Kaga Michio
Current levels & equipment:
Explorer Lv.24
Hero Lv.20
Mage Lv.21
Monk Lv.21
Equipment:
Copper Sword
Leather Armor
Leather Jacket
Leather Gloves
Leather Shoes
When we were done with unpacking our things back at our new home, we decided to Warp back to Veil for a bit. Unlike in Quratar, when we arrived in Veil's Adventurers Guild and left it, it was already sunset, meaning that Veil is apparently further to the east, causing the slight differences with the time. We checked the time and then set our sights on Veil's Labyrinth. Normally I would never do something as crazy as going to the Labyrinth during the night hours, but this time was a little different. Since I aquired a new weapon for myself, then I had to take it for a test drive to see how it was going to perform. I am talking about my newly-bought wand of course.
「We're here, master. How would you like to proceed from now on?」
Now that we have returned to the Veil Labyrinth's third floor, I can leave the navigation through it to Roxanne. With her and her keen sense of smell that allows her to detect monsters and their location we can pick our targets depending on what we need at the current moment, and we can perform the experiment with the wand relatively quickly. But before that, I performed a Character Reset and swapped Warp for Durandal.
Warp is a convenient Bonus Spell, but it is not very cost-effective. A trip from Quratar to Veil's Adventurers Guild and then to Veil's Labyrinth took quite a large chunk of my MP out, so I had no choice but to use Durandal to absorb it back before it drops to the red zone and fills my head with debilitatingly dark thoughts.
「Then, first thing's first, take us to some monster that is not a Kobold. It doesn't matter which.」
「As you wish, master.」
For a next few encounters, Roxanne was guiding me towards the groups of Needlewoods and Green Caterpillars and I killed all of them until I have regained all of the MP I have expended to get us here. With that out of the way, it was finally time to test my wand and cane!
The next enemy that appeared before us was a Lv.3 Green Caterpillar. Great! Just the enemy I was looking for! Back on the second floor taking out those guys took me four shots of Fireball (later reduced to 3 shots after a Level Up). In other words, the ones that appear here, their stronger variants, should be able to endure more than that. Here it goes: the first shot!
I held the wand towards the Green Caterpillar in front of me…
(Fireball!)
And launched my first spell. It didn't kill it, so I launched another one, and then another one, which caused the Green Caterpillar to hunch its back as if it wanted to do a Rush attack, which got me on high alert and all ready to dodge, but before there was any need for me to do that, the flames did all the work for me, killing it. So when using a wand, the number of spells required to kill an enemy dwelling on the third floor is three. Yes, right now fighting enemies with magic is definitely more viable option than using the Copper Sword, since spells are both stronger and faster than that piece of crap.
Next, I tried to use the Wooden Cane by firing a Fireball at the Lv.3 Needlewood that we happened across next. Much to my surprise, killing one Needlewood with it took more shots than when I killed the same kind of monster with a Wooden Wand, which lead me to the inevitable conclusion that out of the two of them, wands are giving a much stronger boost to the user's magic power than canes, but then, what purpose do the canes serve in this world? Is there something that I still don't know about them? Ugh, I should have asked the clerk back at the weapons shop about it. That way I wouldn't have to spend money on something that I am probably not going to use, eve if it meat losing the 30% Discount due to not buying multiple items at once. Now that I think about it, I should have gone and bought a rod instead of a cane, since rods are probably the strongest out of all three types ow weapons used to cast magic, but on the other hand, they were much more expensive than wands and canes…
Now that I have a wand and know that it is stronger than a cane, should I just keep it and use it to fight mobsters from now on? With a wand as my main weapon, I can defeat the enemies from the third floor with three spells without letting them get close to me, meaning that there will be no risk of me or Roxanne getting hurt, which is why I became interested in fighting with magic in the first place. Of course, it would be nice to have a stronger weapon that could make it possible for me to defeat enemies even faster, but do I really need something like that at the current moment, all the more so when I concluded that I have to save as much money as possible by not spending them on needless things? Nah, for the time being, three-shotting enemies is more than enough for me.
As long as I continue to level up the Mage Job, then MP and magic power should not be a problem either, since both those stats increase with the Level Ups. After realizing how big the difference in attack power between the Copper Sword, Wooden Cane and Wooden Wand is, I concluded that since the numbers of the Copper Sword pale in comparison to the other two, there's no reason for me to use it as a primary weapon at all.
「It's exactly as you said, Roxanne. Wands and canes do increase the strength of my spells. Without them, defeating that monster would have taken four shots instead of three. Thank you.」
「I just shared what I knew, and you were the one to utilize that knowledge in practice in an amazing way! As expected of you, master!」
「Each and every one of your advice has proven to be incredibly helpful so far, so I hope you will continue to guide me from here onward.」
「Yes, of course! Thank you very much!」
And with that compliment for Roxanne, I hearby declare the test run of wands and canes to be successfully concluded! Now that our business here was done for the day, we Warped back to the Adventurer's Guild and walked back to the inn on foot from there. That way, the reserves of my MP won't go down as fast so soon after I recovered all of it.
「One night in the two-people room, with dinner. After the meal, I would like you to deliver two basins with hot water and a lantern to our room.」
「Right away.」
We went back to the Veil Pavilion and rented a room for the night. If everything goes well, this should be the last night we will be spending in this place. For a moment I considered telling that to the owner behind the reception counter, but ultimately decided to stay silent for the time being. It's not like him knowing that we won't be staying here any longer would change anything in the log run, since I'm sure he has other clients besides us who stay here at the regular basis. Also, if he knew that this was supposed to be our last night here, there is always a possibility that he might have tried to add something shady to our food, or maybe try and steal from us at the last possible moment. The thing is, since I do not have Durandal with me right now and all of my money and other belongings are either safely stored in my Item Box or back at our new house in Quratar, that means that I don't have anything of value on me right now, so even if he tried that, he would find nothing of value to take away from me. Nothing except… except… Roxanne… He might try to steal Roxanne from me, since he saw how much of a hottie she is! (TL Note: Sigh I swear to God, what the hell is wrong with the Japanese and their NTR fetish. Feels like Rent a Girlfriend all over again.)
No! I am not having that! Over my dead body! I should be silent and not say anything about this being our last night here after all. Safety first. Yup. It is in my and Roxanne's best interest that I keep silent and speak not even a single word about it to the owner.