In B&B, there are characters who have become known as the <Four Heavenly Cheaters> because of the overly preferential treatment the game has for their abilities.
The first is the very popular character who can be called the face of B&B, <Prince of Light, Ain>.
He, who has been named “Cheat of Cheats” because of the game’s preferential treatment towards him, is by far the most talented of all the characters in the game, has an Exclusive Class that is too strong by any stretch of the imagination, a wealth of events prepared for him, and a handsome first prince of a large country. Truly a perfect cheat.
His abilities don’t just make him a jack of all trades, and was instead truly making him almighty, and in a sense, he’s Rex’s perfect counterpart.
The second is the leader of the <Cult of Eternal Darkness> and the players’ greatest antagonist in the latter half of the game, the <Prince of Darkness>.
The <Cult of Eternal Darkness> has a nasty habit of “getting stronger as the player progresses through the game”, so the strength of the <Prince of Darkness> himself varies, but when he gets strong, he gets so crazy strong that it makes player scratch their head in wonder how to defeat him.
He’s also one of the main culprits that made me give up the idea of completely capturing all Ruins in my third playthrough.
The third is the leader of the Gnome Country, the heroine, <White Queen, Heart>.
Although she has a high Level and Status, her initial abilities aren’t as impactful as the other two.
However, as the Priestess of the <Water Deity>, accomplishing the Event: God’s Awakening dramatically increases all of her abilities, and she suddenly becomes one of the strongest.
The growth of her MND is especially tremendous, making her a candidate for the Number 1 Healer in the world of B&B.
All three of them have “destructive performance because they won’t become your comrade”, and are unrivaled in their respective fields.
However, in one-on-one combat, they are perhaps one step behind the others.
The fourth of the Four Heavenly Cheaters though, is the “strongest in one-on-one combat”.
He’s the champion who had never been defeated in the Arena, the <Undefeated Sword Saint>, Nirva.
※ ※ ※
(What the heck is he doing here!?)
Feeling despair, as if I’d stepped into a bottomless swamp, I looked at the Sword Saint’s Status.
No matter how many times I look at it, it doesn’t change.
A tremendous, almost violent, ability value that I have seen over and over again in the game.
In contrast to that, my Status……
It’s even ridiculous to compare it to.
Although I can add a few stat points here and there through Enchanted equipment, the difference between our stats is just so great that doing all that isn’t even worth it.
No matter how much odds I think I have, there’s no way I could beat him.
(D*mn it! He still has the same cheat-like Status!)
When we look at Nirva’s Status, you would first notice his unorthodox high level of 70, but that isn’t the basis of Nirva’s strength.
For example, even if Radd, who has a similar Status trend to Nirva, were to level up to Lv 70, he wouldn’t be able to reach that level.
The current Radd is considerably stronger than a normal Adventurer.
This is because his ability increase per level is large.
For example, if we consider a typical Third-Tier Adventurer, the overall average of their affinities would be 18, with an additional Class affinity revision is 12.
For the most part, their abilities would increase by 30 per level.
Compared to them, Radd, in addition to having a much higher than normal base 22 affinities, quickly secured a 15 Class affinity revision by Class Changing with the Brave Sword, which he has learned to use through training.
With the addition of three affinity-raising equipment, he’s able to increase his abilities by a whopping 40 points per level.
The difference of 10 points between 30 and 40 per level is the fruit of Radd’s efforts and his greatest strength.
Each time Radd levels up, he will outperform the average Adventurer by 10.
—————However, Nirva easily surpasses this.
His base affinity value is an impressive 26, comfortably surpassing Radd’s 22 and even the Hero’s 25.
In addition, he has the strongest melee-type Class <Sword Saint> that gives him an additional 24 Class affinity revision, and as if to push it even further, a Fixed Exclusive equipment he has equipped gives him an additional 4 affinity revision, for a total value of an astonishing 54.
For every level up, Radd was outperformed by Nirva by 14.
And the real cheat is that Nirva is a “Sword Saint by birth” in the literal sense of the word.
Normally, the stronger a Class is, the stricter the conditions for Class Change it will have, so the theory is that as one levels up, one moves up to a higher Class.
For example, the <City Boy who Aspires to be an Adventurer> might make the player start out as a <Young Leo>, which only has 2 affinity revisions, or as a <Fighter>, which is an Initial melee Class like <Radd> had, and as is usual in RPGs, they would gradually move up to a higher Class such as <Swordsman> or <Imperial Sword>.
In particular, Unique Classes such as <Ninja> and <Sword Saint> boast the highest degree of difficulty in Class Changing, requiring at least the equivalent of a Fourth-Tier Class and meeting special requirements.
However, it was a different case for some unique characters such as Nirva and Ain.
Even though their Class in-game is fixed, they are assigned to a Unique Class as their Initial Class, regardless of the conditions for Class Change.
Before Radd even became a <Brave Leo>, Nirva was already born with that additional 24 affinity revision <Sword Saint>, and if he had already acquired that +4 affinity revision equipment early on, he has also been growing at a 54 ability increase per level since he was a Lv 1, compared to Radd’s <Fighter> with its 6 affinity revision.
Past. Present. Future.
The strongest in all of them.
—————That is the being known as <Sword Saint Nirva>.
※ ※ ※
[……Rex?]
As if guided by Prana and Mana’s gazes directed at me, Nirva calmly turned around and caught me in his vision.
Even though he had done nothing yet, the pressure of his gaze almost made me take a step back.
(……Calm down. Calm down.)
Soothing my thumping heart, I keep Nirval in my sights with all the mental strength I can muster.
(We’re in the middle of a city. No matter how strong he is, he can’t do anything reckless.)
In the world of B&B, the power of an individual can become so strong that, for example, if a high-level Adventurer wants to do something, an average person can never resist.
Even so, society is still able to function even with such people around because of the existence of <Judgment>, an NPC-only Class that wields overwhelming power only over those who have committed crimes.
Criminal characters can’t damage Judgment, and on the contrary, Judgment’s skills can penetrate all criminals’ defenses and exert damage and apply permanent debuffs against criminals according to the severity of their crimes.
Being lawless just because you’re strong is suicide, at least in a city like Frelia, where Judgment patrols in large numbers.
(That’s why, it’s okay. It should be okay.)
Still, the intimidating pressure from facing an opponent who can kill you with a single slash if he wants to is still there.
Seeing me, who lacked the nerve to face me, Nirva snorted and looked back to Prana and Mana again, as if he lost interest in me.
[S- Stay away!]
Ignoring Prana’s warning, he walked up to them.
Mana looks at me, asking me for help.
As expected, ignoring their situation would hurt my conscience.
With a feeling of desperation, I step in between Nirva and Prana.
[Wait. What do you think you’re doing?]
I wasn’t sure if my voice was trembling or not.
Still, I had caught Nirva’s attention.
[Scram. I’m only interested in that woman.]
The pressure Nirva exerted made reflexively falter.
I am Rex, the A-Rank Adventurer who knows no fear.
Telling myself that, I stared straight back into Nirva’s eyes.
[I’m sorry, but these two are my disciples.]
Saying that while exerting the best bluff I could……
[Nonsense.]
But as if to trample on it, those words were cut off with a single word.
[I- It’s not nonsense at all! Rex is a splendid……]
The one who responded to those words wasn’t me, but Prana and Mana.
However, I stopped whatever they were going to say with a hand.
To be honest, I did feel annoyed.
As a person who still feels lingering regrets from my lack of strength, I too have the desire to win against this guy at least once.
""
However, the fact is that Nirva is by far the superior one here, and clearly, there’s no chance for me to win now.
In any case, we need to get through here……
[First of all, you calling them your disciples is laughable. Especially since you are that weak.]
[Wha!?]
With his follow-up words, the Sword Saint’s gaze shoots through me.
[As worthless as a swordsman you may be, you yourself should know it. The difference in strength between me and you.]
[That is……]
I unfortunately couldn’t say anything back at those words.
The one who knows the difference in strength between Nirva and I the most was me.
I have the ability to visualize a person’s Status, and knowing Nirva’s specs in game, I understand the difference better than anyone else.
However……
[People have talents, and that is what determines their status. And now, not to mention the ability to properly wield a sword, you don’t even have that talent. This, I declare to you.]
The Sword Saint looked at me condescendingly and said.
[—————Not a day will come where you will ever be able to stand as my equal for all eternity.]
I felt a jolt, as if someone slapped me at the back of my head.
Even though nothing had been done to me, I faltered and everything in front of me felt like it was plunged into darkness.
Looking at me like I was a pebble on the side of the road, Nirva took another step forward.
However……
[……Wait right there.]
I stood in front of him again.
[What do you think you’re doing? I told you already. Weaklings like you are of no use to me.]
[It’s true that I’m weak right now. However, that doesn’t mean I will remain weak in the future. I will definitely surpass you.]
However, it didn’t seem like these words resonated in the Sword Saint’s ears at all.
[Your mouth can speak whatever you want. However, such a thing is……]
""
[Then, all I have to do is just prove it.]
And so, as if to interrupt Nirva’s words, I spit out decisive words.
A part of me yells at me to stop, but there’s also a part of me that urges me to have at him. In the end, the latter won.
I pulled a glove out from my inventory and threw it at Nirva.
[Let’s settle this in a “Soul Duel”. ……There’s no way that you’re gonna run away from my challenge, right, Sword Saint-sama?]
Those words were a declaration of war from which I couldn’t turn back.
In B&B, there are characters who have become known as the <Four Heavenly Cheaters> because of the overly preferential treatment the game has for their abilities.
The first is the very popular character who can be called the face of B&B, <Prince of Light, Ain>.
He, who has been named “Cheat of Cheats” because of the game’s preferential treatment towards him, is by far the most talented of all the characters in the game, has an Exclusive Class that is too strong by any stretch of the imagination, a wealth of events prepared for him, and a handsome first prince of a large country. Truly a perfect cheat.
His abilities don’t just make him a jack of all trades, and was instead truly making him almighty, and in a sense, he’s Rex’s perfect counterpart.
The second is the leader of the <Cult of Eternal Darkness> and the players’ greatest antagonist in the latter half of the game, the <Prince of Darkness>.
The <Cult of Eternal Darkness> has a nasty habit of “getting stronger as the player progresses through the game”, so the strength of the <Prince of Darkness> himself varies, but when he gets strong, he gets so crazy strong that it makes player scratch their head in wonder how to defeat him.
He’s also one of the main culprits that made me give up the idea of completely capturing all Ruins in my third playthrough.
The third is the leader of the Gnome Country, the heroine, <White Queen, Heart>.
Although she has a high Level and Status, her initial abilities aren’t as impactful as the other two.
However, as the Priestess of the <Water Deity>, accomplishing the Event: God’s Awakening dramatically increases all of her abilities, and she suddenly becomes one of the strongest.
The growth of her MND is especially tremendous, making her a candidate for the Number 1 Healer in the world of B&B.
All three of them have “destructive performance because they won’t become your comrade”, and are unrivaled in their respective fields.
However, in one-on-one combat, they are perhaps one step behind the others.
The fourth of the Four Heavenly Cheaters though, is the “strongest in one-on-one combat”.
He’s the champion who had never been defeated in the Arena, the <Undefeated Sword Saint>, Nirva.
※ ※ ※
(What the heck is he doing here!?)
Feeling despair, as if I’d stepped into a bottomless swamp, I looked at the Sword Saint’s Status.
No matter how many times I look at it, it doesn’t change.
A tremendous, almost violent, ability value that I have seen over and over again in the game.
In contrast to that, my Status……
It’s even ridiculous to compare it to.
Although I can add a few stat points here and there through Enchanted equipment, the difference between our stats is just so great that doing all that isn’t even worth it.
No matter how much odds I think I have, there’s no way I could beat him.
(D*mn it! He still has the same cheat-like Status!)
When we look at Nirva’s Status, you would first notice his unorthodox high level of 70, but that isn’t the basis of Nirva’s strength.
For example, even if Radd, who has a similar Status trend to Nirva, were to level up to Lv 70, he wouldn’t be able to reach that level.
The current Radd is considerably stronger than a normal Adventurer.
This is because his ability increase per level is large.
For example, if we consider a typical Third-Tier Adventurer, the overall average of their affinities would be 18, with an additional Class affinity revision is 12.
For the most part, their abilities would increase by 30 per level.
Compared to them, Radd, in addition to having a much higher than normal base 22 affinities, quickly secured a 15 Class affinity revision by Class Changing with the Brave Sword, which he has learned to use through training.
With the addition of three affinity-raising equipment, he’s able to increase his abilities by a whopping 40 points per level.
The difference of 10 points between 30 and 40 per level is the fruit of Radd’s efforts and his greatest strength.
Each time Radd levels up, he will outperform the average Adventurer by 10.
—————However, Nirva easily surpasses this.
His base affinity value is an impressive 26, comfortably surpassing Radd’s 22 and even the Hero’s 25.
In addition, he has the strongest melee-type Class <Sword Saint> that gives him an additional 24 Class affinity revision, and as if to push it even further, a Fixed Exclusive equipment he has equipped gives him an additional 4 affinity revision, for a total value of an astonishing 54.
For every level up, Radd was outperformed by Nirva by 14.
And the real cheat is that Nirva is a “Sword Saint by birth” in the literal sense of the word.
Normally, the stronger a Class is, the stricter the conditions for Class Change it will have, so the theory is that as one levels up, one moves up to a higher Class.
For example, the <City Boy who Aspires to be an Adventurer> might make the player start out as a <Young Leo>, which only has 2 affinity revisions, or as a <Fighter>, which is an Initial melee Class like <Radd> had, and as is usual in RPGs, they would gradually move up to a higher Class such as <Swordsman> or <Imperial Sword>.
In particular, Unique Classes such as <Ninja> and <Sword Saint> boast the highest degree of difficulty in Class Changing, requiring at least the equivalent of a Fourth-Tier Class and meeting special requirements.
However, it was a different case for some unique characters such as Nirva and Ain.
Even though their Class in-game is fixed, they are assigned to a Unique Class as their Initial Class, regardless of the conditions for Class Change.
Before Radd even became a <Brave Leo>, Nirva was already born with that additional 24 affinity revision <Sword Saint>, and if he had already acquired that +4 affinity revision equipment early on, he has also been growing at a 54 ability increase per level since he was a Lv 1, compared to Radd’s <Fighter> with its 6 affinity revision.
Past. Present. Future.
The strongest in all of them.
—————That is the being known as <Sword Saint Nirva>.
※ ※ ※
[……Rex?]
As if guided by Prana and Mana’s gazes directed at me, Nirva calmly turned around and caught me in his vision.
Even though he had done nothing yet, the pressure of his gaze almost made me take a step back.
(……Calm down. Calm down.)
Soothing my thumping heart, I keep Nirval in my sights with all the mental strength I can muster.
(We’re in the middle of a city. No matter how strong he is, he can’t do anything reckless.)
In the world of B&B, the power of an individual can become so strong that, for example, if a high-level Adventurer wants to do something, an average person can never resist.
Even so, society is still able to function even with such people around because of the existence of <Judgment>, an NPC-only Class that wields overwhelming power only over those who have committed crimes.
Criminal characters can’t damage Judgment, and on the contrary, Judgment’s skills can penetrate all criminals’ defenses and exert damage and apply permanent debuffs against criminals according to the severity of their crimes.
Being lawless just because you’re strong is suicide, at least in a city like Frelia, where Judgment patrols in large numbers.
(That’s why, it’s okay. It should be okay.)
Still, the intimidating pressure from facing an opponent who can kill you with a single slash if he wants to is still there.
Seeing me, who lacked the nerve to face me, Nirva snorted and looked back to Prana and Mana again, as if he lost interest in me.
[S- Stay away!]
Ignoring Prana’s warning, he walked up to them.
Mana looks at me, asking me for help.
As expected, ignoring their situation would hurt my conscience.
With a feeling of desperation, I step in between Nirva and Prana.
[Wait. What do you think you’re doing?]
I wasn’t sure if my voice was trembling or not.
Still, I had caught Nirva’s attention.
[Scram. I’m only interested in that woman.]
The pressure Nirva exerted made reflexively falter.
I am Rex, the A-Rank Adventurer who knows no fear.
Telling myself that, I stared straight back into Nirva’s eyes.
[I’m sorry, but these two are my disciples.]
Saying that while exerting the best bluff I could……
[Nonsense.]
But as if to trample on it, those words were cut off with a single word.
[I- It’s not nonsense at all! Rex is a splendid……]
The one who responded to those words wasn’t me, but Prana and Mana.
However, I stopped whatever they were going to say with a hand.
To be honest, I did feel annoyed.
As a person who still feels lingering regrets from my lack of strength, I too have the desire to win against this guy at least once.
""
However, the fact is that Nirva is by far the superior one here, and clearly, there’s no chance for me to win now.
In any case, we need to get through here……
[First of all, you calling them your disciples is laughable. Especially since you are that weak.]
[Wha!?]
With his follow-up words, the Sword Saint’s gaze shoots through me.
[As worthless as a swordsman you may be, you yourself should know it. The difference in strength between me and you.]
[That is……]
I unfortunately couldn’t say anything back at those words.
The one who knows the difference in strength between Nirva and I the most was me.
I have the ability to visualize a person’s Status, and knowing Nirva’s specs in game, I understand the difference better than anyone else.
However……
[People have talents, and that is what determines their status. And now, not to mention the ability to properly wield a sword, you don’t even have that talent. This, I declare to you.]
The Sword Saint looked at me condescendingly and said.
[—————Not a day will come where you will ever be able to stand as my equal for all eternity.]
I felt a jolt, as if someone slapped me at the back of my head.
Even though nothing had been done to me, I faltered and everything in front of me felt like it was plunged into darkness.
Looking at me like I was a pebble on the side of the road, Nirva took another step forward.
However……
[……Wait right there.]
I stood in front of him again.
[What do you think you’re doing? I told you already. Weaklings like you are of no use to me.]
[It’s true that I’m weak right now. However, that doesn’t mean I will remain weak in the future. I will definitely surpass you.]
However, it didn’t seem like these words resonated in the Sword Saint’s ears at all.
[Your mouth can speak whatever you want. However, such a thing is……]
""
[Then, all I have to do is just prove it.]
And so, as if to interrupt Nirva’s words, I spit out decisive words.
A part of me yells at me to stop, but there’s also a part of me that urges me to have at him. In the end, the latter won.
I pulled a glove out from my inventory and threw it at Nirva.
[Let’s settle this in a “Soul Duel”. ……There’s no way that you’re gonna run away from my challenge, right, Sword Saint-sama?]
Those words were a declaration of war from which I couldn’t turn back.
