Part 41: Lacryma Episode 18 Chapter 9 - The day she cried pt.3

Lacryma Episode 18 Chapter 9 pt.3






So we decided last update to go sightseeing in some ruins where the Original Kartia was discovered.
Just seems wrong to be mining for cards. Are they gonna chop for iron next?

"Must be a deep hole."
Well, that's a whole other story.
"Since they used Phantoms, it has become a bottomless pit."
"Ok, Kun, here's one for you. Explain about Kartia within 100 words."
"The material used in the Original is unknown. It's a forbidden card that's sealed in the Encrypter School or in the Cathedral..."
"I'm impressed, you memorized it."
Neeeeeeeeeerd. What? Why are you looking at me for?
"What? You were actually studying?"
"Of course. Lacryma is my tutor."



"What?"
"Nothing..."
"Which Original was discovered here? What did it create?"
"I don't know."
"You really don't know?"
"The Original is forbidden. Most of them are kept secret. Only the 'Heaven' and 'Earth' Original were made public."
"There's a rumor of an Original "Life" and "Death" Kartia."
"I've heard that rumor too."


It's not the act of creating life that's dangerous, it's what kind of life you create. One could argue that humans are the most dangerous life to create.



"It's our God."
"It's our ancestors."
"Why did they bury it underground?"
"Maybe people were not supposed to find it."
"It's to leave the superior civilization to the past."



"If it's forbidden, it will be sealed."
"This is our chance, but they're ruining our opportunity."

So the take away from all this is that there are two schools of thought regarding the Original Kartia and the ruins.

The religious thinks that their God created the Originals, then hid them away so humanity wouldn't find them.
To me, that sounds incredibly dumb. Super, super dumb.
There are a number of questions that gets raised in this scenario.
Why would a God create something so powerful as the Original Kartia, just to hid them away?
If the God didn't want humanity to find and use the Original Kartia, why didn't he just destroy them?
Or hide them inside the Sun? It's all very stupid to me.
Why would he create the ruins in which the Originals were found as well?
All in all, I don't think this is a very likely scenario. But hey, dumber things have happened.

The atheists thinks that there was a civilization prior to their own, that was at least more advanced than
them in regards to Kartia. So they've found bits and pieces of Kartia, pieced together how to use and create them
and created a society that relies on Kartia.
The questions that remain are, what did such a civilization need Original Kartia for?
And why did it die out?

I personally think this is more likely, to have happened. It just makes more sense to me.



The miners seems to be in a panic for some reason.


Again? Come on, this is getting stupid.
Still I can't help but feel that this is somewhat important, considering where it's happening.


Even the party is tired of berserk Phantoms.



"They're not skilled enough. The exam for the Phantom license should be harder, or more things like this will happen."
"Are you talking about yourself?"

"Don't talk back to your teacher."
"Since when was I your student!"
Well Troy would have taught you Kartia... Err.. One way or another. But it is a little hypocritical of Troy
considering he was half-assing teaching Kun.


It is somewhat suspicious that they were just coincidentally there, when the Phantoms went berserk.

"I don't think you're fit to be in Vigilance."
"I'm too gifted. I have no choice but to help you."
"Get ready! We'll hit them head on!"
"Good luck. I'll work from here."
"Bach, are you ready? We'll attack from the front!"
"It will be the same as two years ago if Alana were here."
"It's not the time to reminisce."
"Did you come up with the answer to my offer?"
"It's not the time for that..."


Did Bach what? Come up with a new roast beef sandwich recipe and wants Lacryma to taste test it?
Yeah, I'd be disappointed if he didn't ask me to either.


So anyways, combat. Man it's gonna be an exciting one.




We start in this very narrow passage way. The next couple of turns will be spent moving down towards the enemy.


Also the default deployment is shit. Again.


The first "obstacle" we'll encounter is this small group of Common Morderes.
What were they even doing here in the ruins? Remote digging, by yelling at the mine shafts?




So that's the map. The terrain is mostly "Floor" which will not me changed by Earth magic. As such there is nothing to dig up on this map.
Ironic, now that I think about it. But also fitting I guess.


The new Phantom for this map is the Pardos. Besides not being able to wear shoes and the Common type having a crippling Fire resistance, they're not all bad.
I'm gonna replace my Lizauro's with Pardoses when I get the opportunity. Unless something better shows up. Also, they're sporting C ranks in both weapon and armor.
This might become significant.


Let's talk equipment. Lacryma is long overdue getting some fancy shit. So I give her the Dream Katana I dug up last map.
It does less damage than the Dream Sword, but it's D rank and heals 20 hp PER HIT instead of the Dream Swords 10 hp per hit.
It's effectively 20 less damage per physical attack. In a map that only consists of Phantoms.


But hey, why stop there. Lacryma has some hype to live up to. So let's make her effectually immortal to Water and Wind elements.


Ele's make over is less exciting, to say the least. She came with a Silver Katana, which I could make a better version of, but why bother?
Instead I opted to boost her defenses.


Troy has a lower Water elemental defense than any of his other elements, and I figured, why not fix that now?
It won't have an effect on this map though.


Most exciting news for Kun though, because he has changed a lot since last we saw his stat screen.
After Lacryma taught him more about Kartia, he has actually gotten a Kartia stat upgrade from 1 to 2.
Might not seem like much, but it's a huge difference. He can now cast Harsh Quakes and some more advanced spells.

Secondarily, but not less important, his equipment ranks rose to B.
This is due to his time in the Tournament. I don't know how since he was doing the worst of the group there.
But he can now ditch C equipment and go for B equipment. I failed to notice his new equipment ranks when I gave him new shit
and Silver +4 is almost as good as Big +4. So really, no biggie


I also gave Bachstail some new stuff. The platinum helmet is slightly better than Silver +4 And that's really all you need to know about it.


I rearrange my deployment, and then I march.


Magic Flame is an old spell we've had for a while, but look at the hit box. But it fits here so I figured, why not show it off?


Yeah, I don't know why it doesn't hit a full area. It's magic,


Awww yeah, feel the power of a Kartia stat of 2. Ele is now our worst party member.


The AI is actually aggressive on this map, which is a welcome change. Now I don't have to spend 3 turns hunting them down.


They also bundled up together at this minor chokehold. So, you know, Quake Montage.


Frankly, it doesn't do all that much damage anymore, but it is a good source of experience. Lacryma is lvl 13 by now.
Note to self, find out the exact levels of my party.






I wonder whats in these pots. Hopefully something good.


Oh...








By turn 5, this happens. More meat to be crushed and grounded into the earth.


Even though Kun is only wearing Silver armor the Kabanda's still can't punch through it. Even at 100 hp.


More crap. I can build a house of shitty spears and axes.


The one and only text to pick up.


You'll notice that I've sort of left my Phantoms behind. Yeah, well my humans were powering through so quick that I asked myself, why even bother moving the Phantoms.


For some reason Bachstail only did 14 damage to this Pardos. I wonder why...


It's because it has 13 more defense than the other Pardoses. This sounds really good for me


Yeah that's gonna work out well for you buddy.


Even though they had better defense, they don't have better elemental defenses. So Kartia wins the day... Again.


It actually managed to deal damage to Kun. Oh man, we are in trouble now! (no we aren't)


Done.



"They're made out of Kartia. It's not their fault."
"Isn't Pentagram concerned about their existance?"
"Maybe. But their actions are controlled by man."
Except when they go berserk.
"That's true. We're the ones at fault here."
"I wish I'd heard that two years ago."
"I feel the same."


Uh oh, the drama is intensifying.




That's the second piece of equipment for Pardos that we've gotten now. Oh man they are gonna kick so much ass.

Get your wine ready, because next update is soap opera time.
No really next scene is gonna be great.

Lacryma Episode 18 Chapter 9 pt.3 END