41 Vol 1. pt. 41 Patch 7.0: Pirates and Scholars (1/2)
The urge to kill Thelmes every single time he says ”splendid” is rising within Fenrir.
”Splendid! Now, for the wolf and his daughter, are there any skills you two would like to test?” Thelmes asks.
Serra gets a huge smile and sparkly eyes when she hears Rock referred to as Fenrir's daughter. That is just so extremely adorable to her that she can't resist smiling at the concept. It totally works, too. Rock is a girl, they're both canines, and he basically created her by loving her enough that she came to life!
Fenrir looks over at Serra. She's definitely thinking something weird.
He looks at Cassiel.
…
Why is she looking at him the same way that Serra is right now?
”Uhh, no, I can't really think of anything for either of us. I guess I can test my sword… proficiency skill? What's that do?” Fenrir asks.
”Essentially, every tier in Sword Proficiency gives you a bonus modifier to damage inflicted by weapons classified as swords,” Thelmes explains.
”Hey. I just got an idea. What if – what if I fight with fish?”
Serra and Cassiel both lose their awed expressions.
”You know, like, what if I catch a really big fish and just slap people with it all day? Would I do bonus damage whenever I hit people with fish?”
”I… err…” Thelmes is caught off guard for the first time.
That's what he gets for being so splendid-y.
”I… want to say no, but… knowing this game… yes – yes, you would most likely invent a Fish Proficiency skill that behaves the same way as Sword Proficiency.”
Fenrir has a bad feeling when he sees Thelmes light up.
”That's – that would be a great experiment! My gosh, I never even considered that! I am a failure of a scholar! My friend was trying to combine pigs with monkeys, and here I am failing to see the obvious! Fenrir, was it? Fenrir, together, we need to invent in a whole array of fish-related skills! If we can create a whole new category of combat skills involving fish, I could submit that as my thesis to the big guy and then I'll get promoted if he approves it! Yes, yes! This is perfect! Turning my lower half into a cat is nothing compared to what we are going to accomplish together with fish!”
”…yeeeaaahh, so can I test my sword skill now?” Fenrir isn't used to his jokes being taken so seriously. Sure, he was curious if it would actually work, but it was mainly a joke. Though, now part of him actually does want to try it out.
”A-ah, I'm getting ahead of myself. My apologies. I am very easily excited, as you may be able to tell. Anyways, go ahead! Just use the training sword instead of your own.”
Fenrir does as told, using the training sword to slash at the slime golem ten times.
”Splendid,” Fenrir cringes, ”your Sword Proficiency is tier one. That means you gain a five percent bonus to damage inflicted with swords. Anything else?” Thelmes asks.
”It doesn't sound like I do that much damage even with a sword then, so how was I able to kill a guy just by punching him in the face then stabbing him in the chest?” Fenrir asks.
”Well, the sort of damage we are measuring here is the base damage you deal before the game takes into consideration all other factors such as where you hit them, realism, and so forth. Even if you only do one point of damage, if you cut off somebody's head or stab them in the heart, they are going to die. So while you do not need to do much damage to actually kill somebody, you will if you want to get past other factors such as armor, magical barriers, tough skin or hides, and so forth.”
”Got it, thanks. I think we're all done here,” Fenrir says. Cassiel and Rock are both in agreement. Though, to be fair, Rock agrees with pretty much everything that Fenrir says unless Serra has an objective to him.
Fenrir may be Rock's dad, but Serra is the cool aunt.
”Splendid!”
Fenrir worries that his face may get stuck in this cringing position.
”Let us return to my office so that I can stamp your cards.”
They walk back to the first room he took them to, sitting down at the desk for a final time.
”How do we get these things upgraded?” Fenrir asks.
”Once stamped, the information on these cards cannot be changed. You would have to go through testing all over again to fill out the fields on a new card.”
”What's the cost for the higher tier cards?” Cassiel asks.
Fenrir doesn't know what she's referring to.
”Ah! Copper cards are five gold a piece, iron are ten, silver are twenty-five, gold are fifty, and platinum cards are one platinum,” Thelmes explains. ”We can also do custom orders with exotic metals, but those are one platinum in addition to you having to provide the metal itself.”
”So, the material of the card is basically like the stat for how wealthy you are?” Fenrir asks.
”Basically,” Cassiel answers him.
”Is there anything else you would like to do today?” Thelmes asks them.
”We're good, thanks for helping us out so much.”
”Splendid! The pleasure was all mine, Mister Fenrir. Now, let me escort you to the entrance. We can discuss our fish theory on the way…”
Unfortunately for the fish-addicted cat-goblin-thing, when he leads the group back into the building's main lobby, he realizes that he is going to have a very busy day ahead of him.
”Ah…”