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Chapter 4
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"Miwa, what did you think?" I asked showing off my new outfit.
"...Did you seriously have to dress her like this?" Miwa asked Black Lily.
"Why not, it's both hot and sexy!" Black Lily said staring at me with a wide smile.
"...Is there something wrong with my current style?" I asked touching my clothing.
A silver haori and a sleeveless black turtleneck underneath, a simple black sash keeping it closed. A pair of black pants with the ends tucked into knee high dark brown boots, with several buckles going down it. The belt I wore has my katana strapped to the left side of my hip, right next to the pouch used to contain everything I own. A pair of long black fingerless gloves covered both my hands, going up to my elbows.
"It's not that, but..." Miwa looked around to see many female players staring at me with hearts for eyes. "Don't go accepting marriage proposals." Miwa said shaking his head.
"I don't have anything in terms of chest so I still look like a man." Merlin jumped onto my shoulder, curling around my neck. "What do you think, Merlin?"
"You look like a man."
"I knew it." I dropped my head, feeling depressed as hell. "My breasts really are nonexistent..."
"It's not exactly nonexistent..."
"Really?" I looked at Miwa and he wasn't able to look at me for some reason. "Miwa?"
"Don't you have something to do?!"
"Ah, that's right! I planned on hunting some skeletons for their bones."
"Why are we hunting skeletons for their bones?"
"You'll find out." I bumped shoulders with Miwa, a grin on my face. "Later, Miwa. Send me a PM if you need help!"
"Later, girly boy."
"I'll fucking skin you, fucking cat!"
I ran while holding Merlin's back. I do not understand why Miwa and Merlin hate one another for no reason, but it might be due to their personality. Miwa hates those who make fun of his feminine face or calls him girly, but will respect those with power. Merlin seems to enjoy teasing those he likes, but those he dislikes he'll treat as a verbal target. More often than not, I have to get rid of those who want to kill the feline player.
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"Fox Fire!"
"Area of Healing!"
I destroyed another skeleton before tapping the back of my sword against my shoulder. I'm surrounded on all ends by destroyed skeletons. Merlin jumped off my shoulder and began gathering the skeletons while I got out my portable crafting kit. Since I don't have any kind of residence or a base, I make do by carrying about a portable crafting kit...which would work better in a room instead of in the middle of a mob zone. All this is considering that I have been carrying around a large table and various crafting items...which really would be safer to use in a room...or not since I could run if I accidentally mess up the mixture. I can run hell of a lot faster than stuck in a room.
"Here, your bones." Merlin said dropping the pile of bones
"Thanks." I muttered pulling out the grinder.
I grabbed one bone and I broke it in half before I began grinding it inside of the burr mill. It looks similar to a manual coffee grinder, but it's not, trust me. This baby can grind stones if I wanted to. It was not cheap having this commissioned from the local blacksmith. Still, this is an amazing thing! I continued to grind the bones until I had at least six jars full of bone powder.
"What exactly are we using this for?" Merlin asked tapping one of the jars.
"Explosives, obviously. Did you know that ash can be used in ammunition?" I asked mixing some of the bone powder with black powder.
"No, but why are you doing that?"
"Testing to see if I can use it or not. If not, we can use it as fertilizer or other uses."
"Like?"
"...food?"
"...Remind me not to eat anything you make."
"It was a joke."
"Didn't sound like it was a joke."
"Whatever." I filled a cylinder with the mixture of bone and a wide range of materials before labeling it. "One down, twelve more to go."
"Trying to find the perfect ratio?"
"Nope. Testing to see which one would blow best."
"Hhheeelllppp!"
"Help?"
"Who is shouting?" Merlin and I watched as a young girl ran past us, skeletons chasing behind her. "Did I just see...?"
"Yeah."
"Should we do something?"
"Probably."
"Haah..." I grabbed several of the cylinders on the table and I threw them at the skeletons. "Fox Fire!"
"Kyaahh!"
"That's some boom. Remind me to try to adjust the amount of gunpowder."
"Got it."
"Hey, you okay?" I walked towards the kid I almost blew up. "If you can't handle this place, then you should go somewhere else to train."
"Waaahhh! I thought I was going to die!"
"Sorry, did I scare you?" I leaned knelt down in front of the crying girl, patting her head. "Even if I pulled them, not all of the monsters would have come to me. Come on, stop crying. It doesn't suit such a cute girl."
"...Gege, you're a smooth talker, huh?"
"So I've been told." I helped the girl up and I gave her a slight smile. "I'm Yue. What's your name?"
"Doll."
"This is Merlin, don't let his looks fool you. He's a player, not an NPC."
"Yo."
"Yue-gege, you're really strong..."
"Yeah."
"I'm new and..."
"You want me to help you out?"
"Is that no good?"
"What level are you now?"
"13."
"13, that's pretty low in this area." I released a small sound of frustration as I scratched the back of my head. "...Hm...Okay, sure, but there are some rules."
"Sure!"
"One, no complaints about my explosives. Two, you listen to my orders. Three, I'll only help you level up to 30. Four...what was four again?"
"Haahh...I don't get why that girly boy is so protective of you. Four is that you can't fall in love with Yue. That's about it."
"Okay! I don't mind. Besides, Yue-gege already likes someone, right? Doll is the protector of love and justice, I won't break the love between two people!"
"Protector of love and justice?"
"That's the part you focus on, Yue?"
"Well, I'm not in love with anyone so I don't really get it..." I scratched my cheek, my fox ears slightly lowered to show my confusion. "So, Doll, let's register ourselves as friends. Once that is done, I have to mix a few things before we can grind."
"Sure!"
"Come on then."
Doll is a strange girl...choosing to be a Necromancer despite being of the Angel race. It also seems as if she memorized the book 'the Eye of the Soul'. It was amusing to say the least, even if she is a bit odd. I taught Doll a few things about protecting herself while her summons did all the work. She still calls me gege...even though I did say I am a woman. When I asked, she said something like gege suits me better than jiejie so I gave up.
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I released a small laugh as Doll hugged my tails as if they didn't belong to me, but her. She's a cute kid...not to mention the fact her summons are quite useful for suicide bombers. I didn't have to do much since it was Doll killing off her own summons and the best thing is, I don't lose any Fame points for it. It's a complete win! Doll gets the experience points, I get to test my bombs! It's a win-win situation.
"Girly boy isn't going to be happy about this." Merlin said curled around my neck as always.
"Yue-gege, what are we going to do today?" Doll asked looking up at me.
"How about a small celebration for you reaching level 30?" I asked smiling at her.
"...You're leaving, right?" Doll asked nuzzling my tails.
"Yup. Come on, I'll treat you to dinner. Anything you want."
"Yes, Yue-gege!" Doll was already running in the direction of town. "Come on! Let's go!"
"You're spoiling her quite a bit, aren't you?"
"Hm? She's a kid and...I always wanted a younger sibling. I'm an only child and...I guess if I had a younger sibling then my life wouldn't have been as hard..."
"Hm...I'm hungry anyways. I want some high quality fish this time around."
"Yes, yes."
I did spoil Doll a bit more than I should have...considering I bought her a new staff before we took our separate paths. She would continue to train on her own against the skeletons while I would be going to be hunting dragons this time around. Thanks to Doll's help, I could finally pull moves I wouldn't dare without proper ammunition. I chuckled evilly as I decided to pick up some new herbs to mix to figure out what kind of scent dragons might like.
"What's with that look?" Merlin asked curled around my neck.
"We're going dragon hunting. I just need to pick up a few plants so I can figure out how to attract them. If I do, I'll make a killing!" I said scratching him behind the ear.
"Left, left. Yeah, I'll help out, but I am not sticking about when you start mixing."
"That's fine."
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"You look more like a mad magician than a warrior." Merlin said from his position at the end of the table.
"Huh, ah, that's because warriors can be used to fight solo. You really think anyone would want to partner with me as a mage and I throw them in the line of fire?" I asked mixing in some blood.
"That's...a very good point. I was close to snapping myself."
"Miwa complained a lot about me doing this before that's why I tend to be a solo player, only partying up when there's an area I can't complete on my own or it's a party restricted place. The former happens more than the latter, but the latter happens with really interesting quests during holidays."
"What exactly are you mixing into that pot of yours?"
"A dragon lure."
"I know that, but what's in it?"
"Pheromones, it uses one from a female dragon. Did you know that a dragon's XXXX is worth a gold?"
"Yeah. So now here's my next question. Why?"
"Well, I'm too lazy to drag them to a trap and if I sell it, then I'll make a lot of money. Raging Dragons' Valley is also the perfect place to train while earning money."
"How exactly do you plan on trapping them?"
"It's a work in progress. I'm almost done."
"Well, don't get killed this time around."
"I won't, I won't."
"This explains why you butchered and killed two male and two female dragons."
"You learn a lot from the internet. I thought I could use it in the gaming world too."
"This better not backfire like the last poison you made."
"Hey, it worked."
"Yeah, but it thrashed around so much since it was being boiled alive from the inside. We couldn't even gather anything."
"It was a test."
"Your poisons are scary. What exactly are you studying to become as an adult?"
"Programming, why?"
"..." Merlin released a sigh of relief. "Thank god..."
I didn't really understand why he looked so relieved about that. I was going to go into biology, but I found it not as much fun with all the rules and regulations I would have to follow. I returned my attention to the pot I was stirring and I added the last and my most secret ingredient. A small explosion occurred and the result was Merlin and I covered in soot. The two of us released a cough and I rubbed away the soot on my cheeks,
"Okay...Done." I said pouring the chemicals into a special container.
"..." Merlin stood up, hearing something. "Something's coming..." Merlin said looking around slowly.
"...?" My ears twitched picking up the sound as well. "Oh...crap..." I said before I quickly began to put away my belongings.
"Hey!" Merlin was suddenly kicked off the table before I shoved it back into my bag. "Watch the fur!" Merlin hissed when I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.
"No time! Incoming!"
Dragons came in rushing at us and I pulled out my sword, ready for a fight. I grinned wildly, pulling out some new bombs, fully intent on using them. For the next...I would say three hours, there was the sound of explosions...destruction...and possibly the cries of over twenty dragon. By the end of it, I was quite ragged and Merlin's fur was quite messed up. I sat on the ground, releasing a mad laugh.
"That was awesome!" I shouted falling onto my back.
"Dear lord...I think this game is creating a monster..." Merlin muttered unable to move.
"Lighten up! You got to admit that it was fun, right?"
"Chaotic, not fun! Dear lord, I can't believe how quickly I'm leveling up as a priest...you're crazy!"
"I revel in chaos...plus this is the only place I could ever let loose..." I smiled at Merlin and I saw him go stiff still. "I know it's part of the job, but thanks for being around."
"..." Merlin sat down, curling around my neck, resting his head against my shoulder. "We're buying some land so you can build a place you can do your crazy experiments. Never again are we doing it out in the field."
"Take a nap then, I'm going to harvest the dragon's parts."
"Also, figure out how many you attract with that damn lure of yours. It should not have lasted three hours!"
"It might have been a bit too strong..."
"You think?" Merlin curled around on a rock, staring at me as I pulled out a hunting knife from my boot. "You owe me big time."
"I got it, I got it."
Merlin fell asleep while I was dismantling the dragons. Ugh...it looks like the two of us are going to end up having to sell off everything...and probably fix up my equipment. I'm going to need a new sword too...I broke the last one. I should probably keep at least a spare or two...almost had to fight using my hunting knife if I didn't kill the last one.
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Chapter 4 Ends
Yue is a bit of a nut, going against the norms of what a warrior should be. Yue is strange, but loves to create and destroy. A bit like Deidera with the 'art is a blast', but more of a 'blowing up things is fun!' kind of way. Yeah, Yue is a bit of a pyro and doesn't know the meaning of the word 'limit' or 'restraint' when it comes to things that go boom. However, she won't ever put a friend in danger with her explosives without testing them first. Welp, that's it for today! Until next time, my dears! Bye-bye~!