A Gamer Into Trails

As always, Giliath Demands your power stones!

*****

[Ding! Gamer Naoto's Party has cleared Initiate Instance Dungeon - Mainz Tunnel - Level 10. Now leaving the dungeon...]

Mulling over the possibilities of what we can do next, I decided that we had no more business inside the Instance Dungeon. Tio and Lechter were in agreement. It's not like we could waste all day here. I still had a meeting to get to with Heiyue, once we finished the Party Quest!

The darkness of the never-ending tunnel completely vanished, and we found ourselves warping out of the tunnel entirely. It placed us right back at the entrance to Mainz Tunnel.

Thankfully there was no one around.

Overall, I say we did pretty well! Tio was able to get her first taste of fighting monsters. They were weakened, yes. But Tio still one-shot them all. Not a single one was spared. That just went to show how powerful Tio's Arts casting will be in the coming future!

This was real life. She wasn't nerfed!

As the orbal technology further develops, so will the list of Arts to cast. There weren't many we could choose from right now.

"That takes care of that, eh?", Lechter said, seeing that we were brought to the entrance of Mainz Tunnel. There was barely any of that lurking darkness around. Here in the real world, most of the tunnel was lit up to guide its travelers. There might be a monster lurking about if you took the wrong turn, but for the most part, it was safe.

"This isn't the end, though. We've gone through quite a lot, and I've already learned so much just from this single outing. Is there anything else you wanted to bring up, Naoto?", Tio said. Even a hint of anticipation appeared in her eyes.

"Haha, I appreciate the enthusiasm, but if we talk about all the "What if's", we'd be here all day. I was able to see how broken my current Title can get, and we were able to see how you fared against monsters, Tio. You did well.", I happily replied. Reaching my hand out, I patted Tio's head. She smiled, and enjoyed the pat.

"Mmm.", Tio replied, enjoying the moment.

"Shall we keep the kiddo as the Party Leader, Young Master? Or did you want to try what you were thinking of, and switch it to you?", Lechter asked.

"Yeah. Let's see what happens when the Party Leader is switched to me. I'll try to pick one off from afar. I do have a weapon capable of long range, but it'd probably be better to use my magic.", I answered with a nod.

But as I thought that, we were suddenly distracted by another notification that appeared before us, drawing our interest to it.

[Ding! Gamer Naoto's Party has exited the Initiate Instance Dungeon. Hidden criteria has been met.]

"Hidden criteria?", I mused, not expecting the Gamer System to say this. I thought it was over, but apparently not?

"Maybe we're going to set something as an added bonus?", Lechter wondered. As we were still in a Party, all three of us saw this notification. Lechter was likely right. Sometimes when a person clears a stage in a game, they might get a bonus drop from it, or extra items from Monsters. Hell, you could even steal from Monsters, if you had the skill for that. In this case, the Gamer System reacted to Tio clearing this Instance Dungeon, coming out Unscathed.

Tio didn't get hit a single time. That's what Unscathed meant! She cleared all eighteen Monsters without taking one point in damage!

So I guess this can happen too, eh? I'm curious as to what it's going to give me, or us, in this instance. We soon heard more notifications come through.

[Ding! Now rewarding Party for meeting the hidden criteria of the Instance Dungeon...]

[Ding! The rewards for Party Quest - Hunt Abyss Worms have been strengthened.]

[Ding! Gamer Naoto's Party has completed their first Instance Dungeon.]

[Ding! Gamer Naoto's online function, Quartz Exchange Shop, has been upgraded to the Blazing Forge. Gamer Naoto can now strengthen Quartz, Master Quartz, and Equipment inside the Blazing Forge.]

[Ding! Additionally, Gamer Naoto can exchange unwanted Equipment into Mira, and exchange later generational Quartz to earlier generational Quartz. By doing so, the result will be random.]

[Ding! Presently, Gamer Naoto can only equip up to Generation VI Quartz into the Enigma II. Generation VII and beyond are still locked.]

[Ding! Gamer Naoto can now use the Blazing Forge function to unlock and upgrade slots. Each use of the Blazing Forge this way will cost Gamer Naoto's EP. If all of Gamer Naoto's EP has been consumed, Gamer Naoto will not be able to use the Blazing Forge.]

[Ding! x300 Sepith (All) has been deposited into Gamer Naoto's Inventory. The requirements for the Enigma II will be proportionally adjusted to the current generation model.]

[Ding! The Trial Period for Gamer Naoto's equipped Title, Harem Seeker, is now over. From here on, only girls that Gamer Naoto has forged a deep bond with will be able to boost Gamer Naoto's stats when the title is equipped.]

[Ding! Party Member Tio can no longer be applied to Gamer Naoto's equipped Title.]

[Ding! Gamer Naoto's Combat Parameters have been adjusted. Status can now be reviewed.]

"Oh...", I uttered, seeing us suddenly get blasted with a lot of notifications. Immediately, I felt my power start being sapped away from my body. It was a pretty weird feeling, but it was similar to exerting one's stamina in a burst of events, kind of? Like how you would enter a dash and keep that momentum up for a good moment or two. It wasn't necessarily a bad feeling.

"I guess that Title of mine was just in a temporary spot, huh?", I concluded, after reviewing everything that was suddenly thrown at us.

"You do seem a bit weaker now, Young Master. Don't get me wrong. You're already strong enough as it is.", Lechter mused, seeing how this result came to be.

"Hmm. Is this ability saying that I'm not good enough anymore?", Tio said, becoming downcast, despite enjoying my head pat. I responded with a laugh.

"Haha! I wouldn't think too much of it, Tio. This is in regards to another matter entirely. You might no longer affect it now, but it is still a possibility in the future.", I replied with a warm smile.

"Mmm. If you say so.", Tio nodded. What this was referring to was none other than the Gamer System's Favorability function that came along with the Harem Seeker title, once I first got it. I can see everyone's Favorability. This is especially important to developing those said bonds, like the system had just said.

I've only developed deep bonds with a select few, which were denoted by the Blessings. I only have a handful of Blessings to date. The latest one appeared when Sara couldn't hide her feelings anymore for me, and gave me that out-of-the-blue kiss. Before that, it was Princess Alfin and Sherryl's Blessing, who both have reached max Favorability with me.

I decided to have a quick look at Tio and Lechter again, and checked their favorability.

[Tio Plato: 75% Favorability.]

[Lechter Arundel: 50% Favorability.]

I've increased Tio's Favorability when she was with me these couple of times, especially during that visit at the Grancel Castle where she witnessed the crafting of the Enigma II. But since then, it hasn't improved much. Diving into dungeons like this likely won't do much in that regard. Lechter, on the other hand, still needs some work.

I do have to take into consideration that Lechter is one of my father's lackeys. He is in a much harder position to try to get close to.

Back to the point, though, I had a feeling that reading those upgraded effects of Harem Seeker was only temporary. And that doubt proved to be true. That is why my stats decreased. It went from 40% back down to the default 20% of the title. I'll still have this title equipped for the time being. 20% is still pretty good.

I unexpectedly got more Sepith out of it. Plus it just gave me confirmation that my Enigma II can utilize any Quartz from Generation IV to Generation IV! That essentially included the games that covered Sky all the way up to Azure. Any Cold Steel and beyond Quartz will simply not be able to be used.

That is essentially what I tasked Professor Schmidt to research when he got back to the Epstein Foundation. That was partly why I lent him those Master Quartz. That wasn't the entire thing, though. I also wanted to see if he could use Master Quartz found through the later years when Reverie happened, and see if he could do some of his science wonders.

I do not know if this will propel the Arcus devices to come out sooner than later, but we shall see. I still want Professor Schmidt to do that research, even if I received my own word on what I can do with my Enigma II.

I couldn't help but crack a smile, thinking that. I can finally progress my Enigma II without worrying!