Chapter 4
Chapter 4
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: Astria Online (3)
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My question about the synchronization rate was answered before long.
"Ugh."
I frowned at the sensation that crept up my arm.
This place, which seemed to be the tutorial zone, was teeming with monsters—slimes.
When I let one attack me, a small amount of my HP was depleted, and a burning sensation spread through my arm, the point of impact.
This was just like a minor burn from hot liquid, but if I were to take a hit that could kill me in one blow, it would surely be more than just a little painful.
What was the problem? The capsule? The game?
Or perhaps.
[Drizzle Rain]
I stared intently at my nickname displayed on the status window.
Rain, the hero of the Astria Continent.
And Astria Online.
Could there be a connection?
I couldn't completely deny the possibility.
However.
Would it be a problem?
No.
I clenched my tiny fists and smiled.
In fact, it was a good thing.
The intense realism I was feeling was probably also related to the synchronization rate.
If it hadn't felt this real, I might have regretted buying the capsule.
For a moment, I considered reporting it as a bugged account to get a reward, but I preferred a game with this level of tension over a bland one.
If I didn't want to get hurt, I just had to block, dodge, and strike.
And this body, which could faintly keep up with my thought processes and reaction speed from my days as the Hero.
The high synchronization rate made this possible for me.
My level and stats were low now, but if I kept growing stronger, I could become the most powerful player here too.
Adventure, and growth.
Companions... I don't need them anymore.
If I don't make any companions, I won't have to suffer the pain of parting.
The story of the Hero, Rain, starting anew on the Astria Continent.
This time, I'll do just fine on my own.
As I moved around, getting used to my virtual body and admiring the scenery of the tutorial zone, I suddenly snapped back to reality.
The vanguard players must have already leveled up quickly, entered the first city, and even chosen their classes, but I had already fallen behind by messing around.
I need to level up.
Fortunately, perhaps out of concern that the initial flood of players would intensify competition in the tutorial zone, the entire area leading to the first city was a massive, personal instanced field.
In other words, I didn't have to worry about anyone stealing my kills until I got a class.
However, this body was weaker than I thought.
It was nothing compared to 'Hero Rain,' who had been protected by immense mana and the Holy Sword.
The body of an ordinary girl, constrained by low stats.
Of course, it would get better once I leveled up.
"Hah, hah."
I tried to gather slimes for mob hunting to level up quickly, but I ended up being chased by a horde of them instead.
Mob hunting was difficult in the early stages of this game by design.
The base character HP wasn't very high, and without class skills, it was impossible to block all the attacks from slimes leaping at me from every direction.
Burned all over by the acid slimes' attacks, I was startled and scrambled to escape on my short legs.
*Scamper!*
A former hero, now reduced to hunted prey in the tutorial zone.
How long would it take to even slightly catch up to my abilities from my days as the Hero?
*
"Hah."
After a life-or-death struggle with the slimes, I finally reached the required level for a class change and sighed upon arriving at the first city.
[Erenburg, the City of Adventurers]
Even though I thought I had logged in right as the servers opened and leveled up quite fast, the city was already bustling with a sea of players.
It was because I had wasted time wandering the tutorial field, lost in sentiment and admiring the scenery.
First, I needed to get a class.
I opened the in-game internet and pulled up an anonymous community site.
Since the game had just launched, a raw community like this would have more quality information than a curated guide site.
The first post that caught my eye was a class review.
[Title]
Don't pick Swordsman, guys (+31)
[Body]
It was decent during open beta, but it seems to have been nerfed for the official launch.
The block covering a 180-degree arc and multiple attacks is nice, but the damage is absolute garbage.
My friend chose Fighter, and it's definitely better to have good offensive skills than defensive ones if you want to level up fast.
Taking a few hits from field mobs doesn't do much damage anyway, so you can just chug cheap potions and wipe them out without needing to defend.
[Comments]
- fr I picked Swordsman too and I'm regretting it. Thinking about rerolling.
- Not falling for it. You guys are just trying to keep the good stuff for yourselves lololol
- But the Fighter's counter only works on single-target attacks, right? Isn't blocking all attacks in a 180-degree arc good? I get it for field mobs, but later in elite dungeons and stuff, the damage will probably hit like a truck.
ㄴ You still take damage even if you block. It's not 100% damage reduction. You have to drink potions anyway.
ㄴ Wow, then what's the point of blocking? lol
ㄴ It probably still reduces damage by 90%, right?
ㄴ The main mechanic in this game is dodging. Every class has a dodge skill, so in elite dungeons, you'll probably rely on that.
"Hmm."
Is Swordsman really that bad?
I'd heard it was one of the more highly-rated classes according to the open beta test info.
The evaluation seemed to have changed somewhat since the official launch, but as the Hero who wielded a sword on the Astria Continent, I couldn't abandon my romanticized image of the sword.
Above all, the existence of the 'Block' skill was a huge factor.
The Swordsman's defensive skill that could block all attacks in a 180-degree arc.
With my high synchronization rate, hunting while taking hits from mobs was more difficult for me than for others.
Unwilling to change the growth path I had already decided on, I opened the city map, located the Swordsman's Guild, and headed there.
*Step, step.*
*Pitter-patter.*
But my confident steps soon became hesitant.
I could feel the gazes of female players directed at me.
"Oh, look at her character customization. She's so cute."
"Should we ask her for it?"
"The customization values are so detailed! Good presets are sold for real money, you know."
I avoided their gazes, pulled the hood of my beginner's adventurer robe down low, and hurriedly quickened my pace.
*Scurry.*
After a few minutes of brisk walking, a certain smell wafting from somewhere made me stop in my tracks.
My gaze fell upon an NPC's food stall.
What kind of bird meat was it?
A skewer of deliciously grilled meat and vegetables.
The aroma tantalized my stomach.
*Gulp.*
I could hear the loud sound of myself swallowing.
Was it because of the high synchronization rate?
For someone like me, who had been living off cup noodles and rice balls, the smell of fresh meat and vegetables was incredibly stimulating.
[Kopopo Vegetable Skewer]
[5 Copper]
I checked the price on the menu and opened my inventory.
I had 30 copper.
The amount I'd earned from killing about thirty slimes.
I'd heard there were jobs these days where you could earn money in a virtual reality metaverse. I wondered what the real-money exchange rate for this game would be.
Could earning money here help with my real-life finances?
Since it had only been a few hours since the game launched, the market rate for real money trading probably hadn't been established yet.
But with over a hundred million players worldwide having pre-registered, I could expect that getting a head start would be quite profitable.
I briefly poked my soft belly.
Food in virtual reality wouldn't actually fill my stomach, but it could satisfy my sense of taste.
5 copper.
This much, I can spend.
I took out my pocket money and offered it to the stall owner with a trembling hand.
"Yes! One skewer, thank you!"
Taking the skewer from the NPC vendor, I perched on a stool at an outdoor table.
I looked down at the skewer and grinned.
"Heh."
*Chomp.*
I opened my mouth wide and took a bite of the meat.
"Mmmph...!"
A shiver ran through my body.
It's delicious!
The meat's juices flowed out, filling my small mouth.
*Munch.*
Before the aftertaste of the meat could fade, I bit into a vegetable and pulled it off the skewer.
*Crunch, crunch.*
The texture of the perfectly grilled vegetables, still with a bit of a crunch, was also excellent.
Is it a type of green onion?
Anyway, it's so good!
*Wiggle, wiggle.*
Perched on the stall's stool, my short, stubby legs, which didn't reach the ground, began to swing on their own.
"Oh."
I realized something new.
When I eat something delicious, my legs start to swing.
*
"Congratulations. From this day forward, you are a swordsman. Continue to strive and walk the path of the sword."
The Swordsman class change happened in a flash.
All I had to do was meet the level 5 beginner adventurer requirement. It wasn't the kind of system that bothered you with class change quests or anything.
I took the Steel Training Sword handed to me by the Swordsman Guild's class change NPC.
The Wooden Practice Sword, given to all beginners, had an attack power of 4. With my current strength stat, it would take three swings to kill a slime.
However, this Steel Training Sword had an attack power of a whopping 10.
It had no special options, but with this sword, I could one-shot a slime without using any skills.
"Hmm."
So, what should I do with this Wooden Practice Sword?
I stopped by a nearby general store to check the wooden sword's selling price.
1 copper.
The price of one slime.
It wasn't a high price, but it wasn't negligible in the early game when gold was scarce.
After selling my used wooden sword at the general store, I suddenly remembered the pile of wooden swords in a corner of the Swordsman's Guild entrance.
Had the newly-minted swordsmen thrown them away?
I hurriedly went back inside the Swordsman's Guild building.
*Thud, thud.*
Even as I watched, two players who had just become swordsmen tossed their own swords onto the pile.
For some reason, I got angry.
These people, they don't know the value of money!
The dropped wooden swords would naturally disappear if left alone.
But it was a different story when I thought of them as money.
If I sold five of them, that was one skewer.
I tried to ignore the saliva gathering in my mouth as I started picking up the wooden swords and putting them in my inventory.
With my strength stat, I could carry a total of ten wooden swords in my inventory at once.
Two skewers!
"Heh."
I beamed, my inventory full of wooden swords, and headed for the general store.