PrairieEagle
Why I suck
Pupil of a Wise Man Index
prairieeagle on Chapter 3: Past Hero
darkfishoftherevolut… on Chapter 3: Past Hero
Chapter 3: Past Hero
Chapter 2: Disaster of a Hobby
Chapter 1 Basic Summoning
My luck with Laptops
I'm a Eagle…on the Prairie. Deal with it.
Posted on 7th Apr 2015 by PrairieEagle
Sorry about not getting it out earlier, this past week really kicked me in the nuts with being sick and having a lot of stuff to complete for college. I’m not out of the woods completely but I’ll probably manage another chapter by the weekend.
So finally we are to the point in the story that matches with the chapters that The Esteemed Holy Sheeprabbit did. New chapters may drop slightly in quality (if that is even possible).
The last part was almost copy past with the ending of chapter 2 that Estelion did, so thanks to him for that.
Also thanks to him for translating some of the more difficult to understand paragraphs. I would have given up without him.
3. Past Heroes
I have somehow achieved the feat of entering the ranks. It is thanks to everyone that reads “She professed herself the pupil of a wise man”. Thank you very much!
It was kinda unexpected but I will do my utmost best (TN: something about “kneading dough”. I assume they are using a Japanese saying here.)
Kagami operated the terminal through the bracelet to open the menu. The menu looked like those that appear in animes and movies and showed up in space with commands that can only be used by the player.
From the menu, she chose chronological history. Kagami forgot the words and stared at the numbers.
It was the most recent event that have been written.
Year 2146 of the Arc Calendar, April 23rd: Second Prince of the Kingdom of Mirston was born. she was named “Atolzade.”
Kagami was shocked, not by the contents. The Mirston Kingdom was familiar because a player had founded it. The problem was the numbers displayed for years.
When she checked the displayed current time up in the top right corner, it showed Year 2146 of Arc Calendar, May 12, 3:00PM.
IT was funny. Three decades had passed since ‘now’. she started to review the history little by little.
Ten years ago, June 24, 2136 of the Arc Calendar, ‘Outbreak of the Three Kingdoms Defensive Battle’.
Kagami tried to puzzle things our first. If there was a version update, it would have been firmly expressed in the timeline. As a test, one of the oldest dates on the timeline should be September 1st, 2112 of the Arc Calendar, the official start of <Arc Earth Online>! It was written with heavy decorations.
The other two upgrades were also firmly stated. However, Kagami couldn’t find a third version update. Even up to yesterday, the updates could only be found two times.
It was not the result of a version update, anxiety and questions began to form in Kagami’s mind.
If it was not a version update, than why could she smell and taste the grass?
she closed the menu and looked up.
[The water. Could oneself receive more?]
The captain, who stared curiously a the summoned Dark Knight, was brought back by the voice.
[Huh? Ah, that’s fine]
After receiving the the leather pouch from the captain, she poured the contents from the bag flowed down her throat and was warm and wet on her thirsty tongue.
[Heh, the water is good. Thank you very much.]
She returned the leather bag and put a hand to her throat. The moister had a taste and made a sensation in the throat that <Arc Earth Online> never had until now.
Still, it felt wrong. The senses were too realistic and unconformable. It was possible to drink recovery potions and drinks before too, but to feel it in the throat and actually taste it was not. Kagami knit her eyebrows, unable to understand.
Even the friction caused by the cloths against the skin felt very real.
Recreating the 5 senses with VR technology until now was still in the research stage. Electrical signals, and to some extent electromagnetic pulse were used to reproduce as much as possible although within limit, keeping the pain down to a minimum.
Now the situation was too realistic. The evolution in technology required to do this cannot be expressed in a single word. The technology of today should not be able to reproduce it.
Kagami tried to think calmly. To upgrade all VR to this level was not possible.
And then, after coming up to a certain conjecture, she immediately rejected it. There was no way that could be true.
But with the current situation, it wasn’t possible to deny it completely.
Yes, this is reality.
It was like the urban rumours from when complete VR games started. That the game world is actually just another reality and can trap players in the world.
Of course, Kagami did not believe that such a thing was possible. It was very similar to the conditions right now. she felt chills go down her spin and she shook her head to deny it as nonsense.
I could just be a bug but Kagami was starting to think that it may just be better to not think to much of it.
[Captain Graia, The hobgoblin’s hideout has been found in a nearby fort. What is this guy?]
The platoon that left for a moment to search the woods returned to see their captain standing by a red eyed and shiny black knight. she judged that if it wasn’t safe than captain would have said so.
Even so, although she could tell from the way the black knight was not wary that it would not bring danger to anybody, because this never-before seen existence was releasing such overwhelming pressure, he couldn’t get rid of his nervousness
[Oh, This black swordsman……this young lady here summoned him. Don’t worry, she will not cause harm.]
[This was made with summoning magic? Wasn’t it a very rare class? Then this guy is an armour spirit? I heard of stories of it but never imagined it would be……this intimidating.]
[Well, I was also surprised when I first say it.]
Graia’s focus than went back to the situation. The hobgoblin were defeated by the Dark Knight, the girl was alone without colleagues, so as to recall the rest of the platoon, she sent out a few people to tell them.
While the two knights had the interaction, Kagami focused on one point in the conversation the two men had.
Saying that the Summoner is a rare class. Indeed, when counting the number of people it can be considered rare. By the way, the most popular support class was Saints because it was helpful to treat patients and could be understood by anyone.
The moment a magician class chooses their class, they become able to use the most basic of spells. If they were a sorcery expert, they would be able to use <Sorcery: Flames>, and if they were a sacred arts expert, they would be able to use <Sacred Art: Heal> and <Sacred Art: Protection> for example.
An initial skill for the summoning expert would be the <Contract Stamp>. It has no attack power and can only be used on a spirit after beating it using your own skills. Thanks to this, many mistake the Summoning expert to be a senior class and are deterred away from it.
It is not difficult to only defeat a spirit. Hired mercenaries could take care of most on their own, however, only when the summoner themselves beat the spirit using skill do they show 100% of there strength when summoned.
Of course Kagami follows that path. Stocked with a large amount of drugs and bombs, beating an armoured spirit took around two hours on the <Yube Radius Battlefield> and was contracted with difficulty. It was the Dark Knight that was easy for a first time, not to mention that it is a spirit combined with deep affection.
This is not a thing everyone can do however. Those who know the basics tend to avoid the summoning expert quests when on the bulletin board due to the degree of difficulty.
That said, you can’t avoid it if you want to be a summoning expert. Dunbalf himself had seen prospective players choose some of the summoner quests from the bulletin board.
But the Knights, the two men talking…said that it was the first time they had seen such a summon. For the summoning expert class to be this unpopular filled Kagami with anxiety. This was not a situation that could not be neglected by she who stood at the apex of summoning experts.
[Speaking of which, I hadn’t heard the name of little miss. I am Graia. Graia Astol.]
{召喚術士再建のためにどでかい事でもかまそうかと思案していると、グライアに名前を訊かれ視線を向ける。}
Kagami wasn’t sure how to answer the question.
The action of the captain was commonplace in reality.
Ask the name of the other party.
Say your own name.
It is a natural interaction between those who mean for the first time. Both sides are equal in this exchange.
But this was in a game. It was common sense that by examining the target character in sight, the name would appear above their head.
Graia identified his own name. Kagami checked that he wasn’t lying by examining that the name above him truly was Graia Astol. This way it can be immediately known without listening.
{ここである仮定を思い浮かべ、試しに鑑は言葉を紡ぐ。}
[Can’t you just take a look to know?]
[Hmmm… I’m sure that at your level of skill, you would be quite famous, young lady, but because I am unstudied, I do not know you. I apologise. Is there anyone here that knows?]
To the question asked by the captain, everyone shook their heads side to side.
[Hmm, I see……]
Kagami had heard that amongst the players there are those that think it is rude to investigate without the other parties permission. she would examine such player without hesitation.
Even though the appearance has changed, the name Dunbalf is an important figure in the Arkite Kingdom. There should be no one that doesn’t know the name.
She was talking to someone that a player’s common sense would not work with, and whose thought processes were quite different. she found himself needing to perhaps once again reaffirm whether or not these were players, as she put her hand to her chin and began going “hmmm”.
With the information she gathered as a basis, she built up her hypothesis. And as she did, an impossible explanation began to gradually take form and she got lost in the labyrinth of thoughts.
[Really, I’m truly sorry. We’re a group of people who have no redeeming features outside of our swordsmanship, you see, so we aren’t really that familiar with summoning experts.]
「うぬ？　ああ、そういう事では無い。すまぬな」
[Hmm? Oh, That’s not it. I don’t blame you.]
Misunderstanding the girl’s silence as considerable shock at their failure to recognise, Graia had quickly followed up on the situation. The members of the knight brigade as well wore somewhat apologetic expressions. The girl saw that they held strong will in their eyes, and yet there was more than enough here to let her recognise anew that they were not players.
To try and confirm that it is a game, Kagami opened up the menu and tried to select <logout>……but could not. On the contrary, it was gone from the menu itself.
Her hypothesis from earlier so forming fast now.
Five senses that could be clearly felt. “humans” that were not players, not possible to logout, in reality 30 years have passed, and there was no version update, etc.
The impossible reproduction of the five senses. People with self recognition don’t know anything about players. The force exit code to logout isn’t recognized. A reality and game world that hadn’t differed even one second in four year increments had now become the future.
Also, with development with a national budget average of expenses, there should have been an announcement of the implementation.
It mimics real-world. The hypothesis that she drove to the corner of her head is being rebuilt. Based on the above, this is another world or an extension of a whole new world. She spun another question.
[Have you heard of one called Dunbalf?]
Asking about a past person should reveal some things.
[Of course I do. Someone who doesn’t know Dunbalf doesn’t exist in this country.]
[Right, everyone?], the knights all gave large nods as though it was obvious.
By this answer, it was obvious that there was a character named Dunbalf. Next was to find out if she was the same person or just someone with the same name.
[Do you know what kind of person she was?]
[Well even if you ask me what kind of person she was, well, like I mentioned earlier there’s nobody in this country that doesn’t know of him. When you speak of Master Dunbalf, what comes to mind is this nation’s hero who played an active role in the <Age of Upheaval>. She was an Elder of the Silver Linked Towers, and was a Summoning Expert and Sage feared in other nations as <War Power Dunbalf>, right?]
The words that the commander spoke as though obvious, completely agreed with the girl’s memories. And…
She had established that even that Chuunibyou-esque alias had been passed down.
[Ohh…? A hero, you say?]
[That’s right. It’s said that in the wars following the founding of the country, she held continuously held back the enemy advances and created a chance for victory after all, and there’s also the story of how as an Elder, the platoon she created descended the enemy camp into chaos. Moreover, I’ve heard that she was the one who developed the refinement technique with few users today, and that she could use the powerful Xuan techniques as well. Well, it’s not just Master Dunbalf, but there are huge numbers of anecdotes for all the Sages.]
What Graia spoke of was just like the history in her memory. The war was the same, as was having Xuan Expert as second class, and being the Elder Dunbalf who had thought up t refinement technology after researching. There was no mistaking that all of these anecdotes had been piled together and passed down as the tale of Dunbalf the hero.
[Hmm, I see. And so, do you know of Dunbalf’s final days?]
[His final days…? Mmmn, I haven’t really heard anything about him having died… To begin with, this is something that happened thirty years ago, but one day she departed for the national borders to subjugate some monster than appeared, and was never seen again. There’s no way Master Dunbalf would lose to just some monsters, so in those days the whole country had conducted a search it seems, but it was said that they couldn’t find him.]
[I see, so that is the case.]
It went exactly as her memory did. This means that it was the same world but 30 years later, Kagami is convinced of that.]
She didn’t know what unreasonable thing actually happened, but she forced himself to stay calm.
The problem was what would happen if at this rate, she just honestly said that her name was Dunbalf. It might have been different in another country, but in this country it was a famous name. The name of a dignified and sombre, veteran summon master who was an Elder of the Silver Linked Towers. And according to the story just now, presently a hero.
That hero had been turned into this… lovely girl. When she imagined the cold gazes she would suffer when she returned to her original form, the girl trembled at the immeasurable crisis she was in.
This was not some kind of strange joke.
Graia and the others couldn’t <Investigate> so she would use this to her advantage. Having made up her mind, unnoticeable to anyone else, the girl snickered. It was a cunning plan, all for the sake of her self-protection and honour.
Her official excuse would be that even if a hero who disappeared thirty years ago reappeared as a little girl, nobody would readily believe it. Moreover, if she desperately tried to convince them that she was Dunbalf, and they asked her why things turned out like this, there was no way that she could tell them about how she was creating her ideal woman and smirking away. No matter how she thought about it, it would deliver something lethal to her image.
A little bit lost in though trying to think of a pseudonym, she thought it would be appropriate to convert her real name into something usable.
[Do you know something about Dunbalf?]
[No, I do not. Well then, it seems that I have yet to give my name. I am Mira. Because I am still a beginner, it is a given that you do not know me.]
She spoke while placing her hand against her chin, but because Dunbalf’s beard was missing, she felt somehow uneasy, and the girl, Mira, felt anxiety for her future.
Posted on 29th Mar 2015 29th Mar 2015 by PrairieEagle
I’m sort of glad that no one is here to see this awful crap.
If you know of a better way to word something, or know the correct translation, tell me.
2. Disaster of a Hobby
Why has it happen.
Kagami was used his brain to the maximum in an attempt to remember everything before he had fallen asleep. Meanwhile, the Captain was troubled by the girls appearance, decided to gather his troops around to ensure that the girl didn’t have to look at the terrible site and to split into units to search for an acquaintance of the girl.
The figure that Kagami saw was the ideal image of a woman he had imagined at the time.
What did this mean exactly? Thinking back through his memory, he was sure that he hadn’t saved after he created her.
He had cancelled it, and then logged out……
He couldn’t recall any more than that. Maybe a little before he logged out. He had a feeling that he cancelled before even that.
Everything after being called to breakfast seemed to be hazy.
Kagami operated the bracelet-shaped terminal and opened up the status screen from the menu.
At the bottom of the screen lied the various information about the avatar.
Name: Danbulf Gandadore
Class: Summoning Expert / Senjutsu Master (TL: sounds better than other options)
Affiliation: Arkite Kingdom
Base: Silver Linked Towers | (Summoner)
HP: 1210 / 1210
Strength: 5 + 20
Stamina: 6 + 15
Mana: 51 + 10
Dexterity: 7 + 15
Agility: 6 + 37
There didn’t seem to be a particular problem. As far as Kagami could tell, he hadn’t even logged in as a different avatar. It was the exact status that Dunbalf has had for 4 years.
Numerical value may have seemed low when compared with other games but the difference between 1 point was, in fact, very large.
The general strength of an adult male is 4. In other words when strength becomes 8, you are twice as powerful as a normal adult male.
A person that has a strength of 10 can be said to be an expert soldier of considerable skill.
Kagami’s shoulders dropped and his hope was crushed after looking at the next page of the status screen.
Head: Moonlight Stone Circlet
Neck: Marurun Super Z Necklace (TN: Most likely a reference to something, possibly Waka Waka 7)
Torso: Philosopher’s Robe (Summoner)
Arms: All-purpose gloves
Legs: Philosopher’s Robe (Summoner)
Feet: Pegasus Boots
Finger: Mars Ring
There wasn’t any problems with the equipment. They were given to him by the Arkite Kingdom when he became an Elder of the Silver Linked Tower. They were custom-made by leading players in the craft for only Dunbalf to have.
The problem was the appearance of the one wearing the equipment. The figure of the ideal girl that Kagami had created was wearing them in the status screen. Until then, Dunbalf’s dignified appearance was the only one in the status screen.
Kagami began taking off his robe, and watched as the status field that contained Torso and Feet changed to “empty”.
While ascertaining the body that was revealed, he noticed supple silver hair dancing around him. There was enough breast to spill out from a small hand, Sheer white skin, Two modestly plump legs that stretch out from a humble butt. It was a manifestation of ideals made possible by the <Vanity Case>, there was nothing wrong.
Everything showed off Kagami’s preferences.
[AHHHHH! HEY HEY HEY! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!?]
The captain panicked and wrapped his read cloak around the defenceless limbs of the young girl.The surrounding knights only stared for a moment before they steeled themselves and looked away.
[Although it isn’t a problem since my knights are all sincere and honest people, it won’t do for a young lady such as yourself to be so careless.]
Whether they were players or not, Kagami was impressed with the reactions of the knights.
If a player is well known enough than it is possible to work with a group of NPCs but Kagami determined the captain to seemingly be different as NPCs don’t normally show such reactions.
He didn’t want to believe it but Kagami decided to not regret the situation whether he had accidentally completed the creation or not.
He concludes it must have been affected by the version update. He decides not to buy another <Vanity Case> so he doesn’t have to charge another $8s just to buy a $4 dollar item. Dirty adults.
After putting his robe back on, the status screen once again showed that the torso and legs had the <Philosopher’s Robe>. The naked avatar on the screen reflected that.
[Is that an Operator’s Bracelet? So you were an adventurer.]
Whilst putting back on the returned mantle, the commander muttered this as he looked at the girl’s arm.
The Operator’s Bracelet. It was an unfamiliar term to her. Following the commander’s gaze, there was no mistake that he was refering to the terminal. However, there was no need for him to ask about it. As long as you were a player, you would have one, so conjecting that you were an adventurer from this was just strange, thought the girl. To begin with, ‘adventurers’ referred to players anyway.
If it is the elite magic knights, there is no way they could be amateur players. Even if there was only a few curious player that join the small Arkite Kingdom, Kagami doubted that they had never seen one.
[If asked whether or not I am an adventurer, I suppose I am.]
Kagami’s own voice cause him discomfort. It had too cute of a tone.
The tone of Danbulf he had been using since the official start 4 years ago.
When he had assumed the appropriate tone when he looked dignified and started to RP. Now after 4 years, a different tone was forcefully made and he even had to be a girl. Kagami decided it would be too much trouble to change tones so suddenly and abandoned the idea to do so early.
[You were an adventurer huh? Coming here with your companions to hunt, and then meeting the hobgoblin herd huh. What a disaster.]
Hobgoblin?
His neck felt stiff and his hair felt heavy.
<Hobgoblins> are a subspecies of goblins that normally inhabit places such as mines. They are much stronger than normal goblins because of metal weapons they use and their skin is blue and green. Kagami nodded his head after he remembered this but with Dunbalf, the difference was negligible.
[It is all right, We will surely find your friends soon.]
Although it is rare for a player to go so far when role-playing, there wasn’t much reason to discourage it.
[You won’t be able to find them. I am alone.]
[Alone, young miss, huh? Did you happen to see the adventurers that defeated the hobgoblins? WE would like to give thanks to the brave ones that did it.]
Kagami thought it might be time to show off Dark Knight.
[The one who did it was this person.]
After once again activating <Summoning: Dark Knight>, the black knight appeared.
[This…This is!?
[What is this damn thing!?]
The cautious knights whipped out their swords and took distance.
[Is this by chance…… Summoning magic?]
[That is correct.]
When the captain heard the girls words, he ordered the knights to put down their sword. THe knights looked at the black knight with a look of admiration.
[Such a rare summon…is the young lady perchance a summoning expert? It seems to be a very strong swordsman.]
[Hmm, It happens to be a favorite of mine. Might I ask why there are magic knights in such a place?]
It seemed strange to Kagami for the captain to consider it a rare thing when it is one of the most rudimentary armoured spirits but a summoning expert using such a low-class summon is indeed rare, so it can be said to be a bit unusual.
Getting close the the border with a such elite knights may cause some misunderstandings with the neighboring countries. The Arkite kingdom doesn’t like aggressive wars and normally only uses the Magic Knights for national defence. Kagami couldn’t guess why such valuable knights were dispatched to this area.
In the first place as an Elder of the Silver Linked Towers, Kagami should have heard about the large movements of troops.
[Oh, There was information that demons had gathered near the border so I was dispatched for subjugation.]
The subjugation of the demons was the task that Kagami finished not long ago. If they are citizens of ArKite Kingdom, then they should know about the turn based system, yet why would a high ranking officer of the country not know about it? Doubt began to form in the mind of Kagami.
[Hasn’t the young lady heard? A fierce battle with demons that came flying from the sky happened 10 years ago. Since then the number of occurrences of demons have nearly doubled. It seemed to be related to that time.]
[Ten years ago……What?]
[You don’t know, huh? Well that’s understandable considering that young lady would be about 2 or 3 years old.]
In the first place, even the closed Beta hadn’t started 10 years ago.
The time in [Arc Earth Online] was the exact same as real time. Kagami hasn’t heard of any story of a fierce battle with demons as a setting.
At the start of official release was September 1, 2112. Both Earth and AEO had the same dates. it should be September 14, 2116, it would be impossible for anything to have happened 10 years ago.
Anything that I have No idea about, will be put in {}.
The differences between WN and LN is starting to show. Thankfully many of the harder explanations are still within the chapters that The Esteemed 5th Holy Sheeprabbit, Estelion Sharlulu Asheel Vinchance Celenalia di ef Falufiluu’Luufilaafee (The 35th) did so some confusion was cleared.
Thank you to The Esteemed 5th Holy Sheeprabbit for the translations of some of the more confusing portions.
I will be trying to actually learn a bit of Japanese to make this process go faster but no promises. I am lazy and I give up easily without support.
1. Basic Summoning
Oh that’s right, He fell asleep before logging out.
Kagami had to organize his thoughts before he remembered that he fell asleep after being called to breakfast. He looked up at the sky and put his hands to his head.
He didn’t know how long he had slept but judging by how his sister hadn’t beaten him, it couldn’t have been long.
After he had closed his eyes and wiped them to get rid of the sleepiness, he noticed the he was in a meadow surrounded by forest. Dotted by flowers that were unknown to him with a magnificent mountain range in the distance. Dull silver towers could be seen sparkling in the valley.
Looking at the familiar scene he put his hand to his chin to organize his thoughts, not noticing his discomfort.
This is a famous phrase in net gaming: “sleep fall”. It means that the player fell asleep and the avatar shows no reaction.
In the present conditions, there seems to be no problem caused by sleep fall since he was awake now. VR, after falling asleep will automatically shut down and turn off.
But all the reflection from the mountain tower in the mesh showed it was a [Silver Tower]. There is no way to be mistake for it because Kagami uses one of the nine towers as a base.
It could be a bug but he wasn’t shut down after falling asleep but there was something weird that seemed rather serious.
It was a smell. Every time the wind blows, an uncomfortable smell of grass crossed his nose.
ＶＲ技術が進歩しているとはいえ、触覚はそれなりに再現されてきてはいたが、味覚と嗅覚はまだ実用レベルには至っていない。それなのに鼻から息を吸い込むとハッキリと脳はその香りを認識する。
Although VR technology has progressed with the sense of tough, taste and smell don’t even reach practical levels. Yet clearly the smell is being interpreted through the nose properly.
Kagami picked some grass for a small trial and nibbled on it. After spitting it out and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, his face distorted from the bitter taste that spread through his mouth.
The taste stimulates the tongue and are carefully reproduced along with saliva. After grazing he noticed there were creatures at a distance around him that were holding a dull knife in one hand. They were as tall as children and completely blue with pointed ears, not pale faced but actually blue.
Oh, so it’s that.
He remembered that he had come to accomplish the subjugation of a crowd of demons that appeared in the vicinity of the border. It is good to finally clean them up. The figure of the creature was one Kagami had seen ever since his beginner days, a basic [Goblin]. Looking at them now, they weren’t even a challenging opponent but it was his turn on duty so he readied himself.
[Summon: Dark Knight] (TN: Batman?)
Of all the Summoner skills that he had learned, the armoured spirit summons was a favorite.
The spirits that Summoning Experts used were artificial spirits that lived in man-made creations or primordial spirits that were found naturally in the world.
Primordial spirits were the stronger of the two, but because man-made spirits lived in created objects, they were easier to use and easier to get close to.
Spirits that lived in the armour used by those that battled for themselves were called 『Dark Knights』 while those that lived in the armour used by those who fought to protect others were called 『Holy Knights』
(TN: the 2 paragraphs above are from Holy Sheeprabbit’s translation of the LN. Also it’s from chapter 2, so you can start to see differences between translations now.)
Armoured spirits like the Dark Knight belong to lower class spirits, but continuous use of it because of convenience transformed it to be almost as strong as a higher class spirit.
When a glowing hole opened up in the grass, a large knight starts to rise from it. The jet-black armour can give chills to those who look at it. It had no face, only two floating red eyes. It was intimidating enough to make any man scream at night.
The goblins start to stomp there feet and raise their voice to intimidate the Knight. Once again, Kagami feels a sense of discomfort.
Goblins normally don’t display such behaviour.
If spoken straight-forwardly, the goblins didn’t know their place and would always fight boldly, yet the goblins in from of him seem to be feeling fear.
However, now was not the time to think of such matters so he gave the Dark Knight the order to mop-up. Instantly, the surrounding turned into a slaughter-fest.
Whenever the large black sword was swung, 5 to 6 goblins cried death throes as they were turned into lumps of flesh. The sword created a storm rather than the sound of wind cutting.
The goblins yell of intimidation gradually turned into screams of despair. They tried to run away but the Dark Knight showed no mercy and made sure to kill every last one.
It was only 2 or 3 minutes. The gentle prairie wind was dyed with the blood of the demons, the entire scene was a vision of a fierce slaughter.
The bodies of the dead goblins numbered as much as 100 before Kagami had a chance to calmly think about the matter at hand.
The actions of the goblins, the taste, the smell. This is . . .
There is only one answer that came to mind.
It finally came …
The third update!
To reproduce the senses were still in the world-wide research phase was unbelievable and to even use it for a game before anything else was a huge jump but there didn’t seem to be any other conclusion.
Indeed, AEO always gave more than the imagination. He was sure that the reason he wasn’t logged out after falling asleep was because of the new update.
After convincing himself, he noticed signs through his second job skill [Biological Sensing] that a number of things were approaching from the depths of the forest. Whether they were ally or enemy couldn’t be determined.
About 50 of them were approaching. Kagami expected them to be reinforcements for the goblins.
The Dark Knight stood silently next to Kagami, surrounded by the 100 dead bodies. Even 50 goblin elite troops from the famous [Gnome Lance Corps] stood no chance against him.
The sound of the foot steps were firm and gradually increasing unlike a goblins. Goblins don’t make such marching sounds and would never be as collective.
In that case, his job of subjugating the monsters at the national borders was complete, so thinking of returning, he sent back his dark knight, when the vanguard appeared from inside the forest.
They were Knights. Engraved on their shield was a coat of arms of a great tree and the moon, showing they belonged to the [Arkite Kingdom].
Characterized by their armour and shield, they were the [Arkite Magic Knights]
The armour the reflects light like a mirror and assimilated with the views of the surrounding, the shield the boasts high defence against projectiles of demons. It’s troops were the elite among the knights that belong to the Arkite kingdom. Kagami was suspicious as to why they were near the border.
While contemplating, the Knight Captain stepped forward from the middle of the group. His hair was trimmed with a mix of black and beautiful gray hair, his face carried a scare as testament to the fact of his many battles, and his red cloak showed he was captain. He wasn’t as good looking as Dunbalf but he was handsome.
[This was…a fierce battle. Is that what happened, or did you not see anything, young lady?]
The words the captain spoke confused him. By looking around, it is clear that they were directed at him and not the spirit.
The problem was that Dunbalf couldn’t see the spirit. the magician classes could see spirits, while the warrior classes could see fighting spirit; that’s how the game was.
even if they were magic knights, a knight was a knight; they belonged to the warrior class.
Dunbalf was an elder of the silver linked towers, and a summon master; there should not have existed a spirit visible to a warrior class that was invisible to him.
[It must have been scary for a young lady to be in such a place, but it is all right now.]
The captain approached Kagami and puts a hand on his head while saying so.
[Be at peace because we will keep you safe]
(…..’s what …?)
Kagami was astonished. Dunbalf was created as a solemn man of 190cm (6’2″) tall. To comfort him as you would a small child was an outrageous idea.
More than that, what surprised him the most was that he had to look up at the captain. Subtracting the height of Dunbalf, there was enough height on the knight for him to be considered a giant.
To call Dunbalf a young lady.
With a figure full of dignity, he shook off the hand that had been placed on his head and glared at the knight.
[What ‘young lady’ are you talking about! I……I….]
He looked around for who made the voice that sounded like a bell. As well as the captain who was in the front, there wasn’t anyone that would have sounded like such a……girl.
[You seem to be upset, young lady. Here, drink some water.]
Once again saying ‘young lady’, the captain held out a leather pouch that contained water. His face showed the concern he felt.
Against all odds, he kept saying young lady when looking at Kagami and it doesn’t seem to be a joke made by the captain. He lowers his eyes in thought when his eyes become glued to the armour of the captain.
[This is…!]
Again, a pretty voice reached his ears.
It must have been a joke.
It was the Arkite Magic Knight Order’s official equipment, the Clear Mirror Armour. The surface of the armour that reflected light was already basically a mirror.
He watched as he moved his right hand then his left hand and the girl in the mirror mimicked him. It wasn’t imitation, it was harmonious.
That girl was familiar.
Silver hair down to her waist, strong blue eyes, a thin and even face with a small nose and cheeks that shone bright red with innocence. The equipment that Dunbalf wore was still intact, clearly only the size changed.
It was the ideal woman that Kagami made using the [Vanity Case].
Still have no clue how to make an index page. so fuck it.
Nevermind. I figured it out. Index page now works.
If anyone knows of a better way to say a sentence or know the correct sentence, tell me and I’ll replace it.
VR (Virtual Reality) was made about a half century ago and has managed to become an indispensable technology in today’s economy.
School is taught from home through a terminal at home. This meant a school could be made without cost of maintenance and without dangers of to and from commutes.
Businesses could greet clients through VR and all documents were digitized, making it overwhelmingly cheaper to rent and maintain a private server than buying and maintaining a building.
Because all things outside of physical needs could be satisfied with virtual reality, the VR technology continued developing rapidly.
Of course the game industry couldn’t help but join in. The resulting equipment was still quite expensive but it wasn’t rare for parents to give them as gifts to celebrate coming of age.
A number of VR only games ended up being developed.
Sakimori Kagami was also a normal youth who received a VR machine for his coming of age.
He went to a normal high school, graduated from a normal university, and entered a normal company.
He worked from home through the VR machine and was able to eat his mothers cooking for lunch during break and then went back to work.
There was no commute nor overtime work so he had no complaints about how he spent his days.
A game called [Arc Earth Online] was a VR game that had a closed beta that began and ended very quietly.
The reason that Sakimori Kagami knew about this minor game was because of a commercial that had aired late at night
The commercial went without sound or movement. It only displayed an VR access code for 15 seconds.
After starting the game out of curiosity, a title read [Arc Earth Online] appeared in a white room. The only other thing were two lines:
Begin Open β
He didn’t hate the fact that they didn’t try to butter him up. Thinking this, he tried downloading it. And after choosing “yes”, he installed it.
Without background textures or style fonts, he had no idea what kind of graphics or world this game would be.
As though attracted by something impossible to explain, he moved his right hand to begin.
The installation finished in about 15 minutes. When started, the home screen appears to the backdrop of the real world as if it was CG.
[Note: because it was CG. Also, just take a moment to realize that an entire virtual world was downloaded in a matter of 15 minutes. Think about how awesome that internet speed is compared to yours.]
With excitement, Kagami started making his own avatar.
Thus began Sakimori’s adventure in [Arc Earth Online].
─────────………………
[Arc Earth Online] officially started 4 years ago. It had no advertising for it, it only spread by word of mouth, despite that it managed to become one of the largest online games. Despite the number of players though, there was little information on the internet.
Kagami began from the open Beta and is now renown as a veteran player.
The setting of the game was classic fantasy with an overwhelming degree of freedom.
There was only one weird thing about the game.
The administration.
The version only updated twice within 4 years. No one knows the developer nor is there an official website.
But it gave a certain charm to the game and many players liked the unrestricted attitude it gave to the game.
Though it seemed optimistic to think so, the game was nearly complete upon release with hardly any bugs.
Today, Kagami was in charge of getting rid of a herd of monsters near the border of the country. Such subjugation missions were on a turn based system between players of the country.
And today was Kagami’s turn.
On the way out of the tower being used as a base, The high-pitched voice of his sister rings out telling him it’s time for dinner
After consuming dinner, he once again dived back into virtual reality.
Just before logging in, he noticed he received an email.
The contents of the email was about the money he had spent on [Arc Earth Online] was about to expire.
He had bought $8 when the game first started, and then $16 more a month later. (TLN: fuck yen, I’m going to have to tell you the conversion rate anyway, I may was well just put it in dollars.)
[Arc Earth Online] has a item shop that was similar to other net games. Even though you couldn’t buy armour and weapons, you could get cosmetic equipment.
A [Vanity Case] is one of them and with it the avatar could be changed and modelled to ideal. Of course, Kagami purchased one.
The [Vanity Case] could reset the appearance of the avatar for $4 and had an abundance of choices.
Even at the start of the official service there were in the thousands appearance options but with the [Vanity Case] it is possible to choose from tens of thousands. It was common sense for players to reset there character and remake them using the [Vanity Case].
The character Kagami created was full of majesty. The figure was full of the dignity of a wizard like gray hair and a long beard. Kagami spent a full day making it.
The name of the avatar came from the principle of the worldwide hit movie about an adventure with a ring.
The name is Danbalf.
His class was Summoning Expert.
He chose a mage ate the beginning of open beta but didn’t understand the method to learn magic at all. Without being able to manage even the simplest magic, he resorted to just single-minded bashing with their cane.
Even if he leveled up, he didn’t learn magic and there was no manual or tutorial.
It was a ridiculous game and many chose to abandon the game but others found fun in exploring it. However, learning magic proved impossible after looking.
So when the official game started, he changed magic class.
It is only possible to summon by clearing summoning art quests. The Summoner can then employ through contract any spirits defeated. The degree of difficulty of the acquisition is high but the method to learn how to summon only requires you to take up quests from the exclusive bulletin board.
Because it is a summoning mechanic.
The lack of explanation even after official service started made many groan with complaints. After running around with no clue an opportunity presented itself.
If sever conditions were met, than a player can found a country.
PLayers were excited by the fact that they could becoming king, preparing the military, developing a city. Invade other countries, defend by building a fort, and hire mercenaries. The power to create a story was in their hands.
In addition, major events due to their actions will be added to the history that can be browsed from the menu.
With this, players with burning ambition can join in the government service, Wanderlust people can become adventurers, found secret societies, become merchants, mercenaries, even assassins. The complaints died out with the wide range of play available.
The degree of freedom did not stop there. For example, there are many types of weapons, armour, medicine and depending on the player, entirely new legendary devices could be made.
If it can be done in reality, it can be done in game.
Some players found fun in being a blacksmith and if their name was famous enough, one sword could be sold for millions.
Skilled woodworkers could build castles and evolve building technology.
People who love to dig found hot springs and ended up managing huge spa towns.
A friend of Kagami became an intructor for a dojo is another example.
What kingd of things are possible and what kinds of skills are there? The players challenged a variety of thing and many were successful. THe systems limits was seemingly endless.
Someone invented new sports that used magic, another realized his dream of becoming a pirate, others became skilled at collecting information and became information brokers.
Meanwhile, there were people who made a list of the skills and divided them into every classification with statistics and summarized them into a book.
The book published became a best seller and made the author wealthy.
In fact, Dumbalf also developed special skills. One of them was made through trial and error in order to compensate for the disadvantage of being a mage.
The skill was a second class. Kagami’s main class is a Summoner and his second class was that of a close proximity fighter that uses Senjutsu. He learned this through various training.(TN: literally: Sage techniques)
Staying under a waterfall, withstand a day hanging upside down from a tree, walking against the wind, etc.
Incidentally, a month after the release the use of magic became little more clear. Magic diagrams drawn on paper along with a catalyst to use early magic [Magic: Flame] by burning them. But this required multiple catalyst and the paper itself was hardly circulating and any mistakes would just burn everything. It wasn’t easy to learn even if you remember everything.
In addition to the Vanity case, another item Kagami bought was a [Floating Continent]. The size was about a school yard with a track of about 100 meters. It can be used to build a house on or grow valuable plants. Since it can move in the sky, it can also be used as a vehicle. Kagami had been using the cheapest tree house model as a warehouse.
A [Floating Continent] is $16. Kagami could only put money in at $8 increments. After buying a [Vanity Case] and [Floating Continent] in the beginning, $4 remained.
As is expected, it was only $4 added four years ago, there wasn’t any great regrets, but still Kagami believed there was no need to waste it and opened up the billing item list.
A private room with an [Advanced Forge], [Advanced Alchemy], or [Advanced Sewing] cost $8.
A [Floating Continent] with the options [Golem Fort], [Swan Lake], [Brick House], [Butler Mansion], [Noble House A], [Noble House B], [Noble House C], [Noble House D], [Spiral Tower], [Rich Field], and such costs $16.
Including the [Vanity Case], that is the full line-up.
The only choice was the [Vanity Case]. You must put in $8 even if you only want to buy a [Vanity Case]. That is the way of the adult world. Dirty adults.
Kagami felt there was little point in not buying another [Vanity Case] and with it, his balance became 0.
In order to accomplish the subjugation duty, Kagami logged in. Using the bracelet terminal to open the Item field, there was the purchased [Vanity Case].
By the way, this bracelet-shaped terminal was on of the upgraded additions to the version update. At first it was a key floating in the air, or a gesture with the hands. This caused the scene of pointing out at nothing from others viewpoint. Because many of the users made a big deal out of it, the bracelet was implemented.
Four years ago was the last time Kagami had used a [Vanity Case]. It looked similar to Japanese lacquerware. Kagami stared at the small box in nostalgia for a while. There were far less choices during the open beta and Kagami wasn’t able to make his favorite avatar. Distant memories of a brown haired gentlemen with sunken features.
The Official start began and had an astonishing number of parts for when you created an avatar but Kagami rushed to by a vanity case once he knew that it added almost 10 times the amount of options.
Kagami felt that Dunbalf was the greatest.
At the time, not interested in other parts, Kagami doesn’t remember many of the options.
Out of curiosity, for what was the first time in four years, he opened the avatar creation screen.
Personality parts such as [Active], [Modest], [Aggressive], and [Weakness] along with some impression categories like [Mysterious], [Majestic], [Dismal], and [Cheerful] were all available. Listing them all one by one would take all day.
Looking at the list, Kagami felt that convinced that Dunbalf was the best.
An avatar that exceeded his own did not exist, he was created in the ideal male image. Staring at his accomplishment, Kagami was satisfied.
Male.
It was the letter showing the sex of the avatar.
A sudden thought formed in Kagami’s mind. It is the ideal manly image was reproduced perfectly.
Then what about the ideal image for woman?
After he changed the sex, Dunbalf changes to a girl.
Feeling a little bit ticklish, He felt a little shame from looking at the appearance of the girl.
Choosing the parts…was a little exciting. Kagami chose the [Aggressive] category and began examining the sorted parts.
How long had it been after starting to make the ideal female figure? His sisters voice called out to Kagami just as he was fully satisfied telling him breakfast was ready.
He looked at the bracelet terminal in a hurry and confirmed the time was 9:00 am. It was Sunday so there wasn’t a problem with him sleeping. Immediately after that though, Kagami was overcome by his need to sleep.
When he was about to log out, the world turned dark and he fell deep into sleep.
Posted on 21st Mar 2015 by PrairieEagle
Sucks. A lot. I’ve had 3 laptops over the past year, and here is how they go:
1. hard drive fails. got it replaced so the screen decides to shatter.
2. harddrive fails. this was a throw away laptop with no touch screen anyway so screw it.
3. my favorite laptop with 15 inch screen and decent hardware. harddrive failure. Got it replaced so once again, screen decides to go bad.
FM God-damned L
I will resume machine translation after I settle in with the first laptop and will be able to pick up the pace after I get my nice, large laptop.
Update – Prologue 50%
So with The Esteemed 5th Holy Sheeprabbit, Estelion Sharlulu Asheel Vinchance Celenalia di ef Falufiluu’Luufilaafee (The 35th) doing more chapters, I feel it’s useless to do the same ones that they do, but since they will be skipping around, I will put out the half prologue I have done out and then try and fill in the gaps that they leave.
I was only doing the prologue to both see how well I can do it and to show everyone the difference in quality. Let me be clear, my focus is making the Machine Translation understandable so as to get a sense of what is going on.
The prologue is just an example of my work and reflects all work after it.
Posted on 17th Mar 2015 by PrairieEagle
Trying to figure shit out with this site.
I’m currently halfway done with the prologue which is different from the LN prologue that The Esteemed 5th Holy Sheeprabbit, Estelion Sharlulu Asheel Vinchance Celenalia di ef Falufiluu’Luufilaafee (The 35th) did.
trying to figure out an easy way for me to post an index page.
A Project for when I’m really bored
I promise nothing, but I want to know how hard it would be to machine translate a web novel such as “She Professed Herself the Pupil of the Wise Man”. As I have little time and understanding of the Japanese language, this MT will basically be just me putting out a readable MT version of the web novel and if anyone is interested in picking it up, please for the love of all that is gender-bent holy, do so.