Let's Receive Some Teaching
Let's Receive Some Teaching
Thirteen months had already passed since [Demon's Saga] launched.
By now, the players had done a great deal of levelling.
I could feel it even from my end.
Right now, the number of people coming into this forest was only growing.
Granted, most of them got themselves killed, but at least they'd walked in because they thought it was worth a shot.
That was evidence of how much higher their levels had climbed.
Which figured. The bastards kept respawning, so I'd expected them to get better fast.
But still.
'Didn't think she'd already hit 100.'
I wasn't exactly looking down on it.
For one, Yoo Chae-rin had always looked pretty talented to me.
The boldness she showed in a fight, and her judgement, could be genuinely impressive at times.
It was just surprising that someone close to me had already reached 100.
Well, back when we'd hunted the mutated rabbit, she'd been past level 80.
And since over four months had passed since then, level 100 was easily within reach.
Seen this way, it almost felt a little slow.
'Come to think of it, what does level 100 actually mean?'
I got curious and asked her.
"Mm, roughly the very top tier of B-Rank adventurers, I'd say."
I soon got my answer. B-Rank Adventurer.
A rank that fell short of A-Rank, but one you absolutely couldn't dismiss.
These were people who ranked among the top in the world of those who made a living by fighting.
The Otherworlders had now reached the ranks of the strong even by this world's standards.
Of course, they still couldn't touch monsters like S-Rank adventurers or Knight Commanders...
Still, it was impressive no matter how you looked at it.
While I was mulling all that over, my curiosity wandered to another question.
"Now that you mention it, what's the top Otherworlder's level right now?"
"Ah, rank 1? Let's see... probably around 118 by now. They hit A-Rank a good while ago."
"...Hmm."
I made a low noise.
It was definitely high.
An A-Rank adventurer in just one year since the Otherworlders had started appearing—their growth rate was incredibly fast.
But how to put it... I got the sense the brakes had been applied.
Right away, four months ago, the rank 1 level Yoo Chae-rin had told me about had been 103.
And now, after more than four months, they'd squeezed out only 15 levels.
Could you say they were half-assing the game? Even that didn't seem likely.
Anyone good enough to hit rank 1 would have poured money and time into it. And yet that was all the levels they'd gained.
She must have noticed my doubt. Before I could ask, she provided the answer.
"Thing is, once you get to around level 95, growth gets noticeably slower. I hit that wall too, and it took forever from there."
Right, it's standard gaming logic that levelling gets harder the higher you climb.
And it wasn't like this was some game where you could grind down monsters forever.
They weren't just clicking—the players had to move their own bodies.
Ultimately, if you can't back it up with individual skill, you can't keep up with the physical ability of rampaging monsters.
Then you fall behind.
A wall naturally forms.
It couldn't be helped. From here on, they'd have to break through with talent or hard work.
On top of that, I'd heard there still wasn't a single Otherworlder who could use Sword Aura.
Having skill points didn't seem to mean you could just learn anything, either.
'Phew, that's a relief.'
Having heard that much, I let out an internal sigh of relief.
I'd been worried the Otherworlders would snowball so hard they'd end up taking my head.
Thankfully, that looked like it would take a while yet.
Especially since lately I'd been nursing this suspicion that maybe I was actually a total fuckin' scrub...
Sure, I did recognize I was on the strong side, but demons were all I'd run into back to back recently.
I couldn't help worrying a little.
Anyway, after I'd heard her out.
I offered her a small congratulations.
"Anyway, congrats on 100. Honestly I don't know much about Otherworlder levels... but that's gotta be pretty high, right?"
I mean, she'd come all this way to brag about it.
Probably wanted a compliment or something like that.
She tended to drop by for trivial reasons like this.
Throw her some offhand praise like this, chat for a bit, and she'd go on her way.
That was what I'd been thinking.
But it seemed she'd come today with more than just that in mind.
She fidgeted and stared at me.
That expression had "I've got more to say" written all over it.
I tilted my head and asked.
"What?"
"Well, I have a favor to ask..."
*
[Yuha]
[Yoha~]
[The two of them are together again today lol]
[Chae-rin I hate you when I see you my world just crumbles]
The chat window scrolled rapidly before her eyes.
A bright red recording indicator blinked right in front of her.
Yor thought it felt like it'd been a while since he'd appeared on her broadcast.
[Yor sir did you know? the streamer bitch went off and played with another guy while ditching you]
[Me]
[His name was Yohan and he had a nice voice haha]
[Rock]
[How dare you sneak off on a guy trip while you were on break?]
[As if you could hide it~ It all got exposed on Kim Mari's stream~]
[Me]
[Sigh I need to tell my brother about this...]
[Rock]
The moment she turned the stream on, her viewers were already trying to torch her.
He saw all of it, but ignored it like usual.
If nothing else, it was a relief that the bizarre stunt he'd pulled back then didn't seem to have gotten out.
[btw if he's a virgin I kinda wanna pop him lol]
...He made a point of clearing comments like that, the ones he glimpsed here and there, out of his head.
"Hey, all of you shut up. You all wanna get banned?"
Luckily, Chae-rin put out that sudden fire herself by coming on a bit strong.
Normally, controlling chat that harshly on stream wasn't great for viewer sentiment.
But Chae-rin wasn't worried.
The content up next would calm the viewers down.
They were currently standing across from each other in a wide clearing in the forest.
The composition made it look like they were about to fight.
And in fact, both of them were holding their daggers.
Yor rolled the dagger in his hand idly and asked.
"So, you want to spar with me...?"
[Whoa]
[That's a real roundabout way of saying you're gonna commit suicide]
When I'd first heard it, I'd wondered what she meant. What kind of adorable statement was this.
No matter how much she'd hit level 100, wasn't the skill gap obvious?
Of course, she hadn't asked thinking she'd actually win.
It was more that she wanted to be taught.
She fidgeted and spoke up.
"Yesss, actually, I've been feeling a bit of a wall lately."
Her level was still going up, sure.
But honestly, it wasn't a level she'd earned fair and square.
Because she'd gained it by hunting multiple monsters weaker than herself rather than monsters at her own level.
Were level 80-90 monsters and level 100 monsters really that far apart...?
Talented as she was, she was gradually finding it hard to handle monsters of her own level.
And in [Demon's Saga], a game all about skill, that was a massive problem.
It meant someday she would hit her limit.
The rankers who'd walked ahead had already proven that.
The ones who'd pushed ahead fast by farming weaker monsters had eventually been naturally weeded out with time.
Chae-rin had found herself thinking that her own future might not be so different.
That was why she'd asked Yor to spar.
At least as far as she knew, there was no one as strong as him.
His being able to use a dagger, even though his main weapon was a spear, also played a part.
He would surely present her with a concrete path forward.
She'd of course promised payment later, too. About three pizza-breads' worth.
"I'm coming, then...?"
After giving the viewers a brief explanation of the content, Chae-rin gripped her dagger in reverse.
She could see Yor far off, nodding easily.
She immediately rushed at him.
...And to give you the conclusion first.
She got her ass handed to her.
Without landing a single effective hit.
The one attack he'd landed, after five minutes—saying he'd at least try to be considerate—was all it took; Chae-rin retired on that one hit.
The gap in skill was utterly overwhelming.
Was this even possible... wait, was he even human to begin with?
Well, calling someone with Demon's Blood human had always been a little iffy.
"Hah, hah, so how is it...? Do you see anything I need to fix...?"
Chae-rin asked between ragged breaths.
The answer that came back was shocking.
"...Dunno."
"?"
"No idea. How the hell would I know just from watching once?"
It wasn't like he'd ever formally learned how to fight.
Had he ever taken sword lessons from a knight, or been taught by some local adventurer?
He'd just swung his weapon any which way until he got like this.
...Still, even if he'd never been properly taught,
He did know the fastest way to get better.
Live combat.
Just keep bashing away and you'll figure it out on your own. Whatever. He'd survived the same way.
"Rest if you need to, then come at me again. No, wait. How about I attack this time?"
"...Huhh?"
Chae-rin asked back with a bewildered face.
And so her hell began.