Rising Of The Shield Hero Web Novel ver

Brave Consulation

Once we arrived in the guest quarters, we sprawled out on the extravagant beds that had been prepared for us, and went to work studying the Help menu for our weapons. At some point, the sun completely disappeared below the horizon, but I was so absorbed in reading that I didn't even notice.

On the plus side, I was able to find out a lot of useful information. Apparently, the legendary weapons were almighty tools that didn't require maintenance. On top of that, if their owner diligently leveled up and fused materials into it, new forms would unlock, which were recorded in something called the "Weapon Book". That sounded interesting, so I decided to try pulling it up.

SWOOSH!

The screen that appeared was filled with icons that extended well beyond its borders, all marked as "Locked".

Amazing...

It looked like I could develop my legendary weapon through various branching paths. It was just like a skill tree from an online game. And in order to learn skills, I needed to unlock the power sleeping in the weapons...?

"Man, this is just like a game, don't you think?"

I spoke up suddenly, but the others weren't really paying attention. They were probably looking through the Help menu too.

"What are you talking about? This isn't just 'like' a game, it is a game. I'm pretty sure I've played it before."

Motoyasu boasted.

"Eh?"
"Yeah, it's really popular. You haven't played it?"
"No! I'm a pretty big otaku myself, and I've never played anything like this."
"Seriously? But this is Emerald Online!"
"I've never even heard of that!"
"Huh? Are you really a gamer? It's super-famous."
"Sorry, the only really big online games I know about are Odin Online and Fantasy Moon Online."
"What the heck are those? This is the first I've heard of them."
"Eh?"
"Eh?"
"What are you all talking about? This world isn't an online game at all, it's from a console game."
"Wait, that can't be right. Isn't this a VRMMO?"
"Huh? Even assuming we've entered the world of an online game, that's still something you play with a mouse or controller, right?"

Ren tilted his head in confusion at Motoyasu's question.

"Mouse? Controller? Why are you talking about antiques? Aren't all the online games these days VRMMOs?"
"Did you hit your head or something? Those kind of games only exist in science fiction."
"What!?"

Ren objected loudly. Thinking about it, he was the first person to notice the status magic, wasn't he? I got the impression that he was already used to it, somehow.

Itsuki raised his hand.

"Umm... everybody, what game world do you think this is, exactly?"
"Bravestar Online."
"Emerald Online."
"I didn't even know there was a game like this."

While I certainly thought this world seemed game-ish, it didn't remind me of any game in particular.

"I see. By the way, to me it looks like the world of Dimension Wave, a console game."

For some reason, none of us had ever heard of any of the others' games.

"Wait, wait, we can sort this out."

Motoyasu touched his hand to his forehead and tried to get a grip on the situation.

"Ren, according to you this is a VRMMO, right?"
"That's right."
"And Itsuki and Naofumi, you understand what he means by that?"
"It's a term I've seen in science fiction games before, yeah."
"I've read a few light novels about them."
"Okay, same here. Then, Ren. This 'Bravestar Online' you mentioned, it's a VRMMO?"
"Yeah, I used to play it all the time. The way this world works really resembles the systems it uses."