As always, Giliath demands your power stones!
*
Going back to my present reality, the five monsters were successfully slain by Father. He simply casted an Art called Flame Tongue. It causes an area-of-effect radius effect, spewing fire upward from a rip in the earth beneath the monsters. It all happened very quickly and after seeing five big damage numbers appear over their heads, they died instantly. I'm still in shock seeing how powerful Giliath is when he just limited himself to Level 12. If he reduced his strength to Level 14 or beyond, I wouldn't have been able to view his stats! Sheesh, talk about scary intuition. He knew exactly what level to limit his strength to.
I won't go into much more about Experience Points, just simply how they work. The total amount of experience is calculated when a battle ends, not by when a monster is defeated. The monsters do contain individual values, and their exp is calculated individually as well. Trails contains various formulas if you have a level lower, equal, or greater than your targets. It's a pretty typical formula you'd see in various role-playing games. In Trails, you can earn anywhere from 10% to up to 200% of the experience gained. That percentage is calculated on each target, then grabbed into one giant experience pool. From there, external factors get applied. There's a popular one in the Trailsverse called Tactical Bonus.
Do various actions during battle, and you get bonus experience for it. it can range anywhere from 1.1 to 9.9 times the base amount. Given that you're earning around 20-40% experience more if a monster's level is higher, that multiplies your earned experience, shooting it sky high. It is very easy to Level Up in the Trailsverse, especially if you have lower levels. Do a few battles, and your party becomes balanced again. That type of thing.
I kind of hope that isn't the case here in this new life of mine. Power leveling does sound nice and all, but that'd make my stats bloated very quickly. I took a mental note of the experience Father's battle gave, it would have given me 190 before any calculations. Since my level is quite lower than the rest, I likely would have gotten around a 150% boost, netting me 500 EXP total or so. And if I had any specific actions completed, the Tactical Bonus would have further increased that to even greater heights.
I could easily have gotten a couple levels from this battle. But it is sad to say I won't be getting experience anytime soon. Not unless I act goofy, landing a final "punch" or something on the monsters. I mean, I could ask for Father's Combat Orbment and give it a test run, but I'm not going to do that. I'm not in a hurry to Level Up right now.
As I thought about that, I saw the area around us. The surroundings didn't exactly return to normal. You see, when you cast an Art in the games, it does flashy effects that vanish after, leaving no residual changes behind. That isn't how the real world works. The ground did end up closing back up and that part returned to normal. But the grass around us was still set ablaze. The fire wasn't very big, but if left untouched, it could potentially grow into something worse.
"Say dad, shouldn't we do something about this fire?", I asked, pointing to the now-lit grass that still burned with embers. It wasn't necessarily a fire, it was more of a firepit residue.
"You're right about that, son. I think that concludes our practical demonstration today. I'll finish it off by showing you one last Art---?", Giliath tried to say, only to not finish his sentence. I saw Giliath's eyes squint, becoming serious again.
"Dad?", I asked after hesitating for a moment.
"It would appear that wasn't the end of the monsters.", Giliath stated.
As if responding to Father's words, I suddenly saw space around us begin to distort. This time the monsters didn't come naturally from further inside the forest. The Septium Veins scattered beneath likely activated, and it caused this direct spawning of monsters. It was the same three kinds Father had just faced, just doubled their count. There were ten monsters total!
A new wave of monsters arrived!
"These guys just keep coming, don't they?", Giliath stated, taking a moment to observe the monsters. Still, they weren't considered human, unlike us. Father held no remorse in his eyes. They remained focused. Seeing Father not falter, I too kept my head in the game, and kept my distance. I knew Father could take care of these trash mobs, so I didn't have to worry one bit. I even held anticipation in my eyes, wanting to see more of Father's combat.
He fluttered his long robe he often liked to wear while both in the villa and on business. I rarely saw Father in his actual military uniform. He typically liked to wear long robes like this instead. It was a dark-grey overcoat that reached his ankles. A gap wide enough allowed me to peer into Father's underside, only to see a black orbal pistol, likely customized, just like his Combat Orbment. He didn't wait around. Taking it out, Father took aim at the ten monsters. One after another, I heard loud bangs. BANG. BANG. BANG!
The ten monsters instantly were felled in one fell swoop. Giliath released more of his strength. I tried using Vermillion Eyes on Father's new Status, but all it did was reveal some question marks, preventing me from viewing it at all. I'm not sure what Level he released his strength to, but seeing newer damage numbers appear over the sorry monsters, his damage increased ten-fold. They weren't in the 10k anymore, but in the 100k!
One bullet. One clean shot each. Talk about accuracy right there. I wanted to suck in a cold breath of air. And the best part? Orbal pistols aren't like the previous types of guns. There weren't any nasty smells each time Father unloaded the bullets. It was clean, driven energy.
The ten monsters fell without even knowing what happened to them. Again, a missed opportunity for me, but I'm not crying over it. Seeing marksmanship like this was a great sight to watch!
However, I couldn't even catch a break. My ears perked up again. Not from the sound of monsters spawning in like the Septium Veins further down triggered. This time, I heard several sounds of rustling grass in the near distance. The very same area where the first wave of monsters came from. I frowned. It was a horde of fifteen monsters this time.
It's great to see that the monsters went poof earlier. Regardless of where monsters come from, they're tied to the Septium Veins. So once that energy disperses, they just vanish into thin air. There's not much to do in terms of monster cleanup. It isn't like other fantasy stories where butchering up their corpses for raw materials was a thing. That just didn't happen here.
(A/N: I'm changing this little bit on how monsters die. It'll be just like the games, where they don't leave behind bodies)
Still, it was a pain to see a third wave of monsters suddenly come out of the grasses. Yet this time, I could see that they were...scared? The hell?
And what'd they call this again. I think it's called a Monster Wave! Hordes and hordes of monsters would come at you without end. Yet this time they almost appeared to be...
"It's almost...like these monsters are running away from something? What, exactly?", I uttered, pausing for a moment. Giliath didn't immediately attack, and sure enough he saw the monsters just run in terror, swerving around and completely disregarding us. Giliath's hand remained on his orbal pistol, and chose to observe the ongoing situation, just like me.
"So you could discern what is happening as well. As expected of my son. No doubt about it that you being able to do that was thanks to those eyes of yours.", Giliath said, praising me again.
"Hahaha...", I replied, scratching my cheek in embarrassment. Yet even that action couldn't be completed. The two of us saw a weird looking panda monster sprout up from the grass, also scared out of its wits. Unlike the other monsters, the panda was running right at us.
"I guess this is where your second lesson for today will begin, Naoto. Perseverance. Even if the monsters are running away from something, do not let them trample on your dignity. We're more than just mere monsters.", Giliath said. I saw Father's eyes turn cold.
The panda suddenly froze in place. Not out of fear from whatever it was running from, but from the sudden bloodlust Father began to release. Even I began to feel chills run down my spine. But I knew not to back away from this. I nodded my head and remained silent.
All I saw Giliath do was raise is black orbal pistol, take aim, and pull the trigger.
BANGGG!
A loud echo streaked across the forest. Much louder than his previous shots. The panda monster couldn't even flinch before it saw its own chest get blown away into smithereens. A large hole appeared inside it, and blood splattered onto the grass. That's right. Even though monsters end up disappearing into the void, they can still bleed upon being injured or die in the process.
I knew not to underestimate father, and like he said persevere in the Monster Wave that was being launched at us.
I took this second lesson to heart, just like the previous lessons he had given me thus far.
As for what is causing these monsters, I do not know. But that didn't stop us from protecting ourselves and seeing through this event to the end. It was time to find out!