Volume 2 - CH 1

Three or four story tall buildings stood all along the street.

The walkways were neatly maintained, with quite a bit of pedestrian traffic.

Even at a surface glance, the presence of ornate water fountains and statues of various adventurers clearly showed the city’s prosperity.

“The City of Adventurers, La Colina…..I’ve heard rumors about it, but it’s more than I expected.”

“T-this is…. an amazing city. I’ve never left the area near Rondalm, so this is the first time I’ve seen a cityscape like this.”

Hearing my words, Luce also expressed her excitement.

In this world, moving between cities is not an easy matter.

With the always present possibility of running into monsters along the way, it’s absolutely necessary to hire adventurers as guards.

There are even adventurers that make a living solely from those relatively safer escort missions after raising their levels to a suitable standard in a Dungeon.

However, even though it’s said to be safer than delving into a Dungeon, there are some failed higher level adventurers who turn to banditry, so it’s strictly only safe by comparison and not truly safe.

To sort out my feelings after my duel against Mariss, the Heir of the Edvan Family….and to further raise our ranks as adventurers, we decided to leave the city of Rondalm, which was under the jurisdiction of the Edvan Family.

Which led us to this place, the city of La Colina.

This city is in an area with the tendency of higher level Dungeons to appear.

Furthermore, with all the mid-ranking promising adventurers that consider the place their base, it came to be called the Holy Land of Adventurers.

Dungeons are important resources for cities.

Drop items provide a definite advantage by themselves, but being able to ensure a proper growth of adventurers to a high level benefits the whole territory.

With the average level of spawning Dungeons above a certain point, it would be too difficult to defend or even establish a settlement in the area, but in that respect it’s said that La Colina is right in the range of levels that’s best for the development of a city.

Of course, it’s also thanks to the governing capabilities of the noble family that rules the surrounding territories.

“But, but, my Rondalm doesn’t fall behind too much either, right? It’s one of the more developed cities in the entire kingdom!”

Luce expressed a strange hometown pride.

If asked whose city it really is, then I would say it belongs to my father, Count Izas instead.

“W-well, I think Rondalm should be one of the more developed ones indeed….”

I opened my Status with a brittle smile on my face.

――――――――――――――――――――

【Elma Edvan】

Class: Heavy Knight

Lv: 41

Attack: 27+5

Defense: 60+5

Magic: 32

Agility: 32

【Equipment】

〈Sword of a Low Ranking Soldier〉

〈Mad Demon Shield〉

〈Iron Armor〉

【Special Skills】

〈Half-Dead Savage Dragon〉

【Normal Skills】

〈Rampart Reversal〉

〈Disarm〉

〈Parry〉

〈Vital Blow〉

〈Shadow Stomp〉

〈Shield Bash〉

〈Life Shield〉

【Titles】

〈Immovable One〉

〈D Rank Adventurer〉

〈Unexpected Upset〉

――――――――――――――――――――

I can finally say I’m not a beginner anymore.

I would like to raise my level right away, but….the weakness of my equipment is a problem.

My armor is something I would like to swap for a better one, but a lack of attack power can be fatal in this world.

――――――――――――――――――――

【Skill Trees】

［Remaining Skill points: 1］

In terms of my Skill Trees, no matter where I would put my remaining point at this time, I wouldn’t get any new Skills.

My immediate goal for now is to employ the Skills from the [Vow of the Heavy Armor] to mitigate the risk that comes with using Skills from the [Smoldering Fang of Madness] and make them easier to use.

I guess it will be the [Vow of the Heavy Armor] for a while….

“….or rather, I need to get a proper weapon first.”

That’s the fastest way to make up for my lack of attack power.

I already spoke with Luce about how our first priority now is trying for weapon drops, or making money from other drop items.

“After taking a look at the adventurer’s guild here, we will be heading straight for a Dungeon, right? I should also distribute my Skill points I got from taking down the Embryo soon….!”

Luce opened her own Status too and started pondering on what to do.

“Well, you can just decide later when we’ll know which Dungeon we will be going for next, right? If not that, then you can at least save it until we get to the Guild….”

“Aah, you decide please, Elma-san! I just don’t know what to do!”

Luce flipped her Status to show it to me.

….I keep saying that she shouldn’t share her Status so casually like this.

――――――――――――――――――――

【Luce Rubis】

Class: Clown

Lv: 39

HP: 49/49

MP: 48/48

Attack: 28+3

Defense: 22

Magic: 30

Agility: 52

【Equipment】

〈Iron Piercer〉

【Special Skills】

〈Beckoning Kitty〉

【Normal Skills】

〈Dice Thrust〉

〈Acrobatic Steps〉

〈Doppel Illusion〉

【Titles】

〈D rank adventurer〉

〈Unexpected Upset〉

――――――――――――――――――――

She didn’t get any new Skills at all.

That means that it’s really high time for her to decide where to put her Skill points.

――――――――――――――――――――

【Skill Tree】

［Remaining Skill points: 18］

〈The Fool’s Acrobatics [10/100]〉

〈Great Fortune [15/70]〉

〈Attack Power UP [0/50]〉

――――――――――――――――――――

She really has a lot of Skill points saved up….

“Well then….the best way to distribute your points depends on whether you want to aim for a stability build, a magic build, a rapid hit build, or a critical focused build.”

That being said, for any other than the stability build, she will need to get a Skill Book sometime.

“You said that the stability build…. was ultimately pretty weak, right?”

There was no such thing as a Clown with a stability build in Magic World to begin with.

In this world, to operate as a somewhat accomplished adventurer, the best is to raise your stats as fast as possible with the Skill Trees, instead of focusing on what a completed build could be in the end.

“Well, yeah, that’s true I guess. If you want to go for a stability build or a magic build, then you shouldn’t put more points into [Great Fortune] until you have some leeway.”

The increase in Luck, and therefore the increase in drop rates, provided by the [Great Fortune] is very powerful and would be a great help for me too.

However, with a stability or magic build, there aren’t that many things increased Luck is good for during fighting.

“Tell me which one would be the most powerful please! I also want to aim high! Also….I don’t want something like ‘you can’t keep up with me in battle anymore, so let’s part ways here’ to happen….!”

“In that case, the critical focused build would be the best…. which would mean putting 【15】 points into [Great Fortune] first.”

Especially with Luce, who must have a high hidden Luck stat, the critical focused build that best makes use of it would be ideal.

If she were to proceed with another build, then it would just make her a bargain-bin version of another Class.

“Got it! Then, right away….!”

Without any hesitation she allocated her Skill points.

――――――――――――――――――――

【Skill Tree】

［Remaining Skill points: 3］

〈The Fool’s Acrobatics [10/100]〉

〈Great Fortune [30/70]〉【＋15】

〈Attack Power UP [0/50]〉

――――――――――――――――――――

Sh-she just did it without a second thought….!

“Ooh! [Beckoning Kitty] evolved into [Angel of Fortune]!”

The [Angel of Fortune] is a special Skill that boosts the Luck stat, just like [Beckoning Kitty].

It should’ve changed from increasing her Luck by 500% to 700%.

The more valuable the item is, the lower its drop rate becomes, but…. the Luck value of a Clown with [Great Fortune] can outpace that decrease, so having one in the party all but guarantees a constant bounty of valuable drop items.

“Now that I have a concrete goal, I got so motivated! I’ll do my best while aiming to become a critical focused Clown!”

Luce said with her hand clenched into a fist.

“In that case, the name of the Skill Book that will be the key is….. the [Reaper Assassin], which we’ll need to acquire somehow. Since [Smoldering Fang of Madness] cost us about 50 million gold….we should expect a price of at least a 100 million for that, I guess?”

Not just because it has a low drop rate, but it also only drops from higher level monsters, so it’s even harder to get than most.

It’s also much easier to use than the [Smoldering Fang of Madness].

“….m-maybe I should just go for something else instead?”

Luce’s expression was frozen.

“Well, either way, I don’t think we will have the opportunity to get it in the near future. The problem is whether such an opportunity to acquire the [Reaper Assassin] will arrive at all instead.”

“I-I’m a bit scared right now….for some reason….”