Hell Mode: Volume 5, page 21
Today was finally the day of the No-life Gamers’ second class promotion. They were taking the day off from dungeon diving because after this, they planned on discussing possible changes to their battle formation. Rohzen had been waiting quite a while for someone to call for the promotion process to begin, but since no one did, he had to interrupt their conversation instead.
“I see that everyone in the party has maxed out both their levels and skill levels, ha ha.”
“Yes, my Lord,” Allen replied. “So, please promote all of them.”
“You got it. I’m going to go through this, chop-chop. Ha ha.”
As the Spirit God began doing his hip-shaking dance, tears welled up in Dverg’s eyes.
“They really are getting new classes...”
The rest of Sacred were also watching on with wide eyes. A few more Gamers were offered class choices this time, so Allen picked the ones that would form the most effective party. Before long, the entire process was complete.
* * *
Name: Krena
Age: 14
Class: Sword Emperor
Level: 1
HP: 1,790
MP: 770
Attack: 1,790
Endurance: 1,608
Agility: 1,150
Intelligence: 775
Luck: 1,095
Skills: Sword Emperor {1}, Slash {1}, Sword Mastery {6}
Extra Skill: Limit Break
XP: 0/10
Skill Levels
Sword Emperor: 1
Slash: 1
Skill Experience
Slash: 0/10
* * *
Name: Cecil Granvelle
Age: 14
Class: Wizardess King
Level: 1
HP: 995
MP: 1,614
Attack: 578
Endurance: 624
Agility: 1,022
Intelligence: 1,778
Luck: 1,007
Skills: Wizardess King {1}, Fire {1}, Sparring {4}
Extra Skill: Petit Meteor
XP: 0/10
Skill Levels
Wizardess King: 1
Fire Magic: 1
Skill Experience
Fire Magic: 0/10
* * *
Name: Dogora
Age: 14
Class: Rampager
Level: 1
HP: 1,098
MP: 651
Attack: 1,615
Endurance: 817
Agility: 683
Intelligence: 504
Luck: 727
Skills: Rampager {1}, Full Might {1}, Axe Mastery {6}, Shield Mastery {3}
Extra Skill: Heart and Soul
XP: 0/10
Skill Levels
Rampager: 1
Full Might: 1
Skill Experience
Full Might: 0/10
* * *
Name: Keel von Carnel
Age: 14
Class: Greater Saint
Level: 1
HP: 583
MP: 1,120
Attack: 447
Endurance: 623
Agility: 712
Intelligence: 979
Luck: 895
Skills: Greater Saint {1}, Healing {1}, Sword Mastery {3}
Extra Skill: Drops of God
XP: 0/10
Skill Levels
Greater Saint: 1
Healing: 1
Skill Experience
Healing: 0/10
* * *
Name: Sophialohne
Age: 49
Blessing: Spirit God
Class: Spirit User
Level: 1
HP: 712
MP: 1,231
Attack: 504
Endurance: 489
Agility: 713
Intelligence: 1,406
Luck: 594
Skills: Juvenile Spirit User {1}, Fire {1}
Extra Skill: Grand Spirit Manifestation
XP: 0/10
Skill Levels
Juvenile Spirit Manifestation: 1
Fire: 1
Skill Experience
Fire: 0/10
* * *
Name: Volmaar
Age: 68
Class: Bow Lord
Level: 1
HP: 982
MP: 535
Attack: 850
Endurance: 846
Agility: 543
Intelligence: 360
Luck: 582
Skills: Bow Lord {1}, Keen Sight {1}, Bow Mastery {6}
Extra Skill: Arrow of Light
XP: 0/10
Skill Levels
Bow Lord: 1
Keen Sight: 1
Skill Experience
Keen Sight: 0/10
* * *
The No-life Gamers’ Class Progression Trees
Krena: Sword Lord → Sword King → Sword Emperor
Cecil: Wizardess → Archwizardess → Wizardess King
Dogora: Axe User → Berserker → Rampager
Keel: Cleric → Saint → Greater Saint
Sophie: Spirit Mage → Spirit Wizard → Spirit User
Volmaar: Archer → Bow Master → Bow Lord
“The gods sure chose a weird naming convention for your class,” Allen said sardonically to Cecil before turning to Dogora and adopting an even snarkier tone. “But damn, Dogora—‘Rampager’ sounds really cool. I thought your Extra Skill would disappear from this class promotion, but no dice, I see. Maybe next time?”
In a way, our party is in Hell Mode because you can’t use your Extra Skill, man.
Dogora was unable to come up with a comeback. He was sure that his Extra Skill had the potential to completely change the momentum of a fight. He had asked Helmios for advice about any unique requirements or situations that might enable him to master this skill. Unfortunately, Helmios did not have a quick and easy answer either.
“Thank you for showing us something incredible,” Helmios said to Allen before turning to his companions. “All of you were watching, right? Now you know that humanity has hope.”
Allen, who had gone back to recording the results of his party’s class promotions, shrugged in reply. “It’s not like this is something to hide.”
If what Rohzen had said about the Heavenly Realm making preparations so that everyone could promote their classes was true, then there really was no point keeping what happened today secret.
That said, Allen was still hiding the process of him making Blessings of Heaven and Seeds of Magic. When asked what he did locked up in his room on his off days, he only ever said he was “resting.”
“I’ll still be keeping you to your word, though,” Allen reminded Helmios.
“I know, I know,” the Hero replied wryly. “I was gonna introduce you to him even if you hadn’t let us sit in on it.”
When Helmios had asked Allen to let Sacred observe when the No-life Gamers underwent their class promotions, Allen had agreed in exchange for Helmios introducing him to a blacksmith who could refine and forge orichalcum.
Orichalcum, called “metal of the gods” by some, could be found on Floor 4 of the Rank S dungeon. However, according to Helmios, it did not appear in the form of weapons or armor, but as metal ore. And in order to forge the metal of the gods, one had to borrow the divine power of Freyja, the Goddess of Fire. This was why Allen had asked to be introduced to the best blacksmith in all of Baukis—a supposedly cantankerous old dwarf.
“Oh, and Sophie, use this the next time we go to the dungeon.” Allen handed her an adamantite bow. He had planned on giving it to her after her class promotion and had thus kept it at the base instead of selling it.
“Th-Thank you, Lord Allen. I’ll d-do my best to use it well.”
Seeing how nervous Sophie was, Volmaar asked, “Sir Allen, should she not first focus on mastering the usage of her spirits?”
However, Allen was of a different mind. “We don’t have much time. Let’s have her try it out first. If it doesn’t work out, then we’ll have her focus solely on the spirits.”
Now that Sophie was a Spirit User, her fighting style was to involve manifesting the spirits she was contracted with. However, she had seen Gatoluuga, the Spirit User in Rohzenheim, fighting with a bow during the war.
Through Spirit B, Allen had asked Gatoluuga if using a bow would clash with the abilities of a Spirit User. The man had replied that there should be no issue as long as the Spirit User was in tune with their spirits.
Consequently, Allen had tasked Sophie with two challenges: to learn how to use the bow and to learn how to communicate with her spirits. An adamantite bow was supposed to be powerful enough to kill Rank B monsters in one shot and, with the help of Attack rings, still ought to be effective against Rank A monsters. Allen had been insistent when convincing her to learn archery, reiterating that it was all to raise the party’s damage output.
“First, let’s go back to Rohzenheim to find the spirits you want to contract with.”
“Yes, Lord Allen.” Sophie nodded with resolve.
Spirit Users could not simply manifest spirits on their own. Consequently, Sophie now needed to form contracts with spirits. Luckily, she had already met a few she had taken a liking to the last time she was in Rohzenheim.
“When we come back to Yanpany, we’ll stick around on Floor Three and level for a month, then finally give Floor 4 a go,” Allen declared.
“So those are the No-life Gamers, huh,” Rosetta murmured, looking on. She felt like she finally understood what Allen had told her a while back about the meaning of his party’s name.
＊ ＊ ＊
Their class promotions reverted everyone, aside from Allen and Meruru, back to Lvl. 1. They then traveled to Rohzenheim to help Sophie contract with spirits. Afterward, they returned to the Rank S dungeon to spend one more month on Floor 3. That was enough to get them to Lvl. 50, after which they moved up to Floor 4 as planned.
They had decided to buy the medals that they needed to travel to higher floors from the temple on Floor 1. One reason was because Allen had used up most of the medals they found trading with hidden cubes, but the other, more important reason was they had the financial leeway to do so. Every time they returned from Floor 3, they sold off all their duplicate slates and hihiirokane equipment, which often came to a total of more than ten thousand gold.
In fact, they now had so much money that Allen had begun putting in requests for Rank D magic stones as well. Since he was putting up his max limit of a thousand gold each time he made a request, his stock was increasing at a steady rate. He did not order any Rank B magic stones, though, as the party already had plenty after farming them in the dungeon.
The No-life Gamers were currently back at base, having breakfast before heading back into the dungeon later.
“No, stop that. We’re eating now. Please, settle down.” Sophie set down her spoon and reached down to the creature that was rubbing against her leg, lifted it up to her lap, and began trying to calm it.
“Au au.”
The creature was her contracted juvenile fire spirit. It looked similar to a Japanese giant salamander and was red all over, with a flame-tipped tail that burned fiercely. This flame could not actually catch furniture and clothes on fire—it was really only just for aesthetics.
“You seem to have gotten used to it,” Allen commented.
“Y-You think so?” Sophie blushed a little.
Krena lifted a piece of meat to her mouth. “Maybe Salamander’s hungry too?”
“No, no, the spirits don’t need food. Whenever they need energy, I give them my MP.”
Our dear Spirit God over there eats food like normal, though.
When Sophie started tickling the creature and rubbing its stomach, it flopped its legs about and squealed happily as its beady eyes sparkled with delight.
According to Gatoluuga, spirits had wills of their own, meaning they were not guaranteed to always follow their contracted Spirit User’s instructions during battle. In order to make it more likely that they obey, Spirit Users were to keep them materialized for as long as possible and bond with them.
The process was supposed to take a long time, but the party was on a tight schedule. Therefore, Allen had instructed Sophie to keep her spirits materialized for as close to twenty-four seven as possible, even during meals and while sleeping, all the way until she ran out of MP.
Salamander was apparently not intelligent enough to understand Sophie’s words. At the moment, it mainly only repeated actions that one might expect from a small pet, such as rubbing its face against her, pacing in circles around her, crying out, and so on.
It’s interesting how the logic behind Summoning, calling forth golems, and spirit materialization are all completely different.
During his fourteen years as a Summoner, Allen had never stopped analyzing his class. Now that he had both a golem pilot and a Spirit User as party members, he had started analyzing their classes too, and in doing so, he had discovered many places where they differed from Summoning.
Every time he himself created a new Summon, he had to expend MP and magic stones. For example, a Dragon B required more than 3,000 MP and twenty-nine Rank B magic stones. In contrast, a golem pilot only needed a magic disc and slates to call forth golems, and could do so repeatedly with no limit. Instead, it cost MP to keep the golem out. Materializing a spirit did not require MP or magic stones. Similarly to golems, keeping a spirit out also cost MP. In Meruru’s case, if she fought while using skills, 3,000 MP would not last her even an hour. The situation was similar for Spirit Users; it would cost Sophie about the same amount of MP were she to fight while keeping a spirit out.
Now I understand better why Minister Nukakai—and Baukis in general—want Seeds of Magic so badly.
The dwarven nation’s military capability hinged on the total number of available golem pilots they had enlisted. And now they knew about the Seeds of Magic, which recovered MP much more effectively than any other recovery item so far.
And this is precisely why Mr. Gatoluuga also wields a bow.
Gatoluuga had explained that his bow was for when he ran out of MP and could no longer materialize his spirits. When he and his spirits were perfectly in sync, he could also give them instructions while using it, asking them to set his arrowheads on fire, boost the speed of his arrows, guide his arrows toward his target, and so on.
Meanwhile, under Volmaar’s tutelage, Sophie was getting better and better at archery.
“There’s a reason for everything,” Allen murmured.
Cecil started. “Huh? What’s that out of the blue?”
The members of Sacred also looked at Allen quizzically.
“Oh, sorry, it’s nothing.” Allen shook his head slightly. “I was just talking to myself. Something just clicked in my mind.”
“There you go again,” Cecil sighed.
“You really never stop thinking and analyzing, do you?” Helmios marveled.
After living together with Allen for a whole month, Helmios now knew how much Allen loved analyzing things and that he often involved his companions with his experiments. Most of the time, though, exactly what Allen was getting at went completely over Helmios’s head.
“Well, there’s a lot I still don’t know,” Allen replied.
“Oh wow, things you don’t know? Like what?”
“Hmm... For example, what is Lord Rohzen’s element?”
“Wha— S-Sir Allen, that’s a bit...” Volmaar tried to indicate that this questioning was over the line.
However, Allen turned to him instead and asked, “Do you know, Volmaar? You’ve been with him for decades now, right?”
The fact that Volmaar was in Sophie’s direct service meant that he must have spent decades living under the same roof as Rohzen back when the flying squirrel spirit was still a mere Spirit King.
“That’s, well...”
It was clear that Volmaar did not know, so Allen turned to Sophie, who answered apologetically, “I-I’m sorry, we don’t really probe...”
Finally, Allen turned to the Spirit God himself. “All right, Spirit God Rohzen, what kind of spirit are you? I can’t really tell what element you are.”
“Wha-?! Sir Allen!” Volmaar could not believe that Allen had failed to get the hint based on his and Sophie’s reactions.
“Om nom.” Rohzen swallowed the fukaman in his mouth. “I’m actually a wood spirit. The World Tree did birth me, after all. Ha ha.”
“I see. So that’s why your skill is a buff skill.” I’ve always associated the wood element with passive abilities and buffs.
“Pretty much. Though I’d prefer it if you didn’t prod too much further. Ha ha.”
Sophie watched this exchange in dumbfounded astonishment.
“You sure are an inquisitive person, Allen,” Helmios chuckled.
“Inquisitive? Mr. Helmios, it’s not that I’m inquisitive.”
“Then what is it?”
By now, almost everyone at the table had stopped eating and was focused on Allen.
“You can’t strategize effectively if you don’t understand how things work. That’s why this world has been at the Demon Lord’s mercy for decades.”
“Oh?” Dverg lifted an eyebrow. “Care to elaborate?”
Allen continued. “Finding answers to the ‘why’ questions is the key to understanding your current situation. That’s how you know what to prepare against.”
The Sword Lord closed his eyes pensively. “I see,” he said, internalizing what Allen said.
“What’s something else you don’t know?” Cecil asked.
“Why are the deities enabling class promotions now when they had never done so before?”
Cecil tilted her head. “Sorry, I don’t get what you’re asking.”
