Chapter Text
Arthur Brun, was definitely average.
Did well in school, got an A-level in business management And went on to work for a business consulting firm for a few years. A perfectly average life, maybe he'd meet a girl soon, ask her out. Possibly it would work out and they would stArthur a family or maybe he'd have a few girlfriends before he found ‘the one’.
Honestly it had never concerned him much. He was happy with what he had. A nice job that didn't burn him out too much, a nice meaty paycheck and enough free time to engage in his favorite pastime.
Video games, he loved the things, ever since he was a child, he loved mobas and rpgs. 4x and first person. Strategy and mmo. He read fiction too, diving into universes and falling in love with them and their characters.
Arthur was in the library looking for a good fiction read, looking from title to title, trying to find something that caught his eye.
While he liked his life, it was a good life, he certainly had little to complain about and things could be a lot worse. PArthur of Arthur always felt like something was missing, something to make his heArthur race and blood boil. Some sort of adventure or action, he supposed that's why he loved games and fiction so much, an escape into a wilder more fanciful world.
At that moment he found a book called ‘the four cardinal heros’. He picked it up and opened it, only to see some asswipe had scribbled a five in place of four in blue pen on the title page, thinking about what kind of childish arsehole would do such a thing he turned the page. And saw white.
Kingdom of Melromarc
Arthur's vision was blurry and his eyes rang, he had the odd thought if perhaps this is what getting hit with a flashbang felt like. He barely stopped himself from puking. He fell to one knee, vision starting to clear and the ringing in his ears subsiding.
“..y…ey…hey. Are you okay.” Arthur heard a voice say as a gentle hand was placed on his shoulder. His vision cleared fully and he saw a girl with messy upper back length black hair wearing a green and white hoodie kneeling down to look over him.
“Y-yeah. I think so, fuck my head.” Arthur spoke as he tried to stand, the girl helping him.
“Looks like you got it worse then the rest of us.” The girl spoke as Arthur turned to see three other males lined up next to them.
One black haired teen, a dirty blonde haired slightly older boy and a lighter blonde with a ponytail that seemed to be closer to Arthur's age.
“Wha-? Where are we? How the hell did I even get here?” Arthur questioned out loud.
“Oh holy heros, please save our world!” A voice said, causing Arthur to turn and see multiple men in robes with fancy rune-like markings covering them, making them look like some sort of fantasy mage.
“We are on the brink of annihilation, only with your most divine and exalted power will we be able to prevent the coming apocalypse.” The one with the fanciest robes said, clearly the leader of these people.
“I refuse.” The older blonde one said, nonchalantly, like they hadn't just all been abducted. And with seemingly little care for these people's plight.
It was then Arthur took notice of the objects the other four held. The older blonde held a spear, the younger blonde held a bow and the dark haired teen held a sword. He looked over to the only girl among them and saw a small shield-like object attached to her arm. Finally registering the weight he looked down and saw a slightly curved sword that he believed to be a saber of some kind, with a brilliant onyx gem in the handle.
He seemed to get…lost in it, the gem. A beautiful void of colour that, as he stared into it…he felt to stare back.
Naofumi
Now Naofumi normally considered herself a pretty open and laid back girl, but this? This was way beyond what she could be chill about. All she was doing was picking up some book at the library and suddenly she was in this unknown place with unknown people, not to mention this shield like pieces of metal stuck to her arm.
Not only that she was seemingly summoned along with four other people, one almost collapsing, on instinct she kneeled down to try and help him.
He definitely wasn't Japanese, that was for certain, some kind of European she thinks. He wore a dark black shirt with a grey jacket and similarly grey jeans and some sort of trainer. He had ashen grey hair along with a pale complexion, as he blinked open his unfocused eyes she could see they were a perfectly average green, she idly wondered if his hair had been dyed.
The mages that summoned them fed them some grand tale she didn't really understand about how they were meant to stop a calamity or something.
Naofumi and the Grey haired guy looked bewildered at the attitude the other three were displaying, Naofumi already didn't like them.
Arthur
“Wow I already find these three insufferable.” Arthur thought as he heard the other males summoned with him demand shit and act like entitled pricks, even threatening them if they were not given what they wanted.
The mages or whatever they were, were talking about how their king would be happy to reward them for their efforts which seemed to satisfy them, honestly Arthur just wanted to be sent home.
It was as they were being led to what Arthur assumed to be the throne room that he took notice of everything at the edge of his field of vision, honestly he didn't know how he didn't notice it before.
Arthur Brun lvl 1
Hp:120
Mp:60
A full on UI at the top left of his vision, Arthur blinked a few times to check he wasn't imagining it…wait a damn minute! No! There's no fucking way! Oh god but what else could it be?!
He'd been fucking Isakai'ed. The immensely popular and egregiously overdone manga and or anime format.
“But I didn't even die! I just opened a book!” Arthur thought, freaking out more now. He'd read and watched multiple isakai, some were very good he'd admit. But that was a fiction, unless this was all his dying neurons firing this shit was 100% real.
But that was besides the point. The mages had mentioned they didn't have any way to get them home. All they found in ancient texts was the summoning ritual, which they eventually got right with trial and error. Unless the king had any extra insight, they were stuck here.
While they were walking Arthur looked around the halls of the palace, fine marble and grand paintings with golden frames lined the walls, it was very grand he'd admit.
“I wonder besides that hud in my vision I've got some sort of status screen?” He idly thought. Seemingly triggered by said thought a status menu appeared in front of him.
Arthur Brun lvl 1
Job:legendary sword hero E̵̢̥͓͚͕̞̮̒̿ͨ͛̑̅̎̂͢ͅŗ̵̧̧̛̙̭͙̤̮͇͈̥̳͎̻̜̦͛ͨ̓́̾͗͌̓͌͛̋̅̆̕͟͢͞r͐ͪo̶͕̼͗r̵͕̬̳͖̘̲͔͒̎̈́̌̐_̨ͥ
Hp:120
Mp:60
Stats
Vitality:10
Mind:8
Attack:16
Magic attack:8
Defense:8
Magic Defense:8
Agility:20
Would you like further explanation on what stats do? Y/N
Arthur pressed yes, having a pretty good idea but wanting conformation.
Vitality:or Vit, measures one's total HP and HP growth, it also assists resisting certain status ailments.
Mind: mind is the measure of one's MP and MP growth, it also assists in resisting certain status ailments.
Attack:or Atk, is what your physical damage is based off, both welding and not welding a weapon. May have the side effect of assisting with physical strength.
Magic attack:or Matk, is what your magical damage is based off, with both magical blades and spells
Defense:or Def, helps with reducing damage from physical attacks, but cannot overcome them entirely even with massive stat difference.
Magic Defense: or Mdef, is how resistant you are to forms of magical attack, but cannot overcome them entirely even with massive stat difference.
Agility:or Agi, is a measure of your dexterity and overall physical agility, actions will be swifter and some weapons will become stronger.
“Hmm, yeah definitely seems I'm a damage heavy class from these stats.” Arthur thought, before he looked down to the pArthur of the menu that said ‘passive affects’
Passives affects:or just Passives are bonuses primarily gained from fully unlocking a weapon, some perks however are tied to certain weapon forms and are only usable in that form, even if they are fully unlocked
Legendary hero of the sword E̵̢̥͓͚͕̞̮̒̿ͨ͛̑̅̎̂͢ͅŗ̵̧̧̛̙̭͙̤̮͇͈̥̳͎̻̜̦͛ͨ̓́̾͗͌̓͌͛̋̅̆̕͟͢͞r͐ͪo̶͕̼͗r̵͕̬̳͖̘̲͔͒̎̈́̌̐_̨ͥ:you are the legendary sword hero, as such you wield the legendary sword, an evershifting weapon of immense potential and a myriad of forms. But only the legendary sword and its forms may be used with intent to do battle. You are also immune to forms of instant death and higher tier mind control and mind alteration, lower tiers may still work however. As the wielder of the legendary sword your damage scales with both agility and attack at a ratio of 60:40.
“Evershifting? I wonder what that means?” Arthur thought, making note of that split, it seems his agility was just as important as his attack. Also that error thing didn't look good. Was something wrong with this thing?
It seems whatever this videogame esc status menu isekai was it responded directly to his inquisitive thoughts as another explanation graced his screen.
Weapon forms:the key feature of a legendary weapon lies in its ability to alter its form, using the various methods one can utilize you can unlock forms for the legendary blade, each granting different stats, some with passive abilitys, skills and equip passives. The two main methods used across every legendary weapon are material absorption and weapon copy. Would you like to learn about these two systems? Y/N
Arthur pushed yes and more text appeared.
Material absorption:by feeding the gem on the legendary weapon materials one can unlock new forms for the weapon, there are myriad forms for the legendary weapons so please try everything! All absorbed materials are placed within your inventory and are not consumed.
Weapon copy:the ability to copy to form of an existing armament and gain it as a weapon form, no damage or any negative effects are imposed on the original weapon so feel free to copy to your heArthur's desire.
Please note that if high level material or high class weapons are used to unlock forms they will possess a level requirement and may not be immediately available.
“Well there goes that idea.” Arthur thought, instantly having the idea to try and barter for some rare fantasy wonder metals or fancy swords in the royal vault to copy with the king but it seems there would be level requirements on such a thing, although it couldn't hurt to do that anyway, have them for later.
It was then that the group of five otherworlders came to a grand open room complete with marble pillars and guards in fancy armor dotted around the room.
At the center sat an aging man wearing fine clothes and a lustrous bejeweled crown on his head. Very clearly the king.
He seemed to gain a perplexed look to them before one of the mages whispered in his ear and the king gained a thoughtful look.
“It pleases me to learn that the summoning was a success. Greetings noble heroes. I am King Aultcray the thirty-second, and I welcome you to our great kingdom of Melromarc. Please introduce yourselves, after which I will be glad to answer any questions you may have.” The king spoke, his tone regal and refined.
The lighter blonde went first, his voice full of confidence, but also arrogance.
“I'm Motoyasu Kitamura, I'm twenty-one years old, university student.” The now named Motoyasu spoke.
The second blonde went next. “I'm Itsuki Kawasumi, I'm seventeen, a high school student.” He spoke.
“Ren Amaki, sixteen, also in high school.” The black haired boy spoke quickly and coldly.
Arthur went up to the plate next. “Arthur Brun, twenty but almost twenty-one. Part time business consultant, passed on uni myself.” Arthur said, he felt odd being the only one of the men not to be in education still.
“Ah sirs, Motoyasu, Itsuki, Ren and Arthur.” The king spoke before Arthur instantly cut him off.
“Sorry your majesty but you are forgetting one of us.” Arthur spoke, gesturing to the one female among them with a kind smile thrown her way, and a side glance at the king, if the heroes were really so important he wouldn't just forget her.
“T-thanks Arthur. I'm Naofumi Iwatani, twenty years old and also in university.” The now named Naofumi spoke, flashing a smile Arthur's way for speaking on her behalf.
“A-ah my apologies, lady Naofumi. You see all the legends only spoke of four heroes, there being five of you is quite odd, but Melromarc will never turn down the power of two sword heroes.” The king spoke, which got Arthur to raise his eyebrow and turn to look at Ren who did the same with him.
“Is that not normal? Should there only be one of us?” Arthur asked looking at Ren, their initial swords did look different but there were those error messages he saw. Maybe that had something to do with it?
“Normally yes? There's never been two heroes of the same weapon before? It is quite odd, all the better to defeat the waves though. I suppose I should explain. They are called the waves of calamity, a phenomenon we know happens every few hundred years but still have no idea why, the sky itself splits and monsters pour forth like blood from a wound, each wave becomes more and more potent until eventually they are banished from the world or the world itself it brought to ruin, we managed to defeat the first wave ourselves, although it was at great cost, after this we knew we must do as the leaders of old once did and summon the hero's, people of great ability and virtue from other worlds that are blessed with the legendary weapons, only with their divine might can the greater waves possibly be pushed back. So I beseech you five, please deliver Melromarc from certain destruction.” The king explained to them all, pleading with them to save his nation from these waves.
“Well that's nice and all but it doesn't change the fact that you forced us to be here, we aren't just your slaves, we won't just risk our lives to fight back these waves for free.” Ren spoke quite rudely with Motoyasu and Itsuki nodding along with him.
While Arthur did slightly agree, this kingdom had basically kidnapped them and were now asking them to risk their lives for them; there was no need to be so rude about it, they were all acting like spoiled children.
“O-of course, if you manage to save our world from the waves there would be no end to the rewards you'd be given, money, land, nobility and of course being a hero to every human in Melromarc, I assure you sir spear hero, you'll be more then well compensated.” The king's attendant spoke.
“Well that's more like it.” Motoyasu spoke.
“As long as you don't back out we'll work with you, but we're not your servants.” Ren spoke also, just keeping the bad attitude going.
“I agree, we won't have you looking down on us.” Itsuki said completing the trifecta.
“I'll…try and help however I can, but I want to keep my autonomy.” Arthur added, he did at least agree with not being the servants of a nation and crown he didn't know.
“Sure, what he said.” Naofumi added, seemingly still a bit unsure of herself like Arthur.
“Jeez these guys are full of themselves. Well, except for Arthur.” Naofumi thought to herself.
“I ask that you please check your statuses now heroes. The divine gift your weapons bless you with.” The king spoke.
“Huh?” Naofumi questioned really understanding.
“Come on, it should have been the first thing you noticed, look at the upper left corner of your vision and then the bottom right. Just focus on that icon.” Ren spoke arrogantly like he was the only smArthur one here.
“Or just think about your status, that worked for me.” Arthur spoke in a much kinder tone towards Naofumi.
She smiled and did as instructed.
Naofumi Iwatani Level 1
Job:legendary shield hero
HP:240
MP:65
Stats
Vitality:25
Mind:15
Attack:1
Magic attack:3
Defense:35
Magic defense:30
Agility:15
“Woah.” Naofumi muttered seeing all her stats laid bare, she had awful attack but really good defense and HP, fitting for a shield hero.
“We are only level 1 that's concerning.” Itsuki spoke, everyone was inclined to agree with that.
“We suggest going on an adventure to improve your level and legendary weapons as the heroes before you once did.” The king's aide informed.
“Well then let's all form a pArthury, with five heroes in one pArthury we should be able to farm quickly.” Naofumi suggested only to be interrupted.
“I'm afraid that won't be possible. You see, while much of our information about the boil cardinal heroes is from passed down legends, one thing we do know is the weapons naturally repel each other and you won't be able to gain strength while in proximity to one another.” the aide informed again.
Notice:while in proximity with another legendary hero you will gain xp and any weapon progress at a 99% reduced rate. Was the help message that appeared for all of them.
“Worry not heroes, I have already sent out a royal decree as soon as you were summoned for adventures to gather here tomorrow so you may form a pArthury to assist you.” The king informed.
“For now please relax and familiarize yourself with your weapons as needed rooms have all been prepared for you.” The king spoke.
“Hey night at the royal palace sounds great, better then a Travelodge.” Arthur thought, thinking back to nights spent in England's budget hotel chain, not bad per day but not great either.
“Also we have prepared a feast for you all. Please enjoy.” The king spoke as they were led into a large banquet hall with a spread of food that would cost Arthur thousands of pounds back home.
“You know maybe there's something to this hero business after all.” He thought as he, along with the other heroes dug in.
Part way through the meal Arthur decided to test something. He took a chicken drumstick and placed it into the gem on his blade and saw something come up in his view.
Meat sword Unlocked
Cooking sword Unlocked
Bone sword Unlocked
“I mean bone kinda makes sense I guess but a meat blade and cooking blade? Honestly I was just putting it in there to see if the inventory was some kind of suspended animation and it would still be warm if I took it out later.” Arthur thought as he looked at the two where in his menu.
Meat sword-C
Mastery 0/100
Not fully unlocked
-2 Atk
-2 Agi
+3 Vit
+1 Def
+1 food effect (first time explanation or FTE: increases the effectiveness of all consumed food and reduces the negatives)
Equip passive:deal blunt damage (FTE:equip passives are special passives that are only active while the weapon form is equipped, even when the form is fully unlocked.)
Cooking sword-C
Mastery 0/100
Not fully unlocked
+1 all stats
+1 Cooking skill (FTE: improves all personally cooked items)
Bone sword-C
Mastery 0/100
Not fully unlocked
+3 Atk
+1 Def
“So while they have stats none have an offensive skill. Just two utility skills. But what if I combine the two? Get super high cooking and super high food bonus, give myself incredible stat boosts.” Arthur thought as he looked at the skills, his gamer brain going to work instantly.
After all five finished they let out a collective sigh.
“Man, I dont think I've eaten that good before.” Arthur sighed.
“Tell me about it.” Motoyasu spoke as he drank from his goblet, only him and Arthur partaking in some wine because Ren and Itsuki weren't old enough, even if they probably could have had some if they wanted, and Naofumi explained she didn't drink.
Food effect:Grand feast: +30% to all stats for 24 hours: 23:59:59
“Nice! Kinda wished I'd equipped that meat blade, however, I could have gotten a bigger bonus.” Arthur thought as he looked at the significant stat boost, he wondered if he could talk the picking into giving them a feast like that before every wave, it would help a lot but chances are they couldn't spare a lot of food like this if the kingdom was in a time of crisis, from the whole esthetic here it was probably a medieval level society so food was probably cornerstone of it.
After that the five heroes were shown to their rooms.
“It's weird how much like a game this is?” Naofumi muttered as they all met up in Motoyasu's room per his request to talk amongst themselves.
“Well duh, that's because it is. A game called Emerald Online I used to play all the time.” Motoyasu spoke
“Emerald online? No, it's exactly like the VRMMO Bravestar Online.” Ren said simply disagreeing with him.
“No, it's definitely like this console game I played called Dimension Wave.” Itsuki spoke.
“I've never heard of any of those games or played or seen one with a system similar to this. Also VRMMO? That's like something out of a game or a manga itself, don't have that where I'm from.” Arthur spoke tilting his head in confusion.
“Same here.” Naofumi spoke as she'd never heard of these games either.
The three who had played the type of game this ‘status magic’ and legendary weapons resembled were confused as they were all insanely popular.
With some questioning they eventually worked out they all came from alternate earth's, Ren's being more advanced technology wise leading to the existence of ‘true VR’ as Arthur called it, where your consciousness was directly in the game, not just a headset and remotes.
But it seemed that Naofumi and himself were from the same world or at least one with very little overall differences that they had the same answers to a lot of the world events they questioned each other on.
“Also I'm surprised at how good your Japanese is, Arthur, it sounds perfectly natural.” Naofumi mentioned which only confused him again.
“Umm, I've been speaking English since we got here?” Arthur said, in fact he was wondering how all these of them spoke perfectly in English with seemingly no accent despite being Japanese.
“Yeah you're definitely the odd one out, we're all from alternate Japan's but you're from England and the same world as Naofumi seemingly, plus being a new type of hero they don't know about.” Itsuki mused.
“Hey I don't know what to tell you. I just opened a book and boom, now I'm here.” Arthur spoke, finding it odd himself.
“Hey I opened a book too! You guys do the same?” Naofumi asked only for the three to shake their heads no.
“How'd you get here then?” Arthur asked them only for all of them to look down.
“I ummm, I got into a fight with my girlfriend. Got stabbed.” Motoyasu muttered, omitting that the fight had been caused by her catching him cheating on her, a glance at Naofumi with a look in his eye followed.
“I was crossing a street when a truck came out of nowhere. Never saw it coming.” Itsuki spoke, having been slain by the legendary Isekaier Trunk-kun.
“I saw my childhood friend being attacked at night. I stepped in but I think I got stabbed, blacked out after.” Ren spoke, short and few words as usual.
“Well that's morbid. Sorry guys.” Arthur spoke, having a bit of sympathy for the three, him and Naofumi had just read a book.
Naofumi
“Hey Naofumi, as you've never played a game like this before, be sure to come to me for any advice. I'm pretty much an Emerald online pro and you'll definitely need all the help you can get.” Motoyasu spoke with confidence as he came over to her.
“Why? Because I'm a girl?” Naofumi spoke, her tone shifting. She'd been made fun of for being a girl gamer before and she'd learnt not to put up with it.
“Woah woah, nothing like that. It's your weapon, well if you could even call it that, that's the problem. You see back in Emerald the shield class is kinda…well it's the worst class in the game, and it isn't close.” Motoyasu said, trying to break it to her nicely.
“Yeah I was gonna say that myself. The defender class in Dimension Wave was bad also. When you got over level forty it was basically useless.” Itsuki spoke with sympathy.
“Same here. Shielders were the trashest of trash classes in Bravestar.” Ren spoke simply.
“Well I mean they have to have buffed it right? If it was so bad?” Naofumi asked, not liking how she possibly became the dead weight due to getting stuck with this shield. Besides she could maybe find a where or something to use alongside the shield.
“Yeah at first but it didn't help much, it did go through a three day period of being disgustingly op when they first tried to buff it but quickly nerfed it back down to trash tier, they just couldn't make it fit in the meta, the enemy damage scaled so high late game it was better to just dodge tank and not actually tank.” Motoyasu explained.
“Yeah they straight up removed it in Dimension Wave.” Itsuki spoke.
Just then Arthur decided to cut in.
“Hey, that's enough, those were games you played. It's not alright to talk down to her just because she got a shield by pure random chance. Who knows she may rnd up being stronger then you at some point.” Arthur spoke harshly, shutting the three down harshly, not liking one bit them picking on her like that.
“Hey dude, I wasn't trying to insult a lady. It's just that she may have a hard time if she isn't careful.” Motoyasu muttered.
“A shielder surpass me? Impossible. And especially not some copycat” Ren muttered while Itsuki was silent like he'd said no wrong.
“I'll just have to focus on defending for my party then.” Naofumi spoke, not letting it get her down but smiling Arthur's way in thanks.
“Whatever, this is the chance to have an adventure like those in the games and manga I always read, I'm not gonna let anything stand in my way.” Naofumi thought, her optimism winning out about this exciting and almost nonsensical new chapter in her life.
Arthur
It was late into the evening now and Arthur had settled into his very fancy room he guessed was for visiting VIP's such as foreign delegates and other guests of the crown.
“So I'm here in a fantasy world after being isekai'd. I know I've kinda always wished for some kind of adventure but I didn't think I'd be like this, was more thinking about going backpacking around the world, but this probably beats that out. Guess we'll see how things go tomorrow.” Arthur thought as he lay down to sleep.
Next day
After some provided breakfast the five heroes were asked to gather in the throne room once again to meet with the king. The grand hall was a lot more crowded this time, mainly a group in various styles of fantasy gear, leather armor, plate, wizard robes and staffs. Clearly the adventurers that had been gathered for them.
“I hope you slept well, noble heroes. Those gathered here have bravely offered to join you on your quest. Please brave adventurers select which hero you'd like to travel with.” The king spoke, getting the group to move and line up behind their chosen heroes.
However there was one major problem, nobody offered to join Naofumi, the person who arguably needed the support of a party the most had nobody.
Arthur looked behind him and saw two people. One man clad in full plate armor with a large greatsword, and a woman in some sort of nuns garb wielding a staff.
“Hey, listen I know you guys wanted to join up with me but the shield hero could really use some help. Would any of you reconsider working with her?” Arthur asked them all for them to look away guilty, clearly none of them were willing to switch. Which bothered him a lot. These people were called to assist the heroes, yet the idea of working with a certain one displeased them? He'd understand maybe himself or Ren as apparently a fifth hero was quite unorthodox. But Ren had the most party members.
“How worrying. It seems that a rumor that the shield hero lacks information about our world has spread causing this issue. I ask anyone willing to join the shield hero do so but as you have volunteered to support the heroes I will not force you.” King Aultcray spoke seemingly trying to be kind but Arthur looked at it with doubt. How did such a rumor get started? Something smelled fishy but he wasn't gonna call anyone on anything, at least not yet.
“I'm kind of a loner, so if any of you can't keep up you should go join the shielder.” Ren said to his party, currently the largest but all of them stood firm, seemingly rising to his challenge.
“I wouldn't want to force anyone and possibly effect morale.” Itsuki added his three party members not keen on moving either.
Motoyasu just looked back at his party of only women and just said nothing, leaving Naofumi to be hung out to dry.
“This couldn't be a gender thing could it?” Arthur wondered, she was the only female hero and this was a medieval type society, so sexism wouldn't be out of place but there were plenty of women adventurers, so surely they wouldn't find issue with it?
“Umm, sir spear hero. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to help out the shield hero if I can.” A voice spoke from Motoyasu's line and a beautiful red haired woman stepped forward.
“Man back home you'd expect to see someone like her on the front of a magazine.” Arthur thought as he looked at her.
“A-are you sure?” Motoyasu spoke, seemingly wanting to keep her around but not wanting to seem rude.
“Yes. Us girls have gotta stick together after all.” She spoke as she walked up to Naofumi and smiled.
“Man, I kind of feel sub-par next to her.” Naofumi thought. She didn't think she was an ugly girl by any means but next to a very beautiful one she felt like she didn't stand out.
“If nobody else wishes to join the shield hero we shall continue.” Aultcray spoke, drawing attention back to him.
“Every month we shall provide you with some funds in order to support you. But for this first month the shield hero shall receive a larger amount to compensate her lack of party members. I suggest finding more party members to assist you soon shield hero.” Aultcray spoke as the five heroes were each handed a pouch filled with coins, Naofumi's noticeably larger.
And with that they all left the castle. Arthur wished Naofumi well on her own quest and that they should try and catch up later which she happily agreed to. Motoyasu saying something along the same lines with both Naofumi and her red haired companion but Naofumi seemingly less enthused about such an offer.
“I don't know much about the area. Is there any kind of equipment store or something in town you two know about?” Arthur asked his two companions, who were named Augustus for the large Knight looking guy and Sera for the nun.
“I know of a place, sir hero, but we could also direct you to the church. Sera you mentioned something about it?” Augustus spoke in a deep voice.
“Yes, his holiness pope Biscas said that the hero's are welcome at the church should they need any assistance.” Sera spoke.
“Well that sounds good. We'll visit there first and then head to the weapons shop. I did want to ask, while I can probably guess what your skills are Augustus, what is your skill set Sera, can you use just healing and support magic or some spells that do holy damage also?” He asked her, while he didn't know for sure he had to assume there was magic and such with how some of the gathered adventurers were dressed and equipped, it could also be useful to know if her magic came directly from faith or religious spellcasters just specialised in holy type magic.
“I mainly specialise in healing and support yes, but I also know some basic attack spells also, but nothing that powerful lord Arthur.” She informed him as they walked through the city surrounding the castle. Arthur half listening as he was so distracted by the sights around him. A true honest to god fantasy world, stands and stalls selling all manner of things, some recognisable, some not, magical practitioners forming coloured birds for children.
Eventually they arrived at a large building made mainly out of shining white marble with an odd symbol above the door that looked like a combination of multiple weapons.
“Hey Sera, are those weapons?” Arthur asked, pointing at the symbol.
“Yes my lord…oh were you not aware? The weapons are the gifts of the almighty sent here to protect his followers, stand proud lord Arthur, you are blessed by the divine.” Sera spoke with devotion but Arthur was slightly unnerved. It made sense considering how the weapons and the power they had was said to be divine by multiple people but the prospect of being chosen by some sort of god to be here was slightly daunting. He'd never been the religious type but who knows, enough crazy shit had happened maybe there was some sort of deity at work?
Upon entering it was very serene beautiful tapestry on the walls, stained glass windows, a pipe organ even.
At the front standing above multiple pews was a man in a seriotypical pope or bishop outfit, big hat and all.
“And so the bow hero said onto the traveler. Believe in me and your sight and aim shall be true-. Oh it seems we have visitors.” He spoke, seemingly speaking from their bible or something.
“We did not mean to interrupt your holiness. This is Arthur Brun, one of the two sword heroes that was summoned yesterday.” Sera spoke, bowing in apology.
“It is perfectly alright my child. A hero stepping into their temple is more important anyway. The additional sword hero. I heard a rumor that a fifth hero had been summoned.” The man who Arthur assumed just be this pope Biscas Sera mentioned spoke as he closed his book and walked up to meet them.
“That's me. Nice to meet you, your holiness.” Arthur spoke, reaching out his hand for Biscas to shake, which he did so gladly.
“First and most importantly, come with me. You must be shown the dragon's hourglass.” Biscas spoke as he walked off and with some confusion Arthur followed.
“Sorry but what exactly is this hourglass?” Arthur asked as they walked.
“A good question. It is our most sacred religious artifact to both our faith, Melromarc and the world.” Biscas explained as they approach a large stone door covered in glowing carvings. Three men in beautiful gold and silver plate armor stood in front of the door seemingly guarding it.
Seeing the pope they opened the door to reveal a large chamber with a large hourglass in the middle, it had beautiful workmanship of two golden dragons around it as sand slowly fell through.
“The dragon's hourglass. A divine artifact said to have crashed to earth in ages past heralding the first wave. Only one is known to exist, it has the ability to herald the waves. Once the sand finishes falling, the next wave shall be upon us. Not only that, but the demons of the wave seem to be attracted to it. Appearing in whatever country holds it.” Biscas explained as the four of them looked at the hourglass.
“So why keep it? If it's potentially drawing the waves here, would destroying it work?” Arthur wondered. Noting that seemingly Melromarc was the only country beset by a wave.
“You would think so. But the hourglass is indestructible people in ages past have tried. I believe the creatures of the wave are drawn to it because they alone know how to destroy it or at least to rob us of it. They know instinctively of its divine power and seek to destroy it to greater their chances to destroy this world. It also has the ability to perform a class up. A divine gift to those who have reached their martial peak, but those who possess the ability to progress to even the first class up are few and far between, but those chosen few are indispensable to our nation. The few we do have were largely the reason we stopped the first wave, even with heavy casualties.” Biscas explained, that made sense, why even with the threats of the wave it was valuable, the balance of power among nations could sway in favour of who possessed these individuals.
“It is a tragic object though. Many wars and skirmishes have broken out over ownership of the hourglass. But Melromarc stands strong and we are blessed with an era of peace, before the waves came of course. But all understand that the waves are a threat to the entire world. As if Melromarc is destroyed the creatures will spill into the other nations and with no hourglass they cannot survive. There are records of incidents where a wave has appeared near a border and monsters have spilled into other nations. But you are here for our help, not a history lesson. Please touch the hourglass if you would.” Biscas continued to explain, Arthur in fact very interested by this.
He did as Biscas asked and touched the hourglass causing it and his sword to glow and a window appeared.
Next wave: D:31 H:6 M:32 S:7
“Wonderful. Now you should be able to view the time until the next wave and you'll be teleported to its location when it starts. This is another gift of the hourglass, it's symbiotic with your weapon and allows you to teleport yourself and your party. One of the reasons why the first wave was so bad was because it happened near the edge of our territory, it took our forces almost two days to reach them and by then they'd had wrought much destruction. Also please give your weapon this. Sand from the hourglass.” Biscas spoke as he took a pouch containing some grains of the sand and Arthur did as was asked.
Warp sword unlocked
Warp sword-LR lvl req:60
Mastery 0/100 locked req lvl 75
Not fully unlocked
+400 MP
+100 Mind
+20 Mdef
Skill:Warp:allows the user to register settlements and other places of importance and warp to them along with his party at will
“Oh fast travel. Sweet!” Arthur thought as he saw the skill but the high level requirement before he could use it sucked. Or was that high? What was the level cap here? Or at least the cap before someone had to come here. 99? 100? 999? Well considering he wasn't even level 2 these were questions for later.
Along with the hourglass sand he was given some vials of low grade and a single mid grade also Biscas gave them a blessing.
Moderate blessing: +10% all stats and moderate dark and curse resistance.
Thanking the pope they left to go find the equipment shop Augustus had spoken of.
“Ha, welcome. I'm Erhard. Hmmm those clothes, another hero huh?” A well built darker skinned bald man said from behind the counter.
“Oh, did one of the others come here?” Arthur asked, he supposed their clothing did give them away as they wouldn't have textiles like these.
“Yeah that shield lass. Sold her some chain, not weapons though, that shield of her stopped her from using it.” He spoke fondly, seemingly Naofumi had made a good impression.
“Quite the haggler though that one.” He muttered under his breath afterwards however.
“Well I'd like to look at some armor, something that won't slow me down and any swords you may have?” Arthur requested, planning to test out that weapon copy he read about yesterday.
“I wonder if he'll let me copy everything for free? But that's kind of a dick move, he did spend all that time forging them. Maybe I can pay him a small fee? Plus he gets free advertising if I'm using the swords he makes.” Arthur thought as he looked around the shop multiple types of weaponry on display.
“This should be what you're looking for. Leather, reliable, light, easy to move in and should beef up your defense, will hold up fine against anything you'll be up against.” Erhard said as he placed the leather ensemble down on the counter.
“The changing room is right there. Try it on and we'll see if it needs adjusting.” Erhard spoke happily as Arthur thanked him and took it inside.
It was quite a few minutes but eventually Arthur managed to get the thing on, sadly when it came to video game like systems that he had access to, the ability to instantly swap out armor and such was not one of them. But he did see a change in his menu
Body:leather armor +7 Def +2 Mdef
Legs:leather greaves +3 Def +1 Mdef
Arms:leather vambraces +2 Def +1 Mdef
He exited the changing room clad in his new armour. A simple leather chest piece along with some greaves and arm guards. He now looked like a novice adventurer with a fancy sword instead of someone from another world with his odd clothing.
“How's it fit? Did take you a while.” Erhard asked him simply.
“Feels alright, just struggled getting it on the first time, I've never worn anything like this before is all.” He spoke as he looked at himself in a full length mirror Erhard had.
“So be honest. How do I look?” He asked sheepishly to the three people in the shop.
“Like a novice.” Augustus spoke chuckling.
“Don't be rude. You look great my lord.” Sera spoke shoving Augustus a little which was quite comical considering how big he was and how he didn't budge an inch.
“Like a newbie. But don't worry, get some experience and you'll be coming back for a proper high quality set of armor in no time.” Erhard spoke seemingly happy with how it fit on him.
“I wanted to ask about your swords. You see the legendary weapons can apparently copy weapons like them and turn into an exact replica. And was wondering if I could perhaps pay you a fee to copy some swords you've got?” Arthur asked eyes scanning the room for swords he wanted to copy.
“Huh? Copy exactly you say? Depends, any damage to the original?” Erhard spoke, his hand going to his chin seemingly considering it.
“According to my status magic no, but to be fair I haven't tested it.” Arthur explained.
“Well here, test for you. My last shipment of metal was off, brittle as all hell. So here, if it ends up breaking this it's no issue.” Erhard spoke, placing a simple sword on the table but it looked…off, some light cracks in the metal, clearly there was something wrong with it.
“Fair enough.” Arthur spoke as he held out his blade close to it to see if that did anything. In a flash it transformed into an exact copy.
Brittle iron sword fully unlocked
Brittle iron sword-C:max
Fully unlocked
Copy
-4 Atk
Warning:dud weapon, a copied weapon useless in every way, as such it is unlocked fully and has no reason to be equipped. (But remains available in a separate menu if the need arises)
“So it's just useless then.” Arthur thought as he looked at the stats. Although his weapons kept mentioning Mastery and ‘fully’ unlocking things, he'd have to check up on that in the menus along with the letters next to the weapons.
“Wow, it really is a perfect copy.” Erhard spoke as he witnessed it copy his work perfectly, seeming no signs of any difference.
“Yeah but that sword is trash to be perfectly honest, offers no benefit. So about coping your proper swords?” Arthur questioned.
“Sure, honestly I'm surprised you wouldn't ask to copy them for free? But how's this, 15% of the price?” Erhard offered.
“5.” Arthur instantly countered, as a business consultant he knew the game.
“Cut from the same cloth these two.” Erhard muttered seeing Arthur try and haggle like Naofumi.
“10.” He countered.
“10 and you give me a good price on the armor. And if anyone asks where I got such high quality weaponry I tell them where I got it.” Arthur offered back.
“Done.” Erhard spoke, putting out his hand to shake, which Arthur did happily.
“For now I'll take…” Arthur trailed off as he looked around at the prices on the walls. Then took three.
“You've got a good eye, some of my best stuff here.” He spoke as Arthur copied the three blades.
First was one that looked like a katana.
Steel Katana copied
Steel Katana-C lvl req:3
Not fully unlocked
Copy
+3 Atk
+4 Agi
+1 bleed (FTE:increases how much targets may bleed)
Next was a curved sword made out of a black material.
Onyx cleaver copied
Onyx cleaver-C
Not fully unlocked
Copy
+5 Atk
+3 Def
-2 Agi
Then finally there was a regular steel sword, nothing outlying or impressive just a good quality simple sharpened steel.
Steel sword copied
Steel sword-C
Not fully unlocked
Copy
+3 Atk
+2 Agi
“OK nothing that major but I think the ones I unlock via materials are meant to be my bread and butter. But these are just common swords, if I copied something special I'd probably be better. Plus I'm still only level 1.” Arthur thought as he looked over the unlocked forms.
“So all together how much do I owe you?” Arthur asked Erhard.
“All together that's about 150 silver.” Erhard spoke. Which Arthur provided happily as he thanked the blacksmith and left.
“Right! Time to get down to business. You two know where we can find some monsters to slay?” Arthur asked his two companions.
“Yeah in the fields around the city these super weak monsters just pop up like crazy. They're called balloons. You can probably just kill them in 1 or 2 hits but there'll be a lot of them.” Augustus spoke.
“I agree sir Arthur that is the best place to go. But we may have to travel out decently far, the other heroes will most likely be doing the same and we wouldn't want to interfere with any of them.” Sera spoke.
“Fair point but I'd be concerned about them interfering with us also.” Arthur thought dryly as he recalled how self entitled the other male heroes were.
Not Naofumi though, Naofumi seemed like good people.
Later
“Man they weren't kidding, these things are easy.” Arthur thought as he swung with his starting saber at the tiny orange monsters known as balloons. Augustus and Sera keeping watch over him, not needing to step in. Although Augustus gave him some quick tips on swinging a sword around. Even if he used a greatsword some things did translate.
He was currently taking a break and had looked through his help menu a bit more and found some info about what it called ‘power up methods’.
Fully unlocking:after a weapon form is unlocked and able to be equipped, through usage or just generally having it equipped it can become fully unlocked, adding its stat boosts and passives permanently even with another form equipped (minus stats and equip passives are not permanently applied and with a fully unlocked weapon equipped it's stat boosts are raised by 25%)
Mastery:Mastery is raised upon use of a weapon. Upon reaching 100, mastery is reset and a weapon's rarity is increased (see rarity). Copied weapons cannot gain mastery. (Sword power up method)
Rarity:all weapon forms have a rarity consisting of C (common), UC (uncommon), R (rare), SR (super rare lvl), ER (epic rare), LR (legendary rare) and AT (artifact) increasing a material weapons rarity through Mastery will increase it's stats and often grant new abilities and maybe even permanently change the weapon itself. Rarity cannot be increased to higher levels without the appropriate level however. (Sword power up method)
Energy transfer:upon increasing rarity you gain energy. Which can be used to further increase mastery of any weapon form. Items in the inventory can also be converted into energy. (Sword power up method)
From what Arthur understood not only could he feed a myriad of materials to unlock new forms along with copying existing weapons he could increase the rarity of his material absorption forms to get more out of them and even evolve a form into a completely new one. Bit of a shame that copies didn't gain Mastery but supposed it made sense considering how would a copy evolve into a new form? Wouldn't be a copy then.
Simple Saber-C
Mastery:85/100
Fully unlocked
+2 Atk
+2 Agi
+1 xp boost (FTE:boosts gained xp from all sources)
He could keep working on a new blade to fully unlock but upon seeing the xp boost his initial sword gave he decided to try and increase its rarity. He was against the clock to be ready for the next wave so the possibility of getting a bigger xp boost sooner was always welcome.
He was wandering around to try and find some more balloons but came across an odd sight. Naofumi sitting on the ground idly punching a balloon over and over.
“Hey Naofumi!” Arthur called with a wave over to her which got her expression to pick up.
“Arthur hey. Well I suppose there's no point in killing this thing now you're here.” She muttered looking down at the balloon munching on her hand.
“Doesn't that hurt? Or do damage?” He wondered, his read defense no matter how high cannot completely nullify damage.
“Nah, I think it's like that for everyone else but I had a look in my passives and apparently my defence and magic defense can completely nullify damage. Just wish I could have some attack though. It takes about five minutes to kill one of these little bastards.” Naofumi spoke as she held on to the balloon she'd been working on, planning to pop it after Arthur left.
“Shit it not going well? I wish there was some kinda xp sharing system, my two party members have just been watching over me because I don't really need help with enemies this weak but kinda feels wasteful just having them there.” Arthur spoke as he looked over and saw Augustus and Sera speaking to one another.
“Myne is off farming herself. I have a party member who can attack for me and I can defend them but eventually it won't matter, there must be some better way of getting xp? A quest or something?” Naofumi wondered. Sure he had good defense now at level 1 but what happened as the waves came? Being level 1 wouldn't cut it anymore. She needed a way to level up. She looked down with a glare at the shield. Why did she have to be stuck with this thing?! Why couldn't she have been a second bow or spear hero, there were two sword heroes after all.
“Well if I find anything I'll come right to you. I'm not doing you any favors standing here however. Keep it up Naofumi you've got this.” Arthur said placing a friendly hand on her shoulder which got her to crack and smile and seemingly improve her mood.
“Thanks Arthur.” Naofumi muttered as he stood up from where he was sitting with her.
“You're welcome, just be sure to have my back during the waves alright.” He spoke as he walked off to find more monsters and gave her a wave as he left.
“I hope she's alright. Now let's see if I can find some higher level mobs?” Arthur thought as he walked up to Augustus and Sera and asked them about it. They informed him of a small forest where some stronger monsters should be but it would be quite the treck and it was pretty late. Arthur looked up and did see the Sun was close to setting, small bits of orange started to bleed into the sky.
“Fair enough. Good first day. Let's get some food and find a place to sleep tonight.” Arthur spoke as they headed back to the capital.
Little did he know, tomorrow would be anything but.