Small Talk

After receiving Reya's warm welcome to Thousand Wood Village, Kirou finally regained control of himself and started examining the village in as much detail as possible. Just like Elderwood Village, Thousand Wood Village was built amongst nature but that's where the similarities between the two ended.

Elderwood Village, while it could be said to be built amongst nature, its inhabitants mainly focusing on hunting, blacksmithing, and carpentry. This causes the village to take on the look of a rural farming village from a simple glance.

Thousand Wood Village, however, is a village within the treetops. The elven inhabitants don't cut down trees and make houses from the reshaped parts but instead hollow out trees in certain areas and turn them into homes and other forms of buildings as is. The leftover materials from this hollowing out process are then used to make a multitude of things, such as the pathways and bridges that connect each tree.

This sort of view is normal and can be considered an everyday visual for the inhabitants of the village but for an outsider like Kirou, it can be considered a fantasy area. This is the kind of view that would inspire a person's fantasy if it is seen in the real world.

Having gotten his fill of this fantasy view, Kirou finally ceased his observations and turned towards his companion. She had been waiting patiently for Kirou to examine the village of the elves while standing beside him. While doing so, she was looking at the set of armor Kirou was currently wearing. Quite a few thoughts were going through her mind at the moment.

'I wonder what kind of armor that is. It looks amazing. Even with the black fur coat covering it, I can still see how amazing that leather armor is. I wonder if Kirou can tell me where he got it so that I could go take a look later on. Or better yet, maybe I can ask him to accompany me in looking for them. Hmm, if he does agree to help me, I couldn't just take up his time like that. I would have to compensate him for the work. I wonder if I could use the alchemist recipe I found earlier to get his help. I wonder...' Reya the elf was so absorbed in her thoughts that she failed to notice that Kirou was currently looking at her. Not only that, but she also failed to realize that her face was currently displaying her thoughts about interest in his armor.

Kirou eventually felt that Reya had ogled his armor long enough before he made a fake cough, attracting her attention. Realizing what she was doing and the fact that Kirou was looking at her with a cheeky grin on his face caused her face to heat up before she lowered her head in embarrassment.

"Sorry about that," Reya spoke softly under her breath. By now she realized that Kirou probably knew what she was thinking about while she was staring at him, specifically his armor.

"No worries. If you are interested in my armor, I have no problem telling you about it." Kirou spoke while still maintaining his grin, confirming her earlier thoughts.

"Really?" shouted Reya, momentarily forgetting her embarrassment and staring at Kirou's face, only to realize that her outburst had now attracted the attention of passing players and villagers. In response, she lowered her head once again, muttered a "Follow me" in a quiet voice that only Kirou could hear, and walked off in a random direction in the village.

Kirou let out a light chuckle while following after the girl, clearly amused by the whole situation.

********************

Reya had led Kirou to a cottage on the other side of the village. By the time they had gotten there, Reya had managed to calm down and was making some small talk with Kirou.

"Amazing! So that's why you were able to give me those materials at such a quality." Reya said this while looking at Kirou with stars in her eyes.

"That's correct. I'm already used to doing such things in reality so when I tried it in-game on manual mode, the system's assessment on my movement says that my actions are that of an expert in the field." Kirou spoke to Reya in a patient manner. This was the first time Kirou was talking to someone so much since he started his life as Wang Xu. And to think, this is a conversation about a game. Will wonders never cease to amaze.

"I never thought there would be such benefits for playing this game in manual mode. From what my friends have told me and what I've experienced myself, it seems like manual mode was just playing this game the hard way but it apparently does have some benefits, even if it's only for harvesting." Reya said this while having a serious expression on her face. Kirou's words have opened her eyes to manual gameplay mode. "So far I've only been able to get by with semi-automatic mode but with this new info I think I might swap over to manual mode, at least when I'm doing anything related to my lifestyle class."

"Don't get me wrong, what you and your friends experienced are the true horrors of manual mode. If you don't know how to do the moves and actions on your own, you will only suffer. On the flip side, if you know how to do everything on your own and know it well, you'll be in for a lot of benefits. Especially since manual mode benefits not only harvesting but every aspect of the game as a whole." After saying this, Kirou pointed at the armor he was wearing.

At first, Reya was confused at what Kirou was saying, but after thinking over his words a few more times and looking at the armor he was pointing at, a thought flashed through Reya's mind. "Wait, don't tell me..."

"That's correct. I crafted this leather armor. Not only that, I did so on manual mode." After saying this, Kirou revealed a satisfied smile on his face.

To say Reya was shocked would be an understatement. She currently had her mouth gaping, so much so that Kirou had to use one of his hands to left her chin to remind her of this fact. After doing so, Reya finally realized what had happened and a blush crept across her face. Kirou only chuckled in response.

"Besides, it doesn't just stop there. In fact, it affects the amount of experience and the number of items you can receive from a monster corpse, not just the material quality." After saying this, Kirou waited patiently for the rebuttal that Reya was sure to come up with.

And as he predicted, Reya did come up with something, "Wait, even the amount of experience you gain from killing monsters is affected as well? Putting aside the number of items you can take from a monster corpse, how would you notice an increase in the experience? It's not something you should be able to measure if you mainly play on manual mode."

"Before I answer your question, let me ask you one instead. What level are you currently and how long did it take you to get there?" After asking this, a weird smile formed on Kirou's face.

Seeing his smile caused Reya to narrow her eyes slightly before answering, "I'm currently at level 12 and I've been playing since release day, so roughly 14 days now."

Hearing her level caused Kirou to raise an eyebrow in surprise but the smile on his face became even more pronounced when he spoke, "I'm currently at level 10 and I just started playing earlier this week." Kirou held off on saying the exact number as he was intending to shock her even more in a minute.

Hearing his answer caused Reya's expression to turn serious and her brows were furrowed deeply. "Just how many days earlier are we talking?" After asking this, Reya sensed that she won't like the words about to leave Kirou's mouth.

Just as she predicted, hearing his words gave her a fright, "I just started this game yesterday. We met while I was doing a quest from my village elder, which I got at level 1." Kirou's smile turned into a very cheeky grin as he watched Reya pout in anger, which admittedly, looked quite cute in his eyes.

"That's not fair. No, it's even worse than that. That's practically cheating, isn't it?" Reya complained while looking at Kirou laughing at her reaction. She pouted even more in response, causing Kirou to laugh even more.

"Nope, it's quite fair, actually. Well, not fair in my case since the system never thought a person like me would appear so early but it's very fair. Remember, playing on full manual mode is actually quite hard. Even walking like I normally do takes more effort on my part than it does with you moving on semi-auto mode, even more so in comparison to the automatic mode itself." When Kirou said this, Reya looked at him as if he had wronged her.

"But even then, that's just basic movement. That shouldn't affect your efforts in battle and the system shouldn't give you bonus experience just for that," was what Reya said in a small voice.

"Well, that's just the pains of walking. Let's talk about having to go through combat in full manual mode. In combat, in addition to that issue with just walking, you are now tasked with fighting a monster where you have to attack it, use skills, and even dodge or block attacks from the monsters themselves. If my deduction is correct, it's not that I get bonus experience for fighting in full manual mode, but that you and the rest of the player base lose experience for not fighting with it." When Kirou said this, Reya stared at him in a confused manner.

"What do you mean by that. How is it not you gaining bonus experience but us losing experience?"

"Think about it for a second. Just my knowledge of animal dissection in the real world allows me to gain top quality materials every time I harvest materials from monsters. If that's the case, if I was using the system to help me harvest them, then the system would take compensation for doing so in the manner of the number of materials you get and the quality of said materials."

"I follow you so far," Reya started but in that instant, a thought flashed through her mind. To her, that thought was so crazy that she didn't want to believe it.

"Just as you just noticed, if that's how the system is compensated for helping players harvest materials, what would the system take from players for aiding them in battle?" Kirou left the question hanging while leaning against the cottage behind him.

"Experience points," was Reya's answer in disbelief.

"Exactly. If my initial deduction is correct, the system takes away half of the expected experience from players when they help kill a monster as compensation. For the automatic mode players at least. For players like you, it probably only took away a quarter since all it did was give you directions instead of actively help you guys. Now, as for weirdoes like me who play the game in manual mode, I don't lose any experience. As a consequence of that, however, I must be able to fight all monsters, use skills, and block or dodge all enemy attacks using my own judgment." Kirou said all this while maintaining a casual smile on his face. Opposite to him, Reya was not in deep contemplation.

"Since that's the case, why didn't the company point this out. Shouldn't they release such information to the player base and let them decide?" Reya looked towards Kirou and asked with a serious expression.

"I have my own thoughts on that but if I had to give it a reason, it's probably because of the player base itself," replied Kirou with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Us, why?"

"Think about it. If the entire player base is told from the start that playing on automatic mode cuts the experience you get in half, who would use it?"

"Probably no one, at least not at first," Reya replied in an unsure manner.

"Since you can notice that, then so would the developers. In my opinion, automatic and semi-automatic modes were implemented to help you guys out while the pros would take advantage of manual mode. Hell, if I had to go even further, I bet there will be a revelation about it in-game sometime later. Probably when we've all hit the first level cap."

"But even so, shouldn't they have hinted at it or something? I mean, with this kind of info, it's bound to make others go crazy," queried Reya.

"They did. Or at the very least, I know I was given the hint," replied Kirou.

"You were? When, where, how?" asked Reya rapidly.

"Didn't your village head point that out to you? Something along the lines of, 'For things you don't understand, it's fine to just follow the advice given by others blindly but if it is something you yourself are proficient in then do it your way. You won't be disappointed with the results.' That was the hint." Kirou said this with a shrug as well.

Thinking back, Reya remembered receiving similar words from the elven village head. It was only now that she realized the significance of those words.

"Then that means..." started Reya.

"Everyone was given a hint with their very first quest. From the looks of the leaderboards, only a few paid close attention to those words," finished Kirou as he directed Reya's attention to the level leaderboard.

Looking at the leaderboards, Reya noticed that the current top players were all closing in on the first level cap for the game, level 20. Immediately after she mumbled to herself, "So that means the pros have already figured out this trick yet kept it to themselves. Why?"

"I can think of two reasons. The first is to keep a competitive edge over the competition," Kirou casually said this but could see that he's given it some thought.

"And the other?"

"Like I said, to protect the rest of the player base," Kirou repeated his words, but this time, Reya didn't comment on it but waited for Kirou to explain.

"As I said, it's not easy playing on full manual mode. While it comes with many benefits if you know what you are doing, the big drawback is that you are punished just as badly for screwing up. At least with the semi-automatic mode, you are given directions and hints on how to do everything to make it easier on you but on full manual mode, every choice has a consequence. It's like reality in that department. You are rewarded for studying but heavily punished for failure. All the leading figures on the leaderboard arent simple people." Having said his piece, Kirou once again gave a casual shrug, signifying his attitude on the matter.

"I see," was all Reya could say in the face of this new information that she was given. From the looks of it, it seems like she should spend some time experimenting when she's not too busy.

"Anyways, this is the village head's house, right?" asked Kirou as he pointed over his shoulder to the treehouse he was currently leaning on.

"That's right. You can go in to hand in your quest. I'll be waiting for you here in the meantime," replied Reya, still thinking about their discussion.

"No rush in digesting all that information. I'm sure you'll see whether or not my information pans out when we go on that quest of yours," Kirou said this as he well up to the door and gave it a simple knock.

"Come in," came a voice from the inside. It didn't sound like the voice of an elderly person, but then again, this was a village of elves.

"Anyways, I'll be back." That was the last thing Kirou said to Reya before entering the village head's home.