"An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage."
-Jack Welch, Former CEO of General Electric
-To War by Jingo-
-New World, Same Sins: Chapter 2-
Swinging by the merchants quarter, the Gun Hero stopped to find a temporary place to stay. Deciding not to go for an inn as most did, William instead went and rented out an empty storage room for a week. Three times the space of an inn room, for half the price a night. Granted it didn't have a bed, roomservice, windows, or most of the features you'd associate with rooms, but that didn't matter right now, all he needed was a desk and a chair… which the room also didn't come with, he had bought them on the way for 4 silver.
After getting the two wooden pieces of furniture set up, the Hero sat down in his chair and started to check things off his 'to do' list.
First thing he had done was ask his party to introduce themselves, and give a brief rundown on their class, abilities, and strengths. After getting that information, he pulled out some paper and began planning out potential formations that played to everyone's strengths. While he was doing that, he also had his party explain the 'Status Magic' system to him, in case the locals used it differently than how the other Heroes had told him.
And oh boy had he been right to do so.
"Party system?" he questioned, looking up from his paper.
"Yes," Tanya, the brown haired girl, nodded her head "It lets allies view each other's health at a glance, share XP from kills, and it allows the party leader to view everyone's stats. Also," She looked to the side and scratched her neck "We kinda need to be in your party to get the XP boost, sooo."
Will leaned back in his chair, that did seem like an important mechanic, didn't it. He was glad to have asked his party about this. Motoyasu and Ren hadn't even mentioned it, although he wasn't really surprised about that. Ren was a solo player so he wouldn't have used it often, if at all, and Motoyasu probably couldn't even remember what he had for lunch yesterday.
He was surprised that he hadn't run into any mention of it while reading through the system's various text logs and 'Help Pages', you'd think that it would at lea-
Will's train of thought was suddenly derailed as a new icon abruptly appeared on his HUD, one that, when he clicked it, opened the party system screen.
'Wait… you've gotta be shitting me…' His eye twitched 'The system has parts that you've gotta UNLOCK!?'
This was both good and bad.
On one hand, it meant there was some hope he could unlock more systems that could help him not die.
On the other, it meant that trying to unlock them all was going to be tedious as FUCK!
He grumbled to himself as he sent an invite to everyone in front of him, before turning back to his papers.
Knowing that most of the adventurers had chosen to follow him, not for some religious reason due to the church, or some misplaced feeling of duty, but because they wanted to use him to become stronger, was actually a relief. Loyalty could be earned in time, but this meant that none of them would stab him in the back for some coin, or go running off with his stuff.
And sure enough, as they accepted the invite, they all seemed to brighten up.
"So Weiss," He hummed, "how does the XP division work? Is it structured around contribution, he who does more damage gets more XP. Or is all split equally no matter what."
"Well, it's slightly skewed towards what people spend the most time in active combat" The oldest in the group stepped forward. Easily over fifty, he was an old veteran with white in his hair, and the one who had left Motoyasu's party "But everyone still gets a decent amount, as long as they are in the party. Keeping lower level's out of combat while the rest of the group fights more dangerous opponents is a good way to get rookies up to snuff faster."
William hummed and tapped his pen on the table. Weiss was an anomaly, he was the strongest to join him stat wise. Even after getting his level reset on request of the crown to join him, he had the stats comparable those of a few levels above him. And after his little stunt in the lines, Will had suspected that he was after the knowledge that the Heroes had brought from their worlds, rather than just physical strength.
Nonetheless, his experience in the combat of this world was an invaluable recourse to have.
And speaking of experience, if you don't even have to be in combat to gain XP…
"Congratulations Weiss and Tanya," Will grinned as he tossed them two folded up papers "Or should I say Sergeant and Corporal. You two are going to be in charge of the party when I'm not there, with Weiss serving as my second in command."
The two opened the papers, with Tanya slightly fumbling the catch.
Tanya's paper was a roughly drawn map of the surrounding area, with circles around various spots monsters were known to congregate.
Weiss' paper detailed a battle formation and several basic strategies for the party. Different to the royal army's formation of tight lines of shields and pikes with archers at the back, this plan called for a spaced out and fluid front line: one that was able to shift to counter enemy advances, and part to allow stronger enemies to pass through the line, where they could be encircled and quickly dealt with. It also had the ranged and magic units back up much further than usual when in combat, so that quick melee fighters wouldn't be able to blitz them.
"I have several things to take stock of today, before I can head out, so y'all will be heading out without me. Take this-" He tossed them a small bag of 200 silver coins "And equip yourselves properly, you all came with your own adventuring gear, but take care of any upgrades or repairs you may need, also buy a bag to carry the group's loot and make sure to stock up on some low strength health potions. Once you're ready, go out and do what you do best, and meet me back here at 8:30pm sharp. Understood?"
"Aye!" "Yup!" "Yes Sir!" "You got it!" "Of course my liege!"
William pinched the bridge of his nose at the sudden cacophony of noise "Please, just pick one- 'Yes Sir' is more than enough."
""SIR, YES SIR!""
-To War by Jingo-
After his party had left, William sighed in relief. He didn't know how to command people, he knew how to be someone's boss in a business environment, but in a combat environment, where they were being made to risk their lives? Not so much. So most of what he had been doing was just ripping things straight from what he'd seen in the US military, those times when he went out and observed various training exercises to see how their products were being used, and how to possibly market them better.
Needless to say, putting on a fake act quickly got tiring, especially since he knew he'd have to continue to fake said act until he had a bit more experience as their commander.
...Which would require more time in the roll, and as such more faking of the act.
The Hero shook his head and started to get to work with his 'To Do' list.
#1. Experiment to see just how far he could push 'The System'.
The system that this world ran on, and the 'Status Magic' that let you see/interact with it, was extraordinary powerful, but instead of running on '1s and 0s' 'Yes and No' like programs in his old world, "If_ Then_'', It ran on definitions, and definitions could be… fuzzy.
The Shield Hero could only use shields, but if he took a really fat sword blade and welded a handle to the side, could he call that a shield while stabbing shit with it? Would a curved sword with a string tied to each end register as a bow?
He had no idea! And that was the purpose of today's experiment! To see if he could deliberately trick the system into doing what he wanted.
He held up his grandfather's old leather bag to the gun's gem and, as he expected, nothing happened. A backpack wasn't exactly an attachment for a gun after all. Placing down the bag, he instead moved on to a much, much smaller bag, the type used to hold marbles.
[New Attachment]
[Tiny Ammo Bag-Attachment]
Equip Bonus): Storage (Tiny)
Equipping the attachment caused a tiny bag to appear, tied to the gun's barrel by a string.
Ok, step one worked, now was the time for the moment of truth. Slowly, Will lifted a slightly larger bag to the gem. And with the light of it being absorbed, he got a ping notifying him of an equipment upgrade.
[Upgrade Acquired]
[Small Ammo Bag-Attachment]
Equip Bonus): Storage (Minor)
"Bingo!" He smirked, and one by one, he slowly fed a pile of six consecutively larger bags into the gem, the system notifying him of upgrade after upgrade, until-
The gem absorbed the large leather bag that it had just refused a minute ago, and the system froze as it registered what it did, letters on his HUD fuzzing over slightly as the entire thing chugged, not liking at all what had happened. Apparently the system that governs the entirety of this reality didn't like being tricked with something only a five year old would have fallen for.
Buttons on his status screen fuzzed a few more times, and he started to worry, before finally-
[Upgrade Acquired]
[JourneyMan's Bag-Attachment]
Equip Bonus): Storage (Large)
He smiled, as he equipped the attachment, causing the old leather bag to appear hanging on his shoulder.
"Heheh, I win."
-[WARNING]-
-[Don't do that]-
"I'll do whatever the fuck I want."
-[WARNING]-
-[Fuck you]-
"Fuck you to!"
Apparently the system really didn't like being made a fool of.
-To War by Jingo-
The next thing on the list wasn't anywhere as ambitious as the first, no fucking with the system that controls physics, but it was just as important, because it contributed to his survivability.
Lined up in front of him on the wooden table was an assortment of random junk, a collection of everything in his grandfather's bag that he dumped before absorbing it and making it his bag, and a bunch of random stuff he picked up from the market.
The plan was simple, feed all the shit into the gun and see if anything was unlocked.
Iron Bar- Nope
Copper Bar- Nope
Nails- Nope
Block of wood- Nope
Glass- Nope
'Really? I thought for sure that would have given me a scope'.
Fur- Nope
Leather- Hey, that one worked!
[New Attachment]
[Comfort Grip-Attachment]
Equip Bonus): Comfy Holding
"...You've got to be shitting me." He blinked as he stared at his popup…
'Comfy Holding'?! Forget stat boosts, even the Canteen Attachment is more useful than this waste of space!
*Some Time Later*
…
..
.
"Well…" The Hero sighed as he stared at the still completely full table "Fuck my life."
Out of over forty items, the gem had taken three, three! And two of those contributed to the same unlock! And of all three that the gem took, none of them were things he picked up from the marketplace, meaning all the money he spent was completely wasted!
This had to be the system getting back at him for earlier, he wouldn't accept any other explanation.
The old journal from his grandfather's bag had been absorbed into the Gem, unlocking the [Adventurer's Journal] attachment, and the modern pen that he had brought with him, via his pocket, had upgraded the attachment to include a pen to write with.
The other thing he unlocked was the [Money Pouch] that had cost him five silver coins, that the system did not reimburse him for. It was an addon to the Bag, and added a hidden pouch on the inside that any money was auto-deposited in.
[Aged Musket- Legendary Weapon]
[Attachments: Bayonette, Compass, Comfort Grip]
-Ranged Attack: 40
-Melee Attack: 2 (7)
-MP cost: 20
Equip Bonuses): Extended Reach (Moderate), Intimidation (Small), Compass, Comfy Holding
[JourneyMan's Bag-Attachment]
Equip Bonus): Storage (Large)
Money Pouch): Currency Storage
[Adventurer's Journal-Attachment]
Equip Bonus): Writable
Pen) Writing
Money Pouch): Deposit Ledger
The Gun Hero looked at his equipment and loadout, his bag was on his back, the Journal was clipped to the leather strap of the gun that slung over his shoulder, and the comfy grip (Yes, he was using it) replaced the normal wooden handle. It was an improvement (maybe), but more importantly, it was progress, and that was what counted! If you made progress and you kept making progress, doesn't matter how little at a time, eventually you could reach the stars.
And speaking of progress…
[!Level Up!]
[Level 2]
Attack: up 2
Defense: up 3
Magic Attack: up 2
Magic Defense: up 3
Agility: up 2
HP: up 5
MP: up 10
It looks like his party had been making plenty of it!
"Alright!" He stood up from his chair and began cleaning all the stuff off the table "Everyone else is doing their part, it's time to get a move on!"
He threw the junk items into a corner, and started to place anything useful into his bag. Most of it, he could probably sell back at the market, and the papers were kinda important so he stuck them in a different pocket, where he then stared off into space as they all disappeared with a flash of light.
No…
His to-do list, the map, and the chart of his Party's abilities, the one where he had semi-jokingly written down ranks to assign...
That bastard didn't…
[Adventurer's Journal Updated]
William's eye twitched as he processed what had just happened.
The bag was technically an "attachment" now, which meant that it was attached to the gun, which meant that it was attached to the system.
It… it could fucking mess with his shit! The bugged out, and pissy system that he had just fucked with, had access to everything he owned!
...
Shit.
[Adventurer's Journal-Attachment]
Equip Bonus): Writable
Pen) Writing
Money Pouch): Deposit Ledger
Map) Map Page (Requires Manual Updating)
Party Chart) Party Rank Extension
Ugh, he had shit to do right now, he'd come back to the issue of inventory security later… but not before he used the new "Rank System" to give himself a badass sounding title.
-To War by Jingo-
*Some Time Later*
Tanya hopped to the side, dodging out of the way of an enemy arrow, the ample space between her and the front line giving her plenty of time to avoid it, her studded leather armor not even needed.
The sun was just beginning to pass the 3rd quarter mark in the sky, marking the fourth hour of their monster hunting expedition. They had just reconviend from a rest break, and were eager to get back into it. They were coming up on the third of the five circles on the map that they were planning to hit today, one located relatively deep in the forest, but when they had finally emerged into the clearing, there were no monsters waiting for them.
Instead they found the Spear Hero and his two girlfriends, the girls looking annoyed, and Motoyasu looking confused. Apparently he had known of this spot, and had dragged the two girls through the muddy woods on the promise of this being a great "Grinding Spot" as he called it, (Which Tanya was mostly sure was a sexual innuendo) only to find nothing here.
But of course, that's when everything went wrong.
Once the two parties were in the middle of the clearing, twenty or so goblins poured out of the treeline, surrounding and trapping them.
Goblins were nicknamed "RookieKillers" by adventurers, because while the monsters were pretty weak on their own, only a few steps above a balloon, they were quite intelligent and often lived in groups. They were famous for setting up traps and ambushes that killed unprepared adventurers. Many arrogant rookies, ones that overestimated their abilities, had met their end to a clever goblin trap.
Tanya was quickly snapped out of her thoughts as another poorly aimed volley of wooden arrows flew at her.
Weiss was barking orders in the front with the two other melee fighters, employing the strategy that their commander had given them, maintaining a fluid line that was able to shift with the enemy attacks and effectively exploit openings in the enemy line.
Rather than stand and take the blows as tanks and shielders normally did, the formation employed liberal use of parrying, deflecting, and dodging enemy attacks, and then ruthlessly exploiting the openings in the enemy's defense that occurred when they overextended. It also relied on constant movement, rapidly engaging and then disengaging enemies along the line to cover each other, and allow different members time to breathe as needed. This also had the side effect of allowing a line to cover far more area than would be possible with traditional military lines.
Then there was the backline, which supported the frontline with constant ranged attacks, while also brutally punishing any enemy that slipped past them. Due to the distance between the front and back lines, Tanya could hit any goblin with at least six arrows before it reached her, more than enough to kill the vermin.
Bringing up her crossbow, Tanya let loose a metal bolt that impaled the shoulder of a goblin trying to sneak up behind Weiss, causing it to drop it's poorly made iron axe, a mistake that caused it to lose its head to Weiss' sword.
"Rushia, how's our back?" She shouted.
Their mage, who boasted an odd combination of Healing and Fire magic, glanced over her shoulder before scowling. "He's holding… Somehow."
When the attack had started, the two parties had gone back to back, splitting the clearing in two, and keeping each other from being pincered. Let's just say the Spear Hero's party hadn't inspired a lot of confidence from the couple of times they checked on how they were doing.
Basically their strategy was Motoyasu running around like a maniac, smacking everything with his spear and throwing out every flashy skill he could, while the two girls sat back and played cheerleader.
They were outnumbered 2 to 1, had dubious allies, were surrounded on all sides, but even then…
[!Level Up!]
[Level 4]
Attack : up 5
Defense: up 2
Magic Attack: up 3
Magic Defense: up 1
Agility: up 4
HP: up 2
MP: up 5
Tanya couldn't help the predatory grin plastered on her face, as her bolt shot clean through a goblin's head.
This growth, this power, it was addicting! Normally it took at least a month of fighting monsters to reach level four, and she had just done it in a few hours! If this kept up, where would she be in a year!?
Level 20?
Level 40?
Level 60!?
Level 100!?
The mere thought of it practically had her drooling!
When the church had requested she reset her level at the hourglass, in order to accompany the Heroes, she had almost backed out. Five years of backbreaking work in the army, and three as a mercenary, had gotten her those Levels, and she was very protective of them.
Now?
A bolt blew off the leg of a monster, and with speed in her arms she'd never known before, reloaded her crossbow faster than ever before, sending a second bolt to blow open the top of it's head before it even hit the ground.
She didn't regret a THING!
Not only was she leveling up faster, she was also gaining more stats per level up, she was sure of it!
And it was all because of him!
The Spear was a barbaric fool, who would rather chase a skirt than save the world.
The Sword was a lone wolf, one who would have left her to starve to death.
The Shield was a naive boy, one too trusting and lacking the proper knowledge to succeed.
The Bow on the other hand… The strategies he gave them proved he was a brilliant strategist! The way he issued commands to them proved him as a natural born leader! He was well educated, and carried himself with pride befitting high nobility!
Earlier, their party icons had chimed to notify them that William had assigned her and Weiss their ranks. (She didn't even know you could do that!)
She didn't know what they meant yet, but-
She was a "Corporal", third in command.
Weiss was a "Sergeant", squad leader, and second in command.
And William himself was whatever the hell a "Caesar" was.
The Hero had mentioned being a "southerner", so…
"William Dixie, the Southern Caesar."
Tanya chuckled to herself as she whispered the title. "I like the sound of that!"
No wonder the church considered him divinity! He might actually be! Why he might be working towards the next step of his great plan right now!
-To War by Jingo-
"Ya' know lady, that look on your face really ain't reassuring, I'd recommend working on that if you wanna bring in more customers."
"Quiet!" The old woman hushed William as she leaned over a crystal ball "I've never seen anything like this before!"
"Sooooooo, good? Bad? What's the verdict?"
"You have absolutely nothing as your magical affinity!"
"Nothing, nothing, hmmm. Does that mean I get Void magic ooor-"
"It means that you'll likely never be able to learn any spell above the absolute most basic of magic! I didn't even know that was possible!"
Will sighed and rubbed his face in exasperation, "Fuck my liiiiife…"
-To War by Jingo-
Naofumi threw all his weight into his punch, his fist connecting solidly with the ball, but not really doing much except for bouncing the thing away. There was some damage, the leather seams of the creature bulging as if about to pop when he hit it, but it kept itself together. He punched again as it leapt at him, but the balloon opened its mouth, and bit his fist as he swung, latching on to it.
This was far from the first to do so, he looked utterly ridiculous standing in the field with the balloons hanging on him like Christmas ornaments. None of them were doing any damage but they also were too dumb to realise this, and continued to cling on.
He sighed and raised his shield. As his arm swung down, the shield bashed into one of the balloons and bounced off, doing exactly one point of damage.
And so his arm came down, again, and again, and again.
Enemy defeated.
EXP gained 1
He was happy to kill the damn things, but much less so about the experience they gave. But he needed the XP to level up.
And so his arm came up.
And so his arm came down.
Once, twice, three times, four, five, six, he lost count as he swung up and down, up and down.
Enemy defeated.
Enemy defeated.
Enemy defeated
Enemy defeated
Enemy defeated
Exp gained 5
'Am I going to have to spend the entire day grinding away like this to level up?' He wondered to himself as he panted.
"Way to go Naofumi!~ You've got this!"
Naofumi wiped the sweat off his forehead and sent a grateful smile to Myne.
It was nice to have good companions, it was nice to have friends.
-To War by Jingo-
It was 8:26pm when the group of exhausted, but cheery, adventures made it back to the little storage room William was using as a base of operations, clapping each other on the shoulder and telling jokes as they walked through the door.
A few things had changed in the room since they had left that morning. The two most obvious of which being a new sleeping bag in the corner, and what Will had done to the wall.
There was a large cluster of papers pinned to the far wall, they were maps that he had bought from traveling merchants, some were official maps, and others were hand drawn ones from memory. Together they mapped a rough outline of the Kingdom of Melomark, with areas around major cities and roads being much more detailed, and large chunks of the wilderness not being filled in at all.
But that was fine, they weren't going to be heading out into the wilderness, the map, being drawn or used by merchants, was actually a great visualisation of the Kingdom's trade routes, and what city was the most detailed on the entire map? (other than the capitol)
The "City of Maria" was a large port city in the south named after the first Queen of the kingdom; it was established by a handful of merchants who knew what they were doing. Built on the spot the river of Versha exited into the ocean, the same river that led inland to the royal capital, the city was able to tax and control all trade that entered and exited the heart of the nation via boat.
Because of this, and the large amounts of money that flowed through the city, it was able to grow rapidly, and eventually became the central trading hub of the kingdom, with road systems being built to connect it to nearly every major road in the rest of the country.
When they were ready to move on from the capitol, That was their next destination, not some frozen mountain range in the rat's ass of nowhere. Trade meant money, money meant opportunities, and opportunities were meant to be exploited!
"Allright," Will closed his book on kingdom laws and history, once everyone had settled down, and placed it on the stack of basic translation pages he'd made "Good work today everyone, just from what I managed to pick up through the System's notifications, I'm very impressed with your performance! I'd ask for a briefing on what all happened, but I think the results speak for themselves."
"I'll be honest, after the third level up, I was more concerned about y'all driving the local wildlife extinct, than I was any of you getting hurt." He joked, causing a wave of chuckles from the troops.
"Weiss, I want a report on how well the formations and strategies I gave you worked, their effectiveness in different situations, and any suggestions or observations you have. Fifty copper if it's done by tomorrow morning, a silver if you get it to me tonight."
"Sir, Yes Sir!"
"Tanya?"
"Y-Yes sir?"
"How's the loot situation?"
"Oh, right!" At his prompt, the ranger turned back to the doorway and dragged a large bag forward, stuffed to the brim. With a huff, and a toothy grin, she picked it up and plopped it on Will's table.
"We went ahead and salvaged as much as possible from every enemy, knowing that the sacred weapons are able to absorb materials," She said as she watched William open the bag and begin taking out the contents "We also made it a point to prioritize any loot of value, including some of the better quality weapons the Gobin's we encountered used- most likely the gear of previous low level adventurers."
"Very good!" He said with a grin "I wouldn't expect any less from my number 3! Now I want everyone to head out, rent a room, and get some sleep, we're gonna have a busy day tomorrow. We're heading to a dungeon about a mile north of the capital." He pointed over his shoulder to a small red circle on the map "We'll be hitting a bit above our weight, as it's a higher level than we are, but according to the guild, it was recently cleared out by another team a few weeks ago. The monster's numbers shouldn't have fully recovered yet, so we should be able to progress through it with minimal difficulty, while netting far more XP per kill than usual."
"The rest of you are dismissed. Tanya, you're staying with me, after I go through this, we're gonna go and sell whatever we can at the market." He glanced at the rest of the group "You will all get your share of the money when we meet up tomorrow at, let's say, 7 Am, understood?"
""Sir, Yes Sir!""
"Good, now get outta here!" William waved them off as he turned his attention back to the bag.
'Let's see here, no, no, no- that definitely won't unlock anything.' He hummed as he shuffled through the loot, occasionally holding things up to the gem, and returning them when nothing happened.
'Nope, nope, nope. Oh? Ah- no, damn I had hope for that. Nope, nope, no- Balloon rubber? Seriously? There's no wa-'
[New Attachment]
[Float-Attachment]
Equip Bonus): Emergency Life Floater
He stood corrected, still completely useless as he knew how to swim, but hey, he'd take what he could get.
"Sir Hero, excuse me…"
Will looked up from the bag, and saw Tanya tilting her head and squinting as she tried to read something. "What's that?" she pointed to a piece of paper on the far end of the table. It was mostly empty, and the words on it were almost completely unreadable, even though they were in Melomark's language. (Learning the basics of their writing language was what Will had spent most of the day trying to do.) The letters were so smudged, it was like whoever was writing it was trying to kill the paper in anger.
"That, my friend, is my 'Shit List'! It's people who have offended me greatly, and now them just existing pisses me off, it's one of the few things I haven't transferred to my Journal, and it's something I actually probably should." He quickly crumpled up the paper and tossed it into his leather backpack, where it landed on the iron ingot from earlier, before disappearing in a show of light "I don't know when, I don't know how, but I guarantee you that every person to be put on that list, will wind up dead!"
"Really?" She asked, almost sounding in awe.
"Yup!' William popped the 'P' at the end as he stood up "But I assure you it's nothing to worry about, it's just some thieves and crooks, the type the world would be better without! Now how about we head on out an' see how much we can get for all this?"
Little did he know, but Tanya had read the smudged list before he grabbed it, and it only had one name, or rather, one group.
"Melomarc Royal Family- Made Slavery Legal"
-To War by Jingo-
Back in town, inside a cozy inn, Naofumi and Myne were enjoying dinner as she explained and pointed to various things on a map he had bought from the old man earlier.
"Heading past Ryute Village in the west, there's a beginner's dungeon. Drops won't be anything fancy, but with our current equipment we should easily gain some decent experience." She pointed to an area on the map, Naofumi nodding as he tried to estimate the distance. "After all, once you get the hang of fighting in real battles, you'll be able to level up much faster."
"Get the hang of fighting for real, huh?" He murmured to himself, enjoying the taste of their meal. He had paid a little more for something above average, and so far, his steak hadn't disappointed. His gaze focused on Myne as she grabbed the wine bottle she had ordered and filled two empty glasses.
The princess in disguise leaned over the table, showing a generous view of her cleavage as she traced the ring of her cup, and asked the question that would forever change his fate.
"Would you care for some wine, Sir Shield Hero?"
-End Chapter-
*Sips Hot Chocolate*
Ok, so, apparently there are guns in the Shield Hero universe, in fact it's one of the reasons the kingdom of Faubrey can pull half the shit they do, and get away with it- every other kingdom is scared of their guns. And apparently the bow can copy them no problem.
But I kinda already wrote it not working, so we're just gonna pretend that the bow wasn't made to do that. I went ahead and caught up with the manga, and I'm relatively caught up on the lore and junk now, so small oversights like this shouldn't happen again.
*Sips Hot Chocolate*
But, meh, whatever. Ever since I read "So I'm a Spider, so What?" I've liked the idea of advanced tech screwing with an Isekai world's game-system, and the system, in return, really not liking the tech.
And speaking of the system, it's canon that the Legendary weapons give bonus XP to their party. And considering we see lot's of old adventurers who have been fighting most of their life, still only being mid level, I'm assuming that the natural XP gain rate is much slower than you'd expect.
Which would also explain why all the adventurers were willing to reset their levels to join the Heroes.
-Next chapter: August 24th (ish)-