[SP] [F01] Icy Fish Fencer <<The Fourth Lesson, Is Actually Free>>

[Tsurei 0]

Even so, some couple years of relaxed experience was still better than none at all, and that difference was manifesting how easily he and Yuta dispatched of their wolves whilst how clumsily Takumi and Kenji were fighting theirs.

As the wolf leapt up at Rei whilst he was thinking, he automatically dodged and attacked at the same time, slashing out at the wolf with a fully charged Rage Blow that cracked into it’s ribs and sent the wolf several meters away from the impact, allowing Rei to charge it up again for the next attack.

Rage Blow was effective, but being forced to adopt a particular stance to charge it up also meant he had only a limited number of ways to unleash the attack. Most obvious and comfortable was a downward attack, if it missed it would impact the ground causing debris to fly everywhere as well as stun his body momentarily.

ID# 133201
BD: 4 +3 = Hit [Rage Blow]
MD: 9 = Crit +1

Damage Dealt = 3 x 2 = 6

Damage Received = 9 - 8 + 1= 2

Rei: HP: 237/240 | EN: 21 (-2+1)/24 | 3 DMG | 8 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD

Wolf: HP: 18/30 | 9 DMG 

Edited January 2, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

The next angle was to do it diagonally, but since he was forced to strike with full power, if he wasn’t careful, it could easily throw him downwards into a shoulder roll if he was being graceful or just a plain or tumble like a weakling thrown around by the swing of his sword, the attack angle was good, but it also made him incredibly vulnerable if he wasn’t careful.

The horizontal swing as next and the same as the diagonal, if he wasn’t careful, it would throw him to the side and lose balance, it was also the slowest to execute out of Rage Blow stance, but at the same time, that force throwing him aside could be considered a dodge action as well, it was definitely the most two stone with one bird of the 3 options. In a sense, it could be used extremely well, so long as he was mindful of his footing and his surroundings.

ID# 133202
BD: 2 +3 = Miss [Rage Blow]
MD: 5 = Miss

Rei: HP: 237/240 | EN: 18 (-4+1)/24 | 3 DMG | 8 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD

Wolf: HP: 18/30 | 9 DMG 

Edited January 2, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

Whilst Rei was experimenting with the few Sword Arts he had available to him right now, he still planned to head into Katana territory later down the line and didn’t want to spend much more into the weapon skills,

Yuta was in a similar position, his goal was the Martial Arts tree, but that would be higher up on the floors, in the future, not yet within his reach, his next best was the Dagger, even while using it in fights, he was incorporating whatever martial arts or techniques he knew along with it, a kick here and there, a punch here and there, attempts to grapple here and there, the dagger was just an assist. Even if that meant it didn’t do the damage he hoped. He was strictly almost avoiding sword arts when he could, they were effective yes, but they would also be of no real training to him.

ID# 133203
BD: 4 +3 = Hit [Rage Blow]
MD: 4 = Miss

Damage Dealt = 3 x 2 = 6

Rei: HP: 237/240 | EN: 17 (-2+1)/24 | 3 DMG | 8 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD

Wolf: HP: 12/30 | 9 DMG 

Edited January 2, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

Takumi had a different mindset, though he still only had Rank 1 Sword Arts because he invested into defense more heavily, it made more sense to make it harder for enemies to kill him than to make it easier for him to kill enemies, yes, in a sense, offense was a great defense, but for now, so long as he could negate most of the damage of his enemies, he could leisurely attack back however long it took to defeat his opponent, minutes? Half an hour?

Sure he might not have the patience for it, but he was certain this was the safest way to do it. If it took longer before he died, it was also entirely possible for him to buy time for his allies to come to his aid eventually, he knew Yuta focused on speed and attack power, Rei was on attack power and skill, that meant that he and Kenji, with the shields and lack of experience in combat, could be their support and defense.

ID# 133204
BD: 8 +3 = Hit [Rage Blow]
MD: 6 = Hit

Damage Dealt = 3 x 2 = 6

Damage Received = 9 - 8 = 1

Rei: HP: 236/240 | EN: 16 (-2+1)/24 | 3 DMG | 8 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD

Wolf: HP: 6/30 | 9 DMG 

Edited January 2, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

Yes he had a shield, yes he had heavy armour, but in Kenji’s mind, he was not at all content with merely being a shield. He wanted to protect others when he could and had to, but most of all it played to his personality of wanting to help people, that said, unlike the others who were holding off on SP or focusing on defense, he was balancing Defense and Offense, with Rank 2 1 Handed Sword and Rank 2 Heavy Armour, Rank 1 Shield, he was trying to make sure he could stand on his own.

On paper, everything was working out, but in reality, he was far too timid and flighty when it came to combat, his joints would lock up, he would freeze like a deer in headlights, he would squeeze his eyes shout in fear and anticipation of the enemy attack. These qualities made it hard for him to use his skills effectively.

ID# 133205
BD: 5 +3 = Hit [Rage Blow]
MD: 7 = Hit

Damage Dealt = 3 x 2 = 6

Damage Received = 9 - 8 = 1

Rei: HP: 236/240 | EN: 15 (-2+1)/24 | 3 DMG | 8 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD

Wolf: HP: 6/30 | 9 DMG 

Edited January 2, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

The peaceful journey and combat training slowly let them focus, to ponder on themselves and try to better themselves in combat, whether it be skilful use of their Arts, training reflexes and techniques on their opponents or gradually get used to what combat was like and training the reflexes or conditioning needed to react to enemy attacks.

Even though that was the case, it’s not like they forgot their goal, they were headed to the lake to preform the task needed for the quest, obtain the extra exp rewards and move on to the next quest, ever rising and climbing that ladder, what waited them at the top was unknown, but at the very least, Rei planned to lead them to see everything the virtual world had to offer, safely, slowly, steadily conquering their way up.

Well, that might be too grand and could hardly be considered ambition, but that’s his basis for his motivation.

ID# 133242

LD: 9 = Fail

Edited January 2, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

Rei idly looked over their party stats, he was equipped with the Icy Cutlass, a step up from before, it had a damage buff and Bleed effect, his armour was still the simple dark leather, he was waiting for the perfect light armour to be made, his order still underway, he hoped it would be complete soon, but time would tell. His accessory was the Ice Star Chain, simply put, it was a snowflake keychain like item that was threaded through his weapon, the little thing gave him a +3 accuracy bonus, curtesy of that young girl at the Evening Star, it was certainly serving him well and letting his hits land more often and more accurately. He was glad he got it, not just for the stats, but because it grounded him a bit, it reminded him of the world he left, the real world.

Snow was his sister you see, nothing reminded him more of her cute chilly personality than the snow or this little accessory that he had in real life as well, it had been a gift from her no less.

ID# 133244

LD: 8 = Fail

Edited January 2, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

His little sister was nothing like him you see, she was smarter, more athletic, more successful in almost every way, even though she was so much younger than him, she had already secured a scholarship at one of the best universities in the country, meanwhile he was just coasting by wondering what was at the end of the road.

It was tough having such a amazing little sister, his parents constantly compared the two, at one point, she started avoiding him, they used to be pretty close, they would often go out and play until the sun had set, her favourite season was the winter, because it snowed, like her namesake. She always caught a cold though from playing out too much, so it was usually pretty horrible.

Now that he thought about it, she was better than him at games as well, it made him into a sore loser back then. Nowadays, the only thing that could connect the two were their blue eyes, they were almost the exact same shade as each other’s.

ID# 133245

LD: 12 = Fail

Edited January 2, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

When the next wave of wolves came, Rei wasn’t really thinking things through, body on auto, he readied his Rage Blow like always and waited for the enemy to attack first, the moment he moved out of the way, he would counter attack, dealing damage whilst avoiding it, his attention only returned when he heard the huge explosion force of his Art not only landing but also proccing the Super Critical and the Bleed effect, in a single strike, the wolf was blown backwards by several meters, unable to get back up as it suffered from the effects of the bleed.

He was stunned by the powerful strike he had managed to land, with a small smirk, he mocked himself, “Why can’t I do that when I actually want to?” he looked over at the wolf, pitifully whimpering in pain as it was programmed to, he was honestly not sure if AI felt pain or they were just acting at this point.

 

ID# 133246
BD: 10 +3 = Crit +2 [Rage Blow] [Bleed Inflicted]
MD: 3 = Miss

Damage Dealt = (3 + 2) x 2 = 10

Rei: HP: 240/240 | EN: 22 (-2)/24 | 3 DMG | 8 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD

Wolf [Bleeding 1/2] : HP: 8/30 | 9 DMG 

Edited January 2, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

Walking over, Rei finished it off with a swift stab to the chest to end it’s suffering, he idly looked around at his allies, their battles had hardly begun and he had already finished his own…

He gave a deep, empty sigh, wondering how his family and little sister were doing now? 2 years had passed, so his little sister was just 1 year below him in university when he was trapped here. Well, the pair had no contact for some years now, so he doubted they would all feel much significance towards him being like this.

He doubted anybody really cared either, he didn’t have many friends to begin with and his familial ties were pretty thin. He looked over at Yuta, Takumi and Kenji, and his only close friends were here with him in the death trap, fighting alongside him, in a sense, it might have been his fault there were all here, he told Yuta about the game, he told Takumi and Kenji and together they pressed them to join them.

ID# 133247
BD: 7 +3 = Hit
MD: 4 = Miss

Damage Dealt = 3

Rei: HP: 240/240 | EN: 22 (-1+1)/24 | 3 DMG | 8 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD

Wolf [Bleeding 1/2] : HP: 5/30 | 9 DMG 

Edited January 2, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

Did they hold resentment towards him? He wondered as he watched them fight, he wouldn’t be surprised if they did. As he mused on his feelings, his eyes picked something up in the distance, when he squinted he quickly realised what it was. They were halfway to the lake and that meant the forest was on their left as they moved along it’s edge, that meant they were in range of that terrifying monster that had them running away just two days ago.

The large winter wolf, with pristine, fluffy white fur, cold blue eyes and a sharp maw, the wolf was the size of a car or a truck.

And it was coming their way.

Yuta was quick to noticing, engaged with the wolf, he pushed it off and gawped at the sight,

“Is that…” he gasped,

“Hm?” Takumi looked over, casually blocking another hit, his eyes widening, “Well [sdfs],”

“No, no, no,” Kenji cried out as he saw it, he was chased by it and nearly killed, another trauma.

[Tsurei 0]

Everyone was already engaged, except for Rei, he knew what had to be done, he rushed to meet the Winter Wolf to keep it from the others, the wolf leapt at him and he lunged to the side, still, with how large the beast was, it’s not like you could just lunge at a 45 degree angle and hope to side step a truck.

But he made a horizontal Rage Blow. The force of the strike threw him off his feet, but it also made him fly through the air slightly, dodging past the Winter Wolf’s maw and body by centimeters, his blade tearing through the side leaving a large red gash. But before he was clear, the body contorted as the torso of the wolf bashed him aside, forcing him to land harshly on the snow, skidding to a stop.

The Winter Wolf wheeled around to glare at him, he had the aggro so it was only natural. Rei glanced at his health and the wolf, looks like the tables have turned, it was only natural, the highest level monster on the first floor was Lv 5, he was Level 12, and he had the gear suited for his level now.

ID# 133248
BD: 3 +3 = Hit [Rage Blow]
MD: 6 = Hit

Damage Dealt = 3 x 2 = 6

Damage Received = 15 - 8 = 7

Rei: HP: 233/240 | EN: 22 (-2+1)/24 | 3 DMG | 8 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD

Winter Wolf: HP: 44/50 | 15 DMG 

Edited January 2, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

“Rei!” Yuta cried out, seeing him lock in combat with the wolf,

“Just concentrate on the mobs, I’ll be fine!” Rei called back over, indeed, this could be called an easy win. As the wolf clawed at him, he used his blade to parry it by directly striking the claws away, using that opening, he lunged at the wolf’s large body and unleased his Rage Blow on it’s face, landing a hard dull meaty thud as the Wolf was pushed back several meters, certainly, the sight made Rei almost inhuman, but this was a game and such things were to be expected, if Cordelia’s fight against the Serpents was anything to go by, it was the norm.

Twisting the blade in his grip, he prepared to face the wolf, eager to learn just how much stronger he had become in just the past few days, a small, excited grin spread on his face.

ID# 133249
BD: 7 +3 = Hit [Rage Blow]
MD: 5 = Miss

Damage Dealt = 3 x 2 = 6

Rei: HP: 233/240 | EN: 21 (-2+1)/24 | 3 DMG | 8 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD

Winter Wolf: HP: 38/50 | 15 DMG 

Edited January 2, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

At full focus and giving his all, Rei was certain that was when he was undefeatable, such a state was rare to be in though, probably one a month if he was lucky but it was certainly there. The wolf lunged for him and he twisted out of the way into a horizontal Rage Blow for that extra distance for the dodge, raking his blade across the right side this time around, leaving a much large red gash through the wolf’s white fur, and worse still, it was enlarging.

Bleed Inflicted, Critical procced, this fight might end much sooner than he thought, Rei mused to himself as he compared their health bars, this was a shockingly easy fight, was all he needed good equipment and some higher levels? Granted, he was 11 levels higher than before and 6 levels higher than this wolf, so it was only natural he supposed.

When he thought about it like that, he sighed, it was unsatisfying to win not because of skill but just overwhelming power.

ID# 133250
BD: 9 +3 = Crit +1 [Rage Blow] [Bleed Inflicted]
MD: 1 = Miss

Damage Dealt = (3 + 1) x 2 = 8

Rei: HP: 233/240 | EN: 20 (-2+1)/24 | 3 DMG | 8 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD

Winter Wolf [Bleeding 1/2] : HP: 18/50 | 15 DMG 

Edited January 2, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

Bleeding and dying, just one more hit will settle the match, Rei prepared his Art one more time and awaited his opponent to come at him. This albino wolf with blue eyes and white fur, covered in red gashes somehow made his heart ache, it was hard to see the connection as far fetched as they might be, it was a mere game but he was kinda annoyed by the resemblance. He spread his feet further apart, falling deeper into the stance, prepared to lunge.

The others were more or less finished with their fights, wasting no time to go for the kill out of a frantic fight to deal with the matter at hand, but the scene gave them pause, it looked like Rei had it handled, they were all nearly equal in stats so the realisation that they all had grown stronger was hammered in when Rei dodged the wolf’s last attack and delivered the final blow.

ID# 133251
BD: 8 +3 = Hit [Rage Blow]
MD: 10 = Crit +2

Damage Dealt = 3 x 2 = 6

Rei: HP: 233/240 | EN: 20 (-2+1)/24 | 3 DMG | 8 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD

Winter Wolf [Bleeding 0/2] : HP: 12/50 | 15 DMG 

Edited January 2, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

There was short moment of quiet before the Winter Wolf shattered into a myriad of glass pieces and dissipated into the air, Rei let out a small foggy breath and sheathed his weapon,

“Looks like the gear we got is a great help,” he stated, it seemed Bleed was far more useful than he realised, he needed to make sure he kept it even if he got an upgrade.

“Well, you made that look easy,” Yuta clapped, somewhat impressed,

“So we really did get stronger, huh?” Takumi noted curiously,

“We’ve been getting kicked around so much, it was hard to notice,” Kenji nodded,

“And if we don’t want to keep being kicked around, despite being overleveled, we better get into more fights,” Rei shrugged,

“Come on, let’s get going before they respawn, we’re wasting time,” Yuta suggested, looking up at the sky, the first floor was large, even this trip to the lake would take a few hours, they spent the morning shopping, and the trip to and back would get them about in time for dinner before sundown.

ID# 133324

LD: 13 = Fail

Edited January 3, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

“Say, what are we doing after this?” Yuta raised a question, “I mean, this is the last quest in the beginner chain, right?”

“Yeah…” Rei nodded, looking over at Takumi for confirmation, “I think we don’t have many more quests to do, 2 or 3?”

“Indeed, all that’s left is `Secret Medicine of the Forest` and `Dragon Hunt 1`” Takumi replied, reading off memory,

“Dragon hunt?” Kenji raised a brow uncertainly,

“Yes… I’m not sure it’s an enemy we can take on,” Takumi nodded gravely, “Secret Medicine of the Forest seems like an easy starter quest, that one should pose very little problem to us,”

“What’s it’s stats?” Rei asked,

“Health is one hundred and twenty five, mitigation is twenty five and damage if fifty,”

“…Well,” Rei sighed deeply, truly, they probably won’t stand a chance, they can’t do damage over 25 at all, so all their attacks would be reduced to 1 damage, the best chance was his Bleed Effect, but that’s not too reliable. As for the 50 damage, that meant at their current level, 5 hits and they were dead.

ID# 133325

LD: 11 = Fail

Edited January 3, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

All things considered, after the secret medicine quest, they might skip the dragon hunt and earning a living and move to the 2^nd floor…

It would b closer to their level at that point so they might start having trouble up there, but it should be no problem. If he recalled, the 2^nd floor was a large mountainous region with plenty of plateaus and rivers all over it, on that floor was probably 5 quests available to them, their environment and difficulty of enemies was going to change, in sort, they would be leaving this comfort zone on the first floor that they were used to which worried him. Along the way to the lake, he decided to look into the second floor’s quests, noticing that Takumi was probably doing the same.

There was a particular quest called, `The Venomous Warg,` which had a limit on their level, if they were over the level, they’d miss out on the bonus exp, which of course was not great, not the end of the world, but preferably, that’s the time they’d take first.

ID# 133326

LD: 6 = Fail

Edited January 3, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

What a pain… maybe he should just ignore it, a little bit of extra SP wasn’t worth the trouble… but his desire for efficiency was showing up, he felt he should skip the Secret Medicine quest, go to the 2^nd floor, complete that Venomous Warg, come back down and do the Medicine quest, so he wouldn’t miss out on that extra SP… Yeah, that’s what he’ll do… That quest had Wolves and Venomous Snapper, the wolves had 40 health and 25 damage… A bit stronger than the Winter Wolf on the first floor which might be a problem. Worse still was the Venomous Snapper with 125 Health and 35 damage, 50 damage on a crit and it’s poison…

It felt risky with his current attack power being limited to 6 with Rage Blow per attack… yeah… this was unfeasible at his current state, he needed to get a katana or give up on it and move onto upgrading his curved sword as the next best. He very quickly needed stronger attacks and higher damage output.

[Tsurei 0]

He was lost in his thoughts when they found the next wolf pack, he absent-mindedly drew his sword and fought on auto, raising his blade, he prepared his Art and struck out at the wolf, with a connection that caused a loud crashing impact, the wolf was thrown away whilst it managed to deal 1 point of damage against Rei with one of it’s claws that managed to reach him.

He was too weak. It frustrated Rei all over again, once more, they were too weak to advance like this. Even on the first floor, their HP was high, but their damage was low, up on the second floor where enemies almost doubled or tripled in difficulty, he needed to have his armour and weapon at the best level before he could move on.

He glared at the wolf in annoyance, why couldn’t he just let skill handle things instead of stats, he wished this game was a bit less based on numbers.

ID# 133327
BD: 7 +3 = Hit [Rage Blow]
MD: 8 = Hit

Damage Dealt = 3 x 2 = 6

Damage Received = 9 - 8 = 1

Rei: HP: 239/240 | EN: 22 (-2) /24 | 3 DMG | 8 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD

Wolf: HP: 24/30 | 9 DMG 

Edited January 3, 2020 by Tsurei