So when we last left Maple and Sally, they were having a grand old time in NewWorld Online, continuing to achieve new and fun ways of playing the game. Well, the administrators have had it. Numerous changes were announced that, on the surface, can be expected for a VRMMO. But for Maple, they’re pretty tragic:
- Devour being limited to only 10 uses a day, but with it auto-activating on Night’s Facsimile, her shield will literally just become a shield in record time.
- Monster AI getting a buff means no random monster will attack her for a gajillion hours.
- Armor piercing skills are now in the game.
So what does Maple do now that she won’t be so invincible anymore? Well, leave it to Sally to come up with a way to motivate Maple!
Volumes 2 and 3 of Bofuri cover the second event in the Second Stratum, which means Maple and Sally will encounter not just new challenges and challengers, but also experience new aspects of the game, such as hours upon hours of being stuck in one location due to an enemy or admiring the luscious greenery until an hour later and they get extremely tired of it. It appears the good and the bad aspects of playing in a VRMMO come about in these two volumes. At least only two total hours pass by in the real world!
The continued escapades of Maple essentially doing her utmost of ensuring she takes no damage get wild once again. The admins really did believe they did their best to stop her, but what they soon learn is sometimes, despite playtesting, people just like doing out-of-the-box things. See: Maple, despite having 0 AGI and somehow being slower than a turtle, using an ability to essentially transport right beside a much faster ally. It does help that she has a trusted friend in Sally though, which eases some notable issues.
And they do run into a few issues so far in this week-long event — from facing a monster bird that wiped out a party in under a minute, to a top NWO player, to even having to work with said NWO player after they’re all stuck under a hidden dungeon roaming with creatures that can’t be killed. Did I forget to mention Sally and Maple had to fight each other? Well they did!…Well, it’s important to note that Sally and Maple had to beat fakes of the other, but still! It surely was painful that Maple had to essentially fill a room with poison just to defeat the fake Sally!
Not surprisingly, the charm of Bofuri continues with actions like that and the many expressions (cute, hilarious, bewildering, etc) the two — and later others — display over these two volumes. The craftiness is what jumps out, as Maple continues to do unexpected things in a way that neither the admins nor anyone else can predict in a fun manner. And when those admins start wondering if they should make her the final boss, it’s hilarious. It was funny that they soon came around to realize that Sally is a different level of brokenness beside Maple though.
Anyways, we did get Kasumi, the kimono-clad swordswoman, and two seemingly adorable creatures introduced, and, if you’ve checked out the anime and/or light novel, they become invaluable members to the two. The manga so far has not yet finished volume 2 of the light novel, but it does appear volume 4 will do so — and then also introduce yet another version of Maple that’s going to be entirely too strong. Can’t wait.