Chapter 2

"Welcome back."

"Welcome home, Onii-chan. You went to Takumi's place, right?"

Those were the first words I heard as I returned home, drenched in sweat from the heat of the asphalt on a sweltering summer day.

Moreover, she was giving me a sly, expectant look. I know what you're thinking.

"I bought ice cream on the way back. Let's eat it later."

"Yay! Ice cream! Do you have the Bori Bori flavor? No, that's not it! That's not what I meant!"

Ha, my sister is quite the comedian. Despite her youthful appearance and energetic demeanor, she's a cute type of middle school girl. However, she occasionally does disappointing things as a gamer, which keeps me worried.

Until recently, my older sister, Shizuka, left home to attend university, and I was a bit down. But it seems she's regained her energy through this game. So, I've also developed a bit of interest.

"I know. I'll play to see Shizuka too."

"Thank you. The official service starts tomorrow, so let's get the settings done now."

"Alright, but make sure to keep the ice cream cold first."

Following Miharu's instructions, I connected the VR gear to the computer.

I installed the game, put on the VR gear, and had my brain waves detected. This alone took two hours.

Most of that time was spent lying on the bed with the VR gear on to detect my brain waves.

With the settings taking so long, I had to start preparing dinner. I set my character to look exactly like me, as captured by the camera. I wanted to tweak my body and face a bit, but Miharu said it would take an abnormal amount of time, so I had to give up.

My appearance is often described as feminine. I keep my hair short, but if I let it grow, my androgynous features make me look like a girl. I don't like that, but in the game, there seems to be some automatic correction. For example, adjustments to the balance of sensations on both sides of the body and the way muscles are distributed.

During dinner, Miharu gave me a brief lecture about the game.

"Onii-chan, what kind of sense do you want to take?"

"Huh? What do you mean by 'sense'?"

"Oh, you haven't received the explanation yet. It's okay. I'll give you a quick rundown."

"Thanks."

"Okay, so a 'sense' is a talent. If you have that talent, it gives you a bonus for actions related to it, or makes those actions possible. For example, if you have the Sword Sense, you can wield a sword, and your sword attacks get a bonus. You can also perform special moves like Skills and Arts, which are like finishing moves, and the damage gets a bonus."

"Wow. So it's not a class system, then."

"Right. So you can freely change your senses. Senses grow and become more powerful as you use them, but you can only have up to ten at a time. Generally, a standard setup is one weapon sense, one armor sense, and two or three status senses. The rest are usually magic senses. People who use multiple weapons are called Multi-Jobs and have more than two weapon senses, reducing their armor and status senses. There are even some who have all weapon senses."

"That sounds like being a jack-of-all-trades but a master of none. In my case, I might go with two weapon senses. What other senses should I consider?"

"Hmm. Since some of the weapon Arts consume MP, you'll need the Magic Sense's 'Magic Power.' The Magic Sense is treated as two senses: 'Magic Talent' and 'Magic Power.' There are also attack attributes. I don't plan to take any production senses, but there are various ones like blacksmithing, tailoring, and cooking. You can check the strategy sites for more details."

I think she's being a bit casual about it.

"So, what senses did Shizuka and you have?"

"Oh, in the beta version, everything except money is reset, right? In my case, I had Sword, Armor, Attack Power, Defense Power, Spirit, Magic Talent, Magic Power, Magic Power Recovery, Light Attribute, and Healing Magic."

"Ah, so you're the type who charges into battle with your energy."

"Wrong! I'm a tank, like a Paladin!"

"Then, what about Shizuka's setup?"

"Shizuka's setup was a pure magic user with Staff, Robe, Magic Attack Power, Speed, Magic Talent, Magic Power, Magic Power Recovery, Magic Power Conversion, Water Attribute, and Healing Magic. But she was cultivating multiple senses at once, so it could change depending on the situation."

"Wow."

Miharu's Spirit sense probably boosts her status. Shizuka's Magic Power Recovery likely increases her MP recovery slightly. And Magic Power Conversion probably reduces the MP cost of spells.

I occasionally play RPGs, but not as much as those two hardcore gamers, so I can only make a rough guess.

"Hey, what do you do with items during battles?"

"Oh, you put items in the bag's shortcut and use them. But for people with heavy two-handed swords, using items can interrupt their attacks, so I use healing magic. I can recover just by casting it."

I'm starting to get a clearer picture. I decided to choose a sense setup that doesn't overlap with theirs.

Back in my room, I skimmed through the strategy sites and checked the available senses.

There are quite a few senses to choose from.

What kind of sense setup should I go for? As a beginner playing with my siblings, I'll definitely be a burden to my sister and my younger sister. I understand that.

So, what should I do? I should focus on support.

That means I should take long-range attack senses, production senses for adventuring, and an unconventional magic sense.

Then, I casually glanced at the strategy board's poll.

The top of the poll indeed had the senses Miharu mentioned. But what caught my eye was the bottom of the list, the so-called unpopular senses.

"If I'm going to aim for something, it should be a niche sense."

Alright, it's decided. This is the sense setup I'll use.

Now, I'll get some rest to prepare for tomorrow.

Revised and completed.