Day One Meta

I logged out of the game, slept, woke up, and went to work.

While doing a moderate amount of work, I exchanged messages about "Kaito a Luise" with my coworker.

"Hey, how was your first day yesterday?"

"Oh! I spent 8 hours on character creation yesterday, so I barely made any progress yo!"

Eight hours. I knew he was the type to spend time on character creation, but…

"Wasn't there a time limit on character creation? Mine had a 3-hour limit, and I spent one hour on it."

"Obsessing over appearance is my style yo!! I managed to recreate my favorite character, so it's all good!!"

He apparently recreated some copyrighted character. With that much character customization available, I could understand wanting to copy your favorite character… but eight hours was something else.

"Well, thanks to that, I only got to where the tutorial ends yo!"

"… Seriously? You already finished the tutorial?"

"Made it to the Adventurers' Guild yo. Hm? What's your progress yo?"

"Haven't even left the starting area. Broke a box, did some training, left her punching a turtle on auto-mode…"

"For real yo! LOL imagine staying at the start that's hilarious yo www"

Even though it was just chat, I could practically hear my coworker cackling.

"Still, seems like things are really different depending on which scenario you picked yo? Which one did you choose yo?"

"Sacrifice to the Great Turtle. You?"

"The Thief's Prey yo. Just picked the one at the top!"

Oh, that one. The one I tried to select but got that "Selected by another player" notification.

So it was you, coworker.

"The scenarios might all be unique. That one showed up as an option for me, but I couldn't select it."

"Seems like it yo. I checked the freshly made fan wiki, but the info's not organized at all yo. If no one has the same scenario, maybe an AI is running the GM system yo."

Apparently, among everyone who'd commented on that wiki, not a single person had the same scenario.

There was overlap in the options, but once someone else picked one, it became unavailable. Creating that many stories manually would be impossible — absurd, even.

"Oh yeah, check this out yo! Screenshot from yesterday's battle yo!"

My coworker sent an image through the chat tool. It showed a pale-skinned girl with wild black twintails holding a massive gun that reached up to her waist. Blue-white light burst from the muzzle, blowing away what appeared to be bandits on the other side of the screen.

"Wow, that's amazing. Near-perfect character recreation and using a gun… Wait, there are guns?"

"Yeah yeah! Satisfied with the recreation yo! And this gun is seriously crazy yo!"

My coworker excitedly sent a cropped image of the gun's detail screen.

"It's equipment I got using SP, and it says "Ancient Ruins Gun" yo. Meaning — I got spoiled that there was a highly advanced ancient civilization yo!"

"Huh? Ancient Ruins Gun? I thought this was a swords-and-magic world… And don't go spreading spoilers to me just because you got spoiled!?"

"Ahaha! If I'm going down, everyone's coming with me yo!"

"That's not even the right phrase… Well, I guess ancient civilizations show up in fantasy sometimes."

"According to the lore, it's a gun that runs on magic yo. What it fires isn't bullets but probably magic like Stone Bullet yo. Here's the description."

Looking at the additional screenshot, the gun's description indeed said "A magic gun excavated from ancient ruins. Fires magic as bullets, so no resupply needed".

"And this gun's firepower is insane yo. Bandits go flying in one shot yo! No point in close-combat punching yo!"

"Hey now, I'm over here punching turtle shells barehanded…"

"Ahaha! So you're going martial arts yo! Well, there seem to be lots of weapon types, and your playstyle can be totally different depending on SP items yo."

"I used up a lot of SP on giving her limbs at the start though?"

"Limbs? Why yo?"

"They were crushed under rocks."

I explained my starting situation. The whole being set up as a turtle sacrifice thing.

"My condolences yo. At least mine had all her limbs from the start yo. Though I used up almost all my SP on the gun."

"What? I still have about half left. Saving it in case something happens."

"You'll get more soon anyway, so might as well use it yo?"

When he put it that way, he had a point.

"Starting strong is important yo! The wiki's got nothing yet, so charge in before overthinking yo! We're the pioneers yo!!"

"What if I end up with a fatally bad build? What if SP is harder to get than expected?"

"Then that's just more testing yo? If you wait and see, you'll miss your chance to make a name yo! Act before you think! … Besides, if it doesn't work out, just reset and restart yo? We're still early on. Reinstalling and starting over is still an option yo."

"Hard to argue with that, coworker."

"Wise words, right yo? I haven't been getting older for nothing yo."

I imagined my coworker puffing out his chest through the chat. Though I'd never actually met him in person. Don't even know how old he is.

"Well, the controls aren't bad, and martial arts could become amazing if you master it yo. Plus, you got the limbs with SP yo?"

"Hm? Yeah. They're SP-made limbs."

"Then they might be in the same category as my gun yo! There's a chance they have hidden amazing performance… or not?"

"Which is it?"

"Finding out is your job yo! I'm too busy testing my gun build to help yo."

Fair enough. It was only day two of the game, and still early on. Everything was unknown.

"This is the thrill of playing a game from day one of launch yo～. Embrace the struggle!"

"… Gotta get my five onigiri's worth of enjoyment～"

"www That's the spirit yo～"

After that, we exchanged information.

"Repeating basic actions raises parameters… I didn't notice that yo!? Maybe I'll have mine do push-ups too yo."

"Let me know if it doesn't work. Might just be an early tutorial bonus."

"Or it could be because the limbs are SP-made yo. I'll let you know either way yo～"

"Also, how do you even do push-ups?"

"Free commands in auto-mode yo. You can give pretty much any order with that, seems really powerful if you master it yo. When I said "first, take off your clothes," she did yo."

"Seriously? What's this game's rating again? 18+?"

"The camera locked and mysterious light covered everything, so probably R-15 yo? Not like there's any benefit to removing equipment, so I dressed her right away yo."

The chat got pretty lively, so I think I got my five onigiri's worth.

I hope I can at least finish the tutorial today.