Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
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Ahh, it feels good to be back up to full. Oh man, I had completely forgotten that leveling up comes with a full heal attached.
Well, I don’t think I’ll be able to rely on level ups all the time. I just leveled, so it’s probably going to be a while before I do so again. If I let myself get as injured as I just did every time I fight, it’s pretty obvious that my wounds are just going to keep piling up. Hmm, if I hide away in a simple home like this every time I get wounded, maybe…
Yeah, no, that’s not happening. That would just be reverting back to old habits.
…I say that, but I really need to figure out how I’m solving this problem. I just leveled up, but it’s not like I suddenly got way stronger. I’m fully aware of my own weaknesses as a fighter, so I really think that I can find a way to win if I just put my mind to it. Suicidally diving straight into combat without a plan would be like diving straight into the Sanzu River(TL.1). …Hm, now that I think about it, I died, and was reincarnated, but I don’t recall crossing that river…
Well, in the end, do I have any other options? Ideally, I’d like to never get wounded ever, but I am, alas, not afforded that luxury. Not only that, but I can’t guarantee that I’m even going to win my next battle!
That frog fight was one bad move away from being extremely awful. What would I have done if the frog hadn’t jumped into my web? I really don’t want to think about it. It’s hard enough to just barely survive a life-or-death struggle like that, let alone trying to do so without taking any damage at all. That’s a hurdle I don’t think I’d be able to clear.
Hmm, well, wait. That might not be a good line of thinking. Isn’t getting hit extremely dangerous? I don’t think my paper-thin defenses are going to be able to stand up to anything in a real fight. Yeah, this is seriously bad.
Compared to all the other monsters I’ve encountered so far, these frogs don’t seem to even be particularly dangerous.
Yeah, I’m well aware that they are extremely dangerous to me; I fought one just now! If you just look at them, though, they don’t look dangerous at all. If you ignored all of the bright “hey I’m poisonous don’t eat me” markings, these things wouldn’t be even the slightest bit threatening. Heck, if it didn’t have the poison going for it, there’s a ton of things out there that could just straight-up crush it through raw, superior strength. Yet, with one single hit from that tongue, I was brought to the brink of death.
If I ran into anything stronger, would I be able to take any of their attacks without dying at all?
No way. If I got hit by anything that strong, I’d be lucky if an injury is all I got.
What should I do? I don’t have a single countermeasure. My defenses are all but useless! I should absolutely be working under the assumption that I am going to die if I get hit at all. So, shouldn’t I just dodge everything that comes at me? It’s so simple! Ah! Ha! Ha! Ha! Just like one of my impossible games!
In my previous life, my dodging skills in video games were straight-up godly. I only got to that point, though, because of the many, many hours of practice I put in. Let me be perfectly clear, though: I learned through failure. I died a ton before I finally figured out what I was doing wrong. I would charge in and survive as long as I could, just so that I could memorize a little more of the enemy’s attack patterns. Once I had eventually gotten it down, though, then I could pull off my dodge-focused gimmick character with my eyes closed. Conversely, though: if it’s an enemy I hadn’t seen before, I had to start back at square one.
You really could compare the way I am now to my MMO playstyle. Just like back then, I’ve effectively got almost all of my stat points dumped into speed, a few into damage, and the rest left at their starting values. With paper-thin defenses and no way to deal with a threat at range, it really isn’t a very practical way to build a non-gimmick character. Now, of course, I have to put up with this ridiculously disadvantageous build in real life.
First off, there’s tons of ways that reality doesn’t quite match up with a game. Let’s take moving, for instance. In a game, all I needed to do was move my fingers a little bit to push a button, but in reality I have to move my entire body! My field of view is also way more constrained in reality than what I could see on my monitor. Most importantly, though: unlike in a game, I’m constantly terrified that a fight might end in my painful death.
Hm? It doesn’t seem like I’ve been terrified, you say? Don’t be ridicul… oh, hm, have I really not…? Hmmm? Let’s, uh, let’s forget about that last bit.
Yeah. In any event, this reality is very different than a game. I’m not going to be able to play the same kind of dodge gimmick character, since there’s no way I’m going to be able to die over and over to make it work. Of course, I say there’s no way I can make it work, but, really, I don’t have any other ideas.
Ummf. Really, I have too few cards in my hand of skills. I’ve got [Spider Thread], which is very versatile, but [Poison Fang] has basically just one way to use it. [Appraisal]… well, I continue to hold out hope that [Appraisal] will be useful once I get its level up! My Resistances are certainly useful, but that’s mostly because my basic defenses are so weak. All that’s left are the two skills I don’t have any idea how to use: [Heresy Magic] and [Taboo].
The “Magic” part of [Heresy Magic] brings to mind images of long-ranged spell attacks, but I have no idea how to use it. Aaaagh, I seriously need a tutorial! Seriously, if you’re going to give me a skill, at least tell me how to use it! In a lot of fantasy settings, isn’t just focusing on a spell enough to cast it? Man, it would be great if it were that easy. Ahhhhh… ha. Well, it’s not like complaining is going to make an explanation appear.
I peek out from behind a crag.
{Small Rock Turtle – LV 2}
Yeah. It’s a turtle with a rock on its back. It’s certainly quite large, but I don’t think it’s any much larger than a Galapagos tortoise. Really, compared to the other things I’ve seen so far, this really doesn’t make a strong impression. Oh, wait, didn’t its name say “Small”? Is this a… baby?
{Small Rock Turtle: The juvenile form of a Rock Turtle.}
Ah, is that the case? I see! This is a child, you say? I definitely do not want to meet its mother.
Well, then, shall we get started? It doesn’t seem like my opponent’s noticed me just yet… so! Let’s get right in with a sneak attack!
I leap out from behind my crag and charge in at full speed. I leap onto the turtle’s rocky shell, and stick it with my [Spider Thread]!
Nwhooa! It threw me off! My threads still managed to get attached quite firmly, though. The turtle’s stuck in plac— aaaaAAAAAAAH!
The turtle snapped my threads and is charging straight at me!
Wha?! Retreat! Retreat! I jump to the side right before it hits.
Crash!!
The turtle charges forward until it hits the wall with a spectacular impact. Whoooooah. If I had gotten hit by that, I’d have gotten pancaked, right? Really, this is the first time I’ve seen a foe that can tear through my webs. This is bad, right?!
The turtle spins around to face me. Another charge! I dodge it! Crash! Another! I dodge! Crash!! Another!! Agh! That’s enough!!
As I dodge the latest charge, I leave a thread behind to catch the turtle’s leg. It trips and falls, but the momentum from its charge sends it tumbling. It lands on its back! Like this, you’re going to have a hard time getting back up, aren’t you, turtle? Heh, as if I would even let you try.
Chomp!
Sure, if I had gotten hit, I’d have died… but if I don’t get hit, there’s no problem!
APM - Translation 