Chapter 7: Pervert Learns the Cost of Efficiency

After I told the three people about my current predicament with too many items and no means to start a fire so that I could get rid of starvation’s effect, they agreed to help me, also accepting the portion of the meat I willing to offer them. 「Umm…… “Fireball”!!!」 「「Ooh.」」 Lina casts the spell and the moment it hits the branches we gathered around to start the fire, it changes them into a nice looking bonfire. Judging from their reactions and behavior, they must have been newbies at this game, just like me. 「Oh, you can cook things in batches, huh……? This game sure is convenient……」 「Umm, Sanraku… -san……?」 「Just Sanraku is fine. After all, I am a ShanFro newbie, just like you guys. So we’re pretty much on an equal footing here.」 「Oh, really? I would have never been able to guess that, judging by your looks alone? Sanraku, why do you look like that……?」 Lina seemed to be exhausted after casting the “Fireball” spell, so in the meantime I proposed to cook her batch of meat for her. 「In this game, you can sell your starting equipment as soon as the starting screen.」 「Hm? Is that so!?」 「That is why I sold basically everything else except for my weapons and headgear.」 「I see, but since the city is so close-by, couldn’t you just buy and sell your equipment there?」 The thief girl Kaho asked me that question, which made me understand that the initial spawn location must have also been randomized. When I told everyone where I was forced to start, they all looked at me sympathetically. 「That’s right…… What was that thing right there?」 「You mean Vorpal Bunny?」 「Yeah, yeah, is that Vorpal Bunny thing crazy strong or what?」 「Hmm, let’s see……」 I might tell them what I know, but will they be able to do anything with that knowledge? Ultimately I decided to tell Soma, the boy who asked that question, that speed was crucial in dealing with Vorpal Bunny. 「If you aim at its neck fast enough, every single attack is supposed to be a critical hit, but it might be hard to hit a moving target with precision like that. 「F, fast……」 「It’s a monster that initially seems hard, but is rather easy once you get used to dealing with it.」 「Just out of curiosity: what level are you, Sanraku?」 「Level twelve. But the amount of EXP I’m getting here is starting to dwindle a little bit, so I was thinking it might be good for me to find a new location to grind soon.」 「Ah, hunting like that…… But! It’s been only a day since we started playing, so we still have so much possibilities to explore here!」 I think it would be a good idea to let these girls know that I’m not your typical player when it comes to grinding and stuff like that. After all, the only thing that separates us is basically play time. It would be a different story if we started at around the same time, but in games like that overall play time was making all the difference. 「I went on a little break, and after that I went to grind into the forest for about seven hours or so. Thanks to that my inventory got so full and I was about to starve to death……」 「Aah, so that’s why you needed some means to start a fire.」 「That’s right. And you really saved me out there…… For that, thank you very much.」 When it comes to meat, the meat of the Vorpal Bunny seemed to be the one that was the best when cooked, and so I decided to distribute that one amongst our small group of people. 「Hmh……!? It looks so good but it tastes so bland!?」 In most games, even though you could eat many different things their taste would generally be pretty much the same (mostly tasting like pork, but there were some exceptions). But much like in the real world, if you ate too much inside of the game you would be overcome with the urge to not want to do anything at all and just sleep, and in some cases to log out and eat some real food…… Good job, game. Good job. 「Ahh, now I want to eat some real meat.」 「……? If that’s what you want to do, then why don’t you just do it?」 「Nah, before I do that I want to get some more things done in this game.」 As I said that, the three of them nodded their heads in understanding. I could log out anywhere and anytime I wanted, but in reality the safest thing to do would be to log out in a town or a safe zone. For example, when I previously logged out to have a little break, after I came back, the tree that I was sitting on was almost broken in half and full of scratch marks. If I stayed there longer, I could have turned into nothing more than Goblin or Vorpal Bunny food. So I wanted to avoid doing that, so that I wouldn’t have to brand this game as a sh*tty game as well. 「Oh, that’s right. I know this may sound stupid, but can I ask you some questions?」 Since they were to town before, I asked them about the shops that were located there, so that I could know where to best buy certain things. I also decided on making it a habit to scout out any new town that I would venture into as the first thing on my priority list. Since the three of them were on a gathering quest in the forest, we decided to go our separate ways from this point forward, with me going to the town which was the opposite of the direction they were going, to “Secandill”. The main theme of this work is: “overcoming the boundaries of the system with personal knowledge”. Even when we have Person A and Person B, with their level, equipment, skills and game time being roughly the same, the one who has more knowledge about VR games in general is going to have the huge edge. And utilizing that knowledge can give you a tremendous boost when it comes to leveling up quickly, assembling your equipment or amassing a large sum of money…… That’s just how it is.