Interactions

Upon an unknown planet, the strings of fate shift. Within a bar resides a woman with maroon hair, dull eyes, and a pair of sunglasses atop her head. A jacket strewn across her back, a sword on the left of her waist, and a submachine gun on her right.

She sits there, with her gloved hands a wine glass, filled with the crimson liquid. She swirls the glass, and takes a sip, staining her lips a deep crimson. A tender violin plays from a record player, immersing the bar in a soothing calm.

Suddenly, her phone rings, breaking the solemn tranquility of the situation with a loud notification. A small sigh escapes her lips as she reaches for the phone, and looks to see who's contacted her.

[Ellio]- Kafka, there's been a change in the script.

She reads the message with a glance, a small smile forming on her face.

It wasn't very often a script ever changed, but when it did, something thrilling always took place.

-/-

After reaching the healer, the cloud knight handed me a small satchel filled with green arrowheads with golden edges which I recognized to be Strales, the currency of the Luofu. He promptly left, leaving me alone with the healer. I begin to retell the events of what took place in Cosgolonia and the injuries that I had taken during my time on the planet.

"So you're telling me that around half a day ago, you were attacked by a maelific ape, had a deep wound in your arm, and woke up fully healed?" The healer says with a bit of a surprised expression on his face. "You seem to be completely fine, but I doubt you're fully healed."

He hands me a small jar of what looks to be round white pellets. "Take one a day to aid recovery and prevent any internal injuries from getting worse, and come back for another check-up in around 3 days. also, try to prevent doing any strenuous activity.

He sends me out of his office, as I decide to finally think about what to do from now. I've just been moving without really having the chance to think about what happened, to be honest. There's still the issue of me being here in the first place, but I'm not sure how to get back to earth.

The fact that I was placed here, and not randomly taken gives me a starting point though. But that brings the question of why me specifically? From what I remember, I was satisfied with my life, and played the game as a hobby, not as a obsession. So why this game of all games? I could have been placed in any other game that I put hours into, like Library of Ruina, or Fear and Hunger.

On second thought, both of those games would be hell to live in. At least this game is relatively safe, aside from the fervent followers of the destruction and the beasts of the abundance. And some other factions that I'm probably forgetting.

But what now? What do I do next? Do I try to get off this planet, and search blindly for a way back home? One certain thing is that I was put on Cosgolonia for a reason, but do I just stay on the Luofu?

It'd be foolish to try to leave the planet without a plan in mind. I should focus on the small things for now, though, the most pressing of them being the groaning and aching of my empty stomach. I should also mess around with my cursed energy, so if I ever have to use it in a battle, I have a semblance of what I can and can't do.

My mind made up, I walk towards a stall that seems to be selling skewers and various other foods and drinks. As I draw closer, the stall owner notices me and begins to greet me.

"Good evening sir, you look to be from around here, judging by your attire." I briefly look myself up and down and notice that my dress pants and sneakers stand out from the traditional Chinese clothing worn by every other passerby. I might need to buy a change of clothes too. " Seeing as you are a tourist of the Xianzhou, could I recommend a few items to you?" I nod my head, eager to put anything in my stomach after everything that I've been through. "I would recommend the Berryphesant Skewers and Steamed Puffergoat Milk, seeing as they complement each other nicely." I look at what seem to be glazed meatballs on a stick, and warm milk, and decide to buy 3 skewers, and one steamed milk.

"What an enthusiastic customer! Tell you what, if you buy another 2 skewers, I'll throw in a free Songlotus Cake, just for you." After a total of two seconds, I decide to purchase another two skewers. "Okay, your total is 4,800 credits. Will you be paying with credits or strales?"

"I'll be paying with strales." I pull out my pouch filled with strales from my pocket, drawing the hungry gaze of the shopkeeper for a moment before he straightens his expression. "Would you tell me the conversion rate for strales to credits?"

"Certainly, the conversion rate for strales to credits is 1 strale per one hundred credits, so that will be 48 strales." His smile grows just a tad bigger, as he outstretches his hand.

I quickly count the strales in my pouch, and find that I only have 70, if I end up not being able to afford a hotel or something similar, I'll be on the streets tonight. But surely 22 strales would be enough, right? How often does one get the chance to eat food from a video game? My food seems to look 3 times more seductive than before, as desire fills my heart.

"Deal!" I drop the strales into his hand, as he hands me my food and quickly stows away his profit.

"I hope the food is to your liking, benefactor!" he says the words with a hint of joy in his voice, as I turn away and look for somewhere to ravage my food.

I take a seat on a bench and look over my food as I give it one final chance to say its last words before I consume it. when it says nothing, I first grab a skewer and take a bite.

Instead of a tender texture, like a cut of meat, a crunch instead comes from the skewer, A profound sourness hits my mouth like a punch to the mouth, as I struggle to chew and swallow. "This is a fruit!?" I tried to take another bite, seeing if I was tasting it right. Another crisp crunch, another wave of sour that puckers my lips and makes my eyes water. "I bought five of these, and can't even finish one!" a wave of disappointment dampens my spirit, as I attempt to cleanse my pallet with a swig of puffer goat milk that's gone slightly cold.

Bitterness flows into my mouth, as I widen my eyes and spit it out. "What kind of milk is bitter!?" was the milk expired? I put the cap back on the milk, as I reach for the Songlotus Cake with a nervous apprehension. Would this be another horrible-tasting food?

I take an apprehensive bite, and as I sink my teeth into the cake, I hear a laugh from behind me.

I jolt up and spin around, spilling my skewers and milk onto the floor as I look for the source of the laugh, but see nobody but a few passersby a moderate distance away from me laughing.

The taste of the cake was muted by the shock of the situation, as I looked down and saw my food strewn across the floor, a silent anger began to fill me from the soles of my feet to the crown of my head.

I gather up the food strewn across the floor and proceed to Slam it into the nearest trash can. I throw in the Songlotus Cake too, for good measure.

"Xianzhou food is hot garbage."

I silently vow to myself to avoid any foods from the culture at all costs, lest what happened here take place again.