Chapter 50

Nagisa, who is known as Kei, sighed while fiddling with the limp, flaccid French fries in her hand.

The trigger for this situation was the woman who came from Europe and America. Using some unknown method, Sylvia Goldberg, who is said to be the "world's strongest" woman, moved into the apartment next to the "Japan's strongest" man, Kei, as far as Kei knows. The professional gamer, who is on vacation in Japan due to the vast fight money she has earned and the outrageous contract that allows her to take a long break if she loses, often calls Kei to talk about their "daily life."

Despite the various malicious intentions, she sometimes invites Kei and other members of the Explosive Squad, a team to which Kei belongs, to private matches of fighting games. Kei feels a mix of gratitude and envy, but the real issue is the name of the game that often comes out of Sylvia's mouth.

"Shangri-La Frontier... Shangfro... ugh..."

The limp, flaccid French fries in her mouth, which are embarrassingly soft, clearly show how much time she has spent staring at her mobile device. Still, Kei, like many others, loves even the limp French fries. While freshly fried French fries are undoubtedly the best, the unique texture of the limp ones, which have a slightly chewy resistance and a softness similar to noodles, is a result of the junk food industry's pursuit of taste, not health. Oh, French fries...

"Why am I spending so much time on such a simple choice?"

Kei, fiddling with the limp French fries, sighed.

The origin of the matter is the woman who came from Europe and America. Using some unknown method, Sylvia Goldberg, who is said to be the "world's strongest" woman, moved into the apartment next to the "Japan's strongest" man, Kei, as far as Kei knows. The professional gamer, who is on vacation in Japan due to the vast fight money she has earned and the outrageous contract that allows her to take a long break if she loses, often calls Kei to talk about their "daily life."

Despite the various malicious intentions, she sometimes invites Kei and other members of the Explosive Squad, a team to which Kei belongs, to private matches of fighting games. Kei feels a mix of gratitude and envy, but the real issue is the name of the game that often comes out of Sylvia's mouth.

"Shangri-La Frontier... I've played it a little, but..."

Shangri-La Frontier. A game that any professional gamer who doesn't know it is probably a fraud, a top-tier title that shines brightly in the history of games. Despite its incredible closed nature, which is hard to believe for Kei, who is involved in the game culture, this game has the charm to captivate even Sylvia Goldberg. So why is Kei treating Shangfro as a half-finished game? It's because Kei has been intentionally avoiding it.

"I don't have time for detours, you know..."

Kei is a professional fighter in Japan's top fighting game. The Explosive Squad, to which Kei belongs, is Japan's top professional fighting game team. The members of the Explosive Squad are not just a group of friends; they are a team built on hard work and effort that cannot be summed up by mere talent and skill. Therefore, if Kei, who is essentially a lower version of herself, wants to continue fighting on the professional stage, she should not be distracted by other games... Kei has fought based on this belief... until now.

Who is Japan's strongest fighter? Everyone would say Kei.

Who is the world's strongest fighter? Everyone would say Sylvia Goldberg.

Then, who is the most sensational fighter in the world right now? Everyone would probably say the same name... the name of the pumpkin's ominous star, who almost caught up with the meteor and knocked the raptor to the ground.

Kei's private friend, Face-Hider, apparently advocates a different philosophy from Kei and Sylvia.

– Not dedicating oneself to a single game.

Collecting the "practicality" from numerous games and combining them into a powerful force.

The mountain of cleared games that Face-Hider boasts as his strength, built up like a glutton, is a stark contrast to Kei's vast experience.

"Kei used the example of using a stick..."

When in a tight spot, using a stick as a weapon is Kei, while Face-Hider confidently plants the stick in the ground to cause a crack. Although Kei thought, "What are you talking about?" when she first heard this incomprehensible analogy, she now understands its meaning.

In other words, Face-Hider knows. He knows the scene of a crack appearing when a stick is planted in the ground... and the possibility that it could happen in the world he is in now.

Even though Kei still thinks Kei's analogy is bad, she understands the point.

While not necessarily adopting Face-Hider's style, which involves playing everything from action games to dating sims, it is natural to play the original game, Shangfro, to gain experience for Galaxia Heroes: Chaos.

It's not that she wants to play with Kei privately... definitely not!!

"Yes, yes, this is necessary... necessary..."

Once she made up her mind, her actions were surprisingly quick. She immediately went home, took out some French fries, and opened a strategy wiki to gather data and plan her approach...

"Heavy..."

Despite having the latest device and the fastest connection, Kei's mobile device struggled to load the massive amount of information. Nevertheless, Kei rushed out...

...

...

...

Garam Masala Juzo doesn't exist, why did Kei give herself such a name in the past.

So, she deleted the data that only completed the tutorial and created a new one. Kei, now Garam Masala Juzo, now Pepper Cardamom, stepped into the first town, Fastia, and tried to move forward without hesitation...

"What is this?"

Looking to the right, there was a spoonbill stork.

Looking to the left, there was a spoonbill stork.

Looking ahead, there were spoonbill storks, horses, spoonbill storks, horses, horses, horses, spoonbill storks, spoonbill storks...

When did Shangfro become such a bizarre masquerade? Was there some hidden effect she didn't know about?

Suppressing the confusion in her heart, she logged in with her newly created blonde beauty avatar, and despite the unchanged crowd since the service started, Kei... Pepper, pushed through to enter the "Forest of Tyranny."

"I made a physical combat class to reach the third realm solo, but what job should I choose?"

It might be easy to choose a combat class, but since Kei and Sylvia are almost certainly combat classes, she should choose a different job to highlight her unique player skills.

While thinking about this, the first monster to block Pepper's path appeared.

"Oh?"

According to the information she gathered, the Horned Rabbit, or Almirage, in this area should have a single horn on its forehead, and the other type of rabbit, the Vopal Bunny, which had a particularly detailed article, should not have any horns at all.

However, the creature in front of Pepper, if not a mistake, had not one but two deer-like horns growing from the base of its rabbit ears.

Since it showed hostility towards her, it was clearly an enemy, but the plants growing at an abnormal speed from its feet and the mist spreading like smoke clearly indicated that this was not something suitable for a beginner's initial area.

"Did I get a rare spawn or something, even with my initial equipment?"

While muttering this, her stance with the longsword was not that of a beginner. Fighting games are not always about fighting with bare hands; among the games she has played, there are characters who use swords as their main weapon.

– It would be a while before Pepper learned that this monster was the Exordinary Monster "Almirage 'Mist Illusion Sprout'."

And it would be a while before Kei, who heard about it as a conversation starter, fell silent with a very sad look.

The rumor about the Vopal Bunny had become distorted, leading to the belief that covering one's face with a mask to make it unrecognizable would trigger a flag with a probability less than 0.01. As a result, the Vopal Bunnies, tilting their heads at the sudden increase in strange people, swung their knives with full force.

Almirage 'Mist Illusion Sprout'

An Exordinary Monster that appears in the Forest of Tyranny, unexpectedly appearing in a side story before the main characters.

It looks like a rabbit with deer antlers, a clear reference to a well-known character.

In terms of setting, it is a mutated Almirage with a mana crystal growing as a horn from its forehead, which, due to its location near the frontal lobe, is more aggressive (or, conversely, more intelligent) than the usual type. This individual, with two horns growing from the brain area, possesses performance and intelligence far beyond the usual Almirage.

Its main feature is the ability to use the fungi symbiotic with its legs to sprout special plants and create a mist of spores to confuse enemies.

However, since its horns are a clear weakness and its attack methods are not much different from the usual Almirage, skilled players with good weapon management and DPS can defeat it with effort. Kei, after breaking the horns, thought, "I can't explain this to Kei," while finishing it off.

The reward skill is "Mist Illusion Dance."

In simple terms, it's a wobbly dance.