'Father's' friend?

----vagabond's pov----

*Cough Cough*

My chest was burning from the pain that my trusted brother did.

"Damned bastard dared to stab me in the back? I'll get him for this after I recover!"

While I did manage to slash him back, it was 'cutting' too close for comfort!

Heh, I smiled a bit before the sword wound that was bleeding quite a bit started to hurt even more from the chuckle breathing grew more difficult to do with every breath he took.

I grit my teeth while making my way to a safe house not too far from here. Hopefully, the older adult will still be there to help me, that or his adopted daughter could do so as well.

I lifted my hand a bit from the leaking chest wound on the right side of my torso as my blood had already dripped down my leg. I need to hurry before it's too late!

------------

Akira hid in the dark areas that weren't touched by the little fire she had made. She grabbed a few rocks to either act as a distraction or as a weapon.

The wounded man had his hair tied in a top knot with some of his hair hanging freely on the side of his blood and grime stained face covered in sweat and blood, with bronze armor that covered the left side of his chest and most of his left arm with his left hand covering the right side of his chest where blood was slowly oozing out, he wore blood-stained slacks and was missing a sandal.

After taking a few more steps into Akira's current home, the man spoke in a weakened tone.

"Ol' Jin, I need your-!"

His energy left him before collapsing to the ground, but his words made Akira frown before deciding to help this NPC as the name Jin was the name of the 'teacher' was a part of her background.

Thanks to how this game was, it was hard to tell if you received a quest until you somehow completed it, bringing another layer of realism to it.

So who knows if this will be a blessing or a curse to save this man? But regardless, this was the best time to gain some points for a specific skill that many struggled to get...

... Medicine!

People in this timeframe often had fakes and Quack jobs for doctors, leading to an increase of deaths among the unfortunate and uneducated people.

Fake charms, scams, public performances, and many other things lead to hundreds if not thousands of families having their lives ruined for unnatural ways of healing people.

Akira read many medical books about types of wounds common in this timeline, but at the same time, she didn't have to deal with all of the 'microdetails.'

The game itself allows the NPCs to have bodies similar to players, thus even other than cleaning the injury and sealing the wound with tree sap, She also had to use up one batch of the healing paste to keep him alive.

After dealing with the man's wounds, She had no choice but to give up her straw bed to this man.

She was curious about who this man was and if he really knew her 'father' in the game.

With the bat placed on the apothecary bench on a handful pile of straw, Akira made her way outside the cave to get more ingredients for Medicine and some food!

Kind of like how it works in Skyrim, it was possible to eat in the game, but this time, you can even taste the flavors of each little spice within a single meal.

Hell, many people joined the game mainly for the promises and the additional perks within the game...

...you can even have sex and fully experience it, thus the gender lock gameplay.

But no way in hell was Akira going to do that yet. She wanted it to be according to how her natural body's gender was, and she definitely didn't want to find out what happens to her body in real life afterward.

She was already having too many problems in real life. Akira was not going to allow the same issues to pile upon her avatar as well!

Of course, she left the cave with the man's sword. It wasn't much, but it was better than fighting the local beast with her fists and the handful of pebbles in hand.

A weapon can make a big difference compared to attacking unarmed unless you have the specific skill for it.

Akira had plans to learn it. However, she still wanted to increase her chances of survival first before doing anything stupid at the beginning, especially at night. There were no such things as limits within the game. Each character will react and grow according to the player's actions.

If you stick with trying to be a scholar, your frame changes to a more skinny look, martial arts and the like a more toned and lean frame, too much focus on one section of the body can cause them to bulk up muscularly, while those that enjoy food too much gain a more 'chubbier frame.

Akira didn't travel too far before finding some usable herbs, thanks to the full moon that provided some light, using a torch was just asking for attention from both beasts and other humans, it wasn't the herb that she was looking for but it'll help in the long run.

A numbing agent plus healing paste can do wonders for those that train their hands and legs as weapons, at least according to the old forums, this time with it being VR Akira was going to not only try it but also experience it first hand especially when the realism of the game fluctuates according to how much the player synchronizes with their avatar.

It never goes past 95% as anything higher was just asking for trouble.

After a few hours, Akira had gathered a decent amount of herbs and different mushrooms including a few rabbits.

It wasn't much but she wasn't going to get too comfortable and have the cave be her 'permanent' home, the man that Akira saved was obviously attacked by someone from behind, so trouble will be coming and she needed the extra practice dummies to grow this character.

While there wasn't much of a loss should this character die, the NPC might be someone useful, and her future pet was something that still needed to be taken care of until it 'binds' itself to her.

The rustling bushes caused Akira to go full alert while trying to blend with the shadows as the cold voices made it clear that her actions were a good choice.

"Where did that Iga scum go to!?"

A more commanding kind of voice spoke afterward.

"It doesn't matter, Sagara, lead your men, Scour the mountain for any traces, kill any witnesses!"

"Leaving that bastard alive is only asking to be killed in our sleep!"

Akira wanted to have a look at who they were before escaping to have an idea of who to avoid.

However, with no skills related to stealth yet her simple movement disturbed the bushes that she was in, causing the group of angry and hungry for blood men to turn their eyes to her location.

"Looks like we have a rat nearby. Kill it."

A large man that had long hair, wearing a complete set of armor, and an Odachi tied to his hip ordered the men with a disturbing smile, the kind that was similar to a serial killer!

It was understandable.

With the lack of rules and regulations to control them, ronins, vagabonds, sellswords, and bandits would do as they pleased.

With the thrill of battle being their primary source of entertainment other than sex and drugs, they will try to relive the feeling as much as possible to somehow feel alive in this fucked up era.

Upon realizing that the rustling bushes had given away her position, Akira already made a run for it.

What? they outnumbered her, and there was the chance that they'd decide to do something else should these men discover her gender. Being in the middle of nowhere just acts as another plus for them.

Being a new player and lacking any skill to change the situation was just asking for a miserable ending.

Thus with the pile of rocks that got picked up earlier, Akira would throw one, hoping to at least get the throwing skill before getting cut down.

Akira got prepared for it. The odds were against her, especially when she was running away from her base in hopes of keeping the wounded man and her future pet safe.

Something that the man said earlier made her keener on helping the wounded person that occupied her bed.

Iga was one of the ninja clans during this time, so if she succeeds in gaining a good impression, there is a chance of learning their skills!

"Hopefully, my actions will be enough."

While running, Akira threw one of the pebbles that quickly struck one of the helmets of the chasing warriors that hounded her like rabid wolves.

"Death to the Iga scum!"

That was what one of the pursuers yelled out in a fit for getting hit on the helmet, thinking that the person that they were chasing was the very individual that they were hunting down!