Another morning for Yasaka Ruri.

In a certain room, a naked loli woke up from her sleep in her capsule pod.

After logging out of the game last night, she didn't bother going to her bed and just slept in the capsule pod as it is. Thanks to the massage chair in the capsule pod, sleeping there was more comfortable than going to bed.

"It's already morning?"

Ruri stretched her body to get rid of drowsiness. The bell on her ankle made a chiming sound whenever she moved her body. As her mind gradually stabilized, she tried to recall her dream while she was sleeping.

The continuation of the nude dreamworld where everyone doesn't wear clothes!

Ruri just chuckled remembering the dream. After all, about her being a perverted loli was nothing new.

Rather than that, she was more interested in her guildmates' replies to the information Hecate had posted last night. Without further ado, she deactivated the massage chair and then turned on her T-Bracelet.

And so, a few minutes later...

"As expected, Astrid and Leon-sama really gave me a lot of gifts. Moreover, they also compensated my reset stones."

Ruri smiled as she half-heartedly replied their posts. They were indeed nice people, giving her many gifts even though the information she gave was deceptive.

Black Phantom relied on buff-type skills? It is truly nonsense!

But with this, she was able to shift their vigilance of the Black Phantom towards his(?) non-existent weakness. She could imagine their despair when they realized that something like Dispel or Clearance did nothing to Black Phantom.

• • "Black Phantom! Now it's time for you to die! Everyone, do it now!!"
  • """DISPEL!""" ""''CLEARANCE!"""
    • "Hmph, is that it? Now it's my turn! CYCLONIC STORM!"
  • "Impossible!! It has no effect?! GYAAAAAAA!!!!"
    • "Foolish mongrels, do you really think those tricks you did is going to work against me?!"

Imagining that scene made Ruri's blood boil with excitement.

Though, that doesn't mean Black Phantom didn't have any weakness whatsoever. All the power that Black Phantom displayed up until now was due to the equipment that he(?) was wearing, not due to buff skills or items.

Therefore, the right strategy to defeat Black Phantom is to rely on Trickster's Divest-type skills.

♦♦♦

 

Trickster has a build that focused on Divest-type skills, which consisted of four skills.

Divest Weapon, Divest Headgear, Divest Armor, and Divest Accessory.

As the name suggests, this skill is used to strip an opponent's weapon, headgear, clothes, or accessories, and temporarily render them unable to wear it again for a certain period of time, with the chance of success and duration depending on the user's skill level and the difference in the stats of the parties involved.

And yes, clothes.

If they wanted to, with Divest Armor they can render their opponents down to their underwear, or naked (protected by the holy light if their Ethic Code was active) even in the daylight. 

There are even Tricksters who abuse this skill, which caused them to be called Stripters by the community.

Of course doing that in public would only increase Infamy and decrease Karma, so no one would do it inside the town. But still, occasionally there would be unscrupulous scum who like to strip others in the field outside the town. 

A truly perverted skill that causes a lot of hate from the female Players, and Natives!

In fact, this skill is also very dangerous for Black Phantom, because being stripped will not only mean her "pettan" chest will be exposed for the world to see, but also Black Phantom's true identity as Hecate will be revealed.

Thankfully, Hecate has enchanted Black Phantom's Cloak of the Fallen with Platinum Golem's Soul Essence beforehand. This grants the cloak with Indestructible Armor and Prevents Knockback effects, and also indirectly caused the cloak to be unstripable.

...or so the community said about precaution against the Stripters.

Now, even if someone were to use Divest Armor on Black Phantom, the cloak would remain intact.

But unfortunately, even if the cloak was intact, the same will not apply to other equipment, especially the mask and Elevator Shoes, which are still prone to the risk of identity leak.

Not to mention that the source of Black Phantom's strength was the wand and rings. If the wand and the rings were also stripped, then Black Phantom would really be powerless.

This was why she had to be so wary of Tricksters.

'Well, Trickster is really the most wretched Jobclass in Ascension.'

Though, ordinary Tricksters are not a threat for Hecate, since their combat power was basically low. Their stealth was also not as good as the Assassin class, because unlike them, the Tricksters don't seem to be able to erase their sounds and smells.

However, there is a capable Trickster who managed to reach level 100+ in the Genesis Guild, which was Grim.

He could erase his own sounds and smells by relying on his equipment, alchemy items, and his Werecat racial skills. Which means, he was the one that she had to pay attention the most.

Fortunately, it seems that Grim was not interested in the Divest build, and prefers the Plagiarize build instead.

That was understandable, because the latter was more versatile than the former, as he can copy skills and items with that build. Not to mention that the Divest build has so much negative reputation.

As one of the Genesis Guild's executive, Grim had to maintain his public image as well.

'But, I still need more insurance… I have to look for some Platinum Golem Soul Essence again later.'

Thinking about that, Ruri fell into a deep thought.

♦♦♦

 

Done with the forum, Ruri quickly finished her breakfast and showered before going back to the Capsule Pod.

She was about to login to the game, only to find there are one notification at the corner of the Capsule Pod's holo-screen interface. It was about the newest Capsule Pod's framework update patch that has been released just this morning.

Seeing this kind of notification, Ruri let out a frown.

The update itself wasn't so strange, because Gaia Corp sometimes releases update patches for the framework of their Capsule Pod. Usually they weren't that important and wouldn't interrupt Ruri for playing VR games, but now it was different. This time, she won't be able to play Ascension unless she installs this update.

"Oh well, this can't be helped..."

Having no other choice, Ruri could only choose the first option.

But she was also curious about what kind of update this would be, so she browsed the official Ascension website. And then she found some interesting information.

It seems that the framework updates that have been distributed publicly are different and based on the version of the Capsule Pod they purchased. The basic version has very minimal changes, while the executive version has the most adjustment that benefit the users, so it's clear that they are getting preferential treatment.

In exchange, of course the patch the executives had to download was of outrageous size. But, with Prioritized SSL Quantum Connection, their download speed is extremely fast, as fast as sitting on a rocket.

"Let's see... Security update, area update, new cash items..."

This time, there was a lot of updates that divided into separate pages, which Ruri clicked one by one.

Firstly, the security update section.

There are 10 long paragraphs that can be summarized into adjustment of pain control mechanism, forced logouts, and a lot of other complicated stuff.

The executive version includes the use of nutrient solution, deep sleep feature, life insurance, etc, etc...

"Hmm, it seems that by using the nutrient solution, I can exceed the 8-hours consecutive login limit."

Ruri glanced at the empty vial slots in the side.

Those slots were supposed to be filled with nutrient solution vials that must be purchased separately. This feature has been around for a long time, but it doesn't seem like there's a chance to use it yet, until today. It seems that Gaia Tech has prepared this for the perfected nutrient solution they have developed.

And looking at the price of their nutrient solution, a box of 5 vials costs about ¥50000, quite expensive.

"This is a great update, but I don't see the need for it. I wonder if they can be replaced with Elixir?"

Next is about the area update.

The area that was destroyed with Black Phantom's Mana Explosion had turned into a lake, and a new ecosystem had been formed. If one had the Water Diving skill, they could explore this lake. The official website didn't reveal anything further than this, but Ruri speculated that perhaps a new dungeon was born inside the lake as well.

Otherwise, why bother reporting this kind of trivial thing to their official site.

There were also some area changes taking place outside of the Rosenweil Kingdom, but they were far from Hecate's location so she didn't bother to read further.

"Well, maybe Emi will send an exploration team later. But I don't need to care."

Next is about the new cash items.

There are some item changes to the cash shop, and the purchasing list are divided based on the user's Capsule Pod version. As usual, the basic version does not have many items that can be purchased, while the executive version has the most choice of items.

"The cash items for this season, Adventurer's Survival Kit, Equipment Upgrade Box, Super Fertilizer X..."

Ruri only glanced at the list for a few seconds before closing the window.

There was no point of looking at the list since she couldn't do anything right now. Anyway, it would be better to see them later personally in the game.

She took a look at her Capsule Pod terminal once again.

The download itself has been over but there was still a lot of time to wait for the auto installation to complete. She decided to do other things before then.