“Oh jeez, you really are mad! But wow, this game really is bonkers.” Akira happened to notice the same thing I did.
“Right? VRMMO tech is wild.”
“It’s like we’ve been warped to another world. It’s so fleshed out I’m not sure it isn’t real.”
“Well, we can be sure that it’s a game at least, with the backlog window and all the gauges.”
In my peripheral vision, I see my HP/MP/AP gauges. If I lock the backlog window, I can move that to my periphery as well. I know it’s RPGs 101 to explain this, but HP and MP are short for Health Points and Magic Points. AP, Arts Points, is used for special attacks, such as sword and lance arts. Double Slash is one of these attacks. The stronger the art, the more AP it costs. Unlike MP, AP actually starts at 0—when you deal or take damage, the gauge rises. Think of it like a super gauge in fighting games.
After that brief aside, I started to explain my current situation to Akira. When I told her that I chose the worst class and was low-leveled to match, Akira couldn’t contain her smile.
“Aww, were you waiting for me? You didn’t have to do that!”
“It’s not like someone was holding a gun to my head. Plus, it always feels better to share my rise to glory with someone else, y’know?” Besides, Akira told me in advance that she’d be late. Waiting for her was entirely of my own volition. “I’ve had bigger fish to fry than level-grinding, anyway.”
“Oho, really? Does it look like you’ll be redefining yet another meta?”
“I haven’t put it into practice yet, but I’ve got a good feeling about it.”
“Then let’s hop right to it! We may have had some setbacks, but we are the chosen Elite Gamers! We’ll catch up in a flash and carry the whole competitive event.”
“Elite Gamers? You might as well just call us hopeless addicts.”
“What?! I thought it sounded really cool!” When I heard that silly response, there was no more doubt in my mind: this really was Akira. That put me at ease, at least.
“So hmm, what kind of class should I go for? Any recommendations? I gotta decide soon!”
“Do you want my personal recommendation, or an actual good recommendation?”
“A good one, please.”
“Paladin, magic knight, wizard, minstrel, cleric...” I listed the top classes for each main role: tank, attacker, buffer, and healer. Frontline and backline attackers had completely different styles, so I listed magic knight and wizard separately. Those were the highest-rated classes according to the strategy guide, the “UW Guidebook.” One might wonder why there was a strategy guide for a school, but the more information-oriented upperclassmen gathered a bunch of stats and strats and started selling it as an item in-game.
This game happened to have a guild system too; it was put together by an informant guild. Guilds were similar to normal school clubs, according to the people who spoke at orientation. Naturally, newbies like us would be all over the strategy guide.
Each of the classes I listed were A-rank. By contrast, symbologist—my class—was in the lowest tier: E-rank.
“Those are the best of the best jobs for each role.” Personally, I didn’t see the fun in picking easy classes and cruising your way through the game, but I guess some people enjoy victory more than the struggle. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.
“Hmm. All right, and which would you personally recommend?”
“Sword dancer, maybe? That or sky pirate.” Both of them were D-rank classes, firmly within Bummer territory. “Neither of them are all that good, but I’d love it if you picked one of those.”
“Hmm, hmm...”
“Sword dancer does look really fun, y’know...” Lost in the joy of playing another game together, I decided to take the recklessness up a notch.
“Cool! Fine with me, then.”
“Awesome! A fine choice, my best bud. I’m surprised you agreed to it so quickly, though.” Normally, she’d give me a bit more grief than that.
“I made you wait and worry all this time, so it’s only fair.” Thus, Akira chose sword dancer as her class.
After class, Maeda approached Akira.
“Aoyagi, I’d like to help you level up, if you’d like.”
“Wow, thanks! But our levels are so far apart, and I’m not really into powerleveling. You’re the leader, so you should focus on the expedition. I’ll be leveling up with Ren.”
Powerleveling was when a higher-leveled player helps someone lower-leveled grind levels at a rapid pace. The practice could lead to monsters getting camped and farmed thin, so it was pretty annoying to others. Not to mention, it was just kinda lame all around.
“Really? Does that mean you’re finally leveling, Takashiro?”
“Yup. I’m finally gonna do it!”
“We’re gonna catch up and help with that quest! And not just that—we’re shooting for first place!”
“Good! I’m excited to see your results. Meanwhile, take this with you.”
“Ooh, the UW Guidebook! Are you really sure it’s cool giving me your strategy guide?”
“Of course. I’ve already memorized the parts I need. Feel free to do the same.”
“You memorized it?! You’re so smart, Maeda.”
“Y-You think so? It’s at least more interesting than learning English vocab...” Indeed, Maeda was definitely the best in our class when it came to learning, so it was pretty much the natural conclusion for her to become class rep and expedition leader. She really did seem caring, though; this was an especially generous gift.
“Thanks, I’ll make good use of it. The teacher’s calling me, so I’m off to the class-change room now.” Akira headed off to the class-change room to deal with her class, initial settings, and so forth. Everyone else left to grind levels and continue the quest, leaving me alone in the classroom. I’d planned to wait for Akira to come back so we could grind together, after all.
While I waited, I decided to use the materials I had on hand to grind my crafting skill. I had to take advantage of every free moment I could get.
After nearly an hour had passed, Akira finally returned.
“Ren!” Her face was red, as if she was angry. Her hair was pink, presumably changed via the hair color setting, and her clothing had changed from the uniform she had before. That’s perfectly normal; when you changed classes, you got the base uniform for that class. “What the heck?! This is so humiliating! Even you won’t stop staring at me!”
Her dress, frilly and fluttery, was honestly adorable—but it also happened to be very revealing. Her underarms and upper chest were bare, emphasizing her voluptuous bust. Her cleavage especially stood out. To match, her skirt could hardly be any more miniature, revealing the entirety of her thighs and almost a little more. It would be an understatement to call this uniform “sexy.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Oooh. Nice.” I shot her a thumbs-up. I assumed that all sword dancer gear was probably like this.
As a class, sword dancer is D-rank, one of the Bummers, but it’s also known for its surprisingly useful innate traits. Sword dancers fall under the healer role, but they’re a little special—instead of using healing magic, they actually perform dances that can heal and support. The dances don’t cost MP, so they don’t have to worry about that resource. Instead, they cost AP.
As I mentioned previously, AP is something of a special move gauge. You have to hit and be hit by the enemy to increase it. It becomes a sort of dance of approaching, hitting, and jumping out of the way of attacks—a special kind of frontline healer.
Sword dancers can use one-handed and two-handed swords. They can also spend AP on attack skills instead of dances, so they’re overall well-rounded. Ultimately, it seems like a fun class with a high skill ceiling.
So why, then, is it D-rank? Well, the gear is just too revealing. When you’re sitting in front of a computer screen and playing a normal MMORPG, revealing gear makes everything more fun. But when we’re talking about a quasi-real VRMMO world, bold designs like these can be more than a little embarrassing for the player.
The general consensus was that it’s a class only for those very confident in their bodies. There were classes every girl wanted to be, and then classes no girl wanted to be—how sad indeed that sword dancer fell under the latter.
Seeing Akira’s reaction, I could certainly understand—it did seem humiliating. That said, wow, what a view.
“Ren, did you make me do this just so you could ogle me?!”
“No, I swear! I wanted you to be a sword dancer even when I thought you were a guy! I thought you’d be fine with it if it meant getting its unique skills!”
“Oh reeeally? I see that smirk.” Her eyes became daggers, glaring at me suspiciously.
“I still figure you wouldn’t mind showing a little skin, but of course I’m a little biased seeing a cute girl in bikini armor.”
“Cute—?! F-Fine, then. Not like I can go back and change it now, anyway. Let’s regroup and go grind some levels!” Suddenly, she smiled. Akira really was expressive. “It’s still humiliating, though. So while we travel...”
She changed back into her usual school uniform. A shame, but understandable, I guess.