Defense Specialization and Relaxation

  The 8th event had ended, and Maple Tree had accomplished their goal . Now they just had to decide how they would use their medals .

  As Kaeda and Risa walked on their way home after school, they talked about this .

  “Did you decide on what skill you want, Kaede?”


  “Not yet . I think I’ll think about it until it’s close to the deadline . ”


  “Just like everyone else, then . ”


  “What about you, Risa?”


  “Well, the next event won’t be for a while . And there isn’t any skill that I really want right now . ”


  Like Risa said, the event had only just finished . There was no need to strengthen yourself in a rush . The seventh layer was very big, and it would take a while for the eighth layer to be implemented . So she had had no particular goal in front of her .

  “We can just take it easy again!”


  “I guess . We can prepare by raising our levels and looking for skills . ”


  Risa said . And then Kaede’s face suddenly lit up as if she just had an idea .

  “.……I know! If we’re going to look for skills, why don’t we go through all the previous layers? There are plenty of places we haven’t gone to yet!”


  “That’s true . The layers in this game are so big . After all, you acquired ‘Absolute Defense’ on the first layer . ”


  Risa agreed that it wasn’t a bad idea to go to all the places they hadn’t been able to before . Kaede was living proof that there were a lot of hidden secrets . However, Kaede’s expression made it pretty clear that searching for skills was not her main objective .

  “Hehe . Yeah . I suppose we can search for skills on the way while we sightsee . ”


  “Ahaha! You can tell?”


  “I guess? It’s fine . Let’s look for some nice spots . Who needs a plan, right?”


  “Yes! Let’s look for unexplored territory!”


  If fighting was one way to have fun, walking around the world was another way .

  And since they had just finished an event with vicious battles, they decided to walk leisurely through the past layers .

  “Oh, but we won’t go to the sixth layer!”


  “Yes……thank you…… Well, see you in the game then . ”


  “Yes!”


  They waved at each other as they went their separate ways . Risa couldn’t help but smile as she saw Maple running on light feet, obviously excited .

  As Risa continued her walk home, she thought about all their past adventures .

  Kaede seemed to be having much more fun than before . This made her more happy than anything, but she also worried about just how long this would last .

  “.……We have to enjoy the present! She’s never become so absorbed in anything to this degree before . ”


  She was enjoying it now . Risa herself was enjoying it . That’s all that mattered . With this conclusion, Risa rushed home in order to boot up the game .

  After she arrived, she quickly got changed and logged into the game . Here, Sally waited for Maple to arrive .

  “Sorry! Did you wait long?”


  “No, I just came . So, you really think we don’t need to plan anything?”


  She asked again . Maple grinned and repeated that she wanted to walk around leisurely without any plans .

  “Alright, let’s go then . There’s no real need to prepare, as the monsters will be so weak . ”


  “Yes, let’s go!”


  Maple and Sally teleported to the first layer and looked at the town . Compared to when the game first started, a lot of new areas had been added . This meant the people in the town were more spread out, so there were fewer than before . But it was still a lively place .

  “It’s been a while . ”


  “It’s hard not to get caught up in exploring and conquering the new layers and doing little else . ”


  “Where should we go?”


  “Anywhere is fine . Just go where you want, Maple . ”


  “Then we’ll start with the town!”


  “Okay!”


  And so the two of them walked around the town . They had walked around this town quite a bit before, but they could see now that there were changes with the players and buildings .

  For instance, there hadn’t been any player stores before . As the newest and oldest floors tended to have the most people, there was demand for them here .

  “Now that I think about it, you don’t see many players here with beginner equipment . ”


  “Well, considering how much variety they have in clothes and equipment now, you’re a lot freer when it comes to appearance and functionality . ”


  “That’s true . ”


  “There are some things you can only experience when the game is new . ”


  “I see . ”


  Maple and Sally went into all the stores that were unfamiliar . Accessories, clothes, furniture for those who joined guilds . The variety here easily matched that of the seventh layer .

  “Woah! That’s amazing!”


  “You’re limited in what you can make unless your skill level is high . I wonder if the people who have stores here are like Izu, who fight on the frontlines?”


  “Well, it’s fun to buy fancy things!”