Chapter 331: Descending Motion Accompanied by Souvenirs

Author's Preface
Aren't you guys overestimating Octopus-chan Phase 3 a bit too much? Spamming landing isn't allowed... I won, so I'm updating.

In Shangri-La Frontier, players utilize two main abilities: skills, which function as physical techniques, and magic, which functions as fantasy-based techniques. By utilizing these two systems, the game realizes a fantasy experience that goes far beyond a simple physics-based hack-and-slash.
I don't know much about magic, so I can't really comment on it, but at least when it comes to skills, there's one extremely troublesome aspect.

That is the fact that the conditions required to strengthen or learn new skills are tied to leveling up. The higher your level gets, the more EXP is required, and eventually, you'll hit the level cap. In other words, the stronger your skills become, the more fixed and inflexible they become.

Currently, my status is Lv.99 Extend. Since I haven't removed the level cap, no matter how much EXP I earn, my skills won't get any stronger.
Before the New Continent was released, the mainstream strategy among hardcore players was to intentionally lower their level to grind stat points and skill enhancements. However, seeing the existence of the new skill tree unlocked from Level 100 onwards—commonly known as "Triple-Digit Skills"—it shouldn't be too hard to decide which path to choose. Well, in my case, keeping my level low is actually quite important, so taking the former option is completely viable. But in ShanFro—where I genuinely suspect the game reads my mind—if I mess around too much, I feel like my Vorpal Soul will decrease, so I guess the latter is the way to go?

"The Altar of Awakening, huh... Do you know exactly where it is?"

"I shall be the one to explain that to you."

Hm, you're the High Elf who Tottori harshly criticized with: "Compared to normal Forest-folks, she excels at magic, so she's 'High' in that regard, but since she's still a coward (Forest-folk) at heart, she'll probably die if left alone." Let's see...

"Beige."

"It's Hesh! You insolent human!!"

Oh, my Elf Points just went up. Since the Elves in ShanFro seem to be a completely cowardly race—the exact opposite of the Vorpal Bunnies—a prickly Elf like her is actually quite rare.

"The Altar of Awakening you speak of is undoubtedly the 'Tears of the Tuning God, Belhe-Mortia,' enshrined by the ancestors of us Forest-folks!"

"Honestly, couldn't they be two completely different things?"

"What! Are you saying you doubt me!?"

Well, yeah, because it's currently located in an abandoned area, right? And since it's information from your ancestors, you haven't actually seen it yourself, have you? It's basically the equivalent of the true identity of a ghost turning out to be withered pampas grass, or a touching visual effect turning out to be a simple bug. It completely ruins everything when the static on a digital heroine turns out to be a mere bug that removes the effect entirely once patched.

"Calm down, Hesh... Well, regarding this, the leader of my clan heard about it directly from a player who removed the level cap and verified it, so there shouldn't be any mistake."

Hearing the phrase "a player who removed the level cap," the image of The Manslayer (Kyogoku)—whom I've had fewer chances to meet in ShanFro recently, sporting a pasted-on smile with completely dead eyes—floated through my mind. But listen here, Kyou-timate, the moment you can smile from the bottom of your heart is the moment you become a first-rate Bakumatsu player.
Just a heads-up, events where the rewards change based on your kill score are seriously dangerous. The top rankers—who normally just cannibalize each other within their own circles—will genuinely come hunting for lower-ranked players... Even rankers will die by the dozens if they get caught in an exploit loop. Heck, I've killed them myself.

"Well, if there's a problem, it's that the village the Forest-folks used back when they were a settled people is heavily concealed, making it extremely difficult to find."

"That's completely useless."

"...As long as we get close, we'll be able to figure it out. There are specific markers known only to the Forest-folks. If we follow them───"

"Say, is this Elf village located underground or inside a massive hollow tree trunk or something?"

"What are you talking about? I've heard the village of days past... Tearplaten, was a land deep in the forest, surrounded by great trees."

I see............ Yup.

"It might take a little time, but wait right here. I'll go acquire the coordinates."

............

.........

......

Bug techniques and minor exploits are often established through the combination or continuous execution of specific actions. For example, doing a charging motion in front of a wall to clip through to the underside of the world, or casting a recovery spell under specific conditions to peel off the texture beneath your feet. It's all Faer-kuso's fault, dammit.

Regarding minor exploits, even if they were entirely unintended by the developers, they often still fall within the system's operational boundaries. For instance, a money-making exploit where the buying and selling prices are reversed due to a pricing error by the developers is still, systemically speaking, a perfectly normal transaction.
And this continuous sequence of actions is also an incredibly sound, albeit reckless, combination of multiple items—regardless of whether it exceeds the management's expectations.

The necessary ingredients are:
The utterly broken accessory, Inventory Key: Inventoria.
The skill that defines a foothold in mid-air and allows a jump: Flit Float.
Levin Trigger: Hazard for gaining distance.
And the Arcanum "The Fool" for reducing time.

The procedure is simple. Execute a full-power jump while in the Overflow state, double-jump in mid-air, and escape into the storage space. Then, return once the recast is finished. With just that, Flight via infinite jumping becomes possible.
When returning, I just need to use Flit Float in reverse. Honestly, since I used a makeshift save point, just falling and respawning would be the fastest method, but I'm rejecting that idea for the sake of my mental health.

"Hmm, if I get too carried away, getting back down is going to be a pain... Hm?"

I'm nearing an altitude high enough to cross the clouds. The horizon of ShanFro, looked down upon from an altitude that would guarantee anyone with a fear of heights would faint on the spot, possesses such incredible realism it makes you doubt it's even a game.
The vastly expanding Great Sea of Trees. The four ships docked at the edge of the continent looking like tiny beans. Turning my gaze the other way, past the seemingly endless borderline of the Sea of Trees, lies a desert, snowy mountains, volcanoes... Wait, did I just see a jewel-like light───

"Ah, crap."

I'm falling, falling. If I lose focus, even if I escape into Inventoria, I'll die from fall damage since my HP is stuck at 1. Even if my momentum resets when returning to real space, a slight hitbox still lingers when entering, so I need to be careful.

Experiencing Full-Dive VR completely alone in the sky, without relying on airplanes or dragons, is actually pretty terrifying. Being up here with nothing but your own body, completely devoid of propulsion... Yeah, it's honestly fun, but I really want some propulsion.

Snatch.

"...Oi, oi, is increasing the number of heads a trend on the New Continent or something?"

This pterosaur has two heads. I thought it was a dragon, but apparently, dinosaur-types aren't dragons, so maybe it evolved from a bird or something?
Whoops? Is its destination that strangely empty clearing surrounded by tall trees in the middle of the Sea of Trees? Seriously, this is basically an express flight. But sorry, since I'm doing a party playthrough this time, I'm getting off midway.

"Let go, or I'll turn you into yakitori, oraaaa!!"

The skewer is Areadbhair. Honestly, the skewer seems far more valuable than the meat.
As I slashed the two-headed pterosaur's legs with the Areadbhair Rebuild, it let out a high-pitched shriek from the searing heat of the blade—capable of melting an anvil—and released the claws gripping my shoulders. Thank goodness. If it had tightened its grip right there, I would have died.

"Did you really think I'd just fall if you let go? Too bad, your fate as yakitori has already been sealed!"

You're probably tired from holding me all this time, right? Don't worry, it's my turn to hold onto your legs. Actually, scratch that, I'm just going to climb up and ride on your back.
I'll show you the power of the immortal Combat Medic who shot down countless prop planes, right as a souvenir for the afterlife!!

............

.........

......

Descending comfortably on the half-dead two-headed pterosaur, there are roughly ten minutes left before my eventual crash landing—pterosaur and all—causes a massive panic among the Forest-folks.

Author's Afterword
Tearplaten was the village of the Elves. If they had seriously focused on defending it, the location was secure enough to handle anything short of an overwhelming monster threat. However, since the leader of the Forest-folks at the time was utterly useless, it was abandoned without serving its purpose. What a pitiful city. Was this a challenge run or something?

By the way, this two-headed pterosaur only has two heads, but it only has one brain. To put it simply, it's just "a single monster that happens to have two head parts."