kscans

Chapter 268 - Strategy Information

Hayato and Ash visited Mist's room.

Mist's room was also Damian's and Ruth's, so the three of them were sharing one room. Last night, they had apparently argued over where to place the coffins, a story that sounded morbid just by hearing it. When Hayato was told this morning, all he could do was offer a wry smile.

Thinking it would be odd to knock on a fusuma, Hayato called out verbally, and Ruth opened the sliding door.

"Welcome, Hayato-san, Ash-san."

"Are Mist-san and the others here?"

"They are. Mist is still reading her book without sleeping, and Damian is telling her to go to bed already. Those two have been like that since way back. I think they should play with me more."

"I'm sure they'll play with you once everything is over. Oh, by the way, how's your Alchemy Skill? Making good progress?"

Ruth was raising his production skills in the clan "Undead." However, unlike Hayato, he wasn't at 100 yet and was still in training. Hayato had been giving him materials he could use for alchemy to help him level up.

"Thanks to you, Hayato-san, it's up to 92."

"That's amazing. After 90, it usually takes a week to go up by 1, so you've gone up by 2 in just a few days?"

"I guess I was lucky. It just happened to go up while I was making Elixirs."

Skill progression was influenced by real-life luck. The chance of leveling up after skill level 90 was said to be 0.1%, and in reality, it wouldn't necessarily go up even after 1,000 attempts.

Production skills were quite useful even at 90, so not many players raised them to 100. However, at 100, there were benefits like a bonus to the probability of creating high-quality items, so Hayato had once worked hard with the members of Kokuryu to achieve it.

As he was reminiscing, Ruth said, "Please, come in," and Hayato came back to his senses and stepped into the room.

Mist was sitting cross-legged on a zabuton, reading a book. She hadn't noticed Hayato.

Damian, who was in the same room, noticed Hayato and raised a hand in greeting, then called out to the oblivious Mist.

"Hey, Mist, Hayato's here."

"Eh, ah, what is it? Oh, Hayato-san, Ash-san, welcome. Is the destruction of the cursed sword finished?"

"You, really... that's rude to Hayato, isn't it? He's doing a lot for us, so show some proper respect."

"Oh, no, Damian-san, you don't have to worry about it. I know full well what it's like to not notice your surroundings when you're concentrating."

Hayato also completely tuned out his surroundings when he was crafting things with his production skills, so he understood the feeling. When you were focused on something, you didn't notice anything around you at all.

Mist was learning about the medical advancements of the last 100 years. For Mist, who had regained her memories but had not logged out, the books written by Diite were precious documents.

Mist put the book in her item bag and looked at Hayato.

"My apologies. It seems when I get focused, I lose track of things."

"Yes, so please don't worry about it. I'm much the same. Anyway, I came to report that the destruction of the cursed sword is finished. After a little while, I think Simon will give us permission to enter Takamagahara and Ryugu."

Mist bowed her head while still seated. Damian and Ruth bowed their heads as well.

"Thank you very much, Hayato-san."

"No, no, you can thank me after the Panacea is made. We should be able to start exploring today, but how should we proceed?"

"First, I thought we would go to both places and scout them out to see what they're like. Then we'll try to gather information from the people of this country about what kind of places they are. The people in this mansion apparently don't know much."

"That's the basic approach to exploration. But I think Diite-chan is knowledgeable too, so how about asking her?"

"Ah, that is a good idea. Her knowledge is undoubtedly world-class. Let us rely on that knowledge here as well."

Since Damian and Ruth were present, he couldn't say that Diite was an administrator. Mist framed it as Diite having such knowledge for their benefit.

Asking Diite for game information was no different from looking at a strategy guide. Hayato was a production player, so he didn't go exploring much, but even so, he was the type who didn't want to know strategy information. He wanted to enjoy the surprise and joy of discovering something for himself.

However, this particular matter had real-world implications. It wasn't just a game. They had to create an item in the virtual world based on knowledge of a cure, so asking Diite, the administrator of the virtual reality, for the strategy was a natural course of action.

"Damian, Ruth. I am going to Diite-san's room with Hayato-san and the others now. Could you two get the preparations for the exploration underway?"

"Got it. Leave it to us. Hayato, sorry, but we'll be using the items in the storehouse. We want to sort out what we're taking with us."

"Yes, please do. If you run out of anything, I'll restock, so feel free to use as much as you need."

Damian nodded and left the room with Ruth.

"Well then, shall we go as well? It will be easier to talk with Diite-san with this group."

Those who remained were Hayato, Ash, and Mist. In other words, the people who knew about the real world.

Hayato and Ash nodded, and they headed to Diite's room with Mist.

When they went to Diite's room, they were immediately prompted to enter.

Diite was wearing a yukata and haori, just like at yesterday's banquet. Hayato had thought so at the time, but Diite had uncharacteristically removed her veil, and her light blue hair was clearly visible.

According to Ney, she had kept her veil on even when she was in a swimsuit on the floating island, but perhaps she had taken it off because it was too much of a mismatch with the yukata.

"Diite-chan, are you enjoying yourself?"

"I won't deny it. My usual attire stands out here, so I haven't come here much. I haven't done any events exclusive to the Eastern Country either. Maybe I'll try holding an event in this country next time."

"Go easy on us. Anyway, the destruction of the cursed sword is finished, so I think we can start exploring soon. We'd like you to tell us the strategy for Takamagahara and Ryugu, the places where the knowledge is."

"Of course, I don't mind. Well then, let's start with Takamagahara."

The knowledge Mist needed to obtain was at the summit of Takamagahara. So their goal was the summit, but Takamagahara was divided into ten areas: the first station, second station, and so on.

The first station was the foot, and the tenth was the summit, so they had to clear each area from the second to the ninth station one by one. However, there was a rest area at the fifth station with a transfer device.

Unlike the portals in the Necropolis, where one person could teleport an entire party, individuals had to reach the location themselves to use the transfer device.

Even if Simon had been to the fifth station, it didn't mean everyone could use the transfer device. So they had no choice but to climb from the first station.

"You should aim for the fifth station first. The difficulty isn't that high, so it shouldn't be too hard for you all. The problem is the monster at the summit."

"So there is one? Is it a yokai?"

"No, it's a bird-type monster called Suzaku. It's a red bird, a type that attacks with fire like a phoenix. Armor with fire resistance and water- or ice-based weapons or magic would make it easier. However, it's usually flying, so you'll need ranged attacks."

"I see."

"Also, if you hit its wings with ice-based attacks several times, they will freeze and it will fall to the ground. Ash-kun and Mist-kun should aim for that."

At those words, Ash nodded, saying, "Leave it to me," and Mist said, "Understood," but Hayato was a little troubled. In their current party, few people could use ice-based magic or ranged weapons.

Ruth could probably use ice magic, but his skill composition wasn't specialized for a mage. About half of his skills were production- or knowledge-based. He probably couldn't deal that much damage.

There were members in Kokuryu who could use ice magic, but they were the type who preferred fire-based magic and had equipment that raised their fire-based damage.

(I'll have to make equipment that raises water or ice magic damage. I did bring a lot of materials, and since the destruction of the cursed sword is finished, I should be able to secure more. Then there's water- or ice-attribute weapons, no, since it's a bow or crossbow, ice-attribute arrows.)

With a bow or crossbow that has a non-physical attribute, any arrow fired would have that attribute. Conversely, with an arrow that has some kind of attribute, using a physical-attribute bow or crossbow would allow for an attack with that attribute.

There were members in Kokuryu who used bows, so he decided to prepare the arrows.

(But we don't have many members who can do ranged attacks.)

"Diite-chan, how strong is Suzaku? Can we beat it with our current members?"

"With Esha-kun there, I think you can win. He's arguably the strongest when it comes to landing the finishing blow. If you can get it down to about one-third of its health, he can definitely finish it off with Destroy."

"So we have to take off two-thirds of its health. It'd be easier if we could bring it to the ground, but we're a bit short on ranged attackers, aren't we?"

"You should ask Simon-kun. Her archery skill should be at 100 as well. In fact, she's better with a bow in real life. Her extreme samurai mania influenced her, and she did a lot of things in the real world too."

"...She's a mania?"

"Well, yes. But that influence led her to acquire genius-level archery skills, so human passion is an amazing thing. It might be a good idea for you to make her a nice bow, Hayato-kun."

"I'll do that."

Thinking he would ask Simon what kind of bow she wanted next time, Hayato and the others continued to confirm various pieces of strategy information with Diite.