Chapter 114: Johai’s Internet Friend?
Chapter 114: Johai’s Internet Friend?
This village was on the poor side. Most of its residents were poor fishermen or workers employed at Johai’s factory.
Because of that, Johai, the young master of a wealthy family, stood out sharply in this village.
No one openly bullied the boy. However, since almost no children spoke to him all day, it was practically no different from being ostracized.
Well, it’s not like I want to be close to them anyway.
Johai pouted as he walked home through the streets filled with the smell of fish. This was not something he said merely out of defiance. In reality, he genuinely did not fit in with the children who lived here.
Back when he briefly lived in the city, he had friends who played computer games with him. But here, many households did not even have a TV or telephone, let alone a computer.
Even the arcade games available here were all truly ancient, worn-out machines, so he had no real desire to play them. Of course, games like Tetris were still fun even if they were old, but there was no way he would enjoy playing while squeezed among children who treated him like a ghost.
He desperately missed Arcade Game Land, where he could comfortably enjoy games among strangers even if it was crowded.
He had also heard lately that the hamburger sold at a place beside it called Quick & Fun Burger was delicious. It wasn’t just something mentioned in magazines or the news; employees from his father’s company, his younger uncle, and his older cousin had all actually gone there themselves.
Since it had been quite a while since lunch, Johai grew hungry and wanted to eat that hamburger even more.
Ah… I want to go to the city!
The boy kicked a stone in his path and once again cried out for the city in his heart.
As soon as he returned home, he ran up to his room on the second floor. No one was home anyway. Then he immediately turned on his computer.
The one thing that soothed Johai’s misery was this computer. And Meta Soft’s newly released game, Spirit Stone, was perfect for him, someone who longed for friends even if he pretended otherwise.
Of course, realistically speaking, making friends with spirits inside a game was still a sad thing.
In any case, after turning on the computer, he first checked his spirit list. The proof of all the adventures he had gone on while traveling around the world was there.
He felt proud. But at the same time, he also felt a little disappointed.
I already conquered the Eastern Branch, so if I defeat the other three branches, I’ll become a Grand Spirit Master and the game will end?
There was still a long way to go. But perhaps because he had already cleared one major hurdle, he had begun thinking about the end of the game already. Of course, this was premature. The eastern region was basically the tutorial, and the difficulty would rise the farther he went.
By then, he would probably be desperately searching Gamers for guides and doing what felt like endless grinding to raise his spirits.
In any case, Johai was enjoying the feeling of already being strong, so instead of progressing the game, he wondered whether there was something else he could enjoy like this.
Ah. Right.
Then he remembered the network mode he had noticed before. Back then, he did not even know what spirits he needed, and since he had only just started, he lacked the courage to battle other people and simply passed it by.
But now, he felt like he could fight and win against other players. Remembering the Eastern Branch Leader he defeated yesterday, Johai wore a triumphant expression.
Johai liked computer games, but that did not mean he knew much about computers. Because of that, he did not even know that network mode required a Network Card.
However, as wealthy people, Johai’s parents had immediately bought the Network Card as well when the store clerk told them it was needed to play the game. They had even gotten help from a young employee at the company named Rond, who knew computers well, and had it installed.
Johai’s parents knew that Johai hated the countryside and missed the city. But since they had to stay here for work for a while, they were doing everything they could to soothe the boy, even while they were busy.
For the name he would use in battle, in other words, his ID, he simply used his own name without thinking much about it. Since he did not know what an ID was or what meaning it carried, he reflexively did what he usually did.
In any case, the system accepted it and immediately began attempting to connect.
<Connecting to the Spirit Realm.>
“Oh! The Spirit Realm.”
It was just simple packaging, but Johai was still a young boy, so he immediately grew excited. Of course, even though he was young, he did not believe he was truly entering the Spirit Realm. But a child’s rich imagination painted the scenery of the Spirit Realm in his mind.
A little while later, after the message said he had connected to the Spirit Realm, another message said it was searching for battle opponents.
Then, after a moment, several IDs appeared in a row.
“Other players? So these are all other people like me, right?”
Some were ordinary names, while others were strange words that did not seem like names at all. In any case, since he had read what network mode was in the manual, he understood that these were not characters inside the computer but people using computers in other places.
But what’s “Sex Pistol”?
Since Johai still did not know much about sexual matters, he merely tilted his head at the unfamiliar ID and moved on. Then he selected the ID “Spirit Master King.”
His thinking was simple: since the person called himself a king, he looked arrogant, so Johai wanted to beat him up. But the phrase “challenge letter” made his heart pound.
<Entering the duel arena.>
He was summoned to a clearing in a forest. The background showed several spirits gathered around the area.
Oh…
Johai immediately admired the convincing atmosphere. But instead of the opponent appearing, there was suddenly a beep. He flinched and wondered what it was, then noticed text displayed on one side of the screen.
[Hello.]
Johai was startled. A child from Earth would have simply thought the other person had sent a message, but in this world, chatting itself had not existed until now.
The reason he was at least able to feel startled was because he understood, even if only slightly, what a network was. If he had no grasp of it at all, he would have thought it was just a computer character speaking.
He panicked, wondering what to do, before spotting a long empty input field on one side of the screen with a blinking cursor, just like when using a word processor.
This, right?
Johai hesitated briefly, then slowly pressed the keyboard the way he did when using a word processor.
[Yes. Hello.]
He probably only needed to finish typing and press Enter, but since he did not know that, Johai sent his reply through the “send message” button on one side of the screen.
[Are your spirits high level?]
Another message came immediately. Johai wondered why the other person was asking that, then replied reflexively.
[Around 30?]
[Okay. Okay. Then shall we fight?]
After that reply, a message appeared saying the opponent had selected a spirit. Johai tilted his head, wondering what was happening, then followed the computer’s instruction to choose the spirit that would participate.
Since it worked the same way as battling other Spirit Masters in the offline game, he did not get particularly lost.
Then Johai got completely destroyed by his opponent.
What the hell? He’s way too strong!
The opponent’s level was far too high. All of his spirits were around level 50. At that level, even with a favorable matchup, it would be hard to fight.
<Spirit Master King has won.>
After that, Johai challenged several other players, but most had progressed much farther in the game than he had, so he kept losing.
He did not give up and kept challenging more people. But that did not mean he liked losing. So, just as the first person had done, he began asking his opponents about their levels.
[Hello. What level are you?]
His slow hunt-and-peck typing was frustrating, but since it was necessary, he did it.
[Huh? Me?]
[Yes.]
The other person must have also been unfamiliar with network communication, because even though there was obviously no one else, they gave a blank question in return. That clumsy response made Johai feel somewhat reassured.
[I’m around 30.]
Oh?!
He had finally found someone around the same level. Johai grew excited, thinking he could win if they were on the same level.
And when the battle actually began, it really did become an even fight.
That’s Pagetorji! Since it’s grass-type, my Bultana can win!
The opponent was probably around Johai’s age as well. Their thinking was not very precise. Because of that, Johai, who at least had slightly more experience after losing all day, was able to make decent decisions at crucial moments.
“Yes!”
After a close match that went all the way to the fifth round, he barely managed to seize victory. At his first win of the day, Johai raised both hands in front of the computer and cheered.
<Your opponent has registered you as a friend.>
Then a message appeared with a beep.
<Will you allow it? Yes / No.>
He was already interested because the other person was a gamer around his level. He was also intrigued by the fact that he could become friends with someone he met this way. Without thinking much, Johai selected Yes.
A message immediately arrived.
Are they saying we should get along from now on?
Following the computer’s instructions, Johai clicked the envelope-shaped icon, filled with anticipation toward his newly made friend.
[Hey, you little punk! Are you happy winning like that?]
But the message that arrived was not that kind of message. It was an aggressive message that clearly conveyed the resentment of defeat just by looking at it.
Johai was flustered for a moment, but soon frowned and responded.
[What’s the problem? We fought fair and square!]
[Ah, damn it! You only picked favorable types like a cheap bastard!]
In truth, the opponent’s accusation had no logic. It was an obvious strategy, but because they lost, they were angry and simply called everything disadvantageous to them cheap.
Johai was dumbfounded and grumbled in front of the computer.
“What am I supposed to do, then?”
The opponent complained for quite a while, then said they would fight again later and disconnected.
<Your opponent has disconnected.>
Johai silently glared at the message. But he did not feel that unpleasant. It felt like he had played with a friend in the city back when they used to play versus games together.
“Fine. Just you wait.”
And the words “let’s fight again later” sounded to him like an invitation to play again tomorrow.
Johai felt that he needed to collect and raise more spirits so he would not lose to his newly made friend. After trying network battles today, he was certain that he was still on the weak side.
Moreover, he remembered the powerful and cool spirits used by the many Spirit Masters he had faced in battle.
They were all probably spirits somewhere in the world. Johai decided that he would make all of them his friends as well and set out on another adventure into the world.
And so, Johai set off on an adventure to become a Pocket Master, no, a Grand Spirit Master.
Spirit Stone sold tremendously well. Contrary to Ras’s anxiety over whether this would work in this world, the concept of collecting and raising spirits delivered powerful enjoyment here as well.
Furthermore, since the game supported the Hammer Computer, its overseas sales were also impressive despite outputting fairly crude graphics on older computers.
This was something I didn’t expect at all…
Apparently, its fun could not be hidden even with graphics displayed almost in monochrome. Then again, when Ras thought about it, early Pokémon had been practically monochrome too, yet everyone had fallen deeply into it.