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Chapter 95: The Projectile Weapon Development
Granny had gathered together all of the heroes they had found thus far, all but a few. Fitoria was refusing their calls as usual, Raphtalia and Maple were off in Q'Ten Lo training their Balance Breakers, but aside from that there was a very serious situation that was going on.
"One month. That's all we have until the Phoenix wakes up is one month." Granny stated as she made her opinion known. "Maple is the only one who's truly grasped her Sacred Gears various transformations, as for the rest of you Rishia and Raphtalia are the only ones to have a proper transformation, while Kuro is still on the stage of grasping the basics. Most of you haven't even unlocked Balance Breaker." The old woman loomed over Tanya and glared. "One of you have only just gotten their Sacred Gear." She stood up straight again and went back to pacing back and forth in front of them. "What is clear to me is that we are ludicrously, hilariously, under prepared for dealing with the directional beasts, let alone the waves."
"I thought the Directional Beasts were supposed to be how we stop the waves?" Katarina asked her hand in the air.
"At the cost of two thirds of life on this planet." Granny countered as she looked directly at Katarina giving her the stink eye. "Are you prepared to let that happen?" Katarina gave a pretty good impression of a kicked dog. "I didn't think so."
"So oh wise drill sergeant nasty, what exactly do you propose we should be doing?" Tanya asked cheek resting on her fist.
"Isn't it obvious? Training! Raphtalia is already in Q'Ten Lo trying to get a grasp on her Hammer's full capabilities. Kuro and Rishia on the other hand need to be doing the same thing, which also means that you two need to minimise the amount of fighting that you're doing." Granny explained looking at Kuro and Rishia in particular.
"Fue... I'm not sure this thing is going to give us a choice. It really hates Kuro." Rishia stated making the facts as they stood known.
'I've only just finished cleaning up the mess that little gremlin made of the transformation list.'
"Don't look at me, I've still got a ton of forging to do, I've certainly got no complaints." Kuro stated as she shrug her shoulders bluntly.
"The rest of you on the other hand need to focus on bringing up your Sacred Gear's power. Meaning doing nothing but Sparring. No more time in the office, chasing after your relatives or running deliveries with the carriages!" The world would not end if the group took a month off from their other duties to train up their sacred gears. "If we're lucky you lot can get a few more Balance Breakers to help out in time to deal with the Directional Beasts."
"I know how I'm going to be working on my Gear." Kuro stated as she produced a familiar hammer that looked like it was made out of glass. "Does anyone else not have their virtue weapons unlocked yet?"
"I've got one." Rishia stated raising her hand. But of course she did, she weapon copied all four of the heroes weapons after all.
"Tanya's bow was the first one you copied right? So it's Charity?" Kuro asked but Rishia shook her head in the negative.
"Justice." No doubt Stemming from the Projectile's 'Strong' feelings towards Kuro, to put it mildly. "It spits out more powerful attacks against people that have hit you before, the more damage that they do the stronger the ensuing retaliation is going to be." A perfect form for a grudge holding weapon.
"I don't think any of the rest of us have unlocked Virtue weapons either, other than Rishia and Trash." Fohl stated looking the group over. "What does that mean for us?"
"It means that I'm going to be busy. Anyone got an idea on what kind of power they want for their weapons?" Kuro looked at the group but so far there was just a round of negatives. "Right then. I'll be practising forging if anyone needs me." And then Kuro disappeared into her pocket dimension again.
Of the enhanced forms of the Sacred Gear transformations, Rishia had two that qualified, the first being the ability to make lightning fall down from the sky from anywhere in the world, her Bishop, the second was a mech suit that turns her into a mechanical monstrosity combining together the four mech suits of the legendary heroes. What she lacked though was a form that would allow her to move at a high speed, her knight if you would.
"How am I going to create a movement type skill?"
'Isn't the hero forgetting about something?'
"Enlighten me." Rishia didn't like this weapon, that was all there was to it. She received far too many traumas from this thing for her to count.
'The Hero's predecessors have been far more reliable than the current Hero.'
Rishia would be insulted if she didn't feel like it was true.
'There are numerous projectiles brought to this world by the summoned heroes. Observe.'
'Flying Thunder God Kunai. Main Bonus: Yellow Flash'
The projectile turned itself into the form of a three pronged throwing knife with a loop for a hilt, wrapped around the handle was a paper grip with a black scrawl written across it.
"What does this do?"
'Throw it.'
Shrugging her shoulders Rishia looked over the horizon and threw the weapon across the field of Balloons that she was in. Another throwing knife appeared in Rishia's other hand. Suddenly Rishia felt herself being pulled into the weapon in her hands.
"Fue!?" Rishia was pulled through the weapon in her hand like it was a hole, and soon appeared underneath the weapon that she had thrown earlier, falling several feet in the air before landing on her back. "It's a teleportation skill!?" To Rishia's knowledge, those were stupidly powerful skills, for further proof look at Trash 'I have a private network of portals set up all across the world and can carry two to three on me at all times.'
'Flying Thunder God Kunai. Legends tell of a Hero from another world whose proficiency with seals and space time techniques was unparalleled. Anything marked by his symbol becomes part of a network of portals that he used to leap about the battlefield in an instant.'
The Projectile seemed to view the weapons with some fondness, it dished out no small amount of money to max out the reinforcements on the thing including bonuses that delay the amount of time it would take for the weapon to disappear after being lodged in a object, which made sense, as if the projectiles didn't do that there would be thousands of them floating around the world out there.
"Okay, so we have to practice with this but how?"
'Projectile Rain.'
"I hate you some times."
A screaming Rishia spent the next couple of hours zipping around the field getting yanked to and fro by the rain of Kunai sucking her and spitting her out of different portals. Details were revealed such as the fact that the portals used Ki in order to operate and also the more Kunai out at once the less time that they stay around for. On to different subjects.
"I don't see how these things qualify as projectiles." Rishia commented looking at the four miniature mech suits that had been deployed around her.
'It's the weapons attached to them that are projectiles.'
The suit explained drawing attention to the Frisbee's being carried, and worn as armour, by one suit, the knife like blades dotting the limbs of a second, the throwing javelins that made up the arms and legs of the third, and the six fully loaded Atlatl's on the arms of the fourth mermaid like unit.
"How does this one even work?" Rishia seemed to take particular issue with the two part throwing weapon. "I thought I was supposed to get weapons that are thrown not ones that help throw things. Isn't this more like Tanya's bow?"
'You got it from Tanya's bow though.'
"Not the point." Rishia stated letting out a sigh. "Does this mean that I can copy bows too or something?"
'That's not how it works.'
"Well how does it work!?"
'The Projectile is also known as the Atlatl.'
"A mis-translation? Is that it?" Rishia asked looking even more confused.
'The Atlatl covers 'weapons that are thrown and which can help throw weapons' whereas the bow covers 'weapons which shoot projectiles.''
"What's the difference!?" Rishia asked sounding exasperated.
'The Bow can copy any two part projectile based weapon whereas the Projectile only covers weapons which must be thrown.' Rishia looked like she wanted more information. 'The Hero can copy weapons which 'throw' but does not 'shoot.''
"Fue..." Rishia just let out a sigh as she gave up and looked off into the sky, where she saw Tanya flying around on the Syrphine.
"More projectile weapons?" Tanya had landed after Rishia admitted that she was struggling with her weapons and the two were now eating. "Well there are slings I suppose." Tanya transformed one of the guns on her armour into a sling with a metal ball cradled inside.
"You've been carrying around slings all this time too?" Rishia asked looking at Tanya disbelieving.
"You didn't think I unlocked a 'leather bow' did you?" Tanya asked looking at Rishia suspiciously.
"Well, what do you think?" Rishia asked looking down at her weapon.
'I'd rather not marathon another million weapons to get the same abilities we already unlocked.'
"Wait. Wouldn't that just give us a stat increase instead? And if I'm not mistaken a not inconsiderable one at that." Rishia asked as she suddenly scratched the back of her head.
'That power up comes at the cost of spending a couple of hours incapacitated that could be spent on grinding up the Sacred Gear more.' Shrugging her shoulders Rishia reached over and grabbed the sling, and a explosion of 'Sling' weapon unlocks appeared in her vision.
"It's not like we were making any progress on the Sacred Gear." Rishia reasoned, and quietly ignored that the 'Projectile of Justice' had gone up another level.
"Aside from that, you mentioned that you think you found all of the abilities to make up your chess board combination?" Tanya asked referring of course to the 'Evil Pieces System' that the weapons had absorbed alongside the 'Sacred Gear' system.
"For Rook I have the four armours I absorbed from the weapons." Five now maybe. "For Bishop I have that lightning from the sky skill combination the Projectile was using against Kuro before." That was a pretty devastating ability, certainly worthy of being called a 'Balance Breaker.'
"And now I have the Flying Thunder God Kunai." Rishia proceeded to give a short explanation on how the teleporting knives work.
"That is a powerful ability, and a familiar one." As if on cue Tanya looked up to the sky to see a familiar flying figure made out of fire. "Perfect. Oi!" Tanya called over the fire monster who looked down at her and glared. "Go get my father! We need a little bit of wisdom over here!"
Trash sat on the ground in front of Rishia as she explained and demonstrated her new ability. Trash nodded his head in response.
"Yes, it's as you thought. It's an extremely similar ability to Transfer Mirror." The Skill's description said that it connects to anywhere painted with the symbol on the Kunai, so they took the liberty of painting it on a wall as a experiment, course it required that they infuse it with ki as they were painting it. Which in turn led to the next logical conclusion. "You have the Sword Hero's skills don't you?" Rishia nodded her head slowly. "Show me." Thus a hundred throwing blades were summoned, each of them transformed into the form of the Flying Thunder God Kunai. "With this you can remotely position and maneuver each of the blade portals and use them to instantly travel across the battlefield."
"I can't control a hundred of these things at one time!" Rishia complained as she looked around her.
'No. But the Vassal Projectile can.'
And indeed the various blades proceeded to perform various complex maneuvers weaving over and under each other, scooping up rocks and bits of earth, disappearing into and reappearing from each other.
"If mastered, this ability will let you seize control over the entire battlefield. Right now what's most important is to think about what this ability is missing and how to improve it."
'It's hard to see what The Vassal Projectile is doing.' Rishia nodded her head. She didn't quite understand how the senses on the Legendary weapons worked, it's entirely possible they were never meant to have a sense of self and thus never developed any of their own.
"If that's the case. Reflect Projectile: Crystal Ball Knife." The Kunai blades changed form, taking on the guise of blue crystal blades with the Flying Thunder God wrapping on the handle.
'That does make it easier.'
"The second ability that needs work is your Rook form." Trash explained while he crossed his arms. "Your weapon can create multiple sets of armour but it doesn't yet have any way of controlling them correct?" Trash asked as he looked at Rishia with suspicion.
"Um. No." Rishia wasn't sure where Trash was going with this one. The last time that thing whipped out a bunch of armours her body got hijacked and
"Then you will need to travel to the Dragon's Hourglass." Trash stated as he got up and stretched.
"What for?" Rishia asked looking at Trash confused.
"That is for you to decide, the facilities should already be set up, all that's left at this point is for you to choose something suitable to work with." Saying that Trash and Tanya went back to taking shots at each other.
The old Three Heroes Church building had already been torn down, replacing it was a fortified set of walls, ramparts for soldiers to stand on facing inwards as if they had prepared to be invaded from this exact spot. Inside of the walls a group of Jewels were examining the formations and machines they had set up which left two possibilities as to why Trash had sent Rishia here, since she was already registered with the Return Dragon Vein network that left only one other possibility.
"Is this how the Shikigami machine works?" Rishia asked looking at the machine in question curiously. "I just put in materials that I want to make a Shikigami from and then it'll spit one out for me?" Rishia asked while scratching her head.
"The process has been simplified for you heroes, but yes." The Jeweled Elf standing next to the machine explained simply. Rishia thought about it for a minute, making her own squad of Shikigami's to follow her around every where she went was the most sound way of putting together a brigade of motor Rad's. The issue here was a matter of what kind of monsters to use as the base material. "If the Hero so wishes we have some materials prepared already that they may use. For a fee of course." The Elf went away for a brief moment and emerged back with a case full of different coloured jewels.
'Get four of the yellow Jewels.' A notice from Rishia's weapon suddenly flashed before her vision.
"Um... four yellow ones please." While the Elf tended to Rishia's purchase the girl herself looked to the weapon for answers.
'According to the manuals for the suits control can be directly tied to the physical body of the user provided certain conditions can be met. One the subject possesses extremely fine mana control. Two the subject is able to utilise stat enhancing magic in order to control the suit.'
"And the Jewels are for doing that?" Rishia prepared to take her purchase and dump them into the machine.
'No. They must first be refined to gain the abilities we desire.'
That could be a problem, unlike the other heroes Rishia hasn't spent an absurd amount of resources on upgrading her crafting weapons.
"Should we go see Kuro?" Rishia asked and by way of response her weapon zapped her.
'The Shield Hero also has potent Crafting Bonuses, and the stronger support magic.'
"Was that necessary?" Rishia complained as she took her purchase and went through the return Dragon Vein.
Rishia was spat out in Q'Ten Lo, in the sky Raphtalia was using her Sacred Gear to control the sky and fire off various attacks against Maple who was returning fire in her savage form. The two eventually broke inside of the Hotsprings where Rishia ended up joining both of them.
"Sure." Maple replied simply. "I'd love to help."
Maple took the four Jewels into her hands as she started to examine them and think of what she wanted to do with them. Rishia though had stopped paying attention to what Maple was saying in exchange for more closely examining Maple herself. The last time the three of them were able to soak in a hot tub together Maple looked so young that she could be mistaken for someone two years younger than what she really was, not only that but thanks to the influence of the Shield of Gluttony Maple was so skinny her bones were showing through. The current Maple needless to say had seen some improvements, her figure had become fuller with more fat around her body, fat that did nothing to hide well developed muscle particularly in her legs and back, her bust size had already grown to a D Size which Maple understood was the average for a Japanese adult woman, more concerning though is that her bone structure had been retooled as well. Rishia never got to meet Ost but she knew of her, and knew her as probably the most beautiful woman in the world, to the point that literal wars had been started over her, and now if she didn't know better she would say that Maple was her daughter.
"What's gotten into you?" Raphtalia looked at Rishia who had been staring at them all this time.
Maple was pretty yes, but Raphtalia was hot! Her body had been stacked with muscles leaving little room for useless fat, and tall towering over Rishia, and yet despite that when she stood she and her tail drew attention to luscious rounded rear and when she sat down her breasts, which were the size of a pair of water melons, floated in the water. Both of the other girls positively glowed with pale light reflecting off of their skin as if the moon had opted to rub itself all over the both of them. Did she have no idea what she actually looked like? It was no wonder the government keeps dressing her in skimpy clothing whenever they need her to make a public opinion. Compare and contrast Rishia who was still very much the scrawny girl Tanya had dug out of the village so many months ago even with growth bonuses and beyond military training.
"What exactly have you two been doing to yourselves?" Raphtalia looked at Rishia brow raised in the air, then she looked down at where Rishia was looking and just rolled her eyes by way of response.
"I was aged down and levelled back up on the other world. While there I had the pleasure of enjoying an excessive amount of food which I now understand that together with the exercise regime I was put through was meant to shape me into... this." Raphtalia wasn't wholly comfortable with the changes, but they didn't affect her ability to fight any so she'd deal with them later. For now she just indicated Maple. "This reckless person on the other hand maxed out every bonus she had relating to crafting, cooking, potions growth bonus and growth corrections and then had the slaves throttle her using dedicated affection while practically bathing in Yggdrasil potion!" Having vented Raphtalia breathed deeply as she continued. "Then again I don't have much reason to complain. That same potion is basically the reason why I'm in one piece again after my Balance Breaker nearly cooked me with lightning."
"Why would you two do something so dangerous!?" Rishia shouted standing up to glare at the two.
"To make a weapon stronger parts of it must be removed and replaced, broken down and repaired with stronger material. This is the principle of one of the techniques from a world where Heroes were summoned from, called Tribulation, in order to receive the power to fight the gods." Explaining so Raphtalia let out a sigh. "At least that's how Bason explained it to us. In truth, it is not something I would recommend doing. But it's your body, do with it as you will."
Once the three were out of the bath Maple had went to work polishing and shaping the jewels processing the four of them into a set of hanging earrings, by now aware of how the Shikigami process worked Maple provided additional material for Rishia to work with, several locks of Sadeena's hair to act as the material body and the souls of several Nue Monsters that she had killed while she was in Q'Ten Lo. With that Rishia had all the material she needed to work with and so reported to Q'Ten Lo's hourglass. The Ceremony was short mixing together some of Rishia's blood, to declare ownership, mixed together with the jewels, souls and Sadeena's hair four times and the end result? Four floating Killer Whale like creatures.
"Okay. If Maple is right I should set that to this..." Once all of the stat tampering was done Rishia summoned the four Motor Rad suits and had each of the miniature whale-like creatures fly in and connect to the suits. The Four suits activated as Rishia felt something click into place, not just her weapon and her new familiars but also on a deeper more spiritual power as if she had just become a little more 'complete.' Like she was one step closer to whatever she was looking for. For the Shield bearing machine Rishia looked through the collection of Frisbee's inside of her weapon, and found that one had made the transition almost completely intact. "Change Projectile: American Shield." Saying that the frisbees turned into a familiar red blue and white shield with a big star in the middle and stripes going outwards. "With that shape... do you think you can become a ball?" The whale echoed out a cry in the affirmative as she curled her machine in on itself, each shield folding into each other and forming a big white, blue and red ball. "Okay. Oh that's interesting. Edelecumber Bounce!" Shouting the name of that skill the ball shot into the air, bouncing alone as it went. "Meteor Barrier!" Calling out the name of that skill the bouncing metal ball formed a multi layer barrier. "Okay. Change Blade Flying Thunder God Kunai!" The blades on the second armour changed form into the familiar throwing knife, which the machine then began to chuck around and warp throughout the field. "Now for you two." Rishia stated indicating the two remaining mechs. What kind of spears did Katarina like to use again? Or should she try and prioritise using Javelins that lets them become a projectile like the other two? "Should it be a Noble Phantasm?" Then Rishia got an idea. The same person who developed the mech suit transformations also built another invention too for the purpose of hunting enemies in the air, after a few short moments each of the limbs of the mech suit were turned into the guided missile javelin launcher. A javelin, with a magius thruster attached to the butt of the weapon, a length of silver wires attached to the middle of the spear which connects it to the launcher allowing the weapon to be remotely controlled. Like a certain Friendly neighbour from New York, the spider-like mech suit fired a missile javelin into a distant stone, which the mech then pulled itself towards. "That just leaves you doesn't it?" Rishia asked looking at the final machine with its limbs full of little catapults armed with deadly javelins. After thinking about it for a moment Rishia swapped out the Atlatl's for the Slings and armed them with projectiles that had been weighed by Gravity magic, which she then sent flying into the air and dropped the metal balls onto the field, each of them hitting the ground like a meteor. "Well that'll work." Rishia called down her four familiars, dubbed Edelecumber, Guaylinda, Tranzdorkis and Syrphine to herself. "This'll work."
Review Section:
RonaldM40196867: True. I'd honestly rather not.
reinDank: I suppose it's good to have your hard work responded to.
Pokemonever1994: If you think this is the limit to it then you are sadly mistaken. Keep in mind that as soon as the Phoenix goes down the Tiger is waking up, so in reality they're preparing to take both of them on at the exact same time.
Galeon82: It is said that the most potent crafting material is people, I don't know if that is true but the power speaks for themselves.