Chapter 3: Part 4

- Arthas -

A week had passed since we reached Llyne.

In the last week, Veena and I have been hunting regularly.

From my time in the Hunter's Lodge, I found out that using lots of bait powder and camping in one place was a recipe to summon mutated animals. It was highly inadvisable. Sasha had coached me on some rules to follow while hunting and told me about the behaviours of some common animals around the town.

Seriously, that old fart, Gunter was just skipping work.

As for the hunts themselves, Veena was quite good at them.

She levelled up her Militia Class and then started working on her Apprentice Herbalist Class instead of going for another combat based class. I was the one who suggested this as we needed her to be able to make healing items soon.

Those fucking things cost a kidney.

Just the antidotes I had to buy cost me my entire day of earnings.

We generally hunted during the day and she made things to sell during the evenings, levelling the class from both sides and so we could get the class to full level in a week.

"So you have to take an exam for the Herbalist Rank at the Association?" I asked as I bit a piece of rabbit meat we had hunted yesterday.

"Yes. It won't be hard as I have had enough practice. It is mostly for those who brute force the levelling of the class without actually practising the Skills."

"... it's called Power Levelling." I corrected. I had come to realise that she didn't know much about gaming after being with her for a week. She had just played this game because she was bored… and got caught in this mess.

The strangest thing however was that she didn't look very worried about the situation itself and was actually enjoying herself.

According to her, this situation only had two ends. First, it gets solved, in which case, she would like to enjoy what little time she had in this world experiencing this novelty or second, it doesn't get solved and we are stuck here for a while, in which case, we need to work hard to establish ourselves in this world first.

Either way, worrying and crying was not going to solve the situation.

It was cold but… there was truth in what she said.

In that way, Veena was quite strange. I always got the feeling that I was talking to someone quite old when I talked to her, despite our looks being exactly like our original bodies which meant she would be in her twenties at best.

She also had an odd sense of privacy.

We had rented a place on our third day and moved in together.

It was a small house with two rooms and most importantly… a bath.

More than once I had seen her in a towel, coming out of the bath or just a thin robe.

It wasn't as if she was trying to seduce me or anything. I was extremely sure of that. It was more like….this was normal for her.

Oh she wasn't a slut or anything….just odd.

Another thing was that she was a good cook and we often saved a part of the game to cook for ourselves, saving us a lot of money.

She just laughed at my comment. "Yes yes. Power levelling. Anyways, I have already learned all the recipes and can proficiently make those items so there is no need to worry."

"Yes, the items you make are almost comparable to the ones we can buy." I agreed.

Some Skills needed to be practised to raise their levels to make them more proficient.

More difficult skills had a higher level cap and sometimes, these skills got a special effect when levelled up completely.

For example, the Aim Eyes Skill which I had gotten from the Hunter Class had a ten percent chance of inflicting a Severe Bleeding Status on the target for 20 seconds.

My Shingen-ryu Skill had the highest level cap I had seen on any skill until now. It could be raised to Level 50 which meant I could gain 100 stat points in each stat at max level and an extra effect on top of that.

Shingen-ryu [Unique Skill] [Level 3] [Exp: 200/3000]

Shingen-ryu or "Style That Originates From The Heart" is a school of Martial Arts in which the practitioner learns hand-to-hand combat as well as the ability to control their aura for combat.

Passively Increases +2 STR +2 END +2 DEX +2 INT +2 WIS per level.

Current Increase: +6 STR +6 END +6 DEX +6 INT +6 WIS.

I practised the skill when Veena was busy practising her Herbalist Skills.

I was realising how much of a cheat that one reference got me.

"Alright, I will go out and hunt alone then."

"Be safe dear."

I nodded.

I left the house headed for the Adventurer's Association first.

On the way, I saw another guy going towards the forest.

He had black hair and wore a pair of glasses. He looked like he was almost the same age as me.

The boy looked at me and stopped.

"Umm… are you also a… Soul Art Online?" He hesitated before asking.

"A player, yes."

He breathed out, in relief.

"Hello, my name is Shiroe." he bowed lightly.

"Arthas. Are you from Japan?" I asked.

"Uh yes. They mixed up all the servers and I don't know where I am."

"Yes. Well, considering what happened later, this is quite tame."

He winced lightly but collected himself quickly.

We walked inside. 

"Do you have any party members? Do you mind if we hunt together?" he asked, after hesitating a little.

I looked at him for a moment before asking. "What class do you have?"

"I'm a Scholar." He answered, surprising me. He noticed my surprise so he added. "You can get that class in the Academy after maxing up the Villager and Scribe Class."

"Oh, I know that already." Both Veena and I took our time and received the class but didn't level it up.

We had too much on our plates.

She was planning on levelling it after we max out her Herbalist Class.

"I just didn't think anyone would get it this early." After all, Scholar is a T3 Class just like my Hunter and Squire.

"I was able to utilise some things. As for the Scholar Class, it is mostly a support class. So I was looking for someone to team up with." He said, embarrassed. 

I thought for a moment and then decided to send him an invite.

He accepted and I saw his eyes widening. "Squire Level 20?!"

"Do you have anywhere you want to hunt?" I asked while checking his level. He was a Level 1 Scholar just as he had said.

"Umm, yes. There is a settlement of Goblins a bit away from here. We could hunt there. They are mostly T2 Monsters although some of them do use poisoned daggers." He explained the plan to me in detail while we walked that way.

"How were you going to hunt them by yourself?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"They generally hunt in a group of three so I was planning to bait one group at a time, use a status effect and then finish them off. Before that, I needed to make maps and scrolls to level up my Scribe Class so I never had to fight."

….

"Say… do you have any real fighting experience?" I asked, pausing a bit.

"Umm… I fought the boars… in a team." he added lightly at the end, realising the situation.

I stopped.

"Let's hunt something easier. Goblins are smart creatures and hunting them can be tricky if we have no understanding of each other's skill. I think we should practise on normal enemies first."

"….alright. I….didn't think of that."

We went to one of the places which I found in the past few days.

This place only had wild boars, something I had the most experience with.

I told him whatever I knew of the area so that he could take a good position, preferably on the top of a tree.

"Are you sure you want to face them alone?" he asked, unsure.

"Shouldn't be a problem."

"Then why don't we use that area?" He pointed towards a cluster of rocks.

I looked at him questioningly and he explained.

"If we could move the rocks into a circular formation, we could leave only one entrance and you wouldn't be in any danger of being surrounded from other sides. I can get on top of the rocks and support you as well as keep an eye out for enemies from other sides. On a tree, the branches might cover us but it will also impede our viewing area." He went on explaining a few things and I had to agree that the guy made some solid points.

"Alright, then let's do it your way."

We spent an hour making the setup and placing some traps according to his advice. In that time, I killed a few boars who had come across the area.

"This seems good enough. Alright, I have a few skills as a Scholar. Minor Fortification which increases Strength and Endurance by 5 Points for 15 seconds, Flash which blinds the target for 4 seconds and Stun Bolt which is my only attack Skill at this level and it has a 5% chance of stunning the enemy for 5 seconds." He explained his skills and devised a strategy for the hunt.

I threw in the names of some of my skills and he changed his strategy to accommodate them.

The guy even knew about the appearance of stronger monsters in an area if we hunted too many of the same kind of monster.

Was he just that smart or was I just an idiot?

With everything ready, we decided to go big.

I brought a bait and threw it in the circle between the rocks and waited for the attack.

A minute later, Shiroe called out. "They are here. Five boars. All T2 Brace up. Minor Fortify."

I felt a sudden rise in my strength and brought out my shield and held it high. We had some rocks in front of the entrance to break the charge of the boars.

As expected, they charged directly into the rocks and tumbled. I stopped the first boar with my shield and used my attack Skill, Swift Strike to chop down the first boar, beheading it in one strike.

- Shiroe -

Amazing!

He took that down in one attack. As far as he had calculated, it would have taken Shiroe a dozen attacks per Boar with his Stun Bolt.

Then again, Squire could change into Knights and they were front liners and damage dealers. It would be weird if he couldn't do that, especially since Arthas was by far the highest level among any person he had seen till now.

When coming here from the Blackwood Village, he hadn't expected anyone to be in the first town, let alone someone like this.

A Level 20 T3 Squire.

Reaching level 20 in a T3 Job would take him around two and a half months….with a decent party.

Was this guy soloing everything till now?

Putting aside his thoughts, he cast a Stun Bolt on the highest level Boar and waited till Arthas dealt with the second one with the Skill he assumed was Shield Bash.

"Close your eyes." He shouted.

A second later, he cast a Flash in the middle of the recovered group of three boars, blinding them.

Arthas was right on the follow up, charging his next attack for three seconds and slicing through the highest level Boar with ease and even throwing it on the other two.

The two boars recovered from their blindness and were thrown back.

He took this chance to cast another Stun Bolt on the higher level Boar and a stunned sign appeared on top of its head. "It's stunned."

Arthas didn't waste any time either, using some kind of buff before jumping out and puncturing the eyes of the remaining boar.

The Skill reminded Shiroe of the Aim Eyes Skill which he had seen a guy, an Apprentice Hunter back in the Beginners Village using… but didn't it use a bow and an arrow?

But he didn't have much time to think as he took down the boar in his next three attacks, right in time for his Swift Strike to recover from the cooldown and use it on the Boar which had recovered from the Stun, taking it out in one blow.

Match.

The whole team of five T2 boars, which generally took a team of eight to collaborate for half an hour with traps… was taken out in less than a minute.

Shiroe suddenly had a new understanding of the game.

Despite whatever shit it had thrown them into… this game was far beyond anything he had faced in Elder Tales.

They quickly gathered the drops from the boars and got back in their position where he rested to recover his mana.

Fifteen minutes later, he saw another group of boars rushing in.

Those baits were quite effective.

Well it was time for the grind.

"Incoming, six boars this time."

- Game Master -

"Oh! They have become smart." He heard Red say and looked at her.

She in turn pointed towards the screen on which the forums were open. Not that they would be of any use with all the players trapped inside… but this was a Game he had designed. How could it lack anything? So he made a forum and let it be for the sake of formalities.

He checked the screen and saw a message.

It was some guy asking for permission to enter the game… enter the game?

He read it again and it said the same.

Oh!

"Who sent this?" he asked, as he read the rest of the message.

"Ajuka Beelzebub."

"Heh! That guy is a smart cookie alright."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"Well… they want to play my game so I will let them play. Let them enjoy themselves."

"I doubt they are going to enjoy it." Red rolled her eyes.

"Oh they are not. I know that. They are more than likely thinking about sending in reinforcements to complete the game quickly. The guy found the opening I had left in my warning. Just leave it to the Devils to find loopholes in contracts. But… what has that got to do with me? As long as they don't disturb my game, they could sign Baby Shark in a pink tutu for all I care. Give them a go."

"... Are you sure? If the number of people increases too much… would it affect the endgame plan?"

"No. I have prepared enough for twice the number of people. The endgame will not be affected. In fact, know what? Ask them to place an order for Nerve Gears on the forums and send in as many as they want."

She shrugged.

He made some adjustments to the system for the new people.

Since they wanted to enter the game, he would also accommodate them properly.

"Why do you think they are doing this?" She asked while replying to his question.

"Hmm, are any important devils trapped inside? Let me check." He did a quick check and saw that almost half the family of the tomato head was inside the game. Apart from him, there were several other devil children.

Ah… that makes sense.

He checked the location of the people and saw an interesting thing.

Oh, was this the Mother of the Ketchup Head Satan?

And with him was….

"Momon… and this is Nabe and we are… Ainz Ooal Gown!"

Pfft….

He actually said that!

Looks like he has accepted the situation and was looking to milk the whole thing for everything that it was worth.

And he was with Satan Ketchup Head's Mother of all people…

Was Gremory luck even a thing? But wasn't she a Bael?

How did she find the one possible reincarnator in over twenty million people?

Yes. The people dying permanently, was a lie.

They just got a different start…

He couldn't let people die willy-nilly or it would defeat the entire purpose of the endgame plans he had in mind.

Shaking his head, he concentrated on his junior's recent exploits.

He searched for a few things and a smile formed on his face.

Oh they were living together…

This was an interesting development.

Let's see if anything comes out of it during the game.

Being a Game Master was quite an enjoyable job.

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Author's Note:

Happy New Year to everyone.

Look who's back.

Arthas has accepted his situation and just as the Game Master said, he is going to milk it for all its worth….and it is going to be hilarious.

Both Arthas and Mama Gremory are out of the Beginner's Village and are now working towards establishing themselves.

Arthas is not a Gary Stu so there are many areas which he can learn from and the characters he meets in the game and situations he encounters will help him grow into something greater.

In the meanwhile, the entire world is shaken.

The Game Master doesn't hold back and now everyone is searching for the Mad Titan.

Zeus is shitting bricks at the mention of an unknown Titan with that much power and everyone is after his ass as well.

Ajuka's guess….was so close and yet so far….poor guy. Sometimes being smart can be a pain.

The story will slowly pick up pace and we will be encountering some familiar faces soon.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.