[Survivor No. 11766, first survival game concluded.]
[World: Samurai Shodown V. Survival Difficulty: Grade D.]
[Survival Mission 1: Cloud Hunt Village is about to be slaughtered by a "Demon." Survive and escape the Demon's pursuit. Note: Survivors cannot leave Cloud Hunt Village before the Demon arrives. Completed.]
[Survival Mission 2: Survive in the world of Samurai Shodown V for 10 days. Completed.]
[Hidden Mission: Protect Kagaribi from being killed during the pursuit by the demonized Basara Kubikiri. Completed.]
[Hidden Mission: Purify the demonized Basara Kubikiri. Completed.]
In a space as vast as a sea of stars, Cyan's completed missions were listed one by one. Each mission transformed into fine golden light, merging into her score. The energy bar below the evaluation began to rise steadily; the two hidden missions pushed the bar significantly, raising her rating from Grade D to Grade C.
[Survival Game Evaluation: Grade C. Obtained 3 Attribute Points, 2 Skill Points.]
[Injuries detected on the survivor. This treatment will deduct 500 Survival Points.]
[Treatment beginning...]
[Treatment concluded.]
[Cumulative Survival Points obtained: 8700. Deducting 3510 Points (including treatment and prior costs), Remaining: 5190 Survival Points.]
Cyan flexed her arm. It felt exactly like her original one—no difference in sensation at all. She looked around but didn't see Nishi.
"Where is Nishi?"
"Your private room."
The Survival Space provided the answer to Cyan's query. Relieved, she began to check her attributes.
Base Stats — Strength: 13, Agility: 20, Constitution: 10, Intelligence: 8, Spirit: 12, Perception: 12, Charisma: 12.
Cyan thought for a moment. Out of her 3 attribute points, she put 2 into Strength. This way, even without equipment bonuses, she could wield the demonic blade properly. She put the last point into Intelligence; she felt her intelligence was a bit low, as all her other stats were double digits while that one was still a single digit.
Survivor No. 11766 updated info (Brackets show base + equipment bonuses):
Strength: 19 (15+1+2+1)
Agility: 21 (20+1)
Constitution: 13 (10+1+2)
Intelligence: 10 (9+1)
Spirit: 13 (12+1)
Perception: 13 (12+1)
Charisma: 12
HP: 130, MP: 130, Defense: 26.
Attribute Points: 0, Skill Points: 3.
Passive Skills:
Hyper-Perception (Passive): Keenly perceive malice or goodwill from those around you. Perception range expanded by 5 yards. Perception +5.
Hidden Hunter (Passive): Skilled at hiding your presence, making it hard for enemies to detect you. Agility +3.
Note: Innate skills carried by the survivor cannot be upgraded with Skill Points.
Active Skills:
Mugen-ryu One-Sword Style (Special), Skill Level: LV2.
Note: Exclusive skills require a Japanese katana to be equipped. Power scales with the level of Mugen-ryu (Special).
Mugen-ryu: Fudo (Active): Consumes 5 MP to parry non-skill attacks and deal 85% of the enemy's attack power as counter-damage.
Mugen-ryu: Tenhou-zan (Active): Consumes 10 MP. Strike with an elbow to stun the enemy for 0.5 seconds, followed by an upward slash. Elbow damage is 85% of Attack + Strength; slash damage is 120% of Attack.
Mugen-ryu: Gale Slash (Active): Consumes 10 MP. Fires a long-range slash of sword qi. Damage is 150% of Attack. (Range increases with Mugen-ryu level).
[Upgrading Mugen-ryu (Special) to LV2 requires 5000 Survival Points and 2 Skill Points. Upgrade now?]
Looking at the cost, Cyan temporarily abandoned the idea of upgrading. This was just for LV2; according to the information she gathered from the space, the costs grew exponentially with higher levels.
Upon leaving the settlement space, Cyan felt as if she'd been struck on the back of the head. After a moment of daze, she found herself in a blank private room—pure white, as if nothing existed.
"Master, you're back!"
Nishi had been standing nearby, lost in thought. Seeing Cyan return, she ran to her side.
"Inquiry: Private Room."
Cyan focused her mind on the Survival Brand, asking why the room was empty. Learning that she needed to furnish it herself, she quickly selected from the furniture that appeared in her vision.
The blank room transformed. Outside the "walls" was seawater, with countless marine creatures swimming by. It looked like a glass house under the sea, though it was impossible to actually enter the ocean from the room.
"Whoa~! How magical!"
Nishi's eyes went wide. She pressed her face against the wall, watching fish she had never seen before. A squid swimming past puffed out black ink to escape a predator.
"Waaa!"
Nishi let out a cry and sat down on the soft floor. Feeling the plush carpet beneath her, her eyes sparkled with the light of potential profit.
"If I took this out to sell, it would fetch a lot of money, wouldn't it!"
"Items in the private room cannot be taken out."
Cyan ruthlessly shattered Nishi's dreams of wealth. She set up simple furniture, two beds, and noted that food could be purchased via the Survival Brand. After finishing the room, she walked to the door and looked at Nishi. "Want to go see the outside?"
"Okay!"
Nishi walked to Cyan's side. They pushed the door open, and after a flash of light, they were standing in a bustling town.
Cyan flipped through a small booklet that had appeared in her hand. it recorded facts about the town so that new survivors wouldn't feel lost. This was Survival Town, home to people from various worlds who had been invited by the Survival Space to become residents. They occasionally issued commissions with varying rewards.
The most important areas were the Equipment, Training, Trading, and Entertainment zones. The Equipment Zone had basic shops for newbies; veterans mostly looked for special cards there (Healing, Mana, Shield, Sound-insulating, etc.). However, these cards were expensive consumables—usually less cost-effective than good gear.
Notably, the Equipment Zone had an Enhancement Furnace. Enhancing increased attack power, skill damage, and defense. Levels 1-3 were safe, 3-7 could drop a level on failure, and from level 8 onwards, failure would destroy the equipment.
Training was for mastering abilities. Trading was for survivor commerce. Entertainment included taverns, restaurants, and casinos (though no "flesh trade" was permitted).
"What an amazing place!"
Nishi huddled close to Cyan to finish reading the booklet, which then vanished into points of light. People on the streets were dressed in styles from every era: medieval knights, sci-fi exoskeletons, ninjas, mages...
"Master, why can't I see their faces clearly?" Nishi stared at a passerby. No matter how hard she tried, their faces looked like blurred mosaics.
"It's the Survival Space's protection. We have it on our faces, too."
Cyan strode toward the Trading Zone. She planned to sell Sankuro's Great Hammer and the Brand Crush skill book.
"Master! Over here! Over here!"
Nishi found an empty spot and waved happily to Cyan.
"Hm?"
All the survivors nearby turned their gaze toward the pair.
"Actually having a servant... aren't they afraid of being backstabbed?"
"A while back, some idiot took a follower and tried to use drugs to get 'first blood.' Ended up being counter-killed. Now that follower has the idiot's identity and ID number."
"Who was the follower?"
"Asuka Langley Soryu, I think?"
"Damn, isn't that an EVA character?"
"Yeah, the guy went to the EVA: You Can (Not) Advance movie world and somehow talked Asuka into becoming his follower."
"I saw that one, Shinji Ikari really went for it!"
"Went for what? You're remembering it wrong!"
The bartering in the Trading Zone died down, replaced by topics that made no sense to anyone who hadn't seen EVA.
EVA? What a strange thing. Cyan listened with a head full of question marks. And 'went for it'? Does that mean running? Shinji ran toward Asuka?
Completely failing to understand the increasingly off-color remarks of the survivors, Cyan sat at her stall and laid out the Great Hammer and the Outcast: Brand Crush skill book.
"This really is a magical place!" Nishi stood by Cyan's side, her expression shifting as she thought about the other survivors' words. "Oh, I have 1500 Survival Points. Master, do you want them?" Nishi reached out affectionately to hug Cyan's arm.
"They are yours."
Cyan dodged the reaching hand; she wasn't comfortable with overly intimate contact.
"But I'm your servant. Everything I have is yours, if you want it." Nishi seemed to be testing something.
"You are free."
The result of the test left Nishi very satisfied.
[Survivor No. 11766, your servant Nishi's loyalty has increased by 10. Current loyalty: 80.]
?
Receiving the notification, Cyan mentally typed another question mark and glanced at Nishi.
Humans are truly nonsensical...