Three days into the game’s official launch, I was visiting Françoise’s clothing store. “Françoise! I’m here for my new gear!”
“Oh! Yuri! I heard it all from the global announcement! You cleared a dungeon solo! Congratulations!”
Fighting in the tomb had been a ton of fun. Although things had started off pretty hairy, it’d become a breeze with the dumb accessory that set my HP to 1. And now I was about to get new gear that would make me even stronger!
“Oh ho,” Françoise chuckled. “I was flabbergasted when Baldy said, ‘There’s a guy heading your way who’s attempting dungeons with a joke build,’ but here you are having done it. It’s a joy to create equipment for such an interesting player!”
“Yeah! And I’m gonna follow it up by raising hell at the PvP event two days from now! Don’t worry, I’ll make sure everyone knows who hooked me up with the best gear. Speaking of which, is it ready?”
“But of course!” Françoise replied with a smile.
✦ ✦ ✦
A gift from Françoise has appeared in your item box.
Just as the message said, I’d been given a full set of clothes: something for my head, body, and feet. I wasted no time before tapping each one in the menu. Light enveloped me, and then...
“Whoa?! I thought I was ready for it, but this dress is super girly! It kinda feels like...an idol outfit?!”
The simple outfit I’d been wearing had been replaced with a gothic dress with a black-and-white color scheme. It left my shoulders and armpits totally exposed, and the skirt was long with multiple frilly layers. It was sure to turn heads.
I only felt more embarrassed as Françoise described it to me alongside some heavy breathing. “Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho! You noticed, Yuri! Yes, I took inspiration from outfits worn by idols onstage!” She was squirming with delight and talking rapidly. “I chose a gothic color scheme to suit your beautiful long silver hair, which you can now wear in a side ponytail with the black scrunchie! And to emphasize those enviably large breasts of yours, I used white fabric for the chest and black for the rest of the bodice!”
✦ ✦ ✦
“All right! All right, already!” I decided I’d better put the brakes on Françoise so I could turn my attention to the outfit’s stats. Let’s see...
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Head: Death God Hair Tie (Requirements: None. MP +30, Luck +30)
Body: Death God Dress (Requirements: None. MP +30, Luck +30)
Feet: Death God Boots (Requirements: None. MP +30, Luck +30)
“Ooh! The luck increase was a given, but the MP boost’s a nice surprise!” Now I can boost Team Puffster with my arts a whole lot more! A summoner’s power is in their monsters. The more I can buff them, the stronger I’ll be!
“Oh ho ho. I take it you’re pleased. I did consider boosting your HP and defense, but I thought it’d be a waste with your pure luck build. Whatever resilience I might have given you, I’m sure you’ll agree that it would have paled in comparison to that of other players, so I decided to focus on your forte.”
“Good thinking, Françoise! In fact, I’ve been keeping an accessory equipped that sets my HP to 1 anyway!”
“Pbbfft?! You mean you cleared a dungeon with just 1 HP and all stats at zero besides luck?! That truly is a twisted—I mean, a unique play style!”
Bwah ha ha! A real man plays by his own rules! I broke into a cocky grin.
Françoise suddenly looked concerned.
“What’s up?” I asked her.
“Oh, nothing... It’s just...I assume you’ve found a way to deal damage, but what about your agility? Not only will you have to spend a lot of time traveling, you’ll soon be contending with monsters that move at superhuman speeds.”
She had a good point. The late game would be full of vast dungeons built for fast-moving players, and I just knew it was going to be a pain in the butt. I’d already resigned myself to total dependency on Last Stand for defense, but a speed boost was still something I sorely needed.
Oh, I’ve got it! “Come on out, Mor!”
At my command, a ball of black haze appeared from out nowhere. “Hrrrr! Hrr!”
Françoise leaped in fright at the sight of it. “Eek! What is that thing?!”
“This is Mor! I just summoned him. He’s the boss I beat yesterday—the Living Armor Knight. He’s my ally now.”
“What? You can have bosses in your party?! I never heard of that during the beta test.”
“Yep. He’s leveled down and doesn’t seem to talk anymore, but he’s a tamed boss. It probably helped that my luck stat is over 1,200.”
“1,200?!” Françoise cried in alarm. “How is that even possible?!”
I didn’t answer because my attention was focused on Mor. If living weapons can add their attack strength to arrows, then maybe... “Hey, Mor. Possess my boots, would you?”
“Hrrr?!”
“What? You don’t wanna? You’d rather be in my dress?” I waved my skirt in his direction.
“Hrrr?!” Mor was suddenly in an awful hurry to get into my boots. It was as if he were saying, “Uh, I, um, errr, I’m fine with the boots!” It was just the reaction I’d expected.
✦ ✦ ✦
Your item, Death God Boots, was possessed!
When wearing a possessed item on your feet, the monster’s agility contributes to your movement speed!
“Ooh! Just as I thought! Now I’ll get faster as Mor levels up. This should make it easier to get around!” Given that Armor Knight had been quick on his feet, he felt like the perfect choice.
With my equipment overhaul complete, here’s how my stats looked.
✦ ✦ ✦
Name: Yuri
Level: 20
Class: Summoner
Weapon: Bow
Attributes: Strength: 0 / Defense: 0 / Magic: 0 / Agility: 0 / Luck: 290 × 3 × 2 + 29 + 90 = 1,859
Skills: Luck Boost, Last Stand, Fatal Strike, Up Close and Personal, Giant Killer, Merciless Death God, Absolute Zero, Hello? Forgetting Something?, Against All Odds (doubles all attributes while HP is 1), Twisted
Equipment:
Head: Death God Hair Tie (Minimum requirements: None. MP +30, Luck +30)
Body: Death God Dress (Minimum requirements: None. MP +30, Luck +30)
Feet: Death God Boots (Minimum requirements: None. MP +30, Luck +30. Possessed by Mor)
Weapon: Beginner’s Bow
Accessories: Cursed Ring (limits HP to 1), Dark God’s Covenant Necklace (triples luck when HP is 1)
Whoa...
“Looks like I lied, Françoise. My luck isn’t 1,200 after all.”
“I knew that couldn’t be right! How could it be? Most players would be proud simply to raise a stat to 300, even with skills to boost it, so raising something to 1,200, even in a pure build, would be—”
“It’s over 1,800.”
“Over 1,800?!” Françoise screamed.
Hey, settle down—I’m shocked too! I wasn’t expecting this when I went to check my stats!
“All right! Let’s see if I can get it to 2,000 by the end of today!”
“Wait a moment! No! What are you thinking?! You’ve raised it quite high enough already! A rampage through the open fields with such an absurdly high luck stat would lead to a veritable rare item buffet! You’ll unbalance the entire game!”
“Sorry, Françoise, but people have been looking down on pure luck builds for too long. Someone has to put things right. Even if it means becoming the villain.”
“No one has to be a villain! Oh, people of the world, I beg you, reconsider pure luck builds before it’s too late! Curse the fool who thought it wise to give luck-boosting equipment to a luck monster in the making! Oh wait... That fool was meeeee!”
While Françoise was still turning red, going pale, and throwing fits, I said my goodbyes and dashed out of her store.
“They’ll see. All of those evil beta testers who tricked me, they’ll all see! You think you can talk trash about summoners, the bow, and luck builds?! Well, this combo’s about to outdo every last one of you!”
With the battle event just two days away, I wanted to level up Mor and the Puffster family. I also wanted another dungeon under my belt. So many things to do! Ha ha ha ha ha!