Redefining the META at VRMMO Academy: Volume 2

1. Auflage 2022
ISBN: 978-1-7183-0366-9
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, Band 2, 250 Seiten

Reihe: Redefining the META at VRMMO Academy

Not long after enrolling at his new school, Ren forms a guild of his own with three (cute) girls in class, including his longtime gaming buddy Akira. In the midst of organizing that, Ren also finds out that Yukino-an upperclassman-is actually a friend he met playing another game! Yukino is an avid PvPer, and she invites Ren and Akira to participate in a tournament hosted by her guild, Mystic Arts. And you can bet things get wild when Ren redefines the meta on his unsuspecting foes!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hayaken

Weitere Mitwirkende

Akita, Hika

Daughety, Benjamin

Leseproben

Chapter 1: It’s a Small World for Us Gamers

“All right! Got it! We crushed this one, bro!”

The macho beastman on my screen struck a celebratory pose. With his appearance and brash manner of speaking, you’d never guess he was actually a she.

I thought to myself, looking at the macho-beast Akira on-screen.

“Nice job, Akira!”

After ’s cutoff time, we decided to mess around in . Lately, we’d been having so much fun with that we hadn’t even bothered playing . Today, however, there happened to be a limited-time event in , so it was the perfect time to hang out. The event was pretty ridiculous, requiring players to collect seven balls scattered all across the world in order to have their wishes granted.

Akira had just finished off a giant fish monster that had swallowed one of the balls. The ball had popped out of the monster’s corpse, bringing us to Akira’s aforementioned pose.

“Whoo! Let’s get to the next one, Ren!”

“All right. The next one is...” Before I could finish, another player appeared on the beach.

Or so I’d normally say, except this player happened to be an acquaintance of ours. Her name was Snow, fitting of her icy-blue hair.

“Ooh, hey! It’s Ren and Akira! I haven’t seen you guys in a while!” This message popped up in my chat log, accompanied by Snow waving her hand excitedly.

“Whoa! Hi, Snow!”

“Heya, Snow! How have you been?”

Akira and I waved back.

“Peachy! Just kinda bored, you know? Without you two around, I don’t have any worthy opponents.”

Despite her cute appearance, Snow was actually a PvP addict; she loved beating up other players at every opportunity. In fact, she was famous in the PvP community. includes team battles, so we often used to team up with Snow and fight other players together. She was incredibly skilled, so these were great opportunities for me to try out new tricks. If a trick worked on Snow, then it’d probably work on just about anyone.

“Aw, sorry. We’ve been really busy.”

“You two-timing me with another game or something?”

“Well, something like that,” Akira said.

“Huh. Is the PvP fun? Do you think I’d like it?”

“It is, but the game isn’t released to the public yet. It’s called .”

Snow’s avatar stepped back with a little gasp. “No way! Did you two get into Yosei Academy?!”

It was my turn to be surprised. “What?! How do you know about it?!”

“Umm, I’m a student there!”

“Whoa!”

“Seriously?!” Akira and I were shocked. To be fair, though, Yosei Academy was pretty much paradise for gaming addicts like us. It was only natural some of our friends would be there too. I mean, even Yano was an player.

“Are you two first-years? I’m Yukino Yamamura, a third-year student! Come find me in class 3-C.” Well, that would explain her character’s name—the “yuki” translates to “snow,” after all.

“I’m Ren Takashiro, class 1-E!”

“Class 1-E here too! I’m Akira Aoyagi.”

“What?! Akira, you’re a girl?! I had no idea!”

“Heh. Ren had the same reaction.”

“Oh, so I’m not the only dummy here! What a relief.”

“Why don’t we get together in , then? Ooh, are you two in a guild yet? If not, I could invite you to mine!”

“Actually, we made our own.”

“Aw, well, that makes sense. You pooled your Merit Points, right? It must be really nice to build up your own guild from scratch.”

“We didn’t have any MEP, actually. We used a guild establishment permit.”

“Whoa! It’s not every day you see a newbie with one of those. Did a high-level friend trade it to you?”

“Nope. Four of us partied up at level 30 and got it ourselves.”

“Wait, what?! How did you manage that?!”

“Well, y’see...” I told her all about how we got the permit.

“Whew! Y’know, I heard a symbologist took the competitive mission’s MVP spot this year. But who would’ve thought it’d be Ren himself?! It totally makes sense, though. That’s just how Emperor of the Underpowered rolls, right?! We should totally duel in ! You in?!”

“Hahaha, sure. If you’re gentle.”

“No can do, sorry. If I try to be gentle with you, you’ll knock me out of the park.”

“Gosh, I’d love to see you two battle!” Akira wiggled around excitedly.

“Jeez, Akira. Now that I know you’re a girl, your big, furry avatar gives me the creeps.” Akira was, after all, a frighteningly burly beastman; it was like interacting with one of those powerful anime guys who’re super in touch with their feminine sides.

“It’s kinda weird, right?”

“What?! Not you too, Ren! Fine. I’m just gonna act like a real rough guy’s guy, then! That work for you, ?”

The Ren and Snow avatars nodded in unison.

“Anyway, guys, let’s get back to the event!” I said.

With Snow in tow, we decided to resume searching for balls. Before long, we were ready to call it a night, but not before promising to meet up in the next day.

???

“Three... Two... One... Go!”

After the countdown, four hands each slammed a sheet of paper onto the wooden table I had crafted. Why, you ask? Well, after school, Akira, Yano, Maeda, and I had gone to our guild house and gathered in the second-floor living area. We then began a competition to decide our guild emblem, which would be displayed on our status screens. Now that everyone had put forth their entries, it was time to pick the winning design. We examined everyone’s drawings one by one.

“Ren drew... a light bulb?” said Akira, tilting her head.

“Why a light bulb?” asked Yano.

“You need a spark of inspiration before you can redefine the meta! It’s an idea given form!”

By the way, we decided on “Hell’s Crafters” for our guild name. I think I would’ve liked the “Redefinition Brigade” or the “Underpowered Empire” more, but when I proposed those names, the girls all said they were too boring. So, taking into account how hell-bent I was on redefining metas as well as my penchant for crafting, I came up with this one.

“Hmm. I’m not sure anyone will really get it if it’s just a light bulb.”

“Eh, you have a point. I’m not that great at art anyway. What did you draw, Akira?”

“I thought you’d never ask. Take a look at this! It’s a buff demon!” Her drawing depicted a dude with horns striking a pose and flexing.

The art itself was nice, but I couldn’t imagine a less appropriate guild symbol. Meta-redefinition required wit and experimentation, but this one made it seem as though we’d bust through our struggles with brute force, like brainless meatheads.

“It’s, uh... kinda gross.”

“Aww, I thought it was cool. What about yours, Kotomi?”

“Huh? Oh, um... you don’t have to look at mine.”

“Let’s take a look.”

Maeda had drawn... . Whatever it was, it was pretty darn strange. It was also tiny, as if she wasn’t very confident in it. People who can’t draw well typically make very tiny drawings so their art doesn’t stand out.

“Wooow, Kotomi,” Yano said. “It’s very... unique?”

“Wh-Why do you even want to look at it?!” Maeda cried, her face flushed. “Let’s move on to Yuuna’s already!”

“’Kay, here goes nothin’. I tried to make her look kinda sly and crafty. Whaddya think?”

“Ooh, nice!”

“Wow! It’s really, really good!”

It was a cutesy drawing of a demon sticking her tongue out and grinning as if she were happily outfoxing her enemy. Her expression was charming, but it was also just annoying enough to get on our victims’ nerves.

“Sick! I say we go with Yano’s!” I said.

“I agree,” added Maeda.

“It’s a shame my macho demon didn’t win, but I have no objections!”

“Oh? Hey, I won! Awesome!” Yano...