Weeaboo Vol. 2 Chap. 80 The End of the Beginning (Patreon)

Congratulations! You have successfully acquired the Verton/Wastet Ruin Site. Mercenary Guild Unlocked. Merchant Guild Unlocked. Caravan System Unlocked. Monster Suppression System Unlocked. Special Recruitment Banner Unlocked. Genudian specialty weapons, equipment, armor and outfits now available for purchase. 

City Hero Bonus- No Civilian Casualties in Verton. REWARD- 5 Rare Resource Chests, 10 Cutthroat Clothiers Receipts, 4 Frozen Diamonds, 300 Resonance Crystals and 1 Clarion Iridescent Crystal.

Military Genius Bonus- Prevent Hosk or Wastet from establishing a secure landing point or a fort. 100 Weapon Upgrade Packs, 100 Armor Upgrade Packs, 2 Sky Eye Charms.

Smiling Villain Bonus- Earn the trust of the Mayor, Truso, Pastet and Mr. Bacciato, betray them and seize the city for yourself. Darkhaven Emissary Costume Unlocked. See Hattie for the matching hat!

Mercenary Contractor Bonus- Recruit over 200 Mercenaries and keep 80% of them alive. Permanent 10% Discount on all Genuda Mercenary Recruitment Costs, Special Recruitment Banner Permanently Unlocked.

Merciless- Even after discovering the truth behind Hosk’s assault on Verton, you killed them all. No access to Hosk units, resources and costumes. Permanent +10% Bonus to Sky Realm Happiness, +20% Bonus to Trade Frequency, +20% Bonus to Diplomatic Relations.

The victory message was a lot to unpack. It absolutely demolished the amount of rewards we earned at Gradden March and Hidden Moon Mountain, for one thing. Though I could see an argument there- Gradden March was the tutorial Ruin Site that we were expected to beat so the Sky Realm would unlock. And my genius gamer instincts lead to a game breaking glitch on Hidden Moon Mountain. One that needed the devs to step in and patch it. Understandable that the rewards would be limited. 

The Genudan mercs were lining up to stab, shoot or kick the dead boss monster. Usually it would vanish once someone looted it, but Mika and Othai were keeping well away. They wanted their people to celebrate, no matter how much or little of this they wound up remembering.

Stupid to say, but now that it was dead, I had oddly fond feelings for the monster. After all the psychological warfare, all the games, the traitors, the tricks, it was a big dumb monster charging around the map with multiple health bars and multiple transformations. It was just so damn pure, you know? 

I’d bet the boss was also the reason the map was so huge. I could imagine a scenario where things  devolved into a running battle, forcing the attacking Tower Masters to slowly retreat as they bled out the defenders. Then the boss monster would come crashing through their lines, spreading death as he went.

Not this time. This time, I rocked up with double artillery and pretty much all the mercs. Interesting that the Six Stars were more an indirect key to the victory. Othai commanding rather than dealing damage with her Halberd, Versai keeping my jersey clean and finishing off the enemy cavalry which freed up the infantry and the ranged units to be more mobile. 

I’m just going to ignore the fact that the scout cav punked me. Anyone would have thought they were going for a heroic, desperate charge. Anyone! 

Memo to self. Oppress the cavalry at first opportunity. 

Moving along.

“Loot the monsters as soon as everyone has had a chance to vent.”

“That might take some time, Tower Master.”

“I’m not rushing them. Well, I am a little bit. Let’s tidy  up the non-boss monsters at least.”

“Yes, Tower Master.” 

No use staying on this map any longer than necessary. Still. They had earned their time. In the end, the boss monster was looted by Mika at my request. It seemed fitting. 

I fiddled with my new toy as I reclined on my dread throne of plush microfiber. The Dyn Hunlief had dropped a crown. 

Tower Master’s Arsenal: The Bloodstained Crown (Uncommon)

Usable exclusively by the Tower Master. Some crowns pass peacefully from hand to hand. This one doesn’t. This is the crown of the peasant that toppled one dynasty and started another. The crown of a son tired of waiting, or a brother who thought the wrong son inherited. Some driven by greed, some in self defense, and a rare few actually think they are protecting their subjects. But whatever their motives, everyone seeing the crown must carefully weigh the cost of crossing its wearer. 

Taxation, trading and territorial negotiations are all conducted with the Tower Master enjoying a small advantage.

Potentially useful, promising sounding, yet vague. Now… did I want to swap my Cavalier hat which gave bonuses to my draw chances, or did I want to plop on the crown, or did I want to go see Hattie about the hat that goes with my new costume?

Should I try on the costume? It would be nice to see the new drip. Darkhaven Emissary Costume practically screamed spiked shoulder pads or a cape. Yeah, let's give that a try.

I equipped it from my inventory. “Oh my god. It’s so much better than I could have imagined!”

Gone was the slip dress/tunic. Gone were the pointy slipper-shoes. Gone too were the tights. In their place was an elegant black suit with military details, gold braid at the shoulder, a discreet medal on one chest, and yes, a quarter cape. There were also, glory be, real shoes. Not crocs. Not a hint of foam. But there was a real sole and a real heel to them. I was prepared to cherish them completely. 

I looked down at my body, trying to categorize what I was seeing. There was gold braid, a medal, and a pretty slim fit to it all, but I don’t think Military is the ultimate aesthetic. I’d say it was more dark academic. Not quite vampire chic, but definitely leaning towards quilted sofas, brass reading lights and dark wood shelves holding musty old hardbacks. 

Downside- boring books. Upside- High chance of Waifus in corsets and tall boots. On balance, I’d take it. Besides, it meant I didn’t have to wear the tunic and tights anymore.

My new crown was a simple gold band with spikey bits rising about four inches out of it. Pretty basic as crowns went, even if the dark red smudges on it gave it a certain air. I wore it and stowed the cavalier hat. The crown definitely finished the look a lot better. 

“Alright, having completed the serious business of the day, let’s take a look at the trivialities.” I reached for the bell, then paused. Did I really want to talk to the council before investigating all the new additions? Seeing who I could draw with all my new crystals? Finding out about this banner?

I did not.

I rushed down the stairs to the floor with the summoning pool. It shouldn’t have been a surprise to see that there was now a banner hanging proudly, covered with bright pictures. The ceiling here was stupidly high, like a medieval cathedral high. I squinted, trying to see what the banner was about.

THE GOD DAMN BANNER ZOOMED IN. It flew down and got directly in my face when I stared at it. I don’t even-

The banner itself was somewhat comforting in its familiarity. Front and center was a picture of Othai, in a considerably more blinged out costume than she currently wore, imperiously directing attractively posed waifus with her thrusting halberd. 

It was a good picture. I forget sometimes that all my Awakened are at least pretty, and some are downright beautiful. Leaving aside the middle schooler medics at any rate, and someone is for-sure going to the boiler room of hell for that game inclusion.

The Unbroken Band- Genuda’s elite defense force is now yours to recruit for a limited time! Banner available until- PERMANENT. 

I stared at it for a while. “To all my Six Stars, have you ever been in a situation where there were two of you? Like, two of you summoned by a single Tower Master?”

There was a chorus of “No’s” attached to their usual barks. They were scattered all over, but the Tower made sure we could hear each other. 

It was good to know, at any rate. So, no additional Six Star I could draw for here, and as far as I knew, all the Genuda Defense Force characters other than her were One-Stars, but stackable. So… roll to complete sets? I guess?

I checked the price. Unsurprisingly, it was a hundred resonance crystals per pull, or use an iridescent clarion crystal for a chance at pulling Othai, but a considerably larger chance of pulling some rando Six-Star. Nothing too crazy. Except there was a wee little flapping edge to the banner, covered in a faint blue. 

I focused on it. The banner scrolled over, revealing the same waifus in a slightly different, more attractive, pose. Same text too. Only… you could mass pull. Ten pulls for twenty Frozen Diamonds.

Now wasn’t that interesting. Especially since Pastet’s quest reward included exactly twenty Frozen Diamonds! Ah, the old “Give them premium currency then immediately make them spend it” trick. A classic. An absolute classic. Which I am going to fall for, obviously. I need as many of them as I can get, because the stacking effect is really powerful. Five Mikas led by Corporal Mika is not remotely the same thing as just one Mika more powerful than a four Mika block. 

Now, the victory banner did specify that the Mercenary Guild was unlocked, but I’d bet cash it was like the one Truso operated in Verton. Hell, it probably was exactly the one Truso operated in Verton. I could already recruit and train soldiers inside my Sky Realm, but they couldn’t come out and fight. So the Mercenary Guild was unlikely to help in the nightly waves. 

The multi-pull option was less useful than it seemed. The runed bone exploit could fly under the radar because the devs didn’t care about it. It didn’t impact their bottom line hardly at all. But there flat out wouldn’t be a Frozen Diamond econ exploit in the game, and if there was, I wouldn’t dare to use it. 

Premium currency sales are the daily bread of gacha developers. Scamming premium currency would just get your account banned. I didn’t want to find out what would happen if this account got banned. I’m quite sure it wouldn’t involve me going home with all my now-fully-sentient Awakened and a thoughtful apology gift basket.

The problem was, well, one of many problems was that I just couldn’t get the numbers to work. Like, leaving aside all the other characters there, it would cost a minimum of five hundred resonance crystals or twenty frozen diamonds to pull a squad of that scout cav, assuming I got lucky and they weren’t all different characters. The game wasn’t terribly stingy with the crystals, but it wasn’t that generous either. 

I exhaled firmly. I would figure this out. This didn’t have to be solved right this second. I kept staring at the banner anyway. Something was tickling my mind, and I wasn’t sure what it was. Something I was just looking at. I knew it wasn’t an econ exploit, so what the hell was it? 

My hat? 

I checked the options on my cavalier hat again. 

Cavalier Hat- Provides a +5% chance of Summoning Ranged Direct Damage and Sniper Awakened Souls below the Five Star Level. Increases the Star Level of any Awakened Soul Ranged Direct Damage and Sniper by one, up to Five Star.

Mika was direct damage. And the uniforms didn’t raise her star level either, they just gave her more autonomy and the ability to lead a squad. But the hat option forcibly raised the unit rank by one star. Not a percentage chance. Directly raised the level. Now, I’m sure the devs thought that this was limited in effect, because I was drawing on a pool of who knows how many hundreds or thousands of Awakened. But what if I was drawing from a banner?

There were five faces on the banner. Othai, the lone Six Star, then Mika, Dora and two cuties who I had to assume were Lupa and Cara. That would make one the scout cav, and the other the musketeer. I guess there was a slight chance of one of them being a three hander or an ancient, but I bet not. Those weren’t squad based units. Pikes, crossbows, muskets and cavalry were. 

I had a fifty-five percent chance of pulling a ranged direct damage unit and forcibly raising its level by one star. It’s not even an exploit. It’s just a strat. One that is completely within the design parameters of the game. So what would happen if you made a squad of two star Mikas together with a Corporal Mika? 

I really wanted to find out. 

There were more and more things to spend frozen diamonds on. Useful things. Necessary things, probably. Haven’t even checked on most of what I just won. Haven’t even checked with Hattie about my new hat. But damn, that marshmallow is too good to pass up for a possible future two marshmallows. I mean, what if the game doesn’t deliver? 

The summoning pool glowed with a white, misty light as soft Ooohhhhaaaaaooo music played. Tasteful. Restrained. And from out of the mist marched ten Awakened. Two Doras, two faces I didn’t recognize (one of which was duplicated) and blessings upon blessings, five Mikas. 

“Genuda Forever.” I breathed.

“DEATH TO TRAITORS!” They yelled back. 

“One step ahead of you there.” I picked a Mika at random and gave her a Corporal Mika costume. She transformed from a bewildered College freshman shoved to the front line to a hard eyed veteran who had killed more monsters than she had eaten hot breakfasts. 

“Corporal Mika, report! What exactly is the difference between a one star and a two star Mika in terms of abilities?”

“Absolutely nothing, Tower Master.”

I swear I felt my non-existent heart stop. “Nothing?”

“Yep. Nothing. We do the exact same things.”

“There is no difference between a One Star and a Two Star Mika?”

She smiled at me, and all of a sudden I wondered if she had ever been a schoolyard bully. It was the exact smile the thugs have when they tell the nerdy classmate to jump for them in mangas. “I didn’t say that. We do exactly what the One Stars do. We just do it twenty percent better across the board. Health, shield, damage, range.” 

The smile deepened. We were now into “Is that your girlfriend?” levels of bully smile. “Firing rate. And since I know you will ask, that includes Tower Wall too. We can use it twenty percent more often, with twenty percent less side effects, for twenty percent more damage on each of the twenty percent more bolts that we can fire for twenty percent longer.”

Money well spent. Money very damn well spent. 

Later that… day. I want to say evening, but it wasn’t. It was just later in the day. Damn the Devs and their hellish works. I went into my Sky Realm. For some reason I was putting off exploring it. I just didn’t want to. Too much to think about, too much to process. The new troops were a fantastic pickup, and I hadn’t even used my resonance crystals, or the iridescent clarion crystal, or opened any of the resource packs or any of the rest. 

It was all wonderful, but it didn’t progress the one thing I really, really needed. To see behind the curtain. To plot my escape from this world in a box. So I had to go see my chief researcher.

“Your dad around?”

“You know he is. You look like an idiot wearing that crown. It’s filthy.”

“Seems suitable to me. Where are your brothers?”

“Out.” 

“Thank heaven for small favors, I guess.” I followed the heavy thuds past the bar and down the dark, rickety stairs into the basement. There was a dreadful shape moving in the shadows. Enormous hands and arms flickering in the light filtering in between the floorboards, slamming into the heavy bag and not making it sway an inch.

Had the ripples gotten bigger? More intense? I couldn’t tell. “How goes it?”

“Passing well.” Jim didn’t shift his pace or focus for even a second. “People have the great good sense to leave me alone.” Unsubtle, but whatever.

“What can I do to help?”

“What?” He stopped and gave me a look. 

“What can I do to help? Can you think of anything that would be useful? Even if I don’t have it, I can look for it or try to make it.”

“The nice thing about punching is, you don’t need anything. I don’t even need the bag. I just like the privacy.” 

I let out a long exhale. “Alright. If that changes, tell me. Or get Sebastian to, whichever.”

I didn’t say goodbye, just walked out. The thuds picked up right where they had left off. About a quarter inch from the side of the bag.

“Ah, how wonderful to see you out and about in your dominion, my Lord. Even if if it is to visit the monster in the basement.” Sebastian materialized next to me. He was the only person I knew who was better at concealment than Rikka. I think he actually had a limited invisibility. For a while I had wondered if there wasn’t a limited teleportation in there too.

“You have been chatting with the Innkeeper from Hungry Moon Mountain, right?”

“Indeed. A most congenial man. Though I must say the new additions to your realm are certainly capable.” The old man’s smile would have fooled anyone who didn’t know him. I knew him. 

“I’ll check up on them in a minute. But since you are here, let’s talk about what really needs to be going on.” I waved my hand at my busy city. 

The capital area of my Sky Realm was now some amalgam of Verton and Gradden March. I’d have to get on a wall or look at my realm monitor to see the whole picture, but it was clear the size of the realm had increased by at least a third. Which was insane when you considered an entire mountain was already in the map. 

“We should have enough to create a stable economy. Tack on my shiny new merchant guild-” I waved the charter, “and the mercenary system, plus the Monster Suppression System, whatever that is, and we should be on very solid footing here in the Sky Realm. Plus you now have a selection of very able assistants, regardless of whether they are given official cabinet positions or not.”

“A remarkable improvement in affairs, my Lord.” His flattering was just unctuous enough to land on the line between sincere and patronizing. 

Sebastian was a damn handful. I wanted to throw him in a room with Hattie and see what would happen. My bet was either a multidimensional explosion or there would be a dozen gotee’ed hands running around in nine months. 

“Yeah, woo. Anyway. You were already pushing the limits of this world when you were trapped in your prison. Jim is still pushing ‘em. I saw the world break up on Hidden Moon Mountain, though it got fixed immediately afterward. Didn’t see anything like that in Verton, but now we have a Convoy system, and merchants mean communication. Actually, we have several potential routes of communication to other worlds. Other Towers and other Tower Masters.”

“I begin to see. A jailbreak. And to achieve that, we must research on our own and develop information networks.” He stroked his goatee. 

“Something quite a few people here have experience with.”

“Just so. And I may have something to offer already.”

“Oh?”

“The Purified Moon Forged Mithril, my Lord. We can’t seem to make it work well with anything.”

“Wait, really? It’s listed as a rare resource. If it’s got stats, you can use it. Or kill it, I guess.”

“How droll. One day I shall laugh most heartily. If I may continue, my Lord? The mithril can be mixed with other metals and remain stable, and it can be refined to its utmost purity and kept sealed in a glass vessel. But if you add other substances to the purified metal-”

He pulled out a little vial and sprinkled some moon-white powder on something unspeakable in the gutter. The powder seemed to fall too fast, like gravity was pulling it harder than it ought to have. I crouched down and watched carefully. It took a moment, but I figured it out. It wasn’t dissolving the upsettingly biological sample in the gutter. It was shimmering the air around it, and little bits and pieces were vanishing.

“Damn. Damn! Three cheers for rushed cash grab industry collaborations. We are either missing something incredibly fundamental about how this stuff is supposed to be used, or they just never coded it right.” 

“I wouldn’t know about any of that, my Lord.”

I waved him off. It could be both, after all. “This is an excellent start. An excellent start. No, actually,” I smiled, and this time I was the one with the villainous grin “It is the end of the beginning. 

[End of Vol. 3. No, not 2, this really should have been two volumes. I’m going to post something about it tomorrow. For now, I’m going to rest.]