Episode 5 : Durability and Arms Shop

After the lesson, I went home and lay down on my bed as usual.

"I'm tired!"

I take a deep breath and lie down. I could just sleep like this, but I didn't feel it was worth the repetition of lessons, eating, sleeping, lessons, eating, and sleeping. Suddenly, the scenery from the game I played yesterday came to mind, and I picked up the VR helmet that was sitting on my desk.

"Would I like to go relieve some stress?"

I turned it on and logged into the FFO world.

◇◇◇◇

Aya gets down to the church where she prayed yesterday and looks around.

"This is where I logged out yesterday."

FFO is basically designed to log in to the location where you logged out. This is because there are a certain number of players who want to continue the quest or who want to hunt monsters.

"Am I going hunting today?"

The goal is to defeat the Lux Slime. By the way, today's goal is 30 fish.

I ran out of the church and headed for the grassy plain of the beginning.

After that, Aya ran around the grassland, finding Lux Slime and using her unique skills to defeat them one by one.

However, Aya's unique skill can only be used three times, and it takes an hour to recover, so she cannot use it over and over again. As a result, I ended up repeatedly logging out after using a skill.

Aya was strangely not bothered by the behavior, which normally would have gotten boring.

Five days later, just before the limited event was about to end, something happened.

"Skill 'Passion Hammer'!"

As I was swinging my hammer around hunting Lux Slime as usual, I heard the sound of glass shattering.

"The durability of the iron hammer has fallen below and it has broken."

A panel appears and Aya's partner shatters into pieces and disappears.

"Will it break!?"

I had some knowledge of FFO, but I never thought that the weapon would break.

"I'm tired. I can't fight properly like this."

As expected of hitting someone with your bare hands. But where can I get weapons?

"Maybe I should ask Ringo."

I can search for it from the help explanation, but I'm not confident that I'll be able to find it. But if I were hunting monsters, it would be a nuisance to Ringo.

After thinking about it, Aya opened the friend section and pressed the phone icon. Within seconds, she hears a click and a familiar voice coming through the panel.

"hello. Aya, what's wrong? "

"I called because I wanted to ask you something...I think you is currently hunting."

"It's okay, I'm not hunting."

"That's right. Um...if you don't mind, can I have some time with Ringo?"

"Hmm, I'm bored so leave it."

When Aya explained about the weapon, Ringo said, ``Come to the central fountain,'' and hung up. Aya does as she is told and warps to the central fountain to look for Ringo.

"Aya, I found it."

A girl in navy blue robes and a witch's hat approaches.

"It's been a while. How have you been?"

"Hmm, in real life I'd be exhausted."

"Yes, but don't talk too much about the real world. There are people who will take advantage of it."

"I'll keep it in mind."

"Hmm, there's something else I want to ask Aya. First of all, what is Aya's occupation? Also, what kind of weapon do you use? Also, what's your budget?"

"Well, my occupation is a berserker. I think a hammer would be a good weapon. I only have about 30,000 gil."

"Then you should sell all but the items you need. I know a place that will buy them for you at a high price."

"I'm sorry that I had to keep telling you something."

"Don't worry about it. It's fun to teach someone."

Having said that, Aya felt bad because she was always taught by Ringo.

"Hmm, then you can take part in an event."

"A certain event?"

Aya tilts her head and asks what kind of event it is, and Ringo opens the panel and shows the event page.

"PvE event. If you defeat a large boss battle, you will receive a large reward. The player who caused the most damage will receive an additional reward. They will receive some of the materials in the reward. But they will not receive all of them."

"There's an event like that. But I wonder if the time in real life will be okay."

"You can do it anytime during the period. So you don't have to worry about the actual time. Go buy weapons earlier than that."

"What, wait!?"

Aya runs through the city with Ringo.

After passing through a small alley, I was led to a weapons shop located on a deserted narrow street.

"It's a dusty place, but don't worry about it."

"Eh, this place... isn't a shady store."

"Harassment is prohibited at FFO, so you won't be sexually harassed. But there are perverts out there, so it's best to report them."

Ringo points to the back of the store and opens her mouth.

"Just like Muscle Daruma over there."

"Who is the perverted muscle daruma?"

A large man came from the back of the store, carrying a weapon, setting it down in an empty spot, and sitting down at the counter.

"What? I'm telling you, I don't have any more fixed damage knives."

"I know. Today I'm getting new weapons and armor for this kid. So I'll give you a discount."

"You see. The world hasn't developed to the point where business can be based on charity."

"Then let's talk with fists? I'll raise the stakes."

"Because of you, we're in the red. Please let us cancel PvP with stakes for a while."

"Hmm, I can't help it then. Give me the equipment I can buy for 30,000 gil."

"The only thing you can buy is an iron sword."

The large man sighs and looks at Aya.

"Miss, I'm sorry, but please pick someone else."

"Eh, ah, yes."

"Stop! There's a way to make more money!"

Ringo stands in front of the entrance, blocking the way, and waving her hands.

"If you sell monster materials, you'll make more money. If you have something salable, sell it to him."

"...Well, it'll be a little more expensive than the store opened by the NPC. Also, I wouldn't be in trouble if they gave me non-transferable items."

The large man glared disapprovingly at Ringo and turned away. Aya looks at her item section and looks for things she can sell.

"Is the slime magic stone okay?"

"Yeah? Oh, it doesn't matter. There are times when you can use the materials of small fry monsters in various ways."

I see. Well then, let's take out all the magic stones named slime and sell them.

Aya selected one from the item list and pressed the accept button, and a mountain of magic stones fell out.

"Oh!? There are quite a few."

"Yes...I felt like killing slimes, so I went slime hunting."

"Hmm...well, I'll check first, so please wait a moment."

While the large man was operating something in the air, his eyes suddenly opened and he shifted his gaze to Aya.

"There's even a Lux Slime magic stone and a boss slime magic stone!? Ringo, isn't that kid a beginner?"

"Kayak, She is a newbie who holds the title of slime slayer I mentioned before. That's why I brought she here."

"Is that the girl you talked about back then? Hey, contrary to her looks, she's a promising newcomer."

The man called Kayak lifted his mouth and looked at Aya with curious eyes.

"Ah, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Kayak. It's the origin of the name, but it's just a hobby, so there's no need to get too deep into it."

"Y-yes."

Aya flinches for a moment, but quickly straightens up and looks at the kayak.

"So what's your name?"

"You say that even though you know?"

Kayak frowns when Ringo interjects from the side.

"It's important to hear things like this from the person herself."

Kayak returns his gaze to Aya, introduces himself, and appeals to her with silent pressure.

"My name is Aya. Um, Ringo... I get along well with Ringo."

"I see. Well, a friend of a friend is a friend, so I'll sell it to you at a special price."

"Kayak, have you paid the bill yet?"

"I've just finished. For now, please sit in the chair I left over there."

Aya and Ringo sit on chairs, and Kayak clears his throat purposefully.

"About the amount."

Aya gulped and was filled with anxiety and excitement about how much her forehead was, and the kayak's mouth seemed to open many times slower.

"Sold everything for 8 million gil."

Aya's eyes widened and she was dazed for a while.