I sat in the carriage’s small cargo bed and kept watch over our luggage while it was jostled by the ride. Rudy drove and managed the horse’s reins from the driver’s bench with Liese beside him. I kept an eye on our belongings and maintained vigilance over the rear. Kinjar and his group were in the carriage up ahead.
Our destination, Monesia Village, was a two-day journey. About halfway from the Fortress City of Balga, there was a rest stop for adventurers and traveling merchants. Such rest stops were constructed at regular intervals along the roads of the Kurtmelga Kingdom. They were national policy since the kingdom’s founding and were constructed to ensure travel safety and prevent fatigue.
Although it was called a rest stop, it had no housing—just an outdoor cooking area and a large pavilion for shelter from rain. The pavilion was a circular structure like a parasol, with only pillars and no walls. The roof allowed smoke to escape, and its size enabled several parties to spend the night there at once.
“Listen, Schwarz,” Liese said. “Kinjar is a capable adventurer, but he’s known for being selfish and biased towards his own group. I doubt we’ll be working as a full six-member team at the rest stop or during the harpy elimination.”
“Yes, especially since he likely won’t want to work with me,” I said.
“My brother and I don’t care about your rank. Everyone starts at a low rank. For this harpy elimination, let’s approach it as two three-member parties rather than one six-member party.”
“To ensure smooth cooperation, Schwarz,” Rudy added, “let’s clarify what each of us can and cannot do.”
“I agree... I’ll start since I’m the lowest rank. First, what I can’t do: I’m what you would call a ‘dud.’ I can’t use magic at all. However, I have the means to fight, so you don’t need to worry about me protecting myself or defeating enemies.”
“You’re a dud?!”
Rudy and Liese, despite being intelligent and composed as adventurers, showed their age with their surprised reaction to my statement. It seemed duds were quite rare. Setting aside what I could do, they bombarded me with questions about magic and magical power, to which I repeatedly responded, “I can’t do that.”
Eventually, the conversation shifted to combat methods, and I mentioned my ability to perform ranged attacks through skills, without revealing my bloodline Arms Skill. Initially, I intended to connect my being a dud with the Arms Skill, but their strong reaction led me to keep it to myself.
Eventually they got over it, and they shared their main weapons and preferred magic attributes. Liese was a magician type who specialized in water magic, and her main weapon was a staff. Rudy was a swordsman who wielded a longsword and a small shield. He also favored water magic.
They also told me about Kinjar’s group. Kinjar was an attacker who used a long spear, Boy was a tank with a giant shield, and Putei was a magician specializing in light magic. The three fought together, primarily handling elimination quests near Balga, and they occasionally accepted mixed quests for expeditions. They didn’t behave well and so were known among Balga-based adventurers as a party to avoid in mixed quests. Liese and Rudy admitted they wouldn’t have taken this quest had they known Kinjar’s group accepted it.
Oh well. I monitored the map and surrounding sounds through my goggles, and we drove on, discussing our strategy against the harpies while I jostled about on the cargo bed.
✦ ✦ ✦
“We’ll be camping here tonight. Liese and I will start prepping for dinner. Schwarz, could you find us some firewood from the forest over there? If you can also bring back any wild rabbits or birds, that would be great, too.”
“Understood. Is there a basket or something for the firewood?”
“There should be some near the wooden box in the center of the rest stop.”
“Ah, I see it. Thank you. I’ll be back soon.”
“Hunting is secondary—please return in about two hours. Preparing the fire before sunset is more important.”
“Got it.”
There was still some time before sunset. I could see a forest spreading to the northwest of the rest stop.
Gathering firewood means collecting deadwood, right?
I had no survival skills or outdoor hobbies. My focus had always been on FPS games. Aside from school trips, I had no experience starting fires in nature. Still, I knew that firewood should be dry—deadwood, not fresh wood.
I ventured into the forest, scanning the ground for thin deadwood. Careful not to stray too far from the rest stop, I slung the pavilion’s basket over my shoulder and began collecting the limbs I found. I soon had gathered an abundant bundle, despite it being my first time gathering wood. As I collected, I recalled Rudy’s additional request—wild rabbits.
I saw no signs of animals in the forest. Although it wasn’t snowing, the season was transitioning from autumn to winter. The trees were bare and offered little obstruction to my view. The map on my goggles showed no dynamic targets, either.
I’m unfamiliar with this world’s ecosystem and its animals. Maybe they hibernate in this season? Then again, rabbits are usually active in winter, so...
I focused on the sounds collected by the audio sensor. There was a faint movement beyond the map’s display range. It came from slightly north, up the slope. I paused my firewood gathering to follow the faint footsteps on the soil. I adjusted the basket’s strap on my left shoulder and brought the Type 99 short rifle from my back to my front, gripping it with my right hand.
The audio sensor continuously picked up surrounding sounds. It had a range said to be nearly five hundred and fifty yards. It also recognized even infrasound and ultrasound—which humans can’t hear without discomfort—and so recognized sounds three-dimensionally, providing information on the source’s location, height, weight, direction, and speed. If you didn’t limit the audio range, players could experience “sound intoxication,” and become overwhelmed by the indiscriminate collection of various audible assaults.
This “sound recognition ability” and “discrimination ability” were essential skills in VMB and similar VRFPS titles. You had to know how to navigate complex maps with expanded sizes and accessible buildings. Relying solely on the UI-display and automatically displayed points was insufficient for success.
I excelled in these two abilities, and so I understood the information conveyed by sounds more deeply. This wasn’t an innate talent or a power someone gave me. It was the result of my learning, nurturing, and accumulation.
I accurately pinpointed the faint sound source a few hundred yards ahead and increased my speed. I followed the sound of something that gnawed and hopped, and the distance closed.
“There it is.”
I spotted a wild white rabbit. It was about 300 yards away and still didn’t appear as a point on the map. I disengaged the bolt safety on the Type 99 short rifle. In VMB, sniper rifles didn’t display crosshairs and required players to aim through iron sights or scopes. I aligned the rabbit’s head with the front and rear sights of the iron sight and pulled the trigger.
The gunshot echoed through the forest, and the rabbit’s head disappeared. The bullet didn’t penetrate or impact it. It blew the rabbit’s head off its body, splattering from the bullet’s energy.
After confirming the rabbit was down, I quickly performed the cocking action, turning the bolt handle to eject the spent cartridge and load the next round. I checked for any disturbances caused by the gunshot and moved towards the rabbit. Up close, I realized it was larger than expected, at two feet in length. Blood flowed from its neck, staining the ground red.
You had to bleed hunted animals to prevent them from having a bad taste. I didn’t know how to do that, but I didn’t have to since the blood was already flowing. I took a thin rope from my waist pouch, tied the rabbit’s hind legs, and hung it upside down from a nearby tree. I resumed exploring and gathering firewood while the hanging rabbit dripped.
It seemed the sound of my Type 99 short rifle had caused other wild animals to distance themselves further. Neither the map nor the audio sensor indicated any movement in the surroundings. Once the blood stopped dripping from the rabbit, I confirmed the basket was filled with enough firewood, retrieved the hanging rabbit, and returned to the rest stop.