ShangriLa Frontier ~ Shitty Games Hunter Challenges Godly Game ~

「…… Say, Emul?」

「Yes?」

「That guy who gave us this item looked really shady to me for some reason. You sure that he’s going to be alright if you leave him alone?」

「H, He’s going to be fine! Probably. More importantly, we should now be able to leave the town without any problems!」

It was now around two in the morning, the time where most people would be asleep. I wanted to believe that there would be less players logged in than usual.

Thanks to the “relative discount” Emul managed to get me, I was able to purchase some items and sell most of the materials that I managed to accumulate for a fairly high price. Now there was also this cloak item. I was able to hide my curse marks thanks to it, but its design was somewhat imposing and it would definitely make me stand out to some extent. However, not as much if I were to run around town in my usual attire.

「Are you really sure about the areas ahead of us? That there are three of them?」

「Yup. One of them is the “Crimson Trees Cave” that leads to the next town –– Fourthfosier. Then we have the “Crater Lake of Calamity” and the “Ruins from the Age of the Gods” which ultimately lead towards Sixtia…… I recommend us going to the Crater Lake first.」

The “Crimson Tree Cave” was in fact a whole system of caves with trees and leaves spreading all across the ceiling like a literal sea, with the ground being covered with colorful flowers.

The Crater Lake was an area where water started to gather inside of the volcano that went inactive after its last eruption many years ago.

The Ruins From the Age of the Gods were as indicated, the ruins from the era of the Gods, which used to be a huge fortress flying in the sky, not buried in the ground.

「Listen up, Sanraku-san, when faced with branching paths it is imperative to know where to go first…… It may be difficult to grasp at first, and it may require some thinking, but it can surely be done. The best course of action.」

「Y, yeah……」

Thinking about it logically, what would be the most inaccessible area for us right now? Without a shred of doubt, that would be the ancient ruins.

This game was ninety percent fantasy setting, but the remaining ten percent inserted the elements that were strictly from the sci-fi domain. For example, while the players were using melee weapons and magic for the most part, there were some monsters that were using modern looking firearms. Doesn’t make any sense? Maybe, but……

This was exactly the factor that was making this game so appealing in the first place, making it possible for both new players and veterans to enjoy it to the fullest whilst still enjoying some degree of challenge.

And since I’m not stupid, for now I should avoid the areas that have both tough players or monsters in them. But if there is truly a sci-fi element to this game, I would like to see it for myself…… Yeah!

「That is why we should go to one of the other places first…… But there’s really no saying if they won’t be equally as dangerous.」

「R, risky……」

Yes, both of the remaining areas should have their own advantages and disadvantages. First of all, they are the so-called “dungeon areas”. Those were the areas with lots of branching paths, dead ends and hidden rooms. Normally it would be perfect for me, but right now it was not like that.

In my opinion, the dungeon areas were the place where one could witness the true value of the game.

Leveling up? Material collection? Dungeons had it all, while they were also putting the players’ skills to the test, forcing them to work especially hard to earn their keep. That is also why it was viable to visit dungeons many times over, not only go there once to clear everything out.

But contrary to open exploration zones, you’d have to memorize the routes inside the dungeons, as well as know where the places with the best item drop rates are. Not everyone was able to do that.

In that regard, I suppose that the vast majority of new players would choose the caves instead of the crater.

The caves filled with trees? And with flower fields all over the ground? And a dungeon at that? The place had it all to attract people to it, if not for the items then at least for the visuals. …… That is the most probable reason.

「And there’s also the carnivorous plants…… Sexy Dynamite, it is called. It is especially beautiful and attracts the ever unsuspecting target towards itself only to devour them seconds later……!」

「S,,,,, Sexy Dynamite……?」

So Crater Lake it is, then? No, it’s not as simple as that.

If the caves were a dungeon area, then Crater Lake must have been an open exploration zone, right? But how does that even fare to the overall concept of the game, where the whole game world was one huge open world? In that sense, that it was probably a huge-ass map.

Dungeons usually have a predetermined path that leads from its starting point to the end goal, but exploration zones have no such thing.

Strictly speaking, there was no “optimal route” in the exploration zones, since basically ever possible route could turn out to be the correct one.

There was that urge in me to go and try out the dungeon, but at the same time there was also this lurking sense of danger in my mind and the alarm sirens that kept on screaming that I probably should avoid doing that for now. I was torn about deciding what I should do.

The strength of the open-world map was definitely its freedom. You could dash straight towards the goal or you could choose to sidetrack from the main path and enjoy some side activities. The terrain was also not limiting your movements in any kind of way.

Or maybe instead of going to the Crater Lake I should try to aim for the next city?

No, I wasn’t doing any Time Attacks right now, so there was no need for me to rush over to the next city right off the bat. Maybe somewhere in the future I will dare to try it, but that time wasn’t right now.

I want to enjoy this game at my own leisure, and speed was not necessary to do that. The reason why I left Rabbitz was not because I wanted to dash to the next city, but because I wanted to have fun while playing the game.

Therefore going to the Crater was an optimal solution, which should be beneficial for my leveling up and the fact that the inactive volcano should attract way fewer players than the other zones.

「I was never a technician who could force himself to do something as tedious as mountain climbing, not knowing if the climb was going to merit me in a sure and guaranteed way!」

「T, technician?」

Yes, based on all the information that I had at my disposal right now, the preferable way of doing things should be obvious by now.

「We’re going to the Crimson Leaves Caves!」

「I knew it! Sanraku-san is way too smart to be jumping straight into the fangs of the Sexy Dynamites! …… Come again?」

「Huh?」

I think that this disguise made me change my mentality ever so slightly.