STGB Episode 463

Proof (3)

[The character enters the witch’s hut]

It was my first time back at the witch’s hut after getting stranded with Misha. A lot of things have been changed since I was last here.

Swoooooosh—

No more grass lawns filled with wildflowers, nor the lush green trees with abundant leaves.

“…Snow?”

It was a snow-white expanse.

The trees were all dried up and looking pretty rough, and in the distance, one lone cabin stood between them.

“Whoa! Is this snow?! Wow, it’s actually cold!”

Aynar, seeing the snow on the ground, was thrilled like a child.

Well It’s understandable, as Raphdonia never experiences snowfall.

Besides a couple of islands on the 6th floor of Icelock and a few rifts, it’s tough to spot any snow. The Frost Canyon on the 5th floor feels more like an icy field than a snowy area.

“Hey, Rokrok! Come over here!”

“…It’s not ‘Rokrok.’ It’s Auyen Roklov.”

“Ah, don’t be so stiff! This is how we become friends! Anyway, come over!”

“…Ugh, ack?”

Amelia tried to correct the mistake, but Aynar dragged Auyen off to have a snowball fight.

“Ouch! Ah, it hurts! Miss Reinz…!”

“…Jandel, you’re just going to stand and watch?”

Amelia sounded like she wanted someone to stop them immediately.

Well, can’t a Barbarian enjoy a little snowball fight?

“Just leave them. We’ll be busy checking Erwen’s Essence for a while anyway.”

“So basically, you have no intention of solving this.”

“No, that’s not what I mea—”

“Enough. Go check the Essence. I’ll stay here.”

“…You’re not coming with us?”

“I’ve been thinking I’d need to put them in their place one day anyway.”

With that cryptic remark, Amelia leapt forward to where Auyen and Aynar were.

And then…

“Oh! Are you joining us?!”

“Yes.”

After activating even [Self-Replication], she began hurling snowballs at Aynar in rapid succession.

“Hahaha! Hah hah! Take this!!”

At first, Aynar was pleased to have another playmate, but it didn’t take long for his smile to vanish.

“Ugh! Argh! What are you—?!”

Not content with flipping her over by grabbing her arm and slamming her onto the snowy ground, Amelia proceeded to rub Aynar’s face into the snow.

“Mmff…!”

“There you go, you like snow so much.”

“This—this isn’t the kind of snowball fight I heard abou—!”

“Why would there be any rules in a fight?”

“Agh, I won’t just sit back and take this!”

Aynar quickly used his brute strength to get up, but Amelia jumped on his back, locking her arms with her legs.

And then…

“What are you going to do if you won’t let me do this?”

Her clones mercilessly planted snowballs in his unguarded face.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thud—!

It was like a skilled pitcher aiming at a perfect target.

“…Mister?”

“…Let’s just go.”

“Yes.”

After watching for a while, we left the three of them alone and headed to the back of the cabin. After all, there’s no better training ground than the witch’s hut.

Not only is it a private environment, but unlike a city training ground, there’s no risk of destroying anything we’d have to pay for later.

“Erwin, have you gotten used to it?”

“Yes.”

“Noticing any changes?”

“I’m not sure. It feels like all of my abilities have improved overall, but I don’t sense a dramatic increase in any single aspect…”

“There must be more?”

“…I’ve been having a terrible headache.”

Not just hurting—probably hard to endure.

Still, if I compare it to the time before, the fact she isn’t making a big deal about it means she’s drastically improved.

“Don’t worry too much. It’s because of the Essence.”

“Wait… Because of the Essence?”

Erwin’s eyes lit up with curiosity, and I slowly began to explain.

First, I had to talk about the stat changes.

[Chaos]

Your “negative stats” double, and all your stats increase in proportion to those negative stats.

In the game, the description in the base status window is basically just that. Figuring out the formula was, as always, up to the player.

“By ‘negative stats,’ are you talking about the stats that reduce ability values?”

Ah, I should explain from the start.

“It includes those, but that’s not all.”

In [Dungeon and Stone], each stat has a coefficient, and according to that coefficient, physical, mental, and special ability stats increase.

For instance, for Dexterity, which has a coefficient of 0.5, increasing your Dexterity by +1 raises a special ability stat by 0.5.

‘High-value stats like Magic Resistance have a coefficient of 3.’

Anyway, that’s not the main point.

Most stats have a coefficient above 0, but sometimes you see stats with a negative coefficient.

I called them negative stats.

“For example, among the stats you have, Impulse and Distrust fall into that category.”

Basically if you get ‘+’ to a stat with negative coefficient, they have a negative effect on your Physical, Mental and Special ability stats.

Conversely, when stats with a coefficient of zero or above are marked with a ‘-,’ they were what known as ‘debuff stats’

This was the case with the essence giving her Rupture, which gave her -30 control.

“Ah…”

After quickly explaining to her the basics, I quickly moved on to her stat calculations.

First, from Evan’s Essence: Physical Resistance decreased by -80.

From the royal reward Ritcanon—which I recommended—: Soul Regeneration decreased by -40.

And then from Rupture, Control decreased by -30.

From ‘Kalban,’ impulse is +30, and distrust is +30.

‘There’s no need to include the Possessiveness from the Metcrow Essence since its coefficient is 0. She also erased the +40 Craving stat before we entered the Labyrinth…’

After multiplying her stat values by their respective coefficients and summing them up, I multiplied by the chaos essence coefficient of 0.2 to complete the calculation.

The number came out.

‘53.8.’

That’s how much Erwin’s Chaos Essence was boosting all of her existing stats.

Well, not literally all stats…

Innate stats like luck or bone density do not increase.

‘…Still, this efficiency is ridiculous.’

It felt a bit surreal.

‘Ritcanon’ was my recommendation, but the rest were chosen by Erwin herself.

‘Losing so much of her mental stats might be dangerous…’

But she seemed to be doing fine

Proof of that is: she’s still calm now, even though those negative stats were now higher than before.

‘Still, I’m worried, I should change her other essences soon.’

Mental stats have low coefficients, so they weren’t very effective even when used with the essence of [Chaos]. Control is tolerable, but Distrust has a coefficient of only 0.6.

Substituting it with a stat that has a greater coefficient value would be more beneficial over time. For instance, if she were given an item with a Magic Resistance of -50, all her stats would increase by +30.

Well anyway, thanks to this effect, the essence of chaos is great for any main damage dealer.

On the other hand, there aren’t that many good essences for tanks, as they tend to increase defence in exchange for low damage output.

“I see… Now that I think of it, you told me before to focus on what I’m best at…”

I don’t remember, but it was time to move on.  Even if it’s not the usual pub room we test abilities in…

“All right, let’s test your abilities. Use your powers!”

We might not be in our usual place, but we still have to check.

***

 Chaos Essence consists of two skills.

One passive and one active.

That’s all.

Comparing it to Guardian Essences, which can sometimes offer five or more active skills, it might seem extremely lacking…

But sometimes, one can be better than a hundred.

[(P) Chaos Circuit — All resources held by the character are combined into one. You can use the power of chaos when all resources are depleted]

First, the passive is quite unique.

Simply put, it’s a skill where mana, natural power, soul power, divine power, etc., are integrated into one gauge…

It alone is worth a lot.

Increasing Natural Energy, needed for Spirit Magic, is incredibly difficult.

‘Perhaps that’s why Erwin consumed the essence of Ertes. She can use its Passive to replace her Soul Energy with Natural Energy.

In that sense, we need to erase that essence once we return. Active [Elemental Fusion] isn’t bad, but it’s not the kind of essence you’d want to keep forever.

“Um… by ‘abilities,’ you mean…?”

“Use Focused Shot. We’re testing how to completely empty your resource pool. Oh, and summon some spirits.”

“…In that case, wouldn’t it be faster to summon Di Cloe? It’ll burn through my energy quickly.”

Oh, that’s a good point.

I told her to hurry and summon it, and Erwin reluctantly used her ultimate move.

Erwin Fornaci di Tersia summons the [Dark Spirit King Di Cloe].

A human-shaped mass of darkness emerged, tearing through space.

At Erwin’s command,  Di Cloe began blasting orbs of darkness in the direction away from the cabin.

Boom, boom! BOOOOOM—!

They collided with the barrier in the distance and exploded.

As expected, the barrier didn’t show a scratch.

[Accumulated energy has been depleted]

All of Erwin’s resources ran out about 30 seconds after she started using them.

Previously, the limit was 5 seconds when used at full power.

‘Her mana pool must’ve grown a lot, so she can maintain it far longer now.’

Of course, that’s not the key point now.

[A mysterious power infuses the empty vessel]

Triggered by fully depleting her resources, Chaos Circuit activated.

[For 1 minute, no resource is consumed]

The Infinite Power Mode.

“…It really isn’t unsummoning”

Erwin looked at Di Cloe, who was still emitting explosive firepower, in admiration.

I was just as impressed, honestly.

‘Maintaining this kind of firepower for a minute and thirty seconds…’

And that’s not even the full extent of what she can do.

Unlimited MP means you can still do more.

She can let the Spirit King keep fighting while she casts her own skills.

“Erwin, now use Focused Shot.”

I gave one more order, and Erwin silently lifted her bow, drawing back the string.

Fwoooooosh—!

White light formed at the tip of the arrow.

This skill, which had greatly contributed during the Riakis’s has a simple effect: the longer you charge, the more MP is exponentially consumed…

Fwooooooosh—!!

And the more damage it deals.

Usually, I wouldn’t allow more than a 15-second charge. Past that point, the MP drain becomes enormous while the damage boost grows too slowly.

With a cooldown of about 60 seconds, it’s more beneficial to wait and shoot another arrow.

But…

‘If the MP is infinite, it’s a different story.’

1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds, 4 seconds…

As time passed, the density of energy gathering at the arrowhead increased.

And then some more time passed.

“Now.”

Erwin released her hand from the string.

————!

A flash of light erupted, bleaching everything to white.

Again, not a single scratch appeared on the barrier.

But…

‘Yeah, that’s it.’

I could intuitively feel it.

Whoooooooom-!!!

The instantaneous firepower was even greater than Di Cloe’s.

[The energy contained in the vessel is escaping]

[Temporarily, all stats decrease by 70%]

Just as Erwin collapsed into my arms, exhausted, a frantic shout came from afar.

“Bjorn—!! Where are you! Bjorn!!”

It was Aynar, who had been playing with Amelia.

“What was that just now! Isn’t it a dimensional collapse? We might have to run!!”

She sounded like a frightened wild animal facing a natural disaster.  In a way, her utter naivety was so pure it made me laugh.

“Don’t worry. It’s not a dimensional collapse.”

“Really? I was so startled! Suddenly, the world flashed, and the ground seemed to shake!!”

“Yes, yes. Calm down. It’s okay now.”

As I was soothing Aynar, Amelia came up beside me and asked.

“That thing just now… was Tersia the one who did it?”

“Yeah.”

“…Remarkable. So that’s what a Floor Lord’s essence is.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you get one later, too.”

I spoke reassuringly, but Amelia turned her head with a huff, as if to say, Don’t treat me like some Barbarian. Still, from the look on her face, I could tell she was secretly anticipating it.

“So, is everything done now?”

“Yeah, it’s all finished.”

We didn’t get to test out the active skill, but it’s not like I can test it here anyway.

I’ll have to experiment with it later in the city.

It’s quite an unusual skill, after all.

“Erwin, can you walk?”

“No… I can’t walk.”

I tried to lift the exhausted Erwin, but someone was quicker to step forward.

“Oh! Then let me carry you!”

Aynar had always performed admirably as a mount in the past.

“Come on, get on!”

“…”

“Ah, thanks”

With Aynar carrying Erwin, we headed towards the hut. Unlike the outside which had turned into winter, the inside of the hut was just as it had been before.

A bookshelf, a dining table, a carpet.

A small bed that my feet slipped out of when I lay down.

Flicker.

The fireplace was blazing.

“Yandel, what do we do now?”

“Enter the flames, and it’s over.”

Then the reward would come in, the witch’s hut would be closed, and the character would be banished to the forest.

“…Bjorn.”

Suddenly, Aynar looked at me seriously.

“I’ve been thinking it over, and really going into the flames doesn’t seem right.”

What is this betrayal?

Since it wasn’t worth responding to, I simply said I would go first and squatted down, walking into the flames.

Flicker-!

A warmth that could not be described as hot.

[Your mental resistance stat permanently increases by +50]

Okay, so the stats should have increased well…

It was the moment I closed my eyes in an inexplicable comfort.

“Uh…?”

When I opened my eyes again, I was frozen.

It wasn’t the witch’s forest but a space I had never seen before.

“What are you?”

A girl with a ghostly pale complexion was staring at me.