A week after going around clearing Isoreus.
As expected, soon enough Silvia and Eko's Dragon King and Dragon Horse both became Grade 9.
As for me, my [Swordsmanship]'s Dragon King and Dragon Horse got to Grade 9, [Magic]'s "Lightning Attribute・Fourth Form" and "Lightning Attribute・Fifth Form" also reached Grade 9, and so did the [Summoning Magic] skill "Tame"; with all that, I'm qualified for each of those Title matches.
With regards to [Magic], you can participate as long as you've reached Grade 9 in First to Fifth Form of any attribute. Lightning is an attribute I never heard of back in Mobius, but I guess it should still count as one.
...And so.
With this, you could say we've reached a resting point, but from here on the real Title matches begin.
Setting myself aside, this will be Silvia and Eko's first in a Title Match. But at present, their experience in interpersonal battles is overwhelmingly insufficient.
A Title Match is a duel between skills. That's why, in order to practice, let's say [Archery] you'd need an opponent who also uses [Archery], the same goes for [Shieldmanship], you need another opponent with the [Shieldmanship] skill.
There's no problem with Silvia in that regard, I can be her opponent. However, I can't be of help to Eko since I haven't learned the [Shieldmanship] skill.
Hmm...What should I do?
"Can you call Windfield? "
Since it's a waste of time to keep worrying about it, I decided to ask Yukari to summon our advisor.
After making a bitter expression for a moment, she answered with a nod and called for Winfield using "Spirit Summoning". There should be a reason why Yukari seemed reluctant to summon Windfield, but when I asked Silvia about it, she just said "You should leave that alone", so I decided to ignore it for the time being.
"Ahh, Second-san. Long time, no see."
The silver-haired, tall, beautiful spirit girl with hair in a two-block cut answered with her usual way of speaking, smiling with her sleepy eyes.
"It's been a while indeed, looks like you've been doing fine. Sorry to do this immediately after calling you, but there's something I need to ask."
"Yeah. Ask me, anything. I'm sure, I can help."
How reliable.
After explaining the whole situation to Windfield, I asked her for advice on what to do with Eko's training.
"In my, opinion. I think that, Silvia-san and Eko-san, might feel that a difference in training time between them, might not be fair."
I see. Now that she pointed that out, it might be true.
"So, I think that for now, they should start training, with self-improvement in mind, and you should learn Shieldmanship before you start training them, Second-san. "
"Seriously? Then it seems like it will take over a week before we start training properly, wouldn't it? "
"I don't think, there's the need for you to, raise the skills all the way up, to be honest. Since it's you we're talking about, I think you should be able, to raise them to a moderate level easily, don't you? "
"...Ahh. I see, you're right."
Certainly. Even if I don't raise it to the highest Grade, it can still count towards training her.
"It might take you a whole day to learn it, and two for it to reach a usable Rank. So, it'll be three days total, I believe? That is, depending on how hard you try."
"I don't think three days will be that much of a loss."
"Do you have, anything you want to teach them, in the meantime? "
"There is. A certain thing. Thanks, Windfield. Thanks to you I have an idea."
"It's my pleasure."
At the end of the conversation, she winked at me and said "I look forward to my reward". Although I know she said it half-jokingly, it actually makes me want to reward her in some way. However, how can I reward a spirit?
Well, for now let's think about what should Silvia and Eko do in the three days while I'm away.
I think I should teach them the secrets of interpersonal battles, right?
I'm troubled since there are a lot of things I want to teach them. What should I start with? That's right, if I want to teach them something that doesn't require a partner then...
"The way to exert firepower? "
"Yeah."
I called Silvia and Eko to the living room and started the lecture.
The content is about how to exert the maximum firepower in Mobius. It's a pretty theoretical talk, not really something you could completely understand without practical experience.
"There are many types of firepower. For example, instantaneous, single, and continuous fight. This time I'll teach you about instantaneous firepower."
"Instantaneous firepower? Does that mean, with how much force you can deliver an attack in an instant? "
Since Silvia's got a serious nature, she quickly gets into it. Meanwhile, Eko was silently listening while taking notes.
"Well, you're not wrong, but it's a bit more specific. Do you know what DPS is? "
"Sorry, I don't."
"Damage per second. In other words, it's the average damage per second in a battle that includes skill preparation and cooldown times."
"Then, if you continue to fight for 30 seconds with all your might, that's the value by dividing the total damage by 30, right? "
"Yeah. If you use a Game Crown you can measure it without having to calculate it every time. Today you'll take advantage of this feature...It really has nothing to do with DPS per se, since it'll only measure your maximum damage in one second."
"How complicated. Maximum damage? "
"Yeah. It has various ways to measure damage, but for now, I'll just set it with the function to display the damage "measured only for one second after the first damage". In other words, it's divided by 1. I want for you two to find a 'method that will do the most damage within that first second to the first attack'."
Hearing my words, the two of them looked at me with a questioning gaze. It can't be helped. The maximum damage measured in a second isn't really DPS in the first place, so they might wonder why one second, since at a glance this has nothing to do with Title Matches.
However, it is closely related. With the special condition of trial and error while finding out "how much damage can they do in one second", they will learn the "depth of this game". I want them both to realize how fun this is.
"Umu...I understand what you're saying, but is there a meaning in doing that? "
"Ohh, why do you think so? "
"Even while we were in the dungeons, I felt Rook Archery was the most powerful. Isn't the answer obvious then? "
"Hmm, well, I guess it's natural for you to feel that way. However, there are things you won't notice until after you try it. Today's challenge for the two of you is to find the maximum damage you can do in one second using the DPS display feature of the Game Crown. Okay? "
"Alright."
"Roger."
Silvia was reluctant, in contrast to Eko's cheerful reply.
How much would they grow by the time I'm back from my trip to learn [Shieldmanship]? It'll be a sight to see.
"I'll give you one hint. Roughly speaking, firepower can be divided into three types: Machine gun, Shotgun, and Rocket Launcher."
"Mashin...? "
Oops, I guess the meaning didn't get through.
"Consecutive attacks, scattered attacks at the same time, or in a single shot. That's what I meant."
"...Hoo."
Nice, it seems it got thought this time. Silvia made a face as if she caught on something.
"This is the beginning of the training. I'm looking forward to both of your answers."
"Umu! By the way, where are you going, Second-dono? "
"Ahh, I'll go learn all the Shieldmanship skills by the end of the day."
"...A-All of them? "
"If I have time left, I'll earn some experience."
"...Why am I still surprised?"
＊ ＊ ＊
"Silvia-sama. It's about time for you to take a break."
"No, I'll keep going for a bit more."
Lunchtime. Silvia, absorbed in her quest to find the maximum damage, refused the invitation from the maid Es to take a lunch break.
Right now, her head was filled with one thought, "Interesting!".
Indeed, it was interesting.
Among the [Archery] skills, "Rook Archery" was the one which produced the most firepower...that was an unshakable fact, but when the conditions became "in one second", it was a different story.
Using "Soldier Archery" you could fire three shots in one second. At Grade 9, "Soldier Archery" had an increase in attack damage of 200%. Three shots would total 600%. Yeah, with this being the case, it was the equivalent of the increase of "Rook Archery" of 600% at Grade 9.
But here is where Critical played a part. If it activated, the tripled damage increase would become a large factor. And compared to one, three shots had a larger change to score a critical. In other words, with three shots of "Soldier Archery", one could expect more solid damage output when compared to just one of "Rook Archery", since it was easier to score a critical.
In addition to that, with "Silver Archery", you could fire two shots in 1 second. This would also total 600% damage since at Grade 9 it increased its damage to 300%. There was room for ingenuity here, so it was easy to see why Silvia wanted to keep at it.
"...As expected, she's immersed in it."
Es muttered quietly while looking at Silvia.
Silvia continued to shoot arrows at the 'target dummy' wearing a game crown, and every time the number displayed was mind-boggling, causing Es's chest to swell with emotion in excitement.
She wondered if all the Title Match contestants were that amazing. She couldn't help feeling proud since she was a companion of the master she served.
And what was more, her master was an even more outstanding person than this first-class archer. Thinking along those lines, Es suddenly became incredibly happy.
"I'll bring you a snack."
She thought the best thing she could do right now was to get Silvia something to eat that wouldn't get in the way of her training. Being secretly inspired, Es vowed to work as a Firstest maid in a way that wouldn't shame his master.
On the other hand, there was Eko.
She was immersed wholeheartedly in her writing after eating a lot, in the living room.
The letters she wrote on her notepad were not Japanese, but of the beastmen language. Maybe because of that poor wording, it was hard to imagine they were coherent sentences.
What should she do to get the most damage per second with her own [Shieldmanship] skill? She thought very logically and wrote down ideas one after the other.
She had the exact same feeling since the morning as Silvia.
It was interesting, and she couldn't help to feel like that.
This was the first time in her 16 years of living that she had such an impression.
In other words, this was the first moment that she saw life as if it were a "game".
And thus, she slowly and steadily fell in love with it.
Is the [Shieldmanship] skill so deep? She wondered.
But the more she thought about it, the more she felt a shivering feeling on her back at this interesting aspect.
If just [Shieldmanship] alone is like this, what would happen if I were to combine it with other skills? With such thoughts, Eko felt as if she had been freed from some shackles.
These thoughts had nothing to do with the Title Match. However, those were interesting and unavoidable thoughts. She remembered the smile that the boy whom she loved occasionally showed. And right now, Eko felt as if she started to understand the reason for that carefree smile.
＊ ＊ ＊
Back at home.
In the end, I learned all the [Shieldmanship] skill in about half a day and decided to spend the rest of the day clearing Isoreus until evening. "Dragon Horse Shieldmanship"'s requirement of 「Defend using the seven types of skills, from Soldier to Rook, at least once; after meeting this requirement, have a team member kill five dragon-type monsters.」 was a bit of a challenge, but I managed with Anko's help. It was necessary to lead the dragons to the shade of a rock because of the sunlight, but it wasn't that much of a trouble.
The reason why everything went so smoothly was probably thanks to Anko's "Darkness Summon" and "Darkness Transfer". Thanks to that I didn't have to learn "transfer magic", nor did I have to Tame a dragon to serve as a transport. Anko sure comes in handy.
"Alright, show me today's results! "
Before dinner. I decided to have Silvia and Eko show me their progress.
Since they seemed to look forward to it, I could feel their high spirits.
"Let me go first."
Silvia rolled her arms and held out her bow.
Well, let's see what she does...
"HAAA! "
She started, or rather, she settled it with "Dragon Horse Archery".
After approaching the target dummy, she shot "Dragon Horse Archery" at point-blank.
If I had to express my thoughts in one phrase, it would be:
You discovered it!?
This is completely how I felt.
That is "shotgun" so to speak. "Dragon Horse Archery"is a powerful piercing ranged attack. It shoots dozens of arrows with a penetrating effect scattered at a specified range over a long distance. If it hits at point-blank range...That means dozens of penetrating attacks hit. Even if each of those shots is not powerful enough, when it becomes dozens, the power skyrockets. There's also the chance for a critical strike.
"How is it!?? "
Silvia looked back and waited for my answer while looking anxious.
"Amazing, good job finding it! Don't worry, that's the correct answer."
"...Umu! "
A joyful smile. This also makes me happy.
I smiled back at Silvia while giving her a thumbs up. It's like the feeling of enjoying a game together with friends. It made me feel somewhat nostalgic.
"Alright, next is your turn, Eko."
Feeling inspired by Silvia, Eko held up her shield.
She then turned around to face me and opened her mouth.
"Second, can you do it with me? "
"! "
At this point, I was already convinced. Eko also reached the "correct answer".
"Leave it to me. I won't hold back."
While trying to hide my smile, I wore the Game Crown and unsheathed my sword.
Words aren't needed anymore.
I activated "Rook Swordsmanship" and slashed at Eko.
"HAAA! "
Eko answered with "Silver Shieldmanship" to receive it. At that moment, when my sword was about to touch Eko.
"Eh!? "
Silvia raised her voice.
No wonder. From an objective point of view, it must've been a really strange sight. After thinking "The Rook Swordsmanship connected! ", I was repelled.
That was a Parry by "Silver Shieldmanship". However, it's different from a simple parry, since an additional effect was activated. An effect by the name of "Counterattack".
"That's right."
I whispered with joy as I saw Eko chase after me while rushing with "Rook Shieldmanship".
If you prepare it and activate it at the immediate moment after the repel, it would use 0.0 seconds and it'll manage to fit in the 1-second rule I gave them.
...She did great in searching for it. And in finding it. It was a great performance. I can't praise her enough.
Then, I fell down. After getting hit by "Rook Shieldmanship" and falling back, the DPS was displayed over my head.
A counterattack with "Silver Shieldmanship", followed by a Rush with "Rook Shieldmanship". The damage caused by this combination of skills exceeded Silvia's point-blank "Dragon Horse Archery".
She might be wondering why did [Shieldmanship] does so much damage. The secret of it lies in the "Counterattack" effect. The counterattack effect of "Silver Shieldmanship" increases its power in proportion to the amount of damage received from the opponent. In other words, the power of my "Rook Swordsmanship" attack was so ridiculously high that it was able to beat Silvia's damage.
"Eko, you're correct. Good job finding it. You're amazing! "
"Yaay! I did it! "
I went ahead and patted her head, ruffling her hair. Eko squinted her eyes in happiness, then pushed herself into my hand as if asking to spoil her.
I don't usually know what she's thinking since she always acts at her own pace, but today is a memorable day where Eko's hidden talent was revealed. I have nothing to complain about. She properly analyzed her own [Shieldmanship] skill, examined the characteristics of "Silver Shieldmanship", and did the best in timing perfectly the rush with "Rook Shieldmanship". I feel like I can't compliment Eko enough, for her to discover this on her own in just one day.
"..."
Ohh. If I cheer this much for Eko, Silvia will start pouting.
Silvia, you too are amazing. When I turned around to look at her, I instantly noticed her expression that said "How did I do?". You were practicing all day without eating, trial and error, right? When I first discovered this characteristic of "Dragon Horse Archery" I felt like jumping and dancing in joy. I wanted their seriousness and diligence when directly tackling a problem in front of them, so they could emulate the joy of genuinely having fun.
"Don't be so shy. You too come."
She was feeling a bit embarrassed, but Silvia also came closer and I praised her together with Eko while patting both of them.
While saying shyly "Stop, don't pat me", she was obviously secretly happy to be praised.
"Salt and pepper."
"Yes? "
"If you were a steak, today you'd have salt and pepper sprinkled over you."
"Haha, I see. Will you be cooking then, Second-dono? "
"There are three more weeks left, how would you like to be done?"
"Scary. Then, rare please."
"Don't be silly, by then you'd be well-done."
"...Is this what they mean with "if the pheasant doesn't call, it won't be shot"?"