Rei looks at the newcomers as they arrive in the Pseudospace. He doesn't really care for introductions, so he just ignores those and seems to get right to the point. "If you any of you three do want to do the more sensible thing and forget about your power, then go to your 'Options' Menu. Under 'Settings' you'll see an option for not entering Pseudospaces automatically. Turn that off, and you'll be prompted instead of being dragged into Pseudospaces."
"Otherwise" continues Rei begrudgingly, "first tell me what sort of Weapon you want to use, and no need to PM it to me either Hira." Rei doesn't really understand why Hira did that as Rei addresses Hira, not even using an honorific despite Hira being clearly older. "Tell me what Skills you have, and finally we will need to get you guys to learn how to create Psuedospace."
"Just get a feeling of the energy inside of you. Flow it from within you to your arm, and then out, all while connecting to Gaia, the will of the world. Do it well, and you may get something else as well. To break the Pseudospace, just do the same thing, only imagine getting out of the space." Rei explains this to the three, and then turns to the other highschoolers.
"Yes, but instead of fighting Monsters you'll be trying to almost kill each other." Rei says this in a very straightforward manner to answer Rin's question. "There is a Skill known as 'Second Wind' that you get after resisting dying or falling unconscious two times through either bodily vigor or willpower. So you two of you pair up, and the third will pair up with me. Attack them until their HP gets below 0, and then try to stay standing. If you die, then that is your own fault, but ill try and hold back."
Rei draws his sword now. He looks to the Adults. "Go to the other side of the park and then come back when you're done, and ill have your Weapons for you by the time you get back. If you get a Mana Skill, show it to me and tell me what it is. So I can get an idea of how you can utilize it." He also looks at Soren and Aiko. "I also need to know what sort of Skills you received as well."
"And also, which of you will be with me?" Rei now points his sword at the three highschoolers.
Hira was happy to hear all of the others introducing themselves so casually with one another. He was glad that he didn't have to interfere with everyone's introductions so he could get his weapon... Or so he thought.
When Rei began giving his big spiel, Hira became angered because he was actually being quite rude in his opinion. But Rei had said a lot of important things to him, so he listened despite his angered state. He didn't know exactly what was happening with the creation of pseudospaces, but he was going to try, despite his lack of awareness.
As soon as Rei finished though, he was going to chew him out. "Rei, you do realize how absolutely rude you were being to these people who were introducing themselves to us? I hope you do. I sent you that PM in the hopes that people would continue chatting and we could get a feel for who interacts best with who without being interrupted. But no, that certainly couldn't happen. And despite how you might think, I believe a team is made of a group, rather than a set of individuals." Hira huffed and looked Rei in the eye. "I want a giant hammer for a weapon. There. Was that clear enough for you? I'll tell you my skills once I have a weapon."
Hira stomped off in a direction that wasn't far from the group, but far enough that he could barely hear anything that Rei might say to him. Even if he did say anything, Hira would just ignore him.
Hira then tried his hand at pseudospace creation to see if he could impress anyone else. He was going to be successful at this, and Rei was going to look at him and be astounded with how well he created one. Hira raised his hand up, like Rei did when he seemed to break the pseudospace and he did what Rei had told him to do to create a pseudospace. Hira could feel energy flowing through him and then, when he tried to release it, he felt an enormous push backwards. He fell on the ground and felt like his insides had almost ripped apart. He received a window saying that he was inflicted with something called 'Mana Backlash'. Well... Just his luck.
Now Rei would probably come over and laugh at him for being such an enormous idiot. And of course he gets it right after telling off Rei for being a rude idiot. Oh despair, why must you be so cruel to those who wish to smite their enemies? Hira continued to lay on the ground and was motionless. Right now, if someone was to laugh at him, maybe he would consider giving up this power.
ReiAmagi vs Rin Narimasa + Hira Chikara
(@Renose vs @ERode)
An opportunity to see the skill of a Level 9 was one that Rin would not miss, even if Rei claimed that he would hold back. The boy's own special abilities were interesting, but she was far more interested in his actual combat ability, and as soon as he stopped talking, the raven-haired girl locked eyes with him, drawing her sword.
There was a part of her that wanted to test Aiko's mettle instead, but between someone her level and someone above her level, she always wanted to challenge the stronger one.
"Draw your sword," she said, the steel katana snug in her hands, "I will face you."
Rei wonders which of his three classmates are going to pair with him. As he may have guessed, it was the more martial one. Rei just draws his sword and chants "Q1", his shield appearing on his arm.
"I don't know what you mean by 'face you'. Sure this will be a small bit of a battle, but it's mainly going to be me stabbing you until you drop below 0." Rei just gets into a slight stance, shield forward and sword back.
"Whenever you're ready, I'll go ahead and stab you." Rei wasn't taking this in the same sense of a 'fight' as Rin was. Since this was more or less just for the sake of dropping Rin's HP below 0 for Rei. Rei didn't seem to have the same martial artist spirit that Rin did.
"If you're going to do it," she replied flatly, "Expect me to parry."
Rin shifted her stance into a defensive one.
"Triggering your Second Wind would be an interesting experience as well."
"Well if that is what you're trying to do, getting me to risk my life for your sake..." Rei's eyes narrow as he shifts his stance to make it a slight bit more serious now. "Then don't complain when you die. Since you're the one who is taking this road."
Rei sees the more defensive stance, and so tries for a different approach. "Pulse Push!" he thrusts his hand forward, a blast of Mana coming from it and straight at Rin.
Rin had expected an actual attack, not for Rei to use his more magical abilities instead. Taking a solid hit, she found herself blown back by the surprising force of the attack, landing hard on her back. Almost half of her HP was removed in that singular blow, and the raven-haired girl quickly scrambled up once more, readying herself for the next attack.
Powerful, but at the same time...its strength came from its ability to displace, not to do actual damage.
Stalwartly, she approached, closing the distance once more.
Rei watches as Rin closes the gap after getting blown backwards by his Pulse Push. The gap was much closer now. Unfortunately for Rin, Rei wasn't so eager to have that gap filled. Needless to say, another Pulse Push was sent right at Rin.
And unfortunately it hit once again. And once again, for some reason, she is blasted backwards and takes yet another nasty spill. And 12 more Damage of course.
"The Knockback Strength on this Skill isn't that great... how the hell do you keep falling down so easily?" Even Rei is a bit confused here as he watches Rin take yet another fumble. "Just how bad is your balance?"
"The instability of the power," Rin replied, rising the second time, centering her sword once more. A single hit. That's all she wanted right now, on this foe that maintained distance so well with that skill. And so, she approached, bracing for an impact, gaze hardening.
Rei just raises an eyebrow, shrugs, and then lunges forward with his sword, the tip heading straight for Rin's center. Unfortunately for Rei, the first blow is parried. But with a quick movement of his arm and a chanting of 'Swift Break!' he attempts to swipe Rin with his shield. A rather unconventional shield bash since it seems like he's going to do it with the sides instead of the actual front of the shield.
Except as he goes in for the hit, he clenches the handle as suddenly a blade ejects from the front of the shield, slashing across Rin's torso, dealing 26 Damage with a white hot slashing pain, this much stronger than the arrows. It unfortunately sends Rin down to -13 HP, meaning she has to now hope she can stay standing.
And as Rei sees Rin stay standing, he lets out an impressed whistle. "I guess you being a martial artist wasn't all talk, since you don't seem to be dead yet after that."
A hidden blade within the shield? Her backstep was too slow, even though Rei practically announced his attack, the edge cutting deep into her torso. Rin barely registered the pain before darkness filled her vision, her body pitching forward from the agony.
No. She refused to fall here.
The katana sank into the grass, a crutch to pull herself up with, before Rin lashed out with her sword once more. "Kote!" she shouted, instinctively, years of kendo matches flowing in. But the katana struck the rim of the shield instead, the blunt side smacking uselessly against it.
Ah. Another elementary mistake.
In the corner of her eye, she saw her HP decrease further.
Ah, right, it did come with a cost now, didn't it?
She plunged into the precipice of death, a terrifying, lonely abyss. Was it that easy? Was she that weak, even after spending so many years, winning so many championships? Had she seriously been defeated by someone her own age, without even landing a single blow?
Was she going to die like that?
The edge that she envisioned, that thin, thin line, became a thread of spider silk, a ladder that couldn't support her weight if she didn't let go of something.
So she did.
Rin's eyes gained their light a second time, grasped the katana a second time, and let out one deep breath, a breath that had been held for much longer than just a few seconds.
Rei steps back now as he sees Rin's HP at a horrible -18. "If you're HP ever drops below -50%, and you fail to stay standing, then you'll die. You're quite lucky that you didn't die."
A Skill has been created through a special action. The ability to better come back after being knocked down, Second Wind, has been created.
Right as you're about to fade, a burst of willpower or your own bodily toughness keeps you standing, and you then start fighting back harder. This Skill can be activated under one of two conditions. Automatically, as you resist death or unconsciousness, and manually by chanting its name.
If automatically activated, then you gain the additional benefits of being able to act faster and being healed an amount of HP equal to 5 + Regeneration (2) + Focus (3) = 10.
If manually activated, which is not encouraged, then after the Skill runs out you are Sealed until the Cooldown wears off and you are considered Fatigued. If you are already Fatigued, then the penalty is raised by 5. However; if used Manually then the Cooldown is cut in half.
Upon the Skill's activation, your Skills all have their MP and HP Costs reduced by 5 - 20% Focus (3). In addition, all of your Scores are raised by 1, excluding Resilience and Resistance, which are instead boosted by 20%. If you are in Near Death while this Skill is in effect, the Near Death penalty to stay consciousness does not apply.
Finally, this Skill lasts for 10 + Focus (3) = 13 Seconds. A powerful Skill, but it's more meant to be used as a trump card or to save yourself. You get 2 SP if activated automatically and 1 if activated manually. Furthermore, every Action that is bolstered by Second Wind gives you 1 SP.
Rei looks at Rin now. "So go ahead and rest." Rei sheaths his sword now, standing 5 yards away from Rin, the match being over for him. He seemed impressed with Rin's willpower... not so much with anything else really. Especially with how Rin fell so easily to two Pulse Pushes.
"Still... perhaps now that you've tasted death and being so easily defeated, you'll want to give up your power now? Nothing wrong with that."
So...that was death. A death she had barely managed to avoid.
"You're right," she said, slowly, methodically, walking towards Rei, "There would be nothing wrong with giving it up."
If she died, after all, it was all over. All the potential power in the world didn't mean anything if Rin was dead. For the first time ever, she had confronted her mortality, and it brought a whole different set of emotions through her. An uncommon fear. A crushing disappointment. A helpless anger.
Defeated so easily…
Her sword lashed out, a lightning fast strike that stopped an inch from Rei's neck.
"But as long as I still live, there will be more opportunities, more chances to stabilize this power."
Ice blue eyes locked onto Rei's heterochromatic ones.
"I shall surpass you, Amagi Rei."
Before Rei can raise his shield, suddenly there is a sword at his neck. He just uses his shield to push the sword away from his neck.
"Just don't die trying like you almost did now." He proceeds to put his Shield away with a "Q1" before looking to his right. About fifteen yards away from the pair, Hira appears laying on the ground.
"What's this?" Says Rei as he walks over to the laying down Hira, who's SPI if he checked it reads 10/11 thanks to the damage from Mana Backlash.
"I did warn you, that this isn't some game. You are risking your very life with each idiotic decision you make to delve further into the Abyss. Just give up, the Abyss isn't for someone as foolish as you." Rei just looks down at Hira now, arms crossed nonchalantly.
Hira opened his eyes to see the grayish sky, which was calming and depressing in its own strange way. Maybe this power wasn't meant for him. It seemed that he'd just gotten into trouble while under the influence of this power. This power was bad luck. It was... It was going to be his downfall and he knew it. After almost being defeated by a level 6 Goblin, he couldn't shake this strange feeling that he'd encountered something special, but something extremely dangerous. Rei even warned him about this. Was he willing to throw his life away for a game such as this? With stakes as high as his own life? Was he truly willing to embark on a journey of this caliber? He could be like the heroes in video games who defeat everything in their path, or he could be like one of the side characters that end up dying and changing the plot for the worse.
Hira closed his eyes for a moment and pondered what he'd be.I want to be the hero. Of course I want to be the hero. Who doesn't?Hira took a deep breath as a familiar voice approached him.
Rei belittled him with his words, which made Hira exceedingly angry. First, Rei almost kills him with one of his own attacks. Then, he continues to annoy him with his warnings that he'll be giving up his life. And lastly, Rei insults him. Hira had enough. This was a ridiculous way of acting, and he was going to tell him off in his own way.
Hira stood up and faced Rei, an angered look on his face. Hira could definitely feel pain right now, but he did not care. This child needed to learn that continually warning someone about something they've clearly already thought about was just being a plain asshole.
Hira's pitch dropped significantly and his femininity seemed to disappear as he spoke. "You know, I was willing to overlook how annoying you were being when you continued to warn me about this power, but this is the absolute last straw. I should've known something was wrong the first time we met, when you almost killed me." Hira crossed his arms, just like Rei, attempting to mock them. "But please, keep going. Don't stop insulting me. Don't stop picking on an adult. It only makes me want to keep doing this more."
Aiko paid the fit that one of the newcomers, an adult, threw at Rei only limited attention. She had already categorized their 'Mentor' appropriately. If anything, maybe she could manipulate this Hira person into going against Rei. After all, seeing what an easy game he had with the raven-haired tomboy she was aware of standing no chance.
"How about I'll show you the ability I got?" Aiko suggested playfully at Rei before her eyes finally focused on Soren. "Right…" She addressed him. They were supposed to… kill each other to near death for some sort of other ability? That… would be useful, though Aiko had already plans of her own.
"Shall we get started then?" Following with an 'Inventory' and a friendly smile as the white-hair pulled out her knives, giving Soren a chance to respond for now.
Soren was really starting to hold Rei with disdain, he was coming off as one of those players who played only the popular games, the type who only spoke to talk trash in a game or belittle a teammate. One of those Garbage Gamers. Soren snorted in disdain, he turned his eyes to the adult, Hira, with pity.
In response to Rei's demand to know their skills, Aiko was going to show it, which likely meant that it was going to be used against him. Great, someone else got an offensive skill Soren sighed, "My skill can only be used after I gain another mana skill, it is used to enhance my mana abilities, Assuming skills level up or that we have a tech tree of some kind, it likely unlocks something later." He shrugged, it was mostly true.
With Aiko approaching him as his opponent, Soren knew that he was in for a rough time, she was acrobatic, and seemed to have a bit of blood lust. He had his work cut out for him. Holding his Mace in his organic hand, and forming a fist with his other, he replied, "Ready when you are."
~~
It seemed like rather than just 'hitting each other until near-death' Soren wanted to put up a fight. Good. Very Good. Aiko's lips curled up even more. Getting hit by his mace was surely not… nice, though seeing how they'd spar Aiko had plans of her own.
"Well, don't be too rough, please? It's my first time." She tried to throw him off before actually dashing straight towards Soren, initiating the first strike!
~~
I just watched you kill skeletons with glee and skill, don't think I'm going to underestimate you… Soren refused to drop his guard, preparing for the attack from both sides, Soren parried the attack from Akio's main hand, and decided to stick out his mechanical hand to take the attack from her off hand.
"We are to drop each other's HP to zero, no promises on not being rough." He was close and there was no buildings for her to do some crazy acrobatics off of, all he had to do was swing the blunt metal at her, sadly with the gamer body, a broken rib wouldn't be as effective as normal, nor would his weapon be as efficient on the living as it was the undead.
~~
Her attack had been rather ineffective, though not unexpected. "Not bad." The red-eye praised him before she ducked under his own swing. Using one of her arms as an extended support Aiko followed up with a swing of her own leg aimed at Soren's leg: trying to make him lose balance and fall to the ground.
Too slow! Soren's mace glided past Aiko, the effort he put into his swing was a bit too much, between the momentum and Aiko's counter, He knew that he was going down.
Landing on his back, Soren knew from years of gaming, that this was not an ideal position. But based on his combat appearance, and how he had fared thus far, if he was lucky, he could use it as a trap. Come at me, I'll be ready,leaving an obvious opening, Soren looked like he was going to get ready to pick himself up.
~~
Easy. Aiko had... experience. Alas, not enough to realize that Soren was calm enough trying to lay a trap. Quickly getting on all fours again roughly around the same time Soren was falling down the white-hair tried to go for a decisive strike aimed at the boy's neck. Towering over the boy like a merciless butcher.
There was something about the look on her face. As Soren lay in wait for his trick, he noticed something...off putting. She means to actually end me!With no time to properly counter the attack, Soren shoved his left arm in the path of Aiko's blades, taking damage, but not nearly as much as a potentially fatal neck attack would of done.
With the blade in his arm, he struck out at her face with his mechanical hand, he was going to gouge her eyes, but a simple punch was all he had time for at this point.
A fatal strike. A killing wound. A planned accident. Or was it? Aiko was so close, yet so far. Blocking the girl's attack with his arm the dagger stuck deep into the flesh.
Not enough.
About to use the second weapon to strike and tear it was a metallic fist that Aiko was greeted with instead. Something she... wasn't used to. It hurt more than the crimson-eyed killer expected. Letting go of the weapon that she had struck into his arm the girl stumbled a few steps back. "Urgh..." The dripping of blood made just a fantasy thanks to her Gamer's Body.
For now, with just a little bit of distance between the two, Soren seemed safe.
"The goal is Zero HP, not to slaughter the other!" Soren barked at Aiko, her stumbling back giving him a chance to get up from the ground. Looking at the weapon in his arm, then back at Aiko, he pulled it out then tossed it back to her. "Keep your emotions in check." Soren then rushed at the girl again, with his mace held tightly in both hands, he just wanted to finish the task given to them.
~~
Aiko was perplex for a moment as Soren reasoned with her. Seems like he... figured out? Though attributed it more towards her battle-lust as he actually returned her own weapon. Good. "AAaahhh I'm sorry I just got so i-" Aiko wasn't even able to finish speaking as Soren already went on the offensive again. Killing him now was... out of the question.
Maybe it was because Aiko was partially caught off-guard as how stupidhuman he was about her behaviour. Or maybe because the fight just became a lot less interesting. Regardless, as the white-hair attempted to dodge another, horizontal, strike Soren hit her hard - and good. If not for her Gamer's Attribute Aiko was sure some ribs would have been broken now as the weapon shoved the white-hair to the side, sliding along the dirt like a lifeless rag-doll.
~~
His blow struck true. Aiko was hit hard by the swing, and caught off guard apparently too as it hit better than he thought it should have, and interrupted her talking.
"Well, guess next is my turn to go down." Soren was surprised, he didn't think he would truly be able to hold his own against Aiko. it was probably due to luck, and the setting not fitting in her favour. Soren walked over and watched to see what would happen next, would she vanish in a flash of light? Like when when Stoneman dies? Or would she disappear, leaving behind a crystal with her skills? Or would she manage to pull through and gain this new skill they had been told to acquire?
~~
Darkness.
Everything went black as Aiko tried to recover from that critical blow. Pain. Death. The proof of being alive. A prospect the white-hair wasn't opposed against. But, if she were to die, it had to be in a glorious slaughter. Refusal.
A light.
A few seconds had passed as Aiko was lying there without moving any muscle. A few seconds that gave Soren a feeling of guilt to have killed another human being. Too many seconds for Aiko's own taste. She was weak. Had been weak. Fighting without killing while still giving it all... maybe it wasn't too bad. Finally getting up again - with Soren hopefully allowing her to recover - the girl stumbled a few steps to the side. Her Health Bar had been... depleted?
"Heh..." A smile. "That was very funny... ." Despite the Bad Situation she was in Aiko seemed to still enjoy herself. "I'll try... to be gentle. I promise... ." She gave Soren a heads-up before her eyes became more focused. Her grip tighter. Lowering her stance it was just another second before she dashed towards Soren.
A few meters before reaching him the white-hair threw one of her knifes at the boy. If he were to defend against it, Aiko was sure it would give her enough of an opening to go follow-up with a melee attack.
~~
She didn't vanish, no, instead she got back up. Soren was relieved to see the white haired girl get back up, if she stayed down, that was one less crazy in the world, but he truly never thought to kill another human, or at least, not with his own hands.
"You really are a unique one aren't you." Unsure on if he should complement, fear, or be impressed by Aiko, Soren tried to get ready for the next attack. Expecting a mad rush from her again, Soren got ready, though it was 'his turn' to go down, he might as well get some training experience out of it.
Not wanting to let her get too much of an upper hand Soren charged right at Aiko, expecting her to do the same. He was wide open. He never thought she would throw her knife at him. The knife hitting its mark, along with him running towards it, it was enough. "And...full...of surprises…" Soren smirked, and pulled the knife out from under his collarbone before falling to his side, his health bar had been depleted.
A feeling of loss, a feeling of slowly drifting down into a numb abyss. Was this death? It was more welcoming than he thought it would be.
No no no no, get up, you have things to do still
Digging deep inside, He found the strength needed, it was like being awoken suddenly from a dream, Soren let out a gasp as he looked around, his vision slowly fading in from black.
Hit.
Her plan proved to be successful. The thrown knife hit. The other one, still in her hand, aimed at his neck once again. All Aiko now had to do was kill him.
...
...
The crimson eyed girl stopped in her motion, the piercing metal just a few centimeters away from Soren's neck. For a moment, the white-hair seemed conflicted before she managed to retreat without saying a word.
As his vision cleared, Soren catches the appearance of Aiko, stepping away from Soren. It would appear she resisted her desire to kill him. Chuckling, Soren picked himself up, Rubbing his hand to the spot where the knife had dealt the fatal blow. "Well," he started, trying to think of the best way to lay his thoughts out, "Thank you for letting me get back up again?" He flashed Aiko a smile.
Majima followed the others to the park, there he couldn't believe it, they were a bunch of kids, crazy looking kids, but kids nonetheless. But with a power called the gamer Majima guessed that kids would be the ideal people for it. Kinda left him feeling outta place, even with the other older people around him. He stood there staring at them all, we're a motley crew of people with this power of ours. He thinks to himself as his gaze goes over each one of them, two white haired kids, one with different colored eyes...who was also the strongest of them all by far, being more than quadruple anybody else's level...no doubt skill wise as well. The others however were around his same level or a little higher, no worries there really, he didn't want to rashly call people out personality wise as they all have really just met. But this Rei kid was rubbing Hira the wrong way.
Apparently Hira didn't like how Rei was trying to "save him" by calling him an idiot and telling everyone to drop this power, and frankly the kid was rubbing himself the wrong way too. Kid had no respect for one, and a complete lack of empathy for another...and coming from someone like Majima, saying someone has a lack of empathy means a lot. However Majima would just step back and watch as people paired up. His arms folded across his chest, as he watched the others beat each other senseless in these pseudo-spaces. Frankly, most of it was going over his head, he wasn't a big gamer, not since his childhood actually. He just kind of stood here watching as the others abshed each others brains in and then kept themselves up and moving about. Psychotic children he shakes his head.
Whatever Jin lacked or was unable to explain about the gamer power seemed to lie with Rei. After a humored quip from Soren and an introduction that fit Rin's calm demeanor, the most veteran gamer delved into a string of tasks to be completed without so much as a simple 'hello'. Which, ended up with Hira stomping away angrily from the rest of the group.
Yikes, looks like there's some beef there.
Tae Min watched as the riled gamer made his way to a secluded section of the park with a cocked head. Then, he slowly turned back to Rei and the rest of the group. "I'd like a rapier, or a light sword, if you could," he tacked his request onto Hira's, in an attempt to diffuse the air.
Ever since Hira had mentioned the prospect of weapons, Tae Min had thought pretty deeply about his options. However, he quickly realized that all the flashier weapons he wanted probably required some prior training, or would be too heavy for him to even lift. So he benched his dreams of swinging axes with his nonexistent bloodthirsty brother, and settled for a weapon that better suited his build.
"As for skills, I have observe, night owl, movement, perception, knowledge, the two gamer skills, and... Sleight of hand, which doesn't have any text," Tae Min listed out his skills.
With nothing else to do but follow Rei's instructions, Tae Min walked his way over to a section of the park, tapping away at his options menu as he walked. Ah, there we go. No more random Pseudospace invasion, he thought as he closed the window.
Tae Min unconciously chose a soft, grassy patch of the park to serve as his training grounds. Though, what exactly he was supposed to do was... questionable to say least. Rei's description of "connecting to the whole will of the world" was akin to an athlete attempting to describe instinctual movements. It was vague and nondescript. Though, Tae Min still had to try, nonetheless.
He breathed in and let his eyes flutter shut.
What am I supposed to be feeling right now? Where do I want to be?
The thoughts flitted across Tae Min's conciousness as he relaxed his body and rested his clasped hands snugly against his navel.
Being inside a pseudospace was much like being inside in some ways, he realized. There was no breeze, no wind - just an innate stillness that seized the world, bringing all motion to a halting stop. But if that was the case, Tae Min's thoughts trailed...
I'd rather be outside.
The first time he had been allowed to venture outside in the streets unattended, his sister had been so worried. She fretted over every little thing - what if he had gotten lost, or kidnapped, or mugged, or so on. But Tae Min didn't have that fear.
No, all he had was the bubbling excitement that welled from his chest, bright, fierce, and intense.
Without realizing it, Tae Min smiled as he replayed the memories and emotions - walking to a park, looking at shops, taking the train, losing his wallet twice, getting a little lost, and finding his wallet twice again, before returning home practically glowing - the fullness of joy echoed in him.
And when Tae Min breathed out and opened his eyes, he found that he had done it. He successfully made a pseudospace, with one unconciously raised hand in the air, palm splayed towards the sky. His success also seemed to be rewarded with a few more windows:
A Skill has been created through a Special Action. By channeling an outward, surging wave of energy from within, the ability to better do so, Mana Wave, has been created.
You launch from your hand a wave of Mana to attack foes. It has a Range of 10 + 50% SPI (10) = 15 Yards. This powerful Mana Projectile has a Max Damage of 10 + 25% WIS (10) = 12 and a Damage Mod of 5 + 50% SPI (10) = 10.
"Mana wave, huh?" he mused. "A bit tacky in name, but..." Tae Min trailed off, a smile already working onto his face. His light eyes landed on Majima, who stood apart from the battles going on between some of the younger gamers. I have got to try this out.
Tae Min broke into a bouncy walk to where the other gamer stood and called out to him when he was within earshot, "Hey Realtor! Wanna help me get that cool second wind thing Rei Rei was talking about?"
A Fight In The Passing
Kazuo Majima and Tae Min Lee
Majima looked over and nodded "Heh, sure thing, I need to get some aggression out anyway. Not at you though just cause this is getting tiresome already." The tall man walks over and stands in front of Tae Min... "Just to let you know this might hurt a lot, I'm not exactly someone who holds back in a fight." He decides to move into his usual stance and looks at Tae Min "You think this is wise though, going along with it...I mean sure a life outside the norm is no doubt going to be fun and dangerous and nuts. But at the same time you sure you wanna die for something like this?" He asks Tae Min out of the blue and then moves forward by just a bit and aims a punch to the other Gamer's torso right smack dab in the middle of his chest.
Tae Min's mouth snapped shut when Majima's fist landed swiftly on his torso, his response dying in his throat. Back, his mind screamed. With more instinct than faculty, his feet scrambled backwards to make space between himself and the older gamer.
Tae Min rested a hand over the dull ache in his midsection. The pain was a solid reminder of Majima's previous claim of going all out. "I guess I'll have to see," he answered with a rueful smile. He braced his feet on the grass, readying himself to dodge the next hit.
That is, if I live through this beating… oh boy.
Majima smiled at Tae Min "Ya know it's not uncommon for me to knock someone out with a good punch like that. You're making it interesting for me." Majima moves forward again and goes for a one two shot to Tae Min's head and stomach, as he is punching he asks in a low tone "What do you think of the others...I'm not one to rush to conclusions but half of em seem off."
Tae Min managed a quick, "Really now?" as he narrowly dodged Majima's next blows by veering hard to the left. Even with his prior anticipation of the older gamer's attacks, Tae Min found himself hard pressed to keep out of their way. "You don't seem all too upright yourself, Mr. Realtor," he chuckled as he readied himself once again.
Majima smiled at that "Huh, what do you mean? I'm an upstanding businessman who just likes to keep himself safe and in top shape." He coyly chuckles and throws another couple of blows, aiming for Tae Min's stomach and head again. His knee coming for the other Gamer's stomach and a quick uppercut for his chin. "That wasn't really an answer though buddy."
Tae Min's readiness pulled himself out of the way of Majima's first punches, but he was quickly caught off guard by the knee that dug itself into his still throbbing torso. A choked sound involuntarily rose out of his throat, but got shut down when the older gamer's fist came back up to clock him in the jaw. Tae Min's teeth top and bottom teeth all but crashed into each other, making a sharp bolt of pain race through his head.
Despite the pain, though, the thought of Back up! still registered in his head. But Tae Min had the grace of a beached whale as he tried, then lost his footing and fell unceremoniously on his ass. He looked up and opened his mouth, only to close it in favor of another rueful smile.
He knew what was coming well enough.
After a beating or two Majima puts his hand out for Tae Min and helps him up as well as shaking. "Heh well I think you got it now at least right? I mean fightings all well and fun, but this pummeling and watching you go down sucks ass. So tell me we don't gotta do it anymore." The Realtor says, his jacket neatly folded to the side, despite no blood popping out of them he was still hesitant on getting it messed up from constantly fighting, his white button up shirt was soaked with sweat from the toil of the battle, he decides to unbutton and drop down to the tank top he wears under it. The snakes on both his shoulders visible as was the coloration and patterns of his tattoos. He stretches and glances around, well seeing as I'm done beating on you anyway I say we head out and either grab a bite, or head our separate ways, the latter might still be the best outta the two." Majima says and looks around.
Tae Min pulled took hold of Majima's hand feeling worse for wear. Just how many times had he been on the receiving end of the other Gamer's fist? He himself had lost count the second time after he blacked out without getting the second wind ability. And even when he had finally gotten it, he hadn't expected it to feel like it did.
It was almost like Tae Hyun unnie's spicy seafood stew. Warm, with a little kick.
Tae Min ran a hand haphazardly through his tussled hair, sparing a small glance at the older gamer. Though he had more or less deduced that Majima wasn't quite… normal, the more he was around the other gamer, the more curious he grew. Possession of a knife, ominous tattoos, decked out in a suit, which, he can fight in, no less. But while Tae Min was curious about the man, he figured that he had learned enough about him for the day. There was always another day to chat up realtors in hiding.
"I think I'm going to call it a day and head home," he replied. "Got school tomorrow after all with my minty teacher." Not to mention, Tae Min was also dying to try out his new Mana ability, which he never got the chance to while getting beat up by Majima.
"Thanks for the help Mr. Realtor, I appreciate it," Tae Min beamed.
Majima smiled and waved "Hey no problem, glad to be of some help. Here, my card." He hands a very professional business card to Tae Min "It has my pertinent info on it, also if you wanna train, either in the psuedospace, or just body training I've got a gym I go to, normally after work, but with having a couple weeks off I've got nothing to do but go there and meet up with some of my bo...co-workers and shoot the breeze, and play some cards or something." He shrugs, walking over and grabbing his jacket, he tosses his shirt in his inventory, as well as his old and new knives. "Anyway just text me if ya want to, if not I can always workout alone, but the monster training should be done while partying up as it's said right." He chuckles and winks, putting his jacket back on and walking off, waving behind him at Tae Min "Later mister gentleman."
Rei just waits for Hira to be done speaking before he just sighs heavily. There's nothing Rei can really say. Well, maybe except one thing.
"Fine, just don't say that I never warned you. And don't complain when your obsessively stubborn behavior gets you killed." Rei begins to click on his phone now, taking about half a minute before suddenly a UFO comes down from the heavens, a large package tied to its underside.
He takes out 20,000 Yen from his inventory, putting it into the hole in the top that opens up. After putting the money in, the UFO beeps for a few moments before a robotic voice comes from it.
"Payment registered. 150 Points added to your Membership. Please retrieve your Items, then reattach box to delivery unit."
Rei removes the box, takes out what looks like a very large hammer, and then puts the lid back on the box. Once he reattaches the box the UFO beeps again.
"Thank you for choosing the Abyss Auction for all of your Abyssal Shopping needs." speaks a female voice from the unit, before the UFO then vanishes into thin air.
"Requires 10 STR. You just meet that limit, which is what I was hoping for. So here you go. You can pay me back with Monster Drops." He reaches out and puts the heavy weapon in the effeminate man's hands, somehow knowing how high his STR score is. "Now its time, since you failed to get a Pseudospace going, to get you a different useful Skill now. To do this, you are going to have to resist dying or passing out."
Rei now pulls his sword from his inventory. Of course, someone else could volunteer to fight Hira if they wanted to, or perhaps Hira could elect someone else.
"So just stand still while I stab you a few times. I'll still hold back of course."
Rin had watched the exchange between the two with some interest, and she rose as the effeminate man received his own gift from Rei. Though the high schooler had a massive chip on his shoulder, at the very least, he was uncharacteristically generous.
"I'll duel him," Rin said, rising, "My Mana Slice is a much more stable source of damage compared to sword swings."
And, in a way perhaps, she wanted a degree of validation in regards to her own power.
Hira almost hissed at Rei when he tried to warn him again. He held it back this time because the child at least had the decency to give something to him that he asked for. As he received the hammer from Rei, he was hoping it would be something with a larger top part, like something from a fantasy game. However, he would gladly take the hammer for now. It seemed like a very practical weapon for him and he was at least used to using hammers a bit.
When Rei told him that he was going to be stabbed by them, his eyes sharpened. Was this Rei trying to take another crack at him for what he had said before? But then, one of the other Gamers offered to take some swings at him with some mana skill he didn't know of. He knew it would hurt, but he didn't have a grudge against this person. And she seemed nice enough… Maybe.
"It'll help her level up the skill or whatever, so we might as well let her smack at me." I'm the stupid punching bag of the group it seems. Why doesn't everyone just go and ahead and make their rounds, why don't they?
Rei sees Rin walk over, and hears what Hira says about her training the Skill. This makes him just shrug. "Alright. Sounds good to me." The hetero-chromatic Gamer sheaths his sword into his Inventory, before moving away a few yards to give the two some space.
He wonders if there had been any sensible Gamers at all who wanted the power gone. Instead he has to deal with a Swordsman, a stubborn Ikemen, a strange Mechanic, a Psychotic, a "Delinquent", and... a nice guy? Rei has no idea what to make of Tae in all honestly.
The most normal of all of us really.
Rei just watches Rin and Hira now. He figures he may as well observe this Mana Slice some more. Perhaps use it for an idea for his own abilities. After all...
This stepping stone relationship is a two-way one after all.
Rin nodded at the man's assent, before drawing her blade. Pacing until she was ten yards away from him, the fairy of the kendo club breathed deeply, feeling the phantom pain that remained even after the wounds have healed.
"Draw your weapon, Hira."
Hira noticed that Rin had moved away from him and he was interested to see what she was going to do with this power. However, he did not expect her to ask him to draw his weapon. He thought it was interesting at least, and this was his chance to fight another opponent and get practice with his new weapon.
"Alright, you're on." Hira held his hammer in both hands and stood ready for her assault on him.
Let's see what he's made of.
Approaching until she was just barely within the range for the Mana Slice, Rin swung, tracing a magical line through the air as she called out, "Mana Slice!"
A blue blade shot out from the finger that had extended from her sword grip, flying towards the effeminate hammer man, striking him fully. It was a direct hit, and yet, only 3 damage emerged from that strike. Unsettling, how weak this ability was. She shifted her stance.
In the end, a steel blade was still a better companion, wasn't it?
Hira looked over toward Rin and was almost confused because of their distance. They were battling with a sword, yet they had such a strange amount of distance between them? What could this 'Mana Cut' do?
Hira readied himself for the blow that was about to come from the sword. However, that was his downfall. He expected the sword to come crashing down on him, but it was actually a blade that shot from the finger on their sword grip! He felt a sharp pain where he had been hit, but the blade only happened to do 3 damage to him, so he shrugged it off. Although that was 10% of his health now gone.
Hira hurried toward Rin and gave the hammer a swing, using the hammerhead to strike. When he struck her, it dealt 33 damage, which he thought was a hit that did incredibly high damage from such an ordinary-seeming weapon. He was almost too shocked by the fact that he had hit her that hard. He almost felt the need to apologize the moment after.
"See?" Rin gritted her teeth through the pain. "You can do something after all."
At this range, it was unimaginable that she'd miss, and the raven-haired girl swung her sword for the body, turning it to the dull edge right as it struck. With a softer metal and Hira's naturally resilient body, combined with a blow that wasn't filled with nearly as much killing intent as she showed the Skeletons or Rei, only 17 damage was dealt.
Hira felt Rin's blade dig into him and deal him 17 damage, but he wondered why her weapon, which seemed to be of a quality that was probably the same as his, deal much less damage. He stood his ground for now, hoping to guard against Rin's upcoming attack. And he'd make sure to observe the blade as it struck this time.
"If you seek to only defend yourself," Rin said, "Disengage first. You're still in my optimal range of combat, and you still have not moved."
The sword raised for just an instant, implying a vertical blow, before the tip dipped downwards, below Hira's attempts to parry. Another flick of the wrist sent it upwards once more, the dull edge striking him in the wrist.
With such momentum, it would have cracked his bones, but instead, all the feedback Rin received was 16 damage, her foe's eyes dulling as unconsciousness set in. Would he rise again? Would he strike again?
"Show me what you're made of. Do you plan on facing these dangers with such little resolve?"
As Hira tried to hold his own against this swordswoman, he did not expect her to hit his wrist. As he felt the smack of the blade, he gritted his teeth. And with that, his health plunged into the negatives, at -6. As he attempted to grasp consciousness and speak back to her about his 'little resolve', he fell to the ground and fell unconscious.
And with his fall, Rei heaves a sigh. He raises his hand above his own head.
"Empty Heal ID"
Suddenly, everyone in the ID would feel a small warmth wash over them, as not only did their Regeneration Scores raise by 2 according to a Window that appears in front of them, but they are healed for an amount equal to said new Score as well.
Unfortunately this wouldn't be enough to revive Hira right away, but at least he would be able to regain consciousness in around 45 seconds or so.
As he fell, Rin sighed. She could understand a bit now, why Rei warned them about the dangers of the Abyss, why he thought of them all as fools. Her training didn't mean much in the face of superior levels, and these people? Their technique was even less than her own.
But, regardless, she sat there, waiting for Hira to come back to his senses.
As Hira felt himself come back into consciousness, he noticed that Rin was simply sitting there and Rei seemed to have the same expression on their face. He was sure they were disappointed in him in some way because of this.
"Alright. Let's go again." Hira started to get up and waited for Rin to get up and go again.
"You're at 1 HP," she said simply, "Sit back down and rest."
"I'm not going to sit down. I need to learn this skill so Rei will quit riding my ass about 'giving up this power'." He stood his ground against this seemingly calm girl.
"Pushing yourself isn't going to help." She paused. "Why do you need Rei's approval for this?"
What she sought was the ability to reach the same level of mastery as her father. To that end, the ability to defeat Rei, a level 10 compared to that level 11, was a stepping stone, a checkpoint that indicated she was almost there. But Hira? Why was he so interested in the acknowledgement of someone younger than him?
Rin remained sitting, cross-legged.
"Pushing myself? This isn't pushing myself, this is completely grinding myself into the ground. Which is apparently what I have to do to get Rei to quit bagging on me. And why do I seek their approval? Well, first of all, they seem to know more about this power than any of us. It'd be stupid not to respect them for the knowledge that they have." At this point, Hira was tired of standing and decided to sit down with Rin. She wasn't going to move, so why would he try to get her to move? If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
"This is pushing yourself." A flat rejection of the flowery words that Hira used to describe his activities. She understood, in a way, why he stayed around. A leech then. A leech that saw an 'easy' route to more power, through the instruction of a more experienced individual. One that didn't consider how that individual climbed up the summit with their own ability.
Where would any of them be if Rei hadn't instructed them about the presence of Pseudospace, taught them how to summon monsters to fight, gave them weapons more or less for free?
It would have been a much different story. But, nevertheless…
"And? Where would you go if Rei was more obstinate, someone who would not teach you all he knows, regardless of how impressive or worthy you believe you are? Do you chase after Rei because you want to easily master this ability? Would you fold over if he refused to mentor you?"
"She's right you know." Rei is sitting down not too far from them, reading a book with a blank cover on it of all things. "I only pursued my power because I didn't know the dangers of the Abyss. I was taught these things by two individuals with ?'s for levels. People so powerful, that no amount of good luck or determination would let me stand any more than a snowball's chance in hell against them."
Rei closes the book now, leaving it in his lap as he looks at them. "I call you a fool, because that is how you are acting. You are only pursuing this because it's there, and because it's fascinating" He sighs heavily now. "Even though you know the dangers that can very well end your life, you are just being an obstinate, stubborn fool." Rei keeps repeating that one word. Fool.
"Like me, you have no real reason to pursue this other than it's just a change to the normal. Of course" He looks at Rin, and then at Soren and the others as well "none of you probably have real good reasons at all." He just shakes his head. "Unlike me, however; you can still back out."
"How," Rin said, her smouldering eyes settling onto Rei, "Are you so certain that no reason exists?"
"I seek this power to attain the heights that my father and grandfather reached. Aiko seeks this power to attain a vengeance that society can not provide naturally." She breathed out. Did she really believe that? "Hira, what is your reason?"
Hira looks toward the ground and sits sullenly as he is grilled multiple times by Rei and seemingly insulted by Rin. At the end of their entire speech, he just starts laughing. Hysterically laughing, in fact. "You know, I was really getting mad, but it doesn't matter, does it? Why do I need a reason to want to explore a power that I was given? Why do I need a reason to use a tool that I've been given? Why the hell do I need to prove to anyone here that I am capable of whatever-the-hell you want me to be capable of? That's an unattainable goal that you've given me. And guess what Rei, you're stuck in your damn ways. The way you're going to teach us is the way that you taught yourself. That doesn't mean I have to learn from you."
He looks at Rin. "And you. Who do you take me for? Some prick who's going to use Rei until he's all done? Rei is a much more educated person and he is the best resource to go to when in need of information. He's like a book, see? A very intelligent book that has damn legs and walks and talks and teaches you the shit it knows." Now, he gets up. "Now, get up. Fight me so I can get this damn skill and move on. Talking about this shit is exhausting, and I'm literally about to die."
So there wasn't anything worthwhile after all. No spark, no light. Nothing but hunger.
"A man without a purpose, a duty, is but a demon." Rin rose, her sword emerging from another dimension.
Once again, ten yards were walked, and once again, she centered her sword, waiting.
Rei just chuckles beneath his breath and rises. He had to admit, Hira was a goddamn fool. But at least he was slightly entertaining. He stands up, moving back a few paces to give them some space.
"Well you may be a fool... but at least you have guts I guess. Meaning I really can't stop you huh" Not a trait Rei considered admirable in this particular scenario... but he was still impressed nonetheless that he actually just straight up went and said all of that. He is still definitely gonna remember the book part though.
"Anyway, if you die, I just want you to know that I warned you."
When Rin finished, Hira simply blew her off.
And then Rei warned him again and he tightened his grip on his hammer. "Let's just get this over with."
Hira went to rush her and acted like he was going to swing his hammer, but did not. He was full of rage, but he was going to get this skill. He was going to get Rin to hit him.
Too far, but he rushed in anyways.
So she met his charge. Five quick steps and she was in range, the katana swinging down in a wide arc. If this was a tournament, Rin would have transitioned midway into a do strike instead, but Hira was slow.
It struck him head on, 17 damage dealt.
As Hira was dealt this 17 damage, he felt himself get hit by the blade and fell to his knees. But, he used his hammer to get himself back up. He wasn't going down, not right now. He was going to get this skill to prove that he wasn't incompetent. His eyes filled with a burning determination as he wore a crazed expression on his face as he faced Rin.
Right after this though, he was hit by a Mana Cut from Rin. At least she had the decency not to actually kill him. After taking this hit, he fought to stay up, but he fell into unconsciousness.
Right as he fell though, he would get a notification.
A Skill has been created through a special action. By bracing yourself to defend yourself from harm the ability to better do so, Guard, has been created.
You brace yourself and get into a momentary, general defensive stance. Doing this not only raises your Defense Score for the form of defense you're utilizing by 5, but it also raises your Resilience and Resistance by 20%. If you manage to fully negate the opponent's attack with your toughness, or Fully Defend, this can lead them wide open to a Chance Attack.
Not the Skill Rei was thinking about, but a new Skill nonetheless. Then it would take about five minutes for him to get back up.
After getting back up, he would notice the window and close it. That wasn't about dying or getting low on HP, so he knew that that wasn't the skill he was trying to get. He'd ask Rin to hit him another time to try and get the skill that Rei wanted him to get. Which had an unknown name and effect, but would apparently be helpful to keep from dying.
Rin would use Mana Cut once more to known Hira back down into the negatives and Hira felt himself fall a little, but he fought back into consciousness. When he fought back into consciousness, he'd get a notification.
A Skill has been created through a special action. The ability to get up after resisting the darkness of death and make a comeback, Second Wind, has been created.
Right as you're about to fade, a burst of willpower or your own bodily toughness keeps you standing, and you then start fighting back harder. This Skill can be activated under one of two conditions. Automatically, as you resist death or unconsciousness, and manually by chanting its name.
If automatically activated, then you gain the additional benefits of being able to act faster and being healed an amount of HP equal to 5 + Regeneration (2) + Focus (3) = 10.
If manually activated, which is not encouraged, then after the Skill runs out you are Sealed until the Cooldown wears off and you are considered Fatigued. If you are already Fatigued, then the penalty is raised by 5. However; if used Manually then the Cooldown is cut in half.
Upon the Skill's activation, your Skills all have their MP and HP Costs reduced by 5 - 20% Focus (3). In addition, all of your Scores are raised by 1, excluding Resilience and Resistance, which are instead boosted by 20%. If you are in Near Death while this Skill is in effect, the Near Death penalty to stay consciousness does not apply.
Finally, this Skill lasts for 10 + Focus (3) = 13 Seconds. A powerful Skill, but it's more meant to be used as a trump card or to save yourself. You get 2 SP if activated automatically and 1 if activated manually. Furthermore, every Action that is bolstered by Second Wind gives you 1 SP.
And with this, Hira's Second Wind training was complete.
Once everyone had Second Wind, then it was time for a few more fights with Skeletons after Rei added the other three Gamers to the 'Bus Riding' Party. Four more to be exact, fighting a total of 10 of them. Rei was pretty adamant about not doing anymore beyond that. After all, despite there being six people here Rei stated that they still would be destroyed by a Boss Monster.
By the time 3:30 came around, Rei figured they could continue tomorrow, and told them to just train by themselves on their own, but at the same time also not to obsess over this and try to maintain normalcy in their lives as well. Yes they had to get stronger, but at the same time by pouring oneself into their power and into the Abyss, it just left them all bigger and bigger targets.
Rei did mention a few tricks as well. Such as taking a hot bath and relaxing for a few hours can relieve Fatigue, reducing the penalty by 5 for every hour you relax and do pretty much nothing. He also once again stressed to not fight more than 4 Pseudospaces in a day, with 3 being the preferred amount. Furthermore, he mentioned that if anyone had anything they wanted to buy or Monster Items they want to sell, to contact him about it so that they could eventually start getting discounts on it. This includes Armor and the like.
"If anyone wants to meet up, I recommend this park. The Port Island District is the safest of the districts for new people like us, due to someone known 'The Void Wizard', a person so powerful he's considered a one man organization. The residential district is also pretty safe, thanks to those of the Ban Family Dojo, but in the end its not as safe as the Port Island District." A simple bit of information further revealing just how deep this world is, with people so powerful they could be an army all by themselves, and of another powerful group present in the Residential District.
Even the three adults met a man from a group of people with such immense powers that they are considered the 'Messengers' of the very will of the world, and that person they met was able to topple an entire building without even trying. Who knows what sort of destruction Jin would be capable of if he put his mind to it.
"And remember, do not approach anyone Level 13 or higher. Also make sure you don't mention your power or use it in front of anyone. And I mean anyone." Rei's tone gets a bit darker here. "Or you'll most likely die, definitely so if you mention it to a normal person thanks to the Interference Law."
Once Rei ascertains that everyone has their Weapons in their Inventories, and has no more questions for him, he shatters the Pseudospace so they can all go their separate ways.
And then the next day rolls up. A Monday.
For the Highschoolers, it is time for school.
For the adults, most likely either college or their jobs unless they have this day off.
As the three Highschoolers enter the gates of Gekkoukan, they would discover that the president of the Moral Committee is back from his week long 'vacation', this man doubling as the captain of the Kendo Club. He stands in the gate, inspecting people's uniforms with a watchful eye. Known in the school as the invincible upholder of justice, Karasuma Ichimiya.
And for three Highschool Gamers, its easy to see why he's labeled as 'invincible'. The text above his head makes the constant aura of strength he always exudes much more real.
Of course, for the first years Aiko and Rin, they would discover that Rei is also in their class. He sat close to the door, and didn't really talk to anyone, his nose in a book with a blank cover. Other students gave him a wide berth as well. And when it came to lunch time, he was out the door. For the past two weeks school has been in session, he has been known to just disappear during lunch time.
With everything finally taken care of Aiko wouldn't let Rei off the hook that easily. There was still a subject… no, maybe even two. If he was that knowledgable then he surely had to. "Rei…" Aiko casually addressed the younger boy by his first time. "The ability I got. I still want to show you!" She gave him an excited fake smile. "I honestly can't think of any good use inside combat!"
"And what's this Skill you want to show me?" asks Rei as Aiko walks up. Rei looks Aiko over. Still wary of her of course. He doesn't really seem to care or mind that Aiko is addressing him casually either. Rei just sits there now, arms crossed slightly, waiting for Aiko to show him this new Skill of hers, watching her the entire time.
He sees her excited smile and it just perturbs him a bit, but otherwise he doesn't think too much about it being 'fake' at this particular moment.
"It doesn't work 'alone'." The white-hair continued explaining. "Give me your hand!" She now demanded.
"Alone?" asks Rei. He looks at his 'senpai's' hand, before raising an eyebrow. "And just what does the Skill description say?" he asks her. He wonders what sort of Skill she could have that doesn't work alone.
A chuckle escaped the girl. "Where would be the fun in that?" Aiko responded before she assured him it was more-or-less 'safe'. "Don't worry. It's nothing big. What could a Level Three do to a Level Ten anyways?"
Rei's eyes narrow slightly as he looks up at Aiko. He takes in a breath, before letting one out. He figures whatever she is going to try to do, he can resist it. Or stop it. Or at least, it'll be good for taking damage and thus good for grinding. He just shrugs.
"Alright, fine." He puts his hand in her's now. "You don't even have the Focus Talent, so this shouldn't be too painful, whatever it is you have planned."
The crimson-eyed Senpai seemed overfilled with joy as Rei finally agreed to it. "Right. I should probably get that, no? Any suggestion on how to lower the cost best? Anyways… I have to call the Skillname out, right?" Changing her face to a more serious one, she now called out. "Death Touch!"
"If you mean the cost of Talent Skills, just train it. Simple as that. It's gonna take a couple of days though." And then the Skill name came. Fortunately Rei is able to keep a calm expression as he just glares up at her. He isn't gonna show Aiko a reaction to that one.
Aiko seemed rather disappointed at his reaction, nearly… pouting? She was definitely 'entirely different' than before, in 'real combat'. "Wow, you're boring. And how does one train the Focus Skill anyways? Just… focusing?" Hoping to catch Rei off-guard, without missing a beat, the white-hair seemingly added the Skillcast onto her sentence. "Leech Mana!"
While Rei was a bit taken aback by the sudden pull on his Mana by Aiko's hand, he is able to focus his own mind and spirit to block the pull completely, yanking his hand from her's with a sudden burst of strength, takes a quick step back, and chants "Pulse Push!"
Aiko would suddenly get slammed by a blast of Mana. She is dealt 16 Damage as she is thrown back 7 yards, Rei glaring at her now as he quickly pulls out his sword and shield, the same two tools that took down Rin quite easily.
Well. This didn't go quite as expected. As Aiko was forcefully distanced from Rei and took a great deal of her maximum health, once again, as damage she quickly gathered herself. Seeing how the higher-level Gamer even took out his weapons.
Under normal circumstances Aiko might have had welcomed this, but right now… there was a chance he seriously misunderstood. "Woah Woah! Stop right there." She tried to calm Rei down. "All I wanted was to show you my skill, just like you asked!"
Rei just looks over her, glaring at her. "I don't mind that. I would have let you use it on me all you want if you had just asked and said it outright, instead of dancing around it. It'd be good Focus training." Rei starts to take a few steps forward now towards Aiko. "What I do mind" says a very... uncharacteristically angry Rei, "is being tricked into it."
Once he is about three or so yards away, he points his sword right at her. "Trick me like that again, and you really, really won't like what happens. Do you understand?"
With every step Rei took, Aiko was taking one backwards. As 'relaxed' as she appeared on the outside. Right now, she had to perceive Rei as an enemy. And as much as she hated to admit it. He was superior. And in that case every bit of distance mattered.
If anything one could maybe even think Aiko was actually scared. "Oh c'mon!" She gave him a wry smile. "I was just making a little bit of fun. No reason to get super offended and all. It was pretty obvious you'd withstand this skill!" She paused for a moment, thinking. "No wonder you're all mean and grumpy if you can't even manage to ease up a little!"
Rei takes a few swift steps forward, before bringing his sword down. Right before the blade hits though, he stops, and then sheaths it into his inventory. His shield is still on his arm though. "In the Abyss? Around strangers? If you ease up..." Rei goes back into a normal posture now, but still has his shield equipped. "All you're doing is being a damn fool, waiting to get stabbed in the back."
"Now is there anything else you want to ask or do?"
This was it? A fatal error. A miscalculation? A false sense of safety brought forth through a weak bond of sharing a similar power? No. It wasn't like that. Aiko simply… miss-judged Rei for a moment. And now, death was awaiting her. Not capable of dodging nor defending his blade was about to bring judgement for all her Sins... . As much as it sucked. So be it.
The blade, however, stopped. A rouse. A wake-up call.
Right. "Right… ." The crimson-eyed girl now responded in way colder demeanor. Putting some thought into the next words she said. "It was my mistake for trying to trust you. it won't happen again, Rei Amagi."
She threw a quick glance towards the majority of the others. They were exactly like Rei described them. Not fit for this world. The Abyss. But she was different. Her… circumstances made this… a given.
Looking back at Rei she was now pretty much done with him. "Alright. I'll stop wasting your, and my time, any further and cut right to the chase." any 'warmth' she showed before towards the other white-hair was now gone. "So any task that requires a great deal of concentration trains the Focus Skill… simple as that?" Cutting down on AP cost seemed important and while Aiko was pretty sure that the skill was trained through such an action it still… seemed weird. Their everyday life was full of tasks that required a certain amount of concentration after all. "Next, any suggestion what I could do with Leech Mana? It seems rather… inconvenient… in a combat situation."
"Raise your Stats for starters. You have plenty of Talents, so you should try to get all of your Stats to 10, especially Vitality, or else you will die." It was pretty simply phrased here. "As for Focus, the Focus Talent isn't really concentration, but more focusing and honing your mind. Meditation, focusing your Mana, and other such things are what train it, as are other tasks of extreme mental discipline. Not just everyday stuff."
Rei then moves onto Aiko's other question. "Leech Mana seems useful for getting more Mana from your opponents. So if you get a Mana Attack Skill, you can use Leech Mana to get Mana back after you use it. It seems like it'll only work on opponents with Mana, or those who are magical, like those Skeletons who are created by magic. So I recommend creating a Mana Attack Skill for yourself, which is another good way to train Focus."
With that last question answered, Rei would then start to leave after saying "I need to get going", unless of course Aiko wanted to stop him with anymore questions.
As the Gamers left, having finally finished all the tasks that Rei set them up to, Rin remained behind, her eyes locking onto Aiko's. There was a hidden message there, for her to stay behind. In the end, no one else seemed quite as...useful as unstable, murderous dagger user. That probably said something about the quality of individuals that had the Gamer power. Once the others had left, leaving only the two girls in the park, Rin raised her hand, slicing open another reality that was separate from the world she once persisted in.
"Aiko," Rin said, her katana sliding out of the scabbard, "Draw your weapons."
Eyeing Rin with curiosity the white-hair had to ask. "What do you want?" Regardless of Rin's answer though it was already obvious what this was for as Aiko drew her daggers.
"To confirm something." A pause. "Ready yourself."
That was all the warning Rin gave before her katana swept in, a descent strike with the intention of bisecting the white-haired dagger user.
While not unexpected, the pure murder intent caught Aiko off-guard for a moment. Exciting.
Though that alone was not surprise enough as Aiko defended herself: Steel clashing onto Steel as the support of both arms barely held onto the assault of the long blade. Aiko parried Rin's attack.
Did... Aiko overestimate the Katana wielding tomboy? Maybe. Though that only meant the others were even weaker. Shifting one of her daggers in way to get a sort of choke around the other weapon Aiko now tried to disarm Rin.
"A nice face you're making. I like it." She complimented the younger one with an excited expression on her face.
A block. No, a parry.
Sliding the katana back before the disarming maneuver could fully come through, Rin remained silent, unresponsive to Aiko's compliments. Her eyes retained their piercing glare, her smile a mask of unshakeable confidence. Was this excitement one from the superiority of her position? Or just one that stemmed from battlelust?
A second swing whipped, a descent strike that converted into a sideways swing as the raven-haired girl changed her target and aimed for the stomach. The most painful area to get wounded in.
"...!" Another time that the body was slower than her mind. As the second swing connected with Aiko's body her health dropped carefully close to 0. It was painful. But... just like with her 'spar' earlier it was the same case over again. Struggling. Fighting. The fun far out-weighed any feelings of regret or pain she could have in this moment.
Tumbling a few steps back Aiko retained her smirk. "That... wasn't enough." Despite her words she was yet again lacking... something. A feeling. An intent. No...bloodlust?
[glow=blue]Rin Narimasa[/glow][glow=blue] was not a target of elimination.[/glow][glow=blue][/i][/glow]
Even so, Aiko dashed forward to deliver a flurry of attacks that all missed its mark…
Her movements were sluggish, her attacks weak, a messy flurry that lost all the precision she had displayed previously. But previously, Aiko had never received such a grievous wound, and once Rin parried all three attacks, her katana did not move again.
A tenacity that allowed her to struggle even after sustaining such an injury. A hunger for battle that lingered even in the face of obstacles that could not be overcome.
Useful.
Worth sharpening.
Rin sheathed her katana, allowing it to disappear into the interdimensional Inventory.
"That's enough."
"Enough?" Aiko was baffled for a moment. Her feelings of inferiority clashing with the arrogant behaviour she used to live up to so recently. "Enough…" She repeated, more silently to herself. Did… she even manage a single scratch on the Katana wielder? No. Failure. Was she that inferior to the smaller girl? Tightening her grip on the knives the crimson-eyed girl remained silent… .
Without another word, Rin dropped her katana into her Inventory once more, breaking Pseudospace with another cut of her hand. The sounds of nature, the sensation of the wind, the warmth of the sun, they all returned once more, restoring color to the world. Pseudospace was a wholly unpleasant place, wasn't it, to remove such things from the planet.
Unlocking her bike, she turned to Aiko and then stopped. Why was she still standing there?
"Are you coming or not?"
The feelings Aiko had were only fleeting as the single sentence that Rin spoke cleared her mind up. Right. This could be... useful. Though time could only tell. For now, Aiko was actually content. Putting away her weapons the crimson-eye turned towards the bike, and Rin, once again. "Hah... it doesn't happen very often that I accept an invitation of another women." Before making herself more-or-less comfortable on the mandatory japanese rear rack.
"Well, aren't you popular," Rin commented dryly as she began pedalling away, "Do all the other girls hate you for snatching up the boys?"
Heh. Just how much could Aiko share with... this stranger? It was still too soon. Though the raven-haired girl's words humoured her. "Narimasa-chan!'" Aiko now squealed out in the most girly voice she could muster. "Have you tried out the eggshell thing in the newest issue of 'Girls Go Great!'? You got such nice skin after all. Clearly, that must be your secret, right, right?" Before returning to her more 'normal' demeanor with a small sigh.
"It's all about keeping up appearance. I don't take you invited me to talk about which pop-star you fancy and want to get married too?" With a playful tone she continued "Though boys are easily manipulable. I could teach you a thing or two to if you want~"
The bike swayed as a shiver ran down Rin's spine at just how cringe-worthy Aiko's sudden transformation into a gal was. She really was one of those types, wasn't she. Shaking her head at the offer, Rin said, flatly, "I'm not interested in boys, much less in manipulating them. You saw how Hira was, right? Aimless but still pointlessly greedy."
"Chikara Hira is a person, a supposed to be grown-up no less, not worth my attention." Cold and merciless. Simple as that. Her truth. Her opinion. And... a test. While both girls were fundamentally different they still shared some things in common. Did the Katana-wielder share the tomboy's opinion or would she defend Hira's cause?
"Hira's a demon," Rin replied, "Honorless and meaningless."
"A demon?" Honor? This was bound to become an... interesting... relationship. Aiko now leaned closer to Rin before asking. "Then... what are 'the others'?"
"Soren shouldn't be here. A battlefield is no place for a craftsman. Tae is too kind, preferring something that doesn't truly exist. Kazuo is useful, but I don't want to get involved with him." She put her back into her pedalling as they crawled up a slope. "Your thoughts?"
"They're all the same." Aiko simply replied. "Sheep trapped in their own little bubble they call 'happiness.' Though trapped or not, they belong there. Even if I can... understand the urge of wanting things to change simply for the sake of changing I don't think they realize what they're getting into. Rei's suggestion about forgetting everything isn't that wrong." A small chuckle escaped the white-hair.
"Though I bet neither do I know what I'm getting myself into. But that's the exciting part. But unlike Soren, for example, I don't treat this like a game." The crimson-eyed girl now practically leaned onto Rin's small, but strong, back as she added. "And I don't think neither do you."
"I, at least, understand my own mortality," Rin replied tersely, "If we took a moment too long to defeat that skeleton, Soren would be dead, no doubt. If they have no reason for pursuing this power, their lack of conviction will spell their end."
Aiko's weight against her body was simply another burden to shoulder as she continued to grind up the slope. Bothersome, but it made for some degree of training.
"What made you learn how to use those knives though? Just curiosity?"
Didn't they already go over that? The whole self-defense deal and everything? Though Rin was probably didn't buy it in the first place? Or maybe she was just more curious in general. "They are easy to hide and sharp." That was actually it, really. Though the hiding part was probably more important.
"However, before I got this 'power' it didn't even occur to me to use two knives rather than one." That gave her a sudden flash of insight. "That... probably explains why I messed up so much with it." Another pause, consciously talking to herself. "But it does not explain why I became weaker overall."
"The power's unstable," Rin replied, the wind brushing past her hair now that they were going down a slope. "Not sure what's dictating the outcome of our actions now, but it's going to be bothersome if we remain as weak as we are now."
She paused, glancing at the notification of the 5 AP that remained unspent.
"At least there's a simple way of measuring our strength now."
"Not everything's statistic." Aiko turned in before simply adding. "Though I wonder how much that 'Luck' stat affects us."
"Not enough to matter," Rin replied, "I've just been focusing on increase my Scores."
"How can you be so sure?" Did this girl know more than Aiko? Was she hiding something? "I tried experimenting a bit but didn't get very far alone… ."
"Then you can continue experimenting," Rin replied curtly, before picking up the pace. Eventually, concrete buildings gave away to a canopy of trees that framed a well-paved, but quiet road. They were getting close now, and within another few minutes, the estate of the Narimasa family was in view, a traditional Japanese front gate of wood and white stone unlocked with a bronze key. Within, Aiko would see that much of the land owned by the Narimasa family was left as a large garden, cherry blossoms dappling the well-kept garden, while a few large buildings were further off. The dojo was the largest, generations of family heads framed on the walls, while the house itself was much too large as well, a manor devoid of servants.
In front of the manor was an elderly woman, her wispy hair bundled up into a bun. With a straw broom, she absentmindedly swept dust off the doorstep, only to gasp in surprise at the sight of a stranger beside her granddaughter.
"Rin," she said, a smile emerging, "You should have told me ahead of time that you were bringing a friend over! My my, I believe that this is a first. I'll g-"
"Aiko's not staying long, Grandma."
"Nonsense, of course she is, right, darling? You're staying for dinner, aren't you? And what's your favorite food? I haven't worked at a restaurant for some time, but these old bones of mine still remember how to cook!"
As the Narimasa Dojo came closer and closer into view, leaving behind the concrete only to be replaced by green and flowers, Aiko gave Rin a low whistle. "It's totally different from where I live. Is every Dojo like that?" She asked. Did they even have electricity and stuff? With so much... assets... Rin was probably rather wealthy too, no?
As they finally reached their destination Aiko was greeted by an elderly woman - her Grandma. It was pretty obvious that Rin wasn't bringing many people to her home... though she did invite Aiko, sorts of, no?
Giving Grandma Narimasa a bow the white-hair introduced herself. "Pleased to make your acquaintance! I am Aiko Ito." Before giving a glance at Rin... not staying long, huh? Though dinner should be fine, no? "I'm used to cook for myself, no need for special treatment, really! I appreciate someone preparing a meal for me!"
"No no no," Rin's grandmother beamed, "It's such a rarity for Rin to bring anyone home. I must confess, I feared that she was enough of a recluse that she wouldn't even bring her fiance over, when it came to that, but it's wonderful to see her have friends in school."
Rin looked like she was getting close to dying, a soft shade of pink on her cheeks.
"So really, I insist, whatever you want made, I'll make it, my dear!"
"That rare, really?" Aiko couldn't refrain from having a genuine grin. Watching Rin react like that was a reward in itself. Though Aiko ran probably in the risk of getting stabbed right here and now if she were to keep it up if Rin didn't die of embarrassment before.
"Well, I'm positive we're seeing each other more often from now on! Such a cute Junior won't stay unnoticed for too long!" The crimson-eyed girl beamed happily at Grandma. Luckily Aiko refrained from giving the shorter girl a head-pat though.
There was still the 'issue' with the food. Aiko really... didn't care. Her 'Title' was Expert of Japanese Cuisine, which meant... "Alright. If you insists. I'd like Kai- some sort of Udon?"
"Udon? Understood, young miss," the old lady bowed, before shuffling away. "Oh, Rin?"
"...what?"
"Do you still want me to teach you some new recipes afterwards?"
"Yes, thank you."
"Then I'm expecting you in the kitchen at 6:15, okay?"
Rin breathed. Things were becoming normal once more. "Of course, grandma."
Once the lady disappeared into the manor, the kendo girl turned her gaze to her 'friend' once more. "We're heading to the dojo to meet my father." A pause. "I will actually cut you if you act like you did in front of my grandma."
And there it was. The 'threat' about being cut. Though she could possibly not be serious, right? "Don't worry, I can adjust." Her dad was probably more of the serious type considering they 'did' own a Dojo and all. "It's pro- ah, nevermind." Aiko went silent, looking a bit sad.
For a second the white-hair thought back about her 'family' - which only consisted of her dad. She didn't get so great along with the others anyways but, as far as she was aware, there were no other relatives? Having a Grandma like that from time to time didn't seem too bad.
Rin nodded once, before heading over to the dojo. Sliding open the door, she removed her shoes, and then her socks, before walking in barefooted, callused feet sliding across the well-polished wooden planks of the dojo. In the center, her father sat, eyes closed, a shinai resting beside him.
Stern but young looking, it was easy to see where Rin got her eyes from. Dark blue hang hung in long bangs framing a pointed face, his features almost hawk-like. His chin sported a bit of stubble, while his forehead was high, hair swept back. A breath.
"There's another person with you, isn't there, Rin?" He said. "That's rare."
"She's an acquaintance," Rin replied, steadily, "Aiko Ito, one who practices a two sword style."
As Aiko followed Rin she recalled a loose recollection of certain courtesy rules. As they arrived at yet another building, surely the Dojo, Aiko gave a quick bow before also removing her shoes and socks.
The man, her father, noticed the white-hair before she even got into his view. Level 11. Suspicious. Maybe he knew her father? Very unlikely. Despite her thoughts Aiko wasn't giving this man any weird looks and bowed. "Good Evening, Master."
Practicing a two sword style, huh? That... wasn't too far off, though in a real fight there was no place for things like 'Honour'.
He turned, assessing her in full, before nodding once. "I am Kakei Narimasa, Rin's father and the owner of this dojo. Do you wish to partake in our training session? Or have you come with a separate purpose in mind?"
Was... this Rin's plan all along? A Seperate Purpose? Like being friends and hanging out? Maybe that worked with her Grandmother but this person - just like Rin said. Though was it really that bad?
Hardly, and considering Aiko's own Agenda this would only proof helpful. Not breaking eye-contact Aiko nodded. "I wish to participate in your training session." Though did that mean actually doing another round of Combat right now, right here?
As much as the white-hair was capable of not showing her ugly side for the sake of her future. As much as Aiko was beaten and put to the ground today. The crimson-eyed girl had a limit, too.
"Alright," the man said, rising, "Rin, show her where we keep the equipment."
Three hours of training, broken up into one-and-a-half hour segments, passed, Aiko put through the same gruelling regime that Rin did almost every day of the week. Under the critical eye of Kakei Narimasa, the two went through a variety of practice drills, Aiko equipped with two shorter shinai in consideration to her own unique style. Though the Hokushin Itto-Ryu style that the Narimasa family practiced was not one that utilized two swords, Kakei's own experience with those who fought with a dual-wielding style gave him enough knowledge to point Aiko in the right direction.
Though it was mainly advice on stance, swings, and not letting her defense slack off just because she was on the offensive, a fair amount of progress was made, and the presence of someone who was more or less her equal gave Rin incentive to try just a little bit harder as well. At the end of it all, the raven-haired girl was panting heavily, her white gi loose, stained with sweat, her black sports bra exposed underneath.
It was a good session today.
"I see that going out had centered your mind again," her father said. "Good work, Rin."
"Thank you." A steady voice, and a neutral tone, but on the inside, she beamed. "I'll go help grandmother out with dinner now."
Three hours of training. Three hours of constant exercise and, more importantly, guidance. While exercising herself was nothing new, having someone 'teach' her was an entirely refreshing experience. Sure, the white-hair had studied up on some things and somebody did show her this and that, too. But having a person who dedicated a good chunk of his day to teach about stance, techniques and most importantly defense on her side was... just different.
The crimson-eyed girl had never made a secret that she was more-or-less self-thaught though didn't go around telling that this was the case either. Regardless, at the end of this unplanned exercise she had worked quite a sweat. Glad that Aiko was provided with some training clothes, at the end, she felt quite content and alive. Even without risking her life.
Watching Rin leave was most likely her cue to get out of the dojo, too. Though a shower before switching back to her old clothing wouldn't be wrong? She could hardly leave with those borrowed, after all. Giving her father another bow to excuse herself, the white-hair catched up to Rin before tugging her sleeve. "A shower...?"
Wiping her brow with the sleeve of her gi, Rin brushed a few sticky strands of hair off her forehead, ready to depart when Aiko spoke up behind her. Right, a 'fashionable' and 'popular' girl like the albino probably did enjoy bathing after training, didn't she?
She regarded her own body momentarily, before nodding to herself. A quick bath would be fine. It was best to be presentable at the dining table, after all, and Rei's own words of 'recovering from Fatigue by bathing and relaxing' came back to her once more.
"Take your clothes and come with me then," the blue-eyed girl finally said.
Once Aiko did so, she lead her training partner to the third building within the Narimasa estate, an open-air bath house that had the fortune of being located close to a naturally occurring hot spring. A luxury available only to visitors and particularly dedicated students, it had a fairly well equipt shower room divided by gender, as well as a co-ed bath that steamed with spring water regardless of seasons.
"Welcome," Rin said sardonically once they entered the slightly chilly shower room, before quickly and efficiently removing her clothes. Folded neatly and placed in a basket, she stood naked, perfectly comfortable even in the presence of someone who was more or less a stranger. Her skin was taut and pale over a toned body, and though the tomboy was still but a child, a few curves were beginning to make themselves more apparent. Before much else could be gleaned, however, Rin sat on a stool and began to meticulously clean herself, warm water trickling over her and washing off a day's worth of sweat and dirt.
Of course they had to have a natural hot spring. She was in some traditional japanese household after all! There was some old-ass shrine hidden behind a bunch of trees most likely, too. But who was the white-hair kidding? Internal she had hoped she wouldn't need to wash herself with some water bucket inside some cramped cabinet sort of thing.
Instead, the crimson-eye won the lottery! "Lucky~!" As she said silently to herself. Much like Rin, Aiko didn't have any problems being all nude either. While she was, deep internally, very conscious about her looks - especially the chest area - standing on front of a mirror and telling herself how awesome she was helped quite a lot.
If anything suspicious was trying to be found, it had to be a multitude of scars on different parts of her body that were usually hidden by clothing. Someone who trained as diligent as Rin could probably tell that this weren't just bruises from practice. Regardless, the white-hair didn't seem like she was desperately hiding anything.
As Aiko wanted to head straight towards the main attraction she reminded herself about more classical japanese customs. Something about showering yourself and all so you don't dirty the bath? And also... for a second, Aiko's eyes narrowed before she lightened up and went towards Rin. "Rin-chan~, shall I scrub your back?"
There shouldn't be any need for suspicion, was there? At Aiko's offer, Rin doused her shampoo-laden hair with water, soapy suds washed away by the torrent, before she pulled her short hair up, tying it into a loose ponytail that exposed her nape.
"Go ahead," she replied, "I'll do the same for you then."
Ohohoho. This was a golden opportunity to bond! Though, Aiko wondered. How far could she go? Rin was though to assess. And who could tell how much fun, genuine or not, she was open to?
Bending down, Aiko got herself to work on Rin's broad back. Rubbing up and down. Up and down. Now, the white-hair had three choices to make. The fun one, the lewd one or... a middle path. Well, and a fourth with just continuing harmlessly, though where was the fun in that? Instead, Aiko picked the middle as she tried to give Rin a massage! The poor girl, working out all day, deserves it after all. Or something.
An adorable little squeak, almost inaudible amongst the flowing water, sounded, as a pressure that she hadn't expected was applied to her shoulders. Tensing instinctually, it took a while for Rin to relax, as the albino's slim fingers did what they could. It was something unwarranted, and it wasn't like the massage was professional-level, but, at the very least, the gesture was appreciated.
A sigh escaped her lips, and this time, she let it.
"Thanks, Aiko." A pause, a slight hesitancy. "I apologize for my curt behavior earlier through the day. Just accustomed to things moving faster and all. I...don't suppose you'd like to come over again sometime?"
Should she go a little farther?
"Between you and Rei, I'd choose you everytime, even if it's a suboptimal decision."
Because a willing warrior was better than a reluctant powerhouse.
This... was kinda difficult? Aiko thought it wouldn't be too different from stabbing people where it hurt the most. After all, those points were the most vulnerable or something. Even if she more-or-less failed though, the white-hair got a great reaction from Rin! It nearly warmed her cold, cold heart... with the exception of that last few words, of course. At least she knew that, for now, Rin was on her side.
"Ah don't worry about however you behave! We all have our masks to wear!" The white-hair tried to cheer Rin up. "And I would love to come over more often!" 'Would you like to come visit me too?' Were words that would never leave Aiko's lips. While her father was more often than not out anyways there was always the possibility of them meeting by accident. If that were to happen then... Aiko was sure to lose this little bond she had built herself today. Sure, Rin was too diligent for any... complications, but the fact that the raven-hair could read titles. In combination with what she had said would only make things too complex.
"Right now it's just the two of us, so relax! I got your back...literally."
"Uwah," Rin let out a small chuckle, "You should be flogged for that sort of joke."
"Yeah, Yeah. I know~" Aiko responded. It looked like they both shared a certain distaste for terrible puns!
Stopping now, their bathing adventures continued…
…
After a lily-scented bath, the duo headed out for the dining room. It had taken much more time than expected, and a quick bath had become a long one, but if nothing else, the meal was ready when they came in, large, steaming bowls of freshly cut udon waiting, laden with an assortment of toppings from sliced fish cakes to thinly cut slices of beef to minced garlic. In the back of the kitchen, more work could be heard, the kindly grandmother creating more dishes to accompany the meal.
Rin's father was already eating, and Rin soon joining, motioning Aiko to sit beside her.
"Is udon actually your favorite food?" she said, twirling the chopsticks in her hand.
Feeling like reborn Aiko could already smell the tasty food. At this point she wouldn't even been surprised if they had their own fish-pond, vegetable garden and animal pen. Though seeing her father meant she had to be more reserved again, didn't it?
Sitting besides Rin, Aiko answered rather silently. "No, it isn't. As I already mentioned I didn't want to be a burden to your Grandmother. Is it yours?"
"No," Rin replied, leaning in so that their shoulders touched, "Really like eel myself, but it's hard to get good ones. Can't visit the fisherman's market early morning anymore, and no one's got the recipe to the Narimasa's secret eel marination technique."
Rin was getting all buddy-buddy of a sudden, huh? Or was that also more japanese custom? Especially with her father around. "Mhm. Does your household have no one to go on errands or something?"Aiko thought for a second before she decided to 'screw it' and just also ask. "Have you tasted Wagyu beef?"
"It's just my family here," Rin replied, getting ready to eat. It was the main family that had housekeepers and all. "And no, never had the chance to."
Or the interest, really.
"How big is your family anyways?" Aiko asked curiously. She had seen her grandmother and her dad... maybe her mother, died, too? Also finally beginning to eat now the crimson-eye was surprised. "This is really great!" Before vividly adding. "I'll gotta invite you to some Wagyu beef in return!"
"Grandparents and a father," Rin replied curtly, focusing on her own meal. Really, what WAS all that great about that sort of meat? The swordswoman didn't really care herself, but with Aiko so insistent on inviting her, there probably wasn't too much reason not to go. "If you do, I'm free after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You really don't need to though."
"We'll see about that." Aiko replied. She would get her allowance tomorrow, though considering the fluctating prices the white-hair wasn't quite sure if that would be enough for the two of them. "I only have my father. Must be nice having a grandmother cooking such a delicious meal for for you on a regular basis!" Well, that wasn't really true. Aiko didn't need anybody. She was strong. She had to be. The only person that ultimately mattered was, in the end, herself and her father.
Having said those words the crimson-eye now fell silent and continuing enjoying the meal.
"I cook too," Rin replied, noticing a small shift in Aiko's bubbly mask, "But yes, it is nice."
She wouldn't ask about the white haired girl's situation.
Afternoon rays dyed the white pavement of the rooftop a pinkish orange, the darkening sky stretching overhead. It was a darker blue now, more cobalt than cerulean, and the vastness of the space was both humbling and encouraging. It was sights like these, ordinary yet beautiful, that captivated Rin's emotions the most easily, as her blue eyes gazed over the surrounding Port Island district. One hand latched onto the chain-link fence that formed a perimeter around the area, her gaze lingered upon the flowering vegetables of the Garden Club, before a bell rang, signalling that the school would be closing soon.
If he chose not to come, from this vantage point, she would be able to see him leave through the school gates. Regardless, Rin was going to have a small talk with her cousin.
At level 32, he was either immensely dangerous or incredibly helpful. For now, she would hope that it was the latter.
Always one to honor engagements and invitations, Ichimiya arrived five minutes before the arranged meeting time, although he sees that Rin is already there despite his prompt early arrival. He sees his cousin sitting there on the roof and gives a small smile as he walks over to her as she gazes at the Port Island District beyond the gate.
"I got your letter. You wanted to discuss something?" he asks her. While of course he has a very serious demeanor, it's not serious in a grim manner, but rather just serious since that's just his nature. He takes everything seriously. It doesn't mean he isn't nice of course, quite the opposite really.
As usual, his uniform looks perfectly neat. Not a wrinkle in sight. A man who takes everything with pride and 100% seriousness.
Always perfect. Always on time. If it wasn't for his personality and his stupid eyebrows, Rin figured that Aiko probably would have latched her claws onto Ichimiya a long time ago.
"You're holding back," Rin stated, turning around, "In both club practice and tournament matches."
Ichimiya looks at Rin as she turns around, telling him that he's holding back. He takes in a breath, and then lets one out. "You really can tell huh?" He's not one to lie.
"And you've been getting stronger. I will admit that since I train a lot, I do hold back in the club and tournament not to hurt the others, but I am still not all that strong." Ichimiya, it seems, does not truly know what Rin means by 'holding back' yet.
"That...depends on the world you live in, doesn't it?" Rin narrowed her eyes. They were reaching more dangerous territory now. "If I were to compare you to me, you would be eight times stronger."
The Karusama family was the main family, the 'purebred' that the branch family of Narimasa could not compare to. And even past that, there was the fact that he was part of a group called the 'Enforcers', that he was titled with the almost hyperbolic 'Unbreakable Paragon'. Ichimiya, if all this was to be believed, was massively powerful, and yet…
"You are too strong for just high school kendo, Ichimiya. So, what is your strength for?"
Ichimiya's eyes narrow slightly as Rin talks about 'the world' they live in, and the comparison of strength. This is indeed dangerous territory they are reaching.
"My strength... is so that I can protect others. Of course, in this peaceful country I know that there is little need for physical might such as mine... but still, it always pays to know how to defend yourself against anything." His tone shows that... perhaps he is wondering just what it is that Rin is trying to say, but he isn't going to try and delve too deeply into her words for now.
An Unbreakable Paragon indeed. It was a lovely ideal, so much purer than her own, and Rin cracked a small smile, a genuine one. So her cousin managed to get that far just with that, hasn't he? A stalwart ideal and a single sword.
If she were younger, her heart would probably be aflutter with how romantic that sounded. But she held power too now, alongside all the responsibility that it entailed. Rei's words came back to her, warning her of approaching anyone higher than lvl 13, but those nuggets of wisdom were once again undermined by the fact that Rei himself had encountered others with such high levels that they didn't even register in the Gamer power.
So Rin too, pushed on.
"Do the Horsemen have any meaning to you, dear cousin?"
His eyes widen slightly as she says 'horsemen' and he closes his eyes, sighs softly, and opens them. His entire demeanor has changed. His kind serious one has been replaced by a dead serious one, with almost a heavy undertone of concern. Almost as if something has confirmed something.
"So... you've let it stare back into you then. The Abyss?"
"Death said 'hi'," she said vaguely, "And I plan on responding."
"Don't" is Ichimiya's response to this right away. "I... don't know how you got this power I can feel in you, but as it is right now, you are no match for a Necromancer, even if he is a beginner." Ichimiya's tone is quite serious now.
"I need you to tell me all that you know about the Horsemen. Since this is a group we Enforcers have been pursuing for a couple of weeks now. We will take care of them."
"If I'm no match for them," Rin replied tersely, "Then teach me how to become a match for him."
Her blue eyes, once softened in the presence of someone who had been a part of her life early on, hardened, a piercing glare emerging. Maybe he had the benefit of having years to make something out of his power, but no matter what, Rin could only see him as someone two years older than her. A difference that still made him a child. She was the sole heir of the Narimasa inheritance.
To be in the role of the 'protected' did not sit well with her at all.
"Let me guess, Ichimiya. You're going to tell me to give up on this power and say that you intend on protecting me with yours, right?"
"I am not" he tells her outright. "I have no right to tell you to hang up your sword." He just sighs a bit. "It's hard to think though that you managed to become a Natural Ability User before you became an Acquired One." Ichimiya scratches his chin for a few moments, before looking at Rin.
"Still, even though it goes against family tradition since you're too young, I suppose I can train you. But before I do..." His eyes narrow now.
"I need you to tell me what you know about Amagi Rei." His eyes look her into hers now, those insightful hues seeming as if they could gaze into her very soul. "I've been keeping an eye on him, ever since he transferred here from New Osaka. And you... seem to have a similar feeling to him. And my... sources... tell me he is involved with those Horsemen, since someone from this school disappeared not too long ago, and Amagi Rei may be linked to this."
She relaxed marginally at those words. A promise to train her, and an opportunity to learn of this elusive family tradition? In exchange for…
"He is involved with the Horsemen," Rin replied, "He realized the dangers of this power too late, fought and killed Famine, and now can not relinquish his power in order to regain his ordinary life."
A pause. A part of her pitied Rei, having to deal with this gift that he no longer wanted. Another part of her thought him a fool, for not wholly embracing it.
"But he was the one that warned me to give this up before it's too late, and taught me how to create Pseudospaces. Though his personality leaves much to be desired, his actions, at least, appear just."
"He does seem to purposefully distance himself from his classmates, much to the dismay of his homeroom teacher." Ichimiya almost seems a bit relieved at Rin's words. "Unfortunately as to the reasons for his solitude, it is not my place to intervene as much as I would like to. After all, he makes good grades and never skips class..."
Ichimiya sighs now. It seems that, even though he is the Moral Committee President, he also has studies that intermingle in Student Council as well. Or so the rumors say, and those rumors are most definitely true.
"But still... to think that an ordinary person would be made to kill a human being..." Now Ichimiya's tone takes a sharp turn back to serious. "What's worse, now that you've said this... is that he doesn't seem to be too perturbed by this." It seems that Ichimiya knows nothing of 'The Gamer's Mind'. Perhaps it's best if he doesn't, or does.
"I take it you have Rei Amagi's phone number? Do you mind sharing it with me? I'd like to talk with him some time about Famine." He also doesn't seem to know about the specifics of the Gamer Power.
Which makes him ask one more question. "Just what sort of Ability is your Natural Ability anyway?"
"His lack of emotion," she replied, "Comes from a mental affliction related to the power, one that dissociates your mind from your emotions, allowing you to operate rationally at all times, regardless of the situation."
Ultimately though, considering how Aiko and Hira both acted, Rin had to conclude that, perhaps, Rei was just naturally an apathetic individual. A power that only truly finds use in combat, after all, would desensitize people to death fairly quickly. And then there was the fact that he more or less 'wears' the First Blood title like a badge.
"I don't, but, as you said, he goes to class and has a perfect attendance record," Rin said, shrugging, "And as for this power...it converts strength and ability into numerical values, while granting you the ability to increase your own abilities periodically through the same point-based system. Additionally, it allows you to instantly know the identity of others, unless they have something that shrouds it."
She nodded at that, deciding that it was a satisfactory explanation. No need to tell her ever-serious cousin about how it was essentially a power that turned the world into a 'game'.
"Now, I have a question of my own: do you know who Shimo is?"
"I saw your correspondence on the Forums..." begins Ichimiya. "Which is why I have been keeping my eye on you for a bit. But unfortunately, I have no idea who this 'Shimo' could be." Ichimiya just ponders. "But they seem to be helpful... so I hope they are someone we can consider an ally."
He seems quite perplexed about this power. "A power that affects one's mind, converts power into numerals, and allows you to grow with points?" Ichimiya is very curious. "This... seems worth looking into. Which is why I would like you, Rei, and whoever else is willing to come to come to the Karasuma Dojo on Sunday." Ichimiya most likely knows about Soren at least, since he was one of the responders on the forum.
He just looks at her. "While I can't condone you taking on the Horsemen, I will at least do my best to train you and whoever else is willing to be a match for them, in the event that they try to do anything."
"I don't…"
No, Ichimiya, despite his secrets, was still a righteous individual who would never condone illegal activities such as breaking into the school, going through school records, and searching for the person who uses the 'Shimo' username.
"Nevermind. I'll make sure that Rei knows then," Rin said, "Though the others may be harder to convince. And as for the Horsemen…"
She smiled, fearless.
"Death said he wanted to turn me into a Zombie. I figure he'll do something sooner or later."
"He what?!" his eyes widen, a Pseudospace appearing. A glowing, silvery aura appears around his form now, his own red eyes full of anger. He is a Paragon of Morals at all, one who cannot tolerate evil. A wind is stirring around his form.
He realizes this, closes his eyes, and calms his mind before looking at her, the aura vanishing. "Definitely come to my the dojo... and in the meantime..." He dispels the Pseudospace with just a snap of his fingers, "I'll do my best to find Death. We have been looking for them, but I think... its time to put even more effort into it." He pulls out a phone now, beginning to most likely message someone.
"Is there anything else you want to talk about?" asks a now heavily focused, even more so than his usual extremely focused self, Ichimiya.
An unexpected violent response. Or perhaps, the indication that her own view of 'normal' has been distorted now.
"No," she said, "This is fine."
He had an aura of power, as well as contacts with others who were part of the Abyss, but Rin decided that asking about those things were all...extra. It was good enough that her cousin was on her side, that, within the Abyss, she had connections stemming beyond that of a heterochromatic albino.
No, that wasn't quite right. There still was one question she had to ask. A question that would allow her to set a goal.
"Actually, cousin, how old were you when you became aware of the Abyss?"
"I have been aware of it for quite some time. I have been training for nearly 10 years now, and have as of this year begun my true training to acquire an even greater sword." He looks at her now, gazing at her again with those insightful eyes of his.
"But still... your power... I feel like with it, you can do some great things in a fraction of that time..." He just smiles.
"But don't rush it. Remember, that greed is a sword that can consume the life of its user and those around them. The more you stare into the Abyss, the more it stares back." He pockets his phone for now.
"I have faith that you'll be able to become a great swordsman, but... just remember to enjoy yourself as well. You are still a student after all. Your school life, studies, and friends are all quite important as well."
With this, Ichimiya pulls his phone out again. If Rin said she had no more questions, he would bid her adieu and then leave, texting on his phone the entire time with a dead serious expression on his face.
Rin returned his smile with a bitter one.
"Almost dislike this myself," she admitted, "If I can grow immensely within a short period of time using this power, it feels as if it just...trivializes all my past efforts."
That bitterness disappeared as quickly as it emerged though, the raven-haired girl waving off her cousin's advice with a laugh. "Got it, Ichimiya. What's next, advice on getting a boyfriend? Not going to give up on a future in the real world just to dive into the Abyss."
At least, not yet.
With another wave, Rin departed from the rooftop, heading off for her bike. Overhead, the sun had sank, leaving nothing but indigo hues.
Hira Chikara + Rei Amagi Starring in
"Rei Doesn't Hate Me?"
Hira reached out to Rei, in an attempt to sell some of the items he had gotten from defeating skeletons with Soren and by himself. Rei had offered him 40,000 Yen for however many he had and he accepted the offer. He didn't know the true value of these items, but he trusted Rei to give him a fair deal. If Rei wasn't anything, he thought he probably wasn't deceitful and conning.
Hira headed to the park that they had met at in their previous gathering and he had arrived there about 10 minutes early. If he was going to meet with Rei, he thought he might as well be more than punctual.
And after ten minutes of waiting is when that very person arrives as the world goes silent once again. Already aiming to get down to business, Rei pulls out four 10,000 Yen bills to hand to Hira. "You said you had 16 bones right?" he asks.
Hira watched as Rei appeared and the world grew silent. The four 10,000 Yen bills were very intriguing to him as he began pulling out the bones, counting 16. "Yep. I've got 16 here. Thanks for the transaction!" He gave Rei a big smile. Getting money was one of his favorite events to happen in his life. It meant that he was free to make lots of purchases if he wanted to. Lately, there hadn't been any games that interested him though. So that money would just have to stay in his pocket for now.
Rei just accepts the bones, stuffing them all into his Inventory. "Alright. If that's all you need, then I'll get going now." With this, Rei would begin to walk away unless Hira would try and stop him.
Hira was originally going to let Rei walk away, but then realized that this was probably the best opportunity to make up for what had happened the last time he talked to Rei. "Hey, uh, wait. I need to apologize for what I said the last time we met with everyone." He followed Rei a little bit. "I'm not entirely certain of what I said because I was in a weird state, but I know I probably said some hurtful things. And I'm sorry. What you've said about me probably isn't wrong. I'm just not used to having my flaws being called out like that. My friends are normally overly sensitive and I've grown comfortable with having my flaws overlooked. I'm sorry that I snapped. If there's anything I can do to make up for it, tell me and I'll do it. Well, with the exception of giving up this power. I think I might be a little too far along for that."
"You are only Level 6. You are not far enough yet to give it up. Not that I can stop you anyway." Rei just shrugs as he stops walking, turning around and looking up to meet Hira's gaze. He really is short.
"And there is no need to apologize to me. If anything, you're the one you need to apologize to." Rei's own heterochromatic hues stare right back into Hira's eyes. "And if you're not used to pain, then you need to get used to it. Because that's the kind of place the Abyss is. People will try to hurt you. Thankfully, the Gamer's Mind will stop you from getting overwhelmed by mental assault, but nonetheless people will still try to kill you with both verbal and physical assault." As seen with that Goblin, or according to Jin. The Abyss is a dark world of violence.
"And Rin was most likely trying to test your resolve, as was I. Trying to find what gives you such conviction to risk your own life." Rei's eyes narrow now. "You need to find a reason. Even if that reason is just to get stronger. Or something cliche like protecting people." Rei now points a finger right at his chest as he says this, before lowering it, sighing heavily.
"Basically, if you really want to 'apologize' to me, then just don't go around running into situations just because if you know that it can get you killed. Find a reason." Rei just shrugs, "Whatever it may be."
With that, Rei seems done for now. "And it's not like I haven't insulted you either. So don't worry about it. Nothing you say could ever offend me." Rei starts to turn around now once again. Aiming to leave, unless once again Hira stops him.
Hira was somewhat awestruck by Rei's answer, especially considering that they had just said he didn't need to apologize to them, but to himself. It was incredibly odd to tell someone to apologize to themselves. What should he apologize to himself for? He didn't insult himself and he didn't crack under pressure because he was trying to hurt himself? In fact, he wasn't trying to hurt himself at all. What would be the point in doing that? Other than raising his Toughness and Health talents, he didn't see the point. Despite his lack of agreement with what Rei said, he kept quiet as Rei continued.
Rei then went on to say that Rin was probably trying to test his resolve. Why was his resolve the only one being tested? It seemed that all of these people had it out for him for some reason. Rei told him that he needed a reason to continue. But Hira was extremely confused at this point. He didn't have anyone he wanted to protect. He didn't want to become powerful, except to beat up that stupid Goblin. He couldn't have a reason. He just wanted to attain more knowledge. This world that was linked to this power was new and mysterious. He was like an explorer travelling to the new world. All he could do was learn. That was all he ever wanted to do. The construction business is all about learning. Sure, you can do the same processes and you can make the same homes, but each project sometimes requires different efforts. Sometimes you even encounter something unfortunate, something unexpected. And you learn. For him, life was about learning, so why did this power have to give him an entirely new goal?
Rei was about to walk away once again after saying he should find a reason, and once again, he wasn't going to let Rei walk away. "Rei, I just want to learn. That's all. If that's not a good enough reason, then I can't give you one. I have no one I need to protect, other than people who can't protect themselves. But this world is hidden and everyone I've seen is capable of putting up a decent fight. I haven't seen any innocent bystanders suddenly get wrapped into this world, with the exception of us. And I can't say that I want to get strong because that's simply selfish and aggressive. Getting stronger is a byproduct of learning about this power, sure, but it's not my goal… But like I said, if that's not good enough, then I can't give you a better reason."
"And I don't expect you to apologize for insulting me. You were right about me being a fool. But I've come to my senses a little more and I've trained harder. I'll make sure I don't end up killing myself. Plus, I've got an entire party of people who've got my back. If that's not enough to protect me, then there's nothing to blame but unfortunate circumstance." Hira sighed. "Can we be on good terms for now? I didn't like being frustrated with you and it will stunt my ability to progress with everyone."
Rei stops walking again, and just shrugs after Hira is done. "If seeing more of the world and learning what is in it is what you want to do, then do it. Its definitely better than nothing."
"And I never said I was on bad terms with you. If anything, we are on Neutral terms. I don't dislike you, but you're also not my friend either." Rei puts that there plain and simple.
"Furthermore, it's not like hating me will stunt you. After all, none of the others really like or care about me either. So you're free to feel about me however you please." A rather... sad statement, but it's not like it puts Rei into any negative mood.
"After all, since I can't stop any of you, in the end this relationship is just you guys using me as a stepping stone, while I do the same with all of you." And at this, Rei just shrugs.
"So do as you please."
Hira nods at Rei's first statement. He was at least happy that he could accept the reason that he gave. And his reason wasn't just about the world and what's in it, but knowing the limits, strengths, and weaknesses of the power of 'The Gamer'. But he was almost certain he didn't have to make that clear to Rei. He had already accepted his reason and that was enough for now.
Hira then became a little upset by what Rei had said. Hira was not angry, but he was more upset in the empathetic sense. He felt upset on behalf of Rei. Those sentences were incredibly saddening for him to hear. "Rei… We're not required to like you, and yes, we're using you as a base for our knowledge, but I don't think anybody is thinking of this in the same terms that you are. And, just so you know, I don't deal well with negative emotions. I can tell you that I will not do well if I'm angry or sad at you."
"And even if you say you'll be indifferent, I don't know if I can believe that. People say things they don't mean all the time and I have a feeling that you might be doing that right now. If you do truly feel that way, then I'm sorry that you're perceiving our opinions of you as completely neutral. Despite what you may think, I respect you. I don't know you very well, so I can't say that I'm your friend. But I hope that we can be on friendly terms in the future. And I hope that you're not so…" Hira was going to finish the sentence with 'lonesome', but decided to bite his tongue. He wasn't willing to push that button yet. He didn't know Rei well enough for that.
"Anyway, thanks for the money. And for the support, in a way." Hira laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Guess I'll see you tomorrow?"
Rei just shrugs. "You don't really need to worry about it. I'm used to being used." With that, Rei begins to walk away now.
"And yea... we will be meeting on Saturday unless things come up." With this, Rei shatters the Pseudospace with an "ID Escape" and walks off now.
As Rei walks away, Hira is shocked that Rei can just say that he's used to being used. That was an awfully pessimistic way of looking at the situation, even if it was true in a way. Hira held a small frown on his face as Rei walked away. See you tomorrow Rei.
"Here we are~!" As the two girls left the elevator at the highest floor of the skyscraper, one level below the helicopter landing site, Aiko took a few steps forward before turning to Rin and stretching her arms out. "Quite different, eh?"
Despite being a 'rich girl' the entrance didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary. It was a simple grey upon more grey with a bunch of pictures and artificial green plants to bring a bit of nature in. Two security cameras were placed on two opposite sites of the wall though, those of experience, could easily see they were both not working.
All in all, the more-or-less rectangular room had something to explore on every wall-side. "This is my father's home workplace. A no go area!" Aiko started to explain as she pointed at one of the doors that, if Rin was still facing outwards the elevator door onto the opposite site, was left of her: west. "Behind me…" Thus, the opposite wall of the elevator. "is where we, I, live." And last but not least, Aiko pointed to the east door. "And behind door number three we have a sort of exercise room! You wanna check it out later?"
Maybe now it made more sense. Rather than having a single 'flat' the Ito family owned the entire floor. Of course, there was also the exit to the staircase right next to the elevator. "Oh, and my father owns the roof, too. So it's a great place to create Pseudospace!" With those words Aiko went over to the door behind her before pressing her finger on some sort of technical-device that soon changed to a green light and opened the door.
While the exercise-room had a similar device the door to the home workplace was way more old-fashioned. In fact, even the door seemed different. While it was hard to tell it seemed to be rather something heavy: secured by three locks.
Rin was greeted by a spacious room that was soaked by day-light thanks to an entire section of the wall consisting of a floor-to-ceiling window. Apart from the stunning view it delivered, the room was most likely used as a living-room. A gigantic flat screen mounted on the opposite site only to be rivaled by an oversized stereo system. A slim glass-made coffee-table with two leather-chairs and a leather couch weren't actually too inviting if one considered the cost if they were to be dirtied.
A bunch of cabinets filled out the rest of the room which were filled with various things like expensive alcohol, sweets, antiques and so on. If anything was left to be desired then it had to be, once again, room decoration. Only a single picture was hanging lonely on an empty space. Showing a younger girl that resembled Aiko with a bunch of other people: other girls and one older woman and man.
Connected to the living room were 3 more doors and a tiny circular staircase leading to a sort-of indoor balcony.
"I don't have much of a say how things have to look here so don't draw any conclusions!" Was the first thing that Aiko told her younger friend."Do you want anything to drink? Food? Snacks?" With Rin being the guest, Aiko obviously had to take the role of a hostess.
Funnily enough, it turned out that both of them were wealthy in their own way. While the Narimasa's held a large plot of land that had many natural resources attached to it, the Itous lived in the heart of the downtown district, within a penthouse that had a multitude of high-tech luxuries. Considering how her father's office had so many security measures, there was no doubt that he was a very important individual. An inventor, perhaps? Or an executive with many confidential documents?
Regardless of how spacious the place looked, though, part of that 'open space' was definitely from how empty everything was. This wasn't designed to exude a religious vibe. This was simply...the inability to care for such things. Only a single photo, of a family that wasn't there anymore.
Rin could understand more clearly now, why Aiko thought that it was nice that her grandmother cooked for the whole family. This place was cold, desolate, despite the plentiful material comforts.
"Water's fine," Rin said, remaining standing, "But let's get down to business. You know Ichimiya Karasuma?"
"Up we go then!" Aiko pointed towards the staircase before she moved there herself. "That's some super high-level in our school, right? President of the Moral Committee or something."
As the two girls arrived at the upper floor they were greeted by something akin to a kitchen. Fairly modern it radiated the same cold vibe as below. "Carbonated or not? Want crushed ice? You can sit there." Pointing at a marble dining table together with some fancy chairs it seemed like this section doubled for eating and preparing meals. The crimson-eye herself went to some of the cabinets and took out two glasses.
"..." Sure, let's be adventurous. "Carbonated," Rin said, despite not even knowing why anyone would carbonate plain old water. Taking a seat, she waited for Aiko to come over with the drinks before saying, rather flatly, "He's my cousin. He also knows of Rei and the Horsemen, and is actively investigating the situation."
With two glasses in hand Aiko went to what seemed like a fridge that had yet another fancy-techno interface with buttons and whatnot. Even a sort-of cup holder at which Aiko placed one of the glasses now before pressing four buttons. Immediately the machine came to live as it made some weird sounds before pouring in carbonated water with some ice. Who the hell liked to drink warm water anyways? Pressing a different set of buttons the second glass was filled with some blackish liquid.
"There you go!" Placing the glass in front of Rin, Aiko sat down now as well. "I see...." She nodded after Rin's explanation. "Is he as... hard-to-work-with as Rei?" Clearly, Rin didn't come here just to tell her that, or was she just looking for an excuse to escape from home?
"Unlike Rei," Rin replied, a small smile emerging from the memory, "He didn't tell me to give up on this power. He also has more connections to the Abyss, is higher level, and, well, I know him."
She paused, taking a sip from the glass. Definitely an odd lack of taste, when every other carbonated drink she had was flavored. Seriously, what was the point of this fizziness when there was no flavor?
"He doesn't, however, hold the same sort of power as us, nor does he know who Shimo is," she said, "But he's invited me, Rei, and anyone else over to the Dojo on Sunday. Training, supposedly."
"Everybody else, ... ." Aiko went silent for a second as she used that chance to take a sip of her black-currant juice. She wasn't all too keen on seeing Rei again or anyone else for that matter. Still, if he had such a high level maybe he had some sort of short-cut to get stronger?
Beating up a bunch of skeletons every evening only got her so far. "Will you go?" Aiko simply asked, though the answer was probably obvious. "Then I shall accompany you as well."
"Anyone else," Rin corrected, leaning back, "I will most definitely have to inform Rei about it, and if he shares this information with anyone else, then this advantage is lost, but…"
She narrowed her eyes, remembering the seeds of discontent she had for the rest of the Gamers. "That doesn't mean I will go out of my way to invite the others. What are your thoughts on that, Aiko?"
"If you tell Rei he will most certainly tell the others. I am pretty certain about that.""
Taking her glass she gently swished it around, thinking. By now Aiko was convinced Rei was, deep down, a good person. Haunted by his past. But the white-hair wasn't some fucking protagonist who would get some sort of clear on him so he'd join their party.
She sighed. Was this the truth or just another ploy? Aiko wasn't even so sure herself. "Look. I know it hasn't even been a week yet, but I like you. And I am not just saying that to get on your good side or anything."
A devilish grin appeared on her face for a second. "You judge people by their actions rather than words anyways, no? That's exactly it." Urgh. Was this juice spiked or anything? "A-Anyways. Do what you think is right. Objectively speaking, we 'Gamers' are all on the same side. We all share a common enemy."
The blue-eyed girl blinked at that sudden confession, but nodded. It wasn't a matter of like or dislike for Rin herself, not necessarily, but she too had thought Aiko as someone worth sharpening.
"Incorrect," Rin replied, "We do not share a common enemy. Or, more specifically, Tae, Kazuo, and Hira do not share the same enemy as us and Soren."
Not that Soren was someone she wanted fighting with her either.
She paused once more, before nodding to herself. "Famine, by the way, was a student of Gekkoukan. It's become more and more likely that the rest of them are also in Gekkoukan, huh?"
"I wouldn't be so sure if death wouldn't target all of us. He seems to go after weaker people." Were Aiko's thoughts on this. "Though, if your hunch about them having been in our school is right, shouldn't we have an easier time finding them? If they still attend it. But I wouldn't count on it."
Another sip of her juice. Really, how could Rin only take water? The juice they had wasn't just some cheap taste-alike product after all but the real deal. "Maybe, once stronger, we can lay a trap?"
"They do have the ability to hide their identity though," Rin replied, "But yes, high-leveled students and staff should be looked into. Our ability to discern levels is unique, so that's definitely an advantage to utilize."
She nodded slightly, before saying, "What are the chances of them showing up if we call them out in the forums? It's fairly likely that Death came to the meeting place due to the messages exchanged there."
"Since only Death showed up I'd say the chance is rather low?" Aiko assumed. Yes, it were all assumptions but that was all she could go off.
If only she could get in touch with the 'Smiling Killer' maybe then things would have been easier. Alas, it seemed like Fate did not want this meeting to happen, yet. "We would simply need a more attractive bait."
"What," Rin said flatly, "Walk around in our underwear with a sign that says 'Zombify Me'?"
"Of course!" The white-hair clapped her hands together in overzealous joy. "I am sure that'll attract them, with two beautiful girls like us." Before becoming more serious. "Everybody seems to want to get stronger, faster. No? We'd just need a little lie to make sure they show up to another meeting."
"It'll be easy enough," Rin replied, "To turn Sunday into Monday instead. Are you saying, though, that we should be making an effort to keep the others weaker, so that they remain viable targets for Death?"
Aiko was surprised for a second, though did not show it, about Rin's suggestion. Not bad. She wasn't thinking along this line at all. Real bait was better than fake though.
"How dastardly of you. That would certainly be a possibility."
"It's not dastardly," Rin replied readily, a little too calmly, "Not if it works. Not if the threat is removed."
"Hai, hai, call it whatever you like. You have the Aiko-seal-of-approval!" Aiko responded full of joy. This way, things were just going how Aiko wanted it to be.
A slight tinge of irritation emerged before it was smothered by restraints. "Chances are it won't go nearly as well as expected," Rin warned, "But it's a plan to keep in mind. I'll be taking my leave now, Aiko."
"Huh, already? But you barely just arrived." Well, the white-hair was in no position to stop Rin. Clearly both of them were rather busy at the moment and didn't have the luxury for quality-time too often in a week. Thus, Aiko gave the raven-hair the courtesy to see her out.[/center]
It was a...surprise encounter. Not one that she had expected in the middle of nowhere, on the way back home from school, but at the same time...she had been getting oddly lucky, hadn't she? From the fact that Ichimiya didn't flat-out eviscerate her to the fact that Death and his cronies hadn't jumped her to the fact that she had randomly picked up a single 10,000 yen bill that apparently no one else noticed at all, it really did look like fortune was on her side.
And now, there was the matter with the Chinese girl who bore quite an interesting title.
Explosive Mixer
Beginner Materia Alchemist
Mai Xing Lv 23
At level 23, the girl with her hair in buns was another force to contend with, but what interested Rin more was the fact that she was an alchemist, with the oddest descriptor there was: 'Materia'. A quick conversation with Rei told her all she needed to know: that this particular branch of magic was one that used items. Almost like...forging.
Pushing her bike a little faster, Rin called out to the woman, "Excuse me, would you happen to be...Mai Xing?"
Mai simply looked like she was on a walk, or perhaps a light jog. She hadn't expected some random girl to call out to her, turning around now as she raises an eyebrow.
"Yes I am... and who may you be?" she asks. Her Japericanese sounds perfect actually. So either she was born and raised in Japerica, or just somehow managed to drop whatever accent she would have.
She doesn't really seem to be regarding Rin with much suspicion, given that her posture and tone are rather casual and relaxed. She has no idea that Rin is looking at who she is right now.
"Ah, sorry," Rin readily apologized, "I'm Rin. Pleased to meet you. I heard you were a…chemist?"
She just tilts her head. "I do study Chemistry at Neo Tokyo U... if that is what you mean, but I am nowhere near a professional chemist yet." Mai seems a little perplexed. "Why do you ask? Do you need tutoring or something in Chemistry?"
Oh, a university student? The girl looked like she was a high schooler in Rin's eyes, but youthfulness wasn't a bad thing. "Oh, no," Rin said, shaking her head, "Would you happen to know a Karusama Ichimiya though?"
"No, why?"
Ah, so being the Captain of the Enforcers wasn't that big of a deal. Or, perhaps, it was a case of different people being in different districts. "Ah, guess it must be a one-sided thing then," Rin said, shrugging, "But he told me you were able to do some pretty interesting things with different materials. Almost magical, was the description he used."
Now she just raises an eyebrow. "Right..." She reaches into her pocket now, checking her phone, before stuffing it back in. "Well... tell your brother thanks, I guess." She almost seems slightly... weirded out really. She just gives a small bow goodbye before turning to walk away.
Goddammit, how the hell did Aiko pull shit off like this? What a fucking...ughhh.
"Alchemy. Materia. Explosives." Rin said, punctuating each word, "Guess reading behind the lines is hard to do, huh?"
"It's not exactly something I expect to be asked about" states Mai as she stops walking. Suddenly, Mai is gone though as she snaps her fingers. As if she was never there.
As Rin enters the silent world once again, she would see a gun barrel pointed right at her face, this gun looking quite similar to a flintlock pistol, except it had a small orb in the grip that had glitching red static inside of it.
"If you want to be a good stalker, I suggest not revealing that you are one." Her finger is on the trigger, ready to fire the magical looking gun at any moment.
"So I suggest you start talking. About who you are, and how you know who I am. Ms. Highschooler Stalker."
"It's not immediately obvious from how there was a delay between the creation of this illusionary space and my appearance within it?" Rin said, cocking an eyebrow at the gun. There was the threat of death, but at the same time...Mai Xing hadn't pulled the trigger yet.
"My power allows me to see the names of others, as well as get a general idea of what they can do," the raven-haired girl explained, "And if I were to stalk you, there are other ways of doing it. If I were to ambush you, there are other ways of doing it. But I didn't."
She let that sink in for a moment.
"I'm more or less stuck in this sort of world now, and my allies are few and far inbetween. From a distance, you looked reasonable, unlike certain others that tried killing me on Day One, but clearly, I approached this the wrong way."
"So I apologize for that. What would you have preferred instead, if someone were to come to you looking for help? Ask about your tutoring services after all?"
"Well if you weren't new, I thought you may have been someone strong enough to not be pulled in. Still, I guess it could be the former then, since you don't know the first thing about Abyssal social graces." She still keeps the gun trained on Rin.
"Most people in the Abyss don't like to be called out on the street. Especially by those that somehow know everything about them. It makes you sound like some scumbag Hunter." Another strange term. "Which is just a nice word for 'human trafficker' in case you didn't know."
"They study up on targets, and then go after them, knowing things about them and the like. Just like you did now." Of course, she still keeps her gun trained on Rin the entire time.
"So, are you a hunter? Or just some newbie that doesn't know how not to get yourself killed in the Abyss? Or are you someone else entirely? After all, newbies in the Abyss do often enough start off as Hunters."
It seems instead of Rin asking questions, Rin is the one getting interrogated here.
"Hm…" Rin mused, strangely calm despite the gun pointed at her face. "So how exactly do you make connections between people in the Abyss? Or do people just stick with whatever group originally made them…"
What was the term again?
"Acquired Ability Users? And no, I'm not a Hunter. If I was, this power of mine would be invaluable as a method of gathering information safely from afar. If I was, I wouldn't have surrendered initiative by actually bothering to call out on you first. If I was, weak as I am, I would have come along with a higher-level Hunter. Isn't that just common sense? I'm a highschool student, not a home schooled one."
Really, there was a difference between extreme caution and just being paranoid. What's next, did Mai Xing think that Rin was a mage because she didn't have armor or melee weapons on her body?
"What exactly are Hunters anyways? If most newbies start off as them, does that mean that the Abyss is largely composed of Hunters and their trainees?"
Was that what the Enforcers sought to counter?
"Not everyone has Common Sense, and even then the Abyss is far from being 'Common'." Sensing no threat from Rin for now, Mai lowers her weapon after taking several steps back.
"And most people nowadays use the Abyss Auction's Forum pages and the like." She doesn't holster it though, but it is lowered for now at least.
"Hunters are usually weaker Ability Users that usually start in the Abyss unaffiliated with anyone. So they decide to get a start in the Abyss by capturing someone else and selling them off. Either as a Slave, or to a Mana Factory." She sighs heavily. "Of course, I was exaggerating when I said 'most' newbies, but an unfortunately decent amount of Ability Users try to be Hunters."
She just chuckles and shakes her head. "A good number of them don't make it, but those that do end up selling people on the Auction to make money. Then they get stronger, and start to make a name for themselves in other ways."
She just shakes her head again. Seemingly done with this topic. "So, if you're not a hunter, just why are you approaching me then? Because I don't usually take apprentices. At all."
"Abyss Auction's Forum…" Rin cracked a smile at that. "Don't suppose I'd be able to access that through Google?"
The threats within the Abyss were becoming more and more clear to her, however, as a source of information that wasn't Rei was dispensing more accurate information. Selling other people off for income, in order to purchase the equipment they need to bolster themselves up, huh? Disgusting weaklings. Probably never trained a full day in their entire life, if they thought that was the optimal answer.
Rin stewed beneath her calm exterior. It was one thing to kill others to gain strength, and another to indulge in kidnapping and slavery. And, strangely enough, she thought the latter as worse than the former.
"Materia Magic," the girl said, "Is magic that involves creating spells that consume items, yes? As an alchemist, it sounds like you then turn that 'spell' into another 'item'?"
Mai just nods. "Yes, that is about the jist of it. Materia Magic consumes the Metaphysical Essence of an object to create a executable Spell. And as an Alchemist, I have been practicing using my Materia Magic in my creations to make more magical concoctions that have more permanency."
So now Mai asks a question. "Is this the reason you approached me? To make a request for something?"
"Yes," Rin replied, "That's about right. Your skillset is pretty interesting, and forming a connection sounded good. I'm just starting out, but I figure I'll begin getting bigger things in the future, as your generic monster slayer and all. For now though…"
Manifesting her Inventory and pulling out one of the Skeleton Bones, she offered it to Mai Xing.
"All I can do with this is summon more monsters. But can you do anything with this?"
Mai just watches Rin when she suddenly chants 'Inventory'. Her eyes widen slightly when she seems to reach into space itself, a slight shimmering occurring, before pulling out a Bone. A bit... perturbed by the object, she takes it with a small bit of hesitation.
She looks it over, chanting something beneath her breath as both her hand, and the bone, begin to glow and glitch slightly with blue static. "I detect the Essence of Death... and also Necromancy. And it's all...." Her tone shifts to one of slight awe, before she stops.
She now looks at Rin. "Where did you get this?"
"From a monster," Rin replied, "Wasn't that self-evident? Why do you ask?"
Mai sighs. "A bit of free, friendly advice." She just looks the bone over again, before looking back at Rin.
"Monsters don't drop physical objects like these. This" she lightly tosses the bone up, and catches it in her hand, "is physical matter... created from essentially nothing. Since the Monsters inside of Pseudospace are metaphysical manifestations, and not actually physical. "
"It's like your power comes straight from a video game or some---" she stops, and looks right at Rin. "So that explains that rumor then" she mutters.
"You're 'The Gamer' aren't you? The one who actually managed to talk to an actual Messenger of Gaia and live."
Messenger of Gaia? Another term that was alien for her, but if what Mai Xing was saying was true, it sounded like all these unique benefits from the Gamer power were fairly powerful after all. The ability to turn the metaphysical into the physical, without actually expending any resources to do so, outside of time.
"I suppose I am," Rin said, "But that's beside the point. Now I understand that these items are fairly special. So? Can you do something with them, or no? Is the fact that they are items that shouldn't 'exist' make it impossible for you to do anything with them?"
"I haven't used the Essence of Death before, nor have I ever practiced Necromancy. But..." she looks at the bone. "I suppose I could use these for experiments. Their stable nature makes it a little less dangerous."
"But I never said they were 'fairly special'. I mean, their physical nature does make them easier to use, and the fact that you can get them just by fighting is great." With her wording, she makes a catch. "But, these bones are incredibly weak, both the Essence they are comprised of and the Magic they contain. So yes, they are special in the sense that they are easy to use, even though they are of both an Essence type and Magic form I don't use, but I would need a large number of them for these to be beneficial, or else I am wasting both time and materials."
She just fiddles with the bone in her hand, testing its weight and everything. "So how many of these things do you have? Because if you are asking me to make things out of them, I will need a lot if I am to make anything that's actually decent."
"That's fine with me," Rin said. No wonder Rei said he was fine with purchasing those weapons for them, in exchange for what the skeletons dropped. "I average nine pieces a day, but that's due to safety reasons. What do you envision being able to make from these?"
"To be honest, not a lot." She thinks for a few moments. "I could make some poisons, although those aren't my specialty. I guess some brews to resist Necromancy or the Essence of Death. Possibly something to summon these things... but" she does the same thing she did before, chanting again to make both the bone shimmer and her hand shimmer, this time her hand glitching with blue static while the bone glitches with grey.
"Due to the Magic being specific to one person, I would need even more bones to make something like that. Else most likely whatever you summon will just attack you, and probably be stronger due to my ability also making it."
She just sighs, shaking her head. "Can you summon and fight anything other than skeletons? Because I am going to be honest, investing time and materials into these bones does not seem very lucrative for me specifically."
"If I kill it," Rin begins, confident despite lacking any evidence, "I can create more of them. The only problem is that I need to find a different monster first, before I can start summoning them. A potion that could resist Necromancy or this 'Essence of Death' however, would be something I'm willing to pay for."
A pause.
"Can you summon a different sort of monster? Generally one that's fairly weak, given my current capabilities? We can test this out right now."
"What are your current abilities?"
"Equivalent to that of a police officer," Rin replied, "With the ability to 'cut' using mana, as well as some degree of sword skill."
"What do you mean 'equivalent to that of a police officer?" She seems perplexed by this. "Can you see how strong people are with that power of yours? A Level I assume?"
"Yes. You're Level 23, roughly four times stronger than me," Rin said, "But I've killed Skeletons since level 1, and those were five times stronger than me during that stage, so it's not a perfect indication of difficulty."
"If that's the case... then this 'Level' may just indicate experience more than actual fighting strength."
"How strong is this Mana cutting ability of yours?" she asks, wanting to see it. "And does this mean you can somehow already manipulate Mana?"
"I can do this twice, and it's fairly weak." She said, demonstrating a thin slice that travelled a few yards before dissipating. Another pause. "So yes, it does."
"It doesn't really seem like you're controlling it... and I doubt it could do anything against the one type of monster I can summon at the moment. Plus" she pauses for a moment, "physical attacks are only half effective against Elementals."
She just shakes her head. "I doubt you can defeat an Elemental as you are now, having no proficient mystical ability. You really should work on training that Mana ability of yours."
"Fair enough,"[]/b] Rin said. There were lots of things to train, weren't there? A part of her wondered if, by establishing a party, the 'drop creation' ability of the Gamer power would activate even if in the one who did most of the fighting was someone who didn't hold that power, but on the other hand…
Asking for handouts was for weaklings who couldn't do it with their own strength. If these 'Elementals' were another common monster to face, then there was no getting around it. There would have to be something she confirmed, something to work towards.
"Is there a way, then, to convert a physical attack into a magical one? An enhancing ability?"
"Not that I know of. You would need to enchant your sword perhaps or find a way to cover it in Mana. Unfortunately there isn't a way to convert physical force into magical force. There could be some spiritual or other supernatural sword technique that could let you deal mystical damage... but..." she just shrugs, "that still isn't the entire force of your sword being dealt as a mystical attack."
"So your best bet would be to get a magical sword, or to get Magic and learn how to conjure a blade made out of magic."
"A shame."
But it was fine. A magical sword could be got in this supernatural otherworld, and her own abilities will naturally progress as time goes on. Ichimiya's words ran through her head, about how he felt like she could grow exponentially stronger at a rate far beyond his own.
A blade of mana, and a blade of steel.
So it came back to Nitto-Ryu.
Rin smiled, before saying, "Well, thanks for your information, Mai. I won't waste any more of your time for now, but is there a way for us to keep in touch for the future? I don't intend on staying this weak for long, after all."
Mai just pulls out a phone, and holds it out so that they can email addresses.
Rin did the same, tapping an older smartphone against Mai's. A blip sounded, before contact information was shared.
"How many do you think you'd need? Those skeleton bones."
"I'll probably need at least 30 to start with. More the better. And if the Potion works out, you can pay me for it when I bring it." Mai remembers Rin saying she wouldn't mind having that
"I should be able to get it done in a day or so."
"I'll contact you next week then," Rin replied. "There's no particular rush to get those potions."
Mai just nods. "Sounds good. I am curious though. Just what was the Messenger like?"
"Indescribable," Rin said, turning to leave, "With an unknown level."
Mai just gives a half nod. "What did you guys talk about anyway?"
"Why? You wanna meet them?"
"I wouldn't mind, but at the end of the day... probably not." She just shrugs. "Anyway, is that all?"
"Yes, it is," Rin said, before bowing her head. "Thank you for teaching me what you know of the Abyss. I hope our future meetings are more productive for the both of us."
She paused for a moment, before adding, "If you think someone near you is a Hunter, contact me. With these eyes, I should be able to confirm it."
She just nods. "Can do." With this she rubs her thumb over the gun's handle, and in a glitch of static it vanishes into a ring on her finger. After this, she shatters the space, and then walks off.
The sun was nearing the horizon when Tae Min reached Kurosagi park. Lines of empty swing sets and gently curved metal playground pieces had been deserted for the day, as young children separated with promises to meet again. A few scattered joggers pelted along the park's pathways, alongside a few elderly that rested their legs gingerly on steel benches, silver hairs awash with waning light.
Tae Min settled himself at the foot of a young sapling planted by the side of the footpath. He rested his hands in his lap, hands loosely curled together, then gazed around observantly.
He was waiting for someone.
And that someone would arrive. The world would suddenly go silent as that specific white haired, heterochromatic eyed individual walks up to the man at the foot of the tree. Not that anyone could see it of course, due to them being in a copy of the world.
"So you want me to teach you how to wield a sword huh?" Rei asks, having recieved Tae Min's message. "I'm still only a beginner myself, and in the end DEX and AGI are what you would want to boost for your Weapon. Of course, putting AP directly into the Score and Talent can also boost your ability."
Rei draws his sword and chants "Q1" to equip his Shield. "But I guess we can spar for a bit, if that's what you want."
Tae Min nodded in affirmation. "The thought of practicing sword play alone seemed kind of lonely," he said as he stood up from the ground.
Mirroring Rei, he also drew his own sword from his inventory. The slim, metal flourish of the handle ghosted over the back of his hand, the grip itself cold against his palm. The blade felt heavier than he had initially expected, but still relatively light.
Tae Min stood up straighter, meeting Rei's heterochromatic hues with a level gaze, smile ever present on his face. "So thanks for having me, Rei Rei."
Rei watches as Tae draws his sword, looking at the long blade meant for thrusting. Rei begins to think about something, gazing at Tae for a few moments.
"I would like to be able to try and fight without killing you... so let's try this..." Rei gazes right at Tae and chants "Duel Tae Min Lee".
Suddenly, a window appears before Tae, reading the following.
"So it does work..." Rei mutters. He then looks at Tae. "Go ahead and accept. In Games, Duel Mode never kills you, so we can fight without holding back."
"That's convenient," Tae Min noted as he accepted it, "Like potato peelers."
When he looked back up, his expression was a bit more sheepish. "Fair warning," Tae Min tightened his grip, "I really don't know what I'm doing with this."
Rei just shakes his head. "Just unlocking the Skill gives you the knowledge and skill needed. You just need to practice utilizing it." With this, Rei puts his shield up and readies his sword.
"Feel free to make the first move."
Tae Min breathed in, then nodded. He took a broad step forward and lunged in with his rapier, scoring Rei on the side.
Rei grits his teeth as he feels the blade thrust against his side. He manages to quickly push the blade aside and manage a strike. It's somewhat parried, but still gets in somewhat deep, taking off some of Tae's HP.
Tae Min grunted from taking the brunt of Rei's strike. The hit also temporarily unbalanced him, forcing him to take a step back. The teen couldn't help but think about how deceptive the other Gamer's petite form was.
With a clenched grip, Tae Min moved in to retaliate once again. This time however, his blade met Rei's shield with a sharp thunk.
Rei smirks slightly as he manages to block the thrust with his shield. Rei bats the blade away, but it wasn't good enough, as his sword is subsequently parried by Tae.
In the brief moment that Tae Min managed to parry Rei's strike, he felt something align. Right here!
He pushed forward, bracing his rapier against Rei's blade, leaning into the clashing metal… then his wrist gave out completely. In his fervor to press forward, Tae Min had locked up his wrist, allowing it to easily give way in his attempted advance.
With a small surge of panic, Tae Min stepped out to stop his momentum. In the process, his loose wrist twisted uselessly under the Rei's blade, ultimately forcing him to completely let go of his weapon.
It was pretty funny to think about - though he'd managed to stop himself from falling on his face, he was also woefully disarmed.
Rei is a bit surprised by suddenly being able to disarm Tae, but isn't going to let this go to waste. He attempts to slash at Tae, but right as he does, he manages to get out of the way, most likely heading for his weapon no doubt.
After narrowly pulling himself out of the way of Rei's slash, Tae Min ducked downward and swept up his rapier. Then, he pushed up using his bent legs as leverage, sword arm forward and aimed at the other gamer's torso.
Clash!
A small jolt ran up Tae Min's sword arm as he was smoothly parried yet again by Rei's sword. He instinctively sucked in a breath, then pressed his lips together.
Rei would slash right at Tae, who had gotten quite sloppy, so needless to say Rei is able to slash right down his middle, bringing Tae's HP down to 1, and thus ending the Duel.
Rei breaths a little bit, conjuring his Heal ID to give them a bit more HP. He then pulls out what appears to be a Talisman, sticking it on Tae's chest. The Talisman glows, filling Tae with a warmth as his Regeneration is boosted slightly and he is healed again by his new Regeneration Score.
"There, that should let you heal faster so we can start again."
Tae Min charily ran his hand over where Rei had slashed him down. Though the Talisman reverberated warmly against his chest, he still felt the lingering echo of the bloodless strike. He let out a breathy chuckle.
"You're nicer than you look at first glance," he said offhandedly.
Rei just shrugs. "Not really. I just don't need you dying on me. Besides, this is a take and gain relationship. So it's not like I am doing this for free."
Tae Min laughed a little. "Nevertheless, thanks Rei Rei. I owe you dinner sometime, my treat," he said with a determined smile. The teen seemed adamant about not taking 'no' for an answer on his offer.
"Oh, and speaking of give and take, I've got a lot of skeleton bones for you," Tae Min added, "Thirty three of them, in fact."
Rei seemed to not really care about Tae's nickname for him. "Sure. If you want to treat me to dinner, I won't really stop you."
He then reaches into his Inventory. "I can give you 65,000 Yen for all of those." Rei pulls out seven bills, holding them out towards Tae. "Is there anything you want me to get from the Auction for you? Books? Armor?"
Rei then thinks for a moment. "Basically, what sort of powers are you trying to get anyway? Magic? Spiritualism?" Tae seemed to be the gentlest of all the Gamers. So he wonders just what sort of power Tae is trying to get.
Tae Min hummed lightly as he called out his inventory and exchanged the bones as he thought of how to respond. "Well, I do have something in mind," he admitted, "though I'm frankly a bit embarrassed to say it aloud."
Rei takes the bones, stuffs them into his Inventory after counting them, and just shrugs. "Go ahead. It's a supernatural power, how can it be embarrassing?"
"Well… okay," Tae Min relented. The younger gamer did have a point - nothing about their power was fell in the bounds of normal. "You know what a flicker is, right? Or a blink?"
"Short distance teleportation?" Rei just nods. "There are a lot of special Spells like that in games. Or abilities." He scratches his chin for a few moments. "You would want to get the Arcane School of Manipulation then. Maybe Mysticism as well. With Manipulation, you can eventually get Spatial Magic, which as its name implies lets you affect space."
Rei now looks back up at Tae. "So you want to learn how to teleport basically?"
"That's the short way of putting it," Tae Min replied with a chuckle. "Although I'm hoping that if I do manage to get what I want, it won't have some tacky name," he added with a huff, "I've already got a couple skills that have pretty boring names."
"You can rename them you know, however;" a pause, "if you have the name stray too far from the original name's meaning, or try and shorten it too much, it will lower the effectiveness of the Skill."
Tae Min's eyes visibly grew wider with this new tidbit of information. "Wait, wait, wait. How do you rename skills?" he asked expectantly.
"Just tap the Skill in your window to bring it up, as you may have already done, and then tap the Skill's name. Then after that just follow the prompts."
Tae Min called out his skill window almost immediately and began to change the names. 'Mana wave' became 'Hemiola', and 'Observe' became 'Hi there'. Once he was finished, he looked back up at Rei, "I'm gonna try this out."
He turned away from the other gamer, raised his hand, then chanted, "Hemiola!"
From Tae Min's hand burst forth the familiar blue arc of Mana that he had been honing. To his joy, though the name had changed, the feeling remained the same - absolutely exhilarating.
Hemiola? Rei watches as Tae utilizes his newly named Skill to perform the same Mana Wave as before. "Seems interesting enough."
"Is there anything you want to buy, or do you want to save the money you just attained? You have enough to get a book on the Manipulation School, which you can start reading now to make the Skill cheaper once you have the 20 INT you will need to unlock it."
Tae Min perked up once again at the mention of books. "I like books," he said flatly. "I mean, I like books. Like, like," he amended, this time with proper intonation. Small habit it was, forgetting to inflect properly.
Rei just nods. "Alright." He really isn't going to bother harping on Tae's speech problem. "Give me 59,000 Yen." Says Rei as he holds out his hand, pressing some buttons on his phone. A few moments later, the UFO comes down from the sky.
Once the exchange is made between Rei and the UFO, he hands Tae a blue book with a blank cover. "Here you are. Just make sure you don't let normal people find this. Once you are done reading it, you should have the option to unlock the Skill at a reduced cost. So you can give it back to me, i'll sell it back to the Auction, and you can get some of your money back."
With that said and done. "Is there anything else you want to talk about?"
Tae Min took the book from Rei carefully and held it with a mute reverence. However inconspicuous it seemed, the blue book was another step into intriguing and unknown waters. The teen nodded once, then placed it in his inventory.
"Hm," Tae Min rubbed his chin. "What do you feel like eating for dinner?"
Rei just shrugs. "Whatever you want. You're the one paying for it after all." Rei shatters the Pseudospace after making sure all Weapons are put away.
Tae Min smiled, dimples and all, as he asked, "Have you ever tried Korean barbecue?"
Tae Min eyed the notification quizzically. He hadn't expected a pseudospace of all things to come up during his nightly outings. Rei's warnings about the abyss briefly flashed in his minds, but…
Curiosity always won out in the end.
Tae Min hit 'Y' without much more thought. What's the worst that could be in there?
"Plasma Chain. Magic Binding!" These are the first four words Tae Min would hear chanted by a man who looked as if he is in his mid thirties and has a severe case of five o'clock shadow and short, brown hair. He is wearing a long red, leather coat, black pants, black leather shoes, and a black button up shirt.
Private Detective Dresden
Plasma Wizard
Marcus Feldman Lv 49
There is a large burst of static surrounding him as a chain of what appears to be lighting that is on fire shoots from his hand, stabbing into the back of the man, before wrapping around his body, this man wearing what appears to be a suit. He's rather thin, almost handsome looking, with blonde hair and a nice, smooth complexion.
Pervert
Illusionist
Tobaias Finch Lv 38
The man lets out a loud cry of pain as a 250 appears above his head from the chain, it wrapping around his body as he falls to the ground.
"Give it up you idiot, I don't have time for this bullshit tonight--" he begins, but stops when he notices Tae Min.
"Who are--" He starts, but then curses as he turns his head again to see that the man who was bound vanishes and then reappears ten yards to the left.
"Blasting Lance!"
Right before Tae Min is impaled by what appears to be a large lance of magical energy that appears in a large glitch of static, this glitch being much larger than the one that appeared when Gob Gob summoned that knife,, Dresden moves in a flash of lightning, turning his back towards the illusionist as the lance slams into an invisible wall, shattering.
Quickly turning around, he clicks his tongue.
"Tch, he got away again!"
The man now turns to face Tae Min.
"Who are you, and how did you get into this Pseudospace?"
Tae Min blinked. Once, then twice.
This was, simply put, not at all what he was expecting to see. He contemplated his options briefly. Escape was a possibility, one that a certain gamer would surely have encouraged given that the person in front of him was a Level 49. Nearly five times the limit Rei has forewarned to be cautious about. But if curiosity didn't stop Tae Min the first time, it certainly wasn't going to stop him the second.
"That was... he gazed owlishly, "Amazing." He breathed the word out. Then, Tae Min snapped out of his daze and remembered that the man had asked a question.
"I'm Tae Min," he said, practically vibrating, "I just, uh, wandered in?" He gave a small, innocent smile.
"Wandered in?" The man just looks Tae over for a few moments.
"I had this space secured..." he looks over the boy again. His eyes shimmer a few moments, before he just sighs.
"What sort of power do you have that let's you just wander into Pseudospaces without even trying?" It seems that before Tae Min is going to get an introduction, this Mage is content on getting Tae to answer some questions first.
Tae Min pondered for a moment about what to say. Telling the truth was certainly the easy way to go, especially considering the display of power he had just witnessed. And yet, he found himself rather… hesitant to tell the whole truth to a complete stranger.
"Good question," Tae Min began. "To be honest, I don't know everything about it myself since I just received it not too long ago."
Which was actually true.
"A little blue bird did teach me a little bit though. How to make Pseudospaces and whatnot."
Also true. Just not entirely true to everything Tae Min did know about the gamer power.
"Well it seems very weak for a newborn Natural Ability... yet at the same time." Marcus seems to be gazing at Tae now. "It seems to hold something else. I can definitely sense some Mana in you, so it's most likely a Natural Ability somehow related to Magic."
"Have you learned any Magic at all?"
"Nope," Tae Min answered. Although he did have a book sitting in his inventory, he didn't have any latent magical knowledge quite yet. But Marcus on the other hand… was an actual wizard in the flesh.
"It's kind of hard learn… well anything on your own isn't it?" he chuckled good naturedly. There was a suggestive hint to Tae Min's words, whether he was fully aware of it or not.
Marcus just nods. "Well if you're asking me to teach you, I'm gonna have to say no." Marcus just looks back in the direction the Pervert ran.
"Thanks to you, the man I was after got away, and I have no way of actually identifying him since that appearance of his is just a facade." Marcus sighs heavily.
"Well anyway, good luck on your Magic training." Marcus seems like he is perhaps a bit angry at Tae, since it is Tae's accidental interference that caused Marcus to get momentarily distracted.
And unless Tae Min Lee wants to say anything, it seems like Marcus is about to leave.
Tae Min was not about to let the man leave. Not when answers to his burning curiosity were just within his reach. He sucked in a deep breath, air hissing across his teeth, before he opened his mouth and spoke out.
"Private Detective Dresden, Marcus Feldman," Tae Min's voice was level and a pitch lower than usual. Though his amicable smile remained, his eyes now shone with a level determination. "You're chasing the Pervert Illusionist, Tobaias Finch, right?"
Marcus just stops walking and sighs heavily. He turns around and looks to Tae Min. "Alright, I'll bite." He begins. "Just how do you know my real name. And more importantly... how do you know that Illusionists name?"
Tae Min had Marcus' attention, the first and foremost important thing. Now, he needed to just keep it there.
"How about this, Marky," Tae Min's voice returned to it's natural pitch, "We take turns asking questions. No passing, and no asking about foot sizes, Korean man's honor." The teen held up his right hand in mock oath.
"Deal?"
"As long as you don't call me Marky again, I am fine with that." Marcus doesn't really seem noticeably angered by that, but considering the Level difference between the two of them, it may not be the best idea to call someone something that could anger them.
"So answer my question first, and then I'll answer one of yours."
His eyes narrow slightly. "Just how do you know my real name, and how do you seem to know who that Illusionist was?"
Tae Min shrugged his shoulders in defeat. He thought it was a rather befitting nickname, but he wasn't stupid enough to keep pressing Marcus' buttons.
"I can see it," he supplied. "Right about here," he gestured above his own head.
"My turn now," Tae Min continued speaking without skipping a beat. "How were you able to sense that I had Mana?"
He can see it? More than just his name though, he saw... their professions? "Hmph, you're pretty good at this, despite how unassuming you look." A small chuckle escapes from Marcus. "And despite how truly green you are behind the ears."
He gestures to his eyes. "Natural Ability. I acquired the Wizard's Sight when I was 15. Of course, any Mage with proper training can learn the Detect Mana Spell, but my Ability offers me a bit... more than that."
Now he thinks for a moment. "Tell me, what is everything your power is capable of?" Marcus raises an eyebrow now, not missing a beat either.
Tae Min chuckled in return to Marcus' comment. Though it was also a light jab at his obvious inexperience, he was a glass half-full kind of person. Detect Mana, huh? Definitely sounds like a useful skill to have, Tae Min filed away the information in his head for later.
"Getting straight to the point aren't we?" the teen shrugged his shoulders. "Truthfully, I don't know everything about my ability. I can see people's names, titles, and relative power, as you already know. I can also utilize mana, and have a storage of sorts." Tae Min rubbed his chin, and thought about what else the gamer power did.
"Oh, and I'm pretty sure I can learn things faster with it," he added, recalling a tidbit from a prior conversation. "I think that's all. Now let's see…" Tae Min replayed the Wizard's words once more.
"Why were you so sure that your pseudospace was secure?"
"Because I utilized a special Pseudospace Stone that would prevent others from entering, so the bastard couldn't call in reinforcements if he had any." He scratches his head. "Its price is a bit out of your league though most likely, with you being green and all."
Marcus reaches into his coat pocket, pulling out a business card, and holding it out to Tae Min Lee. "My final question... is how would you like to put that power of yours to use, if your eyes work the way you say it does."
"You help me. I'll help you. How does that sound?"
The card has 'Detective Dresden' on it. As well as a phone number.
"For now, my train of thought is 'however I see fit'," Tae Min said with unhidden eagerness. He took the card, briefly looked down at it, then flitted his eyes back up.
"So, sounds good Mr. Private Eye."
Dresden just nods. "Alright. Call me later then if you need my help. Of course" he just chuckles, "you'll be repaying me the favor in the end."
With this, Marcus shatters the Pseudospace. However; when he does shatter it and Tae Min Lee is returned back to the normal world, the Plasma Wizard is nowhere to be seen.
But at least Tae Min has a potential connection with a powerful individual now.
The week passed by, pretty uneventfully, or at least with nothing incredibly major. All of the Gamers spent their time either separately or together in preparation for the battles ahead against both the Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the Gob Family. After all, they now have less than a week before they can start being dragged into Pseudospaces again.
Needless to say, on Saturday at 6 AM, Rei PMed everyone and told them to meet him at the same Park as before, since they all needed to have a meeting. Rei separately PMed Rin though and told him to meet him there at 12 instead so that they could ship out those Bones to Mai Xing the Alchemist, who Rei and Rin discussed in a long PM conversation the night before.
So after a transaction took place between Rei and Rin, and possibly a bit of other conversation, 1 PM would roll around.
When Rin arrived in the Pseudospace, she would see Rei there, sitting at one of the tables in the park. He has an inkwell and a rectangular sheet of paper. He holds up the finished product now, examining it. It is a bit reminiscent of a charm one would get at a shrine for good health or good fortune, only it looks far more intricate than those.
He puts it into his Inventory now, and looks at Rin as she walks up.
"I was wondering when you would show up." He pulls out his phone. "I assume you brought the Bones? I will also need the info she gave you, her Abyss Auction info."
"Some people have responsibilities to attend to," Rin replied curtly, before handing over both the bones and information with little fanfare. "You have the armor with you?"
Rei inputs some things into his phone, before the UFO shows up once again. He inserts his card into it, and then puts the bones into the box tied to the underside. Along with a bunch of red claws, and what appear to be a bunch of rotting teeth. He sent Mai a message, explaining what all of this stuff was.
Rei looks to Rin. "I do" He hands her a full suit of studded leather. Pants and all, not just a torso piece. "If you're not in Combat, you can change it just by touching it on your Inventory Screen and pressing equip. In combat, this function doesn't work unfortunately. Unless you use your Quick Equip slot."
"Quick Equip slot?" Rin paused, recalling the words he used before. "Q1?"
Rei nods. "On the lower left hand corner of the equip screen, is the Quick Equip button. This opens up a single slot, known as the Quick Equip Slot. Or Q1, which makes me assume we can get more." Rei chants "Q1", his shield appearing, before chanting it again after five seconds to make it vanish.
"It has a 5 second cooldown, and any Item in the Quick Equip Slot counts fully towards your Encumbrance, even if you aren't currently using it. So that is something to consider if you have some heavy armor or another Weapon in there."
Useful for multiple weapons, huh? But...unnecessary for now. Not until she had another sword, at least, and could afford to stick one into someone and then use the Quick Equipped sword to decapitate them afterwards.
Nodding, Rin put the armor into her Inventory for the time before, bringing out her sword once more.
"It's been a week," she said flatly, "And your plan was to see how far we've gotten, yes?"
"That is my plan." Rei sees Rin's sword. "I take it you want to duel me?" He puts his inkwell back into his Inventory now as he stands up from the table.
"In Duel Mode, we don't have to worry about killing each other. Our HP cannot fall below 1. Of course, if someone were to do something to the Pseudospace then the Duel Mode would be cancelled."
Rei now draws his sword from his Inventory, and summons his shield. He makes sure to stand 10 yards away from Narimasa, getting into a guarded stance.
"Ready when you are."
Two hands grasped onto the sword. A distance of 10 yards. After so many encounters with Skeletons, Rin knew that was definitely close enough that she could reach.
One week.
"Let's see how far I get."
With a powerful bound, she closed the distance, sword raised up for a descent swing to cleave Rei in half. The first blow would have no deception, no gimmicks, no tricks. Just pure speed and force.
"MEN!"
Rei had set up his guard, and had waited for this charge. The attack to the head was predictable, but it was also fast. Rei barely manages to raise his shield in time, steel clashing against steel as Rei's buckler blocks the deadly attack.
Pushing the sword away just enough, Rei moves to attack now, swinging his blade right at Rin's torso.
Most of the blow is parried, but he does manage to slice her partially, dealing 13 Damage to her health. He doesn't stop there though. "Swift Break!" he chants, aiming to slash at her with that same hidden shield blade from before.
And once again, it hits. Full on. The dagger like blade slashes right into her, dealing a total of 21 Damage. A fairly nasty blow.
"You're going to have to do better than that."
A swing, almost parried. Another swing, the same technique from before, striking once more.
But he didn't leave her range.
And the follow up after every descent swing was…
"KOTE!"
A surge of power ran down her forearms as Rin thrust forward, impaling the wrist that held the sword. A meaty feedback reverberated through her arms, a satisfying strike, before she twisted the blade and pulled it out, once more ready to receive another onslaught.
Rei grits his teeth as the blade is thrust into his wrist and then pulled out, dealing 23 Damage as he was able to partially deflect the still devastating blow. Unfortunately with how she struck, he drops his sword.
That still doesn't stop him from this time stabbing his shield blade forward once again, right at her torso.
Another 21 Damage as the blade stabs right into her stomach before it is pulled out, ready to receive yet another blow.
Yet that blow would hopefully not come, as her HP is sent down to 1 by this attack, a force sending her to the ground as a window appears up in the air for them all to see.
Rei is breathing a little softly now, putting his shield away before picking up his sword. "You have definitely gotten a bit better, as you managed to hit me this time."
"But next time, don't just rush in like that. You should really work on getting yourself some Ranged Attacks. You can at least get something basic utilizing Focus and the outward projection of Mana, like I did."
"Not good enough yet," Rin replied, slowly getting up. "If I delay, I just run the risk of trading HP with you in a long ranged battle. Considering the difference in our HP pools, I'll lose that one, easily."
She patted the dirt off her clothes, dropping the katana once more into her inventory.
"If I wanted to win, I can only do it with a sword. You only get options when you get stronger, and even then...your own melee skills hit much harder than your magical ones, right?"
A pause. A new declaration.
"Next time, I'm taking your shield."
"I'll need to get myself some locked Gauntlets then..." says Rei, with his own counter declaration.
"And I'll cut your arm right off."
Rei just raises an eyebrow. "You sound like you want to kill me... I mean, I know you don't like me, but now you're sounding like Aiko."
Rei just sighs.
"An arm and a leg aren't much when you can gouge out someone's stomach with no ill effect," Rin replied. "It's more effective to remove options than to simply deal damage."
She paused once more.
"I want to defeat you. Didn't I make that clear before?"
Rei just nods. "You did. But now you're talking about cutting my limbs off. I don't know how our power deals with that, and getting something to heal that would be very... troublesome."
Rin cracked a smile. "So you were totally fine with me trying to cleave your skull open? Strange priorities, Rei."
Rei just shrugs. "Our power would treat that as Cripple Damage. I can heal that with good regeneration and, if need be, a Healing Talisman. I can't heal a severed arm with that."
"Learned from experience?"
Rei just shakes his head. "No. But in games, that do have severed limb effects, such things can only be healed by special means. And since our bodies are those of Game Characters, I am assuming the same thing."
"This is all speculation of course... but still it's not something I'd rather test out."
Rei then looks at Rin. "So is there any particular reason you want to defeat me so badly, other than the fact that I beat you easily before?" Rei is a bit curious on this.
"One step at a time," Rin replied, lifting her shirt up to check once more that her organs, if they even still existed, were intact. "You're the most senior Gamer, with all the various advantages that brings. An easy, available person to set as my immediate goal."
"After that, it'll be my father, a master. After that, it'll be Ichimiya, my cousin. After that, it'll be my grandfather. After that, it'll be Seichirou Karasuma."
She looked down at her hands, callused and rough.
"You measure progress by levels, I suppose, and the techniques that you gain."
Still not enough.
"I measure progress by the people I defeat. If I have not yet defeated you, I am still the same person as I was one week ago."
That same small smile appeared once more.
"If you're a gamer, perhaps I'm an achievement hunter."
"Which is a gamer term" says Rei as he gig-- chuckles. "So you really are a Gamer at heart perhaps."
"Still" he shrugs, "be careful not to dive head first into the Abyss. Not while you still 'aren't enough'. Else you will be inviting people to come after you."
A warning, but... different than 'give up your power' that Rei usually gives. Perhaps Rei has realized that he can't really get Rin to give it up.
Rei looks at the time. "Well the others should be here soon... so let's just rest and heal until they get here."
Rei sits back down at the table now, drinking a bottle of water, as the two now wait for the others to show up.
When everyone who is arriving arrives, Rei decides to go ahead and begin.
"I called everyone here for a few reasons." Rei looks at everyone first, before speaking again.
"The first reason, is to see how capable everyone is now. This means knowing what Skills you all have acquired and where you plan on going from here. This includes any gear you want to go ahead and purchase, and what sort of Powers you want to acquire."
And these... Rei doesn't speak. He instead hands them all a packet. A very nicely detailed packet actually, complete with pictures and everything. Rei seems like someone who is good with computers.
There are four main forms of Magic you can access right now with your abilities.
Utilizing one of the five Magical Elements
[Aqua]
Good CC capabilities, mainly contains more defensive or helpful spells. Healing spells can reside here, but they are hard to make contracts with.
Pictures of a person fire water bullets and another bashing a person away with a wave of metaphysical water reside here.
[Stone]
A sturdy element, more for defense than anything. Also contains some decent hard hitting offensive spells. Creating a stone shield and enveloping their armor in stone are pictures that resolve here.
[Flame]
More of your DPS (Damage Per Second) style spells. There are some good AOE (Area of Effect) Spells here as well. Firing arrows of flame and a spell that cloaks a sword in flame are pictures that reside here.
[Wind]
The more balanced of the elements in terms of CC (Crowd Control), DPS, and AOE. Buff spells to boost speed or do other things are also good here as well. Wind gathering around a person's feet and creating a shield of wind are spells that reside here, as well as a Spell to launch a powerful burst of wind to knock someone off their feet.
[Lightning]
The hardest hitting of the Magical Elements, but also consumes the most Mana. If your Mana is low, this element is probably not for you. Contains alot of hard hitting, very fast spells. Firing a full fledged bolt of lightning or cloaking their body in lightning, are pictures that reside here.
One of the four schools of Arcane Magic. This Magic more or less doesn't have Spells you make contracts with like Elemental Magic, so alot more studying is required.
[Manipulation]
Spells that involve the manipulation of Arcane Energy and the world around you. Mage Hand is one good example, a basic Spell that simulates Telekinesis. A picture of a person firing multiple magical missiles or creating a hand to lift an object
[Abjuration]
Full of Wards, Shields, and Barriers. Also has buffing potential for boosting defenses. Overall, a good form of Magic if you want to raise your chances of survival. A picture of someone conjuring a shield to block a sword, and another picture of a man conjuring a circle on the ground.
[Enchantment]
Imbuing Magic into objects is the main purpose of this form of Magic, but it also houses Spells that can buff the user or another target as well to raise various abilities. A picture of a man's muscles in his arm swelling a bit as a spell is cast on them, and another picture of someone working magic over a sword, and it is glowing.
[Mysticism]
Spells that more or less involve commanding Magic itself. Many Counterspells, detection spells, and other things reside here. This is really a mixed bag though, as this school has a ton of varying Spells with varying affects. A picture of someone casting a spell to deflect a fireball, and another picture of a man turning a lightning bolt back at the caster.
The first forms of magic made, the first utilizes the essence of Items and objects for Spells, so anything you have becomes a Spell, including the Items from monsters. But this damages or destroys whatever you use as Spell material, so be careful. A very versatile form of magic.
The latter is a form of magic taken from Spiritualism's techniques, it utilizes the power of the soul to boost one's magic power so that they can cast a variety of interesting Spells. Its strong, but it feeds on spiritual power, or your Recovery, so uses of it are limited per day.
Not as varied as magic, but still has good options.
Involves manipulating the spirit of nature, particularly the Physical Elements. A picture of a man's hands, glowing blue, as he weaves fire between them.
Draw them, and then fill them with spiritual power. When applied to things, they can create various affects like healing, protection, or even damaging undead, spirits, and demons. These are three Talismans that I have.
A form of spiritualism that has techniques similar to magic. Omyodo is not something one gets for a a bit, but it holds some powerful abilities.
The ability to manipulate one's own spirit. Users of these techniques know hot to channel and control their spiritual power to benefit themselves in various ways, such as helping themselves recover faster or making themselves stronger.
Divine power is a bit tricky. The powers you get depend on your miracles, which you get from the divine being you follow. Examples include:
A follower of the Church of the Holy Light getting a miracle called Smite, which is meant for destroying undead, demons, and others with evil or malicious intentions.
Or the followers of the Sun churches getting a miracle called Divine Flame, which lights something on fire in holy flame that pierces defenses with Holy Damage.
The powers of mentalism are easy to attain, with just needing alot of Wisdom, but hard to master. In their basic form, they aren't very varied, and just meant to utilize your Will to do some basic things, like making your attacks hit harder, so a dagger could hit as hard as a Great Hammer with a strong will.
But acquiring pyschic abilities like Telekinesis or Pyro Kinesis are not too far fetched for Mentalists. Even becoming a Psion, someone who has a variety of mental powers that can do various things utilizing a Psion Stone, is possible.
For gaining better combat techniques, be it dodging, defending, or attacking. Learning Martial Arts in theAbyss usually involves learning combat techniques that utilize Ki or Spiritual Power. The Ban Family Dojo is one example, as is the Karasuma family.
Karasuma Ichimiya, a Level 32 utilizer of the most likely wind based Ukiha Kamikaze Ryuu wants to talk to me on Sunday, and he may train us. He goes to my school, and is the moral committee president.
We live in the world where supernatural powers and battles are commonplace, as the Abyss stretches all over the world, with people strong enough to do things we can only dream of right now.
There are pictures of one Mage blowing up a building with magic, and another of what appears to be an entire ruined city block after a battle between two individuals.
In less than 6 Days, or after you all reach Level 9 - 10, you all will be able to be unwillingly dragged into Pseudospaces. And from there, one of two things can happen. You can die, or you can get knocked out. The latter is much worse than the former.
You could either be turned into a slave if you either have an interesting Ability or sometimes if you have good looks
and here, there is a screenshot of the Abyss Auction's slave page, with all of its listings and descriptions. Each person here has a rank and a basic... description of what they can do.
Or be sent off to a Mana Factory. Where they will harvest all of your life force and then everything in your body like your organs, blood, and bones. Of course, they'll keep you alive using magic during all of it, before ripping out your soul, which means you can only sit there until your soul is used to fuel something, and then you don't even get to go to the Spirit Realm or Hell, as you will cease to exist.
If you have Mana, which we do, then they will keep draining Mana from you for months upon months, or even years, until you are close to death, and then they will harvest your body and soul.
A fate worse than death.
Its why we can't keep training out in the open. Unfortunately we need to try and make connections with other ability users, and our unique power and the fact that four of us have talked to a Messenger of Gaia are some of the things we can utilize in our favor for this. They may be able to provide us a training space if they don't murder us first.
So we have two sets of enemies.
Chant 'Quest Journal' and then click on the 'Party Quest Tab'. There should be one Quest that is grayed out, because you haven't accepted it yet.
For Soren, Aiko, and Rin it is the Gob Gob's Vengeance Quest.
For Hira, Tae, and Majima it is The 'Four Horsemen' Quest.
The Four Horsemen, or three now since I killed Famine already, seem like a group of Chuunin hunters going after new people to test their probably somewhat new powers and to make some money. They somehow learned of not just mine, but all of our existences. We will most likely be fighting them soon.
Next is Gob Gob, who Tae Min told me about two days ago. The three of them were attacked randomly by some Goblins, and defeated them, so now this stronger, knife wielding Goblin wants revenge.
Monster Spaces don't just randomly appear though. So it was summoned by someone. Possibly one of the Horseman who knows how to somehow summon Goblin Pseudospaces, or some other entity.
Meaning we can possibly even have 3 enemies to deal with.
So first of all, I hope you all have been training Second Wind. This Skill is immensely useful. And I hope you all have high VIT and WIS, or some good Focus Skills, as those can all be useful for making sure you don't die or pass out. Second Wind is also immensely useful, as it can heal you a decent bit after resisting Death.
So training Second Wind is one goal I want everyone to push for. It is exhausting yes, but here is one trick.
Take a bath, a decently long, relaxing bath. Then relax for the rest of the hour after that bath. You will remove 10 points from the Fatigue Penalty instead of 5. It only works once every 6 hours though, but its still very useful.
If you haven't gotten a skill like Endurance or Night Owl yet, get it. They are immensely useful for resisting Fatigue.
Other than training Second Wind, I want everyone to be able to accomplish most of these goals by the end of the week:
A decently reliable Ranged Attack (Be it Mystical or Physical, the former being better)
A good source of Melee Damage (easily done, just train with your Weapon)
Some source of Mystical Damage
Acquiring decent Armor
Being able to acquire a better Weapon
A decent CC (Crowd Control) Ability. Such as a Knockback Skill.
The 'Movement' Skill or something equivalent.
Level 10, at least.
10 in all Stats (although if you don't want to raise Luck, then don't.)
"Once you are all done reading your packets" continues Rei after passing them out, "I'll need everyone to go over their current abilities and what abilities they would like to learn. I will tell you what I know about how you can perhaps achieve that with our power and what you have right now. Then after that, it'll be a crash course in Gamer Mechanics, since there are still more things about this power that I need to tell you all about. Since you all refuse to forget it after all..."
Hira arrived at the park a few minutes early, making sure that he wouldn't be the last to enter the pseudospace where everyone was supposed to meet. As he arrived, he noticed that Rin and Rei were already here. He was glad that he had made amends with Rei in a way. But he was almost certain that Rin wasn't going to forgive him for his lack of motivation when they spoke earlier. He was nowhere near as skilled as she was, but he would be sure to earn her respect in some way.
As all of the others arrived, he stood quietly, looking at his nails. They were growing a bit long and there was a considerable amount of dirt under them. He'd have to wash his hands as soon as he could, but that probably wouldn't be for a while. No one would probably notice, but he was still a little paranoid about it.
When Rei began, he carefully watched Rei. His movements, his mannerisms, and his vocal inflections all indicated that this was a time to be serious. It almost felt like he was training in a boot camp! Except there were no sexy-looking muscle men to drool over. Well, with the exception of Kazuo, but... He was a little too... How could he put it... Unconventional?
Before Hira knew it, he was being handed a large packet. Rei told them all to read up on the information provided. He said something about showing him their powers, which he would do in a minute. But was this information all collected by Rei? He began reading, as he was intrigued by what might be contained in this packet. As he read, he realized this was essentially a packet that contained the possible power routes that people could go in. Magic was not something that Hira originally had in mind, but as he thought about it more, he became more intrigued by the idea of using it. He read over the options and it seemed like an obvious choice to choose Stone magic, but Hira wasn't about to play the stereotype of a tank. He was going to choose Aqua magic. The magic had crowd control, which would be useful to draw attention to himself or to keep too many enemies from damaging him at once. It also said it had a chance to have healing and defensive spells, which would be helpful to him. It was listed that healing spells would be hard to acquire, but Hira was always up for a challenge.
He read the entirety of the powers section of the packet and then got going to a section, which was labelled 'The Dangers'. This was going to be another one of Rei's 'Hey guys, be careful. People are trying to kill you' things. However, this was something much more grave. He looked over the things that were detailed in this section and he clenched the paper slightly. How could people possibly exist in this world who wish to do this to people? It was extremely awful and he wanted to eradicate these people from existence. He also wanted to free all of the slaves that were listed on the Abyss Auction's slave trading page. If he would ever get the chance, he'd buy a slave and set them free into the world. Hopefully, they'd be lucky enough to escape capture once more. Hira gritted his teeth at the thought of having people be locked in cages just for the reason of having powers. This only made him more motivated to go into this world called the Abyss.
'Our Enemies' was a section that made him accept the mission that they'd be embarking upon. This Goblin was going down the next time they saw it and if he could help take down the rest of the 'Four Horsemen', then he would. These 'Four Horsemen' seemed to be mixing it up in a world where they deserved to be punished. He didn't know much about them, but if Rei was fighting them, then he was sure that they had done something worthy enough to be hunted.
Reading over the goals, he was sure that he could accomplish the majority of these goals, just as Rei is asking of them. He wasn't sure if he could accomplish a few things on this list, but he would do his best to get all of the things on the list. He'd have to train hard, but he was sure that he could accomplish this while also living a 'normal' life. There were a few social engagements he'd have to give up here and there, but this was more exciting to him. He could salvage his social life if it really came to a standstill, but he'd figure it out. He was sure he would.
As soon as he finished reading, he had a question for Rei. "Do you want us to share what our rough ideas for magic and such are right now?"
If Rei's answer required an answer, then he'd give his answer before listing off his powers. If it did not, he would just list off his powers.
