"We will be doing an experiment for the next demon. First take these 2 strengthening pills and 2 nourishments pills and keep them on you, use them freely if you ever need them" I take a small drawstring bag from the backpack and put 2 of those medicines each into it.
"Okay, Master", Roxanne accepts and keeps the bag with her.
"Now listen, for the next demon I am going to decrease my bloodline Powers so the demon won't die in one shot. I will hit once with Gram and then next you will have to keep the demon occupied while I hit it with my normal Iron sword. You don't have to damage it, just keep it's attention. What I want is to bring it to its lowest health, for that I need to calculate how many of my normal attacks it could take after not getting 1 shotted" I explained to Roxanne all the steps in detail.
"Yes Master, leave it to me", Roxanne answered to me with full confidence.
Well the whole plan hinges on her keeping the demon busy. But I have almost a blind faith in Roxanne, none of these demons could even touch her. I take my Iron Sword back out of the backpack and keep it with me.
Next I made drastic changes through my character reset.
[Character Settings
BP:0
Status: HP +18, Endurance +18, Spirit +1
Bonus Equipment: Gram
Bonus Spells:
Bonus Skills: Crystallization Upgrade x64, Appraisal, Character Reset]
Bonus point used:
Weapon (1): 1
Crystallization Upgrade (x64): 63
Char reset: 1
Appraisal: 1
HP: 18
Endurance: 18
Spirit: 1
[ Kaga Michio
Villager: Level 5
Equipment: Iron Armor, Leather shoes, Iron Sword, Leather gloves, Leather cap, Gram]
I removed all my skills which were used for experience and extra Jobs and turned it into Crystal Upgrade, HP, Endurance and then added one last extra remaining BP into Spirit.
I removed all my Jobs because I want to nerf myself so that I can chip away the demon's health slowly and can get an accurate read at when his health is at its lowest.
"Lets go" I told Roxanne while securing the Iron Sword at my waist and the Gram in my hand.
"Yes Master" Roxanne nodded and took a right turn, I silently followed after her.
In under a minute we met with another demon.
[Needle Wood Level 1]
I pressed my shoes on the ground and rushed towards it. Arriving in front of it, I halted all my motion easily and while leaning a bit forward I changed my center of gravity applying all of my weight into one downward slash.
Even with a swift and powerful slash from Gram, the demon wasn't down this time. I expected it already, so as soon as the slash was over I hopped back, changing my center of gravity again and easily evaded its branches.
As soon as I backtracked, Roxanne rushed forward without me needing to tell her. I got back a bit more making sure I was out of its range and then removed Gram and added that 1 BP into Spirit.
I took my Iron Sword in my hand and kept a focus on the fight ahead. I was honestly feeling a bit happy and proud of my smooth execution just now, but looking at Roxanne I confirmed that I am just an amateur and have a long road ahead.
Roxanne wasn't even fighting, she was dancing. She was avoiding the needle woods attacks like it was nothing, and she wasn't avoiding by taking some large steps or going out of its range like I did, no she was avoiding while standing in front of the demon.
I stare wide eyed at how I thought a hidden third branch's attack would definitely hit her but she sidestepped it effortlessly. I am pretty sure that the attack passes through like centimeters from her body.
At a mere glance it looks like there isn't much distance but I think for Roxanne that distance is still a lot. If you avoid by a lot it results in wasted movements and it results in failure to shift into attack. But if one can perfectly see all enemy attacks, then just barely dodging them is the best.
It was one thing to watch it in anime, but watching it happening right in front of me, all I could say was that I was amazed as well as proud. Proud because she was my woman, my slave, such an amazing woman belonged to me now.
Before I let this feeling get over my head, I got it back in the game. I went around the needle wood's back, not sure if it even has a front and back, but I went to the opposite side of Roxanne.
With one amazing rush I approached the demon and used my Iron sword for a powerful slash. This time I could feel a powerful feedback, a counterforce from its hard bark like skin. I then side-stepped towards the right avoiding yet another branch. After getting a bit out of its range the demon didn't even try to chase after me. I think it still feels more threatened by Roxanne.
Getting confident in my abilities I stepped in again for a slash, but before I could even stop my advance, a brown branch was beside my right side already. The demon must have seen or predicted my attacks. Knowing that I could either defend or attack I chose attack without hesitation and performed a swift slash. As soon as my attack was finished I felt a powerful blow on my right side of the body.
Without missing a beat I took that blows momentum and jumped back to the left side along the blows direction to lessen the damage a bit.
Taking another step back and I am out of its range again. All it's attention goes back towards Roxanne, who was still toying with it by avoiding all its blows easily. Meanwhile I clutch my right side and still feel some pain
This time I can be sure of it, the boosts from my level up system are passive, they are in effect even when those jobs aren't. The courage I showed in face of the oncoming attack, jumping back in the direction of the branch's attack. Taking and even executing these kinds of swift decisions on the spot should have been impossible for me, but now they come naturally to me.
Roxanne makes it look so easy avoiding those branches, even if I predict them coming it's hard to move out of my way so swiftly. Keeping in my mind the last counter-attack of the demon I go to attack it again.
I have attacked 3 more times already and gotten hit only once, so I think I am improving. Roxanne is still going strong. I don't think she is even out of breath. I think one or two more attacks should do it.
Timing my attack when Roxanne is attacked, I sprint to it and slashed its body diagonally. This time I didn't feel that counter force that I always felt and see that the demon's body is cut up.
The demon falls and leaves Branch behind.
"You were so amazing Roxanne, you avoided all the attacks!" I take her hand and hold it, as hugging isn't so comfortable with armor on.
"Thank you very much. Because we're in a party of two, I wasn't worried" Roxanne told me simply.
"Is that so?" I just smile as I know she really means it.
"If you look properly, that level of attack can be dodged, Master" Roxanne tells me as if it's the easiest thing in the world.
Well if I could I definitely would. Those 2 blows still sting quite a bit. It's good that I was able to take all of those blows on my Iron armor. I don't want to think about how painful it would be on my face. Maybe in the future I would also be able to join Roxanne in dancing with a monster.
I take the drop and keep it in the backpack. Then I took out the magic crystal from my drawstring bag and showed it to Roxanne.
"Ehhhh! It became Purple? But it was only Red just now" Roxanne is still just as shocked even while knowing why it changed color so quickly.
Magic crystals are small stones the size of chicken eggs, they are crystallized from the gathered magic power of demons in labyrinths. The color of a magic stone shows how much magic power is stored in the stone. If you hold the stone on your body while defeating a demon it absorbs its magic power.
It cannot store magic power if it's stored in some kind of an item box. If I hold more than one crystal the magic power gets divided into both of them.
The Magic crystal changes color starting from Black, then it's Red which is formed by defeating 10 monsters, then Purple by defeating 100 monsters, Blue by 1000, Green by 10,000, Yellow by 100,000 and the last White from 1,000,000.
By a simple comparison, if someone hunts 100 monsters a day, then it will take him 3 years to form a yellow stone and 30 years to form a white stone.
It is also one of the most expensive items sold from entering the labyrinths. The price ratio is generally 1 monster = 1 nar. So Purple is 1 silver coin, Green is 1 Gold coin and White is 1 Platinum coin.
Black Magic stones can be purchased at the Guild or can be found in old Labyrinths.
I called this a money making machine for me because I have a Bonus skill Crystallization Upgrade that lets me accelerate Magic crystallization into Magic crystals by as low as 2x to even 64x, which makes it way more profitable for me to sell colorful crystals then sell demon drops.
There are 2 reasons why I put my BP into Crystallization Upgrade. First I have a lot of money already but I won't refuse additional money and the Second and the main point is that I am collecting these Magic crystals for Gacha.
These Magic crystals are so popular because they function as an energy source for the guild temples. Now I have tried to recharge my Gacha system with everything I can get my hands on, I even tried my one and only Platinum coin but it showed no reaction. But I believe it would need a potent Magic source for it to charge it back up.
Even now it shows no reaction to the Purple Magic Stone, maybe it needs a White magical Stone. Well I am in no hurry to recharge Gacha, I should focus back on the task at hand.
Now that the trial run is completed it's time to do the real thing and get me my Wizard Job.