Flame's Trash

by flameclawsxx

This is just a story where i put some of my Incomplete fanfictions, some will be ended with a 'This is just where i stopped writing', while some might have actual endings and i just never planned on posting, i hope you enjoy them. (Primarily Self Inserts, but there might be a couple Non Si/Ocs) Latest Update: Chapter 39

25. Chapter 25: DxD VRMMO

Don't Own the Elder Scrolls or DXD, Only The Oc

'thought'

"Speech"

System Text

"Tvs, Radios, and Text via book or newspaper... when those are around..."

---

Reincarnation.

A grand idea! The pure thought of going to a world you know of from your past life can fill even the most dead inside of men with hope, excitement, and joy! And I am one of those lucky few!

Or rather, unlucky, considering I was placed in an ecchi anime known as DXD as the twin brother to the protagonist.

I quietly screw a Lugnut into a machine I am building.

As of right now, I am fourteen, soon to be fifteen, meaning the approaching of 'Dxd's canon is quickly approaching... or, it would be... if this was the canonical Dxd.

A blonde girl wearing a simple black dress stands behind me with her arms crossed. "Will it actually work this time?"

"Who knows." I shrug as I plug in a few wires, then seal the panel I was working on shut. "We're close. Oh so very close."

That is Mittelt. And she alone has caused me to realize that this world is different from the DXD series.

Originally she was nothing but a two-bit fallen angel with only like three lines of dialogue that got immediately killed by Rias in like two seconds flat.

But here? She is so much more.

You could call her many things, my guardian angel, my connection to the Grigori, the person who keeps me safe from all the supernatural annoyances, Azazel's six-winged LEGITIMATE daughter, and my girlfriend.

I may or may not have done something to tickle Azazel's fancy, but don't tell him about that last bit, he'd definitely get a little pissed at that.

But only one of two things could happen when you basically lock two kids in a dark room together, they either begin hate each other's guts, or get a lot... closer... be it friendships, or deciding to try out a simple date disguised as an 'outdoor meeting and swapping of ideas'.

Anyways, I basically met god, he was going to give me a small set of powers, so, of course, like the min-maxer I am, I chose 'The Gamer' System.

He laughed in my face and said 'no'.

So, I had to settle for hyper intellect and a sub-par sacred gear that lets me create, edit, store, and print blueprints on the fly.

Making something that WORKS on the other hand, is a completely different matter.

Screw that deity guy! If he won't give me 'The Gamer' system, I'll just fuckin' do it on my own! I'll make my own Gamer system! With blackjack! And Hookers!

Of course, I'm not actually making a 'real' gamer system, but with my creation, technically my goal will be accomplished... and this world will be rocketed into a new age.

"Alright, boot it up." I command as I take a step back from a large egg-shaped object a little larger than a fridge.

"It's actually loading this time." Mittelt announces from her spot lounging in my desk chair, looking over the three monitors of our PC setup.

"Good, Good." I slowly nod, refusing to glance away from the machine.

"Ten percent." Mittelt announces.

Few more minutes pass before she smiles. "Twenty percent."

"Twenty five!" That's our personal best.

"Thirty!" That beat out our personal best.

I do a small fist pump as she lets out a quiet cheer. Jumping five percent in a single boot up is absolutely extraordinary luck! Sometimes it took weeks before we could even get it to go up a single percent.

I sit on the desk and narrow my eyes at the computer.

Thirty-five, forty, forty-five, fifty.

Minutes pass rapidly as I stare at that steadily filling bar.

Did we finally do it? Did we finally manage to get my- or rather our life's work to function?

At first it was my life work, but Mittelt started helping about three and a half years ago... despite being only a year older than myself, and without any sort of divine blessings, she is fairly smart. She learns fast, and she has really helped streamline this final production.

"Have we ever decided on the name?" I mutter as I continue watching the bar fill up.

"If I remember correctly, we did." Mittelt shrugs.

"I thought that was just a placeholder name." I state as I look down to her. "it's a little sacrilegious, right?"

"You do realize who- or rather, what you are speaking to, right? Sacrilege is my middle name... literally."

I raise an eyebrow and look down at her. "You know, I've never even heard your last name."

"My full name is Mittelt Sacrilege Moonshimmer."

"Dear god." I state.

"I knooooow." She groans as she rubs her hands over her face. "Dad is such a fucking goob. Why'd he have to pick such an edgy name?! Fallen angels aren't even supposed to have last names! Nor are angels for that matter!"

Sixty percent.

"So, we are really keeping the name?" I ask.

"I mean, what we are working on dooooes sort of keep in line with what the name meant..." She smiles. "This has been pretty fun, Suzu, I'm glad you let me help you work on this."

"If you thought this was fun, just wait till we have to get your dad to kidnap some criminals to test this bad boy. I don't exactly want little Timmy to get his soul sucked out due to a bug, so it might as well be Generic murderer-slash-rapist."

"mnnnn." She groans as she slumps back in the chair, possibly thinking about how annoying it'll be to restrain extremely resistant humans in the machine.

Seventy.

"Is it actually-"

I quickly cut her off. "Murphy's law."

Her mouth clamps shut with an audible click.

I let out a long sigh as I roll my shoulders. "Ugh, I still need to incorporate that nonmagical sacred gear detector I made."

That's actually what got Azzy's attention.

"Then the coding for the database." Mittelt points out. "I might be able to cover that one, but you'd need to tell me how you'd want it categorized."

"Azazel needs to tell us how he wants it categorized." I correct. "Which he hasn't. Lazy dick."

Eighty.

There is an aura of palpable excitement between us all of our hard work over these years

Ninety!

Mittelt and I share a look.

Eden. Exe has been activated.

The egg-shaped object hums to life, a row of LED lights running down the center of it and around the bottom.

We spring from our seats, letting out a loud cheer, Mittelt wraps her arms around my shoulders and pulls me close for a quick kiss.

After our brief romantic moment, we look over the computer and absolutely overjoyed expressions.

Eden... the world's very first true VR gaming console. Capable of taking people to a realm of absolute paradise.

---

A man with black hair and yellow bangs looks over the humming machine with a grin. "Huh. So you kids actually pulled it off? Nice. I wasn't sure how soon this would be ready, but I certainly didn't expect it to be done within five years... in fact, you've won me a bet."

Mittelt gives her father an unimpressed stare. "How do you want the sacred gear database configured?"

"Pardon?" He questions.

"Did you SERIOUSLY not read the benefits of this?" I ask while gesturing towards the machine.

"Nah, VR games are cool. Plus, it kept the two of you out of trouble." He waves off.

"Should we cover that now, or wait till we have finished the fail safes."

"Hn, I've got a couple minutes, can you tell me about it in that time?" He shrugs.

"Alright, so basically, we need people who won't be missed by society because we don't know what will happen when their conscious is pulled into the system." I begin.

"We're talking human murderers, rapists, absolute despicable wastes of space that people won't actually care about." Mittelt continues.

"Hn. Doable." Azazel nods. "Now for the benefits?"

"I am going to create a VR Massive Multiplayer Online game. I am already working on a translator for the machine based on several translation spells and the devil supernatural ability."

"Communication across the planet with no language barrier." Mittelt summarizes.

"And because of this RPG system, it will grant humans the muscle memory of physical combat, raising the average human strength level considerably."

"We plan to have master swordsmen and martial artists come in and model for the game, along with dozens of monsters, this will teach the human race actual combat, then perhaps martial arts and other skills such as smithing, tailoring, and cooking." Mittelt hums, getting into the explanation with almost as much glee as I have.

"Imagine if you could get good at something by simply playing a game and following recipes." I agree with a nod. "The world would have dozens more swordsmiths, and other key disciplines."

"Finally." Mittelt begins, raising a finger. "Suzutsu's Sacred Gear detector, they will be implemented into every machine and allow us to create a list of sacred gear users without any supernatural races knowing. We can then choose to reach out to experienced players, or players with powerful sacred gears, and extend invitations to the Grigori... after monitoring their player data, of course, to see their play style. This allows us to find potential threats as well, we can dispatch people to monitor players with both sacred gears and the playstyle of a complete psychopath."

"Damn." Azazel mutters. "You two really thought this out, hm?"

"It has been a long three years." I nod. "And when we aren't working on the machine, we are spit balling ideas."

The man smirks. "Well, I'd certain like to see this take off, hell, maybe I'll even try out this little game of yours one day."

I look to Mittelt. "Maybe we should take special orders to create Eden's out of much more durable materials. The potential for assassination is quite high when they are in the game."

She nods in agreement. "That would be beneficial. The basic steel models could be for the non-supernatural, then we can make special versions out of magic infused metals like adamantine and mithril."

"Well... I'll leave you kids two your theory crafting. I have a meeting to get to... I'll have your test subjects here within a couple of days." He turns and walks towards the door to our R&D office, he pauses and gives us both a wave.

I wonder how my family is doing... Issei is probably being a pervert, and mom and dad do text often.

My stint here in the Grigori is played off like I am away at some sort of fancy school. They worry about me, sure, but I've never been happier.

"Well..." I begin. "Want to see how far that AI I made when I was eight has created the world for the RPG?"

"Sure." She shrugs with a small smile.

I step over to a second Pc, then look to see most of an outline has been filled, there's only about twenty percent of the map left. "Hm. Maybe we should give her more ram... if this keeps up, she won't be finished rendering until twenty fifteen. And fuck, I'm not waiting ten years for the MAP to be finished."

This AI is extremely advanced, but the size of the map, and the fact that it is continuously taking into account the lore for every single small render it makes is making this take a while.

"Maybe I should make another to start generating NPCs? I'll probably need several more to deal with the artificial intelligence of the Npcs. Then some more to generate quests..."

---

"Is it good to go?" I call out to my co-researcher sitting across the room, typing away at a keyboard.

"Yeah, Subject twenty-three survived insertion and was capable of moving around the testing zone... then he survived the removal with no visible damage. Even after a thorough examination from our healers, nothing seemed to be wrong. We'll need to limit the pain threshold, however, subject twenty four went insane after I kept spawning daggers above him... when you think about it, this is pretty fucked up. Like, you can tear a person limb from limb in the game world, and they'd survive it... I'd suggest ten to twenty percent of the pain at max, maybe have it so players can adjust it?"

"Who's inside currently."

"Subject Twenty-Three Again, I'm testing to see if it'll automatically boot you out after four hours like I coded."

"Calling them subjects is a little... ugh." I slowly state as I swivel my chair around and look to Mittelt.

"That's what they are, really." She shrugs.

"True, True." I relent. "They probably sort of deserve it as well."

We have been messing with the 'functional' system for about a year now... we've been shaving off bug after bug from the machinery... luckily, Azazel saw that we were working ourselves to death, and is having someone else deal with the recording of martial arts moves and such, we get a nice little USB drive of footage at the end of every week showing off martial artists wearing suits covered in little white dots while cameras watch from every angle, giving us a pretty good 3D model.

At this point, I really don't think I am going to make my 'canon' deadline, but I can hope.

The map for the game is finished, it turns out all Eve needed was a little more processing power, now she is helping Adam map out the Npcs and monsters, the two ais are even smart enough to grab the files we give it and link them up to certain Npcs. Such as the dragon walk, run, fly, and attack cycles we got.

Azazel probably had to pay Tiamat a considerable amount for that.

plus, it even changes them up a bit on the fly but still keeps them well within reason.

I blink as I realize just how much work we still have... it's actually not much at all... it's mostly waiting for the Ai's and polishing the hardware.

"I think we should do a little showcase once we iron out the kinks." I hum as I start typing away at my keyboard, trying to find a certain irksome bug with the Eden Ui, it always seems to boot up to a certain timezone and is refusing to be changed to a 'correct' one. At least Milly's dealing with the health and safety thing.

We still need to sign a contract with 'Concore' so people can use their accounts in-game to talk to friends, then with 'Flinch' so people can stream their games through it.

The time dilation problem is going to be annoying to deal wi-

"Wait a minute! Babe! The time dilation thing isn't a glitch! It's a feature!"

Mittelt slowly looks over. "Pardon?"

"Do you know how many more sales we would get if eight hours in the game, equals four hours in real life?! We could practically DOUBLE gaming time!"

Running the game through the brain seems to slow down a person's perception of time... if we really wanted, we could probably push it further, but the whole two times perception thing should be good enough.

"Oh shit!" She gasps. "That's a great idea! How would we deal with the problems of Flinch and Concore?"

"For Flinch, we could slow down the stream, so it's played at regular speed instead of times two speed for anyone outside the game, it'll create a fairly large delay, four hours in fact, by the time they reach the four-hour mark and the game boots them out, but it could allow for people to edit streams on the fly! And if you are inside an Eden, you could even just watch it with no delay! As for Concore, we just don't allow people outside an Eden to call people inside an Eden, only instant messaging."

"That... might work." She mutters quietly. "Suzu, you fucking brilliant bastard. One of these days I'm going to fuck your brains out."

"I'll look forwards to it." I wink as I go back to coding.

---

"Are we ready?" I slowly ask.

"Yep." Mittelt nods as I stand in front of the large egg-shaped object.

I glance to the machine then glance back. "Well... the promotional stream is about to start. I should probably get in there."

She hands me a bottle of water causing me to let out a quick thanks and quickly take a sip from it.

After a moment, I take a deep breath. "I can trust you to grab some questions from the flinch chat and send them through?"

"Yep." She smiles.

This is the moment... the moment both of us have been waiting for... the machine is finished, we've gone public, we're starting to produce them, the tutorial island of our game is finished, the systems are in place, the final game is debugging, and now... all I need to do, is step inside and complete my destiny.

I step forwards and bring Mittelt into a hug, and step back. "Wish me luck... oh, once I get in the game, can you whisper me that list of topics to talk about while we are waiting for questions to come in due to the delay? Oh, and maybe put a small caption that the stream will be slowly getting out of sync with me."

"I got you." She nods as I push a button and cause the machine to slowly open.

I sit down inside and smile at Mittelt, she makes a small heart with her hands as I push the button to close the machine, the top slowly drifts downwards as I sit in the comfy chair, I reach up and put a helmet on my head as the visor slides down.

I reach down towards a small power button and press start.

I fall unconscious as I am taken into a white void several panels float before me, one for an internet browser, one for 'Flinch' one for our messaging app, one for settings, and at the top, a large one for the game.

A large window appears beside me, with a scroll wheel at the side causing me to smile and nod once. Another message appears before me.

Going live in 3

2

1

Good luck, Suzu!

A red dot appears in the corner of my vision as a floating camera appears in front of my ghostly form.

I give it a couple of moments as I hold my hand out to my side, the camera floats around, pausing briefly on the screens in front of me.

"Welcome... to Eden!" I grin as I gesture around. "My life's work, the first, real Vr gaming console."

I look around the void. "Hn. This white nothingness is so drab. Let's just change it up a bit."

I open the settings tab and quickly move onto 'Themes'

Default [x]

I click the next one down, and suddenly I am at the bottom of the ocean, coral reef all around me as bubbles slowly float upwards, fish slowly circle around, passing calmly throughout the area.

"Hn. No. This triggers my hydrophobia."

I click the next one, and suddenly we are in a black and white bar.

"Too noir."

A log cabin, a hotel lobby, the middle of the desert, finally I settle on a large garden.

"Welcome to Eden!"

"You all might be questioning what's the purpose of all this- I mean, really, most of you are probably here for the game, but even in the menu, Eden allows you to move objects around, pick things up, move every single part of your body, and more.

I walk over to a rose bush and pluck a rose from it, lifting it up to the camera. "In this world... I can feel everything, the thorn of the stem, the fragrance of the rose, hell, even the taste of the rose... if you were some kind of wierdo that liked eating roses, that is.

"This technology is completely revolutionary, you've got sight, hearing, touch, smell and even taste! Anyways, now that the boring things are out of the way, let's move onto what you are all here for, yeah?"

I reach out and touch the 'Start Game' button.

The entire world darkens as I grin. "Everyone, I welcome you all to..."

A large box of text stylized somewhat like a scroll appears atop the screen, the letters look as if they were drawn by a fountain pen. "Elder Scrolls Online"

"Elder Scrolls Online" I smile.

New Player Detected. Starting Tutorial.

Suddenly we are flying through the air, over snowy peaks, across valleys, over a large worm lunging free from the desert sand, the camera passes over a town, continuing past as trumpets blare, and suddenly we are looking at an island, the camera slowly approaches, sweeping across the shores and steadily going inland, it pans towards a large tower in the distance, and slowly goes through the barred windows where it comes to rest atop a bed roll inside a jail cell.

Please create your character.

I reach out and tap the screen, suddenly a teen with brown wind swepped hair is standing before me, he wears a simple tunic with long brown pants, then has old peasant shoes on his feet.

"Oh look! That's me!" I grin as I point at the character, my body now looking exactly like the character in front of me instead of the

Around the screen are dozens of character options, a race wheel towards the left, and several sliders to the right, below is the most important 'Gender', and at the top are different parts of the character.

"That's right! The default character will always be what you look like in real life, or well, if you pick another race, our system would generate what you would look like as said race. Why don't we walk through the races."

I go to the top of the list. "Firstly, you have the high elf, masters of magic, once per day, they have a special ability to swiftly regenerate their magic at a rate that scales with their level. Additionally, they have a static modifier to their magika stat- their mana- they start out with an additional ten percent more mana than the other races, making them a solid choice for any person wishing to be a spellcaster. Additionally, they gain a single extra novice spell upon character creation.

A brown-haired teen appears, much like the first, however he has brilliant yellow eyes, long pointed ears, and a slightly yellowish skin tone.

"Next, we have the Argonian race, Lizard people."

Instead of the legitimate elder scroll's argonian, it shows a brown-haired boy with slit pupils and some dark scales across his face, then two white horns curving out from his hair.

"Argonians primarily live in the swamps of blackmarsh, meaning they are expert swimmers and can hold their breath considerably longer than most other races- yes, we even have breathing in this game- additionally..."

I hold up a hand towards the camera.

*Shink*

My fingernails elongate into points.

"They are one of the two playable races that have natural weapons. However their claws aren't as strong as the other race's which we will be getting to in a moment."

The teen changes again, this time he returns to his pinkish regular skin tone as my ears once more elongate.

"The wood elf, deals ten percent more damage with a bow and arrow, and can turn an enemy of your level or lower that belongs to the 'animal' subtype into an ally for sixty seconds once per day. Additionally, they are extremely resistant to poisons and disease. Plus, due to being an elf their hearing is slightly better than the average person's- I mean, these ears have to do something, right?

"Next, you have the Half Elves, the mixing of elven and human blood results in a race that is slightly resistant to magic, and, once per day, they can enter a state for sixty seconds where they regain magicka equal to ten percent of the spell being cast on them's cost. So if an enemy cast like... a fireball on you that costs five thousand magicka, you would regain five hundred.

Keep in mind that you don't need to actually take damage from this spell, it just needs to be cast on you, so there's a lot of potential for having a buffer cast spells on you in this state, or if you find some sort of elemental immunity ring, you could stand in the blast radius of spells with no issue.

Keep in mind, that their magic resistance works both ways... while they'll take twenty five percent less damage from foes, they'll heal and be buffed twenty-five percent less as well.

It just looks like me with slightly pointed ears, nothing special.

"Following the half elves, you have the dark elves. Resistant to fire, and deal ten percent increased damage with all destruction level spells."

I become an elf again, but this time I have a deep tanned skin tone and red pupils. Ah yes, the hot dark elves.

"Next you have the Imperials... they're basically humans. Definitely the best all-rounder, they gain five percent more experience and find five percent more gold from enemies. Not really interesting, but the extra gold and experience is pretty good."

"Next, you have the Khajiit."

I click on the next race to reveal a version of me with two fluffy cat ears on the top of my head and a long fluffy tail.

"They're nekos with the highest base unarmed damage in the game, their claws far surpass the Argonians, and their eye sight and hearing are second to none."

"Next you have another variant of human... the Nords... they're basically just Vikings, they resist the cold, and deal increased damage with melee."

"Next, the orcs. They are well, orcs... green skin, large pointy teeth, can rage once per day to deal increased damage and take reduced damage, then just in general does more damage with a two handed weapon like a great sword or an axe."

A green skinned version of me appears, he has a large underbite, I shake my head and move on.

"Finally we have the Redguard... another human race... resistant to poison and regenerates stamina faster."

A dark skinned version of me appears.

I quickly scroll up and select Khajiit.

"Now, the chat is probably at least five to ten minutes behind at this point, but do we have any questions almighty girl behind the computer?"

"…"

"Can people have sex in the game?"

"No. No people cannot have sex in the game. That would cause this game to be rated R instead of M." I deadpan at the camera as my brown cat ears flatten slightly. "Next."

"Why is there a delay on the stream?"

"Oh, that one's actually quite interesting... you see, two hours in the game, is actually only one hour outside... if you were watching the stream from inside an 'Eden' device, you would be caught up, no problem, but we had to slow it down for people outside due to the fact that frankly you wouldn't have been able to understand ANYTHING had we kept it at times two speed."

"Any others?" I ask as I continue editing my character.

"What the FUCK was that giant worm thing?!"

"Oh. That's a world boss. As for world bosses in general I think the lowest level one is like... level fifty? Yeah, basically they're bosses that'll need practically an entire army to take down. They're really the step up from a raid boss which could be taken down by like... what, twenty to forty people? For those, they have an entire quest based around it, and it is more comparable to sieging a fighting castle than a mob."

I click confirm on my character, causing a large screen to appear "Alright. Now... let's talk about classes! Keep in mind that you can always 'try out' a class before you commit to it with this little button here, but even if you do commit to a class and end up not liking it, or maybe you and all of your friends end up making the same class, you can always change your class at the end of the tutorial island!"

"Starting off, you have three main class options, the martial type, the magic type, and the technique type let's start off with the simplest to explain. Magic. There's only one base class, and you basically just choose an element and you become a novice of that element, you start out with one spell- or more, depending on your race, then gain one more spell out of a small list every four levels, if you want an extra type of magic, don't worry, at level ten you can choose a secondary magic to learn the novice spells of, then a third at level forty, and a fourth at a higher level. Theoretically, you can learn to use all five of the magic types at once, but you'd have to have considerable levels for it and one would be FAR weaker than the others."

"let's quickly speed through the magics. Destruction: it's primarily based around elements and direct damage. Illusion: it's illusion spells, like turning your foes against each other, or creating illusionary doubles of yourself. Conjuration: Creating bound weapons and summoning temporary constructs to do your bidding... also necromancy. Restoration: the healing school, additionally, you gain several buff spells and also gain some spells to combat undead. Finally Alteration: this is also a magic that focuses on buffs, however, it's more self-buffs than group buffs, it lets you make your skin as hard as bark, or extend your fingernails into claws without being an Argonian or Khajiit."

"Next, the martial classes, firstly, Martial artist is a dexterity-based class which can't wear armor, it primarily uses unarmed blows and uses 'ki' to strengthen themselves. Next, the Berserker, which can only wear light armor, they gain the ability to do something similar to the Orc's rage ability, yet far more often. Finally the warrior. It's your basic knight. It doesn't have any sort of special ability or technique, but it can wear any type of armor, and use any type of martial weapon. Which means it is the only 'base' class capable of wearing heavy armor."

"Next the technique types, you have the rogues, who primarily focus on stealth attacks, the archers who are well, archers, and the beast tamer who has incredibly limited weapons and armor, and does incredibly low personal damage, yet can gain permanent animal allies that can level up."

I reach out and tap 'Martial Artist' then watch as several screens pop up.

I tap through them at high speed. "This is basically the tutorial for all of the controls. You absolutely don't want to do what I'm doing. I just know how this game works so I can ignore the tutorial.

I smile at the camera as I slowly walk over to the jail cell door.

"You see, something special about this island, is that while it is supposed to be single player, you can actually join friends as long as they are on the exact same quest as you and on the exact same part... your world becomes a 'shared' world, and you may share it with up to six people."

"I am currently in 'Act one, Part one. 'Imprisoned.' This will change upon me opening this cell door."

I pause in front of the door. "There are many ways to get out of this prison cell, there is a lockpick in the bedroll, a destruction spell may be able to blast the weakened window, and for classes like monster tamer or for certain spellcasters, you could probably just shake the window out after some effort. There's at the very least one method per class, some requires slightly obscure actions, but others..."

I gain a white outline as I take a deep breath, glaring at the rusted jail door.

I draw a fist back and with a loud clang I punch the door open.

A skeleton slumped over in a chair slowly turns its head to look at me, it's bones rattle as it stands up and grabs a large table leg and begins slowly waddling over.

"A special part of the tutorial island and dungeons in general, is that there are secrets... if I wasn't a martial class, I might have had to leave out the window, missing out on whatever loot is inside here."

I duck past the skeleton's attack and grab it by the neck, I pull it forwards and trip it with my foot, causing it to clatter to the floor, I raise a leg, and as my body glows white, my stamina dipping, I slam my foot down on the back of the skeleton's head, crushing it into bone chunks.

"Now... why don't I show you all around." I smile at the camera.

---

I slump down on the couch as Mittelt leans on me. "Holy shit that was so nerve wracking!"

"How many people were even watching?!" I ask.

"I wasn't paying attention to that." Mittelt states. "Because if I was, I would have been freaking out as well."

I let out a long sigh of relief, the two hour- well, technically four hour- showcase went well, we've got nearly a million pre orders already, and ESO should be done by the time all those Edens are completed.

"You know... it's been a while since we've been able to just... relax, right?" I slowly ask as I glance over to the girl who has her eyes closed as she leans on me.

"Nh." She agrees.

"Plus, it has been literal ages since I have gone to see my family... soo would you like to join me? I can introduce you."

She cracks open an eye. "Hm? Alright... that sounds pretty neat."

Neither of us move from our spot on the couch, we both have dark circles under our eyes.

"After a nap?" I ask.

"After a nap." She nods as we both flop over.

---

I stare at a door, my hand briefly pausing over the wood.

"Go on." Mittelt states.

I knock my knuckles on the wood.

A moment passes.

"Who is it-" a woman opens the door, she has brown hair loosely tied behind her head, yellow eyes, and a couple wrinkles beside her mouth.

Her eyes widen and she drops the plate she is holding, I reach out and snatch it up before it smashes into the floor, and give her a small smile. "Heya... mom."

"MY BABY BOOOOOY!" She cries as she lunges forwards and wraps her arms around me.

I pat her back.

"What are you doing here?" She asks. "Don't you have school?"

"Nah, I'm finished with that... I'm finally finished." I smile.

"GOROU! OUR PRESCIOUS BABY BOY IS BACK FROM BOARDING SCHOOL!" She cheers.

"WHAT?!" A second voice asks from inside the house, moments later a man steps into view, he has brown hair that looks quite similar to Issei's, dark hazel eyes, and a little scruff on his chin.

"Suzutsu! My god, boy! How have you been! You finally found time to come and see your dear mom and pop?" He grins as he slaps my back.

They both freeze as Mittelt clears her throat, then look up slowly.

""Who is this?""

I free myself from their hug and take a step back and gesture to Mittelt. "Mom, Dad, please meet Mittelt, my best friend, classmate, and girlfriend."

They pause, then begin absolutely losing it with joy. "YEEEES! I KNEW SUZUTSU WOULD PULL THROUGH! WE'RE GONNA HAVE GRANDBABIES BEFORE WE KNOW IT!"

Mittelt slowly turns to look at me and raises an eyebrow.

"Just ignore that... please." I sigh.

They usher the two of us inside. "Come in! Come in! You both surely have many stories to tell! So, how'd you meet?"

"We started working on a project a couple years ago, then one thing led to the next, and here we are." Mittelt shrugs. "When you don't get out much, and are really the only people there, you either start to hate each other, or fall for each other."

"How sweet!" My mother hums with a bright smile, "I wish our other boy was that pure."

"Pure?" I ask with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh right, you don't know what Issei has been getting up to recently, do you?" My father mutters.

"Issei has been really getting into 'the pronographys', his only friends are bad influences on him. He is a pervert and not to be trusted." My mother supplies.

"If he perves on Mittelt I'll just hit him." I shrug with a small smile. "Where is he anyways."

"School. He got into Kuoh Academy this year... it used to be an all girls school, but three years ago it suddenly switched to being co-ed."

"Let me guess," I begin.

"""He only chose to go there because it used to be an all-girls school.""" Myself, my mother, and my father all state at the same time.

I roll my eyes.

Mittelt seems a little out of place, causing my mother's attention to quickly focus on her. "Sorry if you're a bit uncomfortable, dear, it's just that we haven't seen little Suzu for years, then when he does finally come back to see us, he brings a girl with him."

My father roughly slaps my back. "That's my boy."

"How is school for the two of you?" My mother asks.

"We're finished." Mittelt states with a small shrug. "We also finished a recent project... now I guess we'll be able to get out more. "

"You finished your schooling? Will they be sending us your diploma or something?"

"Eventually." I nod with a small smile.

---

"A GIRL?!" I hear Issei shriek.

My hand comes up and chops the top of his head as hard as I can.

"Agh- wh- Big bro?! You're back?!"

He looks towards Mittelt

"Oh. Sorry, I just broke the bro code. Forgive me." He bows his head at me.

"Nah, it's fine, you didn't know." I shrug. "Just don't let it happen again."

"Bro... Code?" Mittelt asks.

""A Bro shan't covet another Bro's honey."" Issei and I deadpan at the same time.

"So, what have you been up to?" I slowly ask as he takes a seat in the recliner to the left of me.

"Oh, just school. Ugh. I hate it. The only good thing is all the girls." He sighs.

He suddenly perks up. "Oh! Have you heard about that new game system that's going to be coming out soon?! They called it the Eden!"

"I have heard about it." I slowly nod as Mittelt smirks.

I continue. "What's your opinion on that? I mean, it's awesome, right? I wonder how many people will be playing it."

"Damn right it's awesome! There will be elves, cat girls, and dragon girls!"

"Lizard Girls." I correct.

"But just think! So many people like to wear revealing armor in MMOs! I wonder how many titties I will see!"

"Oh?" I slowly ask. "You are considering getting an Eden?"

He slowly nods and scratches the back of his head. "I-I have actually been saving since they were first announced a couple years ago... I've been doing jobs here and there, and my friends have too... we're going to make a guild that can respect the true majesty of monster girls!"

"…"

"I see." I mutter as Mittelt tries to stifle her loathing glare.

"You'd probably get a girlfriend if you didn't act like such a degenerate, y'know." I deadpan.

"If they don't like me for being me, I don't want them!"

I roll my eyes. "Whatever."

---

"We good to go?" I call out. "We've got a lot riding on this. I'm pretty sure THE leviathan will be playing today."

"Yeah, we're good." Mittelt calls back. "There's this glitch with the final boss it looks like, but we'll have time to fix it... it looks like she is almost... alive."

"Nah, that's intentional. I wanted some form of overarching big bad guy who does what she wants. As she is now, she can technically attack any player on any map- well, except for the starting zones.

"Is that really wise?" She slowly states.

"It'll make players hate her enough to try and murder her when they get high enough level." I respond with a shrug.

"Isn't having people randomly die to an overpowered dragon a little mean when they lose a level on death post level ten?"

"She's the WORLD EATER Mittelt, damn right she's powerful. Buuuut I have her in storage right now, in lore she's currently being tossed forwards in time with an elder scroll... she probably wont be added to the game at all for at least a year or two... it just depends on how fast someone manages to get to level one hundred." I state with a small shrug.

"Also, THE Leviathan?!" Mittelt asks.

"She pre purchased a couple of names, the same goes for some of the other noble devil houses. We also threw in a magical girl outfit for her due to her pre-order."

"Oh right... the pre-order bonuses." Mittlelt mutters. "Sort of forgot about those."

"Yep. A free untradable Rare dagger upon character creation for all their characters, and an eight hour experience boost whenever they want it. Buuut Serafall is the Leviathan, so she gets privileges."

She slowly looks over and raises an eyebrow. "Did you do this for every important figure that plays?"

"Yep. Yasaka- or well, her daughter got a special Khajiit skin that lets her give her character a fox tail and ears, Sirzechs and his little sister got a skin for their fire spells, hell, your dad got a token that lets him redeem a guild immediately."

I frown slightly. "The church didn't buy into our game, really... probably the name... they'll probably get a couple systems when they realize that you get training out of it... I mean, where else are you going to learn how to fight things actively trying to murder you, while also being completely safe from death."

Mittelt seems to comprehend what I just said. "Wait wait wait... you gave my father an item that lets him make a guild IMMIDIATELY?! That costs like five hundred silver! That's LITERALLY half a million copper!"

"I gave him the option of a ring that gives him a double jump with wing cosmetics, or the guild, and he chose the guild." I shrug.

"Isn't that just blatant favoritism, you giving him the option of items that ACTUALLY do something, and giving the rest cosmetics?"

"To be fair, Mittelt, he did take me in, introduced me to you, and is basically the sole reason this game is possible." I shrug. "Think of it as me paying him back for doing... stuff... while he is completely unaware of it."

"I'm stuff?" She asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep." I nod. "You're stuff."

We both glance towards the door as it opens to see Azazel himself step inside. "So, brats, how's the game going?"

"It's going well." I shrug, hiding my nervousness with an impassive stare. "You've got your guild creation item, but you'll need to get out of the tutorial to use it... also you should probably get some actual money, the item covers the first two months of tax, but after that, every in-game month, you'll need to pay the city tax for your guild."

"Ugh. Tax." The man scoffs. "Any way to get out of that?"

"Do something extraordinary? Like have your guild defeat a threat to the land your guild is based within? Maybe make your guildhall outside the main city and steadily build a town around it? Make a world-wide teleportation system so you can charge people to use it? That way you can just use said money to pay the tax and forget about it? That's all the advice I can offer you."

I look to Mittelt. "Maybe we should take advantage of the fact that there is no fast travel system in game and create a teleportation system. I mean, it's a little mean to charge people for it, but it is definitely needed... ugh, and I wanted to make my character a beast tamer."

"Nah, I'm with you, let some other poor schmuck research how to do that."

We both suddenly look to the ticking clock.

"Well. I guess I'll leave you two to it. I'm actually going to get in my Eden now... Shemhazai said that I could mess around with this if I did some paperwork... heh. Yeah, I'm not doing that paperwork."

"Technically you could do it inside the Eden in half the time due to the time dilation." I shrug.

"Hn. We both know that I'm going to be messing with the filters for like an hour." He scoffs. "Well, I'm off. Good luck. I hope your system can withstand several million people playing at once."

"Dear gods that city is going to be filled during the first day..." He mutters. "I might have to just go into higher level zones to avoid the wave."

"I think you might be underestimating just how large the game is... the island is literally like... continent sized..."

I point to a world map in the corner. "You see that island in the top left?"

Azazel looks over.

"More than twice the size of Japan."

He blinks slowly. "How the hell do you RUN this game?!"

"I have servers the size of literal skyscrapers buried in several parts of the world." I deadpan. "Each one is for a different region, and each one has been personally upgraded by me... and seeing as how with only two people, we made a functioning VR system from basically scratch, let's just say that they are quite a bit better than what's standard on the human market."

Mittelt nods.

"hn." The man hums as he turns and walks to the door. "Alright, have fun, I know I will."

---

Pov: Azazel.

Those brats, how they managed to make something so futuristic is honestly staggering.

He shakes his head and lets out a sigh.

Incredible potential. Give them a couple hundred years and who knows what they'll be doing. Mittelt might even far surpass him.

They really opened up the market for a new type of game. There goes his idea for Azazel Quest. Damn.

Now if only he could solve other problems in the Grigori.

He pauses above the training field, where he spies a tall man with long dark hair, pale skin and pointed ears repeatedly thrusting and slashing a sword of light at a target dummy.

Perhaps? Hn. Probably not... but it wouldn't hurt to try.

Six pairs of wings spring from the man's back as he floats down into the training field.

"Kokabiel." The man mutters, causing the other fallen to whirl around and glare.

"Yes, Azazel?" He growls.

"Are you still going to try and cause another great war?" The blond banged man mutters.

"We could easily win! Crush our foes! Destroy our enemies! We have the advantage here!" The man snaps.

"Perhaps..." Azazel mutters, causing the black haired man to pause, that is one of the only times Azazel has conceded to Kokabiel's fallen superiority points. "But... we'd take heavy losses... the other factions would see us as a rabid dog, injured, and easy to take out. What you are asking for is the death of our race... of the entire Christan faction."

The man clenches his fists and glares at the floor. "Those cowards would take advantage of us. But I you know why I fell Azazel."

"I do." The Governor General of the Grigori mutters. "Lust... Lust for combat... for battle."

"I cannot go against my sin, Azazel." The pale man grits out.

Azazel smirks, as if he won, because he probably has. "Well, then... I think I might have a solution for you."

Kokabiel narrows his eyes. "I do not have time for your games, Azazel."

"What if I told you... that there is a way... for you to fight and kill foes on par with yourself, hell, considerably stronger than yourself, with no potential fallout or destructive retribution?" Azazel hums.

There is a mad glint in Kokabiel's eye for a moment. "I'm listening..."

"I know you don't really keep up with the Projects that the Grigori scientists are working on... yet, there's a certain one that might catch your attention."

"Get to the point, Watcher." The cadre scoffs.

Azazel smirks. "One of our researchers created an entirely new world... a game... a game where you can touch, see, hear, taste, and smell. He created this world and this game, filled it full of monsters, then released it as a simple game to the humans."

"Tch- you expect me to find fighting humans amusing?!"

"It's quite simple, in the game, you create a character, a weak character... everyone starts equal. And you can do whatever you want... kill, maim, destroy, create an entire civilization if you wanted. You might think human are pathetic wastes of space, yet in this game, they gain power considerably fast. A thing called 'pro gamers' exist, and in this world, eventually they would be capable of shaping nations... you can fight beasts, dragons, demons, all to your heart's content."

Kokabiel is silent for a moment. "I would start from the bottom? Weakening myself and testing my skill upon those who are on par or stronger than myself?"

"Correct. And you can do anything in this world. If you wanted, you could gather followers, create a guild, and declare war on the entire world. A war of mages, martial artists, assassins, and knights of considerable skill."

"Of course, it might take a while for truly skilled humans to show up in the world, yet there are quite a few devil houses already invested... they see it as free training. In the game their physical abilities won't pass over, yet the muscle mem-"

"Stop." Kokabiel states as he ponders for a moment.

"I'm in." The man states before gaining a feral grin. "I will use this new world of yours to sate my bloodlust. I will bring it to its knees."

The blond tipped man smiles. "Well then, let's go find you a pod."

He hopes the kids will forgive him for unleashing this upon their carefully crafted world... better there than out here. If he can stave off war for even just another century, he believes he could create a truce between the three factions.

Getting out frustrations and grudges in the brat's world just might be a key piece of it.

---

Pov: Returned

I put a hand up to my ear. "You in the game?"

A voice responds quickly. "Yep. Character's done, what about you?"

"Done." I nod.

"Send me an invite then!" Mittelt scoffs.

With a couple of taps I navigate into my Concore and send her an invitation to my tutorial.

With a flash, a girl several inches shorter than me appears, she has green eyes and fiery orange hair, then two pointed elf-like ears.

A half elf.

She winks at me. "Black hair, hn? Looks pretty good on you."

Instead of my regular form, I am about an inch taller than normal, and instead of my regular brown, I went with short black hair that has silver tips.

She slowly looks up and down. "You look pretty good."

I look over her as well, she wears a long robe that turns into a skirt a couple of inches above the knee.

I notice a certain feature of her's.

"Did you seriously make your tits bigger?"

She gasps and brings her hands up to her chest. "H-How did you-"

"Mittelt, I know you didn't make them that much larger, but I've groped you before. They weren't that big."

She blushes and pouts at me. "Pervert."

"You're the one who kept saying you'd give me 'the fucking of my life' and you did." I shrug.

She crosses her arms and looks away. "Hmph!"

"So." I begin. "What class did you pick?"

"Conjuration Mage." She smiles.

"Ah. I see. I went with my gut and went for Beast Tamer." I hum as I look to the door of the cell we are currently in.

"You wanna blur through the tutorial so we can get to the mainland before it gets too packed? Or do you want to take your time?" I ask as I look to the door.

"Hn. Let's get to the mainland so we can start a couple hidden quests before they get discovered." She nods.

"Oh wait." I pause. "Before I forget... Party Invite: Milly-fo-Really"

A party has been created.

"What starter spell did you choose?" I ask as I see a small tab appear in the top right of my vision, showing Mittelt's Health, Stamina, and Magic.

"Summon Scamp." She grins.

"Ah. I see. I'll leave getting us out of here to you." I shrug as I lean against the brick wall.

"Alllrightly." She hums as she holds out a hand.

A magic circle appears on the floor on the other side of the bars, there is a flash of purple as a rift forms in space and time, moments later it fades, revealing a small three-foot-tall goblin... thing...

It has the head of a classic D&D goblin, fur along its forearms and chest, and its lower body is completely covered with fur, it has a small thin hairless tail that juts out behind it and several sharp and pointed claws on its hands.

Mittelt points at the skeleton sitting in the chair, it begins to move as the scamp looks at it.

"Kill." Mittelt commands, causing the scamp to let out a small shriek and lunge for the skeleton.

I look over my stats as the scamp tries to haphazardly murder the skeleton, it's possibly the lamest fight I have ever seen.

Level 1: Exp: 0/100

Class: Novice Beast Tamer (Common) (+1 Str, +1 Vit, +1 Mag, +2 Dex, +2 End, +3 Cha Per Level)

Health: 130/130
Magicka: 135/135
Stamina: 130/130

Stats:
Strength: 6
Dexterity: 10
Vitality: 6
Endurance: 6
Magic: 7
Charisma: 10

Unused Stat Points: None

I take a quick jaunt to my skill list as Mittelt's Scamp manages to shove the skeleton over and begins clawing at its skull, leaving light scratch marks in its wake.

Skills:

Tame: (Skill Rank: Novice) Level 1/10 (0.0%)
You may tame beasts of your level or lower, these creatures must be an animal of some sort and may not exceed your level at any point, you gain the option to try and tame any creature you render to 20% or lower health, you may only attempt to tame a certain target once. Your chance to succeed a Tame increases the higher your Charisma Stat is.

Empower Beast: (Skill Rank: Novice) Level 1/20 (0.0%)
Cost: 100 Magika per 5 seconds
You may empower your tamed beast, granting them greater vigor and strength, when you target an allied beast, it's strength and Dexterity increase by 5 Points.

"This is pretty lame." I announce as the scamp begins gnawing on the skeleton's vertebrae, the skeleton in question beginning to wrap its limbs around the scamp and squeezing.

"Shut the FUCK up Suzu!" Mittelt glares with a pout.

I walk over to the bedroll and remove the lockpick from within.

I slowly walk over to the door as the scamp finally pops the skeleton's head off, only to be unsummoned a moment later due to the spell's duration expiring.

"Maybe we should have made the duration longer than a minute." Mittelt mutters.

"All skills suck at level one, Babe." I scoff as I reach around and begin picking the lock.

*Click*

The door creaks open as the lockpick snaps.

"Ayyyye first try!" I cheer.

Shame I won't get a lockpicking skill unless I repeatedly do that.

Mittelt rolls her eyes as we step through the door.

We scour the room, searching the room and allowing Mittelt's mana to regenerate slightly, we find a large chest in the corner of the room and a key ring on the skeleton.

The chest opens with a click from the lock as two screens open before us.

Bonus Chest!

Please select a Starter Item!

[Old Hand Crossbow] [Chipped Dagger] [Leather Whip]

I reach out and pick hand crossbow.

Hand Crossbow has been added to your Inventory

120 Hand Crossbow Bolts has been added to your inventory.

A bracelet flashes to life around Mittelt's hand as I pull the crossbow out of my inventory.

Old Hand Crossbow: (Rarity: Common)
Level Requirements: None
This old hand crossbow is brittle, but better than nothing.
Durability: 40/40
Damage: 5+1/16th Dex

Yep. Hand crossbows are trash. But it's the only ranged option Tamer gets...

To put it into perspective, the starter sword does about ten plus strength, and the dagger does six plus one eighth dex or strength, whichever is more. A legitimate bow and arrow does about fifteen damage plus half of dex, yet requires a certain strength to wield- which for the starter version is five, so literally everyone qualifies to use it.

I look to Mittelt's bracelet.

Ancient Conjurer's Bracelet (Uncommon)
Level Requirements: None
This old Bracelet one belonged to a competent conjuration wizard, yet due to time, it has steadily grown weaker and weaker, it is now nothing more than a shell of what it used to be.
+5% Duration to your Summoning spells.

"Why do you get uncommon stuff?" I pout.

"Because I run out of mana in one spell and have no damage options?" Mittelt suggests.

"Fair." I shrug.

We turn and walk down a nearby hallway, I heft my crossbow and fire a shot at a skeleton with it's back to us.

The bolt smashes into the back of its head, causing it to let out an annoyed click as the bolt sinks into the bone.

Critical Hit!

The skeleton turns around and begins lumbering at us as Mittelt summons another scamp to stall it.

Skeleton Level 1:
Health: 80%

I pull back the string on my crossbow and load another bolt from my hip-mounted quiver as the scamp lunges forwards and bashes into the legs of the skeleton, causing it to stumble.

I point my crossbow at the skeleton again and land another shot right to the skull, honestly, it's probably the best place to try and hit it, its head snaps backwards as the bolt bounces off its forehead, Mittelt's scamp sensing the opportunity, abruptly tears the legs out from under the skeleton and begins beating it on the ground.

"Oh, how I can't wait till you get enough mana to summon two of those... that'll probably speed this up quite a bit." I sigh.

"Oh, how I can't wait till you get the entire fuckin' basis of your class. An animal companion." Mittelt fires back with a pointed stare.

"Hn. True." I respond with a shrug. "I'm probably pretty heavy right now, but we'll balance out when I get that animal companion."

"Any thought on what you want?" She asks.

"Hm." I hum. "I'm thinking either some form of wolf... or maybe a bear?"

"We would get absolutely demolished by a bear. Go for the wolf." She deadpans.

"I sort of don't want to get one, because I'm going to try and get a full moon wolf in a couple of days." I frown. "Wait... I made it so your first beast has a much higher chance of being capable of evolving... what if you carry me-"

"No." She states in the same deadpan tone. "Full moon wolves are like level twenty. I'm not carrying your heavy ass for more than five levels."

I pout slightly and roll my eyes. "Fine."

You have leveled up.

"There's one. Three more to go." She states with a small smile.

I watch as she puts in her new stat points and beams a smile at me. "One more level and I can summon two scamps at once. Worship me, for I am your goddess!"

"You are seriously min-maxing the magic stat?" I ask with a raised eyebrow. "I can't wait to see you get obliterated by anything that gets close to you."

"J-Just until I can summon more than one summon at a time, dude! I'll go into Dexterity after that!" She protests as I glance to my own stats.

Health: 160/160
Magicka: 170/170
Stamina: 160/160

Strength: 7
Dexterity: 16
Vitality: 7
Endurance: 7
Magic: 9
Charisma: 14

Twenty five to all bars per level, then five per point in the stats, Health for Vitality, Stamina for Endurance, and Magic for... well, Magic.

Maybe we should have split up Magic damage and the stat that gives you increased Mana... eh, we'll probably see a bunch of builds focused solely on that one stat, and those are easy to take down when you get the jump on them.

We continue walking through the halls of this ancient ruin as Mittelt slowly looks over to me. "Sooo what's your plan for this game, Suzu?"

"Breed the perfect animal companion." I reply instantaneously without any hesitation.

"Hn? There's monster breeding in this game? Neat."

"I scattered twenty-six genes in this game, all named after a letter of the alphabet, each stronger than the last... if you get all twenty-six... ohoho the thing you make becomes basically a pocket world boss."

She skeptically raises an eyebrow. "Really? That strong?"

"Let's put it this way... the most common gene, Gene A gives a monster plus five in all physical stats."

"…"

"And it needs to have all twenty-six? Each better than the last?" She asks

She notices my smile and lets out a sigh. "That's so fucking broken, dude."

"Gene Z is extremely rare, so it's probably unrealistic to ever find one in this game. Out of all of the players, I only expect one Gene Z to be found in the next ten years... and even then, it's really just a coin flip to see if they realize what it is or just kill it anyways." I let out a long sigh as we come across a door. "Realistically, I'll never be able to accomplish my dream of creating a super beast, but I can hope."

I let out a groan. "ugh. What I really want is the dragon tamer class, but that's so fucking hard to get, I'd at least need to be level fifty... I may be able to complete like the first part of it, soon-ish, but all the way? That's probably going to be impossible for at least a year."

"Hn. Are there any cool conjuration classes?" She asks.

"There's one called 'Demon Binder', basically you gain a small horde of weaker Dramora to do your bidding and you gain several benefits for demon summoning. There's also, of course, a necromancer class. Or a fighter class that focuses on the bound items conjuration summons." I respond as I push the door open.

"Oh, right, the bound items... I actually almost picked up bound dagger... is it any good?" She mutters as we watch a large gaunt figure stand from a throne and heft a large axe.

"It gets better the more you use it, but it starts out about on par with a regular iron dagger... it looks cool as hell, though." I shrug as I point my crossbow at the draugr.

My shot finds itself lodged in the zombie's shin, causing it to let out a growl as it walks forwards.

Draugr Level 2:
Hp: 98%

"Hn. That's rough... I'd need to shoot this guy fifty times to kill him."

"Don't worry. I've got this." Mittelt hums as she summons another scamp, it rushes the draugr, quickly clawing on its leg as I reload my crossbow.

I shoot another arrow as the zombie raises its two-handed axe.

It slams it down on the scamp, causing it to let out a shriek of pain, but it is still barely alive.

I shoot another arrow as Mittelt picks up a couple rocks and begins hurling them at the miniboss.

It finishes off the poor little demon with a second swing, cutting it in half before it disappears into purple motes of light.

Draugr Level 2:
Hp: 82%

"Oh hey, that one did pretty good... I'll draw agro for the next one so it can kill it."

"I'll need about ten seconds to regain enough mana for it." Mittelt states as I walk forwards slowly.

"Don't worry." I call back. "I'll stall for time."

I lunge forwards, ducking a heavy swing of the draugr's axe, I press the crossbow up into its chin and pull the trigger, launching the bolt upwards into its unprotected throat.

Critical Hit!

It staggers back as I step around a downward swing that clangs into the stone floor, sending a couple skittering sparks across the stonework.

I smash my fist into the side of its face, causing it to stagger slightly as I reload my crossbow and rush it again, this time I sweep the leg and press the crossbow to its temple and fire off another shot.

Critical Hit!

Draugr Level 2:
Hp: 64%

"Oh wow." I call out as I grab the draugr by the armor strap and slam it into the floor with a rattling clang. "I'm pretty good at this."

It tries to bite me, so I take a step back and reload my crossbow.

"SCAMP INCOMING!" Mittelt calls out.

"Good!"

I slam my fist right into the undead's face as slam a foot into his shin, knocking him off balance and forcing him to a kneeling position.

I grab both sides of its head and smash its face into my knee.

The bottom of my foot presses into its chest and with a shove it is slammed onto its back, the scamp lunges for it vulnerable body as I step onto its fallen axe, firing a bolt right into its torso and preventing it from recovering as the small demon mauls it, causing its remaining health to rapidly tick downwards before it eventually dies.

"Well, let's finish this up, yeah?" I call back.

"You ever figure out what you want to tame first?" Mittelt asks as she slowly walks over.

"I'd like it to be something tanky..." I mutter as I cup my chin. "if we can't beat a Bear, I'd like for it to be... a mudcrab maybe?"

She raises an eyebrow. "Seriously. A giant crab?"

"Sure." I shrug. "Why not? I'd really like something rare, buuuut I don't see us coming across a bobcat. Nor do I think we'll be able to defeat a cave bear, sooo we'll settle for a Crab."

She rolls her eyes. "Honestly... you."

---

Pov: Elsewhere

A red-haired girl shivers in excitement as she stares at a several screens in front of her.

This is awesome! So FREAKING awesome!

She has been absolutely pumped about this game being released for what seems like YEARS now! How someone managed to make this with today's technology, the girl doesn't know, but she is absolutely going to take advantage of it!

She brings a hand up to her ear. "Akeno, Kiba, Koneko. Are you done? I don't know how much longer I can wait."

A second figure appears with a flash, a busty girl with slightly ridiculous tits, she made them larger, didn't she?

She has long red hair tied up in a pony tail and sky blue eyes.

The original red head gives her a half lidded stare as the other woman strikes a pose. "Hardy Har Har, Akeno. Veeery funny."

"What's wrong?" The second red haired girl asks. "I wanted it to look like we were siblings."

The original red head slowly looks up to the name floating above her friend's head. "Madam-Himejima? seriously?"

"You are one to talk, xXRuinPrincessXx." The other red head responds as she brings a hand to her mouth, letting out a quiet 'Ufufu.'

With another flash, another figure appears, a young man with blue eyes and blond hair, and pointed elf ears, he looks towards Akene, then to Rias.

"…"

"We can change what we look like?"

The original red head facepalms as the second smiles, mouth still hidden behind her fingertips.

With another flash, another figure appears, a white haired girl with two cute cat ears and a small cat-like tail, the rest of the group pauses at the appearance, the red haired girl slowly takes a step forwards and places a hand on the shoulder of the girl who looks insecure. "Koneko... are you sure you want to play a character like this?"

"…"

The cat girl looks down at her hands. "If I... look like this... maybe I can..."

She is silent for a moment, a saddened but hopeful expression on her face. "Maybe I can get over my fears?"

The red haired girl hugs the smaller cat girl, who has fairly noticeable breast, nearly a C Cup. "You don't need to force yourself to do this Koneko..."

"I-I want to..." The small girl whispers, tears beginning to brim her eyes. "T-This isn't real, s-so I can try and g-get over my fears without hurting anyone... I-I don't want to hurt any of you."

"Okay." The original redhead states in a quiet and soothing tone. "Now that we are all here, I guess we should start, yes? Please let us start."

"I don't know, Rias... maybe we should go over the tutorial first." Akeno teases.

"Nope!" The girl exclaims as she quickly waves a hand through the air. "I have already done that and I'll tell you what to do. Just get us out of this room before I go stir crazy!"

"Party Invite: Madam-Himejima, Konekoneko, White-Knight001."

A Party has been created.

"Sooo, what class did everyone choose?" Rias slowly asks.

"Destruction wizard." The other redhead states.

"Martial Artist." Koneko states in an even tone.

"Warrior." Kiba nods.

"I am also a Destruction Wizard." Rias mutters.

They all slowly look between each other.

"let's see this new world." The orignal red head commands as she points at the jail cell door.

"Koneko. Show them your strength. Show them that we won't take our unjustified imprisonment laying down."

The white haired girl slowly looks over to the red head.

"…"

"Mn." She hums as she walks over to the door and draws a fist back.

*CLANG*

Her hand smashes into the door, causing it to buckle slightly but not fully open.

"No, Koneko, you've got to use your special skill."

"Special Skill." The short girl repeats as she punches the lock again, this time breaking the door open. "Did it."

"…"

The skeleton rises to its feet, only to immediately get blasted by red and black flames and lightning.

After a moment it falls into pieces and scatters across the floor.

---

Pov: Returned.

"You SERIOUSLY didn't tame anything." Mittelt deadpans as we silently ride in our ship.

"Yep." I slowly nod. "I really want that Full Moon wolf."

She gives me a half-lidded stare. "You know... you're getting pretty heavy, y'know?"

"Don't worry, my gear is a mental one, meaning it works in game." I state, gaining a slight malicious edge towards the end of my statement. "I'll whip something up really quickly... I'm thinking... maybe a repeating crossbow with a pull bar? Maybe I could put a wheel in the limbs and make it a recurve crossbow?

She blinks slowly. "Wait... Mental gears can work here?! What's stopping sentient gears from punching through as well?!"

"Nothing." I hum as I wave my hands. "Nothing at all. I couldn't find a way to lock them out, so I decided 'fuck it' and just left it as it is."

Her eyes are wide, but I cut her off with a raised hand.

"There aren't many mental sacred gears like mine, and even then, there's none that can affect other people whilst in game. If Vali started to play, I couldn't stop Albion from talking to him, but it's not like he has divine dividing in game... if he tries to use it, he'd just probably summon it out of game and break his capsule with a half dimension."

"Wait... don't people with sentient gears like... have people in their mind... and this is like... a dream, right? So couldn't Albion himself just break in, divine dividing be damned."

I open my mouth, then close it slowly.

"Oh dear." I mutter quietly. "That is... sub optimal. I mean, I'm not sure if it'll actually work, but it seems reasonable so I guess we'll just have to see."

I give her a nervous smile.

She brings her hands to her head. "Ugh. Damn it. How could we let such a massive oversight slip in."

"Don't worry about it, Milly." I wave off.

The boat is now docking.

I stand up and make the way to the door of our cabin, I open it and we walk out, joined by dozens upon dozens of people leaving their rooms as well.

A couple seem to be chatting as we weave our way through the crowds, we make it to the front o the ship just as it reaches port, Mittelt and I sharing a look for a moment before we leap off the edge and land on the dock below.

We quickly rush through the absolute MASS of people on our way towards a certain place near the edge of the city, we make it there shortly only to see several players standing around the three forges, seemingly in a line.

A couple seem to be trying to smith blades all at once, and I can see a couple bent and beaten swords a short distance away.

"Hm." I hum as I walk inside general store across the street.

A man is talking down to an elderly man behind the counter, threatening him slightly in an attempt to get a discount.

"Half off, or I burn the store down." The high elf player growls as flames flicker around his palm. "Last warning."

"If you burn this place, I promise you that you'd get lynched by the fifty or so players outside buying crafting materials from this guy." I hum as Mittelt stands slightly behind me.

The man slowly turns and glares. "Shut up."

I give him a half-lidded glare and glance up to his name.

Burning-Inferno432 Level 7

"Let me put this in a way you will understand." I state with narrowed eyes. "You can either play nice, or I'll put you in the fucking ground."

"You and what army, bub?" The yellow skinned elf growls.

I give him a half-lidded stare. "You do realize that in a two on one, two level sixes would obliterate a level seven, right?"

"Back down." Mittelt continues where I left off. "Otherwise, you'll be experiencing that five minute respawn time intimately."

The door is thrown open. "TADAAAA! The beautiful and gorgeous Sera-tan is here to buy your wares oh shopkeeper!"

It's a woman, slightly shorter than me, long black hair tied into twin tails, she wears a sparkly pink magical girl outfit with a short skirt and striped stockings.

Sera-tan Levi-chan Level 9

Mittelt slowly looks over.

I look back.

I point at the high elf. "That despicable player is threatening that poor shopkeeper! He's making it really hard to buy items right now!"

"Wh-" he begins.

"WHAT?!" Serafall shrieks.

A chilling aura begins radiating from the magical girl. "How dare you!"

The man raises his hands in surrender. "I-It's just a misunderstanding, really."

"Get out of my sight." The woman growls.

He slowly walks around, then quickly rushes towards the door.

Serafall turns to the shop keep and winks, doing a sideways peace sign over her eye. "Don't worry, the magical girl Sera-Tan has taken care of the problem.

"Thank you." The old man states in his raspy old man voice. "Please, what may I get for you kind souls... it is refreshing to meet polite stranger these days, for the past day hundreds of new adventurers have come to Hagathe, most are as impolite as that man there, but there are others who are nice."

I begin looking around the store as Serafall begins chatting with the old man.

'let's see, I need a wooden block, carving knife, a hand drill... some durable rope or cord... maybe some more crossbow bolts as well.'

I grab most of what I need and approach the counter as more adventurers step inside.

"How much for these?" I slowly ask as I sit down the materials on the counter as Serafall looks into the cabinets beside me.

"For you? Thirty copper." The old man states.

"Reasonable." I nod as I reach into my bag and lay thirty five pieces of copper on the table. "Keep the change."

I turn to leave but pause. "Oh, by the way, you should consider hiring a guard to watch over your little shop here, I hear that a nearby island of exile is being evacuated, there's bound to be hundreds- if not thousands more people with the same personality of the man from before. I bet some may try and hurt you to get what they want."

The old man bows his head. "Thank you for your generosity. I will take your advice to heart."

"Good day." I wave as I turn and walk out of the store, Mittelt following behind as she didn't find anything of interest.

"So, now what?" The orange haired avatar next to me asks.

"I'm going to find a nice quiet place... and craft-"

"YOU!" The high elf from before yells while pointing a finger at me. "I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL!"

A duel to the death has been requested; do you accept?

[Yes] [No]

People around us begin to murmur as I slowly look at him.

"Yeah. Alright." I slowly nod Mittelt slowly walks away as a ring appears around us, a screen appears in front of anyone still within the ring, they skim over it and take a couple of steps backwards.

"You'll pay for embarrassing me you little shit." The man growls.

I stare at him as he continues. "I'll PK the hell out of you over and over and over-"

"Wah wah wah, shut the fuck up before you piss off someone who can make your life a living hell." I scoff while opening and closing my hand.

Duel starting in...

3

2

1

BEGIN!

He snaps both hands upwards, sending a plume of fire and crackling sparks directly towards me.

I activate sprint and rush forwards, sliding on my knees under the attacks and quickly hopping to the side where I roll to my feet, I am at his side within the next second, fist reared back.

My hand smashes into his face with an audible smack, snapping his head to the side as I draw my crossbow.

There is a loud crack as I bring the pommel of it down into his nose, he staggers backwards, clutching his nose as he lets out a small groan.

I point the crossbow at him and shoot him right in the chest.

It doesn't do much damage, but it does send a message.

I load the crossbow as his watery eyes crack open, he unleashes another wave of flames and electricity, but I grab his wrist as tug him past me, tripping him with a foot and sending him face planting into the floor as my elbow smashes into the back of head.

Critical Hit!

I fire a crossbow bolt into his back as I reload again, he gets onto his hands and knees, but my foot smashes into his ribs, flipping him over as I point my reloaded crossbow down at him and shoot a bolt right into his throat.

Critical Hit!

He weakly flings up both hands to try to burn and shock me, but before he even finishes the spell I pivot around his prone form and allow the attack shoot off into the open air as I reload the bolt once more.

I slam a foot down onto his chest, causing him to let out a wheeze as I do it a second time.

I use him as a stepping stool as he shoots a spray of lightning to where I just was, lazily shooting another bolt into his torso as I step over.

I whirl around and slam my heel into his temple.

Critical Hit!

He skips across the ground as I slowly walk towards him, loading my crossbow once more.

He gets to his feet, slowly, mostly ignoring the two bolts I pelt him with as I steadily approach.

"DIIIIE!" He roars as he unleashes two more blasts of destruction magic, I step around it and run counterclockwise as the beams trail after me.

After around then second of that, allowing me to run in a complete circle, the sparks and flames sputter out, the man's eyes widen as I suddenly rush right for him and smash my hand right into his nose again.

I grab his wrist and step around him, twisting his arm out of socket and brining him down to a kneel as I kick the back of his knee.

Critical Hit!

I grab the back of his head and smash it into the tiled road, causing him to let out a groan.

I stand up and flip him over with my foot.

I point the crossbow down at his throat again.

He is battered and bloody, one eye is clenched shut as blood pours from his nose and lips, some gravel is stuck to his face and his forehead is scratched, his arm hangs limply at his side.

"If you're going to talk shit... make sure you can back it up." I state.

I pull the trigger.

Critical Hit!

The man barely reacts as the crossbow bolt enters his throat, moments later he evaporates into blue motes of light.

Primordus wins!

I put my crossbow back into its holster and let out a hum as people let out quiet cheers at the show.

Mittelt walks over and we both turn, leaving down the packed street as people point and gossip among themselves.

"U-Uh... excuse me." A quiet voice speaks out.

I glance to the side to see a girl, about my age in real life- who knows how old she is, really- she scratches the back of her head, she's clearly a khajiit, and it looks like she chose the fluffy ears option.

"C-Can I ask a question." She mutters.

"Go for it." I shrug.

"What class are you?" She asks.

"Beast Tamer." I announce as I turn and walk away.

---

"Ugh. I can't believe I had to carry you all the way to level twelve for that new bow of yours." Mittelt growls.

I heft my new crossbow, instead of limbs that face the front, this one has limbs pointing towards the tip of the bow, there's a small pull bar on the side, and a clip full of crossbow bolts that pushes them upwards with a spring.

"Yeah, but now we're a little more even." I hum as I look over the weapon.

'yep. This is badass.'

Well Made Otherworldly Oak Repeating Hand Crossbow: (Rarity: Uncommon)
Level Requirements: 12
This wooden crossbow seems to be made with a technique foreign to all of Tamriel, it works quite well, however.
Durability: 150/150
Damage: 35+1/3rd Dex
Reduces the cost of the 'Rapid Shot' Crossbow skill by 70%

A trio of goblins rush from the underbrush, letting out little laughs and raising their shoddy weaponry high.

"KEKEKE!"

I rush forwards and jump over the head of a goblin, then land a crossbow bolt right at the base of his skull

Critical Hit!

It lets out a shriek of pain as it staggers forwards, but four more bolts quickly pepper its spine,

Critical Hit!

Critical Hit!

Critical Hit!

Critical Hit!

You can learn to always get critical hits if you just target the vitals of your foe... eyes, throat, heart, groin.

The Goblin lets out a gurgle as it falls forwards, dead.

Mittelt lunges for the next as I pull out the clip from my crossbow and insert another, a spectral dagger appears in her hand as she jabs it down in between its shoulder and neck.

It seems like she just stabbed it in the heart.

It lets out a pained scream as Mittelt tears the blade through its body and out its back, then she shifts her grip

Goblin Level 13
Hp: 92%

The last goblin is being distracted by a duo of scamps, each is about on par with a fifth of sixth level character due to Mittelt grinding her summoning skills a little bit.

The goblin is thoroughly thrashing them, but they are doing their job nicely.

i raise my crossbow and shoot a bolt right in between its eyes, its head snaps back as it lets out a shriek of rage.

Critical Hit!

Goblin Level 13
Hp: 67%

At least I do damage now.

The real question is... how the hell do I upgrade this? Poison perhaps? Maybe arrow alterations?

"Fuck." I whisper.

"Hn?" Mittelt hums as I shoot another arrow, this one striking the goblin in the throat as it flails and crashes to the floor, the two scamps tearing into its flesh as it thrashes.

"I realized that I sort of need magic to make decent weapons..." I sigh.

I am getting monster drops, though... maybe I could do something with that.

You have leveled up!

Just one more level till I get a new tamer skill... possibly THE most important tamer skill... one that lets me scan for special traits on things I have tamed- and eventually, things I haven't tamed.

Level 14: 0.0%

Health: 520/520
Magicka: 615/615
Stamina: 520/520

Stats:
Strength: 19
Dexterity: 48
Vitality: 19
Endurance: 19
Magic: 38
Charisma: 57

Points: 40

We both pause for a moment as an alert appears.

You have been staying in the game for a little too long, you will be booted from the Eden system shortly. Please note that this is for your own good. Go and grab something to eat or drink, use the bathroom, take a load off. Hell, maybe even take a nap! The Eden System will be locked for 30 real-world minutes after your log out. If you are doing something important, please finish it up swiftly. We hope to see you again soon!

Time Remaining until forced logout 9:54

I watch the seconds rapidly tick downwards.

"Well, that's inopportune." I sigh.

"Annoying, but needed." Mittelt agrees with a small nod.

I stretch slightly. "Damn, have we really been here eight hours?"

"Four, technically." She shrugs.

"Might as well log out now, right?"

She nods once.

I wave my hand opening up the menu.

"See you on the other side, Milly." I grin as with a simple button press, I log out of ESO, and out of the Eden.

I slowly open my eyes with a wince, I am within the capsule, I take the helmet off my head, then press the button to open it.

I roll my shoulders and step outside.

The pod next to mine opens shortly after.

Mittelt steps out and stretches.

"Well, it looks like we did it." She states with a small yawn. "This was definitely worth the years of sleepless nights."

"I'll give you some more sleepless nights if you want?" I flirt with a small wink as the blonde fallen lets out a huff of amusement.

"Hey, look at you. Taking the initiative. Nice. But nah, I'm hungry right now."

I walk over to the mini fridge and grab a bottle of water, quietly sipping from it as Mittelt walks over and grabs her own.

I grab a simple Tv dinner and place it in the nearby microwave after removing it from the box and punching a couple of holes in the film with a fork, then I push a couple of buttons to turn it on.

"I still can't believe you're going for a full moon wolf." The girl sighs as she flops down on a nearby couch.

"The full moon is only two days away, Milly. The only other assured chance I will have for this is in two in-game months, and by that point, the full moon wolves would be kind of worthless. Also, I had an absolutely brilliant idea... what if we get some form of newspaper in the game that tells what happened during the past twenty-four in-game hours so people who miss a day or two can catch up quickly."

She cups her chin and lets out a low hum. "hn... that's not a bad idea... I mean, I'm sure as hell not doing it. But maybe we can pawn that idea off to my dad along with that teleportation hub idea."

"I could probably make a magical printing press if I get engineering high enough." I mutter as I scratch my chin.

We are silent for a few minutes.

Mittelt breaks the silence. "Babe, I'm lazy. Can I have your tv dinner?"

I look over at her with a half-lidded stare.

"That a no?" She asks.

"It's a no." I nod.

"Whaaat come on." The girl complains. "Don't you love me? Tell you what, I'll give you a night of fun if you let me have it."

I shake a fist at her. "I'll let you have it alright."

She lets out a quiet laugh as the microwave beeps.

I tear the film off the top and put a fork in it, then I calmly walk across the room and hand it to Mittelt.

"I better have a good time, alright?" I wink as she takes the Tv dinner and smiles.

"Oh, you better believe it, I've been meaning to... celebrate... due to our complete and overwhelming success, but we got too invested in the game."

We are silent for a couple of seconds. "Hell, do you want to go for four more hours before we go to bed?"

"Sure." I shrug. "I'm down for that. One final sleepless night to rule them all."

---

"You got everything?" I ask my compatriot as we stand in front of a small hole in the ground, it looks like we'd need to crawl to go inside.

"Yep." Mittelt nods.

"Alrighty." I nod slowly as I crawl in the hole.

After about ten feet, the tunnel grows, allowing me to kneel if I wanted, then after a further twenty feet we can stand again.

We continue walking for a while longer, the tunnel eventually widens up into a large cave. white dots line the walls looking like billions upon billions of stars, a full moon shines down from a small hole in the roof, reflecting onto a large white crystal which breaks up the light into the dozens of specks around the room.

You are the first to find the 'Moonlit Grotto' you have gained +1 to all stats. Your name has been marked into the terrain.

There is a growling sound as a wolf slightly larger than other wolves growls menacingly and begins prowling towards us, five other wolves creep their way out of the surroundings

"Hm." I hum as Mittelt slowly looks around.

"Well. This might be an issue." She mutters.

Full Moon Wolf: Level 20
Hp: 100%

Full Moon Wolf: Level 21
Hp: 100%

Full Moon Wolf: Level 20
Hp: 100%

Full Moon Wolf: Level 19
Hp: 100%

Full Moon Wolf: Level 22
Hp: 100%

Full Moon Wolf: Level 20
Hp: 100%

I tilt my head to the left and to the right. "Don't worry. We've got this."

I rush forwards, drawing my crossbow and firing off a single shot, the shot strikes a wolf right in the neck, causing it to let out a small yelp as the bolt digs into its flesh.

Critical Hit!

I hurl a net with my other hand, the large doggo slowly falling towards the ground as it tries to resist the poison my bolt was coated in.

'I see. That's paralysis poison... yet it is still moving... severely weakened, but still moving.'

I was right in assuming that Least paralysis poison wouldn't do anything. It'll probably be up and moving within five seconds.

I fire a flurry of bolts around the cavern

A bolt of fire smashes into the sides of one of the wolves as it goes to flank me, a woman made of fire floats in front of Mittelt, she slings another hand up and unleashes another bolt of fire that strikes the same wolf.

My smile grows. I had been falling behind Mittelt a little because of her flame atronach spell, but it won't be like that for long...

A smirk grows on my face as I lunge towards another wolf, plunging a dagger into its neck.

Critical Hit!

I can't want to see the reaction of the players when I take one of these bad boys out.

---

I hold out a hand towards the pinned wolf, it has dark grey fur with flecks of white throughout, on it's forehead is a large white circle, it's where they get the name 'full moon wolf' and the fact that they are typically only seen on full moons.

Would you like to tame this creature? Chance of Success 35.5%

"Yes." I whisper.

The wolf glows brightly for a moment before...

Taming Successful! Would you like to name your new companion?

Skill: Tame has leveled up!

I activate one of my new skills on the wolf that slowly gets up, wagging its tail and looking at me with large brown eyes.

Full Moon Wolf
Race: Canine
Gender: Male
Evolution Possible: Yes.

A massive smirk appears on my face as I let out a loud cackle. "AHAHAH! WORTH IT!"

Mittelt looks over with a raised eyebrow.

"Your name will be... Sif." I announce.

Sif has taken a liking to his name, Reputation with Sif has increased by +10.

I turn and point at Mittelt. "In your FACE bish! I am the only person in the server with a full moon wolf capable of evolving!"

"Are you going to try and tame one more? Or are we just going to kill the rest?"

"I'd like a female for breeding, then we can just sell full moon wolves."

I walk around the four remaining wolves, the weakest was killed accidentally, but oh well.

Taming Failed.

I grimace and walk to the next.

Taming Failed.

"Are you fucking-" I move onto the next.

Taming Failed.

I move onto the last wolf.

Taming Successful! Would you like to name your new companion?

I let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank god."

'Trainer's Eye'

Full Moon Wolf
Race: Canine
Gender: Male
Evolution Possible: No.

"FUUUUCK its another dude." I growl.

"Ugh." I sigh.

"Mittelt. Change of plans. We're going to the beast farm."

"The what?" She questions.

I look over my tamed creatures' stats, mostly ignoring her question as she'll see it in a couple of hours.

Sif level 1:
Health: 150/150
Magicka: 0/0
Stamina: 150/150

Stats:
Strength: 20
Dexterity: 20
Vitality: 20
Endurance: 20
Magic: 8
Charisma: 8

Points: 5

The other wolf is the exact same. Shame.

"Well, the others are pretty worthless, now... and their fur and meat is quite a bit more expensive than regular wolves, so have at it, Mittelt."

"Leave me the dirty job, why don't you." The girl scoffs under her breath as she conjures a dagger and simply stabs all of them once in the neck.

Sif has leveled up x6

Full Moon Wolf has leveled up x6

You have leveled up x1

"Well... let's go check for some loot really quick, then head back to town." I grin as I walk deeper into the cave.

"Sure, Sure." Mittelt shrugs. "I call dibs if there's anything rare grade or higher... you did drag me out here, after all."

"Fair." I shrug.

---

Mittelt and I hop off a cart and make our way into the city of Taneth, there are noticeably fewer players than in our starter city, Hagathe due to this being a level twenty zone.

Mittelt slowly looks over to me. "where are we going?"

"You'll see." I smirk as I we walk through the fairly barren city, most of the population is NPCs, the only players I can see at the moment have level ranging from eighteen to twenty, making Mittelt and I definitely outliers, seeing as how we are sitting all the way out at level twenty three.

We do catch some attention as we weave through the town, eventually we pass completely through it and come across a run down barn.

An older looking gentleman is silently hammering a barn with , he wipes his forehead and lets out a long side.

I calmly walk over to the older man.

"Is this Elric's Beast Farm?"

"That it is, lad." The man huffs as he wipes sweat off his slightly balding head. "What can I do for you?"

"I heard that you are capable of holding beasts for tamers."

"That I am." He nods. "er- well... not at the moment, no... you see, during the last storm, my barn was heavily damaged... it's not safe for yer' critters to stay here at the moment. Too damp... too exposed... they might even run away."

He shakes his head and lets out a longer sigh. "Even if my barn wasn't this damaged, I probably wouldn't be able to help a tamer like you that much anyways, I hear you lot are always taming new beasts, and well, this one barn has too little room... back when it was fixed I had a limit of one beast per person... nothing like those massive farms up in Whiterun.

"Shame..." I frown before suddenly perking up. "Wait, why don't we help you?"

"Hn?" The man hums, raising an eyebrow as he looks over to me- and Mittelt who is just silently watching in the background. "Well now... that's an idea... tell you what, if you can help me fix up my barn, I'll even store two of your beasts at a time."

"That's a pretty good deal." I slowly nod. "But you are thinking too small... why don't we help you build a new barn AND fix this one!"

"Build a new barn?" He asks before cracking a smile. "Heh, you youngsters are always so ambitious... I had been meaning to build a new barn, but my old joints aren't what they used to be, and the prices for carpenters have been too much for me to afford... if you can manage it, it'll definitely be a big help for me."

I smile and nod. "We'll fix up your barn, then move onto building another, bigger, better, and stronger than this one! That way maybe you won't have to worry about storm damages."

He smiles and nods. "That'd be appreciated."

"Come on Milly." I call back, to my girlfriend. "Let's fix this barn!"

---

Pov: elsewhere

A small white-haired girl with cat ears ducks a wild swing from a bandit, she suddenly twists, landing a teeth-shattering uppercut to his jaw. He staggers back as an aura of white surrounds the girl, she freezes in place as the man regains his bearings and lunges forwards, swinging his sword down at the frozen girl-

A bolt of lightning strikes his chest, causing him to let out a gasp as smoke trails from his mouth, he flops backwards

A red-haired woman with a ponytail quickly steps over to the girl as the white aura fades. "Koneko are you alright?"

"I-"

"I-I'm fine." She states as she looks down at the ground.

"GAAAAAAH"

A man screams as a torrent of black and red energy crashes into torso, washing over his upper half completely, eventually the red-haired woman- this one with her hair let down- stops her attack, allowing the green skinned orc man to faceplant into the ground, horribly charred.

A blond man quickly zooms in between two separate bandits, leaving gashes on arms, legs, and across chests, eventually he lands a roundhouse kick on one, then jabs his shortsword through the chest of the second, he then whirls around and allows the bandit to stand once more.

"You'll pay for that!" He shouts as he lunges forwards- only to have his throat slashed with a beautiful arcing attack.

"Well now." The black and red fire wielding red head hums. "We are doing quite well for ourselves."

"Are you now?" A voice asks.

"RIAS!" The ponytailed woman shrieks as she dives in the way of her friend.

A blade slashes across her chest, causing her to let out a small moan of pain as her cheeks are tinged pink.

She lands roughly on the ground as the red haired woman whirls around, blasting a large cone I fire behind her.

She hears a sharp inhale of air as the flames die down, a man crouches a good twenty feet away, patting out his burning cloak with his free hand.

He slowly stands to his full height, a bastard sword wielded in one hand.

He is roughly six feet tall, has a chiseled jaw, with slight stubble, he has a dark cloak and narrowed eyes with dark brown pupils.

"Mages." He growls, he seems to have leapt back when the attack started, avoiding a large majority of it. "Damn mages. No honor in fighting spellcasters."

(Group Boss) Bandit Leader Level 22
Health: 96%

"Then fight me!" The blond shouts as he dashes forwards, he swings his short sword down at the bandit, but he just smirks and parries the blow.

"Hn, now we're talking!" He grins as he knocks the attack aside, he slashes at the boy, yet he blurs away, causing the man's smirk to fall, as his eyes track the boy blur around the small clearing, hopping over corpses, and curving around trees.

The red haired woman crouches down next to the other red haired woman.

"Akeno..." She whispers. "Are you alright?"

"Ow." Is all the woman says, a large blush on her face. "They weren't lying when they said it'd let you feel some pain if you took it up to twenty percent~"

"Akeno!" The crouching woman gasps. "Turn that down right now!"

"Nnnooope." she grins before frowning. "You should help Kiba. That attack really hurt."

The red haired woman looks up to the party meter, showing everyone's health.

Madam-Himejima Level 18:
Hp: 64%
Magika: 82%
Stamina 100%

She gasps. "A single blow did that much?! That'd kill you in three hits!"

The woman sits up, taking out a red potion and drinking it, recovering a seventh of her health. "It says that he is a group boss, Rias... that must mean we must work together to take him down."

"I see." Rias mutters as she stands up.

Kiba's health takes a large dip, almost as much as Akeno's.

"You are fast, boy, but your blows hold no strength!" The bandit leader shouts.

He matches Kiba's speed as the two begin trading blows, the short white haired girl rushes forwards, fist cocked back, but the man smirks and kicks her right in the face, causing her to stagger backwards.

Akeno holds out a hand. "Come forth, my scimps."

Two scamps appear and quickly rush towards the three fighting.

A bolt of black and red fire suddenly smashes into the man's side, causing him to stagger slightly.

"GAH! YOU BITCH!" He roars.

Kiba slashes him across the chest as Koneko slides to a halt behind him, a white aura flickers around her for the briefest moments as her hand smashes into his spine, sending him stumbling forwards towards Kiba who uses the opportunity to land a couple more slashes, some of which are parried, most of which aren't.

The two scamps leap for him as he lets out a snarl.

He abruptly whirls around, creating a large gash across Kiba's chest, beheading the two scamps, and cutting a large gouge in Koneko's bracers as she barely brings up her arms in time to block.

He dashes to the side, ducking a bolt of lighting and tanking an orb of fire that strikes his chest, he lets out a loud growl as his speed increases again.

He suddenly appears before the two girls, but Rias holds out her hands and conjures another cone of fire, he burst through it, slashing madly at the two women, Kiba rushes to the side but is batted away.

*CRUNCH*

What the bandit didn't see coming, however, was the absolutely brutal glowing haymaker right to the cheek, the small neko girl whirls around , smashing her heel into his torso, her strength causing him to be launched backwards and skid across the ground, he barely has time to look up as a firebolt and a lightning bolt smashes into his torso, creating a large explosion as they clash on his skin.

Everyone gains a level up message as they let out sighs of relief.

They barely won that...

And they had experience in fighting... it'd probably be impossible for most other groups of 'normal' people to do that at level eighteen.

A Quest has been received:

The four party members slowly blink at that message and look to their quest tab.

Area Quest: Help Elric build a new 'Beast Barn'
Elric is the animal breeder around these parts, he has a farm on the outskirts of Taneth, however he has never really been able to hold that many beasts. Maybe if you help him build a new barn, he might be able to help the tamers out some more?
Objective: Participate in the Barn Building Event: [ ]
Current Participation rating: 0%
Rewards: 1000 Experience, the ability for tamers to store 1 additional beast at Elric's farm.
Additional rewards dependent on participation.

"Hm?" The red haired woman hums. "An... 'Area Quest'?"

She shrugs. "It seems interesting. Let's check it out."

---

Pov: Returned.

"Come on, Sif! Just like I taught you!" I grin as I take a handle in two hands, across from me, the large grey wolf bites a large handle.

In between us is a two-man saw.

I slowly pull back, Sif slowly walking forwards, then he suddenly pulls back as I step forwards, the sharp teeth of the saw biting into the tree. "Good job, Sif!" I grin as the wolf preens under my praise.

We continue like then, then before we know it, we're through the tree.

I pull out a knife and begin slowly cutting off the branches, leaving behind just a log.

"Excuse me." A woman begins.

"Hn?" I hum as I look over.

Standing before me is Rias Gremory herself...

Along with a Neko, literally just Kiba without any changes- similar to Rias- and just a... second Rias?

"Need something?" I ask.

"Are you chopping these logs for the-"

"Barn Quest?" I ask. "Yep."

"Ah, I see!" The woman grins. "I wanted to help, so can you please point me in the direction of it?"

I turn and point behind me. "It's a couple hundred feet that way, once you leave the forest, you'll see it."

"I see." She smiles before giving me a small wave. "Thanks for the help."

"No problem." I nod.

"Also, cute puppy."

"Thanks. He's a rare beast."

"Rare?!" She gasps as she quickly looks over him.

"Tamed... Full Moon wolf? What's a full moon wolf?" She asks.

Ah. It seems like she can read the breed, but not the personal name.

"It's a superior variant of the regular wolf, I got lucky and found it out during the full moon. This bad boy might only be level eight, yet he probably has the stats of a level twenty regular wolf."

"I see!" She widens her eyes.

"So, you look like a mage." I state as begin removing the branches once more. "Are you looking to get a familiar?"

"Familiar?" She questions.

I look up again. "Oh! You aren't level twenty... sorry. Yeah, the wizard classes unlock a familiar at level twenty. It's basically a nerfed version of the Tamer's tame, you can only have one, and it only works on creatures about the size of a house cat, but it lets you basically just have a cute little pet to carry around with you. From what Milly told me, is that it's automatically an Apprentice level skill that has been maxed out, letting you level up your familiar to one-tenth your level."

"Are there any benefits to having a familiar?" Rias asks.

"Well, there's not many for Milly considering she's a primary conjurer, but they have something called 'Share Spell' which allows any buff spell cast on you to also be cast on your familiar at no cost. There's probably others... but a familiar might be pretty good in battle if you can get some form of legendary creature."

I scratch my chin. "Hn, they might actually be considerably strong for Abjuration specialists, considering they can share their personal spells on them."

I shrug. "Eh, a level ten when you are level one hundred won't be all that much help anyways."

I begin tying a rope around the tree trunk, then grab onto a rope-wrapped handle. "Come on, Sif!"

He pants and wags his tail as he rushes over, grabbing the other side as I hold it one hand.

"Do you care if we join you?" Rias asks.

"By all means, the more hands that can help build this barn, the better."

The log is slowly pulled through the grass as the group follows along behind me, we come out of the clearing to see a load of scamps rushing around with woodworking tools in their hands, they seem to be slowly carving the tree trunks in half with a strange woodworking tool I made, it works similar to a two-man saw, yet the saw blade is long vertically instead of horizontally, it is held within a small frame of wood, the metal itself has dozens of small holes in it where wooden pegs go to lock it into place within the frame, when they are taken out, the blade falls free and allows you to set it to a new length.

Two scamps hold the two handles as they rush back and forth down the log, slowly but surely cleaving it in two.

It was either that, or a two-man saw that went the entire length of the log and possibly more.

Another log is being prepared to be sawed in half like that one, two more scamps are running along the top with a wood planer, attempted to flatten out a zone for the strange saw.

The group behind me looks to the twelve large posts spaced evenly in the distance, each had been stuck in the ground after a hole had been dug, and each is perfectly straight.

Four on each side to show the walls, and two a little more uneven for where the barn doors will be.

"You... are using scamps to build?!" Rias mutters.

"Oi! Milly!" I call out.

"You got another one?" She calls out from behind a couple of boxes.

"Yep!"

"Put it with the rest." She responds.

I nod once and, my wolf and I drag it over to a steadily forming stack.

I look to my wolf as Rias and Co slowly look around in astonishment.

"You did good work, Sif. You can rest now."

The wolf lets out a happy pant as it wags its tail, I hold out a hand towards it.

*FLASH*

And suddenly he's gone.

I nod once and grab a ladder, using it to climb up onto one of the posts.

I look down at it and grab a small wooden rectangle, then draw a mark on the wood with a stick that has a piece of charcoal on the very end.

I pull out a knife and begin slowly chipping away at the wood.

"What... are you doing?" Rias asks from below.

"I'm carving a slot for the wooden pieces, this way we can stack them on top of each other with no real issue... getting them up here will probably be a pain, though." I mutter as I continue carving. "You know you can activate 'Builder's Vision' with this quest, right? There should be a small tutorial for you and everything if this is your first time building something in the game."

I look back to my slow chiseling each one of these will probably take me a four to five hours... and that's far too long.

I summon one of my spare strange saws, this one without any huge adjustments, only one to five inches, then set it to the two setting.

I lean around the pole and begin slowly running the saw up and down as I slowly climb up and down the ladder.

I toggle my build vision again, then suddenly a large holographic barn appears before me.

Yep. That's what we're working for. Luckily everyone can see this... it's not just my sacred gear.

I look over to see Kiba holding a sword out in front of him and doing keno slashes at the tree trunk in front of me, never going deeper than two inches, and never slashing outside the lines.

Damn him and his experience.

I look over to see Koneko slowly lifting the halves of trunks- with assistance from five scamps that hold the other side- and is transporting them into a large pile.

Getting them into place is going to be incredibly annoying.

The only people who look out of place is Rias,

Akeno is uttering 'Fufufufu's and has been watching her own scamps help out Koneko.

Mittelt is simply sitting at a table with a portable alchemical work station, working on her alchemy as she chugs a mana potion every now and then to keep her scamps working, she occasionally looks up and gives them orders, but the rest of the time she's writing in that book of alchemical recipes that she's making, eating strange plants, and mushing stuff in a mortar and pestle.

She takes a sip of a new concoction and coughs blood, quickly grabbing a nearby healing potion and chugging it.

She rubs her throat, then quickly writes down the results in her book.

I roll my shoulders and return to slowly cutting grooves in the wood, eventually after about an hour, I finish with the entire log.

I let out a long Yawn as Kiba begins chopping on his second log.

Koneko slowly walks over and looks up at me. "Is it... done?"

I nod once causing her to wordlessly turn away and begin dragging a cut in half log towards me.

Other people have started to show up, some Wizards, quite a few with familiars, be it birds, cute animals, snakes, lizards, hell, a guy even had a TOAD! A toad of all things! some warriors, and a large majority of technique fighters, I haven't seen a Tamer yet, however.

A girl slowly skips in, a wolf-sized fox trailing behind her.

Kitsu-Kitsu Level 18

Greater Fox: Level 17

'wait is that-'

She has two fluffy ears and a long bushy fox-like tail; she smiles brightly as she looks around.

Kunou? And she tamed a fox... seriously?

And not only that, she evolved her fox.

Not bad.

I crouch down and pick up the side of the log with a small wince.

Damn my noodle arms.

I slowly climb the ladder, Koneko climbing on the other side, we carefully slip the carved ends into the cut grooves in the logs and let go, allowing the wood to fall downwards and thump into the ground.

Alert:
The surrounding bandits who extort Elric wish to sabotage this new barn, crippling his business even further. Protect the barn at all costs!

There is a pause as everyone seems to read the message.

A second message appears.

Tutorial:

Wave Defense:

Some missions rely on you protecting- or defeating- wave after wave of enemies. They typically start weaker and steadily grow stronger as the waves progress. If a wave has two bandits, the next might have three! Then the next four! Maybe even special bosses might appear in later waves.

I slowly turn to look at the forest as Koneko cracks her knuckles.

Time until the new wave starts: 20 Seconds.

We share a glance, and I can briefly see the corners of her mouth turn upwards.

I hop the post, followed shortly by Koneko, we slowly walk away from the barn and towards the tree line as people scurry about, taking cover behind strewn supplies and such, readying buffs, and more.

I snap my fingers, summoning Sif who looks around, sniffing the air, then growls.

My hand crossbow appears in my hand as I smirk. "So... you any good at fighting."

"Yes." Koneko deadpans.

"Ah good." I hum. "I thought I'd have to carry everyone due to all the panicking."

Bandit Wave Initiating.

Suddenly a group of twelve bandits rush from the forest.

I wordlessly allocate all my points to dexterity and smile.

"Are you good at fighting?" Koneko asks.

"Heh." I smirk.

I lunge forwards, causing the girls eyes to widen.

Four bolts fly from my cross bow, two on each target.

Critical hit!

Critical hit!

Critical hit!

Critical hit!

The two bandits clutch their throats as the two bolts sink into their flesh, those two shots alone bringing their health critically low.

Ranged attacks pepper the group of bandits, killing the two I shot and heavily damaging most of the others.

Sif has leveled up x2

I duck under a slash, lashing out with a kick and tripping the wounded man as Sif lunges for him and bites his throat shaking his head violently as his teeth sink into his flesh.

Sif has leveled up x1

I weave through attacks from behind me and press the crossbow to the throat of a man, pulling the trigger, killing his weakened form with a single attack.

Critical hit!

I fire another bolt at another nearby bandit, causing him to let out a shout as he collapses, bleeding heavily.

My hand grabs the clip of my repeating crossbow as I duck under an extremely quick slash.

I see Koneko to the left, fighting two bandits at once.

Other warriors are quickly rushing in

I finish reloading and step around another slash, my knee comes up and smashes into my attacker's stomach, then I press my crossbow up against the side of his head.

'a bandit leader? Neat! Hipshot!'

I pull the trigger.

Critical hit!

His head snaps to the side as he falls prone, dead.

That last shot... did more than fifty percent of his health.

Sif has leveled up x3

You have leveled up x1

I let out a low hum and smirk as I turn away from the remaining bandits, beginning to slowly walk back to the groups.

I put away my crossbow and snap my fingers, Sif lunges for the bandit charging towards my back and sinks his teeth into his throat, bringing him down to the ground with a violent growl.

What a good boy! Fighting bandits more than six levels higher than him with no problem! That's a good boy!

I walk away from the corpses, auto-loot granting me a couple hundred copper pieces or so.

*This is where I stopped writing*

---

Ah yes, another fic for the trash bin... I have been enthralled with VRMMO mangas recent and well... as you can see I decided to write one.

This fic honestly just flew together, I wrote 12000 words in like 3 nights... that's like INCREDIBLE for me.

Anyways, the story before this one has also been updated. I have given it 5.4k more words for you to read as Ern makes profit off war.

You might even see a 'Huntsman of Dice' update soon, I have written enough for an update on it, another 4k words, but eh, I'll post that another time.

And if you haven't already read it, a while back I gave Hero of Dice another 3k ish words as well, but you probably have read it.

Anyways, see ya! I've actually got a GW2/Rwby Fics I may upload here soon as well... actually when I do that it'll probably be in tandem with the Huntsman of Dice update.

Bye!