“Roooar!”
“Grawr!”
“Huh? Ack! Windmill!”
With my jumping art, I leapt above them. Okay, now was my chance! While I was midair, I skimmed over the selections in the system window.
Regenerator (Passive)
Effect: Pet dragon will heal nearby players’ HP at regular intervals.
Can be used on all members of master’s party.
Heal rate: 5 HP per second.
Baby Breath (In-Battle)
Effect: Baby dragon breathes fire, supporting its master.
Pet will target whatever the player targets.
Pet’s master will take all aggro generated by this skill.
Grow Up (In-Battle)
Effect: Consumes master’s AP to grow temporarily.
After growing, pet dragon will be treated as an NPC that attacks enemies based on master’s orders.
Reverts to baby dragon upon being defeated by an enemy attack.
AP Cost: 200
Effect Duration: 900 seconds
Pickup 2 (Passive)
Effect: Occasionally gathers materials when a material-gathering point is nearby. (Tools not necessary)
Functions even when master is logged out.
Able to find higher-quality materials than normal Pickup, and collects at a higher frequency.
Oh? What’s this?
“I will not allow it, bawk!”
Kokoru’s mother’s eyes started to glow. A ray of light shot from them and came my way. It was aimed right where I would land. With the speed of the ray, all I could do was guard!
“Argh!”
Dark Lord Veld activated Eye Beam.
Ren guarded the attack, taking 307 damage.
Ouch, that hurt!
On top of that, the attack had made quite an impact. I was knocked back from where I stood and into the crowd of monsters. This was just what he wanted.
In no time at all, I was being attacked from all directions. I couldn’t evade them now. Even if I tried to Windmill, they would hit me during the wind-up animation, so I could only guard.
With the proper guard motion, I could fully protect myself against attacks in front of me. As a man with such high VIT, my guards were super tough, but they wouldn’t work on attacks from behind.
That might sound obvious, since I couldn’t guard my back. But to be clear, this wasn’t one of those easy games where just pressing the guard button would guard you from attacks in all directions. You had to make the actual guarding motions on the VR platform, then fully block the attack. After that, guard break and the like would be determined.
Meanwhile, depending on the differences between fighters’ stats, evasion could nullify an attack entirely despite the animation hitting you. With that difference in stats, one could just attack endlessly and still evade every hit. Evasion had the advantage when it came to mindless fighting. As such, everyone apart from tanks tended to prefer evasion over guarding.
Anyway, as I was now, I would guard everything in front of me but take tons of hits from the rear. In which case... it was time to use this!
“Tortoise Guard!”
This was one of my striking arts, and a defensive one at that, though I hardly ever used it.
Tortoise Guard (AP: 125)
Martial Artist Art (Strikes)
<Effect> While active, renders user immobile but greatly reduces physical damage sustained.
Effect duration: 30 seconds.
It used up AP, but now wasn’t the time to worry about that! This would reduce incoming damage so much that I didn’t have to bother guarding every attack.
Demonic Knight attacked.
Dealt 3 damage to Ren!
Demonic Knight attacked.
Dealt 4 damage to Ren!
Deathly Fighter attacked.
Dealt 5 damage to Ren!
Deathly Fighter attacked.
Dealt 2 damage to Ren!
Fencing Lizard attacked.
Dealt 6 damage to Ren!
Fencing Lizard attacked.
Dealt 4 damage to Ren!
Despite not guarding, every enemy attack dealt mere single-digit damage. I was already tanky, and now I had Tortoise Guard! The only problem was that I couldn’t move. With the thirty seconds it granted me, I would choose Draco’s new skill.
Regenerator wouldn’t work; I brought my HP down to one on purpose, so that would mess with my plans. Baby Breath would help with attacking. I certainly wouldn’t mind a guaranteed boost on one of my worst problems.
Grow Up was in the same category, but instead, it made Draco temporarily become a normal NPC like Kokoru. Draco was special as he was now; enemies wouldn’t attack him. By growing up, he would lose that distinction, taking aggro and having a health bar.
That was risky. If a grown-up Draco was defeated and needed time to revive, then I wouldn’t be able to use his Target Marker to move my circles. In fact, the sheer act of growing bigger might disable Target Marker.
I’d have to test little things like that on my own. After all, in-game descriptions were always vague. They would be way too long if they included every little detail, and they would kill the fun of testing and finding hidden effects on one’s own. For these reasons, I didn’t especially mind it.
In short, Grow Up seemed good enough but could potentially come with major drawbacks.
Finally, we had Pickup 2, which was simply a better version of Pickup. As my level increased, the materials of my weapons would become more expensive. Considering I burned through a weapon every time I used an ultimate, this could be a huge boon.
Would it pick up better items? That would decrease the time I spent farming. Heck, maybe he would outright bring me stuff like damascus swords, which I could use to make my Caneswords. Material costs were seriously high. Decreasing the running cost of my strategy even a little would give me a lot more breathing room.
Of the selection, the one I wanted most was Pickup 2. Normally, I probably would’ve chosen that. However, there was a time and a place for all things. Part of maturing was learning to make comprehensive decisions. You had to look at each situation from multiple angles.
I was in the midst of enemies and protecting myself with Tortoise Guard, sure, but that also meant that I couldn’t move at all. Once my thirty seconds were up, it was obvious that I’d get the tar beaten out of me. In this situation, I had to call for help.
Draco, once transformed into a real NPC, would jump in and save my life! To be honest, it was my second-favorite choice, anyway. I could get Pickup 2 next time!
“I choose Grow Up! Draco, Grow Up and help me out!”
“Chichirp! I’m gonna grooow!”
Draco started to glow with dazzling light!