138 It’s time

"I found a great way to do it."

It has been two full days since I started fulfilling the requirements for learning "Dragon King Sword-drawing".

But finally, a breakthrough came.

Before I forget the flash of inspiration, I spoke the words to organize my thoughts in my three-days-awake fuzzy head.

"Transform's buff is 3.6x the stats, and Spirit Possession's buff is 4.5x, right? If the First Slash is Soldier in Transform, most of the time it will not be a killing blow even if it is a crit, but sometimes it will be a killing blow if it is Silver. And if I don't get a crit with Soldier, I may not be able to kill it even if I do Rook with Second Slash. On the other hand, in the case of Spirit Possession, for Soldier, it is possible to kill them off if a crit happens, and in the case of Silver, it is impossible not to kill them off even if a crit doesn't happen..."

"My Second, you said "if" seven times."

"Ahh, shut up, what, are you from the Knight Order of the Obvious?"

"Fuhahaha! Not at all. So, what's this great idea? "

"If the First Slash is Soldier in Transform, they will not be killed off. If the Second Slash is Rook in Spirit Possession, there's nothing I can't kill with this."

"Ohh..."

After Transform, I make the First Slash with the Soldier Sword-drawing skill, then I run around with the sword drawn, Transform is released after 420 seconds, activate Spirit Possession, and make the Second Slash with the Rook Sword-drawing skill. This is it."

This method, to tell the truth, was a blind spot.

A similar method was to use a buffing potion, but it is necessary to sheath the katana when drinking the potion, and because of the specifications of [Sword-drawing,] that little doping before the Second Slash does not work well with the acquisition requirements.

Hence, the idea of potion buffing was out of the question.

However, after a series of failures, I no longer cared about anything else, and I started thinking again about techniques that I could use as Second, and came up with the idea of switching between "Transform"and "Spirit Possession".

"How long is this going to take? "

"The cool down time for Transform is 230 seconds at 9th grade, 420 seconds during Transform, and 250 seconds at 9th grade for Spirit Possession. The acquisition condition requires 50 repetitions, so if you add 250 seconds to 420 seconds, multiply by 50, and divide by 60 twice, you'll get...Uhh."

"It will be about nine and a half hours, My Lord."

"What took me two days to exhaust myself could be done in only nine and a half hours."

"How sad, right?! "

I was happy to find a game's unique and unrealistic shortcut at the last minute, but at the same time, I felt a whirlwind of inexpressible emotions, I wonder why?

"Haa... let's just get it over with and go to bed."

"And when you do, please do it on my lap, My Lord."

"Yay."

No good, I thought I was smiling, but my facial muscles didn't even twitch.

I moved like a zombie, plodding along and going through the process of "Transform" and "Spirit Possession".

"The End."

Exactly nine and a half hours later.

I was able to learn the "Dragon King Sword-drawing" skill.

[Sword-drawing] is a skill that is relatively easy to learn for beginners because the " monsters in the same level range" that frequently appear in the learning conditions are still weak. However, in Mobius, the average person who acquired a katana was usually an intermediate-level player or above. Therefore, it was often a struggle in its own right.

However, players who could get help from others, such as being buffed from behind, could learn it quickly. I could have asked Ras to buff me up, but I have a ... small promise, you could even call it 'mini'. It felt like cheating to ask for help from anyone other than monsters and spirits.

It seemed that the alt-characters of the more advanced players had devised a way to bring a katana from the main character and learn it early in their growth, but unfortunately, in this world, that was not possible. Then, why don't you buy a sword at an auction? To begin with, however, there are not really many katanas in circulation in the kingdom of Castall. In fact, not a single piece of tamahagane or iron sand could be found.

I guess the only way to learn it was to go to that island after all.

"Ahh, this is annoying...no, well, it's mini-annoying..."

I'm especially going lengths to hide my real motives.

I'll get back to that islander bunch. I'll really show you.

...And so, dead tired, I fell asleep. I think. I was too tired, so I don't really remember for sure.

Then a few hours later.

Anko gently woke me up and I began to work on filling in the last of the learning conditions.

"Dragon Horse Sword-drawing"――This one is extremely difficult to learn.

The condition is "to hit 100 consecutive First Slashes against the same target".

The "same target" is the tricky part. Not "of the same type." In other words, it is not enough to hit the several armored knights that are swarming out of the gate, but rather to keep hitting this one armored knight in front of you 100 times with the First Slash.

Hence, if you beat them by mistake, you are back to square one.

In addition, 100 times "consecutively" is also a pain in the ass. It is a series of First Slashes, meaning that you cannot defend or parry in between. Taking potions, for example, is not allowed.

The sword must be drawn, slashed, and sheathed, and this must be repeated purely 100 consecutive times. Of course, once an attack misses, the consecutive condition is no longer met.

It is indeed a difficult condition to acquire.

But... truth be told, it's not enough to be scared of.

――Around the time when the [Sword-drawing]skill was first implemented in the third major update of Mobius Online, the hardcore players, who had already begun to identify the conditions for learning the "Dragon Horse Sword-drawing technique,"each repeated trial and error, shared information with each other, and within a month, they had developed three methods.

One was to steadily repeat "Soldier Sword-drawing" against a boss with an automatic recovery passive skill.

It was called Shura. It was a truly masterful method of knowing the boss's movements perfectly, avoiding his attacks perfectly, and continuing to land your First Slash. Naturally, the probability of success was low. However, perhaps the high difficulty of the game tickled the hearts of hardcore players, and several videos were uploaded showing speed running 100 First Slash against the most powerful bosses of the time.

The second was a simple 100-round recovery-strike using a player character.

By requesting other players to heal the opposing player with a potion every time you hit him with "Soldier Sword-drawing", it was quite a cheaty thing to do. The only disadvantage would be the high cost of potions, but if the opponent was a healer, it would trivialize the price for the potions. I think most players at that time learned "Dragon Horse Sword-drawing" in this way. However, perhaps because it was so outrageous, the conditions were changed in a subsequent emergency update to "for the same target (monster)," making this method no longer usable.

And... lastly, the third.

This is the method of acquisition I'm trying to do this time.

The easiest way to learn was banned, and the players, who still wanted to make things easier, half-heartedly devised a way to do so――

"Called mochi-making."

The principle is simple. It's basically the second method but with monsters instead of players.

The moment you hit the First Slash against the monster, you have someone else throw a potion against the monster. In this way, the "sequence" of learning conditions is never interrupted.

The name comes from the way they repeat "slash, potion, slash, potion" ... together, which resembles "Mochi-Making".

However, simply doing this mochi-making strategy alone does not work. The monsters run away or move freely to attack.

Therefore, proper preparation is necessary.

That is――'Wall blocking'.

In short... find a wall with a gap of just the right size, bring in a monster with a behavior pattern that always chooses to melee attack as long as it's not down, and repeat the slash from the other side of the wall. Since the threat will always be directed toward you, the monster will try to come toward you with melee attacks but will be blocked by the wall and will not be able to move. Then, have someone keep throwing potions at it from behind it.

...That's the overview.

And that habit of melee attack applies to the armored knights standing at the gates. In addition, the walls of Isoreus are in a state of disrepair, with holes and crevices scattered all over the place.

Truly the perfect place. That is why I chose this place to learn [Sword-drawing].

"In other words, if you have as much cumulative experience as I do now, you can learn all Sword-drawing skills just by fighting the gatekeepers of Isoreus."

"...I have often wondered about this in the past, but you are truly a mystery. My Second, you see things as if they were the truth of the world. Your eyes see the big picture without a single glimmer of doubt."

"I'm not sure, but maybe you're complimenting me? "

"I am."

"Then it's okay."

"My Lord, the vials are ready."

"OK."

Now comes the final piece to learn.

It didn't take more than a few dozen minutes, though.

"What now? "

"I've learned them all."

"...I-Is that so?"

As soon as I got home, I happily reported it to Yukari, and she got taken aback.

Three days and a little more before learning was completed. It took a little longer than expected, but it was still fast enough. I was a little impatient with the promise of a week's time, so I worked really hard, but three all-nighters seemed like overkill.

The extra three and a half days will be used to gain experience. In order to attain 9th grade in all [Sword-drawing] skills, the experience that I have been accumulating is not enough.

The quickest way to do this would be to circle Isoreus with Anko in a gung-ho fashion. Keeping a pace of 40 minutes per lap and doing about 20 laps per day, I should be able to meet the deadline with time to spare.

"All right, I've still got some time left today, so I'll go for as many rounds as I can, and then get a good night's sleep tonight."

Without speaking to anyone, I declared and returned to Isoreus again.

As I was leaving, I thought I heard Silvia and Yukari say, "That useless smile," and "like a fish out of water," sounding as if they were exasperated, but unfortunately, I didn't have time to worry about those girls at the moment.

The world's number one had promised that in a week's time, he would make all of his [Sword-drawing] skills 9th grade. Or was it to learn them all? Oh well. That's what I decided anyway. This absolutely must be fulfilled even at the risk of one's own life. There is no way I can say after a week, "My Dragon King Sword-drawing is only 8th grade," it would be shameful. Whether sleepy or lazy, whether spears fall or Darkness Magic rains down, all 9th grades will always be achieved. This is a promise between me and me. A promise that cannot be broken, a promise to risk one's life. A promise of stubbornness and pride. Yes, of the guts, of the fierceness, of the soul, so to speak...

"Mini..."

...Oops, truth took a peek.

Three days later.

I made 23 rounds a day with my overflowing and mysterious motivation, and easily achieved the 9th rank in all [Sword-drawing] skills.

I was currently looking for a mini-skirt for Akaneko at a high-end clothing store on the main street of Vinceton, the royal capital, before heading to the Land of the Eight Swords.

Amazingly, I found something even better.

"Give me this, this, this, and this too. Give me this one as well. And this one too."

"A-As you wish."

I asked the clerk to have everything gift-wrapped.

I bought too much. However, this can be said to be unavoidable.

I bought a miniskirt hakama set, a miniskirt miko outfit set, and a miniskirt yukata set with a purse. Each had a cute long version, so I bought one mini and one long one. The total was six outfits.

"I knew it."

I paid a rather lumpy sum, left the store, and said a couple of words.

This was something I had always felt from my previous life, and I felt the same way in this world.

Mobius favors female characters too much!

I guess it's the same with all VRMMORPGs, but the outfits and equipment for female characters were just so cute. There was a wide variety, from the kingly to the evil ones, and many of them were very strong. In contrast, the equipment for male characters was rugged or what have you. That said, some of them were cool, but they were clearly fewer in number than their female counterparts.

Well, I mean, what the heck... I have to admit, I was jealous.

"…Huh? Could it be...?"

I suddenly began to think.

In Mobius, only female characters could equip specialized equipment for female characters, but perhaps in this world――

"...No, let's not do that."

I pulled the proverbial side brake on my thoughts because I felt like there was a line that should not be crossed.

Rather than that, what I should be thinking about now is the Land of the Eight Swords.

I've gotten all the [Sword-drawing] to 9th grade, so now I can do whatever I want.

I don't know, but I can't help but laugh.

...Just you wait, Samurais.

"Fu, fufu, hahahaha! "

It's time――!