Mebius World Online – Mari’s VRMMO Diary, Embarking on a Laid-back Adventure as a Novice - Chapter 33
33. Mari-nee and Analysis of The Event
After deciding on the name Cougar for my new partner and successfully riding it, we decided to exchange information the day before the event.
“By the way, about the information you conveyed to me through Roulette before, regarding the Black Bandage Mask, there have been sightings from other players around the Second City as well. According to the bulletin board, the frequency of these sightings seems to be increasing as the event approaches,” Mareus-san said.
Mareus-san’s words made me feel a sense of foreboding. The way he mentioned it made it seem plausible that the Black Bandage Mask might be targeting residents in addition to us. The increasing frequency of sightings suggested that residents might have been affected.
I referred to the Black Bandage Mask as the Black Mask for brevity. Since encountering the Black Mask, I had informed Estelle-san of what I had witnessed and urged me to be cautious when logging in next. So far, there seemed to be no impact on Estelle-san, the children, or the residents I had met. However, since the name “Eden” had been mentioned by the Black Mask, we couldn’t afford to be complacent.
“How is the situation in the Second City since the appearance of the Black Mask?”
“It’s quite peculiar, you know. According to the residents I asked, there were rumors that when the Black Mask appears, the residents disappear. The frequency of their disappearance seems to be increasing as well.”
Disappear? If that were the case, would Ryle have disappeared too if I hadn’t met him? If it had affected Estelle-san and the others…
A cold fear ran through me at the thought.
“It’s getting suspicious. With such overt actions, it’s confirmed to be related to the event, but we need to figure out its intentions.”
“What intentions do you mean?”
“Yeah. For example, initially being cautious and plotting something, but then the countermeasures are weak, so it starts making bold moves. It could be interpreted as seeking more efficiency for its purpose. However, based on my impression of the Black Mask from what Maria-chan told me, it’s a bit off. Rather than having an ongoing purpose, it seems like it has already achieved its goal and is just playing around. The intention might be to mock and make fun of us.”
“To mock us?” I echoed, recalling the condescending attitude.
That Black Mask could indeed be capable of such actions.
“But it’s the day before the event already. In any case, there’s not much we can do.”
“Well, there is something we can do… By the way, Maria-chan, have you ever participated in a party battle?”
A party battle, fighting together with others in cooperation. I couldn’t recall any memories of fighting alongside someone else. Well, there was Nero, right? Although, calling it a party battle might be an exaggeration.
“With Nero, if it counts…”
“So, you haven’t fought with ‘other people’ then.”
Geez, there’s no need to be so blunt, Kanna-san!
“If that’s the case, on the day of the event, we’ll form a party and check our coordination. Even if it’s just for coordination, it might be a good idea.”
“Even so, both Kanna and I are mainly involved in production, and our PS isn’t that high,.”
PS?
Seeing my confusion, it seemed that Roulette-san decided to explain.
“PS stands for Player Skill. It refers to a person’s sense, including knowledge, judgment, and how they use their body, separate from the strength of skills or stats. Although I believe there are other elements to PS.”
I understood the first three aspects clearly, but I wondered what the other elements were.
“Oh, what about you, Roulette-san?”
“Roulette’s issue goes beyond PS. There hasn’t been any experience with coordination in the first place.”
“Excuse me, but even I can handle party battles now… I’ve had dreams about it, you know?”
“Dreams? Seriously! Just say you’ve improved a bit!”
Mareus-san’s voice had a slight tear in it, and Kanna-san was crying as if she was going through a hard time with him.
Well, at least it seemed like I wasn’t the only inexperienced one, so that’s good, right?
In the end, coordinating in a party became a matter of trial and error.
As information, Mareus-san’s job was an advanced class of a knight, a heavily armored knight specializing in defense. Kanna-san’s job was an advanced class of a cleric, a priest who excelled in healing and curing status ailments.
I didn’t inquire about Roulette-san-san’s job since she seemed hesitant to talk about it.
Even though I could check as we were friends, I hadn’t done so to respect Roulette-san-san’s wishes.
To change the atmosphere, I decided to consult on something that had been on my mind.
“Nero can manipulate lightning by inheriting the attribute of a magic stone. If that’s the case, can Cougar do the same?” I wondered aloud.
“That might be possible. Why not give it a try? There’s no one around right now.”
“Yeah… since I don’t know what might happen, please stay a little away.”
I distanced myself from the three, then called upon Cougar.
“Cougar!”
“Roar!”
With the roar, a swirling wind shield manifested in front of me. It seemed like a shield, but it consumed nearly 10% of my MP upon activation.
In reality, it would be difficult to visually perceive a single element like wind, but in MWO, it appeared green and was clearly visible.
The wind shield remained stable in place, showing no signs of going out of control or blowing the surroundings away.
After confirming this, the three approached.
“Another incredible skill has appeared. It looks like a defensive type,” Mareus-san commented while touching the wind shield. In the next moment, he was sent flying as if caught in a tornado, tumbling and somersaulting far away.
“””……”””
Everyone was speechless.
Only Cougar seemed proud, as if saying, “Isn’t my skill amazing?”
I wondered if Mareus-san was still alive; he seemed to have flown about 20 meters.
“Shall we go pick him up for now?” I suggested.
As I prepared to head towards Mareus-san with Cougar, I noticed the envious looks from Roulette-san and Kanna-san.
Riding on a polar bear for transportation is something you’d want to try if you could, especially if it’s your own creation. But I think neither of them had the “Ride” skill, and… that’s right!
I reduced the number of threads I used for ?Bundled Manipulation? from 5 to 4.
No change with Cougar.
Next, from 4 to 3, still no change.
But the moment I reduced it from 3 to 2, Cougar suddenly stopped moving.
With my current skill level in ?Bundled Manipulation? it seems that I need to handle at least three threads to control Cougar effectively. However, that leaves me with two unused threads.
I decided to weave the threads into a makeshift saddle using “Thread Manipulation.” Though crude, I managed to create two saddle-like objects.
I placed them on Cougar’s back.
Now, let’s see if this works.
“Roulette-san-san, Kanna-san, if you don’t mind, would you try riding on these makeshift saddles?”
“We don’t have the ‘Ride’ skill, you know?”
“That’s true. But you can sit on chairs, right? I think this would be treated as a chair I made. It’s not really an equipped item. And even if you ride on it, it might not count as riding on Cougar. It’s a bit of a forced interpretation.”
Roulette-san-san and Kanna-san exchanged glances, seeming a bit puzzled, but curiosity seemed to win.
I had them sit on the saddles on Cougar’s back, and I took the front seat, giving instructions to Cougar.
“Cougar!”
“Roar!”
With a short response, Cougar began to run. Surprisingly, both of them were able to ride on the back without any issues.
“This is even more amazing than I thought! Wow, the high perspective and the sensation of speed are addictive!”
“Indeed. This elevated view and the feeling of speed might become quite addictive.”
It was a success, and I was glad to see their excitement. However, we hadn’t gone too far from where Mareus-san was blown away, so it happened in an instant.
When we arrived and tried to comfort Mareus-san,
“Forget about Mareus-san! Let’s keep running, Maria-chan!”
“Please! Even if Mareus-san gets eaten by monsters, it’s okay!”
But leaving an injured person behind didn’t sit well with me.
Just as I was thinking that, Kanna-san cast a healing spell on Mareus-san, and Roulette-san-san tossed a healing potion to finish it off.
Well, I guess it’s okay now.
Persuaded by their sparkling eyes x2, I urged Cougar to run again.
Sorry, Mareus-san-san. I’ll give you some jerky later, so please forgive me.
And so, with the three of them on Cougar, we raced through the plains, and both of them were thoroughly satisfied.
By the way, Mareus-san was indirectly expressing his displeasure about being left out, but when I handed him some jerky, he promptly stopped complaining.
“Oh, you’ve made something absurd again!!”
Wait, isn’t it unreasonable to be scolded after apologizing with jerky?
After that, for some reason, I found myself restrained by Kanna-san and Roulette-san, and they pried into the current state of my cooking skills.
(Maria: Marionettis Level 20)
Stats:
- STR: 1
- VIT: 5
- AGI: 8
- DEX: 80
- INT: 5
- MID: 23
Skills (Skill Points +24):
- ?Thread Manipulation? Level 18
- ?Manipulator? Level 10
- ?Clown? Level 13
- ?Bundled Manipulation? Level 1
- ?Capture? Level 7
- ?Cooking (Intermediate)? Level 2
- ?Preparation (Intermediate)? Level 1
- ?Acceleration? Level 8
- ?Dark Vision? Level 5
- ?Meditation? Level 8
- ?Visual Enhancement? Level 5
- ?Auditory Enhancement? Level 6
- ?Ride? Level 1 ? Level 3
Puppet Targets:
- Nero (Cat Plushie)
- Cougar (Polar Bear Plushie?)