#i wanna do the mps and the exp is easy enough

[i-mybrunettelady]

MP hunting in SotO.. wish me luck

[claire-starsword]

In the end it's Hanzou who defeats the priest. He's not exactly behind in levels, but he did die last time, and he does get +1 defense for the effort, see, he's trying.

Meanwhile Arthur got hit by a fire breath, so I send Gong to heal him, and yup. Another terrible level up. It's like the game doesn't like that I'm back.

Turn 4 begins and apparently Arthur has surpassed Domingo's speed, he's the first one to go now, which threw me off a bit as I was ready to see Domingo finish off the final Gargoyle.

Anyway that's exactly what happens.

After a bunch of boring positioning we're now at Turn 7, and despite my anxieties, I do see the light here.

It's Domingo okay, Domingo is the light. Domingo has 41 defense. For contrast, Max has 26, and he's not bad. Domingo also has a lot of HP. I don't expect 1 damage from Cain, but I expect to tank some hits good, and maybe then the other characters can hop into the stage after. Even Domingo's agility works perfectly for this, he's moving right before Cain.

Sadly, what Domingo doesn't have anymore is enough MP for Freeze 3. It could have wiped off a Dullahan, but alas.

Unfortunately, all these enemies tank a Freeze 2 pretty well. Even without magic res, they have a lot of HP, so 5-8 damage is easy to shrug off.

On the other hand…

Well. It's not 1 damage. But GODDAMN.

This blob is so perfect.

Climate scientists need to study the fact that me playing this challenge seems to always summon a storm upon my hometown. I can't hear my own thoughts right now. Nonetheless the show must go on.

Meanwhile, Domingo might not have done much damage, but at least we can now see these enemies' stats. And uhh, okay, looking at the actual numbers, Cain doesn't look that scary I guess. Like sure, his attack is massive. As I said before, Max has 26 defense right now, so that's a whooping 17 damage to tank. He kills Max in two hits. And don't forget that bosses love to counter in this version.

Defense-wise though? 30 is not much. We have multiple members in the team with >40 attack. 10% magic res is also very little against the blazing woman in the back. If I didn't have to worry about the counters we could very much just rush him. Of course, we do miss the exp of the remaining enemies if we do that. And I'm not sure if I'm in position to surround him as things are.

However, it is the GBA version, and Max has ways around counters.

Yeah, this is pretty doable. Also, screenshotting Supernova is hard, the hell is this.

Unfortunately I did forget the priest exists. And pretty much no other characters had enough defense to tank Cain well, so I held them back. At the next turn however, man with the second best defense in the team is ready to go.

That's right baby, it's all in Arthur's hands again, I love how good he got in this run. He has 35 defense and 40 HP, so he can tank a bunch of hits from Cain. Unfortunately I might have messed up the positioning and Cain will still reach Max, but I think Domingo will close the gap here first.

Yup. Here we go. Strategy!

I am worried about the priest, I don't wanna send anyone to deal with them and ruin our perfect formation here, but I have only one Supernova left. I am giving up on getting all the exp here and hoping Tao and others can rush Cain in time while using of Arthur and Domingo's protection, since fortunately the priest is the last one to move in this turn.

Max's last spell gets him a very fitting level up for what he's done in this fight. Also yay, non-garbage Supernova screenshot!

I decide to get a little risky with Narsha. She can tank the counter, and I'm hoping Arthur can finish the job next turn. Unfortunately, I have managed the healers badly and no one can reach her. I do some useless healing with them just for exp.

…

hmm. I forgot about the Dullahans.

I'll be real. I'm not shocked about this, because I spent eight months without playing and am very out of it and also this battle is just hard, but

BOY

THIS WAS DUMB AS HELL

absolutely dumbass play. I could have just. Not moved her. The priest ended up healing Cain anyway so it was even more pointless, I thought dealing damage with Narsha would help Arthur finish him next, but yeah I just, forgot, about the priest I had just mentioned. wow.

I'm not shocked, because that's how I play, but i'm mad as hell at myself right now. Arthur, Domingo and Tao could finish this with enough patience, this was just a mess.

anyway. let's prove that.

ARGH COME ON

i was antsy as hell to send Max after the last disaster but i actually did the math this time and figured Tao would finish him. I think she did less damage this time. Luckily, Max did not get countered somehow, and Anri will likely finish him off.

Meanwhile, Hanzou cannot reach Cain, but can get some exp off the Narsha-killer here.

The Queen of Guardiana gets the honor, and, more importantly, her best spell. This means she'll be promoting now.

A very cool ending. I am however realizing that it happened because I forgot to equip the Soulbuster and see if it did more damage to Cain. Had it done so, maybe he wouldn't have survived with 2 HP. And sure, Anri getting the exp is actually good, but hhhhhhhhhnngh i am mad about my missplays, Narsha did not deserve that :(

And in the end I get this thing. A reward for sucking at being patient.

Oh well, what's done is done. Let's resurrect her and try to end this in a high note.

This high note is tough to find. First of all, the Ogre Slayer is not better than the Halberd. It is effective against "giant" enemies, and that's a tough one to figure out, but I think might mean the armed skeletons in the future. I recall something about them being skeletons of giants in the lore, but I didn't expect to have to use my lore knowledge here, tbh. The guide doesn't seem to have any further info either. Oh well.

And here she is, the queen who didn't get screwed over by me. I find it hilarious that the stat drops here are quite low, because Anri barely has stats. It does suck that she's missing a single MP to have three uses of Freeze 3, but Domingo was in the same situation not long ago. The new spell is still the best thing that could happen to her.

So yeah. Won't even say the see you soon line this time, see you whenever I feel like picking this one back up. Could be tomorrow, could be 2026. At least we might get a laugh out of it again.

Losses: 0 Deaths: 4 >_<

The Guardiana Magic School Run -Part 19

Okay, so I've been wondering, what was that funny thing i said in the last one of these?

yeah. lol. lmao even

I honestly won't even promise you i'm coming back to this with any sort of regularity, i'm just tired of everything else i wanted to do and felt like playing instead. A Christmas miracle of sorts, perhaps. The holidays are a time to reunite with family after all, for better and for worse.

For Max it will decidedly be for worse, because of course I took a break right before Cain of all people.

Still, he's nice enough to let us prepare first, which is a good excuse for me to go over the team and try to remember what was going on.

First, I have to go through the pain of removing the dragon from the magic only challenge, because this dragon is somehow not magical enough and does not learn a single spell. RIP Bleu you do nothing but haunt my life in multiple ways nowadays.

On brighter news, Bleu's house had a whole Halberd in it, so that's an upgrade for Arthur. There was also a Shower Cure there that I give to him as well. I also realize Arthur hasn't been carrying a spear, which must be some kind of mistake??? There's no reason he should have one, even if the spears available at this time are all a bit too weak.

Oh okay good thing i can reread the previous parts huh. So yeah, fixed this.

Max also gets a bit of an upgrade due to a Broad Sword lying around Dragonia. The Soulbuster might still be the best against Cain though. I'm honestly not sure. In any case, I also gave him some better healing items as he was carrying around only Medical Herbs, likely a sign of how easy Chapter 5 was.

Also, it turns I already had a Broad Sword anyway from the Dullahan of the last battle. Well, free money I guess.

A fun thing of having been on a hiatus is that someone out there had time to scan the official strategy guide of this game, so I can now check item drop rates. Turns out they're kinda generous, that Dullahan had a 20% rate of dropping it.

Anyway! I sure hope this has been enough to get me back in the zone, because there's no more delaying the inevitable. Let's go beat up everyone's favorite possessed brother. Or be beaten up by him. Who knows.

To really drive home how off my brain is, I don't quite remember what the Ogre Slayer is. I know it's a lance, but what exactly does it gives bonus against? Unsure. But in any case I wasn't gonna rush a battle against Cain anyway, Arthur is doing just fine with a Halberd.

So as the battle begins, we have these three annoying Gargoyles who I believe will be rushing to us as soon as possible, and also casting Muddle 1 to lower our accuracy, which Sucks Big Time.

Meanwhile, the Golems ahead of us are not as eager to advance I believe, instead doing the "big impenetrable wall" thing Golems like to do. Thus, I could take my time defending against the Gargoyles first I think. Let's see how it goes.

I'm unsure as usual on what to do with Narsha, but I feel she'd help with an attack boost. And I'd rather use Attack 2 to get more people in, something that would be a lot more efficient had I planned it beforehand. So Arthur is sadly out of the area even though I'd like him to get it, but Max and Hanzou get in the fun. And Tao. Who knows if she'll be using it.

Narsha gets a level up from this btw, but is very poor. Only +1% in magic resistance.

Also oopsie dopsie, I underestimated the Golems' willingness to advance. Good thing I didn't abuse that assumption too much, their movement is low and I didn't place anyone in their reach for this turn. Next turn things should heat up though.

I also realize now that Gong perhaps needed the Attack boost even more tbh, but at the same time, his defense does not inspire confidence as a frontline fighter. The fact that my previous post only mentions worrying about him does not help. Perhaps Gong simply does not keep up well with the late game. But I could have certainly helped by giving him the Power Ring beforehand, which is instead with Arthur, a guy who hasn't needed help in a while. Oh well!

Turn 2 starts like this and I don't like it, doesn't seem like I'll be able to deal fast with the Gargoyles. The Master Mages are the fastest enemies and should be attacking soon too, and I did not arrange things well to avoid the area damage.

At the very least I can send Domingo as my own inpenetrable wall against the Golems. I feel his spells are better spent here than against a single Gargoyle.

Arthur on the other hand should be okay dealing with these guys a bit, he'll get backup later before they get their turn, I think.

Unfortunately, no amount of cool Halberds or attack boosts can change the fact that flying enemies SUCK

Meanwhile, I'm barely back at the game and can already witness the wonderful Max Obsession we all know and love. This mage could have lined up four victims for the Freeze spell had them centered it at Narsha, but they would much rather think about Max and only Max. With that, only he and Narsha get hit, and both have >40% magic res to shrug it off. Tao would have done similarly too, but Hanzou, despite a magic user, has 0%, and was also the most recent death of the playthrough, so yeah I'm gladly he avoided this one.

Also, mages just don't last long nowadays.

As the eternal star of this run, Tao is now about to finish Domingo's job. Three enemies go down at once, I love magic.

Hanzou finishes the other mage. I'm a bit worried to advance him too much, but I expect the remaining enemies to obsess over Max.

Meanwhile, Arthur shrugs off these annoying things with 1 damage each. They are annoying but not a threat, I was only afraid they'd go for Tao or something.

Anri and Narsha then manage to take out the final Golem, and Khris heals what little damage Narsha took, because while it wasn't much, Narsha does not have that much hp and worries me. I want everyone at full HP once we get to the boss.

Turn 3. Hey Gargoyle, dodge this.

It doesn't.

Domingo gets a disappoint level up out of this, I didn't know he could get those. Only +1 HP.

Arthur finally shows off what a decent level up looks like, also redeeming himself from the previous miss.

The priest did nothing but heal themself last time, and they're weak, so I ignore them with Max, hoping lower leveled characters can get some exp out of them.

I'm not shocked that this part of the battle is chill, btw. The problem tends to be Cain and the Dullahans, unless you're too low leveled to deal effective damage to the Golems, which isn't a problem in this run, especially not with this many mages around.

Fittingly, this kinda transitional part of the battle is when I hit image limit on this post, so see you in the next reblog after the commercials.

[icedfairy]

I've been reading too many isekai and thus something formed in my brain.  Use or discard it as you desire

-----

"What is your wish?"

What a strange question.  I tried to make sense of it, but my brain was hazy.

"What stats would you like?"

Statistics.  It always came down to statistics didn't it?  

Top tenth percentile in basic math.  20th in the class.

"So that is your wish.  Very well."

I gasped as I sat up.  Where was I?  This wasn't my room.  It was some dank cave.  My ears folded back as I smelled the sickening smell of blood and shit.

Wait, ears?

I reached up to feel my head.  I had fuzzy cat ears.  What the hell?

Was this one of those isekai things?  If so I wanted to talk with the management!  Thinking that would summon them, right?

"These bitches are pretty dense aren't they?"

I leapt to my feet, tail bristling.  Three men sat on a pile of corpses.  One even looked like an oni.  They leered at me.

Was this hell?

3rd place for class representative.  30th in the marathon.

A whimper next to me made me look over.  There was a woman standing there.  An elf woman!  I mean she had to be an elf right?  All the natury clothes and pointy ears.

The man with the staff blinked a few times.  "Level ones.  Fighter and sage.  Level 1 pugilism, level 1 white magic, level 1 nature magic, level 1 endurance.  Elf has special skill eidetic memory.  Cat doesn't have anything."

I'd had about enough of this.  "Who the hell are you?  And why am I here?"

The other human laughed.  "You died and got reincarnated here of course.  Not that it matters.  Since you're gonna die again soon to give us your exp and skills."

So it was an isekai.  But it seemed I wasn't the only one here from Earth.  And my journey was about to end just as it started.

The oni stood up.  "Well you don't have any good skills, so maybe we can try something else.  You ain't half bad looking.  Maybe if you beg us enough you can become our slaves."

"Like hell."

12th place in the regional karate tournament.

I stepped forwards and punched the oni straight in the solar plexus.  He wasn't wearing armor there, so he deserved to be hit right?

The bastard didn't even flinch.  "Hahahaha!  You think your shitty level one ass can hurt me?"

Pain rang through my head.  I was on the ground again.  I hadn't even seen him move.

.1% of an accident getting through the new quality control.

I forced myself to my knees as he towered over me  "I'm level 30!  I have 428 strength.  1892 hit points.  You've got what, 42 hp?"

"43," the man with a staff said.  "Well 5 now."

One in a billion chance I would be the one to eat the affected meat.

A soothing feeling rushed through me and I saw the elf woman was next to me.  "The best I can do," she said quietly.

15% chance of survival.

The oni cracked his knuckles.  "Don't waste all your MP.  You're gonna need some for yourself."

45 million in savings, a maximum settlement of 5 million a person.

It was bullshit.

35 people ill,

I wasn't going to just take this!

3 dead.

I stood up again.  My body felt hot.  An invigorating flame.  The opposite of the sickening fever that had killed me.

The oni snorted.  "What, you wanna break your hand again?  Well maybe I can get you to 1 hp exactly.  Come on bitch.  Show me what your 15 strength can do!"

15 strength?  43 hp?

"My life isn't a set of numbers!" I screamed as I stepped forwards, swinging.

My fist slammed into the oni's throat.  His windpipe crunched as I smashed it.  The massive man toppled to the ground.

"Your hit points can't fix that can they!"

The other two men hopped up.  "How!  That's impossible?  A death skill?"

"No."  The staff wielding man pointed at me.  "It's... Forbidden Skill!  Limit Break!"

Skill?  Fuck that it didn't matter.  I rushed forwards.

The staff man screamed "Fire blast!"  The heat sent me staggering back.

"Cure," yelled the elf, removing my wounds, but I couldn't move forwards.

Then an axe flew out of the darkness slamming into the mage's back.  The flames stopped as he fell to the ground.  The last man shrieked and turned to face the newcomer.

A mountain of plate armor wearing a demon mask walked out of the darkness.  "Well, well.  Isn't this interesting.  One second newbies.  Let me finish off my bounty."

"Wait, I surrender!" The last thug said.  Sure he did.

The armored figure seemed to be similarly skeptical.  "Bounty didn't say anything about needing you alive."  There was the rustling of a chain, and the man yanked the axe back before throwing it again.

There was a splatter of blood.  And that ended my first encounter in the world I'd fallen into after my death.

Purgatory : The world where all humans are reincarnated when they die.  It's a fairly normal fantasy world, if bloody.  As younger humans have passed, certain modern innovations have appeared, but they're slow to disseminate due to the older races holding on to a lot of political power.

MC : Kairi Sanada

Age at death : 17

As someone surrounded by a culture that was obsessed with statuses and rankings, she developed a disdain for numbers.  When she died as the result of an e coli outbreak caused by cost saving practices, he disdain became hatred.  This crystalized into her ability, Limit Break.  A power that lets her ignore the numerical rules the world is formed on.  Naturally this leads to trouble.

Elf : Yikiko Watanabe

Age at death : 84

She passed from alzheimers, causing her to ask for a power that would prevent her from forgetting anything else.  As an elf, her age is fairly young now.  So she slips back and forth between her young persona and her archaic habits.

One of the things that hits me as I read a lot of isekai nonsense (or don't read it because a lot of it is shit that becomes boring 4 chapters in even if the manga is good) is their obsession with stat numbers.  I personally gloss over it, but I understand why.  Big blocks of numbers are an anchor that makes it easy for people to worldbuild with you.  See Harry Potter houses for another example.  Still the idea of existence as a set of numbers, ranks, and adventurer grades (which the stories usually then proceed to work around)

So I thought it'd be interesting to make a series pureluy about "Fuck the numbers.  I am not a number, I am a human being!"