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"Huh…" Issei examined her with a critical eye before giving her a lecherous grin and a thumbs-up. "Nice look! Nine out of ten!"
"Pervert!" Murayama flushed bright red at his words. As she was distracted, Issei eyed her floating title.
Murayama Keiko LV16
[Kuō Academy Girls Kendo Team Vice-Captain]
Aside from the devils and himself, Murayama had the highest level of any student or teacher at Kuō Academy. Even Katase, the Girls Kendo Team Captain, was only Level 15.
"Hey, Murayama." Issei said.
"Tch. What?" the girl eyed him as if she wished she had her shinai with her.
"Why aren't you the Captain of the Girl's Kendo Team? I can tell that you're stronger than Katase." He said bluntly.
"Wha-!?" the flush on her face, which had practically faded, redoubled in its intensity. "What the heck do you know about kendo to tell that?!"
"When you both hit me after I peep on you, you hit before Katase, you hit harder than Katase and you are more accurate than Katase." Issei said immediately. He somehow knew that to be true but how he didn't know.
Eyeing him doubtfully, Murayama nevertheless sighed. "Urgh, fine. She's the Captain because she's a better leader than I am. I can beat her in a match eight times outa' ten, but when it comes to inspiring others and boosting their confidence, I'm not the best. Katase is far better than me at it. End of story."
"Really? I think you're not seeing yourself properly." Issei said in surprise. He'd seen how well the girl had marshalled the girls of the Kendo Club to attack while Katase stood and spluttered at him and his friends after they were caught peeping on them. "I think you'd do better than Katase. Honest."
"Haaah?" Murayama looked at him, startled and surprised, her mouth slightly agape in shock.
"Well, I have thing to do and places to go, so see you on Monday, Murayama-chan." He tossed that out there as he sauntered off. It was a couple of meters before he heard the sound of the girl being shaken out of her shock.
"Don't call me with '-chan' at the end of my name, dammit!"
Later
Atop a hill, Outskirts of Kuō Town
"Haa…haa…whew." Issei panted as he leaned against one of the small outcropping of trees at the top of the hill. That had been a bit more tiring than he'd expected, mostly thanks to the team of Gutter Runners that had ambushed him halfway up the hill.
He'd tried his hand at going at it barehanded and it was a lot harder than he'd thought it would be, so he'd equipped his [Aegis of Isis] and then used both the [Boosted Gear] and [Gamer's Gear] to level the playing field.
[Aegis of Isis]
A pure white mantle emblazoned with the ankh symbol of Isis in gold. Isis was a goddess of magic in Ancient Egypt, connected to the Goddess Heku, who embodied magic to the Ancient Egyptians. Isis' symbol, the ankh, acts as a form of apotropaic magic, warding off the magic from enemies in order to prevent them from detecting the wearer, as well as giving a minor form of protection from offensive spells.
- Has no effect if worn by someone over Level 50.
- Grants the Wearer the skills [High-Level Scrying Concealment], [High-Level Spiritual Detection Concealment], [High-Level Chi Detection Concealment], [High-Level Tōki Concealment] and [Low-Level Magic Resistance] while worn.
He was so glad that he's splurged on the [Aegis of Isis] rather than a couple of the weaker options…even if it and the [Base Core] had drained him of all his cash. Still, he'd gotten a good pot of Yen from the Gutter Runners and selling their equipment, so he wasn't completely broke anymore.
"OK, so…where to place it?" Issei mused as he headed into the middle of the small grove of trees. Just setting it up anywhere seemed…stupid, really. He'd looked at the instructions before setting out and to activate the [Base Core] was laughably simple; just put it down, empty your MP into it and voila, one hidden underground base ready for use.
Still, it would be better if he had some idea of what would happen if he placed it in any given location. Were some spots better than others? Worse? He had no way of telling.
"Screw it." Issei huffed as he took the [Base Core] from his inventory. It was an orb about the size of a basketball, coloured blue, with a large white spot on one side that made it look like a giant eyeball. Looking around, Issei placed it atop a largish rock near the base of a tree and then placed his hand atop it.
[Base Core Setup]
Do you wish to infuse the [Base Core] with all of your MP?
[Warning]
Once the process is started, it cannot be stopped!
Y|N
Hitting 'Y' with his free hand, Issei groaned as all of his MP was sucked out of him through his hand. Removing it from the [Base Core], he pulled out his very last MP Potion and chugged it down. Hmm…had the stuff always tasted like blueberry muffins?
[DING!]
Hearing an incredibly obnoxious sound that made him wince, Issei looked around, vaguely expecting to see a Windows '95 PC making that noise for some reason. Then he spotted the pop-up.
[Congratulations!]
Your [Base Core] has absorbed all of your MP and is able to make a hidden base in the hill beneath you! Please select the layout that you wish your base to have.
There were twenty possible choices, with the one at the top resembling the layout of the base you saw in XCOM. While that would be nice, Issei having always had something of a liking for that game, it always presupposed that the enemy either couldn't find the base or that there were sufficient numbers of people to fight off any attackers. At the moment, Issei was all on his own, so he had to give that one a hard pass.
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