A Certain Middle-aged Man’s VRMMO Activity Log

It was faster than expected.

The day that I could experience a VRMMO has come.

My name is Tanaka Daichi, and this year Im turning 38.

Even at this age, I still havent stopped gaming. My parents said that its irresponsible and that I should stop.

I dont think its really something to get angry about.

After all, Im definitely someone whos totally in love with games.

Anyways, games really are amazing.

Because even though Im 38, when I enter a game, I can travel new lands with all my heart or fly high in the sky.

Why is that so amazing? Well, there are people who say that.

But, when you start getting old, your body will inevitably grow weaker.

Whether its professional baseball players or Olympic athletes, the majority of these people will retire in their mid-30s.

Although, in your teens, its hard to imagine that you will one day grow weak thats the reality.

Even I have become an Ossan [TN: middle-aged man] I dont like it, but its true.

Well then, that was a long introduction, but now well start actually talking about the VRMMO!

First off, the game is called [One More Free Life Online]. Its a pretty straightforward name, and the goal is simply to for a person to enjoy a new life.

The games contents its a standard MMORPG where you level up your skills.

Theres no base levels, so all skill levels come from your characters growth so I guess its really a skill-type MMORPG.

You choose 10 skills at the beginning. As you get stronger, you can learn other skills to some extent.

Once you reach a certain level in a skill, you earn Ex Points which you can consume to learn a new skill or at least, thats what the beta testers said.

Because of that, if you just randomly choose your skills at the beginning, you could end up being a jack of all trades, but a master of none.

And therein lies the guarantee of the MMORPG.

Defeating the demon king, such a grand quest doesnt exist.

The game is designed purely for a persons enjoyment of a different life.

There are monsters, crafting, and chatting, but its up to the player to decide what to do.

Looks like its about time to begin!

I hope everyone will forgive them if the MMORPG servers crash on the first day.

There was no problem logging in. I guess the servers are better than I thought.

Now then, time to make a character!

First of all, character name well its simple, but Earth will do, since my name means earth (TN: Daichi = ground).

At any rate thats just a cool-sounding name that popped into my head.

The characters outward appearance well, lets go with a 19-year-old. Height, about 176cm sounds good.

Although I, the player, am 38 years old, I havent grown old in my heart, so Im picking a young character. In a world where I can move freely as a young man, theres no need to bring in any of my smelly real life as an Ossan. My heart is totally bored of my real body. Since this is a virtual world, I can let my heart be free and feel young again.

Alright, there we go.

Ehh, I look like a generic NPC character in a console game, dont I?

Well, Ill just think of it as acting as a foil for the scenery. (TN: foil as in, he doesnt look particularly good, so the scenery, by juxtaposition, feels like it looks even better than it actually does.)

Ill leave the goal of becoming a beautiful woman or pretty boy to others. Im not the type of guy that wants to be the main character.

Next is skill selection, or something like that.

I think Ill main in skills that, based on the news so far, are pretty obscure, or rather, based on beta reviews, totally useless. That way, I can just have a totally carefree time in the game.

You might imagine that a 38-year-old would have work to do every week.

I have today and tomorrow off, but normally I wont be able to play more than an hour or two a day in other words, Ill mostly have to play solo.

If thats the case, I dont really want to have any worries or concerns about whats happening in the game. Thats why I chose pretty useless skills.

Anyways, my skill choices were: Archery, Kicking, Sharp Eyes, Wind Magic, Crafting, Cooking, Woodworking, Medicine, Stealth, and Physical Boost.

Those are the 10.

The problem with Archery is aiming, since theres no automatic targeting system.

Furthermore, the skill doesnt perform particularly well even if you put a lot of effort into it.

And even worse, the damage you do is only about 75% of what you could do with a one-handed sword.

Its kind of a useless skill to choose, huh for long-range attacks, magic does the job much better.

As for Kicking if its as reported by the beta testers, the skill has no Arts that is to say, something like a special ability.

For other skills, upon reaching level 10 you get some kind of special technique, but for kicking, well lets just say that there were people saying What the hell, Im at level 30 in Kicking and there isnt anything special. What a shitty skill.

(By the way, most skills that involve physical [Striking] get special techniques.)

The truth of the matter is that, aside from already lacking in solo capabilities with the bow skill, not having any close-range combat ability is pretty dangerous for me.

Wind magic well, at a glance it sounds like its useful, but if you look closer, youll see that its pretty lacking. Although theres a pretty decent buff skill that increases your speed, everything else is lacking in both attack power and recovery power.

It falls far behind the other elements in attack power (the elements being Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Light, and Dark, for a total of 6). As for recovery, wind magic is only anywhere from 1/2 to 1/4 as good as water and light recovery skills.

Medicine is the skill for making potions. Its pretty useful in normal MMOs, but

In this game you can buy good potions in bulk from NPCs at low prices, so making your own potions only makes you look like an idiot.

Also, since the cooldown timer for using potions is pretty low, theres no real point in needing to use particularly strong potions.

Thats what the beta testers all strongly agreed to.

Stealth although being able to become hidden seems to be a great power, the cost is just cruel.

It costs 1% of your max MP per second. If you use it for 10 seconds, the cost increases to 2%; at 20 seconds, 4%, and so on, with the cost jumping up every 10 seconds.

Physical Boost it improves things like running, weapon attack speed, crafting speed, etc, which is all nice, but

At the end of the day, you just end up being a jack of all trades, and a master of none. When compared to more specialized skills, its far weaker than everything else.

Since it does boost a lot of things, the end result is a character whos well-balanced but with no particular strengths.

Well, since I just want to do a variety of things, I guess its a good choice for me.

Anyways, thats about it for character creation.

By the way, I havent mentioned this game to anyone I know in real life.

No, thats not say I dont have friends its just that my friends all like to drink.

In reality, theyre all nice people, but for someone like me who cant drink, being with them is sometimes like being surrounded by demons.

Why cant I be someone who can drink endlessly without a care in the world?

Itd be nice to make a new acquaintance in the game, someone that I can enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime playing experience with.

Although Ill be burdened with a bow and quiver on my back, Im prepared for something like that. Its just the fate of playing an MMORPG.

If there are good people out there, to be able to meet them, that would be really fortunate, huh.

As for my playstyle I guess Ill try to be a Ranger.

Theres nothing like a job within the game, but Ill have plenty to do between finding treasures hidden in a forest, going hunting, cooking food to eat, making a bow through woodworking, and collecting the cost parts for making arrows. And I can even collect herbs in the forest to make pots. When its dangerous, Ill just use Stealth. And with all of those things, Physical Boost will be helpful.

Thats my dream at least. My dreams have really changed as Ive grown up, but Im happy with it.

Well, its time to login. I hope Ill have fun enjoying my new life.

[Welcome to One More Free Life Online!]