Chapter 15 – Character Customization

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As expected, offline gatherings are bound to be fun.

Pink Berry, or rather, Hayan, and I talked about what to do after reaching max level.

Today’s offline gathering is over, and from tomorrow, I can enjoy the max-level content. So, I asked Hayan what I should do.

First, I need to get max-level equipment.

The equipment I’m wearing now is either quest rewards or basic equipment sold in stores.

In LEORE, item level is more important than character level. The way to increase your stats after reaching max level is to raise your item level.

So, the first thing to do after reaching max level is the dungeon!

A dungeon that requires a party of four. The party composition is usually one Tank, two Dealers, and one Healer.

The first max-level dungeon you should run is the [Underground Cave].

Just hearing the name makes me think there will be monsters I don’t want to see.

Originally, I was afraid of ghosts. I wouldn’t watch horror movies even if someone gave me a ticket.

I’m okay with gore, but I can’t handle jump scares.

But after becoming Arang, I also started to hate bugs.

The Queen Spider was okay because it had spider legs attached to a human body.

The problem is that the monsters in the Underground Cave dungeon are said to be spiders, rats, and large bugs.

Ugh… I already hate it.

“Come to think of it, Older Sister Hayan looks exactly like her original Character Customization? Oh, except for the eye color.”

Hayan is wearing equipment that makes her look like a saint in LEORE. I thought she was pretty when I first saw her.

That pretty Pink Berry looks exactly like the real Pink Berry Hayan. The only differences are the eye color and outfit?

It’s impossible to wear the same outfit from LEORE in real life.

[Ah, yeah. I was too lazy to Character Customize, so I just started.]

“Character Customization is definitely a hassle.”

When I play games, I usually use Character Customizations made by others or make only minor changes to the default presets.

But in LEORE, everything from the nickname to the Character Customization was already done when I opened my eyes as Arang.

“I also look exactly the same as my LEORE Character Customization.”

Wait a minute.

“No, come to think of it, I don’t have arms and legs in real life, so there are many differences between the Character Customization and reality?”

Since I didn’t have arms and legs before, but now I do, you could say that about half of the Character Customization is different from reality.

[…]

Time flew by as we talked about LEORE.

Before I knew it, I got a call from downstairs saying that the Bossam I ordered had arrived.

“Older Sister Hayan. Older Sister Hayan.”

[Uh, yeah? What’s wrong?]

“I have that Hikikomori feeling—I can talk well in the virtual world, but not so much in reality? So, don’t be too surprised.”

[Oh? Oh, okay.]

Older Sister Anna came back, and after the Bossam was all set up on the table next to my bed, she came over and took off my Deathbed Machine.

As my vision was covered in darkness, I opened my eyes and saw the real Older Sister Hayan instead of Pink Berry on the screen.

Once again, my mind fell into a swamp and was trapped in the depths of the sea.

But I can feel that I’m getting better little by little.

I nodded and greeted Older Sister Hayan.

Older Sister Hayan looked at me and was startled. She was surprised by my appearance.

It’s a little embarrassing for me to say it myself, but Arang’s appearance is so good that it puts most child actors to shame.

I was so surprised when I first saw Arang’s appearance after regaining consciousness. It was exactly Older Sister Hayan’s reaction.

Older Sister Anna neatly cleaned up everything around my body and picked me up.

Having turned back into a doll, I rested my head against Older Sister Anna’s chest and looked at the delicious Bossam that was prepared.

“Shall we eat now?”

Older Sister Anna said on my behalf.

“…Yes.”

I ate the Bossam that Older Sister Anna fed me.

As expected of my real older sister, she put whatever I wanted into my mouth whenever I wanted.

Mmm~ The Bossam is so delicious.

As expected, the salted shrimp and Kimchi are important for Bossam.

While I was eating the Bossam, I thought, since I’m supposed to be a doll who can’t speak because I’m not used to emotions yet, why aren’t Older Sister Anna and Older Sister Hayan talking?

Well, it would be strange to suddenly talk like close friends when it’s the first time meeting.

Older Sister Hayan must be very shy.

But is the Bossam that delicious? There are tears in Older Sister Hayan’s eyes. Oh, did she accidentally bite into raw garlic?

“Arang, should I give you some Spicy Noodles too?”

“…Yes.”

The offline gathering was a success.

After eating the Bossam deliciously, I went back into the Deathbed Machine and laughed and talked about LEORE.

As Hayan and I said we should have another offline gathering next time, she left the hospital room with Anna.

==

As soon as Lee Hayan left Arang’s hospital room, she collapsed on the floor.

“You worked hard, Hayassi. Thank you for treating Arang so well.”

“Ah… I, I’m sorry. I was trying not to show it to Arang, but…”

The moment Arang came out of the Deathbed Machine and was hugged by Arang’s older sister, Anna, I almost shed tears.

Arang’s lively eyes were nowhere to be seen.

Arang’s lifeless eyes that had lost their light looked like those of a dead person.

When I saw Arang’s armless and legless body, I remembered Arang’s arms and legs in LEORE.

Why was there a slight boundary on Arang’s arms and legs? That area was Arang’s amputation site.

“No. You did really well. Thanks to you, Arang had a lot of fun. Thank you.”

“Does Arang have to live like that forever…?”

“…Yes. We don’t know when the disease will recur…”

“Ah…”

==

To go to the first [Underground Cave] dungeon, I first bought max-level equipment sold in the store and put it on.

As soon as I bought the cheapest basic max-level equipment, I spent almost all the gold I had earned from quests and killing monsters. But it was nice that I bought everything.

I saved a lot of Potions because of Pink Berry, and now this snowball is rolling like this.

Since Pink Berry has gone home and it will take a while for her to log into LEORE, I decided to try out the Swordmaster’s max-level skills.

I went to the training ground.

Unlike the training ground in the starting village, many people were using the training ground.

Some users looked at me with curiosity.

Hehe, that’s right. I’m the one who solo-cleared the Orc Chieftain, the Corrupted Judge, and the Queen Spider Duo!

As I reached max level, I gradually checked the skills.

First, looking at the major ones, the passive skill [Revenge] suits me the most.

[Revenge]

Upon a successful Parrying, the next attack’s final Damage is increased by 30% and is guaranteed to hit.

You might think it’s just a skill that increases Damage by 30%, but ‘final’ is important.

In LEORE, final Damage is calculated multiplicatively after all Damage calculations are complete.

That’s why it’s important to get as much ‘final’ Damage increase as possible.

Usually, other classes don’t have ‘final’ Damage increase in their skills, so they have to get it from item equipment options, but Swordmasters are the only ones who have final Damage.

The problem is that the condition is a successful Parrying, which is extremely difficult, so not many people use it well.

But who am I?

I’m the Swordmaster who has been killing Field Bosses with Parrying.

As Pink Berry said, Swordmasters deliberately Parrying with Tanks to trigger this skill.

The reason is none other than this skill.

[Annihilation Strike]

Deals 1500% attack Damage to the front.

Casting Time: 3.0 seconds

Cooldown: 120 seconds

It’s a skill with simple yet brutal Damage. The cooldown is a whopping 120 seconds, but it has a massive coefficient of 1500%.

It’s the most important skill for Swordmasters and must be hit. The base coefficient is so high that if you use it after triggering [Revenge], your DPS will increase in an instant.

The problem is that even though it’s a Swordsman skill, the casting time is 3 seconds.

In a Raid, 3 seconds is a very long time. LEORE is a virtual reality game, so attacks and skills are often interrupted by Stun attacks.

But having to cast a skill for 3 seconds is bound to lead to many mistakes unless you have completely understood the Gimmick.

After looking at the strategy videos, there are two ways to use [Annihilation Strike].

The first is to use the [Pentagon] skill, stack the [Chain Attack] attack speed buff 5 times, and then use [Annihilation Strike] to reduce the casting time even a little.

The second is to successfully Parrying and activate [Revenge] to use [Annihilation Strike].

But I…

Used [Pentagon] against the combat dummy in the training ground, stacked [Chain Attack] 5 times, quickly obtained 5 stacks, and then Parrying the dummy’s attack.

Clang! Clang!

As soon as I succeeded in Parrying, a red light flashed on the sword.

In that state, I immediately used [Annihilation Strike].

The casting time is 3 seconds, but with 10 stacks of 3% attack speed, the Swordmaster’s base attack speed of 5%, and the additional attack speed buff of 15% obtained at max level, my casting time was only 2.0 seconds.

A pure white light emanated from the sword as I swung it.

18135

Before reaching max level, the Damage was in the hundreds, but now, Damage close to 20,000 appeared above the dummy’s head in an instant.

Kuh…! This skill is so satisfying.

The problem is that the cooldown is 2 minutes…

After playing around with the skills in the training ground, Pink Berry logged in.