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#10 - An Enthusiastic Newbie Who Listens Well
"Phew... I finally got it..."
Celial stood in place, gripping her sword tightly and breathing heavily.
-Clap clap clap clap clap
I applauded with complete sincerity for our great, mighty, supreme Celial.
She exceeded my expectations.
Seriously, she was an unbelievably talented newbie.
No amount of applause would be enough.
Hearing my clapping, Celial approached me with an awkward expression.
"Um... was I okay?"
"Of course. You were amazing."
"Hehe... it was harder than I expected..."
"Of course it was. The level difference was pretty big."
There's one thing that's true in almost every RPG.
At low levels, level advantage is king.
Of course, older games sometimes deliberately make early monsters weak so players can progress quickly.
Or they nerf early monsters into the ground.
Elrmo chose the first option.
Those monsters were the rabbits.
In other words, the wolf Celial had just defeated wasn't one of those weak monsters.
It was the kind of monster that newbie players usually struggled to kill alone.
First, I handed her two potions.
One Health Potion.
One Mana Potion.
Celial politely accepted both with both hands.
Then she held each potion bottle with both hands and drank them carefully.
I had no idea why she drank them like that.
Maybe it was a habit.
Either way, it was surprisingly cute.
While she drank her potions, I decided to honestly share my thoughts.
"Just listen casually. Feel free to ignore anything you don't agree with. I'm not always right, and I don't know for sure whether my advice suits you."
I made sure to add that first.
What I was giving her was advice.
Not some universal truth like "the sun rises in the east."
"First of all, your judgment is excellent. You used Mana Shield exactly when you needed to, and even when the wolf bit your arm at the end, you still managed to stab its neck. That's a good example."
Celial nodded while drinking her potion.
It felt like I had somehow gained a cute little sibling.
And she's supposedly my age?
Really?
...Anyway.
I continued.
"But there is one issue. Your swordsmanship is... a little rough."
Celial immediately understood what I meant and nodded again.
Then she lowered the potion bottle and spoke.
"You mean when I missed the wolf with my sword?"
"Exactly. The wolf was strong and fast, but not fast enough that you should've missed completely."
That had probably been the most newbie-like moment she'd shown.
Whether a Magic Swordsman focused on magic or swordsmanship, their ultimate skill still revolved around a sword.
Magic-focused Magic Swordsmen used Sword Burst, which overloaded a sword with mana and fired it like a beam.
Sword-focused Magic Swordsmen used Exceed Sword, which layered enhancement spells onto their weapon and released mana blades with every swing.
Either way, you needed to know how to use a sword.
Still, Celial's situation wasn't too bad.
Unlike Exceed Sword, which required accurate sword strikes, Sword Burst only needed you to swing in the right direction.
Even so, any Magic Swordsman should learn at least the basics of swordsmanship.
"You could try looking up videos on YouTube later. Taking lessons would help too."
"Do I really need lessons...?"
"It wouldn't hurt to use them as a reference."
There were actually statistics showing that people with martial arts backgrounds performed exceptionally well in virtual reality games.
Some boxers became top-ranked Martial Artists almost immediately.
Some kendo practitioners reached the upper rankings as Swordsmen as soon as they started playing.
People who already had experience related to their class naturally performed better.
Because of that, players who wanted to excel at virtual reality games often joined martial arts schools.
I wasn't much different.
The moment I decided to seriously play a Swordsman, I spent my part-time job savings and signed up for a kendo dojo.
The problem was that I did it during my senior year of high school.
For the record, I still attend that dojo every weekend.
The instructor takes great care of me.
Recently, when I mentioned wanting to try Dual Swordsmen and practice dual-wielding, he even offered to teach me.
At that moment, Celial, who had been thinking deeply about something, spoke.
"Um... could you teach me, Taeyang?"
"Me?"
"Yes. I think it'd be nice if you taught me..."
It wasn't impossible.
But I wasn't skilled enough to act as someone's instructor.
So I politely declined.
"Sorry. I'm not good enough for that."
"Ah... that's unfortunate..."
"If necessary, I can recommend a good dojo or some YouTube channels."
"Then... could I ask for YouTube recommendations?"
"Of course."
I worried that maybe I was being overly meddlesome.
Fortunately, our kind Celial gratefully accepted the advice.
Just as I was feeling relieved, a growling sound came from behind us.
"Huh? There's another wolf!"
I turned toward the sound.
It was a Brown Wolf.
Same level as a Gray Wolf.
Lower attack power, but significantly faster.
Celial immediately raised her sword and stepped forward.
"I'll handle this one too..."
But this time, I stopped her.
"No. I'll take this one."
The reason was simple.
I'm still her mentor.
I wanted to show her something cool at least once.
"Great work today~"
"You leveled up a lot. What level are you now?"
"I'm level 21!"
"Eleven levels in two hours. That's impressive."
Taeyang held out his hand.
I knew exactly what he meant.
So I walked over.
-Slap!
A light high-five echoed through the air.
Taeyang smiled.
"Then I'll be heading off now. It's about time I had dinner and logged into my main account."
"Ah! Then I'll stay and hunt a little longer!"
"At this rate, I'll have to sacrifice my rest time just to keep up with your level."
"You'll catch up in no time anyway~"
Saying things like, "Do you know how good you are, Ms. Celial~?"
Taeyang jokingly waved goodbye.
"Then I'm off~"
"Yes! Thank you for all your hard work! See you next time!"
Taeyang dissolved into blue light.
He had logged out.
The lively atmosphere of Wolf Lake suddenly disappeared.
Silence settled over the area.
In that quiet moment, I thought about Taeyang.
He was incredible.
We were the same level.
Our equipment even looked similar.
Yet we were completely different.
When a Brown Wolf charged at him, he simply twisted his body slightly and redirected it with the sword in his left hand.
The wolf's flank was instantly exposed.
Then he delivered a powerful slash with the sword in his right hand.
When the wolf rolled away, he immediately leapt after it and cut its throat.
According to Taeyang:
"Wolves have weak points on their belly and neck. If you target those, they're easy to kill."
But knowing a tip and actually applying it were completely different things.
Even I had spent two hours trying to hit those weak points.
Out of the dozens of wolves I killed, I could count on one hand how many times I'd successfully struck them.
That meant I still had a long way to go.
Taeyang was different.
Everything he did was clean and efficient.
He blocked attacks.
Counterattacked.
If wolves didn't charge him, he ambushed them first.
And throughout the entire process, his swords always found their weak points.
He was so cool.
Exactly the kind of player I wanted to become.
Naturally, I found myself thinking about him.
Taeyang was incredibly kind.
Completely different from the people I'd met in other games who pretended to be nice after learning I was a girl.
He saw me as a gamer.
Not a female gamer.
The reason he helped me wasn't because I was a girl.
It was because I was a newbie gamer.
Even though it must have been troublesome, he taught me everything.
He even gave me precious items without hesitation.
He treated me as an equal gamer rather than some decoration.
And for that, I was truly grateful.
A dream had begun to form.
A big one.
If I kept playing.
Kept growing stronger.
I wanted to raid together with Taeyang someday.
Not just receive help from him.
I wanted to help him too.
I wanted to fight difficult bosses alongside him and share the thrill of defeating them together.
I wanted to keep playing with him.
And to do that...
"...I need to level up."
I needed to level faster.
The last time I saw Taeyang's main account, he was level 320.
The highest-level player in Elrmo was level 331.
That meant Taeyang was one of the strongest players in the entire game.
It might take me a lifetime to catch up.
But I would do it.
Perhaps sensing my determination, another wolf approached.
[Grrrrrr...]
The wolf bared its fangs at me, preparing to attack.
Yet somehow, it felt like the wolf was telling me something.
Defeat me.
Climb higher.
Go raid alongside Taeyang.
...Maybe I was overthinking it.
Shaking away those thoughts, I raised my sword.
Then, recalling Taeyang's movements from memory, I engaged the wolf.
At the same time, a small anxiety began to form in my heart.
If...
If Taeyang ever found out that I was a girl...
Would he react the same way those other people did?
Taeyang wouldn't do that.
...Probably.