So far, so good, right? Here's chapter 3. Enjoy!
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Rose stood at her window watching the sunrise. She had unequipped her armor and weapons and was now only clad in her red shirt and black pants. She felt lighter without her armor, and more comfortable. And considering that she was inside her room in the inn, she probably didn't need the armor anyway.
[Juniper Town] the place was called, and the inn [The Fancy Flower]. She had gone through what seemed like hell getting there. She felt exhausted. She felt emotionally drained. Yet, now that she was finally in a place where she could just relax, she just couldn't.
She shook her head in frustration.
There was a knock. "Can I come in?" Crocea's voice asked, muffled by the door. Rose simply stared at said door, quietly hoping he'd go away. After a few minutes of waiting, Crocea spoke again. "Rose, I know you're awake. Hurry up and let me in."
Rose sighed and opened the door. "What do you want, Crocea?" She asked dryly, only to immediately regret it.
Crocea stood in front of her, looking just about ready to break down. She knew the boy didn't take stress very well, so it must have been particularly cruel for her to take out her annoyance on him. He'd been through a lot. She should know, she was with him the entire time.
"Sorry…" She muttered before gesturing to her room "Come on in…"
Crocea walked in and Rose closed the door. She watched the boy sit down in the corner, bringing his knees up to his chest and hugging them. Rose had to force down the look of pity she almost gave him. Instead she walked back to the window and continued looking out of it.
The silence felt more comforting, somehow, now that Crocea was there. Risking a glance, Rose noted Crocea's deep yet shaky breathing. He really wasn't taking it well.
Well, he believes that when we die in the game, we die in real life. Of course he wouldn't take it well, Rose thought angrily, irritated by the boy's paranoia. She frowned. But for some odd reason, I can't help but believe him Something in my gut tells me that dying is seriously something you don't want happening to you, like at all…
She shook her head to dispel those thoughts. Listening to that paranoid voice inside her head wasn't going to help her fall asleep, something that Crocea had somehow managed to do. She looked at the sleeping boy and chuckled to herself.
Can avatars catch colds? Rose wondered. Probably not, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't like waking up on the floor. I wonder if my strength stat is high enough to carry him to the bed? After trying and failing three times, she gave up and simply draped her blanket over him. That's close enough. She thought offhandedly.
Nodding at the boy, she left her room and entered Crocea's where she lied down on the bed and almost instantly fell asleep.
Oh, now you let me sleep? She asked to no one in particular as she descended into the world of slumber.
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Rose felt strangely lucid as she slept. She knew the images flashing before her eyes weren't real but for whatever reason, she couldn't help believing they were.
She saw herself sitting in an empty classroom, all seats other than her own removed for some inexplicable reason. She was at the very back, near the door, and whatever was written on the board was too small for her to read.
She saw small candle, burning brightly. She smelled the smell of ash and smoke, yet only the candle was there. She stood and watched the candle slowly die out, the smell of ash and smoke becoming neither stronger nor weaker.
She saw a rose wilt and die, only to bloom once more. The smell was sweet and the air was warm. It felt cozy.
Rose closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them, she realized she was no longer in her surreal dreamland but back in reality.
No, not reality. Rose thought dryly. This is Remnant.This is different – both better and worse.
As she sat up, she noted the time on her menu. 2 pm, the clock said.
If I were still in the real world, Yang would probably be telling me to get off my butt and live a little. Rose thought, trying to suppress the image of her sister lecturing her.
The memory of her near death experience with the Beowolf the previous night suddenly flashed back to her. Live a little? Funny. I've never felt more alive than when I started playing this game. She thought bitterly.
Shaking her head, she got up and began equipping her armor and weapons. The previous night, while they were up a tree, waiting for the mobs to go away, Rose had gone through most of her items and determined what to sell, what to possibly keep, and what was a good idea to use.
The [Beowolf Fang] she'd definitely keep. It's stats were the highest she'd get until they get to the region's [Gate Dungeon]. For the craft items, she would probably have some NPC craft it into armor or, if that fails, she'd sell them to buy better armor. The old leather stuff she was wearing was long past the point where she needed to upgrade.
She the checked her stats and skills. She did, after all, gain five levels from all those Beowolves she and Crocea killed. They were over leveled against all the day-time enemies in the region because if that.
A certain amount of surprise appeared on Rose's face when she looked at her stat points. Ever since they left town she had neglected in assign her points, thus leaving her with stats that would probably be considered very weak for her level. She had seven level ups' worth of stat points left unassigned.
She fumed in frustration "Aw man! If I assigned these while we were up that tree, Crcocea wouldn't have given me that lecture and we could've gone straight to killing that Beowolf!" She vigorously shook her head and assigned her points.
Equipment ready and stat points assigned, she moved to walk out of the room, only to be greeted by a player apparently about to knock on her door. It was Myrtenaster, a look of surprise and thinly veiled apprehension on her face.
"Oh, I see you're awake." She said softly. "I take it you've had a good night of sleep? I have a request for you."
Rose eyed her curiously. What could she possibly want?
"I require your assistance. I need help going through my items, and advice on what to sell and what to keep"
Huh… sounds easy enough…
"Also…" Myrtenaster's voice seemed to falter a bit. "I got separated from two of my friends last night." She looked at Rose almost pleadingly. "I want to go look for them."
Rose clenched her teeth. There friends must be who she asked us about earlier this morning. She thought back to the large crowd of Beowolves that surrounded her and Crocea the previous night. There's no way they survived that unless they climbed a tree like we did. She thought grimly.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Just…" Rose shook her head. "Anyway, yes, I'll help… You know, with the items…"
Myrtenaster seemed quite disappointed in Rose's answer but didn't make any comment. She pushed her emotions beneath an expressionless mask and nodded. She walked inside the room and let Rose review her items.
Rose felt awkward helping with just the items. It wasn't like she was required to help with the other thing, right? Those two friends of Myrtenaster had to have revived at the [Town of Beginnings]. Death in game being actual death was just Crocea's crazy theory.
Rose shook her head. She had a job to do, and she planned to deliver. She watched as Myrtenaster scrolled through her inventory.
She has a lot of junk, Rose noted. With the exception of the craft items, the majority of Myrtenaster's inventory were things to sell to NPCs – items worth nothing more than the Lien received from selling said item. Why did she keep these items? Rose asked, feeling troubled. Plus, her equipment's already on the verge of breaking. Why hadn't she repaired them yet? Was she a newbie?
Rose realized that it was certainly a possibility. It's likely she just got into Remnant because of those friends she apparently lost.
If that's the case, are her friends newbies too? That's the only reason I'd accept for letting Myrtenaster's items get as worn out as they are.Rose thought angrily. If they knew, they should have told her.
Rose looked at Myrtenaster seriously. "We're gonna need to visit a couple of shops"
Myrtenaster blinked. "What?"
"I'll explain on the way, come on." Rose stood and left the room, dragging Myrtenaster by the hand.
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At the inn's mess hall, Rose and Crocea were going over their newly gained stats and equipment. Crocea had once again put majority of his points to defense, allowing him wield the [Bronze Round Shield] he was brandishing, as well as increasing his strength so he could use the [Steel Gladius] sheathed on his belt. For all intents and purposes, Crocea was now the equivalent to a walking tank.
"Are you sure you're gonna be able to keep up with me with all that weight?" Rose asked, looking skeptically at the large metal shield on his back. "You put points into your agility as well, right?"
"Yes I did. I also bought a good set of boots that decreased the weight penalty to your movement"
Rose looked under the table. Yes, those were indeed new boots. She smiled and returned her gaze to Crocea.
"Okay, as for me, I got this white cloak from an NPC crafter. I had the Beowolf craft items turned into pieces of armor. Most of them failed and I just wasted my money, but this cloak is of surprisingly good quality. It's got this weird passive that it turns red when creatures of Grimm are nearby."
Crocea tilted his head curiously. "Grimm?"
"Things like those Beowolves. I read some parts of the game's help files. They're apparently a thing in all the regions of Remnant."
The boy paled. "I'll never go outside at night ever again." He said shakily.
Rose ignored his obvious fear. "Relax. They only appear in dungeons, like the forest surrounding this city."
"Surrounding this city." He repeated "That doesn't make me feel any better"
"It should. If we leave town within two hours, we'll be able to clear the forest before midnight. After that, we're back into the open fields where the final town in this region awaits. No more Grimm will attack us!" She said enthusiastically "Besides, we're way over leveled for this dungeon at day-time"
Crocea didn't seem convinced. Rose sighed, shook her head, and leaned in close to whisper. "If you don't come with me, I'm going alone," Rose said in as sinister a manner as her high pitched voice could muster.
"That's some cruel emotional manipulation right there," Crocea said, not backing down. "Anway, I'm not the one risking her life by doing that"
Rose switched to a different tactic and pouted. "Pleeeaase?"
"Like I said, that's not fair! Stop it with the puppy eyes!"
She gave up. "Alright, what's it gonna take to convince you."
Crocea thought for a bit before answering. "We bring someone else with us."
Her mind immediately went to the white haired girl. "You mean Myrtenaster? That girl's still hung up about her two friends that died."
"Wow, harsh" Crocea said dryly
"Oh come on. It's not that big of a deal. They probably just respawned way back in the [Town of Beginnings]"
Crocea frowned. "This isn't just a game anymore, Rose. I've asked around town. There are other players here now and a good number of them had a teammate die right in front of them. Ten to thirty seconds later, the game tells them that they've logged out. None of them have logged back in yet." He looked at Rose with face more serious than he'd ever given. "It's possible that we don't die in real life like I believe, but I'm not willing to find out."
Rose smiled wryly. "You know, you're really good at convincing me to believe your insane theories. No matter how many times I unconvince myself, you always manage to pull me back," she growled. "Fine, we'll bring someone else."
Rose stood. "Anyway, you said there are other players in this town now, right? Let's ask around. Maybe there's a loner who's willing to party for a while."
Crocea nodded in agreement.
With that, the two of them stood and left the inn hoping to find someone to party with in the fairly small crowd of players in the market.
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Crescent Rose and Crocea Mors exited the city gates, new party members in tow.
[Milou Akouo], level 10. She was an amazonian red head who wielded an [Iron Spear] and a [Bronze Round Shield]. She was also a beta-tester, from what Rose could tell. She had this aura of experience that made beta testers stick out like a sore thumb in the early days of an MMO. Still, she was really nice, which Rose found agreeable.
What she did not find agreeable, however, was the person who apparently came bundled with Milou.
Much to her discomfort, Rose was forced to add Myrtenaster to her party. She had to. It was one of Milou's conditions for accepting the party request. And Crocea insisted. She didn't really have much of a choice.
Myrtenaster walked next to Milou, staring silently at the back of Rose's head. She had been staring since they left the inn, and it was really starting to get to Rose.
"Myrtenaster, please stop staring at me, it's really uncomfortable"
"You were unwilling to help me look for my friends. Why was that?" She asked in a cold controlled monotone that gave Rose goosebumps – or at least they would if her avatar was capable of doing that.
Rose winced. Sheesh. Straight to the point, isn't she? She thought up a lie that would probably be acceptable. It took her an instant to make up an answer. "I…" The words died in her throat as fast as she thought of them. Okay, that was terrible. She looked to Crocea for help but the boy only shrugged. Rose frowned at him. Some help you were… Fine, truth it is. "Look, Myrtenaster, I'm pretty sure they're both okay. Crocea and I survived, didn't we? I just thought we'd be wasting time."
"You think looking for my friends and making sure they were okay is wasting time? Do you even hear how you sound right now?"
Rose turned around and faced Myrtenaster. "You wanna go?" She asked, unsheathing her dagger.
Alarm appeared on both Crocea and Milou's face. "Ruby, temper" Crocea hissed.
Rose grit her teeth, ignoring Crocea's slip with the names. In truth she wasn't angry – rather, she was, but not as angry as she was making it look. Rose had probably made a mistake with Myrtenaster by saying what she said – and considering the pain and disgust in the white-haired girl's voice when she replied, an apology simply would not have sufficed. So she'd fight Myrtenaster and simply lose intentionally. Killing Rose would probably be a good way for Myrtenaster to exact vengeance. And if anything it'd help relieve some of her stress. Once Rose respawned back in [Juniper Town], she could always catch up and apologize the correct way (when Myrtenaster was less likely to point her sword at her like she was doing right now).
With her left hand, she pulled out a rapier and held it at half an arm's length from her body, left foot slightly forward. She silently glared at Rose.
Rose eyed Myrtenaster with some amount of caution. The way she held herself definitely made her seem like a beta tester. She knew what she was doing, holding that sword. And since she was a complete newbie at the game, it only made sense to assume that she'd had training. Fencing probably.
Remnant's dynamic music system kicked in, a slow and tense thumping of drums began echoing in the back of Rose's mind. Nice timing, Rose thought dryly. At least it isn't screaming into my ears anymore. That annoyed the heck out of my in the beta.
The game was anticipating the their actions, Rose realized. Or rather, influencing it. The moment the rolling drums stopped for a beat would be when they'd end up making their move. Huh… That's really clever design. She thought.
The drums stopped and both of them attacked. Rose jumped, only to be dragged back down by arms wrapping around her waist. Myrtenaster lunged with her sword at a speed normally only possible with [System Assist] – thus confirming Rose's assumption that she'd had training – but was similarly thwarted when a long metal pole slid horizontally in front of her chest and knocked the wind out of her. Crocea and Milou had intervened.
Milou held her [Iron Spear] vertically and tapped it with the edges of her [Bronze Round Shield], creating a sharp ringing sound that echoed throughout the forest. She looked at Myrtenaster, still catching her breath, and Crescent Rose, fidgeting uncomfortably in Crocea's hold. She scowled.
"You two are acting like children." Milou scolded. Her voice was loud but she wasn't shouting, and she seemed to exude some sort of aura of superiority. "I don't know exactly what's going on, but I can guess. Regardless, there is no excuse to act so petty, even if we're technically in a video game."
Milou turned to Myternaster. "Miss Myrtenaster, these friends… I guess they are the ones you were worrying about back in town?" When she received a nod in response, the red head closed her eyes and thought for a bit. She then opened her eyes and asked, "these friends, have you added them to your friend list? Check it and see if they're online" Myrtenaster did just that. When a look of not-unpleasant surprise appeared on her face, Milou smiled. "See? They're alive."
She turned to Rose. "As for you, that was reckless, don't you think?" Rose shrunk and Milou sighed. "Don't worry, I can probably tell what was going through your mind. If circumstances were different, I'd have tried the same thing." Her face grew softer. "But right now, that's the last thing you want to happen." She brought up her friend list and showed Rose its contents. Five players. Rose, Crocea, and Myrtenaster were at the bottom and above them were two low level players who were currently offline. "Those two died yesterday night, a few hours after our avatars turned into ourselves. They haven't gone online since."
"It's a Monday, isn't it? Maybe they're still in school?" Rose reasoned
Milou shook her head. "We all take the same university classes. We don't have classes on Monday." She looked down. "Besides, I don't think they'd be so cruel as to not log back in and tell me they're okay…"
"Maybe the servers aren't letting them log back in? Maybe the people at Argus found out about the glitches and are still working on fixing the problem"
"If that were the case wouldn't everyone be logged out automatically for server fixes?" Crocea asked. "Stop trying to rationalize this, Rose. Death in this game is death, and I'll convince you as many times as I need to. Will it take someone actually dying in front of you to make you accept it?"
A small candle appeared in the darkness before it was curtly extinguished, followed by the smell of ash and smoke.
Rose blinked and looked around her. Milou was staring off into the distance. Crocea still had his arms wrapped tightly around her waist, refusing to meet her eyes. Myrtenaster was looking at her quietly.
The expression on her face was curious. It was a look of understanding. Of empathy. Of mild shock. Yet it showed very little emotion. Rose looked away, suddenly feeling guilty. I get the feeling now's as good a time as any to apologize. Might as well get it over with.
"Crocea, let me go…" With the grip on her waist no longer there, she walked up to Myrtenaster and said, "I'm sorry…" The apology was sincere, though the possibility of forgiveness was, Rose felt, uncertain. If she doesn't accept it, then she doesn't accept it.
She felt a sharp sting on her cheek, noting that her health went down by a point. Myrtenaster had slapped her, the sound of skin striking skin still echoing faintly. "You're forgiven." Myrtenaster said softly. "I suggest you be more tactful with your comments next time."
Rose smiled wryly, rubbing her cheek. "Yes ma'am." She whispered.
There was silence for a time.
"So…" Crocea began awkwardly. "Are we… um… are we gonna keep moving or are we just gonna stand here for a while…? Yes, no, maybe…? Um… Okay…" With a mortified nod, he turned away and began scolding himself under his breath
Still, Rose had to thank him. The silence was tense but his awkwardness broke that tension somewhat, if at the expense of his own dignity. She sighed and shook her head before continuing forward. They had six hours to clear the forest before the Grimm showed up. The clock was ticking and waiting around wasn't going to make it tick slower.
Silently, Myrtenaster began walking as well, keeping the stoic air about her. Crocea was still standing, facing the opposite direction, only turning to face them when he heard a whistle. Milou smiled kindly at him before following the two on their way. Crocea broke into a run to catch up.
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So, Weiss, rather, Myrtenaster seems a bit OOC, right? Same with Ruby? That is intentional. Minor changes in the way they act is because of back story stuff. There is a lot that will happen but it will take a long time for me to get to that so rest assured, the back story stuff will be talked about.
Pyrrha is also in the fic now. Her weapons are called Milou and Akouo. The naming sense for all of these characters will mostly remain the same except for a few characters. I plan for Roman to be a character but I think Melodic Cudgel is a terrible username. Also, Ooblek's thermos doesn't have a name yet. So some characters still need some work.
Anyway, the tone was all over the place in this chapter wasn't it? I apologize for that. This was written at different times, during which I was in different moods, which is not conducive to consistent writing. I should really work on that.
I hope to do better in the next one. I hope you're still with me til then.