CH 18

After parting with Klein and the girl, Luce and I headed to the tavern next to the adventurer’s guild to talk about our plans for the immediate future.

“Um…thank you for inviting someone like me into your party, Elma-san. But, well…. I think I’m not powerful enough….”

Luce looked to be somewhat insecure.

She must be lacking confidence in herself.

It’s understandable. She most likely had to endure quite a rough treatment from Klein.

“You don’t need to be so anxious. If you fight monsters that fit your Skill Tree, then you will be able to increase your levels….”

“Oh, oh! I-I was thinking that, pe-perhaps Elma-san helped me out because you fell for me at first sight?”

Luce said while fidgeting and with a blush on her face.

“…..what are you talking about?”

“I was thinking of why someone with a higher level would defend me, but that was the only reason I could think of… Ehehe….. I’m quite cute after all. Oh, oh! I also find Elma-san very cool, but we should start from being just friends at first…..!”

With no signs of calming down anytime soon, the clown girl kept chattering while fiddling with the tip of her clown hat.

I facepalmed.

….it seems I was mistaken just now. I should really revise my opinion that Luce has no confidence in herself.

“….however, teaming up with me due to pity like that… I don’t think it would work out in the end… I’m really thankful for your feelings and I’m happy that you came to my defense, but I don’t want to give up on being an adventurer, so I will do my best and team up with lower level people and try to get an attack Skill somehow.”

Luce ran a hand through her hair and said with a bitter smile on her face.

“You have the [Great Fortune] Skill Tree, right? I would like it if you lent me its power.”

[Great Fortune] is a Skill Tree that a few Classes like Clowns or Merchants rarely possess from the start.

If you put Skill points in it, then you get a Special Skill with a vague description like ‘You invite happiness by just being present’.

What the Special Skill really does is that it greatly raises a hidden stat called Luck.

That Luck stat has an influence on your critical hit rate during battle and your opponent’s critical hit rate against you.

Other than that it has an effect on item drop rates, the chances of rare monsters appearing, and on the probabilities of rare events occurring.

When acting as a party, item drop rates are based on the highest Luck value out of all participants.

Furthermore, the initial value of this hidden stat is important, because it doesn’t go up much just by gaining levels.

If you want to increase it, then you need items that provide increased Luck, or utilize the [Great Fortune] Skill Tree.

If you properly make use of the [Great Fortune] Skill Tree, then you can increase the item drop rate by five or even ten times to its original value.

To get the most mileage out of it, you need to be aware of the exact value of the hidden Luck stat, and how much drop rate percentage increase it indicates in the end, which of course I’m more than capable of.

I have all the relevant formulae in my head for that.

“R-really…..? But my stats are low and I don’t have any proper attack Skills….”

Luce brought her hand up in the air, called up her [Status] and turned it towards me.

“There, this is how it is right now. Even the single attack Skill I do have can’t be used properly…. I really couldn’t do much else than risk my life and stand on the front line to serve as a shield…. Although I didn’t like how Klein-san had put it, but…. I can’t help but think that he was somewhat right.”

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【Luce Rubis】

Class: Clown

Lv: 13

Attack: 11+2

Defense: 9

Magic: 12

Agility: 21

【Equipment】

〈Circus Knife〉

【Special Skills】

〈Beckoning Kitty〉

【Normal Skills】

〈Dice Thrust〉

【Titles】

〈F rank adventurer〉

――――――――――――――――――――

She showed me her Status without hesitation.

I was stunned by how she didn’t even hesitate to do it.

“I don’t think this should be something you just show anyone….”

“That’s fine. I know that Elma-san is not someone that would spread it to others or use it for nefarious purposes. ….and it would be easier on me if you gave up on me right away, rather than getting your hopes up just to end up disappointed in the end….”

Special Skill [Beckoning Kitty]….

To say that having someone with [Great Fortune] in the party would somewhat raise its effectiveness would be a severe understatement. When high level players went Dungeon delving in search of some kind of rare drop, having someone like that with them was absolutely indispensable, so in [Magic World] there were many people who had that Skill Tree.

And if you keep putting points into the [Great Fortune] Skill Tree, then that Special Skill will evolve into something that provides even more increase to the Luck stat.

“And here is my current Skill Tree.”

Luce flipped her Status back, operated it with her fingers, then showed it to me again.

――――――――――――――――――――

【Skill Tree】

［Remaining Skill points: 0］

〈The Fool’s Acrobatics [2/100]〉

〈Great Fortune [15/70]〉

〈Attack Power UP [0/50]〉

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…..she even shared that without hesitation.

I really think she should try to learn to be a bit more cautious of people.

She must’ve put 2 points into [The Fool’s Acrobatics] due to running into the limit after putting 15 points in [Great Fortune], since she is an F rank adventurer.

By the way, you get [Dice Thrust] from putting in 2 points in [The Fool’s Acrobatics].

It’s a stabbing Skill with a random effect from six possible outcomes.

A bonus effect depending on the random number is applied, which in case of rolling a six means a 1.3x damage multiplier and an automatic critical hit.

….however, in the end in terms of dps, it would be better to just use normal attacks, so even in [Magic World] it was a rarely used Skill.

It gets somewhat better with a higher Luck stat, but using normal attacks provides more stable dps even then.

I can understand why Luce would say that ‘Even the single attack Skill I do have can’t be used properly’.

She must’ve been happy to finally get an attack Skill, and then it ended up worse than her normal attacks.

I can easily imagine the disappointment she must’ve felt just then.

“If only I had put my points towards [The Fool’s Acrobatics] and [Attack Power UP] equally, then I might’ve been able to fight properly…. Ahaha….I messed up big time. I heard that [Great Fortune] was a rare and powerful Skill Tree, so I was ecstatic for a time, but…. I didn’t think it would end this way.”

Luce hunched her shoulders and showed a defeated smile.

“…well, thanks to you showing your Status to me, now I know.”

“I see you understand now. With my Skills like that, delving into Dungeons would be….”

“On our next expedition we will be able to earn 30 million gold at the least, and bring Luce up to 【Lv：30】.”

“Hey! Did you listen to a word I said!?”

Luce raised her voice, sounding like she was on the verge of tears.

A few adventurers in nearby seats even looked at us to see what was going on.

“There is a type of monster that’s perfect for leveling for a Clown in your level range.”

A Clown with [Great Fortune] is the perfect build for an adventurer specialized in Dungeon expeditions.

In [Magic World] these characters were affectionately called Lucky Pierrot.

Its weakness is that in addition to [Great Fortune] taking up a lot of Skill points, the base stats of a Clown are on the low side, but with [The Fool’s Acrobatics] taking advantage of the increased Luck provided by [Great Fortune] it can employ a tricky playstyle, which allows it to be more than effective even in the late game.