Chapter 14: Unlocking the Chariot, the Trinity Assembles

Author: 鍩颯爱 | Updated: 2017/10/1 23:25:03 | Word count: 2424

In the dense forest, the sound of tearing and chewing flesh filled the air. Three wolf-like creatures were feasting on the spoils of their hunt, their horns and three-meter-long tails swaying, reflecting their contentment.

Suddenly, six high-speed ice swords shattered the celebratory scene. With just the first strike, one of the unicorn wolves' heads was frozen solid. Then, a follow-up ice sword struck the frozen head with a powerful blow.

With a crack, the unicorn wolf's head shattered. The remaining two unicorn wolves, facing this unexpected intruder, immediately turned towards the direction the ice swords had come from, growling.

Their fierce gaze showed no fear of their enemy, even though this intruder had killed their companion in a single strike, revealing their bloodthirsty nature.

Ahead of them, a graceful figure charged swiftly, her agile figure and graceful curves moving as if she were dancing, fluid and artistic.

"Dodge, instant slash!"

As Kiana's words fell, her speed increased, and she appeared almost like she'd teleported behind one of the unicorn wolves. Her pulse blade lightly brushed the wolf's neck, creating a deep wound, with blood spraying out wildly.

Kiana's figure shifted again, moving beside the last unicorn wolf. She gripped her pulse blade tightly, and, under the wolf's terrified gaze, spun quickly, leaving three blade marks on its body, blooming like a lotus flower, lifting the unicorn wolf into the air. This move was a branch attack of the Crimson Armor, a powerful control skill.

Kiana landed back on the ground along with the now lifeless wolf. Although the unicorn wolves were already incapable of fighting back, she made sure by piercing their heads with her blade.

With a stab and a twist, she finished each one off. Apart from the one whose head had shattered, she didn't spare the other two unicorn wolves, thoroughly eradicating them.

Then, a flash of light appeared, and a pile of materials only Kiana could see emerged from the corpses, flowing into her body.

"As I thought."

Kiana nodded to herself, confirming her theory. Previously, she had used her pulse blade's weapon skill to kill one unicorn wolf, and it had dropped materials. However, since the other two unicorn wolves were still alive, the automatic material collection system didn't activate. It only worked after she defeated all the enemies. It seemed that for each battle, she had to defeat every enemy for the collection system to operate.

Experimenting with the differences between reality and the game, Kiana took out her phone to claim her mission rewards.

"A chariot armor? The Bronya series armor—let's give it a try."

Kiana tapped the Valkyrie armor interface. On the screen, a silver-haired, emotionless young girl hovered in mid-air with her combat partner, an intelligent robot called Heavy Bunny, floating quietly beside her.

As a bright light flashed, Kiana's body began to shrink. Her sleek, black hair gradually changed color, and her sexy crimson armor faded away. A holy light enveloped her, hiding the transformation from view. Finally, Kiana transformed into a stoic young girl with a black and red uniform.

"I'm actually floating?"

Kiana looked curiously at her feet, which were now off the ground. She was being held aloft by an unknown force, floating about half a meter above the ground.

"It seems like the tiniest details weren't overlooked by Lady Vesta."

Kiana couldn't help but admire Vesta's attention to detail, even making sure Bronya fought while hovering.

Silently examining her body, Kiana mused, "This is Bronya's body, after all."

"I poke!"

Kiana poked at her chest. Compared to her own character and Mei's, Bronya's chest was too small to hold a phone, so she had to tuck it into her clothes.

With this, Kiana finally assembled the "trinity" – the game's three most accessible armors, three of the four B-rank armors available, with the fourth being the "big sister" Himeko's armor.

After obtaining the new armor, Kiana used all the upgrade chips she had left on the chariot armor, instantly leveling it up to match her Crimson and White Comet armors.

As for weapons, she still had the beginner's weapons provided by the system, but that was fine. Kiana was using Crimson Armor as her main fighting armor, so it didn't matter if the chariot armor had a weapon or not. In the game, no one used the chariot armor for damage; it was simply used for its ultimate, which gathered enemies together and allowed for an AOE attack to eliminate them – a support-type armor.

"Well then, let's keep grinding."

After checking her equipment, Kiana set out once more on her journey of monster-slaying and leveling up.

One month later, Kiana was lying lazily on a large rock by the lake, basking in the sun. The warm sunlight mixed with the sea breeze, creating a comfortable warmth that made her want to take a nap.

Not far away, Iris and her two sisters were playing in the water nearby, having a great time with a beach ball.

"Kiana, come down and play with us!"

Ilya, the youngest sister, who used to be shy, was now very familiar with Kiana and enthusiastically invited her to join them in the water.

"Haven't I told you already? I'm a Devil Fruit user. I can't go into the sea."

"Oh, really? Can't you just talk to the seawater and ask it to let you play for a little bit?"

"…"

Kiana was speechless. She could tell that Ilya wasn't joking; she was serious. Her sincerity made Kiana feel a bit lost for words. Was this mermaid girl too cute? If she really could negotiate with the sea, Kiana would be overjoyed.

Kiana shook her head, turned over, and went back to sleep, ignoring Ilya. After a month of grinding, her commander level had reached 35. By completing her daily tasks, she was earning 45 crystals per day. Having finished her tasks early this morning, she decided to take a rare moment to relax and came to this spot.

Over time, Kiana had done eight pulls on the standard gacha with her crystals, but unfortunately hadn't drawn any new armor. Including her first draw, where she obtained the pulse blade, she'd now done nine standard pulls. This meant that the next pull would be a guaranteed S-rank or higher Valkyrie armor.

With 240 crystals saved up, Kiana was only one day's worth of tasks away from her next pull. She was eager to get an S-rank Valkyrie armor, any S-rank would do.

But today, she decided to save her luck for tomorrow's pull, opting to avoid killing for now and just relax.

During this time, Kiana couldn't recall how many creatures she'd slain on the island. When she first arrived, the island was bustling with life. Now, it was eerily quiet. If it weren't for the thousand or so red dots on her phone, Kiana would almost think she'd exterminated all the wildlife on the island.

"It seems the day I can set sail isn't far off, but still no ships have come by."

Kiana gazed out at the empty sea, stretching endlessly with only the blue water and a few seagulls in sight. Perhaps due to the island's isolation, even the news birds from the One Piece world hadn't come by, so Kiana had no way to read a newspaper and determine the current timeline. The newspaper money she'd borrowed from Ilya had been utterly useless.