The most important thing you need for MMORPGs is endurance. If you’re not playing the hell out of it, you won’t get anywhere. You need to keep going, for hours and hours.

After that comes the understanding of the system. If you’re able to judge what strategies and builds are working and which are not, you should be able to make your character strong enough that your actual gaming skills don't matter for the most part. If you build a perfect MMORPG-character, even a monkey should be able to play it effectively.

For heroes like us, there are many similarities between the hero-system and the game-systems of MMORPGs, but there are significant differences as well. Like that you can’t see how much damage you actually do on an enemy. You also need to actually swing your weapon instead of just clicking your mouse. In addition, the camera is first person, which makes it hard to counter enemies coming from the side. Though I should be glad that there isn’t the typical MMORPG-cluttering of the UI (user interface) as well. I mean, this would be annoying as hell if I can’t see that much because there are too many windows open.

However, it would be great to know how stats exactly work. So far, there is no indication that monsters or non-heroes have stats. They just… are. So how do our powers interact with those without a status? It’s still a mystery.

It would be great if there would be online guides. With them, you can understand the system. Which also means that you can evade trap-builds. Without such guides, you become like Momokawa Kyou-san: A miss-skilled character, who already chose all of her four possible classes. OK, [Student] was mandatory, but without a guide, she couldn’t know that the [Healer]-class didn’t include magical healing, that a hero usually only gains XP by killing monsters, and that her other class-choices—[Priest] and [Cook]—may be practical in general, but bad for leveling up.

Like I said, she could have avoided it with a proper guide. We do have a manual, but it lacks a lot of specifics. There are classes mentioned, for example, but it doesn’t explain what these classes do. This caused Kyou-san to waste her class-cap and now she has to make the best out of it.

The main difference between a game and this world is that this world is real, despite the game-like hero-system. If we die here, we will stay dead. So the first thing you have to realize within this system is that one death is game over. You have to invest in survivability. For this, there are a lot of things to think about.

It’s not only the amount of HP (Health Points) but food, a place to sleep, and means to get clothing, equipment, and other stuff. This is the reason why I tried to get the [Hunter]-class, even though I ended up with [Scout]. By choosing this path, I got [Stealth] to avoid getting seen and to keep an edge in battles, and the means to hunt for food, pelts, and other drop-items.

My most important method of surviving is being able to run away, while I only attack monsters after observing their strengths and habits, waiting for the right moment to test out a single one before taking multiple enemies at once.

“So first, check out your escape routes.”

“I thought your ‘strategies’ would be less… cowardly.” Kyou-san narrows her eyes.

“Being a coward is the best way to conquer any game safely. Using traps, ambushes and such will increase your chances to defeat your enemy, especially the unknown ones. At least strategies like these will give you time to run away. And within your safety margin you can try different strategies to make the killing the least difficult or to decrease time without bringing too much risk into it. And after you get all these down, it comes to…”

“Comes to?”

“Farming.”

“…What?”

“Farming for XP and items. Defeating monster after monster after monster and getting their stuff and increasing your level at the same time.”

“Ken, you realize that we were doing this the whole time? How should this be a new tactic?”

“I did it for at least twelve hours per day. A lot of kills.”

“Tw… twelve hours? This is insane?”

“This is nothing. Sometimes I even spent eighteen hours a day farming. As I explained: Endurance. Well, back in the day, since monsters don’t respawn in this world-”

“Re-what?”

“Respawn. Well, different from games, the monsters won’t magically reappear after some time when you kill them. So instead of farming in one spot and singling out a specific type of monster, I fought everything I could. Within my safety margin of course. This is the reason why I got my [Perception]-rank so high, so I can perceive the enemy before contact and decide if this is an encounter worth fighting. Also, [Track] of the [Survival]-ability to find new mobs is a real time-saver.”

“So all you say is: Be careful and kill a lot of stuff?”

“If you are soloing, this is the way it goes, yes. [Perception] and [Stealth] for survivability and my combat abilities for the kill.”

“I have neither… wait a minute, if you did so much ‘farming’, why isn’t your equipment much better? I think I saw much better equipment in the stores in Esse.” She just checked the stats of my gear, the fact that we are able to see each other status can be very annoying.

“Didn’t you realize it while sorting our inventory? Pots and consumables. A lot of them.”

“Pots? And what?”

“Potions, since I can’t heal myself magically, I used pots. And consumables are bombs and hunting traps, for example, everything which you can use only a limited amount of times. I practically invested most of my earnings in stuff like that while saving some on the side. This is a dangerous strategy, but the consumables are much cheaper than equipment, and they bring some better edge to fights. As long I can kill with my current gear, there is no need to change it. If I can farm twelve hours because I got enough items to restore or avoid damage, it’s worth the cost.”

In fact, the hero-system can be merciless concerning HP, but it’s somewhat forgiving for Stamina Points. As long I have SP, I can somehow manage it, as long as I got no bad conditions. Since I have my [Scout] and [Pikeman], I’m fine. They make my body fitter, so there are fewer chances for muscle strains, headaches or sickness, even if I overdo it a bit. Even if I stay for hours at the same spot while scouting, I recover quickly from bad ailments.

“Basically,” Kyou-san ponders: “Instead of building a good basic, you rushed regarding killing monsters, since you can restore stamina and health as long as you know how to run away?”

“Yes, and sometimes I sneaked into lairs to skip the combat and get some treasures, so I can maintain the status quo.”

Kyou-san rubs her nose-bridge. “Somehow I think I will never be able to do this. This is wrong on so many levels.”

“Well, for you, the bus is still the way to go.” Her face already said that she had no idea what I’m talking about. Again. “Partner up with a high-level character. Under normal circumstances, you just need to get the kill, like we did before. But now you’re riding the Katsuragi Kenta bus all the time for some healing in exchange.” Actually, she’s currently more of an XP-leech.

Since we are both under this strange curse, we share our XP 50/50 no matter who gets the actual kill. This is actually very beneficial for Kyou-san, and since I’d get many disadvantages without being ‘married’ to Kyou-san, it’s better than nothing for me. Still much worse than being not cursed!

“Can’t I just drive that bus over a cliff?” Why is she smiling innocently while saying some cruel words?

“Erm… how about this: Just use the blessings and ignore the bad things?”

“So I should ignore you?”

Uh… I feel like I lost all but 1 HP. Why am I the only one trying to make this work? I mean, I had her almost… less hostile. She wanted to make that kill to see if she can do it! What happened between there and now? ...Should I just throw her out the carriage? What happens if I do that? Will the curse reactivate and would it be possible to get it dormant again? I don’t know, and I don’t want to risk anything for now. Just keep up with it until we got this princess!

“Don’t worry, Ken. It’s a joke.” Her voice is hollow, and I can clearly hear her lie. “Just go on.”

…Whatever. Considering the fact, how useless Kyou-san is most of the time, I’ll get enough chances to get revenge. “Then we should go to the roles. We can adapt our strategy a bit now that I’m fully back to action and you got some levels.”

“No need. You kill, I watch.”

“…fine. It’s not like you would do any good either.” In some regards, it might be better. It could affect combat negatively if I try to rely on her since she sucks at it. Better to make it work by myself. “But actually I wanted to talk about party-roles.”

“You mean classes?”

“Not exactly. Generally, in RPGs with parties every character has some strengths and weaknesses, special skills and such. In MMORPGs it’s often determined by their classes, but it’s usually so that there is a general party-role which is fulfilled by several classes.”

“…examples?”

Ouch, how do you explain party-roles to a person who doesn’t have any experience at all? “There are a lot of roles, depending on the game, but let’s go with 4 archetypes. First is the tank, more or less a knight who attracts enemies and endure their attacks thanks to their great defense. When a tank does its job, the overall damage is reduced and everyone can act like they want to. Then there is the DD, the damage dealer. A character who can deal a lot of damage, mostly to single targets. They’re great to take down key enemies quickly and efficiently. I would fall most likely with my [Pikeman]-class into this role. Then we have your role, a supporter. Often a character who heals and buffs… strengthen the party with spells. Finally, the crowd control who is able to give enemies bad ailments and can take them out of combat for a time, so the party can concentrate on a few enemies first. Might be a mage. This would be the basic four roles, even though there are a lot of different ways to discriminate.”

“Why having these roles?”

“Because it’s easier to concentrate in one needed area and being a specialist while your weaknesses are covered by your other party members. Also to encourage teamplay.”

“And why exactly are you telling me this?”

“Classes in the hero-system are similar. All have strengths and weaknesses, and we need to cover the most important things. You and the other students started out with these thoughts, right?”

Uh, Kyou-san looks like I broke her pencil, just after borrowing it. “Yes, and it’s bad!”

“…Yes and no? Please?” She’s still not hurting me, even though her stare makes me feel uncomfortable. “While it was bad in your case, the general idea isn’t bad at all. Only the hero-system is, since it doesn’t allow parties and sharing XP. As we are an actual party, I’d like to put you to work a bit. I had to cover up a lot by myself and was specialized in soloing before. So can I count on some healing if needed and without questioning and waiting?” We’re going to the border, and I can’t just run away as long as I have to watch over Kyou-san; I need to be able to endure a lot of pressure from enemies.

“…All right. But I’m only doing this healer-role.”

I called it supporter, but now Kyou-san might get a bit more active as well. Like back then, in the chasm. Somehow this is relieving and pleasant. Strange.

―○●○―

We arrive at the Wächter-fort, one of the strongholds at the border of Feuerberg-kingdom. This is the place where the princess initially worked in the organization department.

The carriage ride was very uneventful and mostly just strange silence, since Kyou-san and I just can’t find a common topic to talk about longer than a few minutes. Especially since my sole hobby is gaming and we both didn’t enjoy school for its education. Or in my case, at all.

Actually, I’m surprised that we can even talk about things for some minutes and didn’t give up trying to find a common topic. At least now I know that Kyou-san likes movies, TV-dramas, and girl magazines, while she keeps her fashion-knowledge only up to date. She enjoys talking with her friends about a lot of different stuff which I translate into: Wasting her time.

Well, back to topic.

The Wächter-fort is an old one, which is mostly useless nowadays because the border was extended and new watchtowers were built. Still, it’s the ideal place to do border-related work without being too close to the actual war-zone.

“Hey, isn’t it class rep?”

A familiar voice shouted out, and I notice someone from my class. I think? At least it’s a Japanese juvenile, so the chance is good. I take a good look again. Even though I try to remember his name, I have already forgotten his face, despite just looking at it.

No, no chance. I guess I saw him in class though. It’s a good thing we wear gloves to hide our cursed rings. It would be pretty uncomfortable to answer questions regarding the matching rings considering how Kyou-san and I acted towards each other in class. Or nowadays.

Kyou-san nails his name. “Tetsukawa-kun! Long time no see.”

So this is Teshizawa-san, huh. He’s clad in light armor and has a regular sword on his waist, he seems to be like a soldier. Most likely one of the first to die since I have the feeling that I’ll forget his existence the moment he leaves. Just like an extra.

“Wait, isn’t it Katsuragi-kun?” Hey, why did he ‘-kun’ed me? I don’t even know him! “I couldn’t recognize you at first, even though I was sitting right next to him back in class. Talk about embarrassment.” He laughs like an idiot.

“Don’t worry, Teshizawa-san, I can hardly recognize you either.”

“You didn’t even get the name right, even though I just used it,” Kyou-san rebutted.

“Don’t worry, it’s Katsuragi-kun.” Why does this Teshizawa talk about me like I’m some kind of joke?

“More importantly: Tetsukawa-kun, are other of our classmates here?”

“Everyone.” Oh god, my day just got worse. “After we received the king’s call, we all came here to hear the specifics.”

“Just like us, even though we were in the capital. However, since the princess was stationed at the Wächter-fort, they thought we might learn more here.”

“The captain said we will begin when everyone is here and ready. Maybe we’re waiting for you two?”

“This might be the case… Ken? Where are you going?”

“Ken?” Teshizawa-san wonders.

Not that I care. “To the woods. It’s time to eat lunch, and I won’t go into that fort unless it’s for information. I’m sure, an hour or so will be enough. Tell the captain that I’ll be back by then, Teshizawa-san.”

“Erm… OK? Are you sure? By the way, class rep, why do you call Katsuragi-kun ‘Ken’?”

“…stuff happened. I’m sorry, Tetsukawa-kun, I have to join him because of said stuff… Please don’t tell anybody about my involvement with him, right?” Kyou-san apologizingly winks at Teshizawa-san and joined me on my way to the woods.”

Teshizawa-san turns back and into the fort. Kyou-san catches up with me, and I dart a glance at her. “Didn’t you want to rejoin our classmates and talk about old times?”

“Are you crazy? Like I could face them properly while being… that with you. The less we talk, the better.”

“I see.”

“But seriously, lunch in the woods? This is so… stupid!”

“I’m not going into the woods to eat lunch.” Even I could tell that I have an evil grin on my face while saying this.

―○●○―

One hour later we are in a conference hall, waiting for the captain to give us the details about the runaway princess. This is the first time in a while I actually see my classmates. It was the whole combat-group—all 20 students—in one festival hall. Everyone somehow adapted to this new world. They swapped the school uniform for different clothes and armor: We have some robed wizard-types, the lightly armored soldier-types, and the heavily armored warrior types.

No one except me seems to have a non-military, non-wizardly equipment. I guess my [Scout]-class stands out, even though it might be military-related, too. My gear, however, was bought from different stores in different places instead of the same armory which is probably the reason why they look like that.

Despite this change, however, they’re still the same like before: A herd of mindless goats without outstanding personalities, except their few alphas. The one who is the alpha of alphas is still Inoue Masahiko, he wears semi-heavy armor and two swords on his back. Oh... Of course, he comes to us, what a surprise! Bah.

“Kyou! Glad to see you. Are you alright?”

“Yes, Masahiko-kun. Glad to see you, too.”

For someone who doesn’t want to face her former friends, Kyou-san really seems to be happy to see Mr. Handsome McFake. All his glorious personality has to be a front to hide his actually vile character. He’s like a male Kyou-san, only with even less honesty! She’s at least nasty towards me, while he won’t easily allow any chink in his fake-armor.

“How are you, Kyou? I was so sorry to leave you behind, but in the end, I was only thinking about you. Are you sure you can partake in this? What is your level?”

“Don’t worry, it’s 20.”

“Great! I knew you'd catch up! You’re ten times smarter than me, so I was sure you would figure out a way to level up quickly! Now you can rejoin us!”

“Erm… No, Masahiko. Not now.”

“Why?” Look at his face, full of concern! It almost looks like he’s really disappointed! This man should receive his acting award!

“Well, you see… I…” Kyou-san isn’t looking Inoue into his eyes. She seems to be embarrassed. “I have temporary obligations.”

“What kind?”

“This one.” Without even asking me, she pulls me by my sleeve right into Inoue's field of view, which I was actually avoiding until now.

“Isn’t it… Katsuragi-kun?” Why does everyone ‘-kun’ me? “Long time no see! I was worried you might have been killed, all alone out there. I’m so glad that you’re still alive! Look at you! You look really great!”

OK, let’s translate these lines.

‘Long time no see’ means ‘Oh, you’re still here?’

‘I was worried you might be killed, all alone out there’ means ‘You’re so helpless that you need someone to watch over you since you can’t survive society!’

‘I’m so glad that you’re still alive!’ means ‘Now I can continue to laugh at you inwardly!’

Finally, ‘Look at you! You look really great!’ means ‘You were so fat that this artificial slim-down due to your class makes you look human again!’

...I want to kill that bastard!

“Katsuragi-kun? You… well, I guess it’s good that you didn’t change that much.” Inoue appears to be a bit unsure what to say after looking at my face, but he smiled nonetheless and turns toward Kyou-san again. “You’re working together for now?”

“Yes, temporarily. I thought at first I can rehabilitate him a bit, but… come on, don’t look at me like that, Ken!”

“Oh, you grew closer?” Inoue’s wondering. Most likely because Kyou-san is calling me ‘Ken’. “I didn’t think that you two could ever become friends.”

“It’s just part of the rehabilitation. We aren’t friends, just classmates and well… he did help me out a bit.”

“Ah, I see. Katsuragi-kun is a gamer, after all. Of course, he might know one or two helpful things.”

“Yes. And he’s very good at tracking people! He even found the tracks of the princess already!”

“Kyou-san!” She’s really giving him the details! Without holding back, she tells Inoue the position of the tracks and the direction they’re going to.

“They may be a few days old, but this and the information we got from the chancellor in the capital beforehand means…”

“This… Kyou, this is great! Katsuragi-kun, you’re great! With this, we might cut some time!” Look at his face. Not showing the greedy grin he surely has! “You better tell everyone!”

“It’ll be good to see everyone- look!” The door opened and the captain entered the room.

“Ah, I need to go back to the others. We’ll see each other after the meeting?”

“Maybe. Ken is very keen on the reward, so I guess I have no choice but to leave as early as possible.”

“Ah, I see. Let’s have a fair competition.”

“We will.” Smiling, Kyou-san sees Inoue off, while the captain begins the meeting.

―○●○―

After an hour long meeting, all of the heroes know about the personality and skills of the princess in addition to her last known whereabouts which is actually this fortress. Occasionally, Katarine-hime returns to the Wächter-fort to deliver some bandits and leaves before the guards can organize themselves. Each time in a different direction.

Inoue Masahiko thinks that this girl is a headache. However, since Kyou and Katsuragi-kun have already found her newest tracks, he and his group already have a big issue solved.

His party contains his old clique from school except for Kyou. There is Yamauchi Daichi, a former judo-club member, who became an axe-wielding mountain of armor, a [Warrior]. Kita Katsuo, who was a kyudou-member, is naturally an [Archer] now. Inoue’s childhood friend, Akiyama Eri, was able to learn the [Wizard]-class, an offensive spellcaster. Her and Kyou’s good friend, Kurosawa Teruko, wields a spear with the [Soldier]-class to support from the rear. Finally, there is Inoue himself, of course, who got into dual-wielding swords with the [Fighter]-class.

They are the biggest and highest level party out of the five groups, well, six if you count Kyou and Katsuragi-kun in. Inoue is level 28, but since he sees himself as the leader, it’s natural that he has to be a good example for everyone.

After the meeting ended, Inoue looks for Kyou and Katsuragi-kun, still hoping to get Kyou on board again. Sadly, they have already left. Maybe Kyou will rejoin them if Inoue’s party gets the princess back, even though the princess seems to be a bit of a wildcat.

“Let’s go, everyone! Naturally, we won’t lose to any of our classmates!”

““““Yes!””””

“I already know where to look for Katarine-hime’s newest tracks! We just need to be faster than her and everyone else!”

Inoue leads his group in the direction Kyou gave him, right into the woods. They were able to find the track Kyou mentioned and follow it.

Suddenly Eri vanishes with a loud scream!

“Eri?!”

“Eri-chan?!”

““Eri-san?!””

“I’m OK!” Her voice comes from above! She’s hanging upside-down on a tree in a sling-snare!

“Wait, I’ll help you!” After two steps, Inoue feels how the ground under his feet collapses. A covered trap hole?! He falls hard on his butt, it hurts and in the trap are thorns! He’s covered in several minor cuts now, which sting like hell! What is going on here?!

―○●○―

“Sorry Masahiko, it’s for the reward. And vengeance. Sweet, sweet vengeance!”

“Kyou-san, why are you monologuing?”

“I just got the feeling that Masahiko’s group fell into your traps. You’re quite evil for even thinking about preparing those beforehand.”

“You were the one who wanted to lead them right in and upgraded the traps with thorns, spikes, and stones.”

“Ken, could it be that we’re actually the worst?”

Kyou-san and I are laughing. It might be on the lowest level, but we’re getting along just fine now. We’re united in our hate for our classmates. Or something like that.

You gain 1 WP. You might be the worst, but you actually do things together. But seriously, rethink your behavior.

“See, even the damn curse is thinking we’re going too far!” Kyou-san’s honest laughter is full of glee. It’s somehow charming.

Kyou-san was able to use her [Persuasion] on the captain, convincing him that it’d be better for us to hear about the princess’ recent whereabouts before everyone else, since we both already know most of the basics from the chancellor and can start searching immediately.

He had only one more piece of information: The fact that the princess delivered some mountain bandits two days ago and slipped away again afterwards. She most likely returned to the mountains. I already found her tracks when I prepared the traps. This information only confirmed our clue.

We slipped out right after the meeting began, since there would be nothing new, and to get a headstart. The others will probably follow quickly if they have the [Track]-skill as well, but for now, they have the traps to worry about.

Now, let’s catch this princess, get the reward, and undo the curse!