Skill Build Online Chapter 3

"Grepon Maru is a girl…? I thought she was an adult male player…"

"I was playing using an old man's avatar. I'm pretty sure Mercenary-kun was a girl."

"No, I'm a man. But I'm the one who chooses to make my avatar looks feminine… But I guess I shouldn't make my avatar girly if Grepon Maru is a girl."

"Why Mercenary… no, Villager A right now? Did the Villager make you feminine?"

"I was going to make a female leecher and then trolling… ah."

"Right, let me hit you once. Because you are about to make a lot of ruckus with your prank once last time?!"

"Fuahaha being a popular person is hard, isn't it?! C'mon, Raijin-kun?"

I poke the reluctant Raijin with elbow who tried to resist it.

"Fufufu, Mercenary-kun, and Raijin are good friends… I don't have same-age friends to play a game with…"

"Pon, I don't think you can call him my good friend."

"Hmm, no? Raijin, you and I are friends forever, right?

"Stop it, stop imitating Chuuni's voice!! I hate it. Also, why are you so good at imitating his voice?!"

"Ah, ano, both of you… people are looking at us…"

People are looking at where we gathered, so we decide to leave the plaza and walk away to the town's outskirts.

"I guess it's posted on the bulletin board again…"

"I feel like I can eat three cups of rice just by looking at Raijin's anti-thread."

"Quit it. It leaves a bad taste. I can't stand to look at it because I can't help but get angry."

Walking in a pleasant mood, next to him, Raijin is grumbling. Pon, who walks behind us, approaches me and begins to talk with a smile on her face.

"Did Mercenary-kun choose Hunter (Archer) in the end?"

"Right now, I'm Villager A, so call me Villager. But to answer your question, yes."

"You choose Hunter… Didn't they use a bow? If you don't change your 【Secondary】 job, you won't be able to change it later, and it's your loss…"

"But, I can shoot just fine?"

"That's right… Even if you use a Level 10 Archer and a skilled player, you will hit once every two shoots. I'm struggling with the Slime… wait, what?"

"No, I can hit it? When my Archer is Level 1, I can't manage to hit it. But once I level up to Level 3, sometimes I hit it every two shoots. And at Level 5, I'm able to keep hitting it?"

"No, no, no!! What's with this is monster player skills!! Your mother is a pro gamer!"

"However, the truth is, stop taunting me?! It's too much for a newbie?!"

"Eh, Villager-kun's mother is a pro gamer? It's the first time I heard about it."

"Pon is Pon. You like to do things at your pace…"

"My family is a family of gamer. But I live alone, and we haven't met for a while."

By the way, my father is also a professional gamer. They belong to different teams. Now and then, I look them up on the net, and they seem to have done quite well. They get beaten at WWO.

"I see! I have just started living alone. Can I ask you several questions?"

"Don't do it, Pon. He's leading a degenerate life."

"Hey, leave it alone! First, I'm going to teach you how to take out the garbage."

"No, I can already do that…"

Pon sighed with an astonished face. Hmm, but I want to teach you how to pack your garbage efficiently.

We were chatting, and before we notice, we already arrived at the town's south entrance. Apparently the east entrance connected to the tutorial area called 【The Plain of the Beginning】, and the southern entrance is connected to 【Ferio Forest】.

"Pon and I came here earlier, to do some mapping. Villager haven't been on this forest yet, right?"

"I was busy beating up the Slime. Please show me the way, Ghost."

『Please leave it to me.』

"No, I'm not asking you to navigate. Haa… Villager is just like villagers."

"Maybe there will be a ghost-like event where you can raise your favorability?"

"No, as expected of the unusual event… No, there is. I wasn't thinking about the possibility. First of all, why do we have a robot with AI to navigate the fantasy world? And the protagonist lost their memory, and they don't tell us any information before we lost our memory? And then…"

"It's a matter of convenience. Oh, no. I switched on Raijin. I was about looking for the information on the bulletin board… Pon, let's go hunt first!"

"O-okay!"

"How much the Ghost know? Why did they accompany each player? What do you think, Villager… oh, no!!"

Realizing he's been left alone, Raijin follows them in a hurry.

"Does Pon's job have a very wide attack range?"

"Yup~ Just like WWO, the bomb firepower is amazing. But it involves close-up job and incompatible with Raijin-san."

"Ah, right. Raijin is picking up the Double Swordsman."

"It's literally a land mine that can blow away arrows, and the shock wave can neutralize magic."

With a wry smile, I look at dejected Pon.

"If you calculate the direction of the wind affecting the arrow, somehow you will manage."

"I think you are the only one who can do that…"

Hmm, I wonder if that's the case. I thought about it as I shoot through the bouncing Slime in the vicinity. When she saw it, Pon can't help but sigh in astonishment.

"Why can't I hit it while looking away…"

"Listening to the sound is a basic skill in FPS. That's why I attack when I can hear a sound, isn't Pon like that?"

"In my case, since I use Grenade Launcher, the scope is different…"

When I'm trying to recover the arrow pierced into the ground that killed the Slime, suddenly, the arrow is crumbling down.

"Oh… if you repeatedly using it to kill a soft monster, the limit is three-time. This is the worst. I think the one I got in my hand right now at most can only be used once…"

I'm sure that if I use the arrow to defeat soft monster I can use it infinitely, it seems I was wrong. I'll need to check the price of the arrow at the item shop after this… Oh, by the way.

"Ah, Pon… didn't you go to the item shop earlier? Do you know how much an arrow cost?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't think to check the arrow price. But, the price of a mini bomb was 500 manny…"

"Wow. It's definitely not a job you can choose right off the bat… At least, it's cheaper than that, but it's also the main reason why it's unpopular. I guess I'll do it on my own…"

Say, a Slime is worth 3 Manny… if we say it worth 10 Manny, even with maximum utilization, we are still in deficit. The launcher also at a tremendous disadvantage. In the beginning, you have to replenish using your own money.

"You need to leech from a handsome guy at the beginning…"

"I'm not really a Leecher, you know?"

Raijin, who finally caught up with us, came out of the gra.s.s out of breath.

"Yo, Raijin, you are late."

"You are late! You are the one who leaves me behind…"

"Now is the time for you to carry us. (smile sweetly)"

"That's a nice change of words, but it doesn't change the meaning from leeching?"

Raijin pulls his head down while grasping his face. I tap him on the shoulder as I smile.

"Didn't you used me to win the prize?"

"I guess I did that… There's no other way since I got a financial problem. There was no good way to attack when hunting with Pon, and there's no loss in leveling up. You'll get more proficient."

"Sorry, Raijin-san. Also, you have my thanks."

"Haa~ Pon looks excellent. Let's follow Villager's example."

"Eh?"

Raijin was looking with scornful eyes that can cut through ground meat.

"Now, now, Raijin-san. Here you are! So, thank you!"

Behind the rustling bushes, a green humanoid monster with an ugly face jumps out of it.

Goblin, one of the cla.s.sic RPG monsters.

"Ah. Yes, yes, let's do it. But Pon, I'm sorry. I haven't invited Villager to the party yet, can you give me a blow?"

"Gotcha. Shall I put in a little?"

"I don't mind the damage if you don't mind losing EXP?"

『Geghaaaaaaaa!?』

Anyhow, he practices sniping the arrow and beautifully as planned piercing the Goblin's leg. The arrow that has reached its usage limit began to crumbles.

"Your skill is really crazy!? Don't tell me; you maxed your skill level?"

"I'm only Level 5?"

"Right. Well, it's not the first time I've got things wrong."

While they chat, Raijin cut the Goblin using the initial Dual Swordsman's equipment, 【Twin Dagger】. As the damage increased before their eyes, it exploded into polygons.

【Battle Result】

【Enemy】 【Goblin】

【Battle Time】　0:54

【Acquired EXP】 8 EXP

【Acquired Manny】　10 Manny

"Tell me, did the battle raise your 【Double Swordsmans.h.i.+p】 skill level into 4?"

"Oh my. If we get 10 Manny, I think Goblin hunting is the best moneymaker at the beginning."

"It sucks for Hunter because the bow and arrow will cost money. Ah, Villager, you've been hunting for two hours on the first plain, is your bow durability okay?"

"Is the bow durable?"

FPS———At WWO we don't need to think about such things because we only need to spend on ammunition and there's no durability limit on each firearm. But here, is it different because it's an MMORPG?

When concentrating on the gear mark in the corner of your view, a menu window screen will be displayed. Then, he selected Equipment from the menu. There are marks of armor and weapon displayed in his body. He tried to tap on the weapon labeled as Wooden Bow.

【Wooden Bow】 Durability 15/100

A simple bow made from simple wood material. It is used by the beginner Hunter.

STR +4

"Wow, it's all worn-out. Say, how much is the replacement bow cost?"

"I'm pretty sure you can get a Wooden Bow for 800 Manny."

"I swear my bank account would be in deficit after this."

He held Raijin's words in his mind. Why did I choose this job again? Why even bother when this job gives little in return? Just like Launcher.

"Haa, whatever. Raijin-senpai will carry me."

"Stop saying you're leeching shamelessly."

"Thank you for the party invitation."

"I have mixed feelings, but I can't help it…"

When I get Raijin's party invitation and accepted it, in the right-upper part of my vision, I can saw Raijin and Pon's player name displayed in the small form alongside their health bars.

"This is cool. How convenient it is!"

"They don't have this in FPS. For Villager, this kind of thing is new and interesting."

"He looks like myself when I was a beginner."

Raijin and Pon's small laugh unintentionally made me blush.

"I've had the experience of playing VR games, but I never tried to play an online RPG…"

"You think so? Isn't it important to enjoy the game just like that guy?"

"What kind of person are you…"

As he said that, he doesn't forget to check the number of his remaining arrows. He still has eight arrows left. He only used the 2 of them twice, and he used the rest once, so it's not that bad.

"But it's not enough…"

"Is it enough without PVP?"

"No, most of the time it's fun. But, I don't know if my ident.i.ty is compromised."

"Eh, what?"

Raijin tilts his head when he saw me shoot an arrow to the ground. The arrow is "normally" pierced to the ground.

"Ha?"

"What are you doing?"

Hmm, how did you say it?

"You can say that I'd like to challenge myself to create a new skill for the first time."

"What did you mean… oi, oi, no way."

"Yes, way. I said so."

My ident.i.ty. It what makes me known as Transformative Sniper in WWO. It's like my trademark.

"I want to create 【Bounce】 skill."

This world is far from blood and bullets.

t/n: