I woke up early the next day, got ready in a flash, and logged in.
We still didn’t have prospects for a plan to deal with the Hadean Rose that was blocking our way, so there wasn’t much point in rushing back to the dungeon. I sent Maeda, Yano, and Shizuku messages saying that we wouldn’t be assembling for runs today.
Even so, I was still full of enthusiasm! Crushing the meta to break through delays like this was true pleasure, especially since this race had the attention of all the students in the school! Foreign branch students like Emily and her friends, as well as outsiders like Shizuku, were also watching. If I did something big here, I’d stand out so much!
On top of all that, I had Akira’s best interests at heart. I just had to succeed!
“Woo! What’s on the agenda for today?!”
Full of vigor, I spawned at the floating cottage. Draco happily flapped over in my direction.
“Chirp! Good morning, Ren!”
“Hey, buddy! Have you been a good boy?”
Not long after, Akira showed up.
“Good morning! Let’s give it our all today!”
Nice! She’s ready and raring to go too.
“Hey, you’re a lot more enthusiastic than yesterday.”
“Huh? No, I’m not! I’m always enthusiastic. Heheh!” Akira gave a proud snort, her eyes sparkling. “So? What’s the plan today? We’ve gotta find a way to win, right?”
Whoa, she’s really hyped. Dunno why, but excitement is always good!
“Well, we don’t really have any leads right now.”
“Don’t we have to boost your HP, seeing as it increases your ult’s damage?”
“Yeah, but there’s no good equipment for that at our level.”
Many pieces of equipment came with level requirements. If your level wasn’t high enough, you couldn’t equip them. There were pieces of gear that gave good HP boosts, but they couldn’t be equipped by our level range.
“What was it, the... Dress of Life?”
“Yeah.”
It was sword dancer gear, but when sword dancers used healing dances, it would increase the target’s maximum HP value for a while if there was any overflow. It was the same effect as my dark Elemental Circle. Appearancewise, it was up there with Angelic Charm. Cute, sexy, and stunning—a real triple threat.
Sadly, its level requirement was 150. We were around level 80, and it would take a ton of time for us to double that. Had we been at the right level, I would’ve loved to get my grubby hands on it so I could see just how far the HP boost would go, along with some other testing.
I’d even considered getting our level 200 sword dancer buddy to try it out, though I didn’t love the idea. Unfortunately—or fortunately?—it was only equippable by females, so Ryuutarou would not be able to put it on.
“It’s a shame,” I lamented. “That dress is just sublime, both in form and function. Who knew our level would be the problem?”
“If only we were stronger.”
“Yeah. But being at a higher level would make the Hadean Rose stronger too, so that might open up a whole other can of worms.”
Enemies inside Aswarth’s Undersea Ruins were automatically adjusted to match the party’s level. As we were around level 80, they were around our level of strength. In a party like Yukino’s, where she was level 200, the enemies would be a lot stronger than the ones we fought.
It was always at a suitable difficulty no matter who challenged it, which was probably to make things fair. It was perfect for a big, all-out race.
Everyone was having trouble with the Hadean Rose, so that meant there were probably few to no differences between the monsters everyone encountered. But as the enemies increased in level, they would likely use new moves that we hadn’t seen.
It was hard to tell who would have the easier time between level 80s like ourselves and the level 200s. But Yukino seemed to have it rough too, so the dungeon was brutal even for top-level players like her.
“Well, once we level higher, we should get it! I gotta see you wearing it.”
“Huh? Okay, sure, but I’m not gonna wear it all day. As soon as we get the Rainbow Guard, I plan to wear it every day forever! I’d be embarrassed to wear the dress, so...”
“Don’t worry, Akira. I know you can pull it off.”
“Haha. I’m glad you always say that, at least.”
“By the way, I haven’t seen you in the sword dancer gear for a while now.”
“Nope, I haven’t worn it. I’ve just been fighting in this yukata lately.”
It was limited to the world of Summertide, but the yukata was a good piece of gear.
Pricey Yukata (F)
Type: Armor
Level: 1
DEF: 1
Wearable by all classes.
Effect: Max MP +50 and automatic MP recovery (5 MP/sec).
Depending on the element, my Elemental Circles added extra damage to attacks by allies within the circles. However, each extra attack used up the MP of the attacker. The Pricey Yukata canceled out that effect, making it a net positive and increasing our offensive abilities altogether. Therefore, we had to all wear yukatas.
Shizuku didn’t like the Sword Dancer gear, anyway. According to her when she saw Akabane wearing it, it “wasn’t suitable” for young people. We’d decided it was best to be a little more reserved in front of Shizuku.
“Ooh, I get it. You wanna see me in my sword dancer outfit, right?” Akira teased, poking me.
“D-Don’t be silly. I’m trying to be serious right now. We don’t have time to mess around.”
I mean, yeah, I really did want to see the sword dancer gear. But I had to be prudent, or she might think I wasn’t serious about winning.
“Hm? But if it makes you feel better, I don’t think it’s messing around.”
“Okay! In that case, yes please!”
If Akira wanted to do it, I was glad to let her!
“That was sudden! What changed your mind so fast?!”
“I’ve gotta see it once in a while or I go into withdrawal!”
“Well, if you insist. Shizuku’s not here either. Enjoy!”
Akira switched to her sword dancer gear for me.
Aaah, what a sight for sore eyes! I haven’t seen this since the start of summer vacation! The yukata’s nice, but this is Ol’ Reliable. I’m all about the skin!
I thought it was a pretty superb ensemble. It retained her cuteness without being gratuitous. It was a real shame that it could make Akira’s family angry enough to potentially take her out of school.
“Aww, yeah. That’s the Akira I know and love!”
“Hahaha... Back off, buddy. You really don’t hold back when you stare, huh? Any other girl would be ticked.”
“Yeah, I know! I know who I’m dealing with here.”
“Really? Well, okay, but I’m only cool with this in-game. In real life, you’ll have to be a little more careful.”
“Huh? In real life? Yeah, I know that much. I mean, in-game, it’s just like I’m enjoying a nice character design.”
“Are you sure? I’m not joking, y’know.”
“Think about it. I’d never see you wearing this in real life, anyway. I don’t think it’s worth worrying about.”
“Ahaha. You never knooow...”
“You sure about that? Remember, you don’t live in the same world as a commoner like me.”
“We live in the same world! The same Earth, the same Japan!”
“Whoa, this is getting big.”
“Right? If you think about it like that, the difference between our families is tiny! You can be like, ‘Heheh, I’m gonna gold-dig her so hard that I’ll never have to work a day in my life!’”
“No, no, no. I’d never think something so awful!”
“Okay, jokes aside. Whether it’s IRL or in-game, we’re always having the most fun when we’re together, right? Or is it just me?”
“Nah, it’s not just you. You’re exactly right.”
“Then we live in the same world, don’t we? No matter what, I’m still Akira.”
She sounded so serious all of a sudden. I was a little overwhelmed.
“Um, sure.”
“Good. So, wanna get going?”
“Oh, hold on! Just a minute! Uhh, can you do a little twirl?”
“Hm? Sure! How’s this?”
“Yeeeah, nice! While we’re at it, how about you show me that Angelic Charm too?”
“Jeez. Are we ever gonna leave?”
Now she looks miffed!
“Yeah, yeah, we will! I just have to get my energy recharged first!”
“Okay, fine. Recharge your energy while you answer me this: where are we going today?”
“Hmm. That’s a toughie. Again, we’re kinda hurting for clues right now. How about we go and grab some Special Warp Stones? We’ll need them when we finally hit that breakthrough.”
Currently, we only had one Special Warp Stone. Save points were every ten floors from B51F onward, so without using a Special Warp Stone, we would have trouble making it to the next save point. Stocking up on more of them wouldn’t be a wasted effort.
“That sounds good. We should do what we can.”
“Yup, I’m satisfied now. Let’s get going! We can either get our Special Warp Stones from Aswarth’s or from the festival games.”
“We can’t do much alone in the dungeon. How about the festival games?”
“Sounds good. I still haven’t gotten mine yet. Time to make a quick profit!”
“Woo!” she cheered. “Let’s go, let’s go!”
We’re not going for fun, Akira! This is farming for valuable items for our victory!
With that, we walked to the festival’s gaming area to grab some Special Warp Stones.