Chapter 63: Dedicated to a Moment Part 10

"So... is this it?"

"Yes indeed! This is Rabituza's Skill Gardener!"

While busily logging in and out between games, I am currently in Rabituza. Led by Emul, I have finally arrived at a facility I'm using for the first time since starting Shangri-La Frontier. The reason being, as a result of power leveling, I acquired a massive amount of skills, increasing the need to organize and enhance them. After allocating my points, my current status looks like this:

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PN: Sunraku LV: 51 (5) JOB: Mercenary (Dual Wielder) 73,200 Mani

HP: 30 MP: 10 STM: 60 STR: 40 DEX: 50 AGI: 70 TEC: 55 VIT: 5 LUC: 74

Skills:

• Rush Slash → Infinite Slash
• Spiral Edge → Drill Piercer
• Knuckle Rush → Selectable
• Slide Move → Skate Foot
• Repel Counter → Parrying Protect
• Loop Slash Lv.8
• Edge Climb → Great of Climb
• Accel Lv.MAX
• Single-Boat Jump → Five-Boat Jump
• Quick Spin → Sharp Turn
• Dear Step Lv.7
• Water Skimming Lv.6
• Street Slasher Lv.4
• Oppression Kick Lv.5
• Piercing Armor Lv.3
• Best Step
• Fighting Spirit Lv.7
• Unbreakable Lv.5
• High Runner Lv.6
• Naked Sense Lv.4
• Starvation Impulse Lv.4

Equipment:

• Left/Right: Empire Bee Twin Blades
• Head: Gazing Bird Mask (VIT+1)
• Torso: Curse of Lycaon
• Waist: Partition Blade Belt (VIT+4)
• Legs: Curse of Lycaon
• Accessories: None

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"Hmm, this tissue paper armor."

It's less than paper now; it's as fragile as single-ply toilet paper... One drop of water feels like it would tear a hole in me. Part of it is not updating my gear, but my VIT, which I haven't invested in at all, is sitting at a majestic single digit. I've already resigned myself to the fact that even if I invested in durability, I'd still get one-shotted anyway, but honestly, I wanted to put a bit more into Luck... Curse you, My Favorite Weapon.

"It has been getting cluttered lately, so it makes sense that a facility for organizing exists..."

Having many skills isn't a bad thing, but having thirty or forty of them is just cumbersome. In that case, it is only natural that a "Gardener" exists to prune the unnecessary branches and thicken the main trunk, as the name implies. What I'm trying to say is: I want to punch my past self.

"There is a Gardener in the city too, but the selection here is better! This is a secret, okay?"

"Nice, nice. I love that kind of secret inequality."

Having a conversation like a corrupt magistrate and a wicked merchant, Emul and I entered the Skill Gardener inside the Rabbit Palace.

"Weeelcooome~. Oh myyy, if it isn't Emul and the Bird Persooon."

"Is 'Bird Person' sticking as my nickname?"

I feel like I'm called that every time we meet... I'm finding it harder and harder to change my head equipment. A rabbit with a very slow, drawling tone—giving off a strong "Onee-san" (big sister) vibe—greeted us. She somewhat resembles Emul; her ears are lopped just like Emul's, but rather than just resemblance, it feels more like a strong sisterly impression.

"Elk Onee-chan! Sunraku-san, Elk Onee-chan is mine and one other sister's... she is the eldest of our triplets!"

"Heh."

"Nice to meet yooou~."

I see. It's not just age order; there are triplets and twins too? I crouched down to shake hands with Emul's sister... Elk, and got straight to the point.

"Ah, I can combine skills here, right?"

"Yeees, that's riiiight. I'm good at thaaat sort of thiiing, so Father told me to handle iiit."

"Is that so?"

"S-Sunraku-san, Onee-chan's way of speaking is rubbing off on you!"

Oops, gotta be careful.

"Then, I'd like to combine my skills immediately."

"Okaaay~. Then please tell me which skills you want to conneect~."

As Elk said that, a window appeared in front of me. It listed the skills I currently possess, and it seems I can preview what skill will be born if I select two of them. I see, so it's not the type where you don't know what you'll get until you try. Let's see here, mix this and this to get this...

"Oh, right~. If you combine skills that are at a higher leveel~, you'll get a better skill~."

"Hmm, hmm."

Hearing that makes me want to max out all my skills first, but since skill levels rise alongside player levels, if I were to max everything now, I might need to reach level 60... no, maybe even 65. I can't be too greedy. Let's just mix them quickly.

"Well, I guess this is it."

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PN: Sunraku LV: 51 (5) JOB: Mercenary (Dual Wielder) 73,200 Mani

HP: 30 MP: 10 STM: 60 STR: 40 DEX: 50 AGI: 70 TEC: 55 VIT: 5 LUC: 74

Skills:

• Infinite Slash
• Drill Piercer
• Infight Lv.1
• Skate Foot
• Parrying Protect
• Hand of Fortune Lv.1
• Great of Climb
• Climax Boost Lv.1
• Five-Boat Jump
• Sharp Turn
• Assassin Pierce Lv.1
• Oppression Kick Lv.5
• Best Step
• Fighting Spirit of the Starving Wolf (Hunger Wolf)
• Off-Road Lv.1

Equipment:

• Left/Right: Empire Bee Twin Blades
• Head: Gazing Bird Mask (VIT+1)
• Torso: Curse of Lycaon
• Waist: Partition Blade Belt (VIT+4)
• Legs: Curse of Lycaon
• Accessories: None

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Yeah, I think I organized it pretty well. Although, after trying it out, I realized it's not simply adding skills together. Most likely, the resulting skill is determined by referencing the player's stats and level at that moment. What a nightmare for the verification squad; no wonder the walkthrough sites are so heavy.

For now, I'll need to confirm them in actual combat, but let's get a rough grasp of them.

Infinite Slash, Drill Piercer, Skate Foot, Parrying Protect, Great of Climb, Five-Boat Jump, Sharp Turn... These are mostly the skills I've been using from the start, just with different names and slightly different effects.

Infight is a skill created by mixing a combat skill with an evasion skill. It grants a correction to melee damage at ultra-close range. Since I basically use dual blades, this skill will probably shine in situations where I'm forced to let go of my swords.

Hand of Fortune... I remember seeing a similar name, "Hand of Glory," when playing a trash game. In that game, it was the name of a magic catalyst, but here it's a skill name. This skill calculates damage based on LUC (Luck) instead of STR. In other words, to put it mildly, it's a God Skill. For me, with my tissue paper armor and heavy investment in Technique and Luck, this is a precious source of firepower. I'll raise it with care.

Climax Boost, created by combining Accel and Fighting Spirit. If HP is below one-third and the opponent's level is higher than mine, it gives a massive boost to all stats... The content itself is usable, but the bottleneck is that it doesn't mesh well with the current me. After all, I'm tissue paper.

Assassin Pierce. A skill that increases thrusting power if the enemy's hate (aggro) is not directed at me. That's all.

Oppression Kick is a skill I learned while repeatedly kicking downed eels and lobsters. It's a martial arts skill that increases power against enemies that are downed, knocked back, or otherwise incapacitated or suffering from status ailments. Since there wasn't anything good to combine it with, I kept it as is for now.

Best Step. This is a skill Emul knew as well. Apparently, it allows for one perfect jump even on unstable footing, but this also smells like something I can use for evil schemes. You know, like off walls or on top of enemy bodies... right?

And the problem child skill that gives me complex emotions for personal reasons... Fighting Spirit of the Starving Wolf (Hunger Wolf). The content itself is quite interesting: "The hungrier you are and the lower your HP, the more STR, AGI, and VIT are buffed. However, as a cost, STM, DEX, and TEC are debuffed." In terms of short-term battles and pursuing firepower, it's an extremely useful skill, but... "Hunger," "Wolf," and "DEX/TEC penalties." For some reason, this thing accurately gouges out my trauma. Please, stop it, really...

Pulling myself together, Off-Road. This one is quite good. Water, mud, sand... It allows for movement on such unstable footing as if it were flat ground. Moreover, the duration is Level × 10 seconds. In other words, 10 seconds at Level 1 is fantastic. If I get it to Level 10, that's a guaranteed 100 seconds.

"...Yeah, pretty good."

I think I've gathered an excellent set of skills for what's currently available. No, seriously, the Skill Gardener is convenient! Apparently, there's some huge idiot who didn't even know this facility existed until now! Wow, I wonder who that is!

"By the way, Sunraku-saaan?"

"Whoa."

G-Goosebumps ran down my spine. No, not out of discomfort, but because I was blindsided by Elk's voice, which could be described as a whisper voice. Wondering what was up, I looked down from the status window to see Elk with an expression resembling Emul's goofy smile, holding a small memo-pad sized book... Ah, that's what you call a business smile.

"How about some Skill Secret Books that are only handled in Rabituzaaa? Since you're Emul's favorite, I'll give you a discouuunt~?"

"Sunraku-san, you are lucky! Elk Onee-chan is basically a money-grubb..."

BONK!!

"Bwah!!?"

"I'll give you a discouuunt~?"

I offer a silent prayer for Emul, who is now suffering from the status effect "Lump on Head." I understood exactly what you wanted to say... Well, setting that aside, if they're on sale, maybe I should check the inventory.

"Let's see..."

• Vorpal Swordsmanship [Half-Moon Cut] - 50,000 Mani
• Vorpal Blade Arts [Water Mirror Moon] - 80,000 Mani
• Vorpal Spear Arts [Moonlight Thrust] - 70,000 Mani
• Vorpal Jujitsu [Crescent Moon Tomoe] - 90,000 Mani
• Etc, etc...

"No, that's expensive!!"

Tell me where the discount is! Ogre! Demon! Elk! (By the way, normally these are skills that cost over 100,000 Mani, so they are actually quite cheap.)

Author's Notes & Lore

• Sunraku's Build: He is finally optimizing his build for the Wethermon fight.
• Skill Combination: A system to reduce skill bloat.
• Elk: Emul's sister. The eldest of the triplets (Elk, Emul, and one more). She manages the Skill Gardener in the Rabbit Palace.

Author's Commentary:

Correction Report: I received a lot of information that "Japanese paper (Washi) is stronger than regular paper," so I changed the description from "Washi Armor" to "Tissue Armor." In my mind, the durability of Washi and tissues were equal. I wonder why...?