Former Hero, Solo Play Oriented

Woom…

[Welcome to Astria Online]

With a strange floating sensation, my body arrived in the world of ‘Astria Online.’

“I slept well!”

As usual, I hopped in place and stretched my arms out nice and wide.

Now, I spent overwhelmingly more time living in the Continent of Astria than in the real world. It felt like I could completely become a different version of myself here.

The place I logged in was the rocky area in front of the Elite Dungeon’s Demon Lord’s Forward Base.

Thanks to hiding behind a pile of stones before disconnecting, I could freely do my stretches without worry.

Peeek…

I peeked out from behind the pile of stones to observe the people gathered in front of the dungeon.

“I’m looking for a swordsman party! I’ve cleared it once! I’ll be watching the 3 Named Chimera tank closely!”

“I’m a skilled 2 Named Goot dribbler! Anyone need a ranger? Let me join too!”

As usual, there were many people looking for a party today. Some seemed like veterans who had cleared it multiple times, while others looked like they were heading in for the first time.

There were likely people with fixed parties, but the majority of the light users would gather and form ad-hoc parties like this.

I immediately opened the auction house to check the prices of weapons, my primary source of income.

On the third day since the dungeon opened, weapons were still maintaining decent prices. It was clear that the difficulty level of this Elite Dungeon Forward Base was quite high.

The problem was…

“Now the prices of weapons vary drastically depending on their options.”

In the case of swordsman weapons, the ‘Moonlight Slash Damage Increase’ option, which boosted the damage multiplier of the main skill, Starlight Slash, was the most preferred.

Damage reduction upon a successful block, increase in thrust damage, increases for PVP skills like knockdowns or aerial attacks—the additional options were very diverse.

In other words, there were preferences even among the same Zarkan weapons.

The same went for weapons of different classes. The damage increase options for each class’s main skill were the most expensive and sold well. PVP skill options also had demand.

In the early game, with low skill ranks and multipliers, the weapon’s base attack power was prioritized. But now, as the damage cycle was established and the shares of the main skills increased, additional options took precedence over attack power.

Still, by dismantling useless accessories and weapons, I could obtain ‘Zarkan Coins,’ which were the only means to buy socket items, ‘Ecostones,’ at retail price.

I looked at the Ecostone embedded in my weapon, feeling a bit mournful.

“I didn’t think it would take this long to drop.”

Socket item Ecostones were still priced almost as high as the first weapon sales.

If I had just hung in there and farmed diligently, I could have accumulated Zarkan Coins to eventually buy it at retail price. I regretted the moment I couldn’t hold back and used it on my weapon.

Thwack.

I slapped my face with both palms and steeled my resolve.

Anyway, the weapon prices were still decent, so I had to run dungeons today to earn gold.

I had almost cashed out all the money I earned on the first day, but I still needed to keep running this forward base to gather Zarkan Coins and earn gold for the next area.

I hoped that a good option weapon would drop today.

Just as I was steeling my resolve, leaning against the pile of stones…

A shadow fell over my head.

A red thread slightly blocked out the sunlight.

“Huh…”

I stared blankly up at the owner of the shadow.

It was a bit dark due to the backlight, but this person was definitely…

“Found you, Rain.”

Chris looked down at me and smiled sweetly.

“Since I saw you online in the friend list, I thought you’d be nearby. Are you running dungeons again today?”

“E, eh? Y-yes.”

I stammered my words.

I hadn’t expected to meet Chris today!

“Ahem, have you finished farming for Zarkan? Did you perhaps promise your party members to go together today?”

Chris looked around, searching for my party members.

My heart raced.

I knew that it wasn’t normal for someone like me to be solo farming.

In a way, I was using a cheat code with the 100% synchronization rate in virtual reality. I was essentially a sort of bug character. I couldn’t expose the fact that I had been solo farming up to this point.

No way. I had managed to keep it under wraps so far, but one slip-up could get my account suspended for being a bug character.

The vivid sensation of reality I felt on the Continent of Astria… If I couldn’t feel that anymore, I wouldn’t be able to live here.

“I don’t have any plans today.”

I added a little extra to my statement.

Saying “I don’t have any plans” was the truth.

By adding “today,” it would create the effect of making her think I’d been running dungeons with a party until now.

I felt a twinge of guilt, but there was nothing I could do.

Chris seemed like a nice sister, but since I didn’t fully understand her yet, I couldn’t expose my current situation.

Chris smiled brightly.

“Oh, really? Well then, can I borrow Rain for today?”

“B-borrow me?!”

I jumped in surprise.

Borrow me? I’m not a thing! What is she saying?

Of course, Chris was a nice sister, but doing something together was a whole different issue.

I had to farm today to earn gold!

If I had known this would happen, I would have said I had plans to farm today.

“…Just the two of us?”

“Um, there’s one more person, but is that okay?”

I jumped again in panic.

No way, no way, no way.

I might be okay with Sister Chris, but another person? Absolutely not.

“U-uh, goodbye!”

“Wait a moment!”

As I cautiously tried to leave, Chris suddenly stopped me.

“Rain, you didn’t forget what you promised me, did you?”

She pointed at my clothes with a bright smile.

“Oh.”

The outfit I was wearing—the Desert Admiral’s attire.

I had promised to run the dungeon together to receive this outfit.

“Seeing that you’re still wearing that, I guess you like it? I’m happy.”

“Hee…”

With 1 gold pinching my nose, I had no choice but to get caught by Chris.

“Whoah…! Wow! So small! Not just short in height but also small-faced and cute… How can you be a swordsman with that body?”

“Hey, Bae Merong! Rain is for show! Just look at him!”

“What do you mean ‘for show’…?”

I clung to Chris’s clothes, hiding behind her.

The pink-haired lady who was squealing at the sight of me had to be the mage in Chris’s party.

She didn’t seem that much taller than me, so why was she calling me small?

Although I was okay with Chris, my discomfort around others hadn’t disappeared yet.

“Anyway, I’ll talk to Rain, so you just handle the guests well.”

“Yes ma’am!”

The mage, called Bae Merong, saluted Chris in attention. I couldn’t help but ask Chris out of curiosity.

“Guests?”

“We’re planning to run a bus starting today. The tank is busy, and the spirit master can’t log in today, so I wanted Rain to take one spot.”

“Wait? Didn’t you just say that Cherni wasn’t coming?”

Zing.

Chris shot a sharp look at Bae Merong.

“Ah, it’s nothing!”

Bae Merong hurriedly turned her head back, reopening her interface. She seemed to be writing some message.

“Rain, we’ll take care of the rest, so can you handle the main tank for 1 Named and 2 Named, and tank the 3 Named Chimera?”

“Chimera tank?”

I tilted my head.

Main tank refers to the tank for Named enemies. That shouldn’t be a problem since I had been doing that alone as well.

The 3 Named Chimera referred to the two dogs that appear when the boss’s HP goes below 50%, right?

“Who is tanking the boss?”

“Huh? Didn’t you clear it with a DPS tank from your party?”

“U-um. So it just means I need to handle the two Chimera, right?”

Chris smiled and nodded.

It seemed that for party play against the 3 Named, having a DPS tank was the norm. Anyway, I would just have to follow her instructions.

“So, are we going as a trio?”

“I mentioned guests earlier, didn’t I? One spot will be for a bus guest.”

“Oh.”

I nodded.

There was indeed a concept of a bus in the level 25 Elite Dungeon. If you turned on the regional announcement, you would always see messages promoting bus services.

Back when those low-level elite dungeons were easily cleared, they were accommodating, but given the increased farming difficulty now and the proper PVP battle content that’s emerged, bus services must be thriving.

It was a steady means of earning gold without relying on good-option weapon sales or the luck of the drop Ecostone lottery.

I had one more question on my mind.

“But do they not operate bus services for just 1 or 2 people?”

“Huh? Haha! Even if a character has finished farming, whether they can solo the dungeon is another story, but if it’s just 1 or 2 people, that means taking on two or three guests, right? If you do that, you can’t give all the drop items to one guest! The bus system is structured to give all the items from the dungeon to just one guest.”

“Oh, I see.”

Even taking on one guest would still take longer than party play due to soloing, so there was no merit for guests either. While some might want to observe how soloing is done, continuous commercial value didn’t exist.

Even users who could clear the dungeon alone couldn’t run buses by themselves.

I somehow felt a pang of regret as I licked my lips.

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