I never thought I would use this weapon in a game, let alone an RPG game. It feels very nostalgic, shooting from a distance. Although there are no white trees and snow lines here, with a Kar98k I can do a lot of things.
"Knowing this, I should have played earlier."
But already, I have to catch up with Regulus. He said he was already in the sixth area, while I was still stuck in the tutorial area. The problem wasn't that I couldn't play. Rather, it was the Entrance Boss that had to be defeated before I could progress, constantly bouncing my bullets.
But not this time... I was better prepared. Estimated the enemy's distance to be around 600 meters, barrel clean, good condition. Wind not too strong, estimating bullet drop.
65-no, 70 centimeters. A little higher. I used the binoculars to take one more look. Saw that there were several people fighting the boss.
"This again?" I said. "Come on, take him to 'that' place."
A little more right...a little more...
I was in position, keeping my arm inside the trigger. Actually, not using binoculars either, I could see them. Just a little more. I pulled the trigger slowly and fired my shot.
The Entrance boss, which was a giant hedgehog, fell down. It was strange having a giant hedgehog for a boss, let alone the first boss.
I took a breath. The boss was dead.
In this game that Regulus recommended to me, Starrum Valley, all enemies are defeated in different ways. Depending on the enemy, some can be attacked continuously until they die, some can be attacked in vital places to die immediately. Just like before.
There are no healthbars, and neither are the players. Activities like jumping off cliffs or even not treating wounds quickly. You will die.
"But not by going down this hill slowly." I went down the hill, running towards the boss I had just killed.
I managed to kill that boss with a Kar98k rifle at 600 meters without the aid of a scope. That's it, that's my talent, a long shot.
Since childhood, I was trained by my grandfather to hunt animals like deer when I was still living in Finland. Now I've moved, but that's a story for another time. My grandfather was a reliable sniper, his furthest record was 2000 meters, 1300 if you only use iron sights.
I became good at using a sniper, you could say it's a hobby and something where I can proudly say I'm a pro. But in the present, there is no war, I'm also not in Finlanfia anymore. In the end, this game reminded me of many bad things when I was a kid.
I arrived at the place where the boss was, it took a decent amount of time considering I came from 600 meters. But since my Agility stats were high, it wasn't too much. I could see them panicking, as the boss suddenly died.
"A-A little kid?! Carrying a sniper rifle and a katana?" Someone said.
"I'm not a kid, why would you think that? I'm only seven centimeters shorter than my real world self."
"Kuro, is that your name? Did you kill this boss?"
I nodded.
"Haha, you're so funny. I'm sorry I said such a strange thing. Eh?"
"I told you, I killed it."
I approached the hedgehog monster's body. It took out an item in the form of some of its needles. This proves that I killed it, because items are only given to the person or party who kills a monster. So that no one steals.
"No way, my friend can detect someone's presence up to five hundred meters. But you were not detected at all." The man said.
This guy! I just proved it and he still doesn't believe me? None of my business, none of my business but...
"I only shot at 600 meters, not too amazing. My highest record is around 2000 meters using a scope, luckily this game has physics that are eleven or twelve with the real world. From the wind, gravity, even the bullet drop estimation is also quite accurate."
"You're still a child." He said.
I pointed my Kar98k at him.
"Talk one more time then it's bye-bye."
"Woah, no player killing, that's illegal. Don't you know?"
I shook my head. Didn't know.
"Player killing is something that can cause the player to go back to the beginning. This game is Hardcore so if you die, all the progress you've made will be lost and your account will go back to the beginning."
I lowered my gun from his face, leaving them behind. By the way, if I'm not mistaken Regulus also talked about the same thing.
He had repeated three times from the beginning, though each failure only made him better. I heard that he's now in the sixth area, I should hurry and catch up with him. I didn't expect an RPG game to pull me into it either.
When Regulus bought me a VR device with this game last Christmas. I thought it was just another cheap MMORPG game, but not really. This game turned out to be more, the physics I did while shooting was also one of them.
But a sniper in a place that looks like the 1500s, really isn't hidden. After all, this game is really only for no life players who escape reality. I know, because the majority of players are like Regulus.
If you're wondering who Regulus is, she's a friend I met online by accident. She considered me as his friend even though I refused. But not now. She is my only friend, besides Aubrey.
Entering into the first town, Dyssian, this place provides many things needed for early players. Such as forges for weapons, magic items and others.
As I expected in a world like this, no one sold bullets and so on. Although there were, they were just 9mm used for simple pistols. Not heavy weapons like sniper rifles. Maybe there is no update yet.
It might also be because the type that uses the sniper rifle, INTJ, is very few. Originally, I didn't want to play this game either. If not for Regulus' coercion.
I don't know why I feel grateful now.
This game, a quirk also mentioned by Regulus, doesn't have a specific meta. They make this game very balanced no matter what MBTI(Myers-Briggs Type Indicator for personality test) you get.
Apparently INTJs don't belong to that list, only a few people use snipers. Even if they get an INTJ, the other backup weapon, a katana. That seemed like a better choice.
In the surrounding area there were also some monsters that gave more experience for leveling up. I glanced at one of the shops in the town, about everything for changing appearance, being able to order clothes, accessories and so on. I was looking for something, since this was a game world, maybe I could.
I harmonized my character in the game with the real world, from everything to my posture, my black hair, my blue eyes. But I realized that maybe someone would recognize me in the real world if they met. I decided to change something, the length of my hair.
I have hair that doesn't even reach my shoulders, medium length, not too short or long. I wanted to change it to be longer.
And there it was, it was just like when I customized it when I first entered. I can change it as long as I want. Well, maybe as far as my stomach area. I also bought goggles, covering up that I was a sniper. Come to think of it, which sniper uses glasses.
The goggles were fortunately just an accessory, and didn't make my vision any weirder.
I stored my weaponry in the inventory, a storage somewhere that I don't know where it is stored. It can hold 300 types of items, not the number of items, types. So if you have 200 porcupine needles 50 rabbit skins and 50 slime meat, those are all considered 3 items.
With this, without carrying any weapons, I just look like an ordinary player, even like an NPC. But that's okay.
And in a building near the center of the city, this is where I ended my account creation process. Yes, I have to go to a place called Starfarer Center. Starfarer is the nickname for players.
"Welcome, to the Dyssian branch of the Starfarer Center." Said the receptionist NPC.
Realistically, this game uses Artificial Intelligence technology that is probably more sophisticated than the one I made for my college project. Speech recognition, reactions, answers, along with personality, for almost all NPCs in the game? Did the server not explode? If not, then it's very powerful.
"I want to complete the registration." I said.
I could see that most people were chatting with each other, discussing. But other than that, I felt like there were a lot of people looking at me.
"Hey you!" Someone said.
I looked back, fiuh, luckily he was talking to someone else. If I'm not mistaken, it was the person I met at the porcupine boss' place. Good thing it wasn't me, it might have been a problem if he was dealing with me.
"The registration has been completed." The receptionist said.
I opened my status panel, seeing that several other options were open such as titles, achievements, quests and so on. I then stepped out of the place, or that's what I could have done if I wasn't too focused on reading the description of the thing I just opened. Unfortunately, I bumped into that person.
"I apologize." I said and left.
I realized she wouldn't just let me go, because if I bumped into someone, I'd be a little angry too. But that doesn't mean you can swing a big sword at someone.
I continued to walk on ignoring him, his attack hitting empty air. Too bad, you still need a hundred years of training to beat me.
I exited the place, opened the Inventory and took out a black robe, looking like it had been bitten by many rats. I don't know why this thing is in an exclusive shop. It doesn't have any function. The description alone reads 'just an ordinary cloak'. Other than that, I also found a scarf that had a similar description.
If you're asking, where did I buy these items? In the panel besides the status, next to the inventory there is a shop that uses pay to win money called Leo Crystal. Because of an anonymous account called Symphony, I got two million Leo Crystals. And I spent a hundred thousand to buy items that had no function.
The Leo Crystal came with the message, 'don't allow players to ascend more than once.' Signed, Symphony. That's it.
Well, it wasn't my money so I just enjoyed it.
After finding a place to rest, I logged out, and finished my game for the first time. It was really fun. I didn't think I'd say that, but morning had already come, shining down on the Tokyo area. I still had to go to college, risking playing on a non-weekend night.
I took a shower, changed clothes, wearing casual clothes. Just a white shirt with a gray vest, it's also quite cold today, it's starting to snow. Maybe I'll wear a scarf.
Since earlier, I'm quite curious about something, which is about the INTJ buff. Even so, searching the wiki as well, there are few who get it. Out of ten million players, it was noted that there were probably around two thousand sniper rifle users, and no more than half of them had the INTJ buff.
One very detailed article from a player named 'Shiro' which means white. Explaining the abilities gained with each ascension. Perhaps he was the only one who managed to reach far using a sniper.
"But the writing style, like I've seen this somewhere..."
"Really, it's very unusual for you to do research on games, let alone the VRMMORPG Starrum Valley." Aubrey's words startled me.
"You surprised me..."
"Really? Even though you didn't flinch at all?"
"By the way, are you playing this Aubrey?" I asked briefly.
"Don't divert the topic! But it's true, I am playing. I've reached the fourth area, my level has only reached 50. Haven't done ascension yet. I intend to do it now but the boss is hard to beat. It's just a samurai riding a horse but why..." Aubrey grumbled on the way to campus.
We studied at the same college even though we had different majors. Aubrey at first glance looks like an ordinary person, but on certain coincidences, and at certain times, she can become a little more strange. As I've explained, it's obvious that I'm majoring in something related to the development of AI or artificial intelligence.
While Aubrey is a student in Japanese history and literature. We started graduate school together, so wherever we went we were always together. But sometimes, she says things that I don't even know if they're fake or real. For example.
"Aah, Kuroko. There's a dusting of snow on your nose. You know it's a sign that your luck was taken away for three months and one week." She said.
"Three months and one week, very specific."
But I didn't enjoy winter to much, it reminds me of where I come from, my home. Finland, where I'm from. Why did I leave there? Why was my destination in Japan? Everything is why.
But, as of now, my life is still comfortable. I'll be graduating soon, and I'm just thinking about what I want to do with my life. Hopefully, what Aubrey said is just her words.