164　Effort triumphs hardship

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"Yukari. I have one favor to ask."

　During our return from the Metio dungeon, when Yukari and I were the only ones left waiting for Anko's transfer, I spoke to Yukari, prefacing my words with, "It's a huge job".

　Yukari looked surprised, paused for a second, and then opened her mouth.

If Master is so serious about it, it must be a very big job.

　As I said, we've known each other for a long time. I'm sure she understands.


"I want you to look at this guy."
"This is……"

　I took a single katana out of my inventory.

『Seventh Reikan』――0k4NN-san's other self.

　Even though it is on the verge of decay, it still has an eerie reddish-black glow.


"I want to ask you to repair it. Do everything within your means. I'm not going to let the cost deter me."
"……It is a very mysterious material. I have never seen it, let alone heard of it. To be honest, I have no idea how to fix it."
"The materials are probably "Iron Sand" and "Scarlet Gold". As long as you have the materials, you can repair it with your Blacksmithing skills, although it will take some time."
"Iron Sand is available in the Land of the Eight Swords…… and this mysterious material is……"
"Scarlet Gold can be found at the far end of a cave with an entrance in the cliffs east of the Island of the Eight Swords. If you can't get it on the market, I'll go mine it, no problem."
"……Now that you mention it, I wonder how Master knows such information that could overturn the conventional wisdom of the world."
"Probably even if someone else knew, it would be too difficult to exploit."

　As I recall, all the monsters in there are at the A-class level. Those guys on that island won't be able to handle it…… unless they are players like 0k4NN-san.

"That's not the point…… Well, sure, I'll take your word for it. How would you like to prioritize? "
"Above everything else. The time limit is up to the Summer Bishamon battle."

　At the end of the meeting, I held up one finger as I replied, Yukari nodded with a fearless expression on her face.

"In the meantime, let's fix it up and show you what we can do. In the name of the world's number one Blacksmith."





　Next morning.
　As planned, Silvia and Eko's training will begin today.

　About five months remain until the start of the summer title games. For those girls who have already established some of the basics, there is not enough time to teach them the basics and Game Plan from scratch...However, while I feel that there is not enough time left, I also feel like we can handle it somehow.

"It's a beautiful day! "
"Right! "

　The two seemed to be in high spirits. Silvia has mastered 【Martial Arts】and Eko has mastered 【Axemanship】, and all of their skill ranks have been raised to a high level with the experience they have accumulated up to now, raising their status to a perfect place. All that remains is to train for the battle against the other side, and finally, they must be determined to win the Kisenshou and Kongou titles the next time around. It is indeed a promising future.


　But the title fight is not so lenient.

　As it is now, they are certain to lose. I can assure you that. Even that old piece of garbage, the old fucker, can beat them.

　The huge wall of experience gap still stands tall.


"Silvia. If you were to aim a Soldier Archery at a rock thrown up in the air, how many out of a hundred shots would you miss? "
"Ugh. Even I do basic training every day without fail. I'm confident that I won't miss a single shot."
"That much should be a given, but that's not it. It's about numbers."
"Numbers? "
"Soldier Archery's hit rate is 99% at the ninth grade, plus the hit rate correction by DEX, so now Silvia, you would have a hit rate of about 99.67%."
"……Umu. Oh, yeah, right. Regardless of my aim, I might miss at least one out of a hundred shots."
"Yeah. And with a shot here and there, there is a possibility of drawing the 0.33%. Always keep that in mind."
"Alright."

　Eliminating technical errors is a matter of course. Foundations are a natural thing. And PVP is not a game that can be managed on the basis of fundamentals alone.

　We must always be thinking about how to deal with the numbers. Mainly about when things go from bad to worse. These measures are the fundamentals. We satisfy all factors of certainty, worry about all factors of uncertainty, and fill in our gaps in advance. It is a basic concept built on a solid foundation.

"For Eko, never underestimate your opponent. Don't get so absorbed in the heat of the moment that you forget the optimal moves. If you're caught up in it before you're set-up, it's over in a heartbeat."
"Yes."
"Rokunchea will surely come well-equipped. It is safe to assume that he will be many times more tough than before. I'll make up as many of those countermeasures as I can."
"Countermeasures?　That's a strategy!? "
"Yeah, yeah, it's a countermeasure strategy."
"Ohhh! "

　Eko said "Many strategies! ", being quite enthusiastic about it. She's in a very good mood as if she thinks the countermeasures are some kind of relative of the strategy or something.


　Now, once I've finished giving them both the necessary precautions, it's time to go.

"Well, let's get right to the Game Plan."

　The main issue.

　Over the next few months, they will learn the Game Plan to the point that they will be sick and tired of it.

"Memorizing the Game Plan" sounds simple when you hear it, but……it's really just sheer hell.

　Until you learn the Game Plan, nothing in this world will go right, really, at all, so much so that you'll want to curse everything. It must be tempting to throw it all away in the process, seriously thinking, "It would be better not to learn the Game Plan." Still, it is a thorny path that must be followed step by step.

　They didn't know that fact yet, but they were listening to me with very motivated expressions on their faces.

"First, Silvia. Before you learn the Game Plan, here's a problem."
"Umu."
"Your opponent responded to your first move, Soldier Archery, with something. In response to that, how many different patterns do you see when you respond with something on your side? "
"Hmm?　Let's see, from…… Soldier to Dragon King, there are nine types, and then we return nine types, so…… nine times nine, that's eighty-one ways."
"Correct. Then if they respond to that with something, how many ways?"
"Eighty-one times nine, that's seven hundred and twenty-nine ways? "

　Simple multiplication. Silvia seemed to wonder why she was asked such a simple question.


"With some degree of exaggeration, a Game Plan is something that overcomes these options."

"…………No way."


　With one comment from me, Silvia realized something.


"If the exchange lasted eleven moves, the largest possible pattern would be …… about 3,480,000,000 possible moves."

"Thr――!? "


　In reality, the numbers are not this high.

　It is impossible to respond to 《Soldier Archery》 with 《Dragon King Archery》 because it would not be ready in time to begin with.

　There are at most three possible options. In the case of the other party, there are at most three choices.

　However, even so…… eleven moves ahead is three to the tenth power, or about 59,000 moves.

　And if it is 21 moves ahead…… is exactly 3.4 billion different numbers.


"And I'm going to remember all of it……? "

　Silvia said with a shiver. This girl is a little mistaken.


"It's the other way around. It's very hard to remember. That's why we use a Game Plan."
"The opposite? "
"Yeah, that's right. The Game Plan in a game is a way to avoid having to think about the millions and billions and zillions of options that you can't afford to consider every single time you play.
"Wa-wait. I'm not exactly understanding."
"You will understand. Remember. What were you thinking when you were playing against them? "
"What was I thinking……?　Ummm...anticipating their responses and how to respond to them to get them in trouble?"
"Well, I guess that's true of most people. In fact, there are times when such thinking is necessary. Especially towards the end."
"What does this have to do with the Game Plan? "

"If you don't have to think about it every time, you can move faster, can't you?　The Game Plan is to have all that thinking done before the game begins."

"! "
"Strategy! "


　Yes, a Game Plan is a magnificent strategy.

　Thinking during battle is certainly a necessary part of the process. However, the more one tries to anticipate the future, the more thinking time is inevitably required because, as I mentioned earlier, the patterns spread out in a large number of tree-like patterns.

　So why don't we just know some patterns before the game starts, instead of during the game?　This is a Game Plan.

　Research and learn the best of every case in advance. It is no exaggeration to say that there is no "speed" better than this.

"Wait a minute, Second-dono!　Now, I get the gist of what you just said, but in the end, it means that you have to remember all those billions of options, right!? "
"No, not really. A Game Plan is a series of best moves. A continuum of expecting the best from the other party. When the other party goes off the path, that is where the branch ends. So it is not a number in the hundreds of millions. Roughly, yes, thousands, maybe tens of thousands of ways."
"Mmm, I see, so it comes to the thousands down from the millions, nice…… is what you want me to say!?　There are still too many! "

　At first, you might think so.

"Don’t worry. The main line can be thought of in about ten different ways. It's just that there are so many branches of it."
"But I still have to memorize it, don't I?　Would I be able to remember it……?"
"Surprisingly, it's easy to remember. If only you understood exactly what each one meant."

　The two have become advanced in status, but are still novices at playing against others. Hence, they can slowly learn from the dozens of standard patterns at first.


　……Well, if that's all, it's just a matter of memory. With these two, there would be nothing to worry about.

"Umu……It's somewhat more realistic than trying to memorize a gazillion different ways."
"PATTERN!　I'm really good at memorizing things! "

　But there's one thing I don't want you to get wrong――


"Don't worry, fools. It doesn't end when you learn it."

"What? "
"Ho? "


　――Whether you remember it or not and whether you can actually use it are two different issues.


A Game Plan is just another way to cut down on thinking time. The most important part is whether or not you can make the Game Plan your own, just like breathing. When it comes to the actual game, it is useless if you think, "Well, the Game Plan is like this, so this is what I should do here." You just do it!　And if you can't move instantly, unconsciously, and reflexively, I can't really help you."


　In other words, to rebuild your entire fighting style. That is what learning a Game Plan is all about.

　Once there, they must forget everything they have cultivated so far and learn from scratch the advanced techniques that they will never be able to master otherwise.

　It is a practice that can be paraphrased as killing oneself once.


　That's why it's a struggle. You will suffer and struggle. Literally, to the point of death.

　Nevertheless, you have to persevere, endure, and keep going……Only those who can continue to strive until the very end will benefit from the mighty Game Plan.


"That means.……? "

"I told you. Hellish training."


　Let's get started.

　Are you looking forward to it?　The summer title games.

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Thank you for reading.

Next Episode: 165 "Gathering!!"
The summer title games will open with Episode 166.

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Cheat sheet

Stats details

＜Status Details＞

• HP　Hit Points
• MP　Magic Points
• SP　Stamina Points
• STR　Short range attack skill power, strength, physical power.
• DEX　Long range attack skill power, dexterity, hit rate.
• AGI　Quickness, avoidance rate.
• INT　Attack Magic skill power.
• LUK　Good luck, critical rate.
• VIT　Simple defense.
• MGR　Magic defense.

Types of combat skills

Named after shogi pieces (The word in bold is the one being used in this translation). From easier to acquire to harder.

1. Pawn/Soldier (Fuhyou)
2. Lance(Kyousha)
3. Knight (Keima)
4. Silver General (Ginshou)
5. Gold General (Kinshou)
6. Bishop (Kakugyou)
7. Rook (Hisha)
8. Promoted Bishop/Dragon Horse(Ryuuma)
9. Promoted Rook/Dragon King (Ryuuou).

List of Swordsmanship skills

Swordsmanship

1. 《Soldier Swordsmanship》　                  Normal attack.
2. 《Lance Swordsmanship》　                    Piercing attack.
3. 《Knight Swordsmanship》　                   Precision attack.
4. 《Silver Swordsmanship》　                     Strong single-target attack.
5. 《Gold Swordsmanship》                           Small-range attack to all directions.
6. 《Bishop Swordsmanship》                      Quick and powerful piercing attack
7. 《Rook Swordsmanship》　                      Rush piercing attack
8. 《Dragon Horse Swordsmanship》　  Powerful ranged attack in all directions
9. 《Dragon King Swordsmanship》　       Most powerful range attack, takes time to prepare

List of Shieldmanship skills

Shieldmanship

1. 《Soldier Shieldmanship》　                  Normal defense.
2. 《Lance Shieldmanship》　                    Piercing deflection.
3. 《Knight Shieldmanship》　                   Defense + knockback.
4. 《Silver Shieldmanship》　                     Defense +chance to parry
5. 《Gold Shieldmanship》                           Ranged guided defense + knockback.
6. 《Bishop Shieldmanship》                       Reinforced defense (Temporarily boosts VIT and MGR)
7. 《Rook Shieldmanship》　                      Rush attack
8. 《Dragon Horse Shieldmanship》　    ???
9. 《Dragon King Shieldmanship》　       Powerful shield attack, takes time to prepare

List of Archery skills

Archery

1. 《Soldier Archery》　                  Normal range attack.
2. 《Lance Archery》　                    Piercing range attack.
3. 《Knight Archery》　                   Precise sniping range attack.
4. 《Silver Archery》　                     Strong single-target range attack.
5. 《Gold Archery》                           Weaker range attack with added knockback.
6. 《Bishop Archery》                       Strong piercing range attack.
7. 《Rook Archery》　                      Very strong single-target range attack with scaling % damage.
8. 《Dragon Horse Archery》　    Powerful Area of Effect piercing range attack.
9. 《Dragon King Archery》　       Powerful on-impact range attack, takes time to prepare

Types of Magic skills

They use the “Form” or “step” system of martial arts. From lower to higher.

1. First Form　      　      Regular attack
2. Second Form　      　 Extended range attack
3. Third Form　      　    Strong single target attack
4. Fourth Form　      　  Strong extended range attack
5. Fifth Form　      　      Extremely powerful extended range attack

• Their cast time becomes longer in this order First→Third→Second→Fourth→Fifth.

Ranking of the skills

From lower to higher, then it changes to the “Dan” system of martial arts, which means Grade.

1. 16th class
2. 15th class
3. 14th class
4. 13th class
5. 12h class
6. 11th class
7. 10th class
8. 9th class
9. 8th class
10. 7th class
11. 6th class
12. 5th class
13. 4th class
14. 3rd class
15. 2nd class
16. 1st class
17. Grade 1
18. Grade 2
19. Grade 3
20. Grade 4
21. Grade 5
22. Grade 6
23. Grade 7
24. Grade 8
25. Grade 9
26. Title

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 ToC    

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