Classic Game Maniacs (1)
Classic Game Maniacs (1)
To be honest, in this world, magic wasn't much different from a stagnating field of study.
When I first moved into this house, I didn't go around telling the neighbors I was a "Mage" either.
The reason was simple.
In an era where magic was steadily fading away, calling yourself a Mage just made you look desperately pitiful.
If you asked me what it felt like, it was a lot like introducing yourself as a grad student.
The only difference being that a grad student might still have hope for the future, whereas a Mage had none.
In a world where the news showed elves smoking cigarettes, Orcs firing guns, and dwarves in tactical exosuits robbing gold depositories.
I figured the ruined public perception of Mages was inevitable.
In fact, that was exactly how most of the Mages I'd encountered after coming to this world turned out to be.
It was more fitting to call them "frauds" than Mages.
So naturally,
I didn't want to be a Mage either.
But I didn't have many options.
Even a short sprint would send my heart pounding like crazy, and a single scratch meant I'd have to live with a mouthful of antibiotics.
I wasn't freakishly strong like someone who could tear concrete bare-handed, nor did I have any special abilities or a genius-level hacking talent.
The world screamed at me that the path of a Mage was my only choice.
(To be fair, I was the one who picked this shitty character.)
For the record, I did try shooting guns a lot, but I never managed to use them as anything more than a secondary weapon.
It wasn't that I couldn't shoot at all—I was a military veteran, after all.
It was just that everyone around me to compare myself to was world-class.
Catherine or Andrea... hell, even Drex, whose main role was hacking, handled guns far better than I did.
In the end, the only path left for me was to be a Mage.
And that was where the next problem lay.
I knew from the character settings before entering the game that I had outstanding magical talent, but there wasn't a single person around who could actually teach me magic.
Considering I first landed in a garbage dump when I fell into this world, and that it took several years just to claw my way out of that dump, the problem had been quite serious.
Back when I was living in the dump, I agonized over it endlessly.
How could I learn magic?
Thankfully, the answer turned out to be right beside me.
Since it happened to cross my mind, I connected to the Net Space to look up my old teacher.
I figured I'd at least leave my regards.
『Real Mage of the Machine Age Channel』
15 subscribers · 128 videos
......The sorrow of an unskilled professional.
You could see it just from this video channel alone.
To me, it was nothing less than a precious channel that saved my life.
But to the rest of the world, it was a trash channel dispensing useless information.
I left a comment greeting them, saying I had learned well and was putting it to good use.
It had already been several years since any new video was uploaded.
And the channel creator, my teacher, had never responded—not with a like or a comment—to any of the messages I'd left so far.
I found that fact terribly sad.
4. Classic Game Enthusiasts (1)
I've mentioned it before, but my hobby is gaming.
I quite enjoyed virtual reality games, too.
However, after Eve started eating up most of my data capacity, I hadn't been able to enjoy them for very long stretches.
I did order a high-spec data module for delivery this time, but I had no idea when it would arrive.
Apparently, the delivery truck got attacked by an Orc vagrant or something.
So today, as usual, I logged into the classic game (by cyberpunk standards) that I'd been playing.
The game's graphics were similar to that one game from my past life where the Alliance and Horde fight each other.
When I logged in, a panoramic view of a quiet village filled the monitor.
It wasn't just this village, actually; the whole game was on the quiet side.
Even glancing at the corner of the screen, no chat logs came up.
The screen was only filled with repetitive messages from static NPCs.
Well, that was only natural.
Who would play a trash game like this?
Maybe I did, with the feeling of someone eating pineapple pizza out of homesickness, but still.
Visiting the net site that ran the game made the reasons more concrete.
First off, updates had stopped a long time ago.
I had no idea why they hadn't just shut down the service and were still running the game.
......But so what.
As long as I could enjoy it, that was all that mattered.
I hammered the jump key pointlessly.
My character appeared on the monitor, leaping into the air with a low-quality animation.
Mm, this garbage-tier control feel.
I thought I'd never experience this in a cyberpunk world.
I was truly grateful they made a game like this.
As I was wandering around the village like that, I spotted an ID.
For reference, since there were hardly any people roaming around,
just seeing a moving user made me glad.
[ Tokkigyeongdyu-nim (Archer) ]
...That's an ID I've seen somewhere.
Who was it again?
"Ah."
The sound escaped my mouth before I knew it.
I remembered.
That guy, Tokkigyeongdyu—the bastard who stole my hunting spot and PKed me that one time.
For a moment, I almost got angry.
But soon after, I decided to forgive him with a generous heart.
Anyway, making enemies in a game with only a handful of users would just make it hard to play.
The sheer fact that he was still playing the game without quitting was reason enough for me to forgive this guy.
.......
But come to think of it, this person wasn't exactly a model citizen either.
Did he work as a home security guard—a mercenary—like me?
Now that I thought about it, it was a weekday afternoon, so it was a bit early to be enjoying a game.
He wasn't in a special situation like I was.
Seeing someone enjoying the game so diligently was kind of fascinating.
A good idea popped into my head.
I moved my scurrying character.
The destination was where Tokkigyeongdyu's character was.
[ I am a real mage (Warrior): hihi ]
I didn't know if he remembered me or not.
First, just in case, I sent a greeting chat. If he remembered me and started dishing out profanity, I planned to run away immediately.
Tokkigyeongdyu's character, which had seemed to be standing still and lurking, moved.
[ Tokkigyeongdyu-nim (Archer): What do you want? ]
Good, not a lurker.
And this was a good level of response.
He didn't seem to remember my character.
That was just the nature of the people playing this game.
Kindness aside, if someone initiated a conversation through chat, they would answer no matter what.
Maybe because newbies were a precious commodity in this game.
Anyway, having confirmed Tokkigyeongdyu's response, I continued chatting.
[ I am a real mage (Warrior): Looks like you're a similar level to me, want to party up? ]
I typed the chat as kindly as possible.
For the record, by normal standards, this level of effort was basically honorifics in the net space.
[ I am a real mage (Warrior): warrior is a fucking useless class, hard to hunt, help plz ]
I even went so far as to play the sympathy card.
Since archer was a noble class, I honestly hadn't expected much, but Tokkigyeongdyu's reply was surprisingly fast.
[ Tokkigyeongdyu-nim (Archer): yeah ]
[ I am a real mage (Warrior): Oh, thanks. ]
He's not rejecting a warrior class?
This guy definitely seemed different from before.
Maybe he'd been a decent fellow all along.
After that, things were very cozy.
[ Tokkigyeongdyu-nim (Archer): Tank better. ]
[ I am a real mage (Warrior): yep ]
How was a warrior squishier than an archer?
I died once.
[ Tokkigyeongdyu-nim (Archer): Manage the aggro well. ]
[ I am a real mage (Warrior): Okay. ]
Thankfully, there was a system for resurrecting party members.
After that, I died three more times.
[ Tokkigyeongdyu-nim (Archer): Just stay back. ]
[ I am a real mage (Warrior): Understood, sir. ]
I came to a realization.
The cold, hard fact was that the warrior was a trash class.
I should have just played a Mage here too.
In the end, when time was up and we finished hunting,
though it wasn't my intention, things ended up looking like I'd gotten power-leveled.
My pride as a warrior was a little shredded.
But it was fine.
The speed of experience gain, which I could never achieve as a warrior, mattered more than my pride.
Even so, since it looked like I was being unilaterally carried, I felt a little sorry.
[ I am a real mage (Warrior): I'm gonna stop here for today lol; look at the time. ]
You probably wanted to send me off anyway.
But you couldn't easily send me off because you were worried that letting me go might make the newbie quit the game....
I'll voluntarily leave the party myself....
I was directing my own expulsion drama, but.
Tokkigyeongdyu(-nim) typed a chat.
[ Tokkigyeongdyu-nim (Archer): Again next time. ]
[ I am a real mage (Warrior): Whoa, you'll party with me next time too? ]
[ Tokkigyeongdyu-nim (Archer): Sending a friend request. ]
I ended up typing in genuine honorifics without realizing it.
A notification window popped up right after.
《 Tokkigyeongdyu-nim (Archer) has sent a friend request. 》
This was real.
What the hell, did this person have serious masochistic tendencies?
[ I am a real mage (Warrior): I'm the one who's grateful, but is this really okay? ]
[ Tokkigyeongdyu-nim (Archer): yeah, see you next time. ]
Tokkigyeongdyu must have been planning to log off too.
That chat was the last, and their character turned transparent and disappeared.
The greyed-out ID remaining in my friends list told me that what had just happened was real.
There really weren't any living saints around.
Even if our first meeting was a connection forged through PK,
looking deeper, they just seemed like someone who genuinely enjoyed hunting.
Anyway, I felt really good.
Because I'd earned in a single moment the experience points that would have taken me three days to grind as a warrior class.
"Fucking score."
[I request that you make me an ID so I can play together with you as well.]
It was a tempting offer, but regrettably, it was impossible.
You can only make one ID per account....
[In that case, I inquire whether it is permissible to hack the game and create an ID.]
.......
Yeah, that felt a bit wrong too.
* * *
"......."
A dark room.
A short woman sat in front of a monitor, playing a game.
Soon, a man opened the door and came in, looking at the woman as he spoke.
"It's time to head out for the mission. What are you still doing?"
"......."
"Ah, this game? You're probably the only one who actually plays this."
"...There are others."
"What do you mean there are others? The hunting wasn't even fun—agh. Put the knife away!"
As the man kept talking, a single blade had been menacingly drawn from the woman's embrace and was aimed at the man's Adam's apple.
A blue flame flickered along the tip of the knife.
Seeing that, the man hurriedly fled the room.
The woman, who had been watching the man retreat, let out a long sigh—puh—and then shifted her gaze back to the monitor.
A stuffed rabbit doll, just as small as she was, nestled in the woman's arms.