Part 10
Even though we've spent quite a lot of time talking back at the inn, the sun
has just risen. In the rays of the early sunrise, I looked over my shoulder,
glancing back at Roxanne. Or rather…
Holy shit dude, dat Roxanne's chest!
With each and every one of her steps, her bountiful boobies sway left and
right. It's like a drug for the eyes that you just can't help wanting more and
more of, even when you know full well that you shouldn't stare, but you just
can't help it because you're subconsciously drawn to them, and all of that
thanks to the fact that the Leather Jacket she's wearing on top of her regular
clothes adjusts itself to her figure due to some fancy magical gimmick!
*BounceBounce!* *BounceBounce!*
Uwaaaaah! They are doing it! They are definitely shaking!
I had my doubts due to the dim lighting of the Labyrinth's halls, but now the
undeniable proof is right before me, or should I say, right behind me! It is not
an illusion!
My guess is that the shoulder straps of the backpack have something to do
with it as well, judging how tightly they are grasping her from both sides.
Thanks to them, the big, soft fruits are getting pressed against one another in
a bouncy rampage.
「.....」
As I continued to stare at that magnificent spectacle, our eyes suddenly met,
and Roxanne smiled awkwardly at me with slightly red cheeks.
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「...…!」
Damn it, she knows! She knows that I was staring at her chest all this time!
Ahhh, it's over. All the trust I have accumulated, all the respect of me being
an amazing warrior (thanks to my Durandal) gone in an instant!
No, don't think about it, man! Roxanne is not that type of person, so you're
probably still good, so just hurry it up and go to the goddamn Labyrinth
already and hope that she is not glaring daggers at you from behind!
Arghhh, if we were to just walk side by side I could sneak as many peaks at
her as I want, but that's not gonna happen, because for some strange,
unexplainable reason I haven't seen a male-female pair walking side by side
ever since I came here. *Sigh* so much for my shaky boobies.
And to top it all off, the longer we were walking among the growing crowds
of people, the harder it was for me to hide Roxanne's bazoongas from the
lecherous eyes of other males who were passing by us. Thankfully, we soon
reached the alleyway behind the Adventurer's Guild, where I used Warp to
get us to the Labyrinth without attracting any more unwanted attention.
「A group of monsters to the right, master.」
When we finally got into the Labyrinth, Roxanne used her keen sense od
smell to confirm the location of the first group of enemies. If it wasn't for it, I
would have probably gone straight ahead and got ambushed by them.
「So how are we going to use this Magic Crystal? Are we supposed to hold
onto them, or can we leave them in the Item Box?」
For the time being I have taken both Black Magic Crystals from the Item Box
and gave one of them to Roxanne.
「No, if we leave them in master's Item Box then they won't be able to gather
the energy from the defeated monsters. However, it should be fine if we keep
them in our backpacks.」
I got the backpack off my back and placed the Black Magic Crystal inside.
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With that done and Durandal firmly in my hand, we proceeded along the
pathway to the right.
「Uhm, I don't know if I should be asking you this, master, but…」
Roxanne said as we were nearing the entrance to the larger cave.
「What is it?」
「When you summoned your Item Box, you did so without using a chant.
From what I know, every time someone uses a Skill or a spell, they have to
chant it first. So I was simply wondering if the magic master is able to use is
the one that does not require the use of chants at all. I apologize if it's
something that you don't want to talk about, but I just wanted to know.」
Well would you look at that. She figured it all out from simple observation of
me muttering things under my breath so that other people wouldn't hear me.
And here I thought that my method of whispering something that vaguely
resembled a chant in order not to draw unnecessary attention to myself was
quite effective. Normally the fact that I was called out on that would be
extremely bothersome, but I guess I don't have to keep my guard up so much
around Roxanne.
「Tell me, Roxanne, are you familiar with Character Reset?」
「Character… Reset?」
「How about Bonus Points?」
「Is that some kind of special reward for quests or bounties?」
So it would seem that she doesn't know anything about either of those things.
But there's no way in hell that I'm going to explain how Character Reset and
Bonus Points work, and that I can omit the chanting process (or shorten it, to
be precise) thanks to them.
「Roxanne, look, I'm going to let you in on a little secret, because you're one
of the few people I think I can trust with it, alright? It's exactly as you think:
I can cast spells and use Skills without chanting, and I don't think anyone
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else beside me can do it, or at least I haven't met anyone who would be able
to do the same yet.」
「T-Thank you for putting your trust in me!」
「You might have figured it out as well by now, but this is something that I
wouldn't want to just casually show around other people, so I would be
extremely grateful to you if you could keep it between us, okay?」
I can't just outright tell her that I'm essentially using cheat-like abilities to
make my life in here that much easier, and even if I did tell her that, she
probably wouldn't believe me, or she'll just think that I'm lying. Besides, if I
went around sharing my secrets with everybody, someone is going to expose
me one day, and all my secrets will be leaked to the public, and I don't want
to get Roxanne involved in something like that, so my only option here is to
take that secret with me to the grave.
「Okay, I understand. I won't tell anyone about it.」
「Much obliged. Anyway, it doesn't look like there are many people around
here besides us, huh?」
「It would seem so, but that's understandable, because the Labyrinth Search
Conclusion Announcement hasn't been issued out for this Labyrinth yet.」
「Labyrinth Search Conclusion Announcement?」
I don't know what that is, but since Roxanne says that it hasn't been issued
yet, then it must mean that there was nothing about it on the bulletin board in
the Explorer's Guild. Come to think of it, if an announcement like that was
posted, it would be bound to make quite a stir among Adventurer's, right?
「It is an official announcement signaling that the exploration of an entire
floor has been completed.」
「And from your words I'm guessing that the number of people who'll come
here will increase after that announcement is posted?」
「Yes, because there will be no more Trap Rooms active.」
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「Trap Rooms?」
「The rooms filled with lots of monsters. They are very dangerous for
beginner-level Adventurers who can be overwhelmed by their numbers alone,
thus meeting an untimely end.」
Ah, that one. The seemingly empty room with a fuckload of Needlewoods
that I stumbled into by accident. So it is called a Trap Room, huh? Wish I
knew about it earlier.
「Those rooms will disappear when the exploration of the entire floor will
conclude?」
「Yes, that is how it usually works.」
「Hmm… how are those rooms made, exactly? Is there some kind of rule to it,
or is it random?」
「Uhm, let me think… when monsters materialize in caves like this, they
rarely stay in one place for too long. They will all move eventually, since
they are subconsciously drawn to one another. Sometimes, it just so happens
that so many monsters converge in one smaller room that they are no longer
able to leave it, so they just remain there, waiting for an unlucky Adventurer
to open the door and set them free.」
Roxanne explained further. I see, so that's how rooms like that are made.
「As I thought, even with good weapons and equipment, the Labyrinth is still
incredibly dangerous. Maybe we should also wait for the Announcement to
pop up?」
Even if I get hit, I can always recover the HP that I've lost with Durandal's
abilities, but Roxanne has no such option, which makes her vulnerable. If we
were to end up in a room similar to the one I was trapped in, the one with a
literal legion of monsters in it, I worry that I wouldn't be able to protect her
properly.
「The announcement is targeted mainly towards the beginners, and only at the
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lower levels at that. It is to inform them that there are no more Trap Rooms
on the floor that has been cleared. Also, the monsters on the lower levels are
all relatively slow and weak, so they shouldn't pose that much of a problem
for us. So there's nothing to worry about, master! If we'll be scared of every
small room filled with monsters, we won't be able to advance to the higher
floors, so we need to go bravely forward!」
「Y-yeah…」
We should be fine for now. Everything is going to be okay. Or at least I hope
so, because for some reason, I can't help it but to keep being worried.
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Part 11
「Even if we were to happen upon a larger group of monsters, their smell will
be so strong that my nose will catch on to them in no time, so we won't have
to worry about getting ambushed.」
「Yes, you're right.」
She's absolutely right. As long as I have Roxanne's keen sense of smell on
my side, all ambushes, except maybe for those very elaborate ones, will
become meaningless against us. I myself am nothing more but a muscle head,
so I wouldn't even bothered with any precautions and just charged ahead,
slaughtering everything in my sights. But now that I am no longer alone, such
loner strategies are no longer necessary for me to employ.
「There it is!」
In the back of the new cave we have entered, a lone Needlewood could be
seen. I ran over to it and slashed it in half with Durandal, felling it instantly.
Heh, as long as there is only one enemy, I don't have to worry about anything
else other than taking it on an express train to poundtown.
「There, done in a flash.」
「Another enemy defeated with just one hit. As expected of you, master!」
Roxanne catches up to me and expresses her amazement as she picks up the
branches left by the lone Needlewood and packs them into her backpack.
It's true that as long as there are not too many enemies I can pretty much take
all of them on myself, I'm worried what would happen if we suddenly had to
fight a large number of enemies all at once. Therefore, I think it is high time
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that I secure some means of attacking many enemies across a large area at
once, or in other words, the means of inflicting AoE (Area of Effect) damage.
My Skill associated with the Hero Job, Overwhelming, is a Skill that inflicts
slow onto enemies to the point where they basically get frozen in place. If
used continuously, I guess it would allow me to attack greater number of
enemies, but that is not a genuine AoE that I'm looking for. I don't want
multiple attacks on single targets, but preferably something that would hit a
large number of them at once.
Warrior Job's Rush and Swordsman Job's Slash are strong attacks as well,
but they too are not multi-target abilities. Well, if we were to examine this
problem from a practical perspective, hitting multiple enemies at once is
almost impossible with a melee weapon, even the likes of two-handed
swords, spears or greathammers. Normally, this would mean that I am done
for since there is seemingly no solution to my particular problem.
But, there is one more possibility available for me. If the sword and
swordsmanship cannot give me what I want, then maybe I should try learning
magic? Since this is technically a game world, then there is bound to be at
least a few magic spells capable of inflicting AoE damage. Every fantasy
game worth its salt has some, so this one should be no different.
「Is there a type of magic that would allow me to attack multiple enemies at
once?」
I asked Roxane while we were once again on the move.
「Magic? I have heard that there is, but to be honest, I don't know much about
magic and mages. I'm sorry. The only things that I know for certain is that
you need to be child of a nobleman or a very rich person and consume a
special kind of medicine before turning five years old.」
「Special medicine and age restriction, huh?」
When I came to Vale, the merchant from the Somara village, Picker-san, told
me more or less the same story. That "medicine" that is supposedly needed to
be able to use magic is probably some kind of special item. But even if I
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somehow managed to obtain it…
I took a sarcastic look at myself. Yup, there's no sugarcoating it: my
seventeen years old-looking ass stopped being five years old ages ago, and
that means that the only way left for me to get a Job that would allow me to
use magic… was to actually use magic.
If nothing else, I have to admire how straightforward the system of obtaining
most of the Jobs is in this game. Steal something and you get the Thief Job,
save the village from bandit attack and become a Hero, get an Explorer Job
by entering the Labyrinth. This simple reasoning stays true for the Jobs such
as Warrior, Swordsman and Merchant, although those have an additional
condition of having your Villager Job at Lv.5. Going by that logic, I should
obtain the Mage Job as soon as I use any magic spell.
At first I also thought that it was strange that I didn't get the Mage Job when I
used Item Box or Warp multiple times, since both of those are technically
magic spells, but if that was the case then pretty much every explorer could
easily become a Mage, so I guess that makes at least some sense.
The solution is obvious here: if you want to be a Mage, you cannot do so by
using Space Magic or Movement Magic. What you need is specifically
Attack Magic. Use a spell belonging to that category, and you will become a
Mage capable of casting Attack Magic.
Buy and sell items to become a Merchant, fight to become a Warrior, and
swing your sword to become a Swordsman. I did all od those things, and they
were pretty effective so far Then, if I will use Attack Magic, I will definitely
become a Mage.
It might sound weird, but this is a typical egg or chicken dilemma, and that's
probably why that special item is necessary. But, as I mentioned earlier, there
is a way for me to bypass off of that crap.
Bonus Spells.
That's right. Even though I am not a Mage, as long as I perform another
Character Reset and invest enough of my Bonus Points into Bonus Spells, I
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should still be able to pull that off.
「Master, do you know someone who's a Mage and who we could add to our
Party?」
Roxanne asks after we defeated the next Needlewood. Since we're on the
subject of magic, I guess having another person capable of using it might not
be a bad idea, but since I have no aquaintences, much less those who can use
magic, then I guess that particular alley is as much of a dead end as it gets.
「I do not, unfortunately. Not a single one. Which is a shame, since we'll have
to bolster our ranks eventually.」
「As long as slaves are concerned, I think finding a one who is also a mage
might be pretty difficult, but if you somehow managed to do that, that would
be a great help, especially on the Labyrinth's upper floors.」
「I think it's still a little bit too early to be thinking that far into the future, but
when that time comes I will be counting on you.」
「Yes, of course!」
She seems eager to welcome another member into our Party, even though it
will mean an increase in the members of my harem as well.
Now that my declaration of increasing the number of my harem members
have been accepted, I performed another Character Reset, focusing on getting
the first Bonus Spell, Meteor Crash, the spell that I was unable to use due to a
severe shortage of MP back when my Hero Job was only Lv.1. Now that it
has grown all the way up to Lv.6, will I be able to use it properly?
If using this spell will get me the Mage Job then that's fine. Well, even if it
doesn't, my goal of obtaining an AoE magic attack will be achieved either
way, so I'm going to test it out on the next enemy that's going to come
around which is…. This guy over here!
Eat this! METEOR CRASH!!!
I shouted the name of the spell in my mind, but nothing happened. The
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Needlewood just stood there, and I could swear I saw it looking at me as if I
was some kinda idiot.
FUUUUUUUUUU...…
I ran towards it and slashed it with Durandal.
*Sigh* another failure, huh? And I even went as far as omitting the spell
chant to avoid embarrassing myself in front of Roxanne is it didn't work. In
my defense, Meteor Crash's MP cost is pretty hefty, so I guess it just means
that I still don't have enough of it. But if I don't have enough MP at Hero
Lv.6, then I wonder how much MP does it need? Okay, alright, so my first
attempt didn't exactly go as planned, big deal. Not yet! I'm not done yet!
There are other spells that I can try!
Alright, next!
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Part 12
Next spell on the list: Gamma Ray Burst! Suck on that, next Needlewood!
「…..」
No good either, huh? And here I was, expecting some cool-looking beam
attack to obliterate that Needlewood to smithereens. Oh, well, on to the next
one.
Extreme Drop Dead!
「...…」
Oh, come the fuck on! The name suggests that it should be one of those
instant-death spells, the ones that kill you on the spot no matter how much
HP you have, so this Needlewood should be dead! And yet it is not! He's just
standing there as if it was the most obvious thing in the world! You know,
I'm slowly starting to feel like even though I have access to Bonus Spells I
can't actually use them. Here's to me being wrong about that.
*Sighhh…* NEXT!
「….. Yup, steering clear of that.」
The next spell on the list was called Suicide Bomb Attack. Well, technically I
guess it could be classified as an Attack Magic that would surely obliterate
my enemies if I were to use it, but you see, the problem here is that I would
end up blown up as well, and as you can probably guess that's something that
I would rather not do to myself (TL Note: Hmm, I swear to God, there is a
terrorist joke somewhere in here but I can't seem to find it… ah well).
But wait, since this is technically a game, then wouldn't that mean that even
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if I were to blow myself up in a suicide attack, I would still live through it,
but with like, 1 HP point left or something? Anyway, the only time when
using a spell like that would be somewhat justified would be the encounter
with the Last Boss, where defeating the BBEG (TL Note: Big Bad Evil Guy,
courtesy of D&D) would end everything and restored piece to the world, and
even then I would have used it as an absolutely last resort measure if my
sword was broken beyond repair and all other measures have failed. Until
that day comes, it'd be best to forget that such a spell even exists.
Now then, let's just keep scrolling down and see what else we have here…
oh, this one looks promising: Equivalent Exchange. The name itself doesn't
suggest it, but this must be an Attack Magic as well. If my understanding of
this spell is correct, it is a spell that reduces the caster's HP, but at the same
time does the same to the enemy. I guess it can be classified as a suicide
magic as well, albeit not as dangerous as the Suicide Bomb Attack. On top of
that, I think that it is best to use it in one particular case: when your
maximum HP value is higher than your opponent's maximum HP. Basically,
the user and the receiver have their HP drained until one of them drops dead.
It might sound needlessly dangerous, but in reality it is a very simple and
straightforward mechanic: as long as you have more HP than the person or
monster you are using it on, you will survive.
Yeah, I can definitely picture myself using this.
Of course, this spell also has a few downsides. First things first, I don't know
if it works only on a single target, or if it can be used against multiple
enemies at once, unlike with the Suicide Bomb Attack, where it is painfully
obvious that a bomb-like explosion is going to be effective in a pretty broad
radius.
Second, what about using it in a battle where I would be pinned against
multiple opponents? That would definitely require more strategizing, because
mindlessly draining one enemy out of its HP while the others could still
attack me is just like asking to get myself killed. And while we're already on
the subject of monsters, another matter is that I have no way of discerning
how much health the monsters I'm fighting with have (at least not yet). It
won't be anything groundbreaking when I will say that humans and monsters
are not equal to one another, so the total HP of a Lv.1 Human won't be the
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same as the total HP of a Lv.1 monster. Between those Needlewoods and
myself, which one of us has more HP? That is a question that might be the
proverbial line between life and death for me. But even if I was absolutely
sure that I have more HP than my enemy, it still doesn't make Equivalent
Exchange less of a double-edged sword in my opinion.
For now, I have reached the following conclusion: Suicide Bomb Attack and
Equivalent Exchange are too dangerous to be used against normal mobs. If I
am ever going to make use od them, I should limit myself to doing so only if
I am going to be fighting against an overwhelmingly strong enemy that
cannot be brought down by the standard means available in my current
arsenal. Ugh, the more I think about it, the more my head starts to hurt. Looks
like leveling up enough so that I could use Meteor Crash might be the only
sensible option left for me after all. This sounds a bit tedious as well, but as
long as I have Roxanne by my side even that process should be finished that
much faster.
With all of that in mind I have defeated about ten more Needlewoods, which
was a cakewalk, considering that Roxanne was guiding me towards them
every time with her superior sense of smell. Without her I truly wouldn't be
able to be as efficient as I am now with monster hunting, for which I am
grateful to her beyond measure.
「Thank you for being so vigilant all the time, Roxanne. I think now would be
a good time to check on our you-know-what.」
「Yes, Magic Crystals, right?」
Right indeed. I took the backpack off my back and took the Magic Crystal
out, taking a good, long, inquisitive look at it. While it was initially black,
mine has now turned red, so I guess instead of Black Magic Crystal I should
call it Red Magic Crystal.
「It's red already. What about yours, Roxanne?」
「My Magic Crystal is still Black, but that was to be expected. Magic power is
stored only in the Crystal of the person who dealt the finishing blow to the
monster.」
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I showed Roxanne my Red Magic Crystal, and she answered me with another
explanation. So only the person who actually kills the monster gets to cash in
on its magic energy for his Magic Crystal? I thought that it worked for all the
Party members simoultaneously, but apparently I was mistaken. On that note,
I remember that one of the Bonus Skills available to me through the
Character Reset was something called Crystal Acceleration. I dismissed it
earlier because I had no idea what was it doing, but right now I think I
understand it. It is probably something that speeds up the process of gathering
energy for your Magic Crystal.
I performed another Character Reset, this time focusing on Crystal
Acceleration. With the amount of Bonus Points at my disposal, I was able to
secure myself of x4, x8, x16 and x32. Since I need to have Durandal with me
I can't put anymore points into it, but if I were to increase it to Lv.6, the
multiplier would have hit x64, but for now, a multiplier of x32 should be
more than enough.
「Just as a quick reminder: ten monsters = Red Crystal, hundred monsters =
Purple Crystal, right?」
「Yes, that is correct.」
I confirmed the selection of Crystal Acceleration x32 and defeated three more
Needlewoods with it, after which I checked my Magic Crystal again. I
couldn't stop myself from smiling.
「Roxanne, wanna see something cool? Well, I'm going to show it to you
either way, so just come here and have a look.」
Without waiting for her to reply, I took out the Red Magic Crystal from the
backpack and showed it to her. Except for the fact that it was no longer red.
Right now, it was a Purple Magic Crystal. That's right, baby! Ramp the
respect points that I have lost earlier back with interest!
Defeating three monsters with a x32 multiplier gave me, the end result was
ninety six, and since my Crystal was already red from those ten kills from
earlier, that gives me a total of one hundred and six, triggering the change of
the Red Magic Crystal into Purple Magic Crystal.
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「Eh? It's already purple?! How did you do it, master?!」
「I'm afraid that's a secret~~」
Oh yeah, being looked at with such admiration hits all the right spots for me.
「Ah, okay! Master, you truly are amazing!」
I am, right? But please, don't stop, praise me some more!
I know that I shouldn't keep using that same old excuse of secrecy every time
I do something outstanding, but as long as Roxanne understands and doesn't
ask any questions I guess that is fine.
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Part 13
「What is the typical price that Magic Crystals can be sold for?」
「Green are usually worth 10,000 Nars, and as for the yellow ones, it should
be 100,000 Nars.」
Normally we can assume that one slain monster equals 1 Nar, so Green
Magic Crystal would equal 10,000 monsters. With my current multiplier of
x32, or x64 if I will ever need it, it is more efficient way of making money
than selling the items that drop from the monsters.
In order to make a lot of money I can use Crystal Acceleration, getting
stronger is covered by Skills that will increase the amount of the EXP I'll
gain from killing enemies, and for fighting against strong enemies I have
Durandal from the Bonus Weapons Skill. I'm doing pretty well for myself,
all thing's considered. And since I am not exactly in dire need of getting
more money for the current moment, so I think I can remove Crystal
Acceleration for now, and instead focus on gaining more EXP points and
keeping Durandal on me, so I did just that by performing another Character
Reset.
While scrolling through the list of Bonus Skills, I happened upon three
curious ones: Break Level Limit, Break Damage Limit and Party Data
Release. When it comes to the first two I can roughly understand what they
are about, but it's not like I had any problem with my damage threshold or
the ability to Level Up, but what is this Party Data Release one supposed to
be doing? As long as I was going solo things like that didn't really matter to
me, but now that I've made a Party with Roxanne, maybe there are some
restrictions placed upon us? Maybe I should take a moment to actually test it
out?
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I tapped the Party Date Release window.
Immidiately after that, the Party Settings screen got refreshed. Looks like
some new options have been added to it, and to the bonus Spell list as well. It
now contains something called… Par,ti, fi, cation. Partification? What the
hell is that? Something related to the Party, maybe? Or something related to
its organization? Well, no harm in checking it out I guess.
Another change that took place was in the Bonus Skills menu. The Job
Settings have been replaced with Party Job Settings. So, a new option that
looks like a variation of the old one. As long as I have no idea how it works,
taking it through a trial by fire seems to be the most logical conclusion.
You'll never know how something works if you don't witness it with your
own eyes, am I right?
Partification!
When I thought about it, a new window popped up, asking me to do
something. The exact text in the window was 「 『 』 use」. What does it want
from me? An item? Or maybe something else? Could it be that Partification
is a spell that spreads the effect of an item to the entire Party?
「Roxanne, do you feel like there was any change in you just now?」
「Hmm, no, I don't think so. Why do you ask?」
So it does not look like there were any changes to Roxanne's status, meaning
that the change occurs only for the user. Well, that was to be expected I
guess. Good thing that she does not seem to realize what I'm doing though.
Next, I focused my gaze on Roxanne and thought about the Party Job
Settings. In the next second, a full list of her Jobs appeared before me.
Beast Warrior Lv.6, Villager Lv.8, Farmer Lv.1, Warrior Lv.1, Swordsman
Lv.1, Adventurer Lv.1
So those are all the Jobs she managed to obtain, huh? It's great that she
doesn't have a Thief Job or anything else like that. This means that before she
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became a slave she led a proper, pure life where she didn't have to resort to
criminal acts just to see another day.
Beast Warrior Lv.6
Effects: Medium AGI Increase, Small STR Increase, Small DEX
Increase
Skill: Beast Attack
The Beast Warrior Job seems to have a very good effect and her stats are
decent, so I think she can continue with this one as she was. Speaking of it,
aside from my Hero Job, the effects of Swordsmen and Warrior are not
terrible, but they are not mind-blowingly good either.
Yup, for now we can continue adventuring without making any alterations.
The ability to change the Job of your Party members can prove to be a very
powerful Skill, depending on how you will use it of course. Regrettably,
however, the Character Reset did not result in Roxanne's Character Reset as
well.
As a Party we can now conserve MP by travelling together and dispatch
enemies way faster due to not being alone on the battlefield anymore. I guess
noticing that Skill and unlocking it when I did might actually turn up the be
one of the best decision I made here so far.
「Now, the only remaining issue would be recovery.」
「Recovery? As in healing?」
「Yup. Are there any Jobs that have Skills or spells capable of healing?」
I asked Roxanne.
For now we are not in that much of a dire need to get ourselves some method
of healing because Durandal can essentially one-shot everything it comes into
contact with, but there will eventually come a time where healing will
become a necessity, I am sure of it. Remembering how I panicked back in
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that monster-filled trap room, we should always have a quick and reliable
method of recovering our lost HP from any kind of attack and any number of
enemies.
Durandal can circumvent that to a degree thanks to its HP Absorption effect,
but that would only work for me if I was going to the Labyrinth solo. I could
always hand Durandal to Roxanne is she was in a pinch, but that would in
turn left me without any means of defending myself if I didn't have other
weapons with me. Not to mention that such a method would simply be too
uncertain and unreliable.
Even with my Durandal around we might not be one hundred percent safe.
For example, if we were to end up in the middle of a particularly steamy
battle with a lot of tough enemies, then throwing Durandal back and forth
between Roxanne and me might be impossible. I've seen this kind thing in
movies, games and anime. The moment the character gets confident that he'll
be able to heal himself on time, he suffers a critical injury at that exact
moment. Also, there will be times where we won't be able to wait with the
healing for the battle to end, even if we stocked up on potions and other
healing items.
So that settles it: one of my next goals should be securing myself a Job that
can use healing!
「So, how about it? Any Jobs capable of healing that come to your mind?」
「Actually, I think there are Jobs capable of doing just that. If my memory
serves me correctly, Priests and Monks are capable of using such Skills and
spells.」
Oh, great, so there truly are Jobs like that. Good to hear. Now, if only I could
obtain them without having to do anything tedious or time consuming, that
would be even better.
「Well, do you know the details, like how can one become a Monk or a
Priest?」
「I am certain that it requires large amounts of harsh training and iron-willed
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discipline.」
Wow, talk about a tone-setter. Anyway, let's try inquiring about that training
bit some more, because Roxanne's initial description was awfully vague and
suspiciously nonspecific.
「What kind of training, exactly?」
「There are many methods of going about it, and they seem to be varying
depending on the Guild you visit, but I heard that the most common one is
meditation under an ice-cold waterfall in order to rid oneself of one's earthly
desires.」
「A waterfall, huh?」
「There is also one where you have to go visit eighty-eight temples to achieve
the clarity of mind.」
「So a pilgrimage, then.」
「Pil… grimage?」
Roxanne asked, but I ignored her.
The way I see it, waterfall training is aimed at achieving spiritual
enlightenment and tempering one's body so that it can endure the training in
secret martial arts, which monks in video games are famously known for.
Giving it some thought, it should be obvious that obtaining a Job that's
clearly tied to faith and religion would be connected to some mystical
experience such as meditation or visiting highly spiritual places in
pilgrimage.
You become a thief when you steal things, and get to be an Explorer once
you enter the Labyrinth. Using magic attacks will net you the Job of a Mage,
and reaching enlightenment seems to be required in order to become a Monk
or a Priest.
Anyway, looks like getting one of those might be more difficult than I
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initially thought. For the time being, let's see if the simple act of prayer is
going to do the trick.
「A~no ~ku~ma~ra~san~mya~ku~san~bo~dai. Amu namida butsu. Elohim
essaim, allah akbar, amen.」
I checked my Job Settings, but no new Jobs appeared there. Hmm, maybe
I'm not praying hard enough? I will try praying harder.
「Rin, Byo, to…」
But with each verse I recited, I was feeling more and more like an idiot.
「Ygnaiih… Ygnaiih, thflthkh'ngha! Ph'nglui…Ph'nglui… On Sochirishuta
Sowaka. Wgah'nagl fhtagn!」
Oh no, this is bad. I feel like… as if something was awakening in the deepest
recesses of my ignorant mind! Now come on Roxanne, come and join me in
singing praises to the Great Ones!
「Nyar shthan, Nyar gashanna!」