Earth-san Level Up Volume 2 Chapter 16 (Patreon)

Defensive Strength Verification

I woke up in the morning and rented the kitchen to cook rabbit meat as I did last night.

Leaving that to Sasara and Ruru, Meiko went shopping.

Before shopping, we had to sell the items.

The items to be sold are the various weapons that have served us well up to this point.

I sell two swords, leaving only Sasara's. This one will be a subweapon. This sword is a subweapon, but it is 1 meter long, so it is in the way.

After some discussion, we decided to sell the clothes Meiko and the others had originally worn. Both the jerseys and overalls were reasonably priced, but they would put a lot of pressure on their backpacks. We decided to sell them because they are not worth our lives.

The pestle swords came to 200 guineas each, and 400 guineas for two of them.

All of Meiko and her friends' clothes came to 1,000 guineas.

These items seemed to sell for a rather good price because Synthetic Enhancement was maxed out.

With 1,400 guineas, I bought a poison remover, a paralysis remover, a few things that might be useful, and finally onigiri (rice balls) and sakura dumplings, which are said to be a local specialty.

Incidentally, they also sell salt here, so I bought that as well.

I ate my breakfast of rice balls and grilled rabbit meat skewers. For dessert, I had sakura dango.

It was a very filling breakfast, even though we were in a dungeon.

Meiko and her friends enjoyed themselves because it is not often that they get to stay over with friends like this and eat a breakfast they made themselves.

Especially since their friends are also their comrades-in-arms.

"Bye, Neko-san."

"Take care, Neko-san."

"Bye bye!"

"Bye bye! Good luck to all three of you!"

Finally, with a pom-pom pep talk from the cat fairy, Meiko and her friends left the inn.

But just in case, they left half an hour of use time, so maybe they will come back for more shopping, etc.

As they left the store, a short-distance away, Meiko said to them.

"You two, I'd like to verify a few things, okay?"

Each person's equipment should be pretty strong since Meiko had synthesized it all night long, but we wanted concrete numbers.

With their approval, Meiko begins the appraisal with the appraisal ball [50/50].

Sasara puts the current values next to the initial equipment that was entered in the notebook last night.

Ruru, meanwhile, is on the lookout.

Since two appraisal balls were used last night and today, there are only five appraisal balls left.

See the last part of the previous story for the equipment values.

Meiko looked at the numbers in her notebook and groaned.

The max reinforcement of the jersey was 12 defenses.

In contrast, the new body armor was about four times as strong at 46.

As the cat fairy said, it seems that the performance of above-ground and dungeon-made armor is separated.

I could see at a glance that the party was very strengthened, but the problem was this thing called defense.

We didn't know whether it was strong or not.

Meiko decided to find out.

I should have done it earlier, but it was too risky, so I turned a blind eye to it.

But after last night's 100 Demon Parade, she realized that she had to examine it properly.

However, we don't want to be attacked by our enemies, Meiko suggested.

"Guys, I want to examine our defenses. It's dangerous to be attacked by the enemy, and I think it would be a good idea if we attack among ourselves."

"Then I'll take the attack."

"No, let's play rock-paper-scissors to decide. I don't think anyone would like to hit their friend, and the winner gets hit by the loser. How about that?"

At Meiko's suggestion, Sasara, who wanted to be the test subject, had no choice but to nod.

This was an experiment that hurt not only the person being beaten, but also the person doing the beating.

"I understand."

"Nya... I'll do it..."

So began a game of rock-paper-scissors, in which Meiko lost and Ruru won.

In other words, Meiko beat Ruru.

Sasara was disappointed that she was just watching.

Ruru looked at Sasara with a "mmmm" look on his face.

Then she giggled with her hands next to her waist, exposing her stomach.

"Big Belly desu!"

"Oh, your belly? I'd rather have a butt or something..."

A girl's belly is important.

But when it comes to hitting, it is less difficult than hitting with the belly.

"It's almost impossible to face an enemy and have your butt attacked! The belly and face are the most suitable for verification!"

That was certainly true.

It would be the torso and face that would suffer the worst from a blow.

"Gnu, then, let's go!"

"Oh, no, not those rubber tires!"

"Eh?"

"?"

Meiko thinks, considering that Ruru sometimes remembers Japanese incorrectly.

A rubber tire like that?

...

...

That kind of nonsense?

The usage is different, so I took my time, even though it's one letter different.

I mean, I'm saying it's so impolite, but you're making a funny face.

But, however!

The spirit is good!

With a gulp, Meiko punches her friend!

Meiko punches her friend.

Meiko's wrist twists! Damage 3!

Ruru's eyes went (><) reflexively, but no damage.

"Hi, hiuuuuu...!"

"Awww! Meeko, are you okay?"

"Your clothes have a damage-reflecting effect...!"

"Are you serious?"

"No, no... fugu!"

Meiko wiggles her hand to check for pain.

It doesn't look like she has a sprain or anything. As she wiggled her hand, the pain gradually subsided.

At any rate, we learned that Meiko's punch did no damage.

It was a meaningless verification.

"Meiko! Next is this one!"

Next, Sasara's subweapon, the pestle sword, was taken out.

After handing Meiko the pestle sword, Ruru exposed her stomach again.

Awawawa...

Meiko was timid, even though it was a validation she had initiated.

"Wait a minute, I don't think it's right that only Meiko-san should feel bad about this. I'll do it."

"Oh, no, but we'll play rock-paper-scissors-scissors..."

"Next, Ruru-san and Meiko-san should beat me up. Then Ruru-san and Meiko-san beat me, and finally, I and Ruru-san beat Meiko-san. How about that?"

"Nya. That's fine desu. We are hambunko desu."

Ruru's words were right on the money, Meiko thought.

This party is a community of destiny, and everyone is a hambunko.

"Yeah. That's a better suggestion than rock-paper-scissors. That's what Sasara is for."

With this, we can all share the pain and the unpleasantness.

"Let's go!"

"No way, rubber tire!"

How on earth did I learn that this is the word to use in this situation?

Sasara attacks Ruru, who is exposing his belly as much as he can, with his pestle sword.

Sasara, who had just said something nice, however, freaked out!

Weak attack!

"Eh, ei!"

"It doesn't hurt! You're not going so easy on me, are you? More!"

Weak attack doesn't hurt, apparently.

"Ye, yes!"

Weak attack!

The sword hits Ruru in the stomach!

Meiko is all aghast!

"No damage at all! Oh, my!"

"Yeah, alright! And that's it!"

A mid-attack!

Finally, Sasara delivered a rather strong blow, and the game ended forcibly.

Sasara rushed over to Ruru and rubbed his stomach.

"Are you okay?"

"Meow! It didn't hurt at all!"

Meiko, on the other hand, came to her senses after Ruru's comment, and nodded her head in agreement.

"At any rate, the cloth part is quite reliable?"

"Ha! That's certainly true, Deuce. Meko, I'm going to hit you in the arm!"

"No, no...!"

Having no choice, Meiko picked up the pestle sword.

Then, she punches Ruru's second arm, who sticks his arm out to the side.

But it was a weak attack!

"It doesn't hurt! Not yet!"

"No, no!"

"Not still no damage!! You're like a rubber tire!"

"Ha, Hahaha..."

At some point, Meiko's eyes started to glaze over and she started punching Ruru's arm.

However, verification is important, so we put in a strong attack at the end.

Result.

Somehow the defense was up, even where bare skin was exposed.

However, it seems that Meiko's strong attack hurt a little.

"Hahahaha, Ruru, Ruru, sorry for hitting you?"

Meiko sassed Ruru's back.

Sasara, who had been on the lookout, came over and apologized to Ruru.

"Don't worry about it! I'm the one who has the most places without cloths. That's why it's necessary!"

Indeed it was, but the hand that had hit his friend felt terrible.

Then it was Sasara's turn.

"Come on, come on!"

Sasara exposes her belly in a huff.

Meiko's eyes went dead, and Ruru, who had been agitating so much earlier, looked frightened.

Result.

Sasara's skill makes her especially defensive, so even with Ruru's all-out attack, she took no damage.

We also tested the hachigane attached to the head, which was also excellent in that it did not hurt even if the part without the hachigane was hit.

After hitting Sasara, the two of them sassed Sasara, still scratching their heads.

Finally, Meiko said.

"Come on, do it!"

These girls were a mysterious group who were motivated when they were on the receiving end of a hit.

Sasara and Ruru were very hesitant.

It was extremely intimidating to swing a wooden stick down on girls much smaller than themselves, who were only 5'5" even with thick-soled sandals.

"What's the matter?

"Is that what it's like!"

"Yes, it's so snappy!"

Meiko was stirring the potency of Sasara and the others, and both Sasara and Ruru were very excited to see how well they could do.

Both Sasara and Ruru swung their kine swords down with teary eyes.

As a result, Sasara's strong attack was a bit painful.

In the case of slashing, Sasara was the strongest, because he had [Muscle Strength Upgrade Small].

In this experiment, we found that the head, which was not wearing anything, was also generating defensive power.

However, its defensive power is far inferior to that of the body part.

"It seems that the defensive power affects not only the part of the body equipped with the equipment, but also the surrounding parts."

There is also the matter of Ruru's bare skin.

Ruru's kimono is sleeveless, and the bare skin part should have zero defense.

And yet, it was normally generating high defenses.

On the other hand, the sum of the defensive power of the equipped armor should not be the defensive power of the entire body as it is in the game.

This would explain why some parts of the body sometimes hurt in different places.

At the feet of Meiko, who was seriously contemplating in such a way, two of them were wiping their tears egregiously.

After it was over, the three of us drank low-grade recovery medicine.

Perhaps it wasn't much damage, everyone's magic power was reduced to only 2, and that too was quickly restored.

However, this was also a very meaningful experiment.

The amount of magic power consumed when taking the recovery medicine could be higher than one might think.

The damage was such that it did not interfere with exercise, but it was reduced by 2. If I healed a broken bone with this, it would probably consume about 40.

The three of us decided that it was dangerous to look at this as a trump card in battle.

Of course, if you have to do so and your life is in danger, you need to take it without hesitation, but if you are the type of person who uses magic like Meiko, it may be better to wait until the end of the battle even if you have a broken bone.

Leaving aside the consideration of recovery medicine, let's return to the consideration of defensive strength.

"Our attack with a pestle sword would do almost no damage. Maybe a normal weapon would do some damage."

"That's right, guzoo!"

"Meow, zzzu!"

Meiko, who had conversely made the two cry by letting herself be hit, continued her own musings.

"Japanese Doll couldn't cut through Sasara's jersey in a suicide attack with abandon."

Meiko recalls an incident that happened the day before yesterday.

It was the case of the first time Japanese Doll came out and made a suicide attack with abandon, even though she was battered and bruised.

Japanese Doll had swung her katana sideways at Sasara's ankle, and while Sasara's jersey and socks were ripped to shreds, Sasara's ankle itself wasn't damaged much.

"In other words, I think it's safe to say that his defense has quadrupled, which means his attacks are no longer as scary."

"Guzoo! But we shouldn't let our guard down."

"Sorry, you're right, even Japanese Dolls may not all be the same strength."

In an elaborate RPG, the deeper you go into the floor, the stronger some of the same enemies will be.

Since dungeons are game-like, it is quite possible that this rule has been adopted.

Besides, this is probably the 4th Floor.

It is quite possible that new enemies will appear.

Meiko chided herself for being so naive.