Chapter 6

For lunch, I made do with whatever was in the fridge, then went out to buy groceries for dinner.

While looking at the cherry blossoms that were still somehow in bloom—well, they had started to fall—I headed to the nearby supermarket.

Dad is still on a business trip, and since I’m the only one at home, I could have just made do with a bento or something. But if I keep eating ready-made food, my aunt will complain on the phone...

After buying the ingredients for tonight at the supermarket, I spent the afternoon doing laundry and cleaning. Since the mid-term exams are coming up, I also did some light studying.

Then, after having an early dinner and taking a bath, I got everything ready and set off for the world of DWO again.

Alright! Let’s do this!

When I logged in, it was daytime in the game. Checking my friend list, it seemed that Ren and Wendy weren’t logged in.

"Well, I should go find a vault and buy one first."

Since they’re not around, I can’t hunt as easily as before. The chances of dying are high. I think it’s better to buy one even if it’s a bit of a stretch.

But where is the vault shop?

There are multiple weapon shops and item shops in the town of Freihalt. Of course, if there was only one, there would be a long line of players.

But I’ve never seen a vault shop before. Where is it?

"Looking for something?"

An old man sitting on a bench in front of a house called out to me as I looked around the street.

He seems to be a [Dragonkin], but he’s not a player. His name plate doesn’t pop up.

"I’m looking for a place that sells vaults..."

"Oh, a vault shop. Go straight down this road and turn right at the end. You’ll see it right away."

"Ah, thank you. I really appreciate it."

"Ho ho ho. You’re polite for an ‘outsider’."

"Outsider"? Ah, in DWO, players are supposed to be foreigners who have descended into the demon world, right?

But what does he mean by polite? I think I’m just being normal.

After parting ways with the old man, I arrived at the vault shop he directed me to.

I understood what he meant by "you’ll see it right away." The shop looked like a cube and was built to look like a vault! The building itself looks like a giant vault. It looks like it holds a lot of money... I wonder if it gets robbed.

Inside, there were many small vaults lined up, about the size of a roll of toilet paper. It’s quite a sight.

"Hey, welcome. Which one do you want?"

I came to my senses at the shopkeeper’s voice. The vaults have various prices: 500G, 1000G, 2000G, 3000G... but they’re all the same size. Typical fantasy. They’re different from real vaults.

They don’t seem to be for storing money, but rather exist as items with specific effects.

However... hmm, this is a tough decision...

Because my current money is only 2010G. If I buy the 2000G vault, I’ll only have 10G left. Should I go with the 1000G one? No...

After much deliberation, I bought the 2000G vault. I’m almost broke now!

But with this, my money won’t decrease even if I die up to 2000G!

I put the vault in my inventory, which is called the item list. Is this okay?

"Well, I don’t have any money, so I’ll go earn some more!"

I decided to head to the [Northern Forest] alone, just like during the day. I heard from Ren that if you’ve been to a place before, there’s a way to get there quickly.

There’s a strange magic circle in the north of the town, a large square emitting a faint phosphorescence.

This is called the ‘Portal Area’ and can instantly transport you to the entrance of a place you’ve been to before.

Stepping into the phosphorescent ‘Portal Area’, a window appeared saying [Sloth: First Area: Northern Forest]. Selecting it, the scenery around me instantly changed to the entrance of the forest.

At the entrance of the forest, there’s a smaller magic circle, similar to the ‘Portal Area’.

"Teleport gate, huh? This is convenient. I can return to town quickly from here."

There’s always one at the entrance of field areas, villages, towns, and cities. You can travel freely between towns. I want to be able to go to the next town soon.

Alright, time to start solo hunting.

As soon as I entered the forest, a one-horned rabbit appeared, which I defeated with one hit. Haha, it’s no match for me now.

Two appeared at once, so I defeated them too. No problem.

Three appeared at once, so I barely managed to defeat them. I took some damage, but since the pain is significantly reduced, it wasn’t that painful.

Four appeared at once, and I struggled a lot. This is tough!

After barely defeating the four one-horned rabbits, I sat in the shade and drank one of the initial potions. Ugh, it’s bitter... but my HP recovered. I wonder if it can heal wounds if I sprinkle it on them. It’s convenient, but the taste... can’t it be improved?

"Two at a time is the limit for safe hunting. Maybe three will be okay when I get a bit stronger."

I’m still not used to this world, and sometimes my body doesn’t move well. A moment of sluggishness can lead to a fatal mistake, so I need to be careful.

The drops were mostly meat and fur, but no horns. Horns are the most valuable at the material shop. I wonder if I’ll get a skill orb... that’s too convenient.

Come to think of it, maybe I should keep these materials instead of selling them. Only the money I carry decreases when I die. I can sell them when I need money... but my inventory will fill up quickly.

I think you can get a larger inventory with paid items or event items. Also, for guild creation.

Well, that’s fine. For now, let’s hunt rabbits.

I’ll take on two at a time and run if three or more appear. While doing this, a strange item dropped from a rabbit.

The item is labeled as [unknown]. I’ll check it with [Appraisal].

────────────

[Rabbit’s Foot] F Rank

LUK +1

■A charm that brings good luck.

□Equip Item / Accessory

□No multiple effects / up to two

Quality: S (Standard Quality)

────────────

Oh? A rare item? Not really, I guess. F Rank is the second lowest.

The quality is also standard.

Items have five qualities, from highest to lowest:

■F: Best Quality

■HQ: High Quality

■S: Standard Quality

■LQ: Low Quality

■BQ: Poor Quality

Rarity is determined by rank, but quality is a different matter. There are items that are rare but of poor quality.

Hmm? "Do you want to mark it as [Appraised]?"

Ah, if the owner knows the details of the item, other players can also see the details if it’s marked as [Appraised].

I can change it later, so I’ll mark it as [Appraised] for now.

The [Rabbit’s Foot] seems to increase luck. I’ll equip it.

I set the [Rabbit’s Foot] in the accessory slot, and a rabbit’s foot tied with a leather cord appeared around my neck.

Ugh... this is a bit strange. It looks like a taxidermy, but it’s strangely lifelike...

Mmm... [Presence Detection] picked up something. I gripped my daggers in both hands and looked around.

A new monster, not a rabbit, appeared from the depths of the forest. A dog... or a wolf?

Grrrr... it growled in a way that was definitely not friendly, and the gray wolf glared at me. A red name plate [Gray Wolf] appeared above its head and quickly disappeared.

Suddenly, the wolf leaped high and lunged at me with its large fangs.

"Ugh!"

I dodged at the last moment and slashed at the wolf with my right dagger. The dagger hit, but the wolf attacked again as if it didn’t even hurt.

The wolf’s claws tore through my arm. The bleeding effect was quite intense, but I only felt a slight pain.

My HP decreased by about a quarter. Oh no, I’ll die if I take three more hits!

I slashed at the wolf several times, but it wouldn’t go down, and I was taking a lot of damage. Fighting a wolf is much harder than fighting humans!

"Take this!"

"Yip!"

With a powerful strike, the wolf finally disappeared in a burst of light, dropping a [Gray Wolf’s Fang].

"Phew, glad I managed to defeat it... I was almost dead."

I took a deep breath and tried to recover my HP with a potion when another Gray Wolf appeared in front of me. And there were two of them.

"What!?"

Wait, what!? I didn’t detect them with [Presence Detection]! Is it because my skill level is low? They’re growling!

Without time to recover my HP, the two new wolves attacked me. Ah, this is impossible.

────You have died and returned to your last save point.

"Aaah, I lost..."

I respawned at the revival area of the starting town, Freihalt, which is the square in front of the fountain.

The reason for my defeat was "carelessness." I didn’t recover my HP quickly enough. I relied too much on my low-level [Presence Detection]. I ventured too deep into the forest. Sigh... what a mess.

But it was quite scary. I really thought I was going to die. Being bitten in the throat by a wolf is not an experience I want. It wasn’t painful, but the realistic sensation is still lingering...

I checked my status. Oh no, my parameters are terrible. It’s a one-hour penalty.

I can’t go hunting right away. If I do, I’ll just get killed again.

Thanks to the vault, my money didn’t decrease. I only had 10G to begin with!

I should sell the materials and buy new weapons or armor. That might make it easier to defeat gray wolves.

"Oh, I leveled up."

I was now level 4. This game doesn’t announce level-ups with a jingle or anything.

It’s not a point distribution type game, and leveling up doesn’t increase your stats, so it’s not a big deal, according to Wendy.

My HP, MP, and ST gauges seem to have increased slightly... or maybe not.

Anyway, I went to the material shop and sold the rabbit meat and fur. I got about 900G in total. I kept the [Gray Wolf’s Fang] since I only had one.

Now that I have some money, should I buy weapons or armor? In my case, dodging is the main strategy. If I have a lot of attacks but they do little damage, it takes longer to defeat enemies, which increases the chance of taking damage.

Alright, let’s buy weapons first.

I could buy them at a weapon shop, but there are also players selling items at stalls around the fountain square. There might be some good deals. I’ll check them out. It will also pass the time during the penalty.

The stalls had various items. There were a few daggers, but they were expensive... They’re probably priced fairly because they’re of a decent rank... Oh?

──────────────

[Kukri Knife] F Rank

ATK (Attack Power) +10

Durability 10/10

■A curved, inward-bent dagger.

□Equip Item / Dagger

□Multiple effects / up to two

Quality: S (Standard Quality)

──────────────

The rank is low, but it’s much better than the cheap daggers I have. It’s 500G. Hmm, if I had 100G more, I could buy two. Maybe I should go back to the forest and hunt rabbits... No, I’m still in the penalty period. I should have bought the 1000G vault.

"Seems like you’re having a tough time. What’s the matter?"

A young [Fairy] man sitting in front of the stall called out to me as I was grumbling in front of the items. He had long ears, brown hair, and a carefree look. He must be the owner of this stall.

"Ah, sorry. I wanted to buy these daggers, but I’m a bit short on money. I’ll come back later."

"How much are you short? I can give you a discount if it’s not too much."

"Really!? I’m about 100G short..."

"So, two for 900G... Alright, I’ll do it. I was just getting rid of them to organize my items. In return, come by again if you see me. I buy materials too. ────Thank you very much."

I handed over almost all my money and received two Kukri Knives. Alright, now wolves are nothing to fear! ...I hope.

"From your equipment, it looks like you just started DWO?"

"Yes, today. I was hunting in the [Northern Forest] but got killed by a wolf. I’m in the penalty period now."

I laughed self-deprecatingly, and the young man at the stall smiled wryly.

"Haha, I feel for you. But everyone goes through that. Keep at it. If you’re in the [Northern Forest], you can gather herbs with skills like [Appraisal], [Gathering], and [Botany]. [Alchemy] users will buy them for a good price."

"Ah, I have [Alchemy]."

"Really? Then get an [Alchemy Set] as soon as possible and make potions to sell. You’ll make more money than just selling herbs."

I see. There are other ways to earn money. I took [Alchemy] to make potions for myself.

[Alchemy Set], huh? But first, I need armor.

...Ah, the penalty is over.

"Thank you for everything. The penalty is over, so I’ll go now."

"Ah, sure. See you again at Torus’s shop."

Torus, huh. I’ll come back when I have materials. Alright! Time for revenge! Wait for me, Gray Wolf!

【DWO Brief Explanation】

■About Death Penalties

When a player’s HP reaches 0, they become unconscious, and a 30-second countdown begins. If someone uses a revival item or spell during this time, they can revive on the spot. If the 30 seconds pass, they will respawn at the last recorded safe area.

Once a player dies, all their parameters are reduced for one hour, and half of their money disappears. This can be prevented by buying a vault from a shop. A 50,000G vault can prevent the loss of up to 50,000G.

Additionally, obtaining a base can also prevent this (usually, you buy this when you reach a certain amount).