Second Story Online: Aiming To Become The World's Number 1. Ideal Witch Chapter 2 - A Witch Takes Precedence Over A Hero

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『Welcome to Second Story Online.』

I was met with a system message the moment I logged in.

Instinctively, I bowed to the wind to express my thanks. At this point, my body has already moved on its own out of habit.

A beautiful field of flowers was spread before my eyes, petals fluttering gracefully in the wind.

The clear lake in front, surrounded by the meadow, was also breathtaking. With the blue sky projected on its surface, it gave off an ethereal reflection.

Even if this was just a game, the spectacle before me was too beautiful. Enough to think that I'm somewhere overseas at the moment.

But there's one thing I would like to say.

Why is the t.i.tle logo of SSO placed right above the lake?!

The logo feels out of step with its surroundings; somehow, it broke the otherworldly feeling. I wonder what the creative director was thinking to set it up there.

For a moment where I was just blankly staring at the scene, a system message popped out to wake me up from my reverie.

It was an explanation regarding the character creation system.

To officially start, I first performed the initial configuration settings according to the system message.

Now, let's make a character with enthusiasm!

I was already decided about the figure, so I breezed through such a setting quickly.

I also want long, raven black hair paired with green eyes. That seems witch-like, isn't it?

I made the features of the face in this world the younger version of my real self. Whereas, height and body shape are the same, for ease of movement.

They say witches are supposed to be old women. But this is my precious game.

Sorry, please overlook this.

After adjusting the appearance, a child which suspiciously looked like a magical girl, pa.s.sed off as a witch, was left in the end.

I made it too young.

Well, it won't be meaningful if it is too close to my real self.

The next prompt asked me the name for this character. I was already decided with this, and thus I entered 'Chloe' without any hesitation.

Next, a selection for birth status and personal history was displayed. This part is quite rare when I compare it with other games.

In this game, the character gets to decide the setting of where they grew up and the kind of life they had undergo till now.

And according to the character disposition, the NPC correspondence, quests and events will change to suit the player's preference, changing the flow of the story significantly. Thus, everyone had a unique storyline made solely for themselves.

Right here, was the biggest selling point of the game.

Just like a second story, as their catch phrase goes.

Oh, that's right! There also seems to be a lot of roleplayers in this game.

Majority of the players that remained from the beta test, or seemed to be interested in this game, were roleplayers.

Because I was going to roll a witch, this was quite convenient.

This portion was critical to a gachi1/seasoned player who value the parameters the character setting influences, therefore changing the gameplay.

Naturally, the former says nothing of me. I wasn't nitpicky about these things and was just aiming to reasonably roleplay a witch.

For the time being, I briefly skim through the list for the character setting. There are a lot of choices even just for this—shepherd, farmer, merchant and the like.

Through this, the roleplay might change depending on my choice and I became undecided seeing the list go on and on.

Should I just stick to eeny, meeny, miny, moe? Hmm, Random b.u.t.ton?

That reminds me, when I was browsing through the site boards on a whim, I saw a guy that said it was possible to obtain a high rarity when you settle for the random b.u.t.ton.

Since I'm already undecided, let's just stick with a random challenge, which can only be replaced once.

[Birth Status Random Result: Bradleys – Viscount family.]

A viscount family? I have a hunch that such a background is relatively a high rarity.

Although I did not intend to roleplay as an aristocrat, I will accept this since it seems to be special.

Next is the personal history… I will go random with this too.

It reminds me once again that I can only change it once from here. I click anyway.

Roleplaying randomly set characters may be fun as well.

[Personal History Random Result: Chosen Hero]

Dismissed! Although it seems like something of a rare occurrence, I reject it immediately!

Initially, I had said it might be exciting to roleplay a random character. But I wanted to be a witch, not a hero.

Unhesitatingly, I clicked the random b.u.t.ton once more.

[Personal History Random Result: I Ran Away from Home to Embark on an Adventure.]

A runaway? Ran away from the viscount family?

Surely, I would have run away from home to become a witch. Ooh, that seems plausible.

I couldn't change it anymore, so I decided to go with this. Oh, it seems like I have unexpectedly become the black sheep miss of the family.

I wonder how I would have turned out if I had chosen to be a hero.

Perhaps, I could have even drawn the personal history of a demon king. Oh, frightening!

Okay, pull yourself together and unto the next decision.

As for the next, it was a roster for skills.

This was a decision stage for the character's basic skills. Also, skill points or SP, were needed to acquire a desired skill.

Afterwards, a skill levels up when an action in relation to it is done in continuation. A number of skills can also be acquired depending on the player's activity pattern, e.g. type of gameplay, type of magic used, and the probability of getting skills increases with doing said actions continuously.

Well, now then. Since I'm a witch, naturally I would be more inclined to be a magic-type user. Afterwards, maybe compounding? Oh, I also want this familiar summoning technique… Yosh!

[Two-handed Staff] [Dark Magic] [Wind Magic] [Magic Knowledge] [Compounding] [Summon: Familiar] [Command]

10 skill points have been consumed just from this stage—I should probably put off the remaining SP in the meantime and consider what skills to take in the future. Since the points are still usable later.

In addition, there are still skills to be added from the birth status and the personal history.

The long process of character creation is now finally coming to a close.

Afterwards, the initial starting position was announced to have already been decided. It was chosen randomly in relation to the character's personal history.

Although I was initially from an aristocratic family, it would be changed forcibly because of the chosen personal history. That is, as a runaway daughter in pursuit for freedom.

Ah! The initial beginning position must be where I would be located in the meantime, after having travelled away from home.

Without further ado, I pressed the start b.u.t.ton to commence the game.

[Have a safe trip. Please enjoy this story created only for you.]

As the voice of the system echoed, the view gradually disappears from my sight, fading into oblivion.

Seeing the expanse of flowers, the lake and even the ugly logo on top of it, I felt a bit frustrated. It can't be helped since the story does not begin here.

Now, into the world of SSO! This is the beginning of witch Chloe's story!

Name: Chloe

Race: Human

s.e.x: Female

[Birth Status: Bradleys – Viscount family.]

After selecting 'Human' as race and Birth Status randomly, place of birth was elected from these parameters:

A viscount family situated in the Ente Dukedom of the Hayes Region.

[Personal History: I Ran Away from Home to Embark on an Adventure.]

From this, initial starting position is randomized regardless of race and family.

The local map of the initial start position has been finalized after searching.

LV 1 — Remaining SP 2

Main Skills:

[Two-handed Staff LV 1]

[Dark Magic LV 1]

[Wind Magic LV 1]

[Magic Knowledge LV 1]

[Compounding LV 1]

[Summon: Familiar LV 1]

[Command LV 1]

Birth Status Bonus Skills:

[Language: Hayes Region]

[Social Status: Ente Dukedom. Bradleys – Viscount Family]

Personal History Bonus Skills:

[Camping]

[Land Familiarity]