The sisters started fighting again as they headed for the entrance of Aswarth’s Undersea Ruins. I figured now was the time to finally return to the cottage.
“Hey, Ren! Let me ride next!”
“Sure! Let’s switch.”
I handed the gear over to Akira. She gleefully equipped it and started spinning her wheels. It was far too slow for how much noise it made.
“Ahahaha! It’s so flashy, but it’s slower than walking!”
When Akira put it on, it was maybe a little too surreal. You’d never expect something that looked like that to sound like a cute girl.
Nevertheless, we continued to switch places—letting Shizuku in on the fun too, of course—as we made our way back home.
After a quick breather, Akira asked, “So, it gave you a guaranteed dark circle like you wanted, right? What do we do now?”
“You should know the answer to that one.”
“Testing?”
“Certainly testing.”
“Gotta be testing.”
My guildmates all replied at once. How lovely it was that we had come to a mutual understanding!
“You are correct! After lunch, I’ll do a little bit of testing. Girls, you’re free to do as you please.”
“Sick! I think I’ll log out and take a nice little walk.”
“I think I’ll work on my homework. Don’t forget to do yours, Takashiro and Yuuna. You never know when they might approach you with relevant questions.”
“It’s scary because it’s true!”
“Hey, I’ll be fine as long as I have Kotomi with me!”
“Not if they pick you to answer the question,” Maeda chided her.
“Who cares about real homework when we’ve got in-game homework?” I scoffed. “I’m not about to lose this Hadean Rose race.”
“Of course. If you need any help, let us know.”
“I also have things to attend to, so I’ll be taking my leave as well,” said Akabane.
“Shall we resume tomorrow, then? I’ll stop by around the same time.”
“Sure. Thank you, Shizuku.”
“Oh, I’ll help you out with your testing!” Akira piped up. “Wanna meet up after lunch?”
“Sure, thanks! I’ll go scarf down my lunch now.”
“Me too!”
With that, we went our separate ways.
One hour later, after a lovely lunch courtesy of my mother, I logged in again. She had cooked up a delicious batch of fried rice. I found myself wondering what Akira ate at this time of day.
Surely she wouldn’t be eating a commoner’s meal like me. She has a personal chef at home, after all. Whatever it was, I bet it was fantastic.
You wouldn’t think so from looking at her, but she was a member of a long-standing, distinguished family.
“Aaand I’m back! Huh, no Akira yet?”
Nobody else was in the cottage, so when Draco saw me, he happily flew over.
“Hey, Draco! Let’s go test Elemental Circle for a while.”
“Chirp, chirp!”
While I waited for Akira, I cast Elemental Circle over and over while wearing the Death Chariot gear. Indeed, the dark circle came out every time. There was no mistaking it now: this was godly gear!
By the time I had let loose a hundred Elemental Circles, Akira returned to the floating cottage.
“Here I am! Sorry I’m late.”
“No prob. Let’s get going!”
“Okay, but where to? Are we starting with basic Island Bunnies again?”
“Well, we don’t have to. But sure, why not?”
Starting with weaklings and moving up to stronger enemies might help us come up with a new discovery. Besides, you know how they say home is where the heart is? Island Bunnies were my home.
Gotta go back to the mother country once in a while, y’know?
I hadn’t shown my face there lately, so I imagined my good friends were feeling a little lonely.
Thus, we left Summertide for the normal school grounds, then headed to the first floor of Trinisty Isle. As usual, my bunny friends were just hopping around without a care in the world.
“Aaah, this place never changes. It’s kinda relaxing, like I’ve finally come home!”
I quickly tossed a pebble at one of the Island Bunnies. They were all buddies; as soon as one was attacked, they would mob you all at once. It was like gathering them all into a big meeting.
“Yep. When you think about it, it’s kinda rude how you come home and immediately start throwing rocks at your friends.”
“More than rude. IRL, I’d be arrested,” I responded cheerfully.
I changed into the Death Chariot gear and cast an Elemental Circle at wide range to bring my MP down nice and low. That was my usual preparation for an ultimate.
“Ultimate move: Vermilion Wing!”
“Bwee! Bwee! Bwee! Bwee!”
Enveloped in my ult, my bunny friends all died together.
Well done as always, my boys!
Incidentally, my damage had settled down to just over a thousand because I hadn’t used Final Strike in advance. We weren’t here to look at big numbers today, so there wasn’t much point in breaking my weapons. Instead, we were here to watch the extra effects that came about when I used my ultimate.
Ren recovered 60 HP.
Ren recovered 60 HP.
Ren recovered 60 HP.
Ren recovered 60 HP.
Ren recovered 60 HP.
Ren recovered 60 HP.
Ren recovered 60 HP.
There we go!
For each one caught in the blast, I recovered HP. It was all going according to plan.
“Your damage is lower without Final Strike, but it doesn’t seem all that different. You healed for each one you hit, right?”
“Yep. But this lineup is pretty much the default, so no surprise there.”
“Do you have something to test?”
“I do. Let’s see here...”
I opened my system window and went to the editing menu for Skill Chain. Here, I could put together three skills or arts to make one ultimate move. Right now, Vermilion Wing was made up of Turnover, Explosive Tackle, and Quickdraw in that order.
“Now I’ll give this one a try,” I said, switching things around. The new order was Explosive Tackle, Turnover, and then Quickdraw.