After finishing the meeting, I returned to my room.
“A duel with a regular knight, huh.”
It’s something I decided myself, but it’s a damn tough task.
To begin with, even apprentice knights who join the Stroke family’s knight order are selected talents.
There’s no need to mention regular knights who have accumulated years of training and received official appointment.
Logically, a blank slate like me can’t win even with crash-course sword training.
“…And before that, 4 months is barely enough time to get this pig-like body back to normal.”
Foden probably thinks it’s just words spat out by an Aiden ignorant of reality. He’ll judge if it’s true repentance based on the effort.
But that’s only if training honestly.
In my head, there are mountains of cheats Foden couldn’t even imagine.
“Firebird’s Heart, Heavenly Hand Root, Ghost Soul Pill, Winged Bird’s Wings, Dragon God’s Essence, Infinite Brain Stone, Full Moon Fragment…”
What came out of my mouth are legendary elixirs whose very existence is dubious, let alone their locations.
Treasures that would spark disputes between major powers the moment they’re known.
I know where those items are.
The first cheat that came to mind was obtaining and consuming one of these top-grade elixirs.
“Hm, but among them, the only one obtainable within the principality is the ‘Firebird’s Heart’?”
The one who consumes the Firebird’s Heart gains immense mana and near-immunity to flames.
If properly digested, a regular knight would be no big deal.
Not only that, I might even acquire physical abilities surpassing an elite knight in one go.
A few more years of training from there, and I could join the ‘Twelve Heroes of the Continent’.
But there’s one catch.
This elixir was used for the protagonist’s growth in a key episode of the original.
Tampering with it could cause unpredictable butterfly effects in the future.
If it were just something related to a side character, fine, but the risk is too high.
“…If possible, I don’t want to deviate too much from the original flow until part 3 begins.”
Reca Chronicles is a novel composed of 4 parts total.
And according to the chronology, the continent-wide catastrophe hits in part 3, the mid-to-late story.
By then, like it or not, I’ll have to step to the front stage, but for parts 1-2, since the main flow is the protagonists’ growth, I can’t help being cautious about intervening rashly.
“Using the Firebird’s Heart should be on hold for now. No pheasant, so chicken—as this is the north, I should gather some Yin-Yang Grass nearby and brew it.”
Yin-Yang Grass is a herb rarely found only in the northern continent, including the Stroke Principality, but when brewed with specific ingredients, it becomes a top-grade elixir with various effects like promoting mana growth.
It can’t compare to legendary items like the Firebird’s Heart, but among mass-producible elixirs, it boasts unrivaled efficacy.
And that recipe only becomes known in part 4, the latter half of the original, so right now, it can be bought at weed prices.
“Assuming I cover elixirs with brewing Yin-Yang Grass, I still need to think about how to get stronger.”
To decide my growth direction, I recalled information on the strong characters appearing in the original novel one by one.
While happily pondering that, suddenly a strange sound rang out.
[Due to your actions, a very slight change has occurred in this world’s original flow.]
[Official remake work begins. ‘Tripper System’ activated, granting character sheet viewing rights to entity ‘Aiden’.]
“…What?”
Before I could even properly understand, translucent letters appeared before my eyes.
<Aiden Stroke>
[Level: 2/32]
[Stamina: 01][Strength: 02][Agility: 01]
[Mana: 07][Mind: 03][Senses: 04]
[Divinity: 00]
[Traits: Magic Prodigy (B), Spirit Affinity·Weak (C), Swordsmanship Talent (C), Overweight (-)]
[Skills: -]
[Description: 14 years old, human race. The infamous second son of the grand duke’s family, notorious throughout the principality.]
A game-like status window appeared out of nowhere.
But the format was extremely familiar.
“…This is the Reca Chronicles character sheet?”
The letters before my eyes were exactly the same format as the character sheets endlessly posted in the author’s notes.
The very ones I referenced exhaustively when making the worldview chronology.
As befitting an extreme setting-obsessed novel, Reca Chronicles was obsessed even with detailing each character’s specs, resulting in separate TRPG-like sheets.
And now it’s appearing before my eyes.
“What is this? A possession privilege or something.”
If so, that’s great.
In truth, within the novel Reca Chronicles, there were no status windows like the trendy ones in modern web novels.
However, the specs on the character sheets in the author’s notes were strictly applied in the main story, and even in the completely derailed latter half, at least the consistency from this was maintained.
Thanks to that, paying subscribers like me played all sorts of setting games based on these sheets.
Drawing from that experience, I skimmed Aiden’s sheet and couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.
“Potential level cap of 32, but current level 2? And the skills slot is completely empty. This pig really did nothing but play until this age.”
For a child of a martial house receiving education from young, they’d usually be around level 10 at this age.
The level on the sheet relates to the total stats; levels increase one by one once any stat exceeds 5.
For example, all stats at exactly 5 with none above is level 0; all 1s except stamina 8 is level 3.
So Aiden’s level being 2 is purely thanks to the 7 mana.
Even that is innate, not from personal effort.
What’s unique is possessing mage and spiritist traits despite being from a martial house. Probably influence from the half-fairy mother.
“At least the consolation is that the potential is decent.”
Level 32, with good traits and high-grade skills, could aim for knight order captain of a small nation. No matter how much of a wastrel, the aptitude itself befits the blood of the prestigious Stroke martial house.
“In truth, even that becomes total surplus after part 3’s insane power inflation.”
Of course, I know a few ways to raise potential level or traits postnatally, so no big issue.
Anyway, seeing the quantified stats made my current state hit home hard.
I called Linia and said.
“Ask the herbalists to search and bring back grass that looks like this. Pay them appropriately.”
Right now, nameless weed without even the name Yin-Yang Grass. I explained its features in detail to her.
“Understood, young master. But why do you suddenly want herbs you never cared about before?”
“Just feeling weak, so trying to tonic up a bit.”
Answering half-heartedly, a question suddenly occurred. Can this character sheet view others’ too?
Looking at Linia, I shouted in my mind.
…Character sheet!
<Linia ro Arieldi>
[Level: 4/40]
[Stamina: 03] [Strength: 02] [Agility: 04]
[Mana: 06] [Mind: 06] [Senses: 07]
[Divinity: 01]
[Traits: Spirit Affinity·Mid (B), Espionage (B), Attendant (D)]
[Skills: Housekeeping (D), Low-Grade Spirit Arts (C)]
[Description: 22 years old, half-fairy of the Arieldi tribe. The only attendant brought by Foden Stroke’s wife ‘Nevia Liru Arieldi’ when leaving the Great Spirit Forest.]
It actually appeared, as suspected.
No, if you’re giving something like a status window, be a bit more user-friendly with explanations. I almost missed the crucial fact that I can view others’ sheets.
More importantly, what caught my attention was Linia’s talent being unbelievably excellent.
No, such a gem was right beside me?
My gaze naturally went to the description at the bottom.
‘The attendant brought by Foden Stroke’s concubine Nevia when leaving the Great Spirit Forest.’
No wonder she had no faults even against a wastrel like Aiden; she was the attendant serving Aiden’s mother from the fairy tribe’s home, the Great Spirit Forest.
Her long hair covered her ears, so I hadn’t noticed she was mixed-blood until now.
Considering the principality’s view on fairies, she probably hid it herself.
…Wait, looking at this sheet, something’s coming to mind.
“Ah.”
After pondering deeply, I let out an exclamation.
Come to think of it, even in the relatively well-made part 1 of Reca Chronicles, there were quite a few unrecovered foreshadows.
One of them is the identity of the anonymous collaborator who helps the protagonist oppose Ridley and the Stroke family.
The collaborator passed all sorts of info on the Stroke family to protagonist ‘Ephio’, with a description of purple hair peeking from the robe. That identity is definitely Linia.
In the original, she seems to have harbored resentment, believing the Stroke family orchestrated Aiden’s death.
The moment I learned that unexpected fact.
[MacGuffin No. 981/ The Purple Spy recovered.]
[Achievement Points +10]
[As reward for first MacGuffin recovery, A-grade trait/skill selection ticket granted! The selection ticket can be used anytime in the sheet window.]
“…What is this.”
“Young master, is there a problem?”
Linia looked at me strangely as I muttered staring into space, but my attention was solely on the text before my eyes.
MacGuffin recovery?
Achievement points?
Various keywords cluttered my mind, but the most important was this.
[A-grade Trait/Skill Arbitrary Selection Ticket x1]
[Tripper System’s Recommended Choices]
[1. Trait/Swordsmanship Genius (A)]
[2. Trait/Magic Genius (A)]
[3. Trait/Spirit Affinity·Strong (A)]
[4. Trait/Innate Combat Sense (A)]
[5. Skill/Imperial Guard Swordsmanship (A)]
[6. Skill/High-Grade Spirit Arts (A)]
[7. Skill/Rikium-Style Energy Heart Method (A)]
[8. Other]
“Crazy.”
A cheer-like curse burst from my mouth.
I calmed my pounding heart and slowly examined the system’s recommended choices. Any one from the dazzling list would bring immeasurable benefits.
“…Calm down.”
But after much deliberation, I decided to hold off using the selection ticket.
Times like this require caution.
It was clearly given as a ‘first MacGuffin recovery reward special privilege’.
If the Tripper System’s reward structure is more generous than expected, A-grades might pour out, but what if the opposite? In the worst case, I might never get another chance.
I sent Linia out and fiddled with this Tripper System every which way.
And let out a sigh.
[Achievement Points: 10p]
- Random Bronze Card: 10p
ã„´Consumable Draw/Trait Draw/Skill Draw
“…As expected.”
Besides character sheet viewing, the system had other functions.
Those achievement points seem obtainable by handling Reca Chronicles‘ MacGuffins, i.e., unrecovered foreshadows, just like earlier.
And using those points as currency enables the three draws above.
Yeah, ‘draws’ only.
No matter how I looked, there were no items like buying selection tickets. At least not at this point.
“In short, this is a luck-based shit game.”
I experimentally pressed the Random Bronze Card. Then a table of grade-based win probabilities appeared.
[Random Bronze Card]
D-grade 95%
C-grade 4%
B-grade 0.9%
A-grade 0.1%
Calculation-wise, 19 D-grades out of 20 draws.
My eyes naturally furrowed at the shitty odds.
But sitting idle changes nothing, and since I have points, might as well draw something.
“Hm. What’s best.”
Consumable draw would mostly yield elixirs, but since I’ll soon brew Yin-Yang Grass, not really needed.
Traits are innate talents or defining elements of a person, while skills are mostly acquired abilities.
“Given the probabilities, even lucky, I can only expect up to C-grade from draws.”
Thus, skill draw is naturally excluded.
The Stroke family’s inherited swordsmanship and energy heart method are both B-rank skills, and with my status as grand duke’s second son, I can acquire most low-rank skills on my own.
By elimination, one remains.
“Bronze Card, Trait Draw.”
Right after saying that.
Pong!
A translucent roulette appeared in the air and began spinning rapidly.
Wonder what’ll come out.
Since it’s pure random draw, a usable C-grade combat trait would be plenty. Like “Brawler (C)” or something.
The roulette, spinning at invisible speed, finally stopped on a slot.
Seeing the result, I widened my eyes.
“No, this is insane!”
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