Chapter 92: Player (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 92: Player (4)
The empty lot was whipped into a frenzy by the reveal of my nickname. I closed my eyes for a moment and took stock of the situation. First, the "Elfnuna" they were talking about. They were right, that was the nickname I used to use. I had come up with it without much thought because my character was an elf at the time.
I did write a stat summary...
Was it about three years into the game? It felt like a waste to keep the information I had compiled to myself after working so hard for it, so I posted it on the bulletin board, partly to have a place to save it. As was fitting for a flop game, I remembered that the views did not exceed a hundred for a whole year.
Why is everyone looking at me like a rare item?
Come to think of it, that woman from earlier asked if I was a fan too. Why? The last time I used that community must have been five years ago.
...Have I become famous in that time?
Whatever the cause, I came to a conclusion: I had become famous. The reason why could be discovered later. I had collected enough clues to deal with it for now.
"Ah, there's been a misunderstanding." After taking about three seconds to figure out what was going on, I smiled brightly and waved my hand. "I am a fan of theirs. If you read my nickname carefully, you will see. It's not Elfnuna, but Elfnunna. Nunna." It was a relief that I'd had to spell it differently because of that other user. Unnecessary attention was not my thing.
"Oh, I see..."
"The nicknames are different."
At my words, the men read my nickname again.
"It's Elfnunna! Not Elfnuna."
"What, it was a dupe?"
"Of course. Although I had my hopes up because he said he was Korean..."
They soon let out a collective breath of apparent disappointment. Maybe because they felt they'd been deceived, some people gave me slightly unkind looks.
"Haha, that can happen if you're a fan!" The room leader, Darkman, stepped forward to mediate and explained the rules that had to be adhered to in the room. I think he said everyone had to be spoken to with honorifics. Aside from being expelled if you stirred up aggro, there wasn't much to keep in mind.
"Then I'll be on my way, so you guys can talk freely," Darkman said. "You can leave whenever you want."
The vibe of welcoming the newcomer was short-lived. Everyone went back to their original places and conversed amongst themselves.
As I was wondering where to visit next, a white man approached me. He was a player with the nickname Pinkguy. "How long has it been for you?"
"Oh, it's been one year for me."
Actually, it had been five months, but I figured it would be strange to say that I joined the community so early. However, the answer that came back was unexpected.
"Really? I guess you received your letter quite late?"
"Sorry?"
"Well, only a few people receive letters after gaining fame. Most others get them in the early days when their identity is obvious."
"I see..."
"Considering you received the letter late, I guess you're a good actor. I started as a human and received the letter while I was transporting luggage."
"Ah, I see..."
"Anyway, if it's been a year, it will only have been about seventy days there... You probably know a lot about what's going on these days. How are things there?"
I didn't know if there were any incidents worth mentioning, but... "Seventy... days?" I asked like I'd misheard. I clearly said it had been one year. Why had that become seventy days?
Pinkguy continued with an apologetic look on his face. "Oh, if this is your first time, you wouldn't know that, either. The flow of time is different between the two worlds."
"Different?"
"Yes. One month on Earth is about five months here."
Simply put, it was a time ratio of 1:5. As soon as I heard it, I felt strange.
It's only been a month?
I was glad that less time had passed than I'd expected, but I wondered if I'd even been reported missing. No one would come looking for me other than my company.
After that, as I continued to talk with Pinkguy, I learned various things.
"How to get back? Well. There are many theories... But I heard nothing's been confirmed yet."
Even the players who had gotten here much earlier than me couldn't figure out how to return. The founder of Ghost Busters was apparently a twenty-year longtime player.
"Isn't it amazing that they managed to clear this game five years ago?"
"That's true."
The more new information I heard, the more defeated I felt, almost like my pride as a pro at this game was crumbling. No matter what, in the end, wasn't everyone here an expert who had reached the Gate of the Abyss before me?
Even if they look stupid on the outside, they're actually all amazing people—
"So which mode did you beat the game on?" Huh? Which mode? When I looked at him like I didn't know what he was talking about, he added, "I'm sure it wasn't the original version. You probably beat the remake version, right? Which mode was it?"
I still don't understand what you mean... remake?
"The pirated version? You know, the game file where you can adjust the XP and drop rates that was posted on the Stone Iven discussion board five years ago."
Uh... That's a thing?
Pinkguy spoke, his pride obvious. "Oh, I'm not bragging, but I beat it on Times Fifty."
How could there be so many people who beat this game? This was the moment when that long-standing question of mine was finally answered. Dungeon and Stone was a game whose final boss room I had only been able to enter after grinding for ten years of my life. As I had been playing it, I couldn't help but wonder how a game of this difficulty could exist.
You can set the game up to a hundred times the maximum XP and a hundred times the drop rate?
What kind of scam was that? Until now, I didn't even know the maximum level you could reach in the game was thirty. Even if you caught all the monsters that came out of the labyrinth, level eleven was the upper limit.
Wait a minute, if the max level is thirty, does that mean I could have fed thirty essences to my character?
To be honest, I couldn't even imagine it. That meant you wouldn't have to give any of them up and could just stuff your character with all of them. I felt like an idiot for trying to figure out what the best combination was by considering the compatibility of each essence. Based on what I was hearing, it seemed that even rifts, which were the core of developing a character, could be opened whenever the user wanted.
If the drop rate is a hundred times its usual rate, Numbered Items would just fall from the sky.
Thirty essences and a super overpowered character armed with all kinds of treasures. If five of those characters banded together to form a team? The primordial dragon that had taken me hundreds of attempts to take down, or the Lord of Destruction, or even the Leviathan, could be killed with the touch of a finger.
I didn't know if there were any incidents worth mentioning, but... "Seventy... days?" I asked like I'd misheard. I clearly said it had been one year. Why had that become seventy days?
Pinkguy continued with an apologetic look on his face. "Oh, if this is your first time, you wouldn't know that, either. The flow of time is different between the two worlds."
"Different?"
"Yes. One month on Earth is about five months here."
Simply put, it was a time ratio of 1:5. As soon as I heard it, I felt strange.
It's only been a month?
I was glad that less time had passed than I'd expected, but I wondered if I'd even been reported missing. No one would come looking for me other than my company.
After that, as I continued to talk with Pinkguy, I learned various things.
"How to get back? Well. There are many theories... But I heard nothing's been confirmed yet."
Even the players who had gotten here much earlier than me couldn't figure out how to return. The founder of Ghost Busters was apparently a twenty-year longtime player.
"Isn't it amazing that they managed to clear this game five years ago?"
"That's true."
The more new information I heard, the more defeated I felt, almost like my pride as a pro at this game was crumbling. No matter what, in the end, wasn't everyone here an expert who had reached the Gate of the Abyss before me?
Even if they look stupid on the outside, they're actually all amazing people—
"So which mode did you beat the game on?" Huh? Which mode? When I looked at him like I didn't know what he was talking about, he added, "I'm sure it wasn't the original version. You probably beat the remake version, right? Which mode was it?"
I still don't understand what you mean... remake?
"The pirated version? You know, the game file where you can adjust the XP and drop rates that was posted on the Stone Iven discussion board five years ago."
Uh... That's a thing?
Pinkguy spoke, his pride obvious. "Oh, I'm not bragging, but I beat it on Times Fifty."
How could there be so many people who beat this game? This was the moment when that long-standing question of mine was finally answered. Dungeon and Stone was a game whose final boss room I had only been able to enter after grinding for ten years of my life. As I had been playing it, I couldn't help but wonder how a game of this difficulty could exist.
You can set the game up to a hundred times the maximum XP and a hundred times the drop rate?
What kind of scam was that? Until now, I didn't even know the maximum level you could reach in the game was thirty. Even if you caught all the monsters that came out of the labyrinth, level eleven was the upper limit.
Wait a minute, if the max level is thirty, does that mean I could have fed thirty essences to my character?
To be honest, I couldn't even imagine it. That meant you wouldn't have to give any of them up and could just stuff your character with all of them. I felt like an idiot for trying to figure out what the best combination was by considering the compatibility of each essence. Based on what I was hearing, it seemed that even rifts, which were the core of developing a character, could be opened whenever the user wanted.
If the drop rate is a hundred times its usual rate, Numbered Items would just fall from the sky.
Thirty essences and a super overpowered character armed with all kinds of treasures. If five of those characters banded together to form a team? The primordial dragon that had taken me hundreds of attempts to take down, or the Lord of Destruction, or even the Leviathan, could be killed with the touch of a finger.
"So which mode did you use to beat it?" Pinkguy asked again.
"...Times Fifty. Like you."
"Oh, I see. Wasn't it hard?"
Hard, my ass. Under those conditions, I was confident I could clear it in one try, no matter if a dimensional collapse or whatever the fuck kind of event occurred.
But it would be bad if I said that out loud.
As soon as I gained fame and an evil spirit hunter came to find me, I realized that excessive attention was poison. It was foolish to take risks by being showy. I had decided not to stand out and to learn just what I needed to know.
"Which mode did the person who created this place use?"
"Oh, him? Don't be shocked, but he cleared it at Times Fifteen. He must have been able to do it because he was an original user."
"Times Fifteen... I see."
I figured this should be shocking, so I pretended to be surprised. Pinkguy said that the average player completed the game in Times Sixty to Times Eighty mode. After hearing that, the conversation of those laughing and chatting a little ways away began to fill my ears.
"Haha, what a ridiculous world! I've never even entered a rift. In the game, it was just a click."
"Ugh, right? If entering the rift is this hard, how are we meant to get to the last floor?"
"I heard that the game had a lot of easter eggs, so I should have looked into it."
Players were complaining while comparing the modded version they had played with the reality they were in. That, at least, was understandable, because this was a real-life version with a higher level of difficulty than the original.
"Hah..."
A profound despondency crept in. Thinking these were more experienced players who beat the game before me, I had consoled myself by resolving to learn from them instead of belittling them. But this was, well, a joke.
"Elfnunna?"
"Oh, sorry. I got distracted..."
After that, I continued to chat with Pinkguy for a while. In doing so, I learned things that were common sense that any normal player should know and a lot more about how this community worked. However, one other question on my mind was also answered.
A remake... So, the game started to become popular again as the modded version circulated, and my nickname became famous as well.
In many ways, the conversation with Pinkguy was useful. It was kind of fun too.
"Ugh, if I could eat just one box of pizza right now, I could die happy... Do you have anything you want to eat?"
"Coke and beef soup."
"Beef soup? What kind of food is that?"
"It is the most efficient food I have ever eaten."
How long had it been since I had had a conversation like this? After conversing with a few other people, I left the Freshmen Room. At the end, Pinkguy asked if he could add me as a friend, and I politely declined. He was obviously a nice guy, but I didn't want to be friends with him. He treated me too nicely.
Anyway, I think I know everything I need to know.
After returning to the room with the computer, I read through bulletin boards and notices and crammed more random information into my head. But now it was time to fulfill my purpose here.
I should start learning about the dimensional collapse.
Typing on the keyboard, I checked the timer on the bottom right. What was initially twelve hours had now been reduced to seven. I had to hurry because this space would close when the time was up, even if I didn't manually log out.
[Exchange]
Using the mouse, I opened the Exchange page. It provided a service where information or goods could be purchased with Ghost Points, or GP. In other words, it was possible to obtain goods or purchase rare items using GP.
As expected, it would be better not to touch that.
I decided to avoid using that particular feature as much as possible, since in the case of goods, the exchange had to be done in real life. No matter how complicated the intermediary system may be, and even if the system seemed quite safe, in the end, there would be inevitable contact with me as a barbarian.
[Current GP: 0]
Therefore, I also passed on the option to use real money to purchase GP. Of course, I needed GP to buy information about dimensional collapses, but that wasn't a big problem. I could be self-sufficient here.
Click-click.
Moving the mouse, I added the [Information] filter to the items in the Exchange and changed the category to [Purchase Request]. Then, countless questions popped up.
[20 GP] Is there any easy way to get to the second floor?
[100–500 GP] I'm developing a melee skill, but I want to know a strong training method from the start.
For easy questions, the amount of GP offered as a reward was small.
[7000 GP] I would like to know the special events that happen on each step of the Tower of Heavens on the fourth floor.
[2800 GP] Looking to learn exactly how the passive skill Lord of Dragons is used.
In the case of more in-depth questions, the reward was greater, so I sorted them in descending order of price. That was more efficient.
[70000 GP] Buying Lord of the First Floor clear strategy. Trolls will be ignored.
[69000 GP] Only people who know more about Skull Island on the sixth floor message me.
The Lord of the First Floor?
[You have requested a one-on-one conversation with TacitRonin.]
[The exchange has been completed. Current GP: 70,000]
Skull Island, a hidden section of the sixth floor?
[You have requested a one-on-one conversation with Bro_78.]
[The exchange has been completed. Current GP: 139,000]
There was nothing I didn't know about this game.
"So which mode did you use to beat it?" Pinkguy asked again.
"...Times Fifty. Like you."
"Oh, I see. Wasn't it hard?"
Hard, my ass. Under those conditions, I was confident I could clear it in one try, no matter if a dimensional collapse or whatever the fuck kind of event occurred.
But it would be bad if I said that out loud.
As soon as I gained fame and an evil spirit hunter came to find me, I realized that excessive attention was poison. It was foolish to take risks by being showy. I had decided not to stand out and to learn just what I needed to know.
"Which mode did the person who created this place use?"
"Oh, him? Don't be shocked, but he cleared it at Times Fifteen. He must have been able to do it because he was an original user."
"Times Fifteen... I see."
I figured this should be shocking, so I pretended to be surprised. Pinkguy said that the average player completed the game in Times Sixty to Times Eighty mode. After hearing that, the conversation of those laughing and chatting a little ways away began to fill my ears.
"Haha, what a ridiculous world! I've never even entered a rift. In the game, it was just a click."
"Ugh, right? If entering the rift is this hard, how are we meant to get to the last floor?"
"I heard that the game had a lot of easter eggs, so I should have looked into it."
Players were complaining while comparing the modded version they had played with the reality they were in. That, at least, was understandable, because this was a real-life version with a higher level of difficulty than the original.
"Hah..."
A profound despondency crept in. Thinking these were more experienced players who beat the game before me, I had consoled myself by resolving to learn from them instead of belittling them. But this was, well, a joke.
"Elfnunna?"
"Oh, sorry. I got distracted..."
After that, I continued to chat with Pinkguy for a while. In doing so, I learned things that were common sense that any normal player should know and a lot more about how this community worked. However, one other question on my mind was also answered.
A remake... So, the game started to become popular again as the modded version circulated, and my nickname became famous as well.
In many ways, the conversation with Pinkguy was useful. It was kind of fun too.
"Ugh, if I could eat just one box of pizza right now, I could die happy... Do you have anything you want to eat?"
"Coke and beef soup."
"Beef soup? What kind of food is that?"
"It is the most efficient food I have ever eaten."
How long had it been since I had had a conversation like this? After conversing with a few other people, I left the Freshmen Room. At the end, Pinkguy asked if he could add me as a friend, and I politely declined. He was obviously a nice guy, but I didn't want to be friends with him. He treated me too nicely.
Anyway, I think I know everything I need to know.
After returning to the room with the computer, I read through bulletin boards and notices and crammed more random information into my head. But now it was time to fulfill my purpose here.
I should start learning about the dimensional collapse.
Typing on the keyboard, I checked the timer on the bottom right. What was initially twelve hours had now been reduced to seven. I had to hurry because this space would close when the time was up, even if I didn't manually log out.
[Exchange]
Using the mouse, I opened the Exchange page. It provided a service where information or goods could be purchased with Ghost Points, or GP. In other words, it was possible to obtain goods or purchase rare items using GP.
As expected, it would be better not to touch that.
I decided to avoid using that particular feature as much as possible, since in the case of goods, the exchange had to be done in real life. No matter how complicated the intermediary system may be, and even if the system seemed quite safe, in the end, there would be inevitable contact with me as a barbarian.
[Current GP: 0]
Therefore, I also passed on the option to use real money to purchase GP. Of course, I needed GP to buy information about dimensional collapses, but that wasn't a big problem. I could be self-sufficient here.
Click-click.
Moving the mouse, I added the [Information] filter to the items in the Exchange and changed the category to [Purchase Request]. Then, countless questions popped up.
[20 GP] Is there any easy way to get to the second floor?
[100–500 GP] I'm developing a melee skill, but I want to know a strong training method from the start.
For easy questions, the amount of GP offered as a reward was small.
[7000 GP] I would like to know the special events that happen on each step of the Tower of Heavens on the fourth floor.
[2800 GP] Looking to learn exactly how the passive skill Lord of Dragons is used.
In the case of more in-depth questions, the reward was greater, so I sorted them in descending order of price. That was more efficient.
[70000 GP] Buying Lord of the First Floor clear strategy. Trolls will be ignored.
[69000 GP] Only people who know more about Skull Island on the sixth floor message me.
The Lord of the First Floor?
[You have requested a one-on-one conversation with TacitRonin.]
[The exchange has been completed. Current GP: 70,000]
Skull Island, a hidden section of the sixth floor?
[You have requested a one-on-one conversation with Bro_78.]
[The exchange has been completed. Current GP: 139,000]
There was nothing I didn't know about this game.