Chapter 116: Embracing Your Ambitions in the Light — Part Two
I plan to do some overall corrections. Specifically, I'll be making adjustments related to VIT.
While continuing the area clear, I keep analyzing this area. After all, though I'm just running through today, eventually I'll need to explore here in earnest. I want to gather as much intel as possible. On that front, Psyger—no, Rei-shi—makes for an outstanding teacher. As expected of a no-lifer who's sunk deep into this game, she gives perfect answers to just about any question.
(That castle... apparently it's crawling with monsters that even at level 99 would be a tough fight. But nine times out of ten, that's the place, isn't it...)
The fetch quest from Vysache—since I need to collect three devices bearing the name Δ, I'll inevitably have to investigate that location, which absolutely reeks of the Divine Era. If I'm being honest, I'd like to drag Rei-shi along and check it out right now, but I can't... Hmm, nothing's going my way.
Psyger-0: "All the same, you're amazing..."
Sunraku: "Hm? What is?"
Thanks to Lycagon's curse, small fry alone won't come near me—which means the monsters that still attack are all level 99 class. I've just finished off a Harddrag Rhino—like a rampaging armored vehicle. At her sudden words, I turn, wondering what's so amazing. Rei-shi pulls her greatsword from the flesh of the Harddrag Rhino—its outer shell, clearly tougher than most shoddy walls, having been smashed through—and addresses me with a voice full of admiration.
Psyger-0: "We've... defeated quite a few monsters so far... but... you haven't been hit... even once."
Sunraku: "Well, as you can see, one hit and I'm dead. So I have no choice but to specialize as a dodge tank, really..."
In truth, I can't help feeling I've dabbled in too many things and ended up with middling stats. But in this game, a player's individuality includes their skills. If that's the case, I suppose each avatar's performance is truly one-of-a-kind... The people who write strategy guides must want to tear their hair out, given how much of it is essentially RNG.
Psyger-0: "Even in Schwarz Vulf... there are people with similar builds to you, Sunraku-san. But even they... take at least some damage..."
Sunraku: "Well, I'm pretty used to all kinds of games, even so."
Bugs train you. Lag makes you patient. In other words, trash games make you strong. When I shared that personal theory with Oikatzo, he burst out laughing, then deliberately stifled it and snorted at me. But the fact is, that really is my strength, so it can't be helped. I haven't experienced it in SLF, but I've fought enemies as huge as that arm impaled through the castle. Dust piled up makes a mountain—but pile up games and you just get a backlog mountain.
Sunraku: "Then, let me ask in return—how long have you been playing this game, Rei-shi?"
Psyger-0: "Huh? Ah... um... about a year... I suppose..."
Sunraku: "You're practically a veteran, then! As expected of... uh... Maximum Firepower Attack Holder?"
Psyger-0: "No, that title... it's the result of everyone in the clan helping me. It's not something I achieved alone..."
Watching Rei-shi modestly deflect, I'm reminded once again that in games, appearances really don't determine a player's character. When I first met her, I had the rude thought that she seemed like the type who'd throw away real life for a game. But talking to her, she's simply polite and proper. Personally, I find it rather endearing that her voice—while her true self peeks through a bit—is kept slightly low in adherence to her role-play.
Psyger-0: "Ah, another Harddrag Rhino... I'll take the hate...!"
Correction: she's still terrifying. I revise my assessment of Rei-shi—who just intercepted a charging rhino clearly doing at least 40 kph head-on—to "actually a good person, but definitely has a screw loose somewhere." Meanwhile, I chip away at its joints with the Empire Bee Twinblade. I'm not exactly one to talk about safety-first gameplay, but to calmly intercept what's essentially a car barreling straight at you—that's proof of having fought enough to grow accustomed to it. Humble though she may be, it's clear Maximum Firepower isn't just for show... Beneath that mask of kindness, she might even now be trying to extract the information I'm hiding by observing my every move. Maybe I should seize the conversational initiative here to avoid slipping up.
Sunraku: "Even so, it really does get tiresome when nothing but tough enemies keep coming."
Psyger-0: "Indeed... Sunraku-san... are you planning... to have that curse removed?"
Sunraku: "Hmm... honestly, I'm a bit torn."
That's the truth. I've gotten used to it by now, but having equipment is still better than not. It's also true that the benefits have saved me more than the drawbacks have hurt me. Yet even so... at the very least, I'd like to get the curse on my legs removed.
Sunraku: "I'd at least like to be allowed to wear pants, you know... And it seems like I can't receive support from buffers, either."
Psyger-0: "Even if you wanted to lift it... meeting Saint Eristella herself is... difficult, after all..."
Sunraku: "Saint Eristella?"
It can't be a player name. If that's the case, the title "Saint" rings a bell.
Psyger-0: "In this game... or rather, in the world's religion—the Three Gods Faith—she's a saint. I believe... 'Eristella, the Saint of Love' is her official NPC name... I think."
According to her, Eristella, the Saint of Love—commonly known as "Saint-chan"—is a special NPC with the irregular ability of being the only one in Shangri-La Frontier capable of "lifting all curses." Apparently, her power can even undo curses placed by Unique Monsters. But, naturally and expectedly, she's guarded by high-level players and church NPCs, making her no easy person to meet.
Psyger-0: "In order... to meet her... you have to go through... church NPCs, or... um... members of the Saint's Divine Guard, so..."
The former demands a considerable donation of Mani. The latter requires connections in the first place. I see—so when Psyger-100 offered curse removal as a condition back then, she meant that Schwarz Vulf could arrange a meeting with Saint Eristella.
Sunraku: "Hmm... well, I'm not that pressed for time right now, so I guess it can wait."
Ah, but when I think about fighting Unique Monsters from now on, I really do want to bulk up my armor. Actually, now that I think it through properly—if I don't remove the curse, I can't wear the powered suit, can I? Damn it. Maybe I am pressed for time after all.
Sunraku: "The sun's going to set soon... If possible, I'd like to get past this place before the date changes in real life, but..."
Psyger-0: "To reach the area boss... it will... take a little more time. Yes."
As expected, this area—which leads to the New Land, and ultimately to Fifticia, the goal of this continent—is vast compared to other areas. Even with Rei-shi guiding us so we won't get lost, some delay is unavoidable.
Sunraku: "Well, I doubt we'll still be wandering around come tomorrow morning. Let's just take it at a reasonable pace."
Psyger-0: "Yes... you're right. At a reasonable pace... reasonable..."
Sunraku doesn't know. He doesn't know that Psyger-0 is aware of who he is in real life. He doesn't know that the path Rei-shi is currently guiding him along... is not the shortest route.
(Just a little longer... just a little longer...)
She doesn't want this one-in-a-thousand chance to end in the shortest possible time. And so, through just that tiny bit of selfishness, Sunraku and Psyger-0 are advancing along a route that takes a slight detour.
Psyger-0 doesn't know. She wants to talk with him just a little longer. She wants to play this game with him just a little longer. Like him—who always wears such a joyful smile, no matter the moment—no, she wants to smile together with him. A tiny betrayal, sprouting from such feelings of love. Fulfilling only half of Sunraku's request.
That, precisely, would become the paradigm shift—not only for the two of them... no, for the entirety of Shangri-La Frontier. Right now, neither of the two present knows this yet.
And one more thing. An event known to neither Sunraku nor Psyger-0 is quietly, yet surely, unfolding.
???: "When you're in trouble, you run! That solves most things!"
Emul: "Wha—wait—Pyaaaaaaah!"
Ceecrue: "Give it up, little sister, de gozaru. This one is simply built that way."
One rabbit panics over a mission's failure. One rabbit sighs. And one human starts running. The gears that fail to mesh will be meshed by time and circumstance. Though that is still a little further ahead.