Covered in pitch-black armor, Maple sat on the edge of the fountain, worrying.
She wasn't making much progress with her level.
Maple was currently level 18, while the highest-level players were 48. Maple's initial
lack of interest in the game had left her trailing badly behind the most active players.
At this rate, the gulf between them was just going to keep growing.
So why was Maple struggling to level up? She didn't have enough Agility, so when she
went out to grind, it was hard for her to reach places that were home to powerful foes.
"Hmm…"
Maple was scowling at an information board, scouring for some useful skills.
The reason she'd started taking this seriously was because the day before, the game
company officially announced… an event.
In a week, there was going to be a battle royale where players would fight for points,
awarded based on the number of players defeated as well as the number of deaths.
Total damage dealt and received would also affect the final score.
The top ten players would receive event-exclusive items as a reward.
"And when you hear the word exclusive, you can't help but want it."
Maple was the sort of person who would throw herself on top of a land mine if it said
it was a limited-time offer. Those words were her one true weakness.
And that's why she was desperately searching for a way to close the gap between her
and the top players.
"Hrngg… Guess I might as well try here!"
Maple stopped glaring at the information board and headed north.
Yes—Maple had no idea…
…how broken her defense really was.
"I've got tomorrow off, so I'm gonna sleep over and dig up some good skills!"
Maple had a sleeping bag in her inventory. This would allow her to safely sleep
outdoors. It was a cheap consumable item, but diligently selling off the materials she
had collected finally allowed her to start buying basic things.
Maple's gear was fantastic, but her wallet was painfully skinny.
After some traveling, Maple finally arrived at her destination: the northern forest.
Her sleepover hunt was primarily focused on two targets. One of these was the
Exploding Ladybug—an insect notorious for running in close and blowing itself up.
The other was a classic foe found in many types of games—goblins.
"Okay… Taunt!"
A ring of light shot out from her, drawing in all the nearby monsters. Maple ignored
everything but the goblins. There were five of those. The other monsters attacked her,
but they did no damage, so she ignored them.
The goblins swung their rusty swords at Maple, but since they only attacked head-on
and her shield was very large, Maple easily blocked their attacks, even with zero
Agility. If she ducked her head down, the great shield covered nearly all of her.
She weathered the incoming blows and pushed back. And then she just kept doing that
over and over again. There were five goblins, so it was five times as effective.
"Skill: Great Shield Mastery I acquired."
This was a core skill she'd read about online, so Maple had been expecting this.
It reduced incoming damage by 1 percent if she had a great shield equipped. She had
realized she could raise her defense not just by pouring points into VIT but also by
getting as many damage-reduction skills as possible.
"Taunt!"
Goblin reinforcements arrived, and having ten of them attacking all at once made her
training even more effective.
Over the course of a few hours, Great Shield Mastery I evolved to Great Shield Mastery
IV, and now all incoming damage was reduced by 4 percent.
She also acquired the Sidestep and Deflect skills. Each of these also reduced damage
by 1 percent.
"I think that's good enough."
The goblins were still trying their best, so she brought things to a close by crushing
them with her Shield Attack. Once was not enough, so she had to smash them with her
shield several times.
"Skill: Moral Turpitude acquired."
Maple had not been aiming to acquire this skill.
Her play style was quite different from other players, and she spent long hours
enduring things no regular player would bother with, so she kept getting skills nobody
else would ever stumble across.
Moral Turpitude
Gain [VIT +1] each time you deliberately allow an enemy to attack you.
Effect lasts one day after the skill activates.
Max: [VIT +25].
Condition
Exceed the threshold for time spent deliberately allowing defeatable foes to attack
you. Must not have received a death penalty before.
"Well, that was a happy accident!"
Resisting the urge to dance a jig, Maple headed farther into the woods.
For the first time since starting the game…
…Maple was intentionally seeking out an undiscovered skill.
As the name implied, Exploding Ladybugs were ladybugs that exploded. They were
about twice the size of normal ladybugs. They offered little XP and lived deep in the
forest, so it took ages to even find them. Additionally, since they were quite small, it
was tough to dodge their attacks, but the damage they caused was considerable.
Nobody else chose to hunt them—which meant Maple had the area all to herself.
When she reached the Exploding Ladybug zone, Maple used Taunt, drawing many of
them toward her. Since nobody ever thinned the numbers, they were in plentiful
supply. As the swarm flew toward her, Maple took New Moon and pulled just a bit of
the blade from the scabbard.
"Paralyze Shout!" she said. Her volume was a bit low for something called a shout, but
she accompanied it with a shrill scrape.
The skill she'd placed in New Moon's slot gave her access to all the poison dragon's
skills, and the names of these had remained unchanged.
This unusual skill was activated by sound—and Maple used the sharp scrape of her
short sword sliding back into its sheath as the trigger.
The reason she chose that was quite simple: She thought it was cool. Nothing more,
nothing less.
Maple watched as the ladybugs fell to the ground, looking very pleased with herself.
Then she knelt down, closed her eyes…
…and started gobbling up all the bugs.
"Oh, they're like that candy that pops in your mouth! Not weird at all as long as I keep
my eyes closed. I guess I already ate a poison dragon, so there's no point being picky
now…"
Maple wasn't doing this without good reason.
And her theory was validated the moment she swallowed her fiftieth ladybug.
"Skill: Devour acquired."
"Skill: Bomb Eater acquired."
"Pretty sure that means I don't have to eat any more."
Maple brought up her new skills.
Devour
The power to eat anything and convert it to nourishment.
Converts spells, attacks, and items into MP.
Magic overcapacity is stored as magic crystals inside user's body.
Condition
Orally ingest a set amount of lethal substances.
Bomb Eater
Reduces explosive damage by 50%.
Condition
Defeat Explosive Ladybugs with HP Drain.
"Those are good skills! Ohhh, I'm so glad I forced myself to eat those bugs!"
Maple put Devour on Night's Facsimile.
Devour was always active, so there was no daily limit to worry about. And it could be
used to consume attack magic or an enemy's weapon, rendering them powerless.
"And it'll convert those to magic crystals, letting me cast big spells with New Moon!
Heh-heh-heh… That's so cool."
Maple struck a pose, like she was about to whip out her short sword. She'd clearly
spent a lot of time practicing looking stylish.
"I was actually hoping to get explosion magic… but I like this, too!"
Now she just had to get her level as high as she could.
How would Maple do in her first event? She set off to continue grinding, looking
forward to finding out.