Chapter 715: In Foolish Tranquility, Skills Decay and Rust

Our destination is already mapped out thanks to the Giant's treasured map. Furthermore, from the perspective of efficiently passing through with the guidance of the NPC Ladder, whose birthplace is the swamp, the route we should take is from the southwest of the sea of trees, straight through the swamp, and to the volcano.

If it's exactly as this map shows, the eastern side of the New Continent is mostly covered by the sea of trees, but halfway through, the environment diversifies all at once. If we cross the great river that lies beyond the swamp, we'll arrive at the volcano.

And so, we were making our way through the great sea of trees that had hindered many players thus far... but here, I want you to recall the composition of our party.

"My bad, I can accelerate while turning at a right angle."

Me, the Speed HolderMaximum Speed.

"Additional monsters...! I can handle them alone, so please leave it to me...!"

Rei-shi, the Attack HolderMaximum Firepower.

"The frontline is way too reliable so I'm not getting any turns. I can handle any repairs besides Legacy Weapons, so fight to your heart's content〜"

"I've got my stance ready just in case, so it's no problem if you nearly die a little〜"

Two owners of Hero Weapons.

Ladder-shi is an NPC in the fairly strong category, but unlike Emul, he hasn't broken past the Level 100 wall, meaning staying in the backline is his only option, but even subtracting him, this lineup is way too luxurious.

Usually, I'd use the Final Blade of Aspiration's End With the HeroEska=Wallach or the Blade of Aspiration Towards the HeroDuxram as my base equipment—weapons that don't lose durability but don't have great firepower scaling—but since we have a repair member, I can use weapons with high firepower even if I roughly shave off their durability. To be specific, I can hurl Areadbhair around.

To begin with, the vast majority of the monsters appearing in the sea of trees are monsters that have undergone Dragon-ification due to the Color Dragon virus, meaning Areadbhair, which holds the scorching heat of a Color Dragon killer, is terrifyingly strong in the sea of trees.

A beast dragon charged in with a roar... against the charge, mixed with irregular steps, of the thoroughbred triceratops boy who is now becoming the face of the sea of trees alongside my brotherBig Bro and his knock-offs, I toyed with him using even more irregular steps. The black blade that burns and severs dragons bit into the horns of his triceratops portion.

A fatal amount of damage was dealt to the horns that had already been melted and carved into countless times, and with a scream, his horns danced through the air. Yes, thanks for the meal.

"Now then..."

Level 150, the unprecedented maximum level that not even Rei-shi had reached yet. My thoughts on trying to fight with such a bodyavatar... it is seriously garbage.

That day, the inversion of the Arcanum declared by the NPC "Arcanum, Sage of Awakening"—who I couldn't tell was a human, a ghost, or something else entirely—that appeared before me when I "exited" Orchestra... the reversed "The Fool" had, as you might naturally expect, completely mutated its effects into something else entirely.

The exact opposite of the upright position, meaning... it changed into "Recast Time Doubled," "Healing Amount Doubled," and "Damage over Time Halved."

I see, at first glance, you might think it's actually a buff. The recovery items I had been using while cowering in the shadow of shitty RNG had returned to guaranteed successes, and their effectiveness was doubled, so it looks like the benefits are much greater. Considering the nature of DoT, halving it means that even if I get a status ailment, my survival time is doubled in a simple calculation.

But doubling the recast time, that alone is a no-go. Even taking the aforementioned merits into account, it's far too fatal of a wound for me as a player.

"............What should I do about this?"

My current status looks like this.

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PN: Sunraku

LV: 150

JOB: Avenger (Dual-Wielder)

SUB: Reversed Position "The Fool"

868,656 Mani

HP (Health): 100

MP (Magic): 200

STM (Stamina): 250 (125)

STR (Strength): 250

DEX (Dexterity): 220

AGI (Agility): 300

TEC (Technique): 210

VIT (Vitality): 1 (240) (1)

LUC (Luck): 400

Skills

・Rainbow-Light Slashing FlashSpectral Slash

・Shining Path of LightShining Sting

・Gravity TranscendencePhysics Transcend

・Star Sea CourierAster Runner

・Idaten Avatar

・Divine Aid of DioneDione Assistance

・Ablaze Advanced Yell

・Limit Ascension

・Awakened Self-Regulation

・Outrage Edge

・Opening Slash

・Limit Break Wraith

・Eternal Strike of the Sleeping GodKnockout Hypnos

・Hercules Strike

・Avatar of Taishakuten

・Bushin Kyokui

・Sword Dance 【Samsara】

・Nioh Stance

・Vis Yuga

・Eye of EternityChronostaxia

・Silver Arm of the Divine KingNuada Airgetlám

・Divine Strike of Certain VictoryVerethragna Smasher Lv.1

・Wolf Shadow of the Phantom Sun and Phantom MoonHati Morgen Sköll Abend

・Quaking ImpactTepeyollotl Impact

・Spirit of Guardian

・Netherworld HorizonReverse Orpheus

・Stratum Buster

・Omnipotent Martial Mastery

・Superior Force

・Eye of DestinyFatal Result

・Destiny DodgeFatal Cancel

・Harbinger of Certain VictoryThe Forerunner

・Furious Strike of the ShieldbearerRaging Shield

──【Reached SkillPrime Arts】──

・Single-Minded Devotion

Increases performance of attacks that land exactly 1 hit within a 10-second window.

・Multi-Polar Color Core

Increases performance of attacks that land 5 or more hits within a 10-second window.

・Perfect Vision

Applies a correction to the user's eyesight.

・Survival Instinct

Applies a random stat correction to STR, AGI, or LUC when HP drops to 5% or below.

・Wholehearted Martial Dedication

Boosts overall performance of offensive skills.

・One Shining Thousand Slashes

Active during solo play; recovers HP for a set time and halves stamina consumption for every mob defeated.

──【Unprecedented Secret ArtExordinary Skill】──

War-Shattering Amber DisplayWarphan

Imperial Gold EraGolden Age

──【Vorpal Martial Arts】──

・Vorpal Secret Art 【Fading Mirror】 Revised Stance

・Vorpal Secret Art 【Sever and Divide】Revised Stance

──【Seiten Style】──

【Wind】

・Seiten Style 「HayakazeSwift Wind」

・Seiten Style 「KirikazeSlashing Wind」

・Seiten Style 「TsumujikazeWhirlwind」

・Seiten Style 「MawashikazeCircling Wind」

・Seiten Style 「TodorokazeRoaring Wind」

・Seiten Style 「HazerikazeExploding Wind」

【Thunder】

・Seiten Style 「RaimeiThunderclap」

・Seiten Style 「RaiteiThunderbolt」

・Seiten Style 「HakuraiApproaching Thunder」

・Seiten Style 「GekiraiStriking Thunder」

・Seiten Style 「KanraiPiercing Thunder」

・Seiten Style 「RetsuraiRending Thunder」

【Wave】

・Seiten Style 「AranamiRaging Wave」

・Seiten Style 「HatouSurging Waves」

・Seiten Style 「SakinamiBreaking Wave」

・Seiten Style 「HajunDemonic Wave」

・Seiten Style 「HikinamiPulling Wave」

・Seiten Style 「HaranTurbulent Wave」

【Sky】

・Seiten Style 「BokyouTwilight Roar」

・Seiten Style 「SouzenPale Blue」

【Cloud】

・Seiten Style 「UkigumoFloating Cloud」

・Seiten Style 「UzumakigumoSwirling Cloud」

・Seiten Style 「NejirikumoSpiraling Cloud」

・Seiten Style 「MurakumoGathering Cloud」

【Heat】

・Seiten Style 「Fun'enErupting Flame」

【Ash】

・Seiten Style 「HainagareFlowing Ash」

──【Maxell Dodge Arts】──

・Multiple Circular MotionOrbit Movement

・Spiral Securing BehaviorScrew Hand Catch

・Secondary Defense BehaviorCollateral Damage Cut

・Relative Three-Dimensional MotionSolid Maneuver

──【Avenger's Style】──

・Avenger's Observation EyeRevenge Analyze

・Avenger's OathRevenge Call

・Avenger's Requiem StrikeRevenge Fatality

Equipment

Right: Areadbhair Rebuild

Left: None

Head: Laby-Rabbi Ear (VIT+120)

Torso: Lycaon's Scars

Waist: Laby-Rabbi Tail (VIT+120)

Legs: Lycaon's Scars

Accessory: Storage Key Inventoria

Accessory: Storage Key Inventoria

Accessory: Levin Trigger: Hazard

Accessory: Vestige of the Raging Storm EmperorIdea=Gatleo: ExtremeSuperior

Accessory: Crystal Scorpion Doll (MP Regen + Separate HP Recovery on Heal)

Accessory: Trainol Centipede Doll (Super Status Ailment Resistance: Poison + STM Correction)

Accessory: Fortress Queen Spider DollFortress Gargantula Doll (Impact Resistance: Medium + VIT Correction)

Accessory: Swallow-Tailed Feathered RobeSwallow Veil

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The naming sense has reached a level where it's becoming impossible to read what a skill does just from its text, but that's not the important part. It's nice that the UI around the Seiten Style has quietly gotten easier to read, but that's not it either. The important thing is... that Level 150 skills, which lie even beyond Triple-Digit Skills, can mostly be divided into two patterns.

Namely: either the recast is reasonably long, or the recast is terrifyingly long.

Even though my skills were practically overhauled from scratch and I already have to relearn their new movements and recast times, I'm slapped with this doubling of recast times on top of it. It's gotten to the point where my Unprecedented Secret ArtExordinary Skill is basically in a state where it can only be used once per battle, and even my skills with the highest rotation rates—which used to be halved from normal but are now double the normal—......ah, I'll basically be fighting with a perceived recast increase that's effectively 4x worse than players fighting at the standard 1x rate.

"I'm beat."

And if there's something that beats me even further... right, it's easy to forget, but the Arcanum possesses the bizarre property of being both a job and an item. As a test, I tried to see if I could unequip the reversed "The Fool," and surprisingly I could, but... the reversed effect seems to be permanent regardless of whether it's equipped or not. Meaning, I figured it out just now while fighting monsters.

That the "Arcanum" event is a major crisis that I must clear as my absolute highest priority.

---

Author's Afterword

・Accessory: Fortress Queen Spider DollFortress Gargantula Doll

A doll imbued with the quietly absurd effect of adding half of your physical VIT to your stats, on top of Impact Resistance: Medium, which completely nullifies the flinching caused by minor scratches. If you dropped this into the Tank thread, it would probably start a festival of madness. Well, if you could get away with just scratches in the environments moving forward, you wouldn't have any trouble, but usually, even if your body gets a little sturdier, you're just going to get pulverized anyway. Also, it's low-key bulky.

・Accessory: Swallow-Tailed Feathered RobeSwallow Veil

A feathered robe that looks like a swallowtail coat that was sold in Rabituza for some reason. It possesses an effect that makes your body weight slightly lighter—whether that's actually a merit or not is unclear—but because its appearance matched the rabbit ears and rabbit tail terrifyingly well, Sunraku concluded that it was 99% just a fashion accessory.

He remains completely unaware of the sheer danger implied by the fact that it's made from a monster material capable of multiplying body weight by 0.8...