ShangriLa Frontier ~ Shitty Games Hunter Challenges Godly Game ~

Some people like to say that the secret behind why Sanraku is so good at games, or in other words the essence of his gaming strength, lies in the fact that he can adapt to new User Interfaces and situations with a speed unlike no other player can possibly adapt.

Others people claim that the previous statement is a complete load of crap, and that the true source of Sanraku’s unrivaled gaming strength and prowess comes from nothing else but the say that he is able to easily bring over and implement the mechanics and strategies from one game into another game without even flinching, a feat that should not theoretically be possible.

There was also a certain group of people who considered that the main source of Sanraku’s strength was the “Very complex and very specific structure of skills that focuses on drawing one hundred percent of his potential alongside his equipment, effectively reinforcing its strength value to around one hundred twenty percent”.

And certainly, all of the above things are bound to be equally valuable and equally important pillars that support the strength of the player known as Sanraku. However, they are just that: pillars. Nothing more and nothing else. Just that. And it would even more accurate to say that those pillars would not be able to be there in the first place, if it wasn’t for the roots upon which those pillars were based and were allowed to grow from. It’s as simple as that.

–––––– In other words, what makes Sanraku such a threat as a gamer and a great ally to have at the same time, is his ability to acquire and process new information at tremendous speed and acting upon those newly processed information, as well as the seemingly inexhaustible amount of motivation to act upon, always pushing forward in face of adversity and never backing down from a challenge, no matter how impossible it might seem. Those would be the roots that continue to support the pillars of strength of the gamer Hizutome Rakuro, for most people known simply as Sanraku.

Take the sheer number of reddish stains on the walls and the ground of the Coliseum in Rabbitz. At first glance, those would be nothing more but the blood stains of both warriors and monsters that fought there. However, if you were to take a look at them from a slightly different perspective, you would see that those were in fact numbers. They are a number of challenges that a young warrior issued against his own limits. And they are at the same time the number of improvements that this young warrior managed to make. One step at a time, each time getting a little bit closer towards his end goal. Those inexhaustible flames burning bright inside of the furnace that was his body was the very reason why “Sanraku” was so strong, and why he was still continuing to grow even stronger with each consecutive battle.

「Good thing that you are so fresh in my memory! Because of that, I still clearly remember all of your attack patterns, attack speed, movement speed…… You name it, I remember it! I even remember which of your attacks come with a delay to them! So you are like an open book for me to read at my own leisure!」

Extraordinary Golden Crystal Scorpion “Golden Age”. A golden emperor ruling over all other species and subspecies of Crystal Scorpions, who exercises a whole bunch illusionary tactics throughout the duration of the battle with things that involve a three-stage ranged attacks by using a strange “Holy Sword” techniques that makes you wonder if it was not the case in here that the “Sword Saint” was actually a source of inspiration for the developers when they were creating such vile monstrosity.

Even through the live stream’s video feed, it was possible for all the spectators to actually feel the waves of animosity and the murderous intent of this particular Golden Crystal Scorpion. Or, to be more exact, murderous intentions seemed to be oozing out of its entire reproduced body with every single move it was making. It was a truly strange and ominous of a sight, something that you could not easily put into words even though you were to try your best at doing just that.

But even more so, it was strange to see just one person being able to fight back against this monster, and even having upper hand throughout the battle as if it was only a mere child’s play for that person.

Sometimes he would avoid the Scorpion’s incoming attack with a bare minimum of movements. Sometimes he would escape from the clutches of danger with a lighting fast movement speed. And sometimes he would behave as optimally as you would expect from any normal player out there. All of this being delivered in real time, it is a proof that “Players can indeed push themselves so far if they try hard enough”. And if something like this is possible, then it should be no surprise that there are also players out there who start to think that by pushing themselves even harder, it is also possible to solo Unique Monsters.

Strictly speaking here, Sanraku has never defeated a Unique Monster on his own, but that’s a fact that people don’t know about, and truth to be told, there is no reason for people to know about it in the first place.

「Now I’m going to fold you over and over again!!!」

The sword covered in jet-black flames starts dancing, and the golden sword dances alongside the black one in unison. For Sanraku, this battle was the second time he was forced to go against this particular enemy, but it was actually the first time that he would have the third party that is everyone of the spectators, spectate his efforts. It was a completely new experience for hom, but the one that was entirely all that unpleasant, much to his surprise.

Until now, he felt as though only a part of him was actually putting effort into fighting here. However, with each passing moment something deep inside of him was slowly starting to awaken. In the beginning it felt only like a skeleton of his overall “abilities”, but now that skeleton was starting to be covered in muscles and blood vessels and skin, soon to be transformed into its true and intended shape.

The bright afterglows of dancing swords come one after another…… After a moment or two, their slashes form a series of cracks across the Golden Age’s stinger, only to smash the Scorpion’s “Holy Sword” to pieces right after that…… In response to that, in place of the broken stinger a triangular sword of light appears, its long and thick ray surging towards Sanraku at incredible speed, burning all air in its path. This attack was even more ferocious then the previous ones, with even more murderous intent behind it.

However, even an attack like that was not enough to reach Sanraku. The “Golden Age”, which is only a reproduction of the past encounter, after all. And Sanraku easily managed to defeat the original in the past. So there is no way that he would be stopped by a mere reproduction. For Sanraku, this encounter was only a slight inconvenience, a small pebble on the road that he did not even need to pay that much mind to.