Chapter 406: with translation of chapter title

July 13, Aomo looked at the light green selected display on the hanging LCD calendar.

Below the date, there was also a small-font notation of "Penguin Logistics Time".

The short characters were flashing with an activated dark red glow.

It gave an ominous, eerie feeling.

Such an effect choice encompassed Aomo's entire understanding of work.

It also brought a compulsive clarity to his muddled brain.

Three days have passed.

Three days—long or short, fast or slow—people's perception of time comes from how they spend it.

Just as happy days are always brief, while time spent sitting in class always feels like years.

Aomo's experience was clearly the latter.

Outdoor training need not be mentioned; indoor study is also indispensable.

Aomo is not among the few who enjoy learning; his persistence in studying is solely due to work responsibility.

The mercenaries of the office faction cannot, like other colleagues, be indifferent to both commissions and clients, thereby adding a new stain to the mercenaries' reputation.

Being responsible to the client and attentive to the commission—such professionalism exists among the office faction's mercenaries.

As for trainers, needless to say, they are involved in every aspect of a horse girl's career; their mixed role as coach and teacher dictates that they must set an example and devote effort to the horse girls.

Both of these professions are new to him; the professional knowledge and insight he needs to fill are like climbing a mountain.

Thanks for the invitation, I'm at the mountain's base.

But if it were merely reading and taking notes, he would not be this exhausted.

After all, he also knows how to balance work and rest, and he does set aside time for himself to relax.

But reality does not necessarily cooperate.

Just as he sat on the sofa silently drinking coffee with Chazuo, a light screen would often light up, with message pop-ups constantly appearing.

From Witch Beast, Val Beast X, Tressen and Penguin Logistics colleagues, from Bi Ze and David, and so on—there's no end to it.

Even if he ignored those, there would be physical interference—Miss Shintojo, who does not wish to reveal her name, would come sliding down from upstairs flinging her slippers, shouting that he should get to work.

Rank up in the game! Take the rank! Warrior-san, it's time to push!

The leisurely mood of emptying the mind and drinking coffee vanished instantly.

He could only bid farewell to Chazuo's entreaty and head into the game world—

—This could be considered a relaxation, but helping others work with targets is obviously no different from overtime.

What does the electronic brother say? Electronic brother.

Especially after sitting directly in Shintojo's room and putting on her account-bound login device, he discovered a very serious, important secret of hers.

"A——ka——ne!!"

He poked his head out of the room, drew out the sound, and let out another loud shout that could be heard in the hallway and lobby.

Even Chazuo, who was about to ask Shintojo if she wanted coffee, instinctively shuddered.

It was still her first time seeing such a scene.

As it turned out, trainers do sometimes shout someone's name.

But this was already the second time.

"Ah, what's wrong?"

The latter, this time also became fearless, her unchanged smiling inquiry seeming not at all surprising.

Of course, this is probably also because this shout lacked killing intent.

It was merely ordinary anger, although Aomo has always been good-tempered.

"But..."

"Can't you train a monster with some strength? Why is the auxiliary badge on Ereus still that of a Shade Star? Don't you have a Mite Star badge?!"

"……" Although Chazuo didn't really understand those words, having also watched a few Ultraman episodes with everyone, she could roughly tell they were talking about the online game that both the trainer and Shintojo play.

So she turned her head to look at Shintojo again, and saw her nonchalantly pick up a magazine, flipping through photos of bizarrely shaped creatures on it: "Eh——"

"Little Snake, you've gone too far in strength; you should think back to your original intention."

"How could your original intention possibly be to haphazardly make exclusives?! And why do you have Zorg monster fragments and not synthesize them?!"

Undoubtedly, this is a very serious, important problem.

Aomo previously never paid much attention; each time he saw the average settlement, he just thought it was due to her performance, and had no intention of becoming an ACT police.

But now he knows.

Regardless of whether the operation is problematic, at least this team composition is very problematic, even the training is damn problematic!

In the warehouse, the high-genelocked—meaning high-level—are nothing but monsters valued for looks, cuteness, or ferocity; not a single one on the strength T0 list!

There are two at T1, but the genelock and equipment replacement are below level three.

There's a kind of… the free beauty of XP practice cards.

"An undeletable Zorg is meaningless!"

The purebred monster enthusiast, unfazed under Chazuo's gaze, flipped through the magazine's monster close-ups without lifting his eyes: "I don't like that shiny look."

"The output of the first form is top-notch!"

In game training, Aomo rarely argues with reason; the excited voice from upstairs made Chazuo also look toward the stairway: "It's just that defense is a bit weak; grinding more fragments will let you level up!"

"Eh——? Too troublesome~ Little Snake, you also know how hard it is to farm S-rank character fragments; why not consider other monsters?"

"…… I'll first try to see if it works."

"Okay! Come on! Come on!!"

"……" Watching Shintojo finally lift her head, while unseen by her she clenched her fists and shook them encouragingly, Chazuo, somewhat speechless, turned her head again toward the hallway.

Then he turned back again: "…Is the trainer okay?"

You have to believe in Xiao She~ That game can actually bring real-world skills into reality on its authenticity front, and you also have to believe in your own trainer! Chazuo!

"…Well," Chazuo, not knowing what to say, fell silent for a moment, "I'll go bring him coffee."

"Huh? Then let me forward it to Xiao She; my room is still a bit early for you, Chazuo—oh, for now it's only open to Xiao She."

"……" The spirit-medium horse girl's train of thought got slightly stuck, and only then did she realize a problem.

"Ah…… Is the trainer in Qian's room?"

…Not even I have ever had the trainer visit my room…

Although if the trainer were to come take a look, I probably wouldn't refuse…

Although she thought that, she was still quite surprised by this fact.

If it were Suzi instead, Chazuo wouldn't be surprised.

After all, Suzi can even cling to the trainer to get a massage.

As for Bopang, although he wouldn't actively demand this, in terms of letting his guard down with the trainer, it's about the same.

The two teammates both have, in daily life, an openness that she can't reach… or rather, a lack of distance.

As the sole person with common sense, she also often ends up suffering.

And as for Qian, who moved into the trainer's office earlier than they did, Chazuo initially regarded her just as a peer with somewhat strange hobbies.

She is the trainer's old friend, and will also be a future roommate, and she doesn't reject or oppose my spirit-medium performances, so the impression is good.

But now… she feels that she has seemingly been overlooking her all along.

She seems to lack even more of a sense of distance, even…

"Yeah, he still has to log in using the device I've always used; that thing is tied to the model, and once it detects an abnormal number or abnormal location, it locks," Qian vented to her, "I used to think it was safe, but now it's just a hassle, right?"

"In order for Xiao She to smoothly log in and rank up, I even have to leave the bedroom, after all there's only one bed."

"…You gave the bed to him?"

"After all, it's not that big, Xiao She really— not preparing a bigger room for a big bed, otherwise I wouldn't have to go downstairs."

She…… doesn't even care about sharing a bed with the trainer?

Chazuo broke out in a light sweat on her forehead, fell silent for a moment, then asked: "Qian…… are you and the trainer dating?"

"Huh?" She lifted her head in surprise, looking at Chazuo beside her; the girl's laugh still carried a light, airy amusement, "Nope~ Chazuo, why would you think that?"

"……I just feel that Qian and the trainer seem a bit too intimate."

"Xiao She is a very important person to me, so being a bit close isn't strange," the girl said, her smile somewhere between joking and candid, "Chazuo, do you mind that much?"

The black-haired horse girl shook her head: "……I'm a little curious; it's rare to see you and the trainer like this."

"Chazuo, you don't go to an all-girls school, do you? Actually, you hardly see any guys either."

"Ugh……" Chazuo was momentarily at a loss for words.

"Besides, you don't need to think so much, oh, because Xiao She and I aren't exactly normal people~"

"……"

That remark left Chazuo even more unsure what to say; she instinctively wanted to speak up for the trainer, but also felt that in front of Qian, who had known the trainer longer than she had, she lacked any persuasiveness.

"Hehehe, don't make that face~" She shook the leg resting on the sofa, the pink-haired JC feeling a bit of fun teasing the little girl, even though she herself was still a little girl.

"I believe Xiao She herself wouldn't have any objections after hearing this, after all we both have self-awareness~"

"Actually, I think you're the same with Suzi and Bopang."

"…Huh?" Upon suddenly hearing the topic turn to herself, her golden eyes widened slightly.

"Weird folks have their own way of getting along, normal folks have their own chatting state; in my view, you all each have your own quirks, so there's no need to force yourselves to act like ordinary people~"

"Look, Suzi-chan is better at this than you, oh~!"

"Bopang is still figuring it out."

"…Senior Qianming has also said something similar."

"Oh oh! There are also people who see it very clearly!"

Qianming… is that person called Qianming in the chat room, right? Another trainer proxy for Xiao She; Qian vaguely recalls that they were a core figure in that circle, and they even greeted each other.

At first she thought it was a hassle, just gave a few perfunctory replies, but now, because of Chazuo's words, she's giving it a bit more attention.

"What did she say?"

"……She said… to find one's own track, to find one's own position."

——

Still unaware that he himself was in prison, Aomo down below was happily chatting, and he was somewhat unable to find his place.

Generally speaking, XP practice cards aren't supposed to have zero strength; after all, from a game design standpoint, characters with strong card art, illustrations, and models shouldn't be weak in combat power.

To have strength you need illustrations, to have plot you need illustrations, to have mode you need illustrations—this situation usually arises after a game has been running long enough, having filtered a sufficient player base, and even allowing the player‑crystallized company to then engage in this reputation‑damaging perfunctory behavior.

And moreover, it usually isn't many.

After all, each time it happens, it shakes the game's player retention.

If it happens several more times, the crystallization may also crack.

But the game Monster Fighting…… its theme is monsters, then aliens.

Having secured the rights to numerous monster and alien series works, its character strength is not necessarily tied to their looks.

Because monsters themselves actually aren't required to be good‑looking.

They inherently have a considerable 'antagonist' positioning; as the counterpoint to light, they ought often to be ugly and vicious so as to highlight the hero's radiance.

To craft a Hei'an that is opposed to light yet equally powerful and cool has already become a tired tradition in the series, and only then is it considered an innovation.

Before this, many strong monsters actually weren't much to look at.

What's more, Shinjo Qian's XP is probably on the level of very fucking weird.

This kind of monster is not extreme, but rather random.

Aomo clearly knew she liked both cool and ferocious things, but even ugly and ferocious ones were fine; as long as a monster had enough personality, she liked it.

Among them, there certainly exist monsters with all kinds of bizarre abilities, but considering the core of this game is fighting...

Then we can only say most of the characters are sewers.

Anyway, let's first finish Zoge's makeup...

After knocking out the synthesized Aomo, she gazed at the monster inventory in the new account of Xi, unsure whether to thank Xi for her trust or grit her teeth at her high demands.

Of course, this is exactly the same fact——using these sewers to climb to master in ranked? You really think highly of me!

How should we do this? Should we first try the scientific route?

Aomo stared at these things, lost in thought.

Then came the second and third days, with three pages of red‑streaked performance.

... and five pages of victory record.

A successful team is usually made up of these kinds of monsters:

The mountain‑guarding Tegulis, the battle‑skilled Hebaloros, the agile Jetton, the far‑seeing Yefu, and the loyal Jin Gu Qiao.

However, Aomo had none of these.

He only kept shuffling with tiny steps, doing ranged attacks as a newborn.

——Zoge's first form.

And many more little newborns.