Paying to Win in a VRMMO: Volume 1

by Blitz Kiva

  “Kirihito, that was a magnificent attack you used. What was it called?” Ichiro commented.

  “Oh, uh, that?” Kirihito (Leader) asked as he moved unsteadily to his feet. He had a few HP remaining, but his status was definitely critical.

  Ichiro pulled a few potions out of his inventory and distributed them to the group.

  “Thank you. That was ‘Breaker.’ Tie-in weapons tend to have a high Durability, even if their power is low. Since we were going to die and drop them anyway, we decided to sacrifice them to avenge our comrades.”

  “Hmmm.” Ichiro leisurely opened the browser window and looked up the guide wiki.

  Breaker was a weapon attack Art that any class could buy as long as they had a high enough strength stat. It came with a high fatigue rate, but it dealt a damage bonus based on the Art’s level and the weapon’s remaining Durability. The weapon used would have its Durability reduced to zero and be destroyed.

  “I never knew about that Art.”

  “It’s not very practical. It’s basically a last-ditch attack. What do you want to do, Mr. Tsuwabuki? We’re the ones who led the train onto you, so if you want to run away...” Kirihito (Leader) began, but trailed off. “M-Mr. Tsuwabuki?”

  “Nonsense. I’ve never run away from anything, and I don’t intend to start now.”

  Ichiro closed the browser and selected “Config” in his menu window. Once the motion was finished, a sword appeared in his hand. Kirihito (Leader) recognized it immediately.

  It was the Legendary Blade Arondight, a pay-to-download tie-in item from a popular manga. It was considered a low-tier weapon because the attack bonus it provided was mediocre compared to the strength stat required to wield it. People gave it the mocking name “Monetary Blade Arondight,” but it had the highest Durability of any tie-in item in the game.

  The Skeleton Chariot squad had finished their turn and were charging back in their direction. Ichiro used his stockpile of points to learn the new Art. Felicia grabbed Ichiro’s sleeve and spoke in an urgent whisper.

  “U-Um, Itchy... don’t tell me, you’re...”

  “Oh, yes, I am.” Ichiro raised his Arondight high.

  Felicia screamed.

  In that moment, the three Kirihitos realized the tragedy they had wrought.

  The Monetary — er, Legendary — Blade cost 1,200 yen to purchase. Rather expensive, relative to its abilities.

  The advancing Skeleton Chariot was merely a fictional threat. The sight unfolding before Kirihito (Leader)’s eyes was far more terrifying. Judging by their relative velocity, the chariots would soon be in range. Ichiro took a step forward.

  He took a quiet breath of preparation...

  “Noooooooooo!”

  ...but it was drowned out by Felicia’s scream.

  The weapon attack Art, Breaker. Its high Durability would more than cover for its relatively low power. Combined with his damage-increasing skill buffs like Sword Technique and Strong Blade, plus his straightforward (and swiftly increased) strength stat, it provided a final damage calculation that revealed a 5-digit damage marker over the head of the skeleton chariot.

  And so the pale rider of this fictional world, which came slinging fear and death, was taken out by the 1,200 yen Monetary Sword.

  In the grand scheme of the money a man makes in his lifetime, 1,200 yen may not seem like much. But consider...

  Kirihito (Leader) trembled. That one sword had cost as much as two of the light novels that were so sacred to him.

  And the bad news wasn’t over yet.

  The Power Golem sealing the hallway was slowly having its life chipped away. No matter how specialized it was for endurance, Felicia was still just a level 38 Beast Tamer. Her servant golem couldn’t be counted on to hold out for too long.

  Even so, Felicia was extremely hesitant to call back the Power Golem. “U-Um, Itchy...”

  “Go ahead, Felicia. I want the way opened.” Ichiro was already holding a second and third Arondight in his hands.

  The “legend” came cheap.

  “Mr. Tsuwabuki, this isn’t right...”

  “Nonsense.” Ichiro slapped down Kirihito (Leader)’s gravely earnest warning.

  “Please, Mr. Tsuwabuki! Money shouldn’t be used so recklessly!”

  “He’s right! Itchy, you need to treat money as a precious commodity!”

  “But if this keeps up, Felicia, your Power Golem...”

  A scream like the scraping of metal upon metal echoed through the thin passageway. Beyond it, the horde of undead monsters swarmed, dishing out constant damage. If the Power Golem were vanquished, the train of monsters would pour through like an avalanche.

  He could clear them out in no time with his Monetary Blades, but not without them. Wide-area attack magic could fry them all at once, but the passageway was too narrow, and fighting them bare-handed would take time, with no guarantee that the Kirihitters and Felicia would stay safe in the meantime.

  “Leader, there’s still a Zombie Legion on this floor.”

  “R-Right! There’s one of those, too! That’s why we should run away!” Kirihito (Leader) spoke very earnestly on advisement from his comrade. Ichiro looked upwards.

  “Zombie Legion?”

  “It’s a rare mob type that spawns in the Necrolands. Extremely powerful. Not many people have encountered them, though, so they haven’t been investigated that deeply. It appears that starting on this floor, they appear in groups with those Skeleton Chariots,” Kirihito (Leader) explained.

  It was enormous, and emitted a foul odor from its body. An undead monster forged of pure distillate of its designer’s malice. Even looking at it inspired revulsion. To come upon something like that in the endless labyrinth would cause any player to forget that it was just a game and fly into a panic. Most people simply broke rank and ran, leading to just this situation.

  The Zombie Legion itself moved slowly, so it wasn’t hard to get out of its aggro radius, but the Skeleton Chariots that accompanied it made it far more difficult to escape. The Zombie Legion’s size inspired terror in the player, and the moment they turned away, the chariots would burst out and attack from behind, their wheels quickly grinding down a player’s HP.

  If they stood to face it, it would end much the same. A Skeleton Chariot’s AI algorithms inspired them to pursue tenaciously no matter how far the player ran, which tended to result in trains. The phenomenon had likely wiped out many parties before them. They’d managed to avoid that this time, but as they ran, they had noticed many equip items already scattered around them.

  “I see,” Ichiro murmured.

  By this time, the cries of the Power Golem had ceased. Its master, Felicia, seemed to realize this first, and she peeked over in fear. In this game, when a character’s life reached zero, its sprite dissolved into particles of light. If the golem was still there, it must still have HP remaining.

  “Wh-What’s going on?” Kirihito (Leader) finally noticed the abnormality, and spoke up in a trembling voice.

  “Felicia, remove the Power Golem.”

  “U-Um... But...”

  “If the same monsters come from the other direction, we won’t be able to run away.” Not even Ichiro knew exactly what was about to happen. It was clear that the attacks against the Power Golem had ceased, but surely, the enemies couldn’t have simply withdrawn...

  Felicia vacillated for a moment, then used her Dominion Dagger to encourage the Power Golem to leave. It let out a cry like metal grinding against metal and slowly disappeared.

  The party prepared. Anything might happen, and if that “anything” was a mauling by Skeleton Chariots, they would just have to deal with that.

  But what they found there was not a mass of enemies.

  It was a single man.

  He was of modest height, wore a body-length black coat, and carried a sword in one hand. Despite his somewhat reedy build, he stood with absolute presence, as if the chilled air of the labyrinth itself was at his command. The equipment he wore resem
bled that of the three men standing beside Ichiro and Felicia. The only difference was that he was alone.

  Yes... he was alone.

  “King Kirihito...” Kirihito (Leader) murmured, voice trembling.

  The sight of the intruder had rendered him awestruck. After all, the only proof of his existence had been an account registered with the Thistle Corporation and a few uncertain rumors of his deeds. He did not appear on anyone’s friends lists, and only a few of the top players had ever chanced to see him. He was a myth of the cyber world, and he was standing before them now.

  Avatar name: Kirihito.

  King Kirihito was a joke name someone had come up with, and it had stuck. No one knew if he was aware of the title, but the majesty he projected as he stood there in silence was certainly king-like.

  The myth made real. The legendary game champ. The world’s best solo player. Tales of his deeds had been proclaimed fantasy even in the heightened reality of the internet — even, they said, if he really did exist.

  Something — it looked like bones — was littered around his feet. Drop items from the Skeleton Chariots, no doubt. The man they called King Kirihito paid them no mind and simply stood there, sword in hand.

  Ichiro looked at Felicia. She was staring at the man intently, as if sizing him up.

  At last, King Kirihito turned to look at them.

  “Ah, sorry.” Surprisingly, his first words were an apology. “I brought two of them with me.”

  What could he be talking about, the group thought in unison as they peered down the hallway past him. Then they realized.

  “Z-Zombie Legions...” Kirihito (Leader)’s voice was thin with despair.

  A sign of the end times. A blasphemy upon all that was sacred. The mountain of bodies creaked under its own weight as it strode through the wide corridors, inspiring trembling, goosebumps, and nausea that went far beyond its Stench of Stagnant Rot. This was corruption incarnate.

  Kirihito (Leader) had described the monstrosity of the Zombie Legion just minutes ago. And now there were two of them walking slowly out of the depths of the corridor, striding towards the group. Even Felicia, whose attention had been focused on King Kirihito, stiffened at their appalling visage, a sight so grotesque that it couldn’t be laughed off as “only a game.”

  It was odious from head to toe, and it was all she could do to resist the feeling of loathing welling up inside her, to keep the scream from rising past her throat.

  “Huh, so that’s a Zombie Legion?” The abrupt words carried a tone of wonder, as one spotting a serow while mountain climbing.

  It was Ichiro Tsuwabuki, his usual cool completely unfazed. He remained there with one hand in his pocket, having done nothing to change his posture. “Hey, Kirihito. Let me begin with a thank you. You’re the one who cleared up those Skeleton Chariots, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah, that was me,” King Kirihito said, standing over the bones that littered the floor.

  “I see. Then it seems it’s my turn to help you.”

  “You, old man?”

  “Yes.” Ichiro slowly walked forward, his Monetary Blade in hand, to stand beside King Kirihito.

  “Hmm.” The Zombie Legions moved slowly enough that King Kirihito had time to take Ichiro’s measure.

  Even to a heavy user like him, the man’s equipment was unfamiliar. The black formal wear that covered him from head to toe seemed more appropriate to a formal ball than a combat situation. He quickly gave up on analyzing him and snapped his attention back to the enemy.

  “Well, all right. But if you die, don’t blame me.”

  “You may not be aware of this, but I don’t die,” Ichiro laughed in response to King Kirihito’s quip.

  Kirihito readied his sword. It was an unadorned straight sword, but it was different, too, from the tie-in weapons mass-produced for players of the same name on the surface. This was an instrument of battle, casting aside physical grace in the name of simple functionality. The dull gleam of the blade was like the consciousness of the fighter itself, designed only for combat.

  The underground maze shook. The air, with its faint odor of mold, chilled them to their core. The miraculous merger of human and program had created a sense of tension stretched as taut as a piano wire.

  Kirihito dashed across the floor.

  Not even an agility stat raised to the maximum could produce initial velocity like that. He was a human bullet, hacking into the Zombie Legion’s body with the speed of a whirlwind.

  Despite his straightforward attack, the sluggish Zombie Legion couldn’t keep up. He was a tornado. He was lightning. He hurled himself into striking distance faster than the speed of sound, dug his sword in and pried it out.

  Bodies began to fall.

  His sword flashed three times, sending gobs of flesh flying before he arrived on the other side. He then turned, his boots ringing out on the floor, and slashed into it again, mercilessly, from behind.

  “Uoooooo... ooooo...” the monster’s soul-chilling cry filled the air.

  But the assault wasn’t over.

  He dashed across the floor in a renewed charge. The speed of his strikes belied their power as he hit it with three consecutive blows. There was a damage visual of a spray of blood, and a giant arm made of piled-up corpses swung down at Kirihito like a pendulum.

  He didn’t dodge, but simply met the assaulting ball of corpses head-on, using sheer swordsmanship to cut more flesh away from it.

  Ichiro stood a ways away, watching.

  The way Kirihito kept moving, cutting away at the Zombie Legion’s flesh before its attacks could land... The simultaneous lightness of his body and heaviness of his slashes were what made the feat possible. It was a stark yet utterly efficient series of blows, so magnificent that even Ichiro was left in awe.

  But what was really surprising, even from this distance, were the Arts he was using. Judging by his actions and the flashy damage visuals, it was easy to imagine that he was using multiple Skills. But the only sword technique he employed was the basic attack for physical-oriented classes, Bash.

  Because Bash was a basic technique, it could be invoked from multiple stances, and there were a large number of patterns and effects attached to those various stances. As a result, the cooldown time between moves was very short. Despite being a basic technique, a high enough Art level could make it a potent source of damage, and it was an excellent link move, as well. Many high-level combatants composed powerful combos using Bash.

  But to take out a Zombie Legion with Bash alone... that was truly astonishing.

  The use of “Reduce Cooldown” combined with Bash completely negated the cooldown extension generated by Stench of Stagnant Rot, which made it the right choice of Art. Still, the blows were more powerful than a mindless hammering of Bash would suggest. It was enough to cause a stun effect, which invoked when a certain amount of damage was caused, and as a result, Kirihito was able to unleash a never-ending string of attacks on the Zombie Legion.

  As if it were just a single Art, he unleashed a long flurry of moves, followed by a pause. Controlling even the flow of the air itself, he changed his grip on his sword, then cut up with a diagonal slash.

  Having taken remarkable damage, the Zombie Legion’s giant body began to fall. The dumbfounded trio of Kirihitos, on the verge of being crushed, disappeared in a flurry of effect visuals.

  So this was King Kirihito, the ultimate solo player.

  There were few people in this world so gifted. His lightning reflex speed almost made it seem like his mind was directly connected to the Miraive Gear.

  “Well?” After his swift extermination of the Zombie Legion, King Kirihito turned to Ichiro. “Weren’t you going to help me?”

  “Oh, that’s right. I’ll finish the other, then. And just so you know, I am 23 years old. You can determine for yourself whether that qualifies as ‘old.’”

  “That’s pretty old.”

  “Good. If you think that, that’s all that matters.” Ichiro had got
ten a clear sense of King Kirihito’s ability, but now it was his turn to show off his own skill. It was a compulsion he couldn’t fully explain.

  No, actually, he could explain it... The corners of his mouth turned upwards as the feeling began to sprout in his heart.

  This wasn’t an enemy that could be subdued with Breaker alone. Ichiro equipped an attack spell on his open hand, then ran along the floor at the Zombie Legion.

  He led with Breaker, hitting the monster for 1,200 yen worth of damage.

  Feeling the increased cooldown time inflicted by Stench of Stagnant Rot, he followed up with the high-powered fire spell “Sword of Surt.” The flame’s power, augmented by “Ground Zero Magic,” incinerated a large mass of zombie corpses.

  The wide passageway was quickly becoming an oven. The Kirihitters and Felicia watched, faces red from the heat.

  Ichiro took decisive action with “Strash,” using his bare fist against the Zombie Legion, which was already wreathed in flames and writhing in pain. While forcibly accelerating his cooldown time with “Cast Break,” he fired off a second Sword of Surt. In addition, he employed “Shining Fingers,” which increased the damage dealt by magic attacks. He continued his ceaseless attacks, ignoring his mounting fatigue, and eventually pushed the Zombie Legion to break down and expire.

  Behind him, King Kirihito whistled.

  “Old man, are you a whale?” he asked, his words containing no trace of praise or gratitude.

  “I am.”

  “When did you start playing?”

  “The beginning of the month. Can I assume from your question that you prefer not to pay for content?”

  “...Yeah, I don’t. I can barely afford the base monthly fee.” There were barbs behind Kirihito’s words and hostility in his eyes as he looked the immaculately dressed Ichiro up and down. Despite his attempts to project an air of disinterest, in the end, he couldn’t hide it.

  “Let me see if I can guess what you’re thinking.” Ichiro held up one hand at shoulder height, the other thrust into his pocket.

  “Please don’t.”

  “Since this service began operation, you’ve been using every waking moment between classes to drive yourself further into this world. You’ve reached the status of legend as the ultimate solo player, and even the elite players consider you something of a myth. You did this all without spending a cent, and you’re proud of that.”