<422 - Meta Duel>
While I pondered how to teach those irritating seniors a lesson, the leader of the Plant Club, Orcatch, spoke up.
“We might have been overpowered due to our lack of strength, but that doesn’t change the fact that that Mandragora isn’t yours.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say something like that in front of someone stuck in a defensive barrier, thinking of how to punish me!”
“Do whatever you like. But we won’t go down without a fight. The rumor that you stole a precious treasure from an innocent being will certainly spread.”
Orcatch isn’t your typical power-centric third-year.
She’s a third-year with a specialization in treasure hunting, part of the Treasure Hunter class!
Having progressed to club president while focusing on the relatively high-risk, low-popularity niche of searching for and gathering plant-based rare monsters.
‘If this senior doesn’t graduate soon, just following her around and letting her grow me properly would have filled up the plant tab of the Monster Encyclopedia with all sorts of plant monsters!’
But after I had drained all the knowledge from her, I no longer needed Orcatch’s help.
“Hmph. Well, I’m going to spread the rumor that you’re a garbage senior who taught our Goo useless and shabby techniques, ruining its upbringing!”
Orcach had nothing to say, but the members beside her erupted.
“Our techniques aren’t useless and shabby!”
“What’s wrong with the effective high-speed growth techniques we teach from the first year, and the debuff combos we learn in the second year?”
“If we hadn’t held back and spent all that expensive material, we wouldn’t have lost so easily!”
“Anyway, you lost!”
“Ugh.”
“I feel like hitting you on the head.”
Go ahead and tremble all you want.
You’re the ones who are trapped!
From the moment a first-year managed to catch them, if they entered a diss battle, it would be the third-years who’d suffer irreversible damage to their reputation, not me.
But Orcatch is the president of the Plant Club.
She was not someone who would easily take a defeat.
“Fine, I admit it. If we spread rumors in retaliation, we’d suffer more damage. But if we’re prepared for that, you won’t come out unscathed either. After all, I have the connections and confidence to do so.”
Having already been at a disadvantage with the [Scary Kid] penalty making it difficult to raise new favorability, rumors saying I’m a naughty kid who stole someone else’s Goo wouldn’t bode well for me.
━━━
Scary Kid: Everything you do makes others tremble in fear. Gaining someone’s favor becomes increasingly difficult.
━━━
The Savior: After repeatedly saving this world from its impending doom, you have become its beacon of hope.
– Title Effect Activation: Blessing [Infinite Respect] activated.
– Title Holder Effect: Base favorability of all things increases by 10.
━━━
Of course, thanks to the counter-effect of the Savior title holder effect, I did have that base favorability of 10.
But that’s really a tiny number.
I can’t feel secure with just that.
Back in the days of [All-In High Damage Character], I remembered how after three months of completing my encyclopedia collection and gifting the last remaining insects, my favorability didn’t just stagnate—it dropped into the negatives!
In a world where goodwill can’t be freely accepted, my infamy would plummet my favorability into the abyss, solely increasing wariness and hostility instead!
“Ugh. I don’t want to eat alone now.”
“President! That kid used to eat alone, it seems.”
“Shouldn’t we pity it a bit?”
“Are they out of their minds?”
Orcatch looked at her members with disbelief.
“How can you fall for a few words just because the kid looks a bit cute and pitiful? In the end, we are still left empty-handed, and our Mandragora is still missing. You want to just walk away with a damage to our reputation without even retaliating?”
But there was some charm there.
It wasn’t that I lacked skill—this kid bore the brunt while still choosing to hold back.
That changes things.
Looking closely, the Goo’s roots seemed plumper than before, and its movements appeared more agile, indicating significant growth.
‘It would have been nice if it had just stayed quietly in the water and bloomed, utilizing all the nutrients!’
But even if the flower didn’t grow by using the elixirs directly, simply drinking the water that Mandragora had swum in would provide enough elixir effects.
If the Goo grows healthily, I can steep it in the water for much longer, so at least there’s a positive side!
“The seniors did spend time playing with our Goo while I was away. So it’s not like there’s no way to forgive them.”
“What’s your angle?”
“As a condition for not spreading rumors, I might release you if you agree to continue playing with our Goo.”
Orcatch’s cheeks twitched.
“Are you mocking me? If such an opportunity arises, I’ll be sure to reclaim my Mandragora next time.”
“Hmph. With your skills, you don’t stand a chance. Even if you release us, there would be additional conditions.”
“What condition?”
“As I said before, the shabby techniques you teach are unacceptable. So you’ll need to refine the techniques you’ll teach while playing with the Goo.”
“What?”
“I’ll teach you until you earn the right to play with the Goo!”
With my bold declaration, Orcatch burst into laughter.
“Do you think a third-year looks foolish?”
“Ooh, the president is mad. Look at her serious face with a kid.”
“Check out that look in her eyes. She’s truly an embarrassing president everywhere.”
“A president like that can be stopped if we bring in Professor Weird. Should I go get her?”
“Who are you siding with right now?!”
At the mention of teaching skills, the teammates hid behind me and jeered at the president.
After all, when you reach third-year, there’s no time to uphold your pride if you want to become stronger.
“Shall we make a bet?”
“What kind of bet?”
“A battle using only nature magic. The judges will be right here among the members. If my skills aren’t impressive, you win. If I win, you learn from me.”
“And what do I get if I win?”
“If I win, you must join a plant club that’s kind enough to spend time playing with the Goo over the weekend.”
“Just promotion isn’t enough. You must get ten first-years to join the plant club within ten days.”
“Deal!”
Once the bet was set, we moved to the open ground, often used as an unofficial dueling ground.
The Goo, freed from its stupor, stared at the battle ahead, crossed arms, and sulked as if it understood the stakes of this duel.
Among the Plant Club members and Alice, it seemed fine to let the Goo watch this time, right?
“Your basics are set. You even brought seed and catalyst pouches.”
Seeing my preparations, Orcatch’s previously displayed anger faded slightly.
She was one of those guys who get their favorability boosted just by jogging 10 kilometers together at dawn like those Dolphin Pants girls.
“You better not make excuses saying you lost due to wasting rare materials. Since we’re doing this, let’s do it with determination!”
Using rare materials in battle is akin to throwing money and time around like water!
Unless you’re someone with outstanding scouting abilities or a leader of an organization, plant-based battles in the Seed Meta are unattainable to anyone—only the wealthy can afford this meta!
“Ha. You’ll just throw around overpriced materials with the Foundation’s influence. I’ll show you the true value of a synergy effect with my combos, regardless of today’s price.”
Orcatch confidently sprinkled her seeds.
[Fast Growth - Royal Jelly Seed]
[Scent of Bewilderment]
[Spirit’s Call]
Her strategy involves using the Royal Jelly, which makes spirits and bear cubs faint with delight, to flood the area with spirits!
This technique can summon anywhere from a handful to dozens of spirits from a single seed; it’s considered a pretty solid quantity meta within the top 10 of the Seed Meta among players.
“Here it comes! The scent of royal jelly!”
“Where?”
“I want a taste too!”
As a small opening appeared in the whoosh space, spirits began to poke their heads out!
“Is that all you’ve got?”
As I provocatively crossed my arms, Orcatch clenched her teeth and hurled more rare seeds.
[Fast Growth - Puff Puff Seed]
[Shapeshift]
[Protective Barrier]
The Puff Puff Seed, which makes a puff puff sound while shooting seeds like a machine gun, unfolded in front of the Royal Jelly Seed.
[That one wants to gobble up your royal jelly. Hurry, hop in the cockpit and crush it!]
At Orcatch’s command, the spirits’ eyes lit up as they took their place in the Puff Puff Seed’s cockpit, aiming the mini seed launcher at me.
“Is that all you’ve got?”
“Two is enough to make you a bloody mess like my teammates. I’ll pay you back exactly as much as you did to me.”
“Well, my turn now!”
“Hmph. No matter what seed you pull out, it’ll be useless. The spirits keep replenishing, and even if the Puff Puff Seed gets damaged, it’ll instantly recover thanks to the royal jelly’s healing effects.”
“Hmm~ I bet you’ll run short on spirits!”
“Shut it. Just plant your seeds. I won’t allow you to unfold more than three times.”
“Ugh, I was hoping for four. But since the spirits are up, I’ll settle with this.”
With those words, instead of pulling out seeds, I took out a long stick from my backpack.
[Vacuum Cleaner (+5 Strengthened)]
It was the vacuum cleaner that made Tetraforce lose her mind three times in a row and got her excited!
