“I was about to head back as well, so it’s not at all an inconvenience for me,” I replied, waving off his concern.
To be honest, I’d already decided to escort the party out of the Cavern of Trials even before they’d finally calmed down. Why, you ask? Well, I had an ulterior motive, of course. With Radd as a swordsman, Nyuuk as a magician, Mana as a healer, and Prana as an archer, the four kids had a perfectly balanced party when it came to combat ability. Even though their personalities were all over the place...
In Braves and Blades, the adventurers who joined the protagonist during the starting quest had randomized names, appearances, and stats, but their classes and unique skills were fixed. Their growth rates were randomized as well, but the RNG was set to trend high, so they usually ended up turning out better than average.
In other words, Prana, Nyuuk, and Mana were the complete opposite of Rex. They would become formidable adventurers before long, and if I was going to be living in this world from now on, it would pay off for me to get close to them while I had the chance.
Radd clicked his tongue, clearly annoyed at my presence, but seeing as he was still a kid, his antics didn’t really bother me too much. I ignored him and said, “This way,” guiding the party down the right path to get out of the dungeon.
Most dungeons had shortcuts near the end that allowed you to easily come and go from their deepest section after you’d reached it once. The Cavern of Trials was an exception though—you were only ever supposed to visit it once, so it had no convenient shortcut to and from the endpoint. It wasn’t that inconvenient to go back the way they’d come, since the monster’s they’d killed along the way wouldn’t be respawning. Unfortunately though, it seemed they hadn’t gotten them all.
“Looks like you guys missed a few monsters,” I commented, watching as three small figures stepped out of the shadows, blocking the path that led to the cavern’s exit. They were all goblins.
That means they’re the weakest monsters in the game, I reminded myself.
Radd’s eyes had gone wide. “There’s three of them?! Nyuuk, you’ve gotta start casting—”
“It’s fine,” I said confidently, holding out a hand to stop Radd from stepping forward. I lowered my hand to my hip, drawing my sword. “Leave them to me.”
The real question is: can I actually beat them? I wondered. I focused my eyes onto the trio of creatures and tried to use my Analyze skill.
【Goblin】
LV: 3
HP: 61
MP: 13
Attack: 36
Magic Attack: 0
Defense: 27
Magic Defense: 8
Strength: 32
Vitality: 24
Intelligence: 0
Mind: 8
Agility: 16
Focus: 8
Well, that’s interesting, I thought.
It was kind of surreal to see a status window pop up in real life. Still, it was reassuring knowing I could use the skills I’d had access to in my old playthroughs of the game.
During that first battle, I was so overwhelmed I didn’t even think to fight using the game’s mechanics, I realized. This battle is a good chance for me to get a feel for my own strength.
If I was being honest with myself though, that wasn’t my only motivation.
I wanna show off a little in front of the arrogant brat, I thought with a grin. That’ll put him in his place.
“H-Hey, old man, don’t go trying to act all tough!” Radd shouted. “You’re going up against three at once!”
For all his blustering, it seems he’s a pretty good kid at heart, I realized, my irritation with him mostly fading away.
“I’ll be fine,” I told him with a grin. “You just stand here and watch.”
And then, before the goblins had a chance to get into formation, I poured mana into my blade and took off running toward them. I’d never tried manipulating mana that way before, but thankfully the process came naturally to me.
“V-Slash!” I yelled as I drew in close to one of the monsters.
The nature of the mana enveloping my sword changed, and the arm I was using to lift my sword seemed to move on its own. The goblin stared in shock as the first slash of my V-shaped strike sliced its club right in half, then let out an agonized scream as my sword reversed directions and sliced it in half instead.
Perfect, I thought, feeling a bit giddy. Looks like I can use Arts just fine.
In BB, Arts was used as an umbrella term to refer to physical skills that cost MP to use. Back when I’d had to use a controller to play the game, I’d had to press the right trigger in order to inject mana into my weapon, then press a specific set of buttons to activate the Art I’d set to that command. Now that I was in the game, however, it seemed I could activate them mostly by feel.
It was exhilarating to know I had such power at my fingertips, but now really wasn’t the time to exult in it. I was reminded forcefully of this when one of the two remaining goblins let out a “Graaaaaah!” and came charging toward me. It ducked past its dead comrade, swinging its club right at me.
Unfortunately for the goblin, such a weak attack could never hit me. I raised the shield attached to my left hand, pouring mana into it as well.
In BB, shields were technically classified as weapons. Alas, you couldn’t use Arts with any weapon you had equipped to your off-hand, even if you poured mana into it. Instead, you could use your off-hand weapon to parry attacks.
I shoved my shield forward right as the goblin’s club banged into its surface, sending both the monster and its weapon careening backwards.
I grinned. The timing window for a parry was pretty tight in BB, but if you managed to pull it off, it was the perfect way to knock your enemy off-balance.
The goblin let out a confused moan, its head still spinning from the parry. I brought my sword down onto its head, hitting its weak point with pinpoint accuracy.
A soft, defeated noise escaped the goblin’s mouth, and then it crumpled to the ground, defeated.
Only one left.
The last goblin was holding a short sword and a shield, unlike the others. To my surprise, it didn’t flee in terror after seeing its brethren cut down—instead, it glared at me, lifting up its shield in defiance.
Now then, I thought. What to do with you...
I licked my lips and considered my options, watching the goblin as it circled around me. It made sure to keep its distance, clearly wary of my strength.
From what I saw with Analyze, all the goblins had pretty unimpressive stats, I mused. That’s to be expected for monsters around their level. Rex is more than strong enough to brute force it and smash right through that goblin’s shield, cutting the monster in half with one swing, but...this is kind of the perfect opportunity for me to test how much freedom I have within Braves and Blades’ systems... I grinned. Let’s see if this works.
I let out a grunt as I ducked low, leaning toward the right. As I moved, I poured mana into my sword for a second time, preparing to use the same Art I had just moments before. This time, however, I didn’t plan on letting the Art take over my movements once it was activated—I’d be tracing the V-shaped arc in the air myself.
“V-Slash!” I yelled, triggering the Art as my sword whooshed sideways through the air.
I’d angled the initial downward strike differently than usual, and it slid right underneath the goblin’s shield, slicing horizontally through its torso. I followed the blow up with an upward slice, grinning in triumph as my sword cut right through the middle of the goblin’s body.
Looks like my little experiment worked, I thought with a short, huffing laugh.
In front of me, the bisected body of the goblin tumbled to the ground.
“Rex, what was that you did just now?” I heard Nyuuk ask from behind me, surprise evident in his voice.
“What do you mean?” I asked, confused. Then it hit me—he was referring to how I’d altered the form of V-Slash.