Seigan!

Once again, I find myself leveling yet another subjob in the wonderful world of Vana'diel. Although leveling a melee job is usually quite simple, my leveling experience soon turned out to be quite dangerous. 

So where do I start? Drum roll, please! After seeking for hours, I was invited to a party (PT) that looked fairly typical: it consisted of a Thief (THF), a Ninja (NIN), a Red Mage (RDM), a Black Mage (BLM), a Monk (MNK) and myself on Samurai (SAM). For those of you who have not played the game before, the NIN will become the "tank" of the PT and shield his or her PT members from harm, the RDM will heal wounded members, and the other four jobs will simply deal damage to their foes.

In addition to our party setup, a Summoner (SMN) from the NIN's linkshell (guild) was healing us outside of our party, but he had to go shortly after we started. Afterward, our NIN stopped tanking every other fight and then every fight (I assumed he or she was falling asleep on us). Some short time after that, our NIN stopped moving completely, so I unleashed my special ability (2hr) on our current mob to ensure my comrades' survival. The following dialogue explains the ensuing chaos:


*NIN disconnects from the game server*
Me: Hurray!
RDM: -.-;
Me: Can we get a new tank?
*Eerie silence*
Me: Eep <.< (my comrades were away from their keyboards at this point)
MNK: I'm back, guys. Siege Bat [Found It]
MNK: Ready?
RDM: Pull! (this command instructs the MNK to taunt a foe)
Me: Uh, guys...


In the end, we survived the ensuing battle without the NIN, but I ended up becoming the new tank. Somehow, I felt I had just won the lottery for something dangerous.

Khaki attains level 35.
RDM: SAM tank ftw -.-b (I have no clue why he kept making this face)















Now at level (lvl) 35, Samurais gain a new ability called "Seigan" that creates 1+ shadow images that can counter (attack and nullify) their opponent's next attack. "Seigan" is a triggered effect that requires another ability to be active, namely "Third Eye." Unfortunately, the effect of "Seigan" weakens over time, so my battles could look something like...















Khaki uses Seigan.
Khaki uses Third Eye.
Khaki anticipates the attack.
The Siege Bat's attack is countered by Khaki. The Siege Bat takes 43 points of damage.
The Siege Bat's attack is countered by Khaki. The Siege Bat takes 53 points of damage.
Khaki anticipates the attack.
Khaki anticipates the attack.
Khaki anticipates the attack
Khaki's Third Eye effect wears off.

Or instead, something like...

Khaki uses Seigan.
Khaki uses Third Eye.
Khaki anticipates the attack.
Khaki's Third Eye effect wears off.
The Siege Bat hits Khaki for 89 points of damage.
The Siege Bat hits Khaki for 110 points of damage.
(And etc. The Siege Bat would simply own me until I could reuse "Seigan.")


And that is more or less what happened tonight. I will not be on tomorrow if anyone expects to see me online. 



Notes:
a) To "own" (verb) often means to humiliate and/or dominate another entity in internet slang. In this post, the Siege Bat was simply kicking my ass after "Seigan" wore off.  
b) "/something" refers to one performing some action. The use of a slash followed by a word is often a command to end something in HTML when used between square brackets.
c) "Ftw" is an acronym to denote "for the win."
d) Shadow images are used to absorb and nullify enemy attacks. Each shadow image can only absorb one enemy attack.


Miscellaneous symbols explained:
-.- or -.-; or (-.-) - a smiley showing discontent.
-.-b - a smiley of someone giving a thumbs up?
<.< - depicts a person glancing to the right. It may imply staring, but it may also imply discontent.