the players who have experienced death do. The admins would never directly interfere in the game, but if they ever felt that progression was stagnating, they could use these kinds of bonus weeks to help stimulate things. Theyll record the data on the reduced death penalty during this event and probably refer to it in the future. Tomorrows chapter will be even longer than todays, which I am very sorry about, but itll be another single story. For the most part, itll be the events that led to todays story in a Pythagosomething Switch[2] type of thing, it wont be the next part of the story. TL notes The name of this chapter is ֪ζ. The first part, ֪, is an old poetic rendition for tears; from what I understand, its kind of archaic Japanese, i.e. the construction doesnt make sense in modern Japanese, but it roughly translates to the rain from ones own body. So all together it would be either the taste of tears or the taste of rain from ones own body; as an English title, though, the first one is boring, and the second makes no sense. I decided to go with a more abstract English title to try to retain that feeling of poetry. [1]: ֤Ǔ䚢Ƥʹ裡; not sure if this was supposed to be a reference, but 䚢ʹ pretty clearly brings to mind Dokuro-chan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bludgeoning_Angel_Dokuro-Chan [2]: Pythagora Switch is a Japanese educational TV program that features Pythagorean devices throughout the show, which are more commonly known as Rube Goldberg machines in American English. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PythagoraSwitch CH 88 Wayne never imagined that he could ever visit the royal castle. Of course, other games also had places like this, but in this game, the level of craftsmanship was on a completely different level. Just from seeing the outside, he already thought that it was majestic, but the inside was just as magnificent. Wayne followed behind the knight, steadily going up and further into the castle. The hallways were vast and winding; he didnt think he would be able to find his way back out on his own. During this event, it might even just be faster for him to die and revive outside. If he had known this might happen, he would have gone to an inn in the castle town to log out momentarily first, but if he were to die now, hed just be playing roulette again. At some point, he started suffering the piercing stares of the people they passed. Sellswords probably werent supposed to come into this area, he speculated. Wayne didnt know why he was being brought all this way, but whoever called for him must have thought that a single knight would be able to keep him under control. As far as he could tell from the way the knight carried himself, that idea wasnt wrong. The knights from the capital certainly were powerful. Pardon the interruption! I have brought one safeholder with me! They had finally arrived at a massive door. The knight knocked on it, received permission to enter, and opened it to step inside. Wayne came in after him. Hello there Ohh, Im glad youre here, Lawson! You were only able to find one safeholder? Yes sir. It appears that none of them have shown up at the guild since yesterday. I see. I have heard that many more safeholder sellswords are helping to defend the border than usual. Perhaps they had already started heading out that way yesterday. The capital is currently peaceful, after all. This appeared to be a reception room. Wayne was shown to a soft-looking sofa. As he sat down, he was immediately offered some tea. It must be awkward for there to be a reception room this deep in the castle; he wondered when exactly they got to use it. The attendant-looking person who served the tea bowed politely then exited the room. First off, thank you for coming. My name is Douglas OConnell, and I have been appointed the prime minister of the Kingdom of Hiers by His Majesty. I am pleased to make your acquaintance. He was the prime minister. A huge VIP. Not someone who would meet directly with a lowly sellsword. Why did he want Wayneplayers to be brought to him? Ah, umm, Im Wayne. I dont have a family name. Im a sellsword. Its nice to meet you. Indeed. Mister Wayne, Im sure you think it strange that youve been brought all this way. I do. Currently, monsters are assaulting cities all across the kingdom. We are struggling to come up with a response; I myself have been working all night. The I didnt get any sleep excuse! Wayne often made the same complaint to his VR coworkers, but he never would have expected it in a game world as well. He felt a strange sense of affinity with the prime minister. The cities under assault definitely referred to the current event. Wayne nodded. However, we actually believe that this incident truly began about ten days ago. What was he talking about? This was news to Wayne. The event should have only started yesterday. Maybe the admins started preparing the event ten days ago? That was probably about when they announced the event details, or maybe that happened a bit later. Ten days ago, the patriarch of the Holy Church of Hiers declared that he had received an oracle. You mean like a message from God? That is correct. Oracles are mysterious divine words from God delivered to the patriarch and his bishops that provide insight about the world. Insight about the world. It felt like that referred to system messages. Since Wayne didnt remember getting any system messages himself, maybe this was a way to specifically warn NPCs about events. In this last oracle, we were informed of the birth of a new threat to humanity. A threat to humanity. Since Wayne didnt appear to know what that meant, the prime minister explained in detail. The threats to humanity were the six special monsters scattered across the world, each one possessing enough power to destroy entire continents. Since it was impossible to fight against them with the meager might that humans had, they became known as catastrophes. Their number included things like a true vampire and a greater demon, but this kingdom had only ever had to deal with the archangel. That said, the archangel never showed itself, only the angels would come down to randomly attack the capital and the larger cities. And now a seventh catastrophe had been born. We believe that this event triggered the monsters indiscriminate invasion. That made sense. So the oracle really was in preparation for the event. This seventh catastrophe or whatever was the true villain, and the oracle was the flag signifying that the event was coming. The true invasion thus began yesterday. The reason the safeholders all disappeared yesterday was likely because they went to provide assistance to the border cities, am I wrong? Wayne nodded. His guess was more or less correct. Wayne was only in the capital himself by happenstance. His inn had been destroyed, so he had wandered around until he got here. So thats what happened. You were at Erfahren I see. From those words, it seemed the prime minister already knew that Erfahren had been lost. It had now been one day since that had happened. Wayne had no clue where Erfahren and the capital were in relation to one another, but if they used something like messenger birds, then it made sense that theyd be able to receive information about faraway places. However, that was unrelated to why Wayne had been summoned here. The only places under attack were at the border, so it was out of the question for the capital to come under fire. Since he had been told it was an emergency, he thought they might know something about the safety of the city, but why now? This makes the explanation easier. The seventh catastrophe was actually born near Erfahren, in the Great Liebe Forest. Wayne was stunned. But at the same time, he also felt that it made sense. The ants that surged out of the great forest and descended on the city were extraordinarily powerful. They shouldnt have come from an overworld dungeon with tons of beginners that had earned the nickname the Great Learning Forest on the forums. The only monsters that appeared in that forest were weak ants and goblins, and for some odd reason players always got killed if they farmed more than a certain number of enemies. Thats why it was very popular lately with new players as a tutorial dungeon for developing a sense of when to quit, and for learning the basics of combat. All of the above led to Erfahren housing a lot of newbies. There was also the rumor that Wayne had spread, that Rare, the winner of the last event, farmed in this forest, which occasionally attracted top-tier players and stalkerish people like Wayne. Well, not that he was a stalker himself, of course not. And a giant army of bloodthirsty ants overran such a laid-back location. The city was leveled in the blink of an eye, and all the players and NPCs were probably killed. The players probably respawned all across the kingdom. Im sure you already know, but Erfahren was decimated in an extremely short amount of time. At the same time, the city of Lourdes, which was a relatively short distance away, was swallowed whole by plant-type monsters and has now disappeared. Even though the two cities were attacked by completely different types of monsters, they both fell at nearly the same time, so while there may be no direct link, its also difficult to conclude that there was absolutely no connection. The prime ministers conjecture made sense. Because of the event, monsters were hitting various cities along the border, but the reason for that, the key, was the event boss monster, which was this catastrophe. And so, that was yesterday, and here we are today. The city of La Colline, one of our important trade hubs that is quite far from the border, was besieged by a large army of giant wasps. Apparently each wasp carried an ant, and those ants fired unknown projectiles from the sky, thus felling La Colline. It was those ants. The wasps had carried those cannoneer ants to conduct a siege. In this world, people didnt think about flying in the air, so air bombing was a completely alien concept to them. He didnt know how big this city was, but no matter how big it was, it was lost. I think those were the same ants that were at Erfahren. So they really were If those ant-type monsters that attacked Erfahren came at the behest of the disaster, then this is now evidence that its hand has stretched all the way to La Colline Uh, this La Colline place, is it near here? If it only fell today, then it hasnt been that long since it did, right? Even if that wasnt the case, getting information via bird meant that unless the wasps were a lot slower than the birds were, the capital could have been attacked while they were only just receiving the latest news. However, he couldnt see any signs of the capital being attacked from the road, so perhaps the catastrophes forces had gone in a different direction. No, it takes about eight days to get there on foot, nine for an army on the march. On a fast horse, it would still take at least two days. Then did you get this information via messenger bird? No. We did send a pigeon, but we didnt know about the destruction at that point in time, and we never received a reply. We learned about the attack via another method. The prime minister paused. Actually, about nine days ago, we formed a catastrophe subjugation force, and they were headed for the Great Liebe Forest. Nine days ago, that was likely the day after the patriarch had received the oracle. Meaning as soon as they heard the oracle, they immediately put together this army. The leadership of this country must have been either incredibly decisive or horribly cornered to have made such a swift decision. Catastrophes must just be that terrifying to the NPCs of this world. That army was just wiped out. With La Colline. Wha The last message I received from the army commander came this morning via pigeon. In it, he said that the wasps were spreading out all over La Colline and asked if he should prioritize the subjugation of the catastrophe or the defense of La Colline. So thats how he found out about it. But that meant that this morning, all he knew was that the wasps might begin attacking La Colline. He had no proof that the city had been destroyed. I was distressed over how to respond, and decided to tell him to hurry to the Great Liebe Forest, even if he had to abandon La Colline, in order to defeat the catastrophe. At that point in time, I believed that there were only wasps, and that the catastrophe itself was still in its nest. Im not sure I would agree. Isnt it possible that it came to lead its troops in battle? Youre right, of course. However, there is a rule of thumb. I spoke of the other catastrophes earlier, correct? Of the six, our kingdom has only fought against the angels. The catastrophe that controls those angels is the archangel, but it never leaves its flying castle under any circumstances. Since anyone who has ever seen it is dead, there are rumors that it has never been sighted, but at the very least I know of no records in any country of the archangel ever setting one foot outside the flying castle. Our seventh catastrophe has only just been born. Wouldnt it follow that it likely wouldnt make the decision to needlessly leave its own castle? That made a certain amount of sense. But from a game event perspective, Wayne wasnt sure if that would necessarily be true. Since all the players were scattered across the continent, he questioned whether it would make sense for the event boss to hole up in some remote backwater forest. I understand But still, all you know is that the subjugation army has, um, abandoned the city of La Colline, right? You dont actually know if the city was destroyed. Mmm As a safeholder, you may already know about this, but we of noble rank are able to have what are known as followers in our employ. Yes, Ive heard. Then I shall eschew the detailed explanation. When followers die, they will revive in the last place they awoke from sleep after one hour has passed. You know this? Right. If he remembered correctly, this was written in the official FAQ. However, the conversation topic just jumped again. Wayne wondered how this was relevant to La Colline being destroyed. Three of my follower knights traveled with the subjugation army. All three of them were specially trained to constantly observe one another, and they were only chosen for this mission after completing that training. The three knights also carried a months supply of a special potion. Wayne still didnt see where this was going. This potion has the effect of causing severe insomnia. No matter how long the march took, my knights would never fall asleep. So if they died during their travels, they would revive in the last place they awoke, which would be here in the capital. Wayne gawked; he had no words. They would go that far? No; of course they would. This was their world. This was the country that they lived in and protected. My knights just revived earlier and delivered their report to me. About the destruction of La Colline, and about the possibility of the catastrophe raiding the capital. So the source was as reliable as can be. It was just like how players used friend chat and forums to share information, except that since NPCs didnt have access to those, they invented this unbelievable method of indirect long-range communication. But then, if the knights had already returned from death and delivered this information, why did the prime minister need to find players? Wayne truly wondered what he wanted from him. So, Mister Wayne, this is my request to you. I would like you to gather as many of your comrades as you can here in the capital. There is a very high chance that this will be the catastrophes next target. And it will come itself. Wha! How What is your basis for that belief?! Yes The prime minister signaled Lawson, the knight from before, with his eyes, who then brought over a large map. It appeared to be drawn on parchment; he spread it out on a low table, and the prime minister pointed at a certain spot. Here. This is the Great Liebe Forest. And over here is the city of Erfahren. It was Waynes first time seeing an actual map, so he didnt know the country looked like this. After having it pointed out, he recognized the area. That was indeed what the city looked like. Then again, the city was now gone, so they would have to update this beautiful map. And this is where La Colline is. Given that the same monsters appeared at both La Colline and Erfahren, we can assume theyre the same force, in other words, all part of the catastrophes army. Look here, Erfahren is west of the Great Liebe Forest. And further west of it is La Colline. Meaning theyve been marching west in almost a straight line. This was in fact the case. And speaking of, the capital was the next city on that line. That was what the prime minister wanted to show Wayne. Next, regarding the possibility of the catastrophe accompanying its forces this time. My knights did not perish along with La Colline; to be precise, they died afterward. La Colline was decimated by attacks from the wasps and ants, but those attacks ultimately only destroyed the city itself and, heartrending as it is, the townspeople and the inexperienced soldiers. The experienced soldiers from the army and the knights did not die in that offensive. Perhaps seeing that the insects were unable to defeat these survivors, after that, the wasps and ants suddenly disappeared. We dont know where they disappeared to, but whats certain is that they were indeed gone. Wayne nodded in understanding. The prime minister continued. The problem is what comes next. Suddenly, in the sky above the knights, a group of undead materialized and fell down to the ground. These undead were terrifyingly powerful, and they immediately crossed swords with the men who withstood the attack on the city. I was told that they could not even leave a single scratch on them. Even Wayne had heard rumors of these monsters. Extremely overpowered undead knights could sometimes appear in the Great Liebe Forest. If the catastrophe was indeed born in Liebe, then the ants and the undead were both undeniably under its control. After Wayne relayed this, the prime minister nodded. I see. Then they are unmistakably the catastrophes underlings. But how does this lead to the catastrophe being there in person? A fair question. But think: Normally, it would be impossible for undead to materialize in midair. If they came out of the ground, then there are other explanations, but midair? How else can you explain that phenomenon? The prime minister was right; it was incredibly unnatural. Instead of simply accepting that they materialized out of the ether, its much more convincing to believe that there is a creature that can hide itself from the naked eye, float in the air, and summon other monsters. In fact, monsters that can become invisible do exist. We have also confirmed the existence of monsters that can summon hordes of undead. And for the swarm of wasps that could travel from Erfahren to La Colline in less than a day, if the catastrophe accompanied them, then naturally it is equipped with the ability to fly. If it is indeed a catastrophe, then it is feasible for such a being to possess all of these abilities. On the whole, what the prime minister proposed sounded preposterous, but after hearing him explain every piece one by one, it actually became more and more believable. And that helped Wayne convince himself logically that it was possible for a catastrophe like this to exist. Because the wasps ended up leaving the battlefield, Im uncertain if it intends to attack the capital with them. If it felt like it, it could summon those undead that even my knights cannot match. But at the very least, I believe that there is an exceedingly high chance that the catastrophe has vacated the Great Liebe Forest and traveled west toward here. The prime minister took a sip of his tea. Wayne noticed for the first time that his throat was incredibly dry and followed suit. The tea had long lost its heat. So, you want to use the play safeholders information network to gather a force here in the capital. That is correct. Wayne contemplated whether it was possible to get a large number of skilled players here in the capital; he never even thought of refusing. He remembered that nameless town from last night. If Wayne had been stronger, maybe he could have saved it. His lack of power was the same now as it was then, but he had a chance to do something about it this time. I understand. Im not sure what Ill be able to do, but Ill give it a shot. [Event Boss] Come To Hiers Capital ASAP! [Confirmed] 1: Wayne Theres a really high chance that the event boss will attack the Hiers capital. Source is the prime minister NPC If anyone can come, pls meet in the capital. 2: Monkey Dive Sasuke moron. only day 2. 3: healthyunpeelable If it respawns a bunch of times, then its not weird for it to show up on the 2nd day, but 4: Amatane >>1 how did u meet w/ a bigshot like the prime minister? 5: Wayne >>4 Right now, theres barely any players in the capital. When I went to the sellsword guild, there was a knight looking for players, and since I happened to be the only one there he brought me to the castle. Thats where I heard the details, probably a good chance a boss monster called a [Catastrophe] will be here 6: Monkey Dive Sasuke ur story is so messy THREAD OVER 7: nameless elf >>5 Did you hear about this [Catastrophe] from His Excellency? 8: Wayne >>7 Yea Apparently there are six catastrophes across the world, and the event boss this time is the 7th one It was born 10 days ago in the east part of the kingdom in the Liebe dungeon, then when the event started it marched straight west Day 1 was Erfahren, this morning was La Colline, next is the capital Probably today 9: MentaiList >>8 i saw it in another thread erfahren gettin zerged is true lacolline gettin rekt is true no official map so dunno if the capital is realy next but well hes convincing 10: nameless elf Adding on that I can confirm the [Catastrophe] stuff Im in Portrie, and one of the big wigs in the church here did a speech in the capital city I think theres a thread about it somewhere A lotta countries got the same spiel And that happened 10 days ago I think They said it was the east part of Hiers, so the place matches 11: healthyunpeelable Srsly? Or maybe a buncha bored players are just trolling every1 12: Wayne Its not a lie Seriously theres no time I need people to come pls 13: Orinki >>9 i saw that thread too, but damn, it sounded like erfahren got seriously fucked up erfahrens that place in hiers with the beginner/newbie dungeon, but it totally got zerged by ants and trashed in just a few hours at first people were all spamming LETS GOOO, but then it all changed to SHIT, then nothing for a while, then just where am i their inns got bombed and they randomly respawned i guess the city wall and the houses and everything got totally leveled 14: Monkey Dive Sasuke >>13 o wait wut u mean dungeon dis game has shit like dat? 15: MentaiList by newbie dungeon you mean the great liebe forest? admins never made an announcement about it according to the investigation team, no matter how many monsters are killed they always respawn, no many how many items you find there are always more, but get greedy and you get killed and sent back to town, so they figure its a stealth update beginner friendly content patch even if you get sent back, you never have less xp than when you started, so its super fair the balance is so ocd its godly, they must have a bunch of special ais running it the entrance is easy to miss but the road to get there is nice and easy 16: Amatane make a new thread if u jus chatting >>12 if true then u in some srs shit, but the real problem is how we get to capital rn, theres no way rite? 17: CountryPop >>1 If its all true, isnt it at best only a possibility? Even if we can somehow get there, the capitals so far from the border what do we do after? 18: Wayne Please Im serious, please If the catastrophe comes then Hiers is toast 19: Wayne Anyone 20: Gi1gamesh Heeeeeeeeey? WHY DIDNT U ASK ME Im gonna cry DDDDDDDDDD: 21: Amatane >>20 hey its gi1gamesh yr u here 22: Orinki >>21 whos that? 23: MentaiList >>22 best tank on the server currently didnt you say you finished defense on first day of the event already? in another thread 24: Gi1gamesh >>21 Cuz Waynes my friend >>23 I sure did Defense squad turtled while attack squad took out mobs, cake 25: CountryPop Srsly? Still a week left what u gonna do now? Lol 26: Gi1gamesh >>25 We gonna save the kingdom now, yeah? 27: healthyunpeelable Amg hes so dreamy 28: Wayne Gil, sorry I forgot Can you come help 29: Gi1gamesh >>28 We friends right? You killjoy just leave it to me 30: Yoichi Sounds fun Gimme a couple shots too 31: Amatane now its nurse yoichi huh 32: healthyunpeelable At least he sounds cool lol 33: nameless elf But he looks like shit lol 34: MentaiList but his skills are THE shit (srsly) 35: CountryPop More like when did all these top rankers take over this thread? Everyone here made it to the championship last time right >>1 Never heard of this guy though 36: Wayne Im just a regular player Defense lost on the first day, inn got wrecked, random respawn. Another city got destroyed after that, random respawn again. Finally made it to the capital but there werent any other players here I cant do anything by myself I need everyones help 37: healthyunpeelable U seriously wiped on day 1 38: Gi1gamesh I wanna come help, but seriously how am I gonna get to Hiers capital I aint used my event port yet today, but Im outside the country rn One port wont get me to the capital 39: Gi1gamesh j/k, I can make it to the capital I just checked the list of neighboring cities and Hiers capital is there Wasnt there yesterday, wonder why? 40: healthyunpeelable Bug? 41: MentaiList i dont think this game has bugs 42: nameless elf Hold up If it wasnt there yesterday but its there today, doesnt that mean cities that were there yesterday arent there today? Isnt it because some cities got destroyed so theyre not neighboring anymore, and the capital is the next closest? 43: Gi1gamesh That means between where I am now and Hiers, there arent any cities between me and the capital 44: Wayne The prime minister told me Right now, Hiers has lost at least 5 cities 45: Monkey Dive Sasuke wut is this the apocalypse? 46: Yoichi If Gi1gamesh is good, what about everyone else? 47: Monkey Dive Sasuke y u assuming every1 else going but i mean sure ill go 48: MentaiList >>46 i saw yesterday on the event megathread, anything a player is carrying counts as part of the player there were reports that you can carry someone and port, then they can carry you and port back so you have someone with a lotta str and vit carry a buncha people, then switch people in the next townand keep doing that until you get to hiers 49: healthyunpeelable So how many ppl u need 4 that And once u finally get to the capital how many tanks u got left 50: Gi1gamesh >>49 You got me 51: CountryPop Ur seriously some kinda perfect husbando? lol 52: nameless elf There are a bunch of threads gathering people now 53: MentaiList people probably havent noticed so we should go tell them no matter where you end up after all the ports, you can just die to return to your city no death penalty right now so even if the event boss doesnt show up, the only thing we lose is todays event port if you mention that, you can get more people to help, right? 54: nameless elf >>53 I didnt think of that lol Thx 55: Monkey Dive Sasuke cn i link ppl to this thread? 56: Wayne Thanks everyone Thank you so much 57: Amatane u wanna thank someone thank ur friend first soon as he came everyone piled on I somehow managed to convince some people to come here. Wayne had borrowed the sofa in the reception room while he jumped on the forums. He asked an attendant to let the prime minister know in his office next door. You have my most sincere gratitude So, about how many people will be coming? Umm maybe twenty, no, about thirty people are coming. Theyre all many times stronger than I am. Goodness The prime minister said nothing after that, his eyebrows wrinkling together in thought. I apologize, but please wait here for a bit, if you would. Uh, sure. I dont mind, but Um, what should we do with the pla my acquaintances wholl be arriving here? Hm, lets see. Lawson, please greet them. As for what to do once they have all gathered I believe it best to take them to the inner courtyard. Mister Wayne, I apologize, but I would ask you to move to the inner courtyard as well. Lawson will take you there. I shall join you as soon as I speak with His Majesty. After going through that complex hallway again, Wayne was led to the inner courtyard. It had only been a short time, but even still, he felt more collected than when he had first set foot in the castle. He was able to make small talk with the knight guiding him, Lawson. Only because he couldnt stand walking in silence, though. Uhh, Sir Lawson, was it? I wonder what His Excellency is talking to His Majesty about. Lawson abruptly stopped in place, answering without turning around. Mister Wayne Seeing you do everything you possibly could right before our eyes, I believe His Excellency was greatly moved. You should have no reason to exhaust everything at your disposal for the sake of our kingdom, so we too cannot stand idly by. I suspect that is why he sought His Majesty. Oh, is that how it is? Thank you very much. Lawson clearly knew more about the situation, but he wasnt allowed to share everything. Even still, from the deliberate way he spoke, Wayne was certain that Lawson was doing his best to give as many hints as he could. They continued walking in silence and eventually came out into the inner courtyard. Mister Wayne, approximately when will your allies be arriving? And where will I be able to find them? Umm, one of them is already in town. Everyone else will slowly trickle in, I believe. For the time being, should I tell them to meet in front of the castle? Yes, if you could do that, it would be of great assistance. Well then, my apologies, but we ask that you please stand by. I shall wait before the castle then bring your allies here. Wayne had no way to remember how to get back to the reception room from here, nor did he have any idea how to leave the castle either. It went without saying that if left alone here, the only thing he could possibly do was wait. No problem. Thank you for your help. Wayne went back to that forum thread to post the meeting location, then pinged Gil via friend chat. He would just have to wait a bit longer before Gil would be here. They seriously let us into the castle Sorry, I honestly only half believed it. If we start spreading the word about this now, wont we get more people? But theres a soft time limit, or like we dunno exactly when the attackll be coming. If they tried to come now, they might not make it, right? As long as we say that up front, we might as well just put it out there anyway. Amatane, Orinki, CountryPop, healthyunpeelable They were top-tier players that even Wayne knew. They actually came. She didnt post in the thread, but the famous player ThoseWarmHands was here too. She was one of the few healers in the game, having been the first person to discover healing magic skills. After that, more and more players filed into the castle. There must have been over thirty players here. Thank you all so much Itd be a kick in the balls if we actually lost an entire country or whatever. If this ends up being a scam then youre a goddamn son of a bitch, but for now it doesnt seem to be a lie. It was a ninja in full-body black tights. Wayne also recognized him from the championship. I never doubted him. Hes Gilgameshs friend, after all. This came from a gentleman in nurse clothes. It was Nurse Yoichi. He was apparently partied with the black tights player now, Monkey Dive Sasuke. After both losing to the same person in the championship, they had somehow hit it off. Speaking of which, I thought I recognized the name Wayne from somewhere, but werent you the one who leaked that the last champion, Rare, was in the Great Liebe Forest? Right, were you able to get in touch with her? If she were here, Im sure wed have a better chance of beating it. Wayne looked down after hearing Yoichi and Amatanes questions. Rare I dont know. Were not exactly friends. Shes a PKer, and probably doing the event solo. The only reason she got close to Wayne in the first place was to PK him anyway. Not that he would reveal something lame like that. I getcha If thats how it is, not much we can do about it. Goodness, youve gathered so many people Mister Wayne, I am speechless. Prime Minister OConnell had arrived, and behind him followed a number of knights carrying a large object. Since it was covered with a cloth, he couldnt see what it was, but it appeared to be round. From its size, it didnt seem like something that even that many people should have been able to carry, so it must have been quite light. Wait, no, it would make more sense to assume that the knights just had high STR. They were more powerful than Wayne was. If it were light, then one person might be able to carry it alone, but due to balance considerations, two would be sufficient. Ive already spoken to Mister Wayne about this, but The prime minister explained what Wayne had heard previously to all the players in the inner courtyard. I see now; yeah, with all that info, it really does sound likely that itll show up at the capital. After hearing the explanation, Amatane responded as the representative of all the players. Yes. So, with regards to that The prime minister signaled with his eyes, and a knight pulled the cloth off the mystery object. What was underneath was an ominous-looking giant crystal egg that glittered with all the colors of the rainbow, like a prism. None of you are our kingdoms knights, yet you are here selflessly pledging to do everything in your power to help with us. Given the situation, as a kingdom, we cannot simply sit by and watch while doing nothing. Of course, any knights and soldiers remaining in the capital will be joining you in battle, but that is a separate matter. We bureaucrats must also put forth everything at our disposal to be of assistance. The prime minister approached the crystal egg and continued speaking with his hand on it. This is an ancient relic known as an artifact. It is one of our national treasures. You have been allowed to use it as a boon from His Majesty. A national treasure! Did you say artifact?! This is a new type of item Is it really all right for us to use it? After Amatane asked, the prime minister looked back at the players and slowly nodded his head. He then randomly launched into an explanation about the mysterious item. This secret tool has the effect of cursing every creature within a designated area with weakness. Up to ten people can be excluded from its effects by being registered in advanced. The effect lasts for one hour after being activated. The weakness effect strengthens over time. At the start, it is nothing consequential, but as the target remains in the affected area, the effect steadily increases. And thats not all. If the crystal is broken while the weakness effect is active, then the effect will remain for ten seconds beyond that point. However, depending on how much time was remaining when it was broken, the effect will increase severalfold in potencythe more time there was remaining, the stronger the curse becomes for those ten seconds. The curse is also unbiased; it will affect everything aside from the registered people. The effect will, at its strongest, halve all aspects of a creature. This includes lifeforce as well. Therefore, if the curse activates while one is wounded, its possible to cause instant death. This was an extraordinarily powerful item. No wonder it was a national treasure. Basically, against any boss, you could halve its stats for up to ten seconds. But, if the kingdom had something like this all along, why didnt they give it to the subjugation army? If they had it with them, maybe the destruction of La Colline could have been avoided. Why, are you only revealing this now? If the subjugation army had this, they might not have been wiped out An astute question. There is a condition to using this item. It can only be used in specific locations. One of those locations is here, our capital. Oh, so thats But this is a national treasure, isnt it? If it gets destroyed Even if the country was in crisis, he thought it would be overkill to destroy a national treasure. Though if the countrys existence were at stake should Waynes group be defeated, then it would make more sense in that case. Mister Wayne, its all right. Either way, once this item has been activated, it loses its splendor and cannot be used again. Are you absolutely sure? What you said earlier, about those angels who do raids periodically. Wouldnt it be better to have this on hand if the archangel ever shows up? Another good question. However, it doesnt work very well on angels. What do you mean? You understand how the different elements of magic interact with each other? It is similar to that concept. This items name is [Heart of the Spirit Lord]; legends say that this land was once ruled by a spirit lord, and just before its death, it bequeathed its heart to the residents of the land. And angels attributes belong to a sphere of influence close to spirit lords, so they are resistant to the powers of spirit lords. Oh, I didnt know that Regarding the places it can be activated, there are six such places. Those locations have become the capital cities of the kingdoms that rule this continent. This also serves as proof that the royal families of these countries have the qualifications to succeed the spirit lord. We here in Hiers were only given information about our own treasure, but each kingdom should have a similar treasure. This meant that even when a catastrophe or other big threat attacked, each countrys capital at least had a special event item already prepared for its defense. It definitely made sense for there to be built-in safeguards against huge changes to the games setting like the destruction of entire countries. And the fact that it was nearly impossible to use it might be a deliberate configuration that prevented NPCs from going out and beating raid bosses before players could get a chance to fight them. So that, uh, catastrophe this time is undead, so it should work on it? We at least know its not an angel, right? Exactly. The power of the spirit lord is strongest and most effective against its antitheses. While we dont know what singular entities those are, we do know it at least works on the forces of evil and darkness. If this catastrophe is as deeply connected to undead as you say, Mister Wayne, then there is no better time to use it. If those are Your Excellencys thoughts, then we will protest no further. We would like to use the artifact, Amatane declared, bowing his head. The other players all did the same. Well said. We are counting on you. Okay then, Wayne, lets talk strategy. Huh? Upon suddenly having his own name called out, Wayne felt perplexed by all the people looking at him. Among all the players here, he was undoubtedly the weakest. So then why? Oh, come on, youre the one who got us all together, right? We only came to give you a hand. Keep your head in the game, now. Yeah, Gilgamesh is right. We responded to your call, Wayne. That makes you the raid leader. But, thats only because Gil spoke up Perhaps. But Gilgamesh wasnt the one who gathered us. They were all good people; they were the top players. They had trusted Wayne and come all this way. And it wasnt only them. There were all those tanks as well who got left behind in towns along the way with nothing to show for it. Despite the fact that they wouldnt get anything for helping, they still chose to do so anyway. In that case, Wayne couldnt just keep hiding behind his weakness. He didnt have all that much confidence in himself, but it was time to come up with a plan. No, he should be able to do it. After all, he was even able to see through Rares tricks. If he ran away now, he couldnt bear to show his face in front of her again, even though she had acknowledged him, even if only for a brief minute. Not that he cared what Rare thought about him at all. Having found his determination, Wayne looked around at all the players and nodded. Got it. Ill come up with a plan. First, lets go over what we know. Our target is what we think is the boss of this event, a powerful monster known as a catastrophe that came from the Great Liebe Forest. It used ants and wasps to destroy the city of Erfahren, then it went straight west and once again used ants and wasps to destroy the city of La Colline. After that, it summoned a bunch of undead in the sky and killed all the knights. Everyone follow? Yeah, keep going. Now, Ill go over the catastrophes abilities that we know for sure. First, it can control ants, wasps, and undead. It can fly. It can somehow hide itself from view. Its heading westin other words, itll be approaching us from the east. Yeah. This is already sounding like a bad time Next is unconfirmed information, but there were reports from La Colline that the wasps and ants pulled back temporarily. After that point, no one saw the bugs again, so theres a possibility they wont be coming to the capital. Would be nice if that were true Youre right, but thats not the problem. Beyond that possibility, it means if the catastrophe is coming to the capital by itself while invisible, then even finding it at all will be impossible. Ah, yeah A moment, Sir Wayne? Please, go ahead, Yoichi. Dont be so stiff. Ive got a skill called [Truesight]. When I activate it, all living things in range well, it includes undead and golems and stuff, but anyway, it lets me sense the LP of everything in range. I dont get exact numbers or anything, but I see these colored lights. How bright the light is represents their LP remaining, while the color generally tells me their max LP. By the way, I got that skill too. Thats really good to know All right, then first well have you guys keep a lookout, or like you guys just need to find the enemy, but anyway, well leave that role to Yoichi and Monkey Dive Sasuke. Sasukes fine. Why you gotta use my full character name? Right, so itll be up to Sasuke. If it brings wasps with it, well have to plan for that separately, so first lets assume its coming alone. Theres a high chance itll be invisible, so our two scouts will be in charge of detection. And the most important thing is to lure it into the artifactss area of effect, the field debuff. Makes sense. Normally speaking, if we were to wait for the catastrophe to get here first before getting it ready, then wed already be too late. Just now, when I touched it, I knew how to use it. I guess you learn how to use artifacts just by touching them. So, when you activate it, you need to designate a target place, not a person or object. And about the effect time, breaking it when theres at least thirty minutes left will produce the strongest effect. Thank you, Amatane. Which means the ideal scenario is to lead the catastrophe to the right place, have the rearguard activate the artifact, get its LP into the red within thirty minutes, break the artifact, then beat it while its super weakened. In order to do this, well so well go with this general outline. We actually dont know what kind of monster this thing will be. We can try to predict what might happen outside our expectations, but the most important point is the final debuff from breaking the artifact. I cant say that pulling off the timing means we will win, but if we dont get the timing right then we probably cant possibly win. So first Ill shoot it with an arrow, which will let everyone know where it is. The lynchpin really is making sure it cant move during the final debuff. Yup. Its a huge responsibility. Just leave it to me. And until then, if possible, I want you to do everything you can to shave off as much LP from the catastrophe as possible. Itll be a coinflip if my [Fear] can get through, but if its undead then [Soul Stones] should make sure the cast is successful, at least. Then its just a question of whether it resists it If someone can distract it, Sasuke can chuck a Squid Ink Ball to inflict Darkness, whichll raise the success rate. So like, can you seriously Blind it by hitting it in the back of the head? How is that logical? Thats just what the item does, so whatever. I got all the deets from the alchemist who made them. They couldnt come to the battle, so they gave me them in a town on the way. The strategy had been more or less decided. All that was left was to execute it. But, this plan assumes that everyone on the front line will definitely die. Nah, I think this is the only plan thatll work. Fortunately, the death penalty isnt bad right now. You never know, maybe they purposely removed the XP loss so that we could use the artifact and go with a sacrifice strat. The game admins here only give broad, systematic explanations. Anyway, since theres no XP loss you dont gotta worry about it. I bet the XP we get will be split based on contribution anyway. If you die, dont respawn so that we do everything possible to slow down the catastrophe. All the bodies at its feet will definitely be in the way. Ill do everything I can to stick to it and hold it back on the final debuff, so sorry but, if you ever dont know who to heal, then heal me. Im the hardest to kill, so it should be a little more useful to give em to me. Sure, you got it Gil. All right, lets get into position. Though honestly, we have no idea when it could show up. Lets do it! This was the beginning of Waynes partys raid boss battle, the fight against a catastrophe. It would also be the first time in this continents history that a threat to humanity was defeated. However Authors notes This land was once ruled by? Now where did these words come up before? PythagosomethingSwitch When Rare destroyed Erfahren, she flicked the pinball (a.k.a. Wayne) Lands at the next town, Alto Riva, which Blanc destroyed, tossing the ball Lands in the cup for the capital La Colline was demolished, the bottom of the cup falls out, knocking over a domino (he was called by the prime minister to post on the forums) The fallen domino causes a new ball to enter the course (Gil) The three stoppers in the balls way are removed (Verde Sud, Alto Riva, La Colline), so the new ball rolls all the way to the capital The new ball reaches the capital, causing the flag to go up Or something. Regarding the NPCs long-distance communication method, when I came up with how followers worked, I thought to myself some reader will definitely think up a crazy exploit like this, so thank you to those who realized it could be used this way but didnt say anything. This is, at its heart, a story told from multiple perspectives. Whats written is the truth from each persons eyes as they see it. The only exception was in Blancs fixed XP session, but there was no need for me to force it into there, so I might move it later on. Thus, when NPCs say the six catastrophes, that doesnt necessarily correspond to the number of special disaster-level creatures that exist in the world. Its simply what they believe to be true based on their own legends passed down through history. Perhaps there are more, or perhaps there are fewer (maybe not a special disaster-level creature, per se, but something really strong that opposes humanity), that mystery skill just tells people in real time when something has awoken, so they think this thing sounds like bad news, so its probably the same as the other existing pieces of bad news, even though Ive never heard of it before. I might have missed something, though, so Ill just call it the same thing just in case. Someone must have done this a long time ago, and thats how we got the legends that exist today. Point being, NPCs might not intend to purposely mislead players, but thats how misinformation can get propagated. Between this misinformation and a difference in how the world is perceived, this sets the stage for a game that seeks be as much like an entirely different world as it can. With regards to this story, or rather with regards to the game, the only absolutely true information comes from system messages. More information might get mixed in at certain points like with Blanc again, but when I have time Ill go back and fix things. If I had my way, it would have been better to leave hints within the story itself, so I apologize for lacking the writing ability to do so. CH 89 Foo foo hoooo She finally calmed down. She still retained her frustration and her burning-hot anger. Even now, just thinking about the fight caused her eyes to tear up. However, it was no longer accompanied by an anxiety attack so intense that she couldnt even scream. She was the type of person to cry whenever her emotions ran high, even if she wasnt in pain or feeling sad. She had always hated that part about herself, and in the real world she did her best to lead her life in a way where she would never get emotional. She had exploded over games many times before, but never to this degree. She couldnt believe even this aspect of herself had been replicated here. But wow, when was the last time she had broken down this bad? She would absolutely never forgive those players, but it was hard to cry this much in real life given other peoples gaze. For that much at least, she was grateful to them. And she had of course already decided how to repay them. Wooayne! That was Wayne, wasnt it. He I thought I had erased him along with Erfahren But since hes a player, no matter how many times I grind him to dust, hell just rez somewhere. He must have turned up outside the capital. Rare didnt believe that it was Waynes fault that she died. That was mostly due to Rares arrogance tempting fate. However, that wasnt the sole reason. There was an incredible gap in raw power between Rare and those players. But they filled that gap with numbers, items, and strategy. Rare had indeed been careless, and she made a lot of poor decisions, but by the end she had been fighting at full strength. Yet she still lost. While she had some choice words about that debuff field thing that she knew nothing about, she wouldnt make any excuses. Rare was the fool for falling into their trap. Thinking over it again, those players every coordinated action led to that final, momentary opening. Truly a well-constructed plan. There was no other way to put it than magnificent. Since there was no way they knew what Rares stats or skills were, by random happenstance they developed the perfect scheme, and by random happenstance they had the perfect items that worked on her, but above all else, they were able to pull it off because they believed wholeheartedly in their gamble. Each player spared no effort to achieve their one shared goal. Strength had nothing to do with it. After breaking the one players neck, Rare had used that players overall strength as reference when launching a palm strike in order to blow someone away. Despite that, her hand pierced into him instead. Considering that, among all the players who had faced her, Wayne was particularly weak. Regardless, he had still been the one standing there in front of her. Even in death, he had continued to hinder her. She had utterly forgotten about the player named Wayne until today. He was someone she had killed a really long time ago, and the only player to have ever driven her into a corner. But his actual strength wasnt all that impressive. Therefore, she forgot about him. Rare didnt believe her death was Waynes fault. However, he undeniably had a role in the scheme that killed her. Gnnngh It was fine. She was calm now. No more crying. For starters, healing magic. Whatever my next plans are, thats the first step. Whatever came next, she really needed to fix up her face first. Now that she knew about [Healing Magic], she wanted to get it as soon as possible. Getting the [Barehanded] skill, which improved stats in combat when not using a weapon, along with [Pharmacy] and [Disassemble] unlocked the [Treatment] skill. [Disassemble] was actually a skill the catkin girls all had. According to the forums, it required a certain amount of DEX to unlock. This was why it hadnt been in Rares original list of learnable skills. Back then, she had dumped all her XP only into MND. After getting [Treatment], there were no issues with any other prerequisites. With [Treatment] and sufficient INT, she could learn [Healing Magic]. Based on that, she surmised that the effectiveness of [Healing Magic] must scale with INT. If information on this skill had spread in the early game, it was possible that MND could have become a trash stat. INT was useful for both direct attacks and healing, after all. Either way, max MP was determined based on the higher of ones INT and MND. If a player didnt need MP, they could still have viable build while ignoring them both. That said, since Rare knew that INT and MND provided various wide-ranging benefits, she did not plan to neglect either of them. Between [Healing Magic] and [Treatment], I wonder which would work better on swollen eyes? She didnt have a mirror, but since she was using [Water Magic] to wash her hands, she would clean up her face as well. The towels in the sink area where she washed her hands were sewn by engineer ants. Only five people used this sink, but there were two towels here. Apparently, one was for Rare, and the other was for Kerry and the other catkin girls. There had been vehement opposition to the idea of sharing, with them saying that the swarm boss couldnt possibly use the same towel as anyone else. She understood that they were just thinking of her position, but it still felt a bit lonely to be excluded. Kerry and those girls, I wonder if theyll be all right after suddenly dying like that. Ive made them experience something terrible Since her role in this event was someone leading monsters on raids, the catkin girls were going to just be benched. However, since standing by in the caverns the entire time would be boring, the four of them plus Hakuma and Ginka went south to search for the volcanic region. If they happened to run into an invasion event somewhere and couldnt avoid being roped into it, she instructed them to assist the most human-looking side. Meanwhile, Deas was left to babysit the wolf pups. Although young, they were still wolves, so they obeyed the packs hierarchy, meaning they wouldnt listen to the weak ants. They would listen Sugaru and Deas, though, so since Sugaru would be occupied, their care fell to Deas. Naturally, Kerrys group did all receive Greater Philosophers Stones. Among the top brass, only Sugaru had not gotten one yet; she required far too much XP, so it was being saved for later. Apparently there wasnt a superior or more advanced race above beastkin, so the Philosophers Stone only allowed them to reincarnate into other beastkin subraces close to their own. So after reincarnating, Kerry was now a lion, Riley a panther, Remy a tiger, and Marion a snow leopard. There were quite a lot of options, interestingly enough. Rare thought their hair color would change, but she was wrong. Only the shapes of their ears and tails changed a little, otherwise there were no other major changes to their appearances. It was very different compared to when she went from elf to high elf. The types of beastkin available at the start were things like cat, dog, elephant, horsesimple and broad animal classifications, there werent any more specific subclassifications. If there wasnt a superior race, that meant that no beastkin could use [Subordinate] by default. There was a country with a large population of beastkin, if she remembered correctly, so it might be worthwhile to pay a visit. Hakuma and Ginka reincarnated into a [Sk?ll] and a [Hati], respectively. With a little more work, she thought they could even make it to fenrir, but when they tried the other day, it seemed there was an outstanding prerequisite still, so it didnt work. This applied to others as well; unless they had been incredibly weak from the start, if they didnt meet enough conditions, they were unable to reincarnate further. That said, there were also many like Rare and World Tree who, upon consideration, seemed very unlikely to have any higher forms to reincarnate into. Things were even stricter for items; once a Philosophers Stone was used to raise a given items rank, another stone could not be used on that item. Furthermore, if that same item were used in alchemy to produce another item, that resultant product was also ineligible for a rank up using another Philosophers Stone. However, this wasnt unexpected, so confirming it wasnt much of a disappointment. If the system wasnt restricted in this way, it would have been trivial to mass produce the best possible items. There was one thing that Rare hadnt tried yet: If she used a Philosophers Stone on a piece of adamantite to transform it into a higher ranked metal, then combined that with a Knights Grudge to create a living object-type monster, could this monster use a Philosophers Stone? She was eager to test it out but, unfortunately, she had no more Knights Grudges left. She was wondering if shed be able to get some from the invasion event. I wonder how invasions in other regions went. Lets check out the stickies for the event on the forum Well, thats no surprise All the threads are buzzing about the server-first catastrophe kill Ngh Well, whatever, Ill look again later. After washing her hands, Rare returned to the queens chamber and flopped down onto the throne to think. About how she learned [Healing Magic] just before. And about what she should do from now on. As long as the conditions were known, it wasnt difficult to aim to learn certain skills. But right when the game first started, that was of course not true. When managing a limited pool of XP, it was better to aim for the most efficient combat or production skills; this was the one of the charms of beginning a new game. At the very start, Rare had boosted her initial XP by purposely taking the detrimental characteristics [Albinism] and [Poor Eyesight]. And make no mistake, her defeat today was at least partially as a result of that choice. In return for those two characteristics, she had gotten fifty XP. Just fifty. Rare was now a demon lord, a supernatural disaster in the eyes of humanity, and the bounty she had received in exchange for purposely binding herself by those shackles of weakness was a measly fifty XP. That said, without that fifty XP, she also would not have gotten this far. Back at the start, it had been necessary for her to get [Subordinate]; without an extra fifty XP, she would have been short. Rares sense of scale had become kind of skewed considering the amount of XP she earned these days, but that piddly sum was without a doubt an essential part of her origin. In this gameworld, everyone desired XP. With more XP, almost any of your wishes could be granted. After finding herself drowning in XP, Rares eyes had become shrouded by greed. Humanitys avarice was terrifying. Particularly the fixation on money, which could incite behavior that completely defied rationality. Rare had seen it play out so many times in the real world that it made her sick. Too much gold drove men mad. In this world, the same could be said for XP. Rares entire story could be traced back to a mere fifty XP. Just a single speck of gold dust. She should never lose sight of that. No matter how much she obtained, power was only power, nothing more and nothing less. It wasnt for showing off or abusing; it had to be used correctly. She couldnt let herself be seduced by the allure of the golden experience. Perhaps it was fortunate that she was forced to stop here and think. Haha, this really was lucky for me. She stood up from her throne and stretched. Well, after all is said and done, I get to use the XP from taking out three cities to learn more skills! If Ill be fighting on the front lines myself, then I need to be able to do everything I possibly can. Even though I became a demon lord, I still havent gotten [Demonic Eyes] yet. Probably because I thought I would never have to come out from inside Yoroisaka. I got every skill when I reincarnated into a high elf, but there are a bunch of skills I unlocked when I became a demon lord that I havent gotten yet. So first, Ill get those. She checked how much XP she would need to learn them all and how much she currently had. Ah, thats right. Theres one more thing I cant forget. I need to keep a tenth of my XP back, just in case the worst happens. Knowing how to minimize potential losses is essential for investing, after all. CH 90 Wayne respawned in one of the castles sleeping rooms. Before the critical battle, he had quickly logged out here. In the bed next to his, Gi1gamesh was just getting up himself. I couldnt really see anything, but we won, right? Yeah I think we did. Ah, I got a message from Yoichi. We beat it! Yup, I just got one from Sasuke too. Awesome! The two of them jumped out of their beds and rushed out to the outer wall. As they ran through the streets, Wayne felt himself overcome with emotion as he looked over the townscape that he was able to protect this time. Gil! Thank you! Stop that! Were friends! While they were able to protect the city, it wasnt flawless. There was still damage from battle here and there, and some NPCs had died as well. There were mysterious lumps of metal scattered around on the ground, but he didnt remember those being there before. Hey, try not to think about it too much. Theres some things you just gotta let go. Youre right The damage discouraging, but he couldnt save everyone. All he could do was convince himself of that. From the start, Wayne wouldnt have been able to do anything by himself. He could only limit the losses this much by borrowing the help of many players. Being unable to accept this result would be a discourtesy to them. The surviving players had gathered together outside the city wall. There werent that many. Of the original thirty people, there were only eight survivors, not including Wayne and Gil who just arrived. Checking his status screen, the XP from beating the boss should have been distributed to everyone by now, even if they had died. Thank you so much, everyone! Dont mention it. It was a good battle. I should be the one thanking you for inviting me. Yeah, what he said. Been a long time since we had a real fight. Yoichi and Sasuke. Sasuke might be a bit rude, but he did his job properly, and he was more or less a friendly and nice guy. Wayne believed that becoming friends with these two might have been the best part of this whole ordeal. But man, it was close We went into that assuming the front liners were going to die, so that went as we expected, but I cant believe so many in the rearguard got killed too Its crazy that her AOE magic could instakill people. Im really thankful to you too, Nameless Elf. Speaking of the rearguard, its too bad about MentaiList He went and logged out at an inn before the battle, so he should be here soon, shouldnt he? Ah, see? Hey. You guys talking about me? Wayne turned around and MentaiList was standing right there. He had chosen to stay here at the capital, it seemed. There was a reason that only Wayne, Gil, and MentaiList had come back after the battle. Since no one knew for sure if there was actually going to be an event boss battle at all, setting your spawn point to the capital was risky. In the end the boss did attack and they beat it, but even after winning, there werent many reasons to stay in the capital. The players who felt that way decided not to update their spawn points, even if that meant they couldnt meet up again after everything was over. Those players had said that even if the boss dropped items, they would just take money for it. Since the same currency was used across the continent, wherever they operated, cash would be more flexible than items. Oh right, so were there any drops? About that So, as soon as we beat the boss, the armor that was standing over there and all the swords it had crumbled away They just turned into those lumps of metal. Eh? The boss herself just disappeared too. Meaning those lumps of metal are the drops? That seems to be case. Plus, from what I can see, I think a bunch more of this metal dropped in the city too. When those undead died, I think it dropped from them. Thats pretty unusual, getting drop items instead of a corpse to loot. Golems and stuff do that. Maybe because theyre event enemies. To make it easier on players who dont have a skill like [Disassemble]. But if the same metal is all over the city, then we might not be able to sell it for very much here How could this happen? These players went out of their way to help him, but Wayne couldnt even thank them properly Ah, looks like youre thinking of something weird so let me stop you, but you dont need to worry about rewarding us or anything. For guys like us, being able to fight the event boss was already the best present you could give. Im the one who wants to thank you. We got a ton of XP for beating it, too. Yeah, you aint kidding. Even though I died, I still got a good haul. If we got this much after splittin it thirty ways, I wanna know how much that thing was worth total. Well, not to mention if we didnt have the kingdoms artifact we couldnt have won, plus theres still event rewards too. If theyre going to announce the MVPs like they did in the first event, I think our names will definitely be at the top of the list. Of course, that includes yours, Wayne. Maybe Thanks, MentaiList. So, the undead in the city all disappeared? Yep. Soon as we beat the boss. We already said, all thats left are these chunks of metal. Sasuke said this while tapping one of them. Normally, he would have been in the front lines as well since he was an evasion tank, but that wouldnt go so well against a boss no one had any information on. Therefore, he used his outstanding throwing skills to play a support role. The undead that attacked other cities just gave bones and stuff like normal; does that mean strong enemies that are directly under a boss are different somehow? So what exactly was that event boss anyway? She looked like an angel, but she wasnt actually an angel, right? If you ask me, she was some kind of undead angel or something like that. My reasons are, first, the field debuff worked on her when its supposed to be ineffective against angels. Then, when I used [Mental Magic], it used up soul stones. The only time I need soul stones are when Im fighting a monster thats normally immune to [Mental Magic]. The only monsters races that are immune are undead, golems, and homunculi. Well, as far as I know, at least. Everything MentaiList said sounded reasonable. From the options he listed, golem was out; no matter how you spun it, the boss wasnt golem-like at all. So I think shes gotta be either an undead or a homunculus, but theres no way to tell which. Its got undead minions, so doesnt that make it obviously an undead? Sasuke, youre sure being a huge pain in the ass, you know. Oh, come on, who cares already. We already beat it. He had a point. For a short period of time, there were seven catastrophes, but now the number had dropped back to six. Since we did take her down, I just kinda wanna know exactly what we killed is all. The event isnt over yet. If shes an undead, maybe shell revive and well have to fight her again during this event or somewhere else; if shes a homunculus, then maybe a second or third different catastrophe will show up. Hoo boy, I do not wanna fight another thing like that Right. Theres no more artifact, so if we have to fight it again then well need the entire player population to get stronger. When the time came again, Wayne decided that he wanted to truly stand beside these players in the front lines, unlike what happened this time. All right, should we break up the party for now? For the drops, lets just sell them somewhere. Well split the cash some other time. The other guys probably want to focus on the event anyway. We did get a stupid amount of XP, so the money is probably whatever. Yeah, lets call it here. If anything happens, feel free to gimme a ring. Whether Im free to come is another story, though. Something tells me Waynes gonna get into more trouble. Youre right about that. I will totally vouch for this guys bad luck. All right, were gonna die and revive back in Aural then. Later. Yoichi, Sasuke, and Nameless Elf all left. Nameless Elf was based in Portrie; it wouldnt be easy to meet up with them. Yoichi and Sasuke both played in Aural, apparently. Wayne heard that the difficulty in Aural was a fair higher than Hiers, so it was impressive that the two of them could operate there. There they go. What are you up to next, Mister Leader? Whats that for? Im not the leader anymore. Nah, you can keep being the leader, Wayne. Youve got the right qualities for it, I think. Youre coming too, MentaiList? You dont want me around? Thats why I wanted to set my spawn point here, after all. No, youre more than welcome. I look forward to working with you. Wayne had suddenly gone from being solo to having a three-person party. Not to mention both of his party members were top-tier players. You used yours for today right, MentaiList? How about you, Wayne? My what? Oh, the event teleport? I havent used mine yet. I didnt use it yesterday either, but I dont get to save it, right? Use it or lose it. Todays event megathread said so. Meaning he could take the two of them somewhere with him. Well, we did just get a ton of XP, I can put some into STR and VIT, then use some for maybe INT and AGI too. You building a jack-of-all-trades or what? Well, theres only three of us, and if Im the tank and MentaiLists the support, maybe thatll work out perfectly. Great, so lets head to the sellsword guild for a sec Wait, whats that? Looking up, the eastern skies were quickly getting darker. Wayne respawned in one of the castles sleeping rooms. Before the critical battle, he had quickly logged out here. In the bed next to his, Gi1gamesh was just getting up himself. I couldnt really see anything, but we won, right? Yeah I think we did. Ah, I got a message from Yoichi. We beat it! Yup, I just got one from Sasuke too. Awesome! The two of them jumped out of their beds and rushed out to the outer wall. As they ran through the streets, Wayne felt himself overcome with emotion as he looked over the townscape that he was able to protect this time. Gil! Thank you! Stop that! Were friends! While they were able to protect the city, it wasnt flawless. There was still damage from battle here and there, and some NPCs had died as well. There were mysterious lumps of metal scattered around on the ground, but he didnt remember those being there before. Hey, try not to think about it too much. Theres some things you just gotta let go. Youre right The damage discouraging, but he couldnt save everyone. All he could do was convince himself of that. From the start, Wayne wouldnt have been able to do anything by himself. He could only limit the losses this much by borrowing the help of many players. Being unable to accept this result would be a discourtesy to them. The surviving players had gathered together outside the city wall. There werent that many. Of the original thirty people, there were only eight survivors, not including Wayne and Gil who just arrived. Checking his status screen, the XP from beating the boss should have been distributed to everyone by now, even if they had died. Thank you so much, everyone! Dont mention it. It was a good battle. I should be the one thanking you for inviting me. Yeah, what he said. Been a long time since we had a real fight. Yoichi and Sasuke. Sasuke might be a bit rude, but he did his job properly, and he was more or less a friendly and nice guy. Wayne believed that becoming friends with these two might have been the best part of this whole ordeal. But man, it was close We went into that assuming the front liners were going to die, so that went as we expected, but I cant believe so many in the rearguard got killed too Its crazy that her AOE magic could instakill people. Im really thankful to you too, Nameless Elf. Speaking of the rearguard, its too bad about MentaiList He went and logged out at an inn before the battle, so he should be here soon, shouldnt he? Ah, see? Hey. You guys talking about me? Wayne turned around and MentaiList was standing right there. He had chosen to stay here at the capital, it seemed. There was a reason that only Wayne, Gil, and MentaiList had come back after the battle. Since no one knew for sure if there was actually going to be an event boss battle at all, setting your spawn point to the capital was risky. In the end the boss did attack and they beat it, but even after winning, there werent many reasons to stay in the capital. The players who felt that way decided not to update their spawn points, even if that meant they couldnt meet up again after everything was over. Those players had said that even if the boss dropped items, they would just take money for it. Since the same currency was used across the continent, wherever they operated, cash would be more flexible than items. Oh right, so were there any drops? About that So, as soon as we beat the boss, the armor that was standing over there and all the swords it had crumbled away They just turned into those lumps of metal. Eh? The boss herself just disappeared too. Meaning those lumps of metal are the drops? That seems to be case. Plus, from what I can see, I think a bunch more of this metal dropped in the city too. When those undead died, I think it dropped from them. Thats pretty unusual, getting drop items instead of a corpse to loot. Golems and stuff do that. Maybe because theyre event enemies. To make it easier on players who dont have a skill like [Disassemble]. But if the same metal is all over the city, then we might not be able to sell it for very much here How could this happen? These players went out of their way to help him, but Wayne couldnt even thank them properly Ah, looks like youre thinking of something weird so let me stop you, but you dont need to worry about rewarding us or anything. For guys like us, being able to fight the event boss was already the best present you could give. Im the one who wants to thank you. We got a ton of XP for beating it, too. Yeah, you aint kidding. Even though I died, I still got a good haul. If we got this much after splittin it thirty ways, I wanna know how much that thing was worth total. Well, not to mention if we didnt have the kingdoms artifact we couldnt have won, plus theres still event rewards too. If theyre going to announce the MVPs like they did in the first event, I think our names will definitely be at the top of the list. Of course, that includes yours, Wayne. Maybe Thanks, MentaiList. So, the undead in the city all disappeared? Yep. Soon as we beat the boss. We already said, all thats left are these chunks of metal. Sasuke said this while tapping one of them. Normally, he would have been in the front lines as well since he was an evasion tank, but that wouldnt go so well against a boss no one had any information on. Therefore, he used his outstanding throwing skills to play a support role. The undead that attacked other cities just gave bones and stuff like normal; does that mean strong enemies that are directly under a boss are different somehow? So what exactly was that event boss anyway? She looked like an angel, but she wasnt actually an angel, right? If you ask me, she was some kind of undead angel or something like that. My reasons are, first, the field debuff worked on her when its supposed to be ineffective against angels. Then, when I used [Mental Magic], it used up soul stones. The only time I need soul stones are when Im fighting a monster thats normally immune to [Mental Magic]. The only monsters races that are immune are undead, golems, and homunculi. Well, as far as I know, at least. Everything MentaiList said sounded reasonable. From the options he listed, golem was out; no matter how you spun it, the boss wasnt golem-like at all. So I think shes gotta be either an undead or a homunculus, but theres no way to tell which. Its got undead minions, so doesnt that make it obviously an undead? Sasuke, youre sure being a huge pain in the ass, you know. Oh, come on, who cares already. We already beat it. He had a point. For a short period of time, there were seven catastrophes, but now the number had dropped back to six. Since we did take her down, I just kinda wanna know exactly what we killed is all. The event isnt over yet. If shes an undead, maybe shell revive and well have to fight her again during this event or somewhere else; if shes a homunculus, then maybe a second or third different catastrophe will show up. Hoo boy, I do not wanna fight another thing like that Right. Theres no more artifact, so if we have to fight it again then well need the entire player population to get stronger. When the time came again, Wayne decided that he wanted to truly stand beside these players in the front lines, unlike what happened this time. All right, should we break up the party for now? For the drops, lets just sell them somewhere. Well split the cash some other time. The other guys probably want to focus on the event anyway. We did get a stupid amount of XP, so the money is probably whatever. Yeah, lets call it here. If anything happens, feel free to gimme a ring. Whether Im free to come is another story, though. Something tells me Waynes gonna get into more trouble. Youre right about that. I will totally vouch for this guys bad luck. All right, were gonna die and revive back in Aural then. Later. Yoichi, Sasuke, and Nameless Elf all left. Nameless Elf was based in Portrie; it wouldnt be easy to meet up with them. Yoichi and Sasuke both played in Aural, apparently. Wayne heard that the difficulty in Aural was a fair higher than Hiers, so it was impressive that the two of them could operate there. There they go. What are you up to next, Mister Leader? Whats that for? Im not the leader anymore. Nah, you can keep being the leader, Wayne. Youve got the right qualities for it, I think. Youre coming too, MentaiList? You dont want me around? Thats why I wanted to set my spawn point here, after all. No, youre more than welcome. I look forward to working with you. Wayne had suddenly gone from being solo to having a three-person party. Not to mention both of his party members were top-tier players. You used yours for today right, MentaiList? How about you, Wayne? My what? Oh, the event teleport? I havent used mine yet. I didnt use it yesterday either, but I dont get to save it, right? Use it or lose it. Todays event megathread said so. Meaning he could take the two of them somewhere with him. Well, we did just get a ton of XP, I can put some into STR and VIT, then use some for maybe INT and AGI too. You building a jack-of-all-trades or what? Well, theres only three of us, and if Im the tank and MentaiLists the support, maybe thatll work out perfectly. Great, so lets head to the sellsword guild for a sec Wait, whats that? Looking up, the eastern skies were quickly getting darker. CH 91 So this is how [Demonic Eyes] works. Whoa, Im gonna get motion sickness since Im not used to them. Rare had unlocked the [Demonic Eyes] tree when she became a demon lord. After learning the first skill, which shares the name of the tree, [Demonic Eyes], she immediately tried it out. The skills effect was constantly active; she gained the Demonic Eyes status after activating it, which lasted until canceled. When cast, it consumed a percentage of her maximum MP as a fixed cost, and until canceled she couldnt recover that fixed amount of MP. Demonic Eyes made magic power visible. Magic power refers to MP, but in this game, just like LP, MP recovers naturally. The lore reason for this is that the air in this world is filled with mana. The explanation behind the MP stat is that every character somehow intakes mana from the air, then converts it into MP within their bodies, which is why spent MP recovers a little bit at a time. With [Demonic Eyes], she was able to see a characters MP, as well as the mana in the air. It looked kind of like there was a pink mist enveloping everything in her field of view. Since the ability to see magic power wasnt reliant on visible light reflecting off objects, when Rare turned it on in this dimly lit cave, it kind of looked like that pink mist was itself glowing. The cave walls didnt have any mana in them, so those were the only places where the mist was thin. Therefore, in places like this cave that were dark or even pitch black, she could still indirectly see her surroundings. If she had to describe it to someone else, it would look kind of like a black-and-white film. However, since she had no idea what color anything was, or how much light there was, she did feel a sense of disorientation. And she was only able to see the magic power within the skills range, there wasnt actually any mist, so her range of vision was limited. Currently, she could see far enough to cast basic long-range attack spells. Since Rare had so much MP herself, [Demonic Eyes] painted her hands and wings in solid pink. If she really focused, she could make out the individual feathers on her wings, but surely she wouldnt normally need to see in such detail. This was sufficient for use in combat without such effort. For Rare, the most important thing about this skill was, as stated earlier, that the [Demonic Eyes] effect didnt require light. It was entirely controlled by whether or not the skill was activated, so it could basically be always on. In other words, even if her eyes were closed, she could still see the magic power around her. Which meant it was possible for her to fight while her eyes were closed. This essentially solved her vision problem. And since the condition for casting magic was being able to see your target, this should also be applicable. Rare hadnt tested it yet, but perhaps via [Demonic Eyes], she could possibly even target magic itself with her spells. Normally, when you wanted to cancel out spells, you predicted the trajectory of the opponents spell, then cast your own spell along that trajectory. However, perhaps it would be possible to use [Demonic Eyes] to directly cancel out spells that detonate at specific coordinates such as AOE spells. Hehehe I cant wait. This will let me define the meta. The next skills in the [Demonic Eyes] skill tree were [Enhance Demonic Eyes] and [Link Magic]. [Enhance Demonic Eyes] was very straightforward, augmenting the base skill by increasing the range of the effect and allowing her to designate specific objects to ignore. It was convenient for preventing her hands and wings from obstructing her view, and above all it allowed her to get rid of that thin pink filter generated by her eyelids that colored her entire field of view while her eyes were closed. Another benefit was that it allowed her to change the default color of pink, but she would be ignoring that setting for now. She wasnt really concerned with what color everything ended up being. [Magic Link] was ridiculously overpowered, with a cost to match. This skill connected the activation of magic to [Demonic Eyes]; in other words, magic could be cast silently. Simply stare at a target with [Demonic Eyes] and think hard on the spell in order to cast it. However, since it did require her to look directly at her target, it couldnt be used while her eyes were closed. She wasnt exactly shooting laser beams from her eyes, so it shouldnt have mattered if her eyes were closed, but when she tried it out with [Healing Magic], it didnt work. Compared to having to use her voice, it was indeed much less burdensome to simply open her eyes. Rare needed to make sure her half-open eyes were adjusted to the light beforehand in order to use it, though, so she would have to be extra careful about that. Basically, if she wanted to use it, she first had to open her eyes a little bit, make sure she could stand the light, then open them fully and stare at her target, at which point her spell would be cast at that target. Something along those lines. That sounds pretty awesome, actually Hehehe. In any case, she had gotten her hands on another method of covering for her handicapped eyesight. Next is sunlight Considering that Im more or less totally fine under the shade of a tree, I should just constantly keep [Dark Curtain] active. After becoming a demon lord, Rare was able to learn [Dark Magic], and the first skill was [Dark Curtain], which could block light in an entire area. However, it wasnt a perfect screen, it simply made the area kind of dark. Thinking back to her recent battle, it would have been easily sufficient to shield her from sunlight. Unlike [Demonic Eyes]s fixed cost, this skill cost a small amount of MP over time to keep active, so she would have to be careful about keeping it activated for extremely long periods of time. So now, I have a way to effectively deal with all of my weaknesses While Im at it, I should grab any other demon lord-esque skills too. First was her horn. The horn originally provided passive bonuses to [Mental Magic]- and [Ruler]-type skills, and increased her own resistance to those types of skills. However, since it was a new body part, it was possible for there to be new skills related to it, like [Horn Attack] or something. Hm, not a thing Well, thinking about it logically, any physical horn attacks would basically mean I would have to do a kind of headbutt That sounds kind of lame for a demon lord, so yeah, Im fine with that. So next would be her wings. They had already unlocked the [Flight] skill for her, but it looked like she unlocked other new skills from fulfilling some conditions. Hehehe. Ive got this new [Wing Attack] skill. This has gotta be that thing where I shoot tons of feathers from my wings. Thats so cool. She excitedly purchased [Wing Attack], but her excitement faded as she read the description. Oh, thats it? I definitely unlocked it after picking up [Barehanded] But wings are supposed to be sensitive body parts, so hitting people with them seems kinda Well, whatever, I guess. Swans in real life could supposedly break the bones of larger animals when striking with their wings[1], so it wasnt a completely outrageous idea. In the game, her wings power and toughness could be fortified with STR and VIT, so the recoil from using them to hit something shouldnt be that bad. Plus, Rares wingspan, if she spread them out as far as possible, easily surpassed three meters. Since she normally folded them up and hugged them close to her body or wrapped them around her waist, they werent too eyecatching. This made them appear much smaller than they really were, but they were more useful to her this way so she tried not to be so disappointed about it. Considering that her reach with them was as much as one-and-a-half meters if she were to use them in melee combat, she was surprised to find herself warming up to the idea. Ah, this isnt a one-and-done skill tree. Next is Ohh, this is it! [Feather Bullet]!!! It was rather hard to imagine that [Feather Bullet] was part of the logical progression from [Barehanded] to [Wing Attack] to this, so there must have been something else that led to it being unlocked. The culprit was probably [Throw], a skill she had picked up for playing with the wolf pups; she had never seriously used it before. However, [Throw] really was an extremely versatile skill since it could be used at any time as long as you had a rock in your inventory. You obviously didnt need a skill to throw stuff, but it increased the power and accuracy of the thrown items, and it could also impart special effects to them. Urgh What? As soon as she learned [Feather Bullet], she felt a strange sensation on her lower back. It was something she had felt before. So thats it. Ive grown more wings. The number of wings curving out before her had increased from two to four. Since they had come about from learning [Feather Bullet], that must mean that one pair was for flying while the other pair was for shooting. So does that mean when I learn the next skill, [Feather Gatling], Im going to get even more wings? Rare thought of waiting to learn it until after she had tested out [Feather Bullet] first, but her curiosity got the better of her. Nothing happened. What the hell. The next skill in the tree, [Discerning Feather Barrier], Rare immediately checked partially because she had already gotten this far in the tree. Its effect was Cover your immediate surroundings with flying feathers. Discerns information on everything within the barrier. Your skills gain increased effectiveness and success rate when activated within the barrier. She would have to check on what the exact range was, but this seemed to be yet another extremely useful skill. Useful, but Hrm, the name is a little concerning Discerning Ill take it, of course, but the implications of being called The Discerning Demon Lord Hmm Ngh![2] Along with the now-familiar itchy feeling, she grew yet another pair of wings from her back. Umm, so then, now I have melee-range wings, long-range wings, and magic support wings. Crazy. Every wing looked the same to anyone else. The only way to tell the difference between them was that their sizes differed slightly based on their positioning on her back, but that was it. Rare tried a few practice swings with her wings, but they all felt about the same when it came to attacking with them. When she tried firing a [Feather Bullet] at the wall, an arrow of light flew out from the wing she concentrated on and embedded itself into the wall, which turned out to be a feather. It seemed that any wing could be used for any of the wing-related skills. In any case, my combat capability, specifically physical combat, has improved. All right, lets go get revenge then. If she didnt leave now, pretty soon one hour would have passed. Rare just wanted to avenge her loss even a single second faster; this definitely had nothing to do with wanting to avoid awkwardly meeting her soon-to-be-revived followers. From here, if I use [High-Speed Flight] to zip on over, I should get there in about an hour. There should be at least a few people still hanging around there I bet. Or like, I have no idea where they all came from, but Im sure there isnt a convenient way to get back there. So this is how [Demonic Eyes] works. Whoa, Im gonna get motion sickness since Im not used to them. Rare had unlocked the [Demonic Eyes] tree when she became a demon lord. After learning the first skill, which shares the name of the tree, [Demonic Eyes], she immediately tried it out. The skills effect was constantly active; she gained the Demonic Eyes status after activating it, which lasted until canceled. When cast, it consumed a percentage of her maximum MP as a fixed cost, and until canceled she couldnt recover that fixed amount of MP. Demonic Eyes made magic power visible. Magic power refers to MP, but in this game, just like LP, MP recovers naturally. The lore reason for this is that the air in this world is filled with mana. The explanation behind the MP stat is that every character somehow intakes mana from the air, then converts it into MP within their bodies, which is why spent MP recovers a little bit at a time. With [Demonic Eyes], she was able to see a characters MP, as well as the mana in the air. It looked kind of like there was a pink mist enveloping everything in her field of view. Since the ability to see magic power wasnt reliant on visible light reflecting off objects, when Rare turned it on in this dimly lit cave, it kind of looked like that pink mist was itself glowing. The cave walls didnt have any mana in them, so those were the only places where the mist was thin. Therefore, in places like this cave that were dark or even pitch black, she could still indirectly see her surroundings. If she had to describe it to someone else, it would look kind of like a black-and-white film. However, since she had no idea what color anything was, or how much light there was, she did feel a sense of disorientation. And she was only able to see the magic power within the skills range, there wasnt actually any mist, so her range of vision was limited. Currently, she could see far enough to cast basic long-range attack spells. Since Rare had so much MP herself, [Demonic Eyes] painted her hands and wings in solid pink. If she really focused, she could make out the individual feathers on her wings, but surely she wouldnt normally need to see in such detail. This was sufficient for use in combat without such effort. For Rare, the most important thing about this skill was, as stated earlier, that the [Demonic Eyes] effect didnt require light. It was entirely controlled by whether or not the skill was activated, so it could basically be always on. In other words, even if her eyes were closed, she could still see the magic power around her. Which meant it was possible for her to fight while her eyes were closed. This essentially solved her vision problem. And since the condition for casting magic was being able to see your target, this should also be applicable. Rare hadnt tested it yet, but perhaps via [Demonic Eyes], she could possibly even target magic itself with her spells. Normally, when you wanted to cancel out spells, you predicted the trajectory of the opponents spell, then cast your own spell along that trajectory. However, perhaps it would be possible to use [Demonic Eyes] to directly cancel out spells that detonate at specific coordinates such as AOE spells. Hehehe I cant wait. This will let me define the meta. The next skills in the [Demonic Eyes] skill tree were [Enhance Demonic Eyes] and [Link Magic]. [Enhance Demonic Eyes] was very straightforward, augmenting the base skill by increasing the range of the effect and allowing her to designate specific objects to ignore. It was convenient for preventing her hands and wings from obstructing her view, and above all it allowed her to get rid of that thin pink filter generated by her eyelids that colored her entire field of view while her eyes were closed. Another benefit was that it allowed her to change the default color of pink, but she would be ignoring that setting for now. She wasnt really concerned with what color everything ended up being. [Magic Link] was ridiculously overpowered, with a cost to match. This skill connected the activation of magic to [Demonic Eyes]; in other words, magic could be cast silently. Simply stare at a target with [Demonic Eyes] and think hard on the spell in order to cast it. However, since it did require her to look directly at her target, it couldnt be used while her eyes were closed. She wasnt exactly shooting laser beams from her eyes, so it shouldnt have mattered if her eyes were closed, but when she tried it out with [Healing Magic], it didnt work. Compared to having to use her voice, it was indeed much less burdensome to simply open her eyes. Rare needed to make sure her half-open eyes were adjusted to the light beforehand in order to use it, though, so she would have to be extra careful about that. Basically, if she wanted to use it, she first had to open her eyes a little bit, make sure she could stand the light, then open them fully and stare at her target, at which point her spell would be cast at that target. Something along those lines. That sounds pretty awesome, actually Hehehe. In any case, she had gotten her hands on another method of covering for her handicapped eyesight. Next is sunlight Considering that Im more or less totally fine under the shade of a tree, I should just constantly keep [Dark Curtain] active. After becoming a demon lord, Rare was able to learn [Dark Magic], and the first skill was [Dark Curtain], which could block light in an entire area. However, it wasnt a perfect screen, it simply made the area kind of dark. Thinking back to her recent battle, it would have been easily sufficient to shield her from sunlight. Unlike [Demonic Eyes]s fixed cost, this skill cost a small amount of MP over time to keep active, so she would have to be careful about keeping it activated for extremely long periods of time. So now, I have a way to effectively deal with all of my weaknesses While Im at it, I should grab any other demon lord-esque skills too. First was her horn. The horn originally provided passive bonuses to [Mental Magic]- and [Ruler]-type skills, and increased her own resistance to those types of skills. However, since it was a new body part, it was possible for there to be new skills related to it, like [Horn Attack] or something. Hm, not a thing Well, thinking about it logically, any physical horn attacks would basically mean I would have to do a kind of headbutt That sounds kind of lame for a demon lord, so yeah, Im fine with that. So next would be her wings. They had already unlocked the [Flight] skill for her, but it looked like she unlocked other new skills from fulfilling some conditions. Hehehe. Ive got this new [Wing Attack] skill. This has gotta be that thing where I shoot tons of feathers from my wings. Thats so cool. She excitedly purchased [Wing Attack], but her excitement faded as she read the description. Oh, thats it? I definitely unlocked it after picking up [Barehanded] But wings are supposed to be sensitive body parts, so hitting people with them seems kinda Well, whatever, I guess. Swans in real life could supposedly break the bones of larger animals when striking with their wings[1], so it wasnt a completely outrageous idea. In the game, her wings power and toughness could be fortified with STR and VIT, so the recoil from using them to hit something shouldnt be that bad. Plus, Rares wingspan, if she spread them out as far as possible, easily surpassed three meters. Since she normally folded them up and hugged them close to her body or wrapped them around her waist, they werent too eyecatching. This made them appear much smaller than they really were, but they were more useful to her this way so she tried not to be so disappointed about it. Considering that her reach with them was as much as one-and-a-half meters if she were to use them in melee combat, she was surprised to find herself warming up to the idea. Ah, this isnt a one-and-done skill tree. Next is Ohh, this is it! [Feather Bullet]!!! It was rather hard to imagine that [Feather Bullet] was part of the logical progression from [Barehanded] to [Wing Attack] to this, so there must have been something else that led to it being unlocked. The culprit was probably [Throw], a skill she had picked up for playing with the wolf pups; she had never seriously used it before. However, [Throw] really was an extremely versatile skill since it could be used at any time as long as you had a rock in your inventory. You obviously didnt need a skill to throw stuff, but it increased the power and accuracy of the thrown items, and it could also impart special effects to them. Urgh What? As soon as she learned [Feather Bullet], she felt a strange sensation on her lower back. It was something she had felt before. So thats it. Ive grown more wings. The number of wings curving out before her had increased from two to four. Since they had come about from learning [Feather Bullet], that must mean that one pair was for flying while the other pair was for shooting. So does that mean when I learn the next skill, [Feather Gatling], Im going to get even more wings? Rare thought of waiting to learn it until after she had tested out [Feather Bullet] first, but her curiosity got the better of her. Nothing happened. What the hell. The next skill in the tree, [Discerning Feather Barrier], Rare immediately checked partially because she had already gotten this far in the tree. Its effect was Cover your immediate surroundings with flying feathers. Discerns information on everything within the barrier. Your skills gain increased effectiveness and success rate when activated within the barrier. She would have to check on what the exact range was, but this seemed to be yet another extremely useful skill. Useful, but Hrm, the name is a little concerning Discerning Ill take it, of course, but the implications of being called The Discerning Demon Lord Hmm Ngh![2] Along with the now-familiar itchy feeling, she grew yet another pair of wings from her back. Umm, so then, now I have melee-range wings, long-range wings, and magic support wings. Crazy. Every wing looked the same to anyone else. The only way to tell the difference between them was that their sizes differed slightly based on their positioning on her back, but that was it. Rare tried a few practice swings with her wings, but they all felt about the same when it came to attacking with them. When she tried firing a [Feather Bullet] at the wall, an arrow of light flew out from the wing she concentrated on and embedded itself into the wall, which turned out to be a feather. It seemed that any wing could be used for any of the wing-related skills. In any case, my combat capability, specifically physical combat, has improved. All right, lets go get revenge then. If she didnt leave now, pretty soon one hour would have passed. Rare just wanted to avenge her loss even a single second faster; this definitely had nothing to do with wanting to avoid awkwardly meeting her soon-to-be-revived followers. From here, if I use [High-Speed Flight] to zip on over, I should get there in about an hour. There should be at least a few people still hanging around there I bet. Or like, I have no idea where they all came from, but Im sure there isnt a convenient way to get back there. CH 92 When Rare got wings, she also got the skill [Flight] which allowed her to travel through the sky. However, it was simply the skill making her fly, she didnt actually use her wings to do it. Therefore, she didnt have to flap her wings like a bird normally would in order to displace air to generate lift and thrust, meaning she wasnt restricted to subsonic speeds either. So, since her wings would just be a source of drag while using [High-Speed Flight], she could just fold them and wrap them around her body. And now, with [Demonic Eyes], she could keep an eye on her surroundings with her eyes closed, so she didnt even need goggles. It seemed that trying to fly at this speed while maintaining [Dark Curtain] was a bit much, so she would just have to go without it this time. However, since she had more wings now that could cover up her entire body, none of her skin was exposed to the sun. She could avoid taking damage from sunlight when she had to go outside for short periods of time this way. The sun was much lower in the sky too, so it wasnt as strong compared to before. This was her first time flying by herself, but she was a lot faster than she thought she would be. It must have been at least three times faster than she expected. She didnt know whether it was because she wasnt wearing Yoroisaka now, or because she had obtained more wings, but either way, at this rate, she should reach the capital very soon. The capital would be coming into view any second now. But she suddenly received a bunch of friend chats. It was her followers. Kerry cleary seemed to be unhappy. Based on the map, it should be next to monster territory. Which meant it was possible for an invasion to occur. She rapidly gave them orders to get the Great Liebe Forest, Treu Forest, and Lourdes up and running again, then ended her friend chats. The capital was in sight. In the end, it took about thirty minutes to fly from the Great Liebe Forest to the kingdoms capital. Since Rare was nearing the city, she slowed down and activated [Dark Curtain]. To decelerate, she completely opened all of her wings, using air resistance to brake. Rare couldnt see it for herself, but she was sure it looked cool as all hell. She was also cognizant of the fact that if she hadnt raised her STR and VIT as much as she had, the sheer force exerted on them could have been enough to rip her wings off completely. Oh? Only three are still here. There were few people wandering around outer wall area where the battle had taken place earlier. Only three of them looked like sellswords. And one of them was Wayne. The tank named Gil was there too. The last one didnt look familiar. They all stared up at Rare, looking stupefied. They were standing next to a mass of unknown metal. For an instant, she wondered if they were performing some kind of strange ritual, but then she realized it must have been Yoroisakas remains. It didnt seem like they had done anything, so it was probably something that just happened on its own. Maybe that was what happened to living object-type monsters when they died. Rare leisurely descended in front of them, releasing [Dark Curtain] as she landed on the ground. The sun still shone down from the sky, but its rays were much weaker down on the surface. Th-The catastrophe Wait wait wait wait You mean we didnt beat her? Actually Shes got more wings now; she clearly got stronger, didnt she? The fact that Rare had come down to fight on the ground before was also a contributing factor to her pitiful performance. If she had just stayed in the air and carpet bombed them, it would have been an easy win. However, Rares objective was to use her XP better, not fight better. She could be careless or conceited as long as she made sure she always held the winning hand. Maybe this is where she awakens What was that? Wayne, what did you just say? Maybe this isnt an event where we repel the catastrophe; maybe this event is where the catastrophe awakens You mean no matter what we do, Hiers will end up destroyed? Is that what you mean? Meaning this isnt the boss for the event, but rather the event is introducing a new boss She had an inkling from the fight before too, but somehow they were mistaking Rare for an NPC event boss. She didnt particularly mind either way. She would do her best to act as an NPC for them. Not to mention Pretending to be an NPC in front of Wayne again. This has gone far beyond crazy coincidence; at this point, its like were destined to be connected like this. Waynes conclusions tended to be weirdly off base, but also always right on the money where it mattered. An awakening event. He wasnt exactly wrong about that. So, is it only you three? What happened to all the others? They had already heard her voice before, so it wasnt a problem for Rare to speak to them. Kh, what do we do? We might be scripted to lose, but Lets gather as much info as we can. Is that all we can do? I wish I couldve replenished my soul stones Rare idly wondered if there was some way for him to get more here in the capital. There was no real point to speculating; she was just purely curious. If NPCs sold them, then he would just have more stored in his inventory. He could also attack the shops to get more. More importantly, the fact that he was grumbling about them meant that this was the [Mental Magic] player. She couldnt quite recall his name, though. [Discerning Feather Barrier]. Her third to sixth wings flapped open wide, releasing feathers. She hadnt checked the exact range on this skill, but it seemed to cover up to mid-range. If she was really able to sense everything that went on inside its range, then this skill was truly indispensable. Countless white feathers danced around them. Normally, they would have been black, making the skill look a lot more sinister which could maybe make opponents more anxious. But when Rare used it, it simply looked like something out of a dream. Will there be no arrows this time? Even if there were, they wouldnt be of any use. As soon as they breached her [Discerning Feather Barrier], she would know which direction they came from. Once she knew, with her high AGI, Rare could react fast enough to pluck them out of the air by their arrowheads. Are there no other knights or soldiers in the city? I dont mind if you call them here. She was already here looking for a face-off, so she wanted to trample over at least as many people as there had been before. If there werent enough players, then the remaining could be filled by NPCs. Hey, what about Lawsons knights? They should probably have respawned by now. If we can stall for time, they might already be on their way. Nah, looks like we wont need to. Theyre already here. Hearing that from the one guy whose name she didnt know, Rare directed her attention to the gate, where she sensed multiple mana signatures coming toward them. There were quite a lot of them, enough to believe it was an entire order of knights. They each seemed to have comparatively high amounts of mana. If this Gil guy was a high-rank player and Wayne was mid-rank, then the knights would be somewhere in between. Then again, since she was only judging by their MP, it was unclear how accurate of a barometer that would be with regards to their capability as knights. Based only on MP, Mr. [Mental Magic] here was far and away the number one. About forty, then? More than how many there were before. Well, thats fine. Now, time to begin my revenge. Rare promptly decided to try out her new skill, [Feather Gatling]. Based on the help text, its damage scaled with DEX. She hadnt raised hers as much compared to her other stats, but it should still be higher than any of the players or NPCs here. If this skill seemed useful, then she could just invest more XP into DEX later. Along with her declaration of the keyword, countless white bullets shot out from her outspread wings, peppering the knights. The bullets didnt have enough firepower to pierce through their armor, but they were strong enough to knock the knights back after a few direct hits. Some were unlucky enough that bullets happened to find the openings in their armor; those ones died instantly. She didnt use this attack last time! Its gotta be an ability from her new wings! Since Wayne would have died far too easily from this attack, Rare had only aimed it at the incoming knights. Gil might have been able to withstand it, but Mr. [Mental Magic] would also have gotten ripped apart. The frustration she had felt was unforgettable. In return, she intended to impart on them a most brutal death as a souvenir. While the knights faltered from the force of her [Feather Gatling], Rare cracked open her eyes just a bit. It had gotten pretty dark in the area. There was no need for her to wait for her vision to adjust. With her eyes fully open, she looked right at all the knights. Her normal vision and the mana visible from [Demonic Eyes] overlapped. Since the knights had been forced back a little bit from her assault, they were a little hard to see, but she could use what she saw with [Demonic Eyes] to determine the coordinates. No problem. She concentrated on her [Demonic Eyes] to cast a spell. Rare silently unleashed a [Dark Implosion], swallowing the knights up in darkness. Inside, they were clumped together and violently tossed around, then crushed as the darkness grew smaller and smaller before finally disappearing. She never had an opportunity to test this skill out before, so she was now using it for the first time; thinking back to the previous battle, she felt incredibly relieved that she hadnt tried it when she had been casting spells at herself. While its area of effect was smaller than most other AOE spells, the amount of carnage and destruction it caused rendered her speechless. But still, this was fine. What the hell? Silent casting? No, her eyes That response meant something had happened with her eyes. She was able to check her wings by herself, but she couldnt do the same for her eyes. Perhaps there was some kind of visual effect when she used [Demonic Eyes] to cast? She really did need a mirror. She hit the surviving knights with several more AOE spells using her [Demonic Eyes]. It was a bit overkill, but it was prudent to be completely sure they were dead. After finishing up with the knights, Rare closed her eyes once more and turned to face Waynes group. Wont you attack? Or grab onto me, like before? Ah, you can even try your [Mental Magic] if youd like. Even after being provoked, Wayne and his companions didnt move. They just stared in shock at where the knights had disappeared. If they wanted to get as much information about Rare as possible, they should have at least tried to observe how she responded to being attacked. If you wont attack, then hmm, yes. Let us chat for a bit. In our battle earlier, there was that strange I believe someone called it a field debuff? What was that? Do you still have it? Will you not use it this time? She was still curious about it. If it could be mass produced, or if it was something that every country had stockpiled, then she would have to be much more careful with future invasions. Wayne, snapping out of his fugue, show back, Do you think wed really tell you? No, she didnt. Threats wouldnt work on players, who always revived no matter how many times they died. This was basically just idle conversation. Rare didnt expect them to earnestly answer her. When she had time, she would just go check out the forums. Even if they wanted to hide the information from her, with how many players knew about it, there would definitely be someone who would post about it. She wasnt exactly trying to role-play, but she thought it might be something that a bitter [Catastrophe] might ask. If you dont want to chat, then so be it. I will quickly dispose of you and move on to the city. Kh! Oho. He really didnt like the fact that she was attacking the capital. Not hard to understand why, considering most NPCs couldnt come back to life. Why are you after the capital?! So we are going to chat, then? You seek answers from me after refusing my questions? Isnt that terribly selfish of you? Well, I dont mind. With her eyes still closed, Rare looked up at the wall. Even though her [Demonic Eyes] turned it pink, the towering structure still looked as dazzling as it had been at noon. Because it is beautiful. After seeing it from sky, it was so beautiful that I wanted it. Once I have this city, I will fill it with my undead. This was a declaration of war. For these kinds of scenarios, it much more dramatic to tell someone her plan, then succeed at it. It was like making good on a promise. Now then, I hope that satisfied your curiosity. Time to wrap up this RP session. Farewell for now. One day, I shall also find and kill the others who were here before. You seem to be able to come back to life after youve died, so let them know Im coming. She opened her eyes, looked at Waynes group, and cast [Dark Implosion] again, which just happened to finish cooling down. Just like with the knights before, the three of them were swallowed up in darkness and smooshed together before finally disappearing in a crumpled heap. Rare felt herself holding down just a bit of acid reflux. Her little talk with them had been to mask waiting for her spell to cool down. It was foolhardy not to suspect that an enemy spellcaster might be trying to stall for time. When Rare got wings, she also got the skill [Flight] which allowed her to travel through the sky. However, it was simply the skill making her fly, she didnt actually use her wings to do it. Therefore, she didnt have to flap her wings like a bird normally would in order to displace air to generate lift and thrust, meaning she wasnt restricted to subsonic speeds either. So, since her wings would just be a source of drag while using [High-Speed Flight], she could just fold them and wrap them around her body. And now, with [Demonic Eyes], she could keep an eye on her surroundings with her eyes closed, so she didnt even need goggles. It seemed that trying to fly at this speed while maintaining [Dark Curtain] was a bit much, so she would just have to go without it this time. However, since she had more wings now that could cover up her entire body, none of her skin was exposed to the sun. She could avoid taking damage from sunlight when she had to go outside for short periods of time this way. The sun was much lower in the sky too, so it wasnt as strong compared to before. This was her first time flying by herself, but she was a lot faster than she thought she would be. It must have been at least three times faster than she expected. She didnt know whether it was because she wasnt wearing Yoroisaka now, or because she had obtained more wings, but either way, at this rate, she should reach the capital very soon. The capital would be coming into view any second now. But she suddenly received a bunch of friend chats. It was her followers. Kerry cleary seemed to be unhappy. Based on the map, it should be next to monster territory. Which meant it was possible for an invasion to occur. She rapidly gave them orders to get the Great Liebe Forest, Treu Forest, and Lourdes up and running again, then ended her friend chats. The capital was in sight. In the end, it took about thirty minutes to fly from the Great Liebe Forest to the kingdoms capital. Since Rare was nearing the city, she slowed down and activated [Dark Curtain]. To decelerate, she completely opened all of her wings, using air resistance to brake. Rare couldnt see it for herself, but she was sure it looked cool as all hell. She was also cognizant of the fact that if she hadnt raised her STR and VIT as much as she had, the sheer force exerted on them could have been enough to rip her wings off completely. Oh? Only three are still here. There were few people wandering around outer wall area where the battle had taken place earlier. Only three of them looked like sellswords. And one of them was Wayne. The tank named Gil was there too. The last one didnt look familiar. They all stared up at Rare, looking stupefied. They were standing next to a mass of unknown metal. For an instant, she wondered if they were performing some kind of strange ritual, but then she realized it must have been Yoroisakas remains. It didnt seem like they had done anything, so it was probably something that just happened on its own. Maybe that was what happened to living object-type monsters when they died. Rare leisurely descended in front of them, releasing [Dark Curtain] as she landed on the ground. The sun still shone down from the sky, but its rays were much weaker down on the surface. Th-The catastrophe Wait wait wait wait You mean we didnt beat her? Actually Shes got more wings now; she clearly got stronger, didnt she? The fact that Rare had come down to fight on the ground before was also a contributing factor to her pitiful performance. If she had just stayed in the air and carpet bombed them, it would have been an easy win. However, Rares objective was to use her XP better, not fight better. She could be careless or conceited as long as she made sure she always held the winning hand. Maybe this is where she awakens What was that? Wayne, what did you just say? Maybe this isnt an event where we repel the catastrophe; maybe this event is where the catastrophe awakens You mean no matter what we do, Hiers will end up destroyed? Is that what you mean? Meaning this isnt the boss for the event, but rather the event is introducing a new boss She had an inkling from the fight before too, but somehow they were mistaking Rare for an NPC event boss. She didnt particularly mind either way. She would do her best to act as an NPC for them. Not to mention Pretending to be an NPC in front of Wayne again. This has gone far beyond crazy coincidence; at this point, its like were destined to be connected like this. Waynes conclusions tended to be weirdly off base, but also always right on the money where it mattered. An awakening event. He wasnt exactly wrong about that. So, is it only you three? What happened to all the others? They had already heard her voice before, so it wasnt a problem for Rare to speak to them. Kh, what do we do? We might be scripted to lose, but Lets gather as much info as we can. Is that all we can do? I wish I couldve replenished my soul stones Rare idly wondered if there was some way for him to get more here in the capital. There was no real point to speculating; she was just purely curious. If NPCs sold them, then he would just have more stored in his inventory. He could also attack the shops to get more. More importantly, the fact that he was grumbling about them meant that this was the [Mental Magic] player. She couldnt quite recall his name, though. [Discerning Feather Barrier]. Her third to sixth wings flapped open wide, releasing feathers. She hadnt checked the exact range on this skill, but it seemed to cover up to mid-range. If she was really able to sense everything that went on inside its range, then this skill was truly indispensable. Countless white feathers danced around them. Normally, they would have been black, making the skill look a lot more sinister which could maybe make opponents more anxious. But when Rare used it, it simply looked like something out of a dream. Will there be no arrows this time? Even if there were, they wouldnt be of any use. As soon as they breached her [Discerning Feather Barrier], she would know which direction they came from. Once she knew, with her high AGI, Rare could react fast enough to pluck them out of the air by their arrowheads. Are there no other knights or soldiers in the city? I dont mind if you call them here. She was already here looking for a face-off, so she wanted to trample over at least as many people as there had been before. If there werent enough players, then the remaining could be filled by NPCs. Hey, what about Lawsons knights? They should probably have respawned by now. If we can stall for time, they might already be on their way. Nah, looks like we wont need to. Theyre already here. Hearing that from the one guy whose name she didnt know, Rare directed her attention to the gate, where she sensed multiple mana signatures coming toward them. There were quite a lot of them, enough to believe it was an entire order of knights. They each seemed to have comparatively high amounts of mana. If this Gil guy was a high-rank player and Wayne was mid-rank, then the knights would be somewhere in between. Then again, since she was only judging by their MP, it was unclear how accurate of a barometer that would be with regards to their capability as knights. Based only on MP, Mr. [Mental Magic] here was far and away the number one. About forty, then? More than how many there were before. Well, thats fine. Now, time to begin my revenge. Rare promptly decided to try out her new skill, [Feather Gatling]. Based on the help text, its damage scaled with DEX. She hadnt raised hers as much compared to her other stats, but it should still be higher than any of the players or NPCs here. If this skill seemed useful, then she could just invest more XP into DEX later. Along with her declaration of the keyword, countless white bullets shot out from her outspread wings, peppering the knights. The bullets didnt have enough firepower to pierce through their armor, but they were strong enough to knock the knights back after a few direct hits. Some were unlucky enough that bullets happened to find the openings in their armor; those ones died instantly. She didnt use this attack last time! Its gotta be an ability from her new wings! Since Wayne would have died far too easily from this attack, Rare had only aimed it at the incoming knights. Gil might have been able to withstand it, but Mr. [Mental Magic] would also have gotten ripped apart. The frustration she had felt was unforgettable. In return, she intended to impart on them a most brutal death as a souvenir. While the knights faltered from the force of her [Feather Gatling], Rare cracked open her eyes just a bit. It had gotten pretty dark in the area. There was no need for her to wait for her vision to adjust. With her eyes fully open, she looked right at all the knights. Her normal vision and the mana visible from [Demonic Eyes] overlapped. Since the knights had been forced back a little bit from her assault, they were a little hard to see, but she could use what she saw with [Demonic Eyes] to determine the coordinates. No problem. She concentrated on her [Demonic Eyes] to cast a spell. Rare silently unleashed a [Dark Implosion], swallowing the knights up in darkness. Inside, they were clumped together and violently tossed around, then crushed as the darkness grew smaller and smaller before finally disappearing. She never had an opportunity to test this skill out before, so she was now using it for the first time; thinking back to the previous battle, she felt incredibly relieved that she hadnt tried it when she had been casting spells at herself. While its area of effect was smaller than most other AOE spells, the amount of carnage and destruction it caused rendered her speechless. But still, this was fine. What the hell? Silent casting? No, her eyes That response meant something had happened with her eyes. She was able to check her wings by herself, but she couldnt do the same for her eyes. Perhaps there was some kind of visual effect when she used [Demonic Eyes] to cast? She really did need a mirror. She hit the surviving knights with several more AOE spells using her [Demonic Eyes]. It was a bit overkill, but it was prudent to be completely sure they were dead. After finishing up with the knights, Rare closed her eyes once more and turned to face Waynes group. Wont you attack? Or grab onto me, like before? Ah, you can even try your [Mental Magic] if youd like. Even after being provoked, Wayne and his companions didnt move. They just stared in shock at where the knights had disappeared. If they wanted to get as much information about Rare as possible, they should have at least tried to observe how she responded to being attacked. If you wont attack, then hmm, yes. Let us chat for a bit. In our battle earlier, there was that strange I believe someone called it a field debuff? What was that? Do you still have it? Will you not use it this time? She was still curious about it. If it could be mass produced, or if it was something that every country had stockpiled, then she would have to be much more careful with future invasions. Wayne, snapping out of his fugue, show back, Do you think wed really tell you? No, she didnt. Threats wouldnt work on players, who always revived no matter how many times they died. This was basically just idle conversation. Rare didnt expect them to earnestly answer her. When she had time, she would just go check out the forums. Even if they wanted to hide the information from her, with how many players knew about it, there would definitely be someone who would post about it. She wasnt exactly trying to role-play, but she thought it might be something that a bitter [Catastrophe] might ask. If you dont want to chat, then so be it. I will quickly dispose of you and move on to the city. Kh! Oho. He really didnt like the fact that she was attacking the capital. Not hard to understand why, considering most NPCs couldnt come back to life. Why are you after the capital?! So we are going to chat, then? You seek answers from me after refusing my questions? Isnt that terribly selfish of you? Well, I dont mind. With her eyes still closed, Rare looked up at the wall. Even though her [Demonic Eyes] turned it pink, the towering structure still looked as dazzling as it had been at noon. Because it is beautiful. After seeing it from sky, it was so beautiful that I wanted it. Once I have this city, I will fill it with my undead. This was a declaration of war. For these kinds of scenarios, it much more dramatic to tell someone her plan, then succeed at it. It was like making good on a promise. Now then, I hope that satisfied your curiosity. Time to wrap up this RP session. Farewell for now. One day, I shall also find and kill the others who were here before. You seem to be able to come back to life after youve died, so let them know Im coming. She opened her eyes, looked at Waynes group, and cast [Dark Implosion] again, which just happened to finish cooling down. Just like with the knights before, the three of them were swallowed up in darkness and smooshed together before finally disappearing in a crumpled heap. Rare felt herself holding down just a bit of acid reflux. Her little talk with them had been to mask waiting for her spell to cool down. It was foolhardy not to suspect that an enemy spellcaster might be trying to stall for time. CH 93 Rare got a bit of XP from the knights she crushed earlier. However, the three players just now had given her absolutely nothing. Thats weird Those three were clearlywell, two of them at leaststronger than the knights, I thought. Was there some reason I didnt get any XP from them? She thought it over while going around storing Waynes left-behind items in her inventory, the drops from Yoroisaka. However, she didnt have enough data to narrow down the possible reasons right now. Oh well, I can just think about it again the next time it happens. Having taken care of the few remaining players who made up Waynes group as well as the capable-looking knights, Rare once again [Summoned] a large number of adamantite soldiers as well as Sieg within the city. They ran around dealing with any knights or soldiers while doing their best to avoid destroying any buildings. But first, there was something else that had to be done. And that was to find and neutralize the inns and any other possible respawn points. The three players Rare just killed should have all died in the first battle as well. The fact that they had gathered back in the same place before she got back meant that they must have respawned in the capital. Since she summoned living object and undead monsters, [Mental Magic] skills wouldnt be very effective, but she had to be wary of soul stones now. Even if that guy couldnt get any more, he did say that he had four left. Which meant that, in the worst case, up to four of her followers could be [Controlled]. Those four would require four of her other troops to handle, meaning up to eight units could be considered incapacitated for a short period of time. She had to be careful. And that Gil player, he was currently quite powerful based on what Rare had seen. He might be at the same level as an adamanleader, or perhaps even stronger than one. Thinking back to the first event, she could infer that he must have put in quite a lot of work and earned a lot of XP. She evaluated the other players she had encountered in both events as the same. She couldnt let her guard down around them. I need to bring down the capital, destroy this kingdom, and earn much, much more XP. After all, I could be attacked by any number of players working together. On my side, though, if I were to be defeated, my entire army would immediately crumble. Hm, coop play Rare had never experienced it. At least not in this game. I dont have any Wait no, I dont have many friends She wasnt really jealous. However, simply from a rational perspective, in order to minimize risk, she was thinking it could be a good idea to find a single other player to have as a collaborator. I wonder where I could even find a monster player. I dont think they tend to use the forums very much It would be nice if there were any players who enjoyed extravagantly crushing human cities like she was doing now. If she could add on another thing, they should also understand the advantages of pretending to be an event boss; it would be great if this person also got carried away acting out their mischief. Yeah, theres no one out there like that. Maybe if I went to another country Well, first Ive gotta finish tearing down this country. After this, no one would be coming to the Great Liebe Forest anymore. Thats because the city near it no longer existed. The same was probably true for Treu Forest. In which case, if Rare wanted to earn more XP, then she would have to turn this place into a city of death as planned, then she could wait for more prey to come to her. If the capital of a kingdom was completely swallowed up in monster territory, there was no way the surrounding countries would just sit back and watch. Thats why she was counting on news of this event to spread all across the continent. There probably wouldnt be any messengers trying to escape on foot. Anyone they saw like that would likely be a simple deserter. For any proper knights, even if they were to escape, they would still die if their noble master were to be killed, so it was better for them to resist. All right, now where are the inns The skeletal knights were scattered all around the city. Considering the size of the capital, a squad of adamantite soldiers by itself might not be enough, but Siegs [Summoned] skeletal knights were very plentiful. Since he clearly surpassed the standard maximum limit for [Summon], he had to have been using some kind of other skill to break that limit. One piece of good news was that her followers followers, namely the ants and skeletal knights, automatically respawned one hour after Rares death. That meant the one-hour respawn timer wasnt a cooldown timer, it was some other kind of variable. It was probably the time during which a revive could be accepted. If it was possible for someone to receive a rez during this time, then it would make sense to prevent automatic respawning from triggering. It was in times of chaos that a persons true nature would become apparent. A plump merchant pulling on his neighbors hand seemed to be trying to escape while what looked like a soldier pushed himself through the waves of people against the flow. The single constant Rare could see was that everyone wanted to get as far away from the skeletons as they could. The ones running are probably the residents. The ones who arent running are Either knights who wouldnt die, or players. There you are, Wayne. From up in the sky, it was easy to spot people acting differently from the masses. He was pushing through the crowd with Gil and linking up with the knights to stand against the adamantite soldiers and the skeletons. Which meant she could use the direction they came from to trace back to their inn. But this is the nobles quarter Its in the center of the city. Do they really have enough money for a room here? It was too bad that Rare didnt know where their respawn points were. She didnt want to just go around smashing every building either; she wanted to preserve this beautiful townscape as much as possible. Her only option was to keep those respawn points in check without destroying anything. And in order to do that I just need to have all the safe zones in the capital under my control, and then spawn camp them. So she needed more numbers. However, Rare and Sieg had both wrung out everything they could from their [Summon] skills. In other words, until it cooled down, she would have to work with what she already had. Technically, if I just need them under my control, I dont need combat strength for that Both Rare and Sieg had a way to increase their forces using temporary, expendible pawns: the conscripts generated from [Necromantic Barrier] and [Necromantic General]. Leave combat to the soldiers, and use weak undead to clear out the buildings. Even though she would now stop searching for inns, Rare still had other work to do. Cast [Necromantic Barrier], turn the fresh dead into zombies, sic a squad of adamantite soldiers after Waynes party If the zombies were hit by an unlucky ray of sunlight, they would immediately be purified, but thanks to the massive city wall, most of the city was currently within its shade. She didnt really care about Wayne himself, but that Gil player might have enough power to take her out. The only thing she could do was suppress them with pure numbers. And if they died, they would just respawn again somewhere else. She had to keep them alive until her forces finished taking control of the entire capital. Their encounters had to be skillfully directed so that they would keep fighting instead of considering suicide. Her forces hadnt found him yet, but she also had to be careful of that [Mental Magic] guy. He could control up to four enemies at once, which meant he required multiple times that many units to neutralize, thus she would have to dedicate multiple adamantite soldiers just for him. Well, all I can do is leave it to them. As for me Rare looked in the direction Waynes group had come from: the center of the capital. Ive gotta take care of the nobles in order to put an end to the knights. No telling how many of them there are. There were fewer knights in the castle than Rare expected. As far as she could see, most of them were out in the city proper. They must have been ordered to prioritize the citizens, the lifeblood of the kingdom, over the nobles. I think thats very noble of them, but If the nobles themselves die, then the knights protecting those citizens will also die. Either way, the fewer knights there were, the easier it was for her. Eh? Standing before the entrance to the castle were Deas and Sieg. Sieg made sense; Rare had [Summoned] him. But how did Deas get here? The only one who could summon him was Rare, his master. She landed before them and inquired about just that. How did you get here, Deas? Dont me you ran here, did you? Of course he couldnt have. Well, she couldnt rule it out completely. No, even if it was technically possible, there was no way. It had only been an hour since Deas had respawned. Sieg reported apologetically. Rare had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Was this intended behavior? No, of course not. Theyre definitely going to patch this during the next maintenance Theyll probably fix it so that physically carrying a character doesnt count as equipment These follower NPCs had more or less obeyed Rares orders. That was a high-performance AI for you; it was able to find a loophole in the fuzzy commands she had issued. They werent inferior at all to real humans. In fact, it was possible for individuals with strong personalities to exploit fuzzy commands by contorting them to be interpreted in a way that individually benefited them. That must have been how this came about. I figured you would say something like that Well, since youre here, I am about to assault the castle. We shall proceed as three. Rare got a bit of XP from the knights she crushed earlier. However, the three players just now had given her absolutely nothing. Thats weird Those three were clearlywell, two of them at leaststronger than the knights, I thought. Was there some reason I didnt get any XP from them? She thought it over while going around storing Waynes left-behind items in her inventory, the drops from Yoroisaka. However, she didnt have enough data to narrow down the possible reasons right now. Oh well, I can just think about it again the next time it happens. Having taken care of the few remaining players who made up Waynes group as well as the capable-looking knights, Rare once again [Summoned] a large number of adamantite soldiers as well as Sieg within the city. They ran around dealing with any knights or soldiers while doing their best to avoid destroying any buildings. But first, there was something else that had to be done. And that was to find and neutralize the inns and any other possible respawn points. The three players Rare just killed should have all died in the first battle as well. The fact that they had gathered back in the same place before she got back meant that they must have respawned in the capital. Since she summoned living object and undead monsters, [Mental Magic] skills wouldnt be very effective, but she had to be wary of soul stones now. Even if that guy couldnt get any more, he did say that he had four left. Which meant that, in the worst case, up to four of her followers could be [Controlled]. Those four would require four of her other troops to handle, meaning up to eight units could be considered incapacitated for a short period of time. She had to be careful. And that Gil player, he was currently quite powerful based on what Rare had seen. He might be at the same level as an adamanleader, or perhaps even stronger than one. Thinking back to the first event, she could infer that he must have put in quite a lot of work and earned a lot of XP. She evaluated the other players she had encountered in both events as the same. She couldnt let her guard down around them. I need to bring down the capital, destroy this kingdom, and earn much, much more XP. After all, I could be attacked by any number of players working together. On my side, though, if I were to be defeated, my entire army would immediately crumble. Hm, coop play Rare had never experienced it. At least not in this game. I dont have any Wait no, I dont have many friends She wasnt really jealous. However, simply from a rational perspective, in order to minimize risk, she was thinking it could be a good idea to find a single other player to have as a collaborator. I wonder where I could even find a monster player. I dont think they tend to use the forums very much It would be nice if there were any players who enjoyed extravagantly crushing human cities like she was doing now. If she could add on another thing, they should also understand the advantages of pretending to be an event boss; it would be great if this person also got carried away acting out their mischief. Yeah, theres no one out there like that. Maybe if I went to another country Well, first Ive gotta finish tearing down this country. After this, no one would be coming to the Great Liebe Forest anymore. Thats because the city near it no longer existed. The same was probably true for Treu Forest. In which case, if Rare wanted to earn more XP, then she would have to turn this place into a city of death as planned, then she could wait for more prey to come to her. If the capital of a kingdom was completely swallowed up in monster territory, there was no way the surrounding countries would just sit back and watch. Thats why she was counting on news of this event to spread all across the continent. There probably wouldnt be any messengers trying to escape on foot. Anyone they saw like that would likely be a simple deserter. For any proper knights, even if they were to escape, they would still die if their noble master were to be killed, so it was better for them to resist. All right, now where are the inns The skeletal knights were scattered all around the city. Considering the size of the capital, a squad of adamantite soldiers by itself might not be enough, but Siegs [Summoned] skeletal knights were very plentiful. Since he clearly surpassed the standard maximum limit for [Summon], he had to have been using some kind of other skill to break that limit. One piece of good news was that her followers followers, namely the ants and skeletal knights, automatically respawned one hour after Rares death. That meant the one-hour respawn timer wasnt a cooldown timer, it was some other kind of variable. It was probably the time during which a revive could be accepted. If it was possible for someone to receive a rez during this time, then it would make sense to prevent automatic respawning from triggering. It was in times of chaos that a persons true nature would become apparent. A plump merchant pulling on his neighbors hand seemed to be trying to escape while what looked like a soldier pushed himself through the waves of people against the flow. The single constant Rare could see was that everyone wanted to get as far away from the skeletons as they could. The ones running are probably the residents. The ones who arent running are Either knights who wouldnt die, or players. There you are, Wayne. From up in the sky, it was easy to spot people acting differently from the masses. He was pushing through the crowd with Gil and linking up with the knights to stand against the adamantite soldiers and the skeletons. Which meant she could use the direction they came from to trace back to their inn. But this is the nobles quarter Its in the center of the city. Do they really have enough money for a room here? It was too bad that Rare didnt know where their respawn points were. She didnt want to just go around smashing every building either; she wanted to preserve this beautiful townscape as much as possible. Her only option was to keep those respawn points in check without destroying anything. And in order to do that I just need to have all the safe zones in the capital under my control, and then spawn camp them. So she needed more numbers. However, Rare and Sieg had both wrung out everything they could from their [Summon] skills. In other words, until it cooled down, she would have to work with what she already had. Technically, if I just need them under my control, I dont need combat strength for that Both Rare and Sieg had a way to increase their forces using temporary, expendible pawns: the conscripts generated from [Necromantic Barrier] and [Necromantic General]. Leave combat to the soldiers, and use weak undead to clear out the buildings. Even though she would now stop searching for inns, Rare still had other work to do. Cast [Necromantic Barrier], turn the fresh dead into zombies, sic a squad of adamantite soldiers after Waynes party If the zombies were hit by an unlucky ray of sunlight, they would immediately be purified, but thanks to the massive city wall, most of the city was currently within its shade. She didnt really care about Wayne himself, but that Gil player might have enough power to take her out. The only thing she could do was suppress them with pure numbers. And if they died, they would just respawn again somewhere else. She had to keep them alive until her forces finished taking control of the entire capital. Their encounters had to be skillfully directed so that they would keep fighting instead of considering suicide. Her forces hadnt found him yet, but she also had to be careful of that [Mental Magic] guy. He could control up to four enemies at once, which meant he required multiple times that many units to neutralize, thus she would have to dedicate multiple adamantite soldiers just for him. Well, all I can do is leave it to them. As for me Rare looked in the direction Waynes group had come from: the center of the capital. Ive gotta take care of the nobles in order to put an end to the knights. No telling how many of them there are. There were fewer knights in the castle than Rare expected. As far as she could see, most of them were out in the city proper. They must have been ordered to prioritize the citizens, the lifeblood of the kingdom, over the nobles. I think thats very noble of them, but If the nobles themselves die, then the knights protecting those citizens will also die. Either way, the fewer knights there were, the easier it was for her. Eh? Standing before the entrance to the castle were Deas and Sieg. Sieg made sense; Rare had [Summoned] him. But how did Deas get here? The only one who could summon him was Rare, his master. She landed before them and inquired about just that. How did you get here, Deas? Dont me you ran here, did you? Of course he couldnt have. Well, she couldnt rule it out completely. No, even if it was technically possible, there was no way. It had only been an hour since Deas had respawned. Sieg reported apologetically. Rare had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Was this intended behavior? No, of course not. Theyre definitely going to patch this during the next maintenance Theyll probably fix it so that physically carrying a character doesnt count as equipment These follower NPCs had more or less obeyed Rares orders. That was a high-performance AI for you; it was able to find a loophole in the fuzzy commands she had issued. They werent inferior at all to real humans. In fact, it was possible for individuals with strong personalities to exploit fuzzy commands by contorting them to be interpreted in a way that individually benefited them. That must have been how this came about. I figured you would say something like that Well, since youre here, I am about to assault the castle. We shall proceed as three. CH 94 Rare wasnt sure if the nobles would be inside the castle. However, even nobles wouldnt stay in the capital for no reason. If they lived here, then they should have some sort of work they needed to do here. Normally speaking, that would be running the kingdom, especially now during a crisis; it would be natural to assume they were probably all crammed together in some kind of centralized location. It was possible for some of them to hole up in their mansions, but those ones would be easy to spot by checking how tight their defenses were, so she could go around finding them later. The castle gate was shut tight, but in a flash, Deas diced it up into tiny pieces and it crumbled apart. It didnt matter if those doors were made out of wood or any other material; while it looked rather solid, it was nowhere as sturdy as a treant. What is it? Ah, thats right; her followers hadnt yet seen her after learning all those skills. Its pretty awesome, isnt it? I have to admit I quite like the look. Hehehe. Its because I can still sense whats going on around me even with my eyes closed now. I only need to open them in times of need. They chatted casually while forcing their way into the royal castle. Just as Rare had seen from above earlier, there were barely any knights within. Some were coming toward them, while others rushed further into the castle. Probably to report on the situation. Well, if theyre coming for us, then let them. Im sure theyre currently shorthanded on all fronts. Try to kill them as cleanly as possible; thatll help when we turn them into undead. However, they were probably already [Subordinated] by a noble. If so, then even if the corpses were zombified with [Necromancy], their souls wouldnt be bound. Without an accompanying soul, they could only create weak undead. Do we make up for it with numbers? If were just going to raise all of them as undead, maybe well get lucky and a few of them wont be under the effects of [Subordinate]. After that, Rare and her generals continued raiding the castle, cutting down any knights and maids they encountered. Since they were unable to bind the knights souls with [Necromancy], they could only be turned into weak undead monsters (which they called lesser zombies for the sake of convenience). That wasnt the case for the maids, though; between the effects of Rares [Necromantic Barrier] and Deas and Siegs [Miasma], they had been reborn as rather strong undead. Maids and civil servants are much more useful. Regardless of what the body originally was, the type of resulting undead didnt really vary all that much. Both knights and maids alike turned into zombies. However, whether it was because they had higher INT in life, or because maids and civil servants just had higher INT in general, the way they walked was just as refined as when they were alive. If they were killed cleanly, ignoring the change in skin color, other people may not even be able to tell they had been zombified. But what the hell, what is up with these hallways?! They had already gotten lost and had to retrace their steps countless times. There werent many windows so they couldnt see what was going on outside, but since there was no light coming in from them at all, the sun must have long set. That said, Rares forces were stronger at night, so this was a welcome development. With a sudden epiphany, Rare taught the maids beside her [Fire Magic]. Since the knights who had become lesser zombies couldnt learn it, there must have been some kind of condition for zombies to learn magic. Maids, light the candles on the walls with fire. As one, the maid zombies all cast a spell to light every candle within range. Splendid I wonder if we could make something like this for our cave. He was absolutely right. And not only that, there werent even that many people in their group who needed light to see. The most affected person had been Rare herself, but now she could navigate literally with her eyes closed. Lets not then. Ah, what if we keep building the nest up and up like an anthill? Think we could make it look like a castle? Since Erfahren was destroyed, the number of visitors to the great forest would surely decrease. The ants would have the free time to work on it. Rare also wanted them to work on the farms again, but if it seemed like the engineers could handle another project on top of that, then she wanted to propose it. Yeah, I can tell. There are a lot of people up ahead. After turning the next corner, the hallway would open into a wider space. Up ahead, Rare could see an excessively ornate door. Beyond it was probably an audience chamber of some sort. I wonder if normal people also have to go through this meandering hallway to seek an audience. Or maybe theres a shortcut somewhere. The maids had split up to search for people hiding in other rooms, but reported that they found none. Rare ordered them to form teams of at least five and released them into the castle; if they encountered an enemy they didnt think they could defeat, they were to flee. [Discerning Feather Barrier]. All right, open the door. Now! Fire!!! The instant the door opened, countless attack spells came flying out. There seemed to be some [Holy Magic] spells mixed in. Most likely it was because they believed Rares group to consist of undead. Two of them in fact were, but Rare herself was not. Using [Demonic Eyes] to single them out, she specifically canceled out only those spells. Since she erred on the safe side and used stronger magic to accomplish this, a number of other spells also got canceled out in the process. For any spells that werent [Holy Magic], they were weakened by both Deas and Siegs [Miasma] auras, so barely any damage would get through, and that damage was promptly healed up via [Treatment]. [Treatment] could only be used on a single target within arms reach, and it didnt heal for much. However, it had two points in its favor: It cost very little MP, and it had an extremely short cooldown. [Healing Magic] was the exact opposite; it healed for a lot and had a long range, but its MP cost was high and its cooldown was rather long as well. And since it was one of the types of magic, it was also included in the global spell cooldown, which made it a huge hassle. This was why it was so hard to build an all-purpose caster. Maybe. She had only discovered [Healing Magic] very recently, so this was just her guess. In this game, healing skills didnt damage undead. Rather than restoring life force, they just mended wounds. The silver bullet to use against undead was [Holy Magic]. When unaffected by exceptional skills like [Miasma], [Holy Magic] spells dealt 150% damage to undead targets. As far as Rare could tell when using [Demonic Eyes] to see how powerful the spell barrage was, Deas and Sieg wouldnt take any fatal damage, but there was no reason to purposely take any hits either. The reason she had sent the maid zombies off somewhere else was to avoid losing any of them to this attack. After all, Rare could tell that they were casting spells long before the door was opened. For the most part, they just waited until the enemys magic assault was over. Rares job was pretty simple; aside from monitoring for more [Holy Magic] spells, she simply ignored all other spells and occasionally used healing skills. There were knights huddled against the wall to avoid being hit by magic who tried to slowly approach the doorway, but since they were within [Discerning Feather Barrier]s area of effect, they were unable to conceal themselves from Rare. Whenever they popped into view, she used [Feather Gatling] to beat them back. AhI know I was playing things safe, but when I cast spells that are too strong, I guess that must be because of [Discerning Feather Barrier]. Rares magic did get a bonus when being cast within her barrier, after all. A short time later, there was a lull in the enemys magic barrage, and now knights holding up shields charged out. First Ill blast them with magic, then I guess Ill stop them after they lose their formation. Not a bad plan. However, her necromantic knights wouldnt let things get even that far. They cut down or blew back swaths of charging knights at once, not allowing a single one to get close to Rare. I was going to try out [Wing Attack] Well, whatever. Since more magic came flying out whenever someones cooldown finished, the two sides repeated this exchange for quite some time, but knights were being killed each time so their numbers slowly dwindled. Soon, everything was over. Now then! Are you all quite finished? So you must be the Catastrophe who attacked the capital. The one who replied to Rare was a well-built older man. The fierce look in his eyes indicated that he was different from these other corpulent nobles. When inquiring about someones identity, youre supposed to introduce yourself first. Arent you being quite impolite? I return your statement right back at you: If you want to visit someones home, make an appointment first! Have you no manners?! Well damn. He was exactly right. This was no ordinary person. It is as you say. I am what you people call a Catastrophe. Probably. Since I dont call myself that, I wouldnt know. Rare wasnt sure if the nobles would be inside the castle. However, even nobles wouldnt stay in the capital for no reason. If they lived here, then they should have some sort of work they needed to do here. Normally speaking, that would be running the kingdom, especially now during a crisis; it would be natural to assume they were probably all crammed together in some kind of centralized location. It was possible for some of them to hole up in their mansions, but those ones would be easy to spot by checking how tight their defenses were, so she could go around finding them later. The castle gate was shut tight, but in a flash, Deas diced it up into tiny pieces and it crumbled apart. It didnt matter if those doors were made out of wood or any other material; while it looked rather solid, it was nowhere as sturdy as a treant. What is it? Ah, thats right; her followers hadnt yet seen her after learning all those skills. Its pretty awesome, isnt it? I have to admit I quite like the look. Hehehe. Its because I can still sense whats going on around me even with my eyes closed now. I only need to open them in times of need. They chatted casually while forcing their way into the royal castle. Just as Rare had seen from above earlier, there were barely any knights within. Some were coming toward them, while others rushed further into the castle. Probably to report on the situation. Well, if theyre coming for us, then let them. Im sure theyre currently shorthanded on all fronts. Try to kill them as cleanly as possible; thatll help when we turn them into undead. However, they were probably already [Subordinated] by a noble. If so, then even if the corpses were zombified with [Necromancy], their souls wouldnt be bound. Without an accompanying soul, they could only create weak undead. Do we make up for it with numbers? If were just going to raise all of them as undead, maybe well get lucky and a few of them wont be under the effects of [Subordinate]. After that, Rare and her generals continued raiding the castle, cutting down any knights and maids they encountered. Since they were unable to bind the knights souls with [Necromancy], they could only be turned into weak undead monsters (which they called lesser zombies for the sake of convenience). That wasnt the case for the maids, though; between the effects of Rares [Necromantic Barrier] and Deas and Siegs [Miasma], they had been reborn as rather strong undead. Maids and civil servants are much more useful. Regardless of what the body originally was, the type of resulting undead didnt really vary all that much. Both knights and maids alike turned into zombies. However, whether it was because they had higher INT in life, or because maids and civil servants just had higher INT in general, the way they walked was just as refined as when they were alive. If they were killed cleanly, ignoring the change in skin color, other people may not even be able to tell they had been zombified. But what the hell, what is up with these hallways?! They had already gotten lost and had to retrace their steps countless times. There werent many windows so they couldnt see what was going on outside, but since there was no light coming in from them at all, the sun must have long set. That said, Rares forces were stronger at night, so this was a welcome development. With a sudden epiphany, Rare taught the maids beside her [Fire Magic]. Since the knights who had become lesser zombies couldnt learn it, there must have been some kind of condition for zombies to learn magic. Maids, light the candles on the walls with fire. As one, the maid zombies all cast a spell to light every candle within range. Splendid I wonder if we could make something like this for our cave. He was absolutely right. And not only that, there werent even that many people in their group who needed light to see. The most affected person had been Rare herself, but now she could navigate literally with her eyes closed. Lets not then. Ah, what if we keep building the nest up and up like an anthill? Think we could make it look like a castle? Since Erfahren was destroyed, the number of visitors to the great forest would surely decrease. The ants would have the free time to work on it. Rare also wanted them to work on the farms again, but if it seemed like the engineers could handle another project on top of that, then she wanted to propose it. Yeah, I can tell. There are a lot of people up ahead. After turning the next corner, the hallway would open into a wider space. Up ahead, Rare could see an excessively ornate door. Beyond it was probably an audience chamber of some sort. I wonder if normal people also have to go through this meandering hallway to seek an audience. Or maybe theres a shortcut somewhere. The maids had split up to search for people hiding in other rooms, but reported that they found none. Rare ordered them to form teams of at least five and released them into the castle; if they encountered an enemy they didnt think they could defeat, they were to flee. [Discerning Feather Barrier]. All right, open the door. Now! Fire!!! The instant the door opened, countless attack spells came flying out. There seemed to be some [Holy Magic] spells mixed in. Most likely it was because they believed Rares group to consist of undead. Two of them in fact were, but Rare herself was not. Using [Demonic Eyes] to single them out, she specifically canceled out only those spells. Since she erred on the safe side and used stronger magic to accomplish this, a number of other spells also got canceled out in the process. For any spells that werent [Holy Magic], they were weakened by both Deas and Siegs [Miasma] auras, so barely any damage would get through, and that damage was promptly healed up via [Treatment]. [Treatment] could only be used on a single target within arms reach, and it didnt heal for much. However, it had two points in its favor: It cost very little MP, and it had an extremely short cooldown. [Healing Magic] was the exact opposite; it healed for a lot and had a long range, but its MP cost was high and its cooldown was rather long as well. And since it was one of the types of magic, it was also included in the global spell cooldown, which made it a huge hassle. This was why it was so hard to build an all-purpose caster. Maybe. She had only discovered [Healing Magic] very recently, so this was just her guess. In this game, healing skills didnt damage undead. Rather than restoring life force, they just mended wounds. The silver bullet to use against undead was [Holy Magic]. When unaffected by exceptional skills like [Miasma], [Holy Magic] spells dealt 150% damage to undead targets. As far as Rare could tell when using [Demonic Eyes] to see how powerful the spell barrage was, Deas and Sieg wouldnt take any fatal damage, but there was no reason to purposely take any hits either. The reason she had sent the maid zombies off somewhere else was to avoid losing any of them to this attack. After all, Rare could tell that they were casting spells long before the door was opened. For the most part, they just waited until the enemys magic assault was over. Rares job was pretty simple; aside from monitoring for more [Holy Magic] spells, she simply ignored all other spells and occasionally used healing skills. There were knights huddled against the wall to avoid being hit by magic who tried to slowly approach the doorway, but since they were within [Discerning Feather Barrier]s area of effect, they were unable to conceal themselves from Rare. Whenever they popped into view, she used [Feather Gatling] to beat them back. AhI know I was playing things safe, but when I cast spells that are too strong, I guess that must be because of [Discerning Feather Barrier]. Rares magic did get a bonus when being cast within her barrier, after all. A short time later, there was a lull in the enemys magic barrage, and now knights holding up shields charged out. First Ill blast them with magic, then I guess Ill stop them after they lose their formation. Not a bad plan. However, her necromantic knights wouldnt let things get even that far. They cut down or blew back swaths of charging knights at once, not allowing a single one to get close to Rare. I was going to try out [Wing Attack] Well, whatever. Since more magic came flying out whenever someones cooldown finished, the two sides repeated this exchange for quite some time, but knights were being killed each time so their numbers slowly dwindled. Soon, everything was over. Now then! Are you all quite finished? So you must be the Catastrophe who attacked the capital. The one who replied to Rare was a well-built older man. The fierce look in his eyes indicated that he was different from these other corpulent nobles. When inquiring about someones identity, youre supposed to introduce yourself first. Arent you being quite impolite? I return your statement right back at you: If you want to visit someones home, make an appointment first! Have you no manners?! Well damn. He was exactly right. This was no ordinary person. It is as you say. I am what you people call a Catastrophe. Probably. Since I dont call myself that, I wouldnt know. CH 95 Yes, catastrophe is simply a term we use. You are the monster who was born ten days ago in the Great Liebe Forest, correct? Your Excellency! This isnt the time for! If this thing isnt the catastrophe, then we may have to face an even worse threat! Just stay silent! Going by the way he was addressed, this intrepid old man was apparently the prime minister. However, given all the other useless nobles present, Rare had a full grasp on his position and why he had to deliberately ask such a question. In deference to our kind nobleman here, I shall answer you. Ten days ago or so, was it? I suppose you could say my birth took place then. To be precise, that was when Rare reincarnated into a demon lord, but she wasnt going to tell them how she was a high elf who had been corrupted by monsters. Earlier, you should have been vanquished by those brave sellswords. While Rare didnt break the cryptic smile that she had adopted since the start, she had to shift her pose to cover up the kneejerk twitch her body produced. Especially her wings. Since they were appendages she didnt have in real life, it was much harder to keep them under control. Indeed. How did you revive? Why would I tell you? The prime minister seemed to have more to say, but the other nobles start raising a ruckus. Your Excellency, surely this creature isnt the servant of an even greater power? It cant be! A hand of the archangel?! But it doesnt match the angels from our literature! Even though she wasnt even doing anything, information just kept on pouring out. Perhaps it would be smarter for Rare to just stay quiet whenever she was at the negotiating table. This was what happened to her before when she spoke to Wayne as well. The more she talked, the more she leaked. When she imagined Wayne seeing her this way back then, she could feel herself filling up with an emotion very different from the frustration she had been feeling. Putting that aside, first she had to mull over these new angel and archangel words. Rare hadnt read too carefully since she was trying to avoid inflicting mental anguish on herself, but when she went to check the forums earlier she found a thread titled WORLD FIRST! CATASTROPHE DOWN!!! In other words, to the players who had fought her before, the fact that Rare was a catastrophe had already been disseminated as common knowledge. Even though it had only been ten days since Rare, or really the demon lord, had been born, considering that there was already widespread use of the term catastrophe among both the NPCs and the players, it seemed clear that Rare was not the first. At least one other existed. This archangel was probably it. However, if it were only the archangel, then people could just call it the archangel and that would be that. Even if they wanted a different word to use that was further removed from angel, there was no need to deliberately go so far to catastrophe. Which meant that, not counting Rare, multiple catastrophes existed. Youve done your research. However, she didnt need to try to forcefully obtain more information about them right here. She could just check the forums more thoroughly later. There were sure to be other players who had information about catastrophes, and there were probably lore megathreads where research-obsessed players would gather to share that information. In any case, as thanks for the information, Rare would play along with them for a bit before bringing things to a close. Indeed. I am the archangel. Bow before me. That is a lie. Do you take us for fools? Immediately called out. Yep, she really should just keep her mouth shut. And what makes you think that? The prime minister didnt respond, instead pulling out what appeared to be a short rainbow-patterned stick from his pocket and pointing it at Rare. This is my answer! I invoke the [Vein of the Spirit Lord]! Nothing seemed to occur at first. If it had been the Rare from before, she may not have realized what was going on. But now that she had [Demonic Eyes], as well as [Discerning Feather Barrier] to monitor the prime ministers status, it was quite obvious what was happening. This is the field debuff from earlier. No wait, it isnt a field now. It only affects me. A single-target debuff item. That seems extremely inefficient. However, the effect was indeed the real deal. There was a line through the air between Rare and the stick that even [Demonic Eyes] and [Discerning Feather Barrier] were unable to provide any information about. It wasnt just a simple debuff, either; it seemed to render all of Rares powers unusable. Actually, if they had something like this all along, couldnt they have combined it with the magical barrage? Or what, did they have yet another trick up their sleeves? There werent any players left from before, but that didnt mean it was all right to just leave this be. Rare started pondering how someone could use [Charm] to steal this item when things took a dramatic turn. Deas and Sieg were standing on either side of Rare. However, she was the only one who could hear what they were saying. As she curiously wondered what was wrong with them, the prime minister in front of her was doing his utmost to keep pointing the little stick at her. The fact that this [Vein of the Spirit Lord] weakens you is evidence that you are not an angel! This item is an ancient treasure left behind for the good of humanity! It has the ability to rob evil beings like you of their strength! What led to your earlier death was also a treasured item bestowed with the protection of the spirit lord Was it because of the atmosphere? Even the prime minister had begun expositing info. Rare remembered similarly being carried away by the mood herself, though, so she wasnt about to call him out on it. It was the moment someone thinks Ive won! That idea leads people ever closer to making a mistake. Well, calling it a mistake may be too dramatic, but they tend to do things they dont need to do. All the things the prime minister had said just now were a perfect example of this. Deas and Sieg roared, spewing out the thickest [Miasma] Rare had ever seen. Only she could understand what they were saying, but the screams themselves caused the entire room to shake. Hey, whats going on? Even Rare was a bit worried by this unexpected outburst. They emitted so much force that all the nobles aside from the prime minister fell to the floor, unable to do anything but shiver uncontrollably as they watched from there. That was when <> <> Thats expensive Expensive, but not so much that she couldnt afford it. Not to mention, since Rare was learning from her mistakes, she had a stock of unused XP set aside for emergencies. But no, that wasnt the real problem, which was the question of what conditions they had fulfilled exactly. However, even if she didnt know the answer to that, she did know that ever since the two of them first used a Greater Philosophers Stone, they were unable to reincarnate any further. If they could surmount that invisible wall here, then she should be pulling them up. She did feel a twinge of fear at using her emergency XP stores, but there was still a week of in-game time left in the event. They could just get more. Sugarus reincarnation would be delayed even further, but she could just apologize afterward. I permit both of them to reincarnate. <> <> The two of them were slowly covered in particles of light. Once they had been completely enfolded in light, even their silhouettes could no longer be seen. Or at least, thats what Rare assumed was happening, but since she had her eyes closed and was using [Demonic Eyes] to see, all she knew was that her entire field of view had turned pink. However, there were some things that probably only Rare could tell. The two undead were sucking up mana. Since she was standing right between them, it felt as though all the mana from their surroundings had gathered around them, which was what rendered her unable to see. I see, so the energy needed for reincarnation comes from the mana in the area. Luckily, it appeared that the prime minister and any surviving mages were busy staring dumbfoundedly at the undead generals, so even though Rare couldnt see anything, it didnt seem like there were going to be any additional complications. She could pretend this was all planned and just keep her eyes closed. What the hell is happening to them? Hiiiih!!! Their transformation finished. Rare opened her eyes for the first time in a while to look at them. <> <> The two mens appearances had become exalted in a way that truly suited the moniker ruler. Unlike before when they looked like skeletons with a layer of skin hanging off their bones, they had regained what she assumed was their physical appearance from their former lives. Not the skin color, though. Deas had white swept-back hair and a mustache, giving him the look of a dapper old man. However, the blazing fire of rage in his pupils ruined any semblance of a calm demeanor he might try to express. Sieg had a very masculine face with long black hair tied in a ponytail. He could almost be described as having the elegance of a young lion, but the profound sadness in his eyes imparted a tragic history. You two have turned into, well rather handsome men <> <> So, this is the same thing that happened when it was me. Except Since they were already under the control of an existing power, that blast message didnt get sent out again. In other words, the message only goes out when something brand new representing a new threat to humanity is born. Ahhh So basically, this is a disaster. This discovery had enormous implications. Rare had to determine how many catastrophes the human races had identified later, but basically, if a new monster with catastrophe-level power was born under the control of an existing catastrophe, humanity wouldnt be explicitly informed of it. Apparently, this world was much more dangerous that she had imagined. To make matters worse, races that were powerful enough to be deemed catastrophes were not limited to a single individual. Both Deas and Sieg had become immortal rulers. That meant that it was possible for a demon lord other than Rare to be born in the future. Or perhaps there already was one. I cant let my guard down at all, can I Well, from a game balance perspective, there arent that many catastrophes on this continent, but I shouldnt be too optimistic beyond that. CH 96 The two undead seemed to have calmed down. They asked to take over, but what exactly did they want to take over? Was there something else to do besides kill them? Uh, thats fine, but What are you going to do? Huh? Even though you cant talk? Rare wasnt exactly opposed to translating. If the two of them wanted information, then she was also interested in hearing it. Aah, nnh! Aaaah. Now they can hear me as well, Sieg suddenly said out loud. For an instant, Rare thought it was friend chat, but she clearly heard it. His latest reincarnation had given him the ability to speak again. Ooohn? Nn! Iiii, see. We are now able to talk. This will make things go more quickly. It really did seem that reincarning did the trick. After confirming it for himself, Deas quickly stepped forward and grabbed the only person standing, the prime minister, by the collar with one hand and lifted him up into the air. With the other hand, he twisted off the mans arm. The [Vein of the Spirit Lord] fell to the floor, shattering on impact. Guhgh!!! She remembered this sensation. There was no way she could forget. Apparently, this powerful debuff was a special effect of the item being destroyed. However, unlike when it happened last time, it wasnt so strong that she couldnt stand. She was also not on the receiving end of any damage this time, and the magnitude of the effect seemed slightly weaker than before. If you ever see that item he was holding again, its imperative that it does not break Your Majesty! You bastards!!! Deas looked like he wanted to kill the prime minister right away, but Rare had a feeling this wasnt the mans fault. But she didnt feel that it was quite appropriate to admonish Deas either. If this were a field debuff, all she would have to do is exit the area of effect, but she didnt know what to do when it was a single-target effect. There should still be an effective area; if she got as far away as she possibly could, it should probably wear off. Oh its gone now. Phew. It must only last for a short time. Interesting; Im glad we were able to discover that here. The fact that you could so frivolously activate it means that, as I suspected, you have a way to mass produce them. Deas, I wonder if His Excellency has any more of those items. If they were one-use items, then he should have more in reserve. Rares LP wouldnt automatically come back after having her max LP reduced. Since she had lost more than [Treatment] could effectively cure, she would use [Healing Magic] here instead. An excellent question! Deas shouted while starting to search the prime ministers body. She was treated to a scene of a silver-haired dandy groping the chest of a plump elderly gentleman. This is borderline I wonder if theres any demand for this? I cant say for sure So you have no more! Apparently, the prime minister didnt have any other items on his person. Since Deas had ripped off his arm, the mans face was turning quite pale, and a cold sweat was beading on his forehead. So its not a craftable item? Well, if he doesnt have any more, then thats that. Anyway, Deas, His Excellency no longer seems capable of conversation. You should let him go already. Didnt you have questions? Why dont you go ask those gentlemen on the ground back there? I would think their tongues will be looser than the prime ministers. In that case, allow me, Sieg suggested, walking over to the collapsed nobles. Deas did not release the prime minister. I suppose I have no choice. [Treatment]. Rare approached the two and used [Treatment] on the prime minister. One cast did not stop the bleeding. After a number of casts, the wound closed up, completely stopping the flow of blood. In comparison, that healer players [Healing Magic] could even restore a lost arm. Even though it cost MP, [Treatment] was still more of a technique and not actually magic; it was similar to something like [Tanning]. Because of that, no matter how much LP it restored, unlike with magical healing, there was no way for it to regrow limbs. It could only achieve what could be accomplished through natural means; it could not ignore the laws of nature and cure instantly. Ghh! Wh-Why did you heal me?! Because you seem most likely to have the answers we want. Now then, Deas and Sieg have something to say. As she spoke, Rare concentrated on her [Discerning Feather Barrier]. Surely, enough time had passed for one of the mages to have recovered enough MP to cast another spell. The reason they hadnt run away yet must have been because they had not given up on resisting. It would have been fine to kill them, but they had been accompanying the nobles all this time, meaning they were probably someones followers. In other words, once she was done with the nobles, she could kill them all. All right, Deas. Ask what you will. My sincere gratitude. It shames me to waste your valuable time with this, Your Majesty. Now then, worm just now, you mentioned a spirit lord. Urgh, hearing a filthy creature like you utter that sacred name is revolting Shut your mouth!!! This old man has the shittiest conversational skills Whatever. [Charm] There. Rare had already run out of patience and promptly used [Charm]. She had never charmed a humanoid capable of speech before, so she wouldnt know if he could actually provide coherent information in this state until they tried asking. At the very least, the fact that he wouldnt hurl abuse every time he opened his mouth would be an improvement. Now ask. Your Excellency, answer Deass questions. I can do naught but offer apologies over and over again. Worm, why did you speak of the spirit lord, and what was that item? This was something Rare also wanted to hear. She was glad they could save some effort here. That artifact. It is a treasure that the spirit lord who used to reign over these lands left behind. Its effects are Blast the effects! What do you mean, the spirit lord left behind a treasure?! No, the effects were pretty important too. But Rare was interested in the keyword artifact, which implied that it was some kind of important item, as well as the fact that it was a treasure that was left behind. In the event that the spirit lord were to perish a rare treasure called an artifact was passed down to his descendants. It could be used to oppose the catastrophes In other words, it was a countermeasure for when a threat appeared that the military was unable to repel. It was unclear if the spirit lord was just a piece of lore used to explain an item that the game developers created to prevent the kingdom from collapsing too easily, or if the spirit lord or whatever actually prepared this item. A spirit lord. Perhaps there could have been a spirit lord standing here right now. It could have been Rare. She had ended up choosing to become a demon lord, but the other option had been a spirit lord. But even if she had chosen differently, it was hard to say if she would have been able to learn how to craft that item. Maybe it was a skill that wouldnt unlock unless she were a spirit lord. It had been silent, but then Deass pupils shone red. They were the same red right after he had reincarnated. Some part of this conversation probably fueled his rage. I shall correct one point. His Majesty the spirit lord had no descendants. As far as I know, they were all killed. During the rebellion. Deas was once the captain of the royal guard of the continents only united kingdom. She was told that back in the past, a member of royal family had been murdered. They had most likely been a relative of the spirit lord. Or perhaps it had been the lord himself. Someone with royal blood could have possibly survived, but I know not how long has passed since then. Their bloodline has surely long since perished. After that, the rebels rose to power and built their own kingdoms. This Hiers kingdom is one of them. The prime minister showed no reaction. Obviously it was because of [Charm], but Rare wondered how he would have reacted if he had been able to learn this when he was of sound mind. The spirit lord, leaving behind his protection for you vermin?! Dont make me laugh!!! Rare covered her ears. Would be nice if he didnt suddenly start yelling out of nowhere. Moreover, you dared to use the spirit lords legacy to harm the demon lord, my master Rare! How much will you violate before you are satisfied?! Finally, things were starting to connect. The king that Deas and Sieg and the knight orders had once pledged their loyalty to was the spirit lord. The kingdom that the spirit lord had once governed was the once-united continent. And whatever conspiracy had divided up that country, Rare didnt know who had been involved, but she imagined this spirit lord must have been far stronger than she currently was, and these conspirators were able to defeat him. They were also behind the deaths of the knight orders, which Deas and Sieg belonged to, as well as anyone who had royal blood. Finally, the spirit lords belongings had been passed down as mythical artifacts. In Deas and Siegs eyes, the descendants of their hated enemies had used the possessions of their former lord to kill Rare, to whom they currently pledged their service. This was the reason behind Deass anger. Based on all that, could this be how they fulfilled the conditions for reincarnation? In other words, Deass rage, and then Siegs grief? Those emotions must have some kind of hidden parameter, and once they hit a certain value, that allowed them to become eligible for reincarnation. Then again, if there were a player who was the same race they were, how would that work? It was a bit hard to imagine that they had programmed in a completely different reincarnation condition for players, but it was also just as hard to think that a player would have to harbor such strong emotions as Deas and Sieg had felt to trigger it. Well, no matter how hard Rare thought about it, it would be impossible to research it thoroughly. She had no choice but to give up on it. Ahh, it feels great to figure out so much stuff! All thats left is to find out how many of those items are left, and what the exact effects are. For now, finding out that the debuff item probably wasnt mass producable was a relief. However, it wasnt impossible for a new spirit lord to be born either. There was a potential for spirit lords to be able to create this item. Then again, while the item certainly needed to be monitored, the spirit lord itself was much more deserving of attention. The spirit lords treasure that I had in my possession is the last one to be found in this castle The others are in His Majestys care Arrangements have already been made for him to flee to another country He flew the coop. This was an unexpected development. That meant that all the nobles here were decoys. The knights as well. Rare just realized that this room seemed to be an audience chamber, but the king, who should preside over said audience, was missing. She should have noticed this from the start, but since the enemy launched right into a barrage of spells and they immediately went into battle, the distraction must have caused her to miss it. Well damn, I just completely didnt see this coming Today has just been chalk full of blunders for me This is because I just didnt properly think things through; I really need to get my ass into gear However, depending on when exactly the king fled, it could still be possible to salvage the situation. So what time was the king supposed to leave the castle? When I proposed this plan when the catastrophe first appeared over the city and we received permission to use the Heart of the Spirit Lord our national treasure that was when I told the king to prepare anything important and leave immediately Making an educated guess from the fact that the Vein of the Spirit Lord was a single-target debuff item, the Heart of the Spirit Lord must have been the thing the players had used. It was shocking to discover that they had lent out a national treasure to players to use, but if the plan was to use the capital itself as a distraction for the king to escape, then the worst that could happen was the treasure might get stolen and that was it. However, if he was already gone back then, then if Rares forces wanted to go after him now then they needed to know the direction he went. Which country did he flee to? In order to prevent the nobles left behind from leaking the information if they were tortured the king himself made that decision If I had been successfully put down, were you not going to report that information? I do not know where the king sought asylum Once the situation was resolved we planned to send diplomats to all allied countries This prime minister was truly outstanding. Rare wondered if other countries also had people as brilliant as he was. If they did, she would have to do much more extensive planning before her next invasion. Unlike the player who dodged Yoroizakas attacks during the day, this was a type of strength that had nothing to do with skills or game status. To be frank, it made her nervous. Finally, tell us everything you know about these, uh, vein and heart items. The prime minister gave a long, faltering explanation. As she suspected, they had frightening powers. And this was just a coincidence, but they even had bonus effects against demon lords, who were the polar opposite of spirit lords. From the way the prime minister spoke about it, Rare got the impression that he didnt realize the significance of those bonuses, so she wondered if that world announcement system message didnt mention her race. Maybe in Rare, Deas, and Siegs cases, the race was clearly stated since she was always a related party. If so, then there was a possibility that for anyone else, the contents of the message could be slightly different. Well, either way, this wasnt information she verify right now. You rotten fools The weakening curse was supposed to be for all of you. You should have been the ones to fall by it. You despicable! Deass rage meter seemed to be going up again. Rare felt like his boiling point was a lot lower now compared to before. In this situation she didnt really care about it, but if this was how he was going to be from now on, it would be kind of a pain in the ass. I have finished My sincere apologies, I seem to have ruined all the ones over here, Sieg called out. Behind him, the nobles he had been interrogating were all dead. Rare wasnt surprised given that she noticed the mages around them dying off in the middle of her own chat. It was a trivial matter. Deas. Very well. At her unspoken command, Deas choked out the prime minister last breath. What a truly terrifying enemy. I suppose weve achieved our objective I cant deny I feel some discontent, but we cant address it now. We just need to take what weve learned and do better next time. CH 97 After clearing out the castle, Sieg and the zombies were left in charge. Some of them had already been living here, so they should know how to manage it. Not that Rare had any idea how much of their past lives they remembered. Unlike other zombies, while their brains were of course rotting, they at least hadnt been damaged, so she didnt think it would be a disaster, at least. Ah, wait, it might have nothing to do with their brains. Deas had been nearly all bones, but he still had memories left. With the way he looked, there was no way that his brain had been intact. Deas had been tasked with making more undead out in the city. The fewer citizens there were resisting, the more materials he had to work with. With the castle completely neutralized, next was to finish off the rest of the town. Going by the reports from the adamantite soldiers in the streets, most of the noble mansions had been taken out, and the larger buildings used for lodging such as inns were under their control. Since Rare was pretty sure she wouldnt be able to navigate the castles hallways without getting lost, she had found a waiting room in a corner of the audience chamber which had an overhanging balcony from which she could fly up into the open sky. Over her shoulder, she saw Deas jump down from the balcony himself, so he was probably planning to get out on foot. She would have preferred him not making holes in the garden, but, well, it wasnt a big deal. Looking down on the capital city from the sky, things had become quiet. There was almost no fighting. It seemed the adamantite soldiers reports were true; they had suppressed nearly everything. Since Rare and Sieg had finished off all those nobles, there shouldnt have been many strong knights left. In other words, the one remaining fight should be where Wayne was. She didnt know if it was lucky or not, but Wayne, Gil, and Mental Magic guy were together. There were also two knights with them. How strange I thought almost all of the nobles were dead, so why are there still two knights left? Hey, Wayne, look! Shit, its the catastrophe! They had spotted Rare. The sun had completely set and everything was wrapped in darkness, so they sure had impressive perception. So youre so strong you dont need to use your invisibility skill or something? You stick out like a sore thumb in the night sky being so white Oh, I see. Even with just a tiny bit of light, Im completely visible. Im glad to see youre enjoying yourselves. Your revival was certainly quick. Incidentally, I believe almost all of the people in this city have been turned into undead, so I wonder if those two men there are your companions. Fuck! That must be why Lawson and the others suddenly died! Im not sure who that is, but most of the citys nobles are dead. Seeing that those two knights there are still living, we must have missed some. Maybe its time to do another sweep for them The knights simply stayed silent and glared at Rare up in the sky. but given that you didnt react whatsoever, your owner doesnt seem to be in this city at all. Were you dispatched here from somewhere else, then? Does that happen often? Again, no answer. However, she did notice their bodies shift this time. Rare remembered something similar happening before. It was at the fall of La Colline, if she remembered correctly. During that battle, there were knights who were still alive even after the city had been thoroughly destroyed. Their master must have been somewhere else. It was a bit hard to imagine nobles buried alive under the rubble, holding their breath to avoid detection. She thought of it as an event that took place a while ago, but it actually happened only that morning. It hadnt even been a full day since then. La Colline, hmm Rare had subconsciously mumbled that aloud, but the knights reacted oddly. They were clearly distraught, and they exchanged looks. Oho? It was just a coincidence, but it seemed their master was somehow related to La Colline. Perhaps she should be glad that they werent part of the royal guard; if they were, then killing them now would serve no purpose. Considering the situation, the king must have brought along all his followers and relatives when he fled. It surely looked quite conspicuous, but there was probably no way that they would have gone east, the direction that a catastrophe had invaded from. So if Rare wanted to try finding them, she had no choice but to go in a direction she knew nothing about. In light of all the blunders she had made today, she couldnt possibly do that without first coming up with a solid plan. Anyway, right now she had to deal with these knights before her. There were no masters in La Colline, only knights. Same for the capital hereno masters, just knights. It was unlikely for the two situations to be completely unrelated. So the question was where she could find their master. Is your master in La Colline? In the remains of that city? This time their reaction was much more subdued than before. Meaning they already knew about the attack. If anything, Rare thought the knights master would have been in the capital city. However, there were barely any nobles left here. But supposing their master had actually been in the last city, where could they possibly have been? Underneath the rubble They were playing dead? Thats where the nobles were? Thats impossible, she thought, but then she remembered the prime minister. It was dangerous for her to underestimate NPCs. She opened her eyes and looked at the knights. Rare wasnt particularly good at reading peoples expressions, but if this was all an act, then these men shouldnt have become knightsthey had a much more suitable profession to pursue. Rare was pretty sure her conclusion was solid. Given the timeframe, there was no way they could have known what had happened to La Colline. However, it wouldnt be strange if they could tell the status of their own master. And so, the disturbance on their faces told her everything she needed to know. Thats certainly a tasty morsel of information. I didnt miss anything here in the capital; it was back in La Colline. I have certainly not been my best today, have I With her eyes open, she aimed an AOE spell between the knights and Waynes party. I have a little errand to run now. As for you people see you soon, wherever that may be. Youll return from the dead no matter how many times I kill you, right? Then Ill just have to kill you again every time you come back. Until we meet again. After finishing off Waynes little group, Rare returned to the castle. She descended down onto the balcony, then walked over to Sieg, who was issuing orders to the undead in the audience chamber. Welcome back, Your Majesty. What is the situation outside the castle? Everything is just about cleaned up. In all likelihood, the only force left in the capital is ours. That was evident from the fact that she was able to set the royal castle as her home. However, she wanted to turn the capital into a dungeon with an undead boss waiting in the deepest room, so she declined. Rare was curious where those two knights would end up respawning, but assuming they used the same system as players did, the latest update should make them spawn somewhere without a lot of enemies. Just in case, some odd knights could possibly respawn within the capital. Keep that in mind. Allow me to take care of it, Your Majesty. Oh, and also Rare thought for a moment, then pulled out a Philosophers Stone from her inventory. If you think it necessary, use this to strengthen one of your subordinates. If XP is needed, youll be asked for permission; when that happens, contact me. Ooh, this honor is wasted on me I am ever so grateful. If Sieg and Deas were to be defeated, then everything that had happened here in the capital would have been all for nothing. She would have believed the possibility unthinkable once, but sometimes the unthinkable can still happen. Rare herself now knew this better than anyone. Dont be a miseruse it to efficiently strengthen your forces. About the city, well, I dont really care what you do with it as long as you dont damage the buildings, but at the very least, you should establish the castles defenses as soon as you can. They must be hardy enough that no one can get in. Sieg got down on one knee and bowed his head. As you command. Having a hot guy kneeling in front of me kinda makes me feel like Im playing a different kind of game The development of those types of games certainly had a great influence on the advancement of VR technology. Thats right; I have a little errand to run, so Ill be heading out. Im leaving you in charge here. Where will you be going? La Colline. The place the artillery ants blew up this morning. There may still be some loose ends there, so Im going to check. Please do not say you plan to go alone Of course Sieg would be concerned; Rare just finished telling him not to let his guard down, and now she was about to fly off by herself. But no one else here can fly I implore you, at least wear Dame Yoroizaka. He was right. She could [Summon] Yoroizaka and the Kenzakis here, equip them, and still fly without issue. Then I shall do so. All right then, Im off Ah, right. You can use that seat if you want. If I decide I want to use it later, I wont mind at all. Okay, later. Turning her back on Sieg, who had lowered his head once again, Rare [Summoned] Yoroisaka and the Kenzakis to her. Im very sorry for before. Eventually, well find and kill the guy who threw that Squid Ink Ball at you, Yoroizaka. And I already took care of the one who cast [Fear] on you boys, but Im sure well meet him again. Right, lets go. Second revenge: a few hours later. CH 98 All right! Its about time we headed to the next town! With the sun hidden behind clouds and the townspeople all turned into zombies, Blancs group immediately set off for their next target. Of course, but there are two roads leading out of this town, one northwest, and one southwest. Which one should we take? Ah Did anyone run away from this town? If someone did, then the direction they went should lead to another town. Please wait one moment. Carmine went to question the spartoi. Since Blanc and the mormo girls didnt go too far into the town, they didnt see everything that happened. After a bit, Carmine returned with a report. A number of people fled to the northwest on horseback, apparently. Northwest, huh The ones who escaped were from this town, so it would follow that there would be something in the direction they went. If their town were being attacked by monsters, then people would run to seek aid, and they would thus want to go toward another town that they believed to be reliable. Continuing that train of thought, the helpers would need to be stronger than the current town was, and the ones who ran away would know at least a little information about the tricks Blancs group had up their sleeves. In the best case, as long as theyre not stronger than this towns defenders were, then we should be completely fine, but If they went to even a moderately large city, then even without considering quality, they could possibly have pure quantity to oppose us. And our forces number a mere thirty. Azalea was totally right. She had to think hard about this. This is completely hypothetical, but have you considered that the northwest route leads to the closest town? If their goal was to call for help as soon as humanly possible, then distance was a huge factor. What Magenta said had a point too. Hmmm I dont think Im really good at thinking about stuff like this Even after all that, Im still not sure which one would be better The one thing we can say for sure is that if we go northwest, whatever town we find in that direction will already have been informed about us. Furthermore, if we wait here for the sun to go down and no reinforcements come, that means theyve decided to abandon this town, and it would then be better to assume that theyre preparing to intercept us at the next town. Whether they knew about Blancs forces or not was paramount. If they didnt know anything at all, then, as long as there wasnt a single powerful fighter there, even if it didnt look like her side could win, it shouldnt be impossible to retreat while the enemy was still making preparations. However, if they did have information on Blancs forces, and they were ready and waiting for her, then that increased the amount of risk substantially. All right, lets head southwest. We might have to travel further, so lets go faster this time. Or like, could we march double-time? We dont get tired or anything, right? Common sense dictates that no army would ever do something like that, but If youre talking common sense, I bet there arent a lot of armies made up of skeletons either. I suppose it might be fine So thats what they did. Less than an hour later, Blanc was listlessly perched atop the three named spartoi, Scarlet, Vermilion, and Crimson, in a Japanese cavalry battle-style arrangement.[1] I thought undead didnt get tired The only races that dont get fatigued are ones like skeletons that dont use muscles. There are all types of undead, after all. For example, within the overarching category of magical life forms, golem-types dont get fatigued, but beings like homunculi do. Magical life forms Creatures produced via magic or some kind of technique. You know everything, Magenta~ The other two mormos stayed out of the conversation. Thats because they had turned into bats and were hanging off the spartois heads. Magenta also only transformed into a humanoid when she needed to talk. Its nice that we can take it easy up here, but are you guys all right? Can you keep on running like this? Crimson, who was directly beneath Blanc, nodded. No problem, apparently. When she turned to look behind her, the thirty spartoi were following after them in a few rows. Like the beginning of a marathon. Not that Ive ever been in one. But Master, with all the dust were kicking up, theyll notice us right away as we get closer, even at night. Well switch to walking when were closer No, lets sneak instead. Actually, cant you guys, like, turn into bats or wolves and scout ahead? You can be spies. If you can do that, then itll be a lot safer for us once were almost there. Oh, I see. I mean, it took you long enough to realize that. Well then, I shall go on ahead. You obviously forgot about it too! You bimbo! Without answering, Magenta transformed into a wolf and ran off. I cant tell if shes actually smart, or actually dumb. They had continued running for another two hours before wolf Magenta finally returned. Master, I scouted ahead Right. Are we about to hit a city? No, theres nothing. What did she mean? If there wasnt anything, then she didnt need to come back and report it. But as Blanc thought on it, the two of them had been separated for the last two hours, so maybe she was feeling lonel Thats not the case. Then what is it? If I have to put it in words it was a city. The wreckage of one, or the rubble and earth of a city that had been completely demolished. Aw, so just ruins then. Is that why the people from before didnt head this way? So Blanc had picked the wrong path. If there wasnt anything for them to prey on, then there was no point in continuing on this way. If they decided to go back to the last city to go on the northwest road, then the last half day would have been completely wasted. It didnt feel like they were just ruins. The debris in the ground still looked sharp, and there werent any weeds growing at all. Rather than old ruins, it was more like something went on a rampage there very recently. Ooo! In that case, it was more natural to think that some kind of monster had attacked the city. Blanc felt a bit disappointed that she had been beaten to the punch, but it didnt seem possible for an NPC-controlled monster attack to decimate a city on only the second night of the event. Plus, as far as she could see, the monsters in this area were all weaker wild animals like wolves, rats, and rabbits. Even presuming they did actually destroy the city, she couldnt see any reason for wolves and rabbits to deliberately demolish all the buildings as well. Which meant that a monster player probably did it. Maybe I can friend them! What do you think? Azalea and Carmine transformed into humanoids to join in the conversation. When you say player, you mean other people from the same place as Master; is that understanding correct? Azalea asked. Which reminds me, a spartoi beheaded one the other day. I have a hard time believing you could have become friends with that person, Carmine recalled. There are all sorts of players out there. If the person who wrecked that city was a player, I was thinking maybe theyd probably be someone kinda like me. If they are, dont you think we could be friends? If that really is the case, this person is capable of tearing down an entire city in two days. They hold an unbelievable amount of strength. You should probably be more cautious Oh, its fine! Probably! But another player on the monster side, huh~. I cant wait to meet them! CH 99 After running for a while longer, Blancs group could finally see the mountain of rubble that Magenta had described. It seemed that the city originally sat on raised land, but now the entire hill seemed to be made out of dirt and wreckage. Whoa This is super crazy Blanc had kind of been looking forward to seeing it, but her excitement had been completely wiped away upon taking in the scene. She couldnt even imagine how powerful someone needed to be in order to do something like this. It had to have been a player, but if hypothetically it wasnt, then Blanc and her followers couldnt possibly beat it. If it were a monster that was specifically good at destroying rocks or buildings or something, then we could maybe do something about it, but Even if that were true, that doesnt change the fact that it killed off all the defenders and citizens of a city of this size before it even got to that part No joke. This was a city the size of this gigantic hill. It was probably the heart of this entire region. Blanc couldnt even begin to imagine how large its standing army had been. Those people from the last city, I wonder why they didnt come here looking for help. Its possible that they already knew what had happened here, but I think it was simply a matter of distance. There was probably some place that wasnt as far away to the northwest of the city. That was the obvious explanation. It made more sense to look for help from a smaller but closer town rather than a larger city that was further away. Considering how bad things look, there probably arent any people here, but we should still be caref Master!!! Azalea suddenly pulled on her arm, toppling her on top of Crimson and the other spartoi. Ow What are you There was a light thump in front of Blanc as she crawled on the ground; right before her eyes, there was an arrow sticking out of the dirt. It seemed someone had shot an arrow at her, and she had narrowly avoided being hit. Waah Th-Thanks, Azalea Please dont get up yet Theres a band of people targeting us. Looking up through a spartois legs, she could make out a group of lightly armored people in the distance. They were probably bandits or something. No, theyre too experienced. You may have forgotten, but its night right now. They were able to accurately shoot an arrow from all the way over there when they can only see by moonlight. Their archer is extremely skilled. Despite that, they clearly looked really down on their luck. Everyone was dirty, almost like they had just dug up the armor they were wearing from out of the rubble. After that, arrows kept coming at them periodically, but they were all swatted aside after Crimson and the other spartoi had dumped on the ground Blanc like a piece of luggage. Eventually, maybe because they realized arrows were having no effect, the men formed ranks and slowly began to push their way closer. By that point, Blanc had finally gotten permission to stand back up from Azalea and the others. Who the hell are you?! Are you the catastrophes minions?! A well-dressed man yelled this, probably the bandit leader. Despite his fancier clothing, he still looked just as dirty and exhausted as the rest of them. What does he mean by catastrophe? Given the situation, wouldnt that probably be whatever demolished this city? Those men are probably the survivors of the citys defenses or something like that, maybe? In other words, theyre trying to pin it on us Yup That said, Blancs group did in fact come this way intending to attack any city they came across. Even though they were beaten to the punch and now had all these enemies trained onto them, they didnt exactly have any standing to complain about it. Well putting the city aside, if we think of it like there still being some prey around Not that we can say which side is the prey here Huh? Are they really that strong? Blanc thought her side had more numbers. From her experience taking down cities with her small force, she didnt think she would lose. From the strength of the archer, if the rest of them have comparable melee combat strength, itll be tough with thirty spartoi. So they were shabby-looking but high-leveled enemies. That said, if we try to run then well have to defend against arrowfire, so withdrawing would be difficult as well If weve gotta fight either way, then we want the initiative, right? While Blanc and her mormos were having whispered conversations, those men also appeared to be discussing something. A number of them had hands tightly gripping the swords at their waists, ready to pull them out to attack at a moments notice. Theyre totally ready to rumble If they couldnt avoid battle, then it was better to make the first move. Lets do it then. [Mist]. Within the darkness, Blancs range of influence expanded soundlessly. Soon after, the enemy camp started making noise. It seemed they couldnt detect the mist itself, but they were able to sense a change right before the mist enveloped them. They were indeed on a different level compared to the guards for those small towns. Damn you! What is this strange sorcery?! Everyone pay close attention! You have permission to attack! At the leader guys orders, they started firing arrows at Blanc again. However, they couldnt get past the spartois defense. At the same time, a number of men unsheathed their swords and charged forward. Then the ones shooting arrows also threw aside their bows and readied their swords. The reason they had stopped shooting earlier may have just been because they were running low on arrows, not because they had decided it was futile. Spartoi! Intercept them! But dont leave the mist! While shouting that, Blanc prepared her magic. They were just barely out of range, but since they were coming toward her, that wouldnt be true for long. [Hellflame]! [Hellflame]. Just as Blancs spell activated, Azalea, Carmine, and Magenta also fired their own spells. There wasnt any particular advantage to casting multiples of the same spell at the same time, but it at least wouldnt cause any interference compared to if, for example, they had cast ice and water spells at simultaneously. This was the same as canceling out. When canceling the same element, there was a burst of energy at the point of contact, then whatever of each spell was left would continue on its original course. With targeted detonation-type AOE spells, though, they would explode at either their destination, or on contactthat burst of energy was essentially the same as the resulting explosion. The cancellation of the four [Hellflames] exploded violently, dealing heavy damage to the enemy group. However, it didnt incapacitate very many of them. While the men did falter momentarily, most of them were able to regroup and continue charging. Are you serious?! These guys are bad news! Thats what I was saying! Blanc could follow up with a different spell, but they were about to reach the spartoi, so it wouldnt be a good idea to keep using AOE spells. [Air Cutter]! Single-target spells wouldnt deal as much damage, but in this darkness they should be nearly impossible to avoid. It was a good way to harass the enemy. The mormos also switched to shooting single-target spells at various targets, but just like Blanc, they were unable to deal any significant damage. Soon after, the enemies reached the spartoi and engaged them in close combat. Since they had taken quite a beating from magic already, any proper attack would have easily caused them to crumple, which should have made it easy to defeat them. However, the spartoi just couldnt land a hit. Its because the spartoi dont have reach We should have taken weapons from the guards in those two cities before She couldnt have known in advance that there would be such a skilled force here, though. Man, if this place still has enemies like this here even after getting blown up, I guess its too high-leveled for us The spartoi were being defeated faster than the bandits were. The battle was steadily getting worse. Maybe if we just risked friendly fire and kept firing AOE spells, we couldve maybe But then wed still have to deal with their rear, where the leader is. If we left them all alone, could we even beat them? The leader guy had two knight-looking warriors with him. Those two even wore proper knight armor. They were clearly much stronger than the other men. The number of spartoi had declined drastically. Aside from Crimson and the other named ones, only a few remained. The enemys forces had also been diminished, but they would soon outnumber Blancs side. Since her side had been relying on numbers to maintain a balance, losing that sole advantage meant that the scales of battle would starting tilting against them. Or actually, since both sides only had so many fighters left, the victor could be decided very soon. Oh, thats right! [Fear]! Unfortunately, this didnt appear to have any effect on the enemy. They probably resisted it. With the tides turning in their favor, Blanc thought the other sides leader might get overconfident and try to rush at her, but it didnt seem like they were planning to do that. If they had gotten closer, then they might have been within range of Blancs AOE spells, so maybe it was obvious that they wouldnt want to try it. They were surely hellbent on killing her, though. Putting us aside Given how many pawns theyve lost, our enemy could be considered effectively wiped out, yet they unhesitatingly continue their assault. Their morale is oddly high. I would conclude that they are unafraid of death. Why are you putting us aside? Blanc asked. Since the spartoi are Masters followers, even if theyre destroyed here, they will revive back in the town where they last rested. Ohh, right. Then, maybe thats the same for these guys? Thats an astute observation. So their leader could be something like a ruler of humanity. While they were talking, the only remaining spartoi were down to the three red ones. Oh, we are in deep shit. She suddenly remembered the ants. Just like back then, she could feel her impending death. A single man slipped past Crimson after missing an attack and starting running toward them. Whoa, [Thunderbolt]! A direct hit; while he staggered back from it for a second, he immediately resumed his charge forward. However, Blanc could see that all the damage had taken a toll on him. She just needed one last push. [Ice Bullet]! The man dodged the spell that Azalea fired. [Flare Arrow]! Carmines magic also missed. However, he tripped on a piece of rubble, falling flat on his face. That was when Magenta, who had transformed into a wolf at some point, bounded over to him and tore out his windpipe. Master!!! At Azaleas scream, Blanc turned to look forward just in time to see the enemy leader nock an arrow. That old man can use a bow?! And he still had arrows left?! She watched the arrows release in slow motion. Ah, this one is gonna hurt. Based on its trajectory, it was going to hit her. Blanc reflexively squeezed her eyes shut, to prepare for that nostalgic system message to appear. However, what she heard was not a poignantly mundane message notification, but a thunderous crash. Eh? When she unconsciously opened her eyes, her field of view was completely obscured by a pitch-black wall. The city of La Colline, stained with gunpowder, has attracted a number of dangerous groups. Next time, A Chance Meeting. Wait, arent you the one who lit that gunpowder? TL note: Train in the MMO sense, where a player purposely attacks a large group of enemies in order to pass them onto another player as a form of harassment/griefing/indirect PvP. I changed one translated line in the chapter to more clearly reference the title, but nevertheless I thought this explanation would be necessary. CH 100 Authors note: Were finally at chapter 100. Thank you for reading this far. When Rare arrived in the skies above La Colline, she looked down using Yoroizakas field of vision and saw a huge flame below that seemed to be a campfire. She immediately closed her eyes and activated [Demonic Eyes]. In that pale pink world, she was able to see people-shaped magical power gathered around that fire. It looks like a battle. Pretty hardcore to be going at it in these ruins If the city lord really did get away before, though, then theyre probably involved. As she descended, she could see who the two sides fighting were. It looked like one side consisted of four human-looking people controlling skeletons, while the other had knights and sellswords under the command of a well-dressed male human. Considering Rares own circumstances, it was clear which side was her enemy. However, that didnt mean she had any reason to help the other side. After the battle was over, she could take care of the survivors then go find the city lord. Rare initially thought the two sides were pretty evenly matched, but when she looked closer that wasnt entirely true. The skeleton side was steadily losing ground. It irked her to see the human side winning, but she was curious why neither side seemed afraid of injury. If any of these combatants were followers and they were fighting with the assumption that they could revive, then it could be dangerous for Rare to reveal herself. At last, the numerical advantage shifted from the skeletons to the sellswords, which meant they had secured victory. Wanting to make certain of his win, the commander-looking man on the human side held up a bow and fixed an arrow to its string. The moment she saw that, an unpleasant memory surfaced in Rares mind. Even though theyre all strangers to me, just sitting back and watching someone get killed by arrow seems bad for my psyche, Rare grumbled to herself as she tossed aside the arrow that had been pinched between Yoroizakas fingers. There appeared to be three humans on the hill. In front of them, the sellswords who had been battling the red skeletons froze and looked up at her. The skeletons could have taken that opportunity to continue attacking, but they didnt. It seemed they were also concerned about Rare. The arrow had come from the man atop the hill, near the center. From his attire, he seemed to be a noble. It appeared that even though she had only just arrived, she may have already found her target. When she looked closer, the two knights on either side of him were the same knights she had encountered in the capital. Which meant this was absolutely her man. Rare was about to call out to them when she realized that it was possible they didnt recognize Yoroizaka and wouldnt understand that it was her. She decided to exit from the armor. Hello! I just saw you earlier, my knightly friends. Im glad to see you were able to return home safely! As for the gentleman Whoa, what the heck is that?! A robot?! Its a robot! Its huge! Thats so awesome!!! Well that was rather startling. Rare guessed that it was the leader of the skeleton group that had been fighting the humans just now. Based on the clothing, she had thought it was a man, but based on the voice she now believed it was actually a woman. While Rare hesitated over what to say next, one of the other women spoke up first. M-Master, shouldnt you thank her first? She just saved us, you know? Thats where youre wrong, Azalea; she was going to say something really important just now, so we should let her keep talking Anyway, why dont we retreat just a little She was having an even harder time collecting her thoughts now. More like, these girls were all just about to get massacred, what was with this carefree bickering? Oh, r-right! Thank you so much! Ah, sorry for interrupting, were just gonna head over there, ahaha With awkward smiles, the four girls fell back a ways. The three red skeletons that had been in melee combat also followed after them. The sellswords who had been fighting those skeletons didnt chase after them, they just continued to observe Rare with caution. What was I saying again? Umm Right, that man! Is that man your owner, then?! While the humans kept their guard up, none of them answered. At this distance, she had to yell quite loudly, which made conversation difficult. Rare jumped off from Yoroizaka and floated down toward the hill. As she approached, the knights seemed to get more nervous. The sellswords also all ran for the knights in a panic. It wasnt like them being there would make a difference either way, so Rare didnt concern herself with them. If I come this close, we should be able to talk normally. Since you didnt seem to have been able to hear before, Ill repeat myself. I just saw the two of you earlier. Im glad to see We already heard you! Damn catastrophe! I see So then, may I take that dust-covered person there to be your owner? However, they just continued to glare at Rare without offering a response. Well if you dont want to talk, theres nothing else to be done. At that, the man in the middle who she thought was the lord spoke. Are you the catastrophe who attacked this city? Oh my. So youre one of those kinds of people. You wont answer my questions; you only want to talk if you get to hear what you want to know. This kingdom sure is going to the dogs. Although Wayne, who was that same type of person, didnt belong to this kingdom. I dont enjoy this posturing, so Ill answer you out of pity. I am indeed the catastrophe. However, and Ive had to clarify this a number of times, since I dont exactly call myself one, I wont take responsibility if it turns out Im not. So you did this to the city! Well, yes. Although Id like correct one point: not city, but country. Ive already taken over the royal capital. But since those knights are here beside you, Im sure you already knew that. Seeing that the knights got to La Colline before Rare did, she assumed that, just like players, if another force took control of their respawn points, they couldnt respawn there anymore. She guessed that their previous respawn point prior to the capital was here, in this city. It was hard to believe there were still respawn points somewhere considering how badly she had messed up the place, but it was possible that there were some underground. That could explain how the lord was still alive as well. Not that she had confirmed whether he was actually the lord yet or not. Either way, it was true that Rare had been naive in her belief that the La Colline raid had been thorough. She just had to now turn that belief into reality. All right, thats enough chatting. I need to find the lord of this city. If that happens to be you, then I suppose I could indulge you a bit more. I am the lord! Because of you, all the innocent people in this city have! What offense did they ever commit toward you?! Rare had never met these innocent people before, so she wouldnt know, but if they had lived here, then it was true that they probably hadnt ever done anything to her. However, along the lines of that logic Well, if I remember correctly, wasnt there an army here? I heard this from His Excellency the prime minister in the royal capital, but those soldiers were on their way to the Great Liebe Forest in order to put me down, isnt that right? It seems they had departed from the capital ten days ago. That was when my death was decided. So please, enlighten me, at that time, what exactly had I done to deserve such action? It was a lie that Rare had heard this from the prime minister. It was actually in a letter she had intercepted from the prime minister to the armys commander. However, those details were unimportant now. Going by his logic, they had dispatched an army to kill an innocent catastrophe that had done nothing wrong. Granted, whether said army existed or not would not have changed Rares decision, and furthermore, she only learned of the armys existence after she had already demolished the place, so it wasnt exactly a compelling excuse. Thats because! Y-Youre a threat to humanity! Thats why! Rare was a catastrophe, therefore she had to die. Thats what he was saying. It was like finding a hornets nest and choosing to exterminate the entire colony before anyone got stung. Unfortunately, Rare wasnt a simple hornet, so she couldnt easily be whacked. If she didnt screw up, at least. And since she was also a player, it was also impossible to get rid of her permanently. What youre saying is inconsistent, then. If you believe that Im a threat to humanity, then there was nothing particularly wrong with what I did. In fact, as an enemy to humans, you should be praising me for a job well done. She wondered how the prime minister would have countered that. Well, he was already dead now, so she wouldnt ever hear his voice again. Were done here. Farewell. Having lost interest in the man, Rare activated her [Feather Gatling], turning him into a honeycomb. Immediately after, the knights and sellswords crumpled to the ground as though their strings had been cut. That man had definitely been their master. He must have been the city lord as well. They all probably thought that she wouldnt attack them during a discussion. No one had positioned themselves defensively between Rare and the lord. She did say she would chat, but she never said anything about staying her hand. And with that, Rare could finally say that La Colline had been completely destroyed. In truth, there were still some loose ends with regards to the royal capital, namely the king in exile. Rare wanted to hunt him down, but she didnt know where he had gone. Plus, if the prime ministers words were to be believed, the king had numerous artifacts with anti-demon lord effects, and there were even more of them held by the other five countries. That made it too dangerous to invade other countries looking for the king. But right now, there was an even more important matter, which was that loud group of people behind her. That girl had yelled about a robot; she had to be a player. And given that her female attendants called her Master, and from what she could see those red skeletons seemed to obey her, there was a very high chance that she knew [Subordinate] or a similar type of skill. There was another player aside from Rare who had learned it. This was a serious discovery that could threaten her dominance in the game. If possible, Rare wanted to sit down and have a long conversation. From what she could tell, she believed that this girl was antagonistic to the races of humanity. If so, then it was possible that she could meet the conditions to be Rares collaborator, a monster player mischievous enough to pretend to be a game boss. But also, it would just be her first time chatting with a friendly player. Authors note: I dont really believe in it, but theres this thing known as subliminal messages. CH 101 All right, sorry for waiting. Oh, it was no prob! The girl from before said this while touching Yoroizaka all over. From what Rare could with [Demonic Eyes], she had a good amount of MP. Not quite as much as Mental Magic guy, but it was a lot. If the other three women were the crossdressing players followers, then she would be at least as strong as four mid-class players. Adding in those red skeletons would bump up her rating even higher. She had quite the formidable force. I see youre interested in Yoroizaka here? So the robots named Yoroy the Kahir! Uh, no, everything you just said is wrong. I think theres a big misunderstanding here. Rare explained what Yoroizaka washow living object-type monsters worked, but glossed over reincarnation. It didnt seem like that part would be particularly interesting to this girl. If that satisfies you, let me introduce myself. My name is Rare. As you can see, Im a player with a nonhuman avatar. Im participating in this event on the side attacking humans. How about you? Oh! Im so sorry! Im Blanc! I started playing as a skeleton! I picked that name because my bones were really white! Im not very good, but I did take out two cities too! Skeleton. Rare couldnt see anything that would make her think Blanc was a skeleton. Was she lying? Well, she seemed like the kind of person who couldnt lie to save her life. I dont see how youre a skeleton, so did you maybe, um, reincarnate into a different race by chance? Ah, yeah, I did! Um, so like, first what happened was The girlBlancrecounted her adventures for nearly an hour. She had gone through some pretty wild stuff. It was honestly a really interesting story. At the same time, Rare felt relieved. Considering the way she had come to learn [Subordinate], it was hard to imagine any other players having gone through a similar experience. I see, so youre a vampire And vampires can reincarnate their followers by feeding them their own blood It was pretty costly, but since LP and MP was easy to recover, she could also see it being very efficient. The downsides, or the limitations, were that it could only be used for ones own followers, and it probably only worked on undead-type races or races connected to the master. After seeing that these mormo vampires could transform into wolves, she speculated that perhaps one could tame wolves and feed them blood to turn them into mormos as well. So, Mizz Rare, what race are you? Not the one you started as, I mean. Rare had to think hard about how she wanted answer. She didnt know whether Blanc could be a tight-lipped person, but she at least knew that Blanc rattled on and on to Rare about information that would have been more valuable to hide. The mormos assisting her seemed rather shrewd, but they didnt make any moves to stop her either. Rather, they spoke up to help Blanc explain some things. Rare couldnt expect them to help keep a lid on Blanc. With all that in mind, it would frankly be a huge risk to tell her the truth. On the other hand, if they were to cooperate from here on out, and, completely hypothetically, in the one in a millionth chance that they were to maybe become friends, then it would be unwise to hide things from her at this juncture. Blanc would surely find out one day anyway, and she had also been completely up-front about herself, probably. If Rare didnt respond in kind, then later, if there were such things as friendship points, she would be setting herself up to start in the hole. That wouldnt be ideal. Im The four of them were looking straight back at Rare, eyes sparkling with anticipation. She wondered if, no matter how much INT they had, followers tended to take on their masters personality. Im a demon lord. My current race, that is. I started out as an elf, but In the end, Rare also spent nearly an hour telling her own tale. So holy cow! When you made those ants your minions, you totally got revenge for me! While it was possible that there was another cave of ants somewhere in this kingdom, in all likelihood the ants who attacked Blanc were probably from Sugarus nest. Given the timing with which it had become a private area, it had to have been the same place. That wasnt exactly why I did it, but I suppose thats how it turned out. Now that theyre my followers, Im hoping youll let it go. Of course! But Mizz Rare, have you been all alone all this time then? Wham! A sudden gut punch. Her wings, appendages she had not been blessed with before, were quite hard to hold completely still. However, aside from them, she stopped any other part of her body from moving. She was improving! Yes, I suppose. Well, Im not really playing the way most people would, but actually I have talked to other players before, you know. Although she had killed them all as well. I guess so! I also figured the way I was playing was probably not the norm. Were the same, then! Or are we? This was going pretty well. Since the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon, that meant that Rare had died the day before. Yesterday was certainly lacking in positive developments. With the date ticking up now, hopefully today would instead be a good day. Indeed. I feel like we could get along well, Miss Blanc. You dont gotta be so formal! ShoShould we friend each uver? Sure. Rare jumped straight to handing over her friend card. The number of people Rare had friended was obscene, and she wouldnt allow anyone else to even come close to overtaking her. Not that any of them had been players. She had become so used to the process that she could go through all the steps without even thinking about it. Aw, thanks so much! So what is this for? Ohh, you dont know how to register friends. Just put it in your inventory to add someone as a friend. Exchanging friend cards is how you become mutuals. Not that theres any particular meaning to that. There was no functional difference between only one person registering another as a friend and two people both registering each other. Ah, so thats how you do it! So then heres mine Wait, how do I find it? After giving a lecture on how to pull things out of the inventory, Rare and Blanc properly registered each other as friends. Youre my first friend! Same here Youre the first player Ive friended. Also, you dont have to be polite around me or anything either. Cool! Lets get along then, Raerae! Wham! So after taking out two towns, you wanted to keep going to your third, which ended up being La Colline, and thats when you encountered those knights, Rare summarized. Having finished friending, since they each now understood the others situation, the two were consulting on what to do next. Yeah, thats right Since we suddenly ran into some strong enemies, I was thinking maybe this zone was too hard for us. This city was originally the second most prosperous in the kingdom after the royal capital. At least until yesterday. From my perspective, the knights were quite powerful, and just before it was destroyed, the kingdom had already mobilized every soldier at its disposal, so there was an entire army gathered here as well. Yikes, why would they do that? I guess they were supposed to try to take me out. If you go straight east from here, youll find a forest where my home base is; this army had marched from the capital and was on its way there, it seems. Even if Rare had decided not to participate in the event, she probably would have run across the army once they reached the great forest. She didnt think she could have lost with her home field advantage, but the prospect of being invaded was horrifying. In light of that, the timing of the beginning of the event was truly fortuitous. Wow When youre a famous player, they even form armies to take you out Ah, if that ever happens again, just gimme a call! Ill do anything I can to help! Thank you. But Im not exactly a famous player Ah, right, about that. There was one important suggestion Rare had to make. Right now, my race is demon lord, but the reason the human side is trying to kill me is because they believe Im something called a catastrophe, which is Rare explained everything she knew about catastrophes to Blanc. Since she hadnt done a deep dive on the forums yet, she had to speculate about the finer details, but the overall gist of it should have been accurate. After she had gotten the correct information later, Rare promised she would send it over. With her current mental state, she should be able to browse the forums without issue. Given everything, its a lot more convenient to let them think Im a game boss, which will let me efficiently monitor the human sides movements on the forums. So if it gets out that youre a player, the human players might stop talking about their strategies out in the open! That makes sense. Anyway, I didnt know all that catastrophe stuff was about you, Raerae. So, you know, I was wondering what you thought about doing the same and also roleplaying as an NPC boss. If you could do that, then whenever you have to fight against human players, I think we would be able to help each other out more smoothly. Ooohhh!!! That sounds cool! Like a female officer! The demon lords hot vampire right hand! Holy shit! Thats super lit! L-Lit? Anyway, Im happy youre on board with the idea. If you ever meet another player, you can go with that. Roger! I gotta think up a cool catchphrase I can use If it does seem like you have to talk to players, its better not to say too much, to lower the risk of giving away important information. Although, it seems Im the type of person who tends to get overconfident and show my hand about all sorts of stuff. Based on the current situation, it could be safe to say that Rare had found the ultimate collaborator. Next time it seemed like a battle might break out with a group of players, she could entice them to attack her then team up with Blanc to beat them down. So then, what are you going to do, Blanc? Head back to the last city and go northwest from there to attack whatever city you find on the way? Hmm, lemme think. Past this city is the royal capital? If youre already taking care of things that way, Raerae, then I should go in a different direction. If we split up the work, then well tear through this kingdom even faster, right? It would be a tad, just a teeny bit lonelier, but that approach was indeed much more efficient. She was a little worried about their combined strength, but that wasnt something Rare could do anything about at the moment. In that case, let me give you this. She pulled out the map she had gotten as a reward from her inventory and handed it to Blanc. Huh? A map? There are maps in this game? Even the counts library didnt have one! To be precise, there was a map, it was just too old to be useful, one of the mormos chimed in. Rare couldnt tell them apart, so she didnt know her name. I pulled a couple strings to get this. I already have another like it, so I can give this one to you. Itll help with planning your attacks, right? Is that all right? Not only did you save us, but youre even giving away something so valuable Its not a big deal, were already friends. Oh, and also She pulled Kenzaki Ichirou off Yoroizakas waist, sheath and all, and gave him to Blanc. You should take this sword with you. Hes also a monster, actually. Even if you cant equip and wield him, he can attack on his own. Now I really feel like Im getting too much help Im not giving you Kenzakithis swordsolely out of the goodness of my heart. Youll find out soon. If you destroy another town, you should let me know via chat. You can count on me! So yeah Rare and Blanc both stood up straight. They could sit here and talk forever, but now wasnt the best time. Yeah. Good luck. Im hoping for your success. Same to you, Raerae! See you later! The mormos transformed into bats, and Blanc got up on the red skeletons, the three spartoi, who carried her away. Rare watched the surreal scene until they fully disappeared from sight. All right, sorry for waiting. Oh, it was no prob! The girl from before said this while touching Yoroizaka all over. From what Rare could with [Demonic Eyes], she had a good amount of MP. Not quite as much as Mental Magic guy, but it was a lot. If the other three women were the crossdressing players followers, then she would be at least as strong as four mid-class players. Adding in those red skeletons would bump up her rating even higher. She had quite the formidable force. I see youre interested in Yoroizaka here? So the robots named Yoroy the Kahir! Uh, no, everything you just said is wrong. I think theres a big misunderstanding here. Rare explained what Yoroizaka washow living object-type monsters worked, but glossed over reincarnation. It didnt seem like that part would be particularly interesting to this girl. If that satisfies you, let me introduce myself. My name is Rare. As you can see, Im a player with a nonhuman avatar. Im participating in this event on the side attacking humans. How about you? Oh! Im so sorry! Im Blanc! I started playing as a skeleton! I picked that name because my bones were really white! Im not very good, but I did take out two cities too! Skeleton. Rare couldnt see anything that would make her think Blanc was a skeleton. Was she lying? Well, she seemed like the kind of person who couldnt lie to save her life. I dont see how youre a skeleton, so did you maybe, um, reincarnate into a different race by chance? Ah, yeah, I did! Um, so like, first what happened was The girlBlancrecounted her adventures for nearly an hour. She had gone through some pretty wild stuff. It was honestly a really interesting story. At the same time, Rare felt relieved. Considering the way she had come to learn [Subordinate], it was hard to imagine any other players having gone through a similar experience. I see, so youre a vampire And vampires can reincarnate their followers by feeding them their own blood It was pretty costly, but since LP and MP was easy to recover, she could also see it being very efficient. The downsides, or the limitations, were that it could only be used for ones own followers, and it probably only worked on undead-type races or races connected to the master. After seeing that these mormo vampires could transform into wolves, she speculated that perhaps one could tame wolves and feed them blood to turn them into mormos as well. So, Mizz Rare, what race are you? Not the one you started as, I mean. Rare had to think hard about how she wanted answer. She didnt know whether Blanc could be a tight-lipped person, but she at least knew that Blanc rattled on and on to Rare about information that would have been more valuable to hide. The mormos assisting her seemed rather shrewd, but they didnt make any moves to stop her either. Rather, they spoke up to help Blanc explain some things. Rare couldnt expect them to help keep a lid on Blanc. With all that in mind, it would frankly be a huge risk to tell her the truth. On the other hand, if they were to cooperate from here on out, and, completely hypothetically, in the one in a millionth chance that they were to maybe become friends, then it would be unwise to hide things from her at this juncture. Blanc would surely find out one day anyway, and she had also been completely up-front about herself, probably. If Rare didnt respond in kind, then later, if there were such things as friendship points, she would be setting herself up to start in the hole. That wouldnt be ideal. Im The four of them were looking straight back at Rare, eyes sparkling with anticipation. She wondered if, no matter how much INT they had, followers tended to take on their masters personality. Im a demon lord. My current race, that is. I started out as an elf, but In the end, Rare also spent nearly an hour telling her own tale. So holy cow! When you made those ants your minions, you totally got revenge for me! While it was possible that there was another cave of ants somewhere in this kingdom, in all likelihood the ants who attacked Blanc were probably from Sugarus nest. Given the timing with which it had become a private area, it had to have been the same place. That wasnt exactly why I did it, but I suppose thats how it turned out. Now that theyre my followers, Im hoping youll let it go. Of course! But Mizz Rare, have you been all alone all this time then? Wham! A sudden gut punch. Her wings, appendages she had not been blessed with before, were quite hard to hold completely still. However, aside from them, she stopped any other part of her body from moving. She was improving! Yes, I suppose. Well, Im not really playing the way most people would, but actually I have talked to other players before, you know. Although she had killed them all as well. I guess so! I also figured the way I was playing was probably not the norm. Were the same, then! Or are we? This was going pretty well. Since the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon, that meant that Rare had died the day before. Yesterday was certainly lacking in positive developments. With the date ticking up now, hopefully today would instead be a good day. Indeed. I feel like we could get along well, Miss Blanc. You dont gotta be so formal! ShoShould we friend each uver? Sure. Rare jumped straight to handing over her friend card. The number of people Rare had friended was obscene, and she wouldnt allow anyone else to even come close to overtaking her. Not that any of them had been players. She had become so used to the process that she could go through all the steps without even thinking about it. Aw, thanks so much! So what is this for? Ohh, you dont know how to register friends. Just put it in your inventory to add someone as a friend. Exchanging friend cards is how you become mutuals. Not that theres any particular meaning to that. There was no functional difference between only one person registering another as a friend and two people both registering each other. Ah, so thats how you do it! So then heres mine Wait, how do I find it? After giving a lecture on how to pull things out of the inventory, Rare and Blanc properly registered each other as friends. Youre my first friend! Same here Youre the first player Ive friended. Also, you dont have to be polite around me or anything either. Cool! Lets get along then, Raerae! Wham! So after taking out two towns, you wanted to keep going to your third, which ended up being La Colline, and thats when you encountered those knights, Rare summarized. Having finished friending, since they each now understood the others situation, the two were consulting on what to do next. Yeah, thats right Since we suddenly ran into some strong enemies, I was thinking maybe this zone was too hard for us. This city was originally the second most prosperous in the kingdom after the royal capital. At least until yesterday. From my perspective, the knights were quite powerful, and just before it was destroyed, the kingdom had already mobilized every soldier at its disposal, so there was an entire army gathered here as well. Yikes, why would they do that? I guess they were supposed to try to take me out. If you go straight east from here, youll find a forest where my home base is; this army had marched from the capital and was on its way there, it seems. Even if Rare had decided not to participate in the event, she probably would have run across the army once they reached the great forest. She didnt think she could have lost with her home field advantage, but the prospect of being invaded was horrifying. In light of that, the timing of the beginning of the event was truly fortuitous. Wow When youre a famous player, they even form armies to take you out Ah, if that ever happens again, just gimme a call! Ill do anything I can to help! Thank you. But Im not exactly a famous player Ah, right, about that. There was one important suggestion Rare had to make. Right now, my race is demon lord, but the reason the human side is trying to kill me is because they believe Im something called a catastrophe, which is Rare explained everything she knew about catastrophes to Blanc. Since she hadnt done a deep dive on the forums yet, she had to speculate about the finer details, but the overall gist of it should have been accurate. After she had gotten the correct information later, Rare promised she would send it over. With her current mental state, she should be able to browse the forums without issue. Given everything, its a lot more convenient to let them think Im a game boss, which will let me efficiently monitor the human sides movements on the forums. So if it gets out that youre a player, the human players might stop talking about their strategies out in the open! That makes sense. Anyway, I didnt know all that catastrophe stuff was about you, Raerae. So, you know, I was wondering what you thought about doing the same and also roleplaying as an NPC boss. If you could do that, then whenever you have to fight against human players, I think we would be able to help each other out more smoothly. Ooohhh!!! That sounds cool! Like a female officer! The demon lords hot vampire right hand! Holy shit! Thats super lit! L-Lit? Anyway, Im happy youre on board with the idea. If you ever meet another player, you can go with that. Roger! I gotta think up a cool catchphrase I can use If it does seem like you have to talk to players, its better not to say too much, to lower the risk of giving away important information. Although, it seems Im the type of person who tends to get overconfident and show my hand about all sorts of stuff. Based on the current situation, it could be safe to say that Rare had found the ultimate collaborator. Next time it seemed like a battle might break out with a group of players, she could entice them to attack her then team up with Blanc to beat them down. So then, what are you going to do, Blanc? Head back to the last city and go northwest from there to attack whatever city you find on the way? Hmm, lemme think. Past this city is the royal capital? If youre already taking care of things that way, Raerae, then I should go in a different direction. If we split up the work, then well tear through this kingdom even faster, right? It would be a tad, just a teeny bit lonelier, but that approach was indeed much more efficient. She was a little worried about their combined strength, but that wasnt something Rare could do anything about at the moment. In that case, let me give you this. She pulled out the map she had gotten as a reward from her inventory and handed it to Blanc. Huh? A map? There are maps in this game? Even the counts library didnt have one! To be precise, there was a map, it was just too old to be useful, one of the mormos chimed in. Rare couldnt tell them apart, so she didnt know her name. I pulled a couple strings to get this. I already have another like it, so I can give this one to you. Itll help with planning your attacks, right? Is that all right? Not only did you save us, but youre even giving away something so valuable Its not a big deal, were already friends. Oh, and also She pulled Kenzaki Ichirou off Yoroizakas waist, sheath and all, and gave him to Blanc. You should take this sword with you. Hes also a monster, actually. Even if you cant equip and wield him, he can attack on his own. Now I really feel like Im getting too much help Im not giving you Kenzakithis swordsolely out of the goodness of my heart. Youll find out soon. If you destroy another town, you should let me know via chat. You can count on me! So yeah Rare and Blanc both stood up straight. They could sit here and talk forever, but now wasnt the best time. Yeah. Good luck. Im hoping for your success. Same to you, Raerae! See you later! The mormos transformed into bats, and Blanc got up on the red skeletons, the three spartoi, who carried her away. Rare watched the surreal scene until they fully disappeared from sight. CH 102 WORLD FIRST! CATASTROPHE DOWN!!! [Event Boss Defeated] 1: healthyunpeelable Yay we beat the event boss Cheers to every1 who was there Waiting for the tears from every1 else 2: Amatane thx 4 thread 3: nameless elf Thx! But wow, news travels fast I was gonna make a thread if there wasnt one yet, but someone who died beat me to it 4: healthyunpeelable I was looking @ the menu Got more xp outta nowhere so it was obv 5: Amatane we sure got a shitload of xp gotta thank the leader 6: Monkey Dive Sasuke >>5 n gil too if he didn notice the thread, prolly no raid 7: healthyunpeelable U lived, nameless elf? Lucky backliners Any drop info? 8: nameless elf >>7 Yep, I survived There were drops, but the same item dropped in the city too It was bigger, but the undead probably gave the same drops as the boss Looked like a pretty high rank item, but with how much there was its probably not worth all that much, I bet 9: Amatane only if u look at items cuz of the event, we get more xp cuz no death penalty, so prolly high xp boss 10: Orinki seems like it i bet itll turn into a good chunk of cash, but id be fine if the leader just takes it all 11: Monkey Dive Sasuke >>10 nah, don worry bout Wayne he shud jus split it up 12: CountryPop I only met Sasuke today, but hes pretty :eyes: you know 13: Amatane yeah, we know :eyes: 14: Monkey Dive Sasuke wdym 15: healthyunpeelable Yep, we know :eyes: 16: ARAFUBUKI Sorry, is this a spoiler thread or smthg? Whats an event boss? 17: Amatane >>16 a little bit ago there was another thread like event boss confirmed come to hiers asap or something, we beat that boss 18: nameless elf >>16 We pulled off a hard win, so were just patting each other on the backs Ah, we talked to Wayne and others when they got back 19: ARAFUBUKI Huh? Wha? Event boss? Seriously? You killed it? Already? 20: ImpoliteSpeech Top rankers hogging aaall the fun again 21: healthyunpeelable Well, the timing and the stage were super specific Complain 2 the admins 35: nameless elf We talked to Wayne and co Wayne, Gil, and MentaiList were gonna party up I think 36: Amatane nice nice theyll be good competition 37: Yoichi Seems like it 38: Monkey Dive Sasuke that why i said don worry bout Wayne see he shud split up the cash 39: ThoseWarmHands Sasuke is really considerate, even if he doesnt come off that way. 40: CountryPop Awww 41: healthyunpeelable awww 42: Monkey Dive Sasuke wtf 51: Gi1gamesh Thats some bullshit 52: Wayne Sorry everyone 53: MentaiList gotta be kidding me gotta be kiddinggggggg 54: nameless elf What happened, did you wipe right after making a party? lol 55: MentaiList >>54 winner winner chicken dinner, but the problem is what we died to 56: CountryPop Wow really? Putting aside leader, with Gi1gamesh you shouldnt go down that easily 57: MentaiList boss powered up and came back 58: nameless elf >>57 what? wdym? 59: MentaiList exactly that, the catastrophe powered up and came back wayne said like, it was an event battle, but it wasnt an event to beat the boss, it was an awakening event. for the boss. to unveil the brand spankin new story enemy 60: Gi1gamesh I think hes right~ Heres what we know: 61: Wayne >>60 The second half sounds like an action figure ad, but yeah, basically all that She didnt have just 2 phases, but at least 3 No chant spells are really bad I dont even know what she did to us at the end No idea what we can do about it 62: MentaiList prolly the thing she shot at the knights, the mini black hole looking spell where you get eaten up in darkness and disappear 63: healthyunpeelable U serious? Wtf~ 64: Amatane i mean theres still a week left in the event i knew there was no way we could beat the boss on day 2 and thats it, but hmm, so its an event to unveil the new boss huh sounds interesting 65: Monkey Dive Sasuke goddam i used so many items 2 wtf 66: MentaiList im low on soul stones, but with how much xp we got i think im still up 67: Monkey Dive Sasuke wut do i do about the squid balls 68: healthyunpeelable Arent those cheap 69: Yoichi You like em? Should we buy more? 70: Wayne Theres more, we died before we could pick up the bosss metal drops The capital city is fucked too After dying twice we couldnt respawn in the castle anymore 71: MentaiList we gotta give up on the capital but i picked up a bunch of the metal balls in the city while we ran thru it 72: Gi1gamesh Oh shit good job! actually where u at Mentai 73: MentaiList welthe town named ciarro my old base 74: Gi1gamesh Im in Welthe too Place called Obe You Wayne? 75: Wayne Where is this? I dont know Not again 76: CountryPop Leader finally got a totally random respawn? (rezzed 3 times in half a day) 77: nameless elf Whoa Dont you think youre kinda cursed? 78: Orinki wayne, maybe youre possessed Game Lore Megathread Part 5 53: Professor Morietti In summary 6 catastrophes exist across the world 54: Faust We gotta add the undead angel to the list From this event It was defeated, but we should make sure theres a record 55: lyewarehouse nah, the undead angel apparently got stronger and came back to life then it killed the last 3 players in the capital of hiers and took over the place 56: Faust ??? You mean Hiers got destroyed? 57: lyewarehouse sounds like 58: Professor Morietti All right, we dont know what the NPCs call it, but lets decide on a provisional name for it in this thread 59: Holy Regan Nothing fazes you lol 60: JUSTICE Since its undead and an angel what about death angel 61: Professor Morietti That could get confusing with archangel 62: lyewarehouse not much we can do since both are already angels 63: Holy Regan I heard it flies, so what about sky lord? 64: Professor Morietti Then it would get confused with the sky castle, and you left out it being undead 65: Faust Death from the Sky What do you think? 66: JUSTICE What a poet~ 67: Professor Morietti Not a bad name, but itd feel kind of cringey to actually call it that 68: Holy Regan Your breaking character lol 69: Lotuspillow sorry, right now do we only know about 6 of these catastrophes? 70: Faust 7, but yeah there were only 6 until now Any country you go to says the same thing 71: Lotuspillow the town im inmore like a village but theres a legend about a dragon that lives at the top of a mountain near here no ones seen it in a long time, but a long time ago there were a lot of victims 72: Professor Morietti Are you talking about the dragon at the north pole? Or is it a different one? 73: lyewarehouse where this village? 74: Lotuspillow root village, in paele 75: Holy Regan Wheres that 76: Faust Anyway what do we call the seventh catastrophe? Should we go with my suggestion? 77: Professor Morietti Hmm, lets just use that The provisional name is Seventh Catastrophe CH 103 Rare ordered Sugaru to make preparations for airlifting infantry and engineer ants to La Colline. She had them scour the underground tunnels as well to make sure nothing got left behind. This would finally close the curtain on the entire La Colline situation. Using [Summon Caster] to return to the capital, it was finally time to check out the forums. Hm, so there are six other known catastrophes aside from me. Since most of the information came from legends passed down within various NPC countries, she didnt know how reliable it was. She wasnt sure how trustworthy these lore players fact-gathering skills were, but it didnt really matter either way. All Rare wanted right now was to confirm what information was being shared between the player and NPC sides, not determine the absolute truth. And as she suspected, the number of catastrophes that the NPCs had identified was inaccurate. This wasnt based on anything in the game, but it would be natural to presume that an archdemon was diametrically opposed to an archangel. Similarly, the relationship between a demon lord and a spirit lord could also be antagonistic. Regardless of the truth, the leaders of the kingdom of Hiers believed that the spirit king favored them, which meant that it was possible that the spirit lord was assessed as a force that posed no threat to humanity. In which case, Rare didnt think a spirit king would trigger that special being of calamity or whatever system announcement. The developers probably made that decisionor rather, that setting. They surely didnt consider how the NPCs felt about it When considering Rare as the leader of a faction, the developers probably assumed that the demon lord was antagonistic to the human faction. This was obvious from the fact that her birth as a demon lord was announced via system message. So it was hard to believe that her own nemesis, the spirit lord, would have also merited an announcement as an enemy of humanity. Along the same lines, based on the prime ministers description of the artifacts effects, she could infer that the spirit lord and the archangel werent opposed to one another in the natural order. Which meant that when the archangel was born, it was possible that the human faction didnt get an announcement about it. This conclusion was ultimately an assumption or hypothesis based on a thought experiment, but if she happened to be right That special skill that lets you receive world announcementsI think they called it an oracle or something. The designation of catastrophes seems to be independent of it, though. Information sent via oracle is by and large about catastrophes, and probably only catastrophes that are considered to be forces working against the human faction. If thats the way it was programmed, then she could understand the thinking behind it. Id really like to somehow get my hands on a skill that lets me hear those oracles. If theres a monster version of it, I want that too. If I could keep tabs on both sides, then it would be possible to monitor any future threats that could be a danger to me. If it were possible to get her hands on the skill in the capital, then she should have tried to find it; now, she regretted how things had turned out. She had learned about oracles from the forums, but by then most of the residents in the capital had already been killed. But speaking of oracles, they were typically related to religion. Since Rare wasnt concerned about them at the time, she hadnt paid any special attention to any temples or churches. Their members had probably been turned into undead already, and while their stats were probably about the same as when they had been alive, the same couldnt be said for their skills. Well crap From now on, if we find find anyone who seems religious, I should try to brainwash them instead of killing them. Once Ive identified one of the two skills I want, that should help in the investigation of the other one. She didnt know if there were any other cities in this country where there might still be someone left capable of receiving oracles. Since all the players in the capital had left for the border cities as soon as the event started, there werent that many who had heard about the catastrophe from Hiers NPCs. Other countries had people delivering news and sermons on street corners, but Hiers could have been restricting the flow of information since this disaster had risen within their own country. Its impossible to exchange information with other countries in real time, after all However, that wont be the case in the future. There probably werent any here, but if a player were to become a knight and get more involved with a countrys administration, that countrys information gathering capabilities would skyrocket. It wouldnt be unthinkable for some other countries to have already been informed that Ive taken over the royal capital of Hiers. If someone was playing that way, then they probably wouldnt make posts on the forums themselves. Just like Rare, they would simply leech information. I need to consider these possibilities moving forward. If cutthroat players like that have items like those artifacts at their disposal, I could end up being killed again. Because those players could try to manipulate the information being propagated online. I should share this information with my fr-friends No wait, if shes in combat then I might be bothering her. I should wait until shes out of the country first But maybe itd be better to send it as soon as possible In the end, no friend chats were initiated that day. The royal capital of Hiers is down, and so are most of the major cities in the country. For now, we should steadily expand our influence and use our forces to strengthen our foothold. Since they were still in the middle of an event and all, there was also the option of pushing further given the opportunity. However, while they had little need to worry about supplies at the moment, that didnt mean they had the leeway to support a warfront multiple times wider either. Maybe they could do it if they just torched all the cities instead of conquering them, but if the humans just rebuilt them after Rares forces left, then there wasnt much point. Ideally, wed grow one of World Trees terminals in the center of all those cities, include some ants and treants, and turn those places into ruins overgrown with greenery. We could also raise animals and monsters for fodder. Rare needed to experiment first in order to determine if this plan was viable or not. Her original goal only went as far as turning the capital into a ruined city-type zone. And despite some hiccups, that goal had been achieved. Now she needed a new goal in order to determine how her forces would operate moving forward. First we need a long-term goal. How about take over the entire continent? This would naturally include the destruction of the other five countries in the process. That would pit me against the entire human-side playerbase, but well, if there are other players like Blanc out there willing to cooperate, it should be possible to not be outmatched. However, there was a lot of information that Rare didnt want to be public, such as the fact that she was a raid boss known as a catastrophe. Putting aside whether their interests might be aligned, it would be risky even just to thoughtlessly make an offer. Also, there could be other players like Rare who started out with a human race avatar but started killing other humans; she needed to check whether there were any. Whether they could cooperate would depend on negotiations, but she could at least try not to antagonize them. As for a mid-term goal while taking over the continent, first would be taking over the entire kingdom of Hiers. I should define exactly what taking over entails here, but if I say we need to capture every city, there might be too many of them. In a normal war, capturing the capital would lead to their leaders capitulating, and we would force them to accept terms of surrender advantageous to us but that wont happen here since theyve got nothing to offer us. Or more like, the ruler already ran off. It seemed that the spirit lords legacy or whatever was more important than the kingdom itself. It was an indispensable item needed to defend against not just Rare, but any of the catastrophes, so it was vital for it to never fall into the hands of an enemy. But didnt he say that it wasnt very effective against angels? On this continent, the only enemy they had to worry about was the angels, so why would they protect it so zealously? Is there maybe some other threat that only royalty were privy to. But if there were, then it didnt make sense to keep that information a secret. If something like that truly existed, that only the royal family knew about, then in all likelihood only those in the royal family were told that they were the ones who deposed the spirit lord as well. If so, then those people were the biggest hypocrites. Of course, this was all speculation. Nothing that Rare conjectured would lead anywhere productive. What was important now was how she would handle the remaining cities left in this country. For starters, I need to test if this ant-and-treant city idea will work. If it will, then if we go to each city one by one and replace all the people with ants and all the houses with treants, then that would serve as proof of conquest. And in order to proceed with that plan, there was one problem that needed to be solved first: Sugarus reincarnation. CH 104 Of course, I had a reason to need Sugaru to reincarnate. While she was indeed the only member of the top brass who hadnt gone through reincarnation yet, there was an actual problem beyond that. As a Vespoid Queen, Sugaru had reached the maximum limit on followers. To be accurate, they hadnt determined an exact number of ants that she could control. There were no problems with the ones operating in the Great Liebe Forest or in the ground beneath the neighboring prairie, but if Rare wanted her invasion to expand outside of those areas, that number would not suffice. The treants as well could only multiply so much, since they had a limited population density, so Rare believed something similar was at work. In other words, what she needed was a new queen ant. For a common ant queen, when she first copulated, she would receive enough sperm from the male ant to fertilize a lifetimes worth of eggs, which she would store inside her body. If she were to be unable to lay more eggs, the typical reason would be that she had used up her supply of sperm. However, when Sugaru had been asked if that might be the case, apparently her race didnt even understand the concept of sexes in and of itself, which meant that all of her eggs had been unfertilized. When considering normal ants, queens could choose to lay fertilized or unfertilized eggs, with the latter always birthing male ants. However, with regards to Sugarus race, if they didnt technically have sexes and could only lay unfertilized eggs, then either the offspring would be genderless, or they would be hermaphrodites. If these had been normal ants, then the creation of the next queen could be induced via pheremones and diet, but the eggs Sugaru laid had predetermined results. Thus, it would be reasonable to assume that it should be possible to lay an egg meant to become the next queen. In her current skill trees, she didnt have any reproduction skills to create a new generation of queen, so Sugaru needed some kind of breakthrough. Perhaps learning a specific skill could unlock the one they sought, but looking at World Tree, its [Root Division] skill was unable to create more world trees. Along the same lines, since Sugaru was a Vespoid Queen, Rare was certain that she would be unable to reproduce another queen-type monster. Assuming she was right, she hoped having Sugaru reincarnate into a higher class of monster would be that breakthrough. With the events increased XP, Ive already regained what I used earlier from killing the people in the capital. Im no longer in the red from the death penalty, so the players I fought and killed yesterday around noon put me in the black. Nice, nice, aha ha ha. Rare calmed herself down. There should be enough for Sugarus reincarnation now. As for our emergency funds Eh, well start saving again tomorrow. However, as they used more XP, the amount of XP they needed in reserve increased as well. Everything would go to waste if I were to die, but if I just dont die then no problem. Which meant investing now to reduce the risk of her dying later. That said, Ill go back to the forest for a time. I hope I can leave you in charge, Rare said to Sieg, who had been silently listening to her talk to herself this entire time. She wouldnt have minded if he had voiced his thoughts, but Sieg was pretty reserved. It was incredible how he had become a knight-captain with his personality; he must have been exceptionally brilliant. Understood. Leave the capital to me. But please take Sir Deas back with you. He is Your Majestys personal guard, after all. Indeed. I shall call for him after Ive arrived there. If I dont, Im sure hed be peeved. Sieg certainly didnt suggest that because he thought that Deas would be a pain in the ass if he stayed in the capital. Probably. With Sugaru as her target, Rare used [Summon] on herself, returning to the queens chamber. The wolf pups were also there, tussling with each other. Which reminded her, Deas was originally supposed to be looking after the pups, so she had wondered what he had done with them when he came to the castle; it seemed he had Sugaru watch them. Before she forgot, Rare also cast [Summon] on Deas; he immediately moved over to the wall, paying absolutely no mind to the little wolves. I apologize for yesterday, for making you suddenly experience death. I also want to thank you for restoring the forest. Ha ha ha. This is how I looked when I was much younger His personality really had become somewhat obnoxious. As he became less undead and more human, his weak human traits surfaced moreor they were being resurrected. It wasnt a huge problem, though, for now. Youll become a lot more impressive soon yourself, Sugaru, I hope. Rare then pulled out a Greater Philosophers Stone from her inventory. She had left all the regular Philosophers Stones in the capital, but she still held onto all the greater ones. Now, its time to reincarnate. Come. She handed over the greater stone. In Sugarus hand, the vessel turned into light and disappeared, the liquid inside melting into her body. Rares eyes could see that the instant the stone was used, the container had turned into pure mana. Since it appeared to be an item without a single drop of magic before it was used, it must use some kind of system similar to casting spells, where the activation process generates magic. <> < > < > Seeing 3,000 was nostalgic, even she had originally seen it not that long ago. It was the amount needed to reincarnate into a demon lord or spirit lord. Which meant that Sugaru should be reincarnating into something that would be on par with Rare. Immortal rulers required less XP, only 1,000, but while they were also catastrophe-class monsters, they might also have less potential compared with Sugarus new race. Spend three thousand, allow reincarnation into Reina Quitinosa. But that reminds me, World Tree needed five thousand. Going by the amount of XP needed to reincarnate alone, World Tree has the highest rank of everyone here <> After sucking up a ton of mana, Sugaru disappeared from sight. Even if Rare were to open her eyes, she wouldnt be able to see anything more, just everything would be a different color. But anyway, whats a Reina Quitinosa? Is that Spanish, maybe? Reina is probably queen. Quitinosalikequit in osa? Or kit in osa? Oh, does it maybe mean chitinous? As in Chitinous Queen? The light show died down, and a smaller Sugaru came into view. Rare opened her eyes to take in Sugarus new appearance. Wow, you look pretty cool! Sugaru looked more humanlike now. In fact, with all of her wings out, Rare looked more like a bird, so she herself was slowly becoming less and less human. But no, shes got all those arms, so Im still more humanlike At least as far as our shapes go. Sugarus face was covered in hard-looking skin, almost as though she wore a mask; it didnt seem like she would be able to make any expressions. Her mouth was split into upper and lower halves, with each half sporting separate parts of the mask. She now had hair, but it looked extremely fluffy, resembling the head of a silkmoth[1]. It was tactile as well. She had round, compound eyes set deep into her mask, located about where human eyes would be. Her entire body was segmented and covered in a hard exoskeleton; the closest comparison Rare could think of was a ball-jointed doll. However, that was it for similarities to humans. She had three pairs of arms. With her legs included, she had eight limbs total. Very inhuman. And in the area that would be the buttocks for a human, she had an abdomen similar to what one would see on ants or bees. Where a humans stomach would be, she had what Rare believed was called a petiole.[2] Her legs grew down from there. Sugarus three sets of arms, as well as two pairs of wings, grew out of her thorax, which was very insectlike. Her bottom half seemed to be based around some other kind of arthropod. <> Its like you went on an insect part shopping spree Well, you look awesome, so whatever. Huh? What do you mean? Ah That wasnt exactly the reason Rare had decided to head to the front lines, but now that Sugaru had brought it up, she couldnt entirely deny that she might have felt that way either. In the end, she never got to try out [Wing Attack], so that still bothered her even now. Because I have a much higher purpose to fulfill. He must have been referring to Rares protection. As someone with so many other priorities, his statement stabbed her in the heart. The system didnt designate you as a special being of calamity, though, just a regular being of calamity, Sugaru. Maybe its because unlike undead or demon lords, you arent naturally aligned against any particular force? You would just cause trouble for everyone; a neutral calamity, as it were. The system message was canceled either way, so we wont be able to find out. However, if Rares speculation were correct and the announcement had gone out, all the nations and factions with characters with that special oracle skill might spread the information publicly. This would simply result in hordes of enemies coming after her. If Sugaru had developed as originally planned in the Great Liebe Forest, then this forest may have become highly contested battleground. Thats not something we need to worry about now, though. More importantly, lets see what new skills you can learn. CH 105 The skill tree that contained Sugarus [Haplodiploidy] didnt really have any new skills to learn. However, a completely new tree did get unlocked: [Insect Production]. The very first skill in this tree was [Ant Queen], which from the name probably created an ant queen. Instant buy! However, unlike regular ant eggs, this skill cost XP instead. It had a similar system to the treants [Root Division]: if [Haplodiploidy]s ability to create more eggs corresponded to the treants [Scatter Seeds] skill, then [Insect Production]s ability to birth queen-class units seemed to correspond to the treant [Root Division] skill. But even with the additional cost, the advantage of being able to create more queens was huge. Rare spent the required XP to try it out. Standard ant soldiers were born from eggs about a quarter the size of these ones. They didnt require much time before they hatched, either. In comparison, while the queen eggs didnt seem like they would require hours to incubate, neither did it feel like they would hatch at any second. Well, well just have to wait patiently. Lets examine these other skills. Running parallel down the tree with [Ant Queen] were the skills [Spider Queen] and [Coleopteran Queen]. If I remember correctly, some species of spiders are social, but coleopteran means beetles, I think? Do beetles even have queens? Beetles though they may be, they were also monsters, so if she were told this species of them had a queen, Rares only response would be to nod and say Sure, seems legit. After looking it up later, she would find out that while they didnt have queen colonies like ants or bees did, there was apparently a species of stag beetle where adults would raise larvae in a social manner. Im curious, but its not something I need to know right now. Ill think about after Ive restocked my emergency XP. Finally, the egg film began to tear, and a familiar-looking queen ant emerged from within. It was a vespoid queen. Now, we should be able to expand our battlefronts. The capital region will be managed by Sieg and his order of undead, Treu and Lourdes will be under World Tree and the treants, and it should be fine to leave Erfahren under the control of Sugarus colony. Now, for this queen Normally, Sugaru would immediately make all newly hatched ants her followers, then assign them a place in her colony. However, she didnt use [Subordinate] on this vespoid queen. Without [Subordinate], this queen was equivalent to a wild monster to Rare. However, the newly born monster appeared aware that she was in the presence of her creator and grandcreator and simply listened to them meekly; there was no need for Rare to take any immediate action. Thats a good point Produce more queens and put them on standby somewhere, then the next time I take control of a town or city, I will [Summon] one directly to rule our new location. Just like I did with Sieg this time. Since Sugaru had beeing overseeing the farm and the theme park up until now, Rare couldnt transfer her away from the great forest before. However, the park was effectively closed now, and if it were just the farm, then management duties could be given to another ant now. All right, I will directly [Subordinate] her. Now that the nearby city is gone, this forest base will be pretty stable. In that case, lets use it as a site to train new leaders and let them get used to leading projects. If Rare did need to call someone over to administrate a new city, she had no idea if a newly born unit would be able to pick up the reins right on the spot. In order to get a bit of experience beforehand, this safe forest was perfect. Since the queens all needed to learn stuff like [Enhance Follower], they needed their stats raised in order to strengthen their brood, which mean more XP was necessary. Considering how many more queens Rare would need, then she would need to farm even more XP. The grind never ends Rare could still power up herself as well, and the same went for all the other reincarnated leaders like Deas. Everyone must have unlocked many new skills. Before all that, we need to get La Colline settled. Its a huge transportation hub for the kingdom with multiple major roads running through it. We should be able to turn the region into a primary access point. Lets plan to make it a new provisional newbie dungeon. Who knew what kind of newbies would want to travel to a country that had been overrun by monsters, though. Perhaps We could also get a seed from World Tree and raise it as an elder to become a terminal. At any rate, its just a mountain of wreckage right now, hardly attractive at all. Well want to turn the area into a place lush with nature in order to get people to visit. If they truly wanted to turn it into a new theme park, then there were other points of concern as well. There needed to be accommodations. Unless there were safe zones that players could set as their spawn points, it would be hard to get them to stay for long periods of time. However, if its an attractive enough destination for players to come despite all the demerits, then theyll think of solutions on their own. Thinking ahead, there wont always be a town conveniently located near a farming zone. Maybe she could indirectly ask the developers What should I do if I want to grind in a zone where there arent any safe zones I can use to log out? The questions and answers would be posted publicly, but the name of the person submitting the question should be kept anonymous, so it wouldnt be a problem for Rare to send in the question herself. If the answer that came back was practical, then other players should be able to see it and decide on their own if that method was worth it to them. Actually, as far as social media goes, Rare should simply be known as the winner of the first event, so there shouldnt be any problems even if the name does get out. The real problem would be if the idea that the seventh catastrophes name is Rare spreads. If that were to happen, then the idea that players can become catastrophes would also get out. There was no way a player-catastrope would want to friend other regular players anyway, and if there was ever a need to name oneself it would be fine to use a fake name. However, choosing a poor alias would occasionally result in sharing the name with another player, which would be a pain in the ass. And Rare still hadnt found out if players and NPCs could share names either. Nah, someone had to have looked into that already. Ill try to find that information later. It really should be fine to just come up with a proper-sounding name. I called myself a catastrophe this time, so I can just keep doing that. It looks like social media is calling me some kind of undead angel, so I could try to go in that direction, but hm, most of the time, cheap misdirection like that always backfires. Better to not do anything overly complicated. Now then, lets go to La Colline, Sugaru. The ants and wasps I sent on ahead should have just about arrived. Nah, I want to test out your flying capabilities, so lets fly there together. Deas, watch the pups. Your Majesty, your will is my command, but I wont go picking fights on my own. Sugaru will be with me too. When they were about to depart for La Colline, Sieg sent a friend chat. Rare had left Yoroizaka and the other living weapons behind. The NPCs and other players had the mistaken impression that Yoroizaka wasnt a separate monster but the catastrophes first form. Therefore, it made sense to leave them back in the capital acting in the role of the catastrophe. Rares eyes widened. So thats what he was after! She had doubted that a shrewd man like the prime minister would have wasted his final artifact for no apparent reason. However, it was possible that he either overestimated the artifacts power or underestimated Rares strength, so she didnt put much thought into it. She never could have imagined that he had been hiding another item like that. No, not an item but an entire trap installation. I wonder how he saw visiting dignitaries from afar if he had something like that set up in the audience chamber. However, it didnt seem as though the trap was all that strong. If just trapping Sieg and a few undead led to its effects dropping by that much, then it couldnt have possibly contained Rare. Even if she had been affected by that weakening artifact at the time, the effect duration was too short to have been problematic. So while the catastrophe was sealed, they could prepare all their forces and launch a full-powered attack at the same time it broke free to defeat it. If the timer for the debuff wouldnt restart until after the seal broke, that meant they could possibly pull it off if they aimed for that exact point in time. It was impossible to know how the seal would actually affect players without experiencing it for herself, but it was better not to be hit by if it she could help it. It was a pity that they couldnt experiment with the trap activation due to a lack of personnel, but the mechanism was originally planned to go off if the throne were moved. However, the prime minister had miscalculated since there were more people in the room at the time, the nobles who had been struck with fear due to Deas and Siegs sudden transformation as well as the surviving sorcerers who had run out of mana. I really have to thank Deas and Sieg Oops, I forgot I was still chatting. According to Sieg, when filled with mana, it could be activated from outside and any characters within range would easily become sealed. Since it had just been triggered, it needed both time and mana before it could be used again, but as an emergency measure, it was an excellent trick to have on hand. Now the only remaining concern truly was the exiled royal family. However, there wasnt anything Rare could do about them at the moment. First, she had to bring Sugaru to La Colline and set up an attraction in the forest there. CH 106 Kerrys group had woken up in an inn in Conna?tre, about three days south of the Great Liebe Forest going at Hakumas speed. What did Boss say? asked Riley. Right. Shes fine, she wants us to stay in this town and check out their defense for the invasion, Kerry responded after seeing that the friend chat had ended. They had arrived at this town the night before, but they only stayed for one night and checked out in the morning, earlier that same day. Since they had traveled for an entire day and didnt find another town or village, they had planned to camp out along the road, taking turns to keep watch. During that time, everyone suddenly died, then they all awoke once again in this inn. Good thing no one else was staying in this room. If someone had been, maybe we wouldnt have been able to revive here. Would we have gone all the way back to Liebe then? Anyway, Ill go tell the landlady we wanna stay a few more nights. If shes still awake, at least, Riley said, heading downstairs. The woman would probably be shocked to see the group who had headed off in the wee hours of the morning suddenly come down from the second floor, but there was nothing they could do about it. Fortunately, they had brought along a lot of cash for their travels, so they could buy her silence. Money makes the world go round. More importantly, is the Boss really all right? Yeah From the way she talked, she didnt seem to be really depressed or anything, at least it didnt feel that way But even if she were, I bet she wouldnt show anyone anywayespecially not us Kerry remembered how Boss had looked when she first met her, how she had oozed confidence from her very pores. Bosss appearance had changed quite a bit since then, but the way she sometimes got that look of mischief on her face hadnt changed at all. The things Boss did were all completely beyond the catgirls imaginations. Recently, they had finally been able to touch on what her goals were and how she wanted to accomplish them, but at the very start they had no idea what she had been trying to do. Meeting Boss had dramatically changed Kerry and the girls lives. Back then, just as she had told them, if they had kept on doing things the same way they always had, in some not-so-far-off future, someone would have ended up taking everything from them, including their lives. At that time, Kerry had said to Rare, I want you to become our leader. Her plea had changed everything. And there were people out there who had hurt their leader. Those people had to pay. But who in the world couldve If we ask, Boss probably wouldnt tell us. Remy was right. She was the boss, after all; she might already be on her way to settle the score herself. Im so mad I could explode but theres nothing we can do about it right now. All we can do is what Boss asked and keep an eye on this town. Yeah If we learn anything from how they defend themselves, it could come in handy one day for killing the guys who beat up Boss. They resented having to help out the forces of humanity, who had antagonized their leader, but they just had to hold it in while reminding themselves that this would help her. Riley entered the room. Im back. It was kind of a letdown how normal her reaction was. I guess it happens a lot nowadays, people appearing from their rooms even after theyve checked out. So theyve stopped booking rooms for a day after someone checks out. The girls would have also found it pretty weird if they hadnt been dropped into the exact same predicament. They must be also followers No, probably players like Boss is. Meaning lots of players stay in this inn, you think? Probably, yeah. So now, it must have seemed as though Kerrys group, who had died and come back to this inn, were also players. Well, we gotta help protect this town anyway. Been a while since I pretended to be a player. You might be fine, Kerry, but we havent done it before. Itll be all right if you just stay quiet, Marion. You never liked talking to strangers anyway. And so, Kerrys group was going to participate in Conna?tres invasion event. When they had stopped in this town, Kerry and the other girls found the inn, but Hakuma and Ginka, being giant wolves, couldnt very well accompany them. The two of them made camp a bit off the road and rested there. That temporary bed ended up becoming their spawn point, perhaps because there werent any hostile enemies nearby. After the friend chat ended, Hakuma loped off, accompanied by Ginka. The luggage they carried wasnt all that heavy, so they were able to run without trouble. At this pace, they would soon reach the volcano. The more territories their forces controlled, the more power their master would gain. And if all they needed to do to accomplish that was run, then they would run. As planned, Hakuma and Ginka are headed to the volcano. And as ordered, well protect this town. Got it. We ended up leaving this morning without seeing, but whats attacking this town anyway? From the state of the town, the invasion didnt seem to be terribly disruptive. At the very least, nothing appeared to have breached the outer wall yet. From speaking with the landlady earlier, they gleaned that there were a lot of players here, so the unexceptional town guard was probably able to cooperate with them to withstand the attacks. Or perhaps there just wasnt a monster here strong enough to destroy the outer wall or the gate in the first place. I wonder. We could probably find out if we head to the sellsword guild. I dont think its anything bad, though. But at the very least no one else can get through from outside the town Merchants in particular shouldnt be able to trade goods right now. Remy was absolutely right. In the past, the catkin girls would never have thought about stuff like that. They just had a vague awareness that somewhere in town they should be able to sell their stuff. But things were different now. Every town had something they specialized in, which they would use to trade with other towns, and from there items would be sold to people who wanted them. This led to prices rising beyond the base material value. Apparently, this was how an economy worked. Since Remy had managed a shop back in Erfahren, she was particularly keen on these matters. So basically, heres whats going on. Whatever the enemies are, with the players here, no ones worried about the defenses. But players arent particularly interested in the fate of the town itself. Thats why, even though the flow of goods has stopped, none of them are looking to proactively go out and take down the monster chief. Based on what we heard from the Boss, we were originally supposed to leave the forest and umm, maybe wait a day? For ten days after that, theres something called an event, and everyone gets more XP during it. So thats why the players might want to leave the chief alive for that entire time. This strategy certainly went against the towns best interests. However, since Kerry and the girls had nothing to do with the town either, they didnt particularly care one way or the other. If were going to pretend to be players, then we can do the same thing they do, right? Just kill the weaklings who come attacking while checking out how strong the players are. That should be good, but Yeah, I want Riley to take on a special mission, you good with that? Sure, what is it? While the players are screwing around with the small fries, make your way outta the town and lay eyes on the chief. Until we get new orders, maybe after the events over or whenever Boss has some free time on her hands, I dunno, but it aint a bad idea to gather as much info as we can on everything around here. CH 107 The monsters are undead. The landlady musta been up in the middle of the night cause the town was just attacked. The next day, Kerry went to the sellsword guild to get information about the towns defense. She ground her teeth in vexation at hearing it, though; if they had known about the attack, then it would have been better to have gone out and seen what was going on themselves. Yall safeholder sellswords too? Well, we grateful they protectin us, but we want to get em to stop attackin us period; yknow, get at the root cause We sent a bird to the govment, but We aint gotten no response yet. The worn out middle-aged man standing at the guilds counter sighed after voicing his complaints. Just as Remy had said the night before, it didnt seem like the players were proactively trying to solve the problem. Another man in the lobby who looked to be a sellsword spoke up. About that, we also wanna do something about it. Not everyone is on the same page, though, and its not enough for just one or two people to go looking for the undead base he said in frustration. From the way he talked, he had to have been a safeholdera player. It seemed that not every player was completely indifferent about the towns situation. Just as the man said, though, if there were different perspectives about what should be done, then it would be difficult for them to all come to an agreement. She couldnt imagine her beloved leader getting so much as a scratch from a sellsword of this caliber, no matter how many of them joined forces. However, if they happened to be at Kerrys level, or any of the other girls level, then she wouldnt be so sure. If they had both numbers and coordination, then it might be possible for them to inflict real harm. But if a large number of players gathered who were antagonistic to Boss, they shouldnt all have exactly the same goals. Considering it from that angle, it might be possible to turn a large group of enemies into multiple smaller groups of enemies. You might have a point. And you are? Ah. Im, uh, Gilgamesh, I guess. That was a pretty suspicious introduction. Probably a fake name. However, given that he should believe Kerry to be another player, she couldnt think of a reason for a player to hide his name from another player. No, I know what youre thinking, really. Wrong guy. I finished making my character first so I got the name, but now hes the one whos famous. Its a bit embarassing. It appeared that he didnt know what Kerry was thinking at all. Though neither did she know what he was talking about. But speaking of names, she felt like Boss mentioned something about no two names being the same once, so maybe these players were unable to have the same names as one another or something. It would be easy for Kerry to just give out her own name here, but if there happened to be a player named Kerry out there then it could turn into an annoying thing. However, from the way this guy talked, it seemed names could be extremely similar as long as they were subtly different. You can call me Kerry. These are Riley, Remy, and Marion. All nicknames, though, since were just used to going by them. That should be good enough. So do all four of you usually play together? Yyyeahthats right. Rileys got something to do right after this, though, so shell be back later. Theyll pretend she would be going back to the inn to sleep, or log out, and she would be able to sneak out from there. Since Riley had a lot of skills suitable for monitoring areas and general covert activities, it would be easy for her to operate without being seen. That was why she was picked to find the enemy chief, too. All right, so theres three of you. If youre up for it and we get attacked again tonight, do you wanna party up? It would be your first time defending this town, right? Wayne had been this way too, but why were these player people so nice? Before now, the only people who got close to the catkin girls wanted to either rob or kill them. Thats why they were reflexively suspicious of anyone who seemed to be acting out of good will at first glance. That said, it wasnt like Kerrys group lacked ulterior motives either. Yeah, thatd be nice. Theres a lotta stuff Id like ask about. They would part with Gilgamesh for now. Night was still a long ways away, and they wanted to check on the townspeople as well. Plus, if the monsters only operated at night, then it would be best if Riley went scouting around noon. Since it would be bad if she were seen at this time of day, she would be going out with her hooded cloak. It would stand out, unfortunately, but with this many players there would be no shortage of suspicious-looking figures around anyway, so at least she shouldnt be particularly memorable. Well be going, then. After dropping Riley off at the inn, the other three went back out into the town. When they went to the shopping district, they didnt get the impression that there were any shortages of goods. This should have been the third day of the event. Apparently the events ripple effects hadnt fully propagated yet. Potionshave gone up a bit. If deliveries stay stopped, we might be able to make a profit from selling raw ingredients. Depending on how things go tonight, if weve got enough for ourselves then it might be better for you to just make and sell em yerself, Remy. No clue how long well be staying in this town, but our funds wont last forever. The main ingredient for potions came from an herb that grew pretty much anywhere. If they ever had time during the day, they could go out and gather more. Prices going up meant that either materials or crafters were in short supply. So either no one wanted to leave the town because of the monsters, or there just werent a lot of crafters here in the first place. Whatever the reason behind it was, Remy would be able to turn a profit. Having decided on a general plan, they just had to wait for the sun to set then meet up with Gilgamesh. Around when the curtain of night began to fall, the girls went outside the town walls and prepared for battle. A number of sellswords and town guards were also in the vicinity. They couldnt tell at a glance, but some of them must have been players too. All right, the suns gone down From here on out, monsters will start showing up. Any time now. How exactly are they going to show up? They gonna crawl up outta the ground? Ah, nah. You see that rocky area over there? And those clumps of trees? Theyll come from out of there. Looking in the direction Gilgamesh pointed, Kerry could see a bunch of larger rocks strewn about, which is what he referred to as rocky. Trees twisted away from those rocks, as though avoiding them. This appeared to have repeated a few times and became a sort of pseudo-forest. They served as the entrance for the monsters to flow out of during this excursion. Look, there they come. Just as Gilgamesh said, a number of undead started creeping out from the forest and heading toward the town. Kerry believed they were skeletal knights. However, the sellswords immediately started taking them down, littering the area with dismembered monster parts. Aint nothing for us to do For now. The min-maxers and the gung-ho players dive in right and, well, since they can be one-shot that leaves us free. But once it starts getting even darker, theyll start coming out faster than we can kill em. Once that happens, therell be plenty of work for us. Gilgamesh told her that the really proactive players would somehow spend the day in a different town. There was something called an event port that could be used once a day, where two people could use it to make a round trip to efficiently earn more XP during the event. There were some hardcore solo players who would use the event port one way then die to return back to their starting town. Kerry had no idea what half the things he was saying meant, but she could at least memorize it. Boss should be able to make sense of it if she just repeated back to her later. After observing for a while, more and more undead began to slip past the other players, so it was time for Kerrys group to make their debut. Remy used her archery to corral them while Marion took them down with magic. When waiting for cooldowns and MP regen, Kerry and Gilgamesh stepped up to engage them directly. They continued grinding using this general pattern. Because the enemies were too weak, defending the city turned into monotonous work. That wasnt only the case for Kerrys party either; other parties seemed to roughly feel the same way. Indeed, if the townspeople were watching, they would be more than justified in thinking that someone could be spared to go assault the enemys home base. And thats pretty much it. There are a few waves that come during the day too, so with the bonus, this event is pretty nice for farming XP. Theres only undead here, so its not great for cash, though, Gilgamesh commented during a short break, around when the number of attacks started dying down. I getcha. Thanks for the rundown. All in all, between the town guards and the players, the monsters invading this area werent much of a threat. As long as they werent deliberately holding themselves back like Kerrys group currently was, an army of ants and adaman soldiers should easily be able to trample them underfoot. Now they just had to wait for Rileys report. Since Boss believed that other beings on Deass level could possibly be scattered around the continent, they needed to confirm what the undead ringleader here was, although it was frankly hard to imagine a captain-class monster laying low somewhere in this country. After they accomplished their mission, all they had to do was continue mingling with the players here to pass the time. Although We havent seen the lord of the town or the knights that are probably followers make an appearance yet. Are they up to something, or do they just not care what happens to the town? Occasionally, stronger undead or ones with better equipment would be mixed into the horde and kill off some of the town guard. If there were any knights stationed here, they would have been able to prevent that. After Rileys investigation was complete, the girls might have to poke around for that information too. CH 108 La Colline was undergoing a smooth reforestation. One of World Trees terminals produced via [Root Division] had been planted in the center of the hill. It was using [Scatter Seeds] there, so a tiny forest had already begun to appear. [Scatter Seeds] only made more treants that were the same race as the original, but they wouldnt be terminals for World Tree. The same was true if a terminal used [Root Division], which meant that the same limitations preventing World Tree from duplicating itself applied. The use of [Magnum Beneficium] via the terminal caused accelerated growth among the treants, and the terminal itself in the center had already become an elder camphor treant. Rare was also helping with the reforesting while testing out her [Plant Magic]. This wont cause the soil to become barren, I hope. I wonder what happens to the nutrients in the ground. If they needed organic matter from dead creatures, those would need to be procured from somewhere. Sugaru was right. Indeed, there were many former residents that had been laid to rest here beneath the earth. As La Colline was being reforested, the ants who had arrived first were excavating a new nest underground while aerial soldiers patrolled overhead. With this many trees, we should implement more three-dimensional tactics. Unfortunately, our ants primarily operate on the ground, and the wasps are too big to make use of their mobility in forests. Perhaps we should produce more spiders. This was a great idea. With a proactive review, they could map out all the skill cooldowns now instead of worrying about them in the thick of things. They were currently in a temporary period of peace, so to speak, so this was the perfect time to perform such a review now. Lets do that, then. This was a large city, so we can cover it with an even larger forest. It would be best to have as many different types of monsters here as we can, so lets see what the Coleopteran Queen has to offer later. While La Colline was being reforested, apparently some kind of rebel force had shown up at the royal capital. Since it seemed unlikely for NPCs to be able to communicate and organize overnight, the attackers must have been players who had read about the situation on social media. If they werent die-once-and-thats-it sellsword NPCs, then it would be best to assume theyd keep coming indefinitely. Rare ordered low-level skeletons to be stationed around the capitals outer perimeter, and for adamantite soldiers to hunt down anyone who came within sight of the castle. During the day, the undead would be much weaker, so they would probably get taken down easily, but sunlight had no effect on the adamantite units. Back in Liebe, we had some of the transporter ants act as analysts to calculate the XP gains for each visitor not that they were particularly suited for it, they just didnt have anything else to do. In any case, Sieg doesnt currently have anyone to perform that role under him, does he While exploring the castle, they had found some kind of conference room. If there were any undead who still had brain functions left, it might make things smoother for them to take that room to do administrative work. Ill boost the INT for those maid and civil servant zombies that we had tamed while taking over the castle. Maybe INT- and MND-focused zombies will get stat-appropriate reincarnation paths if we use Philosophers Stones on them. Weve got a lot of leftover stones, after all, and as for the XP, well The beneficiaries would be able to go out and earn more themselves. Were just investing in them upfront. It didnt seem like a bad plan. Right now, her forces composition was starting to lean more towards insects, so it would be fine to strengthen some of the undead to keep things balanced. The players believed that she was an undead angel, after all. All right, Im going to jump over to the castle quick. Take care of things here. Overall, Rares day was spent optimizing her forces in this manner. She was a little bit worried about whether Blancs group would have any problems with their offensive, but since she had received no correspondence from the Kenzaki traveling with them, that probably meant there wasnt anything worth noting. She was interested in the town where Kerrys group was staying, but that invasion was mainly happening only at night. That meant attacks should begin occurring right around now, as dusk approached. She would check in with them later after things had settled down. Rare sat down on the royal castles modified throne (now two sizes bigger!) to think about tomorrow. The defenses for the capital were more or less settled. The players who would be attacking during the day werent a threat; she wouldnt even need to use adamantite soldierswith enough undead, it would be easy to force them to retreat. Although, since there was no penalty for dying during this event, they might just keep pushing even if they would use up their lives. Regarding the capitals defenses, not only were the civil servants left in charge of the new city-style dungeon, their INT was also increased with XP, and they were given Philosophers Stones in order to reincarnate into [Wights]. The two reincarnation choices this time were that and revenant. Since all of the zombies had the same INT, Rare couldnt tell which one was supposed to be the normal route. On the other side, all the maid zombies reincarnated into revenants. It would have been fine for them all to be wights, but Rare was simply curious if every reincarnation path led to a unique form and wanted to see it for herself. The wights were then put in charge of the city, while the revenants managed the castle. And right now, the maid revenants were serving her tea. Just the other day, this tea was reserved for the lips of royalty and nobility. Now, Im the only one who consumes it. As long as it stores well, that isnt an issue, of course. We have a magic item that preserves objects stored within it for long periods of time, so it should be of little concern. One of the maids responded to what Rare had said to herself. It had startled her at first to hear an undead speaking, but Deas and Sieg were already doing it so feeling that way seemed silly. Good to hear. All right, what to do tomorrow There are two directions we can go to find towns to crash. Rare sank into thought while scanning over the map of the kingdom that came with the castle. She was able to give her first map to Blanc because they had found this one. From what they could see, the two maps were nearly the same. There was always the option of just going to help Blanc out. However, these activities were always more fun when accomplishing them yourself. Helping was good and all, but if Rare ended up leading the effort then she would be overstepping. It was hard to figure out the right balance. I already lent her a Kenzaki too Taking a sip of her tea, Rares eyes dropped back down to the map. To be honest, this setup was pretty awkward. Normally, work like this should have taken place in the audience chamber instead. After finding a table to put the map on, the maid revenants then used a wagon to haul all the tea implements over here. If they were going to go through all this trouble, it would have been better to just use her office in the first place. The chair here was too big, too. However, going back and forth between here and the office would take too much time, which was why she ordered the maids to bring everything here. Yes, from a purely rational standpoint, the office was just too far away, so Rare should just trust in her past decisions. While thinking of all this nonsense, a friend chat arrived. It was Blanc. Rare fixed her posture. What was she talking about? They had only split up last night, and nothing particularly noteworthy had occurred since then. Neither had Rare made any conspicuous moves that would merit a new forum post. Just started on the new dungeon in the royal capital. What the heck? Rare had indeed seized control of the royal capital in addition to the most prominent trade cities in the country. Two of the border towns had also fallen in the process, and Blanc herself had taken out two more towns. However, the royal family had skipped town, and there were other cities that hadnt been conquered yet. While it was true that the head of the kingdom had been cut off, from a systemic perspective that shouldnt have been enough to declare the entire region lost. Since Kenzaki was with her, nothing should get too bad, at least. Phew All right. Rares actions had led to the destruction of the Kingdom of Hiers. If this were true, that would be fine. However, she was concerned about how the royal family had gotten away virtually unharmed. Plus, the timing announcing this being this evening and not yesterday late at night was suspicious. Maybe they simply wanted to make sure more players saw the announcement, though. All right, time to hit the forums. I need to do some digging. Follow all the threads about the destruction of Hiers By tracing the sources back, can I figure out when the first mention was posted? CH 109 Was this the first thread then? If so, I can assume Hiers was removed around then, right? [Intended? Bug?] Report Strange Phenomena Here! 563: Wayne Do I report this here? I picked Hiers as my starting area but all my spawn points were destroyed so I got hit with a random respawn. Until this morning, I was always sent somewhere near a town in Hiers, but this time I was sent to an entirely different country. Has anyone else experienced this? 564: Oceantea >>563 wasnt hiers destroyed by that calamity thing? if the country is gone, doesnt that mean your starting choice got reset? 565: Wayne >>564 Until this morning I was always sent somewhere near a Hiers town. The calamity destroyed the capital city last night, so if it had reset back then what you said would make sense. Has anyone else had this happen? 566: Andy >>563 i was also in hiers, scraping by in a town called verde sud, but i died on the first night of the event and ive been on a random respawn bender ever since. the second time i died i kinda wished i had stayed at an inn, but its been surprisingly fun seeing where i end up next actually, if there arent any spawn points now, im gonna die and see what happens 567: Heitarou >>563 >>566 Looks like theres actually a few of them. First time hearing about it. 568: overbuzz >>567 no there arent lol, its only these 2, i aint never heard any1 go thru this either 590: Andy im back had to walk pretty far, sorry it took so long im not in hiers anymore. i also picked hiers to start, so i think there really arent any more spawn points in hiers 591: Oceantea >>590 wb so that means hiers is gone? meaning a destroyed country doesnt count as a country anymore in game? 592: Gi1gamesh Sorry for jumping in. I just checked the official site, and the section in the lore about 6 major countries on the continent has been updated to only 5. Hiers is gone from the descriptions too. 593: MentaiList so its totally gone then wayne, you know exactly when the last time you rezzed in hiers was? 594: Wayne >>593 Thanks for coming to this thread, you two This morning maybe no, just after noon? I skipped lunch so Im not sure. Anyway, there was still a spawn point in Hiers around noon. Thats where they told me I was when I got to town at least 595: Heitarou >>594 Wait, so why didnt you set your spawn at the inn there? 596: Wayne >>595 I wanted to meet up with friends. I was trying to get close to Welthe so I was playing the respawn gacha 597: overbuzz u got served lmfao No point in reading any further, I guess. Rare closed the forums and took a sip from her cup of tea, which had at some point been refilled. But wow, so Waynes involved again, huh. Hes sure down on his luck, isnt he Ah, wait, the random respawns are because of me. Sorry, I guess. It didnt really matter who exactly discovered it first. The real problem was the fact that Hiers had still been recognized as a country as of around noon today. Then since this evening, the official site had erased all mention of its existence. I would have a hard time believing its just a bug. In which case, Id be more inclined to believe that some specific condition disqualified Hierss status as a country, and that triggered an automatic update. The website is probably being managed by an AI, after all. So what was that condition? Rare could at least rule out it being a specific number of cities being destroyed. Right now, including the capital, six cities had been conquered but, from what she saw on the forums, only player-inhabited cities had been lost, no others. Another possibility, that Rares forces had taken over the capital, was hard to believe. Last night, she had confirmed that her troops completed their occupation of the royal castle, so if that were going to be the reason, then the country would have been gone then. But the fact that Wayne could respawn normally inside Hiers this morning contradicted that supposition. Which meant that something else supporting the countrys existence was lost. And there was in fact a likely culprit. The royal familys abandonment of the kingdom All the royals successfully gained asylum and abdicated their right of sovereignty? It was possible. If, in order to gain refuge, the king was forced to give up his rulership, and his family was taken hostage to prevent him from reneging on such an agreement, such a scenario could indeed be interpreted as the literal end of the kingdom. But for that to happen in half a day No, if they left around the time I first arrived here, it would be a full day. In that time period, could they have arrived at a foreign city? And not only that, could an NPC really have made such an important political decision from some remote town barely within the countrys borders? Logically, only another royal would be capable of forcing them to accept conditions like that. And it couldnt be someone who was given a useless, decorative position for causing problems or someone under house arrest, they would have to still be influential in their country. Furthermore, they had to be in a country that profited from the dissolution of Hiers. If they werent, then there was no value in perpetrating the end of the country. However, according to the information available publicly on the official site, none of the countries of humanity on this continent should have been in conflict with any other. Another possibility that comes to mind is the Hiers royal family all died. This was a more believable conclusion. They were probably all traveling together, so if they were attacked, then that was that. Rare herself would have wanted to do that if she could. But if that was what happened, then who did the deed? They should have been escorted by the royal guard, so I imagine youd need quite the force to wipe them out. Even as I am now, putting aside whether I could actually go or not, I would never go alone for a mission like that. Rare by herself should be strong enough for it, but considering the potential for traps or simply failing to kill everyone, it would be smarter not to try it solo. So did they die, or did they gain asylum? I wonder which is more likely? Right now, there wasnt enough information, so it was hard to say. Rare had no direct knowledge about any countries or cities outside of Hiers, and she didnt know how valuable a foreign royal was in the other countries on this continent. Above all, she couldnt tell which situation would be worse for her. That might be the better question to ponder right now. So, lets assume they gained asylum. To be honest, I dont care about the royal family at all; theyre just another type of noble. I was curious how skilled the royal guard was, but theyre ultimately just another armed group; they would be outdone by a stronger foe. The issue is the artifacts they had with them. Im forced to assume that whatever country they fled to now owns two countries worth of tactical weapons. She didnt know whether they had more of those heart artifacts from before or if they had different ones altogether, but just one of them would be capable of causing her death. Despite the fact that they had heavy usage restrictions, if she wanted to invade then she would have to be on the highest alert. The fact that more than one of these artifacts existed was a huge problem. However, this was based on the assumption that they successfully fled after hearing what the prime minister had to say. There was one other possibility that required analysis. The other possibility is that some other party completely wiped out their group That would also pose some problems. This party would need to be quite strong to accomplish that. If the royal family left on carriages or via some other method of transporting a large number of people, could someone out there organize a force powerful enough to find them after an entire day of travel in an unknown direction and also take out both them and the royal guard? If that someone does exist, then I need to be watch out for them. If that someone was close by, then the royal capitals current defenses were insufficient. Maybe her army wouldnt be routed, but she could at least imagine the castle being breached. On top of that, this third party would also have an artifact in their possession. Considering that one of the requirements to activate it is to be within a countrys capital, then I need to have our defenses doubled at the very least. That said, Rare wasnt actually that worried about being attacked by an artifact. There werent many, they had a short range, and the effects were time-limited. Even though those effects were extremely powerful, she could counter them by simply throwing pure numbers at her foe. This castle was now their base, so they could suss out in advance the likely places the artifacts could be activated. It was hard to imagine someone trying to plot an extreme difficulty one-shot-only mission to protect and transport such a valuable artifact into an enemy castle. So in the end, is it better for the artifact to have fallen into a new owners hands not belonging to a country, or for the royal family to have successfully defected? I wonder. If this third party isnt part of any nation, then who could they be? Bandits? No, bandits couldnt accomplish something of that magnitude. Other candidates would be a monster force attacking different regions for the event seems most likely. Well, speaking of a group that has enough raw power, then a party of players A shiver ran down Rares spine. What if some players now had the artifact? Nah, theres no way that happened. They wouldnt have any reason to go after the fleeing royals. If they were players on the human side, then seeing a bunch of extravagant-looking knights would inspire them to join the escort, not attack them. However, if they werent human players, then it wasnt impossible. A party of monster players, perhaps? If they did exist, then they should have just as many enemies as I do, so I doubt they would suddenly come and invade this city. In that case, maybe we could cooperate on a joint front or something. Or maybe thats too optimistic. I need to be careful no matter what. Those were all the conclusions she could reach. All in all, the most annoying outcome would be for one country to have two countries worth of artifacts at their disposal. When a country had them, they could be used both offensively and defensively, while an unaffiliated force could only use them when they attacked her. No, both possibilities are equally obnoxious. In any case, it sucks not to know where the lost artifacts are. What that means specifically is that its hard to know how to proceed from here. Well, aside from the fact that we need to increase the defenses for the capital. That and I need to keep an eye on the info being shared online Blanc should be about done taking out her city. Or maybe not quite yet. It had been some time since they spoke, but Rare didnt want her to think she was being rushed. Oh, right. I could just watch through Kenzaki. If I may be so bold, would that not be considered stalking? The maid revenant who had been quietly listening to Rare talk to herself couldnt help pointing this out. CH 110 After leaving the tasks of reinforcing the royal capital and La Colline to her subordinates, Rare used [Camouflage] to go invisible then flew over to where Kerrys group was staying. With or without Rare present, her people could still proceed with defense improvements and general oversight. Even if players came to attack like last time, if the entire city turned out, even without Rare they should be able to repel many times that number of players. Things could be dicier if any particularly powerful players came, but from a perspective of overall safety, then Sieg and maids had declared that it would actually be better for Rare to not be there. So the attackers are undead What kind of monster is leading them? You went and found out, right? Riley had gone scouting per Kerrys orders. These girls had truly become reliable. Yeah. Im not sure exactly what race it is, but it was a skeleton that seemed completely different from Deas or Sieg. If I had to guess, it was something good with magic. It had a twisted staff and a dirty robe. The popular fantasy monster types that came to mind were liches and wights. Rare already had wights in her army, but she had never seen one in the wild. A magic-specced one would probably have high INT, and if it had also lived on since the time of that ancient kingdom, then it might be willing to negotiate. Nah, it doesnt seem that smart Every night, it just has all the skeleton minions charge straight at the town, so its probably not thinking anything at all. Although, sometimes there are some skeletons mixed into the charge that seem weirdly good at fighting, so maybe its more clever than we think. Weirdly good? Yeah. Ones that specifically target the guards from this town and not the sellswords who are players. There are a bunch of them, but whenever our group or the players try to fight them, they run away first, so none of them have been killed yet. That wasnt something a commander who only ever ordered their troops to charge would come up with. Nor are some mindless NPCs going to deviate from their directives for no reason. In which case, they were probably monster players. She hadnt met any other than Blanc yet, but if there were more than a few of them, then they were probably working together for the event. Rare could probably get them to cooperate with her, but the more she expanded her network the higher the risk of information leaks. Blanc knew about her about being the demon lord, but she had promised not to tell anyone. Plus, she still didnt know the one piece of information Rare was most afraid of revealing, the fact that NPCs could learn to use their inventories. Compared to revelation, how to get the [Subordinate] skill was worth nothing. Well, as our story goes, the only people here in this town are four beastkin players with no connection to the catastrophe, so you dont need to make contact with them. Im not uninterested in those players who are efficiently earning XP here, but thats what this event was meant for in the first place. Riley, would you be able to defeat the monster leader by yourself? Should be no problem with a surprise attack. During the day, its minions are mostly all underground, and the chief itself just rests in the shade of some trees, it doesnt go hide in a cave or anything. Rare was almost certain that this undead mage wasnt a player. If they were, then they should have been logging out in a safe zone. Even someone with too much time on their hands wouldnt spend an entire day just sitting under a tree in a game. In the meantime, Im curious where those undead players go. If you just search blindly for them, though, they might catch on to you first. So yeah, near the end of the event, in about five days, go take out the undead leader in the daytime. You dont have to stay in this town anymore after that, so you can take Kerry and the others with you too. Once thats settled Hakuma and Ginka are already heading to the volcano, so you guys can go back to the great forest for a bit. Understood. Contact me after youve beaten it. Until then, just go about your business as usual, like uhh, selling potions during the day, was it? And defend the town at night. Youll be busy. Well, put in sufficient effort without exhausting yourselves. After hearing that it was a mob of undead, Rare thought there might be a possibility of them having connections to Deas, but after learning more about them, she didnt believe they were. It didnt seem as though all the undead being used for the event were remnants of the old united kingdom. Rare saw the catkin girls off as they went to defend the town then returned to the great forest. Back in the queens chamber, Rare sat herself on the throne to take a breather. Itd be nice if there were someone here to serve tea too. If that is your desire, then I shall do my best to comply, but Huh? Deas, you can make tea? I have never brewed tea myself, but I am confident that it is within my ability. Nah, its fine. Nothing good could come out of these types of scenarios. Rare stealthily checked Deass DEX, and while it was high enough that nothing disastrous should happen, that numerical value alone wasnt enough to completely dispel her fears. Maybe Ill make it myself. Im familiar with tea ceremony, but I havent made black tea before. The only kind of tea Rare had ever prepared was matcha. It would have been nice to install a tea room here to display flower arrangements and perform tea ceremony, but in a cave like this, the flowers would quickly wither away. Plus, her aptitude at flower arrangement was not nearly as high as her skill in tea ceremony. She was somewhat self-conscious about that. Flowers, huh The reason Rare didnt put much stock in her own artistic sense stemmed from this. She probably internally exaggerated how poor her creativity was; both her real family and her instructors only ever had praise for her, but that wasnt enough to counteract her own feelings of inadequacy. If she couldnt acknowledge the value of her own works herself, she would never be able to solve this problem. A lack of talent could not always be overcome with hard work. In Rares opinion, this adage was even more true with regards to the world of art. Well, whatever, none of that matters. Anyway, Deas, if it isnt too hard for you I wonder if you could tell me more about the spirit lord. Regardless of his past, Deas now served Rare. And the spirit lords legacy was one of the few objects capable of inflicting real harm on her. She was loath to make him dredge up painful memories, but she really needed to hear everything at some point. Of course. However, His Majesty has already long since passed. There is no need for Your Majesty the demon lord to be overly concerned about him. The ones who committed those unforgivable deeds to you were unworthy of carrying his inheritance from the very beginning. And that is the injustice that must be corrected. Considering that the result of said correction would be Rare becoming the new owner of that inheritance, she wondered how the deceased spirit lord would feel about his legacy being passed on to his very antithesis, a demon lord. I appreciate your feelings on the matter. So what kind of powers did this spirit lord have? Was that item you call his inheritance truly something he created? Let me think. I cannot say for certain whether or not he created it. However, His Majesty the spirit lord truly was gifted with overwhelming ability when it came to craftsmanship; he was the creator of numerous unique items. So he must have been a crafter-type NPC. He had earned enough XP through crafting to make it all the way to spirit lord. That wasnt an impossible feat. With enough materials on hand, one could earn XP faster via crafting compared to killing enemies. Ignoring the fact that acquiring all the materials to do that would be even more difficult than simply killing stuff. But then again, it could work if you had follower knights or something and mained a crafter build. In collecting materials, the followers earn XP as well, and you would use the materials to earn even more XP. Doesnt so too bad. [Subordinate] might actually be a must-have skill for crafters It still wasnt too late; Rare could try switching to that build even now. The spirit lords skill with his hands was wonderful in a different way from the splendor of his physical body. It is true that materials were mostly left to others to acquire, but he always went to gather the most difficult ones himself. Deas was starting to sound kind of creepy now, but Rare didnt think that he was the only one who might talk about the spirit lord with weird sexual connotations like this. Anyway, the splendor of his physical body probably referred to muscles.[1] Given that he was a spirit lord, that meant he must have originally reincarnated from a high elf to a living spirit. But Rares image of elves in this game made it hard to imagine one being muscular or skilled with their hands. Actually, her own starting DEX was too low to even learn [Disassemble]. Rather, the race that probably fit the bill was A dwarf, maybe? Did I never mention that? I had heard that the spirit lord was originally a dwarf. Hrm So a dwarf could also become a spirit lord. Indeed, in real life, there were legends that treated dwarves as a type of spirit. I see, so even dwarves Rare had completely assumed that he had to have reincarnated from an elf to a spirit lord. If it was possible to get there from dwarf as well, then the range of possibilities was much wider than she previously imagined. If the base conditions to become a spirit lord were expanded, that meant even if the chances were low on the whole, there was still a higher chance for another spirit lord to rise up and oppose her. She had no idea if any living NPCs had already reincarnated that far. There was a precedent, but said precedent had been the ancient ruler of the united continent, so at least it wasnt an easy feat. But what about players? Nah, nothings really different there either. This was because the most popular player races were elf, followed by beastkin, then human, then homunculus. Dwarves were down at the bottom along with skeletons and goblins. In this game at least, there was an overwhelming desire for your appearance to be pleasing to the eye, although not everyone felt that way. As an aside, it was interesting how the famous players were cleanly divided among the races. From a simple statistical perspective, there was a smaller chance of becoming famous when you were one of the more popular races. That said, there were probably people who purposely chose popular races so they started out more unknown, then strove to earn fame afterward. Thinking of it this way, even adding dwarves as another race that could become a demon lord or spirit lord, I dont think theres a significant increase in risk to me. While she had utterly no interest in dwarves before, she unexpectedly stumbled on some of their reincarnation paths. Putting it all together, the spirit lord reincarnated from a dwarf, which meant he had access to a lot of crafting-related skills, and among them there was one that could produce those OP items. In that case, Rare didnt particularly have to worry about any more items like the Vein of the Spirit Lord being crafted in the future. It was hard to imagine a crafting-focused player becoming a spirit lord, and if any NPCs showed signs of going down that route, she could try to recruit them or, if that was impossible, have them killed. She could approach players in the same way; becoming a demon lord or spirit lord would require a massive amount of XP, so if she saw any rumblings on social media about an amazing elf or dwarf crafter, she could check them out then, if necessary, PK them to drain their XP. Thank you, Deas. The information you provided is very useful. I am glad to hear it. If you are interested, I can also regale to you His Majestys daily muscle training regimen Dont care. In that case, what about the poses that most brilliantly showed off his Dont care. Deass eyes, sparkling with excitement, indicated that he believed this information was truly essential for Rare to know. In which case, she really needed to consider how to deal with him in the future. [1]: The spirit lord had always been described without gender in Japanese, but I just arbitrarily used male pronouns all those chapters ago so that the English read smoothly. Thus, I left out a sentence here that read [Deas] probably wouldnt describe a woman this way, so the lord must have been male. Which reminded [Rare], she had never bothered to ask about the spirit lords gender before. Im glad, though, since this means I dont need to go back to all those old chapters and correct the pronouns to be female >.> CH 111 Things had also settled down a bit for Rare. If nothing was going on over there, then she could teleport straight to Blanc with [Summon Caster] and talk with her in person. It would be a good opportunity to explain how best to use the [Summon] tree. Since Blanc had already learned [Subordinate] anyway, and they were already working together, there was no harm in teaching her more about skills like [Summon], [Necromancy], and [Discipline]. So her group ended up traveling for half a day after that, huh. Though, since she was on the forums at some point and read enough to send information back to Rare, the ones doing the running were probably those spartoi. so with those points in mind, the [Summon] and [Discipline] skill trees have a lot of useful skills. But then, since you didnt get [Subordinate] in that way, then you might find some skills in the [Subordinate]-specific skill tree that have the same effects if you keep going down it instead. If youve got extra XP then you can proactively try out those skills to see how similar their effects are. Mhmm But you seriously got here in literally a second I totally thought you were just trying to sound cool. Nah, Im not really good at talking myself up. Sarcasm, though, was a completely different matter. Anyway, you left a lot of buildings intact here. Are you planning to use them for something? The towns residents had all been zombified and were wandering around aimlessly. If she wanted to mess with players the way Rare was doing at the capital, then Rare was worried that Blancs group needed to be a little stronger to handle it. I didnt really think that far ahead. If Im the one destroying this place, then its basically all mine, right? Thats why I made them all my minions. I see. From what I saw on the forums, there are two towns next to this one, and the players there already know about this one being destroyed. Now that this has become a new zone for farming, they might come here during the event to grind XP. Rare thought back to her conversation with Kerry earlier that day. The fact that the daily event teleport worked between neighboring towns meant that, looking at it from Rares perspective, players could arrive from any city less than a days travel away. That must have been what the ones attacking the capital were doing. Meaning if youre carrying each other, even players from two or three towns away could make it, so big groups could just show up out of nowhere. But how strong are other players? Blanc asked. Ive only met one before, and he died in a single hit after being caught off guard. Did you meet him at a town you hit before this one? That would have been well within the countrys borders, so he probably wasnt a hardcore player. Its also possible you had been killing other players without knowing it at the towns you attacked before. Ah, maybe. If the entire town got blown up, then maybe the inn was gone before they could respawn, yeah. The casual players arent a problem, but the ones Im worried about are the players who hear about you taking over this town then go out of their way to come here. Those people are going to be even stronger than those knights you fought at that hill with the rubble before. Dayum If those kinds of players formed a raid and came here, Blancs group would be slaughtered. Giving her another Kenzaki would only delay her imminent death. Plus, if one of the players who killed me is in the mix and saw a Kenzaki, then its possible theyd figure out that were working together That sounds kinda like what they talk about on those tabloid shows! Id be like a celebrity! Ah, but theyd probably think that Im just some regular girl Rare wasnt really sure what Blanc was talking about. This occasionally happened when they talked, but by the end of the conversation they understood each other so it wasnt a big deal. Aimless chats were also a staple in female friendships, so overall things were excellent. If you dont mind, Blanc, then I guess I wont really worry about it. Nah, not at all! Cuz Im gonna be the demon lords right-hand man, after all! Ah, are you gonna gonna make like your big four? As far as her four closest subordinates went, that would be Kerrys group. However, rather than soldiers in the demon lords army, they operated more as spies at the moment. It would be better if they continued down that route, digging up the human sides secrets and whatnot; that kind of work wasnt suitable for any of Rares other followers. If I had to pick now, then Sugaru, Deas, and Sieg, I guess. Do you want to be included then? Yeah, totally! Do I need to do anything? Is there an official appointment or anything? If there were going to be some kind of formal ceremony, the only attendees would be their two sets of followers. It would be good for everybody to be introduced to each other, but Rares followers were currently spread out across the western part of the kingdom, so it would be pretty difficult to actually do that. It would be hard to have an official appointment ceremony Plus, strength wise, youre kinda Well, it should be fine. Right now, Blanc was raising her followers stats (aside from zombies) individually, but [Enhance Follower] would be cheaper and easier to manage. It was a bit of a hurdle that [Enhance Follower]s initial cost was so high, but things would be much better in the future if she got it now. I dont have quiiiite enough XP to get all the skills you pointed out. Ill have to go bust up another town or two. Or there might be a better way. It might take some time, but if you wait here, you could try to farm the players that come. You left such a splendid wake of destruction that some parties must already be on their way here. Rare could turn invisible and fly over to the nearest town and maybe another one past that to do some scouting. Although, lately, Ominous was just spending all his time sleeping in the great forest, so she could also just [Summon] him to help out. All right, let me order some quick reconnaissance. She [Summon]ed Ominous and pointed him in a direction before releasing him into the sky. Ahh! Right, I could do that too! But how will he report back after getting to town? Will he have to come back here? One of the skills under [Summon] lets me jack into one of my followers and see what they see. I can use that to go peep on them for myself. Whooaa I really need to get all those skills you recommended as soon as I can Well, weve got some time until he gets there, so while waiting why dont you see what skills would be useful for you immediately and learn those right away? Gotcha. Yeah, good idea. Do you mind if I do that now? Of course not. Ill go check out the forums to see what the other players are up to. Ominous probably wouldnt reach his destination until the sun was starting to come up.