Virtual Reality : Dystopian Tales Online

001.4 | NOOB'S FIRST KILL

"Have you ever heard of chain combo?" Leon asked.

"Chain combo?" Shin nodded slowly, then shook his head sideways. "I understand but not entirely. This is my first time playing games, so I only know a few terms."

Leon is surprised. He took a good look at Shin and the numbers surrounding him. There are no inferior numbers. If anything else, he had thought that this guy is at least has a few levels of mastery more than him. Then now he says it is his first time playing?

Shin could tell that Leon doubts his words. He chuckled, patting the elf on his shoulders, and said, "I'm not lying. I haven't really played games like this before."

"Oh," Leon is suddenly enlightened. "Do you do sports?"

Shin nodded. Leon once again checked the numbers that are highlighted with perfect body proportions and excellent physical attributes. He nodded with a sour taste of envy in his tongue. How he wished he could also have the same body type. 

"So that's why... I see," Leon looked away. 

"Hmmm? What did you see?"

"Anyways, chain combo is done in this way..."

Leon opened his interface and searched for the [TASKS] area. Leveling up and such are done through completing quests and tasks. The [TASKS] area listed all the requirements needed for a level-up, and it has three functions. 

The first one is the [MAIN QUEST]. From the name itself, one can already tell that it holds the objective of the game. These are, or may also include, fighting a certain number of monsters, reaching a certain mountain peak, gathering materials, etc. Main quests give the most amount of experience points, game currencies, and in-game materials such as rare scrolls, pet mounts, and equipment. 

The second function is the [SPECIAL QUESTS]. Players are not obligated to do the special tasks since it gives only a few experience points; however, special quests could give a quite amount of limited-edition rare materials that could not be bought from the market. It's just that some special quests are very tedious or dangerous, like slaying a dragon or finding a needle from a haystack. 

The third function holds the [MISCELLANEOUS] tasks that are not part of the game and do not give experience points but could give power-ups, rare skills, game titles, and special effects. Most of the time, the task given in this folder is to do a certain number of chain movements to create a certain effect that could buff the player. 

This is what Leon is aiming to get. 

The moment he activated the boss battle, his miscellaneous tasks refreshed, adding some new conditions. He scrolled down to see the added task and saw the chain movement number in order for them to get a buff. 

 ____________________

[RAGE BUFF]

Location: Beginner's Dungeon 7th Floor Aberrant Boss 1

Requirement: 500 Combo Hits

Definition: For five minutes, the player/party should be able to land a chain of 500 hit combos to the [BOSS] to reach Rage Buff (player). Rage Buff is a special skill that allowed the players to gain three powerful strikes twice their power level. 

____________________

"We only need to hit the boss many times - it must be consecutive melee attacks. It should be done faster, much faster than our earlier expedition. We have to reach the five hundred hit combo within five minutes to activate the special effect," Leon iterated. 

"And I am the one to do that?" Shin pointed to himself. "Do you think I can do it?"

Leon took his staff on his side and gave Shin a knowing look before opening his small book of spells. The staff and the book emitted a light glow that means Leon is activating a new spell. Shin is about to ask another question when Leon suddenly dashed towards the boss. 

"Aren't you the one who said that we are not playing solo? C'mon, hurry up. The Ghoul touch won't last long."

Five hundred hit combo is a lot of number for low-level players. But since they are at a party, and the game also stipulated such a rule, five hundred can be divided by the number of players present. So they can take two hundred and fifty each. So even having 100 APM (Action Per Minute) is enough to reach the goal. 

Unfortunately, though the two of them could have at least 150 APM, the hit combo system of the game doesn't follow the one-hit one-combo policy. This means that to trigger a hit combo, the player must do a series of maneuvers that could take at least two to three actions for a second or two. 

In addition, the two of them are not [Keyboard Players]. Executing APM through body movements consumes more time and energy. They could only force their way to commit to making five hundred hits in five minutes. 

Shin lost his first weapon, so he has to wield another one. At least, thanks to the remaining members who gave him new equipment that he managed to continue. His Humanoid race has the exclusive [LEARN] skill that allowed the race to learn any skill and weapon regardless of its origin and requirement, so a sudden change of equipment will not affect his performance. 

Leaping up in the air, Leon examined the new weapon on his hand. It is a green-colored mid-level two-edged blade rapier. It has normal stats but has low-level enchantments. Using the weapon will give the carrier an increase on [EVASION] by three percent and a chance of increasing the [LOOT] by five percent. 

This kind of weapon setup is normal for beginner players. Leon pondered for a while, remembering the information about rapiers. It was said that a rapier is a common weapon carried by civilians during the 16th to early 17th century Western Europe. It is often used in duels and for self-defense. 

Information flashed in his head as he made his way towards the beast. His thinking did not hinder his movements as though those thoughts happened in a different dimension using a different brain. Instead, details flooded his mind in a concise manner giving him the necessary data about the uses of a rapier. 

Shin, like Leon, is also part of the so-called highly qualified human beings. Though, instead of seeing numbers, Shin has a very high retentive memory. So when he said that he has good retentive memory, that is an understatement. Using the word 'good' is already humble of him. 

He is quick to learn and could store his learning sophisticatedly in his brain. He is also capable, has high motor skills, and could multi-task up to ten tasks without losing a rhythm. So, despite being new to playing games, having Leon as a tutor is enough for him to comprehend everything. 

Shin might not have the same ability as Leon in predicting the future, but he could more or less comprehend the situation clearly. He did not lag behind as he joined Leon in fighting the boss. Leon is a magician or mage in status, so his abilities are well-suited for long-range attacks. Shin is to be expected to do the close melee. 

He clenched the hilt of the rapier sword and made a thrusting gesture towards the beast's back. As expected, the low-level weapon did no effect and only created a scraping spark as it got impelled away. Still, Shin did not stop and made another series of thrusting gestures that successfully gained his combo. 

The two people worked hard to reach their goals. Shin counted his hits - three seconds;  still too slow to earn a combo hit. He decided to continue doing a faster pace with shallow cuts. Leon noticed the pace of Shin and watched him continue. They are doing the combo slower. Thirty seconds have passed, but their combos combined didn't even reach a hundred.

He looked at his MP and saw it almost full. Some of his spells are not available in use. He can utter one right no, but doing it again will need a farther range and a minute of activating. Leon can't spend another time staying still in one place. Being the boss in Red Rage, applying the same spell will only take less effect due to its immunity.

He has to think of something. What spell can he use to become faster in hitting the beast?

For the first time in his life, Leon has the numbers crowd his sight. Almost seeing nothing other than the rapid calculation of equations, he was too distracted that his attacks started faltering. He has been trying to find the best way of attack, but real-life simulations are really too much for him. 

Handling such situations already exceeded his limit. Even computers need to have an interval of use to have optimum efficiency.

Shin noticed that Leon is lagging behind. So he opened his voice function and connected it to Leon. He made a loud sound, "Leon? Leon, sir? Are you all right? There are only about two minutes left. Can we still do it?"

Leon heard his question. 

Without the focus, there is only one thing to continue: to clear his sight from the numbers. Slowly closing his eyes, Leon shuts his system, making things in all black. It is as if he is now looking in a computer monitor with nothing but pitch black. A white dot is blinking in the middle as if waiting for somebody to type in a code.

A code?

Shin noticed the elf stopping the hits. What surprised him more is that it even closed its eyes as if sleeping. Worried over his friend's situation, Shin could not help but stop the combination attack from shaking off Leon from the trance. But before he could leave his place, Leon suddenly yelled at him to continue attacking.

He continued, not minding the sudden command. But he still slipped in some words to say, "You okay?"

"Yes, don't worry. I am just lost in my thoughts," Leon replied honestly.

"That's good, I guess?" Shin is tracking the progress of the combo and the time left. "The time is almost up."

"I know. So let me see your interface. Then, open the share function for me."

Shin did not ask more questions and just did what Leon told him to do. Another screen opened up beside Leon's. It has the structure and function same as his interface. It's just that some features are present that are exclusive to Shin's race. He opened the tab for the magic and stuff. 

"The warrior is known for their affinity in strength and higher HP. However, their MP would be lower than the average," Leon muttered in his thoughts.

Due to this, warriors only use magic to increase their strength potential than aiming it at the enemy. Not only is the activation fast, the cool-down time and MP usage are also less that made it easier to use. Only that their MP is low, so they would rather use skill than magic spells. Skill only needs a button to press than a sentence worth of spell.

"Shin," Leon called. "I want you to use the [SPEED] spell."

"Huh? But I don't have enough MP," Shin responded. "I can only use it once for thirty seconds. But the speed would not be enough."

"I know. That is why you have to activate it in a three-second interval for five times."

"Five times?"

Shin calculated the math on his head. A speed magic spell needed five MP to be activated. Five activation means he needed to have 25 MP. But now, he only has 8MP left. The cooldown of [SPEED] is only one second, the activation is also one second. Putting the three seconds interval, one spell would be equivalent to five seconds. He also needed another thirty seconds to spend to finish all the activation.

For this matter, Shin wasn't able to understand. So what is Leon trying to do?

"That seems to be impossible," Shin complained.

"Just do it! There's nothing to worry about!"

"Nothing? Have you ever heard that I'm a warrior class, right?"

"Just trust me. It will work."

Shin is still doubtful. Still, he just did as what is ordered. He pulled open his interface and used the [SPEED] spell. His MP meter decreased by five, leaving him with three. He did not stop attacking the beast as he waited for the cool down. But how could he activate the next spell if there's only three MP left-

His almost empty MP gauge suddenly shot up. He didn't know how that thing happened, but he activated the spell again after five seconds. After that, his MP meter decreased, but there is still enough to use for excess. 

While Shin is doing the activation, Leon took charge of attacking in the combo. Unfortunately, his MP meter is almost emptied out, so the magic spells that he has been throwing are the most basic ones. Still, he managed to continue the combo while waiting for Shin to finish. 

They only have a minute left before the Ghoul Touch ends. Thirty seconds to spend in activating the five-speed spells? Aren't they short in time?

Finishing the fifth spell, Shin felt his own self vibrating. While waiting for the remaining five seconds, he wondered how he was able to do it consecutively. Then, he moved his sight towards the MP and noticed it rising until now.

The five seconds is up.

"Leon, what should I do?" Shin asked.

"Tackle and Attack!" Leon said.

Shin followed the command and use the tackle and attack skill. In a split second, the warrior suddenly gets lost out from their sight. Instead, fast-paced sparks of red and yellow from a blade are hitting the beast. Leon does not need to ask what is happening. This is what he meant!

A warrior class using speed will only increase the rate of two hits per second. With the thirty seconds limit, it can only give a combo hit of sixty. Adding another activation will square the number of hits per second. That is four hits per second, attaining 120 hits in half a minute. Following this equation, five activation means he can get as many as 32 hits per second. For thirty seconds, he can get as many as 900+ hits!

But because they are late of fifteen seconds in their time, the grey film started to break as smoke is forming out from the beast. In the fifteen seconds that Shin is attacking the beast, he already earned 480 hits, twenty more, and everything will be done. Even if the beast will try to move, Shin is too fast to get caught.

The beast roared out, lifting the magic spell Leon placed on it. But before it can start rampaging again, the [RAGE] buff has been activated, giving Shin three powerful strikes. His movements graceful, Shin swung his sword sideways - once from the left, once from the right - forming a cross. Both strikes hit the beast decapitating its arms. The last strike is slashed vertically, splitting the beast into two! 

Bright light flooded the whole place with a howl from the beast. The place shook, Leon covered his eyes from the gust of wind, and Shin leaped up to avoid the explosion. As if a black hole, the beast is gone in a second, leaving shards of red and blue crystals in the air together with a large chest of treasure, some rare equipment, potions, and EXP points.

Leon watched the crystal rain down as if like rain, his eyes savoring the beauty. For a while, these crystals illuminated the place as if celebrating their win. Shin landed beside him, who is still in the range of the magic spell. Leon faced him with a wide grin on his face.

"GG," Leon gave him a thumbs up.

"Yep, Good job!" Shin replied with the same large smile.

The watching members clapped their hands. They didn't expect that the two of them will be able to defeat this beast. Their level is that of the beginner, but this achievement is beyond their control. Nevertheless, maybe these two guys will be on the top of the leaderboard in the future. There's no doubt about that.

The two of them went close to the droppings of the beast. Rare beast in a hidden cave sure are dangerous, but their droppings always equal their value. This is why most experienced players take time to complete a quest in a dungeon because they would rather go looking for secret bosses than going straight to the floor's main boss. Also...

[BEGINNER'S DUNGEON 7TH FLOOR HIDDEN BOSS 01 CLEARED]

[LEON-36] [SHIN-18] [CROWN-224] [SPRING-85] [RAIN-45]