On the UI screen, among the cute little pieces of furniture, a super-deformed, two-head-tall figure resembling a plush doll was sitting in a chair.
A doll whose face remained fierce despite its deformation, with a hulking body and strangely familiar features...
Could that possibly be me?
When I rose from my seat, the two-head-tall figure on the screen rose as well. It seemed that little figure represented me.
In the game, clicking a character let you interact with them by making them speak. How would that work here?
Would I start talking to myself if I clicked it?
With that silly thought in mind, I pressed the little figure on the screen, but I felt nothing.
Nor did the figure on the screen show any change.
Apparently, it did not apply to oneself.
Would it be different for other people?
First... shall I take a closer look and see whether anything differs from the game?
This time, when I placed a finger on the image of the desk, the desk image lifted into the air, following my finger.
Then, when I moved that floating desk image to another spot, something astonishing happened.
Thud.
With the sound of something dropping, the desk in front of me had moved.
To the exact same place where the desk image was positioned on the screen, at that.
When I moved the chair image in the same manner, the actual chair likewise shifted to the position shown on the screen.
"Hah."
A hollow laugh escaped me at the sight.
Could I really rearrange the furniture in the clubroom just like in the game?
If so...
My gaze shifted upward.
Manipulating the club would not make me stronger, but if this system worked exactly as it had in the game, I remembered a feature that could, however slightly, affect combat power.
【Ancient Documents Club (LV 1)】
President: Eileen de Astoria
Vice President: Ian de Logres
Faculty Advisor: Luke Eaenril
Members: Angelica de Olivier, Dolnesia de Logres, Isabella von Eterna
[Currently Active Buff: None]
Just as expected, the top displayed a roster of everyone affiliated with the club.
What caught my attention was the buff slot at the very bottom.
I placed my hand over it.
[Currently Available Buffs]
◈ Just Stay Healthy.
10% reduced chance of suffering status ailments; 2% increased stamina recovery.
◈ The Only Weak Member Is a Dead Member.
Attack and defense increased by 3%.
◈ Documents Ahead.
7% increased chance of obtaining high-grade materials during research.
This buff system was why a club could have even a minor effect on combat power.
Just as in the game, there were three available buffs.
The first slightly increased resistance to status ailments and stamina recovery.
The second slightly increased attack and defense.
The final one slightly increased the chance of obtaining high-grade items during research.
The effects were not especially significant, but they were naturally better than having nothing.
There had been three to begin with in the game as well.
The effects were not much different from back then either.
At the start, you were given exactly three choices.
As the club leveled up, the number of selectable buffs increased.
In the game, I had always immediately picked the second one...
But this time, I had to think about it.
The first was not even a consideration.
To begin with, I had the trait Dragon Strength, which allowed me to resist status ailments. And unlike the game, where moving anywhere consumed stamina, this was reality.
At most, it would only make me a little healthier.
Besides, Iris had awakened as a Holy Maiden.
Feeling sick? Receive holy power.
Injured? Receive holy power.
Tired? Receive holy power.
She was not a club member, but when we had such an excellent buff totem, why bother?
If you are tired, just have her give you a massage or something.
The second increased offensive and defensive capabilities by 3%.
Normally, choosing this buff was the obvious choice.
This buff did not apply only to the heroine; every club member could receive it.
But the third one caught my eye too.
It increased the chance of obtaining high-grade items during research by 7%.
In the game, I had put it off even longer than the first one.
Unlike the first, which at least made stamina recover faster, this effect merely raised the odds of obtaining better items when conducting club research.
It might sound useful on the surface, but the problem lay in the clubs the protagonist could join.
There were the flower arrangement club and the confectionery club, for instance.
As befitted a romance fantasy, they were all clubs utterly useless in combat.
The best you could get was higher-grade flowers and higher-grade bread.
They were merely items that raised affection more.
There were clubs such as the swordsmanship club and magical studies club as well, but since they had no associated events, joining them was actually worse than joining other clubs. Unless you were doing a lone-wolf concept playthrough, you would not join them either.
At best, they handed out experience books.
And not even high-grade experience books.
Even when you got a supposedly high-grade reward, that was all it amounted to.
Trying to raise skill levels with them was only slightly better than training at the training grounds.
Rather than spend your limited stamina grinding that, you would be better off running Dreamland one more time.
But the Ancient Documents Club was different.
Unlike the flower arrangement club or confectionery club, it was connected to artifacts that could be used in combat.
Of course, in the game it had disappeared after being disbanded, so I could not guarantee that something different would appear.
There was still a chance it would toss out nothing but experience books, like the swordsmanship club or magical studies club.
But.
For that very reason, there was also a possibility that items related to the club's subject matter would appear.
Something related to artifacts, for example.
I might be able to obtain an item capable of lifting the seals on my Carnwennan or Prydwen.
That was why I hesitated.
Should I choose something that could raise combat power, even by a little?
Or should I choose the possibility that something special might appear, even if it was a gacha gamble?
Choosing one would not make the others disappear or prevent me from selecting them later, but switching buffs required waiting twenty-four hours. I could not help being cautious.
Should I just choose tomorrow?
It probably would not matter if I selected it when I conducted research.
I would choose tomorrow.
I closed the buff section.
Then my gaze naturally moved upward, toward the level section.
The level of the Ancient Documents Club, marked as Level 1.
I remembered that the game had required certain conditions to level up a club as well.
Still, a club level... Would the conditions be the same as in the game?
[Conditions to Reach LV 2]
◈ Reach 5 club members (5/5)
◈ Place 5 pieces of furniture in the clubroom (7/5)
◈ Obtain one item of Advanced grade or higher during research (0/1)
These conditions were the same as in the game too.
Have five club members besides the advisor—the minimum required membership—and place five pieces of furniture in the clubroom.
Finally, obtain an Advanced-grade item or above while conducting research.
We had already met the membership requirement, so the first condition was cleared.
The second required placing seven pieces of furniture in the clubroom.
In the game, you could buy furniture from shops or obtain it through Dreamland or interactions with characters.
This club had nearly been disbanded, but it was also a club that had been around for quite some time, and the imperial princess had once been part of it. Thus, the second condition was easily cleared as well.
There had been more furniture when I first arrived, but dungeon erosion had turned the interior into a complete mess, and almost all the furniture had been destroyed... Still, it seemed seven pieces remained.
Which meant all that remained was obtaining an Advanced-grade item or higher through research...
Leveling up the club would be good.
In the game, the higher the club level, the more stamina recovered for entering the story or Dreamland; the odds of obtaining good items from research also increased, and the number of buff choices grew.
Should I activate the third buff now for the sake of research...?
No, it would not be too late to activate it when I researched tomorrow. There was no need to be so hasty.
After examining it further, I discovered that there was no substantial difference from the club UI I had seen on the monitor.
Other than the fact that the UI I was touching now affected reality.
I had learned what I needed to learn, I supposed.
Now, only the last thing remained.
The image of a portal tucked away in the corner of the club UI, something that had never appeared in the game.
The dungeon, an utterly unexpected uninvited guest.
Naturally, there had been nothing like this in the game.
In the game, the Ancient Documents Club was the only club whose clubroom had spawned a dungeon, and it had been disbanded.
There had certainly been no UI for manipulating a dungeon.
Yet an image of a dungeon portal was plainly situated in the corner of the club UI.
As though it were claiming to be a club itself.
When I placed my hand over the portal image...
[Would you like to enter the ??? Dungeon? (Y/N)]
Seeing that message appear, it seemed I could manipulate the dungeon too.
I pressed Y.
The screen in my status window changed from the club to the dungeon, and before I knew it, I was standing inside the dungeon rather than the clubroom.
It could teleport me too. How fascinating.
After looking over the status window, I found that the UI resembled the club's.
Being able to place or move furniture, and having it actually manifest in reality, was exactly the same as the club.
However, there was one difference from the club.
【???'s Dungeon (Lv 1)】
◈ Shares its level with the club.
◈ Can summon monsters using the energy within the dungeon.
◈ Expended energy naturally recovers and can be restored by external power.
◈ The dungeon collapses if its core is destroyed.
◈ Dungeon Monsters (0/5)
◈ Available Energy (100/100)
I could summon monsters?
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