[Coming in from the author, he gave me the responsibility to be the messenger to you all. Man, this is like writing a note but with extra steps.]
"Since we're all from earth, who is the real protagonist?", Drax the not protagonist asks
Shinji...oh, right you can't hear me...
"Which of us has a cheat that breaks normal conventional laws, raise their hand", Shinji asks.
All three of them raise their hands.
"What are your cheats?", Drax asks curiously.
"Drax has a system."
Insert Pathetic meme here.
"You have a system?! Is it a tsundere? Slave to the system?", Shinji asks the real questions here.
"I don't think I would ever hear tsundere and slavery in the same context before...but no my system has basic intelligence but doesn't seem to have any personality or ego.", replies Drax with a sigh.
"Though it is indeed pathetic of you to have your secret revealed already...", Shinji cupped his chin.
Drax hung his head in shame.
"Enough of that, what is your cheat?", Kaitlynn asks Shinji curiously.
"So do you know 'The Hero has Returned'?", Shinji asks.
Kaitlynn shakes her head.
[The Hero has Returned has a hero whose power is to return by death.]
"Ok, how about 'SSS-Class Suicide Hunter'?", Shinji asks again.
Kaitlynn shakes her head again.
[By the name of the title, the hunter kills himself to turn back time.]
"Fine, how about 'Saike Mata Shitemo'?", Shinji asks the third time.
A vein pops out of Kaitlynn's head, "Can't you just explain it already?"
[The main character can go back in time by drowning himself in a specific pond.]
"I got back in time when I die.", Shinji finally said.
"OH! Wait, why didn't you just ask about Re: Zero?", Drax finally realized.
[Re: Zero is an isekai anime of a guy (simp supposedly) who can return by death. You better know at least that.]
"Re: Zero is too common. What will I do with the vast amount of manga I've read every locked up in my room?"
Shinji was a teenager with too much time on his hands, drowning himself in an endless amount of media, unlike Drax and Kaitlynn, both adults when they died. Of course, all of them were virgins as per cliche.
"Who is this degenerate weeb? How far have you fallen?", Drax couldn't help but chuckle.
"You can't imagine normie.", Shinji whips back.
"Ouch, sure I'm not watching too much anime cause of my job, okay? I barely even read novels but I also read some manga, I'm at least some degree of weeb...", Drax says depressed.
'Still though, going back in time upon death...', a chill went up Drax's spine
"Enough of this we're getting off-topic again. I'm only willing to spend a minute for each skit. Kaitlynn, your cheat?", Shinji finally redirected the topic
"I have 2 [Psyche] meaning that I can have 2 abilities for every rank.", Kaitlynn says.
Although reading it in her mind, Sirena is still flabbergasted by these two people. She has come to realize what cheaters truly are.
"Technically she has more potential than all of us right? It's impossible for someone to have 2 [Psyches]", Drax contemplates.
"Kaitlynn had 2 souls merged together. This phenomenon is almost impossible since the soul from this world must be much stronger than the one from Earth meaning that one of the souls should have devoured the other. Another thing I thought is that soul merging might not work due to personality differences and might make the soul hurt itself like how the biological body rejects foreign objects from itself. But this is all just a guess since I don't really have any solid knowledge about souls and such.", Shinji says everything in one breath.
"How did you-", Drax wanted to ask how Shinji could say that all in one breath instead of asking the pressing question of how did Shinji know that Kaitlynn was 2 souls since by default it could be due to Shinji's cheat. Still, he was asking a stupid question since Cultivators have much bigger lung capacity.
"Efficiently breathing.", Shinji answers. yeah, I guess that also works.
Breathing is fun. [Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Ren'ai Zunōsen/ Kaguya-sama: Love is war]
"How f*cking META are you?", Drax makes a rhetorical question.
"Language. Anyway, literal Rank-5 [GatlingPea] is coming on our way. 3 of them.", Shinji says and takes out a katana.
"Nostalgic.", Kaitlynn mutters as her shadows ripple
Looking at the monster in real life Drax comments, "My childhood is finally ruined.", He didn't spend another second in the talk since the monsters started barreling multiple goo-like balls.
"Oh yeah, it's acid slime inside of those goo balls be sure not to see your skin melt and seep into your muscles.", Shinji warns and grabs Sirena into a princess carry.
2-Star [Hydro-Spiral]
1-Star [Confucius Steps: Not] + 1-Star [Doubt Movement: Fake Out]
Definitely not related to a certain Chinese philosophy.
A spinning shield appears around Shinji as Sirena casts a spell. Shinji's crude but perfect combination of these Curse-type footwork techniques work together to confuse the sight and block the mind.
Ever heard of mental block? The [Doubt Movement] creates a weak curse of doubt to spring into an enemy's mind which renders the enemy hesitant, and this is just the basic mastery. At the Intermediate, their actions and responses to stimuli slow and lag behind which are extremely precious when it comes to combat. Perfection can even achieve the complete stop of thought process or decision making, of course only for seconds depending on the person.
[Confucius Steps] work in a way to mess with the reasoning of the enemy. Basic mastery starts with visually confusing the enemy through feints. Intermediate plays at the psyche causing a curse in judging the practitioner's direction. Perfection can reach the point of the enemy's own sense of direction getting scattered, and their allies if any.
These 1-Star martial arts may seem somewhat effective but they're still rendered useless due to gaps in power which lead to split-second or no effect at all.
Taking advantage of this info dump, let Teacher Anon show you the mastery levels for magic. We will ignore mastery over psychic abilities since those things fluctuate and depend on the creativity of the Psychic.
Starting with the basic mastery of a spell, It just involves memorizing the magic circle and forming the mana into the spells. easy enough.
Intermediate mastery involves being so used to casting the spell that your mana moves fast and without any lag. There is also a need for intricate mana control and a degree of mental endurance since mental fatigue slows down the forming of the circle.
Now, Perfect mastery! If you deduced what it is then congratulations. This point of mastery is even harder than the other two combined due to the person needing to memorize the mana inscription and its meanings. Doing that they'll have to tweak the base spell to change some of its properties.
Examples are Audelia who uses tweaked spells on her patients and Shinji who habitually estimates the efficiency of mana cost-effective tweak spells. The system of Drax also allows the lazy bastard to think of the tweaked magic spell easily. Oh, you can just imagine how many mages would vomit blood by just knowing of this.
The green gobs made contact with the swirling blue sphere. They easily pop like balloons and scatter their liquid but the moving waters threw it away.
In a few seconds, the effects started showing. Multiple shots were missed and sometimes Shinji escaped their peripheral vision. His mastery over his martial arts improved at a rapid rate, surpassing even Drax's own leveling speed but held back by the body's inexperience.
1-Star [Reinforce] + 2-Star [Temper]: [Metal Enforce]
1-Star [Reinforce] + 2-Star [Flash]: [Launch]
Drax's body became stronger and more durable with [Reinforce]. Using [Temper] on his arms, they became heavier and harder like metal. Using [Flash] on his soles, lightning bursts as he kicks his reinforced legs onto the ground launching him through the gap of projectiles.
A thin layer of shadow rose under Kaitlynn's feet and protected her from the projectiles. black arrows materialized and shot out accurately stabbing into the holes of barrels attached to their elongated mouths. She made sure to avoid hitting the other using her [Cold Mind] and controlled the shadows under the monsters. Chains of darkness appeared and held down their heads.
Seeing that the monsters can't attack, both Sirena, Drax, and Shinji took the initiative to attack.
1-Star [Flowing Kick: Swirl]
2-Star [Water Bomb]
Sirena's spell clears the way, stopping any monsters from attacking at close range while Shinji goes close with a water-attributed martial art. Drax on the other hand...
'RIP AND TEAR!', Drax's mind kept pumping with adrenaline, as expected of a salaryman stuck in a boring everyday life spending his free time on video games.
[Reference from Doom]
The team makes quick work with the monsters and they were killed in a matter of minutes. Shinji went around collecting the goops of acid into a bucket that is surprisingly resistant to corrosion.
(sarcasm) it's like he KNEW BEFOREHAND AND BROUGHT THE BUCKET!
It would be great if my voice were to be like Ian Sinclair...
[Ian Sinclair is the English voice actor for the narrator in Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Ren'ai Zunōsen/ Kaguya-sama: Love is war]
"So we're done with that, now onto the other protagonists. Lin and... Audelia, right?", Shinji turns to Kaitlynn gathering the bodies and Drax dismantling them, though there were not many valuables other than its acid-producing sac and acid-resistant barrel. Sirena also gathered the goop with Shinji's tools.
She was awarded a kiss, now taking a look into her mind...
'*SQUEALING*'
enough of that.
"Seems like so. Sirena and Dongmei are heroines. Quad is a side character. Adalinda is a Villainess. Then Albert is a hero? Wait what is his official term? capture target?", Drax went off on a tangent.
"Let's just go with capture target.", Kaitlynn says trying not to get things too complicated.
"Albert being a heroine, PFT.", Shinji's wandering thoughts got to him again.
"*cough* Anyway, does it actually matter who the real protagonist is? You know the future right? Your small talk with Drax about protagonists dying means that our conversation is useless.", Kaitlynn says to Shinji after analyzing the segregated intel.
"Oh, we surely die gruesome death with our bones sticking out and veins bleeding liters out. The conversation is almost entirely useless except for the fact that we have 3 'protagonists' right now.", Shinji pointed out a simple but crucial fact for their journey today.
"You mean... we're going to abuse the protagonist's luck?", Kaitlynn catches on.
"Does luck even work now? You know the future so shouldn't our opportunities already be set in stone?", Drax asks.
"Yes, I already know where the opportunities are and I could have stolen them but I wouldn't have benefited as much as you two. Bringing you two also gives us good luck with monsters.", Shinji smiles evilly.
"You mean much more encounters with dangerous monsters?", Kaitlynn stares deadpanned.
"Eeyup.", Shinji answers innocently
[Wtf author? ok fine. Reference is Macintosh from My Little Pony. Apparently, his sister's repeated amounts of it have driven him insane.]
"Never mind that, let's go find those opportunities now. I'm now desperate after being scammed by an egg. Maybe I should have been like those Chinese characters who cook legendary beast eggs.", Drax grips his hand tightly, 'Pain is pain. It should have been mine. eh, not really but it scammed me.', Drax was too lazy to hold a grudge with an escaped opportunity so he sighs.
[Incredibles 'math is math' meme and Yu-Gi-Oh! 'It should have been me' meme.]
"Sure but be ready for a torrent of monster encounters. gotta kill dem all.", Shinji leads the group into an opportunity laced with dangers.
------------------------------------------------------
"Uh, Did I hear that right? Senior Lin... is that a Rank-6 monster?", Albert asks looking at what seems like a mass of multiple thin branches like that of a bramble bush but the inside looks dark. The small gaps reveal what seems like eerie eyes staring at them.
"Yes, Shinji's camera doesn't lie.", Lin says looking at the monster and the information back and forth.
Well, the technical term that Shinji gave was an Imagery Search Engine Camera Device with the information storage being almost all the monsters in [Shamrock]. But it doesn't actually matter since he changes the name of the invention every few cycles finding the name unsatisfactory.
Lin takes out his sword and says, "Ok this will take some effort so let's take this situation as practice for working together. Can you use that speed spell on me?", Albert nods and works his magic.
2-Star [BeamWalk]
Both of their feet lit up and they both went to the right side.
"Oh wait, should I have gone left?", Albert and Lin both stop to say it at the same time.
They have successfully miscommunicated and the monster, [TangleBranch], took the initiative to attack. The brambles branches dig underground, scatter, and disappear. Seeing the monster leave both of them had a bad feeling.
[Subtle inspiration from the 'Tangle Kelp' in Plants vs Zombies]
The ground made way for several thorn branches surrounding them. Lin and Albert reacted immediately. Lin jumped with the magic enhancement and Albert pushed the attacks back with magic.
2-Star [Bright Wave] and 2-Star [Shine Zone]
The branches directed at albert were mostly pushed back with a few of the thin ones breaking while those that powered through the spell met with a shield of light that they could only crack gradually.
But a Rank-6 isn't a rank-6 for nothing. Albert tried hard to supply mana to the shield yet it was still breaking.
On the other hand Lin... is being chased around with the branches. Unlike the strategy to entangle vines to each other. The rank-6 monster had a good amount of intelligence and could avoid entangling itself. Lin had no choice but to kite the monster while releasing attacks.
[Kiting is a gaming hit-and-run method. trying to keep a distance from the danger while dealing damage.]
2-Star [Trench Traversing: Crevice Stride]
3-Star [Poison Rings: Hog Ring]
After training with the technique with maximum intensity, Hog Ring became even more refined reaching Intermediate. The gust and qi flowed even faster and effects started forming showing his mastery over the technique. The wind blows forming spiked shape forms with a purple sheen accompanying it.
As Drax moves the wind with a blue hue flows by him, making way like water. His double attribute physique had let him reap bounds of benefits.
He stabs his way toward Albert and slashed away the branches overwhelming the shield. Now Lin is preoccupied with the huge number of branches.
Intensified 2-Star [Bright Wave]
Albert didn't stop and switched all his output to [Bright Wave]. He also tweaked the spell to increase its burn and power.
Some of the branches broke or disintegrated but the ones that were left weren't burning or on fire but rather were charred black and brittle. Albert took out his sword and stepped back waiting for his mana to restore.
3-Star [Poison Rings: Scorpion Ring]
Lin took the opportunity to attack the ground since the monster momentarily stopped and writhed in pain. A large and long torrent of wind with a purple hue broke through the ground creating a tunnel to the monster.
2-Star [Trench Traversing: Cavern Pace]
3-Star [Poison Rings: Hornet Ring]
This time a shorter but deeper hue of purple wrapped around Lin's weapon. The air around the spear became more chaotic shredding anything near the spear. The same goes for the monster burrowing in the ground as it controlled all of its branches to go attack Lin. This time the thorns shed their charred bark and grew sharper thorns.
Feeling the opposing force getting stronger, Lin poured in even more Spear Qi as the spear responds becoming sharper and stronger.
Lin broke through the branches and straightway stabbed the eyes in the darkness, weirdly enough he didn't see any eyes after that.
Albert went inside the narrow and unstable tunnel and made light glow in the aftermath of the battle. There was only a flower bud that, according to Shinji's device, are precious petals encasing several seeds fit for enchantment material.
"Any idea where the eye is?", Albert asks creeped out by the eye seemingly staring at his soul.
"I have no idea.", Lin didn't think much and decided to forget about it.
"We also...need to work on our teamwork, sorry about my spell. I was careless...", Albert apologized sincerely.
Lin sighs and nods, "No I also forgot to discuss with you the battle plan, I'll well talk about it next time.", he also admitted his mistake.
Albert was uninformed and couldn't adapt to the change. Normally the mage would stay behind while the cultivator would attack. He also didn't know what he would do when attacking so his first instinct was to compass the enemy. Well, it was smart since he would be facing the monster head-on if he were to go straight.
Lin always worked alone because no one from his class wanted to hunt with him. due to this he wasn't a great leader.
Both Lin and Albert took a rest while also healing with some items. What came in handy right now was the natural artifact Lin got from the dungeon 3-Star [Might] which restores qi and heals wounds using stamina.
Although the restoration of the qi is gruelingly slow, the qi was pure and could help in cultivation. The pure qi is also responsible to heal Lin's wounds even more.
To someone who has persevered a lot, Lin's stamina consumption was more of a boon than just a convenient healing artifact.
------------------------------------------------------
Dongmei's ear twitches. she felt as if someone is doing something she doesn't like. As if noticing somehow that Shinji just gave a kiss to Sirena...
Ok, I know that a woman's sixth sense is exaggerated but you didn't have to put it on her. I have a problem here, AUTHO-
.
.
.
Ą̸̡̢͚͖͔̭̠̣͍̱͔̘͚̿́͛̚͠ͅṳ̸̗̟͔̣͛̃́̎͑̽̇̒̉̍̓̓t̶̮̻͂̇̆͌̽́̿̉̍̽̽ḩ̸̛̛̟̥͓̝̳͚͎͚̱̬̺̙͌͒̋̈̒̋́̚͠o̴̧̡͛̋̌͆r̵̨̥̥̱̭̟̮̜͇̄̐̾̅'̴̞̦͕͚̻̈́͐̐͌͌͂̑͊͒̾̎͂͆̑̕s̸̨̜̭͖͉̯̜̮͕̞̙̪̯͚͑̓̕ͅ ̶̧̨̪͚͈͍̘̈́͌̈́͐̆͌̎͂͊̓̾͛̈́̕Ǹ̵̡̢̰͍̥̳̞̻̮͎̞̦̰͌̄̒̐̊̊́͒͝o̸̡̨̜͉̟̙̙͚͖̩͌̈̆̽̈́̄͗̀̂͌̃̕͜͝ͅț̶̞̓́̔̄͆͑͘ȅ̴̘̯̗ͅ:̷̝̝͉͑̄̏̓̃͛̔̀͐̋̾̈́̈̈́͝
Oh, it seems like the author gave me, Anon, free reign at giving the Author's Note. Recently this lazy bastard is learning instruments and driving, how productive but still lazy due to him having enough time to write this chapter last week. At least he updated the monster encyclopedia and the skill sheet so at least he has a bit of morality left. Hmm, yeah I guess that's it. Oh! one more thing that the author strangely noticed.
[The amount of time Opportunity or Opportunities have been mentioned in this chapter: 6 not including this line.]
*Sigh* the author's just strange and weird... guess I'll end the note here.