by Aneko Yusagi
Chimera Viper Shield 0/30: ability unlocked: equip bonus: skill “change shield” antidote compounding up, poison resistance (medium)
special effect “snake fang (medium),” “hook”
mastery level: 100
Apparently the stats were already really high. Maybe they were 1.5 times higher than they had been?
The defense rating was particularly high. As for the mastery level, apparently 100 was the maximum value.
I pressed my finger against the menu option, and then . . . .
Reset mastery level?
A system message popped up.
I hesitated for a moment before clicking “yes.” The stat values then all returned to what they had always been.
Received 2000 mastery level energy points.
I went ahead and assigned them to the chimera viper. Damn, there weren’t enough. I needed 4000 points.
I quickly went through the shields I don’t use as often and turned their mastery level into energy points.
I heard a chime indicating that something had happened.
Chimera Viper Shield (awakened) 0/30 C: ability unlocked: equip bonus:
skill “change shield,” antidote compounding up, poison resistance (medium)
special effect “snake fang (large),” “long hook”
mastery level: 0
The basic ability had grown by quite a lot.
What the hell?!
What was left? Rarity? “C” probably meant common.
Of course I didn’t have enough energy to change it, so I went through my other shields, collected the energy, and tried again.
Success!
Chimera Viper Shield (awakened) 0/30 UC
ability unlocked: equip bonus: skill “change shield,”
antidote compounding up, poison resistance (medium)
special effect “snake fang (large),” “long hook”
mastery level: 0
“UC” must have meant “uncommon.” The abilities looked to be about 1.2 times higher than they had been.
I tried a few more times until I’d raised the weapon to “R,” which stood for rare. By that point, the abilities had grown substantially.
It had become . . . whoa, it had become way more powerful! If I added the stats from the mastery level then . . . WOW.
I decided to try Motoyasu’s system next. I just had to throw my whole being into believing—I had to be a holy fool!
Dammit! I didn’t have enough ore to try Motoyasu’s growth system.
I’d have to ask the queen for some help on that one. If all the other systems had been a success, then I could probably count on Motoyasu’s being true as well. But it would take time to procure the necessary materials. For the time being, I’d better just focused on what I could do now.
I wanted to try the spirit enchantments too, but I didn’t have those materials either. I could try the status enchantment though. I could do it with materials . . . . I guess the outcome was random anyway.
In the end, the magic power was increased.
Chimera Viper Shield (awakened) 0/30 R
ability unlocked: equip bonus: skill “change shield,”
antidote compounding up, poison resistance (medium)
special effect “snake fang (large),” “long hook”
mastery level: 0
status enchantment: magic power 20+
That was a serious boost!
Oh look, I can reset it. But I didn’t have many materials left, so I decided to leave it as it was for now.
The shield even looked more powerful to my eye. All the stats and systems were a little confusing, so I didn’t have it all worked out yet—but this was obviously something beneficial for me.
I read through the help menu one last time.
“ . . . .”
Everything they had told me about appeared in the menus now.
If the system responded to my beliefs then maybe I could use a growth system from a game I used to play back in my own world?
“Huh?”
No matter how deeply I believed or fiddled with the menus, nothing changed. Sure, the shield was already substantially powered up, but I couldn’t understand the mechanism at work.
“Queen . . . .”
“What is it?”
“Notify the other heroes. Everything they said was true. There wasn’t a liar in the room. Tell them you have to believe what the others say for it to work.”
I couldn’t believe the way this was turning out. It reminded me of something the queen had said.
She’s said that the replica weapon the high priest had been using was only one quarter as powerful as the real article.
With what I knew now, that made sense. Actually, I’d now pulled ahead of the others.
I could have been happy that I’d pulled ahead of the others, but if all this was true, then in the worst case . . . .
The next morning, after breakfast, I went to visit the queen in her audience chamber.
I’d expected Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki to be there, but there was no sign that they had showed up.
“Where are the others?”
“They left early in the morning.”
“What’s the rush? Did they take a boat?”
“Yes. And I have prepared a boat for you as well. It is waiting in the harbor. Please hurry.”
“Got it. Were you thinking of providing any funds for the journey?”
“I have provided for everything. If there is anything else you need, please just let me know.”
“Alright then . . . .”
I took out a sheet of paper and scribbled the ores and materials I would need to power up the shield further, then passed it to the queen.
“Will you have these things sent to me?”
“Very well. If the other heroes come to understand how powerful you really are, perhaps they will come around?”
That would certainly be nice.
I ran a quick estimation of how much the further enhancements would power up my shield—it was significant.
Filo’s stats had shot through the roof after her class-up ceremony, but it looked like I’d be in another league altogether after this.
“Alright. I’m off then.”
“Travel safely.”
“Here we goooooo! Mel-chan! We’ll see you later!!!!”
Filo waved to Mel enthusiastically as we filed out of the castle.
Oh, I forgot to mention that last night, Filo and Melty slept together. Those two sure were close.
Chapter Four: Weapon Copy
We left the castle, but I decided to swing by the weapon shop before going to the harbor.
The old guy that ran the place had really stuck his neck out for me when everyone had framed and betrayed me. I felt like I owed the guy a lot.
He’d made Raphtalia’s magic sword and the power gloves that Filo used when she was in human form.
“Hey old man—it’s been a while.”
“Well look who it is. The day after you left, the whole town was covered in posters saying there was a bounty on your head. I could hardly believe it.”
“Tell me about it. Rough times.”
“Well it looks like you convinced everyone of your innocence.”
“Sure—a lot of that is thanks to you. Those tools you gave us ended up being a real help. Thank you.”
“Yes, thank you very much.”
“Thanks!”
Raphtalia and Filo both chimed in. They tried to return the tools to the old guy, but he turned them down.
“You stop that now. Makes me nervous, people trying to give me things. Those were just an experiment of mine. You can keep ‘em.”
“That thing that you added to my shield helped us out once too. It formed a sort of force field that saved us, but then it broke.”
“Don’t worry about that. That thing was an experiment of mine too. I wanted to see if I could understand the legendary shield a little better—sure enough, that thing is mysterious.”
“It’s thanks to you that we got out of that alive. I don’t know how to thank you enough.”
“I told you to stop all of that. What can I do for you today, kid?”
“Could you show me some shields?”
“I don’t think I have any that would be of much use to you . . . or is it for the young lass here?”
“No . . . actually, I guess I can tell you.”
I told him what I’d heard about the weapon copy system. As expected, he looked a little disturbed by the idea.
“You know I’m the owner of this business. What you’re talking about basically amounts to stealing from me.”
“Would you rather I didn’t tell you? I’ll make sure the crown supports you, but in the meantime just let me try it.”
“Well it sounds like the other heroes have been doing it in secret anyway . . . . Fine, whatever. Besides, you’re a good kid. Go ahead and grab anything you like.”
There was a shield hanging on the wall, so I reached up and took it down from the hook it was hanging from. A vibratory rush shot through my arm, and an icon appeared to flash in my periphery.
Weapon copy system activated.
Iron Shield conditions unlocked.
Red Iron Shield conditions unlocked.
Pink Iron Shield conditions unlocked.
White Iron Shield conditions unlocked.
Brown Iron Shield conditions unlocked.
Blue Iron Shield conditions unlocked.
Sky Iron Shield conditions unlocked.
Etc . . . .
It unlocked every color variation of the Iron Shield!
When I just started out in Melromarc, I’d unlocked a few color variations of my Small Shield. The equip bonuses had all been boring stat bumps, so I hadn’t paid much attention to them at the time.
But . . . if the weapon copy system worked the way it seemed to, I had an idea.
Was there a Balloon Shield? That was one of the monsters that had never unlocked a monster-based shield.
I knew there were red and orange balloons. Could there have been normal, uncolored balloons too?
Anyway, I went through the shop touching and unlocking all the shields.
There were round shields, bucklers, night shields, bronze shields, copper shields, steel shields, and silver shields. There were even leather shields—ones I hadn’t been able to unlock from absorbing scraps of tanned leather earlier.
It seemed like most of the shields available for sale unlocked different color variations of the materials they were made from.
I went on copying a few more shields, like the magic silver shield, the heavy shield, the iron armor shield, and a magic shield.
The iron shield and the iron armor shield were technically different, I guess. As for the magic shield, it was more of a small device with a switch on it. When you flicked the switch it would turn the user’s magic power into a shield. So it was basically something akin to Raphtalia’s magic sword.
“Oh hey, hold on a second there, kid.”
The old guy said, waving a hand as he snuck off to a back room.
I heard the sound of his heavy footsteps climbing a flight of stairs, and then a cacophony of clangs as he hammered on something metallic.
A minute later and he reemerged into the showroom.
“Sorry for the wait—this shield is pretty rare around these parts.”
He came back brandishing a rugged-looking thing. But it was somehow glossy as well, catching the light in an odd way.
It was formed from some kind of metal. I assumed iron. But it felt different somehow.
I opened up a window to analyze it.
Siderite Shield quality: normal
“Siderite?”
“Yeah, it’s a name for those strange stones that rain down from the sky sometimes. It’s one of the most impressive display products to come out of Zeltbul. It’s part of their siderite series of weapons.”
“Really? A display product, eh? Why do you have it?”
“Back in the day, well . . . you know.”
“Heh.”
Whatever that meant, he probably had a good reason for not selling it.
Motoyasu had mentioned that the best weapon shop was in Zeltbul. I wonder if he’d gone there and copied it.
“Here, take it.”
“Right.”
The old guy handed me the Siderite Shield. I reached for it.
Weapon copy system activated!
Siderite Shield 0/20 C: ability locked: equip bonus: skill “shooting star”
mastery level: 0
Now we’re talking! The other heroes had all been using the shooting star skills, and now I’d found the shield version.
The copy system also unlocked a number of color variations, but they only had boring skill bumps for bonuses.
Was I part of the bumbling shooting star crowd now? I guess that would depend on how useful the skill actually was. I changed my shield in to the Siderite Shield.
“Whoa!”
The old guy gasped in surprise.
“This thing comes with a weird skill. Do you mind if I try it out?”
“I dunno about . . . .”
“Shooting star shield!”
I shouted the skill name, and I was suddenly enveloped in a sphere of pale light.
It extended about two meters in all directions, with me at the center. As for SP usage, it apparently used about five percent of my max value. The cool-down time was also really short—about 15 seconds.
Judging from what I knew about gaming, it seemed to be some kind of defensive barrier skill.
It might have behaved similarly to the magic shield that the old guy had just shown off.
If it worked the way I thought it did, then it was sure to come in handy.
“What kind of skill is it?”
“I think it forms a kind of defensive barrier.”
Raphtalia reached out her hand and brushed her fingers against the sphere of light. They slipped right through it.
“Maybe not?”
“Hmmm . . . .”
Filo jumped through it once too. Then, realizing that it didn’t affect her, she entertained herself by jumping back and forth through the barrier.
The shooting star series of skills that the other heroes used were probably pretty high-level skills. If that were the case, then it didn’t make sense that the shield version would be useless.
“What the hell are you doing this in my store for? I swear you ki . . . ow!”
The old guy was waving his hand in a mock lecture, when he walked forward and slammed into the wall of light.
“Ah . . . I guess only your party members can pass through it.”
I didn’t have a way to test the durability of the sphere for now, but it apparently really was some kind of defensive force field. If I could learn to use it effectively, it would be a big help in battle.
It looked like the field would remain in place for about five minutes. With such a short cool-down time in comparison to its efficacy, the skill was looking exceptionally useful.
“Damn . . . I wish you’d think before you acted, kid.”
“Sorry. I wanted to show you what it could do, since you’ve held on to the shield for so long.”
“When you put it that way, I guess I don’t have much to complain about.”
“I guess that’s just about enough experimenting for today. We’re all about to head for the Cal Mira islands.”
“Oh yeah, I hear the activation phenomenon is happening now. If you’re going to go, now’s the time.”
“I think you’re right, old man. I’ll pay you another visit when we get back from the islands.”
“Excellent! But are you sure you want to keep using my shop?”
“Of course. I come here because I see how talented you are. I trust you more than anyone in the country—more than the country itself.”
“Kid . . . .”
The old guy seemed nearly overcome with emotion for a secon
d.
Pretty much all the equipment I’d used up until now had come out of his shop. I felt safe there.
“Then I’ll do what I can to make sure I stay useful to ya, kid.”
“Great. I’ll see you later then.”
So we left the shop, having tested out the weapon copy system, and prepared to leave for the islands.
Chapter Five: Gravestones
“We’re about to arrive at the harbor town.”
Everyone was supposed to meet in a nearby harbor town to board the ship.
The other heroes had left before me, in carriages provided by the crown.
I wondered why they didn’t just use the teleport skills they’d bragged about before.
Filo was enjoying the slow carriage journey—she loved that kind of travel, and it had been a while.
“Excuse me, Mr. Naofumi. Would you mind if we took a short detour on the way?”
“Huh?”
Raphtalia indicated that she would like to stop by somewhere. It was rare for her to speak out like that. The place she indicated wasn’t very far at all from our course.
“Sure.”
“Wonderful. Filo, will you please follow this road inland when in splits?”
“Okay!”
Soon enough we arrived at the spot she’d requested. It was the ruins of a village.
We passed by the debris. There were wells that nobody drank from, buildings without roofs, and the burned-out shells of family homes. The remaining, ruined structures scattered through the field all indicated that a village once stood there.
Everything was destroyed and rotten, but it probably hadn’t been that way for all too long. Still, it wasn’t anything very recent.
