CHAPTER 6: CLASS CHANGE
CHAPTER 6: CLASS CHANGE
Thoroughly defeated, we returned to the classroom.
“Aww, we lost,” Akira said, disappointed.
“We did, but we were also able to bring it below 50% health. That was incredible damage.”
“I thought we could do it when I saw how much his ultimate dealt.”
“Sorry! I can’t believe I died first.” I put my hands together and bowed in apology before everyone.
“There wasn’t much you could do once he targeted you. Either way, it was originally meant to be just a reconnaissance run.” Maeda reassured me.
“So how did we do? Do you think we can win next time?”
“Hmm... As things stand now, it’ll be difficult, at best.”
“Agreed. Your burst damage was so high that he didn’t even look my way!”
“If we tried again now, it would end up the exact same way.”
Yano and Akira shared my thoughts. Being able to hammer out so much damage at once was very satisfying and dramatic, but it also became too much for the tank to handle.
The apprehensions I had felt before were finally taking shape. A good attacker can control his damage output in a way that allows the tank to maintain aggro. So when I was out there going ham on the boss, I was actually making things worse.
The simple truth was that we couldn’t win with this four-man restriction while using orthodox methods. We would run out of healing sources and be forced to watch helplessly as we died. There was no other way but to fire off four Dead Ends in quick succession. But with the damage aggro I built up, I would die before my fourth shot. We were stuck in a catch-22.
When she heard our thoughts, Maeda hung her head in disappointment.
“Oh... Then I suppose all we can do is throw in the towel.” As the expedition leader, I know she wanted to make things right for the class. Maeda really was a responsible girl.
“Sorry, Maeda. We might’ve set our expectations too high here.”
“Besides, it’s not your fault, Kotomi. Whoever used the debilitate bomb on us is the problem.”
“Not so fast, girls. I said ‘as things stand now.’ That doesn’t mean ‘throw in the towel.’“ I decided to step in.
“Oh?! Do you still have some dirty tricks up your sleeve?!”
“Seriously?! C’mon, tell us!”
“We’re all listening, Takashiro.”
“All right. Before I explain, how much MEP do we all have? I, uh, only have 141.”
“465 here.”
“I have 480 right now.”
“Akki? Kotomi?! How did you both get so smart?!”
Our only source of MEP so far was the five subject tests from the entrance exam. Those two were crazy good.
“Ooh, nice! I was hoping we could make it to 1,250. So far, we’re up to 1,086.” 164 left to reach our goal.
“How about you, Yuuna? You haven’t spent them yet, have you?”
“Nah, I haven’t yet. Uhhh, how much did I have, again? Just a sec. I think it was a hundred-something—”
“Wha? Huh? Seriously?!”
“Another member for the hundred club! That’s a surprise. My heart was racing in anticipation.”
“You got a problem with it? If I were smart, I wouldn’t dress like this, y’know?”
“I don’t think that’s related to your intelligence. Have you tried studying, Yuuna?”
“Yeah, yeah.” That was hardly a meaningful answer.
“So? A hundred and...?”
“Uhh... 166 total.”
“All right! That puts us right where we need to be.”
“Are we going to be using our MEP for this, Takashiro?”
“Yeah. We’ll need to buy an item called Wing of Rebirth, and a talent called AP Limit Break.”
The item costed 800 MEP, while the talent costed 450. Fortunately, MEP could be traded between players freely. Players would often sell just one point at a time. If we could pool our MEP together, this might work out!
“I’m guessing AP Limit Break is for me, then?”
“Yeah. It multiplies the AP cap by 1.5, making your maximum AP 450.”
“And you want me to cast Sword Samba twice.” She knew just what I was thinking.
“Exactly.”
“Wing of Rebirth is a class change item, isn’t it?”
“Right. It lets you change classes with your EXP intact. Now isn’t the best time for us to level down, so this is the only way to change classes at the moment.”
Changing classes is actually a bit of a hassle in this game. The action itself is simple; all you have to do is complete a quick quest. But it forces you to restart at level 1. Even if you go back to your old class, you’ll start at level 1 again.
In essence, a class change is equal to a clean EXP reset. Starting back at level 1 means a major loss of time, so only the bravest of people do it this way. But at the cost of 800 MEP, the Wing of Rebirth allows players to change classes without the EXP penalty. It’s an incredible item, to be sure. But it’s just so expensive. If you averaged 80 on every subject, that would be two whole tests.
“Who are we planning to class change?”
“I was hoping to have Yano change to sky pirate.”
That was my second choice for Akira. But yes, it is one of the Bummers. It’s a thief-type class, similar to rogue. But instead of specializing in DEX and AGI like rogues, sky pirates are bulkier, specializing in STR and VIT. They use guns and crossbows to deal damage.
Sky pirates see the world from their airships, so they prefer to fight with more technologically advanced weapons, but the power behind guns and crossbows doesn’t rely on STR. Some might consider it an advantage, but this fact doesn’t really mesh well with the game’s equipment system... Not to mention, guns and crossbows consume ammunition, so their high long-term cost compared to rogues is another major bottleneck for them.
They can steal items from enemies just like rogues can, so hey, that’s nice. But generally, most people would prefer to just use a rogue for that. Furthermore, rogues have access to Scapegoat to keep up aggro maintenance, whereas sky pirates do not.
To be fair, there are a lot of classes in the game, so it’s only natural that some of them would get a bum rap. That’s just how it works. You can’t have winners without an equal amount of losers. Despite sky pirate being a Bummer, though, it has great synergy with my symbologist.
“Me? But don’t we need a tank? Even if that tank can’t keep aggro.”
“No, you’ll still be a tank. I just don’t think any class but sky pirate could out-aggro me.”
Generally, people go for one of three tank roles: paladin, armor knight, or martial artist. Paladin excels in its role via access to recovery magic. Armor knight has the most pure bulk and an area-of-effect taunt, making it ideal for larger-scale battles. And martial artist has a ton of HP and can dodge and counter like no one else.
Each of these classes had simple, stand-out traits, but I doubt any of them could out-aggro the drama firehose that is my Dead End. The gist of my reasoning is that I have poor synergy with classic tanks. The only way forward is to change up our party composition.
“Ren, how will sky pirate help our aggro issue?”
“Sky pirate has a skill called Guilty Steal.”
“What does it do?” This skill was so obscure that even Yano was left puzzled. I guess the common player wouldn’t know about a weak class’s unique skill.
“It steals aggro from allies.” As a lover of underpowered classes, though, I’ve memorized all of the pertinent information about the Bummers.
“Ooh...”
“I completely forgot that skill existed.”
“Let’s see here... ‘Guilty Steal. Cooldown: three minutes. Steals target ally’s aggro and adds it to player’s own. Be sure not to use it on your tank! The intended use is to save a healer who has pulled aggro. In a party, it’s common knowledge that one should never pull aggro from the tank. Therefore, as a highly situational skill, it earns a D rank,’“ Akira read aloud from the textbook.
Well, that pretty much outlined the basics. Compared to the rogue, who can increase the tank’s aggro with Scapegoat, the sky pirate just has Guilty Steal. That’s yet another reason it can’t compare to rogue.
Not only does Scapegoat help the tank do their job, it also boosts the rogue’s damage. I think Scapegoat is about B rank. It’s better than Guilty Steal, in any case. It’s especially helpful when the party is in danger and they need a moment to recuperate. But that also means that it only really shines if the party is in danger, and it requires the player to have enough knowledge and skill to use it at the perfect time.
A truly versatile skill can help in any situation, simple enough for the party to benefit from it at all times. That’s the difference between the A and B rank skills.
“That’s what the guidebook thinks. But for us, that skill is S rank, because it will pull the boss off of me. Yano, you started with Master’s Scroll (Shield), right? So you should be about as bulky as a paladin either way.”
The main issue with our first attempt was that I pulled aggro and died too early. If she’d had aggro instead, Yano would have been more than able to hold out, and it would have allowed me to get more ultimates off as well.
With sky pirate’s Guilty Steal, we should be able to force the battle to go the way we need.
“I’ll open with Dead End. Then, Yano uses Guilty Steal so the boss targets her. Akira activates Sword Samba on Yano, and I use a Remedy of Murgleis so I can ultimate again. Yano uses Guilty Steal again, and I use another Remedy of Murgleis for another ultimate. At this point, Yano will have two Dead Ends worth of aggro, so the boss shouldn’t target me for the rest of the battle. Akira activates Sword Samba on me and I use my fourth Dead End. Bam, we win! That’s the plan. Compared to last time, I should be safe to activate all four Dead Ends.”
“Hmm. Hearing it all at once makes it pretty hard to wrap my head around...” Yano looked concerned.
“I think we can do it!”
“Good! I like it!”
“How about you two?!”
“I got it. Yuuna just has to use her skill as soon as you Dead End. Once she does that twice, she just has to survive.”
“The only problems are that we’ll use up all of everyone’s MEP, and Yano will be stuck as a sky pirate. It’ll be tedious for her to go back to being a paladin. So, the ultimate question: taking all those issues into account, are we still in favor? I say I’m in.”
“I’m cool with it too!” Akira nodded to me.
But the ones with the most to lose from this were Maeda and Yano. Maeda would lose all of her whopping 480 MEP. Meanwhile, Yano would be forced to change classes. It would be a shame for her to lose a class she liked.
“I don’t mind. If it keeps the class’s effort from going to waste, I’m ready to do anything.”
“Mmm. Well, I don’t mind as long as I can help Kotomi.”
“Thank you, Yuuna.”
“Aww, don’t worry about it.”
Unsurprisingly, Maeda was as serious and responsible as ever. And it would have been rude to actually say it to her, but Yano was really kind despite her gaudy looks. She was very open-minded.
“Sounds like we’re all in favor. Let’s get to work immediately! We gotta get to the boss before the other classes do!”
Fortunately, the MEP-trading counter was within the school, so we hurried over there right away.
◆◇◆
The next morning, during homeroom—
“Another good morning to you, gamers!”
Ms. Nakada entered the classroom with her usual energy, but the rest of the class was hardly as excited. The shock caused by the legendary debilitate bomb still lingered.
“All right, everyone, I’ve got news for you. Yesterday, the winner of the competitive event was decided!”
As she looked around the classroom, our eyes met. She smiled mischievously, as if she was a rascally little child playing a prank.
“Class E won! That’s us! Good job, everyone!”
“Whaaaaaaaat?!”
The entire class was shocked.
“But we’re all debilitated, right?!”
“What happened?!”
“Maybe there was some kind of mistake?”
“You’d think so, right? But actually, Takashiro, Maeda, Yano, and Aoyagi successfully took down the tenth floor boss together!”
She wasn’t kidding—once we’d remade our preparations and challenged the boss again, all of the pieces fell into place and we defeated it. The order of events I explained to the party worked exactly as I imagined! It was almost disappointing how easily I could chain four Dead Ends together. Just like four back-to-back home runs, it spelled death for the enemy.
So it’s true what they say; he who is well prepared has half won the battle. Planning and preparation are key.
“Really?!”
“Frickin’ rad!”
“Listen up, kids! No matter how many people were present in the battle, this is the whole class’s victory! That means everyone gets the reward. Check your talent screens!”
“Oho. There’s a new talent called Joint Magic in my talent list.”
As I recalled, Joint Magic allows a number of allies who equip it to combine their spells into one attack. It’s kind of like a magical version of Skill Chain, in that it lets you create ultimates.
“Those with physical classes get Skill Chain, while those with magic classes get Joint Magic. If you don’t see it in your talent list, let me know!”
Combining spells, huh? That had a pretty dramatic ring to it. I’d have to get a feel for just how good it was some time.
“Thank you so much, Maeda!”
“We gave up, but you stayed in the ring all this time!”
“That’s our leader for you!”
The class unanimously thanked her.
“You all should thank Takashiro, not me. He’s the one who planned the whole thing.” Even as she deflected praise, Maeda was smiling. Good. Hopefully I’ve repaid her in full for looking out for me.
“This next reward is only for the four who defeated the boss—until the next competitive event, they’ll have a victory flag next to their character icons!” Ooh, it’s true! I suddenly noticed the flag in Akira’s status screen. “With the victory flag, you’ll get discounts at shops, MEP exchange rates become cheaper, airships and dragon mounts are free, drop rates increase, and a whole bunch of other little bonuses are applied too!”
Huh, neat. But I was all out of MEP, anyway. Sadness. The higher drop rates would sure be nice, though. I always needed more materials for Caneswords, after all. I figured that would make preparation a bit less strenuous.
“Now, it’s time to announce this event’s MVP. Takashiro, come up to the front! Give him a round of applause, everyone!”
I didn’t know there was an MVP assignment, and I sure didn’t expect it would be me!
Clap, clap, clap, clap. In the midst of everyone’s applause, it was a tiny bit embarrassing to step up to the teacher’s platform. When I made it up there, Ms. Nakada whispered to me.
“You saved my butt there, kiddo. If someone else had won, this class could’ve been crushed beyond repair. Especially if the winner was a cheater like that.”
“Any idea who was responsible?”
“No clue yet. But if I had to say, it’s almost like nobody did it. We looked through the server logs, and we only saw the message about it detonating. The cause is completely unknown! But it’s still under investigation as a possible bug.”
“Oh, huh.” So we’d never know who threw the debilitation bomb, then? Not that it mattered, since we had won anyway. She was right, though; a loss like that would’ve had lasting effects on the class’s morale.
“Okay! Now for the MVP reward!” Ms. Nakada clapped her hands together once. At the same time, a tiny animal appeared to be floating in midair.
Chirp, chirp! It made cute little noises. The animal was a baby dragon, about the size of a puppy. It was so cute that it looked like a toy mascot. The dragon’s tiny wings flip-flapped, carrying its little body up and over my head.
“This pet dragon is for your use only. It’s just a baby now, but he’ll grow over time. When he grows up, he can help you in battle, so you’d better help him get big and strong! You can even feed him treats.”
“Chirp chirp!” It landed excitedly on my shoulder.
It’s so cute... This is amazing! I’ve always loved pet-raising mechanics!
Since it could help in battle right away, there was an inherent reward in raising it well.
“Feel free to name it as you please. The pet will also change in appearance based on how you take care of it.”
“Okay! Thank you.” I could only wonder what the best way to raise it would be.
“All right, everyone. That concludes today’s homeroom. Have fun in class today!” Ms. Nakada left the classroom.
As I returned to my seat, Akira stared at my little dragon in wonder. “It’s so adorable! What’re you gonna name it, Ren?”
“Hmm? Oh, right. I got it as a gift, so it’s technically foreign to me. Since it can help me in battle later on, it’s like a pinch hitter, yeah? So how about—”
“I know what you’re thinking. Don’t you dare name this little dragon after some foreign baseball player.” She saw right through me!
“What else would I do?”
“You seriously were going to do that?”
“Do you have any better ideas?”
“Ooh, you want my input? Let’s see, then. We want it to get big and strong, so you can’t go wrong with a strong-sounding name. Something like Halk, Throar, or Wolfyreen!”
“That’s not much better than my naming scheme.” Said the girl who, in every normal online game she played, would always play as bulky beastmen. Maybe it was my fault for expecting any better.
“That won’t work. A cute little baby like this needs to have a cute name.”
“Hey there, Maeda.”
“Takashiro, would you mind if I gave it a little hug?”
“Nah, go right ahead.”
“Thank you! Come here, cutie.” The baby dragon eagerly responded to her beckoning. She drew him into a hug when he approached.
“Chirp chirp chirp!” It certainly sounds happy. You must be a guy, you little playboy. But even happier was the girl hugging him.
“Wowwww, he’s so cute! Good, good boy. I so, so, so wish I could’ve gotten you...” Her eyes betrayed her true feelings of envy. I had her pegged as more of the cool and collected type, but I guess she had a soft spot for cute things. I wasn’t sure whether it was real excitement or if she was throwing me some not-too-subtle hints.
“I-I’m guessing you like animals?”
“That is correct. I’ve never been allowed to have pets, but I’ve always wanted one.”
“If you want him that bad, I could ask Ms. Nakada to give him to you instead. You certainly seem like you’d love him the most.”
“That won’t do. I agree that you deserve the title of MVP the most, so this little baby should be yours. I just happened to fall in love at first sight... I wonder if there are other ways to get pets?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. They’re not even in the MEP exchange list.”
“There’s nothing in the guidebook, either. Pets must be super rare.” Akira flipped through the guidebook, searching for an explanation.
“I should’ve asked Ms. Nakada about it.”
“Oh, yeah! We should ask her later.”
“Maybe it’s a quest reward, or loot from some monster. If we can figure out how to farm one, I’ll gladly help.”
“Thank you! I’ll take you up on that offer. With your help, I’m sure we can do anything.” Maeda really did seem to soften up when it came to pets. Her expression of pure joy was actually kind of cute.
“While we’re at it, Maeda, what do you think would be a good name for him?”
“Hmmm... how about Chamomile or Oolong? Or even Bergamot. I think those are cute names.”
“Ooh, sounds fancy.” But also kinda weak. I couldn’t bear the thought of calling my big, strong dragon Bergamot later on down the road.
“Boop, boop.”
“Chirp!”
Yano came over and started poking his snout as he lay in Maeda’s arms.
“All right. Yano, do you have any good ideas for a name?”
“Hmm. He is a dragon, so... how about Draco? That fits pretty well, yeah?”
“It sure didn’t take you long to arrive at that name, Yuuna...”
“Good enough, I say. Plus, there’ll be no mistaking him for anything but a dragon.”
“Ooh. Draco suits him pretty well! It’s simple, but you know what they say: keep it simple, stupid.”
“Woo! He picked mine!”
“All right! From now on, your name is Draco, little buddy. Nice to meet you.”
“Chirp!” He almost seemed to nod at me. Maybe he actually liked the name.
I’m gonna make you the strongest dragon in the world, Draco!
Thoroughly defeated, we returned to the classroom.
“Aww, we lost,” Akira said, disappointed.
“We did, but we were also able to bring it below 50% health. That was incredible damage.”
“I thought we could do it when I saw how much his ultimate dealt.”
“Sorry! I can’t believe I died first.” I put my hands together and bowed in apology before everyone.
“There wasn’t much you could do once he targeted you. Either way, it was originally meant to be just a reconnaissance run.” Maeda reassured me.
“So how did we do? Do you think we can win next time?”
“Hmm... As things stand now, it’ll be difficult, at best.”
“Agreed. Your burst damage was so high that he didn’t even look my way!”
“If we tried again now, it would end up the exact same way.”
Yano and Akira shared my thoughts. Being able to hammer out so much damage at once was very satisfying and dramatic, but it also became too much for the tank to handle.
The apprehensions I had felt before were finally taking shape. A good attacker can control his damage output in a way that allows the tank to maintain aggro. So when I was out there going ham on the boss, I was actually making things worse.
The simple truth was that we couldn’t win with this four-man restriction while using orthodox methods. We would run out of healing sources and be forced to watch helplessly as we died. There was no other way but to fire off four Dead Ends in quick succession. But with the damage aggro I built up, I would die before my fourth shot. We were stuck in a catch-22.
When she heard our thoughts, Maeda hung her head in disappointment.
“Oh... Then I suppose all we can do is throw in the towel.” As the expedition leader, I know she wanted to make things right for the class. Maeda really was a responsible girl.
“Sorry, Maeda. We might’ve set our expectations too high here.”
“Besides, it’s not your fault, Kotomi. Whoever used the debilitate bomb on us is the problem.”
“Not so fast, girls. I said ‘as things stand now.’ That doesn’t mean ‘throw in the towel.’“ I decided to step in.
“Oh?! Do you still have some dirty tricks up your sleeve?!”
“Seriously?! C’mon, tell us!”
“We’re all listening, Takashiro.”
“All right. Before I explain, how much MEP do we all have? I, uh, only have 141.”
“465 here.”
“I have 480 right now.”
“Akki? Kotomi?! How did you both get so smart?!”
Our only source of MEP so far was the five subject tests from the entrance exam. Those two were crazy good.
“Ooh, nice! I was hoping we could make it to 1,250. So far, we’re up to 1,086.” 164 left to reach our goal.
“How about you, Yuuna? You haven’t spent them yet, have you?”
“Nah, I haven’t yet. Uhhh, how much did I have, again? Just a sec. I think it was a hundred-something—”
“Wha? Huh? Seriously?!”
“Another member for the hundred club! That’s a surprise. My heart was racing in anticipation.”
“You got a problem with it? If I were smart, I wouldn’t dress like this, y’know?”
“I don’t think that’s related to your intelligence. Have you tried studying, Yuuna?”
“Yeah, yeah.” That was hardly a meaningful answer.
“So? A hundred and...?”
“Uhh... 166 total.”
“All right! That puts us right where we need to be.”
“Are we going to be using our MEP for this, Takashiro?”
“Yeah. We’ll need to buy an item called Wing of Rebirth, and a talent called AP Limit Break.”
The item costed 800 MEP, while the talent costed 450. Fortunately, MEP could be traded between players freely. Players would often sell just one point at a time. If we could pool our MEP together, this might work out!
“I’m guessing AP Limit Break is for me, then?”
“Yeah. It multiplies the AP cap by 1.5, making your maximum AP 450.”
“And you want me to cast Sword Samba twice.” She knew just what I was thinking.
“Exactly.”
“Wing of Rebirth is a class change item, isn’t it?”
“Right. It lets you change classes with your EXP intact. Now isn’t the best time for us to level down, so this is the only way to change classes at the moment.”
Changing classes is actually a bit of a hassle in this game. The action itself is simple; all you have to do is complete a quick quest. But it forces you to restart at level 1. Even if you go back to your old class, you’ll start at level 1 again.
In essence, a class change is equal to a clean EXP reset. Starting back at level 1 means a major loss of time, so only the bravest of people do it this way. But at the cost of 800 MEP, the Wing of Rebirth allows players to change classes without the EXP penalty. It’s an incredible item, to be sure. But it’s just so expensive. If you averaged 80 on every subject, that would be two whole tests.
“Who are we planning to class change?”
“I was hoping to have Yano change to sky pirate.”
That was my second choice for Akira. But yes, it is one of the Bummers. It’s a thief-type class, similar to rogue. But instead of specializing in DEX and AGI like rogues, sky pirates are bulkier, specializing in STR and VIT. They use guns and crossbows to deal damage.
Sky pirates see the world from their airships, so they prefer to fight with more technologically advanced weapons, but the power behind guns and crossbows doesn’t rely on STR. Some might consider it an advantage, but this fact doesn’t really mesh well with the game’s equipment system... Not to mention, guns and crossbows consume ammunition, so their high long-term cost compared to rogues is another major bottleneck for them.
They can steal items from enemies just like rogues can, so hey, that’s nice. But generally, most people would prefer to just use a rogue for that. Furthermore, rogues have access to Scapegoat to keep up aggro maintenance, whereas sky pirates do not.
To be fair, there are a lot of classes in the game, so it’s only natural that some of them would get a bum rap. That’s just how it works. You can’t have winners without an equal amount of losers. Despite sky pirate being a Bummer, though, it has great synergy with my symbologist.
“Me? But don’t we need a tank? Even if that tank can’t keep aggro.”
“No, you’ll still be a tank. I just don’t think any class but sky pirate could out-aggro me.”
Generally, people go for one of three tank roles: paladin, armor knight, or martial artist. Paladin excels in its role via access to recovery magic. Armor knight has the most pure bulk and an area-of-effect taunt, making it ideal for larger-scale battles. And martial artist has a ton of HP and can dodge and counter like no one else.
Each of these classes had simple, stand-out traits, but I doubt any of them could out-aggro the drama firehose that is my Dead End. The gist of my reasoning is that I have poor synergy with classic tanks. The only way forward is to change up our party composition.
“Ren, how will sky pirate help our aggro issue?”
“Sky pirate has a skill called Guilty Steal.”
“What does it do?” This skill was so obscure that even Yano was left puzzled. I guess the common player wouldn’t know about a weak class’s unique skill.
“It steals aggro from allies.” As a lover of underpowered classes, though, I’ve memorized all of the pertinent information about the Bummers.
“Ooh...”
“I completely forgot that skill existed.”
“Let’s see here... ‘Guilty Steal. Cooldown: three minutes. Steals target ally’s aggro and adds it to player’s own. Be sure not to use it on your tank! The intended use is to save a healer who has pulled aggro. In a party, it’s common knowledge that one should never pull aggro from the tank. Therefore, as a highly situational skill, it earns a D rank,’“ Akira read aloud from the textbook.
Well, that pretty much outlined the basics. Compared to the rogue, who can increase the tank’s aggro with Scapegoat, the sky pirate just has Guilty Steal. That’s yet another reason it can’t compare to rogue.
Not only does Scapegoat help the tank do their job, it also boosts the rogue’s damage. I think Scapegoat is about B rank. It’s better than Guilty Steal, in any case. It’s especially helpful when the party is in danger and they need a moment to recuperate. But that also means that it only really shines if the party is in danger, and it requires the player to have enough knowledge and skill to use it at the perfect time.
A truly versatile skill can help in any situation, simple enough for the party to benefit from it at all times. That’s the difference between the A and B rank skills.
“That’s what the guidebook thinks. But for us, that skill is S rank, because it will pull the boss off of me. Yano, you started with Master’s Scroll (Shield), right? So you should be about as bulky as a paladin either way.”
The main issue with our first attempt was that I pulled aggro and died too early. If she’d had aggro instead, Yano would have been more than able to hold out, and it would have allowed me to get more ultimates off as well.
With sky pirate’s Guilty Steal, we should be able to force the battle to go the way we need.
“I’ll open with Dead End. Then, Yano uses Guilty Steal so the boss targets her. Akira activates Sword Samba on Yano, and I use a Remedy of Murgleis so I can ultimate again. Yano uses Guilty Steal again, and I use another Remedy of Murgleis for another ultimate. At this point, Yano will have two Dead Ends worth of aggro, so the boss shouldn’t target me for the rest of the battle. Akira activates Sword Samba on me and I use my fourth Dead End. Bam, we win! That’s the plan. Compared to last time, I should be safe to activate all four Dead Ends.”
“Hmm. Hearing it all at once makes it pretty hard to wrap my head around...” Yano looked concerned.
“I think we can do it!”
“Good! I like it!”
“How about you two?!”
“I got it. Yuuna just has to use her skill as soon as you Dead End. Once she does that twice, she just has to survive.”
“The only problems are that we’ll use up all of everyone’s MEP, and Yano will be stuck as a sky pirate. It’ll be tedious for her to go back to being a paladin. So, the ultimate question: taking all those issues into account, are we still in favor? I say I’m in.”
“I’m cool with it too!” Akira nodded to me.
But the ones with the most to lose from this were Maeda and Yano. Maeda would lose all of her whopping 480 MEP. Meanwhile, Yano would be forced to change classes. It would be a shame for her to lose a class she liked.
“I don’t mind. If it keeps the class’s effort from going to waste, I’m ready to do anything.”
“Mmm. Well, I don’t mind as long as I can help Kotomi.”
“Thank you, Yuuna.”
“Aww, don’t worry about it.”
Unsurprisingly, Maeda was as serious and responsible as ever. And it would have been rude to actually say it to her, but Yano was really kind despite her gaudy looks. She was very open-minded.
“Sounds like we’re all in favor. Let’s get to work immediately! We gotta get to the boss before the other classes do!”
Fortunately, the MEP-trading counter was within the school, so we hurried over there right away.
◆◇◆
The next morning, during homeroom—
“Another good morning to you, gamers!”
Ms. Nakada entered the classroom with her usual energy, but the rest of the class was hardly as excited. The shock caused by the legendary debilitate bomb still lingered.
“All right, everyone, I’ve got news for you. Yesterday, the winner of the competitive event was decided!”
As she looked around the classroom, our eyes met. She smiled mischievously, as if she was a rascally little child playing a prank.
“Class E won! That’s us! Good job, everyone!”
“Whaaaaaaaat?!”
The entire class was shocked.
“But we’re all debilitated, right?!”
“What happened?!”
“Maybe there was some kind of mistake?”
“You’d think so, right? But actually, Takashiro, Maeda, Yano, and Aoyagi successfully took down the tenth floor boss together!”
She wasn’t kidding—once we’d remade our preparations and challenged the boss again, all of the pieces fell into place and we defeated it. The order of events I explained to the party worked exactly as I imagined! It was almost disappointing how easily I could chain four Dead Ends together. Just like four back-to-back home runs, it spelled death for the enemy.
So it’s true what they say; he who is well prepared has half won the battle. Planning and preparation are key.
“Really?!”
“Frickin’ rad!”
“Listen up, kids! No matter how many people were present in the battle, this is the whole class’s victory! That means everyone gets the reward. Check your talent screens!”
“Oho. There’s a new talent called Joint Magic in my talent list.”
As I recalled, Joint Magic allows a number of allies who equip it to combine their spells into one attack. It’s kind of like a magical version of Skill Chain, in that it lets you create ultimates.
“Those with physical classes get Skill Chain, while those with magic classes get Joint Magic. If you don’t see it in your talent list, let me know!”
Combining spells, huh? That had a pretty dramatic ring to it. I’d have to get a feel for just how good it was some time.
“Thank you so much, Maeda!”
“We gave up, but you stayed in the ring all this time!”
“That’s our leader for you!”
The class unanimously thanked her.
“You all should thank Takashiro, not me. He’s the one who planned the whole thing.” Even as she deflected praise, Maeda was smiling. Good. Hopefully I’ve repaid her in full for looking out for me.
“This next reward is only for the four who defeated the boss—until the next competitive event, they’ll have a victory flag next to their character icons!” Ooh, it’s true! I suddenly noticed the flag in Akira’s status screen. “With the victory flag, you’ll get discounts at shops, MEP exchange rates become cheaper, airships and dragon mounts are free, drop rates increase, and a whole bunch of other little bonuses are applied too!”
Huh, neat. But I was all out of MEP, anyway. Sadness. The higher drop rates would sure be nice, though. I always needed more materials for Caneswords, after all. I figured that would make preparation a bit less strenuous.
“Now, it’s time to announce this event’s MVP. Takashiro, come up to the front! Give him a round of applause, everyone!”
I didn’t know there was an MVP assignment, and I sure didn’t expect it would be me!
Clap, clap, clap, clap. In the midst of everyone’s applause, it was a tiny bit embarrassing to step up to the teacher’s platform. When I made it up there, Ms. Nakada whispered to me.
“You saved my butt there, kiddo. If someone else had won, this class could’ve been crushed beyond repair. Especially if the winner was a cheater like that.”
“Any idea who was responsible?”
“No clue yet. But if I had to say, it’s almost like nobody did it. We looked through the server logs, and we only saw the message about it detonating. The cause is completely unknown! But it’s still under investigation as a possible bug.”
“Oh, huh.” So we’d never know who threw the debilitation bomb, then? Not that it mattered, since we had won anyway. She was right, though; a loss like that would’ve had lasting effects on the class’s morale.
“Okay! Now for the MVP reward!” Ms. Nakada clapped her hands together once. At the same time, a tiny animal appeared to be floating in midair.
Chirp, chirp! It made cute little noises. The animal was a baby dragon, about the size of a puppy. It was so cute that it looked like a toy mascot. The dragon’s tiny wings flip-flapped, carrying its little body up and over my head.
“This pet dragon is for your use only. It’s just a baby now, but he’ll grow over time. When he grows up, he can help you in battle, so you’d better help him get big and strong! You can even feed him treats.”
“Chirp chirp!” It landed excitedly on my shoulder.
It’s so cute... This is amazing! I’ve always loved pet-raising mechanics!
Since it could help in battle right away, there was an inherent reward in raising it well.
“Feel free to name it as you please. The pet will also change in appearance based on how you take care of it.”
“Okay! Thank you.” I could only wonder what the best way to raise it would be.
“All right, everyone. That concludes today’s homeroom. Have fun in class today!” Ms. Nakada left the classroom.
As I returned to my seat, Akira stared at my little dragon in wonder. “It’s so adorable! What’re you gonna name it, Ren?”
“Hmm? Oh, right. I got it as a gift, so it’s technically foreign to me. Since it can help me in battle later on, it’s like a pinch hitter, yeah? So how about—”
“I know what you’re thinking. Don’t you dare name this little dragon after some foreign baseball player.” She saw right through me!
“What else would I do?”
“You seriously were going to do that?”
“Do you have any better ideas?”
“Ooh, you want my input? Let’s see, then. We want it to get big and strong, so you can’t go wrong with a strong-sounding name. Something like Halk, Throar, or Wolfyreen!”
“That’s not much better than my naming scheme.” Said the girl who, in every normal online game she played, would always play as bulky beastmen. Maybe it was my fault for expecting any better.
“That won’t work. A cute little baby like this needs to have a cute name.”
“Hey there, Maeda.”
“Takashiro, would you mind if I gave it a little hug?”
“Nah, go right ahead.”
“Thank you! Come here, cutie.” The baby dragon eagerly responded to her beckoning. She drew him into a hug when he approached.
“Chirp chirp chirp!” It certainly sounds happy. You must be a guy, you little playboy. But even happier was the girl hugging him.
“Wowwww, he’s so cute! Good, good boy. I so, so, so wish I could’ve gotten you...” Her eyes betrayed her true feelings of envy. I had her pegged as more of the cool and collected type, but I guess she had a soft spot for cute things. I wasn’t sure whether it was real excitement or if she was throwing me some not-too-subtle hints.
“I-I’m guessing you like animals?”
“That is correct. I’ve never been allowed to have pets, but I’ve always wanted one.”
“If you want him that bad, I could ask Ms. Nakada to give him to you instead. You certainly seem like you’d love him the most.”
“That won’t do. I agree that you deserve the title of MVP the most, so this little baby should be yours. I just happened to fall in love at first sight... I wonder if there are other ways to get pets?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. They’re not even in the MEP exchange list.”
“There’s nothing in the guidebook, either. Pets must be super rare.” Akira flipped through the guidebook, searching for an explanation.
“I should’ve asked Ms. Nakada about it.”
“Oh, yeah! We should ask her later.”
“Maybe it’s a quest reward, or loot from some monster. If we can figure out how to farm one, I’ll gladly help.”
“Thank you! I’ll take you up on that offer. With your help, I’m sure we can do anything.” Maeda really did seem to soften up when it came to pets. Her expression of pure joy was actually kind of cute.
“While we’re at it, Maeda, what do you think would be a good name for him?”
“Hmmm... how about Chamomile or Oolong? Or even Bergamot. I think those are cute names.”
“Ooh, sounds fancy.” But also kinda weak. I couldn’t bear the thought of calling my big, strong dragon Bergamot later on down the road.
“Boop, boop.”
“Chirp!”
Yano came over and started poking his snout as he lay in Maeda’s arms.
“All right. Yano, do you have any good ideas for a name?”
“Hmm. He is a dragon, so... how about Draco? That fits pretty well, yeah?”
“It sure didn’t take you long to arrive at that name, Yuuna...”
“Good enough, I say. Plus, there’ll be no mistaking him for anything but a dragon.”
“Ooh. Draco suits him pretty well! It’s simple, but you know what they say: keep it simple, stupid.”
“Woo! He picked mine!”
“All right! From now on, your name is Draco, little buddy. Nice to meet you.”
“Chirp!” He almost seemed to nod at me. Maybe he actually liked the name.
I’m gonna make you the strongest dragon in the world, Draco!
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