Chapter 58

"Ugh, it's so hot......"

When I woke up, I felt a body temperature different from mine against my chest down to my ankles. From my right hand under the towel blanket, I could feel the texture of silky hair.

I flipped the towel blanket, and there was Azuha-chan, asleep with her face buried in my chest.

"Azuha-chan... you're in my bed again..."

About once a week, Azuha-chan sleepily crawls into my futon. It's fine in spring, autumn, and winter. But summer—summer is just too much. Our clothes are soaked with sweat from each other.

When I patted her head, Azuha-chan slowly opened her eyes.

"Ah, good morning, onee-chan."

With that, Azuha-chan fell asleep again, hugging me. She's such an unbelievably adorable little sister. However—

"It's too hot!"

I grabbed the remote next to the pillow and turned on the air conditioner.

"Huh?"

Something felt different—Azuha-chan's chest seemed softer than before?

Like me, Azuha-chan has a small chest. But wait... no, I'm definitely feeling some growth!

(D-Don't tell me... even my own little sister has surpassed me...!?)

I groped her chest again to confirm.

Yeah. No, we're still about the same. But if she keeps growing at this rate...

I should stop thinking about it. No one knows what the future holds.

——August 9.

Three days had passed since the day I defeated Tsubasa-san in the C-rank Rank Match.

Having left Marshmallow Smile, I didn't do anything special—just focused on leveling up. I reached level 50. At that point, level progression stopped, and my experience started accumulating in something called "Overbox."

After searching online, I found that to level up beyond 51, you have to defeat Machine World Beasts that are level 51 or higher. Not just any weak ones either—they have to be Commanders, like that giant centipede boss I beat before.

Apparently, the same requirement applies every 50 levels. So to reach level 100 or 150, you need to defeat a Commander of level 100 or 150, respectively. The current level cap seems to be 200, but once you surpass 100, you're among the elite.

As soon as I logged in, I faced off against a level 70 Commander called "Scorching Lupus" on the "Flame Planet," where the ground is all lava. It was a massive black wolf-type Machine World Beast, its body coursing with red energy. Even though there was a level gap, I defeated it without taking a single hit.

It had flamethrowers on both shoulders and thrusters on all four legs, allowing it to move quickly and blast wide-area flames—but compared to Tsubasa-san and Kurenai-san, it was much slower, and I could handle it easily.

What this battle taught me was that G-AGE is useless against Machine World Beasts at this level range. Their durability was 30,000 per body part, and vital areas like the head and torso had 60,000. Since G-AGE only deals 160 damage per shot, I'd have to land hundreds of hits to destroy anything. It's far quicker and easier to just chip away with an assault rifle.

G-AGE is strictly for Space Girls. It doesn't work on Machine World Beasts.

(I mean, if it worked on everything, it'd be way too OP.)

After defeating Lupus, I reached level 62.

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PN: Shiki

LV: 62

ROLE: Sniper

TIP: 1,108,600

Armor: 20×1.5 (30)

Thruster Output: 40×2.5 (100)

Thruster Capacity: 80×3 (240)

Precision: 80×2.5 (200)

Radar: 100×3 (300)

Stealth: 60×2 (120)

EN Capacity: 60×1.65 (96)

Weapons

Slot 1: RS-45 (sniper rifle)

Slot 2: M1911 G-AGE (handgun)

Slot 3: Dust Mirage (special cloak)

Slot 4: SCH-100+ FullCustom (saber)

Slot 5: PT-8 (Shield Piece)

Slot 6: PBE-1 (Bullet Piece)

Slot 7: ARR-21 (assault rifle)

Slot 8: ARR-28 (assault rifle)

Expansion Parts

Slot 1 & 2: Enhanced Radar

Slot 3: Precision Radar

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When fighting Machine World Beasts, thrusters are key... EN capacity can be covered by stocking up on EN bottles, but since you have to open the menu every time you use a consumable, it creates too many openings. Maybe it's about time I started investing in EN too.

Now then, time for the fun part—drop items...

- FL-13 (burner)

- Flame Light Ore ×3

- Lupus Homage Armor (humanoid-exclusive gear)

- 1,055,00 chips

Burner... as in, a flamethrower.

"N-No thanks..."

Sabers, handguns, assault rifles—even missile pods and shields—I'm confident in using all of those. But flamethrowers? I just can't handle them. And even if I could, I doubt they'd be all that effective. Are there really people who use this as their main weapon?

"I've saved up quite a bit of money."

TIP: 1,108,600

I've got over a million chips now. With this... maybe I can finally afford it.

"My dream My House♪"

What's been stressing me out the most is waking up in the bedroom.

Sure, it's free to use, but... it's crowded! Just imagine waking up and immediately being surrounded by that many people every time...!

I looked into housing pretty early on, but it was complicated. As complicated as real-world real estate. So I reached out to someone for help.

When I opened my friend list, they happened to be online. I sent a message, and they replied instantly with an OK.

We arranged to meet at the Ship Dock on the Space Station.

"Shiki-ccho~!"

"Ah, Cha—Chacha-san!"

Tousled brown hair, baggy work clothes, a bright smile, and a candy in her mouth. Chacha-san, the mechanic and operator of Marshmallow Smile.

She's been playing Infinite Space since launch, and as far as I know, she has the widest knowledge base. When it comes to My House, she's probably the most informed person out there.

"You want a My House~? Leave it to Chacha-san~"

"Um, will that budget be enough?"

I'd already told Chacha-san how many chips I had.

"Depending on the location, it'll work."

"So no chance of getting a place in a good location, huh?"

"Yeah. For example, land inside bases on various planets is out of the question. Just buying the land rights costs 5 million, and upkeep is 400,000 per month."

"Ugh... that's rough. So where can I go then..."

"A colony. A player-made artificial planet. Colonies don't have bases, but they have laws, and as long as it's not a major city, the land is cheap."

Bases are absolute safety zones. Except for training grounds, you don't take damage there, and capsule beds can't be destroyed.

"Wait, didn't the guide-girl say that My House also counts as a base...?"

"Ahhh. Some houses on planets or quest-related motherships are treated as bases, but basically, you should assume players can't create bases themselves."

Hmm. When you think about it, if players could freely create absolute safety zones, it would totally break game balance.

(A colony, huh... I've always admired those.)

Artificial planets. If you like even a little bit of sci-fi, of course you'd be drawn to them.

"I'll explain the details while we move to Chacha-san's recommended colony."

"What's the name of the colony?"

Chacha-san held up three fingers.

"The third artificial planet (space colony): 'Oceanos.' It's the ocean colony♪"

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