74 – System Update
Everyone decided to shelf the implications of extraplanetary conflicts for the moment.
...Well, everyone except for me.
They had the luxury of realizing that this planet was basically home-free after the waves were finished.
I, unfortunately, was just informed that heading home might lead into bumping into primordial beings existing in the void of creation if I took a wrong turn since my world was so close to Earth-616... which apparently was batshit crazy.
I heard a bit about it from Uncle Chris and read some of the files that BSAA had on their records. But multiversal beings?
...Well, I DID have some theories on how to deal with omnipotent entities. And even if something was omnipotent, if it lacked omniscience, it had limits.
And if it didn't have limits...
Well.
Later. That was a later hypothesis to test.
But anyway.
Current situation.
Mirellia wiped her mouth clean and said, "As far as the waves are concerned, due to Naofumi's competence, we do not have to worry ourselves about structural damage or even dangers to the populace."
I nodded. "That's right. It's a bit complicated to explain how it works, but for the most part, any attack to people I consider my allies will get redirected to me." I paused, suddenly realizing something. "...Though apparently it doesn't count you guys as allies?"
Ren raised an eyebrow. "It doesn't?"
"Well, you guys got attacked by monsters during the wave, didn't you?"
Ren paused. "...That's true."
Motoyasu raised his hand.
I noticed and gave him an amused smirk. "You don't have to raise your hand, Motoyasu... but sure. What is it?"
"Naofumi! What's your cheat?!"
I blinked. "My cheat?"
Motoyasu nodded and pointed at Ren, then Itsuki. "Each of the legendary heroes have a special power up method for their weapons! What was the shield's? Or yours?"
I paused. "...The Legendary Shield had a unique power up method?"
The moment I asked that question, I heard a soft 'ding.'
Then messages popped up in my field of view.
> The Shield Spirit had refused functions beyond the basic Legendary Weapon functionality out of fear towards the User.
> For reference, the now defunct power up methods of the Legendary Shield are:
> 1: Sharing - Amplify and synergize power up methods between the legendary weapons.
> 2: Trust - Your strength grows in proportion to the level of trust placed within you, and you increase the strength of others in proportion to the level of trust you place in them.
> 3: Energy Boost: You are able to feel and manipulate life force (aka qi/spiritual energy/cultivation power)
I paused. Then I slammed the table. "SON OF A BITCH!"
Mirellia flinched. "N-N-Naofumi?!"
I pointed at the messages popping up in front of my field of view. "My system JUST told me that I HAD cheat powers with the shield! And that the stingy Shield Spirit was too scared of me to let me use them!" I ran my hand through my hair, reading the powers again. "...This is literally bullshit shounen protagonist powers!"
Ren stared at me and said, "...Naofumi. You realize that, to us, you are waving at thin air, right?"
I paused. "Oh. One second." I opened up <Parallel System> and set the messages to public. Then I dragged the screen up to make it large enough for everyone to see and pointed at the three powers. "LOOK!"
Ren stared at the messages. Then he slowly said, "...The Legendary Shield's power up methods... are literally the power of friendship and cultivation power?"
"YES!" I waved at the messages again and said, "I could have been broken! Unstoppable! Run through all the waves and laugh unstoppable!"
Mirellia gave me a blank stare and said, "...You said you were not a megalomaniac, did you not, Naofumi?"
"There's being a megalomaniac and then being denied the opportunity of a lifetime to actually say 'and I won with the power of friendship' on my side! Plus, cultivation! The shenanigans! I could have been a gold core immortal by now!" I paused. "...Though in hindsight, that would probably be bad. Now that I think about it, cultivation is kind of overrated-"
*ding*
Three audible chimes echoed.
I paused.
Ren's eyes widened and he let out a nervous laugh. "Uh. Naofumi..."
"No."
Itsuki glanced at something only he could see. Then he rubbed the back of his neck. "Don't be mad, Aniki...?"
"...You're shitting me."
Motoyasu narrowed his eyes, reading and rereading something in front of him. Then he coughed and said, "...Sorry, not sorry, Naofumi?"
"BRUH."
===
After a long rant on my part and the others doing some testing, we finished dinner and retired to Mirellia's war council room to keep chatting.
Along the way, I kicked my shoe against the tiles and grumbled. "Bullshit heroes and their bullshit protagonist-tier random power-ups."
Mirellia looked amused as she walked beside me and said, "You say this, Naofumi. But compared to the Three Heroes, I do believe you are the one with the most ridiculous power spikes..."
"Yes, but I built them from scratch! Do you have any idea how hard it is to implement semantic logic into this ridiculously buggy Status Magic System as well as weave in physics and various scientific fields so that things are self-proving and internally consistent so they don't get no-sold by a bullshit DM-type enemy that just says 'No?!'"
"...I do not?"
I paused. "...Right. You wouldn't." I sighed.
Ren spoke up from behind me and said, "So is it true then that all your powers now are just bootstrapped from the basic legendary weapon functions?"
"Well, duh. I was being nerfed by the stupid shield, so I had to figure SOMETHING out. Do you know how dumb it is not even doing a single point of damage to something unless you have 100x its stats AND attack with physics on your side?"
Motoyasu tilted his head and said, "You couldn't just smack the shield on a monster?"
"I did. But like..." I tried to remember the calculations. "...For an Orange Balloon, to one-shot it, I had to reallocate my stats so that I had 200 strength before I could even do 10 damage-"
*ding*
I froze and slowly turned around to look at Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu.
All of them were looking at something only they could see.
"...Do NOT fucking tell me you got live patched so that-"
Itsuki collapsed to the floor on his knees, clasping his hands in prayer. "All hail Aniki for granting us respec powers...!"
Motoyasu immediately swiped his hand in the air and started spamming an invisible button. "MORE SPEED! MORE STRENGTH! SCREW DEFENSE AND MAGIC!"
Ren facepalmed. "...Naofumi. Is there anything else you would like to inform us about your skillset?"
"..."
Mirellia gave me a pleading look and said, "If you would, Naofumi...? I know it's not necessary, but..." She gestured towards Itsuki and Motoyasu. "...They need all the help they can get."
I sighed. "Fiiine. I suppose it would be bad if you all dropped dead. And if you're stronger, I have less things to deal with."
Ren nodded. "Delegation is important. You have greater things to do. Leave the main quest to us."
Motoyasu paused and gave me a thumbs up. "That's right! You go sidequest to prep and kill the superboss! We'll do the main quest for you!"
Itsuki chimed in and said, "Leave it to us, Aniki!"
"...I somehow feel more worried by your enthusiasm. But sure." I opened up <Parallel System> to think. "Uh... Let's see. If I remember right... when I started, I could add and remove functionality to my legendary weapon by programming in shields by using capacity of my soul. Then I could add and remove spells too by programming those... There was the stat respeccing which you guys just got. I think that's it though?"
Everything else was something I made from those three core functions, so it wouldn't help them-
> Synchronization complete.
> The legendary weapon, [Legendary System Terra Nova], has been added to the world.
> The experience penalty between legendary weapons has been forcibly removed and experience may be acquired through various means.
> For Legendary Weapon users, spells and abilities can now be used with a simple intention so long as the requisite resource is available.
> The respawn functionality has been added.
> In summary...
> Legendary System power up methods:
> 1) Fairplay - Experience penalties removed for all Legendary Heroes and experience can be gained through various sources (i.e. crafting, studying, fulfilling requests).
> 2) Autocast - Legendary Heroes can develop skill/spell lists that may be passed onto subsequent Legendary Heroes. These skills/spells may be used without casting or understanding so long as resources are available.
> 3) Respawn - As long as the Legendary System Hero is alive, the other heroes will automatically reappear with full health at the last visited Dragon Hourglass. Party members may be resurrected at the cost of experience points.
I blinked at the messages and said, "What in the fresh hell is this?"
But before I could even comment on how ridiculous the messages were, I saw copies of the messages pop up in front of everyone else too.
Which meant that it was definitely a global message being shot out across the Status Magic System.
Ren gave me a blank stare.
Itsuki looked at me with sparkling eyes.
And Motoyasu stared at me like someone realizing that the party member they had on their MMORPG team was actually the Admin the entire time.
I slowly turned to look at Mirellia, somewhat concerned about what expression she would have.
And...
"...You liar."
...Yep. It was just as I feared.
Mirellia was staring at me like someone who just realized they were sitting at the bus stop next to god.
"...You are NOT a human, Naofumi..."
I opened my mouth to reject her words. Then I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck. "...Fine. Maybe I'm not completely human. But-"
Ren didn't let me brush that off and immediately said, "Are you a bioweapon?"
"...Um. I don't know? Maybe?" I vaguely gestured towards the air and said, "My status screen calls me an A-Ray or whatever, so-"
"YOU'RE AN A-RAY?!" Motoyasu pointed at me and said, "LIKE ADO EDEM?! THE GUYS WHO CAN SPLIT PLANETS IN HALF?!"
I paused. "...Ado Edem? Is he like a Servant?"
Ren froze and slowly stared at me. "...Oh my god. You ARE an overpowered light novel protagonist."
"..."