The question about the synchronization rate was resolved not long after.
“Ugh.”
I frowned at the sensation that engulfed my arm.
Slimes, monsters that seemed to be abundant in this place that looked like a tutorial zone.
When I allowed one to attack me, a small amount of HP was consumed, and a hot sensation came to my arm, the attacked area.
While this might just feel like being slightly scalded by a hot liquid, if I were to receive an attack that could lead to death in one hit, it wouldn’t end with just a little pain.
What was the problem? The capsule? The game?
Or.
[Drizzle Rain]
I stared intently at my nickname that appeared on the status window.
Rain, who was once the hero of the continent of Astria.
And Astria Online.
Could there be a connection?
I couldn’t completely deny the possibility.
But.
Would it be a problem?
No, it wouldn’t.
I clenched my tiny hand and smiled.
Rather, it was good.
The intense sense of reality I feel is probably related to the synchronization rate.
If I didn’t feel this level of reality, I might have regretted buying the capsule.
For a moment, I thought about reporting a bug account and claiming compensation, but I preferred this level of tension over a bland game.
If I don’t want to get hurt, I just need to block, dodge, and strike.
And this body, which faintly follows my thought process and reaction speed from when I fought as a hero.
The high synchronization rate made this possible for me too.
Right now, the level is low, so the stats are low, but if I grow stronger through repeated growth, I could become the strongest here too.
Adventure and growth.
Companions, I don’t need them anymore.
If I don’t make companions, I won’t have to experience the pain of parting.
The story of hero Rain starts anew on the continent of Astria.
This time, I’ll do well even on my own.
As I moved around, adapting to my virtual reality body and admiring the scenery of the tutorial zone, I suddenly came to my senses.
The advance party would already be entering the first city and changing jobs through quick leveling up, but I had already fallen behind while doing other things.
I need to level up.
Fortunately, perhaps worried about intense competition in the tutorial zone due to the initial flood of users, the entire tutorial zone leading to the first city comprised a huge personal instance field.
In other words, it meant I didn’t have to worry about having my prey stolen until I got a job.
However, the body here was weaker than I thought.
It was incomparable to ‘Hero Rain,’ who received the protection of vast mana and the holy sword.
Just an ordinary girl’s body with low stats, only able to move her legs.
Of course, it would get better with leveling up, but.
“Eek, eek.”
Trying to herd slimes by poking them here and there for quick growth, I ended up being chased by a group of slimes instead.
This game was fundamentally challenging for early mob hunting.
The character’s basic HP wasn’t that high to begin with, and without job skills, I couldn’t block all the attacks from slimes jumping in from all directions.
Scalded all over by the attacks of acidic slimes, I ran away in alarm, working my short legs hard.
Pitter-patter!
To think that the former hero would become hunted prey in the tutorial zone.
How long would it take even slightly to match the abilities of my hero days?
* * *
“Haah.”
After a life-and-death struggle with the slimes, I finally reached the level needed for a job change and arrived at the first city, sighing.
[Adventurers’ City Erenburg]
Although I thought I had logged in as soon as the server opened and leveled up quite quickly, the city interior was already crowded with many users.
It’s because I foolishly wandered around the tutorial field, lost in sentiment and sightseeing.
First, I needed to get a job.
I opened the internet within the game and brought up an anonymous community site.
Since it was right after the game’s opening, raw communities like this would have more quality information than organized information sites.
The first post that caught my eye was one of the job evaluations.
[Title]
Don’t choose Swordsman, guys (+31)
[Content]
It was decent in the open beta, but seems nerfed in the live version?
It’s good that blocking can cover the front 180 degrees and multiple attacks, but the damage itself is trash.
My friend changed to Fighter, and it’s definitely better to have attack skills than defense techniques if you want to level up quickly.
Even if you get hit by field mobs, you don’t take much damage anyway, so you can just drink cheap potions and sweep through without needing defense.
[Comments]
-For real, I chose Swordsman too and I’m regretting it. Thinking about starting over.
-Not falling for it. You just want to hog all the benefits lol
-Fighter’s counterattack can only counter single-target attacks, right? Isn’t it good to block all attacks in the front 180 degrees? It might be okay for fields, but later in elite dungeons and such, the damage will be really painful.
ㄴEven if you block, damage still comes through. It’s not 100% damage negation. You’ll have to drink potions anyway.
ㄴWow, then what’s the point of blocking lol
ㄴStill, it should reduce damage by 90%, right?
ㄴThe main thing in this game is evasion skills. Each job has one, so when you go to elite dungeons later, you’ll probably focus on using evasion skills.
“Hmm.”
Is Swordsman not good?
From the open beta test information, I heard it was one of the highly-rated job classes.
It seems the evaluation has changed somewhat after the official service started, but as a hero who used a sword in the continent of Astria, I couldn’t give up on the romance of the sword.
Above all, the existence of ‘blocking’ was significant.
The Swordsman’s defense technique that blocks all attacks from the front 180 degrees.
Because I had a high synchronization rate, it was more difficult for me than others to hunt while taking all the mobs’ attacks.
Not wanting to change the growth route I had originally planned, I opened the city map, checked the location of the Swordsman guild, and headed there.
Thump thump.
Pitter-patter.
But my bold steps soon became timid.
I felt the gaze of female users directed at me.
“Oh my, look at her character customization. It’s really cute.”
“Should we ask her for it?”
“How detailed must the customization settings be! I hear good customizations are even sold for money?”
Avoiding their gazes, I pulled the hood of the adventurer’s robe given to beginners deep over my head and hurried my steps.
Pitter-patter.
After walking hurriedly for a few minutes, I stopped in my tracks at a scent wafting from somewhere.
At the end of my gaze was an NPC’s street stall.
What kind of bird meat could it be?
Skewers with deliciously grilled meat and vegetables threaded together.
That smell stimulated my stomach.
Gulp.
The sound of saliva going down my throat was loudly audible.
Was it because of the high synchronization rate?
To me, who had been living on cup noodles and triangle kimbap for a while, the smell of fresh meat and vegetables was quite stimulating.
[Kopopo Vegetable Grilled Skewer]
[5 copper]
After checking the price on the menu, I opened my inventory.
My funds were 30 copper.
The amount I earned from killing about 30 slimes.
These days, there are jobs that make money in the metaverse of virtual reality, I wonder what the cash exchange rate for this game would be?
Could earning money here help supplement my real-life finances?
Since the game opened only a few hours ago, a proper exchange rate for game currency to cash probably hasn’t formed yet.
However, given that over one hundred million users worldwide had pre-registered, the open run could be expected to be quite profitable.
I briefly touched my soft belly.
Virtual reality food wouldn’t actually fill my stomach, but it could satisfy my taste buds.
5 copper.
This much I can spend.
With a trembling hand, I took out my small purse and handed it to the street vendor.
“Yes! One grilled skewer, thank you!”
Taking the grilled skewer handed to me by the NPC street vendor, I sat down on a street table chair.
And looking at the grilled skewer in my hand, I smiled broadly.
“Heh.”
Chomp.
I opened my mouth wide and put the meat in.
“Mmmmm…!”
My body shuddered.
It’s delicious!
The meat’s juices flowed out, filling my small mouth.
Munch.
Before the meat’s aftertaste had even faded, I bit into the vegetables and pulled them off the skewer.
Crunch crunch.
The texture of the vegetables grilled just right to leave a chewing sensation, was also excellent.
Could it be some kind of green onion?
Anyway, it’s so delicious!
Swing swing.
My short legs that didn’t reach the ground while sitting on the street stall chair swung subconciously.
“Oh.”
I realized a new fact.
When you eat something delicious, your legs swing.
* * *
“Congratulations, from now on you are a Swordsman. Continue to progress and walk the path of the sword.”
The job change to Swordsman happened as quick as lightning.
As long as you met the condition of being a level 5 novice adventurer, that was it. It wasn’t a system that bothered people with job change quests and such.
I grasped the training iron sword handed to me by the Swordsman guild job change NPC.
The practice wooden sword given to beginners by default had an attack power of 4. With my strength stat, it took three sword strikes to kill a slime.
But this training iron sword had an attack power of 10.
There were no other special options attached, but with this sword, I should be able to take down a slime in one hit even without using skills.
“Hmm.”
Then, what should I do with this practice wooden sword?
I stopped by a nearby general store to check the selling price of the wooden sword.
1 copper.
The price of one slime.
It wasn’t a very high price, but it wasn’t one to ignore in the early stages when gold was scarce.
After disposing of the wooden sword I had been using at the general store, I suddenly thought of the wooden swords piled up in a corner at the entrance of the Swordsman job change guild.
Were they left behind by those who changed to Swordsman?
I hurriedly entered the Swordsman guild building again.
Plop, plop.
Even in the meantime, two users who had just changed to Swordsman threw away their swords at the place where the wooden swords were piled up.
I felt angry for some reason.
These people, don’t they know how precious money is!
The dropped wooden swords would naturally disappear if left alone.
But if you think of it as money, it’s a different story.
If I sell five of them, that’s one grilled skewer.
Ignoring the saliva that unconsciously pooled in my mouth, I hurriedly picked up the wooden swords and put them in my inventory.
With my strength stat, the number of wooden swords I could put in my inventory at once was ten.
Two grilled skewers!
“Heh.”
With a beaming smile, I headed to the general store with my inventory full of wooden swords.