To a *Nekoneko* player, bugs are common neighbors, the greatest enemies, and also the best friends.
The bug I utilized this time was, naturally, the best friend.
It is called the most convenient and versatile bug in *Nekoneko* history, and with every patch, people say it must have finally been fixed, yet it remained until the very end.
—Commonly known as the “Corpse Knocking Bug.”
It is a specification of *Nekoneko*, and even NPCs are aware of this official setting, that landing a finishing blow to a Critical Point doubles the drop rate.
While it is a convenient setting, it’s also true that for some monsters, the Critical Point is in a difficult-to-target location or they move too fast, making it hard to fully utilize.
However, one day, a Human claimed that “if you use a rapid-fire Skill on the Critical Point and land the finishing blow, the drop rate skyrockets.”
If this were true, it would drastically change how battles are fought against opponents with useful drop items.
Many Players embarked on verifying this.
The results of the verification generally concluded, “It seems to be true, but we don’t understand the mechanism behind it.”
The results varied from person to person, making it difficult to reach a definitive conclusion.
However, they did learn that “Skills with high attack power and many hits tend to yield better items.”
Then, a drastic turn of events occurred due to an outrageous statement from one of the Players conducting the same verification.
He claimed that during the item drop verification, his attack was delayed, and his rapid-fire Skill hit the monster *after* it died. However, even then, the drop rate seemed to increase.
Even more, upon recreating the same situation several times, it appeared that the drop rate was actually higher when hitting a dead monster compared to a living one.
All Players who heard the report exclaimed, “No way,” but at the same time, every single one of them thought:
“Well, maybe in *Nekoneko*…”
And so, verification began anew under this new policy.
What was revealed then were astonishing facts.
First and foremost, how was the “doubling of the drop rate when landing a finishing blow on a Critical Point” judged and calculated internally?
The answer was: when an attack hits a “Critical Point, and after damage calculation, HP becomes 0 or less, the drop rate and rare drop rate values are multiplied by 2.”
It seems quite arbitrary, but this would have been fine in a normal RPG or any game other than *Nekoneko*.
The moment HP became 0 with the finishing blow, the monster’s hit detection would disappear, and regardless of whether it was a rapid-fire attack or not, the drop rate bonus would only apply once for the finishing hit.
However, do you recall?
In *Nekoneko*, monster corpses remain for a while even after death, and it’s possible for Players to be killed by the hit detection remaining on their corpses.
But this also implied the fact that attacks could be landed on dead monsters.
And of course, compared to targeting the weak point of a moving monster, attacking the Critical Point of a monster’s corpse is not difficult, and for a dead monster, any weak attack will inevitably reduce its HP to 0 or below.
Thus, attacking the Critical Point of a corpse also fulfilled the condition for increasing the drop rate.
Furthermore, since the drop rate increase calculation was a simple multiplication by two, the drop rate increased exponentially with each hit: 2x, 4x, 8x.
What does this mean?
—In other words, “by hitting the weak point of a monster’s corpse with a rapid-fire Skill, the item drop probability can be dramatically increased.”
This is the “Corpse Knocking Bug.”
It’s a Bug Skill for *Nekoneko* Players, used to increase drops with minimal risk.
Now, in this tournament, drop items significantly influence the reward amount, and thus the ranking.
There’s no reason not to use the Knocking Bug here.
From the beginning, I had planned to use this Bug Skill to win the Subjugation Tournament.
I thought of it when the Golden Subjugation Tournament was decided.
The plan was: Ringo would stop its legs with lightning, and I would rush in and hit the weak point with “Rokutsuki.”
While aiming for first place with that strategy, if it seemed possible, I would hold back a bit on Ringo’s attacks and let me land the finishing blow to raise my own level.
This was the ultimate strategy for our battle against the Golden HAGURE NYORAIM.
As the words suggest.
To explain in a bit more detail, Ringo would down the Golden with lightning, and I would rush in and trigger the Knocking Bug with “Rokutsuki” once it was dead and stopped moving.
This would almost guarantee the Golden dropping Nyoraim Gold Coins, and we would aim for first place with that reward amount.
This time, we used the six-hit combo Skill, “Rokutsuki.”
When performing the “Corpse Knocking Bug” with this, the item drop probability is multiplied by 2 to the power of 6.
That is, 2x2x2x2x2x2 = 64, resulting in 64 times the original drop rate.
The drop rate for Nyoraim Gold Coins is 10%, so with the Bug Skill, the drop probability becomes 640%.
Admittedly, due to system limitations, multiple items cannot be dropped at once, but it easily guaranteed a drop.
However, I initially overlooked something. Considering winning the Subjugation Tournament, this Corpse Knocking Bug had a slight drawback.
This technique also increases the rare drop rate.
The rare drop check occurs before the normal drop check, so if the rare drop check is successful, the normal drop of Nyoraim Gold Coins cannot be obtained.
The rare drop of the Golden, “Koganezakura,” has a drop rate of 0.1%, so the post-Corpse Knocking drop rate becomes 6.4%.
Statistically, it wouldn’t be strange for it to drop three more, but whether by good luck or bad luck, in the end, only one appeared.
However, there was another miscalculation.
That would be, of course, Hisame’s existence.
From the start, I hadn’t expected to win first place in terms of subjugation count.
While random elements are strong, this is an event in *Nekoneko*.
I had anticipated that characters with considerable strength, if not Hisame specifically, would be participating.
But I believed that even against stronger opponents, the difference in reward per monster would be enough to overcome them. Normally, you get about 10,000 for subjugating one monster, and averaging it out with delivery also gives around the same, for a total of 20,000.
On the other hand, we guaranteed a drop of gold coins, so we could earn a reward of 10,000 for subjugation and 100,000 for delivery per monster, for a total of 110,000.
If opponents used normal methods, we would win if we defeated over 80 monsters, as even if they defeated all the remaining 420, they wouldn’t catch up. So, victory was practically assured at this point.
Even if we defeated at least 50 monsters, they would have to defeat over half, 275 monsters, so there was virtually no chance of losing. That’s what I thought.
But Hisame was a monster who earned a reward of 30,000 per monster by precisely targeting the Critical Points.
This eliminated the safety margin.
Moreover, judging from Hisame’s words, the possibility that she was aiming for over half of the monsters began to emerge.
And at the one-hour mark, our successful Corpse Knocking Bugs totaled 66.
In terms of rewards, we were at around 7.3 million E, which was not enough to reach the 7.5 million E Hisame would have if she secured over half.
And at that time, I had no way of knowing, but Hisame actually defeated 251 Golden monsters and marked a reward of 7.71 million E.
If, at that moment, we hadn’t searched for the large rock’s spawn point, or if Hisame had continued hunting even after surpassing 251, we would have surely lost.
In that sense, this truly is “the victory of those who did not give up.”
“Indeed. It was a knife-edge battle.”
As Ringo and I received the championship trophy, I reflected on this tournament.
The fact that no one claimed it was cheating, despite the record being clearly extraordinary, is likely because this world is half a Game.
Surely, they understood that no foul play would occur in this tournament.
After my score was announced, the venue fell silent for a moment, likely in surprise. But when the announcer declared our victory again, a huge cheer erupted, accompanied by congratulatory words.
Despite the abundance of malevolent events, *Nekoneko* is also characterized by having many good people.
…Well, even that is within the creators’ intentions, as players suffer even more when terrible events occur without the person involved having any ill will.
Regardless, being praised by others is a happy feeling.
I naturally smiled and waved back at everyone congratulating us, that is, everyone present.
…No, that’s not right.
At least, not everyone.
Although most people here were cheering for us, there was at least one exception.
That exception was, of course,
“…Impossible.”
Hisame stood there, her cat ears drooping unnaturally, her expression not of blankness but of such utter shock that her emotions seemed to have vanished.
After the announcement comes the prize awarding.
However, due to the considerable amount for first place, it was explained by the announcer that it would be difficult to present the prize here and that we should go to the Bounty Hunter Guild headquarters to receive it.
I felt a slight unease about this turn of events, which wasn’t in the Game.
“I’m sure they’ll have arrangements made for you here, so feel free to come at your leisure!”
Judging from her friendly demeanor, it seemed unlikely we would be stiffed.
We did as we were told, toured the town for a bit, and leisurely headed to the Bounty Hunter Guild to pick up our prize.
“Ringo. Think about what you want to do with the money from now on, alright?”
I said, as we strolled through the town.
As soon as I thought about getting the money, a flood of things I wanted to buy and had to buy filled my mind, making me feel quite happy.
After taking quite a detour, we arrived at the Bounty Hunter Guild, only to find:
“Temporary, closure…?”
There was a sign posted.
My confidence, built on the Game system’s assurance that I wouldn’t be stiffed, wavered significantly.
However, thinking that they might still award the prize money even if normal operations were suspended, I opened the door.
“Oh?”
I expected it to be locked, but contrary to my expectation, the door opened easily, and light and the voices of several people could be heard from inside.
It seemed they were indeed working.
Feeling relieved that this might work out, I stepped inside and was surprised.
“W-What!? This sudden and overwhelming sense of being an outsider!!”
Compared to when I saw it at noon, the Guild’s interior had clearly changed.
Posters with slogans like “Frugality,” “One Good Deed a Day,” “We’ll Want Nothing Until We Win,” and “Money is Precious” were plastered everywhere; they definitely weren’t there before. And strangely, an old man was at the reception desk!
“Haa. My hearing has gotten so poor lately,” he muttered, feigning deafness.
Perhaps it was a workplace tour, but a girl I often saw in town was talking to a middle-aged staff member behind the counter.
“Is your dad working here?”
“Ah, yes. Indirectly, it’s important work protecting the town.
Right now… we’re having a bit of trouble with money, but I’m sure it’ll be okay.
I’ll do my best for my family, Dad!”
A conversation that was both heartwarming and bleakly realistic was unfolding.
Next to them, a female guild member was holding a baby and speaking:
“I’m sorry, dear. We’re struggling to make ends meet this month.
If I get paid properly, I could let you live more comfortably.”
And next to them, a young guild member and an older one were discussing how important their work was to the country and the town.
“…Is that so!
Then, if this Guild were to disappear, terrible things would happen, wouldn’t they?”
“Mm-hmm. Although we receive aid from the country, so it won’t collapse easily.
However, if we had to pay out a large sum of money all at once, say, 82.7 million E, for a subjugation tournament prize, we might go bankrupt.”
With such blatant, over-the-top insincerity, even I, being a bit slow, finally understood.
In other words, this is…
“These guys are trying to make us refuse the reward by psychologically attacking us!!”
And so.
The location shifted from the plains to inside the Guild, and the final, biggest battle of the “Golden HAGURE NYORAIM Subjugation Tournament” began!!
…Or perhaps it did.
