Chapter 7: The Pervert Feels the Price of Efficiency

I explained to the three that I had too many items left over, that I was in trouble because I had no way to start a fire despite needing to deal with hunger, and that I would give them some meat if they would light a fire for me. Thankfully, they readily agreed.

Reena: "Um... Fireball!!"

Reena, Kahho & Souma: "Ohh."

The moment Reena chanted the spell, a fireball appeared from the void and struck the gathered branches, creating a campfire.

Probably these three were also beginners who had just started. All of us, including me, stared at the fire as if it were a gem.

Sunraku: "Oh, you can cook them all at once... That's conveniently game-like."

Reena: "Um... Sunraku... san?"

Sunraku: "Just Sunraku is fine. We're all new to SLF, so there's no seniority."

Reena: "But you seem older, so I'll still add the -san. Sunraku-san, why... why are you dressed like that?"

Reena, who had been marveling at the feel of using Fireball, asked timidly while I cooked the meat in batches.

Sunraku: "In this game, you can sell your starting equipment at character creation."

Reena: "Eh, really?!"

Sunraku: "So I sold everything except this headgear and weapons, and this is the result."

Kahho: "But the town is the starting point, so couldn't you buy equipment right away?"

The thief girl, Kahho, raised that question. But when I told them that my origin, "Wanderer," has a random initial spawn, they gave me a sympathetic look. For some reason, it stung.

Kahho: "Anyway, that rabbit from earlier... what was it called?"

Sunraku: "Vorpal Bunny?"

Souma: "Yeah, that Vorpal Bunny. Is it really that strong?"

Sunraku: "Well..."

Seeing is believing, but since there wasn't one around, a demonstration would do. I thrust a wooden stick toward the boy who had asked the question—Souma—at the same speed I used to deflect the Vorpal Bunny's attack.

Sunraku: "It comes at you at about this speed, aiming precisely for the neck. Also, I think all its attacks are criticals."

Souma: "F-fast..."

Sunraku: "Well, it only goes for the neck, so once you get used to it, it's probably an easy monster to deal with."

Souma: "Hey, what level are you, Sunraku?"

Sunraku: "12. It's starting to get harder to level up, so I was thinking of looking for a town after a bit more hunting."

Souma: "Oh, you're still going to hunt... Man, that's high! You haven't even had SLF for a day, and you've already gotten that far?"

I appreciated that Souma used casual speech with me, unlike the two girls, as if age didn't matter. My basic philosophy is that seniority in games should be based on playtime. Not to say age ranking is invalid, but I feel that players who start at the same time are contemporaries regardless of age.

Sunraku: "Well, I've been holed up in the forest for about seven hours straight, even with breaks. Thanks to that, my inventory's packed, and my hunger is getting into the danger zone..."

Reena: "Ah, so that's why you needed fire."

Sunraku: "Exactly. Oh, everything seems cooked... Here, a thank you."

Of the cooked meats, the orc meat looked kind of dirty, so I distributed the Almiraj and Vorpal Bunny rabbit meat to the three, then bit into the orc meat myself.

Sunraku: "Hmm... kind of bland?"

There is taste, but compared to eating the real thing (pork, in that case), the flavor and texture feel overall weaker. Maybe it's a design choice to keep players from being satisfied by in-game meals. Certainly, if I only ate this, I'd eventually log out craving bacon... It's well thought out.

Sunraku: "Ah, I want to log out and eat some meat."

Souma: "...Then why don't you?"

Sunraku: "No, I want to play this game even more."

When I said that, the three nodded in understanding.

I've never been to a town, so I haven't logged out once since starting. But even if I could save and log out inside a combat area, I can easily imagine what would happen. When a game is this meticulously crafted, it almost makes me want to call it a kusoge again...

Sunraku: "Oh, right. I hate to impose, but can I ask a few more questions?"

I didn't need strategy wiki-level information. I just had the three show me the weapon shop's inventory in the first town and a map of the area. With that, I decided on my next course of action.

After parting ways with the three, who had apparently come to the forest for a herb-gathering quest, I decided to head in the opposite direction from which they came—toward the second town, "Secondale."

In this work, full-dive games are designed such that "to some extent, a player's innate aptitude can overcome system walls." Even if two players, A and B, have exactly the same level, stats, skills, and equipment, the one with better motor skills (in VR gaming) will be stronger. In a sense, it's not much different from reality. But put another way, "even if you're lacking in reality, with insane leveling and top-tier gear, you can become stronger more easily than in real life." That's why games have become socially accepted.