"This whole 'AGI can do everything' theory is, in the end, nothing but fantasy." The man's loud, obnoxious voice rang through the spacious bar. "Sure, AGI is important. Rapid fire and evasion--if you push those two abilities to the limit, you could call it invincible. But things are never that easy."
The tone was smug. In the dim bar, projected across the four screens hanging high in the center, the stylishly dressed player in sunglasses used the livestream program to draw the eyes of countless players.
MMO Stream's popular internet broadcast show, This Week's Winners. You could watch it in the real world too, of course, but players deep into the dive preferred watching it inside the game.
It was all about the atmosphere.
Samuro was one of them. After finishing the day's assorted chores, he liked to spend half an hour resting in some random bar before logging out. He liked bars at night. Mature players gathered there in droves, and even strangers could sit down over cigars and whiskey and talk for a while.
There was no need to add each other as friends. More often than not, after talking for a bit, they would part ways again. A short-lived kind of friendship. A passing social exchange.
GGO's style was completely different from other VRMMOs. Humanity was gone. What remained were ruined postwar cities, broken concrete and steel casting their scars under the light of dusk, mutated monsters walking through the shadows, and fellow players who, just like you, carried a nasty competitive streak.
There were no cute elements middle schoolers would like, and no fairy-tale scenery either. If anything, there were more people who hunted players than monsters. Naturally, the audience filtered itself down to gun enthusiasts mostly over twenty, especially the more combative kind.
In the bars, customers at nearby tables were always muttering dirty jokes and bursting into laughter. The dark air was packed with the sharp smell of nicotine and alcohol. It was, in short, a game deeply unfriendly to younger players and female players.
But it suited Samuro perfectly.
Since everyone here was a mature adult who understood a few rules of society, no one caused trouble over childish nonsense.
Right now, the avatars inside the bar--lean men in field uniforms, sturdy bodies like mercenaries, all sorts of soldierly figures thick with masculine presence--were narrowing their eyes through the smoke at the glaring projection screens. Tonight, the bar was not filled with its usual piercing whistles and shouts.
There were no chaotic, dancing colored lights either.
"To the no-lifers who spent eight months raising their AGI firearm skills, all I can do is offer my humble apologies!"
The insulting voice kept going, stirring dissatisfied murmurs all over the bar. A few short-tempered players even smashed bottles and glasses on the floor.
Samuro ignored the commotion. He simply held his tequila in silence and watched the high-end player on the screen talk big. He was an AGI-build player too. Or rather, he was a pure AGI player, the type who threw everything else away to focus on agility and speed. Exactly the kind of "no-lifer" the man on the screen was talking about.
One glance at him made that obvious. There was not a trace of metal armor on the outside or inside of his coarse brown coat. Under the duster-like cloak, he wore no stylish sunglasses or tactical goggles. There was no special equipment at his waist, and he did not even have the most basic firearm for a player hanging from his body.
He looked like the most down-and-out cowboy from the old West.
He could be called an AGI type through and through, but he showed not the slightest irritation. His face remained still, like an old well without a ripple.
The program continued. The pretty host, dressed like an electronic musician, linked the segments together in a sweet voice.
"As expected of top players from Gun Gale Online, the hardest VRMMO out there. Only they can speak with such confidence. Naturally, you'll both be participating in this Bullet of Bullets as well, won't you?"
"Of course. Naturally, I'm aiming to win." The man spoke fearlessly into the camera, still somewhat arrogant, and another stir ran through the bar.
For some reason, Samuro smiled faintly. Shaking his head as if he had lost interest in the show, he opened his inventory and checked today's haul.
"That XeXeeD guy really says whatever he wants. Isn't he afraid someone will come after him?"
A strange voice sounded beside him. Samuro was not surprised at all. He only answered quietly.
"Last month, GGO held the tournament to decide the strongest player. XeXeeD was the winner, and Yamikaze was runner-up. He has his reasons for being so pleased with himself."
"Sounds like he's just asking to get jinxed." The man clicked his tongue and sat down beside him, also holding a glass of hard liquor. Drinking in-game would not make the real body drunk, but the simulated raw burn and kick were quite real. Anyone who regularly ordered drinks like that and downed them was probably no innocent novice in real life either.
Samuro glanced at him. Unlike Samuro, who was wrapped in one large coat, the man was fully equipped. He looked rather like someone who had walked out of a special forces unit.
After sitting down, he first took a big gulp of liquor and let out a satisfied sound. Then, with practiced ease, he pulled out an expensive cigar and offered it over.
Samuro accepted it, and thick white smoke soon drifted between them.
The two men looked up at the screen while continuing their own conversation.
"That NTW-20 you farmed from the Farik wreck a few days ago? I listed it for you. Someone bought it today. I'll take a small commission and transfer the rest to your account." The man held the cigar between his teeth.
"That fast? Converted to cash, that's around two or three hundred thousand yen, isn't it?" Samuro sounded a little surprised.
"Don't you know this game is full of whales? Same as comment-stream sites being full of scientists, designers, and programmers." The man laughed. "And if you're not a gun nut, you wouldn't understand. For them, actually getting to handle something as violently overpowered as an NTW-20, a real-world monster, feels better than drugs. At the very least, could you buy an anti-materiel sniper rifle like that from the United States so easily for two or three hundred thousand yen?"
"Besides, rarity drives price. The one you found isn't exactly a unicorn drop, but it's still rare. Finding a buyer won't be a problem. The real question is whether we can push the price higher." He spoke like someone who knew the trade.
"In a game that encourages player hunting, the people still willing to keep their heads down and farm monsters are probably all hoping to strike it rich in one shot. Well, in the end, those mutated monsters are the size of Godzilla. Trying to bring them down with a gun is asking a lot. I'm impressed you managed it."
"Especially with such an extreme AGI build. If anything even grazes you, your HP drops like a rock." The man sighed. "Shame, though. You don't have enough STR. If you could equip that gun, this character of yours would be terrifying."
"A sniper in this game needs very high specs to do the job," Samuro replied.
"Your accuracy speaks for itself."
"Can the money arrive tomorrow?"
"Sure. What, you need it urgently?"
"I want to buy a used car," Samuro said.
"Oh. Did you get your license?"
"The test is in a few days."
"Hoh. Pretty confident." The man nodded.
The two of them kept talking, while the two guests on the program that everyone in the bar was watching seemed about to start arguing.
"BoB is an individual encounter battle. Even repeated matches can't guarantee the same result. Calling it a victory of stats alone is unreasonable no matter how you look at it, isn't it, Mr. XeXeeD?"
"No, this result can be called a reflection of GGO's overall trend." XeXeeD said. "Mr. Yamikaze is an AGI-type player, so I understand why you'd want to object. Up to now, AGI kept improving. Fast, powerful live-fire attacks, strong evasion, and unstable endurance that could be patched up. It was a good direction. But MMOs aren't single-player games. The balance keeps changing."
"Especially under a level system. Think about it and you'll understand. The weapons that appear later will require higher and higher Strength values. Isn't it naive to keep thinking you can break through everything with Agility and never take a scratch? Didn't my battle with you prove that? My armor greatly reduced your killing power, and my own hit rate was still around seventy percent. To be frank, the future will definitely belong to STR-VIT. The age of Strength builds is coming!"
Yamikaze, on the screen, looked furious.
"But equipment that makes up for high-level technique must cost a fortune, right?" the host asked.
"What an annoying question. Of course you farm for it. To put it plainly, the most important factor is your own luck. The old hatred between the RNG-cursed and the RNG-blessed has never been resolved, so that question is meaningless. Hahaha." XeXeeD laughed loudly.
"XeXeeD used to be an AGI evangelist too. Looking at it now, it was practically a conspiracy to mislead the trend. Most of the players who trusted him must have been tricked badly." The broker beside Samuro could not help laughing.
"Then is the STR build misleading too?"
"Knowing his personality, the strongest build is probably LUK, a luck build. Just hope every enemy's barrel drifts off target in every fight." The broker joked.
"You don't seem shaken," Samuro said, a little puzzled.
"Why would I be? I only ever play according to my own ideas. People who blindly trust online guides are boring. Finding your own road is what makes it fun. Honestly, if everyone was like you and followed one path all the way into the dark, that would be really interesting."
"Everyone has a different nose for these things, I suppose. Agility just suits me. I don't really like carrying overly heavy firearms either. I don't understand them that well, and I don't have any gun-nerd passion. Naturally, I ended up like this." Samuro gave a bitter smile.
"Speaking of which, I've got a few more requests here. Escort jobs. Interested?" The broker thought for a moment. "Actually, that team is pretty pitiful. They've been robbed three times already."
"Sounds good," Samuro said.
"That quick? Hmm. I finally know what your style is. You must have built yourself as a ranger carrying out humble justice in a lawless land." The broker spoke solemnly.
"But I often hunt other people too. I'm not a bodyguard. I'm a mercenary." Samuro shrugged.
"So, what we call a player's own ability actually includes the level of their stats..."
Suddenly, the voice on the screen, which had been calmly explaining everything from the winner's position, stopped.
XeXeeD's mouth hung open. His eyes went round. His whole body stiffened. His hand slowly rose and gripped his chest. A moment later, his avatar vanished in a flicker, leaving only the stool beneath him.
"Ah, it looks like the signal has cut out. It should recover soon, so please don't go anywhere...!" the host said, hurriedly trying to save the broadcast.
Samuro and the broker were both a little surprised. The other players in the bar froze as well, then began laughing.
"Got what he deserved. Bet some guy went and cut his home internet cable."
"If only some hero would cut BoB's cable too. Hahaha."
"What a mess. Guess that's the kind of reputation he has now." The broker stood and patted himself off. "Well, see you in a few days. Good luck with your license."
"Yeah, no problem." Samuro waved at him, opened his window, and prepared to log out directly from the bar.
The other customers were yelling for someone to change the program.
Hardly anyone thought any deeper about the sudden disconnection.
On the vast map of GGO, however, there was one other bar where the players who had watched the broadcast stared in silent stillness at the man standing before the virtual screen.
He lowered the gun he had aimed at the screen, bringing it back to a level position. Then he slowly turned around, revealing the skull mask under his heavy coat. His invisible gaze swept over every person there.
He raised the black gun high again. His low voice rang like iron being hammered.
"...This is true power. Power that walks with death. You fools who enjoy hunts without paying any price, remember this name."
He let out a cold laugh.
"My name, and the name of this gun... is Death Gun."
With his left hand, he called up the menu, and his entire body vanished from the spot.
And in the bustling city of Tokyo, among the countless players logging out of VRMMOs at that same moment, two players slowly opened their eyes.
One climbed down from his bed, stretched, ran a hand through his messy hair, made his way around the cramped room, and went to the kitchen to take out an ice-cold beer.
The other slowly sat up halfway in a large bed. His expression was numb. Through the second-floor window of his room, the bright city lights reflected in his pupils. He touched his beating heart and deeply felt a hunger he had not known in a long time, now revived.
Then, slowly, he smiled.