Ch.2020. Leap Slash

The [Close Combat Weapon] skills were mostly ones I’d never seen before.

While the ability itself is the most basic one in the Farming World, the skills assigned differ by rank, skill grades vary, and recommended skills change depending on the weapon used.

Since this is my first SSS+ rank ability, it’s perhaps natural that even skills with the same names have different effects.

But to this extent?

“This is literally a movement skill?”

Originally, [Leap Strike] isn’t this type of skill.

As the name suggests, the original skill’s mechanism involves ‘leaping’ and using agility to quickly close a short distance before swinging your sword.

Well, I suppose it’s not entirely different.

The SSS+ rank [Leap Strike] description is written that way too.

But the numbers are the issue.

“100 meters…?”

I may be a liberal arts person, but I’ve learned Newton’s principle that speed is relative through physical combat with monsters.

When something suddenly rushes at you while you’re standing still, the attack reaches you faster than your brain can process, making it difficult to react.

So [Leap Strike] is essentially an ‘acceleration’ skill.

That’s all it is.

Wanting more would be strange.

It’s the most basic skill for [Close Combat Weapon], and just being able to quickly initiate attacks against monsters fulfills its role as an active skill.

But the SSS+ rank version has two additional effects.

Besides the basic ‘leap’ effect that’s practically usable as a movement skill, I really like that it provides additional attack effects proportional to ‘agility’ and ‘strength’.

A versatile skill that can be used for both movement and attack.

“5 mana per use isn’t bad either.”

With my current mana pool of 50, I can use it 10 times total.

Mana is an extremely important resource in this game.

Though it’s now reality rather than a game, this system linked to the hunter system recovers 20% mana per minute.

So if you stay still, even after depleting all your mana, it fully recovers in 5 minutes.

In other words, how well you utilize your initial 100% mana when combat begins determines your ‘skill’ at sustaining combat with active skills over time.

In Farming World exploration, this mana management ability is considered a crucial factor.

Of course, there’s no need to worry if you lack this ‘skill’.

Since Farming World isn’t strictly a skill-based game, mana management isn’t the only measure of ‘skill’ – you can compensate for poor mana management by improving other ‘skills’.

Namely, increasing your total mana capacity.

Whether by equipping items, learning abilities to boost mana through skills,

Or increasing mana recovery rate.

Considering the fixed mana recovery rate of 20% per minute, if you can’t manage mana well, you can simply increase your mana pool enough to use skills liberally without running out.

“It recovers 10 per minute, so I can use it twice per minute…”

The mana amount seems somewhat generous for a D-rank magic stat, but it’s still a bit disappointing.

Being able to cover 200 meters per minute would make it perfect as a movement skill, but maybe my expectations are too high.

Anyway, wanting to try it out, I activated the skill.

[Used 10 Farming Points to purchase skill [Leap Strike(SSS+)]!]

“Damn, that’s expensive…”

I don’t feel it’s a waste though.

From playing Farming World, I know that you should absolutely buy even SS+ rank skills with points when available, let alone SSS+ ones.

And only 10 points for this performance?

I know I should be grateful.

The reason [Leap Strike(SSS+)] costs only 10 farming points is because I have the SSS+ rank [Close Combat Weapon] ability that allows learning [Leap Strike].

It’s like being able to use the community center of an expensive $80 million apartment at a reasonable price after buying the apartment.

Still, watching my saved 10 points disappear feels like losing real money.

Since it’s an ability and skill with similar names but different ranks, the comparison makes me think about what it would normally cost…

“Let’s try it out.”

Disappointment aside.

As my second SSS+ rank skill in life and first active SSS+ skill enters my skill window, I can’t help but smirk.

How should I use an active skill?

I lower my body slightly, holding the wooden sword.

I’m not wondering how to activate the skill.

This is reality, though with a system similar to Farming World.

What I’m curious about is whether I can activate the ‘skill’ by will, without shouting commands like “Leap Strike!”

Just like how passive skills like [Master of Close Combat Weapons] apply automatically when I swing a sword.

I tense my crouched legs and spring forward, pushing off with my foot with the intention of launching myself forward.

Pop-!

“Whoa!”

Sha-sha-shat-

The essence of [Leap Strike] is swinging your sword quickly while leaping.

Since my agility allows me to swing five times during the leap, I tried to swing rapidly.

In an instant, the surrounding scenery stretched and changed.

“Wow. Damn…”

I almost fell over.

Not because I couldn’t handle the speed, but because I was startled by experiencing such velocity for the first time.

That’s why I only managed to swing the sword three times.

Looking back, Lulu was nowhere to be seen, and the hut appeared small in the distance.

Without even thinking about it, I had leaped 100 meters.

“This is insane?”

Mana was naturally consumed by 5, and there was no fatigue or after-effects from using the skill.

“This kills.”

After using an active skill, I think I understand.

Though I’m now on my sixth day in this body that’s become my reality, I hadn’t felt much difference from Farming World until now.

While this could mean that Farming World was well-implemented in terms of ‘realism’, using an active skill made me clearly realize:

The feeling is completely different.

From the dopamine rush of being able to perform such actions with my own body to the process of adapting to the skill.

I could sense that the performance gap between simply using a skill and mastering it would be much greater than in the game.

And that made it more fun.

“Let’s go!”

“Heek.. Master! How did you suddenly…”

“Hold tight.”

I grabbed Lulu who hurriedly flew over and used all my mana to leap across distances.

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

Lulu’s screams, like someone on a roller coaster, stretched out with each skill use.

——————–

People should live wisely.

If I walk for 5 minutes, even at a brisk pace, I’d cover about 500-600 meters.

By walking for 5 minutes and using the mana recovered during that time, I can cover 1 kilometer in 5 minutes.

Since I’m not cutting through overgrown weeds, my speed won’t decrease significantly, so if I maintain the right direction, I can cover 3 kilometers in under 15 minutes.

“Ah! It’s here, Master!”

Well, that’s the theory, but with Lulu only vaguely knowing the direction and my hazy memory of the sewer location, it took nearly an hour to find it by leaping around the area. Still, it was much better than the time it would have taken to walk here.

The sewer entrance was quite a large hole.

Given the size of the map, the underground sewers connected to it would likely be quite large too.

Unlike in reality, there was nothing blocking the sewer entrance, so if someone accidentally stepped here at night, they’d fall and either break their ankle or neck.

“Ugh! Master, the smell is too strong!”

As Lulu said, approaching the sewer entrance brought a stench so foul it made me want to curse.

Sewers are essential content in Farming World, so there are even popular mods to remove the sewer stench for players who might otherwise skip this content.

I’d like to install such a mod myself, but effects applicable to this map aren’t something I can add just because I want to right now.

“You won’t die. Come on.”

“Me too? Can’t I stay here? I’m really sensitive to smells, Master. Hng… Kyaah!”

Ignoring Lulu’s nonsense, I grabbed her again.

No matter how much she flaps her wings and struggles, what can she do in my hand with my S-rank strength?

Ancient fairy or whatever, an undeveloped fairy is just a chatterbox beside me.

“Here we go.”

“Uweeeeeh! I’m really going to throw up! Kyaaaaaaah!”

A massive sinkhole with no visible bottom.

Jumping in while holding Lulu, a message appeared.

[Entered Big Rats’ Sewer(D) Dungeon!]

[Sub Quest]

[D-rank Dungeon]

[This is a stronghold spanning the territory where Big Rats live, from which they continuously invade the settlement. Let’s clear the sewer, the Big Rats’ territory, and purify the pollution in the surrounding land.]

[Clear Conditions: Hunt Big Rats in the Big Rats’ Sewer(D) (0/51). Defeat Big Rat Mom(B-) (0/1)]

[Rewards: Level 0 Biome crop growth speed +20%. Sewer purification. 500 Farm. 5 Farming stat points]