"You are Shinji Backpfeifengesicht?", Drax stands forward between the duo of Shinji and Quad and the group as Albert asks so fluently that Backpfeifengesicht sounded like an easy word to pronounce.
1-Star [Glow]
"Yes. I. Am!", Shinji does a Jojo pose.
Recognizing the pose, Drax staggers while Kaitlynn sighs and covers her face in shame for recognizing something so iconic.
Audelia worries and asks, "What did you do to them?"
Adalinda and Albert already prepared magic circles to combat the foreign duo. Quad brings his guard up.
Shinji acts flustered, "C-chotto matte kudasai."
Immediately, Drax laughed while Kaitlynn was struggling to hold in her laugh.
Everyone except Shinji, Drax, and Kaitlynn is in confusion. They didn't know what to do in this situation.
Shinji smiles with an understanding look as he dealt a final blow, "Ah, I see you are people of culture as well."
Drax wants to faint for comedic effect but he couldn't so he just keeps laughing and says, "Bro stop it. Get some help."
Adalinda is very confused but senses that they aren't going to fight so she turns down her magic circle. She still kept herself alert.
Shinji gestures to Quad. The latter puts down his gauntlets.
Kaitlynn thought about something after she calmed down, "Wait how did you-"
She was immediately cut off by Shinji, "A magician never tells his secret.", He further amplifies this by putting a finger on his lips. What is also noticeable is his newly made brown leather gloves.
Drax clicks his tongue, "The guy who makes too many references is the same guy who found us out..."
Kaitlynn shrugs and asks Shinji, "Why are you here anyway?"
Shinji answers, "Well I wasn't normally coming here but I just heard some guy scream painfully loud. Some idiot that guy is, he is going to attract a lot of monsters."
Albert replies in annoyance, "I was caught off guard by a stealthy monster. Even if monsters come I can still blast them away with my magic."
Shinji smirks, "Sure, sure, you're very strong. What are you trying to argue for?", he then rolls his eyes.
Albert questions, "You don't remember?"
Quad taps Shinji on the shoulder, "Is there some kind of feud between you two? He just became hostile really quick."
Shinji sighs and admits, "So if you haven't known, I am the Banquet's Fool."
Quad remembers the rumors about the Banquet's Fool.
Drax was confused and asked Kaitlynn, "What is he talking about?"
Kaitlynn replies, "I didn't attend any banquets because of personal reasons but I did hear the rumors surrounding him. He is very famous for entertaining his peers with different gadgets and such. Nevertheless, these cold machinery meant for entertainment didn't entertain them for long. By then people called him a fool for being a noble who acts high and mighty even with a low talent."
Adalinda adds, "While Shinji's popularity was at an all-time high. Prince Albert revered him greatly and wanted to be like him someday, the usual admiration someone has. When Prince Albert wanted to show off his skill to Shinji, the latter had already locked himself up under the reason for making a mech but rumors say he hid cowardly because no one liked him anymore. So he was tagged as a coward, attention seeker, and such. Although Prince Albert didn't think much, he is pretty salty that he couldn't prove to Shinji that he became someone superior."
Audelia listened in curiosity while Quad heard it too since Adalinda didn't lower her voice.
Albert reddens in shame, "Never mind that! I can finally show you my magic! It will be even better than any machine you make."
Shinji scoffs, "Sure, sure, I'll beat you with my magic but our group had split up and promised to meet back up in the purple hill over there."
Albert nods in confusion, 'What does he mean by beating me? I know that he doesn't say things without being sure of it. No! He must have thought of a trick to beating me! I just have to keep my eyes open! I will beat him.', he determines himself.
Drax says in interest, "Well this isn't what we agreed upon but this is very interesting to watch."
Adalinda says as she sighs, "I have to accompany my fiance so I have no choice."
Audelia adds, "I'll go wherever Prince Albert does."
Kaitlynn keeps silent but still follows in agreement.
Quad doesn't stop Shinji but still whispers in curiosity, "Although hunting in groups is effective, a group to large causes competition on resources."
Shinji assures him, "We just going for a battle. There are several hunting locations around the poison mushroom hill so we can actually be a big group that splits up very often."
Quad thinks it is hard to do but very effective if done right.
Shinji picked a pebble and took out a sling made out of the leather of a Mad Hog. When does he get the time to make these things?
He swings it a few times and hits the stone directly on a spiral string of grass. It immediately launches and stabs.
Drax thinks it's interesting and asks, "Can I try that?"
Shinji tosses the sling at him, "Sure, let's see if you can activate all the traps when we get there."
Drax swings the sling around several times with a pebble on it.
//
Gained the Skill [Slinging - Lv.1]
//
Drax asks intrigued, "Is that a challenge?"
He hits a tree successfully.
Shinji smirks, "I'll make you a videogame if you win."
Drax loads another pebble and targets a spike grass, "EZ."
//
Gained the Skill [Target - Lv.1]
//
Drax seems content with the extra skills he is getting.
'Seems like he will get one of the skills necessary for him to survive. Oh, it's all coming together.', Shinji thinks.
Shinji furrows his brows, "Although I recognize your group I still haven't known all your names like Princess Adalinda and Albert. For starters, My name is Shinji Backpfeifengesicht, the heir of a Marquise.", He takes a cane out of his magic pouch, that is in his chest pocket, with a top hat. He spins the cane, taps it on the ground, and bows with the hat resting on his chest. His bow is something only both Drax and Kaitlynn recognized.
Drax follows, "I am Drax Vasiliev, the heir of the Raiju Magic Tower.", He does a basic etiquette any commoner must do to greet nobles.
Adalinda then says, "For courtesy, my name is Adalinda von Vermillion of the Vermillion household over the Nil Kingdom.", She does a noble etiquette.
Audelia says speedily, "A-Audelia Whitney, I come from a humble barons household.", she seems very flustered. She also does the noble etiquette speedily but is still able to do it without looking bad.
Albert introduces himself, "Albert von Anderson, heir of the Anderson Household over the Cipher Kingdom", Albert also does a noble etiquette but with a bit of variation.
Drax inwardly sighs, 'Why do such pleasantries and etiquette happen anyway? Just a greeting and bow seems enough.'
Kaitlynn follows, "Kaitlynn Emerson, a Count household.", She does a noble etiquette mechanically.
Quad finally introduces himself after all the nobles, "Part of Gala's Knights, I am Quad Rupees of the Rupees Household.", He closes the gap between his feet, and puts a fist to his chest, and bows 45 degrees.
Shinji snaps his fingers, "Nice, variety at its finest."
Adalinda gives a thoughtful look, "Now that you mention it..."
*Plack*
Drax had hit another [Spike Grass].
Quad took the monster into a ring when he passes by it.
As Drax took up Shinji's challenge, the group made some small talk about different topics. Nevertheless, Kaitlynn, Adalinda, and Quad kept some amount of vigilance of the surroundings.
Kaitlynn looks around, Drax, Shinji, and Quad were at the front. Albert walked behind them with Adalinda on his side. Beside Kaitlynn was Audelia lagging behind Albert. Kaitlynn nods her head and thinks that formation is suitable and joins in the conversations, though only now and then.
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It can be seen that there is a duo of people in front of a large door that clearly pertains to a boss room. The duo is the Shiraki siblings, Lin and Dongmei, who finally arrived after exterminating the monsters. Mostly because of Dongmei, who massacred the hordes. Lin was battered and exhausted so he took a pill and rested a great distance from the door with Dongmei at his side.
"This time you have to stay back and not interfere. The boss monster is too strong for you to help.", Dongmei warns Lin.
Lin had risen in strength greatly. He has reached the Late stage of Rank-4. It was an incredible speed that was achieved in one day. Dongmei was confident that the materials in cultivation and her training would guarantee a breakthrough to Middle Rank-4 but to think it was even better.
But that wasn't the thing that surprised her the greatest. It isn't a surprise that Lin could cross the realm strength of rank 5 monsters because of his talent but to think he can also do that to Rank-6 too! It needed him to be very proficient in his martial arts and to also have high-quality Qi.
The reason for this can be attributed to Lin's Special Dual-Attribute Physique. Another reason is his great mastery of the spear. While he couldn't do anything about his cultivation base, he wholeheartedly focused on perfecting his spear techniques. When he started using Poison Attribute Spearmanship he had easily become proficient in the movement. Nonetheless, he still had to practice the synergy of his poison qi.
"Ok sis.", Lin sighs in his weakness. As a royalty, he knows of the existence of rank-10 cultivators and he strives to become stronger. He is already late with his cultivation being held back for a year. He concentrates on dissolving the medicinal pill with his Qi.
Dongmei pulls out her sword. The monster on the other side is most likely a rank-7 monster but it may be one of the weaker ones. Normally rank-6 monsters could decimate Lin but the rank-6 monsters here were weaker than average. With Dongmei slightly injuring the strong rank-6 monsters, Lin could fight tooth and nail against the monsters.
Although it is a bit disappointing since Dongmei won't get much of a challenge, she thinks it's for the best since the time spent on training Lin has consumed most of the day.
'I'll just finish off the boss and get this over with.', She thought.
Dongmei rests her hand on one of the two large maroon doors. She pushes slightly and makes a very tall but narrow gap but it is still wide enough to let 2 people pass. As She enters, the door closes behind her after a while. Lin stays behind in the case the boss might target him. Monsters start gaining back intelligence at Rank-6 but it was still centered around killing and destruction while having hostile intentions to any races. Even Rank-5 could strategize in fighting through experience.
Lin sits on the door as the aura of the boss monster scares away the other weaker monsters from coming near. He takes out another pill and takes out a pair of wireless earphones. He started to become interested in the music that Shinji makes and the latter gave him this device to play music whenever he wants to.
He sighs again and looks up to the ceiling as he tosses the pill up in the air. He catches the same pill in his mouth and closes his eyes as he is taken into the world of music.
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Dongmei sees in her vision a golden apple with a flower bud growing at the blue crystal stem on top of the apple. In front of the apple is four limbs protruding. The limbs looked like golden crystallized honey that thickly covered blue crystal bones, or in other words the plant monster's stem.
The yellow flower bud starts blooming and the center of the flower revealed itself in the form of a lion. As the monster roars and it starts moving its golden sap-colored limbs, its whole body started titling from its dormant sitting state to that of an animal with four limbs would. The lion-shaped head roared in the direction of Dongmei.
It's a rank-7 [Jungle King], a plant monster that looks like a golden lion.
Dongmei wasn't bothered and immediately attacks with her sword. She avoids the roar of the monster causing shockwaves and damage. The temperature in the surrounding starts to drop rapidly as the ice starts forming on her sword.
Every burst of her step left frozen footprints and her qi took form around her body as blue snowflakes. With a swing of her sword, branches of ice extend from the ground and surround the monster like a cage.
[Winter Blizzard: Snow Barrage]
A countless amount of phantom snowballs appeared but contrary to their looks, each snowball has the strength to kill a rank-5 monster easily as they were all sword strikes infused with Qi. The barrage however only wounds the monster slightly. The monster covers its head again with its petals and stomps the ground trying to break off the branches but it then noticed that its movements have slowed.
The blue crystalized stem inside of the monster's legs grew out and became indestructible and sharp claws. Using its incredible strength, the monster clawed away its frozen cage. The branches started breaking at each hit.
[Winter Blizzard: Winter Lost]
A phantom image appeared of a cloud covering her [Winter Plum Sword] and Ice Qi condenses with her sword Qi. A blizzard gathered around her as she strikes at the middle of the lion-shaped monster's head.
The monster was still able to break the cage and was also able to cover its head again with its durable golden petals. Unfortunately for it, the sword sliced open the defense and stabbed it straight into its forehead. The monster flailed itself in pain and activated its head to release its poisonous gas.
Seeing the monster's head bloat, Dongmei leaps back and sends another sword attack.
[Winter Blizzard: Cold Drop]
She materialized her sword qi again and another phantom appears projecting a burst of a blizzard going on a straight path. It blew away the poisonous gas and froze it immediately. Anything in its path has been covered in a layer of ice essentially caging it. The cloud of poison bursts into crystals and the wounds of the monster worsened as its body wasn't fit for an extremely cold environment.
Even its head and petals are in a severely damaged state as it had taken a sword into itself.
The monster opened its jaw and a magic circle appeared in front of it. The petal glowed as it gathered sunlight. Even in a dungeon, there was somehow natural sunlight shining through. A ball of light charged into the magic circle that is directed at Dongmei.
Dongmei furrows her brows and uses her movement technique to escape. The magic spell activated as a wide shot of light spreads like a flashlight, getting wider the farther it gets. Dongmei couldn't dodge the attack entirely but that didn't mean she couldn't block the partial attack.
[Winter Blizzard: Ice Cloud]
She deflected the ray of light with her sword as ice qi spread in the surroundings making another phantom image appear. A cloud-shaped ice wall appeared. Although looking soft, the light couldn't penetrate it.
She didn't stop there as when the spell was finished, she ran straight for the monster's head again. Since the petals weren't fit enough to defend, the monster raised its paw against Dongmei as the blue crystal stem started extending further.
She uses he strength to hit the claw and makes it her leverage to fling into a higher altitude. Her attack only chipped away a small amount of the monster's claw but she moved her qi again and used her [Winter Plum Sword Intent]. Coupled with her [Winter Blizzard Swordsmanship] and her movement technique, [Glacial Slide], she sped up and aimed again at the same injured spot on the monster's head.
[Winter Blizzard: Winter Lost]
Again, torrent blasts and penetrates the lion-shaped head. The head couldn't be identified as lion-like anymore as it had been damaged a lot and its remains had been frozen and crystallized. The monster tries smashing its front into the ground to kill Dongmei but it is futile.
[Winter Blizzard: Ice Cloud]
She swings her sword around her as her sword intent smashes into both the ground and the head. Finally, the monster's head couldn't handle the strain and broke apart. The petals blew apart and the huge fruit body and its limbs fell down to the ground.
Dongmei releases a cold breath. She watches as the body disappears instantly as an item replaced the exact place it was located. She came near and sent the [Artifact] into her storage ring.
Dongmei thought, 'Took a bit longer than it should have but it wasn't out of my expectations. I'll go back with brother Lin then. But before that...'
She faces a chest that appeared out of nowhere. It is the reward given for defeating the boss of a dungeon aside from its drops. Chests could also be found on some floors but it was all up to luck.
Dongmei opens the chest and what she found was...
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Sirena can be seen sitting by the camp set up by Shinji's group. She sighs in disgruntlement.
Sirena thinks, 'Why can't I just be sent back with a spell? It took me a lot of my stamina just to reach here.'
Aside from being an Esper, Sirena is a mage and she doesn't do well with physical tasks. She sighs again in boredom. She tries to check around the throughs of the surroundings again.
'Are you peeking on me, Sirena?'
'I leveled up again!'
'So this is the purple hill? It probably has poison-attributed monsters'
'Our match will be there...'
'Are Princess Dongmei and Prince Lin back?'
'Prince Albert will win right?'
'What makes Shinji confident in winning against Prince Albert?'
A flurry of thoughts gathered. Sirena's eyes lit up then she blushes as Shinji had found her. The group had arrived at the poison hill.
.
.
.
Author's Note: Oh wow cool stories.
I Started To Gain Sentience In An Eroge
There Is No Story
The Author is an Extra, The MC is a Reincarnator
oh wow.
Oh yes, I'm back from the trip. :p