Hey, Shun here!
Even though some heroes, items, or whatever fall out of the meta, there would come a time when some rather quirky strategy would pop out and absolutely destroy others using that 'out of meta' thing.
Then, when you found out how it works, you'll be like, "Ahhh! So it's like that!".
It's so funny how a thing that's labeled as trash would turn out to be something very useful upon closer inspection.
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(Shun's POV)
I spawned from the forest's safety area, the place where I logged out earlier.
In the game, it was pitch black at night. Since it's already night out, this place was lit up by bonfires all over the place.
Do note that the safety area is the only area lit with bonfires so players can't take advantage of this lighting. Is this the reason why I saw some complaints pop up in the forums regarding the 'lack of visibility' when night time arrives?
When I looked around to gather further information, it was really quite dark outside of the safe zone. Occasionally, I could see flickering shadows that looked like bats flying up.
I don't really have any particular phobia regarding dark places and such so I adjusted to my current situation rather easily.
"Hmm, the night sky is really beautiful…" I looked at the stars which looked like Milky Way.
The sea of stars is really mesmerizing to look at. I always love to stargaze whenever I want to reminisce about the past and think about what would happen in the future so… This is really a sight I really love to see.
"Should I take some new Senses? I don't really need my crafting Senses in combat so… Might as well."
Looking at my Sense build right now, I think I could swap out [Alchemy] and [Synthesis] since I don't really need it for combat. I could definitely take [Hawk Eyes] in exchange for one of the two crafting Senses when in combat but there's really no great Senses I could replace my other crafting Sense with.
I'll should go for the Senses that will unlock when I reach a cumulative number of 20 in SP. According to what I saw from the forums, there should be two there that would suit me.
Without further ado, I unequipped [Synthesis] before taking [Hawk Eyes] and [Crafting Knowledge] from the basic Senses on the list. I equipped [Hawk Eyes] in exchange for [Synthesis] while leaving [Crafting Knowledge] Sense unequipped.
There aren't anything new and, while some Sense like [Step] would definitely suit me, [Speed Increase] already does what it do. I could definitely stack them up but that would mean I wouldn't have enough space for the two Senses I'm going to pick up in the future.
Maybe next time.
With this little change, my Sense build now looks like this.
Possessed SP: 6
[Bow Lv16]
[Physical Attack Increase Lv15]
[Speed Increase Lv12]
[Vital Points Knowledge Lv14]
[Hawk Eyes Lv1]
[Alchemy Lv3]
[Enchant Lv16]
[Recovery Magic Lv12]
[Magic Talent Lv13]
[Magic Power Lv19]
Unequipped Senses:
[Synthesis Lv4]
[Crafting Knowledge Lv1]
After equipping the former Sense I took, which is [Hawk Eyes], I immediately felt the difference. I took this Sense because I thought that this will be of great help to my long range attacking capabilities but, I got more than what I expected.
To confirm whether or not I'm seeing hallucinations, I checked the description of each Senses that I just obtained.
✽✽[Crafting Knowledge]✽✽
Level: 1
Description:
A Sense that crafters need to have. Adds a certain amount of Dex stat to players who obtained it. The more you "craft" things, the more it level up.
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✽✽[Hawk Eyes]✽✽
Level: 1
Description:
A Sense that allows the user to see distant objects, applying a far sight correction to the player's vision. The higher the Sense's level, the further you could see.
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"Yep. It just says I could see distant objects. Then, can someone tell me why I can see a lot clearly in the dark than earlier when I didn't have the Sense?"
While ranting silently and cursing whoever labeled this clearly useful Sense as trash, I saw a bat flying around after I exited the safe zone. While looking at it, I felt like my vision 'zoomed' towards it.
"It can't be, right? Don't tell me those morons who wrote the guide also didn't notice this?" I'm starting to think that those beta testers who created the guides didn't do their research.
While muttering to myself, I focused my gaze at the bat and, sure enough, I could 'lock' my sight rather easily on it like some kind of highly automated surveillance camera.
With this enhanced field of vision, I could also hit farther enemies and deal more damage to them with the help of [Vital Points Knowledge]. What in the world are those guide makers doing?
No, I mean, I think it's kind of understandable why this Sense will be overlooked. First of all, people who uses close combat Senses doesn't need it since they enter the close combat range.
Mages doesn't need [Hawk Eyes] because they could gain projectile functions like tracking as they level up while the [Bow] doesn't. Because the [Bow] Sense was labeled as a misshapen Sense, it never received some love, resulting in this Sense that clearly goes well with the [Bow] Sense to be overlooked as well.
I mean, who would want to use something that just says you can 'see distant objects'? No one, except for maybe some madlads, right?
Hmm? Am I one of the madlads now, then?
After cursing the ones who made the guides a few more times, I moved on and rummaged through the outskirts of the forest to once again to gather some Crow Feathers and Tree Branches to start my nighttime hunt.
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After finally creating two sets of 30x 'Wooden Arrow +10', I went out to start my hunt in the forest. Like the Mill Birds during daytime, Bats also became easy prays for me.
There are also some monsters like the dogs and wolves at night but I didn't attack them since it's much easier to hunt the bats.
Because of my new Sense that I am now really taking a liking to, [Hawk Eyes], my life has never been a lot easier. The number of arrows I need to kill the Bats when I hit a vital spot is reduced to only one.
It's harder to hit and focus on a flying target, especially when it's dark out, so this is really a huge help for me.
"This Sense became a bigger help than I initially thought…"
As I strolled through the forest while jumping from tree branch to tree branch, I would sometimes come down to pick up the dropped items. Bats drops things like Fangs and Poison Droplets, items that could be sold for a measly sum of 3G, 2G for the Poison Blood, but I still collect them since I'll need all the cash I could gather for tomorrow.
I fought off a few more monsters in the forest, mainly the bats, before calling it a day. After that, I went back to the town and sold all of the dropped items except for things like the Stones, Mulches, Herbs, Crow Feathers, Tree Branches, Wildflowers, and Poison Blood.
To sell the Furs at a higher price, I took my time using Higher Matter Conversion on each of them, producing 50 or so Big Furs. Then, I brought them to the crafter that Myu recommended, someone named Cloude.
"Oh, so you're the brother that Myu often talks about, eh? So? What's your business in my humble shop today?"
I straightforwardly took out my 56x Big Furs and offered a trade window to him.
"Myu said that you mainly work on leather so you should know the pricing of this early on more than I do."
"What the—! Holy mother of God… Where did you get that many Big Furs!?"
I didn't expect him to react in such a grand manner but I guess it's to be expected when these things should only appear at the market by tomorrow at the latest. It's one of the dropped items of that ferocious Big Boar, after all.
"Well, it's a trade secret, I think?"
When I said that, his atmosphere suddenly changed as it turned from the rather quirky demeanor earlier into emitting a serious, businessman-like aura.
"Wait for just a moment, I'll have to call my friends for this."
"Sure, I'm not in a hurry…"
I had to wait for a few minutes before he finally came back to me.
"Could you follow me to my restaurant?"
"Which one?"
"The one next to this shop of mine."
He guided me to the shop where we were greeted by a few cosplaying cat-eared maids. They served us a few confectionaries and tea as I waited for him to tell me what in the world is going on.
"Then? What are we going to do with the Big Furs?"
"Ku-hum… I could actually buy that off of you for around 500G a piece, simply due to the fact that it's still not available on the market right now. Normally, I would buy it at 200G. However…"
"However?"
"I and my friends want to know where or how you got this many Big Furs when even the strongest guild is not able to kill Big Boars yet."
"Why should I tell you about that?"
When I asked that question, Cloude adjusted his glasses and looked at me seriously in the eye.
"Well, we simply need that information in order for me to meet the basic principle that I and my other two comrades follow."
"And that is?"
"Selling at a fair price."
I finally get it. So this is why he called me out here.
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※~To be continued~※
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Author's Remarks:
※ New Characters incoming! Setting prices are really a pain in the ass. I'm not really into business stuffs so it's all kinda foreign to me.
Just so we're clear, I'm not asking you guys, nor am I forcing you, to donate to me so that I will release more chapters, okay? Honestly, I don't have any clue if people would even go out of their way to donate to me who's just once again starting his journey as a fanfiction writer. But yeah, you can only hope, am I right?