Estimated reading time: ~9 minutes
Chapter 38
Isamu finally has a day off after a grueling six-day streak at work.
Exhausted from gaming until morning, he doesn’t wake up until after 3pm.
After finishing his errands like shopping and laundry, Isamu lies down on his bed.
There are countless ways to spend a day off.
Some people go out with friends or lovers, while others relax at home.
Some enjoy their hobbies, while others sleep the whole day away.
As for Isamu, he devotes most of his free time to VRMMOs.
Today is no exception – he puts on his Headgear to play some games.
☆
(Now then, what should I do today?)
Isamu ponders as soon as he logs in.
He has plans to temporarily join two guilds tonight, but until then, there’s nothing in particular he needs to do.
Having experienced the joys of playing with others, he no longer feels motivated to play solo for his own enjoyment.
(I guess I’ll head over to the fountain for now.)
The fountain plaza is the initial spawn point when logging in for the first time, as well as the resurrection point upon death.
It’s also a popular meeting spot thanks to its recognizable landmark and the benches surrounding it, attracting many players.
Isamu figures he might run into acquaintances or newbies there and be able to play together with them.
With that thought in mind, he starts walking towards the fountain.
After walking for a bit, he arrives and suddenly hears a young man’s voice from behind:
「Um, excuse me!」
Turning around, he sees a boy who looks to be in middle school and a young girl around early elementary school age facing off against two burly men in their mid-twenties.
「Hm? What’s up, kid?」 one of the men asks.
(Oh, he wasn’t talking to me…)
Realizing the boy wasn’t addressing him, Isamu feels embarrassed about his misunderstanding.
「I just started playing this game and I don’t understand anything… I was wondering if you could teach me various things, if that’s alright with you?」
The boy says, looking up at the two men.
The burly men exchange glances before one of them scratches his head and speaks.
「Sorry kid, we actually just started too. We’re in the same boat as you, not having a clue what to do. We were just troubled about that ourselves.」
「I see… I apologize.」
「Nah, we’re the ones who should be sorry. …Anyways, what should we do now?」
From the conversation, it seems all four of them are beginner players who are confused about the game.
(Alright!)
This is his time to shine.
Up until recently, Isamu only responded when others approached him first.
But lately, he’s been making an effort to actively reach out to players who seem to be having trouble.
Isamu rushes over to them and calls out.
「Excuse me. I overheard your conversation – are you perhaps having trouble with the game right now?」
「Hm? Yeah, we are. But who’re you?」
「Ah, my name is Sieg. In this game, I’m known as the Tutorial Guy. I sometimes give lectures about the game to new players.」
Hearing this, their expressions brighten a little.
Isamu used to work in sales, so he’s skilled at reading people’s emotions from their facial expressions.
Their faces don’t say 「What a nosy guy, mind your own business!」 but rather express a positive sentiment of 「Then will you teach us too?」
Confirming this, Isamu continues.
「If it’s alright with you, would you like me to explain various things?」
「For real? We’d really appreciate that, but we don’t really have anything to give you in return…」
「Um, we don’t have anything to offer you either…」
「Oh, you don’t need to worry about any sort of reward or thanks at all! I do this because I enjoy it!」
That’s right, this is volunteer work. He’s not seeking anything in return.
If pressed, he’d say he’s happy to receive words of gratitude like 「thank you.」
That alone is enough to fill him with joy.
「Seriously?! Dude, you’re super cool! In that case, please do!」
「If that’s how it is, we’ll take you up on the offer! Teach us all sorts of things!」
「Thank you very much! We look forward to working with you! …Hey, you too.」
「O-Okay. M-Mister, pleased to meet you.」
The four of them gratefully accept Isamu’s offer.
「Great! Well then, first I’d like to ask – did you all read through the tutorial?」
「Yeah. I tried to, but I didn’t really get it.」
「I got fed up partway through and skipped it.」
「Oh, I didn’t read it. My little sister gets lonely if I leave her alone, so I skipped the initial explanation to start the game right away.」
「I see, got it! In that case, I’ll explain from the beginning! First, about how to open the menu window-」
Isamu then explains the basics of the game like levels and skill overviews.
Afterwards, they move to the Rookie Forest for some practical hands-on instruction.
About two hours pass like this.
「Phew. That was crazy fun, but I’m getting kinda tired.」
「Same. I’m hungry too, let’s take a break.」
「Ah, it’s about dinnertime for us too.」
「Ehh, I still wanna play!」
「No way! Mom will get mad and then we won’t be able to play the game at all!」
「I-I don’t want that!」
Based on their conversation, it seems the four of them are about to log off.
「I see. I should get going too then. Good work, everyone!」
「Yeah! Thanks a ton, man! If you weren’t here, I probably would’ve quit this game!」
「For real! Meeting you was awesome!」
「Sieg, thank you so much for everything! Thanks to you, I’m totally hooked now!」
「Me too! Thanks mister!」
「No no, it was my pleasure! See you around!」
Isamu bids them farewell and starts walking towards the magic circle that will take him back to Starting Town.
On the way, he feels a sense of fulfillment at being helpful, but a question nags at him once more.
(Is the tutorial really that hard to understand?)
When he heard about it during the beta version, he personally didn’t think it was all that confusing.
So he’s always found it strange that there are many players who don’t understand even after reading it, let alone those who skip it because it’s too much of a hassle.
(Maybe I should look into it a bit.)
Ordinarily that question would vanish from his mind right away, but for some reason it really bothers him today.
Since he still has time before his appointment, Isamu decides to investigate Dream Fantasy’s tutorial.
☆
Isamu takes off his Headgear after logging out and immediately goes to his computer.
He opens a search engine and types 「Dream Fantasy tutorial」 into the search bar.
The first result that pops up is an online news article titled 「Tutorial Guy.」
It’s an article about him.
He finds it embarrassing to read articles about himself, and he’s anxious about what might be written.
With that in mind, Isamu ignores that article and continues scrolling down the page.
By the way, he also hasn’t checked the in-game community bulletin board for the same reason.
As he continues browsing, the reviews section of Dream Fantasy’s download page eventually appears in the search results.
He opens the page and skims through it, seeing mostly high ratings but also some scathing reviews.
Upon reading them, the majority express dissatisfaction with the tutorial, saying things like 「The initial explanation is confusing」 and 「The tutorial is too long.」
(Hmm… I didn’t think that though.)
When he carefully read through it during beta testing, Isamu didn’t feel particularly dissatisfied.
It wasn’t exceptionally well-made, but it wasn’t especially bad either – he remembers it being a very ordinary tutorial.
In the midst of puzzling over the vast gap between his own experience and others’, a possibility suddenly occurs to him.
Perhaps the beta and official release versions of the tutorial are different.
Investigating further, he eventually finds the blog of another player who was also a beta tester.
(…I see, so that’s how it is.)
It was just as he thought.
Apparently changes were made to the tutorial in the official release.
And those changes were for the worse – in other words, it was ruined.
This in turn makes him curious about just how bad it’s become.
To check the tutorial, Isamu plays back the archive of Elena’s first time playing the game.
「Heya! Alright, time to start the much-talked-about Dream Fantasy!」
「Huh?」
Right from the start, Elena is already in the plaza. It seems she cut out the tutorial scenes.
(In that case, let’s check out Mew’s video.)
He searches and opens the video of Mew’s first time playing.
Just like Elena, it starts from the plaza.
If that’s how it is, he tries playing Cocono’s video this time. She’s the same as the other two.
(That’s strange…)
While puzzling over it suspiciously, he checks the archives of other streamers at random, but they’re all the same.
Not a single person shows the tutorial scenes.
As he tilts his head wondering why, Isamu suddenly realizes.
(…Oh, right. It’s physically impossible to show the tutorial.)
In VRMMOs including Dream Fantasy, you can start streaming from inside the game.
In other words, the streaming function can’t be used in the tutorial before you’ve actually started the game.
Therefore, it’s only natural that the tutorial scenes aren’t shown.
With the various mysteries solved, Isamu closes his computer feeling refreshed.
The situation hasn’t been resolved at all, and because of the poorly made tutorial, there will surely continue to be new players who are troubled by not understanding the game.
He’ll teach them through lectures like earlier in order convey the appeal of this game that he loves so much.
Thinking about such things, Isamu once again sets off for the world of Dream Fantasy in order to fulfill his promise of temporarily joining some guilds.
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