7th Dragon III Code: VFD Part #10 - Update IX - Featuring: Government Oversight

Part 10: Update IX - Featuring: Government Oversight

Update IX - Featuring: Government Oversight

Music: Atlantica - The Emerald Afterglow

Nine updates and a full dungeon later, we finally have some actual on-field dragons to murder.

~

Atlantis Soldier: Begone! I shall not let you scoundrels through!

Unfortunately, the cost of such a thing is the inability to go pester Ulania some more.

But first...

Music: Battlefield - Atlantis

A Bloom Seed!

Sorry, 'Dragonsbane Seed.' They give oodles of SP when killed, but have 999 in both defensive stats and like to run away.

Thanks to having twice the hits of the single sword's Whirlwind, Cyclone Dance absolutely shreds them.

One of the few things to get nerfed in VFD is, surprisingly, chip damage. In the 2020s, any attack that couldn't beat the target's defense would deal a minimum of 1-2 damage. VFD cuts that down to just 1.

Music: Finish Them Off

Now that's a good haul!

And here's our very first field dragon.

And much like every other game...

Music: Battlefield - Furious Predator

Starting a fight from behind gives you a free turn.

As babby's first dragon, the Ancientus finally gives us an enemy with two actions, and can try to hit the entire party with Freeze using Frost Breath.

I just use this free turn to get some hits in.

A surprising number of enemies are weak to aerial-type damage! Between that and Maple Tear's fire, Inoue has the advantage on pretty much every enemy here.

Before it could even move, the Ancientus has lost about a full third of its HP.

And to rub salt in the wound, Yuno manages to stick it with Paralysis.

Which then locks out one move.

Which is far more likely than you would think, considering that ~~Summon Ltg I~~Bolt Penguin has a 30% chance to cancel a move if the paralysis lands. In comparison: paralysis rates in 2020 originally capped out at 18% with Trickster's Tarantella. 2020-II could hit 45% with Psychic's Frostburn, but that was a Tier 4 skill. Yuno starts with this, and the odds will only get better as I level it up.

Welcome to VFD.

Our first actual dragon manages to get in one attack.

Before Opal breaks it in half.

Now, the Ancientus has a good plan going, having low Speed but using Freeze to drop everyone even lower. It's just that Quartetto has priority so Opal's Speed doesn't matter.

I run into the next one in an awkward spot.

But it managed to hit me twice, which is more than the last guy could say.

But look at this! Even a dragon can barely put a dent in us!

Even if a fight did go bad and leave the party near death, there's a heal spot in this area I could easily run back to!

Music: Finish Them Off

And that makes three.

Music: Atlantica - The Emerald Afterglow

Hm...? Hold on, I'm getting some kinda weird signal...

Those legs... could it be?

Ah hell, the army is here.

It seems you've already managed to recover. That was quite an impressive battle.

I'm Yuma Kisaragi of the ISDF Far East Special Tactical Force.

Opal wants to hoard the time machine to herself, naturally.

What are you guys doing here?

We asked your boss Allie if we could observe you today. It's incredible how civilization flourished even in the deepest recesses of history.

~

Stay off our turf!

Calm yourself. We've simply come to observe you today. Things may be a little different the next time we meet, though.

~~

To think Doctor Julietta was able to complete the time machine... His intelligence and clever use of Nodens technology is quite admirable indeed.

There seem to be multiple dragon signals in this area apart from that of the True Dragon.

Sounds like the perfect hunting ground.

Understood.

We'll meet again. Next time, in Tokyo.

So, like, why did no one give Nagamimi a heads up on them? They're our Navigator for this mission, you'd think it'd be good to know that someone else is coming in.

Hey, Unit 13! We're done here. Come on back to Nodens.

Now, I could leave.

Music: Battlefield - Furious Predator

But there's just two dragons left in the entire dungeon.

I never have to come back here for the main plot either.

So the only thing I would get for leaving is having to come back later to clean up.

And I might as well save myself a trip and do it all now.

And that makes 5 Dz.

And that's the entire dungeon! An entire zone dedicated to a measly five dragons! No boss fight or anything! Quite literally the only thing of import that happened was Unit 13 meeting Ulania!

What the hell is this pacing, VFD!?

Music: UE77 Tokyo

Just think, we're 2% of the way to killing every last dragon!

Music: The Daily Grind

Those guys from ISDF are just stomping through all sorts of restricted areas. This better not be a problem.

Is there something you're hiding?

Our number of law violations are at double—no, triple digits. But that's not what matters.

Well, as long as there's no human rights violations I'm fairly sure you still pull ahead of Murakumo.

~

What, you scared?

It seems you still don't understand how you're supposed to speak to me. Watch yourself at night. If you hear my hop hop hopping, you'd better run!

~~

The real issue is that they've discovered our research into the Dragon Chronicle. They're not gonna stay quiet now that they know we have weapons for more than just self-defense. Worst case scenario, they destroy all our work and close off both the Portal and 7th Encount. Well, no point in floundering around now that they're here. Just go build that Dormitory like we talked about earlier. Talk to Chika at the counter on the Conference Floor, and she'll handle the rest. C'mon, hurry up.

Okay, the Portal I can understand, but why 7th Encount? Sure, Nodens is using it to Last Starfighter people, but that won't matter without a time machine to send them after True Dragons.

We get some quick tutorials when we head up to the counter.

Music: Let's Get to Work!!

We have a decent chunk of sidequests starting out, but almost all of them are DLC. Seed Outbreak and Gold Rabi Outbreak are the Obligatory Sega Grinding DLC, the Code missions unlock alternate character portraits, To My Beloved Unit 13 is a postgame quest that gives a fourth DLC portrait, and Allie's Death March is a post-postgame boss rush.

I can do that first quest now, but we're here to build stuff. Plus more quests open up tomorrow so I might as well knock them all out at once.

I'll give Nodens this, our room is much fancier than Murakumo's Unit 13.

The perks of not working in an apocalypse, I guess.

Eeheehee... Now you have somewhere to sleep at night. When you sleep in your Dormitory bed, your LIFE, MANA, and Field Skills are all fully restored. There's even a Terminal in your room. You can use it if you wanna change up your party composition. Ohhh, I'm getting excited just thinking about it. Come on and show your face in the War Room.

I'm sure that energy bar can't be th-

She didn't lie, that energy bar do be crummy.

Anyways, factory upgrades give a new gear tier.

And some new items.

Music: The Daily Grind

Let's go check out our new digs before we say hi to the bosses.

Right off the bat, the entry part of the floor has a much different layout.

Let's see what's behind door number 1!

As they say in my Japanese animes:

Umi da.

Door number 2 has...

A common room.

With a bunch of beds. Six, to be precise.

And door number 3...

...is locked.

Fiiiiiiiiiine, I guess we'll go say hi.

Music: UE77 In Ariake

This is the decision of the World Preservation Organization. You must hand everything over to ISDF.

I'd rather destroy the data than hand it over to you guys!

Well somebody's mad.

Nice timing! If you come any closer... I'll have to sic Unit 13 on you!

The funny thing is that despite ostensibly being our boss, Julietta does not have nearly as much pull over Unit 13 as he thinks he does.

Hm...? Doctor Julietta let's try and maintain some semblance of civility here. It's clear which side will win. We're an international agency, while you're just a business.

A business with a time machine. And also a complete disregard for the timeline.

We could probably, I don't know, go back and kill you as a baby or some shit.

We simply cannot allow you to keep the True Dragon specimen, or continue to employ time travel.

OK, OK. I get what you want. I don't mind handing over the 1st True Dragon Iod specimen.

...Okay, but why would they agree to something like that?

That's the only negotiation I'm willing to take you up on★

I mean, Yuma could solo us, and I don't see any backup dragon hunters around to stop the ISDF from taking the sample by force.

I see. So you seek a trade... Do you really think your vigilante ways will work on the mighty ISDF?

*chuckle* You're not going to improve if you're so overconfident in your organization, you know? Feel free to test us... If you think Nodens is just some private business, that is.

Understood.

Music: The Daily Grind

Hopefully they agree to our suggestion★

Commander Akutsu of ISDF is a cold and calculating man. I highly doubt he'd sign off on an exchange with a private company like Nodens. And if they do hand over the 5th True Dragon Fomalhaut specimen, they'll want more in return...

You're right. I'd bet they'd ask for free reign over the Portal as well.

Exactly. And that won't be the end of it, either. They'd probably even monitor us when we use the Portal.

Oh, because God forbid the military keep an eye on a private company that has, again, an actual time machine.