Skill Build Online Prologue

TS:
PF:

Year 20xx. After a few years, the development of VR technology with a fully immersive system known as Full Dive System has finally completed. Right now, the gameplay is comfortable, unlike when it was the first time established. The machine's specs haven't caught up with the high graphics yet. In the few full dive games available in the world, it is connecting them to the same server. As a result, lagging is inevitable.

The development of VR technology is a significant innovation in the game world that was feared would soon end. But with the desperate efforts of many game companies, the situation can be avoided.

In the addition of the traditional Head Mounted Display, they will also release a helmet-type machine that implemented a smooth server connection and high-speed information reading in the brain, reclining chair-type device and also capsule-type device too.

Well, looking at the price, the latter is not something that can be bought by ordinary people. The helmet-type cost is within reach of students, and at even lower prices you can obtain the HMD-type. It was popular in the family who own one.

I had a helmet-type VR gear, but I seemed to have talent in this. I was able to win a splendid victory in the official tournament where ordinary people and professional gamers can partic.i.p.ate.

As I laid down on the winning prize, the reclining chair-type machine, I said,

"Full Dive System, Online."

I dived into the electric world coloured by signals that sent directly into my brain.

―――― First-person shooter.

Which, commonly referred to FPS, was explanatory. It's a developed shooting game that you can play in your perspective. I love playing games where I can use firearm and played against players in real-time.

It's a contained data, a lump of polygon ―――no. I enjoyed playing against different people, so I thoroughly studied and self-improve, and grew to a level that was comparable with professionals.

"Ten minutes to the final… Are they already in?"

This is the result. [World War Online] is a world of blood and bullets.

Regardless of the official tournament, I decided to partic.i.p.ate for the second in a compet.i.tion where everyone can partic.i.p.ate, from pro gamers in the country to amateurs.

Last time I get the reclining chair-type machine, I wonder what I'll get this time.

Oops, I already think I'm going to win this. I don't know what unpreparedness will cost me. I have to be careful.

"Hey, Mercenary A! I came on-time this time! Everyone other than you already in!"

When I turned facing the direction where the voice came, I saw my FPS friend and teammate [Bossan] waving his hand. When I see it, I raise my hand to respond in kind.

"Bossan, Raijin is hanging around somewhere, but what about Grepon Maru and 卍Blood Bullet卍?"

"Pon is buying the grenade launcher's ammunition to the limit at the shop for the match and Junji is doing maintenance on his gun."

"Grepon Maru is going to do that technique, then? It's a surefire way to win, but it's not what the management intended, right?"

The technique that I said with a grimace, in addition to the regular ammunition pouch there is a pouch with additional ammunition called extra pocket. It's a technique that allows you to bring a large amount of carry-on and more ammunition for the grenade launcher than the usual. Generally, at first glance, if you run out of ammo including the extra pouch, you will lose your supply. Nevertheless, to use it all at once in 1 round is a sure way to annihilate the enemy. In tournament game mode, they can extend three rounds to 4 rounds. If they use the extended round, one player will be selected to be the representative in the next round.

This way, the ever-victorious measure was conducted in a flash as a countermeasure. In one team, only one person who can equip the grenade launcher. If there are two or more, they will be forced to change their gear to different weapons. In online matching, you will be forced to change the equipment, but you don't need to worry about that in an official tournament.

Well, in terms of fair and square, it's the kind of that I disliked; that's why I rarely do that in an official tournament.

"Grepon Maru fireworks display will be the top thread topic. I never thought we would do this in an official tournament."

"I hear you're retiring from WWO after this tournament? That's why in the end, I'll make a bang for you."

There is a fireworks display thread in this game, the popularity of WWO's Grepon Matsuri thread on the bulletin board is unchanged. Grepon Maru… my teammate, was the one who planned and spread it out. At one point there is only one person who has the grenade launcher. It's not a bullet that flies to the battlefield but a cannonball that later colliding in the air and causes an explosion. When they crash, it looks like fireworks, and they began to call it fireworks display.

"How are you?"

"With my gun, even if the enemy is 3 km ahead, I can headshot them! I'd say."

"Excellent! I'm glad to hear you're in top shape."

卍Blood Bullet卍. It seems to be an adult with chuunibyou. He loves revolver and committed to only use revolver in the game. To an extent, the way he handles the revolver is uncommon. Inside the game where physics such as air resistance works, it's transformed into something that has identical shooting range as a sniper rifle. After I defeat him on 1vs1, strangely enough, we became friend.

"Oy, Mercenary! You're late, aren't you going to shoot the bot?"

"Yo, Raijin. I had my dose of caffeine, and my condition is perfect."

In the VR MMORPG circle, Raijin is a famous top cla.s.s and my friend in real life. He's also active in video streaming sites, his attractive face that reflected in-game also brings him many fans. He's not good at playing FPS game, but regardless of it, he's a kind guy who responded to my invitation to play in the tournament to make up for our lack of player.

"Are you expecting to do any abnormal shot? Can we talk after this tournament is over?"

"Sure. Are you going to invite me to play another game again?"

"Well… that's it. Let's concentrate on this match first."

With a whack, Raijin pats my back, gave a thumbs up and smiles.

"Hey, Pong, Junji. It's about to start, time to discuss our strategy."

I look at 卍Blood Bullet卍 who grins as he is spinning his revolver and what looks like Grepon Maru's stock up grenade launcher's ammo. After making sure he sat on the table, Bossan spreads out the map.

"The rule is [Point Control], the first team who won 2 rounds will be the winner. And the map we are using is [Doston Front]."

"Seriously? I don't like that map."

With his eyebrows tightly knitted, Raijin chided as he was trying to remember the battlefield composition.

Point Control. This is a popular game mode in WWO and mainly used in compet.i.tive tournaments. The rule is in 5vs5; you will try to take control three or all points available, or you can win by killing all of the opponent team's players. In addition to this, the player is given 30 infantry and can freely give them directions as they see fit. You can take control of the Point, scout the enemy line or attack the players. This infantry element is one of the reasons it was popular.

"The enemy is s.h.i.+den Soldier Corps, right? Their name is pretty famous, and I hate the fact that they're campers. Moreover, the map is also sandy."

"Well, it can't be helped if they're using that kind of strategy. If they're camping on us, we can snipe them. Mercenary A, you do it."

"Aight. I'll make the first opening."

"Are you coming up with an abnormal resp.a.w.n skill? The management is making a complex map as their counter-measure for you, but despite that if I'm the administration and you still able to sp.a.w.n kill them, I'd cry."

"Theoretically, if there is a wall near the resp.a.w.n point of the enemy and allies, as long as you don't exceed the past of ricochet limit you can sp.a.w.n kill on any map."

"Only you can do that resp.a.w.n kill. How can I sp.a.w.n kill in [Capital Aldin]? You make it bounce more than 15 times, right?"

"It takes a lot of verification. If you get used to re-sp.a.w.n kill with ricochet to some extent, you will understand the angle of reflection. How many times I help you in custom games because the map is so f.u.c.king wide?"

"To avoid your sp.a.w.n kill, the administrator is making a new map for the tournament."

When Bossan said this, his teammates nod in agreement. Excuse me; please stop calling me out.

"It's almost started, let's save the fun for later. Now, the strategy. First, let's get a head-start using Pon's cannon in round 1. After you partially decrease the number, Raijin and I will try charge in with AR. Junji and Mercenary A will provide long-distance support. Even though we had cannon but winning the round 1 will be hard. In the second round, we will switch to gun. Everyone, including the infantryman. It will be hard if the other party also brings a cannon, but if you get to round 3 you can go ham."

"That's a brute force strategy…"

"There's a player skill that can help this team bulldoze trough that. As usual, don't forget to have fun!"

I let out a strained laugh hearing what Bossan said. Even though it's a final of the official tournament, you need to be comfortable and ease your nerves. Also, enjoying the game is important too.

"Look, the announcement is out. Get your weapon ready."

"Ah, can you keep your ears open for an opening? Sub for me once."

"Yos.h.!.+ We gotta win two consecutive wins!"

""""Yos.h.!.+" """

Our body turns transparent as we get transferred to the shop area where neutral zone is to the battlefield, [Doston Front].

I loaded a magazine of special ammunition with high ricochet elasticity in my beloved rifle; immediately after c.o.c.king, he set up a bipod and then lie down and looked into the scope.

"Wanna go ham?"

Along with the announcement as you hear the loud cheer of the audiences, they displayed a countdown.

Now, waiting for the match to start. He sharpens his senses and aims.

Bossan, Raijin, Grepon Maru and 卍Blood Bullet卍 looking at me as I place my rifle, and I closed my ears.

At the same time as the declaration of the start of the match, he pulled the trigger.

Although he attached a suppressor in it, the firing sound can't be blocked entirely and you can hear a sharp pang! sound. And the sound reverberated around the battlefield.

The bullet keeps reflected on the wall.

After a few seconds, it didn't stop after many times reflected.

"First blood. 4 players left."

While he's c.o.c.king, they displayed the player's kill log in the upper right of his field of vision.

At the same time, Grepon Maru starts to run and directed the grenade launcher towards the mountain.

"I'll follow Mercenary to face them head-on!!"

Bang! Bang! As the grenade launcher firing bullets, it let out a really cool sound.

They continue to load and fire familiarly, as proof for their success the kill log displaying two new names.

"Gugyaaaa!!! d.a.m.n, Pon! I want to finish SAINA!!"

"Are you in a fight? Let's go, Junji! There are still two enemies left and the next round!!"

He pulls Junji, who's in tantrum and begins to run to the front line with his beloved gun.

"Soldiers! You guys standby for the next round! If you come that far, you can fight! That fool Raijin will lead you guys, got it?!"

"Yos.h.!.+"

Holding an a.s.sault rifle, Raijin and Bossan started to run and storming to the front line.

"Oi, are they serious? It's only a minute, and they already got two people! They're serious."

"Let's stop wasting time. Maybe they will save their soldiers, we are throwing this round, but we should reduce their soldiers as much as possible."

The leader, Grilled Dumpling Skewer and Zion are the two remaining players from s.h.i.+den Soldier Corps who began to abandon their area and ran to the Weirdo Squad resp.a.w.n point.

"Yahoo Zion-chan♪ my weird teammates ask me to ambush, so I come here to play, let's play!"

"Junji, you came… Unfortunately, I don't have the time to play right now."

"Nope. Too bad, I can't let you go if you don't wanna play."

Tch. Clicking his tongue, Zion pointed his SMG toward Junji――卍b.l.o.o.d.y Bullet卍.

"Go ahead, Junji. I'll keep this guy engaged."

"Sorry, I'm counting on you."

"Arere~? Did you think I'd just let you escape? Wow, Zion-chan… I didn't know you were so enthusiastic!"

When 卍b.l.o.o.d.y Bullet卍 broadly grinning, Zion tried to shorten the distance between them and blindly fires his SMG.

"Ah, Zion-chan. I forgot there is a message from our resident weirdo."

"……?"

While they're exchanging blows, 卍b.l.o.o.d.y Bullet卍 begins to talk.

"Since I'm going to win I'll thoroughly beat you into a pulp, and I have no intention of letting you go."

"Excellent!!"

Then Zion's dull eyes began to sparkle. With their tiny body 卍b.l.o.o.d.y Bullet卍 started to accelerate and carrying a knife in preparation for the close combat.

"By the way, Zion-chan~"

"…What? I want to focus."

"What do you think to happen right now with the sniper?"

"No way…"

"It's about time for the enemy… Alpha and Bravo are already under control, so there's no need to rush."

After splitting up with Zion, Grilled Dumpling Skewer had been running at the top speed. Looking at the log as they run, point Alpha and Bravo are already fallen under Raijin and Bossan's control.

Bang! In a panic hearing the shot, Grilled Dumpling Skewer leaping to the right side, but the bullet hits the right arm and flies off.

"d.a.m.n you, maniac sniper!"

"Seriously? Is that really how you called me?"

Being called maniac sniper, Mercenary A standing there with an unreadable expression as he held an anti-material rifle.

"As expected of Grilled Skewer senpai, the reflex to avoid is good. Too bad that I managed to injury your right arm."

"I thank you for the compliment… are you expecting me to say something like that! I wonder if I'm going to see fireworks in an official match!"

"How nice of you mocking me. Even without fireworks, I'd still be number one. If you want to complain about the bullet ability to bounce, please contact the game administrator."

"Seriously, being able to calculate precisely with the hit accuracy is so cheat-like…"

"Let's stop this pointless chatter. I have a match to win."

Bang! As he fires with his anti-material rifle again, it was a close call, but Grilled Dumpling Skewer still managed to dodge.

"I made this AGI specific build just for you! Too bad!"

"Oh, I'll give you some advice. You better surrender."

"You can't surrender at the tournament! Today is the day you're going to be surprised!"

After hearing that Mercenary A didn't hold his rifle back, fully demonstrating how the AGI specialization build works, with a grin Grilled Dumpling Skewer came rus.h.i.+ng with a terrific speed.

"By the way, the bullet that I shot wasn't aimed at you."

Turning back to look over her shoulder and exposing her defenseless figure Grilled Dumpling Skewer getting annoyed with Mercenary A, there's a bayonet aimed sharply at her――――!

"GG. Please take care of me in the next round."

Ricochet limit. After bouncing 25 times, the bullet bounces back accurately, shooting Grilled Dumpling Skewer in the head, and the blood splatter looks like a blooming flower――――.

Also, in the next following round, thanks to Raijin and Bossan's successful a.s.sistance in annihilating the enemy's soldiers, we won with flying colours. It's too much for them, so let's not talk about it to preserve their dignity.

While waiting for the WWO Tournament setting up, they were resting near the stage and enjoying a lightly seasoned coffee.

Hm. When I use bouncing sniper, I was suspected of cheating by the people in the tournament's live broadcast. Inevitably, from the unaccustomed eyes of strangers I seem to be the bad guy; the ricochet has their own set of conditions. I can only use one ricochet magazine, and after I take it off, it will be a fierce battle.

"Ano, host-san? Being called a cheater in the tournament is awful…"

When I say that while I'm feeling tired and sluggish from concentration, the host hastily apologized. And as the host takes a step back to interview the leader, Bossan, I can saw a silhouette of someone approaching me.

"Oy, Zion. GG. Did you get Junji's message?

"…GG. I'm disappointed with the results announced. …As I thought, Mercenary is crazy. The only one, our leader, can't handle in j.a.pan is Mercenary."

The one who was approaching him was Zion, a.s.sistant leader of s.h.i.+den Soldier Corps.

"When you said it like that, isn't the first time we meet I already beat that person into a pulp? It's the difference between training and studying. It's presumptuous to think that someone who's fooling around in other games can beat someone who dedicates their time and specializes in something."

"…You also play in various games. Even so, you are strange. Your growth rate is the same, but your reaction speed and ability to grasp the s.p.a.ce are unusual. …After graduation, I'll certainly tell my team."

"As I thought, it was a team invitation… I don't want to play a game and feeling obligated to win, and I'm trying to have fun. Perhaps, I'll contact you when I changed my mind."

After graduation, Zion—-Fujisaki s.h.i.+on is my real acquaintance and he understands my actual situation.

"…I'll look forward to it. …Why did you send Junji after me?"

"Because he wants to meet you. I've been saying that fighting with Zion-chan is thrilling."

"…That's awful. I'm furious that they're really similar to you."

"Eh, really? Maybe I poisoned them too much, might need an exorcism…"

Crossing his fingers, when he's on his own, he can hear the noise from the stage. Apparently they're done interviewing the winner.

"Mercenary… the award will begin. Let's go quickly."

"Zion too. Bye, see you tomorrow."

"Yup."

I climbed up on the special stage and joined the four people who were already in line.

"Mercenary, you are slow. What were you talking about with, Zion-chan?"

"He invited me."

"Ahh, I want to be invited too."

"But, right now, I don't want to get an invitation or anything."

"Oh? Are you going to get it?

"If you changed your mind. Look, it's starting."

From anywhere on the internet, there was a tremendous roar of cheers and applause. As the four other champions raise their hands, he imitates them.

"Ah, we will pa.s.s."

"Some of us are going to retire, and it's a tournament where I'm trying to test my skills with my friends. To be honest, I don't need prestige. Please have s.h.i.+den Soldiers Corps to partic.i.p.ate in the champions.h.i.+p."

When the host said that, a purple window was displayed in front of me. I see, this time we get to choose our own prize.

A variety of prizes were lined up, such as rare guns, attachments that can be sold for a fortune in WWO, real hot spring trips and overseas trips. When I'm wondering which one to choose, I notice something strange.

"What is this…? [Skill Build Online 50 Skill Points + 3 Skill Creation Rights]…? Why there is another game in the reward?"

"Oh, Mercenary notice that too. Your eyes know what's good."

It was Raijin who spoke to me. What do you mean my eyes are a good judge?

"This game is a super-epic MMORPG that will be released soon by the same company that releases WWO. The beta test is already over. Approximately they are offering sensitive graphics and nearly zero-time for server response; on top of that, the monsters are controlled by AI that independently developed to give a perfect gaming experience. I want to invite you to play this game after the tournament is over."

"Don't tell me this is the reason why you help me?"

"Survey. Somehow, I expected there would be some reward, and I was right."

Son of a b.i.t.c.h. I know it was unusual for MMORPG experts showing up in FPS game.

"It's a perfect time, why don't we pick this together? I'm sure as FPS maniac; you will be pleased."

"Well… WWO ended with two consecutive victories, so I guess I can do it."

I'll try to play, and maybe if I get hooked I'll continue to play. However, FPS is my favourite genre.

Suddenly he becomes curious about what others have chosen, and he looks at Grepon Maru's direction.

"What did you pick, Pon?"

"Eh? Eto, SBO's skill points and creation rights…"

"You, too? Are you retiring because you want to focus on this game?"

"U-un… Mercenary pick SBO, too?"

"Raijin ask me to play together. Well, it's a good chance to play together with Pon, too."

"Really?! We have to play together! Don't forget to send me a message when you're in! I'll be there!"

"O-okay."

It will be fun. Will it be a top-tier game?

I tried to ask Junji and Bossan what did they pick, but the host blocked me.

Well, I guess I can try to make a guess.

This was how my WWO Tournament came to an end. A month later I was waiting for [Skill Build Online] official service launch.

t/n: this chapter has been sitting around in my wip folder for month, i didnt realize when i try to pick this up the FPS terminology would f.u.c.k me up. hope u enjoy my s.h.i.+tty translation!