World of Joy presents… with the cooperation of Raining Fields… Tenth-Grade Mage!

The words flashed in and out of existence building up tension.

A cutscene began immediately afterward on the screen. A montage of quick imagines.

Rain effect displayed on the screen and a grassy field with a child-like figure crying above a deep rectangular hole.

An old man in mage clothing approaching the child-like figure and comforted them.

The scene changed, cutting to the two figures entering into a building in the city.

The small indistinct figure could be seen reading several books. Before the old man pointed to the book and handed over a large staff with red gem to the smaller figure.

In a yard, the smaller figure dressed in mage robes released a red flame using magic. The old man stood to the side slightly nodding.

Suddenly, the screen turned dark.

Lightning flashed and red droplets depicting blood covered the screen.

The old man lay dead on a wooden floor, a knife through his body and a shadowy man above him.

Lightning flashed once again and the shadowy man disappeared. Replacing him was the small figure hugging the old man’s dead body.

The screen faded to dark.

Slowing the screen lit up, once again.

Tenth-Grade Mage! The title of the game displayed popped and wiggled at the top of the screen. This time with a streak of blood across it.

A character creation appeared below.

There was the option for [male] and [female]. Both forms were relatively young, close to twelve or thirteen.

Choosing [male], another series of options showed up.

A choice of different personality traits, and the young boy’s appearance changed based on the trait chosen.

[Stubborn: Damage doesn’t interrupt spellcasting for spell that take more than one round]

[Intelligent: Gains an extra skill point every odd level]

[Keen: Useful objects will be highlighted]

Leonardo quickly realized the advantages of each trait.

[Stubborn] reduced the difficulty of combat by a degree. Depending on the casting time of spells, it could be useful… but it could also be useless if the casting times were short.

[Intelligent] provided an extra skill point every two levels and was an upgrade that would always be useful if the game lasted a while.

[Keen] provided clues about upcoming events and allowed the player to make inferences about what is to come. It also stopped the player from having to go back and search around for a needed item.

Without a doubt they were all beneficial. Leonardo had never heard of this game before and could only base his decision on the genre mentioned in the store. It was supposedly a turned-based adventure RPG.

Until he played through the game a couple times, there's no way to know what the optimum choice would be. Searching the game online to find out would only ruin the experience.

Better to play it blind and go with his instinct.

Selecting [Intelligent], and choosing the name ‘Moon’ the game began.

Moon hugged his grandpa’s dead body, before standing up. UI appeared on the screen and a text-bubble appeared above the character’s head.

‘Someone killed grandpa. They must’ve left some clues to follow. Maybe I can figure out their identity?’ (Moon)

Hovering over objects cause them to highlighted and Leonardo quickly realized that this was a point-and-click adventure.

A point and click adventure with turned-based RPG elements? How does that work?

Leonardo was slightly annoyed that the game hadn’t listed point-and-click on the genres, but he decided to ignore that.

Point-and-click adventures tended to have a strong plot and the game’s plot had already successfully interested him with that earlier cinematic.

Clicking on the dead body of the old man, a text-bubble appeared above the boy’s head.

‘How dare they kill grandpa?! He was the only family I had left. I must get revenge, I should look around and figure out who did it.’ (Moon)

Hovering around the room and clicking on various objects displayed nothing useful until Leonardo clicked on the knife stuck inside the old man.

‘This knife has the mark of the red-fang guild. Are they responsible? Or is someone framing them?’ (Moon)

A white mark flew from the thought-bubble toward a book icon into the corner of the screen.

Clicking on the book icon, a journal opened and displayed information the character collected. Leonardo closed the journal and decided to click the door leading to the exit.

The music changed into battle music and a foggy red-haze appeared around the edge of the screen.

The cloaked shadowy figure appeared on the opposite side of the screen. Clearly, the cloaked and shadowy figure was the opponent in this battle.

Beside the shadowy figure, a text-bubble appeared. ‘There you are, die.’

Combat Begins!

A combat menu appeared with a series of options. The standard gaming information was available, such as a health and mana bar.

[Attack]

[Spells]

[Block]

[Run]

Exploring the different opinions, Leonardo clicked on the [Attack] button and targeted the shadowy figure.

The shadowy figure sped toward Moon and slashed him across the chest with a sword. Blood splatted across the screen.

[ - 100 HP ]

Moon’s entire health bar disappeared.

[Game Over… Retry?]

Leonardo was stunned.

Instant death without any warning or chance to fight? Isn’t the normal plot for facing overpowered characters waking up in a hospital?

All games haves a certain tone or spirit.

Instant death in the first combat without any tutorial or change to fight back certainly set that tone. The game designers are telling the player, this game isn’t going to play according to the normal rules.

It’s certainly a bold decision and definitely set the tone of this game. That’s not necessarily good, though.

There’s usually a reason the normal is… well, normal.

Clicking the retry button, the screen restarted to the initial state of Moon hugging his grandpa’s body. Standing up, a text-bubble appeared.

‘Someone killed grandpa. They must’ve left some clues to follow. Maybe I can figure out their identity?’ (Moon)

There was no option to load from a specific point. The game directly restarted from the beginning.

Does it not save your progress?

Checking the book icon, the previous clue about the red fang still existed. A new clue appeared mentioning the shadowy figure’s presence.

So, death keeps some progress you’ve gained?

Re-clicking on the door that exits the room, the red fog returned to the edges of the screen indicating that combat had started.

The shadowy figure appeared at the opposite end of the screen.

‘There you are, die.’ (Shadowy Figure)

The same text-bubble as last time appeared above the shadowy figure.

Combat begins!

Having experience from last time, he directly chose the [Block] feature.

Moon held up his staff to block.

The shadowy figure rushed forward and slashed toward him.

[ - 50 HP ]

Moon barely blocked the attack and still took damage. The red haze around the screen crept closer to the center.

Frowning, Leonardo immediately realized that blocking wasn’t a strategy that would work long-term. The [Block] option had only stopped half the damage.

Another hit and Moon would be dead.

Clicking on the [Spells] option, only one spell appeared.

[Fireball] (5 Mana)

Seeing as that was the only option to use, Leonardo directly chose [Fireball]. There seemed to be plenty of mana, in total Moon had 100 MP. The same amount as his health.

The shadowy figure charged toward him, Moon pointed his staff forward and released a fireball.

[ 4 Fire Damage dealt ]

The fireball shot forward, burning the robe covering the shadowy figure and revealing the man’s face.

The shadowy man ignored the difference and slashed Moon’s chest with his sword. Blood splash across and covered the screen.

[ - 100 HP ]

[Game Over… Retry?]

Scratching his chin, Leonardo knew he was missing something important. If nothing changed, that fight was clearly impossible to win.

There must be another exit to the room, or an item necessary to survive the encounter.

Choosing to retry the game, Leonardo carefully looked around the initial room.

Leonardo had already clicked on everything highlighted beforehand, but reexamining the room he discovered a cooking pot that highlighted when he hovered over it.

‘A pot? When did that get in here?’ (Moon)

Despite its existence and the ability for the character to interact with it, nothing happened.

Instead of attempting to continue further, Leonardo decided to explore the different icons on the screen. One of them might hold the clue on how to progress.

There was the journal icon with a book, an icon displaying Moon’s face, and an icon with a bag and feather. As the journal had already been explored, Leonardo directly clicked on the bag.

The [Bag] opened a small inventory that was empty and allowed access to his spells out of combat.

[Moon]’s icon, displayed a skill tree and spellcasting level. Everything was greyed out and couldn’t be chosen at the moment.

Scratching his head, Leonardo considered how to progress.

This is the tutorial level, it cannot be impossible. Failure to progress only meant that he was doing something incorrectly.

The only remaining option that he hadn’t tried in combat was [Run]?

Entering into combat again, Leonardo tried the [Run] option.

[ Moon failed to escape ]

The assassin moved forward and proceeded to cut off the head from Moon’s fleeing body.

[ - 100 HP ]

[Game Over… Retry?]

That… didn’t work?

Automatically clicking the retry option, Leonardo fell into deep-thought.

Who would make an RPG like this? No tutorial and every option in the first combat leads to instant death?

The console said the game was made with the cooperation of Raining Fields? Is that an indie developer?

No large corporation would risk to make a game this confusing and without a tutorial… it has to be the work of a small team, perhaps even a single person.

…But the in-game graphics are quite advance for an indie company?

Pulling out his phone, Leonardo decided to search for the answer on the Internet. Whilst he might encounter spoilers, he was clearly missing a key feature on how to progress.

None of the combat options worked.

So, there must be another feature to bypass or attack the assassin.

Searching ‘Tenth-Grade Mage’ on the Internet collected no relevant results. How can a game be so obscure that it doesn’t appear on the first page when searching its name? That’s just bad advertising.

Leonardo could see why they needed a free trial to promote the game.

Changing up the search title, Leonardo did another Internet search for ‘Raining Fields’. Before immediately realizing that was a dumb idea, all the results returned pictures of fields in the rain.

Plugging ‘World of Joy console, Tenth-Grade Mage’ into the search bar, Leonardo got redirected to advertisements for some theme park and none of the results had anything to do with gaming.

Sighing, Leonardo threw his phone back on the bed and internally complained about the terrible advertising of the company.

What else could you call it? Even when searching directly for it, there was no information about it. It seems he needed to figure this out himself.

Whilst Leonardo was pondering the different options, the game screen in front of him changed.

Combat Begins!

‘So this is where you were hiding!’ (Shadowy man)

The various combat icons appeared and red fog appeared at the edge of the screen.

Wha- Why did the game change into a combat state? He hadn’t touched the keyboard or mouse yet.

Leonardo definitely had not left the starting room, the surroundings could still be seen in the background of the fight. The text in the bubble above the assassin’s head had changed as well.

…would it be a timer? In other words, instead of waiting around, the assassin will enter the room after a certain period of time?

Leonardo’s eyes flashed with the light of knowledge.

Since the combat location wasn’t predetermined, that opened many different possibilities.

Combat must be triggered when the assassin spots the main character. If the assassin is moving around the house? That must mean that it might be possible to hide from the assassin and avoid him.

The only question was how to accomplish that.

Choosing [Block], Leonardo had been planning to attempt a combination of [Block] and [Run]… However, he soon noticed that something different happened this time.

Moon picked up the nearby cooking pot’s lid and used it to defend against the assassin’s blow.

[ - 10 HP ]

Moon blocked the slash from the assassin and was thrown backward several meters. However, the assassin’s damage had been reduced to a more manageable number.

The character will automatically utilize items in the environment? Another unexpected feature that might be the key to winning.

Releasing a [Fireball], Moon backed up and utilized his staff to shoot a fireball toward the assassin.

[ 6 Fire Damage dealt ]

The assassin’s cloak burned up, revealing his face as he charged forward attempting to kill Moon.

[ - 20 HP ]

Moon instinctively blocked with his shield and the damage was reduced.

So enemy attacks do a fixed amount of damage and blocking directly halves the amount of damage received?

…The amount of damage dealt seems to have some randomization, though. Fire Damage had increase from 4 to 6.

‘Little brat. Just die already!’ (Assassin)

Frowning as Leonardo glanced at the assassin’s health bar and compared to Moon’s HP. With the current rate, there was no way to win this fight. Even with the shield, the amount of damage he received was too high.

Selecting [Attack], the assassin moved and charged toward Moon.

Moon attempted to attack with his staff, but the assassin’s sword reacted before him. The sword glowed in a black magical light.

[ - 320 HP ]

The assassin’s blade sliced clean through the pot lid and continued through Moon’s body. An icy mark was left atop the game screen.

[Game Over… Retry?]

Seriously? Moon starting HP is only 100. That attack dealt more than triple Moon’s HP. Even blocking wouldn’t have done anything.

Clicking to retry once more, Leonardo immediately explored the nearby boxes for places to hide inside the room.

After clicking an empty box that highlighted large, a text-bubble popped up.

‘This box is huge. I could probably fit inside it.’ (Moon)

That’s a hint if I’ve even heard one. Leonardo concluded and immediately re-clicked on the selected box.

‘Is it really necessary to hide away in a massive box? What about finding clues for Grandpa’s revenge?’ (Moon)

Leonardo clicked once again on the box whilst angrily speaking to himself. “Get in the damn box, do you want to die?”

Moon stepped into the box and closed it with no additional complaints this time.

Moments afterward the screen blurred with a fast-forward animation and showed the cloaked assassin entering the room.

The assassin gazed around the room, a text-bubble popped up on the screen. ‘His mana signature is still in the area? The brat should’ve been somewhere around here? Did he leave beforehand? Am I going to have to go around searching for him later?’

After looking around the room briefly, the assassin stepped out of the room and Moon got out of the box.

‘The assassin is still around here… and is searching for me? If they could beat grandpa, I wouldn’t stand a chance against them. There should be a window somewhere behind these boxes.’ (Moon)

Clicking on the boxes this time caused Moon to move them aside revealing a previously covered window.

Moon approached the window and the background changed outside.

There was a small fenced in backyard with muddy puddles of water.

Leonardo paused and quickly ran through various options in his head. Before he finally clicked on the front gate.

Let’s try leaving the house. The game should block me if there’s still something important to do here.

When Moon reached the gate, a map was brought up.

A city map, indicating the region that he would be operating only considered this city.

Wait, this looks familiar?

Leonardo examined the map curiously. It only took a moment before he realized where the familiar feeling came from.

It was the actual city’s map.

Like, the game map was based on the city Leonardo went to school in.

Frowning, Leonardo looked around the city map. There didn’t seem to be any marking indicating where you can go.

Can you go anywhere?

Leonardo instinctively clicked on a familiar location, his school.

The scene changed, and Moon approached the school gate.

It was sunrise based on the setting.

The school shouldn’t be open at this time… But this was a game so it might be.

Clicking on the door, Moon approached the school gate and pulled.

‘Locked… Maybe, I could climb over? This is neutral territory, so nobody here will help me… but there also shouldn’t be any enemies.’ (Moon)

Oh, neutral territory? That means there are specific regions where groups operate. There was little indication of that on the map. Maybe you need to learn it through exploration?

Leonardo hovered over the gate with his cursor, about to click and indicate for Moon to climb over before pausing.

How realistic is the game? For example, does the hidden key for the gate exist in-game?

Clicking on the brick with the hidden gate key inside, Moon walked over to it and pulled it out.

‘A loose brick with a key inside? Does it unlock the gate?’ (Moon)

A key icon flew into the inventory.

No way, seriously?

Opening the inventory, Leonardo stared at the key inside with a surprised expression. Leonardo certainly wasn’t the only person who knew about the hidden key, but the information wasn’t exactly public knowledge that you could find online.

Did the developers live locally?

Moon unlocked the gate when Leonardo re-clicking it.

Entering into the campus, the screen automatically changed to the school library.

That seemed to be the room rendered in the school.

Leonardo clicked his tongue in annoyance, he’d expected to be able to explore the entire school with the level of detail available.

Sadly, that seemed impossible… and would probably make the game infinitely more difficult. Both to create and play.

Moving the cursor over the nearby library books and selecting them.

Moon stepped toward the books, pulled one down before putting it back.

‘I don’t think these will help in this situation. There should be a hidden section around here for mages.’ (Moon)

Leonardo took in the information and clicked around the room. Eventually, he noticed a bookshelf flicker oddly and selected it.

Moon approached it and his hand passed through the bookshelf.

‘An illusionary bookshelf and a perception filter. Classic technique for hiding magic areas from the public eye.’ (Moon)

Passing through the bookshelf led to another room with a small seating place and a single bookshelf.

On a chair, leaning against the solo desk in the room, there was a person sleeping with his head down. Several books were piles up on the desk beside the person.

The person seemed to be a male student and around 16-17, but only the back of his head was visible.

Leonardo decisively clicked on the student.

Moon walked up to him, and hesitated.

‘I don’t recognize him, he might not take kindly to being suddenly awakened. Should I really wake him up? Or I maybe ambush him while he is asleep?’ (Moon)

Wake him up, obviously… but let’s look around the room first.

Clicking on the nearby books, Moon walked over to them.

‘Magic books… it might be helpful if I could learn them.’

[Weak Perception Filter: Spend 10 merits to learn?]

Leonardo stared at the book with a disappointed expression.

Merit… that was the currency to buy games in the menu.

Micro-transactions? Learning spells actually requires micro-transactions? And expensive micro-transactions at that, the total cost of the game would’ve only been around 10 merit in total.

Sure enough, nothing in life is free. Although micro-transactions were not a common practice in this world, some games still had them.

[Waterball: Spend 2 merits to learn?]

[Weak Prison Seal: Spend 5 merits to learn?]

After reconfirming that everything require merit to learn, Leonardo immediately lost interest in the spell-books. While Leonardo certainly didn’t mind spending some money on the games, he disliked the idea of spending money on an infinite pit. Even if he got the game for free.

Clicking on the man in the middle of the room, Moon went over to him and options displayed on the screen.

[Wake up]

[Attack]

[Leave alone]

Leonardo decisively selected [wake up].

Even if the student was aggressive, reloading was always a possibility. There was no actual downside to waking him.

Moon went over and tapped his shoulder.

The student lifted his face off the desk, and looked down toward Moon in a daze.

“You’re… Moon?” The Student asked with confusion.

‘I don’t recognize him? How does he know my name?’ (Moon)

Three dialog options popped up for Leonardo to choose from.

[Question: Do you know me?]

[Affirm: Yep, that’s me.]

[Deny: Moon? No, I don’t know anyone by that name.]

Leonardo immediately selected [Question], which is the answer that would provide the most information.

“Do you know me?” Moon asked, inquiring for more information from the student.

“That… well, sort of- I know of your grandfather.” The Student admitted, gazing down at the books with a slightly confused expression.

The Student picked up the books on the table and pushed them to the side.

Afterward he sent his gaze toward Moon, the Student displayed some hesitation. “Listen, I’ve got some urgent news for your grandfather. Can you pass it on for me?”

[Truth: Sorry, my grandpa died this morning.]

[Lie: What kind of news? I’ll pass it on if I get chance.]

[Leave: No, I’m busy.]

Moon shook his head, “What kind of news? I’ll pass it on if I get chance.”

“Don’t ask me how, but I…” The Student rubbed his neck and delayed speaking, “-well, I heard that someone might kill him soon. I don’t know anything for certain, but I’ve been trying to get into contact with him to warn him.”

[Demand answers: How do you know? What are you hiding?!]

[Ask about clues: Any clues about the attempted assassination? For example, which shadowy figure would carry it out?]

[Leave: Thank you.]

Hmmm… Leonardo thought about the choices.

[Demand answers] implied the tone to be aggressive, while [Ask about clues] seems to be a simple inquiry.

Moon’s appearance indicated he was a shy-intelligent type, so let’s role-play with that in mind for this playthrough.

“Any clues about who would attempt an assassination? For example, which shadowy figure would carry it out?” Inquired Moon, gazing toward the student for more information.

“Well… uh, sorry.” The Student apologies and covering up a book. “I don’t know any specifics. Only that it involves a demonic believer.”

[Demand answers: How do you know? What are you hiding?!]

[Ask about clues: What do you know about the red-fang?]

[Leave: Thank you.]

“What do you know about the red-fang?” Inquired Moon hoping for answers from the student.

“Red-fang? Why do you…” The Student looked momentarily confused at the inquiry.

Leonardo was momentarily relieved that he found a clue, before being promptly disappointed.

When clarity returned to the Student's eyes, he shook his head, “Sorry, I don’t have much connection to the mage guilds in the area. That’s partly why I had trouble contacting your grandfather… I vaguely remember hearing some information about them. Just don’t remember the specifics.”

Moon shook his head in a disappointment.

[Demand answers: How do you know? What are you hiding?!]

[Leave: Thank you.]

“Thank you.” Moon walked away from the student and a clue flew up to the book in the corner.

Opening up the book icon, Leonardo glanced toward the various clues scribbled onto the page.

-Knife from the red-fang. Was he killed by them?

-Shadowy assassin? Male… They’re hunting me?

-Whoever killed grandpa planned in advance?

The clues were drawn in were sloppy manner, giving the impression they were hasty handwritten. The developers had clearly put some thought into the aesthetic of the clues.

However… Where the hell does he go now?

Leonardo couldn’t help be slightly stunned at the lack of instruction.

Normally, when you meet a NPC like this, they’ll be extraordinarily helpful and provide you goals on how to continue.

There was a leveling component in this game, so maybe there are random encounters he needs to level up? Was he just unlucky when travelling the first time?

Quietly thinking to himself, Leonardo clicked out of the room.

After Moon left the campus and stood at the gate, the Student came running after him.

The Student shown an animation of heavily breathing, before a text-bubble appeared, “I almost forgot, the local church might be able to provide some answers. While I haven’t checked it out myself… it’s an idea?”

Moon merely nodded and the Student walked back inside.

Leonardo nodded and felt slightly relieved at the game’s sudden instructions. While it felt slightly out of place for this strange game, he decided that it would be worth checking out.

After all, it was the only clue the game had provided.

The sun had begun to rise in the sky at this point, and various students were arriving and entering the school.

Leonardo waited around and watched those people enter the school. None of the character designs repeated, each seemed to be slightly unique.

Normally, little work is put into background characters like that.

The time element of this game was clearly more important than he’d given it credit for. The environments and locations seemed to change in a logical fashion as time moved on.

Can Moon talk to these people?

Tapping on a random student passing by, Moon approached them.

“Hey, are you lost little one?” The female student knelt down and brushed Moon’s head.

[Attack]

[Affirm]

[Deny]

[Leave]

This time, there was none of the accompanying dialog along with the choice. Leonardo instinctively clicked [Deny] and watched as Moon shook his head wordlessly.

Despite his refusal, the female student looked around with a worried expression. “Where are your parents?”

A male student pulled on the female student’s hand. “We have to get to class. What are you doing?”

The female student stood up and pulled her hand back, “There’s a kid without his parents here. I’m just going to help him find them. Don’t wait up for me.”

“Alright, I’ll let the teacher know.” The male student looked between the girl and Moon with a puzzled appearance before nodding.

After the male student continued on their path, the female student looked down at Moon with a worried expression. “Do you know where your parents are?”

[Attack]

[Answer: My parents are dead.]

[Ask about clues: Do you know about the red-fang?]

[Leave]

“Do you know about the red-fang?” Moon abruptly asked.

The female student repeatedly gazed back and forth on the emptying street, “Red-fang? Is that a restaurant or street name?”

“Never mind.” Moon shook his head.

[Attack]

[Leave]

The option from earlier to answer her question and state his parents were dead was gone. The only remaining option besides attacking her was to [leave].

Leonardo could help but be disappointed. With the dialog boxes and character interaction, he’d hoped that the character might’ve been able to provide some clues.

Moon exited the conversation but as Leonardo clicked to leave, he noticed the female student was following behind Moon. Leonardo couldn’t help but be surprised.

Did he accidentally acquire a partner? Or would this be a kind of escort quest?

There was a massive difference between having a partner and have an escort quest. An escort quest would be a hindrance, whilst a partner would be advantageous.

Clicking to leave the area, the city map appeared once again.

This time, the nearby church was marked on the map.

The screen faded to dark and changed.

Combat Begins!

When the screen returned, Moon appeared in the middle of a street and the cloaked shadowy figure stood across from him with a sword.

‘Don’t think you can escape that easily!’ (Shadowy figure)

[Attack]

[Spells]

[Block]

[Run]

Staring at the screen with confusion, Leonardo looked down at the keyboard and confirmed he hadn’t clicked on anything.

An undisclosed time-limit. The shadowy figure will catch up eventually? So you have a limited time to move about and make decisions?

Leonardo gazed around the surroundings for any advantages and immediately noticed that the female student was still following Moon.

How will she influence the combat situation? The game had demonstrated on multiple occasions that the environment can cause substantially differences in the scenario.

Without any information, Leonardo could only select the [Block] option. Any other option seemed to result in instant death.

[Block] would give him more information.

Moon ran behind the female student and hid behind her.

‘There- there… Everything’s okay, we’ll find your parents.’ (Female student)

A text-bubble appeared beside the female student’s head as she patted Moon’s head in a smooth animation.

She hadn’t noticed, or was unable to notice the shadowy figure. That didn’t stop the shadowy figure from hurting her, though. The clocked figure rushed forward and cut the girl in half.

[ - 0 HP ]

Blood splatted against the screen and showed a dripping effect down the television. Moon backed away from the dead female student’s body… without saying a word.

Leonardo wanted to smash the keyboard.

What the hell? Are the developers trying to make you feel terrible? Why did Moon use the girl as a shield? What kind of crappy game is this?

Selected [Run], Leonardo watched as Moon turned around and attempted to escape.

[ Moon failed to escape ]

The assassin followed after him and cut Moon’s throat with a single slice.

[ - 100 HP ]

[Game Over… Retry?]

Leonardo fell silent.

Moon needed to level considerably to fight against such an opponent… but the game had given no indication on how to level or grind. Unless you were meant to kill random civilians around the game.

Assuming his theory is correct about blocking resulting in half-damage taken, the female student can completely block a single attack in battle. The game might be encouraging you to flee on sight of the assassin and leave behind the female student as bait.

Effectively, before grinding to a certain level, you need to avoid the assassin at all costs.

Sighing, Leonardo decided to go to bed. This was the perfect place to pause for awhile. A game that has key elements change in real-time meant there weren’t many opportunities to pause.

He’d played enough for tonight.

There was still school tomorrow.

Shaking his head, he kicked aside the keyboard and mouse and turned off the television. Before turning off the ‘World of Joy’ console.

Lying on the bed, the scenes of the game replayed in his head. A scene that repeated particularly often was the scene of the female student dying.

Why didn’t she notice the shadowy figure approaching? Maybe the perception filter magic that Moon talked about earlier?

Honestly, Leonardo didn’t usually like games that were so unhelpful in teaching their mechanics and games that required very specific solutions.

…especially when those solutions involved something as stupid as waiting around.

There was something unique about this game, though.

It felt like a living, breathing world.

The world felt… alive.