'Holy...', I thought to myself, reviewing my Stat Preview. I think the winner here this time might be the Vermillion-Clad Boots that I received when Tamamo completed Instance Dungeon II. I got more items like the Adamantine Guard through Tamamo's Hunting Quests, but the one Effect the Boots has is seriously overpowered. All of my Boosting skills get increased by one tier. Do you know what that means?
My Attack Damage modifiers are going to shoot through the roof! Rapier Mastery II at Lv50 gives me an additional 100% Attack Damage. Add that with Tears of the Vermillion, and you get a multiplicative multiplier. It isn't a base 200%. It's around 180%-190%.
It starts with my Attack Damage stat, which is affected by Boosting Skills. Then, you got the Skill Power. That's where my Equipment comes into play. The Accessory adds 100% to any known multiplier, effectively bringing it up one or two tiers in strength. Let's use Piercing Light as an example. Its strength is C. With this Accessory, it will treat that damage as A. Something like that.
Then you have added Element Efficacy on top of all of that. That's where Skills like FrostFire Reversal trigger. If a monster resists the element Fire, let's say, 50%, that becomes 150%. Then you have even more boosting effects like A Witch's Friend+ Title, where it effectively doubles that Efficacy. See where I'm going with this? In certain situations, it wouldn't be surprising to see my overall modifiers reach 600-1000%!
Talk about crazy, huh? And I'm not even factoring Glistening Moonlight of my Phoenix Robe here, let alone my Combat Orbment. By the way, I lent it to Elie for safekeeping, while equally serving as a promise that we will reunite once again after more events of my plan take place. It is a custom one holding nine slots, but right now, I cannot use the Quartz given to me. I now have around forty Quartz to call my name, and I can combine some with the Quartz Stacker. I just can't use these Quartz yet. Those will give even more Stats and multipliers!
I'm doing all of this to be able to stand on my own two feet with this identity I was given. I don't want someone to claim my life from right underneath my nose, haha! That would be such a bad way to go out. I'm getting pretty close to being a quarter of the way there of reaching the limit to one's Status. At least it was like that in Reverie, where Stats capped out at 9,999. Normally you wouldn't see this until a character reaches Level 100-150 and beyond, but I'm not even halfway to that. This is seriously broken.
But the Gamer System, in itself, is a broken system to begin with. Should I say, 'As expected', in times like these?
I don't know, but I'm very much looking forward to trying this out. If we proceed in a similar fashion to how Ouroboros raided Paradise, I will definitely start fighting those cultists soon. And if I recall correctly, Nemeth Island should be swarming with monsters!
So yeah, these three years did a wonder on me. And I'm only going to continue to grow from here~
It was a lot to review, so it made this passage of time rather quick. Two days passed by in a blink of an eye while we all had fun on the cruiser. Our space was limited, but we spent a lot of time doing some recreational events like fishing. It was a good time to bond with each other, and thanks to that, I'm getting some pretty good levels for everyone's Favorability. No one has reached 100% though since Prince Olivert and Aurelia. Everyone is around the 50-75% mark now, apart from those who I can't previously meet like those residing in Heimdallr, Trista, Eryn, or Liberl.
At the same time, Tio was showing more and more interest in Magic. She's the go-to Arts caster in your party during Zero and Azure. Tio's ATS reaches incredible numbers later on. The developers had to nerf Tio through several games to make her one of the worst characters ever by the time Reverie rolled around. That was one of my dislikes about the game. Too many changes to a person's Status. But hey, this is my life we're dealing with here. There are no 'balance' adjustments. Just a person's raw talent!
Imagine Tio learning Magic on top of all of that?
I just shuddered imagining the thought. It's already bad enough that Aurelia is learning Magic. Her prowess in combat is insane, and now she's even more dangerous. Then you have people like Tio who are very sensitive to the elements around them. She could become the strongest mage in existence...
I quickly shook that aside. I do not mind teaching Tio a thing or two on how Magic worked, together with Vita of course. It will be up to Tio to see if she can develop a knack for Magic. Only time will tell.
But that caused the time to pass by, like I said. A big string of islands soon came to view. Its main island was in the form of a crescent moon. With each passing moment, these islands came into view!
"So this is Nemeth Island", I uttered.
Rufus had taken a hold of the captain's wheel, no longer keeping it on autopilot. He maneuvered the waters, and we soon found some docks to approach. At the time, I had no clue that a certain group of Jaegers were strutting around here on Nemeth Island...
Some time later after finding an empty spot. Several figures disembarked from the cruiser. We had the boat to ourselves for this entire duration, courtesy of Rufus. If we wanted to sail around the island to check out some unexplored areas, we can!
Sherryl immediately started running, and began treading along the nearest beach. Piles of sand flew up as she approached the waters excitedly.
"Woo-hoo! It's the beach!", Sherryl happily exclaimed, looking at the long, sandy beach in front of her. This was the entrance to a fancy beachside resort that you can see further up on the small cliff.
We had all changed into swimsuits, by the way. I just stared at Rufus who disembarked with us, in full disbelief. He had all of his muscles in full view. His blonde hair fluttered around to the light wind. I squinted my eyes at him.
"Why in Aidios's name are you in a speedo, Rufus? It's the middle of winter.", I said, retorting Rufus's new look.
"Haha, we all have to play the part, don't we, Naoto? I think it suits my image. Obviously I won't get into the water. If we're still here by the time spring rolls around, perhaps then. I'm wearing a long-sleeved shirt over my torso, so you needn't worry about me.", Rufus said, trying to justify his looks. I rolled my eyes. He wore a white shirt over his chest, that part I get. But seriously, a speedo? Those black shades of his just make it look even worse.
I couldn't help but sigh. We made sure to dress properly, even with swimsuits now. We all wore swimsuits that matched our hair color. I was wearing a violet swimsuit. We could go skinny dipping with our feet and all, it was more of a cool cold, rather than it being rigid. Still, it was winter, so we had to be careful. We could feel the sun blazing overhead as it slowly moved toward high noon.
"Woo-hoo.", A flat tone said, only to see Tio raise her arm in the air. Lechter almost tumbled over seeing Tio do this.
"Would you stop doing that?", Lechter retorted, hearing Tio say that. I saw Tio's swimsuit. It was a blue one-piece swimsuit.
"This is my normal voice, you sleazebag. If you can't get used to it, then you reap what you sow.", Tio answered, only to give her iconic deadpan stare at Lechter. He frowned seeing this.
"Right...", Lechter uttered, and sighed. I saw Lechter in some fiery-red trunks. My trunks were violet, like I said. He kept his sunglasses on from the cruiser earlier. Tio just gave Lechter another stare before she wandered off to join Sherryl.
The two walked along the water's edge, feeling their feet quickly turn cold. It was then I heard Ennea's voice speak to us, causing me to shift my eyes toward the cruiser.
"I hope this swimsuit isn't too weird.", Ennea said, still double-checking herself. It was an azure one-piece suit as well. I paused, seeing Ennea. She sure is looking more like her counterpart in the games. You'd hardly think Ennea was the little frail-looking assassin we met three years ago. If someone grew by leaps and bounds beside me, it was definitely Ennea.
"You look fine, Ennea. And remember, no killing.", I said, smirking at her.
"No promises. Do not forget where we are at.", Ennea said, smiling back at me.
"It doesn't mean we can't have some fun here. I'll go sit by the tables. Why don't you go join Sherryl and Tio to have some fun?", I asked Ennea.
"Would that really be alright? Don't you need someone to watch over you?", Ennea asked, still looking at me. As we said that, Rufus, Lechter and I arrived at the chairs scattered around the beach. Van too approached us, wearing some black trunks. My eyes turned serious as I looked at Ennea.
"We aren't part of that organization any longer, Ennea. You are not part of what you used to belong to prior to this, either. You have to spread your wings once in a little while. We came here for some fun. Leave the serious business for later.", I answered, looking at Ennea.
"Or so you say, but...", Ennea tried to respond, only to get blocked by Vita placing one of your hands over my shoulder. It was Vita. She too joined in on the fun.
"Hehe, if it worries you that much Ennea, I will watch over him. You don't need to worry about Naoto being stolen or anything. That's Emma's job, not mine~", Vita said, smirking at us.
"I'm...just going to ignore that comment.", I retorted at Vita.
"That isn't what I meant...", Ennea said, frowning. Seeing this Lechter raised his sunglasses upward, and looked at us.
"Sounds like you have your hands busy, Young Master. I'm going to go hit the haystack.", Lechter said, quickly approaching one of the chairs, and jumped on it. He quickly got comfortable, and pulled out some mirror reflectors. Even though it was winter, the sun was harsh. It was a weird mixture of hot and cool weather. Still, Lechter decided to bathe in the sun, acting like he wanted to create a tan.
"This dude really knows no bounds, doesn't he?", Van said, seeing Lechter ignore us outright.
"Haha. Lechter just knows how to make the most of any situation he is thrown in. All of this is within his calculations. If something goes wrong, it will be Lechter who will realize it first. A human detector, as I like to call it.", Rufus said, and approached us.
"That makes sense.", Van replied, nodding his head. "This guy's basically our security measure for when shit really does hit the fan."
Hearing that, I smiled.
"Welcome back, Rufus. Did you get everything squared away?", I said, welcoming Rufus. While we got situated on the beach, Rufus went in the other direction, all the way up to the building up above to announce our arrival. We already had it reserved beforehand. Rufus nodded his head.
"Of course, Young Duke. The receptionist was gracious enough allowing us to rent out the whole beach for the remainder of the week. Lodging is also secured. We can explore this island to our fullest intent. Granted, the beach will open back up to other folks. It's not like we can rent out this place for half a year.", Rufus said, nodding his head. "I say that, but it looks like we aren't alone. There are some other...interesting people renting out other rooms. I had to make a few last minute adjustments to accommodate them."
"Oh?", I replied. My interest grew with what Rufus said. Interesting people, huh? It didn't take long for us to be greeted by some other voices. One of them sounded pretty rough.
"Haha, you young'uns sure make quick work, dont'cha? Wish we could flaunt Mira around like that without a second thought. But if we did that, we'd have no more line of work!", An older voice said, calling out to us. Hearing this caused us to turn our heads back toward the building. We saw several figures step down the flight of stairs.
The man who said that appeared rather tall and was quite well-packed with muscle. He had very defined abs. A couple of girls and a few guys also followed suit. My shock only grew seeing each one come down those steps. The tall man soon reached Rufus's side, and gave him a handshake.
"And thanks for that back there. Ya really saved our hides. We were some Mira short. Otherwise we would have been kicked off the island!", The man said, smiling at Rufus.
"Oh it is no problem. It is all at the expense of the Young Duke. Consider it a favor you now owe us, members of Zephyr.", Rufus said, grinning at the newly arrived group like he was starting to plot something...
Hearing that, the tall man laughed back at him, and grinned.
"Hahah! I like you.", The man said, who was none other than Rutger Clausell, the leader of Zephyr.