Charles Patricius

Neither of the teens enjoyed the idea of a 'minor' shock dealing such incredible damage. Such a descriptor was for things that hurt, but were otherwise virtually inconsequential. This, on the other hand, did some very real damage to the body. "An idiot. An idiot decided that counts as minor. If I ever feel something like that again, I'm gonna find Brainface and fuck his mom. Wife too," he complained openly, still having no solid confirmation on the overseer's gender or family status.

Moving on, both would be acquiring items from the System shop once again. Perhaps they should have invested in weaponry before setting out, but Yugi wouldn't begrudge Miko or himself for the inaction ─ especially considering their activities of late. Brainface's terrible game design was the point of focus anyway. Things could have been so much better, but alas... something designed like an RPG was a little too close to the 'real life' side of things. "No gear, no spells, no nothing. Another Soulslike piece of garbage that everybody else would just eat right the fuck up like it's innovative and legendary. You know a game where all you have to do is dodge and wait for an attack window is what's considered peak now? Fucking trash!" he complained further. Ah, but there was some form of silver lining at least. Miko chose three items from the shop, gaining from her purchase a notification about sacrificing to obtain... Runes. Now that sounded interesting. "Huh? Maybe... it'll be alright after all. If there's stuff like that, there's probably alchemy. Always love a good alchemy mechanic in an RPG. We might be able to use that junk you just bought after all. How's your aim?"

The consensus among the pair was that the shocks received from those creatures were not minor. What was decided by Yugi during his ranting however was that he'd be fucking the Brainface's mom and wife, if he ever felt anything like that, again. "Same. Though he's a weird chair guy, he might like that..." Miko asserted from a completely intellectual standpoint. Moving on from this point though, both would be spending about 250 gold all together to get a few weapons. They probably should have checked this part before they got to the point of active combat, but... they'd been quite busy before, and Miko was technically the kind of person who always waited a bit to get a feel for the mechanics before she started looking for depth.

Ah but depth was something which was being forced in an odd way. And to her happiness it was a way they both agreed didn't work, "Yeah, I'm with you on that. I never understood the point of waiting around. I don't play games to test my reflexes. I am here for the crazy colors and the sounds of my buttons tapping. I can never get into the super grindy, play a specific kind of way games. I need... variety!" she demanded. "I wanna do cool stuff, look cool doing it and romance and conquer every hot target, not stand around waiting for an opening, in the ugliest armor possible in a game that basically has no story unless you literally go searching for it. At that point, I could just read the wiki and play something else," she asserted. Ah, but it seemed both understood the opening created by that new window. "Hell yeah, it looks like alchemy. I love skill and weapon crafting in games. It's always so fun to gather everything and find just the right mix~" she claimed, all the while she was pressing the button to confirm her choice. And attaining the three Runes. "And my aim is pretty good..." she confirmed for the lad as yet another window popped up as she thought of combining the runes after learning them.

[SYSTEM NOTICE]

Skill Integration Threshold Reached.
Three (3) New Skills Detected:

Glow Orb
Minor Mend
Elemental Drip

The System has identified overlapping patterns across multiple low-tier abilities.

[OPTION: SKILL FUSION AVAILABLE]

Eligible Skills:

Glow Orb
Minor Mend
Elemental Drip

Fusion Potential:
High — complementary energy signatures detected.
Resulting fused skill will scale with user’s Mana and Luck attributes.

Warning:
Fusion will consume all selected skills.
Outcome may vary depending on compatibility and user affinity.

Initiate Skill Fusion?
→ YES / NO

"Hell yes, I'm doing this!♪~" Miko chirped in absolute excitement after her eyes moved over the screen. How could she deny a luck rolled skill fusion? That sounded awesome. And she'd just been thinking that a great skill to work on would be better than three barely useful ones. Whatever came of it, she had the distinct feeling she'd be able to use it to heal them both at minimum, it was a no lose situation.

Whether Brainface liked being cucked or not, Yugi would absolutely commit to the activity if it meant getting one over on the freak who put them here. Even if they were hideous creatures, he'd probably find a way to make it work ─ possibly by using Miko herself as visual inspiration all the while. Whatever the case, that was a matter for the future... if they reached said future. For now, the only thing worth concern was surviving and defeating those beasts. Speaking of the beasts, their conversation took place while the ambushers were readying themselves fully. Yugi had a rather good pair of eyes on him, but even that was unnecessary to see the two clusters of electricity in the distance. In fact, he let their discussion about video game mechanics take a backseat to the urgent matter ahead. "We're gonna have to finish that later. That looks bad," he said.

Miko's aim was good, according to the girl herself. Beyond that, it seemed she was able to acquire a skill or spell that might prove very useful to them. If those three abilities combined into something supplementary like he thought they would, then Yugi had an idea. Even if they didn't, he figured the water part alone would serve a purpose. "They're gonna hurt a lot worse than the other one, and I lost track of that one. Keep your crazy ear open for it. My plan right now... is to try a conductor, even if it's just this iron sword. They're still E-rank monsters, and I'm guessing E is as low as it gets. If you take that skill combo and it's still got water, I'm gonna need it. Maybe you should get another junk item too ─ some sort of staff, or wand or... whatever spellcasting apparatus you want? Magic dildo or something? Who knows?"

They were in the midst of a rather heated video game debate but apparently it needed to be put on hold for the coming bad of the particular creatures currently planning to ambush them. Miko could hear the static cackling and looked over and winced. "Yeah, I'm gonna say no to everything about that..." she mused before her screen finished what it was doing. Of course, they could come back to their conversation later, she wasn't too bothered about it. In fact she took it as one more good thing in their favor that they'd have things to talk about which could be considered more normal than all the sexual activity they had in common. As for the other creature she was warned to keep her ear open for it, and so she'd do exactly that. "Hai hai..." As for her new magic her eyes widened when she saw the pop up for it.

LUMEN VEIL

Type: Support / Healing / Barrier
Description:
Miko generates a shimmering veil of liquid light that wraps around a target.
It provides:

Minor continuous healing (like a gentle regeneration)

A thin damage buffer (absorbs 1–2 hits early on)

Temporary resistance to status effects

"Ooh, this is good, here!♪~" she chirped "Lumen Veil" she murmured. Feeling the mana pull together from around them and wrap around Yugi in a gentle cover which would absorb damage and heal him a bit over time. "Apparently, it will absorb one to two hits, but I assume we're taking that sort of thing with a grain of salt," she mused. She'd be using another cast of it on herself. "It doesn't appear to be water, and I don't think a magical dildo would be helpful but I think I saw something in the shop a minute ago that might," Miko uttered quickly. Of course, she'd be going to the shop screen to find a basic staff with a simple 'water ball' spell applied to it. It didn't read as doing much damage but she figured it wouldn't need to. And if she found something better she assumed it could be treated like the other items and turned into Runes for her later usage. What manifested in her head was a long wooden staff which looked like a walking stick with a cloudy blue rock in the middle.

"I bet you will," Yugi grumbled, also looking toward the ambushers. He was ready and willing to leap from their branch at a moment's notice. Alas, it wouldn't be a good idea to do so without proper support. Though they were ready to move inward, Yugi required whatever Miko gained from her skill sacrifice. Once she had it, no hesitation was granted before she put it to use. A veil of light enshrouded him, and he felt... a strange and warming sensation, like that of a damp cloth kept on the forehead of the sickly. "Oh... phew. I thought you were putting water on me," he said with a sigh of relief. In truth, Yugi had been only a breath away from protesting the spell's use. Too many times had he dealt with the dumb decisions of others in crucial moments.

He felt a slow healing effect, and saw it taking place on his HP bar. The thought that this veil would absorb two strikes was indeed one he'd take with a hefty grain of salt, but such was how Yugi treated untested shields in all games. "Until I've got the math, a barrier is always just an emergency save. I ain't face-tanking shit!" he assured. All the while, that scout was rustling about between them and the tree it initially collided with. Yugi crouched against the branch, sword at the ready and eyes on the distant pair ─ all while Miko acquired a new staff to actually make use of in a more direct manner. "Hey, don't sleep on the magic dildo. We could really use one of those. Anyway... if you've got water in that thing, hit just my sword with it once I'm down there. Looks like those two are still waiting on their buddy, so give me the signal when you think I should go for offense. I don't think the one here is gonna be able to outmaneuver me without a running start. We onboard?"

As Yugi readied himself to enter combat, Miko began using her new magic with relative ease. Though they were a bit draining as she checked her Status, they could still be used multiple times without her running out of Mana. In fact her approximation had her capable of casting it at least 5 times with her current stat distribution. Moving on, she applied that veil to Yugi and heard him sigh relief upon realizing that she hadn't just covered him in water. Her brows furrowed gently in that moment, "But... electricity and water don't even mix for regular stuff. That's just common knowledge. They had to have just been stupid," she decided though she wasn't the type to just call someone stupid she could think of no better word to describe someone who'd toss water on someone going to fight an electric enemy. Basic magical understanding was the job of supports to avoid bad interactions, like doctors needed to know the side-effects of medicine.

Still, Miko was in for her own surprise in the same moment. As she was about to open her mouth to further enforce that warning about the barrier functionality she was surprised by what Yugi had to say. He assured her, that it would only be for emergency use... since he didn't know the math on the barrier itself. "I guess it's my turn to feel relief. I was going to say. I'll be watching but to not forget how to dodge just because shield," she said. Knowing he wouldn't face tank a random attack it would be much easier for her to monitor this situation. What was more he had a plan and she was now able to hear that other prowler moving around she'd keep her ears on that one and her eyes to the cackling ones on the horizon. After hearing his plan she understood her role and would commit to it. "Water to your sword. Let you know when the one here is about to pounce and signal the switch from defense to offense... I can do that," she clarified. It would be easier for her to manage than anything else, and she could also be prepared to cast an addition spell or two, if need be. All the while that new staff in her hand began to glow a ball of water forming and holding right on top of it as she found channeling through the apparatus much easier than the cast she'd done earlier. It also consumed less mana this way... as she noted by her stats. 'Good to know.' she thought. And with that preparation she was ready to do her part on this one planned assault. It would only take a few seconds after the lad landed for her to point and aim that water ball at his sword. It would hit only the blade, and then a quick word would alert him to the coming charge of the scout prowler on their side, "NOW!♪~" she chirped out as the one on their end of the forest approached, initiating the set up of the other two.

Electricity and water were a terrible mix. Sure, Miko knew this. Sure, that much should have been common knowledge. Sadly, the only thing 'common' about common sense was the lack of it. "I said most people are dumb," he reiterated from their earlier conversation. "I grind solo for a reason," he added. Yugi had long since stopped himself from being held down by the idiocy of others in games and the like. Now that he had no choice in the matter, he was relieved to deal with someone who wasn't a moron.

Yugi wasn't the only one relieved. No, apparently Miko was used to dealing with people who would take shields and barriers as excuses to ignore incoming damage. In that single moment of her mentioning the unnecessary warning, he felt a kindred bond solidifying between them. They'd both seen Yugi's least most loathed types of gamers. "... Sou ka. You're one of us," he mused absently. Just then, a decision was made within Yugi's mind ─ a decision that may have become clear in a matter of moments. Yugi's plan relied entirely on the timing of Miko's announcement. Once she gave that announcement, he had but one thing to say. "Hai hai, Aibou!" he replied. With that, Yugi jumped down and switched his attention from the ambushers to the scout. Said scout had been watching and preparing for the leap, but Yugi didn't drop straight. No, he angled his descent closer to the trunk, in view of the other two Prowlers. An extended blade collected Miko's water spell, and the scout had to reorient its body for an attack because of how the lad landed. That extra second of movement was precisely what Yugi needed to make up the speed difference. A lunge of his sword when the beast finally leapt his way ─ all he needed from that was penetration. That iron sword struck the Prowler's neck. Though it seemed dealing proper damage would be highly difficult, the sword's conductivity from that water spell gave it a boost from the Prowler's own lightning, permitting a small enough gash to prove Yugi's theory. These creatures produced static in their fur, but within their bodies... they were not immune. A shallow wound that would have counted as 'minor' for the Prowler looped its own electricity back into its body, stunning the beast. With it unable to continue immediately, Yugi seized the moment... by pushing it against the tree trunk. "YEAH! That's how it feels, you static-mange-having piece of bitchmeat!" he growled while pushing and pushing, forcing his blade deep enough into the Prowler's throat to kill it. "One! Others moving?" he asked... and indeed, it seemed the ambushers were taking off in opposing wide arcs at the time.

Yugi and Miko were discovering a kindred bond unexpected but so very welcome. Both individuals were managing their own kind of understanding at this point. Yugi normally grinded solo for the reasons of the idiocy of others, and Miko could understand that. "Understandable... I had to make some adjustments to my builds to manage solo play. It is easier to grind out a healer in co-op, finding a decent group is hard though..." she mused. If her own friends were more into video games it would be less of a problem, but she also didn't have to explain her taste in gaming so she could call it a win. And her one cousin wasn't so bad, aside from being a try-hard of epic proportions. Still, he mused about Miko being 'one of us' whatever that meant.

Well, she'd soon be learning, he took her directive without much of an issue, even calling her 'Aibou'. A warmth spread in Miko's chest which she wouldn't have known otherwise. How interesting. Such names and such closeness would bring out the absolute best in her abilities. She put on her full concentration, even while Yugi tested out the start of his strategy. He'd find it quite easy to damage the creatures with a bit of their own electricity. As he did what he needed her ears remained perked. There was a rapid shift and an arcing directionality of the other two. "Coming in hot! One from each side. Less than five seconds!" Miko announced. The gain in speed was one thing but both of the other creatures movements made it obvious what they were planning. She was preparing herself, another water ball at the ready. She could help there were plenty of options, but depending on his choice in movement she'd have to be completely ready to offer her onw assistance. Taking two fresh hits would be terrible enough that she was almost certain she'd have to break for one of those healing lanterns if he took too much damage. But she could trust a reasonable individual to dodge or be ready to fend them off.

The strange partnership forming between teens would only further build itself with time; Yugi could tell as much by now. He could call the brunette his partner not just because of their forced cooperation, but also because they now had an understanding of each other's gaming history. Besides that, he had no choice but to rely heavily on her input here. It was a gamble Yugi took upon himself, a gamble that would mark the difference between life and death... and most importantly, a gamble that would end in success initially.

With the scout virtually stuck to his sword for the moment, Yugi would have to act quick against the other two. Apparently, he had less than five seconds before they were upon him. Thinking quickly was critical. Two seconds would be necessary to come up with something. On the third second, he spun about to face the beasts. "Water on me! Now!" he shouted. Second four came, and Yugi intended to immediately leap away and forward. His aim was to clear the ambushers and have Miko's water strike them, where he'd once been. If she struck the right location, not only would the attackers be left to collide with each other ─ they'd also be subjected to each other's lightning, and it seemed... the remaining charge of the scout, whom Yugi left behind on the ground. He even left that iron sword in the little monster. Provided Miko did as requested, open mouths ready to bite would prove to be an excellent apparatus for internal electrocution of a much stronger nature. The ambushers would be fried from within while Yugi rolled safely out into the plains.

That strange partnership had a serious foundation. Not just their likened experiences in gaming but in Miko's case a certain kind of trust. Though initially she had no reason to feel this way, her instincts had been what led her to the conclusion that Yugi was trustworthy. A repeated set of circumstances built evidence and she would be following those feelings straight to whatever their necessary end was. Life or death was a gamble, one which technically put both of them in danger every time they moved or acted without thought. As such Miko was willingly putting her life into this lad's hands.

Such a moment would be shown very soon after. Those creatures were fast approaching, picking up speed and planning to pin the lad between them. He didn't have much time to make an active decision and Miko in turn had no choice but to ready herself for the coming problem. What would he say, water on him. She'd charged another water ball, and with less than a second of thought she simply did as she was asked "Hai!~" she chimed as her only response. If he died they died. So she'd assume he had a perfectly reasonable plan after complaining about the potential of being covered in water. He did have the Veil of her creation and his own regenerating health. And so, that ball of water as a spell would be shot from the tip of her staff, it would aim over his body at a central point and spread in a splash. No concussive damage but definitely a coating of wetness. Fried from within was the fate of their 'prowlers' and as such the lad rolled into the plains in relative safety. Miko listened closely and heard no other live creatures around and as such, she felt safe, hopping from her perch on the branch to check on her partner. "Daijoubu?" she asked wanting to check him more directly and make sure his plan hadn't ended in any lost limbs or more serious injuries.