38. Claymore
38. Claymore
***
'The more I look at her... she really is fascinating.'
They had only spent a few hours together, but Sua was thinking exactly that as she watched Serin.
'Mysterious.' No other word fit her better. Before getting into Another World, Sua had thought she'd met all kinds of people, yet Serin still felt different from all of them.
She seemed perfect, yet oddly scatterbrained.
She seemed to go about things casually, yet whenever she actually did something, she exceeded expectations.
The person called Rin she had faced inside Another World had certainly seemed flawless in and of herself.
Until Sua had used her Awakening Skill, Counteroffensive, not a single one of her attacks had properly landed. When she experienced that 2:0 total defeat, she had felt as though she had run into yet another wall.
That genuinely was how she'd felt by the end.
"...Ugh."
But the silver-haired woman in front of her now, blankly taking sip after sip of milk, was a different story.
The way she couldn't handle spicy food at all, yet had ordered it because I'd brought it up and was now suffering for it; the fact that, when I thought about it, she'd kept quiet because she was considering me—there were all these oddly human sides to her.
Even moments ago, watching Serin steady herself and carry her first stream naturally, Sua had thought, 'She can really pull it off when she puts her mind to it.'
Somehow a strange person.
A mysterious person.
She seemed easy to figure out yet somehow elusive, and Sua's impression of Serin slowly took shape.
Thinking that, Sua feigned nonchalance as she spoke.
"Serin, is it still that spicy for you?"
She reached for the tteokbokki with her fork, thinking she'd managed to make it a little less spicy.
Then she tried it herself.
"Hmm..."
She'd lived alone for years and had plenty of cooking experience, and to her it tasted perfectly fine.
She'd toned down the heat without ruining the flavor, and honestly, when she tasted it, it didn't seem all that spicy.
But looking at the woman across from her with such a miserable expression, she realized just how much spicy-food tolerance varied from person to person.
Clack.
Serin set down her cup and looked at Sua with a slightly miserable expression.
"Sua... this isn't spicy to you?"
"Honestly, for me... it's just perfectly spicy and delicious."
As she said that, she speared two rice cakes this time.
From the look of it, everything except what I'd eaten was destined for the food waste.
"Then do you want to just take it as is?"
As she said that, Serin gestured with her eyes at the container of tteokbokki, and Sua smiled slightly as she looked at Serin.
"Serin. You know that's basically dumping your leftovers on me, right?"
"Ah, sorry..."
"And I have to start streaming as soon as I get back, so taking food with me is a bit awkward."
Once Sua started a stream, she tended to stay live for a long time, so she rarely got around to eating leftovers afterward.
"Agh..."
Watching Serin stare at the tteokbokki with a conflicted expression, wondering what to do with it, Sua felt something strangely off.
Something about Serin's behavior and way of speaking didn't seem to match the beautiful face in front of her. Sua couldn't quite put her finger on it, but for a moment, that was how it felt.
Ordinary people tended to act in a way that matched their outward appearance.
It wasn't really about whether someone was attractive or unattractive. Put simply, people tended to 'act the way they looked.'
If someone was handsome or pretty, they all knew their appearance was outstanding and knew how to use it.
But Serin, as she appeared now, seemed barely aware of her own looks.
Yet somehow those mismatched sides of Serin blended together and made her seem even more charming.
'Is she just a charming person in and of herself?'
Enough that she thought, if she were a man, she might fall for her on the spot.
Feeling like she was gradually having strange thoughts, Sua shook her head slightly.
Once again, Sua found herself thinking Serin's looks were almost unfair.
"Why?"
Maybe she had been staring too openly while thinking, because Serin looked at her with a puzzled expression, and Sua smiled slightly and said,
"No, it's nothing."
And so, until she returned home, Sua thought of Serin as a fascinating person.
***
—Greatsword.
When people hear 'greatsword,' most probably picture something similar. Surprisingly, though, greatswords come in several forms, and the image varies from person to person.
Some picture a huge, rugged slab of a sword—the type known as a 'buster sword.'
Others picture a 'two-handed sword': a blade meant for both hands, relatively slender and decorated with ornate fittings.
And others imagine all sorts of different greatswords.
And now.
The greatsword Serin chose from the Auction House after logging into Another World was a buster-sword type.
"It really is absurdly huge."
Serin stared at the greatsword and let out a small sound of dazed amazement.
It felt like someone had taken a giant lump of iron, stuck a handle on it, and insisted it was a sword.
—Whoooosh!
When she gripped it with both hands and gave it a swing, it kicked up an enormous blast of air unlike anything she'd felt before.
"Hup."
The weapon's heavy weight pressed into her hands, forcing her to grip it with all her strength.
Even though she had thought about the weight before picking it up and had braced herself to keep her balance, even she found it too much to handle.
No—Serin really was struggling with it.
Another World's Status Window had no separate Strength or Agility stats, but characters still had different base strength and agility depending on their class.
Serin's Dancer class was known for its high agility.
Its recommended weapons—one-handed swords, rapiers, and even the Crescent-Moon Weight—were all relatively light, and its recommended playstyle was the classic 'hit-and-run.'
Simply put, the Dancer class itself was focused on "striking and evading," meaning it did not suit a weapon like a greatsword at all.
Then there was the greatsword Serin had just bought from the Auction House.
It was a relatively cheap Rare-grade greatsword.
There was no need to bother checking its detailed stats or item effects.
She hadn't planned to use it for long; she'd bought it mainly for show.
In fact, she'd chosen it almost entirely for its appearance, and now Serin was already regretting that choice.
"It's damn heavy. Ha..."
After only a few swings, she finally stopped.
She hoisted the absurdly huge greatsword with both hands and rested it on her shoulder to support the weight.
It was not just uncomfortable to move; it was at the point where she would be better off just discarding the greatsword.
It felt like it weighed around 30 to 40 kg. Swinging it one-handed was out of the question, so she had to hold it with both hands and put real strength into it. There were more problems than she'd expected.
Her current character wasn't the body she'd had in the world of Black Ark. Worse, there was no way here to build up her strength, which made using this greatsword even more impractical.
For a moment, she wondered whether she'd be able to handle it properly before the stream.
On yesterday's first stream, she'd practically boasted to the viewers, getting them excited to see a Dancer using a greatsword.
"..."
After thinking for a moment, Serin eventually sighed and unequipped the greatsword.
Swinging something this unwieldy just for the fantasy of it was close to impossible in her current situation.
So she compromised.
Still a greatsword, just one with a manageable weight.
She thought that if she could hold the greatsword with both hands, swing it, and still land parries, it would look cool to the viewers.
So she picked out another type of greatsword from the Auction House.
—Claymore.
A claymore was a two-handed sword in the greatsword category, and probably the most straightforward type among them.
She chose a Rare claymore.
It weighed 8 kg and was about 150 cm long—perfectly ordinary specifications.
Greatswords were popular, but even a Rare item cost only around a million Silver Coins at most, so she bought it without hesitation.
*
————————
Weapon: Asvalt Claymore.
Grade: Rare.
Base Effect: Attack Power +640.
Additional Effect: Weight Reduction Stage 1 applied.
————————
*
After receiving the item from the Auction House, she equipped it in her Equipment Window.
"Oh."
A claymore with a deep reddish-brown blade and black hilt settled into her grip.
Maybe because the first greatsword she had held had such an absurd weight, the greatsword now in her hands actually felt quite light.
Whoosh!
She took a two-handed stance and swung. The feel was completely different from the greatsword she'd tried before.
The blade was thin, with a remarkably long reach for a sword.
As she admired the elegant reddish-brown blade reflecting the faint light, she smiled without realizing it.
'This is it.'
This felt just right.
It handled well enough for parrying and posed no real problem in close combat, making it feel just right.
It lacked the Crescent-Moon Weight's lightness and the cold feel of the cord and weight wrapped around her right arm.
Instead, its solid heft and the cold touch of iron captivated her.
Even if it was not the giant greatsword of her fantasies, she thought this claymore was quite cool in its own way.
—Clang!
She could almost hear the fierce clash of blades already.
That would surely be another kind of fun.
***
About thirty minutes had passed since the stream started.
She'd spent the first part of the stream chatting with viewers, and now she'd just logged into Another World.
While looking at the chat window, she swung the equipped greatsword widely through the air.
Whoosh!
As the blade cut the air with a sharp whistle, I checked my stream in one corner of my vision.
—9,254 viewers.
It had not even been an hour since she turned on the stream, but today the viewer count was abnormally high.
Then, suddenly.
Ding-a-ling!!
『Ras404 donated 50,000 won!』
<Crazy greatsword dancer lmaoooo>
At the notification, I nodded slightly.
"...Thank you for the 50,000 won donation."
50,000 won certainly wasn't a small amount, so I found it a little surprising that some viewers were actually donating exactly 50,000 won—the minimum amount I'd set.
After settling on exactly how I felt about donations during yesterday's first stream, honestly, whenever one came in, my reaction was mostly just, 'Oh, someone donated to me.'
[Crazy she really brought out a greatsword lololololol]
[what is this magic that turns her into a female cam streamer the second she logs into Another World?]
[lololololololololol]
[Rin's voice is just unfair]
[She's really doing greatsword Dancer?]
[The character voice is her real voice but there's zero dissonance, what?]
The PC stayed on, linked to the Another World capsule and handling the stream output.
The most surprising part was that I could control my own stream through my character inside Another World.
Controlling the stream through my character's movements felt strange and fascinating. It really drove home how far technology had come.
"Ah, how is it, viewers? Can you hear my voice well?"
Before starting Ranked Matchmaking, I kept swinging the greatsword to get more used to it, speaking to chat between swings.
[Yeah I can hear you]
[Yes]
[Start ranked matchmaking right away gogo]
[Come to think of it, what tier is Rin right now?]
[I love your voice so much!!]
[You probably don't need to touch the settings]
Once I was satisfied there were no problems with the stream, I was ready to get into the actual gameplay.
Then a chat message asking about my tier caught my eye. I fiddled with a few holograms as I answered.
"Ah, and my current tier is Gold 3."
Even if I were a viewer, I would find it hard to understand my current tier, but I could not hide my tier now.
Simply because I had not had time to play more ranked.
My win-streak bonus was still intact. I'd even skipped two divisions at a time along the way, but I was still only Gold. I figured it might take more than a hundred games before I reached my true tier.
[?????]
[Only Gold?]
[lolololololololololololol]
[No what lololololololol]
[So Plea lost to a Gold?]
As I expected, they were having a hard time believing my current tier.
"Actually, it's only been a few days since I started playing ranked, so I'm still climbing."
So I added a few words to help the viewers understand.
As I said that, I also changed the stream title.
—Stream Title: Dancer Who Uses a Greatsword
"I'll climb fast, so it'll be fun for you viewers to watch, too."
I wasn't trying to stomp low-ranked players, but that was simply the situation I was in.
My tier would rise quickly, but along the way I, my opponents, and probably even the viewers would all see the matches as one-sided stomps.
But from a streaming perspective, low-rank stomping actually had a big advantage. In fact, on places like NewTube, stomping videos by pros or high-tier users were quite popular.
'Because they're fun to watch.'
There was the satisfaction of easily defeating opponents, plus the novelty of seeing a Dancer fight with a greatsword.
That in itself gives the viewer considerable satisfaction.
So that was exactly the feeling I intended to give the people watching my stream.
There was the satisfaction of watching me win easily, plus the novelty of seeing a Dancer fight with a greatsword.
I thought that alone would be enough to draw the viewers' interest.
—Ding-a-ling!
The sound of a ranked queue popping.
Serin gripped the reddish-brown greatsword with both hands and raised it.