Opportunities in Games Become Reality: Episode 171
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Opportunities in Games Become Reality: Episode 171
41. The Duke King's Eccentricity (2)
The level cap for Chronicle Online, the virtual reality game where the Opportunity sleeps, is 300, and it usually takes about one to one and a half years to reach max level.
As a game in its 10th year since launch, there are plenty of veterans, and many people belong to organizations.
If such people raise a new character, it would take a year.
For a beginner, it would take a year and a half.
However, since I acquired the Opportunity, I've been keeping as much distance from others as possible and playing cautiously, which inevitably lengthens the time to max level I estimated two to two and a half years to reach the cap.
Currently, after about a year and five months of playing, my level is 265.
My pace is much faster than originally expected.
This is possible because the Priest Bug joined my party, and I bought exclusive rights to an efficient hunting ground with money.
"Until now, I judged that even if it was slow, as long as I grew steadily and safely, that was enough. After all, the Opportunity isn't going to run away."
"But now you've decided to increase the speed even if it means overexerting yourselves."
"That's right."
I looked at the line of people while conversing with Arcia.
Twenty game users of different classes Swordsman, Mage, Archer, Spearman, Martial Artist, Thief, Assassin, Scout, Holy Knight, Monk, Druid, Spirit Master, Tamer, Enchanter, Black Mage, and so on.
Their levels ranged from 270 to 285.
Today, I plan to test combinations with them and form a party that can draw out the optimal efficiency.
The reason I never tried to get involved with other people until now was to avoid revealing the differences between ordinary people and myself.
A supporter who looks human by all accounts, yet groans in pain every time they're hit isn't that strange and odd?
"You've all fully memorized how to play the game, right?"
"Yes! That's correct!"
"Good."
However, the reason I can now consider forming a party with others is that beings who will keep my secret more reliably than anyone else have come under my command.
That's right.
Their true identity is none other than agents of Blue Moon.
The number of agents in Blue Moon who know about me is exactly 25, including special-class agents and top-tier managers, and out of those 25, 20 were dispatched, excluding the 5 who truly cannot spare the time.
Their characters were all bought with money, and their equipment was set to the highest standard as well.
"Then let's start with the standard approach. We'll add an Archer and a Thief to form a 5-person party."
If I used all 20 of them, the hunting speed would increase, but it's hard to call that good efficiency.
Currently, in the 3-person party of me, Arcia, and Bug, the combat members are only me and Arcia, yet we show a hunting speed and growth rate nearly on par with a 5-person party.
When the number of party members increases, it's natural for the experience gain per person to drop, and the hunting speed must improve by the amount of experience lost.
But if the efficiency relative to time actually decreases, what's the point of adding more party members?
It's better to just keep going as we are.
Therefore, a process of coordinating and trying various combinations was essential.
'If I add other combatants, our combat styles are bound to clash.'
Only me and Arcia can challenge the Named monster hunting, one of the Opportunity Quest tasks.
If I get used to battles with help from many people, my skill cannot improve, and in the worst case, my senses might even dull.
Since combat experience in the game carries over to real combat, I didn't want to use such a method.
But the mysterious attacks targeting the Hollywood System gave me such a sense of crisis that I felt I needed to raise my level quickly, even if it meant enduring these drawbacks.
"It's really inconvenient having a melee dealer join the fight."
"But the damage output is clearly different."
"Still, when you factor in experience gained per hour, it's much lower."
"Isn't it just because we haven't synchronized yet?"
"It's not just about synchronization I think the bigger issue is that their control ability in the game can't keep up with ours."
What I felt from the first 5-person party combination was that when someone else joined in between me and Arcia, who were used to 2-person combat, it actually slowed our pace.
"The combination is good, but I think choosing a class that doesn't affect our pace is what matters."
I wondered why Bug had chosen the Priest.
No matter how important the combination was, since me and Arcia were anomalies, I could feel once again that not breaking our existing pace was the top priority.
"Then let's try again with a Spirit Master and an Enchanter."
So this time, instead of a Priest, we chose an Enchanter specialized purely in Buffs and a Spirit Master, a stationary dealer that doesn't damage allies.
"This works."
As expected, this kind of approach seems to be the right answer.
A combination that can maintain the existing style.
The ambiguous combination of Swordsman, Mage, Spirit Master, Priest, and Enchanter actually showed higher efficiency than the standard combination.
Experience gained per hour improved by about 10% compared to before.
That alone can't be ignored, but considering this party still isn't fully synchronized, there was plenty of room for efficiency to rise further.
"For now, this is a keeper."
After that, we tried various other combinations.
The Spirit Master + Assassin combo wasn't bad for burst damage, and the 3-Mage combo adding a Black Mage and a Mage was surprisingly decent too.
But in the end, we judged that the 5-person party with a Spirit Master and an Enchanter was the most stable and had the most growth potential.
"However, we'll need to swap the players. It'd be better if Sir Gregory and Sir August handle the Enchanter and Spirit Master respectively."
"I will do my utmost to serve my lord."
Playing with many people, I could clearly see the difference in each person's game sense, leaving aside their understanding of the game.
So I added Gregory, who properly controlled the Assassin, and August, who showed near-obsessive control as a Black Mage, to the party.
As expected, the special-class agents were different even inside the game.
"Then let's put together a 10-person party now."
If the 10-person party turns out to be less efficient than the 5-person party, I plan to just keep farming with the 5-person party.
But we do need to form a 10-person party, because it allows us to participate in something called "Group Quests."
These Group Quests are like daily quests, and they're a major source of experience that greatly helps users grow.
Aside from Group Quests, there are quite a few events like special dungeons that can only be done with a 10-person party.
We spent a long time trying various combinations, and finally we were able to reach a conclusion.
"The answer's clear."
"Splitting into two 5-person parties gives the best synergy."
"Right."
We spent a whopping 3 days just on finding the party composition.
The final conclusion was that having 10 people constantly fight in sync seemed difficult, and efficiency would drop, so we decided to keep the existing 5-person party as the main force and form one additional 5-person party to cooperate for Group Quests and events.
And so, the party composition was finalized.
[Main Party]
-Members: Me, Arcia, Bug, Gregory, August
-Classes: Mage, Swordsman, Priest, Enchanter, Spirit Master
[Sub Party]
-Members: Busk, Owen, Helen, Iena, Enti
-Classes: Monk, Mage, Black Mage, Assassin, Priest
The sub party's members are also all special-class agents except for one administrator named Enti.
In other words, 6 out of Blue Moon's 8 special-class agents were mobilized for Chronicle Online.
Pulling out a large number of Blue Moon's assassins will cause some disruptions to certain missions for a while, but I decided to use people with the mindset that as long as they gather information properly, I don't care if the other operations take a loss.
That's how important this has become to me.
"Sub party members also need to keep playing to get a feel for it. Understood?"
"Yes!"
I gave this plan the flashy codename "Level Booster."
The goal was to cut the scheduled time by nearly half at the very least.
Levels remaining to max level 300 were 35.
According to schedule, reaching max level would take about 200 days, but we would narrow that down to around 100 days.
* * *
You can't be full from the first spoonful.
I know that well.
Still, the effect was clear.
Because the level-up speed, which normally rose at a pace of 1 level per 6 days, was narrowed down to about 1 level per 4.5 days.
"Well, this level of results is only expected in exchange for crippling Blue Moon's operational capacity."
Even with the Blue Moon agents still fumbling around, if I gradually raised our proficiency, leveling up once every 3 days would be entirely possible.
Thanks to that, I was able to shake off some of my unease.
I don't know what that black-masked group is up to, but they won't be able to hurt me.
"If only there wasn't a playtime limit, that would be even better."
In Chronicle Online, you can't play for more than 10 hours straight.
If you stay connected past that, you're forcibly logged out, so you have no choice but to rest offline.
If it were up to me, I'd buy out the game company just to remove that restriction, but that's the one thing I can't do.
It was a restriction the Hollywood System put in place to keep people from confusing reality with fantasy.
Then again, thanks to that restriction I can handle real-world work, so it's not a purely bad rule.
"Huh?"
"It's nothing."
Opportunities are important, but there are also things I can't neglect in reality.
What I'm doing today is one of those things.
"Congratulations, Your Highness the King. In just a year and a half, you've gone from a son of a viscount family to a king. Remarkable."
"Truly incredible!"
*Clap clap clap!*
That important, can't-miss event is the coronation ceremony.
That's right.
This moment where I'm grumbling about game playtime is, in everyone else's eyes, the moment a most solemn coronation ceremony is taking place.
The one offering me congratulations was the President of the Prius Republic, who had also attended the victory commemoration last time, and the woman clapping with a bright smile as if it were her own celebration was Sia Rin, the Queen of the Kingdom of Roberto.
"Haha, thank you."
As of today, the former northern territory of the Croysen Empire has become the Duchy of Lawrence.
At the Lord's estate of the Crimson Duchy, the heart of that northern region, I was crowned amid the congratulations of countless people.
The ceremony was held on an extravagant scale, as if to flaunt my wealth, with dignitaries from every nation in attendance, including the Emperor of the Rhinehearts Empire.
But my expression stubbornly refused to relax.
And not because of the game.
"Die!"
"Damn Rhinehearts bastards!"
"The demon who killed His Grace the Duke of Crimson has the nerve to hold his coronation right here!"
"Boooooo!"
It was because of the jeers ringing out loudly from outside the Lord's estate.
Well, I understand.
I did ask Emperor Mikhail for the northern lands of the Croysen Empire, but the feudal lord of those northern lands was the Grandmaster, the Duke of Crimson.
They're a people who already despise Rhinehearts, and now a man who might as well be their sworn enemy is being crowned king before them of course they'd be furious.
"You're in for a rough time."
"Indeed I am."
I shrugged at President Izrael's words.
"Um, what should we do?"
Just then, Pesius who had handed the intelligence bureau to his son and become the Duke's Knight Captain and a new Count asked.
Without much deliberation, I answered simply.
"Disperse them and arrest the ringleaders."
"What? That will only make things worse."
"Won't they riot anyway?"
They've clearly lost their reason to anger, but this is a feudal system nation.
I should exploit that system thoroughly.
"A-As you command."
Perhaps he hadn't expected me to give such an order, Pesius hesitated for a moment, but soon bowed his head obediently.
For now, there's nothing to be done about it.
It's a situation where mutual understanding is impossible.
But give it about a year, and they'll start to notice something different.
"Ah, the Croysen Empire really was a shitty country."