Defense Build and Concentration

“Okay! Let’s roll out!”

Maple had logged in to NewWorld Online to pick up where she had left off the previous day.

“I think I’ll hit up the forest again. I could use some more skills!”

Maple was particularly eager to grind levels, but acquiring new skills had been undeniably exciting. It was like filling an empty bookshelf.

“The more skills I get that raise VIT, the better!”

Maple set off from town, winding her way back to the forest—still very slowly.

“What should I try today?”

The first thing she thought of was enemy detection. If she could sense enemies approaching, it would be insanely useful.

“All right, time to get cracking!”

Maple rested her shield on the ground, closed her eyes, and searched for signs of enemies.

This approach…was completely misguided.

The proven method was already documented on the strategy forums. Players could use bows or thrown rocks to hit unseen, nearby enemies like they knew exactly where they were. Any number of players had successfully done so.

Besides, if Maple’s approach succeeded, it would be because she could do the same thing in real life.

Maple was not psychic.

Blissfully unaware of this, Maple kept her eyes closed, focusing very hard.

She did this for three whole hours. At this point, she was basically asleep.

The source of this tenacity was an eternal mystery, but what finally pulled Maple out of her trance was a system message.

“Skill: Meditation acquired.”

“Mm? Huh? Meditation? Not Enemy Detection? That’s a little disappointing…”

Maple tried to get up, only to discover an unexpected weight keeping her from rising. She opened her eyes and found herself covered in centipedes, caterpillars, and other weak monsters—though there was also a scary-looking wolf ready to attack her.

“Aiiiieeeeeeeeeee!”

She shrieked and began slashing wildly with her short sword. With STR: 9, freeing herself took a while. The monsters simply refused to die. But however feeble Maple was, none of them could harm her at all, so she was able to stab to her heart’s content.

Things might have gone easier if she only had to deal with the enemies that had been clustered around her, but unfortunately, Maple’s shrieks were attracting the attention of one new monster after another.

“Skill: Taunt acquired.”

New skills were always good, but what she really needed was a way to get out of this predicament.

Eventually…

“You are now level eleven.”

“Whew…that was a hard fight. Better check out these skills!”

Meditation

When active, recover 1% of Max HP every ten seconds. Effect lasts ten minutes. Consumes no MP.

Unable to attack while Meditation is active.

Condition

Meditate for three hours while under attack.

“I wasn’t meditating, though…but this skill seems really strong, so I’ll take it!”

She moved on to Taunt.

Taunt

Draw the attention of all monsters. Has a cooldown of three minutes.

Condition

Gather the attention of ten or more monsters at the same time. Item usage permitted.

“That sounds useful for grinding levels.”

This skill was usually used by parties to make their enemies focus on the player with the highest defense, but this didn’t immediately occur to Maple. A more pressing concern for her was that her low AGI would leave her chasing impotently after enemies who could easily run away. She was likely the only player in the game who had ever needed to worry about this.

Either way, this skill meant she would have no problems grinding.

“Now I just have to put all my stat points in VIT… Huh? I have ten stat points?”

Yes, every ten levels gained would come with twice the usual amount of stat points. This was a common game mechanic, but to Maple, it was an unexpected gift. She was delighted.

Maple

Lv11

HP 40/40

MP 12/12

[STR 0 <+9>]

[VIT 130 <+34>]

[AGI 0]

[DEX 0]

[INT 0]

Equipment

Head [None]

Body [None]

R. Hand [Starter Short Sword]

L. Hand [Starter Great Shield]

Legs [None]

Feet [None]

Accessories [Forest Queen Bee Ring]

[None]

[None]

Skills

Taunt, Meditation, Poison Resist (M), Giant Killing, Absolute Defense

Maple finished scrolling through the status menus, nodded happily, and logged out.

Meanwhile, an online forum was heating up.

[NWO] I saw a crazy great shielder!

1 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder

Crazy

2 Name: Anonymous Spear Master

Deets

3 Name: Anonymous Mage

Crazy how

4 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder

She was hanging out by the west forest with like, a dozen centipedes and caterpillars swarming her.

5 Name: Anonymous Spear Master

Huh? No way.

She’d like, die instantly. Great shield or not.

6 Name: Anonymous Archer

^ This

She have good gear? Explain.

7 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder

Looked like starter gear.

Getting grossed out just remembering.

There were literally bugs everywhere, and she was totally cool with it.

8 Name: Anonymous Mage

If that didn’t kill her, then she must have negated all the damage, right?

9 Name: Anonymous Spear Master

Is that doable?

10 Name: Anonymous Archer

Iirc during the beta, a full defense build could soak the white rabbit’s attack.

11 Name: Anonymous Spear Master

Those are trash, though.

12 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder

I think I know her

13 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder

Tell us more

14 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder

Dunno the player name, but cute girl, like 4′9″ tops.

Walk speed suggests AGI is basically zero.

Also if I tried what she did I’d melt in no time flat.

15 Name: Anonymous Mage

So it’s an extreme min-max build? Maybe she stumbled on a hidden skill?

16 Name: Anonymous Spear Master

That would explain it. But is it true she’s insanely cute?

17 Name: Anonymous Archer

That’s what you honed in on?

Same tho.

18 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder

Hmm, guess we gotta dig for more intel.

If she becomes a top player, we’ll know soon enough.

19 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder

I see anything else, I’ll post.

20 Name: Anonymous Mage

Any and all updates are appreciated! o7

And thus, Maple quickly became a hot topic someplace she would never visit.

***

“Here I am again…”

This was Maple’s third day in a row logging in. She’d originally started this to play with Risa only to very quickly become totally addicted to the game itself.

The twin joys of acquiring new skills and steadily raising her defense to ever greater heights proved compulsive, compelling her to boot up her system despite herself.

Risa’s parents had ordered her to study, and she definitely wasn’t supposed to be playing games instead.

“Heh-heh-heh… I’ll just have fun on my own.”

Maple was about to head out of town, but a quick look around made her realize something important.

“I’m…still wearing my starter equipment!”

A totally plain shield and a wimpy-looking sword. Some of the players she spotted were clearly elites wearing impressive, highly decorated equipment.

She spent a few minutes admiring everyone’s outfits until she spotted a man carrying a very impressive great shield.

Maple walked slowly over to him.

“Ummm, where did you get that cool-looking shield?”

“Hmm? Uh, y-you mean me?”

The man had clearly not been expecting this interaction.

“Yeah! That great shield is really nice!”

“O-oh, well, thanks… It’s a custom item. I paid a crafter to make it for me.”

“Huh… I see…”

“Would you…like me to introduce you? I mean, we’re both great shielders.”

“Oh! Yes, please!”

“Then follow me.”

It would have been perfectly reasonable to suspect some sort of trick, but Maple already had nothing but shields on her mind. It never even occurred to her to worry.

Fortunately for Maple, this stranger was just being nice.

In fact…

“Wow…I can’t believe she spoke to me! I’ll have to post about it later.”

Turned out he was the Anonymous Great Shielder from the forum.

After walking for a bit, the two of them entered a shop.

Behind the counter just inside, a woman was working on something. When she heard them come in, she set her work down—and recognized one of their faces.

“Oh, welcome back, Chrome. What’s up? Your shield shouldn’t need maintenance yet.”

“Nah, I just ran into a new great shielder and, uh…impulsively brought her here.”

Maple stepped out from behind Chrome.

“Oh, aren’t you cute?! And, Chrome, what impulses are we talking about here? Do I need to report this?”

The shopkeeper summoned a blue panel in the air in front of her.