With the Merchant's arrival close, it was doubtful that we could progress to the next floor in the dungeon before the event started, so realistically, we'd be around level 12 when the time came to face this Travelling Merchant.
It might not make much of a difference, but I'd like to be the most prepared I can for it, so I started to make some "renovations" in the Kingdom with the [Kingdom Points I acquired today.
Since it was an invasion, I constructed a tall wall formation around the houses (and the tent), so that any attacker had to go through it to reach us. It was also possible to walk in there, which would give us an advantageous position.
I made a river a few meters away from the walls so that any invader would have to cross it if they wanted to attack us, providing an obstacle to slow them down.
I also made two watchtowers so that Ellie and Beatrice could safely shoot from a distance and also have high ground, giving them as much advantage as I could.
Since it was going to be the first invasion event we participated in, I didn't really know how it would work, so I expanded the kingdom's area for the first time too, in hopes that, if the enemies came from the direction in front of the walls, they'd have to walk a bigger distance through open ground before reaching us.
For now, this was as much as I could come up with for the kingdom's defenses, if it survives, I can further improve it down the line.
Mia: "Oh this is really good, I can test you in different situations with this. Good job."
It wasn't designed for this, but I'm glad she found uses for it that never occurred to me.
Mia: "Can you also make a forest? I'd like to hunt you down in it, to see how well you do when running."
Miwen: "Much as I'd like to spend some alone time with you in a forest, it would give cover to any enemy coming our way, so I won't do that for now."
Also, it felt like she just wanted to hunt me down for sport, which made me afraid to place down even a single tree.
Before using the remaining points to share skills, I rolled on the gacha just so I didn't waste anything. And from it, I've acquired the following skills:
[Enhanced Drop Chance] x2
[Greater Might]
[Stealth Strike
When unnoticed by your opponent, any attack becomes stronger. Passive Skill that cannot be turned off.]
[Voice Of Command
Using this skill one can better inspire or compel their allies, making them more effective in battle. It's also easier to convince others, but if it fails, might incur their wrath. Active skill, 10 uses will cost a mana point.]
[Trap Disarmament
You're now better at identifying and dealing with traps, even if their origin is magical instead of physical. This is a passive skill that cannot be turned off.]
[Increased Climbing Proficiency
The owner of this skill becomes better at climbing any type of surface. This skill is always active and cannot be turned off.]
[Ice Veil x2
A rare skill that can be obtained by those with a high proficiency in the use of ice magic. Allows the user to create an ice veil around themselves, protecting against other elemental magic and physical attacks. As an active skill, each use costs 5 mana points.]
[Eagle Eye
Increases how far the user can see and lowers the loss of details when looking at objects far away. This skill is always active.]
I was eager to test how much I'd get with the new Enhanced Drop Chance, but for it to have the best effect, I needed to share it with everyone, and when Licia saw the Ice Veil skill I had received, she started almost begging me for it.
Licia: "It's a skill I used all the time back then... I was just waiting for it to show up so I could acquire it... I'll do anything you want, so... pretty please?"
She must really value it to ask so intently, even going as far as to use the forbidden "pretty please" technique.
Well, it definitely suits her, and I might get some ideas from seeing how she uses it, so I see no downside to it.
The only problem really is that it was a bit costly to give it to her, and after sharing the new [Enhanced Drop Chance] Lvl 4 with everyone, I barely had any points left.
Almost all these skills were useful, except for one which I shall make no comments on. But aside from [Enhanced Drop Chance], Eagle Eye was the one who made me most excited. It would combo greatly with [Sight Enhancement], and so, I really needed to share it with Ellie.
With this, I truly had no points left once again.
But I still had one gacha ticket, which I used to summon another [Spellbook].
I could've tried to summon a few weapons through the [Weapons Banner] today too, but it feels like everyone has kind of settled in with what they have for now, so it would need to be a big improvement for them to change equipment.
There's also the fact that I spend my remaining mana every day with weapons in the [Mana Banners]. The quality over there is not as good as the top items that can come from the normal Gacha, but they are improving slowly.
Beatrice: "I'm really thankful but... I haven't finished reading the one you gave me yesterday yet..."
Miwen: "Don't worry, I'll get you more tomorrow too."
Beatrice: "Seriously? That's... thanks!"
These two are very dear to everyone around them, so their content smiles had everyone in a good mood, and I most definitely wasn't an exception.
This time when going to the dungeon, Anna was the one accompanying us, while Beatrice and the rest of the girls stayed in the kingdom.
Same as before, there were some people making campaigns for the AOG, but we all ignored them and went straight for the dungeon gate, entering the third floor.
By doing so, we found ourselves in the settlements of the floor and had to walk a bit before leaving it behind.
So that we wouldn't encounter any other party, we walked for about 30 minutes on an uncommon path, dealing with anything that came our way, and when we finally reached a point where seeing someone else would be unlikely, we officially started our raid by calling everyone to join.