ShangriLa Frontier ~ Shitty Games Hunter Challenges Godly Game ~

The Leviathan’s third shell, “Entertainment” District.

Although it is the area that is smaller than the second layer, and definitely a whole lot smaller than the first layer, it was still a huge area for sure. As for its contents, it was a huge amusement part that was the size of a medium city. Also, the density and the size of attractions here could surely put anything I have ever seen back in the real world to shame.

Also, this area comes with its very own catch when it comes to traversing through it. Instead of a pure and raw firepower needed to defeat the boss waiting for you at the end of the zone, here what was required to proceed was the Luck and the ability to skillfully gamble. Yes…… It was a one huge gambling den!

Slot machines, Tactical War Beasts Horse Racing, Roulette Wheel, Poker, Blackjack, Koi-Koi, Oichou-kabu, and so on and so forth, you get the general idea…… There is also a huge elevator right in the center of this area, leading all the way towards the fourth layer. And in order to open up the elevator and be able to go up, the players need to gamble their precious mani away to obtain tokens that they can exchange for points. I other words, in order to proceed forward you must first be ready to gamble away not only your money, but also your dignity as a human being in the first place!

That’s the kind of place this layer right here was.

So in other words, this here area is nothing more but a huge cyber fantasy casino that can’t be reproduced in real life no matter how hard you tried and how much money you would be willing to pour into its construction. This means that for the sake of savoring this unique experience as much as possible, we might want to stay here for a while and see what this place has to offer. It was Survivor who came up with that proposal, and I happened to agree on the spot, it was actually a no-brainer in this situation. So, with that being said, we all agreed to go our separate ways from now on, and that we would meet back at a previously designated location in about one hour’s time.

–––––– And that is exactly why I used that opportunity to go back and visit Rabbitz for the time being.

Huh? Whatever do you mean? Why do I waste my time at Rabbitz when there is a whole cyber-fantasy casino waiting for me to swallow me whole with its nasty clutches? My answer here is: are you stupid? Casino? Amusement? Gambling all of your hard-earned money away? Those are the kinds of things that you can direct your attention at only after you happened to clear this whole dungeon up. But still, since this is supposed to be a stage gimmick, then this means that there are supposed to be some key items there for us to collect in order to proceed forward, so it would be best to focus on taking care of that in the first place.

After all, proceeding forward takes priority.

「Eeelllkkk!! Where are you!? Cancel all of the Connected Skills that I have on me!! Right this instant! I will do some normal Skill Pruning, since I haven’t done that in quite a while now! It’s the only way for me to reach the “Sublimation” in the shortest, fastest, and the most efficient way!!!」

「Ahaaah! Every single time! But still, at your service!」

Since we are somewhat of a business partners, both I and Zenith Guevara understand that mani is the only thing in which you can place your utmost trust. After all, money is the thing that connects us more than other object, ideal or emotion out there, such as love or compassion. Therefore, Elk does not ask why I suddenly decided to disconnect all of my Connected Skills all at once, and at the same time I just put the money on the table and expect her to get to work on the double.

Yes, that’s it, that’s good, that’s what I want to happen here…… Extreme simplification is an art in its own right, contrary to some other opinions that might want to disagree with me. It’s the same with skills, really. All of the effort can be supplemented with weapons and innate player skill right from the get-go, and the recast time can be easily covered with the proper use of the “Fool” Arcana.

「But, are you really sure it’s okay~? All those Connected Skills surely were of great use to you, so are you really fine with getting rid of them?~」

「Yeah, it’s fine, I’m sure of it. After all, you are looking at the utmost elite of skills. Each and every single one of them are nothing to scoff at, you know?」

In the worst case scenario here, there must have been a system that reacquires the skills acquired in the past. And what better place to implement a safety net like that than at the Skill Pruning Workshop? But still, it’s really annoying with all that upward compatibility and all, so at the very least for now there will be no need for it, right? That’s what I think, but it will be really useful to be aware of the existence of such a service and where to find it.

「For the time being, I might think about connecting two skills at maximum, but that’s about it. Maybe three or four in the future if the results are going to turn out to be satisfying. But no more than that.」

Alright, alright. If I can combine this thing with this thing, and move this thing right here, as well as integrate those things in such a way…… Oh yeah, how about this!

「Yes, alright! Perfect!」

The total number of skills available to me has increased compared to the time before the start of the modifications, but all of the Connected Skills have been canceled out. This is a huge loss and a shame it had to be that way, but it all happened at the benefit of improving the levels of the skills that were staying with me for the time being…… However, the issue of those remaining two levels was still looming over my head, not giving me even a moment of respite.

「Is five hundred mani going to be enough here?」

「Yeah, I’ll take it, if not anything else…… Now wait, that’s not it. I know that it’s only five hundred mani, but money is money. And I’m not going to scoff at it. Yes, even though it’s just measly little five hundred mani……」

「If you have a problem with that amount, I can always split the bill and offer you even less, you know?」

「…… Fine, I’ll take it.」

「Well, I mean, I guess that it cannot really be helped now, isn’t it……?」

It’s all good in my book, but usually donating only this much would be considered a really foolish move. It would great if I was able to go and beat some enemies up with those skills to test it up, but I have only about forty minutes left until the designated time of the meeting. So I have to at least make sure I will be able to get a tour over the third layer and gather some sort of clues as to what the strategy for the boss of that floor is going to be like.