Chapter 332: Instance Dungeon

Took a couple days as I had some time off from work. Chapters are still Sunday/Monday/Wednesday/Friday!

As always, Giliath demands your power stones!

*****

I'm changing the battle formula up again. Hopefully this is an easier visual:

Total Damage = ((3.0 x Attacking Power) - (2.0 x Defending Power))

Attacking Power = (((STR or ATS x Element Efficacy) + Status Modifiers) x Skill Power) x (Conditional Parameters)

Defending Power = (DEF or ADF + Status Modifiers) x (Conditional Parameters)

Skill Power:

 -It's a power modifier ranging from E to 6S. Each stage provides a certain percent. For example, E = 70% DMG, or x0.7. Crafts, Spells, Arts, and S-Crafts use this modifier.

 -In the early games, Arts damage did have their own base counts, so I'll use this to my liking.

-Otherwise, most Arts default to B, or 100% power, until more powerful ones start coming into play.

Conditional Parameters:

 -Critical Hit: Boosts Total Damage by x2.

 -S-Crafts: Boosts Total Damage by x1.5, applied after Critical Hit.

Status Modifiers:

 -Quartz Effects

 -Master Quartz Effects

 -Job Effects

 -Skill Effects

 -Title Effects

 -Equipment Effects

*****

"Ah hell, just what in Aidios's name have they been feeding you back at Grancel Castle, Young Master?", Lechter exclaimed in shock. Tio's mind also turned numb seeing how much my stats were inflated, compared to theirs. It was several fold to Lechters, and even more than a hundred fold to Tio's. 

Tio only had three hundred points in health, while I had over seventy thousand. The Trailsverse did like to bring its characters into a late-game dungeon during its prologues, and this situation is akin to that. I'm essentially an end-game boss while Tio is just starting out. Lechter is somewhere in-between that.

A smug look appeared in my eyes as I grinned at Lechter's surprise.

"Heh heh. As the saying goes, the grind never ends~", I teased Lechter.

"I think I recall you saying that particular phrase once or twice. It's referring to this, isn't it", Lechter asked me.

"You can think of it as such. Do you two have any questions before we wander into the first section of Mainz Mountain Path?", I asked Tio and Lechter, wanting to double check to see if they were ready.

"I'm good.", Lechter immediately nodded. "I like to take things on the fly, if you catch my meaning. I'm sure my body will pick up a thing or two after seeing this ability in action.", Lechter continued.

"I have no questions at the moment, either.", Tio also answered.

"Excellent. We won't head beyond the tunnel right away. There will be some weaker monsters we can try out first. Before that though, I want to test something.", I explained

"Test something?", Tio mused, wondering what Naoto meant by that.

"That's right.", I nodded. I wanted to test to see if this Party Function had certain features. Before I willed my Gamer System, I decided to have another look at the Harem Seeker title. It's been ages since I've last reviewed it in full. I know it gives a bonus percentage to my stats based on the number of girls in my party. 

The current limit I can reach is six members. That would effectively boost my stats by 120%. It takes my own person as a default of 20%, so that's why my stats reflected a boost of 40% with Tio in it. But I wasn't sure if the other effects of the Harem Seeker title have changed.

My title effects and such from what I've seen, aren't static. Depending on how things go from here, they might change or get upgraded in some way. So I decided to check up on my Harem Seeker title, and sure enough, it brought me a nice surprise.

[Harem Seeker - MAX]

 -Special Effect 1: Grants an additional 20% of total stats to Gamer Naoto. Does not affect the INT stat. Grants a further increase of 20% of total stats, depending on the number of girls present in Gamer Naoto's Party. Current Party Limit: 6. Base increase: 20%. Maximum Increase: 120%.

 -Special Effect 2: The experience gain of the girls present in Gamer Naoto's Party is increased by 100%.

 -Special Effect 3: When a girl present in Gamer Naoto's Party obtains experience, Gamer Naoto receives an equal amount of experience obtained.

'Wow.', I inwardly mused. Especially that last effect. That's quite busted, isn't it?

Busted not as in broken, but it's a very great ability. I wonder, does it stack?

If it does...

I could see swarms and swarms of experience points being raked in. A never-ending pile of leaves falling down, if you would.

It may appear confusing on the outside, but in the Trailsverse, there's a thing called diminishing return. As you level up, you earn less experience. You see this a lot in RPGs. Not just the Trailsverse.

I haven't checked the situation with the monsters around Crossbell yet. But if it were anything like the games, the monsters around these parts aren't terribly strong. If I happened to kill one of them, more than likely I would only obtain one experience point from that battle.

But that's where the Special Effect 3 of this title comes into effect. If Tio were the one to kill that monster...

I would obtain as much experience as Tio would obtain from her first fight. It would be a lot higher than just one measly experience point. And that's the beauty of where the second effect comes into play. The moment Tio gains that experience, it would get an increase of 100%, or an entire two-fold. I would equate that to a x2.0 gain, and not a x1.5 gain. If it was the latter, it would just be an increase of 50%, not 100%. 

Once all of that gets factored in, I would reap the reward without having to raise a finger.

Now that does put a sour taste in my mouth, but I need to stop biting my ass over this. The Gamer System was awarded to me in this second life. What's the point if I don't use it to its fullest? It still wonders who exactly it was that gave me this system, for that matter. That might be a goal to accomplish eventually, but I don't need to worry about that right now.

Depending on how much Tio grows from this single excursion, I might be able to reap a level or two. 

Sucks for Lechter though. I'm the one with the Harem Seeker title and the effects it has, not him. He'll only get single-digit experience points from this, haha!

Laughter aside, I did want to test something of this Party System.

'Set Party Leader: Tio Plato.', I inwardly willed the Gamer System with a single thought.

Sure enough, I heard some notifications follow suit the moment I willed that command.

[Ding! Gamer Naoto has appointed Party Member Tio Plato as the Party Leader.]

All of a sudden, the three of us heard that notification sound off inside our heads at the same time.

"What the...", Lechter uttered. His eyes glanced upward, and saw the nametag floating above Tio's head change before his very eyes.

It now had a crown symbol next to Tio's name. [Tio Plato - Level 1 - Party Leader.]

Immediately following me designating Tio as the Party Leader, the three of us heard a soft hum strike against our ears. In response to that, more notifications sounded off.

[Ding! Tio Plato has become the Party Leader of Gamer Naoto's Party. Now re-determining targeted monsters' strengths within the vicinity...]

After that second notification went off, we all saw our immediate surroundings turn into pixels, just for a brief moment. The ground, the trees, and even the air turned into block after block. It didn't even last a split second as this happened. The epicenter of the change came out from underneath Tio's feet, which drew her gaze downward. The pixilated cubes quickly pushed out in all directions.

I had only seen this happen once before, and that was when the Instance Dungeon was created at the village of Hamel.

Looks like the feeling I had was right. I wanted to see if one, I could set Party Leaders. And I can. If I could set Party Leader, the second thing I wanted to see was if our surroundings would get altered in any form or fashion. And it did.

"The hell?", Lechter paused. "You two just see that? I'm not going blind, right?", Lechter asked, frowning.

"Mmm. I saw it too. An unknown fluctuation in the atmosphere just swept out all around us. I didn't sense any danger from it. It was almost as if...it was a soothing effect?", Tio tried to explain it.

I mean, from Tio's point of view, that's a pretty spot-on deduction. I am not sure what the monsters' strengths around us were prior to this. If I had to take a guess, they would either be more toward my level, or just static, depending on how far the story has progressed. Monsters around here would eventually get as strong as the low 100s once Reverie hit, but there's no way it's like that currently. It likely weakened the monsters to Tio's level, or around it.

[Ding! A new Instance Dungeon is now available that is suited for Party Leader Tio's current combat parameters.]

[Ding! Mainz Tunnel - Level 10 - Limit: 3 Instance Dungeon can be challenged.]

Reward:

-12,000 EXP.

-x3 Shining Pom Bait.

-x3 Generation IV Tier 1 Quartz.

-x3 Generation IV Quartz Tier Upgrade Tokens.

-x1 Orbal Staff Upgrade Token.