Some of the requests of the nobles could only be accepted with additional conditions, or they would be kept in mind for further discussion. The number of rejections was several times that of the accepted requests. This was a necessary process for Akiba to draw the line on where they stood on the numerous requests and issues. Compared to the meetings with the nobles of the League, the conversation with ReGan had much more impact on Shiroe. (I can't calm down...) Shiroe flipped again and thought. ReGan was not an annoying man, Shiroe thought of him as an admirable researcher, knowledgeable and witty, but as for trust... he might not be trustworthy, but Shiroe didn't think he was lying. But the history of the world he mentioned made Shiroe's emotions unstable.
As a global-level magic researcher, ReGan seemed to only be concerned with these 2 parts. ReGan mentioned the spirit problem which related to the spirit theory. Shiroe was not an expert, he was unable to understand the technical details, but the summary was as followed. Normally, humans' and demihumans' spiritual energy were known as spirits. The spirit was not one individual piece, it was made up of two related energies, 'Soul' and 'Essence'. According to ReGan- 'Soul' was the energy that powered the mind, the psyche of the human lay in Soul. The stronger the Soul was, the stronger and more determined the heart would be. This would also affect the power of magic, MP was the manifestation of Soul. 'Essence' was the energy that drove the body. The strength of the body lay in Essence. The stronger the Essence was, the stronger the body and its spiritual capacity would be. Fighters who specialized in weapons could utilize this energy in battle. HP was part of the manifestation of Essence, but most of it was 'Ki'. When humans lost the ability to fight, they would not be able to move. At this point, the psyche was still present, but the body was separated from the psyche. The Essence and the body controlling the five senses that was linked to the outside world would stop transmitting information to the Soul and the psyche, trapping the psyche in darkness. As the Essence started to disperse, as described before, the Essence was the source of energy for the body... Ki. Stronger and higher level bodies would take longer for the Essence to disperse. Lower levels or frail Essence would disperse in a matter of minutes, but strong Essence would take up to half a day to disperse. This process was called 'Failing Essence'. When healers casted Resurrection, it was used on a body in such a condition. The method gathered the Essence that had dispersed around the area, reconstructed it, and sent it back into the body. If there was not enough Ki during the reconstructing process, the healer would top off with her own Ki. The information needed for reconstructing was taken from the body in front and calculated by reverse engineering. If there were any mistake in the calculations, it would result in the resurrected player losing EXP, this was an unavoidable data corruption. If resurrection was not used and the Essence dispersed completely, the body would not be able to maintain its form. In physical terms the body would start to decompose, People of the Land in this condition were dead... Yes, resurrection unexpectedly worked on the People of the Land. But the condition was casting it immediately after death.
But this was when Elder Tales was just a game. Because of the effect of some unknown magic, the Shiroe now was using the identity of Shiroe to exist in this alternate world. Put simply, Shiroe's Soul existed in this world, not stored safely in front of the computer in the old world. The continuity of memories was no longer a guarantee, death would mercilessly harm Shiroe's Soul. Shiroe called out his status screen. The screen displayed the number of times he had died. The number was quite high, reflecting Shiroe's long gaming experience. But Shiroe had not died yet since the Catastrophe. He thought death was a frightening thing, even if he could respawn, it still gave him a feeling of fear... It must be the same for the other members of Log Horizon. He was not sure of the extent of memory loss that came with death. He could only hope it was not too much. If death resulted in serious memory loss, Akiba would already be in chaos. The symptoms were probably so mild that dying once would not have much effect, or it might be lost selectively from unimportant memories so that the subject himself didn't even notice. The loss might be so minute that it was no different from being absent-minded. (Even so, I am unable to tell them about this.) He had not told Michitaka and Krusty about this. Shiroe also asked Akatsuki to keep it a secret for now. They would need to say it one day, this was a problem that affected all players. Shiroe turned again in the darkness. The darkness was making him very depressed. 2 "The patrols are approaching, let me see... 5 of them? In about 10 beats." Isuzu who was poking her head out of the arch reported. (Hmm, 10 beats is... 20 seconds?) This was the first tomb on the right route of Ragranda Forest. The spacious tunnel dropped downwards, and led to a room. It was about 5 meters in diameter, with no doors, only an arch linking the room to the corridor. Tohya's group hid their presence and hid in this tomb room with several stone coffins.
5th day of the dungeon challenge. In the end, the group did not enter the dungeon that rainy day. Tohya's group discussed until noon, everyone raising questions and explaining their skills. Someone suggested they needed to look at the skills in action to understand it, so they entered the forest to demonstrate. They could also do that in the dungeon, but they would encounter the enemies frequently inside and wouldn't have the time to clear any queries on the spot. In the Elder Tales world, there were many monsters and wild animals in nature. Demihuman tribes like goblins, orcs, and lizardmen were a force to reckon with in the ruins of this world, and they were big in number as well. Even though there were many monsters, the open world they were active in was also very vast. Elder Tales used the Half Gaia project, scaling down the world by half, much vaster and wider than normal MMO games or home console RPGs. Unless you raided the nest of the monsters or you were hunted by the monsters who kept engaging you in combat, the encounter rate of monsters was quite low. Normally after finishing a fight, there would be ample time to rest and recover before the next fight. But the density of the monsters in dungeons was different, since it was their base and fortress. Compared to the open world, in the much smaller and narrow space, there might be up to a few hundred monsters stalking in the dark. Players couldn't ignore this possibility. So there would be continuous battles in the dungeons, the time between fights was much shorter than in the open world. If they fought repeatedly with little time to rest, MP would drain faster. Most of the Samurai's skills had a long recast time, and they were unable to wait for the skill to refresh before facing another battle. There was also the problem of lighting unique to dungeons, and restrictions due to limited space. Battle in the open world usually started when you were 10 meters or further away from the enemy. The reason was the groups could see each other from further away. But in the dungeons, you might encounter the enemy when you turned a corner or entered a room. All these elements made battles in the dungeons much more difficult than open world fighting. Defeating an enemy, of a certain level, in the dungeon required much more skill than defeating the same enemy in the open world. Tohya's party had confirmed over the past few days how hard a fight in the dungeon was.
The sounds of friction and footsteps approached. The skeleton was about 5 meters away, Tohya signaled to the rest with his hand, and they nodded to acknowledge with a tense expression. Tohya looked around him, and charged into the corridor without hesitation. As Isuzu reported, there was a 5 skeleton patrol group in front of him. Tohya drew his blade and used Vacuum Slash at the group. The deep red shock wave shot out and bent in the air, slightly wounding the arm of a skeleton. After confirming the hit, Tohya immediately dashed into the tomb without looking back, running into the deepest corner. The clear sound of bones hitting bones was chaotic and shrill. The footsteps of the patrol were in rhythm, but after discovering a hostile, they would charge at him in just a few seconds. The skeletons rushing into the tomb were black all over, giving off the aura of death. Their dark eye-sockets burned with a greenish white flame. The 5 skeletons went through the arch, 4 of them went after Tohya in the depths of the room, while 1 archer remained at the entrance. But everything was going just as they planned. "I leave that side to you guys!"
"HP at 84%, he can continue to endure it!" Heartbeat Healing was a heal over time spell. Combined with the occasional Heal spell, Tohya was able to stand up to the 4 skeletons' attacks with his HP over 80%. But it was painful. The axe strike of the skeleton was dangerous, if there were no healing support, he was not sure if he could last more than a minute. But Serara's healing was supporting Tohya in this fight. "Minori please confirm, Isuzu-neechan, Rudy-nii, please prepare to attack!" The party members sounded out to acknowledge Tohya and got into their positions. Minori headed to the entrance, Rundelhous and Isuzu moved behind the skeletons that were focused on Tohya. "They are totally infuriated?" Rundelhous looked haughtily at the skeletons. "Yes, there was enough time so I used Samurai Challenge twice on each of them, they won't go with Rudy so easily." "Good, now I can attack without fear!" Rundelhous started to chant his attack spell immediately. And so did Isuzu. She started casting her magic later but finished before Rundelhous. She stuck her spear into the ground and the bells on her spearhead started to ring, the sound wave piercing through the skeleton group. "I have confirmed the situation in the pathway, no visual of any follow-up patrols, there is no problem. Rundelhous-san, please do it!" "Leave it to me, Miss Minori! Orb of Lava!" Rundelhous cast his spell as instructed by Minori, a compressed stone glowing like molten magma appeared at his fingertip. Tohya used Samurai Challenge again. Rundelhous' attack was very high, Tohya had to taunt the monsters again to draw all their attention to him. He had already used taunt skills multiple times, but he cast it again to play it safe. Tohya was a Samurai and the image of Naotsugu's back appeared in his mind. '... Tohya, the duty of the vanguard is to tank all the attacks of the enemies and to trust your allies, right? This is an oath between men, okay?' Tohya stared at the skeleton group with unwavering eyes. Rundelhous who was standing behind the group was chanting his spell to turn his magic into destructive power. The boiling lava ball cast an orange light in the room that was full of heat and caused their vision to sway mysteriously. The ball shot out from his hands and pierced through the extreme left skeleton, rebounded off thin air and pierced a 2nd monster's body. The small bouncing ball of death repeatedly pierced and smashed the skeletons' bodies with its destructive power. Rundelhous followed up with his wide area spell Frigid Wind.
The first was to confirm the battle formation. Tohya was a solid Samurai vanguard, so they needed to focus the enemies' attacks on him, this was the most basic tactic, but this obvious move needed the cooperation of the whole party. 'How do you set it up so the party members other than Tohya can move?' If you never considered this before making your move, Tohya would not be able to draw the enemies' attention.
Minori who was free from healing duties volunteered to act as a field monitor for the battlefield. The duty included acting as a reserve for healing or attacking as well as watching the surrounding zones for any enemy reinforcements. With this assigned post, the chance of the battle becoming a free for all dropped to the minimum. If they could discover the reinforcements before hand, they would be able to increase the healing spells or change the support magics to prepare.
What she needed to do was very simple. That was to sound out your intent and have a discussion about it.
"Ah ha, Minori, your nose is all black." Isuzu laughed loudly. As they left the dungeon, the last light of the afternoon illuminated the woods. It was already evening, the sky should turn red in 30 minutes. Isuzu pointed at Minori's nose in the sunlight. "You got dust on it? Or is it a spiderweb?" Isuzu laughed heartily at Minori, but her leather armor and forehead were also drenched in sweat and brown from the mud. (But her smiling eyes are so clear, so pretty.) Minori took out a cloth from her bag and passed it to her with a smile: "You too." Isuzu wiped her face in a hurry, and had a disappointed expression when she looked at the dirty cloth. "Wooo, am I black all over?" "You are not dirty to that extent, but do you want to go to the spring?" "Alright, ah... Serara-chan let's go together, okay?" Isuzu invited Serara who was walking in front. "What is it Minori, are you going to the spring too?" Tohya who was leading the way heard the conversation and turned around. Seems like he was discussing with Rundelhous about showering there. "Wooo, but we are all sweaty..." "Ladies first. Tohya-kun, just bear with it." Rundelhous consoled Tohya. Rundelhous was also covered in soot, with no sign of his handsome face. His shiny tunic had also lost its shine.
The topic was about today's battles and tactics. The burning dead was level 24, probably the strongest enemy on the route to the right. Shiroe mentioned before that enemies that you could take on safely were 5 levels below your party's average. The average level of Minori's party was slightly above 24, so the opponents they could fight without much risk were level 19. This meant they won a fight far above this safety margin. The team was exuberant when they understood this fact. Defeating an enemy of the same level with only a party of 5, this was a great result. They were surprised when they received a magical item as loot. But the thing that made them most happy was that the normal mob battles were going very smoothly. Either luring the enemy to a corner or taking the initiative to attack, striking when they had the advantage with the terrain and position. The importance of doing this was more crucial than they imagined. They learned the important lesson of watching out for each other. (We are a real party now.) Minori smiled to herself. She was so happy that she finally understood the meaning behind Shiroe's words. Not only levels. If you wanted to become stronger, the key was not only levels. To fight in this world, you needed companions. If you wanted companions, you needed to take the initiative to talk to them, persist in interacting with them. This was a treasure you couldn't get through strong skills or high levels. Her days at Hamelin were slowly fading away. The days she was forced to level could not have brought her to these heights, this was something you could not obtain through leveling up. "Mi... No... Ri? Fas... ter!" Isuzu was jumping and waving at the deep end of the forest. Minori replied cheerfully and ran towards the spring with her back to the red evening light. 4 (Hooo...) Shiroe kept the stack of paper in a leather file. He was sorting out all sorts of documents. Reports, investigation findings, gathered data... They had all sorts of names, but they were all documents with complicated intelligence in it. It included memos written by Akatsuki and the other Round Table Council members, Shiroe sorted the information on a daily basis. Because they needed to be ready for any surprises when meeting the People of the Land. These pieces of paper were kept in a bigger and more secure folder, and became a document too. Examples were request forms from guilds, lease agreements, contracts, IOUs, letters of authorization... Shiroe was a Scribe, his ability was to make copies of documents, books, and making curses, technical manuals, or maps. No matter how complicated the literature item was, he could make it in 10 seconds if he knew the production method. But just like Chefs, Scribes also had new possibilities. Shiroe wanted to do research on this area, but he was caught up with the work of the Round Table Council and had not made much progress.
Shiroe studied the handmade map. His finger traced a line through the mountain ridges or coastlines as he thought. If he frowned at any doubts, he would write it down on a memo. For a long time there was only the sound of pen moving on paper. But this was cut off when Shiroe heard a ringtone in his ear.
"Relax, I understand what you mean, is everyone taking part actively?" "Of course! Serara-san's healing is powerful! HP recovery is several times faster than mine, she has a wide array of spells too, I am losing my confidence here." For pure healing powers, Kannagi couldn't compare with Druids. The 2 classes had different philosophies regarding the protection of allies' HP anyway. Minori's Kannagi class didn't focus on healing wounds, but focused on their unique damage interception magic, preventing harm from happening in the first place. In terms of healing wounds after they had happened, Druids were better. "As you level up, your assortment of magic will catch up too." "Is that so? Isuzu-san is amazing too. In terms of variety, she has so many skills it is hard for me to remember." He recalled that Isuzu was a Bard, so it was understandable why she had such a wide range of skills. She shouldn't compare with her since the feature of a Bard was their variety of skills, Shiroe laughed softly. "Tohya is working so hard, he can keep the enemies in check, and is holding himself from using his skills... Shiroe-san? Really, are you laughing at me?" "Sorry, I am not laughing at you, really." Shiroe laughed gently in reply, Minori at the other end was also laughing shyly, so there was no problem. "As for Rundelhous-san, everyone calls him Rudy, but Sorcerers are so strong." "He's not in any guild?" "Yes, he is a handsome man... but it is a pity that he is a bit dumb. But he's always overexerting himself, a shameless and interesting person. He is very close to Isuzu-san, and can use powerful magic. He will not back down before defeating the enemy, he should be the most serious person among us." Shameless, interesting, serious, handsome and dumb? Minori's description was all over the place, but Shiroe felt that he was a guy you could get along well with. Minori gave all kinds of reports, like the battle with the skeletons, defense, and follow up attacks. Tohya's fight, Serara's contribution, Isuzu's determination, Rundelhous' decisiveness... and a bit of Minori's active participation. Shiroe nodded in reply to her every buoyant word. Tohya's silly jokes made everyone laugh; Isuzu's black nose; Serara's crush on Nyanta; Nyanta being unaware of her feelings; Rundelhous holding the sandwiches with both hands like a well-mannered boy... So vivid that Shiroe felt he was there himself.
... There were mysterious things in this world. Shiroe was not able to tell everyone that death had its risks, but he would need to do that sooner or later. He had to live on in such a world. But if he could listen to Minori's happy voice, he felt that he could carry on in this world. 5 The sparks danced in the dark. This was the central hilly region in Sand Leaf, a plaza in the middle of the forest. This was the campsite for Isuzu's group that was raiding the Ragranda Forest dungeon. Isuzu and Rudy were seated beside the campfire. There were more people just now, but they had all returned to their tents now. It had been a week since they started challenging the dungeon, this was the last day of their first raid. They were scheduled to return to the school campus tomorrow afternoon. Hence the group was only planning for a simple trip into the dungeon the next morning. Isuzu's group had built their team spirit over the days, and had been staying beside the fire until just now, drinking honey black rose tea together. They chatted about everything as they maintained their weapons or armor. Serara asked Nyanta to pat her head, Minori was chatting with someone secretly. As for Isuzu, she took out a lute from her bag to play. Lutes were a Middle Ages European musical instrument, its shape was similar to a guitar, and its size fit snugly into Isuzu's thin arms. The lute had less note variations than a guitar, but it had a classical feel to it, bringing a sense of luxury to the campsite. Lutes were a common portable instrument in this alternate world. Instead of plucking the strings, you strummed them with your fingertips to play the unique sound of this instrument.
Just strumming freely without referring to any scripts. Isuzu had not played a lute before, she remembered this was the European precursor to the guitar, used by the people in the Middle Ages... She remembered reading about it in music magazines, but the first time she touched one physically was in this world (the basic design was the same as a guitar or violin anyway). Isuzu had a guitar and a cheap contrabass at home, but no violins. The thing that bothered her were the 15 strings on the lute. Even so, she managed to play and strum it after 2 months, playing individual notes was not a problem. Rundelhous held on to his white metal mug and listened silently to these notes that could not be called a song. His gaze didn't make Isuzu uneasy and Rundelhous did not interrupt her music. The music reverberated like the tides of the ocean. Isuzu did not play any specific song, she just played a bit from here, another bit from there, editing and playing them at random. The popular songs Isuzu remembered from the old world appeared and was lost in the sea of melody, the lullabies and classical pieces rose in her heart and dispersed once again. Even though there was no need to stop, Isuzu chose a suitable part and played the ending notes. Rundelhous clapped his hands totally impressed by her. "Don't act like this, this is nothing really." "No, that was very beautiful, it is like the music merges into the air after you play it." Isuzu also felt that was the case. But the soothing sound of the lute should be attributed to the environment and atmosphere, not because of Isuzu's efforts. The forest in the starry night sky, the campfire, and the cool summer breeze. Playing music in such conditions would make anything sound like a melody from the heavens. Isuzu wanted to say this, but Rundelhous' eyes were full of praise and admiration. She couldn't bear to find fault with this feeling of his, so she only said curtly: "Thanks."
Isuzu was talking a lot today. She saw herself as a plain girl, and had no memory of ever chatting with a guy for so long. Because it was Rundelhous? Re-evaluating the young man Rundelhous, she saw that his eyebrows were long and handsome, and he had an Anglo-Saxon face of a model, or the looks of a prince. If he came to the country school Isuzu was studying in, there would be an uproar and school would be cancelled for a week. But Isuzu didn't feel any romance looking at his face. Isuzu thought deeply. (That's right! Golden retriever!) A large dog that was smart and had a noble air about it, Rundelhous was just like them. Smart, had a calm temperament, even the aloof nature was also alike. Like the drooping corners of the eyes, a bit silly if you got to know him, and his friendly demeanor were all the same. In Isuzu's mind, she was completely equating Rundelhous with a dog. (I understand now, that is why I am not afraid of him.) Isuzu loved dogs, and she thought dogs loved her too. The feeling she had with Rundelhous was the same as taking care of a large dog, so she was not nervous. Isuzu accepted this line of thought.
From the looks of things, they wouldn't be leaving this world anytime soon. And battles were scary, it sometimes reminded her of her time in Hamelin where she almost broke down. Despite this, Isuzu had music, companions, so she had to make the best of it since she couldn't return yet. Isuzu learned to take it in stride from Minori, so she was able to accept Rundelhous' words directly. "Ah, if that is the case, I will register Rudy in my friend list, if you have any good things to share remember to find me. Let's eat Mentaiko sandwiches together someday, hehe, okay, register register." "Eh..." Rundelhous' expression sank. This was the face of regretting his failure. And blaming himself for being naive. In the end, Isuzu was unable to register Rundelhous on her friend list. 6 The sound of a fierce battle broke out in the forest. Swords and shields clashed. Axes and spears collided.
"Was I too slow?" "You are not slow, just too honest. You need to work on varying your movements to keep your foes off guard." The young man accepted Shouryuu's advice with a nod. In Elder Tales, you were considered a mid-range player upon reaching level 40. You needed to experience quite a number of battles to reach this stage. This level was high enough for production players to defend themselves, but for players specialized in fighting, they needed more skills and finesse than that. In the Elder Tales world that was no longer a game, this was a crucial point. Even though Adventurers wouldn't die, they could still feel pain. According to players who died before, the pain was not unbearable, about the level of a bone fracture or a traffic accident (that was still very painful). Even if you ignored the painful aspect, there were many disadvantages with dying.
The young Kannagi also understood this point. He unsheathed his sword and took a stance with a serious expression, repeatedly confirming the moves to activate his skills. Kannagi were eastern-style healers and they could equip swords. It may not be so in other servers, but in the Japanese server, male Kannagi were called Negi, female Kannagi were known as Miko. The clothes that fit these titles, Suikan and scarlet Hibakama for the maidens, were available to the Kannagi at level 40, and many of them set this level as their goal. New items in Elder Tales could be added by subsidiary companies through expansion packs. For the Japanese server, there were a lot of equipment for Kannagi and Samurai, including a 'holy sword' that increased magic powers. Kannagi who liked to play solo like this youth liked this type of weapon. Shouryuu grinned at him. He had potential, Kannagi were healers, other than a few exceptions, so they were unable to learn melee weapons and skills. But there were benefits to learning how to fight up close. If they were able to use ranged magic and melee weapons, their battle mobility and variety would increase, becoming an advantage for Kannagi.
"Gather all the people and contact me via telepathy... keep in contact every 10 minutes!" Shouryuu left these words and ran off. He blew his summoner flute in a hurry, but did not want to waste time waiting for his mount to come and dashed off into the forest. It was important to take care of the beginners here, but the beginners at the coastline were less than level 30. Sahuagin was a type of monster. As you could tell from its name, it was a demihuman race living in the sea or lakes, a fish with 4 limbs growing out of its body. It was grey or dark blue all over, most of them had brown spots. It was between 160-200cm in height, weighing around 100kg. At the end of their front limbs were webbed hands, they used their gills to breath underwater, and were able to use their lungs as well when they went on land occasionally. Because of either their skin or body structure, they were unable to live away from water, so it was a rare monster to encounter in the plains or dungeons. Their intelligence was about at the level of goblins, most of them preferred to use javelins or tridents, that was the extent of knowledge Shouryuu had about them. He had little experience fighting these monsters. (Their level... I remember is about 20-30...) A light brown horse rushed over, Shouryuu ran beside it and jumped onto its back. He then rode straight for the coastline.
Shouryuu held back his feeling of urgency that was stuck in his throat like a stone. He rode through the empty school campus, making a beeline for the beach. This wide ramp should be used by farmers in ancient times, with half-buried telephone poles and flags that had lost their meaning. Shouryuu's horse ran across the canola flower fields and the fields of vegetables at top speed.