"Okay! Let's roll out!"
Maple had logged in to NewWorld Online to pick up where she had left off the previous
day.
"I think I'll hit up the forest again. I could use some more skills!"
Maple was particularly eager to grind levels, but acquiring new skills had been
undeniably exciting. It was like filling an empty bookshelf.
"The more skills I get that raise VIT, the better!"
Maple set off from town, winding her way back to the forest—still very slowly.
"What should I try today?"
The first thing she thought of was enemy detection. If she could sense enemies
approaching, it would be insanely useful.
"All right, time to get cracking!"
Maple rested her shield on the ground, closed her eyes, and searched for signs of
enemies.
This approach… was completely misguided.
The proven method was already documented on the strategy forums. Players could
use bows or thrown rocks to hit unseen, nearby enemies like they knew exactly where
they were. Any number of players had successfully done so.
Besides, if Maple's approach succeeded, it would be because she could do the same
thing in real life.
Maple was not psychic.
Blissfully unaware of this, Maple kept her eyes closed, focusing very hard.
She did this for three whole hours. At this point, she was basically asleep.
The source of this tenacity was an eternal mystery, but what finally pulled Maple out
of her trance was a system message.
"Skill: Meditation acquired."
"Mm? Huh? Meditation? Not Enemy Detection? That's a little disappointing…"
Maple tried to get up, only to discover an unexpected weight keeping her from rising.
She opened her eyes and found herself covered in centipedes, caterpillars, and other
weak monsters—though there was also a scary-looking wolf ready to attack her.
"Aiiiieeeeeeeeeee!"
She shrieked and began slashing wildly with her short sword. With STR: 9, freeing
herself took a while. The monsters simply refused to die. But however feeble Maple
was, none of them could harm her at all, so she was able to stab to her heart's content.
Things might have gone easier if she only had to deal with the enemies that had been
clustered around her, but unfortunately, Maple's shrieks were attracting the attention
of one new monster after another.
"Skill: Taunt acquired."
New skills were always good, but what she really needed was a way to get out of this
predicament.
Eventually…
"You are now level eleven."
"Whew… that was a hard fight. Better check out these skills!"
Meditation
When active, recover 1% of Max HP every ten seconds. Effect lasts ten minutes.
Consumes no MP.
Unable to attack while Meditation is active.
Condition
Meditate for three hours while under attack.
"I wasn't meditating, though… but this skill seems really strong, so I'll take it!"
She moved on to Taunt.
Taunt
Draw the attention of all monsters. Has a cooldown of three minutes.
Condition
Gather the attention of ten or more monsters at the same time. Item usage permitted.
"That sounds useful for grinding levels."
This skill was usually used by parties to make their enemies focus on the player with
the highest defense, but this didn't immediately occur to Maple. A more pressing
concern for her was that her low AGI would leave her chasing impotently after enemies
who could easily run away. She was likely the only player in the game who had ever
needed to worry about this.
Either way, this skill meant she would have no problems grinding.
"Now I just have to put all my stat points in VIT… Huh? I have ten stat points?"
Yes, every ten levels gained would come with twice the usual amount of stat points.
This was a common game mechanic, but to Maple, it was an unexpected gift. She was
delighted.
Maple
Lv11 HP 40/40 MP 12/12
[STR 0 +9 ] [VIT 130 +34 ]
[AGI 0] [DEX 0]
[INT 0]
Equipment
Head [None] Body [None]
R. Hand [Starter Short Sword] L. Hand [Starter Great Shield]
Legs [None] Feet [None]
Accessories [Forest Queen Bee Ring]
[None]
[None]
Skills
Taunt, Meditation, Poison Resist (M), Giant Killing, Absolute Defense
Maple finished scrolling through the status menus, nodded happily, and logged out.
Meanwhile, an online forum was heating up.
[NWO] I saw a crazy great shielder!
1 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder
Crazy
2 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
Deets
3 Name: Anonymous Mage
Crazy how
4 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder
She was hanging out by the west forest with like, a dozen centipedes and caterpillars
swarming her.
5 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
Huh? No way.
She'd like, die instantly. Great shield or not.
6 Name: Anonymous Archer
^ This
She have good gear? Explain.
7 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder
Looked like starter gear.
Getting grossed out just remembering.
There were literally bugs everywhere, and she was totally cool with it.
8 Name: Anonymous Mage
If that didn't kill her, then she must have negated all the damage, right?
9 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
Is that doable?
10 Name: Anonymous Archer
Iirc during the beta, a full defense build could soak the white rabbit's attack.
11 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
Those are trash, though.
12 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder
I think I know her
13 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder
Tell us more
14 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder
Dunno the player name, but cute girl, like 4′9″ tops.
Walk speed suggests AGI is basically zero.
Also if I tried what she did I'd melt in no time flat.
15 Name: Anonymous Mage
So it's an extreme min-max build? Maybe she stumbled on a hidden skill?
16 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
That would explain it. But is it true she's insanely cute?
17 Name: Anonymous Archer
That's what you honed in on?
Same tho.
18 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder
Hmm, guess we gotta dig for more intel.
If she becomes a top player, we'll know soon enough.
19 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder
I see anything else, I'll post.
20 Name: Anonymous Mage
Any and all updates are appreciated! o7
And thus, Maple quickly became a hot topic someplace she would never visit.
"Here I am again…"
This was Maple's third day in a row logging in. She'd originally started this to play with
Risa only to very quickly become totally addicted to the game itself.
The twin joys of acquiring new skills and steadily raising her defense to ever greater
heights proved compulsive, compelling her to boot up her system despite herself.
Risa's parents had ordered her to study, and she definitely wasn't supposed to be
playing games instead.
"Heh-heh-heh… I'll just have fun on my own."
Maple was about to head out of town, but a quick look around made her realize
something important.
"I'm… still wearing my starter equipment!"
A totally plain shield and a wimpy-looking sword. Some of the players she spotted
were clearly elites wearing impressive, highly decorated equipment.
She spent a few minutes admiring everyone's outfits until she spotted a man carrying
a very impressive great shield.
Maple walked slowly over to him.
"Ummm, where did you get that cool-looking shield?"
"Hmm? Uh, y-you mean me?"
The man had clearly not been expecting this interaction.
"Yeah! That great shield is really nice!"
"O-oh, well, thanks… It's a custom item. I paid a crafter to make it for me."
"Huh… I see…"
"Would you… like me to introduce you? I mean, we're both great shielders."
"Oh! Yes, please!"
"Then follow me."
It would have been perfectly reasonable to suspect some sort of trick, but Maple
already had nothing but shields on her mind. It never even occurred to her to worry.
Fortunately for Maple, this stranger was just being nice.
In fact…
"Wow… I can't believe she spoke to me! I'll have to post about it later."
Turned out he was the Anonymous Great Shielder from the forum.
After walking for a bit, the two of them entered a shop.
Behind the counter just inside, a woman was working on something. When she heard
them come in, she set her work down—and recognized one of their faces.
"Oh, welcome back, Chrome. What's up? Your shield shouldn't need maintenance yet."
"Nah, I just ran into a new great shielder and, uh… impulsively brought her here."
Maple stepped out from behind Chrome.
"Oh, aren't you cute?! And, Chrome, what impulses are we talking about here? Do I
need to report this?"
The shopkeeper summoned a blue panel in the air in front of her.
"W-wait, don't! That was a slip of the tongue!"
"Heh-heh, I know. I'm just messin' with you."
"Whew… you almost gave me a heart attack."
Chrome looked very relieved.
"You shouldn't follow suspicious strangers," the shopkeeper warned.
"Erm… I know…"
"I'm not that suspicious!"
"Heh… well, enough chitchat. What brings you here?"
"She said she wanted a cool great shield, so I figured I should introduce her to you."
"Oh? Well, my name's Iz. As you can see, I'm a crafter—specifically, a blacksmith. I can
do a little potion making, too."
"Oh? That's amazing! Oh, um. My name's Maple!"
Maple was slightly nervous. This was her first time meeting anyone in-game, and she
had to work very hard not to trip over her own name.
"Nice to meet you, Maple. Why'd you pick great shields?"
"Um… I didn't want to get hurt, so I decided to focus on my defense."
"Hmm… I see, I see. You're going for a full VIT build? But… you don't have much money
yet, right?"
Maple checked her funds. She hadn't bought anything yet, so she still had the starting
3,000 G.
"I-is three thousand G enough?" she asked, figuring it wasn't.
"Ha-ha… unfortunately not. You'll need at least a million. But you'll have that much
before you know it."
This sounded like a dizzying amount of money to Maple.
"Erm… I guess I won't be fashionable for a while longer…"
"You could always give dungeons a try. They've got tons of treasure. That'll help you
earn some money to boot, so why not give it a shot? No guarantees you'll find any great
shields, though."
After getting some beginner advice, Maple added Chrome and Iz to her friends list so
she could contact them whenever she wanted.
Then she bowed her head and left the shop.
Maple now had two goals—earning money and finding a dungeon.
"I hope there's some cool gear inside!"
241 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder
I ran into the great-shield girl and added her as a friend, lol.
242 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
Huh?
243 Name: Anonymous Archer
How?
244 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder
She logged in, looked around, made eye contact with me, and came running right up.
245 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
Super Social Shield Girl
246 Name: Anonymous Mage
What happened after?
247 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder
Asked me about cool shields.
Told her I'd introduce her to a crafter and she just straight-up followed me.
Her AGI's so low, she had trouble keeping up and I had to keep stopping to wait for her
248 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
How's your AGI?
249 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder
Hang on, lemme lay it all out
OK
Didn't form a party
Chose great shields 'cause she thought getting hit would hurt and she'd need defense
Super nice, outgoing
In short:
Hella good kid
The type you can't help but wanna help
Also I figure we'll need to trade info later so here's mine:
I'm going by Chrome in-game
My AGI's 20.
I wanna friend y'all so it'd be nice if we could all meet up by the fountain square at
22:00 tomorrow
250 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
Thanks for the intel—also, are you the Chrome?
You're a top player!
251 Name: Anonymous Mage
Waaay too famous. I'm kinda scared now lol
252 Name: Anonymous Archer
Cool, I can make that time.
But if you're leaving her in the dust at AGI: 20, she must have really sunk every last
point into VIT.
253 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder
We're gonna watch over her from now on too, right?
254 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
Totally!
255 Name: Anonymous Archer
Totally!
256 Name: Anonymous Mage
Totally!
257 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder
Totally!
Naturally, Maple had no idea this forum even existed.