Whatcha doin', Richter?

Oh, Mio. I'm just writing in my diary, is all. It's such a lovely day out, the sort we haven't seen in ages—I just want to make sure that my memory of this day doesn't go unrecorded.

That's... actually really sweet.

I try.

Anyway, I was hoping you could run me through how you do your thing, because I'd be a pretty poor archivist if I didn't have a source for what one of our primary members does.

Oh, of course. Where should I begin?

Well—

I HEARD WE WERE HAVING ANOTHER CLASS CHAT

Oh, is it Richter's turn?

Ah, shall we gather around the campfire and listen to Richter talk for a while, then?

Oh, um... I-I—

Where did you three come from?

Satsuki has an almost preternatural sense for these things, and I was coming back anyway—I was off saying hello properly to Koron's father.

Oh, how is he?

He's adjusting well enough. If he weren't in good spirits, I imagine he wouldn't have so boldly asked me whether Kirino was single.

Is he?

Does anything about Kirino strike you as the romantic type?

VIBRATES INTENSELY

With near-pinpoint accuracy, one of our provided pillows hurled across the room from the beds, shooting directly into Satsuki's face. She staggered back, and it was a testament to her agility that she was able to land on her feet.

I'm sleeping. I have a headache.

vibrates really quietly

...so, we relocated to another room before we continued..

Stats



If I had to give myself a physical evaluation, I'd say that of us all I'm the least noteworthy physically. While my capabilities aren't poor within average contexts, I don't stand out in any real way. Evaluations did place me at a surprisingly high level of innate resistance to spiritual attack relative to your average human—obviously Koron has a higher capacity for that, but she's psychic. I do have a battle style that allows me to be fairly agile while also being able to focus on slightly heavier armoring than Koron or Satsuki, but I am still slower in terms of raw agility than our physically-oriented members.

Is Youka agile?

Ah, that's down to her battle style. She grounds herself very thoroughly for combat, but if she goes into a full-bore sprint she's terrifyingly fast.



Youka sprinting is really frightening!

You're walking in the woods. There's no-one around and your phone is dead. Out of the corner of your eye, you see her—

youka fudoji.

She's following you, about thirty feet back. She gets down onto all fours and breaks into a sprint. She's gaining on you!

Youka Fudoji!

Please don't give me any more nightmares.

Innate Ability

When any party member does any of the following: attack an enemy's weakness, inflict certain ailments (curse, bleed, poison, paralysis, sleep, stun), or deal a non-Rush Shot critical hit, that enemy will have Hack Weakness applied to them. Hack Weakness is a debuff that lasts 3 turns, and multiplies the enemy's chance of being hacked by 1.5x. Hack Weakness is immediately dispelled if the enemy becomes hacked.

Feedback and Shutdown do not count for inflicting Hack Weakness.

One of the really astonishing things about YUUHI in a combat setting is its ability to follow up on allies' actions. Some of Chisa and Koron's elemental attacks, for instance, open up gaps in vulnerable enemies' informational fields—oh, or Satsuki's toxins. The gaps make it easier for me to hack in and utilize the direct commands. I unfortunately can't make use of it through my own programs—there's a sort of logged 'memory' to the thing that makes it impossible to capitalize on that if the enemy's field recognizes it as the 'same'.

I have a question.

Yes?

What's the meaning behind the name, 'YUUHI'?

Ah, you see, the actual name is the Universal Hacking Interface, or 'U.H.I.' I'm to understand the name itself is an extrapolation of that.

Yes, but what's the meaning of the name, 'Yuuhi'?

You know how Japan is the 'Land of the Rising Sun'?

...Yes.

Well, the logic is, since Mom is 'Japan's most beautiful genius', obviously, the stuff she makes is the greatest form of the Spirit of Old Japan.

'The legacy of the founding of this nation... ends with this most perfect invention! And from here, a new legacy begins!'

And that's why it's named 'Sunset'.

I keep asking her, when's 'ASAHI'?

What a fucking egotist! How self-absorbed can you be?

i wish i was that confident


Tier 1 Skills

Attack Booster



Increases all party members' ATK-based damage for a set amount of turns. The damage increase works through both a multiplier applied to an attack's final damage, as well as directly adding a set amount to each party member's ATK stat.

One of the most obvious facets of the interface's combat utility is bolstering your physical capabilities. It's impossible to directly hack human beings, thankfully, but having an on-site YUUHI specialist allows for a small squadron to exhibit capabilities beyond their theoretical physical limits even without any S-Class operatives. In this case, it serves as a sort of multiplier to the raw force output by a given attack, which is how it can improve the efficacy of things like a bullet—the bullet has more 'weight', if you will.

So a projectile like Satsuki's bullets or your chakrams carry a heavier force due to the manipulation of infophysics?

Yes, exactly! One could think of it as a sort of metaphysical 'zooming in'. More of an enemy's body has to react to an attack with the heavier weight.

I see, I see. I understand perfectly*. (*doesn't understand anything at all)

I mean, it makes perfect sense to me.

It does?

Richter uses VFX.

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I see, I see. I understand perfectly.

Whatever works for you, Satsuki.

The way Attack Booster works is actually pretty neat. I've mentioned before that this game's math is pretty simple, so a raw ATK increase of +5 can make actually a pretty large difference—it can allow lower attack values to punch above their weight class, even before the multipliers. Attack Booster's only flaw is its incapability of improving magical attack, but like, that's not really a 'flaw' so much as just an 'aww, dang.' You've got item buffs for that, y'know.


Defense Booster



Initial skill. Increases all party members' defense for a set amount of turns. Until rank 10, Defense Booster only provides defense against ATK-based attacks. The defense increase works through both a multiplier applied to an attack's final damage, as well as directly adding a set amount to each party member's DEF/MDF stats.

Inversely, cushioning blows bolsters your informational field so that the opponent's attacks have a smaller 'weight'. It's an easier technique to grasp, so most low-grade YUUHI combat operatives can at least manage this much.

With that said, I have some issues with the fact that this doesn't do much against spiritual attack—I've been working on a possible modification for it such that it would, but it's likely a long ways off, especially with how otherworldly the dragons' attacks can be.

...

What's up?

Oh, nothing, I... I was just remembering my entrance exam.

Oh... Mr. Urasaka, you mean?

Uh-huh. I wonder what he could've managed if he'd lived? From the sound of it, it sounds like you two might've wound up having very different approaches.

I met his parents, you know.

Eh?

Apparently, he was quite the genius. He'd gotten into discussions for an apprenticeship to Japan's foremost cybersecurity experts, for his ability to decipher unique file formats such as the one used in Dr. Akaneno's personal files. They tell me that he loved media about robots, and always wanted to be the person to figure out how to upload a person's brain into a mechanical body.

In short, he sounded like a very engaging young man, and I'm very sad we never had the opportunity to talk shop, and I'm also very sad I made you sad.

Eh?!

Yeah, I'm feeling a bit too much moping over here. I think someone needs some cheering up!

To make a long story short: I'm ticklish. Moving on.

I'm big into offense as the best defense, but that doesn't mean that Defense Booster isn't also great for the same reasons as Attack Booster. It only getting magical defense buffs really lategame is kind of a bummer, mind you, but like... it's your bread and butter defensive buff.

Regenerator



Places a buff on all party members that restores a percentage of their maximum LIFE at the end of each turn for a set amount of turns.

Now, here's a question I get fairly often. How do I manage to heal people with YUUHI?

How do you heal people with YUUHI?

It's simple. It's all based around the '119' process—actually, 119 was my entry into Murakumo. For Mr. Ayafumi's department, the exam ends with a practical question of how you would apply your skillset to solve a problem. The problem I was given was that one of my squadmates couldn't raise his arm due to heavy injury.

Given the theoretical space of the exam question, I answered the following—"The ideal manner of treating him in a hasty fashion would be to utilize YUUHI to 3D-print a nanomachine swarm with the following specifications and basic programming tethered to my Gauntlet, with an automatic termination routine to ensure they don't overtake my squadmate's ordinary biological functions. This would allow for me to continue action in the midst of battle once setting my squadmate to be treated, allowing for autonomous recovery. In addition, the coordination offered by firmwares 1.3.4 and higher would allow me to extend this swarm to myself and other squadmates, capitalizing on a single injury to proactively prevent further injuries to my squad from being as debilitating."

Mr. Ayafumi was very, very impressed—the day I met him, once he finally stopped having me run around, he grabbed me by the shoulders and asked me if I was the man who came up with the 119 strategy. I answered that I was, and that I was flattered he remembered it, and he said to me,

"You are the smartest man I've ever had in my division, here's a personal-use Murakumo Gauntlet, welcome to Murakumo, you're a valued operative, Ms. Hikasa needs a coffee."

So, when set to autonomous use, 119 operates off of your informational fields to assist your natural recovery—

Hi, did I hear right that you invented something for your entrance exam?

Er, just the theory, really... weren't you sleeping?

I realized that I'd slept through my alarm anyhow, so I had a glass of water.

Regenerator is one of those buffs I don't personally wind up using much, but it's a great prevention tool. Percentile healing is nothing to sneeze at, especially at its higher levels—it gets a weak start early on but it can add up pretty fast.


Airsoft Training



The user gains a chance to restore all party members' LIFE at the end of every turn. The healing is equal to a base amount, plus 10% of the user's MAT.

Anyhow, that's also the principle behind 119's Reactive Mode, which readies the whole swarm for an immediate bolster during a lull in action—since the nanomachines utilized for Reactive Mode aren't necessarily in tune with us, though, they aren't as effective and require manual handling, so they really could be more efficient.

I like how you're over here going, "yeah, I invented on-field autonomous healing nanomachines when I was 24 years old, but they kinda suck, really, they could be better."

Well, they could!

Be prouder of yourself, Richter!

What's the meaning behind the name?

January 19th is my birthday.

Much better.

Airsoft Training is just good. Honestly, IMO it's one of the best Auto skills period—the heal's nothing to sneeze at, and Richter's MAT is pretty good, too. A few levels in this really could never hurt.


Tier 2 Skills

Nanomachine 119



At the end of the turn, revives any party members that were dead when Nanomachine 119 was used. Does not affect the user.

Even if other party members are set to be revived by Nanomachine 119, if the party is killed before the end of the turn, you will still be given a Game Over.

Ignite Mode, meanwhile, notes the particular vibes of someone who's heavily injured, and coordinates the swarm for a concentrated strike, if you will. It requires a significant amount of processing power even for small swarms, but it's an effective tool for turning the tide of battle.

Having felt it myself, it's pretty impressive. All the energy drinks in the world can't give me that kind of early-morning pep.

I'm sorry I'm not sturdier... the battle against the Jigowatt likely would've gone much better if I'd had the confidence that I could remain standing and utilize Ignite Mode.

Oh my god, will you stop? You're making the rest of us look bad.

I am?

You know, Richter, the Dunning-Kreuger effect is something it's wise to avoid, but there's something to be said for going too far in the opposite direction. You were likely one of the greatest users of cutting-edge computer technology in the world before the apocalypse, to say nothing of how quickly you've adapted, and all you can say is you wish you were a bit bulkier against magnetic blasts?

You should be more like Koron. She knows how smart she is!

I do. I'm brilliant.

I really could be better.

Well of course you could, everyone could be better. Perfection is in the pursuit of perfection, Agent Esslinger.

Nanomachine 119 bangs. It's hot. I've already talked about it in the LP and I've much the same to say about it here—it's really damn good. Wahoo, baby, you want a full heal revival spell that avoids problems with revival? Here it is!


Trash Pickup



Places a buff on all party members that reduces the duration of ailments inflicted on them for a set amount of turns.

Anyhow—

GARBAGE DAAAAAAY

—um, right, well, the principle behind the garbage collection subroutine is similar to how it works in a computer. Essentially, it frees up unused resources in one's informational field and surrounding fields to expedite recovery from abnormal statuses. The human body doesn't inherently have a garbage collected language, so it helps to have something take the load off.

Y'know Chisa doesn't hiccup?

I'm sorry?

Chisa doesn't hiccup. She doesn't get goose bumps, either.

Really.

Er, that's true, I don't, but what does that have to do with...?

Actually, it's pretty relevant. Those are both vestigial features, the kind of thing a garbage collected language would probably clean up. Same with things like human ear muscles, the palmaris longus, the platysma. Does she have wisdom teeth?

Not that I know of.

Huh.

Satsuki, are you feeling okay?

What? I can talk shop, too. One of the many things that I am is a programmer.

It's true.

Fffffffffffffffffffffffffffff Trash Pickup wahahahahahahahahahaha yesssss. The power. The powerrrr!!! It's so fucking good!! Trash Pickup is so fucking good!! Gyahahahahaahaha! Wail and die, you fucking weaklings! You can't penetrate my technological armor!

skill's good


Hack



Attempts to inflict hack on one enemy.

Can trigger counters against contact attacks.

Now, here's something I'm sure you've all been curious about. Essentially, by routing in through the enemy's field I can access a deeper level of subroutines than I can with human fields. This is primarily how YUUHI can be used offensively, though it still isn't perfect-dragons have a high level of defense, and their informational fields are difficult to get through. But, well—

Then you do the nuts stuff.

Then I do the nuts stuff, yes.

If you want to use the entire hacking skillset, you need this skill. So you should get this skill. It's good.

luvshock.exe



Only usable on hacked enemies. Forces the target to attack another enemy on the turn of use. If the target is the only enemy, it will attack itself.

For the luvshock program, essentially I route my hacking into subroutines that activate apoptosis. Are you all familiar with the term?

Yeah, I mean, I played Star Fox Assault.

Help me out here.

Apoptosis is essentially controlled cell death within an organism that occurs naturally and confers advantages. For instance, in we humans, during our embryonic development, undergo apoptosis to create the spaces between our fingers. In the case of this program, the mechanism is used to cause the enemy's body to misfire—causing its body to destroy itself from the inside, or causing their neurons to misfire such that they lash out and strike their allies. While dragons are very complex, finding these specific cells isn't actually too hard once I'm in.

So you're making their bodies kill themselves.

Yes, essentially.

Ah, bodies.

Another unbelievably megahot skill on Hacker's list. Luvshock is their primary method of dealing damage to most things, and boy does it just fuckin go. The vast majority of enemies will clobber themselves in the face for a ton of damage, and look at those damage modifiers. Yowza! And it's a free turn! Yowza!!


poisnjam.exe



Only usable on hacked enemies. Deals MAT-based damage to one enemy. Reduces the target's damage dealt and increases their damage taken for a set amount of turns.

Here's another one. This is the 'poisnjam' executable—it renders a direct strike, but also reduces the density of the target's informational field by leaving a hole that it needs to repair. As such, it makes the enemy's strikes less impactful, and it allows us to deal more damage.

So you're causing their bodies to have to choose priorities.

Right. Dragons' informational fields still aren't complex enough to be able to survive a hole like the executable leaves through its strike for long, so they have to pick and choose their battles. All the better for us.

How frightening. I'm awfully glad you can't hack me.

I wouldn't anyhow, of course, I mean, even if these could be used on humans it would be highly immoral and illegal besides—

Aww, no need to worry, Richter! Good boy, good boy~

Youka ruffled his hair.

Oh, alright.

The only reason that Poisnjam isn't top tier is frankly because luvshock exists—it's an all-stat debuff that stacks with other stat debuffs by being in the 'all down' category. It's an amazing skill in its own right, it's just that luvshock is insanely, insanely good. That said, if you're running a multiple-Hacker party, or know your opponent's going to wind up for a turn like, say, Jigowatt, it's not a bad idea to use at all.


Feedback



Attempts to inflict curse on all enemies. Infliction is guaranteed on hacked enemies, even if the enemy is normally immune to curse.

Okay, okay, so how do you do the thing where the enemy gets hurt when they hurt something?

You're familiar with Newton's third law of motion, yes?

If object A exerts a force on object B, object B exerts an equal, but opposite force on object A. Yes, I'm familiar.

Essentially, the Feedback program magnifies the vector of object B's equal, opposite force. The target's body is reprogrammed such that the forces applied in response are stronger than the forces they inflict, resulting in a certain amount being blown past the opponent's defenses and damaging them in response. If I've been routed in, this programming is certain to work, but it still has decent odds either way.

Mmhm... mmhm... Newton's third... law. Okay. You're terrifying.

You've all said that before, I don't really get it.

Hot! Hot! Hot! It's all hot, baby! We're on fire! Whoo! Feedback is another amazing skill in most circumstances. I mean, you can't really argue with numbers like that, you know? Even with the relatively lower damage dealt to your party, with those higher-level modifiers it can still hit like a champ—to say nothing of Luvshock. God. God I love Hacker. God I love Hacker


Tier 3 Skills

Firewall



Reduces all party members' vulnerability to fire damage for a set amount of turns.

Icebreaker



Reduces all party members' vulnerability to ice damage for a set amount of turns.

Now, one thing I've been workshopping is utilizing the barrier programming within YUUHI to defend against abnormal temperatures. They aren't ready yet, but programming to defend us against abnormal heat and abnormal cold are well on their way to being ready.

How do these ones work?

I'm glad you asked! Are you familiar with how capsaicin works?

The stuff that's in peppers?

You see, capsaicin bonds to the taste receptors in your mouth that regulate what is a normal temperature—after you've eaten capsaicin, for a while, your mouth genuinely thinks that it is on fire because its 'normal temperature' has been lowered. The Firewall and Icebreaker routines work similarly—essentially, by temporarily convincing your fields that your 'normal' temperature range is higher or lower, it registers abnormal temperatures as less abnormal, and thus 'notices' them less.

How the hell do you come up with this crap?

It's actually rather simple—

For her sake, Richter, no it isn't—you're just very smart.

Oh, um, if you say so.

Lumping these two in because they're the same thing for different elements. Obvious utility skills—they're situational, but for the inevitable Fire dungeon and Ice dungeon we haven't done yet, their utility is obvious. Firewall actually unlocks at the perfect time to debut for its on-element dungeon, and if you're fighting an enemy you know does a given thing, heck, no danger in hurling them up. Nice additions to the kit.


A-Skill Caller



Increases all party members' chance of activating AUTO skills for a set amount of turns.

I've also been studying those bursts of adrenaline Chisa reports experiencing when damaged. I think I might be able to come up with a subroutine to utilize those in order to allow us to more effectively utilize our additional actions, like Satsuki's Cheetah Burst technique.

Oh, I'm glad that I could be a useful test subject, at least. But, um, how?

...

Can I get back to you on that one? It's, um, it's still in the pre-planning phase. There's definitely something to it, but in part it's largely just spurring Satsuki and Koron to action by limiting their exhaustion, as well as increasing the processing speed of 119.

I need spurring to action, now?

You're not a very strong woman, Koron. I thought you could use some help, is all...

...

Thank you, Richter.

You just can't stay annoyed with him, huh?

I'm not big on A-Skill Caller, but there are probably situations where it's pretty useful. Auto skills are great, and this works for Airsoft Training and stuff. Using it is a pretty big buff, and with a Trickster you could do things like just ignoring any and all turn order with constant Cheetahman procs. It's good, I just barely use it.


Hack All



Attempts to inflict hack on all enemies.

Can trigger counters against contact attacks.

This next one is rather simple—at a lower efficacy it's possible for me to attempt to hack multiple targets at once.

What?!

WHAT

But the amount of processing speed you'd need to have to run those kinds of programs on multiple command prompts with manual entry is insane. How fast do you type?

Using YUUHI's programming language, I'm measured at about 260 WPM these days. I've gone up 40 WPM since the initial attack!






Two—two hundred and—

That's over four words a second!

Yes, I took a while to breach the 160 WPM barrier, but then I managed to master the art of typing on separate keyboards with each hand without losing efficacy—the increase in speed and efficiency is really incredible. When I'm operating simply off of the touch-pad typing on the Gauntlet itself I'm still only at about 175... Ah, that's why I use the holographic screens at times, you see. Ah, and the spectral plug I use is a sort of physical shortcut to speed up the rate of hacking by substituting physical motions for direct keystrokes—

My fingers hurt just thinking about that, dude

It's not useful all that often because the times you'll have multiple hackable targets are fewer than you'd think, but it's one level. Why not get it?


noiztank.exe



Only usable on hacked enemies. Deals MAT-based damage to one enemy. Restores all party members' MANA, for a percentage of the damage dealt.

Ah, now, here's one that I find is interesting—the 'noiztank' program! It strikes enemies, but instead of leaving a hole, it redirects the informational energy toward 119, which then disperses it toward us, reducing our exhaustion. I came up with this when I saw Chisa and Koron's requiring water so badly sometimes—using this should help us speed up reducing exhaustion in battle if possible.

...I'm not sure whether to feel flattered or mortified that you came up with this because of me.

We all have our limitations, Koron. You're a very effective member of the team regardless.

Me, too, Koron. It seems we run ourselves a little ragged, huh?

Richter's just a thoughtful guy.

The third and final .exe skill is a good one, too. All-target MANA restoration is in limited supply, so if you need it bad then you might as well hurl out a noiztank, especially since some later skills can get awful expensive. It might get you another bolt of lightning, so you might as well!


Hacking React



For a set amount of turns, if the user successfully inflicts hack on an enemy, they will gain an extra turn.

Regarding your surges of adrenaline, Chisa, I did actually come up with something more tactile—119's 'Reaction Mode'. Essentially, when activated, if I manage to hack into a target, it takes on the brunt of automatically typing out another command, so that I can capitalize more quickly on the hacking by including another routine.

Is being a fast typist just figuring out shortcuts?

Often, yes. It's a known quality about our captain, so I thought perhaps I'd just do my best to capitalize on it to increase my combat efficacy.

You're so industrious.

I try.

Using a solo hacker and you want to be able to use more than one skill on a hacked enemy per hack? Here's your ticket. It's not as sustainable as something like Assassin's React, but Hacking React can allow for sneaking in a Poisnjam, Noiztank, Feedback, or Shutdown on a target you wanna Luvshock, and the utility of that can't be denied. It's a great React if you can set it up. No complaints here.


Quick Hack



The user gains a chance to attempt to inflict hack on a random enemy at the start of battles.

I think that coming in with a hacking before the enemy has a chance to react also has good odds of being quite effective—for, well, obvious reasons.

Right.

Right.

Right.

right

...Yes.

Quick Hack has a higher success rate than regular Hack, gives you two turns if it successfully hammers an enemy with no Hacking React needed, and is relatively cheap—what's not to love? Get it! It's great!


Tier 4 Skills

Buffer Overrun



Increases all enemies' chance of having ailments inflicted on them for a set amount of turns. The effect is amplified on hacked enemies.

Now, are you all familiar with the idea of a 'buffer overflow'? Essentially, when a program writes data to a specific area of memory, if the boundaries aren't sufficiently checked, the program can overwrite data in adjacent locations with its own data, causing errors. This same principle can be applied in a similar manner to the Feedback routine, where certain areas of data can be overwritten with junk—the primary use of this is limiting enemies' immunoresponsive systems, making them more vulnerable to toxins, injury, and, for that matter, hacking.

Man, you can do that?

Well, er... not yet. But I will be able to!

>Satsuki vibrates intensely!

As you do, Satsuki.

Unless you're running specifically Hacker/Psychic/Destroyer, Buffer Overrun is an amazing skill. I mean, it just gives you better odds to inflict ailments, what's not to love? It also happens to stack with Samurai's Payback, so you can really lay on the ailments with that combination. With a Hacker and Samurai in tandem, Hacking enemies becomes a lot more feasible and reliable, and it's monstrous the kind of stuff you can get up to, not to mention of course the uses with Trickster (and Psychic isn't completely without ailments, itself.) Overall a great skill, really tasty.


Shutdown



Attempts to inflict sleep on all enemies. Infliction is guaranteed on hacked enemies, even if the enemy is normally immune to sleep.

Can trigger counters against contact attacks.

Now, for the Shutdown routine, essentially, I... well, I just put the enemies to sleep.





That's it.

That's it?

I cannot explain this one to you any further. It is simply as it sounds. I put the enemies to sleep. They fall unconscious. They have a nice little nap. Do you suppose dragons dream?

Well, our little dragon has some long dreams—

Don't pun off of my name.

So it's really just that simple?

I put the enemies to sleep.

Look, do I need to explain the applications of this? Sleep works like you think it works—it turns off the enemies for a hot minute until you attack them again. Sleep is generally harder to land than Curse is from Feedback, but while it does less damage, Sleep gives you another turn after it lands to just do whatever you want. It's good. Shutdown is good. This class has good skills. Sometimes, you just need the enemy to stop, and this skill does it.


Reactor Cheer



When a party member gains an extra turn from a React skill, the user has a chance to restore their LIFE and MANA. The LIFE restore is equal to a base amount, plus 10% of the user's MAT.

Ah, and one last thing. This here is 119's 'Cheer Mode', which also reacts to those bursts of adrenaline. It allows me to render a quick curative and exhaustion relief package to anyone who receives one so that they can capitalize on the opportunity, not to mention it doesn't require any extra work or setup. It's not fully complete yet, and requires more processing power than I can currently manage, but I'm sure it'll be quite the boon.

These nanomachines of yours are awfully handy, huh.

I try. Making sure that they can use as many opportunities as they can get is the important part of preventative measures and reactive measures both.

Finally, we have another Auto skill. Depending on your team layout, this may activate more or less often, but as with most auto skills, like, it's good. It's basically free recovery. If you've got the SP to spare, you might as well get it.

Still, most of these are based around mitigating damage. I wish I had a method to negate damage entirely—that would remove the need for any of this.

That's the sort of desire that grants us contradiction. Richter, are you aware of why the word 'contradiction' is written the way it is in Japanese?

No, I'm not. It's 'spear' and 'shield', correct?

It's a story that comes from ancient China. A merchant in the Chu region, when he wished to sell a spear, would say, 'this spear can pierce through any shield'. When he wished to sell a shield, he would say, 'this shield can block any spear'.

However, a customer asked him one day, what would happen if you were to use one of his spears to strike one of his shields? Would the shield, or the spear, come out the victor? The merchant had no answer—after all, he had contradicted himself, and thus had to admit his failure. Thus is the origin of the word.

Ah, I see!

...Still, I wonder...

Even if it's silly, it's worth thinking about, right?

Right.

EX Skill

gg.bat



Grants invulnerability to damage and ailments to all party members for one turn.

No, really. It just makes your party completely invincible for a turn. 100%. Nothing can touch them. Wild, ain't it?

Ah, but I do go on. I believe that's about it for the time being—have I satisfied you, Mio?

Look how many sheets of paper I have here and tell me my bloody need for notetaking isn't satisfied.

I don't know the specifics of your bloody need for notetaking.

Yeah, you did great. Thanks, Richter.

Sorry I threw that pillow at you, Satsuki.

Ehhh, you're good, dawg. I'm just glad we could all have this quality time listening to Richter talk about things.

He is rather nice to listen to.

Oh, gosh. It's all just technical talk, really... nothing all that exciting.

So, Koron. Wanna take a bet which one of us gets put on the spot next?

Do you have anything to wager?

Excuse you, you guys don't wanna hear about how I throw coffee at people?

what's the damage mod on that

It inflicts Haste at range, duh.

Don't give Satsuki any coffee. That would be frightening.

You all really are such a lovely team.

We wouldn't be a team without you, Richter!

Oh

After all, simply 'ladies' doesn't have the same ring to it. Where would we be without our loyal compatriot, And Richter?

Oh gosh

Three cheers for Richter!

Hip hip, hooray!

Hip hip, hooray!

Hip hip, hooray!






I, um, thought I should cheer.

He's too precious...!!! Hnrgh! Moe...!

Oh no, Mio! Wake up, Mio! Don't go into the light! DON'T GO INTO THE LIIIIIIGHT!

Ha ha ha ha ha! Oh no, it seems Mio has had a heart attack!

She'll be fine.

How callous of you!

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