Author’s Corner: HELLO HELLO! DOUBLE RELEASE TODAY! HOORAY!
ANYWAY, some things came to mind these last two days. One was the need to update the synopsis of the series, since it does sound a bit too generic for the story and nowhere crazy enough. Second is that there are many skills and characters in the story, and it gets a bit hard to keep track of all of them, so I’ll start working on a data-page where I’ll throw all of these kind of important information. Should be ready before the next weekend.
ALSO, There is a small music parody here, although only of the first part of the song. If anyone wishes, feel free to pick it up and make the rest! Just remember to share with your brothers of the Cygnas Church! (You’ll get cookies!)
ALSO(2), The arc is coming to an end, and with that I will begin my one or two week break from Insania. Before then, I still plan on doing the following: Make a small x.5 chapter, on a slightly more serious (and very foreshadowing tone.), maybe start on the next SS, which will either be of father and sister, or a one-shot of Lieutenant’s info network saga.
ALSO(3), as stated before, during the break I plan on writing something else. So I was thinking, would you guys rather have me write Insania Offline, the just for fun spin-off, or make something brand new?
Have a good read!
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“Hmm… It makes so that every skill that Shishou have with a higher level than mine, increases twenty percent faster in Shishou’s presence!” Said the Kitsune while wagging her tail happily.
I rubbed my eyes as I tried to understand what was happening here. Did she officially become my disciple now? Really? I’m having a hard time getting this through my head. As I tried to process the information, I finally sighed, giving up.
“So… How did you get it?” I asked.
“It said that I got the title by refusing changing my master, and declaring towards that person that Shishou is already my master.” She said smiling widely.
Looking at such a beaming Yuu, I ended up unable to resist the destructive power of those cheerful eyes, and ended up having to pat her as my way to congratulate the Kitsune. Even if I had the feeling that the title isn’t all that useful, since we don’t have a single shared skill, I somehow knew that she probably wouldn’t change the title any-time so soon.
I smiled awkwardly at this thought, at the same time as a small blue-furred fox arbitrarily climbed on my lap and pulled my free hand towards her head. Well, I’m not complaining of some extra fluffiness.
As I looked back to the God of war, who was seriously focused on the poker table, I saw him sigh and drop his cards, signaling his defeat on the game. Lieutenant smirked impishly as he also dropped his cards on the table and started stretching himself after a good game. The god snapped his fingers, making the table disappear and a fish pop up, falling on the Trick-cat’s extended hands, where he started to feast himself.
“Cygnasdammit! I’ll get you next time, you slithery feline!” Orfeon said with some strange rivalry sparking in his eyes. After that, he turned to me and gave one final nod. “Well, it seems that I just lost my five hundred years winning spree, so I guess I should call it a day.” The god said with a sigh. “I’ll see you later, little golem! And then it will be your turn to tell me those stories, alright?” He said cheerfully, and I nodded back.
And then, he poofed into oblivion. Damn, these gods like doing this.
“So, who’s ready for a couple more dungeon diving?” I said in a cheerful tone, seeing the others smile awkwardly at this.
…
If the first run took us around six or so hours, the following two took only eight hours in total. Mostly because we already knew how to deal with the bosses and the mobs, so we didn’t have any nasty surprises at all.
But, interesting surprises we did have: We were, indeed, doing the hard-mode of the dungeon. We noticed this because we chose to run on the hard mode for some better loot, however we didn’t see anything different at all. Except for the map.
Both times, the map of the dungeon were completely different. Maybe to keep some hint of freshness on repeated dungeon crawls? Well, no matter.
We pretty much one-shotted the bosses both times, now that we knew how they worked. Except for Excel, since once we didn’t manage to destroy the green crystal on time and saw as Yagver fell dead. The remaining tries went smoothly without any bigger problems.
Also, they let me harvest not only Doggy’s hide, but also Excel’s armor plating and sword! Which was nifty as hell! Another cool thing, is that Doggy’s mode when he dies persists. So I got one set of skin, claws, fangs and bones from the normal Doggy, and one from enraged doggy. If my guess is right, the normal doggy will give better defense, while enraged doggy is better on the offensive status.
I couldn’t wait to see what kind of weapon would come out from his material. Also, maybe I can use his hide to upgrade my gear without having to make something brand new. It is worth a test, I guess…
Still, let’s get back to the main problem. Which weapon? Sword-and-shield and bow were already done. So what else could I do? Gunlance, charge blade, switch axe and bow-guns are still out of the fray since I will need some more researching if I want to make them. So that leaves me with: Great sword, Long sword, hammer, hunting horn, lance and dual blades. Maybe insect-staff too.
Well, let’s leave that for when we get back to the city, shall we?
Not that it would take long, I mean, we were already on our way back during the night.
Now, for the good part.
Level 22, BOO YEAH!
One-handed sword up to intermediate two, Bow mastery intermediate one, with new skill! Tactical charge went to eight, adaptability to seven, consumables mastery… Only three. Roll is level nine and almost leveling while Taunt is level eight.
Skinning and mining are now both intermediate, but there isn’t any clear bonus to them, except the fact that now I can get scales when skinning classically.
So, my status looks something like this:
NAME:
Wargon (Gondorrer Gravelheart)TITLE:
The MadClass tree:Warrior/rogueClass:SkirmisherRace:GolemGender:Neutral (Male)Level:22Experience:34%
STATUS:
Remaining points (0)Health Points:770/770HP regen (out of combat):2.5/secEnergy:100/100Energy Regen:11/secSTR:56(14)TGH:45(28)AGI:54(14)VIT:59(28)INT:33(14)MND:50(28)ATTK:31-28Extra:1 Frostfire damageDEF212M. Res.:151Fire resistance:24Satiety:79/100 (Satisfied)
SKILLS:
Derivation points (0)
Spoiler :
--------Generic skills--------
One-handed Sword Mastery[Intermediate][lvl 2]
-Slash (Active)
-Stab (Active)
-Slice ‘n dice (Active)
-Fencing
Dual-wielding mastery [lvl 2]
-Whirlwind (Active)
Bow Mastery [Intermediate] [lvl 1]
-Power shot (Active)
-Quick shots (Active)
-Piercing shot (Active)
-Double-shot (Active)
-Snipe
Martial Arts [lvl 4]
-Kick
-Pummel
Shield Mastery [Intermediate] [lvl 1]
-Bashing - Shield slam*
-Stand Ready
Scale-mail Mastery [lvl 9]
Chain-mail Mastery [lvl 9]
Leather Mastery [lvl 7]
Taunt (Active) [lvl 8]
-Focused mockery
Nature walking (Active) [lvl 2]
(Original) Roll (Active) [lvl 9]
Recklessness [lvl 2]
---------Class skills--------
Consumables mastery [lvl 3]
Unstoppable Charge* (Active) [lvl 8]
Retreat (Active) [lvl 1]
Ready for anything [lvl 1]
UNIQUE Adaptability [lvl 7]
-Cycle weapons(active) -Offensive Cycle(active)*
---------Crafting skills--------
Skinning [intermediate] [lvl 1]
Mining [intermediate] [lvl 1]
Crystal Tinkerer[Intermediate] [lvl 1]
Leatherworking [Intermediate][lvl 1]
Blacksmithing [Intermediate] [lvl 1]
Alchemy [lvl 6]
---------Racials---------
-Nature’s bastion (Active)
-Rock Eater
-Sedimentary skin (Active)
-Nature attuned
---------Equipment skill--------
Ignite Weapon
Beautiful, isn’t it? Now, for the new skills.
Skill: Unstoppable charge [lvl8] (0%)
(Modified from Tactical Charge)Your charge becomes an unstoppable force, brutally trespassing any enemy in your way while dealing even more damage from the skill used.
Bonus damage increased to 50%
Ignores collision. Skill used can hit multiple enemies. Only applies to self, using on allies apply Tactical Charge.Cost: 10 energy
Cool down: 10 secods
Sub-Skill: Double shot [Intermediate] [lvl1]
(Level increase with Bow mastery)You become used to the motion of pulling and shooting with your bow, to the point that some of your attacks come automatically without you noticing.
Repeat the last skill used within two seconds, with any bonus it had at the time.Cost: 0 energy
Cool down: 1.5 minute
So, Unstoppable charge is the derivation of Tactical charge. It basically makes so that any melee skill I have become a charge attack with bonus damage and a piercing effect. Just imagine this: A line of enemies, Unstoppable charge towards the one on the back while using shield slam after a dodging roll. Everyone takes Shield-slam basic damage, +50% from the charge, +30% from the dodge.
Simply brutal. I love it.
Of course, if they aren’t in line, it gets a bit harder to deal so much damage, but you get my point.
Double shot… Is also an almost cheat-like skill that makes me wonder how people deal with archers in this game. I repeat ANY skill I used without the cost of energy. Of course, the cool down is high, but the burst-potential in this skill is simply ridiculous.
So, all in all, I’m a happy golem.
Equipment-wise, Yagver’s group decided that their best shot at this would be to have a better geared tank, so they decided to have me make a full set to the Jötunn, instead of giving one good piece to each one. Luckily, I already had a good idea on what I would be making. And If you stop to think that both bosses were defense focused, it will probably become something ridiculously over-powered.
Not that I am complaining.
But that would still leave me with a lot of material left, so I was starting to plan on what to do with them.
Anyway, we were now walking down the night towards our way back to the city. Everyone now in higher spirits after receiving such a good haul, exp-wise, with Yagver’s group almost at thirty, and the girls at twenty five-six. Lieutenant now had reached my level and the penalty wasn’t all that bad any-longer.
And in such a happy mood, as soon as the city came in sight, I started to get excited for the crafting, and before I could stop myself, I was already singing.
“Take me down, to the iron-bound city
Where the forges are heating and the hammers are beating!
So won’t you please, take me hooooooome.
Take me down, to the iron-bound city
Where the forges are heating and the hammers are beating!
So won’t you please, take me hooooooome.”
“Is that paradise city?” Asked Yagver curious, and I nodded while banging my head.
What can I say? I was getting excited.
It didn’t take us much longer to reach the city. By the time we got there, it was a few hours before dawn, and thus the city looked peculiarly calm when looking at it. I turned to the others and noticed that they all had some sleepy faces, probably from spending almost twenty hours straight awake. Although we do get tired slower in here, there is only so much we can take when we start fighting non-stop, so I wasn’t all that surprised to see them like that. At least I came right after sleeping, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were playing non-stop even before that.
“So, what are you guys doing now? Sleeping?” I asked, still feeling full of energy. They looked at each other for a moment and nodded.
“Yeah… I guess I’ll call it a day.” Said Yagver with a nod. The others also nodded with him.
“Okay. I’ll leave the gear with Argento. Do you guys know him?” I asked, and they all nodded. “Good, see you guys later, then.” I said, and they all gave their farewells before logging out. Then I turned towards the girls and raised an eyebrow to them. Han-chan nodded sleepily, but Yuu looked not all that bad, to tell the truth.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“I’ll stop here… I’m tired.” Han-chan said tiredly. She had been quiet the whole way here, so it wasn’t all that surprising to see her so tired. “What about… Yuu-chan?” she asked the Kitsune.
“Grandfather always tells me to not go to a battle while tired, so I slept a bit before we left.” She answered cheerfully. I stopped to think for a moment. That was probably during the time I was also sleeping. “So I will stay with Shishou a bit longer.”
Hanbei smiled mischievously for a moment, before nodding and logging out. Her body disappearing in a pillar of light.
“Shall we go, then?” I asked her, and she nodded cheerfully.
I actually had a lot of things to do in the city. Firstly, is the crafting, as I had to make a full set for Yagver, as well as make a new weapon for myself. Then, there is the problem with Aura, whom I promised to make into a battle pet. Even if the penalty grew, I didn’t care about it. I made a promise and I plan to keep it true.
“So, Lieutenant, are you out to see your network?” I asked him. The cat nodded and made a salute before darting off somewhere. We could easily find each other afterwards, so I didn’t worry too much about it. For now, let us go see an old friend.
I took the two foxes with me on a tour through the main street until we reached the main elevator. The city during the dead of the night felt strangely calming, with its almost empty streets and only illuminated by the crystals on the ceiling.
The only few people walking on the streets during this time were the players and the occasional shady characters. But since most players were out hunting even now, there weren’t many people here at all.
The ones that were here, however, kept stealing a glance towards Yuu every time we passed by them. And I could clearly feel some hostile gazes boring on my back. At first I was a bit confused at this, but after some time I finally understood.
There was a guy, a girl (and a pet fox) walking through the city alone, during the night with a leisurely pace. The girl kept smiling all the time while the guys simply seemed to be enjoying himself.
Yep. Totally looks like a date. And with someone on Yuu’s level, it isn’t all that surprising that I felt so much killing intent coming towards me.
I stole a quick glance towards Yuu and noticed that she looked oblivious to all of this, and simply kept walking while wagging her two black tails to one side to the others. Aura, on the other hand, seemed to notice this, as she quickly leapt to my arms and curled herself up.
This… Didn’t help as much as I expected, since now there were a few girls staring holes at me because I was carrying such a cute pet.
Part of me felt really uncomfortable under such aggressive gazes.
The other made me walk with my chest full of pride and with an snobbish look in my face. Envy-me, you mortals, for I am the lord of fluffiness! All the fluffy things come to me!
I started to laugh manically within my mind while my face looked ridiculously smug. Yuu seemed to notice this, as she turned to me with a confused face. I smiled gently at the oblivious Kitsune, before starting to pet her, making the hostile gazes change to one of clear murderous intent. I looked back, seeing a few guys looking at me and gave my best smile.
U mad, bro?
The napping freezing-tail, the confused Kitsune and me reached the elevator and immediately took us to the commercial sector, where we took another elevator and zig-zagged through the streets until we reached a shop that was fairly familiar.
I entered the shop without any warning and dodged all the items and the front desk, going straight to the door on the very end of the store. Suddenly I felt curious how the hell she makes money if there is never someone working, but decided that thinking too much about it would do me no good, I left it alone.
Entering the inner-most room of the store, we found the out-of-place bed in the middle of a laboratory-like room, as well as a young girl with ridiculously long hair sleeping lazily on it. I looked at the girl and sighed, before kicking the bed, making her wake up.
“Wha? Wuzzat?” Sol woke up dazed, looking around and finally setting her gaze on me. “Hmm… Oh! It’s the brat!” She said while yawning. “What’s up? Weren’t you leaving for some time?” She asked me confused.
“Yep. I’ve been a day away, and just got back.” I said while opening my inventory screen. I grimaced, noticing how much space was being occupied and decided to buy an inventory upgrade later. “I missed you and decided to make a visit before going to do what I was going to do.” I said while shrugging.
“Yeah. Sure. I’ll pretend I believe in you.” The girl said while stretching herself within her nightgown. “So, what do you have for me today?” She said looking excited like the little kid she looked like.
I smiled widely while picking up one of the drones plating from my inventory and putting it on the bed. The mad alchemist blinked surprised for a moment before picking the plate and examining it with intense concentration.
“This is… Alchemysteel?” She asked, her voice having a slightly strange tone that I couldn’t quite put my finger into it. Still, I nodded proudly. If what is said on the item’s description is true, there isn’t any other way to reproduce these, since the recipe is lost. Thus, Sol must be surprised with it, right? “This is… A bit anticlimactic.”
…
Huh?
“Wait, what? Isn’t this a recipe lost in the ages and so on?” I asked surprised as she threw the plating aside with a sigh.
“Well… Yes, but...” She tried to think of her words, but gave up and shrugged. “Well, they are expensive to make, and there are better things out there.” She said with a slightly sad tone. “And as amazing as finding such a material like this is, by now its more of a decorative piece than a useful material.”
Aww… And it sounded something so cool...
“And I had so much…” I said with a sigh and sitting on the bed downhearted.
“Is that all?” She asked me, still curious. “Didn’t you find anything else that’s interesting?” She asked me still with her glowing eyes. I sighed loudly and took out a couple of other things from my inventory.
Firstly, some claws and fangs from the wolves which made the elf blink surprised when I told her about the beasts. She showed some clear interest on these, as she had only heard of such beasts, but never seen them before. Next, I took out a few chunks of crystallized mana. The moment her hand touched the crystal, all the hair on her body stood on the edge.
“This is… Incredible…” She said in wonder, while looking at the crystal like a kid with her toy. I smiled awkwardly while taking out the next thing.
“Then… What about this?” I said while taking out the plating that once was the gauntlet of Excel-Loran.
“That’s… More alchemysteel?” She asked confused while approaching the gauntlet. Still holding the crystal close to her chest. “That is only a bigger chunk of the meta…” She started to say with a frown, before suddenly stopping. “What the…” She suddenly left the crystal on the bed and lifted the arm with scary ease while starting to examine it from all angles.
“So, what do you think?” I said with a raised eyebrow, but she completely ignored me, immersed on the gauntlet. Suddenly, she passed the gauntlet back to me.
“Hold it for me, boy.” She said jumping out of the bed and standing on the ground. I grabbed the gauntlet a bit at loss, holding it with my two hands until she said. “Now, lower it a bit.” I blinked surprised before automatically lowering the armor. “Good. Keep it like that.” She said with a nod.
I looked confused at her for a moment, until she picked something from beneath the bed and put it on her hand. I looked at it for a few seconds until I understood. Those are brass knuckles! What is she going to do with that?
It… Couldn’t be, right?
She suddenly took a stance with the simple brass knuckles and looked towards the gauntlet with a scary look in her eyes. Understanding where this was going, I immediately became panicky. Yuu probably noticed this too, as she suddenly seemed to wake up and try to jump and stop the crazy hag.
Both of us were too late.
The hag took a step forward, leaving a small foot-print on the rock floor while swiftly swinging her right arm forward. Her fist met with the metal in a violent impact that made the whole room tremble for a moment. Even her weapons disintegrated into dust after that.
And me, who was the one who was holding the metal?
Well…
For repeatedly breaking walls using nothing but your body, and surviving, you have earned the title: Demolition Expert
Since you have a title equipped, you will need to go to a cathedral to change your titleDemolition Expert: Your experience in object destruction increases damage dealt to objects and buildings by 30% when you have the intention to break them. This damage only applies to durability, and not actual health points.
As soon as Yuu and Aura removed the debris from atop me, I quickly chugged down a health potion and raised myself back up. I looked around a bit groggily, noticing that I was in some kind of kitchen room, which was surprisingly simple when I stopped to compare it with the shop.
Looking back the way I was blown from, I saw Sol staring at the gauntlet in her hand.
“WHAT THE HELL YOU CRAZY HAG!” I shouted angrily while stomping my way back towards her. “COULDN’T YOU GIVE ME A WARNING OR SOMETHING?” Seriously, don’t people here warn you when they are about to use your body to break a wall or something?
“Oh… Sorry.” She said halfheartedly, before turning to me with a wide smile. “Now, look here!” She said pointing towards the gauntlet. “There’s an indentation!” She said cheerfully.
I changed my gaze towards the armor and stared at it in shock for a few seconds. Yuu came to my side and copied me, quickly becoming shocked.
I mean… We suffered so much on the hands of that guy and his impenetrable armor. Then the old hag comes, and with one punch manage to bend the armor?
Okay. Now its definitive. Here in Insania, Old people is synonym with Over-powered.
“This is amazing! Even if I held back a little with that trashy weapon, it still didn’t break!”
“APOLOGIZE! APOLOGIZE TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO SUFFERED WHILE BATTLING THIS GUY!” I said after suddenly jumping at her and grabbing her in a chokehold. Even Yuu and Aura weren’t trying to stop me this time.
“What are you doing, you brat?” She asked while trying to get away from my hold, something a bit difficult when she was holding the heavy gauntlet with her small body.
After some more minutes of me chasing her, I finally calmed down while she looked at me confused and scared. I took a few deep breaths one last time.
“Dammit. And here I hoped to never suffer something like that after leaving Wallace.” I said with a sigh.
“Huh? Wallace?” The Hag said suddenly. “As in, the Dragon General Wallace?” She said surprised, and I nodded. “Heeh… So he’s still alive?” She said with some amazement in her voice.
“You know him?” This time it was me who was surprised.
“If I know him?” She said with an impish smile, before taking one of her fingers to her lower lips and licking her upper ones seductively, her usual playful and childish air suddenly became extremely mature. A bit too much if I should say so. “Let’s just say… That he was tasty.”
I face-palmed hard at that moment. Luckily, it seemed that Yuu was a bit too innocent to understand the meaning behind those words, so she simply looked confused. Still, what the hell is the meaning behind this, Wallace? I’m starting to question your tastes, old man.
“So… What about the armor?” I asked after managing to recover myself.
“Oh. This… It’s definitively Alchemysteel, however, it’s on a completely different level to the ones from earlier.” She said back to her cheerful self. “It makes the ones from before look completely useless!” She said with shining eyes.
“Then… Can I count on you for giving a look on it?” I said with a raised eyebrow.
“You know, I hate how easily you manipulate me into working for you for free?” She said with a fake annoyance tone.
“You are still doing it, right?” I asked mischievously, and she laughed.
“You know me too well!” She said cheerfully. “Also, leave me some more of those crystals, they also seem like a lot of fun!”
I nodded and unloaded a few more chunks of the crystal into her bed. I had a whole load of them, so I wasn’t exactly in a need to hold them.
“Okay, I’ll go to Melinda’s so I can prepare the leather, then later I’ll go to Torg’s. So if you find anything, just look out for me.” I said while preparing to leave, and the alchemist nodded while checking all the new toys she had just received. However, right before I reached the door, she called.
“By the way, I don’t see the cat girl? Are you three alone today?” She asked us and I nodded, slightly confused. I immediately regretted when I saw her mischievous smile. “So, you are taking advantage that her friend isn’t here, and taking your kitsune on a date, Huh? Aren’t you the play-golem?”
I immediately left the room the moment the words left her mouth, slamming the door behind me. I saw as Yuu looked confused at me for a moment, before finally processing the words from the old hag. Immediately her face poofed into a deep shade of red.
“Da-Date? Wi-With Shishou? M-Me?” The damage was done.
As I sighed and walked away, I gently put myself to pat the flustered kitsune’s head, as not even I was able to deny it. This, albeit an uncommon one, still looked a lot like a date.