by Nikita Thorn
“Uh, maybe finally time to try your Reprimand now?” said Yamura to Kentaro.
The houshi raised his hand to put a Ward on Ippei. “That’s not going to work. But I suppose we can try.”
“Maybe we need to douse it in water one last time?” suggested Mairin.
The moment Ippei turned the corner around the living quarters, the rat changed its mind and decided to go after Yamura, eliciting curses from the ryoushi as he sprinted toward the kitchen.
Seiki glanced around. They had come this far, but without Joji’s cat and with the boss not taking any damage, there was no way to end this instance.
Then, a light bulb went off in his head. There had been something different about the instance, even before the fire-rat appeared.
“Wait a minute,” said Seiki. He was now very certain he had heard something out of place, which was perhaps supposed to clue him in about the instance. Perhaps Mairin, with her superior fox senses, had heard it, too, and that might have unconsciously inspired her prank.
Seiki closed his eyes and breathed, focusing on the sphere of sound around him. Immediately, his mind calmed into a different mode of awareness, one he was all too familiar with.
His whole world was that of endless darkness, but within that shapeless, colorless landscape, everything was alive. Ahead of him, the rat was wreaking havoc as it tried to get to Yamura, who had slipped into the kitchen, and he could hear the shoji door sliding open and close. He could hear a gentle burst as Mairin popped into fox form, and her soft paws trotting away as she ran toward the action. From behind him, Ippei’s anachronistic leather boots sounded on the ground as he casually ran back to where they stood. The loose decorative metal pieces at the end of Kentaro’s golden staff were jangling as the houshi tried to reposition himself to make sure he could see all group members.
All around the temple, pillars and fallen wood pieces were cracking as they burned, slowly covering the whole area in fumes. Beyond his immediate surroundings, the wind was rustling through the sea of leaves, cold and refreshing, like dry rain.
And there he found it.
In the middle of it all was something else, something out of place that had never been there before. With every gust of wind, something gave a soft but distinct metallic clink. It was high up, higher than the roofs.
“Seiki!” Mairin’s voice yanked him back to the present scene. Seiki opened his eyes to see the rat turning around and fixing its red gaze on him, perhaps after having given up on getting to Yamura.
He glanced toward where the metallic sound was coming from, and suddenly everything made sense. The tall juniper that could not be climbed stood there silently in his direct line of sight. High in it, hidden in the darkness and thick needle-shaped leaves, and giving a soft metal ring whenever a wind passed through, was the key to this instance.
Seiki dashed toward it, sheathing his Hikari and pulling out his Woodcutting Axe. He could feel the heat from the fire-rat charging after him, and quickly let loose a Slide to put more distance between him and the rodent. Within seconds, he was by the juniper, and his axe dug into the tough bark even before the Slide ended.
Cutting Juniper. 4% complete.
A clear clink sounded from above as his axe shook the tree.
“Uh, Seiki, is this the time?” said Mairin in confusion from somewhere behind him.
Seiki had no time to answer. He swung his axe again.
Cutting Juniper. 8% complete.
There was not going to be enough time. The giant rat was almost on him, the heat from the flames fierce on his back. At the last second, Seiki mapped a curved slide around the tree trunk.
He must have timed it way too close. Seiki grunted as the rat’s claw scraped the rear of his leg, cutting and burning his skin at the same time. He had only meant to slow down the rat by forcing it around the tree, but luckily the Hinezumi crashed into the tall juniper in full force.
In a loud crack, its weight broke the tree trunk in half, helped by the wound in the bark he had started.
Timber! Juniper successfully cut. 141 Woodcutting XP gained.
Seiki—too busy to be amused at the familiar Woodcutting notification—threw himself out of the way as the tree crashed down on top of the storage building, breaking clean through the middle portion of the tiled roof.
He already had his sight intently fixed on the fallen tree, and there, he finally spotted it. Among the dark foliage, something slim and small gave off a calm white glow.
The fire-rat had decided to change targets once more and had fixated on Mairin, giving Seiki a chance to clamber awkwardly through the thick branches as he made his way diagonally up the fallen juniper.
Yamura had caught up with him. “What was that all about?” The ryoushi seemed both puzzled and curious. “What are you doing?”
Seiki could hear the metal softly clicking every time he pulled himself up toward the hidden target in the dark needle-like leaves. Grabbing hold of a nearby branch, he broke off the smaller ones as he cleared the way, revealing the source of the glow.
Ancient Light-Tipped Arrow [Instance Item].
The arrow was pure silver, its tip pearly white, half of which was firmly lodged in the coarse bark. Wasting no more time, Seiki pulled it free. The sharp arrowhead shone in the same way as light-forged weapons.
Yamura, who had been watching from the ground, gasped when he discovered what Seiki held in his hand. “What’s that?”
Seiki grinned. Everything made sense now. Of course, it had to be an arrow. He turned to his friend. “Hey, I guess it’s a ryoushi piece after all,” he said, tossing the arrow to Yamura. “You have to finish this.”
The ryoushi caught it with one hand, and was still unable to tear his eyes off it.
Ippei had run over to check what was going on. “Arrow.” The samurai blinked, before noticing what it was and piecing together what it meant.
“Charge it, just in case,” Ippei told the ryoushi. Then he turned toward Mairin, who was running around the library with the fire-rat in pursuit. “Foxy,” he shouted. “Lead it over here.”
Yamura had nocked the shining arrow, slightly shaking as if in a trance at how beautiful it was. He drew, aimed, and waited, his eyes fixed on his target as he activated his Extreme Focus to increase the damage for his next shot.
Mairin dashed toward them. With her energy recharged, the white fox had no trouble staying ahead of the burning rat. As she came directly their way, she appeared like the silhouette of a bird flying over the top of an exploding volcano.
Yamura released. His arrow left a silver line in the air before piercing the rat between its eyes. The rat let out a deafening shriek when the projectile burst into blinding white light, and Seiki had to shield his face as the explosion engulfed half the temple.
When he could look again, the only thing left of the fire-rat was a smoldering pile of black fur beside the ruins of the prayer hall.
Hinezumi slain! 2428 XP gained!
Seiki glanced at his friends, who were staring at the dead boss with wide eyes, fascinated by the fact that it was finally over.
Yamura’s mouth hung open. “That was the most awesomest thing I’ve ever done,” he said faintly.
Kentaro nodded toward the remains of the boss. “Go ahead,” he said to the ryoushi.
Yamura ran over to the dead rat, looking like a child about to unwrap his Christmas presents. As he looted, he let out a cry that was half a curse and half laughter. A piece of armor appeared in his hands, glowing bright orange.
Firerat Fur Armguard. +27 defense +3% HP. Arm slot. Class: ryoushi. Effect: magic burns within this piece of armor, healing the wearer for 2% of their maximum health every 15 seconds. Scalable.
Ippei whistled. “Our debt, paid in full.”
Yamura was still staring at the piece of armor in disbelief, as he presumably checked the text over and over. “Scalable,” he said suddenly, almost choking, before letting out another string of
profanity directed at himself. “Scalable!”
Seiki had never seen scalable gear outside the Shinshioka Army armor set before. A scalable piece worked like claimed named weapons: once equipped, it was safe from being looted and Pickpocketed, and was recallable from the Bureau of Lost and Found. Which meant once you had it, you had it forever.
“There’s more,” said Kentaro as he looted the rest of the drop.
Ability Enhancement Scroll – Soothing Ward. Your Ward on targets affected by Soothe extends the effect of Soothe by 100%. Read the scroll aloud in the Healer’s Temple to apply the enhancement.
Ability Enhancement Scroll – Ghastly Powers. Your Weaken can be cast on yourself for the opposite effect, strengthening your next attack by 30%. Read the scroll aloud in the Tomb of Memories to apply the enhancement.
Ability Enhancement Scroll –Ancestral Wrath. Your Kindred Spirits no longer heals but harms enemies within range. Read the scroll aloud on the Half-Moon Mound to apply the enhancement.
Flaming Waistband. +18 defense +2% energy regeneration. Waist slot.
Rat-Claw Dagger. +9 attack +1% movement speed.
Premium Fur [x3]. Ingredient.
Blood Essence [x2]. Ingredient.
Fire Essence [x3]. Ingredient.
Grilled Rat Meat [Level 1 food] [x19].
“Okay, the rat patties are kinda gross,” said Mairin. “But these look like really good enhance scrolls.”
Seiki had never witnessed so much loot at once, not even from the rare he and Renshiro’s group of outlaws killed out in the Wilderness. Scrolls without energy penalties were much rarer, and Seiki could guess that each of them would be worth at least two hundred gold if they were to sell it.
Kentaro laughed as he picked up his houshi-specific scroll. “I’m definitely keeping mine,” he said as he eyed the pile of loot. “Wait, there’s something else.” He smiled as he grabbed a piece of gear. He motioned Seiki over and thrust it into Seiki’s hand. “And I believe we’ll all agree that Seiki should have it.”
You have received: Crimsonfire Tekko. +14 defense. Hand slot. Effect: this protective glove builds up energy as its wearer spends energy, which, once full, can be released to allow it to interrupt a damaging spell on the wearer or withstand any physical damage for 2 seconds. Limited to one charge every 5 minutes. Scalable.
Ippei was obviously impressed with the piece. “Perfect for tanking,” he said, nodding thoughtfully.
“Perfect for avoiding Assassin’s Stab,” said Mairin. “If you’re fast enough. So you can finally stop getting killed by the Shadow Manor.”
Seiki had no mental faculty left to inform her that he was getting rather good at not getting killed by ninja assassins. At the back of his mind, he realized that he must look exactly like Yamura earlier as he stared at the dimly-glowing piece of armor in his hand. It was warm to the touch, the copper-colored leather very fine yet thick and sturdy.
“Scalable,” was all he could say.
CHAPTER 03
“Not here,” said Joji without looking up from his latest drawing.
The floor of the brightly-lit library was strewn with loose parchment covered with felines of all colors and sizes. The boy was finally given permission to pursue his favorite hobby, and he was now sitting cross-legged in the middle of his fine artwork, apparently having the time of his life.
Not wanting to step on the boy’s precious masterpieces, Seiki had stopped at the door. “Where is he?” he asked, unconsciously flexing his left hand once more to appreciate the snug fit of his new Crimsonfire Tekko over it. He was not sure if he was simply biased because of the scalability, but he could have sworn it was more comfortable than any piece of armor he had ever owned.
“Where is who?” asked Joji.
“Abbot Arai.”
Whenever Seiki and his friends managed to complete the boss phase without the help of the abbot, the old priest would always appear at the end to dole out their extra 10 gold rewards. On one of the previous runs, simply out of curiosity, Seiki had experimented with staying in the temple after his friends had exited the instance. The abbot would retire to read in his library, while Joji was given a few pieces of parchment to draw on, and that was where they would remain indefinitely. This was the first time the old man had failed to appear after the boss was defeated.
Although the rest of the group had pretty much agreed that the loot alone was more than enough, especially with two scalable pieces of gear—something Ippei claimed was unheard of—Seiki had offered to go look for the abbot just to make sure. The extra 10 gold was nothing to him, but defeating the Hinezumi meant there was no more reason to run this instance any longer, and this would probably be the last time he would see the old man. It never hurt to say a proper farewell.
The library, however, was empty except for the miniature artist Joji, who was determined to make his mark on every piece of ancient text he could find.
“Uh, what?” Joji had apparently not been listening.
“Abbot Arai,” said Seiki again. “Where is he?”
“Oh, abbot-sama?” said the boy as he concentrated on carefully adding claws to the prowling black cat he was drawing. “Not sure. He said something bamboo woods.”
The boy grinned as he held up his finished artwork. “There! You like this one, onii-san?”
Noticing that the blue-gray cat had been drawn over some very old sacred text explaining Buddhist virtues, Seiki had to shake his head in amusement. At least, I was never this bad, he said to himself. The worst he had ever done—if he recalled correctly—was break the shed roof when he was very young and tried to reach the top, back when they had a house and his parents could still afford junior karate classes for him. He supposed he had always loved climbing.
“Well,” said Joji, sounding pleased with himself. “I think it’s pretty good.” The boy then started rummaging around for more parchment for his next endeavor.
Seiki watched the boy dip his brush into a nearby pot of black ink. “Hey, a word of advice,” he said. “You might want to listen to the old man once in a while.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s always good to know how to do more than one thing in life, even if that one thing is what you’re really good at.”
Joji had already started outlining his new painting, this time a sleeping cat. “Whatever, onii-san.”
Seiki chuckled and shook his head again. “Bamboo woods, right?” he said as he turned to leave.
“Ya,” said Joji absently. “Took his staff as well.”
Seiki was not quite sure what to make of this when he re-emerged from the library to report his finding to his friends. Still excited about the fire-rat and the drops, none of them seemed to want to call it a night just yet. Kentaro had already lit another fire and was again leveling his Cooking, and Yamura was in a mock duel with Mairin as he tested out his new armguard, which glowed bright orange every time it healed the wearer.
“That thing is going to be distracting.” Seiki laughed as he saw the ryoushi waving his arm around in the air, maybe trying to draw with light.
The initial glow of Seiki’s Crimsonfire Tekko had faded, leaving nothing more than reddish leather, and he could only guess it would regain its ember-like color as it charged up. He made a mental note to try it out later, right after finishing talking to Commander Nakatani.
“So, no ten gold?” asked Ippei.
Seiki shook his head and recounted what Joji had told him. “What do you think?”
Ippei mused for a moment, before a thought passed through his mind. “So the kid actually said all that?” he began slowly.
Seiki was actually hoping for that kind of response from his friend. “You think there’s something to it?”
The events of the night had been the most exciting thing since a very rare Rosy Akoya Pearl Mirror +6% range, which magic classes could use in place of a secondary weapon, dropped for Mairin a few weeks ago. Seiki, like everyone else, was per
haps trying to drag it out as long as possible to savor the sense of accomplishment.
Ippei paused to consider the implications. “Well, why would they script a whole new scene if it’s just to let you know the abbot won’t be giving you extra gold? I mean, it would be easier just to keep it as normal. Especially after this double drop on the scalables, what’s the point of skimping on another fifty gold?”
That was exactly what Seiki wanted to hear. “So, shall we?” He nodded toward the back of the temple.
A mysterious grin lit up on Ippei’s lips. The samurai turned and shouted to the rest of the group. “Seiki and I are going to take a stroll in the woods. Coming?”
Mairin ended her friendly duel with Yamura and turned back into human form in a gentle puff of smoke, her cheeks still flushed and her hair disheveled from running around taking snips at Yamura. “Yes,” she said. “But why?”
Ippei shrugged. “Most likely a wild goose chase.”
Seiki suspected his friend knew something, but Ippei was probably not going to divulge any hints until he was completely certain.
The kitsune brightened. “Oooh…” Then she narrowed her eyes. “What kind of goose are we talking about here?”
Seiki quickly relayed his conversation with Joji to the group, and they all decided it was definitely worth checking out.
“Second secret boss?” said Mairin.
“I’ve never heard of anything like that,” said Kentaro.
Mairin laughed. “Well, that’s the point of secret, no?”
“It could be a nasty joke and we walk into the abbot in the middle of doing his business.” Yamura chuckled. “That would be totally lame.”
Kentaro shot him a slight disapproving look. “I hope it’s a secret boss.”
“Technically, it would be a secret boss after a secret boss,” said Mairin. “You know, maybe we’ve started a secret boss quest chain and it’s bosses all the way.” She giggled as she realized how ridiculous that idea sounded. “Oh, or maybe a dungeon within a dungeon?” The kitsune paused, nodding ahead. “Because, well, that sure looks pretty much like a dungeon entrance if you ask me.”