Chapter 89: Win the Match, Lose the Game
Ordinarily, pioneers are constrained by the capacity limit of their inventory. If you cram in too much stuff, you end up paying the price as that weight impedes your own movements. But, however—ah, how wonderful thou art, O Inventoria! Even after setting aside the Out-of-Spec Armaments stored within, the unlimited inventory alone makes it more than worth it! And above all, the storage space is a truly perfect safe zone... You hole up in the storage space until the Crystal Scorpions' aggro dissipates, and when you return to real space—lo and behold, there lie inactive Crystal Scorpions and the massive number of drop items they shed when they crashed into each other...!
Sunraku: "Hehehe... mwahahahaha... I'm a genius! I, who has discovered such a loophole, am a genius...!"
I inadvertently slipped into the tone of a mad scientist—the type who creates an absurdly powerful cyborg mid-boss only to end up crushed by rubble in a collapsing lab during the story's finale—but this method is incredibly effective. After all, it requires absolutely no effort apart from steadily shaving off my MP. The Crystal Scorpions even courteously activate with a thunderous roar; once they start moving, I draw them in, transfer, and when I return a little while later, I can secure vast quantities of materials while reliably advancing forward. This is a massive windfall that would probably get patched the moment the devs catch wind of it. It's not a cheat or anything, but I'd better rake in as much as I can before a fix comes.
Sunraku: "Man, little tricks and exploits like this really are the spice of gaming!"
Clink, clank. I swing my pickaxe, recover MP while weaving in transfers, and cram every Crystal Scorpion drop item and mined ore I get into Inventoria. As long as my MP recovery holds out, I can keep raking it in. I head toward the next mining spot, my face beaming with satisfaction as I watch the item list inside Inventoria swell with a mountain of loot.
Sunraku: "Alright... I've just about run out of all the supplies I brought, and if I keep this up any longer, it might seriously turn into a cakewalk. Time to pack it in."
After about thirty minutes of digging and fleeing on repeat, I decide to end this bonus time. My pickaxe broke from overuse, and I'm down to my last MP recovery potion... no, I just used it, so now it's zero. Inventoria already holds a considerable amount of ore and Crystal Scorpion materials. Now I just need to activate some Crystal Scorpions, die, and respawn... but before that, I take a look at the Crystal Scorpion items inside Inventoria.
Sunraku: "Crystal Scorpion's Carapace, Crystal Pincer, Crystal Claw, Crystal Leg... It's weird that there's no stinger."
When it comes to scorpions, it's all about the poison stinger. Throughout history, east and west, the rare drops from scorpion-type monsters are, by convention, the stinger. The fact that it's absent must mean that the Crystal Scorpion's rare drop is, indeed, the stinger... If I'm going to challenge them and die anyway, it's only human nature to aim for it.
Sunraku: "That said, the Crystal Scorpions are absurdly tough, the footing is awful, reinforcements come in about ten seconds... If I can at least provoke a stinger attack, maybe there's a chance? No, but..."
It's obviously a near-impossible task, so any tactical plan would end up being an RNG-dependent gamble, but... let's give it a shot. I scan my surroundings and spot a "lurking Crystal Scorpion"—something I've seen so many times I've started to get a rough feel for them. Finding a Crystal Scorpion, whose body is almost entirely crystal, in an area blanketed in crystal is difficult. But no matter how you try to hide it, a scorpion is a scorpion. However cleverly they conceal themselves, they can't disguise their "shape."
Sunraku: "Especially the tail—the way it's folded makes its shape unnatural... Alright, just one of them."
I ready Togetsu — Moonblades: Waxing & Waning and deliberately land noisily on top of a larger crystal that offers slightly better footing. The instant the crystal twitches... Ignition, Nitro Gain spam, Climax Boost, Off-Road, Six-Fold Jump... I activate every skill I can and rapidly close in on the rising Crystal Scorpion. The tail, concealed in a folded position, extends. The moment I feel the chill of its aggro bearing down on me, I stack even more skills.
Sunraku: "First, a preemptive strike...!"
I toss the [Waxing] in my right hand lightly straight upward, activate In-Fight, Transient Lone Wolf, and Duelism—a skill only usable in one-on-one situations—and with my now-empty right hand, I drive Hand of Fortune into the base of the tail.
Sunraku: "That's... owww...!?"
Even with a level gap of twenty, thirty, or more—even with an attack from a Level 78 stacked with buff after buff—the tail doesn't so much as waver. And my right fist goes numb, probably taking recoil damage from the sheer hardness. Tears welling in my eyes, I catch [Waxing] as it falls back down. I've landed right on the Crystal Scorpion's back. Listening to the roar of shattering crystal drawing closer from afar, I press my attack with both blades.
Sunraku: "At least a crack...!"
Digging my feet into the unstable footing, I drive the tips of Togetsu, wreathed in the effect of Glowing Pierce, into the spot I punched with Hand of Fortune. One hit, two hits, three hits, four hits... The fifth hit misses as the Crystal Scorpion moves its tail. And the wound is... still unscathed.
Sunraku: "Guess I need to be at least Level 99... But if I don't hit it with everything I've got right now, it won't count as a proper test...!"
A tsunami of light at the edge of my vision—additional scorpions are closing in like bulldozers, blasting and shoving aside the crystal covering the ground. If I get caught up in it, I'll be minced meat of crystal shards and polygons. But if I look past that, the sight of shattered crystal catching the light and glittering as it's kicked up is almost beautiful. Impending death, death in progress, a tattered battle plan, and a threadbare tightrope walk that I'm sprinting across at full speed. Yeah, the times when I'm tackling reckless, absurd challenges really are the most fun. With a light tap, I take a small backstep, exposing my nearly defenseless form to the scorpion beneath me. Here's an annoying little bug showing a gaping opening without even trying to break the fall—go on, show me that prized stinger skewer of yours...
Sunraku: "There it is!"
The crystal stinger thrusts forward. Whether by chance or by the deliberate design of the creator who made this monster, it aims straight for my heart. I draw it in, pull it to its absolute limit. The moment the crystal ground reaches my back, the stinger reaches my chest, and the reinforcements close in on all sides...
Sunraku: "[Transfer: Storage Space — Enter Travel]!!"
My existence vanishes from the reality of Shangri-La Frontier. Slammed onto the floor of the storage space, I hold back the urge to retch and start counting.
Sunraku: "One... two... three..."
The stinger stabs into the ground. The scorpion horde swarms the spot where I was. After a brief frenzy, with no target for their aggro, the scorpions return to an inactive state... Now!
Sunraku: "[Transfer: Real Space — Exit Travel]!"
A single-use escape. There's the restriction that you return to the same coordinates, but you can change your posture. From an uncontrollable, face-up fall, I return to Crystal Nest Cliff in a landing stance that lets me flow into my next move. From here on, I have to use every single second with everything I've got. I scan my surroundings, confirm my position... The Crystal Scorpions are dispersing like salarymen who've clocked out for the day. Among them, I spot one with a huge crack running through its tail. The tightrope walk was a success. When the stinger stabbed into the ground, a massive crash occurred—no matter how sturdy a Crystal Scorpion may be... no, precisely because they're sturdy, the collision of eleven scorpions left it damaged to that extent.
Sunraku: "I'll take that rare drop...!"
I've already confirmed that even if the monster itself survives, separated parts become items. I activate Moon Jumper and leap up to the height of the tail. Before the Crystal Scorpion with the cracked tail can turn back toward me, I close in and slam an attack into the thickest part of the fissure. A blow that would have no effect against it in peak condition might now serve as the final push, with it damaged to the point of nearly snapping off. CRACK. The sound of its durability crossing the breaking point rings out, and at last, the Crystal Scorpion's tail separates from its body. Exactly according to plan. With the conviction of victory, I reach out my hand toward it...
Sunraku: "Ah."
I hallucinate the Goddess of RNG, smiling sweetly at me—only to flip me the bird at the very last second. Nothing special about it. After breaking off, the dropped stinger falls somewhere... and I just drew the worst possible RNG pattern for where it lands. That's all. Nothing more. And that "nothing more" factor turns out to be the devil itself, standing on the far shore of my tightrope with a pair of scissors and a grin.
I can't reach it. In midair, no matter how I struggle, my range is limited to the length of my arm. The stinger is falling in the exact opposite direction. No matter how far I stretch my hand, I can't grab it. The hatefully excellent physics engine drops my avatar to the ground in accordance with gravity, and the rare drifts further and further away.
Sunraku: "Wait...!"
In an instant, sparks scatter across my vision along with an impact like a head-on collision with a train. The floating sensation of falling straight down is replaced by the shock of being blown sideways—and by the time I realize it was a slap from the pincer of a Crystal Scorpion that had spun around on the spot, my body has shattered into polygons.
Emul: "Ah, Sunraku-san, you're back... wa... Sunraku-san?"
Sunraku: "..."
I can hear Emul's voice, but the hollow emptiness gouged into my heart leaves me with no capacity to respond. What is this... It's like waking up the moment you're about to place the first bite of a dream feast on your tongue. Like the page just as all the novel's mysteries are about to be solved being set on fire. Like being sent back to the starting line the instant before you cross the finish line in a marathon...
Sunraku: "Nnghaaaaaahhh..."
Emul: "Sunraku-san? W-What's wrong... wa? You look like you're about to cry... wa?"
Sunraku: "Hahaha... The fact that it's not impossible—knowing that alone is a gain, right... It means it can be done... Hah... the sky sure is blue..."
Emul: "Sunraku-san!? Don't try to jump out the window... wa!? Seriously, what happened... wa!?"
That was quite the punchy up-and-down. Man, RNG really is crap... wa. Having exhausted my complaints, I slap my cheeks repeatedly to pull myself together, and put on the Staring Bird Mask, which I'd removed just in case to avoid damaging it.
Sunraku: "Alright, I'm back on my feet...! Emul, let's learn how to jump in the air."
Emul: "Context! I don't understand the context... wa!"
Sunraku: "It means humans can't fly."
A crack's formed in my mentality, so I don't want to see another Crystal Scorpion for a while. But looking at the results, I did get my hands on a huge haul of items that normally couldn't be obtained until much later. It's no exaggeration to call this a major victory. Indeed, if weapons and armor are crafted from items obtained in an area where the average monster level exceeds 100, they could even surpass the gear of total no-lifers. Having gone through the fairly hollow act of comforting and encouraging myself, my mental state recovers to about eighty percent. When you only ever play trash games full of nothing but frustration and rage-inducing moments, you get real familiar with exactly what words of self-talk will get your heart back on its feet. Don't underestimate a trash-game hunter.
Sunraku: "Alright, let's go show off to Bilac."
Emul: "I-I don't really get it, but I'll come along... wa!"
Sunraku: "Yeah, showing off your results to other people really is the most exhilarating thing."
Emul: "I think that's fairly villainous... wa."
I think so too, but since the main targets are the villains of Pencilgon's ilk—the same breed as me—plus Oikatzo, it nets out to being a decent human being.
Afterwards, my mental state was completely restored by the sight of Bilac leaping into the air and flipping over at the many mythical materials (rare items) I pulled out.