I chase down Soldier 1 with high spirits. This definitely looks like a win for me! During the chase, I had managed to hit the roach with two more throwing knives, which significantly decreased its speed.
I’m slowly catching up to the roach, for sure.
And Soldier 1 notices it too.
It quickly abandons the strategy of running to the Queen since it means leaving its backside defenceless, which is honestly the smartest thing it’s done so far, and swivels to face me.
It’s covered in blood, and one too many knives jut out its exoskeleton.
Stat-wise, I’m definitely weaker than the Soldier.
If I didn’t get that massive boost to all my specs after killing the Guard, my victory would still be uncertain right now.
But the roach is severely weakened from my prior attacks, and I did get the stat boost, and Soldier 1 is covered in goo that slows down its movements to a sluggish pace, and I’m still basically unscathed, and I can ascertain my victory for sure.
It charges at me, the glue dangling in threads in the air.
I throw one more knife at it, aiming for its left eye. However, the soldier roach angles its head slightly, dodging the knife by a narrow margin.
Upon reaching striking distance, it lets out a bestial roar and flails its jagged arms at me.
Awww, a last bid?
Dammit, you got me… Psyche!
Using a quick burst of speed, I lunge backwards torso first and feint forwards while dashing to the side. Soldier 1, having expected me to charge at it, reciprocally swipes forwards.
Idiot. Never show your back to the enemy!
Having sidestepped the charge, I thrust my dagger down, aiming for the soft part of the Soldier’s neck. I feel my blade protrude into the roach’s body, and slash accordingly, leaving a massive gash on its axis.
The roach howls in pain. However, with its large frame, the Soldier can only move forwards and backwards—not laterally. It reverses, trying to ram me with its backside.
Idiot. It’s literally begging me to attack its only blind spot!
So, yeah.
I hammer its exoskeleton while the roach cries in agony for ten or so seconds. Not long after, Soldier 1 goes limp. Quite a letdown, huh? I thought this would be a more exciting battle. Rational me is overjoyed it was so easy, but adrenaline junkie me is banging on the door, demanding for an answer.
All basic attributes increased.
Level-up proficiency acquired.
Skill Points acquired.
Combat Points acquired.
50% of max health recovered>
All basic attributes increased.
Level-up proficiency acquired.
Proficiency has reached required level.
Skill [Reparation Lv3] has become [Reparation Lv4].
Skill Points acquired.
Combat Points acquired.
50% of max health recovered>
…H-hey, at least I got two levels from that, right?
That means I now have 10 Combat Points to spend!
<10 Combat Points
Health: 72
Mana: 38
Damage: 84
Defence: 67
Speed: 85
Which attributes do you wish to increase?>
Whoa… My defence went up by a whole entire 10 points! Soldier 1 sure wasn’t stingy when giving away its defence attribute!
Health, damage and speed also went up by a respectable amount, but… mana? I mean, I can’t exactly use magic right now so a low mana stat doesn’t really matter, but hey, mana = magic!
Even though I can’t use magic, it doesn't mean I don’t want to learn magic! What sort of fantasy world would this be if the protagonist can’t use the literal no.1 fantasy element? Okay, maybe the number one fantasy element are dragons. But still! Second only to dragons!
That’s how important magic is in any conventional fantasy setting, high or low!
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Although in low fantasy, magic probably tops dragons.
Though, with the system and everything, this is totally a LitRPG, right?
So… is magic actually not all that important?
I mean, I’m getting around fine without magic and all…
Y-yeah, that’s right! Magic is totally useless! [Melee] is heaps better than magic and shit!
Wahaha!! I-I’m not gaslighting myself! Totally not! I’m not jealous that I can’t fire cool spells and whatever useless stuff magic has to offer since mana is so inconsequential and won’t help me at all…!
“Magic is essential for anyone wishing to triumph Diamond badge and above. Magic has an edge over other skills due its theoretical limitless possibilities; more mundane skills simply cannot proceed past their boundaries.” — Quote: Kequak
Damage: 84 (+5)
Speed: 85 (+4)
Confirm?>
Uh-huh. Seems about right; totally not adding 1 Combat Point to my mana attribute out of spite… Totally not, heh heh…
No, but seriously, this seems about right. There really isn’t any point contemplating over how to allocate my Combat Points if I already have a solid foundation of what to do. Besides, I like evening out the numbers, so…
Mana: 38 → 39
Damage: 84 → 89
Speed: 85 → 89
Current Combat Points: 0>
Oui Oui!
Beautiful numbers! If I had three more Combat Points, those numbers could be even more perfect, but all ending in ‘9’ is still nice.
Next up: Soldier 2!
Retracing my steps (which honestly feels like a crappy netflix live-action of Hansel and Gretal since I’m following a trail led by Soldier 1—The trail being blood instead of breadcrumbs, of course), I find Soldier 2 still struggling in the rat trap.
Look! Even though 1 died, I still have 2…!
…The punchline sounded a lot better in my head. But here’s what was supposed to happen: I named the roaches one and two, so even if one dies, I still have two. As in, there’s still ‘two’ roaches after ‘one’ died. But in reality, there is just one roach named ‘two’.
…Get it?
Aw man, that was the sole reason I improv named them ‘Soldier 1’ and ‘Soldier 2’ —So I could pull off that joke, but the punchline didn’t even hit hard!
Dammit, I knew I should have named them ‘Fucktard’ and ‘Schizophrenic’! ‘Fucktard’ for Soldier 1 since it's a fucking retard, and ‘Schizophrenic’ because… well, look, Soldier 2 just acts a bit schizo, and I’m not exactly the creative mastermind.
(Please don’t cancel me.)
Since Schizo is a sitting duck right now, I have the right to make jokes and mock it, okay? Even if it's all just in my head…
Ah—shit, bad wording. This is all real, I swear—
I suddenly feel a subtle tingle up my spine.
Wuh? Huh?
What was that…?
Yeesh, now my schizophrenic jokes are making my mind play tricks on me. Irony. Heh.
Once again, I feel a pang up my spine. Nothing more than a tiny ripple. Then, the ripples intensify. Right in the marrow of the bone.
No… this definitely isn’t happening in my head. The pain I felt was real. [Disease Magic]? But… I thought [Disease Magic] could only give you existing diseases? Last time I checked, there were no diseases that would give your spine a tingly feeling. Or… maybe that type of spine disease exists on this planet, but not on Earth? Different planets have got to have different viruses, bacteria, and stuff.
The tingle was sudden, but it doesn’t really hurt or anything, so there shouldn’t be much to worry about. It kind of felt like a hunger pang, but… in the bone? I dunno, can’t really think of a way to describe it.
Well, Queen, you delayed the inevitable by less than thirteen seconds!
I do a slow march towards Schizo while internally monologuing some down-bad music. The Soldier growls with every step I take, which honestly ruins the cinematic drama playing rolls in my head, not that I mind that much.
I draw my blade and trace a thin line on the roach’s neck, and the glue strains as the bug struggles to break free. And, following the incision, I cut.
All basic attributes increased.
Level-up proficiency acquired.
Proficiency has reached required level.
Rena Shinohara has acquired skill [Dominator Lv1]
Skill Points acquired.
Combat Points acquired.
50% of max health recovered>
All basic attributes increased.
Level-up proficiency acquired.
Skill Points acquired.
Combat Points acquired.
50% of max health recovered>
Once again anticlimactic? Yes.
Effective? Verily.
That aside, the [Dominator] skill has piqued my interest. Apart from it sounding like a tag on an 18+ website, it also gives off overpowered skill vibes.
<[Dominator] (Activatable): Once activated, all attacks are slightly infused with the weakness debuff. The higher level the skill, the stronger the effect becomes.>
Oh? Well, if this ‘weakness effect’ is even anywhere near as powerful as I think it is, then… No, I shouldn’t get my hopes up. Everything I got that seemed decent was somehow a curse in disguise.
…What?
I rub my eyes in disbelief—almost gauge them, in fact. I stare at the screen in front of me with a blank expression, and blink several times and reread the text to make sure my eyes aren’t playing tricks on me.
The words don’t change.
They stay the same, and after a second for confirmation, I break out into a victory dance. Oh right, [Melee] also gives my dance moves a fair boost as well, so I can kind of breakdance and stuff.
Which means my victory dance actually turns out far cooler than it is cringe.
O-V-E-R-P-O-W-E-R-E-D!!
Minus 30% on the three central stats? Oh yeah baby, we’re turning up the boom box!
[Dominator] really is as strong as I hoped for it to be! Sure, it’s just level one for now, but once this skill levels up a few more times, these roaches are gonna suffer something far worse than any nuclear explosion: metaphorical bug-spray!
The only downside is that its an ‘activatable’ skill, not a ‘passive’ skill, but that’s not a problem—
Activatable?
So, as in it either costs mana or stamina to use?
Stamina is a really weird concept since its not actually a stat. It’s there, but unlike other stuff, there are no numbers backing up stamina, making it a pretty unique variable. It’s still connected to the system, which is obvious considering some skills like [Run] cost stamina to use, but has no other clear correlation.
I would assume stamina is calculated through the average of all the other stats (save for mana), but even then, I can’t say for sure.
If it costs stamina, then it’ll be rather unreliable.
If it costs mana, then, well… I’ll really need to start working on that.
The Queen should have large mana reserves since its magic centres around long, slow spells that chip away at an enemies health.
Which makes me even more motivated to go kill that Queen!
<10 Combat Points
Health: 76
Mana: 44
Damage: 95
Defence: 72
Speed: 93
Which attributes do you wish to increase?>
I won’t increase mana just yet, since I can’t say for sure if [Dominator] uses stamina or mana to initiate, so I might as well go with the stats I’m most familiar with.
Speed: 93 (+7)
Confirm?>
Damage: 95 → 98
Speed: 93 → 100
Current Combat Points: 0>
Dammit, if only I had TWO more combat points! Then I could have the perfect hundreds!
Oh well… no point bawling over a cup of spilled milk.
Queen, here I come!