Naofumi POV
Naofumi carefully scanned the massive amount of information present in his Status Menu, the whole thing still felt surreal, the fact that he had a numerical estimation of his physical self, the fact that he had an indestructible shield that could not undergo wear and tear and would only grow stronger as he levelled up. It was incredible, the whole thing was like a game, only a hell of a lot more detailed then one, which made sense, even if this world was gamelike, it was still pretty real.
He looked to the other two Heroes who were in the sitting room with him, they too were looking into their status screens, it looked a little odd, kind of like they were having a daydreaming contest or something that they were really into, but he suspected that he looked just as weird when he was concentrating on his Status Menu.
Naofumi took another look at his Menu, nothing that his Weapon Map had nothing unlocked at all beyond the Small Shield, but he could see literally thousands of options that could be unlocked, normally Naofumi was not the type of guy to obsess over unlocking everything but in this new world he couldn't help but feel incredibly tempted to unseal all the power in the shield.
Still, he was a little concerned about this whole thing and how gamelike it was, maybe he should ask the others, they were Heroes like him after all.
"Hey guys," said Naofumi," doesn't this whole thing seem like a game to you."
"Like a game," scoffed Motoyasu, "this is a game. This is almost exactly like Emerald Online. The Menu, the weapons, hell even the country is pretty much the same."
"Ah, excuse me Mr Motoyasu, I'm afraid that you are incorrect. This is indeed similar to a game but it is called Dimension Wave." interrupted Itsuki, while raising his hand slightly, like he was in class or something.
"Don't joke around Itsuki, this thing is a duplicate of the MMO, hell it's the most famous MMO on the planet there's no way any gamer wouldn't know about it."
And yet Naofumi didn't know about either game, the two of the other Heroes continued arguing for the moment, but Naofumi found it odd, he wasn't bragging but he was a pretty big Otaku, if this Dimension Wave and Emerald Online were truly famous games then there was no doubt that he would have heard about it.
"Hey Naofumi, you've heard of Emerald Online right?" asked Motoyasu.
"Sorry guys," said Naofumi, shrugging," I haven't heard of any video game like this world. I read a book that was kind of like it but I've never heard of either of the games you guys mentioned."
At this point both of them were quiet, and even Naofumi found it a bit odd, certainly they might have been simply not as well versed in games as each of them thought but it seemed unlikely that titles as famous as what the two of them seemed to imply would be unheard of by the other two.
At this point, the door opened and the last of the Heroes walked in.
Black was an anomaly in a lot of ways. He was European or American, he was taller than all of them and fairly well built and unlike them, he wasn't a student. He also didn't seem to be an Otaku and was the least excited about this whole thing.
"Good evening." said Adrian, "My apologies for coming in late, but Andre had some interesting things to say."
"It's cool." said Naofumi," Did you get the info you wanted?"
Naofumi had to admit he was kind of curious.
"No, I did not." he said, a cold expression on his face, " It would seem that there is no known method to return home and that the ceremony they used to summon us is not understood in the slightest. They pretty much summoned us after trying nearly ten times for the past month or so. They don't know much about the weapons or how we are selected or even what happen if the waves are stopped."
He took a deep breath, "As far as I can tell we are stuck here."
Naofumi had to wince at the anger in Black's last statement. Clearly, the man was not happy to be here, truthfully Naofumi didn't understand the man, this was a miracle, an opportunity that no one could have ever expected.
"Hey man, do you know anything about a game called dimension wave or Emerald online?" asked Motoyasu hopefully, ignoring the other man's mood.
Black walked towards one of the empty chairs and sat down before considering the questions for a moment, his answer was disappointing but expected, "No I have not. But I have to admit that I am hardly a gamer, the game may exist and I have simply not heard of it. Why do you ask?"
"Itsuki and Motoyasu said that those games were like this World." said Naofumi, "And I have read a book about this place."
"Interesting. I haven't had any exposure to anything similar to this place. I have read some novels with a similar concept, a Hero being summoned to another world but the worlds were quite different from these. The concept is popular, so I suppose I had simply not read something similar and missed the book or something." he replied, "Perhaps this knowledge is part of the reason for your summoning."
"Could be, but that doesn't explain why you guys haven't heard of the most famous online game in decades," said Motoyasu.
"It doesn't but I suspect it may be because we are from parallel earths," said Black.
"What?!" said the other three Heroes.
Naofumi had to admit the man-made a bit of sense. But they still needed to confirm it. When he expressed the idea, the other three nodded.
"Okay, who is the current Prime Minister of Japan?" said Motoyasu.
"I don't know any presidents of Japan Motoyasu," Adrian said with an amused smile. " But I think you three will find different answers."
And indeed they did, Naofumi had never even heard of the names the other heroes mentioned. When the continued with more global things lie wars or major events, Naofumi found that they had nothing in common.
"I believe that we have sufficient proof to conclude that we are from alternate Earths," said the Sword Hero.
"Yeah"
"I guess you're right."
"Seems so," said Naofumi nodding.
"It seems that you two probably have a great deal of information on this world that we do not." noted Adrian, his tone calm, and Naofumi had to agree with him, compared to these two gamer pros who seemed to know everything about this world and this absurd guy who was always chill he was at a massive disadvantage, he needed to learn more,"Would you mind sharing some basics with us? It would help us survive."
Their hesitation was as plain as day, but in the end, they capitulated.
"Alright guys just let me handle it." said Motoyasu," Now the waves are events with raid bosses at the end of it, each boss normally has its gimmick but as long as you've got a decent party and have level enough it's pretty easy to beat. There are tons of adds and you can get a lot of XP if you kill them but they don't matter much. It's best to just avoid them."
He continued from there with the occasional interruption from Itsuki. He spoke about the bosses, the fact that the waves bosses had levels that went up by like 15 levels each time and that if you failed to beat a wave boss then an event starts up where you have to fight the adds that you missed out on.
Naofumi was a little stunned at the sheer amount of information that Motoyasu knew about, he felt his gratitude surge at the man's help. Itsuki knew a lot but he wasn't sharing much but Motoyasu was getting into it.
He then started about the weapons, "Now Black your Sword is pretty much standard DPS, high attack, medium speed but shitty defence. You need a healer but if you've got one you're pretty much set."
He then turned towards Naofumi," You're a Shielder. It's got great defence and in the early game you're pretty much unkillable but in the late game, you're kinda screwed."
Naofumi was a little stunned at the sudden negative turn but Motoyasu continued," In the mid-game the enemies get a lot stronger and so they began to get past your defence but in the late game their attack is high enough that your best shot is to attack hard first, Shielders tend to be shit at attacks. In EMO almost no one took Shielders after the first month or so, I even heard that they were planning on deleting the class."
Naofumi had to interrupt here," Does the Shielder have an evolved class or something?" he asked a little desperate, he needed something!
"Nah man, the advanced classes were pretty shit too. Took way to long to get there, and it's pretty much the same thing just intensified. All defence and no attack. Like I said shit class." he said casually like he hadn't just told Naofumi that he had drawn the worst weapon.
Itsuki nodded at Motoyasu's words," Indeed. Dimension Wave had much the same scenario when it came to the Shield wielders. They were decent enough tanks in the early game but the difficulty curve for them was insane later on, most only took the class if they wanted an impossible challenge."
Naofumi felt his heart wither. This was bad, really bad. He looked at his Shield, and had to admit that it made a little sense, hadn't he been the one to think that a Shield wasn't really a weapon at all?
But! That didn't change a thing, so what if he could not attack? He would have party members to help him with that! He would keep them safe, he was the Shield Hero after all, and they would attack for him.
Black's voice brought him out of his little inspiration session, "It does not seem wise to dismiss the only defensive armament we have among the four of us. The ability to damage is all well and good but surely there are enemies where defensive capability is critical as well?"
Naofumi felt a surge of gratitude at the older man at that. He didn't seem to be the type of guy to throw around empty words, so he must believe what he said. And it did make sense, after all, who heard of a pure DPS raid teams, they needed healers and tanks as well.
"Nah man, the Shielder is pretty shitty, there are better tanks, better healers and way better classes. No offence man," Motoyasu said turning towards Naofumi," You got a shitty deal with that shield."
"It's fine," said Naofumi, with confidence he didn't feel," If I can't attack I can at least support my party members right? I'm still a hero and this is a Legendary weapon, I'm sure it will work out."
He wasn't certain who he was trying to convince, these three or himself.
The pitying looks he got from Motoyasu and Itsuki did not help. Black, on the other hand, was simply silent with an expressionless face, he was clearly thinking. Probably about how useless the Shielder was.
Naofumi felt a surge of envy, this guy didn't even want to be here, but he still had a damn good weapon, from what Motoyasu said the guy had the best DPS weapon of all of them.
"I don't think it would be wise to assume that our weapons will follow all the same patterns as the games." Black said after a long moment, "I'm guessing that in those games all players had access to the same classes?" he asked, and waited until Motoyasu and Itsuki nodded," Then it would seem that we have access to some special versions of the same classes given that these are meant to be Legendary weapons. It seems likely that we shall have access to more things than just what the games provide. Maybe the Shield can be useful here even if it was worthless in the game."
Naofumi felt his envy turn to shame. Here he was thinking shit about the guy and he goes and defends him, but more than that he felt a little spark of hope, Black was right, the Shield was shit in the game, but that hardly meant that it was useless here.
Motoyasu scoffed at that, "Dude, everything about the weapons is pretty much the same as the game, it's nice that you're trying to help Naofumi out here, but the fact is that the Shield is a pathetic weapon. Hell, it barely counts as one since it can't attack at all just defend and counter."
Black shrugged at that," I don't say things simply to be nice." he stated, his tone calm, "But you may be correct, only time shall tell for certain."
The conversation stalled here as they were called for dinner. But Naofumi felt his excitement surge again as they got up to follow the steward.
So what if he had a shield?
He was going on an adventure!
