"Ooh... it feels like it’s been a subjective six months since I last did any work-uo..."
"Are you doing okay? No lingering issues?" I asked.
"I’m not rusty, so I’m fine-uo... Sigh, has it really only been a day? Or rather, just one hour-uo...?"
My colleague let out a heavy sigh.
"Actually, I’d love to use this system just to extend my days off. Couldn't we make it regularly feel like several days' worth-uo?"
"Hahaha. Exactly."
"Don't you think a life with an effective 4.5-day weekend would be wonderful-uo?"
It sounded like adding an extra day of rest after every shift, effectively doubling your holidays.
"As long as it doesn’t fry our brains, I think it’s totally viable," I said. "In fact, it would be the best thing ever."
"Right-uo? Given that I spent six months in there and haven't turned into a vegetable, it’s clearly a perfectly safe acceleration system-uo."
"I wonder if clearing the second character scenarios unlocked more options in the Config... maybe for the acceleration..."
"Ah. Come to think of it, I hadn't checked-uo. If it’s possible, it’s going to feel more and more illegal, and it’ll be the best-uo."
A full-immersion VR where the food tasted great and your consciousness was accelerated... yeah, it was the best. It was the kind of thing that made you never want to return to reality.
"Reality is trash."
"I completely agree-uo. I can’t stand dealing with these complainers anymore-uo..."
"Our team only stays afloat because you work so hard, colleague. Thanks for everything!"
"Hmph! You’re welcome-uo!"
Well, setting that aside.
"I secured a Home, so now I can finally start practicing things like alchemy too."
"Must be nice. Haa, I wanted a Home too-uo. One way or another, I ended up spending all my SP on Nika-chan’s treatment and upgrades, so I can't afford one-uo."
"Well, Penpen has one already, so we might not even need separate ones."
"That’s something we’ll need to verify-uo. If there’s a real benefit to every person having a Home, I’ll just have to work hard and get one-uo."
Now that I could acquire a Home, I had jumped on it yesterday before logging out. Following Penpen’s advice, I’d set up a field at the Home and sowed some seeds before finally calling it a night.
I had also decided not to dump all my SP into Tria-chan, letting Miti-chan acquire it instead.
Compared to Tria-chan, who was a front-line combat type, I wanted to try raising Miti-chan as a rear-support type. I figured Miti-chan could handle alchemy. She was a slime, after all. An intelligent ally slime! Usually, those types could synthesize medicine inside their own bodies, right?
"So, I’m planning to turn Miti-chan into an alchemy slime."
"Wasn't she a killer slime who slaughtered everyone in that research institute-uo?"
"I didn't actually take any combat skills, so she’s surprisingly weak in a straight fight," I explained. "Her only attacks are Body Slam, piercing, and eating."
"For real-uo? Then how on earth did you manage to wipe out the whole facility-uo?"
"I handled it with surprise attacks and a few dirty tricks. I didn't even trigger the events to fight the other rampaging test subjects. I suspect there weren't many strong enemies because I managed to bypass the combat routes through conversation."
I suspected there was likely a path where the test subject heroine, Annette-chan, would have turned into a demon for a boss battle. Ah, right. I still have that red horn in my inventory. I wonder what I should do with it... I guess it’ll just be dead weight for now.
"Nika-chan is a front-line unarmed combat type, so her role overlaps a bit with Tria-chan-uo. Though, since she’s a tank healer, her style is a little different."
"Is Nika-chan really an aggro-drawing machine despite that cute face of hers?"
"It's because I spent six months training her to the limit-uo. There’s no doubt she’s the perfect match for my shooter character, Alto-chan-uo."
A front-liner like Nika-chan holding the line while Alto-chan sniped from the rear... it was a good combination. A simple but effective duo.
"I wish work would just end already. I want to log back in quickly-uo."
"Me too."
"There are mountains of things I want to verify, but there’s no end to it if we try everything at once-uo. We need to make a plan for what to investigate-uo."
"For now, alchemy? I’ve had Miti-chan studying under Penpen-chan to get some experience."
Since I’d set her to do that in Auto Mode, I was looking forward to seeing how much she’d progressed when I got back. Meanwhile, Tria-chan was out gathering materials.
"Besides that, I’m also curious about the Republic of Majark-uo."
"Yeah. I definitely want to pay that country back for what they did eventually. And I want to check in on Zold-kun... see how the beastman slaves we rescued are doing. Maybe we should head to the Adventurer's Guild for info?"
"Oh, about that—I saw some info on the Wiki’s map section. Apparently, they won't even tell you where other countries are unless it's for a specific quest-uo. And they don't provide maps; they just tell you the directions-uo."
"Wait, seriously? Why?"
"Because maps are considered sensitive military intelligence-uo."
Knowing the terrain and layout allowed for strategic planning and an advantage in war. In other words, information was the difference between winning and losing.
"So, if you ask to see a map, they tell you it’s fine to use your personal map function to fill things in, but you must never share it-uo. You’ll literally be arrested for a crime."
"No way. Was it bad that I spread that one out on the table the other day?"
"Apparently, those are only visible to other players, so that's fine-uo. It’s only a crime if you try to copy it onto paper and sell it."
I see. The data I recovered from the research institute definitely included a map. That meant it was a pretty rare piece of information.
"I really hope those beastmen made it out safely and are doing okay-uo."
"Yeah. Depending on how they're doing, maybe we can enlist Penpen’s help to support them. With six of us now, there’s a lot we can get done."
Chatting about the game helped the time fly, and we made it through our shift until the clock finally struck.
Now then—it’s game time!