Thunder Kick R&D

"So anyway, turns out that turtle is something called an Elementarion."

"Oho. Is that so yo. It was a special enemy yo."

"So it dropped rare materials. Meaning without the Home's crafting tools, we might not have been able to process them?"

I shared what I'd learned about the turtle with the two of them.

By the way, the elf froze up and never came back, so we left her alone. Probably some kind of bug. Best not to poke at it.

"But how does it work that normal weapons don't affect Elementarions?"

"That's probably, you know yo, a justification for why only players can beat them yo. Otherwise, why wouldn't the locals just form squads to hunt them down yo?"

"Makes sense. If bosses got killed without player involvement, that'd be a buzzkill."

I see. Alto's gamer know-how always hit home.

"The lore explanation is probably something like, the Spirit-Possessed neutralize the protective field, letting damage go through yo! I dunno though."

"Then if I joined the hunt, would I be useful? Should I make bombs?"

"Hold on. Penpen, you're staying behind, remember? Though I do want you to make bombs if you can."

"Staying behind, huh. Then I need to go collect sea urchins in the forest."

… Sea urchins in a forest? Aren't those sea creatures? Well, I get that sea urchins explode, but still.

"Once we're ready, let's go hunt it. Penpen, prepare for the victory party… Ideally, I'm hoping Alto's ranged gunfire alone can take it down."

"Yo yo yo! Leave it to me yo! I'll show you my aiming skills yo!"

"But that Great Turtle won't go down that easily."

"Well yo, my job is to chip away at it until Tria gets in close yo… But hey, you don't mind if I finish it off, right yo?"

"Sure, if you actually can."

For today, we decided to help Penpen with preparations.

We'll save time by buying purchasable materials from shops. I'll cover the costs as expenses!

Oh, I want to buy shop-sold magic too. If I can learn healing magic, I'd like to. Having a medic on the front lines directly affects survival rates.

"… I learned Light Heal!"

"It's only first-aid level, but better than nothing yo. If things get dicey, hide behind cover and heal up yo."

Tria-chan couldn't learn Heal though. Grr. I'll give it to Penpen instead.

"Actually, how did Alto manage to learn Heal?"

"Because Alto-chan is smart yo! See, she's a merchant's daughter after all yo."

"So it's base parameters, huh. Come to think of it, since I've been leaving all the dismantling to Penpen, I haven't raised those stats at all… Maybe I should do some dismantling myself."

"Don't worry about it yo. Specialized builds are stronger in games yo."

"True."

If learning magic had any downsides besides the cost, it'd be better not to learn any at all. But in this game, regular magic is just like learning a new skill. It doesn't consume irreversible points like SP.

It's pure upside.

"Speaking of which, using magic in VR mode is surprisingly fun. Being able to actually cast spells yourself and all."

"Right yo. But let's conserve for now yo. Also, should we leave combat to auto-mode yo?"

"Hmm, yeah, that's the thing. Tria-chan actually has surprisingly good combat sense. But then I've got nothing to do."

"Come to think of it, we haven't talked with Tria-chan yet yo. Since we've got the chance, let's have them chat yo."

"We haven't tested what happens when you go auto-mode in VR either."

"Oh yo? Then I'll bring out Alto-chan too yo! It's a meet-up yo!"

"Your phrasing! Well, whatever. Switching to auto-mode… whoa?"

A floating sensation, followed by a feeling like my body was being turned inside out, and then I was floating behind Tria-chan's head.

"What's this, it's TPS perspective… Hey, Alto, can you hear me?"

"Um, so, Spirit-sama is asking if you can hear them."

"Yes. My Spirit-sama is asking if you can hear them too."

Tria-chan and Alto-chan were relaying our messages to each other.

Ah, so players can't hear each other's voices. I see… Or so I thought, but then I heard Alto-chan's voice saying 'Yo!' with my coworker's speech pattern.

"What!? What did you do, Alto!?"

"Th-they're asking what you did."

"Turn on friend chat yo!"

"She says to turn on friend chat?"

"Friend chat… this? Hey there."

"Ohh, I can hear you yo."

"Ah. It seems the Spirit-samas can now talk to each other?"

"It seems so."

It was like mind-to-mind speech. Or well, I guess we're halos right now. So maybe out-of-mind speech?.

"I can move my viewpoint freely, this is fun yo… Can we cast magic in this state yo?"

"I kinda want to try that. Don't think it'll work though."

"Alright, let's go to the magic shop's firing range yo!"

"Yeah!"

"… Ah, okay. Yes. Let's move."

"Alright, understood."

Oh, this is kind of a hassle. It's a bit easier since I'm not the one walking, but still.

So we headed to the firing range. There were targets and such, but apparently they'd prefer we not cast any large-scale magic.

We had them get into position. If we halos could cast magic, it should fire from the halo.

"Here goes, Thunder!"

"Ice Bolt yo!"

BZZT!! Lightning shot about 1 meter from Tria-chan's hand.

Meanwhile, Alto's Ice Bolt whooshed and flew straight to the target. From her hand.

"… Yeah, it came from the hand."

"But thinking about it in VR mode terms, why does it come from the hand yo? It should be able to come from anywhere yo."

"Hmm, so it's because we had our hands ready? Then let's have Tria-chan ready her foot."

"Huh, um, ready my foot???"

That was way too unreasonable a request. Let me switch off auto-mode for a sec…

"… If it shoots from the bottom of my foot, it might put a hole in my boots. Then how about this!"

"That's a knee strike yo."

"If I cast magic from my knee right when I strike, wouldn't that make a Thunder Kick or something?"

"O-oh, I see!"

"That would be cool yo."

"So, switching back!"

I switched to auto-mode again.

"Alright, I'll match the timing… whenever you're ready."

"O-okay. H-here I go!"

As she threw the knee strike, I cast Thunder — ooh! Lightning crackled from her knee and BZZBZBZBBZZT—

… The magic came from her knee, but it hit my hand and the numbness shot up to my head — meaning all the way up to me… N-numbbb. Didn't hurt though…!

"… Ah, Tria-chan, sorry about that. The experiment succeeded at least."

"I-it's, okay."

Tria-chan still looked tingly. Also, this VR mode has damage feedback, huh…

"Ah. But Tria, if magic came from your hand, wouldn't your gloves get holes yo? Since they don't, maybe it actually fires from a few centimeters away yo?"

"… Now that you mention it, maybe?"

I checked the hand guards, but there were no holes. Game-logic-wise, it'd be a problem if equipment got holes every time.

… So does that mean boots would be fine even if I fire from my feet?

Whether I can even fire from my feet… well, if I can fire from my knee, no reason I can't fire from my foot too.

"If it fails, we can have Penpen fix it yo! Better than testing in a real fight yo!"

"True. Alright, let's try it, Tria-chan!"

"O-okay, Spirit-sama!"

And so, we acquired our new special move: Thunder Kick.

It even seemed to deal a bit more damage than Enchant Thunder!

"… Next stage yo! What about a headbutt yo?"

"That's harsh… Let's do it, Tria-chan!"

"Yep! … I mean, yes!"

We also acquired Thunder Headbutt! Though it's more of a self-destructive move that shocks me if it's messed up.