Chapter 15 - New Instances

Chapter 15

~

<"Uhm... guys? Slight problem over here.">

<"Hmm? Does it have anything to do with the telepathy thing? We'll probably get by just fine even without it for the moment if you have to shut it down, I don't think it'll be a particularly difficult job either way.">

<"No, uh, that's mostly fixed, though I'll need to run some tests later to figure out exactly what happened but that's besides the point.">

<"Then?">

<"Well... Ehm... Nana... kind of disappeared on me...">

<"What!? I told you bringing her along would just disrupt our operations, what if she just waltzes right in and gets us discovered!?">

<"Do you know where she went, Kaya?">

<"No.">

<"How the hell did she even leave without your notice? Don't tell me you got distracted in the middle of a mission? Though I wouldn't be surprised if you did.">

<"Shut the fuck up Mergen, you would've reacted the same way if you saw what I just did! Why don't you go slither looking for her instead of bitching about it!">

<"Calm down, both of you. It's already happened so let it go. We'll have to speed up a bit just in case so less talking and more doing. Kaya, check if you can spot her on the surveillance cameras.">

<"...">

<"Not right now.">

<"Hmm. Don't you have her on your friendlist? Try contacting her that way, ask where she went and tell her to be careful. These guys might not be that dangerous on their own but they're probably equipped with guns.">

<"Got it!">

...

Nana stalked her way through a dimly lit hallway in search of anything that'd catch her interest occasionally taking a peek into some of the doors lining it's sides as she moved deeper into the casino with no real goal in mind.

Though she wasn't sure why the lady, the old man, and the others were acting so stealthily she, after a few moments of thought, came to the conclusion that it was probably best to follow their example since they seemed to have alot of experience with this, the 5 of them moving in a swift and sharp manner she'd come to associate with someone of not so insignificant skill.

Hence, with the goal of remaning hidden, she skipped the entrance and instead went around the casino until she found a window.

The window being positioned roughly 10 meters above ground proved to be somewhat of a challenge but she eventually managed to reach it by taking some distance, getting a running start and then with a jump, crash into the building about a third of the way there.

Just before impact she tensed her hands and slammed them into the concrete lining the exterior creating shallow, but deep enough, indents to where they could act as holds, a fluttering of dust accompanying the muted crunch of her fingers burrowing into the wall.

After that she simply proceeded to claw her way up by repeating the process, leaving a trail of finger wide holes in her wake. Although she ended up falling a couple of times when she didn't brace herself enough, the force she had to use to penetrate into the building pushing her away from it in turn.

From there it was only a matter of time before she grabbed onto the window sill and pulled herself up, the flimsy metal hook holding the window closed shortly after bending under her strength following a few seconds of strained creaking.

Jumping inside, she properly closed the window again and bent back the latch to it's previous state, mostly, the piece of metal now sporting an almost imperceptible degree of wonkiness.

A brief inspection later she inwardly nodded determining that the chance of someone realistically spotting anything wrong being minimal and surveyed her surroundings, she had appeared in the middle of a long hallway stretching further to her sides with another path connecting right in front of her.

Not seeing anything that would help her navigate she eventually shrugged and chose one at random.

She had only wandered for a minute or two when a system notification popped up with a ding, looking over without stopping her walk she accepted the prompt with a thought, another window revealing the lady popped up floating in step beside her, the lady's voice shortly after broadcasting outwardly.

"Nana! Where are you right now!?"

"...Hallway."

"Hallw-!? You're inside!? How the hell did you even get in! I've sat staring at the entrance like a goddamn hawk and you would stick out like a sore thumb wearing workout clothes! I would've seen you for sure!"

"Window."

"...You fucking climbe- You know what, I don't even care anymore. Listen. Is there anywhere you can hide nearby? If there is, just stay there and wait for Jun and the others to come get you. I know you're strong but these guys are probably armed, it's dangerous."

"Weapons?"

"Yes, weapons. Guns, so don't do anything stupid."

"Guns?"

"Yeah, gun-..."

"..."

"Wait, was that a question? You seriously don't know what a gun is?"

"Mn."

"...How is that even possible. Did they grow you in a lab or something!? There's literally no way someone that isn't living out in the middle of fucking nowhere has never heard of a gun before. What weapons do you know then?"

"Long and short blade with handle. Pointy stick. Tiny flying pointy stick. Metal block on a stick. Portable metal wall, wooden wal-"

"Okayyyy, let me stop you right there. What's up with those weird names, I can barely even understand what you're saying just speak normally."

"Nn?"

"...Really? No, like, actually how the hell did you even live until now and not like, I don't know, choke on a piece of bread or something. If I'm right, that's sword, dagger, spear, bow and arrow, hammer, and shields. Got that?"

"Mm."

"Either way, guns are kind of like bows but much more dangerous at close range. The bullets, or 'arrows' I guess to make it easier for you to understand, can be instantly fired for as long as you've got ammo left in the mag, 'quiver', and you'll get hit before you can even blink. They're extremely dangerous so quickly go hide somewhere before you're spot-"

"Hey, you there! Stop! What are you doing back here!"

Hearing someone shouting Nana glanced to her right to see a man speed-walking towards her with a pissed scowl holding something in one of his hands having heard someone talking from further down the hallway.

"Name!" He barked out as he got closer, stopping a couple of meters away and raising the thing he was carrying to level it against her in a sideways grip.

"Shit! Nana, whatever you do, don't move. Try delaying for as long as possible." Kaya whispered urgently, now having a pretty good idea of just where Nana had ended up after seeing one of the guards patrolling the hallways suddenly do a double take, making a sharp turn before beelining it towards the other end of the hallway, pulling out a gun to point to somewhere, or rather at someone, just outside of the camera's range.

Thankfully, the system window showing her was floating just behind the corner out of view, but it was very nearly visible, and she didn't want to risk it being revealed possibly setting him off.

Disconnecting the call, Kaya began swiftly shuffling through the different feeds and locking others into replaying loops of previous footage hoping for the situation to remain undetected for as long as possible.

<"Jun! Where are you guys!?">

<"Just breached the wall, why what's happening?">

<"Well, hurry up! They found Nana and she's got a gun trained on her!">

<"Ah, shi- Alright, where is she?">

<"Get out of that room, you're clear, after that I'll direct you, go now, now, now!"

<"On it.">

"What's you damn name! You deaf or some shit? Better speak the fuck up or I'm putting a bullet through your skull!" The guard gestured threateningly, shouting after quickly running out of patience when Nana stayed quiet, instead pinning the gun with an appraising gaze.

Though she had very scarce experience in terms of actually shooting with a bow properly, she had both seen and temporarily utilized one as a melee weapon when she didn't have anything else on hand and needed some extra range before.

She was also very well aware of just how dangerous the weapon was in the right, or lucky, hands. A well placed arrow having led to her death more times than she could count throughout her time in the coliseum, more so during the initial period of getting used to everything.

But even towards the end.

Just a moment of inattention could allow an arrow to slip past her notice if she wasn't vigilant enough.

Finding a new type of weapon would've been enough to catch her interest but with the lady's words revealing that a gun would in some situations be even more dangerous, it just further ignited it.

"Gun?"

"Yeah it's a fucking gun cap'n obvious, what else would it be!? You think I'm gonna carry around a toy or some shit!"

"Show."

"Huh!? Fuck do you mean?"

"Gun."

"Yes! It's a gun! Congratulations for understanding words. What the fuck? Are you retarded?"

"Gun. Show me." She repeated, raising a finger to point at in clarification.

An expression as if he was looking at an idiot appeared on the guard's face, did she think he was just up and gonna hand it over because she asked? Or did she mean something else? Whatever it was, he wasn't in the mood for this shit.

He was just about to check in with the others if they knew who she was just in case she was someone important, he wouldn't have guessed it but he'd come to know that if it was something that rich idiots were especially good at it was raising equally idiotic spawn sometimes even surpassing their parents, when someone tried contacting him first.

"What is it? I'm kinda busy over here." He grunted out after answering, two fingers raised to press into a handsfree, still keeping his eyes and gun trained on the girl.

"I don't care. Get your ass back here some clowns ate through the wall of one of the storage rooms. They tried hiding it but it was a sloppy as all hell, it's probably some kiddies with a few fancy pants gadgets trying to get at the casino for 'justice' or some other shit. Could be money too. It wouldn't be the first time."

"That so?" The guard voiced with a raised eyebrow. "Probably found one of 'em then, lemme take care of her real quick and I'll come over."

"Hurry up."

"Yeh."

Hanging up, he removed his hand and shoved it into a pocket, his body slightly slumping to lean back in a relaxed manner as he regarded her with a lazy stare.

"Honestly. How your brain works are a real mystery to me, you know." He scoffed, placing a finger on the trigger. "I don't get what you idiots think you'll get out of pissing on one of the hundreds if not thousands of businesses the, in comparison, handful of big shots run. It's like trynna move a mountain pebble by pebble."

Nana just blinked in response.

"Welp, unlucky kid! Hope shit was worth it. Should prolly pray the next time you wake up it isn't on a hospital bed with someone telling you you've been in a coma."

Spotting his finger twitching Nana's attention promptly snapped to the gun and even as her mind went into overdrive slowing the world around her down to a crawl, her eyes just barely managed to track something leaving the barrel, a brief poof of smoke clinging onto it's surface, before she registered a stinging pain erupting from her left cheek.

It was only thanks to the incredibly acute sense of danger cultivated by her experience in the coliseum that instinctively she started moving the moment he went to pull the trigger, turning a sloppy but still accurate enough to matter headshot into a skin deep glance.

As the world once again resumed it's pace, a loud bang blew past her ears accompanied by the noise of something penetrating into the wall behind her.

"Fast..." Nana quietly mumbled out in assessment, a thrilled glint flashing past her noticeably widened eyes as she reached up to trace the line of cutting red a hair's breadth away from the markings that had gradually disappeared over the years, now faded to the point they were hard to spot without a close inspection.

She snapped out of her sense of wonder a moment later, the habit of not remaining distracted during combat no matter the circumstances ingrained in her bones shocking her awake after which she sent the guard, mostly the gun, an intruiged stare.

"Oh, wow. Weak in the knees, huh? Wouldn't fault ya. Don't know whether I'd call you lucky or unlucky with that dodge since you'll experience this for longer. Eh, up to you I guess. You're not walking out of here alive though." He remarked in slight surprise but not much else, chalking her sudden evasion up to coincidence.

Lazily aiming at her body this time in case of a repeat, he saw her body jerk to the side just a moment before the bullet shot out, still hitting her torso but not anywhere immediately lethal. A frown made it's way up his face as he once again pulled the trigger, a chill shooting up his spine when she once again maneuvered in a way that made the bullet avoid anything important.

"What the f-" A baffled whisper escaped him, his eyes widening to the extreme as he stumbled backwards with a building sense of trepidation creeping up his back. Unconsciously tightening his grip on the gun, he lightly trembled as he fired off another bullet.

The reality of the situation settled in his mind when nothing changed, realizing that she wasn't evading by mere coincidence. Adrenaline flushing through him mixed with a healthy dose of fear brought by something he didn't understand nor comprehend shunting him into a state of heightened agitation blurring his awareness.

With feet temporarily locked in place he let out a crazed scream, impulse taking charge of his body lead to him unloading the entirety of his clip as fast as he could, a series of loud bangs ringing out in quick succession.

It was only when heard clicks replacing the previous bangs that he returned to his senses, panting raggedly as he stared wide eyed at the slumped form of the girl, her face shadowed by messy bangs of black hair as numerous unusually thin streams of red trickled down her body.

"Ha- Hahaha...! Y-Yeah, that's what happ-!" His shaky assertion was abruptly cut short, tensing up, and subsequently paling when he saw the girl slowly reach up to dig her fingers into one of the bullet holes with a meaty squelch.

He watched on in stunned silence as the dichotomy of the grisly display jarringly clashed against the air of normalcy it was carried out with.

It was only when she straightened up a few seconds later and brought the bullet closer to her face now revealed to carry a blank expression despite the injuries and keenly analyzed it with an inquisitive glint that he unconsciously took a step back.

As if broken out of a spell he quickly whirled around and booked it down the hallway wishing he was born with more legs, heart hammering up in his throat as he tried and failed to fetch another magazine from his pocket.

"F-Fucking piece of shit!" He stammered out when he dropped one of them in his haste, his shaking hands not helping the situation. Hearing a series of thuds swiftly catching up from behind him his heart sped up even more if that was even possible, free hand immediately shooting up to call the others.

Nana leisurely trailed after the guard waiting for him to turn around and continue using the gun but was slightly disappointed when it didn't seem like it was happening. Seeing something fall out of his hand she snappily dipped and caught it, followed by righting herself again without slowing her pace.

Giving the rectangular object a closer look over she soon spotted what she was fairly sure was a gun arrow peeking out the top after turning it over, identical to the one she dug out of her wound.

Wounds she had momentarily forgotten about, still a bit caught up in her newfound discovery.

Mentally mapping out where and how deep the bullets had penetrated her she then subsequently tensed and flexed her muscles in a show of unnaturally precise body control to slowly push them out, the bullets shortly after dropping down onto the carpetted floor.

When it wasn't looking like the guard was ever going to stop and fight back anytime soon, Nana didn't see the point in continuing her efforts to push him into action and speedily surged forwards reaching him just a few seconds later.

Snatching up the back of his shirt in an iron grip the guard only had time to instinctively react with a startled shout before he was brutally slammed face first into the ground, not given even a moment's respite before being subjected to a couple of firm stomps to the back of his neck after which he promptly turned limp and unmoving.

Not sparing him a glance Nana instead went to pick up the gun and inspected it curiously after which she simply continued her previous wandering in search of anything interesting whilst trying to figure out how the gun worked.

"What do you want and where the hell are you!? I thought you said you were on the way, these guys are slippery."

"..."

"Hello? Hello!? The hell? Did this thing break or something...?"

...

<"Jun...?">

<"I know and we're going as fast as we can Kaya, now where to next?">

<"No, I uh... I mean... I think she's fine? Kinda of... Maybe..."> Kaya dazedly mumbled as she tracked the girl carelessly strolling through the hallways using the surveillance cameras.

She didn't even know where to begin honestly. It seemed like every time the girl surprised her she'd just do something new and equally unthinkable to throw her off before she'd even managed to process the previous situation.

First overloading her poor telepathy program and disappearing on her followed by somehow getting into the building through a window, an avenue of entrance they'd all already removed from possible plans of attack on the merit of them being 10 meters above ground level.

Anything they could have used to help them reach that far up was either far too clunky, far too visible or something they just didn't have access to at the moment.

But sure, just nonchalantly urusp and trample on what they'd deemed possible without any tools whatsoever, go right ahead.

Kaya even now still wasn't entirely sure of how the girl had done it.

Then, disregarding the spotty at best degree of general knowledge the girl possessed for some reason, of course Kaya only found out where she was with the help of a guard that spotted her, and of course the guard was armed.

Why not, right?

She had kept an eye on the situation whilst she guided Jun and the others towards her as fast as she could without getting them discovered and her heart had skipped a beat when the guard eventually fired. As she watched the smoke wafting off of the barrel, she was hit with a blanket of remorse enveloping her body.

Just because she was a mercenary didn't automatically mean that she was unable to feel the slightest sympathy or guilt for her actions and getting a kid killed just because she selfishly wanted to have an additional wall of defense shielding herself from danger just in case things got hairy wasn't exactly a good enough reason to soothe her conscience.

Nana's unnatural performance during the tournament had lead to Kaya's image of the girl's strength reaching the point where most things wouldn't be able to hurt her at all, and although she of course had been worried when the girl had a gun pointed at her, it was only now after the deed was done that a realization slammed into her overconfident self like a truck.

The girl wasn't invincible.

A fairly obvious point in hindsight but she'd been blinded by the fact that the girl had taken on her teammates, people who in her mind were extremely dangerous in combat, and practically toyed around with them, emerging mostly unscathed.

Whilst she was briefly stunned by the revalation she was knocked out of it by the guard firing another shot. Kaya's features instantly pulled into a tight frown, a surge of anger erupting inside of her as he continued unloading the clip into what was probably the girl's corpse.

Though when she honed onto the man with a scowl to remember to give him a particularly painful ending, she was confused when she found that rather than the smug smirk she'd imagined, his face was instead set in a dawning horror as trembled in place.

That confusion only deepened when he suddenly whirled around to bolt as if his life depended on it, Kaya's jaw dropping when she saw the girl's figure appear on the video feed, swiftly disappearing again as she trailed after the guard.

Kaya moved as if on autopilot, still stunned as she continued tracking the chase through the cameras, watching with numb shock as the girl somehow gradually expelled what must've been around a dozen of bullets from her body as she ran after him, moving as if she didn't currently have numerous holes shot into her.

Despite her bordering on insensate state of mind, Kaya still had the mental capacity to question how deep the bullets even penetrated. From what she could see the bleeding had pretty much already stopped completely, a fact made even more propesterous when she considered the distance at which the girl was shot.

At a guess it couldn't have been much more than 3-4 meters and at that range those bullets would've shot clean through bone, nevermind the roughly 8 centimeters they were stopped at, and even then, blood should've still be spewing out of her if that was the case.

The chase continued for another minute or so before Nana suddenly surged forwards to catch up and swiftly execute the guard after which she picked up the gun with a look of curiosity and continued on her way, trying to puzzle out it's workings with the magazine the guard had dropped mid way in her other hand.

<"What do you mean?">

<"Just... go do the mission or something. She's fine for now...">

<"Oookay...?">

---

Nana spent the rest of her first mission carelessly roaming around, encountering other guards who had been called in as reinforcement after the sounds of gunshots scared away most of the guests with an increasing frequency as more and more of them arrived.

She had also enlisted one of them to help her learn how to properly utilize a gun after some convincing from her part.

After having it explained to her properly she didn't find using a gun to be especially difficult, finding it rather static in comparison to a bow's more dynamic way of handling. In comparison to a bow for example she didn't have to take into account things like string's and the frame's degree of firmness, rigidity, and the strength she drew back with.

Not to mention arrow type, weight, balance, head, and so on. Arrows were also much more prone to be influenced by things like wind because of their length and fletching.

The more point and shoot style of a gun on the other hand she found almost boring with how simple she felt it to be after first getting used to it, her impeccable hand-eye coordination, dexterity and rock stable grip seamlessly working together in tandem to make her a scarily accurate shot.

This on top of her toggle-able slowed perception of the world allowing her more time to map out the terrain and organize what she was seeing in a coherent way in a blink and her incredibly honed combat instincts allowing her to easily pick out covers and angles granting advantages bordering on unfair-

Well, safe to say, she quickly mowed her way through a couple dozen guards with ease, accumulating more wounds after she got bored of ending the fight before it even started with a well-placed bullet, at which point starting to use gun as a bludgeon weapon instead and after the first few victims the inner workings were clogged up with so much blood it wouldn't work either way.

...

"Hmm, I think we found our missing guards. Or what's become of them at least." Jun mused out loud as the four of them followed the trial of bodies littering the hallways.

Kaya's weirdness had already clued him in about something happening and as they made their way around the casino systematically working through their objectives, the starkly lacking presence in terms of security had jumped out at him right away.

At the moment they only had the last one of the three sub-vaults left to ransack before they were done, the other vaults were already taken care of and they had started with taking down the boss himself as their first priority after Kaya had given them a clear regarding the girl's situation.

He now had a pretty good idea of what the girl had been up to while they were busy doing their thing at least.

"A rather sloppy work compared to the first few further back" Quill remarked, analyzing the bloodied bodies deformed by what looked to be excessive blunt force trauma with a critical eye. "I very much prefer the ones neatly dispatched with a singular bullet to this."

"Maybe she ran out of ammo?" Jun proposed half seriously as he boredly gave one of them a soft kick.

"Unlikely. It would be hard to miss the additional magazines these fools so clearly displayed to the world for all to see." Mergen scoffed sharply, a contempt filled gaze hovering over their forms. Although he was, and still is, against the girl possibly tagging along on missions going forwards, at least she proved not to be entirely useless as a distraction.

He would also never understand why so many people just couldn't grasp the concept of simply not strutting around whilst showcasing important information such as the remaining amount of ammunition they had left.

The four of them made their way towards the last objective at a relaxed but swift pace, habitually taking care to check around corners before moving on and subsequently into view.

It was when they were just about at their destination that they suddenly heard a bellowing screech of pain from further ahead before it was abruptly cut short.

Jun received the other three's questioning gazes and decided to err on the side of caution just in case.

<"Kaya, could you run a check on the hallways connecting to our current path?">

<"Clear."> She reported back just a moment later.

<"Cool.">

Hearing the quick response he glanced at the others with a raised eyebrow and was met with equally confused gazes before simply shrugging his shoulders and continued on his way with his team falling in just a step behind him keeping a vigilant eye on their surroundings.

Rounding the corner to arrive outside the room where the third sub vault was located the four of them happened upon the scene of the girl straddling the downed form of one of the guards most likely stationed to protect their goal with her arm raised, another guard slumped against the wall on the other side of the door with his face destroyed, caved in, and covered in blood streaming onto the floor in rivers.

They watched as her clenched fist descend, smashing downwards and producing a chorus of brutal cracks as it drove into the guard's mug, the previously already on the verge of croaking man instantly letting out a gurgled noise of pain before limply stilling.

The girl glanced down at her blood covered hand and briefly flailed it as if trying to shake off droplets of excess water after washing them sending small splatters of it flying, then proceeded to nimbly bounce back up on her feet.

Stretching prompting a few pops, she sent a look over her shoulder and blinked as she acknowledged the four of them, turning around to clearly display her blood caked form as she languidly made her way over.

"You have a lil something around here." Jun commented with a close-eyed smile, his lips quirking back in amusement as he lightly tapped his cheek with a finger.

Letting out an inquisitive hum she tilted her head before once again blinking, this time in understanding, bringing up her forearm to wipe where he indicated smearing a thick coat of red onto her face.

"Oop, sorry. I meant the other side, my bad." He chirped airily.

"Move it." Mergen hissed out as he pushed past the two of them and entered the room, wanting to just get it over with whilst Nana tried the other side.

---

After a mostly successful first mission Nana eventually returned to the game lobby with her cut of the pay, unable to have it transferred into any account since she didn't have one of her own and she had no idea about Yama's details.

Any money in the VR world, or more accurately any authentic money in the VR world, were created on a withdrawal by withdrawal basis and contained a certain quality that no one so far had managed to replicate just yet which allowed physical currency to act about the same as in the real world in the ways that mattered despite it's digital presence.

Again not really knowing where to put it since she didn't have any furniture she ended up just haphazardly stuffing the credit chits under her [Gauntlet of the Underworld] making it stand at a light tilt.

The rest of the day was spent finally getting to explore the other instances, though only visiting each one fleetingly since she wanted to try out all of them to find out which one she'd like the best.

In terms of further 'employment', Kaya had promised to send her a message if they were planning another job or she found something on her own she thought Nana would've been interested in.

The next few months passed by in a flash, Nana shortly after her initial trail runs quite quickly picking out her two favorite instances so far, one of them being the [Savage Jungle], an instance she had briefly seen before as one of the three starting ones, and the second one being the [Turbid Depths] which rather than containing a set of tangible hostiles acting against you focused more on the extreme sport that was cave diving.

Inside the [Savage Jungle] she got to know how truly mighty the animal kingdom could be, finding a certain thrill a more humane opponent just couldn't provide in a particularly fierce rendition of a silverback gorilla, a bengal tiger, a giant hippo, a polar bear, and a black mamba. Each one of them resembling their real world counterparts only magnitudes bigger, badder, and scarier.

From the silverback gorilla she learned that she was still too weak physically, the primate quite easily managing to bodily bat her back and forth with it's heft. From the bengal tiger she learned how incredibly silent you could move, even with it's considerable size she at first couldn't even hear it's approach at all.

From the hippo she discovered that the durability she previously thought adequate didn't last more than a few seconds under it's terrifyingly strong jaws and sharp teeth. From the polar bear she learned how savagely ferocious a being could actually be when pushed to the brink, and lastly, from the black mamba she found out that despite her physique, it's insidious venom could still majorly affect her state.

She didn't only find things she was in her mind sorely lacking in however, she also confirmed that, although to a lesser extent, everything she was doing inside VR was at some level effecting her body in the real world.

Her strength, durability, speed and endurance seeing a noticeable increase, her efforts inside VR seemingly getting more and more tangible, going from roughly 10% getting carried over to a whopping 50%.

Going from strictly being on the defensive to slowly but surely catching up with her new sparring partners in just a few months though only due to the sheer amount of active time she could manage in a day. A feat only possible by taking advantage of her body healing once she left the instance whilst still transferring her efforts to the real world.

On the other hand, the [Turbid Depths] didn't place as her favorite because of the dangers it posed, not to say that it wasn't dangerous, the [Daredevil] difficulty introducing what from down below felt like world shaking storms making the water intensely toss and turn at an incredibly chaotic pace which was only further exacerbated by the tight tunnels the instance was placed inside.

No, despite her lung capacity also seeing massive increase alongside the water pressure slowly compressing her musculature to not get too bulky, it was also because, those moments when she sat about a hundred to a couple of hundreds of meters below the surface surrounded on all sides by the murky waters, she was always brought into an unusual state of peace and calm.

Gently rocked back and forth, more like tossed around, by the turbulent currents of what could easily be imagined as an infinite expanse of dusky dark blue she could only somewhat see through because of her sharp eyes, it gently enveloped her in a tranquil serenity, soothing her usually very busy mind within it's tender silky soft embrace.

Different from the love and affection she held for a select few people in her life and although she wasn't entirely sure, the best way she could describe it was... it felt like home.

Other than that, she still kept in contact with Sam, Chad and Coach John, mostly with the three of them calling her but they already knew that that was just how Nana was in general, not to mention the pleasant surprise they always felt when she occasionally contacted them herself.

She had also tagged along on numerous jobs with the team of mercenaries, Jun still making more discoveries each time they met, Quill and Nana having a sort of tacit understanding of each other pretty much since their fight in the tournament, Mergen now begrudgingly acknowledging her usefulness, Saul finding her usual quietness quite relaxing leading to the two of them often sitting together in comfortable silence immersed in their own thoughts, and Kaya accomplishing her task of getting a shield and sword in the form of the girl... mostly.

A sword at least. The amount of times she had managed to get the girl not to run off as soon as the mission began and actually act as a shield able to be counted on one hand.

Nana was also still technically learning under Somchai and Chang-hoon, though at this point it was more like regularly scheduled spars between them than any actual teaching on their part. Jonah was also still trying to keep up with her and despite his rapid progress, the desparity between them was only growing ever wider.

He had initially been fairly despodent and down regarding the situation but he quickly bounced back, more determined than ever to keep chasing after her.

---

"Oh yeah Jonah, just remembered. You guys were involved in the development of VR back when people thought it was a flop, right?"

"Eh. My family was I guess. You know I'm not interested in those things though, Karl. Why, what's up?"

Vanessa, by somehow enlisting the help of Somchai, Chang-hoon, Dai Hui and Yama, had finally managed to convince, or more like shoo, both Nana and Jonah out of the gym for the day telling them to go do something else, anything other than just training all day really.

To facilitate this, she had also called up some of Jonah's, admittedly small in comparison to many others in their circle, pool of friends he actually interacted with on a regular basis outside the gym's confines.

One major difference being that they were actually friends rather than cordial aquaintances most others were so keen on accumulating.

As a result the two somewhat grumpy duo were currently walking in step with a group of three, well, Jonah more than Nana since she was practically always training at this point.

The guy who asked the question was about Nana's height sporting a messy bird's nest of eye catching pink curls, thick rectangular glasses placed in front of sparkling green eyes as a bubbly smile hung on his lightly freckled face.

He wore a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, stylish red jeans attached with thin suspenders looping around his slender shoulders and a pair of equally colorful espadrilles, a slight skip present in his step.

"You haven't heard? I thought you were all gaga about anything VR related."

"Been a bit busy lately, if I slack off I'm never catching up." Jonah responded with a shrug. He still loved VR of course but his desire to chase after a certain someone had taken priority, especially with her growth exploding the last few months with no signs of stopping.

"Huh? What are you talking about now?"

"Apparently Jonah got squashed by someone younger than him in the ring a few years ago lighting a fire under his ass, his sister said that's why he's been even more of his fight obsessed self since then."

A rather lanky girl droned tiredly, visible bags lining her almond-shaped onyx eyes presenting quite a miserable appearance as she yawned uncontrollably.

She had a large game-themed fluffy bucket hat placed atop a bob cut of black hair wearing a poofy sun-yellow jacket with an orange zipper, hands shoved into a pair of roomy shorts as she almost swayingly made her way along the sidewalk with a pair of bulky flat-footed white sneakers on her feet.

"You sure, Jenna? Jonah started real early, you know? Plus, the instructors Mrs. Chambers hired have kept some pretty scary records attached to 'em, I've looked it up before, I've also heard them calling him a natural. If even they think he's good then he's probably, really, really good compared to everyone else, you know? Hmm? Hmm?"

A relatively large framed guy a size or two bulkier than Jonah's more streamlined form also standing a handful of centimeters taller than him energetically exclaimed with open-mouthed surprise.

He had long locks of silky blond hair reaching down to his shoulders messily combed back leaving a few scattered stray hairs haphazardly sticking out and a pair of wide animated sky blue eyes glinting with excitement set in an expressive face, leaning closer to direct Jenna a look of astonishment.

He wore a sturdy brown leather jacket, interior lined with padding resembling something you'd only bring out during winter over a plain white t-shirt. He also had a pair of noticeably weathered jeans, the leg openings ending in shredded strips which hung over some substantial hiking boots.

"Go away Charlie, I'm way too tired to deal with your golden retriever bullshit right now." Jenna compained, groaning as she struggled to push his persistent head away from her face.

"Is it true though? Also why're you so tired? Did you stay up late last night? What were you doing up so late? Did you know you look kinda like a raccoon?"

"I require assistance!"

"Is that a quote from a game? A voice line? You don't usually talk like-"

"Karl! Jonah!"

"I got it, I got it. Come on you big lug, let's not disturb the nice lady suffering the consequences of her own actions." Karl lagged behind and snatched up Charlie's arm, proceeding to drag him in step with him and Jonah a couple meters in front. "Weren't you curious about Jonah losing or something? Go ask him instead."

"Oh, yeah." Attention instantly brought back to his initial question Charlie went and threw an arm around Jonah's shoulder, leaning down as if discussing a secret though without bothering to lower his permantently loud voice whatsoever. "So? D'you lose Jonah? You didn't right? Or maybe you did? Tell me! Tell me!"

"I did lose." Jonah answered bluntly.

"Hwaoooh~ Really?"

"Yep."

"Super sure?"

"Mhmm."

"Super super sure?"

"Mhm, mhm."

"Man, that's definitely a surprise! Hey, who was it? Someone 10 meters tall? Body covered in massive muscles so big the head looked completely tiny on 'em? I wish I could've seen it! It would've been like watching David and Goliath duke it out like right in front of me for real!" Charlie exclaimed in wonder, imagining Jonah donning a grave expression as he stood face to face with a giant looking down upon him from above, reaching into the clouds themselves which parted to shower the two's figures in glorious rays of light.

"Good guess but try smaller."

"5 meters?"

"Close, still smaller."

"4, 3, 2?

"At the time? More like 1 and a half."

"Seriously!?" Charlie goggled.

"Uh, huh."

"Hey hey, do you have a picture from back then? Show me! I wanna see who beat you!"

"Ooh, I'm curious too!" Karl cheerfully piped up from the side, Jenna also chiming in with an affirmative grunt.

"Don't really have a photo of anything like that, sorry."

"Aww, booo~"

"I know what you can do if you really, really wanna see what my opponent looks like now though."

"Oh, oh! A listed fighter? Maybe I've heard of 'em already! I've watched alot of interesting Rookie matches when I had nothing better to do. Which class, rank and rating?" Charlie asked, fishing his phone out from his pocket and brought up the site he usually used to keep up to date with the fighting world.

"Gotta be higher than rookie though, right? I dunno about now ever since he's kinda turned into a hermit and all but wasn't Jonah already way past that a couple years ago?" Karl ponderously tapped his pursed lips with a finger.

"He was. We went to the match he was promoted from the Rookie category, remember? Rated 5/5 in terms of overall capabilities at that." Jenna supplemented, quite clearly remembering when he had invited the three of them because it was her first experience with actual violence in real life.

"Nah, she ain't on any list. Though if she did enter the pro scene she'd probably tear everyone there apart. She was an animal back then but at this point she's grown way past a beast, describing her as a monster would be underselling her." Jonah explained exasperatedly. A few weeks ago they had been forced to renovate a room dedicated solely for Nana's training after dozens of noise complaints lodged against her.

The previous metal posts she used though somewhat loud was still at an acceptable level in terms of volume, however, some time ago her strikes had absurdly enough started putting visible dents into them with each hit, at one point even bending the initially straight beams to the point it looked like someone had smashed into them with a car.

At first it wasn't as bad, but soon she'd had to have the posts entirely replaced after each session because they were just unusable at the end, each session of hers also producing loud dang's and the sounds of metal creaking in protest as it was forced to bend under her terrifying inhuman power.

"Huh? Really!?"

"Oh?"

"'She'?"

The three of them reacted, turning to shoot Jonah with a look urging him to stop stalling and spit it out already. Him skirting around the subject and then hyping it up in combination with the air of mystery surrounding the unknown fighter fuelling their imaginations and subsequently desire to put a face on the figure.

"Well, it isn't that hard." Jonah shrugged and gestured over his shoulder with his thumb. "Just need to look behind you."

Their faces briefly changed to confusion before they skeptically followed his directions, their eyes eventually landing on the girl trailing after them with a vacant air about her wearing an enormous vibrant green-striped black hoodie hanging down to her thighs that Vanessa had insisted she wear when Nana was caught trying to go out in workout clothes.

Vanessa had also tossed her a pair of large shorts Nana usually slept in, one of the only pieces of clothing the girl owned that wasn't meant for prolonged physical activity.

When the three of them arrived to pick the duo up at the gym they had all curiously inspected the person Jonah's sister had grouped up with her 'baby bro' who she was also very protective of. Though it was never explicitly stated out loud they also knew that they had probably also been investigated when they first began interacting with Jonah.

The subject even if slightly uncomfortable, they understood. The Chambers family was one of the titans in G City, even holding alot of influence in other Cities. This on top of the siblings' parents placing alot of importance on their children, their security was also naturally extremely tight.

The girl had also apparently been granted clearance seeing how close she was to the siblings, but what as even more surprising was that they had a feeling that Vanessa almost seemed to regard the girl with care even beyond that of which she regarded Jonah with.

It was weird at first seeing her fuss over someone else with such fervor but they eventually just shrugged it off, making a mental note to treat the girl carefully.

Reason being that if something were to happen the matter would probably somehow, someway make it's way back to Vanessa who had a past history of being incredibly vindicative of even the smallest slight against her, the Chambers family name, or anyone she considered close.

Which was also why when during the introductions the girl didn't seem particularly interested in communicating they also didn't push for it either, leaving the girl to herself but not isolated, trying to make her feel included and able to join the conversation at any time she in case she wanted to.

They hadn't really thought of how she came in contact with the siblings and the state of their relationship so far, but being told that a girl they'd quietly labeled a somewhat withdrawn kid in their minds apparently revealed to be the venerated mysterious fighter threw them for a loop.

After processing the notion insinuated, they unsurprisingly remained suspicious of the authenticity of Jonah's words despite knowing how much he sucked at lying. Finding it pretty unbelievable that a 'little girl' could do much against him who had been trained since he was a toddler by the best of the best.

"What, don't believe me?" Jonah raised an eyebrow after glancing at their unconvinced faces, the clear doubt coloring their features couldn't to be more obvious.

"Whaaat~? O-Of course not! We totally believe you, man! She's- She's probably real~ strong! Right guys? Really, super strong! Ahahaha..." Charlie quickly expressed with a slightly hesitant tone of voice scratching his head sporting a sheepish grin as he gently nudged the other two.

"For sure, for sure!" Karl swiftly echoed, nodding his head assuringly, lips quirked up into a bright encouraging smile.

"Huh?" Jenna looked at the two in confusion before her tired brain finally caught on a few seconds later and hastily spoke up as well. "O-Oh... Oh! Uh, y-yeah..." She finished lamely, unable to think of what else to add.

"...Oh wow... I'm... so convinced right now." Jonah deadpanned but didn't have any intentions to further attempt making them believe him since it wasn't really immeidately relevant, not to mention if it ever came up again he could just invite them to watch one of her 'lessons' with Somchai or Chang-hoon.

It had even become somewhat of a spectacle each time the three of them went at it. Not only was it an incredible educational experience for those wanting to learn more, it was also an example of the heights someone could reach in their respective disciplines.

Well, in Nana's case it was more her ability to assert herself in a fight and the strength she displayed that drew people in, having drifted away from sticking strictly to any one martial art and instead used a blend of different techniques pulling from what she'd learnt, sometimes even mixing in stuff that seemed less like actual techniques and more like things she'd just thought up in the moment.

Watching her was always as mesmerizing as it was daunting, the effortless bordering on intuitive ease with which she navigated her way through a fight was staggering. Jonah sometimes had the illusion that rather than the 14 and some year old girl he could see, the expanse of expertise and knowledge she somehow possessed and seamlessly employed would be more fitting belonging to one of those unrealistically infallible images some pictured martial artists as.

"Anyway! What're we doing today? Your sis just said to drag ya out of the gym but we didn't plan anything!" Charlie quickly bounced back and moved on from the topic, still not fully believing Jonah's claims but not wanting to keep voicing his doubts in case it made the girl sad.

Out of their little group of four he was probably the most socially apt. Despite his cheerful outgoing behavior occasionally being perceived as overly pushy and overbearing he was very good at picking up the smaller details and never crossed the line of making others genuinely uncomfortable if he could help it.

He sometimes tended to get a bit too excited but he always made sure to apologise afterwards, when it came to close friends though he always likes to mess around but only because he knew, that they knew, that he wasn't doing it out of malice.

"I don't know, I guess we could just wander around until we spot something." Jonah proposed casually, not really having anything specific in mind.

"Mall? There's a Diary Dame in the one nearby and I could really go for something cold and sugary right about now. I'm seriously 'bout to start sleeping walking over here." Jenna spoke up feeling her eyelids growing increasingly heavier.

"Votes?"

"Oh, right! I heard they came out with some new flavors recently and I haven't had the chance to try 'em yet! I'm for!"

"I don't mind either way."

"Nana?"

"Mn..."

"Guess that settles it then." Jonah concluded, familiar enough to recognize the small noise as something akin to uncaring acquiescence.

As they started making their way towards the mall Jonah suddenly remembered Karl about to ask a question before and turned to regard him with a raised eyebrow.

"What did you want to ask before?"

"Oh, yeah." Karl snapped his fingers. "There's rumors about a VRMMO being in developement, you know anything about it? Apparently alot of people are convinced it's gonna be the next big thing because of how VR just took off."

"I heard about that. Everyone's losing their shit online, can't go a minute without hearing someone bringing it up." Jenna grumbled in annoyance, she was obviously also excited at the prospect of an actual VRMMO being created but at the moment there was barely any information out.

"Can't blame them, right? Imagine feeling like you've just like, entered a whole 'nother world! It's gonna be so awesome when it's released for real!" Charlie exclaimed excitedly.

"I kinda get you since I also find it pretty interesting, but isn't any one digital space practically also another world in that case?" Karl hummed.

""It's not the same!"" The both of them instantly responded simultaneously making him shrug.

"Anyway, you know anything about it Jonah?"

"Not really, though I think I remem-"

...

Later, the group sat at an open resting area, tables and chairs propped up on a rectangular height of wood in the middle of the mall with a milkshake each in hand, relaxing as they watched the streams of people slowly trickling by.

"How is it Nana, you like it? If you're not too into the chocolate one, you can try mine."

"Mn... Good." Nana mumbled curled up in her seat with her legs tucked up against her front as she sipped on the richly sweet cold treat broken up by hints of bitterness in the form of dark chocolate flakes mixed in.

"So, what have you guys been up to lately?" Jonah nodded and turned to the others, leaning back into his chair, a refreshing summer-like strawberry flavour dancing across his tastebuds as he took another drink.

"Same old here. Nothing that stood ou- Oh! I just remembered, I got to work on this guy's completely badass bike a couple weeks ago! You guys should've seen it! I'm telling you man, absolute unit! Seriously, I almost wanted to check with the guy if it was for sale, but then again, who would sell such a masterp-" Charlie immediately shot up, excitedly raving on and on about the bike for what must've been a minute straight before Karl who was sitting next to him got tired of the non-stop stream of words and sighed, reaching out to grab his face and smushing it together to finally put a stop to it.

"-uh? W-ah ith ih?"

"Hush, just say you saw a cool bike and be done with it otherwise we'll be sitting here for hours on end."

"Oh, ohey!"

Karl removed his hand.

"Hey guys, guess what? I saw a super cool bike at work."

"Good job." Karl nodded and reached up to jokingly pat him on the head. "Anyway, as for myself? Nothing new really, my inspiration's kind of been in the dumps lately while my numbers are pretty normal. Not good nor bad." He waved his hand noncommitantly.

"Any plans for your next stream? I haven't seen one of your designing streams in a while and I think people are getting bored just watching you wander around [Sandbox Chatroom] by now, especially since most other streamers are doing the exact same." Jenna asked curiously, more awake now thanks to the milkshake she'd already mostly downed.

"Eh." He shrugged. "I'll do one when I feel like it. Streaming's just a hobby either way, I make more than enough to support myself even without it."

"Guess that's true."

"Mhmm. Anyway, what've you been up to? Any progress regarding your latest endeavor? I recall you being pretty confident of your success some time ago."

"...No." Jenna grumpily admitted after a slight pause as she let out a sigh. "I've already gotten in, but now I'm stuck. I'm extremely limited in terms of what I can do because of my newly made account's rank and the worst part is that I don't even know how to climb higher!"

"I mean, isn't that already pretty good? Discovering and getting access to that forum at all is a task in and of itself, you know? It's almost illusive to the point that most people think the whole concept is just a giant urban legend."

"Hmph. People said the same thing when rumors about the dark web started surfacing, I'm just a persistant gamer with no real education in coding or hacking or whatever, and even I managed to get in." She waved it off, though despite her actions and words she couldn't help but being a little proud of her achievement.

"Good on you, still not sure why you'd want to in the first place though, I thought it was pretty dangerous."

"I was curious."

"'Course you were."

...

Leisurely making his way back to the resting area after a brief toilet break Jonah's heart skipped a beat when he spotted Nana and Charlie, elbows on the table and hands locked together posing as if readying themselves for an arm wrestling match, Karl and Jenna watching from the sides.

Images of the aftermath's following Nana's training sessions played through his head. Dozens of steel beams stored away for later recycling, every single one of them warped beyond recognition with spine-chilling imprints of her limbs coating it's length like something you'd see in horror movies when introducing the monster.

Now, Jonah would be the first to admit that he wasn't the most knowledgeable person outside of martial arts, but you didn't really need to be a genius to figure out what would happen should Nana accidentally use a bit too much strength.

"Stop! Stop stop stop stop stop!"

Before he knew it Jonah had already bolted over, shouting on the top of his lungs as he ripped away Charlie's arm away his quick response which might as well have effectively saved him from the fate of potentially having his hand crushed down to the bone.

"Hey! What's the big deal, man?" Charlie belatedly reacted, completely bewildered by the situation.

"What are you doing!?" Jonah let out a frantic whisper after sending an apologetic smile at the other patrons startled by his sudden outburst.

"We were just about to have a friendly match of arm wrestling! I have never ever in my life lost a single bout! I'm built like an ox with the strength of ten strong men with the inherited spirits of my pa's and my pa's pa, and everyone before him! I will never lose!" He declared proudly making sure the girl heard him, ending his speech with a loud boisterous laugh.

"...Huh?"

"Don't worry man, I'll go easy on her." Charlie leaned back to whisper. "I though the girl looked a 'lil lonely just sittin' and sipping her milkshake all alone like that, maybe she'll come out of her shell a bit after getting a win over me? I may not have you in a fight, but I look pretty strong right? How about it? Hm? Hm?" He nudged Jonah with his elbow, eyebrow dancing playfully as he hummed.

"That's like... the worst possible idea you could've come up with." Jonah let out a sigh, facepalming.

"Eh. It'll be fine, what could go wrong?" Charlie shrugged carefreely and planted his arm back on the table, putting on a 'cocky smirk' that more resembled a duck face and spoke up tauntingly. "Hehehe. What's wrong girly, lost ya courage? Come on, come on. If you're as strong as rumoured then you'll have no problems takin' on 'lil ol' me, right?"

...

"Nana, remember. Lightly, okay? No, scratch that. I mean, super, super lightly, you got it? Don't think of it as a fight, think of it more like a spar- No, uh. Think of it like training instead, you don't wanna break the machines right? 'Cause then you can't train anymore until we get new ones." Jonah reminded for the tenth time as he worriedly hovered over her shoulder after being unable to discourage Charlie from his 'masterplan' to boost the her confidence.

"Mhmm."

"Ok..."

"Why are you fussing so much about this anyway, Jonah?" Karl asked when Jonah sat down next to him with a sigh.

"Because although she's usually in control of her strength, she occasionally forgets to hold back when any form of 'fighting' is involved." He tiredly palmed his face as he remembered the time Nana accidentally almost smashed Chang-hoon's side to pieces when she got a bit too into the rhythm during their lesson.

She fortunately managed, and thank god for that, to regain her wits just in time to prevent full contact from happening, but even a mere glance was powerful enough to cause the legend to be bedridden for a week.

And that was with her weird 'mental weights' still equipped. The thought of her going all out without the added load bearing down on her filled him with dread.

"You were for real before?" Karl asked in surprise, eyebrows shooting up to disappear into the bush pink curls lighty hanging over his forehead.

"Hey! Someone count us down!" Charlie called out before Jonah had a chance to reply, deciding to just let them see Nana's strength for themselves and cleared his throat.

"Alright, ready?"

"Yup!"

"Mn."

"Then. Go!"

On his signal Charlie applied a very slight pressure to his palm wanting to gauge how hard he could push before she started giving in, scrunching his face up with strain he didn't feel to make it seem as if he was using more strength than he really was.

However, about a minute later his put on expression had turned more and more genuine. Sweat dripped down his temple, his face flushing a bright red as he breathed tightly, but even as he gave it his all, the smaller and comparatively slender but still noticeably roughened hand didn't budge an inch.

Remaining in it's position as if an immovable object leaving Charlie feeling like he was trying to move a mountain.

"Wow, he's really trying isn't he? There's no way he could act this good." Karl commented from the side as he watched his big, tall, bulky, and naturally big-boned friend ineffectively trying to move the shorter girl.

He couldn't see much of her body with the hoodie she wore being as big as it was, but the hardened forearm covered in lean corded steel cable like muscle revealed when the loose sleeve slipped down due to the angle it was placed at told him Jonah might not have been kidding when he touted the girl's strength.

"Charlie, even if you're hella convincing right now, didn't know you could act that well, but just tensing like you're constipated will kinda clue her in on your 'plan', you know? At least push her back a bit before you lay off." Jenna advised, she didn't see the point of being discreet since the girl had probably already caught on.

"What do you think I'm trying to do!?" Charlie grunted out as he tried one last time, holding his breath and tensing from head to toe. Standing up and even using both of his hands and weight, practically leaning to the side with his whole body still with no success.

"Aaah~ Hah... Hah... I give up." He limply collapsed back down in his chair panting heavily from exertion, muscles twitching and body burning up as he with difficulty threw off his jacket and greedily used the chilly table surface to cool off.