Strongest Gamer; Let's Play in Another World Volume 2

by Shinobu Yuuki

  The Essentials of Practical Alchemy (312 Pages) == 650,000 DL

  Seller: Manager, Labyrinth #16

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  I'd found many cookbook-style books, with detailed recipes and sketches of materials, and a few describing where to forage for certain plants, but I'd hardly found any talking about the theoretical foundations. Perhaps there weren't a lot of scholarly types among the labyrinth managers. The textbook had no reviews yet, but I figured I didn't have much to lose, so I bought it anyway. It turned out to be surprisingly detailed, but unfortunately, the best I could say for it was that it presented its concepts in a logical manner. A lot of the time, it was simply too complicated for me, not to mention poorly written, and I had to re-read most passages a few times to really get it. Not the best book ever.

  "This book says it's only got the essentials, but it has university-level terminology in math, physics, and chemistry all over the place. Plus, you're supposed to be well-acquainted with alchemy systems in fantasy games, and have a basic understanding of cooking techniques and a knack for cooking in the first place, otherwise you won't be able to appreciate the book. Talk about gatekeeping."

  I'd played a lot of niche games in my time, so fortunately I did meet the minimum qualifications to read the book, but still, I felt like the author could've at least made an attempt at appealing to a mainstream audience.

  I'd seen books like this in games before, like in this one foreign MMORPG called The Eldest Scrolls, which had been marketed as being extremely realistic. Game worlds worked under different fundamental laws than the real world, so players always had to be informed just what you could and couldn't do. So the developers in that game had introduced scholar NPCs who sent you on quests to unearth old arcane books detailing the knowledge you'd need. It was a great game, if you had a lot of curiosity and enjoyed the thrill of exploration. You could only make one character, though. So if you chose a magician for example, you were sent as a student under some mentor, and from then on your primary goal was basically to be recognized as an independent player. I made the mistake of choosing a wizard initially, assuming it was like any other game where you could make a bunch of characters. The harsh requirements for reaching the endgame just made me want to do even better, so I traveled from one old wizard to another, becoming a disciple of anyone who would teach me. They sent me to libraries sprinkled across the world, where I read books both sanctioned and forbidden, doing anything in my quest to become a full wizard. I was adept in healing magic and offensive magic, a true master of my craft, and by the end the foreign players had dubbed me Mr. Monk, thanks to my diligence grinding out those books.

  I hung out in both the Japanese community, which had barely thirty players, and one other in-game community called "Black Magic Theorists". I still talked to most of the gamers I met in that crazy place, and we even played together sometimes. Masochistic difficulty was a surefire recipe for building friendship. The game was deemed too hardcore for people to play in a foreign language, so they'd even localized it to Japanese, but it only got about 3,000 people playing it across the world, so splitting up servers was kind of pointless. If you were Japanese and wanted to play the game, you were better off importing an international copy. The game was still alive, and there were still active forums centered around it to this day.

  You know, if I was able to decipher that damn game and become a wizard, maybe I could simplify this book so it was more friendly for newbies?

  "Jeez, it's like four percent as long as it used to be. Did I cut too much?"

  I'd tried my hand at simplifying the 300-page mammoth of a book, summarizing all the important parts in handwritten notes, and it'd turned out to be only twelve pages.

  "This thing really does go beyond the essentials. I think I'll just teach alchemy to Ann the same way I would a new dinner recipe. Personally, I think it's better to learn to make stuff through trial and error."

  When I read through my notes, I realized what I'd written was best described as the theoretical foundations underpinning how alchemy worked. Well, now I could see why there were so few books on alchemical theory. Still, no biggie. I was sure the inhabitants of this world would figure this stuff out for themselves sooner or later.

  "Hey Ann, wanna learn how to make magic potions?"

  "Sure!"

  I prepared the equipment for Ann to use and began teaching her how to make the magic potions we'd be giving out as prizes.

  "Aoi, what shall I do?"

  "Oh, hey Mary. Um, you should probably do some training, or maybe help out with the construction to get some exercise. I'll be counting on you once the labyrinth is up and running, so I can't have you getting rusty on me."

  "Absolutely! I'll go for a run outside at once!"

  Mary left her stuff in the cabin and went right out for a jog.

  "Mary's not gonna study with us?"

  Ann sadly watched as Mary disappeared into the distance.

  "Everyone has their role to play. There are some things only we can do, and some things only Mary can do."

  I felt a twinge of guilt. The truth was, I wanted to teach Mary as well, but that book was right when it said you needed at least some talent for cooking to do alchemy. Mary was still a complete novice who burned everything she tried to make. It would've been cruel to force her to try something this complicated until she'd had some more time under Ann's wing.

  Ann and I practiced mixing, and by the time the labyrinth had almost completed, she could reliably make Grade 9 and Grade 10 potions every time. The difference in level between our work must have had something to do with that fortitude stat the guide had mentioned. It was unclear to me how much Mary had improved during her cooking lessons with Ann. Whenever I saw Mary's handiwork lurking in a corner of the table, I would frown and think how teaching Mary to cook was perhaps the only thing I had yet to see Ann complete with flying colors.

  ◇

  The labyrinth's construction was going smoothly. The blocks of soil and rock produced as a by-product of the digging had accumulated into a pixelated mountain beside the workshop. What's more, Mary had grown accustomed to her life here in Labyrinth #228, as demonstrated by the fact that our happy little morning accidents now only happened perhaps twice a week. One day during dinner, Barry informed me that the interior of the labyrinth was now 8% complete. He asked me to bring Mary along the next day to pin down some details regarding the guardian's room.

  Before we went down, I put on the hard hat I recently bought on Tundra. It was a little different from the ones back home, since it was made from iron instead of plastic, but it had the same shape, and it would protect me either way, so I couldn't complain. After we descended into the labyrinth, kobolds with torches guided us to the guardian's room.

  "Ah, how nice and spacious. Mm, and not too many pillars either. This will make a good arena for fighting."

  It seemed Mary had no complaints.

  A single kobold's torch illuminated the room. It was about a thirty meters on each side, with four large stone pillars supporting the ceiling.

  "You haven't decorated yet? I don't really care for the bare dirt aesthetic, at least."

  "That's why I brought you here today, Boss. I was thinking we could line the labyrinth's passages with clay and cut stone, but the guardian's room is the star of the show, so I wanted your thoughts on how to give it a little oomph."

  "Gotcha. It'd be one thing if our guardian was a monster. Then a dark and creepy cave would do just the trick. But with Mary, we need to pick something more suitable."

  Made sense. If the labyrinth's final boss was a lovely girl, we'd want her room to do her justice.

  "I'm sure we could do a fine job ourselves, but I thought Mary should have the final call for what she'd want it to look like."

  "You intend to leave it to me? Aoi, is it okay for me to decide?"

  "Yeah, of course. Do whatever you want. You're going to be spending a lot of time down here when the labyrinth opens up
, so I want you to like it."

  "Here's what we've got available to use for the interior."

  Barry took out some miniature sample materials from his bag. He had tiny bricks, wooden planks, all kinds of stones, and little mud walls reinforced with wood.

  "So many to choose from."

  Mary selected a few of the samples and inspected them carefully, one by one. It felt a bit like watching someone pick a paint color for their new home.

  "I'd like you to make the floors and walls out of stone."

  "Yeah, can do. That's easy enough. You sure you wanna go with something so simple?"

  "Yes. If you make it of stone, it will be very similar to the training grounds I used long ago, in my parents' home. The familiar sight will put me at ease."

  So, a familiar feel was more important to her than a flashy appearance? A very Mary decision.

  She looked at me for confirmation, and I gave her a smile and a nod.

  We went to see the completed guardian room a few days later and were astounded at how grand it had become in such a short time. According to Barry, the coagulant worked wonders in making smooth walls.

  "It looks just like a room in a fortress or a castle."

  The interior was brightly lit by torches set in sconces around the walls and pillars, giving it a certain medieval flair.

  "My parents' house is an old stone fort that was remodeled into a mansion. This kind of room is just like the one where I learned my swordsmanship."

  "It's important to feel comfortable when you've got a job to do, especially when your work requires a lot of focus."

  I voiced my agreement. Like, when you play arcade games, you really have to go to your favorite arcade if you want to play your best.

  "I'm so glad you understand!"

  Mary was delighted to find someone who empathized with her, which honestly made me feel a bit guilty for comparing her situation to arcade gaming.

  ◇

  Although we'd been up to our ears in construction work, I hadn't forgotten about gaming. In particular, I'd been trying to get Mary to join me and Ann, though sometimes it made me feel like a devil whispering in her ear---a labyrinth manager under the command of the Great Dark Lord tempting a pure and righteous knight onto the dark path of gaming.

  "So Aoi, is this box some sort of toy? The only games I am familiar with are those that children play, like tag, or hide-and-seek."

  "This is more like a game for adults."

  Recommended for people aged fifteen and over, if I remembered correctly.

  "It'll be easier to show you than to tell you. Here, why don't you sit behind us and watch, and I'll explain while playing."

  Maybe it was unwise to use the dangerously addicting online gaming scene for her introduction to video games, but it wouldn't be fair to show her less than the best.

  "Ann, can you log in to Arena? You know the account password, right?"

  "Yep!"

  I'd decided to teach her a game called Gun Arena, another game from the makers of Gun Gust. It was effectively another mode of Gun Gust, where you logged in with your characters from Gun Gust and duked it out with other players for prizes. You could earn special equipment and items in Arena that you could use back in Gust.

  "Is that a knight? Oooh, it's on horseback, and it has a lance!"

  I'd figured Mary would enjoy the knights. I was mounted, and Ann was armed with a pike and on foot as my squire. Mary was getting pretty pumped up over the mounted knight. Maybe she was so used to knights in this world piloting Extended Knight Armor that she hadn't thought of them riding anything else?

  "Ann is your companion? Will you be fighting together?!"

  "You make your own character to be your avatar in the game world, where you live and fight. What we're doing now is kind of like a war game. It's a great way to show off how strong you are."

  It was a team competition on a decent-sized battlefield. As Mary watched the ten knights and forty squires clash, though she didn't say much, her breath began to come faster, and a flush rose in her cheeks. It was strangely erotic.

  "So, the battle is over now, but you see those people talking and pointing at us, over by the fences? Those are scouts looking to hire soldiers for their lord."

  It wasn't uncommon here to see freelance mercenaries looking for Gun Gust partners, or feudal lords looking for capable soldiers to protect their lands. Nobody had called out to Ann or me because we had an indicator that we were under contract, but without that, I was sure a lot of scouts would have been pestering us.

  "Do you want to try?"

  "May I? Though it seems... complicated."

  True, getting used to a keyboard and mouse probably would have been a bit much for most of the inhabitants of this world.

  "He taught me, too. It took me a while, but I can play now, so you should join us. It's super fun!"

  It was a point in my favor that I had clearly been able to teach Ann, but Ann's request was surely the thing that pushed Mary over the edge. Could anyone refuse her? I knew I couldn't.

  "Very well. I'm not particularly talented with these sorts of things, but would you be so kind as to teach me, Ann?"

  "Sure!"

  I stood up and let Mary have my seat, and Ann started instructing her right away. Good, good, all according to plan, I thought to myself, twirling my imaginary mustache.

  From that day forth, Mary and Ann played games together every night. Mary wasn't as quick a study as Ann, but she was steadily grinding experience as a soldier, working her way up towards a class change into a knight. She was enjoying it so much she even managed to remember where her shortcuts and hotkeys were on the keyboard. By the end of the week, she was moving her character around just as naturally as any new gamer.

  "Aoi, I would very much like my character to learn the horse riding skill."

  "You have to save up for a horse, and you'll need to get stronger before you make any real money. You're still a long way away."

  "I see. Still, I won't give up. I will become a horse-riding knight, no matter what it takes!"

  Yep, she was hooked. I'd have to get a computer for her, too.

  ◇

  "What a nice breeze."

  I was sitting on a blanket laid out on the corner of a field in Milt with a cold cup of water in hand, enjoying the feel of the wind on my face. The labyrinth's construction was almost complete. We'd reached the stage of reinforcing the walls and floors, and installing traps. But today was the construction workers' day off, as it was also an important day for the village economy. Today they were harvesting a special kind of wheat that they could only reap once a year, and which sold for a pretty decent price. The high price made it worth the expense of tending it so carefully for a long time just for a single harvest. Milt harvested all the wheat in a single day, and they held a little harvest festival in the fields when it was all done.

  That was why I'd come. We'd reached the village just in time to see the golden rows of wheat still adorning the fields. Ann spotted Sara and rushed over to her. It'd been a while since the two had last met; it seemed Sara had been left in charge of tending the village's children, since there were so few adults available for the task lately. The kids looked like they were enjoying the story she was reading them.

  That left me and Mary alone together. I had to admit, I wasn't too hot on the idea of doing farmwork, and Mary was already being worked to the bone every other day of the week. The villagers sang as they worked, perhaps a song to celebrate the harvest. They sang out of time and even out of tune with each other, and the song itself was nothing special, but you could feel their happiness in every note.

  "Hmm hm hmmm♪"

  Mary started humming along. Maybe she was doing it unconsciously?

  "Say, Mary..."

  "What is it?"

  "Is your hometown anything like this place?"

  Mary's tender gaze as she watched the villagers at work had piqued my interest. Perhaps she was nostalgic? Granted, the only experi
ence I had analyzing women's feelings was from visual novels, which didn't help much with real women. The three of us had been living together a long time, but Mary had never said much about her life before. Something about the wistful look on her face told me that now was the time to ask.

  "My hometown, well... It's in a much colder region. This view of villagers harvesting crops is nostalgic, but back home they would have done it much earlier, before autumn truly set in. The snow begins to fall quite early, you see. By this time of year, the sight you see when you walk outside is that of children playing in the snow."