While Maple and Sally were at the underground lake, Sally spent a great deal of time
honing her Swimming skill, preparing for the boss fight. But going there wasn't the
only reason they logged in. The gear Maple wanted required a number of other
materials, and they both wanted to do a little sightseeing.
Once they'd obtained a solid quantity of scales from fishing and diving, they headed
elsewhere, searching for the rest of the materials.
"Sally, what next? Where do we start?"
"Hmm… Well, I only just started playing. You've been around longer than I have, so I
was planning on following you."
"I actually haven't done much exploring, either. Everywhere I try and go is so far away,
and I don't want to spend the whole game session just walking somewhere."
The field and towns weren't excessively large. Maple's walking speed was just well
below the norm.
But that was certainly a good reason to leave most of the map unexplored.
"Then wanna tour the place with me? Let's start with this town. Maybe the materials
the shops are selling will be what you need."
"Okay! That sounds good!"
Maple nodded happily, and the two began walking through the crowded first zone
village.
The base material for Maple's gear was the pile of scales they'd gathered at the
underground lake, but she wanted to decorate it and needed blue materials for that.
So they were on a quest for materials of that color.
"Guess we should start close at hand!"
"Fair enough."
The shop they entered was run by an NPC and sold a variety of accessories.
It was all a bit pricey for new players, but they sold not only rings and necklaces but
individual gems.
"They're pretty, but… not quite what I had in mind."
"Yeah… let's try somewhere else, Maple."
They put down the accessories they'd been examining and left the shop.
"Maybe accessory shops aren't the right place to look," Sally said.
"Hmm… then where else?" Maple asked.
"Maybe a quest reward? Or somewhere out in the field?"
It was often faster to just gather things yourself, like they had at the lake.
"But I don't know where to start!"
Maple only knew the places she'd been and was only familiar with quests where the
unlock condition was a defense skill she'd wanted.
She knew a lot about a select few things and almost nothing about anything else.
And this unbalanced knowledge base included absolutely nothing about blue materials.
Since Sally had traveled quite a bit collecting skills, she probably knew more about the
map than Maple did.
"Guess we'd better gather intel first, then."
"Fair enough!"
They headed for the board Maple had often used, scanning the monster drops for
anything that dropped something blue.
"Dye… isn't really right. What about this, though?"
Maple leaned in to read what Sally was pointing at.
Was this what she was looking for?
"Yeah, let's try that!"
"Cool. Lemme make sure I know where this is. We got what we need?"
The info on the board made it clear this monster didn't use any status effects or have
especially strong attacks.
They figured they'd be fine with Maple guarding and Sally chipping away at the enemy,
as per usual.
In the unlikely event they did take serious damage, they had enough potions that they
didn't need to worry about getting wiped out.
"It's in the forest northwest of town."
"Forest, ho!"
And off they went.
Outside the town, Maple took off her gear and hopped aboard Sally, who set off running.
If she tried walking normally and this material turned out to be no good, they'd have
no time to try anywhere else.
This strategy allowed them to compensate for Maple's sluggishness—they'd come up
with it when Sally first joined the game and they started visiting the lake.
"You're so fast!"
"You're just slow, Maple."
They passed a few players on the way, and then the Sally Express dropped Maple off
at their destination.
During the first event, Maple had defeated a lot of players in a pretty outlandish way
and done well enough to reach the podium. She was famous to begin with.
For her to be spotted riding another player around the map with her already budding
reputation… Well, that got people talking.
Neither of them realized this.
"Thanks, Sally!" Maple said. As soon as she hit the ground, she put her gear back on,
then did a few stretches.
"Mm. Let's find these monsters."
The intel said they weren't particularly rare, so if the two of them looked around a bit,
the assumption was that they would find them soon enough.
"Farther in, you think?"
"Yep. This place is pretty far out, but nothing here gives a lot of XP, so I doubt we'll
have much competition. We can take our time."
They headed off into the forest.
But of course, the forest had plenty of monsters they weren't looking for.
And they couldn't just ignore them.
"Sally, hide behind me."
"Right."
Maple held her shield up, advancing.
Her ultimate move, the shield that consumed everything! It took care of every threat
from the fore.
"Maple, above you!"
"Above?!"
Maple looked up just in time to see a green-furred monkey dropping directly toward
her. It kicked her right in the face!
"Yikes!"
She let out a yelp but naturally took no damage.
The monkey was now clinging to her head, attacking like crazy, but to Maple, this was
no worse than being tickled.
"Slash!"
A dagger bit into its side, causing the monkey to switch targets and instead launch
itself at Sally.
But this attack was doomed to fail.
"Where'd it go?!" Maple said, swinging around. Her shield clipped the monkey's feet,
consuming the lower half of it.
"Wow, nice—accident, right?"
"Ah-ha-ha, kinda obvious, huh?"
"You had no clue where it was. Best to keep an eye on the trees above."
"Yeah. Will do."
Maple thrust her shield directly upward a few times, practicing.
"We can sell their drops for money later. I don't think they'll help with your gear."
Sally was stuffing the monkey's green fur into her inventory.
This material wasn't worth that much, but everything added up eventually.
As long as they had space in their inventories, it couldn't hurt to hoover everything up.
Fending off the occasional attack from shrubberies or the trees above, they moved
forward another ten minutes.
The leaves around them were a deeper shade of green now.
"I think we're here. Maple, you can put that down now."
"Oh?"
Maple had been holding her great shield over her head like an umbrella, but now she
went back to a more orthodox stance.
The monsters dropping from above had landed on her shield, which, in turn, had
become their final resting place.
"Let's at least find one of these things."
"Yeah."
They inched forward, scanning their surroundings.
Sally, in particular, was turning this way and that, not missing a single waggling bush.
"There!"
"Where?"
By the time Maple turned toward her, Sally was already running.
"Slash!"
Her dagger raked the bush, knocking a four-inch spider into the air.
It had an obsidian-like body, but Sally could see its eyes glitter like blue gems.
"Whoops!"
Maple had tried to run forward, shield aloft, but had tripped on a tree root and wiped
out… just as the spider hit her—right on the shield. Devour kicked in.
"You okay?"
"Ugh, yeah. Thanks."
Sally helped Maple up.
Maple patted her armor down, brushing the dust off. She looked around.
"Where'd it go?"
"You killed it. But it didn't drop anything."
"Oh… guess we'd better try again!"
They moved around the silent forest—not even a single bird singing—and slew
another ten spiders without getting a single item.
"This is an awfully low drop rate."
"The resale value is pretty high, so that's expected. What do you think? Wanna split
up? They're easy enough to beat if we spot 'em first."
These spiders didn't have much HP, and Sally could locate them with her innate
detection skills, so they didn't pose much of a threat to her, while Maple was largely
defeating them by simply walking around.
She readily agreed to Sally's plan, and they set out, hoping to gather more efficiently.
"I'll message you in twenty, then."
"Yeah! Let's do this!"
Sally vanished into the brush, and Maple started hunting spiders again.
Sadly, Sally had been the one finding everything. On her own, Maple was coming up
empty.
"Right! Taunt!"
When Maple activated her skill, a spider shot out of the nearby underbrush. A blue
magic circle appeared, and it fired a spell at Maple.
"Got one!"
The spider was on the ground, so all Maple had to do was flatten it with her shield.
Unlike Sally's daggers, this mystery shield could eliminate them in a single blow.
Maple picked her shield up again and checked the ground, but once again—no drops.
"It'll be a while before I can use that again, so I guess I'll just wander around."
Maple pushed her way through the rustling bushes and checked the trees above. No
luck.
She was beginning to think she'd never find any without using Taunt.
"Okay, one more time, then…"
"Maple!"
"Huh?"
Sally's voice came from deep in the woods.
It hadn't been twenty minutes yet.
It was too soon for her to call.
"I'd better hurry!"
Maple ran off toward the voice.
She came hurtling out of the brush to find Sally engaged in heated combat with a
spider three times the size of the others.
"Maple, help! This thing is hella dodgy!"
Sally was swinging her daggers, effortlessly dodging every attack the spider made, so
Maple figured the monster was probably thinking the exact same thing.
"Taunt!" she cried. But it didn't seem to affect the spider. Its attention stayed focused
on Sally. "Fine, then. Sally! Run toward me!"
They were still a fair distance apart.
"Got it!"
Sally turned her back on the spider and broke into a run.
The spider quickly followed, and they both whizzed past Maple.
"Hydra!"
Up against the gushing flow of poison, the spider was ridiculously tiny and all too
feeble. It drowned in a sea of poison before it even caught up with Sally.
"O-overkill…"
"Don't step in it, Sally! I'll see if it dropped anything."
Maple went squelching through the noxious pond she'd made. She found something
blue and glittering… and dripping with poison.
She bent down, picked it up, wiped off the toxic sludge, and revealed a blue sphere the
size of a Ping-Pong ball—an impressive-looking gemstone.
"Oh, a drop! That's it, Maple!"
"We finally got one! And it's pretty, too. Well worth the hard work!"
Maple rolled it around her hand a moment longer, then put it in her inventory.
"Large Spider's Blue Eye, it's called. That was an eye?!"
"Yep! The kinda material you only get in games. Looks like the size and drop rates are
different depending on the size of the spider… Wanna pick up a few more off the little
ones, too?"
"Yeah… if we can, I mean. I'd like to?"
"Then let's go. We got plenty of time."
Just in case more large spiders showed up, they went back to working together. A
smaller one scuttled past.
"Slash! Haah!"
Sally reacted instantly, knocking the spider into the air, then slashing it several times
like a circus performer, carving its HP away without giving it a chance to escape.
"Oh, a drop!"
She snatched up the blue orb and tossed it to Maple.
"W-wow… I wonder if I can do that?"
"Kinda hard with a shield… and I've been practicing a lot in-game. That's why."
"Hmm… then okay. Dual wielding sure does look cool!"
"Heh-heh… thanks."
They didn't encounter any more of the rare larger spiders but killed another few dozen
small spiders, finding two more gems.
"I think that's enough," Maple said, leaning against a nearby tree. "I'm just using them
as an accent, after all. Thanks, Sally."
"Tired?"
"A bit, yeah. I haven't really done any prolonged hunts like this."
If you weren't used to something, it wore you out fast.
Maple hadn't moved around much during the first event, and when she had, she'd
made sure to rest after.
So this hunt had been one of the first times she'd really been on the go this long.
"You'll get used to it soon enough. I did!"
"I'll take your word for it."
They stepped out of the woods into the sunlight. They both stretched.
"Want me to carry you home?"
"I accept this generous offer!"
"When we get back, we should do some actual sightseeing. You've got the materials
you needed, after all."
"Sounds good!"
"Cool. Then hop on board!"
Maple removed her gear and attached herself to Sally.
Sally took off, moving far faster than she ever could in the real world, headed straight
for town.
They made it all the way back without being forced into any fights.
"Here we are! Where to next, Maple?"
"You pick, Sally."
"Put me on the spot, why don't you? Um, why don't we start by grabbing something to
eat? In-game food won't impact our real-world wallets, and some players are even
running their own restaurants."
Most players were focused on grinding levels, but there were plenty who played the
game on their own terms.
"Let's do that, then! I could go for some dessert."
"Me too! Let's take a look around."
To ease their fatigue…
…and treat their tongues.
They set out in search of sweets and a player-run shop.
After wandering the streets for a bit, they found a shop with a subdued brown exterior
but a tantalizingly classy feel. The flowers out front must have been watered recently;
the light caught the beads of water on them, glittering.
"Maple, wanna go here?"
"Yes, let's! These all sound good," Maple said, eyeing the chalkboard menu outside.
"Cool. After you!" Sally held the door open, then followed Maple in.
It was a modest-size interior, and there were already several other players here.
They glanced up when the door opened, spotted Maple, and looked surprised.
Maple had garnered a ton of attention in the first event and, thanks to her distinctive
armor, had continued to stand out ever since—so most players knew who she was.
Thanks to the awards ceremony, people assumed she was a top player, and everywhere
she went, people noticed.
Picking up on the tension immediately, Sally turned to Maple and said, "Man, you're
totally famous."
"I—I am?"
Maple seemed utterly baffled by it.
She hadn't even noticed all the looks she was getting.
"Never mind. Wanna sit over there? Looks open."
Sally pointed to a table by the wall.
"Sure. That seems like a nice spot."
They sat down and scanned the menus.
Something was bothering Sally, and she finally put her finger on it.
"Oh! Okay. Maple, you're wearing heavy armor! Doesn't feel right in a shop like this."
"…Good point."
Maple glanced around at the other players.
Everyone here today was wearing robes or other lighter gear, so she really stood out.
Naturally, this game had plenty of players who wore armor every bit as bulky as
Maple's.
Situations like this might not crop up often, but at the moment, Maple was seriously
considering buying herself a non-armor outfit.
"Maybe we should do some shopping after."
"That could work. For now, let's order something."
"Yeah—lemme go through the menu first."
Maple picked the menu up again, leafing through it. This shop's menu primarily
offered re-creations of real-world desserts. Shortcake, vanilla ice cream—it was easy
to guess what most options would taste like. Sally ordered a strawberry tart, and
Maple, a slice of chocolate cake.
While they waited, their conversation turned to the future.
"When's the next event? Hope it's something we can do together."
"Yeah, I'd love to run an event with you, Sally."
It had been a long wait, but at last they could play together.
And both of them wanted to spend as much time as possible helping each other out
and having fun together.
"If it's the same format as the first event, that won't be an option."
"Yeah… I don't really want to fight you."
"Oh?" Sally said, surprised.
"I mean, I don't think I could win," Maple admitted.
"I'm not so sure… I mean, I definitely wouldn't make it easy for you, but…"
As she spoke, their orders arrived.
The strawberry tart gave off a sweet scent, and the vivid colors sang a bright song of
spring.
The chocolate cake was a calm brown, with a slightly darker chocolate coating.
They each took a bite.
"Oh, that is good! I bet this would be really expensive in the real world," Maple said,
savoring the slightly bitter tang.
"Yeah, it's nice getting to eat such fancy desserts like this. Yours looks good, too!"
"Want a bite?"
Sally considered this for a moment.
"…Nah, I'll just order my own."
She flagged a server down, ordered a slice of cake for herself, and then started in on
her tart.
"Maybe I should get more, too…"
You could order as much as you liked in-game, and it wouldn't cost you a dime of real
money.
And you didn't have to worry about calories.
"Maple! This looks good, too!"
"Hmm… maybe I should go for that."
"Totally!"
They enjoyed all the desserts they wanted.
"Come again!"
An hour and a half later, they finally left the shop.
""...…""
As they stepped out, a blue panel popped up in front of each of them. Their eyes locked
on one corner.
Where their in-game money was displayed.
"We… spent a lot."
"Well… we ordered a lot."
That shop wasn't exactly cheap, either.
They'd seen the numbers on the menu but had gotten a little carried away.
Perhaps they'd splurged a bit too much.
"Um, so what now?" Maple asked.
"Sightseeing? I certainly saw some lovely places out in the field."
She'd run across them while gathering skills.
And Sally had found info about even more beautiful views completely unrelated to
skills or useful items.
"Somewhere we can go anytime… Out west, there's an area with a perpetual sunset.
And there's a nighttime-only zone up north."
"Those sound good! If you're up for it, Sally."
She meant if they had time to get there but also if Sally was willing to carry her.
That was the only way they were visiting these places in a reasonable time frame.
But since the field tourism was her idea, Sally had absolutely no qualms about giving
Maple a ride.
"Wish they had bicycles."
"We'll have to wait for them to patch those in. But I bet horses are more likely…"
"Erp. I'm not sure I could ever ride a horse…"
Fueled by desserts, they set out into the field.
And along the way, they planned to fight a few monsters and earn back some of the
money they'd spent.
Maple had already forgotten her desire to buy a non-armor outfit, so it would likely be
quite some time before she bought anything more touristy.
They headed west across the field. Sally's spells kept most monsters at bay, and those
that attacked anyway were rewarded with a Hydra to the face.
"You're unmatched out here, huh?"
"Eh-heh-heh! You think so?"
"I've gotta catch up! Fire Ball!"
Sally's fire magic couldn't hope to compete with Maple's gushing poison, but each spell
scored a clean hit on her targets.
It wasn't flashy, but you could clearly see the work she'd put into mastering the
technique.
"Not too shabby."
"Sally, are we almost there?"
"It's not much farther. You can see it up ahead!"
Maple squinted at the horizon.
She could definitely see something up there.
"That's… not a sunset, though."
"Nope. Just a landmark."
Sally sped up, racing toward it like the last spurt of a race.
"We're here!"
Maple hopped down off Sally's back, put her gear back on, and looked around.
Stone pillars carved to different heights were placed at even intervals, forming a circle.
It was very Stonehenge-y.
At the center of the circle was a mark, like something had burned there. That was
ominous.
"What now?"
"This."
Sally strode confidently to the center and stopped there.
"Fire Ball!"
She dropped the spell at her feet, and the charred mark glowed red.
"Come on, Maple!"
"Er, uh… right…"
Maple trotted over to her. Surrounded by stone columns, they stood waiting, watching
the changes unfold.
The red light at their feet grew darker and spread outward like a spider's web,
connecting to the towering stones around.
The fiery red spread up the stone, making them glow like pillars of flame.
"Almost… Now!"
"Whoa!"
Everything went white, and Maple closed her eyes, raising a hand to shield them.
The girls vanished like a fire burning out. The red glow slowly faded, leaving only the
stone circle and the scorch mark at the center.
With no clue what was going on, Maple had screwed her eyes shut, but when she felt
the wind on her face, she slowly opened them again.
"Wow…"
A gentle breeze ran through her hair.
The view around them had changed completely.
Maple and Sally were on top of a hill.
A path wound down the slope, and fields of sunflowers spread out on either side. In
the distance was an ocean, the water dyed red by the setting sun.
Behind that was the sunset itself. Silhouetted against it were floating castle spires and
dragons in flight—this definitely wasn't the real world.
There was no one else around, just the whistling of the wind.
The cool breeze carried the scent of sunflowers and the sea.
"You definitely don't get to see this every day."
Listening closely, they could hear waves lapping against the shore.
"Mm! It's pretty but… a bit lonely, too, don't you think?"
"Yeah, maybe."
They walked down the path to the ocean. The sunflowers lining the path were taller
than either of them, so once they set out, they were completely hidden from view.
"Should we take one with us?" Maple asked, poking a sunflower stalk.
"Don't think we can. Seems like they're indestructible objects. We'll just have to drink
in the sunset and then go. You can come back anytime if you learn fire magic, though."
"I'll have to be on the lookout."
Maple tried to remember if she'd read about any fire skills she could actually learn,
but so far, she hadn't come across anything of the sort.
They'd gone far enough now that they could clearly see a strip of sand by the water's
edge.
The waves crashed against the fine sand, and the light of the sunset made the spray
gleam.
They walked out into the surf and found two things lying there.
"What are these?"
Maple picked one up and examined it.
It was an item called the Madder Pearl Oyster.
The shell was as red as the name implied, and when it opened, it revealed a single
pink-hued pearl within.
The item description merely said it could be sold for a good price to NPC vendors.
"Basically a souvenir, huh? I dunno if it can be used as a material, but at least we can
get some cash."
Sally picked up the other oyster, looking it over.
The color so perfectly matched the view that looking at it would definitely bring back
memories.
"Maybe I'll just treasure it!" Maple said, putting it in her inventory.
"Yeah, same here." Sally nodded. "Seems a waste to sell it."
She put hers away, too. They could take it out anytime and feel like they were here
once more.
"Sally, can we wander around a little longer?"
"Sure. I'm not feeling the need to leave, either. It's a long time before we can access the
night-only zone, so we'll have to log out for a while anyway. We can take our time here."
"Good! Then let's do that."
They were both feeling like lingering awhile.
Maple sat down on the sand and pointed up at the floating castle.
"Think we'll be able to go somewhere like that one day?"
"Not sure. I've cleared a dungeon like that in a different game."
Maple looked jealous.
"We'll make it there eventually," Sally said. "Together. I bet you could beat those
dragons easily."
"Whaaa…? I don't think so."
Someday, they'd get the chance to visit that castle. They were both looking forward to
it.
"I'm glad you're enjoying the game, Maple."
"Heh-heh! I am! It's great."
Maple smiled happily.
The setting sun shone down until they left the area—and after they were gone.
Outside the eternal sunset area, they both logged out, agreeing to meet up at the
starting square.
When Maple logged back in, she headed over to the fountain. At night, the town's
streets were bathed in the glow of the streetlights. There were fewer NPCs, so the feel
of the town was noticeably different. Maple looked around, searching for Sally.
"Where is she…? There!"
"Oh, there you are, Maple!"
"Let's get going!"
"Sure. We head north!"
They went out the north side, assumed their usual travel style, and off they went.
"There are monsters that get stronger at night and others that only appear after dark,
so keep an eye out, Maple."
"Okay! Will do!"
Some monsters were nocturnal, while others only appeared during the day.
"Oh, speak of the devil…"
"Er, what? Yikes!"
Something floated silently down from above, hit Maple in the forehead, and then
floated back into the sky.
Even with everything but her short sword stashed in her inventory, Maple's defense
was so high, this sneak attack did no damage at all, but it wasn't going away, either.
"Maple, get down a moment."
"Sure thing!"
Maple hopped off Sally and moved a few steps back.
"Taunt!" she said, forcing the monster to target her. She then reequipped her armor as
fast as she could.
The monsters came down to their level, making futile attacks.
There were several of them now.
"Double Slash!"
Sally's daggers struck one of these monsters in the back.
"An owl?"
Sally had knocked it to the ground, and they got a clear look at it.
Sally stabbed it in the back with her dagger, vanquishing the remainder of its HP.
But most of the owls were still high above.
"Maple, send a dragon up there."
"Got it! Hydra!"
Maple raised her black blade toward the heavens, deploying a large purple magic
circle.
Sally started running away at top speed.
She had no other option.
A few seconds later, the ground around Maple turned to hell on earth.
The three dragon heads shot upward, swallowing and demolishing a bunch of the owls
around Maple.
The dragon split apart in the upper atmosphere, and the poison fell back down in
clumps far too large to call rain.
This second wave of poison successfully took out all the remaining owls.
A series of splats hit the ground around Maple, dyeing it a toxic purple.
"Maple!" Sally called from a considerably safer distance. "I can't get anywhere near
you! You'll have to come to me!"
Maple took off her gear again and ran over to Sally.
"That was easier than I thought!" she said.
"That's pretty typical for you, though. If there were monsters lying everywhere who
could actually give you trouble, nobody else would survive long."
"Really?"
"Pretty much just a handful of the top players."
Anything that could dish out enough damage to bother Maple would kill any other
player in one or two hits.
"Let's keep moving. If we run into any more owls, we can pull that same trick again."
"Roger that!"
They plunged into a forest, taking the shortest route to their destination.
It would normally be hard to walk at all in a dark forest. But the woods were aglow
with an uncanny illumination. Some came from two-inch-long fireflies perched on
trunks and bushes. The rest came from luminescent moss that lit the ground at their
feet. There were lots of shrubs and thorns that required careful footwork.
That meant Sally couldn't carry Maple any farther.
"Gear on… good!"
Maple took the lead.
If Sally was in front, she could detect danger ahead.
But if she missed a threat, she might well end up dead.
Maple, on the other hand, could walk headfirst into a trap and break the trap instead.
Everything worked exactly the way the designers had intended, but it was no match
for her.
She just soaked it all.
And Maple had a long-range attack.
That meant having Maple in front was always the best plan.
"Lemme know if anything happens!"
"Sure! Watch for briars!"
Even as she spoke, a thorny briar rose up from the ground in front of Maple, attacking.
"Haah!"
But she just raised her shield, and it literally took a bite out of the briar.
What was left of it shattered into light fragments.
"That's so strong."
"I know, right? It's cool! I like it!"
It was probably stronger than any weapon in the game.
"Keep it up, then!"
"Chugging along!"
Unfettered by any more briar patches, they easily defeated a few enemy bats and
reached their destination.
"Here?"
Maple pointed in front.
"Yep, here."
They were outside a cave entrance, maybe seven feet high.
An entrance that promised thrills and the prospect of treasure within.
Sally fished a torch out of her inventory and lit it to peer inside.
"Stairs that go up. Pretty narrow, so mind staying in the lead?"
"No prob."
"Cool. Let's head in! Apparently, there are some beautiful sights in here."
They stepped into the cave.
In search of the views within.
The stairs were pretty steep. They were hewn directly out of the rock and had no
handrail, so it was a pretty challenging climb.
If any monsters appeared, Maple couldn't exactly unleash a poison dragon on a narrow
stairway with Sally right behind, so her short sword didn't do much good.
She'd elected to take the torch from Sally, allowing her to dual wield.
They climbed for ten full minutes.
They reached the top without any monster encounters and found themselves beneath
a sky filled with far more stars than were ever visible in the real world. A pleasant
breeze ruffled their hair.
"That was quite a climb—where are we?"
"It's too dark to see, but there are cliffs all around us. Be careful."
"Cliffs? Oh, you're right!"
They were standing at the top of a pillar maybe ten yards in diameter.
A formation like this would certainly be visible by day, and Maple was pretty sure she'd
seen it before.
"No one else here? That's a stroke of luck."
"I-is that…?"
Paying very close attention to where she walked, Maple moved to the center of the
pillar—she'd spotted a light.
There lay a wooden table. It had elaborate decorations carved around the edges, but
the top was perfectly smooth. It was very strange seeing something like this outdoors.
There were two chairs placed on opposite sides, two wineglasses, two sets of
silverware, and two lovely white plates. In the center of the table was a candelabra,
the candles unlit.
"Sally, want to sit down?"
"Yeah—I hear if you do, something happens."
This time, she wasn't sure what.
She'd just seen a few vague comments on message boards saying something neat
happened if you came here with someone.
"Then on the count of three?" Maple suggested.
"Why not?"
""One, two—three!""
As one, they pulled the chairs out and sat down.
Right as they did, there was a fwoom as the candles lit up.
And before their very eyes, the wineglasses began to levitate.
As they gaped at this, two indigo threads descended from the starry sky.
Each poured itself into one of the wineglasses.
When the glasses were half-full, they floated back to the table's surface.
"What the…?"
"Huh…"
Inside the glasses were miniature starry skies.
Like the skies above, stars sparkled, clouds drifted past, and between those clouds
floated a crescent moon.
Looking up made them feel like they were adrift in a sea of celestial bodies. Looking
down made it feel like they were being sucked into their glasses.
While they were gasping at this sight, it was the plates' turn to take flight.
The candles sputtered, and a tiny flame flew to each plate.
These spun in place, forming spheres above the plates' centers.
As they watched, two drops fell from the sky, wreathed in pale light.
As they neared the plates, the light left the drops, forming softly glowing little yellow
spheres. Like the fire, the drop hovered above the plate's surface.
Three spheres in all, one red, one blue, and one yellow.
The plates settled back on the table, and a sign appeared between the girls—where
each could see. It had the name of the dish written on it.
"'Miniature Sky'?"
"'Please enjoy'?"
Maple and Sally exchanged glances, then picked up their forks and knives and started
eating.
"It's like nothing I've ever eaten…"
"It's good… I think? What's your take, Maple?"
"Er, um… It's like I'm eating strawberries and tangerines and apples all at once? If that
makes sense."
"Yeah, it kinda does…," Sally said, nodding.
It was sweet but also tart. Warm but nice and cold.
It didn't taste like anything they would have been able to eat in the real world, Maple
thought.
"And this drink…"
Sally took a sip of the starry sky.
It fizzed in her mouth, the liquid sensation vanishing.
"Sally?! Y-your hair's glowing!"
Maple had looked up after eating the red and blue spheres and noticed a dramatic
change.
"Huh?" Sally blinked, then pulled a hand mirror out of her inventory to check.
Her hair was gleaming like it had stars in it.
"Mm? Maple, your eyes changed color."
She handed Maple her mirror.
Maple peered into it and found her left eye was red and her right eye blue.
"Whaaaa…? Are they gonna turn back…?"
"G-good question…"
After their very strange dinner beneath the starry sky, the girls rose to leave. Their
hair still sparkling, their eyes still different colors.
As they stood, a message appeared on the card.
Sally read it aloud.
"'Thank you for coming. Tonight's meal had too many hidden flavors and was a failure!
But please, do come again. Take this by way of apology.'"
Two bottles appeared on the table.
Sally picked them both up.
"What are those?" Maple asked.
"'Bottled Starry Sky.'"
"Wh-what do they do?"
Sally cleared her throat and then explained…
"'The messed-up chef messed up! Do not open! You actually can't open it. But it is nice
to look at!'…it says."
"W-wow…"
Maple took one bottle from her and put it in her inventory.
They might not be able to open it, but even if she could, she'd probably take that
warning to heart and leave it shut tight.
"Should we come again?" Maple asked.
"If the chef gets better at cooking, sure."
"Ah-ha-ha… I don't see that happening."
It had been a strange meal but a fascinating one. They'd remember it for a long time.
They left the restaurant behind.
In later days, they saw a forum post claiming that on rare occasions, the chef's dishes
were a success. Maybe they'd try their luck again someday.
A few days after their strange starlit meal, their hair and eyes finally returned to
normal. Maple had logged in alone and was wandering around town.
She had somewhere she needed to go.
"Um… was it this way?" She was wandering back and forth, feeling like this town was
a bit too big for someone as slow as she was. "Oh! There it is."
She finally found the building she was looking for and hustled toward it. She opened
the door and went in.
"Oh, hey! It's been far too long."
"Right? I'm finally back, Iz."
The shop hadn't changed a bit.
Iz was behind the counter, arranging merchandise on the display rack.
Maple had finally gathered the money and materials and was here to place an order.
She showed Iz what she had.
Iz examined the materials.
"You've got enough money, but… hmm…"
"Wh-what?"
"These materials alone won't give you much of a VIT buff or make the equipment all
that durable. I saw how you fought in the last event, but… based on that, I'd want to
add a few more materials, here."
Neither Maple nor Sally had dabbled in crafting at all, so when they'd gathered
materials, it hadn't occurred to them to worry about durability.
And they'd had no idea what materials would improve quality.
At this rate, the results would be a little lacking, even for sub-equipment.
"Um… so what else do I need?"
Maple wanted the best gear she could manage.
"…Just a moment."
Iz began going through the extra materials she'd need, one at a time.
After explaining the last material, Iz started to wrap things up.
Then an idea struck her. "Oh! One more thing," she said. This was about the white
crystals. "Gathering those requires some high-level skills, which I'm assuming you
don't have… I'm right, aren't I? In that case…"
Iz nodded to herself, mulling it over.
Once she'd straightened it out in her mind, she began explaining it to Maple.
"Getting those materials requires going all the way to the back of a cave filled with
monsters. You can collect a lot at once, so I usually hire guards to take me there and
back, but my stock's run out at the moment. So…"
Iz offered Maple a proposition.
In return for escorting her to the cave, Iz would give Maple some of what she gathered
and offer a discount on the price for making the gear.
Maple saw no reason to turn this offer down.
She accepted at once.
"If you've got time, we can go now," Iz said.
"Uh, sure thing!"
"Great! And thank you."
And so they agreed to explore the cave together.
Maple left first, and Iz joined her a few minutes later, once she was ready.
She flipped the sign on the door to CLOSED and then turned toward Maple.
"Shall we?" she said.
"Sure!"
Maple started walking with Iz at her side.
Iz, however, was much faster.
Crafters used STR for blacksmith work, but gathering skills was based on DEX and AGI,
so they had to keep those stats at a decent level, too.
Iz had wound up with a focused, balanced build.
When she realized Maple was lagging behind, Iz slowed down, matching her pace.
"You're totally different in combat… or no, I guess not."
On the event stream, Maple had been ridiculously strong, mowing other players down
left and right. Looking at her now, it was hard to imagine that.
But then Iz remembered the look on Maple's face as she'd fought and changed her
mind.
Right now or in mid-combat, Maple had clearly just been having a great time.
What gear would be best for her…?
How could Iz help her have an even better time? What could she make for her?
Iz pondered this question as she and Maple left the town behind.
Out in the field, there were monsters trying to interfere with their progress.
Their already slow pace slowed even further. Maple made for a very strange sort of
guard, but she successfully prevented anything from attacking Iz.
First, Maple used Taunt to make sure all monsters targeted her instead. Wolves then
leaped at her from behind, biting the back of Maple's neck, and their weight knocked
her over.
"Eeeep! H-hngg… Let go!"
Maple shook her head, trying to get the wolf off. To no avail.
Eventually, she managed to dislodge the wolf by falling over backward onto it.
Once it let go, the wolf stood no chance. It didn't take long for Maple's shield to swallow
it up.
Iz was used to guards protecting their client while carefully managing how much
damage they took themselves.
Maple didn't really bother with the latter half.
Seeing this in person really drove home how broken Maple was. Just watching her was
making Iz tired.
"No wonder she did so well…"
Maple coming in third definitely hadn't been a fluke.
It took them a while, but eventually they reached the cave.
The entrance was on the side of a mountain, and the path wound slowly farther in. It
was quite dark, even in daylight.
The ground was slightly damp, but the path was relatively wide. Four adults could
walk side by side.
"Careful."
"Okay!"
Iz pulled a lantern out of her inventory, lighting their way.
This made it easy to see where they were going, and if they kept an eye on their feet,
they were unlikely to trip themselves up.
They headed down a gentle slope.
Maple had her shield and short sword brandished. Iz was toting a blacksmithing
hammer, just in case.
"Keep one eye on the ceiling. We should be encountering something soon."
"Okay, the ceiling?"
Maple looked up just in time for something sharp to shatter on her forehead.
Surprised, she closed her eyes, crouching with her shield raised like an umbrella.
After a moment, she calmed down and looked around. She saw a foot-long lizard with
its tail stuck in a pointed rock.
But the tail rock had shattered into pieces all around it.
These lizard monsters clung to the ceiling, falling on players who came along.
But the moment it hit Maple, the soft lizard parts had been no match for the impact,
and it had wound up destroying itself.
"Haah!"
Maple pounded her shield on the ground, wiping out the last of the lizard's HP.
"That sure surprised me…"
"…That's all it did."
It had scored a clean hit to no avail. These lizards were built for ambush attacks but
were helpless against her.
Maybe Maple didn't need to bother watching the ceiling.
"Are there any monsters in here strong enough to beat you?… Nope."
Iz remembered her last trip here. There were lots of monsters, but none of them
seemed like they'd stand a chance against Maple.
If there were any monsters that powerful, none of her other guards would have lasted
very long.
"I guess I don't need that many of these…," Iz muttered, taking some HP recovery
potions out of her pouch and sticking them back in her inventory. In their place, she
put a number of pills that would provide a brief buff to her stats.
If no one needed to heal, there was no point in having potions ready.
"The number of monsters picks up the farther we go," she said. "Good luck!"
"Okay! I think I can handle it."
Maple hefted her shield again and moved forward, watching the floor, ceiling, and
walls.
Lots of monsters appeared on their way in.
Many of these threw themselves directly at Maple.
But whether these were goblins, mudmen, or golems…
They all ran right up to her, attacking at close quarters with weapons or arms.
And the moment these struck Maple's great shield, they were sucked into it, like they
were falling into a bottomless swamp.
"Whew."
"Thanks. We should be almost there…"
Iz checked the map she'd used last time, verifying their current location.
She'd been through the cave before, and Maple's defense was indomitable, so they
were making very good progress.
And since it was a cave, monsters mostly came from the fore, making it much less likely
that they'd be surrounded. That meant they made faster progress than in the open
field.
As a result, they reached the back without either of them taking damage.
"Found it!"
"This is what we're looking for?" Maple touched the lantern-lit wall.
It was covered in lumpy white ore—the likes of which she hadn't seen on the path in.
"Yep, that's it. Won't be a minute."
Iz took a large pickax out of her inventory and started gathering.
Each time the pickax struck the white ore, an item fell to Iz's feet. After gathering five
times, she collected the minerals and moved to the next spot.
There were a number of veins around this ending area, and her goal was to mine each
of them.
No monsters spawned here, so she could focus on the task at hand.
Maple was relieved she'd been an effective guard.
"Oh! Don't want any monsters wandering in. Iz! Iz!"
Maple borrowed a lantern from her and stood at the border between the monster area
and the gathering zone.
This was her first time guarding anyone. It couldn't hurt to be cautious.
Iz finished mining without incident and joined Maple.
"All done," she said. "Let's head home. We've still got to settle on a design for your gear."
"Yes! Let's have a good return trip!"
Just as before, no monsters in the cave were a match for Maple's shield.
They slowly picked their way back to town, dispatching all monsters foolish enough
to come at them.
Paying Iz's shop another visit, they settled down at a table.
The next step was to decide what her order would look like.
This had no effect on function.
But that didn't make it any less important. Some things were more important than
stats. Maple thought so anyway.
"So what did you have in mind?"
"Well… well… hmm…"
Maple hadn't really formed all that clear a mental image.
She had started with a vague idea that her gear should be white, but that idea hadn't
really grown any less vague.
No further details came to mind.
But there was one thing she'd thought about on their adventure, so she decided to
start there.
"Today reminded me of something… My shield destroys everything. So I thought it
would be a good idea to have a normal one."
Iz nodded at this.
Like Maple said, there were times you'd want another approach.
This was the main goal of a secondary loadout.
"Okay… then let's make the shield first. Oh, the more materials you use, the stronger it
gets, but that would mean the rest of the set will have to wait."
Maple decided to use the extra items and make a better shield.
She wanted matching armor and a short sword, too, but decided it would be better to
have one really good shield than a whole set of mediocre gear.
She knew where and how to get the materials now, so she could always go back if she
had to.
Now that they'd settled on only crafting a shield, Maple had to decide on a design.
"I dunno…," she said, clearly at a total loss.
"Well," Iz suggested, "if you're not sure, how about I show you a few shields—see if
they give you any ideas? Wait right here."
Iz got up and went to the back. She put a bunch of shields in her inventory and
returned to the table.
"Let's go one at a time."
"Okay!"
Iz started showing Maple her shields.
Heavily decorated shields, very simple ones, round shields, square ones.
The more options she saw, the more lost Maple was.
All these shields were handmade by Iz herself.
They were very nice, and that made it extra hard to narrow down.
Just as Maple was reaching peak indecision, she realized there was one shield she
definitely liked best.
"Iz, I like this shield!" she said—showing Iz her own black shield.
"Ahhh… I shoulda known. Well, let's start with that design and keep the form factor as
similar as we can. That'll make it feel the same to wield."
"That sounds nice!"
They had the biggest piece settled, so Iz moved to drawing up a detailed schematic.
She pulled a contract item out of her inventory, and Maple promised to trade materials
and money for a shield.
"I'll let you know once it's done. It'll be a few days."
"Got it! And thank you!"
Maple bowed her head and left the shop.
"Whew… I'm glad that went well."
She'd been a good guard and successfully ordered her shield.
Her goals for the day accomplished, Maple waited breathlessly for the shield's
completion.
Maybe half an hour after Maple placed her order, Chrome walked into Iz's shop.
"Oh, Chrome! Here for maintenance?"
"You guessed it."
Chrome pulled his gear out of his inventory, handing it to Iz.
She took it into the back and emerged a short while later. This process restored the
gear's durability.
"You sure took a beating this time! Don't break it, ya hear?"
She handed it back to him.
Iz had made all of Chrome's gear for him.
And she hoped it would continue serving him for a long time.
"Yeah, I've been going at it pretty hard. Hoping to do well in the second event, too."
"You getting good results?"
"Not too bad. I'm going hunting again today. Thanks!"
"Sure… Oh, by the way, Chrome. You just missed Maple."
That stopped him in his tracks.
"Oh yeah? Wish I'd come by earlier, then. She ready to order her custom gear already?"
He looked surprised.
Iz told him about their adventure and the shield she'd agreed to make.
"A secondary shield, huh? Makes sense." Chrome nodded. "That black shield of hers is
a bit too OP."
As a great shielder himself, he could imagine times when a player just wanted their
shield to be a shield.
"Yeah. Well, I'm sure you'll bump into her again somewhere. I see her around town
pretty often."
Maple's equipment was incredibly conspicuous, so it was easy to pick her out of a
crowd.
The only reason Chrome hadn't seen her was because he'd been out hunting—while
Maple had been spending a lot of time sightseeing.
"I'm sure I will. First, I gotta make myself stronger!"
"Good luck."
And with that, Chrome left the shop.
Maple had easily surpassed him, but he wasn't about to give up yet.
The grinding he'd been doing was getting good results, and he headed out to the field
to make those better still.