NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9: WTF?!
Naturally, she only said as much to dodge Lamont’s question.
During the early game, all the players were still rather weak1 and had to rely on external factors such as equipment and weapons to clear the instance. In the past, Shaelyn had spent a long time in the Safe Zone— Imagine this, if you put a gun freak in an environment where they could use real guns as much as they like, just how good would they become by the end of the session?
It’s just that, regarding her body…
Shaelyn had asked the system before, she was told that her base stats were a carbon copy of the current Lamont. In other words, she might look frail, but she was actually as strong as Lamont.
But even if that was the case, this body’s condition was far from reaching her peak form in the past.
Though if she really had to fight against Lamont, she could easily flip him around like a spinning top.
That was only in the early game, by the way. Once Lamont grows stronger, there would be no guarantee she could do the same.
As such, she actually cherished the time she has now.
She ought to educate him now while she could still beat him.
With that said……
What could her superpower be?
While Shaelyn was refamiliarizing herself with the firearm, her thoughts drifted somewhere far away.
The biggest gift from [The God’s Realm] to the players was without a doubt, superpowers! These superpowers will stick with the players for their entire lifetimes and they are humanity’s only hope against the calamity.2
The superpower would be unlocked once the players cleared the Battle Zone for the first time. Each player could only possess one superpower, each one unique in their own way. Moreover, not all of them were created equal either, some were strong while some were weak. As such, many players complained about how this setting was ruining the balance of the game since each player’s starting line was not the same. Some of the powers were so powerful that one could say they were already at the finishing line from the start.
Later, when the calamity struck, some came to realize that perhaps the powers were not granted by the game, but were instead humanity’s latent potential that had yet to be tapped into. All [The God’s Realm] did was to awaken these latent potentials.
It was worth mentioning that every superpower could be honed and refined. However, the game wouldn’t go as far as to guide each individual player towards their growth. It was up to the players themselves to discover the potential of their own power. In other words, there was no trash power in this world, only those who didn’t know how to utilize them.
However, under the same condition, the difference was indeed as clear as day.
Naturally, one could also rely on external factors to close this gap such as using artifacts and equipment. However, one either needed enough money or power in order to acquire these babies.
Due to that, the early game was the best period for these normal people with weak abilities to close the gap by getting accustomed to the equipment. Otherwise, once the real game starts, those with weak superpowers would fall into a death loop.
You couldn’t count on your superpower, you didn’t have the strength to vie for resources from the strong players, and your rewards and game points were abysmally small, what could you do?
Of course, go upgrade your equipment and artifacts!
How? With game points.
Not enough game points?
Then steal!
What if you couldn’t steal from the stronger players?
Then go get yourself better equipment and artifacts!
……
Unfortunately, too many players didn’t understand this point early on, so the gaps only grew bigger and wider over time.
However, Shaelyn didn’t really care about all that. She didn’t have the mind to forewarn the world of the future calamity. Let’s not mention how many people would trust her compared to how many would think she was crazy first, let’s say if she really alerted the world, it probably wouldn’t bring about any benefits other than panic and chaos.
In order to see to her own safety during the calamity, she first had to gain enough strength. To do that, she probably wouldn’t be able to avoid death in the Battle Zone a few times, at worst up to a hundred times. Even if the pain was reduced by 30%, the fear of death was very real. This was a very tortuous path and it was quite doubtful many people would have the resolve to face it.
Moreover, even if she got stronger, there was no guarantee that she could live through the calamity.
If that were to come to a pass, then she might as well go out with a bang!
Let’s not talk about the players who made money through the Battle Zone, there were too many hoodlums in that community. The reward was the same for every player who cleared the instance, so there were some groups that offered to carry other players through the instance so long as they pay a high enough sum. This was quite a common practice in Shaelyn’s past life. In order to get stronger, one had to face the dangers head-on. The result one gained from these two different methods was as vast as the sky and the earth.
Moreover, based on her past experience, humanity’s counterattack wasn’t weak at all even with no one to alert them. If it wasn’t due to Shaelyn’s own bad luck, she might not necessarily have to start all over again.
In short, she should just mind her own business.
Even to this day, the system didn’t tell Shaelyn what her superpower was. If it was a weak ability, she would probably have to work harder than in her previous life to match with Lamont’s pace.
Meanwhile, the guy in question was……
Fiddling with the guns without a care in the world. Shaelyn immediately fell into a bad mood just from looking at him.
To think she would become weaker than her past self… The feeling of envy that arose from this was probably much deeper than from a hated enemy.
Doofus.
Stupid idiot.
Shaelyn couldn’t resist cursing internally.
Then, Shaelyn revealed a smile and put down her gun. She made her way toward Lamont’s back and hugged him from behind, “Your posture is all wrong. Here, let me help you—”
Lamont became frozen solid.3
Even though this was within the game, the soft feeling transmitted to his back felt almost the same as in reality. After all, he did experience this in real-life not too long ago. But even if this wasn’t his first time anymore, this kind of intimate contact was still too much for his immune system.
Naturally, Shaelyn could feel Lamont’s body tensing up. She couldn’t help but find it a little funny, “Why are you getting so nervous? It’s not like I’d eat you or anything.”
She didn’t have anything to say if he reacted like this the first time, Shaelyn knew her past self was an innocent virgin anyway. However, she had already embraced him more than a few times, yet his reaction was still this big?
He was a grown man for god’s sake, yet he was as coy as a girl.
She felt that if their bodies were swapped at this very moment, this scene would definitely not feel out of place.
“I, uh… Ahem, this is my first time using a gun so I’m a bit excited…” Lamont hurriedly made an excuse.
“Don’t worry about it. You’ll get used to it soon enough,” Shaelyn helped him adjust his posture and then released him, “While playing this game, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to play with all sorts of guns. More than enough for your own good. Anyway, try standing up and fire a few shots to get a feel of it.”
What she said was a fact. Other than modern-day guns, there were also plenty of high-tech guns that only existed in Science Fiction for the users to play with.
Unfortunately, Lamont’s thoughts strayed into a different zone.
Various guns……
He blushed.4
She couldn’t be… hinting me or something, is she…?
Although his mind was a huge mess, he still acted as though nothing was up on the surface. He got up, aimed the gun at a fruit, and pulled the trigger.
Bang——!
The bullet hit the target dead center and turned the fruit into mush.
Shaelyn couldn’t help raising her brows in response, “Wow! Nice aim~!”
While a gun addict he may be, there was still always a huge difference between theoretical and practical. A beginner would have a hard time aiming with a gun for the first time, yet he did it perfectly. Moreover, the fruit was on the smaller size as well. The fact that he could hit the target despite all that proved he was already better than her when she first started out.
As expected of myself.
Lamont set the gun aside and smiled bashfully, “Thanks for the praise…”
Just now… he was actually aiming for a different fruit.5
But honestly speaking… The feeling of pulling the trigger was so thrilling!
- Silva: No, I don’t understand the Chinese, it has something about strength and contribution points. I’ll just interpret this my own way.
Lio: They probably start out with base stats that aren’t enough to pass a battle stage without equipment.
- Sivla: Present tense probably work here right? Not so sure…
- Lio: I wonder how many times Lamont will be frozen/shocked.
- Lio: Are gun fanatics really like this?
Silva: No, but a pervert is. You know, the “big, black gun”
Lio: à
- Silva: Pfft…
Lio: :FGO_hachFacepalm: