Turns out, that it took within the day since Akari and Robert had enough strength between them to drag me little by little to the town, they were persistent… so I gave up after we were halfway there and simply walked sullenly with them.

Don't worry Natasha, once I have obtained enough strength, even if you had become obsolete, I will come back and get you a badass display case in a badass mansion to properly thank you for the badass history we had together…

So, yeah, I need a new weapon in the meantime.

We went towards the first city, Urbus, and Mr Groper decided to go in the opposite direction, most likely he wanted his exit to be more cool and a prolonged disappearance would be a lot more better than simply meeting on the road again.

He did get Robert to promise to open the gates when he was there however, an extra hour on another floor would benefit some of the people here, we readily agreed, wished it could also be a quest so we'd get some loot out of it.

Still, when we were there, we made our way towards the gate in the middle of town, where Robert touched it and players began pouring in.

"Thank you! Thank you so much for conquering the boss!" A random player called out to us, shaking all out hands before moving to explore the town, I grinned despite myself, even if we weren't technically the ones who delivered the final blow, it feels nice to be complimented for helping anyway.

"I need to get some supplies from the stores here, there is a useful place to buy food around here for the road." Robert said, and handed a bag to Akari, "Make sure to get us a room, I think we can all have a break for tonight."

"Alright Lucian-San, you can count on me!" She nodded happily.

"So… we just go our own ways for now?" I ask him, he turned my way.

"Yes, just relax around the town and don't get into trouble, remember that…" I scoffed at his accusing look, don't mistake me for someone who attracts trouble dammit.

"Be safe Charlie-Chan." I gaped at Akari who made a quick apology bow and hurried off, I was left alone when Robert disappeared afterwards.

"... Am I really that much trouble?" I wondered briefly, I mean, there wasn't THAT many…

Getting separated from Robert in the dungeon.

Taking the most amount of hits in a fight.

Getting nearly killed with that Rat Bastard.

Making a declaration of simply charging madly into a situation from now on.

Well, don't blame them for wanting to make sure you don't fall over your own ass…

Even myself is losing confidence in me, great…

I was startled out of my thoughts as a quick moving blur passed by me, I turned my head to see a clothed figure ran down the cobbled road.

Wait a minute, that cloak looks familiar…

Then, two more figures passed by me at the same speed, I quickly stepped back to narrowly avoid a near collision, I again looked at them, it looks like the first one was being chased by those guys…

They couldn't be… PK?

There happened to be a few cases reported to have happened, small rumours whispered among the players, it was a rather well founded theory, after all, it was very possible for a guy just to stick a sword into someone for the better end of the stick.

They don't seem to be trying to hiding their interest in her…

I growled and quickly followed after them, whatever it was, I doubt it was something good, I used my limited agility to follow them best I could, the crowds of people made it rather hard to follow them.

I was worried for a moment when I lost sight of them, I clicked by tongue in annoyance, and simply followed the main street forward, I stopped, and turned right.

It was leading outside of the town, I knew that girl would prefer to keep things between her and her clients in any situation, and I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to kill off the info broker of the whole game.

Yes, there was no mistaking the back of that coat, it was Argo.

And I was seriously considering exactly why I was saving the weasel for a second, and found that my good guy morality wouldn't be able to let me sleep at night if I didn't help out.

I rushed across the plains in hurried need, the most I could do with my strength class setup, and tried not to think about the possible monsters that I could find out here, instead focusing on where Argo could have run off to.

"...No matter how much you offer! Is not for sale!"

I perked up once that voice entered my ears, it was no mistaking that annoying voice.

"You don't want to monopolize it, but also don't want to make it public. Doesn't that mean you want to jack up the price-Gozaru?"

Who the fuck is Gozaru?

I instead just followed the voices and eventually found myself in a open space on top of a cliff, I was met with the sight of Argo, and the two other guys, with their backs to me, Argo caught sight of me immediately.

"HEY!" They jumped, startled, and swung their heads around to look at me, "Back away from the girl, seriously, don't you know how wrong this looks from your side of the engagement? KINDA weird for two guys to be ganging on an underage looking girl."

"I resent that!" The said girl shouted back, and the two other guys simply looked like they were preparing for a battle.

"Who are you!? Normal civilians should stay out our business-Gozaru!"

"No matter how busty you are, you won't distract us!"

I immediately felt that my entrance was being stepped on because of these pricks, and grew angry.

"Well WHAT a bloody coincidence, I can't believe I'm getting sidetracked by a two ninja wannabe idiots!"

"Hey! We are definitely ninjas!"

"So you don't deny your idiots?"

I am sure I saw both of their eyes bulge in anger, "Now, step away from Argo or you're going to get a boot to your backsides!"

"Hah?! Does that mean you're from another clan? Are you an Iga bitch!?"

"It was clever of you to disguise yourself, but you will not best the Fumaningun clan-Gozaru!"

"Okay, seriously, who the FUCK is Gozaru?!"

I didn't get an answer as they reached for their weapons, fuck, they WERE PK's?! This is shitty, seriously shitty circumstances right now.

*GRUNT*

I froze suddenly, and inclined my head slightly to look behind me.

I was met by a BIG fucking bull.

And so, my situation got ALL the more fucked up.

"Uh… shit."

I dashed forward and felt the earth shake a little as the bull followed, with speed that was TOO bullshit to compare to its bulky body, the two ninja in front of me were soon met with the image of a giant bull then size of a fucking bus coming towards them, I simply ducked between them and I heard a shriek behind me.

Soon, I saw the bodies of the two ninjas sail through the air and land a distance away, After a few seconds, I breathed a sigh of relief that they didn't break into particles, and then they picked themselves up.

"You… BITCH!"

"You did that on purpose didn't you-Gozaru!"

The, the bull that we momentarily forgot charged at them.

"AH! RUN AWAY!"

"GOZARU!"

And just as quickly, they ran back to the town, with the bull from hell on their tails, it wasn't long until they disappeared from sight.

I simply stared stupidly for a few seconds.

"Well… that was a thing."

"Ah, thank you very much Charlie-Chan, for the assistance that is."

I turned back to the reason I had gotten myself involved in the first place and huffed.

"I would say something like 'you would do the same for me', but we both know you would probably keep the event in mind and sell it later for the highest bidder."

"Ah, you know me too well Charlie-Chan~"

I huffed in irritation before looking at her steadily, "So, mind telling me what that was about?"

"Ah… a disagreement in business so to speak, they wished to procure a certain piece of information, and I couldn't provide it to them for… personal reasons."

I raised an eyebrow, "Argo the Rat? Keeping a piece of information because it's 'personal', you would sell info on your own three sizes if you had any."

"Hmm, methinks that my gratitude is slipping ever so slightly…" Said Argo with an slightly smiling, but obviously angry face.

"And methinks that you are hiding something." I snark back, we held each others gazes before I sighed, "Nevermind, you don't want to tell me, don't tell me, I need to get back yo town before another big and ugly comes."

"... Ah, Charlie-Chan, you don't have a weapon?"

I turned back to her and waved my hand back and forth a little, "I do… but it is poison based, and I was looking to sell it somewhere else, not the weapon I want to keep for a later date."

"Hmm… you use a halberd correct?"

"As if you don't know." I question as we walk through the field, "Yes it is, what's it to you?"

"Well, I thought you should know that the shops here don't sell any Halberd's, only swords and daggers…"

"... Oh course, silly idea I had in my head, that ANYTHING would go right today!" I kicked at a rock and it sailed through the air…

"I need another weapon…" I muttered in thoughtfulness, "The 'Arachnid Fang' isn't going to do well no matter how you slice it…"

"... Hey, I'll tell you what Charlie-Chan." I looked back over to her, "I give you ONE, free piece of information about this floor, to help you while you're stuck without a weapon, and in exchange-

"I thought you said this was 'free'?"

"I'm getting to that… and in exchange, you DON'T, blame me, hmm?"

I stared at her… for several seconds.

"What?"

"I don't know… I just vaguely feel a foreboding feeling equivalent to making a deal with devil in this situation."

"What deal? ALL I ask, is that you don't blame me." She smiled that ery troublesome smile of hers.

"... I'll tell you what, this is actually a three way piece of information on your standpoint." She held up a hand, and counted with each of her fingers, "One, you get something that can help you with dealing more damage while unarmed for the moment. Two, you get to know why those guys were chasing after me. And three, you will get to know the reason, behind these whiskers."

I was suddenly, and utterly hooked the moment she said those words, the reason behind the whiskers on her face? Was that what those guys were after? No wait, it was also related to something to replace my weapons for the meantime…

"Alright… lay it on me."

"You promise?"

I sighed deeply, "I will probably regret this… but yes, I won't hold a grudge for what you're going to tell me."

"So… this is quite a trip." I told her as we ventured up the mountain, "Are you sure this won't take long? I have to get back before Lucian and Akari know I'm gone."

"Ah, well it shouldn't take that long, only half an hour really to get there."

"If this was real life, I would have refused right away, thank god in this game stamina is judged by stats and you can't really feel exhastion all that easily…"

"Well… not exactly"

"What do you mean?"

Argo stopped and then made a thinking pose.

"Eh, how best to explain this…" She turned to me and gestured up the hill, "If we were to get to the top, then back again, and climb up AGAIN, we wouldn't feel any exhaustion, because our body in real life isn't moving and stimulating the muscles in your body, thus, not making your heart beat faster and wear out your muscles."

"However, in stressful situations, such as a Boss fight or any other fight that is hard for that matter, you have mental shocks throughout the encounter. The fear response steadily builds as you are moments away from death."

She then points at my chest, "Because of that, we feel real life exhaustion that stresses our hearts in the real world and then in turn, makes us feel it here."

"Ouch… I hope that doesn't come to bite us in the ass later."

"It's no more uncommon to stress your heart in the real world than it is here… its just more likely." She left off, and turned back to climbing up the trail, a moment later, I followed.

"Uh… Are you SURE about this?" I peeked down the dark opening with a small sense of nervousness.

"What is it Charlie-Chan? A little scared of the DARK?" She smirked wickedly.

"No, the dark I can handle, what might be IN the dark is what I'm worried about."

"Ah, I won't lie, a few bats are in there."

"Bats? That doesn't sound so bad."

With renewed confidence I stepped inside and walked forward for a few seconds.

"... THE FUCK IS THAT THING?!"

"Ah, that will be the bats."

"MORE LIKE A BIGFOOT WITH WINGS!"

"WHOOOOOOOAAAA!" I screamed as I hurdled down the winding way of water, "THIS! IS! AWESOME!"

At the end of the ride, I jumped and tumbled in a ball a few times, before perfecting a refreshed pose, the grin clear on my face.

"Man, I love this game, a naturally occurring waterslide! That made my day just coming down here!"

"How… can you… enjoy this… thing… Hah…" I looked at a soggy, exhausted Argo as she tried to shake herself dry.

"Whats not to like?"

"The freezing water? The terrifying velocity? The lack of any safety to stop us slipping off the edge?!"

"Heh, you should have seen Oblivion, I ride adrenaline pumping rides like a pro!"

"I. HATE. THESE. FUCKING. BULLS!"

"Just one more towering brute to go Charlie-Chan!"

"THIS IS FUCKING BULL-SHIT!"

"We're here now!" Cheerfully shouted out Argo, who I wished for a moment dropped dead, just for the moment, then I wanted her to suffer a little more.

"Alright… where were we going again?" Between the Bullshit-Bulls, and the waterslide I think I forgot what we were doing in the first place.

"You are a very forgetful person Charlie-Chan, maybe all of your brains went into those breasts you grafted to your character." She smiled mischievously, but I could detect a trace of scorn at the statement, "What is with boys and large breasts anyway?"

"I didn't choose it out of preference, becomings a giggly little girl wasn't a good sounding option and I didn't want Lucian to be mistaken as someone you went after younger girls, so I decided to have a figure with curves."

I then put my hands around them and squeezed, "How about you? I bet YOU had a little more to your character than just your old ratty appearance…"

A small blush was noticeable from her face, "T-That is none of your business, now are you going to see the Extra Skill or not?"

"Yeah Yeah, whatever you- Wait, an Extra Skill?"

"Yup, its the 'Martial Arts' skill, allows for combat without any weapons equipped."

Well… that could actually be pretty useful.

"What kind of Martial Arts actually?"

"... Uh, that comes with a fe-

"Nevermind, I'll find it out my bloody self." I grumble as I stood up, "So, Martial Arts huh? I guess I know why those idiot Ninja wanted the thing."

Argo sent over a questioning look, "What seriously? Ninja, Martial Arts, are you sure that you are Japanese, because those two must go together like bread and butter over there."

"Well excuse me for not believing people would want it for that sole reason." She huffed, "And es, the two of them wanted me to tell them where the skill was, and I didn't."

"Why exactly? You said 'Personal Reasons' but how much of a 'personal reason' can an Extra Skill be to you?"

"... Eh, suffice to say, people would likely hold a grudge against me if they got this far."

I stared at her hard, "So THAT is why you made me promise not to."

"Ah, yes, exactly that, very deductive of you!"

"Yeah, I'm the regular Sherlock Bloody Holmes, I have a position open as an assistant, what do you say Watson?"

"... Sorry, what?"

"Western joke, you'd get it if you were English." I then turned to properly look at where we were, it looked like every secluded hermits dream homes, a hot spring, a lonely hut and lots of trees to gnaw on for the lack of food.

I followed Argo has she headed towards the hut, and we immediately forced our way into the hut, I couldn't help but be reminded of Pokemon where you randomly kicked peoples doors down like a complete stranger and sometimes even took stuff from their house.

Inside it was surprisingly roomy, and a NPC was a bald bearded guy who was in that wacky kind of pose that you see in any Kung-Fu movie, he looked kind of imposing despite being so old.

"So… this looks cool." I gave a so-so motion of my hand, "Still, could work a little on the presentation."

"Always with a witty comment huh Charlie-Chan?" My companion dryly observed.

"I find it balances out my violent side."

I then realised something.

"Hold on a second… if people didn't know where this place was, then how did those ninja-wannabes know it existed then?"

"Ah… there is a particular NPC on floor seven that talks about the Martial Arts teacher here, most likely the two of them heard from said NPC and so have been demanding I tell them it ever since."

"... Why not just say you didn't know?"

"Ah… that would have been a hit to my business, so…"

"You simply decided to tease them with the location like a bait to a hook and never let them have a bite." I finished off for her, she winched slightly.

"When you say it like that…"

"I doubt ONE piece of information that slipped would cause your information record to go kaput, I mean, there has got to be millions of different things in the upper levels that you don't know as well, why not take a hit for this?"

…

"... You are surprisingly intelligent when you want to be Charlie-Chan."

"Well you can be surprisingly an idiot when it really counts." I snarked back, I then turned to the teacher, "So what? Do I have to do some crazy training stuff, like Karate Kid bullshit, because if he tells me to drop and hang a coat for a week I'm leaving."

"Ah, nothing like that… And I liked that movie as well." She smiled a little.

"Really? You like movies?"

"Is it that hard to imagine?"

"Ah… I kind of always imagined you as a hacker, or maybe a black market information dealer."

"Oi Oi, what kind of suspicious person did you take me for?"

"Nevermind, lets just get on with this thing." I approached the guy in his Zen shit state and he raised his head.

"Does thou wish to become my disciple?"

I scratched the back of my head, I always found it weird to speak to these guys, they are so advanced you wouldn't even think of them as advanced AI programming.

"Yes… I do."

"Even tho there is a long a steep path to training?"

"... Yes?" I was now a little more unsure, but I figured why not.

The exclamation mark turned to a question one, and I followed the guy as he left the hut, towards the end of his garden, where a giant rock stood out clearly, he knocked at it, and seemed to nod in satisfaction.

"Thine training is just one, splitting this rock with only thy palms. Once thou hast succeeded, I shall teach thee all my knowledge."

I looked at the thing, and back at him.

"... THIS, rock?"

"Indeed."

Uh, I think I know the reason people would bear a grudge now.

"... This isn't going to be some lesson like 'Thou shalt know thy limits having tried to best a superior opponent' is it?"

"Thy task is simply, split the rock and thou shalt learn my art."

I was strong, but THIS thing looked like those Immortal Objects that Robert told me about, simply indestructible walls and other things that simply can't be destroyed, I doubt somebody would be dick enough to make this rock one, but I'm pretty certain its tough enough not to really matter.

"Uh, on second thought, maybe it would be better if I came here after I trained a litt-

"Until this rock is split, leaving this mountain is forbidden."

Oh FUCK all kinds of duck!

For once, I agree with you.

"And thou hast to bear the mark for that very reason."

"Wait, what?" I was answered quickly when he produced a ink pot and brush out of his sleeves, before I could even gasp, his hands moved in a blur and I felt a splash on my cheeks, I jumped back out of shock!

And it was that moment, feeling six different shapes on my face, did I truly realize what had happened. My head turned towards HER, that manipulative, conniving, no good bit-

"Ah, ah, AH! You said NO grudges, remember?"

I bit my lip and couldn't help but glare at her, glare with the might of a hundred suns crashing into a black hole where the Big Bang takes over and blows everything to FUCKING smithereens!

I surprised myself, when I spoke in a rather level, and clear voice, "... So this was the reason you had whiskers huh?"

"Yup!"

"... It is permanent paint isn't it?"

"It is like part of your skin now." She had a rather pitying voice and face, but those eyes of her spoke the enormous amount of effort she took in hiding the urge to giggle.

I slowly turned to the Martial Artist, "I was just wondering, can I borrow those for a second?"

He looked confused for a second before gesturing to the tools in his hands.

"Yes, those."

He handed them without complaint and I turned to the Rat, who also looked confused, until she had a dawning and horrible realisation on her face.

"Uh… C-Charlie-Chan, uh, buddy? Y-you know I was only joking right?" Too late, she tried backing up but I grabbed her with an arm around her neck quickly, her struggles useless in my grip.

"Oh of COURSE I do, in fact, I thought it was SO funny, the way you tricked me here, made me looked like your distant relative, and also had the nerve of looking so happily smug was such a GREAT joke, that I thought I would repay the favour." I was sure, that my smile was radiating at the moment, which must have been an odd contrast to the pailing Rat.

"W-WAIT! Y-you said no grudges, YOU PROMISED!"

"What are you saying? This isn't a grudge… lets call this, a little friendly SKINSHIP!" With the dam burst, I held down the rodent and immediately got to work, the brush and paint pouring out as I committed art to the canvas in front of me.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

We didn't know it yet, but that little prank that committed us both to this mountain, for the following hours, had managed to tie us into a troublesome time together.

The adventures of myself, and Argo the Splat, were far from over yet.