A Beginner's First Steps 1

Shaking hands with Han Sea cleared the quest, and I received a rather strange reward.

Han Sea's broadcast station? Probably not an actual TV studio — more like some kind of internet board they just called a station. I wanted to log in right then and there, but unfortunately I had no idea how, and a filming drone was staring me down with relentless focus.

Maybe I was being overly paranoid, but the last thing I needed was to get caught on camera rolling my eyes around at empty air and invite suspicion. After all, I'd been watching Han Sea's eye movements myself and thinking, status window? Chat window?

Before I was born into this world, how many obsessive freaks had there been when it came to women? In Japan, a stalker had tracked down an idol's house from the reflection in her eyes in a selfie. In Korea, all kinds of perverts used to pick apart every little detail of female streamers, chewing them over and savoring every scrap. I remembered all of it.

A beauty of Han Sea's caliber would have more than a few of those types hanging off her. That much was a given.

"If I have the aptitude for magic, what do I do next?"

"We head back to the Adventurer's Guild, pick up some basic self-defense techniques… then take a trial run on the first floor of the Tower."

"Self-defense?"

"Mages who become adventurers always travel the Tower in small parties, so they need to learn how to use their staff like a club. A mage's spells aren't infinite — there are situations where you have to conserve mana. Say a near-dead monster makes a last desperate charge, breaks through the front line, and comes barreling at the rear. You can't always respond with a spell right away. And if the thing's already on death's door, dumping mana on it is a waste. So you learn simple staff techniques to hold it off until a party member can finish it."

There'd been a novice party once where a few goblins ambushed the rear line. The panicking mage never even thought to swing her staff — she just dumped the spell she'd been charging and roasted the teammate who'd rushed over to help. An Advanced Adventurer she knew had been there as a guide, so nobody died, but the warrior with the nicely toasted face and the mage who'd nearly gotten someone killed both walked away with matching trauma and retired to the countryside. It was a famous story mid-tier adventurers loved to retell over drinks whenever a novice party — especially one with a mage — was in earshot.

And heading into the Tower on day one was way too fast, but I didn't have a choice.

A new quest had appeared.

An unhelpful, bare-bones quest window that didn't even tell me what the reward was. But now that I knew these weren't hallucinations — that they were actual quests progressing in real time — I couldn't just ignore them. I still couldn't check the reward, but I'd watched the holographic text wriggle and update right in front of my eyes.

Once I'd roughly finished explaining why mages learned staff techniques, we made it back to the rear grounds of the guild. The log I'd dragged over ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and planted earlier was still standing firm — nobody had touched it.

"Um, so I just hit this log?"

"Gear first."

"Gear?"

"Yeah. Unless you've got something prepared already, the warehouse has used equipment for novice adventurers. Start with that, make some money, then buy new gear."

"Wow~ The Adventurer's Guild is really good to beginners."

In reality it was a cozy arrangement between the Adventurer's Guild and the Blacksmiths' Guild involving secondhand equipment. Most adventurers overhauled their entire kit when they jumped from novice to intermediate rank, and the guild bought up the used gear that was otherwise a pain to dispose of.

"It's a rental system, so the period's pretty short. If you've scraped together enough funds, you commission new gear. If not, you buy the used stuff and tough it out until you can afford better."

Of course, most novice adventurers ended up just buying the used equipment outright. Country bumpkins who came to the city chasing overnight riches weren't exactly in a position to outfit themselves with a full set of shiny new gear. For a world based on a game, it was weirdly realistic in places like this. And that was how the simplest market logic of all — buy low, sell high — came full circle.

With that, I left Han Sea standing blankly in front of the log and headed for the counter.

"Gonna use the warehouse."

"I saw you leave and come back earlier. Buying gear for that pretty junior of yours?"

"Went to the Magic Tower. Turns out she's got the aptitude for magic."

"My, my. So she's not just a pretty face. I'd better start making a good impression."

Alice, still at the counter, gave me a pretty little smile with her eyes. Normally you'd fill out a few forms and go through the proper checkout procedure… but I was a well-known Advanced Adventurer in this city. And when you were on friendly terms with a guild receptionist, that kind of paperwork was easy to skip.

The commission I brought in from a single job run was worth more than dozens of these novice hand-me-downs.

"Handle the paperwork for me."

"Just with words?"

"I'll grab you something next time I take the junior out to eat."

"I hear there's a new café on Shop Street. Apparently it's really popular with female adventurers."

She grinned and handed me a key. Information useful for building favorability with Han Sea — I nodded and took it.

Well, the warehouse was nothing but old junk. No point lingering. Grab something fast and go. She had that slender, delicate frame unique to women, so a small-sized leather armor set and a plain, elongated staff. Not a shred of style to any of it, but what could you do?

The rookies ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠who tried to look cool in beginner gear all ended up as monster shit.

Ten years of grinding as an adventurer meant you'd heard every kind of human story imaginable. The country boy who idolized the knight-heroes of legend, insisted on wearing a cape, snagged it on a bush, and got carved into pieces right there. The novice mage who got full of himself just for being a mage, climbed the Tower in a robe, and had his spine shattered by a hail of thrown rocks.

This wasn't a world where the less you wore, the higher your defense.

I wrapped the gear in some cloth from the warehouse and headed back to the training ground. Han Sea was waiting with her eyes sparkling at me — the level of expectation she was putting on used equipment was almost stressful.

"I grabbed something roughly your size… the blacksmiths cleaned it up, but it's still used gear, so don't get your hopes too high."

"Okay!"

Whether she was just fascinated by armor itself, Han Sea's eyes glittered as she unwrapped the old cloth like it was a present from Santa. What came out was, of course, leather armor that had never once considered looking cool. Still, I'd picked the best-conditioned set available — it had been oiled until it shone.

In the real world, leather armor was a jack-of-all-trades that lost to cloth and plate in every category. But this was a fantasy world — a world based on a game. Monsters dropped leather without anyone needing to slaughter livestock, so it didn't lose to cloth armor on productivity, and with mana in the mix, it could hold its own on protection too.

"If you weren't a mage, you'd need to layer leather over cloth armor. But since you are, you can skip the cloth."

Being leather, it didn't wrap the whole body, leaving some areas exposed — but in a world with mana, an adventurer's own magic could cover that much. She'd be in the rear line as a mage, so she could trust her shield spells. As long as a surprise attack didn't take out a vital point, she'd be fine.

They say the face completes the look — and once she pulled the leather armor over the plain cloth clothes that screamed beginner gear, she looked like a pretty warrior maiden straight out of a game advertisement.

"Nothing uncomfortable?"

"Nope! You've got a good eye — it fits perfectly!"

…I hadn't adjusted it to her body type. Had the game system resized the armor on its own?

From the streaming jargon that other people couldn't hear, to the stat windows I couldn't see, to the existence of that filming drone ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠camera — I'd been living a gutter-level existence built on raw physical power, while Han Sea seemed to be enjoying a full fantasy life with game-system assists.

Then again, just looking at intermediate-and-above adventurer gear made you feel like you'd stepped into a game world, so maybe it was only natural. Novices stuffed themselves into cloth armor and helmets, fighting dehydration every day for fear of dying to a goblin's poison needle or a rock to the head. But from intermediate rank up, people wore gear that was actually cool and beautiful.

My own armor and shield were magic gear engraved with dazzling, luxurious patterns, after all.

"I don't know staff techniques well enough myself, so we'll hire an Intermediate Adventurer later for proper form. For now, let's break in the weapon and armor a bit, then head into the Tower."

"Yes, sir!"

"Excuse me."

A heavy-armor tank whose entire toolkit was crushing people with superior physical ability — what business would someone like that have with delicate staff technique proficiency? That ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was what I was thinking as I watched Han Sea bounce her shoulders, settling into a stance in front of the log, when someone spoke up.

The bald hammer warrior who'd been staring our way with burning intensity for a while now.

"Sir Roland. I overheard that you're looking for a staff instructor."

One-handed blunt weapon, a massive shield, clanking plate armor, and a shy expression that didn't match his rough face at all.

"I'd like to offer my help… if that's all right? Ah — I'm not asking for compensation!"

—Is he a fan of mine?