Danika was a little impressed by how efficiently and quickly Shinichi looted his vale of skills and equipment. Having the legendary sword Durandal, even if it had shrunk to the size of a toothpick made some things ridiculously easy for him.

When he was given the opportunity to select his path, he chose the magic path, but he didn't select a specialization right away. "I've been wondering if I shouldn't choose druid instead of enchanter, since Kit's path was changed to empress and we got Logical Heart. It turned out to be really useful for our guild to have our own druid."

"I don't think you should choose by what's most useful," Danika objected. "You'll get tired of the game if it's not as much fun."

Shinichi moved his arm so that he could ruffle her hair. "It's okay Danika," he said almost gently. "Isn't this what the reincarnation system is for? If you get tired, you can move on, but within 'Living Jade Empire'?"

"Were you tired?" she questioned.

He shrugged. "Not exactly, but I've felt like my character was geared toward PVP, and playing with you is like… a grand exploration? I can't think of a good way to explain, but, I mostly traveled in straight lines before I started playing with you."

Her assistant announced suddenly, "ZipZing has caught up to this crane."

Danika straightened and looked at her phone in surprise. "Oh, it landed at a lake! At least, I think it's a lake? It's huge. Is it a sea?"

Shinichi peered over her shoulder and she held it up so he could see. "I have no idea where you are, I've never seen any place like that," he said.

"It's cool isn't it?" she asked. "It must be a lake since it's so flat. It looks almost like a mirror."

Danika took control of ZipZing and approached the crane. Her identify skill said that its accumulated level was 125, which seemed rather high for an ordinary bird. It wasn't a named character though, it was simply an 'Immortal Crane'. The information provided by the skill also said that its red crown indicated nobility, and that it was 'a symbol of longevity, purity, and peace'.

All of that already made her feel leary of just slicing it open to get the stone back, so she wasn't as shocked as she might have been when she got closer and the crane spun in surprise and demanded suspiciously, "Did he send you!?"

"Who?" she asked warily.

"Hmph, you think you can trick me by playing dumb?" the crane asked superciliously.

"I'm just here for the stone in your gizzard," Danika told it honestly.

"I knew it!" the crane exclaimed, and launched itself into the air.

Danika swiftly activated a skill that she hadn't used lately and caught the crane in her binding string before it got more than a couple of feet off the ground.

It landed awkwardly in the shallow water with a splash and cursed, "I knew he sent you! You'll regret this!"

Danika chose from the short list of dialog options: "I really don't know who you are talking about?" Playing on her phone really gave the game a more classic feel.

"Lies!" the distressed crane protested. "Why else would you capture and torture me like this!?"

"I haven't even begun to torture you yet," Danika muttered aloud.

Shinichi gave a snort of laughter and asked, "Who are you torturing?" He was tapping furiously and didn't look away from his own game screen.

Danika glanced over to see what was keeping him so busy as she replied, "This crane." She added her own response to the crane: "I'm not trying to hurt you, I just need the enchanted stone that you swallowed."

Shinichi's pixie ShinZing was involved in an aerial battle with a swarm of insects that would have given ZipZing problems in VR. Danika was pretty sure that she wasn't coordinated enough to fly like that without skill boosts assisting her. Somehow despite all this time together, it hadn't really occurred to her how high his dexterity must be to play his assassin so well on his phone, but she'd seen him pull off moves that couldn't have been simple point and click.

"I don't remember anyone ever mentioning bugs like that in the vale," Danika commented questioningly.

"I'm not in the vale anymore," Shinichi replied with amusement. "Accept my friend request and guild application?"

Danika quickly turned her attention back to her own screen. She hadn't noticed the little icon notification, and looking at the dialogue from the crane, she wondered if maybe she wasn't actually torturing it.

The crane had protested while her attention had been diverted, "You mean you just want my life! Let me go! Hey! Help, I'm going to drown in this mud! I may never be able to fly again! Somebody help me!"

Danika asked her assistant app, and Shinichi, doubtfully, "It says I'm trying to kill it? Does a crane have to die to get a stone out of its gizzard? I thought birds could replace the stones?"

"No idea, chickens are dead by the time I see their gizzards though," Shinichi replied. "It can talk? Or you picked up more language skills than I know about?"

"It can talk," Danika replied.

"It should be able to vomit them up," her assistant informed her as soon as there was a brief silence.

Danika told the crane: "Just cough up the stone and I'll let you go."

"You unscrupulous little thief! I'll never let you give it to him!" the crane shrieked.

"You don't have some secret past with a crane girl do you?" Danika asked Shinichi.

His hand slipped and his pixie went spinning through the air. He recovered and cut down another of the big colorful insects before replying, "What on earth Danika? No! I'm pretty sure…" Danika looked at him as his voice trailed off, but he shook his head, and said firmly, "I've definitely never terrorized an NPC to the degree that they would fear me that much later."

Her lip twitched at his very specific qualifications.