Back at Grancel Castle.
"Phew, that really did the trick. Steam really does wonders on your pores. It's as if the stress I accumulated from yesterday is all gone. You're skilled too, Ennea.", I said, stepping out of the bathroom, all dressed and ready. I was now in casual clothes. I still had Phoenix Robe equipped on my gear slot, but it's hidden from view. It's one of the perks of the Gamer System. You can hide gear if you want to change looks~
"Teehee, thank you for the compliment, Master. I hope to continue serving you for the times to come~", Ennea said, also dressed in her usual clothes.
"You two didn't do anything naughty now, did you~?", Angelica's voice called out to us. Guess we spent a good amount of time in the bathroom where Angelica woke up again, and was now propped up against her pillows. I could still see her glory, half of it anyway. Kloe had also returned, and was currently reading a book at the table nearby. Except, she had a new addition in tow.
An armor-plated girl could be seen sitting next to her, enjoying a nice cup of tea for the morning. A literal halberd could be seen on her back, acting very out of place. I wanted to facepalm Angelica's comment as I looked at Kloe and our new guest, but Ennea responded before I could even speak.
"A good servant knows how to follow orders, Lady Angelica. I perfected it to a tee, no more, no less~", Ennea responded.
I mean, Ennea isn't wrong. But did you have to say it like that?
"...Are your mornings always like this, Your Highness?', Ines asked, doubt in her eyes.
"More or less.", I replied, and sighed. I then looked back at Angelica. "Angie, go get cleaned up. I'll be doing a little demonstration in a few minutes. That is, if we're not in a rush to leave."
"It's not like we have to leave right at this moment, Master. I received word already that the One of Swords is still gathering information. He has yet to send out the Garden of Swords to attack Kreuger. We've plenty of time to prepare, and it sounds like you want to do exactly that.", Ennea answered.
...When did you have the time to do that?
"A demonstration, huh? Count me in. Whatever it is you do Naoto always turns out to be an interesting sight.", Angelica said, and stepped out of the bed. She moved in a way that made it dangerous, but I stood firm. Seeing no reaction from me, Angelica sighed, and wandered into the bathroom where she would freshen up for the day. With her now away for now, Ines looked back at me.
"Well it is true we don't have to leave right away. Are you looking to refine your equipment, Your Highness?", Ines asked. The earlier doubt in her eyes vanished, and she now displayed interest.
"Something like that.", I said, only to look at Kloe. "You know I've completed more of those "Quests" recently, right, Kloe? I've gotten, my apologies for a lack of better term, a shit ton of Quartz from them. Now that we have our Combat Orbments squared away, I figured now is a good time to tamper them. I've been given a run down on how to use the Slots. Both yours and mine should be unlocked already. As for you two, Ennea, Ines, if you also have Combat Orbments, I'm pretty sure I have enough to upgrade yours. We should get a good power boost from this.", I said, explaining the situation to the girls.
"Our Combat Orbments?", Ennea questioned, before I saw her hand reach into her cleavage. Wait, you seriously keep it inside there!? Oi! She then brought out a pocket watch-looking device. "You mean this thing?"
"I'll...pretend I didn't see that just now.", I retorted.
"But you had your hands on it earlier~", Ennea teased.
"Can we like, not start this?", Ines responded, and glared at Ennea.
"You're no fun. I think of the three of us, you've inherited most of Our Lord's qualities.", Ennea said. "I mean, Duvalie can be way too serious at times, but you act like a statue, Ines."
"Someone has to keep us cool headed to make sure no one falls out of line.", Ines simply said.
"Fair point.", Ennea happily replied.
As for Kloe, her eyes remained on me.
"I was wondering when you were going to bring this up, Naoto. Apart from this "mission" you're supposed to go on, we are quite free. Now's most definitely an absolute time to fine-tune our Combat Orbments. I haven't really touched the one you had professionally crafted for me.", Kloe said, only to reach down her neck, and brought out a necklace. But it was no mere necklace. The Combat Orbment I bought for her could be seen attached to it.
"Now that I think about it, that did happen, didn't it? I've been away for so long that I almost forgot.", Ennea said. "Are you really saying you have enough Quartz to install on all of our Combat Orbments, Master?"
"I sure do. Let's wait for Angie to freshen up before we continue.", I said. I wasn't lying. I had completed several more Quests during this downtime. The tens of Quartz I had previously grew into the hundreds. I was curious to see if the Gamer System would introduce an Exchange Function, like the Trade system in the later games. You could trade Items or Quartz for different Items or Quartz. You can even Tier Up Quartz by doing so, but because I have the Stacker Function now, perhaps that is not necessary. I have hundreds of Quartz now that can use this Function. It's time to let it rip.
This will also give me a good opportunity to review my Status Window too. Since I wrapped up my business in North Ambria, I gained a few levels from tackling these Quests. I don't need to go into the nitty-gritty of each one, most of them either hunted named monsters, or a Cryptid. Like the one Father fought back at our villa. No new Instance Dungeons though. I'm not sure if I'll see anymore until the Vermillion Trials. We'll see.
Thanks to that, I reached Level 75. Only 25 more Levels until I reach the requirement!
Thankfully Angelica didn't spend all day in the bathroom, since I know girls tend to do that sort of thing. Angelica and Kloe don't have anywhere to go today, so as she brought it up earlier, she can take a longer one if needed later. She came out dressed in her casual attire, but with a towel wrapped over her neck.
"That hit the spot.", Angelica said, coming back into the room.
"Glad you liked it. We're ready, so come on over.", I said, calling Angelica over to the table. She nodded her head, and joined us.
I didn't stand on ceremony. Apart from Ines, Kloe, Angelica and Ennea are used to me activating my Inventory. They saw me suddenly tear space open before me, only to stick my hand inside. Ines, on the other hand, had her eyes turned wide open in shock for the first time since she had arrived here in Grancel Castle the night prior. Seeing someone like Ines falter was a funny sight to behold.
"What the...", Ines uttered, seeing my hand gone into the void. Seeing these shocked looks never gets old~
Tink. Tink. Tink. Tink.
All of a sudden, a constant clamor struck our ear. It was as if I had unleashed a river. It didn't stop until we saw a huge pile of beautiful gems appear on the table. These weren't no mere gems either. All of this was Quartz!
Quartz, in a nutshell, is the final product of elemental minerals called Sepith, which can be mined throughout Zemuria. They're found more frequently where Spirit Veins are active, and range from seven different elements. Fire. Water. Wind Earth. Space. Time. and Mirage.
They've remained a mystery on its usage throughout history until the Orbal Revolution kicked off, which realized what Sepith's powers could actually do. In many ways, it's undergone a technological revolution as seen in my past life, but its energy type at its core is fundamentally different from what we used, which is electricity, and because of that, Zemuria has created a much bigger array of technology
Airships and Mechas are included in that~
"This...is quite a lot.", Kloe uttered, seeing the gigantic stack of Quartz now present on the table.
"You really weren't kidding. What are you, a hoarder?", Angelica asked, also shocked to see this mountain of Quartz.
"Hahaha...", I said, letting out a dry laugh. You really know where to take a jab, don't you, Angelica? That's one problem people have when they go through the Trails games. By the end of each one, you have stacks and stacks of Sepith, and way too many Quartz to use because everyone is already all geared out. It's worse when a game is a direct sequel to the previous game, since those caps are much higher. You could even stack thousands and thousands of Sepith in Reverie. It was pretty crazy when I played it.
And I was given the Gamer System. I'm still subjected to that, it seems. As for Ines, shock remained in her eyes.
"Just what in Aidios's name did you do, Your Highness?", Ines asked.
"To put it simply, I have a personalized pocket space I can use at my beck and call. It's mostly used to store items. I do not know if living beings can enter, but it is something to test out. If that is a possibility, someone close to me could hide in said space if they're on the run from something dangerous or something.", I explained, wondering if I could do that.
"A unique space that you could hide from anything sounds like a pretty potent ability if you ask me.", Ines responded, recovering from her shock.
"Yeah. Anyways, I don't think I need to explain what Sepith is or what it can do, right?", I said, asking the girls present. They looked at each other and shook their heads.
"We're all pretty knowledgeable of how Quartz is used on a day to day basis.", Kloe said.
"Yeah. Though I personally don't like to use them while conditioning my body with Taito. Any external factors can skew results when we're training martial arts.", Angelica said, also chiming in.
"It's a similar way when we train our Stahlritter's formation. It only works when all of us are present. It can be enhanced by our Combat Orbments, but the core remains in our abilities alone.", Ennea also agreed.
Hearing that, I looked back at Ines.
"If you have one too Ines, I don't mind giving you some if it'll mean making our mission's success rate higher.", I suggested.
"That...", Ines started to say, not immediately responding.
"Take the offer, Ines.", Ennea interjected before I could respond. "We cannot underestimate the Garden of Swords. Plus from the intelligence I've gathered already, this Ace Rayne is no joke. His strength is on par with an A-Rank Bracer. Perhaps even an unofficial S-Rank. Master needs all the strength he can get his hands on."
I raised my eyebrows, not expecting that. Even Kloe's gaze turned serious.
"This person you're going to battle....He's that strong? He's someone of Cassius's level?", Kloe asked, also shocked.
"We can't be sure until we've seen the One of Sword's strength for ourselves, but this is what I've gathered. We need to be ready for anything, especially if they launch an attack we're not expecting. Roer's a big place.", Ennea answered.
After Ennea said that, I glanced at the Quartz before us, before looking back at Ines.
"Your call, Ines. If our opponent really is that strong, we'll need to follow Ennea's suggestion.", I said to Ines.
Ines had another look at all of the Quartz before us, and a decisive look appeared in her eyes. "You're right, Your Highness. Let's do it."