by Nikita Thorn
“You can try going to this person’s banquet, you know,” said Suzuyo mysteriously. “See who it is. Then come tell us what it’s like. As far as we know, no one has managed to unlock the fifth floor yet.”
“I’m sure it’s a spooky glitched area,” said Mairin.
“Right?” said Suzuyo.
Kazuki shook his head, picked up the invitations to hand them back to Seiki, who suddenly felt as if he had been told by a doctor that his mysterious illness could not be diagnosed. If the Shinshioka Scientific Society had no clue what was going on, it was unlikely anyone could make a more educated guess. “Uh, so what do I do?”
The ninja chuckled. “Take a peek. At least open the door. If you don’t like what you see, close the door and come back out.”
Seiki looked at the invitations in his hand, before putting them back into his inventory. He had to admit he was curious, but again was not sure if he really wanted to go anywhere near a possibly glitched area.
“Don’t go, Seiki. One look into the Abyss, and the Demon Lord has your soul,” said Mairin seriously.
Suzuyo laughed.
Seiki was not quite sure what to say to that. The kitsune’s nonsensical speculation, however, seemed to lighten the mood.
Akuma chuckled. “Have you met Ibumi? My clan mate’s… sister.” He smirked at the word. “You might want to join her drama club. You can offer an alternative reenactment of the invasion.”
The kitsune grinned. “Ibumi? Oh, yeah, we’ve met.”
“Yeah?” Ikumi managed to look surprised. “Well, you can write to her if you want.”
“This is some advanced RP.” Ippei seemed unable to decide whether he wanted to laugh or groan. “Anyway, after all this, nothing rules out the possibility of it being a Beta ability. If there’s one that puts you into complete stealth, it would explain everything.”
Akuma’s expression sobered and he gave a solemn nod. “I was thinking the same thing. Not that I know of one, but that’s the most likely possibility. As you know, Beta abilities aren’t that well…er, documented, because they kept getting tweaked and we’re not sure what the final version were.”
“I’ve always been skeptical of these claims of Beta abilities still floating around,” said Kazuki.
“And I’m telling you they exist,” said Akuma.
“Okay, let’s take a step back. We’re basing this on the assumption that they were players,” said Suzuyo. “I mean, yes, the game treated them like an invading party, but could they have been something else?”
“Oh, they were definitely players,” said Akuma with confidence. “The first one was an obake.”
Everyone looked at him.
“Based on what?” said Suzuyo.
“Based on Nether Chills,” said Akuma. “I’ve fought enough of them in Beta. That felt exactly like fighting Sojo. Obake have this bad habit of putting down Nether Chills first. They still do now, and I remember exactly what that feels like. And since they one-shot these guys all at once, so it must have been an AoE. Even a near-max level obake would have difficulty killing decently-geared Level 16s with just Nether Chills.”
Seiki nodded. It sounded reasonable, except for one problem. “If it had been Nether Chills, there would have been an audio cue,” he said. “It normally has this… hum.” He was not quite sure how to explain it. To him, it sounded like very faint, slightly distorted static.
A satisfied smile lit up on Akuma’s face, as if he had been waiting for someone to get to this point this whole time. “In Beta it didn’t.”
Seiki thought back to the experience. The ability had killed them so quickly that it was hard to tell what it was, but he supposed it would not be too far off from a very powerful Nether Chills.
“But whatever killed me…” Akuma shook his head. “Maybe an obake Free Slot we don’t know about. It was pretty nasty. I couldn’t even see it. Hey, don’t we have a list of high-level obake somewhere? I’d say Level 28 up. I’m sure there aren’t that many of them.”
“I suppose we can do that,” said Kazuki.
“Aku is our best fighter,” said Ikumi.
What she probably meant to say was that he had in-depth knowledge about player abilities. Seiki had to admit he was impressed.
“They were good, no doubt about that,” said Akuma. “But too bad they chose to invade the Temple of Knowledge.” He clapped his hands. “All right. Let’s get to work then. Like always, everyone write down what you remember and let me see if I can do something. At least I can calculate their possible health range.”
What surprised Seiki was that once the initial shock was over, every clan member was treating it like a puzzle to be solved and seemed invigorated by the mystery. Kazuki agreed it was a good idea, and he got clan attendants to bring up paper for everyone, as well as tea and spicy rice crackers.
Mairin offered to write the whole thing down with Seiki and Ippei adding bits that were missing. Ikumi sat down to record her own account. Even Suzuyo was asked to write down what she remembered from her first impression after logging in and seeing the emergency notifications about the invasion.
With things fresh on their mind, it did not take very long, and Mairin soon handed a five-page report to Akuma.
“You know, I have a feeling that they weren’t trying to take over the territory.” The Society samurai pondered as he took a quick initial glance through their account. “They might have been here for the uniques, but then again, if that was the case, why the theatrics? That second one was pretending to be an obake. Why the need?” He heaved a sigh as if his train of thought had led him to a conclusion he did not like. “I hate to say this, but it was almost like they were trying to… scare us.”
“Well, one thing is it forced us to spend resources,” said Suzuyo. “We used two Expel Scrolls?” She winced at the thought.
“Do I want to know how much that costs?” asked Mairin.
“About five thousand gold in mats,” said Suzuyo. “Each.”
Mairin’s jaw dropped. “And we used two? That was... ten thousand gold?”
“Yes,” said Ikumi matter-of-factly.
Mairin took a moment to recover, but then a mischievous smile returned. “Too bad you’re now broke, or I’d ask for the fifty gold reward for having shown you something interesting. I mean, Seiki’s freaky invitation’s got to count as something you’ve never seen, right?”
Ikumi nodded. “Yes, about that.” She got up and walked toward a clan box.
“Wait,” cried Mairin. “I was joking!”
What Ikumi returned with was not a coin pouch, but another book, labeled Custom Document. Crafted by Ikumi of the Shinshioka Scientific Society.
“Pick one,” said the houshi as she handed it to Mairin.
Kazuki was smiling. “An expression of our gratitude. Like I said, Ikumi is a great Enchanter. So we’ve agreed to give you an Enchantment each. If we have the materials, you can get it now, or if not, we’ll get hold of the materials and you come back later for it.”
“Oh, wow, uh...” Mairin took a quick glance at the content of the book. “Is this a list of all possible enchants you can do? This is… a lot.”
“If I were you, I’d go to the end, for the max-level Enchants,” Ikumi hinted.
“Okay, let me think. I don’t know. I’ve never thought of Enchants before.” The kitsune suddenly dropped the book onto Seiki’s lap. “Okay, you go first, Seiki. I need to check my stats.”
Seiki picked up the book and realized he had the same problem. Not having considered Enchantments before, he had no idea what he wanted or needed.
Enchantments were expensive and most people usually waited until they were over Level 20, once they started having long-term gear, before starting to collect them for their equipment. Seiki found himself a bit lost when confronted with the long list of Enchantments.
He flipped through to get the gist of how it all worked. Most of the lower level ones were simply a flat
boost on a particular stat. Behind each entry were also several symbols and numbers. Seiki had heard something about how Enchantments needed to be balanced in order to get more than one on the same piece of gear, and he supposed the symbols were meant to indicate what other Enchantments it could be used with.
“Don’t worry about those,” Ikumi told him. “Pick something and I’ll tell you whether it’s possible.”
Enchantments apparently also came in different tiers, from one to five. Only Enchantments of the highest tier had any effect. This meant it might be more optimal and economical to have multiple lower-tiered Enchantments on different pieces of gear than a single higher-tiered Enchantment. It also meant that if you were to upgrade an Enchantment to something of a higher tier, you would need to upgrade your whole set.
It was a little overwhelming. Three quarters through the document, nothing stood out to him. It would be nice to have extra health or extra energy or defense, but nothing he desperately needed at the moment. The higher tiers included more creative options, but most of which were too specific for him to wrap his mind around in a short period of time. For instance, he was not sure how useful it would be to have a piece slowly scale up in defense as long as it was taking constant damage, or when he would ever have use for a Feet Slot enchantment that added 20% speed and allowed him to walk on water as long as he had less than 30% health.
Seiki was about to ask the houshi if he could have more time to study when something caught his attention, listed under Tier IV:
Enchantment: Earth-link. +2% defense. Effect: The enchanted piece of gear can act as an ability contact point. Charges: 3. Recharge time: 8 minutes. Slot restriction: Hands, Arms, Legs, Feet. Required ingredients: Earth Essence (30), Life Essence (12), Air Essence (6). Dokon Root (15), Kinneri Ink (10), Seal of Linking (8). Green Orochi Scale (1).
Seiki stared at the description. “It replaces the need for one contact point?” He nearly choked.
The Society members seemed a little amused by his reaction.
“Why… why doesn’t everyone use this?” cried Seiki.
“Not a lot of people actually have need for it,” said Kazuki.
Akuma was smiling, a hint of mild interest in his eyes. “It’s only useful in advanced PVP.”
“It’s also Tier Four,” Kazuki added. “Which is expensive, and renders every other enchants below that ineffective. So that means if you get it, and want another enchant, you’re going to need Tier Four, and it’s usually not worth it to spend a thousand gold on a Tier Four standard enchant.”
Standard Enchants were apparently what the Society used to describe enchantments without a special effect, like ones that simply boosted a certain stat.
Despite what the ninja was saying, Seiki found it difficult to rationalize against it, since if it did what it promised to do, it would solve his Sweeping Blade linking problem. It would also mean he could have a single-handed stun with Vertical Spike, or a one-handed Parry. Just the idea of that was making him dizzy. “Can I have this one, please?”
He almost winced at the ingredient list, which did not seem like they were easy to obtain.
Ikumi simply nodded. “Okay, which piece would you want it to go on?”
Seiki thought about it for a second. Since his Crimsonfire Tekko was his only scalable piece of armor, he supposed there was no other choice. He removed it and handed it to the houshi.
Suzuyo was staring at it. “Oh, oh! That’s… that’s one of the pieces that drop off the Nezumi Temple rare boss.” She then paused. “But you mogged over it?”
“Probably a smart thing to do,” said Akuma.
“Can we unmog it then mog it back for you?” asked Suzuyo. “So we can get a drawing of the piece.”
“Uh… sure?” Seiki supposed it was the courteous thing to do in exchange for a free Tier Four Enchantment.
Suzuyo’s face lit up with a bright smile.
“What about you, Ippei?” said Ikumi.
The samurai shook his head. “Don’t you have something more… of the War kind?”
“What kind?”
“A Shichifukujin Seal.”
Seiki blinked. That was something Ippei had selected from the loot pile from their Hitsu Temple run.
Kazuki looked at him. “That’s very specific. It’s a set of seven slightly different War Seals that give you a bit more luck with War Cards, isn’t it?”
“Anything not Fukurokuju, since I already have that one,” Ippei added.
Perhaps it was the way he had said it that made the Society ninja pause. Kazuki’s eyes narrowed. “Do you know something we don’t?”
A smile spread across Ippei’s face. “We’ll find out when I have all seven. Then I’ll collect my fifty gold for showing you something new.”
Ikumi nodded. “I’ll see what we can do.” She turned to the kitsune. “What about you, Mairin? Have you decided?”
Seiki passed the list of Enchantments to her, but Mairin shook her head. “Can I ask for something else?”
“Okay?” said Ikumi uncertainly. “If it’s reasonable.”
“Can you put us on your permanent guest list?” she said, in a rare serious tone. “Plus Kentaro.”
The Society exchanged glances, especially Akuma and Suzuyo, who were still perhaps a little surprised by the involvement of three strangers.
“There are only a few of you, and you’re not home all the time, so it would be great if we could come in to use the library.” Mairin looked at them, before a smile returned to her face. “And, I’ll redesign all your shoji panels on the third floor to match.”
The Society members stared at her for a moment.
Mairin returned their gaze. “Hey, come on, this is nothing, considering we just saved the alliance.”
Suzuyo blinked. “What alliance?”
Kazuki finally laughed as he made up his mind. “All right. I’ll take it as the start of a mutually beneficial working relationship between us.”
Kazuki has added you to the Shinshioka Scientific Society’s Permanent Guest List, giving you free access to all of the clan’s held territories.
The Society ninja smiled. Seiki suddenly felt there was again a hint of triumph in there. “Now don’t you feel things have worked out nicely after all?” He raised his tea cup. “Let’s drink to this.”
Ippei blinked. “Wait.”
“Foot in the door,” said Seiki under his breath, uncertain how he felt.
Mairin giggled. “Not sure whose foot and whose door.”
“Me neither,” muttered Akuma.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Seiki unconsciously flexed his fingers to feel the reassuring touch of the Crimsonfire Tekko on his skin. Around him, the silent crowd waited in the shadows of the stone wall that encircled the Usukumo Mansion. There was apprehension in the air, but perhaps not as much as he had expected from a group about to invade one of the most powerful clans in the game, and he took it as a reassuring sign that things were going as planned.
Gin of the East City Bandits [Level 18] was standing alone by the front gate of the territory, slightly further away from the group. His lean frame was clearly visible in the illumination of the street lamp, and he was taking casual drags from his pipe.
If it had been inappropriate for whoever had invaded the Society to show up in so-called dance kimonos, the leader of the East City Bandits’ leader was only doing a notch better in terms of preparedness. The man’s faded light brown silk yukata seemed more comfort than sense, and he only had a piece of leather chest armor over it, all with mediocre stats. Still, the man did not appear at all worried, and Seiki wondered if it was an intentional act to keep his crew calm.
At the moment, there was nothing to do but wait.
It had been a busy day, and Seiki had put every second of it to good use. First he did his round of Festival dailies for guaranteed Festival Tokens, which he then traded for War Coins to unlock the Enenra Bonfire feature. He then bur
nt as many monster parts as he could find in the fire to grow his collection of monsters he could summon to train with. It was fortunate that he had been too lazy to sell some drops off at the Pawn Shop, and now the Enenra Bonfire offered him seven different choices of smokey monsters—ranging from standard wolves to strange giant toad-like creatures.
This had given Seiki time to practice with the two latest additions to his toolkit. The damage-boosting effect from the Reflection variation for his Focused Strike was rather straightforward. Every once in a while, after taking a significant hit, his Focused Strike could be as much as fifty percent stronger. If he really worked to prioritize health stats, the number could perhaps reach sixty percent, but there was no time to experiment too much, and the consideration would be for a later time.
The damage-reduction effect of the variation was a little more difficult to grasp. After extensive experiments, Seiki found out it only worked if he activated the variation right at the moment when the damage applied. This was not a problem with delayed damage from his Protection Shield, as he knew exactly when it was going to hit, nor was it a problem with gradual damage, like Life Drain or poisons that ticked rapidly enough, as he could activate the variation at any point after it started. Timing it for individual physical hits was much harder, but, after taking a straight ramming to the gut from a smokey Corrupted Mountain Boar six times in a row, Seiki realized it could be done.
The Earth-link Enchantment on his Tekko was, however, entirely something else. It reduced his need for an ability contact point by one, which meant that tricky combinations were much easier to pull off. His two-hand abilities, like the stun or Upslash, could also now be executed with only his sword arm. The Enchantment came with three charges, which was generous, but had a staggering 8-minute recharge, which meant that once he was out, he would be out for a long time. In the end, Seiki decided he would keep them only for emergencies. It was partly to prevent himself from getting lazy with proper forms and contact points, but also partly because he had no idea what to do with them yet.