Chapter 30
12th of September 2008
Alaskan Dungeon
It should have been a cold shower for her. Paulo, her teammate, had died during the boss raid on the fourth floor. The first gamer. They really were not in a manhwa, uh? After the rats, skeletons and goblins, the orcs had been too powerful - and the Shaman Orc's life had cost Paulo his own. Rachel should have felt bad, sad, but...that was the game, and that was life. Great power didn't necessarily mean great responsibility - but more often great risks and great sacrifices. And she'd know how to prove herself worthy of it...after celebrating dammit! The fourth floor! Too cool! Tonight, champagne!
Rachel Elizabeth Dare
Human
Class : Magician
Lvl 28
18th September 2008
NYC
It had been a week since Issei had arrived at his high school in the United States. And it was paradise! The girls had much bigger breasts...Or at least, he thought it was paradise. But the first time he'd tried to spy on girls in the locker room, the police had turned up, and he'd spent forty-eight hours in a dingy cell. He'd been so scared! And most of all, he remembered the faces of his victims... They hadn't been angry, as he was, but scared... And some of them had even cried! Never again would he be a voyeur...consent was the sexiest kink, he had learnt!
However, on the very morning he had returned to school - now, of course, an outcast - strange things were happening to him. Strange windows were appearing before his eyes - just like in the video game Dionysus, one of his favorite games! Perhaps he was also the chosen one? That's it! Making his new resolution had been a test...and thanks to the game...he could finally have a harem!
But the windows were strange. Unlike in the Dionysos video game, these weren't exactly... polite.
You ? A Harem King! Aha ! Let me laugh! You can Dream Loser
Maybe it was…impossible?
+ 1 WIS
However, something distracted him from his depression. Since that morning, all he could see were levels below ten floating above people's heads. But over the most beautiful and popular girl in high school…
Rachel Elizabeth Dare
Magician
Lvl 28
A magician! And above all...level 28? He was only...
Issei Hyoudou
Failure
Lvl 0,01
He didn't even know that half-levels were possible. But a magician? Maybe she could teach him…He had to gather the courage and ask her! But, with his status as a paria, how could he?
20th September 2008,
Canada
Mark and Jake, two seasoned Forest Rangers on their routine patrol in the Canadian wilderness, navigated through the snow-covered forest in their trusty jeep. The biting cold and thick snowflakes outside couldn't quell their spirits as they scanned the vast expanse of trees for any signs of trouble.
Suddenly, their headlights revealed an unexpected spectacle – a lone figure, stark naked, gliding through the snow-covered pines with a bizarre yet strangely captivating grace. The rangers exchanged bewildered glances, their concern mingled with an odd sense of fascination as they observed the stranger.
Rolling down the window, Mark called out, "Hey there! Everything okay? Do you need help?"
The eccentric wanderer turned towards them, his eyes gleaming with an enigmatic light, and a wide, joyful smile playing on his lips. "No assistance required. Just embracing the whimsy of the snow!" he declared, his voice carrying an oddly cheerful cadence.
Perplexed, Jake chimed in, "It's freezing out here! Where are you headed, and where are you coming from?"
Unfazed by the cold, the stranger continued his peculiar movements. "Heading nowhere, coming from everywhere. Just dancing with the frost! It's about the trip, not the destination! And I can feel again! I can make efforts! I can grow! " he responded, his words hanging in the frosty air.
Curiosity mingled with their concern, Mark and Jake persisted. "You've been dancing alone for days in this cold? You need warm clothes, food, something!"
But the stranger's smile only widened, and he gestured to the snowy surroundings with a whimsical flourish. "I appreciate the concern, but I'm thriving. This is my journey," he exclaimed with a carefree laugh.
Shaking their heads in a mix of disbelief and amusement, the rangers exchanged intrigued glances once more. The stranger, embracing the cold and seemingly unharmed by it, continued his bizarre dance with an inexplicable happiness.
"Then, keep dancing in the snow!" Mark called after him as they reluctantly pulled away, leaving the madman and strangely joyful figure behind in the silent, snowy expanse.
24th September 2008
Somewhere in Japan
"AAAAAAAH," shouted a random shinigami from the 7th division.
Thoas took a drag from his cigarette. Aaaaah... Finally... Souls could smoke! All they had to do was buy real cigarettes and kill them with their Zanpakuto!
"AAAAH...OH! The fourth seat of the eleventh! We're saved! You will die, Hollow!"
Then Thoas proceeded to trash all the Hollows.
Well, okay, he had to admit, that was cool. He'd finally understood what it was like to be a Shinigami. Basically, it was like being a demigod: you had to beat the shit out of monsters. Except the monsters were called Hollows, and that he was Japan. And dead. He forgot too often about the dead part.
24th September 2008
NYC
Finally, as he watched her walk away from class with her headphones on, Issei plucked up courage. He approached the popular RED!
"Hello...Uh...I Mean..."
She took off her headphones, glared at him - and he felt judged. Badly.
"You're another player, aren't you?", she said
Surprise burst across his face.
"Er...Yeah...How do you know that?"
"You're the only other one with a title, dickhead. Well, failure".
26th of September
Canada, Aklavik
Dionysus' bare foot touched the asphalt. After days of walking, he'd just found this damn civilization again. Mh...what to do? He looked at the sign, which indicated the name of the hamlet of Aklavik.
"Mmh...I need a bike. And for that, I need money."
Dressed in a loincloth he'd made himself from leaves and stuff he found in the forest, the man resolved to do what he knew best to earn a little money, buy himself a soup - wow! Hot soup! He dreamed of it! - and a bicycle.
Dionysos started doing street performances.
And for several days, the people of Aklavik laughed and raved at this man who danced and sang in the streets, infecting them with his joy and fury, almost naked despite the -30 degrees celsius.
27th of September
Playboy Mansion
Prometheus took a sip of the wine. Excellent, of course, since Dionysus had produced it. He sighed. It had only been a month since Dionysus had left...had shredded his divine form. And, not that he missed him but...Prometheus finally understood the meaning of the word bromance.
He turned as he heard the door open behind him. Angèle entered the room, dressed in a crimson toga. He smiled: while she used to dress in modern clothes, even if they were very revealing, she was increasingly reverting to…more ancient, more primitive ensembles. Closer to her essence.
"Prometheus", she smiled sultrily. But he felt that she was unusually serious and grave.
Angèle took a small box from the folds of her toga, before deferentially holding it out to Prometheus. The little black vine box was carved with occult symbols reminiscent of ancient Zoroastrian cults, born before the Greeks themselves.
"A gift from Dionysus..."
Prometheus drew a deep breath. He could feel the power of his god pulsing within the box. He took a long inspiration, and opened it.
[Welcome, Player ! You have unlocked the City Management System]
28th of September 2008
NYC
"Harder, you little shit!"
Issei was sweating from every part of his body. He couldn't take it any more.
Rachel Elizabeth Dare - RED, as she asked to be called - hit him in the head. It was a good thing she had boxing gloves, because otherwise he would almost certainly have been hurt.
"Come on! Harder! Better! Faster! Stronger!"
Issei tried as hard as he could to retort. When RED had announced that she was going to train him before taking him into the dungeons so that "the second player she met would die less quickly than the first" - and that was really worrying - he hadn't thought about that. He thought he'd go rowing in the private gym in RED's penthouse, or something like that. Not that he'd be farting in public in the high school gym, in front of everyone.
"Hit me, you fat shit, instead of trying to dodge."
And he got hit again.
But in the end, he thought, looking at the lithe and sexy form of RED in her sports bra and briefs, it was worth it.
Issei Hyoudou
Failure
Lvl 3
28th of September 2008
NYC
Rachel collapsed on the sofa. She'd just finished her umpteenth personal training session after looking after the failure. It was hard to gain STR, VIT and END points through sheer physical effort - at first it had been visibly easy, but now...
She opened a bottle of wine and poured herself a glass. She was alone in the huge penthouse in the middle of NYC that her absentee but wealthy father was paying for her for her "studies". She looked at her status.
Rachel Elizabeth Dare
Human
Class : Magician
Lvl 28
Mmh... She was beginning to stagnate, to level-up less quickly. Yet she'd done some of the low-level dungeons she'd found around New York! And she'd finished them on her own! They were easy to identify - usually a place that was a bit special, for historical or other reasons, engraved with a shiny Delta and a bunch of grapes - just like in Dionysus: the Game. She was beginning to wonder if all these references to Dionysus weren't a bit dodgy. What if the god really existed?
The dungeons in New York were all made of only one floor, with a final boss at the end. So far, she'd seen them ranging from level 10 - a dungeon populated by large spiders, a godsend for a fire mage like her - to level 250! - Obviously, she hadn't been inside, but the window had announced "The Giant Grave". Creepy. On the other hand, none of them were really like the dungeon she'd explored in Alaska. This one was... special. It had several floors and several bosses. Above all, it was when she walked through its entrance that she'd woken up as a gamer. The same went for the late Paulo. Only Issei was an anomaly. Could the little shit have woken up on his own? She didn't really believe it - and she was going to have to keep an eye on him.
But if what she suspected about the Dionysian origin was true... She got up and went to get the two doves she had bought on the internet. She opened her notebook, where she had written down everything she could find on the Greek-Roman myth of Dionysus.
Zagreus-Dionysus, dismembered and then devoured, would be a reminder of the divinity's sacrifice. […] The cult of Dionysus included orgies and dionysia, but also, more traditionally, sacrifices - of humans or animals - in the name of the god chanted three times.
She hadn't found a 'recipe' for a ritual, but hey... Apparently it was all about intention, symbolism and names. Names and symbols had power.
So did moments: tonight Rachel reached her 6,666th day. She didn't know if Satanist imagery would play a part... But when in doubt...
She dropped her dressing gown on the floor and lit some candles arranged in the shape of a chalice on the floor. She splashed herself with the rest of the wine bottle and, completely naked and covered in alcohol, grabbed a knife and held it over the dove.
"O Dionysus, accept this offering from one who wishes to become your follower".
She stuck the knife into the dove and brought the wound to her lips. Ick, a bit disgusting but...strangely pleasant. Mmmh... A shiver of pleasure ran through her…
The dormant spirit of Dionysos had taken note of you
You have unlocked an affinity : Dionysian Magic
+ 5 INT