05



　The Daylight Shade is a shimmering demon that rises from the earth like a haze.
　As its name suggests, it looked exactly like a flame.
''Seiya!''
　Leonardo wields his prized illusory twin swords.
　The Assassins wielded by the Assassin, who was not as adept at two swordsmanship as the Thief (Swash), were specially equipped with a unique model and effect. This item causes all of Leonardo's attacks to take additional damage from fire. This type of ancillary effect is collectively known as 'procedural activation ability' (prok), and was often found in high rarity magic items.
　Leaving a trail of flame in the sky, Leonardo ran through the swarm of enemies.
　The assassin is an attack-specialized position that deals the most single damage out of all 12 professions. However, in order to deal the maximum damage, he must meet a number of conditions.
　For example, the enemy's consciousness must be diverted from you.
　Now, in this case, the vanguard is Kanami and Elias. The two of them rely on their pale light blue effects to keep the monster's attention fully engaged. Perhaps it's partly due to their personalities, with Elias standing proudly in the center of the Shimmering Demon and Kanami screaming brightly and dancing with his limbs, it's a powerful way to draw the enemy's attention.
　The second requirement is that you must attack from the enemy's blind spot. This is accomplished by getting behind the enemy and attacking from an unguarded angle. Fortunately, the Assassins have a wealth of skills to accomplish this.
　These two requirements are not difficult to accomplish, as long as you stick to the basics of party play. The Elder Tail's basic expertise is in the formations - the warrior in the vanguard draws the enemy and Leonardo deals damage behind him.
　However, the assassin's offensive power is huge.
　If he deals too much damage, the monster will decide that Leonardo is more formidable and dangerous behind him than the warrior in the vanguard, and will change targets. This would cause Leonardo to be on the receiving end, and not only would there be damage, but he would also be unable to make use of his vaunted attack power.
　Also, the monster that took heavy damage from behind would pay even more attention to its surroundings for a while, even if it didn't go so far as to shift its attention to Leonardo. This means that attacking from a blind spot is less likely to work.
　In order to prevent these losses, Leonardo ran across the battlefield.
　By moving himself, he would increase the number of monsters that could attack him. From the options he had, he would focus on destroying monsters that had already taken damage and could be stopped, and monsters that were too absorbed in attacking the vanguard to show an opening.
　This continuous movement attack was the answer Leonardo gave after the Catastrophe.

　Leonardo is not ashamed of being a crippled player, he was a top-notch fighter.
　However, even from Leonardo's point of view, Elias was clearly an anomaly.
　Of course, Elias is an "ancient species".
　He is not an adventurer.
　It would be wrong to call that normal or abnormal in light of Leonardo and his team's common sense. But that doesn't mean that Leonardo's feelings will not subside.
''Conquer!　Crystal Stream!　Clear Water Spirit, turn your form into a thousand blades and shine!　Aqua Thousand Drains!
　As if in response to Elias' cry, a half-material water spirit emerges from the magic circle woven around her body. She is the Lady of the Lake with flowing hair. As soon as she extends her slender fingertips, Elias flashes his magic sword made of crystal with the spirit of a cleaver.
　The aura tinged with the nature of water that comes from the tip of the sword turns countless drops of water into needles and drives away the flaming demons.
　The power of these drops was enough to make the fire demons unable to get up for a while, and more importantly, they had a wide range. It was 120 degrees in front of them, and its range could be said to be ten meters. It was a non-standard offensive move.
　If this was an attack by the Sorcerer, Leonardo would not have been surprised. They were experts in attack and ranged attacks, along with assassins. So it is natural that their spells are powerful.
　But Elias is not a sorcerer. He fights like a vanguard with a defensive ability at least as good as or better than Kanami's - in other words, he fights like a warrior. On top of that, his bright light blue granting magic, which protects everyone in the party, is comparable in performance to the recovery profession.
　This could be a combination of the advantages of every profession.
　To put it simply, it was an inordinate amount of strength.
(What the hell?!　(Those guys!!!)
　While screaming inwardly in astonishment, Leonardo slaughtered his enemies one by one and one by one. The 〈Assassin〉 is a user of an attack that concentrates its damage on a single person. Although Elias's ranged attacks are high performance, he is proud to say that he is not defeated in terms of damage itself.
　Leonardo took the back of the , which had been blown off by Elias' attack and was temporarily stiffened, and swung two swords at the speed of a flyswatter.
　The reuse restriction for the special move, Assassinationate, is three hundred seconds. It cannot be used for the time being. However, if a top-notch assassin attacked the enemy from behind with a well-aimed attack, the criticality rate would exceed 50 percent. They will supplement the Assassinate and rack up the damage.
Finish him off, please!　Leonardo!
It's Kjellnerd!
　Leonardo's head aches at the jovial Kanami's voice, asking for a break.
''My swordsmanship, the Fairy Sword (Fairy Arts), can't bury the enemy!
　Elias began to talk about something I didn't understand.
The curse of the Fairy Eye is running through my body's magic transmission circuit, which was stamped by the Fairy Tribe.
　At first, Leonardo thought Elias's dialogue was a runaway translation function, but when he saw the completely serious expression on his face, he was convinced. This man, Elias, is what we call in Japan a setting maniac, an intense delusional maniac. Elias continues to speak even more loudly, with words that make my spine itch.
As a result of the curse of the Fairy Eye, I won't let the monsters finish me off.
What?
　Even Leonardo, who was a stone's throw away at that confession, stopped and turned around.
''So, please finish it!
Uh, Kellnerd?　I mean, you know what I mean? Since Elias is an ancient species, it means that the monster's HP cannot be reduced to less than a quarter.
　That's ridiculous!　Leonardo was startled for a moment, but then he reminded himself that it can't be helped. If you think about it, the Ancient Species are NPCs in the game. It's not just a matter of time before you'll be able to get your hands on a new one. It would be unavoidable if they were to stand out from the crowd.
　That's why Elias is restricted to not being able to stab a monster in the back.
　I'm not sure if this is a limitation imposed on all of the 'ancient species' or only on Elias, but Leonardo felt that it was the latter as far as Elias's words were concerned. The reason for this is because Elias has a unique setting added to him, 'because of the curse of the ', in order to rationalize that limitation. It's a headache, but it's self-reported. There's no denying it.

　Either way, the work Leonardo does hasn't changed.
　As he crouched over the hot wind blowing in from the side, Leonardo swung the straight sword in his right hand as if to sink his body as it was. It's not so heavy, and it cuts through the enemy.
　It's a good idea to keep moving as it slides. Attack.
　It doesn't matter whether the opponent falls under Leonardo's attack or survives. He is always moving, delivering blows to the blind spot.
　After burying one , Leonardo ran his gaze over Kanami with an expression as if he had bitten something bitter.
　Elias is good.
　He's an "ancient species" and has a special occupation that adventurers don't have: swordsmancer (blade mancer). So even if his bullshit ability didn't satisfy me emotionally, there was room for systemic acceptance.
　But Kanami is different.
　She is a full-fledged "adventurer" and her occupation, called a "martial artist" (monk), is familiar to Leonardo. It's a very good idea to be able to have the same level as Leonardo.
　It's not as if they are using any unusual or expensive equipment. At the very least, they don't appear to have powerful items such as the Ninja Twin Flame, a twin-blade dedicated to the assassins, or the Shiolo's Darkness Walking Belt, a fantasy-class accessory.
　The weapon in his hands was probably an 89th level production level item - the Giant Slayer's Cage.

　The equipment is not shabby and seems to have been well thought out and carefully chosen, but it cannot be compared to the High Ranker. It's not as shabby as a highlander, and although they seem to have been well thought out, they cannot be compared to a highlander.
'Yay!'　Boom, boom, boom, boom!
　That Kanami delivers a hip-infused seiken thrust.
　From there, she steps in further, thrusts her fists out with her left and right, and eats a body hit with her elbows and shoulders. Kanami, as if gravity had disappeared, soared through the air as if it were the end of a brilliant partnership, and with a kicking foot that stretched out like a single stake, stitched the "shimmering demon" to the earth.
　The shimmering demon flickered faintly and then disappeared.
　Kanami's attack power was extraordinary.
　Leonardo had only experienced the Elder Tail for so long that he could tell. It's true that the martial artists have a high level of offensive ability for a warrior position. I'm sure you'll be able to find a great deal of information on this. However, even so, the amount of damage is only "high for a warrior".
　The role of the warrior position is to draw and hold back the enemy's attacks in the vanguard. In other words, the warrior's strength lies in its ability to hold the enemy in place and its ability to survive.
　Compared to the Guardian Warrior, the Warrior is much less effective at reducing damage with armor and shields. Instead, they are a type of warrior that supports the front lines with their high evasion rate and abundant HP. With several abilities suitable for solo action and a relatively high attack power, it is said to be a profession suited to the tastes of professionals as well as to one-man play.
　However, there is no way that they could possibly have the offensive power of the assassins, who are attack specialists. This is a natural rule in the balance of the Elder Tail game.
(No way...)
　Leonardo wondered again and again if it existed.
　Right now, in the world of the Catastrophe, the damage done to monsters is not visualized. However, depending on the approximate number of seconds it takes to defeat the same monster, you can get an approximate attack power.
　In terms of total time, Kanami killed the Shimmering Demon in about the same amount of time as Leonardo, or even less.
　Of course, using the Assassinationate, Leonardo would be able to bury the monster in an instant. However, it was only a moment, a single enemy. Kanami has been maintaining the kind of damage that Leonardo can barely produce using Assassinate.
What's happening? I don't understand!
　Leonardo was about to panic.
　Would Kanami be what the Orientals call a YUKAI?　It was even as if Kanami, who had been merrily defeating his enemies until now, had suddenly become a creepy monster to Leonardo.

''Ah.''
　That Kanami suddenly looked out beyond the battlefield as if she were standing taller.
'A blank on the battlefield!'
　Coppelia, who had been close behind Leonardo before he knew it, called out to him. Coppellia is a healer. It's different from the joking "ancient species" and the unknowable oriental fist demons (mustats). You'll be able to get a good deal more than you'd like, but you'll also be able to get a good deal more than you'd like.
　Kanami grabbed the mane of the white horse that galloped in, and holding out her left hand, she pulled up Coppelia.
''Let's go!　These guys are not very interesting, because the more they hit, the more they hit, the less interesting they are.
　Kanami took a sip of water from the gourd-shaped water bottle she'd pulled out of her bag, averting her throat.
'Wait!　What's that? We are walking!
　Elias let out a scream. Leonardo nodded repeatedly, as if in total agreement, but his reply was only given by Kanami's bouncy smile against the blue, blue, azure sky.
'Come on!　East! (Go! East!)
　And so the journey of the four of them and the lone animal began.



　◆06



　The wind across the wilderness was so cold that it reminded me of winter.
　The word night in this wilderness does not mean fullness of darkness.
　It is the meaning of the word night as transparency, which has lost the tactlessness of light, fills the silence.
　The blue of the universe is still there, but the color has been shed deeper and deeper, as if lying on the ground, and if you look up, you can see that the night sky is connected to a thousand million stars.
　It was the night of the plateau Aorsoy.
　The mountains in the distance, in the form of a lack of starry skies, taught their dark shadows a little.

　Illuminating Leonardo and his friends was a bonfire that crackled and exploded in orange.
　On the fire that Leonardo had built hung a tin kettle that Coppellia had pulled from her bag.
　The steam leaking from the kettle was scattered by the cold wind of the plateau and carried away in an instant.
　Elias and Kanami came back to find a break in the wind as they finished setting up the tent. Kanami wrapped a cloak of coarse, thick cloth around her body.
　The adventurer's body is strong, but as expected, it will respond to the cold air of the night. That's just as well in a fashion that shows off the navel.
　Coppelia, also from her bag, pours the black liquid into the four scarred tin cups she took out of her bag with a careful hand. It was coffee with a touch of honey added to it.
'So what do we do now?'
　With his mouth in a crooked line, Leonardo asked the group as he put on the thick tunic he had taken from his bag.
'What do you mean?'
What are you going to do now?　That's what I'm talking about.
Just like I said. I'm going to Japan.
　Kanami answered Leonardo's question in a light tone.
'You know what?　You can't get to Japan without crossing the ocean, you know?
　As a geek, Leonard was more familiar with Japan than the average North American. Japan is a strange and cool country at the edge of the world, attached to the east side of China.
　We don't know the exact location we are in, but Leonardo knows that we are somewhere in the central northwest of the Eurasian continent, roughly speaking, the "upper right" of Iran or Iraq.
　He traveled from here to Japan. And without the Circle of Fairies, it was insane.
"I'm fine. Right?
　Kanami spoke to Elias. Elias nodded with a hawk-like expression, whether he understood or not.
''If you swim hard enough, you can get across.
　Kanami held her coffee in her hands and started to say something reckless.
　She was flustered by Leonardo's accusing look and supplemented her words.
'You see, I've been moving to Italy for a while now. I've already got a good grandfather and grandmother swimming across the Straits of Dover. The sea?　The straits?　There's not much difference between Japan and Taiwan either. We can do it.
　Is that right?　Leonardo wondered, but he couldn't deny it outright. If you recall with dim knowledge, it is true that Japan and China's protruding point was close to each other, but will it really work out that way?
After all, this is the Half-Gaia Project, and it's only half the distance. Plus, you have the physical abilities of an adventurer. It's not so bad, you know.
　That being said, it was Leonardo who came to feel that way.
　Next to him, he didn't notice that Coppelia was quietly shaking her head from side to side.

''Well, well, you know, the part where we cross over to Japan is considered good. What are we going to do until we get there? We're in the middle of Eurasia. If the circumference of the earth is roughly forty thousand kilometers, a quarter of that is ten thousand kilometers. Half a Gaia, that's five thousand kilometers.
He was going 500 kilometers an hour.
What kind of a traveler are you? There's going to be a sonic boom!
　Coppelia calls quietly to Leonardo, who sighs.
''If you proceed for 50 kilometers a day, it will take you a hundred days to get there. Don't worry, we think there is a good chance that we will arrive within six months.
　That's the way it's put it, if you ask me.
　We had a terrible time in the ruins of Tekeli, but three of our four members are at the ninety level. The remaining one is Elias, which is truly substandard. Unless they were involved in some kind of event, if it was just a trip, just a trip in the wilderness, the danger was not great.
　Even if there is a time limit, if you're just moving around, you'll get there 'someday'.
　But, however.
　Even so, it's unusual for a modern person to make a trip that assumes six months to spare.
Why do you want to go to Japan so badly?　You said Kanami was Japanese, right?　Is that why you want to go back to Japan?
Well, I wouldn't say that's not true either.
　Kanami, wrapped in her thick cloak, looked at Leonardo through the bonfire and smiled in an unladylike manner.
'Don't you understand?　stone
　That being said, Leonardo met Kanami for the first time today. It's impossible to understand Kanami's situation.
　When Leonardo silently shook his head, Kanami began to speak in a quiet voice.
'This incident--there must be some cause for it, right?　I want to know why.
　Kanami's words were as straightforward as a child's.
　Leonardo's innocent words poked him in the chest.
　If you're going to say that, then even Leonardo wants to say it. 'I want to know too. But Leonardo couldn't say it. He couldn't say it, and he has spent his life to this day.

　In The Elder Tail, Leonardo calls the Big Apple home. This city, which was modeled after New York City in the real world, was Leonardo's home, home town and pride.
　Just south of Central Park, with its beautiful seasonal flowers, is the terra-cotta and brick Carnegie Hall. In the Big Apple, it's not a concert hall, but a place to sell shish-kabobs and tacos, but it's a great place for Leonardo and other downtown residents to hang out.
　If you go south on 7th Ave. you will come to Times Square, the most obscene intersection on the planet. New Yorkers don't panic in such a crowded place. They have their own destination imbedded in their brains, so they can keep walking with maximum efficiency without worrying about others. Only a taller man can look up at a skyscraper with his mouth half open.
　These androids may be headed for Chrysler, Diamond Row or the United Nations building, but in the Elder Tail, they are all abandoned and serve as strongholds for guilds to hang out in the Big Apple.
　FAO Schwartz, Trinity Church, and Radio City Music Hall. Each used to be the home of a large guild of eminence, and each boasted a lovely, if crumbling, look to the otherworldly blue sky.
　New York is the best city. It is the same on Earth and in the world of the Elder Tail. New York is a megacity full of power and love of neighbor that has turned chaos upside down, and it is Leonardo's home.
　But a catastrophe has changed everything.
　Half of the guilds were forced to disband after that nightmare day, and the other half were transformed into a violent group ruled by a tyrannical monster.
　The guild itself has no personality. For it is only a name, a system. In the midst of all that chaos, the guilds with even more sinister goals were strong.
　If you allow yourself to be robbed by the Adventurers, or by the Earthlings, who are easier to exploit, then you make a profit. A power structure was created around those profits, and as long as a mechanism was created to subdue them with violence, the guild could survive.

　But the neutral guild to which most players belonged was weak. Individualism and impartiality were hardly the goal of survival in this world. Individualism is ultimately only about one's own interests, and fairness is a measure of the distribution of benefits. I couldn't last a week without 'fairness' being backed up by great power.
　Guilds that claimed to be solidarity and fairness among participants, but in reality were nothing more than an imposition of blame, were destroyed overnight. The players were so suspicious that they simply disbanded without saying a word.
　Many of the players had no intention of resorting to violence, but equally, they had no intention of doing anything for others. In other words, they were too selfish to think of anything but themselves.
　For such players, the guild was just a place of convenience. But because Elder Tail was a game, the problems had never come to the surface.
　There were some peaceful guilds with the right ideals.
　But even those guilds did not take in an unlimited number of players. Many players were shocked by the Catastrophe and were too busy protecting their own safety and interests.
　A guild is essentially a mutual-aid organization.
　There was no guild in the Big Apple that was hospitable enough to feed 'members who have no intention of helping each other'.
(...it was a riot.)
　The 6.01 food riots and the public lynching that followed had left the Big Apple completely bleak. Leonardo had been hiding in the sewers for a long time, and a few well-meaning friends had left the Big Apple in droves.
　In the blink of an eye, his beloved Big Apple seemed to have become a city of rejection and violence, populated by masked individualists.
　Finally, Leonardo decided to leave such a hometown and set out on a journey to find a hideout where he could spend some time in secret. If I'm going to leave the Big Apple anyway, I don't care if it's far away. With that in mind, he jumped into the "Circle of Fairies" and was sent to the other side of the world, which was nothing short of a huge miscalculation.

The cause of the catastrophe? I can't even begin to imagine such a thing!
　Leonardo muttered, remembering his hometown. If there was a cause, of course he would want to know. Because if it was understandable, everyone back home would not have panicked and lost their decency to such a degree.
　But I couldn't bring myself to ask such a simple question. It was because my instincts told me that it was about the mysteries of this world. -- because he unconsciously atrophied that it was a fearful question for a citizen like himself to utter.
　So Leonardo stared at Kanami's candor with dazzling satisfaction.
'I don't have many ideas that might cause this kind of commotion. I don't know if it's the direct cause of this case or not, but I think the Cultivation of the Knowasphere is suspicious.
　At Kanami's words, Elias nodded one.
　The atmosphere indicated that the two of them were already discussing the matter.
　That might be the case, Leonardo admitted.
　But at the same time, it's nonsense.
　The incident took place on the third of May. The planned release date for the expansion pack is May 4th (,,,,,).
　Elder Tail will use the extra bandwidth in the game - a "margin" of transmission speed - to download expansion content little by little, even while playing. The Elder Tail expansion pack, the Cultivation of the Noosphere, was probably already lying dormant in the computers of Elder Tail players around the world, but it would not be released until the day after the incident.
　In other words, this was data that was still dormant.
　It is true that there is something fishy about the proximity of dates and times.
　But since the data was asleep, there was no way to verify it. We were trapped inside the world of the Elder Tail, and there was no way for us to see the data on the computer directly.
Well that's certainly true, the expansion pack is suspicious. We know that the Catastrophe occurred just before the Noosphere Clearing hit, so that's something to be aware of. Maybe they're related in some way. But that doesn't mean we can't have a connection. There isn't an expansion pack that didn't find a winner. There's no way in the world to investigate what isn't, right?
　Kanami replied to Leonardo's words.
'That's why I'm going to Japan!
Why?　I don't understand.
Japan is a country in the East.
What...?
Fourteen hours before New York - that is, to the only server in the world with a noosphere cultivation hit, a Japanese server. --That way, I'm sure there's at least one way to find out.



　07



　Fourteen hours. That's a time difference.
　If you're east of New York, it will be May 4th before New York.
　Yes, the Cultivation of the Nowhere Sphere will be introduced on the Fourth of May. Leonardo was astonished at the realization.
'An expansion pack has been introduced in Japan?
Yes,
　The man's voice, which seemed to be caged, startled Leonardo again.
　He looked at Elias and he too shook his head from side to side in surprise. It certainly didn't seem to be Elias. Elias has a deep voice like a beautiful young man with a good resonance that suits his slender figure and sweet mask. Even his voice is aimed at female fans.
　It's not this kind of caged voice.
　When I looked at Coppelia to try it out, she stared back at Leonardo with her dark blue eyes, which looked as if they were polished turquoise, and stared back at me with a pout. It wouldn't be Coppelia by any stretch of the imagination.
'Kanami. We've been having a serious conversation, so stop sounding weird.
Why do I have to sound like a sniveler, Kellogg.
I'm not Kero Nardo. I'm Leonardo.
You have a lot of respect for the original work.
Yeah. This frog-suit is the hero's... Who's that?
　Leonardo turned at the low voice he heard again, and what he saw was a white horse.
'Ah. That's the horse from earlier.''
　The situation of a horse talking is already strange, but the surprise is squeezed like cold water poured on Kanami's fluent voice. It's like it's ridiculous to fight over every single thing.
'It's Kanami's horse, isn't it?'
No, no. Maybe Kjellnerd has an escape plan.
No.
　While answering, Leonardo said, "So Kanami was going to ride proudly on a horse prepared by someone else, and he himself was going to run the side of the horse! I managed to put up with the comment, "I don't know what to do.
　For the most part, the horses and other riding creatures that you can call in with items are for mobile use. It takes a certain amount of time to get them to come to you, and while you're in battle, you don't feel like calling them.
　Most mid-level adventurers buy and carry a whistle for calling horses. A cripple of Leonardo's class even has a flute for summoning aquatic horses (kelpies) that they acquired in large scale battles, but such a white horse was not Leonardo's cup of tea.
''Why is it that white horses talk, anyway?
He's not a white horse, sir. He's a Hakutaku. According to what Coppelia knows, he is a sacred beast that is said to be able to understand the Chinese language and is versed in all things. In the Elder Tail, they're classified as magical beasts.
Correct.
Oh. You can speak the language because you understand people. And then you fell in love with me and came to rescue me.
Incorrect!
　Hakuba - The words of the phantom beast, Shirasawa, made Kanami look disgusted.
You're not going to be able to find out what's going on in the first place. It's not like we have any right to do that. We have no motive.
Well, I'd jump in if I saw them. It looks like fun.
　At Kanami's words, it was now Leonardo's turn to frown.
　Glancing to the side, Elias also had a tired expression on his face. It seems that Elias does not seem to welcome Kanami's character one hundred percent.
Hmmm. I don't have any horse friends.
You're a martial artist now, aren't you? It's been two years since I last saw you. It's been two years since we've had an account. How's life in England?　Do you die from bad eel pie?
Yeah, yeah. Yes, yes. They say that the only good food in England is breakfast. I've become a self-catering person in the last two years. But the reason why the food isn't as good as it should be is that the water quality in England is not as good as it used to be... Who's the horse?
This is KR. Long time no see.
'What?'
　Kanami's loud screams were sucked into the highland night with nothing but the wind whistling. Hearing the screams up close and personal, Elias frowned like a practicing monk at his supposedly beautiful face and muttered, "If you know him, introduce him to me. Leonardo secretly laughed as his beautiful figure was ruined.

''Um, the one called KR.''
'I'll tell you myself. If you ask Kanami to do it, it's more of a small play than an introduction.
"Looks terrible, KR.
　Apparently Kanami and this phantom beast are old acquaintances.
'I'm KR, and despite my name, I'm Japanese. Kanami here is a friend of mine from when she was living in Japan. She was the leader of a playgroup that was in disarray until two years ago.
You're a pain in the ass.
　Leonardo's whispered tweaks were apparently picked up by his excellent hearing.
'It's good. It was fun and everyone was good.
'Well, the leader of that playgroup was Kanami, and I was a member of it.
'Oh yeah, well, KR helped Kanami like that on a daily basis.
No, I was just being funny and making more noise on my ass.
(How's that statement working for you, horse?)
　The white-horse-like figure approached the flames with a blubbering, low growl, and lowered its long neck to grind against Coppelia. It had a third set of eyes on its forehead and a rich coat of fur on its hind legs. It's a fantastic creature, much like a white horse.
'Hey!　KR, you're s*xually harassing me.
'I didn't s*xually harass you. This is a comic relief. Besides, I'd like some water myself, I don't mind paying attention, okay?
　Although the words were directed at Kanami, Leonardo took out a water bottle from his magic bag and, though a little lost, poured it into a deep dish, and the phantom beast called KR thanked him and began to drink.
''And yet, then, KR-dono is an 'adventurer'?　--the way it looks.
Maybe the Japanese servers were all turned into animals because of the disaster and now they're in a safari park?
　It's a good thing that you're able to get the most out of this article.
　Gradually, I began to understand this Kanami woman.
　Instead of holding back his tsk-tsk, he turned to KR and asked.
"KR-san is a 'summoner'...?
That's right. Hey, Kanami, you understand?　There's a smart man in here, okay?
"Mm!　Is Kjellnerd smart? He is cute and smart. Hehehe, I got a good deal.
　Leonardo glares at Kanami in the sense of accusing her of rude assertions, but it doesn't seem to get through to him at all. In the first place, KR's line itself was like saying "Kanami is an idiot" in a roundabout way, but even that sarcasm didn't seem to be understood by Kanami.

'Can a take the form of an animal?　I've heard that that kind of sorcery lies in the secret arts of the fairy race...
No, I don't think so. This is probably a "phantom possession" (soul possession).
　To Leonardo's point, KR nodded low, as if he agreed.
''Exactly. That's right, this is 【Phantom Beast Possession】. In other words, this 〈Shirasawa〉 is a phantom beast that I summoned.
So what's this "phantom possession" thing all about?
　To Kanami, who seems to nod her head, Leonardo starts to explain.
''Ah. The Phantom Possession is one of the special skills possessed by the Summoner. I don't know much about it, but during the time of the Elder Tail, it was a spell to exchange controls with summoned pets.
　In Elder Tail, the gimmick of summoning a servant being was not that unusual. Of course, when it comes to summoning, the Summoner is the best authority, but as long as you don't pay attention to variations and abilities, almost all of the healing and magic professions can summon some sort of being.
　A typical example is the Bug's Light, which is a spell commonly learned by the recovery professions to illuminate the area, but this is strictly a summoning spell. You are summoning a phantom firefly that emits a faint light.
　It is estimated that there are thousands of such a wide variety of summoning specialties in the world, including those that are activated from items. Even veteran player Leonardo doesn't know the full extent of them.

　And there was a way to categorize these countless summoning techniques by focusing on whether or not they could be controlled.
　For example, the aforementioned "Bug's Light", once summoned, only has the ability to light up the surrounding area by floating near the surgeon until it is released or the duration of its effect expires. It is impossible to control it, and its potential for application is low.
　On the other hand, there are some summoned creatures that can be controlled.
　For example, the Summoner's summoning of a follower is an example. The summoned phantasmagoric creature, such as a fire lizard (salamander), can attack, defend, and move according to the surgeon's orders. They can be controlled by the surgeon's orders.
　In the game Elder Tail, this control element was handled in the form of "commands" to summoned creatures.
　However, there were not many types of commands. Attack, defend, focus on recovery, move, follow, follow me, stay in place and protect the surroundings - was that the extent of it? Even if the target summoned creature had many offensive skills, the decision on which of those skills to use was left up to the AI set in the summoned creature. And the performance of this AI was not high by any means.
　Despite this situation, the Summoner's Phantom Beast Possession is a spell that allows him to completely control the summoned creature.
　When the player uses Phantom Possession, the control screen switches to the viewpoint of the target phantom, as if he or she were the phantom under the spell. The ability values are displayed as those of the phantasm, and the phantasm's specialties can be used by selecting an icon, just like when the phantasm was an adventurer.
　Of course, most phantoms don't have them, but it is possible to view equipment and even item screens, and it is also possible to talk to phantoms through their mouths.
　As the name of the special skill suggests, it is a possession of a phantom animal.
　This Phantasmal Possession is a spell with an interesting characteristic, but it also has a major disadvantage. The body of the main body that performed the possession - that is, the body of the Summoner himself - would be controlled by a simple command, just like the summoned creature, from the point of view of the possessed phantom.
　In short, it could be said to be a spell that switches the method of control between the summoning creature and the sorcerer.
　Generally speaking, the Summoner, who is an adventurer, possesses a variety of skills that are far more applicable to the Summoner than the several skills of the Summoned Creatures. And if you compare the phantasms that they use with the adventurer who summons them, it's clear which is more important, the phantasms that they use or the adventurers that they summon.
　Moreover, this Phantom Possession has a long duration of chanting and disarming. There is no way you can quickly return to your body in a pinch.
　That's why this Phantom Possession spell was regarded as a "funny as it is funny" skill during the Elder Tail era.

Ho-ho-ho. Ho-ho-ho!
　After hearing Leonardo's explanation, Kanami nodded in agreement with Leonardo. Since she wasn't sleepy and seemed to be convinced, Leonardo thought it was good.
''Then, KR said he didn't become a horse.
Of course.
So where is Miss KR, Des?
　KR replies to Coppelia's pretty voice, which had been silent until now.
'It's Japan. It's obvious. I never really thought about that back in my gaming days, but I hear this skill works independent of distance.'
Hey, hey, hey, is the unit okay?　The Phantom Possession is a spell that makes it impossible to protect the body.
Don't worry, though. I'm on vacation with an escort to a hideout in the woods that's hard to find. I haven't been back there in over two months.
'Well..... So that's how you use it.
　If you think about it, it's a very good idea.
　Elder Tail was a game, so its actions were bound to the game's control screen. But after the Catastrophe, there should be more freedom of movement, and KR could use that to his advantage, perhaps with his own lair, or even with his own bodyguards. Perhaps KR's friends are taking care of KR's main body.
　As long as the problem of the main body was solved, the 【Phantom Beast Possession】 was a skill with a wide range of applications.

"Well, we don't care about this. It's true that the Cultivation of the Noosphere has already been installed on the Japanese server.
Are you sure?
Perfect. There are already several Adventurers at the 91st level on the Japanese servers, as proof.
　--91 level.
　That was the definitive proof.
　For nearly two years now, the Elder Tail had been set at the upper level of ninety. It had been announced that raising the upper level limit would be implemented in the new expansion pack, Cultivating the Nowasphere.
So what about the new dungeon?　Any new quests, monsters or items?　I mean, do you have any tips that might help with this situation?
　Leonardo was surprised at the sharpness of his tone of voice after he asked shouting. Oh, was he so hungry for information? Was he feeling unreasonable about his current situation?
　Once again, I was aware of this.
'I'll answer to the best of my ability, though. 'Yes. May I call you Leonardo?
Sure. Call me what you want. So, what do you say?
　With Kanami, Elias and Coppelia watching, Leonardo stood up and walked over to the white phantom. An orange bonfire crackled loudly under the night sky in the wilderness, where the stars twinkled.
The reason why I possessed this phantom beast and went to the continent is to gather information. That's the reason why I focused on foreign countries, because even if I left the domestic market unattended, I'm sure the glasses and the squad leader would see and hear from me. We landed on a Korean server, went around to a Chinese server, then to a Russian server, then southward to a Chinese server again. I went all over the place in two months.
....
The world's gone to shit. It's a real mess. Of course, there are people everywhere who try to keep order. But I've learned that there are many who do not. Even in places where the Adventurers aren't planning to do anything bad, they're just trying to survive. Many of the Earthlings have been abandoned by the Adventurers, and the world is dying at an alarming rate.
"--
I've heard the rumors. A lot. But I have no idea about the new quests, the new dungeons, or anything else right now. It's all very fuzzy. No one knows for sure. What little information we do have dissolves into delusion. There's no message board to consult on strategies, no wiki. It's amazing how useless it is to be an adventurer. That's what I learned during those two months. It's a big world, even if we're only half the size, and I didn't realize how useless we were without the Web. To put it bluntly, adventurers are nothing more than drowning men. Without information support, we're all useless in the modern world.