18

Six in the morning. In game it just turned morning. There were few players, but it was not completely empty.

Now, what shall I do today?

I can level my Cooking by three levels so that it evolves, or I can go hunting...

For the time being lets do the core trainings stretches and leave the inn.

Balance Control was unlocked due to your actions so far.

Specific requirements were fulfilled, But was unlocked.

Oh my? Did I get the thing I was looking for? It also appears that I unlocked something else as well.

Balance Control

Adds bonus adjustment to your body balance.

It will be easier for you to move your body as you please and more difficult to lose balance.

But

Adds adjustment to your body balance and your footwork.

You will move your body as you please, it will be more difficult to lose balance, and you will tire less on difficult terrain.

Mm-mm-mm?

Seems like But is better than Balance Control? Based on the log, it seems to be a little special. Umm... it requires Footwork and Balance Control, as well as a special race to unlock But? Then, should I take But instead of Balance Control? It does sound more princess-y.

You are acquiring a special derivation Skill, if you acquire it, your previous skill will be removed. Do you proceed?

A troubling message popped-up...

What will be removed is Footwork. Certainly it was the initial skill I took during the rebuild. I raised it up to 26, so it feels like a waste no, how about I level it to 30 first to collect Skill points? It will go up just by walking, too lets do so.

Lets postpone getting But to until Footwork reaches 30.

Should I sort my inventory?

With that said, the needless things are Wolf Leather and claws, as well as Deer Horns. I sold Boar Leather to Ertz-san. The price he purchases it for went up from 2000 to 2500. With the upcoming combat tournament, it looks like new equipment is on demand?

Alright, for now lets leave the inn and replenish vegetables.

I make my rounds through stores and buy Salt 27, Sugar 5, Pepper 14, Onion 51, Cabbage 50, Bay Leaf 5, Carrot 50, Garlic 1 and Cooking Wine 2 for a total of 6070. It was unexpectedly costly...

Next, lets head to the union and deposit money. With 100k more deposited, I have 400k in the union and 10k on me, my total assets being 410k. I dont plan on spending it now, so lets continue saving.

Now, lets go off.

Alright, I log in in the afternoon.

Before noon I replenished my steak inventory. My Skill level did not increase, but currently it is the dish that increases Satiety the most. Its very important merchandise.

When making steaks I used up garlic, so I replenished it again.

What should I do in the afternoon?

Oh, Princess.

Heyaaah.

My, good day. Going to hunt?

We plan to go to Eastern forest~.

Are you coming, Princess?

I guess. Lets go then.

Oh, then Ill pass the lead to you.

From behind me came Alf-san and Ske-san, with whom I formed a 3-man party. From there we head to the union to take extermination quests and proceed to the Eastern forest.

I want to level my magic Skills, so can I stay in the back? They feel a little behind compared to the rest.

Alf will tank so no probleeem.

Enemies in the Eastern forest come one by one so its fine.

I guess that eventually linked mobs will appear~.

Will there be mobs that react to channeling, or special actives, I wonder?

They are a staple, mobs that react when you start channeling that is.

They react when Magic Power starts changing into magic would probably be the setting. Well, they can make up any reason they want.

To players, its a reaction to channeling.

There probably will? To people who did MMOs, its a fairly common knowledge.

In this game, the most troublesome would be links of the sight and sound, right?

Inside a dungeon, sound-type linking does seem like it would be the worst.

Speaking of which, theres no dungeons in this game, are there~.

Well, there might be none just in this first area.

My home(Catacombs) did not feel much like a dungeon...

While talking we charged into the Eastern forest.

We headed into the back, sometimes stopping to gather herbs and mushrooms. I will probably use them to level my Alchemy after all.

Alf-san held up a large shield as he walked in the front, tanking, and behind him walked me and Ske-san.

Alf-san was a complete front guard. As for me, well, anything goes. Ske-san was a complete rear guard.

At this moment the sun was up high so we received almost no recovery bonus, but Ske-san and I hadDark Heal, so there was no problem with Alf-sans healing. Above all, there was no enemy in the East that could get past his large shield in the first place.

Enemies here were solitary and did not link, so there was no worry of being surrounded either.

Well, it meant that we wouldnt die.

We immediately found a boar and Alf-san usedAppealto pull him in, then from a slight distance Ske-san and I only shot magic at him, making it simple work.

By the way, what do we do about drops?

And what do you two usually do?

When we beat mobs we take turns stabbing knife into them and take drops as is. Its a pain otherwise.

The two of us have been playing together since beta, after all. Weve known each other for a while now, so.

I see. Then it would be all right if I joined the rotation, but...

You want the meat, right Princess?

INdeed As long as I get the meat, I dont need anything else.

Then we exchange our meat for all of your drops except for meat, Princess?

Considering the price at which the union and players trade meat the price goes down by a lot. First of all, the demand is completely different so the problem is selling difficulty.

But personally, I use meat to raise my Cooking Skill level and I also sell the finished products to earn money. If the two received leather and horns from me in exchange for their meat, they would earn more than for selling meat. We both profit from it, so there is no problem.

Yes, I guess. That would be good. If anything, I can give you 47 horns I have lying in my inventory, too.

1 of meat isnt really worth that much. How about 3 meat for 1?

I dont mind.

The meat is still cheaper...

If I process it, it will go up in value for me, so you need not to be bothered.

Alriiight, then lets do the exchange after we finish hunting.

While beating enemies we proceeded into the back of the forest, passed right through the Safe Zone and entered the back of the forest. From here bears start appearing, so its the main hunting ground.

But still, lately there have been several parties who started appearing in this place. Up until now I have hardly seen any at all, so it looks like top players have finally advanced.

Im seeing other parties lately, but it does not seem like the rate at which we fight is much different, or is it?

Yeah, its this kind of game. One where the number of players in the area affects the mob spawns. Which is why its sometimes better when theres a certain amount of people in it rather than having the entire area for yourself.

Server savings is it?

I bet~. But its better for us this way, so I dont mind. Well, there seems to be a limit to the spawn rate.

If there wasnt, the plains at the Starting Town would be in terrible state. Like, covered with Rabbits and Wolves.

Thats a sight I kind of want to see.

Talking as we walk around searching for an enemy sure is a charm of playing in PT.

Yeah, its just there is a possibility it will spawn right beside you, so a hunting ground full of enemies might be hard.

The so-called shit spawn.

But as long as its not full to the brim, you dont need to waste time looking for the next enemy.

This does happen sometimes. The problem is that from the first perspective, if one appears right behind you...

Yeah~.

When we were talking like that, a bear spawned right beside us.

And here it is welcome!

We immediately recover the flag, thank you very much.

But thats not a perfect one. It would be perfect if it appeared right behind us.

Then the bear was beat up and disassembled. I mean, it is an enemy I hunt solo by myself. There is no way a single one appearing right beside us would pose any problem.

Even if one more appeared in the middle of combat, Alf-san can take one and I can take the other.

Its easy with Princess being with us.

Our stats go up, and in case a new one spawns, she can subtank it.

I mean, I have no close combat skills at all~.

Compliments will get you nothing.

While Alf-san and the mob beat on each other from the front, I shot light and dark magic interchangeably aiming for enemys weakness.

Although we were hunting, it was one where we followed a pattern. When you follow a pattern, it means you are playing stable. It would be a problem if you didnt have one. Players move in response to enemies patterns to defeat them as quickly as possible before going to the next enemy.

After fighting the same enemy several times, you gradually optimize your movements. It means that you stop doing needless moves.

The enemys attack motions are in general pre-decided, so as long as you look at their movement you can tell what attack will come. If you know the enemy's movements its easy to attack their openings. Predicting enemy movement from motion is a basic thing in action games. Or rather, without that you cant play close combat in this game at all. First perspective field of vision is really narrow.

And most likely or rather, definitely, the enemies attack motions will become harder and harder to tell apart. Like, humans doing feints?

Well, what I want to say is its really interesting.

Its not like Im moving my actual body, but being able to move as I like seem to relieve stress.

As for people who like the physical tiredness after exercise I dont know how it is for them.

Ah, could you wait a moment?

Did something happen?

I turned 20 and can evolve now.

A little more for me, too.

I see, understood.

Ske-san is level 20 now.

The experience in Catacombs is nice, but either Zombies experience table values are lower than those twos or maybe both. My total level is already 35, after all...

After Ske-sans body was enveloped by light, when he appeared, his body changed from red to metallic.

I became a Metal Skeleton Mage! So, when will I get the extra?

Was it just one choice?

Just onee.

I wonder when...

Yup, looks metallic. Seems strong in defense.

I grew a little more resistance to blunt. Well I was in negatives before, and Im still in negatives. In short, the difference is tiny.

Skeleton-types are weak against blunt attacks to begin with. In exchange, they are strong against piercing attacks. In my case it was the Decomposing Body and the 2 Fire Damage Taken, but in bones case its blunt 4. In exchange, he has increased piercing resistance.

The red was strange, but metallic is also weird, isnt it?

At least it seems to be matte?

Thats great. It would really stand out if I was all shiny.

So, you are made out of metal. Are you heavy?

I dont feel too heavy, so I wonder myself?

Alf-san raised him up to check, but it seems he was quite a bit lighter than me.

Which means, can it be?

A metal-plated skeleton...

That makes me really sad, so lets make it be a super-light fantasy metal, okay?

I guess... lets do so.

Well, back to hunting. Seems like I will get an evolution soon, too.

I wonder when will my evolution come, mm? Speaking of which, there was nothing at level 10...

You had a rebuild on level 20 and turned level 1 right, Princess?

Yes.

Then, the next evolution is probably on level 30?

In which case, there is still a long way.

From a race I turned into at 20, the next one is being on level 30 sounds very likely. Im level 15, so its still far ahead of me. But right now, rather than the Race Level I would like to raise my Skill levels, so Im not bothered by it.

Also, it seems like Ske-sans Dark Magic has evolved to Darkness Magic. Apparently, he learned an Area of Effect spell.

By the way Princess, do you have parts maybe?

Parts oh, you mean the parts for recovering lost limbs?

Yup, those.

I have three of them.

Where did you get them?

At my home, they are a rare drop, most likely.

At home you mean Catacombs? So theres no choice but to aim for rare drops from undead mobs?

Yeah. I would like to stock a few of those. I might be in care of them from now on...

They are talking about Dark Parts. The item required for recovering lost body parts.

Fortunately, I havent used any yet.

Bone, ghost and zombie-types? Are dropping them, so theres a high possibility that its a rare drop shared between all undead.

It would be good if we could craft it. I cant craft anything myself, though.

Through crafting most likely, it would be Alchemy?

Well it would be mostly just us who use it, so it would be cheap to buy.

If there are places where Undead are worth hunting, that is. Oh, a bear.

When we shot magic at the bear from a distance, it dashed straight at us and leaped at us. Alf-san moved in between us and received it with his large shield, after which we just ganged up on him.

The light passing through the foliage started to dye red, and before we realized that evening had come. It was a fantastic sight is what I would like to say, but inside the forest, evening was eerie if anything. It will only grow darker, so fear will win out. Well, it has nothing to do with us however.

Oh, its evening. What do we do? Take a toilet break?

Ahh, I do want 10 minutes. I want to take in the laundry.

Agreed. I want to take mine as well, lets head to the Safe Zone.

We beat the enemies all the way to the Safe Zone and when we arrived, the three of us logged out for roughly 10 minutes.

I stretched my body lightly, rehydrated myself and folded the laundry before logging in.

Alf-san returned first, then when Ske-san returned, he started to agitate Alf-san.

Alfs laundry got wet with rain, serves you riiiiight!

Yup, same to you. I know where you live, yknow?

Ha ha ha ha haa, dammit...

Was yours okay, Princess?

It was all right in here. We had a clear sky.

Thats good. It just started raining over here, but they were big droplets and...

Cmon, lets go vent it!

Venting anger aside, wed still go hunt anyway.

The evening starts at 3:30 p.m.. And then the night lasts until 6 p.m., so the number of parties in the area has decreased? Vision is pretty bad in a dark forest. While everyone usedLightandNight Visionas countermeasures, just the three of us walked normally.

After hunting for a while, we arrived in a strangely open place.

Ahhh, thats the boss area.

Riight. How about we go right in?

Hmm...

Then how about we go?

Oh, raring to go, Princess?

I already intended to go for him during the combat tournament, after all.

Is your money all right?

I just deposited before noon, so Im fine.

No problem here either.

Then lets go take a look. If we die and get a death penalty, we might as well go have dinner...

Agreeed.

Going for the boss by the way well, this happens quite often.

Before entering, we review the information on the bosses.

The bosses of North and East are level 22. Western and Southern are level 20. Although North and East have nothing special about them, their stats are simply high. Western and Southern have either poison or fly, but have slightly lower levels.

Compared to the Golem in the North, the bear has lower power and defense, but compensates for it with speed and higher number of attack patterns. Looks like we can only fight head-on against the Eastern boss.

After consulting with Ske-san and Alf-san on the topic of recovery, Ske-san used theDark Enchantincreasing INT on himself and on me before we charged in.

Might as well take a video.

With Alf-san in the front, the three of us entered the boss area.

There, for the first time in a while that my bodys control was taken away by the system and I automatically walked to about the middle of the arena, before looking as the boss flashily jumped out of the forest.

After the bears roar, my bodys control has returned.

Fighting BearLv22

An extremely fighty and dangerous bear.

His attacks have both speed and weight behind them, so its better to be careful.

Element: Weakness: Resistance:

Genus: AnimalFamily: Bear

State: Normal

Its not a raid boss, so there is only one HP bar. It was one size larger than a Brown Bear.

It is a boss fight, so lets go with reliability.

After confirming Alf-sansAppealI switched toAttack Stanceand started attacking.

According to Discern there was no weakness, but Uncover did display a weak part. I shared this information with the two, lets aim for that part as much as possible.

Alright, no problem at all!

Problems start when his HP goes down and he gets angry.

We learned that there was no special need to hurry with heals, so it looks like we can focus on attacking until the boss' pattern changes.

I attacked with lance-types in general, and when it was easy to aim for the weakness I used arrow-types. For the time being, Im in charge of Alf-sans healing.

Ske-san attacked, and instead of healing he cast enchants to maintain buffs on us.

Alf-san was a tank, so he usedGuard Stanceand single-mindedly gained defensive exp.

Fighting Bear huh. From the looks of it, hes completely a martial artist. His movements werent like those of a bear at all but I guess its pointless to retort to a game. Its interesting, so lets leave it be.

His HP is going down at a fairly good pace.

And both of Fighting Bears arms started to let out a red light. His special action started when he had 60% HP left.

A rush is cominggg!

Aight, come!

Alf-san put his right hand on the back of the large shield, and also he lowered his waist to add his left leg. He engages the approaching enemy in a fully-defensive posture...

Ske-san and I started channelingDark Heal.

The Fighting Bear raised a shout to raise his fighting spirit(?) and swung at Alf-san.

Starting with a straight right, he continued with a left hook and right upper, before moving onto six right straight attacks. Every time a strike hit the shield, an amazing sound rang out and Alf-sans HP was reduced.

However there was no problem, and once the rush ended the two of us usedDark Healon Alf-san, recovering him to full HP.

The first and hardest part is done!

Alf, be careful from now on, kay.

Of course! So, will the pattern change now?

Actually that rush was something tanks could not endure, which is why no one went past it, and there was no information of what was ahead.

Since Alf-san was racially full-plated and used a large shield, his defense was really high.

The Fighting Bears movement pattern changed, and, surprise he started using kicks.

What splendid flying kicks he does. They are blocked, but Alf-san still loses HP over the defense. Lets focus on keeping Alf-sans HP at full if possible.

Princess, MP?

Im at 60%. Still got a leeway.

50% here. Looks like theres no problem.

I just thought, but we Immortals cant use potions, can we? What do we do when we run out of MP? What we have in skills is Automatic HP Recovery. I do have an MP recovery effect on my set equipment, but dont others have trouble without bonuses and just automatic recovery?

Is this guy really a bearrr?!

You retort, you lose.

As the Fighting Bear started to do kickboxing, Alf-san single-mindedly defended his attacks with the large shield. He even started doing roundhouse kicks. Its kinda cute with his short legs.

But the sound that comes from the large shield is very uncute.

With that said, we had a main shield so there was no problem even if the ratio at which we heal him increased. Then boss HP bar changed from the 60% 's yellow to the 30%s red.

In addition to the Fighting Bears arms, his legs also were clad in red.

Alf! Art is coming!

Ha HA! There is none who will pass my defenses!

His attacks already go past it!

I know nothing of ittt!

The two are in high spirits. If they had faces, they would probably be smiling, but unfortunately they are bones and armor. No facial muscles to be seen.

The rush has started again, but this time legs were added in and the number of attacks has increased. Then the attack stopped, so we started heals.

Wai-... stop please?

Its going dooown!!

Isnt he attacking too much?!! Ah? AAAAHH?!

A-Alfff?!

Fufu...

...Is this the TRUE bear hug?

With the last attack of the rush, Alf-san lost his balance, was caught from behind and hugged. Then, the living armor that was made of full plate was raised up andthere was a backdrop.

So its 12 attacks + bear hug backdrop. What a splendid chain of attacks.

Struck in the head, Alf-sans upper half was buried in the ground and started flailing his legs. He did have a status ailment, so it must be a Bind?

From the full HP state he was cut down to 20%, and even as we healed him he eventually turned back to 20%. We quickly healed him up as we moved toward the bear.

Ske-san, take care of Alf-san!

Okaaay!

I shotDark BallandDark Arrowone after another at the Fighting Bear, but he did not change the target...

When Alf-san was hit by the Fighting Bear while buried deep in the ground1, the damage he received was no joke.

Healing wont make it!

Libert!Rush! Whoops... there he comes!

Nice, Princess! Cmon, get out!

I cant get out!

I used up one Orb, but it was a necessary expense. When I did a tripleRushattack enhanced withLibert, the Fighting Bear changed his target.

At the same time he did a backhand blow, which I avoided by instantly crouching and it passed right above me. From there, he turned around and stared straight at me.

Changing my stance toParry StanceI kept the target for the time being. His speed is increasing compared to up until now, isnt it?

Alf-san is in that state, so the moment I tryGuardI already lost, so lets parry everything withParry Stance.

Using the rapier to parry, I damaged him with magic. In any case, my main firepower is magic, so there is no need to force myself to attack with the rapier, is there? I dont have attack speed, so I will attack when an enemy shows an opening is what it seems my style will stabilize on.

The problem is that despite the fact ImParrying, Im still receiving some damage? Even with automatic recovery, its still decreasing slightly. I can heal myself, but still, did I receive damage during the fight with the general, too? I didnt notice.

As expected of Princess! But I cant get him out!

I cant move yknow.

I dont have STR so I cant pull up full plate ah, right.Psychokinesis...Hnngh!

O, one, two, three...YEAH!

Alright, back to combat!

Alf-sans HP recovered and he got to move, so I held back on attacks and continued to focus on parry.

Even when he usedAppealfrom behind, the target remained on me. Only when he used defense-ignoringIroncutteron the boss back and thenAppeal, that the boss switched back to Alf-san.

Meanwhile, Ske-san castDark Enchanton himself and on me.

The target changed, so I switched toAttack Stance.

Alright, there it is!

There was an unexpected event, but it feels like we will somehow manage!

It does look like it.

On 30% there was a special action, and with myLibertandRushit turned to about 20%, so we should be able to finish it.

Ske-san, my heals alone might not be enough.

His attacks sure are faast.

Okay, Ill also heal.

Please do.

Clearly the Fighting Bears attack speed was increasing.

Isnt it faster than when I tanked it?

Hmm? Did the bear's defense go down?

Is he the type that increases attack speed as his HP goes down, but also loses defense?

It started at 30%? Well, lets quickly beat him. Well stop making it with our heals.

Agreed.

As the attacks repeat, they were certainly getting faster, is what Alf-san said. The sound the shield made was extremely frequent as well.

This, if I wasnt Immortal, my hands would go numb the impact sure is amazing.

A partial paralysis I guess? I wonder if there is one?

10% remaining...

Whoaa! Hes going too savage

It looks like hes moving in fast-forward, its kind of interesting.

Agreed. From the side it looks interesting.

Hurrey?? Hurrey beat 'im?!

Alf-sans HP started going down at high speed, so lets quickly finish it. With that said, what we do did not change.

Ske-sans and my magic hit the Fighting Bear, and along with a scream he extended his four limbs and fell down.

Your Race level has increased.

Defense reached level 25.

Defenses ArtArea Guardwas acquired.

Parry reached level 25.

Parrys ArtCounter Parrywas acquired.

Light Magic reached level 25.

Light MagicsLight Resistwas acquired.

Dark Magic reached level 25.

Dark MagicsDark Resistwas acquired.

Magic Ability reached level 30. Gained "2" Skill Points.

Magic AbilitysChanneling ReductionMagi Ampwere acquired.

With the elimination of the Eastern Boss, the Eastern Area was unlocked. As a bonus for the World First elimination, you gain 6 Skill Points.

You have fulfilled specific requirements and acquired Title: Liberator of Belstead".

The party DELIVERY TIME! led by Anastasia has delivered the Eastern Boss. From now on, the Eastern Boss will be weakened and the goods distribution restored.

No wayyy.

The PT name we put in as a joke...

Heck, that has delivered the Eastern Boss...

The management joined in on the fun?

6 SP is nice And a title, tooo.

Agreed. Now, lets disassemble him. Who will do it?

I guess you can do it, Princess?

Im busy evolving, so take care~.

Oh, Alf, finally.

"...Well, well split the boss materials equally.

I headed toward the Fighting Bear and pierced the Disassembly Knife into him.

Behind me, Ske-san was staring as Alf-san started to shine.

Lets change the PT name CHARGE! YOULL BE DINNER! should be fine.

Oops, and lets end the video.

Name: Anastasia

Race: Immortal PrincessWomanLv16

Element: Dark

Genus: High Immortal

Family: Royal Zombie

Skill Points: 64

Skills:

Sword Lv25 Defense Lv25 Parry Lv26 Armor Lv25

Light Magic Lv25 Magic Ability Lv30

Sensing Lv26 Uncover Lv25 Footwork Lv29 Cooking Lv27 Alchemy Lv5 Gathering Lv20 Appraisal Lv18 Disassembly Lv15

Identification Lv23 Discern

Inactive:

Monster Skills:

Dark Magic Lv26 Aura of Darkness Lv20

Physical Resistance Lv20 Physical Immunity Lv16 Magic Resistance Lv5 Automatic HP Recovery Lv26

Immortal Royalty Lv17 Royal Authority Lv15 High Tier Immortal

Titles:

Elegant and Calm Princess: Improves the impression given to others and makes it harder for them to become wary of you.

Liberator of Belstead: A commemorative title given to the first to liberate the town East of Starting Town.