25. A User Named Rin Just Typed in Chat
25. A User Named Rin Just Typed in Chat
***
As she connected to Another World, Sua linked up her personal stream.
"The Crescent-Moon Weight really is an unusual weapon."
Sua had equipped a Unique-grade Crescent-Moon Weight.
Sua hadn't hesitated at all about buying a weapon from the Auction House.
She had plenty of money, but honestly, more than that, Crescent-Moon Weight weapons were so cheap that even a Unique-grade one gave her no reason to hesitate.
In fact, because so few users in Another World used Crescent-Moon Weights, most weapons in that category had prices that were scraping rock bottom.
They only got somewhat expensive at Mythic or Legendary grade, and even those were absurdly cheap compared to popular weapons like greatswords or one-handed swords.
Soon after, Sua fiddled with the blue cord tied around her arm and gave it a small swing.
Whoosh.
At the same time, the weight swung through the air on the blue cord tied to her arm.
But there was no sense of power or menace in the motion.
It looked like a child swinging a toy around.
[lolololololol]
[what are you even doing lololol?]
[so this is what a ranker looks like using a Crescent-Moon Weight for the first time]
[that thing is seriously a garbage weapon lololololololol]
[that Rin or whatever is a seriously weird bastard]
[fr after their videos got popular every random person tried Crescent-Moon Weight and then quit lolololololol]
[still, I thought Plea would be a little different]
[lolol is Plea flailing around for real?]
"Hey, everyone, I'm holding a Crescent-Moon Weight for the first time today. A baby's about to take its first steps, and you all want it to sprint before it can even walk?"
Sua, who had been looking at the chat window, let out a dry laugh and lightly scolded the chat.
Still, among the countless Another World users, she ranked 8th in Challenger Tier, which had only 200 players.
Even knowing most of chat was joking, seeing so many viewers talk down to her left Sua genuinely dumbfounded for the first time in ages, and a real laugh slipped out instead of an acted one.
Even so, Sua kept swinging the cord tied to her arm as if adjusting to its feel.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
The sound of the weight cutting through the air rang out again and again.
[Plea is a baby...]
[she called herself a baby lololololololol]
[no it's a metaphor you idiots lololololololol]
[did everyone clip Plea calling herself a baby? I just clipped it lolololol]
[lololololololololol]
[still, she looks better than other streamers?]
[rankers are just different, I guess, she's got talent]
Sua shot chat a sidelong glare, smirked, and suddenly grabbed the blue cord tied to her arm.
Then, as if thinking "no way," she gripped the cord hard and then pulled it lightly.
In other words, she was testing how the weapon responded to different amounts of force.
Creak.
Squeak.
Depending on the force she applied, the sound of the cord being pulled taut as if about to snap changed, but Sua knew the cord would never break.
That was the defining feature of the Crescent-Moon Weight, so the system simply did not allow the cord to break.
"...?"
What surprised her more was that the cord clearly stretched differently depending on the force she applied.
Once she confirmed it, a disbelieving laugh escaped Sua.
"...Wow."
Her head instantly filled with a jumble of thoughts.
And the biggest thought among them was: what kind of weapon even is this Crescent-Moon Weight?
Setting aside controlling the force of swinging her arm, she even had to adjust the strength of pulling the cord attached to her arm.
Even a single, simple swing of the arm involved—
two separate layers of force control.
While performing one motion, she had to split her force control into two. That meant the very concept of using this weapon was on a completely different level.
To put it another way, it was like swinging a greatsword while separately controlling its handle.
No, the more she thought about it, the more this was a realm beyond explanation.
'No... is this seriously insane?'
They made this as a weapon to use?
Thanks to her innate, natural talent, Sua understood the core of the Crescent-Moon Weight in a short time, but at the same time she couldn't help but be horrified.
The Crescent-Moon Weight was definitely a difficult weapon to handle.
That explained why there were no high-tier users of the weapon.
She couldn't help but understand the fundamental reason for it.
Even she had felt it the first few times she swung it. Ah, to use this properly, she'd need to swing nothing but a Crescent-Moon Weight for at least a few months to get a feel for it.
Then a new question arose.
'What the hell is this user called Rin...?'
Now that she'd swung a Crescent-Moon Weight herself, it was even more astonishing—they had actually used this weapon to freely parry opponents' attacks.
"Everyone! Has anyone who's used a Crescent-Moon Weight felt this? Do you have to control the force separately?"
Even though she roughly knew her viewers' tiers, Sua found herself asking without realizing it.
She wanted someone else to understand this too. She wondered if she was the only one surprised.
[???]
[lololololol what do you mean]
[control the force separately???]
[lololololol no Plea's talking about stuff only she knows again]
[ah lolol Plea has a sixth sense only she knows about lolololol]
[I think I know what she means?]
[yeah we all know you're pretending to know when you don't lolololololololol]
Sua, who had been checking the rapidly scrolling chat, hadn't expected much, so she just nodded slightly at the varied chat messages.
Of course. How would the Plea-lings notice something like this? She figured only people around Master or Grandmaster Tier and above would even have a chance of feeling it.
Then, once again, she carefully swung the Crescent-Moon Weight on the cord tied to her right arm.
Whoosh!
The Crescent-Moon Weight swung with a clearly different force than the first time. She felt the swinging weight trace a crescent moon and return toward her.
And at the same time, as she sharply twisted her right arm, the weight's return trajectory naturally twisted as well.
The moment Sua instinctively stepped back,
Step.
Thunk!
The weight slammed into the floor where she had originally been standing with a vicious sound.
"...This really is an insane weapon."
[holy shit what]
[????how did she do that]
[I only saw her swing it and twist her arm, but the weight stabbed into where Plea was standing?]
[single-digit rankers really are different, she's only been swinging it for a few minutes and she's already using it like that]
[watching her, talent really is a realm you can't imitate fr]
[wait but does that damage herself too?]
[Plea dodging because she knew it would come back at her is just ridiculous lololololol]
Watching the chat's reaction, Sua swung her arm once more.
Whoosh!
Now the weight moved somewhat familiarly, cutting through the air with a whoosh and tracing a crescent moon.
And she deliberately twisted her arm to send it shooting toward herself again.
WHIZZ!
Even as she predicted the trajectory of the weight shooting fiercely as if aiming for her heart, Sua stood still this time.
And soon the fast-flying weight reached her with a savage force, as if it would tear through her heart.
—Ting.
But unlike its terrifying appearance, a very light impact sound rang out and Sua's HP bar dropped.
The moment she saw her HP drop, Sua was so dumbfounded that she burst out laughing for real rather than as part of her act.
"Hey, everyone, this... it actually takes off my HP?"
[...holy shit my heart clenched watching that]
[she's seriously laughing and talking right after that looked like it pierced her heart?;]
[fr she's not called a crazy bitch for nothing]
[even if it doesn't hurt, she should feel it touching her chest, what the hell;]
[no, the creepiest part is she just waited without blinking lololololol]
[lololol virtual reality or not, isn't she scared when it rushes at her like that?]
[rankers were never normal to begin with lolololol]
[lololol are you guys watching Plea's stream for the first time?]
While watching the chat's reaction, she unconsciously fiddled with the weight.
The basic mechanic seemed to be launching the weight along a crescent-shaped arc.
And if it didn't strike the opponent or collide with something at the end, the weight would instead come back aiming at her.
Calling this a double-edged sword was laughable.
The risk was just too great.
Actually landing the weapon on an opponent's body or weapon was already a basic requirement.
But the moment the opponent dodged, this projectile weapon came flying straight back at her.
It was like having a handleless projectile come flying back at you.
Apparently the attached cord gave her some way to control it, but...
Whoosh.
Whoosh.
While swinging the Crescent-Moon Weight in small motions, Sua fell into thought, even forgetting that she was currently "on air."
"What do I do with this..."
She was muttering those words genuinely now, not as an act.
The Crescent-Moon Weight was a seriously dangerous weapon.
It was difficult to handle, but more importantly, the basic act of using it was unlike any other weapon.
It was a melee weapon, so she swung her arm, yet it also functioned at range—and on top of that, she had to control the force separately.
Even in a single swing of the arm, you had to separately control the force within it.
She could definitely get used to it with time.
Thinking about it now, not a few months—in a few weeks, she could probably use it decently enough.
But ironically, the moment she adapted to the Crescent-Moon Weight, her feel for other weapons would suffer.
Sua could easily predict that getting used to the Crescent-Moon Weight would throw off her feel for other weapons.
There probably wouldn't be a visible change in the Weapon Proficiency numbers shown in the Status Window.
The real problem was the huge sense of disconnect the player would feel when actually using other weapons.
Sua was afraid of that right now.
Weapon Proficiency as a system stat did not matter all that much. By Master Tier, it was little more than a supplementary system.
In practice, anyone who got used to the Crescent-Moon Weight would obviously feel thrown off when they switched to another weapon.
Even their original weapon would feel strange, and their skill would actually decline.
It was the exact opposite of the usual idea that understanding other weapons improved your overall skill.
And did she really need to accept that risk?
"...Hoo."
Sua let out a deep sigh and finally unequipped the Crescent-Moon Weight from her item window.
[??what]
[she seemed to be using it well, why unequip already?]
[Plea, are you seriously giving up already?]
[come on lololololol you think that crazy bitch would give up?]
[lmaooo the newbies watching Plea for the first time are really outing themselves today]
"You know... everyone."
Sua paused after opening with that and cleared her throat.
She was about to repeat what she'd said yesterday, which had been half bait.
Honestly, the thought that this user called Rin was clearly worse than her had been lurking underneath.
She understood that parrying freely was impressive, and that their control was nearly at the highest tier level.
But that didn't mean a Colosseum duel was decided by control alone.
So she had never seriously entertained the possibility that she would lose if they actually fought.
"That user Rin, you know. Seriously, I'm starting to think they might really be on my level."
This time, it slipped out as her genuine opinion before she realized it.
Now that she'd used a Crescent-Moon Weight herself, she couldn't even begin to gauge what kind of monster they were.
That comment from the streamer Hana's broadcast, that Rin hadn't even done placement matches. She'd brushed it off as a joke.
Now she realized Hana had meant it.
They really were just an unknown user because they didn't play ranked games.
She didn't know Rin's equipment level, but if they could handle a Crescent-Moon Weight that freely, then even at the lowest estimate, Rin was Master Tier.
No, they had the skill to shoot straight up to at least Grandmaster.
'...'
Her heart began to pound before she realized it.
What should she call this feeling?
Excitement... anticipation, maybe? No, whatever the emotion was, it did not matter.
By now, just as Gosu had suggested, the desire to fight Rin once was filling her thoughts.
[lolololololololololol]
[I guess Crescent-Moon Weight really is hard to use lololololololol]
[Rin or whatever? Are they trying to debut as a streamer? Why are you hyping them so much]
[fr did Plea get paid hundreds of millions by that Rin user? I've never seen her talk like this]
[still, a ranker is a ranker]
Then suddenly, a single hologram filled Sua's gaze.
—[Plea, the user called Rin just typed in chat.]
A notification from her manager, who had given her a heads-up beforehand.
It was the very notification she had been waiting for so eagerly.
A genuine smile spread across Sua’s face.
"Rin? You're watching the stream right now, aren't you?"