Fate Of A Gamer

Fruel silently watched as Hanami inspected the corpse, her eyes a bright shifting blue as magic permeated in the air. He could see his fellow elves staring at her, awed at those unnaturally enchanting eyes.

[Mystic Eyes of Myriad Perception] she'd called it, explained that it allowed her to view something in great detail, analyzing the traits of the inspected item. There was obviously more to it, but he didn't see it fit to simply demand more information, especially considering how tremendous her help has been in this perplexing case.

But names held in them power, each letter used to spell them imbued with magical properties gained from the world.

The moment he heard those words, his mind pounded, and he remembered feeling heavy, as if an invisible force was oppressing him.

Casual she might be in mentioning it, but those eyes of her definitely aren't normal. If simply thinking the name caused such a feeling, then how strong are those eyes truly.

Fruel sighed, shaking his head free of those thoughts.

In the end, none of that mattered. With yesterday over, and with the girl becoming the first ever human citizen of the elven capital, she now could freely enter and exit as much as she liked, not that such restrictions seemed to stop her from entering on her own leisure the day before.

After all, who can be so in tune with the [Obelisks] that they can simply teleport from one to another without much thought? Powerful artifacts they may be, but they don't hold that function, or at least, that was what it seemed.

It seems like there is no shortage of mysteries to still uncover.

Either ways, while Hanami was granted her citizenship, he'd been tasked with monitoring her. Understandable, seeing as she was literally an unknown, with no previous records of one called Tsunaka Hanami ever being mentioned. He knows she's strong, he'd seen a facet of her strength himself, but for someone that strong to remain unknown like this?

The caution is understandable.

But, for some reason, he doubts this act of vigilance would do anything. Somewhere deep within his mind, something shouted for him to never oppose her. It's...a deeply ingrained instinct, a feeling born from being in the presence of hundreds of individuals that could probably flatten him in seconds.

The girl gave off the same feeling.

And yet, her aura was concealed, giving nothing away. From the outside, she looked like any normal civilian human, perhaps more as a scholar with the suit she is wearing now, a swordmaiden if you've perhaps witnessed her finesse with the blade.

She looks completely normal.

That's even more frightening.

"Hmm…" Hanami leans in slightly, her brows furrowed as her lips curve to a small frown. "That's...uh, that's kinda amazing actually."

"Have you found something, Hanami?" He asks back, and Hanami turns to him, her eyes returning back to the original light green. She cups her chin, considering her words carefully before shrugging.

"Seems like your fellow elves discovered some weird monster down there. It...looks like some weird rafflesia monster with vines and stuff. It attacked, your elves killed it, and it spewed out spores. Nothing happened for a while, your affinity with nature protecting you from whatever those spores caused, until it suddenly evolved to become magical, took over some elves, made them kill other elves, and the rest is history."

"Rafflesia?" Fruel frowns. That's not a name he'd ever come across.

Hanami seems to realize this as well, as she quickly explains. "Ah, it's basically a giant colorful flower that smells terrible. Usually found in tropical forests. Not too important right now." .

"But…" Hanami purses her lips. "That's it."

Fruel blinks, surprised. "That's it? Have you not found enough just from this short session?"

"No, no, you see, my eyes can see beyond that. It can look into the past of pretty much anything I see if I put my effort in." Fruel gapes slightly at the implication. That's not just analyzing by that point! The elf wants to shout, but he holds himself back. "But when I try to look for the flower's past, I see nothing." She continues.

"Is that not normal?"

"Not at all." Hanami immediately replies. "Even something like dirt has history to it. Using my eyes, I can see who stepped on it the last, when it first found itself there, and other stuff, but that flower's history is empty...almost as if it was made on that spot in an instant, which is bad, or there's something else at play, which is even worse."

They ŀȧpse into silence for a moment, each busy with their own thoughts at the new discovery. There's no way to prove what she'd said true, but with what accurate details she's managed to gleam from everyone from a single glance of those enchanting eyes, her claim over her eyes' ability seems to be true.

The fastest way to prove it is to simply beam back down to those [Desolate Dunes], but with what Hanami's learned, it might not be a great idea to do, especially if that strange 'Rafflesia' monster is still around.

Then, in that silence, Hanami suddenly sighs. "Seems like I'll need to go down there myself, huh…"

"You're willing to do that?" One of the elves asks, and Hanami gives her a shrug, as if she'd been expecting to do this beforehand.

Fruel can only hope her trip goes well.

[Due to the new discovery you've made, [Desolate Dunes] has been elevated in difficulty. Recommended level to enter is now 85]

From the moment that notification popped up, I knew what I needed to do. Still, at least it's difficulty won't be as high as [Remnant of Skypiea], so it should be easier. Should.

Because as shown by [Yuriele], the recommended levels don't mean much.

Well, whatever.

Anyways, after using the elves teleportation beam, I'm back in the [Desolate Dunes], and it looks just as I remembered it. Dusty, empty of general life, and filled with crawling elf zombies capable of flinging magic at me. Those guys aren't really even a bother anymore though, since their magic is too weak to pierce through my [Magic Resistance].

That, and my new clothing's bonus is completely unfair.

Rank C+

A dark blue scholarly suit designed using [Magical Weaving], inspired by the clothing often worn by scholars or librarians in medieval fantasy tales. Made by the interweaving between [Thorium Strings] and [Hellstone Strings], it's gained an incredible durability and tolerance against heat.

Usually equipped in: [Vanity] Slot

Note: Created by Tsunaka Hanami

When worn, causes all magical attacks under Rank D- to be completely nullified

When worn, provides a passive resistance against heat. Though it won't defend against fire, overheating will never become a problem

With [Magical Weaving], the size of this suit can be adjusted freely

+55 Intelligence and Wisdom when worn

+20 Vitality when worn

Well, it's not completely broken when compared to other worn items, but the fact that the effects actually work when it's worn in the [Vanity] slot?

Phew, just imagining the stacking buffs from [Vanity] and [Equipment] slots is making me excited~

Anyways, enough about my new clothes. Time to continue with the elf quest line!

I swiftly recall where that weird Rafflesia monster first appeared, and with a goal in mind, I take off into the skies. Normally, I would've liked to spend some time grinding for Exp or training up my skills, but that can wait for later. For now, I have an entire civilization of elves waiting behind me, and I don't think I want to find out what happens when I fail the quest.

Actually, on the topic of quests, why doesn't it give me what will happen when I fail? Does the system ignore it because I've completed too many quests? Maybe it thinks I can probably complete the quest without an issue?

Maybe it's doing it on purpose, just so I can't know what will happen.

Considering the many things my system has done to me recently, I'm wagering it's that third one.

Ah, my mind's wandering again. Been doing that a lot lately.

Shaking my head, I spot a certain opening to an underground cave and begin my descent. The cave itself doesn't look all that conspicuous, covered with vines and surrounded by piling piles of dust and sand.

Of course, the aura it's exuding is another story. Even without trying, I can feel the presence of...something coming from inside. Whatever that may be, I can't know, seeing as my mystic eyes can't seem to glean any information about it aside from the cave being 'Strange and suspicious'.

Information floods my brain as [Structural Analysis] continues its job.

Caves. More caves. An opening with a small underground lake. More caves. Caves. Even more caves. A small narrow-

"!?" Suddenly, my spell is cut off, the rebound lashing back, and I nearly trip from the suddenness of it all.

Something is here.

Tightening my grip on my staff, I hasten my steps, making my way to where my prana was cut off. As I go deeper, the prana in the air becomes heavier, more saturated, and it begins to physically affect the world, causing the stone to slowly chip away. I'm mostly safe from it due to my clothes, but I applied [Reinforcement] on myself, just in case.

Better safe than sorry, right?

I continue my descent, and the air continues to grow heavier. The slow chipping of the surrounding stone soon turns into them outright cracking, the stone incapable of holding itself together under the intense pressure. The path turns bumpy and sharp, though it doesn't affect me much, seeing as I can just fly over them.

Then, the descending slopes finally plateau and narrow, leading to a single narrow path into the unknown. Thankfully, I'm still thin enough to fit through, but it leads to me bumping my staff onto the sides occasionally, much to my building annoyance.

It soon ends though, and I continue onwards.

And there, at the end of the room is that same rafflesia that caused this whole pandemic in the first place. It was...well, massive, for one thing, its width about that of a truck and as tall as an electric tower. The flower's petals are a deep blue, decorated by tints of green similar to the color of normal magic circuits.

And hidden beneath it is a giant complex of vines, each as thick as an ȧduŀt's arm.

[Grand Esia Lv 220]

HP: 40,500,000/40,500,000

MP: -

Stamina: -

A strange titan of a plant, living inside the damp underbelly of a cave. Its size grows in proportion to the amount of prana it can gather from the surrounding atmosphere. A complex twisting colony of vines exist under the flower, as if hidden by the beauty of the flower above. At death, the flower releases its spore, and though harmless itself, it will grow into another flower, slowly expanding its roots by absorbing the prana in the world that surrounds it.

Yet the flower feels oddly empty, artificial. Strange.

Note: The vines carry within them a paralyzing poison.

'Grows with how much prana in the air'. What a wonderfully nasty ability that is.

But that last line in the description pretty much confirms the leading theory I had in my head. The thing's artificial, made by what, when, and for what purpose, I don't know.

Resolute, I take a step forward, and the stone under me breaks as thousands of vines rise from the stone below. The cave crumbles all around me, and I swiftly make my escape, flying up into the air and bombarding the incoming vines with magical rockets.

But they do nothing.

What?

Evading a strike from a vine, I try again, firing a volley of sharp prana bullets at the vines, but the same result occurs. The bullets seem to almost disintegrate upon impact, the rigid shape breaking.

My eyes widen as I see the prana be absorbed into the vines, and I come to a realization.

Its absorption goes that far?

Well, that just made this plant guy a whole lot more risky to fight.

For further testing, I create a pair of bullets, one coated in lightning and the other shining with holy light. Both are fired, and just like the ones before them, they're swiftly absorbed.

That made things even worse.

But! All's not lost, not yet. There's still a myriad of things I can possibly do, and a whole lot of weaknesses plants usually have that might become my path to victory.

Swerving to the left, I bring out an ordinary sword and slash down one of the approaching vines. The sword makes it cleanly through, but the vines quickly merge back together, almost like a slime reforming itself. I cast reinforcement on the sword and try again, and the same happens, just with the added effect of stripping my sword clean of prana.

A second later, the iron construct cracks and falls apart, and I can only blink in surprise.

What?

But I have no time to think as the wall behind me suddenly breaks to reveal a collage of vines. I bring out another sword and bat the encroaching vines as I fly away.

And just like before, the sword cracks before it breaks completely.

My mystic eyes flare, information floods my brain, and I come to another realization.

It's using [Gehen].

Well, not exactly [Gehen], but something close enough to mimic the effect. Which is basically just flooding my sword with its own prana before overloading it, but still.

Damn.

At least that effect won't happen on me though, since my [Magic Resistance] should dampen the effect enough for it to be nullified by my Vitality, I think. Not sure if that's true or not, but I'm not willing to try and find out.

What a truly terrifying enemy I'm facing. Had those elves encountered this super-powered version, most would've probably perished.

Thankfully, I'm not like most normal people.

Diving downward, I fly past several more vines as I bring out another sword. [Voltaic Charge] activates, the sword is covered with lightning, and with the additional speed from my dive, I rush forward, delivering a powerful downward slash onto one of the flower's petals. Once again, the lightning is swiftly extinguished, and my sword breaks.

However, unlike before, I can see a small mark left behind, still steaming from the plasma my strike had made.

I smile.

The flower seems rather confused as well, since all the mobile vines suddenly halt to a stop, and in an act that looks uncannily human, one of its vines reaches up onto the scar I'd caused. Then, it begins to shake before erupting in what seems to be anger, bright spores launched into the air as the vines lash about erratically.

Still smiling, an idea pops into my head, and my smile widens just a bit more. [Mental Partition] activates, with one keeping my body moving to avoid the lashing vines and the other quickly bringing up the [Item Shop] and browsing through its many commodities.

Grinning, I bring out the wondrous item. A bottle, filled with good ol' whale oil.

A hundred of them to be precise.

The monster realizes to late, and its lashing vines smash through the bottle of oil I drop, smearing most of the area in foul smelling oil. I wince slightly at the smell, but I easily ignore it, having smelled worse things before.

With a grin, lightning gathers at the tip of my staff, concentrating and releasing immense amounts of heat. The flower quickly catches on and tries to beat me down with the full force of its vines, but it's far too late. I aim the staff down, and at my command, the plasma fires off, hitting one of the soaked vines,

And hell breaks loose as fire ravages through the air, jumping from vine to vine and burning everything away.

I watch in satisfaction as the giant flower continues to burn away, before I notice the flames slowly dying out for no apparent reason.

Blinking, and I come to my last realization for the day.

Oxygen. Fire burns through oxygen and releases carbon dioxide.

I'm inside of a cave, with a limited supply of oxygen. Of course the giant fire I've lit will quickly burn through the supply of oxygen, which also means that I'll also soon run out of oxygen to breathe.

Sighing, I swiftly delve back into the [Item Shop] and buy myself hundreds of oxygen canisters, tearing them open and letting the wonderful oxygen waft into the air. The fire grows back to its original glory, I can actually breathe again, and the giant artificial plant continues to painfully suffer as it burns.

Finally, its HP reaches 0, and the giant plant lets out one last puff of spores before it burns away. The spores don't make it far, burning away together with its parent.

[You have slain [Grand Esia]! 5,200,000,000 Exp gained]

[You have gained [Magic Core], x100 [Esian Vines]!]

And there's that. The Exp gain is negligible, the drops are quite interesting, the [Magic Core] more so than the vines, and I bȧrėly wasted anything, my stamina already back to 100%.

Overall, a very easy battle.

However, I maintain my grip on my staff, reinforcement still cast on my body, my skin lighting up with bright green circuits. Though that giant plant is gone, the air remains saturated with prana, and the heavy atmosphere still remains.

The source is still somewhere here, somewhere deeper.

But enough of that. Most of the stone around me had broken apart, and with the plant gone, I can see a small opening far below, almost like a funnel leading to places unknown. It's a bit too small for me to fit through, so I expanded the small opening with a barrage of spinning prana missiles, churning the stone and flinging the dust into the air.

With the path now sufficiently wide, I dive down through the hole.

Immediately, the pressure in the surrounding air triples, and I begin to feel the weight pressing down on me. It's not enough to impact me in any meaningful way, but the fact that I'm even feeling something means that the pressure has bypassed [Magic Resistance].

Slightly worrying, but I'm not backing out.

Now that I'm down here, there's only one path forward, a cleanly cut corridor leading to who knows where. Unlike the rocks from before, the stone the corridor is carved from remains stable and unbending in the presence of the incredible magical pressure. Seeing as there's some sort of enchantment placed on it, the durability is understandable.

Letting go over gravity, I gently land on the stone floor and begin my trek forward. The magical pressure continues to grow the farther I walk, but I remain steadfast in my steps, unbothered.

Then, I see light far ahead of me, a literal light at the end of the tunnel, and I hasten my steps. The pressure spikes, and I'm forced to use [Morningstar] to counter some of the downward forces pushing down on me. I run, my steps echoing through the tight corridor, and the light comes closer and closer.

Before I finally make it, and all the pressure just vanishes, causing me to stumble and smash my face onto the head of my staff.