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155. The Terror Wrought by a Skill
We went back to the inn immediately after the Guild’s staff took Solas away.
Our goal was to test the Anti-Side Effect Potion and evaluate its effects.
「Master, how to use?」
『Hmmm… I dunno…』
I’d originally been thinking of creating a doppelganger and having it drink the thing, but that didn’t seem like the best idea as it in no way guaranteed that my main body would also be able to receive the potion effects.
『Let’s try dribbling it all over my blade. Apparently that’s how the Greater Potion of Repair gets applied, so it should work.』
That said though, I wasn’t actually sure whether or not the potion was supposed to have any effect on me to begin with seeing as how I was a sword.
But you know what, whatever. What’s the worst that could happen? We waste a few Anti-Side Effect Potions? Yeah, that’s no big deal. Screw it, poverty ahoy!
「Ready.」
『Alright, do it whenever. I’m ready too.』
「Nn.」
Fran opened a test-tube like bottle and dribbled its contents all over my blade.
I could feel the vivid sensation of the liquid flowing down my body, but nothing seemed to happen, even after a few seconds came to pass.
『Did that not work?』
The moment I doubted the potion was the moment in which it finally showed its effects; it made a “shwing” sound and began seeping its way into my blade.
「Master. Glowing.」
「Woof woof!」
『I guess that means it must’ve worked?』
I quickly appraised myself to check the potion’s effects.
『Sweet! It did work! Skill Taker’s cooldown got a fair chunk taken off of it!』
Its 57 day cooldown had been cut down to 37 days.
I can now use it a whole 20 days earlier, meaning, I should be able to use the skill right away if we just used the other two pots.
It seemed that Doppelganger Synthesis’ cooldown got completely reset as well. Wait, wait wait, does that mean the potion counteracts all side effects simultaneously? Thinking that, I quickly checked Self Evolution, but it didn’t seem like the magic stones points consumed by Latent Potential Awakening had returned.
It seemed that the potion could do stuff about cooldowns and whatnot, but I guess what was gone was gone. Wait, crap, that means it might not be able to counteract the recoil caused by some skills either.
「Keep going.」
『Hell yeah! Bring it!』
「Nn.」
Fran used the second potion and once again caused me to be enveloped by a veil of light.
Except… things didn’t turn out the way we thought they would.
『Huh, that’s weird.』
「Something wrong?」
「Woof?」
『That one only cut the cooldown back down to 30 days.』
Apparently the pot wasn’t consistent. It’d sometimes do more and sometimes do less. Is that due to the fact that each individual potion was of a different quality? Or maybe because of some sort of diminishing returns-type effect?
Hmm, what to do? We might not be able to make the 10 day deadline even if we use our last pot. I mean, we might get it if the third ends up being at least as effective as the first, but…
『Oh well, let’s use it anyways.』
「Sure?」
『Yeah, I am.』
「Then will use third.」
And so, we did.
『We totally failed~』
It seemed that the difference in effects stemmed from the differences in quality between each individual potion. The third was a bit better than the second, but not as good as the first. It took 12 days off the skill’s cooldown.
Skill Taker still had 18 days on its cooldown; we definitely weren’t going to make it in time.
Oh well, whatever. We figured out how the pots worked and cut a fair chunk out of Skill Taker’s cooldown, so it’s still a win in my book.
「Don’t need to steal Coerced Camaraderie.」
『Why’s that? It looks like it could be really convenient.』
「Still, don’t need. Master said Principle of Falsehood required caution, and should not use very often but used lots anyway.」
『Well… okay, yeah…』
「But mostly used to protect me from deception. Can’t be helped because I’m still weak.」
『Fran…』
「Coerced Camaraderie will be same. Will say that it will only be used in times of need, but will use lots anyway. Skills that interfere with people’s minds are scary. Remember… fat noble with Principle of Falsehood.」
『You mean August Arsand?』
Looked like she totally forgot his name already.
「August, Solas, both were messed up in the head. Most likely because of skill use. Didn’t seem like they could trust people anymore. Don’t want Master to overuse skills and be the same.」
Wow I’m pathetic. I’m supposed to be Fran’s guardian, but this is like the nth time she’s lectured me like this.
『Yeah… you’re right. Good point.』
I’m a weak person. I’d definitely lose to temptation and start using the skill left, right, and everywhere just cause it’d be convenient for me to do so. I’d probably make excuses all the time and try to justify myself too. Skills that can mess with people’s minds are terrifying. It’d be better for me not to have them in the first place.
『Alright, let’s just pretend Coerced Camaraderie never existed to begin with!』
「Nn. Good idea.」
『Let’s check over all the loot we got this time around.』
「Okay.」
I worked myself up whilst arranging the items we got in order to shake off the awkward mood that’d arose from our previous conversation. Fran hopped right on board and began examining the stuff I laid out.
「This one. Interesting.」
『The knife? Yeah, it’s got a bit of a weird shape to it.』
「Cheap product?」
『Probably, yeah.』
Everything went back to normal; we chatted as we looked over the items we took from Solas.
We were allowed to take all the items Solas and his companions had in their possession, meaning we were also granted rights to the stuff he’d stolen from the adventurers he’d recently murdered. All in all, it was quite a lot of loot.
Naturally, we decided to sell all our materials to the guild and have me absorb all the magic stones despite the fact that they were all of a rather poor quality.
Most of the equips they had were kinda bad, so we decided to get rid of them by pawning them off. Most.
They did happen to have 4 magic items. Two were trash that just gave minor stat boosts, so we completely disregarded them. The other two seemed a slight bit more useful. One was a tent that made it a slight bit harder for the people inside of it to be detected. It looked like something we could get some decent use out of if we decided to camp out in a dungeon or something like that. It wasn’t all that big, but it was roomy enough to fit Fran and Urushi assuming the latter was in his smaller form.
The last item was much more interesting than any of the prior three. It was an equip meant for beast-type familiars. Specifically, it was a claw-like thing that you were supposed to strap to their front paws.
It was made in such a way that it wouldn’t hinder any of the familiar’s regular activities. However, one could have claws extend from it should they charge the item with magic.
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Name: Claw of Capture
Attack: 230
Mana Capacity: 100
Durability: 700
Magic Power Conductivity: D+
Skill: Stunning Strike
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Huh, that’s not bad. The item’s attack stat was kinda low, but it was still better than the nothing he had equipped right now. Plus, that Stunning Strike skill looked like it could put out quite a decent bit of work if used right. It looked like it’d fit right into Urushi’s hit and run style by augmenting his stikes with a negative status condition.
Like honestly, that’s about as good an item as you could expect from a D ranked dungeon.
『Fran, have Urushi equip it.』
「Nn. Urushi, paw.」
「Woof!」
「Right paw first.」
「Woof.」
Fran quickly strapped the leather gauntlet-like equip onto Urushi’s front feet.
The first thing our wolf companion did after equipping both items was to take an imposing stance. He seemed rather proud and happy. His tail swung back and forth so quickly that it kicked up a gentle breeze.
『That suits you pretty well, Urushi.』
「Looks cool.」
「Woof woof!」
『How does it feel? Did it make walking more difficult? Are the metal parts uncomfortable at all?』
「Bark? Woof woof!」
Looked like everything fit perfectly.
『Alright! Tomorrow, we test it!』
「Nn!」
「Woof!」