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It was 10pm when Shouko finally returned to her apartment. She was tired, having exerted herself physically far more than she could remember. No, there was that disastrous hiking trip Yoshida invited me to...

Shouko took a hot shower and quickly passed out until the next morning, when she woke up just as refreshed as all her mornings since attaining her powers. It was a very useful benefit. She went to Tokyo U for her classes in the morning, even though she was dying to try out her powers. There was no sense in abandoning her established life- or was there? If she could become more powerful through the Gamer system, Shouko could see herself utilizing it to amass wealth and influence.

For now, at least, Shouko sat through her classes. She even made progress on her Skills, having received a message near the end of the session:

Knowledge has gone up in Level by 1.
+1 EXP.​


"That's nice. Even daily activities help..." she muttered. It was already noon when Shouko's classes finished, but her phone was still devoid of any messages from her brand new friends. Shouko quickly fired a text to them.
Hi, it's Shouko!
Did anyone find out anything?​
 
[fieldbox="Xenon Zhu, red, solid"]Xenon woke up with his hand already on the snooze button and a window in his face. Four days in and he was finally getting used to feeling strangely refreshed in the morning. After a scalding hot shower to ease his nerves, Xenon dressed himself into his uniform and combed his bangs into place. As a precaution to keep his parents from finding out about his nightly magic escapades, he had chosen to distinguish how he looked from school to how he looked when he went out. Granted, the only big difference was whether or not his hair was pushed forward or not to hide his ear piercings, but Xenon liked to think that it contributed to his guise of normalcy.

He had a light breakfast of rice, tamagoyaki, and miso soup accompanied by steamed baby bok choi that he'd received the other day. Oh the raging health benefits of bok choi, he thought sarcastically as he bit into the leafy green. As he was washing his dishes, his bleary eyed father walked into the kitchen and made a beeline for the coffee machine. "Zăoshàng hăo Ba," Xenon greeted as he finished putting up the dishes. "Zăo," his father replied gruffly. Xenon gave an amused look at his father's near death-like state. Well... I know where I used to get that from, he thought.

He picked up his school bag from the back of his chair, giving it a once over before slinging it onto his shoulder. "Wǒ xiān zǒu yí bù," Xenon said as he left the room. "Màn zǒu, Xiao Tong," a muddled reply followed with the whirring click of the coffee machine. With that, he left the house and made his way to school.

While he was walking to school, Xenon was mildly surprised by the sound of his phone notification. I must've forgotten to turn it off, he thought as he pulled up the message. Amagi... Rei... or Kei... or Mei... huh. I don't think I know any of those names off of the top of my head. Then again, I don't really know that many first years in the first place, he thought. I guess I'll just have to look around whenever I have time. Xenon arrived at school shortly after, his eyes glancing around for white hair, to no avail.

Morning classes passed along with no new developments, which Xenon debated as either good or bad. Though, if anything, for some reason, nothing was properly sinking into his head. Maybe it's because I missed last night's show? I haven't missed one in a while after all... When lunch time came, he took a couple minutes to eat as he thought of places to look. There's an awful lot of students here, so just looking around blindly doesn't seem very effective... I have a vague name and a description to work with, but it could still take a lot of time to find this Amagi Mei... Rei... Kei. Amagi-san. Then, it suddenly dawned on him. "Teachers," he muttered quietly. Every first year teacher was bound to have a roster of the students' names. Xenon quickly finished eating, then glanced around... only to find Artisia's seat empty. Guess she went to look on her own.

He made his way down to the school's staff room, when he ran into his own first year homeroom teacher. "Ah, konnichiwa, Suzuki sensei," he greeted politely with a bow. The male teacher's face was blank for a moment before he recognized who he was, "Oh! Zhu-kun. Konnichiwa. How are you?" Xenon smiled as he replied, "I'm doing fine. How are you?" The teacher reciprocated a pleasant expression, "Likewise. What are you doing here?" Xenon's head raced for a moment, groping for an answer, before realizing that he didn't actually need to fabricate anything. It wasn't like he was there to cause havoc or anything after all. "I was going to ask a teacher something," he replied honestly. "Ah, I see. Well, I'll be on my way then. Take care," the teacher said with a nod, then continued walking. "You too, Suzuki sensei," Xenon echoed.

I kinda feel like a fraud, he thought idly as he reached the teacher's lounge. He hadn't lied, or cheated, or anything. Yet, the larger underlay of his search somehow made him feel as if he had. Ah, whatever. I've got a job to do. As he entered the room, Xenon announced his pardon with a bow and made his way over to one of the teachers he recognized as a first year instructor.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry for bothering you, but could you help me?" Xenon asked humbly. "I'm looking for my friend's brother," he added. Just in case. The teacher looked him over, momentarily with her dark brown eyes. She was young, with fair skin and neat brown hair pulled into a high ponytail. It was likely that she hadn't been teaching for very long. "How do they look?" she asked slowly. "White hair and oddly colored eyes," he supplied. "Their name is Amagi... Mei?" Xenon cautioned a guess. The teacher raised an eyebrow at the sudden uncertainty. "It could be Kei, or Rei," he quickly admitted abashedly, "I forget."

The teacher's eyes lit up and softened at the mention of one of the names he listed. "I think you mean Amagi Rei," she said with a chuckle. "He's in my homeroom class," she added. Score, Xenon internally fist pumped. "Though, I didn't know he had a brother," the teacher continued, effectively ending his mental celebration. "Really now? That doesn't surprise me too much. I don't think they're on very good terms," Xenon lied. "Is that why he's always so alone? I don't know why, but he seems to have a hard time getting along or even talking to other classmates," the teacher gushed as she rambled on. She kinda reminds me of Ma's lady friends... Xenon thought as he observed the instructor.

"Well, that's why I'm looking for him," he gently interjected, "So he won't be alone all the time." The teacher paused, looking him over again, "What year are you again?" Xenon gave her a winsome smile, "I'm a third year. My name is Zhu Xenon and I'm in class 3-B." The teacher hummed, contemplating his words. Then, she gave a nod of approval, apparently satisfied with him. "I wish I could counsel him more, but really, he's so impassive all the time," the teacher sighed. "Ah, that's fine. It's not your fault," Xenon quickly buffed her, "Though, it would help me if you, by any chance, knew where he ate lunch." The teacher thought for a moment before replying, "I believe he goes to the roof to eat lunch everyday, but I'm not sure..."

Finally, Xenon thought. "The roof? I see. Thank you, I'll go look for him now... uh," he paused. "Ito sensei," the woman filled in. Xenon nodded and bowed respectfully, "Thank you so much Ito sensei. I'll be leaving now to find him." The instructor nodded again, "The pleasure is mine. I hope you find Amagi-kun. Good luck."

The moment he left the room, Xenon let out a heavy sigh. He'd never been good at dealing with over enthusiastic people, which made it his damned luck that his mother had a horde of crooning Chinese lady friends like Ito sensei. Anyways, time to go to the roof. It was a lucky thing that the school gave a full hour for lunch. As he made his way to the top floor, Xenon figured it would be a good idea to check his phone to see if Artisia had had any luck, to see three texts waiting for him.

First, he replied to Artisia: I was at the teacher's lounge. I was lucky enough to find the gamer's teacher thanks to Jian Xiansheng's message. Apparently, Amagi-san likes to eat his lunch on the roof, so that's where I'm headed now.

Then, he looked at Tian Gui's message. Xenon smiled a bit at the "elusive, secretive" part of the message. It certainly did seem to line up with what he had gleaned from Ito sensei previously. He didn't really feel the need to reply to the text, since, assuming that Artisia received the message as well, she would be able to vouch for his arrival if he was late.

Last was Shouko's message: Hello Koizumi-san. Jian-san found the new gamer's name through a friend last night. He also sent a message saying that Amagi-san (the gamer) would like to meet us at Gekkoukan's track and field area at 1:30, so if you can, I recommend making your way to the school.

Upon opening the door to the roof exit, Xenon found the roof filled with it's usual crowd of students, idly eating lunch together as they chatted along. Then, he noticed a rather familiar presence . "Jian Xiansheng," he said in a surprised tone as he approached the other gamer. "I didn't expect you to be here," he said. Xenon looked around the roof, checking to see if there was anyone else around, "Are the others here too?"[/fieldbox]
 
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It was monday once again. The moment that Kyousuke left his studio. He could feel the dread in the air as millions of people stumbled their way to work or school. Call him strange, but Kyousuke never minded Mondays. He always enjoyed school and learning, so he was a rather cheery person on mondays compared to most other people. As was his normal routine, Kyousuke went to his morning classes at Neo Tokyo University. After class, he got a notification that said that his bartering skill had leveled up. He knew that he was learning something new every day and that he was becoming better at his job, but having a quantitative way of showing it was rather encouraging. It made his education a bit more tangible in a strange way.

Either way, it was lunch time now and the others had seemed to want to search for this other Gamer. He had free time, so Kyousuke decided to go himself and help search as well. After a short commute, he arrived at the grounds of the high school. It wasn't long before he noticed people looking at him and whispering to others. It was scary what a name could do. He was not the president of his family's company, but just baring the name Azai brought along some consequences. He used to get annoyed as people usually became afraid to approach him if they knew who he was. But, it happened for so long and at such a common rate that he ultimately just got used to it. Such was life. You can only play with the cards that you've been dealt, or so they say.

Anyways, Kyousuke signed in with the security office as a guest, claiming that, as a former alum, he was just visiting for old times sake and to maybe say hi to his former teachers if they weren't busy. Either way, he easily got access to the school and could walk around without any problems. He had no exact idea as to where to look for this person, but it was lunch time and most people congregated around certain areas. So, he leisurely took a stroll down each hall, making sure that he checked every room as he passed by just to make sure that this Gamer wasn't hiding in the corner of some classroom. Starting from the 1st floor, he would methodically make his way up. Unfortunately, his attempt bore new fruit until the very end. He reached the rooftop, which was the only place that he had yet to check.

When he got there, Kyousuke arrived to find to of the gamers he met yesterday. He walked towards them and said "Pleasure to see you all again. Would either of you by any chance happen to find our person?"
 
Tian Gui, Xenon, and Kyousuke

It took time, but Tian-Gui had time. He could sense that this particular ‘conflagration’ was much stronger than the ones previously displayed by the others, but at the same time, the young man was already warmed up from his previous pseudospace manipulation on the way to Gekkoukan. Fuelled by sushi, he focused on taking the reins of the pseudospace before him, before clenching his fist. As if snuffing out a candle, the space dissolved, leaving him with a rooftop full of high school kids having lunch. Though his appearance caught their attention somewhat, it was less fear and more curiosity that drove the onlookers to gossip behind his back.


Swivelling around, he saw no white-haired edgelord, and realized that, perhaps, due to Pseudospace covering as far as your line of sight was, a pseudospace made on a rooftop could go on for a long while. Tian-Gui scratched his chin, wondered if Rei was skipping classes, and was about to pop another roll of sushi into his mouth, when Xenon, the red-haired Chinese student, showed up. Cringing slightly at the xiansheng suffix, the older man returned his greeting with a wave. Pulling off one layer of his tiered lunchbox and offering the contents to him, he said, “No need for formalities, Xenon. And yeah, surprise. Doubt the others are here. Probably be heading off to the track and field. Why are you here anyways? Chasing after Rei’s shadow as well?”

“Ah, sorry,” Xenon replied, noticing the other male cringe. “It’s a bit of a habit,” he supplied while rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “I heard from a teacher that Amagi-san likes to have lunch on the roof, so I figured it might be worth checking before I headed over to the track,” the teen explained. He felt a little bit awkward talking to Tian Gui. Despite his heritage, he didn’t get the chance to talk to many Chinese people outside of his parents, their friends, and relatives. It felt a bit strange, to say the least. Well, he thought, it could also just be Artisia’s people skills rubbing off on me. Maybe I’ll start punching people too.’

“Also, chasing Rei’s shadow…?” Xenon repeated, mildly puzzled. “Are you saying you saw him here, by any chance?”

“Yeah, I just guessed that Rei was the rooftop-type person. Make Pseudospace and go full-loner and all. Wonder if he was bullied in his past high school,” Tian-Gui mused. “And I didn’t see him here, but he did leave a pseudospace in place. I broke it though, so yeah. Thought it’d prompt a reaction, but it didn’t.”

“I see,” Xenon hummed. “He seems like quite the slippery character,” the teen chucked, thinking back to a certain teacher’s rant. “Apparently he doesn’t even talk to his classmates. Or, at least, that’s what I’ve heard from his homeroom teacher,” he shrugged, “So bullying may not be too far off…”

“Well, that’s a fairly depressing topic anyways, so whatever. We can go ask him when we find him, so speculating’s pretty much pointless.” With a shrug, Tian-Gui moved on to the next topic. “What I’m curious about, though, is how you even got to know Artisia. Looks like the two of you were fairly friendly and all. Got a story to tell? A budding romance of opposites attract?”

Xenon nodded at Tian Gui’s dismissal of the topic. No use in beating a downed dog anyways. Though, he was a little taken off guard by the new, more suggestive subject. The teen blinked, once, twice, and then began to laugh. “N-not exactly,” he said between bouts of laughter. “We’re classmates,” Xenon clarified, “I’ve known her since we were first years.”

“Oh, but that’s not a reason to be super friendly with her. Did you earn her respect by beating her in an eating contest or a motorbike race?”

“I think she’d break my arm if I tried to arm wrestle with her,” Xenon said with a tentative smile. “Our first meeting was at one of my magic shows,” he began to explain, “But she didn’t recognize me at school until I habitually did a quarter-behind-the-ear trick. After she realized it was me, she wouldn’t stop bothering me to show her stuff.” He shrugged, “Eventually we resolved that she could come to my shows whenever, so long as she didn’t pester me too much at school. Somewhere in between that we became friends.”

“Yeah,” Tian-Gui laughed, “I can imagine that. So you moonlight as a magician, eh? Maybe you should hire her as your bodyguard after you make it big in Vegas. Planning on putting your Gamer shenanigans into your show?”

“I guess you could say that,” Xenon said, amused by the other male’s wording. “Not too sure if Artisia would like to follow me around for a living since I’m thinking of traveling after high school. I kinda see her moving on to help her parent’s dojo,” he said, rubbing his chin. “Either way, she’s still gonna be beating people up,” he laughed. “As for the Gamer stuff… I didn’t think about that, but I think there’s some sort of law that keep us from showing off,” the teen paused, trying to recall the exact words. “Inter… vention law? Something like that.”

“Gotta feel sorry for the kids. Unless it’s only the assistant teachers she’s going to be putting in the dirt. And here’s the question: is the intervention law something that triggers only when you specifically tell someone that you have Gamer powers? Or is it something that triggers the moment someone sees you use your powers, even though they won’t automatically conclude that it is, in fact, Gamer powers?” Tian-Gui swallowed cod roe nigiri. “Guess no one asked Jin that?”

Xenon shook his head. “Jin was gone pretty fast, so we didn’t really get to ask him all that much. I think he said something along the lines of ‘If you reveal this ability to normal people, then the will of the world will hunt you down’ kinda ordeal.”

“Mm, another elusive, untalkative guy, huh?” He leaned back against the table, looking up towards the sky. “Gotta wonder why we even have these powers, if we can’t even do anything with them in real life.”

“Hmm,” Xenon touched his chin in thought. “If I remember correctly, Jin also said something about an ‘Abyss’ and ‘natural ability users’. That seems to imply that there are more people with abilities like us, but maybe without the rpg fiasco.”

“Mah, whatever. Too much pointless thinking and shit. Guess we can interrogate Rei soon and get our answers that way. You know where the track and field is, right?”

Right as Xenon was about to offer to lead the way to the school’s track, the roof door opened again. “Ah, Azai-san,” he said as he noticed the new gamer. Though, right after the name left his mouth, he felt conscious of the rooftop full of high schoolers. Even if he wasn’t quite sure about the connection between the corporation and the gamer, he was sure that a group of high schoolers wouldn’t be as keen to think twice.

“Sup Kyousuke,” Tian-Gui waved, gesturing with a now empty box of sushi. “Come join us! Have you eaten yet? Been thinking that the lot of us should go out on a picnic or something. Build up that team spirit~!”

Kyousuke was rather taken back by how amiable Tian-Gui was. They had shared less than 10 words and have seen each other for only a few minutes. Was this just all an act to seem inconspicuous or was Tian simply like this as a person? It was hard to tell since they hadn’t spent that much time together. But, for now, Kyousuke would play along especially since they were the object of attention on the rooftop and quite a few students were watching them.

“Thank you for your offer, but I have to decline. I’m on a pretty strict diet, you see. I can’t help but be picky about what I eat and when. Still, it’s surprising to bump into you two here... Ahh, sorry. I just got a text. Pardon me for a moment.”

Kyousuke then fished inside his pocket and pulled out his phone. He then sent a message via text to the two “So, what’s the deal? Have we found this other Gamer? Cause I’ve been out of luck even though I walked around the entire campus.”

“Actually,” Xenon piped, “The Gamer apparently left a note for us in a pseudospace up here. It said to meet him at the track at 1:30, so we were about to head over there now.”

“The Gamer, by the way, is named Amagi Rei. First year transfer student who disappears during lunch all the time. Guess you didn’t ask around, Kyou?”

“Rei… huh. Well, there really is no need to ask with this new ability and all since we can literally see who we’re looking at even if they’re a complete stranger. Might as well be a bit more inconspicuous. Rumors spread pretty quickly, you know?” as Kyousuke thought about how everyone at this school seemed to know that he was here. “If you think about it, it would be a hassle for Rei if a bunch of random people started to ask around for him all at the same time. Kids might start thinking that Rei did ‘something’”. You know how high school kids act, right?”

Kyousuke then looked at the time and then said out loud “Oh shoot, guys. We’re going to be late for our meeting at this rate. We should hurry.” trying to indicate to the guys that they should leave the rooftop and head over to the track like they had been planning while remaining vague about what it is that they’re exactly doing. High school kids are nosey, so the less information that came out of Kyousuke’s mouth, the better.

Xenon did a small double take at Kyousuke’s analysis of the situation. He hadn’t quite thought about the repercussions of asking around about the seventh gamer. Inwardly, he recalled Tian Gui’s comment about potential bullying… then stopped. No jumping to conclusions,’ he chided. Following along with Kyousuke’s cue, he looked at the time, “Is it that time already? I guess we really should get going. Here, follow me, I know the way.”
 
Hello Koizumi-san. Jian-san found the new gamer's name through a friend last night. He also sent a message saying that Amagi-san (the gamer) would like to meet us at Gekkoukan's track and field area at 1:30, so if you can, I recommend making your way to the school.
Shouko read the message from Kyousuke just before noon. That left with scarcely more than 30 minutes to reach Gekkoukan, but she found that the highschool was only a ten-minute's bus ride away from Tokyo U. How fortunate.

As she approached the gates, it dawned on Shouko that outsiders weren't generally allowed inside schools without business. The gates were closed, and to enter unnoticed would be quite impossible for a grown woman in skirt and heels. A beat later, she got the answer. Shouko focused and did as she practiced yesterday, summoning a Pseudospace as near to the gates as possible. The world became completely silent and devoid of other people. Shouko strutted right into the school with the loud clacking of heels accompanying her.

The Pseudospace didn't last for a very large distance, and Shouko nearly bumped into a student around the bend. She gave her a puzzled look, wondering why an adult was in the premises, but left her alone. Shouko went straight to the field and found a bench to wait on. There was still a few minutes left till the waiting time, and she had a view of the school field.
 

While Shouko's space would indeed let her slip past the Oni Teacher at the gate, that is all it would let her do. The space would break the moment she was on school premises, as in the moment she managed to get over the wall. Luckily the Oni Teacher had been possibly distracted by something, so he wouldn't see Shouko on the other side of the gate. Either a complete coincidence, or possibly even Gaia's doing. Although perhaps all coincidences are Gaia's doing, considering how Jin called Gaia things like 'Fate', 'God', and the very will of this world.

That was probably how Gaia prevented people from noticing those who used Pseudospaces. By momentarily taking their attention away so they wouldn't see the person appear, or perhaps Gaia outright blinded them to it. Either way, this would allow Shouko to slip inside of the gate, but her space would be broken the moment she got through it, not even going her line of sight. Perhaps the wall served as some sort of... boundary perhaps? Or perhaps it was just a complete coincidence. Either way, her space did serve its purpose, getting her inside of the school without the Oni Teacher catching her.



Soon enough 1:30 rolled around, and all of the Gamer's were on the track and field. Not many others seemed to be out there, aside from perhaps a small group of students eating lunch with one another. The track and field was very large, with the track obviously being the largest part. There was a shed about ten yards or so from the southern part of the track, this most likely being used to store outside athletic equipment. There were benches and even two sets of bleachers where people most likely sat when things like Track or Soccer games were in session. This school cared greatly for both academics and athletics.

As the Gamers would all get to the field, and meet up with Shouko who was sitting on a bench, at around 1:30, they would see that no one was there. Suddenly though, a window would appear in front of each Gamer. It read a bit differently than all of the other Windows they have seen so far. In fact, it most likely read like a message of some kind. Either way, its instructions were very simple.
From: Amagi Rei
Step onto the field.​


This meant walking over the track and stepping onto the grassy field in the center that, judging by the two goals on the opposite ends of this field, had just been used to play Soccer during PE. The moment they stepped through though, they would feel and see those familiar silent sights and sensations once again. Only... this Pseudospace wasn't entirely empty.

In the center of the field there appeared to be a pile of weapons. A bokken, a couple of regular kitchen knives, a baseball bat, a pair of gloves, a regular western wooden sword, and what appeared to be a dull tipped short spear. On top of the pile of weapons was a note. No sign of Rei Amagi though, aside from this pile of weapons that was probably placed here by them.

Choose a Weapon. You have exactly one minute to prepare.
If you don't want to do this, then leave and forget about your power.
Use the 'Party Create' and 'Party Invite' Commands to create a Party so that you'll share EXP gain.


Just like the first note, it was very direct and to the point. Whoever Rei Amagi was, they sure didn't want to show themselves, but were also a very direct person apparently. Also just like the first note, this note too was typed out rather than written, as if they had taken a small bit of time to prepare this. Of course, apparently the New Gamers also had just one minute to prepare. Prepare for what, however; was a good question. It could be Rei was hiding out beyond the Pseudospace, waiting to attack, or it could be that Monsters were going to show up. Or perhaps Rei was going to have them fight each other.

Either way, they would have a minute before whatever this other Gamer had planned would begin. That also meant that they would have a minute to back out if they wanted to.​
 
It didn't take long for the three to walk over to the track and field and even less time for everyone to meet there. However, just as they arrived. Something was a bit off. There was a small pile of weapons."More of these... games." Kyousuke muttered. Despite the comical irony, he wasn't one to appreciate it at the moment. He would rather have people be direct in what it is that they want to say or do rather than planning elaborate, round-about ways to deal with all this. After all, all of them had agreed to come here. They were already warned and told to ignore everything if they wanted a normal life. So, all in all, this was a waste of time. Still, Kyousuke was not in a position to argue since this Rei was the one who was familiar with the system an no one else. So, Kyousuke would have to play along with this game.

However, this game in itself was rather... strange. A pile of improvised weapons were just sitting there. It was apparent that they would be fighting in a minute, but why and against who or what? So many questions have yet to be answered, and it bothered Kyousuke deeply. Regardless, he came here to take the plunge and so he will. He walked over to the pile and took a good look at the weapons on display. They were really quite random. But, some seemed to be more obviously fitting to some of the gamers especially those pair of gloves. For now, he just picked on that tickled his fancy. Kyousuke picked up the wooden, western practice sword. It seemed versatile enough with two edges rather than one. With his selection, he stepped out of the way for the others to take their pick.
 
As 1:30 came along and the Gamers all converged, Tian-Gui wasn’t even sure why the university students were there, but hey, more the merrier. Smiling at them and offering some sushi from his still unfinished box, the Chinese youth acknowledged Rei’s message and walked into the grassy soccer field. Chances were high that there was a pseudospace there, after all, meaning that Rei probably wanted to talk to them in private, being the elusive, loner-type weirdo he was.

Instead of getting a human, what Tian-Gui got was a pile of weapons. A variety of lethal tools laid in the center of the field, each of them looking as if, with the right use, they could straight up kill a human. Rei was nowhere in sight, and another note was present amongst the pile, telling them that they had one minute to prepare for whatever was to come, as well as setting up some sort of party-thing. Already, Kyousuke was arming himself with one of the swords, no doubt prepared for battle. Was it those monsters he had heard about? Was this going to be a fight against Rei himself, to test their mettle? Was this…

This was a waste of time. Tian-Gui had come here with goodwill, planning on talking it out with Rei during lunch, sharing some food and bonding, but this? What the hell was this? Unlike those digitalized monsters that the others have seen, Rei was human, so why the fuck couldn’t they just talk it out like regular humans? Was this what happened to Gamers? After endlessly existing in pseudospace, they lost their very ability to consider the fact that combat power wasn’t even the most important thing in the world?

Tian-Gui’s smile faded, replaced with something that very well might be irritation. Taking in a deep breath, he shouted out, “REI! STOP PLAYING GOD AND SHOW YOURSELF!”

His candle flame smouldered, then expanded as he made the conflagration his own. Tian-Gui’s eyes burned blue as he reached out with his hand. In his mind’s eye, he could visualize it, the pulsating hearthflame of this unique pseudospace, and he grasped at it, attempting to snuff it out. Space began to crack, but before it shattered, a stronger, more refined force drove him back. The cracks repaired itself, and Tian-Gui lost control, breathing heavily and looking at the palm of his hand. His own flame had weakened, but it confirmed one thing, at least.

Somehow, Rei wasn’t inside the Pseudospace that he created. Somehow, something like that was possible, eh? A higher-level variation of the Pseudospaces that the group could currently produce.

Interesting.

He’ll break it anyways! Did Rei think he’d back down after one defeat? Did he think that Tian-Gui would comply after being knocked back once? Who the hell did he think he was? If you wanted to see someone’s mettle, be present and show yourself! If you wanted to make a request, go in front of them and ask properly! Rei was Japanese! Show some goddamn manners!

“Don’t think I’m done yet!!”

The flame of his soul burst outwards, an inferno catching the invisible threads that kept the pseudospace intact. He could feel it now, the stony grasp that continued to contain his attempt to burn away this isolated space, but Tian-Gui didn’t give up. He grit his teeth, resolutely focusing on his mind’s eye. It felt like the world itself was crushing him, but that was a sensation that he was all too used to. He would persevere. He would outlast. He would endure.

He will NOT play this game.

The red flames turned gold, sunfire cracking through the barrier before it disintegrated, bringing them back to a proper reality. Turning to the others, Tian-Gui exhaled deeply, looked at the multitude of weapons that were still in their hands, and said, “Hm…sorry about that, I suppose? Just got a bit annoyed.”

You have shown your power through determination and were capable of triumphing for a moment over a stronger and more experienced controller of Pseudospace.
+10 SP to Basic Pseudospace Creation
+2 EXP​
Basic Pseudospace Creation has gone up a Level by 1.
+1 EXP.​
 
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Artisia got a text from Xenon saying that he was heading to the roof, which made her seem a bit more behind than anyone else. She was supposed to beat everyone to finding this guy, but she didn't. In fact, she was the last to arrive on the roof. And by the time she had gotten there, they had seemed to talk everything out already and were leaving. Artisia clenched her hands into fists, gritted her teeth, and quietly growled at herself for being so slow. Damn. I'll make sure I beat everyone to the field.



After Artisia had come down from the roof, she knew that she needed to head straight for the field. But as soon as she got there, it seemed Shouko was just sitting there. Artisia quietly growled at herself again. What the hell was wrong with her? She was supposed to be first at everything, but she always seemed to be one step behind with everyone in this group. Artisia gritted her teeth and waited for the others to arrive. When they got close to the field, Artisia saw a window pop up in front of her. It seemed like it was a message, since it said that it was from somebody. Artisia closed the window and immediately started heading toward the field. If she was going to meet this 'mysterious gamer', she was going to do it as quickly as possible. She wanted some information on this power and she was going to do whatever it took, for the time being.

As she entered the field though, she seemed to feel a familiar energy. It was definitely a pseudospace, since it was so quiet. There was a pile of weapons and as soon as Artisia saw the gloves, she immediately took them. She wasn't going to let anyone else have them. She didn't care what the note on top of them said and she didn't care about whatever anyone would say. She was having these gloves. It seemed it was time to fight too, but then Artisia suddenly noticed that Tian Gui was trying to do something... He wasn't moving and he wasn't grabbing a weapon. Huh? What's he doing? As soon as his concentration seemed to be broken the first time, Artisia became a little curious as to what he was doing. But when he went back into concentration again, Artisia became a bit freaked out. He's trying to break the pseudospace, isn't he?! WHAT IS HE DOING?! THIS MIGHT MESS UP OUR CHANCES TO MEET THE OTHER GAMER!!! Artisia was about to yell to him, but then the pseudospace broke.

DAMN IT! WHY DID HE HAVE TO DO THAT?!
 
The Pseudospace was shattered, bringing the group back out into the ordinary world. Back into reality. It was a rather impressive battle from Tian’s part, his hand glowing brightly as he sought to shatter the space that they were in. In fact, it seemed to catch a certain figure’s attention. Another Pseudospace was soon created, bringing the world back into that silent world.

However, this time something different happened. From behind the shed about twenty or so yards away from the track itself was someone walking towards them. They looked to be about five feet tall, and obviously younger than them, their face fair and their skin slightly pale. There was white hair atop their head, somewhat unkempt, extending to the bottom of their neck. They were wearing a Gekkoukan uniform of course. On their hands was a pair of gloves, somewhat like the ones Artisia had picked up only a bit nicer looking.

Their eyes were interesting as Jin had stated, and given their hair and eyes it was easy to see what Jin meant by someone you’d expect to have special powers. One of their eyes was a light blue and the other purple. More importantly, the text above their head read something else than what the New Gamers were used to seeing so far.

Skilled
The Gamer
Amagi Rei Lv 20


Jin was right. This person clearly did have a better grasp of the power, and how much longer that they had it for definitely showed by the text above their head. They were already Level 20, which was... well... twenty times the Level that the Gamers had. However, the moment they did see Rei a window would appear before all of the Gamers, Rei stopping his own steps forward for a moment as well and tapping the air in front of him.


The Quest ‘Other’s Like Me’ has been completed.
+6 EXP. +1 AP.


Suddenly Artisia, Tian-Gui, and Shouko would also see another Window appear before them as they would feel a small bit stronger now, any lost HP and MP refilled.


You have reached Level 2.
+5 AP. HP and MP Increased.


The three Gamers that saw this window now had a Lv 2 above their head, indicating that their Level had indeed gone up. Now Rei kept their walk up to them, stopping a few yards in front of the group, a somewhat blank expression on their face.

Hello to you alll... you certainly did a bit better than I thought you would...” he was pretty brief and direct, looking at all of them for a moment. He seemed to be holding a game console in his hand, a PFP by the looks of it for those who knew what that was.

---
Purple eyes...that was certainly unique. Or, more like, what the hell, is he wearing color contact lenses to appeal more to his chuuni self-identity? As far as first impressions went, Tian-Gui couldn’t exactly say that Rei had much when it came to a good first impression. Yeah, he was supposedly twenty times the Gamer that anyone else was, but, other than his outlandish appearance and the fancy gloves he wore, Rei pretty much just looked like a basement dweller. This image was exacerbated by the PFP he had in his hands. Was he planning on doing some gaming while the group was going about with his whims?


Tian-Gui scratched the back of his neck, shrugged, and said, “Sup Rei. How’s it going? Would have expected you to be indoors with all this sunshine out, but hey, want some sushi?”

Well, even if the kid didn’t leave a good first impression, Tian-Gui had no more reason to get annoyed, now that he had finally popped up.

---

Artisia put the gloves on her hands as she strode over next to Tian Gui. She was about to punch him on the arm, but then suddenly, someone unknown came into view. Huh? Who could that b- A window indicating that she had completed the quest ‘Other Like Me’ appeared in front of her. Hold on! Th-That’s Rei?! Artisia closed all of the windows that were currently in front of her, including the level up window. It seemed that the other Gamer had inadvertently helped them to level up.

Artisia watched as Tian Gui rubbed the back of him neck, as if he was sorry for what he did. Tian Gui seemed to warm right up to him, but Artisia didn’t feel the same. “Even though you’re a lot higher level than us, don’t expect any extravagant welcome from me. Unlike this guy over here… WHO BROKE THE DAMN PSEUDOSPACE.” Artisia looked down at the ground and whispered to herself, “And now you don’t have a damn weapon.”

Artisia wasn’t one to warm up quickly to people, especially when they tried to hide themselves from her. Rei might’ve been stronger, but the kind of impression they left wasn’t a great one. Since they didn’t want to warm up to the other Gamers, Artisia wouldn’t warm up to them. At least… Not as quickly as some of the others might.

---

Kyousuke was just simply dumbfounded by the turn of events. So much so that he was cringing a bit in the inside. In fact, he had to close his eyes pinch the bridge of his nose in a semi-involuntary reaction to the annoyance that Kyousuke felt. Tian-Gui went off by himself and destroyed the psuedospace without even bringing up a word to the others. He was hot headed based on what Kyousuke could tell and that could easily be dangerous not just to Tian-Gui, but anyone working with him. Kyousuke made a mental note to watch out for him from now on.

Still, at this point it was too late to do anything. What had happened, happened. Kyousuke closed the window that notified him about the accomplished quest. Next thing he knew, the person that they were all looking for finally showed up. Kyousuke didn’t know what to really expect from this Rei, but he was both surprised and not surprised by Rei’s appearance. Regardless, everyone’s attitude today left something to be desired as Rei walked up with a PFP in his hands.

Ignoring Tian Gui’s and Artisia’s comments, Kyousuke went up to Rei and said “Hello to you as well. I imagine that you have a pretty good idea as to why we all came here to meet you?”

---

“I don’t need an extravagant welcome, and no thanks, I already ate.” With those two things addressed, Rei then heard what Kyosuke had to say. “And I know very well why you came here. I just came here to get some EXP... and possibly see what you can do.” He then looked to Tian, who managed to break his Pseudospace with just determination alone. Then he suddenly looked to the screen of his PFP, checking for something.

Inventory.” Is what Rei says next, and then he shoves the PFP into invisible space, the device vanishing. After that he raised his hand towards the sky.

“Your minute’s up by the way. Have you all made your Party yet? If not, you won’t be able to share EXP with each other once the Imps show up.”

It seemed like Rei wasn’t much for formalities, and was actually going to do something to make Imps show up unless they said something to try and stop him.

---

As Rei said that they didn’t need an extravagant welcome, Artisia rolled her eyes. This guy was pretty aggravating, acting like he didn’t care about any of them. He was pretty much going to train them. Hell… He was going to train them. Why can’t he just admit that he wants to get along with us? Jeez. He’s going to the length of helping us level and whatever, so he might as well admit it already. Otherwise, I’m gonna get pissed. Although Artisia was already slightly ticked off, she made sure her gloves were on tight. Then she suddenly remembered that she had gotten the Fisticuffs skill unlocked, so she pulled up her ‘Skills’ window and bought the skill.

Alright! She didn’t really feel any different, but she was pretty sure that it would help her become a better fighter in the coming battle. Artisia said “Party Create” and then invited every Gamer to the party, with the exception of Rei. He was already ahead of them by plenty of experience points. He didn’t need their help. They definitely needed his though. “Bring it on Amagi-san.”

---
When Artisia stated ‘Party Create’ a window would appear before her.

What is the Name of your Party?

And the first thing she said, even if it wasn’t what she actually wanted, would make this window appear.
Is the name
(what Artisia said) ok?

[Y] [N]

If she said no, then the window that first appeared would come back. If she said yes, then the following window would appear.
The party (what Artisia said) has been created.

And the moment she looks at any of the other Gamers and says ‘Party Invite’ they would see the following window.
Artisia has invited you to the party ‘(What Artisia said)

Do you accept?

[Y] [N]
---

“Inventory?” Tian-Gui mused about that, as a similar weird ripple in space popped up. Dropping his lunchbox in there and hoping that there’s refrigeration inside it, the man casually pressed the Party Invite sent by Artisia. Looks like she was plenty eager to fight anyways. He rolled his shoulders, cracked his neck, and said, “So in the end, we’re still going to be fighting things. You can summon them or something?”

---

“Yes, but they aren’t friendly either way.” With that, Rei spoke once again.

Imp ID Create! With that, the space around them seemed to waver for just a moment, before in a red flash of light about ten yards south of the group three Imps appeared, chittering as before, ready to start attacking, although the party would know about their appearance this time and thus could quickly ready themselves for the incoming fight.
 
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Alexander had gotten himself all neat nd tidy for school, as always. Spending at least a solid hour on his hair, and another thirty minutes give or take five, checking himself out in his vanity mirror. "This uniform may not be the best, but it is far from the worst," He looked at himself from a side view, then turned with a pose, "But I do make it look good."

As he made it to school, Alex found himself in the company of his two closest friends, Lucas, and Kei. Lucas was on the schools track team, the ace runner, and main athletic pull of the merry trio. Kei, on the other hand, was the brains of their operations. About as broke as could be and only at the school due to his academic achievements. Alexander was the pretty one of the group he would say, along with the one who knew how to best deal with people. The three of them had a bit of a hierarchy below them, mostly of students falling into their specific categories, a lovely little web, with only a handful actually being friends, and the others desperately clinging or being used without their knowledge. The popular crew.

"Yo!" Lucas waved, before he started doing some stretches, his long slender legs almost touching the ground. "Got some info on the person you asked about!" He continued his morning routine.

"Good." Alex smiled, before he started to mirror Lucas in a mocking manner.

Lucas frowned, "Stop it. Or I wont tell you."

Alex grinned as he stood upright, "Fine then." He crossed his arms, "pray tell?"

Kei sat on the ground, a book in his hands with papers and notes beside him, "He was mocking you because he knows you don't have the information. I do. Rei Amagi, First year, Short, and about as social as a rock." He licked his finger and flipped the page.

Stopping dead in his stretching, Lucas fell backwards onto his backside, "Busted again!" He started to laugh.

"Thanks guys, now about the test today." Alexander continued on his morning like nothing had changed, working hard and doing exceptionally well in his studies. He received a few texts that morning, but aside from the one from Tian informing him of the meeting with Rei at 1:30, the rest seemed to be not important.



Joining the rest of the gamers mid field, He gave a rather enthusiastic "Hiya!" to the group, before walking with them. To his dismay, Rei was not there yet. Only some simple weapons and a note to take one, or walk away from it all. Psssshhh, as if I would walk away. Alex looked at the items, and grabbed both knives. "I have an idea for these."

Next thing he knew, Tian was doing a thing. Then the pseudospace broke..."Well, that's not good, but good job?" A tad confused, Alex clapped his hands slowly.

At first glance Rei looked...Like a complete stereotype from an anime. "I wonder if he sits in the corner window seat in his class?" A legit question, though a bit of a jab.

Clicking the accept button to the party, Alexander was ready to go! Then he heard they would fight imps. I hate imps. The memories still fresh from the day before in his mind.
 
Upon seeing the rest of the group arrive, Shouko joined them in entering the field. There was a pile of weapons in the center of the Pseudospace they happened upon, no doubt left being by this mysterious Rei. Shouko felt an eerie feeling- were they going to fight something again?

Tian-Gui had enough. He shouted out at Rei, wherever he was, and began to break the Pseudospace. Shouko quickly grabbed spear, preferring the length of the weapon.

"H-hey, Tian-Gui, maybe the Pseudospace is up for a reason..." Shouko said, but her words fell on deaf ears. The man broke it.

“Hm…sorry about that, I suppose? Just got a bit annoyed.” Tian-Gui said sheepishly after the fact. What was that about?

His actions may have been correct, because Amagi Rei showed himself moments later. Shouko was surprised he had white hair and purple eyes- what kind of school allowed such colors? His attitude was cool and distant, and he expected them to join him in some Imp hunting. Those red creatures that nearly killed them all the first time. Shouko wasn't sure this was such a good idea, but since Rei was at Level 20, there should be no problems dealing with Level 4 creatures.

Shouko accepted the party invitation.
 
[fieldbox="Xenon Zhu, red, solid"]Once all the gamers had arrived, Xenon looked around at all the newly familiar faces. It's a lot easier to stick a name to a face now that names are literally above our heads, he thought bemusedly. Following along with everyone else, he looked at the weapon pile cryptically before choosing the bat. Xenon hadn't ever played baseball before, but something about the heft of the makeshift weapon felt comforting. Though, that thought was fairly fleeting as the pseudospace suddenly shattered.

Xenon looked up sharply to see Tian Gui with his hand up, which explained the broken atmosphere. But before anything could be said, a new pseudospace appeared, once again encompassing the field in stillness. Then, a new figure appeared on the scene. That must be Rei, Xenon thought from his initial look at the other teen's features. His guess was reaffirmed as a window appeared, indicating the end of the "Others Like Me" quest.

While some of the group began talking, Xenon simply listened, still studying the new arrival. In one word, he seemed... short. Though, that feature was very much contrasted by the number 20 above the new gamer's head. A month and a half to get to twenty, huh?

When the window for the party appeared, Xenon accepted it. Imps again... he clutched the bat in his hands a little tighter. Unsure as he was, it didn't look like Rei or anyone else was going to stop, so he metered his breath and readied himself for his second take on imp punting.[/fieldbox]
 
As the imps materialized ten yards away, Tian-Gui was surprised at how small they were. At only three feet tall, these red little demons almost looked like a bunch of angry toddlers, what with their bulbous heads and their expressions. Without hesitation, he dashed into the conflict, ready to both draw attention as well as just kick ass.

One hand reached out and grabbed the skinny arms of the Imp, but as Tian-Gui lifted upwards using his legs, he was surprised at just how much it struggled. The weight itself was not an issue, but the fact that its body belied its strength made it hard to keep it in his grasp. Nevertheless, by leveraging his larger size, as well as general experience, he brought it over his head, ready to bring it down head-first on the first imp that came at him.

---

Kyousuke on the other hand was a bit surprised that Tian Gui had just ran into the imps without telling anyone once again. Now, they had to run in too if they wanted to help him out. Kyousuke muttered “Damn it all.” and he ran after Tian Gui. But, instead of taking the initiative to attack, Kyousuke wanted to make sure that no imp would get too close to Tian-Gui without being punished by his wooden sword. So, he stopped right by Tian-Gui as he began to lift one of the imps into the air.

---

“So we are just charging in blindly like animals?” With a knife in each hand, Alexander felt less than ready for the fight. Last time, his skills showed to be sub par at best. “I hate doing the dirty work.” He let out a sigh and join the battle. Making it appear like he was going to charge at an imp, but as soon as he got within range, used his skill instead, “Mana Thread.” He aimed at the little imp, not sure what could come of it, but this was a good a time as ever for combat testing.

---

Mana Thread
2 + 25 Target Head Penalty - 9 DEX = 18


Alexander would aim his finger towards the imp, before a translucent blue thread of Mana would simply shoot out of it, aiming right for the Imp’s head. It let out a panicked screech when the thread suddenly wrapped around his head, the creature definitely a good bit caught off guard by that sudden move as the thread managed to wrap around its small head just barely.

Rei of course, was still watching so far. Simply sitting on the ground about ten yards away from the skirmish, having removed his PFP from his Inventory once again, plus he also did take out two bottles of water as well, setting those on the ground next to him as he sat down. Once situated He then began to actually play on the device while also glancing upward at the fight. Of course, their eyes were definitely cast towards the Mana Thread that Alex let out. They had also nodded slightly at Kyosuke’s decision to move next to Tian to ready himself.

But when Tian rushed in like an idiot, without any planning or strategy, that is what made Rei sigh heavily and put their face in their hand for just a moment. Luckily though, two of them so far seemed to have some... better ideas than just rushing in blindly.

---

Artisia readied herself as the Imps appeared. It seemed that there were three Imps that had appeared in front of the group. Artisia waited back for a second to see what everyone else would do. But when she saw that most of them were going to just run in and fight, who said she couldn’t do that too?

Artisia noticed that Tian Gui had picked up an Imp, while Alexander wrapped a thread around another one of the Imp’s heads. That meant that there was another Imp to take care of. It seemed that Kyosuke was readying himself to attack an Imp that came closer though, so that closed that option off. Suddenly, a wicked idea popped into Artisia’s head. “Oi! Wrestler! Drop that Imp so that I can sucker punch that thing in the stomach!”

Artisia readied her uppercut and said, “Energize Hand!” Artisia’s hand glowed blue and she readied her punch. As soon as he dropped the Imp, then she would inflict a blow that would hopefully do plenty of damage toward the enemy.

---

Everyone was charging at the Imps like a gang fight. Shouko looked around, taking a moment to collect herself. This was her first real fight in her life. She looked at the spear in her hands and gripped it tightly. Mana Burst would use up all of her available mana, so she decided not to use it right at the start. Since Tian-Gui and Kyousuke was already in the front-lines, Shouko approached them with her spear pointed forward.

Threads of mana flew past Shouko and struck one of the Imps. Shouko took it as her chance to stab the critter, lunging forward and delivering a heavy two-handed stab directed at its gut. Shouko didn’t know she had it in her to murder another being, but everything felt unreal within the Pseudospace.

---

Shouko’s First Stab
26 + 25 Distance Penalty - 10 Accuracy = 41


Since the creature was currently panicking thanks to the thread of Mana wrapped around its face, Shouko was pretty easily able to get within range, before taking her spear and stabbing it forward. The spear made full contact, the Imp letting out a shriek as the spear stuck true in its shoulder.

A red 16 appeared above the beast’s head, showing just how much damage it took, but it was still very much alive and now a bit angry at the human that stabbed it as it got over its pain quickly and chittered in a both panicked and angered manner.

---

Xenon stood back initially as some of the more aggressive gamers dived into combat. Within moments, two of the imps had their movements inhibited by Tian Gui’s lifting and Alexander’s mana string respectively. Though, there seemed to be enough imps for everybody, so the teen decided to make a try for the unbound imp that was approaching Kyousuke.

He ran forward, trying to remain unnoticed amongst the other battles, then whipped out his palm and yelled, “Mana bolt!”

---
Xenon Mana Bolt
5 - 10 DEX = -5


Suddenly a blue bolt of energy flies right from Kyosuke’s palm, before slamming into the one Imp that had yet to be immobilized or stabbed. The bolt hit the creature dead on, making it let out a loud yip of pain as a red 10 appears above its head, indicating the amount of damage done to the beast. Unfortunately neither beast was down nor out.

The one that was currently having its face be bound by the Mana Thread quickly pulled backwards in an attempt to try and break or get away from the thread. Unfortunately, given its strength, it was able to get away. Of course, given its flailing it left itself open for Shouko’s spear once again.

Shouko’s Chance
46 + 25 Chance Attack - 10 DEX = 61


The stab hit full on once again, dealing another 16 points of damage. Despite the next shriek of pain that came from this creature as it grit his teeth. However it was still very much alive, not looking like it would give up anytime soon.

In the meantime, the Imp that was in Tian-Gui’s arms would struggle to get away. Unfortunately it is unable to get out of his grasp, so instead it still manages to at least try to claw at Tian-Gui with its very sharp claws.

Unfortunately he would feel its claws raking deep into its shoulder. A red 19 would appear over Tian-Gui’s head as the claws raked in, sending pain all throughout him. He would see his HP bar going down in the upper left hand corner of his vision. He would barely be able to hold onto the Imp, just barely, despite the pain and damage he just took.

The third Imp, the one that Xenon blasted with his Mana Bolt, would move towards the damaged Tian-Gui, but not before Kyosuke quickly got in his way and attempted to slash with his sword.

Readied Slash
53 - 8 Accuracy = 45


The sword would hit the creature pretty spot on, a red 17 appearing above its head as the creature let out a loud yelp of pain. These creature’s weren’t too good at dodging, but again neither were the Gamers. But that was where strategy came in, as its rush was ultimately interrupted by Kyosuke’s strong sword strike, its small body pushed back a yard by it.

Now that the Gamers had Weapons and Mana... this battle seemed a lot easier than it was yesterday. Of course, it was 6 on 3. And these Imps were the size of children. But still. Quite easier now.

---

The claw went deep into his shoulder, and Tian-Gui almost dropped the Imp as a spasm of pain rang through his entire body, much more intense than what he was used to. Gritting his teeth, he turned to check out his shoulder, and was surprised to see that it was perfectly fine. Phantom pain? Was all this doing damage to their ‘essence’ as Gamers or something? Nevertheless, he was certain at this point that he was done coddling this red midget.

Winking at Artisia to acknowledge her request, Tian-Gui’s muscles hardened as he swung downwards, throwing the Imp straight into Artisia’s glowing fist. All in all, the combination attack only managed to deal 20 points of damage to this monster, when a single strike from it dealt 19, but that was fine. It had levels above them, and the fight wasn’t done yet.

As it smashed into the ground, Tian-Gui took the opportunity to jump up and stomp down onto its chest with all his weight, hoping to break its ribs or something. Everyone was doing marvelously, and he was the only one that was injured. Good!

“Nice job, guys! Let’s finish this!”

Six damage popped up beneath his feet as the imp squirmed.

---

Artisia Chance Punch
93 - 6 Fisticuffs - 12 Pinned Bonus - 10 Flanking = 65


The punch would hit full on, a 9 appearing from the full on contact of Artisia’s fist with the creature. The creature would cry out loudly, before it seemed to vanish in a poof of red smoke, a small, sharp claw being left in its place. Everyone would see a window appearing in the corner of their vision, as to not get in the way, that read the following.

The Imp has been defeated. 3 EXP earned.

And with that, that was one Imp down, two to go.

---

Artisia waited for the Imp to come down on her fist, and as it did, a whopping 20 damage was dealt to the creature. With that, she thought the Imp was probably on its last legs. Although, one could never be sure since they were level 4 Imps. They were only two levels away, but Artisia knew that there was a huge difference between the two.

After her blow, Tian jumped onto the Imp to inflict more damage. Then, to add to the pain factor of the Imp, Artisia decided that she would end it with a bang. Well… Not a bang, but a punch. A punch that hit it right in the heart… Or at least, where the heart might be. It caused 9 damage. As soon as the attack hit, the Imp disappeared in a plume of red smoke. Then, a window appeared that said an Imp had been defeated. Sweet! I did that finishing attack all by myself! Sounds like I’ve gotten pretty strong!

---

Xenon felt both a pulse of satisfaction as the bolt made contact with the imp. After Kyousuke’s nice follow up with his wooden sword, the teen moved in again to make hit with his baseball bat. Batter up, he thought with a smirk.

He had to move in closer, since he stayed in place when doing the Mana Bolt, but still nonetheless it could work considering he and Kyosuke would be effectively flanking the beast.

Hey Batta Batta, Hey Batta Batta. Shcwing!
39 + 25 Distance Penalty - 10 Accuracy = 54


The wooden bat makes contact with the small beast with a loud wooden crack, a red 19 appearing as the strong bat made contact with the beast, it screeching out before vanishing in a bit of red smoke, another 3 EXP being earned, and the rest of the Gamers having leveled up by now so the New Gamers were all Level 2.

That was two down, one to go.

And another Window appeared for everyone stating they earned 3 EXP. Of course, it appeared in the corner of their vision. Another claw, and a horn, were left there where the Imp once stood.
---


Artisia finished off one of the Imps and then decided to move onto the next one. She looked over her shoulder to find that Kyousuke was fighting an Imp by himself, but that one was certainly on its last legs. Although Kyou seemed to have finished a strike, so she thought she’d come help him out a bit.

Artisia ran over and simply bashed the Imp wherever she could. The Imps might’ve had speed and a bit of strength, but she had her fists. She swung and felt her fist connect with the Imp. A red 9 appeared above her strike and then the Imp disappeared into the familiar red smoke that she had just seen moments ago. “Alright! Battle’s over!”

Rei had stood up by this point, PFP going into their Inventory as they held the two water bottles in their hands. They seemed to look around, as if expecting something. A small sigh left their lips as nothing else seemed to happen. So they simply seemed to put the bottles in the pockets of their jacket, where they then vanished.

“Not too bad... of course you did double their numbers and you...” he looks towards Tian, “rushed in like an idiot. But not too bad otherwise.” His voice was a little blank and quiet, but quite straightforward and blunt despite that. He was... quiet honest, and not in a good way.

I really hoped to see a boss though was Rei’s thought as he looked around for a moment, before just shaking his head.

Still. It doesn’t change my opinion on the fact that you all should just go home and ignore your power. This is all you can literally do with it, and should do with it, is fight monsters.” Rei still wasn’t teaching them anything, or acknowledging their accomplishment. Instead he seemed to just reach back into his pocket and pull that PFP back out, clicking its buttons once again.

From the battle, all of the Gamers except for Alexander and Artisia would receive some Windows indicating new Talents received.

(Xenon)
Your usage of a baseball bat in battle has given you some experience with clubs. The ‘Club Use’ Talent Skill can now be unlocked.
Club Use (Rank 10, Cost: 4 AP)
Your ability to use clubs somewhat properly in combat.


(Shouko)
Your proficient wielding of a spear in battle has given you some experience with them. The ‘Spear Use’ Talent Skill can now be unlocked.
Spear Use (Rank 10, Cost: 5 AP)
Your ability to use spears somewhat properly in combat.


(Tian-Gui)
Your proficient grappling in combat has given you experience with grabbing and manipulating your opponents. The ‘Grappling’ Talent Skill can now be unlocked.
Grappling (Rank 10, Cost: 5 AP)
Your ability to grapple foes in true mano e mano combat.


(Kyosuke)
Your proficient wielding of a sword in battle has given you some experience with swords. The ‘Sword Use’ Talent Skill can now be unlocked.
Sword Use (Rank 10, Cost: 6 AP)
Your ability to use swords somewhat properly in combat.


And all of the New Gamers received this window.

---

With Artisia’s fists of fury, the battle was over in less than ten seconds. Still rubbing his injured shoulder, Tian-Gui called out, “Inventory.” He brought out his sushi, listened to a spiel from Rei, wondered if the kid was this high level because he had completely withdrawn from society in order to kill monsters and level up, before asking a very simple question.

“What’s even the point of monster hunting?”

---

You fight. You get EXP, Items, and Skill Levels. Its all to grow stronger so the Abyss doesn’t swallow you whole. That’s it. Unfortunately while we may be Game Characters now, that doesn’t mean we get some grand quest to go on. We aren’t chosen heroes off to defeat some big evil.” Rei spoke very matter of factly, getting right to the point once again, and that point being this was just a ‘game’ of sorts, but also wasn’t.

This was either the purpose that Rei found in it, or truly was the actual purpose. Either way, receiving this power from Gaia, from God, didn’t sound as grandiose with how Rei said it as Jin made it sound.

---

“Eh? So it’s survival?” Tian-Gui scratched his chin, mulling over that idea. To seek power only for the sake of living another day? No grand quest to go on? It all sounded rather cynical, but then again, Rei didn’t look to be a very positive person to begin with. The monsters he spoke about targeted only Gamers, meaning that normal humans will never fall prey to them. Just killing monsters alone, then, won’t benefit society in any way.

But continually amassing these skills and attaining more abilities? Though active ‘powers’ such as Intensify Energy would be much too flashy, Tian-Gui definitely saw some use in continually growing stronger. If this Gamer power assisted in that, there was no point in him flopping around and ignoring this power then. Rei can reject the heroic potential of this power.

Tian-Gui though?

“So, these monsters,” he said, grinning, “where do they pop up anyways?”

---

They don’t.” Rei began to walk forward, moving to the where one of the Imps had been. He picked up the claw that fell, holding it up. “These Monsters come from other realms. Those are Imps. They come from Hell. If you want to fight them, you have to call them with a special Pseudospace.”

Well... I can’t stop you from using your power... unless I were to kill you, and I have no intention of that.” Well, at least Rei wasn’t going to murder them.

Of course, I could also tell you about the fact that the Abyss is the supernatural underworld, where people many times stronger than me exist, ones that could easily kill you, and probably would.” Rei held the claw in their fingers for a moment, looking over it for a few moments.

Would that get you to ignore your power?

---

Tian-Gui laughed. People could easily kill each other at any time. Americans did it all the time. Cars did it all the time. Bricks did it all the time. If death was the only threat that Rei had, that wasn’t a problem at all! Because what laid within the death-dealing Abyss was power, the power that he needed to get closer to that impossible dream of his.

“Of course not! If there’s people many times stronger than you, I’ll become one of them! Don’t underestimate me just because you got a two month head start.”

---

Artisia, at first, celebrated herself for getting the last hits on two of the three Imps they fought. It seemed like maybe the other Gamers weren’t as incompetent as she thought, with the exception of Xenon, who in her book was already pretty good. After she went through and played the last hits through her head again, she returned back to reality.

It seemed Rei and Tian Gui were in a bit of an argument currently. Or… Maybe it wasn’t an argument? Rei seemed to be inadvertently giving them information, although it did seem a bit hostile. Considering that Rei had just mentioned killing them and all. But Tian-Gui seemed to be about as fired up as Artisia was. Artisia smirked and then jumped in along with Tian-Gui. “Yeah Rei! You just wait for us to catch up to you! You’ll be working all alone, while we’ll be working together! Many hands make light work, as they say.” Artisia smirked and narrowed her eyes toward Rei. She wasn’t trying to send hostility toward Rei, but she was definitely issuing a challenge to him. She was going to make sure she could catch up to him as quickly as possible.

---

After the fighting was all done and over with, It seemed more fighting was beginning. “Why is it that the more combat ready people don’t think before speaking?” Alex shook his head, “I would rather be on the team with someone who knows about our power, can lead in a direction aside from over a cliff, and doesn’t try to last hit everything we fight against.” Alex knew he was stepping into dangerous territory, but for the sake of growth, he would play the devil’s advocate for a time.

“Thank you for being willing to meet with us.” Alex gave a slight bow, “As you can clearly tell, we only recently awoke to this power, could you help us to better understand and use it?”

---

Once the fighting had finished with the last imp going down at Artisia’s hands, Xenon breathed out. With everything settled, the teen found himself feeling a bit at the crossroads. Batting the imps felt very much like a fetal pig dissection: somewhat morbid, what with their screeches, but also oddly satisfying.

As the gamers all congregated together, the red haired teen couldn’t help but feel a bit unsettled by Rei’s words. Yet, at the same time, he felt that something didn’t add up. Would that get you to ignore your power? the words echoed in his mind. It’s obvious that he wants us to forget about the power, but it also kinda feels like there’s more reasoning behind his words. Xenon wordlessly looked to Artisia, who was resolute in staying in the loop. Between his curiosity for reason and realist mindset, the curiosity ended up winning.

”I agree with Alexander,” he piped into the conversation with his gaze focused on the seventh gamer. ”I don’t think any of us, me included, could just walk away from what’s been happening these past few days without a more thorough understanding.”

---

For a moment an expression that looked... a little less than blank formed on Rei’s face as he just shakes his head.Of course that would be their response. Curiosity... how predictable.”

Of course, while Rei didn’t bother with the declarations from Tian-Gui or Artisia, the words of Xenon and Alexander were more relevant.

“I never said i’d teach you, not unless you’re willing to really go all the way with this.” With that, Rei reached into their Inventory, which they hadn’t closed yet, and pulled out a scroll, proceeding to unfurl it. “So how about a wager...” Rei looks at them, raising an eyebrow for a moment as he looks for any changes in expression.

You all complete the challenge I give you, and I’ll... teach you. If you fail, then you ignore your powers. Of course, as proof of your acceptance, ill have you sign here.” Indeed, Rei never did actually agree to teach them, and in reality he didn’t have to, but with little to no idea on how to actually use this power, perhaps accepting Rei’s challenge wasn’t such a bad idea.

---

Artisia watched as two of the others decided to try and be taught by Rei. One of the members of that group being Xenon. Artisia suddenly began to rethink her decision. Since it didn’t seem like everyone was in on their idea, maybe it was better to get some information from Rei? N-No way! Rei was supposed to be the enemy! He was supposed to be the person that they aspire to beat! They’re supposed to be the person that rivals everyone, but only one person can beat them like in an action anime. Artisia believed that she could be that person that beat him. But then an idea suddenly popped into her head. She whispered into Tian-Gui’s ear, “Let’s get taught by Rei. You might not like it now, but I can promise you that you’ll like what I have planned.”

Artisia turned to the group and put on an air of confidence. “Alright. I’ll take your challenge. I may be stubborn, but I’m not an idiot. Learning from someone who has more knowledge makes more sense than trying to fight against them. Especially since it seems you’ve got knowledge of my kinds of skills.” Artisia turned back to the Xenon and smiled a little before she turned back to Rei. “So… In that case, I’ll sign.” Artisia would sign the document to show that she agreed to the terms previously stated. They were going to complete Rei’s challenge. Artisia definitely wasn’t giving up her power, especially not after she got to be extremely powerful from her new skills.

---

Xenon wasn’t particularly happy about the black and white options that Rei presented, but he had to admit, it was a lot better than the ultimatum they had before. As the teen expected, Artisia went right ahead with Rei’s offer. When she looked back at him, he returned her smile and nodded. After she finished, he stepped up next. The whole “all or nothing” mentality didn’t still bugg him, but as before, curiosity triumphed all. Though, that wasn’t to say that the whole bandwagon mentality wasn’t affecting him - he was only human, after all.

”Thanks for the opportunity,” Xenon said to Rei. He’s… a lot shorter up close… he noted offhandedly. With a flick of his wrist, the red haired teen seemingly plucked a pen out of thin air, then signed the paper. ”I hope to meet your acquaintance,” he added with a small nod. That said, his magician’s side leaked out once more as he pinched one end of the pen and made it vanish once more.

---

Shouko squinted at the contract Rei provided, trying to catch any loopholes or traps. This was all dangerous business, jumping into an unknown situation and signing contracts from strangers. However, the allure of power, and possibly the wealth that followed, was impossible to ignore. Shouko signed.

“Nice to meet you, Rei. The little demonstration was helpful,” Shouko said while smiling. She would have a look at what Rei offered. “So, what is this challenge you’re presenting?”

---

Kyousuke on the other hand had yet to sign the agreement. In fact, he couldn’t see a good reason to. The terms of the agreement were not even all disclosed especially what this challenge was. For all anyone knew, the challenge could be to find the fountain of youth in 3 days. The entire thing reeked from a legal standpoint if it were a proper contract. To be quite honest, Kyousuke didn’t want to take part in this challenge. Who said that Rei would teach them completely and everything that they knew?

In fact, would it not make more sense of them to figure things out themselves rather than take Rei’s words at face value? So, Kyousuke stood back and said “I’m not dumb enough to sign something without knowing all the details of what it is that I am signing. So, what is this challenge?”

---

So there was someone smart here after all. Who was actually questioning what they were signing and questioning what the actual challenge was.

“Simple. You’ll be fighting a special ‘Boss’ enemy. Its Level 12, and as all of you are right now a single hit would mean either a knockout or death, which is why you get a week.” Straight and to the point once again. But basically they were going to be fighting a powerful enemy.

It took Rei almost two months, by himself, to get to Level 20, so perhaps in a week, since the six New Gamers could work together, they could probably get to Level 10 in a week. It would be a very difficult, dangerous challenge. One that would consume a lot of time to prepare for, but not impossible perhaps.

---

Kyousuke nodded. At least he knew what the challenge was now. It was kind of like one of those timed quests in the RPGs. Beat this boss within x amount of time. Still, Kyousuke wasn’t sure to what extent that Rei could be trusted. But, a lot of the others had already signed. He sighed. He didn’t really have the option to not partake unless he was going to abandon everyone else who had signed. So, he silently went up to sign the paper.

After he signed, he walked up to one of the drops that he imps had left. This really was like a RPG. “Anything special about these claws and horns?” Kyousuke asked out loud so that everyone around the area could hear. He had a week to learn and get stronger, so there was no time to waste. Might as well start now.

---

A contract? To slay a Level 12 enemy within the week between the six of them? And a contract that was written by a kid, with no actual backing outside of their honor. While Tian-Gui didn’t plan on going back on it if things go sour, who really cared about this? Signing the contract was basically just agreeing to Rei’s terms and hoping he would accommodate them after all. Not like there’s any sort of legal court that dealt with Gamer shenanigans.

One week to get strong enough to beat something that was six times stronger than them, huh? Tian-Gui closed his eyes, decided that he’ll have to plan out his days a little more strictly, and then said, “When did I ever say I was against getting trained by him, Artisia? Just said that I’ll get better than him and not die.”

With that, he signed the contract with a flourish.

“So, that special Pseudospace. Gonna teach us how to make that first, so we can at least kill some Imps? Or are you going to give us nothing to start off with?”

---

As the last New Gamer signed the blank parchment, which Rei had already signed, Rei would roll it up, before suddenly it would begin to glow, space seeming to shimmer around them for a moment before the scroll would then vanish into thin air, as if it simply ceased to exist.

After the effects ended, a window would appear before the six new Gamers.

The quest ‘Rei’s Contracted Challenge’ has been created and accepted.

Unlike last time, they didn’t get an option on whether or not to accept the quest.

Rei’s Contracted Challenge

The Gamer Amagi Rei has issued a challenge which you are bound to via an Oath Contract.

Objective
Defeat the ‘Special Enemy’ before April 30th, 9 PM
Recommended: Achieve Level 10

Rewards
Information on the Gamer Power from Amagi Rei
12 EXP, 2 AP


Failure Penalty
Natural Ability will be sealed.
Forced to ignore and eventually forget about your power.


There was literally no backing out of this now. They had literally signed a deal one that, somehow, was ‘mystically’ binding them perhaps to this deal. It seemed like Rei wasn’t going for the ‘by my honour’ sort of deal, but rather a deal that none of them could literally back out of, one that was now set in stone and plain as day given the Quest Window that the New Gamers received.

“Simply take one of those Claws or that Horn you received and hold it in your hand as you create a Pseudospace. Then you’ll get the ability to fight Imps once an hour.” It was a pretty simple instruction actually, Rei holding up the claw they had picked up, before opening his own Inventory and putting it inside.

“Of course, i’ll buy any Items you find, since I can actually use them. Or give me enough Items, and i’ll get you some better Weapons perhaps, or give you access to tougher Monsters.”

Rei then reached back into his Inventory, pulling out yet another note, which he then handed to the person closest to him. This note, just like the last two, was typed out, as if Rei had planned it in advance.

Three pieces of advice.
To unlock new Talent Skills, spend AP. However, if you instead spend perhaps a day or two practicing the Skill before unlocking it, you can lower its AP Cost by a couple of points. Makes it easier to acquire, and easier to Upgrade.

The more of a specific kind of Enemy you fight within a 24 hour period, the higher the chance of encountering a Boss Monster. These Boss Monsters are, as of right now, many times stronger than you and fighting them means death. Limit the number of enemies you fight per day to 10 at the most, 15 if you really want to risk your lives. Even though with the hour cooldown the Monster ID’s have you could fight more, don’t push your luck.

Food can heal you, so its a good idea to bring lots of it to consume when resting. Better food can give bonuses. Only one Food Bonus can be active at a time though.


Rei waited for them to finish reading the note before suddenly speaking up. “I don’t know if the number of Imp Kills would stack between us... so if you want to grind more Imps today...” Rei checked the time on his PFP again, it being 1:40 currently, “do it right now, and if a boss shows up, I’ll take care of it. We have a bit of time.”

At that last line, there was a small glimmer in Rei’s eye, Rei having probably expected a boss to show up after killing the Imps, and that was probably why they looked a little disappointed right after their fight.

---

Oh, it was just a quest-contract thing then? With some particularly nasty failure penalties? Tian-Gui read through the third note quickly, reading aloud for the others to hear, before finally nodding. 10 monsters a day to prevent the boss from showing up. Normal food is beneficial while you rest. And they had twenty minutes before this opportunity of ‘grind as much as you want, I’ll kill the boss’ disappears.

As he took one of the claws and began to manifest a Pseudospace, imagining a hellfire inferno that would be something Imps would love to dance around in, Tian-Gui asked, “Hm...what happens to the monsters if you break the Pseudospace while monsters are in them?”

---
Kyousuke spoke up after he heard something interesting.”Get us better weapons, huh…” That stood out to him as laws in the country were rather strict in regards to weapons. It took extensive background checks and a lot of time to obtain a license in order to shoot for a hobby. So, the fact that this kid could get access to proper weapons was concerning. Kyousuke spoke out “Where do you get these better weapons that you mentioned?”


---

“It’s the Abyss, the supernatural underworld. Death and the tools to deal it are just a business here. And as for the monsters... they just go back to where they came from I assume, like Hell for instance for those Imps.”

And with that, as Tian Gui attempted to create his Pseudospace to summon Imps to fight, Rei went back to where they were sitting before, pulled out his PFP, and began to play on it while they fought.

---

The first to create an Imp Pseudospace was Tian-Gui, and as he did so, his hand would glow a dark red, like the skin of those Imps, for a moment, before the space above shimmered, and soon enough more Imps appeared.

Imps vs Gamers, Round 1
Tian Gui (Lift): 64 - 7 = 54
Artisia (Fisticuffs): 74 - 6 = 68
Shouko (Spear + Mana Burst): 9 - 10 - 10 = -11
Xenon (Bat + Mana Bolt): 0 (Critical!)
Kyosuke (Sword + Energy Circulation): 78 - 8 = 70
Alexander (Mana Thread + Knives(?): 62 - 9 = 53


The first round... goes decently quickly. Four Imps show up. While last time, Artisia and Tian-Gui had really triumphed, it was Shouko and Xenon who really shone this time around, even better than Tian and Artisia did the previous fight. In fact, thanks to the Critical Strike his Mana Bolt did to one Imp, he not only was able to now Unlock the Focus Talent, but he got a special Skill as well.

Critical Strike (Rank 10, Special) (Level 1, 0/3 SP)
Your ability to attempt to seek out and strike at an opponent's weaknesses. It only activates whenever you deal a Critical Strike with any attack. This special Critical Strike deals 25% more Damage than a regular strike. Furthermore, it ignores 20% of the opponent's Defenses. This Skill can be trained outside of combat. You get one SP for performing the Critical Strike, and then another SP if it defeats the enemy.

While the Imps gave 3 EXP to any of the Level 2 Gamers, once any of them rose to Level 3 during the fight, which a few of them did, they would only start getting 2 EXP from each Imp kill.

The next three rounds went well as well. The fourth round... not so much.

During the next three rounds, a total of 12 Imps were killed. This would push everyone to Level 4.

A total of 10 Claws and 4 Horns were collected. Naturally they could either hang onto them themselves, or give them to Rei for either money or beter gear, or possibly the ability to fight stronger monsters. After all, these Imps were only giving 1 EXP now that everyone was at Level 4.

As the last Imp was killed though during the fourth round, Rei stood up, the space around them glowing a dark red for a moment as in a loud crash and a bright flash of dark red light and smoke that came from fifteen yards west of the group, a powerful roar bellowed out.

Once the harsh smoke cleared from the area south of them, they would see something that was a lot different than the small Imps they had been fighting before. Standing about as tall as Tian-Gui, this creature had quite the powerful looking physique, its muscles bulging as it glared daggers as sharp as its long claws at the group. It had long horns upon its head, and dark red fire burned in its eyes. It had hooves, just like the regular Imps, only they looked sturdier and stronger.

Above its head, in dark red text that differed from the light red text above the Imps’ heads, was the following.

Big Imp Lv 12

Rei quickly moved in front of the group, not stalling for a moment as he first chanted “Charge Energies!” before moving forward and right as the Big Imp appeared, a light blue aura forming over Rei’s skin for just a moment, before it moved inward. In their hands, for some odd reason, was two bottles of water, which he seemed to point forwards towards the beast.

Get back, and stay back. You can’t run.

Rei wasn’t going to tell them twice to stay back, once was enough. No time. He would just assume they would get the message as he walked right in front of them and pointed those bottles of water towards the beast.

Suddenly bits of blue energy like TV static envelope the two water bottles, before suddenly going sparking all over them, a blue sphere of water in its place, that quickly launched forward like a fast arrow straight towards the beast, the watery projectile exploding against the beast, making it grit its teeth, a bright red 18! appearing above the creature’s head.

Right after the bottles vanished Rei thrusted his hand forward as he chanted something else.

Palm Wave!” Their palm shone blue for a moment, before they thrust it forward as they chanted this, the blast seeming to move forward with the momentum of the strike as it headed right towards the beast.

Unfortunately the beast was quick. It managed to dodge out of the way just in time, snarling as it began to quickly move forward though, its claws actually lighting on fire as it approached Rei, before suddenly it slashed right at the Gamer, who attempted to dodge, their smaller size making it a slight bit easier for Rei to dodge the larger beast.

Rei too was pretty quick on their feet, dodging the rushing strike by a decent margin, which made the beast rush forward as Rei stepped backwards to attempt a full on, all out attack, Rei managing to gracefully sidestep once again, a third fiery claw swipe once again heading straight for the more experienced gamer, these swipes seeming immensely powerful as its muscles bulged with each swipe.

While the third swipe was better executed, its spontaneous nature was quite rushed, and thus allowed Rei to dodge more easily now, rolling backwards as they quickly stood up, before hunching their knees over. Now they rushed forward, crouching low before springing up as they got closer, chanting “Palm Wave!” as they did so, thrusting their blue glowing hand right towards the beast now.

A direct hit! It growls as the energy imbued palm slams into it, 26 points of damage being dealt to the creature as the strike slams straight into its chest, but Rei didn’t stop there, quickly raising their arm as if they were going to karate chop the beast. Instead, as they went for the chop they chanted “Set 1!”. Rei’s body, for just an instant, would shimmer, and in the next they looked quite different.

Instead of their Gekkoukan Uniform, they were in a hoodie, a blue one, and jeans with sneakers. Their hand descended now, but it too looked a good bit different. Both of his hands did actually, the chopping strike instead being a sword slash as the Imp was caught completely off guard by the sudden change, a bronze blade slicing deep into the Big Imp’s chest as it barely managed to avoid the biggest brunt of the blow as it leapt back.

On each of Rei’s hands was a strange looking sword, no hilt being present, but instead it looked like a sword attatched to some form of guantlet. Only 16 Damage had been dealt with that attack, but it did manage to at least force the Big Imp to take a step back to hastily dodge whatever change or plan Rei was doing. This thing seemed to be somewhat intelligent.

The Big Imp growled, and suddenly thrusted its own claws towards Rei, a fireball instantly appearing and flying right at them. Unfortunately Rei was caught off guard, as the ball launched the moment it appeared, it striking Rei full dead on in the center, the dark reddish, greenish flames striking Rei for 15 points of Damge, Rei letting out a cringe through gritted teeth as those flames seemed to just radiate some dark, powerful heat the moment they appeared.

The creature took the moment the flames struck to leap in with its flaming claws, attempting to slash Rei once again. This time though Rei did something different than Dodge. Instead he parried the the claws with his two swords, allowing him to stay nice and close, as he then proceeded to make a full on attack himself.

The first one-two slash hit dead on as Rei was right up close to the beast, slashing deep into it as it grit its teeth, letting out angry, gutteral roars with the first two strikes, the first having dealt 27 and the second having dealt 29, meaning Rei did 56 damage with the first two hits of his combo, and wasn’t stopping there.

The next two swift strikes, one with each arm, were unfortunately deflected by the Big Imp’s claws, but just like the Imp, Rei was going for one more combination strike. While the first one hit deeply, the second one seemed to have a bit of a heavily delay as Rei slightly botched his footwork, the Imp swiping aside the poorly executed strike with ease, throwing Rei’s arm backwards, and leaving him wide open for an attack, igniting its claws as it took the opportunity to do so.

Rei was barely able to dodge, and the Imp was easily able to keep up, smirking a large, sadistic smirk on its demonic face as it let out three rapid, fiery claw strikes towards Rei. It was more bloodthirsty than Artisia was.

The first slash hit, dealing 40 Damage as it raked into Rei deep and savagely with the fiery claws, making Rei cry out as they quickly attempted to parry the second one. To no avail, unfortunately, it slipping past Rei’s guard, dealing yet another 40 points of Damage to Rei. It seemed to be enjoying itself, letting out a laughing roar as it went for one more claws slash towards Rei, it having dealt a total of 80 Damage to Rei with just two attacks, and that wasn’t including counting how much Rei’s resilience could be.

Luckily they managed to easily parry this one, and quickly began their own counterattack, planning to finish this fight. A loud, breath, and a quick slash right across the beast’s torso, its eyes narrowing. The first attack had did its full 27 Damage. This second, quick slash, however... only did 11 damage as it was only a partial hit, cutting its arm as it attempted to parry.

With one, final exhale though Rei quickly focused, and then stabbed forward with their right arm. Right through the creature’s heart, 30 Damage.

The beast’s eyes widened, before it backed off of Rei’s blade, darkish reddish essence that had been being ousted from its body every time it took damage was now leaking out in droves. It seemed to roar out one more time in pain, attempting to try and claw at Rei one more time, but its arm was stopped short as it fell over in mid-thrust, its body vanishing in a large plume of red smoke, Rei sighing heavily and panting a small bit softly, wincing a bit from the large amount of pain they had been managing to block out with willpower and adrenaline.

In the large creature’s place was a large, two foot curved horn, two glass vials of red liquid, two glass vials of blue liquid, a small stack of Yen bills, and what appeared to be a book with a dark red cover. Rei first moved over to the loot as he said “Set 2”, which returned Rei to his Gekkoukan unfiorm and gloves on his hands instead of swords. Once back in normal gear, he proceeded to pick up his loot and place it in their picking it up and placing it into their Inventory before they sat down on the ground, sighing heavily.

“Alright. Feel free to go back to grinding” is what he tells them, still looking a small bit worn out from what was a very intense, and very painful, battle.

They could talk to him instead of just going right back into it if they wanted to though. Ask him what that entire thing was.

---

“That’s the thing we’re fighting in a week?” Tian-Gui asked, “And does the counter reset, now that you killed the boss?”

“And how do you even progress to killing new monsters then? All we can summon are imps, and we’re already higher-leveled than them. And that book, what’s that?”

---

“You get new materials. And you’re level 4, so you’re not higher level yet. I managed to” Rei pauses for a moment, to take a drink of water, before continuing, “procure... an Item that gave me a space to fight Zombies. Much slower, but their strength and health are too much for you guys right now. Stick with Imps for a couple days, and bring me their Items, and then i’ll give you materials for a Zombie space.”

Then the question of the book came out, and Rei explained again. “It’s a Skill Book, you can use it to learn a Skill, but it disappears upon use, like all Skill Books do. It’s for a Skill called Summon Imp. You need magic though, more accurately Magic capable of using Demonic Force. Which I am pretty positive none of you have.”

Anymore questions?” Rei wondered just how many games these people played. Well... not that this stuff would be common knowledge to gamers, but the fact that these things could drop items and their power was called ‘The Gamer’, Rei surely thought to a Gamer some of these things would click for them.

Are these really just normal people? If so... why did they get a power meant for a ‘Gamer’

---

The last two sessions of grinding were soon rounded off, and by the time they were over and everyone was rested, there were only five minutes left for lunch. The group had amassed a total of 19 Claws and 6 horns, although six of those claws had to be used to make them Pseudospaces, and one of those Claws was the one that Rei took, so 12 Claws and 6 Horns in total, not a bad haul. They could either give them to Rei, or hang onto them. Either way, it was over for now.

Everyone would get 2 Claws and 1 Horn if they didn’t want to give them to Rei. Rei stood up now, stretching a bit as he finished playing his game. Fortunately a boss didn’t show up again, or perhaps unfortunately. Still, the Gamers had been able to make good progress thanks to Rei being there to allow them to fight as many Imps as they wanted in case the boss showed up.

But if they wanted to grind without Rei’s help, which they would have to, they would need to be careful not to grind too many Imps in a day. And if the Imp Boss had been that powerful, who knows how powerful the Bosses for tougher Monsters were. They would need to be careful not to get killed.

Rei would also begin to walk off now, playing their game as he did so. It seemed like it was time to return to their days, and they probably wouldn’t want to grind any Imps until tomorrow. Of course, Rei would leave unless any of the Gamers chose to stop him for another Question. But other than that, it was time to return to their responsibilities.




 
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Once Artisia had finished grinding for the fourth round, Rei suddenly told all of them to get back. Artisia was skeptical until she saw the actual monster that Rei was going to battle. The Big Imp that had been summoned looked to be an incredibly formidable enemy, especially since their level was 3 times larger than theirs was. Artisia ran back like Rei said and watched the battle wage on. It seemed that the power they acquired had something to do with energy that they had within themselves. Although... Artisia wasn't sure whether or not they actually had all the energy that went into the bottle of water. Was it possible that Rei was pulling energy from the air around them? That seemed a little complicated, but could it really be possible? Artisia had heard of techniques using Ki, which is essentially energy from the air.

As the battle waged on, Artisia noticed a number of things about Rei. They used a strange set of swords, which seemed to protrude from their wrist. As they fought the Big Imp, Rei's techniques were incredibly impressive. No wonder they had reached level 20 in a such a short time. Artisia was sure that her days would be full of training and extreme martial arts combat in the next few days. Maybe she'd ask her Dad to teach her how to do a takedown. She knew that her Dad knew how to exploit the weight of an opponent, so she wondered if it was possible for her to use the same takedowns that he could teach her.

The battle finally reached an end and Artisia sat in a daze. Jeez. Rei really isn't to be messed with... At least, not yet. Artisia was a bit afraid of Rei, but she knew they didn't hold any ill will toward the group. At least, that was what her intuition was telling her. He better not screw us over with this challenge. I'll get so pissed if he tries to get me to end my powers. I won't go down without a fight if he tries to do that. This power is too much to give up now. I've learned a lot from this power too. Knowledge that I can't ever replace in 100 lifetimes.

As Rei began to walk away, Artisia asked Rei another quick question before he disappeared from sight. "Hey Rei. How much would you take for the Imp stuff? I thought I heard you say you'd buy them." Artisia was ready for Rei to say a price that was much lower than the actual value of the items. When he said any price, she would immediately suggest that he was trying to skimp on cost so that he could save his money. She was sure that's what would happen. Especially since she couldn't possibly know the true value of the items. "Oh. And how do you send those message thingys that you sent us earlier?"
 
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Prior to signing the paper, Alex found himself looking at Rei, then back to the paper, judging if it was a good idea or not, or if Rei was hiding something concerning the contract. There is nothing written on here? What are we signing then? Is it magical? After some time, he determined there must be a reason for it, and without needing to ask questions about it, Kyusuke had gone ahead and done that. Alright, so it is just so that if we fail, we fail and have to keep our word, no worries then." Pulling a pen from his pocket like a normal student, Alexander signed the paper.

After grinding for a time, Alex still fighting with his knives, whenever things got close, but mainly using his string skills, the atmosphere seemed to change. "Seems ominous." He pointed at the sky. He was right, it was, as soon the boss appeared, and they got to watch Rei go all out on it, taking it down relatively fast, but still, likely revealing what they would have to go up against soon enough.

"Well, that was entertaining." Alex clapped like a spectator in a coliseum, "And I believe those are a form of punching blades or katars correct? interesting choice of weapons." Also, the book that dropped, and the loot that we are picking up is real, just like from the games I play.

After grinding more, it seemed like they were going to go back to their daily activities, but before that Artisia decided to ask Rei some questions. Alex would do likewise, "Is it possibly for almost any object to create a different psuedospace then? And would books in a library or bookstore act the same as a skill book?"
 

Right before Rei was about to leave, both Artisia and Alexander came up to him, each asking their own variety of questions. Rei decided to get the easier one out of the way first, that being the one that only had one answer, turning around to face the two before he walked out of the Pseudospace.

"1,500 Yen for the Claws, 4,000 for the Horns. And as for the message... just say 'Send PM to' and the name of the person you want to send one to." He figured this was an appropriate amount for these objects, since he still needed to make some money after all. Then came the matter of Skill Books. Plus, Rei was a small bit impressed that Alexander knew what sort of Weapon he was using. Perhaps there was a small bit of a Gamer in Alex after all, much more so than the others at least.

"Yes. Books can act as Skill Books. You'll know when you touch them. As for other objects... maybe so, but right now you'll only be able to use materials of Monsters, since those materials contain the essence of those creatures." It was a pretty simple explanation, straight and to the point as usual of course. "Of course... I still recommend you stick with Imps for now. Zombies have too much health and are too strong for you guys right now."

With that, Rei would turn around to leave once again, this time breaking the Pseudospace by chanting "ID Escape!" as he rose his hand to the sky. The space would shortly be shattered, and Rei would now leave, it being time for all of them to go and do what they needed to do, and for most of them that was return to class.​
 
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"Hahah, wow," Shouko said nervously after watching Rei take down the Big Imp. She wasn't a fighter. Something that big- she wasn't sure she could even will herself to approach it. Rei did say it would kill her in one hit too. Artisia and Tian-Gui must be insane; at least the rest seemed to have more common sense.

"Anyone have second thoughts?" she joked.

Shouko was afraid, yes, but she wasn't going to back out and lose her powers just yet. They received 2 claws and 1 horn each after the battle, which came up to a sum of 7,000 yen. That was...

"This is actually pretty lucrative. And stronger monsters- they have more valuable 'loot', correct?" Shouko asked Rei, her eyes glimmering with interest at the mention of money. This was it. This was her reason to be risking her life.

Rei just eyes Shouko as she says this, before just sighing softly and giving a small nod. So this person was just in it for the money then apparently. "Although you're gonna still be spending money to get better Items and such to fight stronger monsters. So you won't be making too much..."

"It already looks promising. Wait, where do you get better items?"
"Ill get them for you, it'll cost you though." Rei replied.
"Okay!" Shouko said excitedly. This was turning out to be the best investment idea in her life. Becoming a game character and kill monsters for money. Why hadn't she thought of that before? Shouko opened her wallet and counted how much she could spare. About 25,000 yen.

"I don't think I can handle fighting something that big in close range... can you get anything I can shoot? Like a gun? Or just a bow? I did a bit of kyuudou in school, so I should be able to shoot straight," Shouko said while trying to recall her training. Another thought entered her mind then. "Some kind of protection, too. Armor? Shields?"

Rei thought for a moment. "Guns are too expensive for you. And I heard that they aren't great later on. I can get you..." Rei looks Shouko over for a few moments, before coming up with something, "a Bow, for 12,000 Yen, and a Buckler for 8,000 Yen."

Shouko tapped her chin and considered the offer. It would have to do until they completed the quest. "Then, please! Thank you for the help! I'll get some extra arrows, too. Rei, you're really helpful!"
"How many extra Arrows?"
"Ten. No, twenty. Twenty-five!" Shouko said, wincing as she made the mental calculations for their price.
"25,000 Yen in total then." Rei holds out their hand, preparing to accept the cash. Shouko's eyes widened in shock.
"H-h-half first... if that's alright?" She smiled weakly. She could have asked for a discount, but Shouko didn't feel like haggling with a kid who was offering so much help. Rei sighed heavily.
"Alright, that's fair." After all, Rei could simply just steal the money if he wanted to, nothing Shouko could do. So only taking half for now was fair. "But you don't get the Items until I get the other half."
"Of course." Shouko handed over the imp drops plus 5,500 yen in cash. She flashed the boy a wide smile. "That should do it. Thank you so much, Rei."
Rei just nods, opens his Inventory, and stuffs the Money and Items inside. It seemed much safer than a wallet, his hand having momentarily vanished as he stuffed the Items and Money into it, before he pulled it back out and, with a swipe of his hand, closed the Window that Shouko couldn't see. She gasped in realization and followed suit, putting her money into her Inventory.

After answering everyone's questions, Rei had finally decided it was enough and called it a day. Shouko looked around the group, wondering what their next plan was. Getting stronger meant killing imps, right? Shouko clapped her hands together to catch everyone's attention.

"Folks, since it's safer in a group, I suggest we meet up tomorrow to hunt Imps again. We'll keep in touch, mm'kay?"
 
Event (Saturday): Delinquents, Zombies, Okonomiyaki, and Oh Snap
A @Renose and @ERode Collab

Coming out of a sports store you happen to see Rei, playing on their PFP as they walk down the side walk. Most people give him a decent berth, except for two 'yankee' types. Naturally one of them, smirking to his friend as he tilts his head towards Rei, begins walking forward, friend not too far behind.

They seem to almost 'bump' into Rei, although you can tell that they tried on purpose, but Rei seemed to, with a bit of subtle deft footwork, avoid them. The two delinquents quickly turn around and one of them shouts, "Oi, Otaku brat, you bumped into me, you should watch where you're going!"

Of course, Rei ignores them, and this makes them mad, so they quickly run forward and block Rei's path. You've seen Rei fight. Perhaps you could intervene?

---

The oldest trick in the book, and people are STILL doing that? At a distance, Tian-Gui watched the situation unfold. Yeah, of course Rei would be able to dodge them, and of course they decided to go pick a fight regardless. Hefting up a bag of weights, the Chinese youth shrugged, paid special attention to their names, and then walked up.

Approaching from behind Rei and towering over pretty much all three of them, he said with a smile, “Hey there, guys, did my friend cause you trouble or something? Or are you trying to pick him up?”

---

The two delinquents, who were still taller than Rei by at least half a foot, now noticed the towering Chinese youth behind the much shorter, pale skinned one. The two ‘yankees’ swallowed a nervous lump in their throats as they noticed the heavy looking bag he was hefting on his shoulder with decent ease.

Of course, these guys had bravado, and they sure as hell weren’t going to back down. “Y-Yea, we were just gonna tell him a few things, you know, man to man. Like how he should watch where he is going and stuff.” They seemed a small bit intimidated at first, but quickly were mustering their courage and bravado.

Of course, anger was also on the other guy’s face as Rei just stood there, eyes still on that screen, completely ignoring the situation.

Also I was curious, what sort of game he has there. Ya know, I kinda want to get into those things. My teach says I need a hobby after all...” The other delinquent began to reach for the system that Rei was holding, and for a moment the clicking from the button pressing stopped, Rei taking notice of this with how his head moved up just a small fraction, one of his hands tightening their grip on the console.

While Rei knew not to use his powers, that wasn’t to say he couldn’t deliver these two a solid, powerful punch to the stomach.

---

“Tsk tsk,” Tian-Gui chided, now standing in front of Rei. With a flick of his wrist, he slapped the delinquent’s hand away from the console, while also using his body to partially block Rei from doing anything stupid. “You know,” he said, “People look at their screens while walking on the streets all the time. It’s pretty much second nature for them, yeah? And as the duty of someone who doesn’t have their eyes on their machine, you really shouldn’t have gone out of your way to bump into him, when the rest of the street was basically empty.”

“Also, I don’t know about your teacher, but gaming is terrible as a hobby. Go work out, or join a sports team, or get a part-time job, kids. Hell, if you think you’re strong enough, I’ll even introduce you to my boss some time. Godfather Construction Firm is always looking for new part-timers, after all!”

---

“Part time job huh... I could us--” was what one of the two began to mumble, the one who didn’t reach for the console, but he was elbowed by his friend in the side, the one who had his wrist slapped.

“Er I mean... why should we have to watch out for him. Little brat should look where he’s going. People these days, don’t have any manners.” He just begins to turn around to walk away, not wanting to deal with the guy who hurt his wrist a bit just with that light slap. “Cmon Taka, lets go.”

The one who was slapped was named Yamahira Kosuke. Level 2. The other one was named Takamichi Kuroshi. Level 1. Both had ‘Delinquent’ above their heads.

“Yea, sure.” The delinquent called Taka began to walk away as well, unless of course Tian wanted to stop them.

---

“Feel free to reconsider, Taka! It’s better to make money honestly than to loiter around the streets, you know! Wouldn’t want to get bumped into by some particularly rude people, after all!”

With that, Tian-Gui waved them farewell cheerfully, keeping in mind their faces and their uniforms. Changing the bag from one hand to the other, he faced Rei again, and said, “So, been meaning to ask, but what are you doing here anyways? You don’t look like the outdoorsy-type to me, Rei.”

---

Rei had half a mind to ignore Tian and just walk the hell away. Instead he just paused the game and put the device into the pocket of his jacket pocket, currently wearing just a light blue hoodie, some basic cargo pants, and what appeared to be a light green shirt beneath the hoodie.

“Shopping.” Was the only answer Tian needed on that aspect. Anyway, other than badmouthing me and my hobbies; and unnecessarily intervening in something that wasn’t any of your business, do you have some form of business with me? I have groceries and grinding to get to.”

Rei either didn’t appreciate the comments that Tian made about both his hobbies and himself being rude, or it didn’t really bother him, but instead Rei was just pointing out to show how rude Tian was being, not that Rei himself wasn’t being rude of course, and Rei knew that.
---


“It’s totally my business though,” Tian-Gui replied, “After all, I happen to live in this city, so whatever affects the residents is going to affect myself. You look like the sort of anti-social kid who could turn out into a psychopath, so yeah, I don’t exactly trust you to settle a situation like that without breaking some guy’s nose.”

Of course, he really wasn’t just there to chastise Rei about everything. Reaching into his pocket, Tian-Gui briefly materialized pseudo-space, before bringing out the Horn. “I have three questions, really: what are these horns for? What do you even do once your abilities are maxed out? And, finally, the Zombies. Mind if I buy them off you now?”

---

Rei just looked Tian-Gui over as he made the Pseudospace once again and brought the Imp Horn out from his inventory, after chanting the ‘Inventory’ command of course. For those three questions Rei had three answers.

“The horns are just better materials. They hold a small bit of its demonic Essence. They are its ‘Uncommon Drop’.” Rei knew that he couldn’t use them though, or at least figured he couldn’t, which was why he never said anything. Plus no one ever asked.

“You click on them and can do one of two things. First is you Rank them Up, which allows you to start leveling them again to make them stronger. The next is you Upgrade them, which lets you spend AP to make them into new abilities. For now... i’d stick with Ranking up.”

Then the third question came up. “Sure, it’ll be 15,000 Yen. And only fight one Zombie Pseudospace a day... since it doesn’t matter how strong you think you are right now. The Boss Mob of Zombies whose Strength is higher than yours strong could, and would, end you with ease.”

Luckily, since it was Saturday, Tian would have gotten 21,000 Yen for this week’s work, so he would be able to afford it. Its either that, or he could pay Rei in Imp Claws and Horns.

---

“Better materials for what?” Tian-Gui asked, in regards to the Imp Horns. Looked like Rei was good at answering questions, at least, compared to socializing or anything else. Nodding at his explanation of skills and Zombies, the Chinese youth considered what else his money could be used for, then realized that he had no use for da cash-money to begin with, and simply forked a thick wad of cash over.

“So, have you ever killed the Zombie Boss? And I’ve been wondering, but is the Abyss another world or what? So far, I haven’t seen any Gamers at all, so I suppose there’s an international community?”

---

“Better materials for magic, alchemy, or whatever else it could be used.”

Inventory was the first thing Rei said in response, mainly because he needed to put the money away and hand over the Item to Tian-Gui. When Tian-Gui would see what Rei handed him... it was rather gross. It was a tooth, but not just a regular tooth, a tooth that looked like it hadn’t been brushed for fifty years. It felt cold too, but otherwise looked gross.

It didn’t feel gross, fortunately, but it certainly looked gross.

“And no... I haven’t seen it. But given that the Big Imp is three times the level of a regular Imp, and many times stronger given how it could do 40 Damage to me per hit... Rei clutches their shoulder. Even if the pain was gone, memories of it lingered, “a boss many... many times stronger than already tough zombies is something even I wouldn’t want to fight” but Rei pauses, and makes sure to add a “not yet anyway.”

“We are the only Gamers, according the Quest we received anyway... and as for the Abyss...” Rei paused for a moment, before shaking his head. “To call it a ‘community’...” Rei just chuckles a little to himself, it’s soft, but a little strained.

“What it is won’t matter to you anyway. You’ll be forgetting about your power soon anyway” speaks Rei in a rather... sudden matter, using this proclamation that they would be losing his challenge to quickly change the subject.

“Anymore questions?”

---

“Rather accommodating for someone who wants us all to forget our powers, eh? Nice to see some fair play at least. So you’ve gotten this far by grinding alone on Imps and Zombies only? Wonder when Goblins are gonna pop up…”

Tian-Gui mused about all this, quickly tossing the Zombie tooth into his own dimensional pocket. He could probably ignore its disgusting sensations, but just because he could ignore it didn’t mean that he wanted to be in such a situation to begin with.

“And no, as far as questions go, my Gamer questions have been satisfied at least. You’ve ate anything yet?”

---

“Of course. If I didn’t play fair and gave you nothing, it’d only be a matter of time before you got yourselves all killed...” Rei crosses their arms above their stomach, having gotten a small bit quieter at that last part.

“I want you all to ignore your power, not get yourself killed like an idiot.”

And then the question of food appeared. “No, why? Are you going to buy me something?” Rei raises an eyebrow. “I thought you didn’t like me, considering I am a psychopath with horrible hobbies apparently.”

---

“It’s Saturday, I just got my paycheck, and I happen to like the people working there as well,” Tian-Gui replied, already leading the way, “And hey, it’s a cute little place in a quiet part of a park. The cherry blossoms are still out, and you can get really big servings for a fairly low price, so this goes with your Food Bonus shenanigans as well, right?”

The taller man chuckled at the thought of that particularly ridiculous part of the Gamer power once more, before saying, “Consider this recompense for your information, Rei~”

---

“Ill buy my own food, but sure. I’ll go with you. Hopefully these will be food bonuses that last for a few hours, since I have some grinding ahead.” Rei figures it couldn’t hurt. Good food for cheap? Could be good Food Bonuses. Plus if its in a park, it’d be a good place to get some grinding done.

So Rei lets the taller man lead the way.

---

As far as time went, with the isolation mechanic of Pseudospace, the unlikely duo made their way through the busy streets at a breakneck pace. Rei had switched from gaming to grinding, and while it was pretty much impossible to make any sort of conversation while the white-haired high schooler was in that trance-like grind state, Tian-Gui did get to see some more of his abilities. By now, his own Intensify Energy and Takedown skills were pretty much second nature to him, so the older man did that while observing him.

Eventually though, the two of them reached the uphill path to the corner of the park, and Tian-Gui broke the Pseudospace, allowing the sounds and smells of the outside world to come in once more. On a sunlit Saturday like today, the sounds of people enjoying themselves outside could be heard, laughter carried by the spring wind. Closing his eyes and enjoying the sensations for a few moments, Tian-Gui recognized that opening in the dappled path and sped up.

The familiar white-and-yellow Volkswagon was there once more, alongside a couple of small tables and chairs. On that particular occasion, a large umbrella was set up on top of the tables as well, providing shade from the sun.

Mika perked up behind the counter. “Yo, TG, here to order one of everything again?”

“And you brought a new customer too! Glad to see that word-of-mouth advertisement is working~” chimed Rita, bouncing over to get a better look at Rei.

---

Indeed, Tian would get to see a few of Rei’s abilities as they walked. Mostly Rei used two abilities that Tian had already seen before. ‘Palm Wave’ and Strengthen Energies’. Palm Wave sent out a blast of blue energy from his palm while Strengthen Energies would make his body glow for a moment, before the glow seemed to go inward and shine brightly.

It was a bit like Tian’s Intensify Energy, only it seemed to be much more concentrated, focused, and overall stronger. Of course, there was another ability that Rei used that was new. It was called Essence Meditation’, and it really did put Rei into an almost meditative trance as he walked, their body having a light purplish aura to it during this that surrounded just their skin, Rei’s breathing slowed during the process.

They seemed to be getting the most out of their abilities, able to use theirs much more often than Tian could. They truly were much further ahead than Tian was, and each of those Palm Waves seemed to be pretty strong, getting hit by one of them would definitely hurt.

When the duo finally arrived at the food truck Rei looked over the small establishment with his blue and purple eye, taking a lock of his white hair out of his strange eyes and away from his somewhat pale skin, which wasn’t incredibly pale probably due to the more sunlight they have gotten thanks to all of the outdoor grinding, but was still decently pale.

“Apparently your prices are low... or so i’ve heard...speaks Rei as he looks back at Rita as she looks over his five foot tall self. Unless those two were exactly five feet tall, or less, they were taller than the short high schooler, who wasn’t wearing a uniform at the moment but rather some casual clothing. A light blue hoodie, despite the season, a sea green shirt, and some cargo pants, with some light blue sneakers to go with it.

“It does smell pretty good though... is what Rei also says, being truthful here. They may be pretty apathetic, but they weren’t completely heartless to not give an honest compliment.

---

“Yeah,” Rita replied airily, “I know a bunch of grocery store owners, so I always buy their stuff in bulk, one day before it expires! Saves so much money, and it’s totally still safe to eat!”

Tian-Gui blinked as he sat down, motioning Rei over. “Wait, doesn’t that mean that the later it is during the day, the closer it is to getting to inedible levels?”

“Shush,” Mika said, flicking a curl out of her eyes, “I cook it before it goes bad, so it’s fine. And glad to see that one person can praise the quality of my dishes, rather than its quantity or pricing. What’s your name? I’m Mika…”

“...and I’m Rita!”

“But you can go and call us your senpai.”

“You’re also dropouts though,” Tian-Gui said, a teasing smile emerging.

“Please, I dropped out in my third year,” Mika said, once again being pointlessly proud of a bad thing, “Surely he’s still a first year or something. Never seen a boy this scrawny, really. What’s your name? And got an order, big boi?”

---

“Rei. Amagi Rei.A simple introduction as Rei sat down at a table, wondering they could serve from this food truck. Of course, he did listen to what they had to say, but had no intention of calling them senpai since they were dropouts. Nor was he going to call them ‘big sis’ if that was what they wanted.

He looked at their menu, noticing that they had Okonomiyaki.Ill have some of your Okonomiyaki. It had been a little while since he had it, so he figured some Okonomiyaki would be good, and he knew just what he wanted on it.

Of course that was all he was going to order for now. Rei wasn’t much of a big eater, but if he felt like he wanted more then he would get more.

---

Okonomiyaki? Tian-Gui raised an eyebrow at this. Wasn’t okonomiyaki something that you customized to your own preference? While he couldn’t deny that Mika’s dishes were all delicious, it sorta sapped away the fun of the meal when you had it all prepared immediately. Nevertheless, he let it go and said, “I’ll go have hamburger steak with stirfry on the side then. Add a melon soda float as well, please.”

Rita turned to Mika, and said, “Got it?”

“Yup, coming right up! Gimme a hand though. You’re better at mixing drinks anyways.”

“Hai hai~”

As the two girls busied themselves with kitchen work, Tian-Gui asked, “So, I’m curious, Rei. I know you’re doing this whole thing for survival and all, but you could also just go forget the power, right? Why play this boring game that restricts you to two enemy types for a whole two months? Sounds like a kusoge to me.”

---

Rei’s attention towards the sounds of the girl’s busying themselves in the truck was taken away by Tian-Gui’s question. This question doesn’t get an answer right away like usual, but the answer comes fairly quickly nonetheless.

“I thought about it. But soon enough... I learned it was too late, so I figured I would just keep going with it.” Rei puts his hands on the table now, giving a small sigh.

“Also I fight more than just Zombies and Imps. Furthermore... most of my EXP comes from Skills anyway. After all, I don’t want to risk running into a Boss Enemy when I am not prepared for it.”

A sensible answer.

“What about you? Why do you care so much about your power? You’re strong enough, capable of intimidating most with just your size alone, and your physical brawn is nothing to be gawked at either. Isn’t that good enough for you? It’s not like you can use your above-human abilities on delinquents.”

Of course, Rei keeps their voice soft and low, as to make sure that the two cooks in the kitchen don’t hear, especially the last part about above-human abilities.

---

So after a point, there was no backing out of this game? Or was it just that Rei had gotten so accustomed to the Gamer power that he could no longer imagine just tossing it away? What was most curious, though, was the fact that he was afraid of Boss Monsters popping up out of nowhere. Recalling the event that the other members of the group had talked about, that of being ambushed suddenly by three Imps, Tian-Gui narrowed his eyes and wondered why such an event hasn’t happened again.

A rarity? Or was the fact that they actively went into Pseudospaces something that mitigated these random encounters?

Surprised that Rei was the one asking questions now, Tian-Gui leaned forward and smiled, his expression a little softer and more mature than his usual energetic self, “It’s not just about delinquents, and it’s not just about myself, you know? When I was a kid, I wanted to be a superhero, and I never stopped striving towards that. It’s how I got so far, after all. A couple of weeks ago, I’d be picking between going into Police Academy, the Self Defense Force, becoming a doctor, or joining a non-profit organization and going abroad. But now, with this power, if I can continue to cultivate it, and continue to grow stronger, these hands of mine can hold so much more.”

“I want to be someone who can lend a hand to anyone, and drag them out of all the troubles that surround them with a smile on my face.”

Then, he chuckled. “And hey, as long as they don’t know that this power is the power of a Gamer, Gaia probably won’t smite me, right?”

---

Rei was and wasn’t surprised that this man was just giving him his backstory, or at least his desires, in this monologue like manner. Rei just listened to his reasoning for wanting to keep and utilize the Gamer Power.

“You won’t be able to do anything superhuman to normal people, it’s not a matter of our power specifically. The Interference Law is if normal people, whether good or bad, realize that something is ‘wrong’ or ‘abnormal’ in an obvious manner, then that is breaking the Law. So you can’t deflect bullets or start lifting cars or people above your head with one hand or whatever it is you want to do as a ‘superhero’”

Rei wanted to make sure to set that straight.

“Besides... you’re probably better off being a doctor or something than taking part in the Abyss. You may want to start looking into that now while its fresh in your mind, since Monday is right around the corner after all.” Rei just gives Tian a small little glance, their head resting upon their hands on the table, which were propped up by his elbows which were on the table.

This was basically Rei’s way of saying that, while of course Rei was going to give them a fair challenge, they wouldn’t be able to win.

---

“Deflecting bullets? Yeah, no, of course not, but there’s definitely precedents for lifting up cars or lifting up people above your head with one hand,” Tian-Gui leaned back, enjoying the weather and the scenery. “And heh, so it’s only a problem if normal people realize something’s strange? That’s not an insurmountable problem either.”

Mika was coming by once more, large plates of hot food in hand.

“I just need to work around it.”

With that, the girl with the pigtails placed down the food with a smile, as well as handing over a colorful, three-layered drink to Rei. More specifically, the layers were white, blue, and purple. She winked at Rei, and then explained, “It’s on the house. Got particularly inspired and all. Are you a cosplayer or something?”

---

Rei just listened to what Tian-Gui had to say.

Figured that wouldn’t work.”

Fortunately the food was brought to them so he could focus on that rather than fighting a fruitless battle in getting this man to realize that he’s better off without his power.

Then a question came, one that Rei had heard many times before. Of course, while Rei knew that not many would ever believe this answer as even Rei couldn’t believe it sometimes, he gave that same simple answer with no hesitation whatsoever, as if he had done it 100 times already.

“I was born like this.”

After all. It was one thing to dress like a chunni character, but to be born looking like one and live a chunni’s dream? That was a different story entirely. In fact, Rei had thought it was his strange appearance that had gotten him a unique power perhaps from Gaia. Seeing these other six rather... average people get it though debunked that theory.

With that Rei began to eat now, leaving the pig-tailed girl, and Tian-Gui, to contemplate that answer and whether or not Rei was lying to them and being ‘chunni’, or actually telling the truth.

---

“Born like this?” Mika repeated, a quizzical expression on her face.

Tian-Gui was surprised too. While he hadn’t thought that Rei was someone who was shameless enough to go around cosplaying and such, he had thought that the appearance served some sort of Gamer-related purpose. To think it was natural though…

Geez, he never got smited by Gaia for making other people think ‘strange’ or ‘weird’?

“Well,” he shrugged, “I haven’t heard Rei say anything particularly embarrassing or anime-like, so I guess that’s just how he is. Then again…”

Tian-Gui closed his eyes, recalling all the times that Rei acted like a cold, hard, emotionless loner, and laughed. “...maybe his natural appearance just reflects his interior self more clearly than others.”

With that, he began chowing down as well.
---


Rei would have preferred that they hadn’t believed it to what Tian-Gui said about him. But he just kept that thought to himself and continued to eat, enjoying the Okonomiyaki, as it was quite well made. The drink was good as well.

In fact, after both Gamers were finished with their good, low priced meals, they would each receive a window, Tian’s looking as such.

The hamburger steak and melon soda meal was quite delicious.
Recovery increased by 5 and Regeneration increased by 10 for the next 3 hours.

So this is what Rei had meant by ‘Food Bonuses’, as Tian could feel a small bit of energy moving through him now, as if the fatigue from the grinding he did on the way here was starting to fade a small bit faster now. It felt good. Almost intoxicating even.

Not nearly as intoxicating as Leveling up or raising Stats did though, which was the literal feeling of growing stronger and more powerful in an instant. Those were feelings Rei had been having for two months most likely, given that he was Level 20. It would be hard to get rid of something like that perhaps.

After Rei was done he gently pushed his plate forward, having finished the entire thing including the drink.

“Gochisousama. That was good...” Rei figured an honest compliment was indeed required for the good meal that he had just had. Again, he may be and sound apathetic with his quiet, soft, almost bored sounding, at times, voice, but he wasn’t heartless.

He began to stand up now, stretching a bit. “How much do I owe you?” he asks Mika as he looks up at her.

---

“Okonomiyaki’s 500 yen,” Mika replied, before pulling out a small, handdrawn card, “And if you pay an extra 200 yen, you get this stamp card, which gives you 50% off an entire meal if you visit Boulangere Le Trefle ten times!”

“Wait,” Tian-Gui said, as he pulled out his own wallet, “You never offered something like that to me before.”

“Yeah,” Rita called out, “That’s cause you decided to order everything when I was planning on cleaning up and heading home to catch my Korean dramas.”

“I mean, I technically didn’t order it. Rin did.”

“Excuses, excuses.”

“Tian-Gui, yours is 800 yen.”

“Don’t know how you girls break even at all, but here you go. Keep the change.” With that, he gave her 800 yen in coins.

Mika looked at him. “...was that a joke?”

“...yup.”

“Hahahahahahahahaha.”

---

Rei just watched the rather ‘jovial’ exchange between the two, taking out a 500 Yen coin from their pocket and handing it to Mika, then taking the hand drawn card and putting it into his pocket. It could come in use later, since this place gave pretty decent Food Bonuses.

“It was good. Ill probably be back again, assuming your truck is in the same place. Given that this place had Food Bonuses and was in a park in the Business District... it was pretty optimal for grinding if he ever had some business in the Business District and wanted to grind before returning home.

With that Rei would begin to walk off now, unless of course any of them had something to say or wanted to stop him for something.

---

“Thank you for your patronage,” the two girls said, with varying levels of enthusiasm.

As Rei went off, Tian-Gui sped up to match his pace. “One more thing,” he said, after catching up, “let me add one more condition to this quest of yours. If we win, there’s a nice All-You-Can-Eat Korean Barbeque place on the Port Island District. When we kick that Imp Boss’ face in and finish the quest, you’re coming with us to party hard and pig out.”

“Seeing how you’re so confident in our failure, it’s not a problem at all to stack up more rewards, right?”

---

Rei was actually pretty fast once they were out of eyeshot of the girls. In fact, it was only because Rei willingly slowed down that Tian would actually be able to catch up to him, despite the fact that Tian’s legs were longer and his body was bigger.

When he proposed this reward about a Korean Barbeque Party, Rei just gave a nod. “Sure. If you can beat my Challenge, then I will go with you. I’m not buying though.” Rei had no reason not to accept. They were going to lose anyway, so he may as well humor him. Or at least, Rei was pretty sure they’d lose.

“Any other conditions or questions you want to throw on me?”

---

“No, just some advice.”

The spring wind blew, sending the cherry blossoms aflutter.

“Don’t eat dinner on the 30th.”


 
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