Chapter 3
Although I was angry and had lost interest in introducing myself, I pushed through my emotions and introduced myself:
"Reinhard Frost, 19 years old."
"Well, then. I shall explain about the danger threatening my country, Melromarc, known as the Waves," the king began his explanation.
"There is a prophecy that states that, when the time comes, the world would be devastated by the Waves of Calamity, and that only the Four Cardinal Heroes would be able to stop the Waves. When the Hourglass of the Dragon's Era began to fall down, we knew the first Wave would come soon, but we did not take this warning as seriously as we should. We learned of our mistake too late, and I'm ashamed to say this, we lost one of our regions when the Wave struck there."
The king paused for a while to let us follow his explanation. Then, continued, "Our brave soldiers and mages, as well as adventurers of the guild, managed to contain the attack in the area, but they were unable to prevent the devastation. As it is said that the following Waves will become worse in intensity, our best chance of survival relies on your summoning."
"And for that, I wish to request your help, Heroes of Legend," the king finished.
"I think I understand what you want, but... you are basically forcing us to help you, aren't you?" said Ren with a glare.
"I agree," said Motoyasu. "All of this works in your favor, but what do we get out of it?"
"It does seem unfair," said Itsuki. "You get our help, we stop these waves, but what do we get at the end? Will you just return us to our world without anything?"
"Fret not, you shall receive monetary help and aid to support your fight against the Waves. The only situation in which we may stop helping you is if you commit a crime that cannot be ignored," said the king.
The three idiots looked pleased. I, on the other hand, kept my expression neutral, hiding my displeasure.
"Well, then. Heroes, please confirm your status, and give yourselves an objective evaluation," said the king.
"Excuse me, but how are we supposed to evaluate ourselves?" asked Itsuki.
Ren sighed loudly before speaking up. "You mean to say that you all haven't figured it out yet? Didn't you realize it the moment you arrived here?"
"I mean," the Sword Hero went on after receiving blank looks of Motoyasu and Itsuki, "Haven't you noticed any weird icons hanging out in your peripheral vision? Just focus your mind on that icon."
During that and the following talk, I was ignoring them and reading about the power-up methods in the help interface. Other than the Legendary Shield's Energy Boost, I'd also unlocked other power-up methods of Legendary and Vassal Weapons/Tools I could remember.
Those methods are:
• Legendary Shield's Share and Trust
• Legendary Sword's Level Link, Mastery Level, Energy Transfer, and Rarity Up
• Legendary Spear's Weapon Mastery, Smelting, Spirit Enchantment, and Status Enchantment
• Legendary Bow's Rarity Power-Up, Ore Equip, Item Enchantment, and Job
• Vassal Staff's Magic Rank
• Vassal Gauntlet's Skill Rank
• Vassal Projectile's Microtransaction Enhancement
• Vassal Whip's Growth Revision
• Vassal Hammer's Weapon Synthesis
• Vassal Carriage's Monster Encyclopedia
• Vassal Claw's Skill Mastery
Other than the power-up methods of the Weapons from this world, I'd also unlocked the methods of the Weapons/Tools from the parallel world clashing with this one - the one where Glass, L'Arc Berg, and Therese Alexandrite came from.
• Legendary Hunting Tool's Monster Hunter, Experience Points, and Talisman
• Legendary Talisman's Magic Rank, Rarity Up, and Growth Revision
• Legendary Jewel's Sharing, Trust, and Profession
• Legendary Blunt Instrument's Skill Rank
- Unknown three methods.
• Vassal Fan's Ambient Mana Absorption
• Vassal Katana's Refinement
• Vassal Scythe's Spirit Enchantment
• Vassal Boat's Item Boost
• Vassal Musical Instrument's Microtransaction Stat Boost
• Vassal Mirror's Food Level
• Vassal Book's Revised Edition
• Vassal Harpoon's Magic and Skill Mastery
The last power-up method is to empower allies for a period by using MP/SP/EP. This was, in truth, an unnamed power-up method of one Legendary Weapon from the destroyed world of S'yne Lokk the Sewing Set Heroine, which I named Empowerment.
Despite unlocking many power-up methods, those were not all. There were still other methods I had yet to unlock because I didn't know it.
I stopped reading the help interface when the meeting ended. The king had promised to collect some retinues to help us tomorrow and told us to rest.
A pretty maid approached us. "Heroes, please follow me," she said and motioned for us to follow, which we promptly did.
We left the throne room and walked down the decorated halls. Moyatatsu was quick to get close to the maid, striking conversation rather easily.
The maid broke into conversation with the spear hero, soft giggles already leaving her as she talked with the flirt and guided us into our guest room.
During our walk to the guest room, I decided to set my Job and Profession.
[ Name: Reinhard Frost
Class: Shield Hero - Level: 1 - EXP: 0/20
Profession: White Mage - Level: 1 - EXP: 0/20
Job: Chef - Level: 1 - EXP: 0/20 ]
The Profession I chose gave me a nice magic and magic defense bonus when leveling up. On the other hand, the Chef Job gave me a nice bonus for the products of my cooking when leveling up.
After that, I decided to focus on creating skills.
The second skill I created after Death Bestowal was as follows:
[ Absolute Defense: The user possesses a defense that cannot be breached by any attack, giving them protection from all attacks, regardless of power, type, magnitude, and/or directions. No cooldown. SP Consumption: varies. ]
Once again, the skill required SP to be used. After careful consideration, I decided to create Instant Recovery.
In the beginning, I doubted my success, but I was relieved when I managed to create it.
[ Instant Recovery: The user can recover energy instantly. As a side effect, the user will never be physically and mentally tired. ]
'What a broken skill!' was my thought at the time. I had to resist my desire to shout out in excitement.
Regardless, I wasn't satisfied with only that. After all, I was still limited by my maximum capacity, both stamina and mental energy.
[ Super Energy Growth: The user can passively grow the max stamina and SP. ]
When I checked the status panel, I found that my SP and EP were increasing by 1 point per second, the latter following the growth of SP and stamina. With that, they would grow by 86,400 units per day.
'Yeah, I'm gonna be overpowered,' I thought while resisting my smirk due to my power trip.
Alas, I recalled that Murphy was a thing, more so in the fantasy world, so my smugness soon disappeared.
Next, I created another passive growth skill. This time, it generates EXP for me.
[ Super EXP Growth: The user can passively generate experience to level up. ]
Unlike the growth skill from before, it added one point to EXP per minute. In one day, I could get 1,440 EXP by doing nothing!
I was about to continue creating more skills, but I had to stop because we, the heroes, finally arrived at our guest room.
Anyways, our room was… fancy. It was rather large, containing expensive furniture, four big beds, beautiful tapestry, and an exit leading to a veranda.
As the maid exited the room and closed the doors, we, the heroes, chose our spots to settle down.
I lay on the long sofa, Itsuki sat on an armchair, Motoyasu sat on the edge of his bed, and Ren lay down on his own bed. We ignored each other in favor of our own interface.
Although I knew that the idiot trio were focusing on their interface, I couldn't help but find it weird because they looked staring dazedly at the empty space. I suppose I also looked weird when I focused on my own interface.
Anyway, I decided to continue what I stopped before. The new skills I created were as follows;
[ Absolute Legendary Shield Owner: The user of this skill is the absolute owner of the Legendary Shield. This skill nullifies any attempt to steal, separate, and/or seal the Legendary Shield from the absolute owner. ]
[ Battle Mode: The user is skilled in fighting when this skill is activated; the user gains mastery over the equipped weapon, if equipping any, or unarmed combat if not equipping any; the user lacks fear or hesitation to harm the opponent if the user is a pacifist; and the user gains instinct/intuition to help in battling. No cooldown. SP Consumption: 10/s. ]
[ Respawn: The user will respawn automatically in a safe location after death. No cooldown. SP Consumption: 1,000,000. Charge: 0% ]
[ Presence Detection: The user can detect hidden presence within 10 meters. Range can expand by consuming more energy. SP Consumption: varies. ]
[ Danger Detection: The user can detect approaching danger that may harm the user physically or mentally within 10 meters. Range can expand by consuming more energy. SP Consumption: varies. ]
[ Danger Revelation: The user experiences a prophetic dream about the approaching danger one week before it happens. No cooldown. No consumption. Only usable when sleeping. Can be turned on/off. ]
[ Perfect Appraisal: The user can see the parameters, skills, spells, and short biography of the target. No cooldown. SP Consumption: varies. ]
[ Status Falsification: The user can falsify the status. No cooldown. No consumption. ]
[ Plot Armor: The user bends reality to let them survive the events that should kill them. No cooldown. SP Consumption: 500,000/s. ]
[ Protagonist's Luck: The user bends reality to get advantages. No cooldown. SP Consumption: 10,000/s. ]
[ Harem Protagonist's Aura: The user passively exudes Aura that will attract girls. The longer exposure with the Aura will increase the affection of the girls. No cooldown. SP Consumption: 100/s. ]