"Okay! I'm outta here!"
Kaede headed off to school, in uniform.
The sun had been getting warmer the last few days, and it felt great. Like spring had
finally arrived.
Kaede's seat was in the window row, and with this sunlight streaming in, she would
fall asleep if she let her guard down for a second. Risa sat two rows over, and she would
definitely be sleeping through the afternoon.
Wondering if there was any way to prevent that, Kaede made her way to school. She
lived close by, so she always walked in—and the walk only took five minutes.
There was a nice breeze, and the walk was easy enough.
Kaede had never had hay fever, so she loved spring unreservedly.
"All right! Let's make it a good one!"
She went through the school gates, walked into her class, and sat down in her seat.
Previously, she'd passed the time reading, but since she started playing NewWorld
Online, she often spent the time thinking about new skills instead. It was always fun
imagining what skills might be out there and what the conditions might be.
"What're you grinning about?"
Someone bumped Kaede on the head.
She looked up and found Risa smirking at her.
"N-nothing!"
"Really? Oh, right, that's not why I came over. Ahem… hee-hee-hee. Kaede, your
attention please! I have a major announcement."
Risa leaned over, moving conspiratorially close. The dramatic throat clear and weirdly
pompous tone in the back half were definitely getting Kaede's attention. She adopted
the same tone.
"Hmm? What news, Risa? You seem unusually excited today."
"Glad you asked! I have finally been granted permission to play games once more!"
Kaede offered a round of applause.
Risa must have really applied herself to her studies. Her beaming smile proved all the
hard work had paid off. Just seeing it made Kaede happy for her.
"I pushed you into getting the game and then kept you waiting for quite a while! But
today I can finally join you!"
"Then we can form a party!"
"That we can. Wait… you already started?" Risa was so surprised, her voice jumped
up.
Fortunately, they'd both shown up early, and there was no one else here. They didn't
need to worry about drawing attention to themselves.
"Yeah… ah-ha-ha."
"You. Kaede. The same girl who only grudgingly agreed when I made you buy the
game."
"You noticed?!"
"I'm thrilled! I didn't think you'd ever play it on your own! But you're all in?!"
Risa leaned in closer.
"What level are you? Or did you just make an account and call it a day?"
"Er, um… I'm… level twenty…"
Risa's jaw dropped. Then the full implications dawned on her, and a grin spread ear to
ear.
"Wooow… You got way more into this than I ever expected!"
"Hngg…"
Kaede glared up at her, turning red. Risa savored this a moment, but she wasn't trying
to be mean, so Kaede didn't protest much.
"Ah-ha-ha, I'm just messing with you. Anyway, if you've gotten that far, I guess you've
got a pretty clear build in mind, huh?"
"Yes! I'm a great shielder, specializing in defense! And… Oh, I suppose I should fill you
in."
Kaede proceeded to tell Risa all about her skills and stats.
"Your character is broken as hell, girl! I shoulda known you'd go waaaay off the beaten
track, Kaede."
"Er… you think so?"
"Yeah! And you've got the kinda power you can only get if you're way out in left field.
It's gonna be hard catching up to you…"
"B-but if you just do what I did…?"
Risa snapped her hands up in an X in front of her, making a buzzing noise.
"You do you," she said, shaking her hands. "I'm not abusing friend privileges to usurp
your skills! But I will take the hint on how to find the more out-there skills. I figure
that much is allowed."
"So what are you gonna do?"
"If you're a tank with crazy-high defense, then I could play a mage… but I think that's
way too normal to party up with you. I mean, would you really even need me?"
Risa groaned, thinking about it—but then an idea hit her, and a smile played around
the edges of her lips.
"Okay! I got it! I'm gonna be an evasion tank!"
"An… evasion tank?"
"Yup! Pull enemy attacks but negate them all by dodging."
"Ohhh! That sounds cool. But aren't I the tank?"
This seemed like a reasonable question to ask. What good was a whole party of tanks?
"With the two of us together, no matter what happens, we'll take no damage! We
always emerge unharmed! Doesn't that sound badass?"
Kaede pictured it in her mind for a few moments before nodding vigorously. She was
so excited, she was shaking her hands up and down, too.
"I thought that seemed like a great party concept, so I'm going for it!" Risa said.
"Good luck! I'll keep on raising my defense!"
They agreed to play together that evening, and Risa went back to her seat.
"An evasion tank, though," she whispered. "One of the toughest classes to play… but
that's what makes it fun!"
Kaede didn't hear a word of this.
Risa was a true gamer.
She nearly always picked the more challenging goal.
If they really were going to be an invincible party that never took damage, Risa would
have to learn to dodge every enemy attack.
No matter how many spells came her way.
No matter how fast the combo.
She imagined herself dodging all of that by a hairbreadth and defeating her foes.
"I'm so excited! What could be better?"
Risa couldn't wait for classes to be over.
"Oh! So this is the starter town!"
Risa drank in the sights, thrilled to be here at last. She looked just like Kaede had on
her first day.
"Kaede—sorry, Maple. Your gear is so much better than mine; I'm embarrassed to be
seen with you."
It was important to use player names in-game.
"Oh, and my name's Sally."
"Sally… Sally. Okay! I won't forget!"
Maple would have to be very careful not to accidentally call her Risa.
She quickly added Sally to her friend list, and they formed a party. Sally showed Maple
her stats.
Sally
Lv1 HP 32/32 MP 25/25
[STR 10 +11 ] [VIT 0]
[AGI 55 +5 ] [DEX 25]
[INT 10]
Equipment
Head [None] Body [None]
R. Hand [Starter Dagger] L. Hand [None]
Legs [None] Feet [Starter Magic Boots]
Accessories [None]
[None]
[None]
Skills
None
"You put points in all sorts of stats."
"That's normal! But I'm not sinking anything in VIT, HP, or MP for now."
"Why not?"
"If I dodge everything, who needs Vitality or HP?! And I dunno if I'll be using magic or
not, so I'm leaving MP and INT on the low side. STR is enough to let me equip most
weapons."
"You really thought this through!"
Maple just put all her points in VIT every time, so there wasn't much to think about.
"Heh-heh-heh… there's a lot more to consider than someone who can soak any blow
without taking damage. Wait, didn't you say you got a special prize for coming in third?"
Maple's equipment was exactly what she'd told Sally about before.
"It was just a keepsake medal. I'd been hoping for some decent gear, but…"
"Hmm… Well, maybe the next event will be better. So? Where we going?"
Maple explained why she was headed to the underground lake, and Sally started
nodding. Looked like she had a plan.
"Leave it to me! I have an idea."
Maple was all ears.
Sally was running flat out toward the underground lake. Even in a game, too much
activity would wear your brain out and you'd slow down, but the rate that happened
varied by player.
Reaction speed and stamina depended on how much exertion each player's brain
could handle, so they were considered highly variable and mostly based on the
player's own gaming ability.
Sally's ability to run like this came from her experience playing a lot of VR games.
Meanwhile, Maple…
…was clinging to Sally's back.
She'd removed all her heavy gear, so most casual observers probably wouldn't
recognize her.
The Strength stat didn't affect what characters could equip, but carrying a fully geared
Maple would have required Sally to have quite a bit of excess STR.
That's why Maple had stashed her gear in her inventory.
"Three wolves up ahead! Maple!" Sally called. Her initial wave of excitement had worn
off, and she was all business now, barking clear orders. Maple found it much easier to
process things than she had on her own.
"Got it!" Maple called. Sally put her down and backed off.
They were splitting the workload. With her high AGI, Sally was carrying Maple to the
lake at a fast clip; meanwhile, Maple took care of any enemies they encountered on the
way. Using this method, they reached the lake in one-fifth the time it had taken Maple
solo.
* * *
"Wow! That was soooo fast!" Maple said, putting her equipment back on.
Sally was pleased to be useful already.
"Feel free to worship me!" she boasted.
"Ha-ha-ha! All hail Sally!"
That was enough goofing off. They both started fishing. Sally had bought her own
fishing rod, so they sat side by side, lines dangling in the water.
An hour after they'd started…
"F-finally! A third fish!"
"Oh, there you go!"
Maple had caught three fish.
Sally was on her twelfth.
"Coming here at level one means I'm racking up the levels just stabbing the fish I
hooked!"
Sally was now level 6.
And…
"I got the Fishing skill! What a weird skill to get first. Can't make fun of you now,
Maple."
The conditions for getting the Fishing skill required a DEX: 20, so Maple would never
get it.
"You aren't spending your stat points, Sally?"
"I wanna get a few more skills first. Those'll determine my combat style, so… I think
I'll hold on to my points for now. The beginner stats should be enough to carry me
awhile."
"Now you're talking like a hard-core gamer!"
"I'm not that bad, but I've certainly played more than you."
They fished for another hour.
Maple's results did not improve.
But with the Fishing skill, Sally caught twenty-four.
"Well? Is that enough?"
"Hmm… I think one more hour should do it."
"No prob! But there's something I wanna try, so… instead of fishing, mind if I dive to
catch 'em?"
"Sure, but… can you even do that?"
"I think so! I mean, Maple, you've been trying stuff out without being sure it would
work since you started. With my Agility, I should be able to swim through a school of
fish and take out at least one. I'm good at swimming!"
Sally did a few stretches and promptly hopped into the lake.
"Good luck, then!"
"Thanks! I'll nab as many as I can!"
Sally dived under the water. She swam around for roughly an hour before taking a
break. She was a little out of breath but clearly had plenty of stamina—it was easy to
forget she'd run the whole way here.
"It became way easier once I got Swimming I and Diving I!"
She took eighty white scales out of her inventory.
"Can I have all of them?"
"Sure, I don't need 'em… But make sure you return the favor someday."
"Will do! Just say the word!"
Maple put the scales in her inventory.
"Maple," Sally said, a gleam in her eye. "You said they'd only found two dungeons?"
"Er… um, that's right."
"I found a small side passage at the bottom of the lake."
"…! That means…!"
Sally nodded, barely able to contain her excitement.
"It might be the entrance to a dungeon… but…"
"Oh. I can't come with you."
With Maple's stats, she wouldn't be much use underwater. She'd just rack up her first
death drowning.
"So I think I'm gonna carefully clear that. Maybe I'll get myself some unique series gear
like you did. But that means…"
Maple nodded, already ahead of her.
"You'll need help getting back to the lake, right? Happy to return the favor!"
"Glad to hear it! I knew I could count on you, Maple!"
"Ha-ha-ha, I aim to please!"
When the day was done, they could just log out, so Sally dived back under, aiming to
evolve her Swimming and Diving skills.