Let's Take My Share
Carrying the unconscious Aquaril, I returned to the hotel. Kanisia, perhaps truly remorseful, apologized even right before we left.
Since I had received such sweet compensation for it, I sincerely forgave her. After all, hadn't we enjoyed a pleasant time because of it?
Back at the hotel, I laid Aquaril on the bed and sat beside her, taking out the low-grade growth stone Kanisia had given me.
“Strength 10, Vitality 6.”
With this, I could raise my stats by a whopping 16 points. How should I distribute them so that word spreads I distributed them well?
“Let’s see…”
I opened my status window and Aquaril’s status window to compare Strength and Vitality stats.
Me: [Strength: 24(+8)][Vitality: 22(+8)]
Aquaril: [Strength: 32][Vitality: 30]
Thanks to the 8 points raised by the trait’s effect, my and Aquaril’s Strength and Vitality stats were both 32 and 30 points respectively. I hadn’t done it on purpose to match, but the stats being the same… Is it fate that Alan and Aquaril are meant to be together?!
Anyway, I started pondering.
“Stats shouldn’t be raised all at once.”
This was a tip I had learned while playing Fairy Masters.
Among the paid products sold in Fairy Masters, there was one for selling growth stones. There were many fairies to raise, but growth stones were always in short supply, so I had to buy the growth stone product every month.
Since I could buy a maximum of 5 times a month, to fight for the upper ranks, I had no choice but to buy them. If I didn’t buy even one, it would put me at a disadvantage in the competition.
By buying 5 growth stone products at once, I could get 250 low-grade growth stones. For reference, one growth stone product consisted of 50 low-grade, 30 medium-grade, 20 high-grade, and 10 highest-grade growth stones.
Anyway, back to the main point: If I get so many growth stones at once, I generally dump them all on the fairy I plan to raise.
But there’s one interesting point here: Fairies raised quickly by eating many growth stones always make mistakes in dungeon raids.
For example, even if they use a skill that can’t be evaded, it still activates evasion, or the fairy ignores tactics and acts rashly.
This caused minor damages to users, who protested to the developers, but only got the response that there was no problem. Many users thought the developers were too lazy to answer and just sent macro responses, and at one point the official Fairy Masters cafe had burned brightly.
But I thought differently here.
If, as the developers say, this isn’t a bug but something intentional?
Then, the answer was simple.
What we thought was a bug was actually something the developers intended.
Then, another question here: What exactly were the developers intending?
To find the answer, I played Fairy Masters for a long time and experimented. And I derived one result.
The developers want to add realism to their game!
Using growth stones on a fairy means increasing the fairy’s stats. For example, with Strength stat, it means the strength becomes stronger by the amount the stat is raised.
And thinking about this in reality, an interesting result comes out.
Let’s think of a god artificially increasing the power of a normal human. Then, can that person properly handle the strengthened power?
I don’t think so.
They can’t adapt to the suddenly strengthened power and will break anything they grab.
To use the strengthened power at will, one needs practice in handling that much power.
Although it’s long-winded, to summarize: The fairy cannot control their suddenly raised stats. Because they can’t control them, they perform what we think are bugs. And to control the raised stats, they need to raid dungeons many times to adapt to their power.
Through numerous tests, I concluded that up to 5 points per stat can be used skillfully by the fairy as usual.
Raise one stat by 5 points, raid dungeon 2 times, then raise the stat by 5 points again, and raid 2 more times.
This was one of the growth mechanisms I discovered in Fairy Masters.
“Nice.”
I edited the conclusion obtained through countless tests over the past two months well and uploaded it to YouTube. And the video views skyrocketed, and I earned a lot of money because of it. Since Fairy Masters was a global service, many foreign users clicked on the videos I uploaded.
“But just dividing them fairly 5 and 3…”
Anyway, back to the main point: Since there were 16 growth stones, my and Aquaril’s could be divided fairly 5 and 3. Then, there would be no problem controlling the raised stats.
“… Good.”
After pondering for a moment, I divided the low-grade growth stones into what I would eat and what Aquaril would eat. I took 16, and Aquaril got none.
If I had focused on raising Aquaril’s stats in Indigo, now I was going to focus on raising my own stats.
After all, in our current party, my role was tank, and Aquaril was dealer.
But if asked if I was properly fulfilling the tank role, it wasn’t the case.
Even with additional stat increases, my stats were low for acting as a tank in D-rank dungeons.
After all, a tank must hold the enemies in front well, but the problem was that due to low stats, I wasn’t doing that role properly.
Currently, I was not a pure tank but a variant evasion tank.
So far, we’ve been raiding dungeons without much issue, but the dungeon difficulty will continue to increase. If I remain a variant evasion tank, Aquaril will eventually be in danger.
The provocation skill I have, Greed (Mythic/Lv.2), is, strictly speaking, not a proper provocation skill. Because the effect of the Greed skill is to redirect the attack on the enemy to my side when the enemy attacks my ally.
In other words, if the enemy doesn’t attack but rushes my allies blindly, I won’t be able to pull the enemy’s aggro.
To continue fighting in the front line with my fairies and protecting them in the future, I needed to at least do my share.
So, sorry to Aquaril, but this time I decided to prioritize raising my own stats.
Gulp!
Without hesitation, I swallowed 10 low-grade growth stones.
Then, my Strength stat rose to 37 (29+8) points, and Vitality to 35 (27+8) points. The remaining 6 low-grade growth stones were to be consumed after raiding the dungeon 2 more times.
“Speaking of which, I need to get attack skills too…”
Currently, both me and Aquaril had no attack skills. Actually, if Kanisia hadn’t helped catch the ghost clown in Clowns’ Grave, we would have had to retreat as is.
“After all, I should get Aquaril’s rather than mine?”
Since Aquaril is the dealer in our party, I need to get the attack skills she can use.
“If it’s a single-target attack skill… well, Ki is the staple.”
The Ki skill is a skill exclusive to the sword class, and despite being close-range, it can attack distant enemies, making it an essential skill.
Since its grade is High right above Normal, it won’t be too hard to obtain.
For reference, distinguishing between Normal and High grades isn’t difficult. For single-target attack skills, it’s Normal; for area-of-effect, it’s High.
Anyway, most users in Fairy Masters give Ki skill to sword class users and raise them. With just one well-grown Ki skill, they can skip the mid-game.
“This one, I should ask Kanisia for.”
I didn’t want to depend on Kanisia yet, but if I wanted to grow quickly, I had no choice. I’ll return this debt double later.
“Ugh…”
“Eh? Aquaril, are you awake?”
At that moment, Aquaril, who had been sleeping like a sleeping princess in the forest, woke up, and I stopped my thoughts and approached her.
“Ma… Master?”
“Eh, it’s me. How’s your body? Are you okay?”
“Master…”
“Eh, yeah yeah. I’m here.”
“Hic… I’m sorry, Master…”
“Aigoo. You didn’t do anything wrong, why are you crying? I’m upset.”
Aquaril cried like a child, hugging me tightly. While crying, she kept apologizing to me. I tried to soothe her by patting her back, but once her crying started, she couldn’t stop.
This…
With that sight, I let out a bitter smile.
In the end, I wouldn’t be able to raid the dungeon today.
*****
In a dark room, people were gathered around a round table. The fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling were very dim, making it impossible to distinguish the people’s faces.
“How did the Blood Axe King’s abduction go?”
A man wrapped in a cloak opened his mouth. Perhaps because he was cautious, even though the room was already dark and he couldn’t see faces, the man pulled his hood deep over his face, hiding his features.
To the question of the man in the cloak, the woman sitting opposite shook her head.
“It’s difficult. He is satisfied with the current Chinnimoni and his current position. Moreover, our righteous cause ultimately forces him to sacrifice, so he won’t join us. And when we sent a messenger, he didn’t listen to the end and killed him on the spot.”
There was anger in the woman’s words. Because the messenger she sent to the Blood Axe King was her fairy.
I thought at least he would listen, but the Blood Axe King killed his fairy on the spot. This was information confirmed through the spies planted in the Blood Axe King’s palace.
“What a waste. The Blood Axe King’s talent is the real deal.”
Then, a man sitting next to the cloaked man opened his mouth. The voice was light and high, not at all seeming like it was a waste, unlike the words “what a waste.”
He too wore his hood deep, but since he didn’t cover down to his chin, a long scar connecting to the corner of his left cheek was visible.
“Yeah. His talent is the real deal. To leave a scar like that on your face.”
The man with the scar received the words of the cloaked man.
“…”
Then, the face of the scarred man hardened. He had been angry at the previous statement.
But the man in the cloak continued without caring if the scarred man was angry or not.
“Then, we have no choice but to proceed with Plan B. How is the preparation going?”
“Preparation is perfect. As soon as the Crow gives the order, I will spread the news so that it reaches the Blood Axe King’s ear.”
“Yeah. I’ll report to the Crow.”
To the woman’s answer, the man in the cloak nodded. And he surveyed the people gathered in this place.
“We must be thorough with our preparations. The Blood Axe King and his subordinate fairies are not easy opponents. Also, his subordinate masters are not ordinary.”
The man in the cloak looked at the woman.
“Among them, Princess Lora, you must handle her. No matter what happens, you must not let Princess Lora approach the Blood Axe King.”
“Yes. I will keep that in mind.”
The woman nodded her head. Other princes and princesses were not easy opponents either, but Princess Lora was especially dangerous among them.