by Nikita Thorn
Seiki grabbed his potion and guzzled down the tiny drop of liquid that filled both his health and energy, letting out a cry as his blade pierced into the creature’s back. He instantly followed up with an Upslash, and was horrified that the blade managed to cut through only an inch of the creature’s torso.
The Nozuchi had apparently put a houshi-like Ward around itself, which had saved it from the attack. It spun to face Seiki, its head bowed, showing the misplaced mouth. It was faster than Seiki expected, and instantly leapt at him like a hungry shark.
Grunting, with no time to do anything else, Seiki pushed energy through his left hand and lifted his Crimsonfire Tekko to protect himself. The powerful orange shield burst out in front of him, stopping the creature in its track. At the same time, he commanded the remaining half of his unit to unleash another Upslash formation at the creature.
It connected, but left the unit exposed, and once again the Nozuchi turned and cast Hinder on them. Seiki ran in and intercepted its subsequent lunge with a Parry, wincing as the blade clanked against the double rows of teeth.
Nozuchi [Level 19 Rare]. HP 122/3365.
Nozuchi [Level 19 Rare]. HP 337/3365.
Seiki cursed as he saw its health increase once again. Its arm had been busily moving, and it had once again successfully cast a Heal on itself. Nearly out of tricks and ideas, he rushed in. “Attack from the sides,” he told the two remaining members of his unit as he stepped up to face the creature, his Hikari held in front of him. “I’ll try to tank.”
“Yes, Chief!” Saburo’s voice was shaking.
The Nozuchi lunged, Seiki Parried, and Genta ran in and slashed it across the ribs. As the monster turned, Seiki let out a shout and swung the blade at it again, reclaiming its attention. Saburo took this opportunity to rush forward and stab the deformed monk on the back. His sword did not go very far, most likely stopped by yet another Ward.
Nozuchi [Level 19 Rare]. HP 113/3365.
Snarling, the monster dived at Seiki again, and he Parried once more, only to notice that its right arm was still moving, aiming behind it at Genta.
“No!” cried Seiki in panic. Genta let out a cry as if he had been hit.
Seiki recognized it as the first cast of Reprimand. Cursing, he rushed up to interrupt the next cast, but he was too late. The Nozuchi’s right arm twitched, and Genta let out a cry and collapsed, his health at zero.
“Chief?” cried Saburo as the monster turned its attention toward him.
Seiki grunted as he spent energy Sliding in, ramming a Focused Strike into the monster’s back, but it was already lunging forward at the boy. Saburo, backing away in horror, yelped as the jaws closed on his arm. He dropped dead a second later.
The monster, meanwhile, had somehow activated another Heal, and its health was up from double digits once again to 249/3365.
“Problems over there?” the Field Officer called from his spot at the tree line, sounding very much amused.
With a groan, Seiki ignored him while he Parried another attack. His health was low, and his energy was not charging properly from multiple uses of Blood Rush. He had never fought an enemy that had physical attacks, magic, as well as self-heals, and it was proving to be impossible.
“You might want to know someone’s trying to send a pigeon your way,” the old man said casually.
Seiki dodged another attack. The monster’s hands moved again, and this time he rushed in and hit it backwards with Sweeping Blade. It did not work, and once again he felt the Hinder tightening in the air around him.
“I’m sure that interrupts real players,” Seiki protested under his breath.
The Field Officer laughed and continued. “How about fifteen Coins and I’ll let your pigeon through, Unit Chief.”
“No, thanks. You can see I’m a bit busy right now.”
“The sender is waiting right outside.”
Seiki blinked, wondering if it was Ippei. An idea occurred to him, kindling a bit of hope for his current situation. “Yes, fine!” The monster lunged again, and he Parried once more.
There was apparently no need for physical exchange, and Fifteen War Coins disappeared from his currency menu. Seiki broke out into a run toward the edge of the forest, his eyes scanning for the incoming pigeon.
The monster was in close pursuit, and Seiki reached out for the pigeon and removed the message with one hand, thankful for the fact that he had learned to do it quite a while ago.
Ippei [16 seconds ago]: Done with the troops? Invite?
“Invite!” Seiki shouted.
You invite Ippei to the group.
Ippei [Level 15] has joined the group.
Since there was no way to outrun monsters, Seiki spun around and hit the Nozuchi with Sweeping Blade, using the last of his energy to put some distance between him and the creature.
“Ippei!” Seiki yelled as the phasing showed Ippei casually getting off his black horse and leading it through the low bushes near the instance threshold.
Ippei’s jaw dropped as he witnessed the sight of destruction. “What the—”
He had no time to finish his sentence, as Seiki kited the monster toward him. “Help?”
The Nozuchi was already lunging forward, head first, like a hungry predator. The samurai let out a curse as he hastily drew his dagger to Parry. The weapon flew from his hand and Seiki realized, to his horror, that his friend did not have time to utilize his energy. He turned around and tackled the monstrous priest to the ground. It writhed under his arm and lurched against him, in a way that was definitely not human, throwing him on his back and trying to take a bite out of his shoulder. Ippei had time to draw his sword this time around, and he stabbed down at it, drawing its attention away from Seiki.
“Could use a stun if you have it,” the samurai grunted, before letting out a Battle Shout as he countered the Nozuchi’s attack with the powerful Swerve Cut.
“I don’t.” Seiki, out of energy, slashed at whatever monster part he could, but then he realized that what he said might not be completely true. His friend’s Shout had boosted all his stats, which might give him just enough. Dropping his remaining health as low as he could before blacking out, Seiki grabbed for the much-coveted bout of energy. He had to hold on for another split second for the regeneration to give him the required amount, then he could plunge his Hikari directly into the nearest part of the monster he could find.
The stun burst out to freeze the monster, cutting short its snarl. A second later, Seiki winced as Ippei’s sword swished twice and dark droplets of blood splattered all over him.
Nozuchi. HP 0/3365. Lootable.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Nozuchi slain. 6330 XP gained.
Seiki let out a breath of relief as he stared at the lifeless monster beside him, now a blob of pale flesh and teeth and torn cloth. He pulled free his Hikari and pushed himself away from the dead creature, then glanced up at his friend, for a moment too exhausted to speak.
Ippei was apparently still recovering from the initial shock, his Jade Steel dripping red from the recent kill. He looked from the dead rare at his feet to Seiki’s unfortunate unit members in the middle of the grass ledge, whose bodies started to disperse as soon as the encounter ended. Finally his gaze fell on the old man sitting by the fire at the tree line near the edge of the instance.
The samurai looked back at Seiki in disbelief as he figured out what had happened. “When we said we would get troops ready, I had no idea you would take that to mean pull a rare scroll in here.” He laughed and shook his head. “I guess the extra XP doesn’t hurt. And, oh, I see. You’re really close, so you’d have gotten it.”
Seiki nodded and chuckled weakly. “That’s why I tried. Thanks for the help.” He had not taken much damage from the Nozuchi, and most of his health loss had been self-inflicted with Blood Rush, but the close call—and perhaps the horror of seeing his troops slaughtered—had left him completely drained.
Because of the extra player, the exp
erience was shared and he now still needed more than a thousand points to reach Level 16. At the moment, however, he was too grateful about not having been bitten to death by those repulsive teeth to be too concerned.
Ippei grimaced as he stepped away from the monster and sheathed his sword. “You know, with the Demonic Clan, at least they’re always aesthetically grotesque, unlike this… thing. Where did you even get a rare scroll from anyway?”
Seiki recounted his bargain at the scroll trader’s. “I thought it was a good deal,” he added as he took a good look at the dead monster. It was indeed nastier than any demon he had encountered. Seeing its health at zero, however, helped alleviate his guilt by a little, after what it had done to his troops.
“It was decent experience for the price,” said Ippei. “Sometimes it just might not be worth the nightmare.”
“Yeah,” Seiki agreed, wondering if he would have dreams of man-sharks chasing him now.
“Well, see what you get. At least you might be able to recoup some of the gold if an essence or two drop.”
“The seller did warn me the loot table was horrible, so don’t expect much.” Seiki reached over to disperse the corpse, touching as little of it as he could, with one finger on the furthest edge of the ragged monk’s sleeve that was still clear of blood.
Black smoke burst out around it, leaving in its place a small pile of items.
Torn Robe. +1 defense. Outer body slot.
Mysterious Fur [x1].
Triangular Tooth [x6].
Bamboo Tube. Ingredient. Combine this with at least one pack of Black Powder and one pack of Stars to create your own fireworks. Has a 3% chance to attract the attention of the majestic White Dragon during the last night of the Festival. 3 Slots.
“And he was completely right.” Seiki laughed. “At least this Bamboo Tube is allegedly worth ten Festival Tokens.” The item was hollow, and had a carved out opening on one side, fitted with a lid, where he supposed he could add gunpowder and other fireworks stars.
“That’s not bad,” said Ippei. “We might want to do the instanced White Dragon boss. Let me ask around if it’s worth spending all our Festival Tokens on them.”
Seiki nodded and stored it in his inventory. “I don’t suppose you want anything else from the pile?”
Ippei shook his head. They had passed the stage where they would collect everything to trade in at the Pawn Shop for a few coppers, and so Seiki simply left the rest of the pitiful loot on the ground.
“Hopefully, that gave you some real practice with your new Slots,” said Ippei.
“Well, yeah. It was going decently at first, until the enrage phase when it turned into an evil houshi. I didn’t know that could happen.”
Now that he thought back to the whole play-by-play, the transformation must have been the enrage phase he had been warned about.
From the edge of the instance, the Field Officer cackled. “Don’t you know Nozuchi were once monks? Banished from their monasteries because of their evil deeds and forced to roam the wild, they slowly transform into monsters.”
“That knowledge would have been useful ten minutes ago,” said Seiki, then he sat straight up. “Wait, so you know monster lore?”
The old man let out a scoff. “I know more than you think, young man.”
Ippei nodded. “Yeah, Field Officers are supposed to give hints about progression and quests. People think it’s a rep system, but it’s not reliable. Captain Sakurai does, too, if you get him in a good mood.” The samurai frowned as he looked toward the old man again. “Although I have no idea what’s going on with yours. You’re supposed to be able to upgrade this place into your West Gate base.”
Seiki gestured to the bare grass ledge. “As you can see, that’s not happening yet. He tried to teach me to fish and cook once, but that’s about it. What kind of upgrades are we talking about?”
“Everything you can find in the Soldier’s Quarters,” said Ippei. “Plus a fast riding route to Muraki Fort that phases you the entire way. Then there’s another one that takes you straight to the Soldier’s Quarters at the Palace.” He nodded toward a direction Seiki guessed was northwest, before adding. “And you can unlock that after you clear the Siege of Awahara Castle. Once you get that, you have West Plains travel pretty much covered.”
“You mean like clan carriages?” said Seiki. That probably explained why he rarely saw any players out in the open beyond the Wilderness. High-level players who had unlocked the perk most likely used them all the time.
The samurai nodded. “Unlike carriages where you can log out during the journey, you’ve got to actually ride, but it’s much faster. Your mount gains the Ghost Step buff and you can get to the Palace in less than a minute.”
“That would take care of the Rogami problem,” said Seiki. “I mean, if they’re petty enough to hang around and try to grief us.”
“Don’t hold your breath,” said Ippei with a chuckle. “The Muraki one unlocks at Captain rank, and the Soldier’s Quarters at Commander. And they cost over a thousand Coins each.”
“So a long way to go.”
Ippei nodded and looked at the shabby old man again. “He’s still not giving you any quests?”
Seiki shook his head. “Nothing. Not even a name.”
The old man scoffed. “The last thing I need is some young busybody poking their nose into my business.”
Seiki looked intently across the space at the Field Officer. “Does that mean there is business to be pried into? Something I have to do to unlock the quests?”
The old man smiled toothily. “That’s what you think?”
“Yes, that’s what I think.”
Ippei chuckled. “I guess they really switched up the ronin mechanics. Considering how they didn’t give you your troops the original way, maybe they’re not giving you your Field Officer until you do something else. Or maybe it’s just the Festival. They usually stop everything for world events. Like, if there’s a world boss and you try to start a War Game, Lieutenant Kato will tell you straight up there’s something more important going on that you should look into. I’m not getting my Mounted Strike quest from Nakatani either and it’s been, what, three days?”
Seiki knew his friend had been waiting for his ability quest ever since he reached Level 15. The festive spirit, however, seemed to have taken over the Soldier’s Quarters as well. Lieutenant Kato was not at his usual spot in the barracks, and Commander Nakatani had no quests to give but Festival-themed ones that involved aiding fake NPC Rogami members.
“Yeah, he’s been trying to shoo me off to the Festival all afternoon,” said Seiki. “And then extorted fifteen Coins off me just to read your message.”
Ippei stared at him. “What? Fifteen Coins just to read a post message?”
“I was desperate.” Seiki let out a grim chuckle.
The old man suddenly shouted from his fire. “Oi, Unit Chief, come here.”
Seiki exchanged a look with Ippei, puzzled but hopeful.
The old man’s face was pure annoyance when Seiki approached. “Take this,” he said as he thrust a thick wood branch into Seiki’s hand. “So you can take care of your own birds from now.”
The object was slightly larger than what Seiki would be able to grip comfortably, and heavier than it looked. Despite its rustic appearance, the Y-shaped top end seemed to have been carved and sanded to smooth out the edges. The bottom was fashioned into a sharp prong. It was too short to be a walking stick, yet too unwieldy to be a weapon.
You have received: Pigeon Perch [instance upgrade item]. Place the item anywhere in the instance to allow the receiving of messages within the instance. Post birds will perch here and wait to be collected, allowing you to manage and train your troops without interruption.
“Oh.” Seiki let out a delighted yelp. “Is this—”
“Well, don’t just stand there,” the old man snapped. “Put it somewhere before I change my mind.”
“Hey, I’ve got something,” Seiki called to Ippei. “A Pigeon Perch!”
The samurai had gone to retrieve his Jade Steel dagger, which had flown out of his hand during the encounter and ended up near a bush at another edge of the instance.
“Congrats.” Ippei looked a little amused. “So apparently he extorts money from you and then give you the upgrade, kinda a roundabout way for a purchase.”
Seiki nodded. Lore-wise, his troops were not official recruits, but civilian volunteers, although they functioned exactly the same way as samurai troops.
“The Basic Perch costs 15 Coins in the samurai instance, too,” said Ippei. “But you just buy it straight from the Field Officer.”
Seiki looked at the rustic-looking item in his hand. “I have a serious question,” he said to his friend. “Does your pigeon perch look different?”
Ippei blinked. “I haven’t bought mine yet this time, but from what I remember, it was—”
“Perfectly straight, polished, painted red and black, lacquered. Probably some Shogun symbol on it?”
“Uh, yeah, why?”
Seiki had already burst out laughing. “Nothing.” He shook his head. “It just… it just makes perfect sense.”
After all, ronin were originally samurai but, cast from the straightforward path, they were perhaps meant to find another route of their own, one with no clear instructions or signposts.
Somehow, that greatly lifted his mood and Seiki grinned at the Field Officer, who waved him away dismissively. Looking around, he found a location under a giant fir tree near the edge of the clearing that he thought was as good as any other spot. Using the bottom end of the prong, he drilled a shallow hole in the dirt and exerted force on it to push it down. The perch went in easily with a satisfying swish and held sturdy as he let go.
Congratulations! You have unlocked the first feature of your Renkan East Base. You can now access information about your instance.
To his delight, Seiki discovered that in his mental menu, another item had appeared under ‘Private Territories’, listed above the previous entries for Yanagi Alley, Central Crossing, and Furuhashi South.
