Avaible Titles:

  10/10 Talent: Win a solo fight against 10 enemies who are all at least 10 levels higher than you. Effects: +10% all statsCould You Like... Die? – Inflict damage ten times on a single enemy. Effects: +5% damageOops, What A Shame: Cause ao fall to their death. Effects: -10% fall damagePung Up (Solo) (3): While alone, kill an enemy 30 levels higher than you. Effects: +30% damage against enemies more than ten levels higher than you.I Am The Boss (Solo) --> I Am The Boss (4) (Solo) (First): While alone, kill a BOSS monster 30 levels higher than you. Effects: All stats +30% (60%)No It’s Not: plete an ‘impossible’ ranked mission. Effects: +100 charmDisarmer – Knock a on out of an enemy’s grasp, Effects: +20% item durability damageAntidon’t (First): Prevent an enemy from drinking an antidote potion. Effects: +20% (40%) poisoance, +20% (40%) poison damage"..."

  Even after reading through all of the titles, Max kept staring at his interface, cheg to make sure he didn’t misread... Unvinced, he then checked a third time.

  —????????????????????????????????????

  —HE GOT TWO FIRSTS?!!!

  —Dude

  —WHAT THE F*CK IS A 60% STAT INCREASE???????

  —ASDSKLDMASLKMDLAASFKDLASF

  —CEO’s son. I’m calling it right now, he’s the CEO’s son

  —WTF

  The titles were so shog that they even tore viewers away from their new political drama.

  “G-guys, I’m not crazy, right? Wouldn’t ‘stats’ mean all of my main attributes?”

  Max equipped the titles and tried drawing his bow. To his astonishment, the b extended all the way to his cheek, the full draw indig that his strength had increased dramatically.

  “Wh-what?” Max looked at his b in stupefa. “S-surely this is a bug, right? There’s no way they would let pyers have a 60% stat boost; that’s too game-breaking!”

  —Give this man an Oscar

  —Ain’t no WAY

  —Banced game lmao

  —Title effects are doubled for the first person to get them; normally it would be 30%!

  “It would normally be thirty pert? That’s still way too much.”

  “What’s too much?” Virtus approached, having apparently finished his call. “Wait, you’re talking into one of those ‘living stream’ things, aren’t you?”

  “Huh? Uh, yeah... you know about those?”

  “I do. Sophia told me not to spill any national secrets whenever someone I appraise has a rge red cirext to their name, si would be broadcast in full to all the people of your world.”

  “Yes, that’s true.” Max realised he’d ed to warn the prince about this earlier. “Though, information es in from our world as well. For example, the stream tells me that a rge number of heroes are waiting for us at Novus, ready to assist itle.”

  “Oh, I see. That is useful... Is that what you were referring to as ‘way too much’?”

  “No, that was something else. e to think of it, do the people of this world use ‘titles’?”

  “I did hear about those. I’m aware you’re not referring to our peerage system, so my answer would be no. Our people ck many onalities with heroes, such as your ‘titles’, ‘skills’ and ‘csses’. We use monoliths with a timed reusage penalty proportional to our level, but we don’t have your fast recovery speed, paiion, or above all, your im-”

  Woosh-Ting!

  Suddenly, Virtus raised his gau and a metallic sound rang out o his head. Max reacted instantly and fired a return shot at the source of the projectile, causing the bow of an attag archer to immediately disappear from his grip, flying off into the distahe perpetrator, a pyer, was quickly surrounded by knights.

  “Ho, we have our first daredevil, it seems.” Virtus brought his horse to a stop, seeming to have anticipated an attack. “Hm? Wait...”

  With an almost audible creak, Virtus turned his neck baax. “Gun, did you shoot an arrow just now?”

  “Yes, I disarmed him. I apologise on behalf of the heroes; we have a rge number of troublemakers among us.”

  “No, I expected that. Rather, why didn’t I see your arrow pass in the air? Did you use an entment?”

  Some of the knights exged fused gnces, not having seen anythiher.

  ...Actually, even Max didn’t see his own arrow. However, he at least knew why.

  “That would be due to one of my skills, [Successive Speed]. The skill temporarily increases my arrow velocity with each secutive shot until I suffer a miss.”

  Due to the skill effeot having a duration limit, and given the fact that he hadn’t actually missed any shots siaining the skill, his arrows remained incredibly fast. bined with the increased power of his new bow, it was now practically impossible to dodge one of his attacks. Max felt slightly bad for whichever game developers were responsible, because they would undoubtedly fae harsh nation in the near future. It was keenly apparent that, for all this game’s exceptional graphid AI intelligence, a lot of the game design was really bad.

  “S-speed? You mean to say the arrow was so fast that it became imperceptible by sight? Just how fast was it moving?”

  ...Max did some quick maths. The projectile physics were mostly in accord with Hero of Liberation, so his 200lbs bow would ordinarily shoot one of his 50g arrows at close to 67m/s when fully drawn. Since he had killed around 60 enemies siaining the skill, the speed boost amouo about 5% x 60 = 300%.

  “It should be around two hundred ay metres per sed, Yhness – roughly the muzzle velocity of a low-grade handgun.”

  ???? Virtus bnkly gaped at Max in mystification.

  ‘...Are they just shocked or do they need imperial- Ah! They don’t have handguns here!’

  “That- It’s four times the regur speed, Yhness.”

  The fog slowly cleared from Virtus’s eyes. “O-oh. I see. Ihat is... quite a powerful skill to have at your disposal... I um, I hope we discuss this ter in more detail.”

  —EXCUSE ME WHATTT

  —CLIP IT!! CLIP IT!!

  —This is more broken than my wall clock

  —Gun has a gun. Gun has a gun. Gun has a gun. Gun has a gun.

  —WTFFFFF

  —Uh, yes, Virtek, I’d like to report a bug

  —This is more broken than my phone s

  —Why so precise lmaoo

  —HandGun?

  —I don’t know how, but the cowboy hat makes this infinitely better

  —This is more broken than my ex-girlfriend’s mental state

  —500 game btw

  The eed.

  Virtus cleared his throat. *Ahem* “Before that, I suppose there’s a more pressing matter to resolve.” He turo the detained pyer, whose arms were firmly secured by armoured knights on each side. “I see that you are one of the heroes. Tell me young man, why did you decide to attack me just now? My life was never in danger, but I would like to uand your motive.”

  ‘Young man?’ Max looked at Virtus. He had short, light-blonde hair with blue eyes, and a healthy plexion whidicated early-to-mid 20s. He was nowhere near old enough to be calling someone ‘young man’... Maybe he just said it to sound imposing.

  The archer spoke, “I’unno, I just had that vibe y’know? Like, you get what I’m sayin’ cuzz?”

  ...Max facepalmed.

  Virtus froze and needed a few seds to prehend. “I’m afraid I do not ‘get’ what you are saying, ‘cuzz’. Would you mind elucidating your reasoning?”

  “Uh, well I was gonna join you for that whole battle mission shebang or whatever, but then I was like, ‘what would happen if I just turned and shot the prince right now’, and the intrusive thought just sorta... won over... ‘n stuff.”

  “...” Virtus stared at him.

  “Uh, Yhness, if I might offer some sel?” Lemonade approached with Dahlia.

  “Please do. And call me Virtus.”

  “Of course. Virtus. So the pyers – I mean heroes, are, as I’m sure you’ve surmised, very free-spirited individuals. Many of us tend to apulse and do whatever we feel like in the moment, with very little thought to the sequences.”

  “I certainly noticed that... Go on.”

  “So, vention in this sort of circumstance would suggest punishing all wroo deter crimes a an example. Only, this sort of aight cause disciplined heroes to feel resentful and be unwilling to aid you iure, so, rather than that, I propose an alternate solution.”

  “You would fo punishment?” Virtus was intrigued.

  “ly. First, do you know what heroes value the most in a person?”

  “Strength? No, it should be principles.”

  Lemonade shook his head. “Those are both he top of the list, but not quite.”

  “...Looks?”

  “Also at the top of the list, but no. Above all, our people value humour.”

  “Humour? You mean, as in edy?”

  “Yes. Our people love to be eained, which is why I have a suggestion: Why not propose a task for the hero to plete. If he fails, punish him, but if he succeeds, let him be pardoned for his crimes.”

  “Iing. Humour above all, you say? Very well.” Virtus pced his attention ba the archer. “Hero, I still don’t particurly uand why you chose to attack me, but I see that your name is ‘DarkArcher69’. Listen here, DarkArcher69. Although you seem to have shot an arrow at my head for no disible reason, I am feeling merciful today, so I will grant you one ce at clemency.”

  DarkArcher69 nodded. “Thanks, prince. What task do I o plete, then?”

  “A dance.”

  “...Dance?”

  “Yes, dance. Show me your best performance, and if I am impressed then I will spare your life.”

  “That’s all I o do?” The archer smirked as his arms were released. “Aight bet, I do that.”

  Without wasting any time, he burst into motion, boung up and down on the spot with his wrists crossed in front of him.

  ‘Oh no.’ Max instantly realised he was doing. This man was attempting to do the ‘Gangnam Style’. Except... ‘He’s really bad!’

  The man was a terrible dancer. His arms filed limply in front of him and his legs kicked out in uneven, jerky bursts, sometimes too mud sometimes too little, as if he was trying to put out an invisible fire at the soles of his feet rather than follow any sembnce of rhythm. He started whirling an arm around in front of his face, poorly imitating a ssoing motion.

  Expressions of sedhand embarrassment spread through the crowd as nearby pyers watched on in horror. “Dear God, make it stop,” someotered.

  Not hearing that onlooker, ae his utter ck of coordination, the pyer tio ‘dance’, all the while radiating fidence. Entirely caught up in his own world, he pced his hands on his hips and started strutting sideways with his chest puffed out, moving bad forth in front of Virtus’s horse.

  “Ayy, sexy dy.” He murmured slightly out of tune. “Op, op-op-op, oppa Gangnam Style!”

  After repeating the main motion again for a little while, he cpped and came to a stop in front of the prince. “How was it? Pretty goht?”

  Virtus frowned. “Was that supposed to resemble a horse-riding motion?”

  “Yes! Did you like it?”

  With a blindingly quick fsh of movement, Virtus uhed a sword from his hip and sliced the man’s head from his shoulders.

  “That might be the worst thing I’ve ever seen.”

  Lasz