[REVAMPED] First Battle for Survival; Love Prices Initiated!

Before setting out for Acquama Town, Vash declared that he wanted to ensure everyone was well-equipped for combat.

First he put Akira and Kiko to work gathering the resources he needed for crafting: [Wood] chopped from trees, [Green Vine] like the one Kiko had used for a fishing line. And when that was done, when it came to the actual crafting process, he employed the use of a strange device: one of several large, bulky, arcane-looking machines that cluttered up the majority of the free space in his tiny house, leaving barely enough room for all three to squeeze inside.

"Nice garage," Akira jokingly teased. "You should be an interior decorator."

"Shuddup! It's called a [Homestead], and so what if it doesn't look pretty? All that matters is that I have a place to set my bed mat and all my crafting machines when I'm out of town."

Kiko thought out loud, "still...the place where you live should at least have space to walk."

The [Arcane Melder] worked by pouring all the materials in a black iron cauldron molded with a chibi pig's face, affixed to a pedestal. After pressing a glowing blue button on the pedestal, a sliding door would seal the top of the cauldron as the entire machine would then start to shake and vibrate, producing a string of hoggish snorts and squeals.

With one final, grateful shriek from the machine, the cauldron would then unseal: revealing the end product of the [Melding] process.

Vash retrieved a [Plainwood Knife], handing it to Akira, and a [Plainwood Bow] for Kiko.

"It isn't much, but they'll do just fine against wolves."

"Th-thanks," Kiko said, meekly accepting a [Quiver] of [25 Arrows] along with the bow. "Will I really have to use it, though?" She swallowed nervously. "Will I…have to kill?"

"Yes, my pupil," Vash said firmly. "To survive in this world, you must become a killer."

"I see…well, if Mr. Vash says so…"

While Kiko was having a crisis, meanwhile, Akira came forth with a sly grin. 

"How about upgrading our armor? Or, would you prefer we kept prancing around dressed like we're your slave girls?"

Vash gave a huge sigh. "Actually, I would PREFER if nobody died on my watch, so…"

He explained that the materials they would need to craft new armor sets could only be acquired from wolves, which were due to respawn at any moment. But when Akira then rushed out the door, urging him to hurry, Vash merely chuckled as he followed at a leisurely stroll.

"We don't have to go looking for wolves," he said. "THEY'LL definitely find us."

Akira and Kiko traded befuddled stares, wondering what he meant…but they didn't have to wait for long to receive some clarification.

Vash pointed up at the sky suddenly. "Check it, my students."

Glancing up in the direction where he was pointing, hey saw a rain of what looked like comets falling from the sky!

"Shit!" Akira said, running into the doorway of Vash's [Homestead] for cover.

"Wow! So pretty…" Kiko murmured, cupping her hand over her eyes to block out the sun while she continued to watch the falling pink and purple streaks of blazing light.

Akira was frantic. "What's going on?" He glanced at Vash. "They're heading right toward us!"

Vash cracked a wide grin, tipping his hat. "Damn right they are. Those bastards can sniff out a tick in your hair from a mile away."

He equipped his trusty [Scorchbrand Slugger], which he had already had on hand as he walked outside: a black metal baseball bat, with distinct sharp grooves sticking out along its sides, decorated with a flame pattern that extended from the handle to halfway up the entire length.

Taking a stance like a batter stepping up to the plate, he stands ready to swing. Unfazed, even as one of the comets was making a direct beeline to his position.

At this range, Kiko gasped as she could finally see what it was.

"That's not a meteor! It's a—"

"Home run," Vash said solemnly, and reared back his bat for a huge swing!

And he GOES for it—flames billowing through the grooves along the sides of the [Scorchbrand Slugger] as he swings it—landing a direct hit!

ARFF! The falling meteor shrieks as it is consumed by the flames on impact.

The force of the swing sends it soaring, across an incredible distance, over the treetops of the forest, cliffs and river-valleys until it is long out of sight—

—looking for all the world…like a soaring fireball!

"Hmmph!" Vash huffed, resting the still-smoldering Scorchbrand over his shoulders as he turned away with a flick of his cape. "My work here…is done! I shall leave the rest up to you, my students."

He showed them a sign like two rabbit's ears with his fingers. "PEACE!"

~~~~~~~~

Party member has dropped out: Vash Mitash!

~~~~~~~~ 

"You can't be serious!" Akira snapped, but there was no time to argue—

—a pair of snarling wolves had landed in front of him and Kiko, at the center of the  burning craters left behind in the wake of their meteoric descents.

Akira was furious. "Vash! You can't expect us to fight when we're practically naked!"

The baller mage was picking his nose, showing no signs of interest.

"Akira-sama, I'm scared!" Kiko cried, letting out a high-pitched shriek when one of the wolves growled and showed its teeth at her.

"How shameful! It would be," Vash mused, "to survive the minotaurs, only to die to wolves."

Akira hissed through his teeth. Armed with just a knife and a useless skill, with no knowledge of how stats or combat worked in this game, Akira was unsure of his options. Thinking that if he attempted to charge mindlessly at the wolf in front of him, hoping to land a solid strike, it would run the risk of aggravating the other one into attacking Kiko.

He needed more tools at his disposal, more time to learn the game's systems and mechanics. 

Not to mention, he was still badly hungry; he for sure wasn't operating at full efficiency.

But then, in the midst of his mind racing to come up with a way out of this predicament, he remembered something…

Earlier, as he was inspecting his [Status Menu], under the description of the [Love Prices] skill there was a section labeled "Limitations" that could be expanded. It was a long shot, but he thought that perhaps there was something written in that section which could be of use to him. Something key.

So Akira quickly opened up the menu again, catching a sideways glance from Vash.

He scrolled down to the [Love Prices] skill and found the section called "Limitations," where it said "(click to see more)." 

Upon clicking it, a whole dropdown list of conditions appeared:

~~~~~~~~

Skills: 

Love Prices 

COST: 1 Gold (coin, nugget, bar, ingot, fragment, crafted item)

Challenge a target to comply with one of your desires. If the spell succeeds, they perform the action. If it fails, they will act in an opposite way.

Success rate is based on the user's <Charisma >.

Limitations: 

Cannot issue an impossible challenge to a non-inanimate target (i.e. challenging one without legs to stand)

Cannot make the same challenge on a target two times in a row.

When targeting an inanimate object or non-communicative creature, your <Luck > is instead used to determine the success rate.

~~~~~~~~

Huh? [Love Prices] could even be used on something other than humans?

Already, Akira's mind was abuzz with the possible applications. However, it didn't change the fact that he could not meet the basic resource requirement: a single gold coin.

"Vash!" he yelled out to the stubbornly indifferent mage.

His response was almost automatic: "I can't help you, little one! There is a time when every baby bird must learn to fly by being pushed out of mama's nest."

"I need a coin," he said. Then hesitated slightly, before adding, "I'll make it worth your while."

Vash half-turned to glance at her, his eyebrow peaked in mild interest. "Oh?"

Akira Maximilian knew how to strike a deal. In fact he knew better than most, hence how he was able to climb to the top and become a CEO fresh out of university. The key component being to discover what it is a person wants, then narrowing it down into demographics, and from there—in some select cases, such as now—even down to a single precise person.

"If you give me a gold coin, so that I can cast [Love Prices]," he said, "I'll let you look at my breasts!"

Vash's jaw dropped. Kiko looked stunned.

The wolves…were stupid wolves: they didn't care; they only desired blood and opportunities to raise the stakes in plotlines involving low-level encounters…

One lunged at Kiko, locking its fangs around her arm!

Vash was digging into his pocket. "You drive a hard bargain, my pupil!" Until he found a coin, holding it up to show it to Akira. "It's the only one I've got to give, so make it count!"

He flung the coin and Akira caught it. 

Wolf #2 was rearing back, looking like it was going to pounce on him at any second!

Akira pinched the coin between his thumb and index finger.

"Love Prices," he said, prompting a billowing aura to cloak his entire body, to signal the activation of the skill.

From there, instinct took over:

Raising a finger, he pointed at Wolf #2. "You…I challenge you:"— 

—his eyes shot wide open, in a frightening glare—

"TO KILL THE OTHER WOLF!"

Suddenly, all of the aura that was surrounding him fled through the air like a shadow, attaching itself to Wolf #2.

Its eyes became shrouded in the aura, seemingly locked in a fight with its pupils.

While watching it unfold, Akira was still tense. Had it worked? He was a low-level, so his <Luck > stat was still really small. He was gambling it all on a single coin flip.

Wolf #1, meanwhile, was still clamped down tightly onto Kiko.

She couldn't move. It was too strong, and too heavy, keeping her held down.And with only one arm at her disposal, she couldn't wield her [Plainwood Bow]—only grab one of her arrows with her free hand, clutching it in her shaking fist like a dagger, as she recalled Vash's ominous words to her…

"To survive in this world, you must become a killer."

Even if it was only a game, she could feel its sharp fangs tearing into her flesh and bone…

The warm blood felt disturbingly real…

Video game or not, it was enough for Kiko to feel that her life was seriously in danger.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

She unleashed a wrathful cry, plunging her arrow into Wolf #1's eye.

"YAAAARP!"

It let go of her, falling back as it writhed and squirmed from the horrible pain—

—right at the feet its ally, Wolf #2, hovering over it as its mouth was open wide and dripping with hungry saliva.

[Love Prices] had connected.

Wolf #2 tore Wolf #1 to shreds, showing no mercy.

Akira and even Vash watched in horror, through a spray of blood and gore.

~~~~~~~~

2x Wolf slain! EXP + 10

~~~~~~~~

But Kiko was still on an adrenaline rush—overtaken by an unstoppable bloodlust—as she lifted up her bow and notched arrow after arrow, firing them off at the clashing canids without rest and screaming and crying like a person possessed by a demon. Truly a terrible scene, of untold barbarity: to witness an innocent girl pushed to an extraordinary extreme.

Wolf-meteors were continuing to rain endlessly from the sky, all across the forest…meaning Akira and Kiko's first fight for survival was far from being over.