CHAPTER 2: DEAD END
CHAPTER 2: DEAD END
We left the school building and moved to floating Telluna’s city proper. From there, we headed toward the airship port.
UW’s world was full of magic warp points for quick transportation, but you have to touch them in person and register before you can use them. Afterwards, you can use the warp room in the school to teleport to them immediately. Myself nor Akira had touched any warp points yet, so our only choice was to travel by airship.
We had little time before the airship to Trinisty Island would leave. Shortly after we dashed on board, the airship departed.
There were a handful of others on board, but they were surprisingly few. After all, why bother with the airship once you’ve registered a warp point or two?
As the port and floating city faded into the distance behind us, the airship continued through the azure. The sky above and sea below were a matching hue. It was fairytale-like beauty.
Akira, ever the sightseer, was ecstatic. She stood on the deck and marvelled at the scenery.
“Woooow! This is the best view ever! The air feels incredible!”
“Yeah, and to think, we’d never have experienced something like this without UW!”
“Even if the rest of school sucked, this would make it all worthwhile! It’s so realistic! Oh, hey, Ren! How do I take a screenshot?”
“Here you go.” I removed the otherworldly lens from my inventory, handing it to Akira. Design-wise, it was like an antique camera. “There. This takes screenshots of the game. If you fix up the export settings, the school can even e-mail you the image.”
“Wow, thanks! You’re well prepared, Ren.”
“I thought you might want one, so I crafted it in advance.”
“Good job! See, you get me.”
Akira moved here and there along the deck, snapping pictures as she went. It was kinda nice watching her have so much fun. I thought it was cute when her muscular beastman ran around screenshotting things too, but this kind of cute felt way more appropriate.
“Ren, let’s take a picture together! Mr. Sailor, could you take the camera?” Akira spoke to one of the NPCs on deck—I could tell it was an NPC because his name was displayed in green. Player names, meanwhile, are displayed in light-blue. As the NPC’s logic routine sprung into action, the sailor pleasantly accepted the camera and pointed it at us, the fading city behind us.
“A splendid view. Could you two get a little closer together?”
“Okay!” Akira moved closer, grabbing my arm. As she did, her chest pushed into my elbow—a softer sensation I’ve never known. Funny how this game recreates minute details like this with such precision.
“Ren. Rennnn!” Akira looked at me with a mischievous grin.
“Hmm?”
“I said you’d be popular if you came to this school, right?”
“Huh... yeah, I think I recall that.”
“Doesn’t it feel like you’re popular with a girl right now?” Yeah, she was definitely messing with me. But at the same time, I was just a gaming addict who’d never had a single girlfriend. So in the end...
“Uhhh... beats me.” I couldn’t think of a clever retort! All I could do was sit there like a dufus and listen to my heart trying to beat its way out of my chest.
“Aww, c’mon, you could at least play along. Ugh, now I’m all embarrassed.” Looks like I’ve infected her with my nerves too.
“Er, sorry.”
“No, it’s fine... I didn’t say something bad, did I?”
“No, that’s not—” I should have been thrilled to have such a cute girl clinging to me, but it was such an alien concept to me that I could only be embarrassed.
“Okay, get ready! You’re both looking a little stiff, so smile and say cheese!”
We thanked the sailor NPC after he took our picture. I had to wonder what kind of face I was making in the picture, but I decided I’d be better off not looking.
We took a few moments to calm down, and eventually ended up talking about our stats.
“So, Ren. How’s it going for you?”
“Let’s see.” I summoned the system window and checked my Status screen. A translucent window appeared before me, blending in with the empty blue sky.
“Mind if I take a look?”
“Go ahead.” Akira started looking over my screen. The Status screen is several pages long, so let’s start with the main screen.
PAGE 1/3
[Character Status]
Class: Symbologist
Level: 4
HP: 103/103
MP: 41/41
AP: 0/300
STR: 9
VIT: 10
DEX: 11
AGI: 11
INT: 20
MND: 15
CHR: 13
Talent 1: Knifer
<Effect> User can equip hidden weapons.
Talent 2: Skill Chain
<Effect> User can combine up to three skills/arts to unleash ultimate abilities.
Talent 3: Final Strike
<Effect> User has learned Final Strike.
Talent 4: Efficiency
<Effect> User skips the crafting animation, but is unable to craft flawless items.
Talent 5: Empty
LUB: 12
MEP: 141
Money: 54,338 Mira
[Equipment]
Main Weapon: Canesword (OEX)
Subweapon: Empty
Head: Empty
Body: Shaman’s Robe
Arm: Empty
Legs: Shaman’s Slops
Feet: Novice’s Shoes
Acc 1: Empty
Acc 2: Empty
And that’s the first page.
LUB stands for Level-Up Bonus; each time you level up, it increases. You use it to increase your stats further. Here’s a rundown of each stat:
STR, Strength, affects physical power.
VIT, Vitality, affects physical defense and HP.
DEX, Dexterity, affects physical attack accuracy and critical hit rate.
AGI, Agility, affects evasion and movement speed.
INT, Intelligence, affects magical power and MP.
MND, Mind, affects magical defense and MP.
CHR, Charisma, affects dance skills and various other things.
Base stats are optimized for each class’s role. From there, it’s up to the player how they decide to raise their own stats. At the moment, though, I’m just hoarding LUB.
MEP, Merit Points, can be exchanged to boost talents, arts, and equipment thresholds. As the name implies, there’s much merit in having MEP, and you want to have as much as you can get. But... the only way to acquire it is through school exams. My current MEP is from the five-subject entrance exam, minus 100. I’d better study hard for the next test... In case you’re wondering, those 100 points went toward my Final Strike talent.
Speaking of which, allow me to explain talents. Each player has five talent slots. These slots can expand your range of gear beyond the class defaults, allow you to learn more skills, make crafting easier, and so much more. One’s playstyle can change dramatically depending on talent loadout, so it gives the player a lot of freedom. It also lets the player demonstrate their knowledge of the game, so it’s worth going through a lot of trial-and-error to find the best combo. A symbologist might appreciate a Master’s Scroll (healing magic), for instance, I think. It wouldn’t be as effective as a pure healer’s skills, but it would let me use healing magic nonetheless. That would give me more uses for my MP, in situations where debuffing enemies just won’t cut it.
“Hmm. Knifer and Skill Chain together? Interesting...” Akira held the UW Guidebook in her hand, referencing it as she looked over my Status screen. “Whoa! Both Knifer and Final Strike are E-rank?! Efficiency is D? And Skill Chain is the highest at C?! Looking at the strategy guide, this seems like a really bogus loadout. Are you sure you’ll be redefining anything like this?”
“I’m planning to start at the absolute bottom.”
“Mm... if you think you can cut it, go for it. But ultimates are for attackers, and symbologist doesn’t have much in the way of firepower.” She wasn’t fully convinced yet.
“The way I see it, the strategy guide isn’t the be-all and end-all. When the meta changes, those ratings will go up.”
“You talk big, but I’ve seen how it goes when you muck up. I’m not convinced until I see real results, buddy.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Yeah, Akira knew me well. But this time, I knew I could do it. This game hasn’t been opened to the world at large yet, so it should have less players than the average game. That means there’s been less potential for trial-and-error, and therefore the possibility of finding diamonds in the rough is all the higher... and that’s where my loadout comes in! I hope.
“This talent system lets you experiment like crazy. Making ultimates with Skill Chain and such seems really neat too. Hey, where’d you get this talent, anyway? I wanna make ultimates!”
“I got it from a quest in the first city of Trinisty Island. The only thing is, you have to collect three thousand Hare’s Flesh.”
“Seriously?! That doesn’t sound fun at all!”
“It coincided with material-farming, so it was more of a bonus for me.” To complete this quest, I had to get item drops from island bunnies, the weakest enemies in the game. Their level is so low that they don’t give any EXP to players level 4 or higher. That was actually beneficial to me, since I was trying to stay at the lowest level possible while I waited.
“In the starting zone of Trinisty Island, I devoted myself to hunting bunnies, mining in the rocky areas, chopping wood in the forest, and digging up tombs. My crafting skill is super high now, and I’ve got enough materials to last me a long time.”
“Was that all thanks to me being late? You really do seem to enjoy the mind-numbingly repetitive jobs, Ren.”
“Repetitive jobs and searching places from top to bottom are pretty much all I know.” I was born for factory work. Not that I’d know, having never worked in one, but I’m good at clearing my mind and focusing on nothing in particular. Plus, I love looking at how my numbers get bigger and bigger as my inventory and crafting levels swell.
“I think I’ll find another way to get it. It’s 450 MEP, right? Ugh, but MEP’s so valuable!”
“How much do you have?”
“Just 465.”
“For real? You averaged 93 in all five subjects?!”
“It’s all luck. Maybe my test was easier.”
I only got a total of 241, out of all five tests... but whatever.
“As for my other talents, Knifer was unlocked at base. I got Final Strike by spending MEP, and Efficiency came from a quest. That quest was easier; I just had to craft 256 wooden tables.”
“Of course you’d consider crafting 256 items an easy task.”
“By the way, what was your base talent?” When a player makes a character, they get a single talent. The talent you get is random, so it’s like a lottery.
“Uh... Breath of Ares?”
“What?! Seriously?!”
“Yep! Heheh, did I get a lucky draw?” Lucky? Ridiculous is more like it. It would probably cost a thousand MEP to unlock.
Breath of Ares is a skill that passively regenerates AP for its user. Considering you can usually only build AP via combat, that’s a pretty big deal. It’s downright essential for classes that rely on arts, especially for sword dancers who can convert AP to healing. There’s no such thing as too much AP for them.
Talk about an absolute bullseye. For as long as we’ve played together, Akira’s had tremendous luck. Even when we’d grind for items together, she’d always get them first.
“Lucky as ever, huh? Here I am, a lowly knifer.” At rank E, my base talent was pretty much garbage. With that said, we moved to page two of my Status screen.
PAGE 2/3
[Magic]
Devitalizing Circle (MP: 5~∞)
Cooldown: 0/10 seconds
<Effect> Places a magic circle that decreases VIT by 25% for all enemies inside.
Symbologist only
Enervating Circle (MP: 5~∞)
Cooldown: 0/10 seconds
<Effect> Places a magic circle that decreases AGI by 25% for all enemies inside.
Symbologist only
[Skills]
Turnover
Cooldown: 0/300 seconds
<Effect> Swaps current HP and MP.
Symbologist only
Final Strike Lv1
Cooldown: 0/300 seconds
<Effect> Greatly increases damage of next attack, but breaks weapon afterward.
[Arts]
Charge Spells (AP: 100)
Staff Art
<Effect> Recovers 20% of max MP.
Quickdraw (AP: 0)
Hidden Weapon Art
<Effect> Lightning-fast single hit strike that takes the opponent by surprise. Only usable once per battle. Grows stronger as HP decreases. Ignores defense. Cannot be evaded.
And that’s page two. Akira took immediate interest in Quickdraw.
“So Quickdraw is a hidden weapon art? It says here that they’re strong but difficult to handle, and even more difficult to obtain... and that their main arts are all one-hit wonders with no utility. Is that true?” Strategy guide in hand, she bombarded me with questions.
“Pretty much. The base art is pretty much just a normal attack if you’re at full HP, and you can only use it once per battle. But what’s nice is that you can let it fly any time, since it doesn’t cost AP.” Even in real life, hidden weapons like knives are all about taking the opponent by surprise. The game replicates that by making them a lot less useful once you’ve made your first surprise attack.
“Then you wanna use it at low HP, right?”
“Pretty much. I want to take a lot of damage, but it’s hard to get HP too close to zero.”
“True. In a real battle, you’d die if you tried to do that, not to mention the stress it puts on the party’s healer.”
“Yep. So if I want to use it myself, it’s best to fight against enemies I can solo. I let them bring my HP down to red, then I look on in joy at the big number my Quickdraw generates. My good friends the island bunnies have been helping out with that.”
“Haha! Nice.”
“Also, every hidden weapon has the OEX attribute.”
“OEX?”
“O means you can only hold one at once, and EX means it’s bind-on-pickup.”
“Meaning you have to craft it or pick it up yourself?”
“Bingo. Crafting is a must.” Put simply, you don’t want to give away the fact that you’re carrying hidden weapons, so I’m working on being able to craft whichever ones I want. I’d been farming materials on the first floor and working on my crafting skill for that reason alone. I enjoy working gradually toward a goal, so it’s not like I found it boring.
“Mhm...”
“Did you know that not a single class can equip hidden weapons by default? That means you have to dedicate an entire talent slot to it, and you only have five to start with. So essentially, it’s like, ‘Do I really want to waste a slot on this?’“
“I sure wouldn’t. It’s one of the most notoriously bad E ranks.”
“You’ve got that right, and I should know better than anyone. If it weren’t my base talent, I wouldn’t be using it.” I may have picked it up just to try it out, but it sure wouldn’t have been a priority. “All right. Here comes page three.”
PAGE 3/3
[Ultimates]
Dead End (Usable after a sequence of Turnover -> Final Strike -> Quickdraw)
Since page three is only used for ultimates, it’s pretty short. When Akira saw that, her expression changed. I knew she’d be able to pick up on what this meant.
“Hmm... Ah, what have we here? This reeks of meta-redefinition.”
“Oho! You’ve got a fine eye, my good lady!”
“You’ll have to give me a demonstration later.” Akira pointed behind me. “Huh? Ren, there’s a black airship coming this way. What’s the deal?”
“Oh? Weird. I’ve never seen that before.” It seemed to be damaged in multiple places. I also noticed it quivering, as if it were a mirage. Whatever the case, it was more than a little spooky and fast approaching us. It wasn’t long before the sailor NPCs began to notice.
“Gh-Ghost ship! Crew, it’s the ghost ship! The rumors were true!” There are ghost ships in this game? Maybe it’s some sort of super rare random event. “Passengers, take refuge inside the ship immediately!”
The sailors desperately shoved us away from the deck and into the ship itself. Even if they’re NPCs, seeing people panic leads one to panic in turn. On the other hand, some tried to make their way back onto the deck, excited for the challenge.
They were other players, just like us. It looked to be a six-man party, all around levels 18 to 20. Their classes were paladin, warrior, hunter, rogue, cleric, and minstrel. I focus on the player marked as the party leader.
Shinichi Kataoka (1-B)
Level 20 Rogue
Party Leader
Looks like they’re all from class B.
“The time has come!”
“There aren’t any other parties around—this is our chance!”
“We’ve been training for this moment!” With their excitement mounting, the party tried to move ondeck, but they were stopped by the duty-bound sailor NPC.
“You can’t! It’s too dangerous!”
“Outta our way, buddy!” He forcefully shoved his way through as Kataoka’s group charged to the ship deck.
“Wow, that was rude. Are you okay?” Akira helped the sailor up.
“Y-Yeah, thank you.”
“What’s happening? I’ve been on this airship several times, but I’ve never seen this before.” I observed the situation through a window.
“There’s nothing about this in the strategy guide.”
“Not surprising. Those are made for beginners, anyway.”
“But why do those guys seem to know about it? They’d be surprised if it was their first time seeing it, and they definitely didn’t seem surprised.”
“Yeah, it’s like they were hunting for it. Maybe they’ve encountered it before?” No way to know unless we ask, I suppose.
“I’m guessing we’d just get in their way if we tried to join them.”
“Uh, at levels 4 and 1? I’d say so.”
“I’ll just be taking screenshots in complete safety here, then. I don’t think we’ll be seeing this every day!” Akira seemed intent on watching the battle unfold.
The ambush party from class B prepared for battle by layering the minstrel and cleric’s buffs, granting the entire party numerous beneficial status icons.
“Must be nice to be able to buff your allies. Symbologist can only debuff enemies, after all.”
“It’s naturally more appreciated, since people can immediately tell when they’re buffed.”
“Yup, and symbologist circles can’t be moved after they’ve been placed, so they’re worthless if the enemy just walks out. But on the other hand, if you can make the enemy move into the circle, it’ll be hard for them to resist the effect.” Resisting is when, for example, X attempted to cast a sleep spell, but it failed! If the enemy has high resistance, you’ll see this a lot.
“Sounds like aggro management is important to you, then.”
“That’s right. If the tank can keep aggro, the enemy won’t move out of the circle.”
Aggro is essentially how much the enemy wants you dead. Enemy monsters will target whichever player currently has the highest aggro level. Aggro increases based on how much damage you deal, how much you heal allies, and so on, but will decrease over time, or if you take too much damage from the enemy. If the tank wants to keep on taking hits for the party, they have to maintain higher aggro than the others, even while their aggro decreases from enemy attacks. Tanks have their own ways of generating aggro, so that’s an important part of playing the role. As long as they can keep it up, monsters will stick to them like glue. The symbologist aims to cast spells at the tank’s feet to take advantage of this.
“But in player-versus-player combat, they can just walk out of the circle.”
“Right, of course. This game has PvP too.” As Akira suggested, enemies in player versus player battles need only avoid the circles, so a lot of people say symbologist is useless against real people.
“That sounds... less than useful.”
“There are ways to increase the radius of my circles, but the larger they get, the more MP they cost.” The biggest circles can reduce your MP from full to zero in seconds. That’s just how valuable increased range is.
“But with Turnover, I guess you don’t have to worry about that too much.” As she suggested, Turnover makes it a little easier to let loose with spells. It’s a five minute cooldown, symbologist-only skill that swaps current HP and MP. Even if the MP gauge is empty, as long as I have HP, I can recover my MP. A pretty solid skill, in my book. “But wizards and clerics have MP recovery skills too. Pure MP recovery, without the HP cost. And minstrels don’t even use MP.”
“Yet another flaw of the class. When people call it the king of the Bummers, they aren’t kidding.”
No sooner had I finished that sentence than the airship shook violently. I turned to see that an anchor had been thrown from the ghost ship, attaching to our airship. Using the anchor as a bridge, enemies began to flood the ship. They were all armed for battle—faceless, pure-black apparitions with eyes of red. I recalled this brand of undead being called specters.
There were about ten specters in total, all level 16. We’d have been no match for them. Thus, the battle between class B and the specters began.
“Bind their legs!”
“Got it!”
The minstrel ran out in front, leading with Requiem for the Dead. All of the specters within range became unable to move at all. This song was a sleep spell, especially strong against undead monsters. Oh, how I wished I could do that. The majority of the specters fell asleep, but some of them continued their charge toward the party’s minstrel.
“Just you try!”
The paladin, tank of the party, activated his area-of-effect taunt skill, Challenge. Accordingly, the specters changed course toward him. Seems like his aggro management was working out. Even as he was attacked by three monsters at once, his suit of armor guarded him such that he didn’t even take a scratch.
In that moment, the warrior, hunter, and rogue focused their attacks on one enemy at a time, carving them down effortlessly. The minstrel’s buffing songs were putting in work too—each kill was nearly instant.
Their cleric fell back, healing the paladin and the attackers as necessary. But a paladin with his guard up shrugs off any and all physical attacks, so if the cleric bothered to heal him, that must have meant he wasn’t wanting for MP.
Once the three mobile enemies were taken down, the sleeping ones began to awaken. But at that point, Requiem for the Dead had already finished cooling down. Thus, the minstrel played his song once again.
Just as before, the paladin taunted any awake enemies, and the attackers continued their one-by-one slaughter. They continued in this loop quite successfully.
“Pretty smooth run, huh?” Akira chimed in as if she were watching mere spectacle.
“I’d say so.”
The area of effect on the minstrel’s sleep song is large, so it’s easy to stop a great deal of enemies in their tracks. But he can also buff his allies on top of that. It’s a modest class, but the difference between having one and not having one in the party is huge. Thus is the life of a supporter.
The party from class B finished off the specters with no major issues. Another wave of enemies came, slightly larger than the last, but it was dealt with all the same.
I expected another wave of specters to come, but this time, it was different. Only one enemy appeared. But compared to the specters that came before, this one was clearly at least twice as large. Its gear was more elaborate than the others as well, and it resembled a ship’s captain.
When I looked at the name above its head, it read “Ghost Captain Gilgea.” It was level 27, with a crown icon next to it—a rare monster. Some might even call it a boss battle.
It wielded a translucent, gem-like sword that reflected the blue of the sky.
“Whoa! This guy looks tough! Time for some screenshots!” Akira took shot after shot with her camera, excited at the boss’s appearance.
I had to wonder if we were safe. If the party from class B went down, we would be mowed down in short order. That said, even if you “die“ in battle, the only penalty is losing a bit of EXP.
The party from class B reapplied their buffs while Gilgea approached, preparing to fight it with full force. The paladin moved in front, attempting to taunt it with Challenge. It worked as expected—except, for some reason, Gilgea stopped moving. Then, he brought his sword down. Of course, since he was too far away, he was just fruitlessly smacking the floor below him. Or so I thought—but I soon understood there was a method to his madness.
A shockwave, brought about at the tip of his sword, moved straight toward the paladin. In his surprise, he assumed his defensive stance instead of attempting to dodge. The attack plowed through his guard, dealing immense damage—checking my Log window, it was a total of 137 HP. That single hit left him with only 30% of his health bar! Maybe the shockwave was a magic attack? Though paladins excel at physical defense, their magic defense is somewhat lacking to balance it out.
The boss moved away and generated another shockwave, but this time the paladin successfully dodged it. The party’s attackers seized this opportunity to approach and overwhelm the boss with short-range attacks. Kataoka and the warrior attacked the boss from either flank, and the hunter bombarded him with arrows from afar. Each of the attackers’ regular blows dealt about 10-20 damage, and each art activation dealt about 50. He was a boss, after all; of course he’d be hard to damage. He was also adept at evasion, thanks to his high AGI stat.
The paladin began to close the distance between them, dodging shockwaves as he went.
At this point, the boss gave up on long-distance shockwaves, opting for direct attacks on the tank. The tank was taking immense damage—with the constant assault of arts from the boss, he was in the red at 25% HP. With the cleric’s help, they were able to maintain that level of health. But since he was taking so much damage, he was also losing a great deal of aggro, nearly letting the boss change targets.
Kataoka’s rogue skill, Scapegoat, kept them from disaster by putting even more aggro on the paladin. Scapegoat allows the player to transfer all of their damage-based aggro to an allied player by attacking the enemy from behind the ally. It also increases damage, boosting the effect further. Scapegoat’s duration also increases with each art activation, balancing aggro management and damage. At this point, the boss had 70% of its HP remaining. Could they really make it?
The situation continued until he was left with 50%—but then, the boss unleashed a new art. In the Log, it was called Crescent Slash, a cleave attack that hit enemies in a crescent pattern in front of the boss. As an untargeted attack, it naturally hit the paladin standing in front—but unfortunately, it also hit the Scapegoating rogue behind him. Once they were hit, the paladin was left in the red again. Meanwhile, the leader lost all of his health and fell where he stood.
“Gah! He ate the hit too!”
“Oof, that’s bad news.”
The support they were receiving from Scapegoat was now lost. That meant the tank’s job was about to get a lot harder. My fear continued to mount.
The cleric’s healing aggro suddenly overcame the paladin’s aggro, which led the boss to charge at the cleric. His party was helpless to stop him, forced to watch as their healer was next to fall. Without their healer, it was about to get even worse.
From there, class B was taken down one by one until the entire party was wiped. The whole turning point of this battle was the rogue’s defeat at the hands of Crescent Slash. If it weren’t for that, they might’ve made it... Either they were unlucky, or the devs outsmarted them. What insane timing.
“Aww, that’s a shame. I wanted to see them win.” Akira sighed in disappointment.
“But what happens now? Is he gonna come for the rest of us?”
“Oh, look, he’s already headed this way!”
“Whoa! Seriously?!”
Ghost Captain Gilgea moved toward the cabin, walking over the fallen bodies of the party from class B.
“W-We should hide deeper inside!”
We moved to obey the sailors, but then the boss vanished into the thin air, warping to block our path.
“End of the line, I guess! Then there’s only one thing to do!” Akira’s expression became fierce as she gripped her camera tightly. “Before I die, I’m gonna get a super intense close-up screenshot!”
“Still obsessed with your screenshots, huh?”
“I don’t have even a single point of EXP, so it doesn’t really matter if I die. Here, I’ll act as bait so you can escape, Ren. But you don’t have long before he wrecks me“
“No, wait. I want to test something.”
“Oh? Might it be that ultimate of yours?”
“Yup. Since we’re stuck in a boss battle anyway, don’t you want to see the fruits of my meta-redefinition?”
“Heck yeah! My camera is ready!”
I took a couple paces ahead of Akira and confronted Gilgea. I wasted no time in casting Devitalizing Circle. A large, runic circle appeared at my feet, stretching to envelop the boss as well. Its duration was one minute, and it decreased the VIT of any enemies standing inside. Since I maxed out the range of the skill, that left me with only 1 MP. There was hardly a point in making the circle bigger in itself, except as a preface for what was to come.
Now, my weapon appeared to be a regular cane, but it was actually crafted to hide a blade within. I wielded the hidden weapon, Canesword. It was made by placing a bronze sword within an oak staff. The tip of the staff was able to rotate, giving way to the sword within. I unscrewed the tip of the staff, finishing my battle preparations. All that was left to do was wait for his approach.
Gilgea began to close the distance between us with slow steps. He wasn’t using his shockwaves this time. Was he toying with me? Did he have cockiness programmed into his logic routine? This game never ceased to surprise with its details. But that was lucky for me, meaning I could cast my circle in safety.
Gilgea’s HP remained chunked as a result of his battle with the party from class B—he was at about 50%. Adding up the total damage from the battle log, the party dealt a total of about a thousand damage. If a thousand cuts the bar in half, that means he had about a thousand remaining. That’s a pretty low amount for a boss monster like him. It was probably meant to offset his high defenses. As long as that judgement was correct—I could probably take him down!
“All right, I’m gonna kill him with just one attack! Ultimate ability!” In response to my voice, my body was enveloped in a soft light. It was even accompanied by a quiet sound effect.
Gilgea continued to approach me, weapon readied. He moved into range of my ultimate. Now’s the time to show the fruit of the Ren-style redefinition of the symbologist!
“Dead End!”
The sword hidden within my Canesword glowed with a pale, yet bright purple light, emblematic of hidden weapons. The humming generated by that flash rose to become a sudden, loud boom as the light struck Gilgea. He raised his sword to strike me in turn, but I was faster. Dead End had already taken hold of Gilgea. His HP bar, previously halfway full, dropped all at once. How much damage did I do?!
I observed Gilgea, who was frozen with his sword still raised in the air.
C’mon, die, die, die already! That was my only attack! Almost as if the game had read my mind... after a beat, Gilgea fell slowly onto his back.
I turned my attention to the log window to see two lines:
Ren activated Dead End. 1,123 damage dealt to Ghost Captain Gilgea!
Ren has slain Ghost Captain Gilgea.
Oho! It worked! It really worked! This is insane! A level 4 lowbie has taken down a level 27 boss! Ah yes, there’s no better feeling than when the underdog comes out on top.
“Whaaaat?! Seriously?! How’d you do that much damage?!” Akira’s eyes were wide with shock.
“Woooo! Did you see that ridiculous firepower?!”
In the thrill of the moment, I pumped my fist into the air and struck a triumphant pose. At the same time, my Canesword shattered to pieces as a result of Final Strike, one of the components of my ultimate move. The cost of increasing my damage was the immediate destruction of my weapon.
“Heheheh! This is a new beginning for symbologist! A developing player on the brink of being benched has been granted new life, a second chance to awaken to his latent power!” The fanfare playing between my shouts was the level-up tone. It repeated itself over and over. I was a lowbie, after all, and rare monsters give bonus EXP.
The ceaseless fanfare wasn’t just playing for me, though. Akira, who I was in a party with, gained the same EXP, and we were both graced with the sound of repeated level-ups.
“Whoa! Look at my levels go!”
In the end, I gained nine levels, while she gained ten. Suddenly, we were 13 and 11.
“How about that? A pretty satisfying meta-redefinition, eh?”
“Absolutely! That was crazy high damage, like you were using some kind of cheat code!” Akira looked on at me in awe.
“My hidden weapon art gets stronger at low HP, after all.” I was in critical condition after my ultimate left me at 1 HP. Prior to that, I had drained all of my MP. Using Turnover, I reversed my gauges to make my HP 1.
“Neat! So instead of using it as an MP recovery skill, you used it as an HP reduction instead! Rather than an inferior MP recovery, it’s actually an HP management skill!”
“Yep. 1 HP makes Quickdraw unleash its maximum damage, and since it ignores defenses and can’t be evaded, his stats couldn’t save him.”
It did about the same damage to Gilgea as it did in my test runs. Honestly, I was a little worried that it somehow wouldn’t work out. After all, I’d only ever tried it against my good island bunny friends.
“On top of Turnover and Quickdraw, Final Strike just made my damage even more busted, y’know? Shame it had to bust my Canesword too, though.”
“Yeah! It’s busted in all kinds of ways!”
“Symbologist can get to 1 HP easily, thanks to its high-cost magic and Turnover. It’s got great synergy with hidden weapon arts.”
Other classes don’t care about hidden weapons too much, but they’re a godsend for symbologists. And since both of the components in question are low tier, nobody but me would bother to try this combination. When you’re told in advance that they’re garbage, one would naturally be biased against giving them a fair chance. That’s one of the drawbacks of strategy guides.
“Wowwww, I’m loving this meta-redefinition!”
“It’s a shame I end up with 1 HP and weaponless after my big attack. If it doesn’t kill the enemy, my ultimate leaves me completely vulnerable.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty self-destructive. Talk about a glass cannon!”
“It felt so good when it worked! Big numbers are justice, and my one-shot wonder is the judge!”
That’s exactly the attitude I was going to face this game with! Symbologist wasn’t just an iffy-at-best supporting class—it was also an attacker that can let out a single devastating blow.... And when it did, it didn’t even stop me from resuming my supportive role. I was a multi-role man! A jack of two trades.
“I almost feel silly getting so excited over big damage numbers, but this really is a dramatic redefinition! It’s like a one-shot drama cannon!”
As we laughed and shared our joy, I came to a sudden realization. At the edge of the Log window, the loot icon was glowing.
“Oh? Looks like we got some loot, Akira. I wonder what he dropped.”
“Really now? It’s this icon here, right? Let’s see what we’ve got here.” We opened our loot lists, which displayed the following.
Skyfall (O)
Type: One-Hand Sword
Level: 10
Might: 20
AP gain: 12
Poise: 44
Guardbreak: 51
Effect: Creates shockwaves with each attack when user’s HP is at 100%.
Remedy of Murgleis (O) x2
Type: Consumable Item
Nullifies cooldowns on all skills, making them immediately usable.
This Skyfall sword must have been what the boss was wielding... and we got two Remedy of Murgleis on top of that. I loved those things.
“Ooh! Is this that pretty sword the boss was holding?”
“I think so. It’s got high might for the level requirement, and a nice passive too. Not too shabby!” I guess his shockwaves came from his weapon’s effect, then. Since it required full HP, he was only able to use it at the start of the battle, and that’s why he couldn’t hit me with shockwaves. I get it... very cool. “You should take this, Akira. Your class can equip it.”
“What? Really? I was just gonna take a screenshot of it.”
“I can’t equip it... and if I did anyway, I’d just end up breaking it. Plus, it’d help me more if you had a better weapon. We can split the Remedy of Murgleis between us.”
“Okay! I’ll take it, then.” As soon as we finished dividing the loot, Akira equipped her new Skyfall. The translucent, sky-blue blade appeared in her hand. “How’s it look?”
“Now that I can get a safe look at it, it really is a pretty sword. I bet it’d look nice as a fashion gearset too.”
“Yeah, totally! I love it! Thank you, Ren!”
“No prob.”
“I’m ready to go try it out! Let’s go!” She was like an impatient child.
Suddenly, an announcement rang through the ship. Trinisty Island, made up of multiple floors that sliced through the mountains, was coming into view. From here, we would focus wholeheartedly on the expedition.
“Since we got that unexpected level boost, we can burst straight through to the upper floors!”
“All right! We’d better go help Maeda and the rest of the class! New goal: absolute victory!”
When we arrived on Trinisty Island, we immediately set out on the expedition. Since we were levels 13 and 11 respectively, the first floor was easy. Registering at warp points along the way, we completed quest after quest to advance to the upper floors. As for Akira’s test run with Skyfall, she had plenty of fun launching shockwaves at our bunny friends.
At the end of the expedition quest, a boss awaited us. Each floor had a specific route required to advance to the next, and each of those routes were guarded by floor bosses, all with the same crown icon. But with our advanced levels, the first floor boss was an easy victory. We charged through the second floor and arrived at the third floor before we reached the daily stopping point.
We wanted to continue onward, but the game forcibly ends at 10:00 PM. From there, login was disabled until 6:00 AM. That was a very school-like level of concern. It really did feel like an education-focused online game.
“All right, good games. Good night, Ren.”
“Yeah, g’night. See you tomorrow.”
Akira waved at me with a cute smile before logging out. It reminded me just how strange it was to realize that such a cute girl really was my friend... The world is full of mysteries, and today was no different. But I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth! I decided to consider it a reward for my everyday greatness.
We left the school building and moved to floating Telluna’s city proper. From there, we headed toward the airship port.
UW’s world was full of magic warp points for quick transportation, but you have to touch them in person and register before you can use them. Afterwards, you can use the warp room in the school to teleport to them immediately. Myself nor Akira had touched any warp points yet, so our only choice was to travel by airship.
We had little time before the airship to Trinisty Island would leave. Shortly after we dashed on board, the airship departed.
There were a handful of others on board, but they were surprisingly few. After all, why bother with the airship once you’ve registered a warp point or two?
As the port and floating city faded into the distance behind us, the airship continued through the azure. The sky above and sea below were a matching hue. It was fairytale-like beauty.
Akira, ever the sightseer, was ecstatic. She stood on the deck and marvelled at the scenery.
“Woooow! This is the best view ever! The air feels incredible!”
“Yeah, and to think, we’d never have experienced something like this without UW!”
“Even if the rest of school sucked, this would make it all worthwhile! It’s so realistic! Oh, hey, Ren! How do I take a screenshot?”
“Here you go.” I removed the otherworldly lens from my inventory, handing it to Akira. Design-wise, it was like an antique camera. “There. This takes screenshots of the game. If you fix up the export settings, the school can even e-mail you the image.”
“Wow, thanks! You’re well prepared, Ren.”
“I thought you might want one, so I crafted it in advance.”
“Good job! See, you get me.”
Akira moved here and there along the deck, snapping pictures as she went. It was kinda nice watching her have so much fun. I thought it was cute when her muscular beastman ran around screenshotting things too, but this kind of cute felt way more appropriate.
“Ren, let’s take a picture together! Mr. Sailor, could you take the camera?” Akira spoke to one of the NPCs on deck—I could tell it was an NPC because his name was displayed in green. Player names, meanwhile, are displayed in light-blue. As the NPC’s logic routine sprung into action, the sailor pleasantly accepted the camera and pointed it at us, the fading city behind us.
“A splendid view. Could you two get a little closer together?”
“Okay!” Akira moved closer, grabbing my arm. As she did, her chest pushed into my elbow—a softer sensation I’ve never known. Funny how this game recreates minute details like this with such precision.
“Ren. Rennnn!” Akira looked at me with a mischievous grin.
“Hmm?”
“I said you’d be popular if you came to this school, right?”
“Huh... yeah, I think I recall that.”
“Doesn’t it feel like you’re popular with a girl right now?” Yeah, she was definitely messing with me. But at the same time, I was just a gaming addict who’d never had a single girlfriend. So in the end...
“Uhhh... beats me.” I couldn’t think of a clever retort! All I could do was sit there like a dufus and listen to my heart trying to beat its way out of my chest.
“Aww, c’mon, you could at least play along. Ugh, now I’m all embarrassed.” Looks like I’ve infected her with my nerves too.
“Er, sorry.”
“No, it’s fine... I didn’t say something bad, did I?”
“No, that’s not—” I should have been thrilled to have such a cute girl clinging to me, but it was such an alien concept to me that I could only be embarrassed.
“Okay, get ready! You’re both looking a little stiff, so smile and say cheese!”
We thanked the sailor NPC after he took our picture. I had to wonder what kind of face I was making in the picture, but I decided I’d be better off not looking.
We took a few moments to calm down, and eventually ended up talking about our stats.
“So, Ren. How’s it going for you?”
“Let’s see.” I summoned the system window and checked my Status screen. A translucent window appeared before me, blending in with the empty blue sky.
“Mind if I take a look?”
“Go ahead.” Akira started looking over my screen. The Status screen is several pages long, so let’s start with the main screen.
PAGE 1/3
[Character Status]
Class: Symbologist
Level: 4
HP: 103/103
MP: 41/41
AP: 0/300
STR: 9
VIT: 10
DEX: 11
AGI: 11
INT: 20
MND: 15
CHR: 13
Talent 1: Knifer
<Effect> User can equip hidden weapons.
Talent 2: Skill Chain
<Effect> User can combine up to three skills/arts to unleash ultimate abilities.
Talent 3: Final Strike
<Effect> User has learned Final Strike.
Talent 4: Efficiency
<Effect> User skips the crafting animation, but is unable to craft flawless items.
Talent 5: Empty
LUB: 12
MEP: 141
Money: 54,338 Mira
[Equipment]
Main Weapon: Canesword (OEX)
Subweapon: Empty
Head: Empty
Body: Shaman’s Robe
Arm: Empty
Legs: Shaman’s Slops
Feet: Novice’s Shoes
Acc 1: Empty
Acc 2: Empty
And that’s the first page.
LUB stands for Level-Up Bonus; each time you level up, it increases. You use it to increase your stats further. Here’s a rundown of each stat:
STR, Strength, affects physical power.
VIT, Vitality, affects physical defense and HP.
DEX, Dexterity, affects physical attack accuracy and critical hit rate.
AGI, Agility, affects evasion and movement speed.
INT, Intelligence, affects magical power and MP.
MND, Mind, affects magical defense and MP.
CHR, Charisma, affects dance skills and various other things.
Base stats are optimized for each class’s role. From there, it’s up to the player how they decide to raise their own stats. At the moment, though, I’m just hoarding LUB.
MEP, Merit Points, can be exchanged to boost talents, arts, and equipment thresholds. As the name implies, there’s much merit in having MEP, and you want to have as much as you can get. But... the only way to acquire it is through school exams. My current MEP is from the five-subject entrance exam, minus 100. I’d better study hard for the next test... In case you’re wondering, those 100 points went toward my Final Strike talent.
Speaking of which, allow me to explain talents. Each player has five talent slots. These slots can expand your range of gear beyond the class defaults, allow you to learn more skills, make crafting easier, and so much more. One’s playstyle can change dramatically depending on talent loadout, so it gives the player a lot of freedom. It also lets the player demonstrate their knowledge of the game, so it’s worth going through a lot of trial-and-error to find the best combo. A symbologist might appreciate a Master’s Scroll (healing magic), for instance, I think. It wouldn’t be as effective as a pure healer’s skills, but it would let me use healing magic nonetheless. That would give me more uses for my MP, in situations where debuffing enemies just won’t cut it.
“Hmm. Knifer and Skill Chain together? Interesting...” Akira held the UW Guidebook in her hand, referencing it as she looked over my Status screen. “Whoa! Both Knifer and Final Strike are E-rank?! Efficiency is D? And Skill Chain is the highest at C?! Looking at the strategy guide, this seems like a really bogus loadout. Are you sure you’ll be redefining anything like this?”
“I’m planning to start at the absolute bottom.”
“Mm... if you think you can cut it, go for it. But ultimates are for attackers, and symbologist doesn’t have much in the way of firepower.” She wasn’t fully convinced yet.
“The way I see it, the strategy guide isn’t the be-all and end-all. When the meta changes, those ratings will go up.”
“You talk big, but I’ve seen how it goes when you muck up. I’m not convinced until I see real results, buddy.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Yeah, Akira knew me well. But this time, I knew I could do it. This game hasn’t been opened to the world at large yet, so it should have less players than the average game. That means there’s been less potential for trial-and-error, and therefore the possibility of finding diamonds in the rough is all the higher... and that’s where my loadout comes in! I hope.
“This talent system lets you experiment like crazy. Making ultimates with Skill Chain and such seems really neat too. Hey, where’d you get this talent, anyway? I wanna make ultimates!”
“I got it from a quest in the first city of Trinisty Island. The only thing is, you have to collect three thousand Hare’s Flesh.”
“Seriously?! That doesn’t sound fun at all!”
“It coincided with material-farming, so it was more of a bonus for me.” To complete this quest, I had to get item drops from island bunnies, the weakest enemies in the game. Their level is so low that they don’t give any EXP to players level 4 or higher. That was actually beneficial to me, since I was trying to stay at the lowest level possible while I waited.
“In the starting zone of Trinisty Island, I devoted myself to hunting bunnies, mining in the rocky areas, chopping wood in the forest, and digging up tombs. My crafting skill is super high now, and I’ve got enough materials to last me a long time.”
“Was that all thanks to me being late? You really do seem to enjoy the mind-numbingly repetitive jobs, Ren.”
“Repetitive jobs and searching places from top to bottom are pretty much all I know.” I was born for factory work. Not that I’d know, having never worked in one, but I’m good at clearing my mind and focusing on nothing in particular. Plus, I love looking at how my numbers get bigger and bigger as my inventory and crafting levels swell.
“I think I’ll find another way to get it. It’s 450 MEP, right? Ugh, but MEP’s so valuable!”
“How much do you have?”
“Just 465.”
“For real? You averaged 93 in all five subjects?!”
“It’s all luck. Maybe my test was easier.”
I only got a total of 241, out of all five tests... but whatever.
“As for my other talents, Knifer was unlocked at base. I got Final Strike by spending MEP, and Efficiency came from a quest. That quest was easier; I just had to craft 256 wooden tables.”
“Of course you’d consider crafting 256 items an easy task.”
“By the way, what was your base talent?” When a player makes a character, they get a single talent. The talent you get is random, so it’s like a lottery.
“Uh... Breath of Ares?”
“What?! Seriously?!”
“Yep! Heheh, did I get a lucky draw?” Lucky? Ridiculous is more like it. It would probably cost a thousand MEP to unlock.
Breath of Ares is a skill that passively regenerates AP for its user. Considering you can usually only build AP via combat, that’s a pretty big deal. It’s downright essential for classes that rely on arts, especially for sword dancers who can convert AP to healing. There’s no such thing as too much AP for them.
Talk about an absolute bullseye. For as long as we’ve played together, Akira’s had tremendous luck. Even when we’d grind for items together, she’d always get them first.
“Lucky as ever, huh? Here I am, a lowly knifer.” At rank E, my base talent was pretty much garbage. With that said, we moved to page two of my Status screen.
PAGE 2/3
[Magic]
Devitalizing Circle (MP: 5~∞)
Cooldown: 0/10 seconds
<Effect> Places a magic circle that decreases VIT by 25% for all enemies inside.
Symbologist only
Enervating Circle (MP: 5~∞)
Cooldown: 0/10 seconds
<Effect> Places a magic circle that decreases AGI by 25% for all enemies inside.
Symbologist only
[Skills]
Turnover
Cooldown: 0/300 seconds
<Effect> Swaps current HP and MP.
Symbologist only
Final Strike Lv1
Cooldown: 0/300 seconds
<Effect> Greatly increases damage of next attack, but breaks weapon afterward.
[Arts]
Charge Spells (AP: 100)
Staff Art
<Effect> Recovers 20% of max MP.
Quickdraw (AP: 0)
Hidden Weapon Art
<Effect> Lightning-fast single hit strike that takes the opponent by surprise. Only usable once per battle. Grows stronger as HP decreases. Ignores defense. Cannot be evaded.
And that’s page two. Akira took immediate interest in Quickdraw.
“So Quickdraw is a hidden weapon art? It says here that they’re strong but difficult to handle, and even more difficult to obtain... and that their main arts are all one-hit wonders with no utility. Is that true?” Strategy guide in hand, she bombarded me with questions.
“Pretty much. The base art is pretty much just a normal attack if you’re at full HP, and you can only use it once per battle. But what’s nice is that you can let it fly any time, since it doesn’t cost AP.” Even in real life, hidden weapons like knives are all about taking the opponent by surprise. The game replicates that by making them a lot less useful once you’ve made your first surprise attack.
“Then you wanna use it at low HP, right?”
“Pretty much. I want to take a lot of damage, but it’s hard to get HP too close to zero.”
“True. In a real battle, you’d die if you tried to do that, not to mention the stress it puts on the party’s healer.”
“Yep. So if I want to use it myself, it’s best to fight against enemies I can solo. I let them bring my HP down to red, then I look on in joy at the big number my Quickdraw generates. My good friends the island bunnies have been helping out with that.”
“Haha! Nice.”
“Also, every hidden weapon has the OEX attribute.”
“OEX?”
“O means you can only hold one at once, and EX means it’s bind-on-pickup.”
“Meaning you have to craft it or pick it up yourself?”
“Bingo. Crafting is a must.” Put simply, you don’t want to give away the fact that you’re carrying hidden weapons, so I’m working on being able to craft whichever ones I want. I’d been farming materials on the first floor and working on my crafting skill for that reason alone. I enjoy working gradually toward a goal, so it’s not like I found it boring.
“Mhm...”
“Did you know that not a single class can equip hidden weapons by default? That means you have to dedicate an entire talent slot to it, and you only have five to start with. So essentially, it’s like, ‘Do I really want to waste a slot on this?’“
“I sure wouldn’t. It’s one of the most notoriously bad E ranks.”
“You’ve got that right, and I should know better than anyone. If it weren’t my base talent, I wouldn’t be using it.” I may have picked it up just to try it out, but it sure wouldn’t have been a priority. “All right. Here comes page three.”
PAGE 3/3
[Ultimates]
Dead End (Usable after a sequence of Turnover -> Final Strike -> Quickdraw)
Since page three is only used for ultimates, it’s pretty short. When Akira saw that, her expression changed. I knew she’d be able to pick up on what this meant.
“Hmm... Ah, what have we here? This reeks of meta-redefinition.”
“Oho! You’ve got a fine eye, my good lady!”
“You’ll have to give me a demonstration later.” Akira pointed behind me. “Huh? Ren, there’s a black airship coming this way. What’s the deal?”
“Oh? Weird. I’ve never seen that before.” It seemed to be damaged in multiple places. I also noticed it quivering, as if it were a mirage. Whatever the case, it was more than a little spooky and fast approaching us. It wasn’t long before the sailor NPCs began to notice.
“Gh-Ghost ship! Crew, it’s the ghost ship! The rumors were true!” There are ghost ships in this game? Maybe it’s some sort of super rare random event. “Passengers, take refuge inside the ship immediately!”
The sailors desperately shoved us away from the deck and into the ship itself. Even if they’re NPCs, seeing people panic leads one to panic in turn. On the other hand, some tried to make their way back onto the deck, excited for the challenge.
They were other players, just like us. It looked to be a six-man party, all around levels 18 to 20. Their classes were paladin, warrior, hunter, rogue, cleric, and minstrel. I focus on the player marked as the party leader.
Shinichi Kataoka (1-B)
Level 20 Rogue
Party Leader
Looks like they’re all from class B.
“The time has come!”
“There aren’t any other parties around—this is our chance!”
“We’ve been training for this moment!” With their excitement mounting, the party tried to move ondeck, but they were stopped by the duty-bound sailor NPC.
“You can’t! It’s too dangerous!”
“Outta our way, buddy!” He forcefully shoved his way through as Kataoka’s group charged to the ship deck.
“Wow, that was rude. Are you okay?” Akira helped the sailor up.
“Y-Yeah, thank you.”
“What’s happening? I’ve been on this airship several times, but I’ve never seen this before.” I observed the situation through a window.
“There’s nothing about this in the strategy guide.”
“Not surprising. Those are made for beginners, anyway.”
“But why do those guys seem to know about it? They’d be surprised if it was their first time seeing it, and they definitely didn’t seem surprised.”
“Yeah, it’s like they were hunting for it. Maybe they’ve encountered it before?” No way to know unless we ask, I suppose.
“I’m guessing we’d just get in their way if we tried to join them.”
“Uh, at levels 4 and 1? I’d say so.”
“I’ll just be taking screenshots in complete safety here, then. I don’t think we’ll be seeing this every day!” Akira seemed intent on watching the battle unfold.
The ambush party from class B prepared for battle by layering the minstrel and cleric’s buffs, granting the entire party numerous beneficial status icons.
“Must be nice to be able to buff your allies. Symbologist can only debuff enemies, after all.”
“It’s naturally more appreciated, since people can immediately tell when they’re buffed.”
“Yup, and symbologist circles can’t be moved after they’ve been placed, so they’re worthless if the enemy just walks out. But on the other hand, if you can make the enemy move into the circle, it’ll be hard for them to resist the effect.” Resisting is when, for example, X attempted to cast a sleep spell, but it failed! If the enemy has high resistance, you’ll see this a lot.
“Sounds like aggro management is important to you, then.”
“That’s right. If the tank can keep aggro, the enemy won’t move out of the circle.”
Aggro is essentially how much the enemy wants you dead. Enemy monsters will target whichever player currently has the highest aggro level. Aggro increases based on how much damage you deal, how much you heal allies, and so on, but will decrease over time, or if you take too much damage from the enemy. If the tank wants to keep on taking hits for the party, they have to maintain higher aggro than the others, even while their aggro decreases from enemy attacks. Tanks have their own ways of generating aggro, so that’s an important part of playing the role. As long as they can keep it up, monsters will stick to them like glue. The symbologist aims to cast spells at the tank’s feet to take advantage of this.
“But in player-versus-player combat, they can just walk out of the circle.”
“Right, of course. This game has PvP too.” As Akira suggested, enemies in player versus player battles need only avoid the circles, so a lot of people say symbologist is useless against real people.
“That sounds... less than useful.”
“There are ways to increase the radius of my circles, but the larger they get, the more MP they cost.” The biggest circles can reduce your MP from full to zero in seconds. That’s just how valuable increased range is.
“But with Turnover, I guess you don’t have to worry about that too much.” As she suggested, Turnover makes it a little easier to let loose with spells. It’s a five minute cooldown, symbologist-only skill that swaps current HP and MP. Even if the MP gauge is empty, as long as I have HP, I can recover my MP. A pretty solid skill, in my book. “But wizards and clerics have MP recovery skills too. Pure MP recovery, without the HP cost. And minstrels don’t even use MP.”
“Yet another flaw of the class. When people call it the king of the Bummers, they aren’t kidding.”
No sooner had I finished that sentence than the airship shook violently. I turned to see that an anchor had been thrown from the ghost ship, attaching to our airship. Using the anchor as a bridge, enemies began to flood the ship. They were all armed for battle—faceless, pure-black apparitions with eyes of red. I recalled this brand of undead being called specters.
There were about ten specters in total, all level 16. We’d have been no match for them. Thus, the battle between class B and the specters began.
“Bind their legs!”
“Got it!”
The minstrel ran out in front, leading with Requiem for the Dead. All of the specters within range became unable to move at all. This song was a sleep spell, especially strong against undead monsters. Oh, how I wished I could do that. The majority of the specters fell asleep, but some of them continued their charge toward the party’s minstrel.
“Just you try!”
The paladin, tank of the party, activated his area-of-effect taunt skill, Challenge. Accordingly, the specters changed course toward him. Seems like his aggro management was working out. Even as he was attacked by three monsters at once, his suit of armor guarded him such that he didn’t even take a scratch.
In that moment, the warrior, hunter, and rogue focused their attacks on one enemy at a time, carving them down effortlessly. The minstrel’s buffing songs were putting in work too—each kill was nearly instant.
Their cleric fell back, healing the paladin and the attackers as necessary. But a paladin with his guard up shrugs off any and all physical attacks, so if the cleric bothered to heal him, that must have meant he wasn’t wanting for MP.
Once the three mobile enemies were taken down, the sleeping ones began to awaken. But at that point, Requiem for the Dead had already finished cooling down. Thus, the minstrel played his song once again.
Just as before, the paladin taunted any awake enemies, and the attackers continued their one-by-one slaughter. They continued in this loop quite successfully.
“Pretty smooth run, huh?” Akira chimed in as if she were watching mere spectacle.
“I’d say so.”
The area of effect on the minstrel’s sleep song is large, so it’s easy to stop a great deal of enemies in their tracks. But he can also buff his allies on top of that. It’s a modest class, but the difference between having one and not having one in the party is huge. Thus is the life of a supporter.
The party from class B finished off the specters with no major issues. Another wave of enemies came, slightly larger than the last, but it was dealt with all the same.
I expected another wave of specters to come, but this time, it was different. Only one enemy appeared. But compared to the specters that came before, this one was clearly at least twice as large. Its gear was more elaborate than the others as well, and it resembled a ship’s captain.
When I looked at the name above its head, it read “Ghost Captain Gilgea.” It was level 27, with a crown icon next to it—a rare monster. Some might even call it a boss battle.
It wielded a translucent, gem-like sword that reflected the blue of the sky.
“Whoa! This guy looks tough! Time for some screenshots!” Akira took shot after shot with her camera, excited at the boss’s appearance.
I had to wonder if we were safe. If the party from class B went down, we would be mowed down in short order. That said, even if you “die“ in battle, the only penalty is losing a bit of EXP.
The party from class B reapplied their buffs while Gilgea approached, preparing to fight it with full force. The paladin moved in front, attempting to taunt it with Challenge. It worked as expected—except, for some reason, Gilgea stopped moving. Then, he brought his sword down. Of course, since he was too far away, he was just fruitlessly smacking the floor below him. Or so I thought—but I soon understood there was a method to his madness.
A shockwave, brought about at the tip of his sword, moved straight toward the paladin. In his surprise, he assumed his defensive stance instead of attempting to dodge. The attack plowed through his guard, dealing immense damage—checking my Log window, it was a total of 137 HP. That single hit left him with only 30% of his health bar! Maybe the shockwave was a magic attack? Though paladins excel at physical defense, their magic defense is somewhat lacking to balance it out.
The boss moved away and generated another shockwave, but this time the paladin successfully dodged it. The party’s attackers seized this opportunity to approach and overwhelm the boss with short-range attacks. Kataoka and the warrior attacked the boss from either flank, and the hunter bombarded him with arrows from afar. Each of the attackers’ regular blows dealt about 10-20 damage, and each art activation dealt about 50. He was a boss, after all; of course he’d be hard to damage. He was also adept at evasion, thanks to his high AGI stat.
The paladin began to close the distance between them, dodging shockwaves as he went.
At this point, the boss gave up on long-distance shockwaves, opting for direct attacks on the tank. The tank was taking immense damage—with the constant assault of arts from the boss, he was in the red at 25% HP. With the cleric’s help, they were able to maintain that level of health. But since he was taking so much damage, he was also losing a great deal of aggro, nearly letting the boss change targets.
Kataoka’s rogue skill, Scapegoat, kept them from disaster by putting even more aggro on the paladin. Scapegoat allows the player to transfer all of their damage-based aggro to an allied player by attacking the enemy from behind the ally. It also increases damage, boosting the effect further. Scapegoat’s duration also increases with each art activation, balancing aggro management and damage. At this point, the boss had 70% of its HP remaining. Could they really make it?
The situation continued until he was left with 50%—but then, the boss unleashed a new art. In the Log, it was called Crescent Slash, a cleave attack that hit enemies in a crescent pattern in front of the boss. As an untargeted attack, it naturally hit the paladin standing in front—but unfortunately, it also hit the Scapegoating rogue behind him. Once they were hit, the paladin was left in the red again. Meanwhile, the leader lost all of his health and fell where he stood.
“Gah! He ate the hit too!”
“Oof, that’s bad news.”
The support they were receiving from Scapegoat was now lost. That meant the tank’s job was about to get a lot harder. My fear continued to mount.
The cleric’s healing aggro suddenly overcame the paladin’s aggro, which led the boss to charge at the cleric. His party was helpless to stop him, forced to watch as their healer was next to fall. Without their healer, it was about to get even worse.
From there, class B was taken down one by one until the entire party was wiped. The whole turning point of this battle was the rogue’s defeat at the hands of Crescent Slash. If it weren’t for that, they might’ve made it... Either they were unlucky, or the devs outsmarted them. What insane timing.
“Aww, that’s a shame. I wanted to see them win.” Akira sighed in disappointment.
“But what happens now? Is he gonna come for the rest of us?”
“Oh, look, he’s already headed this way!”
“Whoa! Seriously?!”
Ghost Captain Gilgea moved toward the cabin, walking over the fallen bodies of the party from class B.
“W-We should hide deeper inside!”
We moved to obey the sailors, but then the boss vanished into the thin air, warping to block our path.
“End of the line, I guess! Then there’s only one thing to do!” Akira’s expression became fierce as she gripped her camera tightly. “Before I die, I’m gonna get a super intense close-up screenshot!”
“Still obsessed with your screenshots, huh?”
“I don’t have even a single point of EXP, so it doesn’t really matter if I die. Here, I’ll act as bait so you can escape, Ren. But you don’t have long before he wrecks me“
“No, wait. I want to test something.”
“Oh? Might it be that ultimate of yours?”
“Yup. Since we’re stuck in a boss battle anyway, don’t you want to see the fruits of my meta-redefinition?”
“Heck yeah! My camera is ready!”
I took a couple paces ahead of Akira and confronted Gilgea. I wasted no time in casting Devitalizing Circle. A large, runic circle appeared at my feet, stretching to envelop the boss as well. Its duration was one minute, and it decreased the VIT of any enemies standing inside. Since I maxed out the range of the skill, that left me with only 1 MP. There was hardly a point in making the circle bigger in itself, except as a preface for what was to come.
Now, my weapon appeared to be a regular cane, but it was actually crafted to hide a blade within. I wielded the hidden weapon, Canesword. It was made by placing a bronze sword within an oak staff. The tip of the staff was able to rotate, giving way to the sword within. I unscrewed the tip of the staff, finishing my battle preparations. All that was left to do was wait for his approach.
Gilgea began to close the distance between us with slow steps. He wasn’t using his shockwaves this time. Was he toying with me? Did he have cockiness programmed into his logic routine? This game never ceased to surprise with its details. But that was lucky for me, meaning I could cast my circle in safety.
Gilgea’s HP remained chunked as a result of his battle with the party from class B—he was at about 50%. Adding up the total damage from the battle log, the party dealt a total of about a thousand damage. If a thousand cuts the bar in half, that means he had about a thousand remaining. That’s a pretty low amount for a boss monster like him. It was probably meant to offset his high defenses. As long as that judgement was correct—I could probably take him down!
“All right, I’m gonna kill him with just one attack! Ultimate ability!” In response to my voice, my body was enveloped in a soft light. It was even accompanied by a quiet sound effect.
Gilgea continued to approach me, weapon readied. He moved into range of my ultimate. Now’s the time to show the fruit of the Ren-style redefinition of the symbologist!
“Dead End!”
The sword hidden within my Canesword glowed with a pale, yet bright purple light, emblematic of hidden weapons. The humming generated by that flash rose to become a sudden, loud boom as the light struck Gilgea. He raised his sword to strike me in turn, but I was faster. Dead End had already taken hold of Gilgea. His HP bar, previously halfway full, dropped all at once. How much damage did I do?!
I observed Gilgea, who was frozen with his sword still raised in the air.
C’mon, die, die, die already! That was my only attack! Almost as if the game had read my mind... after a beat, Gilgea fell slowly onto his back.
I turned my attention to the log window to see two lines:
Ren activated Dead End. 1,123 damage dealt to Ghost Captain Gilgea!
Ren has slain Ghost Captain Gilgea.
Oho! It worked! It really worked! This is insane! A level 4 lowbie has taken down a level 27 boss! Ah yes, there’s no better feeling than when the underdog comes out on top.
“Whaaaat?! Seriously?! How’d you do that much damage?!” Akira’s eyes were wide with shock.
“Woooo! Did you see that ridiculous firepower?!”
In the thrill of the moment, I pumped my fist into the air and struck a triumphant pose. At the same time, my Canesword shattered to pieces as a result of Final Strike, one of the components of my ultimate move. The cost of increasing my damage was the immediate destruction of my weapon.
“Heheheh! This is a new beginning for symbologist! A developing player on the brink of being benched has been granted new life, a second chance to awaken to his latent power!” The fanfare playing between my shouts was the level-up tone. It repeated itself over and over. I was a lowbie, after all, and rare monsters give bonus EXP.
The ceaseless fanfare wasn’t just playing for me, though. Akira, who I was in a party with, gained the same EXP, and we were both graced with the sound of repeated level-ups.
“Whoa! Look at my levels go!”
In the end, I gained nine levels, while she gained ten. Suddenly, we were 13 and 11.
“How about that? A pretty satisfying meta-redefinition, eh?”
“Absolutely! That was crazy high damage, like you were using some kind of cheat code!” Akira looked on at me in awe.
“My hidden weapon art gets stronger at low HP, after all.” I was in critical condition after my ultimate left me at 1 HP. Prior to that, I had drained all of my MP. Using Turnover, I reversed my gauges to make my HP 1.
“Neat! So instead of using it as an MP recovery skill, you used it as an HP reduction instead! Rather than an inferior MP recovery, it’s actually an HP management skill!”
“Yep. 1 HP makes Quickdraw unleash its maximum damage, and since it ignores defenses and can’t be evaded, his stats couldn’t save him.”
It did about the same damage to Gilgea as it did in my test runs. Honestly, I was a little worried that it somehow wouldn’t work out. After all, I’d only ever tried it against my good island bunny friends.
“On top of Turnover and Quickdraw, Final Strike just made my damage even more busted, y’know? Shame it had to bust my Canesword too, though.”
“Yeah! It’s busted in all kinds of ways!”
“Symbologist can get to 1 HP easily, thanks to its high-cost magic and Turnover. It’s got great synergy with hidden weapon arts.”
Other classes don’t care about hidden weapons too much, but they’re a godsend for symbologists. And since both of the components in question are low tier, nobody but me would bother to try this combination. When you’re told in advance that they’re garbage, one would naturally be biased against giving them a fair chance. That’s one of the drawbacks of strategy guides.
“Wowwww, I’m loving this meta-redefinition!”
“It’s a shame I end up with 1 HP and weaponless after my big attack. If it doesn’t kill the enemy, my ultimate leaves me completely vulnerable.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty self-destructive. Talk about a glass cannon!”
“It felt so good when it worked! Big numbers are justice, and my one-shot wonder is the judge!”
That’s exactly the attitude I was going to face this game with! Symbologist wasn’t just an iffy-at-best supporting class—it was also an attacker that can let out a single devastating blow.... And when it did, it didn’t even stop me from resuming my supportive role. I was a multi-role man! A jack of two trades.
“I almost feel silly getting so excited over big damage numbers, but this really is a dramatic redefinition! It’s like a one-shot drama cannon!”
As we laughed and shared our joy, I came to a sudden realization. At the edge of the Log window, the loot icon was glowing.
“Oh? Looks like we got some loot, Akira. I wonder what he dropped.”
“Really now? It’s this icon here, right? Let’s see what we’ve got here.” We opened our loot lists, which displayed the following.
Skyfall (O)
Type: One-Hand Sword
Level: 10
Might: 20
AP gain: 12
Poise: 44
Guardbreak: 51
Effect: Creates shockwaves with each attack when user’s HP is at 100%.
Remedy of Murgleis (O) x2
Type: Consumable Item
Nullifies cooldowns on all skills, making them immediately usable.
This Skyfall sword must have been what the boss was wielding... and we got two Remedy of Murgleis on top of that. I loved those things.
“Ooh! Is this that pretty sword the boss was holding?”
“I think so. It’s got high might for the level requirement, and a nice passive too. Not too shabby!” I guess his shockwaves came from his weapon’s effect, then. Since it required full HP, he was only able to use it at the start of the battle, and that’s why he couldn’t hit me with shockwaves. I get it... very cool. “You should take this, Akira. Your class can equip it.”
“What? Really? I was just gonna take a screenshot of it.”
“I can’t equip it... and if I did anyway, I’d just end up breaking it. Plus, it’d help me more if you had a better weapon. We can split the Remedy of Murgleis between us.”
“Okay! I’ll take it, then.” As soon as we finished dividing the loot, Akira equipped her new Skyfall. The translucent, sky-blue blade appeared in her hand. “How’s it look?”
“Now that I can get a safe look at it, it really is a pretty sword. I bet it’d look nice as a fashion gearset too.”
“Yeah, totally! I love it! Thank you, Ren!”
“No prob.”
“I’m ready to go try it out! Let’s go!” She was like an impatient child.
Suddenly, an announcement rang through the ship. Trinisty Island, made up of multiple floors that sliced through the mountains, was coming into view. From here, we would focus wholeheartedly on the expedition.
“Since we got that unexpected level boost, we can burst straight through to the upper floors!”
“All right! We’d better go help Maeda and the rest of the class! New goal: absolute victory!”
When we arrived on Trinisty Island, we immediately set out on the expedition. Since we were levels 13 and 11 respectively, the first floor was easy. Registering at warp points along the way, we completed quest after quest to advance to the upper floors. As for Akira’s test run with Skyfall, she had plenty of fun launching shockwaves at our bunny friends.
At the end of the expedition quest, a boss awaited us. Each floor had a specific route required to advance to the next, and each of those routes were guarded by floor bosses, all with the same crown icon. But with our advanced levels, the first floor boss was an easy victory. We charged through the second floor and arrived at the third floor before we reached the daily stopping point.
We wanted to continue onward, but the game forcibly ends at 10:00 PM. From there, login was disabled until 6:00 AM. That was a very school-like level of concern. It really did feel like an education-focused online game.
“All right, good games. Good night, Ren.”
“Yeah, g’night. See you tomorrow.”
Akira waved at me with a cute smile before logging out. It reminded me just how strange it was to realize that such a cute girl really was my friend... The world is full of mysteries, and today was no different. But I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth! I decided to consider it a reward for my everyday greatness.
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