Redefining the META at VRMMO Academy: Volume 5 E-Book

Hayaken

• Herausgeber: J-Novel Club
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Serie: Redefining the META at VRMMO Academy
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 191

Beschreibung

After guiding the super weak NPC Kokoru to victory in the hero-training event, Ren and his guild gear up for their next adventure: summer vacation! Like a true gamer, Ren decides to spend his break playing his favorite MMO. The academy has unlocked special areas just for the summer and enabled cross-server play, allowing him to party up with longtime American friend and expert programmer, Emily... But how will Akira react when she sees the two of them together?!

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Chapter 1: The New World of Summertide

Chapter 2: Reunion with an Old Friend

Chapter 3: Aswarth’s Undersea Ruins

Chapter 4: Minigames with the Yukata Girls

Interlude: Thinking with Her Heart

Chapter 5: Aswarth’s Undersea Ruins, Part 2

Chapter 6: A Worthy Foe

Chapter 7: Dropping a Bomb before Our Goodbye

Extra: Friend Summon—Nozomi Akabane!

Afterword

Color Illustrations

About J-Novel Club

Copyright

Landmarks

Color Images

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The New World of Summertide

After waking up early in the morning, I trudged to the kitchen and expressed my demands with a loud yawn.

“Haaah... I’m starving. Morning, Mom. Where’s breakfast?”

Either Mom was half-asleep or her natural airheadedness was more potent than usual. Casting me an absentminded look, she replied, “Oh, hello, Ren. Aren’t you late? Are you gonna make it to class?”

“No worries. Summer vacation just started!”

Some time had passed since the competitive guild mission. After another round of exams, it was finally time to kick back and relax.

“You’re just a bundle of energy. What are your plans?”

“Heh, you oughta know. Gaming, gaming, and more gaming—without having to go to class!”

During summer vacation, of course, there would be no classes, but we were still able to log in to Unlimited World itself. Plus, we weren’t subjected to the forced logout time. It was a 24/7 gamer party!

What could I do but take them up on that? Finally, I had time for all that testing I wanted to do!

Normally, log-ins were restricted to the space between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. As a result, adventuring and level-grinding were the big priorities, often leaving testing on the back burner. And trust me, I had plenty of things I wanted to test!

“Ahahaha! Same as usual, then. Well, how about last night’s leftover curry?”

“They’ve got a big, ongoing summer event, so of course I’m gonna play! And yeah, curry sounds great!”

The summer event involved all kinds of limited-time activities, so other players had plenty of stuff to enjoy.

Once I finished breakfast, I’d log in right away. Akira and I had plans to meet up. Would we start off with the summer event Akira was so hyped for or the testing I wanted to do? No doubt answering that question would be first on our agenda.

Maybe we’ll settle it with a duel at the training grounds, I thought as I chowed down on my beloved mother’s curry.

Casually flicking on the TV, I tuned in to a breaking news report.

“Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Aoyagi has broken his leg in a car accident during a visit,” I heard the newscaster say.

“What?! That’s Akira’s granddad!”

Due to a recent reorganization of the Cabinet, Akira’s grandfather was now a minister. She had told me he was a politician, but I’d had no idea he was that big a deal. When the name “Aoyagi” came up on the news, I figured it might be related to him. My hunch turned out to be right on the money.

He okay, though? I’ll have to ask Akira when I get the chance.

Having eaten a later breakfast than usual, I wasted no time logging in to UW. We were supposed to meet at 11:00 a.m. sharp.

I logged into the guild house living area and found that Akira was already there waiting for me. She was sitting on the couch, playing with Draco in her lap.

“Yo, Akira! Hi, Draco!”

“Good morning!”

“Chirp! Ren, morning!”

Draco was getting better and better at language. Once he grew up to be a big-boy dragon, would his voice sound more mature?

“Akira, I saw your gramps on the news. Is he gonna be all right?”

“Oh, yeah. First off, I’m so sorry! Granddaddy went to the hospital, but he’s not in danger or anything. Turns out, I need to go and visit him today. My parents aren’t at home, so it’s up to me, pretty much. I gotta go really soon, actually.”

“Dang, okay. You should probably get going, then. Best of luck to ya.”

“Yeah. Sorry again; I know we made a promise.”

“C’mon, it’s an emergency. Not your fault. You could’ve sent me a message instead of waiting here, though.”

“Hmm... I have some stuff to do with the fam starting tomorrow, so I might not be back for a few days. I just wanted to see your face before I go.”

“Don’t you see me all the time?”

“I mean, yeah. But that just means it’ll be weird not seeing you for a while.”

“Is that so?”

“Yep! Get a load of my face while you can, Ren, ’cause you’ll be missing out. Now’s your chaaance.”

She poked my cheek. Akira really liked to pile on the teasing when she could.

“Cut it out. Hmph, fine. I’ll take a good look!” I said, staring right at the cleavage exposed by her sword dancer outfit.

Looking fine as usual. Pretty and plump.

“H-Hey, stop! That’s not what I meant! Ugh... This is just weird!”

“Okay, looking complete! All good now.”

“Jeez! Seriously, you’d better not treat anyone else like this, or you’ll go to jail in a second. Got it?”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Do you? Well... Okay, it’s time for me to go.”

“Gotcha. Look after your gramps, all right?”

“For sure. Later, Ren!”

“Yep. Later!”

Akira waved with a smile, then flickered and disappeared. She had logged out.

The only ones left now were a boy and his dragon. Maeda and Yano wouldn’t be coming either, as they had other stuff to do.

“What do I do now, buddy? My schedule just cleared right up.”

I’d really prefer to have Akira’s help with testing. Maybe I should check out the limited-time event on my own? Oh, speaking of! They finally added some new symbologist magic in the summer update.

I still hadn’t grabbed that, so perhaps now was a good time. New magic was always exciting. Though, seeing as symbologist was King of the Bummers, it was probably very hit or miss. But as long as it was my class’s magic, I couldn’t just ignore it.

“I got it. Time for a rare solo magic-retrieval run. Let’s go, Draco!”

“Chirp! Walkies, walkies!”

With Draco on my shoulder, I exited the guild house.

Now, as for the new symbologist magic, the method of obtaining it was already clear: a lottery in the shopping district of Telluna. The scroll for it was among the prizes that would be given away. Tickets for this lottery were handed out for free when you bought items in Telluna’s shops. But this only worked for normal, NPC-run shops—not the guild shops that players operated.

NPC shops changed out their stock now and again, but you’d never find anything that rare. Frankly, once you reached a certain level, they weren’t worth visiting anymore. You’d deal mainly with guild shops after that.

They were good for stocking up on crafting materials, as they never ran out of stock, but they didn’t have rare mats. Basically, you just came and bought in bulk whenever you needed a large amount of crafting materials.

It was typically cheaper to buy at guild shops, so you were better off going to multiple shops to buy if you didn’t mind the effort. If you wanted to get in on the lottery, though, you were forced to use normal shops.

Currently, my main problem was that I didn’t have much money. If I bought in bulk, I’d run out in no time. But boy, did they have just the thing for poor people like me—a quest that dispensed lottery tickets as rewards! The gist was that a young NPC named Mina had dropped items while doing errands, and you had to retrieve them for her. A fetch quest, in other words.

I went straight to find Mina.

“Excuse me, mister! My mommy asked me to bring her three Expensive Slime Jellies, but I lost them! She’s gonna get really mad...”

“Not a problem. I’ll help you find them!”

“Wow, really? Thank you!”

Ping! went a system notification. A message was displayed.

Quest “Mina’s Lost Items” has begun!

[Quest Summary]

Mina has lost some items that her mommy asked her to buy. Help Mina by finding a way to replace the items.

Yep, there it is.

This was the kind of quest that you could repeat endlessly, though the items required would change each time. Each time you delivered them, the quest was done. It didn’t matter how you obtained them.

This time, she wanted Expensive Slime Jellies. If you can believe it, they were expensive. The best option was to go farming for them. My drop luck was pretty poor, but this was the only way.

Expensive Slime Jellies were dropped by slime-type enemies, but as they were of a higher quality, only high-leveled slimes could drop them. Specifically, slimes higher than level 70. Currently, I was level 77.

I’ve got a feeling this is going to be a pretty thrilling material run.

Feeling pumped, I headed for the area known as Nikalai’s Marsh, where I would find level 70 slimes. It was a secluded area off of the coast of the Almishr continent, where Kokoru and the other NPCs hailed from. Nikalai’s Marsh had no towns or villages to speak of—just a vast bog as far as the eye could see, and a conveniently placed landing strip for airships.

Akira and I had gone there once for sightseeing purposes, so I was able to just warp right over, making my travel instantaneous.

“What a ridiculously large place.”

“Chirp chichirp! Biiig!”

Draco liked open spaces like this. He flew around the area, flapping his little wings.

“Don’t go too far, now. I don’t wanna lose you.”

“Chirp! Ren, found!”

Ping! Another system notification, followed by logs.

Draco picked up Expensive Slime Jelly!

Ren obtained Expensive Slime Jelly!

There’s my boy’s Pickup ability! This little guy makes my life so much easier!

“Ooh! Nice job, Draco! That’s a huge help.”

“Chichirp!”

“Just two more now. Let’s find some slime.”

I followed the beaten trail for some time until, at last, I found the slime I was looking for: a level 72 Muddy Slime. Big and brown, he was bouncing his way around a pretty big puddle.

“Hunting time!”

First, I cast a wide-range Enfeebling Circle at my feet. This was the usual “empty my MP to prepare for my ultimate” action.

Then, I pulled out my Blowgun to draw in the distant enemy. As it was just bait to draw it closer, I used a normal dart with no special effects. Incidentally, my Blowgun darts were made using damascus ingots, as was the standard for my level.

The running cost of keeping up this strategy was correlated to my level, with both rising ever higher. Truly, it cost money to chase drama—both in real life and in games.

Ren attacked!

But the Muddy Slime evaded!

Because I was putting all my points into VIT, anything that required DEX was a hard miss. If I didn’t use unavoidable attacks when I really wanted to deal damage, I was useless. The more I leveled up, the more extreme and min-maxed that trend would become. Even so, there was really no point in worrying about it at this point. All I needed to do here was bait the enemy, so it didn’t matter if I missed.

Riled up by my attack, the Muddy Slime started bouncing and rolling my way.

“Sorry, buddy. I’m gonna need you to hand over that Expensive Slime Jelly for the sake of Mina and my new magic! Ultimate move: Dead Eeend!”

Smaaaaash!

The purple laser went straight through the Muddy Slime.

Ren activated Dead End.

Dealt 4,632 damage to Muddy Slime!

Ren has defeated the Muddy Slime.

“That’s it?!”

I wanted to see that “Ren obtained Expensive Slime Jelly!” log! Where is it?!

“Okay, well... Gotta wait for my cooldowns before we go to the next one.”

Two of the skills that made up my ultimate, Turnover and Final Strike, required a five-minute cooldown period before I could use them again. If Akira were here, she’d be able to reset all of my cooldowns in an instant. Now that I was alone, though, I was stuck waiting.

All the while, I bled more money with every weapon I sacrificed to my ultimate.

My one-shot, drama-cannon style was shamefully inadequate when it came to farming small fry solo. I was fine with that for the most part, but if I wanted the world at large to see symbologist in a new light, it was necessary to work around these kinds of issues. If I didn’t make up a strategy and communicate it to the world, symbologist would go down in UW history as a total Bummer. After all, the convenience of soloing was an important part of a class’s appraisal.

“Hmm. Maybe I should try taking down the next one without breaking a weapon.”

Five agonizing minutes later, I was able to get back to work. Since I’d been resting during the wait, my HP and MP had fully recovered as well.

“Off we go, Draco!”

“Chirp! Found, found!”

Ping!

Draco picked up Expensive Slime Jelly!

Ren obtained Expensive Slime Jelly!

Holy crap! He knows just what I want!

“Thanks again! Just one more!”

I searched for the next slime... and there it was! This time, the slime was perched in the middle of a bridge that crossed over the marsh.

“Here goes. Enfeebling Circle!”

I drained my MP, targeting Draco with a field that slowed down enemy movement in case we needed to kite enemies.

When I targeted Draco, the effect of his skill, Target Marker, caused the circle to follow him wherever he went.

I followed up with a Turnover, then readied my Blowgun. It was equipped with Poison Darts this time, ready to poison my enemy.

Finally, I activated Shadow Dart!

Shadow Dart (AP: 0)

Hidden Weapon Art

<Effect> Fires a single dart from the enemy’s blind spot. Hits once. Only usable once per battle. Grows stronger as HP decreases. Extra effect rate and potency increase as HP decreases. Ignores defense. Cannot be evaded.

Ren activated Shadow Dart.

Dealt 75 damage to Muddy Slime!

Having taken damage, the slime bounced over to attack me. But as I had an Enfeebling Circle attached to Draco, it slowed down as soon as it got within range of the spell. As long as I kept moving, it would never catch up. This marathon-kiting tactic was no different than the usual.

My strategy now was to wait for it to die from the poison’s damage-over-time effect. As this strategy didn’t require Final Strike, it didn’t involve weapon destruction. Much more economically efficient.

However...

“Huh? Its HP isn’t going down.”

Despite running my marathon for a while, the slime’s HP barely budged.

My Shadow Dart did hit, right? It ignores evasion, so it couldn’t possibly have missed.

I looked back at the battle log and realized my mistake.

Ren activated Shadow Dart.

Dealt 75 damage to Muddy Slime!

But the log that should’ve followed it, “Muddy Slime is now poisoned!” never showed up!

“Dang it. This one’s immune to poison!”

This was bad. Hidden weapon arts could only be activated once per battle, regardless of which weapon was used. That meant that once I used Shadow Dart—a Blowgun art—it would set a flag that made my Canesword’s Quickdraw art unusable.

I usually avoided this problem by crafting a new weapon in the middle of battle, but as you couldn’t hold two Caneswords or two Blowguns, I wasn’t able to do that now. To sum it up, I couldn’t use hidden weapon arts or any ultimates that included them in this fight.

“Fine, then. Time for a good old-fashioned beatdown!”

I used a potion to heal myself a little, paused the marathon, and faced the slime head-on. Ever since I obtained the Rush Ring, I became able to use bodily striking arts. While guarding attacks with my staff, I used my simple shoulder charge attacks to grind him down.

With all my points in VIT, my guard was thick. As long as I didn’t mess up the guard motion, I would take no guard break whatsoever.

My strikes were only around 60-70 damage per hit. Slowly but surely, the enemy’s HP was dropping. At this rate, I’d win one day! Or at least, I hoped so.

Muddy Slime prepared to activate Split!

No sooner did I see the log appear than the slime divided into two!

“Aw, crap. He did the thing!”

I forgot slimes could divide!

During normal beatdowns like this, enemies gained AP as well. That was why I wanted to try using Shadow Dart to win. But who knew he would be immune to poison?

This is what I get for cheaping out!

“I see how it is. Discharging Circle!”

This was a new kind of circle magic I had learned. I hadn’t been able to buy any magic scrolls around the time of the guild mission, but this was one of the few I’d acquired after the fact.

Its effect slowed down enemies’ AP refill rates. Unfortunately, it didn’t actually decrease their current Art Points; it just cut the rate of refill in half. This would decrease the rate at which they used their special techniques.

All right, I might be able to take them down before they—

Muddy Slime prepared to activate Split!

Whoops, never mind!

Now I was forced to continue this beatdown against three slimes... until there were suddenly five of them!

“You’ve gotta be kidding meee!”

Against five enemies, I couldn’t attack without letting some through my guard. Thankfully, I was tougher than a tank with my all-in VIT strategy, so I didn’t take much damage. We were in a real-deal mud-wrestling match!

I didn’t want to admit it. I really, really didn’t, but...

I can’t do anything without Akira!

Solo farming was a hard no after all. This was some light material farming for any normal player, but for me, it was a painful endeavor!

At that moment, something miraculous happened.

Ping!

Draco picked up Expensive Slime Jelly!

Ren obtained Expensive Slime Jelly!

“Nice!”

The third one has arrived!

“Chichirp!”

“Heheheh. Enfeebling Circle!”

I swiftly changed circles, targeting Draco.

“Good job, Draco! Get in my arms!”

“Chiiirp!”

“We’ll leave it at that for today!”

I turned heel and sped off, leaving my slimy foes in the dust as I headed to the airship port. Once there, I entered the warp that would take me back to the warp room.

Shame my fight against those slimes went to waste. All that time and effort, gone! But hey, now it’s time to play the lottery. New magic, come to Papa!

◆◇◆

Immediately upon returning to Telluna, I made a beeline for Mina.

“Thanks, mister! Now my mommy won’t get mad at me! Oh, and here’s a little gift!”

“Ooh. Thank you!”

With a familiar ping, a system notification alerted me that the quest had been completed.

Lottery ticket received!

All right! I might need to come see her again for another quest, but I hope she doesn’t ask me for any more slime-related stuff.

Without Draco, my only way through would’ve been throwing away all my money. I also would’ve had to wait the full five minutes every time I got a kill, making the farm painfully inefficient.

Clearly, I had a few too many problems fighting small fry. I needed to either find a talent for casual farming or have Draco learn a way to help me out.

I could grab a Master’s Scroll-type talent to learn offensive magic, but that doesn’t exactly make symbologist look good in the public eye. It’s the same as having Draco farm for me. If possible, I’d like to find a method that only symbologist can take advantage of.

That was my best option for boosting the class’s reputation.

Still, you’ve gotta break some eggs to make an omelet, so maybe I should just grab a Master’s Scroll for the time being. I do have some Merit Points from the big exam we took right before summer vacation.

Mulling it over, I headed to the lottery venue in the shopping district.

There were four tiers of prizes, each with their own set of rewards. The operator let you choose which prize you wanted once you rolled a tier. Some prizes had a distinctly summer theme, such as all-inclusive tickets to a limited-time, high-class resort area. It was kind of like winning an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii.

Leaving that aside, the new symbologist magic I wanted was among the third-tier prize lineup. Wizards, however, had their new magic in the second tier.

What is this, discrimination? Why is mine on a lower level?! But if that makes it easier to get, then that’s cool with me, even if it does make me a little sad!

“One lottery pull, please!”

I handed my ticket to the old guy running the lottery.

“But of course, sir. Thank you!”

He spun the machine, one so old and rackety it seemed like an antique.

Ba-dunk. A white ball rolled out of it.

“Aw, that’s a shame. You get a tier-four prize!”

I stared wordlessly at the ball.

Bah. My luck really does suck when it comes to drops. This isn’t exciting at all!

I took my consolation prize, a potion, and sighed. “Of course I wouldn’t get it in one try. I’m nothing like Akira...”

Our naturally lucky gal was leagues ahead of me in this department.

Even if I wanted to go back to Mina, she didn’t lose things that quickly. I’d have to wait a while before the quest would pop back up.

“What now?” I wondered aloud. “Maybe I’ll put in some work at the guild shop.”

Stocking up on materials at a normal, NPC-run shop would give you lottery tickets at random. It was more expensive than buying at guild shops, but... maybe I could do just a little? I’d still have a net gain, at least. It would just reduce profit margins.

Either way, I just needed lottery tickets!

“Chirp! Chicken, chicken!”

Suddenly, Draco flew behind me!

“Argh! No preying on me, bawk! Why are you like this, bawk?!”

“Hm? Oh, hey, Kokoru!”

The one running around like a chicken with his head being chomped off was, without a doubt, Kokoru.

After our victory in the competitive guild mission, Kokoru had been appointed as a knight of Mishuria. Now his gear was much more... regal. But as he was a fat little chicken, he looked more silly than he did knightly.

“Ooh. Bawk, Ren! Good to see you, bawk!”

“What brings you here?”

“I’m off today, so I came to hang out, bawk. But nobody was at the guild house.”

“Yep. Everyone but me is busy today, it turns out.”

After the guild mission, each guild’s hero NPC returned to their homeland. We hadn’t wanted to say goodbye forever, so we’d made arrangements for Kokoru to come hang out whenever he wanted.

Specifically, we’d selected the Return Whistle as one of our free item rewards for being the top guild. The item allowed him to return at any time he wanted to a warp point we set up. It never disappeared no matter how many times you used it, and it had a short cooldown time. We had set the warp point to our guild house and had then given the whistle to Kokoru as a present. Every member of Hell’s Crafters had been in favor of this decision.