Chapter 60: Dedicated to a Moment Part 8

There was something I had been wondering about for a while now: the difference in skill growth. Take "Repel Counter" for example. Originally, this was a parrying skill called "Flash Counter" , which evolved into "Just Parry" upon leveling up, and then changed into its current form. However, conversely, there were also skills that simply displayed "Lv. X" after the name without changing their distinct title.

I hadn't paid it much mind until now, assuming it was just how the system worked. But according to OiKatzo, skills acquired naturally are divided into two types: those that "evolve" and those that are "strengthened."Apparently, skills of the type that increase in proficiency without evolving into a different skill can be combined with one another at a facility called a "Skill Gardener", found in every town, to create a single "Combined Art." As an example, OiKatzo cited the combination of the hand-to-hand combat skill "Power Straight" and "Critical Assist," which buffs critical rates. Combining them creates "Knockout-er," a skill that adds a chance to inflict a stun effect upon a critical hit.

Not only that, but these facilities also sell Secret Books—items that tell you how much more is needed for a skill to level up or evolve, or what specific actions you need to take to naturally acquire a skill... Oh, god, how do I put this... If I could go back to the moment I started the game, I would PK my level 10 self and drag him kicking and screaming into Firstia.

"To put it mildly... I feel like I've just realized I've been trying to hit a baseball with my bare hands instead of using a bat."

"That metaphor makes no sense, but I get how you feel. It's like realizing you completely overlooked an optimal combo."

OiKatzo offered words of comfort as I stared at the ceiling, nearly catatonic. But, how should I put it... it's not quite that. It feels more like I’ve been firing a sniper rifle without looking through the scope... Aaaaaaah!

"Aaaaaahhh..."

"Sunraku-san, are you okay...?"

"Let me fluff you for a sec."

"Hye? Pyaa!?"

Clutching the fluffy, soft fur, I tried to switch gears and think of positive elements to comfort myself.

First, within my current skill loadout, there are only two skills that can be connected. This means that even if I had known about the Skill Gardeners from the start, I wouldn't have utilized them much. It doesn't resolve the fact that I made a massive blunder by skipping the tutorial, but looking at the results... I can take a little bit of comfort in that.

"Fuhya, kusu, that tickles!"

Second, the timing of this discovery was before the Wethermon fight. At least I avoided the disgraceful blunder of unconsciously "sandbagging"—fighting Wethermon without being in the best possible state I could currently achieve.

"E-ears are off limits! Not the eaaaars!"

Finally, finding out that Skill Gardeners exist in every town. This implies that they likely exist in Rabituza as well, which possesses facilities equivalent to a normal town despite being a hidden area. A facility deeply tied to the game system like skills... logic dictates there would always be two or three players hanging around such a place. For me, going to such a location in a human town is quite difficult. Honestly, it's not like I have a guilty conscience, but I'm getting tired of hiding.But more than that, getting asked about Emul or Lycaon's Curse is a pain. If I can use the facility in Rabituza, nothing could be better.

"Hey, Sunraku-kun. Emul-chan has turned into some indescribable liquid rabbit, so you should probably let her return to sanity."

"Hmm?"

I looked down to see Emul, practically steaming from her head, fainted in a boneless state that could only be described as "gude~".

"Kyuu..."

"She looks like a totally slack cat."

"I am not a cat! I am a Vorpal Bunny, desu wa!"

Oh, she revived.

"By the way, what about sub-jobs or guilds..."

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"

"Pyaaaaaaah!?"

Just how much have I overlooked!?

When you make a terrible mistake, or when your spirit is about to break, how do you maintain your mental equilibrium? Personally, the easiest method is "stop thinking and immerse yourself in simple tasks." It's an escape from the problem and doesn't solve anything—arguably a bad move—but for the current me, it is the best move.

So, I fished. I fished, fished, fished, and fished some more. I hunted the eels lured by the bait, hunted them, hunted them, hunted them, and hunted them to extinction... I nearly died several times, rescued the Bonito Bastard who nearly died several times, and eventually, the level gap with the Livetide Lake Serpents closed. Both OiKatzo and I began to grasp their movements... and then, night fell.

"Hmm, by my estimate, I thought it would take another two days, but you're already Level 40... Aren't you guys living a bit too fast?"

"No... that idiot... was escaping reality..."

"Escaping reality into ShanFro and then escaping further inside it? Where exactly are you running to?"

"No, well... we just worked a little too hard."

Between the two of us: seventy-four Livetide Salmon, six Livetide Lake Serpents... I am Level 42, OiKatzo is Level 40. This is today's score, achieved by me (and the collateral damage victim OiKatzo, occasionally Emul) simply fishing salmon and hunting eels to escape reality.

"Their movements are simple, but the Livetide Lake Serpents should have averaged around Level 45. I'm surprised you managed to take them down."

"Hah? You realize our Emul-san here is Level 56?"

"Emul-chan is seriously strong when we're in a pinch..."

Towards the end, we fought with just me and OiKatzo because splitting the experience points three ways reduced the yield, but without Emul, one of us would have definitely died.

"You guys really are idiots... in both the good and bad sense. Oh well. Come on, up you get. Tonight is a full moon... I'm taking you to accept the Unique Scenario EX."

"...Can't we log out for a bit?"

"No. That Save Tent is a damn expensive item with a usage limit! Besides, we're kind of pressed for time!"

OiKatzo gazed sorrowfully at the object sitting there: a so-called camping tent made of rectangular cloth surfaces... but crafted with medieval materials! Described as an "instant save point item that even hard-core gamers can't easily hoard," it is an item that allows saving in monster-infested areas—an exception in Shangri-La Frontier's system where logging out is normally restricted to beds in bases like towns or Rabituza.

"The later towns are nice, having so many convenient items..."

However, it has a usage limit that decreases when you "save" or "designate it as a fast travel destination for spells like Teleport," and it doesn't even have an effect that prevents monster attacks. Therefore, unless there is a compelling reason, it is apparently safer and cheaper to return to a proper base via Teleport to save.

Fortunately, this hidden area supposedly doesn't spawn enemy mobs unless you keep fishing up salmon to lure out the Lake Serpents, so we were told we could relax to our heart's content.

"In other words, resting a little bit wouldn't hurt anyone... Ouch."

Pencilgon's reply was a scroll, systematically transferred and thrown silently into my face.

Even at night, the moss rooted in the walls of the Prismatic Forest Grotto seemed to have no concept of suppressing its light. The three of us and one animal advanced through the Grotto, which was as bright as broad daylight.

"But still, to think there was actually a hidden area in the zone I cleared... personally, it's kinda frustrating."

"It's a time-specific hidden area, so it's all RNG. Can't be helped if you didn't find it, yep."

Hearing that from the person who found it doesn't help much. OiKatzo relapsed into his chronic illness of saying, "Uniques are so niice~ I want to find one on my own too~," so we decided to ignore him.

"On the night of a full moon, among the fluorescent moss growing on the walls of the Prismatic Forest Grotto, there is a very small section of moss that stops shining. If you examine that spot..."

Pencilgon touched a patch of moss that wasn't emitting light—hidden effectively by the glow of the surrounding moss. It crumbled away, revealing a dark path ahead, barely tall enough to walk through without hitting our heads, where no moss grew.

"How did you even notice this?"

This area, which is essentially a dense forest crammed underground, is vast, to say the least. To find a spot that isn't glowing amidst walls packed with luminous moss—in other words, finding a dark spot when the entire wall is a light source—seems unlikely to happen intentionally...

"I'm the one who found it, but to be blunt, it was a coincidence. I found it while I was here gathering items available in this area."

"There you have it, OiKatzo. Finding Uniques is an RNG game, so pray to the heavens."

"......Stop looking at me like that or I'll punch you, you jerk."

Hey now, what immense rudeness towards my "Emperor's Gaze," looking down from the heavens with pity and mercy upon the cries of the foolish masses crawling on the earth. That's lese-majesty, you know.

"Jeez, you two start a comedy routine at the drop of a hat. Come on, put your weapons in your inventory and let's go."

"Wow... this is quite spectacular."

"Unique or not, I really like this area."

After walking up the dark path—which seemed to be an incline—for several minutes, we finally passed through an exit where faint light filtered in. Beyond it lay a space completely covered in red flowers. Looking up, there was no cavern ceiling. Instead, a round full moon, larger than the one in reality, poured its light down onto this field of red flowers along with the night wind. It wasn't that the ground was floating, nor was it a physically impossible spectacle. It was a scenery that could probably be reproduced in reality with a little effort, but for some reason, it looked more fantastical than anything I had seen before.

"The flowers are beautiful!"

These are Red Spider Lilies (Higanbana), if I recall. I've never seen the real thing, but in low-fantasy games, I see them often as a factor indicating a specific theme... namely, a metaphor for death.

"Right, let's go. Set-chan is waiting."

Since Pencilgon was advancing while stepping on the Spider Lilies without hesitation, it didn't seem like stepping on the flowers was a trap. Following the unhesitating Pencilgon, we walked until a single withered tree came into view. And beneath that withered tree... a woman?

"S-she is see-through, desu wa!"

"It's true. Is it a bug?"

"Why is your first guess a bug and not a feature...?"

It's a Trash Game joke, good grief... However, judging by Pencilgon's demeanor, that translucent woman is undoubtedly the target NPC, "Setsuna of Distant Days".

"Hey there, Set-chan. It's been a month."

"Oh... Arthur. It has been a while.”

I thought a ghost would be more faint, something that might vanish if you blew on it. But surprisingly, the NPC "Setsuna of Distant Days" smiled at Pencilgon and spoke clearly, shaking her short bob cut, even though she was thin enough for the background to show through. But more than that, there was something subtly bothering me.

"Hmm... Emul."

"What is it?"

"Do you recognize the clothes that person is wearing?"

"Umm... I can't say that I do..."

I figured. The clothes that ghost woman is wearing... they severely lack a fantasy feel. They aren't clothes made from plant or animal fibers, nor made from the skin or shells of creatures. They look like standardized mass-produced goods, yet give off a faint sense of luxury... Yes, to me, a modern person, they give a sense of déjà vu. They belong more to science fantasy.

"The Divine Age, huh?"

The "Divine Age" holds significant meaning in the worldview of Shangri-La Frontier. To put it simply, it's like an old civilization. A Unique Scenario involving a character related to that... I knew something was up when words like "missiles" and "lasers" came up regarding the horse, but now I'm suddenly getting fired up. Pencilgon turned towards us, wearing a fearless smile.

"Let me introduce you, Set-chan. These two idiots are the trump cards... to give Wethermon his last rites."

At that introduction, Setsuna looked at me and OiKatzo with eyes that were a fifty-fifty mix of expectation and sorrow—an expression that was impossible to describe.

Author's Notes & Lore:

Secret Books (Hiden-sho)

Secret Books purchased at the Skill Gardener work as follows: you buy them, and if you achieve the actions described therein while at the appropriate level, you can acquire the skill. Think of them as TMs (Technical Machines) that are a pain to learn and have level restrictions. Just owning the Secret Book increases the acquisition rate (for example, if there was a Jump Kick skill, the probability of learning it changes depending on whether you have the Secret Book or not), so you can't just look up a strategy wiki and get it for free.Some of the skills Ponkotsu-chan... I mean, Heroine-chan uses are derived from Secret Books, but those are special ones obtained as Unique Scenario rewards, not bought at a Skill Gardener.

Naturally, the Secret Books sold at the Skill Gardeners in each town are different, so you see players traveling from town to town like pilgrims.

Translator's Remarks:

• Higanbana (Red Spider Lily): In Japanese culture, these flowers are strongly associated with death, the afterlife, and final goodbyes, often planted near graves. This reinforces the melancholic and "dead" nature of the hidden garden and Setsuna.
• Gude~: A Japanese mimetic word for being lazy, lack of energy, or going limp (like a raw egg). Emul has gone boneless from the fluffing.