11 Chapter 5: 1-4: Party of One part 2
I finally did it. After ages of grinding and gathering EXP, I finally fucking did it. I got to Level 100. I added the very last Level to my Sage Job Class, smirking to myself in supreme satisfaction.
Congratulations! By reaching Max Level in the Job Class 'Sage', you have gained:
+1 to the total amount of all Summons
+10% Mana regeneration
+50 Evasion
You have gained access to the next Job Class in the Sage tree: High Sage!
I swiped away the notification, chuckling darkly to myself. Beside me, Momonga looked up from the loot we had picked up during our latest outing. "What is it?"
"Finally broke one hundred." I grinned. "Now that Sage is Maxed out, I can make another Maiden."
"Ooh. Sweet." The Guildmaster tilted his head. "What are you going to do with her?"
"I've already got it all planned out." I stated smugly. "I'm going to be making a character with an 'Exceeds Limits' Mana Stat and give them the Evening Star."
"You mean that overpowered accessory you made that no one can equip?" The Overlord asked with a slight hint of teasing in his voice.
I huffed. "Hey. It's perfectly fine how it is. It's just… in order to make a powerful item, you need a trade-off. That staff I made as our Guild Weapon can only be equipped by someone with insanely high Mana, and the Evening Star can only be equipped by a female Nature Spirit with Levels in a few specific Job Classes. But you know full well why I'd want to have a Level 100 NPC to be wearing the thing—it makes any and all Healing Magic practically free and it lets the wearer use Resurrection Magic without the Level and Skill penalty. What have you been doing, eh?"
The skeleton suddenly looked distinctly embarrassed. "I, ah, I…" He drooped. "…Nothing…"
I chuckled, nudging him playfully. "Oh, come on. I'm sure that's not true. Judging by that reaction, it's something interesting. What, did you get a lady friend?" I waggled my eyebrows, one of the few facial features my Avatar could pull off. "Or did you finally realize how beautiful your NPC is and decide to come over to the dark side?"
"Ihavetogo!" Momonga blurted, vanishing on the spot.
I burst out laughing the moment he left. I honestly didn't care all that much what he had been up to, my original question had been more of a joke than anything. But the reaction… utterly priceless.
Cling-ching…
I blinked at the chiming noise in my ear. It was so sudden I hadn't even registered it at first. "Yes?"
The Message came in the form of a text box that popped up in front of me rather than Voice Chat, which was quite unusual. My confusion disappeared as soon as I realized who sent it, however.
Hello, Miyagi-san.
"Shitty Dev." I greeted, amused. "What's the reason for contacting me at this time? Is there a spot-fix you need me to test or something?"
No, nothing like that. We just wanted to inform you that there's going to be a brand-new World Threat coming soon. This one has been specifically created with you in mind.
I paused. That didn't sound ominous at all. "All right, color me interested. Why do you say it's designed for me?"
Well, several of our newer staff needed some practice creating large entities, so they came up with a project. The boss cleared it, even suggested they give a unique bonus for defeating it. It's going to be the highest Level of World Threat in the game—Level 99.
My eyebrows shot into my hairline. "Holy shit. You guys really are pulling out all the stops on this one. Why wasn't this a part of the televised Raid event?"
Well, it's supposed to take quite some time to defeat…
"Ah. PR reasons."
Exactly.
"All right, when should I check it out?"
You have a few days. It still has to be added to the game. I'll add the Quest marker that leads to it on your map now, though.
"Fantastic." I stretched, yawning. "Any advice on what to bring?"
Plenty of time. Oh, and heart medication. We wouldn't want your old heart failing because your blood pressure got too high.
"Dream on, brat." I glanced at my Stat screen, a thought occurring. "Hey, while I have you here, could I ask you something? Strictly off-record, of course."
Go ahead.
"Are there any hidden Races that have to do with nature? I'm planning on making another Maiden now that I have another use of the Skill."
Strictly off-record I can tell you that there's a Quest chain in Asgard that will allow you to unlock the Divine Spirit Race 'Nature Spirit' as an option for NPCs. There's also a unique Job Class called 'Guardian of the Forest' that you can get by defeating a certain World Threat a number of times.
I blinked, my mind instantly jumping to the only Raid Boss it could be. "I know the one. Thanks."
Don't thank me until you've beaten the World Threat we've cooked up for you, Miyagi-san. You'll need all the help you can get.
And with those eerie words, the Message window disappeared.
I rolled my eyes, brushing the words off. The Developer was probably just being dramatic. Instead of worrying about it, I activated my Guild Ring to send me back to my mansion.
Time to start designing my NPC.
As with Archer, I spared no expense while making my newest Maiden. This time, however, I didn't want to rip off a franchise to make her. This one was one I had planned for, even going so far as burning my first use of Ouroboros to give her a backstory.
She was going to be the Spirit of the World Tree Sapling currently residing in front of my mansion. She would be an adorable kuudere waifu, inept at almost everything but willing to try anyway. She would be endlessly curious, full of wonder about the outside world, but too devoted to me to even dream of leaving.
Inept, yes. Hopeless, yes. But I had Archer for cooking and cleaning. This beautiful Maiden would be too powerful for me to reign in if everything went according to plan, so it was much safer simply to make her dependent on me for everything. Yes, I absolutely planned on making it so her flavor text stated she would never betray me, but I'm playing the long game here, and the problem with her being made to be so young is that later in life she could easily change from my original design. Sure, it might seem annoying, but it was far better than me creating a living manifestation of Yggdrasil that was entirely capable of killing me in a straight fight. And besides, I already have the Onee-chan position filled, I might as well add an adorably inept nice younger sister-type for her to dote on, no? Clumsy though she may be, I find the idea of her rather cute.
I started with the Dryad Race as a base, which resulted in her pale skin and oddly colored eyes. I punched in the sizes 94-52-83, giving her a perfect figure with a slightly larger top than Archer's originally was. Unlike Archer, however, her bust size wouldn't grow as she gained new Races. It would stay at a healthy FF-cup for her entire life barring unusual circumstances. Perhaps motherhood might bump up her FF to a solid G, but I didn't count on that happening for some time. Crossbreeding was known to be extremely difficult in canon, no matter how hard I intended on trying.
The pale Maiden wore a long shoulderless white gown that split in front to reveal white stockings and a garter belt. A matching veil covered part of her peach blossom-pink hair, flowing evenly down her back. Purple vine-like crystals wove around her form, emanating from a crown of violet peach blossoms atop her head. The plantlike motif continued all around her outfit, intermixed with the occasional high-tech addition to the crystal. Above her head floated a deep purple halo, marking her clearly as one of the Divine Species. She had a quiet, natural beauty that contrasted her doll-like features, creating an hourglass figure that looked almost unreal.
I named her what her flavor text suggested, reinforcing the words. She was my beloved, and so she was named.
乃愛. From Japanese 乃 (no), a possessive particle, and 愛 (a), meaning "love, affection". Noa, my love.
A beautiful name for a beautiful girl—one that tied her to me through the very word used to define her.
With all the EXP stored in my ring, I didn't even need to go hunting. I just transferred some to her, sending her directly to Level 100 with no fuss. The Data Crystals required to Level her were of no consequence, seeing as I had the lion's share in my treasury.
Dryad became Hamadryad, which became Greater Hamadryad. Her final stage of Nature Spirit completed her Racial Levels, leaving her at a mere 30 Levels spent. The rest of her Levels could be dedicated entirely to Job Classes.
10 Levels of Druid, obviously, then High Druid for another 10, allowing access to the Nature's Herald Job. That brings us to an even 60 total Levels. Add another 10 for Forest Mage, then move on to the more exotic Classes.
I actually did quite a lot of searching to find the perfect Jobs for my little Noa. The Developers were surprisingly helpful, hinting at several hidden Job Classes that could be discovered through various means. The first Rare Class I found was one called Elemental—not Elementalist, Elemental. It offered incredible bonuses to Nature-based Magic, which Noa's entire character was based off of. The next was the very Job Class described to me by the Dev, Guardian of the Forest. It granted bonuses to powers that 'brought death and gave life', which was a handy bonus for her particular build.
At 80 total Levels, I hit a wall. I eventually decided to say 'to hell with it' and gave her another 10-Level Class, Spiritualist, but I still left room for two more Rare Classes that I might find in the future.
While I was optimized for melee range and Archer was optimized for long-range cover, Noa would be perfectly made to have numerous Healing and AoE Spells to help control the flow of the battle. She wouldn't be getting in the thick of things, but she could still pack a serious punch of threatened.
Her build was far from perfect, and it would take a lot of testing and refining to work out the kinks. I still had to tweak her Stats quite a bit to make her truly complete, but for the limited time I had, it was the best I could get.
Time to face down the great beast.
Word count : 1830
