A Gamer Into Trails

As always Giliath demands your power stones!

*****

"Is that something like a title?", Lechter asked.

"You can think of it like that. I don't think my ability has such a range of granting party member titles like it does to me, but it does give various effects. It could start affecting parties, but I am not sure at this point. I haven't received any new titles lately to test it out. If it does happen, we'll see.", I wondered to myself. Presently, the titles I could equip only boosted my own stats.

Thankfully, it did give me the option to make my titles hidden to other party members. If I had such a function active, it would just label my name as Gamer Naoto, and not the true title I currently had equipped.

I'd rather not let these two see its name. It's pretty embarrassing, now that I'm looking at it more and more. It'd be best for these two to not see the name, Harem Seeker.

"So that does mean you have a title then, Young Master. What is it?", Lechter wondered.

"I'd...rather not say what it is.", I replied, scratching my cheek out of embarrassment. "Instead, I will tell you what my current title does. It strengthens my entire combat parameters by twenty percent. As long as I have girls in my party.", I explained.

Tio's expression immediately turned into her deadpan look the moment I said that.

"Suspicious.", Tio retorted.

"Boy you can say that again, kiddo. Just by having girls in this party thing of yours, you grow stronger, Young Master?", Lechter retorted, also doubting me.

"That about sums it up. It counts me as a person for this party, which means I can presently invite a total of five into it. If they were all girls, my strength would increase an entire-two fold just by breathing air.", I explained. My playful smirk remained on my lips.

"That's cheating! Are you saying that if we're equal in power, and you're in this party, you'll always be stronger than me?", Lechter exclaimed in surprise.

"Which is why I have been trying to focus on raising my own foundations as of late. It isn't something I want to solely rely on.", I nodded seriously.

"Mmm. That is a nice goal to have.", Tio nodded.

"Man, this will take some time getting used to. But we have a new goal at hand now yeah? We got some of those nasty worms to beat. And trust me, I've faced those worms before. They're a pretty nasty bunch.", Lechter said, recalling the Quest given to him.

"Indeed. Before we venture out further into Mainz Mountain Path, I want to gauge where your strengths lay. I'll start with you, Tio.", I said, looking at the blue-haired girl before me.

"Alright, Naoto.", Tio nodded. As if she was already used to seeing the Gamer Menu, Tio willed her status screen, sending it my way. She's a smart cookie alright.

"How could you have gotten used to this so quickly...", Lechter uttered in shock, seeing Tio effortlessly move the status screen around.

"This 'status screen' thingy is projected in a very similar fashion to how information gets projected in the Orbal Net. Plus it's a similar feeling to how I operate with an Orbal Staff in casting Arts.", Tio said.

"That's a good way of putting it. You need a good grasp of how this ability of mine feels in order to use it. Now let's see...", I nodded.

As I said that, I began to review Tio's Stats. Sure enough, they were pretty bare-bone, considering she was Level 1. She wasn't even Level 3 like the games defaulted to.

[Status Screen - Tio Plato]

Age: 9

Level: 1 (0/100)

HP: 200/200 EP: 50/50

STR: 25 DEF: 25

ATS: 50 ADF: 30

SPD: 20 DEX: 25

(This is before weapon is equipped)

[Crafts]

 -Analyze

 -Beam Zanber

 [S-Craft] -N/A

[Combat Orbment - Generation IV]

 -Quartz Lines: Water/Water

   -Equipped Quartz: N/A

[Current Equipment]

 -Weapon: N/A

 -Body: N/A

 -Boots: N/A

 -Accessory One: N/A

 -Accessory Two: N/A

'Heh, it's as if I was starting out a new game...', I marveled, observing Tio's stats silently for a good moment.

"You've been silent for a good moment, Naoto. Is anything weird?", Tio asked as a hint of worry appeared in her eyes.

"Haha, I wouldn't call it weird. I'm just used to seeing my inflated stats. Seeing this is like a breath of fresh air to me.", I mused. I mean, I was already well within Reverie territory in terms of stats alone. Just with my HP alone, I could easily get 50,000+. The maximum one could reach in Reverie was 99,999. I don't know if my system will go beyond that.

If this Gamer System did take things literally, then just with a flick of a forehead, Tio would instantly get depleted of all her health, and pass out. 

Thankfully it doesn't do that. What's displayed here typically only works during combat. I could practice outside of battles, and doing such things I could see my EP drop, like when I cast Teleportation. It won't affect the real world to such degrees, hopefully not anyways. I'd rather not want my close friends to succumb to such dangers, heh.

"Just as I'd expect with someone starting out who hasn't had any combat experience. You are still pretty young though, Tio. Are you sure you want to go through with this?", I asked. Sure, Tio was thirteen when she joined the SSS, and even then, that's still very young. Here, she's three and a half years younger. Tio is only nine years old right now. Unless one was from a prominent martial arts family or someone of a particular background like me, they wouldn't even want to engage in practical combat this early on.

"Ain't it a bit late to be asking that now, Young Master? I'm still trying to get my head wrapped around this entire situation.", Lechter wondered.

"It never hurts to be extra sure.", I answered. Seeing my seriousness, Tio nodded.

"Mmm. I want to do this. Everyone else beside you is already used to fighting monsters. It feels like I'm the only one left out.", Tio answered. I could feel she was earnest here. I smiled seeing the resolved look in Tio's eyes.

"Got it. I will not send you to your death though, Tio. Abyss Worms have a trick you see. They won't become enraged and shake the earth unless you target them in groups. We'll try to pull one to the side, and see if you can pierce it with one of your Arts. I don't believe that you will though.". I replied.

"True. The rocky scales of the Abyss Worms are quite dense. They aren't easy to pierce. Even I still struggle at times trying to pierce them with my rapier.", Lechter nodded.

"I'll look at your info in a bit, Lechter. We got the basics out of the way. For now, Tio, try equipping your orbal staff again. You should see your status window automatically update.", I suggested.

"Like this?", Tio wondered, musing to my words for a moment. She still proceeded as asked, and did some of that Trailsverse magic. Tio pulled her orbal staff out of thin air. I can never grow tired of seeing this. I personally have an excuse considering I have access to Inventory, but these folks don't.

The moment she took it out, the Gamer System reacted, and it responded to Tio.

[Ding! Party Member Tio has equipped Researcher -  Rank A (Growth - Lv1 (0/100))(Upgradable).]

Seeing a Growth tag next to Tio's Orbal Staff, I was surprised. On top of that, it was an A-Rank Weapon.

"It isn't often you get to see Growth-type weapons. Consider yourself lucky, Tio.", I said to her.

"Mmm. It is still a lot to take in, but I can kind of make sense of what's being displayed here. It's saying this staff will grow stronger as I grow stronger, right?", Tio questioned.

"That's the general gist of it. Growth items are the ones to keep an eye out for, even if they're not the highest grade. A lot of the time you can strengthen them further, unlike set items with a single grade.", I explained.

"Then that must be what the (Upgradable) stands for then...", Tio guessed.

"Lots of items require different criteria to be upgraded. The easiest way is to just let your weapon grow as you grow. But taking your current circumstances into consideration, having the Epstein Foundation upgrade your staff is certainly a possibility...", I also wondered. After all, Tio's staff was still just a prototype. It wasn't a completed version. Perhaps if we let the weapon grow stronger now, the completed product will be even stronger than what it used to be in the games?

Definitely something to test.