Ch.424[Episode 424] Cinematic

Unlike passive skills and other abilities that weren’t particularly special, Cinematic was still a skill shrouded in mystery.

“I have no idea when or how this skill activates.”

Sir Dominic tilted his head in thought.

Cinematic was a passive skill that had been marked with one point from the beginning, and additional skill points couldn’t be invested in it.

[[Cinematic(AOS)] ● : Would you like a mad movie?]

Even its description was frustratingly vague.

“I think I need to look into this skill a bit more.”

Sir Dominic said to the director.

“The system wouldn’t allow such a vague text description…”

The director agreed with Sir Dominic while wondering why the system would permit such an ambiguous skill description.

But soon that question was answered.

Through Sir Dominic’s actions, the director began to vaguely understand how Cinematic worked.

“Good heavens.”

The director couldn’t close his mouth, shocked by what Sir Dominic had done.

If Sir Dominic were to be released in this state, it might revolutionize AOS mode.

…

So why couldn’t the director close his mouth while watching Sir Dominic?

What action did Sir Dominic take that left the director so stunned?

In truth, Sir Dominic hadn’t done anything special.

He had merely walked through a forest path.

“I don’t see anything unusual…”

Sir Dominic said as he emerged from between the trees.

He crossed a bridge and followed a trail that led from the upper path to the central road.

Sir Dominic casually tapped nearby trees with his shield and cast various skills to defeat creatures in the forest.

Yet Sir Dominic couldn’t find anything particularly strange.

Sir Dominic tilted his head as he climbed down a cliff.

Then he crossed over to the opposite side through a shallow ford where a stream flowed.

Afterward, Sir Dominic took out his phone and opened a map app.

A dark shadow loomed over Sir Dominic’s head.

Though Sir Dominic didn’t realize it, the Glory of Ferallant had arrived above him to provide WiFi.

Have you noticed?

That Cinematic’s influence was present throughout Sir Dominic’s actions?

Walking between trees? No. That was just Sir Dominic getting slightly lost, nothing unusual.

Climbing down the cliff?

Heroes of Legend had several interactive objects.

Sir Dominic was simply using one of those objects.

Crossing the stream at the ford?

Not at all. Sir Dominic was just crossing a river.

Since it was a shallow ford, it was naturally treated as a passable area for people.

Summoning the Glory of Ferallant?

This might have been worth considering, but it wasn’t the answer.

So where was Cinematic’s influence?

The answer is that all of these actions were under Cinematic’s influence.

Why were Sir Dominic’s simple walking actions described in such detail?

Why was the director so shocked watching each of Sir Dominic’s movements?

It was because of Cinematic.

Drawing people’s attention.

This was one of the most important virtues for a tank.

Tanks would sometimes spout unspeakable curses, shout loudly, or scrape their shields with swords or axes to make unpleasant sounds—all to draw the enemy’s attention.

Citizens of Gacharland were slightly better off, receiving help from taunt skills or equipment with taunt effects.

And those were temporary effects.

In Gacharland, taunts were merely status effects.

Status effects that were applied temporarily and disappeared after some time.

But Sir Dominic’s Cinematic was different.

It wasn’t classified as a status effect.

It was closer to creating an environment that made people look at Sir Dominic one more time.

Since it wasn’t a status effect, people could choose not to look at Sir Dominic by voluntarily turning their heads away.

Yet the director kept staring at Sir Dominic.

The reason was simple.

He couldn’t take his eyes off him.

Due to Cinematic’s existence, which amplified Sir Dominic’s charm, Sir Dominic was essentially in a permanent taunt state.

This was why the director was so shocked.

For a tank, a permanent taunt state was an absolutely broken skill.

“Good heavens.”

Moreover, Sir Dominic had a buff that reduced damage to allies as a tank.

This meant that Sir Dominic was scheduled to be released as an absurdly powerful tank who could both buff allies and permanently taunt enemies.

The director thought that Cinematic needed to be nerfed immediately.

But how?

The director looked at Sir Dominic with a complicated expression.

There was currently no way to nerf Cinematic.

Because of that vague text description.

But the director didn’t know.

That Cinematic’s true value hadn’t even been revealed yet.

…

“Hmm.”

After circling the map once, Sir Dominic decided to try something different.

He decided to try the recommended methods for mastering his skillset.

Fighting artificial intelligence androids, small battles with creatures on the map, and all-out battles that could determine victory or defeat.

Sir Dominic first summoned an android.

“Hup!”

As soon as it was summoned, the android shot an arrow at Sir Dominic.

Sir Dominic raised his shield and advanced forward, and when he judged the distance to be sufficient, he used [Shield Charge].

With the feeling of his body being pulled forward, Sir Dominic suddenly found himself in front of the android.

The android, hit by the shield, fortunately or unfortunately withstood the blow, but soon collapsed under Sir Dominic’s follow-up attack.

“Weak…”

Sir Dominic looked at the android as it collapsed and disappeared.

As Sir Dominic said, this android was a practice android set to be extremely weak.

Sir Dominic thought that at this rate, it would be fine to summon several androids.

Sir Dominic went ahead and summoned eight androids.

And only then did Sir Dominic think the balance of power was somewhat fair.

There was that much difference between androids that simply swung weapons and Sir Dominic, who was battle-hardened.

Sir Dominic almost died with his health completely depleted, but survived with a sliver of health.

Sir Dominic went on to summon nine androids.

And survived with a sliver of health.

Sir Dominic summoned ten androids.

And… as you might expect, survived with a sliver of health.

For some reason, Sir Dominic kept surviving with just a sliver of health.

In the last case, he had only 2 health points remaining.

This was partly because Sir Dominic had become familiar with the androids’ patterns, but in fact, it was the effect of Cinematic.

The effect of creating nail-biting situations to focus people’s attention.

For this purpose, Cinematic provided a slight defense bonus.

Cinematic’s effects weren’t limited to this.

Sir Dominic clicked on the item labeled creature battle.

It involved stealing a creature with low health at a critical moment, with an android on the opposite side that would reset the environment by immediately killing the creature if Sir Dominic failed to steal it.

Sir Dominic either won by the skin of his teeth or lost by an agonizingly small margin.

The situations were so tense that the director watching was on the edge of his seat.

All attention was focused solely on the stealing attempt, to the point where the surrounding scenery faded from view.

This too was the effect of Cinematic.

“…I see.”

Only then could Sir Dominic understand Cinematic’s true effect.

If it was used this blatantly, it would be stranger not to notice.

Sir Dominic thought about Cinematic’s true effect.

The effect of focusing attention on Sir Dominic.

To be precise, it could be said to be an effect that made Sir Dominic the protagonist.

It was a skill that granted slight buffs or timing advantages to focus attention on Sir Dominic.

“This is broken.”

Sir Dominic said with a hollow laugh.

An effect that benefits everything Sir Dominic does while making him the protagonist.

Through several more experiments, Sir Dominic almost perfectly understood Cinematic’s nature.

Instead of an ultimate skill that others had, Sir Dominic had Cinematic—a skill that allowed him to gain small advantages throughout the game.

“Now I understand why it’s fixed at one point, and why only one point can be invested.”

Sir Dominic nodded as he said this.