kscans

Chapter 145 - Verification Complete

Some time after I began a detailed investigation of the specs...

Under the mental strain of being forced to wear a crown on my plain face, and with the sacrifice of countless [Dropple Elgators], I have more or less grasped the properties of the two special titles.

First, 'Twin Wings'—overall, surprisingly underwhelming.

Okay, 'underwhelming' might be the wrong word... It's more that it's difficult to utilize.

There's no doubt that everything written about it is strong, and each effect is certainly exceptional when it comes to 'defense'—but the concept is too focused on defense.

First, there's the fact that it can't even activate unless we're together. Second, the activation condition requires one of us to be on the verge of death.

So, a situation where those conditions are met and the effect activates is likely one where we're facing an opponent with an overwhelming power gap, one that can push us to the brink even when we're fighting together.

And against an enemy that strong, wouldn't even this 'Twin Wings mode' just be a way to prolong the inevitable? That was our mutual conclusion.

Against an evenly matched opponent, it definitely has the potential to be a trump card. But in other words, it's 'situational.'

What's also disappointing is the frustratingly short duration and narrow effective range.

The effect of 《Devotion of the Twin Wings》 lasts for twenty seconds. Furthermore, the 'protection' condition that needs to be met to gain the damage reduction and revival effects is determined by the distance to the designated target—in my case, a near-death Sora... and this range is quite small.

About two meters, I'd say. It's also limited to a specific situation, like "shielding the target with your back," so if you try to make full use of the effects, you can barely move freely.

+50 to all stats, a total of +300, is a cheat-level boost equivalent to thirty levels. But even if you just want to use that, the effect only lasts for twenty seconds.

Due to the range restriction, a suicide charge relying on the invincibility effect is impossible. Even if you rush in after activating it, the duration is only ten seconds.

With such a short hero time, can you really launch a counterattack against an opponent strong enough to force you to use 《Devotion of the Twin Wings》 in the first place? The future evaluation of this special title will likely depend on that.

Oh, by the way, it didn't activate from self-inflicted damage. It seems you have to be brought to the brink of death by damage from an enemy. Too bad.

Alright, next up, 'Acrobat'—overall, completely broken. The end.

This one, I just don't understand.

I thought if self-inflicted damage no longer reduces HP, it would fail to meet the activation condition for 《Ignition》, but for some reason, it still works normally.

And more than anything else—the cooldown reduction effect for all skills was just insanely powerful.

I had a bad feeling about it when I triggered [Panga Fool] once, took exactly 10% self-damage, and the cooldowns were reduced by 10%.

It didn't quite scale at 10% per trigger after that, but at the maximum—90% accumulated self-damage—the cooldown reduction was a staggering 50%.

No, that's just wrong. Fifty percent. Half. All skills, all the time, have their cooldowns halved. Even the already short cooldown of 《Tremple Slide》 becomes reusable in about ten seconds.

Sure, fighting with only 10% of your health would be tough, both physically and mentally... but hey, I'm already in a state where a single strong hit means instant death, you know?

Conclusion: a desperation move where I spam 《Ignition》 at the start of a fight might even become my go-to strategy—that's how revolutionary this buff is.

...Ah, if only a weird crown didn't float above my head...

"It just doesn't suit me..."

"A person who does suit a crown... I'm not sure what that would even look like..."

No, I get it. In terms of game fashion, it's pretty common. I think crowns are fine.

But please don't float one above the head of a guy with a realistic face. I just look like some dude getting way too into a festival, you know???

"Ah, um, it didn't look that strange, you know? It's a crown, but the design wasn't that flashy..."

My considerate partner tried to console me.

She has a point... but... yeah, okay. It's stupid to keep dragging this out.

"By the way, I think it would look amazing on you, Sora-san."

"Huh? Uh, um... thank you...?"

A small crown perched on her head would be a guaranteed win. No doubt about it.

"Alright... Guess I should finally set something."

Standing next to Sora, who was flustered by the sudden compliment, I fiddled with my title slot, which had probably been empty for a long time—I can't tell Irori about this... He might get angry and say something like, "So you were the one underestimating things?"

Imagining the [Sword Protector]'s face, smiling pleasantly but half-enraged, I tapped the empty box, and a list of available titles appeared.

Just as the frequent acquisition notifications suggested, there were quite a few of them.

Among them, the most promising ones were, of course, the most recently acquired—

"Well, it's gotta be one of these."

'Conqueror of the Spiral Crimson Tower'—While wearing the accessory that proves the conquest of the [Spiral Crimson Tower], grants an additional bonus to AGI based on the MID stat.

'Bullet Run'—Running actions gain a stamina recovery effect. Jumping actions consume more stamina.

'Infinite Maneuver'—Jumping actions gain a stamina recovery effect. Running actions consume more stamina.

'Embracing Wings of Brilliance'—Grants an additional bonus to MID based on the LUC stat. The bonus value increases while wearing equipment related to the [White-Shining Bird of Fortune (Stilac Elburd)].

That last one is from the White-Shining Bird, which I plan to farm again tonight. I got it when I was mercilessly spawn-camping them for materials.

There's also an interesting title called 'Two Sides of One Body' that I got from the [Angalta, God-Wedge Sword-King] fight, but unfortunately, it doesn't mesh with my build.

Maybe it would suit Sora? Anyway—

The three I got from conquering the [Spiral Crimson Tower] have obvious synergy with my mobility-focused build.

The conqueror title that gives a stat bonus is, as expected of a reward from an ultra-high-difficulty dungeon, more potent than other titles with similar effects.

It's not that the increase is larger, but the way the bonus is calculated is a bit special, which makes it strong. For example, 'Embracing Wings of Brilliance,' which references another stat, has a limit no matter how much LUC you stack, but this one apparently has no such cap...

It's an interesting title that sparks some bad ideas.

The other two are self-explanatory. They have a game-changing effect where you recover stamina by running or jumping.

They each come with a debuff that increases stamina consumption for the opposite action, but the negative effect isn't that significant.

If used well, I could say goodbye to running out of stamina forever.

...So, yeah. The Crimson Tower set is definitely all excellent. It's excellent, but—

"Yeah... there's only one choice."

The winner is 'Embracing Wings of Brilliance'—the MID-enhancing title.

Why? Well, in my case, I have this monstrous accessory called the [Crimson Rabbit Hairpin], you see...

It's only when its effect is active, but since boosting MID equals boosting AGI & DEX for me right now, if you ask me what stat I should raise first, the answer is obvious.

On top of that, with more things draining my MP, like summoning [Parabellum Bullets] and the cost of 《Fatal Leak》, MP has become more important.

And so—

――――――――――――――――――
◇Status◇
Title: Acrobat
Name: Haru
Lv: 100
STR: 300
AGI: 350
DEX: 100
VIT: 0 (+50)
MID: 0 (+250) ⇒ (+350)
LUC: 300

◇Skill◇
・All Weapon Aptitude
《Blink Switch》
《Flip Stroke》
《Gusty Limb》
《Exchange Voltate》
Greed's Precept

・《Reflect Blowal》
・《Tremple Slide》
・《Ignition》
・《Floating Leaf》
・《Foreseeing Eye》

・Embodied Protection
・Combo Accelerate
・Awakening Blow
・Heavy Attack Manipulator
・Adamant Sky Dash
・Rabbit Run
・Fataless Jumper
・Rhino's Heart
・Trickery Precept
・Guardian's Cradle

・Telepathy
――――――――――――――――――

Setting 'Embracing Wings of Brilliance'... Haha, it went up by 100.

Nice—and with this, my stats, including the additional bonuses, are now equivalent to Lv. 145, which is just ridiculous.

Furthermore, if the [Crimson Rabbit Hairpin]'s 《Desperate Crimson》 activates, I'll be at Lv. 180 equivalent. And if I have Sora dump all her stats into my MID with 《Scales of Song (Scareless)》 beforehand, I'll have the monstrous stats of a Lv. 240...

I can clearly see what happens next.

There I'll be, unable to control my abnormal stats, slamming into a wall and dying instantly!!

...But well, I'll have to try it out sometime.

"How about you, Sora? Decided?"

"Um... let's see... —Yes, I've decided!"

I closed my settings window and called out to her. Sora, who had been mumbling to herself while having what was surely a very productive time, looked up.

The title issue, which had taken up a surprisingly long time, was now resolved, for now—and if that's the case.

"Alright, shall we get going then!"

"Yes! Let's go!"

The break is over, the tour continues—our packed schedule for today has only just begun.