Nightmare Fantasy Online

"Wow. This is a nice place~." - Bloom

Why're you acting like it's your dojo? I agree that it looks good though.

It's the day after the long-awaited level up of the Fort, and we're standing in front of the Dojo facility placed on the 5th floor. I've even hired 3 D-rank teachers and placed them inside, even if it took 100 DP to hire each one. 

The Dojo itself looks like a standard, eastern-looking dojo made of black- and purple-colored wood. There are several large buildings inside the designated area for the Dojo, six of them to be precise. Its size can be upgraded as well if needed. Each building represents one of the four class lines..., even if I got no clue what the last two buildings are for.

The two of us entered the building and discovered two persons..., demons, waiting for us. They're the two teachers I hired..., where is the last one?

"Honorable Dungeon Ruler, it pleases me to meet you," said one of them. Probably the Mage-line teacher.

She's dressed sharply like a secretary, but with some raw accessories that would fit a magician. Her face, however, seems artificial. Like a doll's. Though, there's nothing else that makes her look anything different from a human...

"I have no name as of yet, but my race is Demonia Magia Doll. Pleased to meet you. If you wish to learn about the secrets of magic, please ask me." - Demonia Magia Doll

"Wow. A D-rank." - Bloom

She is what? Oh, you're talking about her racial rank.

"And I'm a Yami-Kitsune. Got no name, need no name. Wha-hahaha!" - Yami-Kitsune

The other one was a tall, lean man with black hair and the ears of a fox, dressed in a simple, silver-colored kimono and armed with a wooden sword at his hip. He's also spotting two foxtails. A youkai, perhaps? Ferno managed to evolve into an Oni, so it wouldn't be too far-thought for youkais and demons to be close-enough relatives for this guy to be recruitable in a demon-type Dungeon.

"...? Where's the third one?" - Garami

"You mean the Oni in the Warrior dojo? A squid and a shadow came by, so she dragged them into her place." - Yami-Kitsune

They do run Warrior-line classes after all. And the last teacher's an Oni. Can't say I'm surprised.

"And you, boss? What's your purpose today?" - Yami-Kitsune

"Fox, that's rude to the Ruler." - Demonia Magia Doll

"Loosen up a little, Doll. No need to put up the airs." - Fox

"...I need some training for an event that happens in two days," I said, wishing to move the conversation along.

"In that case, Ruler, may I suggest the arts of magic? I can-" - Doll

"Hey, wait a sec. The boss' using a Scout-line, so she should visit my place first." - Fox

"I hardly think that someone like you could ever be useful for teaching the Ruler-" - Doll

"Eh, excuse me?" started Bloom hesitatingly. "If it is about learning magic, I would like a lesson..."

"And you are?" - Doll

"Something like my servant," I cut in. Better for me to answer here.

"Is that so? ...she does have a higher potential for wizardry..., no, witchcraft even. ...that is fine. Fox, do your utmost in assisting the Ruler." - Doll

"Yeah, yeah~," said the Yami-Kitsune..., that's pretty long. Let's take a page from "Doll's" book and just call him Fox.

"Meaning it's just us two left," said Fox as Doll and Bloom left for the Mage-line Dojo. "Any requests?" 

"Some suggestions for a new class." - Garami

"Hmm," said Fox while looking at me. I felt that he used [Identification] on me, but I'm not against it. I'm the one asking for suggestions here.

"String Artist is something I would suggest...IF you didn't have your main class." - Fox

"Why not?" I asked, remembering that I could take String Artist before when I evolved my Scout class.

"String Artist is good for guys that don't fight directly and rely on traps, but Rogue-type classes are the opposite. In the way that they can go into a brawl but aren't specialized on traps." - Fox

"Meaning I shouldn't take both at the same time?" - Garami

"Not really. I only said that Rogue-type classes aren't giving you an edge in making traps. That's far from being weak with them. But String Artist on the other hand-" - Fox

"Can only hide while waiting for something to trip on the strings." - Garami

"Bingo~. Taking String would waste the potential in Rogue, so it's out. Same with other low-rarity classes that sacrifice your direct-combat abilities." - Fox

"...low-rarity?" - Garami

"Didn't know? The classes that are locked behind quests have better efficiency than those you get just from having some stats and/or skills," said Fox with a grin on his face. 

"...there's another string-based class that's better?" - Garami

"Better, she asks," said Fox to himself while chuckling. "But boss, you better prepare yourself first. Quests that unlock new classes can only be taken once." 

"...okay. How do I do that?" - Garami

"Hmm, for the guy I have in mind... First, you need another skill. It's gonna be helpful. Not only here, but also for the event that you talked about." - Fox

"It's that important?" - Garami

"Damn straight. For anything related to battle, actually. And you should already know about it, boss. It's the [Prediction] skill." - Fox

...oh. The skill that lets you predict the paths of attacks? Yeah, that is useful. I've even thought about taking it a few times myself. 

"Don't think one new Lv.1 skill will make a big difference." - Garami

"That's why we're not letting it stay as Lv.1," said Fox while walking into his dojo building. You don't mean...

"We'll have you train [Prediction] to at least Lv.3, even if Lv.5 would be the best. And as a bonus, we'll train [Detect Monster], [Dexterity], [Evasion], [Speed], and even [Luck]." - Fox

"Okay...?! Six skills at the same time!?" - Garami

"Why're you so surprised? Efficient training programs can be used on multiple skills at the same time." - Fox

"I-is that so..." - Garami

"Not that any no-names could make such an efficient program like me! Wha-hahahaha!" - Fox

...this guy may be more talented than I figured from his appearance. 

I followed Fox into the building. The inside looked like what a typical dojo would look like, a single big room with a wooden floor and all that, but lots of obstacles were placed all over the room. 

Fox jumped onto the biggest pillar and napped some hairs from his tail. He threw them at the floor, and before they hit, the hairs had turned into shadowy copies of Fox.

"Okay, boss. Here you will be attacked by these Dark Clone Tokens while we're putting this building in such deep darkness that even a demon like you can't see through it." - Fox

"Hmm, okay." - Garami

"And you're to let them attack you without retaliating." - Fox

"WHAT?!" - Garami

"Just focus on dodging them while staying in the same spot. That alone, over a certain amount of time, will improve all the skills I mentioned." - Fox

"...really?" - Garami

"Why wouldn't they?" - Fox

"Even the Ability Skills? I've been meeting some other people who trained skills, but they never mentioned those." - Garami

"Obviously. Only certified dojo masters can train almost any skills." - Fox

"Almost?" - Garami

"Regulations, boss." - Fox

There were teachers, or rather, dojo masters who could only be recruited when the Fort had higher stats...

"Alright. Let's start," I said after buying the [Prediction] skill for 3 AP.

Fox snapped his fingers and covered the whole dojo in darkness. The clones who were already "dark" to begin with disappeared completely..., but I can still see them thanks to [Detect Monster].

It's not easy though. This darkness seems to have an effect of weakening detection-type skills. Even my inborn Manavision's not working well. And Karmavision is a bust from the start. "Tokens" don't have Karma, from how I can't see anything from them with that vision.

Drawing my dagger, I waited for the first token to-*CRASH*-gephu!?

*CRASH!*

"Wow, boss. That was a beautiful flying-into-the-wall skit you did there." - Fox

I-I'll kill that guy...

"Hey! That power's too much for the starting levels!" - Garami

"No, the goal's to dodge, you know?" - Fox

"There are times when I can't dodge! Even if I've been lucky so far!" - Garami

"Hmm, got a point there. But it's not like you can learn a skill like [Guard], boss." - Fox

"[Guard]? That's a skill to boost defense?" - Garami

"No, it's a collection of battle arts that doesn't require a specific weapon proficiency- or battle style skill to use. Defensive ones whose common goal is to tank the attacks, as opposed to the [Parry] skill that got battle arts to deflect attacks." - Fox

[Parry]? Wait, maybe...

"I can take it!" - Garami

"No way!? You mean [Guard]!?" - Fox

"Not [Guard]! [Parry]!" - Garami

"Huh? ...oh, right. Rogue-types do have access to battle-worthy skills. Something like [Parry] should be possible..." - Fox

In that case, let's take it! I've been playing some games including swordsmanship before. It was always hilarious seeing the monsters trip when I parried their weapons. 

Without hesitation, I bought the [Parry] skill for 3 AP again, leaving me with around 8 left for the next Sub Class.

Hehehe..., now I'm invincible!!

"Now, come at me! ...*PUNCH*-gephu!!" - Garami

---

One hour later:

"Melee Parry!" - Garami

The token's sword got deflected by my dagger and sent back into the darkness. Then I noticed that another token came from behind me so I ducked away from its attack. Then three more came with downward swings, so I jumped up to escape them. After landing, two tokens came from each side, so I used Melee Parry to send the first one crashing into the other. Who's next?

"......that's enough." - Fox

Eh? When I've finally gotten into the groove? Tch.

"I could go for more." - Garami

"No way, boss-sé! You've already reached Lv.4 on a program I estimated would take a whole day to reach the same result! Take a break already!" - Fox

Hmm? Let's see...guess I have. 

"Then let's move the schedule and proceed with the quest you mentioned." - Garami

I'll take a proper look at it all after getting the class. 

"Seriously..., just how much progress would she do in that world..." - Fox

"What? Did you say something?" - Garami

"Nothing at all. But I need some time to prepare the dojo so that the quest can be taken." - Fox

That's a bummer. Guess I'll go and kill some time then. I want to see how the others are doing as well.