Chapter 82
Chapter 82
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 82
Chapter Title: The First Step Toward Socialization
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[Title]
Let's learn about Snowy, the owner of the first Legendary weapon, 'Astaroth'.araboja (+1881)
[Content]
Yesterday, after the World Boss raid ended, a world announcement went up the moment Snowy pulled the weapon.
By now, everyone should know that Snowy's full name is 'Drizzle Rain'.
So, who is this Rain?
Those who've been playing since Astria Online opened might remember her; she was on the forums once as the owner of the full Orc Warrior set.
First off, her appearance is her most striking feature.
She's small, has a cute face, and her eye and hair colors are pretty and unique.
Even if you try to replicate it by directly picking RGB codes, you can't easily get that color combination.
We even got Nightmare Fusions like Kim Jjwalgit who tried to copy her customization and failed.
After that, sightings of her started popping up among the vanguard parties in Elite Dungeons.
First, she never talks to others and avoids people. Even if you spot her in front of a dungeon, she disappears the moment you look away.
According to witnesses, her weapon changes not long after a first clear party is announced, which suggests she's one of the tankers in a first clear run party.
Then, people started seriously looking for a connection to the first clear team 'Noname' after the 'Forward Base' opened.
Around that time, people who got carried by Chris's party started posting about seeing Snowy, right?
Chris blocks in-dungeon screenshots and videos with an in-game function, so nothing official was ever posted, but screenshots taken with external programs did pop up from time to time.
The passengers all say the same thing: her playstyle is completely different from any Swordsman they've seen before.
She deals incredible damage and never gets hit.
She dodges what can be dodged and blocks what must be blocked.
The Swordsman players can probably break down the details of Snowy's DPS rotation.
A tanker with physical skill surpassing that of Chris's Attack Squad's main tank, 'Death of Death,' and a weapon-swapping speed that stands out even among vanguard farmers.
And considering the divine prowess she showed during the Green Dragon raid, it's almost certain that Snowy is the tanker for the first clear party, 'Noname.'
Honestly, the real highlight was when Snowy fought Jo Hyeon-su.
That proved she's not just good at PVE.
She overwhelmed Jo Hyeon-su even with PVE gear, and when her damage wasn't getting through because of the gear difference, she baited the dragon's breath to finish him off. It was truly perfect.
It's safe to say she's the strongest among all Swordsmen, no, among all current players, without any disagreement.
Here are a few good screenshots and GIFs of Snowy from the Green Dragon raid.
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....
[Comments]
- Gasp.... Heok....
- Gasp lololol Heok lololololol
- What's with the comments above?
ㄴ They're about to be arrested.
- Wow, but she really is cute. Small, pretty, and good at the game.
- Judging by her movements, her synchronization rate must be at the maximum, or she hacked it to be even higher. You can change your face, but her height must be the same in real life, right?
ㄴ Yeah, you can make your face look a bit younger with customization, but if you mess with your height or body shape, the sync rate plummets.
ㄴ Gasp... She's that short.... Does that mean she's a minor?
ㄴ Is there any way for a minor to play this game?
ㄴ Absolutely not. This game has strict identity verification. Even with the sync rate limit, players can actually die, so minors are blocked due to the risk of psychological trauma.
ㄴ If a minor was illegally playing by bypassing the age restriction, the game company would have sanctioned them. The fact that she's been playing continuously since the open beta means there's no age issue.
ㄴ Her height seems to be around the mid-to-high 140cm range. Well, there are some adult women who are short.
ㄴ Yeah, you could just barely consider her a petite adult woman.
- Swordsmen need to be nerfed. That damage is ridiculous.
ㄴ Don't be stupid. If you can roll a Swordsman and deal even 80% of that damage, I'll admit you're right. Snowy would've dealt high damage no matter what character she played.
ㄴ The fact that her Vigor buff never drops suggests she's actively using the Just Guard mechanic. And none of her skills miss; they all hit.
ㄴ Yeah, her single-hit damage, agility, attack power, and strength stats are about average for a Swordsman with full temple gear. It seems like she just uses her skills and her own agility to hit all the right spots.
ㄴ People who just spam skills as they come off cooldown wouldn't get it lololol. Look at Snowy using Flash Blade in mid-air. The skill has endless applications depending on the user.
ㄴ But seeing her dodge the Swordsman's instant-cast skills during the fight with Jo Hyeon-su, it really seems like she's benefiting from her sync rate, right? Is she really not hacking her capsule?
ㄴ You can't dodge like that just by having a high sync rate. You guys can't dodge bullets in real life just by swinging a knife around, can you? Even DoD, who has amateur boxing experience, can only imitate those movements. Even if her sync rate broke the limit, it would mean she has the reaction speed of a pro athlete or better in real life.
ㄴ I guess Swordsmen have a new textbook example. They just need to try and copy Snowy.
ㄴ Ugh, I really wish a player like that would create a new DPS rotation for Rangers.
- But what's the relationship between Chris and Snowy? That's what I'm most curious about.
ㄴ Why are you curious about that? lololol
ㄴ For real... I'm curious too... They look so good standing next to each other.
ㄴ The gears are turning.... A cute, obedient little sister and a cool older sister....
ㄴ Look at image 11. It's like honey is dripping from Chris's eyes lololol.
ㄴ Gasp... Could it be the kind of relationship I'm thinking of? For real?
ㄴ Aren't they just a close older sister and younger sister? They probably meet in real life, right?
ㄴ And how Snowy, who used to avoid people, sticks so close to Chris. They definitely seem super close.
ㄴ I heard during the auction that when Snowy got the Dragon Heart, she said something about repaying it with her body;;;;
ㄴ But it didn't seem like she meant anything by it lololol. The people who were there just said it was cute.
ㄴ But there wouldn't be a problem if they were actually dating, right?
ㄴ Since the minor theory was debunked, as long as they're both okay with it, there's no issue.
***
"Hah."
I let out a deep sigh as I stared at the messenger window floating before me, then rejected all the friend requests I had received today.
To think a world announcement would go up the moment I obtained a Legendary weapon.
Due to this unforeseen variable, my full name had been revealed to the entire world.
Of course, I had accepted that my existence would be exposed to the faction war players during the World Boss raid.
My desire for the Legendary weapon was stronger than the risk of my unusual playstyle coming to light.
But the world announcement had blown things up more than I'd expected.
I might attract the attention of the game company. There was now a risk that my abnormally high synchronization rate would be discovered.
Still, if I wanted to continue living on the Astria Continent, it was something I would have to face eventually.
I can't hide forever.
I guess it's now or never.
Now that it's come to this, my life of hiding my existence is over.
[Red and White Guild]
[Guild Leader / Yin-Yang Master 'Chris' (Offline)]
[Vice Leader / Fighter 'Death of Death' (Offline)]
[Guild Member / Mage 'Beimerung' (Offline)]
[Guild Member / Spirit Master 'Cherni' (Do Not Disturb)]
....
....
The guild interface window showed the online status of the guild members.
DoD and Beimerung were offline, and Cherni seemed to be busy with something else.
I wanted to run bus routes with them to earn gold, but Chris had to go to work today for the first time in a while. In any case, I receive a basic salary even if I don't run buses with Chris.
In that case, I must make the most of this free time I have alone.
I glanced at the Legendary weapon I had just obtained, my very own 'Astaroth'.
If it were an Elite weapon, I would occasionally have to face berserk patterns due to a lack of damage, so I couldn't possibly run a bus solo at a decent speed.
But with this weapon, I can now run a bus by myself.
I had gradually gotten closer to Chris's party members through her.
And during the Green Dragon raid, I spent time with my new connections, the members of the Red and White guild, which lessened my aversion to people considerably.
The Rain who used to run away at the mere sight of a person's shadow had grown a lot.
*How long are you going to hide behind Chris?*
*You need to learn how to handle customers on your own now.*
*It's the first step toward socialization.*
After finishing my daily quests, I arrived at the 'Ancient Temple of Verbeia' and opened the area announcement chat window.
[Running a bus for the Ancient Temple of Verbeia. Might be a little slow, but I'll do it cheap.]
Hmm, is this okay?
Is it too long?
Let's rewrite it with a message that clearly conveys the meaning and grabs attention.
[★SAFE BUS RUNS★ ★CHEAPEST PRICES★]
Oh, this is good.
*Ping-*
Not even a few seconds after I sent the message in the area chat, my chat interface began to fill with whispers.
[Me! Me! I'll take 5 runs!]
[Heeheehee! I wanna ride!]
[Me me me me me]
[Are there still spots left!?]
[Snowy! Snowy!]
[Am I too late!?]
[Rain! Rain!]
[Hello. I'd like to inquire about a bus ride.]
[Is Chris-nim there too?]
...
...
"Hic...!"
I jumped.
On the way down to the temple's basement, the three female players who were my bus passengers approached and started talking to me.
"Thank you for letting my friends ride with us!"
"Wow, are you really running the bus solo? That's amazing! As expected of the first Legendary weapon owner in Astria Online!"
"So you can solo if you have full temple gear and a Legendary weapon. You must have practiced a ton, right? We're in for a good show!"
"I-It's nothing...."
I answered, hunching my body slightly.
Running a dungeon bus is a service industry where you get paid.
Naturally, I have to handle customers.
Fortunately, the first customers of 'Rain's Safe Bus Runs' were female players. I felt less intimidated by female players compared to male players.
The female Mage who first whispered me asked if her friends could join as soon as she entered the party and heard I was running the bus alone.
No matter how many people are running the bus, the rule is generally one passenger at a time.
This is because you receive a set amount of gold in exchange for funneling all the items to one person.
At first, I was going to refuse. But the customer said that she and her friends each needed items for different slots, so it was fine to split them.
If the customer was okay with it, then there was no problem. In return, I decided to charge them the price for two people instead of three.
A win-win situation for both the customer and the bus driver, made possible by a solo run.
The driver can take two or more passengers who need different weapons and accessories, and the customers can ride for cheaper than the price of a single person.
If I can make money running a solo bus like this, I might be able to pay Chris back sooner than I thought.
"Kyaa...! Look at your hair color! It's so pretty!"
"Oh my gosh, my, my. Your eyes are so bright and clear, too!"
"What are the RGB codes for your hair color?"
"Wh-What? Ah, that's."
Surrounded by the female customers, I began to stammer.
I was flustered by their barrage of questions.
My body tensed up and the world started to spin.
My face quickly crumpled as if I were about to cry.
*Dealing with strangers is still so hard.*