Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 16
Chapter 16: The VR Journalist
Chapter 16: The VR Journalist
?That was an incredible battle!?
?As expected of the ?Silver Sword Princess? and the ?Black Princess?, it was a spectacular exchange of techniques!?
?The chills were insane, especially that last move! What was that!??
?She used ?Sonic Sword? while standing on the sword’s guard to jump!?
?Is that even possible!??
?No way! Jumping off something like that isn’t a simple feat. You need exceptional balance and skill to pull off such acrobatics!?
When the battle between the two ended, cheers erupted around, shaking the air, and many applauded Sora and Kuro.
Amidst the applause, Sora supported Kuro and pulled the ?Silver Sword? that had been thrust into the ground.
Kuro, who was forced into a 30-minute invulnerability due to her defeat in the ‘Duel,’ was carried in a princess carry by Sora, who used her high stats.
Kuro, suddenly picked up, blushed bright red and made a small “Eeeh” sound.
As Sora carried her, thinking, “How cute her reaction is,” they arrived at the front of the shop where Kirie, Shin, and Rou were waiting.
Handing Kuro over to Kirie, she pouted and said, “Ugh, I wanted Sora to keep carrying me.”
“Really, you’re so honest.”
Kirie, looking a bit exasperated at Kuro’s somewhat dissatisfied face, made Sora chuckle.
Addressing Kuro, who was now in Kirie’s arms, Sora said as the victor:
“Well then, as promised, don’t try to test me outside of a ‘Duel’ from now on.”
“…Understood. I’ll keep my promise.”
“Good, good. By the way, what were you planning to ask me for if you had won?”
Kuro, looking quite disappointed, murmured:
“I wanted to become friends…”
“Friends?”
“…Yes. Because I don’t know how to interact with people outside of fighting.”
Kuro said this while looking down.
I see, so she has some sort of communication issue—what they call social anxiety.
For Kuro, attacking someone she meets might be her way of making contact (though it’s not pleasant for the recipient).
Given her state in the VR game, I wonder what kind of life she leads in real life.
I’m a bit curious about Kuro’s private life, but it’s taboo to delve into privacy in the VR network.
So, I decided to give her a straightforward response.
“I see. If that’s the case, you could have just asked normally instead of making it a victory reward.”
“If I could have asked normally, I wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble—Hyaa!?”
As Sora scratched her head and glanced at Kirie, Kirie, understanding the unspoken intent, nodded and released Kuro from her hold.
The girl, suddenly losing support, fell without moving a finger and let out a small scream.
Of course, Sora would never let her fall to the ground.
She caught her mid-fall.
“Eeeh…”
Kuro blinked in surprise, and Sora spoke to her gently:
“Kuro and I are already friends, right?”
“…You’ll really be friends with me?”
“Yeah, of course.”
With a strong affirmation, Kuro’s expression brightened up.
She then smiled with genuine happiness from the bottom of her heart.
“Friends with Sora!”
“I’ll send you a friend request, so accept it once your invulnerability wears off.”
“Okay!”
If she could move, Kuro would have had a smile so bright it looked like she might dance with joy.
Seeing her like that, Sora felt a bit relieved.
So, she’s not such a bad girl after all. At first, she seemed like a troublemaker, but it turns out she’s just a bit quirky.
Then, taking the opportunity, other players started gathering around and asked Kuro and Sora:
“Can we also be friends with you ladies!?”
“We only accept strong people.”
Kuro’s smile vanished instantly.
Her eyes, filled with a dark and murderous intent, glared at the players who had just sent them friend requests.
Under the intense gaze from someone whose attitude had changed 180 degrees, half of the players could not endure the killing aura and fled, while the remaining half bowed down and, for some reason, expressed their thanks with “Thank you!”
Sora was slightly taken aback by the bizarre scene.
“Hmm, online games really do have a lot of strange people.”
It seemed that Kuro’s refusal to acknowledge anyone who wasn’t strong hadn’t changed.
Sora, with a slightly perplexed expression, wondered what she had learned from.
Then someone suddenly tapped her on the shoulder.
Turning around to see what was happening, she found a cute girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, her eyes shining with excitement, looking at her.
She appeared to be in her early teens, with natural semi-long hair and a pop-style outfit.
She seemed more like a resident of the country rather than an adventurer.
The girl bowed energetically and, with a look of excitement, introduced herself:
“Nice to meet you, ?Silver Sword Princess?. I’m Rinne, a VR journalist.”
“J-Journalist…?”
“Well, not a corporate one but an individual. Since ‘Strategy Information’ was always erased, I mainly write articles about what happens in Astral Online.”
“I-I see.”
The name Rinne sounded familiar.
She was someone who had shown a lot of interest in the ?Silver Sword Princess? and had posted an article passionately describing her charms with candid photos.
But the girl in front of her looked so cute that she hardly seemed like someone who would write such perverted articles.
Wondering if she might be a different person with the same name, Sora relaxed her earlier wariness.
Even when faced with Kuro’s harsh glare of “Who is this weakling?” Rinne remained composed and approached Sora with a notepad and pen.
“The duel earlier was impressive on both sides. Everyone was amazed by the ?Silver Sword Princess?’s idea of activating skills with her bare hands!”
“Seems like something anyone could come up with, but is it really that rare?”
“It wasn’t possible in the beta version, so it was thought to be impossible in the full release as well.”
“So you were a beta tester?”
“Yes, that’s right. In fact, I’m a real-life friend of Kirie.”
Sora looked at the usually silent Kirie.
Receiving Sora’s gaze, Kirie nodded in affirmation, confirming that Rinne was indeed a beta tester and an acquaintance of hers.
I see, it seemed it was not a lie after all.
No one would have expected that an attack skill using bare hands, which was impossible in the beta version, could be activated in the full release.
So, it seems that knowledge from the beta version might not be very reliable.
I don’t know what other changes there might be, but maybe the difference between beta testers and myself isn’t that significant.
As Sora pondered this, Rinne moved in closer.
Kuro, still in a state of paralysis, looked displeased with the so-called journalist girl who seemed to be hovering over her.
But Rinne, completely ignoring Kuro, continued her interview with Sora.
“By the way, what was that thrusting skill you used to defeat ?Black Princess? earlier? It looked to me like it wasn’t just the one-handed sword skill ?Strike Sword? but also had ‘Lightning’ involved.”
“Oh, that was a ?Enchanter?’s skill.”
“?Enchanter?!?”
When Sora casually revealed this, the surrounding players, including Kuro and Rinne, erupted in surprise.
Everyone began shouting things like:
“Such a job exists!?”
“The ?Enchanter? is ranked as the least popular job!?”
“Even beta testers wouldn’t recommend that profession!?”
Seeing everyone’s reaction, Sora recalled that in Astral Online, the ?Enchanter? was indeed an unpopular profession.
However, it seemed a bit too underrated.
Skills like ?Attack Power Increase Enchantment? and ?Defense Power Increase Enchantment?, which are obtained at skill level 10, are quite versatile and useful, in Sora’s opinion.
Despite this, Sora, with her unique skill, gains skill points at four times the normal rate.
Normally, one would only obtain these skills at level 20, but she acquired them at level 17, so currently, there are no other ?Enchanter?s who have reached this point.
Rinne, repeatedly opening and closing her mouth, finally managed to compose herself and asked:
“W-Why choose ?Enchanter??”
“Hm, it seemed strong and interesting.”
“Is that all?”
“Rather, what else is there?”
With a somewhat puzzled look, Rinne’s eyes sparkled, and she began furiously writing notes.
The surrounding crowd, stunned by Sora’s choice of profession as a ?Enchanter?, fell silent, and the previous commotion seemed like a lie.
In the midst of the silence, a player suddenly appeared and interrupted Rinne.
Rinne was about to say something, but upon seeing that person, she froze, her mouth hanging open.
Another customer who needs something from me, huh? One thing after another, it’s a busy thing.
Thinking, “Who is it this time?”, Sora turned to the adventurer and lost for words.
“I’m sorry, but I have business with ‘him.’ Can you give me a moment?”
The voice was very familiar.
“That’s ridiculous,” Sora thought, confused.
The person now was a professional gamer who mainly played VR games focused on player-versus-player combat.
Moreover, given her personality, she shouldn’t be someone who plays fantasy games.
However, there was no way Sora could be mistaken about her face.
Sora, covered in sweat, heard Kuro, who she was holding, say, “Ah, it’s the captain.”
“You need to explain why you’re in this state, Sora.”
“M-Master…!?”
The person in question was a woman with semi-long brown hair braided, about 170 cm tall. She was dressed in a samurai outfit with two swords at her waist. Her name was Shino Tsukinomiya.
She was the reigning champion of the world VR combat game championships for five consecutive years.
She was currently active overseas. She was also Sora’s cousin and combat mentor.