Chapter 9 - Information

Chapter 9 - Information

Berry thought of the battle he went through earlier and was utterly confused by many things.

"This game is a fusion of dodgeball and RPG but why is palm strike ineffective? Did the developer restricted damage by things not related to dodgeball?" Berry questioned about what had happened.

In an RPG game, combat moves like the palm strike would deal damage to the opponent. Berry had played a few VR RPG games and all of them worked like that but Dodgeball Master was different.

"I will need to research a bit about this… Now that I know my offensive martial arts is useless in this game, I cannot use them anymore," Berry sighed. He took a deep breath while staring at the sky. A minute later, he got up.

"I need to begin hunting the horned rabbit again," Berry mumbled, and then, something crossed his mind. "My football balls! Is it automatically stored in my storage?" Berry immediately turned on the menu and checked his storage.

"…" Berry was silent because the balls were not in his storage. Not only that but his 100G money had decreased by 10G. He was left with only 90G money.

"I should not use all of the balls in one go. I failed to defeat the monster and was defeated instead. I lost the balls and some of my money. Losing my money is definitely a penalty but the balls… is it a penalty too or because it is not in my storage?" Berry wondered.

"I should do my research first before I start playing… I play this game to understand it better but more things confuse me…" Berry got up and decided to leave the park.

"I need to buy new balls. I hope they are cheap," Berry left the park and went to the city. He remembered that he saw a lot of ball shop and decided to buy the balls from one of them.

Berry found a ball shop and entered it. "Welcome!" Berry was greeted cheerfully by the shop attendant. However, the attendant's face changed instantly when she saw Berry's attire. Berry was oblivious to the stare because he was looking around for some cheap balls.

"1000G… 10000G… there is even a million G ball?" Berry was shocked. He did not know that the ball would cost that much. "What kind of ball that cost this much?" Berry wondered and he decided to ask the attendant.

"If you cannot afford it, no need to get curious. The balls at that side are the cheapest and I think you can afford them," the attendant replied with scorn while staring at Berry from head to toe like looking at trash.

"…" Berry did not say anything. He was angry but he decided to be patient. As the game's beginner, Berry knew not to mess with any NPC. They might look weak but the developer made them strong. More so to the character such as the shop attendant, shop boss, or NPC's with similar kind of job.

Even so, Berry decided that he would never visit this shop again. Since he did not want to waste time visiting other shops, he went to the corner pointed by the shop attendant. There, he saw the balls that were priced lower than a hundred.

Be that as it may, the cheapest was 5g and it was a ping pong ball. Not a plastic of them but one ping pong ball cost 5g.

Berry looked at the football ball and one of them cost 100g which he did not have. "…Why are they all so expensive?" Berry scratched his head.

"I should check the other shops too," Berry decided to check the other ball shop. An hour later, he was left disappointed because they all costed the same. Not only that, but Berry was treated in the same manner in every shop he visited.

"There must be some kind of rule that applies to the shop. When I ask about any of the balls that cost more than a hundred G, none of them will answer me and pointed at the balls cost less than a 100G," Berry mumbled.

"Sigh~" Berry sighed. "Let me see my options. All of them have the same stat, atk+1. No matter which balls I buy, all of them will give the same damage," Berry mumbled.

In Dodgeball Master, all the normal balls that could be found in the real world had an atk+1. No matter which balls it was, they all had the same stat. The difference would be their size, shape, and color. Not only that but their durability differed too.

"Ping Pong ball is the cheapest but they are too light and small. The rabbit will have an easy time evading them. It will not feel good when throwing too," Berry spoke.

"A golf ball is 15G per ball. It is small and heavy. Considering the throwing feel and my money, I think they are the best choice. The durability is quite high too. Higher than the Football ball. The golf ball will not break easily," Berry made his choice.

Berry decided to buy a few golf balls. He bought four of them which cost him 60g and Berry was left with 30g in his storage. Berry checked the stats of the golf balls.

Name: Golf Ball

Durability: 20

Stat: Atk+1

Berry put the golf balls in his storage and decided to continue hunting the horned rabbit. He made an embarrassing mistake earlier and decided to be more careful after this. Berry went to the city gate and wanted to head to the field when suddenly, a notification arrived.

[It is midnight] the system informed Berry. He set up an alarm earlier and it was finally time for him to stop playing.

"Time to stop," Berry turned on his system and choose the options menu. Once the menu was chosen, he saw a lot of options he could change and there was a logout button too.

"I didn't check this menu but I can set up the option to see others name and level. I can also set up the pain level I will feel when playing this game. That is why I feel nothing when the rabbit stabbed me earlier," Berry spoke.

The options menu was there alongside the status, equipment, storage, and other menu. However, Berry did not bother to check it.

"I can easily determine everyone's level with this option. Sigh… I should have checked everything before I start playing. How ignorant…" Berry shook his head lightly. Berry clicked on the logout button but a notification arrived.

[Please log out in an inn or hotel]

"…" Berry searched for an inn… a cheap inn and got himself a small room which luckily only cost him 20G. After he got into the room, Berry logged out of the game.

The VR Capsule opened and Berry got out of the capsule only to be surprised when he saw Bestie sat on Bendy's bed staring at Berry.

"…When did you get here?" Berry asked.

"When you got whooped by a rabbit," Bestie replied while holding his laughter. He had always seen Berry as the strongest among the four siblings but this was his first time to see that his strongest brother was pathetically beaten by a rabbit.

Although it was a game, it was still shocking… and also funny. Bestie was satisfied too to see his brother got beaten by the rabbit.

"…It is a game and I am a beginner. I don't understand much about the game and make that rookie mistake," Berry replied.

"Okay~ Okay~" Bestie spoke jokingly.

"Why are you here?" Berry asked.

"Mom told me that you get the job. I stop playing the game to congratulate you," Bestie replied. "You get a job at the Thunder Tiger Company?" Bestie asked and he sounded excited. As a gamer himself, Bestie was interested in a big company like the Thunder Tiger.

"Uh-huh," Berry nodded and he switched off the VR Capsule.

"Whoa~ Congrats! It is really hard to get a job at that kind of company and you did it!" Bestie was excited.

"I am just a Junior Assistant and not a player. My position is insignificant in that company," Berry spoke.

"Still, you get a job there. No matter the position, you will work there," Bestie added. "Did you get assigned to the Dodgeball Team?" Bestie asked. He knew Berry's attitude and could easily figure that Berry played the game to get to know more about it.

"Yes. I play the game to understand more about it but I am too rash. I should do normal research first before I play it," Berry replied.

"Ask me. I may know what you don't know!" Bestie spoke excitedly.

Berry stared at Bestie. "…What do you want?" Berry asked. He knew that Bestie wanted something from him if he acted like that.

"Nothing. I just want to help you. Since you are eager to learn the game, I will answer any questions you have about the game," Bestie smiled but Berry did not believe it.

"Well, I will tell you this first. In Dodgeball Master or any other VR sports game, only the skills that are related to the game is effective in the game. When you give the palm strike at that rabbit, the damage it received is 1/100 of the original damage because what you do is not related to the dodgeball," Bestie explained.

"This restriction is the same in all VR Sports game because the focus of the game is the sports. If you do something unrelated to the sports, it will not be effective," Bestie continued.

"So, brother, your offensive martial arts are useless in the game if you used it to attack," Bestie added.

"In Dodgeball Master, attacking will give damage if only you are attacking with a ball. Other means of attacking is useless but you can use your martial arts technique for different purpose like running, evading, defending and support," Bestie added.

"I know that. I realize it after that battle," Berry replied and he was not interested in the information that Bestie had told him. He figured it out after that painful loss.

"…" Bestie was speechless. "Ehem! If you want more information, there are a lot of forums dedicated to the game. Dodgeball Master is one of the sports games after all. You can find a lot of information about it online."

"You treat me like I am a fool to this kind of thing. I may not be interested in games but I am not so naïve to not know something basic like that," Berry replied, and he left the room.

"You are in high school this year. Focus on your study more than admiring the professional gamers. I know what you want and I will not do it for you. If your exam results are good, I may consider getting a few autographs for you," Berry spoke. He knew too well about what Bestie wanted.

"…" Bestie was speechless and left to his room in anger.