Chapter 4
Using the magic circle for transportation, Isamu and Leon arrive at the Rookie Forest.
The reason they came all the way to the forest is because in the Starting Town, player killing isn’t possible due to the game’s settings.
Even if it were possible, Isamu doesn’t have the guts to pull it off in front of people.
「Wow, so this is how you get around!」
「Y-yeah. Oh, since there are a lot of people around here, let’s head deeper in.」
「Alright!」
(Alright, this spot should work!)
After walking a bit until they’re out of sight, Isamu abruptly draws his sword.
「Hey Leon, equip your weapon too.」
Isamu hasn’t fallen so far as to suddenly kill a completely unarmed opponent.
That’s why he told Leon to ready his weapon, but――
「Um, but I don’t have a weapon yet.」
「…Huh?」
That can’t be right.
To allow immediate use no matter which skills you level up, a set of starter weapons is provided in your item list from the beginning.
「No no, you should definitely have one. Take a good look in your item list.」
「My item list…you say?」
「Yeah, in your menu window.」
Leon makes a confused face as if he has no idea what Isamu is talking about.
(Could it be…)
「…Hey Leon. I hate to ask, but you didn’t skip the tutorial by any chance, did you?」
「Yep! It seemed kind of tedious, you know!」
Isamu is stunned.
Even he, an experienced VRMMO player familiar with the basics, thoroughly watched and listened to the tutorial during the beta test.
Yet this boy, despite it being his first VRMMO, skipped it just because he found it bothersome.
Isamu has heard that young people these days hate reading instructions, but he never imagined it would be to this extent.
Killing off this boy who can’t even be called a beginner would yield absolutely nothing.
It would only leave him feeling empty inside.
But having brought Leon all the way here, sending him back right away also feels wrong somehow.
With that in mind, Isamu heaves a big sigh and reluctantly decides to give Leon a simple explanation of the game.
「Leon, line up your index and middle fingers like this, then swipe down.」
Isamu demonstrates, prompting a menu window to appear.
Leon mimics the motion and successfully brings up the panel.
「Whoa, something popped up!」
「That’s the menu window. You can use items, allocate skill points and stuff from there.」
「You’re right!」
Isamu explains with a wry smile at how excited Leon gets over just opening the menu.
「First, you should allocate your skill points. Look, over here――」
Isamu then gives Leon a brief overview of each skill’s characteristics.
Leon promptly invests all his initial points into archery, citing the reason that 「The character I like in my favorite anime uses a bow.」
Next, Isamu teaches him how to equip gear, and――
「Ooh, a bow!」
A wooden shortbow materializes in front of Leon.
「Okay, now use that to… Oh perfect, there’s a good target.」
As they’re talking, a Giant Rat conveniently appears.
「Go on, try attacking it!」
「Alright!」
Leon does as instructed, nocking an arrow and letting it fly.
Thanks in part to the auto-aim assist feature that helps guide arrows to the target, it strikes true.
However, the damage is too low to finish it off, and the rat charges straight at Leon.
「Hah!」
Isamu leaps out to protect Leon, dispatching the Giant Rat with a slash of his sword.
It dissipates into particles of light.
「Th-thank you!」
「Sure. Hey, since we’re at it, why don’t you try using a special move next? You just learned Power Shot, right?」
「Yeah, I think it said something like that.」
「If you say ‘Power Shot’, it’ll activate automatically. Give it a shot the next time a monster shows up.」
「Got it!」
As Isamu is explaining about HP and MP, a new rat appears.
「There, Leon!」
「Okay! Power Shot! …Whoa?!」
Leon fires an arrow.
Unlike before when it merely stuck in the body, this time it pierces clean through.
But even so, the rat doesn’t fall.
The damage still isn’t enough.
(As I thought.)
Isamu knew a single Power Shot wouldn’t be enough to kill it, since he tested it himself in the beta.
「Hup!」
Isamu finishes off the rat Leon failed to defeat, clinching another victory.
「Hey Sieg! My body moved on its own just now!」
「Ah, that’s because――」
When you say a skill name, the system takes over and automatically executes the technique.
Skills unleashed this way have higher potency than normal attacks.
The trade-off is that it consumes MP.
After conveying that, the two work together to take down a succession of rats and bugs that keep appearing.
☆
About 30 minutes later.
「Phew, thanks so much for everything! Sorry, I need to log off now since I have homework.」
「I see. Good work today.」
「You too! Um, Sieg…」
「Hm?」
「We got some money earlier, but is it possible to give this to other people?」
「Yeah, you can. Press this money part here,」
Isamu answers, opening his menu window and pointing to the coin display in the top right.
When buying weapons and items from NPCs, it’s processed automatically, but for trades between players you have to do it this way.
「Great, I’m glad! Then here Sieg, please take all this money!」
「Huh? Why?」
「As thanks for teaching me so much! Plus you’re the one who defeated most of the monsters anyway.」
Leon says with a huge smile.
Isamu can’t help but soften his expression at those words.
「Nah, it’s fine. I got to earn some too. Use it to buy gear and stuff in town.」
「If you say so… Thank you! Oh, and Sieg, would you mind friending me?」
「Friending…?」
Isamu reflexively asks back, not expecting that at all.
「Yes! I saw a friends feature when I was looking at the menu window, so I figured that must be a thing.」
As Leon says, Dream Fantasy does have a friend system.
At present, its only real use is displaying each other’s location on the map though.
「It does, but… with me?」
Isamu has played many VRMMOs, but has almost never made friends.
The only time was when he unknowingly accepted random friend requests sent for the purpose of advertising Let’s Play videos.
「Yes, please be my friend!」
「…Alright. I’ll send you a request then.」
Heart pounding, Isamu sends Leon a friend request.
Once accepted, Leon’s name lines up in his mostly empty friend list.
「Thank you! See you next time then!」
Leon vanishes from sight.
「…Friends, huh.」
On top of it being his first friend, hearing words of thanks fills Isamu with a sense of fulfillment he’s never experienced before, bringing a goofy grin to his face.
「Wait, what am I doing…」
Right after, Isamu remembers his original objective.
He started playing this game intending to hunt newbies.
His conscience got the better of him and he ended up giving Leon advice, but that won’t let him vent his pent-up frustrations.
With that thought, Isamu teleports back to the Starting Town, determined to hunt some normies this time for sure.
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