Chapter 116: Embracing the Light of Ambition, Part 2 Part 1

While continuing through the area, I had time to do some thinking about my current surroundings.

I know that our goal for today was simply to bust through, but I wanted to gather as much information as I can while being at it. For that, some genuine investigation is needed.

And when it comes to lore and all that stuff, Saiga-0…… I mean, Rei turned out to be a surprisingly good teacher.

No matter how basic or stupid the questions I would ask her, she would always take the time to answer all of them in earnest.

(It seems that there are some strong monsters inside those ruins. And even though they are level eighty nine at best, even some level ninety nine players seem to struggle against them quite a lot……)

And judging by my experiences with Weissash and Wezaemon thus far, I get a feeling that investigating those ruins may turn out to be essential in my quest for discovering more information about the mysteries of this world. Or at the very least learning something about the Era of the Gods.

Honestly speaking, I would like to make Rei a part of all this, but unfortunately I cannot do that. At least not yet. So it cannot be helped.

「But I must say, it’s actually amazing……」

「Hm? What is?」

Thanks to the Curse placed upon me by Night Prowler, only the level ninety nine monsters come towards us, with small fries running for their lives in the opposite direction.

After the Storm Wyvern we encountered a couple more enemies, mostly armored rhinos that looked like a literal meat wall covered in a thick mixture of stone and bone plating all over their bodies. Even though they were literal walking bulldozers, Rei managed to slash and cleave them in half with ease, not even breaking a sweat. After a small amount of encounters like that, she murmured in astonishment.

「I knew that you’re good at fighting monsters, but…… So far I haven’t see you getting hit by them not even once.」

「Well, as you can see, you need to be good at avoiding damage when every opponent basically has the potential to one shot you with ease.」

In fact, without the ability to dodge the incoming damage like crazy, I wouldn’t be able to get as far as I have gone now.

The way in which this game allowed you to build your character, your skills, your personality…… It was good to say that there weren’t two exactly identical builds in this game, that each and every player was unique in his/her own way. Still, I kind of understand where she is coming from with that.

「Some members of “black Wolves have similar build to you, Sanraku-san, but they still end up taking lots of damage……」

「Well, I’m sure it’s just a matter of getting a hang of how the game works. Or maybe a previous experiences?」

Bugs train people’s patience. Lags make people forgiving. Sh*tty games make people strong. Far stronger than they would even imagine.

I once told this theory to Katsu. His only reaction was that his sides almost killed him from laughing too much, and he wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that he considered that theory to be bullsh*t. Still, I believe in it.

And seeing just how well I was doing at ShanFro even though I was still an inexperienced player, this theory rings even truer for me.

Pile up enough dust and it will eventually make a whole mountain. Pile up gaming experience and it will turn into habits that stick with you no matter what kind of game you will play next.

「I’ve actually been wanting to ask you this for a while now. How long have you played this game, Rei?」

「Hm? Ahh, umm, for about a year or so, I think……」

「So that makes you like a veteran player…… And it only took you a year to achieve the title of the most powerful player!?」

「That’s, that’s an over-exaggeration! I had my friends from the guild helping me out all the time, it’s not as though I managed to achieve that all on my own……」

Seeing just how humble Rei was right now, I think that it is actually impossible to judge the true nature of a person from the way in which they act inside the game.

My first impression of her was that she looked like someone who would forsake the real world for the gaming world, and I know that was very rude of me. But seeing her now, she was actually a really nice and humble person.

And whether or not it was just an element of roleplaying her character, that was of no importance to me.

「Ah, it’s another Armored Rhino…… Leave aggroing it to me……!!」

A slight correction. Rei’s character surely wasn’t an element of a roleplay.

Her action just now, intercepting a charge of a huge monster that was going approximately forty kilometers per hour right at us, was genuine kindness. Still I think she might have a screw or two loose out there, but at least her kindness is genuine. So I respond to this kindness of hers with an attack of my own.

I know that my playstyle is not the safest one out there, but intercepting the equivalent of a speeding car was not something I would consider doing on the spur of the moment. Just how much experience in fighting does she have to be able to do something like that so naturally?

It only goes to show that her title as the strongest player is not just for show…… And there was always a possibility that even though she was so kind, she would try to extract some valuable information out of me.

Should I just take initiative from now on and avoid that at all cost?