Chapter 4: Teaming up with Maple—The Birth of a New Skill!
Seito watched as Maple brushed the grass off her skirt. She looked like a complete amateur, but he knew her secret.
"Want to party up?" he asked.
Why Maple? Because she was the ultimate Tank. Seito's only weakness was his glass-cannon defense. Teaming up with her was the perfect synergy—she took the hits, he provided the speed. Plus, she was a walking cheat code for Luck.
In any MMO, if you follow the player with the highest Luck stat, you're practically guaranteed legendary drops.
"I'd love to!" Maple nodded enthusiastically. She was a total "noob" in this world and didn't know anyone else; teaming up with a classmate like Seito was a massive relief.
"Let's go. Time to cull some mobs," Seito smiled, leading the way into the deeper forest.
Maple tried to follow, but her movement speed was... painful. She walked with the agonizingly slow pace of a turtle. Seito stopped and stared at her, confused.
Maple blushed a deep apple-red, scratching her cheek awkwardly. "Um... I put all my initial points into VIT (Vitality). My Defense is currently... 220."
Two hundred and twenty?!
Seito's eyes nearly popped out. He had spent two hours doing nothing but running just to hit 36 Agility. They were both Level 1, but the stat gap was absurd.
"What's your Innate Talent?" he asked.
"It's called 'Earthen Aegis,'" she explained. "It quadruples my Defense. And since I specialized entirely in VIT, the game gave me a hidden 'Specialization Achievement' bonus of 100 extra points."
Seito realized that the game rewarded obsession. He went all-in on speed and got Space Mastery; she went all-in on defense and got a literal fortress build.
"What about you, Seito-kun?" Maple asked curiously. "How did you spend your points? And what's your talent?"
Seito grinned. "I wanted to be as free as the wind, so I dumped everything into AGI. My talent is Space Mastery." He saw no point in hiding it—once he started blinking across the battlefield, everyone would figure it out anyway.
"Amazing! Do you have any skills yet?"
"One unique skill. You?"
"I have one, but it's not unique," Maple said. "It's called Provoke."
Seito's grin widened. Provoke. The bread and butter of any tank. "Perfect! I'll pull a huge group of mobs with my speed and lead them to you. You use Provoke to draw their aggro. Even a Level 5 monster won't be able to scratch you. We're going to power-level through this floor."
"Ehhh?! Is that allowed?" Maple's eyes went wide.
"In this world, we make the rules. But first... I need to try something. I'm going to create a skill."
"Create a skill?"
"Exactly." Seito knew that in this "Combined World," the rules of Sword Art Online applied. If you could visualize a move and perform it perfectly, the system would recognize it.
He closed his eyes and focused on his Space Mastery. He felt the fabric of reality—the subtle "layers" of the world. He focused on a point twenty meters away. Ten minutes of intense concentration passed.
Suddenly—Zip!
His silhouette blurred and reappeared twenty meters ahead instantly.
[Congratulations! You have created the Unique Skill: "Dimensional Blink"]
(Description: Instantly teleport to any location within sight. Distance scales with MP.)
"It worked!" Seito laughed. It cost half his MP to move twenty meters, but as he leveled up, he'd be able to spam it. He blinked back to Maple's side.
"Whoa! You just disappeared!" Maple's eyes were sparkling with admiration.
"Let's go. Time to show this forest what we can do." He instinctively reached out and gave her a playful headpat. Maple's face heated up, but she didn't pull away.
[Player 'Sei' has invited you to a Party.]
[Accept?]
Maple tapped 'Yes.'
An hour and a half later.....
The duo sat on the forest floor, panting and covered in digital dust. Around them lay the dissipating remains of over sixty monsters.
[Congratulations! You have created the Unique Skill: "Spatial Phantom Step"]
(Description: While running, leave a spatial afterimage behind to bypass obstacles or dodge attacks in a 1–2 meter radius.)
"Another one," Seito checked his stats.
[Name: Sei]
[Level: 5]
[HP: 500/500]
[MP: 10/500]
[STR: 10]
[VIT: 10]
[INT: 10]
[AGI: 60]
Every level gave 1 point to all stats and 5 free points. Seito, true to his path, dumped every single one into Agility.
Thank you for reading.