Mebius World Online – Mari’s VRMMO Diary, Embarking on a Laid-back Adventure as a Novice - Chapter 9

1-9. Mari-ane, Night Battle, and New Skills

After losing track of time while chatting with Maki for a while, I asked her to help me with the bath, and Masato carried me to bed.

It was midnight.

Usually, I would have been asleep long ago, but perhaps due to the lingering excitement from the enjoyable time, drowsiness showed no signs of approaching.

At the bedside, the Blind Circlet I had placed there when I woke up in the MWO world remained in its position.

“Six hours have passed since then, so in the world of MWO, 24 hours have elapsed.”

I wonder, even though it’s just been one day, and that too in the world of a game, why do I feel so restless?

In the end, if I can’t sleep and am awake, it’s the same whether I do something or not. Convinced of this, I put on the Blind Circlet again and logged back into the world of MWO.

Upon waking up, the first thing I felt was the stiff sensation on my back.

“Come to think of it, I lay down on the bed Estelle-san prepared and logged out.”

Raising my body and looking outside, the moon was shining brightly in the pitch-dark night sky.

Opening the door and stepping into the corridor, the surroundings were eerily silent.

If exactly a full day had passed, Estelle-san and the children shouldn’t be awake at this hour.

Taking care not to make any noise, I left the church.

In contrast to reality, the night city in MWO was very dark.

There were no streetlights, and there seemed to be overwhelmingly fewer residents moving around.

Instead, I spotted a few figures that looked like adventurers.

Are they going to level up?

With nothing specific to do, I decided to follow suit.

The destination was the <Trial Forest> without a second thought.

I still don’t know other places, and I understand it’s easier to defend with threads in the forest because of the presence of trees.

As in the previous time, after leaving the town and walking for about ten minutes, the forest was pitch dark with no moonlight reaching inside.

Fortunately, I had an item called <Luminous Stone> given as a bonus when I bought ingredients. It’s like a glow stick that brightens the surroundings for several meters just by having it. Thanks to that, I could make progress.

Carefully walking through the forest for a while.

At some point, there were sounds mixed with footsteps that weren’t mine.

In a split second, I set up threads and almost simultaneously, the attack was blocked.

Although I managed to block the attack in the nick of time, I didn’t have the opportunity to counterattack, and in that time, the opponent retreated into the darkness.

The fleeting glimpse I caught of the figure resembled a large dog, similar to a Siberian Husky I had seen in a book.

I positioned myself against a tree using the threads as a shield.

This should prevent attacks from behind.

Meanwhile, as much as possible, I reinforced my defense by setting up threads. The opponent slowly revealed itself within the illuminated area of the “Luminous Stone.”

“Black Wolf…”

The opponent’s name was displayed upon recognizing its figure.

It wasn’t a dog; it was a wolf, and to my surprise, not one but three appeared!

Although I haven’t dealt with multiple opponents simultaneously, if they charge like boars, I might be able to handle it.

If I entangle them with threads and immobilize their movements, then I just need to defeat them one by one.

However, as if foreseeing my thoughts, the three wolves merely circled around me, not recklessly charging.

I tried setting up a second thread as a test, but they skillfully avoided it just before getting caught.

Close!

In this situation, I’m at a disadvantage.

Using threads consumes MP.

If I don’t find a way to defeat them, my MP will run out, and I’ll become prey for the Black Wolves.

“I hope I can at least defeat one…”

In the item box, there is nothing that seems useful.

Skills… Are there any that conveniently help me overcome the current situation?

“If that’s the case…”

I focused the second thread on one of them and set it up repeatedly.

Regardless of being evaded, persistently and straightforwardly, I set up the thread.

The opponent eventually seemed to get used to it and started dodging with minimal movements against my attacks.

High learning ability.

So, with confidence in success, in the midst of the attack, I allocated the remaining 2 status points to DEX.

As a result, the speed at which the thread flew during the attack became a bit faster than before, and I successfully captured the Black Wolf, who had memorized the timing to dodge.

I immediately wound the captured thread around its neck, leading to suffocation.

“Gyawannn!!”

The other two wolves tried to help their companion in crisis, but there was no way they could remove the thread, and soon its HP ran out, making it disappear.

Perhaps shaken, the reactions of the remaining two wolves were sluggish.

I took advantage of that opening to target the next one, leading it to the same fate as the first one.

Now it’s one-on-one.

At this point, it didn’t show any openings, but by adding the thread that had been in defense to the attack, I was able to corner it and defeat it with certainty.

? Your level has increased to 8. The skill level of <Thread Manipulation> has increased to 9. ? 

Although it was a tough battle due to being caught off guard, it was worth it as both my level and skill level increased.

This time, in a sense, forgetting to allocate stat points allowed me to counterattack, but it’s still better to remember to allocate them.

Thanks to the increased stats and skill level, I was able to defeat the Black Wolves without much difficulty afterwards, and I could even use [Capture] several times.

It was also helpful that the number of wolves attacking at once didn’t increase.

If five had attacked simultaneously, it would have been difficult to handle.

This is the result.

When I reached level 10, the increase in status and skill points is usually +2, but it became +5 this time. I shrugged it off without worrying too much.

“Even though I distributed points, is this DEX okay? And seriously, my STR is really hopeless.”

Not getting any increase in STR after reaching level 10, is it because of the nature of the Jester job or because of me…

Well, at this point, there’s no option to allocate points to STR.

But I have quite a surplus of skill points.

I wonder how much everyone else is using?

Next time, I should ask Roulette-san.

With that thought in mind, as I was about to close the status screen, I noticed a sentence I had overlooked.

? <Thread Manipulation> reached level 10, so the job skill <Puppeteer> is now available.?

When I read the explanation, it was a skill like this:

?Puppeteer?

• • Allows conveying intentions to objects with threads and making them move independently.

• • Strength depends on stats, skill level, and the quality of the manipulated object.

It requires 5 skill points to acquire.

Since it’s a job skill, learning it might broaden my ways of fighting.

I have some leftover skill points… should I take it?

? Skill Acquired <Puppeteer> ? 

Successfully acquiring the new skill, I contemplated what to try it on, and then I remembered that there might be something just right.

A dream from my childhood, and I thought about it lightly at the time. Yeah.

I never imagined it would lead to something like that… truly, at that time, I never dreamed of it.