The giant crab claw was unwieldy, in many respects. It was quite long, at least twice as long as her forearm if not a little bit longer. That in and of itself was not a huge issue, she was no stranger to using longswords anyways, but the claw wasn't a sword. As it encased her hand and wrist alike, she couldn't maneuver it as easily as she could a sword. She couldn't even rotate it by twisting her wrist, which she also couldn't do. If she wanted to swing it towards someone or something, she'd have to move her entire arm like it was some kind of club. It might have been good as a blunt instrument, but her body was too small to reasonably consider that option.
However, there were a handful of positives. The fact that it wasn't actually part of her body meant that it getting damaged wouldn't directly endanger her own body, which meant that in conjunction with its size, it could be used to block incoming attacks. Using it, she could have deflected the swipes of the crab enemy she'd gotten it from. With the serrated edges of the inside of the claw, she could cut and shred as easily as closing her hand. She could probably have severed the crab's legs at its joints, were she to encounter another one.
Despite any of the complaints she had with it, it was still a viable weapon, and that mattered a lot to someone with as small a build as hers. In truth, the true killer of that crab enemy was the environment, not her. She merely pushed it into the river, and if it wasn't impaled, and managed to get back up, there was no way she'd have been able to kill it herself. And considering she didn't even know the drop rate of the crab claw, it could've been an extremely rare item she just happened to get.
She counted her blessings, and started to experiment with the pincer itself. She'd never used anything like it, and if it was going to be her weapon for however long there was no better alternative, she was going to get some practice with it. She wasn't going to let it slow her down, or there'd have been no point in killing the crab in the first place.
Yuuki continued to wave the pincer from side to side, gaining more of a feel for it so that she could control it better. After a few swings, she was improving her control over it, not letting its weight throw her off balance or carry her in directions she didn't want to go. Although she'd yet to know for sure whether she could control it as well in actual combat.
Opening and closing the claw's pincers was controlled in the same way as clenching her hand into a fist, and just as quickly as well. When the two segments slammed together, they created a click-clack noise, as expected. It could be useful for catching swords or axes, like the swordbreaker daggers she'd seen be used by other players in other games. Not that she'd ever experienced it first hand, though.
Unfortunately, from the looks of her surroundings, there wasn't anything to test the sharpness of the claw's blades. Of course, testing it on herself was out of the question. Ironically, she found herself disappointed that there'd been only one crab to fight. One or two more could at least give her the chance to test her new weapon. Though at the same time she was glad that she didn't have to fight more than one earlier.
In addition, the crab didn't seem to respawn, based on the five or six minutes Yuuki'd been in the area for since it died. Whether it did have a respawn interval or not, she had a feeling that it wouldn't be worth waiting for, as for all she knew, it could be another two hours before it appeared again, if at all. That kind of incredibly long wait time was not something she'd want put up with if she didn't have to.
There must have been somewhere else she could go, or something she could interact with. Walking back the direction she came in the first place was mostly out of the question, which left following the side of the river to its source or to its end. Crossing the river, while definitely something she'd like to do, was not an option for now, not unless she found a more narrow section or a bridge.
Let's put this away. Don't want to get tired. Yuuki thought, returning the crab claw to her storage space. She still wondered about her other item, the Keepsake Record, but there wasn't anything she could do with it yet.
Maybe if I was alive and got this game myself, I'd get to do the tutorial. Yuuki thought, pouting to herself. It was by some great measure of luck that she was even able to open her menu window, as it was essentially the same as opening a menu in the games she'd played before.
In fact, thinking about it more, a question came to mind. Why hadn't she ever heard of this game before? It seemed to be a full-dive VR game, and one that was incredibly immersive, even more than any other. Although she couldn't tell whether it was a singleplayer or multiplayer game, a game that could replicate the senses this well should have nevertheless made headlines for its achievement. But the fact that she'd never heard of a game that was this immersive and could replicate human senses this well meant one of two things. Both of which only served to create more questions.
One, this was some kind of private game or experiment created by someone without the intent of distributing it; a secret game known to very few. Two, this game didn't exist when she was alive, and came into existence after her death. It was possible, when the Medicuboid was a more advanced piece of technology than the Nervegear or Amusphere were, that an even more advanced VR device would be made later on. But if that was the case, then it meant that she was in the future; the future past her own death.
How? Yuuki wondered, and promptly added to her list of questions she wanted answered. That very list was quickly pocketed for later, and Yuuki made a decision.
Closing the menu, Yuuki began to walk west, in the same direction that the water was flowing. Surely there would be something where the river ended, whatever that something might have ended up being. Maybe it would lead her to a small riverside village with some NPCs and a quest or two, or if she was really lucky, maybe even another player. It would be nice to see some more familiar things, and for that matter, any sign to suggest that she was not the only person in this world.
Another five minutes passed as Yuuki followed the river's course, and to her slight comfort, the river seemed to become marginally less dangerous. Although the currents looked to be just as strong and the stream was flowing just as quickly as it was earlier, she couldn't see as many rocks poking out of the surface. Although that could also mean that there were some jagged rocks just barely short enough to not protrude, which was in some ways even worse. Not that she would try to find out anyways.
But a few meters up ahead, she saw something that she was actually somewhat happy to see. Up ahead there was a series of rocks sticking out of the water, but they were long and wide instead of sharp. They looked like platforms, in fact, the kind that would be put in dirt to create a trail, and these large stone platforms led her eyes towards the other side of the river. She could get to the other side by jumping across the bridge of stones, and she definitely had the agility for it too.
And in her excitement, Yuuki accelerated her pace and started running towards the natural yet segmented bridge. But as her right foot found a part of the dirt to push against, the dirt gave way and fell into the water. Yuuki careened down towards the ground, barely having enough time to raise her arms and brace herself for impact. She slammed into the sticky wet soil, arms first and face second. She bounced slightly once or twice, and stopped, embedding an inch or two of her forearms in the dirt, and spreading an aching feeling across them both.
Ooooww… Yuuki thought, sluggishly opening her eyes. She was filthy, covered in wet dirt that clung to her like it was sand. Luckily, she didn't get pulled into the water, but at least it'd have washed her off a little. I hope there's a safe pool or something on the other side…
She promptly picked herself back up, and was surprised that the sensation of the impact still lingered in her arms. Pain was one of the senses replicated in some games she'd played, most of course opted for the accessibility of not replicating pain at all, but this was far greater than any of them were in that regard. Much like everything else, it felt real to an impressive although somewhat uncomfortable degree. She waved her arms up and down a few times, trying to shake the feeling away, and it worked, albeit gradually.
She wasn't going to let it distract her for too long. She still had a goal in mind; crossing that bridge and seeing what was on the other side.
But before she resumed her trek, she noticed something else too. In the water, she could see her own reflection, or what she could only assume to be her reflection. Upon the surface of the water was what looked to be some kind of mannequin or a robot, made from plastic or metal. The face was almost perfectly smooth, and the colors were just as the rest of her body: so dark a blue as to be almost black, accentuated by a littering of sparkling dots that looked like they could form constellations. She also noticed that her form actually had hair. Or rather, it had something that resembled hair, more specifically the hair of her fairy avatar from ALO, but a bit shorter and adorned with the same appearance as the rest of her.
I look really cool, too bad I'm all dirty now. She lamented, and quickly returned to walking.
She finally arrived in front of the stone bridge, having been somewhat more careful when taking her steps and making sure not to stand on the edge. Just as she saw, there were enough of these stones, arranged in a mostly straight line too, to allow her to get across if she jumped from one to another. Their surfaces looked wet, of course, but above the water nonetheless. If she took it slow, it'd be no problem.
But before even trying, she equipped her crab claw again, and extended her arm towards the first rock. She poked its side once, and then a few more times. She wanted to make sure that it was, in fact, just a stone. If it turned out to be another kind of enemy, all of them for that matter, she would've made a grave mistake with no chance of recovery. Luckily, the stone seemed to be inert, just as a stone should, and she gave a relieved sigh.
The first stone was close enough to the shore that she could step onto without much effort. It was sturdy enough to support her weight, and she didn't feel like it was very slippery. She could use it,
So far, so good. There's 8 more to go. She counted.
She hopped to the second, and then the third, both of which without any trouble or difficulty. The fourth, however, looked like it might be a problem. It was lower than the others, not too low to be inaccessible, but low enough that a thin layer of water was flowing over it. It made Yuuki think twice about trying to jump to it. While it wasn't so low that she'd definitely get swept away, it was possible that she wouldn't be able to get a foothold on it, and then slip right off. On the other hand, skipping it would require a longer jump to the next stone, which could be just as dangerous.
Although one idea came to mind, one that was arguably even worse than either of the previous options. Instead of unequipping the crab claw and restoring balance to her body, she decided to make use of it instead. Although there wasn't room for a running start, she could still jump around 3 meters, vertically at least, so her horizontal should have been something similar.
She kicked off of the rock, launching herself towards the slightly submerged platform, but it wasn't her target specifically. While midair, she spun herself a bit while holding her arms close to her chest. When she approached the platform, she stretched her arm out, connecting the end of the claw to the platform under the water, just as she wanted. She applied enough force to keep the weapon pressed against the rock, at least for a fraction of a second, long enough for her next move. Then, with a short cry, she pushed off of the rock as hard as her arms could muster.
And with that, she sprung right back up into the air. She flew forward, letting out a "yahoo!" as she soared. Her strength wasn't that great, but just redirecting her momentum was something she could do even without the power of flight. With the boost, she cleared the next few and arrived upon the 7th rock, just two from the other side. She wobbled a bit, back and forth, but was able to stabilize herself and prevent herself from falling. She couldn't afford to let that happen, especially not after she'd just completed a maneuver like that. If she didn't drown or get impaled, she'd surely die of embarrassment.
She quickly hopped to the 8th stone, but just as her feet made contact, she heard something. It was a mix between a snap and a pop, followed by a very harsh crack noise. It came from behind, so she turned her head, and saw that the 7th stone platform she'd just stepped off was in the midst of shattering into pieces.
How did that happen?! She thought and suddenly heard another snap-pop sound. She quickly jumped to the last platform, and finally placed herself on solid ground. She heard the shattering of another stone platform, and saw the 8th now resembled the 7th very well.
It definitely wasn't her fault, or the first few stones would've been broken too, and they weren't. Coupled with the fact that the first noise that preceded each shattering came from somewhere else, she was sure that she was being targeted by something, or someone, for some reason. They must've been seeking to cast her into the river currents, like what she'd done to the crab before. If she spent any more time dawdling, they probably would have succeeded. But just being on dirt again didn't mean she was safe, Yuuki knew, as she quickly climbed the slanted incline to finally, officially, emerge on the other side of the river.
She slowly and carefully raised her head above the cliff, and scanned as far as her eyes could accurately perceive. To her surprise, she saw something ahead of her, something that for some reason she didn't notice before. Up ahead, she saw a large gathering of trees, trees that looked quite large even with her distance from it. Whatever the case was, the fact that it was something different than open planes and rapids, was enough to garner her curiosity. If only she wasn't being targeted by something, she would immediately have climbed out of the trench and started walking if out outright running.
But come to think of it, whatever it was that was targeting her, didn't quite seem like it was actually aiming for her. It only shot out the last two rocks she'd stepped on, and they were only destroyed after she'd already stepped off. If they were a hunter or a trapper, they should have cut her off when she was in the middle of the bridge, preventing her from advancing or retreating. Then again, she did vault herself over a few of them, but even so, the fact that she hadn't been directly targeted even now raised her curiosity.
Maybe they got bored? Yuuki wondered briefly. If this unseen party could accurately destroy the small rock platforms, and only the last two Yuuki'd stepped on, they must've still been able to see her, and in that case, they were choosing not to try to pick her off. Could it really have been just some coincidence that those rocks seemed to explode? Or did the culprit, who or whatever it may have been, lose interest?
Maybe it's a mob like that crab, and I'm not in its range anymore. She thought, and felt satisfied with her conclusion.
Still, Yuuki waited in place for a few minutes just in case. Getting hit in the head by an invisible force strong enough to shatter stone was something she didn't want. And four minutes later, with nothing but the sound of water passing through her ears, Yuuki thought it safe to proceed.
She picked up another rock off the dirt floor, and wound her arm back. She flung it as hard as she could, sending it as far and away from her, and poked her head over the edge to see what would become of it. It flew in a tall arc, bouncing once or twice when it hit the ground again, before coming to a rest.
As she thought more about it, throwing a rock probably had little or no value. If there was a sniper targeting her, why would they be fooled by a rock? If anything, it would've given her position away even more since she was the only person in the area, to her knowledge that is.
Mentally slapping herself, Yuuki decided she'd waited long enough, and climbed out of the river trench towards the forest. She felt a need to hold her breath, tense as she walked completely exposed and alone. With her dark blue exterior that resembled the midnight sky, surrounded by the greens and browns of nature, anything with working eyes could easily spot her if they so much as looked in her general direction. She was also quite a mess to look at, as she was still covered in moist and sticky soil. But she began to exhale with relief as she kept walking, and nothing was happening nor approaching her.
The trees, on closer inspection, were far from what they seemed. A lot of vines and roots were coiled and connected in peculiar shapes, resembling a metal gate. In fact, she could see exactly that, a metal gate underneath the blanketing foliage. The trees on the inside were large and grotesque. Everything was covered in an overgrowth of green, like in a post-apocalypse movie where nature reclaimed the lands. It was pretty, but a little bit discomforting.
But that aside, she began to examine the gate and its flora-infested walls for an opening. She found it quite quickly, as she saw that the doors of the gate were only held close by the vines. The lock separated from the doors, laying on the ground and rusting away. If she removed the vines, entering should be easy, especially since it didn't look like the hinges of the doors were being held from working by anything. She'd have used her hands, had she not seen the many thorns that protruded from the vine; too plentiful for her to actually get a good grasp anywhere on it.
Oh! This is perfect! She thought, as she quickly opened her menu and equipped her crab claw. Not the best thing to test this on, but it'll have to do for now.
Yuuki held the claw over the vines and squeezed them shut. Like she was cutting paper with scissors, the claw severed them with ease, and they fell limply from where they were strung up from. She felt satisfied, given how thick the vines looked. A regular knife would have probably taken at least a little more effort, though it's not like she actually knew how long that would take. She'd always had a large bladed weapon when she encountered tree or jungle vines, and they were easy to slice apart.
With the claw, she then pushed the gates lightly, and though she felt a little resistance, she heard the creaking of the rusted metal moving on their hinges. She pushed a little more, the creaking became louder, but the doors were parting more as well. With a little more effort and a few steps forward, she made a wide enough gap between the doors that she could pass through, and she proceeded to do exactly that.
The inside of the overgrowth was, actually, quite beautiful. Green from the plant material and gray from the concrete on the ground were the most common colors she could see, but scattered across the trees and bushes were what looked to be fruit; small patches of vibrant colors, from red to green to blue and even pink. It was while looking at these fruits, from what looked to be the likes of strawberries to blueberries, that another thought occurred to Yuuki; hunger.
She hadn't exactly eaten anything since she arrived in this world, except for maybe some dirt when she fell and face planted. Despite what she'd been up to, she didn't feel hungry at all, only peckish out of curiosity, and barely even exhausted for that matter. Even if she were hungry, she didn't even think she had a mouth, since one wasn't visible when she saw her reflection in the water. As she thought about it, she started to feel around her face where her mouth would have been, but she didn't feel like she was touching her lips at all. Rather, it was like she was touching some kind of plastic cover over her mouth.
How do I take this mask thing off? She thought, still feeling for anything like a button or lip to pull on. There was no such feature, of course, but as she thought about wanting to lift or remove the cover, she heard a light clicking noise.
She didn't have anything to look at herself with, but after hearing that sound, she no longer felt the mask over her mouth. Rather, she felt her hands on her lips.
Oh! That worked… uh, close? She thought, and heard the click again, and felt the cover return to its original place.
That was how it worked, not by button or any other mechanical function, but through her thoughts. But the fact that she could still talk without her mouth actually moving was a bit surprising.
Nevertheless, she lifted the cover again as she walked towards what looked to be a large apple or other red fruit, which hung from a uniquely large tree at the center of the decrepit park. It was the largest of any of the fruits she'd seen as well, which meant it had to be special among the others. Unfortunately, it hung too high above her for her arms to reach. It was probably at least five meters high, possibly too high to jump to even. But this wasn't going to stop her when she could just try her hands at tree-climbing. She grabbed onto a part of the bark and found her foothold elsewhere, and began her ascent.
And then promptly her foot slipped, and she fell back down to the ground with a thud. She groaned in dull pain, not having expected to lose her footing like that. Although, she never had any experience in tree-climbing before. She must've just needed more practice, and there was no better opportunity than the one in front of her.
She clung to the side of the tree again, and this time she was more careful about where she grabbed and stepped. She struggled as she climbed higher, occasionally glancing down at the ground that was getting further and further, not intentionally though. The higher she went, the more falling was going to hurt. But then, that just meant she needed to avoid falling, and keep climbing up. Three meters, and then four meters. She was close, and just needed to climb a little higher.
But then she heard something, some kind of creaking noise, but not the kind that would come from metal. She'd heard that from the gate when she pushed through it. No, this sound was more organic, like wooden planks being stepped on.
And then she noticed that some of the branches above her head were starting to shiver, but there was no wind to make them move.
Instantly, she put her feet against the bark and kicked off violently, launching herself away from the tree as the many branches shot downwards to try to impale her. She landed on her feet this time, and stared up at the place where she'd just been. Half a dozen pointed branches skewered the air where she was, before retracting. Around the large fruit, branches and vines started to move to encircle and envelop the fruit in a cocoon. The tree itself was starting to shake, and it shook violently. But there was no earthquake to make it move like that.
Yuuki equipped the claw arm again as she watched the tree become animate. She scanned the ground, just in case it could raise its roots from underground, but saw no such thing happening. Instead, the vines around the park began to move across the ground and walls, slithering like snakes towards her. One or two shot up towards her first, only to be severed between the blades of her blue pincer. They were easy to cut through, but they were starting to grow in number, like there were an unlimited number of them. Not to mention, she hadn't the slightest feeling that she was making any progress. And still, the fruit she originally tried to acquire was resting safely in its wooden shell.
That must be it. Yuuki realized. She only started to get attacked after approaching the fruit, so it must've been important; something like a weapoint of a boss or the treasure at the center of a trap. But knowing that didn't make her situation any better. The shell looked to be smooth and round, which wasn't a good match for her only actual weapon. With how high it was too, she wasn't going to have a chance at breaking through it while defending herself from everything else.
She needed to escape, plain and simple. With some time, she could think out a strategy maybe, but she would at least not have to worry about the plants attacking her. She turned and looked towards the gate, and to her dismay, it wasn't open anymore. They were closed shut by the plantlife, and covered by not just more of those pesky vines, but some branches as well. Still, it was her only real option.
Yuuki made her way towards the gate, avoiding what she could and cutting down what she couldn't. One or two branches, sharp like makeshift spears, jutted out towards her. Yuuki found them to be quite strong as, instead of trying to cut through them, she blocked with the side of the claw. It was needless to say, that although they weren't as numerous as the vines, they made up for in their sturdiness and the immediate danger of their pointed ends. But luckily for Yuuki, they were also quite inflexible. They could be launched at her laterally, like spears, but they didn't seem to be able to turn in any other direction. Thanks to that, Yuuki actually had less trouble with them. In some cases, she was able to use them to her advantage, stepping and jumping off of them like they were platforms or footholds.
An idea came to Yuuki, and she saw that her special gauge had been filled up substantially by cutting through those vines so many times. She suddenly stepped back and avoided another branch, which stabbed into the ground where one of her legs would have been. Yuuk quickly raised her arm above her head and slammed it back down on top of the branch.
She created a crashing sound, as she snapped the branch in half at the point of contact. She'd thought that she could possibly collect some of these branches, find a way to make a fire, and then return with a few makeshift torches. Unfortunately, the piece of branch that was broken off started to dissolve into digital pixels and polygons and disappeared completely. It wasn't going to be treated like her crab claw, meaning that fire wasn't going to be an option.
But as luck would have it, or rather a lack of luck, some of the vines managed to worm their way into her blindspot, and coil around one of her ankles. They pulled hard, dropping her off her feet. Without skipping a beat she swung her arm and cut through the vines that held her, and rolled back onto her feet ready to fend off another few that were soon to follow. She wasn't too much further from the gate. She could escape soon, so long as she could give herself enough time to break through what was keeping the gate shut.
But before any more reached her position, she heard a loud snap and pop.
She snapped her head to where she heard the sound, and looked to her right. A decent distance away, she saw that there was another gate that led in and out of the park, but it was wide open. And more importantly, there was a figure standing between the doors.
It was hard to make them out completely, but she didn't even have a second before she heard wood shatter again. This time, it wasn't because of her.
That wooden shell that surrounded the fruit had a large hole in its side, revealing the tip of the large fruit inside. Not only that, but because of the hole, the plants seemed to forget about her entirely, and instead directed their full attention towards the figure between the other gate. Whatever was going on, it was Yuuki's opportunity.
Forsaking her chance to escape, she ran back towards the tree. The hole didn't look to be closing up at all, and it looked wide enough that she could reach her hands into it. She felt like she had to take her chance, so she did.
She returned to the base of the trunk, and jumped as high as she could. She knew it wasn't enough to reach the fruit, but it was enough to reach the branches that first tried to skewer her. They hadn't retracted at all to her surprise, and she could use them.
She grabbed onto them and held tight, pulling herself further up with her arms and kicking off of the bark to raise her elevation even further.
It's your loss, tree! She shouted at herself, as she reached for and clung to the edge of the hole made in the shell. With the crab pincer, she thrust into the shell and placed the fruit's stem between the blades of her claw. She clenched tightly, severing it with ease.
The tree suddenly started to tremble, shaking Yuuki off of it in the process. The fruit dissolved like the branch did earlier, but it was having a far more severe effect. The extended vines were flailing around, mindlessly. The branches shook and cracked. It was like she'd cut the head off of a chicken, and the tree was its body flailing mindlessly.
But soon enough, the plant's movements slowed to a halt. The vines shriveled, the wood withered, the leaves fell rapidly, and the other bushes were starting to die as well. It was like everything in the park depended on that fruit, which she'd just destroyed. The obstructions to her own exit were, of course, disappearing too, and Yuuki could finally leave. But before she could leave, there was one more thing on her mind; that figure she saw.
She looked for them again, but didn't see them anywhere. The gate they stood at was still open, but they weren't. Yuuki knew that they had to be somewhere. They made that hole in the tree's shell after all, so they couldn't have just been some kind of hallucination.
Where did they go? Yuuki wondered, but her question was quickly answered, when she heard a click behind her head.
"I'll be taking that."