Review corner!
Ethhar - To be fair, it was kind of the middle of the night.
Victor John Foxfire - Yes, some weapons have infinite ammo while others don't.
Guest - The idea is that he was supposed to gain strength via his own power, which is why he was fighting the Eye of Cthulhu in the first place and that anything more would be kind of cheating.
So instead, he'll have some unique powers, plus the Cell Phone will be important for a couple of things.
—
The next morning, Naito found himself waiting once more in front of the king, having spent most of the night pilfering the kitchen for more food.
There was plenty enough, so no worries there.
"The time has come, our heroes! We have gathered allies to accompany you on your journeys. We have gathered adventurers, mercenaries, and even volunteers from our local church!"
Wait. What?
Weren't they gonna travel together?
Notice: The Legendary Weapons repel each other, reducing Experience gain when near each other.
'Experience gain…?' The Terrarian thought to himself. 'How does that work? Does the weapon just prevent you from improving? Why is experience capitalized…?'
In Terraria, many aspects of one's abilities could be calculated into a numerical value, such as his Life Force and defense values.
But he'd never heard of this "Experience" before.
He'd probably have a lot of it, being raised by some fairly powerful people in Yharim's Kingdom.
He recalled how Yharim's son-in-law, Prince Alizarin of the Crimson Kingdom, was extremely experienced, being able to take down powerful foes through sheer skill, even when wielding weapons that were barely stronger than steel.
…Damnit, now he wished he had borrowed one of dad's blades before he set out on his journey to prove himself.
It would've been a lot better than the Cell Phone he bought at some store at his hometown's local mall.
While he was deep in thought, the doors of the throne room opened to allow a large group of adventurers to enter.
"Now then, heroes, I must regret to inform you that as it is tradition, that it will be the adventurer's choice as to who they will follow. However! You may recruit whomever you wish! The local church and the adventurer's guild would be more than pleased to lend the Cardinal Heroes their assistance!"
He then paused.
"Now, adventurers, choose the hero you will accompany!"
The newcomers split up, gathering around the heroes they desired to travel with.
Roughly a full minute passed before the results became apparent;
Ren gained five followers.
Itsuki gained three, while Motoyasu got four, three of which were women.
Naito himself got two.
Naofumi? All alone, without a single companion.
"Hm...what a strange turn of events." The King put a thoughtful look on his face. "Rumor has it that the Shield Hero is the least informed about how this world works…"
The warrior-in-training paused.
…Did he himself even know how this world worked?
….Blech, he's a warrior. No time for stupid things like philosophy.
"Will anyone step up to join the Shield Hero?" The king asked. Nobody responded, remaining steadfast in their decisions.
Until a young redheaded from Motoyasu's party spoke up. "I will volunteer!"
"H-Huh?! Are you sure about that?" The Spear Hero in question asked, somewhat startled.
"Indeed!" She proclaimed, "I found the idea of a hero being forced to travel alone to be so, so heartbreaking! So please, at least allow me to accompany you at the start of your journey, Shield Hero!"
Naito found himself somewhat moved by her heartfelt speech.
The king hmm'd in response.
"If that's the case, then I'll allow it. To start off your adventures, I will bestow each of the heroes a sum of 600 silver. However, due to their circumstances, I will grant the Shield Hero a total of 800."
He raised a hand forward.
"Now, great heroes set forth on your journey, and save our world!"
—
And so, Naitokirā found himself with his new party of three, himself included.
"G-Greetings, Dagger Hero. My name is Ravilese. I'm a cleric for the Church."
Ravilese was a rather short girl with green hair, wearing a cloak that was padded with leather armor. She wielded a large staff made of silver, which held a pale yellow crystal at one end.
The Dagger Hero nodded in acknowledgment, turning to face the other companion. He was totally decked out in full armor, looking vaguely like a watered-down version of a Space Marine. He wielded a large hammer and a rather thick tower shield.
"Greetings, fair hero. I am Theonades. I am a paladin from the Adventurer's guide."
"I see," Naito responded. "My name, as you may already know, is Naitokirā. As the Dagger Hero, I will do my best to protect this world and its people by any means necessary."
[Lv 12 Cleric Ravilese has joined your party!]
[Level 12 Paladin Theonades has joined your party!]
—
With introductions out of the way, Naito requested that his new team members show him around town.
"And this here," Theonades began motioning over to a specific building, "is where the renowned blacksmith Erhard works. He's a really good fellow, too. My dad used to be a part of his adventuring party."
"Hm...interesting. Shall we pay him a visit?"
"Most certainly! You already look to be well equipped, but it never hurts to check in!"
They entered the store, just in time to see Naofumi the Shield Hero fumbling with a sword as it shot out of his hands and clattered onto the ground.
"Woah there, boy! What do you think you're doing?!" The old man behind the counter chastised the poor hero.
"Weapon restrictions, I presume" The hero of the dagger responded, trying to look wise and cool in front of his peers. "I got notified of that when I first got here because I had weapons in my inventory when I got summoned."
That got Erhard's attention. "Eh? Summoned? The two of you...are you legendary heroes?"
"Indeed. Legendary Hero of the Dagger, Naitokirā, at your service." He bowed respectfully.
"S-Sir Hero! You d-don't need to bow to common folk—" Ravilise exclaimed.
The Terrarian shot his cleric an upset glance. 'I'll bow to whoever I damn please!' He thought to himself.
"Heh, getting two heroes to visit my store? Today's my lucky day. The name's Erhard. You won't find a better blacksmith anywhere else in the capital!"
Naito decided to browse the store's wares while the old blacksmith handled Naofumi's orders.
Soon, the kid walked out with a fresh suit of chainmail and an eager expression on his face as he and his other party member strode out to go kill some monsters in the field.
"So, Dagger boy! What can I do fer' ya?"
"First of all, what are your policies on bringing in materials for you to work with?"
"Oh, getting straight to the point, are we?"
"Indeed." Naito held out his bandaged hand, materializing two pieces of ore that he unbagged last night. Ravilize nearly choked on her own spit upon seeing these unholy metals.
"These are materials from my world, known as Demonite and Crimtane. They aren't particularly rare and aren't anywhere close to being high-end materials— not by a long shot. But they're easy to work with."
He paused.
"When forged into armor they have unique magical properties. Unfortunately, as of now, my supply is extremely limited and even then, I lack the additional materials needed to forge said armor. So I was wondering if I could sell some of these to you."
"Hmm…I see. So, how much do these sell for back in your world?"
"About 40 silver for Crimtane bars, and 32 silver for Demonite bars. Ores go for 9 and 8 respectively. It takes about three pieces of ore to make one full ingot— So you should have enough for about 15 or 16 each."
"I see!"
"However, I'd like for you to set aside about five bars of each, as well as the leftover ore, for my dagger, please."
"Alright! Pleasure doing' business with ya! I don't have many orders today, so I oughta be able to get them finished by tomorrow! " The two shook hands before the old man gave him a few hundred silver.
"Say," Erhard began, "What's your armor made of? I've never seen a strange material such as that before."
"Oh. It's made of Obsidian and spider Silk. Though, according to the status magic, it's Otherworldly."
"Otherworldly? Hm...well, I guess there must be something special about it because obsidian is pretty fragile."
"Oh? Is that so? Interesting."
"Although, I'm afraid that fabric-based armors are a bit outside my area of expertise, especially when they involve something as delicate as silk. But if you bring me some monster hides, I can work with that."
"Hm...what about monster guts?"
"I'd have to charge extra, but sure. I've worked with some pretty exotic materials before."
"I see." Naito smiled under his bandanna. "I look forward to our future endeavors."
"Likewise, Dagger boy!"
—
After they left the shop, Rivilise got up in Naito's face.
"S-Sir Dagger hero! What in the world were those unholy materials?!"
"Did you not hear me? Those are metals from my world."
"B-But the energies they radiated! They...They go against the natural order of the world!"
"What are you, a Dryad? Our world sees those as a necessary evil. Entire kingdoms have been built upon the tainted lands of which those metals hail from. We can control it, but cannot eradicate it. In addition, it would be disrespectful to remove what remains of a dead god."
The cleric's face paled. "A...A-A what?!"
"You heard me." He turned around coolly. "Theonades, do you know where the good monster-hunting grounds are?"
"Ah, but of course, sir hero! I shall lead the way!"
"D-Don't dodge the question!" Rivilese complained as she chased after the two. "You can't just casually say things like— Wait, come back!"
—
And so, the party found themselves in a field just outside of the castle city's walls.
Bouncing along the ground were orange balloon-lime creatures, with devilish little faces and beady, mischievous eyes. For some reason, they reminded him of the slimes from back home...albeit, these guys were more expressive.
One hopped up to him and tried to bite his ankles.
He mercilessly ended it with a single stomp, stamping on it hard enough to send a bolt of pain up his leg.
+2 EXP [Transferred to Party]
EXP? Like, Execution Points from Undertale?
He...He wasn't sure if he was ready to do that.
Naito shrugged off that line of thought and looked out towards a group of technicolored balloon monsters. He switched to the brick weapon and waited, his body becoming ethereal as his stealth points rapidly built up.
Stealth Points: 100/100 (Stealth Strike Ready)
He lobbed that brick across the clearing where it shattered in the middle of the cluster, shredding the balloons apart with terracotta shrapnel.
+18 EXP [Transferred to Party]
The purple jewel stayed floating for a second, pulling in the tattered, rubbery remains of the Balloon Monsters.
Balloon series unlocked!
New weapon unlocked: Orange Balloon Airburst
5 Rogue Damage
4% Crit chance
Ammo Points: 10/10
Projectiles fly slowly but very far.
—
New weapon unlocked: Yellow Balloon Airburst
6 Rogue Damage
4% Crit chance
Ammo Points: 10/10
Projectiles fly slowly but very far.
Explodes into weak electricity.
On hit: 10% chance to stun enemies.
—
New weapon unlocked: Blue Balloon Airburst
5 Rogue Damage
4% Crit Chance
Ammo Points: 6/6
Projectiles fly slowly but very far.
On hit: Restore 3 Mana for the wielder
—
New weapon unlocked: Red Balloon Airburst
7 Rogue Damage
5% Crit Chance
Ammo Points: 5/5
Projectiles fly a little slow but fly very far.
On hit: Inflict [On Fire!] debuff for 3 seconds
—
4 of 7 Conditions for Rainbow Balloon Airburst fulfilled.
[X] Orange Balloon Airburst
[X] Yellow Balloon Airburst
[X] Blue Balloon Airburst
[X] Red Balloon Airburst
[_] Green Balloon Airburst
[_] Indigo Balloon Airburst
[_] Violent Balloon Airburst
—
Conditions for Chomp Chomp unlocked.
[5/50] Kill 50 Balloon Monsters
[Completed] Defeat 1 Boss monster
He had unlocked several weapons, as his thrown projectiles apparently had an auto-absorb function.
But...since when has he defeated a boss monster? He'd killed nothing but these ankle-biters and several buckets worth of chicken ever since he'd gotten here.
Then, a theory came to mind.
The way his world worked, was that certain regions and islands were magically attuned in mysterious ways. Defeating large boss monsters caused new things to awaken across the land.
So...perhaps by defeating the Eye of Cthulhu immediately before being summoned, it counted towards the number of bosses defeated?
...Nice. So by that means, he already had a bit of a head start in terms of overall strength.
With that in mind, he set to work!
He switched to the default form and threw several blades at several distant balloons.
—
The watcher in the shadows of the nearby forest observed the mysterious new Dagger Hero as he went to town on these run of the mill balloon monsters.
He was clearly more experienced than the other summoned Heroes in terms of combat prowess. Not a true master, but still visibly well-versed. His responses were quick and his movements fairly fluid.
The Dagger Hero was also...rather brutal for a person wielding a proper assassin's weapon. The Shadow watched as this man grabbed a Balloon by the jaws and ripped it wide open until it was torn in half.
Suddenly, the hero's violet eyes locked onto their watcher, his head snapping towards their general direction with mechanical speed.
The Shadow flinched the branch on which they stood abruptly snapping.
As they tumbled onto the ground, one thought ran through their mind.
This man was dangerous and dangerously perceptive. The Church would have to tread carefully around this man!
—
Naitokirā, unaware of the Shadow's presence, had stopped his rampage to observe a rather colorful songbird that had been perched above his observer's hiding place.
"Sir Hero, is everything alright?"
The warrior-in-training looked at his Paladin comrade.
"Everything is fine, sir Theonades. The wildlife here is oddly familiar, yet quite foreign." He let his dagger fall upon a sneaky Balloon. "Well, the non-monster parts, anyways. How many of these ankle-biters have you slain, anyways?"
"Not very many, I'm afraid. These little buggers are surprisingly fast!"
"I see." He paused. "Out of curiosity...is there anything I should know about my abilities as a summoned hero?"
The paladin put a metal gauntlet to his helmet's chin. "Hm...the legends about the previous heroes told of various ways to increase their power. However, I'm not sure about any of them, as there are supposedly many different methods, so I'm not sure which ones are true."
…
"But...one thing I DO know is that heroes can use something called Skills."
You have unlocked Skills and Passive Skills!
—
[Tutorial: Skills]
Skills are special attacks, similar to Stealth Strikes and magic spells. However, instead of Stealth Points, Skills use your mana.
Unlike spells, Skills have a cooldown period, so use them wisely!
Offensive Skills can be obtained by absorbing rare monster parts, but tools and other utility items commonly give useful skills as well.
—
[Tutorial: Passive Skills]
Passive Skills are similar to skills, except that they don't cost mana, and some can even be toggled on and off.
Essentially, they function as permanent buffs.
—
Huh. Magic spells?
[Tutorial: Magic Spells]
Spells are similar to Skills, except that they have no cooldown. However, they require chants in order to be cast, and stronger spells can sometimes be quite lengthy.
In order to learn spells, visit a magic shop to learn your elemental affinity.
'Alright, good to know.'
"I see. Thank you, Sir Theonades. I do believe that your wisdom will be a great boon in this adventure."
'Boon, boon, boon. Huh. What a funky word.' He thought to himself.
The paladin nodded. "I am honored by your words, sir Hero!"
Meanwhile, poor Rivilese was being hounded by a large swarm of balloon monsters.
By the end of their monster hunting session, Naitokira's teammates had leveled up to level 15. Together, they'd collectively killed 30 out of the 50 Balloon monsters needed to unlock this "Chomp Chomp" weapon.
—
To celebrate their first day of "adventuring", they visited a well-known tavern where, coincidentally, the other heroes had chosen to stay the night.
"Yo! Naito-san!" Motoyasu called out. "How's your day going?"
"It's going quite nicely." The warrior-in-training responded. "Dipped our toes in the water in the fields outside the city. Those ankle-biting balloons were small fry— my team leveled up only thrice."
"Heh. And you?"
….huh?
"Me? I unlocked a bunch of weapons from those balloons. Not very powerful, my blade's default state does more damage than all of them combined, but their abilities to inflict debuffs might come in handy."
"Okay...but...like, what level are you?"
The spear-wielder received a blank, confused stare.
"You okay, dude?"
'Ah, Uhm, shit.'
"Ah, apologies, sir Spear hero. My world doesn't use this 'leveling' system you speak of."
"Oh. Uuh, that's...that's cool, I guess."
Naito just shrugged and looked around. He spotted Naofumi's sole party member walking through the room.
She spotted him and gave him a flirty smile.
—
She instantly regretted her action.
The moment the Dagger Hero's eyes met hers, she felt...inferior.
She had been informed by her allies that the Dagger Hero was not to be trifled with as of yet, as he was a blank slate. They were going to see what kind of person he was before making a move against him.
Still, she figured that perhaps, she could perhaps influence the Dagger Hero in some way. After all, she was a master of manipulation.
But...this man...he was dangerous. He bore the eyes of a killer, one who would be more than willing to end a life, regardless of the consequences.
For a split second, her vision twisted, with Naitokira being replaced by the silhouette of a black, humanoid creature. Then, it changed back to normal so fast that she didn't even know if she was hallucinating.
She decided not to mess with him, which was the smartest move she would ever play.
—
'Huh.' Naitokirā thought to himself. 'She's got pretty eyes.'
He turned away from her and sipped some booze, thinking about his plans for tomorrow.
'First, I'll head over to the adventurer's guild to register myself. Then, I'll head over to the magic shop and get my affinity checked.'
He leaned back a bit.
'After that, I guess we'll find the last of the balloons needed to unlock the new weapons. Maybe we can go look for new monsters?'
He stared blankly at the wall for a moment, then shrugged.
Guess that was that.
He paid for his drinks and went upstairs to the bedrooms. His teammates had left for the night, as they had to make some final preparations before they could leave with him on his journey beyond the castle walls.
The warrior-in-training flopped onto the bed, staring at the ceiling.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a polaroid photo of a woman with raven-black hair. She sat in a wheelchair with a very, very young version of himself sitting on her lap dressed in an adorable bunny onesie.
Naito sighed and pulled out his Cell Phone. He scrolled through the many apps, finally opening up a voice recorder.
"Hey, mom. I'm...I'm doing alright as of now. I don't even know why I'm bothering to record this. I mean…" He paused. "...The chances of you hearing this are incredibly slim. That's to be expected when you're in another dimension. I know Draedon said that this phone of mine had some weird thing called quantum entanglement, but from what little I know about the subject, it shouldn't work when one's in another dimension."
He sighed once more.
"Anyways, the thing is...I love you, mom. You're the best mother I could've asked for. Just thought I'd let you know."
…
He stopped the recording, and attempted to send it to his mother, only to immediately get an error saying "No signal".
With an annoyed grunt, he tossed the cell phone onto his bed and once again flopped face-first onto it.
—
Passive Skill unlocked: A Mother's Love
Your mother gave up her worldly possessions for you so that she could once more hold the hand of the child she initially despised with all of her being.
The entity she bargained with has blessed you with nearly total immunity to curses and incredible resistance to dark magic.
Note: This is a hidden skill, as it does not show up on the status menu.