Four hours of hiking and being carried through level 70+ monster territories later, we crested a mountain in the dark, finally able to see our destination: the second-tier city of Deuxor. Even from this distance, it was so well lit that I could make out a large open space near the center, surrounded by row upon row of stair-step seating. A stadium, or more likely, an arena.
Smaller but similar areas were dotted around the city as well, and every now and then a flash of light would come from one of the arenas, presumably the result of a spell being cast. However, it took us another two hours to descend the mountain and reach the city’s gates, by which point all Ram-Dam-Ash-Stick wanted to do was sit down and get off her feet.
“Rolf is at the main arena, hoping to meet up with us. Just a little bit farther, princess”
“Fine... but he’d better have something good for Gaia to make it worth the extra trip”
“Why me?”
“Rolf is a member of Aspirations we recently poached from Radiance, and just like you, his class is Deadeye, but he’s in 2nd place on the archer class leaderboards. If he’s got a spare skill book or bit of gear, it’d probably be for an archer like you”
“I see. I kinda want to compete against him then”
I forgot to say it then, but the competition I was talking about was a test of pure archery skill, not a 1v1 duel. This is important, because that’s not what they thought I meant, so when Stalwart messaged Rolf, that’s what he proposed and was agreed to without talking to me.
In other words, we arrived at the Deuxor Grand Arena and had maybe 5 minutes to rest before Rolf and I were called for our duel slot, the first I heard about it. Thankfully, the rules set did lower Rolf’s level to match mine, but his gear and library of skills were still far better than my own.
Even though he didn’t look like he was fully focused, I was trounced instantly. I managed to have one arrow hit his thigh, but he killed me with two shots to the side of my breast and then my back, and finally a third to the head. I respawned outside the ring in under a second, fully able to hear the laughter of the several hundred spectating players and NPCs, and Stalwart was by my side, asking if I would be willing to duel him as well.
“Fuck it, why not. But you’ve gotta give me an extra handicap, maybe don’t attack me for the first 20 seconds? You can still block and use defensive skills, but let me at least see what kinds of damage I can do”
“Sounds reasonable, but I can also attack if I drop below 50% HP, okay? I won’t use self-damage skills, nor will I heal with potions”
“Sure, let’s do it”
“I look forward to seeing what it’s like to face Momo’s little brother. He was the only swordsman player I ever struggled to beat at my level. I wonder if you might be able to become the second”
And so, about half an hour later, it was our turn. Stalwart and I went up onto the stage, and when the bell sounded, I rushed forward, activating all the skills I could stack in hopes of bursting him down.
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[-289]
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[-289]
“Holy shit! How much defense and damage reduction do you have?”
“For physical damage, 108% passive reduction, plus up to an extra 240% from active skills. You just knocked me below half HP now, so I’ll be attacking. Be ready”
For the record, all nine of those hits were while I was comboing Luna and Frost Slash, and even Wild Charge for good measure. Even with all of those, regardless of if I hit his armor or his shield, no damage went through besides the damage from Legendary Battle Technique.
[-453]
| Dragoon’s Bikini Armor (top half) has dropped below 50% durability. Protective effect bonus disabled. |
One hit. One swing of his greatsword was enough to send me flying, obliterate most of my HP and drop my armor, which had been at a little bit under 8000 durability after being hit by Rolf’s arrows twice, down to about 4200. It could withstand one more hit, that's it. My HP couldn’t, but if I blocked it with my swords I might be able to survive from full HP again. So, I chugged a potion and charged back in.
Ducking under his first swing, I carefully timed my attacks, activating Sol and Flame Slash right before my third hit, making sure it’d be with the Sun Sword. The heal from that, even just with the fixed damage, was enough to top up my HP, just in time for the next hit.
[-507]
| Dragoon’s Bikini Armor (top half) has reached 0 durability. Item destroyed, remnant material returned to inventory. |
Even with my sword in between, the damage was enough to drop me to single-digit HP as I was sent flying, probably due to the loss of the armor’s bonus protection above half durability. It was also enough to destroy the armor, or rather it was enough to turn it into a material that could be reforged into the same armor by a skilled smith. The problem with it being destroyed was not so much that I could no longer use it, but mostly that I was no longer covered by it, my torso fully exposed to the hundreds of pairs of eyes in the audience as I bounced and rolled along the arena’s floor.
“What the hell...”
“That’s gonna be expensive to repair”
“First off, what happened to your armor. Second, why aren’t you censored? Third, do you not want to cover up?”
I cracked my neck before running up to Stalwart, just wanting to get the match over with one way or the other. If he hit me, so be it. But given that three instances of fixed damage was enough to drop him below half, I figured that two more might be enough to get the kill, and I’d already gotten one a few moments before. So, while hitting him, I tried distracting him with my words as well as my body - a tactic I felt no shame in employing, considering what Momo had taught me - Anything can be a weapon, and any effective weapon is a valid one in a real fight. Pride and shame are things to consider after you have secured victory.
“First, it has durability, and you broke it. Second, because I’m not female despite this prank from the sadistem. Third, why would I? It’s evidently helping me right now”
It very much was, he was trying not to look at me, covering his face with his sword arm while half turned away from me. I felt like about a third of the audience probably did the same, while the remainder paid more attention to this fight than almost any they’d watched before, though not because the fight itself was good.
Two more swings of my swords allowed me to prepare my fixed damage proc, and then I stabbed his knee with the Moon Sword, the Sun Sword poised to strike once more should it be needed. Thankfully, it wasn’t, and as Stalwart faded away into a mess of pixels, I found myself teleported to the edge of the arena, where RDAS was ready with a sheet to cover me.
“Seriously, Gaia, you have to consider where you are and who can see what you lay bare!”
“It’s not that big of a deal, guys go topless all the time, look at that guy over there”
“Don’t sell yourself short, they are a huge deal, way bigger than mine. Modesty is modesty, regardless of who the boobs are on”
Not the kind of big I was talking about, but okay.
“Fine... got anything to replace it, since your guildmate broke my armor?”
“Wait, broke? You didn’t just take it off?”
“Nope. It was one of those rarely seen items that have durability”
“Fuuuuucccckkkk... alright, let’s see... only thing I’ve got on me that’s even potentially comparable to an epic that you could use is this”
She pulled out a simple black sleeveless shirt and handed it to me, surprising me since I was expecting, you know, some armor. But turns out, it is armor, just a joke item in general.
|
[Plot Armor] - Unique Weight: Negligible Class modifiers: none Physical defensive strength: Varies Additional effects: Protection extends to entire torso and shoulders, not just covered areas Shape changes to fit the user Stat bonuses: HP +10% Unique quests: Quest 1: (incomplete) Quest 2: (incomplete) Quest 3: (incomplete) Quest 4: (incomplete) Remarks: "Surveys show that the best 'plot' is one that irresistibly draws you in. Does your 'plot' have a gravitational attraction? If so, this is the 'armor' for you!" |
It looked pretty normal, though the front had the word PLOT written on the front in big bold red letters. When I put it on, however, I realized how wrong I was. It’s not normal, it’s perhaps even more embarrassing than the bikini armor. The shirt did expand to fit, but most of that expansion was in the length of the shoulder straps and the size of the various openings, meaning the U-shaped neckline and the arm holes plunged down well below the limit for any normal sense of modesty, exposing the entirety of my cleavage and most of the sides of my breasts as well. The only side that was still covered was the underside, but you could still see a fair bit of that from the sides through the arm holes. At least the tips were covered... and it’s damn comfortable.
I tried moving around in it, and it moved with me, not constraining my movements at all while keeping me from being thrown off balance as much, it didn’t uncomfortably rub or chafe anywhere, and it was almost as smooth as silk. To think there was armor that worked this well... though the design was questionable, I was almost willing to put up with it for that alone, considering how uncomfortable the other breastplates I’d tried were.
Almost.
Then I looked at the stats of it again, this time while I was wearing it.
|
[Plot Armor] - Unique Physical defensive strength: High |
“Oh. That changes things”
It really does change things. Sure, I can’t hide it in favor of normal clothing or cover it with other armor, but it having high defensive strength on both sides is huge, that’s a higher average than any of my other armor besides the bikini armor when above half durability. And it goes up to very high defense on both sides after completing the second quest, making it perhaps even superior to the bikini armor.
“Given your bust, I’m gonna guess it’s providing moderate defense? Mine are a bit smaller than your grapefruits, and I was getting low defense, it’s pretty bad all things considered”
“It skipped right over moderate and jumped to high for me. A true gamer will sacrifice aesthetics for stats, and I bet this has the best stats I’m gonna find on anything short of relic gear”
“Mythic might do just as well, but I understand the sentiment. If you’re satisfied, feel free to keep it, it’s pretty cheap and one of the most common unique rarity items in the game. Most people treat it as a joke... a girl would need bigger melons than your friend over there to get high defense, guess the average bust size you’re compared to is limited to those of the same sex?”
That makes sense. Like, it definitely feels like the devs are now leaning more towards that targeted perv side than the general pervs I’d hoped they were, but... in this case, it helps me, and I’ll take it. As long as it doesn’t become more skimpy as the unique quests progress.
“Ehh, uhm... your name’s Gaia, right?”
“Oh, Rolf. Yeah, you could just look up a bit, my name’s above my head you know”
Rolf had come over, his eyes fixed to the floor. When I said that, he glanced up and immediately looked down again, his face flushed red... oh. The last match might’ve been a bit too stimulating for such a young boy, he looked like he was around twelve or thirteen years old.
So, of course, I decided to mess with him.
“Hey, my eyes are up here”
“Ah! Sorry ma’am!”
“It’s fine, but you might have to pay for this...”
“I didn’t mean to look! Though... they were really pretty- ah, I’m sorry, it’s just that-”
“No, no. You’re not having to pay for looking. Look all you want, I can even show you more if you want. No, you need to pay for making us walk all the way here instead of coming to us when we arrived and just wanted to get off our aching feet”
“Oh. Uhh...”
Rolf’s eyes began rapidly shifting up and down, his blush deepening, something which RDAS noticed and quickly tried to put a stop to.
“Gaia, don’t mess with the kiddo. And it looks like introductions are in order. Gaia, this is Rolf. He was the second player to get the Deadeye class and the second ranked archer in the game, and we recently poached him from the Radiance guild. Rolf, this is Gaia, Momo’s little brother. He’s not joining our guild right now, but he might later on, and he’s a Deadeye like you, but also a Bladelord like Momo”
“Wait, brother? You’re a dude?”
“Yep. Long story. But it’s how I know exactly what you’re feeling, I was a pubescent boy myself just half a decade ago. But my offer still stands, if you ever want”
With misunderstandings mostly cleared up, his face went from bright red to just a bit rosy... and his eyes were fully focused on what was at his eye level, no longer looking up at my face. Oh well. I can’t exactly fault him for that.
“So, what do you have to compensate us for the extra hassle? I was thinking you’d give Gaia some archer goodies, he’s just starting out so his gear is kinda shit and he has pretty much no active skills that work with a bow”
“Correction: I have exactly one, and it’s part of my bow”
“Hmm... Ah! I have the perfect one for you! It’s not in my inventory right now, but I can grab it from the vault”
His excitement was palpable, and without a second thought he raced out of the arena, disappearing into the night. RDAS looked like she had more to say, but just silently closed her mouth and shrugged.
“He’ll be back in a few minutes, until then, let’s sit down, ‘kay?”
