Heart of Akasha
Chapter 3: Space-Travel for Dummies
{Through acceptance of a quest fit for a hero you have gained
the Perk [Hero Union – Active Hero].}
{[Hero Union – Active Hero]
Declares the owner as an active hero under the definition of the Hero Union BBS,
making him a member and allowing him to use all of its function.}
"Would you look at that", exclaimed Ji-Han giddily. "I've just become a member of the Hero Union."
"Say what?!" Yato was the only one who made his surprise known vocally while the other three… took on grim expressions?
"Isn't this good?" Wondered Ji-Han and Genos shook his head.
"Being a member of the Hero Union gives one a lot of advantages, this is true. It allows you to converse with any other member regardless of distance, even in other worlds. And many active and retired heroes are glad to share their experiences and answer your questions or just give an ear if you want to vent your frustration.
However, the Hero Union has its own set of rules. And the most important one is, not to interfere in other heroes' quests. This includes active support. We can give you all the advice we want, but we cannot send a retired hero with you to help you fight your battles or procure a means of transport for you. That is something you now have to gather on your own! The most we can do is to end your quest and bring you to safety if it becomes too unreasonable. For example, if the people who gave the hero a quest plan to kill him after he has finished it or if they bullied the hero so much that he would rather die than defeat the demon lord. But other than that our hands are tied."
"Wha- for real?!" Ji-Han was shocked. He hadn't thought about it before, but having strong allies would have made things easier. And he even had to find a way to travel to the other worlds on his own? Who made these rules?!
"Can't you make an exception for him?" Yato tried to reason. "We are talking about the fate of multiple worlds here."
But Genos stayed firm.
"He was acknowledged by the BBS as a hero. Making another hero help him actively would make it just a feat of that hero and Ji-Han a VIP to escort, invalidating the choice of the BBS. That is something we cannot do."
"That sucks", was Yato's opinion and Ji-Han had to agree. He had always thought being a hero would be something great but it seemed it was mainly difficult.
Genos seemed to notice his disappointment as he continued:
"Naturally I will still answer any question you might have and if in your travels come across trouble that would take you too far from your quest, the Hero Union will most likely be able to take over. In fact, I will give you a written list of all facts the Hero Union has assembled on the Keyblade."
"That won't be necessary", interjected Mikage. "I will prepare a copy of this dossier."
"Very well", commented Genos. "And while I cannot give you a means of transportation, I can tell you the ways in which you can procure one for yourself if you want to."
"Sure", Ji-Han agreed. "What do you got?"
"Please take a seat first, if you want. There is no need for you to stand the whole explanation."
"Oh, right." Why hadn't he done that already? Oh, because he was showing off his Keyblade.
Ji-Han dismissed the Keyblade and took a seat next to Zenkichi. Meanwhile Yato went over to the window, instead.
"Sorry, it's been fun and all, but work is calling", he told them. "Still, once you are finished and want another escort, just pray to me and I'll be there soon. Or if you want anything else, really. For 50 Munny I'll fulfill your wish! Just don't ask me for a piece of my hair or any other body part."
Ji-Han couldn't help but chuckle. A piece of his hair?
"Did someone actually do that?" He asked and Yato nodded.
"Hadn't even been that long ago. Okay, I'm off!"
With that he opened the window and jumped out of it, making Mikage shake her head in exasperation as she stood up to close it.
Genos, meanwhile, began his explanation.
"There are four possible ways for you to travel the multiverse. Technically there are five but the Leon Shop has too limited reach for your goals. But if you are ever short on money, you can decide to work for them.
Nevertheless, the first method for inter-dimensional travel would be to become a member of the Time-Space Administration Bureau, TSAB. The TSAB is a military organization tasked with protection of worlds and securing dangerous supernatural artifacts. Your goal of saving all the worlds, is something the TSAB supports. You would also receive first class-training, helping you in your quest.
The only downside to becoming a member of the TSAB is, that you will be expected to follow orders from your superiors who, unless you climb far enough in the ranks, will decide when to use the Keyblade and when not. But as the TSAB is an organization where your actual capabilities matter the most, those higher ranked than you would also generally have greater experience and ability to judge than you.
The second method would be to commission a new spaceship at Franky's House. In fact, Sagiri-san has an associate working there, so it would be easy to introduce you. The greatest problem with this method would be to procure the financial means and/or materials for a new spaceship. You would most likely have to borrow credit.
Thirdly, you could ask Yuuko for help. Yuuko is a powerful being capable of traveling between worlds without the need for a spaceship. The greatest problem with asking Yuuko for help would be to find Yuuko, as she can only be found when the seeker is truly in need for her aid. Additionally, her services always come with a cost that is equal to the service provided. She will always charge for something you will agree to be worth the cost, but you can never predict what she will ask for in return beforehand.
The last possibility is Zelretch. Like Yuuko, Zelretch is a powerful being capable of traveling between worlds but unlike her, who has to be found, he is the one who will find you. Additionally he isn't bound by the rules of equivalent exchange like Yuuko, so whatever he charges you will depend on how much he likes you. He also plays nasty pranks on people who anger him that can drive his victims insane. Luckily it takes a lot to anger him and he also has, assumingly, an interest in saving worlds from destruction and never goes back on a deal he made or coerces people into making deals. The greatest problem in dealing with Zelretch is the uncertainties. You never know, what will happen.
To your luck, you actually have an advantage over other people when making a deal with Zelretch: Your Keyblade. Zelretch has shown interest in objects and abilities able to reach other worlds and the Keyblade is rumored to be one of them. You should be able to at last grasp his attention and strike a deal with him. But what exactly that deal would entail, is an uncertainty."
So it was like that… from what Genos said it sounded like his best bet would be to look what deal he could get from Zelretch and then, if it was too much, go to the TSAB. Even if he said that he'd agree that whatever Yuuko asked for would be worth the price, he didn't really have anything except for one Potion and some Vendor Trash. Anything except his ability. And if Yuuko really was as powerful as she sounded, she might be able to take his Gamer. He'd rather become a member of the TSAB than that.
Still… becoming part of a military and having to listen to some other guy telling him what to do? That went against his Gamer-spirit. Unfortunately getting the money for a new spaceship would most likely take too long. The meager monster drops wouldn't be enough to pay for something like that. Unless… what if he became a bounty hunter for the TSAB? As in, letting them drop him of at any Heartless they specifically wanted gone for good and get paid for its destruction? Since those requests would most likely come in the form of boss monsters, he would also get better drops than usual. Naturally, that also meant he had to get stronger but that was something that would help him no matter what he planned to do.
"Alright", decided Ji-Han. "Before I even get to go to other worlds, I've got to get strong enough to deal with the Heartless in this one. And I should get some funds, too. Maybe some armor, potions and maybe some spells. Oh, right, Takami said you had a map of Traverse Town?"
"Yes, here." Mikage quickly walked over to a cupboard and took something out of it, which was presumably the map. "And here is also a list of currently-available jobs. The blue marked ones are jobs that are constantly available and can be done as often as you want while the red ones are single-instance only and might have already been completed or become obsolete by the time you ask for them."
"Ah, thanks, that's a big help."
He took the piece of paper, an immediately noticed he couldn't read any of it.
"Huh? Do you have a special written language?" He thus asked, making Mikage apologize.
"I am sorry, I forgot to ask what languages you can read before giving you those items", she exclaimed, confusing Ji-Han.
"But aren't you talking… you aren't, are you?"
"As a fusion of multiple worlds, Traverse Town somehow ended up translating any spoken words automatically", Mikage explained. "Unfortunately, this does not extent to writings. The map compensates for with pictures but the job list does naturally not work this way. What languages can you read?" As she said this, she began moving towards the cupboard, probably in search of a job list in a fitting language.
"Korean… and English."
"Then please take this and tell us if you can read it or if your world's version of English is different."
One look at the list, and he could disperse her worries. He could read this. So, he looked over the possible tasks. They seemed to be all over the place. From cleaning, cooking – What the hell was a matsusaka? – repairing and taking over at various places as a substitute like the orphanage or something called a "Jack o'Lantern-field" to mining and exploration. There also seemed to be something like challenges, where you god paid more the better you were like a chess match or writing a story. Still, like any other task able to be done multiple times, the challenges paid less well than those jobs that were only available once.
The one exception to the rule was exploration, which was marked blue but paid just as well. The problem, however, was that it went into uncharted territory, meaning areas where there was no population except for monsters and Heartless. So the higher pay came was because of the danger. Still…
"….shouldn't this one be already finished?" He asked as he pointed towards the job in question. "With how much this pays, shouldn't one of the stronger guys have easily finished it by now?"
Suddenly there appeared a question mark above the list and in front of him the quest alert opened:
{Quest Alert
Unknown Frontier: Mountains in the Dayless Town
As a world created from the fragments of other world, Traverse Town does have regions beside the urban.
Explore and map the mountain regions of Traverse Town.
Bonus Objective:
Capture monsters in the region and bring them to Count D.
Completion Award: +100 000 EXP and +2000 EXP for every day spend actively exploring
A payment of 10 000 Munny.
The title [Explorer].
Increased reputation with the people of Traverse Town.
Bonus Award:
?
Completion Failure: +1000 EXP for every day spend actively exploring
Decreased reputation with the people in Traverse Town.}
"Ah, the exploration quest", noted Zenkichi not noticing Ji-Han's bewilderment at the quest. "Truth be told, most residents of Traverse Town, or at last those strong enough, have already found a place. A job that they enjoy doing and where people depend on them. And with how much Traverse Town is changing every time a world gets devoured, any information gathered can easily become outdated. Even if you get paid for it, it can become tedious doing work that ends up becoming pointless. I, personally, like doing it as some form of vacation."
"Interesting", commented Ji-Han. He had no trouble believing it. Zenkichi seemed strong enough for it to be like a walk in the park, after all. Still, even if he was too weak to accept it, just the quest alert alone gave him great information. Now he knew that some quests came with bonus objectives, that sometimes the rewards would not show and that he could get titles. Especially the last one was interesting as he had always assumed that since he had [-The Gamer-] flying above his own head, he didn't realize he could get another title. Or wait, [-The Gamer-] was his class, wasn't it? So people could have both a class and a title.
Nevertheless, he pressed {NO} and took a look at the other tasks.
PING!
{A skill has been created through a specific action.}
{A skill to read a new language,
[English Reading], has been created.}
{[English Reading (passive) Lv1 EXP: 0.0%]
The ability to understand written words and sentences in the English language.
To better communicate with their peers, humans created languages.
Finding the correct meaning to a sentence takes an
average of 0.5 seconds for every INT-Check.}
Oh, right, he'd get skills like that, too, didn't he? Such a mundane skill seemed a lot out of place after all the combat that he had since the day before. Even if his lessons were coming in handy right now.
Still, no matter if he read through the list often enough to level up his skill twice, there wasn't really anything that took his fancy.
"Aren't there any rewards for killing Heartless?" He asked.
The most important thing was getting stronger and the second, getting money. Still, why not combine both?
But it wasn't to be.
"Heartless don't leave anything behind that could be used as proof for defeating them", Zenkichi explained. "And it is in everyone's interest in taking care of any Heartless you come across. The only Heartless who has a bounty is the Guard Armor. And considering how you can take care of it permanently, we could pay you and your party ten times the normal amount, as long as you use the Keyblade to strike it down. In fact, we would prefer it."
And again it came down to him needing to become stronger first. Maybe he should call Yato and ask him for help with some power leveling. Now, if only he knew how much MP he had so that he could tell if and how many [Power Strike] he could use… wait. Inventory worked, didn't it? That meant…
"[Status Window]!" Ji-Han called out and at once, a brown panel opened in front of him:
{Name: Han, Ji-Han
Class: The Gamer
Title: none
Level: Lv5
Status: Unaffected
HP: 256/300
MP: 92/150
STR: 11 (10+1) ← (+0) →
VIT: 9 ← (+0) →
DEX: 11 ← (+0) →
INT: 9 ← (+0) →
WIS: 7 ← (+0) →
LUK: 9 ← (+0) →
Points: 10
Munny: 2 950}
Oh, it worked. And he had nearly 100 MP back! That meant that his MP was regenerating on its own! But how fast and how much did a [Power Strike] take?
He tipped at the {MP} and a small blue panel showed up next to it depicting:
{Mana Recovery: 1 MP / MIN}
Only 1 MP per minute?! Just how long ago did he fought the Heartless?! With that MP-Recovery he really needed to be able to take them down without [Power Strike].
Speaking of…
"[Skills]?"
Without closing the first one, another brown panel showed up. It looked a lot like the inventory-part of the [Inventory], with a grid of squares where some were filled with little cartoonish pictures.
The first showed a knife cutting into some tofu over a light blue background that went gradually to white the closer it got to the center. The second showed an ear with a "hello" written in Latin letters while the background-color was yellow. The third showed a hand holding a club surrounded by green aura over an orange background, the forth looking exactly the same with the exception that instead of a club the hand was holding a giant key. The fifth was just a close-up shot of a brown eye. The sixth showed a purple humanlike figure covering before a fist hitting him while the background was red with a yellow star in the center that looked like a hit-symbol in a comic. And the last one was just like the second one, only that the ear had been replaced with an eye.
In Ji-Han's mind there was no doubt which picture represented which skill and he tipped on the sixth one, opening a red panel:
{[Power Strike (active) Lv1 EXP: 43.3%]
Cost: 15 MP
Strikes the target with strong force.
10% increase in critical rate.
50% increase in attack damage.}
Right, it was 15 MP. That meant if he got full MP, he could use exactly 10 of them before he had to recover his MP. And as far as the experience went, he was nearly halfway through. But it still would be good to know, just how much he actually got with each use. 43.3, for now, he had to remember that.
Ji-Han closed the [Power Strike] and opened the [Blunt Weapon Mastery], which he knew had leveled-up just recently:
{[Blunt Weapon Mastery (passive) Lv2 EXP: 17.7%]
Allows the user to freely handle blunt weapons.
15% increase in attack damage with blunt weapons.
6.5% increase in attack speed with blunt weapons.}
[Blunt Weapon Mastery] really was a great ability. It gave him higher attack damage, if he used a normal attack and if he used a [Power Strike]. And as a passive ability, it didn't need any MP and was always active! He really should level that one up a little more.
Ji-Han held out his hand and summoned his Keyblade, staring intensively at the number near the EXP. He had to figure out, whether or not just summoning the Keyblade increased his experience.
Unfortunately, nothing seemed to happen, so he tried the same with [Keyblade Mastery].
{[Keyblade Mastery (passive) Lv1 EXP: 80.8%]
Allows the user to handle the different techniques of a Keyblade.
1% increase in attack damage of skills used with the Keyblade.}
But even here nothing changed when he was just holding the Keyblade. Did he had to use them in combat, after all?
He stood up and walked towards the door.
Genos, who had noticed Ji-Han thinking about things and had left him to his own devices while he dealt with his own paperwork, now looked at what Ji-Han was doing. The Gamer in question used the tip of the Keyblade to knock twice against the door. But he wasn't looking at the door. He was looking at the panel only he could see. And, to his delight, the EXP changed from {80.8} to {81.1}. Closing the door, he got {81.3}. So he got around 0.2 to 0.3 every time he used the Keyblade on the door. Which meant… he got to do that around 100 more times for a level-up?! No, for that the percentage was too high. He had only used the Keyblade on the door four times, so it wouldn't have even be 2 percent if that was the case. It probably leveled up in combat, too.
Ji-Han closed all the panels, except for the status window where the MP had now gone up to {93} while his HP was still stuck at {256}. Tipping at the {HP}, he got the message he feared:
{Health Recovery: 0 HP / MIN}
His HP wasn't regeneration on its own. And so far, the only ways he knew how to recover HP were sleep and the [Recovery Potion]. Not things that came easily.
"Excuse me", Ji-Han addressed the cyborg. "Is there a way to buy potions that heal wounds?"
"The Leon Shop should have some", answered Genos. "But there are generally expensive. The cheapest one goes for 300 000 Munny, I believe."
"300 000?!" Shouted Ji-Han in shock. Holy shit. Since 1 Won was of a bit lower value than 1 Munny, it would be like a little bit more than 300 000 won, right? That's like a month of groceries, if he was stingy. Maybe that's the reason the Darkside had otherwise only dropped Lucid Shards. The potion was freaking expensive!
"Yes, healing potions are expensive. They are valuable on their own and have to be imported, after all. If you wish for healing, it is generally better to go to the hospital and ask Sakoshita Yanagi. She only charges 1000 Munny for each time."
It still looked like it was better to not get hit in the first place. It seemed like investing points in DEX had been a good choice, after all. He was pretty much able to run circles around any of the Heartless in Traverse Town, so far.
As if it had heard him, suddenly a Shadow appeared next to him in the room, preparing to attack him. Ji-Han was too surprised to react in time, but as the Heartless jumped towards him, it suddenly dispersed into black particles. And the only hint as to why, was the flash of light that came from Zenkichi and how he put the sheathed katana back against the table. Yet Zenkichi had not even looked up from his papers, though he had put his hand on his and Mikage's papers, as if to prevent them from flying away by a sudden guest of wind. A sudden gust of wind that he was the origin of.
"Does that happen often?" Exclaimed Ji-Han and Mikage nodded.
"Just because you are within a building, does not mean the Heartless will not appear. But they will be generally fewer in numbers. Few enough that so far not a single person has been murdered in their sleep."
"That's reassuring, I guess", responded Ji-Han, not sounding particularly sure of that. Wait.
"So, in other words, if you want to train to fight against Heartless, you better do it in a building?"
"That depends on your fighting style", elaborated Genos. "I use too many high-explosive attacks to use this as a valid strategy and one specializes in dodging might find themselves against a wall. Other than that, it is true that there are more Heartless, the more open the space and the other way around. Do you want to go around the White Ant and fight the Heartless appearing inside?"
"Yeah, if it's alright with you…"
"Go ahead", Zenkichi told him. "You do not live in Traverse Town as long as I and do not develop the ability to work in any kind of circumstances. There should be no noise you can make that would disturb us."
"Alright. Then I'll be off!"
"Please do not forget to come back later for the map, the job list and the dossier on the Keyblade's abilities", Mikage reminded him. "I should be finished with the copy by the time you come back."
"Alright. Thanks. Though I'll take others with me right now. [Inventory]."
Having said that, he took the map and job list and put both of them into the inventory.
"You have an inventory?" Zenkichi exclaimed in surprise. "I didn't realize that also fell under your abilities of a video game character. Is there a weight limit on it?"
"Not as far as I can tell", answered Ji-Han. "But there might be a limit on how many different items I can carry. The same item just stacks in a single field."
"Interesting", noted Zenkichi. "Would you be willing to transport many goods from one place to another?"
"Maybe", responded Ji-Han. "I do am still thinking of what jobs to do or not. But if you got one, you can give me the details and I'll think about it."
Hitoyoshi nodded and so he went out of the door with that – making sure to use his Keyblade to open and close it for the little extra EXP and then went to the left, seeing as the corridor of white walls went sideways compared to the room he was in.
"Alright. Let's go grinding!"
30 Minutes later and he found himself on the opposite side of the White Ant, staring at the dimly lit city below him. The seat of the mayor of Traverse Town had a lot of unused rooms, the dust being disturbed when he opened the doors to look at them. And even if the buildings looked a lot like home, the amount of people he saw going about their business was rather low. It just hit him why the people of Traverse Town were called survivors. Millions of people, reduced to just a couple in an instant. It was a scary thought. It certainly put his quest of saving all the worlds into perspective.
Ji-Han looked at his EXP. 69.81%. He had taken down 5 Shadows and 6 Soldiers, yet had just gotten around 7 percent for the EXP to his next level. If he the trend continued, he'd need 2 hours before he got to his next level. But that was when he started with nearly 100 MP. He was now back to 17. He'd probably needed 3 hours now.
In a sense, it seemed better to focus on grinding his skills for now. They really did come along quite nicely.
{[Observe (active) Lv5 EXP: 58.3%]
Allows the user to see information about the target.
Shows the Name, Level, Title, Class, Max-HP, HP, Max-MP and MP of characters.
Shows the Name, Level, Type, Max-HP, HP, Max-MP, MP and
general information of monsters.
Shows the Name and general information of Items.}
{[Blunt Weapon Mastery (passive) Lv4 EXP: 89.2%]
Allows the user to freely handle blunt weapons.
25% increase in attack damage with blunt weapons.
8.75% increase in attack speed with blunt weapons.}
{[Keyblade Mastery (passive) Lv3 EXP: 72.9%]
Allows the user to handle the different techniques of a Keyblade.
3% increase in attack damage of skills used with the Keyblade.}
[Power Strike] was still stuck at level 1 but at last he had managed to gain another skill in the meantime:
{[Physical Endurance (passive) Lv1 EXP: 0.0%]
The body's durability increases and you take less damage.
3% decrease in damage taken by physical attacks.}
What kind of an awesome skill was that?! Sure, a 3% decrease didn't sound so impressive, but this was just the first level. It would grow higher soon enough. And once he got enough HP, even 3% would go a long way. Heck, if he could increase it to 10%, it would be useful already. Furthermore, there were only two types of damage, as far as he knew. If he could grind this skill he would be practically invincible to anything that wasn't magic! Or at last, extremely hard to take down.
The only real problem with Physical Endurance was how to level it up. He doubted it would level up just from him owning it, so there was only one option left: Damage. He had to take damage for it to level up. Which was a problem with his current HP. He really needed a healing ability. Both for HP and MP. His current regeneration was just not going to cut it.
Suddenly two dark spheres appeared in the room, turning into two Soldier-Heartless. Huh, looks like the time for break was over. And he still had only one [Power Strike] up his sleeve. But he was inside an empty room… enough space to run circles along the walls. Maybe it'll work here!
In his last battle against one Shadow and two Soldiers, he had destroyed the two Soldiers first and then continued to just evade the Shadow. That was, because he had wanted to try out, what exactly amounted to the increase of EXP for his two Mastery Skills. It couldn't be hitting an enemy since that was way too few moments so far for it to have been leveling up already. So he tried out multiple things and figured out that it increases as long as he used it in combat, even if that combat was just him running away from an enemy.
And that was, why he had left the weakest enemy alive and ran around, grinding his skills that way. He even got 1 WIS when he had come up with that exploit. Unfortunately, with the corridor being small and narrow, he had to run from one end to the other, resulting in a new Soldier being able to sneak up at him and hurting him. That was actually the only time since leaving Genos and co. behind, that he had been hurt, always being able to avoid their attacks otherwise. So even with finding a good way to grind those skills, getting hit like that had been a bit of an embarrassment.
But if he was always against the wall, he would be able to see surprise attacks coming. And he was so close to leveling up both skills again, he had to try it.
"[Observe]", Ji-Han activated, the same moment that he ran towards a Soldier.
{Soldier Lv8
HP: 74/74
MP: 25/25
Type: Emblem-Heartless
Heartless that emerge from various places. They are brisk in their movements, and rush into their opponents.}
He only took long enough to take in the enemy's level and HP, before swatting the panel out of the air as a fast way of closing it so that it would not interfere. Then he was already upon the Heartless and hit it once, before retreating, as the other one was jumping in his direction. But this way the second soldier missed and Ji-Han could easily hit him on its back twice. Then he retreated again as the first Soldier clawed at him, only to strike forward when the spiky hand had passed by. And then he kicked it, or rather, pushed it away with his feet and jumped back, bringing again more distance between them.
Okay. He had hit both of them twice. That meant that they were both halfway done. He might actually take out one of them with a [Power Strike] but there was always the possibility of one of them just hanging on by 1 HP after that, so he'd rather wait when he was in more of a pinch. With two Heartless who, thanks to their nature as Heartless, were rarely attacking at the same time, he was able to deal with them without taking damage.
The first one was standing just around for now, while the second charged at him, making a clattering sound. Ji-Han curved around to the other one but to his misfortune, it decided to attack now after all, jumping into the air and spinning around. Ji-Han couldn't jump out of the way in time and had no other choice but to hold up his Keyblade defensively above his head as the foot came crushing down.
Ironically, Ji-Han starting to block so late actually worked out for him, as the foot met his key when it was still in mid-swing. In other words, the force from the swing met the Soldier and knocked it away, sending it sprawling on the ground.
Huh. That worked pretty well. So, are those Soldiers weak against their own attacks being blocked? Makes sense, at last as far as the jumping attack went. He had always preferred to avoid them since he didn't want to get damage, but depending on how long the Heartless kept lying on the ground, it might be not a bad idea to do that more often.
Ji-Han turned around to keep an eye on the other Soldier and instantly stumble backwards as the Heartless was right behind him, already preparing to use its claw it him. And then he had to back up even further as it followed up with a thrust, which Ji-Han used to attack its hand at the same time.
Unfortunately, there was still the other Heartless on the ground and Ji-Han, having backed up too far, stumbled on it. He fell backwards over the downed body and rolled over the ground behind it. As soon as he stopped, he tried to get back up and shake off the small disorientation at the same time. At last the Heartless, too, had been surprised by the actions and was also still struggling to get back again.
The other meanwhile, had only been idle long enough for Ji-Han to pick himself up again, which wasn't a result of something like honor but just its low intelligence and drive. Still, Ji-Han would take what he could get and thus even this small pause was welcome to him. And that guy had been so annoying all this time that it was time to take him down!
{[Blunt Weapon Mastery]'s Level has risen by 1.}
'PERFECT!' Thought Ji-Han as he sidestepped the Soldier's try to land a succession of kicks on him and slashed him square along its backside twice in succession, turning it into dust particles and a heart floating into the air and through the ceiling as if it wasn't there. {+51 EXP}
Okay, that was that. Now he would run around the room and see if it really was a good way of grinding his Mastery Skills!
He went towards a wall and waited for the Soldier who had finally managed to get off from the ground. The Heartless took a look at him and then started running. Ji-Han did the same.
What followed was a minute-and-half-long game of tag, which was only interrupted when the Soldier occasionally stopped and stared stupidly into the room or walked in a small circle, before he went again after Ji-Han.
{[Keyblade Mastery]'s Level has risen by 1.}
Aha, finally that one got to level 4, too. Not that it was that useful as it only increased his damage by not even a tenth and only if he used [Power Strike]…
PING!
{Because [Keyblade Mastery] has reached Level 4,
a new skill has been created.}
{A skill to break through defenses, [Guard Break], has been created.}
{[Guard Break (active) Lv1 EXP: 0.0%]
Cost: 5MP
A strike that can break through the target's guard and destroys shields.
Successful when the target's VIT or INT, depending on what kind of
defense is used, is lower than 1.1 times the user's STR.
When it reaches the target after breaking through the defense,
it is always a critical hit.}
"What the-", Ji-Han exclaimed astonished.
Not because the skill was such a game breaker. It was nice to have an ability to break through defenses, but so far his only enemies didn't use shields or blocked attacks. If it didn't use any MP, he could have used it to with his normal attacks to get the bonus from Keyblade Mastery for at last a slight increase. But so, the three times the cost from [Power Strike] was worth more thanks to its 50% increase of damage.
No, what really was a big deal was the fact that he actually got an ability thanks to leveling up another one! That hadn't happened before! Was that a quality of the Keyblade? No matter the reason, it now had turned one of the weakest abilities he had into a, if not the most powerful one. He had to level it up!
A clattering sound was the only warning he got before the Soldier, having used his moment of inattention, jumped at him while spinning in the air.
Ji-Han fell backwards on his behind as he stumbled to bring his Keyblade in front of him. But he was in time and once again, the foot impacted on the Keyblade and the Soldier was through backwards, falling helplessly to the ground.
PING!
{By being criminally lucky,
your LUK has increased by 1.}
"Oh, screw you, too…"
PING!
{A skill has been created through a specific action.}
{A skill to defend against attacks, [Guard], has been created.}
{[Guard (active) Lv1 EXP: 0.0%]
A technique to protect oneself from attacks.
Protects against an attack from the front when used with the correct timing.
Increases knockback chance by 10% when utilized successfully.}
Ah, so that's what his ability meant with {criminally lucky}. His involuntary actions let him to get a skill!
Not wanting a repeat of what happened earlier, he made sure to keep an eye on the downed enemy as he took in the skill description.
Oh, a defensive skill? Still, what did it mean with "correct timing"?! He preferred a defense that stayed around. Nevertheless, a skill was a skill and this one was at last useful against the axe-kicks of the Soldier-Heartless.
Speaking of, the monster in question was jumping up, again. Back to running.
Half a minute later, a PING resounded and a message appeared:
{Due to continued physical training,
your VIT has increased by 1.}
Oh, right, he could increase Stats through work, too, couldn't he? In other words, running with a Heartless on his tale not only increased his skill levels, but his VIT as well! Lucky. Even if it was a bit surreal to do so. The Heartless was trying to kill him, after all.
And then another Soldier-Heartless showed up. But since he could actually see coming him this time, it seemed like it was working. So he quickly took care of the previous heartless so that he couldn't become an issue {+43 EXP} and whittled down the new one a bit so that he could take care of him fast when the next one showed up.
And then repeat and repeat. Except for the time two Shadows showed up at once, but that wasn't really a problem for him. It just meant he had to cut down their numbers first, before he could continue with this routine.
In the end, after roughly 10 minutes he had managed to level up [Keyblade Mastery] by 1, [Blunt Weapon Mastery] by 2 and his VIT had also increased by 2. Which was fine if not for the fact, that this was turning out to be pretty boring after a while. Just running in the same circle became repetitive and he was actually looking forward to any time another Heartless showed up, so that he could have some variation. And considering that [Keyblade Mastery] wasn't even halfway done, he decided to stop here, take down the latest Soldier and continue back to Genos and co.
He turned around and cut down the Heartless, gaining him {+44 EXP} and a [Scrap Aluminum (1 dm³)] as item drop. Which, with another Scrap Aluminum and a Lucid Shard, made it the third monster drop he had gotten since entering the White Ant. Even if the monsters didn't drop money like he was used to from video games, if he could sell those drop items, he could get some income that way. He should probably ask Mikage if she knew where he could sell things.
"Welcome back", greeted Genos, "have you found what you were looking for?"
"More or less. I've now found a way to better increase my [Keyblade Mastery] and got pretty good at dealing with Heartless without taking damage. I can now easily take down Shadows with two consecutive hits and Soldiers are not a problem either, as long as I don't get greedy and retreat after the first two hits." Or fail blocking their axe-kick with [Guard] but Genos didn't need to know of that moment of shame.
"I am also faster than them, so I can still run from them, if they are too much trouble."
"Good", noted Genos. "I am assuming you will now go out?"
"Yeah. Gotta get things sorted out."
"Here you go", said Mikage as she handed him the copied dossier and Ji-Han thanked her as he put it in the [Inventory].
"Oh, by the way", he remembered. "Do you know any shops that buy stuff?"
"The Leon Shop buys generally anything", explained Mikage. "The exception are things that they can't sell again and objects procured by unsavory means. The other shops are specialist shops and buy as such only objects of their specialty or materials and tools useful for their production. If you can strike a deal with one of them, they are generally willing to pay more for your goods than the Leon Shop, but they might not buy anything at all if their own business hasn't been good lately."
"I see. So, scrap metal and minerals would be better sold to a smith?"
"Indeed. Unfortunately, the Smithy is located in the Rural District of Traverse Town, so the journey can take some time."
Rural district?
Ji-Han took out the map and unfolded it. From the looks of it, Traverse Town seemed to be separated into multiple districts named after… their industrial development? And for some reason all the districts were connected to the "edge" of Traverse Town like in a circle. There was the large Urban District to the… northwest? There wasn't a north pointer on the map, so he wasn't sure.
Nevertheless, "south" of it was the Traditional District and next to that the Medieval District. East of that was the Rural District, which went far enough north that it still had a border with the Urban District. The Northeast was mainly covered by something labeled the Water District while the Southeast was the Mountain District. The Mountain and Water District split apart at some point from each other, making way for the Arctic District and at the south of the Mountain District where two other districts. On literally the southeast edge of the map was the Desert District and west of that, in between two branches of the Mountain District was the Fire District.
As Ji-Han opened another page, it showed the Urban District in more detail, or at last part of it. The Urban District was large enough to take multiple pages. Wait a minute…
"Kazusaushiku Station?" Ji-Han read surprised. "You have a train network?"
"Only the tracks", refuted Zenkichi. "We don't have working trains in Traverse Town but the tracks and stations make for excellent landmarks. For example, if you leave the White Ant and continue to the left, you will meet train tracks. If you follow them to the right you'll reach Shugakuin Station, which is close to the connection point between the four main districts and if you follow to the left you will reach Ichiyama Station. Then the path branches again, left to Kazusaushiku Station with the Shopping Arcade on the way and right to Iogi Station which is close to Franky's House."
"I see. Thanks for the explanation." Looks like his new goal was set.
"Alright", Ji-Han decided. "I'll be going then. Goodbye and, again, thanks for everything you've done for me.
"You are welcome", responded Genos. "And if you have any more questions, my BBS-account is [Blond Cyborg]."
"Alright. Thanks."
With that he left the three to their own devices and went outside. Or rather, out of the room. He still had a bit to go before he was out of the building.
"Alright, here goes."
After 15 minutes of walking and four two-second fights against Shadows, he had left the White Ant with one Lucid Shard more. The he followed Zenkichi's directions and went left until he could see the train tracks, where he was roped into another battle with 3 Shadows and 2 Soldiers. The fight had been easy as it had been lucrative, as afterwards he had not only gained another Lucid Shard, but also a new item called [Scrap Lead (1 dm³)]… even if he wondered if he really could give that one to a smithy. But [Observe] had said that it could be recycled, so he had to be able to give it to someone. Luckily, he had an [Inventory], so he wasn't in danger of getting lead poisoning just by carrying it around.
He was ripped out of his thoughts when new Heartless appeared.
"Okay, 2 Shadows, 2 Soldiers and, oh shit! [Observe]!"
{Air Soldier Lv15
HP: 75/75
MP: 0/0
Type: Emblem-Heartless
Winged Heartless. They fly over their enemies and dive to strike them.
Their high endurance and quickness make them tough to beat.}
Right, he forgot the Soldiers with the draconic wings and propeller-cap were there, too, now that was going to be a new experience…
He quickly dashed over to the first Shadow, taking it out with two well-placed strikes. A Soldier was going after him and Ji-Han, not wanting to play around while the Air Soldier was there, used a [Power Strike] to slam it to the ground, the same time the second Shadow slid over the ground behind him.
He quickly dashed away, not wanting to be surrounded but suddenly the Air Soldier dived down, slammed its feet against his back and threw him towards the ground. {-23}
Ji-Han rolled over the pavement until he slammed against a traffic sign with a red triangle. Suppressing the pain, he quickly picked himself up, taking in the current situation. The Air Soldier was in the air above him, currently flying away from him, one of the Soldiers was still standing, while the other and the last Shadow were coming for him though the Soldier looked like he was going to reach him earlier.
Ji-Han ran towards them and used a [Power Strike] on the Soldier, scoring a {Critical} and instantly evaporated it. {+45 EXP} Then he continued onwards towards the Shadow and took him down, too. {+21 EXP} Meanwhile the Air Soldier had turned around and was staring at him. Then both, he and the Soldier attacked at the same time, one straight and one above.
The Air Soldier was faster and Ji-Han threw himself to the side to avoid its feet and continued to roll further when the ground version did its axe-kick at the place he had been before. But then he quickly got up again and attacked the Soldier with two successive strikes, taking him out of the fight, too. {+43 EXP}
Now it was only him and the Air Soldier. And now that they were only two, Ji-Han could easily see its attacks coming and get out of the- woah! FAST!
Ji-Han could just barely jump to the side to avoid getting a boot to the head. And once he picked himself up, the Air Soldier was already gone, hovering in the air just out of reach.
Damn that bastard! If that guy came only down to attack and went away right afterwards, Ji-Han would never able to damage him. And then they'd just continue that whole game until more Heartless showed up! If he didn't want to admit defeat to it and all Air Soldiers in Traverse Town, he had to find something now! He could try throwing one of his items at it, but he somehow doubted he would make a lot of damage even it hit and the Heartless didn't just avoid it. So, the only option left was to take the attack head-on!
"[Guard]!" Ji-Han shouted as the Air Soldier came diving down again, bringing his Keyblade up in a defending motion. Other than using [Guard], he could have also attacked at the same moment, but since he was already depending on the right timing, why not use the skill that actually was made for situations like this?!
The boot hit the Keyblade and was repelled, its owner thrown back as well. But not far. The Air Soldier spread its wings, stopping it before it could crash against anything. However, thanks to the small size of the wings compared to the body, it still was tumbling in the air, trying to find balance. Maybe one feet over his head. That was his chance!
Ji-Han jumped into the air and smacked it with a [Power Strike].
{Critical}, appeared in near the Heartless as it was smashed against the ground and Ji-Han landed near it. Then, not wanting to give it the opportunity to get up, Ji-Han quickly put his own foot on top of its chest-area where the black and red heart-like symbol was.
"[Observe]!" Ji-Han used on the downed foe and his eyes bulged out. 47 HP left?! A [Power Strike] and a CRIT and he hadn't even managed to get it down half-way?! How sturdy were these guys?!
His distraction was used by the Heartless to swipe with its claws at him, dealing… 3 damage?! Could it be that, unless they were swooping down from up high, they were actually pretty weak?
Ji-Han sprouted a menacing grin and then began to deliver a smack-down upon the grounded Air Soldier, hitting it as many times as fast as he could.
{Critical} {37/75}
{Critical} {32/75}
{Critical} {11/75}
{9/75}
{5/75}
{Critical} {0/75}
With that the Air Soldier and the [Observe]-Panel vanished, replaced by a {+75 EXP}. And Ji-Han's foot suddenly found himself in mid-air, still with pressure applied to it, resulting in it stomping hard on the ground below it.
"Ouch!" Exclaimed Ji-Han as he fought back the pain. At last he now had a way to take down the annoying fliers. He just had to get them one-on-one!
"Congratulations!" A voice suddenly spoke up from behind him and he turned around startled. "You handled yourself pretty well for someone who has no ranged attack. I wonder what you will do when you are faced with flying magic users."
In front of Ji-Han stood an old man with gray hair, a full beard of the same color and red eyes, wearing a mischievous smile on his face. Despite his age, he was still rather tall and had a regal appearance, with black vest over a black shirt of expensive-looking material and black silk-like trousers, as well as white gloves and a cane that looked more like a long scepter than something he needed to walk. And he had only question marks above his head. Considering that the only other person so far to have not even their name shown had been the god Yato, he'd be stupid to think of him as just a weak old guy.
"Actually, I was thinking of running away if that happened", Ji-Han responded to the man's query. "But hopefully I'll get a long-distance skill before it comes to that or I'll have to throw stones at them." Wait. Could that actually work? If he could get a throwing skill and leveled it up enough he might actually be able to force them from the sky with it!
"There is no shame in running away from a stronger opponent", noted the man. "But there will come a time when running away will mean, to leave something else behind."
"You are right", conceded Ji-Han. "How am I supposed to save a world, if I couldn't deal with even the weakest enemies?"
"Saving a world? Are you perhaps from the Hero Union? That would explain why I haven't seen you around before."
"Ah, sorry", responded Ji-Han sheepishly. "I am a member of the Hero Union, but I only became one after coming to Traverse Town. I am actually here because my world just got devoured by Heartless."
"Oh, my condolences."
But Ji-Han shook his head.
"No need, I am not going to mourn just yet. I plan on getting it back! In fact, it is because of that that I became a member of the Hero Union in the first place!"
"Restoring your world?" Mused the old man. "Do you have any idea on how to do that?"
"Not yet", denied Ji-Han, "but that's why it's a long-term goal. For now I'll just travel from world to world, saving as many as I can from the Heartless, looking for information on where the hearts of the worlds could have ended up to."
"But if your world just got devoured by Heartless, I doubt you'll have managed to get a spaceship, yet", the old man reasoned. "Or does your Keyblade give you the ability to do so on foot?"
"I actually do plan on getting a spaceship", exclaimed Ji-Han, "or hitchhiking at one." Huh, "hitchhiking through the galaxy", wasn't that the title of a movie? Wait.
Ji-Han had just realized something. Here he was, talking about spaceships and world travels to a powerful guy who suddenly appeared out of nowhere?! Didn't Genos said something about someone finding you?!
"Sorry, but I gotta ask", he spoke up, "are you by any chance Zelretch?"
The old man laughed loudly at that.
"Indeed", he confirmed, "I am Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, also known as the Wizard Marshall, the Old Man of the Jewels, the Kaleidoscope, as well as Oh-No-Not-Him-Again. And you would be?"
"Oh, I am Han Ji-Han… the Gamer, I guess?"
"Well then, Han Ji-Han, what brings you to this part of Traverse Town? If you are in need of a spaceship, shouldn't you be going to the TSAB Emissary or Franky's House? Or are you perhaps lost?"
"No", Ji-Han said, shaking his head, "but since I am barely strong enough to deal with the Heartless in Traverse Town, I thought first to get some money to buy stuff for my 'quest'. And for that I am going to Totosai-Ssi to see how much the scrap metal I've got is worth. Wait. You are called Old Man of the Jewels, right? Would you be interested in buying some stuff? [Inventory]!"
Exited Ji-Han opened the [Inventory] and pulled out a Lucid Shard, showing it to Zelretch.
"A gemstone naturally attuned to the element of ether?" The Old Man of the Jewels noted intrigued. "Are these common in your world?"
"I… don't know", admitted Ji-Han, "I wasn't really part of the supernatural community in my world before it got devoured. My ability makes these sometimes when I destroy a Shadow."
"What a peculiar application of the First Magic", mused the Kaleidoscope. "But to answer your question, I would be interested in these void crystals. One, however, is too few for experiments. How many do you have? I would be willing to buy twenty for now and maybe more if I found a use for them."
Getting 20 monster drops for someone? That sounded like a…
PING!
{A quest has been created.}
{Quest Alert
Buying in Bulk: 20 Lucid Shards
Zelretch is willing to buy [Lucid Shard]s from you, but only if you bring him 20 at once.
Gather 20 [Lucid Shard]s and give them to Zelretch.
Completion Award: +4000 EXP
A payment of 150 000 Munny
Increased reputation with Zelretch.
Completion Failure: +1000 EXP
Decreased reputation with Zelretch.}
"Is something the matter?" Inquired Zelretch and Ji-Han shook his head.
"You know how I said I am 'The Gamer'? My ability just gave me a quest to get you 20 Lucid Shards", explained Ji-Han. "Thing is, I only have seven so far. Would you be willing to wait?"
"Sure", responded Zelretch, "just don't expect me to come looking for you right away when you are finished."
"Right", confirmed Ji-Han and tipped {YES}, closing the quest alert. Now he'd just gotta kill enough Shadows so that they drop 13 more Lucid Shards. Should be doable, right. Right? At last the Shadows were easy too defeat.
"If that is all then, I shall take my leave", Zelretch told Ji-Han, who nodded.
"Yes, thank you for your time. I'll have to go, too, getting more funds and all… WAIT!"
"Oh, is something the matter?" Zelretch asked nonchalantly, yet a smirk had appeared on his face.
"Ehm, Genos told me you can travel between worlds… so I wanted to ask you, if you could help me with the whole spaceship-issue?"
"Oh, I don't know if I really am the right person to ask for that. The TSAB is an organization full of people with the goal to save worlds, so you should ask them. Or is there another reason why you wouldn't want to go with them?"
Ji-Han froze. Why exactly didn't he want to go to the TSAB? He could make all kinds of excuses, like that it would take too much time or something, but in the end he already knew why he didn't want to become a member of them.
"I just don't want to become someone's goon", he answered honestly. "I am the one who got this power, the Keyblade and the Gamer and I want to be the one to decide how to use them. I don't mind helping the TSAB out at times, but I want to have the option to decline. I want to fight, when I want to. I want to train, when I want to. I want to travel, where I want to. I want to help the people, I want to. In the end, I still am a Gamer, after all."
"That makes sense", noted Zelretch. "I don't like people telling me how to use my abilities either. And personally, in my opinion something as powerful as the Keyblade should not be a part of a bureaucratic organization. And while I do not need to use a spaceship to travel through the worlds, I actually have a spare one that I found some time ago. And since you seem earnest in your quest on saving worlds, I would not mind giving it to you."
"Really?" Ji-Han asked and Zelretch nodded.
"Under one condition, at last."
"Condition, what condition?"
"You accept a certain bet with me."
Ji-Han's enthusiasm pummeled at once.
"A bet? That doesn't sound that good…"
"I assume as much", Zelretch admitted. "But at the end of the day, you do not actually need my help. Even if you do not like the TSAB, there are other ways of aquiring a spaceship. It would take a long time, certainly, but you can gather enough money to commission your own, especially someone like you, who has so many unique abilities. You can also take a credit and if you end up completely at a loss on what to do, you will find Yuuko. Giving you a spaceship would just be the convenient, easy way out of this situation. No effort, no risk.
I will not jeopardize your quest on saving worlds so I will give you the spaceship as long as you accept the bet. No matter, whether you actually win it or not. However, if you lose, I will make it so that every time you want to use your Keyblade, you will transform into a Magical Girl!"
Say what?!
"It won't interfere with your fights if you lose", Zelretch continued, "but it should give you the necessary motivation to win the bet, adding a risk-factor to this way of aquiring a spaceship. The bet in question being, how many comrades you can gather for your quest within six hours!"
"Comrades?"
"Yes, comrades. Saving even one world is a big task. It would be a lot easier if you had people to fall onto in times of trouble. More people means more different abilities to cover your partners' shortcomings. Like trouble with flying enemies. Thus getting comrades should be on your list, regardless of the bet. So, using it as part of the bet is like hitting two birds with one stone.
I would advise you to get at last four comrades, but I will consider it your win, if you get at last two.
So, how about it? Will you risk this gamble? Or will you go looking for the other ways on gaining a spaceship?!"
PING!
{A quest has been created.}
{Quest Alert
True Companions: Your Merry Band of Misfits
Traveling and fighting on your own is just too lonely, not to mention difficult.
Find at last 2 people to accompany you on your journey within 6 hours.
Bonus Objective:
Find at last 4 people to accompany you on your journey within 6 hours.
Completion Award: +2000 EXP for every new party member.
You get a ship to travel between worlds.
Increased reputation with Zelretch.
Bonus Award:
?
Completion Failure: +500 EXP
You get a ship to travel between worlds.
Whenever you want to use the Keyblade you have to transform into a Magical Girl.
Decreased reputation with Zelretch.}
This was the first quest where a failure would not just mean, he didn't get all the nice bonuses of a completed quest and people wouldn't like him as much. This was the first time, a failure would have lasting consequences. And yet, he couldn't say the deal wasn't good. He was practically getting a freaking spaceship for free. But becoming a Magical Girl? Changing gender and clothes? Most likely to something extremely cute? How embarrassing would that be?!
Still, the deal was just so good. And the winning condition? Something he should do an effort to get anyways. As Zelretch had explained, getting comrades would be something making his journey a lot easier. And with so many people having lost their world, he should get at last two to join him in his efforts to restore them. The question was more, could he do that in six hours? Would he risk it?
…risk, huh. Certainly, it was a risk. But if you went down to it, the only thing he was really risking was his dignity. Zelretch's bet didn't involve a danger to his life, just embarrassment, even if a lot of it. In a sense he had to ask himself, if he was too afraid to risk losing his dignity, how was he supposed to risk his life, something that was pretty much guaranteed to be in danger on his quest?
He didn't know if Zelretch had planned it that way, but for him refusing the bet would also him refusing to risk his life. In other words, he shouldn't go on his quest in the first place. So, Han Ji-Han, are you prepared to actually risk your life?
No, no, he wasn't. But he would do it anyway. Because giving up now would mean giving up on mother, his father and all his friends, everyone on his world. Never again getting nagged on by his mother, never again making stupid jokes with Sun-Il, never again getting teased by Sea-Young, never getting reprimanded by the old geezer for introducing Sun-Il to video games, never again getting the "Rod of Love"… okay, he didn't miss that one exactly, but he still didn't want to give up on his teacher like that. And that was why, he would do it, even though he knew he was in over his head.
"Alright, I'll accept", decided Ji-Han and the quest alert vanished him needing to push the button. "I'll accept your challenge!"
"Good", exclaimed Zelretch. "I'll see you in six hours then."
With that the Old Man of the Jewels vanished from view in the blink of an eye. Alright. The clock was ticking. Totosai had to wait for now. He had to get companions. So, first order of business? Praying.
A/N:
Hi, guys and gals.
And that's how Ji-Han gets his companions: By actually looking for them. In canon, Donald and Goofy literally fell on top of Sora and brought with them the means to travel through different worlds. They don't exist here, so Ji-Han had to find other ways to travel through other worlds. The one's currently available to him where spoken of in detail within the chapter. Special mention should also go to the Leon Shop. In Yuushibu they are not actually selling things in the whole multiverse. They are just really a magical supermarket chain selling all kinds of items which I've decided to make one of the successful companies operating on the multiverse after they found out it exist. Which means that their ability to take Ji-Han from world to world is just a side-effect of their business. On that note, the Cyborg Franky also got his ability to build spaceships only after he got to Traverse Town and is now with Jusei Fudo repairing the ships from the TSAB when they are in the vicinity.
For the writing it is also easier to not have Ji-Han go with the TSAB or try to get enough money to make Franky build him a new ship, because of how long that takes to get the story rolling. So, in the end it is Zelretch who gave Ji-Han the way to travel, not with a magical companion like Yuuko in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, but with an actual spaceship that he found somewhere.
Speaking of Zelretch, I do hope I did him justice. A lot of people depict him as a troll who enjoys making life difficult for others, but as far as I know that is generally reserved for those who tried to take advantage of him. He's not above embarrassing people but he's still firmly on the side of saving humanity. Hopefully that showed in his demeanor this chapter.
Next on the list of things to talk about is Traverse Town or, to be more specific, its geographic appearance, which as of this day is the current story image. As the remnants of other worlds it's a patchwork city where, whenever new pieces get added, they get added to a place with similar features, creating the different districts. Which also results in the flat nature of Traverse Town. Places are put to the edges while buildings or other geographical features end up in empty spaces in-between. I had planned for not every world to be trusting a Keyblade wielder, resulting in its destruction and side-quests in which Ji-Han has to find the new locations and people.
Then there is the fact that I've separated perks from skills. So, while [Gamer's Body] did not show up in the Skills, this is because it is a perk that does not level up the same way as skills.
Lastly, I want to talk about the skill Keyblade Mastery. In canon Sora learned new skills as he leveled up, which here is represented by the skill Keyblade Mastery. The skills in question are a mix between skills Sora learned and those that resemble game mechanics that are not included in The Gamer. Like Observe, High Jump or Second Chance. Of course, the way The Gamer works it can happen that Ji-Han gets one of the skills another way first, in which case his proficiency in the skill goes up instead. The skills are separated into seven categories, STR, VIT, DEX, INT, WIS, LUK and [?] and just like in KH, the choice in the Dive to Heart effects, which skills are learned first and which later. For Ji-Han's current choice it results in the following table:
LVL STR+, INT-
4 STR1: Guard Break
8 VIT1: Guard
12 DEX1: Dodge Roll
16 ?1: Night Eye: seeing in the dark
20 WIS1: Hidden Key: the key does not attract Heartless
24 LUK1: Observe
28 INT1: Meditation: restores MP
32 ?2: High Jump
36 STR2: Stun Impact
40 DEX2: Stealth
44 VIT2: Heal
48 ?3: Water Breath: able to go without breathing
52 LUK2: Draw
56 WIS2: Spotlight
60 INT2: Disc Drive: attack spell
64 ?4: Item Synthesis
68 STR3: Strike Raid
72 VIT3: Second Chance
76 DEX3: Zantesuken
80 ?5: Double Jump
84 WIS3: Lockdown: locking attacks on enemy
88 LUK3: Data Resistance
92 INT3: Parallel Threads: different version of Ragnarok
94 ?6: Customize: change appearance
96 ?7: Screenshot: instant photographing
100 ?8: Time Out: pause feature
Gashadokuro Amanojaku
