Chapter 19: Taking the girls to the simulation space

When Justin got back to his house, he started hearing the wailing again.

"It's that sword." He mumbled and picked up the sword. He saw the fox spirit and she hugged him. "What's this now?"

"I thought you abandoned me. I've been quiet like you asked but you didn't speak to me anymore."

"Look, I was busy. Can you stop this touchy stuff? I wonder how you can touch me when you're clearly a spirit. It doesn't make sense."

"It's because I wasn't originally a spirit." She mumbled.

"What was that?"

"My name is Attica." She vigorously introduced herself.

"Okay, Attica, since you're my sword and I feel I'll be seeing you frequently from now on, there are some rules I'd like to lay down."

"Rules?"

"First, no touching like how you did just now."

"That's sad."

"Second, no random talking." He said and looked aside. "I already had my head filled with the system's constant yapping."

"Okay? What's the third?"

"No touching!"

"Uh?" She tilted her head. "Isn't that the same as the first?"

"Exactly, so if you break the first rule, you're also breaking the third, got that?"

"Aye, master!" She agreed but he stared at her surprised.

"Master?"

"Yes. Since you own the sword now, it means you're my master."

Justin looked down at the sword. It needed a few polishing and sharpening but aside from that, it had a pretty nice form.

Nah, what did he know about swords?

"Speaking of, since you're a sword spirit, how well do you know about sword techniques?" He asked and her face beamed with excitement.

"I know a lot." She said,

"Okay, then how much do you know about teaching?" He asked and she turned silent. "Hm, you don't?"

"I haven't really taught anyone before so I'm not sure."

"And why is that?"

"No one has been able to see me so far. And when I try to make my presence known, they just get scared and return me to the store. They're so mean." She sulked.

'That should be because they were scared.' Justin thought. "Let's stop sulking. You have me now, don't you? I'm not going to return you to the store." He said and her face lit until he added, "Yet!" Her ears fell.

"You're so mean."

"What? As long as you keep my rules, I won't have cause to return you." He got up from the ground. "And they're simple, aren't they?"

"I… I'll try my best."

'Hm, contrary to how she looks, she's quite naive.' Justin thought and headed for his room. 'Are all sword spirits like this?'

The next morning, having levelled up for the first time, an ecstatic Justin bought a scrumptious meal and after that, he took the girls to the simulation space.

"Wow! It's all blue." Alexia exclaimed while they stared at the endless walls of blue nothingness.

"Good morning!" Sally greeted, emerging from nowhere and the girls jerked in fright.

"Calm down, she's nice." Justin said.

"Oh, I see you brought guests." Sally said and smiled. "Hi, I'm Sally."

"I am Alicia and this is my sister, Alexia."

"Hi… hello!" Alexia seemed to be scared and Sally immediately noticed it.

"This one is scared of me." She pointed out to Justin.

"There's no need to be scared, she can't harm you, okay? And if she keeps scaring you, just tell her to transform into a less scary creature." Justin instructed and the girls nodded.

Justin turned to Attica and said,

"I read a few of the basics for beginners but I'd like to see it for myself. Could you show me?"

"Where did you read it from?" Attica asked and he brought out the manual.

"This!"

It was not actually a written technique book but was a picture book.

Since Justin never learnt to read, the system made the manual available in drawings for better understanding.

"I see. They're all detailed basics. It's highly commendable. Who drew it?"

"You don't need to ask." He said, keeping the book away. "Now, the basis."

"Brother." Alicia called. "What are we going to do here?"

"Well, you guys can play." He said.

"But there's nothing to play with." Alexia pointed out.

"Sure, that's how you see it but there's everything in here. All you need to do is tell that pretty blue lady over there and she'll make it."

"Really?" Alexia asked with twinkling eyes.

"But I don't want to play." Alicia said.

"Then?"

"I want to learn the sword with you!" Hearing this, Justin suddenly fell quiet. It was as if his brain couldn't process her words. "Brother?"

"Oh, uh, I don't have a problem with that." He said and gave her the beginners manual.

"You want that little girl to learn the sword?" Attica asked in horror and he shot a glare back at her.

"What? You're female too. You can't tell me she can't learn to use a sword simply because she's human, right?"

His glare causes Attica to silence down. That was probably a warning that she was talking too much again.

"Here, I'll show you the basis." He got a wooden sword from the simulation for both of them and Alexia came running.

"No fair. I want to learn to use the sword too." She pouted and he laughed.

"It's alright. We can all learn to use it."

Justin had no problem with teaching the girls how to use the sword. He wasn't really the one teaching them so it wasn't difficult and he wasn't worried that they would hurt themselves because they were using wooden swords.

"Sally, can you keep teaching them? I need to get my daily quests done." Justin said as he wore his jacket.

"You're not doing the quest here?" She asked and he shook his head.

"Gotta stroll around a bit. I'll be back once I'm done." He said and the girls waved at him.

He stepped out of the simulation space and looked at his surroundings. He was in their huge backyard space.

They couldn't always go to the simulation space because of the limits so he needed to make space for them in the real world.

"Mmm!" He contemplated what to do with the huge grass field in the backyard.

He was already done with his daily quests and was planning something else.

It came to Justin's notice that each time he used his strength, speed, and agility, there was a timer that appeared. He couldn't use them for as long as he liked so it was either he used them on a minimum and longer or he could use them all at once in its maximum glory.

Whichever way, he didn't think a situation would arise where he would need to use his strength and speed to their maximum.

After all, he had only been using half of them since the beginning. And if he continued with the daily quests, he'd keep increasing his stats.

But there was one problem, why was it so difficult to level up?

He had asked the system once and it said, levels don't matter. It was as if all he needed to do was become strong and unbeatable. It didn't matter if he had a high level or not.

But the System's Primary Function did say to help users max up skills and not level up so…

'But don't I need a high level to be able to unlock those damn stuff in the store? Or is it just a ruse to make me forget about them?' He thought as he took out his sword. 'But what the heck? They're too expensive anyway so I'll just forget them.'

"Master, so you want to use a legendary sword like me to clear grass?"

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" He asked and Attica couldn't talk back. "Anyway, it's part of practice, isn't it? Let's see how much I can swing this thing."

"Um, master, would you like to try releasing aura?"

"What?"