[Good!]
[The Library, the Alchemy Lab, and the Magic Research Lab have been combined into a Magic Hall (Lv.1)!]
The Magic Hall was a must-have facility if there was a mage-class hero in the lobby.
In fact, the Magic Hall was required to clear Pick Me Up's stages.
The reason for that was because of one particular feature that the Magic Hall offered.
[Master, there is a member available for research.]
[Why don't you try starting a research?]
[Accomplishments from research is the basis to a smooth-functioning lobby!]
Research.
A core feature in Pick Me Up.
It could be said that Research was the backbone of the gameplay.
By researching various subjects, a player could unlock other features that would help their Pick Me Up playthrough.
[Research!]
[Current Development]
[1. Hero Reaction Research (Lv.0)]
[2. Lobby Expansion Research (Lv.0)]
[3. Dungeon Depth Research (Lv.0)]
There were three things that could be researched in Pick Me Up, each subject had their own branch-items that could be further researched as well.
Loki covered a lot about Research in his guides.
One of the first tips he gave was immediately researching a certain subject once you obtained a mage.
[Tips/You can earn Research Points by putting members in the Research Lab. Try upgrading the lobby to your taste with Research Points!]
I needed to obtain Research Points in order to research the subject Loki pointed out.
A lot of players could not immediately do this simple important tip because they could not pull mage-class heroes through summoning.
Only mages could perform Research.
I was certainly glad I already obtained one right from the beginning.
[Researcher Recommendation List!]
['Serafina (★★★★)']
[Will you appoint 'Serafina (★★★★)' as the researcher?]
[Yes (selected)/ No]
My 4-star hero had an Intermediate Research skill with her.
As the name suggested, it was a particular skill for Research.
I should be able to obtain many Research Points a lot faster thanks to this skill of hers.
The guides said I only needed 30 points to research the subject I needed.
How long would I need to wait before I could obtain that much?
[You have earned 1 Research Point!]
[The current research speed is 180/h. 180 gems will be spent each hour.]
180 per hour.
I only needed to wait 10 minutes until I could obtain the Research Points I needed.
The official forum mentioned that not all mage-class heroes had Research skill.
So my mage's research rate could be considered above average.
It was nice that I did not need to spend much time grinding Research Points.
But this Serafina would drain all my gems really fast.
[Setting Research Time.]
[01:00:00 (per day)]
[Yes / No]
The daily research time I could designate a researcher was one hour at minimum. I could not make her work shorter than that.
This meant that I would lose at least 180 gems in each Research session.
I should stock up on more gems.
[Would you like to purchase the Newbie Potent Double Package for 90,000 won?]
[Yes (selected)/ No]
[This amount will be added to your next month's…]
180 points were more than I needed for now.
But it would be wise to start piling up Research Points early on.
[One hour per day!]
[Tips/The researchers may be disgruntled if you set too long of a time for research! Don't forget that they have their own lives too.]
I would eventually need all the Research Points I could get.
But not at this point in the climb.
The features unlocked by the Lobby Expansion Research and the Dungeon Depth Research were only useful after the fifth floor was cleared.
That only left me with one thing to invest on.
[Research]
['Hero Reaction' has become Lv.1]
[The goddesses have blessed the lobby.]
Ever since I obtained the 4-star mage, I had been intending on unlocking this particular research.
The Hero Reaction Research improved the heroes' responsiveness in the mission.
It helped them comprehend the mission's objectives as well as understanding orders from players.
There were other useful features enabled by improving this particular research, but what I wanted was the improvement on heroes' capability to understand their missions' goals.
I expected the fifth floor would have special objectives.
It would not just be a regular subjugation mission.
Many players could not complete the fifth floor because their heroes did not know what to do in that boss stage.
There were various types of mission in Pick Me Up.
Subjugation, survival, escort, breakthrough, assassination, defend, siege, pursuit, escape, guard and various others.
According to the official forum, some of these mission types would not be present on the fifth floor.
But it was still worth mentioning that killing enemies would not necessarily guarantee victory in every mission.
I wanted to give my heroes the best odds they could get for the first boss stage.
Other than levelling up their combat skills, improving the Hero Reaction Research should help with that effort as well.
It was probably best that I improved Hero Reaction Research all the way to level 3 before we tried the fifth floor.
The guides did not particularly recommend it, but I wanted to be safe. Serafina should be able to gather enough Research Points in time.
Now that it was settled with, let's work on levelling up my heroes.
I farmed experience points with the other parties till dinner time.
And then I did another quick session before bed.
When I returned at this time, the crafters had made leather armors for my heroes.
The third floor did reward us with more leather material. Apparently there was now enough resources to craft that type of equipment.
My 4-star mage had casted enchantment on the armors as she did with the weapons as well.
So we managed to acquire C rank leather armors despite the poor material and low-rank facility.
The crafters had also made belt pouches for the heroes to carry sub-weapons.
It was good timing too since Cecily had just developed Basic Dagger Technique skill when I logged in tonight.
My heroes now had better fortification. Good.
We were getting more prepared for the boss stage.
I tested the new equipment by sending Party 1 to the third floor again.
[Stage Clear!]
['Shanny (★)', 'Trudy, (★)', 'Cecily (★★)' levelled up]
[MVP – 'Cecily (★★)']
[Reward – 3000G]
Cecily immediately levelled up to level 3. While Shanny and Trudy to level 4.
Trudy managed to kill her opponent on her own in this outing.
I supposed this time she had better grasp of her enemy.
But she had not improved her skills yet.
It did not seem like she would be able to progress as rapid as Jonah and Shanny.
The official forum said that some heroes were not meant to become strong, no matter how hard they trained.
Then it was settled.
Trudy would not participate in the fifth floor mission.
I could not afford risking the main party's survival by including a weak member that had to be carried.
There was no need getting obsessed with one struggling hero.
I should use the entire day tomorrow observing the heroes in other parties and seriously consider one of them to join Party 1.
Many pawns were in my disposal.
There should be at least one good enough to replace Trudy.