CHAPTER 1: AKIRA IS... AKIRA?
CHAPTER 1: AKIRA IS... AKIRA?
Ding dong, ding doooong.
The first bell rang throughout the fantasy world’s class-like room. Sat beside the window, I stared vacantly at the world around me. It was like the classroom was floating—clouds beside us, people visible far below... and there was a good reason for that. This school was actually set amidst a floating city.
The students in this room were all first-year, class E. Everyone looked different: there were warriors in full armor, leather-clad swordsmen, mages in pointy hats. I was a mage myself, clad in a robe and hood of deep indigo. Being in a game, there wasn’t a single set uniform, but the academy did distribute uniforms as rudimentary equipment.
The core of Yosei Academy was the VRMMORPG, Unlimited World (UW). I had logged into UW from my home PC and waited for class to begin. As for the game itself, I was a student of magic in the floating city of Telluna which lay at the center of the game world, high above the sea, where I took normal classes. Hard to beat that commute, I can say that much.
The school was accessible from anywhere in Japan, simply because there was no physical school—it was based entirely in cyberspace. Even our textbooks were like in-game ebook items. Paperless, borderless, school-less, futuristic—that’s how the teacher referred to it. This school was evidently big into experimental teaching.
Apparently, the funding for this undertaking came from an alliance of gaming corporations. In other words, this was a collaboration between gaming and education, one that would seek out the hidden potential in video gaming. In doing so, the education industry seemed to be gasping for air in a society with declining birth rates that threatened to choke it to death... or at least, that was my impression when I looked at it from a broader perspective.
But I didn’t sweat the complex details like that. I was gaming, and that was all that mattered.
When school was in session, we were taking classes in this game. Afterwards, we were free to do whatever we pleased—we could do quests, grind for levels, and other typical MMO things.
It had been a month since I started school, and I’d gotten used to this lifestyle.
“Do you have a moment, Takashiro?” The class rep, Maeda, spoke to me. She came off a bit aloof at times, but she was an elegant, demure girl if I’ve ever seen one.
To help the motion engine function smoothly, the game reflected your physical body in your avatar design, but you were free to edit your hairstyle and hair color. Maeda hadn’t even bothered with that, however. She must be a no-nonsense kind of person. Oh, but I guess I hadn’t messed with my hair, either. I just hadn’t really felt the need.
“Hmm? Sure, what’s up?”
“Your level is looking a bit lower than the class average. Is anything the matter?” I was a level four rune mage at the time.
“Uh? Hey, hold up a sec.” I opened the settings window and enabled the simple stat screen.
Kotomi Maeda (1-E)
Level 18 Scholar; no status icons.
I took a quick look at my fellow students. Everyone else was around level 15 to 20. Hoo boy, I was definitely bringing up the rear.
“I don’t mean to pressure you, but I’d appreciate it if you could catch up and help us on the big quest. I can powerlevel you if necessary.”
My first major event involved a competitive quest that was assigned to all first-years. The event was still ongoing. The quest challenged us to travel to Trinisty Island and defeat a boss monster that was spawning tons of mobs. More specifically, it was a race to see which class could slay it the fastest, and the winning class would acquire in-game bonuses.
As the class rep, Maeda was essentially our party leader, so it was up to her to bring us together.
I just wasn’t ready to grind levels yet, though. Just before the entrance ceremony, I’d received a message from Akira. He said he wouldn’t be around for the start of classes because he was hospitalized due to an injury. It would’ve been nice if he could just take his VR device with him to the hospital, but the thing is absolutely huge—you have to lie inside, like a tanning bed, to use it. It probably would’ve been more trouble than it was worth.
Sure, our promise had been hastily made, but I still wanted to keep it. I had planned to wait for Akira to join the game so we could grind together. After all, the discovery phase of a new game is the best part. I wanted to enjoy that with my good buddy Akira.
But Maeda was worried about me, so I didn’t want to make excuses. She wasn’t the party leader because she wanted to be, either; she was assigned the class rep role thanks to her entrance exam grade. It naturally followed that she would be the party leader. On top of that, this was her first MMO, since she was mainly an offline gamer. Even so, she was doing her best, so I figured I should cooperate.
“Oh, sorry! I’m just off to a slow start. I’ll try to catch up as soon as I can.” All I could give her was a vague, unreliable answer.
At that point, someone called from across the room.
“Hey, Kotomi! Kotomiiii!”
Yuuna Yano (1-E)
Level 24 Paladin; no status icons.
Wow, now that’s a high level. She’s probably the ace of our class right now. And a paladin, at that. As the tank that holds the party together, she’s pretty much the star of the show. Kinda surprising that she’s one of those gaudy gal types, though. You don’t see many like her with their tanned skin and bleached hair these days.
So yeah, a gaudy paladin. Yuuna had sort of an indifferent demeanor, but she was cute enough.
“Yes, Yuuna?”
“You don’t have to powerlevel Takashiro. No worries.” From what I’ve heard, my classmates often party up together after class to grind levels for the big quest. Yano probably joins them every day as their tank.
If you weren’t aware, tanks are fighters that can shrug off damage and protect party members from damage. It’s easily the most important role in a party. Even if the rest of the party sucks, a tank can carry them. And Yano’s one of the best, I hear. She has a ton of experience with online gaming.
While we’re at it, Maeda’s scholar class is focused on dealing damage. Meanwhile, my symbologist class is supportive.
“Yuuna, how can you not be worried about him?”
“You might not know it, but Takashiro’s pretty famous in gaming communities. They call him Ren, the Emperor of Underpowered. In every game he plays, he gravitates to the least-used classes and somehow gets good enough to rival the top players. He did it in EF, Demquest, and more.”
Not long ago, the class was idly discussing what games we’ve played before, during which she recognized my name. She’s just someone who recognizes me from other games, I figured, and there we were in class talking about it like it was nothing. It was only natural in a school for gamers. Here, there were no unwritten rules that demanded you must hide your gaming addiction. Indeed, this was the epitome of comfort for us gamers, who no longer had to keep our guard up at every moment.
“Really, Takashiro?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say I’m famous. It’s just a hobby, is all.”
I liked giving the hopeless and forgotten their chance to shine in the spotlight, you could say. My parents are baseball nerds, so let me explain it in those terms. Think of it like how Nomura’s known for his style of breathing life into benched players, or old southpaws learning new tricks, or athletes making comebacks through tryouts, or an up-and-coming player unlocking his hidden potential. They all have this drama to them. Not to mention, other people don’t play these classes, so it’s easy to be the first to discover new uses for them.
But of course, sometimes it just doesn’t work out. Yano brought up my successes, but I’ve had just as many failures. Most of those were experienced alongside Akira.
“So hey, I guess you went and picked a bogus class for UW too? I think you’ve got a good chance of making it work, at least, so I say go nuts.”
Even in UW, there are a few underpowered classes. Players refer to them as a whole as “Bummers.” The class I chose, symbologist, was known as the pinnacle of the Bummers. It’s effective at exploiting enemy weaknesses, but that’s about it. I can’t learn offensive magic, I can’t use weapons other than staves, and my stats are laughable at best.
With the class’s poor weapon options, it really sets itself apart as the worst class in the game. Even the cleric class can wield maces while they heal allies, and other classes that can’t use strong physical weapons at least have magic to make up for it.
The cherry on top is that you can’t exactly say it’s even the best at supporting. Minstrels, meanwhile, the top supporting class, can buff allies while debuffing enemies. They also have the advantage of wielding bows, increasing their fighting capabilities. Symbologists, meanwhile, can only debuff, and they run out of MP fast. Minstrel songs don’t even require MP to use.
The worst combat ability, and not even the best supporting ability. Symbologists can’t solo any bosses, and it’s not exactly the best class to take into parties. So that’s symbologist in a nutshell. It’s honestly kind of impressive how poorly-designed they are. The least popular job in the game and the biggest bummer of all Bummers.
During our orientation, second-year students came to talk to us. They taught us about the class tier list of UW. Naturally, I chose the worst of the worst. I’m gonna redefine the symbologist meta and give it a place in the spotlight! After all, what’s the point of playing if you’re not having fun? That’s just my playstyle! I was really pumped to party up with Akira and waste all my time on trial-and-error methods to make this class work out.
“Your methods are unconventional, but as long as I can expect results from you...”
“Just give me a little time.” Until Akira arrives, I’m going to avoid leveling up. But thanks to that, I’ve got plenty of time for trial-and-error, and the redefinition of the symbologist meta is already in its first stages. Plus, I’m free to move to the training stage whenever need be.
“No worries! But that means you might not get a chance to help us clear the mission.”
“Oh, speaking of which... how’s the raid going?”
“Pretty well. We’re like, 80% of the way through.”
“We might just be able to get the first clear.”
Good. That means I can keep waiting for Akira. On that note, the homeroom teacher finally came in.
“Helloooo! Good morning, my lowbie nooblords.”
Her demeanor was lighthearted and frank, and her appearance stereotypical of an academic mage. Her name was Ms. Nakada, apparently 24 years of age. Her beauty and cheerful nature were fitting for someone who was in this school’s inaugural class.
“Sorry, everyone! Another day of boring school. But first, an announcement!” Ooh, what’s this? Ms. Nakada continues on, grinning all the while. “We’ve got another player joining us today! I know you’re all getting to the climax of the competitive quest, but there are more where those came from, so take a moment, if you will! Now, c’mon in, Aoyagi! Everyone, give her a round of applause!”
Clap, clap, clap. Welcomed by the sound of applause, a girl entered the room—a girl I could only describe as stunning. Long, flowing hair, with perfect features that would put even an idol to shame. She was as cute as a little critter, but wow, her chest was anything but little. I suppose this is what perfection looks like.
“My name is Akira Aoyagi. It’s a pleasure to meet all of you.” She smiled, despite her obvious nervousness. To any other onlooker, this situation was entirely normal. Indeed, one might even be pressed to say that it was a warm, everyday scene, but—
“What?!” I, alone, hollered in pure shock. Akira Aoyagi? Isn’t that my lifelong friend’s full name? Is this Akira? Or is this some sort of crazy coincidence?
“Is something the matter, Takashiro?”
“Oh, uh... sorry. That’s just the exact same name as a friend of mine.”
“I get it! You’re trying to get on this poor, pretty lass’s good side, aren’t you? Quick on the draw, eh, little buddy! I won’t get in your way.” She smirked right at me. She seemed more like a nosy, mischievous lady than an instructor.
The classroom was filled with snickering at this point. Ugh, talk about embarrassing.
“Come now, everyone. Out of respect for Takashiro, let’s have Aoyagi sit next to him! Go on, the seat next to him is empty, anyway.”
Aoyagi accepted her demands and sat next to me. That was at least partially my fault, so I figured I should apologize... or would that come off as weird? Before I could say anything, she spoke.
“Are you... Ren?”
“Huh? Why do you know my name? Hey, wait... are you seriously the Akira?!”
Upon hearing my response, Aoyagi smiled broadly. “Woo! It really is you, Ren! I hit the jackpot!” She pulled me into a tight embrace. I’d never been hugged by a girl that wasn’t in my family, so honestly, my in-game heart started beating fast and hard.
“Ooooh, that was fast! Kids these days are all about speedruns, huh?” The teacher cheered with glee. The class was as shocked as her, and erupted into an uproar.
When she realized it, Aoyagi backed off and stammered out an apology. “O-Oh, uh, sorry. He and I have played a lot of games together, and this is the first time we’ve ever really met...”
All this time, I never imagined that the Akira I gamed with could be anything other than a guy. What girl would play as a ripped beastman, anyway? Even after all those years, the thought had never crossed my mind... Was I that dense? I was so shocked I thought my heart might explode. Recalling all the times we played together, her mannerisms did actually make sense, and she’d always listen to my problems, no matter what.
Once the class calmed down, the instructor continued with homeroom.
Aoyagi turned and smiled at me. “So hey, yeah, I’m a girl. Surprised, Ren?”
“Yeah. A bit too surprised, maybe.”
“Hah! I figured you hadn’t noticed.”
“Hahaha. But man, what a shock, Aoyagi—” When I said her surname, she looked at me in a huff.
“Don’t treat me like a stranger! We’re friends. Just call me Akira.”
“Huh? O-Oh, really? All right, then... Akira.”
“That’s better!” She gave me that little critter smile. Akira was just the kind of person to wildly shift the tone of a conversation.
After the homeroom lesson concluded, the instructor spoke to Akira again.
“Hey, Aoyagi? After school, you’ll have to pick your starting class and settings, so you’d best think about it in advance. Sorry you won’t get the full orientation experience like everyone else.”
“All right, thank you.”
...And so went our shocking (re?)introduction. During the rest time between classes, Akira apologized for her month-long absence.
“Sorry! I’m the one who talked you into this, and then you had to start without me. I hope you’re not too mad.”
“C’mon, how could I be mad at you?” I crack my knuckles with a grin. The crackles sound incredibly realistic. The attention to detail in this game never fails to astound me.
“Oh jeez, you really are mad! But wow, this game really is bonkers.” Akira happened to notice the same thing I did.
“Right? VRMMO tech is wild.”
“It’s like we’ve been warped to another world. It’s so fleshed out I’m not sure it isn’t real.”
“Well, we can be sure that it’s a game at least, with the backlog window and all the gauges.”
In my peripheral vision, I see my HP/MP/AP gauges. If I lock the backlog window, I can move that to my periphery as well. I know it’s RPGs 101 to explain this, but HP and MP are short for Health Points and Magic Points. AP, Arts Points, is used for special attacks, such as sword and lance arts. Double Slash is one of these attacks. The stronger the art, the more AP it costs. Unlike MP, AP actually starts at 0—when you deal or take damage, the gauge rises. Think of it like a super gauge in fighting games.
After that brief aside, I started to explain my current situation to Akira. When I told her that I chose the worst class and was low-leveled to match, Akira couldn’t contain her smile.
“Aww, were you waiting for me? You didn’t have to do that!”
“It’s not like someone was holding a gun to my head. Plus, it always feels better to share my rise to glory with someone else, y’know?” Besides, Akira told me in advance that she’d be late. Waiting for her was entirely of my own volition. “I’ve had bigger fish to fry than level-grinding, anyway.”
“Oho, really? Does it look like you’ll be redefining yet another meta?”
“I haven’t put it into practice yet, but I’ve got a good feeling about it.”
“Then let’s hop right to it! We may have had some setbacks, but we are the chosen Elite Gamers! We’ll catch up in a flash and carry the whole competitive event.”
“Elite Gamers? You might as well just call us hopeless addicts.”
“What?! I thought it sounded really cool!” When I heard that silly response, there was no more doubt in my mind: this really was Akira. That put me at ease, at least.
“So hmm, what kind of class should I go for? Any recommendations? I gotta decide soon!”
“Do you want my personal recommendation, or an actual good recommendation?”
“A good one, please.”
“Paladin, magic knight, wizard, minstrel, cleric...” I listed the top classes for each main role: tank, attacker, buffer, and healer. Front-line and back-line attackers have completely different styles, so I listed magic knight and wizard separately. Those were the highest rated classes according to the strategy guide “UW Guidebook.” One might wonder why there’s a strategy guide for a school, but the more information-oriented upperclassmen gathered a bunch of stats and strats and started selling it as an item in-game.
This game happens to have a guild system too; it was put together by an informant guild. Guilds are similar to normal school clubs, according to the people who spoke at orientation. Naturally, newbies like us would be all over the strategy guide.
Each of the classes I listed were A-rank. By contract, my class, symbologist, is in the lowest tier: E-rank.
“Those are the best of the best jobs for each role.” Personally, I don’t see the fun in picking easy classes and cruising your way through the game, but I guess some people enjoy victory more than the struggle. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.
“Hmm. All right, and which would you personally recommend?”
“Sword dancer, maybe? That or sky pirate.” Both of them are D-rank classes, firmly within Bummer territory. “Neither of them are all that good, but I’d love it if you picked one of those.”
“Hmm, hmm...”
“Sword dancer does look really fun, y’know...” Lost in the joy of playing another game together, I decided to take the recklessness up a notch.
“Cool! Fine with me, then.”
“Awesome! A fine choice, my best bud. I’m surprised you agreed to it so quickly, though.” Normally, she’d give me a bit more grief than that.
“I made you wait and worry all this time, so it’s only fair.” Thus, Akira chose sword dancer as her class.
After class, Maeda approached Akira.
“Aoyagi, I’d like to help you level up, if you’d like.”
“Wow, thanks! But our levels are so far apart, and I’m not really into powerleveling. You’re the leader, so you should focus on the expedition. I’ll be leveling up with Ren.”
Powerleveling is when a higher leveled player helps someone lower leveled grind levels at a rapid pace. The practice can lead to monsters being camped and farmed thin, so it’s pretty annoying to others. Not to mention, it’s just kinda lame all around.
“Really? Does that mean you’re finally leveling, Takashiro?”
“Yup. I’m finally gonna do it!”
“We’re gonna catch up and help with that quest! And not just that—we’re shooting for first place!”
“Good! I’m excited to see your results. Meanwhile, take this with you.”
“Ooh, the UW Guidebook! Are you really sure it’s cool giving me your strategy guide?”
“Of course. I’ve already memorized the parts I need. Feel free to do the same.”
“You memorized it?! You’re so smart, Maeda.”
“Y-You think so? It’s at least more interesting than learning English vocab...” Indeed, Maeda is definitely the best in our class when it comes to learning, so it was pretty much the natural conclusion for her to become class rep and expedition leader. She really did seem caring, though; this was an especially generous gift.
“Thanks, I’ll make good use of it. The teacher’s calling me, so I’m off to the class-change room now.” Akira headed off to the class-change room to deal with her class, initial settings, and so forth. Everyone else left to grind levels and continue the quest, leaving me alone in the classroom. I’d planned to wait for Akira to come back so we could grind together, after all.
While I waited, I decided to use the materials I had on hand to grind my crafting skill. I had to take advantage of every free moment I could get.
After nearly an hour had passed, Akira finally returned.
“Ren!” Her face was red, as if she was angry. Her hair was pink, presumably changed via the hair color setting, and her clothing had changed from the uniform she had before. That’s perfectly normal; when you change classes, you get the base uniform for that class. “What the heck?! This is so humiliating! Even you won’t stop staring at me!”
Her dress, frilly and fluttery, was honestly adorable—but it also happened to be very revealing. Her underarms and upper chest were bare, emphasizing her voluptuous bust. Her cleavage especially stood out. To match, her skirt could hardly be any more miniature, revealing the entirety of her thighs and almost a little more. It would be an understatement to call this uniform “sexy.”
“Oooh. Nice.” I shot her a thumbs-up. I assumed that all sword dancer gear was probably like this.
As a class, it’s D-rank, one of the Bummers, but it’s also known for its surprisingly useful innate traits. Sword dancers fall under the healer role, but they’re a little special—instead of using healing magic, they actually perform dances that can heal and support. The dances don’t cost MP, so they don’t have to worry about that resource. Instead, they cost AP.
As I mentioned previously, AP is something of a special move gauge. You have to hit and be hit by the enemy to increase it. It becomes a sort of dance of approaching, hitting, and jumping out of the way of attacks—a special kind of front-line healer.
Sword dancers can use one-handed and two-handed swords. They can also spend AP on attack skills instead of dances, so they’re overall well-rounded. Ultimately, it seems like a fun class with a high skill ceiling.
So why, then, is it D-rank? Well, the gear is just too revealing. When you’re sitting in front of a computer screen and playing a normal MMORPG, revealing gear makes everything more fun. But when we’re talking about a quasi-real VRMMO world, bold designs like these can be more than a little embarrassing for the player.
The general consensus was that it’s a class only for those very confident in their bodies. There were classes every girl wanted to be, and then classes no girl wanted to be—how sad indeed that sword dancer fell under the latter.
Seeing Akira’s reaction, I could certainly understand—it did seem humiliating. That said, wow, what a view.
“Ren, did you make me do this just so you could ogle me?!”
“No, I swear! I wanted you to be a sword dancer even when I thought you were a guy! I thought you’d be fine with it if it meant getting its unique skills!”
“Oh reeeally? I see that smirk.” Her eyes became daggers, glaring at me suspiciously.
“I still figure you wouldn’t mind showing a little skin, but of course I’m a little biased seeing a cute girl in bikini armor.”
“Cute—?! F-Fine, then. Not like I can go back and change it now, anyway. Let’s regroup and go grind some levels!” Suddenly, she smiled. Akira really was expressive. “It’s still humiliating, though. So while we travel...”
She changed back into her usual school uniform. A shame, but understandable, I guess.
Ding dong, ding doooong.
The first bell rang throughout the fantasy world’s class-like room. Sat beside the window, I stared vacantly at the world around me. It was like the classroom was floating—clouds beside us, people visible far below... and there was a good reason for that. This school was actually set amidst a floating city.
The students in this room were all first-year, class E. Everyone looked different: there were warriors in full armor, leather-clad swordsmen, mages in pointy hats. I was a mage myself, clad in a robe and hood of deep indigo. Being in a game, there wasn’t a single set uniform, but the academy did distribute uniforms as rudimentary equipment.
The core of Yosei Academy was the VRMMORPG, Unlimited World (UW). I had logged into UW from my home PC and waited for class to begin. As for the game itself, I was a student of magic in the floating city of Telluna which lay at the center of the game world, high above the sea, where I took normal classes. Hard to beat that commute, I can say that much.
The school was accessible from anywhere in Japan, simply because there was no physical school—it was based entirely in cyberspace. Even our textbooks were like in-game ebook items. Paperless, borderless, school-less, futuristic—that’s how the teacher referred to it. This school was evidently big into experimental teaching.
Apparently, the funding for this undertaking came from an alliance of gaming corporations. In other words, this was a collaboration between gaming and education, one that would seek out the hidden potential in video gaming. In doing so, the education industry seemed to be gasping for air in a society with declining birth rates that threatened to choke it to death... or at least, that was my impression when I looked at it from a broader perspective.
But I didn’t sweat the complex details like that. I was gaming, and that was all that mattered.
When school was in session, we were taking classes in this game. Afterwards, we were free to do whatever we pleased—we could do quests, grind for levels, and other typical MMO things.
It had been a month since I started school, and I’d gotten used to this lifestyle.
“Do you have a moment, Takashiro?” The class rep, Maeda, spoke to me. She came off a bit aloof at times, but she was an elegant, demure girl if I’ve ever seen one.
To help the motion engine function smoothly, the game reflected your physical body in your avatar design, but you were free to edit your hairstyle and hair color. Maeda hadn’t even bothered with that, however. She must be a no-nonsense kind of person. Oh, but I guess I hadn’t messed with my hair, either. I just hadn’t really felt the need.
“Hmm? Sure, what’s up?”
“Your level is looking a bit lower than the class average. Is anything the matter?” I was a level four rune mage at the time.
“Uh? Hey, hold up a sec.” I opened the settings window and enabled the simple stat screen.
Kotomi Maeda (1-E)
Level 18 Scholar; no status icons.
I took a quick look at my fellow students. Everyone else was around level 15 to 20. Hoo boy, I was definitely bringing up the rear.
“I don’t mean to pressure you, but I’d appreciate it if you could catch up and help us on the big quest. I can powerlevel you if necessary.”
My first major event involved a competitive quest that was assigned to all first-years. The event was still ongoing. The quest challenged us to travel to Trinisty Island and defeat a boss monster that was spawning tons of mobs. More specifically, it was a race to see which class could slay it the fastest, and the winning class would acquire in-game bonuses.
As the class rep, Maeda was essentially our party leader, so it was up to her to bring us together.
I just wasn’t ready to grind levels yet, though. Just before the entrance ceremony, I’d received a message from Akira. He said he wouldn’t be around for the start of classes because he was hospitalized due to an injury. It would’ve been nice if he could just take his VR device with him to the hospital, but the thing is absolutely huge—you have to lie inside, like a tanning bed, to use it. It probably would’ve been more trouble than it was worth.
Sure, our promise had been hastily made, but I still wanted to keep it. I had planned to wait for Akira to join the game so we could grind together. After all, the discovery phase of a new game is the best part. I wanted to enjoy that with my good buddy Akira.
But Maeda was worried about me, so I didn’t want to make excuses. She wasn’t the party leader because she wanted to be, either; she was assigned the class rep role thanks to her entrance exam grade. It naturally followed that she would be the party leader. On top of that, this was her first MMO, since she was mainly an offline gamer. Even so, she was doing her best, so I figured I should cooperate.
“Oh, sorry! I’m just off to a slow start. I’ll try to catch up as soon as I can.” All I could give her was a vague, unreliable answer.
At that point, someone called from across the room.
“Hey, Kotomi! Kotomiiii!”
Yuuna Yano (1-E)
Level 24 Paladin; no status icons.
Wow, now that’s a high level. She’s probably the ace of our class right now. And a paladin, at that. As the tank that holds the party together, she’s pretty much the star of the show. Kinda surprising that she’s one of those gaudy gal types, though. You don’t see many like her with their tanned skin and bleached hair these days.
So yeah, a gaudy paladin. Yuuna had sort of an indifferent demeanor, but she was cute enough.
“Yes, Yuuna?”
“You don’t have to powerlevel Takashiro. No worries.” From what I’ve heard, my classmates often party up together after class to grind levels for the big quest. Yano probably joins them every day as their tank.
If you weren’t aware, tanks are fighters that can shrug off damage and protect party members from damage. It’s easily the most important role in a party. Even if the rest of the party sucks, a tank can carry them. And Yano’s one of the best, I hear. She has a ton of experience with online gaming.
While we’re at it, Maeda’s scholar class is focused on dealing damage. Meanwhile, my symbologist class is supportive.
“Yuuna, how can you not be worried about him?”
“You might not know it, but Takashiro’s pretty famous in gaming communities. They call him Ren, the Emperor of Underpowered. In every game he plays, he gravitates to the least-used classes and somehow gets good enough to rival the top players. He did it in EF, Demquest, and more.”
Not long ago, the class was idly discussing what games we’ve played before, during which she recognized my name. She’s just someone who recognizes me from other games, I figured, and there we were in class talking about it like it was nothing. It was only natural in a school for gamers. Here, there were no unwritten rules that demanded you must hide your gaming addiction. Indeed, this was the epitome of comfort for us gamers, who no longer had to keep our guard up at every moment.
“Really, Takashiro?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say I’m famous. It’s just a hobby, is all.”
I liked giving the hopeless and forgotten their chance to shine in the spotlight, you could say. My parents are baseball nerds, so let me explain it in those terms. Think of it like how Nomura’s known for his style of breathing life into benched players, or old southpaws learning new tricks, or athletes making comebacks through tryouts, or an up-and-coming player unlocking his hidden potential. They all have this drama to them. Not to mention, other people don’t play these classes, so it’s easy to be the first to discover new uses for them.
But of course, sometimes it just doesn’t work out. Yano brought up my successes, but I’ve had just as many failures. Most of those were experienced alongside Akira.
“So hey, I guess you went and picked a bogus class for UW too? I think you’ve got a good chance of making it work, at least, so I say go nuts.”
Even in UW, there are a few underpowered classes. Players refer to them as a whole as “Bummers.” The class I chose, symbologist, was known as the pinnacle of the Bummers. It’s effective at exploiting enemy weaknesses, but that’s about it. I can’t learn offensive magic, I can’t use weapons other than staves, and my stats are laughable at best.
With the class’s poor weapon options, it really sets itself apart as the worst class in the game. Even the cleric class can wield maces while they heal allies, and other classes that can’t use strong physical weapons at least have magic to make up for it.
The cherry on top is that you can’t exactly say it’s even the best at supporting. Minstrels, meanwhile, the top supporting class, can buff allies while debuffing enemies. They also have the advantage of wielding bows, increasing their fighting capabilities. Symbologists, meanwhile, can only debuff, and they run out of MP fast. Minstrel songs don’t even require MP to use.
The worst combat ability, and not even the best supporting ability. Symbologists can’t solo any bosses, and it’s not exactly the best class to take into parties. So that’s symbologist in a nutshell. It’s honestly kind of impressive how poorly-designed they are. The least popular job in the game and the biggest bummer of all Bummers.
During our orientation, second-year students came to talk to us. They taught us about the class tier list of UW. Naturally, I chose the worst of the worst. I’m gonna redefine the symbologist meta and give it a place in the spotlight! After all, what’s the point of playing if you’re not having fun? That’s just my playstyle! I was really pumped to party up with Akira and waste all my time on trial-and-error methods to make this class work out.
“Your methods are unconventional, but as long as I can expect results from you...”
“Just give me a little time.” Until Akira arrives, I’m going to avoid leveling up. But thanks to that, I’ve got plenty of time for trial-and-error, and the redefinition of the symbologist meta is already in its first stages. Plus, I’m free to move to the training stage whenever need be.
“No worries! But that means you might not get a chance to help us clear the mission.”
“Oh, speaking of which... how’s the raid going?”
“Pretty well. We’re like, 80% of the way through.”
“We might just be able to get the first clear.”
Good. That means I can keep waiting for Akira. On that note, the homeroom teacher finally came in.
“Helloooo! Good morning, my lowbie nooblords.”
Her demeanor was lighthearted and frank, and her appearance stereotypical of an academic mage. Her name was Ms. Nakada, apparently 24 years of age. Her beauty and cheerful nature were fitting for someone who was in this school’s inaugural class.
“Sorry, everyone! Another day of boring school. But first, an announcement!” Ooh, what’s this? Ms. Nakada continues on, grinning all the while. “We’ve got another player joining us today! I know you’re all getting to the climax of the competitive quest, but there are more where those came from, so take a moment, if you will! Now, c’mon in, Aoyagi! Everyone, give her a round of applause!”
Clap, clap, clap. Welcomed by the sound of applause, a girl entered the room—a girl I could only describe as stunning. Long, flowing hair, with perfect features that would put even an idol to shame. She was as cute as a little critter, but wow, her chest was anything but little. I suppose this is what perfection looks like.
“My name is Akira Aoyagi. It’s a pleasure to meet all of you.” She smiled, despite her obvious nervousness. To any other onlooker, this situation was entirely normal. Indeed, one might even be pressed to say that it was a warm, everyday scene, but—
“What?!” I, alone, hollered in pure shock. Akira Aoyagi? Isn’t that my lifelong friend’s full name? Is this Akira? Or is this some sort of crazy coincidence?
“Is something the matter, Takashiro?”
“Oh, uh... sorry. That’s just the exact same name as a friend of mine.”
“I get it! You’re trying to get on this poor, pretty lass’s good side, aren’t you? Quick on the draw, eh, little buddy! I won’t get in your way.” She smirked right at me. She seemed more like a nosy, mischievous lady than an instructor.
The classroom was filled with snickering at this point. Ugh, talk about embarrassing.
“Come now, everyone. Out of respect for Takashiro, let’s have Aoyagi sit next to him! Go on, the seat next to him is empty, anyway.”
Aoyagi accepted her demands and sat next to me. That was at least partially my fault, so I figured I should apologize... or would that come off as weird? Before I could say anything, she spoke.
“Are you... Ren?”
“Huh? Why do you know my name? Hey, wait... are you seriously the Akira?!”
Upon hearing my response, Aoyagi smiled broadly. “Woo! It really is you, Ren! I hit the jackpot!” She pulled me into a tight embrace. I’d never been hugged by a girl that wasn’t in my family, so honestly, my in-game heart started beating fast and hard.
“Ooooh, that was fast! Kids these days are all about speedruns, huh?” The teacher cheered with glee. The class was as shocked as her, and erupted into an uproar.
When she realized it, Aoyagi backed off and stammered out an apology. “O-Oh, uh, sorry. He and I have played a lot of games together, and this is the first time we’ve ever really met...”
All this time, I never imagined that the Akira I gamed with could be anything other than a guy. What girl would play as a ripped beastman, anyway? Even after all those years, the thought had never crossed my mind... Was I that dense? I was so shocked I thought my heart might explode. Recalling all the times we played together, her mannerisms did actually make sense, and she’d always listen to my problems, no matter what.
Once the class calmed down, the instructor continued with homeroom.
Aoyagi turned and smiled at me. “So hey, yeah, I’m a girl. Surprised, Ren?”
“Yeah. A bit too surprised, maybe.”
“Hah! I figured you hadn’t noticed.”
“Hahaha. But man, what a shock, Aoyagi—” When I said her surname, she looked at me in a huff.
“Don’t treat me like a stranger! We’re friends. Just call me Akira.”
“Huh? O-Oh, really? All right, then... Akira.”
“That’s better!” She gave me that little critter smile. Akira was just the kind of person to wildly shift the tone of a conversation.
After the homeroom lesson concluded, the instructor spoke to Akira again.
“Hey, Aoyagi? After school, you’ll have to pick your starting class and settings, so you’d best think about it in advance. Sorry you won’t get the full orientation experience like everyone else.”
“All right, thank you.”
...And so went our shocking (re?)introduction. During the rest time between classes, Akira apologized for her month-long absence.
“Sorry! I’m the one who talked you into this, and then you had to start without me. I hope you’re not too mad.”
“C’mon, how could I be mad at you?” I crack my knuckles with a grin. The crackles sound incredibly realistic. The attention to detail in this game never fails to astound me.
“Oh jeez, you really are mad! But wow, this game really is bonkers.” Akira happened to notice the same thing I did.
“Right? VRMMO tech is wild.”
“It’s like we’ve been warped to another world. It’s so fleshed out I’m not sure it isn’t real.”
“Well, we can be sure that it’s a game at least, with the backlog window and all the gauges.”
In my peripheral vision, I see my HP/MP/AP gauges. If I lock the backlog window, I can move that to my periphery as well. I know it’s RPGs 101 to explain this, but HP and MP are short for Health Points and Magic Points. AP, Arts Points, is used for special attacks, such as sword and lance arts. Double Slash is one of these attacks. The stronger the art, the more AP it costs. Unlike MP, AP actually starts at 0—when you deal or take damage, the gauge rises. Think of it like a super gauge in fighting games.
After that brief aside, I started to explain my current situation to Akira. When I told her that I chose the worst class and was low-leveled to match, Akira couldn’t contain her smile.
“Aww, were you waiting for me? You didn’t have to do that!”
“It’s not like someone was holding a gun to my head. Plus, it always feels better to share my rise to glory with someone else, y’know?” Besides, Akira told me in advance that she’d be late. Waiting for her was entirely of my own volition. “I’ve had bigger fish to fry than level-grinding, anyway.”
“Oho, really? Does it look like you’ll be redefining yet another meta?”
“I haven’t put it into practice yet, but I’ve got a good feeling about it.”
“Then let’s hop right to it! We may have had some setbacks, but we are the chosen Elite Gamers! We’ll catch up in a flash and carry the whole competitive event.”
“Elite Gamers? You might as well just call us hopeless addicts.”
“What?! I thought it sounded really cool!” When I heard that silly response, there was no more doubt in my mind: this really was Akira. That put me at ease, at least.
“So hmm, what kind of class should I go for? Any recommendations? I gotta decide soon!”
“Do you want my personal recommendation, or an actual good recommendation?”
“A good one, please.”
“Paladin, magic knight, wizard, minstrel, cleric...” I listed the top classes for each main role: tank, attacker, buffer, and healer. Front-line and back-line attackers have completely different styles, so I listed magic knight and wizard separately. Those were the highest rated classes according to the strategy guide “UW Guidebook.” One might wonder why there’s a strategy guide for a school, but the more information-oriented upperclassmen gathered a bunch of stats and strats and started selling it as an item in-game.
This game happens to have a guild system too; it was put together by an informant guild. Guilds are similar to normal school clubs, according to the people who spoke at orientation. Naturally, newbies like us would be all over the strategy guide.
Each of the classes I listed were A-rank. By contract, my class, symbologist, is in the lowest tier: E-rank.
“Those are the best of the best jobs for each role.” Personally, I don’t see the fun in picking easy classes and cruising your way through the game, but I guess some people enjoy victory more than the struggle. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.
“Hmm. All right, and which would you personally recommend?”
“Sword dancer, maybe? That or sky pirate.” Both of them are D-rank classes, firmly within Bummer territory. “Neither of them are all that good, but I’d love it if you picked one of those.”
“Hmm, hmm...”
“Sword dancer does look really fun, y’know...” Lost in the joy of playing another game together, I decided to take the recklessness up a notch.
“Cool! Fine with me, then.”
“Awesome! A fine choice, my best bud. I’m surprised you agreed to it so quickly, though.” Normally, she’d give me a bit more grief than that.
“I made you wait and worry all this time, so it’s only fair.” Thus, Akira chose sword dancer as her class.
After class, Maeda approached Akira.
“Aoyagi, I’d like to help you level up, if you’d like.”
“Wow, thanks! But our levels are so far apart, and I’m not really into powerleveling. You’re the leader, so you should focus on the expedition. I’ll be leveling up with Ren.”
Powerleveling is when a higher leveled player helps someone lower leveled grind levels at a rapid pace. The practice can lead to monsters being camped and farmed thin, so it’s pretty annoying to others. Not to mention, it’s just kinda lame all around.
“Really? Does that mean you’re finally leveling, Takashiro?”
“Yup. I’m finally gonna do it!”
“We’re gonna catch up and help with that quest! And not just that—we’re shooting for first place!”
“Good! I’m excited to see your results. Meanwhile, take this with you.”
“Ooh, the UW Guidebook! Are you really sure it’s cool giving me your strategy guide?”
“Of course. I’ve already memorized the parts I need. Feel free to do the same.”
“You memorized it?! You’re so smart, Maeda.”
“Y-You think so? It’s at least more interesting than learning English vocab...” Indeed, Maeda is definitely the best in our class when it comes to learning, so it was pretty much the natural conclusion for her to become class rep and expedition leader. She really did seem caring, though; this was an especially generous gift.
“Thanks, I’ll make good use of it. The teacher’s calling me, so I’m off to the class-change room now.” Akira headed off to the class-change room to deal with her class, initial settings, and so forth. Everyone else left to grind levels and continue the quest, leaving me alone in the classroom. I’d planned to wait for Akira to come back so we could grind together, after all.
While I waited, I decided to use the materials I had on hand to grind my crafting skill. I had to take advantage of every free moment I could get.
After nearly an hour had passed, Akira finally returned.
“Ren!” Her face was red, as if she was angry. Her hair was pink, presumably changed via the hair color setting, and her clothing had changed from the uniform she had before. That’s perfectly normal; when you change classes, you get the base uniform for that class. “What the heck?! This is so humiliating! Even you won’t stop staring at me!”
Her dress, frilly and fluttery, was honestly adorable—but it also happened to be very revealing. Her underarms and upper chest were bare, emphasizing her voluptuous bust. Her cleavage especially stood out. To match, her skirt could hardly be any more miniature, revealing the entirety of her thighs and almost a little more. It would be an understatement to call this uniform “sexy.”
“Oooh. Nice.” I shot her a thumbs-up. I assumed that all sword dancer gear was probably like this.
As a class, it’s D-rank, one of the Bummers, but it’s also known for its surprisingly useful innate traits. Sword dancers fall under the healer role, but they’re a little special—instead of using healing magic, they actually perform dances that can heal and support. The dances don’t cost MP, so they don’t have to worry about that resource. Instead, they cost AP.
As I mentioned previously, AP is something of a special move gauge. You have to hit and be hit by the enemy to increase it. It becomes a sort of dance of approaching, hitting, and jumping out of the way of attacks—a special kind of front-line healer.
Sword dancers can use one-handed and two-handed swords. They can also spend AP on attack skills instead of dances, so they’re overall well-rounded. Ultimately, it seems like a fun class with a high skill ceiling.
So why, then, is it D-rank? Well, the gear is just too revealing. When you’re sitting in front of a computer screen and playing a normal MMORPG, revealing gear makes everything more fun. But when we’re talking about a quasi-real VRMMO world, bold designs like these can be more than a little embarrassing for the player.
The general consensus was that it’s a class only for those very confident in their bodies. There were classes every girl wanted to be, and then classes no girl wanted to be—how sad indeed that sword dancer fell under the latter.
Seeing Akira’s reaction, I could certainly understand—it did seem humiliating. That said, wow, what a view.
“Ren, did you make me do this just so you could ogle me?!”
“No, I swear! I wanted you to be a sword dancer even when I thought you were a guy! I thought you’d be fine with it if it meant getting its unique skills!”
“Oh reeeally? I see that smirk.” Her eyes became daggers, glaring at me suspiciously.
“I still figure you wouldn’t mind showing a little skin, but of course I’m a little biased seeing a cute girl in bikini armor.”
“Cute—?! F-Fine, then. Not like I can go back and change it now, anyway. Let’s regroup and go grind some levels!” Suddenly, she smiled. Akira really was expressive. “It’s still humiliating, though. So while we travel...”
She changed back into her usual school uniform. A shame, but understandable, I guess.
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