Chapter 46: Whips
4 days. It took Lyrica 4 days to get an approval rating from Shiro.
If rated out of ten with 1 being a decent dagger user and 10 being someone on a veteran's level, Lyrica would get a 2.5. Shiro, on the other hand, would be too far up the scale.
*THUD!
The dagger embedded itself deeply into the cranial bone of a Murloc Shaman as Lyrica massaged her wrist.
The training Shiro gave her was to try to hit a stationary target whilst running around and doing flips. That was just stage one out of 4.
The next stage had involved her hitting a stationary target with Shiro launching magic at her, the 3rd stage had her hit a moving target and the final stage being all of the above whilst fighting a crowd of Murlocs.
This type of high-intensity training had allowed her to gain a much better grasp on daggers.
Shiro was about 75% sure that Lyrica could solo the obelisk guardian of the 2nd floor without much hassle.
Just in case, she had made a second dagger which included a magnetic component which attracts both daggers together. This was so that she could retrieve the dagger whenever she wished. In addition to this, the more mana she injected into the dagger, the stronger the pull.
Originally, this was a skill for an armour that was meant for tanks. But Shiro decided to add it to the dagger since she had a few ideas with what she could do with it.
[Go challenge the guardian. As always, I'll be watching. And remember, use every one of your tools. The magnetic function can be used in many ways that some may not even imagine.] Shiro smiled.
She had some ideas, but the satisfaction of finding out was something she wanted Lyrica to experience.
"Alright." Lyrica nodded as she too felt it was time. She didn't want to spend too long as she still had the final boss to fight. With a whip at that too.
However, this time she was allowed the leeway to use her dual-ended blades because she wouldn't have the time to get used to the whips. She was just going to test how far she could go with the weapon.
Walking up to the boss, Lyrica took a deep breath.
[Murloc Grand Mage LVL 20 – Elite]
The Murloc Grand Mage was just slightly larger than the Murloc Mage. It was roughly 3 times as big.
Shiro only yawned slightly as she could probably kill the Grand Mage in a few minutes. With a large body like that, it was basically a sitting duck for her special treatment.
Making herself an ice hammock, Shiro laid on her stomach as she watched Lyrica fight the boss at a leisurely pace.
Since the Grand Mage was a huge target, Lyrica needed to make sure she abuses this as much as she can.
'Keep moving, don't stay in one place. Strike at the weak points and maybe make it hurt itself with his own magic.' Lyrica thought as she dodged the mages first strike.
Dashing near the Achilles heel of the Murloc, she narrowed her eyes and slashed at them with her two daggers.
She only frowned as she saw them leave only a faint shallow mark.
Not staying in the same spot for longer than needed, Lyrica immediately made her way to the other leg and stabbed down with all of her strength.
The same situation repeated itself as Lyrica only frowned seeing that her overall strength was too low to penetrate the thick skin of the Murloc.
*BAM!
The Murloc stomped down with his leg as a shockwave was sent out.
"URG!!" She couldn't help but groan at the hit.
Sliding on the ground slightly, she stabilised herself.
Lyrica felt the temperature rise as she saw a huge fireball shoot towards her.
Taking a deep breath, she dashed around the impact zone as she had to grit her teeth from the heat.
While her clothes didn't burn, she did feel like she was being cooked alive.
Flicking her wrist, she flung a dagger at the leg as it embedded itself.
Stepping on the dagger, Lyrica jumped up onto the Murloc's knee and recalled the dagger using the magnetic feature.
Dodging a palm slap, Lyrica ran towards the hip tendon.
'If I can rip the hip tendon, I can destroy his mobility further to create more blind spots for me to take advantage of.' She thought.
Strengthening her grip on both daggers, she pushed power through her entire body as she used the skill, body reinforcement. A simple skill that boosts your physical potential in short bursts.
*PFF!!!!!
Dashing past the hip area, the daggers dug deep into the flesh as blood splattered everywhere.
During this, Lyrica had lost her hold on the dagger due to the force and the blood attesting against her grip.
Twisting her body, Lyrica recalled the dagger that was stuck in the Murloc's flesh.
Catching the dagger, Lyrica paused for a moment as she had an epiphany.
'The dagger faced almost no resistance coming back to me. During the moment it came back to me, it had cut open more of the flesh since it was in the way. While it took a little bit more MP, the force of the dagger was something I couldn't output easily with my current strength. Perhaps if I were to make use of the magnetic function of the dagger, I can deal more damage to the boss.' Lyrica thought.
Shiro grinned seeing the glint in Lyrica's eye.
Standing up, Shiro decided to focus more since it was finally going to become interesting.
Grabbing onto a branch, Lyrica swung herself upright as she wanted to test if she could propel the dagger away as well as pulling it back to her.
Injecting her mana with the intent of repulsion, Lyrica smiled feeling the daggers want to leave her hands.
'I'll need to time this correctly. Pull the dagger in and swing it before pushing it away to maximise the momentum carrying the dagger.' She thought. She was about to try out her new idea when a flipper slapped towards her.
Quickly using the branch to propel herself away, Lyrica frowned seeing the mage slap the tree away.
Even with the thick roots trying to secure the tree down, the mage was able to uproot it with ease.
Thankfully, the mage was now lying on his stomach as he couldn't move one of his legs due to the severed tendon.
Landing on the ground, Lyrica let go of one of the daggers and dashed toward mage.
Injecting mana, the dagger flew towards her as Lyrica narrowed her eyes to make sure her timing was right.
'Now!'
Twisting her body, she used the inertia of the dagger to slash towards the neck artery of the grand mage.
*PFFF!!!!!!!!
The power behind the dagger caused a huge slash mark to stretch across the neck of the mage.
'Bingo!' Lyrica grinned as her plan worked.
With her attack plan working out, it didn't take too long for Lyrica to kill the boss.
Not only was the boss unable to move, but most of his magic missed their target.
Landing the final blow on the boss, Lyrica sat down heavily and laid on her back.
*pa
A cold towel plotted on her face as she removed it to see a smiling Shiro.
[Congrats. Also, good job in figuring out the main form of attack with these two daggers. Inertia. Remember, no matter what, inertia can help boost the power of an attack several times due to momentum.]
Lyrica nodded as she decided to lay there for a second with the towel cooling her off.
"Hey Shiro. I'm just wondering, but where did you get the towel?"
[You'll be surprised at the stuff I have in my inventory. I just grabbed a towel I had inside and froze it before melting it again.] Shiro shrugged.
"I see… Don't most people store armour, weapons and other important stuff?"
[I do. But it's just that I also have a bunch of miscellaneous items inside.]
She wasn't lying. She did keep a few spare weapons in her inventory that she collected from bosses.
But most of the items inside her inventory were everyday items such as clothes, food, mana stones and survival kits such as tents. Weapons only made up for a small portion of her inventory.
[Make sure to rest properly. Next fight is the final boss.] Shiro smiled.
Sitting on a rock, she decided to make Lyrica her whip.
She was a little confused at the type of whip Lyrica should use. There were several types but the main ones were the un-barbed, barbed and the bladed whips.
The un-barbed were used mostly for torture so that was off the list. Barbed whips offered greater attack speeds at the cost of lower damage.
While the bladed whips were the opposite. They dealt greater damage at the cost of flexibility, weight and speed.
Depending on the situation, one would switch between the two whips.
However, Shiro finds that annoying and a hassle to switch between whip types during battle.
'If I build the blades into the whip, the whip itself should be able to extrude and retract the blade length at will.' She thought as this would essentially allow all three main whip types to be combined into 1.'
Making sure Lyrica couldn't see the forging process, Shiro made the whip behind her back.
'Each segment of the whip must contain a micro piston that can extrude and retract the blades. The activator switch should be near the thumb for easy access. Each segment should be able to retract and lengthen the whip as well.
'This way the whip is able to switch between long-distance and short-distance combat with ease. The best way to do this is to have the nanobots further compact and reinforce the whip when it gets shorter.'
Imagining the structure of the whip, the empty husk in her hand right now had neon blue lights stretch across the body as the internal systems were being added.
Making sure to add the disguise skill, Shiro smiled lightly.
[Orphenium Bladed Whip LVL 20 (Blue+)]
+25 Sharpness
+25 Bleed
+25 Attack Speed
+25 Status Chance
Passive Skill: Blade Control, Length Configuration.
Blade Control – Inject mana when pressing the button to control the length of the blades in each segment. The longer the blade, the more damage. But attack speed decrease proportionate to length.
Length Configuration – Inject mana to lengthen or shorten the size of the whip. The longer it is, the more damage. The shorter it is, the more durability.
Durability: 45,000/45,000
Standing up, Shiro walked over to Lyrica.
[Here, your whip for the next boss. Try to get a feeling for it.] Shiro smiled as she passed it over.
"At this point, I'm not even surprised at the fact that you pull so many weapons out of your inventory. You can pull out an armoury and I wouldn't care." Lyrica chuckled.
'Don't be so sure.' Shiro thought as she will eventually become a moving fortress with the amount of MP she'll have in the future.
As Lyrica held the whip, something clicked inside her as a familiar feeling washed over her.
Shiro paused seeing this change.
They looked at each other as Lyrica felt her mind blown.
"You've got to be kidding me…" She muttered.
[Give it a try. It's the only way we can be sure.]
Lyrica nodded as she walked over to the tree.
Lengthening the whip, she injected mana and caused the blades to lengthen.
Taking a deep breath, her aura became sharp as she flicked her wrist.
*HUAPISHHHH!!!!!
The whip carved through the air as it sliced the tree in half.
"Just… Don't say anything Shiro…" Lyrica said putting down the whip.
[Do you know how much I want to slap you right now? Who in actual hell has 2 hidden proficiencies?!?!] Shiro typed out as she was honestly surprised at the fact that Lyrica has two hidden proficiencies.
Even in her past life, having discovered a hidden proficiency out of hundreds of millions could propel a nation's status no matter how bad the proficiency was.
It was unthinkable to have 2, yet Lyrica had one of the most diverse proficiencies on top of that.
[I honestly don't know what kind of god blessed you or what you won from the gene pool. But I can say for a fact that so many would want to strangle you for your luck. You literally can't complain anymore about people being more talented because you are defying logic right now!]
Shiro said as Lyrica nodded.
"Though I feel a little off balance."
[Maybe two whips then.] Shiro said as Lyrica nodded in agreement.
[Just practice with one whip for now. I'll give you the second one in a second.] Shiro said as she planned to drink a potion to regain MP.
Watching her practice, Shiro couldn't help but have ideas about Lyrica's new weapon.
'She has a combination of two proficiencies. This means her weapon is most definitely a ridiculous hybrid. The main problem is construction. I can't continue to give her my Nano Craft weapons as they aren't the solution to everything. Maybe I should recruit Helion and try to help him become a better blacksmith.' Shiro thought as a blueprint of the weapon was coming to her mind.
A slim dual ended blade that can separate and transform into whips or two swords. A combination of Lyrica's 2 proficiencies that is unheard of in the world.
'Perhaps the weapon of the future Elven Sword Saintess.' Shiro smiled in anticipation.