I woke up invigorated today.
Yesterday’s meeting with Ophelia gave me motivation to move forward not by walking, but instead running.
I decided to start training from today on.
…After classes, of course…
.
.
Life of a student is hard.
It’s actually my first time living through it.
I’m a bit excited.
Today we have 3 periods, all of which are boring theory.
I even dozed off a bit… on all three of them.
Teachers didn’t like it.
They forced me to answer some stupid questions.
I didn’t even think, I can tell you answers to all the major exams in order or even in reverse.
They were surprised at my knowledge, everyone was, but that didn’t matter in the slightest.
Apart from minor surprise, that was it.
Roland was known for his lunacy and prowess. Both in theory and practice.
So nothing will change.
.
.
I hope practical lessons will be at least a bit more fun.
.
In between classes, I went to have lunch with Lilian.
Nothing new there.
.
.
And now… Let’s proceed with today’s circus performance.
“Cien!”
She was alone today.
On the pretense of doing her club activities, she takes some rest here, by herself.
“You again?”
We were in the garden.
She was a part of a gardening club… as well as 2 others.
“I’ve come to help!”
“As if. Begone. You’re not a part of the club.”
She was the head, so she knows it well.
Her strategy on maintaining the club is simple.
No one from the same year is allowed in.
It’s so she can have some time to herself, as different years have different schedules, so it’s virtually impossible to bring everyone together.
“The garden is only maintained by the club, it doesn’t belong to it.”
I pointed it out as if it wasn’t something she knew.
“And? I can ask you to leave regardless. Your presence is unwelcomed.”
Quite an attitude.
“Haha, don’t be like that, I can be helpful. I know my way around the garden now! I learned just for you!”
…Knowing gardening for increasing Ophelia’s affection is almost a requirement… but I knew it even before my gaming days.
“Tsk. What a waste of time that was. Your hands can do nothing but hold your puny spear.”
“...So how can I help?”
I was smiling.
You can’t offend me by insulting Roland.
I’m not Roland.
“Hah~, you know what?”
Finally, some advancement.
It’s actually quite a good way to increase your affection with Cien.
Gardening is something she is passionate about.
“It’s true that the garden is public property.”
“Hm?”
I watched her take a step my way.
“But there is a case where it’s possible to kick someone out.”
“Hm??”
What are you doing?
*Stomp* *Crush*
She’s destroying her flowers?
What? Why!?
“Oh Goodness! What are you doing!”
“Cien? Your flowers!”
Is she really-?
“Shut up! Leave before I call the guards!”
Even though there weren’t any people here… someone definitely heard that.
“...”
I was left speechless.
Cien I knew… would never do this.
“I’m sorry… I will leave.”
She cares for flowers more than some humans.
Yet…
“Finally, some peace and quiet.”
Is this how much she hated Roland?
.
.
I left.
Today’s interaction with Cien was brief, but as anticlimactic as usual. The cult won’t suspect anything if I keep interacting with them at least once a day, so this is enough.
.
I was a bit perplexed after my encounter with Cien, but my body would not train itself.
The location I went to for training was pretty far away, however it was an important location for me, and there’s at least two reasons for that.
On my way there a wave of memories came rushing… sent shivers down my spine.
I won’t need to train as hard, not even to save the world.
This body is strong.
Stronger than anyone in my previous world.
I can cut trees with one swing of my spear, jump trice my height, and run without stopping for at least 3 hours at the speed of a leopard.
Yet… Damn… I didn’t really notice, but… How am I this fat?
No, calling this fat is wrong, but…
My current body is that of a man in his 20's who enjoyed being outside, but didn’t train, with a bit of belly fat. I know Roland trained a lot, though…
It doesn’t even compare to cancer patient’s…
Ah, that doesn’t matter, what are looks when compared to a healthy body?
Let’s begin.
.
.
At first, I was a bit confused as what to do.
But as soon as I picked up the spear my body reacted.
I may not have access to all of Roland’s memories, but this I do remember.
*Swoosh*
A simple swing.
*Swoosh*
Another diagonally.
My feet moved carefully, yet precisely.
*Swoosh*
The trajectory of my spear was steady.
Not something my old self could’ve done with a spear.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
I know how hard it is to get to this point.
He was indeed proficient.
.
.
What I practiced was spearmanship of Roland’s.
I do not know if he made it up himself or saw it somewhere, or whatever.
But what I do know is that he has yet to master it.
Any kind of weapon art is just a training method to make you familiar with the weapon and embed you with some habits and moves.
Actually quite similar to my previous world…
But in this one, the training itself is more akin to a dance.
I think I could even perform for royalty and clergy if I need some extra money.
What are the effects of such training?
My whole body tingles, although I wasn’t out of breath.
I doubt I will ever need more stamina than this, considering there are spells, and better yet Stamina Potions, also known as Health Potions, or in this world’s terms Holy Water.
The degree of distillation decides the price, but you don’t need much for just stamina.
Quite affordable, and with no drawbacks.
Though you can’t really afford to drink anything in the middle of a battle.
…If you’re not abusing mob patterns that is.
.
According to the amount of moves Roland mastered, it’s 60% mastered.
Just 110 moves in the whole dance.
My body couldn’t yet handle the precise movement of those after the 66th move.
…I’m quite surprised he managed to even remember all 110 of them.
After repeating it for a few dozen times, I stopped.
It took just an hour to complete this workout.
A whole-body workout in merely an hour?
I did 6 hour workouts before… twice a day.
This is the best!
.
.
.
At the end of the day, I understood that I had quite a few hours before I needed to sleep.
So I decided to start my plan a bit ahead of schedule.
.
.
How do you get stronger?
Training is good.
Knowledge is even better.
I had both now.
There are only two things remaining.
Allies and equipment.
The former is out of the question.
Even in the game you couldn’t get teammates with no consequences easily.
And now that I’m a part of the cult?
Hell no.
Besides, I would need to share.
I’m quite a kleptomaniac when it comes to items.
Especially in this game.
When everything can come in handy.
So I made a plan.
It’s a plan that got me the most amount of items in the shortest possible time.
It got me through 7 playthroughs.
Though I did lose quite a few items, as I started in the second year…
But that shouldn’t matter much.
First thing that I do on my every playthrough.
The Novice Tower.
It doesn’t actually have a name.
Only those having an effect on the game world do, and those are in minority… and not something I can handle right now.
After just an hour of running, I found the stone that serves as the entrance.
All Towers are “hidden”.
It was never explained.
All the player finds out is that they were created by either the archangels or the higher-ups in the demonic society, those from the Pandemonium.
And you can’t really guess who correctly.
Not that it matters.
They give you a challenge and you get rewards.
Game stuff, good stuff, no real need to dwell on it.
To enter this one you simply need to place a mark, a tally mark.
You can enter up to ten times, each time getting up to ten rewards.
100 floors.
Time also flows slower inside.
Nothing too ridiculous for this one though, just 2 to 1.
2 hours there, 1 hour here.
Usually combat, sometimes puzzles.
Now~.
I used my spear to place a new tally mark, it’s 31nd one on the rock.
Exactly 6 completed tally marks… and two more were on the rock?
.
.
What?
.
How come there’s two more? That’s never happened before? I don’t like this.
Nonono, wait, this is not your regular run Michael, no need for worrying.
Besides.
I basically never came here after the first year.
There’s a good chance someone found this tower during the summer.
Right…
But why two times?
How did he know he could return?
Luck? Curiosity?
And why _just two times?
…Did he die inside?
My palms started to sweat.
.
And my mind started racing.
.
Will my rewards even be the same?
Can I… even complete it on my first try?
The reason it is called a Novice Tower is not because of its difficulty.
It’s because it scales from your power.
More precisely your Power Level.
…
“...status window.”
___
Name: Roland Miangelli (Michael)
Alignment: Neutral
Power Level: 31
…
Have I… ever gone in with such a high Power Level?
.
.
Never.
.
But I won’t let it stop me.
This anxiety is something I used to feel often.
In the end… it’s just as Brother told me once.
.
“There is nothing you can’t overcome. Not anymore.”
.
Those dreadful words made my life a living nightmare… and made me feel alive again.
So it is time.
Time to feel alive again.
*Slash*
And to struggle.
.
.
.
I woke up standing in a dark room.
Before me was a message.
[Welcome challenger!]
Usual.
[Defeat the foe to claim the prize!]
Combat, good start.
Torches appeared in the edges of the room.
Stone flooring, stone walls, stone ceiling.
Damn.
Shadow Reflection.
And it appeared.
A man made of shadows.
It’s a mere copy of whoever perished in this place.
…Maybe that poor soul.
My knowledge won’t work on this one.
It’s rare to meet him, so even I encountered it just a dozen times… among my nearly thousand clears of the tower.
But that doesn’t matter.
Combat is not something new to me.
Not to Roland… and not to me either.
Let’s begin.
.
.
*Swoosh*
He lunged at me with two daggers.
Unfortunate weapon… for him.
My feet in position, steady.
Each moment felt like eternity, yet fast as ever.
My eyes are not yet on par with my mind.
Doesn’t matter.
My spear ready…
*Swing*
As if predicting where he’ll be I swung my spear at his shoulder, forcing him to dodge.
Quickly retract, now lunge myself.
*Swoosh*
Use the momentum to stab with the maximum force.
Hit!
His arm is hurt, retreat.
*Tap* *Tap*
He lost balance!
*Swing*
This was shallow, again!
*Swing*
Nice!
Across the torso!
Again, while he didn’t recover!
*Poof*
Huh?
.
.
That… was it?
…
Was that supposed to be hard?
.
.
.
After my first win, my confidence was boosted.
And not for naught.
Not even 3 hours in, I was done.
The challenges were not that easy, but nothing unmanageable.
I did get a bit careless, letting myself get bitten and stabbed from the back… that one will leave a scar.
But nothing life threatening.
And puzzles are not puzzles if you know the answer beforehand.
I will thank the community for it.
…Who puts puzzles with a difficulty rating of 8 and above without a solution anywhere into their game?
.
.
And now, the most exciting part.
The rewards!
There are two types of rewards one can get from the Novice Tower.
Sellable loot and useful loot.
And I got… just 2 usable things.
Not the worst ratio I’ve ever got, but I’m still a bit disappointed.
First one is [Memory Paper]
…This one’s a dud.
It’s a one time use item that can write down your memory.
The only use of it is when the tower messes with your memory, as it can draw out even the ones you’ve forgotten.
I’ll put it into a drawer and probably forget about it… which is quite ironic.
Next one is… [Poison Syringe]!
Jackpot!
That’s one of the must-have items to beat the game!
Haha! I love gacha!
It’s also a one time use only item that injects deadly poison into the target.
The reason why it’s so OP is because it ignores poison immunity.
There’s a caveat to it, but it doesn’t really matter.
Phew! Today’s haul was good.
Hmm…
Now that I got items…
“Status Window.”
Name: Roland Miangelli (Michael)
Alignment: Neutral
Power Level: 32 (↑)
-Stats
…
Oh! Nice! Not just the items, but I leveled up too!
Good day.
Anyway.
“Items!”
…
…
Damn.
Or wait.
“Item Window?”
[This feature is no longer available.]
“What? What do you mean no longer available!”
[The player can no longer access the Item Menu]
“...”
It can communicate?
“Who are you?”
…
The window didn’t change.
...I'm getting a sense of deja vu...
“What are you?”
[This is a Compendium. A source of spoiler free knowledge for all those wishing to enjoy Fallen Paradise.]
Ah…
I know this phrase.
It’s the most useless Compendium ever made.
It covered so many useful topics, yet because it is “spoiler free”, there is no real use for it.
…Let’s check.
“What is a Tower?”
[A tower is a place outside reality. It can provide the player with valuable loot and help hone your skill.]
“How do you enter a Tower?”
[The means differ from Tower to Tower.]
“Where can I find one?”
[They are located all across the world of Fallen Paradise.]
…
Useless as ever.
And it’s all the answers I already knew.
The only weird thing is that the game didn’t have this Compendium.
It was accessible on the developers official website for the game.
…I wonder what else got added with this “update”.
.
.
Not that wondering will get me anywhere.
Let’s go to my room and sleep.
