Chapter 8

In the second half, there are bulletin board topics.

Please be cautious if you are not comfortable with them.

Equipping himself, Xiaoming returned to the south gate.

Although the number of people had increased since his first visit due to the passage of time, the south side, which was the most difficult of the four gates, was still relatively empty.

During the journey, while Rin-chan was interacting with her fans, I fought against the wolves and keenly felt the difference in equipment.

It seems that in this game, the weight of weapons is factored into damage calculations to some extent, allowing for more damage than the listed attack power.

A wooden club and a metal rod obviously have very different weights.

Not only visually, but also in terms of required strength.

While it demands more skill in handling, I have already gotten used to it, so it is not a problem.

“Come on!”

As I struck the wolf that was charging at me, the wolf, whose HP was instantly depleted, turned into polygons and disappeared in mid-air.

Attacks that previously required at least two hits seemed to have been significantly strengthened by leveling up and changing weapons.

“Hahaha!”

The weight of the equipment felt good.

Although SP decreases more easily as a result, it recovers over time.

Even the slight acceleration and deceleration consume a small amount of SP, which I found to be a fine detail.

I grabbed the upper jaw of a wolf that was trying to attack me from behind and slammed it into another wolf coming from the right.

I compactly crushed the two wolves, which had been intimidated, like a whack-a-mole, and exhaled after confirming the displayed results.

“Next... I can see five over there.”

From the back of the plain, where the Forest of the End was visible, wolves no longer appeared individually.

A pack consists of 3 to 10 wolves, and the more there are, the lower the spawn rate.

However, sometimes they do appear, and when 10 wolves attacked simultaneously, I got a bit excited.

Seeing a pack of wolves within reach, I was considering whether to throw a stone to call them over when Rin-chan suddenly spoke to me.

“Sukuna”

“Hmm, what is it?”

“Are you having fun now?”

“...Yeah, I’m having fun!”

As I answered, a stone I threw in a mountain-like manner hit one of the wolves loitering about 30 meters away.

I had gained their hate, so all that was left was to take them all down.

One minute later, after seeing the last wolf turn into polygon fragments, Rin-chan and I started looking for prey again.

☆

“By the way, Nana, did you get the ‘Detection’ skill?”

I think it’s about time you could call yourself a Wolf Slayer.

As I was hunting wolf packs, Rin-chan, who was battling with the live stream comments, suddenly remembered and spoke to me.

“Eh? I didn’t get it.”

“Don’t you get a skill slot when your level exceeds 10? There should be a guide displayed as well.”

“Oh, I haven’t properly opened my status since level 7.”

Rin-chan looked at me with a somewhat exasperated expression as I said this.

I had checked my stats when equipping, but I hadn’t looked at the skills.

---

PN: Sukuna

Lv: 13

Race: Oni

Occupation:

Money: 17,820 Ilis

Status

HP: 195

MP: 15

SP: 104

Strength: 35 +15

Toughness: 28 +20

Dexterity: 48 +2

Agility: 41 +2

Intelligence: 3

Magic Defense: 3

Luck: 34

Remaining Status Points: 30

Equipment

Weapon: Metal Rod

Head: Iron Helmet

Body: Chain Mail

Arms: Iron Gauntlets

Legs: Belted Leather Pants

Feet: Iron Greaves

Skills

* Skill selection is possible

Blunt Weapon Proficiency: 35

Throwing: 20

---

“Is this it?”

When I tapped the blinking text that read “Skill selection is possible,” a much longer list of skills was displayed compared to the initial setup.

“What’s the ‘Detection’ skill for?”

“Sukuna, according to the plan, we’re going to challenge the Forest of the End, which is beyond the southern plain, tomorrow, right? The forest is very hard to see through, and there are a lot of surprise attacks.”

“Like bugs?”

“More like snakes. They launch surprise poison attacks from the trees. So, it’s better to get the ‘Detection’ skill. It can reveal camouflaged or hidden monsters in the field, making it a useful skill.”

I see, I followed her advice and got the ‘Detection’ skill.

“Looks like I can choose one more. ...Ah, the ‘One-Handed Mace’ skill is unlocked!”

“It’s fine to fill it up. Skills won’t activate unless set, but once you’ve increased proficiency, it won’t decrease, and you can change the setup as many times as you want. However, if you try to get too many skills, your proficiency will suffer, so you need to establish your style to some extent.”

“I see, so it’s a trade-off for fewer slots but more customization. Will these skill slots increase in the future?”

“One more every 10 levels. The first time, you get two, but after that, it’s one at a time.”

So, my skill slots increased from 2 to 4 because I exceeded level 10. The next increase will be at level 20, adding one more.

Honestly, it’s already quite challenging to increase proficiency in ‘Blunt Weapon’ and ‘Throwing.’ I think it’s true that adding too many skills will dilute my proficiency.

I wonder what kind of skill setup Rin-chan, who is probably much higher level and has more skills, has...

“By the way, what level are you, Rin-chan?”

“Me? 47.”

“...47?”

“Yes. I think it won’t take you more than two weeks, Sukuna.”

Even as a top player, it exceeded my imagination.

I guess Rin-chan is playing this game more than I thought.

After all, leveling up becomes more difficult the higher you go.

What does it mean to level up by more than 3 per day on average...?

“Hey, Rin-chan, what’s the highest level in this game?”

“Hmm? I think it’s more than 100, but that’s all I can say for sure. Based on the official PV, though.”

Most games I’ve played have 100 as the max, but it seems this one is different.

How much leveling will it take to catch up to the two-week difference between me and Rin-chan?

Even if I finish leveling up in less than two weeks, she will have progressed further during that time.

The path to becoming a top player that Rin-chan has set for me might be more challenging than I imagined.

“Oh, I still have leftover status points. It’s a hassle to allocate them every time, even though they can be saved.”

“It’s also fun to think through your status build, you know?”

“I guess. For now, I’ll divide them evenly by 10.”

“It’s not wrong, but I’m not satisfied...”

I allocated 10 points each to Strength, Dexterity, and Agility.

I have a good grasp of how my body moves, but I can still tell it’s less fluid compared to my real body.

Until that fluidity improves, I need to keep increasing Dexterity and Agility.

I want to minimize the gap with my real body as much as possible.

I allocated points to Strength not so much for increasing damage, but because Strength is heavily involved in the weight and equipment restrictions of weapons and armor.

I don’t want to go for heavy armor, but according to Rin-chan, strong blunt weapons require a lot of Strength, and the same goes for close-combat armor.

Oni have a high Strength stat.

If I want to equip heavier and stronger weapons in the future, I need to increase my Strength on my own.

“What’s your status like now?”

“I’ve allocated points evenly to Strength, Dexterity, and Agility. Dexterity is probably the highest.”

“Still not fluid?”

“Maybe a bit better.”

Hearing my answer, Rin-chan muttered that it would take a while.

“Let’s get back to hunting. We have two hours left, so we can hunt quite a bit even if we spend an hour on the way back.”

“I want to level up one more time, but I’m not sure if it’s possible.”

“It might be tough with the increased player base and spawn rates.”

With the level difference, I don’t get much experience from hunting wolves anymore.

As a form of entertainment, I targeted large packs, and Rin-chan used powerful magic because she was bored, making it a fun and lively experience.

☆

☆

【Blunt Force】Rinne Comprehensive Thread 898【Violence】

1: Anonymous Reincarnator

This is the comprehensive thread for Rinne, a professional gamer and streamer affiliated with HEROES.

Topics are generally free, and anti-players are recommended to be NG.

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442: Anonymous Reincarnator

In the end, is it okay for the oni girl to be affiliated with HEROES?

445: Anonymous Reincarnator

>>442

I think it’s fine.

I didn’t expect her to move that well.

She’s probably just relying on her athletic ability.

446: Anonymous Reincarnator

Not really.

HEROES is a large organization, but they couldn’t gather people for VR.

It’s actually a relief that they picked up a promising one through Rinne’s connections.

448: Anonymous Reincarnator

VR is a broad field.

I think one person like Nana is still not enough.

She seems to be a versatile player and could become the ace of the VR department.

450: Anonymous Reincarnator

>>448

What’s with the ‘-tyan’? (Simple question)

VR covers a wide range of genres like fighting games, FPS, robots, and RPGs.

Rinne’s versatility, regardless of VR, is evident from her consistent performance in all of them.

451: Anonymous Reincarnator

>>445

Does that mean she’s not used to VR?

That makes her even more of a monster.

I wonder what she’ll be like once she gets used to VR.

453: Anonymous Reincarnator

Rinna is amazing.

454: Anonymous Reincarnator

I agree.

458: Anonymous Reincarnator

But starting with a high-difficulty area for leveling on the first day, Rinne is quite strict.

460: Anonymous Reincarnator

>>458

True.

If surrounded by a few wolves, a beginner would instantly respawn.

It’s just that Nana’s performance is abnormal; a normal person would have died 10 times.

462: Anonymous Reincarnator

She overcame difficulties with the lightness of someone who was dropped into the Valley of Chiharu and flew back with wings.