*****
"Phew!" Milya heaved a sigh of satisfaction as she removed the headset and placed it on her bed. After making it back to the city, Milya headed for the inn she stayed in. Said hello to the nice lady, and entered her room before she logged off.
'I wonder what's for breakfast. Well, for brunch.'
Milya left her room. On her way to the stairs, she came across her brother who left his room a moment after she did.
"Morning, bro," she greeted before turning and descending the stairs.
Aleb nodded in response before following behind her. Judging by his bird nest of a head, he just woke up like Milya expected.
The two of them silently walked toward the kitchen, expecting to see their mother to be cooking their meals.
"Ah, pa's cooking. That's rare." Milya commented upon finding her father to be the one standing behind the counter. Milya took a seat at the table, Aleb doing the same. "Where's ma, pa?"
"No idea. I woke up after her." Her father replied. "I just started here so I'll take another hour. For now, hang in the living room."
"Got it," Milya said and left the kitchen room. Aleb followed just behind her.
"How was the game?" Aleb asked as the two of them settled on the couch, sitting beside each other.
"Enjoyable!" Milya excitedly answered. "I got to level 64 earlier! Leveling by hunting bosses was much faster than hunting normal monsters, you gotta do it too, bro!"
"I see," Aleb nodded. He then frowned at her. "But level 64? Milya, did you stay up all night?"
"I didn't! I only stayed up until two AM!" Milya quickly denied, waving her hands frantically. "I woke up early today, around six! I figured everyone was still asleep so I went back to my room and played until several minutes ago."
"I see. That's good." He nodded in response before picking up his phone. "That aside, I spent the night compiling information regarding the game. I'll send you a copy."
"Wow! And you had the audacity to try and scold me?" Milya pouted. "Well, I'll forgive you for the copy of that, I guess."
"What are you two talking abooouuut…" Mary yawned as she joined the two on the couch, her head much similar to their brother's. A bird's nest. "If you're wondering about Lily, the little princess is still asleep. The latest to wake up, as usual."
"Ah. Good morning, Mary. Just a VR game. Speaking of which, how late were you up? I bet you didn't sleep until four again, didn't you?" Milya teased and poked at Mary, making her squirm.
"Stop that…" Mary frowned before promptly slapping Milya's hand away. "I didn't stay up that late. Only until three."
"That's not any better," Aleb commented from the sidelines, momentarily taking his attention off his phone.
"Oh shut it, bro." Mary haughtily replied. "You think I didn't hear that you didn't sleep to compile whatever that you compiled? Too bad, I did. So you can't scold me!"
Aleb only glanced at her and didn't respond. His attention was better spent on the content on his phone, it seems.
"Hmph. That's what I thought," Mary said haughtily before promptly leaning back on the couch. She turned to Milya, who was recovering from giggling at her sibling's antics. "That aside. You were playing a VR game? What game was it?"
"Oh, that!" Milya coughed into her hand. "It was RCO. The game you were talking about yesterday before I passed out."
"Ah. Speaking of that, how are you feeling now?" Mary asked with a slight worry in her expression.
Milya smiled, happy that her sister was worried about her. Even if it was natural. "I'm fine now."
'Forgive me for this, ma, pa, and bro. I'll leave telling Mary and Lily about the future to you two if you ever decide that they need to be informed.'
"I see. I'm glad." Mary nodded and her worry was replaced by her usual smile. "Anyway, isn't that game only compatible with its own headset? That's why I don't play it even though I'm curious."
"Ah that, Pa bought me it yesterday night. Aleb bought one for himself too. They were together when they bought me mine." Milya explained.
"Is that so? I see. Must be nice, huh? I was told that headset can run any VR app and games," Mary said with mock envy. "Maybe I'll ask for one for my birthday, it's next month."
"Good idea," Milya said. Noticing that the conversation had reached its end, Milya turned to her phone and scrolled through her bookmarks. Settling on a web novel for her to read and kill time with.
Time passed as the three siblings silently enjoyed their preferred entertainment. Soon, their father's voice resounded from the kitchen, taking their attention away from their devices,
"Right," Milya said with a serious tone in her voice, her expression filled with determination. Her siblings wore the same expression. "Whoever loses has to wake up Lily, SHOOT!"
The three promptly rose from their seats and threw their right hands forward, forming symbols. Milya and Aleb shared a scissor symbol while Mary had her hands wide open, forming the hand symbol for paper. She lost.
"Noooo! But I don't want to!" Mary whined as she fell onto her knees, her voice filled with despair.
Aleb and Milya looked at each other and nodded. They then spoke at the same time. "Not our problem, farewell!"
The two quickly left their sister, completely ignoring the glare she sent their way.
"Another win for Lady Milya! That makes it a twenty-day streak!" Milya said as she entered the kitchen together with her brother.
"You'll get karma soon if you keep that attitude up, Milya," Her father said as he carried a pot of pasta and placed it in the middle of their table.
"I know. But until then, I'll keep bragging about it," She responded before she took a bowl from the pile her brother carried.
"What's so bad about waking up Lily anyway? I find her reaction enjoyable and cute," her father said, his words making the siblings wince.
"That's because you're her favorite, pa. Don't get us wrong, we love Lily, but for us, it's always a dangerous endeavor," Milya said while frowning.
"Yeah," her brother backed her up. "Troublesome."
"Is that so? I don't really get it, but just enjoy the food, I guess," was his response before taking his already-filled bowl from the counter and placing it on the table and starting to eat it.
"Oh well. It's not our problem today anyway. It's Mary's," Milya said as she transferred some of the pasta onto her plate, Aleb doing the same after she finished.
"Why thank you for the sympathy, dearest sister. I truly appreciate it," Mary whispered from behind her spook Milya for a moment, her voice filled with sarcasm.
"N-now, don't be so angry. Be angry at your luck, hehe…" Milya weakly responded.
"Yeah, right. My luck," was her angry response before she too took a seat at the table, taking a bowl of pasta for herself. "Lily's just washing her face. She should be here in a bit."
Not long after she said that, quick lively stomps were heard from upstairs, clearly belonging to Lily.
The smallest of the siblings entered the kitchen, her hands still holding onto a small rabbit plushie. "Wah! It's carbonara! Did pa cook? Where's ma?"
"I did cook, Lily! Here, have some for yourself," their father excitedly exclaimed as he placed a bowl in front of Lily who gladly ate it. "And your ma's out for a bit, she didn't really tell me or your older sis and bro, but don't worry, she'll be back soon."
"I see!" Lily replied before promptly stuffing her face with pasta.
"That's right, so don't eat all the pasta, we wouldn't want ma to have nothing to eat, do we?" Their father said, putting another portion of pasta in his bowl after eating the previous portion all up.
"So he says while serving himself the biggest servings," Mary jokingly scoffed, seemingly unentertained by the antics of her father.
"So I can eat the most without worrying about leaving nothing behind. That's your problem now," he said smugly.
"Devious…" Aleb commented before serving himself more, even though he hadn't finished his portion yet. "The girls' problem now."
"Not fair!" Lily shouted before reaching for the tongs and served herself more.
'She won't be able to eat all that.' Milya mused.
"Last to finish eating does the dishes," Milya said before getting up and bringing her bowl and fork to the sink.
"Welp, good luck to Princess Lily over here," said Mary before tossing her bowl into the sink.
"What!?" Lily gasped, looking at her father and brother's bowls which were already halfway done. Realizing that she is losing, Lily hurriedly eats her pasta. "I should not have taken more!"
"Hehe," Milya and Mary grinned at the same time.
"Aha! They got you there, Lily!" Their father says before dramatically raising his bowl and tossing it into the sink. "And there goes mine! Don't lose to your bro, Lily!"
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"I-I won't!" Lily stammers as she shoves coil after coil of pasta into her stuffed mouth, small beads of tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
Aleb chuckles before raising his bowl, showing its empty inside to his sister. "Slow down, Lily. I'll do the dishes, so you can calm down now."
Lily swallows the contents of her mouth before speaking. "R-really?"
"Yeah, so slow down. Enjoy your meal," he said before giving her a pat on the head and bringing his bowl to the sink.
"Thank you, big bro! You're the best!" Lily says as she eats her pasta in a slower manner, enjoying her father's cooking.
Milya chuckles before leaving the kitchen and heading for the stairs.
"Can't say I'm surprised, shame," Mary sighs before following behind Milya. She tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. "You're going to play RCO?"
"Hm?" Milya glances back. "Yeah, did you need something?"
"Nothing," Mary shakes her head before walking ahead of Milya, walking up to her room. "I was curious, that's all. I'll play some VR game too, I guess."
"I see. Enjoy yourself then, sis," Milya replied before entering her room.
She sat on her bed and placed the headset on her lap. "Time check, 11:27."
Milya put on the headset and laid down on her back, making sure that the straps were secured, Milya entered the world of RCO. Quickly completing the login process, Milya once again finds herself inside her inn room.
"Alright. First I'll look at are the drops, I guess. I also still have several scrolls too, gotta use those." Vermouth opens her inventory and takes out the scrolls, placing them on the table she just pulled toward herself.
Ignoring the more common monster drops in her inventory, Vermouth takes out the more notable items.
"First is this, Bangle of Muryo. Open!" Vermouth held the bracelet made of golden glowing vines and opened its description.
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[Bangle of Muryo] [Accessory] [Rank 5]
[M.def + 120] [P.def + 75]
[MP + 2,000] [HP + 4,500]
[Wis + 20%] [M.atk + 15%]
"Ragar's treasured bangle. Made of preserved vines from the hair of his late lover before she withered away."
[Drop Requirement]
Dropped by Ragar when he peacefully passes away in the successful completion of the questline "Muryo's Devastating Grudge."
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"Waah, so it's basically the remains of a dead person?" Vermouth mutters in slight discomfort. "I don't know how to feel about that…"
Vermouth returns the item to her inventory before equipping it in her empty accessory slot, the bangle appearing on her left wrist, tightly wrapped around the surface of her skin. Vermouth glances at it for a moment before returning to her inventory.
"Now, what's this? A material?" Vermouth utters as she takes Ragar's Golden Heart out of her inventory, in her small hands she held the golden orb, its appearance much similar to the green orb inside of Ragar's chest. "Wait no, it's not! Deja vu!"
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[Ragar's Golden Heart] [Crystal Orb] [Rank 8]
[M.atk --] [P.atk --]
[HP + 15,000] [END + 30%]
[STR + 45] [Nat.Reg + 500]
[Unique Passive - Ragar's Heartfelt Gratitude]
10% chance to recover 100% of HP upon hitting zero.
"Ragar's purified core. The golden heart of the last elemental druid."
[Drop Requirement]
Dropped by Ragar when he peacefully passes away in the successful completion of the questline "Muryo's Devastating Grudge."
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"What the heck!?" Vermouth exclaims in disbelief. "Rank 8!? And isn't that questline the one the players failed to successfully complete!? Doesn't that mean I'm the only one who has this!? What the hell, that's amazing! WAHAHA!"
Vermouth immediately returns it to her inventory before equipping it. She tried to slide it into her accessory slot, but it just wouldn't go in.
"Am I doing something wrong?" She wonders out loud.
Vermouth tried several other slots before it finally popped into her off-hand slot, the orb reappearing on the back of her hand. "What the hell, it became small."
Not only that, but the orb now seemed to be embedded into her flesh, the veins around it glowing a golden hue.
"Hehe. It's cool, so whatever, I guess," Vermouth giddily uttered as she looked at her small hand. The golden orb dispersed golden motes of light into the air as she moved it around. "About time I got a little bit of upgrade to my HP stats anyway. Hehe."
"Next, rip!" Vermouth picked up the scrolls off the table and ripped them all at the same time, watching with fascination as they turned into flames and entered her chest. "I'll never get tired of that."
Moving on, Vermouth opens her status interface before allocating her status points all into her WIS stat. "Bro will be so surprised when he sees my status and skill interface, hehe."
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[Vermouth] [Mage] [Level: 64]
[Base Stats]
[HP 22,260/22,260 | MP 73,204/73,204 ]
[ p.atk 1,428(+406) | m.atk 6,384(+5,878) ]
[ p.def 147 | m.def 178 ]
[Status Points: 0]
[STR 10(+45) | AGI 10 | DEX 192 | END 10(+3) | WIS 512(+214)]
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Passive Skills
[Casting III (56%)]
Tier 1 skill - Decreases the chance of failing a spell by 3%, increases by 1% every level. Shortens the casting time by 10.5%. Allows movement while casting at maximum level. The default spell fail chance is 15%. Failing to cast a spell will cancel its effects while still consuming the mana used.
[Mana Boost II (11%)]
Tier 1 skill - Increases mana by 20%.
[Magic Mastery III (19%)]
Tier 1 Skill - Increases m.atk by 60%
[Chain Cast III (1%)]
Tier 2 Skill - Successfully casting a spell shortens the cast time of the next spell by 4.5% and increases m.atk by 6%. Stacks 5 times. All stacks are lost after 15 seconds of not casting a spell. Increases the chance of failing a spell by 5% for every three spells successfully cast.
[Totemist I (41%)]
Tier 9 Skill - Allows the user to assign spells on crafted totems, removing the need to cast. Reduces the mana cost of all spells by 75%. Additionally, using materials with high mana conductivity and related elements will increase the effectiveness of the spell assigned to the totem. Totems are unbreakable and only the user can interact with them. Placing down totems with continuous spells will make the totem continuously absorb mana from the surrounding area and keep the spell running. Totems can be indefinitely attached to the main weapon as long as it is a staff. The number of totems that can be attached to the main weapon will depend on the weapon's rank. The number of spells that could be assigned on a single totem is directly proportionate to the skill level.
Grants the spells [Totem Creation] [Assign Totem] [Totemist - One with Mana]
[Combat Mastery I (1%)]New!
Tier 1 Skill - Increases P.atk by 20%
Active Skills
[Mana Charge III (3%)]
Tier 1 Skill - Restores 27% of mana. Charging time: 3.5 secs
[Invisibility I (1%)]New!
Tier 4 Skill - Makes the user transparent to all entities and erases all physical traces. Receiving damage will remove the skill's effects. Duration: 5 mins. Cooldown: 60 secs.
[Pulse Radar I (1%)]New!
Tier 5 Skill - Send an energy pulse toward all directions and reveal all living entities within a 50-meter radius of the user.
Cooldown: 2 mins 30 secs
Magic Spells
[Magic Arrow]
Fire five bolts of homing arrows and deal 200% of m.atk as magic damage.
Casting Time: 1 second. MP cost: 100
[Living Sword]
Summon two living swords that will automatically slash at your enemies in a 3-meter radius of the caster, dealing 500% of m.atk. Prioritizes the closest enemy. Five minutes sword duration, Cast Time: 8.5 seconds. MP cost: 650
[Magic Missile]
Rapidly conjure ten mana balls from the tip of your staff, homing on your chosen enemy and dealing 150% of m.atk. The path of the mana balls can be controlled by the caster's mind.
Cast Time: 0.5 seconds. MP cost: 150
[Totem Creation]
Create or fuse totems from any materials and bind them to yourself. The quality, effectiveness, elemental affinity, and appearance of the totem will depend on the materials used.
Cast time: 120 seconds. MP cost: 1500
[Assign Totem]
Assign a spell on a totem created using the spell [Totem Creation]. Allows totems to be attached to a staff.
Cast time: 60 seconds. MP cost: 750
[Totemist - One with Mana]
One With Mana. Combines HP and Mp points and turns the user's body into intangible mana that will not be affected by any physical or magical means, making the totems act as the user's tangible body. The user will receive 50% of the damage done to the totems. Hitting multiple totems at once will not increase the damage received. Letting go of the totems or staff with totems attached will cancel this state. Spell Duration: Indefinite.
Cast time: 300 seconds. Mana Cost: 0
[Fire Ball]
Launch a ball of flames toward the aimed direction. Deals 250% of M.atk with the fire element. 30% chance to apply [burn] status effect and deal 1% of the target's HP as fire element for 5 seconds.
Cast time: 1 second. Mana cost: 170
[Wind Blade]
Let out three swift blades of wind toward the aimed direction. Deals 120% of M.atk with the wind element, before bursting outward, dealing an additional 20% of M.atk.
Cast time: 0.5 seconds. Mana cost: 120
[Water Gun]
Continuously fire a torrent of water for two seconds toward the aimed direction. Continuously dealing 100% of m.atk as water element.
Cast time: 2 seconds. Mana cost: 200
[Earth Spikes]
Swiftly create earthen spikes under the target's location, dealing 300% of m.atk with the earth element. 15% chance to apply [immobilized] status effect.
Cast time: 2 seconds. Mana cost 250
[Bursting Lance]
Fire off a lance made of pure mana, piercing through all enemies in a straight line. Ignores 35% of the targets' m.def and deals 700% of the caster's m.atk.
Casting time: 13 seconds. Mana cost: 1,500
[Persistent Chains]
Conjure seven ghastly chains that will violently latch onto your targets' bodies. Each chain successfully making continuous contact will hold down the targets and deal 20% of the caster's m.atk every half a second.
Casting time: 7 seconds. Mana Cost: 900
[Safe Haven]
Create a dome made of pure mana that will protect the caster within their 2-meter radius. Damage absorption rate equivalent to 1500% of the user's m.atk, barrier weakens by 1% every 0.5 seconds.
Duration of 8 minutes. Casting time: 7 seconds. Mana cost: 7500
[Healing Radiance]
Emit a light of mana and heal the caster and their allies by 20% of the caster's combined MP and HP. Duration of five seconds. Effects halved for not having the Healer class.
Casting time: 15 seconds. Mana Cost: 2,700
[Burgeon]
Hurl a dozen seeds toward the targets' location. Upon landing, the roots of the seeds will latch on the nearest target and wrap around them. The plants' roots will absorb 0.1% of the targets' HP every 0.3 seconds. For every 10 hp sapped from the target, the rate of absorption will increase by another 0.1%.
Casting Time: 23 seconds. Mana Cost: 4,500
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"A dud and two that I don't know what to do with, but they will definitely be helpful, right?" Vermouth wondered out loud. "I'm sure they will be useful."
"Now, after that fight, I've realized how important a shield is for a mage. So, come out!" Vermouth took out a totem, one that she hadn't used yet. She held the rotting log with a grinning face before she cast. "Assign Totem!"
The totem floated off her hand and glowed a golden hue. She then cast the spell she wanted to be assigned. "Safe Haven!"
Vermouth waited for the animation to finish before catching the falling totem. Right after, she checked its description before attaching it to her staff.
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[Grinning Log] [Totem] [Rank 4]
"A totem created by [Vermouth] using the barks of a Monotrent. Holding onto the totem or attaching it to a staff will allow the user to instantly use the spell assigned without the risk of failing."
[Safe Haven]
[Increases the barrier's radius by an additional 3 meters.]
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"The bonus effect's going to be useful when I have a party. But I intend to play solo until bro joins me, so it's useless for now," Vermouth noted before attaching the totem to her staff, taking all the attachment slots that it has. "I'll have to find a staff with a higher rank now in the future, won't I?"
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[Lone Wolf's Scepter] [Staff] [Rank 4]
[M.atk 452] [P.atk 120]
[M.atk +25%] [Wis +15%] [Wis +35]
[Aggro -25%]
"Balza's symbol of authority."
[Drop Requirement]
Dropped by Balza with a 2% rate. Balza must be fairly fought solo and not get hit on the head to honor his authority as the wolven chief in order for this scepter to drop.
[Attachments]
[Balza's Mighty Fang] [Balza's Hateful Paws]
[False Dragon's Fruit] [Grinning Log]
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"Wait, can't I just hold onto another totem with my other hand?" Vermouth pondered. "Oh well, thoughts for later, thoughts for later."
Vermouth hops off the bed and leaves the room. "Time to hunt that Cockatrice and Ursa Minor, so I can go to another area!"
With that, Vermouth left the local inn and jogged toward the west gate.
*****