When a Monster Becomes a Demon.
"Soo, did you hear? Pearntly Tyler over there got to beta test that full-dive VR thin a while back."
"Lucky bastard. Why'd they pick a retard like that to test such heavy tech?"
Tyler just sighed as he listened to his classmates talk. He flipped the page on his current manga, ignoring the idiots. He rubbed his brown eyes, reading makes you smarter eh? Tell it to my eyes. As for what they were talking about, it was true. Tyler had been lucky enough to get picked to be one of only ten thousand people to beta test the new Virtual reality full-dive hardware, along with a game set to go on sale that very day. The game was a full-dive Massive-multiplayer online Role-playing game, called Swords and Shields. The full-dive tech had only recently been perfected enough for recreational wholesale. The tech came in the form of a biker-helmet that hijacked the brain's neurons connected to the senses of touch, taste, sight, sound, and smell to teleport the player inside the game world. Tyler didn't fully understand how it worked. He was a gamer and a proud otaku, not an electrical engineer. he had had to send over a hundred sign-up sheets to get in. The experience had been everything he'd prayed for. Then the beta ended, but he got to keep all the hardware they had sent him to test out the game. he flipped another page, eager to get the hell out of school so he could dive again. The full-version launched at 4pm that day, giving him a half hour to get to his house, piss, change into sweatpants and load in. He looked at the clock, 2:45. Soon, I'm coming home, soon
Tyler raced through his front door, eager to get to his room and set up shop. His phone rang as he was about to head upstairs. He picked up the phone,
"Hello, Tyler speaking?"
"Hey kid, how's it hanging?"
"really? That's how you great the son you sent to another country?"
"Whatever, Just needed to make sure you're still alive...if you call that living."
"Like you can talk. Anyway I still live. I'm gonna go Dive now. So don't expect me to pick up later. Or ever."
"whatever weeby little nerd."
Tyler hung up the phone and hurried to the bathroom. That had been his mother, as condescending as ever. She and her husband had sent him half way around the world 'to give him the best chance for success'. Which was really code for him to just disappear. So disappear he did. Tyler finished leaking and ran to his room. He threw of his shirt and jeans. His medium build neither muscular nor fat, and pulled his black sweatpants on. then he laid in his bed, stretching his decent five foot nine height out as he pulled the helmet over his rounded face covering his short-cut brown hair. He sighed as the startup screen appeared in his vision, then spoke the command aloud,
"Dive Now!"
His vision blinked, then went white as he flew down a long narrow corridor coming to a stop at a sign in screen, he entered his screenname: GORELEECH and his password. He then soared over to base starting equipment. SWORDS&SHIELDS was a melee only MMORPG, meaning no magic. Tyler smiled as he rotated his gear choices until he found his favorite style weapon, a one handed longsword, paired with a small buckler. He would sell the buckler and run a single blade, basically giving him a large handicap in combat without any real blocking potential other then his sword. He smiled as he finalized his first gearset. If he ran into any problems down the street he could always pick up a shield if need be, but his strategy was to NOT stand there and let the target hit you. He hit the final okay screen and was transported to the starting area. He opened his eye to see a large courtyard with a semicircle of walls and pillars. Tyler looked up and saw the top of the solid red cathedral over the walltop. The yard was already crowded with other players, and getting more full as the minutes passed. Tyler reached up and felt the hilt of his longsword on his back. He wanted to draw the blade, but he couldn't draw steel in a safe zone, as all towns, villages, and cities were safe, which meant neither monsters or other players could kill you. Tyler smiled as he took off down the central road out of the courtyard. As far as he knew, there had been only about 40000 copies sold for launch day, and others would become available after. The units had sold out the very next week, Tyler already having a copy from the beta. He ran up to a vendor and opened the shopping interface, which displayed the items the shop had to offer, his character model, his current level, DROY the in game currency, his own inventory and the prices the shop would pay for each item. Tyler went and unequipped his shield and sold it for 4DROY, and looked over the shops prices, getting a feeling for if the ingame economy had changed at all since the beta. it seemed it hadn't with a fishing rod costing 100 DR. Tyler then took a moment to admire his character model, he'd made himself taller, and given himself a bulkier frame, other then that he pretty much looked the same. He then closed the interface and took off down the road toward the areas with stuff to kill. As he ran, he passed other player partying up together, he snorted at them. He played solo, preferring his own company in the wilds to other people. Plus in this game monsters dropped items and more players on a team the more bickering over the goods. Plus he didn't have any friends in the real world either. Tyler had a wide smile on his face as he came upon a group of players standing near a challenge site. The challenge site were a great way to show of ingame skills, like climbing, fishing, archery, agility, basically any thing that can be showed off could. The game had an unlimited number of activities thanks to its AI processor, GrandEye. The AI's job was essentially to take anything that a human could do and design a challenge for it. Good at cooking? Try a cooking competition, good at sewing? Try to out stitch someone. Hell, Tyler had even come across a knot tying challenge, That one was sure to prove popular with the BDSM crowd, as sex was a activity in the game as well. The game was designed to be a fully-fleshed world, with anything for everyone. Tyler had not been able to experiment with the sexual features, since there had ben a good selection of minors in the beta. He didn't have to worry about that now since it was now fully functional, and him being 16 and over the games minimum age requirement of sixteen for the XXX stuff. Tyler did not know how the game got past the ESRB with that bullshit, but then again, he didn't really care. Again, he was a gamer, not the morality police. This challenge ahead was one of his favorites as it was a free-runners course, or parkour as the French called it. He broke into a head long sprint as he slapped the 'challenge accepted' icon on the start line. he ran at a small food cart, sprang onto the top like it was a step stool, leapt off and grabbed onto a flag pole hanging on a doorway. He swung using the pole and vaulted off up towards a small ledge leading to the roof, grabbing and hauling his carcass to the roof in nearly the same movement and ran along the roof. The next jump being the hardest part of this current challenge, for it required a jump across a two lane foot-ally and landing clean on the other side. Tyler just smiled as he made the leap and stuck the landing. A challenge cleared screen appeared with his time, 2min15sec. His time was the first on the broad of completeds, and he got a special EXP bonus and a special speed-boosting potion for the first to complete the challenge. he smirked,
"Ha, child's play"
He then hopped to the ground, and continued on his way to the training grounds. He had just cleared the main gate when he heard someone call out to him,
"Hey! BRO! Hol up a sec!"
Tyler turned to see a scraggily bearded guy running up to him, he had a long curved blade on a red sash, Oh perfect, a samurai The redguy reached a foot tapping Tyler, and hunched over trying to catch his breath,
"Hey, bro, you look like you know what you're doing."
Tyler sighed, Even better, a samurai NOOB
"Yeah, I've been around a little."
The guy had caught his virtual breath, and reared to stand straight. It's irked Tyler that he was a little taller then him,
"That mean you were a beta tester?"
"Yep"
"Sweet! You think you could give a rookie a pointer or two?"
Tyler just groaned, he HATED having to teach people to play games, he HATED dealing with people in general. But he knew he would not be able to sleep if he didn't at least show this idiot to swing a sword.
"Alright. I won't be able to sleep tonight if i let you get wrecked by a pig. Come on, I'll show you my hunting grounds."
"Thanks bro!"
"Whatever."
Tyler grimaced and the took off running again, the Samurai complaining as he ran,
"Seriously? More running?"
"shut up and move. This will build your stamina stat, and sharp turns help agility."
He replied breathlessly as he tried to keep up with Tyler, his red basic Samurai armour slowing him. Tyler on the other hand had a light shirt and pants for his equipment. Tyler glanced to see the Redguy flagging, eh stopped dead, and the Bearded guy ran right into a tree. Tyler smirked a little at that,
"Nice, you made your first ingame friend with that tree. Aaaaand your stamina's pathetic."
The red Samurai rubbed his bandanaed head, and grinned sheepishly,
"Well, I don't get out much to begin with IRL so. Oh! I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Lorgrain. What's yours?"
"Goreleech."
"Goreleech? Damn that's metal. I'll just call you Gore, sound good?"
"If I call you Lorg."
"Coolzies! Now where are we?"
They had ran into a small copse of oaken woodland. There was zero undergrowth, and plenty of space between trees for fighting. Tyler smiled as he drew his one-handed blade off his back,
"We Lorg are in Boar territory. They the basic mobs round these parts. This area is rather reliable for decent pigs. Here come a few now. You sit tight and watch."
Tyler then charged the first boar, a large smelly beast that stood to his waist. Tyler had a smile of pure confidence as he sidestepped the turning boar and pinged his blade into it's side. The pig squealed in pain, then tried to pivot and gore Tyler with it's long tusks but Tyler had reversed grip on his blade and tore it free, dealing double savagery damage. The flipping his slender blade around he slammed it into the boars' tusk and cut it off before doing a pivot of his own and sending the sword through the pigs skull, killing it. The beast shattered into a shower of green pixels. Tyler didn't stop as another pig charged him. Tyler merely twirled his blade and swung it, clipping a tusk from this piggy too.
"And this little piggy became tuskless, then he became lifeless!"
Tyler held the blade out to his side and held it there for a second, feeling a sword skill activate, he lunged the Skill flaring as he surged past the pig cleaving the other tusk and the hide in one stroke,
"Rushing Smash!"
Tyler roared the skills name as he readied another stance and stabbed the third pig in the eye,
"Stabbing needle!"
The pigs both shattered, leaving their drops behind. Tyler had scored six boar tusks and two poor hides and one good hide, plus 6DR. He turned to the gaping Lorg,
"And that's all there is to it. Any questions?"
The stunned guy raised a hand,
"Uh could you explain how you did that?"
"Okay where do I start?"
"Uuum, how about everything?"
"....seriously?"
Tyler sighed, he knew it was bad, but this was ridiculous.
"Okay, do you know ANY sword fighting? From movies? TV? Anime?"
Lorg, perked up,
"I did watch a lot of Rouruni Kenshin back in the day, why?"
"Okay, that's actually a pretty decent jump off point. Now do you remember any of the attacks Kenshin or Saito used?"
"Um yeah a few, Like the gatustu."
"Take it's stance."
"Okay, here, now what?"
Lorg had widened his stance beneath him and placed the tip of his finger on the end of his katana, his other hand out behind him ready to make a nasty thrust.
"Okay, now pretend to gather energy in your legs and sword hand.
"Okay"
His sword started o glow, indicating the skill was ready,
Tyler stepped aside as a pig rushed past him,
"Now skewer that pig. Thrust with your legs and follow through, the system will do the rest."
Lorg surged forward, piercing the boar and launching himself forward like a cannon shot. The boar shattered in defeat. Lorg landed on his feet and turned to Tyler, ecstatic at his first kill,
"Gore I just did a gatustu! That was friggin nuts! Are there any other moves from anime?"
"A shitton, actually, since most people have seen at least one sword-based movie in their lives, the devs loaded the move sets into the games fighting system so basically any idiot can play with a chance of getting at least one kill. Now then lets see if you truly got it."
"Huh? Yo!"
Tyler had swung his blade at the startled Lorg,
"Come on ya Tom Cruise wanna be, lets see you hit me once. That's the duel, no skills allowed. All you have to do is hit me once. Understood?"
"Sure!"
Tyler then came with a sweeping swing at Lorg's arms, Lorg jumped back, only for Tyler to turn the swing into a nasty thrust as the point was aimed at his Torso.
"Always have a backup plan for any attack you make. Then you'll never be defenseless, rookie!"
Tyler gave the Samurai a light stab in his chest plate, inflicting ten damage.
"Hey, that actually stung a little!"
"No it didn't, you just expected it to, so it did. Here kick me in the dick."
Lorg looked at him like he was insane, until,
"I fucked your sister in your bed last night." thud!
"See? Nothin. You can't feel pain in this game."
"Did you HAVE to drag my sister into this?"
"Usually the easiest way to piss off someone, say you fucked their sister! Works a scary percentage of the time."
"My sister's only ten you ass!"
"well, she has you for a brother so she's already scarred for life, bro."
"You're an ass. Seriously though? You got issues"
Tyler just smiled,
"well, anyway, you want more practice? The pigs like to spawn here in sets of two to three, and if you're precise the tusks are worth 10DR each. The hides are merely 5DR though."
"Argg, sure. Just don't talk about my sister again, understood?"
"Yeah sure whatever. Here comes a few more friends."
The duo spent the next several hours grinding out pigs. They then headed up on to a small hill Tyler knew of, and gazed out over the virtual landscape. The city sprawled out to their left like a stone maze of buildings and lives, all full of stories waiting to be made. To their front was a near endless road stretching into infinity. The Game world of Brictally was essentially a giant cylinder with roughly 150 floors each with their own worlds inside them. Tyler had made it to floor 10 on his own, which had earned him the title of best Beta. he took in a massive breath and let out a loud shout
"I have finally come back home!"
His voice echoed off the city walls, the trees, and the plains. A gentle, warm breeze blew over the hill, as if the game world was welcoming it's son back with a warm hello. Lorg smiled from his seat on the grass,
"You really love this place, don't you Gore."
It was a statement not a question,
"Or course I do. How could you not? Here, everything is decided by your skills with the games mechanics and a blade. This single sword can take me anywhere I want to go. To the very heights of fame and legend, or the deepest depths of darkness. Here you could be a heroic warrior who fights for the weak or you could be the monster that gives people nightmares. This world isn't bogged down with limitations like wealth, birthplace, or class. If you want to be wealthy with maids and servants? Go hit a dungeon. Wanna be a penniless traveler you can do that too. I know that the American army has a motto to be all you can be or something like that, but this place is the very personification of that statement. So yeah, I love this place with all my heart. In here, I feel alive."
Lorg threw his head back laughing,
"I am right there with you brother! You know, you have the soul of a poet, a nerdy weeb of a poet but still!"
"Jackass."
"HA!, anyway thanks for your help today. Hey mind if i add you as a friend on this thing?"
"Yeah, sure why not?"
Tyler opened his interface as the invite came through. He hit accept and Lorg's username appeared on his friends list,
"Hey look one friend! Moving down in the world!"
"Hey fuck you too. Well, I gonna jump, I gotta pizza headed my way. Hey next time we're on wanna run with some of my other friends?"
"Nah, man sorry, I run solo. Thanks though, you need any more lessons for idiots hit me up."
Lorg chuckled as he opened his interface. Tyler had started to walk back to the forest when Lorg gave a confused grunt,
"Hey, the logout buttons gone."
Tyler sighed as he walked to fix the problem,
"Seriously who gave you tech clearance? lemme se- The hell?"
"See? I'm not COMPLETELY helpless!"
"If you say so. here I'll open mine."
Tyler swiped his hand and brought up the UI, and went to the logout prompt, but it was blood chillingly empty. Pressing it gave you the sound, a light Bing, but nothing happened. Tyler's eyes narrowed as he started running through trouble shooting protocols for a problem.
"they game master's not answering. I can't reach admins through the backup channels, I even tried the secret Beta Access screen and nothing."
"Is it a bug?"
"Nah, a bug would only cover the missing button on your UI, not mine. I know of the Backup channels that are used to force a logout from the beta. Either those were disabled which is possible, or we got a bigger problem. Now the Admins and game master BOTH not answering? That's a problem."
"Is it an event?"
Tyler rubbed his chin,
"Maybe."
"Well, it's the things first day outta beta, plus there's like four times the people on the servers, so a glitch or two is no biggee. I bet there some admin getting fitted with a new asshole right now."
"I like that one. I'm keeping it. I just hope that's all it is. Otherwise the game won't last a week."
Lorg was about to ask another question when a ring of blue light surged up from the ground and the next thing the duo knew they were back in the main courtyard of the starting area. Tyler spotted Lorg off to his right, on his ass. Tyler was one of a handful that had remained standing. Lorg got to his feet and walked over to him
"Well someone forced a mass teleport."
"Yep, and it still dumps you on your ass if your not ready for it. Guess we got a bigger problem. If the servers could handle a full-scale mas teleport without crashing then the systems working properly."
Lorg rested his hand on his katana,
"Okay, Gore. You're starting to scare me now."
"Hey look up!"
Tyler and Lorg both looked up to see the early dusk sky get swept away by a red warning sign, then the whole sky was blanketed in the warning label, with a loud jarring horn blowing. Tyler grimaced at the irritating sound. Then blood started to flow from the sky, falling in a swing like arc and connecting to another stream of blood. Tyler just groaned, and Lorg noticed,
"hey what's wrong?"
"Those idiots stole that one from me! That entrance was meant for a boss fight! Assholes>"
Lorg just blinked,
"Ahh, quick question, butta, what kinda beta tester were you?"
"The kind they listened to. All of us would spitball ideas at the dev team and some stuck some missed the target. I have the distinction of having most of my ideas incorporated or adapted for the game. Like that challenge system or the sex machinic. Those were my ideas. I even got to help design a few bosses."
"Seriously just who the hell are you?"
Tyler smirked,
"I'm a gamer with a wild imagination, and WAY too much free time. I logged the single most online hours for the beta out of all of us."
"No lifer."
"Your honor, guilty as charged!"
The blood swing finished its assembly, and a large hooded figure appeared,
"I'm gonna rip that dev team a new asshole on my review. They said that one got canned!"
Tyler was fuming, but the figures words sent his mind in another direction.
"Welcome players, to the of Brictally. I am the games creator, Markwice Vonderland. By now many of you will probably have noticed something missing from your user Interfaces: the Logout button. Let me assure you this is not a glitch or bug. I repeat not a glitch or bug. For this is how Swords and Shields is meant to be played. Once you log in you cannot log out. Any attempt to remove the helmet will disable the safety regulator send an electrical charge into your skull, killing you nearly instantly. Also be warned, there is n o longer any way to revive a fallen player. If your Health Points hit zero, your character will be erased from our servers, and the world as the same electric charge will preform in the same manner. So in other words, if you die in game, you die in real life. Now just to be clear, no other systems have been altered or removed. The revive system was the only change. As you can see here, There have already been a few deaths since the last player logged in, so out of 40000, we now have about 39950 players remaining. Some of them were killed by removing the helmets, so the possibility of the helmets being removed by force has vanished."
the man waved his hand and a set of screens detailing the breaking news bulletins of the deaths were visible.
"There is only one way to exit the system: Defeat the boss on floor 150."
There was a stunned silence as the sheer size of the task loomed over the players, Lorg looked at Tyler with a nearly panicking expression,
"hey, Gore, how far did you make it?"
"Floor ten, with revives enabled."
"And how many hours did you have to log to get that far?"
"I did it solo so bear that in mind. But from a pure grind perspective, I did it with nearly two thousand hours. We're gonna be here for a while."
"Oh, okay."
The hooded man continued his explanation,
"Now then, some of you have a musical library uploaded to your rig, you can excess that freely, and to those who were streaming the event, That service was been disabled. If you want to show off your lives ingame. you will have to grind for the privilege. Next is a little gift waiting in your inventories.
Tyler had his inventory opened and was scrolling to the item. It was a small mirror the size of his hand. Next thing he knew was he seemed a little shorter, and thinner too. His actual form had replaced his gamer avatar, right to a scar on his right hand. He looked over to where Lorg had been and a tallish chick was standing there,
"Ohhh, you have GOT to be fucking with me. Yo Lorg, ya jackass where are you?"
The woman turned to see who had call the name.
"Goreleech?"
"Lorgrain?"
"wow, you're actually a dude,"
"Wow, you're actually a chick."
Lorg had gone from scruffy dude to tall, big breasted blonde lady in Samurai Amour. She seemed to be around twenty years of age, and her eyes were a light hazel.
"Well, That explains why that kick to the balls seemed so natural."
The woman laughed, her voice now a higher tone then the dogs bark it had been earlier,
"I had you figured for an over weight shut in, but you're only maybe an inch shorter and a smaller stomach! Not very imaginative, are we?"
"Least I don't have such a bad case of penis envy. Didn't get enough IRL so you tried to grow one ingame?"
"hey you little pissant, I get plenty of dick! Puss too. What do you get?"
" a headache form listening to an old lady brag about her clients."
"Okay that was good. Hey looks like he got more to say."
"well, then shut up."
The man resumed his speech,
"you maybe wondering, Why would Markwise Vonderland, founder and CEO of Vonderlandis, creator of Swords and Shields do something like this? Well the answer is simple. I wanted to create a world in which our own strength was the deciding factor in our fates. I wanted to create a world, and control said world. I believe anyone would agree that I have achieved this goal. Now that is all the information I have for you, except a one time use only channel to send an E-mail to the inbox of your choice. Afterwards if you want to contact the outside world, you will have to hope to land the required item in a drop. This concludes the tutorial."
He began to fade away, leaving the crowd speechless. Tyler noticed a shimmering mist lift itself from the exit and grabbed Lorg's hand,
"hey, barriers down lets move!"
he pulled the startled woman into the road and then down a side alley of main street. they made it out just in time, as a mass panic broke out, as the tens of thousands started running to...anywhere really, some thought they could out run the system, others raced to find monsters to kill and others just lost it. Tyler had avoided being mobbed, and had dragged Lorg along with him. He ran for a good while, before stopping and pulling up his map.
"Okay, Lets get to work"
"Wow, Gore I didn't know you were so aggressive, grabbing a woman's hand like that? And then just eloping o top of it? My opinion of you is increasing all the time."
"Ha blow me."
"AND straightforward too? You're quite the catch!"
She was being sarcastic, but Tyler picked up the quiver in her voice, she was trying to cover her fear with jokes. Tyler was not scared, in fact he felt exhilarated that he did not have to log out after all.
"Anyone you need to send that E-mail to?"
She jumped, and pulled the item up,
"Just my mother. I need to tell her I dived and not to worry."
"Well, with a personality like that, not even that blonde bombshell bod can keep a lover interested."
"Okay, thanks for the complement and fuck you."
"You can later. I got make sure those idiots don't kill me by doing something stupid."
Lorg seemed about to smack the arrogant prick but got absorbed in her E-mail. She wrote a few lines and hit send. Tyler wrote a mere two lines: I dived, don't touch the helmet, I got this. Do not touch the helmet. that was it, no love, no promise to see them again, nothing. He hit send and returned to more important matters.
"Okay, Lorg, I'm gonna head to this village here. Its a hike but we'll be able to level up quick and the monsters are not to hard for us if you have someone like me."
"Thanks, but I have to get my friends. Remember the ones I told you about? They're here and I can't abandon them,"
Tyler sighed and looked back at the map, gauging the routes for a way to get a group into the village,
"Hey, Gore, it's alright, I can't very well ask you to risk your life for a bunch of complete strangers. You go and raise hell. I'll look after my buddies."
Tyler looked at the determined blonde, then smiled,
"Okay. You'll be fine since I trained you. You need the master's support give a holler,"
He high fived the blonde as they parted ways,
"hey Gore, for the record, you look hella handsome like that. That angry look really works!"
"thanks. You're not bad for a blonde-haired gamer girl. But to be clear, I refuse to buy any bath water."
"Seeya Jackass."
"Later cocksucker"
Tyler then took off running again, this time he had a more intense stride. he was determined to smash anything that dared stand before him. This was HIS world. He raced out onto a solitary path. A lone wolf appeared on the road, and Tyler grimaced as he readied his blade with his tip behind him, he flipped over sideways and brought the blade down with a savage smash upon the wolf's head,
"Skullsplitter!"
He got a wolf's heart, 5DR, and a 2 star Wolf pelt, but would not find that out until he stopped for the night.
As Tyler smashed the wolf skull, several other sets of eyes were watching. The doctors at the hospital were watching his progress through his eyes. The helmet had a built in aux cord jack to show what the player saw on a TV screen with the appropriate jack. They couldn't interact, but they were recording his every move to show the boys family when they arrived.
"He seems to have a plan doctor."
"That he does. His file says he's a former beta tester, so that checks out."
"I wonder why he's not trying to help the other players."
"Well, according to this, he hates people, is hard to get along with an is basically a giant dick to everyone."
"Great."
Tyler was unaware of the goings on IRL, and didn't really care. He reached his target village by nightfall, and went to check out the local inn. The first night and meal was free, so he got him self a room and food. The UI for the inn appearing on the table before him, he selected a meal of meat sandwiches and a mug of beer, the age restrictions having been lifted as it would seem. He fed and looked over his loot from the days grind, sorting what could be sold and what was to be kept. He would sell the tusks, as they were merely for selling, the hides he could craft into either clothes or something else useful. He found he had all the materials for a pair of boar-hide gloves, or a pair of wolf fingerless gloves. The boarhide would increase dexterity by 1, while the wolf would increase defense by two, plus they looked cool. So he crafted the gloves right there at the table and equipped them. The light grey wolf fur feeling really comfy on his hands. He then went to see if he could make anything else, and found he could craft a set of boarhide pants that looked more like shorts, and were a ugly brown. They would increase agility by 4 though, so he crafted the item and equipped it. The pants making him look like he shit himself. He groaned but for the time being it was functionality over style. He finished eating and went to pass out in his room. He slept deep and well, the ingame mattress putting his old one to shame. He then got up and left to find some quests to complete. he went over to a craftsmen NPC to find him grumbling to himself,
"Need more if I'm to finish this order>"
"Hi, anything I can do to help?"
The NPC turned with a happy grin,
"Good Lad! I need eight Boarhides to finish an order. Think you could do that?"
Tyler the got a message prompt for the quest, Hog's revenge, a quest with a four star rating. It was rated as extremely dangerous for his current level, but Tyler excepted anyway. He had the ingame skills to handle a quest rating up to six stars, even if his stats were not. It was a Birctally special mechanic that rewarded the ones with actual skills, while at the3 same time catering to new players. This quest was essentially to kill a Hogzilla, the area's mini boss. The hog itself was the size of a small truck and has a few attack skills, plus two full health bars. Tyler just smiled as he read the tasks, this was the order of the day for his gaming style. Since he played alone he only had one ass to keep an eye on. He could fight his way. Tyler headed off to the target area killing boars and wolves along the way. He reached the mini-bosses lair, a large forest clearing surrounded by pine trees. Tyler smiled arrogantly as the massive beast stalked out of the trees, its' scarred visage supposed to be intimidating, but those tricks didn't work on him. Tyler took his favorite stance, sword held point towards the target, both hands on the hilt and his eyes staring down the blades length with his knees slightly bent. The boar squealed and charged. Tyler charged as well, and slid along the sandy floor dragging his blade along the beasts side as he baseball-slid passed the pig. he then regained his footing and unleashed a uppercut sword swing directly unto the things remaining tusk, breaking it clean off.
"Rock smasher!"
The pig recoiled and Tyler pounced onto the wounded animal, slashing and stabbing while the boars attack patterns reset. The loss of it's tusk effectively crippling the animal. Tyler gave a rather vicious swing and cut a leg clean off the beasts body, and the creature squealed, the sound giving nails on a chalkboard a run for most earsplitting sound. The boar staggered back on three legs before Tyler cut off another one, then the other two, as the beasts legs were also drops. he then stabbed the animal through the skull killing it. It shattered and he got a perfect fight bonus fro not taking an hit, plus an Exp bonus for first time boss kill, as well as both first attack and final attack bonuses. He had killed a level 5 boss at level one. With out a scratch. He had scored the boars Grandtusk, a rare Item that could be used in crafting, four legs of Grand Boar meat, which was a rare food item, a perfect Grandboar hide, a High Rare Item, 500DR, and about 1000exp. he leveled up three full levels and nearly cleared the forth. Tyler then smiled as his Agility, dexterity and strength all increased rather decently. His Health had also increased since he'd not taken a hit. He now had 150HP. He then headed back to the village, and kept killing the animals as he did so. This was the village's hardest quest so any others would be a cake walk compared, maybe even easier based on how easy he found it. He returned to find a player staggering into the village, from his health bar, it was clear he had maybe two hp left. Tyler just shrugged and to turn in his loot. There was a small fireworks display for a completed quest and he got another 500DR and another 1500 EXP, which sent his level right to level 8. He was about to go back and kill the boar again, when the player accosted him
"Please a health potion, I don't want to die!"
Tyler sighed,
"I don't have any health potions."
The player was stunned,
"B-But you just finished a four-star quest! How can you not have potions?"
"I won't need them until at least floor three. So no need to waste my money. Now leave me alone, I got work to do."
The player went and blocked his path, the spear he had acting like a crutch, tired as he seemed to be,
"Please, then I need 20DR so I can rest at the INN! Please you have to help Me! I don't want to die!"
Tyler was getting irritated,
"Look kid your in a safe zone so you can't die here, okay? Go see that lady over there, she'll give you a delivery quest to the inn, and the reward is 50DR and about 100EXP. Now get lost."
he then went to walk around the player, who was flabbergasted by his coldness,
"People have been dying left and right back there, and I find you out here without a scratch. You were a friggin beta tester and you wouldn't help me. No wonder the others hate you guys."
Tyler stopped,
"It's not my responsibility to babysit the player base. And I hate people to begin with."
he went into the trees and found the boar had respawned and fought it again, once again another perfect fight and another set of rare items. he then went back to the village as the time between respawns was roughly the walk back to the village and the return to the clearing. His plan to kill that thing at least four more times, giving him a decent leg up on leveling. He'd then be more or less set to dive into dungeons. he returned to find that the player had recovered his health by begging a potion off another player, then pointed over to Tyler as he walked over to the lady he'd told him to talk to.
"That's him! He's a bater! He refused to help me at all!"
The player walked over to Tyler, with two other with him, all carrying two handed swords. Tyler had just accepted the lady's quest when the guy got in his way.
"Is this true?"
"Which Part?"
"Either, you arrogant prick."
"well then how's bout half, I did tell him to do this quest, as it gives enough to stay at the inn, but I guess begging's another way to go"
"You were a Bater?"
"I got called the Head Bater by the end of it, what of it?"
The trios eyes narrowed at his cocky attitude,
"You realize I have you four to on here, right?"
"Yes, quite terrible odds...for you."
he party then surrounded Tyler as he drew his sword,
"You sure talk a big game Beta. Lets see you back it."
"I hoped I wouldn't have to kill someone until day three, but whatever."
The leader sent a death match challenge to Tyler who accepted without looking. The group of four surrounded him, Tyler merely raised his sword and held it out behind him as a countdown from ten started ticking over their heads. Tyler took a deep breath, and let it out as the timer neared 0. When the buzzer went off, Tyler moved like a lightning bolt towards the guy directly to his right. He wielded a two-handed great sword, and Tyler's sheer speed took him by surprise. Tyler slashed the guy from right shoulder to left hip, before pivoting around behind the stunned player and pushed him into his comrades charging Tyler's turned back. The slash had taken about half the guys life bar with that one slash. He tangled with two of the others, and Tyler engaged the other two. He ducked under a pathetic excuse for a spear thrust and brought his blade up across the guys face, before spinning a half circle with the momentum and stabbing the now-too-close for a greatsword last player and ran him through the stomach. He had time for a single despairing scream before shattering into green triangles. Tyler then reset his stance to face the remaining three,
"One."
The other players were horrified at the lack of hesitation to kill another player in this game, since killing a player ingame would kill that person for real. Tyler then advanced, ready to continue combat. His expression full of cold determination and a disturbing lack of emotions. Tyler had settled into his 'Line in the sand' mindset. He had more or less shut down all noncombat thoughts, feelings, and anything that could shake his concentration on the task at hand. The guy who had called him out for being a Bater was a little pale around the gills,
"You killed him!"
"You're next."
Tyler then surged forward like a lion pouncing on it's prey. He closed the distance between the trio and himself in a flash, his sword under his shoulder and as he reached the right range he swung the blade from the position, arcing the slender blade in a vicious underhanded swing that cleaved the half lifted player from groin to face, before flipping the blade and bringing if down upon the trying to doge leader, taking him in the shoulder. Tyler then reversed his grip and pivoted on his left foot, and spinning around the frozen in place player like he was a pole and smashing hid sword into the chest of the spear wielder. The first player he hit shattered, followed by the second and Tyler only had to hit the last guy one more time for him to shatter as well. He twirled his blade around his hand before sheathing it on his back again. A 'winner' icon hung over his head as the deathmatch concluded. He had gotten 400EXP, 40DR, three basic greatswords, and a level two spear. He sighed at the pitiful haul,
"Idiots."
He then went back to the inn, made his delivery and returned to complete his quest. yay me, another 100DR, and a small health potion. I better sell those idiots weapons before I forget. Tyler sighed and sold the groups weapons to the smith, getting another 60DR, bringing his total funds to roughly 4000DR. He looked over the smiths sword selection, since the durability on hi current blade was nearing critical. He spotted a decent looking blade with a red hilt hanging on a wall, he went over and took a look. It was the same length as his current blade, but had near twice the durability, increased attack by 25, and even had a small impact bonus. Price:3500. Done. He paid for he blade and sheathed on his back and sold the now pointless blade. He left to go kill that Grandboar a few more times before nightfall. He must have killed that thing a good eight more times. He then had set off for a small town near a small mountain a good five days from the starting city. He had only leveled up two more times during his stay at the village. This was to discourage area-milking. An idea he'd come up with himself. The area would, instead of spawning more powerful monsters to combat the player, would just stop giving items, DR, and EXP for defeating monsters. Basically rendering any grinding impossible until the area had a chance to cool down. The cool down period was different based entirely on area level, the higher levels have a far shorter cooldown then the lower levels, forcing players to challenge themselves if they wanted to advance. The area Tyler had just left could not be looted for about a full 24 hours. It was such a high traffic area that that it had easily the longest cooldown, since the only way it would tick down was for players to avoid that area altogether. it was supposed to keep people from abusing low-level areas, but Tyler suspected that cooldown would be shortened significantly, since people would be living there now. Tyler didn't really care, he had given Lorg all she would need to handle most second floor monsters, the only real threat was people. So for five days, Tyler traveled across the land alone, e had never needed anyone else IRL, and needed them even less in the game world. Tyler was used loneliness. Five days ingame amounted to about three and a half real world days. The game world was so large, it would take a solid two weeks IRL to travel from one side of the floor to the other. The same was true for every floor of the 150 they had to clear. The only way to do so was to kill the floor boss, but first you had to find the thing. It could be hidden literally anywhere ingame. Tyler sighed as he looked over his inventory, he'd been collecting nearly everything he found. He was now having to scroll for a solid minute to get to the half way mark. He'd need to unload at the nearing town. Once he was there, he'd activate the teleport gate so he could move around more easily. The gates were set up in every day more then a day's trip out from town so everyone could access the game. He'd get a large DR sum for first activation, and if he had a mind to, could instill a toll for every person who wanted to pass through it. He had yet to decide if he wanted to be that kind of jackass, charging people who were trapped to use a convenience tool. he smiled as he recalled the four idiots who had challenged him, since it had been a deathmatch, his icon had not changed color from the killings. If he just dropped them outside a safezone, his icon would've turned a deep crimson, labeling him a Playerkiller. The effect would last for about a IRL week, but if he kept killing players, it would become permanent. The solitary player reached his destination a day later, and activated the teleporter, instilling a 5 DR toll for everyone except Lorg. He smiled and went over to the town inn. He got himself a burger and some ale, and started going through his massive collection of random crap. He crafted himself a full set of wolf fur armour, from a vest that increased agility and defense, a pair of pants that also increased his speed, he had also crafted a pair of wolf boots that decreased his ability to be detected. He then got a full-type set bonus of +20 agility and speed for wearing all of a single material type, plus the packmaster bonus. It granted immunity to wolf attacks since he wore all wolf based items, quite the decent perk for woodland travel. The effect only affected wolves for this floor though, but it was still nice. ha, If the floor boss is a wolf, then I'm kinda set. He then crafted himself a bunch of potions from the multitude of herbs and roots he had collected. He ended up with a full complement of healing potions, strength potions, Stamina potions, even scoring a few antidotes as well. He was glad that there wasn't a weight limit to how much he could carry. He was smiling as he finished his meal when he got an icon that said +5DR.
"Guess, I got company."
He glanced out and saw a small timid looking girl nervously turning this way and that as if scared to get jumped. She was quite young maybe 13 if that. She was holding a medium cudgel in her hands like it was a safety blanket. She was rather cute, with short pink hair, small blue eyes, freckles, a red vest and white undershirt with a pair of brown shorts with small black boots. heh, she's cute. Her level is wack though. He could see her level with his Perception skill. He had worked that skill hard, as at higher levels it would tell you want a monsters weakness was, along with its strengths. He'd upgraded it by identifying monster's weakness the hard way, and by completing perception based challengers, like a follow the cup street game. He had always been good at those. He was considering on just how to handle this development when,
+5,+5,+5
Three tall boys came through the gate after the small girl, who upon seeing them turned to run. The first guy then shot her in the leg with a bow. They began laughing as they grabbed her leg and made as if to drag her back towards the gate, unfortunately for them,
"ya know, I figured this crap would take at least a month before it picked up."
Tyler was standing between them and the gate. the guy holding onto the crying girl's leg just waved at the archer to kill this would be white knight, problem was,
Tyler had not waited for the archers shot. instead bum-rushing and slashing the archer a total of five times before he could draw string, he then stood and faced the attempted kidnapper,
"Dragon's Lunge."
the two took a step back, but then the leader hauled the girl up by her ankle and placed a dagger against her stomach as she squealed,
"This blade is poisoned, drop your weapon or she will die a slow death."
"I don't really care, I just want to kill you two dipshits."
His sword was glowing and he charged, the man stabbed the girl, but was cut in half by Tyler's blade an instant before his buddy got sliced as well. Tyler pulled an antidote from his inventory and knelt beside the girl. her health bar rapidly draining. He forced the liquid down her throat, and then poured a healing potion down her gullet as well. Just like that, she was right as rain. She sat up, coughing and tying to collect herself after the rush of action. Tyler sighed when a thought occurred to him. He had just killed players inside a town, that was NOT supposed to be possible. He pulled up the Ui guide and found that, in this case, since the fight had begun outside the safezone and had gone through a teleporter, it bypassed the no-kill rules. fucccck. They had better fix that quick, it'll be frigging slaughter. I wonder...Tyler went and opened a submit a ticket for a bug or exploit. This was one that would be submitted to the AI auto bug fixer. He described the issue, reasons for it being a problem, and reasons for fixing it. He then turned to see the girl cowering before him, like a lamb staring into the eyes of a hungry wolf. She was trembling like a leaf in a wind storm, her small blue eyes wide as he looked at her. she raised her small little mace bravely,
"Stay back, I'm warning you!"
Tyler had a very difficult time keeping a straight face at her tiny threat in her tiny voice,
"Okay. That HAS got to be the single cutest threat I have ever received. Relax Toots, I'm not into kids"
she went a little red in the face, but lowered her mace. She knew he could do whatever he wanted with her and she wouldn't be able to do a thing to even put up a fight. She was still terrified of the easily twice her size boy,
"Why'd you save me?"
"Lets go to that inn there, I'm still hungry."
She seemed reluctant to enter a inn with a strange boy who'd just killed three people in front of her, but she didn't have much of a choice. She followed him in and took a seat opposite the boy.
"What's your name?"
"Goreleech. Yours?"
"..Sakura."
"A small, weak wallflower? Heh, fitting. Here, load up."
He'd picked out a burger and apple juice for the tiny thing, and the same for him. Except he got a mug of ale. she looked at the food, then back to him suspicious,
"Why did you save me?"
Tyler sighed as he answered,
"I'm not really sure myself. I must be going soft, saving a slip of a girl like you. Don't look a gift demon in the mouth. Just eat your food, get your strength back, and be grateful I was in a generous mood."
She did eat, but kept an eye on his every move. Tyler just sighed tiredly, and examined the gear he'd gotten from his latest kills. A decent bow, a half quiver of arrows, some coated with a paralytic poison, a poisoned dagger, and a shortsword.
"Fuckin perfect. A capture squad. I figured the human sales wouldn't start up for at least a month. I hate people. Still, decent gear though."
Sakura stared with concern at the boy wit the fearsome name who'd saved her,
"A capture squad?"
"Yep. You remember how sex is a thing in this game? Give you three guess why a squad like that was after you."
"I don't know, why? I'm too young for that kinda stuff."
"Oh for fucks sake, kid. How old are you?"
"14, why?"
"Jesus. What the hell, did you sign in with a parent or sibling or something?"
"No I came by myself."
She seemed rather proud of that fact. Tyler just put his head in his hands. He then sent a message to the only other person he could
Hey, Lorg? Could you grab the nearest teleporter to Clesit, Please? I got something were you have got to see.
Her response was quick, thankfully.
Yeah, sure. I'll be there with my friends in five.
Coolzies, they'll have to pay a toll but I'll pay them back, and set it so they won't have to pay again.
Sakura just kept eating, watching him send his messages, her legs swinging in the air. She was small, and held the juice mug with two hands. Tyler was beyond done with this mess. Who the fuck would let their fourteen-year-old dive into a game like Swords&Shields? He ate his own meal in silence, waiting for Lorg's crew to arrive. Like clockwork, five minutes passed, +5,+5,+5,+5,+5
Lorg and her crew all came through the teleporter. Tyler banged on the Inn window, grabbing their attention. Lorg came in the swinging door,
"Hey Gore! What kinda mess-"
she had spotted Sakura sitting across from him,
"Okay, what the actual fuck?"
Tyler sighed as her six man party all took seats around him and the small girl. Sakura was now scared at all the people surrounding her. Lorg's party was mainly girls, with a single dude. Tyler smirked as he noticed this,
"Hey, bro, must be nice to have a virtual harem. Am I right?"
The guy just laughed,
"It would be, if I liked the ladies."
Tyler just shrugged,
"Yeah, that sounds about right. Not many people like Lorg to begin with."
"Hey fuck you!"
"I already told you! Later!"
The entire group just burst out laughing at their banter. Sakura relaxed, and was giggling too. Lorg then went and sat beside the small girl,
"Care to explain why you're running with a little girl, Gore?"
"You are gonna love this.."
Ten minutes later, Lorg and her friends were all caught between anger and pity. With just a little bit of disgust at the girls parents for letting her Dive in the first place.
"And that's about the size of it. I can't take her with me. Not to the places I go. So I was hoping you could take her."
Lorg just sighed, she felt bad for the little girl now sitting in the samurai chick's lap, playing with her long blonde hair.
"I don't think we can either. We don't have a house, and we need all our fighters to grind out levels. Honestly, I don't know what we can do."
"Well, if you can't help, I'm just gonna ditch her then."
There was a collective gasp of shock from the assembled players,
"You're not serious! You would just leave a girl like her to fend for herself? Just like that?"
Tyler sighed as he leaned back.
"Of course I would. I hate people. I hate kids more. I don't really know why I rescued her in the first place, plus I spent MY money on her to boot! I must be losing my edge."
Sakura started to cry at his cruelty. Her heartbreaking sobs causing the other adventurers to try comforting the girl. Lorg confronted the unfazed Tyler who merely finished his drink.
"You are a heartless bastard. You know That? I can't believe you could so easily make a little cry like that. Or that you could so casually throw her aside like that! What would you have done If I hadn't been able to come?"
"Kill her."
The room went silent at his matter-of-fact response.
"I'd either ditch her, or kill her myself. Least that way it'd be painless and quick. Calling you here was the extent of my good will."
he placed his mug back down and left the table. as he did so, Sakura ran over to him and grabbed his leg,
"Please, don't go! Don't abandon me too! Please!"
Tyler stopped mid-step, he then gave the little girl a glare that would've frozen hell with it's coldness,
"Abandon too? who else abandoned you?"
She looked up at him, with large tears in her blue eyes,
"My family! They all came here with me, but when we got trapped they told me to get away from them. They said I'd get in their way. When I tried to follow my Brother hit me with a hammer. I ran. I don't have anyone else! So please don't go!"
Her voice was pitiful and her story heartbreaking. Tyler felt a feeling of kinship with the sobbing girl. He then turned and knelt before her,
"Kid, get those tears and that fear out of your eyes. Now look at me."
She sniffed and looked into his ice-cold brown eyes,
"The places I go are hard, harder then anything these noobs would ever attempt. If you make a single misstep, you die. Now look me in the eye and answer this: Do you still want to go with me?"
Her voice was full of hope and courage,
"I do."
"Are you sure? I will not baby you. If you slow me down I will either leave you or kill you myself. If you can't keep up you will die a horrible death, by me or monsters. I will work you to the bone. You complain I leave. You understand?"
"I do."
"You don't. Now last question: Are you sure?"
Her eyes then filled with a sadness he understood all to well,
"If you don't want me either, then I should just die now. I don't.."
He pressed trailing off girl,
"you don't what?"
She screwed up her courage and yelled at the top of her lungs,
"I DON'T WANT OT BE ALONE ANYMORE!"
Tyler hung his head, then turned to Lorg,
"Thanks for coming, but I'll take her with me."
Lorg suddenly became very concerned at the prospect of leaving the small girl with a boy who had just said he'd kill her multiple times.
"Um, no, it's okay, we'll take her. besides,"
Tyler just sighed,
"You just said you couldn't. Why is it a problem if I take her now?"
Lorg glared at the scary boy.
"You just said many times you'd kill her! The hell makes you think I'd leave her with you after that?"
"Because I said so. Do the six of you think you could take her from me? You're welcome to try."
He drew his red blade and smiled, daring them with his eyes. Little Sakura went and hid behind the dangerous boy. Lorg sighed and waved her hand to keep her friends from rising,
"Don't. That guy would kill us all. Just answer this."
"Oh?"
"will you train her like you did me?"
"Ha, of course I am. Only properly this time. As long as she pulls her own way and doesn't get in my way, she's fine. Otherwise."
Lorg just gave up. she then went to pat the pink-haired little girl on her head.
"Well, I'll add you as a friend, let me know if he bullies you or anything, okay? I'll kick his ass for you!"
Sakura smiled at the pretty blonde,
"Sure!"
Lorg then gave Tyler a last warning,
"you bett-
"Take good care of her, or I'll kill you myself. That what you were about to say?"
"I was."
"I already told you. Sakura, come on I need to reequip you. Then we got quests to do. I want you to level up at least three times today."
Tyler had started walking out of the inn. Sakura waited a moment to thank Lorg, when Tyler roared at her,
"Lets go! Last Warning!"
"Kay!"
She then ran out of the Inn after her new angry traveling companion. Lorg just watched little Sakura skipping along next to the boy who made her blood run cold.
"Should we do something?"
"Like what? I've seen that guy fight. He really could kill us all, the only question is if he'd use sword-skills or not. I'm really scared fort hat girl though."
"Don't be. I think Sakura id quite safe with him."
Lorg turned to her IRL galpal, Svenity, who had been abused quite badly as a child,
"What makes you so sure?"
"Well, the way he challenged us. Six against one without hesitating for a girl he'd kill just like that? I don't think so. Plus I think he went through something similar to her. It explains the 180 he just pulled. he went from saying he'd kill her just to get rid of her, to agreeing to take her with him. She'll knock some of that edge of him."
Lorg turned back to the road, the duo now lost to sight,
"I'm sure hope you're right."
Tyler had brought Sakura to a smithy to get her some new gear. As far as stats went, she was a mere noob. She was a low level 3. She had no right to be in this town, since it's minimum recommended level was 6. Tyler's was 9. he ad her open her Ui so he could see what she had inn her inventory. At first she resisted showing him,
"Why?"
"If you look, you'll see my body measurements!"
She had been red-faced with embarrassment at this fact. Tyler was irritated. What she had said was true, the Ui had everything from height, weight, BMI to general descriptions like eye color and hair color. There was even a full-3d rendered model of the player that could be rotated and flipped. It showed currently equipped gear, but if you were to hit a button, then the model would render the player completely naked, with exacting details, since this game's developers did not believe in censorship in any form.
"I don't care, how show me or I leave."
"But!"
"Good bye!"
"Okay, Okay! You can look. Just don't laugh, okay?"
'Yeah, yeah."
Tyler had zero interest in her pancakes, he was more interested to see her items. It was depressingly basic, her gear was just clothing with no stat boosts whatsoever. Tyler sighed as he scrolled, she had a small collection of flowers, 45DR, her little mace, her clothes, and a small necklace that had a shiny stone set in it. Tyler took it out of her inven, and inspected the thing. She went wide eyed as he held it up,
"Please can I have that back?"
"What is it?"
"A picture, I imported a picture from my computer to my Helmet and had it fitted into a locket. Please?"
Tyler flipped the locket open and inside was a picture of Sakura and another woman with long black hair hugging the girl tightly. He then noticed how small she appeared to be.
"Friend of yours?"
he handed the item to the sad faced girl, who held it to her chest,
"She was my aunt, more like my mother then my actual mother. She took care of me for a while when my mom went to a hospital for a while. She died last spring."
Tyler shrugged, sympathy not a part of his character,
"Well, that sucks. your gears is god awful too. I can make you some better gear. Clothes mostly but I'll need to buy you a new weapon. Then we go do a few quests here."
She wiped a solitary tear from her eye, then nodded. Tyler then made her a set of wolf equipment like his. He replaced her entire outfit. She now wore a thick shirt with wolf's head on her chest. The shirt granted +5 to physical defense. the shirt was more of a crop top then a full shirt, he'd then crafted a pair of fingerless gloves like his own, but reinforced with boar to give it an extra bonus to strength. he made her a pair of shorts that increased speed and agility. A pair of boots made from wolf and boar finished her new outfit. The boots both decreased detection and increased agility. He on a burst of inspiration made her a scarf of pure wolf fur that both gave her a more badass look, and added to her defense. He then gave her the bow and arrows taken from the idiots who'd tried to capture her. She seemed to love her new clothes, often stopping to pet the thick wolf fur.
"thank you! This stuff's awesome! The furs soft too!"
"That's shit gear. I only have crafting level 3, and smithing 1. Wait till that reaches liken 200 or even 150, then things get really hardcore. But I'm glad you like my style. Now, can you handle that bow?"
She beamed as she tested the string,
"I placed first in my schools archery competition, so I pretty confident!"
"First out of how many?"
"A hundred and fifty students?"
"How many competitors?"
"Ten."
"Jesus."
"I know, awesome right?"
Tyler just groaned, but just let her have it.
"Okay. That's better then nothing, I guess. Why'd you choose a mace if you have bow skills?"
"My mom said that the mace was better, since it did more damage."
okay, that's a rookie mistake.
Tyler sighed as he explained,
"Okay, she's not wrong. But only from a pure stat perspective."
"I don't understand."
Tyler had her accept a delivery quest from the herbalist and imparted the wisdom acquired by a veteran RPG player,
"Maces generally have higher base damage, that is true. But in a game like this, especially a game like this. Base damage means less then player skill. take my old blade for example. It did a base damage of 10. Your mace does a base damage of 20. You think that would give you an advantage, and you'd be right. But you would still lose because why?"
"Because you're bigger then me."
"Well, kinda. But not what I mean. try again."
"You play this more?"
"Good, experience is a powerful force. I have played both this game and many others too. Plus I've dabbled in IRL swordplay. That can lead to ingame bonuses. Since I already had a grasp of how to use a sword, I chose to go with what I knew. I can kill three or four people using nothing but my experiences alone. I also know how to read my opponents too."
"Read them?"
"Yep. I try to teach you how, but I'm not quite sure how. Basically I can more or less predict what an opponent will do next and react accordingly. If, for example an enemy were to raise his blade high over his head, what do you think he's likely to do next?"
"Swing it straight down?"
"Usually, yes, but if he has a slightly off balance stance, either right or left it suggests a fakeout attack so I would sucker him in and dodge the second strike and use it to land one of my own. Now then what does al this have to do with me asking you if you know how to use a bow?"
Sakura's brow furrowed as she pondered his words. They reached the quest end and she turned in her item and got her rewards. She went up two levels and got 200DR. She answered his question as best she could,
"Since I'm good with a bow IRL, I should be better with it ingame, right?"
Tyler chuckled,
"More or less. IRL talents can grant players a decent boost in game. Plus its a time-tested strategy to base your build of your IRL skills. I always was more of a all-rounder, so ingame I dabble in all kinds of skills. But my favorite trees involve making things, like armour, weapons, potions stuff like that. Only thing I suck at is cooking since I can't cook IRL."
Sakura's eyes lit up at this revelation,
"I love cooking! Guess you can't get rid of me now!"
Tyler then fixed her with a very serious glare, causing her to gulp,
"I have one question: Are you good?"
"everyone at home thought I was. They said it was my only redeeming skill."
"I will put that to MY test. Then we will see if you measure up."
Sakura grinned confidently,
"I will blow your tongue away."
"uh, phrasing!"
She turned red at his dirty joke,
"Okay, did not expect you to understand that one. Kinda concerned that you do. Lets just move on. Hey look another delivery!"
He felt kind awkward using his typically filthy humor with a girl that passed for his little sister. He also felt like a fish outta water with his now suddenly being a surrogate Big brother to the little shrimp. But he had made the girl a promise and thus far she had kept up her end of the bargain. They had just finished their third delivery in a row when Tyler noticed that the rewards had dropped drastically.
"Okay, time to go kill something."
She went wide eyed at this, so Tyler was forced to explain the system's milking rules,
"Well, if we do any more quests like that we'll get less and less. Then we'd be forced to fight monsters anyway. It's the games anti milking protocols."
"But some players don't like fighting!"
"Then they have to go to another town, otherwise they'll receive nothing further from the current town. This encourages players to get out there and explore. I should know since I came up with it."
They had gone into a forest about 20 minutes from town, but as he said he came up with it, Sakura stopped dead,
"You came up with it? You're a dev?"
She seemed more scared now then when he'd said he'd kill her,
"Nah, I'm a beta tester. The top tester actually."
She seemed to relax slightly,
"Okay, so you're just a Bater. And the top bater?"
"Yeah, I got the label because I reached floor 10 solo. Plus the majority of my submitted ideas ended up being used ingame.""
Her eyes went wide at that one.
"Which ideas?"
"Remember that jackasses blood entrance? I had originally came up with it to introduce a boss. Oh and those skill challenges? That's mine too. I even got to design a few bosses from the ground up. Though I don't know if they kept them. We'll fin d out eventually."
"Wow, Gore you're awesome!"
"You just now realized that?"
"You got to Beta test this game. You were the top tester too. I guess that makes you the MasterBater then?"
He walked right into a tree at that one. He turned to look incredulously at the sweetly smiling girl. Her blue eyes were glimmering mischievously,
"Aww, Sakura. Question."
"Yes, Goreleech?"
"Do you know what MasterBater means? IRL that is?"
She cocked her head to the side, and looked slightly confused at his question
"I think so, its what you do when you reach between you le-"
"Okay! Okay! You win! But seriously, Didn't realize you were such a dirty girl. But hey I don't judge."
She blushed a deep crimson when he said this, the heat flooding her head nearly leaking out the flustered girl's ears. She followed Tyler through the forest until they reached a small clearing.
"Alright! This should do. Okay, now when a monster appears I want you to shoot it once, then climb a tree, so I can kill it. We'll get the same amount of EXP for the kill. Money and Items we'll split. But I get final say on who gets what and what gets sold, understood?"
Sakura nocked an arrow,
"Yes Gore."
"Good, oh here I forgot to form a party. Just a sec. There."
he sent the invite to Sakura who accepted the invite. As the UI closed a large brown bear wandered into the clearing and stood tall with a loud roar. Tyler smiled and drew his blade. Sakura began to tremble, but Tyler slapped her,
"If you panic you're on your own. Understood? Now shoot that thing and get into the tree like a good girl."
She did as she was told, shooting the beast in the chest. The arrow merely scratched the beast, enraging it. It charged, but Tyler met it with a sliding slash across it's flank. His sword carving a large portion of it's health away, be fore Tyler righted himself and lunged again, this time with a thrust. Taking the beast through it's shoulder. It stopped moving for a moment then Shattered. Tyler smiled as the results from the battle appeared on his after-action screen. Sakura dropped from the tree, a sad look on her face.
"Okay, what's wrong? You did what you were supposed to."
She just seemed to be depressed,
"All I did was scratch the thing. I still got the same amount of experience as you did, but you did all the work. Plus.."
she rubbed her cheek where he'd slapped her,
"I feel like I just made more work for you."
"well, you did."
She seemed crushed at this, but Tyler went on,
"But I expected as much. You're still just a low leveled rookie. You need to level up more and train a helluva lot more to be able to be stand beside me in battle. You have a long way to go."
She seemed to shrink more and more as he kept speaking,
"But don't worry. We all start out some where. If it makes you feel better, I once got my first party wiped in my first RPG."
She looked up shocked,
"You got your party killed?"
"Yep, I made the brilliant decision to bum rush a dragon right out the gate on my own. The other members in the party all died trying to recover. They were PISSED. I actually got kicked from their guild for that one."
"really? Seems a little harsh."
"It was a timed seasonal event with one try per guild."
"Okay, now I get it."
"See? Even I started out as a rookie. Then I buckled down, busted my ass and got good. I actually ended up becoming one of the most feared solo players in the game. The guild that had kicked me would often hire me as a mercenary sometimes to deal with problem players or parties. One time they even paid me NOT to take part in a event. The whole server did. I thought that was hilarious."
"Did you keep your word?"
"Yes I did. That's something I pride myself on is being a man of my word. Though the rumor was that everyone had fully expected me to take part even after receiving payment. I earned a lot of respect from the other players that day. The leaders of the top guilds have a room set aside for me now, incase I drop by. If I log in, I'm kinda both a living legend and a celebrity too."
Sakura seemed a little relieved about something, but a deer ran by and on pure reflex shot the hart with an arrow, piercing the animal in it's shoulder. The deer shattered nearly instantly. Sakura gasped in shock at her insta kill. Tyler was impressed,
"Nice shot kid! That was an 8=pointer too! Whatcha get?"
She had gotten 2 buck meat, 2 antlers, deer musk, a perfect deer hide, and her arrow back. As the Deer was a Sport animal, she got 300DR for a clean kill. Sakura was ecstatic, but also confused,
"How'd I do that? That deer was two levels above me!"
Tyler was happy to explain another mechanic he'd purposed,
"Okay, did you see where you hit it? That's it's heart. Every animal has a heart shot. If you hit it, it does triple damage, more if using a bow. If you know an animals anatomy, you could quite easily kill most animals in a single arrow. That's another one of my ideas. It rewards those who hunt IRL and those who know animals too. Plus its simple enough that everyone can learn it. Only non-animal monsters are immune to this rule. So if it exists IRL it applies. That was a very good kill Sakura. Good job."
She glowed at his praise, which was rare. He let her bask in her success for a moment before bringing her back.
"Alright, you've gloated enough. We got eight more bears to kill. Oh and feel free to drop anymore deer you see, There's good money in deer, and their drops make good crafting materials."
She sighed as they got back to it. Tyler was a hard teacher, but fair. He was always willing to explain something if she didn't know or understand. But if she did something stupid, like miss an easy shot or mess up his instructions he'd scold the girl harshly. He would yell for her to get her shit together, or whack her across her head. He would also give pointers on how to be a better fighter, or player in general. He was still scary. They had left the village they'd met at and started to travel farther towards the west. When she asked why,
"No clue, I usually just end up going in some random direction till I get bored or hit a wall. Or if something else interesting happens. Oh yeah that reminds me I should see about a getting a map next time we hit civilization."
She had sighed,
"Seriously? So you just go places at random?"
"Pretty much. Hey I wonder what's over there?"
And that was when they started traveling south. Tyler had spotted a large smudge on the horizon and wanted to check it out. He was a good deal taller then Sakura but made no Allowances for her, so she ended up having to move a little bit faster to keep up with the long limbed roamer. She had asked him to slow down,
"Keep up or get left behind, your choice."
That had been the end of the discussion. He did not make excuses nor did he go easy. They traveled following his haphazard directions for about three days. Sakura learning and getting better in leaps and bounds. She was now Level nine, like Tyler. They would then start gaining less and less exp until the next flor opened up. But once the floor did open, the level was removed and they could level again, albeit with a penalty for using weaker enemies. The penalties were fair, for if you killed a monster five floors below your current floor you would get half exp but the full item drop. Items, and DR did not decrease for killing lower floored monsters but only if you respected the no milking rule. It was only EXP you'd miss out now. Sakura and Tyler after reaching the cap began working on their side skills, like crafting or agility, as they were leveled through use and not bound to the main level cap. The level cap was the main one to increase attack, defense and stamina. Speed too. Agility was not under that umbrella so it could be leveled at will. Tyler had chosen to focus on his crafting skills, like smithing, leather working, and some potion making. Sakura was working on her cooking, tracking, and herbology skills. Tyler had tasted her cooking and had given her the job of company cook,
"Okay, kid. You really do have a redeeming skill here. Congratulations, it is now YOUR job to cook our meals in the field. Congrats kid!"
She had beamed at his complements, only to get pissed that she was now pressganged into cooking duties. But she had had no place to argue as, after all, she had opened her mouth. They were moving through a rather dense forest at the moment. The undergrowth was so thick in places, that Tyler had picked the smaller girl up and placed her on his shoulders to keep track of her. She had been touched at his thoughtfulness until,
"Don't get the wrong idea here. I don't want o waste the time it would take to track you down in here. So don't get comfy or used to it."
"Why do you have to ruin it every time I'm just about to like you."
He'd chuckled at the little girls comment. Every now and then he'd get a +5 icon as some one passed through his toll. He smiled, thinking that had been a brilliant idea. The duo moved through the thick woodland floor, until they came upon a hidden village shrouded by the massive tree tops. Tyler promptly dropped Sakura to the ground. The now agile girl landing on her feet. They then entered the tiny village. Tyler went right over to the main teleporter and set another 5DR toll. he then led the pair to the local Tavern. They got quite the surprise inside. The tavern staff were all naked girls. Tyler smiled as he realized what he'd found and immediately added a zero to the teleporter's toll. Making it 50DR a pop. money well spent, once this little secret gets out. This was one of the hidden adult playgrounds scattered throughout the floors. Each floor had between four and five adult-centered villages for them to make full use of the sex features of the game. These places were to cater to any fetish, any taste any preference a person could have. The main draw back was you had to find them. And they were very well hidden. Very well. They did not show up on any map and the most information you could hope to get was a rumor in a tavern about a village somewhere with beautiful naked women or guys or whatever. Tyler smiled as he considered the possibilities of how to handle his discovery, until he remembered another feature: If you challenged the village leader, and won you could take control of the village for a period of two IRL months, and reap all proceeds form all the businesses in the village, as well as set everything up from NPCs available to play with to how some buildings looked. Tyler smiled and went straight to the leaders hut. Sakura following along red i the face as she realized what the village's main purpose was. Sakura stayed close to Tyler the whole time, but kept getting solicited by NPCs, of both genders for various sexual acts. the poor girl was both scared but also flattered that anything found her attractive. Tyler walked into the leaders hut, and approached the mountain of a man wearing nothing but a loincloth and holding a massive greatsword. The man was fucking a busty brunette in the rear as Tyler approached. Sakura's eyes wide at the sights, sounds and smells of hardcore sex. Tyler issued his challenge and the leader dropped his toy, accepting the dule instantly. the duel was one on one. Sakura had to watch and be continuously accosted on the sidelines. The leader was a level 9, just like Tyler was, so it was sure to be a good fight. Tyler smirked and took his stance, while the leader took his own, with the massive greatsword held up straight. The timer reached zero and the battle for the sex village was on. Tyler rushed forward and used a sword skill to slash the bigger man's calf as he dashed past,
"Claw Dash!"
The man lost a portion of his triple life bar, and Tyler knew this was gonna be both a slog and a challenge. finally. He'd gotten bored with the near unopposed slaughters he'd had up to that point. Sakura watched as Tyler deftly ducked under a massive swing and slashed the man's leg a good three times before dancing out of his counterattack with a grace that was weirdly hypnotic. She was amazed at his graceful attacks and sleek reactions. he seemed to flow around the battle, the great blade passing around him harmlessly while his own sword hit home with savage precision. They fought for a good half hour, until the mini-boss had two hits left before defeat. Tyler hopped back and readied his next attack sequence. The boss then started to glow, his out line turning a bright red. Tyler's smile of arrogance faded into a grimace of concentration. Sakura became concerned but decided to trust the more experienced fighter. Tyler's sword began to glow as well, an da dark glint entered his eyes. The berserk boss charge forward at nearly double his previous speed. Tyler also charged, and stopped just as the bigger man swung his blade, Tyler swung his glowing sword into the bigger mans weapon, knocking it into the ground and using the impact to bounce his blade into a savage counterattack. the longsword slicing the mans stomach, leaving a long yellow groove, but Tyler followed through with a swing in the opposite direction carving a large X on the mans torso,
"Rage X"
The man shattered and Tyler was named village chief. He received 2000 EXP, 2000DR the man's weapon, and the rights to the village. Sakura was finally left alone as Tyler set up the NPC's to pamper the little girl instead fo trying to fuck her, although he did leave the choice ion her hands.,
"Hey, If you want to play with them feel free."
She had been shocked into speechlessness at this remark. But before she could respond he ran off with a busty red head toward a longhouse. She sighed and went to take a bath. She was then pleasantly surprised to find a girl her age holding a towel, sponge and soap. The NPC had been set to help the Pink-haired girl with her bath and give a massage after. Sakura was in heaven as the stiffness was massaged out of her little body at the hands of the NPC. The only thing that irked the relaxed girl was that the NPC who was supposed to be the same age as her, had massive Double Ds on her small chest. Sakura was irritated at this developed lump of ones and zeros as she felt the massive melons, taking note of how soft yet firm they were. a damned computer is bustier then me! She then just resigned herself to a breastless life and let herself be spoiled by this physically impossible endowed girl's soft touch. Tyler for his part was having a field day with the endless supply of girls to play with, allowing every drop of his adolescent horniness get set loose upon the Virtual Beauties bodies. Thanks to the Full-diver technology, he felt every caress, heard every moan, tasted every sweet flavor of the NPC's bodies. He also didn't have to worry about things like STDs or pregnancies, since they had been omitted from the games build. So all he had to worry about was what was he gonna do to the next girl. He finished in his last girl and collapsed, exhausted, and satisfied fully. He only had to regain his breath, then he went on check on Sakura. He found his little charge purring under the expert touch of her busty little masseuse. He then had a thought.
hey, Lorg, I found something I think your crew is gonna love. And the teleports free for your crew so hurry up.
Oh? What did you find?
Get to me and find out.
He then set a bunch of the village's best girls and guys in a line to await their arrival. Lorg and company stepped through and froze as they saw the villagers waiting for them. Tyler walked up with a few blonde similar to Lorg herself,
"Well, Awesome right?"
"Where's Sakura?"
"Getting a deep tissue massage in that hut over there. If you'd like-"
The blonde and company raced to make sure the small girl was still safe and not getting raped by NPC's. Tyler sighed as he heard Sakura complaining,
"Hey! What the fuck! I was just starting to relax!"
They was a sound of laughter, then Lorg came over to slap Tyler in the face, a red-flushed fury on her pretty face,
"The hell?"
"What the hell is wrong with you? Bringing a girl like that to a place like this? Seriously!"
Tyler rubbed his face,
"Calm your tits, lady. She's getting pampered by professional Masseuses in there, and they gave her a oil bath earlier too. She's floating on cloud nine right now,. This place is a five star spa for her right now. I killed the village leader so I get to set up the services she receives. So chill the fuck out."
Lorg was still pissed,
"Has any of the NPC's other then that one touched her?"
"No, and before you ask I have not either. I was busy with them over there."
He jabbed a thumb at a set of flushed NPC's by a hut.
"If she wants anything more, she ahs to initiate the act. Otherwise its bath and massage time. So seriously? Let the girl re-fucking-lax for once."
Lorg sighed in defeat, then she looked up at his tone,
"you know something Gore? You kinda sound like a doting father getting her a five-star spa day like this. Hell you even killed a floor miniboss to do it! If I didn't know better, I'd say you're starting to care about the girl."
Tyler smiled a little,
"I prefer protective brother. And I like have her around. Its nice to have someone to talk to on the road. Plus, she keeps it interesting. She dropped a deer with a single shot and the deer two levels higher then her."
"Bullshit."
"No bullshit. So I'll keep her around."
Lorg looked at the fondly smiling boy and smiled as well,
"well, as long as you don't force the sex bots on her, I'll let it slide. Now if you'll excuse me, that busty brunette over there needs her kitty licked."
"Have fun, and all services are free for your crew."
The sexy blonde gave him a thumbs up as she snagged the brown-haired NPC and dragged her to a hut. her whole crew had grabbed a couple partners and found huts of their own. Tyler smiled at the moans now echoing around the village, and went to check on Sakura again. He found her exiting the bathhouse she'd been cooped up in for the better part of three hours. Her pink hair hung to her small shoulders and was still wet from her bath. she was wearing the wolf fur crop top, fur fingerless gloves, shorts and boots he'd made for her. They made her look both cute and dangerous too. She also had the scarf of pure wolf fur he had also made for her. he smiled at her,
"Hey, kid, you look like a new girl,"
She gave a sweet smile, flashing clean white teeth,
"I feel like a new girl."
She then hugged the taller boy, her head resting just under his chest,
"Thanks for the spa day."
he awkwardly patted the affectionate girls head,
"Sure thing kid, we gotta take a breath every now and then. hey lets get some food, then we to some skilling."
"Kay"
The pair went into the Tavern and got a stew of rabbit and vegetables, with mugs of foaming root beer, with a desert of a small piece of chocolate pie for Sakura, and a death by Chocolate for Tyler. They sat next to each other in the main hall of the tavern. Tyler had had the fire stoked with pine logs, so the entire room was filled with the scent of pine. As they got to checking their inventories, a +50 icon appeared over Tyler's head. He sighed,
"Secrets out. Brace yourself, Sakura, this place is about to get VERY popular." Sure enough, over 50 more Icons popped over Tyler's head in the space of twenty minutes. Then came the rates of +100, +200, +400. And more as business exploded. Tyler just ignored it, as he had set the rates himself. he didn't have to worry about being challenged for leadership, as the time limit would expire in two IRL months anyway.
"Okay, Sakura, is there anything off the bat you want to make?"
She looked over their rather large supply of materials, trying to think of what she'd need at the moment.
"I think a few more potions would be a safe bet. Do we have enough deer hide for a new outfit?"
"No, right now our outfits are kinda high level. I'd like to replace them with something either the same quality or higher if possible.is there something you wanted to make?"
"I wanted to make a hat or something, maybe a pair of leg socks, you know what I mean? Those puffy things that kinda seem like weights?"
"I think so, if its what I'm thinking of I kinda always liked how they looked. As for a hat, did you have a specific style?"
"London paperboy hat. I have one IRL and I kinda miss it."
"I think we can do that. If we use the perfect deer and that perfect wolf we got yesterday we can get another gear set bonus. Here, let me."
Tyler laid the hides out on the table and opened up the crafting UI. He selected the head and mold the hat by hand, turning the hide until it resembled Sakura's vision.
"Like this?"
"Perfect!"
Tyler smiled as he added the wolf fur as the outside lining, and used the downier deer fur for the lining. The hat now granted a measly +2 to perception, but the level of cuteness it gave to Sakura when she equipped it was worth far more. Tyler the used the leftover hide to make her leg warmers. They required a third hide, so he threw in a perfect white rabbit as the lining.. The warmers had a light grey color that shimmered with the long wolf fur, the parts the normally were stretchy were soft deer fur and the inside lining was made form heavenly rabbit. Sakura squealed with delight at how comfortable they were. She looked cute as hell, with paper boy wolf's fur hat, her grey wolf fur crop top, and shorts. her fingerless gloves were also wolf, but a slightly darker grey. Her boots were grey with brown undersoles. The leg warmers were a similar grey fur to her top. Her shoulder length pink hair flowed from out of her new hat, and her blues eye shown with happiness. Tyler watched as the small girl spun a circle showing off her long legs and their new adornments. He allowed her a moment more of giddiness before getting back on task,
"Okay, kid, we got more stuff to go through."
"Kay!"
She skipped back to his side, and hopped over the bench to retake her seat. Tyler shook his head,
"Seriously. Now then, about your bow. What have you got for arrows left?"
"Um, just over a quarter of a quiver left, so maybe 15 shoots?"
"That it? Okay, we need to resupply on shafts. I need to get myself a pickaxe, fishing rod, some bait, and lets see,"
"How about a tent? We usually sleep outside so a tent might not be bad."
"Good call, I can craft one from Grandboar hide. I can craft a two person bedroll from that bear hide from the other day...what's wrong?"
She had gone red in the face,
"We're gonna share a bedroll?"
Tyler cocked his head confused,
"I had planned on it. If we stay at inns I was gonna have you in the same room, since I don't want you on your own. So I just figured."
She was still red I the face,
"If it'll make you feel better about it, I can make two separate rolls from wolf."
She looked up at him with large blue eyes,
"Could you please? I'd feel more comfortable with that."
Tyler sighed at her puppy dog eyes,
"Fine, but just so you know. A wolf bedroll sucks compared to a decent bear bedroll. If it hurts to sleep on it, well you'll have only yourself to blame."
She broke into a wide smile,
"But to be clear, the single Inn room is NOT negotiable. Is that understood?"
She was about to answer when her face went red again,
"What If there's only a single bed?"
"we share it of course."
She squeaked,
"What?"
"We'll share the bed. seriously get over yourself. I already told you, I'm not into kids."
"if we have to get a Inn room,. and there's a single bed, you get the floor."
"We share the bed, and that's final. If you don't like my terms the doors over there."
He had switched to his iron voice, and she knew his decision was final but she felt compelled to make a final argument,
"If I share a bed with you, people will say we're lovers or something."
Tyler looked at her like she was stupid,
"Sakura. Has anything I have done in the time you have known me given you any sign I care what other people say about me?"
"Well I do! I don't want to be labeled as a slut or whore or-"
"As long as the ones who actually know you know the truth, who cares what strangers think? Seriously if it matters to you that much just say we're siblings and you have really bad nightmares. They'll buy that readily enough if they even care enough to listen in the first place."
Sakura just sighed in defeat. She knew what he said was right, but still. to share a bed with a boy unrelated to her was still a big deal in her 14yo mind. She knew she had lost the discussion so she moved on to the next thing,
"Hey, what about a wood axe?"
Tyler turned to her quizzically,
"A wood axe?"
"yeah you know an axe made just for splitting wood. We can use it to collect firewood and wood for crafting too."
Tyler scratched his chin,
"ohhh yeaah, that's right! In this game they have an axe set aside just for wood. I forgot about that, thanks Sakura!"
She blushed for a different reason, that was the first time he used her name in a complementary manner.
"Umm, sure, so do we have enough Dr for everything we need to buy?"
"easily. Now lets set up some potions, I'll handle healing if you do boosts."
"Sure!"
The industrious duo set about brewing potions using the Tavern fireplace and a brew cup they had bought at a store. They brewed a good thirty more potions and were about to return to their seats when a commotion broke out in the village proper. Tyler and Sakura walked out to find Lorg arguing with a larger man with her smaller friend svenity. svenity was a very petite little blonde. she was about twenty four, but easily passed for a flat fifteen year old. From what he'd heard she had to fight off pedos with a baseball bat. Looks like it hade carried over into the game world too,
"And I'M telling you she s not an NPC, she's a player. And she already shot you down twice, now piss off!"
The pig of a man was not hearing the busty samurai blonde,
"Come on sweetie! Lets go play for a while, I'm gentle I promise!"
The pig was clearly convinced the tiny Svenity was an NPC, or was just obsessed. either way Tyler stepped in, with little Sakura right behind him sporting her new gear,
"Hey, Lorg, Svenity, guess you made a new friend!"
"Oh ahah-Oh holy mother of cuteness, Sakura! Where'd you get that hat and those leg warmers? They look adorable on you!"
Sakura smiled shyly as she answered,
"Well, Gore made them for me. You like it?"
Lorg did a double take at the angry looking boy, while Svenity just gave the smaller girl a big hug, Finally Lorg replied with sheer disbelief at his good fashion sense,
"well, they look adorable on you, sweetie. I never would have figured that psychopath as having a good eye for cuteness."
"With Sakura, its easy to make her look good. Unfortunately not even Paris' best could make that mess look even bearable. Svenity, I think I could work with you though."
Svenity laughed at the normally angry boy's sideways complement. Lorg was exasperated at his terrifying knack of turning anything she said into an insult. the only one not having a good time was the pig man. Upon seeing the cuteness overload that was Sakura, he instantly became infatuated with the small girl, and made the first mistake,
"hey, cutiepie, gimme a hug! I don't bite, I promise! C'mere let me hold your cute self!"
"Back the fuck off now buddy."
Tyler went form having a good time to death's friend in a snap of a finger. Sakura hid behind the tall player for protection from the pig man's leer. He unfortunately did not take the hint and made his second mistake,
"Stay outta this kid. I'm only interested in the little princess there. Now be a good boy and leave."
Tyler drew his blade and pointed it at the pedo, while Sakura trembled behind him,
"Leave me alone, I don't want to go anywhere with you. You scare me!"
"awww, sweetie pie, they all say that at first, but once you get to know me-"
"She's not gonna get to know you pedofuck. Now last warning, LEAVE HER ALONE."
The pedo made his third and final mistake, forgetting in his lust for kiddie flesh that the sex village was under Tyler's control, so if he drew a weapon against him it would be an automatic deathmatch duel, his third mistake was something else entirely,
"Look give me the little pussy feast behind you kid and I'll let you have second fuck.."
Tyler surged forward fueled by anger, his glowing sword a blur as he slashed the man no less then twenty five times in less then five seconds. The pig man pedo had time to look confused before shattering,
"Dragon's Teeth."
everyone, including sakura was stunned at his display of speed and his lack of hesitation to kill.,
"If any of you worthless bastards fucks with my little sister you will die in pieces. Is that understood?"
Silence.
"I SAID, IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?"
They responded that time,
"Yes sir!"
Tyler turned to Sakura and picked her up and set her on his shoulders, she squealed at the sudden surprise but then giggled as she could now see over people's heads. It was starting tom get5 dark out, and they would be back on the trail tomorrow morning so, they went to turn in for the night. Leaving a very stunned Lorg behind, with a smug Svenity,
"Called it."
"How did you know?"
"Gore seems to understand her loneliness. Remember he was wandering alone when he found her. He seemed like he was used to being alone. Sakura too was alone now. So it would make sense for them to bond. But I must admit, his taking her as hie little sister like that was a bit of a shock."
Lorg sighed, the debacle with the pedo man had drained her. The samurai headed to the inn with her friend behind her,
"don't worry about that girl Lorgy. Worry instead for the poor idiots that try to hurt her while she has that Demon wrapped around her finger like that."
"yeah, that's what scares me. Goreleech is probably the single best player in the game right now. He is no doubt the most dangerous, so if she does get hurt, what do you think will happen to the rest of us trapped inside this death game with him?"
The ladies looked at each other and shuddered, for if Sakura were to die Goreleech would most likely kill them all.
This is my first crack at posting here. This story is one of my shorter, simpler works to toss up on a site. Yes I know the editing needs work and most of my other stories are a lot worse. I have no skills at editing and I do all my stories in Wordpad due to Microsoft Word locking up my computer. I'm looking for reviews on how the story is, things you like, dislike, favorite characters and why you get the idea.