kscans

Chapter 33 - Racing Across the Sand Plains, Gazing into the Distance

"Now then..."

It's been exactly one week since I debuted in Arcadia. Although I'm stuck with a task with no clear end in sight, I personally have started to feel quite accustomed to the virtual world.

The current time is just before four in the morning. I woke up suddenly and decided to move from my bed to the [Arcadia] machine for a second round of sleep... but as expected of an online game, there are quite a few players around even at this hour.

Since I haven't updated my settings, I'm at the familiar plaza that serves as my login and respawn point. Leaning against the edge of the landmark fountain, I was staring down my status screen.

――――――――――――――――――
◇Status◇ Name: Haru Lv: 44(10)
STR (Strength): 30
AGI (Agility): 280
DEX (Dexterity): 150
VIT (Vitality): 5
MID (Mind): 5
LUC (Luck): 10

◇Skill◇
・All Weapon Aptitude
《Quick Change》
《Piercing Dart》

・Embodied Protection
・Heavy Attack Manipulator
・Accel Tempo
・Boar's Heart
・Acrobatics
・Jumble Step
・Carry Running
――――――――――――――――――

My level-up pace has slowed a bit after hitting 40, but it's still brisk. My stats are growing steadily, or rather, my AGI has completely graduated from human and is now that of a monster.

In fact, according to my research, the recommended AGI for the major light warrior build in this game is around 200. This means that at a level less than half the cap of 100, I've easily surpassed that threshold.

By the way, the current fastest light warrior—I think his name was [Hayagake] and he uses a short sword—has a published AGI of 350. If I put my banked points into it, I'll catch up to him in just six more levels.

I've learned that you can get stat points outside of leveling up (the mysterious addition before was a bonus for encountering the 'White Throne'), but the base amount is still 10 points per level for 100 levels, totaling 1000 points.

Additionally, if you're going to invest in AGI, you need a corresponding amount of DEX, and without the Acrobatics line of skills, that alone would eat up as much as seventy percent of your points... Considering that, it makes sense that that's the fastest you can go.

So, after all that, how fast am I really? Imagine one of those super-fast fight scenes you see in anime. The kind where people post slow-motion, frame-by-frame breakdowns on video sites just so you can finally see what's happening—frankly, I'm at that level.

My top speed during a full sprint easily surpasses a sports car. From the very start, the surrounding scenery blurs into lines, and my tiny human body of about 60kg naturally kicks up a gust of wind.

To be honest, I'm already reaching my limit. What limit? My reactions can't keep up with my own speed. No matter how much my body accelerates, my thought speed remains normal... In other words, the software isn't keeping up with the hardware.

I hear there's a ridiculous thing called a 'Thought Acceleration Skill,' but a quick glance told me it's impossible to get on purpose, so I can't count on it as a solution.

It doesn't have a thought acceleration effect, but I'm seriously envious of Sora's 《Observer's Eye》... It's for ranged use only, so it would be useless to me, but if a close-range version exists, I'd give anything for it.

By the way, I don't know if Sora-san is aware of this, but Observer's Eye isn't listed in the strategy site's database—meaning, unless there's a secret user out there, it's a unique skill only Sora has.

On top of that, that 《Spectate Ale》 skill was also unique. Who is that girl?

Feeling jealous, I tried searching for my own skills, but every single one of them was already known. I thought the mysterious skill 《Embodied Protection》 might be a possibility, but while the acquisition conditions are uncertain, it seems there are multiple users.

Well, if it were that easy to get, it would be a joke to call it unique, right...? No, I'm not, I'm not frustrated or anything, not at all...

"Haa... I should go level up."

Turning a blind eye to things that might lower my motivation is the best policy. It's not like I need a unique skill when my build itself is unique, a straight path down the road of a rare beast. I'll just keep running without thinking about unnecessary things.

◇◆◇◆◇

—The fourth area, the [Great Flowing Sand Cavern], is, in a word, a "stupidly wide circular dome (of sand)."

It's a massive, perfectly circular cavern where all the walls and the ceiling are made of sandstone. There are no obstacles to serve as partitions, and you can see from one end of the area to the other.

I've never seen a real desert, so I can't say for sure, but I wonder if they're like this. The ground is all soft sand, making it hard to get a firm footing. It's a tricky environment where a half-baked agility stat will have your feet mercilessly taken from you.

This absurdly simple layout of the [Great Flowing Sand Cavern] does, of course, have its own peculiar points—its size.

An area so vast it's ridiculous to even try to compare it to anything. I hear that an agility-focused player running at full speed along the outer wall would take half a day to make one lap. The scale is so insane that it takes several hours just to reach the wall from the initial spawn point.

"As always, my sense of distance has abandoned its post..."

Players who visit the area using the transfer gate are, as usual, thrown into a random location in this roofed desert. To be precise, somewhere on the circumference of a circle with a fixed distance from the center of the area.

This is my third time visiting this area. Its unchanging majesty assaults me with a sense of vertigo every time.

The atmosphere is completely different, but in terms of scale, it might be similar to the great basin where the 'White' one resides—including the fact that there's something strange in the center.

In this great cavern, where there are no other objects, it is the sole landmark and the goal for players to aim for.

—Flowing sand that falls and then climbs... there's no other way to describe the mysterious sight. As a simple visual, it's a giant tower of sand rising in the center of the area. But it's not sandstone; it's a circular wall of constantly undulating flowing sand.

It's not falling from a gap in the ceiling, nor is it gushing from the ground. It's just a waterfall of sand, flowing between the top and bottom of the great cavern... a truly fantastical sight.

Well, of course, the boss of this area resides within that thing, but I don't plan on challenging it for a while.

—Actually, to be honest, I've already tried it solo, but for various reasons, I've determined that it's 100 percent impossible for me alone, so for now, I'm waiting for Sora's training to bear fruit.

My, my, I was so full of myself after the boss fight on the cliff, but to be stopped so cleanly in the very next area... I'm half pleased and half embarrassed.

"Alright, I'm counting on you today too, partner."

I gathered my consciousness, which was threatening to blur in the midst of this strange space, and summoned to my left hand a one-of-a-kind blade that has no equal on the server.

Its name is the [White-Flawed Straight Sword]—a weapon made just for me, bestowed upon me by Halzen on the evening of the day I started training with Sora.

Its overall color is a dull gray, and the blade is slightly thinner than a standard straight sword. A characteristic feature is that the parts corresponding to the guard, ridge, and knuckle guard are barely formed, with only a diamond-shaped bulge separating the blade and the hilt.

And the remnants of the 'White' inherited from the pickaxe that served as its core material have firmly dyed the tip of the sword.

Its numerical specs, of course, surpass those of store-bought items in every way, and as proof that it was made for me, it even has its own special abilities.

It's truly a one-of-a-kind sword for me. It seems that all players receive a quest to obtain such an item, and by completing their respective tasks, they are given "equipment that suits their individual playstyle."

There are various names for it among players, such as unique or growth equipment, but officially, it's called an 'Anima.' In my case, it's a straight sword, but the category isn't limited to weapons; it can be armor, accessories, and countless other things.

...And I ended up researching all these details myself with the help of the internet. That muscled old man, he seriously didn't explain any of that and just finished it with a single, "It's done."

An 'Anima,' as it's called a growth weapon, is a special item that grows and evolves each time the player uses it to a certain extent.

For each of these milestone enhancements, you need to rely on the production-class NPC who gave you the quest, which means that I'm destined to have a long and prosperous relationship with the old man... Man, the future looks bleak, doesn't it?

"I'll definitely get you back for this someday... Now then."

Sora should be logging in around noon today. Until then, I'll devote myself to hunting to complete my own task.

The mobs that inhabit this domed desert are not visible, meaning they don't wander on the sand's surface. As far as I've confirmed, there are two types, large and small, and both basically lie in wait in the sand.

In the sense that they mainly ambush, it's similar to the [Rocky Wasteland] from two areas ago, but they're a more aggressive bunch in various ways, so more caution is needed.

What you need to be careful of is sound—the creatures in this area will converge on the footsteps of prey walking on the sand. In other words, if you want a peaceful journey, you should refrain from running, though you don't have to be as quiet as a mouse.

But my goal is hunting—so I should do the opposite.

"Alright, let's get this party started—let's go!!"

A sandy plain as far as the eye can see? Can't get a good footing? I'm a human machine with a top speed of over 200 km/h. Don't think you can catch these legs that can run 50 meters in one second flat with something like that.

My exceptional leg strength is more like "jumping" than "running." With my AGI, 《Acrobatics》, and 《Jumble Step》—all my mobility ignited at once, the sand beneath my feet explodes with a tremendous roar.

In that instant,

"—————————————————!!!"

With an indescribable roar as its introduction, it appears, surrounding the epicenter of the sound. This creature, boasting a body larger—no, longer—than any monster I've encountered so far, is the main enemy in the [Great Flowing Sand Cavern].

Its head has an exquisite design that mixes eeriness and foolishness, somehow reminiscent of a moray eel. Its body is also almost like a moray eel's, with a torso of uniform width all the way to the tip of its tail, swimming freely in the sea of sand as if it were water, thanks to some mysterious power.

The differences from a real moray eel are its reddish-black color, like clotted blood, and the large forelegs it has, as if its pectoral fins had undergone a mysterious evolution. In addition, there are organs of unknown detail, whether they are ears or gills, protruding from the left and right sides of its head.

Commonly known as the 'Desert Moray'—its official name, the [Desert Serpent], is an oversized mob enemy over 20 meters long.

That's right, a mob enemy. Now, let's list one characteristic of mob enemies in games. Well, to put it simply—there are a lot of them.

"3, 4... 6—Bring it on!!"

As I ran in a circle so as not to stray too far from the epicenter, the same roars echoed in succession, surrounding me.

There were six of them. The giant red bodies that leaped onto the sand at almost equal intervals were like a kill circle, pinpointing the fool who had burst into their feeding grounds—however, that prey can run around at an insane speed and is equipped with sharp fangs and claws.

My position was accurately pinpointed the moment I made a loud noise. The [Desert Serpent]s rush straight towards me to fight for the right to devour the bait—I set my sights on one of them that was sticking out, kicked the sand, and made a sharp turn.

There are a tremendous number of these things scattered throughout this desert, but their absolute numbers and spawn points are properly set.

As you can easily guess from the fact that their spawn locations were at equal intervals, in short, their territories are fixed.

Unless you do something like deliberately making a loud noise over a wide area like I did, if you're careful to keep them at their spawn locations, they won't even react to the sound of battle. In other words, it's not difficult to defeat them one by one.

However, once you've woken them up like this, they have a habit of persistently chasing their target until it's dead or in their stomachs. Their stats are quite tough, and their attack power is high, befitting their scale, so even though they're mobs, they might be treated like minor bosses.

In summary, they give good experience like a mid-boss, their spawn locations are fixed, there are a huge number of them that spawn at the same time, you can easily pull them just by making a noise, and they'll chase you to the ends of the earth—yes, they're perfect prey for train hunting.

The drawbacks are that you need legs strong enough to pull them around the sand with ease, and if you have an accident and get hit, you'll be swallowed by the moray tsunami and instantly crushed. Also, you'll be endlessly chased by a swarm of gross-looking fish-like creatures, a truly wicked situation that could be traumatizing for some.

But for a slightly crazy player who can clear these hurdles—

"It's the best leveling spot!!"

At the moment of intersection, I kicked the face of the moray that joyfully welcomed the bait that had jumped in on its own, and without killing my sprinting momentum, I managed to both evade and escape.

Breaking through the encirclement, I continued to kick up the sand without any hesitation. Ahead of me—more roars.

The predators reacted one after another to me, the bait, forcing my way across the desert alone, and in the blink of an eye, a red tsunami erupted in the desert.

Anyone who saw this scene without knowing the context would undoubtedly think I was a suicidal maniac who had lost his mind. To be honest, even I can't help but feel a little uneasy about the screws in my head when I look back at the great tsunami approaching from behind.

But the feasibility of this madness has already been answered the other day—no-damage is a piece of cake. Bring it on!!!

"Let's do this!! Let's goooooooooo!!"

Confirming the wave of morays, whose individual bodies were so tangled up that it was difficult to trace them, I kicked up the sand spectacularly and made a ninety-degree turn.

I firmly gripped my partner, the straight sword, and let out a spirited war cry—and without hesitation, I jumped into the kill zone.

In that instant, a great mouth approached, jaws, fins, mouth, mouth, tail, fins, tail, tail, torso, mouth, tail, torso, torso, torso, torso, tail, mouth, mouth, tail, torso, tail, mouth, mouth, mouth, mouth, mouth, mouth, mouth, mouth, mouth, mouth, mouth—

To be honest, when you throw yourself into a kill zone of this level, your normal thought speed can't keep up at all.

If you leisurely think, An attack is coming, I should dodge, you'll be dead in that instant. I don't know a state of mind like a clear and tranquil mirror, but at least this group of thoughts that are just pretending to think are all after the fact—the combat actions of spinal reflexes are almost like someone else's business from the perspective of the self-awareness that comes later.

I slipped past the mouth approaching from the front, used the tail that was brought down as a foothold to dodge the tree-trunk-like torso approaching from behind, and at the same time, jumped into one of the three great jaws that were clinging to me, not allowing it to chew me. I deployed my great axe inside its mouth, and as I tore its head to pieces from the inside, the moray that burst into a phosphorescent light released me, and I was thrown into the air, where twice as many mouths approached me without rest—

"Hah."

I don't know what's so funny myself. The smile that spread across my face was completely unconscious, but as I observed the scene with my delayed thoughts as if it were someone else's business, I was both horrified and bursting with laughter at myself, smiling creepily in the midst of a hellscape.

—Fun, oh so fun!!

I have to admit it. At least within [Arcadia], I'm definitely insane.

My actions, my mentality, my tension—they're all the same. Everything is probably far from normal.

And that—oh, that is unbearably, maddeningly joyful.

In the world I dreamed of and longed for, the realization that I might not be normal is so spectacularly exhilarating that it makes me laugh from the bottom of my stomach.

I had decided to go all out.

I had decided to have as much fun as I could.

I had decided to fight with all my might.

I had decided to adventure with all my might.

And now, I've decided. I'll go as far as I can.

Being three years late or the pioneers being ahead of me doesn't matter. With these legs that have caught up to speed, I'll race to the front lines on the express train—!!

To that end, as a first step.

"—You blockheaded fish, turn into experience points, all of you!!"

For now, I'll aim for an early escape from the beginner area and a quick level cap!!

The great axe danced wildly, the great iron lump struck with heavy blows, countless sword flashes flew, and the wielder also ran around the air in all directions.

The heavy sounds and roars of the giant bodies intertwined eventually turned to screams—from the red tsunami of the desert, blue phosphorescence continued to gush like a fountain.