Shangri-La Frontier (シャングリラ・フロンティア)

In today's world,

Fully-immersive virtual reality experiences

dominate the gaming landscape,

giving the players a new way to play.

Now, they can finally become denizens

of their favorite fictional worlds.

In a market over-saturated with VR games,

only one boasts more than 30 million players world-wide.

It's considered the definitive triple-A experience.

A place for true pioneers.

Shangri-La Frontier!

Sky Clear!

Crescent Vorpal!

You've earned this eternal rest.

Time to sleep, Weathermon!

"As clear as a cloudless sky."

The truth.

Our world's full of mystery.

Wanna know more?

More than anything, sir.

It would be an honor.

Before we dive in,

there's one small favor I'd like to ask of you, first.

Only an Ancient Craftsman

can help ya pal, 'cause this Divinity stuff's no joke.

If there's no Ancient Craftsman around,

I just need to work on turning Bilac into one!

You know what? Screw it.

I'll play your little game,

and become an Ancient Craftsman!

That's what I'm talkin' about, Big Sis Bee!

Let's go! The plan to turn Bilac

into an Ancient Craftsman starts now!

- Let's go, tally-ho! - Yeah! Let's go!

HALF-NAKED BIRDMAN AND THE GANG IN GOLEM PARADISE

Self-avowed Lover of trash-games,

Rakuro Hizutome.

AKA Sunraku, was cruising toward his next goal.

In order to advance the story,

he had to do two things.

Acquire a magic operations unit.

Then turn Bilac into an Ancient Craftsman.

Aw, yeah!

New area, here we come!

This blows! I can't friggin' breathe!

How long you plannin' on keepin' me

stuffed under there with Sir Paws-a-lot?

No! My maiden's warmth grows

colder in the night!

You are such a freak!

Yeah, well, I bet we'll be swarmed by mobs soon.

-Better unequip this. - No! Our honeymoon.

Honey this!

So, may I also return to my original form?

Sure. No one's around to see you.

We've been bamboozled.

RUINS OF PAST GLORIES

From a distance, it looked like

the bones of a living creature.

Up close, you can see it's man-made.

Boy, it sure is enormous!

My guess it was made during the Divinity,

but why'd they build something like this?

There had to be a reason their culture died out, right?

Were they fighting against something?

What did she say?

You will seek out "Bahamut."

Hmm?

Hey, Sunraku?

"Hey" yourself! I'm thinkin', here!

Ever since we met that Professor guy

from the lore clan,

my lore-brain has been activated.

If you wish to further explore

and understand the truth of this world,

then surely you'll join us in our efforts.

Huh? Truth, like "hidden secrets" kinda stuff?

Yes!

As proud Librarians and curators of information,

it is our duty to discover

the Frontier's enigmatic truths,

and bring them to light for us all!

Cultist or not, this Professor guy's

right about one thing.

The scenario flags in this game are very specific,

and hard to discover.

If I really wanted to dig in and find them all,

it would be hard to do without a deeper understanding

of the world.

In particular,

the flag that triggers the scenario

for one of SLF's Seven Colossi.

The big bad wolf himself, Lycagon the Nightslayer.

YOU'VE RECEIVED A FRIEND REQUEST FROM THE PROFESSOR. ACCEPT?

NO / YES

Huh? You added me?

Can I assume that means you've agreed to my proposal?

Yeah. I've just got a few things

to take care of first.

We'll hash out the details later.

Mm.

That said, if you want the juicy deets on Wethermon.

There's someone that knows a lot more than me.

She goes by the name Pencilgon.

Huh? Pencilgon?

The notorious Giant Killer?

I'd heard she was in contact with Shwarz Vulf,

but not much other than that.

Very good, Sunraku.

Now, farewell.

Please, let's meet again sooner than later.

- -I'm not gonna lie.

I still can't get over the voice

comin' outta that avatar.

It's crazy, the second I whipped out Pencilgon's name,

boom, Professor Bass stopped bothering me real quick.

Thanks to the Pencil's noble sacrifice,

he can bug her and I can keep enjoying ye olde frontier!

Hopefully, she'll keep our Librarian friend busy,

'cause I wanna get to workin' on those dudes

that are stashed in the Inventoria!

Hey, nimrod.

You know how close that professor guy was

to finding out catbrain and I were up your skirt?

No need to worry, I'm pretty sure

he knew I was packin' something down there.

- Huh? -Impossible!

The guy wasn't dumb and blind,

and he's the head of a lore clan

who knew where my robe came from.

Plus, he was super polite.

I think he was keeping his cards close to his chest.

Anyway, forget about that!

We've finally reached our fake, skeletal paradise,

so it's time to shift gears

and find ourselves a magic operations unit!

-Tally-ho, here we go! -Hold up, guys.

- Huh? How come? -Huh?

Before we left, I happened to do

a little bit of my own research on this place.

Brilliant as ever, my lady love!

Listen, the main thing you gotta watch out for

is a freakish, never-ending stream of golems.

Huh? Huh?

Huh?

Whoa!

Ya see? What did I just tell you guys?

The whole darn place is bound to be crawling with golems

from the age of Divinity!

Yeah, I see that!

There's one right here!

Oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh!

Well, aren't you a big,

tough-looking bucket o' bolts?

Looks like a worker golem to me.

All right, so how does one fight a "worker golem?"

Huh?

Fire attacks, huh?

You've definitely got some power in there,

but methinks you're too slow to use it!

We'll win this thing with speed!

Follow me, Emul!

Righty-o!

Steel giant of the lost Divinity.

Allow me to bring down the curtain

on your wretched play!

SWORVANT SOLO

Sworvant Solo! Primal Slash!

Aramiys, the Wild Wind, is right here by your side.

And no enemy, big or small, shall stand in our way!

One hit, really?

H-hang on, tell me it's not happening!

Did your feral smash pulverize the drops as well?

There's no loot, man!

I may have gotten a bit carried awa--

You friggin' moron!

I don't care if you wanna show off or not.

Just don't waste a dragon-killer attack

to take out one little worker golem!

Fair maiden.

Not in the head again please, I beg you!

A move called "Dragon-killer?"

Hey bud, why don't we keep our damage-bomb

finishing moves to ourselves, mm'kay?

Understood, sir! Yes, sir!

So, like, I get that Aramys is pretty OP,

but these things don't seem like

they require that much oomph.

Don't be stupid.

You can't assume all of 'em here

are gonna be slowpokes like the worker.

The scary golems are the ones born from local elements.

What does that even mean?

I'm tellin' ya, you never know

what those freaks are gonna do!

Huh?

Huh? Hello?

- -Not good.

Hold still, birdman!

That coulda been my leg!