[F-01] [SP] Punching Rocks, Testing Katana Arts and Hiking with Friends «Breaking the Unbreakable»

[Tsurei 0]

Spoiler

Stats

Level: 17

Hit Points: 340

Energy: 34

Combat Stats

Damage: 7

Mitigation: 17

Accuracy: 3

Evasion: 0

Weapons

[T1] [Perfect] [Katana] Mizuha (Damage 2, Bleed 1)

Armour/Accessories

[Vanity] [Light Armour] Dark Leather Armour [T1] [Perfect] [Light Armour] Ocean's Mantle (Mitigation 1, Regen 2) [T1] [Perfect] [Trinket] Ice Star Chain (Accuracy 3)

Battle Ready Items

5 x [T1] [Uncommon] Health Potions  (+40hp) 2 x Immolation Potions 1 x [T1] [Uncommon] Damage Potion (+1 Damage, 1 Thread) 1 x [T1] [Uncommon] Over-Health Potion (+50 Temp HP) 1 x Snake Venom

All in all, their travels had gone quite well, they racked up a few levels and when they had gotten back, Rei was able to get his armour and the very next day he was able to pick up his new reforged katana which he named Mizuha.

However, as much as he was itching to head into combat to test out his weapon, armour and new sword arts, his promise to Yuta came first, and that was – to head to the 2^nd floor and complete `Breaking the Unbreakable` so that he could get the Martial Arts skill so Yuta could finally engage in super close combat as he desired.

His game plan was to raise Dagger and Martial Arts, with more focus on the hand to hand than the weaponry since that was his idealised style, though how well that translated to him actually having to preform in battle using that style had yet to be seen.

Edited January 26, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

In any case, today began like any other day, they were headed to the 2^nd Floor and there could be no underestimating it’s dangers, they packed up their items and made sure to let Rossa and the others in the tavern what they were going to do, it was likely going to be another trek up the mountains for several days, all things considered, the location of the quest always changed, that is, it hopped from a random summit of one of the large mountains that were on the 2^nd floor.

So regardless, they would have to spend quite a bit of time searching for the training grounds. Compared to the mountains they were at last time, this one promised to be much higher, so it was going to be quite a bit rougher. They scrounged up with information they could from the various brokers as to the approximate location of the NPC as of right now and for the next few days, so this was their chance.

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Since the Frontier has expanded to the 25^th or so Floor, the lower floors like the 2^nd were available to teleport to even if the players themselves haven’t been there yet, rather, there is no other way to get up there, the dungeon that connected the floors together, holding treasure, mobs and bosses that were required to be defeated before they could get to the next floor was closed down once it was cleared. The mobs there would not be encountered again and only those who fought it during the Frontier days would have access to the loot they gained from that time, such as uniques.

Point was, the party headed to the centre of the town, where the stone platform was with it’s large, somewhat ruined stone ring, not quite a complete circle with a piece missing in it’s upper corner, when player’s approached it and chose their destination via the menu, a blue whirling energy would fill in the circular space, being their portal to the next floor.

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The four of them glanced at each other with a small nod,

“Alright then, here we go, to the 2^nd floor,” Rei announced, taking the first step forward as the others followed behind him,

“Yeah,” Yuta nodded determinedly, he looked down at his hand and slowly closed it into a fist, it was his turn now,

“Sheesh… More mountain hiking, we could’ve done with a break you know,” Takumi sighed deeply, yawning and rubbing at his sunken dark eyes,

“So… we’re going to find this NPC and then we’re going to punch some rocks until they break?” Kenji frowned at the implausibility of the quest details,

“That’s about right,” Rei confirmed, understanding his confusion.

Soon they touched the portal, there was a small amount of hesitation but eventually they worked up the courage and took a resolute step towards the swirling blue mass of energy that they couldn’t see past, only hoping that it would take them to their destination without harm.

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There was moment of nausea, the sensation of slipping and falling down the stairs, that sense of weightlessness and plunging forward to your very real doom. But a moment was only a moment, less than a second later of that sensation their feet touched on cobblestone beneath their feet, taking a few shaky steps forward, Rei breathed in the chilly air and took a look around as the others came behind him.

Urbus, the main safe zone of the 2^nd floor, a European medieval looking town built into a deep crater surrounded by a biome of mountains, forests and rivers, not unlike what they’ve been travelling through to get to the temple. The buildings here were of various bits of wood, stone and straw, the people here were dressed appropriately like farming peasants with straw hats, roughspun tunics and plain brown dresses, horse and carriages clattered away, and the players stood out like sorer thumbs than the floor below.

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“Woah…” Yuta breathed in awe as he looked around,

“Honestly, this is what I thought the game would look like most of the time,” Kenji murmured,

“Blergh…!” Takumi gagged, doubled over with his hands on his knees and facing towards the floor, stuck with motion sickness that bout of nausea was obviously several times more terrible for him.

Wiping the drool from his mouth, Takumi panted as he looked up, pale, “I…I am never going through that again,”

“You’re going to have to,” Rei smiled wryly, “It’s the only ticket back,”

“We’ll just stay here then,” He nodded resolutely to himself, convinced that it was the only option,

“We still have quests to be done down there, come on, let’s get going,” Rei patted him on the back supportively,

“If I’m not reading this wrong, then the quest is over there,” Yuta stared at the parchment in his hands and pointed at the peaks of one of the mountains, at it’s base was grassy and forested, but the other half was pure grey, stone with no white peak, seemingly snow was not something you saw here.

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“Oh…” Rei made a slight noise of affirmation, “If we’re lucky, we’ll have a tussle with some of the monsters on this floor, it should make for some good practice,”

“All you can think about is the fighting,” Yuta sighed, shrugging and shaking his head as if he was hopeless, irking Rei somewhat,

“I can’t help it,” he frowned back, “Besides I can’t wait to test this thing out,” he patted the blue katana on his waist with a small clack,

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Yuta rolled his eyes and began to walk towards the nearest city gate,

“What’s so special about the katana, it’s not as versatile as a normal double edged blade anyway,” Takumi shrugged, not seeing the appeal,

“Oi, that’s slanderous,” Rei joked, “You’re Japanese aren’t you?”

“I don’t see how that has anything to do with it,” Takumi replied calmly, “It’s shorter, heavier and horrible against armour, it has a single edge and is less durable, it is inferior in many ways,”

[Tsurei 0]

“Tch, such a downer,” Rei rolled his eyes in frustration, “At least in the games, the katana represents a focus on speed and power, rather than raw strength, it’s about skill and dexterity,”

“Eh,” Takumi shrugged disinterested,

They walked out of the town, the road beneath them went from cobblestone to flagstone and finally to a pure dirt road outside the town, just a vast tableland with a beaten path from repetitive travel by way of merchants and travellers, creating natural roads from one place to the next, as curious Rei was about where the path leads, they were almost immediately making a sharp turn and leaving any signs of the path to head over to the base of the nearby mountain.

It was only their first time here and their first quest already needed them to leave the comfort of civilisation in all it’s forms to strike out on their own.

[Tsurei 0]

If the first floor was a nice, varied landscape comparable to that of a minature world, with it’s lakes, mountains, grasslands, it was certainly an ideal location and a feast for the eyes with it’s vast reaches designed to entice exploration, to ease the new players into the world with the wonder at the large expanse of the game that they were free to roam, then this second floor was a bit different.

Truly the embodiment of a single location, stretched out to encompass the floor and that idea was a singular, huge canyon, huge mountain ranges covered in green, be it grass or forests, not a hint of snow despite the altitude, large rocky lands between walls of rock and the sight just goes on forever, that’s what they would find if they were to ever reach the summit and look around, as it was, the group was wandering in one of the many pine forests, trying to find a way up.

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Within that forest, the group was fighting off a pack of wild wolves, not like the grey and silver wolves that would embody the sense of elegance and ferocity of the creatures, but in these mountains these wolves were more akin to mutated dogs, their fur were either brown or patchy, revealing their muscular structure underneath, their drooling maws made it doubtful that they would not contract some sort of disease in the process if they were to be bitten, it was one of their first combats in this forest and at first they would sigh,

“Just more wolves?” Rei raised a brow when he first saw them, a bit tired of the repetition, any warrior would prefer to fight human shaped opponents, the Terracottas from before were certainly fond in his memory since combat between warriors were always better than combat against wild beasts,

“Don’t let your guard down! This is the second floor,” Yuta warned, quickly drawing his dagger from a sheath on his waist, readying into a stance,

 

ID# 134552
BD: 9 +3 = Crit +1 [Tsumuji Guruma] [Bleed Inflicted]
MD: 5 = Miss

Damage Dealt = 7 + 1 = 8

Rei: HP: 340/340 | EN: 31 (-3) /34 | 7 DMG | 17 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD| 2 REGEN

Warg: HP [Bleeding 1/2]: 50/70| 21 DMG

Edited January 19, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

As per standard protocol, they instinctively avoided having their first battle here be against bad odds, so this wolf pack was 4 for 4, they would each face a single wolf on their own to test the difficulty before they could be more confident and take down several at a time. The group split up, each landing a strike on a specific wolf before spreading out to give everyone space to work with.

Faced with his opponent, armed with a azure katana, Rei could only lament that his first testing dummy would be against a wild beast instead of a humanoid creature, in any case, he readied up his Sword Art, charging the skill by holding his blade to his side, preparing for a horizontal strike, his blue coloured energy whirling around the dripping blade as if encasing it in magic, causing even the water dripping from the blade to glow a neon blue.

The First of the Katana Arts he gained, Tsumuji Guruma, also known as Spiral Wheel is what you’d expect.

 

ID# 134553
BD: 2 +3 = Miss [Ukifune]
MD: 3 = Miss

Rei: HP: 340/340 | EN: 25 (-7+1) /34 | 7 DMG | 17 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD| 2 REGEN

Warg: HP: 38/70| 21 DMG

Edited January 19, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

He timed it for when the wolf leapt out at him, aiming to tear out his aorta in the neck, the normal tactic was to bite into his artery, cause incredible bleeding whilst pinning him to the ground and tearing out his throat by shaking the head fiercely to the sides, a common wolf killing technique. This may be a game, but the gruesome imagery of what could happen was still in his mind as Rei instinctively ducked down, causing him to angle his attack upwards when he unleashed it.

The blade flashed out with the shrill sound of steel, near instantly creating a perfect circular arc as Rei’s body spun automatically with the help of the system, achieving speeds and techniques beyond the human norm, he recovered his balance as the wolf received a deep cut across it’s body as a result of the wide area attack, which also cut into a few trees and the ground nearby, the water from the blade lashing out like an extension of the blade.

 

ID# 134554
BD: 6 +3 = Hit [Ukifune]
MD: 7 = Hit

Damage Dealt = 7 x 2

Damage Received =  21 - 17 = 4 [Cancelled out by Regen = +10]

Rei: HP: 340/340 | EN: 21 (-5+1) /34 | 7 DMG | 17 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD| 2 REGEN

Warg: HP: 25/70| 21 DMG

Edited January 19, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

With the sound of an explosive critical, he whirled around to recover his stance as he watched the wolf’s health bar drop dramatically as a result of the widening wound in it’s chest. Bleed had been inflicted, luckily for him.

Next Sword Art to be tested was Ukifune, also known as `A boat set adrift,` a strange meaning for the next strike, but he wasn’t going to complain. Rei hurried sheathed his katana and readied as if he was going to draw it in a single attack like Iaido, his body arched and leaning forward he waited for the wolf’s next move.

Stepping to the side and striking upwards with the sword in it’s sheath, knocking it into the air was the premise of the technique, unfortunately Rei misjudged the timing and missed the first strike, he also avoided the wolf’s bite so that wasn’t too bad a loss if not for the significant energy drain of this attack, Stun effect attacks were valued more, reasonably so, but it certainly wasn’t useful against everyday enemies.

 

ID# 134555
BD: 5 +3 = Hit [Han'ei] [Stun Inflicted]
MD: 9 = Crit +1

Damage Dealt = 7 x 2 = 14

Damage Received =  22 - 17 = 5 [Cancelled out by Regen = +10]

Rei: HP: 340/340 | EN: 20 (-2+1) /34 | 7 DMG | 17 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD| 2 REGEN

Warg: HP: 10/70| 21 DMG

Edited January 19, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

He readied his stance again, waiting for the wolf to make the same tried and test movement, avoiding any of it’s attempts to bit his ankles or legs by single avoiding them, waiting specifically for when it leapt for his neck, the moment it did, Rei stepped to the side and preformed Ukifune one more time.

He was a little too slow or he moved too little, in any case, the wolf managed to bite into his shoulder, with was sharp, red pain, however the mitigation and the regeneration enhancements of his scarf meant that the pain was dulled significantly, and also near immediately faded into nothing.

With this he was able to calm down and crunch his sheath into the wolf’s stomach, throwing it into the air with an incredible impact, realistically that would shatter it’s ribcage from the sounds of it, the wolf launched helplessly into the air was left to Rei’s whim as he prepared his next Sword Art.

 

ID# 134556
BD: 10 +3 = Crit + 2 [Hi Ougi]

Damage Dealt = (7 + 2) x 3 = 27

Rei: HP: 340/340 | EN: 18 (-3+1) /34 | 7 DMG | 17 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD| 2 REGEN

Warg: HP: 10/70| 21 DMG

Edited January 19, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

Han’ei, meaning Prosperity, it was yet another strange name for a Katana technique, though he realised that Ukifune was a strangely apt and poetic description of it’s effects as he watched the wolf go through the air, with gravity slowly making it fall back down, this one however made no sense to Rei.

Taking the sword out of it’s sheath he readied a strike from his waist diagonally, it was almost meaningless to take it out of the sheath from the angle he was going to be striking it almost no different from the angle of an Iai, but that was a separate Sword Art altogether, so it was incompatible with the limits of flexibility the system gave him.

The moment the wolf fell into range he lashed out, two brilliant azure arcs flashed in quick succession, two diagonal strikes in a near instant lacerated into the wolf’s flesh and ended in the same pose as he began nearly, sending the wolf into near death as the two strikes threw it backwards across the ground.

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Next Art on the table was Hi Ouji, a strangely exaggerated name meaning Secret Art or Technique, it seemed something more appropriate to a ninja, or at least a higher class skill than something he received in Rank 2 in Katana.

Slotting the sheath into his belt so he could hold the katana in two hands, he lowered it to his waist whilst adopting a side stance, the blade became encased in blue energy almost as a second sheath of magic, the moment the wolf was in range, he didn’t hesitate to unleash it, lunge or not, the upward strike from the low angle meant it would catch the beast regardless.

3 radiant strikes blasted out from his body impossibly gracefully and smoothly, 3 rotational spins, the blade lashed upwards then downwards, the last rotation gathered the momentum and he lunged forward for the coup de grace, the slashing blows knocking the wolf into the air allowed his thrust to punch it straight through the cut as if shot from a gun.

Impaled, the wolf shattered after a moment as Rei held his position post strike.

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Rei glanced at his katana, giving it the almost traditional flick of the blade to scatter the non-existent blood from the weapon as he was taught to do after a battle, he sheathed the blade slowly, letting out a tense breath, it was his first time using a katana for the last 2 years since he last took part in practice at his university.

Thankfully it seems that several years of training have no abandoned him completely as of yet, granted in the game he would be primarily using pre-determined and repetitive Sword Arts rather than proper fighting techniques from reality, which was saddening.

He glanced over to his friends in combat, mulling over his findings and thoughts, the katana was classed a two handed weapon, giving him the appropriate damage boost from Rank 1 Katana being triple than normal, this counts even if he held the sheath in one hand and the katana in the other,

[Tsurei 0]

He could use that sheath to block or attack, but it wouldn’t do much damage as much as he disliked the fact, used to a dual wielding style since he liked the use of his two arms in combat rather than the single weapon. He went through all of the Rank 1 Katana Arts, being Tsumuji Guruma, Ukifune and Han’ei.

All were comparable to what he was used to with the Curved Sword, Tsumuji Guruma was a simple, weak, area attack meant to be used when surrounded, not for one on one combat, Ukifune was meant to be used on more difficult opponents, he wasn’t sure if there was meant to be some kind of size limit, he wasn’t sure about the idea of him launching goliath stone golems with a simple bash of his sheath from that position.

As for Han’ei, it was a simple, extremely quick double slash, comparable to Rage Blow in terms of total damage output, though he was fond of the simplistic, fast attack honestly.

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Then Rei heaved a deep sigh, Hi Ouji, whilst it was certainly the next step up and stronger, it was also nice and quick as well as impressive looking, Rei couldn’t help but disapprove of it’s movements, wasteful and would almost certainly get him killed in real combat, not to mention the skill is only even remotely viable due to the systems help of increasing his speed, power and skill artificially to make the technique possible.

The amount of spinning was unnecessary, if he could get rid of that part of the technique, he’d feel a little more comfortable using it, though he was unsure if he could get rid of such an integral part of the Art.

Considering that he had Rage Blow for a significant amount of time and thus experimented with it’s different angles of attack, he utilised the pulling force of the Art in different ways such as using it to dodge attacks at the same time,

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It wouldn’t be out of the picture for him to discover new techniques and little details and niches in each of these absurd techniques in the lower ranks of the Katana, it would be useless as damage output, since the optimiser in him told him to only use Rank 3 Arts since he had them, making the other Ranks pointless, he didn’t want to rule out any possibility, worse still, he didn’t want to end up limiting the potential of the inferior arts that might very well save his life.

He still had the other Arts to test out and he resolved to make sure to practice plentifully with the Rank 1 and 2 Arts until he was familiar with them.

By the time he was finished gathering all this information and solidifying his course of action, Kota had completed his fight and walked over, tapping him on the shoulder,

“What’s up? Something on your mind?” he asked with a small hint of concern in his voice, his eyes searching for the barest hint in Rei’s expression,