Chapter 50
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Underwater Garden Melrip (7)
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Seiren took the parchment and scanned it expressionlessly for a moment before closing her eyes and opening her mouth.
"♪~♩♪♩♫ … ♬~"
A song without any lyrics pierced straight into their ears.
-Whoa?
-Wow, what is this? Why does it feel so good??
-I wanna record this, for real??
Glancing at the chat window filled with awed reactions, Cheisi closed her eyes.
The melody was making her eyelids grow heavy on their own.
Gradually, the sound of rain began to mix into the delicate, flowing song.
Looking out from the Bard's Guild, it was really raining.
'This song is the Melody that Calls the Rain, right.'
You have heard the song 'Melody that Calls the Rain' from the Siren Melrip of Melody.
Your attack power permanently increases by 10.
Her attack power had shot up significantly.
'Attack power 10?'
Cheisi's eyes sparkled as she checked the message. A permanent boost of 10— that was huge.
Now her base attack power was 54. Just 1 point shy of users who'd grinded sub-quests all day to raise their stats.
-Attack power 10 what????
-Giving that much at once?
-? That's three days of sub-quest stats in one go??
The viewers were stunned. Cheisi figured they had every reason to be.
In Ariant World, growth had meant grinding sub-quests up until now. She knew there were only a couple NPCs in Runein Village and Azelchen handing them out. They took forever, but aside from leveling up, they were considered the best way to boost stats.
'Growth methods really are diverse here.'
From the elixir under the smithy that raised stats to this 10-point attack boost— it made her think the current obsession with sub-quests stemmed from a lack of info in these early launch days.
Once the song ended, Seiren began cleaning the Bard's Guild all alone, looking utterly forlorn.
'Is she mad...'
She seemed pretty sulky.
"...Other adventurers will come eventually. Just wait a bit, and the guild will be bustling."
Cheisi sneaked a peek at the chat window.
-RPGs always stick you with bard stuff lololol
-Bards are the best, as expected.
A few viewers were already itching to jump in, their chats buzzing with excitement.
"………♪."
Melrip let out a tiny, brief hum, as if she'd understood.
Not long after leaving the Bard's Guild, Cheisi realized something was off.
Her stamina was draining slowly.
'Because of the rain?'
Ducking into the nearest building in the village, the stamina drain stopped.
"Looks like the rain drains stamina."
Cheisi checked her remaining stamina and pulled a potion from her inventory, downing it.
But even after chugging all her potions, her stamina didn't recover.
Debuff Status
Your body is rusted and cannot be healed.
'A debuff?'
Checking her status, she saw the Rust debuff with a bit of time left.
'From the rain too?'
Rusting Rain
The harsh rain called by the Siren Melrip of Melody.
Type: Environmental
Exposure to rain continuously reduces stamina and applies the 'Rust' debuff.
Her guess was spot on.
"The rain's the culprit, as expected."
The rain summoned by Seiren came with the Rust debuff that blocked healing. That's why the potions hadn't worked.
Waiting out of the rain, the debuff wore off. Cheisi drank another potion, and this time her stamina recovered properly.
"Wonder how long this rain will last."
-No idea?
-Gotta bring Melrip a different song?
"Nothing at the Bard's Guild, though."
Braving the rain to search buildings around the village turned up zilch.
"F-For now, let's wait it out. Might stop soon."
Cheisi plopped down on a rickety chair inside the building.
"Ugh, my ears and tail are soaked."
The effect of A Stroll in the Water only applied to the water in the Underwater Garden, not this rain.
The unpleasant dampness clung to her body.
Cheisi took a moment to enjoy the patter of rain while meticulously drying her ears and tail.
'Feels kinda like grooming...'
It was just wiping off water, but she couldn't help feeling like a cat.
Shwaaa—.
The rain kept pouring.
Raindrops bounced off Oolian's hat blocking the small lake leading to the Underwater Garden, creating an odd, rhythmic plip-plop.
Quite a beautiful atmosphere.
"Can't just sit here forever, though."
Cheisi stared blankly at the downpour.
With constant damage and no potion recovery, she couldn't move in it.
Even thinking of getting another song for Seiren to change the weather was impossible without one.
She even tried covering her head with items to block the rain, but the damage came anyway. Not that she'd held out much hope.
Anyway, she needed a way through this rain.
"Rain means umbrella, right."
Cheisi pulled the Jellyfish Umbrella crafting parchment from her inventory.
It required an item called Oolian's Jellyfish Membrane.
Seeing Oolian's hat repel the raindrops, it seemed like it'd definitely work against the rusting rain if made into an umbrella.
"Problem is, it needs loot from the jellyfish."
No way to hunt Oolian.
"If it weren't for the healing block, I could probably fight it..."
Right now, no way to pierce Oolian's ridiculous passive.
-lololol but fr, why do you think you'd win without the passive. Lv30 elite.
-Good luck
-Try hard enough maybe?
-Rain dance til sunrise go
The chat was full of nonsense. No standout ideas.
'Can't move in the rain... Huh?'
Suddenly, Cheisi noticed her stamina ticking down bit by bit.
'Not in the rain...?'
Wondering what was up, she spotted a massive bird outside the building, preening its wet feathers.
A familiar bird.
The corpse bird from the Falling Star Island. This one was much bigger.
A corpse bird is nearby.
Stamina is slowly being consumed.
The familiar alert popped up too.
"What the heck is this guy's deal."
It shows up now and then, sucks stamina, then flees. Ugly thing too—ash-gray all over with freakishly big eyes.
Peeyo!
Cheisi stared at the thin cry of the corpse bird. A fun idea had just hit her.
-Not killing it? It's draining fast?
"Any way to make use of this thing? It's a bird."
-Being a bird why.
"It flies."
This one's pretty big. Big enough to carry a person easily.
"Think I could ride it?"
-Doubt it;;
-Just try
Cheisi tried forcing her way onto the corpse bird.
Peeyooo! Peeyoooooo!
It resisted fiercely.
Once on, it didn't even glide—just rolled on the ground, screeching to get her off.
"Seems like it can handle my weight, at least."
Not going down easy, though. Before, she'd have chased it off or killed it for loot by now.
'Surprise mount maybe?'
But now she had Ambush.
If it wouldn't let her on willingly, maybe use Ambush mid-flight to force it.
As she pondered, the corpse bird flapped off into the rain.
Cheisi bolted out, chasing its shadow.
The distance grew.
'Ambush won't reach...!'
Too far up now; Ambush wouldn't cast. Needed to close the gap.
Cheisi hurled her dagger at the top of a nearby building.
Her body yanked up, closing in on the airborne bird.
"Ambush...!"
"Peeyoooo!!"
The skill activated.
The corpse bird screamed. Cheisi gripped whatever she could on the thrashing bird to stay on.
After clinging stubbornly, the girl finally managed to mount it properly.
"...Not seeing much."
Overcast sky, rain blurring vision. No new info from up here.
Still, good to know Ambush could mount birds. Might come in handy someday.
Cheisi decided to dismount soon.
Riding it in the rusting rain was draining stamina fast.
Plus, it wasn't cooperating.
Peeyooooooo!!!!
Flipping, spinning, gaining altitude to shake her off.
Now the crash risk felt real.
Grappling Hook was on cooldown. And from how it slammed during movement, it'd probably worsen fall damage.
Cheisi looked below.
The big pond leading to the Underwater Garden.
'...Gotta land in water.'
Oolian blocked it, but wouldn't bounce a top-down fall.
Bard's Guild was warp-marked, so she could return anytime.
Cheisi took a deep breath and leaped from the bird toward the Underwater Garden.
'Whoop—.'
A huge splash, body soaked through.
Thanks to A Stroll in the Water, no discomfort.
The Underwater Garden came into Cheisi's view.
'...Huh?'
Something felt off.
Deep Melrip Water
The water filling the Underwater Garden had darkened. Even the name changed.
'Deep Melrip Water?'
Looking up, the Rusting Rain was seeping into the Underwater Garden.
'Rain changed the environment?'
A fish flopped weakly past Cheisi.
Familiar explosive marshmallow. But different.
Looked ready to burst before, now deflated like a popped balloon.
Fizzled Explosive Marshmallow
Name changed.
'Environment shift changed the monsters too.'
Cheisi smacked her lips in disappointment at the shrunken explosive marshmallow.
'This was a pretty useful item.'
A throwable exploding fish.
Good combat consumable, maybe even for map progression. Now unusable.
Not just the explosive marshmallow changed.
Rusted Full-Body Alloy Squid
Broken-Will Mecha Swordfish
All the Underwater Garden monsters' names were altered.
Bits of rust here and there, speeds noticeably slowed.
"All monsters have slow... and healing block."
50% slow. And healing block.
Every monster in the Underwater Garden bore the debuff effects. Clearly from the seeping rain.
At the same time, Cheisi and the viewers had the same thought.
-What about Oolian?
-Does healing block apply?
Cheisi swam through the Underwater Garden toward the giant jellyfish Oolian.
Dodging tentacles to get close, then checked its info.
As expected.
"...It has the healing block effect."
The slow and healing block debuffs were on Oolian too.