Chapter 52: The Capital Awaits!

I felt very satisfied seeing my newly acquired Status Window. I know of its effects too, the running I spent today didn't feel as tiresome, nor take as long. My Speed stat almost doubled thanks to the flat fifteen point gain from the Emergency Quest. Speed is pretty hard to come by. Depending on the character in the games, your speed could increase anywhere from 0.5 to 2. Some cases beyond that. It looks like I receive one point in Speed every time I level up. I'm already seeing some stats in the hundreds now too!

I have no idea how this gets compared to fighting with monsters. I'm still too young to consider such a thing. Maybe once I begin my weapon training I would be able to test that out. At least comparing this against Father when he adjusted his power down to Level 12, I'm only around 60% HP, and 10-20% Attack Damage, compared to him. He did have equipment on yes, but just seeing that stark difference alone, I couldn't help but shudder how much of a monster Giliath Osborne truly is. He has one of the highest health pools in the entire series, if you exclude those final boss-type monsters that can easily have over millions and millions of health, depending on the difficulty you play.

I even cleared Reverie on Abyss, and it was a very satisfying feeling doing so. The very last boss's stats were no joke. It was Lv250, and had over seven million health that you had to whittle down. There are characters that could easily cheese bosses like this, making it so they never get a turn. Since this life of mine doesn't have the AT-delay or turn-based system, it makes me wonder how battles will go. Will I just simply outspeed my targets, making them unable to land a single hit on me? Imagine Quartz being able to alter your physical parameters, allowing you to evade attacks just like how dodge works in the games. Now that would be something, wouldn't it?

I didn't see any Agility stat under my Status Window, so that led me to assume you can't dodge like that here. All of these extra parameters have just either been wiped away, or adjusted to match how the real world works. And honestly, I like that. I've read that Daybreak's combat became different, becoming a hybrid-style that introduced action combat, no longer making it solely a turn-based game. There's something called "Shards" which get introduced with the latest Generation VI Combat Orbment Xipha model once S1208/S1209 come around. These Shards trigger various effects in combat, such as adding certain elements to your attacks, or triggering bonus attacks while attacking.

And honestly, that is already happening thanks to the Gamer System I have. I have that nifty FrostFire Enchant that was rewarded to me after Vermillion Eyes and the Auslese Bloodline triggered a resonance effect. The two merged altogether while I witnessed monsters being battled for the first time, and triggered Vermillion Eyes to upgrade to its full potential. At least up until the point where new Skills might be received the more I level Vermillion Eyes up. It's still Level 1. One of the Skills that came with that upgrade enchants my attacks with both the Fire and Water attributes. This did cause some things to go away, like my flat 50% boost in Fire and Water Damage. That is now FrostFire Surge Lv1, which boosts Attack Damage by 1% if I use Fire or Water attacks. This damage should increase the more I level the skill up. This is better overall because by the time it reaches max level, it will be well over the previous 50% boost!

Considering dual-element is now at play for what I will do, it will be interesting to see how that plays out. Will it factor in both elements for a multiplicative damage increase, or will it just take the higher one of the two weaknesses, and make that the primary source of damage? Let's say a monster's weakness resists 50% Fire and is weak to 125% Water. In this situation, FrostFire Reversal triggers, making Fire go from 50% to 150%. If I have A Witch's Friend Title equipped, that would get boosted to a whopping 250% Fire Damage. From there, FrostFire Pulse I Lv1 triggers, adding 1% to my Attack Damage because a fire attack is being used. The Hexen Clan serves the Kin of Fire, so it makes sense as to why that Title gives such a high increase to Fire Damage. I really lucked out with that Title. I have the Title Friend of the Vermillion Knight equipped for now because it adds an extra cushion of health for me.

That's a 250% Fire Damage Efficacy added to Attack Damage. Would that be the final calculation, or would the Water Element Efficacy 125% get added to that, becoming a humongous 375% Efficacy weakness, and thus, 2% gets added to Attack Damage, instead of 1%? If this truly is the case, my damage would skyrocket like no tomorrow. I can't wait to start testing this out in live combat. I know another year or two has to pass first, and for Father to start instructing me on his Hundred-Form Military Combat. Until then, I can only speculate.

Overall, I'm making good progress, if I do say so myself. Like I said, the Level Cap should be 250. I already have a couple thousand health points. You'd typically see characters reaching the five thousand to ten thousand health point mark in the first portion of each series. Climbing up to twenty or thirty thousand health points would happen closer toward the end of the games. Each story arc does it differently. But we do finally know the caps of each stat. For HP, it is 99,999. Most other stats can reach up to 9,999. I think EP can reach up to 99,999 as well, but I could be wrong. I do know that part of what contributes to this high health point amount already is my Title. Unlike the games, I can see myself receiving a lot of external factors, in the forms of Skills, Weapons, Quartz, you name it.

Concluding the review of my Status Window for now, I swiped my hand to the side, and willed the blue screen before me to vanish. After that, I clapped my cheeks with my hands to give a little pep boost. Testing Mother's Combat Orbment will come later. I'll leave the surprise of seeing how many custom slots it has until then, haha!

I was all prim and proper now, minus wearing the Phoenix Robe. I'll need to go over those Stats later on too, as it counts as Equipment for me. And both the Phoenix Robe and Glistening Moonlight Rapier are Growth-type Equipment. That, in a nutshell, means as you grow stronger, the equipment grows stronger too. They're basically they're own characters with flat level up boosts!

(A/N: I changed the rapier's name of Radiant Starlight to Glistening Moonlight)

For the time being, I had no remaining business being in front of the hallway my room is connected to, so I made my way back down to the first floor. A little bit of time had passed since then, and it was now 2:30PM on Sunday. I managed to dry off my hair after too. Kasia smiled at me once she saw me arrive in the living room.

"Thank you for letting me do my daily jogging, mom.", I said to Kasia. I don't want to skip out on a single day, I really wanted to see what the next Daily Quest looks like!

"Fufu, it is no trouble to us, Naoto. Hopefully you were able to let out some steam. I know yesterday must have been a lot, including this morning. I'm not sure who the guest was that met with you, and that one won't be the last. Who you will meet next might be the most troublesome of them all. Come, I shall help you put that outfit back on.", Kasia said, showing a rare serious look. I knew Mother wasn't lying. After all, I'll be meeting with His Imperial Majesty later. It's like having a one-on-one meeting with the President of the United States. That's how serious this event is going to be.

With a single nod, Kasia smiled at Giliath while Giliath and Rean continued chat away with each other. Rean won't be going with us, so Kasia and Rean will remain behind in the villa. It will just be Father and I.

Decking me out in a noble's appearance once again, everything felt snug. This really is a feeling I'm going to have to get used to. I just pictured Jusis Albarea, and the fancy jacket he wore when he took on his duties as a noble. Once the October War was underway, Rufus would join the enemy side, causing Jusis to take hold of House Albarea.

With that in mind, I think my current appearance now should be suitable to meet with other nobles and the Imperial Family. It is possible I'll meet not just His Imperial Majesty, but his family too. You know, that certain golden-blonde haired prince who secretly parades around as a travelling bard during the Sky games? Seeing me like this, Giliath stood up, and I saw that he was finished drinking his coffee.

"Are you ready to depart, Naoto? Once we leave the villa, there is no turning back. You will meet with other nobles. Every single action you take from here on will be scrutinized by them. The circle of nobility is a lion's den.", Giliath said, sporting a very serious look in his eyes. It was rare for him to be so serious like this. He wasn't as serious like this yesterday when he slayed Agnagarn. This was a league above that.

"I am ready, dad. I will not back down from this. I was given a chance to enter this circle, and I shall do that.", I replied, not backing down. I felt my own resolution appear in my eyes. I locked gazes with Father. Seeing this, he grinned.

"Good. Good. A lot of nobles can be venomous snakes, and know how to switch sides with a mere flip of a coin. Whatever actions they want to take that will benefit their family the most. I want you to keep this in mind once we depart, Naoto. It will be up to you to decide on who to get connected with.", Giliath said to me.

"I understand, Father.", I replied, nodding my head with a resolute look.

"Have safe travels, you two. I will pray to the Goddess for your safe return.", Kasia replied, waving her hand.

"Bye-bye, daddy, brother!", Rean happily said, waving his hand at us. Kasia was carrying Rean now, and the two bid us farewell. Father intends to stay in Heimdallr for a day, so we won't be back until tomorrow.

On a nice spring Sunday around 3PM, a violet-haired boy and a tall, overbearing man, who was dressed in his military garb, departed the Osborne Villa.

Naoto Osborne and Giliath Osborne stood side by side full of confidence as the two left, acting as if they were ready to take on the world.

VOL 1 FIN