Trading Gimmick Secrets, More Hunting

Seeing Mistaken Fox visibly pale at his words caused Kirou to inwardly nod. His hunch truly was correct when he guessed that Mistaken Fox had ended up with a class change due to finding a gimmick. As it stood, Kirou was curious about what kind of gimmick it was, even if it was useless to him.

Instead of pressing on now that he's discovered Mistaken Fox's secret and confirmed his suspicions, Kirou once again pointed in another direction, prompting Mistaken Fox to slightly calm down before staring in that direction. Once again, Kirou made sure to explain to him.

"In that direction, roughly two and a half kilometers away is another creature of similar strength as the minotaur and poisonous scorpion we just killed. Assuming you want different monsters for each kill, that's the closest one to us. If you are ok with similar monsters, however, there are a few more minotaurs and scorpions a lot closer." As Kirou said this, he completely ignored the shock on Mistaken Fox's face.

Off to the side, Shadow Arachne would glance at the two players every once in a while as it played with its spider silk. At times, it would show a human-like look of curiosity on its face as it stared at Mistaken Fox's change in expression before showing another human-like expression of shrugging it off to concentrate on its spider silk. It was currently practicing how to change its spider silk's properties. So far it has only just figured out the combination for <sticky web> and it's trying to create a few more, especially one similar to its master's wires.

When Mistaken Fox heard Kirou's words, he completely shook off his feeling of shock at Kirou before carefully contemplating his words. Mistaken Fox also took a look at one of the traits for his Arcane Summoner Class, <Chimera Creation>. Along with this trait, the Arcane Summoner has the traits <Medallion Mastery> and <Parallel Mind>.

<Chimera Creation>: This trait allows the bearer to create a new creature to act as their summoned beast by sacrificing ten beast medallions. The resulting creature will start from level 1 but will possess the ability to grow, an ability not shared with other summoner types. The result of the creation depends on the creatures sacrificed but two staple routes have been provided to the bearer; ten similar base medallions and ten different base medallions.

Similar Base Medallion- When this route is followed, a greater being of that same species by three grades is normally created as a result. As long as the same base species was used and the creatures have different elements, the greater creature will possess all abilities at the price of summoned time. The grade can be upgraded from three to five should the medallions used be of higher grades from previous creations.

Different Base Medallion- When this route is followed, a chimera-like creature is brought into existence. The creature will be five grades above the materials used but summon time will be low and there is a chance that the creature will disobey its master. It's highly advised the master gains the creature's loyalty before it grows too powerful, lest the creature will constantly try to devour the master and if it succeeds, it will essentially break the contract with the arcane summoner and gain its freedom. (It is highly advised this is prevented as said creature will retain its ability to grow within the wild.) Loyalty can be obtained by issuing a challenge to the creature where both summoner and creature will battle within an illusory world based on both of their minds. Both summoner and creature will be set to the same level and they will have to battle for superiority. Should the summoner win, he will obtain the complete loyalty of the creature. Should the summoner lose, the creature will become wilder and more disobedient until it eventually devours the summoner, in reality, breaking the contract and gaining its freedom.

Looking over back his trait and at the three creature medallions in his possession, Mistaken Fox grit his teeth before speaking, "Honestly, I'd like to try for ten different creatures, but looking at the warning attached to my trait, I think I should obtain more scorpions or minotaurs. Looking at the three monster medallions I have, I think we should stick to the minotaurs." After Mistaken Fox said this, he released a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

Hearing his words caused Kirou to raise an eyebrow in intrigue before shrugging it off before turning to face another direction. Afterward, he started walking in that direction before speaking, "Let's go then. I'll take you to hunt another eight minotaurs then."

Following his words, Mistaken Fox chased after Kirou, followed by Shadow Arachne guarding the rear. As it followed, if one was paying close attention to the half meter talk spider, they would realize that it was showing a human-like expression of excitement, probably at the thought of bullying stronger monsters.

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The trio had been scouring the nameless forests in the Stone Mountain Range for a few hours now. So far they've already taken down five more minotaurs, bringing Mistaken Fox's minotaur medallion count up to seven. The trio would have already finished the hunt had they not been interrupted on a few occasions. These interruptions came from a bunch of scorpion monsters joining the fights. Because of this, the trio had to take them down as well so while Mistaken Fox's minotaur medallion count rose to seven, his scorpion medallion count was now at four as well.

By their original agreement, Kirou had already aided Mistaken Fox in taking down the ten monsters he originally asked for, but Kirou was still leading the group in finding more minotaurs. This could be attributed to Kirou's curiosity. He wanted to see just what Mistaken Fox planned to do with the ten creature medallions after he obtained them. To this, Mistaken Fox had agreed to show him.

And like that, Kirou, Mistaken Fox, and Shadow Arachne were now facing the eighth minotaur on the list. As usual, Shadow Arachne was responsible for restricting its movements whenever an opening presented itself as Kirou led the creature around by the nose. As for Mistaken Fox, he was staying within stealth until the creature was thoroughly bound, then he would join the fight and quickly shave down the creature's health before Kirou and Shadow Arachne gave him some room to complete the taming process.

As this procedure was repeated so many times for the day, the group was now pretty in sync with their movements. Nothing needed to be said and as soon as the creature was obtained, they would just move on. This battle only lasted ten minutes before the minotaur was once again subdued. Instead of moving ahead as he normally did, Kirou turned to face a certain direction, this time with a peculiar expression on his face.

Mistaken Fox saw this expression and couldn't stop himself from asking, "What's up, Mr. Kirou? You've found another minotaur, right? Why is your expression so strange?" Instead of answer Mistaken Fox's question, Kirou gazed in that specific direction for a bit longer before turning to face him.

As Kirou stared and Mistaken Fox, he took his time in thinking about how he should say his next words before he opened his mouth, "I've found three minotaurs within that direction." Hearing his words, Mistaken Fox was slightly startled. Just as he was about to speak up, however, Kirou raised his hand to stop him before continuing his words, "It's just that they are currently locked in a fight with what appears to be a scorpion-like creature. This scorpion is obviously stronger than the ones we've been fighting. If I'm not mistaken about this, I think it is a boss."

Hearing his words almost caused Mistaken Fox to jump in excitement. That was his feeling until he forcibly calmed himself down before giving Kirou a strange look. Seeing this look, Kirou only adopted a simple smile on his face, as if anticipating the question Mistaken Fox was about to ask.

After about a minute, Mistaken Fox spoke up, "While I am grateful for the help you've been providing me, I'm quite curious. How are you able to pinpoint the locations of monsters from such a distance and accurately point out what they are? And how are you so sure of what's going on in that direction with those minotaurs and the scorpion?"

With how mysterious Kirou was acting the whole time they were together, he was sure Mistaken Fox would eventually ask this question. Instead of being offended, the simple smile on Kirou's face turned into a full-blown grin. It was akin to the smile of a villain witnessing someone fall into his meticulously planned trap after many difficulties. Seeing his smile caused Mistaken Fox to slightly narrow his eyes but he kept waiting for Kirou's answer, curious about what it would be.

Eventually, Kirou did relax his face a bit before speaking, "Just consider it a by-product of a skill I possess. Haven't you noticed during the fights that there would be times my body just disappears for a brief moment?" To this question, Mistaken Fox thought back to the fights they've had before nodding. Kirou then continued, "That was me using the skill. As for how I obtained it, you don't need to know but it allows me to enter a shadow of this world. While I act within that shadow world, time on this side is basically flowing so slow that it could be mistaken for instantaneous movement. During the time I'm on that side, at the expense of quite a bit of my MP, I scout roughly one to two kilometers around our fight area for threats or potential targets and it's during that time I ran across the four creatures facing each other."

Hearing his words caused a sound to leak from Mistaken Fox's mouth. He had never heard of such a skill and almost didn't want to believe what Kirou said but this has happened too many times for him to deny it. From the looks of it, this is an amazing movement skill but Kirou has turned it into something more and he was now benefiting from it. He could only stare at Kirou with an incredulous face. Seeing his reaction, Kirou started to chuckle.

After about a minute or so, Kirou finally started walking in that direction, being flanked by Shadow Arachne on his right and the still incredulous Mistaken Fox on his left. Mistaken Fox was sure that this player that was helping him should be some professional player roaming the world, pretending to be normal.

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As the trio arrived at the area with the four monsters still in combat, Kirou once again took a dip in a nearby tree's shadow to search the area. After finding out that there were no other threats within the area, he returned to his original position. As usual, while this was a few moments for him, it was just an instant for Mistaken Fox and Shadow Arachne. The only thing to show Kirou did anything was the fact that his MP bar dropped by half within that instant.

Since the area lacked any threats and the four creatures locked in combat had a while to go before their health dropped low enough to take advantage of, Kirou decided to talk to Mistaken Fox, "Since we've got some time, how about we trade information?"

Hearing his words, Mistaken Fox looked at Kirou in confusion as Kirou continued to speak, "It should be obvious that we've both found out some hidden gimmick about this world. I only want to propose a trade. While I'm not sure if I can make use of yours, I'm quite positive just knowing mine will help you out within the future."

Hearing Kirou's words and seeing how confident his expression was as he said it cause Mistaken Fox to raise an eyebrow. He then contemplated for a bit before he spoke as well, "Alright, I can agree to that. On one condition though."

"And what's that?" asked Kirou with a knowing expression.

"You go first. If it isn't something I can find useful, I don't have to reveal my findings," replied Mistaken Fox in a calm manner. While he was sure Kirou wouldn't be trying to play him, he wanted to know just what Kirou discovered beforehand, even if he was planning to share his gimmick regardless.

"Naturally, I have no problems with that. Before I start though, I'd like to ask; on what gameplay setting are you playing Immortal Era on?" asked Kirou with a peculiar expression on his face. Mistaken Fox failed to see this expression as he was currently bewildered by the question Kirou had just asked him.

Eventually, Mistaken Fox did open his mouth and replied, "I'm currently playing the game on Semi-auto. Just like everyone, I started on auto but it became a pain to use when I needed to hide. It was only after obtaining a hint from an NPC did I change to semi-auto and started seeing the value in it. Why did you ask?"

After hearing Mistaken Fox's words, Kirou nodded his head at the man. It seems Mistaken Fox was one of the few people to pay attention to the NPCs in this game. Had he paid attention even closer, he might have spotted what Kirou was about to tell him on his own.

"Well, it goes a little like this..." Following that line, Kirou started to explain in detail how the different gameplay modes affect many aspects of Immortal Era such as the exp received from killing monsters, using skills, and crafting items among other things. This convo went on for ten minutes before Kirou finally stopped speaking, after which Mistaken Fox had his jaw hanging off the floor.

Mistaken Fox had known that playing on semi-auto mode had brought him some benefits but he never knew the benefits were like this. If Kirou's theories and experience were anything to go by then just playing on semi-auto mode has saved him a whole lot of heartache as he was leveling up over the past two weeks. He even went as far as trying to imagine what would have happened should he have used "manual mode." On second thought, he dropped that idea the moment it sprouted in his mind as he could tell it would have failed for him.

He had to admit, the secret he figured out paled in comparison. Mistaken Fox could only release a sigh while looking at Kirou who was grinning like a maniac. To Kirou, such a secret meant nothing as he was benefitting from it from day one but to others, it would separate the experts from the novices. After another minute of contemplating, Mistaken Fox finally turned to Kirou.

"Looking at what you just told me, this seems like an unfair trade. To compensate you for it, not only will I reveal the gimmick I found, but I'll also tell you about my class, the <Arcane Summoner>." When Mistaken Fox said this, the maniacal smile on Kirou's face, which didn't seem like it could get any bigger, actually grew. Mistaken Fox stared at this face and knew he was genuinely tricked but he could only shake his head and get over it.

Off to the side, Shadow Arachne was once again playing with its spider silk while waiting for the order to ambush the four monsters duking it out. From time to time, it would cast its gaze away from its spider silk and onto Kirou, seeing his maniacal smile. In its young mind, the half-meter tall spider could tell that its master is up to no good but as it couldn't really follow their conversation, it had no idea what its master had done this time. At best, it only cast a gaze filled with sympathy towards Mistaken Fox who looked defeated before turning back to play with its spider silk.

Finally finished with how to formulate his words, Mistaken Fox opened his mouth, "The gimmick I found has to do with certain locations scattered all over the map. As long as you head to the location and use it as it was intended, you'll receive a permanent boost to your stats...."

Mistaken Fox's words were interrupted as an explosion rocked the nameless forest the trio and four creatures were currently in. The blast originated from the area where the four creatures are fighting, prompting the trio to stare in that direction.