“That oughta do it!”
“Huh? Does that make a difference?! Mine end up the same no matter what I change.”
“I have a feeling there are certain things that will make it change.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Well, when I first made Vermilion Wing, changing the order decreased my damage. I think when you activate Explosive Tackle before Turnover can switch your HP and MP, it uses your full HP in the damage calculation for Explosive Tackle.”
Explosive Tackle itself didn’t include any “increases damage at lower HP” effects, but because Quickdraw’s ability was included in the ultimate move, it affected Explosive Tackle despite coming later in the combo. Skill Chain’s logic was truly obscure and complicated. It was definitely something I wanted to test more.
Did Explosive Tackle consume HP? Today, I’d work out the answer.
“Okay, let’s do another! Ultimate move: Vermilion Wing!”
“Bwee! Bwee! Bwee! Bwee!”
Ren recovered 60 HP.
Ren recovered 60 HP.
Ren recovered 60 HP.
Ren recovered 60 HP.
Ren recovered 60 HP.
Ren’s maximum HP increased by 33.
Ren recovered 60 HP.
Ren’s maximum HP increased by 60.
Ren recovered 60 HP.
Ren’s maximum HP increased by 60.
Hey, it changed a little!
Taking a look at the effect logs, Akira said, “Wow, it’s different! It didn’t just absorb HP—it also increased your max HP!”
“Yeah. It does that when you absorb HP while you’re at full.”
Although the dark circle could give you enough HP to double your max, it only lasted three minutes. Also, the extra effect only gave you 60 HP at a time. My maximum HP was already over 2,500, so unless I could activate the extra effect more than forty times, I wouldn’t be able to double it.
With a time limit of only three minutes, it would be difficult to make it that far unless I caught more enemies in the blast.
“Aah, I see. Since it’s increasing your HP, that means it works by doing Turnover after Explosive Tackle, right?”
“Correct.”
“So why did it only absorb HP the first time instead of increasing your maximum?”
“That’s because Explosive Tackle uses HP to activate. Until it makes up for that gap, it’s just normal HP absorption.”
“Oooh, that makes sense. Kind of a shame, isn’t it?”
“Well, it’s not too bad. If I can get more enemies in the blast, it won’t be much of a problem.”
“Is that gonna be useful for the big battle strategy?”
“Yeah, I think so. It’s not quite perfect yet, but at the very least, I think we’re going in the right direction.”
“Okay. Does that mean we’re done testing here? Where are we going next?”
“Well, it’s more a question of what we’re doing next. There’s one more thing I need first.”
“Ooh, then we don’t have anything to do! Hey, let’s go sightseeing! Sightseeing, woo!”
Akira’s eyes were glittering with excitement. Was that her goal all along?!
To be fair, her love for sightseeing was equal to my love for testing. We naturally played off each other. Sadly, I couldn’t indulge her this time.
“Nah, not today.”
“Aww, why not? C’mon, I helped you out!” Akira frowned and puffed out her cheeks.
“The thing is, if we don’t make a plan soon, someone might beat us to the Rainbow Guard. We can’t play around too much. It’d be different if the only thing we could do was wait, but right now, we can’t squander our opportunity to swoop in and win.”
We were out for blood this time, so we needed to take the optimal path to victory!
“D’aww. Is this all for me?”
“Of course. I don’t want you getting taken out of school, Akira. You’re the one who invited me to come game with you, so I’m not letting you drop out without me!”
“Ahaha! Okay, true. It’d be weird after I made you come here.”
“Besides...”
“Hm?”
“Err, I think I kinda made you feel bad with the whole Emily thing. So, uh, in order to win back your trust, I’m prepared to beat this dungeon and hand the Rainbow Guard over to you!”
“What?!” Akira blurted, looking shocked.
“Huh? Did I say something weird?”
I turned it back on her, prompting a sweet smile.
“No, that just surprised me. Thanks for thinking about me, Ren! I appreciate it. If that’s how you feel, maybe I’ll let you work to get that trust back. Now, if we wanna search for hints, how about we head to Homura’s museum?”
“Great idea. Maybe there’s an item there that’ll suit our needs.”
“They’ve got way more items than any shop, right?”
“For sure. They’re a real help when we’re in trouble—though from their point of view, I imagine they’re just happy to show off their crazy collection.”
“Haha. I don’t think they’d want to hear that from the guy who’s just as crazy about using lame classes to beat the big guys.”
“I have no rebuttal! You are correct, my dear!”
That was why I understood the item fetishists and the PvP lovers so well. It was only right for everyone to have their own way of enjoying games. I had the utmost respect for Homura and Yukino, even if I couldn’t understand Kataoka’s Hime-chan obsession or Ryuutarou’s exhibitionism!
“So, what kind of item should we look for?”
“Good question. Something that greatly increases maximum HP would help a lot because that would make my ultimate stronger too. Alternatively, we can look for something that’d make my dark circles more effective. And no matter what, you can never have enough firepower.”
“Do you think items that power up dark-type stuff in general would help? I bet they’ll have stuff like that.”
“Yeah! We won’t know unless we take it and test it.”
“Should we ask Homura if we can take things out for some batting practice?”
“I’m not so sure... I did just kinda shake her down for that Peregrine Stone.”
“Oho, so you were planning to get that information fee from her all along? I guess you’ve gotta do whatever it takes to win.”
“Well, normally, I would’ve told her for free.”
“Gotcha. If we find anything good, I’ll ask her myself. Anyway, let’s get going!”
Thus, Akira and I set out for Homura’s Item Museum.