18 Heavy Metal
"Heavy Metal..."
Lyrica looked at her new music with curious eyes, wondering what kind of power Heavy Metal was holding.
Lyrica once used an ability, and she ended up feeling like she was dying. She doesn't want to go through that again. Luckily, there's a way for her to learn how each of her magic abilities works.
"Lyrica, you know what to do."
"Yeah."
The girl locked her gaze on Heavy Metal. At that moment, her new music's information revealed itself.
[Music Info: Heavy Metal]
Heavy Metal increases durability and coats the Listener in a strong magic barrier that is as hard as a metal for 3 Minutes.
Lv. 1
MP Cost: 4MP in every 20dB used.
Cooldown: 10s
Effects:
> Magic barrier absorbs 15% of both physical and magical damage received.
> Increases durability by +5 in every 20dB used.
Drawbacks:
> Magic barrier's weight at 20dB (100 kg) reduces AGI stat's effect by 50%. (Not accumulative.)
> Can immobilize the Listener without enough STR to carry the weight.
Soon after carefully studying the information from beginning to end, Lyrica found some things that are different from Jazz Harmony's music info.
First, it showed its level.
"Jazz Harmony's level isn't displayed, unlike Heavy Metal." Lyrica pointed out. "I can only assume that it means Jazz Harmony is max leveled, while Heavy Metal isn't."
"You couldn't be more right."
Second, it has an MP Cost.
"Using a 100dB Heavy Metal with your current mana pool and dB Limit will definitely be problematic." The voice stated.
Lyrica scoffed at the voice. "There'll be no problem because I have no intention of using that kind of power with my current dB Limit."
"You never know."
Another thing that Lyrica and the voice found is Heavy Metal's cooldown. It was kinda expected, seeing that Heavy Metal is in playable music or active skill tree.
With that said, the two moved on without mentioning anything about the CD.
"I said this before, but all your music will have its own set of effects and drawbacks." The voice mouthed.
"Heavy Metal only increases my durability but..." Lyrica pointed her finger toward the music's barrier effect. "... It comes with a barrier that can deflect both physical and magical attacks by 15%."
"That's right, but the weight and AGI reduction can be a nuisance."
The voice referred to the drawbacks of Heavy Metal, stating that the music will reduce her AGI stat's effect by 50% with every 20dB or 100 kg in total. That, and the possibility that she can be immobilized if she doesn't have enough STR to carry the added weight.
"Having a tight defense is meaningless if I can't move my body in the process."
Yes. It's like a turtle hiding inside its shell. Lyrica may have an incredible defense to protect herself from harm, but she won't be able to get away from it unless she can move.
"This is where the Stat Points come into play."
The voice uttered, urging Lyrica to take a glance at her statistic points. From leveling up to Lv. 1, to finish the quest and level jumping to Lv. 11, Lyrica has accumulated a total of 36 Stat Points.
"I wasn't planning on using any of them this early."
Lyrica doesn't have any idea what set of effects and drawbacks an ability or music will have until she can read its Music Info. That is why she never touched her statistic points and put them to what she see fit.
But now that she unlocked Heavy Metal and saw both its effects and drawbacks, Lyrica thought:
"I guess this is the right time to use them."
36 Stat Points might seem a lot, but it's not. Lyrica knew that. If she's going to distribute statistic points to certain stats, then it has to be the right amount. No more, no less.
"There's only one way to do exactly that." Said the voice.
At that moment, Lyrica started popping her fingers, stretching her arms and shoulders, as well as her legs.
One might ask, what is she doing all of a sudden? What's the purpose of popping her fingers and stretching her limbs?
Lyrica took a deep breath.
"20dB..."
If you guessed it right, then you're a genius.
"Heavy Metal!"
Lyrica is preparing her body in using Heavy Metal.
[Now Playing: Heavy Metal]
Ttoom!
"Wa—!"
But despite what she did, the weight of 100 kg pushed her down to the ground.
"Are you okay?" The voice asked in concern.
Lyrica's sudden collapse sounded like a block of concrete was hit hard and violently by a hammer.
"May... be...!"
Lyrica let out a deep moan as she struggled to get on all fours.
"At the very least, you can still speak thanks to your 10 STR." The voice said in relief. "Now then, time for you to do the deed."
Following what the voice said, Lyrica opened her mouth.
"System, add 10 Stat Points in Strength."
[Stat Points (10) Has Been Added In Strength]
Strength: 10 -> 20
Remaining Stat Points: 26
As soon as she added 10 points to her strength stat, Lyrica immediately felt the rise in her strength.
"Humph!"
She tried to help herself up, and at last, Lyrica finally stood on both feet.
"But it appears that 20 STR is still not enough."
She indeed has the strength to stand up, but both her arms and shoulders look like they were being pulled down by gravity. On top of that, trying to lift one of her legs appeared to be difficult.
Lyrica could feel the bottom of her feet digging the ground with each step, leaving behind holes and a few crack marks just like the crater she created after being hammered by the barrier's weight.
"That's it, I need more strength."
With that being said, Lyrica added another 10 Stat Points in strength.
[Stat Points (10) Has Been Added In Strength]
Strength: 20 -> 30
Remaining Stat Points: 16
"Well, how do you feel?"
The voice curiously asked the girl, but Lyrica did not answer. But moments later, a soft groan escaped out of Lyrica's mouth as she finally took an upright posture.
"Amazing."
Unlike before, where she's struggling to keep her limbs from pulling her back to the ground, Lyrica is now standing in an upright posture, leaving the voice amazed.
"I can finally stand like usual..."
Lyrica lift and rolled her arms and shoulders one after the other.
"I can move my arms and shoulders fine. And my legs..."
The girl looked down and started walking. This time, she did so without putting much effort into it. The only thing that remained the same was the fact that her feet would continue to dig through the ground.
"All good."
After a careful assessment, Lyrica has reached the perfect level of strength which would make the drawback of Heavy Metal's barrier almost ineffective.
An expression that screamed "Well spent." resonate on her face.
"Now that's done, what are you going to do about the agility reduction?" The voice inquired.
"Well..." Lyrica looked at the Music Info with her arms crossed. "Heavy Metal's AGI reduction doesn't seem to be that complicated."
Heavy Metal reduces 50% of Lyrica's AGI stat, which means her 10 AGI will be reduced by 5. However, Heavy Metal's AGI reduction does not accumulate.
In other words, using a 40dB Heavy Metal will not reduce AGI stat by 100%. Instead, what has been reduced to half by the first 20dB, will be cut again by the second 20dB.
"System, add 10 Stat Points in AGI."
[Stat Points (10) Has Been Added In Agility]
Agility: 10 -> 20
Remaining Stat Points: 6
After increasing her agility, Lyrica started running in circles, her thunderous footfalls continue to dig the ground, leaving behind holes in her wake.
With her AGI stat now having 20 points, the agility reduction only brought her back to the usual agility she has before using Heavy Metal and spending 10 points in AGI. To put it simply, Heavy Metal's agility reduction is nullified.
"Looks like everything is settled." The voice said. "But it seems that Heavy Metal is not going to end any time soon."
"Yeah," Lyrica replied in agreement.
Lyrica looked around and found three Lv. 5 earth slimes in the near distance.
"Since I still have time with Heavy Metal, let's see how strong my barrier is against them."
