9:00 AT, Day Three | Arena of Vesir The Great
“Kooo! We did it, the system even said so. Now, where are my headrubs?”
“Well they are right here, darling. You did great work, and were soooo cool.”
“You were super cool too, like a hero out of a fairy tale, jumping up and hitting it like that!”
“Your crack shot was straight out of a shounen magna too! Guess we are really here and doing this, aren't we?” I say, as I brush my hand against her cheek.
“Oh you, get over here.” She says, as she pulls me into a tight hug and we exchange lots of kisses.
Once we separate, I comment “Ow, my back stings a bit.”
“Well, then maybe you shouldn't have gotten struck by lightning, you jerk.”
“How does getting struck by lightning make me a jerk?”
She seems to think about it for a moment, then she places her hands on the side of my face and stares intently into my eyes. “Well, I don't like you getting hurt. You're just a big jerk for always heading into danger. Can't you just let me do all the fighting” I nearly died from the cuteness and love contained in such a statement.
“Hmm, well, I don't like you getting hurt either. So, we’ll just have to fight together, so that we can watch each other's backs.”
“Grr, you're such a jerk. Too bad you're such a cute jerk, otherwise I could just ditch you.”
“Aww, that's kinda sweet. But don't you dare ever go anywhere.”
“Of course not, my place is with you after all. Just as much as yours is with me.”
I hold her hand while giving her a few headpats/rubs with my free hand. Plus a few kisses for extra good measure. Can never dote upon your super cute girlfriend too much, more is always better.
Especially when she flashes that brilliant smile at me that makes me want to do anything she ever says. Not that I wouldn't do that anyways though.
It seems that during our super sweet moment, the arena around us has disappeared. It, along with Vesir’s corpse have vanished and the grassland is back to normal. Though, there are a few deep scorch marks from the grand lightning skills that hit us.
Relics of a great battle that shall forever be immortalized on this field I suppose.
The system has one final message once the battlefield has cleared. This time in the form of screen text. Perhaps the voice thing is expensive, or something.
It reads ‘Rewards for Defeating Legend Vesir The Great;
500 Ti, 50 Ri, & 5 Great-level legend loot boxes have been deposited into faction inventory.
1 Great-level legend loot box has been deposited into personal inventory.
You have been awarded Vesir The Great’s Commendation.
Personal Commendation Menu now unlocked.
Faction Currency exchange now unlocked.
Faction Manpower is now available for purchase.’
“Woah Ko, looks like the rewards came in. I wonder what all this does!”
“Hmm, give me a second to look it all over. Lets get on the ATVs and head back to the castle, no point staying out in the middle of this field looking at menus.”
“Good idea, Emil & Rigar, let's get giddy up and head on home!”
“As you wish, milord.” “Of course, General Rayleigh, at your command.”
We get on the ATVs and start heading back to Arce Lunae. It'll still be a while before Linda wakes up in a panic, so we aren't in a particular rush. I would love to stare at the passing scenery while enjoying the feeling of holding onto Ray.
But unfortunately, I should probably get a grasp of all this new stuff that just happened.
I pour through the new information. First I start with this Ri and the currency exchange thing.
In my market there is now a section that says ‘currency exchange’ and the manpower tab is no longer grayed out.
It appears we are able to convert Ti:Ri at a rate of 10:1 and vice versa. Meaning our fort is currently making 7.5 Ri per day. Which doesn't seem like much, considering we got 50 from that legend raid. Plus, we also need Ti for other things too, like weapons. But, it's a consistently accessible currency, so I guess it's fine.
I opened the manpower tab, and I instantly burst into laughter.
Ray turns back and looks at me, confused and asks. “Whats so funny back there, darling?”
After I control my laughter a bit I manage to get out “Well, you see.. The manpower shop. It's styled like a gacha summoner. *fit of laughter*”
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“Oh, you mean that stuff where you pay some ticket or something, spin a wheel and get digital tokens for cute anime girls?”
“Yep, but this time, it seems the target of our gacha is.. Human beings.”
“Thats only a little bit sketchy. I don't know if I like this system.”
“Hmm yeah, I think it is a bit.. Off. But, they are aliens, they can't capture every aspect of human culture perfectly.”
Laughing fits aside, it's true.
The manpower shop looks exactly like one of them gacha altar thingies, not sure the exact name. It appears that for 1 Ri we get ten spins and we get to choose to keep five of the rolled human beings… which is only a little bit weird.
There are different rarities of course, low, medium, high, and great. The thing says the chances are roughly 75.8%/20%/4%/0.2% respectively. So we will likely end up with mostly low and medium human beings… geez that's weird to say.
It seems they are categorized based on combat skills and knowledge. Which makes sense. They are categorized and transferred to the arena by virtue of a special device that was sent to our home colony. I think the gamekeeper mentioned something like that. Apparently, people of less than low combat level can opt out of the pool.
Our current pool is at about 237,000. Which roughly correlates with the amount of people that should have at least basic combat training back in our colony.
If I recall correctly, we should have around 50,000 people that are trained to a medium level, fresh recruits basically. As well as 10,000 highly trained personnel. Plus it appears that they have included the 500 or so great-level Itokin warriors. The remainder are ones with only basic, low-level training. Mostly people for logistics or in the engineering corps (who are required to have only low-level combat skill).
Off to the side of the menu there is an arrow that I click. It takes me to an inventory screen where I can see all of the faction’s ‘beings’ as they are called. A bit better than saying human being, but it's not really that good…
At the bottom there are three buttons with what look like varying vessels that can be purchased. We can get a Basic vessel for 0.5Ri, which has a limit of low-level. A standard vessel for 1Ri, which has a limit of around medium-level. An enhanced vessel for 5Ri, which has a limit of high-level. Or an ultimate vessel, for a whopping 10Ri, which has a limit of great-level.
It seems that we can place higher level beings inside lower quality vessels, but their combat abilities will be severely limited. In addition, we can mostly freely exchange our beings between vessels. Though, it does warn that doing it too frequently can cause confusion in the person’s mind.
For keks sake, this is all a bit crazy. I get this was clearly designed based off of human videogames, MMORPGs to be more precise. But an entire gacha system, with the minds of living, breathing people as the target. I wonder how this will go over with humanity.
I relay what I've learned to Ray, who is dutifully managing the self-driving function of the ATV. While she stares off at the endless grasslands. I'm tempted to ask what she is thinking about, but I feel like I'd rather not know for some reason.
She reacts surprisingly well, all things considered. She probably doesn't have as much negative-bias around gachas as a long-term NEET such as myself.
Next, It's time to take a look at this commendation type system.
I open up the menu and am greeted with a massive wall of text. That's always a good sign that a mechanic is going to be so much fun.
In a brief summary, the commendations are a mix between classes and active skills.
Each Legend has a specific commendation, there is also something about tiers to them, but I cannot open up the infoscreen when I try. Must still be locked.
In the menu there are three columns, the first one has five grayed out slots, and one that shows the Vesir commendation. The next column only has three grayed out slots, and the last has one.
Perhaps there is some sort of tiering to the Legends? Maybe as we get farther towards the center get a lot stronger and more creative? That'd be kinda cool. I can imagine there must be a truly intimidating one sitting at the center of the arena.
Basically, each person, or being as it says, can equip one commendation at a time, which implies that our soldiers can earn them too. Though I think they have to be present during a legend raid to get it, which might be hard given the difficulty.
I look at the current Vesir commendation and it has a few important bits. Firstly, next to the name, it has a little shield icon. Which must mean that it's more defensive like. There are also two skill icons listed below it. What looks like to be a barrier of lightning and one that throws lightning.
I check the descriptions, and that's exactly what they are. A local shield generator basically, and a lightning bolt that you can throw. Both have a small cooldown too.
It also says something about decently increasing durability. I have no clue how it's going to do it, but with this crazy tech, I don't doubt it's possible somehow.
Seeing as how we don't have any other commendations at the moment, I selected the Vesir one. It gives me a warning that it can only be changed once every 24 hours. But I don't see us defeating another legend today, so I click through it.
Immediately, the ground opens up next to the ATV and a small drone emerges. It flies over and attaches itself to my chest. Then, in just a few seconds it seems to melt through the armor and into my skin underneath.
I can feel it combining with my exosuit-augmentation kit systems. I also think that the armor on my exosuit beneath my armor gets a bit thicker. Perhaps that's how it does the defensive-ness.
In the corner of my vision, I now see the two skill icons that seem ready to activate.
It feels strange for a moment, but then it all goes back to feeling fine. A message appears on the menu ‘Vesir The Great Commendation now equipped. Time until change permitted: 23:59:24’ and it counts down.
“Woah, darling, what was that thing?”
“Apparently it's the commendation system!”
I then proceed to explain the basics of how it works. She seems quite interested and asks me to cast a lightning bolt.
I oblige, and after a bit of figuring out the controls, I point my hand off into the sky and a line appears. I activate the skill and I feel a slight tingle.
Then, boom, a giant bolt of lightning comes shooting out of my finger and into the sky. It's very loud.
“Ow, that was loud!” Ray shouts.
“You're the one that told me to cast a lightning bolt right next to you.”
“Well, how was I supposed to know it'd be real lightning and not that fake stuff that was much quieter in the arena?”
“Fair enough, I was expecting it to be that too.”
The skill seems to have a cooldown of around ten minutes. Which is fair enough, it is kinda powerful.
For the rest of the ride back to the castle, I just held tightly to Ray. Her back is quite nice, very toned and a perfect place to rest one’s head after a long morning of boss raids.
I'm sure there is still much to come in the future. After all, it seems like we've got quite a few other Legends to slay. Plus, there is the whole equipment thing that we have yet to open. Not to mention getting our first soldiers in and organizing our military. It's gonna be a busy next few days, that's for sure.
But, no matter what, Ray and I shall conquer it together. Along with the help of our lovely friends of course! So, bring it on.
End of Chapter 89
Next: Chapter 90 | Lootboxes & Soldiers
