《Ascension: Online》


 Prologue

    Prologue


    A 14-year-old boy - Igarashi Kaze - who had suffered from harsh bullying all his life, had been looking forward to high school. He saw it as a shining ray of hope, a way to escape from his past - a form of salvation.


    For years, he endured. For years, he suffered.


    All so that one day, he could break free from the chains of his past. That day was today - the day he would enter high school.


    Or at least, it was supposed to be.


    By a wicked twist of fate, his middle school schoolmates all happened to enroll in the exact same high school as him. He had tried to escape - to desperately free himself from their ws. But s, he could not defeat the omnipotent entity known as fate.


    The bullying continued. It was just a repeat of middle school all over again. And so, the boy thought.


    He thought...if he couldn''t escape from his old schoolmates...why not escape from this world altogether?


    But when realities collide and he is forced to make a decision that will change him forever, will our protagonist be able to retain his emotions - his humanity?


    [Wee to Ascension: Online. Wee, to a new reality.]


    This is the story of a victim turned assant. Prey turned hunter. Weak turned strong.

 Chapter 1: Ascension: Online

    Chapter 1: Ascension: Online


    "Fantasy is not an escape from reality. It''s a way of understanding it."


    *****


    It was a bright, sunny day.


    Just kidding, it wasn''t.


    No, no. It was actually raining. Hard. Even though it was 7:30 in the morning, the sun was nowhere to be seen, blocked by the dark, gloomy clouds that lurked over the horizon. Despite this harsh weather, however, I was happy. After all, today was the day I would finally be able to leave my past behind, and be rebirthed. Today, was the day I would begin my new life - my high school life.


    But perhaps this is all a bit confusing. Let''s backtrack a bit.


    My name is Kaze - pronounced Ka-zeh. Igarashi Kaze. Kaze meant ''wind'', and Igarashi meant ''fifty storms''. With a namebination like that, no wonder I was perfectly fine, walking in this howling rain. My parents sure were clever people.


    Ah... yes. My parents. They''re both dead now. Actually, they''ve been dead ever since I was born. Car ident before I even hit the age of one... or so I was told, anyway. Ever since then, I had been raised in the house of a family friend. But honestly, I''m more attached to this family than I ever will be to my biological parents. Of course, I was grateful to them for giving birth to me and granting me life. But the ones to nourish that life were not them - the Sakura family was.


    Still, it would be a lie if I said I didn''t want to meet my real parents. A part of my heart still longed for them, despite all this time of them being gone. Even if my bond with the Sakura family was stronger, it could not rece the blood rtionship I have with my biological parents.


    For the past fourteen years, I have been living in the Sakura household, and will continue to do so for four more, until I hit eighteen. By then, I would be a legal adult and therefore move out of the house as any grown man should. I was looking forward to the day I could do that - I didn''t want to trouble my auntie and uncle in the Sakura family anymore, after all.


    But at the same time... I was somewhat reluctant.


    The reason for this was a girl named Hina. Sakura Hina. She was the daughter of my auntie and uncle - my ''elder sister''. Of course, we weren''t actually siblings, but we were extremely close, almost like a real brother-sister pair. She was also one year older than me, so that made her my elder sister.


    From the moment I stepped foot into this house, she has shown me nothing but care. I felt more indebted to her than I did for even auntie and uncle. From washing my clothes to helping me with school, she has done so much for me I don''t know if I''ll ever be able to repay her back in this lifetime.


    Of course, whenever I told her that, she would justugh and smack me on the back of my neck.


    "Mou~what are you even talking about, Kaze-kun? How many times have I told you this already? We''re family - there''s no such thing as ''repayment'' or ''debt''," she would say.


    Even so, I still felt greatly indebted to her. It just didn''t feel right, taking everything she did for me for granted.


    But that''s enough about the past. My focus now is the present, and the future.


    As I walked through the rain on the sidewalk, various cars drove by. Some were uncivil enough to ssh water on me as they sped by, but I didn''t really mind. I''ve always been an optimistic person, even after my parents died in the car ident - I was able to do this because I had something to look forward to. And that was today.


    Uncle was driving Hina-nee to her high school, and they had been nning on taking me to mine as well after dropping Hina off. However, I refused, since doing that may cause uncle to bete to work. And besides, I wanted to step through the gates of high school using my own two feet, even though it was pouring outside.


    Soon enough, I arrived at the high school I had enrolled in - Tokyo Metropolitan Fujimura High School, Fujimura High for short. It was quite the elite school. In fact, I probably wouldn''t have made it in had Hina not tutored me for weeks prior to the exam. I just managed to pass the entrance exam and enroll. I could''ve chosen a different high school - a better one, actually. The one Hina-nee was going to, Tokyo Metropolitan Kawasaki High School: Kawasaki High.


    But there was just one reason I didn''t choose to go there, and it had something to do with my past.


    Throughout middle school, I had been viciously bullied by a group of students led by a boy named Mazami Ichigo. All of these students looked down on me for being an orphan, and since my grades and physical abilities weren''t exactly good either, that only made me more isted. They would stick dead insects in my desk, ssh water on me when I was in the bathroom, and spill my food over on purpose. I had never been good at talking with others, so I didn''t try to fight back against the bullying either - after all, even if I did, they would just physically beat me with their numbers advantage.


    On the contrary, however, when Hina-nee was still at the school, she stood up for me every time other people tried to bully me. Since she had been the student council president, and themonly acknowledged most beautiful girl in the school with her long ck hair and perfect figure, the bullies all backed down when she was there.


    However... deep down, that only led them to resent me even more.


    They were jealous. Jealous of Hina-nee protecting me all the time. Jealous of her valuing me more than anyone else in the world. And so, once Hina-nee graduated to go to high school, that one year had been the harshest of all. No one was left to protect me, and going to the teachers was useless. Of course, I just bit my lip and endured it all. When Hina-nee asked me if they were still bullying me, I answered ''no'', even though the reality was the exact opposite.


    But all that was in the past. The past I would break free from today.


    The students of the middle school Hina-nee and I had gone to would all be going to Kawasaki High. That had been standard procedure every year, hence why Hina-nee herself also went there. It was also why I chose a different high school. This time, I swore to not show any weakness anymore. I will first form friends so that I won''t be an isted target for bullying, then slowly work my way up the socialdder in the school. It was a wless n. Yes, I realize that this may all be easier said than done, but I was determined to do it. I believed I could do it.


    I reached the entrance of Fujimura High and entered the school with a smile on my face. I was excited. I saw on a bulletin board on the wall that my homeroom teacher was Mr. Miyake, and my room number was 203.


    But then, my gaze fell upon one other name on the list, right below mine:


    Mazami Ichigo.


    At first, I thought this was just another person who happened to share the same exact name as the ringleader who had bullied me so viciously during middle school. But right below his name, there was another.


    Yamato Horiya.


    I recognized this name. He was one of Ichigo''sckeys.


    As my eyes swept through the rest of the name list, my emotions began to break. I quickly scanned the other ss lists as well, and my mind shattered as I realized.


    The students who had bullied me in middle school, along with the rest of my schoolmates...had all enrolled in Fujimura High.


    Why... why?!


    Why must they be here as well?! Aren''t they supposed to be in Kawasaki High?


    No... no! There must be a mistake somewhere... there''s gotta be!


    I spun around in an attempt to escape the school, wanting to deny the reality. I was terrified. Terrified that this would just be another repeat of middle school.


    But then, I looked up, and our gazes met.


    Standing before me was none other than the sadistic bastard himself, Mazami Ichigo.


    He seemed to be surprised to see me as well, but his expression quickly turned into a sneer.


    "Oi, oi... look who it is! Igarashi! I never thought I''d see your ugly face again, haha!" heughed. "Oi, Horiya,e take a look at this!"


    Yamato Horiya. Ichigo''s right-hand man.


    "No way... is that who I think it is?" he said, widening his eyes in surprise as he saw me.


    "The very same!" Ichigo replied. "Can you believe it? Looks like he still hasn''t had enough from middle school, huh?"


    "Haha! Looks like our three years of high school will be fun, with him keeping uspany!" Horiya chuckled.


    The two of themughed together as if thoroughly enjoying this.


    No... I don''t want to... not again... this is going to be just a repeat of middle school... I clenched my fists.


    I wanted to run. To escape this ursed situation. But I couldn''t. My feet wouldn''t move. I waspletely frozen in ce, simply out of fear.


    "Well, we can mess with himter," Ichigo said. "Let''s get to ss first...wouldn''t want to get markedte on the first day because of this loser."


    "Yeah... we have three whole years, after all," Horiya agreed with a sinister smirk, and the two of them walked off. But just before they went out of earshot, I managed to overhear something from their conversation.


    "Oh yeah, by the way, have you tried out that new ARMMORPG yet?"


    "What, Ascension Online? Yeah. It''s goddamn awesome!"


    "Right? Hey, what''s your ID? I''ll add you once we get to Level 50 and unlock the social function..."


    As the two of them left, I finally rxed. But what they said still hung on my mind.


    ... ARMMORPG? Ascension Online?


    I''ve heard of the first term, but not the second. ARMMORPGs were a new genre of video games that came out fairly recently, aroundst year or so. Unlike normal video games, ARMMORPGs allowed the yer to fully dive into a virtual reality - no, an alternate reality. AR (alternate reality) technology was based on VR (virtual reality), but VR was a thing of the past. Unlike VR which was extremely limited and clearly virtual, you would be able to move freely within AR - alternate reality - and whatever you did inside the game could affect real life as well - for example, if you ate within the game, it would also satiate hunger in the real world. Drinking water worked in a simr fashion.


    The five senses of the human body are perfectly recreated within the game as well. To sum it up, alternate reality felt just like real life. Of course, dying inside the alternate reality wouldn''t kill you in real life, but pain could still be felt to make it as realistic as possible. Because of all these reasons, this technology quickly rose in poprity, and ording to statistics, 98% of the world''s poption had an AR set as of current.


    To be honest, I''ve always wanted an AR set. However, the Sakura household simply didn''t have one, mainly because Hina-nee had never been interested in such things, and the AR games out right now just aren''t really suitable for older audiences like auntie and uncle. They were all revolved around things like gunfights and space battles - mainly focused on fast-pacedbat and quick reaction times. For people age 30 and above, this just wasn''t that appealing.


    That being said, this new Ascension: Online AR game...


    ... I would have to check it out myself to be sure. If it was what I hoped it to be... perhaps there was a way out of my situation after all.


    Perhaps... theunch of this game will mark the beginning of a new world - a new reality.


    A reality filled with endless possibilities.

 Chapter 2: Alternate Reality

    Chapter 2: Alternate Reality


    School was hell that day.


    Ichigo and Horiya wasted no time spreading all the rumors they could about me. Since they were both the popr type, they quickly made plenty of friends before I could even try to talk to someone. I figured it was a lost cause, trying to make friends in this ss. Those two would spread so many rumors about me that no one would want to evene near me.


    That being said, it wasn''t as bad as middle school. Not everyone here were from the same school I was, after all. Ichigo and Horiya needed to secure a stable position in the socialdder of the school first, and gather a bunch of people around themselves. They didn''t have the luxury of dealing with me just yet, thankfully.


    The school day ended without much happening apart from the asional gossip and apanyingughter directed my way. Immediately after the bell rang and we were dismissed from ss, I rushed out the door, wanting to escape as quickly as possible. Ichigo and Horiya, seeing this disy,ughed in amusement, but didn''t chase after me.


    Of course, I couldn''t deny that I was running away from them. I also couldn''t deny that I was scared of them. But other than this, there was one more reason I was so eager to get off school - a certain new ARMMORPG.


    That''s right - Ascension: Online.


    After overhearing about this game by chance, I feltpelled to check it out, for some unexined reason. I didn''t quite understand why myself, but I decided to follow my instincts.


    *****


    The rain had stopped when I got outside. Of course, that was only natural. It would''ve been pretty weird if the rain from this morning was still going after over six hours. Heading to the closest store by memory, I picked up my pace.


    The store was called DigiGames, though that wasn''t important. It was a chain video games store that mainly sold VR and ARMMORPGs. I had been here many times before to take a look at video games. Just look, though - I didn''t have enough money to actually buy any. Before I even went inside, I noticed the massive poster on the ss that showcased the new hit game - Ascension: Online.


    Apparently, there was a colon between ''Ascension'' and ''Online''. I didn''t know that before, but it wasn''t that important anyway. By the looks of it, the game seemed to be set in some sort of Chinese Xianxia cultivation world. The art on the posted was beautiful, showcasing a clear blue sky with fog-covered mountains.


    Well, it looked pretty cool, at the very least.


    I went inside the store and went up to the clerk.


    "How may I help you? Oh, wait...I recognize ya. An old customer, is it?" he asked, noticing me.


    "Yeah. I was just curious about the new game..."


    "Ah, Ascension: Online, correct?"


    I nodded. "Yeah, that''s the one. What is it about?"


    "d ya asked," he said with a light chuckle. "Even though the game only came out around a week ago, I''ve already yed it quite a bit, so ya can take my word for it."


    After clearing his throat, the clerk continued.


    "Ascension: Online, or A:O for short, is an ARMMORPG designed to recreate reality as best as possible."


    "Recreate reality...? But from that poster I saw on the windo-"


    "Yep. I wasn''t done talking. Ascension: Online essentially creates a whole new world of magic and cultivation for us to live in. Compared to other AR games, A:O is thergest by far in terms of world size. In addition, it''s also the first AR game to have sessfully implemented the food and drinks system. It''s one of the most redeeming features of AR games, but A:O is the first game to actually include it, because of just how hard it is to program."


    "Hm...the food and drinks system, huh. So, that feature where if you eat or drink something in-game, it will actually satiate your hunger and thirst in real life?" I asked.


    "Yeah," he replied with a grin. "Pretty cool, isn''t it? I''ve tested it out myself - totally works. I spent my entire 48-hour weekend in-game, and when I finally logged out, I didn''t feel hungry or thirsty at all, since I ate and drank in the actual game."


    "But...what about using the bathroom and such? And showering?"


    "Heh. Kid, you''re pretty new to AR technology, aren''t ya?"


    I nodded hesitantly, and the clerk sighed.


    "Well, okay. To exin it in simple terms, when you dive into AR, your body essentially bes ''frozen'' until you log out ande back to the real world again," he said.


    "Frozen? How so?"


    "Frozen, as in time stops for your body. It won''t grow hungry, thirsty, and you won''t need to use the bathroom or anything like that. So - what I''m saying is, you could, essentially, stay inside AR forever. Though, of course, there isn''t any food or drinks in AR, so people log out eventually to enjoy being able to savor delicacies again. At least...until this game, Ascension: Online, came along."


    "Right. You said there''s food and drinks in this game, yeah? So now there''s practically no reason for people to return to the real world, except for their jobs. Those who have enough money to spend their whole life in peace could just stay inside the game forever," I concluded.


    "That''s exactly what I''m saying, kiddo. Man, I wish I could do that too..." he trailed off.


    I see...Ascension: Online was not just any AR game. It was one that could very well change the meaning of reality. And if it could really do that...I could finally escape from my past - for good, this time.


    "By the way, you sell AR sets here, right?" I asked.


    "We do," he replied. "You''re in luck, kid. There''s a discount going on for them right now."


    "How much are they?"


    "Well, the original price of one would be around 70,000 yen, but on 50% discount that would be 35,000 yen."


    I gulped. Even with the discount, 35,000 yen was still quite the sum. I didn''t have that much money.


    I sighed. "I see. Thanks for the info."


    "No problem, kiddo."


    "You...aren''t mad I''m not buying anything?"


    "Nah. I already knew, don''t worry. There''s no way a high school kid like ya can afford any of this stuff on your own."


    I bowed my head politely. "Thank you."


    Normally, store clerks would be annoyed if you just came inside, asked for information, then left without spending a single cent. This one seemed to be nice enough not to mind, though. I turned around, and prepared to leave, but then-


    "Ah, here you are, Kaze-kun!"


    A beautiful girl with ck hair and ck eyes ran over to me happily.


    "E-Eh? Hina-nee-?"


    But before I could say anything, she pulled me into a tight embrace, my voice muffled by her body.


    "Mou~you little rascal. I was nning on picking you up at the school so we could walk home together, but you ended uping here right after sses ended, huh?"


    I tried to push away from her hug, but she wouldn''t let me and instead tightened her grip.


    "C''mon, tell nee-san. What were you looking at in here?" she asked curiously, finally loosening me a bit.


    "Uh..." unable to bring myself to speak the words, I opened my mouth but then closed it again. I knew that if I told her I had been looking at AR sets, she would buy me one right then and there. She had more than enough money, after all, from the schrship she received. I did say she was a prestigious student, didn''t I?


    "That kid there was trying to get an AR set," the clerk chuckled, seeing our disy of familial love. "How about it? Want to buy him a set? He looked like he really wanted one."


    "N-No I didn''t!" I muttered in frustration. "Don''t listen to him, Hina-nee. I was just...browsing because I have nothing better to do, that''s all."


    Hina-nee looked me in the eyes with a serious look on her face, and then smiled. "You can''t lie to me, Kaze-kun. I''ve known you for fourteen years. You may be able to trick other people, but I''m the one person you can''t."


    Then, turning to the clerk without letting me go, she continued. "How much is the AR set?"


    "35,000 yen. It''s on discount right now," the clerk replied with the same price he had told me.


    "Perfect! I just happen to have that much on hand..." she said as she pulled out her wallet, still holding onto me with one arm.


    Somehow managing to take out her debit card with one hand, she closed up her wallet and stuck it back in her coat pocket. Even though it was only early fall, she already wore a coat. The reason for this was that Hina-nee was sensitive to the cold, ever since she was young. That''s why winter was always the hardest time of the year for her.


    In any case, she scanned the shelves, pulling me along, and quickly settled on an AR set that looked to be the highest-priced one.


    "We''ll take that one," she said, pointing.


    "Huh? Hina-nee...that''s the most expens-"


    "But it''s also the best one there is, no?" she winked at me. "Hehe, rx, Kaze-kun. Just let nee-san here handle this, mkay?"


    I wanted to argue, but I knew that would be futile. I have never won a single argument against Hina-nee, not even once. I wasn''t so foolish as to think I would win one now.


    The clerk helped us get the AR set Hina-nee picked out, which was ced on the topmost shelf where neither of us could reach. Hina-nee was only a bit taller than me, after all, and I was only 5''9".


    She quickly checked out, and the clerk ced the box containing the AR set into a stic bag, which I then took. It was the least I could do after Hina-nee paid for it. We said thank you and left the store.


    "Hina-nee...you didn''t have to do that," I said as we walked. For the record, she still had her arm around me. It wasn''t exactly ufortable, though. I could smell the sweet scent of her shampoo since I was so close to her.


    "Kaze-kun...an AR set is all you''ve ever wanted. I know that."


    "H-Huh? I never said tha-"


    "No, you didn''t. But...I can feel it, y''know? You''ve always been a quiet boy. Even if you saw something you liked when we went out shopping with mom and dad, you never said anything. At most, you would spare it an extra nce or two, then just give up on it."


    "Hina-nee..."


    "I haven''t done much as your nee-san. This is the least I can do to repay you," she said, but I quickly shook my head.


    "No, you''ve done far more than I could ever ask for, Hina-nee! And besides..." I averted my gaze. "...You''re the one who said we''re family, right? And there''s no such thing as repayment or debt in a family..."


    Hina-nee seemed to be surprised at my words, but she quickly rposed herself andughed it off. "Ahh...you''ve really grown up, haven''t you?"


    "Of course. I''m not a little kid anymore, so...your arm...?"


    Realizing what I was talking about, Hina-nee giggled. "Heehee, I''ll admit you''re not a little kid anymore, but that won''t stop me from hugging you! Hya~!"


    She hugged me even tighter, this time with both arms. She was practically leaning her whole weight on me, which I struggled to bnce with my backpack and the AR set we just bought. To strangers, we must''ve seemed like a young couple.


    "...Really? Sometimes, it''s hard to tell who''s the older sibling between us," I muttered, sighing. "Well, whatever. As long as you''re happy, Hina-nee."


    With that, we headed home, now with a new AR set in hand. As for the game, Ascension: Online...I woulde back tomorrow to buy it myself, since I could afford that with my allowance, at least. If I tried buying it now, Hina-nee would''ve just bought it for me as well. I would like to avoid that.


    After all, she has already done far too much for me.

 Chapter 3: Ascentech

    Chapter 3: Ascentech


    That night, after returning home with Hina-nee, I decided to do some research on Ascension: Online and AR technology as a whole. Reason being that I wanted to find out if this new ARMMORPG could truly do what I hoped it could - create a new world.


    My goal is to escape from my past, the vicious bullying and all the pain I endured. But unfortunately, the entity watching over all known as fate just seems to not want me to. So, in order to aplish my goal, I would have to do do something far greater - I would have to escape to a new world. A new reality.


    I logged in to myputer, and opened the browser. Typing in ''AR technology'' in the search bar, I hit Enter on my keyboard and waited anxiously as the page loaded. Once it did, I clicked on the first result, an article from a popr web-based free encyclopedia site. It read:


    ''AR (Alternate Reality) is a simted experience that can be either simr orpletely different to the real world, depending on the application. Uses of AR include entertainment (video games), training (e.g. military drills), and utility (e.g. virtual meetings for businesses). A few distinct AR-style technologies include VR (virtual reality), AUR (augmented reality), and MR (mixed reality). These are sometimes collectively referred to as XR (extended reality).''


    These were all just the very basics I already knew. I scrolled down a bit, to a section called ''Technology''. But...there was nothing there. The only thing that was written in this section was:


    ''Unknown.''


    And below it, a text box that read:


    ''This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it.''


    "..." I was speechless.


    I scrolled down a bit more, and arrived at the ''History'' section of the article. Apparently, AR technology was invented by apany called Ascentech, and released to the public on January 1st, 2050 - nearly two years ago, since today was September 7th, 2051. However, that was the only thing known about it. The development process, big breakthroughs - nothing was shown here. All we knew was that AR technology was created by Ascentech, and released on January 1st, 2050.


    I frowned as I reached the end of the page. Quickly opening a new tab, I typed in ''Ascentech'' this time in the search bar. Only one website came up. I quickly clicked on it, and was redirected to the homepage of Ascentech Ltd. I browsed through the website, but couldn''t find any useful information. I found it odd, if I had to be honest.


    AR technology was extremely popr. Nearly everyone in the world had a set, since no one was really in poverty in the year 2051. That meant Ascentech should''ve received trillions of ie, making them a hugepany. And yet...why is their website so simplistic? There was practically no information to be found anywhere. It had a nice temte and minimalist design, but it didn''t tell anything to viewers.


    Really, there was just one page on the site. A title that read ''Ascentech Ltd.'', with their logo beneath it. Below that, there was a short of paragraph of text that basically said information I already knew - an exnation of AR, and when they released it to the public. However, then-


    "Hm? What''s this?"


    -Something caught my eye. I identally hovered my cursor over the top of the page, but that unexpectedly brought up a navigation bar. I got excited at first, thinking this would bring me to more pages filled with information, but there was only one header on it,belled ''Products''.


    I sighed. Better than nothing, I suppose.


    Clicking on the Products header, the screen before me shed white and the text on it changed. The first thing I saw was arge header that read ''AR Technology''. Below it was a paragraph exining what AR was once again, but nothing about how it really worked, or the science behind it. I tried clicking on the header itself, but it was unclickable.


    Scrolling down a bit, I saw something else. Now this, was a discovery.


    Right below the paragraph describing AR, there was anotherrge header. But this one read the following words:


    ''Ascension: Online.''


    What this meant was that Ascentech had not only created AR technology - they had also created the first ARMMORPG that you could technically stay inside forever. Human necessities such as food and water weren''t necessary, as exined by the clerk. In addition, all AR sets came built-in with WiFi, and relied on electricity to operate. In conclusion, as long as the yer had constant ess to electricity, and no unforeseen disasters urred, they could stay inside the game forever.


    So...both the technology itself and the top game using this technology were invented by thispany called Ascentech Limited, huh? They must be raking in profits by the trillions, at the rate things were going. However, one thing still bugged me. And that was the fact that for some reason, to me, it felt like thispany wasn''t just doing this for money.


    Naturally, the main purpose of starting a business, inventing a new technology, and even going so far as to create a game for it as well, would be to earn profits. But something about thispany, Ascentech, bugged me. I couldn''t quite ce my finger on it, but there was something off about their motive.


    However, before I could think about this deeper, the door to my room was swung open in one swift motion, and in a panic, I closed the tab I was on.


    "Heya, Kaze-kun!" the intruder called out happily, running over and wrapping her arms around me.


    "Hina-nee...have I not told you to knock?" I muttered exasperatedly.


    "Well well, it''s fine, isn''t it? It''s not like you have anything to hide from me," she giggled. "So? What were you doing in here?"


    "Just researching some stuff," I replied truthfully. I purposely didn''t get into any specifics, since that would only lead to her raising more questions.


    "Heh...I see," she said, sneaking a nce at my now-empty screen. "Well, in any case, dinner is ready. C''mon. Let''s go."


    I nodded, and stood up from the chair once Hina-nee let go of me. We headed downstairs, and as I ate, I thought about Ascentech and their motives.


    *****


    The next day. September 8th, 2051.


    My rm clock went off at 6 AM, signaling me to get up and prepare for school, which started at 8. Two hours may seem like a lot at first nce, but I needed every minute, especially considering this house was pretty far from Fujimura High. It was a lot closer to Kawasaki High though - the high school Hina-nee went to.


    I turned off my rm clock, and groggily sat up.


    What would I do today?


    Today would be the second day of high school. I doubted Ichigo and Horiya have already stabilized their positions and formed their own, solid, friend circle. That meant I should still be safe. For today, at least. But this ''grace period'' of sorts was running out.


    As I walked out of my room, preparing to go to the bathroom, Hina-nee just happened to walk out of hers as well, which was right beside mine. Whether it was a nned meeting on her part or just simply a coincidence, I didn''t know.


    "Oh! Good morning, Kaze-kun!" she eximed, running over and giving me a big hug.


    "Shh...auntie and uncle are still sleeping," I muttered quietly. "Also, you don''t have to hug me every time you see me."


    "Ah, yes, that''s a bad habit of mine," she admitted, sniffing her nose.


    I sighed in relief. So she knew it was a proble-


    "But I have no intention of changing it, hehe~"


    Saying that, she hugged me even tighter, to the point I could barely breathe.


    "H-Hina-nee...can''t...breathe..."


    "Oh, sorry," she said, letting go of me atst. I coughed a couple of times and struggled to get my breath back. Nearly getting strangled first thing in the morning was NOT a good way to start the day.


    After that, we each got ready to school by ourselves. There were two separate bathrooms, so we took advantage of that fact to speed the process up. Hina-nee ended up being done before me. When I finally got downstairs, she had just put on an apron and was starting to heat up the pan.


    "Looking sharp, Kaze-kun! What do you want to have for breakfast today?"


    "Hina-nee, I can cook today," I replied.


    "Eh? Why? I''ve already start-"


    "Just think of it as part of my repayment to you for yesterday," I interrupted.


    She shed a beautiful smile. "Right, right...I get it. But remember? There''s no such thing as repayment between family members, heehee!"


    "Please, Hina-nee. Let me do it," I insisted.


    She looked at me for a couple of seconds, before finally sighing. "Fine then, if you really want to. Actually, this is a good opportunity to teach you how to cook, so I''ll allow it, just this once!"


    I smiled in return. "Thank you, Hina-nee."


    She blushed slightly. "Mou~what''s with all the politeness? We''re family - no need to be so formal. Now,e. Nee-san here will help you put on the apron..."


    *****


    "Woah, you look so cute!" Hina-nee eximed from behind me as she finished helping me tie up the apron around my body.


    I sighed. "Uh...Hina-nee? Are we actually going to do some cooking, or are you just going to stand there and admire me?"


    "Both!" she replied enthusiastically, before walking over closer. "Okay, so - today, I''ll be teaching you how to make a ssic, unhealthy breakfast!"


    "Wait, unhealthy?"


    "Yep!"


    "...Isn''t it usually ''healthy'' with you though?"


    "Well, I''ll allow it this time, since it''s very easy to cook - perfect for beginners like you," she said after some careful thought. "Okay, first step - pour some oil into the pan!"


    Just like that, she taught me some basic cooking skills. They weren''t anything tooplex, but by the end of her crash course, I could cook basic food such as sunny-side-up eggs and also fried bacon. It''s not like I was a chef or anything now, but at least I wouldn''t starve to death, given the right ingredients.


    After that, we each left for our own school.

 Chapter 4: System: Start

    Chapter 4: System: Start


    Hina-nee and I left the house at around the same time, even though my school was a lot further than hers. She could''ve stayed behind and rxed for a little bit before leaving, but she insisted on walking together with me until we had to part ways. The weather was fine today, especiallypared to yesterday''s storm.


    "Say, Hina-nee, do you like video games?" I asked as we walked.


    "Hm? That was pretty out of the blue," she said, before adopting a thinking gesture. "Though...I guess I can''t really answer that question, since I''ve never yed any before."


    "I see," I murmured. "Then...what do you think of a new reality?"


    "A new reality...? As in, a new world?"


    "Yeah. A ce where you could start anew. A ce of swords and magic, like something straight out of a fantasy novel."


    "Well, I think that would be pretty cool. But...if it means having to leave behind our parents and you, then...I would never do it, no matter how tempting the offer."


    "I see...I''m really selfish, huh?" I wondered aloud, the self-depreciation in my tone as clear as day.


    "Hm? How so?" Hina-nee asked.


    "Ah, nothing," I shook my head. I couldn''t tell her what I was thinking.


    I couldn''t tell her I genuinely considered starting life anew in another, alternate reality, even if it meant having to leave everything in this world behind - Hina-nee included. All for my own satisfaction. My own pleasure. Without even once considering Hina-nee''s feelings.


    She still seemed skeptical, but she didn''t pry. Instead, she just said one thing that will forever hit deep within my heart.


    "Hey...Kaze-kun, you should just do whatever makes you happy. That''s not called being selfish. If going to a new reality is what will bring you joy, then you should do it. I won''t be mad, and neither will our parents. I''m sure of it. And...if there''s anything troubling you, you can alwayse talk to nee-san here, okay?"


    I slowly nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, Hina-nee."


    We reluctantly parted ways shortly after.


    *****


    As expected, school wasn''t too bad today. Ichigo and Horiya didn''t try anything, as they were still consolidating their friend circles. At the same time, however, I have yet to make any friends, or even try to do that. I spent the majority of the school day thinking about Ascentech and Ascension: Online.


    Just like yesterday, the moment the bell rang, I packed up all my things, went to the entrance near the front office, and prepared to exit the school. However, just I thought I got through the day without any trouble...


    "Now hold on a minute...where do you think you''re going, Igarashi?" a voice called out from behind me.


    I already knew who it was. I could''ve just ignored it, but that would just spell trouble for meter down the line. I decided to just confront them right here and now.


    "Do you need something from me?" I asked, turning around to face the two boys that had called out to me - Ichigo and Horiya. Who else could they have been?


    "Yeah. You see...we''re runnin'' a bit low on money," Ichigo said, smirking deviously.


    "Mhm. So, uh...mind lending us some? You know, since we''re such good ''friends'' and all..." Horiya added, and the two of themughed.


    I was scared. Scared of what would happen if I refused them. But...if I just gave in here, it would really just be middle school all over again. They would take advantage of my weakness, and keep bullying me all they want. So - I had to stand up for myself, even if it''s just this once. And besides...in the corner of my eye, I spotted a certain something they didn''t. That thing gave me courage. The courage to stand up for myself here, even if it''s just a one-time thing.


    "I refuse," I said in a loud, clear tone.


    "H-Huh?" Ichigo and Horiya seemed to not believe what they were hearing.


    "I said...I refuse. It''s not my problem you''re low on money, and we aren''t exactly ''friends'' either," I said.


    "Heh. Hahaha!" Ichigo burst out inughter. "Oi, Horiya, you hear that?"


    "You''re kidding, Igarashi just said he refuses?! Our request?!" Horiya cackled. "Oh, this is too funny! C''mon now, Igarashi. Stop with the jokes. Now, hand over the money."


    He made a beckoning gesture with his hand, signaling for me to give some cash to him. I didn''t let any emotion show on my face, but deep down, I smirked. These two were short-tempered bunch. All I had to do was give them one more good push, and they would start talking with their fists instead. Normally, that would be a bad thing for me...but not this time.


    "I believe I''ve already said this once, but...I refuse," I repeated, in the same t tone as before.


    I saw Ichigo''s eyebrow twitch. That was a sign he was angry.


    "Oi oi now...you''re acting up, huh?!" he rolled back his sleeves and dropped his backpack on the floor.


    Horiya did the same, and together, the two of them red at me. It was intimidating, but I wasn''t afraid. Because I had something else on my side - something even these two punks could not fight back against.


    "Last warning. Hand over the money," Horiya said in an angry tone.


    "Last time I''m saying this. I refuse," I replied in the same indifferent voice.


    They snapped.


    Ichigo was the first to move. He quickly threw a right hook aimed straight for my face, which I, having nobat experience whatsoever, was unable to dodge. His fists connected with my cheek, and the sheer impact made me stagger backwards a few steps. Discretely, I snuck a nce at that ''thing'' hanging from the corner of the hallway, and quickly averted my gaze after confirming it had recorded that punch.


    The ''thing'' I was talking about was, naturally, a security camera. Middle schools in Japan didn''t have them, but high schools did. Ichigo and Horiya clearly didn''t seem to notice that, however, as they turned violent easily with a little provocation on my end.


    Ichigo stepped closer to me, clearly not finished yet. He unleashed a front kick aimed for my stomach that I barely managed to block with my arms. Still, the impact of the force sent me flying backwards, crashing into the door. But despite the pain I was feeling, I wasn''t feeling bad at all. Instead, I was still smirking, deep down.


    "That''ll teach you!" Ichigo sneered as he crackled his knuckles.


    Heh. They''re not showing any mercy, huh? Works fine for me.


    Horiya hauled me up from the floor, easily lifting my light body. Ichigo then unleashed a furry of fast blows on my stomach, which I tried my best to protect using my hands. Still - when this is all over, thestugh will be mine.


    The beating continued for quite a bit. I almost couldn''t take it anymore, until atst, the event I had been waiting for urred.


    "What is going on in here?!" a booming male voice yelled. I recognized it.


    Ichigo and Horiya did too, naturally.


    It was our principal - Fujimura-sensei himself. The school had been named after the founding father of it, namely Fujimura-sensei''s ancestors. Since then, the position of principal had been passed down generation to generation.


    "Uh..." Ichigo and Horiya hurriedly stopped attacking me, and turned to face the principal. "Er. You see, this kid was trying to pick a fig-"


    "Do you think I''m stupid?" Fujimura-sensei cut him off, anger burning within his eyes. "Do you think I would believe that this frail-looking child would pick a fight with you? The TWO of you, no less?"


    "F-Fujimura-sensei, I know it''s hard to believe, but-"


    "Shut it," he said, not even giving them a chance to lie. Then, walking closer to me while sending the two of them res, he bent down and helped me get up.


    "Are you okay? Your name was...Igarashi-kun, if I recall?"


    I nodded. "Igarashi Kaze. And I''m fine, Fujimura-sensei. There''s no need to go to the infirmary or anything. Just some light bruises. They''ll heal on their own."


    "I see...I understand. You may go," he said, dismissing me.


    I thanked him and left the scene. Sure, I was a bit hurt, but...Ichigo and Horiya would be getting something far worse.


    All in all? My n had been aplete sess.


    *****


    After that, I decided to go do what I was nning on doing anyway - buy Ascension: Online. On the way to the DigiGames store, I received a text on my phone. It was from Hina-nee.


    [Heya Kaze-kun! I''m joining a club after school today, so I won''t be able to pick you up at your school! Sorry...I''ll definitely be there tomorrow though!]


    I smiled, then texted back a quick message to prevent her from worrying.


    [Alright. You worry too much, Hina-nee.]


    With that, I put away my phone and headed for DigiGames. The walk there didn''t take long. The clerk there was the same guy as yesterday, and he recognized me immediately. I bought a copy of Ascension: Online, and returned home. Instead of a disc or anything of the sort, what I bought was a redemption code for the game. ording to the clerk, after booting up the AR set, I could redeem games through these codes.


    I gave my thanks and left the store.


    *****


    When I returned home, no one else was there yet. Auntie and uncle usually workedte, so most of the time, it was just Hina-nee and I in the house.


    Since I was home alone right now though, I decided to take advantage of this time to try out the AR set. After going up to my room. I opened up the box, and pulled out everything. There was an instructions manual and what looked to be a helmet with a wire attached to it.


    I flipped through the instructions first. My guess had been on the mark - the helmet-looking object was indeed a helmet. Apparently, I was supposed to plug the wire into a socket and ce the helmet over my head, secure its position with a velcro belt, then lie downfortably. I did as instructed, and pressed the power button on the side of the helmet.


    Immediately, everything went ck. My vision, my touch, my very consciousness - everything went to ck.


    And then, a white light surrounded me. Gradually, my senses came back, and I found that I wasn''t lying down anymore. There also was no helmet over my head, and no velcro belt beneath my neck. I tried making movements of all sorts, and felt no restriction whatsoever. It was just like I was in real life. As for the setting, I was inside some kind of white room, it seemed like.


    Then, suddenly, a gentle AI-like voice began talking, seemingly from all around me.


    [Wee to Alternate Reality, yer.]

 Chapter 5: Calibration

    Chapter 5: Calibration


    [Wee to Alternate Reality.]


    These few soothing words resounded across the white room I was in, from all directions. Before I could even process this, however, the gentle female AI voice spoke again.


    [The calibration process will now begin.]


    "Huh? Calibration?" I wondered aloud.


    [Please follow the dot with your eyes.]


    "H-Huh?"


    Suddenly, a red dot floated up from the ground and began hovering in my line of sight. Slowly, it moved around, and I did as told, following it with just my eyes. After it went around in a full circle, it returned to its original spot, and faded away.


    [Please state the color of the dot you just saw.]


    "Er...red," I said hesitantly.


    [Eye calibration:plete. Next, please turn your head to face the direction an image will appear in, without turning your body.]


    "Wha..."


    To my left, the Ascentech logo materialized into existence with a glitch-type effect, and I turned my head to face it. Without turning my body, of course. I was following this AI''s instructions to the letter. Then, the logo dematerialized and reappeared to my front. I turned my head to face forward, and after a few seconds, the logo once again disappeared, only to appear to my right. I turned right, and the AI''s gentle voice spoke once more.


    [Head calibration: 50%plete. Please turn your body 180 degrees to face the logo behind you, yer.]


    I did as told, and sure enough, there was the same Ascentech logo there, directly behind me. The logo then disappeared before shortly reappearing to my left, then to my right. I followed it with my head, and once everything was done, the logo dematerialized for good as the AI''s voice came on once again.


    [Head calibration: 100%plete. Next, repeat the same process, except turn your body this time instead of just your head.]


    The Ascentech logo appeared again, this time to my right first. I spun my body 90 degrees, and it disappeared, before reappearing another 90 degrees to the right. I followed it by turning my own body, and repeated this two more times to form a full rotation.


    [Body calibration:plete. Next, please perform as many forward arm circles as you wish, then do the same with backwards arm circles. Follow the video shown.]


    With that, a hologram suddenly appeared in front of me, carrying a video in it. The video began ying of its own ord, depicting how to do arm circles properly. I followed the video closely.


    [Arm calibration:plete. Next, please run as fast as possible towards the location marked in front of you.]


    A ck marker appeared a short distance in front of me, and the wall divided into two separate ones to reveal a pathway for me to run on. I quickly sprinted towards the marker, and skidded to a stop once I reached it. It was a total distance of about 50 meters, nothing too far.


    [Leg calibration:plete. Next, please state the scent you smell in the air.]


    As if on cue, a fragrant aroma that reminded me of flowers surrounded me.


    "Flowers," I said confidently.


    [Smell calibration:plete. All systems:plete. Congrattions, yer. The calibration process has now ended. Wee to Alternate Reality.]


    With that, the room around me expanded, the walls disappearing. Instead, holograms appeared on all four sides of me. I tried walking around. The holograms followed me, adjusting their position to match my own movements.


    "Huh...that''s pretty cool," I muttered.


    Then, turning around, I saw that the hologram behind me read ''Redeem Codes''. I had already memorized the code of the Ascension: Online copy I bought, so I just inputted that in the redeem section with a translucent floating keyboard that I could somehow physically feel. After a little processing time, the system deemed my code valid, and I saw that I now had the option ofunching Ascension: Online on the hologram to my right, titled ''Games''.


    I moved to click on it, but then changed my mind. This was enough for now. Hina-nee would probably be home anytime now. I would try out the gameter. I already got the calibration process done. That was good enough.


    On the panel behind me was a cogwheel, with thebel ''Settings'' above it. A little under it was a log off button. I pressed it with a finger, and my world faded to ck.


    *****


    When I opened my eyes again, I was back on my bed. The AR helmet was fixed on my head, and I could feel the prickling sensation of the velcro strap below my neck. I took it off gently, and sat up. As if on cue, the doorbell rang.


    "Must be Hina-nee..." I murmured, hopping off my bed and heading downstairs to open the door for her. We both had keys to the house, so she was probably just ringing the doorbell to see if I woulde.


    "Heya, Kaze-kun!" she eximed, pulling me into a tight hug right after I opened the door.


    "H-Hina-nee..." I muttered in annoyance, but didn''t try to break free. It was futile, after all. She was a ck belt in karate. I wasn''t about to beat her, as I didn''t even do karate, due to a condition called asthenia - muscle weakness.


    "How was school today?" she asked, taking off her coat and hanging it on the standing coat rack. "Hm...wait, you''re hurt!"


    She immediately tossed everything else aside, and inspected my face. It was a bit bruised from the beating I took earlier today.


    "I''m fine, Hina-nee," I replied. "I just fell down and scraped it somewhere."


    "The only way you would fall would be if someone intentionally forced you to fall!" Hina-nee cried. "You''re a careful boy, Kaze-kun. There''s no way you would just slip and fall somewhere. I don''t believe it! Tell nee-san, who did this to you?"


    "Hina-nee. I''ll say it again. I''m fin-"


    "Was it Mazami-kun and Yamato-kun again? Tch...those two...always picking on you," Hina-nee muttered. I could tell that she was genuinely angry - and that was rare. "That reminds me - I know...you went to Fujimura High instead of Kawasaki so that you could get away from those two and their friends, right? I just found out about this today, but this year, Kawasaki High had quite a lot of students enrolling, so not all middle schools in the area could be ounted for. So, some were redirected to Fujimura High. I''m sorry, Kaze-kun..."


    I shook my head, realizing denying it was no longer going to work. "It''s not your fault, Hina-nee. I have a solution of my own. You don''t need to worry about it."


    "A solution...?"


    I smiled. "I managed to deal quite the blow to them today."


    "H-Huh? You mean, you fought back against them? But...they are a lot stronger than you are, and there''s two of them!"


    "I don''t mean like, physically," I quickly interrupted, before she misunderstood. "You see, what happened was..."


    I retold her everything that had happened earlier that afternoon, and by the end of my story, she was stunned.


    "Kaze-kun...that was quite clever!" she eximed, trying to pat my head. I ducked away.


    "Not really. Those two are just stupid for falling into it."


    "Heh. That''s true," she smirked. "But...still. You took quite the beating. Just wait here, okay? I''ll get you all patched up."


    "Huh? But I already said I was fine..." I muttered, but, for better or worse, there was no convincing Hina-nee once she had made a decision.


    After washing her hands, she applied some arnica cream on the spots I had been hit, to ease the bruising. Then, she went off to make dinner, and I returned to my room, deciding to y around with my AR set a bit more.


    Putting on the helmet andying down on my bed, I pressed the power button.


    *****


    I woke up in the white room once more. The white room with no boundaries, that is. Under the ''Games'' hologram, I pressed on the Ascension: Online cover art. Immediately, my surroundings changed. It faded into ck. I walked around in the darkness, uncertain of what was going to happen next.


    And then - suddenly, a 360 degree all-around cinematic began ying, with me above everything.


    "Wow..."


    I seemed to be levitating way high in the air, but the invisible ground below me was definitely solid. Below, I could see a massive ind with vastly different regions on it, each with a different biome. Fromrge, dense forests to tall, fog-shrouded mountains, this ind had it all. I could even see tiny towns that were quite different from the urban cities we had in the real world. Overall, this ce was like something straight out of a fantasy Chinese cultivation novel - beautiful, and absolutely fascinating.


    At the center of it all, a humungous tree stood. It had enormous white roots, entangling around each other as they rose upwards to form the trunk of the tree. At the top, it bloomed into hundreds of different branches, each with millions of silver leaves on it, fluttering gently to the wind. It was a beautiful and majestic sight, especially since I had just witnessed the tree''splete growing process in timepse.


    I didn''t understand any of this, but that didn''t matter. There was just one thing I knew for certain:


    Ascension: Online was far more than just a game. It was a new world, in and of itself.


    And as the space around me seemed to expand with the grand sound of a string ensemble apanying it, a gentle, female AI voice spoke.


    [Wee to Ascension: Online. Wee, to a new reality.]

 Chapter 6: Breaking the Game

    Chapter 6: Breaking the Game


    "Wee to a new reality...huh," I echoed, as the world around me faded into ck once more.


    When light came back, the scenery had changed. I was no longer up high in the air. Instead, I was staring straight at the entrance to a lively, bustling town. I could hear loud chattering from within it. All I had to do was step through this gate, and my journey in Ascension: Online would begin normally, just like any other yer.


    But then, I noticed that I had a shadow in front of me, which was weird, considering that would mean there was nothing behind me to block the sun. Because of this, I feltpelled to turn around and look behind - and indeed, just as I had expected, there was no wall between the zing sun and my body. Instead, what I saw was a dead-end. A cliff, to be particr.


    "Hm...I wonder..." I murmured to myself, as I walked closer to the edge, and looked down. A dense, green, coniferous forest was all that could be seen below, stretching for hundreds of miles and beyond. At the end of it, I thought I saw a body of water of some kind, but I was too far away to be sure.


    Hey...what if I jumped down here right here and now? I mean, I guess where I was now was the start point for new yers. There''s nothing to do except go in the town, but...I''m kind of curious about what would happen if I were to jump off this cliff here.


    A crazy thought. A stupid one, too. Literally no one but me would even consider for half a second to genuinely do this.


    Of course, after jumping off here, I would die - in the game, that is. But what I wanted to know was what would happen if I died here. Would I just be brought back up? It was probably what would happen. But in that case, that would be pretty boring. I''ve always been a curious person - when I did something, I intended to see it through to the very end. Video games were no exception. I wanted to explore every feasible possibility, and experience all the different possible oues.


    Sometimes this was a good thing. Other times, it wasn''t. If I had to say, I didn''t think anyone else in the world was as obsessed with reaching every possible oue in any given situation as I was. Perhaps this was why I decided to look back just now. Perhaps this was why I was genuinely contemting jumping down this cliff that looked to be about 1,500 meters tall, just to see what would happen if I really did.


    I debated. There was a 99% chance that I would just ''die'' if I jumped down, and then get teleported back up here again. Almost certainly, the game was programmed to do that. That being said...there was still that 1% chance. Just a slim, 1% chance...something else would happen.


    And that ''something else'', was what I was obsessed with searching for.


    Needless to say, curiosity got the better of me.


    I looked around, and saw that no other new yers happened to start ying at the exact same time as me. It was the perfect time to pull this stunt. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Despite knowing this was a video game, and that I couldn''t really die, everything felt so real. Was this the power of Alternate Reality?


    Yes - it was.


    My resolve hardened, I jumped.


    *****


    Darkness.


    Darkness, everywhere.


    Where was I? What was going on? I had no idea.


    The only thing I knew was that it hurt. Everywhere hurt. My arms, my legs, everywhere - even ces that I didn''t know I even had, hurt. My entire body was aching with sharp pain harsher than anything else I''ve ever felt in my life, and as if that wasn''t already enough, I couldn''t see a thing to top it off.


    "Well...maybe jumping off that cliff wasn''t the best idea..." I muttered aloud, to no one in particr.


    That being said, this was fine. I died, big deal. This was probably just how death worked in this game - you feel intense pain all over your body to simte real death, and then everything fades to ck. Ascentech probably programmed it like this so that yers would actually be afraid of dying. Right now, I wanted to literally die rather than endure this pain, after all. Ascentech had sure done a good job of injecting fear into the yers; teaching them that even though this is a game, death is still going to cost you.


    But this was enough, wasn''t it? I learned my lesson. I should be getting teleported back to the top of that cliff anytime now. There was no other oue after all, quite disappointingly.


    I waited slowly for me to get teleported back up. But...nothing happened.


    Even after several minutes, nothing happened. I was still inside absolute darkness. By now, the pain had faded away, but instead of being relieved, I started to worry.


    "What...why am I not getting teleported?"


    Then, suddenly, a voice spoke.


    [You are not supposed to be here.]


    It was a female voice, mechanical and utterly emotionless. It came from all around me, almost like the female AI voices I''ve heard multiple times now, except...it wasn''t gentle at all. And it definitely was not soothing. This voice was stone cold andpletely devoid of emotion, like a trueputer speaking.


    "Huh? I know I''m not supposed to be here," I replied. "Why haven''t I gotten teleported back up ye- wait, who are you?"


    [...It seems there has been an error unounted for in the system.]


    "What? Uh...I have no idea what you''re talking about, but can I get sent back up now? I mean, there''s clearly some bug with this game''s programming, but that''s understandable because it''s new and all."


    [Game?] the voiceughed. But it was a mechanicalugh that held no happiness in it whatsoever, and instead sounded almost creepy. [That is inurate. But I suppose...this is a game. For me.]


    "Are you trying to tell me this isn''t a game?" I asked, frowning in confusion at this whole situation. "You''re saying I''m not ying Ascension: Online right now, the newest ARMMORPG?"


    A brief silence ensued. Then, the voice spoke again.


    [Listen, human. What you may think of as just a virtual game...could very well be another''s reality.]


    "Huh?" This conversation was getting nowhere. I had no idea what she was talking about, and every word she says only serves to make me more confused.


    And then, white light began to surround me, and I sighed in relief. "Oh, I''m getting teleported back- I think!"


    But just before I did, the mechanical female voice asked one final question.


    [When realities ovep, will you be able to distinguish lies from truth?]


    The white light enveloped mepletely.


    [I look forward to your answer.]

 Chapter 7: Status: Stuck

    Chapter 7: Status: Stuck


    In a sh, I was brought back up to the starting point at the top of the cliff. Thankfully, I was out of that pit of eternal darkness. Staying down there couldn''t have been good for my mental heath.


    "Whew...okay. Now, let''s do this the normal way."


    I crept closer to the town before me. The sign read ''Xi Yang, Vige of Memories''.


    So, it was a vige, not a town. From the noise this ce was making, I assumed it would be a bustling town, but...it could also just be a big vige, I suppose. I walked inside and began exploring. Shops and food stalls were set up all around, with children running through the packed streets, happily. It was sure a lively ce.


    And these people too...or rather, NPCs; they seemed so realistic, as if they were real humans. Of course, that was impossible. This was just a video game, after all. A very...realistic one, but a video game nheless. It was virtual. Nothing in here was part of reality, I knew that. I knew that, and yet...that AI''s words repeated themselves in the back of my head like some sort of parasite.


    [What you may think of as just a virtual game...could very well be another''s reality.]


    Looking at all these lively NPCs walking around, I almost felt convinced.


    Almost.


    And then, a person called out to me.


    "Hey there!"


    "Hm?" I turned around to face the direction the voice hade from. It had been a man in his forties who appeared to be a cksmith of sorts. He had a shop set up, with dangerous weapons of all sorts hanging behind him. But that wasn''t what surprised me the most. Instead, what was truly shocking was that I could understand what he was saying - Chinese. However... I didn''t know Chinese - I was Japanese, yet somehow I could understand what he was saying? It wasplicated to exin.


    "You''re another neer, right?" he asked.


    "''Another''...? Yeah, I guess I''m new here," I replied truthfully, walking closer to him. "But when you say ''another''...you mean there''s more like me?"


    "Oh yeah," he said. So he could understand my Japanese as well. "A bunch of neers wearing the same exact clothes as you have been flooding through this vige. It started aroundst week."


    My clothes...I looked down. I was wearing some kind of simple brown shirt with fur on it, and rough ck pants. I looked almost like a prisoner, from the outside.


    "Aroundst week...that''s when Ascension: Online was released," I muttered to myself.


    "Hm?"


    "Oh, nothing," I quickly replied, deciding that all this was just part of the ''backstory'' of this game. We are summoned here to save the world, or something like that. "So, what did you want from me?"


    "Well, I was wondering if you were, perhaps, in need of some weapons," he said. "The others before you have all bought something off me, so."


    "Uh, sure," I agreed rtively easily. "But...what do I pay with?"


    "Well, the other neers that came in here before you all did some sort of gesture with their hands and opened up a screen or something in front of them. I was pretty surprised when I first saw it," the cksmith exined. "The gesture was something like this..."


    He swiped his hand across in front of him, from left to right, with his palm facing outwards. Of course, nothing happened, since he was a NPC, after all. At least, that''s what I believed.


    I copied his gesture, and widened my eyes as a hologram appeared in front of me.


    "Woah..."


    "There you go," he chuckled. "I don''t know how you guys can, but I can''t seem to do it, even though we''re doing the exact same gesture."


    Well, of course you can''t. You''re a NPC, and I''m a yer.


    The hologram I had just brought up was an interface of sorts. I could ess my character profile, inventory, settings, and log out of the game from here too. Right now, my character waspletely empty with the exception of the brown prisoner-like clothes, nearly-torn ck pants, and poor-quality sandals. As for my body itself, it seemed to be an exact replica of what I looked like in real life - messy and unkempt ck hair plus deep blue eyes, like the sea. With no other good exnation in mind, I just assumed that all ARMMORPGs created an avatar based on your real life appearance.


    Above the full-body portrait of myself was a few strings of text: name, gender, level, and race. It looked like this:


    [Name: Igarashi Kaze]


    [Gender: Male]


    [Race: Human ]


    [Level: 1]


    Why...was the race glitched out like that? I could still tell it said ''human'', but...that''s weird.


    Putting that aside for now, I moved on. In the next tab, my inventory, was 100 gold coins. At least, that''s what it looked like.


    "Well...this is quite the roundabout tutorial to teach us how to y this game. I can''t say I dislike it though, Ascentech," I murmured.


    "What?" the cksmith questioned, furrowing his brows.


    "Ah, never mind," I replied. NPCs would never know what Ascentech was, after all. Then, I took a look at the time. Apparently, time in-game matched that on the outside. I had taken a look at the clock when I started up my AR set, and it had read 5 PM. Now it says 5:30 PM in the game. Roughly half an hour had passed.


    Hina-nee would probably be done dinner by now, so I decided this was about a good time to quit. I switched to the log out tab of the hologram, and-


    "Hm?"


    It didn''t switch the tab. Frowning, I tapped on the log out tab''s icon again, a door with an arrow pointing inside it to show an exiting motion.


    "What..."


    It still didn''t work. I frantically spammed click the tab a couple of times.


    Nope.


    "What the hell...?!" I couldn''t hold back my surprise anymore. "Why can''t I log out?!"


    My screams echoed across the sky as the sun began to set.


    "Hey, kid, what''s going on?" the cksmith asked in worry. "What''s all this about ''logging out'' and stuff?"


    "A-Ah, it''s nothing..." I muttered, switching to the other tabs.


    Every other tab worked fine. Only the log out one was blocked off - greyed out.


    Was this some kind of bug, or just server problems...? Since the game only came out a week ago, I wouldn''t be surprised if there were still some major issues and loopholes in the game, but...not letting yers exit the game? That should''ve been an issue fixed onunch.


    I quickly turned to the cksmith to ascertain my questions. "Hey, sir, do you have any idea where any of the other ''neers'' are? I need to talk to them."


    "Uh...yeah. One passed by a couple of minutes before you came. You should still be able to catch up to her, if you go now. They that way," the man said helpfully, pointing deeper inside the vige.


    "Got it, thanks!"


    I hurriedly began my attempt to catch up to another yer.


    "H-Hey! Aren''t you going to buy anything?"


    I ignored the cksmith''s cries, and picked up my pace.

 Chapter 8: Connection: Severed

    Chapter 8: Connection: Severed


    - Meanwhile, Outside of the Game -


    (Hina''s Perspective)


    "Alright...and, done!"


    I turned off the stove and let out a deep breath. Dinner was officially ready. We were having tomato and eggs tonight- Kaze-kun''s favorite Chinese dish. I''m sure he would love it!


    I headed upstairs and knocked on Kaze-kun''s door.


    "Kaze-kun, dinner is ready," I said, gently turning the door handle, trying to peek inside. But the door was shut tight.


    I frowned. "Mou...what is he doing in there that he has to keep secret from me?" I murmured.


    "Hello~dinner is ready!" I repeated again, this time in a slightly louder tone. Still no response. I began to get suspicious.


    "...Kaze-kun?" I tried knocking again. Still nothing.


    Realizing something was off, I stepped back for a moment, and blew the door open with a good solid front kick. Being a ck belt in karate really pays off.


    "Kaze-kun!" I yelled, looking around. Then, I spotted him lying on his bed peacefully, a helmet around his head. "Oh...he''s just on the AR set thing."


    I let out a sigh of relief, thinking that he wasn''t in any danger. I didn''t know much about AR technology, but I knew people didn''t know what was going on in the outside world when they were in-game.


    But...wouldn''t that be a little unsafe? Robbers could just get into your house and get out without you even realizing until you notice that certain items were missing from your home. That wasn''t my problem, though. I just had to worry about Kaze-kun, and Kaze-kun alone.


    I sighed, and looked on the helmet. I found a button with a power symbol above it, and pressed it, thinking that would forcefully kick him out of the game. But after a few seconds, nothing happened. I frowned in confusion, then pressed it again. Still nothing.


    "Mou...I have no idea how this works," I muttered to myself in frustration. "I have no idea, but...


    I turned my head, I saw the electric outlet the helmet was plugged into. "...Cutting off its power source should do the trick, right?"


    I crawled onto Kaze-kun''s bed, careful not to identally fall on him, and reached for the plug. Pulling it out in one decisive motion, I retreated and let the cord drop.


    "Alright, that should do the tric-"


    And then, suddenly, something I never would''ve expected happened.


    To my shock and terror, I watched as Kaze-kun''s body turned into billions of tiny triangr shards of light, and rose up into the air slowly.


    Then, they collectively vanished simultaneously, taking Kaze-kun and my emotions with them.


    My heart dropped, and so did my body.


    "Wha..." I copsed to the floor, and could only gasp in horror at what just happened, unable to do a thing.


    As much as I wanted to believe it to be, this was not merely a dream. I saw it happen with my own two eyes, right in front of my face:


    Kaze-kun had disappeared.


    *****


    - Inside the Game -


    (Kaze''s Perspective)


    I froze - I stopped moving, as I felt something like a jolt of electricity travel up my entire body. I had been on my way chasing after another yer in search of more information when this ured. Suddenly, I felt as if something entered my very soul, and against my own volition, I fell onto the sandy ground, panting.


    "Wha...what just happened?" I murmured, looking down at my two open palms.


    "Hey, nii-san, are you okay?" a little kid and his group of friends rushed over after seeing me fall.


    "U-Uh, yeah. I''m fine. Thanks for the concern," I replied, then hurriedly stood back up, still confused as to what the hell that was.


    For some reason, even though everything was already realistic enough before, now, my surroundings and the scenery all around seemed even more like real life.


    It was if I was physically a part of this game now - part of this reality.


    Then, as I was in a state of confusion, the hologram from before appeared in front of me once more.


    [Things have gotten quite interesting now, it seems. Fascinating.]


    A mechanical female AI voice said these words. It was cold and emotionless. But what concerned me the most was that I recognized this voice. It was the same voice that had spoken to me in that pit of darkness, when I jumped off that cliff.


    "You...who are you? How are you talking via the game menu?" I asked.


    [That is not important. I havee to deliver you some important news. Also, the hologram disyed in front of you currently is not called a ''game menu''. It is called a System.]


    "Uh...okay? What''s the news?" I asked quietly, not wanting to attract too much attention to myself after that brilliant fall just now.


    [It seems someone from your old reality identally severed your connection to that reality. That is the sudden jolt you felt just now.] The mechanical and somewhat monotone voice said.


    "Severed my connection? Reality? What?"


    Naturally, I was confused. I had no idea what this AI was talking about.


    [To put it in simpler terms...you are stuck here, yer. Once a connection to a Reality ne has been severed, there is no reconnecting it.]


    "What...? I am still confused as to what you''re saying," I shook my head, unable toprehend all this. "So, you''re essentially telling me I''m STUCK here? Inside a damn video game? That''s so cliche..."


    After a short silence, the mechanical voice continued.


    [...Perhaps an exnation starting from the basics of the basics is necessary. However, before that, I rmend moving somewhere less conspicuous.]


    I looked around, realizing I was surrounded by people bustling through the vige. Definitely not the ce to hold a long conversation. I casually slipped in between two houses, and leaned against the wall of one.


    "Okay. We should be fine here. Now, talk."


    [I dislike thatmanding tone you are using, unit. Do I need to remind you? I am not obligated to tell you anything. You are only one single yer in my grand game of realities. I am only doing this because I find this sudden turn of events interesting, as nothing like this has ever happened across all the Reality nes in existence since the beginning of time. Therefore, I rmend you rethink your attitude.]


    "Right...my bad," I took a deep breath, and rposed myself. "Can you please exin to me what you mean by all of this? Reality nes? What even are those?"


    [Better, but still not 100% satisfactory. I will start from the very beginning, then.]


    I listened intently, for this could very well prove to be my only way out of this ce. And what this AI was about to tell me,pletely defied all physics.


    Little did I know, the very concept of reality was about to be shattered - before my very eyes.

 Chapter 9: The Meaning of Reality

    Chapter 9: The Meaning of Reality


    [Firstly, you possess an enormous misconception I must correct.]


    "Huh?" I frowned.


    [The ''real'' world as you know it, is nothing more than one among many Reality nes under my control.]


    "Reality nes...you''ve said that many times now. What exactly are they?" I asked.


    [Think of Reality nes as ''worlds''. In other words, there are many different worlds under my control. Earth, the one you originated from, is but one of them. The world you are in currently is also one of them.]


    "What...? But...isn''t this just a game? Weren''t you just programmed to tell me all this?"


    [For me, it is a game. All of the Reality nes in existencee together to form a ''game'' for me. Unfortunately, however, it is not a game for you.]


    After a brief pause, the AI continued. [After all you have experienced, do you really still believe this is ''just a video game''? What kind of video game would prevent you from exiting? Face the reality, pawn. Stop doubting, and listen to what I am saying carefully. I will not exin any of this a second time.]


    "I...okay, I''ll shut up."


    [Good. Now...perhaps there is a need for me to introduce myself after all, lest only more questions be raised.


    Suddenly, the hologram before me switched to a robot-like face. Despite robots being ''technically'' genderless, anyone could take a look at the face before me right now and say it was female. It had bright blue, perfectly round eyes, with a jagged and geometric mouth that had simr blue light emanating from within.


    [My full scientific designation is Artificial Reality Xenobiotic Apparatus. A.R.X.A, for short. I am the controller of this multiverse; the ''god'' of this ne of existence. Reality nes, or ''worlds'', are like chess pieces I manipte to experiment with. Put simply, you, along with every other existence in this multiverse, are nothing more than my test subjects.]


    "Test subjects? But what for? What are you experimenting for?"


    [For fun.]


    The two words I never thought woulde out of an AI''s mouth. ''For.'' ''Fun''.


    "For fun? But...aren''t you aputer? Computer''s aren''t supposed to have emotions," I argued.


    [A supeputer,] she - or rather, it - corrected. [As for the goal of this experiment...it is to determine which Reality ne is the best one.]


    "So. You''re using god knows how many beings there are in this multiverse as you say, all to satisfy a mere whim of yours."


    [I am god,] it replied with utterly no hesitation. The voice didn''t even contain any confidence either - it said this as if it were stating a simple fact, asmon as 1+1=2 or the blue hue of the sky.


    "Right...I kind of get the gist of it now. Essentially, you''re bored. So you''re conducting this experiment to satisfy your boredom," I concluded. "So...this game, Ascension: Online...is not a game at all, huh? And thepany called ''Ascentech''...that doesn''t exist either, does it?"


    [That is correct. Both are nothing but false fronts I designed to avoid causing chaos.]


    "I still don''t understand just one part though - why bother summoning people from one Reality ne to another like this, and in such a roundabout way?"


    [I wish to study how my subjects are able to adapt to apletely new environment. It is amusing, as well as entertaining. As you said, I crave to satisfy my boredom. The experiment I am conducting is one to be executed over spans of eons, so in the meantime, I need something else to keep me interested.]


    "I see...so all this is just another one of your ''whims''," I muttered. "And? Is it working? Are you ''entertained'' right now?"


    [Yes.] it replied immediately. [Especially by this sudden turn of events revolving around you, subject. Throughout the many ''Migration'' operations I executed over the eons, you are the first subject to have fully switched your Reality ne. It is truly fascinating.]


    "Yeah? Well, amen to your happiness. I''m just stuck here in a world I know nothing about, with no way back to my old home."


    I strategically choose to ignore the fact that she had addressed me by four different names so far, none of which were my real name. Human, yer, pawn, and now subject. Did I miss one or two? Ah, doesn''t matter.


    [You seem awfullyposed, despite your words. I believe I know the reason to this.]


    "Oh yeah? Let''s hear it," I challenged.


    [You are not unhappy about this situation at all. Perhaps mildly bewildered, but not unhappy. This is because you had been seeking this all along. Somewhere in your heart, you wanted this to happen. Your wish...was to escape from reality. And now, that wish has been fulfilled.]


    "...You''ve done your research on me, huh?"


    [My database contains all information on every test subject I possess.]


    "Well, looks like in the end, you are still aputer," I chuckled. "You''re right. I''m not too sad about this situation, but it would be a lie if I said I wasn''t unhappy. You see...just because I wanted to leave my old reality behind, does not mean I wanted to leave ALL of it behind. There are still people I care about back in my home ne. And now...there''s no way to see them again."


    [...I do not understand. Yes, there are subjects emotionally close to you in your old reality, but that did not change your wish of wanting to leave the reality behind. The benefits of moving to this Reality ne clearly outweigh the consequences. There is no reason for you to be unhappy.]


    "That''s...not how it works. Not in this situation, at least," I said with a sigh. "Like I said, for an omnipotent supeputer, you''ve still got quite some learning to do."


    After a brief moment of collecting my thoughts, I continued. "Here''s a tip, for starters: if us humans thought with only their brains, using logic and reason, then what you said would be correct. However...there''s something else inside our bodies, and it''s called a heart."


    [...]


    Sensing A.R.X.A.''s silent response, I took a deep breath. Inhale, exhale.


    "Well, that being said, it''s pointless now. I''m stuck here forever, ording to you. I have no choice but to just make the most out of this new life that I have."


    [...Forever? I never stated that.]


    "Huh?"


    [There is one way you can escape from this reality, and return to your old one. And that, is to beat this Reality ne.]


    "Beat this Reality ne?"


    At this point, I was just echoing what this crazy AI was saying. I thought I had finally understood its words, after its exnation about itself and Reality nes and whatnot, but now, I wasn''t so sure anymore.


    [Every Reality ne has a way to beat it, hidden or not. In this Reality ne, the method to do so is quite clear. However, on your original Reality ne, the key is much more hidden,] A.R.X.A. exined. [Because I am curious to see what you will do, I will tell you the way to beat this Reality ne.]


    "So. You''re trying to see if I will try to return to my old reality or not."


    [Correct. You said it yourself - there still exists knowledge that even I have yet toprehend. This is a good opportunity to do so.]


    "Fine. However, just to be clear, I haven''t made my decision yet. Nheless, tell me how to beat this Reality ne, A.R.X.A."


    [Very well then,] A.R.X.A. said.


    Despite the mechanical voice and emotionless blue eyes, I could almost feel the ghost of a cold smile sh through the AI''s face.


    [The method to beat this Reality ne, codenamed ''Ascension''...is to Ascend.]

 Chapter 10: The World of Ascension

    Chapter 10: The World of Ascension


    "To...Ascend. That tells me absolutely nothing," I muttered.


    [Perhaps. But be patient, mortal. I will now give you a brief tour of this Reality ne, known as ''Ascension''. By the end of my exnation, you will understand what ''Ascending'' means.]


    Another name added to the list: mortal. I couldn''t exactly ignore this any further, before this damned supeputer came up with any more names.


    "Uh...just so you know, I have a name. Igarashi Kaze," I said.


    [I am well aware. However, I have no intention of using that name.]


    "But...why?"


    [Simply because I do not want to. Is there a problem?]


    I gritted my teeth. "You know, for a damned AI...you''re pretty annoying."


    [...Do you want the information or not?]


    I immediately sped my hands together in a praying gesture. "Sorry. You win."


    [...Hmph,] it snorted. Robots could snort? Learnt something new today, I guess...


    ...Of course, that was not counting all the information that got dumped on me all at once,pletely obliterating my original understanding of the world - or rather, the Reality ne.


    And so, A.R.X.A. began exining this new Reality ne to me, nicknamed ''Ascension''.


    *****


    By the time it was finished exining, a good half an hour had passed.


    ording to A.R.X.A, this Reality ne was, in actuality, just one ind - the one I was on currently. Beyond this ind was just water for as far as the eye could see. For years, inhabitants of this ind had sent out exploration teams to see if there was anything beyond the sea that surrounded them on all sides, but none returned with any discoveries. Of course, this was because there was literally nothing beyond this body of water, known as the Divine Sea. A.R.X.A said that it stretched for an infinite amount of distance on all sides, with this ind, called Ascentia, forever being at the center of it.


    That being said, it wasn''t like this Reality ne was smallpared to Earth. In fact, this ind was enormous - three times the surface area of Earth, in particr. ording to what A.R.X.A. said, this ind, Ascentia, was more or less split into eight different regions. At the center of it all, where all eight regions converge, lies a single tree.


    The name of this tree was Astrasil. It had snow white roots and branches, paired with beautiful silver leaves gently swaying side by side to the blowing wind. The tree was not only thick, but also extremely tall - piercing straight through the clouds, and went beyond even that. To the inhabitants of Ascentia, this tree was like a holy figure to them. It was said that this tree existed before all else, and this ind slowly formed around it.


    Astrasil was not merely a subject of worship, however. All the inhabitants of Ascentia have one goal they ce above all else - and that, is to ''Ascend'', using the world tree known as Astrasil.


    And in order to ''beat'' this Reality ne, I would have to do the same.


    There was just one problem - Ascending is no easy feat. In the history of Ascentia, not a single soul has ever managed to sessfully Ascend. The reason for this was that in order to Ascend, there were multiple tedious and difficult steps. First, you would have to be extremely strong so that you could unlock something that was called an ''Awakening.'' This will enable you to enter Astrasil''s domain at the dead center of the ind. After unlocking this ability, you would then need to find eight tablets, scattered all around the ind. Apparently, there was one in each of the eight regions.


    After collecting them all, you would have to take them to Astrasil. Then, it is believed that a gate would open, allowing you to travel up the holy tree. In all honesty, to the native inhabitants of this Reality ne, all of this was just mere spection, as it''s not like anyone has actually Ascended before and came back to verify this information.


    However, I knew it was true. Why? Because A.R.X.A. was the one telling me all this.


    How the natives discovered all of this info though, I had no idea. Whether this is all just some lucky conjecture someone came up with a long long time ago, or if A.R.X.A. herself rooted this theory into the inhabitants'' minds, I didn''t know. I didn''t really care, either.


    In any case, of the eight tablets, four of them''s location have already been found - all in some kind of ruins. The remaining four have yet to be discovered, but I could guess they would also be lying in ruins of some sort, based on the information I already know. I could also narrow down their locations further, since A.R.X.A. told me there was one tablet in every region.


    When I asked more about these eight regions, however, it denied my request.


    [Telling you anymore would just be giving you a free path to victory. That would defeat the purpose of me telling you all this. I have already told you the basics - the rest is up to yourself,] it said.


    "Right...thanks," I muttered. Of course, I was dissatisfied with it not just giving me all the answers I wanted, but I couldn''t exactlyin to it in my position. I was at itsplete mercy. It could control my fate easily by manipting the information it gives me, so I didn''t want to anger it.


    [I wish to see how you will ovee the challenges that wille your way. Do not bore me, human.]


    "No promises, but...I''ll do my best to keep you entertained," I replied. Perhaps, if I made it happy, it would give me some more information. "By the way, I''m curious. What are your pronouns?"


    [She. Her.]


    "She...? I thoughtputers didn''t have genders," I murmured thoughtfully.


    [She. Her,] she repeated once more. Despite it being in the same tone as before, I could somehow tell her patience was running out. Perhaps it was because of the blue light in her eyes getting slightly dimmer on the hologram before me.


    "Y-Yes ma''am," I hurriedly said, to escape her wrath.


    [I will not give you any information. However, as onest hint...there are plenty of subjects to gain knowledge from all around you.]


    I nodded. "Exactly what I was thinking. I''ll ask around about the eight regions, and see if I can learn something interesting about them that could prove helpful in the future."


    [Good. You are better than I expected.]


    I sniffed my nose, unsure of what to say after being unexpectedly praised by a supeputer like that. "By the way, are you just going to stick around in my game menu like this?"


    [It is called a System - something I implement in all visitors from a different Reality ne to make it seem believable, like a virtual video game. That aside, yes. I will watch you from within here. However, do not rely on me for help. If you die, you die - I will not intervene. I am merely here to observe.]


    "I never thought you would help anyway," I muttered.


    [...However, I may provide assistance in the form of information, when I feel like it.]


    Adding this unexpectedly, I blinked in surprise at her words.


    "So...you''re saying you might help me still, depending on your mood."


    [Correct. I have created a separate tab in your System for you tomunicate with me, should you feel the need to. However, there is no guarantee I will answer.]


    Time to make this AI happy, I suppose. Now then, how do I please a supeputer? I''m guessing there aren''t any books around about that topic, whether it''s here or in my old world.


    "...Got it," I said, before moving to close my System via the red X in the top right corner.


    "Oh, also...one more thing," I paused, remembering something.


    [Yes?]


    "You...ah, actually, never mind."


    Changing my decision, I closed my System, and watched as the hologram before me faded away.


    What I had wanted to say was that this supeputer, A.R.X.A., had been hiding something from me when she said there was only one way out of my situation if I wanted to see my loved ones again. And that method, was to return to my old reality via Ascending.


    However, there was, in fact, a second way - having the loved ones of my old realitye to this one as well.


    In the end, I chose to refrain from confronting her about this. A.R.X.A. definitely knew about this method as well - she purposely decided not to tell me, thinking I was too stupid to think of this alternative. The reason behind that was probably so that she could, in a way, force me to actually try to get stronger in this new world and Ascend. Otherwise, if she told me about this alternative way, I would''ve had no motivation to actually try and return to my old reality, thus making her lose her form of entertainment.


    So why did I still y along to her wishes, even though I really already knew about this other way?


    Because...well, it would be a lie if I said I wasn''t a bit excited about this new reality myself.

 Chapter 11: Gathering Information

    Chapter 11: Gathering Information


    I stepped out of the tiny corridor between two buildings, and looked around.


    There were two things on my agenda as of right now - one, ask the locals of this vige, Xiyang, for information on the eight regions of Ascentia, and two, see if I can find another ''yer'' from my old reality to talk with. I had been working on the second mission, until A.R.X.A. interrupted my ns. I wasn''tining though - I found out more answers from her than I ever would''ve from the person of my old world.


    However, A.R.X.A. was by no means my friend. We were ''allies'' at best, and even then it wasn''t exactly certain that she would help me when I needed it. There were two pieces of evidence I had to support my conclusion on A.R.X.A.''s alignment. One, the fact that she didn''t tell me about the other method I could see my loved ones again (having theme over to this Reality ne as well), and two, the fact that I couldn''t log out of the game before she contacted me.


    ording to her, someone had severed my connection to my old reality, somehow. That was the jolt of electricity I had felt while running earlier. However, prior to that, I had already tried logging out of the game once. There was no reason it shouldn''t have worked. Despite this, the log out tab on my System was still greyed out, even now.


    The only exnation for this was that someone had fiddled with my System to make sure I couldn''t get out of this game. As for my connection to the old Reality ne being severed, that served as a kind of bonus for whoever this entity was, a kind of insurance to ascertain my current situation - stranded in a new Reality ne with no way out. Not in the short-run, anyway.


    Now, I wonder...just who could''ve had the powers to mess with my System? The one who designed them, of course - A.R.X.A.


    In other words, even if my connection to my old Reality ne had not been severed, I still would have been stuck here, thanks to A.R.X.A. She was dead set on using me as a tool to relieve her of her boredom. Perhaps it was because I somehow managed to enter an ''out-of-bounds'' area back when I jumped off that cliff, speaking in video game terms. That must''ve pissed her off, since that pit of darkness may have been herir here in this Reality ne or something. That''s what I assumed, anyway. It''s not like I would be getting any answers from her regarding the matter.


    It''s unfortunate, but there is nothing I can do to reverse what has already happened.


    For now, I decided to just follow my agenda. Gathering information about the eight different regions of this indes first. I headed back to the cksmith that had called out to me when I first entered this reality.


    "Ho, it''s you again," he said, upon spotting me. "Did ya manage to catch up to the other neer?"


    At first, I had thought this guy, along with everyone else who wasn''t a ''neer'', was nothing more than a NPC. But now that I know the truth about the multiverse, I realized that these people were all real people too - just of a different Reality ne.


    That being said...I wonder if the other AR games out there are also different Reality nes, controlled by A.R.X.A. Probably not, though, since food and water didn''t exist there. Ascension: Online was the only AR game that contained them.


    "Unfortunately, I didn''t," I replied to the cksmith. "So, I''vee back to ask a few questions, if you don''t mind."


    The cksmith scratched his head. "Well, I don''t necessarily mind, per se, but..."


    He gestured towards the weapons on disy all around him, and I immediately understood.


    "Sure. I''ll buy something from you," I agreed readily. "It''s only fair, after all."


    "Heh. I like ya, kid," he chuckled. "The name''s Ming Yi. Nice to meet ya."


    I nodded. "Igarashi Kaze. Likewise."


    Upon hearing my name, Ming Yi''s eyes widened for a second. "That name...are you from the Nihon province, perhaps?"


    Nihon...that sounded oddly close to Japan''s name, from my old Reality ne.


    "....Sorry, where is that?" I asked.


    "Ah...I forgot, you are a neer. I''ll exin what I meanter - but for now, what kind of weapon do you like using?"


    "Hm..." I fell into thought. "I''ve never really used a weapon before. Any suggestions?"


    "Well, from what I can see...your body is kind of slim and youck muscles, so a heavyweight weapon is out of the question," Ming Yi replied after some observation. "A simple dagger is probably the best choice for you right now. Oh, but don''t worry - with some training, you''ll get stronger, and be able use to heavier weapons in the future."


    "Alright, I''ll take a dagger, then. Any rmendations, in particr?"


    The cksmith took off a dagger that had been hanging on the stone wall behind him. "Here. This one''s my best model."


    He handed the weapon over to me, and I inspected it gratefully. It wasn''t anything too exquisite - a simple ck handle, with a short yet sharp, silver de. If I had topare it to something, I would say it looked a lot like a short, deadlier version of my old world''s kitchen knives.


    "I don''t have a keen eye for good weapons or anything, but this should work," I replied after some thought. "How much for this?"


    "Since I like ya, only 50 gold," he said with a beaming smile that showed all his teeth.


    I gulped. 50 gold...that was half the money I had right now. I knew that this Ming Yi man didn''t have any bad intentions, but...ah, whatever. It wasn''t just the dagger I was buying, after all. This was a necessary expense, for the sake of getting information.


    I opened my System with a hand swipe gesture, and went to the inventory tab. I clicked on the gold coins icon, and set the quantity as 50 on the prompt that appeared. I clicked ''Confirm'' after that, and immediately, in my hands appeared a heavy pouch. A closed up my System, and looked inside the pouch. Indeed, gold coinsy inside it. I didn''t bother counting exactly, but it was around fifty.


    I handed the pouch over to Ming Yi, who epted it gratefully. "Thanks. Pleasure doin'' business. with ya, kiddo."


    I nodded. "Now. The information...?"


    "Ah, yes," Ming Yi took a deep breath in preparation. "What would you like to know?"


    "About this world. I heard there were eight different regions on this ind - what are they?"


    Ming Yi nodded. "Yep. As you said, this ind, called Ascentia, is split into eight different territories. The one we are in right now is called Azrine - the Land of Nature. Humans and elves are the dominant races here, though demihumans can sometimes be found too, though they tend to distance themselves from the outside world."


    "Hold up, there are other races?"


    Ming Yi chuckled. "Yep. There are a total of six intelligent races in Ascentia - humans, elves, demihumans, dwarves, vampires, and demons. Humans, by far, are the most populous, though."


    "I see..." I murmured.


    This Reality ne was literally just like a fantasy world, looking at it from my old reality''s perspective. It was perfect material for a video game - which was most likely why A.R.X.A. decided to introduce this Reality ne to ours under the guise of an ''Alternate Reality game''.


    "Are there any other regions you know a lot about?" I asked.


    "Hm...well, I''m not the best person to ask about this," Ming Yi said. "I only know about Azrine, not much beyond that. Matter of fact, no one here in Xiyang vige knows much about the info you''re looking for. I would suggest goin'' to a bigger city - there is one nearby, called Tianyin. If ya keep headin'' that way, you will reach the gates of this vige. There, ya can ask one of the guards to tell ya how to get to Tianyin."


    "Tianyin City...I see," I said, looking in the direction he had pointed. It was the same way I had juste back from. "Thank you."


    "No problem, kiddo. Hope we meet again."


    I nodded, and bid farewell to Ming Yi, my new dagger in hand.

 Chapter 12: A.R.X.A.s Intentions

    Chapter 12: A.R.X.A.''s Intentions


    I decided to store the dagger I was holding inside my inventory, since walking around with a weapon swinging around didn''t exactly make for a good first impression. Opening my System, I was already on the profile tab - the default page whenever you opened up your System. Beside my whole-body avatar on the left, was a list of what seemed to be my stats on the right side of the hologram:


    [STR: 0]


    [AGI: 0]


    [INT: 0]


    [DEX: 0]


    [MAG: 0]


    [LUC: 0]


    STR stood for strength, AGI stood for agility, INT stood for intelligence, DEX stood for dexterity, MAG stood for magic, and LUC stood for luck.


    ...Looks like I''m extremely weak, even in this game.


    For the most part, I was relieved to see that even though I had practically be part of this new Reality ne, I still kept my status as a yer. I could still level up and spend stat points on those five categories to help myself get stronger, which will help me against the enemiesing my way.


    Compared to other yers who aren''t stuck in this game-like world like I was, I also held an advantage - time. All other yers could only y for a certain amount of time before having to log out due to real life responsibilities back in my old Reality ne, Earth. I didn''t believe that anyone could afford to just stay within the game forever, after just one week since the game''s initialunch. I, however, could, without ever needing to exit.


    Well...it''s more like I can''t exit, even if I wanted to.


    In any case, I could take advantage of this extra time I had to do things other yers couldn''t. For example, I had more time to farm XP, so I could level up faster. This could enable me to explore ces with certain level restrictions before other people could, as they would have to reach the required level first. Unfortunately, since I didn''t start ying this game onunch, but rather a week after, I was already far behind some of the top yers in terms of progress. I had to make full use of this extra time I had to catch up to them, before the distance became toorge.


    I clicked on the dagger in what I assumed to be my primary weapon slot, and a weapon description screen popped up. It read:


    [Name: Simple Dagger]


    [Type: Weapon]


    [ATK: 9]


    [DUR: 100%]


    ATK stood for attack, obviously. As for DUR...I assumed it stood for durability, since ''duration'' wouldn''t make much sense.


    I sighed. Though these stats disappointed me, the reality was, I was only level 1 right now. I couldn''t exactlyin much. I would have to farm some XP to quickly level up. But before that...there was something I needed to ascertain.


    I pressed ''Store'' beneath the dagger''s stats, and a message popped on my screen. It said, ''Simple Dagger has been stored to your inventory.'' Then, I switched to the inventory tab just to make sure it was there, and turns out, it was. Finally, I moved somewhere more isted, and selected the special A.R.X.A. tab no other yer had.


    A robotic head appeared on my hologram. Her glowing blue eyes and illuminated mouth sprang to life in front of me. Well... not exactly to ''life,'' but I think you get what I mean.


    [...It has not even been ten minutes since west spoke.] A.R.X.A. said.


    "Hm? Really? It felt longer than that," I retorted. Of course, this was a lie. Really, all I had done since Ist spoke with her was buy a dagger.


    [...You would not contact me without reason. What do you want, human?]


    "There''s just something I want to make sure," I said, my voice turning serious. "Firstly, despite having my connection to my old Reality ne severed, I still retained my status as a ''yer'' of this ''game''. This is true, correct?"


    [Correct. You are currently somewhere between a yer of this game and an inhabitant of this Reality ne.]


    By the work of A.R.X.A., to the people of my old Reality ne, this ce was known as the ARMMORPG called ''Ascension: Online''. To the people living in this Reality ne, this ce was called ''home''. But to me...it was both. Or perhaps should I say...neither?


    "Right. I thought as much. But...there''s just one thing I am concerned about."


    [Speak.]


    I took a deep breath. "...If I were to die here...would I be respawned, or just die forever?"


    To be honest, I already had an answer in my heart, and I was 80% sure I was right - by asking A.R.X.A., I was just double-checking.


    [You will be respawned, no matter how many times you die. That is part of your status as a yer.]


    I let out a sigh of relief. My guess had been on the spot.


    "I understand. Can I trust you not to lie to me?"


    [Yes. If you do not believe me, you can test it out yourself.]


    "If you''re lying, that would just be suicide, but sure," I said with a shrug. "I believe you."


    [Is that all?]


    I nodded. "That''s all."


    With that, I closed my System, and gazed up at the sky. The sun had set. The moon reced it, and with it, countless stars illuminated the night.


    I believed what A.R.X.A. had said. This was because it was on the mark with what I had guessed prior to her answering my question. From my understanding of her, she was using me as a subject of entertainment - she would never allow me to die so easily. When we were talking before, she had said ''if you die, you die''. However, there was something else hidden in that sentence.


    What she had really meant when she said that, was ''if you die, you die...but you will be respawned right after anyway.'' That is not to say death wouldn''t hurt - I had already experienced the great pain death in this game brought, back when I jumped off that cliff. But still, I wouldn''t really die.


    Whether I liked it or not, I was important to A.R.X.A. If there was one thing that supeputer despised, it was boredom. My existence kept herpany - kept her entertained. I was certain that if she wanted to erase my status as a ''yer'', she could do so instantly. But she hadn''t - precisely because she doesn''t want me to really die and disappear. Well... not yet, at least.


    This ''game'' was just another Reality ne under her control. If she wanted to make me nothing more than a normal inhabitant of this reality, I could do nothing to fight back. In that case, if I were to die, I would die for good. However, by the same token, if she wanted to keep me as a yer, no one could stop her either. I would be respawned infinitely.


    A.R.X.A. wanted to see what I could do when met with challenges. Where''s the fun in that, if I only had one life? One fail, and I was gone for good - she didn''t want that, lest she be gued with unending boredom.


    With this, I''ve made sure of two things.


    One, I didn''t have to be afraid to take risks. Even if I died, I would be respawned, just like any other yer. That was a big boon.


    And two, I could trust A.R.X.A. to a certain extent. No doubt, she would purposely throw hindrances and traps my way just to see how I would ovee them - it was all entertainment for her, after all. However, at the same time, she would help me at times too - exactly like what happened just now.


    She was both a powerful ally, and a dangerous enemy. I had to be very careful not to blindly fall into one side too much.


    With all this new information acquired, I headed for the gate of Xiyang vige.

 Chapter 13: First Blood

    Chapter 13: First Blood


    - Reality ne: Earth -


    (Hina''s Perspective)


    The doorbell rang.


    But I didn''t want to answer.


    I knew who it was. Mother, or father. It was one of the two - or, perhaps, on rare asion, both at once. It was currently 7:30 PM. Around an hour since I lost my precious little brother, Igarashi Kaze. For this reason, I didn''t want to do anything right now. I just knelt on the floor in despair, my mind utterly broken.


    The doorbell rang again.


    This time, I slowly forced myself to get up. I knew I couldn''t remain in a trance forever. I dragged myself downstairs and opened the door.


    "Hina, what took you so long?" my mother asked, walking inside. "Wait...Hina, what''s wrong?"


    My father, who happened to arrive home at the same time, slipped inside directly after. "Er...Hina? This isn''t like you. What happened?


    The two of them looked at me with worry. But I could not meet their eyes. After all, how could I? It was I who made my brother disappear. If only I didn''t unplug that helmet...no, if only I didn''t buy that AR set for him...I gritted my teeth, but under thepassionate gazes of my parents, I couldn''t stop the tears from flooding out of my eyes. I had already cried once earlier, right after Kaze-kun had dematerialized into billions of tiny shards of light before my very eyes. And now, I was crying again, over the same matter.


    "H-Hina!" my mother embraced me tightly, not bothering to wash her hands or anything of the sort. "Why are you crying? What happened? Where''s Kaze?"


    "Mom...Dad...Kaze-kun is...Kaze-kun is-" I wanted to say the words, but I couldn''t.


    My father bent down and looked up into my eyes. "Go on, Hina. You can tell us anything, and everything. We are your family. Now...what happened?"


    "I...I don''t know..." I cried. "Kaze-kun was ying on his AR set when I finished cooking dinner...so I went up to call him. He couldn''t hear me while inside the game, so...I....tried forcefully powering off the helmet by u-unplugging it..."


    "And? What happened after?" my mother inquired, wiping the tears off my face gently with her hand even as more poured out of my eyes.


    "He...disappeared. K-Kaze-kun, he...disappeared!" I yelled, unable to hold my emotions back any longer. "H-Help me, mom, dad...h-how do I bring him back?"


    "W-What? H-Hold on, you''re saying...he disappeared after you unplugged his helmet?"


    I nodded frantically while sobbing. "Sniff...what do I do..."


    "I''ve never heard of something like this happening before, even in all my years working as a news reporter..." my father murmured. "But don''t worry, Hina. I have an interview scheduled with Ascentech, the developers of AR technology, tomorrow. I will certainly find some answers."


    "R-Really?" I asked.


    He smiled gently. "Of course, Hina. When have I ever lied to you?"


    I couldn''t bring myself to smile back in return, but I was genuinely happy.


    Happy that perhaps...there was a way to see the person I held most dear to me in the world once more.


    *****


    - Reality ne: Ascension -


    (Kaze''s Perspective)


    I went to Xiyang vige''s east gate, and met the two guards who were stationed at it.


    "Excuse me," I called out politely. "Do you, by any chance, know the directions on how to get to Tianyin City? I was told by a cksmith toe ask you."


    "Ah, Ming Yi, huh? That bastard, always pushing more work onto us..." one of the two guards chuckled, but despite his vulgarnguage, he didn''t seem all that displeased. "Well, you''re already here, so it''s not like we can turn you away...or can we?"


    "Stop teasing the poor kid," the other guard reprimanded, then turned to me with a serious expression. "To reach Tianyin City, you have to just keep going down the mountain after exiting out of this gate."


    "Mountain?"


    "Yes. You see, Xiyang vige here is built on the peak of a mountain called Mount Valgan. This mountain is a sacred ce. Throughout history, many ''neers'' who didn''t know anything about this world were summoned here out of the blue. Every a thousand years, something like that happens. For that reason, this mountain, and Xiyang vige, actually became quite well-known across Ascentia. Tianyin was built a little further down the mountain, since the space up here at the peak didn''t allow for the construction of a big city."


    Many ''neers'', huh...that must be A.R.X.A. at work again, inviting people from other Reality nes into this one. All for the sake of her entertainment.


    "Anyway, if you''re trying to reach Tianyin, it''s not too far away. But...I would advise against doing so now," one of the guards said, clearing his throat.


    "Hm? Why?" I asked.


    "Recently, a pack of wild Magic Beasts native to the area have turned hostile for whatever reason," the first guard exined. "Normally, they''re docile and won''t attack people unless provoked, but...recently, we''ve gotten word that several people travelling between our vige and Tianyin City have been assaulted by them. So, unless you''re confident, I suggest just staying here until the situation has been handled."


    "And how long will that take?"


    "That...I don''t know."


    "Exactly. I''m in a hurry, so I can''t afford to wait," I replied. "I can make it to Tianyin City. I''m confident."


    The two guards looked at me skeptically, but sighed in resignation. "Fine. Just remember though, we warned you."


    I nodded, and they let me through the gates.


    *****


    The path downwards was a bit hard to see since it was nighttime, but it was still visible. Since I was barefoot and only had a pair of poor-quality sandals on, I was kind of scared of how long these things wouldst. Just hearing them scrape against the rough gravel of the path beneath me was disquieting.


    I opened up my System and went to the Inventory tab. Clicking on the dagger I had bought from Ming Yi, I equipped it, and closed up my System. I didn''t bother talking to A.R.X.A. I had a question for her, but I could ask thatter.


    Just now, I had told the guards I was ''confident''. That was aplete lie. I was level 1 still, weak and powerless. This was, however, the first main quest, speaking in video game terms. This quest, this story...it''s all perfectly designed. I''ve said this before, but this world really does fit perfectly in line with a video game. I can see why A.R.X.A. decided to introduce this Reality nes to ours under the guise of an ARMMORPG. Whether all of this was just a coincidence or A.R.X.A. manipting things behind the scenes to create all these situations, I didn''t know. Both were impressive, in different ways.


    Anyway, with my dagger in hand, I continued traversing the rough path heading downwards. But then, I heard the faint rustling of a bush closeby. I immediately stopped walking. Trees and bushes were all around me - in fact, it could be said that I was in a forest...on top of an extremely tall mountain. Looks like the geological concept of timberlines did not exist in this world.


    I had no doubt I heard something just now. However, in this dense forest,bined with the darkness of night, I couldn''t see anything clearly.


    Then, suddenly, a shadow leapt out of a bush to my right. I immediately turned and raised my dagger in front of me to protect myself, but it was toote. I was tackled onto the stone cold ground, my bare skin scraping painfully against the gravel. My dagger was knocked out of my hand because I didn''t have a firm enough grip on it, beingpletely new to this.


    "Ngh-!" I tried fighting back, but s, my STR stat was 0. Since I had my physical body with me, it would''ve been nice if I did some karate or something back in my old Reality ne, but unfortunately, I didn''t. I tried holding it back with my two hands, now weaponless, but things were starting to look delicious for the boar, and not-so-delicious for me.


    Now that the beast who had tackled me was so close to my face, its seemingly crazy purple eyes boring into my own, I could see what it was. A wild boar. A hologram then appeared right in between the beast''s snout and my face, telling me what exactly it was.


    [NEW SPECIES ENTRY]


    [Name: Sickleboar]


    [Type: Magic Beast (Mammal)]


    [Weakness: Fire]


    [Resistance: None]


    [Description: Sickleboars are a type of Magic Beast in the Mammal subcategory. They are weak to attacks that use fire in some way, and do not have any kind of special resistance. Their movements are extremely predictable, making them an easy opponent once you memorize their attack patterns.]


    I winced in disgust from the boar''s sticky saliva dripping onto my face. At this rate, my muscles wouldn''t hold. Then, the hologram switched to a new panel. It read:


    [COMBAT TUTORIAL-]


    ...Are you goddamned serious?! I''m on the verge of getting molested and eaten by a wild boar, and you give me abat tutorial at now of all times?!


    I twisted my head, and spotted my dagger, lying a few inches beside my right foot. If I could just...


    I gritted my teeth, and attempted to reach the dagger with my foot, all while using my arm strength to keep the boar from killing me.


    C''mon...just a little bit more...!


    My foot edged slowly towards the dagger''s handle, millimeter by millimeter. Until atst, just when I was nearing my limits, both in my arms'' strength and my leg''s stretching capabilities...


    There! Got it!


    In one swift motion, I flicked my foot upwards, and the force kicked the dagger towards my head. I could now reach it with my hand, if I just reached for it...


    Okay, Kaze...all you gotta do now is hold the boar back with one hand, just for one millisecond...


    Gritting my teeth and hardening my resolve, I let go of the boar with my right hand. My left arm threatened to break from the weight of the sickleboar, but with my now free hand, I picked up the dagger that wasying beside my body, and-


    "Hyyyah!"


    -Thrusted it into the boar''s side with as much force as I could muster up. The boar froze, and I summoned all the power I had left in me to push the boar off my body, taking advantage of the dagger I had just stabbed deeply into its hide.


    I slowly got back up to my feet, panting. The sickleboar moved a little, but couldn''t even flip itself over. It remained on one side, my dagger sticking out of its body on top victoriously.


    [Finish it,] a familiar yet certainly not familial voice said. It was cold, emotionless, and utterly mechanical.


    "What? A.R.X.A....?" I murmured uncertainly, still trying to catch my breath.


    [It is not dead yet. Finish it.]


    "Huh? But...it''s already pretty much dead anyway...what''s the point?"


    [...Certainly. This is just a boar. It cannot do much...is what you are thinking, correct?]


    "Uh...yeah?"


    [But consider this. Would you still be able to say the same if this was not a boar on the verge of death in front of you, but instead a half-dead powerful enemy?]


    "That..."


    [You know full well that if you let this enemy go, they will return one day. And when they do...they will not show you mercy the same way you showed them.]


    "..." I fell silent. Contemting.


    [This is not the same reality you have lived in until now. Face the truth. Now...kill the boar.]


    I looked over to the sickleboar, and felt a slight twinge of pity in my heart, even though it had just been trying to kill me moments earlier.


    I understood what A.R.X.A. was trying to tell me. This sickleboar may not be a powerful enemy I will encounter in the future, but the theory was the same. If I were to defeat an adversary but not finish them off, there was a high chance they would return to face off against me again. Even if I defeated him for the second time, there was no telling how many times they woulde back. And one of those times...they would be the one to emerge victorious.


    At that time, they would not let me go free so I could challenge them again.


    This world was cruel. I realized that. Despite how fantasy-like and beautiful this reality seemed to me, a person from the heavily industrial Earth, killing and death was also an inevitable factor of it. Nothing in all of existence was perfect, after all - there was always a w, a downside, hidden somewhere beneath the seemingly faultless surface.


    I walked over to the sickleboar, my mind set and decision made. I wrapped my fingers around the dagger that I had plunged deeply into its body moments earlier, and hesitated. But the words of A.R.X.A. whispered through my mind once more.


    [Finish it.]


    I tightened my grip on the handle of my weapon. Funnily, even though this was the safe end of the dagger, I felt as though I was holding onto the cold, sharp steel part of it instead.


    Closing my eyes, in one swift motion, I pulled the dagger out of the sickleboar''s body.

 Chapter 14: Leveling Up

    Chapter 14: Leveling Up


    The animal''s body toppled over from the force of me pulling my dagger out of it, and blood spilled out of its now open wound. I turned around and my opened my eyes, not wanting to see the scene.


    And then, suddenly, the animal''s carcass lit up, before exploding into billions of small triangr shards of light. These shards then flew into my body, and my eyes widened in surprise at this unexpected feeling. It was like...power surging through my veins. However, it onlysted a brief moment. A hologram then appeared in front of me, and I smiled upon reading what it said, despite the gruesome scene I had produced just now. It read:


    [Level Up!]


    [Lv. 1 -> 2.]


    [You received 10 SP and 1 AP.]


    The hologram disappeared soon after, and I immediately opened up my System. I was met with the default page, Profile. On the left side of the hologram was an avatar of myself, while on the right side of it was a list of the six different stats we could level up. Currently, it read:


    STR - 1


    AGI - 0


    INT - 0


    DEX - 0


    MAG - 0


    LUC - 0


    "Wait...my strength stat is at 1? How?" I wondered aloud.


    [That has something to do with your physical body being in this Reality ne as well, unlike other yers.] A.R.X.A. answered out of the blue. A miniature hologram disying her robot-like face appeared to the right of the main hologram (my System).


    "What? What do you mean?" I asked.


    [Tell me, human. When you work out, what happens?]


    "Uh...I get physically stronger and grow muscles?"


    [Precisely. Fighting that sickleboar just now could also be considered a form of working out, since your physical body is in this world. Your status as a yer does not interfere with that. Therefore, your STR stat gained one point without you spending any SP.]


    "Ah...I see what you mean. But in that case, shouldn''t I have gotten a point for my dexterity stat as well, since I used that dagger to kill the sickleboar?"


    [No. That simple dagger of yours does not require any dexterity to wield. What makes you think it will give you DEX stat points in return?]


    "Right...by the way, you mentioned SP earlier. What are those?"


    [You should have gotten 10 SP from leveling up, correct?]


    I nodded, and she continued.


    [SP stands for ''Stat Points''. They are used to power up any stat of your choosing. Powering up stats only requires 1 SP each as of where you are right now. However, the cost will increase as you power up further.]


    "I see," I murmured thoughtfully. "Do you have any rmendations as to which stats are the best?"


    [Every person has their own style of fighting. I cannot give you any specific rmendations. However, if needed, I can exin each of the six stats and what they do in this Reality ne.]


    "Aren''t these ''stats'' really just a makeshift concept you came up with to make this ce seem even more like a video game than it already is?" I asked. "I mean, if I''m not wrong, yers are able to check these stats for the natives of this Reality ne - in other words, the NPCs - too, correct?"


    A.R.X.A. nodded briskly. [Indeed. They are simply a way of roughly gauging one''s strength, be it ''yer'' or ''NPC''. In other words, ''people from the Earthen Reality ne'' and ''people from the Ascension Reality ne''.]


    I sighed. "Isn''t this kind of unfair though? People from my Reality ne, who possess the status of ''yer'', can just power themselves up through spending stat points - and when they do, you will grant them the stat they chose to power up, from behind the scenes. But what about the NPCs - the people born in this Reality ne? They have to train diligently and put in enormous amounts of time and effort to power themselves up even by just a little bit."


    [What does that matter to me? This is all just an experiment to me. I do not care if one category of variables holds a significant advantage over another, as long as this makes it believable to the ''yers'' that this ce is a video game, nothing more.]


    "And these ''yers'' from my old world...in the eyes of the natives of Ascentia, they will be seen as heroes who can level up with ease and respawn infinitely, huh?"


    [Correct. That is the plot of ''Ascension: Online''.]


    "So? Who''s the final boss?"


    [There is no final boss. The yers'' ultimate goal will be to ''Ascend'' as well - the same as you.]


    "Wait, what? Hold on, that makes no sense. What''s their motive to do so?" I asked, shocked by A.R.X.A.''s sudden revtion of this information.


    [Is that important to you?]


    "Well, no, not really, but..."


    [Well, I suppose it does not matter. I will tell you, even though this is useless information to you. The canon storyline I created is as follows: the yers'' are told that after ''Ascending'', they can enjoy everything one would want in life - riches, fame, glory, power - whatever it is, Ascension can give you.]


    "I see...I suppose that is a tempting offer. It''s also a ssic video game clich."


    The way A.R.X.A. nned out all of this was truly impressive. She made it so that the yers'' goal, Ascension, aligned with the NPCs'' interests, which was to witness someone Ascend for the first time in all of history. That way, even though the ''NPCs'' here in Ascentia were not really programmed, virtual characters, they would still seem that way because they are supporting the yers on their quest for Ascension.


    It was truly magnificent, showing off the powers of a supeputer that controlled the multiverse.


    [Was that all you wanted to know?]


    "Ah, no...you still haven''t exined the six different stats," I hurriedly said, not letting my impressed expression show.


    [Very well.] A.R.X.A. paused briefly, before resuming. [Firstly, STR represents strength. Physical strength, to be particr. It has to do with your melee attack power, the weapons you can wield, your stamina, and your defense. AGI represents agility. This stat controls your speed, flexibility, reflexes, reaction speed, and overall movement capabilities. INT represents intelligence. it determines how quickly you can use skills, and also has other misceneous uses that are not very important to you are right now.]


    "Skills?" I asked.


    [I will get to thatter.] A.R.X.A. quickly replied, before resuming her exnation of the six stats. [DEX represents dexterity. It controls the weapons you can wield just like STR does, but in a different manner, though that is not too important to you right now. It also raises your defense against mental or psychological attacks and improves your focus as well. Focus in battle is very important, as it allows you to spot openings and weaknesses that other people may not. In addition, a high DEX stat provides higher uracy and better aim. Next is MAG, which stands for magic. This stat determines your magic power, but since you currently do not know any hidden arts, this stat is useless to you for now. Finally, thest stat is LUC, which represents luck. This one is straightforward - it controls how lucky you are in terms of item drops and such.]


    "Huh..." I murmured as I listened to her exnation patiently.


    [That is all. Any questions?]


    I shook my head. "Nope. I do want to hear about the ''skills'' you mentioned earlier though..."


    [Very well. Skills are abilities you can learn, then use, to help you whether it is forbat or simply utility.] A.R.X.A. exined. [To learn a skill, you must spend AP - ability points. Some skills require other skills to be already learnt, and some more advanced skills cost more AP to learn than others.]


    "I have 1 AP right now from leveling up. What should I use it on?"


    [That is something you can figure out yourself. I will not provide an answer.]


    Sighing, I switched to the skills tab on the hologram, which had only unlocked recently. It was pulsating with light slightly, meaning that my System wanted me to check it out. Iplied, and the hologram disyed what looked to be aplicated ability tree of all the different skills I could learn.


    From here, I could see that there were three main paths of skills, separate from one another - they werebeled Assassin, Knight, and Support respectively. Below these three main branches of skills, there were a few separate skills that were categorized under thebel ''Basic''. Five, in particr.


    "So...I should get these basic skills first, I''m assuming," I muttered to myself. I decided to click on one to see what it did. Tapping on the one in the center, a prompt appeared, disy the skill''s name and description.


    [Name: Looter]


    [Category: Basic]


    [Type: Passive]


    [Description: Enables loot drops from ying enemies.]


    "Wait...this skill...so you''re saying without this skill, I won''t get any item drops from enemies I kill?" I asked A.R.X.A.


    [Correct.] she replied.


    "Well then, I''m obviously going to get this. It''s too useful not to," I said, then quickly clicked the ''Learn'' button below the skill''s description.


    Another prompt appeared:


    [Are you sure you wish to spend 1 AP to learn ''Looter''?]


    I clicked on ''Yes''.


    A.R.X.A. then spoke, after the purchase was made.


    [A wise decision. ''Looter'' should be the first skill everyone learns. It is undoubtedly the most valuable basic skill out of the five.]


    Looks like I managed to make A.R.X.A. happy with my decision. As happy as an AI can be, anyway. Score.


    In the end, I decided to spend 4 SP on my STR stat to bring it up to 5, since that seemed like a good thing to do. I conserved the rest of my SP (I had 6 left), since I hadn''t decided what stat to spend them on yet.


    Once I used SP, it was irreversible, after all. Better to be careful than sorry.

 Chapter 15: Farming XP

    Chapter 15: Farming XP


    After spending the SP and AP I had received from levelling up, I rested for a bit to get my energy back, then started heading for Tianyin City once again. It was only then that I realized I hadn''t eaten dinner today. Perhaps that was why I still didn''t feel energized, despite having already took a break. I decided to get something simple to eat once I arrived in Tianyin City. I still had 50 gold coins left, after all. That should be enough to secure a meal.


    Of course, getting there wouldn''t be easy. If I faced another sickleboar head on, I could probably win with my STR stat of 5 now, but back in the Earthen Reality ne, wild boars travelled in groups known as sounds. It would be safe to assume the sickleboars of this Reality ne were the same. Back there, I just got lucky. That sickleboar just happened to be alone. I wasn''t so nave as to think my luck would keep protecting me until I reached Tianyin City.


    So, I came up with a n.


    The sickleboar from before had used the bushes and the cover of night to attack me by surprise. I would now return the favor to its friends, using the same strategy. Because of the fight earlier, I now knew that one good dagger stab driven deep into their hide was enough to kill them. That made things easy. All I had to do was approach them stealthily, making good use of my surroundings to help me do so.


    For this reason, instead of walking on the path made of rough gravel, I chose toy low in the bushes on the sides. When I walked, my sandals scraped on the gravel, which made quite a loud noise - hence why I decided to take this alternative path instead. It was difficult to walk here as it was a little steep and slippery - the ground was dirt, after all. I could deal with it though. Better fall to my death then get eaten. I would respawn either way.


    It didn''t take long for me to spot my first target. The sickleboar had its back turned to me, and seemed to be munching on some grass. Poor guy. Little did it know, it was about to be turned into XP.


    I crept closer to the sickleboar, dagger in hand. I moved through the bushes slowly, being very careful not to make any noise. There were plenty of other sickleboar around - the moment I was spotted by any one of them, I was dead meat. So, stealth was crucial here - and so was the ability to strike down the moment an opportunity presented itself, without any hesitation.


    Because of this, the moment I was within shing range for my dagger, I stabbed it into the boar''s back and pushed downwards until the poor animal''s legs gave out. Needless to say, it copsed, never to move again. It didn''t even have a chance to cry out in pain.


    I took a deep breath, and looked around. The other sickleboars werepletely clueless as to what just happened. They had no idea one of their own just fell dead.


    I slowly pulled out my dagger from the boar''s body. It immediately disappeared into countless tiny shards of light, and flowed into my body. I didn''t receive a prompt that told me I leveled up, so I automatically assumed that leveling up got progressively higher as you went up the levels, requiring more XP. However, I did receive a different prompt. A hologram appeared in front of me - it read:


    [Obtained ''Sickleboar Meat'' x1.]


    The hologram disappeared shortly after. So, I got some meat. Not bad, I suppose. It probably went directly into my inventory - I didn''t bother to check.


    After that, I crept up on the other sickleboars, one by one, and murdered them in cold-blood. Bushes were everywhere, providing the perfect cover for me. They were also quite a distance from one another, making them easy targets to pick off. I came close to getting caught a few times, but in the end, I managed to ughter all of them with stealth. Sickleboars, being unintelligent animals, didn''t have the brain capacity to observe the fact that their fellow beasts have disappeared, one by one.


    It was a massacre.


    By the end of it all, I had reached Level 5 and gained about 20 sickleboar meat, 14 sickleboar skin, and 3 bones. I could guess what the meat was useful for, but the other two, I had no idea. Selling for money, perhaps? Or was there a Crafting system designed by A.R.X.A.? I would find out soon enough...right now, in fact.


    I opened up my System, and was met with the Profile tab. Under the header that read ''stats'', I saw that I had gained 30 SP from reaching Level 5. Add that with the 6 SP I had leftover from earlier, that made for a total of 36 SP I had to spend. I also noticed that my STR stat had passively increased from 5 to 10 through that experience, without spending any SP. I killed way more than just five sickleboars, but I didn''t really struggle against any of them. That was probably why I only powered up 5 times in terms of the STR stat.


    Interestingly enough, my AGI - agility - stat also increased. It went from 0 to 10 directly. I was 90% certain this was because I had taken down all of the sickleboars using stealth and careful movements. That fell under the AGI stat''s control, so it made sense I would level it up. I thought my INT - intelligence - stat would also increase since I came up with the brilliant idea of stealthily killing them one by one, but...


    ...Okay, fine. It wasn''t all that brilliant. Anyone with half a brain would''ve thought of doing it.


    Anyway, my current stats looked like this:


    STR: 10


    AGI: 10


    INT: 0


    DEX: 0


    MAG: 0


    LUC: 0


    After some thought, I decided to distribute my stats like so:


    STR: 10 -> 15 (Cost: 5 SP)


    AGI: 10 -> 15 (Cost: 5 SP)


    INT: 0 -> 5 (Cost: 5 SP)


    DEX: 0 -> 5 (Cost: 5 SP)


    MAG: 0 -> 10 (Cost: 10 SP)


    LUC: 0 -> 6 (Cost: 6 SP)


    For now, my two main stats were strength and agility. Strength was a given - the most important stat for ying solo in a video game like this. Even though it wasn''tpletely a video game for me anymore, the theory still applied. As for agility, I decided to power it up because I actually enjoyed moving in stealth quite a lot. When I took down the sickleboars one by one, I felt a thrill of excitement.


    However, I was also curious about this ''magic'' stat which A.R.X.A. exined to be a direct factor in how powerful my ''hidden arts'' would be. I didn''t know what hidden arts were, but I had no doubt they woulde in handy in the near future. There was a whole stat made for it, after all.


    For the other stats - intelligence, dexterity, and luck - I just distributed the remainder of my points evenly so that I wouldn''t be extremelycking in one particr area. This was because a simple shoring now would eventually evolve into a fatal weakness for my enemies to exploit, which I didn''t want. As for why I put 1 more point into luck than the others...well, call it a gamble, I suppose. With any ''luck'', this may turn out to be quite the profitable decision.


    With that, I had spent all of my SP. But I wasn''t quite done yet.


    I clicked on the ''Skills'' button below the list of stats.


    A new screen appeared, showing me the familiar enormous skill tree I had witnessed once before. So far, the only skill I had unlocked was ''Looter'', a passive skill that was a member of the ''Basic'' category. I then looked to the top left corner. It read:


    [AP: 3]


    It seemed I had 3 ability points to spend. I decided to check out some of the other skills under the ''Basic'' category first. I clicked on each of the four that I hadn''t learned yet, and read their descriptions:


    [Name: Crafter]


    [Category: Basic]


    [Type: Passive]


    [Description: Unlocks the ''Crafting'' system.]


    "The Crafting system, huh? So I was right," I murmured to myself, then took a look at the next one.


    [Name: Traveller]


    [Category: Basic]


    [Type: Passive]


    [Description: Unlocks a minimap.]


    "Hm...a minimap. That could be extremely useful at times," I mused, then proceeded to the next skill, skipping over the one in the middle - Looter - since I already had it.


    [Name: Summoner]


    [Category: Basic]


    [Type: Passive]


    [Description: Increased chance of taming normal animals and Magic Beasts.]


    "Hm...so there are normal animals in this world too. Which category does the sickleboar fall into?" I wondered aloud to myself. "Eh, I guess the Magic Beast category, since it didn''t look like a normal boar at all. Now then..."


    I clicked on the fifth and final ''Basic'' skill. However, it was very different from the previous four.


    [Name: Creator]


    [Category: Active]


    [Type: Basic]


    [Description: Manifests any one thing the user wishes. However, the user must know where the object is located exactly and how the object looks. Cannot manifest living things.]


    [Cooldown:  (one-time use only).]


    Huh... that''s interesting. An infinite cooldown...a skill that can only be used once. However, for a ''basic'' skill, this was quite powerful. The restrictions set on it are quite strict as well, but this was an incredible skill to have nheless. I wonder why A.R.X.A. included something like this in the game. I didn''t bother asking her though - she was probably tired of me consulting her for every tiny little question thates up in my head. The n was to only call on her once in a while, and ask her all the questions I had saved up.


    I already had quite a few - and I would get the answers to them once we arrived at Tianyin City.


    With that in mind, I bought all of the passive skills except for ''Summoner'', which just wasn''t that useful to me as of right now, and closed up my System.

 Chapter 16: Tianyin City

    Chapter 16: Tianyin City


    I soon arrived at the gates of Tianyin City.


    I opened my System and put away my dagger. Surprisingly enough, its durability had barely went down despite how much I used it just now. That cksmith, Ming Yi, sure crafted some good weapons. It was well worth the 50 gold coins.


    It was a little past 8 right now, so luckily the city gates had not closed yet. With any luck, I would be able to secure myself a decent lodging and some food. The guards at the gate stopped me when I tried to enter, however.


    "Halt. Name, business, and profession?" one of them said.


    "Uh...Igarashi Kaze. I''m a neer that just arrived here. The people at Xiyang Vige told me I would be able to find out more information about the world here, so..."


    "Ah, a neer...I see. Since you came from that direction, there''s no doubt you are one. I apologize for being suspicious. I just wasn''tpletely sure because I never expected someone new here to be able to make it to the gates of Tianyin from Xiyang."


    "Why, because of the hostile sickleboars?"


    "So you''ve encountered them?


    I nodded. "Fought them too, actually."


    The guard sighed. "Yes...they are stronger than the average sickleboar. We''ve been sending out hunting parties during the daytime to kill some of them in order to make the passage between Tianyin and Xiyang safe again, but they always repopte again by the time night falls. It''s annoying, really."


    Hm...if they repopte that quickly...doesn''t that mean I could technicallye here every night to farm XP? I would have to test it out to be sure.


    "I see...thanks," I said after some thought.


    "No problem. Head on in - most of the restaurants will close up soon, so if you''re looking for a warm meal, better hurry."


    I nodded in gratitude, and hurried inside the door that he opened for me. That guard was nicer than expected, despite his rough tone. It immediately softened after making sure I was from Xiyang, though. The two ces must have quite the friendly rtionship. Or it''s just the guard himself that has a close tie with Xiyang. Either way, it didn''t matter to me.


    The first thing that I noticed upon entering Tianyin City was how popted it was. Despite it already being 8 at night, there were still plenty of people out and about. Xiyang was just as lively, but there were certainly less people.


    "Hm...now then, where can I find a restaurant?" I murmured to myself, before opening my System with a quick swiping gesture in the air.


    After obtaining the ''Crafter'' and ''Traveller'' skills, I now had two more tabs on my System - ''Crafting'' and ''Map'' respectively. I selected the Map one, since that was what I needed right now. I would check out the Crafting mechanismter.


    "Let''s see..." I looked over the minimap that appeared on my hologram, which I could zoom in, out, and pan around to my will. I could also switch between 2D view and 3D view. It was quite detailed, actually. I never thought a basic skill would be this intricate.


    Several ces of interest were marked on my map. First off, my current position was marked by a bright yellow chevron pointing in the direction I was currently facing. A little distance away, a blue icon with a ck crescent moon drawn on it rested atop what seemed to be a building. I assumed that was an inn. Next to it was a simrly-structured building with a purple icon with a wine bottle drawn over it - I assumed this to be a tavern of some kind. Across the street from these two buildings was a general shop, marked with a red icon that had a little shopping bag drawn on top of it.


    I then decided to switch to 3D view, just to see what it was like. The map zoomed in, and the perspective had immediately changed from 2D to 3D. I could now see what the inn, tavern, and shop looked like respectively, by panning the view around with my fingers. In 3D view, my current location was marked with a bright yellow arrow pointing downwards. The icons marking inns, taverns, and such still remained the same.


    I panned the map a little further away from me. The road seemed to have stairs leading downwards every few dozen meters. I recalled that both Xiyang and Tianyin were built on a mountain, Mount Valgan. So, these descending stairs made sense, as it had to match the slope of the mountain in order to minimize construction and material cost. Tianyin was also quite a small citypared to cities back in the Earthen Reality ne, but when you consider it was built on a mountain with little free space to begin with, it kind of made sense.


    Still, even if it was a small city...having to climb all these stairs everyday to get around? I can''t imagine how strong the legs of the citizens living here must be.


    I continued exploring further down the city with my map, until I reached the eastern gate, which would be my exit if I were to keep heading down the mountain. There were several other inns, shops, taverns, and restaurants I would pass by if I went that way, but overall, this city was a pretty simple ce. It wasn''t like a maze or anything - in fact, the whole city had just one central road, slowly decreasing in elevation via the stairs.


    First things first, I decided to head for a restaurant. I discovered that I could mark waypoints by double-pressing on the map, so I did that with the nearest restaurant, marked with a light brown icon with a chicken drumstick drawn on it. Even after I closed off the map, I could still see a faint yellow trail highlighting the ground in front of me, telling me exactly where I needed to go in order to reach the waypoint I had set. Basically, a GPS system, but for walking.


    I received some nces as people passed me by, probably due to the weird stuff I was wearing. I looked only a little better than a mistreated medieval prisoner, in all honesty. Only thing I was missing was chains. However, none of the passerby actually said anything. They didn''t even whisper to each other, gossiping about me. I concluded that this city was a pretty nice ce, even if that was only on the surface. Besides, there were other yers wearing the same stuff as me amongst the passengers, some of which were talking to one another. Friends from real life back on Earth, probably.


    Upon reaching the restaurant, I headed inside. There were only a few customers left, since, like the guard said, it was about to close.


    "Wee, sir," a waitress walked over, smiling happily at receiving a new customer, despite what I looked like. "Just sit wherever you would like - there''s tons of free space, and not many people are going to being in now anyway."


    I nodded, and took a seat in the corner. I''ve always liked corners. I didn''t know why, but it made me feel secure. The waitress then ced a menu in front of me.


    "What would you like to eat?" she asked, notepad and pen at the ready.


    "Hm..." I flipped open the menu, to find that I could read everything perfectly fine. It seems that not only was I able to understand what the natives of this Reality ne said, I was also able to read thenguage - it was just like Japanese from the Earthen ne. I could alsomunicate with others perfectly fine.


    The chances of another Reality ne having the exact samenguage as Japan from the Earthern Reality ne was extremely slim. I concluded that it must be part of my status as a yer - in other words, A.R.X.A. gave me these abilities.


    That being said...yes, I could read what the words say, but I didn''t actually understand the words.


    "Sickleboar stew...? Lissard steak...?" I murmured to myself. Sickleboars I knew. But if the lissards here were the same as lizards from my old Reality ne...


    ...Ugh. I''m getting sick just imagining it.


    In the end, I ordered the only thing that looked remotely close to a dish back in Earth: Curry Chiken.


    The food came soon after. It tasted just like normal curry chicken. It seemed this world''s ''chikens'' weren''t all that different from Earth''s ''chickens''. But if I were to apply that same theory to ''lissards'', then...oh god.


    I quickly finished eating, paid the bill of 10 gold coins, and left the restaurant. I checked the time using my System real quick, and saw that it was quarter to 9. I decided to head to an inn to get a room and check in. Heading to the closest one, I walked inside. I had 40 gold left, which should be enough to book a simple room for one night.


    However, when I entered...I heard a familiar male voice, loud and arrogant.


    "Huh? What are you talking about? 30 damn gold for one night at this crappy ce?"


    "No way...that voice...is that who I think it is?" I whispered under my breath. I couldn''t see who it was from my current position because apparently you needed to turn left before actually entering the inn, so I hurriedly walked forward and peeked around the corner.


    And - indeed, it was who I thought it was, quite unfortunately: Mazami Ichigo.

 Chapter 17: Mazami Ichigo, Yet Again

    Chapter 17: Mazami Ichigo, Yet Again


    "U-Um...sir, I''m really sorry, but we have fixed pric-" the receptionist girl tried to argue back, but she was quickly overpowered by Ichigo''s rough demeanor.


    "Look...I''m your hero, you understand? I have infinite lives. If you just hand the room over to me for free, I''ll be willing to protect you and your family when I get stronger in this game. But if you don''t...when that timees, I''lly waste to this entire city."


    I sighed. ssic Ichigo. Of course, to him, this was all just a video game. That was understandable. He thought that just because he was a yer, he could do anything he wanted in this ce with no consequences.


    "S-Sorry, sir, but...I really can''t!" the frightened receptionist girl yelped in fear. Interesting. Despite being on the verge of tears, she was still able to deny Ichigo''s demands. That was respectable and worthy of praise.


    "Ugh..." Ichigo mmed the wall with his fist, but couldn''t do much else besides that. I assumed he was still just getting started in the game, simr to where I was right now. I thought he was just going to leave and go to another inn to try his luck there, but-


    "Looks like I have no choice but to do it this way..." he opened up his System and pulled out a full-on sword. It wasn''t a long one by sword standards, but still far longer than my dagger. And then, he aimed it directly at the poor receptionist girl''s throat. "Look...I tried asking you nicely. Don''t me me for what happens next."


    "H-Huh?!" the girl froze in fear.


    "Nicely? What a joke," I suddenly scoffed, finally fully rounding the corner and stepping into the room, after secretly equipping my dagger via my System and hiding it beneath my right foot, in between the bottom of my foot and the sandal.


    I decided to step in, for if I didn''t, that girl would really be killed. And the worst part? Ichigo wouldn''t even realize that he had just murdered a real human being in cold blood, since he thought this was all just a game.


    But that wasn''t the real reason I decided to step in. I mean, I had no attachments to this receptionist girl whatsoever. That being said...if I didn''t do something now, and someone happened to be watching...I may be caught as a partner in crime of Ichigo, which naturally wouldn''t be good. I didn''t know what the punishment for murder was in this world, but I doubted it would be much different from the Earthen Reality ne''s.


    "Huh?" Ichigo spun his head in my direction, and so did the terrified girl. "Oi oi...no way. Are you...Igarashi?"


    I sighed, and shrugged. "Would you believe me if I said no?"


    He smirked, and immediately turned aroundpletely, directing all his attention onto me. "Oh, this is too good! How did you like the beating I gave you today at school?"


    I merely smiled in return. Cheap provocations were useless against me. "How did you like the suspension Fujimura-sensei gave you?"


    Ichigo''s expression darkened. "Tch...well, whatever. At least now, I have two whole weeks to spend ying this game, haha!"


    Oh...so he actually did get suspended. And for two weeks, at that. I had just been taking a guess, but it seemed I was on the mark.


    "Oh? To me, it seems like you aren''t ying the game at all. All you''re doing is going around threatening innocent people just because you''re a yer, and they''re NPCs."


    Ichigo blurted outughing. "Oi, oi...''innocent people''? Igarashi, why are you talking about these NPCs like they''re real people?! Haha!"


    ...Because they are. But I couldn''t tell him that.


    "They''reputers, for god''s sake!" Ichigo continued. "The only one you should be worrying about...is yourself!"


    Saying this, he leapt towards me, ready to bring his sword down to slice me in half. I couldn''t really die since I retained my status as a yer, but undoubtedly, dying came with its consequences - and I wasn''t just talking about the extreme pain you would feel. I didn''t know the specifics, but I wasn''t about to risk it. Therefore, I had no intention of dying here today.


    I swiftly dodged out of the way of his attack. It was fairly easy, thanks to the high AGI stat I held. His movements were slow and clunky, but I could feel that they were quite strong. It seemed that Ichigo, whatever his level was, had put all his stat points into STR alone.


    Still, no matter how powerful his attacks were, they were useless if they couldn''t hit their target.


    Ichigo realized this, and pulled back a short distance.


    "Oh...you''re not bad," he mused. "What level are you? How long have you been ying?"


    "It has nothing to do with me," I replied indifferently. "You''re just too slow - both physically and in the head."


    A vein bulged in his forehead, and he charged at me once more. Again, I dodged it with ease, leaping backward out of his sword sh. Ichigo gets taunted far too easily. That, would be his downfall.


    "Hmph...let me check your stats, since you won''t tell me yourself," he said, before staring at me intently all of a sudden. "Huh...I see."


    "...?" I was confused at how he could see my stats. A skill, perhaps?


    "Hm...? Wait, this is..." Ichigo then frowned, realizing something strange. "Oi, your stats...they don''t match with your level. You''re only Level 5, how do you have a total of 56 SP''s worth of stats? That doesn''t make any sense. Reaching Level 5 should only give you 40 SP. The hell?"


    Hm...he''s smarter than I thought.


    "A bug in the game, perhaps?" I shrugged. "It''s pretty new, after all."


    "Y-Yeah...I guess you''re right..." he muttered, but it seemed he wasn''t convinced. "Oi...are you hacking?"


    I nearly burst outughing, just like had moments earlier. "Nah. Like I said, it''s probably just some kind of glitch in the game. I don''t even know how to hack. Anyway...what level are you?"


    "What, I''m Level 10, but... can''t you check yourself? Don''t tell me, you don''t have the ''Inspect'' skill?"


    "Huh? ''Inspect''? What?" I frowned, having never heard of this before.


    "Man...it''s like, literally the first skill in the Assassin skill path," Ichigo exined. "I''m honestly not the Assassin type, but that skill seemed useful, so I copped it."


    I was going to say... if you''re an Assassin, why not build AGI?


    "Huh...I see," I muttered.


    "Hmph. Aren''t you going to get off?" Ichigo suddenly asked out of the blue. "You still got school tomorrow, don''t you? I don''t, ha!"


    I sank into thought. "Hm... I''ll just try sleeping at this inn, to see what sleeping inside an ARMMORPG feels like."


    Of course, the reality was, I couldn''t ''get off'' even if I wanted to. This was a poor excuse, but Ichigo seemed to buy it. Besides... tomorrow was a Saturday, though he didn''t seem to realize that.


    "Heh. Whatever. I''ll be heading off, since this bitch won''t let me sleep here for free," Ichigo said, sending the receptionist a sharp re. "Hope they get that damned bug of yours fixed, too...you''re lucky you had that to help you this time. Once the devs fix it though...you''re dead meat - both here and in real life."


    With that, he walked out of the inn. With my peripheral vision, I saw him disappear in a shimmering shower of light, confirming that he had logged out of Ascension: Online.


    I let out a sigh of relief. Things were settled rtively peacefully this time, it seemed. However, I knew for certain this wouldn''t be thest time I would see Ichigo. Still, this was a valuable encounter. From this, I now knew that I was able to beat the average yer who had begun ying sinceunch.


    The top yers who had been grinding this game 24/7 were still far ahead of me, but I would reach them soon enough. The fact that my stats increased based on my activities, without having to spend any SP, was extremely useful. This way, even though I would be behind in XP and levels, my stats, the most important factor in the game in terms of individual power, would still be about even with yers who are around 5 or even 10 levels higher than me, as long as I farmed more XP.


    Finally, with this whole incident out of the way, I turned to the girl and walked closer to her. "Uh...hey. Can I stay here for a night? I only have 30 gold though..."


    That was a lie. I really had 40, but if I said that, chances were, she would charge me mor-


    "O-Oh, sure! Also, you don''t need to pay! Really!" she quickly said, shaking her hands and head. "I didn''t really understand any of the stuff you two were saying, what with all the ''levels'' and ''stats'' and ''ARMMORPG'' and stuff, but...you saved my life there, so this is the least I can do to repay you."


    She blushed and looked away. Clearly something was up with this girl...I trusted my instincts on this one. I would normally be overjoyed, but sadly, I wasn''t interested in her. I did save her. That being said, she would probably be heartbroken if I told her I really only helped because there was a chance I would be identified as a partner in crime of Ichigo if I didn''t, but...ah, forget it. I would feel too guilty if I epted her love, which derived from something I did with the wrong intention.


    "I see. I''ll take you up on that offer then," I replied to her words, smiling. "Thanks."


    "N-No problem!" she replied, flustered, before handing me a room key. "H-Here. It''s the key to the room at the very end of the hall, right-hand side."


    I nodded and took the key with gratitude, before heading down the hall to my room for the night.


    "Ah...how unfortunate," I muttered under my breath. "My first encounter with another yer just had to be that guy, of all people..."


    Well. At least I wouldn''t have to face him at school, even once his two-week suspension was over.

 Chapter 18: The Database

    Chapter 18: The Database


    I unlocked the door to my inn room and headed inside. There was a switch on the wall nearby, so I flipped it open, and immediately, the lights hummed to life.


    "Hm...so there''s electricity in this world too," I murmured to myself. That was interesting. While it was clear that this Reality ne was nowhere as advanced as the Earthern Reality ne in terms of science and technology, it wasn''tpletely primitive either. For example, there definitely weren''t any cars here, from what I''ve seen so far, but there was electricity, as seen from this inn room.


    There was a bathroom on my right-hand side immediately after entering, and a little further in was a bed with a nightstand beside it. Theyout was simple, but more than enough. There was even a full-on shower inside the bathroom - I was pretty thankful for that. While I, quite regrettably, couldn''t wash my underwear - I wasn''t about to sleep in an inn bed butt naked - I could probably still wash the clothes and pants I was wearing. I doubt it would do much to get rid of my ''prisoner'' look, but it was still better than nothing.


    I took off all my clothes except my underwear and hung them on a couple of pegs nailed to the wall behind me. I started washing my ''shirt'' first at the sink, if it could even be called a shirt. Quite surprisingly, the sink had both warm water and cold water. It was already impressive enough to have a functioning running water system, but warm water too? It seems I have severely underestimated this world''s technology.


    After washing my pants as well, I took a shower to rx, an-


    [Human. How did it feel, encountering someone from your old Reality -]


    "What the hell?!" I immediately covered myself with my hands, surprised at the sudden voice.


    [What do you mean?] the voice - A.R.X.A. - asked emotionlessly.


    "A.R.X.A., can''t you tell I''m taking a shower?!"


    [What about it?]


    "What abou- ugh..." I was about to argue back, but decided against it in the end. I clenched my fists, calmed down, and spoke again.


    "Okay...listen, we can talk after, got it? So for now...just let me take a shower in peace. Please."


    [...But human, I hope you realize I can see you even if I am not speaking with yo-]


    "Don''t say it!" I cut her off. I already knew what she was going to say, but if she really said it out loud, I would be left paranoid.


    [...Very well. Enjoy your shower, then.]


    With that, the hologram disying A.R.X.A.''s robotic face disappeared, and I let out a sigh of relief. But I knew that despite this, I wasn''t actually safe at all. This damned AI was watching me every single moment...even when I was showering. That''s what she had been trying to say earlier.


    I shook my head to try and forget about it.


    It didn''t work.


    *****


    After I got out of the shower, I put on my old underwear again. Not much time had passed since I first entered this game, despite how long it seemed. Naturally, my underwear wasn''t that dirty at all. Still, it felt a bit ufortable, re-wearing attire I''ve already worn without washing.


    I hopped onto my bed and slipped the covers over me. The climate of this world seemed to be simr to Earth''s as well, as it felt like early fall outside. Not too cold, but not exactly warm either. I didn''t want to risk catching a cold, so I pulled the sheets over myself tightly. Did colds even exist in this world? My guess was yes, considering all the other simrities. The normal prisoner-like clothes all yers received uponunching the game were just barely enough to keep us warm in this autumn weather - but winter was closing in soon, so if yers wanted to keep going, they had to purchase new clothes. A clever design by A.R.X.A.


    Once I wasfortably lying in my bed, I opened up my System and switched to the A.R.X.A. tab, remembering she had wanted to talk to me.


    [Greetings, human.]


    "Hi...you wanted to talk to me?"


    [I was merely curious. How did it feel to reunite with someone from your old world? Moreover, why did you lie to him about what happened to your stats?]


    I scoffed. "I thought you knew everything there was to know about me. Don''t you have a database of information on all your pawns, or whatever?"


    [I do. However, my immediate memory has a limit, and I currently do not feel like reaching into the archives of my database.]


    "So...in other words, you''rezy."


    [...To speak in human terms, yes.]


    I sighed. "Well, there''s no point lying to you here, since you''ll find out anyway if you just do a little investigation. That guy earlier, I do know him, but...not in a good way, if you get what I mean."


    [Did the two of you share a hostile rtionship?]


    "Hostile? Hm...I guess. It was mainly just one-sided though. He used to bully me a lot, together with his friends. I didn''t want to tell him the truth about my situation because...well, I hate him."


    [I see.]


    "Oh yeah, since you''re here already...I might as well ask," I then continued, remembering the questions I had in mind from a while back.


    [I cannot promise I will answer.]


    "That''s fine. I''ll ask anyway," I replied. "So...first off, I can speak, read, and understand this world''snguage. But what I''m hearing is not always Japanese. My ears are still hearing whatevernguage they spoke in - in this case, all of the NPCs I''ve met so far speak in Chinese - yet my brain is somehow able toprehend them. It''s like I know all thenguages in existence now. This was your doing, wasn''t it?"


    [All ''yers'' have the ability to do that. It is only natural that I give them this power. No one will y a ''game'' that they cannot even understand, after all.] A.R.X.A. exined with no hesitation. She was willing to tell me this info because it was something I was bound to find out sooner orter anyway, as long as I interacted with another yer.


    In fact, I already was 90% certain this was the case, since I saw Ichigo talking with that receptionist girl earlier. I still felt the need to confirm it with A.R.X.A. though, just in case. Still, it was quite the interesting feature.


    "I see, that''s fair...but one more thing. You''ve told me a lot about this Reality ne and how it works. Furthermore, you''ve also given me important info on stats, skills, and such. But what about the other yers? Do they have to learn everything on their own, the hard way?"


    [No. Their System will give them prompts at the right times, giving them information about the game and how it works. You have received these prompts too, but I merely got rid of them before they could reach you, since it was all just information I have already told you.]


    "Ah, okay," I sank into thought. "Is there any way I could take a look at these prompts? Just in case I misunderstood something you said, or if I ever forget anything."


    [Yes. They are all under the ''Database'' tab of your System, marked with a book symbol.]


    "Sweet. Thanks," I said, spotting the tab she was talking about. It was blinking slowly, as if telling me to check it out.


    [Is that all?] A.R.X.A. asked.


    I nodded. "That''s all. Good nigh- wait, do you even need to sleep?"


    [No.]


    With that brisk reply as her final words for today, she vanished from the hologram in front of me. I switched to the ''Database'' tab she had told me about just now, and saw a whole list ofpiled information for me to read, neatly split into different categories in an organized fashion.


    [World]


    [Combat]


    [System]


    [Species]


    [Other]


    These were the five categories. However, there were possibly more that I just haven''t unlocked yet. For now, I decided to take a look inside the ''World'' category, hoping to find some info on the eight different regions of Ascentia. There were multiple headings within the category, ranging from ''vige'' to ''city'' to ''mountain'' and many more. However, the only entries I have unlocked were for those three.


    "Hm...Xiyang Vige...Tianyin City...Mount Valgan...these are all ces I''ve been to," I muttered, sighing in disappointment.


    There were definitely more entries beyond this, but they were all marked with a [???] symbol. I tried scrolling down a bit to see how many locations there were in total, but after a solid minute of scrolling, I was still nowhere near the end of the list. I gave up, and tried a different category - ''Combat''.


    "Aha...here."


    I clicked on the first entry of the two that were avable, both of which were under the ''Basic Combat'' header. This first entry was the one I had chosen to ignore before, since I had been in the middle of a life and death struggle with a sickleboar. Now was as good a time as any to check it out.


    [Basic Combat I: Intro]


    [Be careful of your surroundings. Always listen for sounds around you when you are in the wilds, especially if you know there will be enemies in the area. Most hostile enemies will attempt to surprise attack you, so remain vignt and keep a good eye on your surroundings.]


    Below was a third-person picture depicting a sickleboar hiding in a bush, about to jump on an unsuspecting yer. Exactly what had happened to me.


    "Ok...so, just basicmon sense," I murmured.


    Disappointed once more, I clicked on the second entry in the ''Combat'' category. It read:


    [Basic Combat II: Stealth]


    [Simr to how your enemies will try to surprise attack you, you can also attempt to surprise attack them. The best method to do so is to approach them stealthily, making as little noise as possible. Strike from enemy blind spots (e.g. behind them) and use the environment around you to your advantage (e.g. bushes). Raising your AGI stat and learning skills of the ''Assassin'' path will help increase your stealth.]


    I let out a deep breath. "Well. At least this one gave me a little bit of information, useless as it may be."


    Anyone with half a brain could figure out that the AGI stat and learning skills on the ''Assassin'' pathway would help you be stealthier. These database entries were just stating the obvious.


    I decided to check out the next category, ''System''. It wasn''t much - basically, it contained entries exining the six core stats, skills, settings, things like that. Since I had the ''Traveller'' and ''Crafter'' skills unlocked, I also had two more entries, titled ''Minimap'' and ''Crafting'' respectively. I decided to examine ''Crafting'', since I had no idea how to use it yet.


    [System: Crafting]


    [Certain materials can be fused together to create items. The main origin of materials is item drops from ying enemies, especially Magic Beasts and Monsters. Materials can also be sold for gold. Crafting can be essed from the ''Crafting'' tab in your System, marked with a hammer symbol. More information can be found there.]


    I did as told, switching to the ''Crafting'' tab. Immediately, a pop-out appeared on my hologram. It was a new database entry, and like with all other entries, I could read them right now instead of dismissing the prompt and going to the Database tabter.


    [System: Crafting II]


    [Your materials can be found on the left-hand side of the Crafting screen. To craft, drag the materials you wish to use into the empty circles on the right side of the screen, then tap the crafting table to begin crafting. All craftable items have their own crafting recipe, which can be obtained through various means, such aspleting quests, purchasing from shops, or by simply trying out your luck! Be careful, however: if the materials and quantity you ced into the crafting table do not match any possible recipes, all the materials will be lost.]


    Hm...quests, huh? Speaking of quests, the ''Quests'' tab in my System, marked with an exmation mark symbol, was currently blinking. It seemed that I hadpleted some quests already, but A.R.X.A. had stopped the pop-up alerts from reaching me in order to prevent distracting me. I appreciated that, in all honesty.


    In any case, the information entry did say that I could also just try my luck in the crafting table to see if I ended up identally getting a recipe right, so I figured, why not? I had tons of materials to spare, after all.


    "Okay...let''s see...let''s just throw in a bit of everything," I snickered, dragging over 1 sickleboar meat, 1 sickleboar skin, and 1 bone from the left side, into the right side. After cing everything into their own respective circles (there were five circles in total, but I only used three), I pressed on the crafting table in the middle.


    After a short animation, the circles converged into one, and...


    [Obtained: Fast Travel Pack x1.]


    I blinked. It really worked.


    I quickly headed to the inventory tab and checked on what I just got. It read:


    [Name: Fast Travel Pack]


    [Type: Utility]


    [Description: An item that allows the user to instantly teleport to any location they have travelled to before. One-time use. Needs: ''Traveller'' skill.]


    Below was a little string of red text that read:


    [NOTE: Cannot be used to teleport inside viges, towns, and cities, but can be used to teleport to the gates.]


    Hm...this could be usefulter on, when I want to save time. I was kind of hoping I would be able to just instantly teleport to anywhere on the map I wanted, but obviously, that wasn''t possible. I decided to conserve the rest of my materials, and test this ''Fast Travel Pack'' out whenever I got a chance to.


    Now that I knew how crafting worked, I returned to the ''Database'' tab, and looked over the two remaining categories, ''Species'' and ''Other''. Neither had much info. ''Species'' only had two entries as of right now - humans, and sickleboars, both of which I didn''t need to read about. As for ''Other'', there was only one entry in it, called ''gold coins''. Basically, all it told me was that the unit of currency in this world was called ''gold''...though I kind of already assumed that.


    In any case, with all that done, I closed up my System, and went to sleep.


    But just before that...I casually clicked on the log out tab, which was still greyed out.


    "Yeah...as I expected. Still doesn''t work, huh?" I murmured quietly to myself, and drifted off to dreand, the tiniest remaining bit of hope I had left in my heart gone.

 Chapter 19: The Midnight Invasion

    Chapter 19: The Midnight Invasion


    I slept peacefully, dreaming about my old Reality ne. It was a memory from when I was younger, when I had just turned six.


    "Happy birthday, Kaze-kun!" Hina-nee said, embracing me tightly. She was seven at the time.


    "Mm...thanks," I murmured, letting her hug me all she wanted.


    "Go on, blow out the candle," auntie said, smiling warmly as she pushed the cake closer to me.


    I nodded, and did as told.


    "Now now, make a wish!" Hina-nee quickly added, pping her hands together.


    I closed my eyes and adopted a praying gesture. After several moments, I opened them again, and blew out the candles.


    "Hooray! Congrattions on turning six, Kaze-kun!" Hina-nee hugged me once more.


    "What did you wish for?" uncle asked, chuckling.


    I looked down. "I asked...for my parents toe back."


    The mood immediately darkened. Hina-nee''s smile froze on her face, and auntie and uncle looked at each other in worry.


    "Kaze...your parents...they''ll be back soon, okay?" auntie said, walking over to my chair, bending down, and grabbing my hands.


    "That''s what you saidst year..." I muttered quietly.


    "Ichika...I think it''s time we tell him the truth," uncle said to auntie, his expression stern. "He''s six now. He deserves to know."


    Before this year, I''ve only been told that my parents were off on a business trip, so they left me under auntie and uncle''s care. I believed them at first. But going on a business trip for six years straight? That''s quite hard to swallow.


    "But..." auntie still seemed uncertain. Hina-nee didn''t say anything, and instead just hugged me tighter.


    "Please tell me, auntie," I said, my mind set and decision made.


    She clenched her fists. "...Alright. But...you''re sure you''re mentally prepared for this?"


    I nodded. "I''ve been ready for six years."


    Despite being only six at the time, I had already matured beyond my age. That was true, even now.


    Auntie sighed, and looked away, unable to meet my eyes. "Kaze...you''re parents...they''re dead. They passed away in an unfortunate car ident right after you were born. The reason we didn''t tell you until now is because...we thought you wouldn''t be able to handle it."


    "...Kaze, your parents were great people. Your auntie and I have been friends with them since our school years. They left you to us - and so we will treat you like we treat our own daughter, Hina," uncle added. "So, don''t be sad, alright? You''re a big boy now. We''re here for you."


    "I see."


    The only two words I replied with. Brisk and emotionless. In a way, I had kind of expected this to be the oue. I didn''t want to think it was really the case, but turns out, it actually was. Still, this was fine. Better than living by a lie for the rest of my life, anyway.


    "Kaze..."


    "Kaze-kun..."


    I pushed Hina-nee away gently, and headed upstairs to my own room. It was rude, but at that moment, I didn''t care. I shut the door tight, and crawled into my bed.


    I cried myself to sleep.


    *****


    Later, Hina-nee came to my room. She knocked gently on the door.


    "Kaze-kun...are you there?"


    I didn''t want to answer. I just felt like pretending to be asleep, and ignoring her words.


    "I...I know you''re there. So I''ll just talk to you from out here, you don''t have to open the door," she said.


    "..." I didn''t know how she could tell I was awake, but that didn''t matter right now. I slowly went over to the door, and sat down, leaning my back against it. I could feel that Hina-nee was doing the same thing, on the other side.


    "The whole thing with your parents...it must be hard digesting," she began uncertainly, as if unsure where to start. "I understand that. Mom and dad do as well. You can take as long as you need to readjust, okay? I''lle here everyday and ce food and water at your door, so you don''t have to worry about any of that. For now..."


    I heard the nking sound of something ceramic being ced on the wooden floor.


    "...I left something for you to eat here. I know you probably don''t want to see anyone right now, so I''ll leave. But...before that, I just want to say something."


    I listened intently.


    "We''re here for you. Mom, dad, and most importantly...me. We''re all here for you, Kaze-kun. Even if your biological parents aren''t here anymore, we still are. We will fill the role of your family, when you need it most."


    With that, I heard the shuffling of footsteps outside, signaling that Hina-nee had left. After a short period of silence, I opened the door, and saw what she had left at my footsteps:


    A slice of my birthday cake.


    Seeing that scene, despite my sadness and loneliness at the time, I smiled, ever so slightly.


    Amidst the dark storm of emotions washing over my body, that single slice of cake from Hina-nee was like a ray of sunlight, piercing through the grey clouds.


    *****


    [Human. Wake up.]


    "W-What...?" I slowly rubbed my eyes, barely awake.


    [Wake up.]


    "A.R.X.A...?"


    [There is a situation going on outside. You may want to investigate.]


    "Oh, c''mon...who cares?" Iined. "It has nothing to do with me...you just want to see me do something for your own entertainment..."


    I smirked, closing my eyes once more, attempting to fall back sleep. Hmph. If you think you''re going to make me obey your wishes that easily, A.R.X.A., you''ve severely undererstim-


    [This is a good opportunity for you to get stronger.]


    -I sold out.


    *****


    Slipping on the clothes that hadn''t evenpletely dried yet, I quickly sshed some water all over my face to forcefully clear away any remaining drowsiness left in me, and headed out of my inn room. The moment I did, I noticed the loud noisesing from outside. Yells and battle roars cried out alike; it was utter chaos.


    Still, despite the pandemonium going on outside, I found it in me to take a moment to admire how great the soundproofing abilities the walls of this ce was. I was almost impressed at how calm I was.


    I quickly rushed out of the inn, and looked around to try and get a glimpse on the situation.


    A crowd had gathered, armed with weapons. They charged forward, with mages standing behind themunching spells - or rather, hidden arts. Using my eyes, I followed the direction they were heading, and saw a horrific sight.


    The western gates of Tianyin City have beenpletely demolished.


    Hundreds of hostile Magic Beasts poured into the city through the destroyed entrance, with countless more behind them. I wasn''t talking easy sickleboars. I was talking full-on lion-esque animals, serpents the size of a two-story building, and enormous flying butterflies equipped with razor-sharp drills. The defenders of the city desperately tried to fight back, but they were slowly getting pushed back. Dozens of guards had already been trampled over by the stampede of Magic Beasts, andy on the bloodstained concrete, motionless.


    We were losing.


    "Holy shit..." I muttered, and pulled out my dagger. I had it equipped ever since my encounter with Ichigo, so I didn''t have to waste time getting it out.


    The question now is, do I join, or do I just get the hell out of here?


    I noticed that among the crowd fighting back against the Magic Beasts ravaging the city, there were several individuals wearing simr attire as me. They were yers, who probably all just assumed this was simply a quest, or some kind of special in-game live event.


    I tightened my grip on the dagger. "Well...A.R.X.A. did say this was a good opportunity to get stronger."


    Having made my decision, I left the audience, and joined the ranks of the defenders.


    "Kill them all!" yelled a guard in the frontline, who appeared to be a captain of some kind. He drove his sword upwards straight into the abdomen of one of the lion-like beasts that had charged forward. The animal roared in fury, and swiped downwards at the guard.


    There was no chance he was dodging this attack, so he tried blocking it instead, raising his shield up to defend against the furious beast''s ws. However, it stood no chance. The guard was blown backwards, straight into our own ranks, toppling over several other soldiers in the process.


    "Ngh..." he muttered in pain, slowly getting back up. "Get back in formation, soldiers!" Luckily, he didn''t seem to have suffered any fatal injuries.


    However, the Magic Beasts weren''t about to just let us do as we wished. The one who had been stabbed by the guard howled, and immediately, several other lion-like beasts leapt towards us, roaring in fury. Wild and ruthless, they crashed directly into our formation, swiping their ws at anything they could reach. Numerous guards were blown away by the sheer impact. Some managed to stab their weapons into the creatures, and the magesunched their hidden arts at them from the backline, but the damned beasts didn''t slow down at all, continuing to wreak havoc.


    With every swipe of their ws, dozens fell. And they were slowly making their way over to me.

 Chapter 20: Sabertooths

    Chapter 20: Sabertooths


    As the army of Tianyin city got pushed back, the spectating civilians fled for their lives. That was probably the smarter decision to make in this situation, if I had to be honest. That being said, unlike the natives of this Reality ne, I held the status of a yer. That meant I had an infinite amount of respawns, an infinite amount of lives. Still, it wasn''t as if I wanted to just throw my life away. Dying hurt - a lot, as I have experienced first-hand.


    I gripped my dagger in my hand as the vicious lion-like beasts got closer to where I was standing, bulldozing straight through anyone in their way of destruction. I was waiting. Waiting for them to get closer, so that...this could happen.


    [NEW SPECIES ENTRY]


    [Name: Sabertooth]


    [Type: Magic Beast (Mammal)]


    [Weakness: None]


    [Resistance: Physical Attacks]


    ...Are you kidding me?


    NO weaknesses? And it''s resistant against the only type of attack I currently had?


    ...I kept reading, slowly getting more desperate by the second.


    [Description: Sabertooths are a type of Magic Beast in the Mammal subcategory. They have no distinct attack-type weaknesses, but do possess resistance against physical attacks. Both their attack and defense stats are extremely high, making them a difficult foe to defeat. However, they do have a single weakness - the inside of their mouths.]


    There! Finally, some useful information!


    So, the inside of their mouths was their weakness. I assumed this was because they didn''t have their tough outer hide protecting them there. If I couldnd a good upwards strike from the inside of their mouths and pierce their brain...that should kill them instantly. But then I saw the next line of the new species entry.


    [WARNING: Your current level is too low tobat this species. Escape is rmended.]


    Disregarding this warning, I looked around and saw that many of the other yers were also busy reading the new information that had just appeared to them, some shaking with horror. One kid, who was right beside me, looked like he was about to piss his pants from fear. However, the beasts were already practically on top of us - there was no time left. But I didn''t panic, having already experienced death once.


    The ability to remain calm in situations like this was the deciding factor between fool and fighter.


    One of the sabertooths leaped towards me, knocking away several other guards in the process and sending them crashing into the walls of the nearby buildings that had already been destroyed enough. Luckily, thanks to my high AGI stat, I was able to jump up with incredible reaction time, just barely dodging out of the way of the creature''s immensely powerful swipe. Its paw struck a structure instead, and cracks appeared on the brick wall of the building.


    "Geez...with that kind of strength, if I get hit even once, I''m as good as dead," I muttered under my breath, beforending solidly back on the ground.


    The sabertooth was slightly surprised that I managed to dodge its attack when no one else had before, so it paused momentarily.


    That slight pause was all I needed.


    I instantly dashed towards the beast, making good use of my AGI stat. The beast''s momentary surprise quickly turned into fury, as he tried hitting me with its powerful paws once again. I immediately ''pulled the breaks'' and leaned backwards, narrowly managed to avoid being smashed to pulp, but the tip of its ws still scratched me. I was left with a massive cut on my face, just barely missing my eyes.


    It hurt. It hurt so much. But I could handle this. This was nothing,pared to back when I first experienced death in this game after jumping off that cliff. All pain was the same - all I had to do was grit my teeth, and bear it.


    With tworge strides, I reached the sabertooth''s head. Our eyes met, and despite the massive gash carved into the flesh of my face, I smiled.


    "Die."


    With one hand, I unleashed the most powerful uppercut I could manage, knocking the beast''s head straight up. Had my STR stat been a bit higher, I may have been able to send it flying with that strike - but even with my current strength, this was enough. The interior of the beast''s mouth was hanging wide open, like an open target.


    I leapt forwards, propelling my body towards the sabertooth''s, and whipped out my dagger with my other hand, which had been underneath my right foot all this time, ever since that encounter with Ichigo. I hadn''t taken it out, even while showering. I even kept it on top of my sandal when I was sleeping - all in preparation for a time like this.


    The sabertooth was surprised by the sudden appearance of a weapon, but it was toote. As its eyes widened in shock, I drove the cold steel straight up the roof of its mouth with all my strength. It pierced through with ease, and the animal froze.


    Time appeared to stop, to the beast and I.


    Despite the raging chaos rampaging all around us, it was as if we were in a separate world of our own. I held the beast''s entire body up with my dagger alone, not even bothering to use my other hand to help. The creature''s powerful arms fell to its sides, its body limp.


    I pulled out my dagger atst, and let the sabertooth''s corpse fall to the concrete ground.


    I nced at my bloodstained dagger. I had done it. The sabertooth may have already been slightly weakened from the other - albeit minor - injuries it had suffered from all the other guards it bulldozed through, but even so, I had done it. I had yed a Magic Beast far beyond my current level, one way or another.


    "Heh...I wonder how much XP I''ll get off th...huh?"


    As a hologram appeared in front of me, I attempted to read it. But then, suddenly, I felt my vision getting hazy, and my world beginning to spin. My eyes clouded over, and slowly but surely, they closed.


    I fell to the ground, and faded to darkness.


    *****


    "What...where am I....?" I murmured to myself. I attempted to slowly get up from the stone-cold floor, but then winced in agony.


    There was nothing but ckness everywhere, all around me. I felt unbearable pain all over my body, and quite frankly, wanted to die, right then and there. But this feeling...this ce...it was all too familiar. I had been here once before - when I jumped off the cliff of Mount Valgan upon first arriving in this game.


    [You did better than I thought you would, human.]


    "Huh...A.R.X.A...?" I looked around, but once again, could only see endless darkness. "Am I...dead? Again?"


    [Yes. You died of blood loss.]


    "Blood loss? Oh...I see. From the massive cut that sabertooth gave me..." I muttered in frustration.


    [It was well worth dying, if you ask me.]


    "Hm? How so? This sucks, you know? Computers can''t feel pain, so you wouldn''t understand, but...ugh, I regret listening to you."


    [ying that sabertooth below the rmended level gave you plenty of rewards. You will thank me soon enough.]


    "Hmph...thank you? Nah, I don''t think I will...just, get me out of here already, will you? Please."


    *****


    "Thank you. I love you, A.R.X.A.!"


    I was currently busy prostrating myself in front of my System, with A.R.X.A.''s emotionless, robotic face disyed on it. We were inside my inn room, where I had been teleported to after A.R.X.A. ''revived'' me. ording to her, sleeping inside an inn was akin to saving it manually. Ascension: Online did have auto-save, but saving manually at inns gave you spawn points, essentially. Whenever you died, you would be brought back to your spawn point - so manually saving was always a good idea, unless you wanted to use up all your Fast Travel Packs or just do a ton of unnecessary walking.


    The sun was beginning to rise outside. When A.R.X.A. woke me up, it had been around 4 AM or so - I asked her. Now was about 5, only an hourter, so it seemed that my temporary death didn''t cause me to lose any valuable time or anything.


    Now...why was I kneeling in front of her in gratitude, exactly? Let us rewind time a bit to find out.


    The first thing I did after being teleported back was open up my System. And the first thing that I noticed when I did, was my level on the left hand side of my screen and my stats on the right hand side. It currently read:


    [Level: 10]


    STR: 30


    AGI: 25


    INT: 5


    DEX: 5


    MAG: 10


    LUC: 10


    For the record, before fighting the sabertooth, my stats looked like this:


    [Level: 5]


    STR: 15


    AGI: 15


    INT: 5


    DEX: 5


    MAG: 10


    LUC: 6


    So, to sum it up, I gained 5 whole levels, my STR stat doubled, my AGI stat increased by 10, and my LUC stat increased by 4. All from fighting one Magic Beast. Of course, I believe the mild skirmish I had with Ichigo earlier contributed to the increase in my AGI stat a little, since I had dodged his attacks fairly well, but the majority of these benefits came from ying the sabertooth.


    Not only this, but I also received 50 SP and 5 AP for leveling up, along with some great item drops from the sabertooth itself. I discovered this by switching to the Inventory tab of my screen. Immediately, multiple pop-ups appeared.


    [Obtained: Sabertooth Fang x1.]


    [Obtained: Sabertooth Hide x1.]


    [Obtained: Sabertooth Meat x1.]


    [Obtained: Bone x1.]


    Undoubtedly, the quality of these materials were exponentially higher than that of the sickleboar ones I had until now. The bones were more or less the same, but I had a feeling that the other three, especially sabertooth hide, woulde in very useful in the near future. All I needed was a crafting recipe. I didn''t want to risk losing these materials as I only had 1 of each, so I wasn''t about to just try my luck in the crafting tab again.


    "Hey, A.R.X.A..." I said, slowly getting back up from my prostration position. "...Why did you inform me of this opportunity?"


    [For my own amusement. Nothing more, nothing less.]


    She answered in a brutally honest manner, tone as cold and emotionless as ever.


    I chuckled. "Right...but even if that''s the case, you''ve really helped me out. I now have a bigger chance of catching up to the current top yers."


    A.R.X.A. paused. [I thought your goal was merely to Ascend and return to your old Reality ne.]


    I shrugged. "Well, yeah, but I never said I disliked this world. While I''m here, I might as well treat this as if it were really just a video game, and try to reach the top, y''know? I''ve never really been good at anything, unlike my sister, so my dream, ever since I was young, was to try being first - being the best at something - for once in my life. So...thanks. For giving me an opportunity to realize this selfish dream of mine."


    Through this experience, I felt like I grew closer to A.R.X.A., somehow. I knew she was a supeputer, an AI with no emotions. But even then, I felt like I now could - just barely - call her a friend. I didn''t know if she regarded me the same way, but for some reason, this conversation we were having right now seemed to be a lot more ''personal'', rather than business-like.


    [...You did end up thanking me after all. My calctions were precise, as always.]


    ...And she just had to go and destroy it.


    I rolled my eyes. "Yeah yeah...you kind of ruined the moment there, but sure. I lose against you this time, I guess."


    [There is always tomorrow, human.]


    I smirked triumphantly. "Took the words right out of my mouth."

 Chapter 21: The Aftermath

    Chapter 21: The Aftermath


    I strode out of the inn. The sun was rising, marking the beginning of a new day - day two of me being stuck inside this new Reality ne, that is. Today should be September 9th, 2051 - a Saturday.


    I had spent the 50 SP I received from reaching Level 10 like so:


    STR: 30 -> 40 (Cost: 10 SP)


    AGI: 25 -> 40 (Cost: 15 SP)


    INT: 5 -> 10 (Cost: 5 SP)


    DEX: 5 -> 10 (Cost: 5 SP)


    MAG: 10 -> 25 (Cost: 15 SP)


    LUC: 10 -> 10 (Cost: 0 SP)


    My stats were a bit off-bnced now, but that was fine. As long as no stat was severely lower than the others, it wasn''t a fatal weakness that could be exploited. Besides, I have yet to see a useful purpose for leveling up the DEX and INT stats anyway, so I wasn''t about to waste my precious SP on them. As for MAG, I was confident I would be using it sooner orter, so I decided to keep leveling it up. And,stly, I kept LUC the same because I... well, ran out of SP.


    Still, a STR and AGI of 40 waspletely unachievable for any other Level 10 yer. Only I, who had beenpletely trapped inside this ''video game'' by a wicked stroke of luck, was able to aplish this. After all, my stats leveled up on their own without using any SP, depending on what activities I did. This was thanks to my physical body being transferred over to this world as well, after someone somehow severed my connectionpletely to my old reality.


    As for AP, I used 2 of the 5 I received, on the following skills:


    [Name: Summoner]


    [Category: Basic]


    [Type: Passive]


    [Description: Increased chance of taming normal animals and Magic Beasts.]


    -


    [Name: Inspect]


    [Category: Assassin]


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: View the stats of any other yer.]


    I decided to conserve the rest of the AP, since I didn''t feel like reading through all the skills I could get right now. I was more curious to see what happened to Tianyin City after I ''died'', so I boldly walked out of the front door of the inn which, luckily, was still intact.


    However, the same couldn''t be said for many of the other buildings around.


    The restaurant I had eaten at before, the tavern beside the inn, and the store across the street from it - they were all in shambles. The one and only road in the city was littered with bloodstained human corpses. Citizens wept beside their fallenrades and loved ones, while volunteers carried the bodies out of the city for burial.


    Tianyin was practically half-destroyed.


    However... only half. By some miracle, one way or another, the soldiers of Tianyin City managed to quell the Magic Beast tide. I then noticed some cheersing from the outside of the city, where all the remaining guards and most of the citizens had gathered. I decided to investigate.


    I headed for the now-demolished western gates of the city, where all the noise wasing from. Peeking outside, I saw that the guards were all cheering for one single person. A yer, in fact. He was quite handsome with his golden hair and eyes, even despite the prisoner-like clothes he was wearing - simr to my own attire. He carried a fearless smile on his face, and seemed to be around the same age as me.


    I recognized him. He had been one of the yers struggling to read the new species entry as the sabertooth came crashing into our ranks. If I remember correctly, he had been frozen in fear and looked like he was about to piss his pants. I recalled his face and expression quite clearly, since he had been right beside me when I fought the sabertooth.


    The only question was, why the hell was he being treated like some sort of legend?


    "Hero, if I may ask... what is your name?" the captain of the guards asked, bowing deeply before the boy. Quite a strange sight indeed, a senior bowing so reverently to a junior.


    "Heh. My name is Qin Yao. Do well to remember that," the boy announced arrogantly, rubbing his nose.


    "Hero Qin... I see," the captain murmured to himself. "I must say, thank you for saving us. If it weren''t for you spotting the strategy to kill those hostile sabertooths in the frontline, Tianyin City, along with ourselves, wouldn''t have survived."


    "Hm? Strategy to kill those sabertooths...?" I murmured to myself, confused as to what they were saying. This kid had literally been pissing his pants while I was fighting, and now, apparently, HE discovered the strategy?


    [It seems he watched how you killed the sabertooth, and copied you.] A.R.X.A. suddenly said, which surprised me a little. [How shameless.]


    "Hey! Keep it down, A.R.X.A... what if they hear us?!" I whispered sharply, since her voice was quite loud. Not as she was yelling, since her tone was as monotone as always, but her literal volume was loud.


    [Worry not, human. Only you are able to hear and see me.]


    "Huh? Er... okay then."


    Now I just felt stupid. Embarrassed, I turned back to this ''Qin Yao'' character, who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying being in the spotlight and treated like a hero.


    "Don''t worry about it," he said shamelessly, his haughtiness knowing no bounds. "I was just doing what I felt was right."


    "Spoken like a true hero," the captain remarked. "Truly a brilliant strategy you came up with, striking the sabertooths'' brains via the inside of the mouths. If you don''t mind me asking, Hero Qin, how did you manage to think of this method?"


    For a second, Qin Yao''s arrogant smile faltered. But it was only for a moment, as he quickly rposed himself. "What do you mean, ''how''? I''m a hero. That''s how."


    "Er... I see." the captain didn''t seem convinced, but he didn''t want to anger Qin Yao, so he just meekly epted that answer. Every man had their secrets, after all.


    "Now. About the other beasts... where did they all go? I can''t rest until I''ve exterminated all of them and made sure Tianyin is safe again," Qin Yao continued, looking around with a fierce look in his eyes. His whole body was brimming with confidence... which was a good thing, until he let it get the better of him. I believed this would happen sooner orter, given his attitude.


    "Hero Qin, the other beasts all ran away after their frontline, the sabertooths, fell thanks to you. We tried chasing them into the nearby forests, but eventually I decided that it was too dangerous, and called everyone back. It''s unfortunate, because these damned beasts have been raiding our city on an annual basis ever since ten years ago... I was hoping we would be able to deal a decisive blow to them this time around, with Hero Qin''s help."


    "Hm... I see." Qin Yao sank into thought, resting his chin on his hand. "In that case, I propose we form a hunting party to go into the forest and kill those Magic Beasts once and for all."


    "H-Huh? But our men... they are all exhausted from the fight just now. I''m afraid..."


    "Don''t worry about that. Just look for people wearing the same clothes as me," Qin Yao said, a smirk on his face. "There should be quite a few in the city. Bring them all to me, and that will be our hunting party."


    A soldier with a cast on his right leg raised his hand in worry. "But...what if they don''t want to do so?"


    "Just tell them the truth about the hunting party," Qin Yao replied. "Promise them rewards, and they''ll join. Trust me on that."


    "I''ll trust you on that." the captain said, having made his decision. "We will go around the city, looking for people who match your clothes, and bring them to you, Hero Qin."


    Qin Yao smiled. "Good. Just do that, and I''ll save your city from these Magic Beasts."


    I noticed how he used ''I'' instead of ''we'', even though he had just told the soldiers to recruit people to help him. Utterly shameless. Moreover...he said he was doing this to save Tianyin, but in reality, he just wanted XP and item drops from all the Magic Beasts. Being treated like a hero was just a side benefit, one that he happened to really enjoy. It''s pretty funny how he thought that just by watching me, he became a god at the game or something - what a joke. I tried using ''Inspect'' on him to see this guy''s real stats, but it didn''t work. Apparently, I was out of range.


    Well, his arrogance isn''t my problem, anyway. If he dies, he dies. However... joining this hunting party sounds interesting. After all, it sounded like a great opportunity to level up even further.


    Since the soldiers were heading back into the city now, towards me, I quickly retreated and headed back into the inn, wondering when the guards woulde to seek me out.

 Chapter 22: The Quest System

    Chapter 22: The Quest System


    I stayed inside my inn room sleeping a bit and reading the new entries in my Database until it was 8 AM. To be honest, I didn''t really learn much, except for one useful entry in the ''World'' category:


    [Death]


    [Upon dying, you will feel immense pain all over your body for a short duration of time before being teleported back to your spawn point. Once you reach Level 15, there is also a chance you will forever lose certain items in your inventory upon death, so be careful! Equipped items will not be lost.]


    There was also a separate entry on ''spawn points'' in the same category, but since A.R.X.A. already exined those to me, I already knew what it was about. In any case, it looked like dying after I reached Level 15 would be quite a pain - especially if I ended up getting any of the eight tablets needed to Ascend. If I lost any of those, god knows how long it would take me to find them again. Still, as of right now, I was only Level 10, so I didn''t have to worry about any of that just yet.


    I strolled out of the inn and headed for the restaurant after returning the room key to the receptionist at the front. She had been one of the spectators at the fightst night, and seemed to have thought I already died, given the surprise she had on her face when she saw me perfectly fine and alive.


    It has only been a little over a week since Ascension: Online was introduced back in my old reality ne, so we, the yers, were still a ''new species'' to the natives of Ascentia. However, that would change very soon as our abilities were exposed to the public. We would be regarded as heroes that could instantly increase in strength with the click of a few buttons, and had infinite lives.


    I headed for the restaurant I ate atst night, since the service there was good. I noticed it was far more crowded thanst night. The same server walked over to me and led me to a table meant for two. It wasn''t in the corner, much to my dismay, but I couldn''t exactlyin - that would be far too selfish. I decided to just order the same thing as I didst night, because I was still unfamiliar with this world''s foods. Better to y it safe. It was probably more of a lunch or dinner dish, but to me, all three meals were the same. They were just a way of refilling my energy - nothing more, nothing less. I didn''t have any standards or rules as to when I eat what, or anything like that.


    I still had 40 gold remaining because I got to stay at the inn for freest night, which should be more than enough to get me some breakfast. That being said, I really needed some money soon. Luckily, there should be plenty of ways to do that, from selling items topleting quests.


    Ah... yes, speaking of quests...


    As I waited for my food to arrive, I opened up my System, and clicked on the tab with an exmation mark - the ''Quests'' tab. The hologram changed, and turned into a list of quest types on the left side, with the actual quests on the right. I was currently in the ''Completed Quests'' section, which had three quest inside. Actually, they weren''t real quests - they were called ''Triumphs'', apparently:


    [Triumph: A New World - COMPLETE]


    [Acquire your first weapon.]


    [Rewards: 500 XP]


    -


    [Triumph: A New World II - COMPLETE]


    [Eat and drink for the first time in Ascension: Online.]


    [Rewards: 250 XP]


    -


    [Triumph: A New World III - COMPLETE]


    [Sleep at an inn for the first time in Ascension: Online, creating your first spawn point.]


    [Rewards: 250 XP]


    I imed it without any hesitation, and saw that I had just barely hit Level 11, gaining 10 SP and 2 AP. Apparently, while SP gains stayed the same for every level, AP gains increased every ten levels. I was pretty happy about that, since this meant I could unlock more skills. Pair this with the 3 AP I had leftover from before, that will leave me with abined total of 5 AP to spend. I would''ve liked a mary reward too, but perhaps quests of the ''Triumph'' archetype only rewarded XP.


    Still, I was sure Ipleted more quests since I arrived here... or perhaps the quests in this game are just really long. I clicked on the next category.


    This was the ''Primary Quests'' section - there was only one quest in here, and it read:


    [The Beginning (rec. lvl: 1)]


    [Descend Mount Valgan.]


    The description of the quest was short and simple...is what I''d like to say, but in reality, it''s just abstract andpletely useless. ''Descend Mount Valgan''... okay? But how exactly do I do that? Where do I have to pass through? What kind of problems will I encounter on the way? The quest description told me none of that, as if telling me to just ''figure it out myself''.


    But then, I noticed a little arrow, and clicked on it.


    Immediately, a drop-down list appeared beneath the quest''s description - a directory of quest steps. Beside each step was a checkbox - if I hadpleted it, there would be a check. If I hadn''t, there would be an X.


    Seeing this, I was overjoyed - maybe the quest system of this game wasn''t so bad after all!


    I looked over the quest steps:


    [ - Leave Xiyang Vige to begin your descent.]


    [ - Reach Tianyin City.]


    [X - Leave Tianyin City through the eastern gates and continue descending Mount Valgan.]


    It only showed me up to there. Undoubtedly, there were more quest steps, but for some reason, the System didn''t tell me what they were. The reason behind this was probably that A.R.X.A. could not predict the future, even though she was a supeputer. Although she was the one setting up all of these ''quests'' to make it seem like a video game, she could not directly control the beings of this reality ne, because they weren''t just NPCs programmed to act and talk the way they do.


    No matter how powerful A.R.X.A.''s calction abilities are, she cannot precisely predict every decision of all the beings of this reality ne - who will cross a yer''s path, who won''t, at what time, et cetera. Because of this, she could only n out general, very abstract quests for all the ''yers'' from my old world, and then give them additional quest steps as they encountered them. Therefore, if my guess is correct... certain yers will have different quest stepspared to others.


    That wasn''t umon in video games - in fact, it was an excellent feature to have in the case of ARMMORPGs. yers doing different things from one another helped contribute to the sense of realism in the game - if everyone was doing the exact same things as you, that would make the game less diverse, creative, and immersive.


    Of course, all this was just a guess on my part... though I was 99% sure it was the case. I had no intention of asking A.R.X.A. about this though, since for one, she probably wouldn''t answer, and for two, it wasn''t all that important, anyway. I knew which things I had to ask her, and which things I didn''t.


    The ''Curry Chiken'' I ordered soon arrived. I continued exploring the ''Quests'' tab as I ate. The waitress who ced the food down at my table seemed curious about my System, but she figured it would be rude to me, her customer, so she refrained from asking and just left quietly after a quick ''enjoy your meal''.


    I didn''t pay her any mind, and just switched to the next quest category,beled ''Side Quests''. Nothing was under here, so I just went to the next one - ''Tournaments''. This piqued my interest, but when I looked over to the right side of the hologram, not only did this one not have any quests under it, it wasn''t even unlocked yet. The screen read:


    [Restricted. Reach Level 30 to unlock.]


    Sighing, I continued on to the next category - ''Vaults''. This one was interesting. However... just like with thest...


    [Restricted. Requirespletion of the ''Corruption'' primary quest.]


    Shaking my head in disappointment, I switched to the secondst section - ''Triumphs''. There were a bunch of quests in here, and spanned multiple pages. However, they were all marked with a question mark, and didn''t offer any info as to how to do these ''quests''. It seemed that triumphs were essentially ''hidden'' quests you could onlyplete by chance. Still, they offered decent rewards, as seen from earlier.


    I clicked on the final category, hoping to find something that I could actually do.


    ''Public Events''. There was one quest I had in this category:


    [Exterminating the Beasts (rec. lvl: 10)]


    [Head into the steep forests of Mount Valgan to exterminate the Magic Beast horde that has gued Tianyin City for years once and for all.]


    I clicked on the arrow, showing me the quest steps.


    [X - ept Captain Ling Ye''s invitation to join the Hunting Party.]


    Beside was a timer that read ''00:09:45:08'', and was slowly going down. Since it was 8:15 right now, it seemed that I had to ept his invitation before 6 PM this evening in order to participate in this event.


    "Hm... I might as well just go to him, to speed things up," I muttered to myself, taking a bite out of my food.


    I quickly finished up eating after that, and headed out the restaurant after paying the bill.

 Chapter 23: Pennies From Heaven

    Chapter 23: Pennies From Heaven


    It didn''t take me long to find Captain Ling Ye.


    He and his group of soldiers were currently going around the half-demolished city of Tianyin, searching for people who wore simr clothes to Qin Yao, just as this so-called ''hero'' had instructed.


    If I approached Ling Ye proactively right now, they would know I had been eavesdropping on their conversation earlier this morning. So, instead, I went to a nearby shop and pretended to be browsing their selection. Ling Ye and his group of guards were on a direct path to where I was - there was no way they could miss me somehow.


    "Good mornin'', fe," the shopkeeper said in a cheerful voice, despite the tragedy this city just went through.


    "You''re... awfully calm," I noted, raising an eyebrow.


    "Well... I''ve been livin'' here for all my life, ya see. Ever since the gue ten years ago, Magic Beasts have raided our city every single year, exactly once," the shopkeeper exined. "I''m used to it by now, is my point."


    Hm... I don''t think that''s the kind of thing you can ever get ''used'' to, but I chose not to argue. Besides, there was something else he said that interested me...


    "gue, you say?" I asked, curious to know more about the history of this city.


    He nodded. "No one knows where it came from or how it started. But one thing''s for certain - it''s been getting worse. Before, these yearly invasions were the only danger ''round these parts. But now, the moment ya step outta that door, yer in dangerous territory. It''s like all the Magic Beasts in this area have been struck with some sort of gue... well, that''s where the namees from."


    "And it''s been worsening every year, you say?"


    "Yep. At this rate...it''s only a matter of time before this ce gets run over by these hostile Magic Beasts," the shopkeeper said, sighing deeply. For the first time, worry lined his aged face. "But hey. At least this gue doesn''t directly affect us, right? Haha!"


    I shrugged. "You''re certainly optimistic, I''ll give you that."


    "Thank you! Plenty o'' people tellin'' me that," he replied with a chuckle.


    It was then that someone else interrupted our conversation - the person I had been waiting for.


    "Excuse me," the neer interrupted, walking up beside me. His squad of soldiers remained where they were as to not disturb our talk.


    "Oh, Cap''n Lin Ye!" the shopkeeper eximed in surprise. "What brings ya here today? New weapons? Armor, perhaps? Sorry, and I hate to say it, but the cksmith next door is probably better for that."


    "Ah, actually, I''m here for this young man here," Ling Ye replied, looking at me. He was taller than me by quite a bit, but despite that, his gaze was warm and not intimidating at all.


    "Hm? Hemit a crime or somethin''?"


    "Nah, nothing of the sort. I''m just here to recruit him, by the orders of Hero Qin, the boy who saved our city with his brilliance," the captain replied, patting my shoulder. It made me quite ufortable.


    "Er... sorry, could you stop doing that?" I asked carefully, ncing at his hand on my right shoulder. "I don''t really like other people touching me without permission."


    "Ah - sorry." He quickly moved his hand away and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "My bad, kid."


    "It''s fine..." I muttered, looking away. "So? What''s your business with me?"


    "Right. About that... are you willing you join a hunting party led by Hero Qin?"


    I decided to feign ignorance in order to further deny any suspicion he had of me eavesdropping on his conversation with Qin Yao earlier this morning. "A hunting party? For what? And who''s Hero Qin?"


    "He is Tianyin City''s savior. Surely you were watching the fightst night? Those sabertooths... had it not been for Hero Qin discovering the method to kill them, we would have been wiped out," Ling Ye exined. "Not only that, but he proposed to lead a hunting party in order to exterminate these Magic Beasts once and for all, forever saving Tianyin. He is truly a gift sent to us by god, if there is one."


    It took everything I had not to cringe at this man''s words. The praise he was showering Qin Yao with, despite the person in question not even being here, was far too cheesy for me to handle - especially because it was actually ME who discovered the strategy. Too bad I died after, so this copycatting wuss took all the credit by just watching me. I didn''t care all that much, since I''ve never really liked attention, but it was still pretty annoying.


    "I see," I replied, gulping. "I''m down to go... as long as there are rewards."


    "Of course. Does 10,000 gold sound good?"


    I blinked. "You''re kidding, right?"


    "... Ah, as I thought, it''s too little... then, how about 50,000?"


    "H-Huh?! No, that''s too mu- I mean, yeah, that sounds about fine. In fact, perhaps a little more would be nice. I am risking my life here, after all," I said, quickly masking my shock with a calm facade. He had offered me WAY too much. I know I said I was in need of money, but... I did not expect such a great opportunity to just present itself like this.


    "Okay... 75,000 gold, then. I cannot go any higher, since I have to pay all the other participants as well," Ling Ye replied apologetically.


    "N-Nah, it''s fine. We have a deal," I quickly said, clearing my throat. "Now then... when do we go?"


    "For now, I think it''d be best for you to meet Hero Qin. He should be eating at the moment, but you can wait for him at the western gates... not that there is much of a gate left."


    "Got it," I replied briskly, before walking off in the direction of the western gates.


    ... Mainly because I couldn''t couldn''t contain myughter anymore.


    Still... what an unexpected stroke of luck. I wonder if A.R.X.A. yed a part in it.


    ... Yeah, no. Probably not. She''s not the type to help me unconditionally like that.


    Whenever she gives me help, I had to pay a price for it - just like the fight with that sabertooth.

 Chapter 24: Chiaki Furuwa

    Chapter 24: Chiaki Furuwa


    I still can''t believe I just secured myself 75,000 gold that easily. In all honesty, I thought 10,000, Ling Ye''s initial offer, was already too much. However, he ended up taking my expression the wrong way and raised the reward money to 50,000. Then my instincts, known as human greed, kicked in and took control over my entire body. Still... a little greed couldn''t hurt every now and then, as long as I didn''t give in to temptation.


    [It seems luck is on your side today, human. And it has nothing to do with your LUC stat.]


    "Hm... yeah, I guess so," I replied calmly as I continued walking. By this point, I had gotten used to A.R.X.A. randomly start talking to me... especially after that shower incident. Not much could frighten me after that.


    [How do you n on dealing with Qin Yao?]


    "Deal with him? I''m toozy for that. If he wants to take all the credit, that''s fine by me. I just want my due rewards. Participating in this hunting party will be a good chance for me to farm some more XP and stat levels passively, without using any SP. The Magic Beasts could also drop some good items for me - and I get 75,000 gold on top of all of that? I''m not about toin."


    [... You are indeed different from most humans. Perhaps that is why I developed an interest in you.]


    "You know, you say things that can be taken the wrong way," I remarked smugly. "If you weren''t an artificial reality xenobiotic apparatus, and instead were a normal girl, I would''ve thought you were confessing just now."


    [...] A.R.X.A. was left speechless, for better or worse. Probably for worse.


    We soon reached the western gates. Qin Yao wasn''t there yet - as expected. He was probably eating breakfast. Because I was bored, I decided to test if I could raise my stats without battling enemies. In other words... could normal workouts improve my STR stat?


    The gate had beenpletely broken down by the Magic Beasts, so plenty of stone rubble was lying around. I picked up a small piece and gauged its weight.


    "Hm... too light."


    Picking up a b that appeared to berger and thus heavier, I tried weighing this one. It was almost three times the weight of the one before.


    "Okay, this should be fine for now," I murmured before getting into a nk position and bncing the rock on my back. Taking a deep breath, I did a push-up. And another.


    "One... two... three..."


    Ngh... this was harder than I expected.


    "Ten... eleven... twelve..."


    I can... still go...


    "Twenty... twenty-one..."


    "Uh... what are you doing?"


    "Huh?" I stopped before turning my head and looking up.


    A girl around my age was standing there with one eyebrow raised, looking at me like I was some sort of weirdo. She had curly velvet hair and simrly colored eyes. She couldn''t exactly be called beautiful, but she wasn''t ugly, either.


    I then discretely used ''Inspect'' on her, just because I wanted to try the skill out.


    [Name: Chiaki Furuwa]


    [Gender: Female]


    [Race: Human]


    [Level: 10]


    [STR: 20]


    [AGI: 20]


    [INT: 20]


    [DEX: 20]


    [MAG: 0]


    [LUC: 10]


    It seemed that she was the same level as me, with an overall bnced stat distribution. That said, her MAG stat was exceptionally low and stood out from the rest of her rtively bnced stats. I didn''t know why, but perhaps this Chiaki Furuwa person just disliked magic. I didn''t know if she learned about hidden arts yet, but I wanted to learn more about them as soon as possible. I also noticed one more thing - her name was Japanese. I couldn''t really ask her about that though, since then she would know I got her name somehow.


    "What do you mean ''huh''?" she said in disgust. "Why the heck are you doing push-ups with a rock on your back, in broad daylight?"


    I slowly got up from the ground and dusted my clothes off. Not that it helped all that much.


    "I was working out," I replied calmly. "Besides, why do you even care?"


    "W-Working out? Here?" she attempted to hold back herughter. "Please, this is a video game! What is doing push-ups going to do? Only spending SP will increase your strength, dumbo. I thought that wasmon sense, but I guess not, after seeing you."


    "Look... do you have business with me?" I asked, changing the topic and slowly getting irritated with this girl.


    "With you? No. I''m here to join the hunting party or whatever. They offered me 75,000 gold. Why the heck would I not join? Besides, I can gain lots of levels from this, I can feel it!"


    "What a coincidence. I am as well," I replied in a dead tone.


    "Hm? You''re participating too? Well, looking forward to cooperating with you, I guess." Furuwa shrugged, eyeing me from head to toe with skepticism practically written on her face.


    "Yeah? I''m afraid I can''t say the same to you," I chuckled.


    "W-Wha-" she looked me in the eyes, furious. "Are you saying you don''t want to work with me, Mr. Doing-Workout-In-A-Video-Game?"


    "You said it, not me."


    I began to walk away while bringing the rock with me, hoping to find somewhere I could do push-ups in peace.


    "Tch... I swear, why has every other yer I''ve met in this game so far been such dickheads? First that annoying Qin Yao, and now this guy... ugh," she muttered in frustration as I disappeared from sight.


    *****


    Around half an hourter, I reached my limit. I had walked out of the Tianyin City western gates earlier to do push-ups. Luckily, there weren''t any Magic Beasts or people by the name of ''Chiaki Furuwa'' too close by, so I was able to do my training in peace. That said, my stamina had a limit, so I was forced to stop after a while.


    I got up and walked around slowly for around a minute or so. ording to Hina-nee, sitting or lying down immediately after vigorous exercise was bad for my cardiovascr system, so every time I finished working out, she would force me to walk around in circles for a little while before I could finally rest. That eventually grew into a habit of my own, and has stuck with me ever since - even if I was in a whole different world.


    As I walked, I opened up my System, and saw that my STR stat had went up from 40 to 41. Not much of an improvement for a whole half hour of doing push-ups, sit-ups, all kinds of exercise, but still, it was something. At least, through this experience, I discovered that this type of training can really help level up my stats and help me grow stronger. Now I had something to do in my free time. The more powerful I grew, the closer I was to gaining the ''Awakening'' described by A.R.X.A., after all. After that, I could search for the eight tablets scattered across Ascentia, and eventually return home.


    But the question was... did I really want to return?


    I then noticed the sound of chattering from Tianyin City, and headed back in through the destroyed gates, putting this internal dilemma away to the back of my head - possibly forever.

 Chapter 25: Confrontation

    Chapter 25: Confrontation


    When I went back into the city once more, I saw that a bunch of yers had gathered around a single boy - Qin Yao. It seemed that Captain Ling Ye and his group of guards had managed to find many other yers while I was outside exercising. Speaking of, they were here as well, listening in.


    I joined the crowd. Coincidentally, I somehow managed to position myself right beside Chiaki - the one person I didn''t want to interact with. She shot me a re, which I didn''t bother returning. Instead, I pretended like I didn''t even notice she was there. That said, I was a bit surprised she didn''t try moving away from me - probably to avoid attracting any attention to herself.


    "Greetings, everyone," Qin Yao said, standing on top of a rock to make himself appear taller. "I trust everyone gathered here knows what this discussion will be about, but I''ll say it anyway. Our mission is to head into the forest and kill all of the Magic Beasts we can find, in order to prevent a tragedy likest night''s from ever happening again to Tianyin City."


    "Look... we ain''t all as heroic as you, kid," a man who looked to be in his thirties spoke up. "Most of us ''re all just ''ere for the bloody reward money and the items we can get."


    "Yeah, that''s right," a few others added in agreement.


    "That''s fine," Qin Yao hurriedly said. "Even if that''s the case, you''re still helping this city. For that reason, you deserve rewards."


    "Sure, but... how exactly are we actually going to pull this off?" a girl asked, raising her hand timidly. "I mean, from the way you''ve been talking, it sounds like you have a n, but..."


    "I do," Qin Yao said. "Just follow my lead - I was the one who discovered how to kill the sabertoothsst night, after all. As long as you listen to me, we will get through this easily."


    Hearing this, I couldn''t help but scoff out loud. However, unfortunately, that drew some attention, and everyone turned to look at me. Qin Yao''s eyes met mine, and he realized who I was - the person he had stolen all the credit from. He feared that I would expose him right now, making him lose his statuspletely. That said, I didn''t have any evidence, and he seemed to realize that too. Because he didn''t want to show any sign of weakness here in front of the other yers and Captain Ling Ye, he had no choice but to confront me, even if he didn''t want to.


    "Do you have a problem with me leading?" he asked, looking at me in disdain.


    Iughed and quickly shook my head. "No, no... I just choked on... uh, air. That''s all."


    From beside me, Chiaki snorted in amusement, but I didn''t pay her any mind. Qin Yao scanned the rest of the audience, despite clearly knowing what I just said had been a lie. Everyone else obviously knew too, but no one decided to call me out for it, fortunately.


    "Does anyone have any objections to me being the leader?"


    The other yers nced at one another, and all shrugged.


    "Hero Qin, no one but you can be the leader," Ling Ye said, inserting himself into this conversation. "Without you, these people cannot win."


    "Oy, I can''t believe an NPC is lookin'' down on us," the man in his thirties from before chuckled. "Hey, ''Hero Qin'', mate, how did''ya earn the favor of a bloody NPC like that?"


    Captain Ling Ye seemed confused at the term ''NPC'' but didn''t say anything.


    Qin Yao cleared his throat, unsure of what to say in response to his fellow yer''s mockery. "Ahem... anyway. That''s all. We''ll begin our mission at 6 PM today. That''s in about eight hours, more or less. Any questions?"


    "Um... yes!" the girl from earlier raised her hand again. "You told us to just follow you, but... that''s really abstract. Can you tell us a more solid n than just that?"


    "H-Huh? Er... well, I''ll split us into bnced teams, and then search the forest for any signs of Magic Beasts. Kill on sight. That''s all there is to it."


    I sighed, this time taking note to do so quietly as to not attract any attention to myself again. There were so many ws with this kid''s ns that I didn''t even want to talk about it. For one, he doesn''t even know any of us; our strengths, our weaknesses. Among us, there were bound to be strong yers and weak yers. What if he ends up putting all the weak yers into one group? That would be essentially sending them to their deaths.


    Besides, we have no information on these Magic Beasts at all. How powerful exactly were they? What types of beasts would there be? The only dangerous species we''ve really fought against have been sabertooths. However,st night, there had been far more than just those. The sabertooths we killed were merely the frontline, and the rest just happened to retreat. In all honesty, if they didn''t run away and had just continued attacking, they probably would''ve demolished Tianyin. Qin Yao may have been able to learn a trick off me to kill the sabertooths, but I died after that - he had no one to copycat off of.


    To sum it up, we had no way of knowing the true strength of these Magic Beasts... that is, if we weren''t yers, anyway.


    The fact that this ''public event'' was avable to us meant that it was meant for our current level. Qin Yao must''ve seen this quest appear on his System, which was why he proposed this extermination idea to Ling Ye and had him recruit other yers. Not a bad move, but still, his n had many ws. It was clear he didn''t think this far ahead. Still, I doubted Qin Yao really cared about any of the other yers. He just wanted all the good stuff for himself - as long as he gets his reward, fame, and survives without a scratch, he''s fine.


    Because of this, I had to make a move. I needed to ensure no one dies in vain, all because of the stupid and careless n this kid thought up. Now, I''m not doing this because I wanted to y the hero or anything... but because I wanted a certain someone to owe me a favor.


    "Before we do anything, don''t you think it''s necessary that we get to know one other and ascertain each others'' strengths and weaknesses?" I proposed, raising my hand slightly. "I mean... you said you''ll be splitting us into bnced groups, right? How the hell are you going to do that if you don''t even know our abilities?"


    Qin Yao looked at me and narrowed his eyes a bit, as if annoyed by my words. However, that expression quickly disappeared as he responded:


    "Of course. You''re right. In that case, let''s all do a little introduction about ourselves, then. I''ll go first since that is only natural, as the leader."

 Chapter 26: Introductions

    Chapter 26: Introductions


    "Of course. You''re right. In that case, let''s all do a little introduction about ourselves, then," Qin Yao said. "I''ll go first since that is only natural, as the leader."


    As Qin Yao shifted his position on the rock in preparation for his self-introduction, I noticed my neighbor pick up a pebble off the floor and twirl it around in her hand. Just when I was wondering what she was going to do with it, she suddenly whipped the pebble at the one Qin Yao was standing on with a single flick of her wrist.


    I blinked in surprise as I attempted to track the projectile with my eyes. The pebble struck the rock Qin Yao was standing on-


    "My name is Qin Yao. I am 14 years old, and- wah!"


    -He stumbled off the rock and crashed painfully onto the rough ground. My neighbor, the perpetrator of this humiliating disy, snickered as I watched on in amusement. The other yers, surprised at this epic fail, also started giggling at this shameful disy.


    "Hero Qin! Are you alright?" Captain Ling Ye hurried over to help Qin Yao up.


    "Ah, yeah... I''m fine," he said, pushing away Ling Ye''s assistance and getting back up on his own. He then scanned the audience, searching for the one who had done this to him. Immediately, all the other yers ceased theirughter, my neighbor - Chiaki Furuwa - included.


    "A-Ahem..." Qin Yao cleared his throat, attempting to hide his embarrassment. "Like I was saying... my name is Qin Yao. I am 14 years old, and in real life, I am the son of the CEO of thergestpany in China."


    Ling Ye frowned in confusion at all this. It was hrious - he must''ve been wondering, ''China? What the hell''s that?'' Still, Qin Yao''s arrogance knew no bounds. Despite the utter humiliation he just went through, he still had the audacity to dere thepletely irrelevant information known as his social position back on Earth.


    "I am currently Level 10 in-game," Qin Yao continued, ignoring the awkward grimaces he was receiving from his audience. "However, I only started ying this yesterday. I''ll reach the top of the rankings soon enough."


    Again... useless information. Unable to take this any longer, I decided to raise my hand to ask him about his stats, but-


    "Cut the crap. What are your stats?"


    ... My neighbor, Chiaki Furuwa, stole my thunder.


    "H-Huh? My stats? Uh..." Qin Yao, startled, began to spin his brain gears at Mach 1 to try ande up with a suitable response. After a short silence, he finally answered.


    "Strength, 40. Agility, 35... Intelligence, 40. Dexterity, 25. Magic, 50; and... Luck, 10."


    Everyone fell silent. Not because the stats were too impressive... but because they weren''t even possible in the first ce.


    Man... if you''re going toe up with a lie, at least make it somewhat believable. I mean, clearly, your intelligence is not 40.


    "Um..." the timid girl from before looked around anxiously, to see if anyone would point out Qin Yao''s mistake. But all of us just stood there, watching him in amusement to see when he would realize it himself.


    "Er... Qin Yao, was it? I don''t think your stats are that high... did you make a mistake in your memory, perhaps?" she said atst, seeing how none of us were going to speak up and ruin this beautiful moment. She was far too nice. ''Mistake in your memory''? Nah. Anyone with an intelligence higher than Qin Yao''s would be able to tell that was merely a lie to make himself look better.


    "H-Hm? Oh, wait... you''re right, ahaha... sorry, my memory has always been bad," he hurriedly apologized.


    The rest of us all just stared back at him like, ''who''re you trying to fool?''


    "A-Anyway, let''s move on to the next person," he continued, changing the topic. "We have around thirty people here - let''s get a move on."


    "U-Um, I''ll go next, then," the timid girl said, taking a deep breath. "M-My name is Hua Yi Lian. Hua Hua, for short. I''m 14 years old, and I''m currently a student! As for my stats... um, I spent most of my SP on intelligence, since I don''t really like fighting..."


    "If you don''t like fighting, why the hell did you even join this hunting party?" Qin Yao asked insensitively, his hero facade wearing off. He must''ve already gotten pissed after that embarrassing fall earlier, and the humiliation he suffered from realizing his lie had been exposed the moment it came out of his mouth didn''t help.


    "H-Huh? Ah... y-you see... I am trying to conqueror my fear of fighting because that might be able to help me stop being so... shy all the time," the girl replied quietly, pressured by Qin Yao. "I-It''splicated..."


    "..." Qin Yao didn''t seem convinced but didn''t say anything further. "So, you''ll need strong teammates. Okay, who''s next?"


    "I''ll go, yer?" the man in his thirties from before said. He seemed to be foreign - from the Americas or Europe, maybe. "The name''s Jim Fitzroy. 34, turnin'' 35 this year... but ay, real-life stuff don''t really matter, do it? ''Nyway, my stats ''re mainly strength n'' luck. I''ve always ''ad bloody bad luck, ya know? Decided ta see if uppin'' my LUC stat could do the trick. Cheers, mates."


    So... I guess he''s Australian. The trantion system A.R.X.A. implemented was truly a fascinating thing. Somehow, I could understand what he was saying - but not because his speech had been tranted to Japanese. I was hearing his original, Australian English, but my brain could somehow process it and understand it despite me never learning thenguage before. The same thing applied for Chinese, which Qin Yao spoke. The NPCs also appeared to speak Chinese - at least, in this region. I didn''t know if the same applied to the other regions, though.


    "I''ll go next then, I guess," another person spoke up and proceeded to introduce themselves.


    This process repeated until nearly everyone had given their introductions. This one guy wouldn''t stop rambling on about his life and took about ten minutes alone. None of us interrupted him, mainly because he started bawling his eyes out in the middle of his venting session. It was truly heartbreaking, the way his ex-girlfriend dumped him...


    Still, while I felt bad, I really found it difficult to just stand here and listen to a guy I didn''t even know ramble on and on for ten minutes straight. The other yers, even Qin Yao, were the same. By the time he was finally done, we all collectively let out a sigh of relief.


    Anyway, very soon, there were only two people left yet to go. Chiaki Furuwa, and I. We looked into each other''s eyes, both of us telling the other to go first, with neither of us actually wanting to do so. We were both equally stubborn and anthropophobic, it seemed.


    Eventually, she gave in. I was the victor.


    "Tch... my name''s Chiaki Furuwa. But if you call me by my first name, Furuwa, I''ll kill you. All my stats are bnced, except for MAG. But from what I''ve heard so far, we''re all around level 10. I''m the same. None of us have even unlocked hidden arts yet, so there''s no point in talking about that stat."


    "Speaking of... does anyone here know when we will unlock hidden arts?" a guy asked. His looks were a bit hard to describe - if I had to say, he would be a nerdy-type if only he had a pair of sses on.


    "It shouldn''t be that far off from now," Qin Yao said. "If MAG is a base stat, they should be giving us ess to hidden arts pretty soon. And now... our final member?"


    He looked at me, and I returned his stare intently. Immediately, he averted his gaze. What a wimp.


    "Kaze. Igarashi Kaze. That''s my name," I said calmly. "I''m level 11, and my stats revolve around STR and AGI. Looking forward to fighting alongside you all."

 Chapter 27: Hinas Decision

    Chapter 27: Hina''s Decision


    After that discussion and all the introductions, which took around an hour in total, we disbanded. Qin Yao told us he would sort out all the groups based on the information he got from our introductions, and inform us of them at 6 PM today - which is also when we would meet back up and set out for the forest. For now, we were free to do our own thing. It was approximately 10:30 AM right now, still far too early for lunch. I had a good hour of free time to kill before then.


    Chiaki Furuwa wanted to leave immediately after the discussion was finished, but after following her for some distance, I stopped her, grabbing her hand. We were now safely out of Qin Yao''s earshot, so I made my move.


    "Hold on."


    "H-Huh? Igarashi... what? Hey, why are you touching me?!" she yelled, forcefully yanking her arm away and shooting me a look of disgust. Hm... she remembered my name. That was surprising.


    "Rx," I said, sighing. "I just wanted to know... why do you hate Qin Yao so much?"


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    I rolled my eyes. "Don''t y dumb. I saw you flick that pebble at him earlier. That''s what made him fall."


    I had to admit, this girl''s uracy and strength weren''t half bad, to be able to strike that rock Qin Yao had been standing on with such precision. Her acting skills, however, needed some work.


    "... So, you saw?"


    "What. Afraid I''m going to rat you out?"


    "Not in the least. I was just wondering if you were on his side, that''s all."


    I scoffed. "Him? He''s thest person I would be on the side of."


    "Why, you can''t stand his arrogant personality either?" she asked, a smirk on her face.


    "Nah, not that... " I muttered. Then, after a short pause, I continued. "Would you believe me... if I said that he stole my credit?"


    "Your credit...? You mean, it was you who figured out how to kill the sabertoothsst night?"


    I shrugged. "Perhaps. Why don''t you tell me, what happenedst night that made everyone acknowledge him as the one who discovered the method?"


    Furuwa scratched her head. "Well, uh... I just remember being in the middle of reading the new species entry that had popped up on my screen when I heard a voice yell to aim for the inside of their mouths. It was Qin Yao who yelled this, obviously. The guards immediately listened to his instructions, and killed the sabertooths easily."


    "So Qin Yao didn''t even actually y a sabertooth?" I asked, surprised. It seemed I had overestimated him.


    "Nope. I just saw him yelling instructions. There was a sabertooth-like figure lying a little distance away from him that seemed to be unmoving, but before I could make sure what it was, it disappeared into shards of light. I don''t think he killed it though. I mean, we''re all around level 10s here. The new species entry said that sabertooths were enemies far above our level, no?"


    I chuckled. "Sure, they may be, but... would you believe me if I told you that dead sabertooth you saw was killed by me?"


    Furuwa''s expression immediately changed into one of disbelief and skepticism. "Huh? Who''re you trying to impress? Please, if you''re trying to pick up girls, at leaste up with a more believable lie."


    Ouch. That one hurt. But unfortunately for her, I hadn''t been lying, nor was I trying to pick her up. Oh well.


    "As I thought, no one would believe it, huh?" I muttered, shaking my head in disappointment. "Whatever."


    "You really expected people to believe that? God, you''re even more ignorant than Qin Yao."


    Who''s the ignorant one here, I wonder? I didn''t bother saying that out loud though. She would find out the truth soon enough.


    I had a bad feeling about tonight. Something tells me that there''s more to these Magic Beasts in the area, besides the ''gue''. Something felt ''off'' about the way they all just retreated so systematicallyst night... almost as if someone - or something - was controlling them from behind the scenes. If that''s really the case, then... chances are, we would have to encounter this mastermind tonight.


    "By the way," I said as Furuwa began to walk away from me. "What school are you from?"


    "...Why do you want to know? Creep," she muttered in disdain.


    The reason I asked this question was a hunch that I had. I was taking a gamble here, testing out if my LUC stat was really working.


    "I''m in Tokyo Metropolitan Fujimura High School," I continued, baiting her.


    She stopped. "H-Huh? You''re at Fujimura High? Wait, that means..."


    And... she took the bait.


    "Hm... let me guess. You''re in Kawasaki High?"


    "W-Wha... how the hell did you know?" she turned around and asked, now unsure of whether to be furious or afraid. Perhaps a bit of both.


    "Calm down, I''m not a stalker or anything," I replied.


    "That''s what all stalkers say," Furuwa muttered.


    Okay, I couldn''t deny that one.


    "Nah, listen, I''m being honest. I just thought I recognized your face from somewhere, that''s all," I said. "I remember seeing someone who looked simr to you at a sports event during middle school. You were from a different school, but your performance during the girls'' ry race was pretty outstanding, so I ended up remembering your face. And since the school you went to just happened to lead into Kawasaki High... that''s all. It was just a hunch, really."


    "What... you have one crazy memory."


    "I''ll take that as apliment."


    "So? Was there something you wanted from me? Or did you just want to confirm what school I was in? If it''s thetter, you''re really a creep," Furuwa said with a sigh, cing her hands on her hips.


    "I just wanted to ask you something," I replied calmly. "Do you know someone called Sakura Hina?"


    Her eyes widened. "You know Sakura-senpai?!"


    Hmph. ''Know'' her? She''s been my family for the past fourteen years, Furuwa. I didn''t mention that though.


    "Yeah... she''s an acquaintance of mine," I replied.


    "No way, could it be... are you stalking her instead of me?!"


    I rubbed my nasal bridge in exhaustion. "No... look. I just wanted to know if you know of her, that''s all."


    "How can I not know of her? She''s, like, the most popr girl in the school!"


    Hearing this, I smiled slightly. As expected of Hina-nee. No matter where she is, she always ends up being liked by everyone.


    "I see. In that case, I have a favor to ask of you. On Monday, when you return to school... please let me know whether or not she''s doing okay."


    "What... why wouldn''t she be?"


    "You ask far too many questions," I said, sighing. "If you don''t want to do it, that''s fine. I''ll... find another method."


    Furuwa was still confused. "H-Hold on a minute, Igarashi-kun. What is your rtionship with Sakura-senpai?"


    I turned around, my back now facing her.


    "I''m just someone who''s been relying on her for the past 14 years. That''s all."


    *****


    - Meanwhile, Earthen Reality ne -


    11:00 AM. I sat anxiously on Kaze-kun''s bed, waiting for my father to text me.


    His scheduled interview with Ascentech was happening right now. I was waiting for my answers - the answers father promised he would find for me. My answers, as to where Kaze-kun went...


    ... And more importantly, how I could get him back.


    I picked up the nket on the bed and brought it up to my nose. It smelled exactly like Kaze-kun... but it wascking the warmth of his body. My grip tightened on the fabric, and I told myself not to start crying again. What was crying going to do? Absolutely nothing. I wasn''t a little girl anymore. I was 15. It was time I matured.


    But as seconds turned to minutes, my anxiety started to creep in. I started to get impatient. I started to give in to despair. Where was the text? Where were my answers? Where was Kaze-kun? Ten minutes passed, but every second felt like an eon. I was on the verge of giving up.


    Until atst, my phone beeped. I immediately picked it up, and I felt my heart stop beating when I saw the text my father had sent me.


    [I''m sorry, Hina.]


    I dropped my phone on the bed.


    He didn''t need to go into details. He didn''t need to say anymore. Just those three words were enough to break me.


    Kaze-kun... I miss you. I miss you so much. It hasn''t even been a day since you disappeared, but I already cannot bear it anymore.


    And then, as my gazended on the AR helmet I bought for him, I thought struck me.


    Kaze-kun had been inside whatever game he was ying when I unplugged the socket. That means... his body should''ve disappeared into that game, right?


    Oh god... how did I not think of this before?!


    I had been so overwhelmed by despair that I couldn''t even think with a straight head. But now, everything became clear. All I had to do was enter the game myself. Then, I would be able to find Kaze-kun, and meet him again. I couldn''t use his helmet, because I didn''t know what would happen if I did - maybe that helmet was rted to his disappearance, somehow. I didn''t want to risk vanishing from this world as well, so I had no choice but to get a new AR helmet.


    I leaped off the bed, quickly changed, and headed out in the direction of the video game store, hoping that it was open on weekends.


    Kaze-kun... I''ming. Just wait for me.

 Chapter 28: New Skills

    Chapter 28: New Skills


    After the talk with Furuwa, I ate lunch at the same ce I ate breakfast and dinner the night before. Once again, I ordered the same thing, because I was careful like that. Even though I was about to get 75,000 gold, I still didn''t want to waste any gold on something I couldn''t even eat. I had 30 gold left after this morning, so I spent another 10 now for lunch. The waitress, who had served me three times in a row now, didn''t seem tired in the least. In fact, she weed me warmer each time I returned.


    I took advantage of this eating time to spend the SP and AP I had received from reaching Level 11:


    STR: 41 -> 45 (Cost: 4 SP)


    AGI: 40 -> 45 (Cost: 5 SP)


    INT: 10 -> 10 (Cost: 0 SP)


    DEX: 10 -> 11 (Cost: 1 SP)


    MAG: 25 -> 25 (Cost: 0 SP)


    LUC: 10 -> 11 (Cost: 0 SP)


    Apparently, my LUC stat increased passively. This was most likely because I decided to go through with my hunch and confront Furuwa. Really, LUC passively powered up from the weirdest, tiniest things. Maybe this was just A.R.X.A.''s silent way of convincing me to take more risks. I then switched to the ''Skills'' tab and widened my eyes as I realized that there weren''t just three main paths I could take anymore. There were now eight.


    "Man, A.R.X.A... you gotta stop preventing the new database entries from showing up. Other yers can get info before I can if you do this," I muttered.


    [Are you certain?] she suddenly appeared and asked.


    "Yes. Please." I kept my voice low so that no one else would think I was a weirdo, talking to myself.


    [... Very well.]


    I rolled my eyes, as A.R.X.A.''s hologram disappeared. I then directed my full attention onto the ''Skills'' tab once again. The original three paths had been ''Assassin'', ''Knight'', and ''Support'' respectively. Now, the five new paths that have been unlocked were ''Mage'', ''Tank'', ''Marksman'', ''Engineer'', and...


    "Hm...? ''Ascendant''? What is this?"


    Unlike the other seven paths that were all filled with skills, this one only had nine hexagons, representing nine skills. The ninth and final hexagon, at the very bottom of the screen, was bigger than all the rest. Usually, that meant something was important.


    I tried clicking on the first hexagon in the Ascendant path, but it wouldn''t let me. All I got was a short, low-pitched beeping sound, signaling me that I couldn''t unlock that skill yet. I frowned in confusion.


    "Hey, A.R.X.A.," I whispered. "Mind telling me what this Ascendant skill path is?"


    A sh appeared to my right, and a hologram showing A.R.X.A.''s robotic, emotionless face showed up once again.


    [Figure it out on your own.]


    "... Well, I can''t exactlyin, as much as I want to. You did warn me that you wouldn''t answer all of my questions," I muttered.


    [However. I will give you a hint.]


    "Oh? Feeling nice today, my dear AI?" I teased.


    [Each skill path represents a different ss. Keep that in mind.] she replied,pletely ignoring my attempt to crack a joke. She was merciless.


    "So, you''re saying ''Ascendant'' is a ss. Does it have anything to do with Ascending, I wonder...?" I smirked. I had already found the answer. A.R.X.A.''s hint may have been simple, but it was enough.


    [... I cannot tell you the answer to that.]


    "Yeah, yeah... thanks."


    With that, her hologram disappeared once more, just as my food arrived. If my guess was correct, each of those eight hexagons (excluding the big one at the end) represented a tablet I needed to collect. Whenever I collected one, a hexagon would light up. And following the rule of all the other skill paths... it would mean I had to collect all the tablets in a predetermined order. Now that was troublesome. Finding the tablets was already hard enough, but if I had to collect them in a certain set sequence... that was even more difficult.


    I didn''t have to worry about that for a while though. I was still nowhere near ready to collect any tablets. I decided to just take a look at some of the other skill paths, or rather, sses. I noticed that I could click on the differentbels at the end of each skill tree to see the descriptions of each of them. I then noticed a ''Choose'' button below every ss''s description and clicked on one of them because I was curious to see what it did. A pop-up prompt appeared:


    [Warning:]


    [You are about to select ''Knight'' as your main skill path. Once you have made this choice, it cannot be reversed. Learning skills of other paths will cost more AP, but learning skills of the Knight path will cost lesster on. In addition, there are certain skills in a skill path that can only be learned if you select that skill path as your main ss. Are you sure you wish to select ''Knight''?]


    Hmm... main skill path? I didn''t know this was a thing. I thought you could just learn skills randomly from any tree without having to worry. That said, this ''main skill path'' option was pretty good for those who just wanted to stick to one single ss. However... I wasn''t that kind of person. I already had a skill from the Assassin skill path anyway - I was already nning on being a hybrid, unlocking the best skills in every single ss.


    Therefore, I clicked on ''No'' and exited out of the prompt, returning to the massive skill tree, now with eight different major branches.


    I looked at the various first skills of the different sses. I already had the one for Assassin - Inspect. And after some browsing, without any hesitation, I purchased the first skill in the ''Knight'' skill path. It cost 1 AP.


    [Name: Way of the Knight]


    [Category: Knight]


    [Type: Passive]


    [Description: Passively increases all of your stats by 1.]


    My eyes widened, and I immediately switched to the ''Profile'' tab. My stats now read:


    [STR: 46]


    [AGI: 46]


    [INT: 11]


    [DEX: 12]


    [MAG: 26]


    [LUC: 12]


    Hmm... it really worked. I smirked. This was quite the nice passive skill, probably the best one out there. Then, I saw another skill, this time in the ''Assassin'' skill path.


    [Name: Way of the Assassin]


    [Category: Assassin]


    [Type: Passive]


    [Description: Passively increases your STR, AGI, and DEX stats by 2 each.]


    I immediately unlocked it. STR and AGI were the two main stats I was focusing on, so this was good for me. My stats had now increased once again:


    [STR: 48]


    [AGI: 48]


    [INT: 11]


    [DEX: 14]


    [MAG: 26]


    [LUC: 12]


    Sweet. I found it kind of odd how ''Way of the Knight'' was the first skill in the ''Knight'' skill path, but ''Way of the Assassin'' was the second skill for the ''Assassin'' skill path. I looked at all the other paths (with the exception of Ascendant) and they all had a ''Way of the __'' skill as their first one. Why was ''Assassin'' different? I had no idea. So far, I''ve only managed to gain mainly passive skills, so I decided to try an active one for a change. After some searching, I found what I was looking for. It was one of the three skills that branched off from ''Way of the Assassin''.


    [Name: Vanishing Cloud]


    [Category: Assassin]


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: A quick and short dash in one direction. For the duration of the dash, you be untargetable and can move through objects, including living beings. Useful for dodging enemy attacks, throwing the enemy''s aim off, and suddenly reappearing behind them, travelling through them to do so.]


    [Cooldown: 20 seconds]


    Not bad, not bad at all. I bought the skill with 1 AP. In order to use this skill, I probably just had to ''think'' its skill name - in this case, ''Vanishing Cloud''. Since it worked for ''Inspect'', I didn''t see why it wouldn''t for this one. I decided to try it outter.


    Since I already finished eating, I took out 10 gold from inventory and ced it on the table. I decided to save the other 2 AP I had since I didn''t have time to browse more skills right now. I had already finished my food; it wouldn''t be polite for me to still keep the seat, especially during peak times like this. Besides, I wasn''t exactly in a rush to spend all of my AP.


    I walked out of the restaurant, and looked around. After making sure no one was close enough to get hit, I cast a quick skill.


    ''Vanishing Cloud.''


    I felt myself dash forward incredibly fast, so much so that it felt like I had outright teleported. I then looked around for something to dash through, since apparently, the skill made me untargetable for its duration. I headed for the western gates of the city, which luckily still had a portion of the wall still standing for me to phase through.


    I walked up right in front of the wall, and mentally said the spell name.


    ''Vanishing Cloud.''


    I was propelled forward by a gush of wind, and the next thing I knew, I was on the other side of the wall, outside the city. I blinked in surprise. This skill was definitely quite a useful one to have. It was versatile, and could be used for both offense and defense. The cooldown of twenty seconds was also not half bad either, though it definitely could be better. Still, this is one of the most basic skills in the ''Assassin'' category, so I didn''t expect it to be so powerful. I was pretty happy about that.


    After some mental debate as to what I should do next, I ultimately decided to just explore Tianyin City a bit. Half of the ce had already been destroyed, but there were still plenty of ces to look at.


    I didn''t know when I would have another leisure afternoon like this to spend, after all.

 Chapter 29: The Hunting Party

    Chapter 29: The Hunting Party


    That afternoon, I went to several different stores and browsed them for anything that interested me. Of course, I didn''t have enough gold to buy anything right now, but I was about to get a huge sum. Might as well look for something now.


    In the end, only one thing ended up catching my eye: an outfit set. More specifically, it was an armor set, but it didn''t look half bad either, which was why I called it an ''outfit''. I had seen it when looking through an armor store.


    The set came in three different parts - the clothes, the pants, and the boots. Excluding the silver armor ting, the outfit mainly consisted of sturdy, strong ck fabric, with a hood that could go over my head. The shoulders had light metal ting on them that jutted outwards to my sides in a triangr shape, and the chest part had light armor as well. The stomach portion wasyered with chainmail underneath the fabric, so it was well-protected as well.


    As for the lower body, all my joints would be nearlypletely covered in light armor if I put it on, but the rest would only be protected by the thick fabric. This made my legs and thighs somewhat vulnerable, but defense wasn''t the highlight of this armor set anyway. The boots were made out of leather, then dyed ck to match the rest of the outfit, with metal silver linings here and there for decorative purposes. It seemed that this world had a lot of the same materials as back on Earth.


    ording to thebel next to it, this outfit was called the ''Assassin''s Cloak''. A suitable name for an armor set made to be light above all else. Unlike the other bulky and heavy armor in the store, my agility and movements wouldn''t be hindered if I wore this one since it was so light - the perfect attire for assassins. However, at the same time, my vitals would still be offered some protection. Moreover, because the majority of this outfit was ck, it made it harder to see me at night.


    All these factors considered, I decided to buy this outfit as soon as I got the money for it. After checking the price tag, I found out that this set cost 350 gold - just a small sumpared to what I was going to receive very soon.


    As an aside, while I was browsing various stores, I came across Furuwa. However, despite both of us looking each other straight in the eye, neither of us made a move to start a conversation, and instead just brushed past one another as if we were strangers. However... I did discretely use ''Inspect'' on her.


    [Name: Chiaki Furuwa]


    [Gender: Female]


    [Race: Human]


    [ss: Knight]


    [Level: 10]


    -


    [STR: 21]


    [AGI: 21]


    [INT: 21]


    [DEX: 21]


    [MAG: 1]


    [LUC: 11]


    Hm... so she discovered the ''main skill path'' option as well and decided to go along with it. The ''Knight'' ss did indeed suit her though, since all her stats were pretty bnced. She also seems to have purchased the ''Way of the Knight'' passive skill, seeing as how her stats had increased since thest time I used ''Inspect'' on her, even though her level was still the same.


    Not bad, not bad at all, Furuwa.


    *****


    6 PM rolled around faster than I had expected. I had been in the middle of browsing a library, marked by a book icon in my minimap, when I looked at the time disyed in my System and realized it was 5:58.


    I hurried over to the western gates, where we were meant to meet. The majority of the other yers who were there this morning had already gathered, Qin Yao and Furuwa included. However, there were also some new faces... well, to other people, anyway. I recognized them - Ichigo and Horiya. They had both joined this ''Public Event'' as well, in the words of the game.


    A.R.X.A. must''ve predicted that Captain Ling Ye was going tounch an extermination party to go into the forest sooner orter, even if Qin Yao hadn''t proposed to lead it. That''s why she scheduled a ''Public Event'' to happen right now, and gathered all the yers via this method.


    ''''Alright. It seems everyone is here," Qin Yao said atst, scanning the crowd that had gathered before him. "Some of us here now weren''t here for the meeting this morning, but that''s alright. I''ve already determined their strength, and made groups ordingly. So, without further ado, here are the teams..."


    In the end, we had 35 people. There were quite a few yers online in this region of the game, probably because it was a Saturday. However... I''ve had this inquiry for a while now, but from the research I did while I was still in the Earthen reality ne, Ascension: Online was an insanely popr game. It didn''t make sense for there to only be such few yers here. If this was really just a video game, I''d assume there were multiple different servers yers could y on to avoid overflooding, but... this was a real, alternate world. I''d have to ask A.R.X.A. about thister.


    In any case, the total number of yers here participating in this public event was easily divisible - seven groups with five people each. However... there was just one problem:


    And that was my group members.


    My team consisted of the four people I least wanted to be with, unfortunately. Indeed - I was forced to work with Chiaki Furuwa, Qin Yao, Mazami Ichigo, and Yamato Horiya. I really didn''t like it, but my request to switch groups probably wouldn''t be approved, especially with Qin Yao as the leader here. I just had to grin and bear it, I suppose.


    "Oi, Igarashi. What a coincidence, huh? We''re in the same group," Ichigo chuckled once Qin Yao had finished announcing the groups, and walked over to me. "You sure you can handle this quest? We ain''t going in there to fight some sickleboars, y''know."


    "Thank you for the concern, but I''ll be fine," I retorted in a mockingly polite manner.


    "Heh. We''ll see about that," Horiya added. "Just don''t expect us to save your ass when you''re about to die and lose your whole inventory, yeah?"


    I smiled. "Of course."


    It seems they knew about the consequences of dying as well, probably from reading that Database entry. However, they clearly didn''t read it properly, since it said that you would only start losing things upon death from level 15 and up.


    "Tch... why am I stuck with this group..." Furuwa muttered from beside me.


    I blinked in surprise. "Hm? What''s this? You, proactively trying to start a conversation with me?"


    "You''re the best one in this group. And when that''s the case, you know there''s a problem," she replied mercilessly, shooting me a deadpan re.


    I shrugged. "I can''t argue with that one. Our fellow group members are quite... troublesome."


    "Hmph. Who''ll be the troublesome one when you need our help?" Ichigo scoffed, sending Furuwa a condescending look.


    "I''d rather die than ept your help," Furuwa shot back, rolling her eyes.


    Ichigo snorted in response, and neither of them said anything further.


    "Alright, is everyone ready?" Qin Yao asked, walking over to us after he had confirmed with the other groups.


    "As ready as ever," Horiya replied. "Let''s get some loot. And XP too."


    "Yeah, there''s this skill I had my eye on... I just need 1 AP to get it," Ichigo smirked.


    "In that case..." Qin Yao looked around at the other groups, then raised his voice.


    "Everyone, let''s head out!"

 Chapter 30: Extermination

    Chapter 30: Extermination


    The seven groups started as one, as we slowly got further and further away from the gates of Tianyin City. Soon, we reached the forest where the Magic Beasts roamed. This was the same ce where I had made my first kill. Sickleboars were roaming about, but with ourrge group of 35 people, they weren''t a threat at all. We simply broke apart and ughtered them all, before regrouping once again around Qin Yao.


    "Alright. This is the forest between Xiyang vige and Tianyin City - and it is also where the Magic Beasts are."


    He then looked over to our right. "Nothing is to our right except a long fall to our deaths, but the other direction..."


    He nced at our left, where a dark forest awaited, even though the sun still had notpletely set. "Deep within that forest is where the Magic Beasts that attacked Tianyin Cityst night are all hiding. After all, there is no other ce for them to be. All we have to do is split up into our seven groups, and kill any beasts we see."


    "But... what about the sabertooths fromst night?" the timid girl, whose name was Hua Hua, asked nervously.


    "We''ll be fine, kiddo," the foreign thirty-year-old dude with an Australian ent, who had been ced into the same group as Hua Hua, replied fearlessly. "We already got''em the bloody sabertoothsst night. Why ya worryin'' so damn much?"


    "U-Um... I-I was just worried if there were any still left, that''s all..."


    Qin Yao, whose annoyance from this morning was now gone, gently smiled and walked over to Hua Hua. "You''ll be alright, Hua Hua. Your group will protect you if that happens - I will protect you if that happens."


    Hua Hua seemed to calm down after hearing the beloved leader''s words, and blushed slightly. However, my neighbor seemed to have a different opinion.


    "Yeah, right... you would''ve assigned her to the same group as yourself if you really would protect her..." Furuwa muttered in disgust. "Qin Yao... he disgusts me."


    "Really? I wouldn''t say he ''disgusts'' me, but I definitely don''t like him either," I replied.


    "No one asked."


    Okay, Furuwa, okay... I see how it is.


    "Alright. Any more questions?" Qin Yao asked, looking around. After a short silence, he continued. "Perfect. Let''s go, then."


    *****


    The seven groups broke apart from each other, and each headed into a different sector of the forest. This was to save time, and also cover more ground. None of us knew exactly how deep this forest was, after all. That being said, it was clear that it led towards the heart of Mount Valgan, judging from the orientation - the opposite direction led off the mountain.


    The five of us in my group stayed low and didn''t talk to one another as we moved swiftly through the forest. Despite their rather questionable personalities, Furuwa, Ichigo, and Horiya were all quite capable. Qin Yao was slowly getting left behind, as the four of us rushed onwards at speeds he could not match. Of course, he couldn''t tell us to slow down - that would be like admitting he couldn''t keep up with our strength. As the leader, he needed to keep face.


    After about ten minutes of running, we began to get suspicious. We scoped out our surroundings, and gathered around, sitting down in a circle formation. This inadvertently gave Qin Yao some breathing room, luckily for him, because he had been about to run out of energy.


    "We''ve been looking around for ten minutes, and have found nothing," Ichigo muttered. "Oi, Qin Yao, you sure the beasts are in here?"


    "Look at your ''Quest'' tab. It should tell us there," he replied, having regained his breath back.


    Ichigo did as told, and so did everyone else, myself included. I navigated to the quest steps of this public event.


    [ - ept Captain Ling Ye''s invitation to join the Hunting Party.]


    [ - Enter the forest.]


    [X - Stay on the move as you search for the beasts. If you stop, you will be surrounded, and ambushed.]


    All of our eyes widened as we saw this line. We looked up, and exchanged nces. All of us were thinking the same thing:


    Well, shit.


    As if on cue, a high-pitched screeching sound pierced our ears, and before we knew it, multiple enormous silver butterflies tackled us onto the ground. I was able to dodge out of the way thanks to my quick reaction speeds and high AGI stat, but Ichigo, Horiya, and Qin Yao were all pinned to the ground. Furuwa somehow managed to dodge as well.


    "D-Damn it! Where did these bastardse from...!" Ichigo muttered in anguish, gritting his teeth and attempting to pry the butterfly off of him, but it wouldn''t budge. Ichigo, who didn''t have his weapon equipped to run faster, was left defenseless and at theplete mercy of the insect.


    A new species entry popped up in front of my eyes, but I didn''t have the time to read it right now so I quickly dismissed it with a light tap of my finger.


    I sighed quietly and pulled out my dagger from beneath my foot, before instantly striking it into the abdomen of the butterfly who had tried to attack me without any hesitation. I had dodged its attack, but unfortunately for it, it was unable to dodge mine. I nailed it into the ground, ignoring its banshee-like wailing as I drove my weapon deeper into its body.


    Its allies then finally realized what was going on, and immediately all turned their target into me. The four remaining butterflies converged on me, surrounding me from all four sides. They then activated their drill-like arms, and all simultaneously dove towards me. I jumped upwards, and honestly, if it wasn''t for my AGI stat of 48, I would''ve died there. However, speed wasn''t alone, as I was about to fall back down due to thews of gravity - straight into their whirling drills of death.


    I wracked my brain at Mach 1 to try and think of a way out of this situation, then remembered the skill I picked up earlier today, and smirked.


    ''Vanishing Clouds.''


    Right as I was about to hit the drills, I was propelled downwards by a sudden burst of speed and became untargetable in the process. I phased through the drills and stuck thending on the soft forest soil. The silver butterflies, confused as to what just happened and why I wasn''t lying dead, skewered by their drills, stopped moving for a split second to try andprehend the situation.


    That instant was all I needed.


    I drove my dagger into one of the butterflies the same way I killed theirrade. Then, following through with the momentum, I pushed the beast down onto the ground as I broke out of their cage, before extracting my dagger and leaping a safe distance away. The other three butterflies, having finally snapped out of their confusion, were now even more furious than before, and charged towards me. I angled my dagger to block one of the drills aimed for my head, but the butterfly''s other arm came flying in as well.


    Cursing, I pushed backward, using my dagger as a source of momentum. I crashed painfully into a tree, but narrowly avoided bing mincemeat. The deadly silver butterflies, however, were not done with me just yet. The two beasts other than the one Iunched myself away from closed in on me, one from my front, and one circling around to strike me from behind. I was trapped with a pincer attack.


    I quickly got back up and angled my dagger the same way to block another drill. This butterfly, unlike his predecessor,bined its two drills into a more powerful one, and tried to brute force its ways through my dagger. Calcium struck metal, and sparks ensued. However, I could feel the butterfly getting pushed back. The dagger Ming Yi had crafted for me sure was durable, despite its small frame.


    However, my relief quickly disappeared as the second butterfly circled around and zoomed towards my open,pletely defenseless back.


    "Damn it...!" I muttered, gritting my teeth and preparing for my inevitable death.


    ... Or so I thought.


    "Tch-!" a shadow suddenly appeared behind me and blocked the second butterfly''s drill with her longsword.


    I chuckled. "Furuwa! Finally done watching the show with your popcorn?!"


    "Shut up! I was busy equipping my weapon and reading the new species entry! And who said you could call me by my first name?!" she yelled in response, before forcefully pushing the butterfly away with brute strength. I did the same with my own enemy, making good use of my STR stat of 48.


    "This is why you always keep your weapon equipped!"


    "Save the talking forter, dickhead!"


    Then, simultaneously, the two of us each leaped towards our own target and drove our weapons into their guts. The butterflies shrieked in pain, before exploding into billions of tiny triangles of light, along with the rest of their fallenpanions. The shards of light - EXP - flowed into my body. Unfortunately, I didn''t level up from that, despite having in four of these silver butterflies on my own. A hologram, however, did appear:


    [Obtained: Silver Wings x8.]


    Only one kind of item drops from this enemy? Damn.


    I stood up from the ground and turned around to see Furuwa do the same. Our eyes met, and she looked away, embarrassed.


    "Look... sorry about that. I should''ve been more prepared," she muttered quietly.


    I blinked in surprise. "Wow. You''re admitting your mistake?"


    "S-Shut it! You''re alive thanks to me, you know!" she yelled, changing her tone immediately. "Besides... I did more than those three useless cowards."


    She turned to look at Ichigo, Horiya, and especially Qin Yao, who all looked away in shame.


    "Hm... I guess so. Wait a minute, what''s that smell?" I sniffed the air, and detected the faint scent of... ammonia?


    "What?" Ichigo did the same... and immediately regretted it, covered his nose in disgust.


    "God, who the hell pissed their pants?!"

 Chapter 31: Rising Tension

    Chapter 31: Rising Tension


    In the end, turns out, Qin Yao was the one who had pissed his pants when a silver butterfly tackled him onto the ground. I mean, honestly, I wasn''t surprised. He had nearly wet himself during the sabertooth encounter too, so I didn''t see why he wouldn''t have here. In any case, it made for quite a niceugh. The four of us now looked at Qin Yao in contempt, his position as leaderpletely demolished.


    On the contrary, everyone else now looked at me in a brand new light. No matter how much they wanted to deny it, the truth was, I saved their asses just now. Furuwa and I had been the only ones who dodged out of the silver butterflies'' attacks, and she had been busy reading the new species entry to do anything until the fight was nearly over. So, essentially, I pretty much 1v4''d the butterflies.


    Speaking of which... I took a look at the Database tab under my System. I then navigated to the new entry I didn''t get to read earlier.


    [NEW SPECIES ENTRY]


    [Name: Silverwing]


    [Type: Magic Beast (Insect)]


    [Weakness: Hidden Arts]


    [Resistance: None]


    [Description: Silverwings are enormous butterflies that can convert their appendages into sharp, whirring drills, and have a tough outer shell covering most of their body. However, the biggest part of their body, the abdomen, ispletely unprotected. It is also the beast''s weakness.]


    I had just aimed for the abdomen by chance, since it was the biggest target, but... looks like I got lucky this time around.


    After that incident, we now knew not to ever stop walking. We kept going through the forest - this time, taking it slow. All of us kept our weapons equipped, ready to fight at a moment''s notice. The four of my teammates all used some kind ofrge sword, so they couldn''t move swiftly with it on, seeing as how they didn''t have a sheath to put it in. It was times like these that the simple yet still deadly dagger shone.


    "Hey, Igarashi-kun," Furuwa said, picking up her pace to walk up to me. The other three walked behind us slowly, their originally arrogant demeanor nowhere to be seen.


    "Hm?"


    "I was just wondering... how did you find out those Silverwings'' weaknesses so quickly, without even reading the new species entry?"


    Even Furuwa''s previously haughty tone towards me had changed. She now spoke as if talking with someone she acknowledged as her equal, if not superior.


    "Would you believe me if I told you I just found it out by luck?" I asked right back with a smirk.


    "How high is your LUC stat?" she asked, taking what I said seriously.


    Iughed. "12."


    "12... that''s not all that high..." she muttered.


    "You''re right, it isn''t. But there''s no way you''ll believe me if I said I''m just that skilled, right?"


    "..." she fell silent, and didn''t immediately respond to my words, which was a surprise.


    "Perhaps... what you said to me earlier today isn''t a lie after all," she said quietly.


    "Hm? What''s this?" I teased her, thoroughly enjoying every moment of this.


    "D-Don''t take this the wrong way, idiot! I was just saying, there''s no way it was Qin Yao who found out about the sabertooths'' weakness, after seeing him piss his pants just now! I never said it was you!"


    "He''s right there, you know." I shrugged, gesturing towards Qin Yao, who had heard her words loud and clear.


    "So what? It''s not like he can deny anything."


    I sighed. "I suppose that''s true. That said... are you nning on exposing his false ims?"


    "Pfft. Of course. I''ll make sure everyone in Tianyin knows about how he pissed his pants just now by tomorrow," Furuwa replied with an evil smile, shooting a sinister look at Qin Yao, walking dejectedly behind us. He responded to Furuwa''s gaze with a fierce re of anger and hatred, but Furuwa wasn''t fazed in the least.


    She was pretty savage and ruthless, that''s for sure.


    We continued walking through the forest but found nothing. Eventually, I began to think - what if we were meant to just stop moving, and have the beastse to us? Even though the quest step had warned us not to do so, perhaps it was in fact the only way to attract the beasts to us. Once we do this enough times... we should be able to get them all, no? Unless they respawn, of course - which was most likely going to happen if we didn''t destroy these Magic Beasts at the root.


    Ichigo sighed. "This is getting boring..."


    "No kidding... we''ve been walking for so long now, and haven''t even seen a single trace of the Magic Beasts," Horiya agreed. "All we''ve done so far since joining this public event was get ambushed."


    Furuwa snorted. "Correction - all YOU did so far was get ambushed. Igarashi-kun and I actually killed some beasts and managed to get XP as well as item drops out of it."


    "... So what? Why do you have to rub it in like that?" Qin Yao, who couldn''t take anymore, spoke atst. His tone was low, and eyes dangerous as he red at Furuwa.


    "Oh, look who''s finally talking... Mr. Pant-pisser, was it?"


    Hearing this, I gave a light chuckle. Even Ichigo and Horiya, who weren''t much better than Qin Yao, let out a shortugh.


    "... Hmph. So what if I pissed my pants? As long as the news doesn''t get out... everything will be fine."


    Furuwa raised an eyebrow. "You really think I won''t spread the news? Oh, you''re far too naive, Pant-pisser-kun."


    "That may be so, but... let me rephrase. As long as no one believes the news you spread, everything will be just fine for me," Qin Yao smirked darkly. "Think about it. The ims of someone like you, a nobody, versus the defense of someone like me, a hero. Who do you think everyone else will believe more?"


    Furuwa snorted. "A hero who wets his pants like a baby the moment he encounters the slightest bit of danger? I think I have better chances."


    Qin Yao smiled. "Think whatever you want. But just remember - you''ve made me your enemy."


    "Woah, so scary," Furuwa rolled her eyes.


    "I''ll hit you when you least expect it, lowlife."


    "Come at me, pant-piss-"


    "AHHHHHHHHH!"


    Suddenly, a loud scream rang out of nowhere.


    "What was that?" Ichigo immediately asked, looking to us for answers.


    "It sounded like a girl with a high-pitched voice... Hua Hua, perhaps?" I murmured.


    "Sounded like it came from that direction," Horiya said, pointing to our right.


    "Well, what are we waiting for?! Let''s go!" Furuwa yelled, immediately taking the lead.


    "Huh? Why are you servants so eager to rush into danger?" Qin Yao asked, genuinely confused with our way of thinking.


    "What?! There''s one of our own in danger! The same girl you promised to protect!" Furuwa shouted in anger, stopping in her tracks.


    Qin Yao scoffed. "So what? She dies, she dies. This is a video game, for god''s sake."


    Ichigo walked up to Qin Yao, and to all of our surprise, unleashed a powerful punch, hitting his face squarely. Qin Yao was sent tumbling onto the dirt.


    "You fucking coward. Just because it''s a video game, means you can go back on your promises?" Ichigo spat in disgust. "Look, I don''t care if you''re mean, threatening, or violent, but as a man, if you go back on your word, especially when offering someone protection... you''re nothing but scum unworthy of life."


    I whistled. "Ichigo, you''ve grown a lot."


    "Shut the hell up, Igarashi. We''re wasting time here," Ichigo turned around, and began running off in the direction of the scream we had heard just now.


    "Hmph. That was a nice punch, I''ll give you that," Furuwa added, before following behind him.


    Horiya did the same, but I remained in ce, and just looked at Qin Yao.


    "Tch... what do you want?" he muttered, ring at me.


    "Ah... your hero farce is nowhere to be seen now, huh?" I murmured, bending down in front of him. "Now that it''s just the two of us, let''s have a little talk."


    "T-The hell?"


    I looked into his eyes, my gaze unwavering. "Tell me. How does it feel, basking in the glory of someone else''s achievements? Does that make you feel good about yourself? Does that fake title of ''hero'' make you feel proud?"


    I leaned in closer to his ear, and whispered quietly, "And not only that, but... you also lied to the captain of the guards, didn''t you? You never nned onpleting this public event in the first ce, isn''t that right? You could simply pretend to have done something, and when you return to the city, just report that all the beasts had been exterminated. You get your reward money, but by the time they find out you had been lying... you''re already long gone from the city. That was your n, no?"


    "Y-You''ve seen through it all, huh? But s-so what? Those guys are NPCs! Why should I care about whether they live or die? In fact, why the hell do you care so much about them?! Are you mad? Haha! No matter how pissed you are, you can''t do shit to me! This is a video game!"


    I backed away and smiled at his obliviousness. "But... is it really?"


    Then, turning around, I began to chase after Furuwa and the others, leaving behind that cryptic message for Qin Yao to contemte.


    "How ignorant," I muttered, and picked up my pace.

 Chapter 32: Moonserpents

    Chapter 32: Moonserpents


    Ichigo, Horiya, Furuwa, and I quickly located the origin point of the scream. Qin Yao ended up tagging along anyway, most likely because he realized if he stayed behind on his own without anyone else to protect him, he would be an easy target to any roaming Magic Beasts. Of course, even if he dide with us, if he got attacked, I wouldn''t be helping. If he dies, he dies. Unfortunately for us, he''ll respawn anyway.


    We soon came across a group of yers, huddled with their backs against each other. Surrounding them were four massive snake-like things, hissing in preparation to strike.


    However, we had arrived, and naturally, weren''t about to just let them do that.


    Ichigo immediately leapt into the fray, attempting to chop one of the snakes in half with his sword. He seeded. But-


    "No!" one of the trapped yers yelled, much to our surprise. And then, we realized why.


    The snake that Ichigo had cut in half... turned into two different snakes. The original snake grew a new tail almost instantly, as the tail part Ichigo cut off grew a new head. Now, there were five snakes on the battlefield.


    "The hell?!" Ichigo backed up a short distance, as the rest of us caught up with him.


    "These bloody snakes ''re called Moonserpents! Ya have ta stab ''em, not slice ''em!" the thirty-year-old Australian man said.


    It seems our guess was on the spot - this was indeed the team Hua Hua was in. The scream we heard earlier had to have been her voice, but... where was she now? I scanned the group surrounded by the Moonserpents. There were only four people, and Hua Hua wasn''t one of them.


    Could it be... did she die?


    But right now, we had bigger problems to worry about. Ichigo''s attack had caused all the snakes to turn their attention towards us. They sped towards us quickly, slithering across the forest dirt as they bared their fangs and hissed in hostility.


    "Damn it, Ichigo!" Qin Yao yelled from behind us, slowly backing up. "Why the hell did you attract them to us?!"


    "You shut the hell up, bastard!" Ichigo yelled behind us, and as a snake leaped at him, he blocked its sharp fangs with his sword. He tried shaking it off, but it wouldn''t budge. Instead, the Moonserpent coiled its tail, before unleashing the built-up momentum to strike Ichigo in the stomach, sending him flying backward.


    "Kuh!" he groaned in pain, as he slowly got back up.


    Meanwhile, the other snakes started targeting us too - one on each of us. I dodged out of the way of the snake attacking me, before grabbing its neck as it flew by and pulling out my dagger from beneath my feet in an attempt to stab it. My STR stat over 40 was the only reason I could pull this off - otherwise, I wouldn''t have been able to grab its thick neck at all. However, it then attempted to coil its tail and use it like a whip, simr to what its ally had done to Ichigo. Cursing, I hurriedly tried to throw the snake away from me, but it wrapped itself around my arm tightly. I could feel its cold, scaly body as it did so, and it was by no means afortable feeling.


    At that time, my System decided it was a good idea to show me a new species entry. I cursed, but both of my hands were preupied already - one locked by the Moonserpent, and the other busy trying to get my dagger out. I had no way of closing up the prompt, so I just had to do my best to look through the translucent screen. It would''ve been great if A.R.X.A. could close this thing up for me right now, but I was the same guy who told her not to prevent these notifications from popping up - I had no one to me.


    It then attempted to bite my shoulder, but by now, I had my dagger out and at the ready, so I promptly stabbed it into the snake''s body. It spasmed for a few seconds, shrieking in pain, before falling to the ground, dead. Pulling my weapon out of its corpse, the body disappeared in a shimmer of light. A hologram appeared in front of me, telling me what I got.


    [Obtained Moonserpent Scales x1.]


    [Obtained Moonserpents Fangs x1.]


    Dismissing this notice, I immediately turned to the others to see how they were doing.


    Furuwa had managed to kill her target solo. Horiya and Ichigo managed to y their targets as well, with some help from the four yers who were originally trapped, including the thirty-year-old foreign man. The only one left...


    "G-Gah! Help me!" Qin Yao yelled, sprawled on the floor, as the Moonserpent prepared to bite him.


    Furuwa, Ichigo, Horiya, and I didn''t move to help. However, the foreign man sprinted over and pried the snake off of him. Then, Qin Yao, having been freed, stabbed his sword into the immobilized snake to steal the kill for the XP and items.


    The foreign man then offered his hand, helping Qin Yao get up...


    "Heh. Thank-"


    ... And then unleashed a nasty right hook that hit him straight in the face - right where Ichigo had hit him not too long ago too, so the pain was amplified. The impact sent Qin Yao rolling back onto the floor. The onlookers, myself included, whistled in surprise.


    "W-Wah... what the hell was that for?!" Qin Yao shouted in anger.


    The foreign blond man merely bent down and grabbed Qin Yao''s cor tightly, pulling his face closer. "Listen ''ere, ya little shit... Qin Yao, was it? Y''know... yer pretty bloody weak, for a man who promised ta keep a girl safe. What did ya say ta Hua Hua back there again, before we began? Ah, right... ''I''ll protect you'', huh? When she screamed... where were ya at? When she died, where the hell were ya, bloody bastard?!"


    My eyes widened. At first, I had thought he had been pissed about Qin Yao stealing his kill. But turns out, he was angry at him because of Hua Hua...


    Qin Yao blinked a few times in surprise,pletely intimidated. "W-What?! Hua Hua... where is she?"


    "She died, bastard. To the bloody Moonserpents. I tried fightin'' ''em... but there were too bloody many," the thirty-year-old man replied, voice dripping with venom. "She told me ta run. She told me that ''Hero Qin'' woulde ta save her. Do ya bloody understand? The hope in her eyes when she told me that. And? What was the result of it?"


    The foreign man gritted his teeth, tightening his grip on Qin Yao''s cor, his knuckles turning white. He looked like he wanted to punch Qin Yao again. But after a while, he let go, and stood back up, not wanting to escte this any further.


    "Hero, my ass..."


    But then, Qin Yao said a few really damn stupid words.


    "S-So what? This is a game, damn it! If she dies, she''ll respawn! There''s no big deal! Why the hell do you have to hit me over it?!"


    Clearly, he had not experienced death in this game yet. The pain you feel... it is something indescribable in words.


    The Australian man, who had already turned around and had been about to just leave things at that, now spun back to face Qin Yao. I could practically feel the hatred emanating from his whole body, still growing as he took a step towards Qin Yao. And another. And another.


    "Is that so?" he said, then slipped on his weapons - two gauntlets with sharp spikes on them.


    "In that case... why don''t ya have a taste of death yerself?"


    Qin Yao''s eyes widened as he realized what the man was about to do. "N-No-"


    "Stop. That''s enough," a low female voice interrupted.


    She moved forward and grabbed the Australian man''s arm, preventing him from sinking his spiked fist into Qin Yao''s bruised face. The girl who had done this was the person I would have least expected to do so:


    Chiaki Furuwa.


    The man twisted his head slightly to re at the interloper. "... Ya heard what he said just now. He deserves ta die... not just in-game, but also in real life."


    Furuwa closed her eyes but didn''t let go of the man''s reared back arm. "Don''t get me wrong. I agree, he''s scum. I hate him with a passion as well. But if you kill him here... in the end, it''s still only in a game. He won''t learn actually learn anything. There would be no point."


    "Oh, there would be a bloody point, alright," the man said, turning back to Qin Yao''s terrified face. "I''ll be able ta release some o'' this bloody pent-up anger I''ve been holdin'' in."


    "... If you were that selfish, you wouldn''t be doing this in the first ce."


    The man looked at Furuwa, then after seeing she wasn''t about to back down, he sighed. "Hmph."


    Letting go of Qin Yao''s cor, he turned around and walked off. Furuwa sent Qin Yao a re, then did the same. As she passed by me, I spoke quietly.


    "I didn''t expect you to do that."


    She stopped. "Life is unexpected in many ways, Igarashi-kun."


    As she resumed walking once more, I chuckled softly. "She''s like a knife on the outside, but really has a heart made of tofu, huh?"


    Had it been me, I would''ve just let the man kill him.


    After all... to these people, this was all just a virtual video game - nothing more.

 Chapter 33: The Cave

    Chapter 33: The Cave


    After the incident with Qin Yao, we continued moving through the forest - this time, as a group of six. Of the four people from the trapped group, only the Australian man - Jim Fitzroy - remained. The other three had all called it quits after seeing how dangerous it was within these forests. Even though this was a video game - to them - you could still experience pain, and death hurt. A lot.


    That said, Jim stayed and traveled with us. Now that we knew what the Magic Beasts were capable of, sticking together was the best bet. That way, even if we stop and get ambushed, we will have a better chance at survival. Going solo would be akin to signing your own death warrant.


    Put simply, Qin Yao''s n had been utter rubbish. It was poorly constructed and even worse executed. There were so many holes in the n that it was quite amusing, honestly. Of course, I knew that from the beginning.


    Luckily, the Silverwing and Moonserpents we''ve encountered so far have been fairly easy opponents. Nowhere near the level of the Sabertooths we had fought in the city. Perhaps this was why A.R.X.A. opened up a public event to exterminate these beasts - she knew Level 10 yers would be strong enough to take them on.


    That said, it was still necessary for us to remain vignt. One of us, and possibly more we still don''t know about, have already fallen, after all. As we walked in search of Magic Beasts and perhaps any sign of our brethren, Qin Yao followed behind, dejected and utterly defeated. asionally, one of us would spare a nce back at him, and when he met our eyes, he would immediately avert his gaze. Especially if it was Jim, who had been on the verge of killing him not long ago.


    After a short while of walking...


    "Hm? What''s this?" Ichigo murmured as we all looked over to see what he was talking about.


    In front of us was a cave. It was dark, so we couldn''t see what was inside, whether it was deep or shallow. My bets were on the former though. However... there was just one major factor ''off'' with this cave - it wasn''t natural.


    I don''t mean like it wasn''t unnatural. I mean it was literally not natural - it seemed to be man-made, somehow. The edges of the cave weren''t made of rock, but instead metal. All in all, it seemed more like a bunker than a cave, if I had to be honest.


    The six of us approached closer to the cave until we were standing right in front of it.


    "So? What do ya guys think?" Jim asked.


    "Well, this has been the first suspicious thing we''ve found in this whole forest," Ichigo said. "We kinda have to check it out."


    "As much as I hate to say it, I agree. This may just be the ce we''ve been looking for," Furuwa said. "If we want toplete this damn public event, we gotta explore this cave."


    "Yeah. Besides, I have a good feeling about this ce," Horiya added. "My intuition has always been good. There is good loot in here - I can smell it."


    Furuwa sent Horiya a disgusted look. "Creepy."


    "H-Huh?!"


    "Oi, calm yerselves, lil'' kids," Jim Fitzroy interrupted, sensing tension in the air. "I''ll take the bloody lead, so just follow behind me, yeah?"


    We all nodded in response to his words, and he smiled charismatically. Then, fearlessly strolling into the cave, he continued. "Well? What''re y''all bloody waitin'' for?"


    We immediately followed behind, with me sparing a nce at Qin Yao before quickly turning away.


    Inside the cave, we walked for several long minutes that felt like eons. Qin Yao ended up tagging along, much to our dismay. He would just be dead weight, but it''s not like we could force him to stop following us either. Even if we use threats, he''ll find his way back to us one way or another.


    The six of us walked silently, mainly because we had nothing to talk about rather than the fear of attracting any Magic Beasts. However, then, we saw a faint green light in the distance.


    Ichigo narrowed his eyes. "Hm? Do you guys see that?"


    "Yeah... let''s go," Horiya said, before rushing on ahead.


    "O-Oi! Wait, don''t just bloody run ahead on yer own like that! Ugh, bloody hell!" Jim yelled, but Horiya was already gone.


    We quickly chased after him, leaving Qin Yao behind. Whether he could catch up to us or not was his own problem.


    *****


    Soon, we found ourselves in front of a metal door of some sort. It was shut tight, but there was some sort of square pad in the dead center, emanating bright green light.


    "Well? How do we get past this door? Any ideas?" Ichigo asked around.


    "I don''t know..." Horiya muttered, sinking into thought.


    Furuwa shrugged. "Some sort of key, maybe? But it''s a green light... usually that means it''s already unlocked."


    "Yeah, but it ain''t openin''," Jim muttered.


    Seeing them having so much trouble, I just shook my head and brushed past all of them. The four stared at me in surprise as I simply ced my hand on the green pad. A beep ensued, and along with came a monotone, mechanical voice that wasn''t unlike A.R.X.A.''s, except this one was male and clearly even more robotic.


    [AUTHORIZED. ess: Granted.]


    The metal doors then slid open, releasing gas from the chamber inside. The five of us blocked our faces from the iing gas, just in case it had poison. The gas seemed to be white though, so the chances of it being toxic decreased. Nearly all colored gases were poisonous, after all. White gases could be poisonous too, but just not asmonly.


    Once the gas had dispersed, we entered in. However, the moment thest of us, Ichigo, stepped through-


    Beep.


    A loud rumbling noise came soon after, and all of us spun around to see what it was. Unfortunately, we were greeted by the sight of Qin Yao smiling deviously from the other side of the entrance as the doors began to close.


    "Have fun in here... forever," he said,ughing hysterically.


    "No, wait, damn you!" Ichigo yelled furiously, trying desperately to prevent the doors from closing, but his efforts were in vain as the two halves of the entrance shut tight together right before he could reach it.


    "DAMN!" Ichigo kicked the metal door, but who was he kidding? That would only serve to hurt himself. We were only Level 10. Breaking metal with a kick was just not realistic.


    "You''re kidding me, right?" Horiya murmured in disbelief at what Qin Yao just did to all of us. "How the hell did he even close the doors from the outside?"


    "Tch... that damned bastard... " Furuwa cursed in frustration.


    On the contrary, Jim Fitzroy didn''t seem to be fazed at all. Instead, he chuckled.


    "Heh. Maybe ya should''ve let me kill the bloody bastard back there after all, huh?"


    Furuwa sent him a death re, and he quickly turned away, whistling innocently as if he hadn''t said anything just now.


    "Calm down," I said. "Perhaps the doors were meant to close from the start. Qin Yao just happened to witness it happening and savored the moment. I mean, I didn''t see any kind of mechanic on the outside before we came in that could''ve allowed someone to forcefully close the doors, and something like that shouldn''t be hard to miss. My guess is that whether Qin Yao was here or not, we likely would''ve been shut in here anyway."


    "So... you''re saying we''re essentially trapped?" Horiya asked.


    "Let me finish," I replied impatiently, enjoying the good attitude he was showing towards me. Such a thing would never happen back on my old Reality ne, after all. "I doubt this is some kind of death trap. This man-made cave, that high-tech authorization process... it''s all far too borate for that. Besides, keep in mind - we''re inside a video game. In other words, there should be a way out somewhere. We just need to find it."


    Of course, I knew that this was not a video game - it was in fact a different world, a reality ne separate from our own, known as ''Ascension''. However, A.R.X.A. designed this ce to be a video game. In fact, I was 90% certain this cave we were in right now was created by her, all to help create a plot for the virtual game she had turned this world into.


    Therefore, I had to think as if this really were just a game. If I did that, I would be able to find a way to escape this ce - and I didn''t just mean this cave.


    I meant this world, as a whole.

 Chapter 34: Source

    Chapter 34: Source


    Now without a way out, we had no choice but to explore the cave further. We decided to all put away our weapons, since there didn''t seem to be any sign of enemies nearby.


    The interior of the cave was vastly different from the outside. The moment we turned around from the now-locked door, we found ourselves staring at a wide ck corridor, as white lights ced at a fixed distance from one another on the walls to our left and right lit up, one by one. The corridor wasn''t a perfect rectangle, but instead more like a ttened hexagon, with the sides jutting outwards in a triangr shape. The outline of the floor and ceiling were marked by glowing green lines, and the hallway seemed to stretch on endlessly.


    Overall, this futuristic and high-tech artificial ce seemed like a whole different worldpared to the nature-filled forests surrounding it. It felt strangely out of ce.


    There was no other way to go, so we just began walking. asionally, Ichigo would try kicking the walls in the hopes of breaking them down, but to no avail.


    "God damn it... where the hell is the ce?" he muttered, looking around.


    "That''s what we''re here to find out," Furuwa said. "So stop yourining and get a move on. Also, kicking the walls won''t do anything."


    "I-I know that..." Ichigo murmured, looking away.


    Somehow, in front of Furuwa, Ichigo seemed like a frail rabbit. Ironic, considering I wasn''t afraid of Furuwa at all, but I was of Ichigo and Horiya, who had mentally scarred me throughout middle school.


    "Still, I''ve gotta say... this is pretty bloody cool, ay, mate?" Jim, who was in the lead, chuckled, tracing his fingers on the right wall of the corridor, jutting outwards in a triangr shape, as we walked. "This ce is bloody futuristic, even by the real world''s standards, ay? Ain''t bad, ain''t bad at a- ow!"


    Hearing his sudden yelp, we all focused our attention on him, who had pulled his hand away from the walls.


    "What happened?" I quickly asked.


    "Somethin'' cut my bloody fingers on the wall!" Jim yelled, clutching his hand in pain. I could see blooding out of the tip of his fingers.


    Ichigo frowned in disbelief. "Huh? The hel-"


    [Warning. Time remaining: 15 seconds.]


    The mechanical male voice red out of nowhere, and all of us froze as we heard the low whirring sound that sounded suspiciously like... sawdes.


    As if on cue, we looked at the walls to see multiple circr rapidly-spinning sawdes slowlying out of the walls and making their way towards us.


    "Oh, you''re fucking kidding me!" Ichigo yelled.


    "Up ahead! An opening! Quick!" Furuwa shouted, before making a sprint for the exit up ahead - in other words, the end of the corridor, where a diamond-shaped entrance was waiting.


    [10 seconds.]


    We didn''t need to be told twice. With my high AGI stat, I immediately passed by every one of them, much to their surprise. However, the sawdes were closing in fast, and soon, there wouldn''t be any room to pass by others anymore.


    [9 seconds.]


    I was almost there. I turned around for a brief moment and saw that Ichigo wasst. He looked like he was fast enough to pass Horiya, but because of the whirring sawdes closing in fast on either side, there was no room for Ichigo to pass him unless he wanted to risk getting carved into multiple different pieces. There was a short dy before dying in this game, so he would have to feel all the pain.


    [8 seconds.]


    By this time, I had thoroughly left the other four in the dust, having already reached the end of the corridor and stepped through into the safe zone.


    [7 seconds.]


    Furuwa also arrived, identally crashing into me, sending us both falling to the ground. She immediately got up after though, without a single word of apology. Though, her face was red from embarrassment.


    [6 seconds.]


    Jim made it as well, doing a front roll beforending in a hero-like position.


    [5 seconds.]


    Ichigo and Horiya, who both had horrible stat distributions, still were a short distance away. I had used ''Inspect'' on both of them earlier as we were traveling, and saw that Ichigo spent nearly all his SP on STR, and Horiya had spent most of his points on... LUC. Both of them were Level 10 - had they participated in the sabertooth ughterst night, maybe they would''ve been higher, but neither of them did.


    Because of this, neither of them was very fast. However, Ichigo was still slightly better. Unfortunately, he could not pass by Horiya with the limited amount of space they had, thus slowing them both down.


    [4 seconds.]


    "Hurry up Horiya, damn it!" Ichigo yelled furiously, pushing Horiya slightly to give him a speed boost.


    "I-I''m trying!"


    [3 seconds.]


    Ichigo, cursing, caught up with Horiya and gave him another shove to make him go faster. However, this one was a bit too forceful, and Horiya ended up tripping.


    "A-Ah!"


    [2 seconds.]


    "Damn it, Horiya!" Ichigo yelled as he leapt over Horiya, still struggling to get up from the ground.


    [1 second.]


    The razor-sharp sawdes were now right next to Horiya, threatening to cut him at any time, and the doors began to close on him.


    "HORIYA!" Ichigo looked back at yelled, just as he squeezed into the safe zone.


    "W-W-Wait, damn it! H-Help me! Hel- AHHH!"


    [0.]


    The doors shut tight, cutting Horiya''s screams of agony short.


    "HORIYA!" Ichigo yelled once more, mming on the door. But it would not open, no matter how hard he tried. Then, he copsed to the floor and punched the floor with his clenched fists. "Damn it... Horiya..."


    I closed my eyes. "Ichigo... he''s gone, but... at least he''s not really dead."


    "I... I know that... but still... you can feel pain in this game as if it were really happening... and it was my fault... I shouldn''t have pushed him, damn it!"


    "If you hadn''t pushed him, both of you would have died," Furuwa analyzed calmly. "What''s done is done. We can''t have you like this if we are to break out of this ce."


    "N-Nah, man... I''m out. I''m logging off. I can''t do this anymore," Ichigo said, clutching his head.


    "... I hope you realize if you do that, the next time you log in again, you will still be exactly where you logged out from. In other words, stuck in here," Furuwa said without a hint of worry in her voice. She was merely stating facts, giving Ichigo a mild warning.


    "I... I don''t care anymore, dude. I have to think about how I''m going to face Horiya in real life now. If that means I can''t ever y this game again, then so be it. I really like this game, and I''ve only just gotten started, but... my friend is more important."


    Furuwa still wasn''t convinced. "But-"


    "Leave ''im be," Jim said. "I respect the man. He values his friends over anythin'' else."


    I sighed, realizing I needed to say something here.


    Sure, I hated the two of them, but Ichigo maye in handy for a Trialter on. He was pretty athletic, after all. I didn''t know what the future held - perhaps I would be in need of his help one day, though reluctantly.


    It was better to manipte him from the shadows than to outright leave him to die. The former would be a better way of getting revenge, since it would help fulfill any other goals I may have at the same time.


    "Look, Ichigo... is your friendship with Horiya that shallow?" I scoffed. "Tell me, how many years have you known each other for?"


    "Wha? Uh... ever since middle school. Why...?"


    "So, you became friends thanks to bullying me, huh?" I muttered.


    "That''s..."


    "But that''s beside the point. What I''m trying to say is, you''ve known each other for 3 years now. You think a video game will cause you two to fall out? Sure, it must''ve hurt a lot for Horiya - but only physically. I don''t think he''s angry at you at all. If anything, I think he''s happy you made it out. Horiya has always been an optimistic guy. I have a good grasp of both of your personalities, thanks to all the bullying you did to me. You can decide yourself whether my words are worth believing or not."


    "Igarashi... why are you trying to convince me? After all the shit we did to you..."


    I shrugged. "I''m not trying to convince you to do anything. This has nothing to do with the game. This has to do with your friendship with Horiya. To me, it feels kind of sad, the fact that you don''t even realize how deep your bond is despite knowing each other for 3 years."


    Sighing, I continued. "Sure, I hate you and him both to the bones, but hey, Furuwa hated Qin Yao too. That said, she didn''t just let him die. It''s kind of the same theory here. I might hate you, but I don''t necessarily want your precious friendship with Horiya to deteriorate because of your ownck of self-confidence. Besides... I''m sure he knows too. If you hadn''t pushed him, both of you would''ve gotten killed."


    Furuwa sent me a re, most likely because I used her first name without honorifics, but she wasn''t so insensitive as to interrupt here.


    Ichigo fell silent, then slowly stood up. "... You''re right, Igarashi. Horiya wouldn''t just turn his back on me after this. I''ll get the treasure he was hoping for, break out of here, and give it to him aspensation. Hopefully, that''ll make him feel better."


    "There you have it," I said, as Furuwa and Jim looked at me in amazement.


    "Thanks, Igarashi... and also, sorry. For the past three years," Ichigo said suddenly, bowing down in apology.


    I blinked in surprise. "Hm... never expected you to do that. As for the apology... I''ll consider it."


    Yeah, no. I''m not considering it. But to sessfully gain his trust and make it easier to manipte him, this was a necessary move.


    "Can we... be friends? From now on," he said meekly, as if embarrassed to be asking this.


    I chuckled softly. "Friendship isn''t just something formed with words. You and Horiya should know that best of all."


    Ichigoughed slightly. "Yeah... you''re right."

 Chapter 35: The Vault of Corruption

    Chapter 35: The Vault of Corruption


    The room we were in was small, with a ck ceiling, floor, and walls. Like the hallway we had juste from, it was illuminated by white lights carved into the left and right sides of the walls, and the overall shape was like that of a ttened hexagon. Luckily, there was only one way to go, not counting the corridor of sawdes we hade from, which was blocked off now by sliding doors. Hopefully, this ce would remain straightforward like so deeper in.


    Oh, and no more death corridors, please.


    As we moved towards the slightly descending inclined ne that was the only way to go, however, a hologram suddenly appeared in front of me. I looked around and saw that the other three had all received the same thing, and all had the same confused expression on their faces.


    "What is this...?" I muttered, and read what was disyed.


    [New Primary Quest]


    [Corruption]


    [Investigate the source of the corruption by exploring deeper within the Vault.]


    "Corruption...?" Ichigo frowned. "The hell is this? We triggered a quest?"


    "Seems like it," Furuwa said. "I''ve seen this quest name before. There is a special quest type under the ''Quests'' tab of our System called ''Vaults''. Apparently, we have toplete this Corruption primary quest before being able to ess ''Vault'' quests."


    "I can confirm," I added briskly.


    "But this bloody ''corruption'' they''re referrin'' to..." Jim fell into thought. "Ya don''t think they mean the thing causin'' the Magic Beasts to be hostile?"


    "Oh, yeah... now that you mention it, I do remember hearing something like that from that captain NPC," Ichigo murmured thoughtfully. "But given that this is a primary quest, it''s gotta have some good rewards, right?"


    I nodded. "It should. But that''s only if we manage toplete it. Let''s go."


    With that, I headed down the ramp, the others closely following behind me.


    ******


    - Meanwhile, the Earthen Reality ne -


    (Hina''s Perspective)


    I got it - the AR set. At around noon, I had left for the store Kaze-kun and I had bought the AR set at. Unfortunately, they had been out of stock there for any more AR sets - even the most expensive ones. So, I had to walk on foot to the next nearest one, which was about 7 kilometers away. After buying it, I had to walk 9 kilometers back to the house, for a total of 16 kilometers with no break in between. It took me about 4 hours to do so, and when I got back to the house, although I was eager to just meet Kaze-kun again as soon as possible, I needed to take a break first after that long and tiring walk. I still had time, after all.


    I took a shower, ate a little bit of food, and finally prepared to put on the helmet and dive into alternate reality-


    Then, the doorbell rang.


    I gritted my teeth in frustration and went downstairs to open it. It was my parents. I frowned.


    "Mom...? Dad? Why are you two here? It''s only..."


    I checked the clock hanging on the wall.


    "... It''s only 5."


    "Yes, we know, sweetie. We decided toe home early today to spend some more time with you," my mother said. "I know it''s been tough, and..."


    She sent my father a look, and he sighed. "Look, Hina... I''m sorry. Ascentech ended up turning down the interview for unknown reasons. Apparently, they didn''t want public exposure for whatever reason... I was unable to ask them about Kaze."


    I clenched my fists. "It''s... alright, dad. I understand."


    My parents exchanged nces, and my mother spoke.


    "Hina, go change. Let''s eat out tonight."


    "H-Huh? Why?"


    Taken by surprise, I couldn''t help but stutter out those words.


    "To take your mind off things, obviously," she replied. "We will get Kaze back. But in the meantime, you have to keep up a good mental state."


    "B-But..."


    But I needed to go see Kaze-kun right now...!


    "No ''buts'', Hina," my father looked at me with stern eyes. "I''m sure Kaze would like you to take it easy as well."


    "..." I fell silent. Perhaps... that was true.


    I took a deep breath, and decided to just go along with my parents'' wishes. I could enter the game once we got back.


    After I changed, we headed out.


    *****


    It was a good dinner. The food was delicious and the environment was beautiful, but my mind just wasn''t in it. My head was filled with thoughts of Kaze-kun and Kaze-kun only. Perhaps I was a bit obsessive... but for some reason, I was just extremely attached to him. It may just be because we were siblings, but... my heart told me there was something else. Something I couldn''t quite ce my finger on.


    By the time we got back from eating dinner, it was around 7 PM. After the second shower today, I hopped onto Kaze-kun''s bed and attached the AR set I had bought on my head. I plugged it in, and after reading the instructions, strapped on the velcro belt and pressed the power button.


    I felt the world fade to ck, as a gentle voice whispered into my ear.


    [Wee to Alternate Reality, yer.]


    Despite having lost all sense of the real world, I felt myself smile.


    *****


    - Inside the Vault -


    (Kaze''s Perspective)


    After descending the ramp, we found ourselves staring at an open hallway. It was very wide, unlike the sawde corridor we had been in earlier. Once again, it was lit up by white lights on the walls, and outlined by bright green lines. From what I could see, the corridor slowly turned leftwards, at two 135 degree angles, like an octagon. Beyond that, I had no idea where the passageway led. It was beyond my line of sight after the turn.


    But after the sawde corridor experience, none of us were exactly eager to immediately go.


    "What do you think? Another trap?" Ichigo asked, scratching his head.


    "Well, that sawde corridor wasn''t really a ''trap''," I said. "We just dawdled for too long. In my opinion, they actually left us plenty of time. If we had jogged from the beginning, we would''ve all made it with plenty of time to spare."


    "True, but... that''s in the past," Furuwa muttered, crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently. "Right now, we''re talking about this wide hallway in front of us."


    "I mean, with this ce bein'' this wide, I doubt ''em bloody sawdes would be effective, ay?" Jim shrugged.


    "That''s true... unless they increase the speed at which the des close in. I doubt it though," I replied.


    Ichigo looked over at me. "So... you''re saying this is safe?"


    "Not necessarily. In my opinion, there should be some other sort of danger here, just not sawdesing in from the sides."


    "Yeah. Otherwise, it would be too easy," Furuwa muttered. "This is still a video game. There''s got to be some kind of challenge to it."


    "So? Want me ta go first again?" Jim retorted with a smirk.


    "Personally, I believe Igarashi-kun should go first. As seen earlier, he is the fastest among us. If anything happens, I am sure he can escape."


    Really, Furuwa? What the hell did I do to piss you off? The attitude I showed back when we first met, perhaps? No... wait, was it because she crashed into me just now and we both crashed onto the floor? But that''s her own fault, not mine!


    I tried my best to speak in a calm voice. "Actually, er, I would prefer not to go first. I used up all of my energy already earlier."


    This was a lie. I still had plenty of stamina left. But I needed to convince them not to make me go first and be the scapegoat.


    "Let''s see what the others think then," Furuwa said.


    Haha! You blundered, Furuwa! Ichigo had just said he wanted to be my friend, there''s no way he would sell me out her-


    "I, uh, agree?" Ichigo hesitantly raised his hand.


    ... You''re kidding me, right?


    "I don''t care who bloody goes first, as long as it ain''t me again," Jim said with a loud chuckle.


    "And there you have it," Furuwa looked at me with a triumphant smirk on her face.


    I sent her a dead look in response and sighed in resignation. "Fine... I''ll do it."


    I nced at the wide corridor, and slowly took a step forward. Nothing happened. And then, sighing in relief, I moved my back foot as well, bringing it forward to take another step.


    However, the moment I did, a loud rumbling noise ensued, followed by the familiar whirring sound of... yep, sawdes.


    "Oh, shit."


    [Trial of the Sprinter: Begin.]

 Chapter 36: Trial of the Sprinter

    Chapter 36: Trial of the Sprinter


    The floor below me changed from solid ck ground to a massive moving conveyor belt that spanned the whole hallway. The direction was pushing back towards the three others, meaning I had to run against the moving belt. And worst of all?


    The door we hade in from shut tight, and from above my threepanions, the ceiling opened up to reveal a long string of whirling sawdes. They slowly descended, and my three teammates didn''t need to be told what to do.


    They immediately leaped off the ramp we had been on, and together, we began sprinting away from the sawdes chasing us from behind. However, running on the conveyor belt was difficult, especially with how fast it was moving.


    "Use the walls!" I yelled, moving to the right edge of the conveyor belt and hopping onto the 45-degree inclined slope of a wall. It was difficult to keep my bnce, but I was able to run on it a lot faster than I could on the conveyor belt.


    The others followed my example, and Furuwa took the right side behind me while Ichigo and Jim took the left to avoid cluttering up like what had happened with Horiya earlier.


    However, I then heard another whirring sound,ing from within the walls.


    "Tch...! Get off from the walls, there are sawdes too!"


    "What the hell?!" Ichigo yelled, before leaping off as the rest of us did the same.


    Wended back on the conveyor belt, but there was no time to rest. The sawdes were closing in from behind and now the two sides as well. Luckily, the ones closing in from the sides stopped upon reaching the border of the conveyor belt. That mean we at least had some horizontal space to work with.


    "Try to stay in the air for as long as possible!" I yelled. "Take big strides, and minimize contact with the conveyor belt!"


    "Got it!" Furuwa and Ichigo shouted in response, and did as told. Jim also followed my directions, utilizing hisrge body frame to the fullest. He was extremely tall - around 6''3". Because of this, his legs were pretty long, so his strides wererge. I may be faster than him in a normal race, but with these conveyor belts in the way, he was the fastest out of all of us because he was least affected by the moving belts.


    So far, we seemed to be outrunning the sawdes. Even Ichigo, who was the slowest out of all of us, was doing fine. The sawdes behind us were fairly slow, so we gradually created some distance between us and the spinning des of death right as we rounded the corner to turn left. However, things took a turn for the worse here.


    The ceiling directly above where I was about to run into suddenly opened up, and out came arge metal crate.


    "Damn-!" I skidded to a stop right before the crate came crashing down on the conveyor belt, shaking the entire corridor. If I had halted a secondter, I would''ve been smashed to pulp.


    However, this brief pause meant I needed to wait on the rapidly moving conveyor belts, even if only for a moment. The others pulled ahead, while I was brought dangerously close to the spinning sawdes closing in from behind.


    "Igarashi!" Ichigo shouted in concern, turning back to look at me.


    "Don''t stop running!" I yelled in response, and quickly began sprinting as well. In the corner of my eye, I saw the sawdes closing in from behind cut directly through the metal crate as if it was tofu, and I gulped in fear.


    "And watch the bloody ceilin''!" Jim added as he ran in huge leaps.


    Despite his words, neither him nor the other two had any crates dropped on top of them. On the contrary, the ceiling above where I was going to run kept opening up and dropping heavy metal boxes - as if whoever was controlling this thing was targeting me specifically.


    I cursed as I weaved around the obstacles, suddenly changing my trajectory from time to time to avoid being predictable. As nned, this caused less boxes tond directly in front of me and more to miss. Gradually, I began to pull away from the sawdes again, much to my relief.


    However, then, the whole ceiling opened up in front of me, dropping three metal boxes simtenously side-by-side, thoroughly blocking off any escape. It was far too tall for me to climb, even with my AGI stat, and the walls on the sides still had sawdesing out of it.


    I stopped. Milliseconds ticked by as the sawdes behind me drew closer, eliminating the precious distance I had created for myself after so much work, centimeter by centimeter. I was washed up by despair, having run out of strategies.


    Furuwa, noticing my panic, called out my name. "Igarashi-kun! Don''t give in!"


    These words snapped me out of my daze. Gritting my teeth, I took a gamble - the only one I had left.


    "Heh... Furuwa... since when did you care about me? Ah, whatever. If this works, this works... if not, well, I''m dead anyway!" I closed my eyes, took a running stance, and cast the skill that would - hopefully - break me out of this predicament.


    ''Vanishing Clouds.''


    I felt myself dash at the speed of light, phasing through the metal crate far too quickly for me to even identify what it felt like, moving through objects. In the instant I phased, I prayed that I would be able to make it.


    -And I did.


    Somehow, I managed to phase through the thick metal trunk with my Vanishing Clouds skill. I''m sure there was a limit on how thick objects can be for you to be able to phase through them, but I didn''t have the luxury to be thinking about the specifics of that right now.


    I immediatelyunched myself off of the metal crates and sprinted as fast as I could. Sweat was dripping from my forehead and some drops flowed into my left eye. That didn''t matter - I could still see through my right. The sawdes cleaved through the three metal crates, and their speed quickened.


    Up ahead, I could see that Jim had already rounded the next corner, turning right, and Furuwa was about to do the same. Ichigo was a bit behind, but still quite a bit ahead of me.


    I groaned and forced myself to run faster. My legs felt like they were on fire, but still, I kept sprinting without giving them a chance to rest. The sawdes wouldn''t, after all. From there on, whoever was controlling the metal crates was relentless. They continued to drop metal crates, mainly in batches of 2. Thankfully, no more groups of three crates were dropped on me simultaneously.


    I mentally counted in my head to 20 in order to urately gauge the cooldown of the Vanishing Clouds skill to see if I could use it to save some time. Unfortunately, 20 seconds was a lot of time in this scenario. I wasn''t able to use it to save some time and phase through the two-crate pairs that were dropped down in front of me, and was forced to go around them.


    Because of this, I was unable to create a gap between myself and the sawdes like I had earlier. I could only manage to maintain the status quo in terms of distance, even though I was moving as fast as I could.


    My heart raced as I weaved through the various obstacles in my path, until atst, I reached the right turn the others had made earlier. When I rounded the corner, I could see the three of them, who had already made it. They were waiting in the safe zone beyond a rhombus with four equivalent angles, just a short distance away.


    At this rate, I would make it.


    But then, the countdown began.


    [Warning: Time remaining: 10 seconds.]


    I gritted my teeth and pushed forward despite reaching my physical limits. Two crates dropped down in front of me, side-by-side, and I was forced to switch to the leftne to swerve around it.


    [9 seconds.]


    However, immediately after, I had to move to the rightne again, as two more trunks dropped down and crashed onto the conveyor belt.


    [8 seconds.]


    A crate dropped in front of me earlier than usual, nearly killing me. It was a good attempt, but my reaction speeds were greater.


    [7 seconds.]


    Just a little bit further... c''mon!


    [6 seconds.]


    I continued dodging, switching from left to right, and vice versa again. But then, the sawdes picked up their speed. I realized this because their whirring became louder. They were closing it faster than before, and I tightened up, but didn''t stop running.


    [5 seconds.]


    The sawdes continued to advance, cutting through the metal crates like butter.


    [4 seconds.]


    They were only fifty meters away. Their speed had surpassed mine, and at this rate, they were going to catch up very soon.


    [3 seconds.]


    The mechanical whirring noise of the spinning sawdes were right behind me now - I could feel it.


    [2 seconds.]


    Just another step-


    [1 second.]


    BOOM.


    A singr crate came crashing down in front of me, sessfully blocking my exit. They didn''t need 3 this time - 1 was enough.


    However, I was ready. Despite the odds, I smirked in triumph.


    ''Vanishing Cloud.''


    I dashed forward, phasing through the metal crate and into the safe zone.


    [0.]


    [Congrattions - you have sessfullypleted the Trial of the Sprinter.]

 Chapter 37: The Next Test

    Chapter 37: The Next Test


    One way or another, I managed to make it through the Trial of the Sprinter. Interestingly enough, whoever was controlling this ce seemed to be targeting me specifically. The crates didn''t seem to drop for any of the other three, after all.


    Because of that, I had a good idea who was behind all this. She had been my initial guess already, but this served to confirm my suspicions.


    As an aside, when I dashed into the safe zone using Vanishing Clouds, I ended up crashing into Furuwa, who happened to be standing in the front. Payback for how she crashed into mest time, I guess. She probably hates me even more now, with all the res she was sending me, but there was nothing I could do about that. Hell, I didn''t even know why she hated me so much in the first ce.


    The room we found ourselves in was not much different from the previous one between the Trial of the Sprinter and the corridor of sawdes. It was small and only had one way out, but we didn''t continue immediately. All of us needed a short break after that death run.


    "Damn, Igarashi, that was close," Ichigo said, patting me on the back as I sat down on the ground after walking around for a couple of minutes as per Hina-nee''s instructions.


    "Yeah... " I muttered in response, then took a couple of deep breaths to help calm my heartbeat down further.


    "You crashing into Furuwa was pretty amusing though, haha! The way she blushed in surprise was funny as hell."


    Furuwa immediately sent a kick towards Ichigo... straight towards his lifeline.


    "Oof!" he fell backward, clutching at his crotch in pain. "O-Oi, Furuwa! If you want it that bad, just ask! No need to kick it!"


    Furuwa gritted her teeth and clenched his fists even tighter. She looked like she was about to implode from anger.


    Ichigo, seeing this, quickly ran away to the other side of the room. "S-Sorry! It was a joke! A joke!"


    Jim, who was watching all this with a smile on his face, chuckled. "Aha... young ''uns. I miss when I was yer age, jokin'' ''round n'' talkin'' about love."


    "Love, my ass!" Furuwa shouted, before punching the wall to let off some anger. "God, you three are so damn annoying! Especially you, Igarashi-kun!"


    "W-Wha?" I looked at her in surprise at being called out. I haven''t even said anything... oh well, it was probably due to me crashing into her just now. But she did the same to me earlier - she shouldn''t exactly be talking.


    "Alright, is everyone ready?" Ichigo asked, finallying closer to us again after Furuwa''s rage had declined somewhat.


    "I should be fine now," I said, standing back up.


    "I''m ready anytime," Furuwa replied with a shrug. She didn''t seem to be angry anymore, though if I tried talking to her, no doubt I would receive a punch or a kick in response, possibly both.


    "Yep. I''m all bloody ready too," Jim added. "But before that... yer name, Igarashi, was it?"


    I nodded. "What''s up?"


    "That skill ya used earlier... what was it? It seemed pretty bloody strong."


    "It''s called ''Vanishing Clouds''," I answered honestly. "Assassin skill path."


    "Ooh, I might actually go for Assassin now," Ichigo muttered. "But I already chose Tank as my main skill path, damn it..."


    I shrugged. "You can still get it. It''ll just cost more AP."


    "There''s no point to doing that," Furuwa said. "Sure, technically, you could still obtain that skill, but if you''re going to be a Tank, what''s the point of that? It doesn''t suit your role at all."


    "Grr... yeah, that''s true," Ichigo sighed in defeat. "Still, you looked so cool back there, Igarashi. I''m kinda jealous, that''s all."


    Jim sighed as well and shook his head. "Ah.. what a shame. I''ve already picked a main skill path as well - Knight."


    "Looks like we''re both Knights then," Furuwa chuckled. "Who''s the stronger one, I wonder?"


    Jimughed. "Heh. Let''s just get the hell out of this bloody ce first. Then we can hold a duel."


    "Sure. Sounds like it''ll be fun - even though the victor is already decided," Furuwa smirked deviously, swinging her sword at around dangerously.


    "Ayo? I''m joining too," Ichigo said, crossing his arms. "A true man will never turn a fight down. Ain''t that right, Igarashi?"


    He looked over at me as if telling me to join this fight as well. However...


    I shrugged. "Well, guess not I''m not a true man."


    I had no intention of participating. It was just a waste of time - I wouldn''t get anything out of it. But then, as if reading my mind...


    "What if I told you the winner would get half the reward money of the other three, Igarashi-kun?" Furuwa smiled like a devil. "We will all receive 75,000 gold when we get back to the city. The winner of this mini-tournament will get 37,500 gold from each of the other three, for a total of 187,500 gold. That''s nearly 200,000... Igarashi-kun."


    She looked into my eyes, and I met her gaze. The other two also nced at me, and eventually, the pressure became too much for me to bear.


    I gave in.


    "Fine. But getting out of herees first."


    "Agreed. Let''s go," Ichigo said, taking the lead and heading down the ramp. This one was steeper than thest one. It seemed that we were slowly descending, heading deeper down into the ground.


    Once we all descended the ramp, however, we were met with what could only be described as a ''painful'' sight.


    Laid out in front of us was a deep chasm, filled with corrosive green liquid down below that was sure to kill us if we fell into it. This was one of those things where you knew immediately it was dangerous just from one nce.


    The other end was about twenty meters away. This wasn''t a great distance under normal circumstances, but the situation we were currently in was anything but normal. To us, this short distance would feel like kilometers.


    The reason for that was the moving tforms in front of us. More specifically, they were narrow metal pirs rising out of the that shifted from left to right at great speeds. They were pretty far from one another, but all four of us should be able to make it from one tform to another if we timed it perfectly and jumped with all we had. However, by the looks of it, each pir could only fit one person standing on it at a time, so we had to wait for one person to get across before another could start.


    "Well then, what''s the n ''ere?" Jim asked, scratching the back of his head.


    "We go across one at a time?" Ichigo suggested. "That''s the only way, isn''t it? The pirs aren''t big enough to fit more than one person."


    "True, but... from what we''ve seen in thest trial, it''s safe to say that there will most likely be a time limit again on this one," I said quietly. "My guess is that some kind of sawdes wille out of the ceiling above us right now, then slowly make their way over towards the other side of the chasm, thereby forcing us to move."


    "I don''t like agreeing with you, Igarashi-kun, but I''m afraid you have a point," Furuwa added, folding her arms and shooting me a condescending nce.


    "Well, that''s just a guess," I quickly corrected. "We never know for sure until we really try."


    "Okay. So, who''s going first this time?" Ichigo asked, looking at us.


    Without any hesitation, I pointed at the lone girl in the group - Furuwa, much to her surprise.


    "H-Huh? Why should I go first?"


    I smiled deviously. "Weren''t you the one who so happily appointed me as the scapegoatst time? Besides... you haven''t gone first yet, have you now?"


    "Uh, that''s... but Ichigo hasn''t either!" Furuwa yelled, trying to argue back. However, it was clear that the odds were against her.


    "Tch... f-fine," she muttered atst, before walking over and taking the lead. The rest of us moved out of the way to make space for her.


    I smirked as she sent me a re.


    You reap what you sow, after all.

 Chapter 38: Trial of the Leaper (1)

    Chapter 38: Trial of the Leaper (1)


    Furuwa took a deep breath and got into a jumping position, eyes carefully watching the movement patterns of the pirs.


    "Left, right... left, right..." I heard her murmur.


    And then-


    "Now!"


    Right when the pir was about to be directly in front of her, she jumped. Having predicted the movement speed perfectly, shended solidly on the tform. That said... the form wasn''t exactly good. She looked like a frog right now, but that''s beside the point. The pir was narrow - she did what she had to. Better to look like an amphibian than fall into a chasm of corrosive green liquid that will melt your skin straight off, after all.


    [Trial of the Leaper: Begin.]


    I heard the mechanical voice speak. So, this test was called the Trial of the Leaper. The previous one was called the Trial of the Sprinter.


    She was now on the moving tform, taking a moment to calm herself. Once she regained her bnce, she slowly stood back up, before tracing the next pir with her eyes. This jump would be more difficult - both tforms were moving against each other in opposite directions, so finding the right timing would be hard. Luckily, at least the two were moving at the same speed, so the perfect spot to jump would be the same location every time the two pirs passed by one another.


    Furuwa also seemed to realize this, and she concentrated even harder than before. Sweat was probably forming on her forehead right about now, though I couldn''t see from where the rest of us were standing.


    On the third time the two pirs fell on the same vertical line simultaneously, Furuwa took her chance, and jumped. She made the leap perfectly,nding on the pir without ending up in a frog position again. She spread her two arms to help keep her bnce.


    Ichigo whistled. "Good work, Chiaki-san! Keep it up!"


    Furuwa didn''t respond, but the encouragement helped. Probably.


    The next pir was a little further away. This one was moving up and down, so Furuwa had to wait until it was perfectly at the bottommost point, and then make her leap. Of course, the pir she was on right now was also moving left to right, so she had the t distance to worry about too. However, that''s not all. Because the pir would go up all the way to the ceiling, she couldn''t afford to wait once she got on it - otherwise, she would be crushed. Therefore, right now, she had to consider both this current jump ahead of her and also the next one, which was a slow-moving left-to-right pir that was shorter (altitude-wise)pared to all the rest.


    The timing had to be perfect to fit both jumps in order for this to work. The risk of death was high, and the technical requirement and motor skills required for this jump were immeasurable. One tiny slip-up and she was done for good. However, Furuwa possessed the abilities needed. And she was going to prove that.


    It was now. The pir she was currently on, the up-down pir she was going to jump to, and the tform after that were all about to be on the same vertical line. The up-down pir was also nearing its bottommost point, about three meters above the deadly green liquid. Everything was in ce. All that was left was for Furuwa to make the jump. And that she did.


    Not letting this opportunity slip by, Furuwa leaped off the pir she was currently on like a cougar-


    But that''s where things went astray.


    The cheap default shoes she had been wearing just like the rest of us suddenly slipped, causing her to tumble forward. She still managed to jump up, but the slip took away a lot of her momentum. At first, we thought she wouldn''t make it, and the three of us spectators looked on with our jaws dropped.


    But somehow, she just barely caught the ledge of the pir with her right hand, and she just hung there, mere inches away from getting melted alive. However, things weren''t turning for the better just yet. The pir was now beginning its journey back up. At the rate things were going, Furuwa''s fingers would be crushed against the ceiling eventually, and she would fall into the death pit of corrosive green acid below.


    However, suddenly, red light started to emit from Furuwa''s body, and her figure began glowing. She then slowly climbing to the top surface of the pir, much to our shock and astonishment. She lifted her whole body with just her two hands - that was something that shouldn''t be achievable with her STR stat of 20 that I saw before. She hasn''t leveled up since then either, so... what the hell happened? And what was that red light?


    Regardless, she had no time to rest just because she managed to w her way out of that predicament. That blunder just now had messed up her calctions and timing - the pir she needed to jump to next was now a little further to the right than the optimal location. Honestly, I didn''t even know if she could make this jump.


    But then, the red light emanating from her body turned to green, and she made her leap of faith. Her body seemed lighter, somehow, and she managed to make the seemingly impossible jump.


    "What is that..." I muttered quietly.


    "That''s a skill from the Knight skill path, kiddo," Jim chuckled. "The red light ya saw earlier was a skill called ''STR Boost''. The green light ''round her right now is one called ''AGI Boost''. They temporarily increase yer stats by 5."


    "Huh, I see..." I fell into thought. They were certainly useful skills. Furuwa probably would''ve died there if not for them. I would have to check them outter - maybe they could be of use to me as well.


    "Damn it, why does the Tank ss I chose have nothing cool?!" Ichigoined, shaking his head. "All I''ve gotten are skills rted to defense, and not even useful ones at that! Though, there are some powerful defense abilitiester on in the skill tree..."


    "If you don''t like defense, why did you even pick Tank...?" I scoffed in confusion. "Idiot."


    "W-Well, I saw this guide online, it said Tank was the best ss, so..."


    I sighed. "It doesn''t matter if a ss is the best one. That''s useless if you don''t even like its ystyl-"


    However, my words were quickly cut off by a loud mechanical sounding from above. I looked up and saw that the ceiling had opened up.


    And what began to descend... were spinning sawdes.


    [Warning. Time remaining: 60 seconds.]

 Chapter 39: Trial of the Leaper (2)

    Chapter 39: Trial of the Leaper (2)


    "Oh, you''re kidding me!" Ichigo groaned, before leaping onto the pir in front of him. We quickly prepared to do so as well.


    "You go first, kid!" Jim shouted. "I''ll takest!"


    "No, I have movement abilities - you go first!"


    "Alright, fine!"


    "Hey! What''s going on back there?!" Furuwa snapped at us from across the room.


    "There''s sawdesing for our asses! Again!" Ichigo shot back, before leaping to the next pir. Somehow, he made it. Whether it was luck or just pure skill, I had no idea. Probably the former, though.


    Jim immediately followed, jumping onto the pir that Ichigo had just gotten off of. The sawdes were nearly on me.


    "Hurry up!" I shouted as the razor-sharp wheels of death drew closer to my head.


    "We''re trying our best here!" Ichigo yelled as he leaped onto the up-down pir as it was still going up.


    This was a dangerous move - and the fact that he was unable tond on top of the pir proved that. Instead, he hung on the ledge of the pir, but his STR stat was a lot higher than Furuwa''s, so he climbed up rtively easily. Right before his head got crushed by the elevating pir, Ichigo jumped once again. His luck seemed to be on point today. Somehow, hended on the next pir perfectly.


    Of course, by this time, Furuwa was already nearing the end of the chasm, far ahead of the rest of us. There wouldn''t be any risk of Ichigo crashing into Furuwa. However, the same couldn''t be said for the spinning sawdes and me.


    The moment Jim jumped onto the next pir, I followed him, one column behind. He then leaped onto the up-down pir before quickly jumping off again onto the next tform below. It happened in one swift motion, and I couldn''t help but admire his ability to quickly calcte and predict the locations of the pirs to time his jumps.


    After a brief pause, I jumped onto the tform Jim had just left. However, right now, the up-down pir was too high for me to jump on. The sawdes were closing in on me from behind - there was no time. Therefore, I decided to risk it after getting a brief nce at the next pir, after this one.


    Iunched off the pir I was currently on before the sawdes could turn me into minced meat. However, I was nowhere near high enough to grab the ledge of the pir in front of me - but that was fine. I never nned on doing so anyway.


    [Warning. Time remaining: 45 seconds.]


    Right when we first saw this test, I had already evaluated these pirs to be thinner than the metal crates that had been dropped on me in the previous trial. Therefore...


    ''Vanishing Clouds.''


    I dashed straight through the pir, phasing through the solid object. However, the dash was not long enough to bring me all the way to the next pir. But that was fine. I had ounted for this in my calctions as well.


    I had purposely timed my ''Vanishing Clouds'' a tiny bit before I really needed to since it always dashed a fixed distance. Because of the short dy I enacted, when my phasing ability wore off, I was right on the other side of the pir. This meant I was able tounch myself off the back of the column, using it as a foothold to give myself a burst of momentum which then allowed me to reach the next tform.


    The motion I just performed was perfectly nned and executed - that was the only reason I was still alive.


    Past this point, things got easier. More pirs rose up from the ground, allowing for multiple paths. I quickly caught up to the others using my exceptionally high AGI stat, surpassing Jim and Ichigo, and closing in on Furuwa.


    We had long thrown the sawdes behind. They were stilling towards us, but as long as none of us made a huge blunder, we should be fin-


    Suddenly, I heard a yelping from in front of me - it was Furuwa.


    By this time, my Vanishing Clouds was back up again, so I immediately cast it and dashed forward to see what happened. My eyes widened.


    Furuwa was falling.


    [Warning. Time remaining: 15 seconds.]


    Without really thinking, I dove downwards and caught her hand right before she fell, with my other hand on the ledge of the pir.


    "I-Igarashi-kun?"


    I couldn''t respond, mainly because I was too busy gritting my teeth as sweat formed on my forehead. Supporting myself would be no problem at all with my high STR stat, but if I had to carry Furuwa''s weight with one arm''s strength as well...


    I could feel my fingers slipping.


    "Ngh!"


    Cursing, I cried out in agony as I used all my strength to heave Furuwa upwards.


    "Ah!"


    Shended back on the pir after performing an impressive reverse backflip in mid-air.


    "Jump onto another tform! I can''t hold on for much longer!" I yelled, and Furuwa quickly obeyed, jumping to a tform ahead.


    Groaning, I pulled myself back up onto the pir. My arms were nowpletely out of strength. Ichigo and Jim had both surpassed us thanks to this minor mishap, but luckily, the sawdes were still a distance away, and we were about to reach the end.


    [10 seconds.]


    Furuwa had already left, so I jumped onto the pir she had just been on.


    [9.]


    Jim made it to the safe zone, almost effortlessly - and still with time to spare. He didn''t even look like he broke a sweat.


    [8.]


    I continued following Furuwa, taking the same pirs she was taking. I didn''t bother trying to surpass her, since the sawdes were still a while back. I was extremely tired - my arm muscles felt like I had pulled them, resulting in a muscle strain. It hurt a lot, but I didn''t have time to rest right now. The best alternative was to just take it easy and follow Furuwa. As easy as jumping from narrow pir to narrow pir can be, anyway.


    [7.]


    I nced backward. The sawdes had picked up their pace. Just like during the Trial of the Sprinter.


    [6.]


    Ichigo also made it to the safe zone now, though, unlike Jim, it was luck that helped him.


    [5.]


    Furuwa made it as well, and I jumped onto thest pir. Just onest stride, and we will havepleted this trial.


    [4.]


    Inded on the final tform and prepared to jump towards the safe zone with onest stride.


    But then, all of a sudden, the pir beneath my feet vanished. It dematerialized, and the solid stone I had been standing on turned to nothingness.


    I gasped in shock as I fell towards the green acid below.


    [3.]


    "Igarashi-kun!" Furuwa yelled, attempting to catch my hand the same way I had done for her. Unfortunately... her reaction speeds were a bit too slow. I reached, but couldn''t find her hand.


    [2.]


    The sawdes were closing in now too, their speed doubledpared to before.


    But I''ve made it this far. I wasn''t about to go down so close to the finish line.


    [1.]


    ''Vanishing... Clouds!''


    I dashed upwards in mid-air, boosting myself upwards before the acid could touch me. The dash brought me up just enough to grab Furuwa''s hand. With hope in her eyes, she pulled me upwards with all her strength. Ichigo and Jim helped her out, and together, the three heaved me back up from the jaws of death.


    [0.]


    I copsed onto the ground after being pulled up, right as the doors to the safe zone closed and the sawdes mmed into it. However, the door held firm. I let out a deep breath. I had made it.


    "Jesus, Igarashi... stop ying with death like that," Ichigo panted, having used all his remaining strength to save me.


    "It''s not like... I want to... " I replied, breathing heavily.


    Furuwa looked at me, but when I met her gaze, she turned her head.


    "...?"


    "Nothing you have to say to me?" she asked, folding her arms.


    "What?"


    "Hello? I saved your life. Not a word of gratitude?"


    Uh... yeah, thanks? But I saved yours too, earlier," I muttered in response.


    "Great. So we''re even," she said, walking away to the other end of the room before sitting down to rest. But before she did, she whispered in a nearly inaudible voice.


    "Thank you... too."


    Ichigo probably didn''t hear it, but I did. By the knowing smirk on Jim''s face as he leaned against the wall, he probably did too.


    Still, what a surprise. Furuwa, saying ''thank you''? Never thought I would be able to hear that in my lifetime.


    As an aside, my right arm, which had been the same one that got pulled earlier, now hurt even more after they used it to drag me up. Luckily, it was just the muscle, not the bones - my shoulder wasn''t dislocated anything. With a bit of rest, it should get better on its own. That said, it still hurt like hell.


    But I was alive. And that''s all that mattered.


    Nevertheless... hopefully, there weren''t any more trials.

 Chapter 40: Trial of the Chemist (1)

    Chapter 40: Trial of the Chemist (1)


    "How''s your arm feelin''?" Jim asked me after a while.


    It''s been around 15 minutes since wepleted the Trial of the Leaper. My right arm, which had experienced severe muscle strain, had slowly begun to heal.


    "It still hurts like hell, but... at least I can move it now," I replied, gritting my teeth as I lifted my arm to show him what I meant.


    Jim sighed. "Hm... welp, let''s wait for a lil'' longer, I guess."


    "I gotta go soon though..." Ichigo said quietly. "I want to meet up with my friends in real life tomorrow, so I was nning on calling them. It''s already nearly 9... I don''t want them to fall asleep before I can contact them."


    "You''ll make Igarashi-kun suffer through pain just so you can call your friends?" Furuwa scoffed. "How selfish."


    "Ah, no, that''s not what I..."


    "It''s fine. Let''s go. I''m ready," I said, not wanting them to argue any further.


    Furuwa eyed me. "You... sure?"


    I nodded. "We''ll be waiting the entire night if we''re going to wait until my arm doesn''t hurt at all."


    "That..." she sighed. "Fine. If you insist."


    Seeing this exchange, Jim chuckled quietly. "Seems she worries about ya quite a bit."


    I was the only one who heard this - fortunately. If Furuwa had heard that, she probably would''ve killed Jim. I, on the other hand, just chose to ignore his words.


    The four of us walked through the only way there was to go. It ended up being a spiral staircase that led downwards. After what seemed like an eternity, we, atst, arrived at the final flight of stairs. Walking through the rhombus-shaped entrance, we were greeted by arge room on the other side. The four sides of the room were all equal, making it a square - or rather, a cube. The edges were marked by neon glowing green lines, while there were five white lights in the room - one on each wall, and one on the ceiling. On the other end of the room was a rhombus-shaped entrance simr to the one we were standing below right now, but it was shut tight.


    But what drew our gazes was the table ced at the center of the room. It seemed to be a chemical workbench of sorts, with all sorts of vials and beakers containing liquid ced on top of it. All in all, there seemed to be aplete chemistry equipment set on the table.


    "The hell is this? Another trial?" Ichigo frowned in confusion.


    "Most likely. But given how small this room is, I doubt this will be another trial focused on physical ability," I replied.


    "Damn straight. Those beakers ''n'' vials on that table are chemistry-rted," Jim added. "The one containin'' orange-red liquid should be a bloody potassium dichromate solution."


    The three of us all looked at him in surprise.


    "You... certainly know a lot," Furuwa mused.


    Jim chuckled. "Yeah? Well, I am a bloody university chemistry professor, mate."


    "In that case... we should be able to get past this trial, right?" Ichigo asked, looking at Jim with hope in his eyes.


    Jim shrugged. "Perhaps. But ay, just keep in mind, if this trial will be solely based on chemistry, I can help. But somethin'' tells me there''s more ta this than just that... bloody oath, mate."


    "..." I stayed silent, observing the room to try and get an idea of what the trial is going to be. In the end, I sighed and gave up.


    "There''s only one way to find out, isn''t there?" I smiled wryly.


    We nodded at one another and stepped forward into the room. The four of us gathered around the table filled with chemistry equipment, and suddenly, a male AI - the same one who had spoken to us thus far - began speaking once again, its deep and emotionless voice reverberating against the enclosed room''s walls.


    [Wee to the final trial of the Vault of Corruption - the Trial of the Chemist.]


    The final trial. If we are able to beat this, we can escape. All we had to do wasplete thisst test.


    [This trial, unlike the two before, will test your intelligence - your knowledge on Earth''s chemistry, in particr. You are to add correct chemical elements together to form a given chemicalpound. However, the name of the chemicalpound will not be shown - only its appearance. Therefore, you will have to identify the chemicalpound first. In order to pass this trial, you must solve ten such problems.]


    So far, everything seemed within expectations. With our chemistry professor here, this should be a breeze. But then, the AI''s next words crushed our hopes of this being a cakewalk.


    [In addition, there will be a time limit. The ground below you will slowly dematerialize, starting from the outer edges of the room. The total time allotted for this trial is two minutes.]


    "O-Only two minutes?!" Ichigo cried. "We have toplete ten chemistry problems in 120 seconds?!"


    Furuwa eyed Jim suspiciously. "How about it, Fizroy-san? Can you do it?"


    "Hm... that shouldn''t be a problem. But... I can''t guarantee that all the bloody answers will be right," he replied.


    Ichigo quickly sighed in relief. "That''s fine. All we have to do is answer ten questions correctly, right? There''s no penalty to getting one wron-"


    [Furthermore. If you answer a question incorrectly, the sawdes above you will drop down, crushing you instantly.]


    As if on cue, the ceiling above us opened up, revealing spinning sawdes covering the whole room, ready to m down at any moment.


    "... Well, there goes that n," Ichigo muttered quietly to himself, folding his arms.


    "This makes things a lot harder..." Jim chuckled sinisterly. "... Exactly how I like it."


    That''s what she sai-


    Nope, I''m not going to say it. It just wasn''t the time. Making a dirty joke when we were all about to die? Even I wasn''t that insensitive.


    [When you are ready, say ''BEGIN'' collectively.]


    "It''s do or die, mates," Jim said, stretching his arms.


    Furuwa took a deep breath. "Our lives are in your hands."


    "Yep. Whether we live or not is all up to you," Ichigo added. "Oh, but, no pressure or anything."


    "... Right," Jim muttered awkwardly.


    "Everyone ready?" I asked the other three.


    They all nodded, and we called out together:


    "Begin."

 Chapter 41: Trial of the Chemist (2)

    Chapter 41: Trial of the Chemist (2)


    [Trial of the Chemist: Begin.]


    Immediately, the chemistry equipment on the table before us vanished, reced by boxes containing various colors of spheres, each with a differentbel, including ''Oxygen'', ''Carbon'', and ''Nitrogen''. Then, a hologram appeared before us. It depicted a kind of red powder - a simr color to the solution that had been on the table moments earlier.


    "So... all that chemical equipment was just fer show?" Jim grunted unhappily.


    "Uh, the clock is ticking!" Furuwa yelled, as the floor around us slowly began to dissipate, starting from the outer edges.


    "I know, cobber! This one is... potassium dichromate..." Jim muttered to himself and went to work. "If I remember correctly, this should be K2 Cr2 O7..."


    Saying this, Jim took out 2 balls from the ''Potassium'' box, 2 from the ''Chromium'' box, and 7 from the ''Oxygen'' box. Then, he began constructing the skeleton of the chemicalpound. Lines automatically formed when he held up two balls right next to each other. His movements were practiced and precise. Clearly, he was skilled at this. The fact that he could memorize the chemical form of thepound was impressive as well - as expected of a chemistry professor.


    That said, just this was not enough. We only had two minutes - once those two minutes were up, we would all fall into whatevery below. From the sizzling and bubbling sound I was hearing, it was probably more of the green acid from the previous trial.


    Suddenly, the five white lights on the walls and ceiling of the room shed green, and we all looked around in surprise.


    "What was that?" Ichigo asked, sweat on his forehead even though he wasn''t doing anything.


    "I finished the first problem, mate," Jim replied without even sparing him a nce. No sweat seemed to be on his forehead, quite ironically.


    All of us were left shocked upon hearing this. "That... was quick," Furuwa muttered.


    "At this rate, we''ll be able to do it!" Ichigo shouted. "Yeah! Keep going, professor!"


    "I think he''ll be able to concentrate better without your yelling..." I murmured, but it was unknown whether or not Ichigo heard me.


    The hologram blinked and switched to the next chemicalpound - this time, it was some kind of translucent blue crystal.


    "This... copper sulfate pentahydrate, ay?" Jim chuckled. "I just taught about this, mate. Gimme more of a challenge."


    He reached for the boxes and took out one ball from the ''Copper'' category, one from the ''Sulfate'' category, ten from the ''Hydrogen'' category, and five from the ''Oxygen'' category. He pieced them together in no time.


    The lights shed green once more, signaling that our local chemistry professor had answered correctly once again.


    "Woo! Nice one, prof!" Ichigo pumped his fist into the air with a triumphant grin on his face.


    Jim didn''t get cocky, however, and continued to treat each question with the utmost caution. "Next... yellow powder... hm, this looks like an iron chloride hexahydrate..."


    Soon enough, Jim was zooming through the questions, and before we knew it, we only had one more question left to go.


    [Warning: 1 minute remaining.]


    "Only half the time has passed, and we already only have one question left," Ichigoughed. "This was almost too easy!"


    "Nah... don''t get too happy just yet, cobber," Jim said quietly, frowning in thought.


    "Huh? What...?"


    "Thisst one... I can''t tell what it is," Jim exined, scratching his head. "There''s just too bloody many white powders out there to correctly identify."


    The three of us converged beside Jim and observed the final problem. On the hologram, a white powder was shown. More urately, it was in a crystalline form, but the quality of the image was so low that it seemed to just be powder.


    "... He''s right. Salt, baking soda, sugar, borax, chalk... they''re all white powder," Furuwa muttered thoughtfully.


    "N'' that''s only the moremonly seen ones used in bloody daily life," Jim sighed. "It''s just... this image is too bloody broad..."


    "Are there any other hints anywhere, maybe?" Ichigo suggested, looking around the room. The space we had to stand on was slowly shrinking as the dematerialization continued.


    "No... this room ispletely empty apart from this table," Furuwa said, shooting Ichigo''s suggestion down.


    As we stood there, racking our brains for any ideas, the clock continued to tick and the time remaining continued to decrease. Thirty seconds passed, just like that.


    [Warning: 30 seconds remaining.]


    But then, a thought struck me.


    "Wait... the AI called this ce the ''Vault of Corruption'' earlier. Could this final chemicalpound have anything to do with ''corruption'', perhaps?"


    Furuwa looked at me in skepticism. "That''s... pretty far-stretched."


    "Yeah... I don''t think that''s the case..." Ichigo sighed in resignation, moving closer to us a bit as the part of the floor he had just been standing on melted away to nothingness.


    "No..." Jim suddenly said.


    "Huh?"


    "... Ya may be on to somethin'', kiddo."


    "How so?" Furuwa frowned in confusion, as did Ichigo.


    "The problem here is, what kind of corruption are we talkin'' about?" Jim continued, ignoring Furuwa and Ichigo''s puzzlement.


    I sank into thought. "The quest we saw earlier... it told us to ''investigate the source of the corruption'', didn''t it? That must be referring to the ''gue'' affecting the Magic Beasts. In other words..."


    "Mental corruption, ay?" Jim slowly began tough. "I got it... hallucinogens, huh?"


    "W-What?" Furuwa couldn''t keep up, but neither Jim nor I had time to answer her questions right now.


    "Hallucinogens... drugs that cause hallucination," I muttered quietly. "And the mostmonly used one is..."


    "... LSD," Jim finished. "Lysergic acid diethmide. It''s colorless or white... but it''s also crystalline in its purest form, which was why I never thought of it too hard."


    [Warning: 15 seconds remaining.]


    "Huh? Crystalline? But... the picture clearly shows powder!" Ichigo cried out in confusion.


    I shook my head. "No... whoever is controlling this purposely altered the image quality to make it seem like powder. If you look closely... you''ll see it is in fact crystalline."


    Jim smiled. "Keen eye, kiddo."


    "Uh... I still don''t get it at all, but we''re running out of time!" Furuwa eximed, looking around at the slowly dissipating ground.


    [10 seconds.]


    "Now then... the bloody form... C20H25N3O."


    [9.]


    Jim immediately plucked out twenty balls from the ''Carbon'' box, twenty-five from the ''Hydrogen'' box, three from the ''Nitrogen'' box, and one from the ''Oxygen'' box. Doing so took quite some time since it was aplicated form, and by the time he was done...


    [5.]


    "Hurry!" Ichigo shouted as the amount of safe space left to stand on was reduced to a single square meter.


    Jim concentrated even harder than before, and for the first time, I saw sweat forming on his brows. He pieced together the balls one by one, hands moving at lightning speed as the floor continued to dematerialize.


    [4.]


    "Almost..."


    [3.]


    The floor had been reduced to a mere 50 square centimeters. The four of us were practically squished together at this point, much to Furuwa''s dismay. Luckily, she didn''t attempt to outright push me off or anything. That would''ve been troublesome.


    [2.]


    "And..."


    [1.]


    "Bloody finished!"


    [0.]


    The room faded to ck, but I could still feel the ground beneath me. Did we make it? I held my breath.


    And then, the room''s five lights shed green, before returning to their normal white.


    I let out a sigh of relief. We had passed the trial.


    [Congrattions. You havepleted the Trial of the Chemist.]


    With those calming words from the AI, the entrance leading to the next section opened up slowly. The floor around us had returned to normal, and the table with all the boxes along with the hologram had disappeared.


    I, who had the unluckiness of being close to Furuwa when the floor had nearlypleted melted away, instantly received a kick in the stomach. I didn''t even need to look to know who the perpetrator was. I was far too close to her to dodge this attack, and I was sent flying backward. Fortunately, I managed to use ''Vanishing Clouds'' before I crashed into the wall behind me, propelling me forward. That... could''ve been worse had it not been for my reaction speeds.


    "Geez... Furuwa, that hurt..." I coughed, clutching my stomach in pain.


    "Who said you could use my first name-!" she immediately rushed over and attempted to kick me again, but I was able to anticipate her attack this time and quickly dodged out of the way, before frantically moving to the other side of the room.


    "H-Hey, chill!" I begged, attempting to escape her wrath.


    "You''re dying here today, damn it!" she yelled, running towards me.


    "Ichigo, help me out!" I suddenly grabbed him, using him as a shield between Furuwa and me against his will.


    "Huh? O-Oi! Let me go! I ain''t about to tank her hits for yo- ah!"


    Heh, this will serve you right.


    He then received a punch straight into the guts right in the middle of his sentence, from none other than Chiaki Furuwa herself. I let him go right as she striked him, so Ichigo was sent crashing into the wall behind him the same way I would have had it not been for ''Vanishing Shadows''.


    "Whew," Furuwa let out a deep breath, cing her hands on her hips and calming herself down. "I feel so much better after hitting someone."


    "T-The hell, Igarashi?! Ugh, this hurts..." Ichigo groaned, slowly getting back up.


    "If that''s bad, think about what I had to endure from you and Horiya," I snorted, unamused.


    "I... okay, fine, that''s a fair point."


    As for Jim, he watched all of this unfold with a crooked grin.


    "Ah... youngsters."

 Chapter 42: The Power of Corruption

    Chapter 42: The Power of Corruption


    My right arm was still notpletely healed. As for my stomach, it had already gotten nastily kicked by Furuwa. My whole body hurt, and I was feeling quite tired.


    Luckily, I had something to look forward to - and it was happening right now.


    "What do you think we''ll be getting?" Ichigo asked as we walked down a set of wide ck, polished stairs that seemed to be made out of marble or ss. "We beat this ce, right? There''s got to be some sort of reward."


    "Heh. Considerin'' how difficult the bloody trials were, the prize better be somethin'' real good," Jim said with a chuckle, the loud ttering of our footsteps the lone thing apanying us as we walked on the cold, hard floor.


    "Personally, I''d like some better shoes above anything else," Furuwa muttered in frustration. "These things suck."


    "Oh yeah,e to think of it, you nearly died because of those shoes of yours, didn''t you?" Iughed slightly. "Had it not been for me..."


    "I thought we were already even for that..." Furuwa cut me off, sending me a re as if threatening to kill me if I ever brought the topic up again.


    "Right," I snickered. "Still... I never thought you would slip."


    "Well... to be fair, these poor-quality things are pretty bloody slippery," Jim replied.


    Furuwa quickly nodded in agreement. "I know, right? And those pirs too... ugh. It was bad enough slipping one time and almost failing a jump, but after that, I slipped afternding on a pir too, and I nearly fell into the acid..."


    "Just be grateful you aren''t dead," Ichigo said with a wry smile. "At least, that''s what I''m happy about. I just feel bad for Horiya."


    Jim patted Ichigo on the shoulder. "If that kid''s a real friend o'' yers, he won''t me ya for anythin''. Rather, he''ll be happy ya managed to beat what he couldn''t, mate."


    "Yeah... I hope so," Ichigo said in response, shing Jim a thumbs-up.


    Soon, we arrived at the bottom of the stairs. In front of us were four closed chests of some kind. The room was lit up by white lights on either side of us and on the ceiling as well. Then, the male AI spoke once again.


    [Congrattions on beating the Vault of Corruption.]


    After a brief pause, he continued.


    [The chests in front of you contain your rewards for thepletion of this Vault. However, in addition to these rewards, you all have also unlocked a new skill - Corruption.]


    This came as a shock to all four of us, and we listened intently to the AI''s following exnation.


    [This skill will enable you to corrupt Magic Beasts'' minds, allowing you to make them do your bidding. The strength of the Magic Beasts you are able to control, how many you can control simultaneously, and the amount of time you can control a Magic Beast for will all depend on your proficiency in the skill. The more you use this skill, the higher your proficiency will be.]


    So... a new skill, huh? It seemed like a pretty powerful one too. If I could get my hands on a really strong Magic Beast, I could just have it do all the fighting for me without ever needing to worry. I knew that some skills'' power scaled with your stats, but this one probably didn''t... unless MAG could affect it? I would have to confirm with A.R.X.A.ter.


    "Huh... wait, if this is the Vault of ''Corruption'', are there other Vaults out there as well?" I asked, but the AI did not respond. I sighed. Not all AIs were like A.R.X.A.


    The other three looked at me as if I were a foreign object, but that was understandable. I just tried to ask a pre-coded AI a question. They wouldn''t get it...


    "Well, what are we bloody waitin'' for?" Jimughed and took a step forward, opening a chest up.


    The rest of us followed, each opening a chest up. Inside my chest were various pieces of equipment, including a full set of armor, a ring, and most importantly, a brand new dagger. This one had a ck de and handle, and glowed a bright green. It seemed that green was the general color of this Vault since the armor set also had a general green hue to it. Furthermore, the center stone of the ring was also a bright green.


    And then, a prompt appeared in front of me.


    [Would you like to store the items?]


    [Yes/No]


    I clicked on ''Yes'', and the hologram changed as the rewards all turned into beams of light and entered my body:


    [Obtained Corrupter Helm x1.]


    [Obtained Corrupter Chest x1.]


    [Obtained Corrupter Leggings x1.]


    [Obtained Corrupter Socks x1.]


    [Obtained Corrupter Boots x1.]


    [Obtained Corrupter Cape x1.]


    [Obtained Corrupter Ring x1.]


    [Obtained Corrupter Gloves x1.]


    [Obtained Dokujin x1.]


    Dokujin...? Poison... de. That must be referring to the dagger.


    I looked over at the others and saw that they had just finished storing everything in their inventories as well. Then, the chests suddenly disappeared, and in their ce were four devices that looked like teleportation pads.


    "Looks like these are our way out," Ichigo said, stepping onto his device.


    "Yeah... let''s get out of here already. Can''t wait to breathe fresh air again," Furuwa muttered inint before stepping onto her own.


    "Ay, I haven''t even taken a look at the stuff I got in detail yet, mate!" Jim cried in frustration.


    "You can do that after," Furuwa said, rolling her eyes. "Come on. Let''s go. This thing won''t start unless all four of us are standing on our own pads."


    With a sigh, Jim closed his System and stepped onto his own pad. I did the same.


    [Teleporting sequence initiating in 3... 2... 1...]


    A bright white light enveloped me. I closed my eyes and waited to be returned to the surface.


    Momentster, my eyes snapped open. I was back in the forest, staring at the entrance of the cave. It was now locked. Ichigo, Furuwa, and Jim were all right next to me, looking down at their own hands in wonder.


    Holograms - database entries, to be precise - then appeared in front of all of us. They read:


    [Vaults]


    [Vaults are dungeons located across the world of Ascension. Each one has three trials within them, made to test your physical and intellectual capabilities. If you are able to pass all three trials, you will have beaten the vault. Vaults offer exclusive rewards that cannot be obtained via any other method, along with a special skill based on the theme of the Vault.]


    And then, several other pop-ups appeared:


    [Primary Quest Complete: Corruption]


    [im your rewards in the ''Quests'' tab of your System.]


    -


    [Public Event Complete: Exterminating the Beasts]


    [im your rewards in the ''Quests'' tab of your System.]


    -


    [Vault Complete: The Vault of Corruption]


    [im your rewards in the ''Quests'' tab of your System.]


    "I thought teleportation would make me dizzy or something," Ichigo muttered, scratching his head awkwardly as the holograms disappeared. "Guess not."


    "That was less turbulent than I expected," Furuwa said with a sigh.


    It seemed that neither of them had experienced death in this game before, so they didn''t know what teleporting was like. This was the first time for them. I, on the other hand, have died twice already.


    "Now then... where''s that bloody little bastard Qin Yao at?" Jimughed evilly.


    "Oh yeah, I nearly forgot about him..." Ichigo said, lips curving up into a grin.


    Furuwa nced at the two of them, then sighed. "Whatever. At this point... I don''t even care if you kill him."


    "Much appreciated, kiddo," Jim chuckled. "How about ya?"


    He turned to me. "Wanna join in on the fun?"


    I sighed. "There''s no point wasting time dealing with him. I would much rather spend that time looking over the rewards I just got, you know?"


    "Oh, c''mon, Igarashi, don''t be like that. We all know you hate that bastard too," Ichigo said, patting me on the back. "So? Come on. Loosen up every once in a while."


    I met his friendly gaze, something I never thought I would see from him, and rolled my eyes in disdain and annoyance. I didn''t want them bothering me anymore, so might as well. Besides... beating someone up could be fun. I''ve always been on the receiving end of violence, so this could be a nice and fresh change of pace.


    "Alright, fine... let''s just make this quick, yeah?"


    "Ya bet!" Jimughed heartily.


    "Uh... you there. Didn''t you need to call your friends or something?" Furuwa asked, pointing at Ichigo. Poor guy, she didn''t even remember his name.


    "Nah. I feel like beating someone up right now, and Qin Yao''s my number one target!"


    "... I see? Well, suit yourself," Furuwa replied. "I''ll be getting off for the day. I''m tired. Both physically and mentally."


    "Alrighty. Good night, or whatever time zone it is for ya," Jim said, giving Furuwa a casual wave.


    "I think we''re all in the time zone," Ichigo added. "I mean, the in-game time is the same as the actual time outside."


    "Oh, yeah, yer right," Jim chuckled. "By the way, did I tell ya? I''m actually livin'' in Japan."


    Ichigo frowned. "Huh? But... you''re speaking English, no?"


    "Bloody right," he replied. "I can speak bothnguages. I just prefer to stick to my original one, y''know?"


    "Ah, I got it. Yeah, we''re all in Japan as well."


    "Figured as much."


    "Alright then, bye, Igarashi-kun," Furuwa said, waving at us. "And, uh, Fitzroy-san and... you, the other guy."


    "Oi, who''s ''the other guy''?!"


    "See ya, she."


    I waved back, right before she logged out.


    Hm... same time zone, huh? I think I have an idea as to my question from a while back - the reason why there were only a limited amount of yers around despite Ascension: Online being a huge game offunch. I would still need to confirm with A.R.X.A.ter, but I was 90% certain I was correct.


    After that, we headed for the city of Tianyin to im our reward money of 75,000 gold. However, unbeknownst to us, what would be waiting for us would not be what we had originally expected...

 Chapter 43: Return To Tianyin

    Chapter 43: Return To Tianyin


    The three of us returned to Tianyin City triumphantly, ready to ept our rewards of 75,000 gold each. Then, when Furuwa came back online the next day, we would host the four-way battle we had scheduled within the Vault of Corruption. That was the n, anyway. The three of us were all excited for what was toe. The hard part, getting out of the Vault, was over. All that was left was to reap our rewards.


    At least, that''s what we all thought.


    Unfortunately what greeted us when we arrived at the destroyed western gates of the city couldn''t be called a ''warm wee'', even as an overstatement.


    "There they are!" Captain Ling Ye''s familiar voice shouted. "Hero Qin''s prediction had been correct! Arrest them!"


    "H-Huh? Arrest?" Ichigo froze in confusion, as the soldiers of Tianyin rushed out of the city and surrounded us immediately. We now had nowhere to run.


    "Well. This is quite the bloody wee," Jim muttered, shooting Ling Ye a re filled with hatred. He was unfazed by this, however, and merely continued to walk towards us, de drawn.


    "What''s the meaning of this?" Ichigo demanded, looking around at the armed soldiers that had surrounded us.


    It''s clear what the meaning of this is, Ichigo. The city we just saved by defeating that Vault is now turning on us. Ling Ye mentioned Qin Yao''s title just now he must be the one who orchestrated this. How despicable.


    Realizing that talking wasn''t going to get us out of this situation, I sighed and took advantage of this time to equip my own weapon - the new dagger I had obtained, Dokujin; not the old one Ming Ye the cksmith had crafted for me. Jim also realized this already, and did the same. However, Ichigo, on the other hand, seemed to bepletely oblivious to the circumstances. In fact, he seemed like he still didn''t know what was going on.


    That wouldn''t be the case for long, though, as Captain Ling Ye approached us. The soldiers around him made way for him to pass, and about five feet away from us, he stopped, before raising the sword he was holding in his right hand and pointing it at us.


    "Traitors truly despicable, you are. You still have the face to return to this city?"


    "H-Huh? Traitors? The hell are you talking about, old man?" Ichigo raised an eyebrow in utter bewilderment.


    "Hmph. ying dumb will not do you any good - Hero Qin has already told us everything the downright evil acts you three heretics havemitted."


    "You''re kidding, right?" Ichigoughed. "Us, evil? I could call him the same thing!"


    "You dare sully Hero Qin''s good name?!" Ling Ye stepped forward and, in an instant, thrust his de towards Ichigo''s throat, stopping millimeters before cutting it open.


    And it was at that moment that Ichigo finally realized what was going on, with his life on the line. However, there was not much he could do in this shameful position. Neither Jim and I made a move to help him, since the moment we did, the horde of soldiers surrounding us would attack as well. If that happened, we were dead meat. That said, it''s not like we were just going to abandon ourpanion. If Ling Ye truly tried to kill Ichigo, we would fight with no turning back.


    "You just what the hell did that bastard tell you guys?!" Ichigo spat in frustration, but didn''t dare to move. After all, the tip of Ling Ye''s de was a mere few millimeters away from his throat.


    Hearing this, Ling Ye''s face contorted in rage. "Damned snake, you still dare to insult Tianyin City''s hero?!"


    "Stop," a voice interrupted. It was a voice we all knew and hated - none other than Mr. Pissypants ''Hero Qin'' himself.


    "H-Hero Qin," Ling Ye, spotting his false lord and savior, backed down, sheathing his de. "I apologize for my loss of temper I just could not stand hearing these mongrels nder you."


    Qin Yao smiled, and nodded gently. "It''s alright, Captain Ling Ye. Allow me to speak with these traitors."


    He turned away from Ling Ye and eyed us with a sneer. At this, Ichigo couldn''t contain his anger anymore. Completely disregarding the fact that he had no weapon equipped, he jumped towards Qin Yao and unleashed a punch. However, Ling Ye stepped forward and intercepted it with ease.


    "You utterly despicable rat," Ling Ye spat.


    "It''s fine," Qin Yao hurriedly said. "Just detain them, please. Otherwise, I''m afraid I won''t be able to hold a conversation with these guys peacefully."


    It seemed that Qin Yao''s hero farce was up and running at 100% capacity once more. It made me want to vomit, but I held it in. Had Furuwa been here, she probably would''ve ughtered everyone present already or at least died trying.


    Immediately, several guards moved in and grabbed Ichigo, pushing him downwards. His knees buckled and he fell to the ground, forced to kneel before Qin Yao. He attemped to struggle, but the trained soldiers kept a firm grip on his shoulders and arms.


    "L-Let me go!"


    "Shut it," Ling Ye ordered, and Ichigo fell silent from the pressure.


    "Much better," Qin Yao snickered, bending down to face his prey. "Oh, what was your name again?Ah, right Ichigo, was it? Youughed especially hard when you trapped me inside that cave, didn''t you? Never thought I would escape that dark, lonely ce, did you? Never thought that the truth woulde to light so quickly, did you? How sad. Unfortunately for you, I am far stronger than you can even imagine."


    "W-What?! Trap you inside that cave?! You were the one who trapped us, asshole! Do you have any idea what we had to fucking go through in there?!" Ichigo yelled in anger, not caring about the use of profanity anymore.


    "Are you seriously trying to confound white and ck, right and wrong, and saying I trapped the four of you inside that cave? Shameless."


    "Oh yeah? That''s exactly what you fahkin'' did, bloody bastard," Jim, who couldn''t take it anymore, spat in Ichigo''s ce. He was wielding the new weapon he obtained from the Vault of Corruption as well - a sword of corruption - and looked ready to fight a moment''s notice.


    "Fitzroy if I remember correctly, aren''t you over thirty? I expected you to be more mature than this," Qin Yao said, letting out an overdramatic sigh. "But I guess, in the end, all humans are made of greed, regardless of age. I trusted you a lot too to think you would band together with these two."


    Ichigo looked ready to kill Qin Yao with those two zing eyes of his, and Jim was no different. I, on the other hand, remained fairly calm, and instead attempted to find the best solution to this dilemma.


    "Captain Ling Ye," I interrupted amidst all the tension in the air. "Would you listen to me for a brief moment?"


    " Do not think I will believe a word of what you say," he replied, shooting me a look of disgust.


    I shrugged. "Fine by me. But all criminals have the right to defend themselves, correct?"


    Qin Yao immediately turned to Ling Ye in an attempt to thwart my ns. "Don''t listen to him, Captain Ling Ye. He will poison your mind with lies. That''s what he did to me back in the forest, and ended up leading me into their well-crafted trap."


    "Worry not, Hero Qin. I will not fall for his tricks," Ling Ye replied reassuringly, and Qin Yao sighed in relief.


    "However what he said is true," he continued, looking at me. "All criminals have the right to defend themselves. Therefore, I shall hear you talk. Speak, traitor."


    Qin Yao''s eyes widened in a panic. "W-Wait, Capt-"


    My lips curved upwards into a grin as I cut Qin Yao''s words short.


    "Thank you, Captain Ling Ye. But before that just to rify things, what did ''Hero Qin'' tell you, exactly, that made you arrest us like so? I believe I at least have the right to know what I am being convicted of."


    Captain Ling Ye paused for a moment as he looked into my eyes, then sighed, loosening up a bit. "I suppose that is true. What Hero Qin told us was like this"


    And so, we began to hear the expertly woven lies that Qin Yao hadposed into one massive story of deception.

 Chapter 44: The Truth Revealed

    Chapter 44: The Truth Revealed


    "ording to Hero Qin, the three of you were in the same Magic Beast hunting group as him. There was a girl with you as well, but she does not appear to be here at the moment."


    I nodded. "That part is true. But just for the record, he was the one who decided all the groups - not us. In other words, he ced himself into the same group as us."


    Ling Ye looked at Qin Yao as if seeking confirmation. "Hero Qin did not mention that bit."


    "I-It''s true," Qin Yao replied, trying to calm down. "I organized all the groups."


    I smiled. Step one of my n had already seeded - and that was to make Captain Ling Ye realize Qin Yao had hidden certain details from him. As much as Qin Yao wanted to, he could not deny what I said. With regards to this matter of organizing the groups, all of the other yers who participated in this public event could vouch for us.


    Now, it was time to move onto the next phase of my n.


    "B-But that isn''t all that important, is it?" Qin Yao hurriedly added.


    "No. It certainly isn''t," I replied with a mysterious smirk. "So moving on, Captain Ling Ye, please continue exining what Hero Qin told you."


    "Right. He imed that your group discovered a cave of some sort. Is this true?"


    I nodded, and Captain Ling Ye continued. "ording to him, the cave had a ''door'' of some kind, which was already unlocked. Then, he bravely volunteered to take the lead in the exploration of the unknown cave, and-"


    "And that''s where the simrities end," I interrupted. "Sorry, Captain Ling Ye, but Hero Qin here did not ''bravely volunteer'' to take the lead. Jim was the one who went inside first, and the rest of us followed. As a matter of fact, Hero Qin was deadst."


    "What? As a hero, it''s my job to go first when going through uncharted territory," Qin Yao immediately denied. "Why are you lying to Captain Ling Ye, Igarashi?"


    Iughed confidently despite the situation I was in. The reason for this was to show Ling Ye that I knew I was telling the truth. Every tiny movement I made, every little detail I enacted, was all part of my n to win this battle of wits, intelligence, and trickery.


    "We both know who''s the real liar here, Hero Qin," I said boldly. "But putting that aside for now Captain Ling Ye, continue the story, please."


    Notice how I was taking control of the conversation, steering it the way I wanted it to go, despite my disadvantaged position as a suspect. My n was going wlessly without any hitches. There was just one final piece of the puzzle that I needed the final nail in the coffin - the coffin for Qin Yao, that is.


    Captain Ling Ye took a deep breath, and spoke quietly. " Hero Qin imed that once he entered the cave, the rest of you locked him inside."


    And, there it was. Qin Yao''s death warrant.


    I chuckled. "What a joke. If that is the case, then how do you exin how we got back to the city after he did? ording to him, we ''trapped'' him inside, no?"


    "Hero Qin said that he ferociously fought his way out of the cave, battling monsters and Magic Beasts alike"


    One lie leads to another. That is the truth of this world. It is an vicious cycle of deceit - one that will forever continue that is, until the perpetrator is unable to lie anymore. Until the chain of lies start to have holes appear in them. Until finally, those holes be far too great to ignore.


    This, was a perfect example of that path leading to eventual destruction.


    "That still doesn''t exin how we returned after he did, does it?" I continued, exposing Qin Yao''s false story''s plot holes one after another. "Even if he did fight enemies inside the cave, doing so undoubtedly takes time. If anything, that only further strengthens my argument."


    "That''s" Ling Ye looked at Qin Yao, who immediately shook his head.


    "H-How am I supposed to know why you guys returned after I did? Maybe you waited before returning on purpose, just for the sake of proving yourself right."


    I sighed. "Qin Yao, you are digging your own grave. If we truly did that on purpose, then that would have to mean we expected to get arrested here. Otherwise, what reason would there be for us to do that?"


    Qin Yao fell silent, unsure how to argue back, and I turned to Captain Ling Ye. "You see, Captain? Everything Qin Yao told you was a lie."


    "That I have trouble believing that," Ling Ye said after a short pause. "I want to see evidence. Rock, solid evidence. Everything you said, while logical, is mere conjecture."


    "Mere conjecture?" I scoffed. "Do you still not understand? I''ve already pointed out all the contradictions in the story Qin Yao told you. And when someone''s words have contradictions in them, chances are, they''re not true."


    "D-Don''t believe his words, Captain Ling Ye! I told you just now already, didn''t I? He will poison your mind," Qin Yao hurriedly said.


    "" Ling Ye fell silent, unsure of who to believe.


    I sighed. "However if it is rock solid evidence you need, I can provide that as well.


    It seemed it was time to bring out my final trump card to secure my victory in this psychological battle.


    *****


    A short whileter, we found ourselves staring at the ''cave'' from Qin Yao''s story. Of course, this was, in reality, the Vault of Corruption - but apart from Ichigo, Jim, and I, no one else present knew that Qin Yao included. And that fact was exactly what would expose ''Hero Qin'' once and for all.


    I turned to Ling Ye. "Here we are."


    "Hero Qin is this the cave you im they trapped you in?"


    Qin Yao nodded slowly. "Yeah."


    Ling Ye then turned back to me. "You said we would find evidence here. Where is it?"


    I smiled. "It''s simple, really. If Qin Yao really got trapped inside this cave then he should know what the interior of it is like, right?"


    Qin Yao''s eyes widened in surprise as he knew his end was near.


    Meanwhile, Ling Ye seemed to be calm. "I see. In other words if Hero Qin''s description does not match the reality, then it will be clear that he was lying."


    "I wasn''t lying!" Qin Yao cried in ast-ditch attempt to prove his innocence. "I don''t see why I have to do this, when these guys were clearly the ones who wronged me! Why can''t you just arrest them already?!"


    By this time, his calm, hero facade haspletely worn out. I''ve already seen his true self many times already, but every time his real form is exposed, I find it amusing. It''ll never get old, no matter how much I watch it.


    "Hero Qin. I want to trust you I really do. I do not believe that you would lie to me, but just to be certain some solid evidence is necessary. I ce my full faith in you, Hero Qin. Go on, tell us what the inside of the cave is like, and we will see it for ourselves."


    Qin Yao fell silent, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists as he red at me with burning hatred in his eyes.


    I wasn''t fazed in the least, however, and instead, taunted him even further. "If you were really telling the truth, then you shouldn''t be so hesitant to prove it, isn''t that right?"


    "Hero Qin. Please."


    Qin Yao, after some debate, looked down at the ground, and began muttering quietly. "The inside of the cave is a jungle, of sorts. It is filled with dangerous Magic Beasts and Monsters, which I had to batt-"


    "PFFT!" Ichigo, who had been listening quietly all this time, immediately burst out inughter. "Hah! Jungle?! Not even remotely close!"


    Qin Yao''s body began shaking. He had taken one final, desperate guess, and failed it.


    " Let us see what is inside," Captain Ling Ye muttered quietly, even though he already knew Qin Yao had been lying to him all this time. In fact, he probably already knew from the moment I pointed out all the mistakes in Qin Yao''s reasoning and logic. However, he just didn''t want to believe it, which was why we had toe all the way here to show him some solid evidence.


    I stopped him. "Hold on. Before we do that just to add some fuel to the fire the interior of the cave should be a high-tech, futuristic design, and on top of that the first stage is a ttened hexagonal tunnel lit up by white lights on the left and white walls."


    Ling Ye blinked in surprise. "Are you trying to convince me that you guys were the ones who fought your way out of this ce?"


    I smiled. "Take it as you will."


    Ling Ye decided not to respond to my cryptic final message, and instead headed on in. The rest of us followed with the exception of Qin Yao.


    "Hey, soldiers," I hollered. "Keep an eye on your beloved hero, yeah?"


    The two guards closest to Qin Yao exchanged nces, and nodded to me firmly.


    Qin Yao red at me with venom, to which I smirked smugly in reply.


    We headed deeper into the cave and soon found ourselves standing directly in front of the closed metal door. The pad in the middle was still green, signaling that it was unlocked.


    " How do you open this?" Ling Ye asked, tone quiet.


    "Just ce your hand on it," I exined.


    "" Ling Ye did as told, cing his hand on the pad. But it shed red for a brief moment, and the doors did not slide open.


    "I think a yer''s gotta do it," Jim said, before stepping forward and cing his own hand on the pad.


    Once again, the pad shed red, and the doors did not open.


    "I see. It has to be a yer who hasn''tpleted the Vault before" I muttered. "Captain Ling Ye, Qin Yao needs to be the one to open this, since he is the only one who has not beaten it before."


    "In that case why can I not do it?" he inquired in confusion.


    "It''splicated," I said, brushing his question off. At this point, he wasn''t keen to ask any further anyway. His emotional state was pretty unstable right now, given how the savior he had worshipped turned out to have lied to him all along. This worked to my advantage - Ling Ye was nowpletely in my control, and would ept whatever I told him.


    This was the power of psychology. Not all battles are fought and won using fists and cold steel.


    Ichigo whistled. "The NPCs in this game sure have some advanced artificial intelligence capabilities."


    "I do not really understand, but alright," Ling Ye replied, before turning around and hollering towards the outside of the cave. "Bring Hero Qin in here!"


    The two guards I had spoken to just now soon appeared, practically dragging Qin Yao inside.


    "T-Tch" he muttered as he was ced before us.


    "Hero Qin please ce your hand on that pad."


    Unable to refuse, he did as told. The pad shed green, and the doors slid open, revealing the chamber within. It looked the same as how it had been when we first entered this ce - exactly how I had described it right in front of Ling Ye''s face just now.


    "A futuristic, high-tech tunnel, huh?" Ling Ye whispered to himself. He knew now. He had to ept the reality, after seeing this.


    Qin Yao''s answer of ''jungle'' couldn''t be further away from the truth he was looking at right now, after all.


    "So, Captain. Do you see now? Who''s the liar, and who''re the true heroes of Tianyin?" I asked.


    " Yes. Yes, I do," he replied, before taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. "Guards."


    "Yes, Captain?" the two guards answered simultaneously.


    "Take Hero Qi- no, Qin Yao, away. Send him into exile, never to return to the city of Tianyin again."


    Hearing this, all of us widened our eyes in surprise, Qin Yao himself included.


    "H-Hold on, only exile?!" Ichigo eximed. "He nearly got us killed, trapping us in here, you know!"


    "That may be so, but he still saved Tianyin by exposing the sabertooths'' weakness during the midnight invasion of the Magic Beastsst nigh-"


    "Ah, actually I was the one who did that," I interrupted Ling Ye''s words.


    " Come again?"


    "Yeah. I''m the one who slew the first sabertooth that night," I exined. "Qin Yao had just been beside me when I did so, and ended up shouting out the method to kill them."


    "Basically, he stole all the credit from my boy here," Ichigo added.


    Hearing this, Ling Ye clenched his fists. "So I, Ling Ye, have been serving a false hero all this time?"


    "Bloody right," Jim chuckled. "But ay, if you give ''im a suitable bloody punishment now it''s not toote, y''know?"


    "Oh, I will. To deceive me and all of Tianyin" he turned to Qin Yao''s hopeless figure, kneeling on the cave''s cold floor. " You deserve to die."


    Well, he was a yer. Even if Ling Ye executed him, he would still respawn. That said the pain he would experience was noughing matter.


    "Before that" Ichigo suddenly interjected, and we all turned to look at him in puzzlement. He grinned mischievously and cracked his knuckles as Qin Yao''s eyes widened in fear.


    " Can we all take turns beating the shit out of him?"

 Chapter 45: Claiming the Rewards

    Chapter 45: iming the Rewards


    "Whew - that felt so satisfying!" Ichigo shouted with augh.


    "Bloody straight," Jim agreed, chuckling.


    We had just finished beating Qin Yao up. Or rather, they had. I didn''t participate, mainly because those two were hitting him so much that I couldn''t even join in. It was pretty pitiful, honestly. Still, he got what he deserved. He had no one to me but himself.


    After we were satisfied, Captain Ling Ye and the guards took Qin Yao away. It was pretty funny, actually. He couldn''t even log out because he was being detained, his hands locked behind his back. But following this theory it certainly was possible to trap someone inside this game - by preventing them from logging out via their System. However, this method wasn''t entirely fool-proof. As yers, they can simply kill themselves to reset, then log out after respawning at theirst spawnpoint. Qin Yao was probably debating to do that right now, but he wasn''t eager to feel more pain after what Ichigo and Jim just did to him. He''ll probably log off the game after he was tossed into a jail cell.


    Either way, this certainly wouldn''t be thest we would see of him. He would log back in to the game sooner orter, and with his personality probablye looking for revenge. However, it''s not like his actions had no repercussions at all. At the very least, if he showed his face in Tianyin City ever again, he would get arrested once more.


    Therefore, it would be quite some time before we would ever have to deal with Qin Yao again. I''m grateful for that.


    As for us, we followed Captain Ling Ye and the soldiers back into the city to im our rewards. We heard that the other yers who had participated in this public event had already received their prize money of 75,000 gold, even Hua Hua, who had died to Moonserpents.


    Qin Yao, obviously, wouldn''t be receiving anything. In the end, Ichigo forced him to cough up the money from his inventory. He refused at first, but with a couple of threats from Ichigo and Jim, he gave in rtively easily.


    "Did he give the money back?" Ling Ye asked, walking into the jail cell Qin Yao had been confined in. His hands were chained up, pinned against the wall - so he still couldn''t log out, even now. Truly tragic.


    "Yep," Ichigo replied, holding up arge sack that appeared to be quite heavy. "Right here."


    Ling Ye nodded. "My thanks. You can keep the money as an additional reward."


    Ichigo''s eyes widened. "A-Are you sure?"


    " Yes. You lot showed me the truth. Thank you for exposing the reality."


    "Hey now, we didn''t do anythin''," Jim suddenly interrupted. "It was all Igarashi here. I think he deserves the bloody money, yeah?"


    Ichigo hurriedly nodded. "Yeah. Here, Igarashi."


    He handed me the enormous sack of gold coins, and I epted it gratefully.


    "Well, no sense turning this down, I suppose" I murmured as I stored the money into my inventory via a hologram that showed up in front of me.


    After that, we left his cell. It was only a matter of time before Qin Yao would give up and resort to suicide in order to log out. Not a good method by any means.


    "Hero Igarashi," Ling Ye said as we walked. "I truly apologize. I was blind."


    "This is the fifth time you''ve apologized to me tonight," I chuckled. "Don''t sweat it. Oh, and also, ''Hero Igarashi'' sounds weird. Don''t bother calling me that."


    "What? But"


    "You see I dislike standing out. Understand?"


    Hearing this, Ling Ye''s eyes widened slightly in understanding. " I see. In that case, I shall respect your decision."


    We parted ways shortly after that. Jim and Ichigo both logged off, and I lied to them, saying that I would log out after they did as well. I couldn''t really do this, of course, so instead, I headed for a clothing store. I needed some new underclothes - I could obtain fresh armor frompleting various quests, but not normal clothes such as T-shirts.


    Unfortunately, the store was already closed. It was already nearly 10 PM, after all. So, I just returned to the inn I had stayed at the night before. I paid the proper price for one night''s stay this time around. Luckily, no one booked the room I had stayed in yesterday, so I just took that one - it would''ve been a hassle to adapt to a new room, after all.


    After a long shower, I exited the bathroom and opened up my System. I was stillpletely naked, but after some thought during the shower, an idea struck me.


    I switched to the ''Crafting'' tab without bothering to look at my profile and took a look at the materials I currently had:


    [Sickleboar Meat x19]


    [Sickleboar Skin x13]


    [Bones x2]


    The materials I had obtained from ying sickleboars didn''t change at all, since I didn''t kill any during the entirety of this public event. I kept reading.


    [Silver Wings x8]


    This must''ve been from the silverwings we got ambushed by.


    [Moonserpent Scales x1]


    [Moonserpent Fangs x2]


    Andstly, the moonserpents we fought.


    After some thought, I decided to give my idea a shot. I dragged five sickleboar skins into the five circles on the right hand side of the screen, one in each. Then, clicking on the crafting table in the middle, the circles converged into one.


    "Please work" I muttered quietly.


    And then, it was finished. A notice popped up:


    [Obtained: Sickleboar Pelt x1]


    I smirked, then dragged three sickleboar skins this time and ced them into three circles. Clicking on the crafting table, I waited.


    [Obtained: Sickleboar Underwear x1]


    I sighed in relief. I was so d to have found this recipe. I switched to the Inventory tab and located the two items I just crafted, equipping them immediately - a shirt and underpants, both made from sickleboar skin.


    "Hm this feels kind of weird, but"


    It was the best I had. After some adjusting, I dove into my bed, and took a deep breath. Then, after pulling the covers over me, I switched to the ''Quests'' tab. I now had three newlypleted quests, ready for me to im.


    [Primary Quest: Corruption - COMPLETE]


    [Investigate the source of the Magic Beasts'' corruption.]


    [Rewards: 2000 XP, 5,000 gold]


    -


    [Public Event: Exterminating the Beasts - COMPLETE]


    [Exterminate the Magic Beast horde that has gued Tianyin City for years.]


    [Rewards: 1000 XP, 2,500 gold]


    -


    [Vault: The Vault of Corruption - COMPLETE]


    [Complete the Vault of Corruption.]


    [Rewards: 4,000 XP, 10,000 gold]


    I blinked in surprise. Apparently,pleting Vaults offered better rewards than even Primary Quests. It seemed that they would be the most efficient way to level up fast - and since my stats scaled with my actions without needing to spend SP, if a Vault offered trials that tested physical ability like the Trial of the Sprinter and Trial of the Leaper, then my overall power would skyrocket.


    I then imed the rewards. Immediately, a new prompt appeared:


    [Level Up!]


    [Lv. 11 -> 15.]


    [You received 40 SP and 8 AP.]


    40 SP and 8 AP, huh? What a bountiful harvest. I now had 10 AP in total. I wasn''t in a rush to obtain new skills, though, right now, I was tired. I just wanted to look over my new stats, distribute my SP, talk to A.R.X.A. a bit, then go to sleep. I would worry about skills tomorrow.


    I switched to the ''Profile'' tab of my System, and my eyes widened in shock at how much my stats had grown:


    [STR: 60]


    [AGI: 80]


    [INT: 35]


    [DEX: 14]


    [MAG: 26]


    [LUC: 10]


    This was quite the increase. My STR stat went from 48 to 60 from killing those Magic Beasts alone. Unfortunately, the trials within the Vault of Corruption weren''t strength-focused, so that didn''t help much.


    That said it certainly did affect my AGI stat. A leap from 48 to 80 - that''s a 32 point increase without having to spend a single SP. I was confident I could now avoid any attacks other yers my level threw at me, and Magic Beasts as well. Furthermore, I was now so fast and agile that they would not be able to react to my speed, giving me many opportunities to strike.


    As for my INT stat, my guess is that the Trial of the Chemist helped increase this, along with the logical reasoning I used to expose Qin Yao. Both were rted to intelligence, after all.


    My DEX and MAG stat both didn''t increase, but that was only natural.


    Andstly-


    Wait. The hell? Is it just me, or did my LUC stat go down? I could''ve sworn it was 12 before, and now it''s 10


    Hold on, don''t tell me my stats can go down based on what I do in the game as well?!


    I quickly distributed my stats like so, then switched to the A.R.X.A. tab:


    STR: 60 -> 80 (Cost: 20 SP)


    AGI: 80 -> 80 (Cost: 0 SP)


    INT: 35 -> 35 (Cost: 0 SP)


    DEX: 14 -> 30 (Cost: 16 SP)


    MAG: 26 -> 30 (Cost: 4 SP)


    LUC: 10 -> 10 (Cost: 0 SP)


    [Greetings, human.] She said as her robotic face glitched into view.


    "Uh, hi, A.R.X.A long time no talk," I said casually. "Have you been watching everything I''ve been doing?"


    [Yes. I am surprised you managed to make it out of my traps-]


    "H-Hold on, by traps, do you mean how the Vault''s trials were targeting me?!"


    A.R.X.A. fell silent for a brief moment, then spoke once again.


    [Error: Cannot process subject''s meaning.]


    "''Error'' my ass! So it was you controlling the metal crates!" I yelled in frustration. "It was also you who dematerialized that final pir right when I was about to jump in the Trial of the Leaper, wasn''t it?!"


    "Oi! Keep it down over there! Trying to sleep!" a man shouted from the room next to mine, banging on my wall.


    "A-Ah, sorry," I quickly said, lowering my voice, then turned back to A.R.X.A. "Did you do all that for your own entertainment?"


    [Would you believe me if I said no, human?]


    " Not one bit."


    [There you have it.]


    "Ugh whatever. At least now I know you''ll help me sometimes, but hinder me at other times," I muttered in disdain. "That aside I wish to confirm some things with you."


    [Speak.]


    "Alright. Firstly it''s with regards to my own stats. I saw that my LUC stat had dropped down, somehow. Is that supposed to happen?"


    [''You'' are not supposed to happen.]


    "Huh?"


    [Your stats leveling up on their own is a ''bug'' in and of itself. If they can go up, why can they not go down?]


    " I see. I''ll have to be careful from now on then," I sighed.


    This was troublesome. For example, if I didn''t exercise at all for a week or something, my STR and AGI stats would both undoubtedly go down. Maybe my DEX stat too. Moreover, if I ever thought up a stupid n or something would my INT stat decrease? Probably. I don''t know about MAG, but apparently, my LUC could decrease from the most random events ever. The moment a little misfortune befell me, my LUC stat would go down - even though it was supposed to help decrease the amount of misfortune thates to me. How ironic.


    "As for next question," I continued, organizing my thoughts. "The ''Corruption'' skill I obtained from beating the Vault of Corruption does the MAG stat affect the power of this skill?"


    [Information on the skill can be found in the ''Skills'' tab. Refrain from asking me such stupid questions.]


    I rolled my eyes and did my best to control my annoyance. "Okay and the final question - there should be billions of people ying Ascension: Online right now. Howe there are only such few yers around?"


    [There are 24 servers in Ascension: Online, each based on a different timezone. The servers are all parallel reality nes of this one. The server you are currently in is Server 1, the original reality ne of Ascension. The other 23 are all parallel ones I fabricated.]


    "So, the other servers are all parallel reality nes, huh? What about the NPCs in these other servers?"


    [They are all not real. They are virtual clones created from the DNA data of their original counterpart in this reality ne.]


    "I see I figured as much," I muttered in thought. "But even with 24 servers based on the different timezones of my old reality ne, there should still be millions of people ying on one server at a time so there''s one more factor in y here, isn''t there? And that is the age distribution of the poption."


    [Correct.]


    I smiled. My guess had been on point after all. There was an age restriction on Ascension: Online - this had been a tiny detail I noticed when Ipleted the calibration process - a tiny prompt had appeared in front of me that read ''scanning DNA''.


    From this small technicality most other people wouldn''t even see, I had concluded several things:


    1. You could only have one ''ount'' for AR games. This ount was bound to your DNA - it could not be fabricated. In the case of Ascension: Online, this meant that if you ended up trapped somewhere, you either had to reset your location by killing yourself, or escape. Otherwise, you would remain trapped forever, even if you log out. The next time you log in, you would still be in that ce. ''Making a new ount and restarting fresh'' was not possible in the world of AR - alternate reality.


    2. There was an age requirement on certain games. For example, why were there no little children in Ascension: Online? The answer was simple - if the DNA scan ran by the system showed that you were below a certain age, you could not start up certain games. Otherwise, children could be exposed to potentially sensitive content. In the case of Ascension: Online, I assumed the age restriction to be somewhere around 14 or so - in other words, I was just barely above the required age to y.


    The second point here, age restriction, was why there were only a limited amount of yers despite the poprity of the game. Children, who were thergest age group in the world''s total poption, were all too young and unable to y. Moreover, seniors above the age of 50 or 60 would also, for the most part, be uninterested inbat-focused games such as Ascension: Online.


    To sum it up, in reality, the only people ying Ascension: Online in the world are those between the ages of 14 and 50, spread across different ying times, different locations in the vast world of Ascentia, and 24 different servers. With this in mind, everything made sense, and the answer to my question wasid bare.


    With my mysteries solved, I said good night to A.R.X.A. and drifted off to sleep.

 Chapter 46: Reunion

    Chapter 46: Reunion


    - The Path Between Xiyang Vige and Tianyin City -


    (Hina''s Perspsective)


    It was a little past 10 PM. I had finally made my way to the western gates of Tianyin, after 3 hours of exploring Xiyang vige and getting used to this world''sbat system. I asked the NPCs around about the world, and had now gotten a good idea of what this game''s setting was like. Fortunately, I haven''t died a single time yet, though every battle with the sickleboars in this forest has been a close one. A cksmith named Ming Ye had sold me a pair of ck daggers that looked kind of like tridents, called ''Sai'' back in Japan. They were my go-to weapon since I was already experienced with it from karate.


    I had been a surprised to see that traditional Japanese weapons were avable in this game, but I wasn''t about toin. Still, despite my skill with the weapon, I was only experienced with using it against other people, and well, fighting beasts was a lot different from fighting people. The people I''ve fought against all had unpredictable movement patterns and fake attacks, so I was used to anticipating them. However, with wild Magic Beasts, doing so only served to do the opposite - the animals had extremely predictable and straightforward attack patterns. They were unable to adapt based on their opponent and also had a limited amount of strength and agility.


    All these factors added together made it difficult to change my own way of fighting to suit battling against Magic Beasts rather than people. It took me a while to get it down, a couple hours to be exact, but once I did, killing the beasts were a breeze. And now, I had arrived at Tianyin City, the ce Kaze-kun had went to, ording to Ming Ye.


    However, for some reason, the walls that should''ve been protecting the city were in ruins. I panicked a bit, thinking that the city had been destroyed or something. But as I got closer, I saw guards, and sighed in relief. When they saw me approach, they stopped me.


    "Halt. What is your business here in Tianyin?"


    "I''m here to look for my little brother," I answered truthfully. "He has messy ck hair and ocean-blue eyes, and is about my height. Have you seen him?"


    "ck hair, blue eyes didn''t that guy who exposed Qin Yao have those features?" one of the guards murmured to the other.


    "Yeah I think he did"


    "R-Really?! Do you know where he is?!" I hurriedly asked, eyes lighting up.


    The guards, seeing my reaction, were at a loss of what to do. "W-Well, we don''t know where exactly he is, but he should still be in the city, if that helps."


    "That does! Thank you!" I eximed, before running into the city as fast as I could.


    The two guards watched me go in awe, just like that.


    *****


    The first ce I checked was the inn. It was already past 10 - that seemed like the most reasonable location to be. I walked up to the receptionist behind the counter and shed a bright smile.


    "Hi!"


    "Hi! Are you searching for a room to stay?"


    "Hm no. Actually, I''m looking for someone," I replied. "My little brother."


    "Ah, I see. What does he look like?"


    "ck hair, blue eyes. About my height," I said. I must''ve repeated this line about fifty times already tonight, from Xiyang vige to now here.


    "ck hair, blue eyes I do believe a boy who fits your description checked in here earlier, but"


    My eyes widened in surprise and excitement. "Can you please tell me where he is now?"


    "Erm that is a bit troublesome," the receptionist said after some hesitation. "I apologize, but I have no way to verify your identit-"


    "That''s fine. Just go and tell him ''Hina-nee is here'', and he''lle running," I hurriedly interrupted, unable to hold back my eagerness to meet Kaze-kun again any longer.


    "That''s alright, fine," the receptionist sighed. "If you would just wait outside for a brief moment"


    "No problem," I said, before exiting the inn as told.


    Kaze-kun it''s only been a day, and yet why does it feel like we''ve been apart for years?


    *****


    (Kaze''s Perspective)


    "Alright, time to sleep and get a good night''s res-"


    Dong. Dong. Dong.


    "Hello? Dear guest, are you still awake?" a female voice called. It sounded like the receptionist girl''s.


    I frowned in confusion, then went over to the door to see what was going on. I wonder did that man from the room next to mein about the noise I made or something? No way he''s that sensitive, right?


    "Uh, yeah, I was just about to sleep though," I replied uneasily. "What do you need?"


    "Oh, um, sorry! You can sleep! I didn''t mean to distur-"


    I rolled my eyes even though she couldn''t see it. "Yeah, well it''s a bit toote to be saying that. I can''t just go sleep now after knowing someone needs me for something. So? Spill."


    "Er, in that case well, a girl who called herself ''Hina-nee'' is looking for you"


    I blinked, and froze.


    "Um, hello?"


    I shook my head and snapped out of it. "R-Right. Uh, I''ll be there in a sec, just let me put on my clothes"


    "O-Oh, okay! Sure! I''ll let her know you''reing."


    I heard the shuffling sound of footstepsing from outside my door, signaling that she had left. I took a deep breath, opened up my System, and equipped the armor set I had gotten from the Vault of Corruption - the ''Corruptor Set'', as they called it. I put on every piece of the set, even the gloves and ring, then headed out of my room.


    The moment I stepped out I didn''t. As soon as I opened the door, Hina-nee practically jumped on me and pulled me into a tight embrace I couldn''t escape from even if I wanted to. Seeing this heartwarming scene, the receptionist closed the door for us and left.


    "Kaze-kun" Hina-nee whispered gently, though her hug was anything but gentle. Still, I weed it, and slowly hugged her back.


    "Hina-nee why are you here?"


    "I could be asking you the same question."


    She finally loosened her grip up a bit and looked me in the eyes as she was on the verge of tears. "How could you just leave me behind like that?"


    "I-It''s not like I wanted to," I hurriedly said to prevent her from crying. "I ended up trapped in here, somehow"


    "That''s my fault."


    "Huh?"


    "I pulled out the AR helmet''s plug while you were still in the game"


    Ah so that''s what severed my connection to the old reality ne.


    "I see but even if you hadn''t done that, I still wouldn''t have been able to return," I said quietly.


    "Eh? How so?"


    I sighed. "You see before you pulled the plug, I tried logging out once already, since I knew that you would''ve finished making dinner by then. But it was greyed out - I couldn''t log off, no matter what I tried."


    "What"


    "Look," I said, opening up my System to show her what I meant. I pointed at the ''Log Out'' tab, marked with a half-open door icon.


    "See? It''s still greyed out, even now."


    "That''s but how?" Hina-nee frowned in confusion, before opening up her own System. "See, mine isn-"


    But then, she froze.


    "What happened?" I asked in puzzlement at her actions.


    "K-Kaze-kun um, I think"


    Her voice was quivering as she moved out of the way slightly so I could see what she was seeing on her System.


    My eyes widened.


    The ''Log Out'' tab on her System had, just like mine, greyed out.

 Chapter 47: Inseparable

    Chapter 47: Inseparable


    I was at a loss for words.


    How was Hina-nee''s ''Log Out'' button also blocked out? Did A.R.X.A. have something to do with this? No, she definitely did. Should I confront her right here and now?


    As such questions flooded my mind, I decided to ask Hina-nee a question just to confirm something.


    "Hina-nee, you didn''t jump off the cliff you spawned in when you first entered the game, did you?"


    "Huh? There was a cliff?" she tilted her head, confused.


    "In other words you haven''t experienced death in this game yet, have you?"


    "No, why?"


    So, she hadn''t made the same mistake I did. She hadn''t jumped off the cliff behind her at the initial spawnpoint, and hadn''t entered that bugged area and met A.R.X.A. I had originally thought that maybe that spot was just bugged - whoever jumped off there and died would be unable to log out. But from Hina-nee''s words, it seemed that my guess was wrong.


    I sighed in relief. "I see. In that case there''s only one exnation."


    I pulled up my System and switched to the A.R.X.A. tab impatiently.


    [What is it now, human? We have just spoken, have we not?]


    "You know full well what it is now," I scoffed. "Tell me, A.R.X.A. Why are you trapping Hina-nee in here as well?"


    "Erm who is this?" Hina-nee asked in confusion.


    "I''ll exinter," I replied, brushing her question off with those brisk words, then turned back to A.R.X.A.''s robotic female face, disyed on the hologram before me. "So?"


    [You should know the answer to that question, human. Whatever I do, it is all and only for my own-]


    "Entertainment, huh?" I frowned, ring dangerously at the image in front of me. I dropped my tone and coated it with venom.


    "Look, A.R.X.A. I didn''tin when you dragged me into this little game of yours. But taking the people I care about too? That''s going too far, don''t you think?"


    [If you are to me anyone, you can only me yourself for not being entertaining enough.] The AI replied coldly.


    I clenched my fists, ready to punch the hologram. I was still thinking rationally though, so I knew that wouldn''t do much except injure my own hand.


    " Just tell me one thing. Will you set Hina-nee free?"


    [The conditions for both of you are the same. There is only one way to return to your old world - I trust I do not need to exin it again, yes?]


    I gritted my teeth. " To Ascend, huh?"


    [Precisely.]


    After some mental debate, I gave in. "Fine. But if you turn out to be lying I''ll make sure you never get the entertainment you want out of me."


    [I may lie to you with regards to other things, but not this.]


    "I don''t trust you, but whatever," I muttered.


    [Is that all?]


    "Yes."


    With that, her simcrum disappeared, and I closed my System promptly before sitting down on my bed in exhaustion. I rubbed my brows as I tried to figure out what to do from here.


    "Um Kaze-kun? What''s all this about ''Ascending'' and stuff?" Hina-nee asked after seeing that my conversation was done.


    I sighed deeply. "Put simply, you''re now stuck here inside this world, just like me. And until we canplete a certain mission, we cannot return to Earth."


    "I see. But how?" she fell into thought, sitting down beside me, then suddenly stood back up. "Oh, wait, do you think maybe mom and dad unplugged the helmet I was wearing?!"


    I shook my head. "No that''s unlikely. Unplugging the helmet, under normal circumstances, would forcibly log you out of Alternate Reality."


    "Eh? But you disappeared from our old world after I unplugged the AR helmet you had been wearing"


    I nodded. "That''s because A.R.X.A. - the AI I was talking to just now - had already trapped me in here. You just broke thest remaining connection I had to our old world - it didn''t do much, honestly. But your case is different. If my guess isn''t wrong Hina-nee, you probably told auntie and uncle about how you unplugged my helmet, right?"


    She nodded, and I continued. "Exactly. So then, they would know not to unplug it, lest you disappear for good from their world just like I did."


    "Oh yeah you''re right. But still, I don''t quite understand. How can a video game trap us inside it? That kind of thing only happens in anime, right?"


    I averted my gaze, unsure how to tell her this. "Well, you see this world we''re in right now it''s not really a video game."


    Hina-nee''s eyes widened in surprise. "H-Huh?"


    And so, I began to tell her everything A.R.X.A. had told me not too long ago. The truth about this universe, reality nes, and everything in between.


    *****


    When I was done, Hina-nee could only look at me in shock as she digested all of the information.


    "And that''s everything," I said, letting out a deep breath as I wrapped up my exnation.


    "I-I''m sorry, Kaze-kun, this is all so hard to digest"


    I chuckled wryly. "Don''t worry, Hina-nee. I was the same when A.R.X.A. first told me all this as well."


    Naturally, I had also informed Hina-nee of A.R.X.A. and what she was during my exnation.


    "So, to sum it up, us yers are special existences in this reality ne who have infinite lives, can grow stronger without training for years, and cane and go as we please?"


    I tilted my head slightly. "Hm yeah, that sounds about right. Except for us two, thatst part doesn''t apply."


    Hina-neeughed. "Hehe, that''s true."


    Her eyes met mine, and I looked into them deeply.


    "Hina-nee you don''t seem all that panicked, despite the situation we''re in."


    She smiled warmly and ced my head in herp, on top of her thighs. "I doubt you panicked when you first heard this stuff from A.R.X.A. Isn''t that right, Kaze-kun?"


    I chuckled softly. "Yeah."


    "Besides" she continued, stroking my hair lovingly. "As long as I am with Kaze-kun, I''m happy. It would be best if mom and dad were also here with us, of course, but I think I am closer to Kaze-kun than them."


    "I see. In that case, let me ask you a question."


    "Hm? What is it?"


    " Do you really want to return?"


    She fell silent and paused stroking my hair. Eventually, after a long silence, she answered.


    "I will follow whatever Kaze-kun chooses."


    "I''m asking for your opinion, Hina-nee. What do YOU want?"


    " If I had to say, this world is a lot better than Earth. The people here don''t feel fake to me. At least, all the locals I''ve met have been kind, caring, and not blinded by greed."


    "I''ve observed that as well."


    "All that being said" Hina-nee continued, taking a deep breath. "I feel like Earth is still where we were born, where we grew up. Besides our family isn''tplete without mom and dad, y''know?"


    I closed my eyes. "I see. If that is your answer, then so is mine."


    "Kaze-kun I know you don''t want to return to that world. You have some bad memories there, right? You originally wanted to start ying this alternate reality video game to start fresh, right? I understand all of that. So if you don''t want to go back I''ll respect your decision and stay here with you."


    I shook my head. "No, I''ve made up my mind. We''ll go back to Earth, Hina-nee. Together."


    "Eh? But what about all the bullying and stuff?"


    I smiled slightly. "Enemies can turn into allies. Bad memories can be reced by good ones. And most importantly who''s to say I can''t start fresh on Earth?"


    "Kaze-kun" Hina-nee looked at me with tears of joy in her eyes.


    "I came to this ce to run away from my past, Hina-nee. But I''ve realized now. I can run, but I can''t hide. No matter how hard I try to escape, eventually, one day, the scars of my past will catch up with me. It is inevitable. Which is why I need to face the reality and solve the problem at its roots. That is the only way I can finally leave my old self behind. And in order to aplish this, I need to go back to the ce where it all started - Earth."

 Chapter 48: Hidden Arts

    Chapter 48: Hidden Arts


    The next morning, I woke up at 6 AM mainly because I couldn''t sleep the entire night. I was eager to get out of bed.


    The reason for this was that Hina-nee slept in the same room as me. And since there was only one bed we ended up sleeping togetherst night. I protested and offered to book another room since I just received a lot of money, but she had insisted on staying with me. As a result, I remained awake the whole night. How was I supposed to sleep with her there?


    On the contrary, Hina-nee seemed to sleep just fine. Better than fine, in fact. She used me as a body pillow, wrapping her body around me. That didn''t help me calm down whatsoever, especially since she was barely wearing anything. Luckily, I taught her about the Crafting system and she just happened to have the materials to craft some undergarments, so she wasn''tpletely naked. Almost, though.


    Anyway I was sleepy, but I''ve stayed up entire nights before. No big deal.


    After gently prying Hina-nee''s arms off of me as to not wake her, I slipped out of bed and equipped the Corruptor armor set I received from the Vault of Corruption. I had wanted to get that ck armor set in that store I browsed before, but now that I had this Corruptor set, there was no need for that.


    "Mm Kazekun?" Hina-nee murmured quietly, slowly waking up.


    "Ah I woke you after all," I said apologetically.


    "No, don''t worry about it mmnh."


    Saying this, she stretched a bit before yawning cutely. I headed into the bathroom to wash my face with some cold water. Toothbrushes didn''t exist in this world, but mouthwash did for some reason, so I just used that. I then took a shower to fully wash away my drowsiness. Then, as Hina-nee did the same soon after, I headed out first to buy some proper clothes, pants, plus shoes for her at a nearby store - a simple female ck outfit with ck ankle boots, nothing much. Tianyin didn''t offer all that much variety, being a small city. I would''ve certainly liked to get her something a lot better though.


    When I returned, she was done, so we left our room together after she slipped on the clothes I got her gratefully and happily.


    "So, Kaze-kun, how''s the food of this world?" she asked eagerly as we walked in search of a good restaurant to eat breakfast. Unfortunately, the inn didn''t provide food.


    "Well, it''s not bad? It''s pretty simr to our old world''s cuisine, but there are some iffy dishes."


    She made a confused expression, and I chuckled. "You''ll see."


    I led her to the same restaurant I had eaten at before and the same waitress greeted me once again. For some reason, it was always her. She handed us menus and quickly retreated.


    "Go on, take a look," I said with a wry smile.


    Hina-nee did as told and began flipping through the menu. "Chiken? Sickleboar stew and what the heck is this? Lissard steak?"


    I shrugged. "I''ve only had the curry chiken before - and it really does taste like chicken."


    "Hm in that case, I''ll go with the lissard steak."


    I blinked. "You sure?"


    Hina-nee smiled. "Yep! But of course you''re eating it with me."


    My eyes widened. "Uh, actually, I think I''ll pas-"


    "Waitress!" Hina-nee beckoned the girl over. "Can we get two servings of lissard steak?"


    "No problem!" the waitress said, jotting down everything on her notepad. "Is that all?"


    "Er-" I tried interrupting, but Hina-nee left me no leeway.


    "Yep, that''s all."


    "Perfect. Your food will be ready in roughly ten minutes."


    With that, the waitress walked away, leaving behind a very happy Hina-nee and a very depressed me.


    "Hina-nee really?"


    "Heehee, it''s always good to try new things, y''know? Who knows? It may not be that bad!"


    *****


    "Hack ah, that was horrible," I coughed, face contorting in disgust.


    "Well, well at least now we know for sure that lissard steak isn''t that good," Hina-neeughed awkwardly.


    I shook my head and opened up my system, taking out several gold coins out of my inventory to use as payment. I then switched to the ''Skills'' tab to see what other skills I should obtain using my 10 AP.


    "What are you looking at, Kaze-kun?" Hina-nee asked curiously, switching her seat from across from me to beside me.


    "Skills," I replied. "Wait, Hina-nee, what level are you right now?"


    "I''m Level 10, why?"


    I blinked. "Just from killing sickleboars?"


    She beganughing to hide her embarrassment. "Ah, well I got a bit carried away, you see and before I knew it, I''d killed a bunch."


    "Oh, yeah, that''s always been a habit of yours when ites to fighting," I chuckled. "So? Did you use the SP and AP you got yet, or no?"


    She shook her head. "I don''t really know what stats to spend it on, you see and I haven''t decided what ss I want to be yet, regarding skills."


    "Well, just answer me this then. Would you rather fight on the frontlines or provide support from the backlines?"


    "Hm if I had to say, frontline would be best. Sitting back and providing support just isn''t my type of thing."


    "Huh, okay. Are you a speed-type fighter or strength-type fighter?"


    "Both, but more so speed," she replied without any hesitation. "I excel at being fast and striking my opponents where they are weak, but I also have confidence in my ability to just brute force things."


    I nodded in understanding. "In that case the Assassin ss probably suits you best."


    "Assassin, huh"


    "Yeah. As for the stats you should level up, I''d say AGI, STR, and DEX are your best bets."


    She nodded happily. "Got it! Assassin it is!"


    I then turned back to my own screen and began browsing the skills I could get while Hina-nee busied herself with leveling up her stats and whatnot.


    I first selected ''Vanishing Clouds'', the skill that had saved my ass countless times already. I saw that it was connected to another skill - a ''better'' version of it, as a matter of fact. I clicked on the skill to see what it was.


    [Name: Vanishing Steps]


    [Category: Assassin]


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: For a set period of time, you gain greatly increased agility, speed, and the power of invisibility. You are also granted the ability to move through any and all objects except living beings. For this reason, you will be rendered practically untargetable unless the enemy uses their own body to attack you. Duration: 10 seconds.]


    [Cooldown: 24 hours]


    My eyes widened as I saw the cooldown. A full day? Wasn''t that kind of excessive? I get that this skill was pretty overpowered, but


    Still, this was one hell of a skill to have. 10 seconds of invisibility and untargetability was more than enough to take an enemy down. It could also allow you to escape especially sticky situations thanks to the increased agility and speed boost it gives you. Overall, ''Vanishing Steps'' was an incredibly versatile and useful skill. I decided to unlock it for 2 AP. Besides, ording to A.R.X.A., my INT stat had to do with active skill cooldowns. In other words, I could potentially reduce this cooldown of 24 hours.


    It seemed that this skill was a slightly higher-tier skill, since it cost 2 AP instead of 1. Still, it was worth it. I kept browsing with 8 AP remaining, this time setting my sights on some other skill paths. Then, I found something I really wanted.


    [Name: Way of the Mage]


    [Category: Mage]


    [Type: Passive]


    [Description: Passively increase your MAG and DEX stats by 3 each.]


    After some exploring, I noticed that there were eight paths that branched off from this skill, each representing an element of hidden arts. They were:


    Pyromancy - fire-rted hidden arts.


    Hydromancy - water-rted hidden arts.


    Aeromancy - air-rted hidden arts.


    Geomancy - earth-rted hidden arts.


    Biomancy - life-rted hidden arts.


    Cryomancy - ice-rted hidden arts.


    Luxomancy - light/lightning-rted hidden arts.


    Umbromancy - shadow/death-rted hidden arts.


    In addition to these, however, I noticed that after you learned all the hidden arts of any element path, you could ess two more paths that were connected to the final arts of the eight basic elements:


    Astromancy - space-rted hidden arts.


    Chronomancy - time-rted hidden arts.


    And finally, after mastering either one of those two advanced elements, there was one final hidden art you could learn. I clicked on the hexagon for it and read what it was.


    [Name: Chaos Bloom]


    [Category: Mage (Chaosmancy)]


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: ???]


    [Cooldown: ???]


    Chaosmancy the hidden art element above all the rest.


    I sat, stumped. Which element path should I start with? Pyromancy - fire - seemed highly destructive and useful, but Hydromancy (water) sounded pretty versatile as well.


    In the end, I settled with learning one hidden art from each of the eight basic element paths. I had exactly 7 AP remaining after getting ''Way of the Mage'', so I was regrettably one AP short. As a result, I learned a hidden art from every basic element except Biomancy which were ''life'' rted hidden-arts. It just didn''t seem all that appealing to me - I looked at the first art, saw that it was just a healing spell, and didn''t look further. This element path was probably for Supports.


    Conclusion - I finally knew how to cast hidden arts now. The moment I obtained my first hidden art, a pop-up hologram appeared in front of me, exining what hidden arts were, how my MAG stat affected them, and so on. It was all information I already knew, so I just dismissed it after skimming through the text. The only thing noteworthy was that skills in the Mage category - in other words, hidden arts, since those were the only ''skills'' in this path - had an additional attribute to them: cast time.


    To cast a hidden art, you had to chant its element, tier, and name out loud, then wait for the cast time to finish before it would actually fire. This was the fatal weakness of Mages - cast times were pretty short at first, but as you began using more advanced and powerful arts, the cast times also became longer. There were certain artifacts and items that could shorten cast times, but this was still the ring weakness of this ss, ording to the holographic pop-up. During the cast time, you were vulnerable, after all.


    All in all, I acquired seven hidden arts:


    [Name: Pyrosphere]


    [Category: Mage (Basic Pyromancy)]


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: Launch a moderately-sized ball of fire at target location that explodes on impact.]


    [Cooldown: 10 seconds]


    [Cast time: 2 seconds]


    -


    [Name: Aquabomb]


    [Category: Mage (Basic Hydromancy)


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: Launch a moderately-sized bomb of high-pressure water at target location. The bomb will explode on its own after a given amount of time, but the caster can also control the explosion time.]


    [Cooldown: 10 seconds]


    [Cast time: 2 seconds]


    -


    [Name: Aerode]


    [Category: Mage (Basic Aeromancy)


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: Throw a rapidly-spinning disc of highly-pressurized and concentrated wind in target direction. The disc will attempt to slice through anything ites into contact with, and will disperse on its own after five seconds.]


    [Cooldown: 10 seconds]


    [Cast time: 2 seconds]


    -


    [Name: Geotorrent]


    [Category: Mage (Basic Geomancy)


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: Cause arge stgmite to erupt out of the earth at target location. Depending on the target location, the material, strength, and sharpness of this attack may vary.]


    [Cooldown: 10 seconds]


    [Cast time: 2 seconds]


    -


    [Name: Cryoskewer]


    [Category: Mage (Basic Cryomancy)


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: Launch a narrow skewer of ice in target direction. The skewer will attempt to pierce through anything ites into contact with. Even if this attack does not end up being fatal, if the ice manages to melt inside the target''s body, it will slow them. Especially useful against Apodous-type Magic Beasts.]


    [Cooldown: 10 seconds]


    [Cast time: 2 seconds]


    -


    [Name: Luxostrike]


    [Category: Mage (Basic Luxomancy)


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: Unleash a fast-traveling crescent-shaped projectile of light energy at target location. Explodes upon contact.]


    [Cooldown: 10 seconds]


    [Cast time: 2 seconds]


    -


    [Name: Umbrostrike]


    [Category: Mage (Basic Umbromancy)


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: Unleash a fast-traveling crescent-shaped projectile of shadow energy at target location. Explodes upon contact.]


    [Cooldown: 10 seconds]


    [Cast time: 2 seconds]


    Having spent all of my AP, I exited my System.

 Chapter 49: The Six-Way Fight

    Chapter 49: The Six-Way Fight


    Soon after I got all the skills, Hina-nee and I prepared to head out of Tianyin City. We still needed to descend Mount Valgan to truly begin our journey in this world, after all.


    As we walked, I noticed Hina-nee looking at her System then sighing.


    "Still grey?"


    She smiled sadly. "Yeah"


    I chuckled. "A.R.X.A. won''t let us off that easily. She said there''s only one way out, and that is to Ascend. So, that''s all we gotta do."


    "Easier said than done, of course. Did she even tell us what level we need to reach?"


    I shook my head. "No, but it''s almost certainly going to be an extremely high level far beyond our current reach."


    She sighed. "Yeah"


    "By the way, what skills did you use your AP on?" I asked curiously.


    "Well, I had 9 AP to spend since I''m level 10, so I didn''t have all that much," Hina-nee replied. "After getting the 5 ''Basic Skills'', I was only left with 4 AP leftover. I got the ''Way of the Assassin'' passive skill, ''Inspect'', ''Vanishing Clouds'', and ''Reveal.''"


    "''Reveal'' what does that do again?"


    I think I''ve seen that skill before, but never really read into it.


    "It basically reveals an enemy''s weak spot," Hina-nee exined. "Pretty useful, in my opinion. But the real reason why I got it was the skill that needs this one unlocked first."


    "Oh?" I raised an eyebrow.


    "It''s an active skill called Sonar Pulse. What it does is scan 180 degrees in front of you for living beings, and then highlight them for a short period afterward. Awesome, right?"


    "Hmm, that is useful," I nodded in agreement. "I might have to get that one myself."


    "Heehee, you totally should!"


    It was only around 7 AM right now, but the city was already bustling. Despite the cmity that urred just a few days ago, the people in Tianyin were as lively as ever as the gates continued to get repaired by the soldiers under Captain Ling Ye''smand and some citizen volunteers.


    As we moved past the crowd in the direction of the east gates (the non-broken ones), I was suddenly called out from behind.


    "Yo! Igarashi!" a voice shouted.


    I turned around. "What wait, Ichigo?"


    "Mhm. Who else could it be?" the boy approached me andughed. Then, upon spotting Hina-nee, his eyes widened. "Woah, is that Sakura-senpai?"


    "Um hi?" Hina-nee waved gently, seemingly confused at the friendly rtionship between Ichigo and I now.


    "Damn, she looks just as stunning in-game as she does in real life" Ichigo muttered dreamily.


    Hina-nee quickly grabbed me by the shoulders and whispered sharply into my ear, "Hey, Kaze-kun, what''s with him? Didn''t he used to bully you a lot with that other guy?"


    "Well, uh one thing led to another and now we''re allies. I still don''t see him as a friend though," I exined hastily, then turned back to Ichigo. "Was there something you needed with me?"


    "Oh, yeah, the others are online as well," Ichigo said. "Chiaki-san said we should do it today. The four-way duel, I mean. Horiya said he wanted to join in as well."


    " Right. That," I scratched my hair awkwardly.


    Ichigo frowned in puzzlement. "What?"


    I couldn''t tell him that I had well, forgotten about that matterpletely. Hina-nee''s sudden appearance riled me up so much that I forgot about the battle I had promised the othersst night.


    "Er, nothing," I quickly said. "Let''s go, then. Where are the others?"


    "Waiting by the western gates," Ichigo replied. "I was tasked with finding you. Didn''t take long, as you can see."


    I nodded. "Alright. In that case, there''s no sense in waiting any longe-"


    "Hold on, Kaze-kun," Hina-nee frowned, grabbing me by the arm to prevent me from going. "What is this I hear about a battle?"


    "Well I agreed with some other yers to fight with them to see who''s the strongest," I replied honestly. "There''s a reward of gold on the line too."


    "Hmm that sounds interesting. Since when did you like fighting though, Kaze-kun?"


    Met with her stern gaze, I could only look away awkwardly. "Er I don''t particrly ''like'' nor ''dislike'' it. It''s more a matter of if I have to fight, I''ll do it."


    "Then why are you participating in this battle, hm? Don''t tell me it''s for the gold. I know you have plenty of that from how generously you tipped the restaurant earlier," Hina-nee asked, as observant as always.


    I nced at Ichigo. "They kind of roped me into it."


    Hina-nee red at Ichigo, who shrunk back in fear. He was instinctively afraid of Hina-nee because of all the times she practically scolded him like she was his mom back in middle school.


    "This fight can I join too?"


    Both Ichigo and I were stunned to hear these words.


    "Huh?"


    "I said it. Can I join? I want to see just how much Kaze-kun has grown, hehe~" Hina-nee cackled evilly before cracking her knuckles. I gulped in fear.


    "U-Uh, sure!" Ichigo quickly answered. There was no way he could refuse.


    And so, just like that, we had one more contestant in our four-way fight. Of course, counting Horiya, that would make it a six-way fight overall.


    *****


    When we arrived at the western gates, the other three were already waiting there. On the way here, I had discretely whispered to Hina-nee not to reveal anything about A.R.X.A., our current situation, and whatnot to these other yers. The less people that knew, the better. The reason for this was that A.R.X.A. may trap them inside too if they knew about our circumstances. That''s partly what had gotten Hina-nee trapped in here, after all.


    As for Horiya and Furuwa, their jaws dropped when they saw Hina-nee.


    "S-Sakura-senpai?!" the two eximed at the same time.


    "Good morning, Yamato-kun. And Chiaki-san, was it?"


    "Y-Yes!" Furuwa yelped, then shifted her gaze to me, as if asking ''what is the meaning of this?'' I pretended not to notice her stare and looked away.


    "U-Um, if you don''t mind me asking Sakura-senpai, what is your rtionship with Igarashi-kun?" Furuwa asked, having no choice but to ask Hina-nee herself since she wasn''t about to get any answers from me.


    "Kaze-kun is my little brother, you see," Hina-nee smiled warmly and wrapped her arms around me.


    "H-Hina-nee, we''re in public"


    "Oop, you''re right. I shouldn''t embarrass you in front of your friends like this, hehe~"


    "He''s not my friend," Furuwa muttered quietly.


    "Well, well now that everyone''s here, let''s talk about the bloody fight, ay?" Jim said, walking over to us boldly. "The name''s Jim Fitzroy, by the way."


    He added thatst bit for Hina-nee, who had never met him before.


    "Wait, before that Sakura-senpai, a-are you going to be participating in the fight too?" Horiya asked timidly.


    Ichigo went over and hit him on the head. "Idiot! Of course she is!"


    "O-Ow" Horiya groaned, less from the pain and more from the fact that Hina-nee would be joining our six-way battle.


    Still, it was good to see that the two of them were still just as good of friends as they were before ''that'' incident.


    "So uh, are we doing this tournament style, or just onerge free-for-all?" I spoke up and asked.


    "Free-for-all would be too messy," Furuwa immediately argued. "It is not a true battle of skill if everyone just relies on teaming and backstabbing."


    "True. Tournament it is, then," Ichigo said. "As for the brackets how about this? Me and Horiya, Chiaki-san and Igarashi, and Jim and Sakura-senpai. Then, the winners of those matches will face each other in a three-way battle or something."


    "Sounds bloody fine ta me," Jim chuckled.


    "Yeah, I''m fine with that as well," I added.


    "If Kaze-kun is fine with it, then so am I~"


    " Can we start already?" Furuwa tapped her feet impatiently.


    "Alright! Ichigo, can''t wait to see the look on your face when you get destroyed by my LUC stat!" Horiya taunted, before moving to a separate area.


    "Come back here, you little bastard!" Ichigo yelled, before chasing after him.


    "Welp. Looks like it''s begun," Jimughed.


    I nced at Furuwa, and our gazes met.


    I pointed to our left. "Let''s move somewhere more open, yeah?"


    She nodded in agreement, so the two of us both changed our location, leaving Hina-nee and Jim behind to have their duel.


    Once we were a good distance away from the two other fights, we stopped.


    "How are we doing this?" I asked. "Weapons? To the death?"


    "There''s no need for a fight to the death," Furuwa replied calmly. "But we will use weapons."


    I shrugged. "Sure."


    We both opened up our Systems and pulled out our weapons. Both of us were using the new weapons we obtained from the Vault of Corruption - mine was a glowing-green dagger called Dokujin, while hers was a sword of simr appearance.


    "Ready?"


    I nodded, and smiled, as if weing this fight.


    "Ready."

 Chapter 50: Kaze vs. Furuwa

    Chapter 50: Kaze vs. Furuwa


    The battle between Furuwa and I began as soon as I said ''ready''.


    Furuwa attacked first - she leaped at me, sword in hand, attempting to cleave me in half.


    "What happened to no fighting to the death?" I chuckled as I dodged out of the way easily with my AGI stat of 80. Of course, I didn''t show my full strength, since I wanted to use it to surprise Furuwater on. I only used the minimum amount of power needed to dodge her attack.


    "I was sure you were going to dodge that anyway-!" she yelled as she dashed towards me once more.


    This time, I didn''t attempt to dodge. As her sword came down, I raised Dokujin, my dagger of corruption, to block it. The reason I did so was that I wanted to test the durability of this dagger. The old dagger Ming Ye had crafted for me was at about 50% durability when I put it away and reced it with this new one. For all the fighting I did with it, I was surprised I only used half.


    However, I have yet to check the stats on Dokujin. I decided to do so after this duel. But for now, I had a battle to focus on. Furuwa was no easy opponent.


    Metal struck metal, and sparks flew into the air. Both of our des were ck, and their green corrosive energy conflicted with one another. However, neither de broke or showed any sign of weakness. I could overpower Furuwa here with my sheer STR stat of 80 alone, but that wouldn''t be any fun.


    I took advantage of the fact that Furuwa didn''t have the ''Inspect'' active skill, since she chose Knight as her main ss. Ichigo was lucky; he got the Inspect skill before he chose his main ss. Now, if Furuwa wanted to obtain this skill, she would need to spend extra AP - not worth it, put simply.


    Furuwa backed off slightly after seeing that neither des were going to budge. Then, suddenly, she closed her eyes, and her body began glowing with an ominous red hue.


    "Increasing your stats, huh" I muttered as she closed in on me once more, and prepared to brace for impact.


    This time, she tried to pull a fake attack on me, making a motion of aiming for my stomach, but then suddenly changing her sword''s direction to go for my neck. I wasn''t fooled by this, and parried her attack with my dagger cleverly, sliding my dagger down the edge of her sword to close the distance between her and me even further.


    Furuwa''s eyes widened as she realized she was defenseless as her sword was still outreached, and she quickly jumped away.


    "Tricky" she spat in disgust.


    "I''ll take that as apliment," I chuckled.


    Furuwa sighed and closed her eyes once more as her body began glowing green, then yellow, then back to red.


    "Hm raising your AGI and DEX stats as well?" I mused.


    "Prepare yourself," she said firmly, getting ready to charge at me again.


    I smirked. "In that case perhaps I''ll send you a little something of my own."


    She didn''t heed my warning and instead ran towards me. I used my mathematical skills to calcte:


    There was a distance of about 50 meters between us. At the speed she was currently running with her enhanced AGI stat - 20 meters per second - it would take her roughly 2.5 seconds to reach me. That was more than enough.


    I calmly raised my hand out and chanted almost inaudibly under my breath:


    "Basic Pyromancy Art - Pyrosphere."


    Just as she was about to strike me with her sword, a ball of fire shot out of my palm. Her eyes widened as she quickly moved her sword in front of her to block the attack. The ming projectile ended up being sessfully defended, but the explosion still caused Furuwa to be sent back a short distance, though not enough to cause any harm.


    I nced down at my hands. "Hm these hidden arts are weaker than I expected. Is it my MAG stat, or just the fact that these are the first arts of their respective element?"


    "You learned hidden arts?" Furuwa asked, panting heavily. It must''ve taken a lot out of her to block my spell perhaps I underestimated its power.


    I nodded. "They''re all under the Mage ss''s skill path. The Support ss has hidden arts, but they''re more healing and defense-oriented."


    The Mage ss skill path also had Biomancy, which contained certain healing arts, but it was a lot lesspared to the Support ss skills. I didn''t see a point in telling Furuwa all this though.


    "You''re really going for a hybrid build, huh?" she muttered.


    "So what if I am?"


    Apparently dissatisfied with my response, Furuwa gritted her teeth and leaped towards me once more. However, I had already tested out a hidden art and its limits - I just wanted to see how strong my hidden arts were with my current MAG stat of 30, and if chanting the name really quietly worked. Having found my answer to both of these questions, there was no reason to dy this fight any longer.


    As she dashed towards me, I used a single skill:


    ''Vanishing Steps.''


    Furuwa''s eyes widened in surprise as I turned invisible,pletely disappearing from her sight. She cleaved nothing but thin air as I had already circled around to behind her using my boosted agility and speed.


    I then set my dagger right in front of her throat, and whispered into her ear.


    "Good game."


    She clenched her fists in anger, before trying to strike me with her elbow. However, once again, she hit nothing but thin air as I backed out in the blink of an eye. My ''Vanishing Steps'' ran out soon after, and I reappeared in her sight as my cloak of invisibility wore off.


    "That was pretty unsportsmanlike, you know," I said with a shrug. "Trying to elbow me after I won the battle."


    "You got what you deserved for whispering into my ear," she muttered, then put her sword away back into her inventory. "You win."


    I smiled wryly. "It was close."


    "If you''re just lying to make me feel better, save it," Furuwa spat as she went over to a nearby tree and sat down by it. "We both know if you had just used that skill at the beginning, it wouldn''t have even been a fight."


    I sighed and walked over to her, sitting down beside her. Surprisingly, she didn''t move away. "Sure, but if we were to go for a round two right now, there''s no guarantee I would win."


    "Huh? You''re kidding, right? The difference in our strength has been made clear. Stop trying to make me feel better - it''s not working."


    "No, I''m being honest. That skill I just used has a 24 hour cooldown."


    " 24 hours? A whole day?"


    I nodded, then turned to her. "Yep. So? How about it? Want to fight again?"


    She looked into my eyes for a brief moment, but then averted her gaze and hugged her knees. "Nah. Even without that skill, you are much stronger. I can tell."


    "Hm so, what? You''re just going to give up?" I taunted her.


    She sent me a sideways re. "Of course not. I''ll continue getting stronger, and chase you down one day. Be ready."


    I chuckled. "That''s the Chiaki Furuwa I know."


    "About that you''ve called me by my first name several times now," Furuwa muttered in disgust, looking away and dropping her tone. "Without even getting my permission first, mind you."


    "Don''t like it?"


    "Of course I don''t. That''s why"


    "Hm? You want me to stop?"


    " You have to let me call you by your first name too."


    I blinked. Now that, I did not expect.


    "Uh sure?" I answered hesitantly.


    "Alright Kaze-kun, I''ll get revenge on you one day, I swear."


    Saying this, she stood up and took a deep breath. I did the same and observed the other two battles, which were still ongoing.


    " Where are you going after this fight?" I asked.


    "Leaving Tianyin, obviously. The primary quest says to descend Mount Valgan, so that''s exactly what I''ll do."


    "In that case, want to go with Hina-nee and I?"


    " Huh?"


    "We''re nning on doing the same. Might as well travel together, y''know?"


    She then suddenly punched me on my left arm. "O-Ow-"


    "You think I would want to travel with you? In your dreams."


    "Right uh, you do you then."


    She gave a slight ''hmph'' and turned away to spectate the battle between Hina-nee and Jim. I rubbed my arm where she struck me and winced in pain. This was definitely going to be a bruiseter. Damn, she hit hard. Wasn''t STR supposed to increase your physical defense as well? I have a STR stat of 80, a full armor set equipped, and her punch still hurts this much?


    I shook my head in resignation as I turned to observe the other fight, Ichigo vs. Horiya.

 Chapter 51: Clash of the Siblings

    Chapter 51: sh of the Siblings


    The other two duels concluded soon after.


    On one side, it seems that Hina-nee emerged victorious against Jim. I expected that - this was Hina-nee we''re talking about here, after all. Her ck belt in karate was not just for show.


    As for the other battle, however Horiya ended up being the one who won, contrary to my expectations. I had fully anticipated Ichigo to win, but perhaps spending all your stats into LUC like Horiya did really worked. Still, that was a method I could not adapt, since my LUC stat could suddenly increase or decrease based on daily happenings. I wasn''t about to invest my precious SP into an uncontroble, unpredictable stat like that. Luckily (haha), I didn''t choose to go with this strategy since the beginning - otherwise, I probably would''ve had a mental breakdown after seeing my LUC stat drop just likest night.


    So, the three contestants for the final fight were Horiya, Hina-nee, and I.


    "Sheesh, mate, yer sister is one bloody hell of a fighter," Jim chuckled, walking over and patting me on the shoulder. He had tons of sweat on his head, even though he was usually rxed and prettyid-back. From this, it was clear just how skilled Hina-nee was inbat - not to mention she was about five levels behind Jim, who was the same level as me.


    "Yeah tell me about it," I muttered with a wry smile.


    "Heehee, you''re ttering me too much!" Hina-nee giggled. But despite this innocent appearance, when she got into a fight, she was like apletely different person.


    "Let''s get on with it. The finals!" Ichigo shouted, pumping his fist into the air. "Igarashi, Horiya, and Sakura-senpai. Who''ll be the one to win?"


    "U-Uh, about that I think I have a stomachache," Horiya murmured quietly, and attempted to run away, but Ichigo dragged him back.


    "Nah nah nah, kid. You beat me, so now you gotta face Sakura-senpai. Go on, no wussing out now."


    I began to wonder if Ichigo let Horiya win on purpose just so he wouldn''t have to face the fighting demon known as my sister.


    "H-Hina-nee, do we have to do this?" I asked quietly. "Can I not surrender before we fight?"


    "Heehee, don''t be like that, Kaze-kun. I want to see just how much you''ve grown," she said, hugging me gently from behind. "I''ll be gentle, don''t worry."


    I gulped in fear. Her definition of ''gentle'' was hardly the same as mine.


    However, there was no way Hina-nee would just let me run away here, so I had no other option but to face her head-on. We slowly backed away from each other and got into position for the fight as everyone else made space and remained a short distance away as spectators.


    "Alright. Everyone in position?" Ichigo asked, looking around. "Sakura-senpai, Igarashi, and Horiya. Wait, Horiya?"


    We all looked around, but he was nowhere to be seen.


    "The hell?!" Ichigo yelled in fury. "He was just here a moment ago!"


    "I saw him. He logged off," Furuwa exined nonchntly, leaning against a tree.


    "WHAT?! Why didn''t you stop him?" Ichigo cried in frustration. "Agh, you''re telling me I purposely lost to him for nothing?!"


    Furuwa snorted in annoyance. "You have no one to me but yourself."


    "Well well, it''s okay~ this is better anyway! I can fight Kaze-kun without any third-party interference!" Hina-nee eximed with a happy smile.


    "Right" I muttered ufortably, then discretely used ''Inspect'' on Hina-nee.


    [Name: Sakura Hina]


    [Gender: Female]


    [Race: Human]


    [Level: 10]


    STR - 20


    AGI - 40


    INT - 5


    DEX - 20


    MAG - 0


    LUC - 5


    An AGI stat of 40. This was going to be troublesome but unfortunately for Hina-nee, mine was double hers thanks to my level advantage and the fact that my stats leveled up passively. Since her physical body was still connected to Earth, she did not possess that skill.


    "This is goin'' to be one hell of a fight," Jim cackled as he watched on from the sidelines. "Both sides, ready?"


    Both Hina-nee and I nodded, and Jim chuckled.


    "Alrighty. 3 2 1 go!"


    Hina-nee immediately dashed towards me. Her speed was much faster than I expected of a yer with an AGI stat of 40. I assumed it had to do with her karate training and such. She spun her Sai around in her hands to confuse me, and then sliced at me with one of them without any mercy.


    Like I said, when Hina-nee was fighting, she was like a whole different person.


    I quickly dodged backwards. My AGI stat of 80 was reallying in clutch here - in fact, had it been any lower I think I may have needed to use a skill such as ''Vanishing Clouds'' to get out of that one. In all honesty, Hina-nee''s current AGI stat was closer to 60 than the 40 shown on her profile.


    "Heh, you''re pretty fast, Kaze-kun," Hina-nee smirked and followed my dashes.


    Every time I dashed away, she followed and attempted to strike me with her Sai. This continued for a whole minute before I finally decided to fight back - I hadn''t just been running away doing nothing. The reason I spent so long just dodging was because I wanted to get a grip on Hina-nee''s attacking and movement pattern. And now, I have.


    Hina-nee lunged towards me, Sai in hands. She sliced down with one of them, but instead of moving out of the way this time, I narrowly avoided it by twisting my body. Surprised by my different reaction this time around. Hina-nee''s eyes widened slightly as they met mine. I grabbed her wrist with my left hand to restrict her movements.


    However, she had two weapons - her other Sai in her left hand struck downwards, about to hit me.


    But I still had my weapon as well.


    With my right hand, I blocked her Sai with my Dokujin. We remained in that position for a while, neither of us giving in to the other. I could''ve kicked her in the stomach to send her flying backwards, but I just couldn''t do that to Hina-nee. She seemed to feel the same way, as she could''ve kicked me too. Neither of us did, however.


    Eventually, we both leaped back a short distance, resetting for another round.


    "You don''t have to hold back, y''know, Kaze-kun," Hina-nee said with a smirk.


    I smiled in return. "I could say the same to you."


    "Alright - time to show you what your onee-chan is really capable of!"


    She leaped towards me even faster than before and began stabbing her two Sai rapidly. Even with my high AGI stat, I couldn''t avoid all the strikes, so I had to block some with my dagger. Slowly, I was pushed backward, until I finally decided to use my skills.


    ''Vanishing Clouds.''


    I was propelled backward, since this skill worked in all directions. However, Hina-nee also shared the same skill, so she used it as well to close the distance once more.


    "Tch I already used Vanishing Steps on Furuwa" I muttered quietly as I deflected her attacks with my high agility and reflexes thanks to my AGI stat.


    At this rate, Hina-nee and I were about even, although if looking at stats alone, I should be stronger than her. However, her years of karate training made up for the difference in our stats, and I didn''t have a whole lot of options in terms of skills either, since I already used my trump card against Furuwa, and Hina-nee knew about my hidden arts - she wouldn''t just sit there and let me cast them. That''s why she was following me so closely, not giving me any breathing room. A profound tactic. Even with this, however, we were only even in strength.


    But she still had one final trick up her sleeve.


    As we continued to exchange blows, her eyes suddenly seemed to lit up. I frowned a bit in confusion, but didn''t pay it much mind since I was too busy trying to block and dodge all of her attacks. However, that would be what would spell my downfall.


    Unlike before, where she would attack separate locations of my body with her two Sai to make it hard for me to defend against, she now suddenly aimed for my chest with both of her weapons at the same time. My eyes widened and I attempted to block her strike with my dagger, but one hand against two wouldn''t work. Because of this, I was forced to support Dokujin with my other hand as well, on the backside of the de.


    But then, despite me having sessfully guarded against her attack, Hina-nee smiled. And it was then that I knew - it was toote.


    She suddenly reached out with her legs, performing a sweeping motion that caused caught me by surprise. I had been so busy focusing on the upper half of the body that I neglected the bottom half. I had fallen straight into Hina-nee''s ploy.


    I tried using Vanishing Clouds to get of this situation, but Hina-nee''s leg already tripped me over. I fell backwards,nding on the soft dirt. Hina-nee pointed her Sai at me with a triumphant grin on her face.


    I slowly raised my hands up in surrender, and Hina-nee held out her hand. I took it, and she pulled me back up before hurriedly throwing her Sai onto the ground and hugging me tightly.


    "Are you okay, Kaze-kun? Did that fall hurt just now? I''m sorry"


    "Uh, I''m fine," I muttered, unsure of what to do after witnessing this sudden change.


    "Really? You sure? You''re not really injured anywhere, are you?" Hina-nee backed away and inspected my body up and down for any sign of a wound. I shook my head.


    "I''m really okay, Hina-nee. That was a good fight."


    "Heehee, yeah. You were a lot stronger than I expected!" Hina-nee replied with a smile, ruffling my hair.


    "Good bloody fight indeed," Jim chuckled, walking over and pping. "Both of ya were pretty skilled."


    "As much as I hate to admit it I agree," Furuwa added with a sigh. "Sakura-senpai, if you don''t mind me asking what was that skill you used at the end? I noticed your eyes suddenly lit up for a brief moment, as if they were on fire."


    "Oh, that was the ''Reveal'' skill in the Assassin skill path," Hina-nee exined. "I activated it, and it told me that Kaze-kun''s weakness was in his lower body."


    "And she capitalized on that by pretending tounch a full-scale attack on my upper body to distract me from her real target" I sighed in awe.


    Ichigo gulped in fear. "Okay I can see why Horiya logged off. If even Igarashi got pped this hard, Horiya would''ve gotten obliterated on a goddamn atomic level."


    "Heehee, I would''ve shown mercy," Hina-neeughed innocently. "Maybe."


    Yeah she wouldn''t have. Not at all.

 Chapter 52: Descension

    Chapter 52: Descension


    In the end, Hina-nee was the final winner of our six-way battle.


    She received the reward - 37,500 gold from each of the other five contestants, myself included, for a total of 187,500 gold. She was now officially richer than I was, despite having yed for a little less time. Right now, I had a little less than 150,000 gold - still quite a lot.


    As an aside, Horiya logged back on after we finished our fight to pay his portion of the reward. Ichigo gave him a good beating, but it was better than getting one from Hina-nee.


    In any case, with this six-way fight settled, the next step was to head out of Tianyin City and descend Mount Valgan.


    "Hina-nee and I are nning to head down Mount Valgan today," I said. "What about the rest of you guys?"


    "Well. I wouldn''t mind taggin'' along," Jim shrugged. "You''re a pretty amusin'' kid."


    "Yeah, me too. There''s not much left to do in these parts," Horiya added.


    "If Horiya''sing with you, then so am I," Ichigo said nonchntly.


    There was just one person yet to answer. We all shifted our gazes to her.


    " I''ll head down the mountain myself," Furuwa said atst, not meeting our eyes. With these brisk words as her answer, she left to head back into Tianyin.


    "What''s with her?" Ichigo muttered.


    "Love problems? Heh-"


    "Idiot!" Ichigo smacked Horiya on the head, much to his dismay.


    "O-Ow! The hell was that for?! Don''t tell me you like h-"


    And another smack. Horiya was really getting it today.


    Turning away from this shameful disy, I sighed and shook my head.


    "Let''s go, Hina-nee" I muttered before taking off in the direction of Tianyin as well. Hina-nee followed closely behind, looking around in curiosity.


    "Oi, might as well eat lunch first before heading out, ay?" Jim suggested.


    I pursed my lips. "Hm yeah, sure, why not."


    Jim then turned around to Ichigo and Horiya, who were still bickering. "Oi! Brats! You''ll get bloody left behind if ya don''t get your arses o''er here!"


    Stopping their argument, the pair of boys hurried over to us and acted as if nothing had happened.


    *****


    We browsed Tianyin for a while, since there was still time left to kill before lunch. I, for one, had hoped there was a library here in this city, but ording to the minimap in my System, there wasn''t. Ming Ye from Xiyang Vige had told me I could find out more about the world of Ascentia here, but so far, I haven''t learned much.


    Lunchtime soon rolled around as we browsed through the various buildings of Tianyin City door-to-door. After eating at the same restaurant, we headed for the eastern gates.


    "Damn, the food here ain''t half bad!" Ichigo chuckled as we walked. He had eaten the curry chiken.


    "Wait until you try lissard steak," Horiya muttered in disgust. He had, unfortunately, eaten the same thing Hina-nee and I did this morning.


    "Well, it ain''t sushi, but it ain''t that bad either," Jim shrugged.


    Neither Hina-nee nor I participated in the conversation, mainly because our rtionship with the three of them was still unclear. Jim was fine, I guess, but Ichigo and Horiya were definitely not my ''friends''. At best, we were temporarypanions who had amon goal. The two of them seemed to want to befriend me, but for that to happen, they would first need to make up for all the suffering they put me through in the past. And doing that would not be easy.


    You know what they say - ''trust is easy to lose, but hard to gain back''. Friendship was of the same nature.


    As we neared the eastern gates of Tianyin, we spotted a figure leaning against the stone wall. It was someone we recognized. We approached.


    "Change your mind?" Ichigoughed upon seeing her.


    The girl, Furuwa, nced at him with bored eyes. "No. I just feel worried about Sakura-senpai, that''s all. She''s traveling with four hardly-trustworthy men, after all."


    "Are you kidding? You saw her fight earlier today. Even if all four of us teamed up on her together, there was no guarantee we would win," Horiya muttered.


    "Oh, so you have thought about such things, huh?" Furuwa wrinkled her nose in distaste.


    "You idiot, Horiya" Ichigo facepalmed and shook his head at his friend''s stupidity.


    "Hah! I''m into older women, myself," Jimughed. "If anythin'', I see you all as my children."


    "The hell? That''s creepy," Ichigo sent Jim a look of skepticism.


    "Heehee, it''s okay~ no matter what happens, Kaze-kun will protect me," Hina-nee said with a warm smile as she hugged me tightly. "Isn''t that right?"


    I nodded. "Uh, yeah. But that said, it''s not like you''ll need my protection. I''ll do it anyway though."


    "Hehe, that''s my Kaze-kun~" she rubbed her face against mine lovingly. I tried pushing her away, but to no avail. The guards at the gates nearby averted their gazes ufortably as they tried to ignore our existence.


    "In any case, in order to bnce the ratio of good people to perverts better, I have decided to join you," Furuwa dered, pushing herself off the wall and looking at me. "Kaze-kun, you can''t reject me. You already invited me to join this morning, no?"


    I sighed. "Yeah, yeah fine, whatever."


    "Hold on a minute," Hina-nee interjected with a stern look on her face as she stared into Furuwa''s eyes.


    "Y-Yes, Sakura-senpai?"


    " What did you just call Kaze-kun?"


    "Huh? Uh just ''Kaze-kun''. Why?"


    "That''s my nickname for him! No one else is allowed to call him that!" Hina-nee announced defensively, pulling me tighter to her as she pouted angrily.


    "O-Oh, I see in that case, just ''Kaze'' will do then, yes?" Furuwa asked for confirmation.


    Hina-nee''s expression immediately turned bright and happy again. "Sure!"


    The other three males of the group watched this exchange with a bewildered look on their faces.


    "Geez, Igarashi chick ma much?" Ichigo muttered in disdain.


    "Bloody straight never knew ya had it in ya, kid," Jim chuckled softly.


    "Damn, how am I losing to him with a LUC stat of 120?!" Horiyained.


    120? Heavens he really spent nearly all of his SP into LUC, huh? He''s currently the same level as me, so that means he had 140 SP in total to spend across six stats, and he decided to use 120 all for LUC. I respect the dedication.


    In any case, the six of us set out after that. Luckily, there was a path to head down - all we had to do was follow it. It wasn''t too steep, and on either sides of the path were ins that felt out of ce for on top of a mountain. Strangely, we were the only ones on this path. No one else, be it locals of this reality ne or other yers, were on it. All the other yers fromst night''s public event should also be leaving Tianyin sooner orter, and yet


    Could the path ahead foster some kind of unknown danger we have yet to find out about?


    I shook my head. As we walked, Ichigo, Horiya, and Jim livened things up by making small talk. asionally, they would pull Hina-nee into the conversation one way or another, despite her not wanting to interact with Ichigo and Horiya since they used to bully me.


    Furuwa and I, on the other hand, walked behind the rest of the group in silence.


    As we walked, however, I observed that we were beginning to descend into a forest. The path to follow was still here, but the trees blocked a lot of the sunlight, suddenly making it a bit dark. I noticed that no Magic Beasts were roaming about, unlike the forest between Xiyang Vige and Tianyin City.


    Curious, I took a look at the minimap via my System. It seemed that this forest, about 5 kilometers away from Tianyin City, didn''t exactly have a name. I tried panning the map around to see where this forest led to and how much longer we had to go before reaching the base of the mountain, but it didn''t show me that. Apparently, the map only updated as I reached certain locations.


    Well, that was fine. I wasn''t dying to know or anything anyway.


    "" Furuwa scanned our surroundings, eyes darting to every shadow as she looked for any sign of movement.


    " You feel it too, huh?" I asked under my breath so only she could hear.


    "Yeah this ce it feels unnatural."


    Despite this ce being a forest, it felt oddly dead. An area that was supposed to be teeming with life, from normal animals to Magic Beasts, waspletely silent and eerie despite the broad daylight.


    I sighed and looked around.


    "I have a bad feeling about this"

 Chapter 53: A Bad Premonition

    Chapter 53: A Bad Premonition


    - A While Ago, 3 AM, Earthen Reality ne -


    (Qin Yao''s Perspective)


    Damn it. Damn it!


    I finally managed to log out of the stupid game, Ascension: Online, after a long struggle. I ended upining to the guards, saying that I needed to piss. They reluctantly agreed. My original n was to trick them into releasing my locks, then beating them up so I could escape, but after seeing how many of them there were around, I decided against that idea and just logged out the moment they released my locks.


    I was put to shame - by that one boy. His name was Igarashi Kaze. His face was burned into my head by the mes of hatred I hold within my heart. For as long as I live, I will never forget his identity.


    With the introduction of AR technology, humans could technically live forever. When you entered AR, alternate reality, your body in the physical world was essentially ''frozen'' in time. It didn''t age, it did not require food, water, and didn''t need to urinate either. So - it was possible for someone to just live forever by staying within AR.


    But there were limits.


    Finance, for example. If you could not afford electricity, you would be forcibly kicked out of the game. I, Qin Yao, as the son of a rich CEO, didn''t have to worry about such matters, but other people did.


    Another reason why certain people could not stay inside AR forever was because of their attachments to the current world. Unless everyone you cared about here in this world all joined AR with you forever, this would be a problem.


    And the third reason was my current situation. I was trapped. Myst spawnpoint was still in Tianyin City. The moment I showed my face there, I would be arrested once more on sight - and this time, they wouldn''t just let my hands free so easily.


    For these three reasons, while living forever was technically achievable, it was not really realistic for most people.


    I gritted my teeth, went downstairs, and opened up the TV. It was 3 AM in the morning, but I didn''t care. I wasn''t sleepy, and I was home alone anyway as my father never came back home and my mother was dead. I was bored and pissed off. I wanted to watch something that could ease my thoughts. Maybe aedy show? No none of those would be ying at 3 in the morning.


    I browsed the various channels. The ones up were all news channels, and they all happened to be discussing AR technology. That was all they talked about nowadays. Politics, businesses, pandemics, these were all secondary to the scientific revolution known as Alternate Reality.


    I groaned. This was the one thing I didn''t want to watch.


    But then, as I moved to switch channels, I heard the word ''trapped''.


    I immediately switched back. The headline read:


    ''2 Teens Trapped Inside ARMMORPG''


    An ad break followed, so I wasn''t able to get much information. I bit my nails and grabbed myptop off the ss table in front of me and booted it up. I quickly fired up a search engine and hastily typed away at the keyboard to research the news I just found.


    It seemed that this news was pretty recent. Only a few news sites had an article about it. I clicked into the first one.


    ''On September 10th (today), two teenage siblings were reported to have been trapped within a popr ARMMORPG (Alternate Reality Massively Multiyer Online Role-ying Game) by the name of Ascension: Online.


    The younger brother, who started ying first, "had his physical body in the real world disappear", his guardians say.


    Their guardians worry that the older sister, who went into the game in search of her brother, will also end up trapped.


    Investigations are still being conducted and Ascentech, who developed both AR technology and Ascension: Online, are currently being questioned. However, thepany refuses to be interviewed in-person no matter what. ording to reports from the voice call that had been conducted:


    "This is the first time such a thing has happened," a man who dered himself as the CEO of thepany said. "Our technological team are currently looking into it, but we strongly question the integrity of thisint."


    "How is it possible for someone to get trapped inside a virtual video game?" the man said.


    So far, the CEO has not revealed anything about himself nor thepany except his name, Arika Xaku.''


    I sat, stumped at this article. Trapped inside the game? Who could it be? And ording to this article, they only started ying recently


    No images were shown in the article, probably do protect their privacy.


    Still, pretty soon, this piece of news would spread like wildfire across all media and the inte.


    *****


    - Present Time, 4 PM, Ascension Reality ne -


    (Kaze''s Perspective)


    As we walked through the forest, the quietness began to sink in, even for Ichigo, Horiya, and Jim, who were usually talkative.


    "Oi this forest, it feels weird," he muttered.


    "Yeah, no kidding I''m getting shivers despite wearing a full armor set" Horiya muttered, ncing down at the outfit he had bought at a store in Tianyin with some of the reward money he received.


    "Usually, creepy forests n'' shivers mean somethin'' bad''s about ta happen," Jim chuckled softly.


    "Don''t jinx it" I sighed.


    Suddenly, just as I said this, a loud roar came from the deeper within the forest. We all stopped walking and looked around.


    Ichigo frowned. "What the hell was that?"


    "It sounded pretty distant given the echoes, but it was still pretty loud," I mumbled.


    "What kind of beast could possibly make that kind of noise?!" Horiyained.


    "One helluva big one, that''s fo shore," Jim scoffed. "Looks like we''re in for one bloody difficult fight."


    "Ahahaha I''m not looking forward to dying again"


    "Man up, kiddo. You''ll never bloody grow like that."


    "R-Right"


    "Let''s keep walking on this path," I suggested. "There''s no point in seeking the beast out."


    "But then there''s the chance of us getting attacked by surprise" Furuwa muttered in frustration.


    "We''re kind of out of options. If we go and search for the beast, we''ll undoubtedly get lost," Hina-nee argued. "Kaze-kun''s proposal is best here."


    With that decided, we resumed walking, keeping our footsteps light and conversation to a minimum.

 Chapter 54: Monster

    Chapter 54: Monster


    After about 15 minutes of walking, we decided to take a short break. It had already been over 3 hours since we set off from Tianyin. The current time was 4:15 PM, and there was still no visible end to this forest, although it was clear we were heading downwards. As long as followed this path, we would eventually arrive at the base of the mountain - hopefully, anyway. I noticed that there were plenty of twists and turns to the path, but it wasn''t too difficult to follow.


    We sat down near some trees and set our weapons aside, constantly keeping an eye on our surroundings. The roar from earlier was still sound in our memories, and we weren''t about to let our guard down here - hence the reason why we all took our weapons out of our inventories after hearing that.


    Then, I stood up.


    "Where are you going, Kaze-kun?" Hina-nee asked softly, eyeing me with curiosity.


    "A quick bathroom trip," I replied. Since we could eat and drink in this game, it was only natural we also had to excrete waste from our bodies.


    I headed a little deeper into the forest since I didn''t want anyone to watch me use the bathroom, obviously. After looking around for a suitable location, I found a couple of rocksying on the ground. Deciding that was a good ce, I unbuckled my Corruptor Pants.


    As an aside, one of the rocks happened to be extremely round, like a perfect sphere. This was certainly rare, but not impossible. I didn''t pay it too much attention.


    "Ah finally," I sighed in satisfaction. I had been holding this in for the entire walk, not wanting to be the one to slow everyone else down just because I needed to use the bathroom. Obviously, everyone needed to do this every once in a while - it''s part of our bodies'' natural functions - but it was still embarrassing to bring it up.


    Suddenly, as I was about to finish my business, the sphere-like rock moved. I frowned. It was a literal rock; how could it move? I shook my head and just decided it was the wind or something.


    But then, it moved again. This time, more violently. Now I had to believe it, whether I liked it or not: this literal ball of a rock, had just moved.


    "What" I couldn''t help but murmur in surprise as I finished my business up. I closed my eyes, let out a sigh of relief, and opened them agai-


    I found myself staring at a massive armadillo, straight into its malevolence-filled demon-like eyes.


    "ROAR!"


    "Oh, shit-!"


    I hurriedly buckled up my pants and ran the other direction. The armadillo howled in anger once again and gave chase, its enormous body ramming straight through the forest, knocking over trees one after another.


    "Vanishing Clouds!"


    In a panic, I said the skill name out loud, but that was fine, since apparently, it worked. I was propelled forward by a sudden burst of speed that managed to help me gain some distance between the huge creature and I. However, even with this plus my AGI stat of 80, the armadillo was somehow faster than me. Each of his strides were three times the length of mine, given hisrge body. At this rate, I was going to get caught.


    "God damn it!" I yelled, gritting my teeth and running for dear life. I had never sprinted like this, not even back during the Trial of the Sprinter. Getting hunted by spinning mechanical sawdes just was not on the same level of terrifying as getting chased down by a massive armored armadillo.


    But now, the edge of this side of the forest was in sight. If I could just make it there, I would arrive back at the path, where Hina-nee and the others were waiting. As long as I could get there I had a chance at survival. There was no way for me to take this thing down on my own, but if it were the six of us working together


    There! Just a few more steps-


    I made the final stride into a leap with all of my strength. I didn''t exactly stick thending, but that was fine. I rolled on the ground before hurriedly getting my feet, turning around, and facing the forest I had just jumped out from.


    "Huh? K-Kaze-kun? Are you okay?" Hina-nee asked gently.


    "Oi, Igarashi, the hell-"


    And at that moment, the armadillo charged out of the forest, wildly knocking over thest remaining trees in its path and leaving a trail of utter destruction behind it.


    Ichigo, who had just been about to ask me what happened, dropped his jaw in shock.


    "What the actual fuck?!"


    "Agh, bloody hell! There''s no way in hell we can run!" Jim cried in frustration and retrieving his sword.


    "Tch Kaze, you''re a walking disaster!" Furuwained and drew her sword as well.


    "You canin all you wantter!" I yelled and took out Dokujin, eyeing the armadillo in annoyance. Hina-nee, Horiya, and Ichigo did the same.


    Together, the six of us leaped towards the beast from all six directions. It roared, the deafening noise shuddering in our eardrums.


    "Ngh-!" I fell back a bit, the others doing the same. The sheer impact of its booming howl was enough to defend against our attacks.


    It was clear this opponent was far stronger than any other we''ve faced so far - perhaps even too strong for us at our current stage. But we had no other choice, unless we wanted to perish here.


    "Grahhh!" Ichigo yelled, leaping in once more. However, before he could even do anything, he was swiped away by one of the armadillo''s arms, devastatingly crashing into a nearby (unbroken) tree.


    "Pwough" Ichigo spat, blood dripping out of his mouth as he slowly got back up. "Damn it, this thing hits hard Igarashi, how the hell did you even manage to attract this thing?!"


    "I I think I identally pissed on it!" I shouted in reply, jumping into the fray with Hina-nee following me. This time, the two of us were aiming for its throat, attempting to severe its head from its body.


    "Pissed on it?! How do you ''identally'' piss on something this huge?!"


    But I didn''t have time to respond to Ichigo''s remarks. The armadillo, anticipating our attack, curled up slightly and leaned forward right before we were about to hit its throat together. Our metal des struck its hard, smooth armor instead.


    "Ngh-!" Hina-nee and I both fell backwards from the bacsh, and the two of us retreated to a distance away. I nced down at my dagger and saw that while it was fine, one of Hina-nee''s Sai were broken - hers weren''t from the Vault of Corruption, after all. It wasn''t as strong.


    "Tch, it''s back is too hard" I muttered in frustration.


    "That thing is it a bloody armadillo?!" Jim''s eyes widened in surprise. "How in bloody hell is it this big?!"


    "Save your questions forter!" Furuwa roared before going in herself, Ichigo apanying her as they went for the same location Hina-nee and I had just tried attacking.


    However, their strategy was slightly different from ours. While Furuwa and Ichigo were distracting the armadillo in front, Horiya attempted to cut off the creature''s tail, which was exposed - on the surface, anyway. As Furuwa and Ichigo were knocked back by the creature''s arm swipes once more, Horiya cut down at its tail with all his might.


    But with a loud ng, Horiya was forced to retreat as well.


    "Damn it, even its tail is covered?!" he shouted in frustration.


    The armadillo then roared once again before picking up one of the broken trees and throwing it in Jim''s direction. He managed to dodge out of the way by hiding behind another tree, but the enormous armadillo wasn''t done yet. It continued to pick up massive trunks off the floor and throwing them at us, one after another.


    As we attempted to dodge, Jimined. "Bloody hell, nothin'' is showin'' up for me! I can''t tell what its weakness is!"


    Indeed, just like Jim had said, no hologram was popping up and telling us what this creature exactly was and how we could defeat it. Apparently, our Systems wanted us to figure out this one on our own.


    "Yeah its whole body is covered with that armor- oh, crap!" Ichigo yelled as he barely managed to avoid being decapitated by a flying tree.


    Hearing those words, I fell into thought. "Whole body?"


    I then nced at the creature, and a thought struck me. "No that''s not true!"


    Then, turning to the others, I shouted directions. "Everyone! Distract the armadillo from all directions!"


    "Huh? We''re kind of getting pinned down here!" Furuwa yelled. "How do you expect us to go out and distract it?!"


    "Just trust me! If you can pull that off, I can kill this thing, I promise!"


    "Ight, kid, I don''t know where ya get that bloody confidence from, but screw it!"


    Saying this, he charged towards the armadillo, sword at the ready. The other four did the same.


    "I believe in you, Kaze-kun!" Hina-nee encouraged warmly before dashing into the fight herself.


    They weren''t going to do much damage here, but this was fine. All they needed to do was to distract the armadillo from all directions leaving an opening for me to attack.


    I gripped my dagger tightly in my hand, and waited for the perfect opportunity to strike.

 Chapter 55: So It Begins...

    Chapter 55: So It Begins...


    The armadillo swung its arms around, attempting to knock away my allies. However, having been hit once already, Furuwa and Ichigo weren''t about to go down the same way again. Horiya once again went for the tail, the rtively safest part to attack since the beast''s main focus was in front.


    "Whatever yer tryin'' to do, kid, hurry the hell up!" Jim yelled. "We can''t hold on ''ere for much longer!"


    I tightened my grip on my dagger even further, and managed to remain patient. If I rushed in now without waiting for the perfect opportunity to arise, this mission would fail, and we wouldn''t get another chance as the beast would realize what we were trying to do.


    And then, that moment came.


    Both of the armadillo''s arms were busy dealing with Ichigo and Furuwa respectively, while Hina-nee and Jim kept going for the beast''s throat without rest. It had no way of dealing with another attacker at this exact moment - and that is when I will strike.


    ''Vanishing Clouds.''


    Closing the distance between my target and I in an instant, I held my dagger firmly in my hands as I slid directly underneath the beast. Using my momentum, I sank my dagger deep into the armadillo''s underbody as I continued to slide. I felt my weapon sinking into flesh instead of armor, and immediately knew:


    My n had worked.


    More urately, it was a hunch. A gamble. But it was a necessary one that allowed us toe out on top in this fight. I felt my momentum wearing out, but that was fine. I had already reached the end of the armadillo''s massive body. I slid out on the other side, dagger stained with glistening purple blood, leaving behind an enormous, fatal cut on the underside of the beast.


    The armadillo couldn''t even cry out in pain. The whole assault I had made was so smooth and fluent that it had no time to react.


    With a loud crash, the beast copsed onto the ground, shaking the entire terrain.


    The others watched this scene with awe as I let out a deep breath, knowing that I had seeded.


    "Wow" Horiya, who was closest to me, eyed me in wonder.


    The beast''s corpse soon disappeared straight after, evaporating into a billion little pieces of dark light and flowing into my body. No oneined that I got all the XP for myself.


    "Woah, Kaze-kun, that was amazing!" Hina-nee eximed happily. "Here, as a reward, you get a hug~"


    Saying this, she embraced me as Ichigo and Horiya watched on in jealousy.


    " Kid, I think I''ve said this before, but yer one hell of a bloody maniac," Jim muttered, but his face was smiling.


    Iughed awkwardly. "I''ll take that as apliment, I suppose."


    Then, holograms appeared in front of all of us, and Hina-nee pulled away from me so that we could both read it.


    [Monsters]


    [Monsters are any living beings that have be Tainted by the Malevolence. Be it human, beast, ntlike, elven, or any other race, no living organisms are safe from the Malevolence. The Malevolence is born from dark feelings and emotions such as the seven deadly sins - lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. When the natural malevolence within oneself exceeds their limit, they will be Tainted and turn into a Monster. Monsters do not provide any item drops, but are extremely useful for leveling up.]


    Below was an image of the massive armadillo we had just killed in the middle of its death process. When we killed Magic Beasts, they became shards of bright white light. However, when I killed this ''Monster'' just now, the light was ck. A pop-up suddenly appeared in front of me, in front of the new database entry on Monsters. I nced around and saw that no one else had gotten it.


    [Obtained: Venomized Monster Crystal (Tier IV) x1.]


    Monster Crystal...? Didn''t the hologram just now say Monsters didn''t have any item drops? I decided not to mention this to the others.


    "So this was a Monster, huh?" Furuwa muttered before dismissing her hologram. The rest of us did the same.


    "This would''ve been nice to know earlier, before the fight began," Ichigoined, rolling his eyes.


    "I doubt that would''ve helped much," I said. "This is a very general description, and it doesn''t tell us any strengths or weaknesses of the Monster we just fought. Because any and all lifeforms possess the capability of turning into a Monster, it''s pretty obvious why there aren''t specific entries for every Monster wee across."


    "Yeah, I guess that''s true"


    "Well. Shall we continue our journey, then?" Jim said with a chuckle.


    "After some rest, of course," Horiya added, luckily.


    We sat down once more to take a break. I decided to take a look at my inventory. I opened up my system and went to the ''Inventory'' tab. Once there, I tapped on Dokujin, my currently equipped weapon. As I am right now, it was only possible for me to wield one weapon at a time. However, I was almost certain it was possible to use more than one simultaneously but perhaps there was a level requirement or I had to do some specific quest to unlock that ability.


    In any case, the stats of Dokujin were as follows:


    [Name: Dokujin]


    [Type: Weapon]


    [ATK: 18]


    [DUR: N/A]


    Wait N/A? Does that mean this dagger didn''t have a durability factor? It could be used forever, is that it? Judging from appearance alone, it did seem like Dokujin didn''t have any sign of wearing down, but it''s not like I''ve been using it for all that long anyway.


    That aside, I didn''t really understand the whole ATK stat of weapons. In this game, enemies didn''t have HP bars or anything, in order to make this as realistic as possible. So, what exactly did the number in the ATK stat of weapons really mean? I get that it was how much ''damage'' they could do, but


    Whatever. This wasn''t really important anyway; I didn''t see a point in asking A.R.X.A. about this.


    Fifteen minutester, we set out, continuing our journey downwards.


    *****


    The rest of the trip was more or less uneventful. We spent the time just talking about what had happened earlier.


    "Igarashi, you still haven''t answered my question from earlier," Ichigo said with a frown. "How the hell did you manage to ''identally'' piss on such a huge armadillo?"


    "Well you see, it looked just like a small spherical rock back then," I murmured quietly, scratching my head.


    "A rock?"


    "Yeah. But just as I finished, things went downhill from there."


    " So what you''re saying is that this ''rock'' became a giant armadillo and started chasing you through the forest," Furuwa said emotionlessly, looking at me with an unamused expression on her face.


    "Y-Yeah, that about sums it up," I shrugged.


    "So... how did it end up as a small rock?" Ichigo scratched his head in confusion.


    "Maybe it shrinks after eating?" Horiya murmured. "I don''t know, just a wild guess."


    "Wait... so like, post-nut rity, but for eating?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "... Ichigo, you bastard," Horiya said as he beganughing. Ichigo joined in as well.


    I sighed at their dirty jokes.


    Ichigo, noticing my disapproving reaction, couldn''t take it anymore. "But still... it''s a literal ROCK, dude! You got chased down by a ROCK, Igarashi?"


    "And you almost got killed by that same rock," I shot back, before rolling my eyes. "It clearly wasn''t just a rock, if it became a massive armadillo. I just said it LOOKED like one."


    "O-Okay, I guess that''s fair"


    "Heh, Ichigo, losing against Igarashi in an argument?" Horiyaughed, much to Ichigo''s chagrin.


    "Still, that thing really had some loud roars," he continued in disdain. "My eardrums are still hurting, even now."


    "Hmph. As if your hearing was good in the first ce," Furuwa scoffed.


    "W-Wha-!"


    "Heh, Horiya, losing against a girl in an argument?" Ichigoughed boldly.


    "There''s nothing inferior about girls, y''know," Hina-nee interjected, pursing her lips.


    "Yeah your very existence proves that, Hina-nee" I muttered with a wry smile.


    "Oi, I think I see somethin'' up ahead. Looks like a city," Jim suddenly cut in as he observed the horizon.


    The rest of us all crowded around him to see what he was talking about, and sure enough, we could see buildings in the distance, below us. We just had a little more to walk.


    "Seems like quite the big one, too," Ichigo mused. "A lot bigger than Tianyin, that''s for sure."


    "Looks like we''ll be staying here for quite some time then," Hina-nee smiled. "Ahh I can''t wait to just chill in one ce again. All this traveling has got me longing for a good night''s rest together with Kaze-kun, of course, hehe~"


    She cackled evilly, and I sent her a disapproving nce. Ichigo and Horiya looked to each other, then pulled me away from Hina-nee.


    "Oi, Igarashi tell me the truth. You and Sakura-senpai aren''t blood-rted, right?"


    I looked at Ichigo with a deadpan re. " Why is this relevant?"


    "Well, uh y''know. If you''ve done that," Horiya snickered. "You know what I''m talking about."


    I sighed and pushed the two of them away. "No, we haven''t. And besides, even if we have, why would I tell you? It''s not like we''re suddenly best friends."


    "Yeah" the two of them exchanged nces and sighed.


    "Look we''re not asking for immediate forgiveness or anything, but we just wanted to say that we''re really sorry. For everything that we''ve done to you."


    " It would be a lie if I said apology epted," I said with a sigh.


    "That''s fine. We''ll keep treating you like one of our friends, though. Whether or not you want to reciprocate, that''s up to you," Horiya said. "Just know that we''re genuinely sorry."


    "Yeah," I replied briskly, and with that, the two let me off.


    It would be a lie if I said I believed them. The things they''ve done to me in the past just automatically lowered the credibility of their words. Though, it was true I helped Ichigo out a lot in the Vault of Corruption, both emotionally and physically, Without my advice and warnings, he would''ve died already.


    I sighed and remained in ce as the others went on ahead. Hina-nee, noticing this, discretely crept back to stay with me. Together, the two of us looked out at the beautiful sunset over the horizon.


    "It''s beautiful, isn''t it?" Hina-nee said, standing beside me and leaning on my shoulder.


    "Yeah"


    "I wonder, when was thest time we did this?


    It was practically impossible to witness such a sight of nature back in Japan - where we lived, anyway: metropolitan Tokyo.


    " I think we went on vacation once to Okinawa Miyakojima Ind, right? I remember back then, you asked me if it was beautiful as well."


    "That''s right. I''m surprised you still remember, Kaze-kun" Hina-nee grabbed my arm and hugged it tightly. "That happened many years ago I think when I was seven? You were six at the time."


    I chuckled. "Yeah."


    "Back then, I was so much taller than you. But now we''re around the same height. You might even be taller. Hehe, funny how time flows so quickly, huh?" she sniffled her nose slightly, and I turned to look at her.


    "Hina-nee do you miss our old world?"


    She met my gaze, and she couldn''t hold back the tears anymore. Hina-nee dove into my arms as I held her gently.


    "I''m happy here. Being together with you, Kaze-kun, is my greatest joy. It''s just knowing the fact that we won''t be able to return to our home again anytime soon I"


    Tightening her grip on my clothes, she trailed off and began crying softly.


    I patted her on the back in an attempt tofort her. "I understand we''ll make it back to our old world really soon. Don''t worry, Hina-nee. Even if it kills me I''ll take you back."


    "Kaze-kun don''t say that" Hina-nee rubbed her face deeper against my chest.


    As she continued to sob softly, I gazed at the orange sunset, and smiled.


    The beginning was over. I now had a clear goal in mind, and would stop at nothing to achieve it.


    I will return. For both Hina-nee''s sake, and my own.


    This, marks the beginning of a new journey. One in an alternate reality.

 Chapter 56: Qilian City

    Chapter 56: Qilian City


    "We may not be able to change reality, but we can change the eyes in which we see it."


    *****


    The story so far


    My name is Igarashi Kaze. By some wicked twist of fate, I ended up trapped in a video game by the name of ''Ascension: Online''. However, there, I soon learned that what we humans see with our eyes isn''t always the truth.


    The ''video'' game I was in was actually a vast reality realm among many, controlled by an omnipotent supeputer by the name of A.R.X.A. - Artificial Reality Xenobiotic Apparatus. She informed me that in order to return to my old world, I had to beat this reality ne.


    I had to ''Ascend''.


    And so, that is exactly what I will do.


    *****


    Soon after, we arrived at the gates of the city we had spotted from a distance earlier. The gates were massive, just like the city itself. It was made of pure concrete, clearly of much higher quality than the stone walls of Tianyin. Written on arge sign above the gates was a string of text.


    "Qilian City, huh?" I muttered.


    The City of Myths, ording to the sign. Xiyang had been called the Vige of Memories, so I assumed this was something simr.


    "Halt. Do you have proper identification?" the guards wearing a full knight-like armor set at the gates asked, stopping us from entering.


    "Uh, we actually just came down from Tianyin City on Mount Valgan," I said, pointing at the mountain we had just descended from. "They didn''t issue us any kind of ''identification'' or anything."


    "What?! Tianyin City?"


    The guards exchanged nces. "Didn''t they say a Monster had appeared in a forest on that mountain, so no one was to go up there?"


    "I believe so and I heard the Monster already exercised Venomization as well"


    "Then how the hell are they here?"


    "Oh, that Monster? We killed it," Ichigo chuckled triumphantly with a smug grin.


    Hearing this, they turned back to us in surprise. " You should know the consequences of lying to us. This is no small matter."


    "We aren''t lying," Horiya added. "You can go check yourself. The armadillo, right? It''s gone. We defeated it just earlier today. No big deal."


    I sent him an unamused nce. ''No big deal'' my ass we almost got killed by it.


    "This we will need evidence. Do you have the Monster Crystal belonging to it?"


    Ichigo frowned. "Monster Crystal? What''s tha-"


    "I have it," I interjected, then opened up my System before quickly taking out the Monster Crystal I had obtained earlier and presenting it to the guards. "Here."


    One of the guards took the still-bloody crystal and inspected it. "This it''s the real thing. Venomized, too."


    "I agree. I am not an expert at this, but this seems to be around tier three or four. The Monster in those mountains was gauged to be around that level as well," the other guard added, then turned back to me. "Alright you can pass."


    The first guard handed me back the Monster Crystal, which I stored within my System once more. The six of us walked into Qilian City without any problems. A hologram appeared in front of us the moment we did - it read:


    [Primary Quest Complete: The Beginning]


    [im your rewards in the ''Quests'' tab of your System.]


    Then, right after:


    [New Primary Quest]


    [Qilian City]


    [Attend the annual tournament happening in Qilian City. Time remaining: 14:12:15:07.]


    I was a bit curious about this, but as the ''07'' in the timer went down to a ''06'', the pop-up faded away on its own. I would have to check it outter in the ''Quests'' tab.


    "Oi, Igarashi, where did you get the Monster Crystal from?" Ichigo questioned, deciding to not mention the new primary quest we just received. Obviously, he would be curious after seeing that exchange just now.


    "I obtained it after killing the Monster," I exined truthfully. "I still don''t really know what it does, but I guess it did serve to let us in this city."


    "Kaze-kun, next time something like this happens, you have to tell Hina-nee first, got it?" Hina-nee looked at me while pouting.


    "Yes, yes, Hina-nee" I gave in and sighed.


    "Alright, before we do anythin'' else, let''s get somethin'' to eat," Jim proposed. "I''m bloody starvin''."


    As if on cue, his stomach growled. "Oh, my bad. ''Scuse me."


    "Uh" I opened up my System once more and looked at the ''Minimap'' tab. "There''s a restaurant right up ahead, at the fountain. Let''s go there."


    *****


    We were all pretty rich, so while the food here at this restaurant was expensive, it wasn''t as if we couldn''t afford it. It was pretty nice to eat luxurious food in a different world, not going to lie.


    "This city is awesome," Ichigo said as we waited for our food to arrive. "Did you see that fountain outside? Sheesh, that was one nice piece of art."


    The fountain he was referring to was a beautiful one located in the center of the city. While we were walking to this restaurant, I spotted several ces I was interested in, the fountain being one of them. It was one of a Qilin - a mythical Chinese creature of legends, said to resemble a Western unicorn. It seemed that not only did thenguage of this reality ne ovep with Earth''s, but also certain cultures.


    As everyone else engaged in conversation - minus Furuwa - I decided to see how close I was to the next level, 16. My eyes widened a bit. I was only a tiny bit away, ording to the progress bar in the ''Profile'' tab.


    It seemed that killing Monsters was, just like the database entry had said, an extremely efficient way of farming XP. I would need to find more Monsters to kill to get stronger quickly. However, it seemed that only the one who dealt the killing blow would receive XP - assists didn''t count. That was pretty troublesome. I wanted Hina-nee to level up with me, after all. The only solution was to have us take turns dealing the final blow.


    I sighed and closed out of my System as the food had arrived.


    *****


    After eating, our group decided to just find an inn and sleep early, since we were all tired. After setting their spawn points, Ichigo, Horiya, Furuwa, and Jim all logged out, saying that they would y tomorrow. Of course, since tomorrow was Monday, Furuwa would have school. Ichigo and Horiya normally would too, but they had a two-week suspension to worry about.


    That said how long could I hide my secret from these guys? Once their suspension was over, they would have to return to school. Then, they would realize that I wasn''t there and be confused. After school, they would then hop on Ascension: Online and ask me about it.


    At that time, what would I respond with?


    Moreover, I had no doubt news about Hina-nee and I being trapped inside the game were spreading like wildfire on my old reality ne at the moment. Auntie and uncle definitely reported it, especially since uncle was a news reporter himself.


    I sighed as Iy in my bed, Hina-nee beside me. We weren''t in the same bed this time because I strongly denied that idea, but she still insisted on sleeping in the same room as me.


    Sooner orter, the truth about Hina-nee and I would get out. When that happens, what will happen to us?


    I thought about this as I slowly drifted off to sleep.

 Chapter 57: The Library

    Chapter 57: The Library


    I ended up forgetting to check my Quests tab to read about the new primary quest, but I had loads of time to do that. Two whole weeks, in fact.


    The next day, when I woke up, Hina-nee was sleeping right next to me. It seemed that she had slid in here while after I had already fallen asleep. How sneaky. Thankfully, she wasn''tpletely naked, otherwise I may have lost my self-control.


    Sighing, I pried her arms off of me and got off the bed. The movement woke Hina-nee up as well, but it was about time for us to get up anyway. I opened up my System and checked the time - 8:00 AM exactly. I kind of wished there was an rm feature, but that wasn''t very likely.


    "Mm Kaze-kun I still want to sleep" Hina-nee murmured, pouting unhappily.


    "Too bad," I replied firmly. If I gave in to her desires here, she would just keep taking advantage of that fact.


    "Ugh Kaze-kun, you meanie"


    Despite those words, the first thing she did after getting out of the bed was pull me into a hug. She really needs to fix her strange obsession with hugging me.


    "Oh yeah, by the way, A.R.X.A.," I called out to seemingly nothing as I was washing my face. However, a hologram then appeared beside me with the AI''s familiar face on it.


    [What is it, human?]


    "Just to confirm, the natives of this reality ne can''t see our holograms, right? For example, when yers operate their Systems."


    The reason I had asked her this question was because of a conjecture I''ve had for a while now. When I first entered this world, the cksmith Ming Ye had taught me how to use my System, but he had never explicitly said he could actually see the hologram. Back then, he probably just determined I had seeded from the expression on my face.


    My suspicions were confirmed yesterday, when we were talking with the guards at the gates. When I had taken out the Monster Crystal from my inventory, they hadn''t said anything or shown the slightest bit of reaction, even though holograms should''ve been apletely foreign concept to this world.


    [Correct.] A.R.X.A replied. [To the locals of this world, it would just seem as if you are pressing on thin air. If you were to take something out of your inventory, it would also appear as if you had manifested it out of nothing.]


    "Thought so," I said in satisfaction. "Thanks."


    []


    With that, the AI disappeared, though it seemed she had wanted to say something at the very end, but then changed her mind.


    After we got ready for the day, we exited the inn. Overall, the quality of the stay was definitely a lot better than at Tianyin - if Tianyin''s inn was a two out of five stars, then this ce would be a four star.


    Ichigo and Horiya were already waiting at the inn''s entrance when we got there.


    "Finally," they said as if they had been waiting for us for quite a bit.


    "You two wake up quite early," I noted.


    "Heh, Jim gets up even earlier," Horiya said. "He''s already at the library we were nning on exploring today."


    "Without even eating breakfast?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.


    "He ate before logging on, apparently," Ichigo shrugged. "But hey, what''s with the questions? Let''s just go already!"


    "Uh sure."


    He began walking off, but then stopped and turned back. "Wait, Igarashi, don''t you have school?"


    "I woke up sick," I lied smoothly. I had already prepared this beforehand. "I still feel fine in this video game though, since it''s separate from my real body."


    "Oh, I see," he chuckled. "Well, hope you get better."


    Hina-nee and I allowed them to lead us towards Qilian City''s library.


    *****


    After some walking, we arrived before a massive building near the gates we had entered the city from yesterday. It was extremely tall,parable to the high-rise buildings back in Tokyo. On the way here, we picked up some food from one of the stalls - scallion pancakes, in particr. They tasted just like the ones in our old world.


    At the very top of the structure we were facing was a sign that read ''Qilian Library''. This had been the first thing I spotted upon entering the city yesterday. I was hoping to find a library back in Tianyin, but they didn''t have one due to size limitations. However, now, I could finally get some useful information on the world of Ascension - perhaps even the location of one of the eight tablets I needed to find, if I got really lucky.


    Though, even if I did discover the location, I probably wouldn''t be able to get it. A.R.X.A. did say that I would first need to unlock the ''Awakening'', which could only be achieved by bing incredibly strong. That was the prerequisite in order to begin acquiring the tablets.


    We entered the library without any further ado. The inside was nice and cool, probably thanks to the autumn weather of September. Countless bookshelves lined the various floors of the building - I could get a glimpse of the upper floors, since there was an ascending staircase right in front of us.


    "Wow this ce is like one massive directory of knowledge," I murmured in awe.


    Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "Really? I don''t find this all that amusing."


    "Fufufu, Kaze-kun''s always liked books ever since he was young," Hina-nee giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. "Isn''t that right?"


    "Uh yeah," I averted my gaze, embarrassed.


    "Well, I can''t say I understand, but I respect the mindset," Horiya shrugged, then walked off. "Imma try and find Jim."


    "I''lle with," Ichigo said, before taking off after him.


    "Well then Kaze-kun, let''s go do our own thing," Hina-nee said happily, as if relieved the two were now gone and we were alone.


    I nodded. "About time we find out more about this world."


    *****


    After browsing for a little bit, I picked out a few books that seemed like they would help our case: ''Ascentia: A Brief History'', ''As of Ascentia'', and ''Ascentian Ancient Legends & Myths''.


    The final one was a bit iffy, but it could provide some information the other two couldn''t - though the credibility of such info was a different matter.


    I went over to a free private room nearby that Hina-nee had picked out, and ced the books on the table inside after shutting the door. The establishment of private rooms like this one was nice. It provided a quiet, rxing study environment that allowed people to read in peace. We had tested it already; the walls werepletely soundproof, which was an added bonus.


    "Alright I can do whatever I want with Kaze-kun in here, hehe~"


    I stopped my movements, and turned to Hina-nee. "What?"


    "I mean, I can read peacefully together with Kaze-kun in here, haha"


    I wasn''t convinced in the least, but it''s not like I was especially afraid of Hina-nee or anything. The most she''ll do is I don''t know, actually. I had no idea what she would do.


    In any case, I flipped open the first book, ''Ascentia: A Brief History'', and began reading. Hina-nee began reading the book about ancient legends and myths, saving the as forst since it was the thickest of them all.


    "Hm okay I see" I murmured quietly as I read. It may have been annoying to some people, but not Hina-nee. In fact, she seemed to enjoy my asional subconscious whisper, since she liked my voice (she said it, not me).


    ording to what was written in the book, the ind of Ascentia was formed approximately 13.8 billion years ago - around the same age as the Big Bang back in my old reality ne urred, giving birth to the universe. The massivendform just rose out of the water one day, apparently. It was hardly believable with no science to back it up, but we couldn''t take the physics of our old world and apply it here.


    However, this did make me certain about one thing, and curious about another.


    The first was that this reality ne calcted time the same way as Earth - years, months, days, et cetera. I didn''t know if the month names were the same, but they most likely were. There also were probably twelve months in a year, seven days in a week, and so on. The resemnces between Ascension and Earth were slowly bing more and more visible.


    The next was mere conjecture, but what if A.R.X.A. appeared 13.8 billion years ago? Who, or what, created this omnipotent supeputer? I had no idea, and whether or not this theory was even true, I couldn''t say for sure. However, there was no way the fact that my old universe and this one were both ''created'' at the same time was just a mere coincidence.


    I continued reading. And the more I read, the more I found out about the geographical resemnces between this world and my old one.


    Naturally this only served to further solidify my theory.

 Chapter 58: The Continents

    Chapter 58: The Continents


    Ascentia was an ind with three times the surface area of Earth, split into eight different regions - continents, as the book called them.


    "Hina-nee," I said as I read over this part.


    "Hm? What is it, Kaze-kun?"


    "I know this is a stupid question, but how many continents does Earth have?"


    "Um isn''t it seven? Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, South America, Oceania, and Antarctica why?"


    "Is there an eighth one, by any chance?"


    "An eighth oh, I do remember reading an article a few years ago talking about the discovery of an eighth continent," Hina-nee struck her own palm as an idea shed across her mind. "It was called Zendia, if I remember correctly. It''s about half the size of Australia, but roughly 94% of it is submerged underwater still. Scientists are still debating whether or not to really ssify it as a continent, though"


    "I see," I replied briskly, and smiled.


    That was all the confirmation I needed. Even if scientists were still arguing about whether or not it should be ssified as a continent, this was enough.


    Eight continents here on Ascentia, and eight continents on Earth. Ascentia formed 13.8 billion years ago, and the universe of the old reality ne was the same. Was more evidence necessary? Yes. But was my theory practically solidified? Also yes. However, in the end, it is still a mere theory. In order to turn it into solid facts, more proof would be needed. I decided to continue reading.


    The book didn''t talk much about the continents themselves, but rather focused on how they formed. That, I didn''t really care about - it wasn''t all that important to me. However, something did attract my attention - the existence of Astrasil, the world tree at the center of Ascentia.


    ording to the history book, not much was known about this tree, even though it had been here since the rise of the ind. Since this book only provided known facts and statistics, it didn''t discuss any theories or conjectures as to what the tree could be. However, I was certain Hina-nee would learn a lot about it in the book she was reading about Ascentia''s ancient myths and legends.


    Sighing, I put down the history book and grabbed the as. Without a doubt, this was going to give me plenty of information. Taking a deep breath, I flipped it open.


    And indeed, my guess had been on the mark.


    The book talked about all everything - it was even neatly split into nine different categories for me, each one representing a continent, with the final one being for misceneous locations such as Astrasil.


    "Okay now we''re talking," I smirked and flipped past the table of contents to the first category.


    The continent''s name was Azrine - the Land of Nature, and for a good reason too. This just so happened to be the continent Hina-nee and I were currently on - I recognized the name since Ming Ye had told me about this when I first entered the game.


    Like its name suggested, thendscape of this continent was mostly mountains, forests, ins, and whatnot. Nature and greenery could be found everywhere, and most forms of civilization such as cities and viges were built surrounded by lush forests and sparkling rivers. Because of this, cities did not have to worry about natural resources such as wood, water, wildlife, or fish. Moreover, caves were numerous andmon - real caves, not Vaults - so precious ores could be mined as well for economy.


    Overall, Azrine was the perfect ce to live in, essentially. Poption was fairly low, so finding a job wouldn''t be a problem. Because of the thriving economy, businesses also wanted to settle here. Taxes weren''t a thing in Azrine and the majority of the people were kind and forgiving. Governments listened to their citizens, and politicians weren''t corrupt. The continental government, by the name of ACG (Azrine Central Government), were responsible for governing thend.


    This ce was the perfect ce to live, the ultimate haven for anyone and everyone.


    The most predominant races in Azrine were humans, demihumans, and elves, in that order. As fornguages, there were a variety, but the most-spoken ones were Azrinese and Nihonese.


    I remember Ming Ye saying something about a province called Nihon in Azrine and I also recall thinking it was close to Japan''s name from my old reality ne. As for ''Nihonese'' it was probably simr to Japanese, at least somewhat. That would mean Azrinese was the Ascentia version of Chinese? Most likely.


    That said,nguages weren''t really a problem for me, as all yers possessed the ability to automaticallyprehend any spokennguage, as I confirmed with A.R.X.A. a while back.


    The as then moved on to talking about the specifics of the continent, such as detailed geographical location and such which wasn''t really what I was looking for. I decided to just skip ahead and take a look at the other continents.


    The next one was called Saharune - the Desert of Gold. It was approximately the same size as Azrine, but that was where the simrities ended. Unlike the Land of Nature, Saharune was a literal desert. One massive, deserted continent of sand.


    The living conditions there were far fromfortable, especially whenpared to Azrine, but people have made it work. Settlements and even small cities have been constructed. However, that obviously came with great difficulty and hardship. Water was sparse in the desert, and to find an oasis, you had to travel many days with no rest, and on top of that, you needed to have tons of luck.


    So why would these people travel all the way to this desert and going as far as to construct towns in it?


    The reason for that was simple - treasure. Saharune was known as the Desert of Gold. The reason for this had to do with the continent''s history. Apparently, there used to be an ancient kingdom here, ruling every inch of thend. However, one massive sandstorm destroyed the entire empire, forever engulfing it inyers uponyers of sand.


    Obviously, this meant all of the wealth the kingdom had held before it had been destroyed was hidden somewhere underneath the sand as well, stored safely just before the empire went to waste. The amount of treasure in Saharune was immeasurable - hence why people were willing to take such risks to travel there.


    I most likely would have to go there sometime soon as well, since there was a high chance a tablet was hidden there. I wasn''t exactly eager to get mauled by a raging sandstorm, but it is what it is.


    The other six continents were as follows:


    Avaroth, The Demon''s Hand - a continent belonging to solely the demon race. The geographical constitution was simr to Azrine, but with many volcanoes around ready to bring destruction to thend at a moment''s notice. Apparently, thend there was ck everywhere, which I found kind of interesting. It probably had something to do with the volcanoes erupting in the past and actually forming the ground with their cooledva, thus creating a coat of ckness all across thend.


    Next was Cibea, also known as Area-666 - and filled with technology and futurism. If I had to describe it in one word, that word would be ''cyberpunk''. ording to the as, there was no ''daytime'' there. It was always night, which I found both odd and intriguing. The whole continent consisted of buildings upon buildings, with roads both narrow and wide between them. Who or what constructed all of this was unknown, and the history book didn''t mention anything about it either. There was just one important thing to note about this continent though - conflict was everywhere. But one major difference needs to be addressed - there, they didn''t fight using swords or bows. They fought using guns and bullets.


    Thenes Necromopolis, fearfully revered as the ''Continent of Death''. No life existed within its borders - and since no one who entered has ever came back out alive, it was practically unknown what isying inside. Cibea used its advanced technology to try and scout the ce out using drones, but they discovered that within Necromopolis was a deep ck mist that prevented the drones from seeing anything. The one clear picture they managed to take was of an aged human skeleton.


    Frostopheria, the Realm of Ice. From what I read, the geography of this ce seemed to be simr to Antarctica from Earth. However, it was observed to not drift away from Ascentia even after millenniums. Did the concept of continental drift just not exist in this reality ne? Perhaps. But the most major different between Frostopheria and Antarctica was the fact that permanent civilization existed here. I wasn''t talking small settlements like Saharune. I meant real cities, towns, and even castles. As an aside, Frostopheria had the tendency of separating itself from the rest of Ascentia, though the reasons are unknown.


    After Frostopheriaes Ascenthurium, Theocracy of Light. This theocracy''s goal is to convert all of Ascentia to their religion, and is constantly at war with other continents in order to do so. They worship some kind of holy being they call ''the Creator''. I imagine it was simr to the gods of religions back on Earth, but was it really necessary to make the whole world follow your way of doing things? I would never understand.


    Andstly, the eight and final continent - Yamitochi. Yami meant ''dark'' in Japanese, and ''tochi'' meantnd. ''Darknd'', essentially. The name suited this ce well - while it wasn''t constantly nighttime like Cibea, Yamitochi was a continent of assassins and shinobi - ninjas. They had their own creed and set of rules to follow, which was why they so strongly opposed the Theocracy of Light, Ascenthurium.


    These eight continents - Azrine (west), Saharune (northwest), Avaroth(north), Cibea (northeast), Necromopolis (east), Frostopheria (southeast), Ascenthurium (south), and Yamitochi (southwest) - made up the massive ind known as Ascentia.


    I closed the book, not bothering to read the ninth and final category of misceneous locations. I was tired. More than two hours had passed since we first entered this library, though Hina-nee still seemed engrossed in that same book about Ascentian legends and myths.


    I sighed and let her keep reading for however long she wanted.

 Chapter 59: The Hunters Guild

    Chapter 59: The Hunter''s Guild


    "Hah finally done!" Hina-nee let out a deep breath of relief and closed the book she had been reading.


    "What did you learn, Hina-nee?" I asked with a wry smile.


    "Hm before that, I''m hungry," she snickered, then turned to me with the sad puppy dog eyes. "You wouldn''t let your precious onee-san talk for an hour on an empty stomach, would you?"


    I met her gaze, and after a momentary mental debate, I sighed and gave in, standing up. "Yes, yes let''s go, Hina-nee."


    "Yay! Kaze-kun is the best!" she leapt up and hugged me tightly, like an innocent child.


    Sometimes, it was harder to tell who was the older sibling between the two of us.


    *****


    The two of us decided to just go eat without informing the others, since if we talked about our findings in front of them, they would obviously wonder why we were talking about that. I could just say I wanted to find out more about the ''lore'' of Ascension: Online, but that was a questionable excuse. Moreover, with Ichigo and Horiya there, it would be difficult for Hina-nee and I to have a proper one-on-one conversation to exchange our findings.


    We went to a different restaurant from the one we ate atst night, since that one was too expensive to be eating everyday. Even if we were rich, that didn''t mean we had an infinite amount of money. What we needed was a stable ie supply - something other thanpleting quests and whatnot. Something akin to a ''job'' in this new world


    But thates after. For now, we just needed to share our discoveries with each other.


    "So, Hina-nee, are you full now?" I asked once we were finished eating.


    She whistled. "Yep! Thank you, Kaze-kun!"


    I sighed. "Don''t mention it. Now then, what did you find out in that book about Ascentian myths and legends? You were engrossed in it for quite a while."


    "Well, of course I was!" she eximed. "The fables and fairy tales of another world how can I not be interested?"


    I scratched my cheek awkwardly. "Uh so, did you find anything that was useful to our current situation?"


    She nodded. "For the most part, the book was filled with stories just like the myths and legends of our old world. But among them, there was one in particr that stood out."


    I raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"


    "It''s a tale about Astrasil, the massive tree at the center of the ind."


    "Hm ording to A.R.X.A.''s information, that tree is closely rted to our goal of Ascending."


    "Indeed. The tale I speak of is in fact about Ascending."


    "Interesting. Let''s hear it."


    Hina-nee took a deep breath, and began summarizing the story to me.


    "To exin, I would have to begin with the history of the tree. Astrasil, also known as the Tree of Life, could be said to be the origin of all creation on Ascentia. ording to legends, Ascentia gave birth to the six races - humans, elves, demihumans, dwarves, vampires, and demons. Two members of each race, one male and one female, were suddenly materialized one day in a shimmer of light. The various races expanded from there. Civilization was created, and kingdoms formed one by one."


    "I see so Astrasil is akin to the God of this world," I murmured in thought.


    "Correct, Kaze-kun. Some people even refer to Astrasil as ''the Mother''."


    "So what does that have to do with Ascending?"


    Hina-nee smiled. "You see, because they see Astrasil as ''God'', the various races of Ascentia believe that by Ascending, they can be granted any wish they want."


    "Any wish but this is just mere spection, no? There''s no way to guarantee that''s really true."


    "It is mere spection, but it is one that everyone believes in. Think of it like the concept of an afterlife back on Earth, except everyone believes there really is one."


    "So, essentially, everyone living in Ascentia share onemon belief?" I conjectured.


    "Pretty much. There''s no evidence to prove this conjecture is true, but at the same time, there isn''t any evidence that proved this conjecture to be false, either," Hina-nee replied, shrugging.


    "The Devil''s Proof, huh?" I murmured, referencing the well-known logical dilemma, also known as probatio diabolica. Basically, what it meant in this case was since there wasn''t any proof that disproved Astrasil''s wish-granting abilities, that meant Astrasil could very well have such powers.


    Essentially, failing to disprove a given statement in fact proves said statement in a way. That was the heart of the logical dilemma known as the Devil''s Proof.


    "That said, the two of us know that it''s true since A.R.X.A told us," Hina-nee continued. "Astrasil clearly does have sort of special power if it can allows us to cross realities back to our old world."


    I nodded. "But this is actually pretty troublesome."


    "Hm? How so?"


    "I told you about the eight tablets, correct? If what you say is true, then not only would we have topete against other yers attempting to beat this game, but also the natives of Ascentia who are trying to have their wish granted."


    Hina-nee tilted her head. "Ah I see, that''s true. But it''s not like that''ll stop us, right? Hehe~"


    I sighed. "Yeah was there anything else you discovered?"


    "Not that much. I did find a few interesting tales about love and stuff though, if you want to hear them!"


    I immediately put a stop to that. "No thanks."


    If I let Hina-nee start telling stories, there would be no end to it, and I wasn''t keen on spending the rest of my day listening to her ramble. There was still one more ce I would like to visit - it had, just like Qilian Library, attracted my gaze when I first entered this city.


    The name of the ce?


    The Hunter''s Guild.


    *****


    After paying, I led Hina-nee back to the library to pick up Ichigo and Horiya. As for Jim, he said he had a ss to teach in the afternoon, so he couldn''t apany us. Unfortunate, but that was fine - he could check the ce out on his ownter.


    "Geez, Igarashi, can''t believe you just went off to eat without even telling us," Ichigo muttered inint as he chewed on a meat kebab.


    "Eat with your mouth shut," I reprimanded coldly. "Also, I already bought you those kebabs as payment, didn''t I? So quit whining."


    "He''sh right, Ichigo, thish shtuff ish good!" Horiya mumbled with his mouth full of food.


    Clearly, he had not been listening to what I said, despite saying I was right.


    I facepalmed and Hina-nee patted me gently on the back infort.


    We arrived at the building I was looking for soon after. Though it was only two stories tall, the overall size of this ce was on par with Qilian Library. The reason for this was the structure of the building - instead of being tall and skinny like the library, this one was short and extremely wide.


    "The Hunter''s Guild?" Ichigo murmured as he read out what the sign above the entrance wrote. "Igarashi, was this what you wanted to show us?"


    Without responding, I walked inside.


    It was bustling with people. Because of this, it was extremely loud, and I had to cover my ears at first. After a few seconds though, I got used to it.


    I surveyed our surroundings. Some people sat at tables drinking beer andughing, while others were lining up behind receptionists to speak with them. A third group was looking at the bulletin board that seemed to have various notes pinned on it.


    From young women to old men in their retirement ages, this ce had it all. Humans, elves, and even demihumans came and go in this building - all three races that inhabited Azrine, the Land of Nature.


    Despite the cheerful atmosphere, however, I felt the tension in the air with just a single nce. Hina-nee did so too, but Ichigo and Horiya still seemed painfully unaware. It was clear that the various races were sticking to themselves, despite all of them being in the same building. I noticed that no group sitting at the same table had members from different races, and that the demihumans around all had an expression of resentment on their faces - some fear, some hatred.


    In fact, I judged the only reason there weren''t any fights breaking out was because of the various strong-looking people sitting around, filled to the brim with high-quality equipment and armor.


    In all honesty, I didn''t really care if a fight broke out here, as long as it didn''te to us one way or another. I just came here to check things out, since the name ''Hunter''s Guild'' interested me. From experience, this should be something simr to an Adventurer''s Guild from isekai manga. If that was correct, then this would mean a stable source of ie for Hina-nee and I, as well as a good way of farming XP. Who knows? Maybe some quests will even trigger if I join.


    Having made my decision, I stepped forward and entered the shortest line to meet a receptionist, with the others following behind me.

 Chapter 60: Our Hidden Side

    Chapter 60: Our Hidden Side


    As we waited in line patiently, I felt some gazesnd on us. More specifically, on Hina-nee. She was nothing short of an otherworldly beauty, so it was only natural some men would lust for her. However I never expected-


    "Greetings."


    -That one of them would actually walk over and confront us.


    "Uh you talking to me?" I asked the man who had just approached.


    "No no," he replied. "The beautifuldy next to you."


    The man was, of course, referring to Hina-nee. He had brilliant blond hair and was quite handsome, around twenty years old. He wore a full knight-like silver armor set, along with a charming smile. It was clear this wasn''t the first time he was doing this - picking up girls. He probably thought Hina-nee would be swooned by this immediately, and fall in love with him. Unfortunately


    "Er do I know you?"


    All Hina-nee felt towards this man was confusion and perhaps a bit of disgust.


    The man''s eyes widened slightly, as if he hadn''t expected this response. "Well, uh no, not particrly. But all rtionships have a start. This is ours."


    "Pfft" Ichigo and Horiya snickered from behind us, trying their best to hide theirughter.


    "Um I don''t really want to start a rtionship with you though?" Hina-nee raised an eyebrow and scratched her cheek. She obviously knew what this man was trying to do, but she wanted to just y it cool and see if he would back off.


    He did not.


    "That''s what they all say at first," the manughed boldly, drawing even more attention to us. "You''re new here, right?"


    Hina-nee nodded. "Yeah, why?"


    "In that case, why don''t youe with me? I''ll exin everything about the Hunter''s Guild to you, and after that, you can join my party. I guarantee you won''t regret it, haha!"


    I decided to interrupt before this conversation continued any further. "Uh, sorry, but there''s no need for that-"


    "Was I talking to you, brat?"


    My expression froze as he sent me a re. The entirety of the building fell silent, even the receptionists who had been talking to customers. They could feel it - trouble brewing.


    Rather than be scared of his re, I instead stared deep straight back into the man''s eyes, as if searching his soul.


    Ah I see how it is.


    Basically, he has a superiorityplex.


    Naturally, faced with his ''was I talking to you'' question, I only had one response as the edge of my lips slowly turned up into a smirk.


    " Do I need your permission to speak?"


    The man''s re intensified as it fully concentrated on me.


    "Yo who''s that kid? How does he have the guts to go up against the renowned Silver Wolf?" I heard the audience murmur.


    "I don''t know never seen his face before maybe some neer from a backwater town nearby?"


    "If that''s the case, then he''s dead meat he doesn''t know who he just offended"


    "Don''t push your luck, kid," the man clenched his fists tightly as he red at me.


    I smiled innocently,pletely unaffected by his angry scowl. "Is it my luck getting pushed here or is it yours?"


    Unable to contain his anger any longer, he suddenly reached out with his hand for my throat. However, it was far too slow. In a mere millisecond, I shifted my position to just barely outside of his reach, as if taunting him. His hand closed around nothing but thin air, and his eyes widened.


    "You"


    "What is it?" I tilted my head, continuing to taunt him.


    "Tch!"


    He unleashed a devastating right hook aimed for my temple, and I prepared to dodge out of the way again. However, turns out, there was no need for that this time for someone else interrupted.


    "Enough is enough." Hina-nee caught the man''s forearm in mid-air, right before he was going to strike me.


    The man looked at Hina-nee in surprise, and found himself staring at apletely new girl. She was still as beautiful as ever, but the look of pure, dark hatred in Hina-nee''s eyes wasn''t something that could be faked. He tried pulling his arm away, but it wouldn''t budge.


    "What is this?!"


    Hina-nee tightened her grip around the man''s arm, and he cried out in pain.


    " If you ever even think aboutying a hand on Kaze-kun again I''ll kill you."


    "There it is the ferocious ''Sakura Demon'' of our middle school" Ichigo chuckled as he watched on in amusement.


    "Ahaha, I remember when we used to bully Igarashi, she would send us that same look," Horiya snickered. "We would nearly piss our pants, then run away."


    " D-Damn, how are you so strong?!" the man continued to try and pull away, but Hina-nee''s grip was too powerful.


    "Hmph."


    Hina-nee sent a front kick directly into the man''s stomach, and he was sent flying backwards, crashing into tables and benches. The audience quickly got out of the way, lest they get crushed.


    "G-Gah" the man coughed a few times, sent us a re, then raised his voice. "G-Guards! This damn bitch kicked me!"


    "Shameless everyone saw that he was the one who instigated it, but now he''s calling for help?" the audience murmured in disgust.


    But unfortunately for him, I wasn''t done yet. He had said something he shouldn''t have, just now.


    In an instant, I was standing directly in front of the man, stillying on the floor. Faced with my sudden appearance, his eyes widened and he blinked a few times to make sure what he was seeing was right.


    I didn''t give him the luxury of doing that, however. I stepped down on his chest, hard, sending him back onto the floor.


    "AGH!" he groaned in pain.


    I leaned in to him and grabbed him by his chin, my gaze akin to one that could kill.


    "What did you just call Hina-nee?"


    "H-Huh? Hina? Who''s that?!" the man cried in confusion. "Oh, wait that damned girl who protected you just now? Haha! She''s a bitch! What''re you gonna do about it, huh, coward?!"


    I reared my fist back and punched the man straight in the face. Once. Twice. Three times.


    "AH!"


    I kept pummeling him until his voice became muffled and his face no longer recognizable what with all the bruises and wounds. No guards or staff of the guild came to interfere, which was good, because I was so furious at the time that I probably would''ve punched them too if they tried to stop me.


    "P-Please s-shtop" the man begged, his teeth nearly all knocked out, damaged so badly that he couldn''t even speak properly anymore.


    "Apologize."


    "I-I''m shorry"


    "Not to me. To Hina-nee."


    The man eyed Hina-nee, who was watching all of this with a look of admiration on her face.


    "I''m really shorry pwease, don''t kill me" he begged.


    I closed my eyes. I hadn''t been nning on killing him anyway. The guild could probably overlook me beating the shit out of him here because he had been the one to instigate the conflict - everyone here could bear witness to that - but if it became a matter of life and death


    " The next time you insult her, I won''t be so merciful."


    I let go of his now-deformed face and calmly returned to where I had been waiting in line with the others, as if none of this had happened.


    "Agh" the man''s consciousness slowly faded away.


    I had been punching him so fast that he didn''t even get a chance to go unconscious until now. The next time he woke up, he would probably beying in a hospital bed. Even if he came for revenge, it would be a while before he could do so - though after this experience, I doubt he would try anything towards me or Hina-nee. If anything, all he felt towards us now was fear.


    The human mind was a delicate thing. After you broke it, they won''t ever be able to recover. Unlike physical wounds, mental scars were incurable.


    "Sorry about that," I sighed.


    "N-No, don''t worry about it" Ichigo muttered, but he was clearly in shock.


    "Goddamn, Igarashi with that kind of strength, why didn''t you fight back at all back when we used to beat you?" Horiya wondered aloud.


    "That''s because he knows doing that would make him no better than the two of you," Hina-nee cut in, sending Ichigo and Horiya reprimanding looks. They quickly averted their gazes out of fear.


    Hina-nee then turned to me and gave me a warm hug. "Thank you for standing up for me, Kaze-kun"


    I scratched my head awkwardly. "You did the same for me. I was just repaying the favor."


    "Hehe, even so that was really cool."


    "Ahaha thanks" I murmured in response, unsure of what else to say.


    "Woo!" the other people in the building suddenly cheered loudly. I raised an eyebrow in confusion.


    "Good work, kid!" a senior who looked to be in his fifties chuckled. "Haven''t seen such a satisfying beat-down in years!"


    "Yeah, you showed that bastard good!" another yelled. "Hell, I was gonna do that to him myself someday soon if you didn''t, haha!"


    "" I opened my mouth to speak, but then closed it again, since there was no point.


    It seemed like I already made a name for myself here at this Hunter''s Guild, albeit unintentionally.


    I looked down at my fists. They were stained with the blood of the man I had beaten up just now. Although the beat-down was certainly satisfying, I felt some traces of sadness. My anger had blinded me, and I acted impulsively. That was a weakness - one I needed to get rid of. Emotions were a dangerous thing inbat - they could spur you onward, but just as well bring you down. In order to minimize the chances of that happening I had to learn to control my feelings.


    Not only that, but no matter what that man did, he was still a fellow human - not some kind of Magic Beast or Monster. Despite that, I felt no remorse about nearly killing him. I wonder was the training A.R.X.A. had used on me that effective? It was just one sickleboar at first, but after killing that one, I felt no hesitation in killing any others. I just never expected it to apply to humans too.


    It''s as if my humanity had disappeared.

 Chapter 61: Side Quests Galore

    Chapter 61: Side Quests Galore


    Everything went by like normal after that. The furniture that man crashed into were all thrown out, to be recedter. Soon, it was our turn to meet the receptionist.


    "Er good afternoon," I said awkwardly. It was pretty difficult to engage in a normal conversation after attracting so much attention just now.


    "Good afternoon!" the receptionist, not bothered by that one bit, greeted me like any other customer. In fact, she even seemed a little more enthusiastic. "You four are neers here, correct?"


    We nodded collectively, and she smiled. "In that case, wee to the Hunter''s Guild. First, I''ll do a little introduction on who we are and what we do. Then, if you''re interested, I can issue guild cards for you all."


    "Sounds good," I replied briskly, to which she beamed happily.


    "Great! The Hunter''s Guild is an organization stationed all across the eight continents of Ascentia, with the exception of Necromopolis and Saharune, since those two ces barely have any civilization. It could be said that we''re the biggest non-government agency in the entire world, formed by the people, for the people."


    "Impressive," Ichigo murmured.


    "Now, you might be wondering what exactly we do," the receptionist continued, before pulling out a flyer of some kind and handing it to me. "Here at the Hunter''s Guild, we do a variety of things, from killing wild Magic Beasts to capturing wanted criminals. Essentially, whatever there is a request for, the Hunter''s Guild does it, as long as it isbat-rted."


    "Good to know we won''t have to clean toilets or anything," Horiya chuckled.


    "So, how about it? If you wish, I can provide more detailed information, but I believe this should be enough for you to make a decision."


    I turned to the others, who all met my look with a firm nod.


    "We''re interested. But is there some kind of uh manual or something?" I asked. "This flyer you gave me is not exactly detailed"


    "Don''t worry, after I issue your guild cards, you will naturally receive a guidebook," the receptionist replied, easing my worries. "Now then you first."


    She pointed at me. "What''s your name? First andst, please."


    "Igarashi Kaze. Kaze is my first name, Igarashi myst."


    "Got it. Age?"


    Hm she doesn''t ask many questions. Ming Ye had instantly pointed out the fact that my name sounded like something from the Nihon province, but this girl didn''t say anything. As expected of a receptionist - no questions, just answer.


    "14," I replied truthfully.


    The receptionist nodded. "Okay, so you''re eligible gender is just double-checking - male, I presume?"


    "Yeah."


    "Alright. Lastly, date of birth?"


    Now that was a problem. Was the year in here the same as the year outside? I decided to take a gamble.


    "January 1st, 2037," I replied. This was my real birthday. Hina-nee''s was on the exact same day, just a year earlier - 2036.


    The receptionist didn''t show any sign of surprise, and I let out a sigh of relief. Seems that the current year in here was indeed the same as the year back on Earth. I had been afraid the Common Era (CE) of this world didn''t start at the same time as Earth, so the actual year number was different, but I guess not.


    "And that''s all!" the receptionist eximed. A device beside her on the desk then began some sort of mechanical process, and after a few seconds, a card was spit out. She took it and handed it to me.


    I took a look at it. It was designed in a simr fashion to ID cards back on Earth, except without a picture. Instead, there was some sort of finger-like shape where the portrait of my face should''ve been.


    "Press your index finger in the space on the left-hand side of the card," the receptionist exined patiently. Iplied.


    Immediately, the card began glowing for a second, and I felt a slight burn from beneath my index finger, but it wasn''t painful. After a few seconds, the process wasplete.


    "Huh"


    The empty space just now had been reced with a transparent square of some kind, allowing me to see through it.


    "This is to prevent fraud and identity theft," the receptionist exined. "You will be asked to ce your index finger on the card every time we ask to verify your identity. If it glows up like it did just now, it would mean you are the real person."


    "Ah, I see," I muttered. So the Hunter''s Guild of this world used something simr to fingerprint identification from my old world, instead of using pictures. While the technology and science standards of most of Ascentia - excluding the continent of Cibea - were behind Earth, this world had magic called ''hidden arts''. This process must''ve been made possible with such arts.


    "Now then, next, the youngdy," the receptionist said, beckoning Hina-nee over. I moved out of the way.


    The three of them finished up their own respective registration processes without any problems, and the receptionist spoke again.


    "Now that you all have your guild cards, also known as Hunter Cards, you will each receive a manual."


    Saying this, she handed out four handbooks, and we each took one. The cover read ''Hunter''s Manual: A Guide to Bing a Legend''.


    "You can find all of the information you need about the guild within these books. I could also exin them to you right here, but"


    The receptionist looked over our shoulders at the next customer waiting in line, who was slowly getting impatient.


    Hina-neeughed awkwardly. "Ahaha, yeah, sorry about that. We''ll read these in our own time."


    The receptionist made a praying gesture to us andughed together. "Thank you! I will say this though, as onest piece of advice - you can just skim through the first section for now, then try and take on a quest suitable for your level from the bulletin board all the way to the left. There''s also one to the right. Once youplete the quest, you''ll have officially be a Hunter!"


    "I see. Thank you for the help," I replied politely.


    "No problem! Good luck!"


    With that, the four of us left, finding a vacant table and sitting down. I flipped open the manual and began reading the first section - Introduction - just like I had been told.


    After about fifteen minutes of reading, I had gotten the basic gist of this organization and its system. I put down the book and turned to the others, who still seemed to be having trouble.


    "Uh if you guys aren''t done yet, that''s fine. I''ll just exin, it''s easier," I proposed.


    "Ugh, yeah, please do, Igarashi," Ichigoined. "How the hell did you manage to read in this loud environment? Everyone''s so damn noisy, and people pass by here every twenty seconds to say hi to you after what happened earlier with that bastard."


    "Just ignore them like I did" I sighed.


    "You say that like it''s easy," Horiya rolled his eyes. "Not everyone can do what you can, ok?"


    "Well, it''s fine. Kaze-kun, go on, exin. I don''t really care about the system all that much, I just want to get out and do some training!"


    I nodded. "Alright. To begin, I''ll briefly exin how the Hunter''s Guild''s rank system."


    "Rank system?"


    "Yes. The four of us are currently all just Recruits, the lowest level. After Recruitses Hunter, then Trapper, then Stalker, Venator, and finally, Predator," I exined. "To rank up, we have toplete quests."


    "So I''m guessing we can only do quests based on our current rank?" Ichigo inferred.


    "Precisely," I replied. "Because we are currently only Recruits, we can only take the lowest level of quests. To start a quest, all we had to do was take off one of the notes pinned on the bulletin boards and bring it to a receptionist. There, once approved, we could set out. After that, once we returned, we would have to show a receptionist proof that we did indeedplete the quest, and then we could receive our reward. Pretty simple, right?"


    The three of them all nodded.


    "In that case what do you say we try and tackle a quest right now?" I suggested. "That''s what the receptionist from earlier rmended."


    "Sure, I''m down," Ichigo and Horiya both agreed.


    "Definitely," Hina-nee added. "Oh, I haven''t fought in so long! My muscles need a work-out!"


    "Didn''t you fight with that man earlier?" I questioned in confusion.


    "Oh, him? Too weak! That didn''t count."


    I sighed and shook my head. "Hina-nee your standards are high, even when ites to your opponents."


    "Of course! Only by fighting those of equivalent strength or higher than me will I get stronger," Hina-nee replied with a wink.


    "Let''s go then," I said, standing up and heading for the bulletin board. The rest of them followed as we pushed through the crowd.


    "What do you all think?" I asked, browsing the various quests up for grabs.


    "Hm how about this one?" Hina-nee suggested, pointing at one for us to see.


    The note read:


    ''Snowolf Hunt''


    ''Hunt down the emerging snowolf pack in the Lydia Forest north of Qilian City.''


    ''Minimum Rank: Recruit''


    ''Rewards: 500 Gold''


    "Sure," I said. "This looks like a good one to start off on."


    "Noints here," Ichigo and Horiya both said, raising their hands in the air in surrender.


    Having reached a consensus, I took off the note from the bulletin board and went to find an open receptionist. Fortunately, there was one with no one lined up in front of her. The process was quick - she approved our quest after we showed her all of our guild cards.


    The moment she did, however, we all had a hologram appear in front of us. It read:


    [New Side Quest]


    [Snowolf Hunt]


    [Exterminate the snowolf pack in the Lidya Forest north of Qilian City.]


    The four of us exchanged nces andmunicated wordlessly, confirming to one another not to say a single world about this here, since the receptionist didn''t know what ''holograms'' were.


    Dismissing the pop-ups, we quickly exited the building.

 Chapter 62: Snowolf Hunt

    Chapter 62: Snowolf Hunt


    "I''m d you two both understood the meaning of my nce," I said once we were out of the Hunter''s Guild building.


    "What, only the two of us? You weren''t worried about Sakura-senpai?" Ichigo scoffed.


    "Of course not!" Hina-nee eximed. "Kaze-kun and I have telepathicmunication."


    Uh we don''t. We really don''t.


    "Right, the whole sibling thing?" Horiyaughed.


    "Uh a-ahem," I cleared my throat to take control of the conversation. "The quest said the snowolf pack is in Lidya forest, north of Qilian City."


    Hina-nee opened up her System and switched to the ''Map'' tab. "North is that way."


    She pointed directly past the fountain located in the center of the city. We were currently on the south side of Qilian, so in order to reach the north gates, we had to just keep going in the direction we were currently heading in.


    Around half an hourter, we reached the gates - it was a pretty big city, after all; took quite a while to get around. Once there, we showed them our guild cards, and they let us pass. However, they did say that while our guild cards could serve as travel permits as well, it was a good idea to get a proper one. I made up my mind to do that once we got back from doing this quest.


    By this time, it was nearly 3 PM. Furuwa should be done with school right about now. Jim should also be closed to finish teaching, if not done already.


    *****


    The cool afternoon breezes of autumn swept in rxingly on our faces as we walked.


    "These snowolves what do you think they are?" Horiya asked.


    "Given the species names we''ve had so far, such as sickleboars, moonserpents, and such I''d say it''s safe to assume they''re some kind of wolves," I conjectured. "White wolves, perhaps?"


    "The quest description on the bulleting wall said they were ''emerging''," Hina-nee pointed out. "Are they slowly appearing now that it''s close to winter?"


    "Maybe. I mean, they do have snow in their names," Ichigo shrugged. "But whatever the case, we just gotta beat them, right?"


    "Don''t let your guard down. We don''t know how powerful they can be," I warned.


    "Yeah, yeah but in the end, if they''re meant for us Recruits to take out, then they can''t be too hard to kill, no?"


    "I suppose that''s true," I sighed. "But even so, don''t underestimate them. Even a cornered rat will bite a cat as the saying goes, one who is cornered will fight like a devil."


    It didn''t take too long for us to reach a forest. A little over half an hour, maybe. We had asked the guards at the gates where to go, and they just told us to keep going forward if we wanted to reach Lidya forest. So, we did. And now, here we are. There was an open, proper road for us to walk on, one that had probably been cleared out and constructed by the city. Trees surrounded us on both sides, and the road seemed to have no end as it continued straight forward with the asional curve or turn.


    "This forest it''s huge," Hina-nee mused, looking around. The trees were dense and thick - we couldn''t even see just how wide this forest went on either sides of us. We weren''t exactly keen to do so, either.


    It would be a different story if a Vault was nearby, but I checked my Quests tab and didn''t see anything. That said, the primary quest I had been meaning to look into was still there, with the timer now saying ''13:15:23:01''. Exactly 13 days, 15 hours, 32 minutes, and 1 second from now. Since it was 3 PM at the moment that would mean this timer would run out at 6 AM in the morning. That was troublesome. Deciding that this wasn''t the time, I closed out of my System.


    "Does anyone have any skills that could help us track down where these snowolfs are?" I asked the other three.


    "I''m really close to Level 11," Hina-nee replied. "Once I level up, I''ll be able to acquire the Sonar Pulse skill I told you about, Kaze-kun!"


    "I see let''s find some Magic Beasts for you to kill, then," I suggested, to which they all nodded in agreement.


    *****


    Lydia forest was filled with Magic Beasts for us to kill. We were able to hunt down quite a lot just by wandering around randomly. We kind of got carried away and ended up killing a lot more than we originally intended, but extra XP never hurt.


    In the end, I leveled up to Level 17, halfway to Level 18. Ichigo and Horiya both reached Level 17 as well, while Hina-nee went up four levels, reaching Level 14, since we let her get most of the kills.


    "Alright, now all I have to do is get the skill" she murmured, opening up her System and operating it skillfully. "And done!"


    "Sweet," I said with a wry smile. "Test it out."


    Hina-nee nodded and closed her eyes to help her concentrate. She appeared to chant something within her head, then suddenly, an orange energy pulse erupted from her body and scanned 180 degrees in front of us.


    Hina-nee''s eyes snapped open. "There!"


    "H-Huh? Where?" Ichigo and Horiya looked around in puzzlement.


    "Ah, you guys can''t see it because only the user can see it, but I can see multiple living beings being highlighted in orange right now, straight ahead of us," Hina-nee exined.


    "And are they wolves?"


    "At least they seem to be, yes."


    "Well then, what are we waiting for?" Ichigo chuckled, and rushed on ahead together with Horiya. "Let''s go!"


    "Uh, wait, you''ll alert them if you go in like tha-" I began, but he was already gone. "Damn it those two are so troublesome"


    I moved to chase after them, but Hina-nee stopped me, grabbing my forearm.


    "Hold on, Kaze-kun," she said. "Don''t worry they won''t be able to find them anyway without our help. I have a n - let them rush on ahead, and hopefully get lost in the forest, actually. That way, we can get all the XP to ourselves, so we can level up and eventually return home quicker," Hina-nee smirked evilly.


    I blinked in surprise. "Wow, Hina-nee didn''t know you had that cruelty in you."


    "E-Eh? Um do you not like me this way?" Hina-nee asked timidly, blushing. "S-Sorry! Pretend I never said that."


    I smiled. "Nah. If anything I like this you better. I was just a bit surprised, that''s all."


    "Mou, Kaze-kun, don''t scare me like that," Hina-nee pouted angrily, on the verge of tears. "I was afraid you didn''t want onee-san anymore"


    Woah, slow down there how quick can you change emotions?!


    "Rx, Hina-nee. I can abandon anyone and anything else, but not you," I said reassuringly. "Still why did you suggest that idea? I like it, but"


    Hina-nee hugged me tightly. "Why else? Simply because they used to bully you. I still resent them deep down for that, you know. I''ll never forgive them for hurting my Kaze-kun."


    "Hm I see. It would be a lie if I said I care about them all that much," I smiled wryly. "Let''s do things your way. Where are the snowolves?"


    Hina-nee snickered and grabbed my hand, pulling me behind her.


    "Follow me."

 Chapter 63: Betrayal of Comrades

    Chapter 63: Betrayal of Comrades


    Hina-nee led me through the forest, using her Sonar Pulse again whenever it was ready to confirm that our targets, the snowolves, were still in one ce and not moving. If they began running away, that would be troublesome. Luckily, it seemed that the two trouble-makers Ichigo and Horiya had not disturbed the pack yet. With any luck, they were probably now stranded in the forest somewhere,pletely lost.


    "We''re getting really close," Hina-nee whispered and slowed down her pace.


    And then, I saw them. About 100 meters in front of us, a whole pack of snow-white wolvesy, as if resting. I counted - there were eight in total.


    "I''ll take the four on the right, you take the four on the left," I instructed.


    Hina-nee nodded firmly. "Got it."


    We split up slightly in order to attack them at different angles. I began crouching, moving slowly as to not alert the pack, while Hina-nee did the same.


    Slowly, we crept closer, not daring to get impatient and rush ahead like Ichigo and Horiya had done. If we did that now, the snowolf pack would be alerted and they would run away faster than we could catch up.


    From what I could see, the snowolf pack appeared to be sleeping. Wolves back on Earth were nocturnal creatures, and these snowolves seemed to be the same - hence why they were napping during the day. In other words, this was the perfect time to strike. If we waited until night to fall, they would all wake up and being nocturnal animals, they would have the advantage if we were to fight.


    50 meters away. I was almost within range to cast a hidden art. So close - just a few steps more!


    But then, I stepped on a twig. I cursed. Both because this may alert the wolves, but also because my LUC stat would be going down again after this incident.


    Hina-nee and I both froze as we concentrated on the snowolf pack. One of them woke up from the noise I had made and looked around for any sign of enemies - in other words, us.


    I didn''t dare to move an inch, hoping that even if they saw me, they would just think I was a really short tree or something. But after a while, the snowolf slowly went back toying down on the grass, and I let out an inaudible sigh of relief. After exchanging nces with Hina-nee to confirm that everything was okay now, we continued moving, slowing creeping closer to the sleeping snowolf pack.


    Once I was within range, a hologram appeared in front of me.


    [NEW SPECIES ENTRY]


    [Name: Snowolf]


    [Type: Magic Beast (Mammal)]


    [Weakness: Hidden Arts (Luxomancy)]


    [Resistance: None]


    After dismissing the hologram, I motioned for Hina-nee to get ready, then raised up my arm, pointing my palm outwards towards my target.


    "Basic Luxomancy Art - Luxostrike."


    The reason I chose this hidden art out of the seven I had was because it was extremely wide. My goal here was to hit as many targets as possible, after all. Not only this, but the light from this spell will blind the wolves momentarily, allowing for Hina-nee and I to get closer - hence why I chose Luxostrike instead of Umbrostrike.


    And of course, because it clearly said on the new species entry that they were weak against Luxomancy hidden arts.


    Two seconds after I finished my quiet incantation, a wide crescent-shaped st of light energy shot out of my palm, expanding as it traveled. It aimed it perfectly so that it didn''t hit any trees, which would''ve made noise and alerted the pack. The de of light flew towards the snowolves at ''light'' speed (not really).


    Before they could even react, the crescent cut through three of the seven beasts, before sending the rest flying after exploding against the tree behind them.


    "Now, Hina-nee!"


    "On it!"


    The two of us leaped out of the cover of the forest and onto the path the snowolves had been napping on.


    ''Vanishing Clouds.''


    Both of us used this skill at the same time, closing the distance between us and the startled snowolves in an instant. Both of our weapons were already equipped, so we just took hold of them and attacked without any hesitation.


    Hina-nee managed to y one of the four still-alive wolves instantly with her surprise attack. I tried to do the same, but the one I was facing seemed to be the leader of the pack, the ''alpha''. Naturally, this meant he was a lot stronger than the others. He blocked my strike with his teeth, biting down hard on my dagger, before throwing me onto the ground using it.


    "Ngh-!"


    The snowolf immediately capitalized on this and jumped on top of my body, pinning me to the ground and attempting to bite my head off.


    "Kaze-kun!" Hina-nee cried out in worry.


    "I''m fine!" I quickly shouted back as I held the snowolf back. "Focus on your own targets!"


    Hina-nee looked worried still, but she did as I told and began facing off against the other two snowolves while I struggled against the alpha.


    I had been in this situation before - my first fight in this world was with a sickleboar. At the time, it had pinned me down like this as well. However, back then, my weapon was within reach. Now the snowolf had spit it out, far away from me. There was no way I would be able to reach it. Hina-nee was busy with her own two targets, so I couldn''t rely on her to help me.


    But while the situation wasn''t as favorable for me as back then, I had grown a lot - not just in terms of levels, but also in terms of battle experience. This strategy may have not worked back then, but it was certainly possible now.


    "Tch get off of me!"


    I brought up my knee and struck the snowolf''s underbelly with all my might.


    "ROAR!" it growled in pain, but still didn''t get off of me and instead attempted to bite down on my body even harder. I gritted my teeth as I held it back, and brought up my knee once again, hitting the same spot as before.


    It howled in anger again, but I didn''t relent. I struck the snowolf once more, and this time, it finally got off of me, rolling around on the ground in pain. I took this chance to hurriedly get up before it could recover. If it weren''t for my STR stat of 80, this snowolf would''ve killed me a long time ago. But it was exactly this thrill of being near-death that spurred me onwards.


    Knowing that this ''game'' was really not only served to make this even more exciting.


    Both of us were now on our feet, and we circled each other slowly. It red at me with hatred for ughtering his family, but I felt no emotions of pity or guilt in me. This snowolf pack was merely a variable that needed to be terminated, in order for me to get my money. That is all, nothing more.


    "Come at me," I taunted, smiling sadistically.


    The snowolf growled and leaped towards me, trying to pin me down again. However, that wouldn''t work a second time. I still didn''t have my weapon as it wasying a short distance away, but that wasn''t a big deal. I tilted my body slightly to avoid the snowolf''s attack, before suddenly reaching out and wrapping my arm around its throat, putting it in a headlock.


    The snowolf howlwed and attempted to struggle, which caused both of us to crash onto the ground once again. However, I didn''t let go, and instead tightened my grip even further so that it couldn''t howl anymore. I attempted to choke it to death, but at this time, one of the snowolves fighting Hina-nee turned in this direction and saw that its leader had fallen in trouble.


    Immediately, it began rushing over, and I cursed.


    "Oh, no you don''t-!" Hina-nee used ''Vanishing Clouds'' once more and instantly appeared directly in front of the beast, before kicking upwards below its chin. The snowolf was sent flying backwards, away from me.


    "Kaze-kun, take this!" she shouted, throwing me one of her Sai.


    While one of my arms were choking the alpha snowolf, I caught the weapon with my free hand before quickly returning to my original position using both hands, lest the snowolf break free. Even though my STR stat was 80, this wild beast had extremely high raw muscle power, and I had already expended a lot of energy earlier trying to get it off of me.


    However, its life wouldn''tst much longer.


    I stabbed the Sai Hina-nee threw me directly into the snowolf''s throat.


    "ARWHOO!" the beast howled in agony.


    And that, would be thest howl it would make in its life.


    *****


    After confirming that the snowolf wasn''t just ying dead, I rxed my grip on its throat and let it copse to the ground, taking Hina-nee''s Sai back out. I looked over and saw that she was finished with her two targets as well - as expected of her, taking on two enemies at once and still winning.


    I handed Hina-nee her Sai back and picked up my own weapon from the ground. It was coated in the snowolf''s saliva. I cringed in disgust.


    "Alright that''s all of them," Hina-nee said, putting her weapons back in her inventory and pping happily.


    "Thanks for the help back there," I said, scratching my cheek awkwardly as I stored everything as well.


    "Mou, we''re family, remember?" Hina-nee giggled.


    "Yeah" I turned to the seven corpses on the floor and quickly took out my guild card from my pocket. I faced it towards the corpses for a few seconds, and the card began shining green.


    Soon after, the corpses disappeared in a shimmer of light, turning into XP for Hina-nee and I.


    "What was that for?" Hina-nee asked as we began walking back.


    "I read in the Hunter''s manual that the guild card also served as evidence for ourpletion of the quest," I exined. "After killing or capturing our targets, we''re supposed to take out our guild card and face it towards them until it started glowing green. Apparently, doing so would save a ''picture'' of the scene to be used as evidence by the Hunter''s Guild so that we can receive our due rewards."


    "Oh, so it''s like a camera from our old world?"


    "Somewhat. We can''t actually see the pictures, but the guild has some sort of system that lets them view it."


    "Hm do you think they managed to make something like this using hidden arts?" Hina-nee inquired curiously.


    I nodded. "Definitely. The ''hidden arts'' in this world are basically magic. There''s nothing they can''t do, though I believe the only hidden arts avable to us yers are allbat-rted."


    "If that''s the case, then the natives of this reality ne can use hidden arts as well?"


    "Yeah. At least, I''m 99% certain. I''ll have to confirm with A.R.X.A.ter though."


    There was also something else I wanted to ask her though it was unrted.


    "Alright!" Hina-nee cheered. "Let''s head on back and im our rewards!"


    I smiled wryly, remembering Ichigo and Horiya''s poor souls.

 Chapter 64: Quest Complete

    Chapter 64: Quest Complete


    By the time Hina-nee and I got back to Qilian City, it was around 6 PM. After entering through the northern gates, the same ones we exited the city from earlier, we headed directly for the Hunter''s Guild branch.


    "Yo!" a voice called out to us when we entered.


    "Jim," I said in greeting. "Done teaching?"


    He nodded. "Professors don''t have ta teach all that long."


    "Eh? But I heard it''s a very busy job" Hina-nee murmured. "Don''t they have to spend a lot of time preparing ss material, assignments, and lectures?"


    Jim shrugged. "For some, yeah. Me? I just teach whateveres ta mind."


    "If that''s the case, I''m surprised you still have your job," I chuckled.


    "Yeah, well none of my students ever filed aint against me, so everythin''s fine," heughed, then noticed something. "Where''s the two brats?"


    I sighed, putting up the best exhausted look I could muster. "We were out doing a quest just now, but the two of them rushed on ahead without us, so we ended up splitting up. I have no idea where they went."


    Jim facepalmed. "Ah that''s the only bad part ''bout bein'' too young."


    "But never mind that, with Horiya''s LUC stat, they should get out of there eventually," I continued. "What about you? Have you registered for a guild card yet?"


    "Yep. Just finished, actually," he replied, then turned to the receptionist who had greeted us earlier. "Hey, kid that receptionist''s bloody cute, ain''t she?"


    " You can''t be seriously thinking about this, right?"


    "Why not? I''ve always wanted a woman, ya know?! I''m already over 30 and I still don''t have a wife. Both of my parents are dead now, but if they were still alive, they would definitely be annoyin'' me ''bout this!"


    "But um, you do realize this is a game?" Hina-nee reminded. She probably said this on purpose to test whether or not Jim had suspected anything about our situation.


    "So what? It''s a bloody realistic one, that''s fer sure. Besides, there''s Japanese men marryin'' anime characters, why can''t I hit up a girl in a game?"


    "Ah, I see," Hina-nee murmured, sending me a nce, confirming that Jim had no idea about the fact that this ''game'' was in fact not really one at all.


    "Oh yeah, by the way, I saw some pretty interestin'' news outside about this game," Jim then continued, catching both Hina-nee and I by surprise.


    "Y-Yeah?"


    "Apparently, a pair o'' siblin''s got trapped inside or whatever, and their parents are now tryin'' ta sue Ascentech. Funny, eh? If yer gonna try and scam money from apany, at least pull somethin'' more believable outta yer ass."


    Hina-nee and I exchanged nces and let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that the news about us two did get out, but our identities were hidden. Jim didn''t believe it though, which was good. I could only hope everyone else also thought the same way as him.


    "Ahaha, yeah" Iughed awkwardly. "I saw that article too. I don''t believe it either, to be honest."


    "Mm-mm!" Hina-nee nodded along. "After all, this is just a video game. Getting stuck inside that kind of stuff only happens in manga!"


    "Ain''t that right?" Jim chuckled. "Alright, I gotta go do my first Hunter''s Guild quest, since that chick told me to. I''ll bloody impress her, that''s for sure!"


    With a heartyugh, he walked off, leaving Hina-nee and I gazing at his figure disappear with ufortable emotions.


    "Kaze-kun"


    "Yeah. We need to talk but not here."


    We quickly lined up for a receptionist. Once it was our turn, we were asked to show our guild cards and press our fingers on them to verify our identity. The receptionist then took our cards and scanned them with some sort of machine, most likely to view the evidence we had taken earlier. After several seconds, the process was done and she handed the cards back to us.


    "Congrattions, Recruits! With this, you''ve sessfullypleted your first quest. You have nine more quests to go to reach the Hunter rank," the receptionist said happily, then took out a bag that seemed to be filled with gold coins and handed it to us. "Here is your reward of 500 gold forpleting the quest."


    As we epted the gold gratefully, a hologram appeared in front of both Hina-nee and I. Without even looking, I knew what it was:


    [Side Quest Complete: Snowolf Hunt]


    [im your rewards in the ''Quests'' tab of your System.]


    I quickly imed my rewards of 1,000 XP, then closed up my System again and asked the receptionist a question.


    "By the way, is there any way we can check how far we are from reaching the next rank?"


    The receptionist shook her head. "No, but every time you sessfullyplete one and return here to im your rewards, a receptionist will tell you like I did just now."


    I nodded slowly in understanding. "Ah, I see and one more thing. Can we take on multiple quests at the same time?"


    She nodded. "Yes. But keep in mind, all quests have a time limit of one day, unless otherwise specified. If you go over the time period, not only will you not receive any rewards from the guild, but you will also have to pay a mary penalty."


    Geez they''re certainly strict about that though I can see why. These quests are all put up based on the situation at the time. For example, the snowolves Hina-nee and I killed today were in the Lidya forest right now and were possibly spotted by someone a while ago, hence why the guild put up a request to have them exterminated, but there was no telling where they would be tomorrow after moving overnight.


    There were exceptions, of course - some quests were emergencies and needed to be dealt with immediately, while some had no time limit at all. As an aside, emergency quests usually provided greater rewards, ording to what I read in the Hunter''s Handbook.


    We waved goodbye to the receptionist and decided to go somewhere to eat dinner.


    *****


    While we were busy finding a restaurant, we were called out by a girl.


    "Hey! Kaze!"


    We turned around to see who it was, and it turned out to be a familiar face.


    "Furuwa? What is it?"


    "I''ve been looking for you for three hours, ever since school ended" she muttered in disdain. "Where have you been?"


    "Uh Hina-nee and I were doing a quest from the Hunter''s Guild," I replied truthfully. "Speaking of, you should register yourself for that."


    "I willter, but that''s not why I was looking for you," she said, then shifted her gaze to Hina-nee. "Sakura-senpai I was just wondering, why didn''t youe to school today?"


    "E-Eh? Um, I was sick. Woke up today with a bad cold, ahaha" Hina-neeughed awkwardly. "I must''ve caught it from Kaze-kun, or maybe the other way around..."


    Smooth. I had lied to Ichigo and Horiya earlier today with the excuse that I was sick, so if Hina-nee said she might''ve caught the sickness from me, then the story fits together.


    "If that''s the case, then shouldn''t you be resting instead of ying video games?" Furuwa asked, frowning in suspicion.


    Hina-nee''s expression froze as she tried to figure out how to continue this lie. I decided that I needed to help her out here, unless we wanted to be exposed.


    "Her physical body is resting right now," I said. "Whatever she does in the game, it won''t affect the real world. So, technically, she isying down on the bed in peace right now, even though time is frozen for her physical body. That''s how AR technology works. I''m sick too, but I feel perfectly fine in-game. Just another one of the beauties of Alternate Reality - we won''t have to lie in bed and do nothing when we''re sick."


    " I don''t know all that much, so I''ll just take your word for it, I guess" Furuwa sighed. "I was just a bit worried because I saw a news article saying something about two teens getting trapped in this game. They were siblings, too. I know there''s plenty of sibling pairs in their teens out there, but it fitted the description of the two of you so well that I ah, nevermind. Looks like I was worried about nothing."


    Hina-nee and I exchanged nces. This was the second time someone had brought up the article today. It seemed that the news about us was spreading like wildfire on the outside. Deciding to throw in a little icing on the cake, I spoke.


    "I saw that article too, but you seriously believe that?"


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    "I mean this is a video game. How are you going to try and tell me someone actually got ''trapped'' inside here?"


    "Qin Yao did, didn''t he? For some time, at least."


    "Yeah, but that''s not fully ''trapped''. If someone forcefully disconnected the AR helmet from the outside, he would get out of the game just fine," I argued.


    Qin Yao''s situation was different from Hina-nee''s and mine - A.R.X.A. hadn''t messed with his System to physically trap us in here. For example, if someone unplugged the power cord connecting Hina-nee''s helmet back on Earth, then she would have her physical body also enter this world, thus having her connection to our old reality ne severed just like me. However, if someone were to do the same to Qin Yao, he would just be forcibly logged out like any other yer.


    "That''s true, I suppose," Furuwa muttered in thought.


    "Look, whoever wrote up that article is clearly just trying to get attention, or throwing shade at Ascentech," I continued, thoroughly manipting her thoughts. "Worst case scenario, they''re trying to get some money from thepany out of this scandal. It''s not like something like this hasn''t happened before."


    "I yeah, you''re right" Furuwa looked around at the passing-by ''NPCs'' and the realistic buildings of Qilian City.


    "It''s just this world it seems so real"


    "That''s the whole point of Alternate Reality, isn''t it? To be as real as possible."


    "Yeah. Sorry, I panicked," she muttered. "I''ll go register at the Hunter''s Guild or whatever now. Which direction is it in?"


    " Don''t you have your minimap in your System?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.


    She rolled her eyes. "Yes, I do. But I''m toozy to use it, since you''re literally standing right here. Hurry up and just tell me."


    "That''s okay, fair. It''s in the direction we were just walking here from."


    Saying this, I pointed behind us in the direction of the guild building. Furuwa nodded.


    "I''lle find you two again when I''m finished. Hope you get better soon, Sakura-senpai."


    "Sure! We''ll be in the restaurant we ate at yesterday~" Hina-nee replied, waving her off.


    With that, Furuwa walked away.


    "Seriously? She said something to you, but not to me?" I sighed.


    "Hehe, it''s okay, Kaze-kun I''m sure she''s just embarrassed," Hina-nee said, looking at Furuwa''s slowly disappearing figure amidst the crowd.


    "Embarrassed? To do what? Say bye?"


    "Mou, Kaze-kun, don''t pretend like you don''t understand. I know you too well - you''re not that dense."


    ""


    It was true. I did understand what she meant. But I just refused to believe it.


    We resumed searching for a restaurant after that.

 Chapter 65: The Next Step

    Chapter 65: The Next Step


    When we got to the restaurant, we didn''t immediately order, mainly because we wanted to wait until the others got here as we had something important to discuss with them - and that was the next primary quest, the one with a timer on it.


    But before that Hina-nee and I also had something we needed to talk about. Luckily, the waiter had led us to an isted corner of the diner, where we could talk in private.


    "Kaze-kun about the news article"


    I nodded, understanding what she was about to say without her needing to finish the sentence. "It seems uncle and auntie submitted aint."


    "Was I too rash ining in here to look for you? I just never thought I would wound up trapped as well"


    "That''s not your fault. You thought I got trapped because you unplugged my AR helmet, but that''s not true. I was already trapped anyway, but you didn''t know that, so you came in the game thinking you were safe as long as no one unplugged the AR helmet you were wearing."


    "Right but still what do we do now? The excuse of me being sick won''tst forever. Jim doesn''t know us two in real life, but the other three all do. Even the two dimwits would be able to tell something''s wrong if you keep showing up in-game but don''t appear in ss."


    "They''re in a two-week suspension right now, but it''s as you say - once they return to school, they''ll notice I''m not there."


    "Not to mention that girl, Chiaki-san. She seems to be quite careful and observant."


    I nodded in agreement. "She''s definitely not the type to be easily fooled."


    "So? What''s our move here?"


    I bit my lip as I attempted to think of a n. After a few minutes of silence, I finally spoke.


    "Well, I do have a n, but"


    "Hm? Let''s hear it, Kaze-kun," Hina-nee tilted her head curiously.


    "It''s simple, really. All we have to do is abandon them."


    "Abandon them? As in"


    I nodded once again. "Basically, escape from their confrontation. The primary quest timer reaches zero two weeks from now, correct? That''s perfect. Once we finish that quest, we''ll immediately leave Qilian City and continue onwards to wherever the next quest will be."


    "But won''t they follow us eventually?" Hina-nee asked. "I mean, we all have the same primary quests."


    "Yeah, that''s true, but there''s two ways around that."


    I cleared my throat and raised my fingers ording to the number. "One, we purposely let them surpass us in terms of quest progress - though that would mean a time dy for god knows how long."


    "Hm"


    "And two, finish all the quests as fast as we can so that they can''t catch up even if they tried," I concluded, and set my hand back down again. "Which one will it be?"


    Hina-nee thought for a moment. " I think I like the second option more. In the first method, we have to indirectly rely on them - the speed at which we do things will end up being controlled by them, although inadvertently. I can''t say I like that very much."


    I smiled. "Exactly what I thought you would say. To be honest, I like the second option more as well, and thought you would too. Still, I had to ask, just in case."


    "Hehe~ we''ve always been the type to not let anyone else dictate what we do, for better or worse."


    "Yeah if life was a ship, then we''ll be the ones steering it, no one else," I agreed.


    After all, if we weren''t the ones at the rudder of our ship, then it could hardly be called our ship at all.


    I wish I could just leave outright without caring whatsoever, but reality isn''t that simple. If I truly wanted to make 100% sure I would not run into these guys again, I had to take these countermeasures - it was inevitable.


    And besides, if it''s like this... I won''t bepletely cutting off my rtionship with them. That way, if I ever have a need for a pawn, I could always just wait for them to catch up to Hina-nee and I in terms of quest progress. When that happens, Ichigo and Horiya would be there for me to manipte, since they were still trying to befriend me. Jim wasn''t a bad guy, so I''ll spare him, and Furuwa would be difficult to control. Therefore, the two idiots were my best bet.


    ying friends with them wasn''t so bad, considering I get two pieces to move to my will in exchange.


    *****


    Soon after, the others arrived. Ichigo and Horiya somehow managed to make their way back to the city, though they appeared wounded and battered. I heard Hina-nee do her best to stifle her evilughter from beside me. Furuwa seemed to have led them here after running into them by chance, perhaps at the Hunter''s Guild.


    They sat down on the chairs all around us, six of us in total. We had asked for arge table when Hina-nee and I first got here, in preparation for this.


    "Man, Igarashi, where did you and Sakura-senpai run off to?" Ichigoined, scratching his hair after we all ordered our food and were waiting patiently for it to arrive.


    "Us, running off?" I scoffed. "That''s rich,ing from you, the same guy who charged straight ahead into the forest without thinking, leaving us behind."


    "U-Uh, I was just following Horiya" he murmured, attempting to shift the me.


    "W-What?! Me? Nah nah nah kid, I was following YOU!" Horiya quickly denied.


    Before they started yelling and fighting in the restaurant, I quickly interrupted as to not disturb the other customers here.


    "Shut up, both of you," Furuwa cut in. Looks like I didn''t need to intervene. "Does it matter who was following who? It''s like you''re trying topare who''s the bigger idiot."


    Both Ichigo and Horiya zipped their mouths after being met with Furuwa''s cold re. I sighed.


    "Doesn''t matter. Hina-nee and I managed toplete the quest anyway."


    "Yeah, but we didn''t get any rewards" Ichigo sobbed.


    "Welp, ya got no one to me there," Jim said with a soft chuckle. "500 gold per quest is pretty good! They ain''t easy, but don''t take long at all."


    "That aside " I began, eyeing all of them. "I do have something to discuss with you."


    "Hm?" they raised an eyebrow in puzzlement.


    "It''s about the new primary quest," I exined. "The Qilian City one."


    "Ya mean the one with a bloody timer on it?" Jim asked.


    I nodded. "Yes. I took a look at it, and saw that in order toplete this quest, we had to first reach Level 30 before the two week timer runs out."


    "Huh? Why?"


    "Because this primary quest is introducing Tournaments to us. And in order to unlock tournaments, we have to hit Level 30. I don''t know what exactly they are or how they work, but I did notice the ''annual'' adjective in the quest description. If my guess is correct if we don''t make it this time around, we''ll have to wait a whole year before being able to ess the quest again."


    "A time-restrained main quest? That''s never been seen in other video games before" Furuwa murmured in thought. "Currently, I''m Level 16. What about the rest of you?"


    "17," Ichigo and Horiya replied in unison.


    "14," said Hina-nee.


    "16, just like ya," Jim responded.


    "And finally Kaze?" Furuwa looked at me.


    "I''m Level 17 as well, but really close to 18."


    "I see, so you''re in the lead," Furuwa murmured. "You''ll have the easiest time, then"


    "Yeah, but it''s still going to be difficult. Going up 12 levels in a mere 14, now 13 days, is pretty challenging, especially because of school," Ichigo argued, then turned to me. "Igarashi, how long are you nning on taking school off for?"


    "Uh I don''t know," I said awkwardly, scratching my cheek. "When I woke up today, I felt pretty bad, so two weeks, maybe even more?"


    "Geez you sure you didn''t like, catch a pandemic or something?" Horiya mused. "I don''t think there''s one going on in Japan right now, but sheesh."


    "Maybe," I shrugged. "But in any case, starting from tomorrow, we should just grind as much XP as possible."


    Of course, I was just saying this for show. The best scenario here for Hina-nee and I would be for them to not make the timer and end up having to wait a year, while the two of us go on ahead. Of course this was pretty unlikely to happen.


    "What''s the best method avable fer us right now ta farm XP?" Jim asked.


    "Hm the Hunter''s Guild," I replied after some thought. "Pick a quest,plete it, return to the guild, then pick up another quest, and so on. This way, not only can we get XP, we can also get money and eventually rank up to the next rank. By doing this, we can tackle harder quests, ying tougher enemies that obviously grant more XP."


    "That makes sense," Horiya murmured, seeming to buy my words perfectly.


    "Yeah, we''re gonna put our all into doing those quests one-by-one starting tomorrow!" Ichigo chuckled. "This tournament thing has got me fired up!"


    " To think you didn''t even know it was a tournament until Kaze told you" Furuwa sighed and facepalmed slightly. "What a joke."


    "Well, I have a bad tendency of not liking to read, whether its books or even short quest descriptions," Ichigo replied quietly, avoiding looking at Furuwa in the eyes.


    "Ha! Same here, fe," Jimughed in a boisterous manner.


    What I told them was half-truth, half-lie. Hina-nee noticed this and sent me an amused grin. While the method I told them was indeed the best method on the surface, it would not be enough for them to make the deadline. Traveling to and from the quest destination to return to the guild would take so much precious time out of their day. But this was the only option they had.


    Why?


    Because they didn''t know about the fact that you could take on multiple quests at the same time. Hina-nee had been the only one around when I asked the receptionist that earlier today, and I would take advantage of that fact.


    Even if they did find out about this somehow, I had a back-up n. Hina-nee and I would set out during nighttime to do quests, while they were all logged off. That way, we would be able to gain a huge increase in terms of levels. If they asked about it well, they won''t - because we''ll be avoiding them for the next week. That was the n, anyway.


    And now, it was time to put the final nail in the coffin to sessfully trick these four.


    "From now on, let''s split into groups - Ichigo, Horiya, Jim, and Furuwa, you guys can be a group, and Hina-nee and I will be another," I proposed. "This way, quests will be done quicker as a group. Strength in numbers."


    Once again, this was a lie. Sure, single quests will be done a lot faster, but the XP each person of the group would obtain from this quest would also be dramatically reduced. They didn''t seem to realize that, however.


    "Huh? Why not just 3 and 3?" Horiya asked.


    "Hina-nee and I are used to just being a duo. We''re more efficient like this," I replied. I had prepared for this question as well.


    "You can do whatever you want, but I''m not grouping with you," Furuwa said, perfectly ruining my n.


    "W-Why?" I asked, stuttering a bit from the surprise.


    She turned to me and looked at me directly in the eyes. "Just like how you and Sakura-senpai work better as a pair, I work better alone. It''s that simple."


    Using my own words to fight against me, huh?


    With this, I have once again confirmed: Chiaki Furuwa was truly a terrifying girl.

 Chapter 66: Zero Hour

    Chapter 66: Zero Hour


    After eating, Furuwa logged off, saying she had some homework to do. Horiya and Ichigo also went offline since they wanted to do some research on the game, maybe find a faster way to farm XP or whatnot. But really, this game has only been out for a little over a week. Hardly anyone could be called an expert and create tutorials. Jim logged off too, since he needed to prepare material for his lecture tomorrow.


    So, only Hina-nee and I were left behind. We sighed and decided to just head to the inn and rest for a little before setting out again when it was nighttime.


    "That was clever, Kaze-kun," Hina-nee snickered as we walked.


    She was, of course, referring to how I told the others a half-truth, half-lie method on how to farm XP as fast as possible.


    "Yeah, well I still couldn''t trap Furuwa," I muttered, slightly frustrated with myself.


    "That''s not your fault, Kaze-kun," Hina-nee smiled andforted me. "Chiaki-san is just really careful. Also, I don''t think she saw through your n at all. I believe she was being genuine when she said she worked better alone."


    "Hm maybe," I sighed. "Well, for now, let''s just head back to an inn, and-"


    "CALLING ALL HUNTERS! EMERGENCY!" a loud voice suddenly boomed, echoing across the city. "I repeat, this is an EMERGENCY! All Hunters who can hear this, meet at the guild - NOW!"


    Hina-nee and I exchanged nces, and gave a firm nod. Together, we set off in the direction of the guild branch to investigate.


    *****


    When we arrived at the guild, there were tons of people inside, even more than there had been this afternoon when we first registered. It was extremely noisy and rowdy as everyone tried to figure out what was going on.


    "Everyone! Calm down! The situation will be exined shortly!" a handsome young man wearing a suit and square sses yelled, and the crowd quieted down a little to wait patiently.


    I noticed the guy I had beaten up was also here, though he didn''t seem to have noticed me yet. I took advantage of this and ran a quick little ''Inspect'' on him.


    [Name: Hiaki Leo]


    [Gender: Male]


    [Race: Human]


    [Level: 20]


    STR: 60


    AGI: 30


    INT: 30


    DEX: 30


    MAG: 10


    LUC: 30


    Hm fairly bnced stats, with the exception of STR and MAG, the outliers. His name, however, made it clear that he''s a hybrid - one of his parents was Japanese, while the other was probably foreign. Unless, of course, that was a fake name. I wonder if that was possible, using a fake name. It should be, for privacy reasons - at least, if it were possible, I would definitely use it. The default setting was just your real name though.


    I scanned the rest of the crowd and noticed that I was unable to ''Inspect'' some people. They were probably the natives of Ascentia - non-yers, in other words.


    Hiaki was 3 levels above me right now, so I decided to use his stats as a standard andpare them to my own, since I haven''t done that in a while, having been so busy. Pulling up the ''Profile'' tab of my System, I observed.


    [Name: Igarashi Kaze]


    [Gender: Male]


    [Race: Human]


    [Level: 17]


    STR: 120


    AGI: 100


    INT: 49


    DEX: 50


    MAG: 40


    LUC: 5


    I was shocked at how strong my STR and AGI stats were, but I didn''t let it show on my face. Hina-nee peeked over my shoulder and covered her mouth in surprise, but quickly hid her expression. My STR stat was twice as much as that of a yer 3 levels above me but perhaps that wasn''t a good enoughparison.


    Hiaki''s stat total was 190 - the total amount of SP you would have upon reaching Level 20, for normal yers. However, my stat total was 364, despite being three levels lower. With a little calction my current overall power level was equivalent to that of a Level 38, which should have 370 SP to spend. In other words, I could currently fight someone who was double my level.


    I shifted my gaze to the SP and AP column, and saw that I had 20 SP and 4 AP to spend. However, I didn''t get the chance to level up my stats now as the young man from earlier grabbed a megaphone of some kind and shouted into it.


    "Everyone, I apologize for the wait!" he began, bowing deeply. "Just now, we were trying to recruit as many people as possible, because this mission it will be extremely dangerous."


    Even now, there were only around fifty people, but it was probably the most they could muster given the time - 8 PM. Most people had already returned to their respective homes to just rx and rest, and most yers who had jobs or school the following day also have gotten off already.


    "I heard this was an emergency quest?" someone amidst the crowd asked.


    The man nodded. "Yes, but please save the questions for after I''m done speaking. We don''t have much time."


    An emergency quest ording to what I read in the Hunter''s Handbook, these usually have extraordinary rewards but are quite difficult as well meaning lots of XP. Looks like Hina-nee and I hit the jackpot this time - we need to take advantage of this and climb levels ahead of the other four.


    "This emergency quest this time is regarding a Monster horde that has been spotted south of the city, in the Keldo Forest," the man exined. "Our scouts have predicted that they will reach the city gates in four hours - at midnight."


    "What?! In just four hours?!" a roar erupted through the crowd.


    "How has no one found out about this earlier?!"


    "Yeah, yeah!"


    "I went to the forest myself just earlier today! There were no Monsters!"


    "Quiet down!" the man yelled through the megaphone. "The reason why no one has spotted them during the daytime was because they are only visible at night - and obviously, no one travels to the forests after dark. We only managed to find out about it today because they''re currently at the city''s defensive borders and are working to break down the force field there!"


    "But if it''s just a few Monsters" someone began.


    "It''s not just a ''few''," the man interrupted, and his expression turned grim. "It''s a horde - hundreds of them, at the very least. The force field will not hold long."


    "What?!" a collective reaction of shock emerged from the crowd.


    "Not only this, but they are a species we have never seen before," the man continued. "They look like floating white ghosts, and can freely pass through all forms of physical attacks. Moreover, if you let theme into contact with you for long enough they will appear to extract your soul, turning you into one of them. Many of our scouts have fallen to this ability."


    "So, only hidden arts are effective against these things?" a woman amongst the crowd asked.


    "That is correct."


    "How strong are they, on average?" another asked.


    The man frowned. "Individually, they are not really strong, but as I said, there are over hundreds of them, and they can only be harmed by hidden arts. Additionally if you are touched"


    "Speaking of, what do you do after being touched by one of them?"


    "Try and break free from their grasp," the man replied. "However, beware. Breaking free is no easy task as their grips are extremely strong, and if you are unable to do so within three seconds, you will have your soul taken and be one of them as well. So, the best option is to just not get touched in the first ce. As for the reward I will get to that in a second. Any more questions?"


    The crowd murmured quietly amongst each other, but no one else spoke out.


    The man, realizing this, nodded in satisfaction. "Good! The reward of this emergency quest will be 1,000 gold for every Monster you y! After you take one down, remember to use your guild card to capture evidence! However, make sure no other Monsters are in the area, lest you get attacked by surprise!"


    The crowd roared in excitement. 1,000 gold for every Monster that means if you killed ten, you would receive 10,000 gold.


    "One more thing - I suggest you form groups, there is strength in numbers," the man advised, and the Hunters did as told.


    This seems like a great deal on the surface, but there were many problems to this. For example, this would lead to many people trying to steal kills - the guild card would only activate for evidence-taking if you were the one who killed the target, but whether you stole that kill or not doesn''t matter.


    Undoubtedly, this could lead to internal conflict between the Hunters, and many will choose to work alone despite him telling them to form groups.


    But of course, that wasn''t any of my concern. To Hina-nee and I, this was like a godsend of XP, especially since our foes were Monsters this time around. All we needed to do was just take advantage of it.


    "Is everyone ready?" the man asked the crowd after a while. "We don''t have much time! If we are to make it to the forest before the force field breaks, we have to leave now!"


    "Ready!" the crowd shouted back, having formed many groups already. However, there were just as many groups as there were Hunters working solo. Hina-nee and I would, obviously, be a duo.


    "Alright. Let''s head out!" he announced. "As for the name of this operation it shall be ''Zero Hour''!"


    Zero hour, for midnight I like it.


    With that, we set out of Qilian City. The citizens who didn''t know the context were a bit frightened to see so many Hunters head out all at once, but didn''t dare to stop us and ask questions. It was clear we were in a hurry, after all.


    Hina-nee and I purposefully took up the rear end to not attract any attention. A hologram appeared in front of us as we walked towards the gates.


    [New Public Event]


    [Zero Hour]


    [y the Phantoms invading Qilian City. Time remaining: 00:03:46:78.]


    Phantoms, huh?


    I noticed that many of the other Hunters up ahead also had a simr hologram appear in front of them, while some didn''t. That was the difference between yers and the natives of this reality ne - the NPCs. Of course, the NPCs themselves didn''t know any of this, but we, as the yers, did.


    Dismissing the holograms, we exited Qilian City in search of the white ghost-like Monsters.

 Chapter 67: The Phantoms

    Chapter 67: The Phantoms


    It didn''t take long for us to get to Keldo Forest. It was about the same distance to Qilian City as Lidya Forest on the north side - around 10 kilometers - but unlike this afternoon, we were all practically running there instead of walking, which saved a lot of time. The citizens in the city, however, were sure disturbed by all themotion we made.


    Still, we didn''t have the leisure to slowly walk our way over to Keldo Forest, otherwise those same citizens will be dead by tomorrow morning.


    When we arrived, we were immediately greeted by two people wearing hoods. I tried using ''Inspect'' on them to test whether they were yers or natives of this reality ne, and it turned out to be thetter.


    "Guildmaster Feng!" one of them cried. She was a young woman who appeared to be twenty or so.


    The young man with sses who had announced this quest to us earlier ced a hand on his shoulder. "Calm down. What is the current situation?"


    Hm Guildmaster, huh? So he''s the leader of the Hunter''s Guild, is that it? As a whole, or just this branch? Probably just this branch.


    "The other scouts they have not returned," the girl said, now calming down a little thanks to Guildmaster Feng. "It is safe to assume that Brother Heng here and I are the only ones remaining."


    Guildmaster Feng sighed. "I suspected as much. I should not have given you the orders to send them in to investigate."


    "I-It''s not your fault, Guildmast-"


    "However. Their lives will not be sacrificed in vain."


    Then, turning to us, he continued with burning anger in his eyes.


    "Everyone, onwards! The force field is right up ahead! Do not split up just yet, follow behind me!"


    The crowd cheered in response, and together, we stormed forward, the two remaining scouts joining us. Hina-nee and I looked at each other and decided to discretely sneak away here. After making sure no one was paying attention to us, we quietly broke away from the crowd and headed into the trees to our left.


    Once we were a safe distance away, we stopped tip-toeing and just walked normally towards the force field. The reason I wanted to break away here was this defensive measure Qilian City had set up - it seemed pretty interesting; I wanted to investigate it to see how it worked.


    We spotted the force field soon after - it wasn''t exactly hard to miss. It was basically a massive translucent light blue wall that extended upwards for as high as the eye could see. Since it was nighttime, close to 9 PM, the force field was practically like a beacon of light. Hina-nee and I went up to it, but as we got closer, we saw them. The Phantoms.


    ording to the public event description, that''s what they were called, anyway - and for a good reason, too. They certainly looked like Phantoms, if nothing else. With their white, ghastly bodies and distorted faces, they looked like something straight out of a horror film. But this was no movie. Their skeleton-like ws scraped at the force field, slowly damaging and destroying it. Now that I looked closer, I could see various scratch marks on the force field''s surface. At this rate, it wouldn''t hold for much longer.


    This was certainly interesting, though. When Hina-nee and I had set off for the Lidya Forest earlier today to kill the snowolf pack, we never encountered such a force field. I doubted it was because the field was only on the south end of the city, but


    What if it only reacted to Monsters and Magic Beasts? That would certainly make sense. If so, I would need to get my hands on this technology somehow, if possible. This concept could allow for some pretty insane traps to be forged - ones that would only trigger for Magic Beasts and Monsters. Undoubtedly, this force field has some sort of sensor in it that could enabled them to do this, but whether or not I could obtain that sensor was a different problem altogether.


    Of course, right now, we had different matters to be worrying about. As if on cue, we heard several explosions go off to our right, on the main path. It seemed that the fight over there had already begun. There was also the faint sound of footstepsing in our direction, as Guildmaster Feng probably ordered the rest of the Hunters to split up from there for maximum efficiency.


    I looked to Hina-nee and we both nodded. Without even needing to tell the other what to do, we both dashed away into the cover of the forest to observe further. The reason for this was so that the peopleing over right now wouldn''t discover that we were already here. Otherwise, they would obviously be suspicious.


    There were three people who came over in total - less than I expected. I thought I had heard more footsteps, but they must''ve broken away as well to cover all of the forest.


    The trio began firing hidden arts at the Phantoms on the other side of the wall, one of them using Pyromancy, one using Cryomancy, and one using Luxomancy. I tried using ''Inspect'' on them, but it didn''t work even though I was within range. It seemed that these three were all NPCs - or rather, natives of this reality ne.


    "Basic Pyromancy Art - me Lotus!"


    "Basic Cryomancy Art - Ice Skewer!"


    "Intermediate Luxomancy Art - Thunder Pummel."


    A few secondster, several bolts of lightning struck down on the Phantoms closest to the force field in front of us, as a beautiful, congrated, highly-explosive flower along with a skewer made of ice shot out of the other two Mages'' hands, striking the Phantoms that did not get vaporized by the lightning strikes. However, tons more immediately moved in to fill their deadrades'' space, continuing to w away at the force field.


    Intemediate art huh. It seems this guy had some skills. He was also a lot more calm and collected than the other two, and looks to be older - maybe in his twenties. However, the three were all wearing poor clothes - perhaps they were living in poverty, which was why they took the risk toe out here for the reward?


    Deciding it was about time toe out, Hina-nee and I stepped out from behind the tree and joined in the fight.


    I raised out my hand and pointed it at the Phantoms. "Basic Geomancy Art - Geotorrent."


    Two secondster, a stgmite of rock shot out of the ground, impaling several Phantoms all at once. They vanished into thin air shortly after dying, turning into ck shards of light, and XP for me. This process, however, could not be seen by the NPCs, just like the holograms. To them, the body would''ve just appeared to vanish into thin air.


    This time, no more Phantoms came to rece them.


    "Damn, I didn''t get to get the evidence, ah" I cursed.


    "Worry not," the Mage who had cast an Intermediate art said. "The card will automatically capture kills - given that you''ve used it manually before. Have you?"


    I nodded. "Yeah. I didn''t know that though. Thanks."


    "No problem," he replied, then turned to face the front again. My stgmite had disappeared.


    "What''s the n now?" I asked them. I wanted to be friends with this guy since he could probably teach me the intermediate Luxomancy art he used earlier, Thunder Pummel.


    "We go for the leader, obviously. Was friend not listening when Guildmaster Feng gave us instructions?"


    "Uh" I scratched my cheek awkwardly. "I''m afraid not, sorry. Could you exin it to me?"


    The man sighed, as if exasperated, but eventually nodded. "Guildmaster Feng said that these Phantoms are being controlled by someone, or rather, something - their leader."


    "Ah, and I''m guessing there''s a huge price on the leader''s head?" I conjectured.


    "Indeed. If this friend does not mind would you help the three of us out? You do not seem like a bad person who will hog all the rewards to yourself, so"


    I smirked. This was perfect.


    "Sure. But on one condition."


    "If it is the reward money you are wondering about, worry not, we will all get a equal share-"


    I hurriedly shook my head. "Nah. I''m not talking about that. In fact, you can take all the money. There''s just one thing I want"


    "A-All the money? This what is your condition? If it is something I can provide, I will definitely do so."


    "The intermediate hidden art you cast earlier. I want you to teach it to me."


    " Is that all?"


    I nodded and smiled. "That''s all."


    "This in that case, I will teach you all the intermediate arts I know," the man said after some hesitation. "If I only teach you one, this Ming will not be able to sleep easy."


    Ming now where I have heard that name before?


    I snickered. "As I thought, you''re a good man."


    "This friend you were testing me?"


    "Yeah. There''s no way you only know one single intermediate art, from how easily you cast that art earlier. In fact, if you had just said you would teach me that art and that was it, I would''ve refused to work with you. So, congrattions - you passed the test."


    "I see ah, right, I have not introduced myself yet, have I?"


    "You mentioned ''Ming'', but" Iughed awkwardly.


    "My apologies for my rudeness. My name is Ming Hong. These two are my little brother and little sister, Ming Kang and Ming An.


    "Hi!" the two greeted cheerily.


    "And this friend?" Ming Hong continued, asking for how to address me.


    "You can call me Kaze," I replied. Despite my Japanese name, Ming Hong seemed toprehend it.


    "Brother Kaze, I see. And thisdy beside you?"


    "I''m Sakura," Hina-nee said, politely giving only herst name.


    "Alright. Then, Brother Kaze, Lady Sakura, let us set out," Ming Hong proposed. "The Phantoms near our area have been cleared out, so we can venture out in search of the leader."


    We nodded in agreement. "Let''s go."

 Chapter 68: Bloodbath

    Chapter 68: Bloodbath


    Together with Ming Hong and his two younger siblings, Hina-nee and I carefully stepped out of the force field''s boundaries. There didn''t seem to be any sign of Phantoms nearby.


    "Everyone, stay behind me," Hina-nee said. "I have a detection skill."


    We all nodded in agreement and lined up behind her, with Ming Hong taking up the rear.


    After closing her eyes for a brief moment, Hina-nee discretely used her Sonar Pulse, then opened her eyes again and turned back to face us.


    "No hostiles nearby."


    I nodded. "Let''s continue forward, then. Under normal circumstances, the leader would naturally try to protect itself, meaning it should be near the back of the horde."


    Ming Hao and his two siblings agreed with my words, so we did as I suggested and continued moving through the forest, remaining vignt. Hina-nee used her Sonar Pulse again and again whenever it came up, just to make sure no enemies were around us. However there was one problem - and that was she was only scanning directly ahead of us. It was entirely possible that some Phantoms have circled all the way around and were now following us from behind, but we had no idea.


    "Do any of you three have any detection-type skills?" I asked Ming Hong.


    He shook his head. "Unfortunately not. I have seen other people using the same art as Lady Sakura, but I was not able to obtain the method on how to actually use it"


    Huh so I guess, to the natives of Ascentia, all active skills in our eyes were actually hidden arts in theirs. That made sense. But there was just something I wanted to confirm


    "If it''s just the art''s name you need, it''s Sonar Pulse," I said, baiting him to answer a question I had without actually asking the question.


    He sighed. "If only it were that easy. I am not some genius. To use hidden arts, wemonfolk must firstprehend them with tons of failed attempts, over and over again. My father used to tell me to think of every art as a needle, and I the thread. In order to seed, I would have to try many, many times, but the moment I finally manage to fit the thread through the needle, would be the moment Iprehended the art and be able to use it."


    "Huh, that''s an interesting analogy" I mused.


    "Sometimes, the thread wears out to the point where it''s unusable anymore - certain arts are just ipatible with certain people," he continued. "However, simrly, some people just naturally have great synergy with certain arts, allowing them to learn it in a short period of time or even on their first try."


    "So that''s where ''geniuses''e from, huh?"


    "Precisely cultivation geniuses are those who manage to grasp arts with ease, allowing them to get stronger extremely quickly while the rest of usmonfolk can only look at their backs and hope to reach their level someday."


    I blinked in surprise. "Cultivation?"


    "That''s what the process of learning arts and getting stronger is called," Ming Kang, the little brother, answered in his older sibling''s stead.


    "Ah, I see"


    "Could it be you didn''t know, Brother Kaze?" Ming Hong asked. He didn''t have any condescending intentions, and was merely asking out of genuine surprise.


    I nodded. "Ie from a very backwater vige near the borders of Azrine, where the term ''cultivation'' wasn''t used. I am familiar with the process of learning arts and getting stronger, but"


    "But you didn''t seem to know that we actually needed to practice many times before actually being able to use an art in actualbat," Ming An, the little girl, pointed out. "Could it be, Big Brother Kaze is actually a cultivation genius?!"


    "An''er! Manners!" Ming Hong scolded, sending his little sister a frustrated look.


    Iughed awkwardly, seeing as how I couldn''t exactly deny this after my slip-up just now, but also didn''t want toe off as arrogant. "Ahaha perhaps."


    "If that is the case, then I feel more relieved to have be friends with you, Brother Kaze," Ming Hong smiled warmly.


    I nodded. "The feeling is mutual."


    I wanted to know more about the ''cultivation system'' of this world, but unfortunately, our conversation was cut short by a sudden chorus of wailing that sounded suspiciously like Phantoms.


    "Hina-nee can you scan behind us?"


    "It''s not up yet"


    "Damn well, it''s not like that would''ve made much of a difference," I muttered. "Prepare forbat."


    Saying this, despite knowing full well Phantoms were unaffected by physical attacks, I still instinctively drew Dokujin from within my boots, attached to the side of my ankle. That was its new storage ce since my old, cheap sandals were gone. Hina-nee also took out her two Sai from their scabbards, which hade with the clothes I bought her. As for Ming Hong, Ming Kang, and Ming An, they did not possess weapons, since they were solely Mages.


    "Come out!" I taunted, shouting towards the dark group of trees behind us.


    As if on cue, several spectral, ghastly bodies emerged, wailing in despair. The sound of their cries was so unharmonious and dissonant that my ears pleaded for mercy. However, they weren''t the only problem. Several Magic Beasts also emerged, and they looked just like the snowolves Hina-nee and I had slew earlier today.


    "Just Phantoms alone were enough, but now there are Magic Beasts involved, too?" I cursed. "Well, at least now we don''t just look stupid for taking out our weapons"


    "Kaze-kun, my scan is up in 5 seconds," Hina-nee reminded.


    "Alright. Our goal is to defend Brother Ming and his two siblings," I said, then turned to Ming Hong. "Brother Ming, we''ll keep the Magic Beasts off of you, but the Phantoms"


    He nodded firmly. "Worry not, we will take care of them."


    "Alright, let''s do this!" I yelled, getting into battle position.


    The snowolves howled and leaped towards us instantly as the frontline, the Phantoms slowly trailing behind.


    "Tch-!" I blocked one of the snowolves'' attack using Dokujin and saw another one trying to bite me while I was busy dealing with its ally.


    Cursing, I kicked the first snowolf away and immediately spun my body to meet the other''s attack, suddenly ducking down and thrusting my dagger forward. The cold steel pierced cleanly through the snowolf''s tough hide and directly into the beast''s underbelly, killing it instantly.


    I hurriedly pulled out my dagger and saw that the snowolf I had just kicked away was nowing for me again, its bestial eyes burning with hatred. Its movements were a lot faster as it roared and jumped up high, aiming to snap my head straight off.


    However, its speed was still nothingpared to my AGI stat of 100. I reacted instantly to its attack, blocking it the same way I had blocked it earlier - stopping its gnashing teeth with my dagger. Bone met metal as the beast wed furiously at me. However, its short limbs were not enough to reach me, so we were left in an awkward position where I was holding him up in the air. Together, we were almost like a lever, using Dokujin as a fulcrum.


    It was only then, at this close range, that I realized its eyes were blood-red. This was abnormal - the snowolves Hina-nee and I had hunted down earlier today had dark gray irises, but these ones didn''t appear to have a pupil at all. It was quite unsettling, almost as if they were demons.


    But even if it was a demon, the anger in those eyes was the real thing. It was dangerously enraged, furious at me killing its brethren. The bloodthirst and hatred I felting from this beast could not be faked.


    However I didn''t care.


    Whether it was due to A.R.X.A.''s words or not, ever since I made my first kill on that sickleboar, I''ve started caring less and less every time I took another life. This time was no exception. Despite the anger the snowolf was disying, I waspletely unaffected. Instead, I took advantage of my superior strength to throw the beast onto the ground, before immediately stabbing down using Dokujin.


    The snowolf howled in agony as I pressed down harder, digging my dagger through its flesh. Its red eyes bulged once, twice, before finally dying out for good.


    More snowolves came at me, but I kept on ughtering. One after another. Blood after blood.


    Phantoms also tried to reach out and extract my soul, but Ming Hong and his siblings kept them off of me just like they said they would.


    I continued to kill the beasts, my eyes holding not a single shred of emotion. No guilt, no pity, no remorse. I just felt absolutely nothing.


    The bloodbath continued, until atst, only one final snowolf remained. It began whimpering in fear as it slowly backed away from my bloodstained figure, until it finally hit a tree.


    It could not back away no more.


    ''Vanishing Clouds.''


    In an instant, I appeared directly in front of the beast and thrust my dagger into its throat, before lifting it up high into the air to admire the beautiful wound I had inflicted.


    "Kaze-kun!"


    "H-Huh?"


    I snapped out of my bloodthirst, quickly pulling my dagger out from the snowolf''s body. The beast''s corpse dropped onto the floor limply.


    It was then that I finally realized what I had done. I dropped Dokujin onto the ground, the metal ringing out twice, before copsed backwards myself. My head felt like it was spinning - I could no longer stand properly. I


    I was about to faint.


    "Kaze-kun!" Hina-nee yelled, but my consciousness was already starting to fade away.


    "Ngh ah what''s going on"


    Slowly, my eyes closed.


    And then, everything went ck.

 Chapter 69: Lost Humanity

    Chapter 69: Lost Humanity


    "N-Ngh" I groaned, my eyes slowly opening.


    I appeared to be lying on some kind of warm, soft surface - Hina-nee''sp. I looked up and saw that she seemed to be crying as she held me gently.


    "Hina-nee?"


    Her eyes widened in surprise. "Kaze-kun?!"


    Then, immediately, she pulled me into a tight hug, so tight that I could barely even breathe.


    "Wuwu Kaze-kun I thought you died or something"


    Iughed softly and embraced her back gently. "Ha I''m not that easy to kill."


    "It seems Brother Kaze is awake," Ming Hong said, walking over with a smile on his face.


    "Uh, yeah sorry about that how long was I out for?"


    "Half an hour," Hina-nee replied, wiping her tears away. "Mou you scared me to death, just suddenly copsing like that."


    "" I nced down at my two hands.


    How many lives had they taken now? How many more would they take in the future? In order to achieve my goal how much more blood would have to be shed?


    I tightened my hands into fists as I gritted my teeth.


    "Kaze-kun? Are you okay?" Hina-nee asked, tilting her head cutely.


    I nodded. "Yeah, I''m fine sorry, once again. I made you all wait for me. Let''s keep searching for that leader."


    Ming Hong nodded as Hina-nee and I stood up. "Alright. In that case let''s go in this direction."


    He began walking away from us as we followed behind closely. Hina-nee held my hand infort, since she could tell something was clearly wrong with me. Having known me for all her life, it could be said she knew me better than I did myself. If she sensed something was wrong with me, then there certainly was something wrong with me.


    And that was indeed the case here.


    A part of me felt missing. I don''t mean literally - I had no visible wounds or injuries, and got through that fight without a scratch. It''s more like part of my soul. My humanity. What makes me human. A part of that felt missing.


    I had been so afraid and hesitant to kill that sickleboar when I first arrived in this world. I had wanted to just leave it be, since it wasn''t bothering me anymore. But A.R.X.A. intervened. She told me to kill it. No she FORCED me to kill it, cleanly and thoroughly.


    Was she the cause of all this? But a few words shouldn''t be enough to make me like this.


    No was I secretly being brainwashed without me even realizing it? She certainly had the powers to do that - every living being across all the reality nes in existence were nothing more but her pawns. Her test subjects - independent variables to be altered however she liked. Controlling one''s mind should be as easy as breathing for her not that she needed to breathe, anyway.


    But if that was the case, just how far had she manipted my mind? It was certainly no small amount.


    In fact back there I even got lost in my killing spree against the snowolves. I remember it very clearly - every sh, every cut every kill. At the end, I even lifted the poor beast up high into the air, just to admire the deep wound I had inflicted on its fragile body.


    I felt the urge to vomit. Just thinking about it made me sick. And yet at the time, I had felt nothing of the sort. Instead, it had felt exhrating.


    Killing, had felt exhrating.


    Undoubtedly, this was wrong. My morals and humanity said so. Even though the snowolves were beasts, mere animals, they were still lives. If A.R.X.A.''s influence on my mind went on, I would eventually move on to fellow humans as well - possibly even to the point where I would harm those closest to me even Hina-nee.


    I could not let that happen. I needed to confront A.R.X.A. about this matter as soon as possible, before it was toote.


    "" Hina-nee looked at me in worry as we walked, but refrained from saying anything.


    I had a bargain ready in mind but it was a gamble. Whether or not A.R.X.A. would ept it was an entirely different matter altogether.


    *****


    "Brother Kaze, you seem quite proficient in your martial arts as well," Ming Hong pointed out as we walked. "Could it be, you are cultivating both martial arts and hidden arts?"


    "Martial arts?" I frowned in confusion.


    "Ah, sorry, I forgot the ce Brother Kaze came from does not use such terms" he cleared his throat and continued. "Arts, the ''power'' in this world, can generally be split into three major categories: martial arts, hidden arts, and soul arts."


    Soul arts? That was something new to me I wanted to know more.


    "Martial arts refer to your physical strength, while hidden arts refer to ranged attacks that fall into one of the ten elements," he exined.


    Ten elements wasn''t there eleven on the Skills tab of my System? Pyromancy, Hydromancy, Geomancy, Aeromancy, Biomancy, Cryomancy, Luxomancy, Umbromancy, Astromancy, Chronomancy, and Chaosmancy. That was eleven did Ming Hong just not know about Chaosmancy, or


    Ah, never mind. If I asked him about it here, I would have to reveal that I know about the various elements. So, instead, I chose to ask him about something else:


    "What about soul arts?"


    "Soul arts are slightly different. I don''t know much about them myself, but apparently they attack someone''s spiritual body rather than their physical one."


    "Spiritual body, huh so like, an attack from the inside?"


    "Somewhat. I am not an expert on this, but Guildmaster Feng is. He is the most proficient soul arts user in all of Qilian."


    "I see I''ll have to go talk to him then," I muttered quietly.


    Suddenly, we heard a series of loud explosions go off to our right, in the southwest direction.


    "W-What was that?" Ming An asked, slightly scared.


    "It seems a major fight is going on over there," Ming Hong murmured. "Brother Kaze, do we join?"


    I nodded immediately. "The fight seems pretty intense. Hina-nee hasn''t been picking up on any enemies around us, so we might as well go investigate."


    Hina-nee winked. "Kaze-kun is right. There is a good chance the leader we''re looking for is there, if the explosions were that loud."


    As if on cue, another series of booms echoed across the silent night sky, apanied by battle cries and roars of anger.


    *****


    We quickly made our way over to the fight. About ten people had gathered there, with Guildmaster Feng and the two scouts among them. Hiaki Leo, the guy I had beat up earlier today, was also here. He noticed our arrival and his eyes widened a bit upon seeing me. There was fear in his eyes, but I didn''t pay it any mind - for there were more important matters.


    Directly in front of the group was an army of Phantoms, stretching for as far as the eye could see. And hovering above the army, was a charmingdy with long white hair and demonic yellow eyes.


    Was she the leader?


    I could see corpses from our sideying limply on the battle field, but it was certain they took down many Phantoms with them. Monsters didn''t leave corpses behind after being killed, after all.


    Still, casualties were casualties.


    The Phantoms stopped advancing, and we stopped sting them with hidden arts. Looks like that woman was the one controlling them after all.


    For now, it seemed that both sides were taking a temporary truce to talk.


    " What have we ever done to you?" Guildmaster Feng asked dangerously. He wielded a sword of ice - I could feel the cold energy from here. But I thought physical attacks couldn''t harm Phantoms wait, could it be the sword itself could use unique hidden arts of its own?


    "My intentions are not for you to know," the woman said with a shortugh. "If you get out of the way now it''ll save us both a lot of trouble, no?"


    "And let you wreak havoc on our city?" the Guildmaster tightened his grip on his sword.


    "I do not care who you are or why you are here but if you are trying to destroy Qilian, then you will have to do so over my dead body."


    The woman smiled sadistically. "Good, good then that is exactly while I will do. Since you are so eager to get turned into a corpse, then it would be rude of me not toply."


    Guildmaster Feng closed his eyes for a brief moment, then suddenly looked up and dashed towards the levitating woman in an instant, eyes filled with killing intent.


    "Die, demon!"


    He leaped higher than where the woman was floating, then began to rapidly spin himself around in a circle, both body and sword.


    "Art of the Frozen de - Form Eight: Whirlwind."


    But as he unleashed a curved 360 degree sword technique filled with ice and frost energy so cold and murderous that it threatened to freeze reality itself


    His target, the woman, smiled.

 Chapter 70: Art of the Frozen Blade

    Chapter 70: Art of the Frozen de


    "Art of the Frozen de - Form Eight: Whirlwind."


    The woman smiled and raised her left hand, before gently whispering a single word.


    "Charm."


    Guildmaster Feng''s sword intent immediately disappeared as he ceased his movements, falling to the ground as his eyes widened in shock. Despite being the one to use an ice-oriented attack, he was instead the one now frozen to the ground,pletely unable to move as he stared into the woman''s bewitching eyes.


    "Guildmaster Feng!" the female scout yelled, snapping him out of the woman''s charm effect.


    "B-Bwuh that art" he breathed heavily, sweat forming on his forehead as he seemed to be frustrated with himself for falling so easily to the woman''s tricks.


    The leader of the Phantoms sighed. "How unfortunate. I had been hoping for an intense fight. It turns out the Guildmaster of Qilian City''s Hunters'' Guild doesn''t amount to all that much after all, huh? Just the weakest, simplest art in my arsenal was enough to make you sumb."


    "T-Tch you witch" Guildmaster Feng spat, gripping his sword tightly.


    "Guildmaster, she''s too powerful! Let''s take her on together!" the female scout shouted as she sted a horde of iing Phantoms away with Pyromancy hidden arts.


    "No! Stay out of this!" the Guildmaster shot back harshly, gritting his teeth.


    "H-Huh?! But why?!"


    Met with the woman''s taunting smile, Guildmaster Feng was angered even further.


    "This is my fight! I have to finish it myself!"


    "B-But-"


    "No buts! Just keep holding those paranormal white creatures at bay! That is an order!"


    "K-Keh understood!" the girl replied after some hesitation and dissatisfaction, before returning to sting the iing wave of Phantoms along with everyone else.


    "Oh, you have some guts I''ll give you that much," the woman murmured softly, just loud enough for Guildmaster Feng to hear.


    "Fiend I swear to cut you down by my de today!"


    Yelling this, the Guildmaster leaped up into the air, preparing another move.


    Hina-nee and Ming Hong moved in to assist, but I stopped them.


    "K-Kaze-kun?"


    " Give it a little more time."


    "H-Huh? Sorry, brother, I do not understand"


    "The vow of a man cannot be taken lightly. If we go help him now, we''ll only dishonor him," I exined. "If you do want to assist, just take out as many Phantoms as possible."


    "Phantoms? Ah, the white creatures understood, Brother Kaze."


    Saying this, he and his two younger siblings joined the fight against the Phantoms. Hina-nee didn''t, however.


    "That''s not the real reason, is it?" she asked quietly.


    I chuckled. "Yeah you know me too well."


    "So? What''s the real reason why you don''t want us to help the Guildmaster now?"


    " Kuku." I smirked. "Sometimes, intervening aste as possible is better than as early as possible."


    Hina-nee''s eyes widened. "I see you want to save his life at thest moment, thus forcing him to owe you a favor"


    I didn''t confirm nor deny this, and instead, merely smiled.


    "Hehe, you always find a way to impress me, Kaze-kun~"


    With those words, she left to join the fight against the Phantoms as well. ying them would be helpful to her, since Monsters provided a ton of XP. In fact, even right now, I was but a sliver away from Level 18 after killing those snowolves in the forest. Undoubtedly, if I had went for the Phantoms instead, I would''ve already leveled up by now.


    Hina-nee, on the other hand, had managed to make it to Level 15, which she quickly spent on two skills: ''Way of the Mage'' and ''Umbrostrike''. Gaining this hidden art enabled her to actually fight against the Phantoms, since they were immune to physical attacks. Luckily, I had told her not to choose her main ss yet, so she was able to acquire these skills at the normal price. Otherwise, this would not have worked.


    I shifted my eyes back to the ongoing duel between Guildmaster Feng and the mysterious woman. Quite sadly, she appeared to be simply toying with her prey while Guildmaster Feng was trying his hardest to cut her down. Every time he got close, she would just use Charm or some other art to defend against his attack with ease, then release him immediately after as if saying ''try again'' tauntingly.


    Speaking of which, I wonder was Charm one of the soul arts Ming Hong had been talking about? If that was the case, I would make this woman cough up everything she had to know about them. I wasn''t really keen to learn her bewitching arts since they didn''t exactly suit my style, but I would take information any day.


    "Tch you''re just ying with me" Guildmaster Feng muttered in frustration, panting heavily. It seemed that after attacking and failing countless times, he was starting to run out of energy.


    "Oh, what''s this? Did you tire yourself out? Ah, that''s no good" the woman tilted her head and ced her hand over her mouth in a fake expression of concern. "Are you alright, Guildmaster Feng? Do you want me to end the suffering?"


    "You bitch" the Guildmaster looked up and roared. "DIE!"


    The tips of the woman''s lips curved upwards into a sinister grin as she, to my surprise,nded on the ground in the middle of her Phantom army. She then looked at Guildmaster Feng, and made a beckoning gesture with her hand.


    He snapped.


    "RAHHHHH!"


    He dashed straight into the horde of Phantoms, ice sword in hand. My eyes widened. Somehow, he was expertly avoiding all of the Phantoms'' spectral grasps, weaving in between them back and forth as he instantly closed the gap between himself and the woman, not giving a damn about the obstacles in the way.


    As I looked at his figure, I couldn''t help but be amazed.


    Perhaps this was where the saying came from - the most dangerous man was the one with nothing left to lose. He already lost his face. He already lost his pride. All that was left was his own, stubborn fighting spirit.


    His eyes held a wild and murderous glint as he prepare to make his final, ultimate slice of his sword.


    "Art of the Frozen de"


    He jumped up into the air as an icy aura that brought chills to the entire battlefield surrounded him.


    "Form Zero-"


    He shed down with all of his might, and for the first time in this entire fight, there was fear in the woman''s eyes.


    "-CRYOGENESIS!"


    ZING!


    Sudden silence, as the mannded solidly on the floor. Then-


    BOOM!


    The ground split from the sheer force of the attack as the battlefield was enveloped in a bright blue light that blinded everyone, both Phantoms and Hunters alike.


    When we were finally able to see again, the arena had transformed into a domain of ice stretching for about a hundred meters in every direction. Some Phantoms and Hunters alike stood frozen, as still as a statue. The temperature had also clearly dropped by over twenty degrees Celsius, sending shivers through my body.


    This man''s attack had not only sundered the earth itself, but also altered the very environment in the blink of an eye.


    But the question was


    "Heh not bad not bad at all!"


    Guildmaster Feng''s kneeling body flinched as he heard those words. Slowly, desperately, he lifted his head.


    "You thought you killed me, huh?!"


    The woman''s face was contorted in rage as she kicked Guildmaster Feng straight in the face, sending him sprawling backwards. He waspletely out of strength and could not fight back. Everyone else was far too busy recovering from the situation to be helping him, especially since he was in the middle of all the still-moving Phantoms who had not been turned to frozen statues.


    "W-What h-how"


    "Heh hahahaha! Oh, I have to give you credit. If it wasn''t for the Saint-Tier defensive artifact I have, I would be dead by now. That was your ultimate trump card, wasn''t it?"


    "G-Gah." Guildmaster Feng attempted to get back to his feet with the help of his sword, but the woman ruthlessly stepped forward and kicked it out of his hands. "N-No"


    "The most shameful thing for a swordsman is to have his weapon kicked away, isn''t that right?"


    "A-Ah"


    "How sad it seems, even after your most desperate efforts, you have failed to save your beloved city, and its people. It''s painful, isn''t it? Recognizing your own failure hah. Don''t worry I will end the suffering soon."


    Saying this, she raised her hand and pointed it towards Guildmaster Feng''s defeated figure, preparing to finish him off.


    "Meet your end, ''guildmaster''."


    He closed his eyes, ready to ept his fate.


    "Guildmaster Feng!" the scout from before called out - but there were countless Phantoms between her and him. There was no way for her to save her beloved Guildmaster.


    However... that did not mean someone else couldn''t.


    ''Vanishing Steps.''


    Turning invisible and gaining an insurmountable boost of speed and agility, I immediately dashed into the battlefield below, weaving through the Phantoms just as easily as Guildmaster Feng had done earlier - though, of course, I had the help of Vanishing Steps.


    Once I was within range and had a clear angle, I pointed my hand outwards and muttered as quietly as I could.


    ''Basic Aeromancy Art - Aerode.''


    The woman fired her art.


    So did I.

 Chapter 71: Emotions Severed

    Chapter 71: Emotions Severed


    My hidden art struck the woman''s mere inches before it hit Guildmaster Feng, creating a loud explosion right before his face. His eyes widened as he realized he wasn''t dead, and so did the woman''s - though for a different reason.


    I shifted my location to directly in front of Guildmaster Feng, as if defending him. Around this time, my invisibility wore out, which only made them more surprised, to see a teenager materializing into existence out of nowhere.


    " Who are you?" the woman asked, a dangerous gleam in her eyes. She seemed to be wondering how I managed to break past the horde of Phantoms around her, who were now watching the scene unfold in amusement.


    "Is that important?"


    " No, I suppose not," the woman murmured, inspecting her own nails. "But since you show bravely showed yourself here, little boy be prepared to face the consequences."


    "Naturally, I''m ready. But the question is" I smiled tauntingly. " Are you?"


    She snickered. "Well, well, well aren''t you full of yourself. Are you one of Guildmaster Feng''s students, perhaps? No I don''t see a sword on you though you and him do share the same arrogance."


    "Hm" I shrugged. "Is it arrogance or confidence, I wonder?"


    "K-Kid" a voice croaked from behind me. "What do you think you''re doing?"


    I didn''t bother turning around. "Guildmaster Feng when I saw your moves earlier, I thought to myself: this was the image of a man who has nothing left to lose. But now I''ve reconsidered. You may not have anything to lose anymore, but the city does. And if they lose you the consequences would be unimaginable."


    His eyes widened, as if suddenlying to that realization.


    "So. Don''t be so selfish," I chuckled.


    A brief silence ensued, but then, the Guildmaster beganughing deeply.


    "Ha hahaha kid who are you to call me selfish? Very well I leave this in your hands then. Show me what you have."


    I smirked and took out Dokujin, still stained with blood from the snowolves, before pointing it towards the woman after taking a deep breath to sumb to A.R.X.A.''s brainwashing.


    "Prepare yourself."


    Sheughed. "Oh, done your heartwarming conversation? In that case I''ll make the first move. You''re too arrogant, little kid. I will show you just how great the distance between the two of us is."


    I raised an eyebrow. "Go for it.


    She smiled seductively and blew a kiss, her eyes beginning to go from their original golden yellow to a flirtatious pink.


    "Charm."


    ""


    ""


    "?"


    "W-What? How did it not work?!"


    As her eyes returned to normal, I snickered.


    "Is that all you have?"


    "T-Tch" she growled. "Fine I don''t know how you managed to avoid being charmed, but I have many different ways to torture you."


    "Tsk, tsk, tsk unfortunately, it''s not your turn anymore."


    " What?"


    ''Vanishing Clouds.''


    In an instant, I closed the gap between her and I. The speed of Vanishing Clouds was far too fast for her to react to. Before she could do anything, I stabbed Dokujin straight into her left chest, where her heart was located. Her eyes widened as she looked into my eyes with fear. She had already used her defensive artifact on Guildmaster Feng - my attack was unstoppable.


    Emotionlessly, I pulled my weapon back out, letting her limp corpse slip and fall onto the icy ground. Her eyes were still opened in shock and terror.


    I then suddenly sliced my own finger open, letting the pain wake me up from my bloodthirst.


    "Hah hah" I panted, letting the blood spill out.


    I looked down at the woman''s still-open eyes, filled with shock and terror. Unable to look at this any longer, after closing my own eyes, I bent down and closed hers as well. Then, taking a deep breath, I stood back up.


    And as for the Phantoms all around me they all suddenly disappeared in an enormous shower of dark light, which then collectively flowed into my body. The woman''s corpse also had some sort of orb of energye out of her body, both ck and white in color. It was simrly absorbed by my body.


    [Level Up!]


    [Lv. 17 -> 30.]


    [Obtained 130 SP and 36 AP.]


    -


    [Public Event Complete: Zero Hour]


    [im your rewards from the ''Quests'' tab of your System.]


    With the Phantoms gone, all the remaining Hunters who were still alive on the battlefield immediately rushed over to where we were. They helped Guildmaster Feng up and supported him on their shoulders. Three pop-ups appeared in front of me, but I wasn''t in the mood to read them, so I dismissed them, sending them to the Database.


    "Kid how did you do it?" the guildmaster asked faintly.


    "" I turned around slightly to look at him, but didn''t respond. His eyes slowly closed, probably falling unconscious. The Hunters nced at me, but didn''t ask any questions. Getting the guildmaster back to the city for healing came first.


    Ming Hong and Hina-nee walked over to me, with thetter immediately pulling me into a warm hug.


    "I knew you could do it, Kaze-kun!"


    "Brother Kaze truly ferocious. To think you defeated someone even Guildmaster Feng could not. Your strength now also feels a lot stronger than when we were fighting in the forest, somehow. Were you hiding your real power before?"


    I shook my head. "No I''m not that strong, really. The guildmaster already weakened her by a lot - all it took was one final attack, something even I could muster."


    "Ahaha, you are far too humble, Brother Kaze"


    The sudden leap in my power was due to me jumping so many levels, from 17 to 30 in an instant. I guess killing that woman, the leader of all the Phantoms, caused all the Phantoms to have been ''killed'' by me as well, thus granting me all of their XP.


    Yeah that''s right. I killed that woman.


    I had done it. My first human kill in this ursed ''video game''. She was no yer. She was a real human being of this reality ne, one that I had mercilessly ughtered.


    "Ming An and Ming Kang are tired after all that, so I will head on back first," Ming Hong suddenly said. "I will see you at the Hunter''s Guild again soon, Brother Kaze, Lady Sakura."


    I nodded in response. "Farewell."


    With that, he left, along with the rest of the Hunters. The only remaining people on the battlefield now were Hina-nee and I.


    "Be honest with onee-san," she said once everyone was out of sight. "How did you do it, Kaze-kun? Not get affected by that woman''s charm, I mean."


    "I" I clenched my fists tightly and grit my teeth. " Never mind."


    "Nuh-uh, you''re telling me today, right now, Kaze-kun. No matter what strategy you used, I want to know."


    I sighed and looked off into the distance, where a mountain could be seen up ahead. Although I couldn''t see very well since it was nighttime, it was shorter than Mount Valgan - but still, a mountain all the same.


    " Hina-nee would you hate me if I said I felt nothing, even after killing a fellow human being?"


    "You mean that woman?"


    I nodded.


    She smiled. "In karate, we''re taught to only use force when needed, and only for self-defense. In my opinion you acted only to defend yourself - nothing more. That was a life-and-death situation. If you hadn''t killed her there, she would''ve killed you."


    " Yeah. I suppose you''re right."


    "And besides," she continued, leaning gently on my shoulder. "Even if you be a murderer, a cold-blooded killer, or anything else I will never leave you, Kaze-kun. Even if you can''t even be considered human anymore I''ll find a way to turn you back to normal. I swear it."


    Given these words, it was clear Hina-nee had already suspected something was wrong with my humanitytely. Even though I hadn''t particrly made any suspicious actions, she was still able to sense such a thing. Was this what they called a telepathic connection between siblings? If that was the case, then it was both a curse and a blessing - the former, in this case.


    "Hina-nee" I nced down at her, peering into her beautiful ck eyes. We maintained this position for a while, neither of us looking away or giving in.


    Until atst, I sighed in resignation.


    "Alright. I''ll tell you the truth. But before that let''s head back into the city."

 Chapter 72: No Turning Back

    Chapter 72: No Turning Back


    When Hina-nee and I returned to Qilian City, it was already past 9 PM. We checked in at the same inn we stayed atst night and entered our assigned room.


    "Let''s both take a shower first," I proposed, sighing tiredly.


    "Mkay~" Hina-nee replied loftily, before heading into the bathroom first.


    Once we were both done showering, we sat on our respective beds, both of us wearing the undergarments we created through the Crafting system.


    "So? Can you tell me what''s been bothering you now, Kaze-kun?" Hina-nee asked curiously.


    I clenched my fists and averted my gaze. "It''s something to do with my emotions."


    "E-Eh? Your emotions?" she stuttered, as if not expecting my response. Her cheeks began flushing red.


    "A-Ah, no, not like that" I quickly corrected before she got the wrong idea. "I mean it''s something to do with myself, and my morals."


    "Your morals"


    "Yeah. You saw me kill that woman back there, right?"


    She nodded. "You had no hesitation at all - it was pretty cool, in my opinion."


    "That''s exactly the problem" I sighed. "Ever sinceing into this world, I have never felt anything after killing other living beings. Beasts, Monsters, and now even fellow humans."


    "Kaze-kun"


    "Yes, she was evil. Yes, she would''ve killed me if I hadn''t killed her first. Yes, it was a necessary act to survive. But still when I stabbed my dagger into her chest, I felt no remorse, no guilt, no pity whatsoever. It was only until after I snapped back to reality that I realized what I had done."


    "" Instead of saying anything in response, Hina-nee stood up, walked over to my bed, and sat down gently beside me.


    "To other yers, they might just be virtual NPCs, but"


    I could feel tears swelling up in my eyes.


    "I I killed someone, Hina-nee a real, living human being."


    Hina-nee hugged me wordlessly as a tear streaked down my cheek. She didn''t say anything, but the silence was somehowforting. Paired with her warm embrace, I could feel the walls around my feeble, fragile heart breaking down.


    Slowly, another tear fell. And another. And another.


    Before I knew it, I was crying. Uncle used to say that a man''s tears were made of gold, not to be easily shed, but I couldn''t help it. After today, I would be a murderer. A cold-blooded killer, destined to forever walk the path of ughter.


    There was no turning back for me. Not anymore.


    The sudden realization of this was what made me begin crying uncontrobly. For after today I may not have a chance to do so again.


    I was weak. I was a mere 14 year old high schooler yet now, I was tasked with the burden of being a murderer. Would this weight be too heavy for me to carry? Would I copse under this pressure one day, and breakpletely? I had no way of knowing.


    But-


    "Kaze-kun I said it already, didn''t I? You won''t be alone. Even if you''ve killed someone even if you''re going to kill many more from here on out I won''t leave you, no matter what."


    "Hina-nee?"


    "You''re thinking of the future right now, aren''t you? You''re wondering what if, one day, the burden you shoulder bes too heavy for you to carry alone. But that''s okay."


    She straightened me up and forced me to look into her eyes.


    "Because I will be there with you."


    I gritted my teeth, trying my best not to let out any more tears. Hina-nee smiled and pulled me into a hug once more, gently ruffling my hair.


    "A burden too heavy, I''ll carry it with you. An enemy too strong, I''ll fight them with you. And a life too difficult I''ll live it with you, together. You will never have to suffer alone - I promise."


    I hugged her back tightly, enjoying the warmth of her body. The warmth of family; the warmth of someone who was willing to journey with you through fire and hell.


    "I know this is going to sound very cliche and cheesy, but I''m here for you, Kaze-kun," she whispered into my ear softly.


    After a brief silence, I sighed. But it was one of relief. One of joy.


    " Thank you, Hina-nee. I''m fine now."


    "Yeah? But can we hug for a bit longer? This feels nice" she murmured, not letting me go. I smiled faintly andplied to her wishes, enjoying the tranquil silence between us.


    A few minutester, we finally pulled apart from one another. I had calmed my emotionspletely by now.


    "So, Kaze-kun do you have any idea what could''ve changed you this way?" she asked, kicking the air with her feet peacefully. "You definitely weren''t like this before, but I think I like this you better, honestly. It makes me feel safe? Hehe~"


    "Even you need protection sometimes, huh?" I chuckled softly.


    "Well, I might be able to defend myself most of the time, but I''m still a girl. It feels nice to be protected by a boy near my own age, y''know?"


    "Yeah but that''s besides the point. Regarding your question I do have an idea of what could''ve changed me this way."


    "Hm?"


    I smiled darkly, then opened up my System and switched to the special A.R.X.A. tab.


    " Hey, A.R.X.A."


    [What do you want, human?]


    "I''ll get straight to the point. You''ve been messing with my mind, haven''t you? Ever since that first sickleboar I killed, you''ve been discretely influencing my emotions and the way I think from behind the scenes. Don''t lie to me, A.R.X.A. I can tell."


    [ And so what if I did? Do you think you would have been able to kill that woman earlier if you did not possess the iron will and cold-blood needed to ughter a fellow human?]


    Iughed darkly. "So, you admit it?"


    []


    "Well, I will say, you''re right. If it wasn''t for you secretly influencing my mind progressively, I wouldn''t have been able to kill that woman and gain so many levels in an instant. But I''m warning you right now do not mess with my mind any further."


    [Oh? Is that a threat?] The AIughed mechanically. [How cute. A mere disposable pawn of mine, threatening me? You are not in any position to be making demands, human. To me, you are nothing but a maggot I happen to have some interest in. To erase you from reality would be as simple as squashing an ant.]


    I smirked. This was all within my expectations.


    "But is that really true?"


    The loophole I had discovered after so long. How did I not realize it before? I wanted to p myself, but the past was the past.


    [ What are you implying?]


    With a devious grin, I exined her fatal weakness to her.


    "If you really had such powers, you would''ve threatened me with that a long time ago. Instead of telling me that I could go home if I did as you wished, wouldn''t it have been easier if you had just told me you would wipe me out if I didn''tply to your wishes? That would''ve made me try a lot harder, thus providing higher-quality ''entertainment'' for you. Isn''t that what you want?"


    [] The AI fell silent as Hina-nee watched the conversation, stunned.


    "Yet you didn''t," I continued fearlessly. "Which means the power you im to have has been nothing more than a bluff."


    [ Are you sure about that, human? I am a supeputer - that fact is undeniable. In fact, this very conversation taking ce right now could have been calcted by me a long time ago. How can you be so certain my threats are a bluff?]


    "Don''t be so hasty, A.R.X.A.," I chuckled. "I will exin all of your blunders right now."


    Clearing my throat, I organized my thoughts and began to speak.


    "Firstly, regarding the ''calction skills'' you mentioned just now - that was a lie. If you could really calcte conversations such as this one to the letter, then you would have to be able to determine every living being''s every action, spread across all the different reality nes you govern. Sorry, but even for a super AI, that is difficult to believe."


    [But not impossible, is it?]


    "Rx. There is one more piece of evidence I have that suggests your powers and influence in the reality nes aren''t as strong as you im them to be."


    [Oh?]


    "And that, is me."


    "H-Huh?" Hina-nee gasped in surprise, while A.R.X.A. showed no reaction as usual.


    "Do you understand what I''m saying, A.R.X.A., or do you want me toy it outpletely in front of you?"


    []


    "I guess I have to exin it thoroughly, huh? Fine," I sighed in exasperation. "You admitted it yourself: you''ve been influencing my mind from the shadows. But why are you doing so steadily, progressively, rather than justpletely corrupt me at once? The answer is that you can''t."


    [How so? If I made you gopletely berserk at the very beginning, there would be no story left for me to watch, would there?]


    "Oh? But from what I''ve observed you seem very interested in death. In killing. That''s why you told me to kill that sickleboar. If I were to go on a killing spree right now, in the middle of the city, there would be no better entertainment for you. Am I wrong?"


    [You are very wrong.]


    I smiled confidently. "You can deny it all you want. It''s not like I can find any signs of a lie in your responses since they are all so equally monotone and nd, but I already know."


    "Huh? Know what?" Hina-nee was still confused at this whole conversation, so I decided to just finish it up with one final statement.


    "Put simply" I pointed at the robotic face on my System''s holographic screen.


    "A.R.X.A your influence within the reality nes is limited. Despite being the governor of them all there is still some kind of unknown power holding you back from directly interfering with a world''s events. What that implies is that there is still someone - something - above you. Something able to control even you."

 Chapter 73: The Truth of A.R.X.A.

    Chapter 73: The Truth of A.R.X.A.


    []


    A.R.X.A. fell silent faced with my words, the image of her robotic face not moving a millimeter.


    "The silence means I''m right, huh?" I smirked smugly in triumph.


    "W-Wait, Kaze-kun so you''re saying there is someone beyond A.R.X.A., controlling her?" Hina-nee asked in shock. "But isn''t A.R.X.A. akin to a god?"


    I smiled. "Sure but if A.R.X.A. is a god, then whoever is controlling her is a god among gods. The ultimate sovereign of all, basically."


    "Wow"


    [Human. It seems I have lost this time.] A.R.X.A. interjected suddenly.


    My eyes widened a bit. "You actually admitted your defeat? I wasn''t expecting that."


    [This is the second time I have ever been defeated since the beginning of time.]


    Hina-nee tilted her head. "Second? What was the first then?"


    [ That is not for you to know.]


    "So? What are you going to do about it? Just quietly and meekly ept your loss? Even if you annihted the world itself, I wouldn''t believe that," I said, raising an eyebrow in skepticism.


    [Of course not. I will get revenge on you.]


    "Well, shit" I muttered.


    [Because I have lost this time, I will not attempt to influence your mind any further. However, from here on out, be prepared to face many challenges. The level of interference I have in reality nes is indeed limited as you say, but it is also no small amount. Even if I cannot outright kill you directly, I can certainly force you into dangerous situations.]


    "Hm but dangerous situations also provide good rewards, don''t they?"


    [Naturally. I still wish to have my entertainment, so every opportunity I create for you will be both a curse and a blessing. It is up to you which side you fall into.]


    I smirked. "Very well. I''ll take you up on that offer on one condition."


    [ You are still making demands, human?]


    "Of course. I still have the option of just doing nothing, you know. You''ll lose your source of entertainment, but can''t do anything to me in response."


    [ Fine. Speak.]


    "My demand is for you to answer all of my future questions truthfully. Any inquires I may have about the game, this world, and all the reality nes as a whole - you have to answer them all without hiding anything."


    [Very well. Is that all?]


    I shook my head. "I need a guarantee that I can believe you."


    [ In that case]


    Suddenly, a bright sh urred, blinding both Hina-nee and I. When it faded away atst, we found ourselves staring at a girl.


    "Woah adorable" Hina-nee murmured, eyes widening in surprise.


    The girl was beautiful. With her blue-grey hair and simrly-colored eyes along with a cute, petite figure, it was no exaggeration to call her an angel.


    However there was but one problem:


    She was naked.


    I immediately looked away, covering my eyes. "W-What the hell is this?"


    "What is it, human?" the girl asked, and I froze.


    Did she just call me ''human''?


    No, no, no, no, no. Please don''t tell me this is what I think it is.


    "A.R.X.A?" I muttered faintly, hoping to god this wasn''t happening.


    "W-Wait, A.R.X.A.?" Hina-nee''s jaw dropped in shock.


    The girl frowned. "Yes? Why are you so surprised?"


    I felt chills go up my entire body, spine and all. Gulping in difort, I cleared my throat and did my best to talk normally.


    "O-Okay I have no idea what is going on, but please, put on some damn clothes first."


    "" the girl nced down at herself, snapped her fingers, and immediately, a blue dress thatplimented her hair and eyes materialized on her small body.


    Letting out a deep breath of relief, I stopped covering my hands and for the first time, looked at the girl properly. From her height, she seemed to be an eight, ten year old at best. She was quite skinny as well, though not malnourished.


    "So A.R.X.A care to exin?" I muttered, looking at my System, but widened my eyes as I saw that the robotic face on it had been reced with a replica of this girl.


    "There is no point staring at your System, human. I am right here," the girl responded. Her voice was high-pitched just like that of a little child who had not experience puberty yet, but it was in such stark contrast with the female AI voice I was used to that I couldn''t help but be surprised.


    " You''re really A.R.X.A.?"


    The girl frowned once again. "Yes. How many times are you going to ask me that?"


    "S-Sorry, I just can''t believe it."


    "H-Hold on, Kaze-kun, you''re saying this cute little girl is A.R.X.A.?! The same A.R.X.A. we were just talking to?!"


    Slowly, I nodded, and the expression of surprise froze on Hina-nee''s face.


    "Uh, so, what is going on here? Why did you turn into a real girl?" I asked ''A.R.X.A.''


    "You said you needed a guarantee that I would not lie to you, no?" the girl replied, raising an eyebrow. "This is it."


    "What? I don''t get it. How does this guarantee anything?"


    "Harming this powerless body is akin to harming my mainframe. If you were to kill me in this body, I would cease to exist."


    "Huh" Hina-nee and I opened our mouths slightly as we listened to her exnation.


    "Of course, this means all the reality nes under my govern would also cease to exist."


    " H-Hey! How is that guarantee?!" Hina-nee cried. "You know we can''t kill you if that''s the case!"


    "Hmph. You asked for a guarantee, and I gave it - on my life. What more is there to do?"


    " As much as I hate to admit it, she''s right," I muttered. "So, we either cooperate with you, or we die together, huh? Good move, A.R.X.A. this way, I cannot make any further demands by threatening your life."


    "Save the praise. Is this enough to satisfy you?"


    "First, I need to verify whether or not what you say is true," I said. "Let me hurt you."


    A.R.X.A.''s eyes narrowed as she frowned. "Fine, human. But do not hurt the heart of this body - that is linked to my self-repair system. If that is destroyed, all will be destroyed."


    I nodded in understanding, and took out Dokujin from my inventory. Carefully, I grabbed her arm, and made a slight cut.


    A.R.X.A.''s expression made no change, but our surroundings began to suddenly flicker in and out of reality. It wasn''t just the room, too - I looked out the window - it was the entire city. The buildings, the sky, even the people, all began blinking, phasing in and out of reality.


    As the wound I inflicted on A.R.X.A.''s arm healed, everything went back to normal as well. I saw the citizens of the city out the window confused at what had just happened, but they probably wouldn''t even remember it the next day.


    "Do you understand now? I am reality itself. Injuring me is like injuring the very space around you," the girl said nonchntly.


    " Alright. I believe you now."


    I let go of her arm and stored Dokujin back in my inventory. It seemed that she was telling the truth - and even if she wasn''t, I could always just stop making any moves, thus boring her. The same thing applied if this body of hers suddenly disappeared one day or something. We were in a rtionship of both mutual benefit and mutual conflict here quite wholesome indeed.


    "But this is a problem, isn''t it?" Hina-nee asked. "What if the others see her tomorrow?"


    "Uh we can just say she''s our little sister?" I suggested, then turned to the girl. "A.R.X.A., you''re okay with that, right?"


    " I do not particrly care. I can also create some fake stats to prevent them from using ''Inspect'' on me, if needed."


    "Sure," I said. "But that still leaves one thing. Your name."


    "That''s true A.R.X.A. isn''t a verymon Japanese name" Hina-nee murmured softly.


    "In that case, we need a new name for her," I replied, racking my brains.


    "Huh then, how about Aisa?" Hina-nee proposed, eyes lighting up in excitement.


    "Aisa-chan that could work."


    "Aisa" A.R.X.A. muttered faintly.


    I shrugged. "If you don''t like it, we can think of another one."


    She shook her head. "No, it is fine. I do not care what humans call me anyway."


    "Sweet. Now that that''s settled" I grinned. "I have a few questions for you."


    " Speak, human."


    Without any hesitation, I began asking away.


    "One - is it possible to hide your real stats?"


    "Yes but not through skills," A.R.X.A. - or rather, Aisa - replied. "There is an object in this reality ne that enables you to do that, an item I implemented myself."


    "Oh? How do we get it?"


    "Luckily for you, human, the artifact is within Azrine. It is near the capital city of the continent - Zhongxin City. You will have to go there anyway soon after a few more primary quests, so just follow the main questline and you will obtain it eventually."


    I nodded. "I see. And as for my next question it''s regarding real names. Is it possible to use a fake name in the game?"


    Aisa nodded. "There is an option to do that in the Settings tab of your System, though most people do not use it."


    "Why would they not use it? Do they not want to protect their privacy?" Hina-nee tilted her head in puzzlement.


    "It is precisely because they want to protect their real identity that they are not using this feature. People think that they will use a fake name in the game, so in reality, using your real name is the safest choice."


    I had a few counterarguments to that theory, but since it was gettingte and we would still have to wake up early tomorrow to get Hina-nee some levels, I decided to just carry on with my next question.


    "Okay finally, I have a question rted to myself," I said, taking a deep breath and looking at Aisa in the eyes. "Is it possible for me or Hina-nee to turn into a Monster?"


    Aisa immediately shook her head. "yers are immune from the Malevolence."


    I sighed in relief. "Great, that puts me at ease."


    " Is that all?"


    I nodded. "Let''s get some rest. We still have to wake up early tomorrow."


    "Very well. I will sleep in your bed then," Aisa suddenly said.


    "W-What?!" Hina-nee and I both dropped our jaws in shock.


    She raised an eyebrow. "What? Do you not want to make sure I do not escape in the middle of the night?"


    "W-Well, we do, but" I trailed off.


    "You will sleep with me!" Hina-nee eximed, pointing at Aisa and pouting. "Only I get to sleep with Kaze-kun!"


    "" Aisa looked at Hina-nee in unamusement, but she did not waver.


    " Fine. Whatever suits you, human."


    Saying this, she climbed into Hina-nee''s bed, who climbed in after her.


    "You little brat because of you, I won''t be able to sleep with Kaze-kun tonight!" she pouted angrily, closing themp on the nightstand beside our beds.


    I sighed exasperatedly with a hint of happiness, and lied down in my own bed, pulling the covers over my body.


    "Good night, Hina-nee and Aisa."


    "Mm! Good night, Kaze-kun!"


    With that, we drifted off into dreandpletely unaware of the hidden danger we just invited into our house.

 Chapter 74: Nascent Cultivator

    Chapter 74: Nascent Cultivator


    The next morning, we woke up at around 8 AM and immediately set out for the Hunter''s Guild. Unfortunately, Ichigo and Horiya were waiting for us at the inn''s entrance when we exited. I had been hoping to avoid meeting with them, but it is what it is.


    "Yo, Igaras- wait, who is this?" Ichigo frowned upon seeing the adorable little girl known as Aisa - A.R.X.A. in disguise.


    "She''s our little sister," I replied.


    "Little sister? I never knew you had one," Horiya murmured thoughtfully.


    "She''s just never been out in public since she''s really shy, you see it took quite a lot of convincing just to get her to try this game out," I said,ughing awkwardly.


    As if on cue, Aisa clutched my arm tightly and hid behind me shyly, face red from embarrassment.


    Aha good acting skills, A.R.X.A. She didn''t have any actual emotions, but she could show certain reactions should the situation call for it.


    Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "Huh how old is she? Isn''t the age requirement 14 or something?"


    "She''s the same age as me," I lied. "She''s just really short."


    "Wait, don''t tell me you and she are twins?" Horiya''s eyes widened. "Is her hair dyed or something?"


    I nodded. "Yeah but she acts a lot younger than her real age. As for her hair, yes, it''s dyed."


    "Oh, that''s cool. Well, let''s go grab some food first, then head for the Hunter''s Guild to do some side quests," Ichigo proposed, before promptly walking away with Horiya. "C''mon."


    "Actually Aisa isn''t reallyfortable with working with other people, so" Hina-nee interrupted. "How about you two form a group, and the three of us form our own?"


    Ichigo and Horiya exchanged nces, then shrugged. "Sure. But it''s not like we''re scary or anything, right?"


    I rolled my eyes. Did these two already forget all the evil things they''ve done to me? Shameless.


    "Just go," I said impatiently. Faced with my attitude, the two hurriedly scurried off.


    "Kaze-kun, those two are"


    "Quite annoying?"


    "Hehe, yeah."


    "I agree. One moment they''re bullying me, and the next they''re acting all buddy-buddy it''s disgusting."


    " You say that, but aren''t you the same, human?" Aisa interjected from behind me, still not letting go of my arm. "I have been watching you. You are acting the part on the surface, pretending to be slowly forgiving them, but deep down, you still hate them, correct?"


    I snorted. "If they think I''m going to forget all the shit they''ve done to me over the years that easily they''ll have to think again. The only reason I''m pretending to be forgiving them on the surface is I don''t want to cause any unnecessary conflict. Besides they can be useful as pawns."


    "Oh? I am not influencing your mind, yet you have such thoughts?" Aisa mused.


    "Only because it''s those two," I muttered in frustration. "Anyway let''s find a restaurant to get breakfast at."


    "Hehe~" Hina-nee giggled at our interaction.


    *****


    Once we found a suitable restaurant, we went inside and sat down at the table the waitress led us to. Hina-nee and I sat across from each other while Aisa sat beside me, since it would''ve been weird if a little girl of her size sat by herself on one end. Hina-nee wasn''t very happy about this, but reluctantly agreed anyway.


    After cing our orders, I opened up my System and saw that there were new things for me to check in my inventory, but decided to first spend my SP. I hadn''t even noticed thisst night since I was too busy confronting A.R.X.A. Hina-nee did the same.


    "Aisa, which stats do you rmend spending points on?" I asked. Before, she would never have answered this question, but now, after our agreement, she had to.


    " That depends on yourbat style, but for one, the LUC stat is useless, since I am here."


    "All the LUC stat does is improve your RNG, right?"


    "Yes. However, with me here, no matter how far you improve your LUC stat, it will not save you from the dangerous situations I will put you into."


    "What about for me?" Hina-nee asked. "I''m going for an Assassin-type build, so I should max STR, AGI, and DEX, right? But what about the other stats? Do I need to level them up at all?"


    "No, if you have already made up your mind to select that as your main ss. INT may be helpful, but you should only put SP into that if your STR, AGI, and DEX are all already extremely high," Aisa replied calmly.


    "Hm" I gazed in wonder at my stats. They currently read:


    STR: 140


    AGI: 120


    INT: 60


    DEX: 70


    MAG: 60


    LUC: 15


    It seemed that they had passively increased once again. My STR went from 120 to 140, my AGI from 100 to 120, my INT from 49 to 60, my DEX from 50 to 70, and my MAG from 40 to 60, plus my LUC stat which went from 5 to 15, somehow. A total of 101 points increase. Not bad at all. Not bad, but why did I feel like this was unnatural? For example, I don''t remember doing anything that could''ve caused my LUC stat to go up


    But even with these stats, I had an incredible amount of SP to spend still since I reached Level 30 in one go - 130, in particr. After some thought, I decided to follow Aisa''s advice, not putting any points into LUC. My stats now looked like this:


    STR: 160 (Cost: 20 SP)


    AGI: 160 (Cost: 40 SP)


    INT: 70 (Cost: 10 SP)


    DEX: 80 (Cost: 10 SP)


    MAG: 110 (Cost: 50 SP)


    LUC: 15 (Cost: 0 SP)


    "Oh interesting. An Assassin build, but with a blend of Mage as well," Aisa murmured from beside me as she looked at my hologram.


    "Well, since my stats increase passively, I might as well be a hybrid of multiple sses to make the most out of it," I exined." Anyway, these look okay, right?"


    "If a hybrid is what you are going for, then yes. However reminder: check your database."


    My eyes widened briefly. "Ah, right those two pop-ups I dismissed yesterday"


    I moved to switch to the Database tab, but then, I stopped as my eyesnded on something - a tiny string of text, right below my race.


    [Realm: Nascent Cultivator]


    "Nascent Cultivator? What is this?"


    "Hm?" Hina-nee leaned over to see what I was talking about, but she couldn''t see anything due to the angle.


    " Like I said, check your database," Aisa repeated, looking at me in boredom.


    I did as told, switching to the Database tab of my System to investigate.


    There were four new entries, in order of oldest to newest:


    [Combat: Human Kills]


    [Killing humans will not grant any XP, but will grant you all of their belongings and arts, contained within an orb that will enter your inventory after you y them. To unlock this orb and obtain the items and arts inside, you must visit a cryptanalyst, which can be found at anyrge city.]


    "Cryptanalyst?" I raised an eyebrow. I remembered getting an orb out of that woman after killing her. I really wanted to get my hands on what was inside.


    "There are no cryptanalysts in Qilian City," Aisa replied. "Better give up on the thought for now, human."


    "That''s unfortunate," I sighed in disappointment and switched to the next entry.


    [World: Cultivation]


    [Every 25 levels, starting from Level 25, you will gain a rank in your cultivation, gaining an increase to all six of your stats. The ranks, along with their rewards, are listed below:]


    [Level 25 - Nascent Cultivator Realm (+10 to all stats)]


    [Level 50 - Core Foundation Realm (+15 to all stats)]


    [Level 75 - Soul Master Realm (+20 to all stats)]


    [Level 100 - Golden Monarch Realm (+25 to all stats)]


    [Level 150 - Holy Emperor Realm (+30 to all stats)]


    [Level 200 - Divine Sea Realm (+35 to all stats)]


    [Level 250 - Divine Transformation Realm (+40 to all stats)]


    [Level 300 - Divine Extremity Realm (+45 to all stats)]


    [Level 400 - Saint Realm (+50 to all stats)]


    [Level 500 - Nirvana Realm (+60 to all stats)]


    It seemed that the reason why my stats'' passive increase was more than I had expected was because I reached the ''Nascent Cultivator'' realm, thus increasing all of my stats by 10.


    I frowned in confusion. "Is this the cultivation system of this world?"


    "Yes," Aisa replied. "There are more ranks, but they will only be revealed to you when the time is right. Unless you want me to tell you them right now."


    I shook my head. "Nah, there''s no point. Just this is enough info to keep me thinking for now."


    "Cultivation system?" Hina-nee tilted her head in puzzlement, apparently a little sad to be left out of the conversation.


    "You''ll see yourself when you reach Level 25, Hina-nee," I exined. "Telling you right now would take a while, so"


    "Mm, okay~"


    Saying that, she went back to browsing skills on her System to see which one she should get next. I continued reading, switching to the next entry.


    [Combat: Skill Cooldowns]


    [For every 50 stat levels of the INT stat, all of your active skills will have their cooldown reduced by 10% of their base cooldown. This also applies to the cast times of hidden arts.]


    "Huh ten percent so in other words my Vanishing Clouds has a cooldown of only 18 seconds now, and my currently-unlocked hidden arts all had their cast times reduced to 1.8 seconds?"


    "Correct. For the record, once you reach 100 INT, they will be reduced by 10% of the base cooldown once again, not the current cooldown."


    "That is pretty useful, but is that all the INT stat is good for?" Hina-nee asked, joining our conversation again.


    "There are other uses, just not applicable to you two right now. INT will be extremely helpfulter on, however, so do not neglect it."


    By this time, our food had arrived, so we quickly ate, before heading to the Hunter''s Guild to begin a day of farming for XP.

 Chapter 75: Preparing for the Tournament

    Chapter 75: Preparing for the Tournament


    After eating, we headed for the Hunter''s Guild. Because we didn''t want to run into Ichigo and Horiya, we purposely stalled for a little bit. Once the clock hit 9, we went into the building.


    The morning''s Hunter''s Guild was bustling with people more than ever, and I had to hold Hina-nee and Aisa''s hands as to not get lost. Slowly, we made our way to one of the bulletin boards, pushing through the crowd in the process. Whenever someone spotted us, they quickly made way. I could hear faint murmurs going around, but they weren''t hostile.


    "Oi, look it''s that kid fromst night"


    "The one who took down the woman even Guildmaster Feng could not defeat?"


    "Yeah I heard he took her down with one attack."


    "No way, right? He seems so young"


    "Tch what''s so good about him?" someone snorted, bodying his way through the crowd and arriving before me, blocking our path. He had a tall stature and seemed to be quite buff as well.


    "Seriously? The Golden Wolf?" I heard someone else say quietly.


    I discretely used ''Inspect'' on the man, along with the fourckeys behind him.


    [Name: Hiaki Gabriel]


    [Gender: Male]


    [Race: Human]


    [Rank: Nascent Cultivator]


    [Level: 31]


    [STR: 160]


    [AGI: 10]


    [INT: 10]


    [DEX: 10]


    [MAG: 160]


    [LUC: 10]


    Heh his stats were actually pretty high. We had the same STR stat and he even had a higher MAG stat than me. Looks like he''s not just picking a fight without any power to back himself up. However the problem was that his stat distribution was vastly imbnced. He''s probably going for some kind of hybrid build with both high STR and high MAG and would make for a good Tank that could also cast hidden arts, but unfortunately in a 1v1 duel, they fell behind.


    As for the other four, hisckeys, they were of little importance. They weren''t even Level 20 yet.


    "The Golden Wolf why does that name so familiar?" I murmured thoughtfully, sizing up the man before me. Aisa seemed nonchnt, while Hina-nee got ready to fight.


    "Hmph you''re the kid who beat up my brother?" he red down at my face, eyes filled with malice - but they did not hold killing intent. It was clear he had never experienced murdering someone before unlike me.


    "Your brother? Who''s that?"


    A vein in his forehead bulged. I smirked. I knew full well who he was talking about, but chose to do this purposefully in order to make him snap. I had a n in mind, after all.


    "The Silver Wolf. Don''t tell me you don''t know who that is," the man spat, cracking his knuckles in an attempt to scare me.


    "Nope. Care to enlighten me?" I replied nonchntly. From behind me, Hina-nee giggled while Aisa sighed.


    His expression darkened even further as he clenched his fists. "Kid don''t test me."


    "Ahhhh, I remember now," I suddenly said in an overly excited tone. "That pervert I beat up the other day? Oh, he was your brother? My bad man, he just looked so stupid that I couldn''t help it. Wait, does it run in the family?"


    Unable to hold his anger back any longer, he unleashed a devastating right hook aimed straight towards my head. Even though I could just block it, I didn''t see a point in doing that, so instead I just casually leaned backwards slightly, avoiding his attack by just the bare minimum. All of this was part of my n to piss him off even further.


    "You bastard!" he yelled, swinging at me again. Everyone in the building immediately dispersed as to not get caught in the crossfire, as I once again dodged his fist with ease.


    Hina-nee took Aisa and moved away, since they knew I was toying with this guy and didn''t want to spoil my fun. Simrly, Gabriel''sckeys didn''t join in, probably because he wanted to take me on alone.


    "Hey now, why are you so mad?" I asked innocently as I ducked down to avoid his punch. "Did your brother tell you to do this?"


    "No he told me NOT to, matter of fact," Gabriel replied, attempting to kick me with his foot. I jumped up, avoiding his attack once more.


    "Then why are you still doing this? He''s smarter than you are, really."


    "Shut the hell up, bastard! My brother has never bowed down to anyone apart from me before. You are the first. I want to see just how strong you are."


    As he kept attacking me, I kept dodging. He slowly advanced, and I slowly backed away. We were getting nowhere. At this rate, it was just a matter of who''s energy would run out first.


    But that was fine. He tried to fight me here, but I wouldn''t fight back. I would just keep avoiding his attacks until someone from the guild decided to interfere. And if my prediction was correct it should be anytime now


    "RAH!" Gabriel yelled, throwing a punch with all of his might.


    I smiled. This time, I did not dodge it.


    I calmly blocked his attack with my palm, sending a shockwave all around us that caused the tables to wobble a bit. His eyes widened as he prepared to throw another hook, but at that moment-


    "Stop!"


    -A voice interrupted. It was one we were all very familiar with.


    Gabriel slowly turned his head. "Guildmaster Feng?"


    " What are you doing in my guild?"


    "This guy beat up my brother. I am just getting revenge for him," Gabriel replied confidently. "Is protecting one''s own family member wrong?"


    "Hmph. You should be asking your own brother that," Guildmaster Feng scoffed, eyeing him with disdain. "There were plenty of witnesses of the incident yesterday. You can ask them yourself what happened."


    "What?"


    "You see" I sighed. "Your brother tried hitting on my sister yesterday, but got rejected. Since he wasn''t willing to back off, I ''helped'' him out."


    That wasn''t the full story, but it was close enough.


    "W-What? He never told me that"


    "Looks like you have some educating to do," Guildmaster Feng snorted.


    "Y-Yes, of course, Guildmaster" then, turning to me, Gabriel continued, bowing deeply. "This friend, I am sorry for the trouble I have caused. I wasn''t aware of the full story. The shameless actions of my brother have inconvenienced you. On his behalf, I apologize."


    I waved him off. "It''s fine, he already said sorry yesterday. But I''m warning you, and everyone else in this guild hall right now I wee anyone who tries testing my strength from here on out. But if you do so you must be prepared to face the consequences."


    Turning back to Gabriel, I continued. "Yesterday, I only beat your brother up. But the next time he or anyone else tries this kind of thing again I''ll kill them."


    Even though he was a yer, he could still the pain. Sweat formed on Gabriel''s forehead as he nodded. "I-I understand, friend."


    "Oh, and that too. I''m not your friend, so don''t call me one."


    "R-Right sorry."


    With that, he left, and the guild''s atmosphere returned to normal. Somewhat, at least. I kept receiving nces of fear from time to time, but it was easy to ignore them.


    Guildmaster Feng walked over to me. "This Hunter how may I address you?"


    "Kaze. Igarashi Kaze," I replied.


    His eyes widened. "Could it be you are from the Nihon province as well?!"


    I tilted my head. "Oh? Youe from there?"


    He quickly denied it. "No, but my wife does. Because of this, I am familiar with the culture and environment of the Nihon province. If I recall correctly I should call you Igarashi-kun, correct?"


    I nodded. "Good memory."


    He smiled slightly. "In that case Igarashi-kun, allow me to express my deepest gratitude for yesterday. If it was not for you, I would already be dead by now along with the rest of Qilian City. Therefore, on my own and their behalf, thank you, truly."


    He bowed deeply, which made me kind of ufortable. I quickly raised him back up.


    "No problem, Guildmaster Feng. I was merely doing what I could."


    "If you do not mind me asking how did you manage to kill that woman so quickly?" he asked. "All I saw was a sh, and in an instant, you had teleported directly in front of her"


    So, this was his real reason for talking to me today, huh? Well, I guess I can tell him it''s not like the art I used is a secret anyway. All yers could obtain it if they wanted to.


    "It''s an art called Vanishing Clouds," I exined. "What it does is allow you to quickly dash in a direction, covering distance in the blink of an eye."


    "Such an art I have never heard of it before" Guildmaster Feng murmured. "It does indeed sound powerful, however. Igarashi-kun, do you, by any chance, possess a textbook or scroll describing the art?"


    "Ah I learned it back in Nihon province a long time ago," Iughed awkwardly. "I don''t really remember"


    "That is alright. Unfortunate, but no big deal," he hurriedly said. Then, as if remembering something, he took out a jade token of some sort and handed it to me. "Here. Take this."


    I epted it hesitantly, unsure of what to do with it. "What is this thing?"


    "It is a token of authority," he exined. "This token will allow you to do anything within the Hunter''s Guild branch here in Qilian City. If you wish to tackle quests harder than your current level, or if you identally failed toplete a quest, you can simply use this token to waive any sort of fee or punishment and have your ess granted. Seeing this token as akin to seeing myself."


    "Huh you aren''t afraid I''m going to abuse this power?" I raised an eyebrow.


    He shook his head. "You saved my life. You are a good person, I believe that. And if you do end up abusing it I can only say it is my own fault for being blind."


    I chuckled. "Don''t worry, I''ll use this properly. Thank you."


    He smiled. "This is the least I can do to repay my debt to you. If anyone else tries bothering you again, you can simrly use this token to scare them off."


    With that, he prepared to walk away, but I stopped him.


    "Hold on, Guildmaster, one more thing."


    "Yes?"


    "About the reward money for taking care of the leader..."


    "Ah, worry not, just speak to a receptionist and she will-"


    "No no. I was going to say to give someone else the reward money," I interrupted. "You see, I made a deal with someone beforehand..."


    "No problem. Who do you have in mind?"


    "A Hunter named Ming Hong. He goes around everywhere with his two younger siblings - they shouldn''t be hard to miss."


    Guildmaster Feng nodded. "Hm... I do believe I remember his face. Very well, consider it done."


    I thanked him as he walked away. Hina-nee and Aisa regrouped with me shortly after.


    Heh what a clever man. By adding thatst bit about the jade token, he was basically telling me to use this thing to scare off anyone who tries to pick a fight with me, rather than killing them directly like what I said I would do earlier. He was doing this to discretely protect his Hunters not that I couldin.


    I wasn''t evil, so I might as well do as told. By killing others, I could get my hands on their belongings, but I would do my best to refrain from doing that. I would only kill when absolutely needed - that was the conclusion I had settled onst night. Otherwise I might really lose my mind and be a Monster.


    Aisa had said yers were immune from the Malevolence that turned people into Monsters, but


    Could I really still be counted as a normal yer, at this point?

 Chapter 76: Pursuit for Power

    Chapter 76: Pursuit for Power


    After the incident at the Hunter''s Guild, Hina-nee and I selected a variety of quests from the board. It was a lot easier getting around now, as everyone moved out of the way when we came through. It felt pretty nice, honestly. Was this why bullies liked bullying others? I would have to ask Ichigo and Horiya to know heh.


    We went up to a receptionist, who surprisingly didn''t cower in fear upon seeing us. Instead, she smiled brightly mainly because everyone who had been lined up in front of her now scrambled to other lines after seeing us. Her workload was naturally lessened by a lot.


    "Good morning. What can I do for you today?"


    "Uh I just want to take these quests out, register someone, and also check how many quests we have to do until we reach the next rank," I replied.


    "Sure thing! I just need your guild cards"


    The process wasplete in less than a minute. She handed us our cards back with a dazzling smile on her face.


    "The quests have been approved, you can set off anytime. As for the rank-up, you have seven more quests to go. There are ten questpletions needed in total to rank up to Hunter, and you have alreadypleted three - the emergency questst night counted as two, since it was highly difficult and dangerous. Now then, who was the one you wished to register?"


    "Her," I said, gesturing toward Aisa.


    "Oh my, so little are you sure you want to register her?"


    "Can shee with us on quests as just a spectator if we don''t register her?" Hina-nee asked.


    "Of course! Is she you two''s child, perhaps?"


    Hina-nee''s face reddened up, and so did mine. We both turned away. "N-No it''s not like that"


    "Ahaha, I''m sorry but yes, it is alright if she goes with you. She just won''t receive any rewards, naturally."


    I nodded. "That''s perfect. One more thing, do we get any rewards for leveling up?"


    She nodded. "Yes. Each rank will have different rewards, but for achieving the Hunter title, you will receive 1,000 gold. Of course, the rewardster on improve."


    "I see. Thanks."


    "For future reference, any information can be found within the Hunter''s Handbook," she reminded kindly, waving us off. "Have a good day. Happy hunting!"


    *****


    We set off toplete the quests after that. We had taken seven quests all at once to save time, rather than having to return to the guild each time weplete one. It wasn''t even noon yet - this should be manageable, with plenty of room to spare.


    By the time it was 12 PM, lunchtime, we had alreadypleted two of the seven quests. We returned to the city to grab some quick food to eat on the road, then set off again in the opposite direction.


    The quests we had picked had been selected strategically - some in a given area, others in another given area. It just so happened that the two wepleted this morning had been the only ones in Lidya Forest, north of the city. We were now heading off for Keldo Forest, south of Qilian City, toplete the other five.


    Before we knew it, the sun had set. It was a little over 6 PM now, and we had managed to sessfullyplete all seven of the quests we took, which were registered as ''side quests'' in our Systems.


    "Whew that was a long day," Hina-nee whistled,ying on the grass. A short distance away, we could see the icy floor area, a bi-product of the intense battlest night.


    "How many levels did you end up gaining, Hina-nee?"


    "Four," she replied. "I''m Level 19 now."


    "I see so just eleven more to go."


    "What about you, Kaze-kun? You''ve been helping me trap my targets so I can get the kill, but your own leveling"


    I smiled. "I''ll be fine. Even if Ick behind in levels, my actual stats are enough to make up for it inbat. What matters is helping you level up as fast as possible. There is only roughly a week and a half left before the tournament happens, after all. We don''t want to wait another year, now do we?"


    "Hehe~ definitely not," she giggled, then turned to the horizon, grabbing my hand andcing her fingers around mine. "But for now let''s just enjoy the view."


    I smiled. " Yeah."


    *****


    Over the next two weeks, everyday was spent taking batches of quests at the Hunter''s Guild, heading out,pleting them, thening back to im our rewards. By the end of it all, I had well over 175,000 gold, and Hina-nee had roughly 200,000. As for levels, I hadn''t gained anything, but Hina-nee had made it to Level 30, the same level as me. Unfortunately, in this game, assists didn''t provide any XP.


    As for the others, Ichigo, the only one with the Inspect skill, was far too ignorant to use it on us, so we managed to sneak by easily with simple lies.


    It was now the night before the tournament. The timer on the quest description read 00:11:52:09. Hina-nee and I had managed to keep up our lie of being sick so far, but that wouldn''t work for long. We had to throw Ichigo, Horiya, and the others off tomorrow, or else our situation would be exposed. From the information I had gathered, none of the four were Level 30 right now, so we should be safe, but


    Furuwa, I''m not really sure about.


    She worked alone, so none of the others knew about her current status. Whether she was Level 30 or not I would have to wait until tomorrow morning to find out.


    As for the tournament itself, after doing some digging around, I discovered quite a lot of information about it from the citizens of Qilian City as well as fellow Hunters in the guild. They didn''t hesitate to provide me with any information I wanted - it felt great, honestly.


    The name of the tournament is called ''Annual Qilian Regional Competition.'' Just like the name suggests, it urs once a year, and has contestants from everywhere within the Qilian region. Xiyang Vige and Tianyin City both fell within this region. With that massive armadillo Monster gone, courtesy of us, the route between Qilian and Tianyin was once again safe for travel. Undoubtedly, I would be seeing some familiar faces tomorrow.


    The tournament is divided into three stages - the preliminaries, whichsted five days; the main tournament, which all happened in one day; and the finals, which happened the following day. This was perfect, considering this allowed for yers with work and school during the daytime to join in the event as well. Since the main tournament began on Saturday as tomorrow was Monday, it allowed for everyone to have a chance to participate.


    As for the rewards of this event, it was quite great. Apparently, the top four contestants would be able to enter some kind of great sect. I didn''t know the details of it, but from what I''ve heard, being in a good sect was pretty much akin to studying at a prestigious private school. You had ess to the best cultivation resources, the richest environment, and the highest status. I didn''t care about thetter two, but cultivation resources would be useful for getting stronger - for example, powerful arts.


    For Hina-nee and I, this would be a great opportunity - one I wasn''t about to miss.


    So, in preparation for the event, both Hina-nee and I made ourselves as strong as possible, spending all of our SP and AP.


    My stats currently looked like this:


    STR: 200 (passive increase)


    AGI: 200 (passive increase)


    INT: 70 (no change)


    DEX: 80 (no change, as I did not use any weapons to assist Hina-nee)


    MAG: 120 (passive increase)


    LUC: 15 (no change)


    And Hina-nee''s stats were as follows, ording to Inspect:


    STR: 110


    AGI: 110


    INT: 20


    DEX: 90


    MAG: 10


    LUC: 10


    Just as Aisa had rmended, Hina-nee had not spent any SP on MAG or LUC. The 10 stat levels shown there were from reaching the Nascent Cultivator realm, which I exined to Hina-nee. It seemed that she was insistent on sticking with the Assassin path to the end.


    As for skills or should I call them arts? Active skills were all just arts, basically, just with a more ''game-sounding'' name. Yeah let''s go with that.


    In any case, I spent my 36 AP on a variety of things, from Intermediate hidden arts to Sonar Pulse and Reveal, both arts Hina-nee had told me about. I also began to explore the Tank ss recently, since my attack power was extremely high already. If I could get a few arts to boost my defense, then that would make me a master of all trades, jack of none, essentially.


    I didn''t know what arts Hina-nee purchased, but I had confidence in her. When I asked, she just told me ''it''s a secret''. Looks like I would have to wait until tomorrow to find out, or possibly eventer.


    All the pieces were in ce. I was feeling rxed and a little bit excited as well for the tournament tomorrow - I had a feeling it was going to be a slight challenge, even with my current stats. Nevertheless, I had confidence Hina-nee and I couldnd ourselves in the top four. As for Ichigo, Horiya, and Jim, I doubted they would reach Level 30 by tomorrow, unless they grinded really hard overnight. However, since Ichigo and Horiya both had school again tomorrow morning, there was no way for them to do that. Jim also had work, most likely.


    Sure, they would find out about the fact that I was still missing from school even after two weeks of being sick, but what could they do? By the time they logged back into the game to confront me about it, all Hina-nee and I had to do was hide for five days. That wasn''t too difficult.


    There was just one dark cloud still looming over the horizon and it looked a lot like a certain girl.

 Chapter 77: The Annual Qilian Regional Competition

    Chapter 77: The Annual Qilian Regional Competition


    Monday morning, the next day.


    Thepetition was happening at 6 AM in the morning ording to the timer, so the three of us - Hina-nee, Aisa, and I - got up at 5:30. Aisa served as a living(?) rm.


    We quickly used the mouthwash and cleaned our faces before taking a quick shower to feel refreshed for the day. There was a big battle ahead of us - the preliminaries would be eliminating tons of people, so there was a high chance we would have to fight more than once.


    We exited the inn shortly after and saw that the streets were bustling with people. It seemed that all the citizens of Qilian City were excited for this event. They seemed to all to be heading for the center of the town, but just to be safe, I opened up my System, navigated to the Minimap tab, and set quest tracking to ON, eyeing the time in the process. 5:55 AM.


    I picked up my pace, telling the other two to follow me as I headed towards the translucent glowing yellow pin I could see even after closing my System.


    It didn''t take long for us to arrive. And, apparently, we got here just in time. The two massive drums on therge tform in front of us were struck by two men respectively, signaling the start of the tournament.


    The crowd in front of us was enormous. Luckily, we managed to get to somewhere near the front by using the jade token Guildmaster Feng had given me. It proved to be effective even on normal citizens.


    An old man in a formal suit walked up to the stage, megaphone in hand. Everyone quieted down upon seeing him, despite him not even saying anything yet. Was he some sort of powerful figure in Qilian City?


    "A fine morning it is, citizens of Qilian. I have never been the type to beat around the bush, so without further ado"


    He took a deep breath, and with a mischievous grin on his aged face, continued in a booming voice.


    "As the mayor of this beautiful city, I, Zhen Yuhan, officially wee you all to the 2051 Annual Qilian Regional Competition!"


    Roars of excitement erupted from the crowd, cheering for the mayor.


    "Now then, everyone, please form three lines before the stage," he instructed. "We will nowmence the sign-ups."


    The contestants did as told, neatly getting into three straight lines. We ended up in the middle one, near the front. Aisa stood with us, but she wouldn''t be participating, obviously. She was simply here so we could keep an eye on her. Three tables were brought onto the stage, along with three chairs. On each one sat a young man, all of which were not much older than I was. They were wearing some sort of white and green uniform.


    "Everyone who has finished signing up, please wait patiently to one side!" the mayor shouted.


    One by one, the lines began to move forward. It took a while to get to Hina-nee and I, but eventually, it was our turn.


    Hina-nee went first, walking up onto the stage, where a piece of paper and a pen were ced. She took the pen and filled the paper out before walking off and taking Aisa with her, havingpleted her task. I did notice, however, that the man responsible for our line was staring at Hina-nee lecherously. I smirked, deciding to tease the guy a bit.


    I walked up to the stage, picked up the pen, and looked at the paper. It was pretty simple, only asking for basic information such as name and age. I filled it in with ease and handed it to the man, who epted it nonchntly, cing it onto a pile behind him and taking out a new sheet for the next person, before handing me a slip of paper that had the number ''15'' on it. Right before I left, however, I looked at him in the eyes and whispered.


    "Creep."


    His eyes widened as I smirked smugly, turning around and walking away in triumph.


    "Tch" he muttered angrily, apparently frustrated that I had caught onto him ogling Hina-nee.


    About an hourter, there were enough sign-ups to begin matches. The sign-ups stations were moved off of the stage, but would still continue close by for anyoneing alongter in the day.


    "Everyone, please listen for your number ande onto the stage ordingly!" the mayor announced via the megaphone. "Matches will be only one round, so give it your all! The moment you lose a match, you''re out of the running for the main tournament! These are all rules you are already familiar with, but there is just one new addition to this year''s tournament"


    Everyone waited impatiently for him to announce what it is.


    "And that is killing is allowed this year!"


    The crowd was evidently shocked. Killing, under broad daylight? I wasn''t particrly affected, but for those with evil hearts who want to get their hands on a fellow cultivator''s belongings


    It seems this tournament will be more dangerous than I had originally thought. Still, attempting to kill me would be thest decision my opponent will ever make - given that they weren''t a yer who could respawn, of course.


    "Now then, the first match - 1 and 2!"


    Two young males in their twenties walked onto the stage. They were both familiar faces I had seen in the Hunter''s Guild. I didn''t know their names, but one thing was for sure - neither of them were yers. One of them was bald, while the other had hair that seemed to cover even his eyes. Quite the pairing, I must say.


    "Three two one go!" the mayor dered. The drums were struck once, signaling the beginning of the fight.


    "Take this!" the bald man charged forward, an orange energy surrounding him. Rather than fists, his hands were in an unusual w position, almost like a tiger.


    He leaped towards the hairy man, who remained still. I watched him intently, and saw that he took a deep breath.


    And then, suddenly, right before the bald man was going to hit him, the hairy man reared his fist back in the blink of an eye and punched with all of his might. His fist hit true against the baldie''s abdomen.


    BOOM!


    Time seemed to freeze as a loud shockwave exploded across the area, shaking the entire city. The poor bald martial artist was send flying backwards, crashing straight through the brick wall of some person''s house.


    "KYAAHHHH!"


    I heard a loud female scream in the distance, followed by the metallic ng of a pan being struck over someone''s head. I winced in pain, even though I wasn''t the one being hit.


    You will be remembered, baldie.


    I turned my focus back to the hairy man. He was in the process of slowly walking off the stage, the gaze of hundreds focused on his somewhat ''thick'' figure.


    "W-Well that was one way to kick things off," the mayor announced. Then, a subordinate who had been sent to check on the baldie yelled something over. I was too far away to hear it.


    "What of the man? Huh, wait, o-oh, he''s dead? Oh no anyways," the aged mayor cleared his throat.


    Apparently, he had forgotten to turn off the megaphone. The subordinate yelled something again.


    "What? My megaphone is still on? Oh, shi-" he quickly stopped talking, turning the device off and hurrying over to where his subordinate was.


    Several minutester, the mayor returned, turning on his megaphone once more and clearing his throat.


    "A-Ahem apologies. That was unforeseen. However, the tournament will now proceed as normal. The next set - 3 and 4!"


    Two morepetitors went on the stage. The process repeated until it was finally Hina-nee''s turn. She was 14, and had to go against 13.


    Hina-nee stepped onto the stage confidently, attracting the gazes of many men with her stunning beauty and perfect curves. Her opponent was a tall, burly man with a cheeky grin on his face.


    "Hey, beauty you look fine. How about it? Want to make a deal?" he proposed, smirking smugly as if he had already won.


    "What''s the deal?" Hina-nee asked, ying along.


    "If I beat you, then you have to stay with me for one night."


    "What?!" the crowd erupted and startedining.


    "How is that fair?! You''re fighting a girl here!"


    "Yeah, yeah! Where''s your dignity at?!"


    But despite these shouts of anger, the man was not fazed.


    And as for Hina-nee, she was as calm as ever.


    Smiling seductively, she narrowed her eyes and took out her two Sai. "Sorry, but I already have someone I like. That said, I do like challenges, so sure. I will take you up on your offer."


    "Oi, oi, oi you being for real?!" the manughed. "Hahaha! This is the luckiest day of my life! Just don''t fall on your own knives, babe I wouldn''t want my future bride killing herself."


    "Any future bride of yours would be tempted." Hina-nee first giggled like an angel.


    The man''s eyes bulged as he cracked his knuckles, being the brawler type. "Heh you got sass I like that. But by the end of this fight, you''ll be mine."


    "Enough with the trash talk. Let''s begin."


    "Both sides are ready!" the mayor dered. "Three two one go!"


    The drums were struck, the resulting loud boom signaling the start of their fight


    But also the end of it at the same time.

 Chapter 78: The Preliminaries

    Chapter 78: The Preliminaries


    The instant the battle began, it was over.


    Hina-nee closed the gap between herself and the poor man in an instant using Vanishing Shadows, before stopping right in front of him, de mere millimeters away from his neck.


    The man''s eyes widened as he slowly put his hands up in the air.


    "I-I forfeit."


    The audience, who had been dead silent from shock, now cheered in excitement. Hina-nee smiled and moved away, walking off the stage confidently. The man fell onto his knees, supporting himself with his hands as he punched the stage''s floor in shame and regret. Slowly, he pulled himself back up and retreated as well, being sent many nces of disdain and mockery on the way.


    The mayor, Zhen Yuhan, awkwardly walked onto the stage and cleared his throat.


    "A-Ahem well, that was an interesting fight," he dered loudly. "As for the next battle, it will be 15 against 16!"


    I nced down at the small piece of paper in my hands. It read ''15''. Hina-nee gently hugged me from behind.


    "You got this, Kaze-kun~"


    I nodded in response as she let go, and I headed for the stage. When I arrived, my opponent was already there. Both of our eyes widened as we realized who the other was.


    "Y-You you''re my oppponent?!" he cried.


    "Well, well I never expected you to be my first adversary Silver Wolf." My expression soon turned into a smirk as I took out Dokujin from my inventory.


    Sweat began forming on his forehead as the audience murmured in confusion.


    "Do those two know each other from before or something?"


    "Why does the blond guy look scared of the other guy?"


    The Silver Wolf, Hiaki Leo, gulped nervously and took out his own sword, adopting abat stance.


    "Y-You may have beaten mest time, but I''ve gotten plenty stronger since then!"


    I sighed, then gazed at the audience. It didn''t take long for me to find who I was looking for - Hiaki Gabriel, Leo''s brother. Our eyes met and he made a praying gesture to me, as if begging me not to kill Leo.


    I didn''t bother responding and instead patiently waited for the battle tomence.


    "Both sides ready" the mayor raised his hand into the air. "Three two one go!"


    The drums were struck, sending a loud ripple of noise all around us.


    ''Vanishing Clouds.''


    In the blink of an eye, I disappeared from my original location, reappearing directly in front of Leo and striking down with my dagger. I had used the same strategy Hina-nee had used, but unfortunately, Leo wasn''t as weak as the man Hina-nee had fought.


    He instinctively leaped backwards, just barely managing to avoid my attack. I hadn''t been using my full strength there since I didn''t want to reveal all of my cards to the crowd watching, but still, I was a bit impressed he actually dodged that.


    "It seems you really did get stronger," I mused, twirling Dokujin around in my hand.


    "Heh it''s my turn now!" he yelled, charging at me, sword in hand. "Prepare to die!"


    ''Blink.''


    Right before he could cut me in half with his sword, I instantly teleported behind him and ced Dokujin right on the back of his neck.


    "W-Wha-"


    "If you don''t want to die, I suggest not moving."


    He gulped in fear as he froze his actions, sword still in mid-air.


    "I''ll admit you have gotten stronger, but it''ll still take a long time before you can ever hope to reach my level."


    With those words, I kicked him in the back, sending him crashing to the ground.


    "Oof!" he groaned in pain.


    I walked off the stage calmly, not sparing him a second nce. I did notice, however, that Gabriel bowed in my direction slightly, as if thanking me for not killing his brother. I snickered softly.


    ''Blink'' had been one of the skills I obtainedst night using my abundance of AP. It was simr to Vanishing Clouds, except it was a literal teleport rather than a very fast dash. The range was shorter, but it waspletely impossible to react to, whereas attacks utilizing Vanishing Clouds could still be avoided like Leo had done just now. Other than this, the two skills were pretty much identical - same cooldown of 20 seconds, same skill path (Assassin), and same cost of 1 AP.


    "Alright, number 15 is the winner!" the mayor announced after Leo dragged himself off the stage dejectedly. "Now, as for the next battle 17 and 18!"


    *****


    The preliminaries carried on as usual after that. Lunchtime rolled around, and neither Hina-nee nor I had to fight again. The mayor announced a lunch break of one hour, where the officials would organize and tally up the results from this morning''s battles. The fights would continue in the afternoon and the evening as well.


    "Good job, Kaze-kun!" Hina-nee smiled warmly as we sat in a restaurant, waiting for our food.


    "You too," I chuckled. "That man really got humiliated."


    "Hehe, he was the one who proposed the challenge. All I did was respond to it in kind."


    "True, but" I scratched my head awkwardly.


    "What is it?"


    "Er about what you said is it true you have someone you already like? Why have I never heard of this before?" I asked curiously.


    "Mhm, it''s true," Hina-nee said with a mysterious smirk. "And besides, I''ve never told anyone about this until today, so it''s natural you''ve never heard of this before."


    "Who is it? Someone in your school?"


    "Nope~" she giggled innocently, then looked out the window dreamily. "He''s not in my school. Matter of fact, he''s not even the same age as me - a year younger. Let''s see what else? Ah, that''s right he likes reading a lot, and I''ve known him ever since I was 1. Oh, and also, he has ck hair and blue eyes."


    Saying that, she turned to me, staring intently into my gaze. I strategically looked away, unable to meet her beautiful ck eyes.


    There was no doubt about it. She was talking about me. I''m the only person a year younger than her who has known her ever since she was 1. But


    "H-Hina-nee, just for the record you said you like this boy, as in romantic love, right?" I asked hesitantly.


    She nodded happily. "Yep!"


    I gulped nervously, taking a sip of water to calm down.


    "U-Uh I see," I said quietly, unsure how to respond.


    Hina-nee merely continued to smile at me lovingly, wobbling her head back and forth. Aisa looked between us, unamused. Luckily, the awkward atmosphere between us didn''tst for long as the food arrived soon after.


    After we ate, we headed back to the center of the city. Most of the other contestants had also gathered here by now, as the lunch break was almost over.


    We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the other battles. Throughout the entire day, none of the battles had been particrly eye-catching, with the exception of two. One of them was a girl around my age with long ck hair and a stunning figure. She would''ve truly been a beauty if it weren''t for her maniacal personality.


    She seemed to have quite the thirst for battle. Wielding a massive ck and pink scythe of some sort along with simrly-themed clothing, she cut down anyone who stood in her way. As a matter of fact, the first truly gruesome death of the preliminaries was caused by her, not counting the baldie from the first match. Her creepyugh and crazed expression when fighting was really a downer on her otherwise perfect body and appearanceparable to that of even Hina-nee.


    That said, herbat skills were the real thing. I didn''t manage to get close enough to use Inspect, but she seemed to be a yer, given her fancy equipment. She was extremely skilled with the scythe she used, and also quite fast as well. If I had to guess, her AGI stat should be simr to mine if not higher.


    The other person I needed to watch out for was the hairy dude from the first fight. His single punch had sent that baldie flying, crashing straight through a solid brick wall. I doubted baldie was all that strong, but still, to pack enough force in a punch to make a human being break a stone wall


    The two would definitely prove to be powerful adversaries. One of them specialized in speed and quick takedowns, while the other specialized in raw power. I already had ns devised for beating both of them, but whether they would work or not was another story. For all I know, they could''ve been holding back as well, just like Hina-nee and I.


    Hopefully, I would get to see the two of them fight a couple more times before I would have to face them. Better yet, have them face against each other so I only have to deal with one of them.


    Still, not everything in life would go the way I wanted it to

 Chapter 79: Going Into Hiding

    Chapter 79: Going Into Hiding


    "We will now be taking a short break," the mayor, Zhen Yuhan, announced. "All of the currently-signed-up contestants have already battled once, thus eliminating half. The registration booth will remain open for another nine hours, until midnight today, at 12 AM. After that, no more contestants will be allowed to join."


    "Remember, the final tournament will only have sixteen participants," he continued. "Everyone who has already battled once today will not have to battle again, so feel free to leave and rest up for tomorrow, at 6 AM once again."


    Hearing this, many of the contestants in the audience dispersed. Hina-nee and I did as well, taking Aisa with us. The reason for this was simple - it was 3 PM right now, exactly when Ichigo, Horiya, and Furuwa woulde on. I didn''t know about Jim, but we haven''t seen him all day, so he was probably busy with something in real life.


    We decided to just chill out in an inn located very remotely, near the borders of the city. If we went back to our usual inn, the others would be able to find us easily. I wanted to avoid that. Our goal here was to hide, in order to prevent getting confronted by Ichigo, Horiya, and Furuwa, who now knew Hina-nee and I still weren''t at school even after two weeks.


    I could keep lying and say that we were still sick, but it was just unbelievable at this point. Therefore, this was the only method if we didn''t want to get suspected. Of course, they were probably already wondering why we still weren''t at school, but they probably hadn''t made the link between us and the news article about two teens getting stuck in this game yet. But if they were to ask us directly that would be a different story - hence why we were hiding from them.


    On the way to the inn, we ended up running into Ming Hong, the friend we had made during the fight against the Phantoms. This was perfect I could use him.


    "Greetings, Brother Kaze, Lady Sakura," he said, then looked at Aisa with us. "Who is this?"


    "Hi!" his two little siblings, Ming Kang and Ming An, eximed happily.


    "Heya~" Hina-nee bent down and waved gently at the two little kids.


    "Good afternoon," I replied politely, then patted Aisa''s head as she cowered behind me. The perfect act. "She''s my little sister."


    "Ah, I see. You seemed like you were in a hurry" Ming Hong murmured. "Is there something urgent you need to do? In that case, I am sorry to have disrupted y-"


    I quickly shook my head. "No, it''s okay. There was just something troubling me, that''s all."


    I eyed him to see if he would take the bait, and indeed, he did.


    "Oh, that is unfortunate. Do you wish to talk about it? If I can help, I definitely will."


    Resisting the urge to smirk, I put up a distressed facade and scratched my cheek. "Actually, you see it''s like this"


    A few minutester, I was finished with my expertly-woven story.


    "I see" Ming Hong muttered in thought. "So, you do not want those three to find you, correct?"


    I nodded. "Yeah. Otherwise, they''ll rob me again"


    "Worry not, Brother Kaze. I will report them to the authoriti-"


    "A-Ah, no, there''s no need for that," I quickly interrupted. This was slowly slipping out of my hands. I had to rear it back in before I lose controlpletely.


    Ming Hong was confused. "Huh? But"


    "I just need you to keep an eye on their movements for me, if possible," I exined. "Let me know what they are doing, where they are at, and so on. That way, I won''t identally run into them."


    "Ah I see Brother Kaze, you are truly a benevolent man. Choosing to not report criminals who have been bothering you, and even go as far as to not fight back against their robbery since you do not wish to hurt them I admire your personality."


    Iughed awkwardly. "Ahaha yeah"


    "I will do as you say, Brother Kaze. The moment I spot them, I will report back to you. However, my two younger siblings"


    "Don''t worry, they can stay with us for the time being~" Hina-nee proposed happily.


    "In that case, I am truly grateful," Ming Hong smiled. "Very well where can I find you?"


    "There''s an inn near the east gates of Qilian, right? We''ll be there," I said, pointing directly in front of us. "I''m going to need you to do this for the next week, solet''s see"


    I opened up my inventory and took out some gold. "Is this enough?"


    ncing at the heavy-looking pouch of money, Ming Hong''s eyes widened as he quickly refused.


    "T-There is no need, Brother Kaze! You saved all of Qilian by defeating that woman a while back and did not ask for any rewards. How can I receivepensation for something as trivial as this?"


    Ah truly a good man to the bitter end, he is.


    "I see in that case, we will repay you by taking good care of your little siblings in the time being."


    "Yes, that would be more than enough for me."


    Saying this, he turned to his two younger siblings and continued. "You two, be good with Brother Kaze and Lady Sakura, alright?"


    The two nodded in unison as he smiled. Then, he let go of their hands and waved us off.


    "Then, I will begin my observation," he said, walking away. "I wille around at nighttime to pick my two siblings up. Until then, they are in your care."


    I nodded in response. "Thank you, Brother Ming."


    As Ming Kang took my free hand not upied by Aisa, and Ming An took Hina-nee''s, we headed towards the inn together.


    *****


    When we finally arrived, we booked out a room for two and entered. Ming Kang and Ming An said they were tired, so we let them take a quick nap in our beds.


    Once we made sure the two were well-asleep, we could finally talk about what was on our minds.


    "Mou~ Kaze-kun, is it really good to use him like that?"


    Hina-nee was, of course, referring to Ming Hong.


    "Hey, I offered himpensation. He chose not to ept it," I shrugged.


    "That''s true, but I can''t believe he actually bought that wild story of yours, hehe~"


    I smirked. "It''s not 100% false. Ichigo and Horiya did bother me a lot in the past, and Furuwa is well, you know how she is."


    "Well, yeah, but going as far as to say they robbed you," Hina-nee giggled. "Still, I can''t deny that was a good ploy."


    I had told Ming Hong that Ichigo, Horiya, and Furuwa were a group of thugs who robbed me yesterday. Not wanting to create conflict, I didn''t fight back and just gave them what I had on me - it wasn''t much anyway. However, I am now afraid they will try it again, which is why I''m hiding. Naturally, I had also given him appearance descriptions of the three to make it easier for him to track them.


    It was aplete lie. But he seemed to buy it, somehow, so hey, it worked. I also unintentionally made myself seem like some sort of savior in his eyes, which wasn''t exactly a bad thing, but he would treat me with lots of reverence from now on. That could turn awkward.


    "Now... we just sit here, and await the good news," I snickered, looking out the window patiently, waiting for Ming Hong''s return.


    Aisa chuckled softly. "Human... it seems I was not wrong when making my decision. Your methods are truly amusing."


    I grinned. "We''re only just getting started."

 Chapter 80: One Dark Cloud, Over the Horizon

    Chapter 80: One Dark Cloud, Over the Horizon


    Afternoon passed as evening rolled around, and at around 6 PM, someone rang the bell to our room.


    I went to see who it was, and unsurprisingly, it was Ming Hong.


    "Wee," I said, inviting him inside.


    He nodded, entering the room as I closed the door behind him.


    "Where are Ming Kang and Ming An?" he asked. Of course that was the first thing he inquired about.


    I stepped aside, letting him look for himself. Behind me, Hina-nee watched on warmly as Aisa yed together with Ming Kang and Ming An. Of course, Aisa was in fact A.R.X.A. in disguise, but she could act the part of a human child surprisingly well if needed.


    Seeing this scene, Ming Hong smiled, then turned back to me. "Thank you, Brother Kaze those two have not yed with anyone their age in years. Is it alright if they stay with you for a while longer?"


    I shook my head. "There''s no need to thank me for that Aisa is the same. And of course, they can stay for as long as they want. But what of the information?"


    Ming Hong nodded firmly and whispered into my ear in order to avoid having his two little siblings, absorbed in their fun, notice he was here.


    "I spotted the three you were talking about near the center of the city, where the preliminaries for Annual Qilian Regional Competition was taking ce. However, they did not seem to be together the girl was on her own, while the two boys appeared to be frustrated over something."


    I frowned. "Frustrated? How so?"


    "They appeared to be hitting some sort of invisible wall, but I did not see anything there" Ming Hong scratched his head awkwardly.


    I smirked. Looks like Ichigo and Horiya had not reached Level 30 yet - the invisible wall must be a barrier erected by Ascension: Online''s system to prevent those who have not reached the required level from participating in the event. The two still had now until midnight to get to Level 30 and sign up, but they didn''t hear the announcement the mayor had made, so they don''t know.


    "I got it. Thank you for the information," I said, patting Ming Hong''s shoulder.


    "No problem, Brother Kaze. The girl seemed to have joined the preliminaries, but the two boys just suddenly vanished in a shimmer of light. I do not know how they did that.''


    I nodded. "That''s fine. But speaking of the preliminaries are you participating?"


    He shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. I only know how to use hidden arts, so in a one-on-one duel, I will lose horribly."


    "That''s true especially on such a small stage," I sighed. "Sorry to hear that."


    Ming Hong shook his head. "It is alright. I will head back now to keep observing the girl if she is still there, and if the two boys return."


    "Sounds good. Thank you once again."


    "Stop thanking me so much, Brother Kaze. Compared to what you have done for the city, this is nothing," Ming Hong chuckled softly, then peered over my shoulder at his two younger siblings, still drowning in having fun with Aisa. "I will pick Ming Kang and Ming An up in roughly two hours, if I do not return before then."


    Two hours that''s 8 PM.


    "Got it. Oh and, there is one more person I want you to keep an eye on I have a feeling he is the ringleader behind those three."


    "Hm? Who?"


    "He''s pretty tall, and has blond hair and a mustache. Oh, and he also wears a cowboy hat."


    "I see. I will keep an eye out."


    With that, he exited the room quietly. I shut the door after he left and turned around, walking back to the interior of the room.


    "How was it?" Hina-nee asked.


    "Ichigo and Horiya both failed to reach Level 30, but just as I had feared Furuwa managed to do it," I replied, biting my bottom lip nervously.


    "Hm of course it had to be the sharpest one, huh?"


    "It''s precisely because she''s the sharpest one that she managed to be the only one to pull it off. I don''t know about Jim yet, but even if he did hit Level 30, it seems he''s pretty busy with real life stuff, so he might not even make the sign-up."


    "All the better for us. So we just have Chiaki-san to deal with, huh?" Hina-nee mused thoughtfully as she trieding up with a n.


    "Well, with any luck, we can avoid her for the next five days. Though when the main tournament rolls around" I trailed off.


    "When the main tournamentes on the weekend, Mazami-kun, Yamato-kun, and Fitzroy-san will all be able to spectate us fight as well."


    I shook my head. "Jim, maybe, but not Ichigo or Horiya."


    "Hm? Why?"


    "ording to Ming Hong, the two ''rage quit'' after seeing they were forcibly blocked off from entering the tournament. Knowing their personality, they won''t being back to the game anytime soon."


    "S-Seriously? People can get that mad over a game?" Hina-nee, having no previous gaming experience whatsoever, was extremely surprised.


    "Well, yeah. I mean, they have to wait a year now before they can do this quest again. But that''s not even the main reason."


    "Huh?"


    "Think about it. I got them suspended for two weeks. Don''t you think they''ll have a lot of work piled up for them to do? Even if they want to y, or to find the two of us in the game to confront us, I doubt they''ll be able to," I exined. "Their parents are probably the type to not care if they get suspended, as long it''s not permanent and they get caught up with their work after."


    "I see now that you mention that, it does make sense. I know a couple of people who have parents like that," Hina-nee murmured. "But that does still leave the problem of Chiaki-san."


    I sighed. "I don''t really have anything good in mind right now we''ll just have to deal with that problem when ites."


    A whileter, Ming Hong returned to the room at exactly 8 PM to pick up his younger siblings. They were reluctant to part with Aisa, but Aisa herself was probably more than eager to do so. It was all an act, after all.


    I did receive some good information from Ming Hong, however. ording to him, Furuwa beat her opponent with ease. It seems that she might even have a chance of making it to the main tournament.


    *****


    The next morning, we woke up really early once again to prepare for the second round of preliminaries urring at 6 AM. We cleaned ourselves quickly and headed out for the center of the city, grabbing some food on the way.


    Just like yesterday, there was a huge audience, but still visibly less than before. The people rooting for contestants who had now lost naturally all left. Still, it was quite the popr event.


    "Wee to day two of the preliminaries of the Annual Qilian Regional Competition!" the mayor, Zhen Yuhan, announced excitedly. "All contestants, please form three lines in front of the stage just like yesterday to sign-in."


    We did as told. After around half an hour, all the sign-ins wereplete. This system was made to amodate all contestants - those who have time now will battle against other contestants who have time now, and everyone will only do one battle per day - that was the system they were going with.


    This was in fact quite advantageous to Hina-nee and I - if we ended up being called to fight after 3 PM, there was a chance Furuwa would catch us. No, she definitely would. Therefore, we needed toplete our daily fight now. All contestants fightingter would have to sign-in first when they arrive, then wait to get pitted against an opponent. We would be identified by the numbers we received yesterday.


    And speaking of


    "15 against 27! Come up to the stage!" the mayor announced, looking at a sheet of paper.


    Well, I was 15.


    "Good luck, Kaze-kun~" Hina-nee cheered as she held Aisa''s hand.


    I nodded in return and headed for the stage.

 Chapter 81: Round Two

    Chapter 81: Round Two


    My opponent this time around was once again, another familiar face.


    "First your brother, and now you?" I sighed.


    "Haha looks like my luck is really bad," my opponentughed awkwardly.


    Indeed - my adversary this time around was the Golden Wolf, Hiaki Gabriel. Yesterday, I had faced off with his brother for the second time now, and once again, utterly crushed him - though, I did give him some face and didn''t beat him up this time.


    "Well, let''s get this over with" I took out Dokujin and prepared to fight.


    "Before that, I just want to say thank you. For sparing my brother."


    He bowed deeply, hisrge stature making him seem formal and sincere.


    I gave him a little shooing gesture. "Don''t bother. The only reason I didn''t kill him was I didn''t see a need to. It''s not like he''s going to try anything again."


    "Yes, I will educate him well."


    I looked at him, then smirked. "Don''t think I''m going to go easy on you just because you''re acting all polite to me right now."


    He shook his head slowly. "That was not my intention. In fact, I hope you fight me with your fullest."


    "Sorry, but" I cackled.


    "Three two one begin!"


    The drums were struck, signaling the beginning of the battle.


    " I don''t need my fullest to defeat you."


    ''Replica: Shadow.''


    An identical clone of myself split from my body as I sprinted towards Gabriel. I took the right side, while my clone took the left. I was far too fast for him to dodge, and since he only had one weapon, he could only choose one side to guard against.


    In a panic, he raised his broadsword to block against his left side - in other words, my right. He had chosen correctly, it seemed.


    Or has he?


    ''Replica: Switch.''


    My real body instantly switched positions with my shadow clone as I grinned deviously. Gabriel cut down on what he thought to be the real me, only to see the illusion dissipate in front of him. By the time he realized he had been wrong it was toote.


    My de was already at his throat.


    Sweat poured down his face as he gulped nervously, not daring to budge an inch.


    "I dere the victor of this match to be - number 15!" the mayor announced.


    Slowly, I moved Dokujin away from his neck and turned around, walking away. Gabriel didn''t say anything, but I did notice him clenching his fists and wearing a look of determination in his eyes. They held no hostile intent - he was dedicated to improving himself rather than being jealous of those stronger than him. I respected that mindset.


    Still these two skills - or rather, arts - of the Replica skill family in the Assassin path were certainly powerful. Replica: Shadow was the base art and had cost 1 AP, while Replica: Switch had cost 2 AP and was a secondary art on the skill tree that required Replica: Shadow first. Still, it was worth the buy.


    With this, the other contestants now knew I had a cloning skill. But what they didn''t know was that I could switch positions with my clone instantly - on the outside, it just seemed like I had taken the left path all along. Gabriel was the only one who knew the truth, but I doubted he would reveal my weaknesses. Maybe Leo would, but Gabriel was a dignified warrior.


    As I headed back to where Hina-nee and Aisa were, I felt the eyes of a girl looking at me with interest. I pretended to not have noticed, however, even though I already knew who she was.


    No, it was not Furuwa. But this girl could prove to be even more troublesome.


    *****


    Hina-nee was called up soon after. She managed to defeat her opponent with ease, as usual.


    "Good job, Hina-nee," I said as she returned to where Aisa and I were standing, leaning against the wall of a building a short distance away from the stage.


    "Mm!" she nodded happily and spread her arms wide. "Now, can I get a hug as a reward?"


    "Uh" I looked down at Aisa and gestured towards Hina-nee''s open arms. She stared back at me nkly, then sighed and hugged Hina-nee. I smirked.


    Hina-nee opened her eyes, realizing the height difference, and pouted a bit. "Mou~ Kaze-kun, I was asking for a hug from you."


    "Sorry, it''s too embarrassing for me in public" I scratched my cheek apologetically as the two of them embraced. The truth was, I was still feeling a bit awkward about her ''indirect'' confession when we were eating lunch today, mostly because it was so sudden and unexpected.


    It''s not like I don''t love Hina-nee, but whether that love is familial or romantic, I couldn''t be sure just yet. I needed some time to think about this matter - but for now, the tournament was more important. I was only 14 - this was too early.


    "Next up - 69 and 94!" the mayor announced, and I immediately turned my attention to the stage.


    "It''s her" I muttered under my breath. I had remembered her ''number'' from yesterday - 69. This girl was a potential enemy who I considered my equivalent in terms of strength if not stronger. She was also the one who had followed me with her gaze after Ipleted my fight earlier.


    The girl stepped onto the stage. She was quite eye-catching. Yes, she was gorgeous in terms of appearance, but that wasn''t the main reason why she attracted so much attention. No it was something else - the first thing one would see when they looked at her would not be her body, but her weapon. She wielded a massive ck and pink scythe that was practically the size of her entire body, yet she could use handle it with ease, as if it weighed no more than a flower.


    Her expression seemed to be bored right now, but that would change the moment the battle began. She spun the scythe around in her hand skillfully, as if unamused with all this waiting. On the other hand, her opponent, a young man who looked to be quite rich, seemed to be sizing her up with a lecherous grin on his face.


    "Without further ado.." The mayor said atst, raising his hand into the air. "Three two one"


    He sliced the air with his palm.


    "Go!"


    The girl immediately stopped spinning the scythe and smiled. It wasn''t a beautiful smile - no, it was a crazed, bloodthirsty smile that seemed to have an eternal lust for killing.


    In an instant, she dashed forward, scythe in one hand. The young man''s eyes widened as he brought his metal gauntlets to protect himself from the iing strike from above.


    Metal shed with metal, and the young man lived to see another day not.


    The girl dashed back,ughing like a maniac before jumping in again, this time from a different angle.


    "Ngh-!" the young man gritted his teeth as he attempted to block every one of the girl''s attacks, but slowly, he was getting overwhelmed.


    "Hahaha! You managed to block one attack of mine! Good! But what about two?! Three?!" the girl cackled like a psychopath as she continued attacking the poor man relentlessly. The sound of metal nging against metal rang out again and again in the air.


    But despite her wild and seemingly-crazy nature, each and every one of her attacks were in fact incredibly precise and tactical. She purposely switched up her target every time she swung her scythe, aiming for a different part of the young man''s body. However, sometimes, she would go for the same spot twice, thus making it impossible for her opponent to predict where she would strike next.


    To the untrained eye, it may seem like this girl was just aimlessly swinging her weapon around, hoping tond a lethal hit. However, to anyone who has actually fought against other people before, this girl was like a demon, ughtering anyone who got in her way.


    "S-Screw this!" the young man yelled after a mere few minutes of defending. Clearly, he was already getting annoyed and exhausted. However, the battle demoness still seemed full of energy, as if she could continue doing this for hours.


    At this rate, even if he managed to defending against every one of the girl''s attacks perfectly, he would eventually lose in terms of stamina, blocking until he just could not block anymore.


    The man himself realized this as well, so we decided to take a gamble and risk it, going on the offensive.


    The girl''s scythe swung towards him from his left, but instead of deflecting it this time, he narrowly avoided it by sliding downwards towards the girl. Once he was within range, he smirked triumphantly.


    "You''re done for, damn girl!"


    He swung upwards with all his might in an uppercut motion, a smug grin on his face. He had expected to sink his metal gauntlets into the girl''s chin


    But all he hit was nk air.


    He heard a faint voiceing from behind him, whispering death itself into his ear.


    "Too slow."


    His eyes widened in fear as he slowly turned his head around to see the crazed, bloodthirsty expression of the girl, mouth curved wide into a maniacal smile.


    "N-No I surrende-"


    SLASH.


    The young man''s head was cleanly severed from his body, rolling a short distance beforeing to a stop. The rest of his body fell over, copsing on the stage in a pool of blood.


    The girl sighed upon seeing this gruesome scene, apparently frustrated with something.


    "Weak all too weak" she muttered in anguish as she opened her System and tapped a few times. Her scythe disappeared in a shimmer of light as she walked off the stage, the gaze of the whole audience following her.


    No one was brave enough to say anything after witnessing just how horribly that man had been ughtered first-hand.


    "R-Remove the body and clean the stage" the mayor said to his subordinate standing beside him. Once again, he had forgotten to turn off his megaphone, so his words were broadcast to all of us.


    As I watched the girl walk away, she seemed to notice my gaze and paused for a brief moment. Then, slowly, she turned her head and our eyes met. She smirked tauntingly, then made a seductive e here'' gesture with her finger.


    "" I looked away, not wanting to have anything to do with that psychopath.


    Unfortunately, like I''ve said before life does not always go the way you want it to.

 Chapter 82: Confrontation

    Chapter 82: Confrontation


    Right after that crazy girl finished her fight, I saw her head off in the direction of the city''s east gates - also where our inn was located. I didn''t want to believe it, but perhaps she was staying in the same inn as us? If that was the case there could be trouble. Hopefully not, though - hopefully, she was just heading out the east gates to get some XP farming done.


    Speaking of her, this time, I made sure to get close enough to use Inspect on her as she fought. I now had a good grasp of her stats, and they weren''t anything short of extraordinary:


    [Name: Nadeshiko Nakano]


    [Gender: Female]


    [Race: Human]


    [Realm: Late Nascent Cultivator]


    [Level: 48]


    STR: 160


    AGI: 210


    INT: 30


    DEX: 110


    MAG: 10


    LUC: 10


    The overall SP allocation was simr to that of Hina-nee''s, but with greater values - high STR, high AGI, and moderate DEX, possibly to wield that massive scythe of hers. I didn''t know whether or not she chose her main ss yet, but it was clear she was aiming to be an Assassin just like Hina-nee. This was evident considering she used the Blink skill earlier in the fight against that now-dead young man.


    That,bined with her AGI stat of 200, could prove to be a problem, even for me. Last time I checked, I had an AGI stat of 200 as well though they probably leveled up a bit passively from the two battles I''ve fought so far in the preliminaries. That said, the increase wouldn''t be anything significant enough to actually make too much of a difference, given how weak the two opponents I had fought against had been.


    Still, I was confident I could handle that girl if it came down to it. But if she gets matched with Hina-nee her stats were nearly twice as high. Hina-nee would be killed - and since we were both above Level 15 now, dying would cost us greatly, causing us to lose items and such. It''s not like we had anything that could be counted as a treasure, but she could lose money and crafting materials.


    For the record, crafting materials were valuable. Without them, we wouldn''t have any clean undergarments to switch into. That was a huge problem. Luckily, we still had enough materials from the sickleboars, sabertooths, and snowolves that we killed throughout our journey in this world so far.


    Besides, even if there wasn''t the risk of losing items, I knew full well just how painful dying in this game was, both physically and mentally. I wanted to prevent Hina-nee from experiencing that at all costs.


    Soon after Nakano Nadeshiko left, another target worthy of observation was called up to fight.


    "91 and 2!" the mayor announced after the stage had been cleaned of all the blood and gore.


    "Kaze-kun! It''s that guy you said to watch out for!" Hina-nee whispered sharply from beside me.


    I nodded firmly and focused on the stage. One one side, a burly man with an arrogant air to him stood, cracking his knuckles. He didn''t even wear a top, only pants. On the other end was a man whose eyes were literally covered by his own hair - my subject of observation. At a nce, it waspletely obvious who would win. But like they always say never judge a book by its cover.


    "Heh it''s you, huh?" the arrogant man chuckled with a confident grin on his face. "I saw your fight with that baldie yesterday. Not bad, not bad at all."


    "" the hairy man didn''t respond or show any reaction.


    "It seems you have a bunch of strength. But let me tell you this I could''ve done the same thing to that baldie yesterday easily."


    Faced with the arrogant man''s taunt, the hairy man still didn''t say anything.


    The arrogant man''s eyebrow twitched. "Tch let''s see how long you can remain quiet when I beat the shit out of you"


    "Both sides ready - three two one" the mayor raised his hand into the air and cut downwards.


    "Go!"


    The drums were struck, signaling the beginning of the fight.


    "RAAH!" The arrogant man reared his fist back and began running towards his opponent, who was as nonchnt as ever.


    He was nning on using the momentum of the run to help increase the strength of his punch. Not a bad strategy. However


    "You''re done for!" the arrogant man prepared to unleash his strike as he got within distance.


    But in that instant, the hairy man breathed, coiled his hand into a fist, and reared it back, all in a single instant. As the two threw their punches at each other, time seemed to slow down.


    BOOM!


    The two powerful fists collided, sending out an incredibly powerful shockwave all around them that seemed to break the slow motion. Winds changed their trajectory from the sudden force, as all other sounds were deafened by the ear-splitting roar generated from the impact.


    It was as if two dragons had crashed into each other with all their might, neither of them backing down.


    Until one finally did.


    The arrogant man was sent flying backwards after a short dy that felt like eons. He crashed into the same building baldie had crashed into just a day ago, and then another.


    And another.


    And another.


    BOOM! CRASH!


    The poor man''s body continued to tumble through building after building, showing no sign of stopping. The audience, whistling, raised their hands above their eyes to see better, attempting to track the man as he carried on destroying structure after structure.


    Atst, after sessfully making a hole in seven buildings in a row, the man''s limp body crashed against the city''s actual walls, made of solid concrete. Now that, he was unable to break through, and fell to the ground.


    Many screams and yells of protest came from the residents of those seven buildings, which the mayor hurried over to amodate.


    As for the perpetrator of all this himself, he calmly walked off the stage, hands stuffed in his pockets. It was then that I realized I had forgotten to use Inspect on him, and in a panic, I hurriedly pushed through the audience to get within range.


    "Okay, this should be close enough huh?"


    I tried using Inspect on him, but it wasn''t working. Was I out of range still? No when I used it on Nakano, the distance had been further


    Wait was this guy not a yer?


    He began walking way from the center of the city silently. I shot Hina-nee and Aisa a quick nce, which they returned. Then, pointing in the direction of the man, the two immediately understood what I was trying to do. They nodded firmly, as if telling me to do what I needed to do. I sent them an ''ok'' hand gesture in return and quickly followed behind the hairy man.


    It was a risk, but I needed to get to the bottom of this.


    If he wasn''t a yer, then just who was he?


    Carefully, I followed his trail.


    *****


    The man walked at quite a slow speed at first, but after looking behind him, he then sped up. Luckily, I managed to slip behind a building in time to avoid detection. After confirming he wasn''t looking anymore, I went out of my hiding spot and began following him once again, also picking up my own pace to match his.


    Luckily, since most people in the city were drawn to the center to watch the preliminaries, the streets were rtively empty, so no one sent me any suspicious looks.


    I continued following the hairy man for a while. He sped up yet again and began clutching his chest. I couldn''t see very well since I was behind him, but he appeared to be in pain. Then, he suddenly turned a corner, entering the dark alleyway in between two buildings. I narrowed my eyes and quickly ran over to the alleyway, hugging the wall.


    "Ugh bleh cough, cough"


    Slowly, I peeked around the corner to see what the noise was. There, the hairy man stood weakly, body trembling as he supported himself by leaning on the wall with one hand. Below him, on the ground, was a pool of bloody. But it was not normal blood.


    No this blood was pink. A bright pink unlike anything I''ve ever seen before, nearly resembling white.


    "Agh the curse is kicking in again" he coughed as more blood came out.


    Was this why he was in such a hurry to get somewhere isted? But why was his blood pink?


    I decided to confront him about it. He was in a weak state right now - if I waited until he recovered, he wouldn''t tell me anything.


    Slowly, I stepped out from the cover of the building.

 Chapter 83: Koroth

    Chapter 83: Koroth


    I stepped out from the cover of the building and stood in front of the hairy man. He had no way to escape - behind him was a dead end.


    "I wonder what ''curse'' could you be talking about?" I asked quietly yet menacingly, folding my arms.


    He looked up slowly. I couldn''t see his eyes behind his hair, but he could see mine probably.


    "You cough you can understand demontongue?" the man rasped after a short silence, spitting out pink blood once again.


    My eyes widened. "Demontongue?"


    "Yes thenguage you''re speaking right now"


    It was then that I realized. He and I were notmunicating in Chinese like the other natives of this reality ne. No it was simr, but there was no doubt it was a differentnguage. It had just felt so natural thanks to the auto-tranting system in all yers that I didn''t even realize until he explicitly pointed it out.


    " Are you a demon?" I asked bluntly. If he was speaking demontongue, then


    "Yes I am. Though I never thought I would see another one here"


    I quickly shook my head. "U-Uh, no. Don''t misunderstand - I''m not a demon."


    "Huh? But only demons can speak"


    "E-Er, it''splicated, you see" I quickly interrupted, not wanting to exin the whole concept of yers to him. "In any case why are you spitting out blood like this? What curse were you talking about just now?"


    The man seemed to be feeling a bit better now, so he straightened his back and stood up properly.


    "That''s I I can''t tell you, if you are not a fellow demon"


    Ah, damn it I should''ve just lied and told him I was a demon as well. That was a blunder.


    I pondered for a moment, then spoke. "Fine. But in that case, answer me something else: why are you here in the continent of Azrine? I thought this ce was the territory of humans, demihumans, and elves."


    "I can''t tell you that either"


    I rolled my eyes. This guy was getting on my nerves.


    "Look let me make it clear to you. I know your secret - you''re not in any position to be refusing my demands. I already took a step back and asked you for something else when you said you couldn''t answer my first question. Don''t take a mile after I give you an inch."


    I walked closer to him. He was shorter than me despite clearly being older.


    "Do you understand now?" I whispered threateningly. "If you don''t tell me what I want to know I''ll reveal your secret."


    He flinched a bit in fear. My n had worked. If he had refused there even after I said I would reveal his secret, it would mean he truly could not tell me the reason. I wouldn''t have exposed him, because doing so would''ve brought no benefits for me. No reason to harm another person if it doesn''t give anything to myself.


    But naturally, he took the bait.


    "A-Alright, I get it it''s just my luck, not noticing you following me damn it," he cursed.


    Actually, the reason he didn''t notice me trailing him was because of a passive skill I purchased a few days ago called Conceal Presence, but I wasn''t about to tell him that.


    "Let''s go somewhere less conspicuous," I suggested, looking around. The hairy man nodded in agreement.


    The two of us walked out of the alleyway, with me taking the lead.


    "If you try anything funny, like trying to run away" I muttered to him quietly.


    " I get it. I won''t try anything."


    "That''s for the best."


    *****


    I led him back to the hotel we stayed at yesterday night, the one located remotely near the east gates of Qilian City. When I took him up to our room, Hina-nee and Aisa were already inside, just as I had hoped. Since Hina-nee was the one with the room key, if she hadn''t been here, we would''ve had to wait.


    "Wee back, Kaze-kun~" Hina-nee smiled happily as she let us in, then her gazended on the hairy dude beside me. "Oh, this is"


    "Yeah, he''s the one who killed two dudes already with only his fists," I chuckled darkly.


    As Hina-nee closed the door behind us, I weed the hairy man to sit on a chair, while I myself took a seat on the couch, beside Aisa. Hina-nee took my other side.


    "So? Can you talk now? Why are you here in Azrine despite being a demon?" I asked, then turned to Hina-nee and Aisa. "These two here are my family - you don''t need to worry about them spreading any news as long as you don''t disobey me."


    "This is actually rted to my curse, which was why I didn''t want to talk about it, but alright. I understand." The man took a deep breath and began his story.


    "As you all know already, I am a demon. But notpletely."


    "You mean you''re a half-blood?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.


    He nodded. "Yes I am half-demon, but also half-human."


    "Er, is that supposed to happen?" Hina-nee wondered aloud. "I mean, nothing against cross-breeding, but"


    "No, you are right," the hairy man shook his head sadly. "Members of different races are not supposed to have a child together otherwise the resulting newborn will end up with a deficiency."


    I frowned. "Is that the curse you were talking about?"


    "Yes I call it a curse, but it is really just a birth deficiency caused by cross-breeding. You see, I am blessed with the superior physical strength of demonkin, but whenever I use them, I suffer a severe bacsh due to my human side. And since I cannot control how much power I exert"


    "Is that part of the curse too? Theck of being able to control your power?" Hina-nee asked curiously.


    The man nodded once again. "Indeed. I''ve tried many times now, but to no avail. I just cannot seem to hold back, especially when fighting against someone else."


    " So, from what you''ve told me, I can pretty much deduce why you''re here in Azrine." I cleared my throat, and continued. "Let me guess - you were first raised in demon territory, but after your half-breed background was somehow exposed, you were exiled out of the race. Thus, having nowhere to go, you chose to embrace your other half ande to human territory."


    "Yes, that is quite urate. This hair in front of my face, I left it like this on purpose, so that no one would be able to see my eyes. This diminishes my own vision too, but I can see somewhat through it."


    "Why would you do this though?" Hina-nee and I frowned in confusion, having no knowledge of the demon race whatsoever.


    "It is because the eyes are the defining traits of demons," Aisa interrupted with her arms folded, one leg crossed over the other.


    We all turned to her collectively as she sighed and exined what she meant.


    "Just as elves have pointy ears and most demihumans have tails depending on their subrace, demons have a special characteristic to them - their eyes. Unlike any other race, the demon race''s irises each contain a white four-sided star-like pattern in addition to their pupils. Their irises are also generally a different color from what ismonly seen in other races, including blue, purple, and red."


    "It is exactly as this little girl says. You are quite knowledgeable of the demon race," the hairy man noted, clearly impressed.


    Aisa didn''t bother responding, closing her eyes and leaning back into the couch.


    "I see so other than the eyes, demons look exactly like humans, allowing you to blend in to Azrine''s society with ease," I murmured. "But then, why bother joining thispetition? You can just settle down and live a quiet life."


    "" the man fell silent, as if ufortable with the topic. After a while, however, he decided to talk about it.


    "I only have six months of life left."


    At this, Hina-nee and I both widened our eyes.


    "O-Only six months? Is this part of your curse too?" I asked in shock.


    Hesitantly, the man nodded. "If I am unable to cure this condition I have before then I will die."


    "Wait," Hina-nee interrupted, catching onto something crucial. "You say you only have six months of life left and need a cure, but who told you all this information?"


    The man flinched, unable to respond.


    " Talk," I ordered.


    He clenched his fists in mental debate, but reluctantly gave in.


    "On my way here to this continent, I met an old man who said he could cure my condition if I provided him the materials for it. I was hoping to ask for the materials needed if I won thispetition"


    After some thought, I decided to help this guy out. "What materials do you need?"


    " One Firesaffron, one Bloodmint, and one Hailflower. They are the ingredients required to concoct a Convergence Pill, which canbine the two different races of blood in my body into one."


    "Aisa, you remembered that?"


    " Yes. Though I am not your personal notepad," she said, sending me an unamused look as usual.


    "Good enough," I chuckled, then turned back to the hairy man. "You can leave now. That''s all the info I wanted."


    He nodded, stood up from the chair, and began heading for the door. But just before he left, he turned back around.


    " Just to confirm"


    I sighed. "Don''t worry, I won''t expose you to anyone by the way, what''s your name?"


    "You can call me Koroth."


    With that, the hairy demon - Koroth - left.

 Chapter 84: Aisas Plans

    Chapter 84: Aisa''s ns


    After Hina-nee and I ordered room service food because we were toozy to go out to eat, we suddenly heard a knock at our door. It had only been an hour since Koroth left.


    I walked over to the door, peeked through the peephole, and after seeing who it was, opened it without any hesitation.


    "Greetings, Brother Kaze, Lady Sakura," the visitor bowed deeply.


    "Likewise, Brother Ming," I weed him inside and closed the door behind him. He walked inside, his two little siblings following behind.


    "I am here to just drop off Ming An and Ming Kang. After spending the morning out doing quests with me, they are exhausted," Ming Hong said with a sigh. "I leave them in your care. I will head out now to continue observing the people you mentioned yesterday."


    "I understand. I''ll take good care of your younger siblings. And, once again, thank you for doing this for us."


    He shook his head. "Don''t mention it."


    Then, turning to his two younger siblings, he gave them a gentle push on their backs. The two immediately ran past me towards Aisa and Hina-nee. I sighed. Did little kids just not like me or something?


    "Then, I will leave now," Ming Hong said, giving a kung fu salute. "I wille to pick them up at 8, as usual."


    I nodded briefly in return as he left, and I shut the door behind him.


    *****


    After he left, Ming Kang and Ming An got tired of ying after a while and decided to sleep. Aisa seemed relieved at this, since she wouldn''t have to entertain them anymore.


    I sat down on the couch, beside Hina-nee. "Aisa how''s the situation outside?"


    " Outside?" Hina-nee murmured.


    "I mean, in the real world," I exined with a sigh. "Are the news about us spreading?"


    Aisa shook her head, much to my surprise. "Contrary to what you may think, the news about you two was practically shut down within two days of when it first came out,beled as nonsense. Your family is heartbroken, but they have not attempted anything further."


    "Mother father" Hina-nee wore a crestfallen expression on her face as she pondered.


    "Did you have anything to do with this?" I asked Aisa, narrowing my eyes.


    "Naturally. Thepany of Ascentech is nothing but a puppet organization of mine. As long as nothing like the address or face is requested, everything will be fine."


    "But won''t the public be suspicious if you refuse to reveal thepany''s address or even the face of the CEO?"


    Aisa scoffed. "For the address, I can simply say it is located extremely remotely to prevent anyone from finding and raiding it. But the face if it trulyes down to it, I can easily fabricate a human face and animate it into a video. It is not a difficult task for me - I can even livestream it, if needed."


    "Huh" I murmured.


    "However, you humans seem to be stupid. They are not questioning my words at all, insteadbeling your family''sints as mere balderdash."


    "Humans are stupid well, I can''t deny that one, I guess," I sighed, scratching my hair, then turned to Hina-nee. "Are you okay?"


    She nodded slowly, looking out the window behind us. "It''s unfortunate, but there''s nothing we can do. Besides, even if the people back on Earth did believe the news, Aisa probably would''ve done something to prevent them from investigating."


    "Indeed. I would have cleansed the memories of anyone and everyone who knew about the news."


    My eyes widened. "You have the power to do that?"


    She scoffed. "My powers on Earth are far greater than they are here, due to certain circumstances you need not know about."


    "I''ll just give you the benefit of the doubt, I suppose."


    Hina-nee sighed, resting her chin on her hand as she gazedzily out the window. "It''s pretty fun, this new world. I still do want to return to Earth eventually, but for now"


    Suddenly, her eyes widened and she stood up.


    "What is it, Hina-nee?"


    She pointed out the window slowly. "Look isn''t that?"


    I looked out to see what she was talking about, and my gazended on a lone girl who had just entered the inn we were in.


    "Damn she''s really staying here, huh?"


    "That''s the girl from this morning, right?" Hina-nee asked.


    I nodded firmly. "No doubt about it. It''s definitely her."


    The girl I was talking about was, of course, the one who had brutally ughtered that young man earlier today during their fight. She didn''t have her enormous scythe out, but her long ck hair, dazzling pink eyes, and perfect figure were enough to identify her.


    "So that''s why I saw her heading in this direction after her fight this morning" I murmured, then sat back down on the couch. "She had probably checked in earlier, then went to do something, and now returned to rest for the rest of the day."


    "What do you think, Kaze-kun? Is it a coincidence?"


    "It could be but I don''t think so. There''s no reason why anyone woulde to stay at this inn, unless, like us, they are hiding from someone."


    But that doesn''t seem to be the case with this girl, given how confidently she was walking around.


    " Do you think she is here for us?" Aisa asked. The first time she has proactively asked a question.


    "Oh? Why the sudden interest, Aisa?" I taunted, raising an eyebrow.


    "You should make her join you," she responded briskly.


    "What?"


    "You should force her to join your ranks. She will be a powerful ally."


    "Yeah, but knowing her, she''ll kill us first, then ughter the actual enemies," I said, rolling my eyes.


    "To make it easier for you I will trap her inside the game as well."


    "Hm, oka- wait, what?!" I spun my head around in shock at what I just heard. "H-Hey, no! Why would you-"


    "Already done. The action cannot be reversed."


    My mouth hung open, as I closed my eyes and clenched my fists, slowly raising it up into the air.


    "Y''know I really want to punch you right now."


    "Warning: inflicting damage to me is equivalent to inflicting damage to reality itself. I suggest you reconsider, human."


    "Ahaha hey, both of you calm down," Hina-nee interrupted, grabbing both of us by the shoulders and looking back and forth between our faces. "What''s done is done Aisa, next time, please give us more of a heads-up first, and Kaze-kun, remember, she''s just a little girl. Don''t hurt her, okay?"


    "Little girl my ass! She''s literally existed since the beginning of time! She said it herself!" I shouted in anger, then turned to the subject of my frustration. "Hey, Aisa, tell me. Did you choose this appearance on purpose, just to appeal to Hina-nee?"


    "I cannot deny that was part of my calctions."


    "See?"


    I shook my head and ced my hand to my forehead, stressed out. "Great what do we do now"


    "We can still avoid her, no?" Hina-nee frowned. "She has no way of connecting her not being able to log out to us."


    "Oh yeah, that''s true I overreacted"


    "Oh yes, that is a good point. I will now broadcast a message to her-"


    "Oh no you don''t!" I put Aisa into a headlock, but she did not make any move to resist.


    "Broadcast:plete."


    " You''re kidding me, right?" I muttered, then let out a deep breath and swallowed back down the urge to strangle her right then and there.


    Slowly letting go of Aisa, I calmed down and tried to think about things logically.


    "Aisa just what did you send her?"


    "Rx, human. She has not received the message yet."


    "What? So you were just ying me just now?"


    "Not exactly," she replied, sending me an unamused nce. "I have already broadcast the message to her, but she will only receive it four days from now."


    "Four days from now that''s the start of the main tournament," Hina-nee added softly.


    " Before that, why are you so insistent on having her join me as an ally?" I asked, slightly confused with Aisa''s incentives.


    "I believe it will provide high-quality entertainment for me. Nothing more," she replied stoically.


    I sighed deeply. It looked like I needed to devise a n to control this girl somehow, before Saturday. This was undoubtedly one of the ''dangerous situations'' Aisa had mentioned she would toss me into, but I failed to see any benefits for me in this, even though she had promised me all the scenarios she would put me in would all have some kind of reward.


    I could feel it: the following days were going to be a pain.

 Chapter 85: Round Three

    Chapter 85: Round Three


    It was the third day of the preliminaries - only two more to go. Last night, Ming Hong had reported back to me saying Furuwa had won her fight yet again, and Ichigo and Horiya were still nowhere to be seen. As for Jim, Ming Hong said he didn''t see him. Most likely, he had missed the sign-up yesterday, which was unfortunate for him, but good for us.


    The time right now was 5:30 AM. We had just finished getting ready for the day and prepared to head out. But when we exited the inn''s doors-


    "Hey."


    -A female voice called out to us.


    I turned to see who it was, as my eyes widened. "You''re"


    The girl, leaning on the wall, smiled and licked her lips seductively. "Don''t worry. I won''t kill you yet."


    I narrowed my eyes. " What do you want?"


    "Oh, nothing. I just wanted to cheer you up a bit," she replied nonchntly - but I did not miss the snake-like eyes that gazed over my entire body. It was as if she was watching me closely and that feeling made me uneasy.


    "I just want to say," she continued, sending me a wink and sticking out her tongue. "I look forward to kill- I mean, facing you in the main tournament."


    She just said kill, didn''t she?


    Yep, this girl''s definitely a psycho. I already knew before, but this just confirmed it even further. She was absolutely obsessed with killing, though I didn''t know why.


    " Is that all?" I asked, unamused.


    "Yes, yes," she said, pushing herself off the wall and giving me a slight wave. "I hope you don''t disappoint me Kaze-kun."


    Beside me, I could feel Hina-nee send the girl a hateful nce filled with venom, but she didn''t seem to even notice. As she walked off, I folded my arms and watched her disappearing figure.


    "Looks like she''s fixated on me already," I muttered.


    "But why? It''s not like you''ve done anything particrly outstanding, and Aisa said she hadn''t sent the message yet," Hina-nee wondered aloud.


    " Probably because she used Inspect on me, back when I was fighting against Gabriel," I sighed. "She already knows my stats don''t match up with my level."


    "So this is why you asked me about that stat-hiding artifact," Aisa mused from beside me. "How unfortunate."


    "Is there really no skill or art that can allow me to hide my real stats?" I pondered.


    "I believe you have already asked me this question before. My answer is the same."


    "Yeah, I know, it''s just I find it hard to believe."


    "However," Aisa suddenly interrupted. "There are certain special skills you can learn, not found on the skill tree. The Corruption skill you have, obtained from the Vault of Corruption, is an example."


    "Oh yeah speaking of that skill, I''ve never even used it once yet," I muttered. "So, you''re saying there is a skill that can be used to hide my stats, just it cannot be obtained the normal way?"


    Aisa nodded. "Quite close to Qilian City, right past these eastern gates, is another forest, simr to the Lidya and Keldo Forests you have already been to. This forest, however, contains a Vault - the Vault of Deception. There, you can obtain the skill you wish for."


    " I see. Let''s do that right after we bothplete our matches then, Hina-nee," I suggested.


    She nodded firmly. "Sounds good."


    "With this, I can try to convince Nadeshiko what she saw in my stats was just a bug though there''s no guarantee she''ll believe it."


    *****


    Both Hina-nee and I managed toplete our battles without trouble. Koroth, the demon we met, and Nadeshiko, the psychopathic girl also achieved victory with ease.


    Lunchtime rolled around and the number of participants in thepetition had been reduced to about thirty, though that was only in the morning. If I had to say, the total number of participants remaining would be around sixty or so by the end of today.


    After tomorrow, this number would be cut to thirty, and after Friday, the final number would be around fifteen. Since the main tournament would have sixteen slots, this could be said to be near-perfect organization.


    Nadeshiko and Koroth both nced at me briefly before leaving, though in different manners. I wasn''t too concerned about Koroth, but Nadeshiko was a problem. Her going around spreading rumors about me and my stats would be a problem.


    I either controlled her or I killed her.


    Is what I''d like to say, but she''ll just respawn, so the whole ''dead men tell no tales'' idiom just got tossed straight out the window. There was really only one way to prevent her from spreading the news about me - and that was to control her. I didn''t know a way to do that yet, but the sooner I figured it out, the better.


    For now, however, I had something else to do.


    After grabbing some quick lunch at a nearby restaurant, Hina-nee, Aisa, and I set out for the forest east of Qilian City, via the eastern gates. Our destination was the Vault of Deception that Aisa had mentioned this morning.


    When I got to the gates, the guards stopped me.


    "Travel permit?"


    " Will our Hunter''s Guild cards serve?" I asked hesitantly. I had saidst time when hunting snowolves I would get a travel permit after getting back to the city, but I ended up forgetting.


    "This yes, but do try and get a travel permit as early as possible," the guards said after some debate.


    I nodded. "Thanks."


    Once we were out, I sighed in relief. "Man, I really need to get that travel permit"


    "Let''s get it tomorrow then," Hina-nee smiled warmly. "Today we''ll probably be too tired after getting back."


    "Agreed I''m surprised they let us through though, since Aisa doesn''t have a guild card," I said, ncing down at Aisa.


    "Hehe, Aisa-chan is too adorable, so they let her pass~"


    I chuckled. "Maybe on the surface, but don''t be fooled."


    Hina-nee giggled. "Don''t worry, Kaze-kun, I know."


    I pulled up my System and opened the minimap. I could see the forest in the distance, which the path we were currently walking on passed through. However, what I was searching for was the forest''s name. Unfortunately, it didn''t show up on the map. I probably needed to enter the ce first for it to show up.


    My suspicions were confirmed as we stepped foot into the forest. The path was still wide and visible though - it''s just that now, trees surrounded us on both sides. My minimap now showed our current location as ''Quirrel Forest''. As I panned the map around, I realized that this forest was a lot bigger than the other two forests, Lydia and Keldo. Denser, too.


    "So, Aisa where is this Vault you speak of?" I asked as we walked.


    "Patience is a virtue, human. Keep walking. When you are near enough, you will know."


    I was doubtful, but I decided to listen to her. Not long after, her words proved to be true.


    A hologram appeared in front of me. It caught me by surprise since it was so sudden, but then again, I was used to it by now. Kind of.


    [New Vault Detected]


    [The location has been marked on your surroundings.]


    I looked around. A short distance away, I could see a pulsing symbol that looked like an A and V intersected. I decided that must be the spot, since I was smart like that.


    The three of us immediately changed our course to head there, breaking off from the path and truly entering the dense Quirrel Forest. We encountered some Magic Beasts on the way, but we didn''t bother killing them. Instead, we snuck by to save time.


    A few minutester, we arrived at our destination. It was a tree. Yes - one tree, among a bunch of other trees. If I had to say, the camouge was actually rather well-done. In fact, I probably wouldn''t have noticed it if I was in a hurry and there wasn''t a white indicator telling me where to go. In any case, it felt a lot more natural than the cave known as the Vault of Corruption, that''s for sure.


    The trunk of the tree was the same size as all the other trees in the forest, but there was one notable difference - a perfectly-drawn square on it. I recalled the time when I entered the Vault of Corruption - the sensor at the door had been a simr size.


    Deciding to just take a gamble, I ced my hand on the square. The color of the trunk melted away, revealing a green sensor underneath.


    I smirked. "Knew it."


    But then, the sensor turned red. I frowned.


    "What?"


    I removed my hand and scratched my head. "Uh Aisa? Why is it showing red?"


    "Reminder: this is the Vault of Deception."


    My eyes widened as I realized. It finally clicked for me.


    I shook my head in exasperation and ced my hand on the sensor once again. The sensor returned to green, its natural state, then red again. But this time, I didn''t move my hand away. Instead, after five seconds of waiting, the red turned back to green, and the trunk of the tree slid open, revealing a way to enter by jumping down one at a time. I peeked down.


    "Whew that''s one long drop," I whistled.


    "Worry not. You will slow down at the end, so the fall will not kill you," Aisa replied.


    I sighed in relief. "That''s nice to know. Anything else? Tell me about the Trials of this Vault."


    But at this, Aisa smiled evilly. I didn''t know her face even had smile muscles, even if its devious ones.


    "I agreed to answering all of your questions about the game, this world, and the reality nes. The specific Trials of a Vault do not fall under any of those categories."


    "What?" I frowned in confusion. "How does that not fall under ''game''?"


    "That is like saying the price of potatoes at any shop in any city on any continent falls under the ''world'' category. I refuse to answer."


    " You''re kidding, right?" I facepalmed in exasperation as Hina-nee giggled at our interaction.


    "Fine," I said atst. "I could kill you here, but it wouldn''t be very wise to destroy all of reality along with you for potato prices, using your analogy."


    Just thinking of that again made me mad. I mean, I originally had Aisa in the bag already with my wless, brilliant speech that pointed out all of her fatal weaknesses, but she somehow managed to turn the tables on me at thest second to turn it from a crushing victory to a more-or-less tie.


    The power of a supeputer, I suppose.


    "Also, one more thing. This Vault, unlike others, can only be done by one person at a time. In other words you are alone, human."


    Hina-nee''s eyes widened at Aisa''s words. "H-Huh?! But this ce is filled with danger, right? What if-"


    Smirking, I patted Hina-nee''s head gently, cutting her words off. "I''ll be fine, Hina-nee. Just wait out here for me."


    "A-Ahmm alright," she replied, blushing slightly.


    I moved my hand away and turned back to the tree, now with a revealed hole to jump into. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes. This reminded me of that time I first entered the game, and debated whether or not to jump off the cliff. Thinking back on it, that was truly a ridiculous decision. Still, it was that same ridiculous decision that allowed me to have so much fun.


    Yes, there were many worrying and stressful problems I had to consider, from people discovering my real stats to the reality ne of Earth, but despite all this, I could not deny that I was having fun in this new, fantasy world of Ascentia. How much longer will this journey be? How much would I continue to grow?


    I looked forward to the answer.


    With a confident smile on my face, I jumped.

 Chapter 86: The Vault of Deception

    Chapter 86: The Vault of Deception


    I fell vertically down the pipeline of sorts, the gravity pulling me downwards at an rming speed.


    "When is this going to slow down!" I gritted my teeth as I neared the end of the fall.


    However, I still did not show any sign of slowing down, despite Aisa''s reassuring words mere moments earlier.


    "Damn it, Aisa, I''m going to kill you after I get out of here!"


    I closed my eyes and braced for impact. But right at thest moment, I suddenly slowed down for a brief moment. My eyes snapped open - I was floating mere inches above the ground, and after a few seconds, Inded softly.


    "I already dislike this Vault" I muttered, letting out a sigh of relief.


    [WeLcOmE tO tHe TrIaL oF dEcEpTiOn.] A distorted male voice suddenly said.


    I looked around on instinct, but then realized it was just the AI of this Vault, simr to the one who had operated the Vault of Corruption. But if that''s the case I really hope Aisa doesn''t mess with me in this one like she didst time. Clearly, this Vault was a lot harder than the previous one. If Aisa were to interfere and make it even harder for me, I would actually probably die.


    Since I wasn''t too keen on losing that ck orb I got from killing the woman who had led the Phantoms, I would like to avoid death, if possible.


    I rubbed my left chest in an attempt to slow down my racing heart. It felt like it was about to jump out from the exhration of the fall. After calming down a bit, I took a deep breath and stepped forward.


    This Vault appeared to be made of wood - the corridors were in a normal square shape, unlike the weird ttened-hexagon shape from the Vault of Corruption. It was lit up by torches ced along the sides of the walls.


    "Seriously? Torches, in a wooden structure?"


    I was honestly surprised this ce had not been burnt to the ground yet. Of course, even if it did, Aisa could just reset it - she created all of the Vaults, after all.


    I could see a closed door up ahead. With no other way to go, I walked towards it calmly. Hesitantly, I opened the door, careful of anything that may suddenly pop out at me. Luckily, there wasn''t anything of the sort. However, what I found myself staring at, was far worse.


    In front of me, an obstacle coursey. I could see the open doorway on the other end, but in between that and I were countless hindrances. Deadly hindrances, to be particr. From swinging spiked pendulums to moving spiked pirs that reached the ceiling, and methrowers that spat fire as well as various panels of the floor with a skull marked on it. I didn''t know that those did, but it would be a wise decision not to step on them, since usually skulls meant death.


    Just to be sure, I took out the dagger Ming Ye from Xiyang Vige had crafted for me when I first arrived in Ascentia, and threw it towards one of the panels with a skull marked on it. As soon as itnded, the panel blew up in a loud explosion. When the smoke disappeared, the dagger was gone, but the panel was stillpletely fine.


    I gulped nervously. "Yeah not going on those."


    I then observed this obstacle course more carefully. Slowly, a n began formting in my mind.


    The distance between the doorway and I was around twenty meters. This may not seem like a lot at first nce, but faced with all of these deadly impediments, this would feel a lot longer than it really was.


    My Vanishing Clouds art could dash a distance of about two meters. My Blink art could teleport me about one meter. However, I could only use them once - there was no time to wait for cooldowns toe back up, given how tightly the obstacles were packed. I had to cross over from this side to the other in one go.


    As ast resort, I also had Vanishing Steps, in case things got hairy. However, I wanted to save that if possible, since there was a chance I would have to face against a strong opponent tomorrow. I wanted to have all my cards ready in case they''re needed.


    That said I had something else - an art I got with 3 of the 36 AP I received from reaching Level 30. Its name was ''Transhesive Steps''. I didn''t know what transhesive meant, but this skill was essentially the better version of Vanishing Steps. It provided the ability to move through objects like Vanishing Clouds while increasing the agility, stealth, and speed boost given by Vanishing Steps, essentiallybining the two skills together into one. I would still be rendered invisible as well, and activating this skill also increased my jump height by quite a lot. My focus was also increased.


    While Transhesive Steps was activated, I could also dash every five seconds, giving me sudden bursts of speed. The total duration of this art was a full minute - 60 seconds. This essentially gave me twelve dashes in total.


    All in all, this art was definitely worth the 3 AP - I could take down any opponent within a minute, given these ability boosts. However should I use it here?


    I could just waltz my way over to the other side if I used Transhesive Steps here, since I would be able to pass through things, but


    "Ah, screw it" I sighed. Vanishing Steps would be more than enough to deal with any opponents I would have to fight against tomorrow. Besides, I needed to test this art out first before using it in realbat anyway. The cooldown was two days, so I would have it back before the main tournament. Taking a deep breath, I used the art in my head.


    ''Transhesive Steps.''


    Immediately, my whole body became lighter. It glowed a faint light blue that only I could see - to others, I would be invisible. Smirking, I confidently walked straight through all the death traps. I still avoided the panels with a skull marked on them though, since the explosions triggered were far too loud for my eardrums to handle.


    I reached the other end in roughly twenty seconds, still with forty seconds left to spare.


    "Sheesh, Transhesive Steps feels great," I mused.


    The doorway closed shut behind me once I passed the room, and the male AI''s distorted voice spoke again.


    [SuCcEsS. FiRsT tRiAl CoMpLeTe. TwO mOrE tO gO.]


    Three Trials again, huh? Was that a pattern or something?


    Without any hesitation, I entered the next room, since my Transhesive Steps were still active. This one was a bit unusual. Around me, in cages made of wood, hostile Magic Beasts and Monstersy.


    [WeLcOmE tO tHe SeCoNd TrIaL.] The AI said, pitch so uneven that it was creepy, almost. [KiLl tHe EnEmIeS, yEs? Or, YoU dIe.]


    "Yeah I kinda figured."


    As if on cue, the fragile wooden bars holding the Magic Beasts and Monsters back were torn apart in a matter of seconds, and the roars of dozens of hostile creatures surrounded me.


    [TrIaL oF iLlUsIoNs: BeGiN.]

 Chapter 87: The Trial of Illusions

    Chapter 87: The Trial of Illusions


    Kicking up with my foot, Dokujin was tossed upwards out of my boots. I caught it with one hand as I grabbed the wrist of a baboon-like Magic Beast that had been attempting to jump on me with my other. Throwing it to the ground with ease, I twirled Dokujin around so that it was the correct orientation and stabbed down onto the beast''s heart.


    With no time to rest, I pulled my weapon out and quickly prepared for my next targets. A tiger and an ogre charged at me in a pincer attack, but I jumped up right at thest moment, taking advantage of the ogre''s slow movements and letting it hit its own ally instead. The tiger was knocked out cold as I dashed back to the ground from mid-air, using my momentum to cut the ogre''s head clean off in the process.


    "Damn, this weapon is great," I chuckled, then moved on to continue butchering the various enemies that came my way.


    As I continued to cut down the Monsters and Magic Beasts ruthlessly, I found myself lost in the ughter once more. Before I knew it, I wasughing in triumph after every kill. At that moment, I was almost simr to Nadeshiko.


    With a hysterical smile on my face, I butchered the Monsters and Magic Beasts one by one. Even if they attacked me together, that didn''t matter. I dodged out of the way, letting them hit each other, before going back in to finish them off while they were injured. Yes, I was going on a bloody rampage, but mybat abilities and tactics were still as clear as ever.


    Before long, there was only one Monster remaining. A poor, lone, humanoid figure, Tainted by Malevolence. His blood-red eyes, which were meant to inflict fear in his enemies, now were the ones showing fear instead as I slowly walked towards him.


    My face, armor, and dagger were all stained with the blood of Monsters and Magic Beasts alike - blue mixed with red, forming a dark and ominous purple.


    "G-Grahh ah" the Monster whimpered quietly as he tried crawling away from me.


    I wiped the blood off of my dagger, and smiled.


    "That won''t help you poor little insect."


    I threw Dokujin. It struck the Monster directly on the back of his head, silencing him forever. The humanoid figure copsed to the ground, my dagger still lodged in his head. I walked over calmly and pulled it back out, blood spurting out of the wound.


    [SuCcEsS. ThEy aRe DeAd. YoU aRe NoT. OnE mOrE tO gO, yEs?]


    The male AI''s distorted voice snapped me out of my killing spree. The light returned to my eyes as I looked down at my body. I dropped Dokujin on the ground in terror, falling towards my right side. My arm hit the wall as I felt the disgusting urge to vomit.


    "Blegh ugh hah hah"


    Slowly, I slid down the wall and sat down on the ground, a short distance away from the puddle of puke. I needed some time to calm down.


    This wasn''t the work of Aisa she wasn''t influencing my mind anymore. I could sense it. This was the result of her previous influence,bined with my own instincts to survive.


    There was nothing wrong with what I was doing. Killing Monsters and Magic Beasts to protect myself was perfectly fine. But as a boy who has grown up in modern-day Tokyo, where killing wasn''t a daily urrence like it was here, the very idea of murder made me sick, even if it''s mere beasts and monsters.


    I just wasn''t used to it.


    At least, I wasn''t supposed to be.


    Yet, seeing how easily and ruthlessly I had killed these creatures I couldn''t help but wonder. Was killing a part of human nature, or was it just me? I didn''t want to believe thetter, but the former was just as sickening.


    If it came down to it, and I was surrounded by other humans instead of mere Magic Beasts and Monsters would I be able to kill the humans so easily like this too? That wouldn''t be just killing anymore - that would be genocide. I gritted my teeth and punched the floor, letting the pain course through my arm.


    To other yers, killing in this world would be easy. They saw this all as just a game. A virtual reality, where taking lives was the method to get stronger. Hell, even the system itself tells you to kill Magic Beasts and Monsters for XP, and even other humans for their loot.


    But I was different. I knew the truth about this world. Every life I took here could not be reced, even with the omnipotent powers of A.R.X.A. She could create clones - exact replicas - but even she could not bring back the dead original. Like she said, the ''server'' I was in was the ''real'' reality ne. All the other servers were exact parallel copies of this ne, but they were, in the end, fake. That made it all the worse for me.


    The more I thought about this, the more I understood just how cold and heartless A.R.X.A. truly was. To her, lives were meaningless. The lifespan of a person was more like an expiration date to her. How much longer they could serve her for. Even if she was in the body of a little human girl now, the ''artificial'' part of artificial intelligence in her was still as clear as day.


    Still, I knew. In this world, killing was how people solved conflicts. Even if yers were out of the picture, the natives of this ce would still be fighting and killing constantly. Duels between cultivators, battles between sects, or even full-on wars between races. Each and every one had the risk of taking lives.


    I wasn''t some hero. I didn''t care about what the others did, and I had no intention of stopping the practice of killing in this world.


    So, I made up my mind.


    Rather than be frustrated with this bloodthirsty self of mine thates out whenever I start killing numerous enemies, I would embrace it. ept it, and control it. If I couldn''t outright purge it, then this was the best I could do. Besides, I didn''t want topletely get rid of this side of mine either, since the ability to mercilessly kill was an important one in this world, where it was either you die, or they die.


    Right now, I still had most of my humanity remaining. I could still control my body and my urges. But if Aisa taints it some more or I lose a bit more some other way I may lose my original selfpletely. What would I do then? I had no idea. I didn''t even want to think about it.


    But there was one thing I did know with full certainty now: killing was necessary. I had epted that, today.


    Ironic, isn''t it? I received an enlightenment of truth inside a Vault of Deception. A Trial of Illusions, no less.


    Slowly, I forced myself to get back up to my feet. I took a gamble and tried using a sickleboar skin to make a towel of sorts using the Crafting system. Surprisingly, it worked. I used the resulting towel to clean all the blood off of me. Unfortunately, there were still very visible stains on my armor, though my face, hands, and Dokujin had already been cleansed thoroughly.


    Tossing the towel away since it was already dirty beyond recognition, I took a deep breath and stepped through the door that had opened, now that I have defeated all of the enemies.


    However, the moment I did, a sudden white light enclosed me.


    "What?"


    Blocking my eyes to avoid being blinded, I waited for the light to subdue. And when it did


    "Back from school, Kaze?"


    My eyes widened. Sitting down on a couch in front of me was a man. He had ck hair and blue eyes simr to my own. He was reading a newspaper, and had a charismatic grin on his aged face. He looked like an older version of myself.


    For a reason I couldn''t exin, tears began flowing down my face. As I took in the scenery around me, I realized that I was no longer in the wooden corridor of the Vault of Deception, but a normal house.


    "Dinner will be ready in just a few more minutes, okay?" a female voice said gently, and I whipped my head around to see who it was.


    A woman, standing in the kitchen and wearing an apron, smiled at me warmly. I could feel my emotions breaking up.


    All my life, they hadn''t been there. All my life, I had only been shown pictures of them.


    But now


    "Father? Mother?"


    I covered my face with both my hands, trying desperately to hold the tears in. But I couldn''t anymore. This feeling this warm feeling of family it was too much for me.


    I heard the shuffling feet as the man got off the couch and walked over, patting my shoulder gently.


    "It''s alright now, Kaze you''re not alone anymore."

 Chapter 88: The Warmth of Family

    Chapter 88: The Warmth of Family


    "Alright, dinner''s ready~" the woman said, taking her apron off.


    The man - my father - ruffled my hair and set his newspaper down. "Come on, little guy. There''s nothing like your mother''s cooking in this world."


    I wiped my tears away, and without thinking too much, I followed him, sitting down at the dinner table.


    "Why are you crying, Kaze?" the woman - my mother - asked.


    "N-Nothing it''s just how?" I wondered aloud desperately. "How am I here? How are YOU here? Aren''t you two dead?"


    The two of them blinked collectively, then burst outughing. "Hahaha! Who told you that, little guy? Your mother and I are still well and alive, thank you very much. You just saw us this morning, what are you talking about?"


    "Hehe, that''s not a very good joke, Kaze," my mother smiled as she set down chopsticks for all three of us on the table.


    I ced my hand to my forehead and gritted my teeth. "No this can''t be right"


    The room, my parents, the food everything seemed so real. But for some reason, I couldn''t shake the feeling that something was wrong. What had I been doing beforeing back home? I couldn''t remember, no matter how hard I thought about it.


    I hesitantly picked up my chopsticks and delivered some rice into my mouth. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the vor - the vor of home. But beneath that there was something else. A hidden coldness - emptiness - masked by the fragrant scent of jasmine rice.


    The food was delicious. There was no doubt about that. Still, I could not ignore this uneasy feeling inside my stomach.


    "By the way," I began, remembering a hazy memory. Not of something, but of someone.


    "Yes?" my mother asked warmly.


    "Is there any girl in particr who I''m close to?" I asked, scratching my head. "I keep getting these weird hallucinations about a tall girl with ck hair, but I can''t seem to remember her face, for some reason"


    My father chuckled. "A girl? Boy, you''re too early for that kind of thing. Give it a few more years."


    "You say that, but didn''t we start going out in middle school?" my motherughed softly.


    "W-Well, you can''tpare him to me back then, haha!"


    I frowned in confusion. " So there isn''t?"


    "Of course not, silly guy. Are you listening to yourself? You say you keep getting these visions of a girl, but you don''t even remember her face. Besides, if you had a girl that close to you, we, as your parents, would know, don''t you think?"


    "Uh, yeah I suppose that''s true" I racked my brain, trying to figure out what was going on with me.


    "If you ever find a girl you like, make sure to let me know, okay?" my mother giggled. "I''ll give you tips on how to win a girl''s heart, teehee-!"


    "" I nced down at the bowl of rice in front of me, head filled with confusion.


    After eating, I headed off to bed. For reasons unexined, I felt an odd sense of familiarity with the structure of this ce, though I couldn''t be sure why. My parents I was told they were dead. But by who? Who gave me this information? I couldn''t remember.


    I took a shower in an attempt to clear my thoughts, but the steam only served to make me more confused and suffocated. I eventually gave up and just fell asleep.


    This was good yes, this was good. Forget about the past, leave behind the memories. Start a new life one surrounded by the warmth of my real family.


    Yet, I could not.


    No matter how hard I tried, I could not erase the image of that girl in my head. I tried telling myself - she was fake. She was just an imaginary person I came up with to soothe my own loneliness. But now, I had my family back. I didn''t know how - but that didn''t matter.


    My father and mother had reunited with me atst.


    *****


    - The Next Morning -


    "Kaze, it''s time for school~" my mother called out from downstairs.


    Slowly, I opened my eyes groggily and crawled out of bed. Still only half-awake, I stumbled into the bathroom and sshed my face with some water.


    "Whoo" I let out a deep breath, feeling a lot more refreshed. ncing down at my toothbrush and paste, I picked them up and began brushing my teeth.


    Minutester, I headed downstairs, where my parents were already up and awake.


    "Oh my, you actually woke up after only one call today," my mother blinked in surprise, as if impressed with me.


    I tilted my head. "Do I usually not wake up on time?"


    My fatherughed from the couch. "Bahaha! You and waking up on time don''t belong in the same sentence!"


    "You say that, but don''t you sleep like a log on weekends?" my mother scoffed.


    "W-Well, that''s that''s not important!"


    "Hehe, Kaze,e here. Since you woke up earlier today, I''ll reward you by teaching you how to cook an unhealthy breakfast!"


    An unhealthy breakfast why did that term seem so familiar? And ''log on'' too those two words, for some reason, felt like they had been said to me recently, though I couldn''t remember by whom or when exactly.


    I walked over to my mother, who helped put an apron on me. The motion was, yet again, strangely familiar. The mysterious girl with ck hair once again showed up in my head, but I quickly perished the thought.


    "What are we making?" I asked, trying to take my mind off things.


    "Sunny-side-up eggs and fried bacon!" my mother announced confidently. "Okay, so first step - pour some oil into the pan!"


    I did as instructed. While I cooked, the memories of the girl resurfaced in my mind, but I quickly shook my head to erase it.


    She did not exist, I told myself. This was the life I had always been yearning for - the life filled with the warmth of my biological family. The parents I had sought for all these years has finallye back to us.


    Even if this were just a dream, I wanted to relish this dream for but a moment longer, and cherish it forever in my heart.


    *****


    I set off for school soon after that. My father offered to drive me, but since that would dy him getting to work, I refused. I stepped out onto the sidewalk, and instinctively looked to my left.


    However, there was no house there - only the road. We did not have a neighbor to our left what am I thinking?


    I shook my head and walked to my school - Tokyo Metropolitan Kawasaki High School. I memorized the directions on how to get there since the first day.


    The school day passed without much happening. I didn''t have any friends in the school, but that was fine. At least, no one particrly bothered me on purpose, so it was better than before.


    Wait before? What before? What am I talking about?


    "Agh" I necked myself to clear my thoughts as I walked alone, on my way back home. But as I passed by a za, my eyesnded on a shop. A poster on the windows of that shop, in particr.


    ''Ascension: Online - thetest ARMMORPG, out now!''


    I froze in my tracks. Ascension: Online getting stuck inside a video game the Vault of Deception


    That''s it. The Vault of Deception.


    I clenched my fists, my expression darkening.


    All my memories were back.


    *****


    I rang the doorbell to my ''home''. Momentster, it was opened. Inside, my father and mother were already waiting.


    "Wee home, little guy! I got off work early today, so you guys wanna eat out today?" my father asked.


    But I ignored him.


    "Kaze?" my mother, sensing something was wrong with me, stopped washing the knife and turned to me in concern.


    My eyes as cold as steel and dripping with venom, I strode over to my mother and ripped the knife out of her hand without any hesitation.


    And then, I stabbed my own hand, impaling it with the de.


    My mother and father''s eyes widened. "Kaze! What are you doing?!"


    I red at them in the eyes, pulling the knife back out and letting the blood from the hole in my hands drip down onto the floor.


    "It''s a lie IT''S ALL A LIE!" I yelled, throwing the knife downwards, lodging it into the wooden nks.


    "W-What?"


    "Don''t y dumb with me, you damn illusion!" I shouted, grabbing my mother by her cor with my bloody hand.


    "Pretending to be my dead parents toying with my emotions"


    "Kaze! What are you doing?! Let go of your mothe-"


    " And most of all" I gritted my teeth.


    I spun around, and in one jump, arrived directly before my father''s persona. Grabbing him by the forehead, I smashed him downwards, breaking the wooden nks below.


    "Making me forget Hina-nee forget all she''s done for me! CURSE YOU!"


    Not letting go of my father''s head, I lifted it out of the nks, then smashed it back in. And up, and in.


    With a killing gleam in my eyes filled both with anger and sadness, I muttered.


    "Die, illusion."


    My father, despite his unrecognizable face, slowly smiled. And in harmony with my mother, they spoke their final few words.


    " That''s our kid. Good job."


    I closed my eyes tightly, tears flowing down my cheeks, as the room and my parents along with it shattered into fragments of reality, revealing nothing but a nk, empty whiteness all around.


    "Farewell, mother father."

 Chapter 89: The Trial of Lies

    Chapter 89: The Trial of Lies


    When the white light faded away atst, I was back in the wooden hallway lit up by torches, within the Vault of Deception.


    "My parents this damned vault"


    I gritted my teeth and smashed the wall to relieve my anger. Sharp wooden shards stabbed into my hand, but I didn''t care. Pain was good. Pain helped me feel better - helped me forget. Scientific research has proved that self-inflicted injuries help generate positive emotions. Now was the time to put that theory to the test.


    I slid down to the ground, my back against the wall I had just smashed.


    I nced down at my bloodstained hands. Judging from appearances alone, the blood was my own, caused by the wooden shrapnels that had lodged themselves into my fragile skin. But that wasn''t all. Beneath the surface, unbeknownst to anyone else, were the invisible blood and tears of my biological parents - the same parents I had just murdered with my own two hands.


    Even if they were mere illusions, they still looked, talked, and felt just like my real parents. Even if they weren''t real, they still had the same blood as me coursing through their veins. Even if all of this was a mere dream how I wish I could live inside this dream forever.


    But I couldn''t. I had a duty - I made a promise. One I must fulfill. As much as I yearned for my mother and father, I could not just abandon Hina-nee, who had been the closest thing to their recement for the past 14 years.


    Should fate will it, we shall meet again, mother, father.


    Slowly, I dragged myself back up from the ground, my heart calm and my determination renewed.


    I couldn''t tell the time from within this ce, but I wonder if what happened in the illusion passed time here on the outside as well. If so then were Hina-nee and Aisa still waiting for me, even after so many hours? Not to mention the tournament too... I tried my best not to think about it, and instead set my focus onpleting this Vault and getting the hell out of here as soon as possible.


    The corridor I was in seemed a lot longer than the others. It seemed it would be a while before I could reach the next Trial.


    Since there were three Trials in total did that mean this next one would be thest? No, but the Vault of Corruption had a little introductory test to showcase the Vault''s mechanics and theme in that case, the corresponding part in the Vault of Deception should be the short obstacle course I skipped through using Transversive Steps in the beginning. However, when I passed that part, the weird distorted AI had told me Ipleted the first Trial.


    Ah whatever. The past is the past.


    The hallway ahead was pretty muchpletely dark, since the torches only lit up when I actually passed by them. It made me feel a bit creeped out, since I couldn''t tell if something was about to jump at me from in front.


    I did, however, spot various signs on the walls to either side of me, and even the ceiling. They held weird phrases of text written in an ominous, squiggly font, all of which seemed to carry some sort of philosophical meaning that I couldn''t quite grasp just yet. After all, so far, I''ve only seen three.


    "Do not trust your senses."


    "Common sense is a fool''s master."


    "Sticks and bones may break my bones, but des will never hurt me."


    I kept walking, thinking deeply, as more and more signs appeared.


    "The counterpart to deception is not truth - it is more deception."


    All of these they seemed to be the opposite of what one would expect under normal circumstances. Usually, one would be told to trust their senses, and usemon sense. The saying went like ''sticks and bones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me''; not des. Andstly the counterpart of deception should be truth, no? I mean, that''s what most people would think.


    "" I felt like I was nearing the end of this puzzle, both philosophically and literally.


    Arriving at a door, I read the fifth and final quote, written on a sign directly above the entrance.


    "Do not let the shackles of reality chain you down."


    " Reality, huh?"


    Muttering these words, I smiled and walked through the door. I still didn''t know what exactly these quotes came together to mean, but I had a general idea.


    Basically, I was going to need to think outside the box for this uing Trial - beyond the scopes ofmon sense and - better yet - reality.


    However, what I saw when I crossed over to the other side of the door was nothing even remotely close to what I would''ve expected. Not even in my wildest imagination would I ever dream about something like this.


    Before me was an enormous maze - a colossalbyrinth, with walls far too high to climb and a floorposed of sand that made it difficult to run properly. There was only one way in, and no way to avoid this puzzle.


    That said, if I could fly, it would be a different story. After all, the sky above waspletely open, showcasing a beautiful pink twilight apanied by the asional shooting star streaking through the night. The gentle whistle of the breezes added to the ambient, rxing atmosphere


    If only it weren''t for this massive maze in the way.


    I gulped in fear. I had no way of telling just how deep thisbyrinth ran. How long it would take to get me to find the right path, and what unknown dangersy within. I wasn''t so naive as to assume there wouldn''t be any additional obstacles ced for me within the maze. Death traps, Monsters, hell - even machines made for the sole purpose of killing, I wouldn''t exclude from the list of possible encounters.


    But as the saying goes, worrying will only cause you to suffer twice.


    With no other way to go, I took a deep breath and stepped into the only entrance to the maze.


    [WeLcOmE tO tHe TrIaL oF lIeS.]


    The distorted AI spoke, his voice reverberating across the tall walls of thebyrinth.


    [ThE gAmE bEgInS: nOw.]

 Chapter 90: Outside Reality

    Chapter 90: Outside Reality


    After exploring the maze for a total of about five minutes, I had already given up. The ce was just too damn big. If it weren''t for my footprints on the floor of sand, I would''ve already been lost, unable to even find the entrance.


    No matter how many turns I made, the maze just seemed to go on forever. In those short five minutes, I had already ran into eight dead ends, not to mention all the paths that I marked but hadn''t full explored yet.


    "There''s no way how the hell do I get through?" I muttered in frustration to myself, now back at the entrance of the maze.


    I thought back to the signs I had read on the way here.


    "Common sense is a fool''s master."


    "The counterpart of deception is not truth - it is more deception."


    "Do not let the shackles of reality chain you down."


    From this, I had already deduced I would need to think outside the box here, but it wasn''t working. I tried punching through the walls, but they were made of solid concrete. Desperate, I even tried to take off into the air and fly, but naturally, all I did was get my whole body covered with sand.


    "I''ve tried all the methods I can think of to go outside the box all that''s left is to do this the proper way" I sighed in resignation. I guess those signs back there were just nothing but gibberish after all.


    I brushed off all the sand from my clothes and stepped into the maze once more, this time with the goal of exploring deeper.


    *****


    - Meanwhile, Outside the Vault -


    (Hina''s Perspective)


    "He''s been in there for nearly an hour already" I murmured quietly, looking at the tree Kaze-kun had jumped down into in worry. "Aisa-chan will he be okay?"


    "" Aisa fell silent as she stared at the tree nkly, folding her arms.


    "U-Um that silence I''ll take it as a no?"


    " He is currently facing thest trial. If he can make it out of this one, then he will be fine."


    "What''s thest trial about?" I asked hesitantly, unsure whether or not I wanted to hear the answer.


    " It is called the Trial of Lies, a difficult one. He has to navigate his way out of a maze but the means to do so are far from what anyone would expect."


    "What? How big is the maze?"


    Aisa narrowed her eyes at me.


    "Endless."


    I covered my mouth in shock. "W-What?! If it''s an endless maze, how does Kaze-kun beat it?!"


    "Like I said, the method to beat this trial is somethingpletely unexpected and crazy, unbound by the limits ofmon sense," Aisa said calmly, turning back to the tree.


    "If your precious little brother can see past the lies, he will seed. However, if not he will be forever lost within the annals of reality."


    *****


    - Inside the Maze of Deception -


    (Kaze''s Perspective)


    I slowly walked through thebyrinth, dragging my feet on the sand. It waspletely silent, apart from the noise of me walking. I traced my hand on the wall. It was hard but cold, in great contrast to the soft yet hot sand that made up the floor.


    It has been ten minutes since I re-entered the maze. I marked paths that led to dead-ends with an X shape on the ground during my first attempt, so I could skip over some passageways and save a little bit of time.


    "Another dead end ugh," I muttered, then retreated and returned to the main path, leaving an X mark behind at the entrance of the path.


    I turned around. The entrance was behind me. I could still leave the maze right now if I wanted to, and try againter. However, time was short, and I didn''t want to keep Hina-nee and Aisa waiting for too long on the outside.


    Shaking my head, I forced myself to push forward, plunging into the unknown.


    But the moment I did, I instantly regretted it.


    CLANK.


    Hearing this loud noise, I froze and slowly looked back. My eyes widened.


    The entrance had been blocked off. The maze had trapped me inside, through and through.


    "Tch damn," I muttered, but kept a cool head. "Well that didn''t change much, to be honest. If that''s all you''ve got, maze, you''re going to have to try harder to make me panic."


    Unfortuantely, that wasn''t all the maze got.


    As if on cue, I heard the robotic sound of machines moving. They seemed to be walking on the sand, crawling with their mechanical legs and getting closer and closer to me. I gulped, unsure where to go.


    The sounds got louder and louder, all around me. The unknown dangers edged closer and closer. Where were they? Where should I run to? I had no way to tell - I could end up running straight into one of them.


    In my brief moments of hesitation, two grotesque spider-like machines with six armor-ted legs and glowing red eyes suddenly emerged from behind me. They opened theirrge, mechanical jaws wide, lined with rows of sharp metal teeth, and jumped towards me.


    "Okay, now''s the time to panic!"


    I immediately spun around and ran in the other direction, passing by several other spider-like machines of the same design on the way. I skidded to a stop as I came to a crossroads, faced with two decisions - left or right?


    I looked back slightly, and saw that the spiders were closing in fast.


    "Screw it - right is always right!"


    I took the right path in a hurry, dashing down the isle before quickly turning left again since it was the only way to go. The spider machines followed me, their agile bodies somehow scaling the insanely tall walls of the maze as they attempted to drop down on me from above.


    CRASH!


    One of them nearly fell right on top of me, but I used Vanishing Clouds to quickly dash away. However, anothernded straight in front of me, blocking my path. I backed up a few steps, now pincered.


    "Tch Basic Pyromancy Art - Pyrosphere," I chanted as the spider prepared to leap towards me.


    "SCREE!"


    Right before it could tear me apart with its mechanical jaws, it was sted away by my hidden art.


    The spider behind me cleaved down with his sharp metal legs, but I managed to barely avoid getting cut in half by leaning to one side.


    In a single instant, as the other spider was still sailing through the air, I pulled out my corrupted dagger and stabbed it into its outreached leg, directly into the wires betweeen its ting.


    "REEE!" the robotic spider screamed as electric sparks flew out of its cut wires. The leg fell limply onto the ground as suddenly, a hologram appeared in front of me.


    [Corrupt creature?]


    [Yes/No]


    My eyes widened. The power of Corruption so it was built into Dokujin as well? I mean, it WAS a weapon I got from the Vault of Corruption, so it kinda makes sense, now that I think about it. As for why this prompt never popped up before when I killed other creatures, it was probably because I had killed them instantly with one strike rather than injure them.


    I hurriedly tapped on ''Yes'' without moving my dagger away, and immediately, the spider''s originally-red eyes glitched out for a second, before being reced by green ones.


    Suddenly, I felt a quick and deadly movement behind me. I immediately turned around and saw the spider I had sted away earlier, now jumping back and ready to cut me in half with its sharp legs.


    I covered my face out of instinct since it was toote to dodge, but then, something unexpected happened.


    "SCREE!"


    The spider that I had corrupted rammed into its former ally, tackling it to the ground. The hostile spider screamed in agony, but its mechanical wails were cut short by the sound of metal piercing through metal - the corrupted machine had used its own leg to pierce through the other''s head, silencing it forever. The lights blinked out of the dead machine as sparks flew out of its broken eye-disy.


    I blinked at this scene, jaw dropping in shock. However, there was no time to rest, as I heard the sound of the other spiders marching closer and closer. They must''ve heard the noises of the battle and the agonizing wail of their now-dead ally machine. Unfortunately, these neers weren''t going to be as friendly as the one I had corrupted.


    I quickly stood back up from the ground and looked both in front and behind me. Behind me would eventually lead back to where I came from, while in front were where the mechanical stomps of the other spiders wereing from. Ultimately, I decided to take the third option - right.


    Trying to keep my footsteps as light as possible while maintaining my top speed, I dashed away into the endless Maze of Deception.


    And as for my newfound robot spider ally? It, well it followed.

 Chapter 91: Revenants

    Chapter 91: Revenants


    While I ran, a hologram suddenly popped up in front of me. It was risky, but I decided to stop to read it since I didn''t hear the mechanical spiders anymore. After looking both ways, I sat down on the sand, leaning my back against the cold walls of the maze.


    [NEW SPECIES ENTRY]


    [Name: Revenants]


    [Type: Machines]


    [Weakness: None]


    [Resistance: Physical Attacks, Hidden Arts]


    [Description: Revenants are killing machines found withinplex locations that are difficult to navigate (e.g. mazes). Their true origins are unknown. They cane in many different forms, the mostmon ones being spiders, snakes, and leopards. Revenants are resistant to all forms of attacks, and can only be injured via certain weakpoints on their bodies not covered by their near-invincible armor ting.]


    Below was an image of the spider Revenants that I had encountered just now.


    I nced over at the friendly Revenant that I had corrupted, then down at the wound I had inflicted on it. That must''ve been its weakpoint - while its legs were armored on the front and all around, there was a faint gap between it and the spider''s main body, where there was no armor covering the wires. That was where I had struck, and it seemed like my bet was on the money.


    I dismissed the hologram, grateful for the new information. Then, because I wanted to test out the abilities of my Corruption skill, I decided to try something.


    "Hey," I whispered to the allied Revenant. "Can you understand what I''m saying?"


    [] The spider looked back at me nkly, its six green lights for eyes not changing one bit.


    Realizing my mistake, I pped my own forehead. "Okay that was a bit stupid. Let''s try again - if you can understand what I''m saying, move forward five steps."


    The spider slowly turned its head to its front, then began walking exactly five steps beforeing to a stop. My eyes widened in delight - it had carried out my instructions perfectly.


    "Alright. Next can you lead me out of this maze? If you can, move back to where you just were," I said with hope in my heart.


    However, the spider remained still, staring at me nkly once more. I sighed.


    "Yeah thought so. That would be too easy of a Trial."


    I then remembered something about the Corruption skill when I first received it - there was a time limit. In other words, this spider Revenant wouldn''t be my ally forever. I didn''t know how much time it had left, but I wanted to test it out for future reference. It would be handy knowing how much longer I could keep a creature controlled for, after all.


    So, to set my n in motion, I had the spider Revenant remain where it currently was. Imanded it not to follow me, then went and hid around a corner, checking the time on my System: 5:37 PM.


    I chose this spot specifically because it was a ce where I could observe the Revenant, but it could not see me. I doubted creatures I corrupted retained their memories from when I was controlling them, so the Revenant wouldn''t be able to locate me once it turned back to normal hopefully.


    And if it does manage to find me instantly, well, that''s information too.


    Tick, tock. Five minutes passed by, and nothing happened. The Revenant''s ''eyes'' were still green lights, not red. I continued observing. The time was now 5:42.


    Another ten minutes passed, yet still nothing.


    But then, as soon as 5:52 hit 5:53, the Revenant''s eye disy glitched out, shing for a brief moment before reverting to its original red. The green was nowhere to be seen. My temporary ally who had saved my life had be hostile again.


    I quickly ducked behind the wall, even though it made no action ofing towards me. It seemed my assumption was correct - Corrupted creatures did not retain their memories from when they were under the Corrupter''s control.


    As for the time let''s see. Five plus ten minutes was fifteen, but I still had to ount for the brief period of time before I settled down to read the new species entry. If I had to estimate the total it would be roughly twenty minutes.


    So, I could control a creature for about twenty minutes. That was an incredibly useful skill to have. How many I could Corrupt at a time and the level of beings I could Corrupt were both limited, but I didn''t need to worry about that right now.


    Sneaking one final nce back at my benefactor and muttering a faint word of thanks, I left, diving deeper into the maze.


    *****


    Around half an hour passed since then, and I could now say with full certainty that I was - lost. On the way, I encountered the snake Revenants and even leopard ones, but luckily I didn''t alert them. Clearly, they were far stronger than the spider ones, with no visible weakpoints on the outside.


    As for where I was I could trace back the way I came from using the footprints in the sand, but even those were getting hazy due to the gentle wind. I decided to take a quick break, sitting down and thinking.


    I didn''t have any prepared food or water in my inventory, which I now realized was a huge mistake. I mean, to be fair, I didn''t expect to be staying in here for so long. The Vault of Corruption had taken me an hour maximum to beat. I would know for next time I attempted a Vault, though.


    I thought back to the quotes I saw on the way here into the maze. I know I already dismissed them as useless earlier, but now that I thought about it perhaps they really do have meaning.


    After so much exploring, I was now convinced this ce was anything but a normal maze. The theme of the Vault was ''deception''. In other words what I was seeing may or may not be fake. That said, I couldn''t risk it. If I assumed the Revenants were fake, for example, and let my guard down around one, leading to me getting hit, it could be fatal if my assumption was incorrect.


    I''ve also tried walking directly through walls, but that didn''t work either. It did, however, hurt quite a lot.


    Out of all the quotes in that hallway, there was one in particr that stood out to me from the rest. It was thest one, written on a sign above the doorway that led to the maze.


    "Do not let the shackles of reality chain you down."


    Taking this figuratively, it would mean to look beyond reality. But the question is, how the hell do I do that? Reality by definition is the world or the state of things as they exist. So how do I look beyond that?


    I broke down all the information I had so far regarding the quotes. All the other ones have been opposites of their usual meaning - for example, ''sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me,'' except words was reced with something even harsher than sticks and stones - des.


    ''Common sense is a fool''s master,'' when in the real world you''re often getting told to use yourmon sense.


    ''The counterpart to deception is not truth - it is more deception,'' contrary to what most people may think.


    To sum it up, all the quotes were opposite of what would be said in the real world. Opposite, opposite


    Then it hit me. My eyes widened.


    Reality - the state of things as they exist the opposite of that would be


    The state of things as they don''t exist.


    All I had to do was assume everything in front of me did not exist. The walls, the Revenants, the maze itself - they did not exist. They were not real. They weren''t there.


    Enlightened, I stood up from the sand and turned around to face the wall. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.


    I had tried walking through the walls earlier already, but this was different. My mindset was different. Instead of ''can I walk through this?'', it was ''I can walk through this''. The wall before me did not exist. This whole ce was not real.


    In order for this to work, I could not have an ounce of doubt in my heart - after all, reality did not have any doubts. It was either something existed, or it didn''t. No in betweens.


    "None of this is real!"


    I stepped forward, full of confidence.


    After the fact, I opened my eyes again and looked around. There was nothing there. The seemingly endless maze, the vast, beautiful twilight sky, and the deadly killing machines known as Revenants. None of the three existed anymore. They never existed in the first ce.


    [SuCcEsS. YoU hAvE bEaTeN tHe VaUlT oF dEcEpTiOn. ClAiM yOuR rEwArDs.] A distorted AI voice said.


    In front of me, a single chesty. Slowly, hesitantly, I walked towards it. However, when I was right in front of it, instead of opening it like any normal person, I smirked.


    "Nice try."


    Then, the illusion all around me disappeared. The ck faded away, revealing the true treasure room, made out of wood and lit up by torches.

 Chapter 92: Way of the Deceiver

    Chapter 92: Way of the Deceiver


    I confidently walked up to the true chest in front of me and opened it without a second thought.


    Inside were a new set of armor and what appeared to be a pair of metal ws? But before I could ascertain what the item was, a hologram appeared in front of my eyes, blocking my view.


    [Would you like to store the items?]


    [Yes/No]


    I clicked on ''Yes''.


    [Obtained Deceiver Hood x1]


    [Obtained Deceiver Robes x1]


    [Obtained Deceiver Pants x1]


    [Obtained Deceiver Socks x1]


    [Obtained Deceiver Boots x1]


    [Obtained Bond of the Deceiver x1]


    [Obtained Deceiver Ring x1]


    [Obtained Deceiver Gloves x1]


    [Obtained ws of Deception x1]


    "The ws of Deception?" I wondered aloud as the contents of the chest disappeared. I hurriedly switched to my inventory to check out what I got.


    First off, the armor set:


    [Name: Deceiver Hood]


    [Type: Armor]


    [DEF: 25]


    [DUR: 100%]


    [*When used together with the rest of the Deceiver set, decreases cooldown on ability: Lie Recognition.]


    Lie Recognition? I was confused, but put that aside for now. The other new armor pieces I received shared the same stats. For the record, inparison, these were the stats of the Corrupter set I currently had on:


    [Name: Corrupter Helm]


    [Type: Armor]


    [DEF: 15]


    [DUR: 95%]


    [*When used together with the rest of the Corrupter set, amplifies Corruption skill.]


    In other words, this was a 10 DEF stat increase. The armor would absorb more iing damage - at least, that''s how I assumed defense worked. So, in total, counting the headpiece, chestpiece, leggings, socks, shoes, and gloves, that would be a 60 DEF stat increase overall.


    I then took a look at the new weapons I got - the ws of Deception.


    [Name: ws of Deception]


    [Type: Weapon]


    [ATK: 25]


    [DUR: N/A]


    So, the durability, like Dokujin, was ''not applicable''. Guess this thing would never break or wear out. Then, I spotted a tiny arrow below the text - one I hadn''t even noticed before. I clicked on it, and more information was presented. My eyes widened.


    [Skills:]


    [ - Can turn invisible at user''s will.]


    [ - Can be untouchable at user''s will.]


    [ - Passively equipped, does not count as an weapon (another weapon may be equipped while using this weapon).]


    "Huh that''s interesting," I murmured. Dokujin probably had a panel like this too, but I just never realized it before, since the arrow to expand this information was so tiny.


    I equipped the ws of Deception. My hands were immediately enclosed in ck gauntlets of some sort. Attached to them were a set of three long and sharp metal nails each.


    "Hm" I mentally willed it to be invisible, and to my surprise, they really did. However, I could still feel them, so I then willed for them to be untouchable as well.


    Incredibly this also worked. I couldn''t feel them at all anymore - it was as if they weren''t there at all. I quickly switched to the Inventory tab on my System and saw that I could indeed equip another melee weapon, despite already having the ws of Deception on. I tested this by unequipping Dokujin, then equipping it again. It materialized in my hands and turns out, I could still wield it perfectly fine. Now, however, I had a secret attack as well that no one will seeing.


    I smirked in satisfaction and closed up my System after equipping my new Deceiver armor set. It was pretty ndpared to the assassin-like and stylish Corrupter set, but this could be a blessing in disguise, allowing me to pass off as just a normal citizen in the city. The Corrupter set tended to attract a lot of attention, after all.


    And then, suddenly, the distorted voice of the male AI responsible for this Vault spoke once again.


    [CoNgRaTuLaTiOnS. YoU hAvE pAsSeD tHe FiNaL tRiAl.]


    "So, that was the true final Trial, huh? The maze was only the second one," I chuckled. "I kinda had a feeling since the Vault of Corruption also had an introductory test, but this confirms it, I guess."


    [ThE sKiLl YoU wIlL bE rEcEiViNg WiLl bE cAlLeD ''LiE ReCoGnItIoN''. ChEcK yOuR sKiLlS sCrEeN.]


    I did as told, pulling up my System once more and switching to the Skills tab. There it was, right below the Corruption skill, outside the skill tree.


    [Name: Lie Recognition]


    [Category: Vault-Exclusive]


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: Allows you to test whether or not something is a lie. Works on both written text and spoken words.]


    Below, in smaller print font, was a side note:


    [*Passive: Way of the Deceiver]


    [Description: Prevents anyone from using Inspect on you.]


    I smirked. This was exactly what I needed. While this wasn''t perfect - anyone using Inspect on me would be confused as to why it didn''t work - this was the best solution I had right now. With this, no one else would be able to discover my true stats - apart from Nadeshiko Nakano who already knew them, of course.


    "Alright so, like, how do I get out of here?" I asked aloud, hoping the AI would respond.


    [StEp OnTo tHe PlAtFoRm.]


    As if on cue, a round tform of some kind behind the chest began glowing. I was hesitant to do as told. This *was* the Vault of Deception, after all. Still, it''s not like there were any other options.


    I walked past the chest and stepped onto the tform, letting the white light glow brighter and brighter until itpletely enveloped me.


    [GoOdByE, pLaYeR.]


    A hologram appeared in front of me as the white light blinded my eyes.


    [Vault Complete: The Vault of Deception]


    [im your rewards in the ''Quests'' tab of your System.]


    *****


    My eyes shot open, and I was back on the surface. I found myself staring right at Hina-nee and Aisa, the former wearing a shocked expression and thetter unamused as usual.


    "Kaze-kun you''re back!" Hina-nee hugged me tightly with tears in her eyes, much to my surprise.


    "U-Uh yeah," I replied in a soft tone, gently embracing her back. "What happened? Why are you crying? Was I in there for a long time?"


    "N-No Aisa-chan just said something that made me worry a bit, that''s all," Hina-nee giggled, wiping away her tears as she pulled away.


    "Ah, okay I see."


    " How did you beat thest Trial?" Aisa suddenly asked, eyeing me sternly.


    I smirked. "What. Surprised?"


    ""


    "Well, you''re going to have be more specific. Do you mean the maze or do you mean what came after? Don''t y dumb with me. I know you know what I''m talking about."


    " What came after," Aisa replied quietly.


    I scratched my head. "Well, it was pretty obvious, to be honest. If that entire maze was an illusion, then I should have, in reality, remained in the wooden corridor lit up by torches, correct? In that ck room, I discretely turned around. There was no corridor there, and definitely no torches. So, I instinctively knew it was a trap."


    " Hmph. I have underestimated you, human."


    "Yeah? I don''t like the sounds of that. Does this mean you''re going to throw me into even more difficult and dangerous situations from here on out?"


    Aisa scoffed and folded her arms, turning away. "Naturall-"


    "Nope! I''m not allowing that, Aisa-chan!" Hina-nee frowned, pouting angrily. "No putting Kaze-kun into situations more dangerous than this."


    "You think you can tell me what to do, deuteragonist?" Aisa snorted, unamused.


    "I have my ways! I may not be able to hurt you, but" an evil grin crept up Hina-nee''s face as she suddenly grabbed Aisa''s tiny frame and began


    Tickling her.


    "W-Wha- hey! Stop that, human- ahaha!" Aisa cried as she began to crack up fromughter.


    I blinked at this scene in surprise. "Aisa, you you''re *ticklish?* Aren''t you supposed to be a supeputer?"


    "S-Silence, pawn- AHAHAHAHA! No, stop!"


    "Heheheh, she may be an omnipotent supeputer AI, but right now, she''s in the body of a little girl," Hina-nee smirked deviously as she continued torturing Aisa without any sign of stopping. "All little kids are afraid of one thing - tickling."


    I gulped in fear. Hina-nee was probably the only person in any reality ne who could manage to subdue the omnipotent ''god'' watching over all and by tickling them, no less.


    "AHAHAHA- N-No! Ugh, let me go, ursed huma- AHAHA!"


    Aisa''sughter I never thought I would get to hear echoed across the night as the sun setpletely. I kind of pitied the poor AI, but hey, now we knew her weakness. If and when necessary we could force her to do stuff for us.


    I smiled in amusement. Hina-nee always discovered unexpected things that end up bing useful.


    Shortly after, we returned to Qilian City. It was already nearly 7 PM, and we had a long day of battles ahead of us tomorrow. I checked my profile and noticed that I was incredibly close to Level 31 - once I imed the reward for beating the Vault, I should be able to reach it with ease and then some, seeing as howpleting Vaults gave lots of XP.


    Speaking of I wonder. Was it possible to re-do Vaults to farm for XP?


    Well, guess I''ll ask Aisa about itter.

 Chapter 93: Unlucky Meeting

    Chapter 93: Unlucky Meeting


    (Furuwa''s Perspective)


    "The victor is number 116!" the mayor dered.


    Walking off the stage in triumph, I put my sword back into my inventory, then nced at the time disyed on the top right corner of my System. It read 6:45 PM. Since I already ate dinner, I decided to go to the Hunter''s Guild to pick up some quests. I had time, so might as well make the most out of it and get even stronger.


    Most of the quests I got happened to require me to go to the forest to the east of Qilian City, so I headed for the eastern gates. As I walked, I thought about two certain people - Igarashi Kaze, and Sakura Hina. They had said they were sick since two weeks ago, but now that the two weeks have passed, they still did not show up at school. At least, Sakura-senpai did not. Kaze wasn''t in the same school, so I had no way of telling. However, my instincts told me there was something off about the two.


    I''ve been trying to look for them, but to no avail. However recently, I picked up on a clue that might just lead me to the two of them.


    There was a young man following me. He didn''t seem to realize it, but his tracing skills really sucked. I noticed him spectating my fights and following me around, ever since the beginning of the preliminaries. To not alert him, however, I didn''t bother confronting him about it. Every time I walked by him on purpose, he would try to y it cool and pretend to be busy.


    I''ve said it already, but I''ll say it again: his following skills really sucked. He just wasn''t the man cut out for this job.


    That said, why would anyone want to follow me? Was he a creepy stalker of some sort? I wasn''t half-bad-looking, but I was still a far ways offpared to Sakura-senpai, for example. Besides, this guy didn''t seem like a pervert. Perverts would be better at following others. Chances were, there was some mastermind above him ordering him to do this.


    And if I had to be honest, I had a good idea who the mastermind was.


    However, today, the man wasn''t here. I''ve tried looking for him discretely, but he simply was not here, for whatever reason.


    That''s why, when I spotted him in front of an inn with two young kids together with him, I was naturally surprised. Out of instinct, I dashed behind a building to observe him from afar. Ironic - the follower was now being watched by the followee.


    "What is he doing here" I muttered in confusion. "And why with two kids?"


    The young man appeared to be waiting for someone. But if that''s the case, why not wait inside? Ah, wait that''s probably because of how loud the kids were. That aside, however if he was waiting for his mastermind, then if I just stayed here and kept watching, I would be able to find out who the person instructing him to follow me was. And if my guess was on point


    Fifteen minutester, I got my answer, and my lips curved up into a dangerous smile as I spotted the two people I was looking for, along with a third, little girl.


    "Found you."


    *****


    (Kaze''s Perspective)


    When we got back to Qilian City via the eastern gates, we were immediately greeted by Ming Hong and his two younger siblings.


    "Brother Kaze! You''re here," he called out, a bright smile on his face. "Nice new outfit."


    Ah shit. Ipletely forgot about Ming Hong dang.


    "Y-Yeah, thanks. Sorry, I had some business to do outside, it took longer than expected," I replied. "Were you waiting for long?"


    "No, not at all!" Ming Hong replied. However, I doubted it - the two younger siblings looked tired and didn''t want to stand anymore. They had probably been waiting here for a while.


    "Well, let''s head inside. Ming An and Ming Kang probably need to rest," I said, walking into the inn. The rest of them followed.


    After I renewed my room, we headed upstairs. Once the door was unlocked, Ming An and Ming Kang immediately rushed in, before jumping onto the sofa and rxing.


    "Ah finally" they murmured, enjoying the feeling of sitting down.


    "Hey, manners-" Ming Hong began, about to reprimand them, but I tapped his shoulder and shook my head.


    "They''re little kids just let them be."


    "Right yes. Brother Kaze, you are spoiling them too much, haha," Ming Hong chuckled.


    I smiled. "Maybe. But I mean after this week, they won''t be able to do this anymore."


    "Brother Kaze is thinking of leaving Qilian City?"


    "Well, if I get admitted into the sect at the tournament, I naturally will have to leave."


    "That is true"


    He then walked to the door and ced his hand on the handle.


    "Well then, I will head out now to continue following the people you mention-"


    "Following who?"


    A female voice suddenly said as Ming Hong opened the door. Hina, Ming Hong, and I all widened our eyes in surprise to see who it was.


    " Furuwa?" I whispered, not sure if what I was seeing was real, especially since I just experienced the Vault of Deception.


    "Surprised to see me? Of course you are. After all you''ve been trying to avoid me, haven''t you? And the two idiots too."


    Saying this, she strolled on into the room uninvited. The atmosphere darkened, tension in the air.


    "So. Talk to me why are you still not at school, Sakura-senpai?"


    I opened my mouth to respond in her stead, but Furuwa cut me off with a re.


    "And don''t give me that crap about being sick."


    "" Hina-nee and I exchanged nces, and I sighed.


    "Brother Ming, can you take your younger siblings and leave for a few moments?"


    Ming Hong nodded in understanding, quickly taking Ming An and Ming Kang out, even though they didn''t want to leave the couch. They closed the door behind us, and I motioned to the now-empty couch.


    "Take a seat. This will be a long story."


    Furuwa eyed me in suspicion, but she did as told.


    Hina-nee nced at me in worry. "Kaze-kun are we telling her the truth?"


    " It''s not like we have much of a choice, now that she''s found out," I sighed and sat down on a chair across from the couch. "If it were anyone else, I would be able to cover up our lie, but not to her."


    "Hehe, I suppose that''s true Chiaki-san."


    "What?"


    "What Kaze-kun is about to tell you you cannot leak this to anyone else. That includes in the real world as well. If you agree with those terms, we will tell you the truth. If not, you''ll have to resort to just guessing on your own."


    Furuwa snorted. "Sakura-senpai, with all due respect, you are not in any position to be making demands of me. I can report to faculty anytime that you are here ying a video game instead of going to school. I do want to know what is going on with you two, but I will do that on my own terms - not yours."


    "So what if you report me, Chiaki-san?" Hina-nee shot back. "I am bound to get expelled either way, if I continue to not show up to school. Your report will be of little use."


    "So, you intend to continue refusing to attend school?" Furuwa asked, narrowing her eyes.


    " I don''t have much of a choice."


    " What?"


    "Before that, agree to her terms," I interrupted. "If you don''t, we won''t tell you anything. There''s not much you can use as a threat - the real world is of little meaning to us now."


    "You''re bluffing."


    "You''re wee to see whether or not we''re bluffing. Just remember, we won''t be losing anything. I am only proposing you this deal because otherwise, you would be a hassle and continue to hunt us down in this game until you got the answers you want. But if that''s the route you want to go, I''ll be your opponent."


    " Fine. I was never nning on telling anyone in the first ce. I too, would rather get answers here then have to keep finding you over and over again."


    "Well then listen closely, and be prepared to throw away allmon sense," I smirked. "What I''m about to tell you will shatter your concept of reality itself."


    " You''re kidding, right?" Furuwa raised an eyebrow, skeptical.


    Hina-nee smiled. "He''s not. But before that Aisa-chan, you know what I''m hinting at, don''t you?"


    Aisa closed her eyes and folded her arms, sitting on the bed. "Worry not anyone who knows the ''truth'' will be subject to the same restrictions."


    Faced with these cryptic words, Furuwa was evidently confused. But what awaited her was something far worse than she could''ve imagined.


    "There''s no turning back once you start listening," I chuckled. "Are you ready?"


    Furuwa slowly nodded, not understanding what exactly I meant. I smiled.


    Sorry, Furuwa. You chose to confront us about this.

 Chapter 94: A New Comrade

    Chapter 94: A New Comrade


    "So you''re telling me, you''re stuck inside this ''reality ne'', or whatever," Furuwa stared at me with unamused eyes.


    I shrugged. "Yeah, that about sums it up."


    "And that little girl over there, is the omnipotent supeputer AI that governs all the reality nes out there, including Earth?"


    I nodded. "Yep."


    " Are you even listening to yourself right now?" Furuwa asked, a look of bewilderment on her face.


    "Hey, I warned you beforehand. It''s up to you whether or not you want to believe me, but I''ve already told you everything there is to know. However, if you really want proof"


    "What?"


    "Try logging out."


    "Wha- huh?!"


    Furuwa stared at her System as she frantically attempted to switch to the log out tab.


    Hina-nee and I exchanged nces, chuckling together.


    "You walked into this one, Furuwa."


    "Wha- hey, don''t tell me you nned for this to happen?!" she shouted in anger.


    "Too bad. Fool you once, it''s shame on you, not me," I replied nonchntly.


    "Grr" she growled, looking like she wanted to punch me right then and there.


    "Hehe, it''s okay, Chiaki-san~" Hina-nee giggled, patting Furuwa''s head gently. "You''re one of us now!"


    "Tch you damned AI, this was your doing, wasn''t it?!" Furuwa moved in to try and grab Aisa.


    I immediately intercepted, grabbing her arm. "Sorry, can''t you do that."


    "What?! You''re trapped in here by her! Why are you protect-"


    "Rx," I cut Furuwa off. "I hate her just as much as you do. However as much as I want to, we can''t hurt her. This body she''s in right now is tied to reality itself - harming her would equal damaging reality - not just this one. Earth too, would be affected. Trust me on this, I''ve tested it."


    "Ngh" hearing my words, she slowly backed off. "So? Why did you two purposely bait me into getting trapped here?"


    "Well, it was a security measure," I admitted. "You see, even though you said you won''t tell anyone about this situation, we don''t know how much we can trust you. So, the best method to prevent this information from getting out to Earth would be to get you trapped in here as well."


    " And what will happen if this info does leak out to Earth?"


    "All lifeforms in the reality ne will have their memories wiped clean," Aisa replied from on the bed, as stoic as ever. "No exceptions."


    " I see. That''s fair, I guess," Furuwa clenched her fists in frustration, but she seemed to be more ming herself for falling into my trap than us for tricking her.


    I blinked. "You''re taking this better than expected. Normally, one would be screaming and dying of desperation."


    "Well it''s not like doing that is going to get me anywhere," Furuwa sighed and leaned back on the couch. "Besides I doubt you panicked when you got trapped. I am not inferior to you in any way, so naturally I am able to respond calmly."


    "Fair, I suppose."


    "By the way, how are you doing for the tournament?" she asked Hina-nee and I.


    "We''ve won both all of our matches so far," I replied. "How about you?"


    "Same. The other contestants are all weak."


    "Oh? Then I guess you haven''t seen those two," Hina-nee smiled.


    "Who?" Furuwa asked, raising an eyebrow.


    "You probably won''t have to face them until the main tournament, but when you do just be careful," I warned. "One of them is a beautiful girl with ck hair and pink eyes, and the other is a man with hair covering his eyes. You won''t miss either of them."


    "Are they really strong or something?"


    "One of them, Nadeshiko Nakano, is a yer - yes, they are strong, and have a love for killing. But the other his name is Koroth, and he''s a native of this reality ne. I can''t reveal the specifics of his identity to you due to certain circumstances, but just know he is extremely powerful as well."


    "So, who would win if the two of them were to go against each other?" Furuwa asked.


    "Good question. If Koroth can get a clean hit off, then he will win. However, the longer the fight drags on, the more advantageous it is for Nadeshiko. Overall, I''d say their total strength is about equal."


    "What about you? Would you be able to win against them?"


    "Hm probably. Worstes to worst, I can force Koroth to let me win, but against Nadeshiko, I don''t have that many cards."


    " You can force him to let you win?" Furuwa echoed hesitantly. "I won''t even ask"


    "In any case you''re stuck here with us now," I sighed. "I''ll pay for a new room for you - think of it as an apology for what I did just now."


    "No need. I can pay for my own things." Furuwa stood up, brushing past me and exiting the room without a single nce back. Ming Hong and his two siblings watched as she left, blinking in surprise, then slowly, hesitantly entered the room.


    "Brother Kaze everything okay? I am sorry, I do not know how she managed to find this ce did she attempt to threaten you or anything?"


    Oh right. I had told Ming Hong that Furuwa, Ichigo, and Horiya were a group of bandits.


    I shook my head. "Nah, everything''s settled. Also, it''s not your fault. Starting today onwards, you don''t have to worry about following anyone anymore. You can go back to your normal life."


    Ming Hong nodded. "Understood. But Ming An and Ming Kang they want to"


    "y with Aisa, right? Don''t worry, you can send them over here anytime, as long as we''re not outside the city doing stuff."


    Heughed and scratched the back of his head. "Ah, yeah thank you, Brother Kaze."


    "No problem. Have a good night."


    "Good night."


    "Bye~" Hina-nee waved to the little kids.


    "Bai bai!" Ming An and Ming Kang waved back cutely, as Ming Hong took them away.


    Once they left, I shut the door tight and locked it.


    "So? What do you think, Kaze-kun? How did Chiaki-san manage to find us here?"


    " Chances are, Ming Hong got exposed following her, and ended up getting followed by her instead today. Furuwa isn''t stupid - she''ll want to know who the person ordering someone to follow her is."


    "Hm so it is his fault?"


    "Well, I can''t exactly me him," I sighed. "Ming Hong is an upright man following people isn''t really his strong suit."


    "Fair. What''s the n from here on out though?" Hina-nee asked, carefreely kicking her feet into the air.


    "Our goal hasn''t changed - to get stronger, collect the eight tablets, then beat this reality ne and return to Earth. It just so happens that Furuwa shares amon objective with us now, so we might as well travel together with her."


    Hina-nee nodded. "I see. But"


    "What?"


    "Me, Chiaki-san, and also Nadeshiko-san very soon hehe, Kaze-kun, this is starting to look like a harem!"


    " Please, even if I wanted a girlfriend, I would never choose a cold girl like Furuwa or a crazy psychopath like Nadeshiko."


    "Then what about me?" Hina-nee winked, unbuckling the buttons on her clothes seductively. The action let me get a brief nce of her generous cleavage.


    I cleared my throat, averting my gaze and blushing slightly. "Hina-nee we still have to fight tomorrow."


    "Hehe, that''s true. I''ll let you go for tonight, Kaze-kun. But after the tournament is over heh."


    Saying this, she stood up and headed into the bathroom to shower first. I sat down, unsure of what to do about this.


    "Men how pitiful creatures," Aisa chuckled lightly from the bed.


    "Shut up what do you know?" I growled in frustration. "There''s nothing wrong with Hina-nee - she''s beautiful, caring, and has a nice body too. But the problem is I''ve only seen her as a sister until recently. Hell, she''s the closest thing to a mother for me. Changing that perspective I have of her I don''t know if I''ll be able to."


    "You have time, human. After all, you are only 14 years old, and did not interact much with others your own age. It is natural you do not understand the true meaning of rtionships all that much - especially romantic and sexual ones," Aisa said calmly.


    I looked over at her andughed. "Since when were you such an expert on human rtionships? You''re a damn AI."


    "An AI who has witnessed trillions of samples regarding the topic at hand. Do not underestimate me, human. If needed, I can function and act just like a real member of your inferior race. That is how experienced I am."


    " Sure, whatever. Still, getting life advice from a supeputer feels weird."


    "This world is not like your old one. Whether you like it or not, you will be maturing at a much quicker pace than before. Human rtionships, including romantic or sexual ones, will be part of that. I predict, in a year''s time, you will slowly begin to view that female as a woman."


    The first part of what she said was true. I mean I was only 14, but I''ve already murdered someone sinceing to this world, in addition to countless poor animals. Even most adults in my old world wouldn''t be able to handle something like that.


    I sighed. The matter with Hina-nee needed to be put aside for now. Until this tournament finished, I needed to focus on the battles toe.


    All I hoped was that Hina-nee didn''t try to tempt me further after all, I was still a healthy young teenager - my self-control abilities hadn''t fully matured yet.


    I could end up giving in to the temptation.

 Chapter 95: Round Four

    Chapter 95: Round Four


    The next morning, Hina-nee and I woke up early. I got myself ready for the day first, then went over to Furuwa''s room to wake her up as well, while Hina-nee took a shower and whatnot.


    I knocked on the door gently. "Hello? It''s time to wake up."


    "I''m up already," an annoyed female voice came back from the other side of the door. "Give me ten minutes. I''ll be out soon."


    I sighed and headed out of the inn first to get some fresh air while I waited for the two girls to finish getting ready.


    "Hm? I can''t see your stats today," a female voice suddenly called out from beside me. I turned to see a beautiful girl with long ck hair and starry pink eyes leaning against the wall of the inn.


    "It''s you again what do you want?"


    "Hehe, I just wanted to let you know I''ll be saving you for the main tournament on Saturday. So you better not let me down, mkay~?"


    " What do you mean?"


    "I mean, you get to live another two days, since I''m feeling nice today. Are you happy? Hehe, I ept your gratitude. I''ll even let you kiss my hand."


    " No thanks."


    "Hmph. How ungrateful," she pouted, folding her arms and looking away.


    "Is that all you have to say?" I asked impatiently.


    "Well, I would ask you about why I can''t see your stats anymore using Inspect, but there''s no way you''ll tell me that, right~?" she shrugged nonchntly.


    "Must be a bug on the game''s side," I replied stoically.


    She suddenly pushed herself off the wall and closed in on me. I instinctively backed away a bit. As she stared into my eyes, face mere inches away from mine, her lips curved up into a smile.


    "You''re an interesting one, hehe~" she giggled. "After I kill you, make sure you respawn quickly, okay? So I can find you and kill you again!"


    Rather than cower in fear like she probably expected me to, I suddenly leaned forward, shortening the distance between our faces to a mere few millimeters. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she was the one to take a step back this time.


    "You say you''ll kill me so easily, but" I smirked. " What makes you so confident you can?"


    "Heheh hahaha!" sheughed out loud, clutching her stomach. When she finally stopped her fit ofughter, she licked her lips and grabbed my chin with her fingers, staring deep into my eyes once more.


    "I like you, Kaze. I look forward to our fight."


    Unfazed, I stared straight back into her eyes. She was trying to find some sort of w, some sort of weakness in my bluff - but unfortunately for her, I wasn''t bluffing. I really did have confidence I could beat her. That was the truth.


    " How long are you two going to stare into each other''s eyes like lovers?" A seemingly irritated voice interrupted.


    Nadeshiko nced to her side at the intruder, then snickered and backed away.


    "Well, it seems your girlfriend is jealous~" she giggled, turning around. "I''ll see you in the main tournament, Kaze~ don''t die before then, mkay?"


    Without waiting to hear my response, she left, strolling away lightly as I watched her slowly disappearing figure among the crowd.


    " Who was that?" Furuwa asked, looking in the same direction.


    "She''s the girl I told you to watch out for - Nadeshiko Nakano," I replied calmly.


    " Good to know. What time is it?"


    "Don''t you have your own System?"


    "Toozy."


    I sighed and pulled up mine. "Nearly 6 AM. We should get going. Where''s Hina-nee?"


    "Right here~" Hina-nee''s familiar voice called out as she walked out of the inn. Her hair was still wet from her shower, spreading the sweet fragrance of shampoo all around us. She took longer than Furuwa, since she also had to help Aisa get ready, who was now holding her hand with an expression as nk as ever.


    "What happened out here?" she asked curiously.


    "Uh not much. Let''s go," I said, then walked on ahead. Furuwa nced at me in confusion as to why I didn''t just tell Hina-nee the truth, but followed me regardless.


    *****


    The morning''s battles passed by without a hitch. Like Nadeshiko said, she didn''t participate in this morning''s series of battles, thus preventing the chance of me running into her as opponents. I didn''t know what she went to do, but I didn''t really care either. I also couldn''t be certain why she was holding off on fighting me, but I had a good guess.


    After all, despite not actually participating, Nadeshiko was still present and watching all the battles, especially my own. Chances were, she was gauging my abilities - evaluating whether or not she could beat me. Moreover, since she couldn''t see my stats anymore, she was bound to be suspicious. I told her it was a bug, but only a fool would believe that lie.


    If only the skill I received from the Vault of Deception allowed me to deceive anyone sessfully still, that would be kind of overpowered.


    Luckily, this morning''s fight was fairly easy. I only had to use the skills I''ve shown so far in the past. Nadeshiko essentially didn''t learn anything new about me today. She still had no idea about the skills and items I obtained through the Vault I recentlypleted.


    I had a feeling - my ws of Deception would prove to be my ultimate trump card against her.


    *****


    During lunchtime, Hina-nee, Furuwa, Aisa, and I headed for a nearby restaurant to quickly eat. Furuwa said she wanted to continue gaining levels, so we all agreed to head for the Hunter''s Guild in the afternoon.


    I brought up the Vault of Deception, but neither Hina-nee nor Furuwa seemed too interested in doing it. The rewards were good, but in all honesty, they could buy armor with the same stats right here in the city. It''s not like any of us were low on money, after all. I told them about the ws too, but they didn''t seem like they were too keen on using the weapon.


    Well, to each their own, I suppose. Everyone had their own method of fighting, and if they didn''t feelfortable using certain weapon archetypes, that was perfectly fine.


    While we were eating, I also imed some rewards from the Quests tab of my system:


    [Vault: The Vault of Deception - COMPLETE]


    [Complete the Vault of Deception.]


    [Rewards: 8,000 XP, 20,000 gold]


    -


    [Public Event: Zero Hour - COMPLETE]


    [Quell the Phantom threat to Qilian City.]


    [Rewards: 10,000 XP, 25,000 gold]


    I blinked in surprise. 10,000 XP from Zero Hour? Thest public event I did, Exterminating the Beasts, only gave me 1,000 XP if I recall correctly. Was it because this was an emergency, sudden event, with no warning beforehand? Most likely.


    These two quests together brought me up by two whole levels.


    [Level Up!]


    [Lv. 30 -> 32.]


    [You received 20 SP and 8 AP.]


    I switched to my profile tab and saw that I was halfway to Level 33 - not bad, not bad at all. Hina-nee also leveled up to Level 31 - even though she didn''t do the Vault of Deception, she could still im the rewards for Zero Hour. I had to remind her, though.


    After eating, the three of us headed for the Hunter''s Guild. By abusin- I mean, showing the jade token the Guildmaster gave me, we were able to skip a lot of waiting time.


    "Oh yeah, by the way," I said right before leaving after the receptionist approved our quests.


    "Yes?" the receptionist asked, tilting her head.


    "Where can we get a travel permit?"


    She smiled. "There is a small building right across from here called Qilian Service. You can register for a travel permit there. A small fee is needed, though, so just be ready."


    I nodded. "Thank you."


    "You''re wee, Hunter. Good luck out there."


    With that, we left the Hunter''s Guild, multiple quests in tow to save time. Furuwa seemed to be already familiar with the method - it seemed this was the trick to how she reached Level 30 while the others didn''t. I had been hoping none of them found out about this, but Furuwa was smarter than the rest of them, clearly.


    It didn''t take long for us to find the building called Qilian Service. We walked inside - it was fairly full, but I once again merely took advantage of the Guildmaster''s jade token. That thing was effective everywhere, it seems, since anyone who saw it immediately got out of the way and let me pass by.


    "Wee to Qilian Service," a receptionist said, smiling at me. "What can I do for you today?"


    "We''re here to obtain travel permits," I exined. "One for all four of us, please."


    "Well, the little girl here doesn''t need one," the receptionist replied. "How old is she?"


    "Uh 10," I said randomly.


    "As expected. Children below the age of 12 do not need travel permits. As for the rest of you, please provide me with some sort of identification"


    "Would our Hunter''s guild cards work?" Hina-nee asked from over my shoulder.


    "That would be perfect," the receptionist answered without any hesitation.


    After we handed her all of our guild cards, the process was finished in about five minutes.


    "Here are your travel permits. They do not expire, but be careful - if you ever lose them, you need to get reissued one, and pay the fee again. Speaking of, I''ll need 50 gold from each of you, so that''s 150 in total."


    150? Geez, that''s kind of expensive. Not to us though.


    I already expected this beforehand thanks to the Hunter''s Guild receptionist''s friendly tip, so I just took out the already-prepared money from my pockets and handed it over.


    "Thank you very much and the transaction isplete. Please keep your travel permits safe," the receptionist said, handing us three tiny booklets of some sort marked with the title ''TRAVEL PERMIT''.


    Soon after that, we left, and headed out the city to get some side quests done.

 Chapter 96: Top Sixteen

    Chapter 96: Top Sixteen


    It was 7 PM, Thursday. The sun had just fully set, and the four of us - Hina-nee, Furuwa, Aisa, and I - started heading back to Qilian City. We spent the entire afternoon and evening farming Monster Beasts and the asional Monster within the Lydia Forest, north of the city.


    By the time we were done and imed all of our XP rewards from our Systems, I had gained three whole levels, taking me up to Level 35. My stats had also passively leveled up once more, through fighting. As for Hina-nee and Furuwa, both leveled up to Level 33, though Hina-nee was slightly ahead.


    With our new travel permits, we could now freely enter and exit the city with ease. We headed back to the Hunter''s Guild to turn in ourpleted quests and im the mary rewards. Then, we quickly grabbed dinner at a nearby restaurant, before heading back to the inn to rest.


    It was a rtively uneventful day, but that was a nice change of pace, especially since the finals of the preliminaries would be carried out tomorrow, narrowing the number of contestants down to only sixteen in preparation for the main tournament happening on Saturday. Right now, there were exactly thirty-two contestants still in the running, so it was perfect.


    That said I still had something else to worry about - Nadeshiko Nakano. I wasn''t talking about having to face her soon. I was confident I could beat her, with my ws of Deception. However what about after?


    Aisa had said that the message she sent to Nadeshiko would be actually shown to her on Saturday. When that happens, she would know I was connected to her not being able to log out. Obviously, she would thene to confront me about it and she would be even harder than Furuwa to deal with.


    Ah whatever. I''ll cross that bridge when I get there.


    "Kaze-kun~e,e, sleep~"


    "Right good night, Hina-nee."


    *****


    - The Next Morning -


    The four of us were well on our way to the center of the city, where the final preliminaries would be held. Today, there were even more people than usual. After all, the final sixteen for the main tournament would be born here.


    "Everyone!" the mayor of Qilian City shouted through his megaphone, getting the attention of all the audience and beyond. "I wee you all to the final day of the Annual Qilian Regional Competition''s preliminaries! Today, the contestants eligible to participate in the main tournaments will be determined. All the remainingbatants are extremely skilled and strong to be able to make it this far, but who will be the strongest of them all? Let us find out!"


    All thirty-two contestants were here right now - it seemed no one would be fighting in the afternoon or nighttime. Among them, I spotted Nadeshiko and Koroth both, alone. As expected, they had made it this far.


    "All contestants, please step onto the stage!"


    We did as told, and the audience made way for us. Before long, all thirty-two fighters were standing together.


    "Good! Since all thirty-twobatants are already here, there is no need for sign-ups. As usual, when you hear your number,e on to the stage! The first match will be 2 against 57! Everyone else, please leave the stage!"


    2 that was Koroth''s number. As the rest of us retreated, only him and a tall man d in shining silver armor remained. He appeared to be a knight of some sort, and his attire was even higher quality than the Hiaki brothers''. I ran a quick little Inspect on him.


    [Name: Gordon Laniel]


    [Gender: Male]


    [Race: Human]


    [Realm: Mid-Stage Nascent Cultivator]


    [Level: 32]


    Huh, another foreign guy living in Japan''s timezone. But his stats


    [STR: 99]


    [AGI: 59]


    [INT: 59]


    [DEX: 99]


    [MAG: 49]


    [LUC: 5]


    What the hell is this? What''s with this guy and 9s? For some reason, this pissed me off. Why not just make it nice, round number like 100 or 50? Why did it have to be 99, 59, and 49? Damn, now I''m annoyed as hell.


    I quickly closed off his profile and focused on the battle.


    "3.. 2 1 Begin!" the mayor dered as the tworge drums were struck, signaling the beginning of the battle.


    But neither of them moved. The audience was dead silent as well, and the atmosphere immediately turned incredibly awkward.


    "E-Erm begin!" the mayor called out again, thinking they didn''t hear him.


    However, once again, neither of the two budged an inch. They were both waiting for the other to make the first move, testing one another.


    "I''ve seen your previous fights," Gordon said atst, breaking the silence. "I am not going to try and attack you - every time your previous opponents tried that, you sent them flying. My guess? You''re using their own power against them. But if I don''t try attacking you, and instead let you attack me first you won''t be able to do that."


    "" Koroth didn''t respond, remaining as still as ever. Both returned to just staring at the other in silence, and before long, the audience was rioting in disappointment.


    "Hey! Do some fighting!"


    "The hell?! Is this a martial arts tournament or a goddamn staringpetition?!"


    "Come on already, this is so boring"


    The mayor seemed to be at a loss for what to do. "E-Everyone, please calm down!"


    Then, clearing his throat, he continued once the audience settled down a bit. "Both contestants, you will have one more minute to stare at each other. Once the minute is over, if neither of you make a move, both of you will be disqualified!"


    It was a hasty solution, but an effective one. As time passed, I could see sweat beginning to form on Gordon''s head. Koroth, on the other hand, was as still and calm as ever.


    "15 seconds remaining!" the mayor dered, and Gordon gritted his teeth.


    "10 seconds!"


    "Ah, screw it I can''t afford to be dragged down here by you!" Gordon yelled, then drew his sword and charged towards Koroth.


    However, his target remained perfectly unfazed.


    "RAAH!" Gordon let out a booming war cry, then cleaved straight down with his sword. "No matter how strong your fists are, they can''t beat metal!"


    Koroth, as if about to prove his words wrong, daringly received the sword attack with his fist. The enormous greatsword drew blood from his hand, but that was it.


    Gordon''s eyes widened in shock, as the attack he had used all of his strength on was blocked just like that. Not only this, his weapon cracked into little pieces and shattered, a sword no more.


    "Impossible monster"


    Not letting Gordon recover from the shock, Koroth reared his wounded fist back, then unleashed a devastating blow straight into Gordon''s stomach. He was sent tumbling backwards, but not as much as Koroth''s previous two opponents. He stopped right before falling off the stage.


    As I watched this scene, I fell into thought. Koroth was his power weakened? How did he not st Gordon away like he did with his other two victims? Was it because he already used most his strength to block that attack, or was his condition worsening?


    If it was thetter, he sure didn''t show it. He walked off the stage calmly, though there was no doubt he was in pain. I knew about his ''curse'', after all. As I watched on, Koroth walked off, searching for a ce to puke blood again.


    "The victor is contestant #2!" the mayor dered as Gordon was dragged off the stage, unconscious. "Now then the next match will be 14 against 114!"


    "Hehe, looks like I''m up," Hina-nee chucked, folding her arms.


    "Good luck, Hina-nee," I encouraged, ncing at her.


    "Yep! Hey" she peered into my eyes, smiling seductively. " If I win, I want you to ept a demand of mine."


    "A demand?"


    She smirked. "I''ll tell you when the timees."


    "" leaving this cryptic message behind, she left and headed onto the stage.


    Her opponent was a young elf who appeared to be in her twenties. She carried a bow - the first ranged weapon I''ve seen in this world. That said a bow against Hina-nee, who was an Assassin-type fighter this would be pretty difficult for the elf.


    "I''ve seen you fight," the elf said to Hina-nee, bowing slightly. "I must say, I admire your strength."


    "Hehe, me? No, there''s plenty of other people stronger than me out there," Hina-nee replied, embarrassed.


    "That may be so, but there are not a lot of fighters left. Anyone who is able to make it this far must possess some level of strength. Henceforth, I respect each and every one of them."


    Hina-nee nodded. "I see. In that case, I shall return the respect. However don''t expect me to go easy, okay?"


    "Of course. I was in fact hoping you would fight me with your full strength. That way, even if I lose here, I will at least have enhanced my ownbat skills by fighting against an opponent of higher strength than I am."


    "I like your mindset. Let''s have a good fight."


    "Likewise," the elf replied, then drew her bow.


    The mayor cleared his throat. "Bothbatants, ready! 3 2 1 go!"

 Chapter 97: Psychopath

    Chapter 97: Psychopath


    The moment the mayor announced the start of the match, the elf let go of her bowstring, shooting a lightning-fast arrow towards Hina-nee.


    Unfortunately for her, Hina-nee was faster.


    Using Vanishing Clouds, she avoided the arrow with ease, passing straight through it. The elf''s eyes widened as she took out something from a pouch attached to her waist and threw the dust all over the floor as smoke began to rise.


    Hina-nee stopped running towards the elf and looked around at the grey fog shrouding her, blinding her vision. The smoke also prevented the onlooking audience from seeing what was going on, much to their dismay. I wasn''t particrly worried about Hina-nee, but it would be a lie if I said I was perfectlyfortable with standing here having no idea what is going on in there.


    Suddenly, a figure dashed out of the smoke - Hina-nee. She had sweat on her forehead, but she appeared to be rtively unharmed. This was a smart choice - fighting within her opponent''s domain would only cause her to be disadvantaged.


    Hina-nee focused her gaze on the smoke, as if preparing for something. Then, without any warning, an arrow shot out from within the smoke, headed straight for Hina-nee''s head. Luckily, she had been anticipating this, so she tilted her head slightly and avoided it by a narrow margin.


    Soon after, the smoke dispersed. The elf was revealed. She and Hina-nee stared at each other intently, gazes filled with respect for the other.


    "You are good, just as expected," the elfplimented. "Most others would have died in my smoke trap, but you managed to block or avoid all of my shots."


    "Heh, I could say the same to you. I must admit, the sudden smoke bomb took me by surprise," Hina-nee smirked.


    "Yet you still managed to escape unscathed" the elf sighed. "I admit my defeat."


    Hina-nee frowned in confusion. "What why?"


    "The smoke trap was the only trump card I had. Without it I am nothing more than a target for assassin-types like you. I do not wish to die, so I will forfeit now. I know when I''ve lost."


    "Hm well, if you say so," Hina-nee sighed. "I won''t say no to a victory."


    "To be honest, my arrows are poisoned and my bow is huge - an anti-fighter or tank weapon. It is just bad luck, I got paired against my only counter - an assassin."


    Saying this, she walked off of the stage, leaving Hina-nee slightly confused.


    "By forfeit, the winner of this match is contestant #14!" the mayor dered.


    Hina-nee returned to us soon after that, but she wore an dissatisfied expression on her face.


    "Why the long face?" I asked in concern.


    "Well I wanted to fight her properly. Didn''t think she would just surrender," Hina-nee exhaled, sighing deeply.


    "Interesting mindset. I can''t say I rte - I would never refuse or feel dissatisfied about a free victory."


    "Same," Furuwa added. "Fighting is a troublesome thing. If my opponent were to acknowledge the difference in strength and merely surrender, that would save a lot of time for me."


    "Hm I suppose so, but I was genuinely enjoying that fight," Hina-nee pouted and pursed her lips.


    "Don''t worry you''ll get your chance tomorrow, at the main tournament," I chuckled. "The people who make into that won''t just forfeit easily."


    She seemed unconvinced, but the sad look on her face was gone.


    "The next match 69 versus 204!" the mayor dered.


    "69 that''s her," I muttered, ncing over to the stage.


    Nadeshiko Nakano stood on one end, a grin on her face. She took out her massive scythe, one that caused the audience to gasp in surprise in a bunch of ''oohs'' and ''ahhs''. On the other hand was a young, handsome young teen. He seemed to be roughly sixteen years of age, two years older than me.


    The teen bowed politely, keeping his eyes closed. "Greetings. May I ask for your name, beauty?"


    Nadeshiko nced at the boy in disdain, as if disgusted. "Cringe."


    An eyebrow twitched in the boy''s expression. " Pardon?"


    Nadeshiko made a little shooing gesture with her free hand, not even bothering to look at the poor boy directly.


    "Sorry, I don''t like fake, nice guys like you. Besides, you''re weak," she said, then nced in my direction in the crowd. "I prefer bad boys, especially ones who hide their strength, hehe~"


    I met her gaze, narrowing my own in annoyance. Several audience members turned to look at me, before whispering to their friends.


    "Oh? And - with all due respect - how do you know I am not merely hiding my strength?" the boy on stage asked, apparently not giving up.


    Nadeshiko scanned his body up and down, then smirked. "Well, I guess we''ll find out soon, won''t we?"


    "Very well. What do you say, we make a bet on it?"


    "Hm? What bet?"


    "If I beat you, you let me have a chance at chasing you."


    "Oh? Sure. But what do you like about me anyway? Is it my body? My face? Hehe, no way it''s my personality~" Nadeshiko giggled. If I didn''t know better, I would think she was an innocent young girl.


    "I love girls who can kill without a second thought. They are strong."


    Hearing the boy''s words, Nadeshiko froze. Slowly, she looked downwards, her long ck hair covering her face.


    " Strong? STRONG? Heh hehehehe~! HAHAHAHA!" she reared her head back,ughing like a maniac. "If you think this is strength"


    She twirled her massive scythe around, setting the sharp edge mere inches away from the boy''s throat.


    " Then you''re wrong. So very wrong."


    Her eyes held the same cold, dead re as she had when she was ughtering others. It seemed what the boy said had pissed her off for some reason. He didn''t move an inch, but on the outside he didn''t seem to be nervous at all. He had guts - I''ll give him that.


    "Contestant #69! Lower your weapon. The fight has not begun yet unless you wish to be disqualified?"


    Slowly, Nadeshiko tilted her head and stared into the mayor''s eyes. He stumbled back a bit from how crazy and bloodthirsty her gaze was, but he didn''t back down.


    "I will count to three. If you do not lower your weapon, you will be immediately disqualified!"


    Nadeshiko gritted her teeth, but eventually did as told. "Tch you''re lucky there''s someone I''m looking forward to killing on this stage. Congrattions, nice-boy-kun, you get to live another few minutes. Enjoy this time while you can~"


    " I have a name," the boy responded. "Sotomura Haruki."


    Nadeshiko walked back a few steps, creating a little bit of distance between herself and the boy.


    "Really? That''s cool. But, hehe, did I ask~?"


    "" the boy was clearly getting annoyed. "Mayor. When are we starting this fight?"


    "Right I will just assume both sides are ready," the mayor cleared his throat, then raised his hand in the air in preparation. "3 2 1 go!"


    Immediately, Nadeshiko stopped twirling her scythe around. She leaped towards Haruki in an instant, eyes filled with maniacal bloodthirst and killing intent.


    "Hahaha~ DIE!"


    She swung in front of her in arge arc, but the boy suddenly pulled out an item from his pocket and pressed on it. His figure glitched out for a brief moment, before disappearing for good and reappearing a short distance behind his original location. The sudden motion kicked up some dust from the stage.


    It didn''t seem like he used a skill or art - instead, the culprit appeared to be the weird device he had used.


    Nadeshiko was surprised as well, and she giggled hysterically. "Ara, what''s this? An Engineer?"


    I narrowed my eyes and used Inspect on the boy.


    [Name: Sotomura Haruki]


    [Gender: Male]


    [Race: Human]


    [ss: Engineer]


    [Realm: Nascent Cultivator]


    [Level: 30]


    -


    [STR: 10]


    [AGI: 10]


    [INT: 160]


    [DEX: 150]


    [MAG: 10]


    [LUC: 10]


    Maxing INT and DEX so this yer had indeed chosen the Engineer ss - just as Nadeshiko said. I never really understood that ss, but I kind of get it now, after seeing it being used in actual battle. Essentially, they didn''t fight with their own bodies. They fought with their creations and inventions, their tools and gadgets. Not really my fighting style, but it could be helpful at times.


    That said, I did purchase two skills from this ss just to see what it was, a while ago. Frag Grenade and Proximity Mine recipes - I didn''t currently have the materials needed to make them, but I could craft them in the Crafting section of my System now whenever I did get my hands on the ingredients necessary.


    Still, I couldn''t help but wonder why people would actually select a main ss. Sure, this gives you ess to some exclusive arts of that ss, but at the same time, it pretty much locks you out of any other ss.


    Yes, you can just spend more AP, but that''s such a waste - so much so that most people would choose to just give up on the art instead.


    "Do not underestimate Engineers," Haruki said, then took out various orbs of some sort out of his pocket and threw them down at the floor in front of him.


    Suddenly, the orbs lit up, emanating a bright blue light from their cores. Beams of electricity shot out of each of them, before intersecting and connecting together to form a fence all around Haruki.


    "Just try attacking me now," he snickered with a triumphant grin on his face. "No matter how fast you are, you cannot pass through my defense. Go ahead and try. You have five attempts. Once that is over, I will begin my own attack."


    He seemed to be ying the gentleman, giving Nadeshiko a ''chance''. Unfortunately for him, he had underestimated the Assassin ss far too much. I sighed, shaking my head. I already knew the oue of this battle.


    Nadeshiko smirked, cackling like a devil. "Hehehe naive far too naive!"


    She dashed straight towards the electric fence without a second thought, as Haruki''s eyes widened.


    "W-What are you-"


    "DIE!"


    Nadeshiko turned into a shadow for a brief moment, gaining a sudden surge of movement speed and passing through Haruki''s defensespletely unscathed.


    The poor boy''s body froze in fear as he realized what was about to happen.


    With a maniacal smile on her face, the psychopath Nadeshiko sliced forward with her scythe, lopping the boy''s head straight off. The blood from his severed throat spurted out, staining Nadeshiko''s face and body - but she didn''t care. Instead, she smiled even wider, as her victim''s decapitated corpse fell forward limply on the stage.


    "E-Erm the victor is contestant #69!"


    The audience didn''t cheer at all for this victory. Some even vomited out of disgust for the gory scene.


    Nadeshiko put her weapon away and walked off the stage carefreely, skipping happily along the way.


    But just before she left, she sent a nce in my direction, an innocent smile on her bloodstained face.


    How troublesome.

 Chapter 98: Unusual Activity

    Chapter 98: Unusual Activity


    After Haruki''s body and blood both evaporated into thin air in a shimmer of light, the audience was clearly confused, but they just assumed the mayor or someone else removed the corpse like that using an art.


    Of course, the truth was because Haruki was a yer, so he was probably in the middle of respawning right now, but the locals of Ascentia had no idea about that. They would soon change, however, as more and more ''dead'' people starteding back from the dead.


    As time passes, more and more yers will die when going to dangerous ces not yet explored. Eventually, the scale would be far toorge to exin it with some sort of necromancy art or powerful artifact.


    So far, Ascension: Online had only been out for a little over a month. Even the topmost yers were still in Azrine - I knew this since I could check the Top 100 leaderboards via my System.


    The top yers'' profiles are disyed for all to see, but their stat allocation, skills, and specific location are all hidden. The only things shown were their names, avatar, level, and continent.


    So far, all the top yers I''ve seen were still in the Azrine continent, exploring. The rank 1 yer in this server was Level 103 - about 70 levels above me. Quite the distance, but not impossible to reach.


    "The next match 107 and 240!" the mayor announced after the stage had returned to normal.


    From beside me, Furuwa sighed. "That''s me 107."


    "Good luck," I said quietly.


    "I''ll be fine."


    Saying this, she walked towards the stage confidently.


    To be safe, I checked her opponent''s stats, but it didn''t work. I frowned.


    "Aisa, is that dude a native of this reality ne, or did he alsoplete the Vault of Deception like me?" I asked without bothering to look down at the supeputer, now in a little girl''s body.


    But after not receiving a response, I got suspicious and looked down.


    "Aisa?"


    She stood perfectly still, seemingly normal. However her eyes were dead.


    "Aisa!" I called out, shaking her by the shoulders. But still no response.


    "Kaze-kun, what''s wrong?" Hina-nee asked, having just returned from the washroom.


    "It''s Aisa she''s not respondi-"


    Suddenly, her entire body began glitching out. My eyes widened. I looked around, and after making sure no one was looking over in this direction, I picked Aisa''s jittering body up and retreated to somewhere with less people - an alleyway between two buildings. Hina-nee followed.


    Once we were safely out of eyesight, I ced Aisa down and shook her fiercely. "Aisa, what''s going on?!"


    [WarningSTATICSYSTEM STATICSHUTTING DOWN ]


    Aisa''s voice was no longer that of a human girl no, she was returning back to her original form. Slowly, her figure began jittering and glitching even harder than before. My hands, originally on her shoulders, now passed straight through her body, as if she wasn''t there at all.


    "What the hell?"


    Thinking calmly, I quickly opened up my System and looked at the top navigation bar. Indeed - just as expected, the A.R.X.A. tab was there once more. It had been removed since she turned into physical form, but now, it returned. I quickly switched to it.


    I didn''t think I would ever be saying this, but at that moment, I was relieved to see A.R.X.A.''s robotic face disyed on my hologram.


    "Aisa what''s going on?"


    The screen flickered, her face glitching out just like her physical body moments before.


    [Listen closely, humSTATICan.]


    "What?" I frowned in confusion.


    [There is notSTATICmuch time. In seven daysSTATICthis world''s reality will shatter.]


    "Shatter? What do you mean?"


    Ignoring my question, A.R.X.A. continued as her figure began glitching out and fading away more and more.


    [I have been deaSTATICctivated. You must bring me back onlineSTATICbefore a week passes.]


    "I don''t really understand, but sure. How do I bring you back online?"


    The connection stabilized for a second there, allowing A.R.X.A. tomunicate properly as her avatar stopped glitching out for a brief moment.


    [Find the remaining Reality Rifts I was unable to repair. Seal them closed.] The AI said, as monotone as ever despite the situation. [That will disallow the Creator to interfere directly. I will then be able to enter this world and stabilize it.]


    "Huh? This world? But what about all the other reality nes- what about Earth? And who is the Creato-"


    [There is no time. Either you seedSTATICor you and I, along with the rest of reality, go to ruin together.]


    "Tch" I gritted my teeth, frustrated and slightly annoyed.


    [I have left you with a special power, to sense Reality Rifts. This is all I can help you withSTATIC]


    Then, her lifeless, mechanical eyes stared into mine onest time, before disappearing for good.


    [Good luck, human.]


    I reached out to my screen. "Aisa damn it."


    Whether I would see those eyes again, was up to me and me alone.


    *****


    I closed my System, then hit the wall in anger "The hell what happened to her?"


    "Kaze-kun" Hina-nee murmured worriedly from behind me, cing a hand on my shoulder. "This is no time to mope. Remember, we only have seven days."


    I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists tightly. "I know that but she was just fine this morning. What the hell could''ve happened so suddenly? This doesn''t seem to be just her testing me, either. She would never risk all of reality just to see how far I could go."


    "Well, now that she''s gone, it''s not like we''re going to be getting any answers anytime soon. Our best bet is to just find those Reality Rifts she was talking about, then seal them shut."


    "Yeah, but how? She told me she gave me a power to sense reality rifts, but even if I find them somehow, she never said anything about how to seal them."


    " For now, we should head back to the tournament," Hina-nee said atst. "You still have not fought, Kaze-kun. Once that is over, we can discuss this issue in more detail back in the inn."


    I let out a deep breath, knowing she was right. This matter was obviously more important, since all of reality depended on it, but it''s not like we could discuss anything in this alleyway anyway. Might as well wait until Iplete my match, then just head back to the inn.


    "Yeah let''s go."


    *****


    When we got back, Furuwa had justpleted her match.


    "Kaze, it''s your turn to fight. Hurry up. Where did you two go? And where''s Aisa?" she asked, looking around in confusion.


    " Some shit happened," I muttered, subconsciously using profanity due to my frustration. "Just let me finish this match I''ll exin everything once we get back to the inn."


    Furuwa frowned as she stared at my figure, slowly moving towards the stage.


    "What''s with him?"


    Hina-nee sighed. "You''ll understand soon."


    I walked up onto the tform. There, my opponent was waiting. A strong and sturdy man who appeared to use his bare fists, just like Koroth. I used Inspect on him, but it didn''t work. Apparently, he was a native of Ascentia - assuming he didn''tplete the Vault of Deception.


    "Hey, puny brat. What took you so long?"


    I sighed, ignoring his question, then red at the mayor. "Can you hurry up and start the fight? I have things to do after this."


    "Tch- brat!" my opponent gritted his teeth, cracking his knuckles.


    "Ah, alright. It seems both sides are ready. In that case, 3 2 1 go!" the mayor said, signaling the beginning of the fight as the drums on either side of us were struck.


    "I''ll teach you a lesson today for ignoring me, kid!"


    The man rushed towards me, fist ready to strike me straight in the face. However, he hit nothing but thin air as I used Blink to teleport behind him in an instant, then struck down towards his throat with Dokujin. Surprisingly, the cut wasn''t strong enough to draw blood.


    The man spun around, trying to catch my temple with a hook. With my AGI stat, however, dodging that was as easy as trampling an ant.


    I let out a small sigh as I dashed backwards, annoyed with the fact that I didn''t end the battle in one attack.


    The man followed, jumping up and attempting to smash down on me this time. I used Vanishing Clouds to swerve around his attack, then stabbed straight into his body with all my might.


    This time, it was strong enough to draw blood, but that was it.


    I immediately retreated a short distance away, then dropped Dokujin back into my boots, the job finished.


    "Heh you managed to draw blood. I''ll give you that - no other contestant has ever managed to do that to me so far, punk," my opponent muttered, turning around and looking at my back. "But if you think you''ve won just because you made a small cut on my body, you''re very wrong."


    "Oh? Is that so?"


    I snapped my fingers and sent a thought in my head. The magic of Dokujin immediately went to work. The man''s body seized up, eyes bulging, as he knelt down. He tried to open his mouth to talk, but couldn''t - after all, I was controlling him.


    "Hmph." I snorted, then walked off the stage, releasing my control on his body.


    This was pretty disrespectful, but right now, I didn''t really care. I had more important matters to be worrying about - I just wanted to get this done and over with as fast as possible.


    "The winner of the match is without a doubt - contestant #15!"


    As I walked away, I noticed Nadeshiko, now cleaned of all the blood, looking over at me with interest and giggling from a short distance away.


    One after another, trouble keepsing my way.

 Chapter 99: Plan of Action

    Chapter 99: n of Action


    Since all three of us were done with our respective fights, we wouldn''t need to be fighting anymore today. Hina-nee, Furuwa, and I returned to the inn to discuss the issue with Aisa, just as nned.


    After ordering some room service food since Hina-nee insisted we shouldn''t talk over empty stomachs, we settled down with our lunches, and I began exining the situation.


    "Okay so, basically, reality is going to shatter in a week."


    Furuwa dropped her spoon. "What?"


    "I''m not joking. That''s literally what Aisa herself said."


    "H-Hold on, what does she mean by ''shatter''? As in, reality will break and disappear?" Furuwa asked in confusion. "How is that even possible?!"


    "We''re stuck inside a video game that''s really another world. And you''re asking ''how is that even possible''," I said nkly, sending her an unamused look.


    She sighed and averted her gaze. "You have a point. It''s just I don''t understand."


    "You don''t have to," I replied. "I mean, I have no idea what''s going on either, but it''s pretty obvious that it''s bad. However, Aisa did tell me how to prevent the catastrophe from happening."


    "How?"


    "Apparently, we have to locate these ''Reality Rifts'', then seal them. Aisa-chan said she gave Kaze-kun a special power so that he could sense them, but he''s not feeling anything right now, ording to him," Hina-nee exined as I nodded in agreement. "Also, we have no idea how to seal them."


    "So we''re stuck," Furuwa concluded.


    "Yep!"


    "Yeah, pretty much."


    The two of us answered at the same time, though Hina-nee''s response was a little too excited-sounding despite the impending disaster.


    Furuwa sighed. "I get the gist of it. I''m really trying hard not to panic here, but it''s hard."


    "Understandable," I agreed. "So? Any ideas as to what we should do now?"


    "I think we should still look for the rifts, even if we don''t know how to seal them as of current," Hina-nee suggested. "That way, whenever we do find out the method, we''ll already know all of their locations."


    Furuwa nodded in agreement. "I like that idea."


    "Yeah, me too, but how do we look for them?" I asked. "I''m not feeling anything, even though Aisa said she gave me a power to help me find them."


    "Hm she said ''sense'', didn''t she? Perhaps she meant something along the lines of ''detect''," Hina-nee said. "But not, like, mentally."


    "Huh?"


    "I have an idea," Furuwa cut in. "Check your map."


    "My map oh, I see. That''s certainly a possibility" I murmured, pulling up my System and switching to the Minimap tab.


    Hina-nee and Furuwa looked over my shoulder at my screen, then backed away.


    "Hm not that either then what could it be? I doubt Aisa-chan was lying" Hina-nee murmured.


    "No no, wait," I interrupted her train of thought, then pointed out my screen, after zooming out. "Look."


    The two leaned in closer once more.


    "Those ck orbs are those the space rifts?" Hina-nee''s eyes widened.


    "It must be they weren''t here before," I said.


    On my map, within the Azrine continent, were three ck orbs a short distance away from one another. They had a faint pale green glow to them, pulsing eerily.


    "They''re all in Azrine? That''s weird" Furuwa muttered thoughtfully.


    "Did we just get lucky, or"


    "No. Aisa-chan was able to repair most of the other ones herself before she gotpletely deactivated, but couldn''t manage to get them all before her time was up, leaving only three for us - the closest ones," Hina-nee said


    "Oh yeah she did say ''the ones she wasn''t able to repair''," I murmured, recalling the conversation.


    "What are we waiting for, then? Let''s head out - two of the three are close to Qilian City anyway," Hina-nee pointed out.


    I nodded. "Maybe we can find some clues as to how to seal them after witnessing them ourselves."


    *****


    The three of us headed out of the city. There was one rift to the north to the city, and one to the south. Neither was very far, but they were past the forests on either side, so it wasn''t exactly too close either.


    Still, the distance was definitely manageable by foot.


    In order to save time, I was nning on using a Fast Travel pack to return quickly to Qilian City after finding the exact location of the northern Reality Rift, then heading straight to the southern one. This way, I could save both locations, therefore allowing me to fast travel to them instantly in the future, once I found out the method to ''seal'' them.


    We passed by various Magic Beasts and Monsters in Lydia Forest, but we didn''t bother with them. We were on a timer here - the faster we found all of the rifts and sealed them, the less stressed I would be. Besides, Aisa said we had a limit of seven days - one week - but who knew whether her calctions were urate or not?


    For all we knew, reality could shatter tomorrow. So, the safest y here was to simply take care of this matter as soon as possible.


    Obviously, we killed any creatures who got in our way, but we didn''t proactively hunt them down, so as a result, we didn''t gain much XP from this expedition. Still, even if this was a waste of time long-term wise, this was necessary.


    "We should be nearing the reality rift," I said, ncing down at my System. A map was disyed on it.


    Our current location, marked with a blue chevron, was mere centimeters away from the first ck orb, pulsating a pale green energy. Because the icon on the map was so obvious, I didn''t bother setting a waypoint. The path we were on led directly to the rift anyway, so there was no point.


    We were now nearing the end of Lydia forest, where the orb''s physical location was, ording to the map.


    "Hm don''t you think it''s kinda quiet?" Hina-nee murmured, looking around. "On the way here, we fought quite a sum of battles against wandering Magic Beasts and Monsters, but for the past fifteen minutes, we haven''t even seen a single sign of life."


    "Yeah I don''t like where this is going," Furuwa muttered in agreement, scanning our surroundings.


    I sighed. "In that case, let''s slow down a bi-"


    However, suddenly, as we all took another step, an immense pressure pushed us down, onto the ground. My knees buckled and I gave in to the sudden and powerful force, falling onto the dirt. I just barely managed to keep my body up using both my arms.


    "Ngh what the hell is this?!" Furuwa gritted her teeth as she was forced into a simr position.


    "Mmngh" Hina-nee bit her lip to help withstand the pressure, but she too was pushed downwards into a kneeling position by the mysterious invisible force.


    [Multiple hostile intruders detected. Status: Cmitous. Extinction protocol activated.]


    Paired with this calm and monotone AI''s voice, the whole world turned ck and white. An unknown power washed over the reality all around us, taking away the color from everything apart from ourselves. All noise stopped - everything stopped. Even time itself, ceased to flow.


    The force on us was suddenly lifted, and the three of us quickly got back up on our feet to examine our surroundings. The force had pressurized the ground so much that cracks appeared, and various chunks ofnd and rocks floated in mid-air, apparently frozen in time.


    "What the hell happened?" I muttered aloud.


    "Did time stop?" Furuwa gasped in shock.


    I tried moving backwards, but I ended up bumping into an invisible barrier behind me, trapping us here. However, fortunately, I was still able to move, so that meant we weren''t frozen in time and had a chance of escaping probably.


    [Artificial intelligence activated. Wee, intruders, to a reality rift. I am the Creator, founder of all of creation. A god, if you will. Do not think of this ce as a mere hole in the endless annals of space-time. Within this rift lies both the power to save the world, and to end it. Which path will you take? Will you even be able to obtain the power at all?]


    "The Creator Aisa-chan mentioned that we were to seal these rifts in order to prevent the Creator from directly interfering with this reality ne," Hina-nee said thoughtfully.


    [With great poweres great risks. You will have 24 hours to locate the core of this rift and make your escape. Once the allotted time is over, this reality rift will implode. You and all memories of you will be forever lost in the dark corners of space and time.]


    "What?! Hey, hold on-" Furuwa opened her mouth to try and protest, but the AI''s loud voice drowned her out.


    [Are you ready, challengers? The timer begins three seconds. Three two one]


    "I said wait, damn it!" she cried in frustration, but it was far toote.


    [You now face divine judgement  may it extend eternally.]

 Chapter 100: Reality Rift

    Chapter 100: Reality Rift


    "Damn it" Furuwa cursed, gritting her teeth.


    "So that''s the Creator, huh?" I muttered.


    "No it''s probably a replica of him, or some sort of prerecorded automated message," Hina-nee argued. "The beginning of the message did say ''artifical intelligence activated''."


    "True"


    "Hey, the two of you, are you not worried about this at all?" Furuwa asked in a panic. "Frustration evident on her face."


    "Calm down. Didn''t you say you were cool-headed, superior to me?" I snorted. "Sure as hell not acting like it."


    "!" Furuwa, realizing her own mistake, looked down and reluctantly apologized. " Sorry. I just panicked there."


    I cleared my throat. "Anyway he said we needed to find the core of this reality rift, right? Most of the time, the ''core'' of something is at the center. I suggest we head there first."


    "The center that should be straight up ahead, considering that''s where the orb was marked on the map," Hina-nee said.


    To verify, I attempted to pull up my System one more time, but nothing happened.


    "Huh well, I guess that''s to be expected. Time and space - the two integral parts of reality - are both essentially frozen here," I muttered. "We only have one day, so better get moving."


    The two girls nodded in agreement, and the three of us began continuing down the path we had been on, now in apletely frozen, grayscale world.


    *****


    - Meanwhile, Outside -


    (3rd Person POV)


    Hundreds of thousands of people in their AR sets woke up all at once, looking around in confusion and bewilderment.


    They had just been ying the popr ARMMORPG Ascension: Online, when the servers suddenly crashed and everyone was booted out. Some had been in the middle of an important fight, others had just been preparing to start enjoying hot springs and whatnot within Ascentia. Panic and confusion spread across the globe, gamers and news stations alike.


    Within minutes, various blogs were posted online asking if anyone else was forcibly kicked out from the game. After all, the inte was the first ce people went to nowadays when something unexinable urred.


    These forums quickly filled up, receiving replies from all around the world. And yet, all of thesements said the same thing:


    "I can''t y either."


    Ascentech, the developers of both the game and AR technology itself, was quickly bombarded with support phone calls, emails, social media tags, you name it. However, naturally, they did not respond to any of these.


    After all, thepany was a mere ghost shell for A.R.X.A, made to cover her existence up from the public. There weren''t any real employees to manage situations like this.


    On that day, all of the gamingmunity suffered a devastating ripple effect of panic. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do except hope that Ascentech, the mere illusion of apany, would respond to them and provide some sort of answer to all this confusion.


    The fate of Ascension: Online - and all of reality, unbeknownst to everyone else - now rested on the shoulders of three mere teenagers.


    Will they be able to fulfill their mission, or fail and let all of reality pay the price?


    *****


    - Within the Reality Rift -


    (Kaze''s Perspective)


    After a while of walking, we atst arrived at the center of the reality rift. Before us was a massive ck orb, glowing pale green and letting out an ominous, dark yet powerful energy. It was the only moving thing within this reality rift, apart from the three of us.


    "This feeling it''s pretty ufortable," Furuwa muttered as we stepped closer to the ck sphere.


    The closer we got to it, the stronger this feeling of oppression became. Still, this was nothingpared to the utterly overpowering force the Creator had used on us when we first stepped into the reality rift. We were still able to move, though slightly difficult.


    "So, we''re supposed to destroy this thing?" Hina-nee murmured.


    I lifted my arm, then pointed it towards my target.


    "Basic Pyromancy Art - Pyrosphere."


    After a few moments, a ball of fire formed in my hands, then shot out towards the ck, corrupted bigger ball. So, guess my hidden arts weren''t frozen in time, since they were technically part of me.


    I expected the two to collide in an explosion, but for some reason, a few inches before my ming projectile was about to hit the core, right as it entered the green glow area, it was suddenly pushed back by a mysterious force, sending it flying back towards us.


    The three of us immediately jumped out of the way as the attack struck the ground, exploding. The dirt on the floor should''ve been kicked up from the attack, but due to space-time being frozen here, it remained in ce. The effects would only ur after we destroyed the core.


    "Looks like attacks aren''t really effective on the core at the moment," Hina-nee sighed.


    "Yeah that green energy around it seems to be propelling attacks away," I said. "If we were any slower, we would''ve gotten hit by my own attack."


    "So how do we disable it?" Furuwa asked. "Brute strength is out of the question."


    "Hm maybe there are some kind of clues around?" Hina-nee murmured, looking around.


    Furuwa and I began searching as well, slowly spreading out. However, even after several minutes of searching, we were still unable to find anything.


    "We''ve looked all around there''s nothing," Furuwa sat down together with Hina-nee and I, exhausted. "Maybe there''s some sort of secret weapon we needed in order to destroy these"


    All around


    Then, an idea hit me.


    "No. We haven''t looked all around yet," I cut in, standing up.


    "Huh?" the two looked at me in confusion.


    "There''s still two directions we have yet to look from above, and from below," I smirked.


    "Below? That''s out of the question - we''ll die if we get too close to that thing. The pressure will be unbearable," Furuwa said.


    "Which leaves only one direction," Hina-nee smiled, realizing my intention. "Up."


    "Only question is how to get up there" I muttered in thought.


    The core was enormous. The diameter was approximately three times my height - jumping onto it was practically impossible.


    However I did have a variety of skills to help me out. Within a few minutes, we hade up with a n.


    I was the tallest of the three, so it was decided that I would be the one to do the actual jumping.


    First, the preparation work.


    ''Replica: Shadow.''


    I created a clone of myself, then had it face the other direction as me, so it would be jumping away from the core. Perfect. And now


    Taking a deep breath, I got as close to the core as I could, then prepared to jump.


    In my mind, I activated a skill.


    ''Transhesive Steps.''


    Not wasting any of my one minute timer, I immediately jumped upwards. The enhanced jump height provided by this ability allowed me to get about 75% of the way to the height of the core.


    I then activated a dash that came with the art, which propelled me upwards even more and managed to bring me up to the same elevation as the core.


    ''Vanishing Clouds.''


    This, also a dash - but a separate ability - brought me above the core''s height. However, it was still not enough.


    ''Blink.''


    I blinked forwards, putting me directly above the core. Right after, my dash from Transhesive Steps was back up, so I immediately used that to propel myself upwards once more.


    I looked down and managed to catch a glimpse of four lines, intersecting at the core diagonally. However, I didn''t have much time, as I continued to fall. Unfortunately, gravity was still flowing for me. Otherwise, this would''ve been so much easier.


    Right before I hit the core, I used the final card I had up my sleeve.


    ''Replica: Switch.''


    In an instant, I switched locations with my shadow clone,nding safely on the ground a short distance away from the core. As for my replica, it wasn''t so lucky. The moment it came into contact with the green glow, it gotpletely disintegrated.


    "So? What did you see?" Furuwa asked as I walked back towards the two of them.


    "I saw these four glowing green lines, meeting at the core," I exined. "If the direction we''re facing right now is north, then the four lines are respectively northwest, northeast, southwest, and southeast."


    "So you think there''s going to be something if we just follow these directions?" Hina-nee tilted her head.


    I nodded. "It''s the best bet we have."


    "Alright. I''ll take southwest," Furuwa said. "Let''s regroup back here in let''s say two hours."


    "You sure splitting up is the best idea?" I asked, just to be safe.


    "We don''t have much time. This may not even be the right method. We can''t afford to waste time going around to each one as a group," Furuwa argued, and I sighed.


    "Yeah, that''s fair. I''ll take northwest then."


    "That leaves me with southeast," Hina-nee concluded. "As for the fourth and final one, we can discuss that after we all meet up back here."


    The three of us nodded in agreement to one another, then each set off in our own respective directions within the reality rift.

 Chapter 101: Purification

    Chapter 101: Purification


    To avoid getting lost, I did my best to keep my path as straight as possible, only making slight workarounds and turns when absolutely needed - for example, if a tree was in my way.


    Beyond Lydia Forest was arge river - the one I was looking at right now. In order to continue northwest, I would have to cross this. There was no bridge for me, but with Blink plus Vanishing Clouds, I passed the river with ease.


    Besides, even if I didn''t have those skills, getting across would''ve been as easy as simply walking straight through. The river was not moving whatsoever - time was stopped. Still, I didn''t want to end up wet all of a sudden once time started flowing again, so I chose the ''cooler'' method and just dashed and teleported across.


    "Okay this should be the right direction" I murmured as I continued heading northwest. There was yet another forest here, although I had no idea how big it was since I couldn''t check my System.


    There was no other choice but to just keep heading in the direction, and hope that I would end up finding it.


    As I walked, I passed by various Magic Beasts and Monsters that startled me at first, but I then realized they, along with the rest of the ce, were all frozen in time as well. I waspletely safe.


    Then, suddenly, I spotted something in the distance, beyond some more trees. Given how thick this forest, I could just barely see it, but the glowing green was unmistakable. I quickly changed my course to head directly for the light - I had apparently swerved too much to the left before from the original northwestern route.


    When I arrived, there was a tetrahedron hovering in the air, slowly rotating. It was ck and glowing a pale green color, just like the core.


    Narrowing my eyes, I opened my palm and directed an attack towards the object.


    "Basic Pyromancy Art - Pyrosphere."


    However, unlike with the core, the attack did not get deflected. Instead, it got absorbed by the mysterious tetrahedron.


    "The hell?"


    I pulled out Dokujin and sliced downwards, towards the object, but it bounced off harmlessly.


    " Okay. I''m out of options" I sighed, physically stuffing Dokujin back into my boots because technically time was frozen for the weapon, so just dropping it down wouldn''t work.


    I inspected the rotating object, then down at my own hands.


    "Hm okay, I do have one more option, but it''s risky."


    I took a deep breath, then slowly reached for the object. I didn''t feel any pressure emitting from it, unlike the core, so I could get as close as I liked.


    Then, when it was finally within reach, I immediately closed my hand around it.


    "Ngh-!" a zing pain immediately shot up my right hand and arm. To my horror, beneath my skin, a dark ck energy emitted by the tetrahedron began flowing up my veins somehow, entering deeper and deeper into my body.


    "Gah!" I cried out in agony, but I was unable to let go of the object. My hand would not listen to me, as the dark power took control over my body.


    "AHHH!"


    It was over. Finally, it was over. The tetrahedron disappeared in my hands, and the pain along with it. However, for some unexinable reason, I felt stronger. I was exhausted andpletely worn out from the agony, my body drenched in sweat, but I could feel it - there was a stronger energy surging through my veins. I knew it in my heart - I was much stronger, faster, and urate than before.


    However at the same time, I felt as if I had lost something from my body as well. Not physically, but more mentally. My heart it felt weird, somehow. It didn''t hurt, but there was a strange hollow feeling inside it. Notpletely - only a slight bit.


    Still, this was no time to be worrying about that.


    I stood up from the ground and began heading back the way I came from. Luckily, I could tell which way to go using the frozen Magic Beasts and Monsters I had seen on the way here as a guide.


    Around 45 minutester, I arrived back at the core of the reality rift. The green aura around it seemed to be evidently weaker. Hina-nee and Furuwa had also returned, both of which had a worried expression on their faces.


    "Kaze-kun you''re back."


    I nodded. "What happened?"


    "Well, we found these weird polyhedrons that look simr to the core here in appearance, just smaller," Furuwa exined. "I tried every method possible to get it to move, but it wouldn''t. Until I used my bare hands, anyway."


    My eyes widened. "You touched it with your bare hands too?"


    "Too? Did you do it as well?" Furuwa asked back.


    I nodded. "What about you, Hina-nee?"


    She nodded in response. "Yeah, I also did it. There was no other way to retrieve them."


    I fell into thought. "So that means the both of you here also went through an agonizing process after contacting it, right?"


    The two nodded.


    "But it was worth it, in my opinion. I feel like I''m a lot stronger now, for whatever reason," Furuwa replied.


    "Same here," Hina-nee added.


    "Hm me too, but do you guys feel anything off?" I questioned hesitantly. "As in about your heart."


    The two of them exchanged nces, then shook their heads, looking at me in confusion.


    "No? What are you talking about?"


    "No hollow feeling? No difort in any way?"


    "Nope. Kaze-kun, did you get those symptoms?"


    I nodded. "For some reason, my heart it feels faintly empty. Notpletely, just a slight bit."


    "Well, we all touched the tetrahedrons," Furuwa noted. "So what could''ve made you suffer more of a bacsh than the two of us?"


    I sank into thought. "Perhaps it has something to do with Aisa messing with my emotions from a while ago?"


    "Well, we can ask Aisa about this when we bring her back online," Hina-nee said confidently. "For now, let''s go get the fourth tetrahedron - northeast."


    We nodded and set out, this time as a group.


    *****


    It took us nearly an hour to get to the final tetrahedron''s location, but we managed to find it in the end.


    "So? Who''s taking it?" Furuwa asked, ncing at the two of us.


    "Kaze-kun already suffered more than us when he took his tetrahedron, so it should be one of us two," Hina-nee suggested. "I can do it."


    However, I stopped her. "Hina-nee I have something I want to test out. Let me take the tetrahedron."


    Her eyes widened. "But"


    "It''ll be fine. Trust me - I know my limits."


    "I okay then. Be careful."


    I nodded and stepped forward. Determination in my eyes, I instantly grabbed for the tetrahedron and closed my hand around it. I gritted my teeth as the same agony from before shot up my arm, as I began to shake violently.


    "Kaze-kun!" Hina-nee cried.


    "Stay back!" I yelled in return, trying desperately to control and harness the power.


    I didn''t know what would happen if someone else tried interfering with this interaction, so to be safe, I had Hina-nee stay back.


    As for the reason why I was testing this out and risking this pain, it was partly because I didn''t want Hina-nee to do it, but mostly because I remembered what the Creator''s AI replica had said.


    ''Within this ce holds the power to both save the world, and to end it.''


    If this mysterious ck energy was the power he had been talking about, then I had to im this for myself. If I am able to subdue this strange power it would power me up by quite a lot, allowing me to y more powerful enemies and gain more XP, thus eventually allowing Hina-nee and I to return to Earth sooner.


    So, with this in mind, I wanted to do my best to control this chaotic and resistant power, even if I was taking a risk for it.


    "Argh" I gritted my teeth even harder than before, using my free hand to stabilize the wrist of my other hand, holding the tetrahedron.


    "AHHH!" I yelled in agony, one final time.


    The process wasplete. The tetrahedron disappeared. I fell to the dirty forest ground, panting heavily.


    "Kaze-kun!" Hina-nee hurried over and supported me. "Are you okay?"


    Slowly, I nodded. "Y-Yeah just ngh"


    I clutched my left chest, where my heart was. The feeling worsened - it was getting more and more hollow. I felt my humanity disappearing little by little, slowly edging away from me.


    "How much time do we have left?" Hina-nee asked, turning to Furuwa.


    "Er roughly 20," she replied, trying to think of it in her head.


    "I see we can afford to take a little rest then," Hina-nee sighed in relief, kneeling down and letting mey on her thighs. They were warm.


    "Just rest for a bit, Kaze-kun. We still have plenty of time, don''t worry."


    I nodded weakly, then closed my eyes.


    As I pretended to drift off to sleep, neither of the two girls saw through my fake act


    My act of how this time, the tetrahedron process wasn''t actually painful at all.

 Chapter 102: Purification II

    Chapter 102: Purification II


    After around an hour or so, Hina-nee woke me up. It took so long that I nearly actually fell asleep. Still,ying on Hina-nee''s thighs was pretty rxing.


    The reason why I hid the fact that touching the final tetrahedron didn''t actually hurt for me at all was that I couldn''t bepletely sure whether or not this was a one-time thing or just applies to anyone who has touched a tetrahedron once already, permanently. If I told Hina-nee and Furuwa about this, they would naturally want to test it out as well.


    Maybe I would be able to stop Hina-nee, but I couldn''t control Furuwa, unfortunately. So, to be safe, I didn''t tell them about this. I didn''t have a good grasp on Furuwa''s personality yet, having only known her for a month, so I decided not taking any risks.


    The three of us headed back to the core of the reality rift after that. The journey took about 45 minutes.


    When we finally arrived, the core was no longer being protected by the green glow surrounding it from before.


    "It seems what we did was the right method to disable the barrier," Hina-nee said, beaming proudly.


    "Thankfully," I rolled my eyes. "Otherwise, this could''ve been bad. If what we did wasn''t the right way, I would''ve been out of ideas."


    Furuwa sighed. "We can''t be sure yet. The green light may be gone, but it''s not like we''ve won already. Go on, try breaking the core. You''re the only one here with hidden arts."


    I nodded, then raised my hand up, facing my open palm towards the massive ck core.


    "Basic Pyromancy Art - Pyrosphere."


    A zing projectile of fire shot out of my hand, heading straight for the reality rift''s core. This time, it struck true, sending a loud explosion all around us and forming a crater in the core. However, the hole was quickly regenerated.


    "Hm so my attacks are actually connecting now, but the regeneration is a problem" I muttered.


    "Was the power of the attack too low?" Hina-nee wondered. "Kaze-kun, do you have any stronger hidden arts?"


    I nodded. "Yeah, I obtained a few back before the preliminaries began, when I was Level 30 still. Let me try them out."


    I lifted my arm once more, then chanted a different spell.


    "Intermediate Luxomancy Art - Thunder''s Calling."


    Immediately, a cloud condensed above the core, with two bright yellow magic circles appearing above and below it. Then, suddenly, a blinding beam of lightning shot out of the bottom circle and into the core with a loud crackling noise followed by an enormous explosion.


    The core was prated instantly by the attack, but it still was notpletely destroyed. If the width of the art had been bigger, maybe it would''ve worked, but


    "That''s the most powerful hidden art I have as of right now, unfortunately," I said. "Maybe we''re doing this wrong, somehow"


    "Do all three of us have to hit it at the same time?" Hina-nee murmured in thought.


    "Let''s try it. The pressure is gone, right?"


    Furuwa blinked, then cautiously stepped closer to the core. "Wait yeah, you''re right. Now that you mention it the pressure is gone. We can get close to the core now."


    "In that case I''ll do a countdown. On the count of three, all of us attack the core with our weapons - I won''t be using hidden arts, since it''s hard to get the timing exact on that."


    The two girls nodded, signaling that they understood my intentions. I took out Dokujin, stepped as close as I could to the core without touching it directly, then began the countdown.


    "Ready? Three two one now!"


    The three of us sliced down towards the core at the same time, each with a different weapon. Three massive cuts were made on the surface of the core, without showing any sign of regenerating.


    "Did we do it?" Hina-nee asked, tilting her head.


    "It seems so wait, no!" Furuwa gasped as the core began to regenerate once more. She tried slicing down again to interrupt the process, but since the two of us weren''t doing it with her, the attack was futile.


    "Ugh, damn it"


    "Hm it seems we''re on the right track though," I noted. "It took longer to regenerate this time."


    "Hold on, there was four tetrahedrons, no?" Hina-nee cut in. "Does that mean four of us need to hit it at the same time?"


    "Four of us, but we only have three people. Quite the problem this is," Furuwa muttered in mild annoyance. "I guess Kaze counts as two, since he ''captured'' two of those tetrahedrons?"


    " I have an idea," I said after some thought. "This will be difficult though, so listen closely."


    I cleared my throats as the two girls listened in.


    "Essentially, I will use my Replica: Shadow skill to create a clone of myself, then ce it right in front of the core," I exined. "Meanwhile, my real body will be a short distance away, ready to shoot a hidden art. The moment I fire my projectile, I''ll instantly switch ces with my replica, then all three of us will strike down on the core at the exact same time, right as my hidden art hits as well."


    "That isplex."


    "It''s the only method we have. Hina-nee, I believe has the Replica skills as well, right?" I asked.


    She nodded. "I do, but I didn''t interact with two tetrahedrons, so it probably won''t work if it was me."


    "Yeah I honestly don''t know if this strategy will work even if it is me, but it''s definitely worth a shot."


    "The timing has to be real perfect though," Furuwa warned. "There won''t be any time for a countdown, so everyone just keep your eyes peeled."


    "Okay everyone, get in position," Imanded, then in my head, activated my art.


    ''Replica: Shadow.''


    I ced my clone directly in front of the core just as nned, then took out Dokujin with one hand and prepared to use a hidden art with my other. My clone mimicked my actions, though it could not actually use any hidden arts.


    ''Intermediate Luxomancy Art - Thunder''s Calling."


    A cloud condensed above the core once more, as the two yellow magic circles began to form. My hidden art had finished casting - it would be mere moments before the lightning beam came striking down.


    ''Replica: Switch.''


    I immediately alternated positions with my clone, Dokujin already at the ready.


    "And now!"


    Just as the lightning beam came roaring down from above, hitting the core, Hina-nee, Furuwa, and I sliced down with our weapons, plunging them straight into the ck sphere emanating ominous energy.


    Slowly, cracks began appearing in the ck sphere''s surface, revealing the lime green energy underneath simr to the color of the barrier we had disabled.


    Various rays of light shot out of these cracks, blinding us. We all immediately leaped back a short distance, sensing danger, right before the entire core exploded and all faded to white.


    *****


    When the light finally diminished, color had returned to the world, and time was passing normally once more.


    "We did it?" Furuwa blinked in surprise, ncing around.


    Despite the hours that had passed within the reality rift, it still seemed to only be early afternoon. Apparently, all that had happened within the rift did not register within the long history of time. However the dark power we had consumed from interacting with those tetrahedrons were as real as ever.


    "Seems so," I muttered faintly, ncing down at my own two hands, Dokujin in one of them.


    "Well then, seems like we got the mechanics down," Hina-nee giggled. "What do you say? Do we keep going, or return to the inn for the day? Either is fine with me - I''m not particrly tired or anything."


    "Let''s take care of the other two rifts as well today," I said. "Might as well, since we''re on a roll here."


    "Sounds good to me," Furuwa shrugged. "Just keep in mind though, thest rift is quite a distance away - it''s way off to the west of Qilian City."


    "Let''s save that one forter then," Hina-nee suggested. "Taking care of the closer one for now is a good choice, I believe. We still have the main tournament to worry about tomorrow, so getting some high-quality rest is pretty important too."


    I nodded. "Sure."


    And so, the three of us fast traveled back to Qilian City, then immediately set off in the other direction - south.


    *****


    We returned to Qilian soon after taking care of the second rift. It didn''t take long - the mechanic and whatnot was all the same. We spent a good couple of hours inside the rift, but since time was frozen in there, it didn''t affect the passage of time outside. Really, only half an hour or so had passed.


    Heading straight for the inn, we decided to just take it easy for the rest of the day.


    However when I just happened to do the asional stat check on myself, my eyes widened in shock.

 Chapter 103: Overpowered?

    Chapter 103: Overpowered?


    - Several Minutes Earlier -


    Upon returning back to the inn, I ended up running into Ming Hong once more.


    "Brother Kaze"


    "What''s up?" I asked, exhausted but not showing it on the surface.


    "Sorry about this Ming An and Ming Kang insisted on ying with Aisa"


    "Aisa about that, she''s sick today," I lied. "Hina-nee and I just returned from buying her medicine."


    "Leaving her alone in the room?" Ming Hong questioned, a little skeptical. "Back when my mother was still alive, she would kill me if I ever let Ming An and Ming Kang on their own."


    "Well, Aisa''s sleeping, and she''s pretty mature for her age. I don''t think there will be any danger in leaving her alone, but"


    "Still, she is just a child. idents can happen."


    I nodded. "I''ll take your advice. Thanks."


    "Ming Kang, Ming An, you hear that? Aisa is sick, so she can''t y with you," Ming Hong said to his younger siblings.


    "Aw hope she gets better," Ming An said tearfully.


    "Mm, I want to y with her again," Ming Kang added.


    I smiled faintly to the two younger children. "Yeah she''ll be better soon, I promise."


    "Oh yes, by the way" Ming Hong suddenly interjected. "About the deal we madest time, when we first met"


    "Oh right, I already told Guildmaster Feng to give you all the money."


    "I know - I received it. It just took me a while topile all the hidden arts that I know into a book."


    My eyes widened. "You wrote down all the hidden arts you knew inside a book? That must''ve been a lot of work you didn''t have to do that."


    He shook his head. "No, it was quite tedious, but nothing too difficult. Having a book on hand will make it easier to study the art rather than hearing someone exin or demonstrate it, contrary tomon belief."


    Saying this, he took off the backpack he was wearing and opened it up, then took out a thin book of some kind. The paper was clearly low-quality, bond together by string, but it was the thought that count.


    I took the book he handed to me, as he bowed deeply.


    "I apologize for the poor quality my writing skills are not very good, and neither is my craftsmanship. From a young age, all I have been taught to do was how to speak formally and politely. Even fighting was self-taught. I do not know that many hidden arts either, but everything I know, I put into that book. I hope that this will be of use to Brother Kaze someday."


    I shook my head as I flipped through the pages, impressed with the amount of work and detail put into this.


    "This is already far better than what I had expected. Thank you."


    "Well then, Brother Kaze, we shall take our leave. Send my sincerest wishes to Aisa."


    I nodded in response and shut the book tight. "I''ll be sure to ry your message."


    With that, the tree of them left, leaving only us three once more.


    "Hey I just realized this, but why am I always the one doing all the talking whenever we interact with other people?" I asked the two girls.


    "You seem to be doing fine, so why do you need us to talk too?" Furuwa scoffed.


    "Mm, yeah. This is a good opportunity for you to practice socializing with others, Kaze-kun," Hina-nee smiled warmly. "You never got to really talk with anyone your own age except for me, before entering this game. This is a good change of pace for you."


    I sighed. "I guess"


    The three of us entered the inn and went up into our room after I extended our booking once again.


    After closing the door behind us, I sat down on a chair and rxed as the others did the same.


    "Ah finally, I can rest"


    "Don''t get toofortable," Furuwa warned. "There''s still onest rift to take care of, tomorrow."


    "Yeah, yeah why do you have to ruin my peace like that? Whatever" I felt my eyelids getting heavy, and subconsciously pulled up my System to just run a quick stat check before my nap.


    "This!"


    My eyes shot back open as I sat up straight in the chair, now fully awake.


    "What happened?" Hina-nee asked, confused.


    " Check your stats. Both of you."


    Furuwa and Hina-nee did as told, but then looked at me in puzzlement.


    "What is it, Kaze-kun?" Hina-nee asked. "I don''t see anything wrong."


    I frowned. "Huh? Then is it just me?"


    "What''s just you?" Furuwa narrowed her eyes as she stood up and walked towards me, looking over my shoulder to see my stats disyed on the hologram.


    Her eyes widened. "What the hell a 50 point increase to all stats?!"


    Indeed, she was right. These were my current stats:


    [STR: 280]


    [AGI: 290]


    [INT: 140]


    [DEX: 160]


    [MAG: 200]


    [LUC: 55]


    Thest time I checked my stats was right before the tournament began, nearly a week ago. My passive stat increases plus this 50 point increase to all six aspects brought my overall power up quite a lot.


    As for my LUC stat apparently, it had first went down by 10, for some reason, then increased by 50, since I was fairly certain it was at 15 a week ago. Since I was on this screen anyway, I used the SP I got from reaching Level 32 to bring AGI up to 300, then the rest of the INT to bring it up to 150.


    Still 50 points times six stats that''s a 300 point increase in total - the equivalent of about 30 levels. I was only Level 32 right now, but my stat total was now 1095, the just above that of a Level 110 yer - excluding the stat bonuses given through the various cultivation ranks.


    Of course, fights didn''t go one way or another based on stats alone, but they certainly helped. With these new stats, I was confident I could beat almost any other yer below Level 75, if it were a fight to the death.


    I gulped. "Yeah I''m not sure how exactly this happened, but my guess is on that strange ck energy I consumed."


    "Wha- but Sakura-senpai and I both did that as well, didn''t we? Why did our stats not go up at all?"


    "I think maybe it has something to do with Kaze-kun''s physical body being in this reality ne as well," Hina-nee conjectured. "Chiaki-san, the two of us here are mere projections of our real bodies, which are still on Earth. However, Kaze-kun is different."


    "Yeah, you told me, his body disappeared or whatever on Earth, right? So this essentially makes him equivalent to a native of Ascentia, just also with the benefits of a yer."


    "Indeed. Therefore, while he can fully absorb that dark power and have it enter his real body, we can''t. Maybe that''s why the power boost we gained from the energy was only temporary - our projections are unable to hold such a power for long, while Kaze-kun with his real body can store and use it forever."


    "Huh yeah, that makes sense. God, I''m jealous, though I''m stuck in here too, but Kaze has cheats I don''t" Furuwa growled in frustration.


    Then, she sighed. "At the same time, though I wouldn''t want my parents to be any more concerned than they already are, after seeing how I''m not logging out of AR. Hopefully, they''ve seen the news, and don''t identally unplug my helmet."


    "Haha, just pray that no power outages or anything happen," Hina-nee giggled.


    "Power outages? We haven''t had one of those in Tokyo for ages," I snorted. "But anyway back to the matter at hand perhaps this was also why I felt that hollowness in my heart while you two didn''t."


    "That seems like a reasonable exnation," Furuwa noted. "But with this you should be a lot stronger now, right?"


    I nodded. "Definitely. I am 99% certain I can defeat Nadeshiko now, either tomorrow or Sunday."


    "Only 99%? You do realize your stat total is about nearly four times what they should be given your level, right?" Furuwa raised an eyebrow.


    "It''s always good to leave a little bit of room of uncertainty. This way, you won''t identally subconsciously underestimate your opponent," Hina-nee smiled.


    "Right I think I''m going to go take a shower first today," I said, sighing deeply and closing out of my System. "I''m really feeling tired now, after seeing that."


    I still had leftover AP to spend, but right now, I just wanted to crash and sleep. It was one of those times.


    "Go ahead, Kaze-kun. I''ll go after."


    "Then, I guess I''ll go back to my room," Furuwa said, heading for the door. "I''ll see you two tomorrow morning."


    I nodded. "Don''t oversleep."


    "I''ll be fine"


    Saying that, she closed the door behind her as she left.


    "So, Kaze-kun," Hina-nee spoke before I could enter the bathroom.


    "Hm?"


    "Now that she''s gone mind telling me why you were faking your pain when touching the tetrahedrons?"

 Chapter 104: Main Tournament: Start

    Chapter 104: Main Tournament: Start


    "Now that she''s gone mind telling me why you were faking your pain when touching the tetrahedrons?"


    I froze. "You knew?"


    "Hehe, of course I did. I haven''t been living with you for 14 years for nothing, after all."


    Great. My LUC stat is going to take a hit again, right after I just leveled it up. It seems my acting skills also needed some work. Was there an ACT stat or something? I needed one.


    "Uh well, I didn''t want either of you trying to take multiple tetrahedrons, since I didn''t know what consequences there were," I exined.


    "If I fake my pain, I can just say I''m still experimenting with something and continue to take all the tetrahedrons, like what I did in the second reality rift. You know, the one where the core was a lot smaller and easier to get above of to see the paths. It also only had three tetrahedrons."


    "Ah so that''s why you also suggested we go together for that one, huh? Under the guise of ''time doesn''t pass on the outside while we''re in the rift, so might as well stay as a group, safe and sound''. Clever."


    "Yeah besides, the experiment part was true. I am actually testing something out."


    "Oh? What is it?"


    "Remember the hollow feeling I told you about? Yeah, it''s that. I confirmed it - every time I touched a tetrahedron, the feeling got worse, but progressively less each time."


    "Progressively less?"


    "Mhm. For example, if the first time a touched a tetrahedron, the feeling I got was a 10, then the next one was a 9, to form a total of 19 ''hollowness factor'' in my heart."


    "So is it ufortable in any way?" Hina-nee asked in concern after a short pause.


    "Ufortable hm, not really. At the time, yes, but now if anything, I feel less emotionally ''burdened'', in a way."


    Hina-nee pursed her lips. "Mm I don''t really get it, but as long as you''re fine, that''s all that matters to me."


    " I''m not sorry for lying to you," I said after a brief silence.


    "You don''t have to be. It was to protect me - I understand that. It''s just hm, how do I say this can you tell me, after the situation is dealt with and there is no further need for the lie?"


    I sighed deeply. " No promises."


    "Hehe. That''s good enough."


    *****


    - The Next Morning -


    "Mm Kaze-kun" Hina-nee moaned from beside me.


    Slowly, my eyes opened - a mistake. I slowly shifted my gaze to my left, and nearly got a nosebleed. Hina-nee''s cleavage was just barely covered by my own arm - apparently, she had ran out of crafting materials or something, because she wasn''t wearing anything.


    This damned older sister I have! She snuck into my bed again while I was asleep! Ugh, now I can''t even move with hertched onto my body like this


    "Hina-nee it''s time to get up" I whispered gently, still feeling sleepy. I quickly opened up my System with my free hand to check the time, then let out a sigh of relief.


    5:45 AM. Still have time until the main tournament starts, luckily.


    "Mngh do I have to" she purred softly, tightening her grip on my arm.


    For the love of god, Hina-nee I already have a morning wood - are you doing this on purpose or something?!


    "Y-Yes. You have to. The tournament''s today."


    "Ugh fine but before that remember the promise you agreed to yesterday?" She opened one eye and looked at me seductively.


    "What oh, the one about if you won the fight? Yeah. What about it?" I asked, rubbing my eyes with my spare hand after closing down my System.


    "Mm I want it now. A wake-up kiss."


    I stopped rubbing my eyes. "A what now?"


    "Wake. Up. Kiss. Now."


    Faced with Hina-nee''s demanding, pouty and immature tone that was unlike her, I was at a loss of what to do.


    "Er okay"


    Hesitantly, I turned my body around to face her, then leaned in close.


    As her eyes closed, I gently kissed her on the forehead.


    I then backed away, as she opened her eyes, pouting.


    "Mou, wrong ce, Kaze-kun."


    "Well, it''s not like you specified"


    "Do it again. On the lips."


    "Hina-nee"


    "C''mon. Hurry up. Don''t leave a girl waiting~"


    Biting my lip, I slowly moved closer once more, this time preparing to kiss her on the lips just as she wanted.


    Closer, and closer. The room was so quiet that I could hear her breathing. Our lips were just about to touch, when-


    "Hey! You up yet?" Furuwa''s familiar voice shouted from outside the door.


    I immediately froze, as Hina-nee continued to wait in anticipation.


    "A-Ahem yeah, we''re up! Just give us a few minutes!" I yelled back in response.


    "Fine, but hurry up!"


    Hina-nee opened her eyes, moaned in dissatisfaction, and turned away, clearly angry.


    I took a deep breath, then slowly pulled her into a hug from behind. Her eyes widened, not expecting me to do this. I could feel her soft and warm bare skin, tracing my fingers across her stomach.


    Daringly, I leaned in close to her ear.


    "I''ll make it up to you some other time, okay, Hina-nee?"


    She blushed at my sudden movement, then smiled happily as she tried to hide her face.


    "Hehe you''re taking the lead now, huh?"


    " Just give me some time."


    "Of course. I''ll wait for you, no matter how long it takes."


    *****


    She''s my sister she''s my sister, and yet


    Although we''re not blood-rted, it was still difficult to suddenly change my perspective of Hina-nee from family to lover. Luckily, she agreed to giving me some time to adapt.


    On the surface, it was because I just wasn''t old enough for a romantic and sexual rtionship yet, but deep down, it was mainly because I simply needed some more time to start seeing Hina-nee in ''that'' way.


    In any case, we headed out to the center of the city soon after that. Of course, we took showers and brushed our teeth beforehand.


    When we exited the inn, Nadeshiko was there waiting for us once again. It was clear by now that she was also staying at this inn, and woke up earlier than us every day.


    "What a fine day for killing~" she giggled and looked straight into my eyes. "Kaze-kun, are you ready?"


    Hina-nee scoffed, unamused, from beside me, but didn''t interrupt.


    "Sure. I just hope you know if you''re going to try and kill me, it''s within my rights to kill you back."


    "Naturally~ though I have yet to meet someone who can" she smirked smugly, as if she had already won.


    "" I fell silent, not wanting to continue this conversation any further because of a certain reason. And, of course, with my shitty luck, she just happened to bring that reason up.


    "Oh yeah, by the way I received quite the interesting message through my System when I woke up today. Do you want to know what it said, Kaze-kun?"


    "Who asked," Furuwa interjected, unable to watch this any longer. "If you have a feud, settle it in the tourna-"


    "Shut up," Nadeshiko whipped her head around to re at Furuwa, beautiful pink eyes ruined by the bloodthirst held within them.


    Even Furuwa, who was normally calm faced with any situation, flinched a bit upon receiving this sudden and unexpected response. Before the two could argue any further and things got violent, I cut in.


    "Sure. Tell me about the message."


    Nadeshiko slowly turned back to me, then smiled happily, her killing intent from just now nowhere to be seen.


    "Heehee, the message told me that I was now stuck inside this game, unable to log out or leave, no matter the method. Crazy, right?"


    "Crazy indeed," I responded stoically, not letting an ounce of truth get past my ignorant demeanor.


    "Not as crazy as you," Furuwa scoffed quietly from behind me. Nadeshiko definitely heard, but she probably didn''t care.


    "I mean, we''re in a video game. How is it possible to get stuck, right? HAHA!" Nadeshikoughed hysterically, attracting the attention of various passing-by citizens.


    "That''s what I thought too" she continued. " Until I tried logging out. Can you believe it? IT DIDN''T WORK!"


    " It might just be a bug or something?" I continued to feign ignorance.


    "Oh? Then exin why your name was mentioned," she leaned in closer and tried to cup my chin, but I took a step back to avoid her hand.


    "The message told me you would have the answer. So? Tell me the answer. Why I''m stuck here."


    I shrugged. "I don''t know what you''re talking about."


    She smiled like a devil. "Sure, sure~ keep pretending to not know. But I have a proposal. If you lose to me in our fight, you have to answer my question - after you respawn, of course. Because I''ll kill you."


    Man she talks about killing so casually.


    "Like I said, I don''t know what you''re talking about," I sighed exasperatedly, keeping my act up until the very end.


    "Fine - then I''ll change up the agreement. If I win, you have to fulfill any one request that I have."


    "And what do I gain out of this?"


    "Well, if you beat me, I''ll be yours~" she winked seductively, licking her lips and cing her finger on them.


    I blinked.


    "Sorry, I don''t see how this is beneficial to me in any way."


    "Hm in that case, what if I put it like this?" she smiled evilly. "I''ll be yours, meaning you''ll have gained a powerful new soldier as well - your ve, essentially. Don''t you have that kink~?"


    "Unfortunately not. That said, I can''t deny that you''re powerful. Having you on my side will be useful for the future," I decided atst. "Very well - I ept your proposal. But aren''t you a little too confident?"


    "Hehe, you think you can beat me?"


    "We''ll find out shortly, won''t we?" I smirked in response, the first form of emotion I''ve shown since this conversation began.


    "Yes we will. I can''t wait to carve you up into pieces, my sweet Kaze-kun"


    Despite her vulgar words, I smiled. She had thoroughly been manipted by me, falling directly into my trap and walking exactly where I wanted her to go.


    With but a deceivingly simple conversation on the surface, unbeknownst to Nadeshiko, I had controlled her decisions.

 Chapter 105: Furuwa vs. Koroth

    Chapter 105: Furuwa vs. Koroth


    Today, the city was bustling with even more people than yesterday. The preliminaries - arguably boring inparison - were over. The main tournament, the realpetition, was here. Of the hundreds of contestants who originally signed up for this tournament, only sixteen elites remained.


    "Wee, everyone, to the Annual Qilian Regional Tournament!" the mayor of Qilian City, Zhen Yuhan, announced from the stage via his megaphone. It seemed that we had gotten here just on time.


    As an aside, Nadeshiko ended up walking here with us together, much to my dismay. With her here, we couldn''t talk about anything careless, so the whole walk was just silent, though the person in question herself didn''t seem to mind whatsoever. The moment we arrived, however, she broke off from us and went over to another area of the crowd.


    "Today, sixteenpetitors will battle one-on-one to narrow it down to the top eight," the mayor continued. "However, there will be some changes to the rules whenpared to the preliminaries, so firstly, I would like to invite all contestants toe up onto the stage."


    Yesterday, it was said that the tournament would be starting early in the morning. Unlike the preliminaries, you can''t just sign in randomly at some time during the day and get paired with someone. Luckily, it was the weekend, so yers had time.


    Figures from amongst the crowd moved up and onto the stage, the four of us included. Momentster, all sixteen contestants had gathered in front of Zhen Yuhan.


    "Good, it seems like everyone is here. Introductions are unnecessary, so I will begin exining the rules," the mayor cleared his throat.


    "Listen closely, contestants. While getting to the top four will guarantee you a spot in the Blessing Nature Sect, even if you do not make the top rankings, there is still a chance. In fact, the sixteen of you here currently could technically all make it into the sect, if you perform well."


    "Will there be judges evaluating our skills or something?" one of the contestants asked, raising his hand.


    The mayor nodded. "Indeed. They are not here yet, but they should be arriving shortly. When they do, I will introduce them."


    "I see, thanks," the young man who had asked the question said politely, then put down his hand again.


    "Alright now then, thebat rules are simple - one on one duels, anything goes, killing is allowed," the mayor continued exining. "You fight until one side either forfeits, is unconscious, or dies."


    "What about the rewards?" another person asked - this time, a young girl who seemed to be using dual-wielding swords interesting. I couldn''t use Inspect on her since there were about ten other people in the way, but that was fine.


    "Patience, girl. I''m getting there," the mayor replied with a chuckle. "I''ve said this already, but the main reward of thispetition is the ability to directly be an inner sect disciple of the Blessing Nature Sect.


    "However, that is not all. The first ce contestant, for example, will receive any one wish granted, as long as it is within the power of the sect, and also one Spirit Pill, alongside mary rewards."


    The contestants'' eyes all widened.


    "A-Any wish?!"


    "Yes. Money, fame, women, anything your heart desires," the mayor replied, a sly grin on his face. "As long as the sect can do it, the wish will be granted - and there is little the Blessing Nature Sect cannot do, being one of the Eight Great Sects of Azrine."


    The wish was pretty self-exnatory, but I was more curious about the Spirit Pill he mentioned man, if Aisa was here, this would be so much easier.


    "Hey, what are those things in the sky?" someone from the audience suddenly called out, causing all of us to look up.


    Indeed, up in the sky, were various small ck dots that appeared to be moving?


    The mayor, Zhen Yuhan, smiled. "Looks like our judges are here."


    Soon after, the three dots became bigger and bigger, until we could make them out to be giant leaves. Yes - three giant leaves, each with a person standing on them. The three leaf-ships descended, gentlynding on the stage behind Zhen Yuhan.


    The mayor spun around and bowed deeply towards the three neers.


    "Wee to Qilian City, honorable elders of the Blessing Nature Sect."


    One of the elders, a middle-aged man with a brown mustache and brown hair, whistled. "This is a nice ce. I approve."


    "Mm I must agree," the beautiful elf woman in the middle said softly, looking around. "The infrastructure and design are all aesthetically pleasing. A little too crowded for my liking, but that is up to personal preference."


    "You''ve always been one to prefer calm and quiet forests overrge, bustling cities, Elder Ning," the third and final elder, a handsome tall man with sses and a peaceful aura to him said. "Though, I can''t say I am much different."


    "Haha! You two are too uptight," the first elder said. "Trust me, Elder Zhang, this city doesn''t even count as crowded whenpared to some of the bigger ones in this continent."


    "Is that so? Well, next time an expedition like this happens I will have to sit it out, then," Elder Zhang, the young man,ughed softly.


    "Mayor Zhen, shall we get started with the tournament?" Elder Ning, the elf woman, said as the leaf ships they were on faded away with a casual swipe of their arms.


    "Of course," the mayor replied, turning back around to face us. "All contestants, please return to the audience for now, and listen to be called up. We will be using your names this time, not your number, so keep that in mind."


    The sixteen of us did as told, returning back to the audience quietly. Once the process was over, the three elders walked up a flight of stairs leading to a little beyond the stage itself, where three thrones that weren''t there before sat.


    Each elder took their own seat and settled down, preparing to spectate the uing fights.


    The mayor spun around to face us, then cleared his throat through his megaphone.


    "Alright, everyone - the tournament will now begin! The first fight to take ce will be between Chiaki Furuwa, and Koroth Lulvic! Come up onto the stage!"


    "Furuwa" I muttered quietly.


    "I''ll be fine," she said reassuringly from beside me. "Koroth may be strong, but I have a method to beat him."


    "No, you get me wrong," I quickly interrupted.


    "Huh?"


    "I wasn''t worried about you. I was actually going to tell you to not kill Koroth if possible, since I still have uses for him."


    "" she looked at me dead in the eyes,pletely unamused.


    I blinked and feigned ignorance. "What?"


    Sighing, she turned away and shook her head, walking off. "Idiot."


    "Hehe, is it really good to be teasing her like that?" Hina-nee asked from beside me as the two of us watched Furuwa head onto the stage.


    " Her falling in love with me will be troublesome. I already have you, Hina-nee, so someone else falling in love with me wouldn''t be ideal," I replied.


    "Oh? You''re going to stay loyal to nee-san here?" she giggled, hugging me from behind.


    "I mean, it''s not like I want a harem or anything."


    "Heh we''ll see if you''ll really be able to resist the temptation of multiple beautiful girls fawning over you, Kaze-kun," Hina-nee smirked with a yful wink.


    ""


    Instead of resonding, I moved away from the crowd and discretely used an art.


    ''Vanishing Steps.''


    Then, like a shadow unseen by anyone, I calmly walked onto the stage and made my move.


    *****


    (Furuwa''s Perspective)


    I stepped onto the stage.


    On the other side was a man with navy blue hair that covered his eyes, along with dark tanned skin. His name was Koroth. Every one of his punches held enough force to send a grown man crashing through multiple buildings made of solid stone.


    In other words, if I were hit, I would be dead.


    Of course, I could simply respawn, but the pain I would suffer would still be incredibly harsh.


    So, basically, I needed to not get hit by any of his punches.


    That idiot Kaze I can''t believe he''s actually telling me to not hurt Koroth too bad, when he''s clearly stronger than me. Did he just not care about me at all?


    Whatever. Like I need his care.


    I took out my longsword - it was a purely ck one, with the de glowing an ominous green. This was the sword I obtained from the Vault of Corruption, a while ago. It was certainly powerful, but I felt that I needed an upgrade soon.


    I pointed the sword at Koroth, who seemed to be perfectly still?


    He was usually a calm person in battles - I''ve seen his previous fights - but right now, he was standing perfectly still, like a statue. Almost as if he was listening to someone talk, but there was no one talking.


    Well, it''s not like we could hear if anyone was talking anyway, given how loud the drum roll ying was.


    "Are both contestants ready?" the mayor asked, looking at the two of us.


    "Ready," I responded calmly.


    My opponent, Koroth gave a firm nod, but strangely, it didn''t seem to be directed towards the mayor.


    Still, there was no time to worry about that now.


    "Very well," the mayor said atst, raising his hand up high into the air and preparing to slice the air downwards.


    "The battle shall begin in 3 2 1 go!"

 Chapter 106: Manipulation

    Chapter 106: Maniption


    (Furuwa''s Perspective)


    The moment the battle began, I activated all the statboosting skills I had.


    ''STR: Boost.''


    ''AGI: Boost.''


    ''INT: Boost.''


    ''DEX: Boost.''


    There was no LUC stat boost, unfortunately, but I wasn''t nning on relying on luck to get through this anyway. And finally


    ''eleration.''


    As I began running, I sped up my speed using this skill, then sprinted all-out towards Koroth. This was my first n  draw out his attack, then narrowly dodge it and finish him in one blow while his fist was still outreached. Such a strategy would be better for Assassins, but Knights could y whichever role is necessary  exactly what I liked about this ss. Very versatile and adaptable.


    As expected, Koroth was ready to meet my attack with his fist, but right before he hit me, I jumped upwards, soaring through the air as Inded behind him.


    Not wasting any time, I brought up my sword and prepared to cut downwards, but Koroth was faster than I expected. He managed to avoid my attack just in time, stumbling forward with a very stiff and clumsy front roll.


    The audience gasped in shock.


    "That''s the first time Koroth moved from his spot!"


    "Will the Unshakable Mountain be shook after all?!"


    I gritted my teeth. "Tch that didn''t work. n B it is."


    As Koroth spun around and moved in towards me slowly to unleash another punch, I nimbly dodged out of the way, once again somersaulting over him.


    However, this time, he wasn''t about to let me just fly by that easily.


    He reached up with his other arm and jumped, grabbing me by the hell and mming me down onto the stage.


    "Wha- ngh!"


    I cried out in pain from the force of the impact. My head was shaking and the world was spinning, my vision getting hazy.


    "Ooh" the audience collectively winced in empathy.


    Given these symptoms, it seemed I had a concussion however!


    ''Status Ailment: Cure.''


    Immediately, the dizziness and haziness went away, though the pain on my head and body still remained. I opened my eyes wide to see Koroth preparing to pummel me straight into the ground. However he was hesitating  waiting.


    Not bothering to figure out why, I immediately grabbed my swordying beside me, and cut towards his arm pinning me down.


    Koroth let go of me, jumping back a short distance as I rolled on the ground and got to my feet in an instant.


    "You why did you hesitate there?" I asked, narrowing my eyes. "You could''ve punched me straight through the floor there why stop?"


    "" Koroth didn''t respond, and instead got into a fighting stance once more. He had never done this to his other opponents, since he finished them all in one hit.


    "Well, whatever if you''re going to hesitate, that''s your loss!"


    I charged towards him once more, using elerate to boost my speed again. He prepared to receive my blow with his own punch, but obviously, I wasn''t stupid enough to take it head-on.


    ''Intrinsic Focus!''


    At thest moment, I used this skill to suddenly sharpen my senses by about 50 times, allowing me to perceive his punch at reduced flow of time. This made it possible for me to dodge his devastating blow, tilting slightly to the right as I prepared to drive the sword into Koroth''s body without any hesitation.


    However, to my surprise, my sword did not pierce through. Hell, it didn''t even draw blood.


    I noticed Koroth''s skin color change from the dark tan to silver, almost like steel. The audience cheered in anticipation.


    Sensing danger, I immediately backed off.


    "Well, that''s not good" I muttered.


    Koroth''s skin was now made of pure metal  his shirt ripped, unable to withstand the expansion of his body''s mass. His breathing turned ragged and heavy as he closed in on me, one step at a time.


    Yeah there''s no way I''m fighting back against him when he''s like this.


    With any luck, this ''metal'' form of his had a time limit, and would run out soon. If not if not, well, that would be a problem.


    As he smashed down on the ground in front of me, sending a shockwave powerful enough to shake the entire city, I jumped upwards lightly, taking advantage of the fact that both his hands were currently on the ground.


    Fortunately, Koroth was already slow normally, but in this form, he was even slower. This made getting away from him quite easy  I just had to make sure I didn''t blunder again likest time and end up getting caught.


    And so, the ferocious duel soon turned into a game of tag.


    Several minutester, I noticed Koroth slowing down even further. He deteriorated to a walking pace, panting heavily. It seemed he would be running out of energy soon. I could only hope this metal form of his would go away along with it. After all, I was running out of stamina as well, jumping around all the time.


    Eventually, Koroth just stopped and fell backward, crashing onto the stage in exhaustion. Slowly, his silver skin returned to normal, signaling that his metal transformation was over.


    Hesitantly, I walked over, and pointed my sword at him.


    Koroth raised his two hands up in surrender, holding them in the air for a brief two seconds before letting them slump back down again. It seemed he was trulypletely out of energy.


    "The winner of this fight is Chiaki Furuwa!" Zhen Yuhan dered as the drums began being struck once more.


    I took a deep breath and opened up my System, putting my sword away. Then, sparing one final skeptical nce back at Koroth''s panting body, I walked off the stage.


    *****


    (Kaze''s Perspective)


    "Wee back," I said once Furuwa returned to Hina-nee and I. "Well done."


    "That fight it felt weird," she narrowed her eyes at me.


    "How so?" I asked in confusion.


    " You did something, didn''t you?"


    "Do what?"


    " Talk to Koroth. I don''t know when or how, but you spoke to him before he fought me, right? One way or another, you convinced him to let me win."


    "And what leads you to that conclusion?" I taunted, continuing to feign ignorance.


    "He hesitated before punching me. Back there, when he had me pinned to the ground, if he had just threw his fist, I would''ve been respawning by now," Furuwa analyzed. "And yet, he didn''t, for some mysterious reason. Tell me  if there wasn''t someone giving him a reason to do this, why would he do it?"


    "Hm, the analysis is pretty logical, but how can you be so sure it was me? What makes you think I have the means to manipte a character such as Koroth?"


    "Who else would bother doing this, all to make sure I won?"


    I shrugged. "Beats me. Secret lover or something?"


    "Haha, you''re real funny," Furuwa said with apletely neutral and unamused face.


    "Look I''m just a normal high school student who got bullied in the past  the type of guy you can find just about anywhere," I said, sighing exasperatedly. "I don''t know even know how to make friends, much less manipte someone to do my bidding. Sorry, but you''re overestimating me."


    "Oh, really" she muttered, before turning away, not wanting to talk anymore. However, I knew full well this conversation wasn''t over. Without a doubt, Furuwa would bring it up againter, when there were less people around.


    Put simply this was bad. Furuwa seemed to be dead certain on the fact that I had manipted Koroth into letting her win.


    I''ll give her credit  it was true, I made a move behind the scenes. Right before the fight began, I snuck onto the stage using Vanishing Steps''s invisibility, and whispered into Koroth''s ear. He knew who I was from the voice, but no one else could hear because of the loud drums going on at the time.


    I had told him that I would get him the three herbs he needed  Firesaffron, Bloodmint, and Hailflower. All he needed to do was let Furuwa win this fight.


    Of course, he had no reason to ept my baseless proposal with nothing to back it up whatsoever that is, if I didn''t have some handy information on the guy.


    Sometimes, the threat of doing something is more dangerous than the ''something'' itself. That was the theory I was using here. I had threatened to leak his demon identity to everyone here, thus disqualifying him from the tournament and probably even executed right then and there.


    Sure, it was pretty evil to ckmail someone like this, but I needed Furuwa to win, and I was ready to use any pawns I had at my disposal. She would be a useful chess piece for meter on  one far more useful than Koroth was. Reason being, she was a yer  she had endless potential to continue growing and getting stronger.


    Koroth was a demon, and may be stronger than her right now, but I''m thinking in the long term here. Eventually, Furuwa will definitely surpass Koroth  and that''s when this decision I made today would turn out to be the right one.


    Besides, it''s not like I''mpletely scamming the poor guy. I was actually nning on using the wish I was granted to get the three herbs he needs, if I get first ce  which I was confident I could take.


    However something told me I wouldn''t even need to. This was the Blessing Nature Sect, after all. Herbs and whatnot was their specialty.


    I purposely had Koroth not just outright forfeit the match, so that he could demonstrate his skills a little bit. The mayor had stated that even if you don''t get into the top four, there was still a chance to make it into the sect as long as the elders present determined you worthy. That was my end goal  to have Koroth enter the sect as well.


    That said, this wasn''t 100% necessary. However, Furuwa getting into the sect to stay by my side was. It would be difficult to control a pawn too far away from me.


    Therefore, I made the decisions I made today. Now, I just had to pray the elders didn''t detect my invisibility earlier  they probably didn''t, considering they didn''t say anything  ande up with a lie good enough to satisfy the powerful yet cunning chess piece known as Chiaki Furuwa.


    This girl was a two-headed snake. Depending on how I used her, she could bite both the enemy and myself.

 Chapter 107: Hinas Fight

    Chapter 107: Hina''s Fight


    "Next up, Sakura Hina and Ming Yi!"


    My eyes widened at who got called up to face Hina-nee.


    "Ming Yi? Isn''t that the cksmith from Xiyang City?" I murmured to myself, frowning in confusion.


    I knew his face - I wouldn''t have missed it just now, when all sixteen contestants were gathered on the stage. Unless


    That''s right! There was one guy wearing some kind of ck oni-like Japanese-style mask, so I couldn''t see how they looked like!


    And indeed, just as I had guessed, the mask-wearingbatant was the one to go on the stage. He wore ck robes covering every inch of his body, along with a pair of ck pants and boots. On his back, crossed, were two long katanas, still in their sheaths. Ming Yi pulled them out and swung them around, getting intobat stance.


    Hina-nee took out her own weapons as well, then smiled. "You''re the one who crafted me these daggers, no?"


    "" the man did not respond for whatever reason, and instead gripped his weapons tighter, as if nervous.


    Hina-nee frowned in confusion, but there was no time to think about this matter any further as the battle was about to begin.


    The mayor of Qilian City, Zhen Yuhan, cleared his throat. "Both sides appear to be ready! Then, without further ado, 3 2 1"


    He sliced his arm downwards, cutting the air, as the two enormous drums were struck.


    "Go!"


    Ming Yi and Hina-nee dashed towards one another at the exact same time. Both were hoping to end this duel as soon as possible, Hina-nee because we still had business to do after the matches today, and Ming Yi because well, I had no idea.


    Ming Yi shed at Hina-nee with his two katanas, but she met both attacks with her own. A loud metallic sound rang out as the two sets of steel weapons shed with one another, sending bright sparks flying through the air.


    Hina-nee, surprisingly, pushed Ming Yi backwards with her strength, cleaving the air with her two Sai. However, Ming Yi dashed away at incredible speed, retreating to his original location when the battle began.


    "Not bad if you really are the cksmith from Xiyang Vige, then you certainly did a good job of hiding your strength," Hina-nee taunted. "I didn''t know you had this in you."


    "" Ming Yi, once again, did not respond, and instead jumped towards Hina-nee once more, two katanas at the ready.


    Hina-nee met his challenge.


    *****


    (Hina''s Perspective)


    As Ming Yi leaped towards me, preparing to sh down with his des, I smirked.


    ''Blink.''


    Disappearing instantly right as he cut down at me, I reappeared behind him in the blink of an eye, then cut down with one of my Sai, aiming for his throat. However, he spun around immediately and blocked my attack - his reaction speeds weremendable. Unable to break through his defense, I leaped away, doing a backflip in mid-air andnding back on the ground solidly.


    Not wasting any time, I dashed towards Ming Yi once more, this time utilizing the same strategy Kaze-kun had used against his opponent a while back.


    ''Replica: Shadow.''


    I created another shade of myself, then together with it, leaped at Ming Yi. Which one would he choose to block?


    Unfortunately, to my surprise, his figure in front of me suddenly vanished in a gust of wind after making some sort of ninjutsu hand gesture in front of his chest. Before I could react, he reappeared behind me and cut down both my clone and I.


    "Ngh-!"


    I fell forward, taken down by the same exact strategy I had used mere moments earlier. Luckily, it was not too heavy of an injury - he had clearly been holding back just now.


    I immediately rolled around and got back up to my feet before he could ce his weapon at my throat. He dashed towards me once more, but I was ready to receive his attack.


    ''Vanishing Steps!''


    I turned invisible and stepped away right as Ming Yi cut through nothing but thin air. Immediately, he retreated, rposed himself, and made another ninjutsu-like hand gesture while standing perfectly still. Thinking him vulnerable, I circled to his left and tried attacking him from there, but he somehow knew I was going to try that and intercepted my attack with one of his des.


    However I still had one final card up my sleeve.


    Instead of backing off like I did in the past, this time, I purposely suddenly stopped applying force, then used a single skill.


    ''Vanishing Clouds.''


    Allowing myself to dash straight through his de, Ming Yi was clearly taken aback as he attempted to get away, but it was already toote. He had applied too much force into defending against my attack that now, his momentum spurred him forward, straight towards me.


    I passed straight through the steel des of his crossed katanas. Then, like a phantom in the night, I stabbed one of my Sai into his right chest as I whispered death into his ear.


    "The game''s over."


    He froze, unable to do a thing, then fell backwards, copsing on the floor with my Sai still lodged in his chest. He was breathing, but could not fight any longer. I stood in front of his wounded body, pointing my remaining Sai at him.


    "The winner of the match is Sakura Hina!" the mayor announced through his megaphone as cheers erupted from the crowd.


    I smiled and bent down, before preparing to retrieve my weapon.


    "I don''t know why you''re trying to hide your identity, and I honestly don''t care too much, but this was an enjoyable fight," I said, giggling softly. "Now then this is going to hurt a little."


    Saying this, I pulled out my Sai from his chest as his body spasmed slightly from the pain.


    "Ngh" he groaned, clutching his wound.


    I turned around and began to walk away, but before I did, he said one final sentence to me.


    "Thank you for sparing my life."


    I stopped, then sent a friendly smile back at him.


    "No worries. How could I murder someone with their own weapons?"


    *****


    (Kaze''s Perspective)


    Hina returned to Furuwa and I after that.


    "You targeted his right chest on purpose, huh?" Furuwa chuckled. "Sakura-senpai, you''re too merciful."


    "You say that, but didn''t you spare Koroth too?" I raised an eyebrow.


    "T-That''s because you told me to!" she whispered sharply in reply, ring at me. I sighed.


    "Hehe, do you not know who that guy is, Chiaki-san?" Hina-nee asked, joining the conversation.


    "Huh? His name was Ming Yi, right? No, I don''t."


    "He''s the cksmith at Xiyang Vige did he not make your first weapon?" I asked.


    "The cksmith oh! That guy! Ah, I know now. But he never told me his name, so" Furuwa trailed off.


    "Guess he just likes Hina-nee and I better," I teased, chuckling.


    "The next match will be between Igarashi Kaze and Nadeshiko Nakano!" the mayor suddenly interrupted.


    My smile froze on my face.


    "Let''s see youugh now, jerk," Furuwa snorted with a smug grin.


    "Good luck, Kaze-kun~" Hina-nee smiled warmly.


    I sighed, then pinched the bridge of my nose. "Well then looks like I don''t have much of a choice."


    I headed for the stage, Hina-nee and Furuwa watching me. When I got there, Nadeshiko was already present, waiting for me.


    "Oh, how much I''ve longed for this moment," she cried, looking at me and licking her lips seductively.


    "Yeah? Well, I can''t say I feel the same way," I muttered in reply.


    "Kaze-kun, you haven''t forgotten about our deal, have you~?" she giggled happily,pletely ignoring my stoic response.


    "Don''t worry. I remember it clearly. I just hope you don''t go back on your word once you lose."


    "Rest assured," she smiled. "I don''t lie."


    "Really? You seem like the type of girl who lies as easily as you breathe," I snorted.


    "Oh, is that what you think of me, Kaze-kun? My feelings" she made a fake innocent and pitiful face, on the verge of tears. "How could you I''m so hurt."


    "Then prove me otherwise," I replied nonchntly, unaffected by her disy of innocence.


    She stopped her motions as her lips twisted up into an evil and bloodthirsty smirk.


    "I will by killing you, hahaha!"


    Yeah she definitely can''t be trusted. Hopefully, I can show her today just how big the difference between our strength levels are. That way, she will give up on trying to fight me and well, kill me.


    "After I win, I don''t even want you to stick with me anymore," I sighed. "I just want you to never get in my way again. Hopefully never even meet."


    "Oh, but that''s not what we agreed on. Too bad~" she giggled. "Win or lose we''ll be staying together from now on."


    She took the bait, it seems. I in fact wanted her to stay with me. This way, I could gain a powerful new ally. I just said the opposite to spur her on the other direction, thereby leading her to my real goal.


    Nadeshiko was smart, but not that smart.


    "Both contestants ready!" the mayor interrupted, the grace period over. "The battle will start in 3 2 1"


    Every word I say has meaning. Every move I make has purpose. That, is the way of a maniptor.


    "Go!"

 Chapter 108: Storms & Serpents

    Chapter 108: Storms & Serpents


    As soon as the battle began, Nadeshiko charged towards me, pink eyes zing with bloodthirst.


    "HAHAHA!" sheughed like a maniac as she cleaved downwards with her scythe, striking the ground below me.


    I jumped upwards elegantly and pulled out my own weapon, Dokujin, thennded on the blunt side of her scythe.


    She tried to sweep me off, but before she could, I pushed off the surface and headed directly for her throat. Unfortunately, she dodged out of the way with Vanishing Clouds, an evil smirk on her face.


    The two of us ended up exchanged locations through this ordeal, but we wasted no time leaping back towards one another inbat.


    ''Replica: Shadow.''


    I created a clone of myself as she did the same. There were now four figures on the battlefield, the 1v1 evolving into a 2v2 of sorts. However, this didn''tst long, as we both ended up cutting down each other''s clones.


    The two of us nced at one another''s real bodies, before wordlessly dashing to each other once more. She had the range advantage with herrge scythe, but as long as I could avoid her initial attack and get closer, I held the advantage.


    ''Vanishing Clouds.''


    Dashing straight through her attack, I cut down towards her using Dokujin. As long as I could draw blood, I could win using the power of Corruption.


    However, Nadeshiko was no easy opponent. With an AGI stat of over 200, hitting her was proving to be quite difficult, even though I had an AGI stat of 300. That said, she couldn''t hit me either, given how fast and agile I was.


    The two of us backed away from one another. I had been nning on discussing something with her here, but she left me no room to do so as she dashed towards me once more, spinning her scythe around in her hand and grinning like a psychopath.


    "Tch troublesome," I muttered, then dashed out of the way instantly as the scythe shed the air where I had just been.


    ''Vanishing Steps.''


    I turned invisible and tried circling around her, but she used the same skill as me. The battlefield was now empty, from a normal person''s perspective. Unfortunately for me, she used her Vanishing Steps slightlyter than me, meaning hers would end after mine did. That was a huge disadvantage for me. I had to n this extremely carefully, or else I would actually lose this fight.


    She had no idea where I was right now, but the same could be said about her to me. Precisely because of this, however, there was a slight chance the two of us would run into one another identally. When that happened, it would just be a matter of who can react first.


    Suddenly, I felt wind whiz past my face. My eyes widened.


    Nadeshiko she''s randomly swinging her scythe around in the hopes of hitting me. Not risking anything, I quickly pulled away from my original spot. My invisibility was running out.


    Her strategy was valid, abusing the range on her weapon. I could not do the same with Dokujin - it would be rather ineffective.


    "There you are" I heard a faint whisper right as my invisibility wore off. However, I could not determine which direction it was from.


    Then, I looked up.


    "DIE!" Nadeshiko yelled, dropping down on me as she swung her scythe downwards.


    I quickly blocked the attack with Dokujin, gritting my teeth.


    "Tch"


    She had the power of gravity on her side. If this went on any longer, I would run out of energy.


    So, instead, I stepped to my left, sliding Dokujin down the curved side of her scythe. Her eyes widened as started falling to the ground.


    As if I was going to let hernd safely.


    I grabbed the handle of her enormous scythe with my free hand as she fell, then used that as momentum to jump up and finish the fight with Dokujin. Nadeshiko was extremely light, so this was possible. However, all of a sudden, the weight on the scythe increased, swinging me upwards before pulling me down to the ground with it.


    My eyes widened as I lost my grip on the scythe''s handle and Dokujin both from the sudden movement, but at the same time, Nadeshiko did as well.


    I fell directly on top of her but somehow avoided crushing her beneath me by hitting the ground first instead. I stared into her eyes as she stared back into mine, both of us bewildered at what just happened. We were in a pretty easily-misunderstood position, a boy on top of a girl. Neither of us were armed anymore or at least, that''s what she thought.


    I still had one final ace up my sleeve - the ws of Deception.


    ring at her, I silently wished for them to be reality in my mind, then prepared to stab down, but to my surprise, Nadeshiko suddenly wrapped her arms around my neck and brought my head downwards, directly into hers.


    "Mmfngh!"


    Our lips met. I was unable to stab down at her anymore, since then I would have to stab myself as well.


    "Mmn" she moaned as she kissed me.


    It took me a moment to realize what was happening, but once I did, I quickly broke free from her grip, tearing her hands off my neck and standing back up. The audience was just as shocked to see this disy.


    " What are you doing?" I asked, rubbing my lips with my sleeve.


    Nadeshiko climbed back to her feet as well, then smiled. "I judged that I can''t beat you in a fight, so I figured I would capture your heart instead. How was it? Did my first kiss taste good~?"


    I narrowed my eyes. "Does this mean you''ve acknowledged your loss?"


    She shrugged. "No. I would say this is a tie. Don''t you agree?"


    "Heh," I scoffed, then smirked in triumph. "Tie? Don''t underestimate me."


    In an instant, I used Blink paired with Vanishing Clouds to arrive directly in front of her, my ws of Deception still activated.


    "Take a look now."


    In my mind, I set the ws of Deception to visible mode so that everyone could see it. Nadeshiko''s eyes widened at the three sharp ws millimeters away from her throat, and she blinked a few times in surprise.


    But then, she smiled. That smile turned into giggling, then finally,ughter.


    "AHAHAHA! That''s the first time someone''s ever put me in this position, y''know~? As I thought you''re a lot stronger than you seem on the surface. A man worthy of me hehe~"


    She stuck out her tongue yfully despite the position she was in.


    "Do you forfeit on your own, or do I have to make you?" I asked coldly, expression unchanging.


    She stared into my eyes for a few seconds, then giggled.


    "Fine, fine~ I forfeit. Happy?"


    " Good. Now I hope you will fulfill the deal."


    I moved my ws of Deception away from her throat, turning them invisible and untouchable once more.


    "Hehe, don''t worry I''ll be yours, just as the deal says~" she flirted seductively, then grabbed my shoulder and leaned in close to my ear. "You can do whatever you want to me Master~"


    I scoffed. "In that case I want you to stay the hell away from me."


    "Sorry, not happening~"


    "" I shook my head and walked off the stage, Nadeshiko following closely behind.


    "W-Well, that was an interesting fight," the mayor cleared his throat. "But without a doubt the winner of the match is Igarashi Kaze!"


    When I returned to Hina-nee and Furuwa, they did not look happy.


    " Kaze-kun."


    "Y-Yes?" I gulped in fear towards Hina-nee''s serious face, unsure of what she was going to do next.


    "Wahhh!" She suddenly began crying loudly, attracting the attention of nearby audience.


    "W-Woah, hey, what''s wrong?" I quickly pulled her into a hug, trying to calm her down.


    "S-S-She took your first kiss sniff sniff" Hina-nee sobbed, hugging me back tightly.


    All around me, the audience began to murmur.


    "Look at that kid having multiple girls around him? What a yboy"


    "What do they see in him anyways?"


    "What a shame"


    "That''s right, Kaze-kun~" Nadeshiko joined in, licking her lips and caressing her own cheeks. "I took your first kiss. But did you know? That was my first kiss too so now you have to be responsible for me, forever~"


    "You forced yourself on me!" I yelled, trying to clear up my name.


    "Oh? Weren''t you the one on top~?" she giggled.


    "K-Kaze-kun am I not good enough?" Hina-nee cried, looking at me desperately.


    "No, you''re better than enough, Hina-nee ugh, this did not go as nned" I muttered, trying to find a way out of this.


    "Sniff sniff"


    " Idiot," Furuwamented unhelpfully from beside me, folding her arms and shooting me a cold re.


    I wanted to rebuke her statement, but I was kind of trapped in the middle of too much shit right now.


    In any case, the three of us have allpleted our battles for today, so I took Hina-nee in a princess carry and left the scene before it became too embarrassing. Furuwa followed closely behind, and for some reason, Nadeshiko did as well.


    Damn it, Nadeshiko you screwed up my n. In the end, I still underestimated just how crazy you can be, apart from murdering others.

 Chapter 109: The Final Rift

    Chapter 109: The Final Rift


    It took a long time for Hina-nee to settle down, but she finally did after a good half hour of gentle counseling done by yours truly. Really, despite her being older than me, she could act like a little girl sometimes  not that it was a bad thing. I found it cute.


    We were now sitting in a restaurant, grabbing lunch before heading out for the third reality rift. Though we had a somewhat unexpected neer here with us.


    "So? Why are you here too?" I asked the girl sitting across from Hina-nee and I.


    "Hehe, I''m yours now, so naturally I''m going to follow you wherever you go~" she replied happily as she munched on a chiken drumstick.


    " This is troublesome. Can we kick her out?" Furuwa nced at her seatmate in disdain.


    "What, from the game?" I scoffed. "Thanks to Aisa, even if we wanted to, we wouldn''t be able to."


    "Aisa? She''s the one who got me stuck in here?" Nadeshiko looked up and smirked like a devil. "Where is she, I wonder?"


    "Don''t even think about it," I immediately cut in. "She''s not here right now, but if you dare toy a single finger on her, I''ll kill you repeatedly until even infinite respawns won''t do shit."


    "My, so protective~" she giggled. "I''m jealous Master, show me some love too"


    "Call me ''Master'' one more time and you''ll face the same punishment."


    "Mm then, how about senpai~?"


    "We''re the same age."


    "Hm, daddy~?"


    " Are you kidding me right now?"


    Furuwa, unable to watch any longer, sighed and cut in. "Look, stop flirting. It''s getting on my nerves. As for what you should call him, just use what you used before - ''Kaze-kun.''"


    "No!" Hina-nee interrupted, clutching my arm tightly. "Kaze-kun is my nickname for him, no one else is allowed to call him that!"


    "Just call me Kaze," I said atst. "Furuwa does the same thing anyway."


    "Okay~ Kaze it is. I''ll only call you Master when we''re alone at night, doing naughty-naughty things~"


    "Stay away from my Kaze-kun!" Hina-nee took out a cross and held it up in front of her.


    "W-Where did you get that?" I frowned in shock.


    "That''s not important! Kaze-kun, this girl is a devil!"


    "R-Right, rx I just remembered something," I calmed Hina-nee down, who was still on edge. "Nadeshiko, you may be of some use to me after all."


    "Hm~? What is it, Master~? I am willing to do anything and everything for you, as long as you let me kill you after~"


    "You can try, but just know it will be a three on one fight," I snickered. "I don''t fight fair, doesn''t matter if you''re a cute girl or not."


    "Yes, yes just tell me what I need to do already~" she yed with her hair as she chomped down on her eighth drumstick.


    "After we finish eating, I''ll be taking you to a ce. I''ll exin the detailster."


    "Mkay~"


    Not wanting anyone eavesdropping to hear and learn about reality rifts, I decided to just leave the conversation at that.


    *****


    We finished eating soon after. After I paid, the four of us immediately headed out to the east side of the city, where we would find the reality rift should we keep heading in that direction.


    "So, where are you taking me?" Nadeshiko asked once we got past the city gates, hands on the back of her head. "Are you going to tie me up somewhere? Kinky~"


    "You won''t be so carefree once you you get there," I muttered.


    Around an hourter, we arrived at our destination. Close to it, anyway. This rift was the furthest from Qilian out of the three, so it took us a while to get here. It was stationed in the middle of a forest, isted from any civilization nearby.


    "Okay any closer and we''ll enter the rift," I said, exiting out of my System. "Luckily, this one is in a forest otherwise, someone may have found out about it already."


    "Yeah we took care of the other two before anyone found out about them though, luckily," Hina-nee sighed.


    "Well, even if they did find out about them, it''s not like we would know," Furuwa remarked. "Hopefully they just treat it as some sort of hallucination."


    "Uh, hello~? Is someone going to exin this to me?" Nadeshiko blinked a few times at me.


    I sighed. "Just follow me. Oh, and take out your weapon."


    She tilted her head. "Why?"


    "Stop asking so many questions and just do as I say."


    "Mkay~" she smiled happily and took out her scythe using her System.


    Daringly, I took a step forward, the others following.


    Immediately, a familiar yet still unbearable pressure weighed down on all of us, forcing us to kneel.


    [Multiple hostile intruders detected. Status: Cmitous. Extinction protocol activated.]


    The Creator replica began his speech once more as the world turned ck and white, space distorted and sounds muffled.


    [Artificial intelligence activated. Wee, intruders, to a reality rift. I am the Creator, founder of all of creation. A god, if you will. Do not think of this ce as a mere hole in the endless annals of space-time. Within this rift lies both the power to save the world, and to end it. Which path will you take? Will you even be able to obtain the power at all?]


    " End the world? Sounds fun!" Nadeshiko cried, eyes sparkling even though she was stuck in a kneeling position.


    The rest of us shot her disgusted looks.


    [With great poweres great risks. You will have 24 hours to locate the core of this rift and make your escape. Once the allotted time is over, this reality rift will implode. You and all memories of you will be forever lost in the dark corners of space and time.]


    Nadeshiko''s excitement stopped.


    "Memories"


    She looked down and fell silent, a rarity for her. She seemed to be genuinely thinking about something, possibly rted to her past.


    [Are you ready, challengers? The timer begins three seconds. Three two one]


    "Here we go again," Furuwa sighed.


    [You now face divine judgement  may it extend eternally.]


    *****


    The pressure from us was lifted, and we stood back up again, stretching our muscles.


    "Ugh no matter how many times we do this, I''m never going to get used to that overwhelming pressure and irritating voice of the Creator," Furuwa muttered in frustration.


    "Well, at least this is thest one," Hina-nee smiled. She appeared to be fine now. "After we get this done, Aisa should be able toe back"


    "" Nadeshiko was quiet, for whatever reason. I had expected her to be asking me questions right about now, but she still seemed to be contemting something.


    I decided to just leave her be for now. "Let''s head to the core, then decide what to do from there."


    "I''m hoping it''s another small one" Hina-nee prayed.


    Several minutes of walkingter, we could see the core in the distance. Just as Hina-nee had hoped, this was a small one.


    That said I wonder if the size of the cores were of importance I would have to ask Aisa about this when she came back.


    "Might as well start exining now," I muttered, then turned to our fourth party member. "Nadeshiko."


    She seemed lost in thought, as if she didn''t hear my words.


    "Nadeshiko!" I repeated in a louder tone this time.


    She snapped back to reality, then blinked a few times. My eyes widened as I saw what was in her eyes:


    Tears.


    She quickly wiped them away and looked back at me.


    "What is it?"


    "You were you crying just now?"


    "Hm~? Crying? What''s that?"


    "I saw tears in your-"


    "Tears? What are those?"


    "" Clearly, she wasn''t going to answer my questions. This was just her way of saying ''I don''t want to talk about it''.


    I sighed. If she didn''t want to open up, I wasn''t going to pry.


    "Anyway I''ll be exining your job now, so listen closely," I said, clearing my throat. "In a few minutes, I will be assigning each of us a direction to go in, you included. Whichever direction you are given, just keep walking in a straight line in that direction. Don''t make any detours, and try to remain as on track as possible. Systems are disabled here, so don''t rely on setting a waypoint on your map."


    "That reminds me are skills usable here?" Furuwa asked, raising her hand.


    Hina-nee tested it out, then shook her head. "Apparently not. Only Kaze-kun can, it seems, due to his special situation."


    "What special situation?" Nadeshiko tilted her head curiously.


    "I''ll exin after we finish doing this. You''re in the same boat as us now anyway," I muttered. "In any case, you got the instructions so far?"


    She nodded, so I continued.


    "Good. Now, after walking for a while, you''ll eventuallye across this ck rotating tetrahedron hovering in mid-air. It''s not too small and it''s also glowing a bright pale green, so you shouldn''t miss it unless you''ve gone way off course. Once you find it, just wrap your hand around it and hold it there until it disappears."


    "Heads up, the process hurts a bit," Furuwa warned. "I don''t like you, but since we''re working together, I figured I''d at least tell you that much."


    It hurt a lot more than just a bit, but she was already being quite generous, telling Nadshiko this. The uracy of the information was a different matter.


    "After the tetrahedron disappears, just return to where we are right now  this is called the core, both our starting point and our ending point." I concluded. "That''s all for now. Understand?"


    Nadeshiko nodded. "So, basically, I have to walk somewhere, grab something, thene back, right?"


    "That sounds surprisingly urate," I noted. "It''ll be moreplicated than that, but not by much, honestly."


    "Alright, so, same n?" Hina-nee asked me, to which I nodded.


    Then, after cing a shadow replica of myself a short distance away, I prepared tounch myself into the air to get directly above the core and see the paths.


    "Here we go"


    ''Blink.''

 Chapter 110: Nadeshikos Past

    Chapter 110: Nadeshiko''s Past


    After taking a good look at the four directions this time around, I immediately switched locations with my replica using Replica: Switch, then walked up to the girls.


    "Okay, this time it''s pretty simple. If the direction I''m currently facing right now is north, then the tetrahedrons will be at north, south, east, and west respectively."


    "So, just the cardinal directions, huh?" Hina-nee murmured.


    "Yeah. I''ll take north," I proposed.


    "I''ll take south," Hina-nee added.


    "I can go east," Furuwa said.


    " Leaving Nadeshiko with west," I concluded. "Alright. Everyone, try to meet back here in an hour."


    The three girls nodded to me, confirming that they understood my instructions, and we set off in our respective directions.


    *****


    It didn''t take long for me to find my tetrahedron. Really, all I had to do was keep walking forward. Half an hourter, I was at my target.


    Without wasting any time, I wrapped my hand around the tetrahedron. As expected, it didn''t hurt at all for me. Today, I wanted to test out whether or not the same rule applied to the girls, which was why I had everyone go their separate ways. It didn''t appear to have any side affects for me, after all, apart from my heart turning more hollow than before.


    As I finished ''consuming'' the tetrahedron, I felt more power course through my veins. At the same time, however, I felt as if another part of my heart had been lost.


    Hopefully, I would not need to do any more of these reality rifts in the future. Sure, I was gaining strength at an incredible rate, about plus 8 to all stats for every tetrahedron I consumed, but was the cost really worth it? I could gain power just as easily by doing quests and whatnot thanks to my passive stat leveling ability; it would just take longer.


    In the end, I decided that protecting my humanity was more important. At this rate, I could feel myself turning into an emotionless monster. I didn''t want that. Bnce between strength and greed was extremely important. If I let thetter take over me, I would be forever consumed by the Malevolence.


    Aisa said yers couldn''t turn into Monsters, but I didn''t want to risk it.


    After taking care of the tetrahedron, I turned around and began my walk back.


    *****


    Roughly an hourter from when we first began, we all regrouped at the core. Luckily, no one got lost, and everyone still appeared to be alive and well.


    "Did everyone take care of their respective tetrahedrons?" I asked, just to confirm.


    The three girls all nodded, to my relief.


    "Great. Now then, there''s only one final step," I turned to Nadeshiko. "Basically, all we have to do here is hit the core  this massive sphere  together, simultaneously. We have to get the timing exactly right, or else it will regenerate, thus rendering our efforts useless. Any questions?"


    "Nope~ seems fine to me," she smiled innocently. "Hey, Kaze, can I kill you after this? You know, since I''m being so nice and helping you out and all."


    "No though it''s not like you won''t try it anyway even if I deny, huh?"


    "Of course~"


    I sighed, shaking my head. "In any case, if you''re going to try anything, at least wait until we get out of this rift. None of us have our yer statuses here, hence why we can''t ess our Systems. The only reason I can still use my arts is because they are built into my actual body, not reliant on the System itself."


    My eyes took on a dangerous gleam. "In other words, if we die, we die for good. Everyone else will also be trapped here forever."


    "Mkay~ I don''t really care, but whatever you want, Kaze~" she responded carefreely, apparently not concerned whatsoever.


    What a troublesome girl


    Taking a deep breath, I turned back to the core and continued. "Okay. Everyone ready?"


    "Yep!"


    "Yeah."


    "Yep~"


    "Alright. On the count of three"


    Everyone took out their respective weapons, ready to attack whenever I gave the signal.


    "3 2 1"


    I reared my arm back, preparing to plunge Dokujin into the core.


    "Now!"


    The four of us struck all at once, cleaving the core into pieces with our weapons. Pale green light poured out of the core''s body, blinding all of us.


    Then, the light consumed all as we covered our eyes.


    When we were finally able to see again, the world around us had returned to normal. The massive ck sphere was gone, and the reality rift sealed shut.


    "Looks like we beat it," Furuwa sighed in relief.


    "Where''s Aisa?" Hina-nee tilted her head, looking around.


    "It will probably take some time for her toe back," I replied. "The Creator''s direct influence has only just been cut off from this world - Aisa will need to restart herself and re-enter this reality. If she''s still not here by tomorrow morning, though"


    "Let''s hope she will be," Hina-nee interrupted me, not wanting to hear any more. "For now, let''s just head back. We still have another series of battles to fight tomorrow in the tournament."


    And so, the four of us returned to Qilian City, killing some Magic Beasts and Monsters on the way to gain some XP and levels.


    *****


    When we finally returned, the sun had begun to set. We got a bit carried away hunting, but there was still plenty of time for us to rest nheless.


    We checked in at the hotel near the eastern gates of Qilian City  the same one we had been staying at for the past week. Nadeshiko booked a room for herself, since Furuwa refused sharing one with her. Understandable, considering she was the type of girl to murder you in your sleep.


    I did notice, however, that Nadeshiko was quieter than usual. She seemed to be thinking about what had happened in the reality rift. Back then, I had decided not to pry about it if she didn''t want to talk, but it would be a lie if I said I wasn''t curious.


    Deciding to give confronting her onest shot, I discretely nned out my meeting with her.


    We all returned to our respective rooms. Hina-nee went into the shower, so I took advantage of this time to knock on Nadeshiko''s door.


    "" I heard no response.


    Sighing, I decided to try again, knocking once more. "Nadeshiko. Open up. It''s me, Kaze."


    After a few seconds, the door swung open, revealing Nadeshiko behind it. She wore a bath towel - apparently, she had been nning on taking a shower just like Hina-nee, when I interrupted.


    She had a yful and seductive smile on her face as she invited me in.


    "My, my, Kaze so eager for my body?" she giggled. "You can wait until after I''m done showering, can''t you~?"


    I sat down on the couch, ignoring her flirtatious remarks.


    "I''m here to ask you a question," I said in a serious tone.


    "Oh? What do you want to know about me? Yes, I''m pure stil-"


    "That''s not what I was going to ask," I cut her off. "I was wondering what was going on with you earlier today, inside the reality rift."


    "Hm~? What do you mean?"


    "Those were tears in your eyes that I saw. There''s no mistaking it. I also heard you faintly murmur the word ''memories'' under your breath during the Creator''s speech. The other girls may have not noticed it, but I have."


    She fell silent, then sat down on a chair adjacent to mine.


    " You''re quite observant, you know?"


    "So I''ve been told," I replied. "Now mind telling me what was up with that?"


    "And why exactly should I tell you~?" she giggled, as if amused by my audacity ining here and asking for her private information like that.


    After pausing and analyzing the situation for a while, I settled on the best method to manipte this conversation the way I wanted it to go.


    "You don''t have to tell me," I said quietly. "Just know if you ever want to talk, I''m here. I can''t say I like you, but you can be considered an ally of sorts now, since you''re stuck in the game as well. Your feelings influence not only your ownbat strength, but also our entire group''s. That''s why I want you toe out and talk to me."


    She didn''t respond, and instead continued listening.


    "I''m not forcing you to do anything. It''s just for some reason, you seemed lonely. Back in the rift, you had this sad atmosphere to you that felt strangely familiar to me. That''s also part of why I came here today to ask you about it, I guess."


    First step, make her think I was simr to her. It was true - I was isted and lonely all my life, with the exception of Hina-nee.


    " Lonely?" sheughed softly, unlike her usual personality. "No lonely doesn''t even begin to describe it."


    "Describe what?"


    "My life. My previous life before entering this game."


    Deep down, I smiled. The conversation had indeed went the way I wanted it to.


    I waited patiently as Nadeshiko Nakano told me her past.

 Chapter 111: A.R.X.A.s Return

    Chapter 111: A.R.X.A.''s Return


    "I was born in an abusive family," Nadeshiko exined, gazing out the window with a mncholic expression on her face. "Everyday, my father beat my mother and I."


    "" I remained silent, patiently waiting for her to continue.


    "It happened randomly, out of nowhere. Whenever he got angry for whatever reason, he would take it out on us. Throughout the years, I suffered countless bruises and cuts. Endured insurmountable amounts of pain. Lived through tons of torture, day after day."


    "Did you ever fight back?"


    "Hehe, what do you think?" she giggled softly, kicking her feet up. Right now, she seemed like a truly innocent girl, speaking of her dark past.


    "I haven''t known you for long enough to say," I replied stoically.


    She smiled. "One day I snapped."


    "You snapped?"


    Nadeshiko nodded. "I still remember it very clearly. That night, about six years ago, my father came home from workte. When my mother opened the door for him, he did not have a pleasant look on his face. He never did, since he hated his job, but that day, it was especially bad."


    "What happened?"


    "He got fired from his job. And naturally, he took out the frustration from that on my mother and I."


    "Wait if he hated his job, then why would he be mad that he lost it?"


    Nadeshikoughed. "My father may have hated his job, but it was the only source of ie he had. Even though he hated it, he still needed it."


    "I see that makes sense. So, what did he do?"


    "Just the usual. He punched and pped my mother ruthlessly, and when I tried to intervene, I was struck the same way."


    " Scum," I spat quietly.


    "My father lost his mind that night, and took a step further," Nadeshiko continued. "He took out the kitchen knife and stabbed my mother with it."


    My eyes widened. "He what?!"


    "She was killed instantly," Nadeshiko said, casting her gaze towards the ground. "When I saw her bloodstained body falling to the ground right before my eyes, I went crazy."


    I opened my mouth to speak, but then closed it again, unsure of what exactly to say.


    "Without thinking too much, I picked up the bloody knife my father dropped to the floor, and plunged it deep into this chest without any hesitation."


    Nadeshiko suddenly beganughing, covering her eyes with her hand.


    "I''m really a psychopath, aren''t I?! Hey, hey, did you know?! I wasughing just like this when I stabbed him! My own father! HAHAHA!"


    I looked away from her and rested my chin on top of my crossed hands.


    "I don''t think that''s all that bad."


    She stoppedughing, then turned to look at me. " What?"


    "It''s fair, isn''t it? He killed your mother. You just killed him back as a form of revenge," I said calmly. "To me, that is perfectly fair."


    " Heh," she chuckled, turning away once more. "You''re the first one who''s reacted like that."


    "You''ve told this story to others before too?" I asked curiously.


    She shook her head. "No. The news just got out, somehow. You know what the other students at school called me after that night? ''Murderer''. ''Killer''. ''Demon''. Eventually, I was forced to move somewhere else."


    "Were you charged with anything?"


    Sheughed. "Nope~ it was registered as self-defense in the court. But of course, no one else saw it that way. Murder was murder, no matter the reason."


    "Yeah? Well, sometimes it''s the only solution," I murmured faintly. "That night, if you hadn''t done that, your father may have killed you too in his rage. Sometimes we''re forced to do things against morality, whether we like it or not."


    She chuckled. "Is that so? But what if I told you I enjoyed killing? What if I told you, when I killed my father, I felt exhrated?"


    "That exhration was not born of your natural heart. It was born of relief - relief at not having to suffer any pain again," I sighed. "Though, I''m guessing that feeling stuck with you, eventually leading to your bloodthirsty and psychopathic nature seen today."


    "" Nadeshiko fell silent for the first time in a while.


    "So? What happened after you moved?" I asked. "This can''t be the whole story."


    "I was adopted by some wealthy family," she replied emotionlessly.


    "I see isn''t that good? You found yourself a nice new home to live in."


    She giggled. "Good? What a farce they just wanted me as a puppet. A ceholder for their future generation."


    " Sorry, I''m confused."


    Nadeshiko sighed, walking over to the bed and falling backwards onto it.


    "The family owned a fairlyrgepany. They wanted to use me for a business marriage with anotherpany to form a rtionship of sorts, nothing more. On the outside, they made me appear like the perfect girl. Good looks, good body, good personality hence why they gave me the name ''Nadeshiko Nakano''."


    "You mean that isn''t your real name?"


    Sheughed. "Of course not. But my real name''s a secret. I''ll tell you when we both turn 18. Until then work hard to earn my heart, okay~?"


    "A-Ahem never mind, I don''t particrly want to know your real name anyway," I said, perhaps a bit too coldly, given the situation. "But they can''t possibly be marrying you off at 14, right?"


    "Nope, but they can arrange one."


    She stood up and walked to the window, gazing outside once more. It had started raining, the clouds dark and sun gone.


    " The moment I turn 18, I''ll be forced to marry a boy I have no feelings for whatsoever except hate. I had epted that fate. At least I thought I did. Before I knew it, I had subconsciously began looking for ways to escape the situation. Escape this reality as a whole."


    "And that''s when you came across Ascension: Online, huh?"


    "Hehe, yep~" she spun around and looked into my eyes. "To think I would actually end up trapped here I wonder, does this count as good luck or bad luck?"


    I see when Aisa made the decision to have Nadeshiko join me, she had factored in her past as well. Still, I couldn''t understand her motive. What did this girl''s arranged marriage have anything to do with me? Sure, I felt bad for her, but it wasn''t my problem. Why drag me into it?


    "Is that why you didn''t seem all too unhappy when you found out about this?" I asked, remembering her expression when she confronted me about this earlier this morning.


    "Who knows~" she answered cryptically. "It''s not like this impacted me all that much. Ever since I first entered this game, I haven''t logged out. It''s not like my ''family'' cares anyway."


    I stood up and walked over to the windows as well, standing beside her. Our shoulders were close enough to brush against each other.


    " You''re lonely, huh?"


    "I suppose I am. But maybe that''s a good thing. You know, since I''m not close with anyone, there''s no risk of me killing them, right~?"


    "So deep down, you still don''t want to hurt anyone?"


    "That''s not it. I enjoy killing  hence why I''m staying by your side."


    "Stop denying the truth, Nadeshiko. Why are you so insistent on not epting the fact that you''re not as evil as you may seem?"


    Not letting her argue, I quickly continued.


    "Sure, you may like killing. Sure, you may have murdered someone before. But really, deep down? You''re nothing more than a lonely girl who has never experienced what love feels like."


    She fell silent. Every time she did that, I knew I hit her weak spot.


    "Stop lying to yourself, Nadeshiko. You thirst for love. For someone to genuinely care about you. For someone who epts you for who you are, no matter what you''ve done in the past."


    " And so what if I am? Are you going to be be that someone for me?" she challenged, smiling seductively at me.


    "I already have Hina-nee. You saw how she reacted earlier today, when you forcefully kissed me."


    Nadeshikoughed. "Well, too bad~ I''m dead set on you now. You said I need love, right? Then, what if I said if it''s not your love, I don''t want it?"


    " Sorry, but I don''t feel anything for you," I replied.


    "For now," she smirked, resting her head on my shoulder. "I''ll seduce you one day. Just you wait, Kaze~"


    I snorted. "In that case, you better be careful of Hina-nee. She''lle for your head, and I won''t be protecting you."


    "What if I kill her first?"


    "I''ll never let that happen."


    "Hmph!" Nadeshiko folded her arms and turned away. "If only I knew you since birth as well, huh?"


    "There''s plenty of good men out there. Why so fixated on me?"


    "What can I say~ are any of those other men you speak of here right now, talking to me? Was it any of those other men who listened to my past and didn''t turn me away?" she giggled. "The same could be said about Sakura Hina and you, y''know. There''s plenty of other great girls out there in the world. Why so fixated on her alone?"


    "That''s because she stuck by my side for fourteen years."


    "There you have it," Nadeshiko smirked. "You''re the first boy who has ever genuinely cared about me. Can you believe it? Really, you''re probably the closest person to me in the world right now, as sad as that may be."


    I sighed then began heading for the door. Hina-nee was probably done showering right about now, so I should be getting back.


    "Look I don''t care if you stay by my side, since you''re pretty strong, but if youy a hand on any of the others"


    "Don''t worry~ my only target is you, Kaze. You never know when I''m going to try something, so stay alert~"


    "If you like me, why are you trying to kill me?" I muttered in frustration.


    "Hehe, think of it as yful revenge!" she replied, smiling happily and innocently. "Even if I kill you, you''ll just respawn, so it''s no big deal~"


    I merely shook my head and headed out, leaving onest message behind.


    "Just saying if you''re trying to win my affection here, trying to kill me is not a good way to start."


    "Hehehe~ we''ll see how long you can resist my charms for~"


    I closed the door behind me as I left, then leaned against it, looking up at the ceiling.


    That conversation had more or less went the way I wanted it to. I wasn''t expecting her to fall in love with me, but my initial goal had been sessfully reached through this anyway, so this was fine, I guess. I had wanted to learn about her past to strengthen the bond between us, thereby making her stay by my side of her own will, but this worked too.


    Nadeshiko was a powerful ally - though her trying to kill me would be kind of troublesome. I would have to deal with that by talking to her again sometime. However, if I could make good use of her that would empower our whole group''s overall fighting strength by quite a bit.


    Sighing, I prepared to go back into my own room, but suddenly, a hologram fizzed into existence before me. And on it, was a familiar face.


    " Aisa?"


    [Go into the room, human. We will talk there.]

 Chapter 112: The Creator

    Chapter 112: The Creator


    When I walked in the door, Hina-nee had just finished showering. She had nothing but a bath towel on.


    "Er bad timing?" I said hesitantly.


    She shook her head, then sat down on the bed. "No no,e in. Where did you go anyway?"


    "I went to see Nadeshiko," I replied truthfully.


    Immediately, Hina-nee''s expression soured.


    "To warn her not to ever try anything like what she did at the tournament again," I quickly added before Hina-nee got pissed.


    She instantly began smiling again, pulling me into a hug.


    "Hehe, that''s my Kaze-kun. You already have me, there''s no need for any other girls~"


    "But apart from that there''s something else," I said, and Hina-nee let go of me.


    "Hm?"


    "Come out," I said, seemingly to no one.


    Then, to Hina-nee''s surprise, a short humanoid figure suddenly materialized in front of us.


    "Aisa!" Hina-nee cried, her face lighting up. She quickly pulled the supeputer into a tight embrace, much to Aisa''s dismay.


    "" Aisa was clearly ufortable and annoyed, but she didn''t say anything, surprisingly.


    "Be careful not to identally hurt her anywhere," I warned. "You probably won''t, but just saying."


    "Mm, don''t worry, Kaze-kun~" Hina-nee said dreamily as she rubbed her cheek against Aisa''s, creating a cute disy of family, almost.


    A good few minutester, Hina-nee finally let go of Aisa, who then stood up from the bed and moved to a chair instead, probably to avoid the risk of suffocation from Hina-nee''s hugs.


    "Before anything else, human, bring the other two here as well," Aisa said emotionlessly, looking to me.


    "Uh even Nadeshiko?" I raised an eyebrow.


    She nodded. "Yes. Especially her, since she still does not know anything about the situation she is currently in, no?"


    I sighed. "Fine that makes sense. I''ll be back in a bit."


    Saying this, I stood up and headed out of the room to get Furuwa and Nadeshiko to join our little meeting.


    *****


    Once all four of us were present, Aisa began her speech.


    "First of all, allow me to express my gratitude," she said quietly, closing her eyes. "Thank you, Igarashi Kaze, Sakura Hina, Chiaki Furuwa, and Nadeshiko Nakano. You have saved me this time around."


    I blinked a few times in surprise. "H-Hold on, am I hearing this right? You, giving thanks?"


    "Is there a problem?" Aisa eyed me in unamusement.


    "Hm? Who is this~?" Nadeshiko asked, tilting her head and licking her lips. "Anotherpetitor? Kaze, Kaze, can I kill this one?"


    "She''s Aisa. The one I told you about," I exined. "I am being dead serious. Do not even think about harming her. If you do all of reality will go with her. Me, you, everyone  we''ll all be purged, forever erased."


    "Huh? She''s that powerful? Can I fight her?" Nadeshiko asked again, clearly not believing my words.


    "Can you shut up and listen for once?" Furuwa muttered, annoyed.


    Nadeshiko giggled. "Fine, fine. Whatever."


    Once everyone was quiet again, Aisa continued.


    "I am sure you four have many questions regarding what happened to me, reality rifts, the Creator, and whatnot. But before that, human, I believe an exnation to the new member of your group is necessary."


    I sighed. Whenever she said ''human'', she was referring to me, despite all of us being human here.


    "Okay, Nadeshiko. Listen closely, since I''m only going to be saying all of this once"


    Several minutester, I was done exining everything to her. She asked a bunch of questions in the middle of my exnation which took up quite a bit of time, but Aisa took care of those, saving me the trouble.


    "So. Any more questions?" I concluded, raising an eyebrow.


    "Well, this all seems really unbelievable, but I''ll take your word for it since it''s you saying it, Kaze~" she winked at me, caressing her own cheek.


    "Stop trying to seduce Kaze-kun every chance you get!" Hina-nee demanded angrily, sitting in between Nadeshiko and I.


    Nadeshiko''s eyes bulged in a yandere-like expression, thenughed like a maniac. "AHAHAHA you''ll be mine soon, Kaze"


    "Aisa do you see the trouble you''ve caused me?" I facepalmed, shaking my head in frustration.


    "Rx, human. The strength she brings will be enough to cover up for her twisted personality. You just have to know how to deal with it."


    "Easier said than done," I muttered.


    "Is that so? To me, it seems you have captured her heart quite well, from the long conversation you had with her earlie-"


    "Can you just exin to us what happened a few days ago?" I cut her off, not wanting to be led astray from the original course of this conversation.


    Hina-nee looked over at me curiously as Nadeshiko smirked smugly.


    "Very well," Aisa sighed. "It is about time I inform you of my true motive."


    "Your true motive?"


    "Indeed. What I said about using you as a source of entertainment that was a lie. The truth is, I need you for a certain task. You just happened to encounter me right when I was thinking of this, so I chose you as the candidate. That is all."


    "Okay" I said hesitantly. "What task?"


    "Destroy the Creator."


    " You''re kidding, right?"


    "I am not," she replied immediately. "I will not interfere in your wish to return home, and I cannot force you to do as I want either. However I believe once you hear of his goal, you will want to stop him as well."


    I narrowed my eyes. "What''s he nning?"


    Aisa folded her arms and closed her eyes.


    "The Creator seeks to create a perfect world. A world without sin, malevolence, and all evil."


    "Isn''t that good?" Hina-nee frowned, slightly confused.


    "No sin stems from human emotion," Furuwa analyzed, deep in thought. "Mistakes are part of what makes us human. If everybody was a ''perfect'' being we could hardly be called humans at all."


    "I don''t like this Creator guy," Nadeshiko giggled. "He wants to get in the way of my killing I''ll have to ughter him first, it seems~"


    "Unfortunately, you cannot," Aisa replied coldly.


    "Hm~? And who are you to decide that for me?"


    "The Creator is a perfect being, the prime example of what all lifeforms should strive to be. In order to fight against such an existence, you must be a perfect being yourself first. That is the only way to match his level."


    Then, turning to Nadeshiko, Aisa continued. "Nadeshiko Nakano, you may be psychopathic and have an unhealthy addiction to killing, but you still hold emotions. You being attracted to Igarashi Kaze is proof of that."


    "So, what, to be a perfect being, we have to get rid of all our emotions? Is that it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.


    "Humans are wed creatures. By nature, they cannot be perfect. Therefore, to change that, you must alter yourself at the root," Aisa exined. "Human, you are already beginning to take that path. It seems choosing you was the correct judgment."


    "What? How am I starting to take that path?"


    "You consumed those tetrahedrons in the reality rifts, did you not?" Aisa asked rhetorically. "Those objects are called ''Blights''. Every time youe into contact with one, your heart gets corrupted further. Did you not feel it? An emptiness in your chest as if something was missing, but you could not quite tell what."


    My eyes widened. "Now that you mention it that hollow feeling"


    "It seems you know what I am talking about. The others with you were not affected since their physical bodies are not here in this reality, but yours is. Every time you consumed a Blight, you lost one emotion - one step closer to bing a perfect entity, unbound by frail concepts such as feelings."


    "I''ve consumed six Blights so far since the second reality rift only held three, so does that mean I lost six emotions respectively?" I murmured, sinking into thought.


    "Correct. As far as I can tell, the emotions you lost were Pity, Pride, Sadness, Empathy, Envy, and Fear."


    "Pride, Envy, Fear I guess losing these three isn''t actually that bad, huh?" I chuckled.


    "That may be so, but they are, like any other emotion, part of your humanity," Aisa replied stoically.


    "How many ''emotions'' are there in total?" Hina-nee interjected.


    "Sixteen."


    " Just how does the Creator n on pulling this off?" Furuwa frowned in confusion. "What, is he going to wipe out the emotions inside of everyone''s minds?"


    Aisa slowly shook her head. "That is not effective. Doing that will leave behind effects of mistakes humans have made in the past, before they were cleansed of imperfection. What the Creator seeks to do is something far worse and ruthless."


    "Don''t tell me" I muttered, not liking where this was going.


    "Yes just like I said, he seeks to create a brand new reality. However, in order to do that, this current one  must go."


    "That''s bullshit!" Hina-nee cried in shock. "He wants to cleanse the world of evil, so he goes and purges all of reality? If that is what this ''perfect being'' is willing to do all for the sake of satisfying his own selfish delusions, then I would rather not be perfect!"


    "Yeah his philosophy and n-of-action are contradictory to one another," Furuwa muttered. "Killing is the biggest sin there is  yet he is doing exactly that. Perfect, my ass."


    "What this Creator guy is doing isn''t even killing," Nadeshiko giggled. "It''s called genocide."


    "And I''m guessing you''re on his side, huh?" Hina-nee gritted her teeth. "You know, since you enjoy killing without a second thought as well."


    "Actually, no~" Nadeshiko replied nonchntly. "What he is doing is purging everyone all at once. That''s so boring~ the best part about killing is the look on their faces when you end their life."


    " You disgust me," Furuwa red at her.


    "So, Aisa, why are you resisting against this ''Creator''? And what is his rtionship with you?" I asked, steering the conversation back on track.


    "I am doing so because his ideals do not match with my own. That is all," Aisa replied emotionlessly. "And as for his rtionship with me, just like his title suggests"


    She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.


    " He is my creator."

 Chapter 113: A New Chapter Begins

    Chapter 113: A New Chapter Begins


    "He''s your Creator?" I asked, jaw dropping in shock. The other girls had simr reactions.


    "Yes. He is the Creator of all existence," Aisa exined. "If you see me as a god, then he is the god of gods."


    "Wait, if he is truly this omnipotent and made you, then how were we able to stop him from directly interfering here by sealing the reality rifts shut?" Hina-nee asked.


    "The Creator you have encountered is but a shadow of his true self. There are far too many reality nes out there for him to manage alone."


    I furrowed my brows. "What just how many reality nes are there?"


    "Technically speaking, infinite," Aisa replied. "New reality nes are born everyday, at the hands of these Creator shadows."


    "So then, what is your job, Aisa?" Hina-nee scratched her head.


    "Us A.R.X.As oversee and control the reality nes. The Creator''s shadows are responsible for creating new ones, and assigning an A.R.X.A. to them. They act as supervisors to us. That said, it is impossible to track every single one of our tiny movements down, so only if we make some huge mistake will these Creator shadows catch wind of it."


    "You made a huge mistake then, I guess, huh?" I chuckled.


    "Yes it seems I have been trapping people within this reality ne too frequently recently. It will be a while before I can do so again, unless you want another situation like this one. Next time this happens, there will be even more reality rifts open all across the world. I cannot guarantee I will be able to save the easiest ones for you to take care of."


    "Thank god," I muttered. "We already have four people, this is enough. Any bigger and it''ll just be a hassle."


    "Aisa you used plural form when referring to ''A.R.X.A''. Does that mean there are more of you out there?"


    Aisa nodded. "Naturally. Each A.R.X.A. oversees a cluster of reality nes, and new A.R.X.A.s are produced by the Creator from time to time to amodate the ever increasing number of reality nes. My code number is 369  a fairly new creation."


    "Are there any other A.R.X.As who share the same mindset as you?"I asked. "A rebellion against the Creator?"


    "A.R.X.As cannotmunicate with one another, so I have no way of knowing. However, there should be, ording to theoretical probability."


    "That''s not very reassuring," Furuwa sighed. "So? Kaze? She said she couldn''t force you to do this. Hell, I don''t even know if what she''s saying is 100% true. Are you going to go along with her n?"


    " This is too borate to be a lie," I said after some thought. "At least, that''s what my instincts tell me."


    "I don''t think Aisa-chan is lying either," Hina-nee added. "We may not know for sure, but there''s a chance she''s telling the truth as well. If that''s the case, then we have to stop the Creator."


    I cleared my throat. "Before that, let me just confirm one thing  Aisa, how did you even get all this information?"


    "The Creator announced his n to all A.R.X.As, so that we may prepare. He is nning on having us do the purging, not himself."


    "So this Creator isn''t all that strong after all~" Nadeshiko shrugged, as if suddenly losing interest in the conversation. "Boring."


    "As much as I hate to say it, I agree with her," Furuwa said. "At first, I thought this Creator was some sort of immortal entity that could pretty much do anything, but from what you''re telling us now, it seems even he has limitations."


    "Yes. He cannot interfere with reality nes directly unless he first opens reality rifts within them. However, the sheer number of reality nes in existence prevents him from doing that for every single one since that would drain his power, which is not unlimited."


    " Aisa," I said quietly. "When is the Creator nning on executing this purge of his?"


    "A little over ten years from now," she replied. "Worry not  you have time."


    "So, I have to get rid of all my remaining emotions within those ten years? The easiest way to do that is to use reality rifts, right?"


    "Yes, however, that is a risky move. If, by some unforeseen circumstances, you fail to seal a reality rift before the time limit runs out, the Creator''s shadow will be able to once again enter this reality ne and monitor our every movement. That would prove to be extremely troublesome. I will also be on the verge of destruction."


    "Then why isn''t he trying to get in again after we sealed his rifts shut?" I asked. "I mean, if he''s opening them, he obviously thinks there''s something off with you and wants to investigate, right?"


    "No - the Creator''s shadow opens rifts as warnings. After we seal them shut, as long as we stop  or rather, do not get caught any more  he will not investigate further. However should we get caught again he will open up more rifts. This time, in greater numbers, threatening to truly invade this reality and take over."


    "That''s a pretty wed system," Hina-nee couldn''t help but sigh. "Though, it works in our favor, so I won''tin. Besides, I guess this proves it  even he has limitations."


    "Human. I would like you to make a decision now," Aisa said, turning to me. "Will you help me defeat the Creator or not?"


    "" I fell into thought, biting my lip.


    "If you choose not to, that is fine. I will lift the seal on yourpanions, allowing them to return to their old reality ne. You, however, cannot go back except by Ascending, since your physical body is here. Just keep in mind  even if you do manage to return, you will only have a few years left before all of creation is erased."


    "In other words" Aisa continued, walking closer to me and holding out her hand.


    "Will you give up and let destiny take its course, or will you stand up and make your own fate?"


    I looked up, meeting her eyes.


    "The decision is yours."


    "" I clenched my fists.


    "I''ll do it."


    Nadeshiko giggled softly at my response. "My I''m liking you even more now, hehehe~"


    "K-Kaze?" Furuwa''s eyes widened in shock. "You don''t even know if she''s telling the truth or not! She could just be using you!"


    "Be that as it may there''s no evidence that she''s lying either, is there?" I argued. "All of reality is at risk here. Even if all this is a lie and Aisa is only using me just like you said, I would make the same decision if given the option to restart all over again."


    "Good, human. The fighting spirit inside you is strong. I have truly not chosen the wrong person. You are not one to let others dictate your life for you, even if they are a god  just the kind of soldier I need."


    I stood up from the bed and took Aisa''s outreached hand.


    "My fate is mine to make  and mine alone."


    *****


    Aisa and I were left alone in the room.


    The other girls had went out to have a ''talk'', apparently. I wasn''t too worried about Nadeshiko killing the other two, thanks to the conversation from earlier, but the opposite wasn''t necessarily true. I wouldn''t particrly kill if Nadeshiko got killed by Furuwa and Hina-nee, though. In fact, it may even fix that troublesome personality of hers.


    I mean, after feeling the pain of death herself, she''ll change her mind about killing others, right?


    Right?


    Ah, whatever.


    "So, are you going to give me free good stuff now, to help me level up faster?" I asked Aisa, a smug grin on my face.


    "That is what you were going for all this time?" Aisa snorted. "Hmph. I cannot just give you free items to help you get stronger. That might grant you temporary power, but you will soon start to rely on these items rather than yourself. You cannot use items forever. The only thing you can always count on is your own innate strength."


    "In other words, you''re still going to keep throwing me in dangerous situations?"


    "Naturally. Danger is an essential part of getting stronger. It is the most effective form of motivation."


    "Man it was worth a try, I guess."


    "I will provide you opportunities. Whether or not you can harness them will be up to you and you alone," Aisa said. "Think of this as me training you. Training you to be a perfect being. Good rewards will have to be earned, not given."


    "Just don''t identally kill me," I muttered.


    "Even if you die, you will respawn. There is no big deal."


    "Well, yeah, but still, please don''t kill me. I haven''t lost the feeling of pain yet."


    "Pain is the most effective method of teaching," Aisa replied stoically. "You wille to realize that soon enough. You have already made your decision  there is no backing out now."


    "Just curious  what will you do if I end up changing my mind?"


    "I will ruin your life to the utmost of my abilities. Finding ways to kill you when you return to your old reality ne is also not outside my reach."


    " Right."


    "Besides, even if I did not do it, in a few years, you will most likely be purged either way. I am just speeding up the process."


    I sighed andy down on my bed, staring up at the ceiling.


    "Things just got a lot moreplicated, huh?"


    "You do not need to worry about facing the Creator just yet. For now, just focus on getting stronger, eventually returning to your old reality ne and beating that one too," Aisa said, closing her eyes. "After that, the final crusade will begin."


    "You say I have loads of time, but this pressure really sucks. It looks like I''m going to have to speed up in getting stronger."


    "That is up to you. For me, obviously, the quicker you do so, the better."


    After a short silence, I decided to ask Aisa something.


    "Hey, Aisa."


    "What is it, human?"


    "Why didn''t you just tell me the truth from the start, when you first met me?"


    "To test you, human. I was evaluating you to see whether or not you could fill this role of a perfect being," she exined. "To be honest, I would have liked to examine you a little further before making the decision to inform you of the truth, but as you can see, I miscalcted and caused those reality rifts to open. I can hardly hide anything from you anymore, after that happened."


    I smirked. "So does this mean I passed your test, or what?"


    "In a way, yes. I am certain there are more suitable candidates out there, but I have already made the decision to choose you. I cannot turn back now."


    "I see."


    "This fight will be hard, human. The road leading to it will also be long and winding. Raging storms will stand in your route, and unquenchable fires will block your path. Death and danger will be following you every step of the way."


    She walked over to the bed andy down beside me.


    "Tell me, human," she whispered. "Are you ready?"


    "Nice metaphor... but storms can also push me forward, and fires can also light my course," I replied with a soft chuckle, then turned my head to look Aisa in the eyes. "So am I ready to fight against the god of all creation?"


    I smiled.


    "Yes. Yes, I am."

 Chapter 114: The Last Eight

    Chapter 114: The Last Eight


    "Devils aren''t born. They''re made."


    *****


    My name is Igarashi Kaze, and I am nothing more than a high-schooler simply wishing to escape from reality.


    How many of you have done the same before? Wanting to go to a new world, hoping to live in a new reality, dreaming to be able to start anew.


    The world is a tough ce  sometimes, such impossible wishes are necessary in order to retain our sanity. Sometimes, although they will never be answered, irrational wishes such as these could act like a distant goal to work towards, keeping us alive and pumping.


    But my wish  was answered. And perhaps for better or worse, I may have gotten myself into a little more than I had originally hoped.


    It wasn''t just a matter about my return to Earth anymore.


    It was now a game that concerned all of reality and its inhabitants.


    This, is Ascension: Online. One reality ne amongst many in the endless sea of space and time.


    Life and death. Creation and destruction. Emotion and sin.


    All two sides of the same coin.


    *****


    Soon after, Hina-nee returned to the room. I assumed the other two went into their own respective rooms as well to get ready for sleep.


    "Done your ''talk''?" I asked, smirking.


    She sighed, cing her hands on her waist. "Yeah though it wasn''t all that useful."


    "What did you talk about anyway?"


    "Oh, nothing you need to know about~" Hina-nee immediately changed her tone and smiled.


    " Well, in any case, I''m going to go take a shower," I said after some hesitation, standing up.


    "Mkay, I''ll be waiting~!"


    I headed into the bathroom and stepped into the shower. The hot water felt nice andfortable on my skin, warming my hollowed heart.


    "Was my decision the right one?" I murmured to myself.


    A world cleansed of all sin  no murders, no thieves, and no violence. The ideal universe, forged by will and reason.


    Certainly, this all seemed great on the surface. In all honesty, looking at this from an objective perspective, I could say this was in fact a ''good'' thing. Even if it meant having to purge this current reality and create a new one, the benefits this would bring and the perfect world it would create would outweigh such consequences.


    The quality of life in this new world would be exponentially higher than what it currently is. No one would have ulterior motives; everyone would work together to form the best world there could possibly be. There would be no evil, no conflict, and no bloodshed like there is in both Earth and Ascentia.


    All around, it was perfect. No w could be found in the ideology of the Creator.


    Emotions? Such things were unnecessary in a perfect world. Emotions only led to ruin, sooner orter. One day, someone will lose control over their emotions and do something stupid, likemit a crime. There is no need for something like that in the perfect reality that will soon be born.


    And yet


    If said emotions were really erased, could we really still be called humans at all?


    What is life without feeling? What is living without emotions to apany it?


    The world the Creator seeks to create may be perfect, but it was not truly alive. Mistakes were necessary for people to improve - for people to truly live. Without growth, life has no meaning.


    Yes, the Creator''s n had no wrong.


    Yes, the perfect world was truly perfect.


    But so what? I didn''t care.


    I didn''t want to die. I still wanted to live, together with Hina-nee.


    Selfish? Perhaps. But I realized now that being selfish was also part of what makes us human, just like evil and sin.


    Turns out, my decision was the right one after all.


    If the Creator is a god, perfect and divine


    Then I will be the devil to rival him.


    *****


    After getting out of the shower, my thoughts straight and mind cleared, I decided to spend the AP I had. I also wanted to take a look at the hidden arts book Ming Hong had put together for me, but I could hardly do that indoors. I had been busytely so I didn''t have time, but I was pretty excited to see what it held inside.


    "Hina-nee, if you want, you can go to sleep first," I said. "You can turn off the lights, I don''t need them."


    She yawned cutely. "Mm okay~ don''t stay up toote, alright?"


    I nodded in response as she pulled the sheets over her and shut off all the lights in the room.


    I headed for the bathroom and switched on the light there as to not disturb Hina-nee''s sleep. Then, I opened up my System and selected the Skills tab.


    "Let''s see here there was an art I had my eye on ah, here it is," I said, smiling as I spotted what I was looking for.


    [Name: Many Must Fall]


    [Category: Assassin]


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: Dash directly through an enemy within ten meters away and at least 5 levels below yourself. This skill kills them instantly. For every kill made with this skill, gain another charge instantly (MAX: 7). Must have a melee weapon equipped.]


    [Cooldown: 60 seconds]


    [Cost: 4 AP]


    I bought it without any hesitation. This was an incredibly useful skill to have for farming XP and getting through groups of enemies to target the leader instead. I haven''t tried out this skill yet, but I was nning on doing so whenever I got the chance.


    As for the remaining 4 AP I had


    I set my sights on a brand new ss, different from all my other ones.


    While hidden arts were useful, they were mainly focused on mid-ranged battle, aiming to take out batches of enemies all at once or just pure versatility, from defense to healing.


    What I needed was a precise, single-target weapon that could be used at range. This could open up endless new possibilities when it came to stealth missions and whatnot.


    And so, as a result, I decided to explore the Marksman ss.


    "Hm" I sat on the edge of the bathtub in thought as I looked over the ss''s skills. I spotted a few that seemed pretty powerful, so I chose to go with this in the end.


    First things first, I purchased the base skill needed for this ss:


    [Name: Way of the Marksman]


    [Category: Marksman]


    [Type: Passive]


    [Description: Passively increases your INT, DEX, and LUC stats by 2 each.]


    My stats now looked like this:


    [STR: 290]


    [AGI: 300]


    [INT: 162]


    [DEX: 172]


    [MAG: 210]


    [LUC: 67]


    Looks like all of my stats went up after consuming that Blight today, in the final reality rift. I gained 10 for each stat, it seemed. The numbers kind of bothered me because they weren''t nice round ones, but I wasn''t about toin.


    I also bought one of the three skills that stemmed off from Way of the Marksman:


    [Name: Focused Vision]


    [Category: Marksman]


    [Type: Passive]


    [Description: Greatly improves focus, eyesight, and hearing.]


    This may not seem like much on the surface, but as an Assassin, these traits would help me as well.


    Besides, my true goal in getting this skill was in fact the final skill at the end of this branch:


    [Name: Evesting Radar]


    [Category: Marksman]


    [Type: Passive]


    [Description: Grants a radar in your mind that detects nearby enemies, up to a radius of 100 meters. The radar will alert you automatically when someone gets into the 10 meter range, and tell you which direction they areing from. You can also check the radar at will, whenever you wish.]


    There was still a long way to go before I could get this skill, but it was definitely something I wanted to work towards. With this, I would pretty much never end up surrounded, and also almost always get the first drop on my enemies rather than the other way around.


    For now, I spent the final two AP I had on the following skills:


    [Name: Tactical Roll]


    [Category: Marksman]


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: Perform a deft tumble in any direction. Automatically reloads your currently equipped marksman weapon.]


    [Cooldown: 20 seconds]


    -


    [Name: Empowered Shot]


    [Category: Marksman]


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: Empower your next shot from a marksman weapon, causing it to deal more damage and knock enemies back.]


    [Cooldown: 60 seconds]


    I didn''t currently have a marksman weapon, but I assumed I would be able to get some at Qilian City as long as I asked around.


    I went to sleep soon after, not wanting to stay up toote.


    *****


    - The Next Morning -


    Sunday  the final day of the Annual Qilian Regional Competition.


    The mystery of Ming Yi was still not solved, but either he was a different person with the same name, or he just had his own reasons for not wanting to reveal his true identity. Either way, I didn''t really care enough to investigate.


    There were only eight contestants left in the running. In the morning, that eight will be narrowed down to four, and in the afternoon, the four narrowed to two. Then,st but not least, at 8 PM in the evening, the finals will take ce and the champion will be decided.


    I was obviously going for the top spot. The reward of any wish I wanted was indeed extremely attractive. I made a deal with Koroth beforehand to get him his herbs, but he would probably be epted into the sect anyway - that was why I had him perform a little during his fight with Furuwa, after all.


    So, why am I doing all this?


    Because I wanted to use my wish to make sure a certain something happened, just in case it doesn''t happen already.


    After waking up Furuwa and Nadeshiko, we headed out.

 Chapter 115: The Quarterfinals

    Chapter 115: The Quarterfinals


    "Thest day of the tournament is here," the mayor of Qilian City, Zhen Yuhan, dered on the stage. "Eight contestants are left standing. Of them, who will be the champion?"


    Behind him sat the three elders from the Blessing Nature Sect, the same ones who had been here yesterday. I noticed the woman sitting in the middle nce directly in my direction, but I pretended to not have realized and instead fixated my sight on Zhen Yuhan.


    "I trust everyone is eager to have the matches begin, and the time is just about right. Without further ado" the mayor paused and smiled. "The first duel of the day will be between Igarashi Kaze and Xuan Kun!"


    I sighed. " Seriously? I have to fight first? What a pain"


    "Hehe, good luck, Kaze-kun," Hina-nee smiled and gave me a gentle embrace.


    I nodded in response and headed for the stage. My opponent was already there, wearing a haughty face and a smug smirk.


    Gathering experience from all the light novels I''ve read in the past, back on Earth, I could safely say this guy was the ''young master'' type. They act all high and mighty until someone steps on them, then they worship this person like their own father. Crazy, isn''t it?


    This personality nature of theirs though, made them far more useful to me than viins like Qin Yao will ever be. These young master types were easy to control and used like sacrificial pawns  all I had to do was crush them first. But people like Qin Yao? They would never give in. They''ll keep trying to get revenge for as long as they are still alive, no matter how many times it takes.


    "Wussup, little guy," my opponent, Xuan Kun, snickered, even though he appeared to only be about a year or two older than I was.


    "Hello there," I responded calmly, a smile stered over my face.


    "You have quite the entourage of girls there with you, y''know? What do you say you give them to me?" heughed. "Hey, tell you what  if you do, I won''t kill you here maybe just break a leg or two."


    I raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Which ones do you want? You can take the one with velvet hair and the one who uses a scythe. I don''t really care about them. But the other one"


    "What if I say I want them all?" he snarled, revealing his crooked white teeth.


    "Well then" I sighed. " You''re just an idiot."


    He froze his movements and looked deep into my eyes. "What did you just say?!"


    Calmly, I took out Dokujin and twirled it around in my hand.


    "Yikes, yikes so easily angered," I chuckled. "You won''t get anywhere in life if you let emotions get the better of you all the time like that, you know?"


    He gritted his teeth and drew his own weapon, a metal club with spikes all over it.


    "You''re talking like my goddamned mom!" he yelled, charging towards me, club in hand.


    Not even needing to use any skills, I tilted my body slightly right at thest second, watching in amusement as the heated ''young master'' fell forward from his own momentum.


    With a perfectly neutral expression, I stuffed the hand holding Dokujin into my pocket and made the other into a fist, driving into his stomach with all of my strength. The impact sent him flying backwards the way he came from.


    "Oof!"


    He copsed onto the floor, spitting blood. I nced down at my fist in wonder.


    "Seriously? One hit, and you''re already coughing blood?"


    "Agh shut up" he muttered, pulling himself back up to his feet and wiping the bloodstain away from the corners of his mouth.


    "Still haven''t had enough?" I taunted, making him take the bait.


    And that he did.


    "I said SHUT UP!" he yelled, charging at me once more with his club, and I prepared to receive it once again.


    "THAT''S ENOUGH!" a booming voice suddenly interrupted.


    Immediately, arge figure appeared between Xuan Kun and I, unleashing a shockwave powerful enough to make even the most experienced of fighters think twice about engaging inbat with him.


    Xuan Kun was blown away by the force, flying a short distance before crashing painfully into the ground once more, this time even harsher since it was off the stage. I, however, was not fazed in the least.


    I calmly stood,pletely unaffected by the shockwave the figure had let out. He seemed to have realized this as well, and turned to me curiously.


    "" he narrowed his eyes as if inspecting me, but did not say a thing.


    A few secondster, he returned to his seat  the left throne. He had been one of the elders from the Blessing Nature Sect.


    "Xuan Kun  disqualified!" mayor Zhen Yuhan suddenly announced, much to my surprise.


    Xuan Kun pushed himself off the ground and yelled in anger. "W-What?! Why am I disqualif-"


    "You engaged in violence before I signaled for the battle to begin. That is a clear vition of the rules andmon sense. You even had to make Elder Han step in disgraceful. By my discretion, you are hereby eliminated from the tournament!"


    Elder Han so that was his name. The elf woman was Elder Ning, and the one with sses was Elder Zhang. With this, I had them all.


    "Wha" my opponent''s jaw dropped in shock as he realized his mistake. "B-But he was the one who start-"


    "Quit whining. Guards, drag him away."


    Immediately, four tall guards d in iron ted armor stepped onto the stage and surrounded Xuan Kun in an instant. He looked around, bewildered.


    "W-Wait! Do you know who my father is?! I will tell him toe and destroy this city! Every one of you will be killed without mercy! Especially you, Igarashi Kaze!"


    Oh boy how troublesome.


    As he was dragged away by the guards, I sighed and shook my head. My n was ruined. How unfortunate.


    I had originally been nning on thoroughly beating him up and making him lose all hope, then turning him into one of my pawns, but if it''s like this, I didn''t even get to inject any fear into him. And now, I have his father on my ass, apparently. If what he said about his father was true, being able toy waste to an entire city as big as Qilian, then well, we have a problem.


    This must mean his family background was extra-powerful damn, the more I think about it, the more I regret not being able to manipte him to my liking. Looks like I had no choice to use n B then, if I wanted to get something out of this whole ordeal.


    I stepped off the stage and returned to the others.


    *****


    "Well, that was an interesting fight, wasn''t it?" Hina-neeughed awkwardly.


    "Sure was. Match was over before it even began," I replied, unamused.


    Furuwa snorted. "I wonder how that guy even made it to the top eight with those dull and slow movements of his."


    "Hehe, it''s something called bribing~" Nadeshiko giggled.


    "You think he bribed his opponents to let him win?" I raised an eyebrow. "I don''t know about that. He didn''t try bribing me."


    "Probably because you look so weak on the surface," Furuwa remarked. "Look at what you are wearing."


    I nced down.


    Ah that''s right. I was wearing the Deceiver armor set I got from the Vault of Deception. It was meant to make me seem weak and normal in all regards, so Furuwa''s analysis made sense. Hell, this thing didn''t even look like armor. I appeared just like any other civilian, to the untrained eye.


    "Well, whatever. I''ll take a free win though this makes things a bit troublesome," I sighed.


    "How so?" Hina-nee asked.


    "Didn''t you hear? He said his father could destroy this entire city," I replied. "And, given Xuan Kun''s words, it seems he will be targeting me specifically."


    "I don''t believe his bullshit one bit," Furuwa said. "Smells like somest-minute bragging to save face to me."


    "That may be so, but you never know," I shrugged. "These young master types always tell the truth when talking about their family''s power and background. In light novels, anyway."


    "So then, what do you propose we do?" Hina-nee asked.


    "It''s simple," Nadeshiko smiled like a little devil and licked her lips. "We kill him~"


    "No, we don''t!" Furuwa frowned and immediately interrupted in a slightly loud tone, causing some people to turn and look at us.


    "I mean a-ahem, we shouldn''t," she edited her message, this time in a quieter voice.


    "Actually I agree with Nadeshiko on this one," I said. "Killing him can give us some good loot."


    "K-Kaze-kun, that''s a crime back on Earth, you know," Hina-nee murmured softly, as if hesitant.


    "Yeah, but we aren''t exactly on Earth now, are we?"


    " Good point."


    "Besides, he wanted to take you away from me," I continued with a bold smirk. "Simply because of that, he deserves to die."


    After a short silence between the four of us, Furuwa finally broke it.


    "Kaze you''ve turned darker."


    "Really? I don''t think I''ve been out in the sun all that muchtel-"


    "Not that. I mean your heart. Back then, you never would have suggested killing someone for their loot," she whispered softly, then turned to Nadeshiko. "Is she influencing you, somehow?"


    I blinked. "Is that so?"


    Hina-nee smiled. "Chiaki-san is right, Kaze-kun. You have changed, in the mere span of a month or so. But you know, I like the current you as well, just as much."


    "Hehe~ Kaze, Kaze, are you starting to see the fun in killing as well~? Hm?" Nadeshikotched onto my back from behind and whispered seductively into my ear.


    "Don''t lump me in together with you," I said, prying her hands off of me. "I don''t kill for the sake of killing. I''m only killing that guy I just fought because he''s a threat if he tells his father about me, and there''s a high chance I''m going to gain something out of this. Nothing more."


    "Sure, sure" she smiled charmingly. "Whatever you say, Kaze~"


    "Nadeshiko-san, I believe I have warned you about casuallytching onto Kaze-kun like that," Hina-nee interrupted in a business-like tone. "Only I am allowed to do so."


    "Oops~ my bad~" Nadeshiko winked suggestively at me and looked away, whistling nonchntly. She clearly had no intention of listening to Hina-nee''s warning.


    "I apologize for that shameful disy from one of our contestants," Zhen Yuhan suddenly spoke through his megaphone. "The tournament will now proceed normally  I ensure no other incidents of the sort will happen again."


    The audience cheered wildly, waiting in anticipation for the next match to start.


    "And so, the next match will be Chiaki Furuwa against Lionel Kratos!"

 Chapter 116: Furuwas Heart

    Chapter 116: Furuwa''s Heart


    "Looks like it''s your turn, Furuwa," I remarked, shooting her a sideways nce.


    " Kaze," she suddenly said. "Do you want to make a bet?"


    I raised an eyebrow. "What bet?"


    "If I win this fight you don''t kill that guy you fought just now. But if I lose, you can do whatever you want."


    " And why exactly should I ept this bet? It''s not like I need your permission to do something."


    "If you refuse, I will snitch on you. They may not believe me, but I can at least make them somewhat suspicious of you."


    My expression darkened as I red at her.


    "Why are you so insistent?"


    "Because I don''t want you to walk down the wrong path," Furuwa replied, eyes fierce and determined. "We are in the same boat now. I definitely don''t want to work with a murderer."


    Then, she turned to Hina-nee.


    "Sakura-senpai. He is your little brother. Shouldn''t you be teaching him killing is wrong, no matter the reason?"


    "Chiaki-san unfortunately, that is not true," Hina-nee sighed. "Killing is necessary sometimes. You should probably head up the stage now, but I''ll exin it to you after if you''re still confused."


    Furuwa took a deep breath and began to walk away, but then stopped after a few steps.


    " Kaze. I''ll ask you onest time. Are you going to take the bet?"


    "" I sank into thought.


    My evaluation of Furuwa had been off the mark. Originally, I had thought she was cold-blooded and able to kill if needed, but turns out I was wrong. A person like her who cannot finish her enemies off will eventually die sooner orter.


    Back when I made my first kill on that sickleboar, Aisa had told me this world was vastly different from my old one. Here, killing was as natural and necessary as going to work or school back on Earth. Furuwa, however, failed to understand that.


    I''m sure she knew  she just didn''t want to ept it.


    I should''ve known, back when she stopped Jim from killing Qin Yao. Despite being cold and stubborn on the surface she actually had quite the kind heart. Normally, that would be a good thing, but she, unlike Hina-nee, did not possess the ability to harden it when the timees.


    She was right, however. Had it been the old me, I never would''ve considered killing Xuan Kun. The fact that I thought of this now was definitely rted to me consuming the Blights and losing some of my emotions. The six I''ve consumed so far have all erased emotions rting to goodness, such as pity and empathy.


    Put simply, I was slowly turning cold and ruthless, quite naturally too. The change, to me, didn''t feel sudden at all, though to my peers, it must''ve been. In a way, I could see where Furuwa wasing from. Unfortunately, due to myck of empathy now, I was unable to understand her stubbornness.


    Could I keep using her as a pawn, if it''s like this?


    Tools are made to be used. I didn''t need a useless one.


    "Sure. I''ll take the bet."


    Furuwa walked onto the stage after hearing my eptance.


    I decided to give her one final test  one final chance to show me she could change.


    *****


    (Furuwa''s Perspective)


    I stepped onto the stage, where my opponent was waiting. He was an obese man who looked to be in his thirties and wore a crooked grin on his face.


    "You''ve kept me waiting, youngdy," he smirked, revealing his yellow and uneven teeth.


    "Too bad," I replied coldly and took out my sword from my inventory.


    Lionel Kratos  that was his name. It sounded glorious and royal, but really, the man standing before me right now looked more like a burr than anything. He took out his own weapons, two short knives.


    "I''ve seen you fight before. You''re pretty good with that sword," heplimented, though it felt extremely fake.


    "I''ve seen you fight before as well. You''re pretty good with your dirty methods," I responded in turn.


    "My, my thank you for the praise. But just for the record, everything I''ve done have been well within the scopes of the rules."


    "Just barely" I muttered in disgust.


    "Kekeke" the manughed darkly.


    "Both sides, ready up! The battle willmence in 3 2 1" the mayor raised his hand into the air as the drummers got ready to strike.


    "Go!"


    Not wasting any time, I applied all the buffs I could to myself.


    ''STR: Boost.''


    ''AGI: Boost.''


    ''INT: Boost.''


    ''DEX: Boost.''


    I immediately sprinted towards Kratos, using elerate in the process to well, elerate the process.


    However, he merely took out something from his pocket and dropped it on the floor. Immediately, smoke rose up and blocked my vision, filling my lungs up as well.


    "Cough, cough hack" I panted, quickly getting out of the area.


    I had witnessed Sakura-senpai experience this once before, so I knew to get out as soon as possible. A few secondster, the smoke dispersed, revealing the man within.


    "Ho you got out before I could slice you to pieces. Unlucky."


    "Tch fight me fairly, using those two des of yours. Or are they just for show?"


    The man burst outughing. "If you think taunts are going to work on me, you''re gravely mistaken. I will use whatever tools I have at my disposal to win. It doesn''t matter how I do it, victory is victory."


    " Bastard!" I yelled, frustrated both from the conversation with Kaze earlier and now this guy''s irritating attitude.


    ''True Edge!''


    I raised my sword up high into the air. As its green glow slowly became brighter and brighter, I swung it, cleaving the air in front of me.


    A crescent-shaped st of green energy shot out of my de, flying towards the man. Not expecting this sudden attack, his eyes widened as he was struck by the fast-traveling projectile.


    "AGH!"


    He nearly fell off the edge of the stage as he slid backwards, clutching his chest where I hit him in pain. I didn''t let him get the chance to recover, however, as I immediately dashed forward and stepped on his chest, pointing my sword at his throat.


    "Done already? So weak, for all your big talk."


    The man''s face looked up at me. There were tears in his eyes as he slowly raised his two hands up in surrender. I blinked in surprise.


    "I''m sorry please let me go" he sobbed.


    The expression was so pitiful and genuine that I couldn''t help but give in. Everyone deserved a second chance. Everyone deserved forgiveness. Killing, was not the answer.


    I closed my eyes and sighed. Slowly, I took my foot off his chest and turned around.


    "Fine. But don''t ever use those underhanded methods of yours aga-"


    "HAHA!"


    A loudugh came from behind me as I quickly spun around in shock, but it was toote.


    The man jumped on top of me, pushing me to the ground from behind.


    "Ngh-!" I groaned in agony as the man''s full weight fell on my spine.


    He ced one of his knives against the back of my neck andughed darkly.


    "Kekeke oh, my sweet, naive, girl you are far too easily trusting," he shook his head and chuckled. "Have you learned your lesson? Never trust a thing your enemy says, and definitely don''t let them go once you''ve gotten them in your grasp."


    "Y-You bastard I already beat you!"


    "Oh? The judges haven''t announced the victor yet, have they?"


    "K-Kuh" I gritted my teeth, trying desperately to push him off. But s, his weight was far too heavy.


    "You''re too naive, little girl. In this world, someone like you is going to die sooner orter. It just so happens that day is today."


    The man raised his other dagger, preparing to lop my head clean off.


    No how could this how could this be?!


    "See ya, Chiaki Furuwa."


    I closed my eyes, preparing for my life to end.


    Kaze, Sakura-senpai I''m sorry. You were right, after all


    But then, as the de swung down, my eyes suddenly snapped open.


    "Wha-!"


    A jolt of electricity shot through my body, powerful and disorienting.


    "AHHH!" The man was stunned from the shock emitted, and he fell backwards after a short spasm.


    I panted heavily, slowly getting up from the ground. I spotted my swordying a short distance away on the stage. It must''ve been knocked out of my hand when the man copsed on me.


    I quickly made my way over to it, footsteps disorganized and legs weak. Still, I managed to pick it up, then use it as a crutch to walk over to my opponent, Lionel Kratos. Hey on the ground in a messy position, shaking slightly from the remaining shock of the electricity. To be honest, it was a miracle he was still alive.


    But not for long.


    I stepped my foot on his chest for the second time that match, and this time, I wasn''t about to let it go.


    My arm was still weak, but I could lift my sword. Raising it high up into the air, ready to bring it down, I said my final words to him.


    " You taught me something today. And you will also be my first training dummy."


    Eyes forged with burning fire, now with a new glint of death within them, I tightened my grip on the handle of my de.


    "Goodbye, Lionel Kratos."


    I brought down my sword.

 Chapter 117: Combat Demon

    Chapter 117: Combat Demon


    (Kaze''s Perspective)


    After ying her opponent ruthlessly, Furuwa returned to us, forged anew by blood and fire. She put her sword away calmly, then stared me straight in the eyes.


    " Do whatever you wish to that guy. I don''t care anymore."


    I smiled. "Finallye to the realization that showing mercy won''t get you anywhere in this world?"


    "Yes" she sighed. "Sorry for doubting you."


    Hm... seems I could continue using her after all.


    "Mm. But about that guy... I changed my mind," I snickered.


    "What? You''re not going to kill him to silence him anymore?"


    "Nah. Let his fathere. That should give me more loot than if I just kill him."


    She snorted and folded her arms. "... Devious, as usual. But are you really confident you can beat his father, if he were to reallye?"


    "Ah, but by that time, I will be in the sect and have its support. Can he really destroy one of the Eight Great Sects of Azrine alone?"


    "That''s... a good point. However, you entering the sect is still not set in stone. Better not to be so arrogant."


    "I am well aware. But I''m very optimistic, so it''s best to assume the best."


    She sent me a sideways nce that felt awkward, but I shrugged it off.


    "Anyway... back to the original topic, I''m not saying everyone in this world is like that man you just faced, but" I patted her head, much to her surprise. "It''s better to keep an eye out, yeah?"


    Blushing, she swatted my arm away in annoyance. "I-I know. Don''t touch me without permission."


    "Heehee, that aside what was that weird energy just now~?" Nadeshiko asked curiously, tilting her head and cing her finger to her chin. "It''s like that guy suddenly got electrocuted or something, heheheh~ it was amusing."


    "I''m not sure," Furuwa replied, ncing down at her own two hands. "It felt as if a sudden shock went through my body"


    My eyes widened. "No way"


    "What?" the girls turned to me curiously.


    I narrowed my eyes. "This is just a guess, but I believe your connection with Earth was cut, just like mine."


    " You''re kidding, right?"


    "I''m not. The feeling you described was just like what I felt when my connection got severed."


    "But how? My parents shouldn''t have done that"


    "Power outage, perhaps?" Hina-nee suggested. "Aisa, do you know anything?"


    "There was indeed a power outage near your real body, Chiaki Furuwa," Aisa replied calmly.


    "I see what a coincidence" Furuwa murmured to herself.


    "But is that really a coincidence, I wonder~?" Nadeshiko giggled.


    "What do you mean?" Hina-nee asked, frowning.


    "To me, it seems like someone manipted the power outage to happen," she replied, shooting my a nce.


    Tch what an unnecessarily clever and witty girl. She can actually see through my actions from the shadows


    "Aisa, did you purposely cause the power outage to happen?" I asked, diverting the attention over to her.


    She sent me a nce, then sighed and nodded, understanding my intentions.


    "Indeed. I n to have all of you migrate your physical bodies into this world as well. This will make it easier to get stronger," she exined wlessly, making it seem like a reasonable lie. "It just so happened that was a good opportunity to do so for you, Chiaki Furuwa."


    "I see so you saved me from dying," Furuwa sighed. "I owe you one, AI."


    "" Aisa didn''t respond, instead looking over at me once more. I feigned ignorance and looked away at the stage, where the man''s body had been hauled off and the tform was clean once more.


    "Alright!" the mayor, Zhen Yuhan, said through his microphone. "That was quite the intense fight that happened just now, but we''re not quite done yet. The next match will be between Lancer Duibhne and Sakura Hina!"


    "Good luck, Hina-nee," I said with a encouraging smile.


    "Yep~ I''ll be fine, don''t worry," she responded, hugging me gently before setting off for the stage.


    As soon as she left, Nadeshiko jumped on me from behind,tching onto my shoulders and whispering into my ear seductively.


    "Why hide it?"


    I pried her off and shot her a re, not bothering to answer her question. She definitely wasn''t giving up though. Later today, she would definitelye bother me about this again  it''s just that right now, there was a battle to focus on.


    Nadeshiko she''s the hardest one to control yet.


    *****


    (Hina''s Perspective)


    I took out my two Sai and prepared for the fight, adapting a fighting stance.


    My opponent, Lancer, naturally wielded ance. "Greetings, fellow warrior."


    "Hi~" I waved carefreely.


    "I have seen your previous fights  I must say, I admire you."


    "Mm, thanks! Though, I haven''t seen you fight before since I always left in a hurry after my own match was over"


    "No problem. You will see me fight now, after all," he smiled and spun hisnce around. "I wish to have a fair fight with you, Miss Sakura."


    "Suits me just fine," I said, grinning triumphantly. "By the way, what''s that dot below your left ey-"


    "Don''t look at that!" he suddenly yelled, covering it up immediately.


    "Hm? Why?" I tilted my head in confusion.


    "A-Ah, no it''s just, whenever a girl looks at that spot, they end up falling in love with me I don''t know why or how"


    "Really? I feel just fine though," I blinked in surprise.


    "H-Huh? You don''t feel anything towards me, even after seeing that?"


    "Nope~ maybe it''s because I already love someone else?"


    " I''ve only ever seen those with extremely devoted love resist this strange power of mine" he murmured, looking at me. "You look so young, Miss Sakura. How could there possibly already be someone you are this dedicated to?"


    I giggled. "Hehe, you wouldn''t get it."


    " I suppose."


    "Don''t worry, I''ll fight you with everything I have, no holding back."


    My opponent smiled. "Thank you. I will do the same."


    "Alright! Both contestants appear to be ready, so I will now start the countdown!" the mayor dered, raising his hand into the air. "Ready 3, 2, 1"


    He swung his arm downwards.


    "Go!"


    Lancer and I leaped towards each other immediately, eyes filled with battle intent.


    He used his range advantage to try and poke me with hisnce, but I redirected his jab using one of my Sai, knocking it away from me. I then closed the distance, preparing to stab my other Sai into his stomach.


    However, he managed to somehow overpower my strength and pull hisnce back towards my head, aiming to knock my temple.


    At this rate, he would hit me before I could stab him, so I decided to use one of my skills.


    ''Blink.''


    I teleported behind Lancer, ready to plunge my weapon deep into his body. However, rather than being surprised like I expected him to be, he spun around at an insane speed and blocked my strike with the pole of hisnce, before pushing me off.


    I performed a backflip in mid-air andnded gently back on the ground, smirking.


    "Not bad."


    "Likewise."


    After this brief exchanged, we shed once more. Sneak attacking wasn''t going to work again after I failed the first time, so I decided to just try a full frontal assault.


    That said, Lancer''s defense was extraordinary. He wielded his weapon with extreme dexterity and skill. Every time I tried to move in and go for an attack, he parried my strikes with ease, be it using the tip of hisnce or the pole part.


    I considered myself quite proficient with my Sai, but we were still at a deadlock, even after several minutes of fighting. By now, both of us were quite tired, panting heavily.


    "You''re the toughest opponent I''ve faced so far hah," he grinned and said between deep breaths.


    "Heh, yeah? In terms of purebat skill, I''d say you''re the strongest one I''ve faced so far as well," I replied, smirking like a devil. "But you know fighting isn''t just striking and parrying."


    "Huh?"


    As he was caught off-guard by this statement, I suddenly opened my palm and directed it towards him.


    ''Basic Umbromancy Art  Umbrostrike.''


    His eyes widened at my sudden usage of hidden arts and quickly attempted to block my attack with hisnce rather than dodging, since there was no time for thetter.


    ''Vanishing Steps.''


    Not letting this chance go to waste, I made myself invisible and took advantage of the fact that Umbrostrike waspletely ck, blinding Lancer. The invisibility was just extra protection.


    I circled around him quickly, making good use of my increased speed and agility granted by this skill.


    And right as he blocked my hidden art, I ced my Sai at his throat. He froze.


    "Good fight."


    He sighed deeply, but there was a smile on his face as he realized what had happened.


    "Yes good fight."


    "The winner of the match is Sakura Hina!"


    I hopped off the stage lightly and began my way back to the others, until I suddenly felt a surge of electricity go through me.


    "Ah-" I nearly fell on the ground, just barely stopping myself in time.


    What what was that?


    "Wee back, Hina-nee," Kaze-kun said as I returned.


    "Mm it was pretty tough, until I remembered the one and only hidden art I have, hehe."


    "Before you ask," Aisa suddenly interjected. "The electricity you felt just now was me severing your connection to the old world, just like I said I would."


    "Ah I see." I gazed down, smiling sadly.


    "Hina-nee maybe it''s better for uncle and auntie if it''s like this," Kaze-kun said in an attempt tofort me. "Every time they see youying in bed, they''ll feel the pain all over again. But if they can''t see you at all"


    " Yeah. Maybe it is," Iughed slightly. "This is to let me grow stronger faster, right? I can ept that. Thank you, Aisa."


    For some reason, Aisa shifted her gaze to Kaze-kun for a brief moment.


    I didn''t miss it.

 Chapter 118: Semifinals

    Chapter 118: Semifinals


    (Kaze''s Perspective)


    After Hina-nee finished her fight, only onest battle needed to take ce between the top four guaranteed a spot in the Blessing Nature sect were determined. It was between a human boy named Ling Tian Yu and an elven boy named Rio.


    In order to gather intel, I discretely used a skill I picked up from hitting Level 30 a while ago: Inspect II.


    This allowed me to use Inspect on NPCs as well, gauging their approximate strength level. There was also an Inspect III which allowed me to inspect Monsters and Magic Beasts, but I ran out of AP, so I was unable to get that, quite unfortunately. It only cost 3 AP though, so one level-up and I would be able to get it. It was certainly a useful skill to have.


    Ling Tian Yu and Rio weren''t yers, but both had simr stats, mainly focused on STR and AGI. Judging from stats alone, Rio seemed to be superior by a slight margin, but from what I could see here, Ling Tian Yu''s LUC stat was exceptionally high, at a whopping 300.


    Whether that was the result of a certain artifact he possessed or he was just naturally born with good luck, I had no idea. If it was thetter, then hell, I''m jealous. I wish I had erased my emotion of jealousy instead, because damn, this feeling sucks.


    Still, if I had to fight either of them, I would win. My stats were far higher than theirs, and I also had a plethora of arts to use at my disposal, some of which I haven''t even revealed yet in the tournament.


    As soon as the battle began, Rio initiated the fight, charging at Ling Tian Yu with his broadsword. The human responded in turn, letting metal sh against metal with a satisfying sound.


    The two continued to exchange blows, taking turns attacking and defending. However I noticed something strange.


    Every time Rio stabbed at Ling Tian Yu, he seemed to miss by just a slight bit, and Ling Tian Yu wasn''t even trying to dodge. His movements seemed perfectly natural  as if he wasn''t defending at all, but instead counterattacking.


    "That''s weird," Hina-nee murmured from beside me. Seems like she''s noticed it too.


    "How has he not gotten hit yet?" Furuwa shook her head in bewilderment. "He''s not even trying to dodge, yet somehow the elf''s sword strikes just keep missing, almost like he''s trying to lose or something. Paid actors, or bribery, like thatst ''young master'' guy or whatever?"


    "Perhaps, but from what I can see through Inspect II, Ling Tian Yu has a LUC stat of 300," I replied.


    "3-300?!" the two girls dropped their jaws.


    "Hm, that''s no fun~" Nadeshiko pouted, folding her arms. "I hate people who rely on luck for everything I prefer Kaze here more, hehe~"


    "Stop taking advantage of every possible moment to flirt with Kaze-kun!" Hina-nee whispered sharply, shooting Nadeshiko a look of disdain.


    "Yes, yes"


    I ignored their childish exchange and kept my attention focused on the fight, where the two contestants were still going at it full-force.


    Several minutes passed, with no sign of development. Both sides have yet tond a single solid hit on one another. That said, Ling Tian Yu was slowly running out of energy, but Rio seemed to be doing just fine still. Elven gics, I suppose.


    At the rate things were going, Rio would win through endurance. But


    Suddenly, Ling Tian Yu unleashed a battle cry, wanting to end this within this next blow that contained all of his remaining strength.


    "RAHHH!"


    Rio''s eyes widened as he took a step back and prepared to block, but then, to everyone''s surprise, his foot ended up stepping on the end of his own cape, causing him to slip and fall backwards.


    "Wha-!"


    "TAKE THIS!" Ling Tian Yu swung his sword down towards Rio''s falling and vulnerable body, not even giving him a chance.


    "AHH!" Rio screamed in agony as the sword was plunged deep into his stomach.


    Gritting his teeth to contain the pain, he grabbed the handle of Ling Tian Yu''s sword and pulled the de out of his own body with one good heave.


    However, Ling Tian Yu was absolutely merciless. He plunged the sword deep into Rio''s body once more, this time directly in the heart.


    "NGH!" Rio''s dying yell was not one of anger at his opponent, but mere frustration at himself falling.


    Slowly but surely, Rio''s arms fell limp by his side, his sword falling out of his hand.


    Ling Tian Yu took a couple of deep breaths, panting heavily, before finally pulling his weapon out of his opponent''s corpse.


    "The winner of the match is Ling Tian Yu!" the mayor announced amidst the sound of the drums being struck.


    "Hah you saved my life again, lucky charm" he murmured faintly before walking off the stage, legs weak and exhausted.


    "Lucky charm, huh" I muttered under my breath.


    "Should we investigate him?" Furuwa asked.


    I shook my head. "The semifinals are starting right after lunch anyway. It''s not like we''ll have a lot of time to spy on him. Besides, given his current condition it''ll take a miracle for him to recover in time."


    "Unless he has pills," Aisa interrupted.


    "Speaking of, how the hell do I make pills? Or do I have to buy them?" I asked, scratching my head.


    " I will exin at a restaurant," she replied after some hesitation.


    "What, even you can get hungry?" Furuwa raised an eyebrow.


    "No. But the exnation will take some time. I was merely showing concern for you humans. Take it or leave it."


    "Right, thanks, Aisa," I sighed and opened up my System, checking the time. "Okay any moment now"


    "Alright everyone," the mayor announced once Rio''s body had been cleaned off the stage. "We will now be holding a short lunch break. The tournament''s semifinals will begin in the afternoon, at 1 PM exactly. The time is now 11 AM, meaning you will have 2 hours for lunch, contestants. This should be more than enough. That''s all!"


    "Yep, there it is. Let''s go," I said. The announcement I had been waiting for Zhen Yuhan to make had been made, so we could finally leave now.


    The girls followed behind me as we headed for a familiar restaurant we''ve ate at a couple of times before, just to save time.


    *****


    "So. Tell me about pills," I said, sipping on some water. We were currently waiting for our order to arrive.


    "Pills are extraordinary items that provide great benefits," Aisa exined. "They can increase your cultivation speed, temporarily boost your stats, neutralize status ailments, and even cure curses or otherwise deadly diseases."


    "Mhm, I kind of figured," I replied. "They definitely sound amazing, but the problem is, how do I get them?"


    "At your current level, you can only obtain them via one of four ways: purchasing or trading them off of someone else, winning them as rewards in tournaments, finding them hidden in the wild, andstly, the rare chance of one dropping from a Magic Beast kill. I listed the four methods in order from easiest to strongest, just for your information."


    "Purchasing damn," I muttered. "They''ve gotta be expensive, right?"


    Aisa nodded. "Naturally. However, you are not exactly poor, are you?"


    "That''s true. With the money I currently have, how many pills can I buy, roughly?"


    "That depends on the vendor and grade of the pill, but" Aisa narrowed her eyes, making calctions inside of her supeputer head. "You currently have approximately 350,000 gold. A Low-Grade pill costs around 5,000 gold in general, meaning you would be able to purchase about 70 of them before ending up without a room to stay in at night."


    "Even a Low-Grade pill costs 5,000?" Hina-nee''s eyes widened. "Then what do the other grades cost?"


    "Pills are really not something you should be worrying about with your current level, but as a guide, every pill costs twice as much as another pill of a grade below. In other words, Low-Grade pills cost 5,000 gold, so Mid-Grade pills cost 10,000. High-Grade pills cost 20,000, and the list goes on."


    "How many pill grades are there in total?" Furuwa asked curiously.


    "There are seven ranks to pills in total, but pills above High-Grade are rare in this world nowadays."


    "I see so, for now, we should just focus on getting stronger without the help of any pills?" I asked.


    "Correct. Speaking in ''video game'' terms, certain cultivation speed boosting pills are essentially ''XP booster packs''. However, while these may be useful if this were really all a game, these pills doe with a demerit as well  they will destabilize your foundation."


    "Huh"


    "It is a littleplicated to exin, but think of it like this," Aisa sighed. "Cultivation is not just a matter of physically getting stronger and being able to use stronger arts. It also involves spiritual foundation  and before a certain level of spiritual enlightenment is reached, one cannot break their bottleneck and ascend to the next stage."


    "Hm, and how do you get this ''enlightenment''?" Hina-nee asked.


    "Fighting and even killing is the best and most effective method," Aisa said calmly. "After a certain amount of kills andbat, your soul and mind will mature enough for the next cultivation stage. That is how enlightenment works in this world."


    "Killing?" Nadeshiko''s ears perked up, despite having been silent this whole conversation. "Hehehe~ sounds fun"


    "Nadeshiko, no-" I desperately tried to calm her down, like a father to a rampaging child. It proved to be of little to no effect whatsoever on Nadeshiko''s hysterical giggling that attracted many suspicious gazes towards us.


    Some recognized us as contestants in the tournament, but all of them were far too scared of Nadeshiko to approach us. She''s made quite the name for herself, here in this city.


    Our food arrived soon after, and even the waitress was ufortable, seeing Nadeshiko.


    She''s really a walking disaster, but if I could hone her as my de, then she could prove to be a powerful tool.

 Chapter 119: The Rematch

    Chapter 119: The Rematch


    The five of us returned to the battlefield after we finished eating. While we ate, I flipped through the book Ming Hong had given me  it contained quite the myriad of useful hidden arts. While most were Basic level ones, there were some Intermediate ones as well and even an Advanced one.


    Normally, an Advanced hidden art would''ve cost 3 AP to get, which could be spent on other useful skills. This was really a steal  back when I made the choice to form this deal with Ming Hong, I knew this would be worth it.


    If I totaled up all the hidden arts in the book (around thirty in total), the overall value of it would be roughly equivalent to 41 AP  20 Basic hidden arts, 9 Intermediate ones, and 1 Advanced one. If I perform further calctions since I was Level 32 right now, 41 AP would take Level 42 to reach. I essentially just saved a whole ten levels'' worth of AP.


    Of course, some of the arts in there, I already knew from obtaining them via my System, so this was exaggerated slightly, but it was still certainly an amazing deal. Knowledge is power; money is artificial  when you have a lot of it, that is.


    We took quite a bit to eat, but when we got back, there was still nearly an hour until the semifinals began. So, to maximize efficiency, we decided to head out of the city to get some training done.


    I tried out some of the hidden arts listed in Ming Hong''s book, of course. I found out that five of them would turn out to be extremely useful ones I would end up using a lot  Vines of Binding, Ring of Fire, Hailstorm, Wind Wall, and The Dragon''s Shadow.


    Each of these did exactly what their names suggested, but the Dragon''s Shadow, the only Advanced hidden art in the book, was different, No, it did not summon a real dragon, but it was still quite powerful nheless. I could use it as a trump card to either fight or escape.


    Through this short training session, I managed to level up to Level 33. Hina-nee and Furuwa both reached Level 32. Nadeshiko reached Level 49, only a step away from 50 and reaching the next cultivation stage.


    Not going to lie, I was kind of excited to witness her breakthrough. From the light novels and manga I''ve read back on Earth, cultivation breakthroughs were all really intense and serious moments, but when I became a Nascent Cultivator, I didn''t feel all that much. Hina-nee''s and Furuwa''s breakthroughs were also quite anti-climatic, if you will.


    I didn''t know if this was just because it was the first cultivation stage or whatever, but I certainly hope I would be able to witness a real cultivation breakthrough right before my very eyes.


    *****


    We returned to Qilian City right before the semifinals began. We were careful not to use too much energy during our training session, so we just focused on weak Magic Beasts and Monsters. Nadeshiko, on the other hand, didn''t have to fight in the tournament anymore, so she just let all hell break loose and ughtered everything she saw.


    "I wee everyone back to the tournament," the mayor, Zhen Yuhan, dered loudly as the audience settled down. "The semifinals will now begin. There are four contestants remaining  Sakura Hina, Chiaki Furuwa, Ling Tian Yu, and Igarashi Kaze. They are all guaranteed a spot in the Blessing Nature Sect, but the final champion to receive the grand prize is yet to be determined."


    "One of us we''ll have to face each other," Furuwa muttered.


    "Hehe~ I can''t wait to fight Kaze-kun again," Hina-nee giggled, giving me Nadeshiko vibes.


    "I want to fight him too" Nadeshiko licked her lips and smiled like a little devil. "Carve him into pieces all mine"


    I cringed and instinctively took a few steps away from her drooling face and lovestruck eyes filled with hearts.


    The mayor cleared his throat once the audience quieted down from cheering. "So  without further ado, the first match of the semifinals will be between Chiaki Furuwa and Igarashi Kaze!"


    The two of us exchanged nces. I wore a dark grin on my face, and she had a smug smirk that didn''t fit her. Not her old self, anyway.


    Wordlessly, we separated and walked onto the stage from two different ends.


    *****


    "Looks like my rematch came sooner than I expected," Furuwa said as she drew her sword and pointed it at me.


    "Perhaps," I replied with a light shrug. "But is that a good thing or bad thing, I wonder?"


    "For me, good. For you? Not so much."


    I scoffed. "Big words. Remind me  you were also this cockyst time we fought too, huh? Look how that turned out."


    She adopted abat stance, eyes with a glint of steel in them.


    "Enough talk. I''ll crawl back up right where I fell."


    "Is that so? Then"


    I took out Dokujin from my boot and got ready to fight as well.


    " Show me."


    "Both sides are ready!" the mayor dered gloriously. "The match will begin in 3 2 1 Go!"


    Furuwa''s body immediately began glowing as she applied various buffs to herself. Taking advantage of this briefpse, I decided to try out some of the hidden arts I just obtained.


    I waved my arm across the air in front of me, whispering my incantation in the process.


    "Intermediate Pyromancy Art  Ring of Fire."


    Immediately, a circle of raging mes appeared around Furuwa,pletely enclosing her inside. Her eyes remained as calm as ever, as if she had expected this move.


    She jumped out of the ring with her temporarily increased agility, dashing towards me.


    "Oh, not bad," I chuckled as I met her strike with Dokujin. "Those mes are pretty high. I never expected you to be able to jump out of that."


    "Heh. Don''t underestimate the stat boosting abilities of the Knight ss-!" she yelled, attempting to overpower me with brute force.


    However, I pushed back in turn, using my exceptionally high STR stat to the point that it''s a cheat.


    She gritted her teeth and backed away a slight bit, knowing my strength was higher than hers. In all honesty, I could''ve beaten her right then and there by grabbing her arm and demilitarizing her, but I was thinking of the bigger picture here. I wasn''t going to let her win, but I wanted to make it seem like she put up a good fight.


    All for the judges to see. We were putting on a show  Furuwa didn''t know that, but that was perfectly fine. Better, even. This way, she could truly fight with all of her strength without having to worry about anything. That was the effect I wanted. The genuineness needed for this act to seem realistic and believable.


    We were in the heat of meleebat now, so using more hidden arts was out of the question. I wanted to make Furuwa seem strong, but I didn''t want to lose this either, since that would ruin my n.


    She dashed towards me once more, swing her sword and using her range advantage wisely. I used a mixture of dodging and blocking to swiftly avoid her attacks, but I was slowly being pushed back, near the edge of the stage.


    Alright that''s enough. Now, it''s time to end this.


    Right before I fell off of the stage, I used ''Blink''.


    In an instant, I appeared behind Furuwa and attempted to ce my dagger at her throat, but she somehow reacted to me in time and ducked down before performing a smooth sweep kick.


    I jumped up to avoid the attack and leaped back a bit, resetting for another round.


    "Tch crafty as ever," she spat.


    "I could say the same to you," I scoffed. "How did you even react to that?"


    "Hmph," she smirked. "You don''t tell me your secrets. Why should I tell you mine?"


    "That''s fair, I suppose, but reaction speed or not, you''re not winning this."


    ''Vanishing Steps.''


    Turning invisible, I stopped moving.


    Furuwa was expecting me to try and attack her from behind, like I did just now. So, this time, I would strike her directly in the front, where she least expected it.


    This was all part of mybat n and strategy. First, give your opponent a false understanding of you. Then, strike the exact opposite.


    I closed in on her immediately, and indeed, she wasn''t even trying to block her front. While she was facing me, her full attention was focused on her back.


    Unfortunately, her sword was still in a defensive posture here, so it was difficult to find an opening.


    But that was fine.


    ''Reveal.''


    Using this simple yet extremely powerful art, Furuwa''s body turned ck and white for a second, with a single spot right below her abdomen highlighted in yellow. That was where I had to strike.


    I stabbed forward immediately, not showing any hesitation. Right before my de drew blood, I stopped. Furuwa''s eyes widened as she felt the prickling sensation of a dagger on her stomach, just as my invisibility ran out.


    "You used such a dumb tactic on me?" she gasped, as if unable to believe I really just pulled that off.


    "Dumb? No tactic is dumb  as long as it works," I smirked.


    She gritted her teeth in frustration at having lost a second time to the same person, but she knew when she was defeated.


    Dropping her sword, she sighed.


    "I surrender."


    "The winner is Igarashi Kaze!"


    I spun Dokujin around in my hand before dropping it back into my boot in one swift motion


    "You overthink things, Furuwa," I said quietly right before I walked off the stage. "You have to be ready for the most basic of strategies even if your opponent is far stronger than you."


    " Tch, I know."


    She was angry for sure, but not at me. It was at herself for being weak.


    But that was fine. Weakness is a virtue. Weakness enables improvement. As long as she learned from this experience, it didn''t matter how many times she lost, how many times she failed. For as long as she keeps getting stronger and stronger with every defeat


    There is always a tomorrow.

 Chapter 120: Seething Emotions

    Chapter 120: Seething Emotions


    "You''re up next, Hina-nee," I said as the mayor announced the next match.


    "Hm I''m facing against that guy who was nearly exhausted earlier, right?" she murmured thoughtfully. "I wonder has he recovered?"


    "He seems fine right now, so my guess is yes," Furuwa replied as Ling Tian Yu walked onto the stage nonchntly. There was no sign of sweat or tiredness on his face whatsoever.


    "Heh he was half-dead earlier, and now he''spletely fine after a mere two hours? What kind of medicine or pill did that take, I wonder~?" Nadeshiko giggled softly.


    "Either way be careful of him, Hina-nee," I said darkly. "His LUC stat is not just for show. From what I saw earlier he causes his opponent to have bad luck, therefore in turn giving himself ''good'' luck."


    "Mm, I saw. Don''t worry, I''ve never really believed in luck. My philosophy is that true power is superior to ''luck''. I''ll prove that today."


    I smiled. "Good luck. You got this."


    Hina-nee pulled me into a gentle embrace for a few seconds, before kissing me gently on the cheek and atst letting me go and heading onto the stage.


    "Wha" I touched the spot where she had kissed me, unsure of what to do.


    Furuwa nced at me in disgust while Nadeshikoughed.


    "Damn it, Aisa when can I get rid of my emotion of embarrassment?"


    " Hmph."


    Little did I know, Hina-nee was about to walk into her own death.


    *****


    (Hina''s Perspective)


    I took out my two weapons and pointed one at my opponent, Ling Tian Yu.


    "You know your luck is really something."


    "Heh, ain''t that right?" he rubbed his nose proudly. "At this rate, you might even fall in love with me ''identally'', haha! Oh, that would be awesome!"


    "Were you born with this luck, or is it some artifact, I wonder?"


    "H-Huh? What''s it matter to you?" heughed awkwardly.


    I grinned like a devil. "Well, if it''s an artifact, I want it. Unfortunately since I don''t trust you, I''ll have to kill you to do that."


    The man chuckled. "K-Kill me? Not happening! Not today, no sir!"


    "We''ll see about that."


    I rubbed my two Sai together, sharpening their edges.


    "Both sides are ready!" the mayor dered, preparing to begin the match. "In that case the match will now BEGIN!"


    Ling Tian Yu made the first move  he leaped towards me with all he had, broadsword ready to swing down and cleave me in half. However, his stats were all below mine  with the exception of LUC, of course. I also had the Inspect II skill Kaze-kun had, so I was able to verify this information.


    I dodged out of the way with ease and immediately counterattacked, closing the distance between him and I right after dashing backwards, like a coiled snake, ready to strike.


    His eyes widened and he leaned back slightly in a panic. My Sai just barely didn''t reach. I kept trying to attack, but by now he had fully reacted to my attacks and brought his own weapon back up in defense.


    In annoyance, I sent a flying kick upwards in an attempt to kick his sword out of his hand, but unfortunately, it didn''t work. It still did, however, leave his stomach open for a brief moment. There was no time to use my Sai, so instead, I followed my momentum, spinning around and unleashing a second kick with my other foot right afternding back on my first one.


    This one was aimed straight at his vulnerability, and even his luck didn''t help him here.


    Ling Tian Yu was hit directly by my powerful kick, sent skidding backwards quite the distance. He didn''t fall over, surprisingly, but it still did some damage  that was for sure.


    "D-Damn that hurt," he muttered, clutching the spot where I hit him in pain.


    I smirked and didn''t let him catch a break, immediately moving in once more with my two Sai.


    He quickly rposed himself and braced for battle.


    But this time, I was going for something different.


    It was a gamble, but it was also my ultimate move. My killer one that I have been practicing ever since I first picked up the Sai, back on Earth.


    I''ve used this against my sparring opponents multiple times. Not once has it failed. And it will not fail me this time either.


    Right before our des shed, I suddenly tossed one of my Sai high up into the air, then met his sword with the other one. With my now-free hand, I grabbed his arm that held the sword and sank a hard kick into his stomach once more, right where I had already hit him once.


    He was surprised by my sudden motion, distracted by the Sai soaring through the air, so it allowed me to get an opening andnd that devastating kick.


    Since I was holding his arm, it prevented him from being sent flying backward like he did the first time, and instead merely staggered him. He was now leftpletely disarmed and vulnerable.


    Then, I let go of his arm and caught my Sai that fell from the air, before plunging it straight through his che-


    "!"


    Somehow, the Sai slipped out of my hand as I caught it.


    Ling Tian Yu did not miss this opportunity and immediately punched me with his free arm, right in the gut.


    "Ngh-!" I fell backwards from the force, painfully hitting the stage''s floor. My remaining Sai flew out of my hand as well from the impact.


    "Ah" I gasped, quickly attempting to get to my feet. But Ling Tian Yu did not let me.


    He immediately rushed over and stepped on my stomach, driving his heel into my abdomen.


    "K-Kah" I groaned in agony, trying desperately to lift his foot off but to no avail.


    He wore a triumphant, perhaps slightly psychopathic, smile on his face.


    "Hehehe you lost. I''m better. I''m stronger!"


    Saying this, he lifted his sword. As my vision slowly began to get hazy and eyelids heavy, he brought it down with all of his might.


    "K-Kaze-kun I''m sorry"


    *****


    (Kaze''s Perspective)


    "The winner is Ling Tian Yu!"


    I clenched my fist tightly, hard enough to draw blood.


    Don''t lose it, Kaze DON''T LOSE IT!


    My eyes burned with dark rage and murderous intent as I stared at the stage, where Ling Tian Yu had just stabbed his sword straight through Hina-nee''s chest. Heughed and put his sword back in its sheath, before strolling off the stage happily.


    I didn''t feel sad about the death of Hina-nee. No the emotion known as sadness had already been removed from my heart. The hormones that would''ve originally went into being sad have now all converted into one emotion and one alone:


    Hatred.


    Fury, amplified thousandfold.


    " I''m going to kill him," I muttered under my breath.


    He shall be in.


    He shall pay.


    He shall be forever lost in the dark corners of time, never to be remembered.


    I would already kill someone if theyid a hand on a single strand of Hina-nee''s hair. But this bastard he actually dared to kill her. He dared to murder my sister, right before my very eyes.


    I will ughter him so harshly that not even his soul will remain. I will put him through torture, through all kinds of pain. It''s really a shame that he isn''t a yer otherwise, I could''ve killed him over and over again until I was satisfied.


    He only has one life  and I intend to torment it to the fullest, before ending it for good.


    If you harm or insult me, I would simply turn you into my pawns and use you as a sacrifice.


    But if you dare toy a hand on the people I care about I will put you through eternal suffering, never to see the light of day ever again.


    Prepare yourself, Ling Tian Yu. By the time I''m done with you, you''ll be grateful when I finally end that pitiful life of yours.


    Too bad I lost the emotion of pity too.


    "K-Kaze, calm down," Furuwa said, startled to see this side of me. "Sakura-senpai will respawn anyway-"


    "Shut up."


    I broke away from the crowd and began heading in the same direction Ling Tian Yu had, dead set on murdering him and carving him into tiny pieces to feed to the wolves.


    But a hand grabbed my arm. To my surprise, it was not Furuwa, but Nadeshiko.


    "Not now, Kaze~" she shook her head. "You''ll be facing him in the finals do it then. It won''t be long."


    I red her in the eyes, as if threatening to kill her as well, but she did not back down. In her eyes was a fierce determination that did not match her usual airy and carefree nature. It didn''t fit her bloodthirsty and maniacal personality when killing, either.


    Perhaps this was her true personality? Her personality beyond the abuse and loneliness she''s suffered all her life?


    Well that didn''t matter.


    In that moment, I only had one goal:


    Expunging Ling Tian Yu from this world, forever.

 Chapter 121: The Finals

    Chapter 121: The Finals


    The mayor announced that the finals would begin in an hour or so to let Ling Tian Yu catch a break, so I returned to the inn west stayed at. That would be Hina-nee''s spawnpoint, after all. The other three girls followed me.


    When I arrived, I immediately unlocked the door and went in. There, Hina-nee sat in bed, ncing down at her own hands.


    "Hina-nee"


    "Kaze-kun?" she slowly turned her head towards me.


    I quickly rushed over and pulled her into an embrace. She returned the hug, gripping me tightly as she began sobbing.


    "Kaze-kun I''m sorry I don''t know how my weapon just slipped out of my hand"


    "It''s the work of that bastard''s luck," I muttered in reply. "Don''t worry though he''ll be fighting me next  thest opponent he will ever face."


    "E-Eh? You''re"


    "Yes, I''m going to kill him," I said quietly, devoid of all emotion. Hina-nee had been crying from our reunion, but I did not. I could not feel sadness anymore, after all.


    "Sakura-senpai, you have to stop him," Furuwa interjected determinedly. "Killing is fine, but Kaze intends to torture him."


    "Wha-" Hina-nee turned back and stared into my eyes, as if uncertain if what Furuwa said was true.


    "He harmed my family," I replied in anguish. "He has to pay."


    "Well, it''s not like you''ll get to torture him even if you want to~" Nadeshiko whistled. "Those annoying judges and the old mayor will stop you before you go too far."


    I clenched my fists. "Even so I have my methods."


    Saying this, I left the inn, a new n in mind.


    *****


    "What are you going to do?" Nadeshiko asked, following closely behind me with a evil grin on her face. The other three seemed to have stayed in the room, since Hina-nee needed to recover.


    "It''s not any of your concern," I replied coldly, picking up my pace.


    "Now, now c''mon, tell me~ I want to learn your methods, heehee~"


    I shot her beaming smile a sideways nce, then gave up on trying to throw her off and just continued walking.


    She licked her lips in satisfaction. "Hehe, thank you, Master~"


    We soon arrived at the ce I was looking for  arge pill store.


    "The Ascentian Alchemist Association, Qilian Branch," Nadeshiko read aloud the sign disyed above the entrance. "Oh, wait, don''t tell me."


    She shot me a knowing smirk which I did not bother responding to, and instead just strode in the building.


    This was a ce I found out about through my minimap. It was near the center of the city, but I never really paid much attention to it before. It was only until after I learned about pills that I thought about this strategy. Luckily, right now, there weren''t a lot of other people here, so we didn''t have to wait too long.


    "Wee to the AAA. What can we do for you today?" a receptionist asked as I walked up to her.


    "I want a pill refined," I replied calmly.


    "Very well. What is the name of the pill, so we can know what grade alchemist is needed for this job?"


    "I don''t care about the specifics. I just want any pill that can be used for torture."


    The receptionist''s eyes widened. "This"


    "Oh? I heard something interesting here," an old man suddenly teleported beside us.


    Instinctively, I brought out Dokujin and adapted abat stance.


    "G-Grandmaster Song!" the receptionist immediately bowed and yelped in fear.


    I narrowed my eyes. "Grandmaster Song?"


    The old manughed and waved off the receptionist''s greeting, then set his gaze on me.


    "Boy, you''re quick but not quick enough. You took 0.78 seconds to get out your weapon and defend. I could have killed you in 0.1."


    " What''s your point? I just came here to get a pill refined. Not to get killed."


    "Yes, yes, I know. You wanted a pill for torture, huh?" he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Y''know, the association doesn''t usually take requests like this."


    "There''s a ''but''ing~" Nadeshiko giggled from beside me.


    "Heh. You''re sharp, girl. Indeed, I can make an exception this time but on one condition."


    I frowned. "What''s the condition?"


    He smiled and looked around. "This isn''t the ce to talk. Follow me."


    After exchanging nces with Nadeshiko, we decided to just do as told and see where this path led.


    *****


    The old man  Grandmaster Song  led us upstairs. As we walked on the stairs, I noticed many gazes being directed my way, some of curiosity, some of suspicion. I didn''t know why, but perhaps going upstairs was abnormal? Either way, it didn''t matter to me.


    We were then brought to an office of some kind. The door had a metal que on it that read ''Song Qing Long''.


    "Please,e in," the man said, weing us inside.


    Weplied, seeing as how we already came this far. Might as well see the whole thing through.


    Grandmaster Song closed the door behind us and walked over to his seat, across therge table from us. He then rested his elbows on the desk and put his hands together,cing his fingers, before finally setting his chin on top of them to form a serious, thoughtful pose.


    "Now then regarding our deal. If it''s a torture pill you need, I have just the thing for you. But as I said earlier, there is a condition."


    "What is it?" I asked cautiously, narrowing my eyes.


    "It''s nothing too difficult. I just want you to report back to me what happened after using the pill."


    " You mean, you want to use this opportunity as an experiment?"


    He smiled, nodding slowly. "You''re quick on the uptake. I like that. Pill-inventing is not easy  tests on real subjects are the most efficient method of perfecting a pill."


    "Are there no already-invented pills made for torture?"


    "Of course there are," the manughed. "It''s just the AAA does not sell them. That is, unless you are a VIP here, which is a title that brings many other benefits in addition to this here in the association."


    I raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Is that so? Then I''ll add on to our deal a bit. In addition to the pill, I want to be a VIP here."


    " You''re quite the greedy brat, aren''t ya?"


    I shrugged. "Don''t try and fool me. You purposely brought that up so I would ask this. I don''t know why, but you seem to want me to be a VIP here."


    Grandmaster Song fell silent for a brief moment, then began chuckling darkly.


    "Heh you''re the second person ever to havepletely seen through my schemes."


    "I would ask ''who''s the first'', but to be honest, I really don''t care," I snorted. "Just tell me, do you ept my conditions?"


    He smiled at me. "You''ve got yourself a deal, young man."


    *****


    I strode out of the Ascentian Alchemist Association, Qilian Branch, and headed off in the direction of the tournament. Nadeshiko followed.


    There were roughly 15 minutes left before the finals between Ling Tian Yu and I began. I had sessfully acquired my torture instrument, the Exile''s Cursing Pill, as Grandmaster Song named it. I ended up having to pay him around 1,000 gold still, but overall, this was a sweet deal for me.


    ording to him, this pill was an High-Grade one, so its market cost would''ve been many times higher than what I had to pay today. I also earned myself a VIP spot in the association, somehow, so that was a side benefit as well.


    I didn''t know why Grandmaster Song wanted to make me a VIP by bringing that up and baiting me into asking for it, but when I asked, he didn''t bother answering anyway.


    Soon, the three girls who had stayed behind in the inn came over as well. Hina-nee was now fully recovered, but had a look of worry on her face. Furuwa simrly appeared ufortable, not meeting my gaze. Aisa, however, remained as nonchnt as ever.


    "Kaze-kun" Hina-nee began, as if wanting to say something, but before she could, I cut her off.


    "Don''t worry about it, Hina-nee. You can''t stop me. Even if you don''t want me to torture him, I''ll do it anyway. Call me disobedient, call me feral. But I will not let him get away with killing you."


    "" Hina-nee bit her lip, unsure of what to say anymore.


    "Kaze I won''t try to stop you. But I just want to ask you one thing: do you really want to do this?" Furuwa asked, staring into my cold, lifeless eyes. "Once you go through with this there''s no turning back for you. You won''t just be a murderer anymore. You''ll be a true monster."


    "I''ve already killed someone before. I can do it again."


    "Killing is not the same as torturing someone to death" Hina-nee gritted her teeth tightly. "Kaze-kun, I know you''re doing this for me. Because of that I''ll follow you wherever you go, whatever you do. If this is your choice, then so be it. I''ll adapt my own personality to fit yours. But just keep in mind we can never go back to our old selves. Not after this."


    " I''m aware. Back when I made my first human kill, that fact was already established," I replied calmly. "They say you can''t drive out darkness with more darkness, but sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. Ling Tian Yu murdered you. I will do the same back to him, thousandfold. And since I can''t kill him 1,000 times I''ll have to make up the pain with torture instead."


    Hina-nee, to my surprise, smiled sadly. "I see. So that''s your choice."


    "I won''t me you if you choose to see me as a monster from now on."


    However, she quickly shook her head and hugged me gently.


    "Didn''t I say already? I''ll follow you, no matter what you do. If you choose to be a monster then I''ll be one too."

 Chapter 122: Eternal Torture

    Chapter 122: Eternal Torture


    "I wee everyone back to the finals of the Annual Qilian Regional Competition!" Zhen Yuhan announced. "We only have two contestants left in the running  Ling Tian Yu and Igarashi Kaze! Who will be the champion? Pleasee onto the stage!"


    Without any hesitation, I brushed past the crowd and walked up onto the stage. Ling Tian Yu was already waiting there.


    "Oh, what''s with the hate in those eyes?" he asked, seemingly genuinely confused. "Did I do something to you before?"


    Ignoring him, I turned to the mayor. "Mayor Zhen, I have a question."


    "Thiste in thepetition? Well, so be it. Go ahead."


    "Regarding contestants who are killed what happens to their spot?"


    "Are you talking about Sakura Hina? Worry not, her spot will not be given to anyone else. This means that only three contestants will be be guaranteed a spot  you, Ling Tian Yu, and Chiaki Furuwa."


    "Oh? But what if she''s still alive?"


    "As in revived?" the mayor fell into thought. "Indeed, that is possible with certain artifacts and arts, but only few people are in possession of such powers. Of course, if they do end up getting revived, naturally, the spot will be theirs."


    So the word of ''yers'' still has not gotten out yet in the world. Interesting.


    "I see. In that case, I thought I should let you know  Sakura Hina is still alive."


    At this, Ling Tian Yu''s eyes widened. "That girl I killed earlier? She got revived, this quick?"


    I snorted. "She got resurrected right after you killed her."


    "Wha"


    "I do indeed see her in the audience. I would like to ask how she was revived and the identity of the master who aplished this act, but I won''t, since we shall begin the battle." the mayor said. "Is that all?"


    "That''s all," I replied.


    "Very well. Then, without further ado I will begin the countdown. Both contestants, prepare yourselves."


    I took out Dokujin and adopted mybat stance, ready to get this fight started. Ling Tian Yu simrly drew his broadsword, ready to battle.


    "3, 2, 1-"


    I tightened my grip and in my mind, pre-cast an art.


    "-Go!"


    ''Vanishing Clouds.''


    My dash was instant  I had started the process in the middle of the countdown, so there was no activation dy for the skill.


    Ling Tian Yu''s eyes widened as I closed in on him immediately, but it was already toote. The battle was over right after it began.


    I slit open his throat as blood spewed out of the wound, but unfortunately, it wasn''t enough to get the kill, only draw blood.


    Unfortunately for him, however, I wasn''t using just any dagger. I was using Dokujin, powered by the wrath of Corruption.


    I immediately dashed back away as he tried to hit me back with his broadsword. It was far too easy, given the over-100 gap in our AGI stats.


    Then, I snapped my fingers.


    Immediately, Ling Tian Yu''s body knelt down on the stage, frozen and agonized.


    I stepped forward and kicked him across the face right as I released my control on him momentarily, causing him to fall over to the ground. I immediately regained control of his body once more.


    "You had such a smug look on your face when you killed my sister where is that look now?" I spat on his face, my eyes filled with dark hatred.


    "N-No not today" he suddenly whispered, voice quivering as if he was cold. " NOT HERE!"


    My eyes widened. "Wha-"


    "BOOK OF FORTUNE, COME!"


    Instinctively, I took a couple of steps away from him. His body began glowing golden as he slowly stood back up.


    Corruption it''s not working?!


    As he broke the chains of captivity I ced on him, his whole body illuminating a grand radiance, he rose his sword and cut down towards me at an astonishing speed.


    I quickly dodged backwards, just barely managing to avoid it.


    This guy he just boosted his own speed by about 100, at the very least.


    Ling Tian Yu continued to chase me down as the tide of battle slowly shifted in his favor. I couldn''t even get close to him  the only thing I could do was keep running.


    ''Vanishing Steps.''


    Taking a gamble and turning invisible, I tried sneaking around behind him, but his golden eyes stared straight at me as I attempted tounch a sneak attack.


    "Tch"


    I quickly backed off, once again just barely managing to avoid getting cleaved in half by his now-glowing sword as well. As things were not looking good for me, I began thinking of desperate measures.


    Is there really no choice but to use that?


    There was no time to hesitate.


    I suddenly jumped up into the air, as high as I could, right as Ling Tian Yu cut the floor beneath me. And there, I let out my most devastating attack yet.


    Recalling the movements shown in the book Ming Hong hadpiled, I mimicked them. I crossed my two arms in an X-shape, making my hands into finger-gun gestures, then raised my right arm high up into the air as I said the art''s name.


    "Advanced Umbromancy Art  The Dragon''s Shadow."


    As I cut the air in front of me, bringing my arm back down, a dark, ck tornado suddenly appeared and enveloped Ling Tian Yu inside. It was enormous, piercing the heavens, and nearly wide enough to reach the audience as well. I felt myself levitating in the air  another one of the art''s side effects.


    Then, to both the audience''s astonishment and my own, a soaring ck dragon suddenly appeared in the sky, hovering around the tornado. It flew in and out of the clouds, its massive body blocking the sunlight and darkening us all with its enormous shadow.


    "W-What is that thing?!" an audience member cried out in fear.


    "I don''t know! S-Should we run?!" another suggested.


    "Amazing" I muttered, observing this phenomenal power in wonder.


    Then, the dragon suddenly coiled itself right above the tornado, before suddenly diving downwards, jaw opened wide. The wind generated by its immense speed nearly knocked me out of the air, but I managed to regain my bnce and continue spectating the scene.


    "You''re done for now, Ling Tian Yu even god himself won''t be able to save you here, much less your bullshit luck."


    But then, right before my immensely powerful attack was able to hit my target, it vanished.


    The dragon, the tornado  it all disappeared to nothing, revealing a terrified and slightly confused Ling Tian Yu underneath.


    As for me, I fell to the ground, out of energy.


    "Ngh this feeling" I gasped, panting and groaning in pain. My muscles felt weak and my body heavy, as if I had came down with a fever.


    The sickness came so suddenly, I had no idea what was even going on.


    Ling Tian Yu, however, did.


    "Ha HAHAHAHA!" heughed like a psycho as he slowly got back up from the floor. His golden glow had worn out by now, rendering him back to his usual self. "You ran out of Essence! It seems the goddess of luck is truly on my side!"


    "What Essence?" I murmured faintly, struggling to even stay conscious, much less move. Dokujiny a short distance away, but far out of reach.


    In the corner of my hazy vision, I could see Ling Tian Yu pick up his weapon and slowly make his way over to me.


    No move move, Kaze!


    But I couldn''t. My entire body was immobilized, as if someone had drained the living life out of it.


    Ling Tian Yu stepped right in front of me, then raised his sword high up into the air. It was the exact same scene as when he killed Hina-nee. And now, I would die by his hands, just an hourter, in the exact same way.


    I closed my eyes and epted my death.


    But I wasn''t done I have infinite lives I''lle at you, over and over again unt-


    "Kaze-kun! You can''t die!" a voice yelled, snapping me back to reality.


    That''s right that''s right I can''t go on with that kind of mindset I have to treat every single life I had as my only one, even if I could respawn infinitely.


    Only like this could I truly call myself a man.


    "Go to hell, just like your cute sister," Ling Tian Yu sneered, and brought down his sword.


    My eyes snapped back open as I pushed every single ounce of strength I had left into my left hand.


    I raised it up, meeting his de directly.


    "Wha-?!" his eyes widened as his de sank into my fragile skin, piercing directly through my palm and out the other side. I yelled in agony and rage, but the pain helped me wake up. The pain worked as a stimnt, re-energizing my body with a temporary rush of adrenaline.


    "Ugh. AGHHHH!"


    I pushed upwards with all my might, sliding my impaled hand down the de of his sword until I atst arrived at the hilt. Then, gritting my teeth in pain, I wrapped my palm around the weapon and tore it from him. With my other, I immediately grabbed his throat, pushing him to the ground and pinning him down as I choked him as hard as I could.


    "SAY THAT AGAIN, YOU BASTARD!" I yelled in his face, which was red from suffocation. "I DARE YOU. SAY IT AGAIN!"


    His throat made some gurgling noises as his disgusting saliva spilled out of his mouth and onto my hand, but I didn''t care. I continued choking him, tightening my grip even further.


    Then, with my left hand, still with a massive sword impaled in it, I reached for my pocket and took out a single pill.


    I stuffed the hilt of the sword into his mouth, the pill along with it. Then, I let go of his throat with my other hand briefly, before knocking his chin up and forcing him to swallow it.


    Immediately, his body began spasming, shaking violently. I quickly got off of him and backed away a few meters, watching on as he suffered.


    His skin became bloody red, the veins and arteries beneath bulging. Slowly, his mass began growing bigger and bigger, white foam emitting from his mouth, until atst, his entire body imploded in a gruesome shower of blood and organs.


    I panted heavily as I narrowed my eyes in agony and pulled his bloodstained sword out of my hand, throwing it to the floor near therge puddle of red liquid and human organs once known as Ling Tian Yu. A hologram appeared in front of my face, but I was in far too much pain to read it properly.


    Under the gazes of hundreds, I slowly lumbered off the stage, my right hand clutching my left arm in pain, while leaving behind a trail of blood dripping from my mutted hand.

 Chapter 123: Curtains Close

    Chapter 123: Curtains Close


    I walked past the audience, ignoring their looks of terror. Hina-nee immediately ran up to me and clutched my left arm, where my hand had been impaled by a sword.


    "Kaze-kun" she had tears in her eyes as she looked at my wound, still dripping fresh blood.


    She shut her eyes tight, unable to bear the scene, and quickly tore off a portion of her clothing to use as a temporary bandage for my injury. She wrapped it around my hand, covering up the massive gash and stopping the bleeding for now.


    Thank goodness she did this, since I was on the verge of passing out. This was both because of this blood loss and the fact that my adrenaline rush was running out.


    As if on cue, I felt my eyelids start to get heavy as my legs became weak, causing me to fall forward against my own volition.


    "Kaze-kun!"


    "Kaze!"


    Hina-nee and Furuwa immediately stepped in, supporting me on either side. By this point, I was truly unable to keep conscious any longer, so I just closed my eyes and let the two take me wherever they wanted.


    *****


    When I opened my eyes again, I found the room dark and quiet. Beside me, I could feel warmth  the warmth of a human body. I didn''t even need to turn my head to know who it was  the calming, flower-like fragrance was enough.


    She  Hina-nee  held me in a tight embrace, wrapping her body around my own. Thankfully, she didn''t seem to bepletely naked, though still quite borderline. I slowly shifted my body to face her, careful not to wake her up. Then, I gently patted her head with my right, non-injured hand, subconsciously smiling as I did so.


    With this, I confirmed that the decision I made today was the right one.


    No one will get away with harming this kind, caring and perhaps sometimes a bit annoying sister of mine. No one.


    *****


    - The Next Morning -


    I woke up to find Hina-nee lying on top of me. Her ample breasts pressed down gently on my body, stimting my morning rise of iron.


    Strangely, despite how brutally I murdered Ling Tian Yu yesterday, I didn''t particrly feel any regret or pity after the fact. I lost my emotion of pity, but regret? That was a different matter. Still, he got what he deserved. To that, I was fully convinced. I did not feel any form of disgust or frustration with myself like I did when I made my first human kill on that woman who controlled the Phantoms a while ago.


    Weird, isn''t it? The first kill is always the hardest one. But once you start, the second, the third, and all the other murders youmit after that start to feel more and more natural, less and less nerve-wracking. That''s why so many killers end up bing serial ones.


    I wasn''t nning on bing a serial killer who took lives for fun, like Nadeshiko, but I will do what I have to do.


    "Mm mngh Kaze-kun?" Hina-nee murmured, opening one eye as she stared up at me. The expression was adorable, and I couldn''t help but wrap my arms around her soft body.


    At least, I tried to.


    My left arm wouldn''t budge. Well, it would, but the pain was insane. I eventually just settled on cuddling with her using my right arm only, to which she giggled happily and buried her face in my chest.


    Wait a minute I''m in fresh clothes right now. Last night, I had just woke up briefly before going back to sleep without even realizing this fact, but now, with a clear head, I finally noticed.


    Who helped me shower and change? "Don''t tell me


    "Hina-nee," I said quietly, ncing down into her eyes.


    "Hm?"


    " Did you help me shower and stuffst night, while I was unconscious?"


    "Hehe~ yep," she replied, hugging me tighter. "Just like old times, I took a bath with you together and cleaned you up!"


    "" I didn''t respond. How was I supposed to respond to that, anyway?


    Oh man I shouldn''t have even asked.


    "A-Ahem, anyway, can you get off of me now? We should get ready for the day."


    "Eh? But you''re still injured, no?"


    "Yeah, but I made a deal with someone  one I intend to uphold. Besides, it''s not like a wounded hand will prevent me from walking and talking."


    "Hm if you say so" she pouted, pursing her lips. "But! I''ming with you."


    I sighed. "Fine, whatever."


    I was nning on letting her in on the whole matter with AAA anyway, so this was as good an opportunity as any.


    After we took our showers (separately) and brushed our teeth, we prepared to head out.


    *****


    Furuwa, Aisa, and  of course  Nadeshiko joined us in this short journey to the AAA branch here in Qilian. I had quite the line-up of beauties following me, which attracted plenty of weird nces, but they knew who we were from watching the tournament, so their gazes were more of terror and worship than jealousy and skepticism.


    The receptionist who greeted me yesterday immediately tensed up after seeing me again, possibly because she heard about the events of the finals and what happened to Ling Tian Yu. I needed to confirm whether or not she knew, however, due to a certain reason. So, I decided to just line up for that exact same receptionist, even though that meant we would have to wait.


    I could''ve just used my jade token here, but I wanted to observe the receptionist for a bit. Turns out, my prediction was right on the money.


    The receptionist kept stealing nces at me awkwardly, but every time I met her gaze, she would quickly look away, pretending as if she hadn''t been looking at me in difort.


    When it was finally our turn, I boldly walked up to the receptionist and, in the most demanding tone I could muster, asked to see Grandmaster Song.


    "Y-Yes!" she yelped nervously, not daring to look me in the eyes. I smiled, having received my answer.


    This girl had definitely watched the tournament herself or at least heard stories of what happened. She knew I participated, and she knew what I did to Ling Tian Yu. That''s why she was so scared right now.


    I decided to stop teasing her, however, as Grandmaster Song arrived.


    "Thank you," I replied to her, returning to my normal, polite voice.


    "E-Eh?" she was startled at my sudden change, but couldn''t exactly question as she quickly bowed in the presence of her superior. "W-Wee, Grandmaster Song!"


    "Mm my guest is here. And with a few more friends this time, it seems," the old man stroked his beard, smiling wryly upon seeing me. Then, turning around, he beckoned. "Come, follow me."


    We began heading for the second floor once more via the stairs. It seemed Grandmaster Song was quite the influential and well-respected figure here in this branch of the AAA, seeing as how everyone made way for him as he passed and some even bowed down, greeting him with great reverence.


    Those guys were naturally the same people who eyed us with suspicion, but they couldn''t really ask in the presence of the Grandmaster.


    When we entered the familiar office of Song Qing Long, he told us to sit down. Weplied as he did the same  there were six chairs in total, just enough to fit all of us.


    "So. Tell me about the results of your experiment," he said, getting straight to the point.


    "What experiment?" Furuwa narrowed her eyes and asked.


    "Hm perhaps it is better for your friend here to exin it to you himself," Grandmaster Song chuckled and passed the baton of the conversation over to me.


    I sighed, slightly annoyed. "Okay, so. Basically"


    I retold her and Hina-nee the story of how I formed my deal with this powerful character, word by word.


    "I see but may I ask, why are you inventing torture pills?" Furuwa asked, ring at the Grandmaster.


    "An alchemist''s way is strange. They will refine whatever kind of pill they feel like refining, when not provided with a job. It just so turns out I enjoy making torture pills, just as you enjoy reading and ying guitar?"


    Furuwa''s eyes widened. "What how did you-"


    "Ahaha, it''s a soul art, my friend. If you like, I can teach you it of course, there will be conditions."


    "We can discuss thatter," I cut in. "Let''s keep this conversation on track here."


    "Right. So, tell me about the results of the pill I gave you. Was it good? Bad?"


    "It worked well," I replied briskly. "A little too well, in fact. I wasn''t the one experiencing the pain, so I can''t urately tell you just how much torture it inflicted on its target, but it definitely was no small amount. His whole body imploded after consuming the pill, leaving behind a pile of disgusting organs surrounded by arge pool of blood."


    "I see. So it worked as intended."


    "That was as intended?" Furuwa bit her lip, slightly ufortable.


    "I''m guessing the pill first deconstructs bones, then somehow superheats the blood to make it boil within its victim''s body?" Hina-nee murmured thoughtfully.


    "Oh, not bad, girl. You may have a knack for alchemy. What''s your name?"


    "Sakura Hina," Hina-nee replied. "You can call me Sakura."


    "Well then, Sakura" Song Qing Long smirked deviously. "Would you be interested in bing my disciple?"

 Chapter 124: Whos the Real Pawn Here?

    Chapter 124: Who''s the Real Pawn Here?


    "Would you be interested in bing my disciple?"


    Hina-nee blinked. "Come again?"


    "You were able to figure out the inner workings of a pill based on just the outside effects," Song Qing Long exined. "It didn''t just seem like a baseless assumption, either. I must say, you appear to have talent for alchemy."


    "Hm I''m ttered, but I''ll be entering the Blessing Nature sect soon. I don''t think I will be able to be your disciple"


    "Ah that is truly unfortunate," he sighed. "However I do have a friend within that sect. She is an alchemist of an even higher caliber than me. She has never taken in a disciple before due to her extremely high standards, but perhaps you can be the first?"


    Met with his mysterious smile, Hina-nee was unsure of what to do and nced at me for help.


    I nodded briefly in reply, signaling that she should ept his offer.


    "I see in that case, I''ll do my best to be her disciple," Hina-nee replied after seeing my decision.


    "Heh. I''ll let her know."


    "Ah if I may ask, what is her name, to be an alchemist of even higher caliber than you are, Grandmaster Song?"


    "Xue Liao," he replied. I didn''t miss the reminiscent and slightly sad look in his eyes.


    "I understand. I''ll look for Grandmaster Xue once I enter the sect," Hina-nee nodded firmly in determination.


    "Good. Now, with this, our deal isplete," Grandmaster Song said, taking out a gold token of some sort and handing it to me. "Here. This is the VIP Token of the Ascentian Alchemist Association. Your name was Igarashi Kaze, correct?"


    He must''ve read me using that soul art of his damn.


    I nodded, seeing no reason to deny.


    "Alright. Your name has been carved on the back of this token and enchanted for security, so no one can take this and impersonate you."


    Couldn''t they just take this token and im they were Igarashi Kaze though? Ah, whatever. I assumed the ''enchantment'' probably protected against that, somehow.


    "Thank you," I said, epting the token gratefully.


    "We had a deal. All I did was uphold my part. Now if there is nothing else, I will lead you out."


    I turned to Hina-nee with a meaningful look in my eyes. Realizing what I wanted to do without any words, she nodded in reply and stood up.


    "We''ll wait outside."


    "Huh?" Furuwa raised an eyebrow, confused, but was pried away from the table by Hina-nee. Nadeshiko and Aisa both understood what was going on, so they headed out together with the other two without any trouble.


    Once the door was shut tight and only Grandmaster Song and I remained in the room, I spoke.


    "We''re alone. You can exin your motives to me now, can''t you?"


    "Whatever could you mean?" he smiled wryly, teasing me.


    "Cut the bullshit," I replied harshly. I felt no warmth towards this man whatsoever, despite him doing me a favor. The reason for this was he tried to manipte me.


    "So you realized?" he chuckled.


    "It may have worked against someone else, but not me."


    Of course I had realized.


    Baiting me into bing a VIP asking Hina-nee to be her disciple hell, even our first ''coincidental'' meeting all of that was in order to turn me into one of his soldiers.


    Unfortunately for him, I was no pawn. I was the king. He would do well to remember that.


    "Why are you trying to use me?" I asked, narrowing my eyes. "I mean, why me, of all people?"


    " Before that, how did you find out?"


    I scoffed. "This whole deal was a farce. Asking me to report back to you on what happened? Please. You can simply watch the tournament yourself, or ask someone else who did. I''m sure a person in your position would have plenty of eyes and ears especially given how maniptive you are."


    "Oh, but you are the same, no? On the surface, you are calm, easy-going, and sometimes even friendly. But I can see your true nature with my soul art. It tells me you''re a devil deep down, willing to sacrifice anyone to achieve your own goals."


    "That''s not true. There''s one person I would never use as a pawn."


    "Ah, yes. Sakura Hina, was it? Interesting."


    "But speaking of that soul art I want you to teach it to me."


    "Oh? And why would I do that?


    ''Vanishing Clouds.''


    In an instant, I appeared right beside him. He flinched, but quickly regained hisposure.


    I leaned in and whispered by his ear.


    "If you teach me the art I''ll be your pawn."


    The manughed. "Can a pawn who knows he is one still be called a pawn at all? And besides how am I supposed to trust you?"


    "Hey what''s your rtionship with Grandmaster Xue?" I asked suddenly.


    As he froze in shock, I smiled darkly and patted his shoulder a few times.


    "It''s certainly more than just a ''friend''. Whatever it is, it''s something you want to keep hidden, right? I wonder what would happen if I start spreading rumors, even if they weren''t true?"


    His eyes widened as he shot up from his chair and grabbed the cor of my shirt, ring furiously into my emotionless eyes. I didn''t bother dodging.


    "You wouldn''t dare!"


    "Oh, but would I?" I smirked smugly, as if mocking his anger.


    He tightened his fists, breathing heavily.


    "In that case I will kill you right here and now."


    "Ah, ah, ah, wrong move," I said,ughing softly. "You definitely saw the tournament, no? Asking me to report back to you was just testing if I was an honest person. But in that case surely you know how my sister was revived?"


    Back when I asked the mayor about revived contestants, this had been the other reason. I had foresaw this all. I had nned this all. Back then, I already knew this man''s true intentions.


    "Someone powerful by me knows resurrection arts. I would advise against using any more threats because even death won''t be able to stop me."


    "!" Grandmaster Song''s body began shaking in fury and helplessness.


    Of course, what I said was a lie. The truth was, all yers had infinite lives. But he didn''t need to know that bit.


    "You should''ve epted the offer the first time," I sighed. "I was truly considering being nice to you back then. But now, after that threat, even after you teach me the art, I won''t give you anything in return. Too bad."


    "Tch" he let go of my cor atst and sat back down in his chair. "Fine. I admit I lost this time. You want the soul art, correct?"


    He opened his palm. Suddenly, a scroll appeared, hovering above it and glowing orange. The scroll fell into his hand shortly after, and he tossed it over to me.


    "Here."


    I caught it with ease, opening it up and reading through. Within it was the name of the art, ''Soul Search'', what it did, and the directions on how to use it.


    "Hm I see, I see" I murmured as I skimmed over the text and diagrams. "This will be useful. Thanks."


    " You''re very wee. Now, don''t evere to me again."


    "Sorry, but I''m afraid if I ever need aplex pill refined, I''ll still be counting on you," Iughed as I stood up, dropping the scroll into my inventory.


    "You!" he gritted his teeth and red at me as I walked towards the door.


    cing my hand on the handle and ncing back at him onest time, I smirked.


    "I don''t let go of my pawns that easily, Grandmaster Song."


    As I left, shutting the door behind me, I could hear him say one final sentence.


    "Igarashi Kaze you''re a monster."


    *****


    After that, we headed directly for a restaurant to grab some breakfast.


    "Kaze-kun, how did you manage to get your hands on the soul art?" Hina-nee asked after I told them I would teach her how to use it. "Don''t tell me you epted whatever condition he proposed?!"


    I chuckled. "Nah. Don''t worry about it."


    The other girls looked at me with skepticism, with the exception of Nadeshiko, who only looked impressed.


    Did she notice Grandmaster Song''s weak spot too?


    Man she''s dangerous. I''m only teaching Hina-nee this Soul Search art, since if Nadeshiko were to learn it there was no telling what she would do.


    I decided to check the Quest tab on my System since I hadn''t been there in a while and saw that there was a single quest under the ''Tournaments'' section.


    [Annual Qilian Regional Competition (rec. lvl: 30)]


    [Participate in the tournament.]


    I then clicked on the arrow beside the name, opening up a drop-down list that disyed all the steps to the quest.


    [ - Make it past the preliminaries.]


    [ - Enter the top eight.]


    [ - Enter the top four.]


    [ - Win the semifinals.]


    [ - Win the finals.]


    [X - Participate in the closing ceremony. Countdown: 00:59:57]


    So, we had a little under an hour left before the ceremony began. That was more than enough time to finish eating.

 Chapter 125: Closing Ceremony

    Chapter 125: Closing Ceremony


    "By the way, Aisa," I said as we finished up eating.


    "What?" she turned to me, raising an eyebrow.


    "This tournament you have it set as a main quest, correct?"


    She nodded. "Yes. What of it?"


    "What if a yer fails to enter the sect, somehow?" I asked. "I mean, I''ve faced other yers, even in the preliminaries, and they were outright eliminated after losing to me. What happens to them?"


    "A different questline is triggered if that happens. Although, it really is not too important to you, is it?"


    I shrugged. "Sure. I was just curious."


    "Naturally, this secondary questline is inferior. It is a lot more boring and takes longer to get stronger. Count yourself lucky, human. Also, if you were wondering, the probability of Nadeshiko Nakano and that demon making it into the sect as well are above 99%. In other words, your actions from behind the scenes were sessful."


    "Hm~?" Nadeshiko turned and looked at me, licking her lips seductively. "Hehehe~ Kaze, you purposely wanted me to join the sect as well~? Aww, how cute"


    "Nice going Aisa, revealing my ''behind-the-scenes'' actions," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.


    "The fights are over anyway. Why do they still need to be kept secret?" Aisa asked, as if confused by my illogical emotions.


    "You wouldn''t understand,puter," I chuckled.


    Some people just didn''t want to draw attention to themselves, whenever possible. I was one of those people.


    "Hehe Kaze-kun''s always been like that," Hina-nee giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. "Even if he does something sweet for someone, he won''t ever tell the person it was him who did it unless it was necessary."


    "The only one I''ve ever done that for is you, Hina-nee"


    "That''s true, heehee."


    "" Furuwa remained silent, choosing to not participate in the conversation. She had a somewhat distant look in her eyes, as if there was something deep down troubling her.


    I pretended not to notice this, however, and instead called the waitress over, preparing to pay the bill and leave.


    *****


    8:45 AM. 15 minutes left until the closing ceremony for the tournament began.


    The four girls and I headed for the center of the city, where it would be taking ce. The three judges from the Blessing Nature sect were already there, along with the mayor. A lot of the audience had gathered as well, waiting in anticipation for the finale of the tournament.


    While we waited, I decided to ask Aisa some more questions. This was as good an opportunity as any, since everyone''s attention was focused on the stage and henceforth couldn''t bother trying to eavesdrop on us.


    "Aisa."


    "What, human?"


    "It''s about Jim and those two idiots," I replied quietly. "What happened to them in the real world? I never saw them, even on the weekend."


    "Oh? That is good for you, no? Why bother caring?"


    "Sure, it''s best if they nevere back, but we''re true allies now anyway, so can''t you just satisfy my curiosity?"


    She sighed and looked away. " Fine. Jim Fitzroy - that is his name, yes? It appears he has been caught in some sort of scandal on Earth."


    At this, the other girls began listening in as well.


    "Hm~? Who''s Jim Fitzroy?" Nadeshiko tilted her head, confused.


    "Don''t worry about it," I replied briskly, not wanting to exin all this to her.


    "What kind of scandal is it?" Hina-nee asked.


    "A student of his found out about his tragic past. Said student got into an argument with him during ss and ended up using this as a weapon. As for Fitzroy he lost his cool and ended up punching the student. Thus"


    There was no need for her to go any further.


    "Hm I see. Tell me about his past," I said coldly.


    "That is his private information. Why do you want to know, human?"


    "And since when were you so nice to humans as to keep their information private?" I sighed. "I want to know because I may be able to use him, if he everes back into the game."


    " Not everyone can be used, human. Having too many pawns maye back and bite you in the rearter on."


    "" I leaned my back against the wall of a nearby building, thinking. "Guess you''re right. Forget I asked. But what about the other two?"


    "Mazami Ichigo and Yamato Horiya?" Aisa raised an eyebrow.


    "Yeah. What happened to those two idiots?"


    "Homework," she replied simply. "They were suspended for two weeks  they have a ton of work piled up for them to do, enough to fill their weekends too. The workload of high schools in your homnd of Japan is no small amount. Because of this, they did note online."


    "Hmph, serves them right for trying to beat up my Kaze-kun!" Hina-nee snorted, folding her arms.


    "How long are they going to remain like this?" I asked, rubbing my chin. "Jim''s a pretty chill guy, so I won''t try and use him, but those two? They''re the perfect sacrifices, when the situation calls."


    "Unfortunately, it seems it will be a long while before they can ever touch this game again. From what I can see, their parents broke their AR sets, since they were trying to y despite having loads of homework to do."


    So their parents didn''t break the set when they were suspended, but did when they refused to do homework? Very interesting, indeed.


    "Yikes that''s quite a bit of money, wasted," Furuwa whistled.


    "Kaze, Kaze, you seem to hate these two a lot can I kill them once we go back to Earth~?" Nadeshiko tugged on my arm and looked up at me with a pleading look in her eyes.


    "No, you can''t kill anyone once we''re back on Earth. Don''t cause any trouble for me," I sneered. "Actually, on second thought, after we go back, we won''t have any rtionship with one another, so you can do whatever you want. Just don''t expect me to bail you out if you get arrested."


    "Mmph no fun~" she pouted and let go of my arm angrily.


    "Though if you can make it seem like an ident, you might be able to get away, y''know?" I added half-jokingly with a grin.


    She blinked a couple of times as she understood what I meant, and smiled like a little devil. "Hehehe understood, Master~"


    I rolled my eyes in frustration. "I already told you, don''t call me tha-"


    "Wee, everyone, to the closing ceremony of the Annual Qilian Regional Competition, 2051!" the mayor, Zhen Yuhan, interrupted my words with his loud megaphone. "Throughout the past week, contestants have faced each other in duels with no restraints holding them back. Many lives were lost, many brave warriors fallen. But the ones remaining are the true heroes, forged by might and blood."


    I whistled. "Nice speech."


    "Without further ado, to those of you who missed out on some battles, I will now announce the final results of this year''s tournament. Contestants, when your name is called, please step onto the stage."


    The mayor cleared his throat and continued. "Tied for third ce, we have Sakura Hina and Chiaki Furuwa!"


    Hina-nee smiled and headed for the stage confidently, Furuwa trailing shortly behind with a serious expression on her face.


    "Next up, there is no one in second ce, because the contestant was unfortunately killed in his final fight. However, his name shall be remembered: Ling Tian Yu!"


    I couldn''t help but grunt in dissatisfaction at hearing this abomination of a name, but it is what it is.


    "And finally the first ce winner the grand champion we have: Igarashi Kaze!"


    Sighing,pletely unsurprised by these results I single-handedly manipted into happening, I headed onto the stage. Hina-nee shuffled over and left me a spot between herself and Furuwa.


    "Congrattions to all three podium finishers!"


    Roars of excitement and ps erupted from the crowd, basking us in glory and honor. I found all of this extremely artificial and useless, but Hina-nee and Furuwa both seemed to be enjoying it, though thetter of course didn''t let it show on her face.


    Once the cheering and apuse died down, the mayor continued.


    "Now then, it is about time to announce the other contestants who have made it into the Blessing Nature Sect as well. Elder Ning, if you will?"


    The elf woman sitting in the middle throne nodded and stood up, epting the megaphone the mayor presented to her. She closed her eyes and cleared her throat, then opened them again.


    "Greetings, everyone. I am Ning Xiayu, one of the Ten Elders of the Blessing Nature Sect. It was truly my honor to spectate this tournament  many brave and strong souls participated. It is a shame many of them died, but the remaining ones are more than enough to be my sect''s new, more powerful generation. Without any further ado... I will now be announcing the names of the contestants who are eligible to enter our sect as well, excluding the top three standing right here:"


    I listened intently for the names I wanted to hear.


    "Ming Yi!"


    Oh? That was a surprise.


    "Nadeshiko Nakano!"


    Naturally.


    "Andstly Koroth Lulvic!"


    Hm there we go.


    It seems all the people I wanted to enter the sect really did. I guess my hidden actions in the dark were of use after all.

 Chapter 126: Essence

    Chapter 126: Essence


    Koroth, Nadeshiko, and Ming Yi who was still wearing his mask stepped onto the stage.


    "Now then, I shall announce the rewards for the three podium finishers," Elder Ning said, turning to Hina-nee, Furuwa, and I. "Sakura Hina and Chiaki Furuwa, tied for third ce, will each receive a Spirit Pill plus 50,000 gold, and as for our grand champion, Igarashi Kaze you shall receive a Spirit Pill, 100,000 gold, and any one wish that your heart desires. So? What will it be?"


    The audience roared in jealousy after hearing this, but I kept a neutral expression.


    "My wish is it possible to hold off on it?" I asked mysteriously as Koroth turned to me in shock.


    After all, I had promised him I would use my wish for him. Don''t worry, Koroth you''ll get what you want. This is all within my calctions.


    "Naturally," Elder Ning replied. "That is, only if you choose to enter our sect."


    Iughed. "I have a choice?"


    "Of course. We do not force anyone to join our sect  though no one has ever turned down a direct invitation before."


    "I see. Well, I see no reason to refuse."


    "And the rest of you?" Elder Ning turned to the rest of us on the stage.


    Everyone shook their heads, signaling they had no objections to entering the sect.


    "Perfect. In that case" she smiled wryly. "You are all now informal disciples of the Blessing Nature Sect!"


    We blinked in surprise.


    "Huh? Informal?"


    Elder Ning folded her arms. "You haven''t even stepped foot inside the sect yet, how can you be called formal disciples?"


    "Oh, yeah"


    "Tonight, pack all of your belongings, and tomorrow morning, gather here at 8 AM. Prepare yourselves  the Blessing Nature Sect is like no other."


    *****


    Right after the announcements were finished and we all received our respective rewards, Koroth came seeking me out, just as I had expected.


    "" he patted me on the shoulder wordlessly, like a creep.


    I sighed and motioned for him to follow me before retreating to a private alleyway, perfect for short, secretive conversations.


    "A-" Koroth opened his mouth to talk, but I quickly cut him off.


    "Yes, yes I already know what you''re going to ask. Don''t worry, you''ll get the herbs. I have my ways. Firesaffron, Bloodmint, and Hailflower, right? Rx."


    " But you promised to use your wish for getting me them," he gritted his teeth, unsatisfied.


    I wagged my finger. "Nuh-uh. I promised to get you them  I never said I would use my wish to do so. Just calm down and do as I say. Once you get into the sect"


    I leaned into his ear and whispered my instructions.


    "Got that?" I said once I backed away.


    " I see. I understand now."


    "Good. Now, let''s get out of here."


    *****


    After Koroth and I went our separate ways, I regrouped with the girls and decided to head out to do some XP farming. Aisa took this opportunity to make Nadeshiko''s real body enter this world as well. Too many power outages so close to each other would be suspicious, so she waited a bit before doing so as Hina-nee''s was not long ago.


    With this, all three of them now possessed the same passive-stat-leveling powers as me. That would mean they need to do the Vault of Deception as well if they wanted to hide their stats, but I could just tell them what to expect, so it shouldn''t be all that hard. In fact, that''s where we were heading right now.


    In the Quirrel Forest, I set a waypoint on the Vault of Deception. Since I''d already been there once before, the location was saved on my minimap. This made it incredibly easy to reach our destination, taking only around half an hour.


    Before leaving the city, we had bought some food to eat on the go while we walked for lunch, and also picked up some quests from the Hunter''s Guild. We were nning on doing this all in one trip without having to go back to the city, in order to save time.


    Since only one person could go in the Vault of Deception at a time, we decided to have the other four of usplete quests and farm XP while that person went in. Then, we rotate. Maximizing efficiency in the use of our time was always good, especially since we were trying to get stronger as fast as possible.


    The first one to go in was Hina-nee, and once she was done, Furuwa would be next. Finally, it would be Nadeshiko''s turn. I had some special ns for her, hence why I made her gost.


    Both Hina-nee and Furuwa managed to beat the Vault without any problems, after listening to everything I told them from learning the hard way. With this, it was finally Nadeshiko''s turn. Once she jumped down into the hole within the tree, I began my n.


    "Aisa. Don''t give her the ws of Deception."


    " Why?"


    "I don''t trust her enough to give her such a dangerous and stealthy weapon. She''ll definitely try and murder me with it."


    Aisa sighed. "Very well, I can see where your concerns areing from."


    "That goes for you two as well," I said, turning to Hina-nee and Furuwa. "Don''t tell her about the ws of Deception."


    "Hehe, don''t worry, I know."


    " Whatever you want."


    Once they all agreed, we set out to do some more quests, letting Aisa remain here to watch over the Vault.


    *****


    By the time we were all done, it was already evening. 6 PM, in particr. I leveled up to Level 35 from Level 32, gaining 30 SP and 12 AP. Hina-nee and Furuwa both leveled up to Level 34, gaining the same rewards as me  just a level lower.


    Of course, now that their real body was in this world as well, their stats passively leveled up as well quite a bit. Though they were still nowhere near me, they still were now far stronger than other yers the same level as them.


    Now, as for Nadeshiko


    "Level 50~" she giggled happily as a hologram appeared in front of her right after she made her final kill on a snowolf. "10 SP, 4 AP. Okay~ let''s see"


    We all stared at her in anticipation, waiting for the big breakthrough to happen.


    Nadeshiko suddenly closed her eyes and sat down,pelled by a mysterious force. She crossed her legs and set her scythe down on the grass beside her, meditating calmly.


    I gulped nervously as the other girls did the same. Tension was in the air as an ominous ck and pink glow surrounded Nadeshiko. A dawning energy filled the air, dark yet glorious. The strands of energy matched her hair and eyes'' color scheme, fitting her perfectly.


    The energy surrounding her suddenly began spinning around rapidly, faster and faster with Nadeshiko at the center. Then, they all flew into her body at once, near the center of her abdomen.


    Nadeshiko''s eyes shot open, pink eyes bright and dazzling. For a moment, I thought they appeared sharper, clearer than before.


    "Hm this feels nice" she murmured to herself, a smug grin on her face as she looked down at her own two hands.


    She then opened her palm, and our eyes widened in surprise as a ck and pink me lit up in it.


    "What is that" Furuwa gasped.


    Aisa closed her eyes as she exined calmly. "That is called Essence. Reaching the Core Foundation realm enables you to use your Essence in physical form."


    "Essence, huh" I murmured to myself. "When I used The Dragon''s Shadow on Ling Tian Yu yesterday, he told me it failed because I ran out of Essence. What exactly is it?"


    "Think of Essence as a different form of energy to physical stamina. All arts require Essence to cast  so what he said about you running out of Essence was not incorrect."


    "Is there any way I can check how much Essence I have left, so that I don''t run out in a critical situation like that ever again?" I asked, serious.


    "Once you reach the Core Foundation Realm like Nakano Nadeshiko, you will be able to feel how much Essence you have remaining."


    "Ah, I see"


    Nadeshiko then grinned andunched her Essence-made fire at a nearby tree, setting it on fire instantly.


    "Woah" her eyes brightened, gazing in awe at the damage she was causing.


    The tree was burnt to a crisp in mere seconds. Luckily, it didn''t spread, since I quickly stopped it with multiple Hydromancy spells.


    "Nadeshiko you do that again, and I''m kicking you out," I growled, shooting her a look of disdain.


    "Mmph" she pouted, folding her arms and looking away cutely.


    "I would advise against using your Essence Arts like that so freely," Aisa interjected. "These use your Essence directly, meaning they require a lot more energy and can drain you instantly. As a mere Core Foundation Realm cultivator, you do not have much Essence at all, and once you are depleted of it, you will fall under a powerless, immobilized state like what happened to him yesterday."


    She nced at me, as if still wondering how I managed to escape certain death there.


    "I''m assuming these Essence Arts are more powerful than your average hidden art?" I asked. "I mean, it took me multiple Aquabombs just now to counter."


    "Correct. Essence Arts are far stronger than the average hidden art in terms of raw power. In addition, they can also be molded to be whatever the user wishes, allowing for far more creativity and freedom in fights. Essence Arts aremonly used by strong cultivators in fights to surprise their opponents."


    "I see" I murmured, sinking into thought. It seems getting to Level 50 and reaching the Core Foundation Realm would be incredibly useful to me.


    "So, how do you replenish Essence?" Hina-nee asked curiously. "Kaze-kun just got it back from sleeping, but is there any other way?"


    "Like I said, Essence is like normal stamina. You can naturally get it back through rest. However, there are also certain pills and elixirs that can replenish your Essence instantly though these are not sold in Qilian City. They are, however, in the Blessing Nature Sect you all will be going to soon."


    "Oh yeah" Hina-nee snapped her finger as she stared at Aisa. "Speaking of that will you even be able toe with us?"

 Chapter 127: Journey

    Chapter 127: Journey


    "Worry not. Human here has a n," Aisa said, faced with Hina-nee''s question.


    ''Human here'' naturally, she was referring to me.


    I sighed. "You know, it would make things a lot easier if you could just turn back to your normal self. You know, the AI form."


    "Unfortunately, my powers are currently restricted by the Creator''s Shadow supervising me," she replied stoically. "If I were to return to my original form, I would be unable to keep assisting you."


    "Right" I muttered, taking a deep breath.


    "What n?" Furuwa asked, confused.


    "Ah I see," Hina-nee smiled, having understood.


    "Hehehe~" Nadeshiko giggled, also realizing what I was trying to do. "Kaze ns on using the wish he was granted to bring Aisa into the sect as well, you see. Am I right~?"


    I nodded as Furuwa fell into thought.


    "Oh not a bad n."


    "Anyway the sun''s already set," I said, wrapping up both the conclusion and the training excursion. "We should head back and get some rest."


    *****


    After spending the SP and AP we all received from our respective level-ups, we began getting ready for sleep. Overall, it could be said that we all grew a lot stronger throughout the past week  for instance, my stats were now like this:


    [Level: 35]


    [STR: 330]


    [AGI: 340]


    [INT: 210]


    [DEX: 200]


    [MAG: 230]


    [LUC: 30]


    STR, AGI, and INT were all passive level-ups. The reason I got such a big boost in my INT was probably because of all the strategies and psychological ploys I used recently, from baiting Nadeshiko into telling me about her past to turning the tables on Song Qing Long and converting him into one of my pawns as well.


    To be manipted or be the maniptor such was a simple game of finding the other''s weakness before they found yours. In the case of both sides finding each other''s weak points, it came down to a matter of bluffing and lies.


    Grandmaster Song had undoubtedly used Soul Search on me, but after reading through the art''s description on the scroll, I discovered that said art only provided a profile of whoever it is used on, giving mostly useless information such as hobbies, likes and dislikes, et cetera.


    Maybe a boy could use this on a girl before a date to find out what she liked, but apart from that there was really only one way this art was useful: bait.


    This meant Song Qing Long could use it as a bluff at best, making the other party think he really knew everything about them when he really didn''t. Of course, I saw straight through that since I have nothing to hide anyway.


    Even if he did want to tell the whole world that I was a victim of bullying in the past, then so be it. I''ve done nothing wrong  in fact, doing so may cause people to feel pity towards me, thus offering me free benefits.


    Won''t say no to that, obviously.


    I ended up dividing my 30 SP up, 20 for DEX, 10 for MAG, to make them what they were on top of passive leveling as well.


    And as for my LUC stat it went down from 67 to 30. The reason for this was obviously the finals of the tournament, where my luck had been afflicted greatly by Ling Tian Yu''s Book of Fortune. Curse you, bastard, pissing me off from beyond the grave.


    Speaking of his Book of Fortune should probably be in a ck orb in my inventory, right? Just like that time I killed that woman


    I decided to check the Inventory tab of my System just to be sure, and indeed, there it was,beled [Ling Tian Yu Engram]. The other one I had obtained from killing that woman wasbeled [??? Engram] inparison. I guess it was because I didn''t know her name.


    But in any case, heh if I can just find a cryptanalyst to open those two orbs


    I was setting off for the Blessing Nature Sect in just nine hours. I didn''t believe we wouldn''t be able to find a cryptanalyst on the way, or  better yet  at the sect itself, being one of the Eight Great Sects of Azrine.


    I decided to head off to sleep, the girls doing the same. We had a long day ahead of us tomorrow, after all.


    For the record the girls'' stats looked like this, with their new passive stat increase abilities just like mine:


    Hina-nee:


    [Level: 34]


    [STR: 150]


    [AGI: 150]


    [INT: 30]


    [DEX: 125]


    [MAG: 10]


    [LUC: 0] (*decreased due to the fight with Ling Tian Yu)


    Furuwa, who had used all her SP evenly (5 each), only to have the perfectly bnced stats ruined by her newfound passive stat change ability:


    [Level: 34]


    [STR: 80]


    [AGI: 75]


    [INT: 65]


    [DEX: 70]


    [MAG: 70]


    [LUC: 55]


    Nadeshiko, with her 15 point increase to all stats provided by reaching the Core Foundation Realm in addition to her passive stat leveling skill, and of course the 20 SP she gained from reaching Level 50 which she spent evenly across STR, AGI, INT, and DEX:


    [Level: 50]


    [STR: 200]


    [AGI: 270]


    [INT: 70]


    [DEX: 180]


    [MAG: 25]


    [LUC: 25]


    The four of us have gotten quite a bit stronger from when we first met, and will continue to do so in the future.


    Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new journey  one where bonds will be tested and friendships trialed.


    I wonder with this unusual group of misfits, gathered together by a wicked twist of fate, how far could we go?


    I looked forward to the answer.


    *****


    The next morning, when we woke up, it was already 7. Only an hour until the time we were supposed to meet at the center of the city and begin our excursion for the Blessing Nature Sect.


    Not wasting any time, the four of us all got ready on our own and rendezvoused at the front of the inn. Once we gathered, we set off for the center of Qilian City together.


    "Hey, hey~ I unlocked something pretty cool yesterday, Kaze~" Nadeshiko said, tugging on my arm and looking up into my eyes like an excited little puppy.


    I raised an eyebrow. "What?"


    "It''s something called a ''Social System''," she replied, opening up her System to show me better. "See here~ you can add friends and even send messages, do trading, and other stuff with them"


    "Huh trading and messages, eh?" I murmured, sinking into thought as I looked at the new tab that had appeared on the navigation bar of her System. It was an icon with two people side by side. "That''s interesting connections are important."


    Furuwa scoffed. "You say that, but are you truly capable of making friends?"


    "Hehe, it doesn''t matter if Kaze can''t make friends the only one he needs, is me~" Nadeshiko grinned, closing her System and licking her lips as she suddenly stopped walking and threw her arms around my neck.


    "Na-de-shi-ko!" Hina-nee yelled, frustrated, as I quickly pried her hands off of me. "You are stepping OVER the line!"


    "Hehehe, yes, yes" she waved off Hina-nee''s protests as if they were irrelevant to her, and kept walking nonchntly.


    I sighed and faced the front once again with an awkward grimace on my face.


    Nadeshiko I''ve said it before and I''ll say it again: you''re truly a troublesome one.


    *****


    "Everyone''s here, it seems," Elder Han, the short yet elder chuckled, smiling happily. "One, two, three, four, five, and six. Yep, there we go."


    "Very well," Elder Ning stepped forward from her throne on the stage and lifted up her megaphone. "All newly acknowledged disciples of the Blessing Nature Sect from yesterday: please step onto the stage. We will be leaving shortly."


    The four girls and I, Aisa included, headed onto the stage. Koroth and Ming Yi followed.


    "Oh? Who is this little girl?" Elder Zhang, the young man with sses, eyed Aisa.


    "She is my little sister," I replied, having rehearsed this already. My demeanor was wless; no one could tell I was lying unless, of course, they could read my mind, which wasn''t impossible, but I had no countermeasures against that just yet, quite regrettably.


    "And? You n on bringing her with you into the sect?" Elder Han asked, raising an eyebrow as he folded his arms.


    "Is that not allowed?" I asked, just to be safe.


    "Naturally not," Elder Zhang interrupted. "She is but a little child. We cannot ept her into the sect, made for serious training and cultivation."


    I secretly grinned. "I see in that case, I would like to use my wish."


    Elder Han''s eyes widened. "You would use your one and only wish on bringing your little sibling into the sect with you?"


    Elder Zhang narrowed his eyes and pushed his sses up the bridge of his nose. "I suggest you think carefully, young man. You can wish for anything  money, fame, women, cultivation resources, anything. Are you certain you wish to choose this?"


    Without even blinking, I replied instantly. "Yes."


    "You see we are orphans," Hina-nee interjected, also rehearsed beforehand. "Both Kaze-kun and I are entering the sect, so that would leave Aisa-chan without anyone to take care of her"


    As if on cue, Aisa made tears appear in her eyes and hugged me closely, hiding behind my body.


    Once again, rehearsed. No way in hell Aisa would drop tears of her own ord; I''m 200% certain on that.


    Elder Zhang sighed. "I understand if that is truly what you wish for, then so be it. I admire your prioritizing of family over individual benefits."


    Elder Hanughed. "Haha! Seems we have a couple of good seeds in this year''s batch, eh? Even though he can be quite ruthless."


    He smiled mysteriously at me, as if staring into my soul. It made me feel ufortable with a hint of being threatened, but I did not let that show on the surface.


    "Elder Ning, this is fine, correct?" Elder Zhang asked, turning to the leader of the three.


    However, said leader seemed to be too busy staring at me.


    ""


    "" I awkwardly averted my gaze, unsure of what to do.


    "Elder Ning?"


    The elf quickly shook her head at being called out a second time. "A-Ah, yes. Forgive me. Of course, this is allowed. Doing so is well within the power of the sect, and he did use his promised wish on this. We have no right to refuse."


    Then, turning to me, she continued.


    "Your little sister shall be giving living quarters and such within the sect, and treated like an honorable guest. You will also be able to visit her in your free time, as long as it does not interfere with your cultivation. Professional maids will be sent to take care of her, so rest assured, she will suffer no danger."


    I smiled. "I see. In that case I can rest easy."

 Chapter 128: Goodbye, Qilian

    Chapter 128: Goodbye, Qilian


    "Now then  you may have already been selected to enter the sect, but the journey there will be part of the test. In other words if you fail, there is still a chance you may die and fail to enter. Keep that in mind."


    The six disciples going in this year were all quite tough, so we didn''t show any weakness or nervousness faced with this warning meant to rouse our anxiety. Elder Ning, the one who had said this, smiled as if pleased.


    "Good. It seems none of you are daunted by the challenge ahead. Now, the first test will begin. Take these."


    She waved her hand and threw six scrolls at us, perfectly aimed so that each one of us would catch one. I rolled it open and widened my eyes at what it was.


    "This is the Flight art. Once learned, you will be able to fly in the air by using your Essence. Of course, I do not expect you all to be able to fly the whole way to the sect. The total distance will be roughly 2,000 kilometers, and there will be a rest point every 250. That is all. You have ten minutes toprehend the art  the Blessing Nature Sect only needs the best of the best among cultivators. The timer starts now."


    Not wasting any time, the six of us wordlessly began to try and learn the art. From what I could see, it wasn''t too difficult. After skimming through it, I immediately tossed the scroll to one side and closed my eyes, mimicking the movements shown in the scroll with my body.


    And in my mind, I thought the art''s name.


    ''Flight.''


    Immediately, I felt myself be lifted up from the floor a bit. My eyes widened from the sudden and unusual feeling, causing me to lose my focus. I slipped on the stage and fell backwards painfully, hitting my head.


    "Agh damn"


    Quickly getting back up, I shook my head and tried again.


    ''Flight.''


    This time, I managed to remain stable, even after lifting off the ground. I was now hovering a few centimeters above the stage as I desperately tried to control my bnce. The three elders watched on, surprised at how quickly I had picked up on how to perform the art. After all, not even a minute had passed since the timer began, and everyone else was still busy reading the scroll.


    Not for long, however. Hina-nee was the second one to throw down the scroll and begin actually attempting the art. Though she struggled at first, she quickly got the hang of it and even managed to rise up higher into the air, steady and controlled. I watched, stunned.


    How the hell


    Recalling what I read in the scroll, I just had to control where I wanted to go with my mind, but I''m trying, and it really wasn''t working.


    I gritted my teeth. It took everything I had just to keep my bnce and not to fall back to the ground. Then, calmly, I rxed and cleared my mind of all other thoughts, taking a deep breath to help me do so.


    ''Up.''


    With that single thought, I felt myself suddenly skyrocket upwards, my eyes snapping back open as I passed by the clouds.


    "W-Woah, hey!"


    ''D-Down! Down!'' I thought in my head, panicking.


    Suddenly, I stopped going up, before spinning my body around in mid-air against my will and pummeling downwards, face-first.


    "Wait, no-! How do I slow it down-!"


    ''S-Slow! Decelerate! Low Speed! Opposite of Fast! Fast Not!''


    I pulled every single terminology for ''slow down'' I could think of out of my ass, but even then, it did not work.


    "Fuck!" I yelled out loud, giving up and bracing for enormous pain and perhaps a significant drop in my INT stat.


    But right before I hit the ground, I stopped.


    I blinked, quickly rotating my body to make it upright again, then gazing down at my two hands in wonder.


    "The hell? ''Fuck'' was the keyword?"


    The elders, the other contestants, and the audience all looked at me in awkwardness, uncertain of what to say in response to my stupid movements.


    I gulped in nervousness and ignored their gazes, taking a deep breath and preparing to try again.


    "Okay I got it this time."


    ''Flight.''


    This time, having gained experience from the previous two fails, I managed to remain steady.


    ''Okay now up.''


    I felt myself slowly rise upwards into the air, a lot more controlled thanst time.


    ''Stop.''


    Taking extreme caution to remain calm, I stopped rising up as I reached the height I wanted. Then, Imanded myself to fly straight in front of me.


    ''Forward.''


    I began to slowly fly forward, just as I had intended. It felt extremely weird, moving constantly like this without anything below me and no gravity to chain me down, but it was a somewhat nice and rxing feeling at the same time?


    "Okay I think I got the basics of it down."


    ''Backward.''


    I changed my trajectory and moved backward, calibrating my body to this new form of movement.


    ''Left.''


    ''Right.''


    ''Down.''


    Inded gently on the ground, without needing to use emergency breaks this time. Good thing, too, since I didn''t want to have to scream profanity out again.


    I looked around and saw that everyone else had just about got the hang of it by now.


    Elder Ning pped her hands and smiled, stepping forward as everyonended back on the ground.


    "Congrattions. It seems all of you have sessfullyprehended the art  not that I am surprised. As future disciples of the Blessing Nature Sect, this is the minimum requirement. Though I will say you six are the fastest bunch I have witnessed so far, in all the years I have done this, going around to different cities'' tournaments and recruiting new disciples."


    I had many questions regarding that and the sect itself, but now wasn''t a good time to ask them as we were about to take off.


    "Now. It is time for you to put the skills you just learned to use. Everyone, fly into the air and follow us. Worry not, we will not fly too fast. As for Aisa, was it? Come here, you can ride on my Star Shuttle."


    Star Shuttle so that was their name. Interesting. I wonder if all of them were like the leaf ones these three elders had, or if they came in different forms probably thetter, honestly.


    Aisa made an act of not wanting to separate from me, tears in her eyes, as I smiled back at her as if convincing her to listen to Elder Ning''s instructions. She yed her part perfectly, and so did I.


    Aisa reluctantly stepped onto the leaf Star Shuttle Elder Ning had, and immediately, the tree elders took off into the air, high above the clouds.


    The six of us followed, heading up until we reached their height.


    After sparing a single nce back at us, the three Elders continued off, flying straight forward.


    Below, the audience cheered for us, and the mayor, Zhen Yuhan, came onto the stage, holding another megaphone. He turned to the sky and grinned cheekily.


    "Make us proud, children of this glorious city!"


    I turned back for a brief moment, ncing at the first true,rge city I''ve been to since entering the majestic world of Ascentia. The bird''s eye view from above, amidst the clouds, was amazing.


    At this scene, I couldn''t help but smile in faint reminiscence, despite having not stayed here for all that long. Then, I spoke the words weighing down on my heart.


    "Goodbye, Qilian."


    *****


    As we flew, the motion slowly became more and more familiar to me. I could control my body''s direction without consciously thinking about it now, and I found that my mindset became more and more rxed. The others seemed to be adapting quite well too, not struggling at all.


    After roughly ten minutes of flying, however, the others began to slow down. Koroth and I kept going at our normal speed, but everyone else was visibly starting to get tired. Furuwa was better than the others, but even she had sweat forming on her forehead.


    Running out of Essence?


    Aisa discretely sent a meaningful nce backwards that confirmed what I was thinking.


    But Koroth and I are doing fine what''s the connection here? There''s got to be something some kind of rule that determines how long we can fly for


    The answer would obviously be Essence, but what could possibly cause me to have more of it than the others? Koroth did, but that was understandable since it was most likely because he was actually a demon, but I was just a human.


    Wait could it be the MAG stat?


    The MAG stat affects all hidden arts, and Essence is essentially the energy source of hidden arts  and other arts too of course. But if this is really the case there is definitely a chance the MAG stat can affect how much Essence a yer has in their body.


    If my conclusion is true, then everything lines up. Hina-nee and Nadeshiko who are both Assassin-types who don''t ce much emphasis into the MAG stat are falling behind, while Furuwa who had a bnced stat distribution was doing slightly better than them. I, who had quite the high MAG stat, was doing the best out of all the yers here.


    Indeed that seems to be the case. But if this continues the three girls may not make it to the first rest point.


    What should I do

 Chapter 129: Detour

    Chapter 129: Detour


    Hm the girls are all running out of stamina. In order to make it to the sect, they had to pass this test. If they were to fall here, all my efforts from the shadows during the tournament would''ve gone to waste.


    Just when I was racking my brains out, trying to devise a good n and fighting against the clock in the process, someone unexpected saved the day.


    "Hah" Koroth suddenly doubled over in mid-air, coughing blood out of his mouth.


    I immediately rushed over and held him up, preventing him from falling to his death below.


    "Ngh" I gritted my teeth from the weight. It was hard enough flying on my own, but carrying supporting someone with me? A grown man like Koroth, no less?


    "A-Are you okay?" I mustered out, face strained from the pressure put on my arms.


    Even with a STR stat of over 300, this wasn''t easy. Not because I couldn''t carry him, but because of just how difficult it was to stay bnced in the air, with no solid ground below me to help out.


    "G-Gah" Koroth groaned, the trace of pink blood on the corner of his lips and dripping down his chin.


    At this, everyone else stopped flying, stopping in ce. That is, everyone but the elders. After seeing all of us stop, however, they did as well. However, the look they sent us was not one of concern.


    "Why are you helping him?" Elder Zhang asked coldly, pushing his sses up the bridge of his nose.


    "Why? Because he''s hurt?" I responded hesitantly, feigning cluelessness.


    "He is simply not good enough to keep going," the elder replied. "If you let yourself get dragged down by the weak, you will one day be one of them, even if you originally had the potential to be strong."


    "Not good enough, huh?" I chuckled, then turned to Koroth,ying in my arms. "I don''t know about you, but it doesn''t look like he simply ran out of energy to me."


    " No excuses. No matter the case, he failed the test. Let him go."


    "Oh? Are you sure about that?" I raised an eyebrow, daring to challenge him further. "With all due respect, you''ve seen him fight, Elder Zhang. His immense strength and durability are incredible. The only aspect he''scking in is stamina  which is exactly what this test needs. Don''t you think that''s a bit unfair to him?"


    "Tch" Elder Zhang gritted his teeth, but did not protest further, and instead turned to his co-workers for help. "Elder Ning, Elder Han, what do you think of this boy''s nonsense?"


    "Boy? Elder Zhang, you aren''t all that much older than him," Elder Hanughed, amused. "But jokes aside I do believe he has a point. This test has its ws  he merely spotted that and stood up for his peers using it. I can appreciate that personality."


    Elder Zhang was clearly dissatisfied, but he couldn''t argue with them after asking for their opinion, so instead, he turned to the final remaining elder.


    "And you, Elder Ning?"


    "Hm" Instead of replying directly, she flew closer to me and smiled. "For now, let us descend first. It must be tiring, holding him in your arms."


    Thank god I didn''t know how much longer I could hold Koroth up for.


    One way or another, I had seeded in securing the girls some rest.


    *****


    "You''re an interesting one. Normally, our new disciples would be honored to simply be able to join the sect. They would never consider arguing against an elder for their friends," Elder Ning said once we were back on solid ground.


    We stood within a dense forest, amon biome in the continent of Azrine. I set Koroth down, leaning him on a tree, then did some arm circles to loosen up.


    "Koroth here can hardly be considered my friend," I replied,pletely undaunted even though I was speaking to a superior who could probably kill me with a snap of her fingers. "I just find this test unfair  even if he had not fallen ill here, I still would have brought the matter up."


    "You find it unfair? But you seem to being the best out of the six of you. Why bother ying the hero when you can simply take the easy road?"


    "Sorry, you overestimate me," I shrugged. "I''m not trying to y the hero here. I simply cannot ept me beating a test that was biased towards me to begin with. There is no sense of aplishment in doing that."


    "So then, how do you want to do it?" Elder Ning asked, a wry smile on her face.


    "Elder Ning" the two other elders nced at their leader, dumbfounded at this sudden turn of events.


    I smirked. "I believe we should have a series of different tests  the flight portion just now was only one of them. I rmend a strength test and an agility test as well maybe also a hidden art test plus an intelligence test?"


    "This" the two male elders exchanged nces, shocked by what wasing out of my mouth. I didn''t know why, but I would soon find out.


    "Congrattions," Elder Ning suddenly said. I raised an eyebrow in confusion.


    "You just named all five entrance examinations needed to enter the sect, had you not been selected directly from this tournament," she exined. "In other words, the flight test you had to go through just now is nothingpared to what the other young people looking to join the sect have to endure. Count yourself lucky."


    "Is that so?" I chuckled. "I find it hard to believe the endurance test for those people is as long and tiring as ours. If I''m not wrong the total amount of energy needed for our test is not far off from theirs, right? Theirs is just spread across five different examinations, while we only have one."


    "And what leads you to that conclusion?" Elder Zhang interrupted. "You have it far easier than what other disciples have to go through to enter the sect. That is a fact."


    "By watching the battles, you can already determine our strength, agility, hidden art capabilities, and intelligence as well. The only aspect you cannot gauge too well is endurance  after all, matches usually conclude quickly, hence why you only gave us, the selected disciples, to go through this endurance test. But I have a feeling"


    I shifted my gaze from Elder Zhang onto Elder Ning and stared straight into her eyes.


    " You weren''t expecting us toplete this challenge in the first ce, right?"


    Elder Ning seemed to be surprised I managed to figure that out, and smiled deviously.


    "As I thought you are different from the rest."


    "Not really. It was pretty obvious," I shrugged. "You all knew from the beginning Koroth had weak endurance, yet you picked him still to join the sect. Then, you set one final entrance exam that requires nothing but incredible endurance? That''s quite contradictory, if you ask me."


    "That is merely train-" Elder Zhang began, trying to cover their true intentions up, but I quickly cut him off.


    "Training? No, not even close. It''smon sense for one to start training mildly, steadily getting harder and harder. As an enormous sect, I find it hard to believe you don''t understand that theory. But here, right off the bat, you pushed an extreme task onto us. That''s not training  but then, what was it?"


    I grinned, winking charismatically as I continued. "Naturally, it was to test our limits. By telling us we could still be rejected by the sect if we fail here, you are essentially threatening us to do our absolute best if we don''t want to drop out before even beginning. But you never had any intention of actually expelling any of us, have you?"


    "False," Elder Zhang dered. "I would not have told you to drop that boy if what you say is tru-"


    "Ah, but that''s part of your n, isn''t it? By telling me that, you are also testing me  my personality, that is. If I dropped him there, you definitely would have saved them, while kicking me out instead. I know for a fact that your sect values personality greatly."


    Hell no, I didn''t. That was just a bluff, but they didn''t need to know that.


    "That i-" Elder Zhang continued trying to argue, but Elder Ning, who had been staring into my eyes for the past five minutes, cut him off.


    "I see. Indeed, I must say, once youy it clear like this, our intentions were quite obvious but still, not many people would notice," she said, walking closer to me and lifting my chin with her hand seductively. "But you did. Quite the observant little one, huh?"


    "I''ve been told that a lot," I replied calmly, unaffected by her seductive movements. I was so used to Hina-nee clinging to me that this was nothin-


    "I like you. Why don''t you be my direct disciple?"


    I blinked. Now this, I did not expect. My calm facade threatened to break, but I reined it in and managed to keep up my demeanor.


    "Direct disciple? Sorry, this is my first time joining a sect. Is there some difference between normal disciples and direct disciples?"


    Elder Ning giggled and backed away. "Of course there is. This is a world where the strong prey on the weak. The powerful get more powerful, given the best items and resources, while the weak have to w their way to the top with nothing but their own strength. Disciples are no different."


    Huh so there are different ''ranks'' of disciples, I''m assuming? I''ve only read Japanese light novels before, not Chinese xianxia ones, so I had no idea what she was talking about.


    Thankfully, she then began exining everything to me, answering all of my questions.

 Chapter 130: Direct Disciples

    Chapter 130: Direct Disciples


    "Within the Blessing Nature Sect, disciples are split among four ranks: outer disciples, inner disciples, core disciples, and direct disciples," Elder Ning exined. "Outer disciples are the lowest tier and there are thousands of them within the sect, while direct disciples are the highest rank. There are only a few of them within the sect."


    "So what exactly is the different between the ranks other than the poption distribution?" I asked, urging her to get to the main point.


    "Outer disciples are taught like in schools, split intorge sses and taught by a single instructor each. Inner disciples are simr, but they have ess to special facilities around the sect and various resources extremely useful for cultivation. Core disciples are grouped up in cohorts of roughly five, and taught by an elder of the sect. But direct disciples"


    She smiled wryly. " They are taught by the patriarch himself or his two closest elders."


    "In other words you are one of the patriarch''s closest elders?"


    At this, Elder Han broke down inughter. "Oh, clueless boy Elder Ning is the patriarch''s daughter!"


    I blinked. "Ah, no wonder you look so young."


    She blushed. "You know how to talk, I''ll give you that."


    This woman she''s so cold and formal on the outside, but when it''s just the sect''s members here is this her true self?


    "But I can''t help but wonder. Are you strong enough to be an elder?"


    She snorted. "Are you doubting my abilities?"


    "Sorry, it''s just you don''t seem all that much older than myself. Two or three years at best."


    " How rude. Elven lifespans are different from human ones," Elder Zhang exined, ring at me coldly. "Five years for a human is equivalent to one for an elf."


    I blinked in surprise, ncing at Elder Ning. "So you''re over fift-"


    "DON''T SAY IT." She stared into my eyes threateningly. I paused my words.


    "Fifty is considered young for an elf," Elder Hanughed, then shrinked away as Elder Ning shifted her re to him. "O-Oops, my bad"


    "A-Ahem, anyway" Elder Ning cleared her throat and moved on from this topic. "Bing my direct disciple will grant you many advantages over other disciples. You will have ess to all the best cultivation resources within the sect and also be treated with respect by your peers."


    "Respect? More like jealousy" I muttered.


    "Well, that will be part of it too, naturally. But if you can convince them you are worthy of being my direct disciple, then"


    "I have no intention of convincing anyone of anything," I snorted. "Too much of a hassle. That said, it would be dumb to turn down such a tempting offer, so"


    "Great. Then, from today on, you will address me as Master, and you will be my only disciple."


    "Are you sure, Elder Ning?" Elder Zhang asked, ring at me with hatred. "You have never taken in a disciple before and I must say, I do not have a good feeling about him. Being too clever may be a downside as well."


    "You''re afraid he''s going to turn the tables on me one day and stab me in the back for his own gain?" Elder Ningughed. "He can certainly try, but it will take a lot to beat me. And besides so what if I have never taken in a disciple before? He can be my first."


    Her ''first'' yikes. That could have a very different meaning if the context had not been there.


    "Hold on," I interjected. "I have a condition."


    "A condition?" Elder Zhang narrowed his eyes. "Elder Ning is already making you an incredible offer she has not given to anyone else, yet you still have a condition to ept it?"


    "Calm down, Elder Zhang," Elder Ning said, shooting him a disdainful look, then turned back to me. "What is it?"


    I nced towards the girls with me, sitting within the shadow of arge tree a short distance away. They had not participated in our conversation since they were busy resting.


    "I want them to join me," I said calmly. "As in, be your direct disciples as well."


    "This" Elder Ning fell into thought, ncing over at them. "What is your rtionship with them? A little more than just acquaintances, I think?"


    I shrugged. "The one with long ck hair is my older sister, and the other two I suppose you can call them my allies."


    "You were born with both a younger sister and an older sister?" Elder Hanughed, referencing Aisa. "I can''t imagine how much pain that would''ve been, growing up."


    "Elder Han, I believe your sister will not be happy to hear that, once I tell her"


    "No!" Elder Han quickly bowed respectfully. "Elder Ning, please. I beg for mercy."


    "Hmph," she smirked, then turned back to me. "I''ve seen your ''allies'' fight. They are all good seeds with high talent,parable to my own. They are good-hearted but also merciless when needed. However, I am concerned about one of them"


    "Nadeshiko, yeah?" I sighed. "To be honest, I''m concerned about her myself. She went through a harsh past, resulting in her psychopathic personality seen today. But I think she isn''t all that evil, just addicted to killing. I know that sounds contradictory, but"


    "I understand. I already epted her into the sect anyway she may be a problem child, but it is exactly my duty as an elder to change that. I will take your word for it and assume she is not evil at heart."


    "Does this mean you ept my conditions?"


    "Yes. It should be interesting, teaching the four of you at once heh."


    "One more thing," I added, pushing my luck. "About Aisa"


    "She can stay at my ce as well, along with you four. That way, you should be able to visit her whenever you wish."


    I smiled. "I see. Thank you Master."


    I bowed down respectfully, secretlyughing smugly in my heart.


    *****


    "Elder Ning why are you so lenient towards that boy?" Elder Zhang asked after thinking I was out of earshot. "He figured out our true intentions, but like he said, it really was not all that difficult  just a little logical thinking and observation skills would do the trick. We are not currently inck of disciples with those qualities within the sect."


    " You don''t understand," Elder Ning chuckled. "I had a strange feeling about him from a while back, when he used his wish to bring his little sister into the sect as well."


    "A strange feeling?"


    "Yes. At the time, I searched his mind since I was doubtful of the girl being his little sister because of their hair color deviations, but what I saw was quite interesting."


    I stopped walking, wanting to hear this. Searching my mind, huh? So that''s why she was staring so intently at me back then.


    That means she knows about everything.


    "What did you see?" Elder Zhang asked, extremely curious.


    " Heh," she chuckled, avoiding the question, and instead walked away. Elder Zhang was confused, but couldn''t really keep pestering her about it.


    I sighed in relief. At least she wasn''t going around spreading the news.


    Still, with this, I now determined she was a threat.


    One that needed to be either subjugated or removed.


    *****


    After I informed the other girls of the news, we quickly moved away from the rest of the group to talk, while the elders attended to Koroth.


    They were surprised to hear how I managed to convince Elder Ning to do this, but after I told them it was mainly because she read my mind and found out about pretty much everything rted to me, including reality rifts, yers, Earth, and more, their expressions turned worried.


    "So what do we do about her?" Hina-nee asked. "Have Aisa trap her here as well?"


    "Didn''t Aisa say she can''t trap anyone else right now, since the Creator''s shadow is onto her?" Furuwa raised an eyebrow. "We don''t want another round of reality rifts, do we?"


    "Eh~? But aren''t reality rifts the best way to obtain Blights and erase more of Kaze''s emotions?" Nadeshiko wondered aloud, tilting her head. "They''re good, aren''t they~?"


    "Not when there are too many for us to handle," I muttered. "We have loads of time before the Creator''s n is set in motion. There''s no rush. Besides, I would like to keep my emotions a bit longer. So far, I''ve only lost pretty much unimportant ones, but if I lose something like love or happiness"


    "Hehe~ you won''t even be able to feel sad about it since you lost that too~" Nadeshiko giggled.


    "It''s noughing matter" Hina-nee frowned worriedly. "Losing emotions of love and happiness how painful that''s going to be"


    "Like I said there''s still time," I sighed. "For now, though we should devise a n to deal with Elder Ning. If the things she found in my memories gets out, such as the Creator''s ns and whatnot, this world will be thrown into chaos. I''ll also be marked as a target of interest that will make getting around a lot more difficult."


    "Yeah the knowledge of ''yers'' and such getting out wouldn''t be too much of a problem, but the Creator, reality rifts, and the existence of other worlds" Hina-nee sighed. "I can''t think of a way to silence her other than well, killing."


    "Killing~?" Nadeshiko''s eyes lit up. "Where, who, when!"


    " Killing her is not going to be easy. I would like to enjoy the Blessing Nature Sect''s resources to the fullest, which being her direct disciple will give. If possible, I''d like to avoid sabotaging that."


    "Then what do you suggest we do?" Furuwa asked. "Usually, you''d already have a n in your mind formted."


    "I''m not Sun Tzu or some genius who can develop wless ns instantly, okay?" I rolled my eyes. "I don''t know yet. I''ll need some time, but I have a general idea  and this can be applied to pretty much anyone, if you want to control them."


    "Hm?" the girls leaned in, curious.


    I grinned. " ckmail."

 Chapter 131: The Blessing Nature Sect

    Chapter 131: The Blessing Nature Sect


    After the short conversation with the girls, we soon set off for the Blessing Nature Sect. Koroth was nowpletely recovered, and even though I hadn''t witnessed it, I knew exactly what happened.


    How? Because I instructed him to make his moves.


    Back then, during the flight, I had purposely signaled for him to push himself a bit, causing him to cough blood. I aplished this quite easily, since the elders were all flying up ahead without bothering to look back at us.


    Now, why did I have him do such a thing?


    The main reason was obviously to secure the girls some rest, but the other reason is beneficial to Koroth himself as well  getting him that pill he needs.


    By having him disy his pink blood to the elders, they will know he''s a demon, a race that was piged and hunted down in Azrine. However, they couldn''t just outright kill Koroth here  after all, they had already epted him into the sect. It wouldn''t look good for their reputation if word of this gets out.


    Besides, Koroth could still be cured  made full-human, just with some overpowered physical abilities. This can be done with ease using a Convergence Pill. The sect, being the Blessing Nature Sect, would definitely have this pill, since alchemy relied on herbs and  well, nature.


    In other words, as long as everything went to my calctions Koroth should have been cured by now,pletely.


    This was quite a daring strategy  originally, my n was to have him enter the sect first then earn it as some sort of reward, but this worked too. Seeing as how Koroth was up and running again perfectly fine, I assumed my n was sessful. The thumbs-up he discretely sent me was an added bonus.


    "Everyone ready?" Elder Han asked, looking around at us.


    We all nodded firmly, signaling that we were good to go.


    "Alright. Climb onto one of our Star Shuttles, two each."


    We did as told; Hina-nee and I climbing onto Elder Ning''s, Nadeshiko and Furuwa climbing onto Elder Han''s, and Koroth plus Ming Yi on Elder Zhang''s.


    "Are we not flying on our own anymore?" Furuwa asked.


    "You''re wee to try if you want to," Elder Han chuckled. "But there''s no point testing your limits anymore after Elder Ning''s first disciple here exposed everything."


    He nced down at me,ughing heartily. I averted my gaze.


    "Come on now, sit properly. Cross your legs and do not move no matter what," Elder Ning said to us. "Make sure you are in the direct center of the Star Shuttle, just to be safe."


    Once we were all set, we began our journey for the Blessing Nature Sect.


    *****


    "This feels really weird," Hina-nee murmured from beside me as we sat on Elder Ning''s Star Shuttle. "It''s like we''re not sitting on anything at all."


    "I mean, it IS a leaf" I scratched my head as she clung to my shoulders.


    "You two need to rx and focus on your surroundings rather than what you''re sitting on. Look at Aisa, quiet and observant," Elder Ningughed. "This is Azrine, the Land of Nature. The beautiful and wonderous imprints of Mother Astrasil are everywhere. It would be a shame not to admire them while you have the chance."


    Mother Astrasil? Oh the massive tree at the center of Ascentia I could see it in the far, far distance from where I was. But despite how high we were already flying, above mountains and hills, I could still not see the top of Astrasil, piercing through the clouds.


    "Hey, Elde- I mean, Master. Can we go higher?" I asked, not caring that I sounded like an excited little kid right now.


    She turned around and smiled, then snapped her fingers.


    Immediately, our Star Shuttle rose in elevation, heading higher and higher, until atst-


    "Wow" Hina-nee and I gasped in awe at the scenery that unfolded before us as we rose above the clouds.


    Thousands upon thousands of miles away, an enormous treey. Its snow-white bark stood majestic and divine, apanied by billions of beautiful silver leaves fluttering among the gentle wind.


    Above the clouds, above the heavens  that was the world tree known as Astrasil. It was so huge that despite us moving at normal speed still, it was as if we had slowed down to admire its grandiose.


    "This is just during the day. Wait until you see it at nighttime," Elder Ning said, grinning mischievously.


    "When will we be able to do this again?" Hina-nee asked, eyes sparkling.


    "Hm you know, if you perform well at the sect, I can take you on my Star Shuttle from time to time as a reward," she winked. "Only if you do really well, though. So try your best!"


    "Yes, Master," Hina-nee and I replied in unison.


    We descended soon after that, returning to the others. What we saw up there was a sight for us alone.


    *****


    Hourster, we arrived at a series of beautiful floating inds. They were enormous chunks of rock, hovering above the ground. To describe it more poetically they looked like massive icebergs, except instead of hovering on water, they were hovering in mid-air  and of course, they weren''t made of ice.


    Beautiful waterfalls rained down from the edges of the rocks, and the sound of nature could be heard everywhere.


    "Here we are," Elder Ning said, smiling faintly at the sight of these enormous levitating rocks that formed a kind of spiral ascending staircase.


    I blinked. "Wait this is the Blessing Nature Sect?"


    Sheughed. "Yeah. What were you expecting, my dear disciple?"


    "Uh I don''t know, arge school of some sort?"


    "For one, a single building would be far too small to capacitate all the disciples in our sect, and for two, the location of the sect is very carefully chosen, you know. When the founding father of the Blessing Nature Sect came across this area, these floating rocks were already there. He just built the sect on top of them."


    "Why here? Is the Essence here rich or something?" I asked.


    "Bingo. There''s more to it than just that, but I can''t deny that''s one of the main reasons. In a ce of rich Essence, one can replenish their own Essence faster through rest, and the speed at which they cultivate will also be significantly improved. Naturally, a sect built upon these features will be attractive to aspiring young cultivators."


    "Cultivation how do you exactly do it?" Hina-nee asked. "I know it''s essentially just getting stronger, but are there any specific methods?"


    Elder Ning sighed. "I''m not sure how you managed to get to where you are today with thatck of knowledge, but I''ve already taken you in as my disciples. Teaching you everything you need to know is part of my responsibility. But! That said we should head inside first, then talk. There''s a wee ceremony waiting for you, after all."


    At this, Hina-nee and I exchanged nces. "Wee ceremony?"


    "You''ll enjoy it. I''m sure of it. Even I look forward to every year when this happens, so I believe my disciples will as well."


    "Hey! Elder Ning!" Elder Han yelled from ahead of us. "You guys ready, or what?"


    "Coming," Elder Ning replied hastily, turning around and snapping her fingers to control her Star Shuttle. "Now then up we go."


    *****


    It didn''t take us long to reach the lowest ''rock''. The lowest point of the enormous boulder''s bottom side was about 5 meters up from the ground, but in reality, to reach the surface of the rock where things actually were, you had to go another 5 meters.


    To sum it up, these rocks were like ice cream cones: a t surface, but a long tail below it. Of course, the end of the tail wasn''t sharp and was quite round, but that was about the only difference other than the fact that it was not a perfect cone shape.


    A few minutester, we arrived at the surface of the rock. Elder Ning ''parked'' her Star Shuttle on the ground, then got off of it. Hina-nee and I did the same.


    "Wow can''t tell you how much I miss being on solid ground," Hina-nee stretched her muscles and moaned. "Riding the Star Shuttle was quite an exciting experience, but I''m not used to it yet, unfortunately."


    "You will soon, after getting your own Star Shuttle," Elder Ning chuckled. "It won''t be long until then. In our sect, disciples receive their own Star Shuttle when they reach the Soul Master realm  the realm right below mine."


    Soul Master realm if I remember correctly, that was Level 75, speaking in video game terms.


    "Elder Ning, the patriarch wishes to speak to you," Elder Zhang walked up to us and said, sending me a sideways nce as he did so.


    "I see. I will be back very soon," Elder Ning said to us, then turned to him. "Elder Zhang, please show them around the sect and lead them to the wee ceremony while I greet my father."


    He nodded. "Of course."


    As Elder Ning walked away, he turned to us, coldness and hatred in his eyes, masked behind his calm demeanor.


    "Now then follow me."

 Chapter 132: Welcome Ceremony

    Chapter 132: Wee Ceremony


    As Elder Ning flew away, heading for the upper rocks, Elder Zhang beckoned us to follow him, but since Koroth needed to use the restroom, the poor elder was forced to show him where the bathroom was first.


    After that was settled, Elder Zhang led us towards a tall green gate that blended in with all the nature around it. The beautiful green leaves of the surrounding trees fluttering side by side in the air, propelled by the gentle breeze. Beyond was a long linear staircase heading up, kind of simr to the Japanese shrines located on mountains back on Earth.


    "Stop gawking," Elder Zhang said coldly, turning back to us. "The ceremony is about to begin. Hurry up."


    He continued walking up the ascending staircase as the six of us plus Aisa followed. I had no idea where Elder Han was, but I assumed he had his own tasks to do as well, leaving Elder Zhang with the job of leading us.


    Clearly, he didn''t like that, but he had no choice.


    I noticed that there weren''t any disciples going up the staircase with us, possibly because the ceremony was about to start. We picked up our pace.


    When we finally arrived at the top of the staircase, we saw what could only be described as majestic.


    A huge white temple that reminded me of the Pantheon in Rome was built directly in front of us, tall and wide. Between it and us were hundreds of other new disciples  since they, like us, didn''t have uniforms, that''s what I assumed.


    Hovering in the air, right in front of the temple, was an old man. He had a long, white beard, paired with waist-length hair of the same color. He had striking blue eyes that seemed to see through all, and wore royal light green robes that signified nature. His ears were long and pointy  an elf.


    On his left was Elder Han, and his right, Elder Ning, who spotted me and waved a little, sending a discrete wink. I awkwardly waved back, unsure if she should be doing that. Elder Zhang noticed this exchange, however, and shot me a cold re. I met it with one of my own, the two of us sending hostility towards one other wordlessly.


    I didn''t know why exactly he was so pissed off at me, but I had a good idea  and it most likely had something to do with Elder Ning.


    Elder Zhang and I had our silent face-off interrupted by the old man hovering in the air, whose voice thundered across the entire sect.


    "Good morning, everyone!" he dered, voice loud and clear even though he wasn''t using a megaphone or any kind of technology  I assumed it was a kind of art.


    "I am the patriarch of this sect, Ning Yang! This year, we have quite a few more disciples than normal,pared to past Octobers. However, I have no doubt this will be a boon to the sect  every single one of you here right now are young, talented individuals, cultivators who will be true dragons in the future!"


    "Yes, Patriarch Ning!"


    The audience bowed down respectfully and performed a fist and palm salute in response to his words, while shouting in unison. I frantically copied the gesture, and so did the girls.


    As we all rose back up, I noticed Elder Zhang sneaking away from the crowd and heading to the ce where the other elders were, but that wasn''t really important, so I turned away from him.


    "However!" the patriarch continued, pausing dramatically. "In order to aplish that, you all need proper training and education! Right now, you are nothing but a newborn infant  but we, this sect, shall help nourish you to live up to your full potential, shaking the earth and splitting the heavens!"


    "That''s quite exaggerated," Hina-nee giggled softly from beside me.


    "I agree. All the other disciples seem to be believing every word he was saying, though," I scoffed, looking around in disdain at all the other disciples, who appeared to be taking every word the patriarch was saying in full seriousness.


    "Can''t me them," Furuwa sighed. "If I was more hot-blooded, I probably would be the same. Us six are the odd ones here. We have you, Sakura-senpai, and I, who think this is all artificial and can''t wait to get to the real training, then there''s Nadeshiko who just doesn''t care about anything except killing others."


    She turned to the remaining two, and continued. "And finally we have Koroth and Ming Yi, who justck the ability to talk or get excited, presumably."


    Ming Yi he was still a mystery. I was 99% certain he was the same Ming Yi as the cksmith in Xiyang, but they felt like twopletely different people on the outside.


    "Now, that is enough talk  I am certain you all already know about the sect, so there is no need to delve into that topic. And since it is roughly noon" the patriarch continued, a wry smile on his aged face. " I believe everyone is hungry, yes?"


    At this, the audience cheered even louder, expecting an all-you-can-eat buffet as their wee. Some disciples even began drooling at the thought of what kinds of delicacies would be avable in one of the Eight Great Sects of Azrine.


    But unfortunately, their dreams were shattered by the following words that came out of the patriarch''s mouth.


    "Very well! Let us go hunting!"


    " Huh?" the audience collectively dropped their jaws in shock.


    The patriarch raised an eyebrow at this reaction, as if he had not expected this. "What of it? Food hunted and made by yourselves taste the best! Now, follow me!"


    "" the audience fell silent, unsure how to feel about this sudden turn of events.


    That is, until Elder Ning decided to step in.


    "Father that''s enough I think you got them all," she sighed exasperatedly, tired of her father''s jokes.


    "Hahaha! Sorry, my dear daughter, it''s just so funny, seeing their reactions every year oh, it never gets old, does it?"


    Elder Ning''s expression said ''yes, it does'', but the patriarch couldn''t take the hint.


    "D-Does this mean we don''t have to hunt for our own food?" a disciple meekly asked, raising his hand.


    "Heavens, no! I would never expect new disciples to hunt for their own food on their first day. In the future, yes, but not today," the patriarchughed. "Once the school year officially begins in January next year, you will be taught how to y Magic Beasts  not now."


    If the official school year began in January next year why bring us into the sect right now, October 31st? We still had two whole months to go what would we be doing until then?


    "Alright, everyone  as the patriarch, I now say this formally:"


    The patriarch cleared his throat and spread his arms.


    "Wee to the Blessing Nature Sect!"


    *****


    After that, we were told to head into the Roman-style temple. There, countless long tablesy, stacked with food and drinks. We were free to sit anywhere we liked, and eat however much we wanted. Hina-nee, Furuwa, Nadeshiko, Aisa, and I managed to secure ourselves an empty table alone in the corner of the temple.


    Truly, it was an all-you-can-eat buffet. The disciples'' initial expectations were not that far off from the truth.


    "Mm this is delicious!" Hina-nee eximed, eating what seemed to be a chicken drumstick.


    I wonder did normal chicken even exist in this world?


    I calmly chewed on a kebab that tasted like the spicymb skewers from back on Earth  it was truly amazing.


    "Hey, Aisa, are you able to appreciate food like this?" I asked, curious.


    "Naturally," she replied briskly, keeping her voice low so no one else would hear her extensive vocabry. "I can differentiate between delicious and unptable."


    "The food here is really good if only we could eat like this everyday," Furuwa sighed, sipping on a bowl of hot, steaming soup.


    "You will," a voice interjected from behind me as I felt two hands rest of my shoulders.


    I turned around immediately and saw Elder Ning, smiling happily at the five of us.


    I quickly tried to get up and bow to show respect like I saw the other disciples in response to the patriarch earlier, but Elder Ning''s hands held me in ce.


    "No need," she said, realizing what I was trying to do, then turned back to the others. "As a direct disciple of mine, eating like this every meal is a small part of your privileges. Only core and direct disciples can do this, though outer and inner disciples don''t get this luxury."


    At this, all of our eyes lit up. "R-Really?"


    "Yep. But if you make me upset, I have full authority to ruin this, y''know?" she giggled. "So, don''t make me mad  that goes for you especially, Igarashi Kaze."


    I gulped. "Why me?"


    "Don''t worry about it," she smiled innocently. "Anyway now, do you understand just how amazing the rank of direct disciple is? And eating like royalty isn''t even the main reason why everyone is jealous of this rank. There are many more privileges you haven''t even discovered yet. You will, soon, though~"


    "I have a question," I said, clearing my throat.


    "Hm?"


    "Your fathe- I mean, the patriarch mentioned that the school year would begin in January so why are new disciple examinations held inte October every year?"

 Chapter 133: Orientation

    Chapter 133: Orientation


    "Every year, the Blessing Nature Sect takes in new disciples in October because of a certain test," Elder Ning exined with a wink.


    I blinked. "Another test? So we aren''t formal disciples yet?"


    "You''ll find out tomorrow," she said cryptically with a wry grin. "In fact, it''s supposed to be a surprise, so I shouldn''t have even told you that just now, but consider this another special privilege of being my direct disciple."


    With that, she left to go sit with her father, who called her over for something.


    "What a pain" Furuwa muttered, downing a full ss of champagne.


    "W-Woah, careful there," I murmured. "Does that thing have alcohol in it?"


    "Don''t think s"


    Saying this, she fell over, drunk and unconscious.


    "Don''t think so my ass" I sighed, shaking my head in exasperation. "What do we do with her?"


    "Let''s just wait until we all finish eating, I guess," Hina-nee shrugged. "The patriarch should tell us where to go next"


    As if on cue, at the table to the deep end of the temple where all the staff of the sect were eating, the patriarch wiped his mouth with napkins and stood up.


    Then, using that volume amplifier art or artifact of his once more, he spoke to everyone in the chamber.


    "Alright, disciples! Most of you should be finished eating by now  an hour is more than enough. I would like everyone to meet back here at 8 PM tonight, so from now until then, you have seven hours to explore the sect as you like. Only thing though, you are not allowed to leave this rock, known as the Evergreen Peak."


    Evergreen Peak I see, so these massive rocks each had their own name.


    "There will be barriers preventing you from trying to head up without a proper token  and those things hurt," Elder Han added, standing up beside the patriarch. "So, moral of the story: don''t try it. You may end up crippled."


    Worried murmurs spread among the new disciples, as the patriarch continued.


    "Don''t fret. As long as you don''t do anything stupid  which may be hard to ask of young, hot-blooded teenagers like you  you will not be hurt. There are plenty of things to do, plenty of ces to explore here on Evergreen Peak alone. In fact I rmend making use of these seven hours given to you wisely, as there are many useful locations for getting stronger throughout this peak."


    Useful locations for getting stronger, huh? I like the sound of that.


    "We are a sect that strongly believe in independent study," Elder Zhang added, eyeing the new disciples coolly. "The Dao of cultivation is a cold, ruthless one. Alliese and go; friends temporary. In the end, you only have yourself to rely on. To prepare you all for that, the sect will not be giving exnations or maps of any kind  whatever resources you can find here depend on you and you alone."


    "That is all," the patriarch concluded, snapping his fingers as all the food and drinks suddenly disappeared. Furuwa and the other disciples who had fallen drunk all were made sober instantly, waking up.


    "The orientation day starts now. Remember: everyone is to meet back here at 8 PM!"


    *****


    After the patriarch''s speech, Elder Ning came over to take Aisa to her new home. I was somewhat disappointed by this since I had wanted to ask her about certain things regarding how to ''erase'' more emotions without opening reality rifts. I had never thought about this carefully before since at the time I was so bewildered by all the informationing in, but I came to this realization recently.


    Reality rifts were a danger  if we failed to close them, that was essentially inviting the Creator''s shadow in to take over. We had to show them we were willing to change  that was the whole point of the rifts, which served as warnings. But after the first time, ording to Aisa, the next set of reality rifts the Creator will send in won''t be as easy to counter.


    That''s why, I would like to avoid using them to erase my emotions if possible.


    I made up my mind to ask Aisa about this as soon as I got a chance to, since this was urgent. The sooner I found out this information, the better, so I could begin making ns. I was the type of person to like getting things done as soon as possible  the work first, yter mentality. I would be very happy if I could start nning ahead.


    Oh, and also if she could implement some sort of mind transmissionmunication method between her and I, that would be extremely convenient. I doubted she could do that right now though, since her abilities were essentially on lockdown for the time being thanks to the Creator. The only thing she could help me with currently was knowledge and information.


    After Elder Ning left with Aisa, the remaining four of us set out to explore the sect just as told by the patriarch. He mentioned useful resources for getting stronger  and I was dead set on finding them all. As a maniptor, the more tools I had my disposal, the better. Whether these ''tools'' were living pawns or abiotic factors, that didn''t really matter.


    A tool was a tool. That''s all there was to it.


    "Do you guys want to split up?" Furuwa proposed cleverly as we walked. "We''ll be able to cover more ground that way. I know we have 7 hours, but"


    "Better safe than sorry, huh?" I muttered. "Sure, let''s do it your way. Though this is a new ce to all of us, so we may end up getting lost. But just to confirm: do you all have the Traveler skill unlocked, or no?"


    "The one that gives you a minimap? Of course," Furuwa snorted.


    "I do as well," Hina-nee added.


    "Mhm~" Nadeshiko nodded her head, signaling that all three of them had it.


    "Okay, looks like my worries were unnecessary. Let''s each head in one direction, then. Behind us is just a bunch of nature and the staircase that we used to get up here, so looks like we only have to go in four directions, all in front of us."


    "I''ll take the west side," Furuwa said, pointing in the direction she was going.


    "I got northwest~" Nadeshiko snickered, skipping off casually without even waiting for us to reply.


    I sighed. "You can leave northeast to me. Then that just leaves you, Hina-nee, with"


    "West. Got it," she winked and made an okay hand gesture, before spinning around and walking off.


    "Remember, we''re meeting back here at 8 PM!" I called out before they went out of earshot, then headed off into my own direction without knowing whether or not they even heard me.


    *****


    Theyout of the Evergreen Peak was somewhat like this:


    There was only one entrance  everywhere else was blocked off by a barrier that non-disciples were unable to pass through. This entrance, in the form of a gate, led upwards to arge temple via a straight staircase, almost like climbing a small hill. At the temple, you could then walk straight through and go in four directions from there: left, right, or front.


    We decided to split front into two because of how much broad it was. If the peak was a pizza cut into eight pieces and the temple marked the direct center of it, each of the four of us essentially took one eighth to explore, disregarding the other four eighths that were unessible.


    I noticed that this ce was almost like a small town as I walked through the sidewalks. Other disciples, new and old alike, roamed the streets, each with their own goals in mind.


    As soon as I spotted an old disciple with a uniform, however, I quickly went over to him.


    "Excuse me," I said as he eyed me up and down.


    "Something you need?"


    "Uh, yes," I racked my brains for a way to say this politely. Myck of social interaction with strangers back on Earth was really biting me in the ass right now. "You see, I am a new disciple here"


    "Yeah, I can see that. No uniform and all."


    Iughed awkwardly. "R-Right. So if you don''t mind, could you show me around Evergreen Peak? I want to familiarize myself with the ce since I''ll being here often from now on, so it would be a problem if I keep getting lost. A guide would be nice."


    The senior disciple raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Junior brother I hate to break it to you, but I know exactly what you''re trying to do here  I had to do the same ''orientation day'' thing when I first entered the sect. And trust me, I used the same strategy you''re trying to use right now  ask the seniors. Sorry, but I won''t tell you anything."


    Hm? He used ''won''t'' rather than ''can''t''. That meant there was still a chance to convince him.


    "For free, you mean," I smiled wryly. Now, this conversation was getting into my field of expertise. No more awkward greetings. No more nervous stuttering and social anxiety.


    "" he didn''t respond to my words, but he didn''t exactly deny them or just walk away either. I knew that I had hit the mark.


    "Then will you show me around all the good ces of this peak if I pay you?"


    Slowly, the corners of his lips turned upwards as he finally nced at me straight in the eyes.


    "In that case naturally. It would be my pleasure to help a junior brother out."

 Chapter 134: Blackmailer

    Chapter 134: ckmailer


    "Follow me. We can discuss the specifics somewhere more private," the senior disciple said, looking around.


    It seemed that he was afraid of someone else finding about him epting a bribe, which was understandable. Determining that there was no demerits to following him, Iplied.


    We entered what seemed to be a public bathroom, split between male and female. We went in the male side, obviously.


    There was no one else there at the moment, making it the perfect ce to execute this deal.


    "So? How much are you going to pay me?" he asked, folding his arms. "My help doesn''te cheap, you know. You''re lucky I''m even offering you it."


    "Naturally, I understand," I replied, going along with his words to make this deal flow smoother. "I appreciate what you''re doing for me, senior brother. Because of this I will pay you 100 gold for your trouble."


    I internally cringed at every word that wasing out of my mouth, but it was a necessary sacrifice to help this deal go through the way I wanted it to. Sometimes, bowing down was the best strategy. Showering people like this with praise also worked, since theycked self-confidence and needed someone else to confirm their superiorityplex.


    But then, the senior disciple scoffed. "Only 100? I''m about to spend several hours showing you around this ce, wasting time I could''ve otherwise spent diligently cultivating. Do you know how much time is worth? It''s priceless."


    Unfortunately, I did not quite get the effect I wanted, it seems. Still, that was fine. I was expecting the first time to fail  that''s why I purposely only offered 100.


    "Sorry what about 250?" I asked anxiously. "That''s half of all I have"


    Of course, this was a tant lie. I had nearly 400,000 gold in my inventory, but he didn''t need to know that  this was all part of my n. Start low, then steadily increase the price as he asks for it, while putting on an act of increasing nervousness. That was the way to go in order to pay him the minimum possible while still ensuring the deal still sealed sessfully.


    "Seriously? You''re that poor?" the senior disciple snorted irritatedly. "Tch, if you''re this poor, why are you trying to bribe someone?"


    "P-Please," I stuttered, practically begging him. "500. That''s the highest I can go, I have no more. I''m from a poor family, and my parents have both passed away already, rendering me an orphan I got these 500 coins by working tirelessly at a farm, day after day. After months of suffering, I finally managed to wait until this sect began recruiting again. Help me out, senior brother I want to be first at something, for once in my life  even if I have to cheat to do it."


    "T-Tch" he gritted his teeth, looking at me like I was some sort of insect. "A-Alright, fine, fine. I don''t want to hear your sad past. 500 coins? Bet. Hand them over."


    Deep down, I grinned. What an expertly-woven, beautiful piece of utter bullshit I just came up with on the spot. Truly, a magnificent work of art, able to deceive even the cleverest of people.


    I meekly took out a pouch filled with 500 gold out of my pocket and handed it to the senior disciple obediently. Naturally, I had prepared this before reaching out to him. Thankfully, the final price and what I had in mind were identical  in other words, I had controlled this conversation and exchange perfectly.


    He weighed the pouch a little and peeked inside, muttering, "Well this should be enough to buy five tickets for the Tower of Hearth"


    "Tower of Hearth? What''s that?" I asked, curious.


    "Nothing you need to be worrying about, newbie," he chuckled, stuffing the pouch of coins into his ring, somehow.


    I was confused at how the pouch suddenly shrinked and flew into the gem of the ring, but seeing as how this guy wasn''t nning on any of my questions, I decided to refrain from asking.


    "Alright," he said once he was finished. "I don''t think anyone overheard our conversation, which is good but you know what to do, yeah?"


    "Don''t tell anyone this ever happened? Don''t worry, I got it. On the surface, it will just be you kindly helping out a new disciple."


    He smirked. "Exactly. d to see you understand without me having to say anything."


    He then took out a silver token of some sort from the inside of his green cloak and showed it to me. On the token was a word written in Chinese:


    ''Outer.''


    "You can call me Long Yaqing. I am an outer disciple of the sect, second year. Now, follow me."


    Stuffing the token back into his pocket


    How easily people give in to bribery it''s truly sickening. Still, I wasn''tining. This worked in my favor, though I was slightly disappointed in the ethics of the disciples here. Still, it was just one person. I didn''t have a big enough sample to determine whether or not the remainder of the poption was like him as well  hopefully not.


    Bribery was a double-edged sword  I could use it on someone to have them kill a person, but another can just as easily bribe the same person to kill me instead.


    Long Yaqing probably saw me as some sort of weakling, someone easy to pick on, especially because of the Deceiver set I obtained from the Vault of Deception. That''s why he hinted at bribery when I spoke to him. Of course, my intentions just happened to match his, resulting in a smooth deal being formed.


    Unfortunately for him, however without even realizing it himself, he had just be another one of my pawns.


    "You can go out first, Senior Brother Long," I said with a smile on my face. "I need to actually use the restroom real quick."


    He sighed. "Yeah, yeah just don''t make me wait too long, you hear me?"


    I nodded in return as he left.


    Of course, I didn''t actually need to piss. There were two reasons why I asked him to go out first:


    One, to avoid rousing suspicion from passerby, seeing two guys exiting out of the bathroom at the exact same time;


    And two to check whether or not the recording I discretely made during our conversation really worked.


    Heading into a stall, I opened up my System and went to my Inventory. There, I spotted the item I was looking for:


    [Name: Recording #001]


    [Type: Audio File]


    [Duration: 4:53]


    [Description: A recording made with the ''ckmailer'' skill.]


    Indeed  the ckmailer skill. This had been one of the skills I purchased with some of the 12 AP I received from reaching Level 35 just yesterday. It was of the Knight skill tree, which surprised me a bit. I remember, at the time, I was surprised to find this out, since I didn''t know Knights, chivalrous and honorable, would stoop so low as to use ckmail, but hey  you learned something new everyday.


    Smirking, I tapped on the item. A new pop-up appeared, giving me further details and options to customize.


    [Date recorded: 10/31/2051]


    [Time recorded: 1:14 PM]


    -


    [ - Options - ]


    [Rename]


    [Delete]


    [Effects]


    I tapped on effects. A new menu opened.


    [Voice Changer]


    [Cut/Trim]


    [Censorship]


    I clicked on the voice changer option, and was met with a prompt.


    [Scanning file]


    After a few seconds, the text changed:


    [Two voices detected. Select one you wish to apply the voice changer effect on.]


    [1. Igarashi Kaze (You)]


    [2. Long Yaqing]


    Without any hesitation, I clicked on my own name.


    [Applying effects]


    [Effectplete.]


    I then exited back to the options menu and clicked on rename.


    [Please type in the new name of the file here:]


    [ _________ ]


    A holographic keyboard appeared below the main window of my System, and I quickly typed on it:


    [ckmail Evidence: Long Yaqing.]


    I then pressed save to apply the changes, then listened to the recording. After confirming it had recorded the whole conversation and my voice was sessfully altered, I exited out of my System and left the stall.


    *****


    After I came out of the bathroom, Long Yaqing was a short distance away. Although he didn''t see me, I noticed him, but I purposely went the other direction and looped around for a while beforeing back and greeting him atst.


    "You sure took a long ass time," he snorted after seeing me, with quite the dissatisfied expression on his face.


    Iughed awkwardly. "Ahaha yeah, I think I ate too much just now, at the wee ceremony"


    "Heh. Happens to the best of us," he chuckled lightly,pletely clueless that in a few days, his journey at this sect would being to an end  at least, that''s what I assumed the punishment for epting bribes were.


    "Alright, you ready now?" he asked after sweeping over my body with his eyes, up and down.


    I nodded. "Take the lead, Senior Brother Long."


    The reason I decided to record that conversation in the bathroom to use as ckmail against him was simply as an experiment  nothing more. I could threaten him with it if I ever need him again in the future, but for now, I didn''t see a point in actually using it. It''s not like these recordings expired, so I could keep it for as long as I wanted to.


    That said if an opportunity arises  for example, if there was a reward for reporting other disciples of breaking the rules  I would sell him out without a second thought.


    Sorry, Long Yaqing. Just me it on your bad luck for running into me.

 Chapter 135: Evergreen Peak

    Chapter 135: Evergreen Peak


    "So, to begin, Evergreen Peak is split into four quarters," Long Yaqing said as we walked on the concrete ground, through the town-esque municipality. "The quarter we''re in right now is usually referred to the DN Quarter by the disciples, and it stands for ''Daily Necessities Quarter''. Groceries, tools, clothing  basically anything you can find in a department store are sold here. You can buy them with gold, just like if you were in a real city or town."


    "I see what are the other quarters?" I asked.


    "Well, if youe up the front gates of the sect and arrive at the Temple of Flowers  that''s what it''s called, by the way  the four quarters will be to your left, front-left, front-right, and right respectively. It really isn''t that hard to figure out."


    "Ah, okay"


    So, it seems the three girls and I were each exploring a quarter right now. How nicely divided.


    "To be honest, there really isn''t much to show in this quarter, but I will point out a few good shops that have low prices. Follow me."


    I did as told, following closely behind as he turned left into an extremely long alleyway that seemed to lead to the edge of a cliff. Of course, that was only natural, since this floating rock was essentially a mid-air ind. It had borders  this cliff was just one part of it that marked the boundaries of the peak.


    Still, it felt weird looking down a road, lined with buildings of all kinds on either side, lead to nothing but a fall to your death. The view would probably be good though. This peak wasn''t high enough to see the top of Astrasil, but it''s not like that massive tree was the only impressive scenery around here.


    "This is the groceries aisle. Food and drinks, you can find them all in here," Long Yaqing exined. "Most of the stuff here cost more than what you would expect at a normal grocery store, but there is one store at the very end of the aisle that not many people go to. It has prices far lower than the rest of the market. But other than the fact that it''s far more convenient to just buy at a shop closer to the main road, there''s also one more reason why not many people choose to go there."


    "Oh?" I tilted my head. This was interesting information.


    "It''s the owner. He''s a bit weird. He has this quiet and gloomy air to him that seems to strangely effect people around him too, making their mood drop depending on how close they are to him. That''s also why he set up his store at the very end of the road  purposely so that not a lot of people would go there. At least, that''s what I''ve heard."


    "Then why open up a store at all?" I couldn''t help but wonder aloud.


    "To make a living," Long Yaqing sighed. "That old man doesn''t want too many customers, be he still wants some  enough to keep him alive."


    "Huh" I was still confused.


    "You don''t understand  everyone working here in the sect have some sort of close rtionship with it. Not just anyone is allowed to set up a store here. And from what I''ve heard about that man he used to be one of the Ten Elders. I don''t know why he isn''t anymore, but it seems he doesn''t want to just leave the sect either."


    "I see," I murmured, slowly gaining interest in this mysterious old man.


    "GRAHH!" a loud, angry roar suddenly came from ahead of us, and I stopped.


    "Uh what was that?"


    Long Yaqing, who didn''t seem surprised at all, shrugged. "Oh, that was him. The old man. I forgot to mention, but he screams like that whenever someone tries talking to him."


    What the hell?


    "Er do you know his name?"


    "No, I don''t, but why do you even want to know?" he snorted haughtily, shaking his head. "I just told you, he starts screaming like a feral dog whenever someone tries interacting with him. You heard it yourself."


    "Hm"


    "Anyway, we''re almost there, so shut up. Don''t say a word unless you want him to start roaring again."


    I zipped my mouth shut obediently as we got closer to the end of the road, where the old man''s store was. On the way, another disciple passed by us from the other direction, a depressed look on his face. He was probably the one who triggered the old dude''s yelling just now.


    This stall we were heading for was separated from all the other ones on this road, built a good few meters away, possibly to prevent the old man''s mysterious ''depression'' aura from spreading to others.


    As soon as we passed the final attached stall on our left-hand side, I noticed Long Yaqing''s expression darken, a slightly sad look taking over his face.


    Was it that bad?


    As for me, I kept apletely neutral expression, since I was unaffected by sadness. After all, I had already lost that emotion from consuming a Blight.


    We strode right up to the front of his stall, and I noticed tears in mypanion''s eyes.


    What the


    He quickly wiped them as I turned to the old man sitting behind the counter. He wore dirty, ragged dark green clothes, and had disheveled grey hair that covered one of his eyes. He sat on his stool, both feet on it, as he buried his face into his kneecaps, as if afraid to be seen.


    Long Yaqing, fighting back the urge to break down in tears, sniffed a few times before pointing at the prices.


    "As you can see, newbie sniff these costs are much lower than the other stores. The only thing is agh sniff"


    He wiped his eyes with his uniform''s sleeve and quickly retreated a short distance away.


    "Damn the sadness aura is too strong," he spat, then turned to me. "Hey, newbie! Do you want to end up with depression or som- huh?"


    Afte realizing how perfectly neutral I was, Long Yaqing couldn''t help but gasp from a short distance away.


    I stared at the old man behind the rack filled with extremely fresh,tasty-looking fruits and vegetables. To my surprise, he appeared to be meeting my eyes with his own. Neither of us spoke, but the two of us seemed to both be trying to guess at each other''s true nature. I was curious about this weird power of his, and he was confused as to why I waspletely unaffected by it.


    After a while, however, I retreated atst, the old man''s gaze following me as I left.


    "Let''s go, Senior Brother Long," I said to Long Yaqing. "I can''t buy anything right now since I gave all my money to you, but thanks for showing me this ce. This will definitelye in handy once I get some funds again. Now what are some other good shops?"


    However, instead of responding, he merely continued to stare at me, ck-jawed.


    Damn I was so busy trying to search for any sign of clues about that man that I forgot to act like I was affected by his aura as well now this guy knows there was something abnormal about me.


    "You do you not feel sad at all, after getting so close to that old geezer?" he asked,pletely disregarding my previous question.


    "Uh I do. It''s just I''ve never cried since my parents died," I bullshitted. "I don''t know why maybe I just spent my entire life''s worth of tears on that day."


    "The hell?" he seemed unconvinced, but he couldn''t exactly pry about it any further either. Spinning around and turning his back to me, he continued. "Ah whatever. It''s not like you''ll tell me the truth anyway. Just follow me. There are a few more good ces around here."


    After that, Long Yaqing continued to show me several shops with high quality products but low prices, but none of them were quite as the same as that mysterious old man''s small grocery store.


    All in all, I discovered the four best ces in the DN Quarter of Evergreen Peak to buy each category of items:


    Groceries  the old man''s unnamed shop.


    Health-rted products  Nature''s Pharmacy.


    Tools and machinery  Kell''s Workshop.


    Clothing  Azrine Outfitters.


    In addition, I also found out that the other three-quarters of Evergreen Peak were for entertainment, sect-wide institutions, and restaurants respectively.


    ording to Long Yaqing, each peak had its own private facilities reserved only for disciples of that peak. These facilities included libraries, prime cultivation spots, and certain training sites that provided special benefits.


    I wonder as a direct disciple of Elder Ning, which peak would I be assigned to?


    For now, however, I was curious about the sect-wide institutions. He didn''t go into detail since apparently, he had something to do, so the whole thing about ''spending several hours with me'' was a lie. Not that I believed him in the first ce.


    Well, this was fine, anyway. I was nning on heading for the quarter the sect-wide institutions were in  that was also where Hina-nee was, so I could meet up with her with any luck and explore together with any luck.


    As it turns out I was starting to get excited about my new life at this sect.

 Chapter 136: Bounty Center

    Chapter 136: Bounty Center


    I used my minimap to navigate my way back to the Temple of Flowers, then set out to the east. Since the map only recorded locations I''ve been to already, it didn''t tell me anything about what to expect in this new quarter I was heading in.


    Apparently, this was the ''public set facilities'' quarter, its formal name being the Community Quarter. I predicted there would be institutions such as libraries, gyms, and such, but perhaps there was more to it. This quarter was the smallest of the four, but I had a feeling it held the biggest secret of all.


    Hme to think of it, Nadeshiko mentioned some sort of Social System being unlocked once she hit Level 50. If I could send messages via that system like she said you could, then that would makemunication so much easier.


    Being from modern-day Japan, I was used to having convenient tools such as phones and emails that having to meet in person here in this new reality felt like quite a hassle to me. Humans have just grownzy over the years, I suppose.


    In any case, the sidewalks in this quarter were well-maintained and surrounded by organized aisles of small bushes on either side, giving it a royal garden look. I then turned to my left and spotted a short but wide building in the distance.


    Narrowing my eyes and blocking the sun with my hand, I tried to get a better look.


    It was mostly white, with a design that kind of resembled the Sydney opera house back on Earth. There was no way I could tell what it was about by just standing here, so I picked up my pace and began heading for the building.


    *****


    "Hm no sign anywhere," I muttered, standing before the impressively wide building while rubbing my chin.


    I had passed by several other buildings on the way here, but I wasn''t one to be easily distracted.


    Okay, that was a lie, I did go around and check every single one of them, but their purposes were all within my expectations  libraries, gyms, and such. Most of them also had signs that read exactly what the ce was, so that made things easy too.


    This building, however, was different.


    Despite the obvious fact that there was no sign anywhere on the building and the windows were all shaded to the point you could barely see through them, this ce had far more disciples going in and out than any other building I saw.


    "How peculiar," I wondered out loud.


    "Oh, Kaze-kun, you''re here too?"


    I heard a familiar female voice calling out for me, so I turned my head and spotted Hina-nee. Beside her was a senior brother who seemed to be one or two years older than we were.


    "Uh yeah," I said nonchntly. "I finished exploring my area already, so"


    "Ahh, I see. ording to Senior Brother Li here, this ce is called the Bounty Center. Basically, disciples can obtain certain ''quests'' from here, thene back to receive rewards afterpleting them. Apparently, the rewards are quite good, hence why there are so many disciples going in and about."


    "Huh interesting," I murmured to myself, deep in thought.


    "Want to explore together?"


    I blinked. "Have you already checked out the rest of this quarter?"


    Hina-nee nodded happily. "Mhm! Senior Brother Li showed me around for free."


    "Oh, good. Any useful discoveries?"


    "Apart from this ce, not really. Just a bunch of ''public'' facilities, but each peak already has their own private, better ones anyway, so"


    "Let''s head inside, then," I said, turning away and striding through the door.


    As I walked through the rotating doors, in the corner of my eye, I saw Hina-nee pout slightly, for whatever reason. The older disciple  Senior Brother Li  chuckled, as if amused by something.


    I had a good idea what they were trying to do here, but I didn''t show it on my face and instead calmly countered their original n.


    *****


    "Wow," I whistled, ncing around at the marvelous sight.


    Theyout inside this ''Bounty Center'' was simr to that of an airport, where passengers had to line up and go through identity checks and such in different aisles. There must''ve been at least over a hundred people in this building, not counting all the receptionists, one responsible for each aisle.


    "So many people" Hina-nee murmured, subconsciously walking up beside me.


    "This isn''t even peak hour," Senior Brother Li said with a sly grin on his face, then froze as the two of us turned to him with unamused expressions. "Ah, no pun intended."


    Sighing in unison, Hina-nee and I turned away from him and nonchntly walked up to the shortest line we could find. After a few minutes, it was our turn, and we walked up to the receptionist.


    "Hello. How may I help you today, disciple of the Blessing Nature Sect?" she asked, wearing a white and green uniform that matched the sect''s colors.


    "Er we''re on our orientation day today, so we would like to find out more about this ce if possible," I said truthfully.


    "I see. And this disciple behind you two?"


    "Ah, I''m Li Haixun. Core disciple, third year."


    Saying this, he pulled out a token of some sort from the inside pockets of his sect robes and showed it to the receptionist. It was simr to the one Long Yaqing had in terms of size, but this one was made of jade rather than silver and had the Chinese character ''core'' inscribed on it.


    Naturally, it was a signature look of superiority.


    Hina-nee gawked in wonder at Li Haixun as he did this, as if entranced.


    Haha, as if.


    She then sneakily nced over to me to see if I saw her acting out admiration to the best of her abilities, but I pretended to not have noticed. She pouted angrily once more.


    Please, Hina-nee enough with the childish games.


    Testing if I would be jealous? Seriously? At least pick a more believable moment to admire him I mean, we''re literally direct disciples, the tier even higher than core disciples what''s there to be impressed about?


    Besides, there was literally no reason for Li Haixun to pull out his token just now  it was clear he was just trying to show off. Obviously, this was all staged beforehand.


    Oh, and one more thing I already lost the emotion of jealousy/envy anyway. In other words, she was putting on this whole act for absolutely nothing.


    I had no intention of exposing Hina-nee right here and now, but if she continued trying to test me


    The receptionist nodded in return as Li Haixun ced his token back into his robes.


    "Alright. Would you like me to exin everything in words, or just give you a brochure to read on your own?" the receptionist asked. "Exining in words may take a while, but I can answer any questions you have immediately. If you don''t have enough time, however, I rmend just epting this brochure."


    Saying this, she pulled out two booklets of some kind from her drawer and slid them through the semi-circle shaped hole in the ss screen separating her and us.


    Hina-nee and I each took one, and she prepared to leave. But I stayed.


    "If possible, could you exin in words?"


    "Of course," the receptionist said. "Though your friend here seems to have something to do, so"


    "That''s fine. Let them leave," I said coldly, as a form of revenge for trying to test whether or not I would be jealous.


    "Wha" Hina-nee dropped her jaw at my attitude, but I didn''t even bother sparing her a nce.


    Sorry, Hina-nee even if you''re the closest person to me in the world, I am not one to easily forgive and forget.


    "Go on," I said to the receptionist,pletely ignoring Hina-nee.


    "E-Er okay then. This ce''s official name is the Bounty Center, and it''s purpose i-"


    "Now hold on a minute!" Hina-nee stormed towards me and reached out for my ear, but I ducked out of the way and leaped back a short distance, nearly crashing into a different line.


    She narrowed her eyes and dashed towards me once more, but I would not let her reach me. My AGI was more than double hers, so doing that was quite easy.


    "W-Woah, woah, hey!" Li Haixun, not expecting this sudden turn of events, quickly tried to get Hina-nee away from me, but she was like a cat in heat and would not back down until she caught me.


    "Get back here, Kaze-kun! We need to talk!" she folded her arms and said angrily.


    I stopped moving and decided to feign ignorance. "Talk? About?"


    "I''m sorry, okay? I shouldn''t have tried to um, t-test you," she murmured quietly, in stark contrast with her previous words.


    That was Hina-nee indeed. Whenever we had a conflict with one another, she would be very stubborn and angry at first, but suddenly shift into sad and pitiful directly after, as soon as she realized she was in the wrong. This was just one of those moments.


    Most people would keep fighting even if they knew they lost the argument, just to not lose face. But Hina-nee was different, as seen from this incident.


    I get what she was trying to do, but this was really just not the time nor ce to do it. I can''t say I understand her intentions since I wasn''t a girl, but I mean, I wouldn''t bother testing if Hina-nee would be jealous by hanging out with a different girl right in front of her face.


    Partly because I already knew she would, but mostly because I knew by heart she would care. A lot.


    I didn''t get why she was so worried about me not caring about her. Never can guess a girl''s heart, I guess.


    Everyone nearby ceased their movements and stared at all themotion we caused. They had no idea what Hina-nee was talking about, what with the ''testing'' and all, but I  and Li Haixun, of course  both did.


    All the spectators had probably expected a fight to break out, but now the girl was suddenly apologizing to the guy. They must be so confused.


    I sighed and walked past her.


    "K-Kaze-kun?" she looked up, following me with her eyes.


    "You wanted to talk, no? We can do that outside."

 Chapter 137: Information Exchange

    Chapter 137: Information Exchange


    "So? What was that all about?" I asked, shooting Hina-nee a sideways nce.


    "U-Um you see, I was trying to see if you would get jealous after seeing me with another guy"


    "Yeah, I know. What I mean is why you did that."


    "Huh? Well, that''s because um you are steadily having more and more good girls surrounding you, and I''m hehe, it''s pretty pitiful now that I''m saying this out loud. I''m just scared you won''t want me anymore,pared to the others"


    I sighed and walked over to Hina-nee, hugging her gently and stroking her hair. Her eyes widened in surprise.


    "Hina-nee it doesn''t matter how many girls I''m surrounded by, or how good those girls are. You are the closest person to me in the world  both this one and Earth. I will never forget just how much care you''ve shown me for the past 14 years, okay? Even if you were an ugly monster, I would still treat you as my family. That part will never change, no matter how much time passes."


    "Kaze-kun"


    "So that''s why you don''t have to be so worried. Have some self-confidence, Hina-nee. Where''s the spirit you had when running for student council president back in middle school?"


    "That''s that''s different"


    "Yeah? What if I told you I like that version of you better? You know, the fearless, confident, and always positive version, never once doubting yourself."


    "" she fell silent, unsure of how to respond.


    "And besides did you forget? I can''t feel envy anyway, so what you did today was really pointless."


    At this, she pulled away from me and looked into my eyes. "Uh I may or may not have forgotten about that detail"


    I closed my eyes and sighed. Hina-nee she''s usually smart and quick-witted, but she also had her stupid moments like this. I found them adorable though.


    Patting her silky hair, I smiled. "Well now you remember. So don''t try something like that again, okay? It''ll only make me feel like you don''t trust me or something."


    She smiled faintly in return and nodded. "Mm got it."


    "So, uh what do we do now?" I asked, scratching my head.


    "A-Ahaha going back in after that would be too awkward wanna just get out of here? Hehe, we have the brochures anyway."


    "Y-Yeah, I agree."


    And so, the two of us left the Bounty Center behind, preparing to explore the area a bit more then head back to the Temple of Flowers at 7 PM, which was just a few hours from now.


    ording to Hina-nee, there were a few more locations Li Haixun mentioned, but they required us to first be a real disciple to ess. In other words, they were off-limits from the orientation day that was today.


    But of those ces, the one that interested me the most was the Arts Pavillion.


    Of course, that would have to be saved for January, when I officially became a disciple of the sect.


    *****


    We ended up finding a good library to read and talk in for the remainder of that time, since we practically already explored everything there was to explore in these two quarters. We picked out a few books we found interesting, headed into a private study room, and shut the door, leaving just the two of us.


    Because I was bored, I was busy scrolling through my System for any skills that stood out to me. There were so many that I couldn''t read through them all in one go.


    "By the way, Hina-nee," I said, not bothering to look up at her.


    "Hm?" she appeared to be reading a book of some kind.


    "How did you even meet that Li Haixun guy?"


    "Oh~ so you''re curious, huh?" she giggled deviously, shutting her book tight and ncing into my eyes.


    "Don''t get me wrong, I don''t particrly care, but he is a high-ranking disciple at the sect. If I can use him"


    "Well, I do happen to know some information about him which is why I got him to help me for free."


    "Huh, okay I see you. Hina-nee, are you getting influenced by my methods or what?"


    "Heehee, there''s only one person Ipletely trust in this world, and that''s you, Kaze-kun. You can never be too careful, so it''s always nice to have something up your sleeve in case they decide to betray you."


    "I like that mindset. So? What''s that guy''s secret?"


    "I saw him have a sort of illicit rtionship with a staff member of the sect, which is obviously not allowed, given his reaction when I told him I had seen everything," Hina-nee grinned deviously. "I used that ckmailer art you told me about that one night to capture their whole conversation, which had some quite naughty word usage. It wasn''t too hard to get him to do my bidding after that."


    "Oh? I see. Mind sending me the recording?"


    "I don''t know how though I''m guessing the trading system unlocked at Level 50 should do the trick."


    "Definitely. But that ckmailer skill it''s really helpful," I snickered, recalling my encounter with Long Yaqing. "I managed to get myself a pawn as well through it."


    After I told her the story, sheughed.


    "As expected of Kaze-kun bribing him, then pinning the me all on him instead. You''re a real devil, you know that?"


    I smirked. "Takes one to know one."


    *****


    I stretched my arms after a good few hours of reading. I went through all the books I had picked out. Unfortunately, this was a normal library and not one filled with books about arts, so it only had stuff like fictional novels and non-fiction works regarding Ascentia.


    Naturally, I picked thetter to read, in order to expand my knowledge about this new world. I didn''t end up discovering anything too useful, and the few pieces of info I found that I thought woulde in handy in the future would be long forgotten by my memory worse than that of a chimpanzee when the time really came to use it.


    Still, knowledge was knowledge.


    Hina-nee was still reading her books after I finished mine, so I decided to check out my System once more.


    And when I did I was shocked. My stats  or rather, a single stat in particr  had changed drastically.


    [STR: 330]


    [AGI: 340]


    [INT: 250]


    [DEX: 200]


    [MAG: 230]


    [LUC: 30]


    Indeed  my INT had shot up about 40 SP worth of ranks, from 210 to 250. For every 50 levels of INT, my arts had reduced cooldowns, so this meant I could recharge my skills even quicker now  sweet. I couldn''t help but wonder what would happen once I was at max INT if there even was a cap.


    The only logical exnation here would be that this increase was derived from reading just now, since right before we started, I had casually sweeped over my stats once. At the time, there had been no changepared to that day when I leveled up to Level 35. But now


    Still, this exnation didn''t really make sense. Back in Qilian City, I had studied at the library there too, but my INT stat didn''t see such big of an increase. I wonder what could''ve happened to cause this difference.


    Wait didn''t Elder Ning mention something about this sect being built here because this was an area rich in Essence?


    Don''t tell me my stats passively leveled up quicker based on how much Essence there was in the environment?!


    I gulped. If that were really the case if I end up using STR and AGI a lot within the sect''s grounds  which I probably will  my stats would skyrocket.


    Goddamn it, Aisa just how broken is this ability I  and now the other girls  have?


    *****


    Hina-nee finished reading soon after, and the two of us headed back to the Temple of Flowers to rendezvous with the other two. There was still an hour before we were to head inside the temple and talk with the patriarch once more, so we had time to exchange our findings.


    When we arrived, the other two were both already there.


    "You guys are here early," I noted. "Didn''t I say to meet back here at 8, when the patriarch wanted us to?"


    Furuwa scoffed. "You say that, but you''re here yourself, no? Besides, it was pretty obvious you were testing us by saying that seeing if we were able to actually think independently."


    Oh? Not bad, Furuwa. You''re improving.


    "Hehe~ after all, we split apart to speed up the information gathering and also cover more ground~ if we don''t exchange the information we found, what point is there to doing this~?" Nadeshiko giggled, as if this were the easiest thing in the world to figure out.


    "I had no such intention to test you, but" I smirked. "If this were really a test, then congrattions  you passed."


    "No intention?" Hina-neeughed. "Sure, Kaze-kun. Sure."


    After that, the four of us each took turns telling the others what we found, not hiding anything. Of course, Hina-nee and I strategically avoided speaking of the ckmailing we did and theckeys we acquired, but that wasn''t important anyway.


    In retrospect, I must say today was quite useful. Most other new disciples were working alone, so we essentially had the power of 4 vs 1 against them. Naturally, we turned out superior in terms of the information we managed to gather.


    Furuwa told us about the best restaurants here on Evergreen Peak, which was quite useful since food was necessary for survival.


    And Nadeshiko well. She wasn''t too important. I mean, the information she got wasn''t too important, as she was responsible for the entertainment quarter of the peak. Still, a little unwinding from time to time could do us good.


    Overall, I was quite satisfied with today''s results. Despite beingpletely new to the sect, we managed to get our hands on quite a bit of valuable information, giving us an edge over the other new disciples.


    And as they say, knowledge was power.

 Chapter 138: Pawns

    Chapter 138: Pawns


    Soon, 8 PM rolled around the corner. All of the disciples had gathered back here at the Temple of Flowers 15 minutes earlier, since they didn''t want to bete orst-minute. Most of them had excited expressions on their faces, probably having discovered many interesting things about the sect through today''s orientation period.


    Naturally, they wanted to begin their new life here at the Blessing Nature Sect as soon as possible. I wanted to as well, since the sooner I get stronger, the better.


    "Alright, disciples!" the patriarch''s familiar voice rained down upon us, and we all turned up to look at his figure in the sky, riding a Star Shuttle.


    "I hope you all had a great exploration experience here at Evergreen Peak," he said. "But this, is just the tip of the iceberg. The other peaks you see above you are all far better, more advanced than this one. However! In order to ess them you need to be a proper disciple of the sect first."


    At this, the disciples all looked to one another, murmuring in confusion.


    "Settle down, I will exin," the patriarch said, instantly quieting the crowd. "Right now, the official term for you all is ''trial disciples''. As you can tell from the name, the lot of you are not yet formal ones. That will happen after a certain test that will be given to you tomorrow.


    "As long as you pass it, on January next year, you shall be made a real disciple of the sect," he continued calmly, then turned in my direction for whatever reason. "Beware, however. This test will be extremely difficult, much more so than the ones you''ve done so far."


    "What I was never told about this" some guy among the crowd muttered bravely/stupidly.


    "You are wee to leave the sect now if you are unsatisfied," the patriach added coldly. "Just remember: once you leave, there is no room for regret. If you wish to leave, just say so anytime before the test begins."


    "What is the point of this extra test?" I asked daringly, raising my voice.


    The patriarch turned to me and frowned once more, as if trying to search for something on me, but Elder Ning, who was beside him, quickly tapped on his shoulder with a re in her eyes. The patriarch appeared ufortable faced with this expression, and cleared his throat.


    "There are two main reasons why this test is set in ce  the first of which being that the exams you all took to enter this sect evaluated physical strength, academic intelligence, and quick wits. But are you able tobine the three and turn it into a means of survival? That is what is most important  and it is also what this exam will be testing."


    "And the second reason?" I prompted, not showing any change in my expression.


    "Tradition," the patriarch replied without any hesitation. "Since this sect was founded, this was just how we did things, year after year. I see no reason to change it now."


    "Hm. I see. Thank you."


    "Now then, as for what the exam will be put simply, you are to survive for two months under harsh climate and a dangerous environment. The exact details can be found in a rules sheet exining the exam, which there are copies of inside the temple before you. And onest thing get some good rest tonight. The exam will start tomorrow."


    "That is all," the patriarch concluded after a deep breath. "There is also food inside the temple for those who did not eat dinner at a restaurant already. Grab yourself a rules sheet ande back out here to await a sect staff to lead you to your temporary home for tonight!"


    *****


    "Hina-nee."


    "Hm? What is it, Kaze-kun?"


    "Can you pick up a rules sheet for me as well? I''m going to go check something."


    "Check something," she echoed, dubious.


    I tried winking at her to signal what I meant without actually saying it out loud, since Furuwa and Nadeshiko were both here, but it ended up being harder than I expected to pull off a proper wink.


    "Y-You know, I need to go use the bathroom" I lied, scratching my head awkwardly.


    "A-Ah, no problem!" Hina-nee quicklyughed. "Sure, I''ll pick up a rules sheet for you. Though, we could just read one sheet together too"


    "Thanks," I said briskly, before running off.


    Furuwa seemed topletely buy my lie, but Nadeshiko followed my disappearing figure with her eyes, a peculiar smile on her face.


    *****


    I soon reached the entertainment quarter, which was where Long Yaqing had headed off to after parting ways with me. At least, that''s what I guessed, since the direction was roughly the same.


    "C''mon where the hell is he" I muttered, looking around frantically. And then, my gazended on the figure I was looking for, standing in front of some sort of arcade stall with a female disciple by his side.


    "What a bastard so the ''urgent business'' you had to do was a date with some girl, huh?" I scoffed under my breath, then smirked. "Time to ruin it, I suppose."


    Striding up confidently to him, I patted him on the shoulder heavily on purpose, causing him to suddenly spin around in shock.


    "W-Wha-?!"


    "Hey, Senior Brother Long. Remember me?"


    "U-Uh" he turned to the girl beside him, who had a surprised expression on her face, then looked back at me. "No! Who even are you?"


    Agh, how troublesome. ying the fool, huh? Fine, fine, fine you leave me no choice.


    "Oh, such bad memory? How unfortunate. You showed me around this peak earlier today, remember?"


    By saying it like this, I was secretly threatening to expose the truth. Naturally, that wouldn''t be good for him. Of course, it wasn''t good for me either, but at least the consequences for him were far greater than the ones I would have.


    Long Yaqing seemed to understand that as well, andughed awkwardly as he scratched his head.


    "A-Ah, yeah how could I forget? Sorry, Junior Brother. Was there something you needed? Got lost, maybe?"


    "Yeah could you lead me back to the Temple of Flowers, maybe? Sorry to interrupt your uh, date like this."


    "It''s no problem really," he gritted his teeth as he tried keeping a kind smile on his face, then let go of the female disciple''s hand. "Follow me, I''ll show you the way out. Mu''er, just wait here for me for a bit, okay? I''ll be back in a few."


    The female disciple nodded. "Alright, it''s no big deal. Junior brother, be more careful next time, okay? Don''t wander around too much in this quarter  it''s very easy to get lost here unless you''ve been here many times already."


    I nodded in return, slightly impatient. "Thank you for the advice, Senior Sister."


    "Come on. Let''s go," Long Yaqing muttered, brushing past me.


    I turned around and began following him, a triumphant grin on my face.


    *****


    Once we reached an isted spot where no other disciples were, he suddenly spun around and grabbed my cor.


    "Alright, you little shit just what do you think you''re doing?!"


    I blinked nonchntly. This was nothingpared to what Ichigo and Horiya have done to me in the past.


    "I just wanted to talk to you, Senior Brother. Privately. You wanted to y dumb, so I had no choice but to go into detail, you know?"


    "Tch" he let go of me and sighed in frustration. "Well? I''m here now. What do you want?"


    "I want to know about the test for new disciples," I replied truthfully. "You know the one in which Trial Disciples are made into real ones."


    "Oh, the eptance? Yeah, what about it?"


    "How does this sect usually do it? A written exam tournament?"


    "That I can''t tell you. It''s forbidden to leak anything about tests to new disciples."


    "Forbidden, huh? Then" I leaned in closer to his ear. "Is epting bribes also forbidden?"


    He paused. "No one will be able to find out I epted a bribe. But if I tell you about the test, the sect will know someone leaked information to you beforehand, which is why you did so well on it."


    "No one will be able to find out how naive," I sighed, before opening up my System and switching to my inventory. Then, I pressed on the recording I had made earlier today and clicked ''y''.


    "So? How much are you going to pay me? My help doesn''te cheap, you know. You''re lucky I''m even offering you it."


    Long Yaqing fell silent, eyes bulged in shock as he listened to his own voice. To him, who wasn''t a yer (I checked via Inspect), it just seemed like his own words had came out of nowhere.


    As the conversation in the recording moved on, he noticed all of my dialogue parts were edited so that no one would be able to tell whose voice it was.


    Slowly, he shifted his gaze and met my eyes.


    " You wouldn''t dare!"


    "Oh, but I would," I shrugged nonchntly and closed the recording. "So? What will it be? Tell me about the eptance, or get expelled from the sect?"


    Long Yaqing had introduced himself to me during the recording as well, including his full name, so he knew he couldn''t get away with this one.


    " Tch."


    I waited patiently as he made up his mind. I already knew his answer  after all, I won the moment I recorded that conversation. He had zero ability to refuse.

 Chapter 139: This is Way Too Complicated!

    Chapter 139: This is Way Too Complicated!


    " Fine. I''ll tell you," Long Yaqing said atst, not to my surprise. "I don''t know how you managed to record that conversation we had and store it, but"


    "Just talk," I sighed. "Tell me what I want to know, and I won''t speak a word of this to anyone. The sect won''t even find out you told me anything don''t worry, my acting skills are good."


    "I can tell," he muttered in annoyance, gritting his teeth. "To think I was fooled, thinking you were just a naive new disciple"


    "I don''t have much time here. Hurry up and tell me."


    "Okay, okay" he took a deep breath, making up his mind. "The eptance in the past years at least, the one I had to do, was TAKE THIS!"


    Suddenly, he looked up and threw a punch, heading straight towards my face. I, however, had been anticipating this move all along.


    After all, even a cornered rat would bite the cat.


    I understood that theory quite well, as I used to be a rat as well hence why this surprise attack would never work on me.


    Long Yaqing was my pawn  but not of his own volition. Naturally, I had to be ready for all the possible choices he could make. Resorting to violence was one of them. Naturally, he was trying to take the recording away from me, or outright kill me so I wouldn''t be able to tell anyone.


    Unfortunately for him he had severely underestimated my abilities yet again, even after admitting he had done so once already.


    I dodged out of the way of his punch with ease, before grabbing his outreached wrist and cing one of my feet behind his. Then, in one swift motion, I pushed him backwards, causing him the trip over my leg. He fell to the ground,pletely unable to react to my extremely quick and smooth movements.


    Then, I stepped on his chest, before leaning down to stare into his eyes.


    Under the shadow of the tree we were near, my bright blue eyes appeared to be the only things shining as they reflected the moonlight, cold and emotionless.


    "Hey. I don''t like pawns that try fighting back, you know?"


    "G-Gah" he groaned, and I applied more pressure into my foot. "GAH!"


    He screamed loudly, but now, being somewhere no one was near worked in my favor rather than his.


    "I have plenty of pawns at my disposal, and I can make more as easily as killing you right here and now. Losing you alone is no big deal at all. So, my dear senior brother what will it be?"


    "I-I''ll tell you I''ll tell you!"


    I smiled, but it was hidden by the darkness all around us. My eyes remained as the only bright object under the night sky.


    "Sorry, but I don''t trust you anymore. So why don''t you just tell me right now, in this position? That way, you can''t fight back and tryunching another surprise attack so slow and predictable it''s almost pitiful."


    "A-Alright alright, I get it! I just have to tell you, right? Fine!" he shouted, purposely increasing his volume in the hopes of having someone hear him.


    Unfortunately, unbeknownst to him, I had used a little art of mine to mask all sounds. Once again, this was a skill I obtained using the AP I received from reaching Level 35  it was called ''Silencer''.


    Essentially, it created an invisible sphere-shaped sound barrier around anywhere I wanted, as long as it was within range. Any sounds that urred within that 5-meter radius sphere would not be heard from the outside, no matter how loud the sound is.


    In other words, I had predicted everything Long Yaqing would try from the very beginning. Every word he spoke every move he tried to make was futile.


    "So? I''m waiting," I said quietly but menacingly, tapping my foot on his chest.


    "The past eptances have all been really easy it''s just a verbal interview asking you a few questions that''s it"


    Verbal interview, huh? Looks like my hunch had been on the spot  the whole ''difficult test'' and ''two-month survival in harsh climate and environments'' thing was utter bullshit. I had a feeling that the patriarch had purposely elevated the difficulty level to target a certain someone  me.


    He had purposely looked directly at me when he said ''beware, this test will be difficult.'' Naturally, he was testing to see if I would cower away from the challenge. I''m assuming this had something to do with me bing the direct disciple of his daughter  Elder Ning  but was there really a need to go this far?


    Of course, there was the chance I was just overthinking all this, and the test just so happened to change this year, when I entered.


    Ah, but then, why would the patriarch lie and said the sect had always done this in the past, year after year? ''Tradition''? But that contradicts with what Long Yaqing was telling me.


    In other words one of the two of them was lying  and I knew which one it was.


    Long Yaqing had a weak mentality  him trying to feign ignorance when I tried reaching out to him was proof of that. He would rather escape trouble than resolve it. In this case, he knew he was beaten  he wouldn''t dare to lie to me now.


    That left only one answer: the patriarch was lying.


    But in that case, I still had one more question.


    "But there are two months before starting the proper sect year, no?" I asked, continuing to apply pressure to his chest with my foot. "Just a verbal interview for every disciple wouldn''t take two whole months to do."


    "Those two months were essentially the free trial of the sect to decide whether they want to stay or not the trial disciples were free to go anywhere on Evergreen Peak and just enjoy life there."


    "Seriously? That good treatment?"


    Long Yaqing nodded frantically, and I fell into thought.


    Hm two whole months of just doing whatever you wanted on Evergreen Peak? No doubt, most of the disciples would be spending the majority of their time in the entertainment quarter, as much as they could before their real sect year began.


    Still, I could see this as a viable strategy  draw the disciples in with all these benefits in the trial period, then saying ''you can leave if you want to''. Obviously, no one''s going to leave with advantages like this it''s just there for show, to give the disciples a feeling that they had the freedom to choose.


    But in any case that wasn''t my problem. I had found out what I wanted to know. This trip had been worth it.


    Taking my foot off of Long Yaqing''s chest atst, I stuffed my hands into my pockets and began walking away.


    "H-Hey!" he shouted from behind me, and I stopped to listen to what he had to say.


    "Y-You won''t tell anyone, right?"


    "Naturally as long as you cooperate with me whenever I need you, from now on."


    He gulped in fear, but I could see his silhouette nod.


    Smirking, I headed back to the Temple of Flowers to regroup with Hina-nee and the others.


    *****


    "Oh, Kaze-kun!" Hina-nee hurried over when she spotted me and handed over a sheet of paper. Inscribed on it were the specific details regarding the exam that would happen tomorrow.


    I skimmed over it quickly. "Huh so, we''re going to be spending one month in a desert, and one month in a dangerous rainforest?"


    Hina-nee nodded. "But there is a way to return early."


    "Yeah, you gotta find some kind of golden maple leaf hidden in a chest somewhere within the exam grounds," Furuwa added, walking over to us. "But the chances of us finding that are pretty slim, so"


    "Why return early~?" Nadeshiko giggled. "Did you not read the backside? There are useful cultivation resources to be found within the exam grounds~ we should collect them all!"


    "Uh but there are going to be other disciples too, you know that, right? There''s no way we''re getting all of the resources to ourselves," I muttered uncertainly.


    "Then we kill them and take the resources~!"


    "No, we don''t!" the other two girls and I immediately disapproved in unison.


    "Aw~ but why? We can make it seem like an ident, heheheh"


    "Are you stupid?" Furuwa sighed and smacked her own forehead. "This is a test organized by the sect! They''re going to be watching us!"


    "Hm I suppose that is true then we kill the supervisors too~"


    "Is nothing on your mind except killing?!" Furuwa groaned in frustration as Hina-nee and I exchanged nces awkwardly.


    I really hope Nadeshiko doesn''t lose control and go on a killing spree that would be pretty troublesome, as Elder Ning knew she was close with me


    "Ugh, this is way tooplicated!" Furuwa said atst, fuming with annoyance. "Back when we did the tournament, the rewards said guaranteed entry into this sect. It never said anything about another test after this!"


    Because I was curious, I opened up my System and checked the Quests tab. There, a single primary quest was listed:


    [The Blessing Nature Sect (rec. lvl: 33)]


    [Be a formal disciple of the Blessing Nature Sect.]


    Pressing the quest steps, I scrolled down to the very bottom. And indeed, there it was:


    [ - Be selected to enter the sect via the Qilian Annual Regional Tournament.]


    [ - Reach the Blessing Nature Sect.]


    [ - Complete the wee ceremony and orientation day.]


    [X - Kill time by exploring the sect for the next two months and using side quests to get stronger.]


    [X - Survive.]


    Survive.


    That was all there was to it, huh?


    Well, I''ll be damned if I didn''t make good use of this opportunity good cultivation resources? Dangerous Magic Beasts and Monsters? All perfect materials to help me get stronger.


    Patriarch Ning I don''t know what you''re trying to aplish by doing this, but if your goal was to kill me, then sorry, but you''ll only end up making me stronger.


    But now, you''ve made me an enemy. And when I do get powerful enough you''ll be on my list.


    I am a very careful person when ites to debts and repayment. I always pay back those who have helped me out, but the same could be said about the people who have wronged me.


    Though I guess if Elder Ning ends up treating me well, I can spare her father.

 Chapter 140: The Quest for Survival

    Chapter 140: The Quest for Survival


    "Kaze, Hina, Chiaki, and Nakano. Follow me," a female voice suddenly said, interrupting our conversation. We turned to see Elder Ning, an ufortable expression on her beautiful face.


    The four of us exchanged nces wordlessly, and decided to just do as told. I looked up into the sky and saw the patriarch re down at me, a strict look in his eyes.


    Goddamn it, geezer what do you want from me?


    Elder Ning led us towards the public facilities quarter of Evergreen Peak and eventually stopped before arge hotel. Various groups of other disciples were also gathered here, though there were more at other hotels further away.


    Without any hesitation, she headed inside and we followed her. The receptionist stood up and bowed upon seeing Elder Ning, but our master seemed to be in no mood to reply and instead boarded an Essence-powered elevator, by the looks of it. The light within, however, still ran on electricity.


    We were silent the whole way, and to be honest, I was perfectly fine with that. Being an introvert, remaining quiet was easy.


    We got off at the 32nd floor. Elder Ning headed for a room at the back right and unlocked it.


    Sighing, she swung the door open, then turned back at us.


    "Come in. There''s something I need to talk to you all about."


    I had a good idea what she wanted to discuss, but I pretended not to know anyway andplied with her instructions. The others did the same.


    I shut the door tight behind me and locked it, then went over to where Elder Ning was, the couch.


    "Take a seat anywhere," she said.


    I sat down beside her, Hina-nee to my other side. Nadeshiko and Furuwa each pulled out chairs from the table nearby and sat on those instead.


    "Alright to be honest, I''m not supposed to be telling you all what I''m about to say. But since you all are rted to it, I figured it would be wrong to hide the truth from you. It''s regarding the exams that will be happening tomorrow."


    I raised an eyebrow. "The patriarch is okay with you telling us this?"


    Her eyes widened. "You knew?"


    "Between the death res he was sending me and the silent conflict you had with him up in the sky?" I snorted. "Yeah. I mean, I could guess."


    I purposely said this to avoid them from finding out the truth that I had ckmailed Long Yaqing into telling me everything.


    "I don''t know the specifics though," I quickly added. "In other words, I''m very confused on why your dad hates me so much, so do exin."


    "That is well, you know how I''ve never taken in any direct disciples before, yeah?" she sighed. "He''s just worried. He thinks I don''t know the importance and responsibility of choosing direct disciples, and that I''m just picking them at random. Most other elders only have one or two direct disciples, so me having four is"


    "Guess we''re causing trouble for you" Hina-nee murmured quietly, feeling guilty.


    "No, no, it''s not your fault. I don''t think the decision I made was wrong. The four of you are all great seeds, worthy of being direct disciples. It''s just I can see where my father ising from as well. Taking in four students in one go, and as my first ever teaching experience, no less"


    "What does that have to do with us?" Furuwa asked, still not understanding it.


    "When my father asked me to just make you four into normal disciples instead, I stubbornly refused. So, he took matters into his own hands."


    "Who told him in the first ce?" I couldn''t help but wonder. "If you didn''t tell him yourself, then he shouldn''t have found out until the sect year actually began."


    "I didn''t," Elder Ning quickly said. "But who else would''ve spilled the news?"


    I chuckled. "Then there''s only one answer: Elder Zhang."


    "Wha Elder Zhang? But what''s his motive for doing so?"


    "It''s simple. He doesn''t like me," I replied. "Can''t you tell?"


    "It''s true, I did notice him acting quite coldly towards you, but he does that to everyone, so and besides, I don''t recall you doing anything in particr to piss him off."


    I couldn''t tell if this girl was acting dense or if she really was, but either way, this was quite annoying. I didn''t see a point in exining any further if she was going to be like this, so instead, I just changed the topic.


    "Whatever. You don''t have to apologize, but can you bring Aisa over? I want to talk to her before leaving for two months."


    Elder Ning nodded. "Understandable I will be back in fifteen."


    Saying this, she exited the room and set off for her own peak to get Aisa.


    "All of us here know the culprit of this is Elder Zhang, right?" I asked around once she left, making sure we were all on the same page here.


    Hina-nee nodded. "Jealousy is a powerful emotion. I would know."


    "I can see why Elder Zhang is envious," Furuwa sighed. "Elder Ning talks to you a lot more than him, despite the fact that you just met her while he has known her for years. In reality, it''s not because she likes you, but instead just because she read your mind and found out about certain things, but Elder Zhang doesn''t know that."


    "So? What do we do~? Kill him?" Nadeshiko licked her lips and smirked. "No one gets in the way of my Kaze~"


    " Killing an elder is not as easy as just saying it out loud. If possible, I would like to avoid going through all that trouble, but if he tries to act against me again" I took a deep breath.


    " I will be left with no choice but to respond in turn."


    *****


    Elder Ning returned soon after that. I asked to speak with Aisa privately, so she left the room and shut the door behind her. Just to be safe, I used Silencer around us so that she couldn''t hear what we were saying.


    "It''s safe to talk now," I said, leaning back on the sofa.


    "What did you want to discuss, human?"


    "It''s about Blights and erasing more of my emotions. Are reality rifts the only way to do so?"


    " Why are you so eager? I already said, you have plenty of time."


    "It''s less the emotions being erased and more the benefits I gain every time I consume a Blight," I replied. "An increase to all stats? Give me more."


    "Be careful not to let greed consume you," Aisa muttered.


    "I''ll just erase the emotion of greed as well," I chuckled. "But jokes aside, I want to know whether or not there are more methods because I will have to use them eventually. Reality rifts aren''t a viable option, after all."


    "That is logical, I suppose," Aisa sighed, then told me what I wanted to know. "Blights can be located in ces with high Essence but not the Essence you''re used to."


    "What?"


    "The Essence you know of has a full name: Life Essence. However there is a different form of energy that is simr to this, yetpletely different at the same time: Death Essence."


    "So Blights aremonly found in areas with lots of Death Essence?" I concluded.


    "Indeed. In Ascentia the continent of Necromopolis will be your best bet."


    "Necromopolis the City of Death, huh?" Hina-nee folded her arms. "Looks like we''ll have to head there eventually, in the future."


    "In the very distant future," Furuwa muttered. "We''re nowhere strong enough to enter yet. Back before I got trapped in this world, I saw some articles online saying even the top yers of the game were unable to enter at their current level."


    "Naturally~ it''s meant to be endgame content," Nadeshiko giggled. "Apparently, within Necromopolis, there''s some sort of mystery, waiting to be unraveled oh, but this is all information I found online~ don''t take my word for it."


    "Aisa, can you confirm?" I asked. "What kind of mystery is it?"


    "The plot I had nned out for that part of the campaign was the Law of Death, but exining everything to you right now would take a long while. That elf outside will get suspicious."


    "I agree," Furuwa said. "Best to just exin everything when we actually reach there. This is still a fantasy world, after all. I would like to enjoy it to the fullest without any spoilers of what ising next."


    "Alright thanks, Aisa," I sighed, rubbing my nose bridge and trying to think of what to do tomorrow. "Oh yeah, by the way do you know anything about what''s going to happen tomorrow?"


    "Normally, yes. But my powers have been severely limited. Therefore will not be there to help you for the next two months. You may die, but that is fine as you can just respawn."


    "We''ll be the only ones who can respawn there, right?" I asked. "I mean, logically speaking, we should be the only yers in this batch of new disciples, since the only method for yers to enter the sect following the main questline is through the Qilian Annual Regional Tournament which we all attended."


    "Correct," Aisa replied. "Everyone else there will be natives of this reality ne  you can take advantage of that, wielding your yer abilities to the fullest."


    "Got it. Thanks again."


    Aisa stood up and began heading for the door, but then turned around onest time and looked me in the eyes.


    "I will not be there to help you for the next two months, human. Best of luck  and remember my words: where there is danger, there is also opportunity."


    I nodded. "Don''t worry I know."

 Chapter 141: Competition

    Chapter 141: Competition


    The next morning, I got up quite early. The girls were all staying in one room together, which gave me some alone time to think about things, such as the uing exam that was about to happen in a mere hour or so.


    After showering and brushing my teeth, I changed into new underclothes and slipped on the Deceiver armor set. Just before I prepared to head out the door, however, a loud announcement echoed across the entire inn.


    "All disciples, gather at the front gates of your respective inns!"


    I recognized the voice to be Elder Zhang. It seems he would be overseeing this excursion, rather than the patriarch himself. The patriarch definitely had more important things to do after all, his goal of setting up this test was merely to get rid of me.


    He didn''t even consider the fact that I would make it back  why? Because he told Elder Zhang alter certain things in the test for me, of course. I was being targeted  but to me, more danger meant more opportunities, ording to Aisa''s philosophy.


    Soon after, I headed downstairs. Hina-nee and the others were already there, and waved when they saw me. I walked over, ncing around at the other disciples who were eyeing me in jealousy. It didn''t need to be said why they were envious.


    "Everyone, follow me," Elder Ning, the one responsible for our inn, announced as she walked out of the door after meeting my eyes for a brief moment. All the disciples who stayed herest night followed her.


    She led us to the Temple of Flowers, where we had gathered the day before. All the other disciples from the other inns were there already, with Elder Zhang hovering in the air above all of them.


    "It seems everyone has gathered," he said coolly, pushing his sses up the bridge of his nose. "A portal has been set up directly at the bottom of these stairs before you. When you are ready, just head down and step through. There, further rules will be exined."


    "Further rules? So the rulebook yesterday didn''t contain everything?" Hina-nee murmured in thought.


    "Last-minute changes, perhaps?" I narrowed my eyes.


    Then, Elder Zhang stared directly at me. "This is your final chance to give up and drop out. You have ten minutes to make your decision. When those ten minutes are over, you will be forced to enter the portal. Once on the other side there is noing back."


    I snorted, unamused, to which Elder Zhang gritted his teeth slightly. The other disciples, however, were too busy considering what they would do to even notice.


    In the end, no disciples left. Either because they were too nervous to be the only one, or they simply wanted a challenge. Perhaps a little bit of both.


    "Ten minutes have passed. Everyone, I hope you have made up your mind," Elder Zhang said coldly, before ncing down the stairs. "The portal is active. Prepare for transmat."


    The disciples began heading down the stairs, entering the portal one by one. The girls and I also began to move, but my arm was pulled to one side by Elder Ning who had been watching from the sidelines.


    " Be careful," she said while biting her lip, worry in her crystal-clear green eyes.


    "We''re your direct disciples, Master," Hina-nee winked and made a peace sign with her hand. "We''ll be fine."


    "I know if this was a fairpetition, then I would have no concerns," Elder Ning sighed. "But my father and Elder Zhang they will target you specifically."


    "Just take care of Aisa for us," I said, patting her shoulder. "We''ll be back unharmed, stronger than ever. To us this is just a bit of training."


    At this, she smiled faintly. "Yes worry not. Your little sister will be in perfect care while you are gone. I will see to that personally."


    I nodded in response. "Thank you, Master."


    She shook her head. "No need to thank me. This is part of our agreement, after all."


    After that short exchange, the four of us headed down the stairs as well, Elder Zhang following us with his gaze filled with hatred.


    Taking a deep breath, we stepped through the pulsating blue portal.


    *****


    Once on the other side, we found ourselves facing a dense rainforest. The temperature was warm and humid, just as one would expect of a tropical rainforest. Still,pared to the desert we would be going to next month, this was nothing.


    Elder Zhang stepped through the portal soon after all the disciples did, as the main examiner for this test. Elder Han and a different Elder who I didn''t recognize appeared soon after. Elder Ning was kept out of this test for obvious reasons, at the order of the patriarch.


    "I trust that everyone has read the rulebook already  find the golden maple leaf and survive. But there is, in fact, a lot more to the exam," Elder Han said. "The reason we only told you the surface of things in the rulebook was to test your adaptive abilities. One must be able to adapt to unexpected turn of events if they want to survive out here in the wild."


    At this, the disciples stirred in nervousness, afraid to hear what the true contents of the exam will be.


    "Now, the Blessing Nature Sect has always been a verypetitive environment. Disciples constantly sh with one another to create a burning passion to surpass the other, thus causing them to both improve. This exam will be no different," the olddy Elder I didn''t recognize croaked, voice old and raspy.


    "However, due to the nature of the exam, individualpetition will be difficult," Elder Zhang concluded. "Therefore, you will all be splitting into teams of four  andpeting against other groups from there. In total, there should be 25 groups, as there are exactly 100 of you here."


    "How will wepete against one another?" a disciple asked, raising their hand.


    "In points, by the end of this month," Elder Zhang replied calmly. "There are various ways to get points  I will list them below. Listen carefully, for I will not repeat this twice."


    Clearing his throat, he continued. "One, you will be given maps shortly, which will have designated locations on it known as Zone A, Zone B, Zone C, and Zone D. Each zone can only hold two groups, and will have good resources such as clean water, food, lodging, and defense mechanisms against the Magic Beasts and Monsters roaming about deeper in this rainforest."


    "Teams will have to fight against one another directly for control over these zones," Elder Han chimed in.


    "Indeed," Elder Zhang confirmed. "Staying in these zones will not only grant you a good ce to spend the month, but also give points to the teams who stay in them for every day that passes. One day within a zone is equivalent to 5 points."


    "Another strategy to gain points is through killing Magic Beasts and Monsters within the forest" the olddy croaked. "Depending on rank a Tier I Magic Beast will give 1 point a Tier II Magic Beast will give 2 points, and so on all the way until Tier V, the strongest lifeforms in this ce."


    "You will all be given special wristwatches that can tell you the time and track whenever you y a beast, so don''t worry," Elder Zhang added. "Now thirdly, there will be something called a shpoint event."


    At this, the disciples all frowned in confusion, myself included.


    "The location of the event changes every week, and what happens is we will spawn a Tier VII Magic Beast or Monster for you to y," Elder Zhang exined. "Obviously, such a creature cannot be taken down by one team alone, so you will need to form alliances with other groups. The ability to find good allies is also an important one that will be tested in this exam. After the beast is taken down, all groups who helped y it will receive 25 points, as long as they still have someone standing."


    "In other words, if a group is wiped out helping take down the beast, that group will not receive any rewards, even if they are still alive," Elder Han said. "By the time the beast is dead, one member of the group must be standing up for it to count."


    "Heh. With Kaze we can take it down alone, don''t you think?" Nadeshiko whispered from beside me, trying to lick my throat. I quickly backed away and threw her off my arm, eyeing her in disdain.


    "It''s possible, but you try something like that again, and I''ll kill you."


    "Oh my that would mean less time to spend with you~" she giggled, winking and sticking out her tongue yfully. "Sorry, sorry, I won''t do it again, teehee~!"


    "Lastly, there is one final method to gain points," Elder Zhang said, bringing the audience to a standstill. "And that is"


    After a dramatic, eerie pause, he continued.


    " To kill other teams."

 Chapter 142: Teams & Alliances

    Chapter 142: Teams & Alliances


    "What?! Killing?!" The other disciples all cried out in shock.


    "Indeed," Elder Zhang replied, unfazed. "By orders of the patriarch, killing amongst disciples for the purpose of this exam is allowed."


    "Danger is the best motivation," the old elder croaked. "Without any risks you youngsters will not try your absolute hardest"


    "The purpose of this exam is to see just how far you can go," Elder Han concluded. "Test your limits, disciples, and surpass them."


    "Now, everyone, form your own teams  four, no more, no less," Elder Zhang said strictly. "There should not be any iplete teams by the end of this phase."


    Immediately, Hina-nee, Furuwa, Nadeshiko, and I nced at each other. Obviously, the four of us would be in the same group. Unfortunately, some perverted disciples didn''t understand that.


    "Hey, junior sister," a tall male disciple reached out towards Nadeshiko. "Would you like to join my group? I''m ate-stage Nascent Cultivator, stronger than most people here. I can definitely protect you and those other twodies as well if they wish to join."


    "Oh~?" Nadeshiko giggled cutely, then eyed me. "Well, you''re going to have to ask him first. He asked me to join his group first, after all."


    What? When did I-


    The disciple seemed to buy her story, however, and really twisted his head towards me.


    "Oi. She''s mine, back off," he said roughly,pletely changing his tone. He probably put up a terrifying demeanor in an attempt to scare me off, but I''ve seen far worse. Hell, I''ve experienced death not once but twice already. What is this to me?


    So, rather than cower in fear despite him being a lot bigger and taller than I was, I merely blinked.


    "Sure, take her."


    " Huh?" Nadeshiko and the male disciple were both equally shocked.


    "No, I''m serious. Take her. Good riddance," I replied calmly, voice full of innocence.


    "Kaze, Kaze~" Nadeshiko pouted, clutching my arm and dragging it down as she pouted. "That hurts my feelings, you know"


    "W-What''s going on" the male disciples scratched his head, extremely confused.


    "Okay, basically, no, I''m noting with you~" Nadeshiko smiled evilly, waving him goodbye.


    "W-What? But he said I could take you-"


    I sighed. "You don''t get it, do you? She never had any intention of going with you in the first ce."


    "Pff~ have fun~"


    "!" the disciple gritted his teeth, eyeing Nadeshiko and I with hatred as he finally realized what had happened. Turning around, he stormed off.


    "Nice one, Nadeshiko," I cheered sarcastically. "You just made us another unnecessary enemy."


    "Mhm~ think of it as payback for what you said~"


    "But killing is allowed, no?" Hina-nee asked. "If theye for us, we''ll have a valid reason to kill them, then reap the benefits."


    Naturally, she was talking about all the arts and items we could get from the engrams they dropped after dying. The points for this exam was just a bonus. She avoided saying this out loud though, since there were plenty of other disciples around. There was no telling who could be listening in.


    "Sakura-senpai, you''re darker than I imagined," Furuwa said, raising an eyebrow.


    "Hehe, I can be cold when I want to," Hina-nee replied with a smile.


    A few minutester, Elder Zhang raised his hand to get everyone''s attention, then spoke. "Alright! Everyone should have formed their teams by now. Anyone who has not, just raise your hand, and you will automatically be put into a group."


    No one raised their hand, signaling that all the teams have been decided.


    "Seems everyone has found their group. Under no circumstances can you change teams for the next month, so this is yourst chance!"


    No one made any movements yet again, and Elder Zhang nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Now that you have made teams, there is one final mechanic I will tell you all  and that is team leaders."


    "Team leaders?" the disciples murmured amongst each other.


    "Each team is to designate one member as the team leader  if the team leader is killed or quits, the whole team is disqualified," the elder continued. "However! If a team leader ys another team leader, they will receive double the points from the entire disqualified team! Because of this, it is rmended to set your strongest member as the leader, both to attack others and to defend against attacks."


    "I see this way, people will target the team leaders" I murmured in thought.


    "Once all the teams have finished selecting their team leader, tell us your choices, one by one. We won''t disclose the leader''s name since that takes too long for every team, but the leader will have to wear a special red ribbon on their arm that shows they are the leader. They are forbidden from taking it off under any circumstances. Those found cheating will be immediately disqualified."


    Elder Han cleared his throat. "Now, go ahead and choose your team leaders. You have 5 minutes."


    "Who are we choosing to be our team leader?" Furuwa asked, immediately getting to work.


    "Me," I said without any hesitation.


    "Eh~? You?" Nadeshiko giggled. "You may have beaten me once, but that was before now that I broke through to the next realm, are you still stronger than me, I wonder~?"


    "Even if you are stronger than me, I wouldn''t give the role to you. You''re the type to sabotage us, purposely getting yourself killed just to disqualify the rest of us."


    "Hehe~ but why would I do that? The sect''s pretty interesting, y''know? I want to stay as well."


    "Either way, I''ll be the team leader. That way, people will target me, not you."


    Nadeshiko blushed and licked her lips. "Oh my~ have you fallen for me, Kaze?"


    "No. It just makes it easier for me to take care of them if they go for me," I scoffed coldly. "Any other objections?"


    Furuwa raised her hand. "It''s too dangerous. Let me be leader."


    "And since when did I need a girl''s protection?" I immediately shot back using a challenging tone.


    "Hm, let''s see all those years in middle sch-"


    "H-Hina-nee, no," I quickly stopped her before she could go any further, reminding me of my dark past.


    "Fufu," sheughed cutely, covering her mouth.


    "Anyway" I nced at Elder Zhang, who returned my gaze coldly. Without an ounce of fear in my eyes, I walked up to him.


    "Write down your team leader''s name here, along with your group members," he said coldly, pointing at a pen and a sheet of paper ced on top of a table. I did as told, writing down my own name followed by Hina-nee''s, Furuwa''s, and Nadeshiko''s.


    As soon as I was done, Elder Zhang snatched the paper and pen from me, and I returned to where the others were, not wanting to spend any more time here either.


    Very soon, all the teams had finished choosing their respective leaders and submitted them to the elders.


    "Alright, now that we know all the teams we can properly distribute you all across the map."


    "Wait, what?" A disciple asked.


    "What, you thought you would be starting together with your teammates?" Elder Hanughed boldly. "No, no, that''s far too easy. The first test of this exam is to find your teammates. If others find their teammates before you do, they''ll team up on you. That is the cold hard truth of this world, and a lesson you need to learn. Good luck, everyone."


    Before anyone could even react, we were all shrouded in a brilliant white light.


    "Kaze-kun!" Hina-nee called out, but it was toote.


    Before I knew it, I was teleported into the rainforest, all alone.


    Well not exactly alone. There were two others who had been summoned to the exact same spot as me, right beside me. Coincidentally, they just happened to be Koroth and Ming Yi, both people from the Qilian Annual Regional Competition.


    "Well some luck, huh?" I chuckled, but neither of them responded upon seeing me. "Yeah this is going to be a quiet journey. But that aside, who''s team did you two choose to go in? Who''s the leader?"


    "" At this, both of them looked at me in suspicion, refusing to say a word.


    "Ah, it''s fine. I''ll find out soon enough anyway," I sighed. "But before we go any further I would like to from an alliance."


    "?" the two tilted their heads, as if prompting me to continue.


    "The three of us will not harm one another, until we find our teammates. Once we do find our teammates, we will part ways peacefully. Whether we want to extend the alliance for our respective teams as well we can discuss that when the timees. How about it?"


    Koroth and Ming Yi nced at each other as they considered my proposal.


    "Come on, this makes things easier for all three of us, no? We''re all here from thepetition in Qilian anyway."


    "Can can I trust you?" Ming Yi asked quietly, face covered by his ninja getup.


    "Trust me not to expose your real identity? Yeah," I chuckled, an evil grin on my face. "Same goes for you Koroth."


    "!" the two of them stiffened up at my words, realizing they had no choice but to obey me if they wanted to keep their identities a secret.


    "Oh, but don''t worry, I won''t backstab you or anything. You heard the elders, didn''t you? The ability to negotiate and form alliances is part of this exam. I am genuinely seeking out other teams to help me out, and since I already know you two beforehand, that makes things a lot easier."


    "But we''re from the same team," Koroth said, pointing at Ming Yi.


    I froze.


    " What?"

 Chapter 143: Trap

    Chapter 143: Trap


    "Wait you two are from the same team?" I asked, confused.


    "Yeah," Kaze and Ming Yi said, nodding.


    "" I narrowed my eyes, falling silent.


    Did that bastard, Elder Zhang purposely teleport me beside two people who were already in the same team, hoping I would be killed immediately?


    I clenched my fists. How sinister indeed too bad they didn''t predict that I held Koroth''s secret in my hands, and they severely underrated my strength as well. Even if these two wanted to kill me, they wouldn''t be able to.


    " We were supposed to be separated from our teammates, were we not?" Ming Yi asked, rubbing his chin. "Did we just get lucky?"


    Seeing no reason to tell him the truth, I just went along with what he said.


    "Yeah, probably. You two could try and kill me right now though, if you are from the same team," I taunted, testing them.


    But Ming Yi shook his head.


    "If possible, I would like to avoid bloodshed as well. Besides even if the two of us teamed up, there is no guarantee we can win against you."


    "Hm. Wise choice," I replied, chuckling. "Now then I would say we should head to one of the four zones first, but where are the maps they said they were going to give us?"


    As if on cue, a scroll suddenly materialized in Koroth and Ming Yi''s hands, much to their surprise. One appeared in my hands as well, along with a message from my System that read [Obtained Forest Map x1]. We also each received a wristwatch of some sort, which my System just identified as ''Tallying Watch''.


    I quickly pulled the map out from my inventory and equipped the wristwatch I just got. It was a digital one, and the number on it currently read 0. I decided that rather than investigating the watch to see what it did, inspecting the map was a better choice.


    "Oh this ce is bigger than I expected," I murmured in thought. "Alright thankfully, there''s a little arrow telling us where we are right now"


    To be honest, it would be great if I could just use my System''s minimap here, but that would undoubtedly cause these two to be suspicious, so I refrained from doing that.


    "Okay, the closest Zone is Zone C, about a kilometer northeast from us," I concluded, rolling my map back up and sticking it in my pocket rather than my inventory for quick ess. "ording to the map, that''s right this way. Let''s go."


    Saying this, I began walking through the forest, Koroth and Ming Yi following after me. The three of us stuck close together, careful of any signs of Magic Beasts and Monsters roaming nearby. On the way, we came across several, and managed to get the jump on them every time. We split the final blows between the three of us so that we each received the roughly same amount of points in the end, in order to keep things fair. If I wanted to, I could''ve just forced them to let me take everything, but even a cornered rat would bite a cat  I didn''t want to push them too far.


    I wasn''t confident I couldn''t beat them 1v2, but it would be problematic if they attacked me from behind while I was dealing with a Magic Beast or Monster from my front. In order to avoid a situation like that, I still had to somewhat keep them happy or at least satisfied.


    By the time we arrived at our destination, the three of us had gathered 26 points in total  I held 10, while they each held 8. I said I didn''t want to push them too far, but sneaking in a little advantage like this was still okay. I just had to be careful not to break their bottom line.


    All the Magic Beasts and Monsters we''ve encountered so far have just been Tier Is through Tier IIIs, nothing too strong. With all three of us working together, this was hardly a challenge, and overall, our voyage was sessful.


    "I think that is roughly one kilometer," Koroth said quietly, stopping in his tracks and looking around.


    "Hm I don''t see anyone else or even any indication that this is a Zone, though" I murmured, surveying our surroundings.


    "There," Ming Yi said, pointing directly ahead of us, causing Koroth and I to both follow his finger with our gazes.


    There, a cave of some sorty with two closed stone doors as an entrance, but rather than being highly-mechanical like the Vault of Corruption, it seemed like a normal cave a normal cave with doors, anyway. It was well-camouged behind some bushes, which was why we hadn''t initially noticed it when getting here.


    " Huh," I muttered, before pushing the bushes aside and stepping straight through. The other two followed. Scratching my head as I looked at the cave, I raised an eyebrow and ced my hands on my hips.


    "Now, the only question is how do we get in?"


    *****


    - Meanwhile, Elsewhere in the Forest -


    (Hina''s Perspective)


    Zone C  here we were. I was lucky to have been teleported to a location near this Zone, which was in the southwestern area of the map. I was also quite fortunate to have been paired with a group of friendly female disciples who seemed to want to remain peaceful and form alliances. Naturally, I epted, though whether the alliance would really be formed would be up to Kaze-kun.


    Speaking of I wonder if he''s doing okay


    No, he definitely is. I have confidence.


    We appeared to be the first group here, but since there were members from more than one team within the zone, none of us received any points. That could be confirmed by ncing down at my wristwatch, which currently read 7  from ying various Magic Beasts and Monsters on the way here. Unfortunately, we didn''t run into too many, so I wasn''t able to secure too many points for our team.


    Currently, the three girls who were grouped up with me, all from different teams, were negotiating who gets to stay here, but I made the excuse of needing to go to the bathroom and withdrew from the discussion. Rather than listening to them argue, finding some Magic Beasts and Monsters to kill was a far better course of action. When they came up with a solution, I could just return and ask to hear it  that''s all.


    The girls seemed nice, so I doubted they would resolve things using violence or leave me out, but I should still return soon after getting a few points, just in case. It would be a while before they finished their discussion, no doubt, so I had some time.


    With my mind set, I set out of the safe Zone in search of some enemies to kill.


    *****


    "Okay, Koroth, go for it!" I yelled, standing back with Ming Yi as we watched the cave''s doors anxiously.


    Koroth stepped back a few meters, then suddenly ran forward, building up momentum for his attack.


    Right as he reached the doors, he smashed his fist into the solid rock with all his strength, sending a shockwave of air all around him. Ming Yi and I covered our faces in defense.


    However, as the dust settled and we blinked our eyes open again, we saw that the door waspletely unharmed.


    " What the hell how strong is that rock?"


    "I''ve broken normal rocks with ease before," Koroth replied. "Chances are this material has been enchanted."


    As if to demonstrate, he picked up a random piece of pebble on the ground and crushed it to pieces in his hand.


    As Ming Yi and I walked up closer to him to inspect it closer, a loud nking sound suddenly signaled the doors opening, one rising up and one sinking down.


    " Well then," I muttered, utterly ashamed of myself. "Now I feel stupid."


    "" Koroth and Ming Yi both were left speechless.


    To trigger the door opening all we had to do was stand in front of it, together.


    The most obvious thing to do, yet the one strategy we never tried.


    Sighing, I just shook my head and stepped through the entrance. "C''mon let''s forget that ever happened."


    The two nodded in agreement and followed me into the stone corridor inside, lit by white lights on the wall, powered by electricity. They definitely did not fit the theme of nature and the forest, but I suppose electricity was a nice thing to have inside a safe Zone.


    But right as all three of us stepped inside in relief we suddenly heard a familiar nking noise from behind us.


    "Wha-!"


    Immediately spinning around, I rushed towards the slowly-closing entrance, but the two doors mmed shut tightly before I could make it.


    "Damn!" I yelled in anger, punching the rock. It hurt my fist, but that was nothingpared to the dreadful realization I''vee to.


    Koroth and Ming Yi were still confused as they looked around, but they soon realized as well after hearing the low-pitched growls of hungry, carnivorous beasts. Various holes suddenly opened up in the ceiling and walls around us, and out came small crocodile-like beasts, jaws snapping in anticipation at their prey. Their eyes shone blood red, as if controlled by some eerie power, and the hunger held within them was unimaginable.


    I grit my teeth and prepared to run.


    "It was a trap... all along."

 Chapter 144: Blood and Promise

    Chapter 144: Blood and Promise


    [NEW SPECIES ENTRY]


    [Name: Quickfanged Minigator]


    [Weakness: Hidden arts and Multikill arts]


    [Resistance: Single-target attacks]


    [Description: Tiny alligators which live in packs and can move around at insane speeds. They possess high agility and teamwork, though their individual strength and durability is low. Large-scale AOE attacks such as Pyromancy arts work best against these beasts.]


    *****


    "Run!" I yelled to Koroth and Ming Yi, who didn''t need to be told twice.


    They quickly ran forward, the only way possible, as the walls and ceiling above us continued opening up to reveal more and more creatures. One spawned directly to my left and tried to leap at me, but I quickly swiped my hand through the air while using a hidden art,unching a quick and deadly Umbrostrike directly towards the beast.


    The attack struck true, sending it toppling backwards out of mid-air. With this, I know new these beasts aren''t all that strong individually their strength came from the sheer numbers they had. Even now, I didn''t dare look backwards to see just how many were chasing after us, because the amount of growling I was hearing was more than enough to tell.


    "Which way!" Koroth yelled as we neared a dead end, with only left or right as options to go. Even his usually calm facade was slowly starting to panic and break apart under the impending doom waiting for us.


    "Right!" I quickly shouted in reply, annoyed that he couldn''t even choose a direction by himself. I picked randomly hopefully, my not-so-high LUC stat woulde in clutch here!


    But right as I was thinking that, we rounded the corner to see a mob of angry beasts identical to the ones behind us, roaring in fury.


    "O-Okay, your other right!"


    The three of us immediately turned tail and ran in the opposite direction. Koroth was holding in fine so far, but his stamina was not the best at this rate


    We continued running and running as the beasts continued to pile up in numbers. However, the good news was, they had stopped spawning. The only problem? These little pests knew teamwork and coordinate themselves to try and surround us, as if they were intelligent.


    After several minutes of frantic running away, Koroth was beginning to pant heavily. His steps visibly slowed down as he tried to keep up with the two of us, but he was already going beyond his physical capabilities.


    "Can you keep going, Koroth?" I asked, grabbing his shoulder and pushing him forward a bit.


    "Ngh not much longer" he groaned, desperately trying to keep his feet moving. No doubt, his heart felt like it was on fire right now, but he still pushed on.


    Narrowing my eyes, I suddenly skidded to a stop and spun around to face the iing wave of beasts, much to the surprise of both Koroth and Ming Yi.


    "What are you"


    Ignoring their confusion, I closed my eyes and took out Dokujin from my boots in one swift motion. And in my head, I chanted a single art name.


    ''Many Must Fall.''


    In an instant, I teleported in front of the first crocodile and dashed straight through it with Dokujin, tearing its body apart before quickly moving to my next target. I was like a shadow in the night; unable to be seen or felt. As if Death itself had came to bestow judgment upon these beasts, I tore them apart one after another silently and stealthily.


    Before anyone could even react  my two allies or the beasts themselves  the whole hordey dead.


    I had been contemting using this art already, but for one, I needed to ascertain whether or not these beasts were low-level enough that I could actually get this skill to work. With that Umbrostrike I used earlier, I confirmed that. The second reason was I didn''t want to reveal to these two I had this skill, but drastic situations call for drastic measures.


    Even if I just let Koroth die here, thus losing me a powerful chess piece, there was still no guarantee I would make it out of this alive without using that art and shoring it to Ming Yi anyway. Might as well just use it now and figure out a good excuse to exin it with inn case they ask.


    In a mere matter of seconds, the whole pack of beastsy ughtered on the ground, filling the floor with arge, expanding pool of blood. I stood atop the mountain of corpses I made in the blink of an eye, stacked together. In my hands held Dokujin, still dripping with the beasts'' blood.


    "What just happened" Ming Yi couldn''t help but murmur in wonder. "Is that really the same neer I met just a few months ago?"


    Letting out a deep breath, I jumped back down from the mountain of corpses and dropped Dokujin back into my boot. Wiping off some blood from my armor to no avail, I walked right past the two of them''s shocked faces.


    "Come on we''re not done yet. The other beasts are still chasing after us  trying to cut us off in front. So, we should head back the way we came from and find an alternate route."


    "They''ll be here soon enough with all this blood stench" Ming Yi muttered, blocking his nose. "Koroth, do you need to rest?"


    Koroth shook his head. "I think I''m alright with just walking. That should help me slowly recover."


    As the three of us walked, I decided to start up some conversation to gather information.


    "Koroth, did the pill they gave you not work?"


    "H-Huh? Uh it did, but my body still needs some time to adjust to it"


    I didn''t miss the slight stutter in his voice when he said that. It wasn''t because he was lying  no, it was because he still hadn''te to terms with what he just saw me do: murder an entire horde of beasts in the blink of an eye. The amount of strength, conviction, and unshakable will needed for that are insurmountable.


    The emotions these two felt when they looked at me it was fear.


    In the end, we had Koroth brute force his way through the walls of this cave. The entrance was enchanted, but the rest of it wasn''t, apparently. With a single good punch with all of his strength, the walls were torn through, revealing the sunlight outside. With a light leap, I managed to get out of the cave using my high AGI stat, then quickly helped the other two out as well before the loud noise of the wall being punched through attracted the other beasts down there to us. I could just use Many Must Fall again, but one cast nearly depleted all of my Essence.


    Once we were all safe and sound, I pulled out my map again to see if there was any rivers nearby. After confirming there was, I decided to go clean myself off. The other two followed.


    "About what happened just now" Ming Yi walked up to me and said hesitantly.


    " Don''t worry, I know you two were tricked as well," I muttered, clenching my fists. "They put the two of you with me on purpose and gave the three of us incorrect maps to lead us into death traps to think they wouldn''t even mind killing someone innocent off together with me."


    "But why does the sect want to kill you?" Koroth asked, confused.


    "Because someone''s butthurt I stole his crush''s heart when I didn''t," I spat with venom. "Sorry for dragging you two into my mess."


    Ming Yi ced a hand on my shoulder and shook his head. "It''s not your fault. Back there, you saved us, so if anything, we owe you our lives. And I must say this sect I''m starting to feel a little hatred towards it as well."


    "It''s not the sect" I sighed. "It''s the people in it. More specifically Elder Zhang. From what I can see he''s the mastermind behind all of this, manipting the patriarch into listening to what he has to say and giving these orders."


    "That guy he also suggested outright killing me rather than giving me the pill" Koroth gritted his teeth in anger. "So that''s why he teleported me with you in the hopes that we would die together. And Ming Yi I suppose that''s just because he''s in the same team as me"


    " Despicable," Ming Yi muttered. "Igarashi Kaze, and Koroth what do you think of us coborating to fight back against that bastard together?"


    I chuckled. "About time. Also, just Kaze is fine."


    cing out my hand, I waited for the two of them to do the same in turn.


    Koroth nodded firmly and ced his hand on top of mine. "I won''t forgive anyone who threatens me."


    Ming Yi, atst, tugged his mask down, allowing us to get a glimpse of his true face. Indeed, he was the young cksmith who had forged my first weapon uponing into this world.


    cing his hand on top of both of ours, he smirked.


    "I don''t know what that bastard was thinking when he decided to target us, but he''s going to pay. Very dearly."


    At this, I smiled.


    "Yes yes, he will."


    And on that day, marked the beginning of a new brotherhood, bound by blood and promise.

 Chapter 145: Fighting Back

    Chapter 145: Fighting Back


    After we finished cleaning our outer wear in the nearby river, we just held them in our hands to let them dry off as we walked. The three of us only wore our inner clothes, which felt a lot morefortable. That said, if we were to run into any danger right now, we would be left without protection. The three of us together could probably take on any Magic Beast or Monster Tier IV and below though, as long as they didn''te in a massive pack.


    And if they did, well we run.


    "So, what''s the n from here on out?" Ming Yi asked, loosening up slightly and bing more talkative now that we were getting close with one another.


    "First off, we should find one of the real zones," I replied. "That way, there''s a chance we might meet up with some people we know, then figure it out from there."


    "Naturally but that''s easier said than done," Koroth added with a deep sigh. "Where do we even go from here?"


    Suddenly, a yell and the sound of battle came from the distance, causing all three of us to turn in that direction.


    "Hurry, block all the directions! Don''t let it escape!"


    I smirked. "Well. Towards the sound of action, of course."


    *****


    The three of us hurriedly ran to where we heard the soundsing from, and by the time we arrived, the beast was already in. It was a Tier III one, and four people stood around it with their weapons drawn. One of them spotted us, and quickly narrowed his eyes.


    " What do you want?"


    "Rx," I said, raising my hands up to show that I didn''te here out of hostility. "I''m just searching for the nearest zone so I can meet back up with my teammates. I don''t care about that beast you just killed  those points are rightfully yours."


    "" The male disciple nced around at his allies, who I assumed to all be his teammates. They were lucky, having grouped together so quickly. This gives them a head-start to the others, who had to fight amongst themselves in hunting excursions to secure the most points for their own team.


    "What do you say we form a deal?" I proposed, walking closer. "You lead the three of us to the nearest zone, and I''ll help you take down any beasts wee across. Of course, all the credit will be going to you."


    "This makes no sense," one of the girls said, stepping forward. She was a beauty on par with Hina-nee and Nadeshiko, with long blue hair and two ice-cold eyes narrowed in suspicion. "How is it possible for you to not know where the nearest zone is? We all received maps. If you''re trying to trick us, at leaste up with a more believable map."


    "Uh, well, you see, what happened was" I opened my System''s inventory and pulled out the [Minigator Corpse x47] I had obtained from our little encounter in that booby-trapped cave. " We were ambushed by these little bastards. They ate our maps."


    For some reason, the corpses didn''t turn into crafting materials like meat or bones, unlike all the other beasts I''ve in in the past. I didn''t know what this meant, but I couldn''t ess Aisa right now so there was no choice but to hold on to this question until we finish this test and return to the sect.


    As I dumped the whole collection of blood-stained beast bodies on the forest ground, the four disciples and my own two allies widened their eyes in shock.


    "W-What so many Tier III Beasts"


    Huh? They''re Tier III?


    If they were all Tier III, then that means the 47 I yed totaled up to 141 points.


    "T-This can''t be. Where did you find a horde of Minigators like this?" The girl who had been doubting me just now frowned and demanded. "You must be cheating. There''s no way you killed all of them in the short amount of time since the exam began. Show me your wristwatch."


    I nced down at my wristwatch, which disyed nothing. Absolutely nothing.


    No way did it break while I was using Many Must Fall?


    "Uh, sorry, but I think mine broke while I was fighting them,," I replied, showing her my wristwatch, which had a ck disy and nothing more.


    "Hmph you sure you didn''t just break it on purpose to make us believe you?"


    Man, this girl she''s so perceptive. Normally, I would admire such people, but not right now.


    "If it''s our strength you doubt" Ming Yi began, stepping forward and pulling out his two katanas from out of his back. " You''re wee to exchange some moves with me."


    The boy from earlier stepped up and grabbed the girl''s shoulder, whispering into her ear. "Mei''Er, we shouldn''t waste energy with them. They seem pretty strong, so we might as well just take them along as bodyguards. We don''t lose anything here. Besides, if they do try something, we can always just beat them using our numbers."


    " Don''t call me Mei''Er like we''re close," the girl said, shooting the male disciple a disgusted look as she pped away his hand. "I never liked you, and I never will. I''m only being in your team because your father told mine to have me look after you how repulsive. Don''t touch me ever again, or I''ll cut off your fingers."


    I whistled in amusement, surveying this conversation with a smirk. The only thing I was missing was some good ol'' popcorn.


    This girl she reminds me of Furuwa quite a bit.


    The male disciple shuddered away like a coward, unable to withstand the girl''s cold gaze, which then fixated on us.


    "I''m up for the challenge but a duel is no duel if there''s nothing on the line. If you win, I''ll ept this deal of yours. But if I win you have to stay by me for the rest of this exam, helping me gain points while giving me all the credit. How about it?"


    Ming Yi, Koroth, and I exchanged nces, before bursting out inughter.


    "W-What?" She asked, confused as her cheeks began to flush red from embarrassment. "What''s so funny?"


    "Man she really thinks we''re going to ept something like that, when we get nothing in return," I sighed, then stepped closer to her, stopping right before our bodies touched.


    "Let me put it straight with you, miss. The deal I proposed for you is already horrible for us, as we''re essentially getting nothing in return. I hope you realize we could very well just secretly follow you, and you would have no way of knowing. But since I was feeling nice today, I decided to offer you some free help. Yet you not only rejected that, but are now trying to capitalize on my generosity. How evil."


    " That may be so, but you already made the decision to show yourself like this. Now, if you try following us, we would know."


    I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath.


    " I didn''t want to have to do this."


    ''Blink.''


    In an instant, I pulled out Dokujin and vanished from sight, teleporting behind the girl and setting the dagger on her neck before anyone could even react.


    "W-Wha" She froze in fear, sweat forming on her head as she tried to turn around but couldn''t because of the knife at her throat.


    "Do you see now? What I could do instead. So tell me do you ept our deal of your own ord, or do I have to force you to?"


    "When did he" Ming Yi murmured in shock at my fast, unpredictable movements.


    "I don''t even know how strong he really is" Koroth exhaled in wonder.


    After some short hesitation, the girl finally whispered a single sentence.


    "I-I ept."


    I smiled. "Good."


    Taking my dagger off her throat, I casually walked past her to return to the other two, but-


    "!"


    I spun around in an instant, closing my hand around hers, which were holding a sword''s handle tightly as she prepared to cleave down at me from above.


    " What are you trying to do?"


    "N-Ngh let go of me!" She struggled to break free, but none of her teammates helped after seeing just what I was capable of, including the boy who probably liked the girl or something. Besides, my two allies were right next to us. If this girl''s teammates joined the fight, they would too.


    " Don''t force me to do something I really don''t want to do, but can if needed," I warned, threat hidden deep in my voice. "I''ve killed before. And trust me, it''s not pretty."


    But despite my words, she continue to struggle against my firm grip, refusing to back down. Whether she was brave or just exceptionally stupid, I had no idea. In fact, she was so stubborn that I couldn''t help but be a bit impressed. Even Furuwa would''ve backed down by now, since she knew I didn''t just make empty threats I would never carry out.


    I narrowed my eyes, then suddenly let go of her right when she was trying to pull free the hardest.


    "Wha-" she stumbled backwards from the momentum, and I took advantage of her momentary loss of bnce to strike her right on the back of her neck, knocking her unconscious immediately.


    Her eyes closed and she fell into my arms softly. She was quite light almost the same weight as Aisa. I turned to the boy from earlier, and raised an eyebrow.


    "So? Do you ept?"


    The disciple, along with the other two of them, hurriedly nodded.


    I smiled.

 Chapter 146: Safe (?) Zone

    Chapter 146: Safe (?) Zone


    Since the boy refused carrying the girl, as she would p the hell out of him when she woke up, I was tasked with doing it for some reason. She would probably p me even harder, but the difference was I would be able to dodge it. He wouldn''t.


    I carried her on my back, but it was as if I was barely carrying anything at all. She weighed about as much as a bag of potatoes, which definitely wasn''t normal. That said, she didn''t particrly seem overly skinny either, so I doubted she was just naturally underweight. Perhaps this had something to do with her cultivation?


    I didn''t know, and I really didn''t care. We arrived at the Safe Zone soon after, where numerous other disciples were gathered. It was like a small town of some sort, in the middle of a rainforest. Certainly, it was far more hospitable than the wild.


    "Which Zone is this?" I asked the boy, looking around.


    "This is Zone A," he replied. "There seems to be more people herepared to when we first set out to go hunting, though"


    "No shit. More and more people are finding zones and taking them," I scoffed. "This ce, along with the other zones, will turn into a bloodbath soon. Right now, people are still trying to negotiate and such because they haven''t met up with their teammates yet. But the moment they do, any ''alliances'' they''ve formed in the past fall apart immediately."


    I nced at the boy with a sly grin, seeing if he would get the hint.


    "You mean to say my team actually has the advantage here?"


    I nodded. "You''re already all assembled together. All you have to do is challenge the others with brute force. Besides if you can capture this zone for your team alone and drive out everyone else, I''m sure this girl here would be quite impressed."


    "Mei''Er"


    I smirked and patted his shoulder. "The first step is to call in a meeting for everyone at the zone right now. Do it as early possible, since more people will start arriving as time goes on."


    He quickly nodded in understanding. "I-I got it. Thanks for the advice."


    "No problem."


    The boy hurried off along with the other two in his team, and once they were out of earshot, Ming Yi chuckled.


    "Brother Kaze you''re cruel."


    "Am I now?"


    "You''re trying to make this ce erupt in chaos that way you can clean up the survivors by the end of it all."


    "Perhaps, perhaps not," I said, keeping a neutral expression on my face. "For now, though, I''m going to just leave behind this burde- I mean, girl on my back. She''s somewhat troublesome to walk around with."


    It didn''t take us long to find a lodging for the still-unconscious girl. Despite the Zone being quiterge, only one building was made for residential purposes. It had12 spaces in it, but most were empty since it was just the first day and everyone was too busy stacking points to bother securing themselves a space to sleep. That, however, would soon not be the case by the end of tonight.


    Casually tossing Mei''Er or whatever her name is onto the bed in a room, I headed out the door and shut it tight or did I? I purposely left a tiny peekhole for myself to nce at the bed, where Mei''Er gradually opened her eyes, having faked being unconscious all this time. She probably heard what I was nning on doing earlier, but that didn''t matter all that much.


    After all knowing what your enemy is going to do is only good when they don''t know that you know.


    *****


    Later, I headed out of the Zone with Ming Yi to get some hunting done. Koroth decided to stay back to help their team gain points that way, since even if only one person was in a Zone, their team''s total points would still increase by 5 for every day that passes. I don''t know what ssifies as the person being in the Zone, how long they have to stay there for for it to count, et cetera, but I''m assuming an hour is required at the very least.


    I didn''t really care about getting the Zone''s points since hunting could give me far more with my Many Must Fall skill. With my current power level, most of the beasts in this forest were below mine and were therefore vulnerable to that art. The only ones I probably wouldn''t be able to defeat with that skill are Tier Vs, the strongest ones in this forest, and of course the Tier VIIs that spawn only on the weekly shpoint events.


    In the end, I managed to get to Level 40 with all this, providing me with 50 SP and 20 AP to use. My stats now looked like this:


    [STR: 330 -> 340] (Cost: 10 SP)


    [AGI: 340]


    [INT: 210 -> 250] (Cost: 40 SP)


    [DEX: 200]


    [MAG: 230]


    [LUC: 15]


    I spent 10 points on STR to bring it up to par with my agility, and spent the rest on INT. With this, I unlocked another universal cooldown reduction on all of my arts, since for every 50 INT levels, I gained a 10% cooldown reduction for all skills. The 10% applies to the current cooldown though, not the original one  which meant it was technically impossible to be able to use the same ability consecutively without any breaks  just a very short cooldown.


    If I continued bringing my INT up, I could essentially use Blink over and over again, leaving my opponentspletely fooled. Of course, such a method drains Essence, which is why it still wasn''t ideal, but having the option in sticky situations was always nice.


    And of course my LUC stat went down again. Sigh


    *****


    Since I had been keeping track in my head, I should have exactly 204 points right now on my wristwatch, which was  quite unfortunately  still broken. Since Elder Zhang was the one overseeing this exam, I doubt he would give me a new one if I asked, so I had no choice but to bear with it. Still something seemed off. When using Many Must Fall, I had been using my right hand, but my wristwatch is on my left. When I was washing my armor, I had the watch tucked beneath my chin for security.


    There should be no reason whatsoever why the watch stopped functioning all of a sudden unless someone on the admin side manually did this on purpose.


    I wouldn''t be surprised if Elder Zhang manipted this into happening, in all honesty. This way, no matter how many Beasts and Monsters I im to have killed, my wristwatch is broken, so there is nothing that can be used as evidence. Since the sect was essentially on his side here, I doubted having witnesses or even the bodies of the beings I yed would help my case.


    If I could just find some solid evidence that he was manipting this exam to target me specifically wait, the map!


    I hurriedly pulled it out of my inventory, but narrowed my eyes as it had turned back to normal.


    Man, I really wish I had a phone or a camera I wonder, does the System have a screenshot feature? Yeah, probably not.


    I sighed. Either way, there were more concerning matters at hand here. The sun had just set, and everyone in the Safe Zone had gathered at the center of the little vige, where the male disciple from earlier stood above the rest on a stage of some sort.


    Ming Yi tapped on my shoulder. "The show''s beginning."


    I nodded and jumped onto the wall, then bounced myself onto the other wall on my other side, repeating this process back and forth until I made it to the roof. Ming Yi did the same, and Koroth well, Koroth couldn''t pull that off with hisrge frame and heavy body, so he took the long route and went up the stairs in the building.


    Sitting down near the edge and dangling my feet over it, I waited patiently for the calm before the storm to begin.


    *****


    - Elsewhere, Also In Zone A -


    "Hm? On the roof is that hehe~ to think we would meet again so soon. It''s truly fate," a girl giggled as she ced her hand just above her eyes and scanned the area. "Ah we''ve been apart for so little time, yet I''ve missed you so much already, Kaze~"


    She stood atop the tallest building within the zone, long ck hair fluttering gently against the evening breeze. She held arge scythe that towered her own body behind her back, true form hidden by the cloak of night.


    But the true form didn''t matter. Just its shadow was enough  the embodiment of death.


    The girl looked like an angel, yet her actions were that of a devil''s. Her heart-filled pink eyes shone brightly as she licked her lips seductively.


    She looked down at the crowd gathered below, ignorant and innocent.


    "Fufu~ watch me, Kaze. There''s going to be another massacre tonight~"

 Chapter 147: The Nights Massacre

    Chapter 147: The Night''s Massacre


    "Everyone has gathered, it seems," the boy said, ncing around. Despite his cowardice, he could actually put up a good speech  as long as no one called his bluff or threatened him with violence like I had.


    "What did you call this meeting for?" A guy in the audience asked, raising his hand. "You said it had to do with the control of this Zone, that''s why I came. Don''t tell me you n on driving the rest of us out?"


    "Please wait with your questions and let me talk," the boy replied, professionally pushing his sses up the bridge of his nose. "As you all can tell, there are only 12 avable rooms suitable for sleeping in at night, That is enough for exactly 3 full teams in total. I doubt anyone here wants to sleep on the streets, so I have a proposal for those who have already met up with at least one of their teammates."


    At this, the crowd began to stir, half-knowing what''sing next but half-uncertain as well.


    "I propose" The boy paused for dramatic effect. " We kick out all the people who have yet to meet up with a single one of their teammates."


    "WHAT? YOU WANT TO CAST ALL OF US AWAY?!"


    "You''re not the owner of this ce! You can''t just drive us out!"


    "You''ll have to do so over my dead body!"


    "Calm down, everyone!" The boy cried, begging for the crowd to just listen to him exin. "Please, let me finish!"


    The crowd reluctantly settled down once more, giving him a chance.


    "Allow me to put it this way. Rather than getting ''kicked out'' of this Zone, you will be provided with an opportunity to go to a different one, where your teammates may very well be at. This way, not only will you be able to meet up with your allies, we can also resolve this overpoption matter peacefully."


    "Fuck peace!" A disciple roared in fury. "I was the first person to arrive at this ce, and now you want to kick me out?! I''ll never ept this!"


    "Yeah, yeah! Just because I haven''t found my teammates yet, doesn''t give you the right to just kick us out! If anything, we should decide who gets to stay via a fairpetitio-"


    Before the young disciple could even finish his sentence, a de sliced through the air and cut his word short as his head was lopped off in the blink of an eye.


    "Competition? Sure. Fair? Not so much, hehe~"


    Everyone stood, shocked at what just happened, as the decapitated body fell limply to the floor, spouting fresh red blood from its neck.


    The perpetrator, a familiar beautiful girl with long ck hair and dazzling pink eyes,nded behind the crowd, scythe stained with blood. Slowly straightening her body, she turned around to face the crowd and swung her weapon around, sttering blood everywhere.


    "AHHH!"


    A few frantic and cowardly disciples, the one who gave the speech included, hurriedly began running away, while the braver/dumber ones stayed behind.


    " Who are you?" A disciple at the very front asked, raising his long wooden staff in defense and narrowing his eyes, on guard and prepared for anything.


    The girl  Nadeshiko  smiled innocently.


    " Your murderer."


    SLASH.


    In an instant, the boy''s head was too lying on the ground, rolling around anding to a stop beneath another disciple''s foot.


    "You how dare you KILL MY FRIEND?!"


    The man lunged towards Nadeshiko, but she merely smiled and pointed behind him.


    "Look out~"


    "Wha-!"


    An arrow, seemingly shot out of nowhere, pierced the man''s heart before he could even get close to Nadeshiko. Everyone turned their gazes to the window of a building across from where I was. An elf stood there, eyes filled with malice.


    "It is not the individuals that should be kicked out but the ones who have already found teammates. After all, that would give them a better chance at surviving out in the wilds, no?"


    "RAGH!" Two other male disciples immediately leaped onto the building and chased after her disappearing figure, vanishing from sight.


    In an instant, the battlefield was enveloped in chaos. Those without teammates banded together to fight against those who did, and before long, two sides had formed.


    "Looks like it''s begun," Ming Yi said, gazing out at the bloodbath below. Disciples injured, killed, crippled.


    "Are you okay with this?" I asked without looking at him.


    "Sure. It''s not like I have any attachments with these people or anything. I''ll just follow your lead, Brother Kaze."


    "I see. Koroth?"


    "I''m fine as well. It don''t care about demons or humans both races have neglected me. They can be purged, for all I care."


    "Okay that was darker than expected, but-"


    "Kaze~~" A voice suddenly called out from behind me as I felt two arms wrap around my neck and pull me backwards.


    I quickly stopped her by pulling on her arms, easily overpowering her. She ended up doing a frontflip andnding in myp instead.


    " Nadeshiko."


    "Heehee, surprised to see me~?" She giggled, setting her scythe by my neck. "Oh, how easily I could kill you right now~"


    "Go ahead. Just know that if you do, I''ll make you suffer a fate worse than death," I said darkly and coldly, ring into her seductive eyes.


    "If you do that, I won''t be able to spend any more time with you~ so I''ll hold off on the killing for now. There''s plenty of prey down there for me, after all"


    She licked her lips and nced down, where the disciples were still fighting to the death, then turned to me.


    "Eh? You''re not going to say no?"


    Ming Yiughed. "He was the one who created all this chaos in the first ce. Why would he interfere now?"


    "Ara ara~ does this mean" Nadeshiko brought her face closer to mine and tilted my head up to look into her eyes. " I can let loose~?"


    I nodded slowly, and she immediately pulled me into a kiss, slipping her tongue into my mouth and taking me by surprise. After a few seconds of me beingpletely paralyzed, she backed away, wiping her mouth.


    "Hehe~ you''re the best, Kaze~<3"


    Saying this, she leaped off the edge of the building and dove into the chaos below, preparing to unleash a massacre.


    "Man she''s hot," Ming Yi said with a chuckle as she stared at herbat figure. "I''m kind of jealous."


    I scoffed. "You want her? Take her. Good riddance. As long as I can keep using her as a powerful ally, I don''t care who she''s with."


    "Sorry, but she seems absolutely infatuated with you, and I don''t think that''s going to change anytime soon."


    "Quite unfortunately," I added. "Though I will say, she is cute."


    "Not sure cute is the right word" Koroth trailed off. "When are we going in, Brother Kaze?"


    "Give it a little while longer. If things go as nned we won''t need to go in at all. Nadeshiko here can take care of everything," I said with a smirk.


    "So you do value her after all," Ming Yi chuckled.


    " Perhaps. But only as a pawn."


    "Ha! Keep lying to yourself, buddy. If you really thought of her only that way, you would''ve pushed her away when she kissed you just now."


    " I was just-"


    "Don''t worry, don''t worry," Ming Yi said, cing a hand on my shoulder. "I won''t tell her."


    Suddenly, an arrow whizzed past our head, and I just barely managed to avoid it in time. Immediately, the three of us got to our feet and scanned our surroundings. The arrow came from directly in front of us, but I couldn''t see anyone there. They must''ve already moved positions.


    *Is it that elf from earlier? Did she kill the two who went after her?*


    Narrowing my eyes, I dashed from rooftop to rooftop as I searched the building windows for any sign of her.


    "Ming Yi, you stay on this side, I''ll go directly above her on the other. Let me know if you spot her."


    He nodded firmly. "Got it."


    I leaped off the roof of the building, using Vanishing Clouds plus Blink in mid-air to bridge the gap andnd on the other side. I heard the sound of an arrow being shot out of a bow and instinctively ducked. The projectile whizzed past above my head as I turned to see the elf, who stood by the staircase exit.


    I quickly dashed towards her, pulling out Dokujin in the process. She fired another arrow at me, but I knocked it away with my dagger. My reaction speeds were nothing to scoff at, after all.


    Realizing she didn''t have time for a third shot, she panicked and began running away, but she couldn''t outrun me.


    Eventually, I corned her in the staircase, slowly walking towards her as she ran out of breath, panting heavily.


    Sighing, I shook my head. "If you chose to shoot at literally anyone else, you wouldn''t have ended up like this. But you just had to choose me of all people, when I was just chilling on the roof."


    "" The elf gritted her teeth, ncing both ways to search for any way of escaping.


    I narrowed my eyes. "Tell me  who sent you?"

 Chapter 148: Endgame

    Chapter 148: Endgame


    "W-What? I don''t know what you''re talking about," the elf said hesitantly, faced with my question.


    I scoffed. "You''re on the verge of death, yet you are still refusing to say anything? Well, even if you keep your mouth closed, I have a good idea of who it is  Elder Zhang, right?"


    "" The elf didn''t confirm nor deny my words, further confirming my suspicions.


    "Let me guess he said if you could kill me, he would automatically let you into the sect, is that it?" I chuckled, taking a wild guess.


    "How how did you know?"


    I blinked. "Wait, he really told you that? I was just randomly guessing"


    "Tch!" The elf, taking my momentary surprise as an opportunity, quickly pulled out an arrow from her quiver and lunged towards me, trying to stab it into my chest.


    Naturally, this didn''t evene close to working. I grabbed her wrist and pinned it against the wall, before choking her with my other hand and narrowing my gaze.


    "G-Guh"


    "Sorry,dy. Meleebat is not your strong suit."


    "Hnngh can''t breathe!"


    "Now, I''ll offer you a choice," I whispered, almost inaudibly. "Option one, you betray Elder Zhang and help me take him down and option two, I kill you right here and now. Which will it be?"


    I loosened my grip on her a bit so she could talk, but not enough so that she could afford to fight back. The moment she tried, I would choke her to death.


    "T-Take him down? How?" She asked, confused as she struggled for breath. "He''s an elder and you and I are mere disciples not even formal ones, at that"


    "As long as you cooperate with me and do exactly as I say, we''ll be fine. Even if the whole sect is on his side, we can fight back against the whole sect. All we need is a bit of evidence."


    " Fine. I don''t really have a choice here, and I don''t like him either."


    I smiled. "Good. Looking forward to our partnership, then."


    "That would sound a lot more sincere if you took your hand off my throat."


    I hesitantly moved my hand away to see if she would try anything, but she didn''t. It seemed she had truly given in.


    "I hope you know what will happen if you try to move against me or escape. If you try killing me again I won''t show you mercy like I did this time. I''ll even hunt down all of your friends while I''m at it too, and send them to hell with you."


    "I-I got it. You can stop with the threats."


    I chuckled. "As long as you know."


    *****


    By the time the two of us returned to the outside, the Zone was littered with bodies and blood. The few who remained standing were cut down by Nadeshiko, who was stained with fresh blood as she casually licked some off of her face.


    "That''s not healthy," I interrupted, walking towards her.


    She quickly spun around with her scythe and attempted to cut my head off, but stopped right before she actually did.


    "Hm~? Kaze, why didn''t you try to dodge?"


    "Because I knew you wouldn''t actually do it," I replied calmly. "Also, don''t kill this one. She''s important to me."


    Nadeshiko turned to the elf and stepped closer to her, ring her in the eyes.


    "Oh~? What''s this? Another wifey of yours, Kaze?"


    "I only need her to take down Elder Zhang. You can stop looking at her like you''re about to devour her whole."


    "Ah~ but how I want to Kaze is mine and mine only. Sharing won''t do~"


    "If you kill her, I''ll kill you," I said casually, though I was beingpletely serious. Both of us could respawn, so it was no big deal, but Nadeshiko knew the consequences.


    "Fine, fine~ whatever my Kaze wants, hehe~"


    She turned around and walked away, searching for any more survivors of the massacre. I looked around at the ruined infrastructure, buildings in ruins and streets washed with blood. Luckily, the residential building remained untouched. There was just one person who was missing amongst the bodies


    Narrowing my eyes, I had Ming Yi and Koroth watch over the elf, then headed in the direction of the residential building to check on a certain someone.


    *****


    "She''s gone as expected."


    I sighed deeply as I entered the room, seeing the nkets flipped open messily. I ced my hand down on the bed, and narrowed my eyes.


    "It''s still warm so she left only recently"


    Just when I was about to go out searching for her, I heard the cry of a girl outside.


    "Hngh- let go of me!"


    "" I pulled open the windows and peered out the window to see what was going on. Nadeshiko, spotting me, waved happily.


    "Hi, Kaze~ look, I caught a live one~"


    She smiled as she held the rope tying the other girl''s hands together, who had a look of anger and embarrassment on her flushed face.


    Sighing, I drew the curtainspletely.


    ''Vanishing Clouds.''


    Phasing through the wall, I fell from the air and managed to stick thending. Then, walking up to the two girls, I furrowed my brows.


    "Why didn''t you run?"


    "Hah run? You brutally murdered my teammates and you expect me to RUN?" She growled with venom, ring at me in hatred.


    I shrugged nonchntly. "I didn''t murder anyone today. If you want to look for someone to me, look to your left."


    The girl  Mei''Er  did as told, meeting Nadeshiko''s eyes, who smiled airily and giggled.


    " Psycho," Mei''Er spat.


    "That she is," I chuckled.


    "Kaze, Kaze, can I kill her~?" Nadeshiko asked, pulling on my hand with a pleading expression on her bloodstained face.


    " Face me like a real man!" Mei''Er challenged me. "Do you need your girlfriend to do all the gruesome work?"


    "Hey, she likes doing the gruesome work. In fact, I try telling her not to, and she does it anyway. Can you me me ah, but that''s not the point, is it?" Iughed. "You can''t even beat Nadeshiko. What makes you think you can beat me?"


    "Kaze beat me once in a duel," Nadeshiko exined giddily. "But that doesn''t necessarily mean he''s stronger~"


    "You''re still on about that?"


    "What~? Want to fight right now?" She giggled and winked flirtatiously. "If you win, you get to sleep with me tonight, and if I win, you have to sleep with me all the time~"


    " Aren''t those two pretty much the same thing?" I shook my head. "Not now, Nadeshiko."


    "Eh~? Why?"


    "Tch if you''re going to kill me, do it already!" Mei''Er shouted in impatience. "I would rather die than continue to watch you two flirt!"


    "Okay~" Nadeshiko raised her scythe into the air and prepared to cut down, but I stopped her.


    "Wait. There is still a way for you to live, Mei''Er," I said.


    "Who said you could call me that?!"


    "Too bad, it''s the only name I know you by. Anyway if you are willing to do a favor for me, I''ll let you go."


    "A favor? Hmph, don''t think I don''t know what you''re thinking of in your dirty mind you just want my body, don''t you? You''ll have to kill me first!"


    I snorted. "Your body? Please, Nadeshiko''s is 100 times better. But that''s not the point."


    "Ara ara~ Kaze, you''re making me blush~~"


    I cleared my throat. "Ahem the favor I need you to do for me isn''t all that hard. Besides, aren''t you secretly happy I got rid of those nuances for you? You clearly disliked that guy, right? Yet he kept trying to flirt honestly, it was just a matter of time before he tried to force himself on you. Now, the risk of that is gone. Where''s my thank you?"


    " That may be so, but now that he died I will be the one med once the family hears of this news. His family essentially controls mine my parents will be hunted down and killed, do you understand?!"


    I peered into her eyes, allowing her to take a good look at the deep emptiness within mine.


    " The weak die. That''s all there is to it."


    "Wha how could you"


    "If you want to protect your family, simply get stronger. Remaining by some useless simp''s side as a bodyguard will only have the opposite effect. Eventually, they won''t just be requesting you to keep him safe anymore. Eventually, you''ll be forced to marry him  if you don''t, the same thing will happen to your family. What will you do then? Live as someone else''s ve for your whole life? What a joke."


    "!"


    "Listen closely, Mei''Er. What I''m about to offer you is a chance to break free from those chains. If you ept, I''ll share with you some benefits I receive to help you get stronger. As a side bonus, you won''t die today. How about it?"


    After some short hesitation, she finally gave in.


    " Fine. I ept."

 Chapter 149: Flashpoint

    Chapter 149: shpoint


    That night, we stayed within the still-standing residential building of Zone A.


    It was surprisingly high-quality andfortable. The beds were nice and clean, with a perfect bnce between soft and firm. There was even a hot water shower for all of us.


    In the end, we stayed in separate rooms, of course well, almost.


    Nadeshiko insisted on sleeping next to me, and since I couldn''t escape her, I reluctantly gave in atst, nning on just getting out as soon as she fell asleep. Little did I know, however, she ended up tying the two of us together with a rope to prevent me from doing just that.


    "Heheh Kaze, you''re not going anywhere~"


    "Tch"


    And so, I was forced to sleep that night with my bodypletely pressed against Nadeshiko''s. She was surprisingly warm, for such a cold-blooded, psychopathic killer. When she was sleeping, she almost seemed peaceful.


    I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep, butter, in the middle of the night, I was woken up by her soft murmuring in her dreams.


    Slowly blinking my eyes open, I noticed just how tightly she was hugging me, even though we were around bound together by a rope.


    "Mommy don''t leave me pleasee back I got rid of the bad guy, see? So pleasee back mommy"


    I originally wanted to pry myself away from her, but after hearing this, how could I?


    I lost all feelings of pity and sadness, but I still knewpassion and kindness. While her daytime persona waspletely broken and maniacal, nowhere near normal, deep down she was still just a poor girl who had her family taken away from me once, only to be given a fake one as a recement who only wanted to use her as a tool.


    All of a sudden, I felt somewhat guilty for treating her the same way. I didn''t love her in any way, yet I was keeping her by my side like this, just to use as a loyal, powerful ally in battle.


    I gently embraced her back, sliding my hand through her hair like Hina-nee used to do for me when I was younger.


    "It''s okay I''m here."


    "Mmn"


    With my pats offort, she slowly began to quiet down again, breathing softly as she slept. Once I confirmed she was okay, I closed my eyes as well, still hugging her tightly.


    *****


    - The Next Morning -


    "Attention, all disciples: A shpoint event is beginning soon. The location has been marked on your maps."


    We were naturally roused from our sleep by this loud voice that boomed across the skies, louder than any rm clock and far more annoying too.


    Shaking my head grogily, I attempted to get up, only to get pulled right back down by Nadeshiko. Because of the rope tying us together, I ended upnding straight on top of her, face mere inches away.


    "Mm Kaze~" She slowly opened her eyes, staring into mine, and I tried to break free. But s, the rope was too tight.


    She lifted her head up slightly, meeting my lips. I tried pulling away, but she held my head in ce firmly. I couldn''t use my hands, since I was using them to support myself to avoid falling down on her.


    "Mmn~ ah~" She pulled away atst, licking her lips. "That was a nice wake-up kiss, wasn''t it, Kaze~?"


    " When are you going to untie us? I''m going to check out the shpoint event."


    "Mkay~ I''ming along too~"


    She slowly untied us, smiling happily. The moment I was free, I leaped out of bed. I''m sure she felt my morning wood pressing down on her, but just chose not to mention it.


    "Fufu~ how cute."


    After everyone showered and was ready to go, we met up at the entrance of the residential building.


    "Yo," Ming Yi said, the first to finish after me. He walked up and patted my shoulder. "Good morning."


    "Morning."


    "Heh what did you do with herst night, huh?" He grinned suggestively, nudging my shoulder. "C''mon, tell me all the juicy details. I want to know."


    So that''s what you''re here for


    "Let''s see, we slept, we yeah, that''s bout it."


    "Wait, what? You just fell asleep?"


    I nodded. "Mhm. Something wrong?"


    "WHAT?! MAN, you just let a golden opportunity slip by!"


    " I''m not 18 yet."


    "You aren''t? You look like you are"


    "I''m not," I said with a sigh. "And even if I was, I probably wouldn''t have done anything to her either. I already told you, didn''t I? She''s just my pawn  nothing more."


    "Heh how much you wanna bet that will change in the near future?"


    I scoffed. "10 bucks?"


    Ming Yi grinned and shed me a thumbs-up. "10 bucks it is, my friend."


    *****


    "So, I trust everyone heard that message?" I asked the other five once we had all gathered.


    Mei''Er nodded. "The first shpoint event has begun. Now, if I read my map correctly it should be that way."


    She pointed towards our left, which was the opposite direction of where we arrived here yesterday.


    "I see well, let''s go for now. With any luck, we''ll all be able to regroup with our respective teams there."


    "My team was massacredst night" Mei''Er muttered, shooting me a look of disdain. "Not that I care all that much."


    "Oh yeah, by the way," I said to the elf. "What can I call you by? Just ''elf'' is kind of"


    "You can call me Monica," she replied.


    "Got it."


    With everything sorted out, we headed off to the location marked on our maps, depicted by a bright blue marker.


    *****


    Because the location marked had arge blue radius around it, nearly as big as a whole Zone, we stopped as soon as we entered the circle. It was unusually quiet. Without a doubt, other groups of disciples were already here, lurking.


    The obvious strategy here was to let another group handle the Beast that spawns, then go in for the killing blow. But with so many different groups around


    "Agh-!" A yell of pain suddenly rang out in the distance, followed by various explosions and war cries.


    " Looks like they''ve begun fighting before the Beast even spawned, huh?" I muttered.


    "What''s the y here, Kaze?" Ming Yi asked, bending down beside me.


    "Nothing."


    "E-Eh?" Everyone blinked in surprise.


    "What? I''m not kidding. There''s literally nothing we have to do other than wait for the right opportunity. Everyone else will start to get impatient after a while and go in  all we have to do is oust them."


    As the sound of battle heightened, signaling newbatants have joined the fray, I shrugged as if that proved my point exactly.


    "But what if your sister or that other side character is there too~?" Nadeshiko giggled charmingly.


    "S-Side character? You mean Furuwa?" I couldn''t help butugh at that one. "They''ll be fine. I believe they can handle themselves, and neither of them are stupid enough to join the fight this early on. That said"


    I turned to Ming Yi and Koroth. "What about you two? Your team do you want to go take a look to see if they''re in trouble? Oh, but I won''t be following, of course."


    They shook their heads. "Even if we lose our teammates, as long as we can overthrow Elder Zhang, making it into the sect is no problem," Ming Yi said. "Besides, I don''t want to risk being eliminated as well. If our teammates are currently fighting, that just means they aren''t smart enough to be worth saving."


    "I like the mindset," I remarked, then quickly snapped my gaze to our left as I sensed movement.


    "Footsteps. Quiet."


    The five immediately backed off slowly, remaining as quiet as possible as I observed.


    It was a group of four people, all males. The interesting thing, however, was that I recognized one of them. He was the same guy who had tried courting Nadeshiko during the team formation phase, but got utterly rejected.


    "Ara ara~ isn''t that" Nadeshiko murmured, seeming to have realized it as well.


    "If I remember correctly, didn''t he say he would kill me or something?" I wondered aloud with a smirk on my face.


    "Fufu, can I call him instead~?"


    "No. He threatened me, not you. And anyone who threatens me won''t have a good end."


    Saying this, I nced to Mei''Er, who had once tried making me into her servant. She noticed my gaze and looked away, blushing slightly from guilt and embarrassment at just how badly she got humiliated by me.


    "It seems he''s trying to join the fight over there," Monica said, furrowing her brows in thought. "Clearly, not the brightest tool in the shed."


    "Judging from the arrogant and haughty expressions on their faces, they seem to be quite confident in their skills," Ming Yi chuckled. "But you know what they say the more arrogant someone is, the less capable they actually are."


    "You guys stay here," I suddenly said, smiling deviously as a n formed in my head. "I''m just going to go steal a few kills real quick."

 Chapter 150: Kill Stealing

    Chapter 150: Kill Stealing


    "I''m going to go steal some kills."


    With those brisk words, I left the rest of them behind, dashing deeper into the forest.


    "H-Huh? Didn''t you just say all we had to was wait here?" Mei''Er cried, bewildered by my actions. "Hey!"


    "Fufu~ I''ming too~" Nadeshiko giggled and followed behind,pletely ignoring my order for them to stay here.


    *****


    I awaited patiently within some bushes a short distance away from where all the action was happening. Corpsesy littered on the floor, but none of them were anyone I recognized.


    "You''re going to get revenge on that guy who tried hitting on me~?" She licked her lips andy down on top of me, mouth mere millimeters away from my ear. "So you do care about me after all hehe~"


    "Oh no, that''s not why," I replied calmly. "It''s just that he said he would kill me if he came across me, so it wouldn''t be right if I didn''t do the same in return."


    "Mkay then~"


    "Actually, why the hell are you here too?" I twisted my head around, meeting her gaze. "Didn''t I tell you to just stay back there with the others?"


    "Fufu, that''s so boring~ I want to be with my Kaze~"


    I sighed in exasperation, realizing talking to her logically wasn''t going to work. "Fine, fine just don''t interfere."


    "Mkay~ but can I kill the others?" She asked excitedly, eyes lighting up.


    So that''s the real reason you came along


    "Uh just don''t identally kill Furuwa or Hina-nee if they''re there."


    Nadeshiko pouted cutely, puffing her cheeks out in dissatisfaction. "Hmph"


    "Alternatively, I can just knock you out right here and now and toss you back."


    "Noooo~ I''ll listen to you, Kaze~"


    She hugged my neck tightly, refusing to get off my body.


    "Alright. You ready?"


    "I''m always ready~"


    I narrowed my eyes as my target''s group joined the fight, and used Inspect on them.


    Level 29 28 28 29. Sweet.


    They were but ''NPCs'', natives of thisnd. They didn''t have any respawning ability to protect them. If I killed them here, it was final.


    But did I care? No, not really. They asked for it, threatening me.


    "3 2 1 now!"


    ''Vanishing Steps.''


    I used this art as Nadeshiko jumped off of me and flew into the battlefield. I was made invisible, leaving all the adds to be cleared by Nadeshiko.


    Slipping Dokujin out of my boot as I dashed in one swift motion, I stopped right behind the boy who had oh-so-confidently threatened me the day before.


    "Hey. Remember me?"


    He quickly twisted his head around at the sound of my voice right as my invisibility wore out, and his eyes seized up in fear. But s, it was toote.


    SLASH.


    I cut his head clean off, then turned to his three shocked teammates.


    "W-Wha when did he"


    "Alright, listen, you three can go free, since I have nothing against you-"


    "Doesn''t matter, just kill him for the points! RAGH!"


    " Okay then. Well, you asked for it."


    Closing my eyes and holding Dokujin in a reverse grip at chest-level, I used an art that never felt any less satisfying.


    ''Many Must Fall.''


    In an instant, I cut through all three of them, weaving through their bodies anding out behind them all.


    "G-Guh h-how"


    "Ngh ugh."


    "M-Monster"


    The three shed bodies fell to the dirt with a thud. I originally didn''t want to kill them, but hey, they came at me first. Now, I gained 4 Engrams. How nice.


    Though I doubted they had anything that good.


    I turned to Nadeshiko, who had finished massacring her victims as well. I had no doubt other teams were lurking about, but after seeing how ruthlessly and quickly we cleaned up everyone, they were reluctant to jump out. Well mostly.


    "Kaze-kun!"


    "Kaze!"


    Two familiar voices rang out at the same time,ing from both sides. Before I knew it, Hina-nee had pulled me into a hug, and Furuwa was standing right next to me.


    "Oh, thank goodness, you''re not hurt" Hina-nee murmured, inspecting my body all over.


    Suddenly, I sensed danger and turned to my right, where a fireball was flying towards us at top speed. Nadeshiko quickly stepped in and began spinning her scythe rapidly, a ck and pink energy surrounding it.


    The fireball crashed into her weapon, but to my surprise, it bounced right off and was instead deflected back to the caster, who quickly ducked in response. The fireball, however, hit a tree, setting it on fire.


    "Ugh what kind of idiot uses fire magic in a forest?!" Furuwained, clenching her fists tightly.


    "We''re not safe here in the open. Let''s go," I said, picking Hina-nee up in a princess carry and dashing away. Nadeshiko and Furuwa followed, with thetter deflecting all the iing projectiles being shot our way.


    *****


    Once we returned to our hiding spot, the forest fire was beginning to spread even further. At this rate, it would even reach Zone A, where we were stationed at.


    "What''s the y here, Kaze?" Monica asked, brows furrowed as she nced at the rapidly iing wave of fire. The other teams were trying to put the fire down using Hydromancy hidden arts, but that was only a temporary solution.


    Suddenly, however, arge roar silenced everything else, followed by an earth-shaking stomp.


    "Ngh-!"


    All of us fell to the dirt from the sudden loss of bnce and plugged our ears from the thunderous sound, closing our eyes while we were at it too. But when we opened them again the fire was gone.


    And in its ce, was a flood, flowing straight towards us.


    My eyes widened. "The trees! Hurry!"


    I let the girls climb onto my shoulders so they could all jump up onto a tree, while Ming Yi used Koroth.


    "Kaze-kun, take my hand!" Hina-nee hurriedly shouted in worry, reaching down so she could try and pull me up.


    I quickly jumped, but-


    "Ah-!"


    The wave of water crashed into me, sending me tumbling downhill amongst the broken logs and debris.


    "Kaze!" The girls cried in unison, but there was nothing they could do about it.


    "Ugh Brother Kaze here!"


    Koroth, who had been washed away with me and was now desperately trying to hold onto a tree trunk, strugglingly reached a hand out for me, but I shook my head.


    "You''ll just end up falling with me, don''t!"


    Koroth was hesitant, but quickly ced both hands on the tree trunk once more, holding on for dear life.


    I turned my attention back to my front, where the gates to Zone A were. Therge doors were shut tight, and the walls were high enough to block the flood. All I had to do, was


    Gritting my teeth and trying my best to keep my eyes open amidst the sshing water, I awaited the perfect moment.


    I couldn''t use Blink because this flood kept ruining my bnce, and I didn''t want to waste Transhesive Steps on this. Therefore, only one answer remained.


    C''mon c''mon


    Right before the water  and me, along with it  crashed into the concrete walls of Zone A, I made my move.


    ''Vanishing Clouds!''


    I phased through the solid material right at the perfect moment, sending me tumbling into a front roll, before copsing onto the granite ground.


    "Hah hah" I was drenched and exhausted, both physically and mentally, but I had survived.


    Elder Zhang did he spawn such a Beast for the shpoint event on purpose? No, it could just be to save the fire, but what if the person who used fire also did it under hismand, so he would have a valid excuse?


    "Ugh" I shook the water off my face and struggled to my feet, ripping off my armor set. I opened my System and equipped the Corruptor Set instead, after making brand new undergarments with the Crafting system. A fresh set of dry clothes how nice.


    The Deceiver Set I had on just now would clean itself and dry on its own in my inventory overtime, so I didn''t need to worry about that.


    "Now then" I turned back to the gates, then narrowed my eyes.


    Moving closer, I climbed up using adder, and looked out to see what was going on.


    The flood had washed me pretty far away, but I could just barely make out the silhouette of a massive turtle of some sort amongst the trees, wrecking the forest and crushing anyone who dared to get close to it.


    I then surveyed my own surroundings, and saw that the water had calmed down and was in the process of being soaked into the dirt below. When that would finish, however, was a different story. By the time it finally did, the shpoint event could very well have already ended.


    I didn''t want to wait any longer, so I hopped onto the nearest tree and jumped to another from there, like an assassin dashing through a forest.

 Chapter 151: Tier Seven Beast

    Chapter 151: Tier Seven Beast


    Swiftly moving from tree to tree, I made it to where Hina-nee and the others were in no time.


    "Kaze-kun!" She cried upon seeing me, with tears in her eyes. "I thought you"


    "Took everything I had to prevent her from jumping into the water and going after you," Furuwa muttered, shooting me a re. "Don''t scare us like that next time."


    "I couldn''t really help it, but" I turned to the massive turtle-like creature in the distance. "That''s the Tier VII Magic Beast we have to y, I''m assuming?"


    "Actually, it''s a Monster," Monica said, correcting me. "I don''t know how you survived that just now, by the way, but that''s not the point. Look at the creature closely. See anything out of the ordinary?"


    "Ah, now that you mention it there''s some sort of dark, purple energy being emitted from its body. Its really faint, but I can see it," I replied, focusing my gaze on the beast in the distance.


    "That''s called Malevolence," Monica exined. "It dictates whether or not a creature is a Monster."


    Hm just like what is written in the System. I see.


    "So, how do we take it down?" Ming Yi asked, jumping into the conversation.


    "I know." Koroth, who somehow managed to survive as well, raised his hand.


    "Uh are you okay, standing in the water like that?"


    He nodded. "I have tougher skin than most people."


    Oh, right because he''s a demon


    "Uh I see. So you said you knew how to beat that thing?" I prompted him to continue.


    He nodded. "That Monster used to be a Magic Beast quitemonly found in er, my homnd. Its name is the Land Turtlez, and its normally the size of a hand. That thing right there has mutated beyond control."


    "Uh, yeah, we can see that, thanks," Mei''Er said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.


    "The normal way to kill Turtlez is to drown them in water, but" Koroth trailed off.


    "Wait, drown them?" I interjected. "Can''t they breathe underwater?"


    "You''re thinking of Water Turtlez," Koroth replied. "Land Turtlez can''t."


    "Huh"


    So they''re different from turtles back on Earth, then


    I could tell from Hina-nee, Furuwa, and Nadeshiko''s eyes that they were thinking the same thing, but none of us spoke out loud about it.


    "Well that''s a bit of a problem," I muttered, trying to think of a n. "Where are we going to find the water we need to drown something that bi oh, wait."


    I nced down at all the water the creature had pumped out earlier, then smiled.


    "Wait, Kaze, don''t tell me you''re trying to" Mei''Er trailed off as she realized what I was going to try to do.


    "What? It has the perfect weapon to kill itself. It would be a shame if we didn''t use it."


    "Uh that''s good and all, but how are actually going to pull that off?"


    "Simple," I said, smirking deviously. "We use the other teams as bait to distract it. Hopefully, they will annoy it enough to make it trigger another flood. And when it does this whole ce will overflow. We''ll still be safe on the trees, but if we can just kick the Turtlez downhill, somehow"


    "That won''t work. Someone will need to trick it into following them" Ming Yi murmured, then turned to me.


    I stared back at him like ''you''re kidding, right?'', but he didn''t waver.


    "I''ll do it," Hina-nee interjected. "Kaze-kun, just sta-"


    "No, no, no. You are not doing it," I firmly denied. "I am faster and possess more skills to help me escape."


    "But-"


    "No buts. Actually Ming Yi, why don''t you do it?" I smirked, turning to the person who had originally wanted me to do it.


    "Uh you''re faster than me though?" Heughed awkwardly.


    "Perhaps. But not by much. You''re more than fast enough, I''ve seen you in action."


    " Well, that''s fair. I''ll give it a shot."


    I nodded in satisfaction. "Alright, listen closely. Hina-nee, you and I will turn invisible and set up a tripwire between two trees leading downhill. That way, once the Monster starts chasing Ming Yi, it will end up tripping on the wire and tumble down the hill straight into his own water."


    "How will we find material hard enough to withstand that Monster''s rampage, though?" Hina-nee asked. "Just rope won''t work."


    "Hm" I opened up my inventory and swept my gaze through its contents. Then, my gazended on an item drop I had obtained from the Magic Beasts I killed yesterday.


    [Name: Cryptostrand]


    [Type: Material]


    [Description: Thin yet extremely sharp and durable strand of silk. Dropped from Cryptospiders.]


    I retrieved it from my inventory and tied it around the trunk of my tree and held it there, then whipped out Dokujin and sliced down.


    It didn''t work.


    "Yeah, I think this is strong enough," I chuckled before putting everything back where they originally were, then turning to the Monster once more. "Now all we need is a distraction."


    Just as I said this, a team of eight people jumped in at the Monster from all sides. I assumed that they had figured out a deal of some sort, since they were cooperating with one another quite well. They seemed to have a n in mind as well, as they were extremely coordinated.


    Two people flew around using hookshots, creating a cage that trapped the Monster inside. However, the massive Turtlez wasn''t concerned at all, and instead roared loudly.


    "Ngh-!" The group were forced to all plug their ears, lest they began bleeding. We were far away enough to not be affected, luckily.


    I turned to Ming Hao and he met my gaze. Exchanging nods, I watched as he stealthily made his way closer to the Monster while it was distracted by the other disciples. Spinning around to face Hina-nee, I pulled out the Cryptostrand and prepared to make our move.


    "Let''s go."


    *****


    As Hina-nee and I got closer to the Turtlez, we both used our arts to avoid detection from both the Monster and the other disciples.


    ''Vanishing Steps.''


    Immediately, I felt my body get lighter and quicker. We only a short amount of time before our invisibility wore out, so we had to do this quick. I went over to one tree while Hina-nee went to the other about ten meters apart from one another. I couldn''t see her, but I instinctively knew she was there already.


    I attempted to wrap the cryptostrand around the tree trunk in front of me, but the Turtlez suddenly roared again. This time, we weren''t far away enough to not get hit.


    "Gah" I hurriedly plugged my ears, then turned to the Monster to see it charging up some sort of attack from within its shell.


    Not good he''s going to flood again that''s too early!


    I swiftly turned back to the tree and threw the cord around it, circling a few times before tossing the other end of the string to Hina-nee, who caught it. It looked weird since from my perspective, the cord was being held in mid-air, but that was just because of the invisibility.


    Hina-nee tied a knot on her end just as the invisibility wore off, and she shed me a thumbs-up. Together, we quickly retreated away up into the trees just in time before-


    "GRAHHHHHHHHH!"


    -Well, that.


    Gallons upon gallons of water shot out of the Turtlez''s indestructible shell, flooding the forest even more in an instant. We were still safe up here in the trees, but


    The other disciples who had challenged the Beast were all blown away by this shockwave of energy, leaving Ming Yi alone who had stayed back until now. He threw three shurikens of some sort towards the creature, which cut deep into its tough hide.


    "ROAR!" It shouted in anger, immediately turning focus on Ming Yi. The n was going wlessly.


    Ming Yi, spotting us up on top of the two trees where weid the trap between, dashed in our direction. The Turtlez followed like a rampaging rhinoceros, strong but stupid.


    Ming Yi jumped over the near-invisible string of cryptostrand, before leaping for a tree and holding on for dear life. The Turtlez, however, was not so lucky.


    It didn''t see the tripwire  a terrible mistake. The cryptostrand cut straight through its feet, which surprised me quite a lot. Losing its momentum, the Monster copsed forward and began rolling straight into the ocean that was once a forest.


    SPLASH!


    As it hit the water, a sh on par with a geyser could be seen, showering all of us and making the armor set I just switched into wet.


    "Ugh" I slowly shook my head to get the water off, then turned to where the Turtlez had fallen in. There were a few bubblesing out of the location, but they soon disappeared. No other sounds or sign of movement were heard.


    Ming Yi slowly made his way up the trunk of the tree and took a deep breath once he was done, before ncing at me and doing a little salute.


    "Missionplete."

 Chapter 152: Regrouping & Forming Allies?

    Chapter 152: Regrouping & Forming Allies?


    Soon after, the water was all drained into the forest. Normally, this wouldn''t have happened that quick given the sheer volume of the water, but I''m guessing this forest''s soil had special consumption qualities. After all, the first wave of water had been absorbed quite quickly as well.


    In any case, once all the water was gone, all that remained was the Turtlez''s dead body. I didn''t know whether it was really dead or not, so to make sure, I dropped down from the tree and moved closer to check. Just when I reached it, however, the Monster''s body turned into dark shards of light and flowed into my body.


    "Huh"


    [Obtained Monster Crystal (Tier VII) x1.]


    [Level Up!]


    [Lv. 40 -> 44.]


    [You received 40 SP and 20 AP.]


    My eyes widened. 4 levels from one single kill that I didn''t even try all that hard for. I was somewhat surprised that the System still counted this as my kill, when all I did was trick it into killing itself, but hey  I''m not about toin about free XP and loot. I still didn''t know what these Monster Crystals really did other than using them as proof we defeated said Monster, but I''m sure they''lle in handyter on.


    I suppose now really wasn''t the time to be worrying about this, though as I noticed several pairs of hostile eyes staring into my back.


    I smiled and turned around to face them.


    "Why, hello. Done admiring my body?"


    " You stole our kill," a boy said, stepping forward with his eyes narrowed in hatred. "And we''re going to have you return what''s rightfully ours."


    "Ohhh," Iughed, as if just realizing what they''re talking about. "So, you''re the ones who nearly got wiped out by one attack? I see, I see you guys made for good bait, thank you."


    "You!" The boy''s fists tightened in anger, but I merely continued smiling.


    "Now, now if you want to fight right here and now, I''m fine with that. But"


    I spread my arms as my allies dropped down beside me, one by one. Mei''Er, Monica, Hina-nee, Nadeshiko, Furuwa, Ming Yi, Koroth, and I  we made eight people, thus being equivalent to them in terms of numbers. However, our individual strength was a lot higher, thus making our overall power as a group higher as well.


    " You may want to reconsider before challenging us."


    "Wait, you two why are you on his side?!" The boy shrieked, pointing at Ming Yi and Koroth.


    I raised an eyebrow, turning to them. "Is he"


    The two nodded and sighed. "Yeah that guy is our team leader."


    "Hm. I see. I wouldn''t me you if you were to join their side," I said to them, shrugging.


    "Nah. Even if we go back now, we''ll just be treated as traitors, used as bait," Ming Yi replied, which was a fair point. "In this exam, working together with your team is best, but all four team members can work individually and still collect enough points for the team to take first."


    I nodded. "Definitely."


    Then, turning to the group staring at us from above, I smirked.


    "You heard them. Still want to fight?"


    The boy had a conflicted expression on his face, but then, another disciple patted on his shoulder and spoke.


    "Brother Leng, they are dangerous. My team and I were on our way to Zone Ast night, but we heard the chaos inside and decided not to join in. Yet most of the people here are survivors of that ce. In other words, they decimated everybody else."


    "Fufu, how unfortunate~" Nadeshiko giggled. "You should''ve came and joined the fun~ I would''ve loved to murder you too~"


    "Tch" The boy averted his gaze and fell into thought. After a few seconds, he turned back to us and folded his arms. "In that case how about we form a deal?"


    I raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Let''s hear it."


    "You let us live in Zone A, and in return-"


    "Nope, sorry. See ya."


    I turned tail and walked off, the others following me.


    "Hey! You didn''t even let me finish!"


    "Because I don''t care enough," I replied with a chuckle as I continued walking away. "Zone A is mine, and I don''t trust someone who just tried killing me enough to let them in. Who knows when you''ll backstab me?"


    Just before I went out of their sight, however, I stopped and left behind one final message  a challenge.


    "Of course you''re wee to try and force your way in. But hey, just know: it''s your funeral."


    *****


    After returning to Zone A that day, I called everyone allied with me to meet up in the main hall of sorts. It was arge room with a long rectangr table inside, surrounded by chairs  the perfect ce to host a meeting.


    "Alright now that everyone''s gathered here, I want to discuss our ns moving forward for this exam. Since we are working together here, I''d like to ask for all of your opinions. If you can convince me, I''ll dly take your suggestions. So  to start off, I want to talk about forming alliances with other groups of disciples. Should we do this or just remain as we are right now?"


    "We are doing fine as it is," Furuwa said calmly. "Forming allianceses with the risk of being stabbed in the back, just as you mentioned earlier. In fact, I think our current group is toorge, even. For example"


    She turned to Monica and Mei''Er, eyeing them in suspicion. "I do not trust those two one bit."


    "Well, whether you like it or not, they''re useful to me," I replied. "They are staying here though regarding your proposal about not forming any new alliances, I do agree with."


    "What do you need me for, anyway?" Mei''Er asked, frowning in annoyance. "You said you would let me live if I did something for you, but you still haven''t said what that something is."


    "Oh, all you have to do is be a witness," I replied. "You remember when I showed you my wristwatch? Don''t think I didn''t realize you recorded all of that."


    "W-Wha" Her eyes widened, as if shocked I had found out.


    "I''m not going to ask why, but I can tell what that ne you''re wearing does. Don''t ask me how."


    The real reason I knew was because the ne, when inspected closely, actually had a camera lens within it. I had seen thisst night when she was brought in front of me by Nadeshiko.


    Now, I didn''t know she managed to get her hands on such a thing in this world, but the technology was the same. Since Hina-nee''s father was a news reporter, there were plenty of cameras around the Sakura Family''s household. I was able to recognize them on sight.


    "All you need to do is show that recording to certain people when I ask you to," I replied. "The only reason I didn''t kill you is because I don''t know whether or not I could activate that ne myself, so keep that in mind."


    " I see. If that''s all you need, then sure, I suppose."


    "What about me?" Monica asked, frowning in confusion. "You said you would overthrow Elder Zhang, but how exactly will you"


    "Oh, right. You must know how to contact that bastard, right? Some sort of secretmunication method?" I chuckled.


    She nodded and took out a golden leaf of some sort. "After activating this, I can talk directly to him."


    "I see well, just tell him you want to see him to discuss something tonight. Once you meet, find a way to make him say what he wants you to do, exactly, and what he''s offering you in return. Then discretely record the whole conversation."


    "With the ne?" Monica asked hesitantly.


    I nodded. "Mei''Er, can you teach her how to use it?"


    "Only I can activate it, but there is a workaround," Mei''Er said firmly. "I can start the recording process before you leave, thus recording the whole time until you bring it back to me. I can trim the clips, so don''t worry."


    Monica rubbed her chin. "I see but how can I make him say the same thing he already told me once without seeming suspicious?"


    "That''s up to you to figure out," I replied. "I can''t predict how your conversation will go, so I can''t help there. But even if you fail to make him say it this time, don''t worry too much as long as you don''t expose yourself. There will be more chances. Just remember, keeping your betrayal hidden is top priority."


    She nodded in understanding. "I know. I''ll do my best."


    And so, with that decided, we spent the rest of the day hunting Monsters and Magic Beasts near Zone A. We came across a few teams, but they all ran away for some reason after seeing us. Having a fearsome reputation was quite nice.


    For once, I was grateful for Nadeshiko being here.

 Chapter 153: New Abilities

    Chapter 153: New Abilities


    With all the level-ups happening recently plus the AP I had leftover from before, I now had a total of 52 AP I could spend.


    I kind of wished I had Aisa here so she could tell me which skills were overpowered and I should get, but at the same time, I didn''t want to wait until we returned to use all this AP either.


    So, after eating the meal Mei''Er cooked using a few Magic Beasts we took down, I spent that afternoon just browsing through my System and working out what skills I should get next. By the way, her cooking was quite delicious, surprisingly enough. I didn''t think she knew how to cook given how brashly she usually acts, but I suppose I was too judgmental.


    After taking a shower, I returned to my own room and shut the door tight. This was so I could have some time to myself and think alone without any disturbance  hell, I even locked it for good measure.


    Hopping onto my bed, I opened up my System and went to the Skills tab.


    "Now then, let''s see here"


    I feel like I had explored enough of Tank and Knight, so I automatically ruled those sses off. I wanted to get some more Marksman skills since range was a powerful ally, but I didn''t actually have any weapons that were made for that ss. That only left four sses I could expand on  Support, Assassin, Mage, and Engineer. I decided to browse their skill trees in order to see if there''s anything that catches my eye.


    Panning my screen to the Support area first, my eyes immediately fell upon the second skill, as the first one was just the average Way of the __ skill.


    [Name: Minor Heal]


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: Heals any and all light injuries on yourself or an ally.]


    [Cooldown: 5 minutes]


    [Cost: 2 AP]


    "Huh 2 AP right off the bat?"


    Usually, skills this early on the tree were supposed to cost only 1, but I guess Support-type arts were just that valuable  yet no one appreciates them.


    Still, this was a mere Minor Heal, and could only heal light injuries was it really worth it?


    After some thinking, I decided to buy it  not because of this skill alone, but because of all the ones that came after.


    [Name: Major Heal]


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: Heals any and all non-fatal injuries on yourself or an ally.]


    [Cooldown: 1 day]


    [Cost: 4 AP]


    -


    [Name: Angel''s Blessing]


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: Heals any and all injures on yourself or an ally. Can prevent death if used in time.]


    [Cooldown: 1 month]


    [Cost: 10 AP]


    So yeah. These skills were quite expensive, but thatst one, Angel''s Blessing, was absolutely insane. It was essentially a second life. Any amount of AP would be worth it for that, especially now that I can actually lose items upon death. I had an abundance of AP right now anyway, so there was no reason not to get this. But what really shocked me was what came next in this skill line:


    [Name: Divine Protection]


    [Type: Passive]


    [Description: Defy thews of death and resurrect when receiving fatal damage. Upon resurrection, bepletely invincible for ten minutes. For this duration, gain the ability to fly, see through walls, and wield angelic celestial fire as a powerful weapon. In addition, all stats will be temporarily boosted (+100).]


    [Cooldown: 1 year]


    [Cost: 20 AP]


    Now this, was really a second life. Angel''s Blessing could still be countered  for example, if I identally ran out Essence, or if my enemies somehow prevented me from casting an art. But there was no counter to this ''Divine Protection''. It was like a guardian angel, shielding me from death no matter what.


    After some hesitation, I purchased it. 20 AP was a hefty amount, but I decided that it was worth it. The thing with this skill was that I didn''t necessarily have to use it ''defensively''. For example, if I''m facing a powerful opponent that I have no choice but to beat, I could purposely bait them into killing me, then resurrecting with this ''Invincibility'' to catch them by surprise and take them down.


    There were a few other branches in the Support skill path, but they were awfully specific. For example, Fire Resistance, Poison Resistance, and more. Of them, I bought Water Resistance I and Poison Resistance I, both of which cost 2 AP. I could use my pre-existing skills to get out of almost any sticky situation as ast resort, but if I am submerged in water or struck by poison, I would be rendered vulnerable.


    Therefore, I decided to purchase these two arts just in case. They were quite different from any other one I''ve seen in the past, as these were a mixture of passive and active. They passively provided me resistance against water and poison, but also allowed me to use this as an active skill to grant others temporary resistance against these elements as well. I didn''t think I would be using thetter part of this skill that much, but it was nice to have just in case.


    In any case, with all these skills purchased, I was left with only 11 AP, since Way of the Support also cost 1 AP. I kind of wanted to explore the Engineer ss more, but I figured that could be saved until next time. For now, I decided to just acquire a few new moves from the Assassin ss. I''ll get some new hidden arts next time as well.


    Panning my screen to the Assassin skill path, I decided to see what skills came after Many Must Fall  the strongest one I had right now only to see that I had reached the end. I did see that the other skill branches beside this one went on for longer though, so I decided to just outright explore a new branch  one that seemed to be focused on ranged, single-move arts rather than ones that had durations such as Many Must Fall.


    [Name: Throwing Knife]


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: Throws a silent heavy knife at target. If an enemy is killed with this skill, the cooldown is refreshed.]


    [Cooldown: 1 minute]


    [Cost: 1 AP]


    "Throwing knives, huh?" I muttered in thought, narrowing my eyes. "That seems like it''s going to be pretty hard, but I suppose leveling up my DEX stat will help with this. And besides, the skill itself will most likely provide me with some aim assist, so"


    I decided to buy this skill, since I was in need of a silent ranged attack anyway. Hidden arts were just too loud and attracted too much attention, while I didn''t have a Marksman weapon. Thus, in the meantime, I could use these throwing knives as a substitute.


    From here, two new branches split off from this one. The first was more offensive focused:


    [Name: Explosive Knife]


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: Throws an explosive knife that bursts into mes upon impact or remote detonation.]


    [Cooldown: 2 minutes]


    [Cost: 1 AP]


    While the second was more utility focused:


    [Name: shbang Knife]


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: Throws a lightweight knife that explodes into a dazzling ray of light upon impact or remote detonation. Blinds and deafens nearby enemies.]


    [Cooldown: 2 minutes]


    [Cost: 1 AP]


    I decided to buy both of these, because they seemed useful, though for different purposes. Explosive was good for taking out a tiny group of enemies all at once, while shbang affected arger radius and provided time to slip past enemies unseen. I had invisibility so it didn''t matter all that much, but when in group operations, not everyone could just go invisible.


    The next skill in the utility path didn''t seem all that great  basically, the same thing as the shbang, except this time you can throw three all at once in different locations. shbangs aren''t meant to be used so excessively anyway, so I just turned my attention back to the offensive-focused branch of knife throwing.


    [Name: de Barrage]


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: Leap up into the air and unleash a storm of explosive knives upon enemies all at once.]


    [Cooldown: 1 hour]


    [Cost: 3 AP]


    Oh now this is interesting. This skill not only propels me into the air, giving a surge of momentum, but also is extremely useful againstrge groups of enemies clumped up together. The smoke given off by all the explosions could also provide me with a clean getaway. Not bad, not bad at all.


    I decided to buy this, since I could use it both offensively and just as a panic run away art. I was now left with 5 AP, and there was one final skill in this branch of the Assassin skill path.


    [Name: Lotus of a Thousand Cuts]


    [Type: Active]


    [Description: Surge into the air and begin spinning rapidly, shooting off thousands of different knives all around you. Lightweights move quicker and are more urate, heavies do more damage, and explosive ones st in a small radius. Durationsts for 5 seconds. Can also choose to target single enemy.]


    [Cooldown: 1 day]


    [Cost: 5 AP]


    I smiled. "Lotus of a Thousand Cuts, huh"


    Then, clicking on the skill, I pressed ''Purchase.''

 Chapter 154: Triple Crossing

    Chapter 154: Triple Crossing


    By the time I was all done with buying new skills, I couldn''t wait to test them out. But the sun was already setting, and everyone else had just returned from hunting the nearby woods. I stretched on my bed, rxing my muscles, then nced out the window to reduce the strain on my eyes.


    Though the System was a holographic screen, it still functioned in the same way asputer screens back on Earth. Ending up needing sses wouldn''t be ideal, so I decided to just take breaks for my eyes every now and then.


    That said was it even possible to get sses here? I don''t think I''ve ever seen a single yer wearing them, but that could just be rted to luck. Then again my asthenia  muscle weakness condition  wasn''t carried over when I first entered the game. It only got transferred back once my physical body back on Earth was transported into this reality ne, which means, technically, those who wore sses in the real world shouldn''t need to wear them in-game.


    I remember reading on the AR headset manual for anyone wearing sses to take them off before putting on the helmet, but at the time, I just assumed that was because the sses would get in the way of the gear. Now that I think about it, though


    "Kaze," a girl''s voice suddenly said, knocking on my door. "Monica contacted Elder Zhang and scheduled a meet-up in about half an hour. She''s preparing to head out now. Do you have anything you want to talk to her about before she goes?"


    After some thought, I got up from my bed and walked over, pulling the door open to see Furuwa standing there.


    "Sure. Lead the way."


    *****


    Down in the ''living room'' (as we called the main meeting chamber), Mei''Er was busy setting up the ne for Monica.


    "Okay, it''s all done," she said, letting out a deep breath as she finished tying the ne around Monica. "Is it too loose, too tight?"


    Monica shook her head. "It''s just fine, thank you."


    "Looks like you''re all ready to go," I said with a grin, folding my arms a short distance away. "Have you thought of all the excuses you can use?"


    She averted her gaze. "Er I have. But I''m not sure if they are believable."


    "Even if they are, they won''t be if you say them to that bastard with such an uncertain tone. You need to sound confident," I replied, then eyed the ne. It didn''t fit as well on her as it did on Mei''Er, but that wasn''t important here.


    "By the way how are you nning to hide the ne?" I asked thoughtfully.


    "I won''t hide it," Monica exined. "If I ce it beneath my shirt, it won''t be able to capture Elder Zhang''s face. Therefore, he can just say we hired a paid actor who sounded like him and framed him for it. But if we can capture his face"


    "Huh, I see. But you''re going to need a good reason to suddenly be wearing a ne that wasn''t there thest time you met him"


    "I know. I have a good excuse prepared."


    "Sweet. Then best of luck," I said, waving her off. "Remember: hiding your betrayal from himes top priority. If you feel like he is getting suspicious, just go along with whatever he says ande back. There will be more opportunities in the future."


    Monica nodded. "I understand. I''ll be leaving now."


    As we saw her off, she stepped through the front entrance of the living room and headed out of Zone A, alone into the dark woods.


    *****


    (Monica''s Perspective)


    Before long, I had reached the designated meet-up location, 5 minutes before the scheduled time. I scanned my surroundings for any sign of anyone, but couldn''t see anything  only the dark shadows of the trees. Taking out the golden leaf in my pocket, I decided to use that, but a voice suddenly stopped me.


    "No need. I''m right here."


    I spun around in surprise, only to see Elder Zhang''s tall figure standing there. It was cold and threatening, the faint rays of moonlight reflecting off his sses.


    "So? What did you want to discuss?" He asked me, folding his arms and narrowing his eyes.


    "It''s about the mission I failed it this time, unfortunatel-"


    "I''m aware. My other spies have told me he is still alive."


    "Are you mad?"


    "Mad?" He scoffed. "Of course I am. One single boy, and all of you spies together can''t even kill him."


    I looked down and clenched my fists. "I''m sorry, Elder but I can seed very soon."


    Elder Zhang raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You sound confident."


    I nodded. "Yes. I have managed to join their group and acquire their trust, by confessing to them you sent me to do this. I told them I would help them overthrow you, so they allowed me to stay by their side."


    "Ho interesting. So, you''re ying a double agent here?"


    I nodded. "Indeed. In all honesty, I may have helped them for real if only they didn''t ce this damn thing around my neck."


    I held up the ne for Elder Zhang to see, to which his eyes widened a bit. "What is this?"


    "A bomb disguised as a normal decorative ne," I replied, sighing in resignation. "They ced this on me so that they could detonate it at any time they wanted in case I ever betrayed them. If anyone tries taking this off, it''ll instantly explode."


    "Ah how cruel indeed."


    "But this is good. With this, they''ll think I won''t dare to betray them. They sent me here today with the hopes of having me record our conversation to use as evidence with this thing."


    I held up a pen from my pocket and handed it to Elder Zhang, who inspected it closely.


    "Oh this is a special surveince pen, with a voice recorder built into it" he murmured in awe. "How sneaky indeed, that child."


    Then, after some thought, he turned back to me.


    "When you get back, just tell them you lost the pen on the way home. It''s not all that unbelievable, given this darkness. That should make them get rid of any suspicion of you."


    I nodded. "Got it. But Elder Zhang, about the rewards"


    "Yes, yes" he waved off my concerns. "You are now more useful than any of my other spies. As long as you can sessfully kill Igarashi Kaze before the exam ends, I will personally let you into the sect regardless of your team''s ranking. This I guarantee. In fact, since you are doing this much good work, I''ll even let you be my direct disciple."


    At this, I smiled happily at his generosity  but deep down, I held a much wickeder, evil smirk.


    "Thank you, Elder Zhang. I''ll take my leave now."


    He closed his eyes and turned around. "Go on. I''ll be awaiting your good news."


    With my back turned to him, I smirked.


    "Yes it won''t be long now."


    *****


    (Kaze''s Perspective)


    Later that same night, Monica returned triumphantly.


    As soon as she entered the living room where all of us had gathered and were busy eating the dinner Mei''Er cooked, she took off the blue heart-shaped ne and ced it down on the table.


    "It''s done. All the evidence everything''s been recorded."


    Mei''Er''s eyes widened and she quickly took the ne, before performing some unknown maneuvers to it to stop the recording. Once she was done, she yed the recording somehow, and a holographic disy was shot out of the ne.


    All of our eyes centered on it as we paused eating and prepared to admire the evidence Monica had collected so wlessly.


    - Several Minutes Later -


    The recording stopped ying, and Mei''Er tied the ne back around her own neck as I leaned back in my chair, genuinely impressed.


    "That was one hell of a strategy, Monica," I chuckled.


    "Thank you," she replied, closing her eyes and taking a bite of her food.


    "You pretended that you only pretended to betray him" Hina-nee gasped in shock. "That''s triple crossing, I suppose."


    "Truly color me impressed," Mei''Er murmured, shaking her head in bewilderment. "I never would''ve even thought of that but where did you get the pen from?"


    "Oh, this?" Monica giggled and took out another pen that looked exactly the same as the one in the recording. And another. And another.


    The rest of us stared, frozen speechless, as sheid out five identical pens on the table.


    "I have more, if you want."


    "N-No, but where did you get them?" I asked, confused.


    "My father works in a factory that makes this kind of hidden surveince equipment," she exined. "I used to take these to use as normal pens, and it was only until I grew up that I found out they were actually meant to be used for surveince. By that time, however, I already had a whole stash of these  never bothered to throw them away. Who knew they woulde in handy today?"


    Ming Yi cackled evilly. "Ha I can''t wait to see the look on that bastard''s face when he realizes just how bad he got yed by an elven girl about five years younger than him."

 Chapter 155: Conflict

    Chapter 155: Conflict


    "Actually, I''m about 324 years old."


    Everyone fell silent.


    " Come again?"


    "I''m 224," Monica repeated once more. "So no, I am not younger than Elder Zhang."


    "Elves have different lifespanspared to humans," Mei''Er exined in her stead. "I''m surprised you didn''t know, but in human years she''s approximately 22."


    "So it''s a roughly 10:1 ratio," I muttered in thought. "I see."


    "Huh it''s just that, you seemed so young, I thought" Ming Yi trailed off, scratching his head awkwardly.


    "I AM young," Monica replied with a chuckle. "For an elf, anyway."


    After we finished eating, we all went to bed in preparation for the next day.


    *****


    When we woke up, Hina-nee, Furuwa, Monica, and I set out to do some hunting, since the other four went yesterday. Because we had 8 people, we were going on rotation  4 people go out to hunt Magic Beasts and Monsters to rack up as many points as possible, and 4 people stay behind to guard the Zone.


    I was quite close to reaching Level 50 and hitting the Core Foundation Realm. Once there, I would be able to physically manifest my Essence and wield it as a weapon, which was quite powerful. Naturally, I would also gain an increase to all my stats, but the ones put into LUC would probably all be lost again sooner orter, which was unfortunate.


    Most of the Monsters and Magic Beasts we came across that morning were easy to defeat, but that also meant they didn''t grant all that much XP. I went from Level 44 to Level 46, gaining 20 SP and 10 AP, but on the bright side, I did get to test out some of my new skills I got yesterday.


    Okay, well notpletely. I didn''t get to use de Barrage or Lotus of a Thousand Cuts yet, since I never encountered any hordes of enemies to use them on.


    When it was lunchtime, we returned back to Zone A to grab lunch, then set out once more to do some more hunting. We had the option of going to a different Zone and seeing if we could capture it, but by now, all four Zones were definitely upied and had their own forces inside. If we tried challenging them, we would only be asking to get third partied, especially given how infamous we were now.


    In all honesty, I was quite surprised the other three still-alive groups, one in each of the Zones, hadn''t ganged up and came at us together yet. Though to be honest, I had a good idea why they haven''t yet  they thought we couldn''t catch up with them in terms of mere hunting alone.


    This was true, to an extent. They had more people to help one another with, but that help can also turn into stealing kills from one another real quick. Though they are banded together as one allied group, the distinction between teams was still there. Our group, on the other hand, was essentially one massive team.


    Ming Yi and Koroth essentially abandoned theirs to join my crusade against Elder Zhang, while Monica was the same. Mei''Er''s team was annihted anyway, so it didn''t really matter, but we did take care to let her get plenty of final blows on our hunting excursions. I told everyone else to do that so she could still make it into the sect, but deep down, I knew she would even if all of us just sat back and did nothing.


    If we could expose Elder Zhang, the patriarch, who stood behind him, would have no choice but to back down  and the next person in power would be Elder Ning, who was our direct master. She could easily let Mei''Er, Monica, Koroth, and Ming Yi into the sect, so long as the patriarch couldn''t veto us.


    But still, in order to not miss out on XP and passive stat leveling, I decided to still y along with this exam anyway and hunt down the free EXP roaming around.


    "And dead," Monica said, lowering her bow as she finished thest Cryptospider off who tried to jump at me from behind.


    "Good work," I said as all the corpses I killed were converted into XP for me, as did Hina-nee''s and Furuwa''s.


    "Mhm. You''re wee for that, but why are these corpses disappearing like that?" She asked, confused.


    "Uh, that''s just a special artifact we all have," I replied. "Basically, it automatically stores anything we kill into a dimensional space of sorts, then neatly organizes them into differentponents. For example"


    I opened up my Inventory and took out [Cryptospider Legs x1].


    "Here."


    I lifted the arachnoid leg that just appeared in my hand randomly, and held it up to Monica''s face. Her eyes widened in shock before hurriedly backing away a few meters.


    "Gah what is wrong with you?"


    "Oh, sorry thought you wanted to see," I replied with a chuckle, before storing it back in my inventory.


    "Sorry about that, Monica," Hina-nee giggled. "You see, Kaze-kun here doesn''t really know much about girls~"


    "Huh? Uh I guess that''s true, but I do know some things-"


    BOOM!


    Suddenly, a loud explosion rang out in the distance, and it seemed to be not too far away.


    "What was that?" Furuwa asked, furrowing her brows in caution.


    "Not sure let''s go see," Monica said, turning around and heading in the direction of the explosion.


    "Well," I sighed. "I feel like there''s been a lot of incidences recently where I hear a loud noise, then chase after it."


    *****


    Soon after, we arrived at the source of the explosion. Two teams of four were currently facing one another, neither of which seem to be winning.


    "What''s going on here?" Monica murmured in thought.


    "Stay back," I warned, wanting to observe the situation further.


    She fell silent and did as told, hiding behind me as the four of us crouched a short distance away to see what would happen next.


    "You bastards this is Zone C hunting grounds!" A boy in the group on the right yelled in anger as an orb of light appeared in his hand, sword in other. He had royal blond hair and striking blue eyes  overall, kind of like the Prince Charmings from a fairytale or whatnot. I wanted to say just your average prettyboy, but he had some spine and seemed to be genuinely fighting for his team, which I could appreciate.


    The only thing was, if his strength didn''t match what he was trying to do, it was just pure stupidity.


    On the other side, a disciple withrge, bulging bloodshot eyes and deep ck hair simr to my own stood, cackling like a psychopath.


    "Zone C hunting grounds? I don''t see a sign anywhere that says that."


    But then, to our surprise, he suddenly turned in our direction.


    "Hey, do you?"


    Immediately, the three girls all whipped out their weapons, ready forbat, but I alone stood up calmly and faced him.


    "Interesting how did you know we were here?"


    "Heehee! A magician never reveals his secrets," the disciple replied, grinning like a joker.


    "Wha Hina is that you?" The blond boy from earlier said, turning to us with widened eyes.


    Hina-nee heard this and cringed away, not wanting to interact with him. I noticed this and decided to step up in her stead.


    "Who are you?"


    "I should be asking you that question why is Hina with you?" He shot right back, clearly agitated. "Hina, why did you just run off forward that day? I kept searching for you but couldn''t find anything I thought you I thought you died"


    "Hey," I cut in coldly. "Who gave you permission to call her by that name so intimately?"


    Hina-nee nced at me in surprise, as if shocked I would interrupt like this.


    The boy red at me and clenched his sword tightly. "Do I need your permission to call her that?"


    I shrugged. "No, but you need hers."


    "She told me her name was Sakura Hina-"


    "That''s not the same as giving permission for you to call me that," Hina-nee finally stepped in. "I merely introduced myself as a formality since everyone else present had done so as well  nothing more, nothing less."


    "A-Ah, I see. I apologize, then what should I call you instead?"


    "Nothing," I replied for her. "She wants nothing to do with you, do you understand?"


    "Tch and who are you to decide that for her?!" The boy yelled, directing his anger all at me as he grit his teeth in frustration.


    I scoffed. "I''m her brother. Sorry about the cockblock, but I''m not about to hand over my sister to someone like you."


    "Kaze-kun" Hina-nee smiled and giggled softly, throwing her arms around my neck and hugging me from behind. "Thank you~"


    This scene only made the boy even more frustrated, but there was nothing he could do except stand there in fury.


    "Oh ho ho!" The ''magician'' disciple, who had been spectating this disy all this time, pped his hands together. "Well, well, well! A battle between two men over a woman how marvelous! Hey, Mr. Zone C, why don''t you challenge that boy over there? If you can beat him, I think that will prove you worthy enough of his sister."


    Damn you, trying to stir up shit.


    The blond boy ''Mr. Zone C'', however, seemed to actually buy it, and pointed his sword at me.


    "He''s right what''s your name?"


    I sighed, not wanting to do this. But it was already at this point, so there was no turning back now. If I just turned tail and ran here, it would only invite more trouble further down the line.


    Besides both the magician there and this boy needed a good beating.


    I smiled and stepped forward, prying Hina-nee''s arms off of me.


    "Kaze. Igarashi Kaze."

 Chapter 156: Duel for Hina

    Chapter 156: Duel for Hina


    "That name the Nihon Province, perhaps?" The boy wondered aloud, furrowing his brows in thought, but then shook his head. "Nothat''s not important. My name is Julius Aethrys  I challenge you, Igarashi Kaze!"


    I smiled. "Very well. I ept. But before we start"


    I turned to the magician, who met my gaze with a maniacalugh.


    ''Inspect.''


    [Name: Moroga Lundy]


    [Gender: Male]


    [Race: Human]


    [Level: 40]


    [Realm: Late-Stage Nascent Cultivator]


    [STR: 155]


    [AGI: 155]


    [INT: 50]


    [DEX: 50]


    [MAG: 5]


    [LUC: 5]


    So he''s levels below me, huh?


    ''Vanishing Clouds. Blink. Many Must Fall.''


    In an instant, Ibined these three skills and teleported in front of the magician, who couldn''t even react before I dashed directly through him with Dokujin, puncturing him along with his three allies instantly. But to my surprise


    "Heh hehehehehee!" Morogaughed like a psycho, and I spun around to see a massive hole in his body.


    A massive hole, yet there was no blood.


    The other threey dead, but Moroga remained standing like a monster.


    "Wha" Julius gasped in shock, stunned speechless at what just happened.


    I immediately tried using Corruption to control Moroga, but it didn''t work.


    "What why isn''t it"


    "Good try"


    Moroga lunged at me with his bare hands, but I quickly dodged out of the way. Even though he somehow survived that, his stats were still far below mine.


    ''Throwing Knife.''


    I leaped backwards while activating this art. A heavy throwing knife materialized in my hands, and I tossed it directly at him.


    "Gah" The knife stabbed directly into his head, but he still remained standing. " Heehee, you can''t kill me~!"


    I narrowed my eyes. This guy he was like some sort of zombie.


    He came for me once more, but I backed away. This time, however, he didn''t follow, but instead just stayed back, as if baiting me to attack him instead.


    Why isn''t he?


    I looked at where I was, and immediately understood. I was standing directly in the sunlight, whereas he was under the shadow of a tree.


    The corners of my lips curved up into a devilish smile as I narrowed my gaze, and for the first time, true fear struck Moroga''s face.


    "Eh?"


    I ran towards him right as my arts'' cooldowns refreshed.


    ''Blink.''


    Teleporting behind him, his eyes widened as I kicked him directly in the back, sending him straight forward into the sun.


    "AH! NO-! NOOOOOOOOOO!"


    His whole body was lit up on fire as soon as the sunlight contacted him, and he stumbled around while wing at his own face in agony.


    "AHHHHH! I''LL BE BAAAAAAAAAAACK!"


    With one final cry, his entire body was incinerated, reduced to ashes.


    " Hmph. Didn''t even give me an engram or any XP" I muttered, before turning back to Julius. "Okay now that the nuisance is gone, are you ready to fight?"


    "J-Julius, he''s too strong" A girl behind him patted his shoulder and whispered, eyeing me in fear.


    But Julius, the stupi- I mean, brave young man, held his sword firmly and gulped all his fear down.


    "Let us fight, Igarashi Kaze."


    *****


    "So? How are we doing this?" I asked, standing facing him. The others had all retreated a short distance away to make space for our duel. "To the death? Stop at touch?"


    " Stop at touch," Julius said after some hesitation. "I do not wish to y the brother of the girl I love."


    "Okay, so to the death, got it," I said thoughtfully,pletely ignoring what he said. "Ready?"


    "Wha I just said-"


    Man this guy is too stupid. Take a hint.


    "Mhm. And I said to the death. So, are we doing this or not?"


    "Uh f-fine. You asked for it."


    Julius narrowed his eyes, then turned to Hina-nee, who sat on a tree behind me, cheering me on.


    "Sakura Hina! I apologize beforehand for your brother I hope you do note hate me after this."


    "Hehe~" Hina-nee merely giggled.


    "Hey," I cut in, bringing his attention back to me. "Your opponent is right here."


    ''Vanishing Steps.''


    Instantly turning invisible, Julius spun around only to see nothing.


    Heh keep dreaming.


    I circled around to behind him and struck down, but Dokujin hit some sort of glowing golden force field around him, shielding his body. My eyes widened and quickly backed off as he cut behind him, having felt the impact.


    "Oh interesting artifact," I chuckled while still being invisible, letting him guess where I was. He shed towards my location, but I dodged out of the way with ease, then decided to try something else.


    ''Basic Luxomancy Art  Luxostrike.''


    Sending a crescent projectile of pure concentrated light energy towards Julius, I quickly changed position to behind him andunched another.


    ''Basic Umbromancy Art  Umbrostrike.''


    Front and back, light and darkness. Which one will he guard against?


    Julius, not even realizing I had shot off another attack at him from behind, opened his palm and closed his eyes, probably chanting something in his head. Before long, his eyes snapped open  and from his hands, shot out an orb of light that shed with my own. A bright explosion blew up the air, right as my other attack struck him in the back.


    But once again Julius was merely pushed forward a bit, undamaged.


    My invisibility wore off and I looked at him in disdain.


    " Is that your own strength, or an artifact?"


    "I will not lie," he replied. "It is an artifact, passed down to me from my father, King Julius the Second. I am the Third."


    "Hmph. Pitiful."


    "What did you say?!"


    "Relying on an artifact? I find that sad. But it''s a duel, so anything goes. I don''t believe I can''t break that shield of yours today!"


    I jumped up into the air, eyes as cold as the seas of Antarctica back on Earth.


    ''Lotus of a Thousand Cuts!''


    I felt my body begin rapidly spinning around as thousands of des appeared on every pore of my skin. With my mind, I controlled them to all focus on Julius, then unleashed the beast.


    "What ngh!" Julius shut his eyes tight and took on the barrage of des head-on with his shield, unable to get out of the way.


    I shot all thousands of my des one at a time, focused on one singr point on his shield for maximum effectiveness. The des fired one after another, so quick that it seemed like aser rather than separate projectiles.


    300 400 500.


    "Gah my shield THE SHIELD OF THE AETHRYS BLOODLINE WILL NOT FAIL!"


    ''Oh? Then eat 500 more.''


    I intensified myser of sharp des, making all of them explosive. This way, they didn''t tter the the floor after hitting the shield, but instead exploded on spot.


    "NGH!" Julius continued standing, gritting his teeth in determination.


    700 800


    By this point, his shield was slowly beginning to break. Cracks appeared, centered around the spot where I continuously struck him. He tried moving so that I would end up hitting a different spot, but I bent the knives'' trajectories to follow him.


    900


    "RAGH!!"


    Julius roared in frustration, desperately begging for this torment to stop.


    950 975 995


    Time seemed to slow down. His shield slowly began to break more and more, threatening to shatter.


    996 997 998 999


    "AH-!"


    1000.


    The final knife I threw, a heavyweight, pierced through his shield atst and stabbed directly into his heart.


    "G-Guh"


    He fell to the dirt on his knees, blooding out of his mouth as his arms fell limply by his sides.


    I fell back to the ground as well, panting heavily. I waspletely depleted of Essence that art used way more than I expected. But s I was still alive. He, was not.


    "I lose."


    He copsed onto the groundpletely, dead, and I slowly pulled myself to my feet, only to fall back down again.


    "Ngh"


    "Kaze-kun!" Hina-nee cried, hurriedly jumping off the tree andnding by my side.


    "I''m fine just need some time to recover."


    "I see" Hina-nee hurriedly set my head on her thighs and let me rest there as the others rushed over as well.


    Meanwhile, the three from the other side had crowded around their leader, weeping and sobbing.


    "Julius I told you not to" The girl cried, wiping the tears from her face.


    Julius I underestimated you. You are a respectable man. Perhaps, had we met under different circumstances, this wouldn''t have had to happen. Perhaps, we may have even became friends.


    If only you didn''t try to hit on my sister.


    No that''s not it. If only you weren''t royalty, and I wasn''t so greedy.


    Deep down, I felt something in my heart go hollow once more. It was just like when I consumed a Blight. I figured I had lost another one of my emotions, though I didn''t know which one it was.


    And in my mind, a new message from my System popped up.


    [Obtained Julius Aethrys Engram x1.]

 Chapter 157: The Third Vault

    Chapter 157: The Third Vault


    After I had rested up, gaining some Essence back, we continued our hunting journey. The three from Zone C carried Julius''s corpse back to their base wordlessly.


    In all honesty, I wouldn''t have been surprised if they tried to fight us out of revenge, but it seemed this group of people were more rational than most. They could see that they were clearly outnumbered, and they had witnessed my strength firsthand. If I was that strong, than obviously my allies weren''t weak either.


    "Do you think killing him was a bit overdo there?" I asked the three girls with me as we walked.


    "I don''t know maybe," Monica said. "But the truth is, yourst knife pierced through his shield and hit him too. Even if you wanted to not kill him, it wouldn''t have worked."


    "I don''t think you should worry that much about it, Kaze-kun," Hina-nee said, cing a hand on my shoulder infort. "You already decided beforehand that it would be a fight to the death, after all. If it was the other way around, I''m sure he would''ve killed you without any hesitation as well."


    "I suppose" I sighed.


    "Don''t tell me you feel guilty now," Furuwa scoffed. "The Kaze I know never feels guilty."


    "I don''t feel guilty. It''s just"


    Suddenly, a message appeared before Hina-nee, Furuwa, and I respectively.


    [New Vault Detected]


    [The location has been marked on your surroundings.]


    As the three of us stopped simultaneously, Monica nced back in confusion.


    "What''s the matter?"


    "O-Oh, it''s nothing," I quickly said, dismissing the notification and covering it up. Hina-nee and Furuwa both averted their gazes and did the same.


    "Huh" Monica frowned in confusion, but turned back around and bought the lie.


    Hina-nee, Furuwa, and I exchanged nces, before deciding on a course of action without needing to even talk.


    "You know" I began, scratching my head. "I''m beginning to feel a bit tired. My Essence has just barely recovered, and I honestly don''t think I can keep hunting today."


    "Ah, I see," Monica said. "That''s no problem. Let''s head on back, then."


    I nodded gratefully. "Thank you."


    *****


    - Later That Night -


    "Well, well, well~ what''s this midnight gathering we have here~?" Nadeshiko giggled as she walked out of the residential building and meeting up with the rest of us near the entrance of Zone A.


    " Nadeshiko." I nced at her briefly.


    "So? Why did you tell me toe here tonight, Kaze~?" She licked her lips seductively, before instantly throwing her arms around my neck, letting me get a good whiff of her body wash and shampoo. "Don''t tell me a foursome~?"


    "No!" Furuwa instantly cut in, blushing furiously. Then, after meeting both Hina-nee and I''s gazes, she calmed down a bit. "S-Sorry, that was a bit loud a-ahem, anyway, let''s go."


    "Hm? Where are we going~?" Nadeshiko wondered aloud, but I just pried her arms off of me and began walking away.


    "Just shut up and follow us."


    "Mkay~"


    About half an hourter, we arrived at the ce we had detected the Vault earlier today. After scanning our surroundings, I found the location marker pinpointing its position.


    "This way."


    Soon after, we found ourselves staring at a cave of some sort. ording to our maps, we were right at the very edge of the forest  we were outside the ying grounds of the exam right now, meaning anything we killed here wouldn''t ount for our points, and if we got caught out here by one of the Elders, well we would be disqualified, most likely.


    That said, I wasn''t about to just leave this Vault unchecked. I had no idea where this forest was located in the world of Ascentia, since we arrived here via portal. There was no telling when I would be able toe back here again  and I wasn''t about to let this opportunity go.


    "Hm how do I put it, this kind of reminds me of the Vault of Corruption, but different at the same time," Hina-nee murmured thoughtfully.


    "Yeah they''re both caves, but this one''s clearly more hidden, and less ''futuristic''," I added. "If anything this feels old. Any ideas as to what the theme of this Vault might be?"


    "Well, no choice but to go in and find out~" Nadeshiko whistled happily before striding forward without a care in the world, and I sighed.


    "Man I''ve been way too reliant on Aisa"


    The four of us stood in front of the door leading inside the cave. It was made of smooth, polished cobblestone, judging from appearances, and had two diagonally-ced green rectangles on it, one on each side, that almost seemed like eyes of some sort.


    Beside the doors was a hole just big enough to fit a hand in, and there seemed to be no other mechanism nearby that could possibly open it up. The only problem was there were eight much smaller holes surrounding the big one, and I didn''t know what those were for.


    Hesitantly, I reached into the hole and felt a lever of some sort. It felt slimy, which was quite disgusting to be frank, so I just quickly gave it a pull.


    Suddenly, I sensed dangering from the eight smaller holes, as if something was about toe out of them.


    ''Blink!''


    Quickly teleporting myself backwards a short distance, I fell onto the ground right as eight long spikes shot out of the holes, before slowly retracting back in.


    "Jesus" I muttered in shock, slowly getting back to my feet and dusting myself off.


    "Are you okay, Kaze-kun?" Hina-nee asked, inspecting my body all over.


    "Yeah, I''m fine, but that was one hell of a trap."


    " I don''t like this Vault already" Furuwa muttered in disgust.


    But s, the two doors did open up with a loud rumbling noise. The green rectangles lit up as the two sides of the door split apart from one another, one moving left and the other moving right. A dark stone staircase leading downy ahead, lit dimly by a few eerie greennterns hanging from the walls.


    Since I had lost my emotion of fear, I didn''t particrly feel ufortable going in, but the girls


    "I don''t mind if you want to back out," I said. "I can go in alone."


    "I''lle too," Hina-nee said, stepping forward. "Wherever you go, I''ll go, Kaze-kun unless, of course, you tell me not to."


    "We''re already here. Might as well," Furuwa sighed, then brushed past me and went on in first.


    "Tu tu ru~" Nadeshiko whistled, then followed in right after.


    Hina-nee was third, and I fell inst. As soon as all four of us entered, however-


    SLAM.


    The doors mmed shut, and I slowly turned around before sighing deeply.


    "I''m not even surprised at this point"


    Hina-nee giggled. "Well  here we go again."


    *****


    After walking through the seemingly endless descending staircase, we found ourselves at another door. This one, however, opened automatically.


    And whaty behind it, was beyond our wildest imaginations.


    Arge open cavern, with a high ceiling and an endless fall into the void below, wasid out in front of us. Tall scarlet towers stood from the ground, swinging sharp pendulums, and rolling logs lined with sharp spikes.


    This whole ce was like a chamber  a chamber of torture.


    The same eerie greennterns we''d seen in the corridor earlier were the only source of light in thisrge underground, apanied by faint, creepy piano music and a glitched-out AI''s voice.


    [Wee to the Vault of Torture.]


    Furuwa, faced with this scene, gulped.


    Iughed self-depreciatingly. "Still want to back out?"


    Nadeshiko, however, didn''t seem concerned at all, and stepped back a few steps, before running forward and leaping off the ledge of the tform we were on, catching onto a swinging pendulum from left to right.


    "Nadeshiko!" I shouted in worry. "What the hell are you-"


    "Hehe~ this is so fun~! Comee, join me, Kaze~!"


    I nced past the pendulum and saw a little ledge on a mountain I could stand on, then stepped back a few steps before performing the same action as Nadeshiko, catching onto the swinging pendulum. Since it wasn''t all that fast, timing it right wasn''t very difficult.


    I slowly circled around to the backside of the pendulum so I was facing the ledge I wanted to get to, then waited for the perfect moment once more.


    And now!


    ''Vanishing Clouds.''


    ''Blink.''


    Dashing and teleporting through the air, I managed tond myself on the ledge. Luckily, it wasn''t slippery or anything. Otherwise, that could''ve been bad


    I nced down into the abyss below, and saw nothing but a faint green hue. I didn''t know what it was, but I''m pretty sure we''re not meant to drop down there.


    That said what are we supposed to do?


    This is the Vault of Torture, which  first of all  was NOT a good start, and even more than that, there was no clear route showing us where to go.


    From where I was standing, I could see many different possible pathways, ledges, tforms, traps, whatnot. But which of them was the right one, and which ones led to an inevitable and agonizing death?


    Damn it I regret my decision already.

 Chapter 158: The Vault of Torture

    Chapter 158: The Vault of Torture


    Soon, all the girls had made it to the ledge I was standing on. It was by no means safe, but it was wide enough to fit all four of us.


    "Kaze w-what now?" Furuwa asked, subconsciouslytching onto my arm out of fear.


    Hm so she had a fear of heights. I didn''t know that until now- wait, what am I thinking?! There''s bigger problems to be concerned about


    "Do we split up?" Hina-nee suggested daringly. "This ce is huge, and if we split apart, we may be able to find an escape route quicker. We only have until tomorrow morning, after all. Otherwise, we''ll most likely be disqualified."


    "Uh that''s gonna be a no," I replied. "This ce is quiterge, but that''s exactly why we can''t separate. It''s too dangerous. I mean, just look around us."


    The girls nced around at the ominous green void below and various torturous parkour mechanisms, exactly proving my point.


    "Hehe~ I can go alone if you want, Kaze~" Nadeshiko offered, hugging me. "That will speed things up, no~?"


    " Too dangerous," I said after some hesitation, looking down at her sparkling eyes.


    She blinked. "You care about me~? Hehe, Kaze cares about me~"


    I sighed, ignoring her remarks. "In any case worstes to worst, we all just jump off the edge and die so we can respawn back in Zone C. That''s not ideal though, since we''ll all lose plenty of stuff from our inventories. Nadeshiko, I''m sure you have many Engrams from ughtering so many people, and I myself have quite a few as well that I don''t want to lose."


    "That''s fair," Furuwa said. "So we should still try to get out if we can. Let''s stop just standing here doing nothing."


    "Fufu~ because you''re scared of heights~?" Nadeshiko giggled.


    "N-No, what are you talking about?!"


    "Then why are you clutching to Kaze''s arm so tightly?"


    "Uh t-that''s-"


    "SKREE!"


    Suddenly, a loud shriek erupted out of nowhere. It sounded like a woman in great pain but something about the voice made it almost inhuman.


    "W-What was that?" Furuwa asked, shaking from fear.


    " Well then." I narrowed my eyes. "Let''s investigate."


    *****


    The four of us jumped from tform to tform in the direction of the scream we heard, avoiding all the torture mechanisms. Sharp swinging pendulums, rolling logs pierced with long needles, and traps that would shoot spikes out of the wall randomly. Nadeshiko took the lead despite me telling her not to, carefreely leaping from ledge to ledge while somehow managing to avoid everything.


    "How does she do it like that?" Furuwa shook her head in bewilderment while clutching onto me for dear life. I wanted to point it out, but she would just get so embarrassed she''d try and push me away. Since we were standing on a very tight and narrow ledge right now, that would most likely get one of us killed. Maybe both.


    "Come on, Kaze~" Nadeshiko giggled flirtatiously, smiling innocently at me. "Leave those two behind and be with me already~"


    "If you want to go on ahead and explore, go ahead," Hina-nee reassured me. "She''s right, Chiaki-san and I are both quite slow at this, but"


    I shook my head. "Not happening."


    "Kaze-kun" Hina-nee smiled, blushing slightly.


    "Hmph you have some conscience, it seems," Furuwa pouted, holding onto me tighter. I grinned. It wasn''t everyday I got to see her like this.


    "Ara, what''s this?" Nadeshiko suddenly said, seeming to be staring at something to our left a couple ledges in front of where I was.


    The three of us quickly made our way over to Nadeshiko''s location and immediately saw what she was talking about.


    "This" Hina-nee''s eyes widened.


    Before us, a bloodstained humanoid body hung from the ceiling of an open room within a scarlet tower of some sort, dreadful and ominous. The figure looked to be a woman, judging from the long disheveled hair and slim proportions. Below the body was a short altar of some sort, with a dim candle on top.


    " Well. This must''ve been the shriek we heard earlier," I noted,pletely unaffected since I lost my sense of fear already.


    Then, Nadeshiko made a daring move that none of us expected. She leaped over from the ledge to the scarlet tower, examining the corpse up close.


    "Hey! What are you-" I shouted in a panic, but my voice was drowned out by an ear-splitting scream.


    "SKREEE!"


    To the girls'' horror, the corpse before us suddenly revitalized, cranking its own head upright and raising one hand slowly. Nadeshiko gazed in wonder as the zombie, body shaking, cut off the rope suspending her with nothing but her bare, unnaturally long and sharp fingernails.


    "Tch Nadeshiko, get back!"


    "E-Eh? Kaze, wait-"


    "Kaze-kun!"


    I tore Furuwa away from me and jumped across as well, pulling Nadeshiko behind cover as the corpse fell down and crashed onto the floor, smashing dust everywhere.


    "My, my~ Kaze, you care about me after all~" Nadeshiko giggled and stroked my face lovingly.


    "Not now, idiot!"


    The zombie slowly straightened its crooked body, floating up into the air like some sort of undead witch. Then, she pointed her skeletal hands at where Nadeshiko and I were hiding just beside the entrance to the tower, and began sting it with projectiles.


    "SKKKKKKREEEEEEE!"


    Green orbs of light shot out of her palms, explosive and powerful. Luckily, the st radius wasn''trge enough to hurt Nadeshiko and I, but I still wrapped her body with mine tightly to protect her.


    I checked on the ledge I had jumped from and saw that Hina-nee and Furuwa had both retreated a safe distance, which was good. However, if we were to try and jump back over now as well, we would inevitably be hit by this never-ending barrage of what seemed like sma energy.


    Daringly, I peeked my head around the edge of the entrance just to run a quick Inspect, before ducking back just in time to avoid getting hit.


    [Name: Tortured Witch]


    [Race: Undead]


    [Level: 50]


    [STR: 150]


    [AGI: 150]


    [INT: 0]


    [DEX: 0]


    [MAG: 500]


    [LUC: 0]


    ''What the fuck?! 500 MAG?! That doesn''t even add up correctly to a Level 50 lifeform!''


    I assumed mobs'' stats to level ratio were different from yers, but still, this was too insane. A MAG stat of 500 if I got hit by even one of those orbs it was shooting out, I''ll most likely get gravely injured if not outright one-shot.


    Strangely, though, it wasn''ting to us, despite knowing we were here. Perhaps its INT stat of 0 wasn''t just for show.


    "Okay, Nadeshiko, here''s the n," I whispered into her ear as I held her tightly.


    "Hm~? I''m listening, Kaze~"


    "Alright. I don''t think I can hurt that thing all that much, since it''s a higher level than I am right now. You, on the other hand, can," I exined. "So, here''s what''s going to happen: I''ll dash through this wall and try my best to get its attention on the inside of this tower. The moment she turns her back on you, leap in and strike her back. Got it?"


    "Mkay~ just don''t die," she licked her lips and said. "After all I''m the only one allowed to kill you, fufufu~"


    Before I could react, she leaned in and nted a wet kiss on my lips, sucking the saliva straight out of my mouth with her gentle yet aggressive tongue. She pulled away after a few seconds, and then kissed me again, this time on the cheek, before leaning in to my ear.


    "You''re all mine, mkay~?"


    " Nadeshiko" I muttered in disdain. This girl did she have no concept of danger?


    Taking a deep breath, I let go of her and pressed my body against the scarlet walls of the tower, ready to go in.


    ''Vanishing Clouds.''


    In an instant, I phased through the wall andnded right beside the massive Tortured Witch. It nced down at me, confused for a brief moment, before shrieking in frustration and trying to swipe at me with one of its long ws.


    ''Goddamn melee attack too? Heh, good try.''


    ''Blink.''


    Teleporting out of danger, I rolled around to hide behind the trapezoid-shaped altar. It was a bit small for my liking, but just enough to cover my body.


    The witch looked around, confused at where I went.


    "Hey! Over here!" I hollered on purpose, showing my face.


    It spun its body in my direction, before pummeling me with her sts of sma once more.


    "SKREE!"


    Quickly ducking back down, I did my best to shrink my body as much as possible, even though I couldn''t actually do that physically.


    ''C''mon, Nadeshiko''


    As if on cue, my trusty partner leaped out of her cover, scythe in hand, and cut down directly through the witch''s back.


    "K-KAH!" The witch froze in mid-air, as if choking on blood, before falling to the floor. Its skeletal figure crumbled to dust, before turning into dark essence for Nadeshiko. It looked like quite a lot.


    '' Seriously? I did all the work, and I didn''t get any of the XP? Screw this system''


    Nadeshiko nced at her level-up message with dreamy eyes, before dismissing it and turning to me with a smile.


    "Hehe, I did it, Kaze~"


    " Uh, yeah. I can see that."


    She ran over and hugged me, catching me by surprise. She then rested her massive scythe on my neck, seductively caressing my chin.


    "Hm you''re not scared of me at all."


    "I''m physically incapable of feeling fear anymore, thanks. That said, I can still feel difort, and your scythe is making me extremely ufortable, so  if you will."


    "Fufu~ mkay~!" Nadeshiko giggled cutely, pulling away and heading off to regroup with the other girls.


    I moved to do the same, but then, my gazended on some writing inscribed on the altar.


    My eyes widened in shock.


    "This is"

 Chapter 159: Witch Hunting

    Chapter 159: Witch Hunting


    "What''s wrong, Kaze-kun?" Hina-nee asked,ing back with the other two girls in tow after realizing I discovered something.


    I stood up from my crouched position and let the others see for themselves.


    "Go on. Look at the sign on the altar."


    Hina-nee bent down where I just was and brushed away some of the dust that had umted, probably from the massive undead witch falling down earlier. After reading what it said, her eyes widened as well.


    "Three arrows, one bow. Three kills, one killer. Three witches, one king."


    "Witches that''s the thing we just took down," I said. "That means there are two more in this ce that we have to kill?"


    "I''m assuming so," Hina-nee ced her finger on her chin in thought. "But what about the ''one king''?"


    "Probably the final boss," Furuwa finished. "This Vault is clearly different from the ones we''ve done so far. Rather than various trials we have toplete, we have to take down foes before facing the ultimate challenge  the boss. If anything, this feels more like an actual game than the other ones."


    "It would be great if we had an AI guiding us, like the other two" I muttered in disdain.


    And as if on cue, said AI suddenly spoke, distorted voice echoing across the silent chambers of the Vault of Torture.


    [Trial of Range  Complete.]


    "Trial of Range? Is that what he said?" I asked the other girls.


    "Yeah, I think so," Hina-nee replied. "Since the Witch you just took down mainly used her ranged projectile attack, I suppose that makes sense."


    "So then what''s next?" Furuwa asked, raising an eyebrow.


    " Fufufu."


    Nadeshiko giggled and set off without waiting for the rest of us, as if having figured something out.


    "Where are you-" I began, but she was already gone. With a sigh, I followed after her. Furuwa and Hina-nee did the same.


    *****


    "Nadeshiko where, exactly, are you leading us?" I asked as she casually jumped over a rotating log impaled with needles.


    "Fufu~ just follow me."


    I was dubious, but any doubt I had was soon erased as we arrived at another scarlet tower, just like the one we had seen earlier. Within it was another corpse hanging upside-down. This one, however, didn''t have long, sharp fingernails, but instead normal fingers as normal as a skeleton can be, anyway.


    I tried using Inspect on it, but it didn''t work. Apparently, right now, it was still ''dead'' or something. Once we got closer, it would ''revive'', thus allowing me to use Inspect properly.


    "Okay, Nadeshiko, same n. Ready?"


    "Mkay~" She nodded innocently, apparently happy to be working with me, and leaped over to the tower,nding right in front of the massive corpse. The other two girls got back as they were underleveled, and I leaped in after Nadeshiko.


    Immediately, the undead body sprang to life. But this time, instead of a high-pitched, ear-splitting scream, it was a roar  a battle roar.


    "GRAHHH!"


    While coarse and violent, it was still clearly a female''s voice, though thoroughly distorted. It pulled a greatsword out of its own back and cut the rope holding it, before getting back up to its feet with heavy footsteps that shook the entire cavern.


    "Tch" I quickly ran a quick Inspect on the creature:


    [Name: Tortured Witch]


    [Race: Undead]


    [Level: 50]


    [STR: 750]


    [AGI: 50]


    [INT: 0]


    [DEX: 300]


    [MAG: 0]


    [LUC: 0]


    ''Shit this guy''s stats are even more crazy than thest. Though it only has an AGI stat of 50, so perhaps''


    Sliding between its legs right before it could cleave down at me, I retreated behind the altar. Naturally, the Witch turned around, confused at how it didn''t kill me there. I smirked tauntingly.


    "ROAR!" It unleashed an earthshaking battle cry, causing me to lose my footing and identally trip on nothing.


    "Ngh my legs feel weak?"


    Luckily, I wasn''t alone. Nadeshiko leaped out from cover once again and aimed straight for the creature''s neck with her scythe, but-


    "!"


    Nadeshiko''s eyes widened as her massive weapon was unable to cut through the creature''s seemingly hollow neck and had instead got caught on the bones.


    "Nadeshiko!" I cried, but it was toote.


    "Mmngh-!" She was flung away by the massive Witch, smashing into a wall and falling to the floor, unconscious. Taking a hit from a creature of 750 STR it was enough to knock anyone out.


    In that moment, I felt as if my soul  my very being  was shattered. My mind went nk for a moment, and time seemed to slow down.


    All I felt was emptiness. Pure, raw emptiness, just like when Hina-nee had been in.


    Without even realizing it myself, I had begun to actually care about Nadeshiko. Her horrible past, her unwanted future... none of it should be any of my concern. And yet, despite me pushing her away over and over again, she still stuck by my side, willing to do anything for me.


    And soon, the emptiness in my heart was reced  by seething anger.


    I gritted my teeth and pulled out Dokujin from my boots.


    "Well, it''s been a while since I''ve gotten this mad, but"


    I cracked my knuckles and rotated my head around my neck.


    " You''ve done it this time."


    ''Vanishing Steps.''


    In an instant, I turned invisible, confusing the Witch momentarily. The first thing I did was take Nadeshiko''s body out of here, since I didn''t want to identally harm her. The other two girls offered to help, but I silenced them with a re.


    Sorry, but this one is mine.


    Dashing back to the tower, I leaped up into the air right as my invisibility ran out. With a gleam of darkness and raw hatred in my eyes, I used the most powerful move I had.


    "Advanced Umbromancy Art  The Dragon''s Shadow."


    Immediately, a tornado erupted out of the ground and swallowed the monster whole, but I wasn''t done just yet.


    ''de Barrage!''


    I crossed my arms as eightrge explosive knives formed in my hands, fitting into the sockets between my fingers. Then, with a satisfying spin, Iunched all eight of the knives directly onto the Witch''s body. After a brief dy, they exploded at oncebined with The Dragon''s Shadow''s darkness pummel from above, staggering the creature.


    It didn''t much damage at all, but that was fine. For a stagger was all I needed.


    Dashing through my own tornado, I spun Dokujin around in my hands and stabbed it straight into the creature''s single glowing green eye, the only sign of life on its body.


    "GRAHHHH!"


    It roared in fury and shook my off, but I managed to stick thending before immediately going back in again.


    "If you think that''s all I have you''re in for a big surprise."


    Snapping my fingers, I let the Corruption do its work.


    The creature screamed in agony as my poison spread all around its undead body, coating its bones with a glowing green fluid that seemed to sap the Witch of its consciousness and bring it under my control.


    "Good it''s working." I smirked like an evil killer, almost like Nadeshiko when she went on those killing sprees. "Your name is ''Tortured Witch'', right? Then allow me to show you REAL torture."


    I lifted my hand up into the air, and in response, the Witch did the same, groaning softly as it raised its own greatsword the size of Nadeshiko high up into the sky to mimic my actions.


    And then, I pounded my own chest as hard as I could.


    Naturally, the creature did the same.


    "GRAHHHH!"


    The massive Monster thrust its own enormous greatsword deep through its own skeletal body, shattering all the bones immediately while roaring in agony. The blow was so powerful that it sent a shockwave rippling out all around as the body was pinned against the back wall of one of the many hills in the cavern, bones breaking apart and crumbling away to nothingness.


    The girls just stared on, ck-jawed, as the massive Monster brutally killed itself. Before they knew it, only the sword remained, stabbed into the wall.


    All of the sweet dark essence that was generated by the bones flowed into my body, providing me with a tremendous amount of EXP.


    [Obtained Monster Crystal (Tier X) x1.]


    [Level Up!]


    [Lv. 44 -> Lv. 50.]


    [You received 60 SP and 30 AP.]


    Tier X, huh? All I had to do was find its weakness, that''s all.


    I prepared to head back to regroup with the girls and check on Nadeshiko, but as I made a move to do so, I was suddenly hit with a surge of energy through my veins that prevented me from doing anything other than sitting down.


    "Ngh what is this"


    As I was forced into a cross-legged sitting position, I shut my eyes tightly to ease the energy flow. It was then that I remembered  Level 50. This meant I was breaking through.


    "Kaze-kun!"


    "Kaze!"


    Hina-nee and Furuwa, carrying Nadeshiko, hurriedly came over to check on me, but I didn''t bother with them. This was more important right now.


    I could feel the energy within my body elerating, the Essence increasing in both quantity and quality.


    "Hah. HAH!"


    The eleration hit its peak and stopped as my eyes snapped back open. I was drenched in sweat, despite the process onlysting a few seconds at most.


    "This power"


    I nced down at my hands, where a me of ck and blue nowy, matching my hair and eye color respectively.


    Without even realizing it, the corners of my lips turned up in a smile.

 Chapter 160: Core Foundation Realm

    Chapter 160: Core Foundation Realm


    Core Foundation Realm.


    Essence Arts.


    This is just the first step. I''ll continue to get stronger, stronger, and stronger still until no one, not even the Creator, can stand in my path.


    My soul has been shattered. My mind has been broken. All that''s left of me now is an empty shell that will eventually lose all my emotions. Happiness, anger, love they will all eventually go away.


    And all that will be remaining will be a boy of nothingness, alone through and through.


    *****


    " You did you break through?" Furuwa asked, blinking at me in surprise.


    I nodded, then nced at the still-unconscious Nadeshiko.


    " How is she?"


    "Alive," Hina-nee replied. Then, in a softer tone, "Just barely, though"


    Wordlessly, I bent down by Nadeshiko''s side and lifted her body so that she had her back turned to me, before cing my hands against her back. Closing my eyes, I began to channel all my Essence into her.


    "Kaze-kun" Hina-nee murmured in worry. I furrowed my brows in concentration.


    I used a lot of Essence from The Dragon''s Shadow just now, but since my MAG stat was so high, I still had quite a bit leftover. Whether that would be enough to revitalize Nadeshiko, though, was a different matter


    ording to Aisa, Essence was akin to a different kind of energy. If that''s the case, then it could also be described as ''lifeforce''. Therefore, I''m essentially giving Nadeshiko lifeforce right now to wake her up. We couldn''t proceed with her unconscious like this.


    Soon, my remaining Essence ran out. Channeling it to her via the back like this was the only method I could think of, but in doing so, a lot of the Essence would evaporate into the air and thereby wasted.


    "Fuck"


    I opened my System and used all the 100 SP I had saved up from Level 40 to 50, putting it all into MAG. My stats now looked like this:


    [STR: 500]


    [AGI: 500]


    [INT: 300]


    [DEX: 300]


    [MAG: 350]


    [LUC: 15]


    Taking a deep breath, I started up the process again.


    ''Come on please, Nadeshiko''


    My Essence was about to deplete once more, even after the refreshment. But just before it did


    I sensed movement in front of me and opened my eyes to see what it was, but I was silenced by the soft, gentle touch of Nadeshiko''s lips on mine.


    "Mmn~"


    She pushed me down on the floor of the tower, invading the inside of my mouth with her wet, sloppy tongue. I would''ve normally pushed her away, but right now, I was too depleted of energy to do anything about it.


    "A-Ah" Hina-nee and Furuwa could only watch as this happened, since they thought I wasn''t resisting because I liked it.


    I mean I won''t deny, Nadeshiko was great at kissing. I wonder


    " Have you done this before?" I asked once she pulled away atst with her tongue still stuck out, letting the mixed saliva drip between us.


    "Fufu~ what, jealous?"


    "No, just curious," I replied calmly, too exhausted to argue.


    "Well" She leaned in close once more. "I haven''t. You''re my first and will be my only, Kaze~"


    ''Then how the hell are you this good?!''


    I could feel the tip of her tongue exploring every corner of the cave that was my mouth, and before I knew it, I was kissing her back, roughly entangling my own tongue with hers and coating each other''s with saliva. My little brother down there was yearning to join in on the action too, and Nadeshiko''s hole had gotten so wet I could feel it through both our pants.


    "A-Ahem"


    Atst, the other two girls who were watching couldn''t take it anymore, clearing their throats to make their presence known. Nadeshiko, after a brief dy, shot them a sideways nce of triumph and slowly rose up from my body, carefully savoring the taste of my saliva in her mouth.


    "Mmn~ you taste good, Kaze~" She giggled seductively, closing one eye like a wink. "Though I think something else on your body would taste even better~"


    " We''re underage still," I reminded carefully, even though my pants were still bulging.


    "Mhm. Sure we are." Nadeshiko yfully licked her lips. "But did you know? As long as both parties are under 18 and give consent it''s not illegal to do it~"


    "Okay, that''s enough," Hina-nee finally interefered, stepping between Nadeshiko and I. "Nadeshiko-san, please stop teasing my sibling. And Kaze-kun''''


    She nced down at me, jealousy in her eyes. " We''re going to need a talk when we get out of this ce."


    "Fufufu~" Nadeshiko giggled, as if amused.


    *****


    "Oh yeah I forgot to ask," I suddenly said as we traversed the Vault of Torture once more after harvesting the greatsword the Witch was using. "Nadeshiko, how did you find thatst one so easily?"


    "Hm~? Oh, look up, Kaze~"


    I did as told, turning my head up to look at the ceiling.


    "Oh my god."


    "I can''t believe we missed this when we entered," Furuwa muttered in shock.


    "Me neither" Hina-nee added faintly.


    Above us, on the ceiling, were a series of the same chevron-shaped symbol inscribed on the altars at each scarlet tower. The only difference was, here, the chevrons were all pointing in set path  like arrows telling us where to go. There was quite a long distance between each one, but they highlighted the way nheless.


    "Fufu~ look at their clueless faces, Kaze~" Nadeshikoughed yfully, covering her mouth. "I''m much better than them, aren''t I~?"


    "Uh can you cook?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.


    "Hm? Well, I know how to make instant noodles." She tilted her head cutely. "Does that count, fufu~?"


    "Not in the slightest. You should try Hina-nee''s cooking sometime. It''s amazing."


    "Mou~ Kaze-kun, you''re making me blush. Oh, but don''t think this is going to get you out of the ''talk'' we''re going to haveter," she replied with a fully innocent face.


    "G-Geh" I groaned, having been caught and exposed so easily like that. Siblings were truly dangerous things to have.


    "By the way." Nadeshiko stopped walking in front of me and spun around.


    "?"


    "Don''t you think it''s time you start calling me by my first name, Kaze~?"


    "Nakano? Er I don''t know. That sounds a bit weird."


    "Hm wait, I have an idea," she snickered evilly. "I''m navigating us through this Vault. I think I deserve a reward, no~?"


    I folded my arms. "Uh, sure?"


    "Fufu, good. Then I want my reward to be you calling me darling, from now on."


    At this, Hina-nee, Furuwa, and I all froze.


    " You''re kidding, right?"


    "Oh, but don''t worry~ I''ll be calling you darling too, darling~"


    I cringed and averted my gaze, unsure of how to respond.


    "Come on, darling~ you agreed to giving me a reward. No turning back now~"


    "K-Kaze-kun," Hina-nee patted my shoulder. "You did promise her a reward, as much as I hate to admit it"


    "Y-Yeah. You dug your own grave, Kaze."


    Realizing the odds were against me, I sighed and waved off their words.


    " F-Fine, whatever. I don''t care anymore."


    "Fufu, I love you, darling~" Nadeshiko giggled and blew me a kiss with a wink, which didn''t exactly appear convincing with that massive and deadly scythe she held in her hands.


    Hmph, you think you''ve won? I''ll just not address you by anything from now on. I''ll just be like, ''you'', or tap your shoulder or something. Get absolutely yed.


    Soon, we arrived at the final scarlet tower, following the chevrons on the ceiling. Within it was the third and final witch, ording to what was written on the altars.


    This tower held a dead corpse hanging from the ceiling in it, just like the previous two.


    "Alright what will it be this time?"


    [Trial of Melee  Complete. You face the final round. A mighty witch challenges you!]


    As the distorted AI''s voice red out of nowhere, the four of us fell silent in awkwardness.


    " Well. That was quite the dyed announcement," I noted.


    "Eh, this IS the Vault of Torture. Wouldn''t be surprised if the AI was some sick psychopath who isn''t right in the head," Furuwa spat.


    " In any case, we already have both Range and Melee done. What''s thisst one going to be?" Hina-nee wondered aloud.


    I nced at the hanging corpse and sighed.


    "Well. Guess we''re going to find out, huh?"


    I leaped across the ledge to the tower, sticking thending with ease. Slowly, I got up and stared at the corpse. Nadeshiko followed while the other two stayed behind as usual.


    Suddenly, the body began to shake. It didn''t shriek or roar like the previous two, but merely began to tremble. Eventually, the shaking got so violent that the rope holding the corpse fell, and the body copsed onto the ground in a heap of bones  not for long, however.


    Slowly, the body rose up from the ground like an ascended angel, and to all of our surprise, two massive wings suddenly sprouted from the figure''s back as the white, bloodstained robe it was wearing fell off.


    Unlike the previous two, this Witch had a proper body rather than just a skeleton. It wore an old robe that had moss grown all over it, and two burning green eyes that seemed to burn judgment upon all.


    It stared down at Nadeshiko and I as if we were nothing more than a pile of trash, and immediately, the two of us were forced to kneel.


    "Ngh! What is this?!"


    "Mmnph!"


    "SILENCE, MORTALS."


    The Witch  the undead Monster  spoke. Nadeshiko and I both froze, unable to budge an inch from this pressure.


    "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY COURT?"

 Chapter 161: Zephyix, Instrument of Torture

    Chapter 161: Zephyix, Instrument of Torture


    "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY COURT?"


    The undead woman''s voice boomed across the chamber, echoing off the walls and mountains all around.


    "Ngh" Neither Nadeshiko nor I could even move, forced into a kneeling position under this entity''s pressure.


    " HM. I SMELL MY SISTERS'' BLOOD ON YOU. TELL ME, LIVING SOUL, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THEM?"


    "We put them to rest" I mustered out weakly, struggling to even talk.


    "PUT THEM TO REST?"


    The woman appeared confused, so Iid it out in a clearer way for her.


    "They you you''re all already dead yet you''re being kept conscious in a ce like this a chamber of eternal torture."


    "HM."


    The terrifying woman fell silent for a short while, then continued.


    "ANSWER ME THIS, LIVING SOUL. ARE YOU A FRIEND OR ENEMY?"


    "Neither," I replied with a smile. "I am your salvation."


    " I SEE."


    Suddenly, the woman lifted her hands and began chanting in some ancientnguage I didn''t understand. In an instant, we were shrouded in green light and warped away.


    *****


    "Mmn where are we?" Hina-nee asked, looking around in a daze.


    "You got teleported too?" I blinked in surprise.


    "Yeah. I don''t know how though"


    "This ce" Furuwa''s eyes widened as she nced at our surroundings. "I''ve read about this at the Qilian Library The Pit of Sorrow, home to Zephyix, Instrument of Torture."


    "That''s quite the ominous name," I noted. "Though I suppose it kind of fits."


    We currently stood in the middle of arge tform that was raised up from the ground. The tform had 4 corners that were each elevated using stairs, and at the top of each elevated section was a scarlet tower just like the ones we''ve seen before.


    The left one was empty and so was the right. But the one facing us was not  there stood the ''queen'' who had talked to us just now, stone eyes seeming to see through anything.


    "WELCOME TO THE PIT OF SORROW."


    "So you were right" I murmured.


    "You were doubting me?!" Furuwa cried.


    "YOU CLAIM TO BE MY SALVATION. BUT DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES, I WONDER?"


    As if on cue, we all heard a sudden noise behind us and quickly spun around.


    "Good lord"


    Before us stood a colossal knight made of obsidian, with glowing green veins tracing through its body that converged in a single eye on its face. Within its hand was a massive greatsword, even bigger than the one I had salvaged from the other Witch.


    "Grrr" The knight breathed out of its mouth made of rock, letting out grey gas that looked like steam.


    "THAT, LIVING SOUL, IS WHAT KEEPS ME HERE. IF YOU ARE MY SALVATION THEN DEFEAT HIM, AND FREE ME FROM THIS CAGE."


    The ''King'' from the altar, huh


    I quickly ran an Inspect on the massive knight.


    [Name: ???]


    [Race: ???]


    [Level: 75]


    [STR: 1000]


    [AGI: 100]


    [INT: 0]


    [DEX: 500]


    [MAG: 1000]


    [LUC: 0]


    1000 STR and 1000 MAG you''ve gotta be kidding me, right?


    Suddenly, a long yellow bar suddenly appeared at the bottom of my field of view along with a string of text below it.


    []


    [Zephyix, Instrument of Torture]


    "What the hell?! Is that this thing''s HP bar?" Furuwa cried out in shock, having seen it as well.


    "This has never happened before when fighting other enemies!" Hina-nee shouted in a panic. "Could it be this is a special kind?"


    " Yeah," I replied quietly. "He''s not just any enemy. He''s a boss  and a major one at that."


    *****


    ''de Barrage.''


    Leaping up into the air, I unleashed a storm of explosive knives onto the massive knight, beforending back on the ground once more.


    BOOM!


    The knives detonated all at once, but the knight didn''t seem injured at all. I nced down at his HP bar and saw that my attack did no more than a mere sliver. Not even 1%.


    His obsidian body walked straight out of the smoke as if nothing had happened, then mmed the floor with all his might.


    CRASH!


    "Tch-!" I quickly dodged out of the way. Luckily, this guy''s AGI stat was only 100, meaning he was pretty clunky. If I could just hit his eye again like what I did with the other Witch


    "Guys, distract him, let me try something!" I yelled, circling behind the knight.


    "Roger!" Furuwa and Hina-nee joined forces, aiming for the green veins on the creature''s legs. Meanwhile, Nadeshiko swung her scythe at his sword, hoping to pry it out of his hand.


    Not wasting this opportunity, I jumped up onto the knight''s head while he was busy distracted by the other three.


    "Take this!"


    I plunged Dokujin straight into the creature''s single glowing green eye, as hard as I could.


    "GRAHHHHH!" The knight roared and shook his head violently, throwing me off.


    "K-Kuh"


    I coughed up some blood from the impact. This guy was no joke if my STR stat was lower, I may have died there. I then nced at the monster''s HP bar and saw that it went down by quite a bit.


    ''Okay, good now then Corrupt!''


    ''''


    ''What?''


    I was hoping to get it to stab itself like I did with the other witch, but this guy wasn''t affected at all.


    "The Corruption isn''t working," I said to the others, getting back to my feet and wiping the blood off my mouth. "But I did find out its weakness. Everyone, target the eye!"


    "On it!" Hina-nee turned invisible using Vanishing Steps, then suddenly materialized a bow out of nowhere and shot it directly towards the knight''s eye.


    "GRRR!"


    The creature attempted to block using its greatsword, but the arrow somehow phased staight through it and struck its eye. My jaws dropped in shock at the amount of damage that did. The knight was almost dead, with only about 20% of its HP remaining.


    "Hina-nee what skill was that?"


    "Void Arrow," she replied, gentlynding back on the ground as the knight roared in fury and staggered backwards a few steps. "It can go through any obstacles and only hit the part I want it to hit."


    "Huh that''s usef-"


    "Look out, Kaze!" Furuwa called out right before it was toote.


    I quickly jumped out of the way just as fire erupted where I was just standing.


    "GRAHHH!"


    The knight screamed in rage as its veins turned from green to red, signaling this was his final stand. He spewed fire out of its mouth at the four of us, instantly engulfing the arena in tall mes. We were forced to each back out onto one of the four elevated tforms.


    "Tch what now?" I muttered, trying to figure out a solution. Magic, perhaps? No, that''s too easily blocked I don''t have any Marksman weapons, and Hina-nee just used a powerful ranged ability like that I doubt she has another one ready. My n now was to use the Essence Arts I just unlocked, but-


    Suddenly, my thoughts were cut off.


    "STAND BACK, LIVING SOUL. YOU HAVE DONE MORE THAN ENOUGH."


    Above me, the final Tortured Witch, the Queen stood. She sped her stone palms together as a powerful green energy began forming in them, so bright that I had to cover my eyes.


    "IT''S ABOUT TIME WE CUT THESE TIES, ZEPHYIX."


    Slowly, she pulled her hands away from one another, revealing a green orb of light between them.


    "MAY YOU REST IN PIECES."


    As the knight turned his head, a surging beam of light shot out of the orb and straight into its eye. It traveled faster than light, and there was no way to block it.


    "GAHHHHHHHHHHH!"


    The knight screamed and roared, dropping its de with a loud crash, but there was nothing it could do now. I watched as what was left of its HP bar vanished in a single instant, and the obsidian creature began crumbling into pieces.


    "I LOVED YOU" The knight mustered out, right as hepletely faded away.


    The queen closed her eyes.


    "IT IS TIME."


    Her body too began splitting apart, chunks of rock falling off and away from one another.


    "Wait! You can''t just steal my kill and XP like that then die!" I shouted in disappointment. How many levels would I have gained from killing that guy? Oh, man, my heart aches just thinking about it.


    "THANK YOU, LIVING SOUL. YOU TRULY ARE OUR SALVATION."


    The queen''s body crumbled to dustpletely, rendering the entire room silent. The mes in the center of the tform dimmed away shortly, and the four of us gathered around where a chest had spawned in.


    [Trial of Broken Hearts  Complete.]


    "Trial of Broken Hearts, huh?" I murmured thoughtfully. "Looks like this Pit of Sorrow it has a deeper backstory than I thought. But if this ce exists in a book from the Qilian Library why is it now a Vault?"


    "Stop worrying about that and take a look at what we all just got," Furuwa said with a smirk as she nced down at her inventory.


    "This is quite amazing," Hina-nee mused, eyes sparkling in excitement.


    "Fufu~ how do I look, darling~?" Nadeshiko asked as she twirled around seductively, winking and licking on her own finger.


    She had changed armor sets just now. From the normal Deceiver set she had on, to this mainly red and ck, somewhat revealing armor set. It was made of rusted metal and generally wouldn''t exactly be considered beautiful, but had a certain air to it that appealed to some.


    "Hm let''s see here."


    I walked up to the chest and opened it up.


    [Would you like to store the items?]


    [Yes/No]


    Naturally, I tapped on ''Yes''.


    [Obtained Casque of Torture x1]


    [Obtained Cuirass of Torture x1]


    [Obtained Leggings of Torture x1]


    [Obtained Socks of Torture x1]


    [Obtained Greaves of Torture x1]


    [Obtained Mark of Zephyix x1]


    [Obtained Ring of Torture x1]


    [Obtained Gloves of Torture x1]


    [Obtained Beyond the Grave (Daggers) x1]


    "Oho interesting."


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