CH 26

(T/N: Downloadable contents, DLCs, are additional contents created for an already released game, ranging from cosmetic content, such as skins, to new in-game content such as characters, increase in levels, additional game modes, and larger expansions that may contain a mix of such content as a continuation of the base game. It can either be added for no extra cost or in a form of video game monetization, enabling the publisher to gain additional revenue from a title after it has been purchased, often using some type of microtransaction system.)

The equipment made the progress in Radd and his party’s training a step faster, but there was another new discovery I found, a factor that should never be overlooked when thinking about training.

It was a brand new house that I discovered while walking on the outskirts of town

(This is…… the centerpiece of DLC #4! <Special Safe House>!)

B&B is a game where you buy out everything, and of course, once you pay for it, you can play through all of the content.

However, additional content is a different story.

Sometimes, additional elements, called DLC or Downloadable Content, are released for a game, and B&B’s devs just happen to have no money.

What would happen if that were the case?

That’s simple.

Anyway, a barrage of DLC was released for the devs to generate immediate cash income.

The first DLC was an equipment pack.

All of them had high performance for the Equipment Restrictions they had and the difficulty of obtaining them in the game.

The most dangerous ones among them were so dangerous that they’re still burned in my memory.

The <Maid Uniform>, a set of protective gear that boasts of an extraordinary defense power numerically, despite the fact that it doesn’t look like it would have any way in protecting its wearer at all.

The Head and Torso Equipment <Cat Ears and Cat Tail> which for some reason had this…… unusually elaborate standby motion.

There’s also the <Maneuver Suits>, which I feel like I’ve seen somewhere, that they make a mysterious “Buppigan!” sound effect every time they move.

The <Picot Hammer>, a hammer that is obviously designed and made of a material that doesn’t seem to hurt when struck, but somehow boasts overwhelming power.

The <Moonlight Saber>, a sword that holds the power of the force(totally not magic power) within it, that makes a vrmm-vrmm sound when swung. It was a sword that held quite the offensive power to it, in all sorts of ways.

The <Telephone Pole>, an OOPArt-type blunt weapon that is too much of a mistake in every way, boasts tremendous power and attack range.

(T/N: OOPArt = out-of-place artifact.)

These best-in-class equipment, which are outlandish in many ways, cost 600 yen, including tax, each.

You could also buy all of them as a set, but the price was offered at a sh*tty set price that only lowers it to 580 yen per piece.

However, this section is still good.

The most powerful DLC equipment were either displayed in a museum or was found in the depths of the Demolished City, Ash, so that it couldn’t be obtained until later in the game.

However, as the 2nd and 3rd DLCs were released, the devs seemed to have lost their self-respect and when they released the 4th DLC, <Special Safe House>, it had become a tremendous balance breaker.

This <Special Safe House> was, in essence, a house that could be used as a base, but its functions were dangerous.

It has a recovery device that can instantly restore HP & MP, a transporter that can call up and send back characters that can join your group, a teleporter that can take you to specific spots around the world, a device that allows you to pay a certain amount to reacquire unique items that have been lost or become unobtainable, a device that allows you to transfer an Enchantment from one piece of equipment to another, and other broken features, which made it officially sanctioned as a cheat tool.

Each of its functions was useful, but I especially wanted the “unique item reacquisition function to obtain valuable items that I had to give up in tears due to route divergence, and the ability to transfer godlike Enchantments, such as that “STR+34” placed on that sh*tty equipment.

But when I saw the details on the DLC page, I was in despair.

————–This DLC cost a whopping 4250 yen!

That’s the price for just adding this one house.

And that additional fraction in the pricing of 250 yen, which isn’t particularly cheap, shows how serious the game company is about this thing is.

Well, since the company itself went out of business without fulfilling the announced 5th DLC, which included “new origin/s for the Hero” and “new schools of techniques”, I guess this is to be expected.

(However, things would be a lot easier if I could get this house!)

I ran to the house with joy.

Besides, if this went along with the game logic, this house becomes the “Hero’s” property the moment the player purchases the DLC, transcending all logic.

It’s a mystery how a previously vacant lot suddenly became a house, and why the Hero suddenly has the ownership of it, but I guess that’s how desperate the devs were.

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Anyway, there’s a possibility that the owner of this house is the “Hero”.

If that’s the case, then perhaps, I may be able to find the “Hero” here……

[……Hmm?]

But then, I noticed a signboard that I didn’t remember seeing in the game.

A signboard near the entrance of the house that reads “For Sale: 10 billion wen”.

※　※　※

(Well, I should have known.)

Putting aside if this were a game, you can never be able to suddenly own a house in real life.

Considering its performance, the price of 10 billion wen isn’t so strange either.

Collecting 10 billion wen right away is impossible at the moment.

However, this discovery means more than just having a new goal in mind.

[The fact that this house exists means that……]

It’s very likely that the contents of the free DLC, announced at the same time as the first purchasable DLC, will also be implemented in this world.

And that will be significant in my future character builds.

————–Because that DLC contains the “addition of hidden dungeons” and “further increase of characters’ level limit”.

The latter is particularly important. In the game before the DLC, once a character reached LV 99, no further “level-ups” can be expected, and unusable characters have reached their peaks.

However, with this DLC, the next level after LV 99 becomes “LV 99+”, and although you can’t track your level numerically and you don’t have new techniques to learn, you can “level-up” by one level as many times as you want by accumulating the necessary EXP.

……Well, I once tested it by giving up on all the events and just leveling up, but the correction to required EXP became so high that I even threw my controller when I was asked for more than 10x the experience required for LV 98→99. But well, that’s beside the point.

————–I guess there’s hope for Rex too.

If “growth” has no limits, even Rex may have the possibility to catch up with others.

If that’s the case, I suppose I should first put more effort into successfully training Radd and the others.

With renewed determination in mind, I left the house.

※　※　※

Although it wasn’t really the effect of the DLC, the training of Radd and the others has become even more rigorous.

Nuku and Mana ran around the training ground wearing unbalanced Iron Getas, while Radd brandished his sword wearing Spring-Loaded Armor and even a weighted wristband on his arms, and Prana meditated wearing extremely lame spiral glasses that ruined her good looks.

The severity of her lameness is just beyond description, and it was so bad that I couldn’t help bursting into laughter when I went to check them, earning me a rapid fire of arrows from Prana.

The eyes of the people around us became even harsher, and we felt that the criticism being directed toward us had become even stronger.

But even so, Radd and his party never cut corners, and in fact, they seemed to be feeling good about their own growth.

And…… such feeling is right.

The Iron Getas, weighted wristbands, and spiral glasses are equipment with a hidden effect: “In exchange for lowering your current ability values, it increases your affinities”.

Perhaps due in part to this effect, they were growing faster than I had expected.

(If I could be greedy, I would have loaded them up with more equipment.)

There are things you can do in this world that you couldn’t do in this game.

In-game, you can only wear a maximum of three rings, but in real life, you can wear rings for all of your fingers…… is what I was thinking, but it didn’t seem to be working that way.

Just as mentioned in the flavor text in-game, it seems that “if you equip the same equip type on your body, the magic power within it will repulse each other and both effects would be lost”, the effect seems to be the same as it was in the game.

Each character has 9 equip slots in the game.

The specific breakdown for this is as follows:

Weapons: Right hand, Left hand

Armor: Head, Torso, Arms, Legs

Accessory: Up to 3 available slots

Except for a few unique items, only equipment in the “Armor” category can have a variable affinity value.

If you want to equip your whole body with equips that increase the affinity value, you can have a maximum of four affinity value equips on your body.

(This way, there’s no problem with training. ……But……)

In this case, we will have Adventurers who have high-affinity values but low current ability values, and that will bring adventuring to a standstill.

There isn’t really any benefit to lowering a character’s ability value with equipment, as the experience needed to increase ability and level refers to a character’s own ability value.

The equipment that increases affinity value is one wing of my training plan.

However, birds couldn’t fly with just one wing.

I would really need “strong equipment” to compensate for the weakness brought by the other wing, the equipment that increases a character’s affinity values.

As far as that equipment is concerned, there’s no other way but for me to get those myself.

Fortunately, I have already overcome the biggest hurdle in my opinion to obtain those “strong equipment”.

Now, if I could just find the right item to increase the efficiency, I can go get those anytime but……

※　※　※

Time passed by slowly and gradually, and just when I was considering whether I should give up and start collecting the equipment without any revision items, the news I’d long been waiting for arrived.

[Nii-san. I just got a call from a woman from the Guild, saying that a <Black Cat Blessing Coin> has been submitted……]

[Alright!]

When Resilia reported that when she came to the training grounds, I unintentionally broke down my role-play and raised a guts pose, even though we were in public.

————–<Black Cat Blessing Coin>.

This item, when used, increases the quality of items obtained for a certain amount of time.

Since this item could never be substituted for any other, one-third of the reward money for the Quest I gave out, meaning 100 million wen, was put on this one coin, but even though almost all of the items were delivered, this one item still hasn’t been submitted.

Well, I suppose it was understandable.

The <Black Cat Blessing Coin> can be obtained from any enemy or treasure chest, but its acquisition rate is an astonishing 0.01%.

If you play the game normally, you may or may not see one of these before you complete the game, making it an extremely rare item.

It was a matter of luck whether I could get one in such a short period of time, but as the number of people hunting these increased, so did the probability of acquiring it.

Even though it appeared at the last moment, I could say that I won the best.

There was not much time left.

I better strike while the iron is hot.

Quickly making up my decision, I called out to Radd, who was in the middle of training.

[Sorry, Radd. I’m gonna go out for a while.]

[Wha!? G- Going out, what are you suddenly……]

[I’m just going to get some equipment from the nearby dungeon real quick. I’ll be right back.]

However, it seems that my response didn’t sit well with Radd.

He snapped a question right back at my words.

[Right back, you say. There’s no nearby dungeon that drops treasure like that though……]

[<Labyrinth of True Darkness>]

The moment he heard that, I could tell that Radd was at a loss for words.

But well, I guess that’s understandable.

After all, the <Labyrinth of True Darkness> is one of the main objectives of this game, and among the <Twelve Dark Ruins>, it’s the one closest to this town and at the same time, the one guarded by the most powerful monsters.

————–It’s the most difficult dungeon that even I couldn’t clear when I was playing the game.