468 [Par’Talucca’s Vault]

"Deal." "Goddess Sakura's interests align perfectly with Victoria's anyway. And I doubt Kozumi or Mizumi would ever turn traitor towards me, not when I'm literally breaking my back over here, to save their kingdom and people..."

Clapping her hands together, as if having finalized the deal. Sakura as the host that she was, refilled both Asai and Uda's cups. 

"Okay darling, since you've given my lineage one son as of this date, you may take a single item from my stores."

Whilst Asai was expecting items, weapons, armours and perhaps even fantasy or magical relics to appear. What appeared instead were a variety of cards, emerging upon the table-top like a normal pack of playing cards albeit with their own designs. And upon ignoring the usual ace, spades, clubs and diamond designation, the system showed their real purpose.

[Weapons:] [Armours:] [Items:] [Skill Books:] [Blessings:]

Seeing the gentle lingering of divinity, Asai instinctively reached his hand over to tap upon the surface. However, before fully committing, Sakura made another point to keep in mind.

"Because you declined father's blessings, more than once at that. You currently do not have the fulfilled conditions to utilize everything. To save you from the head ache, I've personally filtered everything for you. If there's anything specific you desire, you may ask."

"Got it. Thanks."

Upon imbuing the [Weapons:] card with his mana, the system revealed to his eyes like a hologram further cards that hovered.

[Blackness of Jinn]  [Mano's Delusion]  [Glacial Split Katar]  [Agony of Tei]

"Those are all katars, as one would expect to find from a treasury that belongs to a household of dhans~"

"And what of their effects and stats?"

"Who knows? Take the item that interests you most, no refunds and no exchanges though."

"Right, I should've known it wouldn't be so easy..."

[Armours:]

[Enchanted Edwin Armour] [Enchanted Bedron Armour]

"They come as a full set. Shoulders, chest, gauntlets, skirt and boots. Also, they weigh less than steel~"

[Items:]

[Enchanted Alloy]  [Tanuki's Leaf]  [Pegasus Feed]  [Kami's Breastmilk]

"I see, there's that magical leaf my little trash panda requires to be useful..."

"Enchanted Alloy, by applying that item to one of your weapon sets, it will randomly bless it with either increased attack power or magical. As for the pet feed, it will level up your little one."

"Right. My horse also has to level up..." Ignoring the alloy, as Asai didn't particularly enjoy RNG. The man spent perhaps a few seconds considering and weighing the pet feed against the other items he had seen thus far.

[Skill Books:]

[Fireball]  [Summon Rain]  [Blazing] [Frozen] [Invenom] [Katar Mastery] 

"I also have a lot of sexually orientated skills if you'd like?"

"... No thank you-"

"Not even a +2 inch to your penis? or Girth?"

"-No thank you..."

"Blazing, frozen and invenom must be elemental imbuements. Whilst I've already seen fireball and summon rain in action, and although they're useful, at my current stage and level... They'll hardly help me out at this point. As for katar mastery, I'm sure I can find someone to acquire that from, after all, I am the king of Par'Talucca." Considering the skill book segment to be a complete bust, he moved on to the last.

[Blessings:]

[Fertile Fields]  [Perfect Weather]  [Abundant Beasts]  [Population Boom]

"I see, blessings pertain to the matters of the kingdom, and not the individual. Or well, not directly that is." Imagining within his mindscape, even if he didn't directly receive benefits to his person. He could easily picture the people praising him for their abundant harvests and rising prosperity. Perhaps even chalking it up to his character, to believe him to be a person blessed by the heavens, and therefore in extension, blessing the kingdom as a whole.

"And before you even dare think of my items as lack lustre, keep in mind that these are the basics of the basics. You're simply unqualified to even touch my personal favourites~"

"Right, because I chose to keep my freedom rather than trade it away for Ohn's blessings?"

"Correct."

Looking over towards the previous monarch of Par'Talucca, who had mostly been quiet, silently observing his future son-in-law. 

"Any advice for me Your Majesty?"

Taking a final sip from his cup, that seemed to never bottom out, Uda gave the human his full attention.

"Please, I'm no longer the reigning head of the house. Just call me Uda."

"Got it."

"Mmm... Whilst I can not read your mind, nor your memories and abilities. From a warrior's perspective, I can feel subtle hints of killing-intent radiating not from you, but from the weapons you've stored within your subspace. And although you're overflowing with deadly precision, weapons of calamity. I sense no protection for your heart, no defences for your mind or soul. As such, I recommend you decide upon the armours, prioritize your health and safety over offensive-capability for once young man. 

Learn from my mistake, offense isn't always the best defence..."

Reading into Asai's thoughts, Sakura quickly added her own input.

"Worry not about the appearance, you won't end up looking like that thing you call a samurai or shinobi. Whilst the armours have their own default appearance, as they are enchanted by yours truly, they're capable of adopting the appearance of another. Which would provide optimal mobility, flexibility and adaptability, all on top of providing the defences a heavy set of armour would."

Sakura, was strangely enthusiastic about selling the enchanted armour sets she had once worn to battle, back before Armenes and the kingdom of dekans even existed. Back when she was still young, naïve and conquering forts and cities for her clan. And eventually becoming a deity of combat.

Asai slowly sipped upon his cup of herbal tea. Enjoying its relaxing benefits, as his mind was no longer racing towards the next dungeon or battle-field.

Whilst this decision was indeed an important one, he reminded himself that he could simply meet up with Mizumi and Kozumi once more. Whenever the chance came again.

kophzi

[Extra Information:]

Pets of course existed in the game. However, their designs were weird, so I decided to keep them out of the story until much further. And whilst they provided the usual benefits of a MMO pet system would. (Auto-Looting money/items) the pets in Rohan also provided combat buffs, (+30% mobility speed/+30% HP/+30 all stats) Molly: some random annoying little chibi girl would follow you as a pet and auto heal you with potions for both HP/MP. For obvious reasons, I didn't include such a pet in our story...

How this relates to our current novel; Pets started at level 1, and can hit a maximum of level 3. To level it up once, you had to feed it 1000 times, and you're limited to twice per hour.

ETC.

Our newest addition to the party, [Dream] the Pegasus requires feed to level up.

The list of katars is my homage to the game's end game weapons. By referring to their actual IGN.

Edwin and Bedron armour sets were considered to be end-game gear. When players could finally stop mindlessly grinding PVE, and start being useful to PVP/Guild-wars. Edwin armour iirc was level 70-80 gear. Whilst Bedron was literal end-game best-in-slot. (During that time.)

How Enchanted Edwin looked in game:

How enchanted bedron looked in game:

The little red circle under the guardian is critical aura, iirc.

Whilst the vote won't change the direction the story is heading. It will however effect the way Asai tackles the problems and hurdles that will come.