Chapter 25: Increased Level Equals Less Freedom

After looking over the bunnies training ground for a short while I was able to understand a few things.

First, even though this unique quest led me to Rabbitz, there is no unique side-quest here in the Bunny Court.

Of course, the existence of Vorpal Bunnies such as Emul or Weissash are a secret that only I know of, and unless I share that information it will still be a secret.

Second, the unique monsters seem to be amongst the “Seven Ultimate Beings” of this game, that you can sometimes hear the NPCs mention or find entrances about them in books. So far, the players only managed to find four of them. They are as follows:

· Night Prowler Luukan

· Kutanid of the Abyss

· Siegvurm of the Divine Realm

· Reverberating Orchestra

Both Luukan and Siegvurm are monsters which can be met via random encounters outside the starting area, so it looks like my encounter with Luukan was really just a matter of an awfully high (or in that case low) Luck.

However, unique monsters, unlike normal encounters, will always give you EXP for as long as you fight them, and the new players are almost certain to be wiped out in one blow.

Third, apparently there was a commemoration event currently going on, celebrating the fact that ShangriLa Frontier has exceeded total number of thirty million active players on a worldwide scale. Firstir, the first town of the game was overflowing with newbies, so it would be wise to move on to the next areas as soon as possible. For both leveling and my personal comfort’s sake.

Getting constantly distracted with side quests meant that you are going to neglect the main story line…… A fact that seemingly slipped my mind upon starting playing ShanFro.

「Ah, you finally woke up. Good morning, Sanraku-san.」

「Hmm, oh, I see, I was asleep here, not there.」

I woke up inside of an inn in Rabbitz, not Sekandil. I don’t know if he was by my side all along, but upon waking up, I could see Emul jumping up beside my bed as well.

「Just out of sheer curiosity, can we go back to Sekandil during the duration of this quest?」

「Of course you can, but I’m afraid that time is of the essence here!」

Thanks, Teleporting Bunny…… I guess.

「Right then, I want to go back to Sekandil for a bit, but I will continue this quest, so rest assured.」

「Understood. Well then, I shall wait here.」

So we went to some back alley, Emul chanted “Teleportation Gate” just as he did yesterday and we emerged in the back alley of Sekandil in an instant.

「Right, for starters, I should definitely go to the weapon’s shop and have my equipment repaired.」

「Oh, yes, that’s right, I almost forgot. Please, put this on, Sanraku-san.」

「Hm? What the hell……!?」

Emul suddenly jumped on my neck and put some kind of a strange collar around it, to which I violently protested.

「This is the Vorpal Soul Collar, it will be automatically equipped on you.」

Oi, oi, oi, forcing me to equip some items is no different from making them a cursed item! For now, let us open the status screen and see what the effects of this blasted thing are……

· Vorpal Soul Collar

A special item created by order of the King of the Bunnies, it cannot be worn without receiving King’s approval first.

While being worn, the collar is going to double the EXP points the player receives upon slaying monsters.

Weaklings need extraordinary means to acquire strength to overcome extraordinary hardships.

「Eh, wait just a, what is this!? Hey, you fur-ball! Explain this!」

「It’s simple, really! The Vorpal Soul will always be there for you!」

But I’m asking you, what IS this Vorpal Soul?

No, I am quite sure that it is something that is quite difficult to grasp as a concept. …… But to be able to amass EXP twice as fast, wasn’t that a little bit broken? No, thinking about it carefully, it is something that is the absolute top effect you can have in a game, one that can make you really overpowered in a relatively small amount of time. So yeah, it may actually be broken.

「No, I won’t really know unless I give it a try in a real fight.」

Thinking about it now, I haven’t been fighting all that much since I was attacked by Night Prowler Luukan. Because of that, I had no idea how actually the demerits of the curse were affecting me.

「Sanraku-san! Sanraku-san!」

「Hm?」

「Would you like to try going to a different town? I can even lend you a hand.」

「THE NPC “EMUL” WANTS TO JOIN YOUR PARTY. DO YOU ACCEPT?」

…… This game is truly well-made.

I wanted to try going solo into the swamps again, but for now that idea can wait. It was surely a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. I could literally feel my motivation raising…… I will keep on doing my best in this game!

「I gladly accept the offer.」

「Much obliged.」

Thinking about it now, there were lots of flags that were screaming that Emul’s joining my party would get me into trouble, but at the time I was unable to see any of those flags.

Aside from the EXP enhancing items there are also items that double the amount of skill points you gain upon level up. You cannot get items like that around the first few cities, but high-level players know of places where you can obtain them later on.