Chapter 130: Following Dreams, Committing Reckless Acts — The Motive Is Extremism or Fervor

A fated holy warrior who, guided by the God of Fate, had been destined since a previous life to fight Lycagon the Nightslayer; he reincarnated, challenged Lycagon, fell short, and was branded with a curse; guided by fate, he became a wandering warrior continuing a pilgrimage to break that curse... or so the story went. But then, at last, he succeeded in defeating Lycagon the Nightslayer, came to command a steel beast clearly acknowledged as an enemy by that apex species, and became a fated super-warrior wreathed in a fighting aura no one could even touch.

Apparently, that's my current character setting.

Emul: "Heheheh... I keep getting better at both talking and doing every day, wa!"

Lately she'd been getting by in public by disguising herself as a scarf, so it had been a while since I'd seen Emul use Metamorphose to turn into human form.

The "curse marking" had once looked almost like tattooed patterns. Now, though, simple but chaotic black marks covered my torso and legs—ominous patterns like blackened scars from having my whole body ripped to shreds. The checkpoint guard NPC watched the bird-headed freak bearing them with the look you'd give a decisive weapon.

Granted, I could understand why he wasn't about to act tough. Behind me stood the intimidating "Maximum Firepower Attack Holder," a bit dirtier than before, and a fox-masked ninja with the fluffy white mantle Ceecrue attached to her. We looked like one hell of a dangerous group.

Sunraku: "You're okay on MP?"

Emul: "Hehehe, I'm growing every day too, wa!"

Akitsu Akane: "Can't Ceecrue-san do that too? Hey, Ceecrue-san? Hellooo?"

Sunraku: "He's desperately pretending to be a mantle. Give him a break..."

Akitsu Akane: "Oh! Right!"

By five in the morning, the number of logged-in players was starting to rise. Feeling scattered gazes on us that were different from the NPCs', I turned back to Rei-shi.

Sunraku: "Seriously, thank you for everything today. You didn't just help with clearing the area—you even got dragged into the Lycagon fight..."

Psyger-0: "No............ yes, I had fun too. If there's ever anything else I can help with... please, by all means."

Sunraku: "I'll contact you again when that happens."

I had to wonder how often something on Lycagon's level would conveniently show up and force me to rely on Rei-shi. But even setting that aside, fighting alongside her had been fun. That alone was reason enough to think about a next time.

I could look around the city later. First I had to replace everything we'd used up during the Lycagon fight and the area clear.

Leaving aside the dangerous-looking girl excitedly scanning the city while talking to a mantle that had gone completely silent, we were done here. I started looking around for some back alley without any witnesses so I could head to Rabituza—and then noticed someone standing in an alley.

The figure was wrapped head to toe in a pitch-black robe covered with strange patterns. A deeply wrinkled face peered out from beneath the hood, twisted into a smile, and the figure was unmistakably beckoning to me.

Sunraku: "What the hell is that?"

Emul: "Wah, someone's beckoning from the alley, wa... That's really suspicious, wa............ Why are you looking at me now, Sunraku-san, wa?"

Sunraku: "Oh, I was just remembering a certain suspicious person who beckoned me into an alley and then took me to Rabituza."

Emul: "Now that you mention it, wa?!"

I patted the shoulder of the stunned, human-shaped Emul while carefully studying the mysterious figure, who kept beckoning despite being treated like a suspicious stranger. Unexpectedly—or maybe not so unexpectedly—the answer to the hooded figure's identity came from right beside me.

Psyger-0: "That's Arcanoom, the Monk of Awakening... Ah, because you're level 99 now..."

Sunraku: "Could you explain?"

Just before we parted ways, Rei-shi had noticed both what I was looking at and what was looking at me, and identified the figure.

Psyger-0: "Arcanoom, the Monk of Awakening is a special NPC who appears before players who reach level 99... He lets you obtain the special job 'Arcanum.'"

Sunraku: "A special job?"

In this game, a job—your profession—basically affects how easily you learn skills and magic. A mage learns magic more easily, while a dual-wielder like me has an easier time learning sword skills and movement-related skills. But this "Arcanum" was apparently very different from ordinary jobs.

First, it could only be a secondary job. Put another way, it occupied your sub-job slot and was "equipped" to the player.

Second, an Arcanum did not teach skills. It directly affected the player's stats.

Third, the Arcanum corresponding to the Major Arcana of the tarot were mostly extremely specialized and lopsided.

Psyger-0: "...For example, the 'Chariot' Arcanum raises AGI and STR to almost twice their normal values, but in exchange your STM consumption rate also doubles."

Sunraku: "What the hell is that...?"

It was as mismatched as some super-high-tech car with unbelievably awful fuel economy. Still, there were apparently quite a few Arcanum that were useful if you committed to an extreme specialization. If you got the "Magician" Arcanum and specialized completely in magic, for example, your STR would become utterly useless, but you could turn yourself into a ridiculously high-powered artillery battery.

Apparently, the illustrations on the tarot cards were even modeled after the player. This game puts ridiculous detail into the weirdest places.

Sunraku: "By the way, what did you draw, Rei-shi?"

Psyger-0: "Um... the 'World' Arcanum..."

From what she told me, it boosted all stats, but in exchange doubled the drawbacks produced by skills, magic, and the like. Wasn't that basically a jackpot? Some people really do have all the luck. Once again, I was reminded just how absurd a player Rei-shi was.

Sunraku: "Before we head back, maybe I'll try this Arcanum challenge."

Without hesitation, I walked toward the beckoning old man. If someone you knew was about to take a shot at a gacha pull, of course you'd want to see the result. Rei-shi and Akitsu Akane watched nervously from behind as I approached the black-robed figure—Arcanoom, the Monk of Awakening.

Sunraku: "Uh... good morning?"

Arcanoom: "One who has attained strength... I shall awaken thine Arcanum..."

Sunraku: "Ah. He's the type you can't actually have a conversation with."

Arcanoom: "Now, fate shall decide thine Arcanum... Draw a card."

The old man, unusually for SLF, ignored every attempt I made to talk to him. He pulled tarot cards from inside his robe and scattered them into the air. Strangely, none fell to the ground. They floated there, forming a sphere, and every card moved so that I could never see its face. Seriously, this game puts so much effort into the most pointless details.

Sunraku: "Is this random?"

Psyger-0: "No... Most likely, people think it refers to some kind of parameter."

Sunraku: "So the result won't change no matter how I draw."

I roughly slapped a hand onto one card and pulled it out. The picture showed a half-naked bird-head walking alongside a bipedal rabbit. Its number was 0. My memory was fuzzy, but this motif is a classic in games, so I had an idea what it was. Tarot card number 0 was...

Sunraku: "The Fool, huh."

Arcanoom: "Ho... Thou who dost not settle in one place. Is thy path wandering, or a journey with purpose...? Yet there is one thing I can say."

Sunraku: "What's that?"

Arcanoom: "...Arcanum: The Fool shall aid thy return to action. Yet thou canst seek aid from none but thyself. Thus shall sickness press a sharper blade against thy throat..."

Sunraku: "Uh... do you know what this does?"

Psyger-0: "The Fool, if I remember correctly... halves skill recast time, but in exchange... damage from status ailments and their duration are doubled, and whether recovery items work becomes probabilistic... I think."

Uh... right.

Isn't that a huge win?

Author note

Arcanum is currently regarded as powerful but difficult to use. Even if it gives you a huge stat correction, this is full-dive, so you still have to move your own body. To be blunt, once you have enough Unique content, you need it less, so in practice it also serves as a kind of aid for players who have few or no Uniques.

Incidentally, if the protagonist had done more serious item-farming and similar work, the card he drew would have been the Wheel of Fortune rather than the Fool.

As one more aside, I think it would be:

Pencilgon — Strength

Psyger-100 — The Empress

Animalia — The Sun