I’m also curious as to why the eyes sometimes change colors and sometimes remain the same. There’s no color change for distant evil eye or gaze of fear—they remain purple, just like the eye color I gave my character. But then they turn black when I use gaze of standstill, gray when I use gaze of lethargy, and red when I use gaze of death.
Oh, now that I think of it, I haven’t tested Mirror Spell yet either. It fires spells twice in a row, and I’d like to confirm how much damage they do. I’ll repeat the same spell over and over again to try and find out.
Hmm, it seems that, at its core, this is just an upgrade to my spells. The first activation does 100 percent of its normal damage, followed by a secondary attack that does 20 percent of normal damage. When I try it with different spells, those numbers remain consistent.
Twenty percent is quite a drop in power, and it’s more likely to miss since it gets fired off toward the exact same location as the first spell, but it doesn’t consume any extra MP. The second spell is really just a bonus if you manage to hit the first one. I think I’ll keep using it and just consider myself lucky whenever it hits.
“Oh, if it isn’t Madame. Have you evolved since we last met?”
“Hello, Lana. Yes, I did, and now I’m testing out my new skills. Would you mind helping me for a bit? There are some things I’d like to try.”
“Why, of course.”
The spheres that orbit me like satellites originally came from Sphere Clemens Waver and had a unique effect where they randomly separated and reattached to me. Now that they’re Cutesy Eyes, they merely orbit me instead.
Crucially, Sphere Clemens Waver is a skill that sometimes activates a counterattack when I’m hit by a physical attack. The number of spheres determines the chance of activation, so with each sphere having a 10 percent chance to counterattack, it adds up to 60 percent in total. What I want to know is if that’s changed now that the spheres are part of Cutesy Eyes. If I retain the buff regardless of how I’m using my wicked eyes, I can deploy them without a second thought.
I can’t inflict status ailments on Lana, and she’s also capable of withstanding any counterattack. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner to test this with…except I wish she wouldn’t run up and slice at me with her sword so eagerly.
“Why don’t you learn Carnage Style next?” she suggests.
“Is that the one that combines attack stances?”
“I don’t think you’ll use it, but it is necessary, Madame. You must become stronger in order to lift me to even greater heights.”
I am an outer one. When it comes to abilities of the flesh, I won’t be inferior to other races. In other words, Lana wants to grow by training me into someone who can rival even herself.
Of course, as an undead, that’s quite a lofty goal for Lana to have.
Well, I don’t mind having a practice battle with Lana. That way, I can test out my skills and learn a new stance too.
I dodge her attack when she flies straight at me… Oh?
“What’s this?”
That was a different response. I thought my equipment only changed in design, but was I wrong?
I dodge three more attacks from Lana.
“What on earth?”
I switch my light blade off of the space-time element and try again.
Yes, now it’s back to normal.
“Madame, were your space attributes strengthened?”
“Cyäegha did tell me that I gained the space-time aspect when I evolved. That’s the only thing I can think of.”
“Then we ought to look into that too.”
I’ll have Lana help me a little while longer.
First, I learn that Cutesy Eyes does overlap with my counterattacks. In other words, whenever I’m using wicked eyes, the spheres are occupied, and I lose my rate of counterattacks. When it comes to close-range attacks from enemies, I should focus on counterattacks and using Unknown Structure. Since that doesn’t matter if the enemy attacks at long-range, I can continue using Cutesy Eyes in that case.
I’ve now learned Ex3 Carnage Style. It’s a combination of offensive stances with the following specifics.
Ex Anti-human Style
Sword Upgrade
Ex Anti-monster Style
Slash Upgrade
Ex Airflow Style
Leg Upgrade
Ex2 Unsheathed Style = Ex Anti-human Style + Ex Airflow Style
Sword Upgrade, Leg Upgrade
Ex3 Carnage Style = Ex Anti-monster Style + Ex2 Unsheathed Style
Sword Upgrade, Slash Upgrade, Leg Upgrade
In other words, while I fight with Carnage Style, I’ll maintain Sword Upgrade, Slash Upgrade, and Leg Upgrade all at once. I’ll lose those buffs as soon as I break my stance, but that’s just how the system is designed.
I usually go with Water’s Surface Style, so I get Leg Upgrade, Dodge Upgrade, and Reflection Upgrade.
Learning Carnage Style gives me two Ex3 stances, which means I’m making progress on my quest.
“The Making of a Master”
Make Svetlana, your sword teacher, approve of your efforts.
1. Acquire six “styles.”
2. Acquire two “improved branch styles.”
3. Acquire three “superior branch styles.”
4. Demonstrate your mastery to Svetlana.
Quest giver: Svetlana
Reward: Title
She tells me I still need to improve! Maybe my skill levels aren’t high enough yet. I’ll have to come back and try again sometime soon. I think the quest will end automatically if Lana and I just battle as viciously as possible.
Now, as for my light sword, it seems it’s received a great upgrade too. I’m becoming even more like a jedi now.
When I switch it to the space element, it doesn’t just reflect close-range attacks, it lets me rebound them. Until now, I’ve only been able to bring my blade up to long-distance attacks to reflect them. This works essentially the same, but also additionally applies to close-range attacks.
While the rebounding action doesn’t actually damage opponents, I’m quite glad to have a means to knock away close-up attacks now. It will be much easier to block sweeps that come at torso height.
Before I started using stances, I had Break Parry, which hit a target’s weapon back and knocked them off their balance. This new use of my athame works similarly. I bet I’ll have many more chances to strike while enemies are unguarded now.
Of course, it doesn’t matter at all when I’m fighting someone of Lana’s level. She would never dream of being unguarded long enough to let me get a hit in. I think this method could be less effective depending on the opponent’s level and physique too, so I can’t let myself rely on it too much.
All right, I’ll keep practicing with Lana until dinnertime, then I’ll check on Ms. Sophie tonight.
“Can we keep training until dinner, Lana?”
“That’s perfectly fine with me. Why don’t you pair up with Madame, Lisa?”
“Ah, okay.”
Lizzy’s true body, Lisa, approaches me. It seems she’s been roped into this too. Well, she is still a newbie!
“Lana, this is a practice battle, so please don’t cut off my head or arms. I’m technically your ruler, after all.”
“I thought they grow back within five seconds, no?” she replies.
Now that I take more physical damage, I’m much more liable to lose my body parts. My maximum HP also decreases while I’m missing pieces. All four of my limbs and my head count as body parts that can be severed, so losing even one of them reduces my HP by 20 percent. Most people die when they lose their head, but I don’t appear to suffer from such a condition. If anything, I can see my surroundings better when my head goes flying through the air. It’s not as if my body is immobilized either.
The Dark Young is still the strongest enemy I’ve ever fought, followed by Lana herself. That said, I fought the Dark Young in a large group, and I’ve only ever taken on Lana with a few others at a time, so perhaps I can’t really compare them.
Oh, Lisa got sent flying. That means Lana will come for me next. Ah! Farewell, my left arm! I part ways with my limbs far too often.
I tell Lisa to get in front of me when she returns. I fire spells at Lana from behind Lisa, but Lana either dodges them with the tiniest possible movements or knocks them away with her sword altogether. She also charges in for consecutive slashing attacks, so I can never let my guard down. I don’t want Lisa to get hit by any reflections, so I block to the full extent that I’m capable of.
Whoa, she ran past Lisa! Aaah! Farewell, my lower half! I counterattack Lana, knowing that this was going to happen all along. My legs are only decorative pieces, after all!
“I nearly forgot about that,” Lana remarks.
We kill time in the training grounds before going our separate ways. It’s very fun to battle the strongest opponent at your disposal. Mowing down weaklings is also a satisfying feeling, but this is a different experience that’s worthwhile too.
Ms. Sophie still needs more time to complete her work. I suppose I’ll call it a day then.
For now, I’ll log out and work on whatever tasks need doing in the real world.