"Are you ready?" Skull asked her in a PM. Viper had to sigh. In truth, she was and she really wasn't. Joining the game and teleporting to his location, Viper said the real truth of her state of being the way she saw it.
"I barely got a few minutes of sleep this morning. I spent all of my other awake and fending off attacks from dragon creatures. I spent the evening before that in a mandatory drunken daze and dealing with people I hope you never realize exist. Our aunt and my other stink to say the least."
"Oh, so there were more dragons in your version?" Skull asked. "I thought that I got rid of them all."
"Turns out, creatures are summoned over their by either stress and terror or an overactive imagination." Viper said, looking down. "The second one I managed to fight off single handed, but the ones after that- oh no. Of all the stupid things I sold information on where they were!"
"I thought that no one was supposed to interact with them." Skull pointed out.
"You wern't. I got five death threats and two respawns trying to make my group a group. If I didn't have my illusion class, I would be gone by now."
"Well, let's just hope that this dragon is easier then the difficult people you had to deal with." Skull said, rubbing her arm in sympathy. "I know what, there's some green tea for sale on floor five's village" he added, exited.
"How would you even remember that?" Viper asked.
"Hey, there's an active map skill for the tracker class." Skull defended.
"Thanks, but already had the last of the tea in our aunt's house. I just want this fight to start already so I can wake up and get to work!" she said, whining.
"Really? I thought that you were always ready to do something." Skull teased.
Viper rolled her eyes. "I don't want anyone to think of me as less. That doesn't stop me from being exhausted."
"Hope you feel better now sis. The others are right behind you." Skull said, prompting her to turn.
"Midterms?" Agil asked.
"No. Stayed up late at a stupid party." Viper grumbled. "I'd swear, if I didn't know exactly what she'd do if I left early…"
"So you're going for millennial?" Agil asked. "Aren't you supposed to be a little young for that?"
"Aren't we going to battle." Viper complained, straightening up. "Skull, give Kirito the sword that you promised him."
"Sure, sis." Skull said, passing it over. "I know that It's nowhere near the level of your last one, but it's the best we could get."
"Your sis probably could have gotten something bigger." Kirito typed, leaving the implication unsaid.
"So, teleport crystal first or talking about how much we missed each other first?" Viper asked, blinking rapidly.
"Show off. We're all on PC." Lisabeth said.
"So? I say that I'm going to enjoy it." Viper said, putting her hands on her hips. "I'm assuming that it's battle before fluff then?" Added.
"Not entirely." Lisabeth typed, but there was a five second delay between that and her scooping them up in a hug, so the effect was lost. Viper tried not to show it, though, hugging Lisabeth back.
"Oh, I also had something to give you." Lisabeth said, standing still. She was digging through her inventory, if the shifting cursor was any indication. "Here, the full rights to the house. I'm not going to maintain this account, so you might as well get it."
"That is both practical and heartbreaking." Viper said, numb. "Well, I'll still get to see you sometimes under a different name though, right?" She asked.
"Mabey. I'm thinking of getting the safe scan helmet and starting a new account just to keep my skills." Lisabeth said, not committing. "Either way, the real world takes priority."
"How dramatic." Asuna said, flinching at the display of affection. "I'm going to go with the feels later group. Teleport Crystal?" She asked.
"Yeah, teleport." Viper said, getting one out. "Hold on." Once they all were, she activated it, taking them all right outside of the dungeon.
"Let's just cut the chase please." Asuna requested. "Just the dragon and no dungeon."
"But that's-" Agil started, but he wasn't given a chance to voice his thoughts.
"The most time-consuming part. I said I would only be here for a minute, so one hour is my limit. You've already set up the guild, right?" Lisabeth asked. "I really can't afford to stay for a try two."
"Of course I did!" Viper said, upset. She was the only one who could lose her temper like this out of the group. "I have it all stored under the party 'mask'. Don't ask me why I called it that, because I'd rather not remember." She said.
"Oh, alright. Send us invites." Asuna demanded. Viper did so quickly, and she was gratified to see them respond even faster then normal. "So, where's the dragon?"
"Right there." Viper said, pointing to something that had just been a rock pile a few seconds ago. "We crawl through the tunnel, and there's a separate mini-floor accessible only as a bonus. Within it lies the sole way to get dragon metal."
"And you're not here for that metal." Asuna noted.
"Only partly." Viper said, shrugging. "I bet that it could make Kirito a great sword. It also might be able to make some chains for Skull to add to his repertoire."
"Oh, you do care." Lisabeth said, only her voice cooing over it. "Alright, you can go first."
"If you'd like, I could go there first and have Skull teleport you all to my location." Viper pointed out. They were being silly.
"That sounds much better." Agil said, voice relieved.
"Good. Now, I'll PM Skull when I'm ready. Skull, take this teleport crystal and do not mess with it." She said, sternly pointing a finger at him. Skull was reacting about as much as the others were, and it kind of saddened Viper to know that it was mostly conditioning to not talk back that kept him like that. On the other hand, not dealing with any complaining was great. She could live with him being like this. "See you." Viper said, scrambling to a smaller avatar and going through the crevise. On the other side, she fixed her avatar. Her brother teleported everyone without even needing to get a PM.
"I saw when you moved to a separate map on my guild map." Skull said by way of an explanation. Viper didn't question, and the group moved to explore their surroundings.
It was a fairly big sub-map. There was a ten by ten clearing of rock with some odd pools and lots of mud. There was also a large-mouthed cave, something that was fairly obviously the entrance to the dragon or a distraction. The way this aria was fenced off also was neat. The walls of the valley were really tall and perfectly smooth nothing else was visible, save for a small repeating cloud and sun pattern that was rapidly repeating.
"Well, let's go in." Viper said, taking the obvious route in. There was no second map, just the way that light was dim in this section of cave. It lived up to all expectations, it actually exceeded them. The cave glittered, sparkling with a thousand crystals piled there. There were also bones and some armor, supposed relics of those who had tried before and failed. There were frozen corpses to, and many hidden within the crystal. "Where's the dragon?" She asked. As if summoned, the creature leapt forwards, bellowing a roar the reverberated off all sides of the cavern. Really, the ringing was unrelenting, and it only got louder.
"I'll take him!" Agil said, hefting and attacking with his axe. The movements were clumsier than normal, but it had the same amount of damage regardless of aesthetic. Viper missed when it had actually looked fluid. Kirito's lunge for the neck was still dramatic, though, so she could appreciate that. Skull looked to her for a second, and them took his que, flinging a lasso around the creature's neck. Grabbing onto his end, Skull pulled. The health bar appeared, and at started leaking. Unwilling to be left out, Asuna mounted a crossbow and started shooting at the hapless creature.
"What are we going to do?" Viper asked Lisabeth. She got a PM in response.
"I'll throw daggers, you release a swarm." She suggested, wincing.
"Yeah, that roar does keep getting louder." Viper said, wincing. "I'm pretty sure that's it's ultimate attack. You know what, why don't use try and use some poisoned throwing daggers or something. I'm climbing up." Viper mouthed. She was the only one to do this. She also had an advantage over the PC using gamers in not having it screeching in her ear physically. It hurt almost as much mentally, but she could deal with it. Hacking in a ladder, Viper went up and coded in a slab of crystal walkway. "Go ahead." She said, motioning to Lisabeth.
Getting as close as she could without joining the fray, Viper twitched at the bloodlust that she felt. Sure, she'd seen such things before, but there was really no visible joy in the PC users' actions. It was all methodical and repetitive, but she could like with it. Skull was hooting in joy and swinging around the dragon's neck, so Viper supposed that he almost made up for it. Viper herself looked at her weapons bar in the inventory before deciding on an attack. Taking her big sack full of docile bats, Viper kept them docile long enough to get the bag opening in a convenient direction. Once that was established, Viper put a target on the dragon, canceling all of her calming effect. The creatures lunged, and Viper was left to rock back and forth, acting like she enjoyed the fray. Really, her creature's and brother's bloodlust was the only one that she felt, and the others were jerky and distant.
There was really no reason that she could think of to enjoy the other's participation. Even as the dragon's health bar dropped into the red, Viper couldn't think of how the other's presence could help. Sending out a group message, Viper instructed 'the final blow has to be indirect or from a simulated character for it to work.'. The others backed off, and Viper was ready. "Skull, tie it off and let the creature strangle- that's the most consistent damage it's taking." She said, smiling as he tied a knot and jumped off at her command. Letting out a hydra creature to add to this monster's attackers, she was rewarded with the dragon shattering.
"Great job everyone!" She called; her voice suddenly audible again. This really was a great feeling! "Now, feel free to destroy any of the creatures left, as they'll start attacking you soon enough and are in the red of their health. Whoever gets the drops, please turn the dragon stone over to me. It will do no one but a Tamer class any good. Lisabeth should get the metal so she can make things with it, and anything else can be divided up however you want to." Viper said, giving her little speech. Almost no one was listening, to distracted by the ongoinging fights. "Oh, for goodness sake." Viper said, rolling her eyes. Sitting to watch the others enjoy their one on one battles, she sighed in contentment when Skull sent the dragon stone over to her. Taking it out of her inventory after sending her brother a 'thanks', Viper stopped to admire it.
The stone was very pretty in Viper's first intention. It was nearly clear as glass, and it was twice the size of her real hand surrounding it were lumps of stone and metal. "It's a geode." Viper said, admiring it. "A rough exterior waiting to be polished off in favor of the potential within." Tracing a grove with her finger, Viper pulled away in shock. It didn't have a texture, insubstantial as her menu. "What?" She asked, tucking the geode back in her menu. It sorted into craft able items, a rather strange thing for it to do.
"Hey, time for the feels!" Skull called, interrupting her. Well, she couldn't disappoint him. Spawning in a staircase to make her leisurely decent, Viper joined the others.
"I trust that was a fun battle." She said, smiling. None of the others were as happy.
"It's just not the same from a screen." Kirito complained slowly. Some others nodded, breaking up their empty stances.
"There wasn't any dragon metal dropped." Asuma said, frowning.
"I think I know the answer to that." Lisabeth said, shifting to a pre-programed smile. "The mud we saw out in the front- I think it's important." She said, smiling. "And this crystal and what could only be the dragon's food- what if the dragon is the one to prosses it!" She asked, beaming.
"Ew, the creatures wouldn't simulate that!" Kirito said, making a face.
"I think that we three know what sort of lows the creators were willing to record in explicit detail." Lisabeth said, unimpressed.
"Ugg, fine." Asuna said, flinching. "But I don't want to be the one to test it."
"You mean that's dragon doo out there?" Viper said, frowning. "I thought that I'd already cleaned up enough of that today."
"So you-"
"My aunt owns a kennel." Viper said, flatly refusing anything more. "Skull, you can manipulate the very ground around you best, being a trapper class." She said, frowning. "Get some of that so I can carry it- and I mean in my inventory."
"Can't actually do that, sis." Skull said, frowning. "It says that it needs a container to transport in."
"See, more proof." Lisabeth said.
"I have a bucket." Viper said, frowning. "Hold on, I'm going to summon Luna."
"For this?" Skull asked.
"No, to get me a big bucket." Viper corrected, sending the PM. After a few more seconds of arguing, the little girl appeared, looking very dizzy.
"I found a few garbage cans." Luna said, smiling.
"They'll do." Viper said. "You took the trash out of them first?" She asked.
"The truck for disposing of waste already came by." Luna said.
"Is this some NPC addition?" Kirito asked.
"I'm an NPC apprentice." Luna said, smiling. "I will train under someone to boost my skills proportional to theirs."
"So, how do I get one?" Asuna asked.
"I would be very happy to learn a few recipes from you, miss Asuna." Luna said. "But you're not a permanent player, so I can't switch allegiances. Pity, my programming only works on the helmets for anything that would stay connected." Luna said, pouting.
"Luna, just give me the trash cans." Viper asked, embarrassed.
"But it's true- that's what my menu says." Luna said, shrugging. "I don't have any reason to disbelieve it."
"Ok, why did you get this bonus?" Agil asked, frowning. "Or any of the other new skills and glitches?"
"I dabbled in code." Viper said, shrugging. "It's not that much, but."
"It's dangerous, virus." Agil said, frowning. "You can have all of my drops." He said, tossing them to her. "Bye, kids." He said, logging off.
"Oh dear, I don't think that's what Viper wanted for a response." Luna said, frowning.
"I'll gladly teach your little servant some recipes, darling, so long as I don't have to test out the dragon droppings." Asuna said, grabbing Luna by the shoulders and leaving.
"Well, they're full now." Skull said, frowning. "The ground's still covered with the mud, though."
"Well, it's convenient for resupplying trips." Viper said, shuddering. "Alright, these go in my inventory and we'll get back to the house so that you can test these, Lisabeth."
"I can do that, but then I need to get going." Lisabeth protested, leaving.
"I guess that's it." Viper mumbled, looking at an empty room after teleporting herself and Skull.
