AWB Chapter 92 : The Melancholy of Chihori Jinguuji
Chapter 92 : The Melancholy of Chihori Jinguuji
The Melancholy of Chihori Jinguuji8:30 AM, scandia Royal Capital.
In a plaza paved with flagstones, a flash of white light streaked by, and a tall figure instantly appeared.
It was a girl carrying a longbow on her back. Her features were still somewhat youthful—she looked to be not even twenty. Her skin was fair, her eyes deep, with long, lustrous black hair casually draped over her back. With not a hint of makeup, her beauty was entirely natural.
If this were the national server, perhaps not many people would recognize her. However, on the Japanese server neighboring the national one, even the most novice player of Legend of Kaloran would have at least heard her name.
A zero-spending player, a civilian war god—clearly someone who had never spent a single yen on this game, yet possessed terrifying power that even professional players had to look up to. She had slain several world-class bosses in succession, second only to the legendary "once in 8,000 years genius beautiful girl player"
Cecilia.
Chihori Jinguuji—this was both her in-game nickname and her real name.
Seeing the girl appear, the surrounding players soon started whispering among themselves.
"Jinguuji finally came online. This time she's probably aiming at that Wind Tanuki on the new map, right?"
"Maybe. After all, the servers will merge tomorrow. If she doesn't kill it now, Cecilia surely won't let this boss slip by. I heard all the bosses on the Chinese server have already been soloed by her."
"I really want to see what she looks like in real life..."
"Who knows? We'll see if we keep watching."
"I heard she snatched a boss from the Takada group a few days ago, and she's currently being hunted. She only hid for a day, but now dares to show her face again—that takes guts... liu⊙陾栮san司ba〡ba shi〔Lingmeng...."
"Is that for real? No way, I wouldn't dare mess with those gangs..."
Listening to all the chatter around her, chihori Jinguuji cast her eyes down slightly and sighed silently. She turned to leave the plaza, heading toward the west city gate.
In truth, the nearby players weren't wrong. The reason she had logged in today was precisely to go for the newly appeared E-tier world boss—the Wind Tanuki.
The reason was simple: just like Cecilia back in the day, she needed money—and a lot of it.
After managing her family's shrine alone for so many years, a few days ago, jinguuji Chiyo—Chihori's grandmother—finally fell ill due to old age and exhaustion.
Because they had never paid the monthly 10,000 yen health insurance, doctors at a major Kyoto hospital said that curing her grandmother's illness would cost at least 18 million yen.
For a small shrine surviving on meager offerings, with a monthly income less than 30,000 yen, coming up with 18 million yen at once was like chasing a fantasy.
Chihori was not yet an adult—and had never attended school either. Thinking it over, the only way to raise 18 million quickly was through Legend of Kaloran.
On the Japanese server market, a single rare blue equipment piece, though not as hyped as on the national server, could still easily sell for 1 million yen. Full purple epic sets were worth even more.
In theory, after killing three E-tier world bosses, chihori Jinguuji should have been able to barely gather the 18 million by selling all the equipment that dropped.
However, the real challenge was that because of her age, and because her daily life was limited to her home and she never needed remittances from her family, she had never opened a bank card account.
Even if she had one now, she would have no idea how to find buyers for her equipment, among many other complications. So, up until today, much of the loot Chihori had collected from world-class bosses was still sitting quietly in her inventory.
"I've heard that players from the Chinese server are quite wealthy. Maybe after the servers merge tomorrow, I'll be able to avoid the Takada group's surveillance and sell my equipment to them..."
Because of her grandmother's hospitalization, chihori had not logged in these past two days. She had only just learned about the appearance of a new E-tier world boss.
Fortunately, despite being discovered two days ago, this level-twenty-something E-tier boss had not yet been taken down by other players.
In any case, to cover her grandmother's medical and hospitalization expenses, at the very latest today, no matter how many obstacles she faced, she had to claim this boss's first-kill.
With this in mind, chihori Jinguuji looked westward, steeling her resolve, then hastened her steps out of the west city gate.
Leaving the Main City, she walked several kilometers west, passed through a dense, shadowy forest, and wound up a path strewn with dead leaves. After a dozen minutes or so, a small, dimly-colored mountain appeared before her.
"System notification: You have unlocked the new map [Wind Phantom Mountain]!"
The term "wind phantom" easily brought to mind a creature lurking within the mountain winds.
Glancing at a half-toppled, rotting sign by the roadside, chihori Jinguuji composed herself, took her longbow from her back and gripped it tightly in her left hand, preparing for battle. Then she walked up the winding path, step by step, into the heart of the tranquil mountain.
She had barely entered the wild zone for a few minutes before encountering the first wave of monsters for today.
It was a pack of canine-like creatures. There weren't many—five in total. Their fur was dull yellow, they were skinny, with noses wrinkled and long canine teeth jutting from their mouths, constantly letting out low growls.
[Man-eating Stray Dog]
Type: Beast
Level: 8
Attack: 101
Magic: 0
Max HP: 420/420
Physical Defense: 31
Magic Defense: 20
......
Although they were all level 8 monsters, their stats weren't particularly high. To an ordinary ranged class player, they might pose a dangerous threat, but for a sharpshooter of her level, she could easily overpower them.
What truly caught Chihori Jinguuji's attention was another, much larger stray dog in the distance. Its eyes glowed weakly red, the muscles on its body were sharply defined, and its tail was tucked tightly as it glared at Chihori.
[Adult Man-eating Stray Dog]
Type: Beast
Level: 13
Attack: 173
Magic: 15
Max HP: 675/675
Physical Defense: 50
Magic Defense: 40
Skills: [Swarm], [Bite], [Rabies Virus]...
Monsters with a suffix in their name were generally elite monsters.
If she were a swordsman or some kind of melee class, she might be able to face this group head-on by tanking their hits.
But as a sharpshooter, chihori Jinguuji only had a level 10 purple longbow and a level 5 blue set. While her attack power was sufficient, her defense was far from enough, and it was clear she couldn't withstand focused attacks from this many monsters.
Any lapse could mean instant death.
It seemed, as always, her only option was to keep her distance and pick them off one by one.