Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 196

“Um…”

Ellie, or rather Jupiter, looked down at her body and nodded.

The sensation of being wrapped in shiny armor and the feel of the hard yet soft gauntlets was quite familiar.

After setting her nickname, she created her character.

The final stats for the knight character that Jupiter made were as follows:

Strength: 6

Agility: 10

Stamina: 14

Now it was time to choose her basic equipment.

Ellie fiddled with her chin while gazing at the weapons that appeared before her.

The main weapons available to a knight were the Claymore and the Long Sword.

Would it be the familiar Long Sword or the heavy-hitting Claymore?

Jupiter pondered in front of the shining blade for a long time.

“Uh.”

In the end, the weapon chosen by Jupiter was the Long Sword.

The weight in her hand felt decidedly heavy.

With a completely unfamiliar sensation compared to Deron, Jupiter’s mouth hung open in shock.

Upon grabbing it, she realized that she couldn’t swing the sword wildly like she could in Deron.

It would strain her wrist. If she didn’t grip it properly, the sword would surely slip out of her hands.

[Attack the training Straw Dummy with the weapon]

Instead of mindlessly following the quest, Jupiter called up the helpful tips provided to novices experiencing the game for the first time.

The tips included information on the traits and skills of her character, as well as effective attack methods based on weapon type.

Had she skipped over these tips, she would have struggled a lot.

“Um…”

Jupiter checked the skills her character, the knight, possessed.

There were two passive skills that could always be activated: Defensive Stance and Offensive Stance.

As the names suggested, they boosted offensive and defensive capabilities.

What caught Jupiter’s attention was a skill called [Calmness].

For a brief moment, it provided a buff that significantly reduced the enemy’s damage received, with a very short cooldown and duration as its characteristics.

Currently, Jupiter could activate only one skill.

After a moment of contemplation, Jupiter deactivated her basic Offensive Stance skill and activated the Calmness skill.

She reviewed all the information available to her.

Now all that was left was to pound the training Straw Dummy in front of her.

Taking a calm breath, Jupiter cautiously stepped forward.

“Hyah!”

With a short battle cry, Jupiter’s Long Sword struck the dummy’s head.

Thud!

It wasn’t the sound of a heavy blow, but rather a light thwack.

Jupiter frowned and retrieved her sword.

Her strength hadn’t been properly exerted. In Deron, she could have cut down a dummy like that in one blow.

“I see…”

Only then did Jupiter comprehend.

Though it was still a virtual reality game, Deron and VRS were completely different games.

The small girl knight exhaled, her face serious.

*

Jupiter emerged from the training grounds two hours later.

The thought of meeting the Blood Demon King had long since faded from her mind.

“Well…”

This was perfect.

Jupiter clenched her fist and nodded.

She had been stuck in that room with nothing but the dummy for a long time.

Now it was time to enter the real battle.

With a confident demeanor, Jupiter began queuing for the One-on-One Deathmatch mode.

Through the help provided for novices, she grasped the characteristics of each mode.

Jupiter had no hesitation in her choice.

“Whoa-”

Had it been about ten seconds since the matching began?

A duel was quickly set up.

It was significantly faster than the matching time in Deron’s Arena.

Jupiter thought to herself as she was whisked away to another space in a flash of light.

The musty smell of dust vanished.

When Jupiter arrived, she found herself in an Arena with no barriers in sight.

With no obstructions, it meant she could push her opponent out of the Arena for a knockout.

Feeling the gentle breeze, Jupiter glanced behind her.

Outside the Arena, a deep, dark void swirled enticingly.

“Nice to meet you!”

Startled by a voice coming from across, she turned her gaze.

Her opponent was already preparing.

Clad in shiny silver armor and wielding a long sword that reflected the sunlight, he was another Knight User like Jupiter.

“Are you ready?”

“Ah, yes.”

The opponent’s friendliness was rather excessive.

Awkwardly clearing her throat, Jupiter nodded.

The armored head moved with a creaking sound as the opponent nodded back.

The other knight immediately switched to a combat stance as Jupiter responded.

He approached slowly with a serious demeanor, sword at the ready.

Jupiter raised her sword as well.

She recalled from the tips that in this game, the bigger the character, the higher the strength stat that could be assigned.

Unlike Jupiter, her opponent had likely allocated over 10 points to strength.

This was an unfavorable battle. She had to absolutely avoid a strength contest with blades clashing.

Swallowing hard, Jupiter moved forward slowly.

The armor on her body and the sword in her hand felt heavy.

Jupiter frowned as she intently observed her opponent’s movements.

Fwoosh!

As her opponent neared, he swung his sword.

The wide arc of the blade swept through the air.

Quick, yet slow.

To Jupiter’s eyes, the opponent’s attack seemed endlessly slow.

That was all there was to it.

The failure of the attack meant the opponent’s upper body was wide open.

Jupiter moved forward, swinging her sword.

The blade shot from her small hands like a needle.

Thrust-!

Aiming from below to hit the opponent’s neck, her upward stab struck true through a gap in the helmet.

“Cough…”

However, it was shallow. Due to her short stature, the blade didn’t penetrate deeply enough.

Jupiter grimaced as she twisted her sword out.

She felt a jolt in her fingers as blood poured from the gap in the opponent’s helmet.

“Ugh…”

The knight user swayed weakly before finally collapsing to the ground.

Jupiter felt her own heavy body moving as she returned to the Waiting Room.

Her whole body felt weighed down. To truly showcase her skills, she needed to be lighter.

Jupiter entered the character settings and removed her basic armor.

She stripped off her helmet, shoulder guards, armor, and leggings.

In the end, all that remained were the gauntlets gripping her hands and wrists, and the boots protecting her feet.

She felt light.

Jupiter swung her sword in the air with satisfaction.

An hour had passed since.

Jupiter had been engaged in Deathmatch mode, letting the time slip by.

Checking her level, she nodded.

As a result of continuously playing the fast-paced Deathmatch mode, her level had significantly increased, reaching Level 10.

She had grown accustomed to her equipment and was now familiar with facing larger opponents.

At this point, she could say all preparations were complete.

At least, that’s how Jupiter felt.

The Light Knight Jupiter nodded as she selected the Conquest mode.

With her level of skill, she wouldn’t be a burden to her teammates.

As the matching for Deathmatch mode was arranged, Jupiter was transported to a wide map with bright light.

A refreshing breeze and the cool scent of oil wafted through the air.

Dazed, when she looked around, soldiers in shabby gear held their weapons with determined expressions, scanning forward.

“Nice to meet you all~”

At that moment, a man’s voice came from behind Jupiter.

Not loud, but audible to everyone around.

Jupiter turned to look behind her.

Excluding Jupiter, four teammates stood at a suitable distance, checking their equipment.

Only Jupiter had been doing nothing.

She almost shrank back but then straightened her posture with confidence.

Though this wasn’t Deron, as long as she used the name Jupiter, she had to be the Light Knight all the time.

“Um… Jupiter…?”

The man who first greeted everyone walked over to Jupiter.

Jupiter glanced at him from the corner of her eye.

He wore a horned helmet pressed down on his head, covered by a leather vest and chainmail, which made a strong impression.

This man’s character was a Viking.

“Viking, do you have business with me?”

Vikings, in the lore, were true warriors who would never retreat.

They viewed dying in battle against strong foes as the highest honor.

Jupiter, the Light Knight, liked warriors like the Vikings.

“You’re not wearing armor?”

The Viking user observed Jupiter with a perplexed expression.

The petite girl knight had discarded all her armor except for the gauntlets and boots.

“Armor? That’s unnecessary for me.”

“Uh…?”

“It’s cumbersome and heavy.”

“W-wait, what’s your strength stat?”

“6!”

At Jupiter’s confident response, the expressions of the other teammates watching warped in an instant.

“You’re joking, right…?”

“This isn’t a joke, Viking.”

Jupiter said that and laughed heartily.

The bright sunlight pouring down felt warm against her pale face.

“Uh…”

“The game is about to start, Viking. It’d be wise to return to your spot and prepare.”

Jupiter turned away the approaching Viking user and took a deep, calming breath.

It was her first time experiencing Conquest, but it wouldn’t be too difficult.

She had learned how to proceed through the tips for the mode, so all she had to do was follow that.

At that moment, the transparent barrier blocking Jupiter’s path disappeared.

The game had started.

Putting her teammates’ worried expressions behind her, Jupiter surged forward, mixing in with the NPC soldiers.

Running straight along the path, she would soon face the first engagement.

Jupiter recalled the information she had learned from the tips and continued running.

How long had she been running?

Jupiter noticed that the NPCs ahead of her were slowing down.

In that instant, a loud clanging sound of weapons clashing erupted right in front of her.

“Dieee—!”

Clang! Boom!

Clang!

Aaargh!

Shouts and screams intertwined and reverberated all around.

Jupiter scrunched her face at the noise.

Due to her small stature, she couldn’t see what was happening on the other side.

“Darn it…!”

Jupiter jumped in place.