harleyscars Page 89
Page 89
"Huh?" Shiina Tatsuki seemed taken aback by his overly blunt words and couldn't help but say, "What... don't act like you know me really well."
"Oh." Koshimura responded, glancing around the RiNG lobby before naturally changing the subject, "By the way, where's Rinrin-senpai?"
"She's not here right now. Can't you just come to me if you need anything?" Shiina Tatsuki said irritably.
"Aren't we not familiar with each other?" Yuecun Ze looked at her with a puzzled expression.
"you--"
"Alright, alright—" Chihaya Aine quickly stepped between the two, clasped her hands together, and said to her, "Rikki, same as always, get me a training room..."
Before she could finish speaking, Shiina Tatsuki reflexively slammed the training room key card onto the front desk with astonishingly smooth movements: "Still room 202, right?"
No, how come you're so skilled at it?!
Koshimura looked at Chihaya Aine in disbelief.
Byd, you secretly rolled it behind my back, didn't you?
"Thank you, Rikki!" Chihaya Aine picked up the key card, and as if afraid the two would start arguing again, she quickly looked at Koshimura Sawa, "By the way, Sawarin, do you want to come along?"
"No, thank you." Koshimura shook his head. "I have other things to ask...someone else."
He glanced at Shiina Tatsuki, whose expression remained unfriendly.
“Okay…” Chihaya Aine nodded and waved the key card in her hand at him. “I’m going up now. See you later, Sawarin. Remember not to fight!”
She gave him a word of advice, then turned and jogged toward the stairwell.
Koshimura watched her figure gradually disappear, then turned around, sat on the high stool next to the front desk, and began to stare at Shiina Ritsuki.
......
After a moment, he suddenly said, "You blinked first."
"...When did I agree to play this kind of boring game with you?" Shiina Tatsuki looked at him helplessly, suddenly feeling like she had no strength left to use.
"Cough cough..." As a Rambo prison player, Yuecun Ze had already subconsciously started to control her temperature to prevent her from getting too hot. "Um... do you sell coffee or anything here? I think I'm a little thirsty."
"There's a QR code on the table. Scan it to order," Shiina Riki pointed to the sticker on the table.
Let's not learn from this dregs of modern society...
So, who will fill in the gap where the pretty girl holding the menu bends slightly and asks me softly what the guest would like to drink?
Koshimura took out his phone, scanned the QR code, entered the drink menu, and scrolled through it with his fingers.
Concentrated Flame, Spirit Absorption Special, Thousand Eyes Mocha, Phantom Trap...
A bunch of things whose ingredients are unclear even with accompanying pictures.
What is all this... Shouldn't the manager, Rikki, introduce it to me?
Could it be that drinking it will give you a bonus when you go down into the cave?
"So expensive..." He couldn't help but complain when he saw the prices starting at several thousand yen.
"...You don't seem to mind spending any money on merchandise at all." Shiina Tatsuki glanced at his bag, which was practically overflowing with Adventure Team badges and other merchandise. "Isn't this Afterglow limited edition item worth five figures?"
Wait, how do you know so much? Have you bought it yourself?
"Save where you can, spend where you can. That's my spending philosophy." Yuecunze put down his phone and stated seriously, "Never mind... could you pour me a glass of ice water, Lixi?"
"Tsk." Shiina Riki clicked his tongue helplessly, but still obediently turned around and poured a glass of ice water, placing it on the table in front of him with a "thud," the ice cubes in the glass clinking loudly.
Riki, who says one thing but does another, is so cute.
Just as Koshimura Sawa picked up his glass of iced water and took a sip, he caught a glimpse of a figure silently sitting down on the high stool next to him out of the corner of his eye.
"Rikki, Matcha Parfait".
The girl had soft, fluffy white short hair, delicate features, and skin as white and smooth as milk. However, what was most striking were her beautiful heterochromatic eyes.
Where did this stray cat come from?
Yuecun Ze looked at the cat perched on her shoulder, its body pure white, its eyes the same color as hers, lazily surveying its surroundings.
"Stray cat, haven't I told you many times that you can't bring pets in?" Shiina Riki said with a headache.
“Xiaobai isn’t a pet.” Yao Lenai took the white cat off her shoulder, cradled its front paws in her hands, and held it up in front of her, blinking her beautiful heterochromatic eyes. “It’s an animal friend.”
What a long cat.
"I don't care, it's not allowed here according to the rules, so make it go out first." Shiina Riki felt her blood pressure rise a little more.
“Okay.” Kaoru put it on the ground, bent down and patted its head, and said to it earnestly, “Little White, Rikki doesn’t seem to like you.”
The white cat seemed to understand, and very human-like, activated its Spinosaurus form, breathed on Shiina Riki, and then walked with elegant cat steps to the glass door of RiNG. It pawed at it, pushed it open a crack, and nimbly slipped out.
“Rikki.” Kaname turned back to look at Shiina Ritsuki, “Matcha Parfait.”
"When did you learn to call him that from that guy..." Shiina Tatsuki sighed helplessly and turned away.
This feels even more tiring than playing The Hollows simulator five times in a row...
Chapter Twelve Simulated Voids
While Lixi turned around to make the matcha parfait, Yuecunze saw that Yaoluna on the bar stool next to him suddenly turned her head and her heterochromatic eyes focused on him without blinking.
It looked as if they were examining some novel toy.
[A. "Ha—!"]
【B. "An interesting woman."】
【C. "Keycaps."】
“An interesting woman,” Koshimura Sawa said first.
Yoro was stunned for a moment, and her mouth, which had just opened, suddenly stopped.
That's so mean! They barely have any lines to begin with, and you're trying to steal them too?
She tilted her head in confusion, looking at Yuecunze.
"You know Lena?"
"I don't know him." Koshimura Sawa shook his head decisively.
To be honest, I'm so disappointed. I thought the cat would have cat ears on its head.
“But I know you,” Yoro suddenly said, pointing at him.
?
When did I hear the name "r⑴淋气⑧X司⒎咝wu榴"? I have no recollection of it.
"Hey, don't you dare corrupt her." Shiina Ritsuki turned around, holding the matcha parfait she had just made, and glanced at him.
"How could that be? Even if she did, it was her who corrupted me, okay?" Yuecun Ze said innocently.
Shiina Riki placed the matcha parfait in front of Kaname, then turned and glared at him.
After a few seconds of eye contact, a smug smile suddenly appeared on her lips.
You blinked.
"Lixi, the game hasn't started yet."
"So why is it up to you to decide when to start...?"
You blinked.
Shiina Tatsuki closed her eyes helplessly, turned around, and decided to ignore this guy who could easily raise her blood pressure.
"Wait, Li Xi, don't go yet." Yue Cunze called out to her as she was about to slip away. "This time I really need your help."
Shiina Riki turned around and looked at him with a puzzled expression.
"Um... could you give me a test?"
"Huh?!" Shiina Tatsuki's face suddenly flushed red at a visible speed, and she abruptly raised her voice, "What are you saying in public?! It's simply—"
The people around her were drawn to her suddenly raised voice, and curious eyes turned to her.
“Uh…” Koshimura was taken aback by her strong reaction and quickly added, “I meant testing the ability values… Doesn’t RiNG have professional testing equipment?”
Shiina Riki's face turned even redder instantly, wishing she could disappear into a crack in the ground.
Hagishi, what's with all that imagination? (The last part, "艺霖祁捌私妻逝⒌榴," appears to be unrelated and likely refers to a separate, unrelated phrase. It has been left as is.)
"You—!" She was so angry that she couldn't speak. Afraid that Yuecunze would say something even more shocking, she simply grabbed his wrist with surprising force and dragged him quickly toward the testing room inside RiNG, leaving behind Yao Lena who was still hugging and showing off her parfait.
------
"Level 4?" Shiina Riki lowered his head, looking at the leathery report in his hand in disbelief. "Wait, when did you reach Level 4?!"
She looked up at him with a complicated expression.
How could that be? Even Xiangzi couldn't do that...
"Is there a problem?" Yuecunze asked, rubbing his still slightly aching wrist.
“Of course there’s a problem.” Shiina Riki strode to the terminal next to her, picked up the mouse and clicked it twice quickly. “According to your previous records here… you were only level 2 a week ago?”
If I told you I leveled up to level 2 a week ago, wouldn't you be furious?
"Really... then maybe I have an extraordinary talent?"
"No." Shiina Riki immediately shook his head in denial, "Even that universally acknowledged genius, the former [Miracle Crimson] senior Tsuzuki, took at least a month to advance from level 1 to level 3! Your speed... is too abnormal!"
Her expression instantly turned extremely serious as she looked at him worriedly and asked, "You didn't... sign some kind of contract with your 'Sect Master' that involves overdrawing your potential or life, did you? You absolutely can't touch that kind of thing!"
Lixi is actually worried about me; it seems she cares about me.
"You're overthinking it," said Yuecunze. "If my incompetent sect leader, who's always having fun, really had that kind of ability, I would have been living a carefree life long ago. Why would I need to work so hard?"
[Does this little one need more love?]
In other words... he did all of this by himself?
I...I practice here every day until late at night, honing my skills little by little, accumulating experience, just to barely manage to advance to level 3 in my first year of high school...Why...why could he...?
A familiar, suffocating feeling crept into his heart, causing Shiina Tatsuki's fingers to tighten slightly, crumpling a corner of the report paper.
“Theoretically speaking, this situation is indeed possible.” Rinrinko suddenly leaned over from the side. “After all, Koshimura’s experience points all come from combat rather than training. The experience threshold required for leveling up in the early stages is relatively low, so it’s not unreasonable for him to level up faster.”
"After all, for most people, what they lack is not time, but opportunity."
"Rinrin-senpai?! When did you arrive?" Shiina Ritsuki was startled and almost dropped the report she was holding.
“From the moment you grabbed his hand, your face flushed, and rushed into the testing room,” Rinrinko said with a smile, her eyes sweeping meaningfully between Shiina Tatsuki and Koshimura Sawa.
"Huh?! I was just... afraid that he would continue to talk nonsense at the front desk and it would have a bad influence!" Shiina Riki blushed again, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, and hurriedly defended himself loudly.
"Alright, alright, I understand." Rinrin waved her hand and looked at Koshimura Sawa. "I heard you were looking for me? Is there something you need?"
"Rinrin-senpai, I have a question about part-time work," Koshimura said, noticing her wink at him. "If I want to work part-time as a [Paladin], what should I do? What conditions do I need to meet or what rituals do I need to complete?"
After all, he's almost at level 5, a crucial milestone, and it's time to start thinking about part-time work.
Sorcerer + Paladin is a classic and charming hybrid build alongside Sorcerer, combining strength and style, making it an indispensable part of his overpowered strategy.
Although the Warlock in a standard Lockpak build is usually just for adding a level 1 or 3 Spellblade, using Charisma to apply damage and Blade Pact as add-ons... but since the Warlock has already been upgraded to level 4 by some twist of fate, we can only let nature take its course and upgrade it to level 5 to get Arcane Slash and 2x damage, and play an Arcane Slash-based one-hit-kill build.
Hopefully, the "Extra Attack" trait in this world can be stacked like the pull-based room rule...
“A paladin…that seems a bit difficult.” Rinrin thought for a moment. “After all, most paladins awaken as their main profession, and part-time paladins…are quite rare.”
"If I had to pinpoint it, the core of it would probably be 'making a vow,'" she thought for a moment and concluded. "Find a belief or goal for which you are willing to give everything and take action to defend it, and use that to restrain yourself. This usually requires tremendous determination and... well... perhaps 'obsessive' would be a more appropriate word?"
"By the way, do you have any friends who are paladins? You could ask them about their personal experiences; perhaps they would have a deeper understanding and know more about it than I do," she continued.
Paladin friend...?
“I understand.” Koshimura nodded. “Thank you, senpai.”
So, in the end, it all comes back to the original question—upgrading.
Once he reaches level 5 and acquires 2x2, 3x3, and Arcane Slash spells, his combat power will experience a qualitative leap.
All I can say is that a knockdown advantage with no action cost and no saving throw is just too overpowered.
Moreover, it deals damage with a noble force field. Can the Holy Slash do that?