svetikya #322 - Next time, it's very simple.
#322 - Next time, it's very simple.
With a clear goal, there was corresponding motivation, at least for Zun Zun and the elven beauty. In contrast—
“Hah… hah…”
Heavy breathing came from behind, as if a college student had run the 1000-meter physical test, that’s how strenuous it sounded.
“Wait, wait a moment, I can’t go on…!”
“Yosuke, you…”
Zun Zun looked at the sweat-drenched, staggering steps, coupled with a face that was almost indistinguishable from a beastman, he looked like a titan! If he hadn't repeatedly explained that he wasn't being chased by beastmen, Isaki Yosuke might have already been attacked by others!
The elven beauty complained unhappily: “Seriously! You don’t resemble a beastman in this aspect at all! You’re too weak, aren’t you? It’s only been a mere 5 hours!”
“5 hours is enough for me to clear Alien Soldier's SuperHard difficulty 10 times! You know, Alien Soldier gets faster the more you clear it! You know, I went from 5 hours at the beginning to 30 minutes through constant refinement! It's all thanks to memorizing all the levels and becoming more and more skilled. 6 years, to constantly improve, from the winter of 6th grade of elementary school to the winter of 2nd grade of high school! Always, always, always…”
Isaki Yosuke seemed very satisfied with his speedrun record, mumbling while making strange creaking noises. Listening closely, it sounded like he was simulating the sound of rubbing a controller.
This guy is beyond saving.
His life only has games left.
Wasting one's youth on games always feels inappropriate, but Zun Zun has no right to judge other people's past. Moreover, Isaki Yosuke can persevere in this cruel other world, perhaps it's also supported by games.
It's just that he spent so much time shortening the speedrun time, and in the end, he still took twice as long as others. Considering that such a heavy truth might discourage him, I chose not to say it.
I'm really too kind.
Looking at Isaki Yosuke, who was drenched in sweat and panting like a dehydrated fish, and then looking at the shrine on the mountainside, I couldn't bear to let him climb the mountain like this.
“Let's rest at the foot of the mountain first.”
“I don’t care.”
“T-that’s great…!”
Isaki Yosuke collapsed on the ground.
This is his weakness. All his strength lies in the fairies. He can easily use any magic and skills, without needing to pay any learning cost, and the power is not bad. However, the price is that there is no bonus to his physical body, which is as weak as an ordinary person.
No, he is an ordinary person.
“Ever since I started school, my physical education scores have only been 2 or 3. There's really nothing I can do about it.”
“2 or 3 points…”
As someone who had studied in Nippon, Zun Zun knew that the grading standard was a credit system, with 5 being the highest and 1 being the lowest, and 3 being passing. In other words, Isaki Yosuke was only in the below-average range.
However, for an internet-addicted teenager who spends all day at home playing games, a score of 1 is considered a success.
Thinking of something, Zun Zun let out a soft “Huh” and asked: “Yosuke, why don’t you use fairy magic? If you did, traveling wouldn’t be too difficult, right?”
“It’s no use. Behaviors like traveling, even if I ask the fairies, they won’t respond and will make me walk myself.”
“Not even if you exchange something?”
“No.”
It seems that the fairies think this kind of thing is too simple, or they think Isaki Yosuke is too dependent on them, treating the fairies as convenient tools, so they refuse this kind of request.
This is a very obvious difference.
The fairies who have made a contract with Zun Zun will even help him fly if he is too lazy to walk.
On the other hand, Isaki Yosuke makes the fairies feel unhappy, so they refuse to help. And every time they help, they ask for a reward.
From this point of view, it’s more like a temporary contract with the fairies, and the fairies in this world are a little more capricious.
Zun Zun looked at the shrine halfway up the mountain, and then looked at Isaki Yosuke, who was lying on the ground like a dead dog, thought for a while, and said: “Yosuke, you can rest here for a while…”
“No, I want to go together!”
“I think you don’t need to force yourself so much. With Midori, we shouldn’t encounter any danger.”
The elven beauty puffed out her not-so-large chest and proudly raised her head, seeming to show her presence.
“No, no. According to normal development, players who go to explore the map will basically fall into trouble, and may even get injured or die as a result. This is what I learned from Saturn games…”
That's not normal at all.
Isaki Yosuke said this seriously, but these so-called principles and insights are all knowledge learned from games. However, this is no different from the routines learned in anime and novels.
In any case, he wants to come along.
Then the three of them walked and stopped, and after more than 3 hours, they finally arrived outside the shrine halfway up the mountain.
It was already dusk.
The afterglow of the setting sun shone on the shrine halfway up the mountain, reflecting the traces of time. The entrance of the temple had lost its former luster, and the peeling slate revealed mottled impurities and gravel, appearing particularly颓败.
On the stone steps in front of the temple, moss speckled every stone slab, seeming to tell ancient stories.
A breeze blew, and the copper bell of the ancient temple made a dull sound, sounding particularly heavy.
The elven beauty stared blankly at the dilapidated shrine in front of her, and couldn't help but exclaim: “T-this… this withered thing is one of the three shrines? Doesn't anyone come to repair it!?”
It was very different from the shrine in her impression.
Even the shrine that sealed the Demon Flame Dragon was taken care of from time to time, and they would also check if it showed any signs of breaking the seal.
But this shrine didn't seem to have any human presence at all.
Zun Zun spread his hands and said: “Ordinary people won’t bother to clean it if they don’t get any benefits. This is the conventional consensus in society.”
“That’s true…”
The elven beauty sighed, seemingly unable to accept it.
There was no way around it.
No one gets up early without a profit, that's human nature.
“Okay, then—”
Isaki Yosuke condensed fierce flames in his hand, and he was about to destroy the shrine.
“W-wait, wait…!”
Zun Zun quickly held his hand.
“Yosuke, what do you want to do!?”
“Huh? S-shouldn't we destroy it? Look, the lyrics said that there is some kind of great power existing in this world… so, if we defeat the great power in the shrine, there will be other progress later… or something?”
Does this guy have no other options besides defeating the enemy and moving forward?
People who are too focused on fighting are also difficult to deal with.
Zun Zun scratched his head and said: “This is, after all, a shrine set up by the gods of another world, and it's specially set up for people from another world to use as a trial. There might be something inside…”
“That's a trap.”
“...Hmm?”
“Such a good thing must be a trap, a trap of the gods!”
Isaki Yosuke shook his head quickly, looking like he didn't believe that a good thing would fall from the sky. I don't know what kind of hell he had experienced.
“Although I'm not very willing, I agree with the beastman's face's statement. It might be dangerous inside.”
The elven beauty also dissuaded him.
This kind of thing that relies only on a song to take risks, in her opinion, is a dangerous line that must not be crossed, so she is also trying her best to dissuade Zun Zun.
But if the Crimson Demons were so easily dissuaded, they wouldn't be the Crimson Demons.
“Who do you think I am!?”
Zun Zun looked arrogant.
The atmosphere has been built up to this point, wouldn't it be impolite not to go?
“Yosuke, you… it seems you don't want to go.”
Isaki Yosuke shook his head so fast that if he didn't have a propeller, he might take off into the sky.
The elven beauty is not someone transferred from another world, so she shouldn't have the qualifications to enter and accept the trial, which means that only Zun Zun is alone.
He slowly walked to the periphery of the shrine.
He did not suffer any unknown attacks, or feel any discomfort, or receive any divine revelation or hear any sounds.
He stepped over the scattered slate and stepped onto the dilapidated steps.
“Dorto…”
He raised his head and read the faint and unclear words above the shrine. It seemed that this was the Dorto Shrine, which represented knowledge. Since it was a test of knowledge, it shouldn't be dangerous.
Then Zun Zun walked in.
…No, he was blocked by a door. There were no hints written on the heavy door, but a 9x9 pattern with a few scattered numbers distributed in various positions of each pattern.
They seemed to have an order, but they also seemed to have no order. In short, people who don't know it will definitely be confused, but people transferred from another world must know what it is.
—Sudoku game.
“I see, is this the trial of knowledge?”
Sudoku can be difficult or easy, it just depends on whether the question setter wants to cause trouble.
And Zun Zun grinned.
This numerical puzzle, which originated in Switzerland, developed in the Pretty Country, and flourished in Nippon, is almost a simple game for him.
When he picked up the first number fragment, the number 00:59:59 appeared on it, and the number decreased by 2 after each breath. When Zun Zun put down the last number fragment, it showed 00:55:00.
“Tsk, it seems I'm a little rusty after not playing for a long time.”
Zun Zun didn't try to show off, after all, the fastest world record for a simple Sudoku game is 1 minute and 23 seconds, and he is far from it.
He easily passed the second level's Rubik's Cube with formulas, and also passed the third level's pure white puzzle with intuition, while the fourth level's international chess brought him a little difficulty.
Other than that, there were almost no levels that could stop him.
He quickly came to the last level.
In front of him was a large stone wall with a very, very classic riddle written on it.
【What is the animal that has four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?】
Zun Zun also answered that it was a person as a matter of course.
So the Knowledge Shrine was cleared.
And at the same time as the door symbolizing the clearance opened, an extremely mechanical voice came to Zun Zun's ears.
—How do you feel about the difficulty of this adventure?
—Very simple!
After answering, he strode out of the shrine.