Chapter 40 “Peaceful time of relaxation near the lake.”

The forest of the lost souls disappeared forever and it no longer hold anyone it it’s white prison. All souls that were trapped in it were released, which included both those that were dead for hundreds of years but also those who were still alive.

It took three days before Arata together with Rin and Shin managed to get out from there although despite the fact that it was Arata who dealt the final blow to ‘the cause of the white mist’, Arata didn’t feel like he actually did anything helpful in there. He was not sure if it were only him alone, he would be able to get out from that forest. In best case scenario it would take him much more time at least although if he really ended up burring down the whole forest that might actually end up destroying ‘the cause of the white mist’ with it. The fact that he might have also die while doing so was a secondary concern and now no one can tell, what would really have happened.

In the end nearly everything ended well, and Arata’s greatest concern was also cleared as Rin was found completely unharmed as well. Also now that the forest was clear of the mist, the group would have a moment of breathing now in relatively safe location. But then again, not everything ended that well.

After regrouping with the party, the bad news arrived. It was probably something that they should have expected as after all the party had to stay in one place for three days. Even if at start, the monsters around them weren’t that eager to come near the forest of the white mist, after seeing their prey for so long in one place it was bound to happen sooner or later. No one from the party wanted to tell what exactly happened but the end result was two members of the expedition were no longer here.

Because it was already fifth day of the expedition, there was a need for members of the party to re-log. Even if people could sleep inside EOA they would still need to take care of other basic needs in real life. Ignoring the fact that people already had to prepare a lot of free time for it, while taking part in some long journey there was a need to stop at some point and in turns do a quick re-log. Even if the time difference was 5 hours to 1 one, five days would end up being accumulated into one full day which was already more than enough.

So, while Arata, Rin and Shin were traversing through the white forest, the party decided to do the re-log routine as they weren’t moving at that time. Still this resulted in worse fighting power at the time and also while fighting the log in player would have to defend unconscious players.

While logging out in dangerous area you receive a notice that log out might lead to possible death. Still, it’s not that one automatically dies but rather the body of that person falls asleep rather than disappearing. As long as someone else protect that body it’s fine to log out although if someone gets that message to begin with, then it’s a really dangerous place to log out in.

In the end the two deaths that happened in the party were result of this occurrence, although it was not the logged out players that were killed but the players that tried to defend them and paid their lives to do so.

Naturally, this resulted with sorrowful faces of the people that were defended so it was one of unwritten rule to not mention what exactly happened and who was helped by whom.

The two that ended up dying were Vivi, the blue elven archer girl from Arata’s group A and Thesar the sixth paladin from group C, who despite being a healer wore a heavy armour which made him look like a tank.

In the end though, two deaths weren’t that bad as after returning and hearing this report Shin said that it’s rather fortunate that everyone else managed to survive. One could call him heartless but he probably simply said that to ease the atmosphere and also he was happy that others did not share that fate. Not to mention that he also heavily considered that everyone would be dead at this point as after all it were full three days.

After regrouping, the party quickly entered the forest and walked for half an hour only to start yet another break. This time it was another logout break that was used by Arata, Shin and Rin as they naturally didn’t do it with others. Currently, forest was quite safe location because there were no monsters in it, at least for the time being, so it was a perfect spot for this occasion. It was such a great location to the point where apart from the logout break for ‘mist survivals’, there was also other slightly longer than usual ‘expedition break’ for everyone to sleep and regain strength, both physical and mental one. In was really good decision as even though the rest of the party did logout breaks earlier on it did not mean that they rested for too much. Arata was the same in that regard as for whole three days of walking through the white forest he did not sleep and kept on trying to do something, mostly with little effect. His last plan would probably work though, especially given the fact that there were numerous colourful teleport orbs that would spread the fire through the whole location in less than five minutes.

And now, after all those rests and breaks, today was the seventh day of the expedition if one counted the first day where party took out in the afternoon. With party fully rested it was nearly the time to take out and continue the journey, although using the opportunity that it was relatively safe in the still empty forest, Shin decided to use this time to make a short strategic meeting.

-as you all probably realized, we can’t really continue in the way that we did. The original formation was meant for eighteen people but we have lost seven of those. Naturally we can’t continue in the same manner, so the changes are need. First and foremost there will be only two teams from now on and as you can suspect there won’t be a rotation system anymore. It will be too much for one group to deal with everything while the other is not helping. Even when we had three groups the third group often helped out in the end as well so it doesn’t actually make that big of a difference. So from now on rather than rotation, we will simply take a small break after any hard fight also our longer breaks will be a little bit longer, although there won’t be many of those anymore…

“It will get more lively from now on.”

Arata welcome the idea positively as despite the fact that he do like to slack off a lot, it was somewhat painful for him to stay on the backs and do nothing while it was his group turn to be on ‘slacking duty’.

After reaching this point in his explanation, Shin he ended up taking out a large piece of paper and he hanged it on the trunk of the tree and started drawing on it. The drawing was the sketch of the position that everyone was going to take from now on. It did not change much but Shin decided to went over it from the very beginning.

-so in general, the formation looks like this. The middle of the front line is naturally left with our last remaining tank Flynn. Then the left flank is left to Levi and right flank is left to Arata. The space between them and Flynn are filled with Kei on the left and Julia on the right. That’s our outer defence half circle formation. Then middle of the right side is where Mika and Hiro will be staying and the left side is where Tras and Bran will be in mirror like order. Then I will be standing slightly behind them in the middle of the whole formation overseeing everything, still because there is no additional group at our backs and there is always a chance for an ambush from behind, Rin will be our protector the at back of the formation.

-Shin, are you sure that you want a protector like this?

-naturally Bran, I can’t feel any safer than with our best player here on my backs right.

-aye, but it wasn’t what I meant. Still if that is what you want.

-Bran rather than focusing on what you have heard you should focus on what you see. If you just get to know her you will find that she is really nice person, right Rin?

Shin wanted to say something but in that moment a flying red sword came flying at his face so he quickly moved his head to the right and the sword ended up hitting into the tree on which the white paper was right next to Shin’s head. Although the sword still ended up hitting the place that marked Shin’s position in the formation.

-for the hundredth time, don’t get overfamiliar with me!

Rin said to Shin. During the break Arata noticed that after their journey in the forest Shin tried to have a conversation with Rin many times although most of the times it ended up with her hitting him. Still, it seemed like that did not dishearten Shin in the least and he kept on trying to get on Rin’s good side. Naturally someone ended up asking Shin about that behaviour. To that he answered that he is trying to make a better atmosphere in the party and even though it is temporary he do consider Rin to be member of that party as well. He also mentioned that the fact that one person would always stay in the corner bothered him so he is trying to do something about it. That was at least his answer although apart from the fact that Shin was slightly more fearless towards Rin, nothing really changed. Rin still stayed in the corner and Shin did not manage to have a conversation with her even a single time during this stay. He did end up losing an arm once because of his actions but even this did not stop him as healers simple healed him up.

-Shin, I think you are overdoing with that socialization a little bit.

In the end though, people did think that Shin was behaving strange especially when it was clear that Rin hated what he was doing and she was quite clear about it.

-nonsense Tras, also others should try to get to know her as well, you have no idea on what you are missing on… aaa!...

This time more than one red weapon come flying so Shin ended up hiding behind the tree. After the danger passed he quickly finished up what he had to say.

-anyway, today as planned we should reach the lake and by using it, we will be able to avoid some scary parts of the west and progress a lot in our expedition. If my assumptions are correct then using the river will bring us the great effect that none of you would probably expect to be possible to happen. Well it still depends if it will really work but after sailing through the river there will be only a single day journey left for us to reach the heaven’s gate, if the map and location of the heaven’s gate that Arata showed me are correct that is.

Shin’s last sentence was really reassuring. After that short meeting everyone was packed up and the party started moving through the forest. Despite the fact that there were theoretically no monsters in it as just few days ago it was the forest of the lost souls, just for the safety measures, the party did end up going with their new formation. Well that formation still kept the basics from what they have been using earlier and Arata was once again at the right side of the formation.

-hey, Arata.

At some point during the peaceful walk through the forest Julia walked towards Arata and started the conversation. Because their positions were still close that did not disrupt the formation that much.

-yes?

-can you tell me what happened in that forest?

-hmm, sure but there isn’t much to tell I think. I entered the forest, immediately got lost because, as it later turned out I have been teleporting all around the place for three days. At some point I meet up with Shin and Rin. They already had more or less everything figured out and thanks to one of my skills I found the creature that was responsible for this white mist and slashed it down with my sword the moment I found it. that’s about it.

-was there nothing else?

-hmm… apart from what I said there would be me looking for a possible ways out but none of them worked…

“I think that burning down that forest would work though. The creature would be burned down as well as it was some kind of treant. No need to mention it though.”

-lastly I got an useless quest items with question marks all over it. I am not that excited about it as I already have something like that and I am yet to find any use for it.

“Well, I will put those things on the black market auction the next time I visit them. I won’t go there specifically for that as getting inside took some time but if it will be on the way then sure… hmm, now that I think about it, I forgotten to sell that ‘angel’s halo’ crap, although let’s hold back on that for now as I am going to heavens, after all. Maybe they have some lost and found shop there and they will offer the better price than 1500 gold. Well that is of course if the heavens are more of the city than a dungeon.”

-I see.

Julia answered while looking down to Arata’s explanation on what happened in the forest.

-was there something else you wanted to know?

-oh, if you already asked then, can you tell me what happened to Shin, there?

-hmm… from what he said he had quite interesting journey, compared to mine at least. He said that he even spoke with some souls of the dead in the dream world.

“And here I thought that if I don’t stay awake something will come and kill me there. How could I know that the correct way was going to sleep?”

-I am not asking about that, I want to know why he started talking with Rin out of sudden!?

-but didn’t you ask him that question already, and he even answered it, so why do you ask me?

-I ask because it is unusual for Shin to start conversations in general.

“What a strange reason. Still I guess she would be angry if the person she likes started showing interest in someone else. I am sure that it won’t bore any fruit though.”

-even if you say so, when it comes to talking with Rin then it’s either you start conversation with her or you won’t have conversation with her at all. Simple as that. I think that Shin just simply realized that fact as well and because he wants to have good atmosphere in the party he tries to talk with her. You should know that with Yume gone, Rin practically talks only with no one but me and Levi. That’s not really a good atmosphere and even if he doesn’t want to be the leader, he has to execute that role as long as this expedition lasts, and it’s leader’s job to take care of it.

-then what, you are telling me that Shin is simply pitting her because she is mostly alone? If she just wanted she could not be alone, what is with that reason?

-no, I am positive that it is not his reason as Rin doesn’t mind being alone. For example any time I try to talk with her she will start with ‘get lost Arata!’, no matter what we might think it’s not something that someone who is looking for company would say when someone tries to talk with them, right?

-even though I wasn’t in Karma for as long as others from what I know she was always a solo player to the point where she did raids on her own so I don’t think she is looking for friends in this game.

-even though it is VRMMORPG people can enjoy the game on their own as well. Some people are just like this and it’s not a small number of them. They simply want to enjoy RPG system of it with cutting the MMO part out. And EOA does have great RPG system after all. Anyway, what do you worry about, you did see how Rin reacts to his tries, right?

“The thing that he is still alive is quite surprising, still that proves that Rin at least recognizes his importance in this expedition. I do kind of feel that she will kill him when that importance will disappear though.”

-well I did. Then why does Shin keep on trying?

-it’s quite simple, rather than doing anything for Rin’s sake he simply want to enjoy a conversation with her.

“Even if it means dying later.”

-aaa! Then… then what does it mean?

-I guess, he wants to be her friend, or maybe he simply wants to get on her good side so he won’t get killed by her again. The second one is more likely.

-but both are the same thing.

-hmm, that probably depends on how you define a friend. Anyway, there is nothing bad about it right?

-… .

-wait, don’t tell me that you are jealous of Rin?

-I am!

“Really… I mean, really? Still, that would explain why she asked me about it to begin with.”

-but it’s not like there is any effect here, Rin does not want to talk with him in the least. I would say that the guy should simply give up because he won’t get far with how he tries to do things. So once again, where your basics for getting jealous are?

-but the fact that it’s Shin trying is more than enough.

-Julia, I am positive that you have nothing to worry about, so getting jealous over nothing is stupid.

-it’s not stupid, but it seems like you won’t understand me!

With that Julia ended up returning to her position which was still really close to where Arata was walking although she did not look back even once after.

“Being jealous hmm? Well, I guess it’s more natural to be jealous but I don’t remember any time in which Kotori was jealous of me and I also was not really jealous of her either. Although, that’s easy for us as we do believe in each other so much. Actually because Kotori looks so beautiful I should actually consider getting jealous because there will be many who will be captured by her beauty. Still even before I could get jealous of her she herself would end up beating down the person responsible for it to the plump. Yep, in true love there is no place for being jealous. Actually jealousy is the fact of distrust between people, and there is no distrust between us. So I guess I won’t understand her.”

Arata arrived at the conclusion but unfortunately people usually didn’t have a beautiful love like this.

“Still, this case is completely different as even if Julia does like Shin, I do know that Shin does not like her. I would say that he even likes Hikari more, although it’s more of sibling love. Hmm… I think it’s actually something that me and Kotori have with Yuki. I never had any siblings but Yuki really feels like that. Hmm… I keep on thinking about Kotori but I want to see Yuki as well. Hopefully she made some friends after being teleported after we split up, especially given that she was somewhat bad at it. Although… if I have to confess then I don’t want her to call anyone else Oni-chan but me. Oh, I understand jealousy now.”

Arata made a revelation.

“Still, I really think that it’s impossible for Julia’s jealousy to have any meaning. Even thought it was a short time, I do now know Shin enough and based on his character, I think that if he was really looking for romance then he would already be with someone at this point and the fact that he is not is enough proof. What’s more, it’s literary impossible for Rin to like him back anyway. Even if world went crazy, and everything went upside down, and some crazy fat babies with angel wings and bow and love arrows start flying around the world and shot people at random, in Rin case, there is always ‘that fact’ left. It’s really sad but that is simply the truth that I am convinced off.”

The walk through ‘the forest without lost souls’ took few hours but it was actually quite peaceful experience. It was the first time in the west in which the party traveled without encountering any enemies on their way. The forest was completely empty and it would probably take some time before ‘anything’ decides to use it as their new home. Most of the creatures around it are probably still afraid of entering it.

After unexpected fast travel party reached the planned spot. They were still in the forest but they now could see the lake in a distance which was the next point on their journey. After reaching this point the party was planning to move by sailing the river to both speed up their journey but also to avoid certain parts of the west that Shin labelled as ‘bad ends’. Still before they could do anything they still had something to deal with.

-let’s deal with them quickly!

Even though forest was relatively empty there were some creatures that were staying near the lake. They looked like toads although their colors weren’t only green and brown. There also were red, blue or yellow toads as well. They also were much bigger than normal toads but being absurdly big was a standard for the west. Although there was a small difference in those creatures as in comparison to normal those near the lake had tails as well. They were big enough to not be called tadpoles though.

In comparison to most other fights this time it was the party who were the attackers. Normally the party was not attacking anything that didn’t want to fight for very obvious reasons, still this time even if the toads didn’t want to fight, it would have been way too dangerous to leave them alone as the party would be using the coast of the lake for some time from now on.

Because it was the attack Arata was finally able to move more freely this time. After range made first ‘surprise attack’ from afar, every ‘melee dps’ was allowed to go on their own to attack.

Arata went to the most right enemy and started fighting. The first ‘yellow toad’ was not prepared for the fight yet so after running towards it Arata made few attacks with his swords and massacred its head from the right side, starting with the eye.

After killing the first one, the other ‘red toad’ that was close, attacked with its tongue. It was actually a range attack as the toad attacked from a distance of three meters and the tongue stretched in a straight line. The speed at which it came was quite fast but for Arata it was easy to move out of the way of attack. After dodging, Arata made sure to attack the tongue and his attack cut through it. Afterwards Arata made a quick dash towards the toad. The toad even though ‘tongue less’ was still up for the fight. It was now standing on its back legs.

After Arata reached it, the toad pushed hard with its right hand at him. Arata made a spin on his left foot to dodge it and at the same time he used that spin as an attack and made two parallel wounds on toad’s left side. After that the toad used its powerful legs to jump away. As one would expect, the jumping power of a toad like creature was incredible and the toad went to the sky to a great distance while Arata was attacked by other two toads that came at him from the sides.

Two blue toads landed on the two sides of Arata after making huge jumps. Still Arata was not planning on being surrounded by them for very long so he quickly moved to closer to the side of one toad. There he attacked at the hand that the toad used to attack him. Even though the push was probably stronger than Arata’s attack, Arata used the swords so the force only made it easier to cut through the hand.

The second toad made a small jump towards Arata and attacked but Arata was too quick for movements like that and he already moved to the back of the first toad and continued his attacks form there.

Arata was not sure what level those toads had but for him the battle was quite easy as the toads weren’t nearly fast enough to catch up to him as he moved around them. The best they could to was to attack with their back feet or with their tongue from a distance. Then if the toad decided to run away but jumping to the sky they would simply got shoot down by the range dps so Arata was not even trying to go after them. The toads were actually quite strong and with a single hand push attack they easily destroyed a tree which was confirmed when Arata made a dodge near one tree and the brown toad destroyed. Still in the end in fights, it did not matter how strong someone was as long as they couldn’t ‘connect’ the attack. For Arata fights against opponents that didn’t have speed behind them was always quite one sided. For toads even keeping up with him was hard but actually hitting him was even harder and in the end turned impossible for them even though they attacked in groups.

The fight ended without any casualties despite the massive number of enemies. Even when a slightly more gigantic purple toad appeared which was shooting out the poison out of its mouth, the party dealt with it without much problem. Still because the coast had to be ‘cleaned up’ without leaving anything alive it took some time before the party managed to catch all fleeing toads. Although some of them ended up diving into the lake so they had to be left alone, at least for now.

[You have gained a level, current level 111]

During the fight Arata also managed to level up yet another level. Even if the experience needed for next levels was quite huge from 100 level onward, during his journey through the west Arata was more or less fighting all day. Still he gained only one level experience worth counting from the widow’s forest so the rate at which he was exping wasn’t that great. Sure the level was generally going slow but while Arata was exping up together with Levi on the iron golems, it was going slightly faster. Although at that time they were using extreme measures and the exp itself was their goal. It was natural that someone who was exping with only exp in mind would get much more levels than those who were simply travelling.

-okay, we are doing better than planned and we actually have a lot of time now. I think that we won’t be going anywhere farther today as we have to build boats on which we will travel from now on so before we are done it will be night time already. Well it’s not like there is any real work with the method we will be using but it will still take some time. I am not sure if we want to sail during the night but staying in one place for too long is also no long so this is also the possibility. Despite what I said, the sailing might take more than half a day after all. Anyway, for now though, let’s make a camp and eat something.

After the fight, Shin declared yet another stop and the camp was set up. Still setting up the camp went only as far as making a campfire and setting down some trunks or rocks to sit on.

As for the food, everyone pretty much had something prepared for themselves already as it was the most effective way of eating. This time however, given the friendly location and because there was a lot of time, Arata decided to make something out of his cooking book. He already knew the recipes that were in the book so rather than looking for anything Arata already knew what to choose. Actually he decided to cook right now mostly because of the dish that he wanted to make which was ‘frog legs in sauce’. Even though the name might not be that appealing to some, people who actually had the occasion to eat it once would understand that name is a secondary thing when it came to cooking. Not to mention that something like frog legs was actually an expensive dish that one would usually find only in a high class restaurant. Arata himself did not have an occasion to eat something like that in real life but that was yet another reason to try it right now.

-em… if there is someone who want to try my cooking then I don’t mind making some extra as I will be starting now. So if anyone wants to try ‘frog legs in sauce’ then give me your ingredient loot from the last fight.

When Arata started setting up his equipment, he realized that he was weirdly looked at so he declared what he was going to do. He didn’t really mind making more because when you were making something, making an extra portion was not a problem. Also it didn’t seem like he will have many orders as after he said the name of the dish, most people’s reaction were like this.

-frog legs? You mean you want to eat those disgusting creatures we just killed?

Julia commented on it like this.

-if you want to cook you can do it but we can’t ask you to cook for us all, right?

Vatras answered like this. It might seem like he didn’t want to overwork Arata but his true thoughts were easily seen through and those were probably similar to Julia’s one.

-I like my own food the most but thanks for asking. But hey Mika, you do like to try new things right?

-…em!

-ah sorry I forgot that you are on a diet, well Arata we will pass on your offer.

The azure-haired siblings answer was like this. Although Hiro had to come up with obvious lie after teasing his sister to the point where she looked like she could start crying any moment.

Still there were some positive replies as well. The first two to trade their items with Arata were Levi and Rin.

-oh, Arata you are finally cooking. I have been waiting for this!

Levi had the most experience with Arata’s cooking so he did not bother with the name at all.

-here… .

Rin trade her ‘loot’ without any comment at all, although strangely enough she didn’t walk away afterwards and stayed near the fire where Arata was cooking. Well for her it was as good staying place as any.

Then lastly there were two who were not bothered with the name.

-hey Bran, as the dwarves we can’t be picky about a food right?

-aye Flynn, the dwarves can be picky only about their beer.

-then Arata, count us in!

The party’s dwarves duo also decided to try Arata’s food as well. Arata was not sure if they were not bothered by eating the creatures that they just killed as those toads were indeed disgusting, still if they wanted to try then Arata would have more ‘testers’. Although from the book’s description that said that even if it may not look like it the toads are actually delicious, Arata believed that it will be really good. That was because in his cooking book, Marco wasn’t using the word ‘delicious’ way that often. Also even though it might not seem like it the gigantic frogs weren’t that common so their legs were actually a rare ingredient. It might really be one in the life chance to make this food.

-so do you want to help out?

Because Rin stayed near the ‘cooking place’ Arata ended up asking.

-you probably don’t want my help. I would just get in a way.

-but aren’t you good at cooking?

-not in this world.

-but the cooking in EOA works just like in real world, so you shouldn’t have any problems.

-if you are asking for my help because you want me to help you, then I will do what you ask of me but if you are just trying to come up with conversation then, do not bother.

-but aren’t you sitting here because you wanted to talk about something, normally you would just sit in some room corner.

-do you see any room corners here?

-it was a metaphor.

-well this is a good place to sit down as any others also I will be the first one to get the food…

“I see so this is your true intention.”

-still while we are at it we could actually pretend that we have a conversation.

Then Rin said something strange.

-what do you mean by pretend? How does one even pretend to have conversation in the first place.

-… never mind, forget I said anything.

-in the first place, why do you want it to look like we have a conversation?

-didn’t I say that you should forget what I said.

-did I ever agree to it?

-fine, let’s have that conversation because I actually want to ask you of something. Arata can you tell that annoying white four-eyes to stop annoy me at every possible occasion!

-… .

“White four-eyes… haha.”

The way Rin described Shin was quite funny to Arata.

-what are you grinning for!?

-nothing, still what does he do to annoy you?

-he tries to talk with me.

-is there anything bad with it?

-yes, because I don’t feel the need to talk with him.

-rather than thinking like that you should consider it a chance on making a friend.

-making a friend… I don’t want to hear anything about this especially from you.

“Well, I guess that is also the truth.”

-in that case consider it a chance to befriend a potential ally that may be useful in the future, like for example you will find another crazy quest with some crimson knights in it and you will need a help with it. Good players aren’t that easy to find you know.

-if there really was ever a case that I would like those people to help me, then I would ask Mary for it and not him.

“Ah she is really good at answering.”

Arata’s arguments were shot down one after another.

-well anyway if you want him to stop talking with you, you should probably tell it him yourself.

-do you think that I didn’t? I did, many times but unfortunately the effect of it was similar to when I told you or Levi the same.

-still look where it lead to, you have two trusty teammates for your quest.

-…

Rin looked at him annoyed after Arata said that but then she continued.

-I guess, still because of that, I don’t need any more as you said trust teammates. In the first place I never did approve of joining this party, it was all your idea Arata.

-but you must agree that it is quite beneficial to us as we don’t have to worry about anything else than moving forward and killing monsters on our way. Even with a map I think that we would end up getting lost many times. Also I am not completely sure if we were for example able to get out of that white forest without Shin’s help.

“Although, I am sure my idea would also worked.”

-… .

-anyway it won’t be long before we reach the heaven’s gate so you will have to put up with everything for few more days.

Because it was little irresponsible to leave everything to one person Arata ended up checking how the progress went and from what he saw after finishing sailing through the lake it would be a one day journey at most to reach the heaven’s gate. If everything went well that is. The route through the river would also probably take at least one day at best.

-ah, only few days…

After hearing what Arata said, Rin sighed with relive.

-anyway Arata after we reach that gate and if that gate works and we do enter the heaven, no matter what happens we are leaving others to do what they want and we deal with our quest alone. This time it’s not an argue, you said that I can decided when we are splitting up.

-fine, fine… until then however try to enjoy your popularity because it seems like it’s as big as it always was.

-… .

After Arata said that Rin gave him a deadly look so he returned to focusing on cooking.

As always Marco’s cooking book was descripting everything in elegant manner that anyone could understand, although right now Arata wasn’t a novice cook anymore and he could make many things without use of the book as well, both in real world and EOA. Still trying new things was always the best and Marco’s cooking book still had many new dishes that Arata could prepare in the future.

-strange… .

At some point while Arata was cooking he hear those words, although Rin was probably saying them to herself.

-what is strange?

He asked not expecting the answer bur Rin did answer in the end.

-hmm? Well, I just thought it was strange to see you having fun with something like cooking. Leaving the fact that you didn’t use to simile to often or rather never, the fact that you are doing it while cooking is even more strange.

-is that so? Well I a little different than I was in the past.

-that I already know but cooking? Really?

-I don’t know what you think about it but it is quite enjoyable, you should return to it yourself.

-no, I won’t be doing that in this world.

-I guess it’s not really necessary to do it in EOA but cooking is still useful. Not only you get some stat bonuses but also you can enjoy a good meal everywhere. Also while cooking here you also learn to cook in real life.

-… .

-although, about those stats bonuses. I am not sure that they are actually useful, as stats don’t do anything. Hey Rin, do you know what stats actually do?

-I never really cared about them, the thing I understand though is that the more you have the better, and that’s enough for me. Still Arata, aren’t you some old gamer. It should be you who tells me what they do.

-well normally they should increase your parameters like damage you deal or the amount of the damage you can take, how fast you move and how strong you are but in EOA it’s somehow not it so I don’t understand how it works.

-I am not that interested in it in the first place but Arata, do you think that strength can be categorized by numbers?

-exactly you got it right here as it can’t. You should also know that if I said something as stupid as that they can then my grandpa would disinherited me.

-haha… he wouldn’t, but you would get a solid beating for ignoring all his lessons.

“Oh, I saw Rin laughing like this in this world. How rare it is.”

It seemed that if nothing else, Rin was in a good mood right now.

-anyway the food should be ready in five minutes so I should probably get the others.

-they will come on their own. There is no need to call them.

-if you say so.

After waiting the ‘exact time that the cooking book said’, the food was ready and it turned out to truly be ‘delicious’ even by Marco’s standards. It also didn’t look that bad despite the ingredients or rather it looked delicious as well. In the end the only bad thing that one could point out in that meal was the name.

-hahaha, such a win. Hey everyone, you have no idea what you just missed on, still Arata don’t let anyone who didn’t want it before try it. Only the courageous ones should be rewarded.

After they finished eating Bran commented to both praise Arata and irritate all others.

-aye, it was the best meal I ever ate.

Flynn followed up.

-Arata, seconds.

Rin did not comment even once but just once again repeated those words.

-but you already had two seconds…

Arata answered. Because Rin was not involving herself in any conversation, her eating speed was much higher than others and she somehow never had enough.

-also there is nothing left.

-… .

Only after Arata added this comment Rin gave up and walked away with head down.

-wait, wait!

Still after she did that, Bran out of sudden called out to her.

-what?

-now that we eaten such delicious meal it would be a shame to stop only on that so. Hmhmhm, behold and look with your eyes on what I have here. After all, everyone knows after delicious meal it’s time for delicious drink.

Bran ended up taking out a large bottle with ‘unknown substance’ in it.

-but Bran, shouldn’t we start building boats like now?

-haha, it’s not like we are necessary there, Tras will take care of it. Also Flynn, if you don’t drink at least once a weak what dwarf are you ha??? There won’t be a better opportunity than now. Hey little girl, you will join us won’t you?

-… .

Rin did listen to the end as she though that Bran really had something to tell her but when he finished, she simply looked at him disgusted and walked away.

-in that case it will be only four of us, hmm, there probably won’t be many occasions for it so let’s start a drinking game and see who has the best head out of us.

-hey are you sure you should be doing something like this in a place like this.

Arata said to Bran.

-well not only me, I mean we! Right guys.

-aye! It’s a matter of honor.

-I will naturally join in as well. But Arata, you will chicken out?

Levi also seemed quite eager for that drinking game and naturally he provoked Arata to do it as well.

-you can interpret it like this but I definitely don’t want to die and fail my quest because of something like that…

“Not that I like drinking anyway.”

-aye but you should have some fun once in a while.

Flynn commented.

-ah Arata why are always like this! Lose up a little, stop being so serious and relax. Relaxation is also necessary, right?

Levi continued to convince him but Arata already made a strategic retreat so the drinking game ended up being played out only with Bran, Flynn and Levi. Although it seemed like from drinking game it soon turned into singing together drunken songs and it seemed like the three had an unlimited number of them at their disposal.

Arata ended up walking towards Shin and Vatras who were walking around and ‘checking out trees’.

-this one will be good I think.

-is that so? Well I don’t see any difference so it’s all yours Tras.

-hey, I wanted to ask, we are going to now build the boats and use them to sail through the river, right?

Arata ended up asking after coming close.

-yes that’s about it.

Vatras answered.

-still is building a boat really that easy to do it in one night? Not only that but we probably need more than one to travel with elven people. Or is it that by boats you meant rafts?

Arata asked.

-no, we are going to use actual boats.

Vatras answered and then Shin followed up with the explanation.

-you are probably asking how we are going to make them but you don’t have to worry about that Arata. Tras will take care of it, so leave it to him and for today just rest and the best you can do for now is to watch out for anything dangerous. We originally were planning to build boats but with neither Musashi nor Thesar here we won’t be able to build anything other than rafts just as you said so we will be using completely different method. Right Tras?

-well it should work I guess. Hopefully I won’t get thrown out from druid circle for that though.

“If they are not asking for help then they probably don’t need it.”

Arata ended up walking away but he still observed what Vatras and Shin were doing as his alternative was probably the drinking game and drunken songs which Arata would prefer to avoid. From the look of it the ‘drink’ that the three were using was not something normal as in such short time all ‘players’ were already drunk as if they were drinking for hours.

As for Shin and Vatras, they ended up walking around the coast and were checking out the trees. Near some trees they would stop and Vatras would use some kind of green spell on them that visually did nothing, at least not yet. Still, because it was not that interesting to look at Arata soon started to look for something else to do, although he didn’t have to search for too long.

-hey Arata come here for a second!

Arata was called by Julia who was sitting together with Hiro, Mika, and Kei.

-yes?

-Arata, we are planning to check out this lake because no matter how you think about it, it’s definitely not perfectly safe.

Hiro explained right away their intentions.

-you mean there are some monsters in it?

-I would guess at it blindly as it’s the west but we already saw some large fish inside that lake so we are sure of it. Not to mention that some of the frogs dived into it. So how do you feel about some underwater combat?

-no idea, I never fought underwater, I also not sure how do you picture it. Still if you are asking if I can swim then yes I can.

-well that will be enough. Our plan is to enter the water and swim a little to look for aggressive creatures. Mika has a useful spell that will allow us to breathe underwater so it shouldn’t be that hard. Also I can probably deal with anything on my own anyway you and others will be coming as my back up.

-okay count me in but are you sure we should just do it on our own?

-don’t get me wrong, it was Shin who asked me to do it as I am the most suitable for it. Anyway if you are joining in, it means that. Julia, you are out.

-what? Why!

-we don’t need too many people in there and two people at my back up will be enough. And because I think that Arata and Kei will be both more useful than you, so as the person who was left in charge of this mission I tell you, good bye. Be sure to defend the camp while we are away because there aren’t that many people capable of fighting as it seems.

Hiro pointed towards the drunken trio.

-ah!! Hiro, I hate you!

Still after being told of, Julia ended up shouting and walked away angry.

-it wasn’t my fault was it?

Arata asked.

-no, I was planning on asking you from the start, unless you joined that drinking festival that is. Anyway we will start right away.

-just to confirm we are looking for anything that may be dangerous and deal with it right?

Kei ended up asking.

-more or less but it will be me dealing with it from afar while you two are my back up in case something goes wrong although I don’t feel like I won’t be able to deal with anything underwater. It’s my domain. Anyway Mika, after we dive into the water cast that spell on us and afterwards check on us from afar.

-you didn’t have to tell me that again.

-great lets go.

Following after Hiro who was even more confident that usual, Arata and Kei dived into the water as well. They did it in normal way with holding their breath back but after entering the water their heads become surrounded by bubbles of air that pushed away the water from their heads. That allowed the divers to breath under water without any problems.

“Best scuba diving gear ever.”

They started to go down with the search of ‘dangerous underwater creatures’. The lake was not only big in size but also quite deep so they had places to check. Still, there weren’t that many places in which someone could hide so in general everything was out in the open.

It turned out that the lake was filled with numerous creatures. Mostly, some kind of fish that were swimming around. Apart from them there also were few colourful toads that the party first met on the coast.

-hey! Is it really the best idea to agro them?

Arata asked as the super scuba diving spell allowed for it, the sound that went through the water was not perfect but still understandable.

-well, given their number we might end up fighting them forever. So, we better get started.

Hiro answered.

-wait Hiro, did you forget that our job is to check the lake for potential enemies.

Kei stopped him.

-yes and to also erase those potential enemies.

-still those fishes don’t look aggressive to me so what’s the point…

Even though the fishes inside the lake were also somewhat big they didn’t even react after the three dived into the lake. The fishes were simply swimming around.

-we should probably only take care of those frogs as it seems like they are planning the revenge.

Kei added as indeed the colourful toads were now gathering in one spot and they indeed had a reason to attack later on.

-fine we will ignore the fishes, for now at least. Anyway as we planned stay on the back and let me handle it.

-you sure you can do it? There are quite a lot of them.

-haha, sure I can, using water spells underwater brings enormous effect you know. Just look at this…

Hiro ended up stretching his hand forward and second later a gigantic spinning water ball appeared at his palm.

-just now I used my usual water ball with little skill management yet the effect is like this, cool right?

“Hmm, so spells can also be influenced by environment. Well I will test it myself as well.”

[Sword enchant: water]

[Sword slash]

Without saying anything Arata ended up trying out how his ‘water spell’ will work underwater. Arata ended up slashing downward in the direction of the group of toads and the effect was the swords slash that was three times bigger than normal.

-… .

Although Arata was originally planning to kill just some because the size increased the sword slash ended up killing off all toads that were grouped up in one go. The attack also made a large hole in the ground. From that ground soon the bubbles of air started to flow out.

-I guess you were right.

-Arata, do you have to show off so much? The water should be my domain!

Hiro ended up sulking.

-no, no, I was just testing what you said.

-yes definitely. Anyway let’s swim around a little more…

The search continued although there weren’t that many things to search for. It turned out that the lake was actually quite peaceful and the fishes that were swimming in it did not have any fighting potential. That did not mean that Arata was not attacking them though.

-hey, I thought that we aren’t going to attack them, what are you doing?

Kei asked him

-I am catching the food material, if you don’t have anything better to do you can help as well.

Arata was fishing underwater and as his rod he had a sword.

-fine, do what you want. We will go check out that underwater cave you don’t have to come.

Kei and Hiro ended up swimming away while Arata continued his ‘sword fishing’. It was not that easy to catch a fast swimming fish underwater with the use of a sword but at the same time it being challenging was the fun part. In the first place, Arata gave up trying to swim after the fishes and trying to catch them as it was simply impossible. Rather than that he decided to hide in some plankton and wait for his chance. This plan already worked once so Arata decided to stick to this tactic. Before long another fish ended up swimming over the plankton that Arata was hiding in. The moment it did Arata jumped up and slashed with his sword end ended up cutting of the fish head. Afterwards he didn’t need to do anything as the fish meat would automatically land in his inventory.

-hey Arata, come here for a second!

Still Arata’s playing around was stopped quite quickly as he heard Kei’s shout.

After swimming upward a little Arata located him near the entrance to the underwater cave and so he swam in that direction.

-yes?

-we found something but help me convince Hiro to pull back.

Kei ended up saying that after Arata got close and they soon entered the underwater cave.

After swimming for two minutes they ended up reaching the place in which the tunnel ended up splitting into three ways. That was where Hiro was waiting.

-good, you brought him. Anyway I say that each of us take one tunnel and see what is at the end of it.

-Hiro, remember what Shin said.

-easy, easy, we will just look inside or are you afraid Kei?

-I am not that good at underwater fighting. Anyway lets go back.

-wait, we were to look for anything that might attack us later on so, I say that we should check those caves out. Anyway, what’s the worst thing that could happen?

-… .

-hey Arata what will you say?

-I think that we shouldn’t do anything that is unnecessary, I don’t want to fail my quest over something stupid.

-it’s two on one Hiro. We are not here to play around remember?

-okay, in that case, our mission is over as there is nothing left to check and the fishes don’t want to fight us anyway so there won’t be a reason for them to chase after our boats. Let’s go back… hmm what’s that…

Just as they were going to swim outside the water around them somehow started to behave unnaturally. Some kind of water stream appeared and it started to push them inside the middle tunnel. Arata, Hiro and Kei tried to swim outside but even the best swimmer could not fight against this stream. Even the use of spells did not help and they ended up being sucked inside. But then as they moved at some point Hiro ended up attacking with one of his skills in the direction where they were sucked in. After few seconds in a distance in the tunnel to which they were sucked something exploded and the path was blocked off with that explosion. Without saying anything else, the three swam outside of the cave as fast as possible without looking back.

-okay, let us pretend it never happened. Mission complete.

Hiro just said that and then he started to swim to the coast where they began from. Arata and Kei swam after him.

-hey, was it actually necessary to check out this lake? There wasn’t anything that dangerous here.

Arata ended up asking.

-no, but Shin simply wanted to be 100% sure that if it is relatively save so nothing unexpected happens when we sail out. Also, Mika already generally tested this lake so we were sent in just to make sure.

“I guess if there was actually anything dangerous in this lake then we wouldn’t be entering with three people only. Nor would we use it as our route later on”

-anyway if we don’t have to do anything else then I will go back to the fishing. We weren’t going to continue the journey today, right?

-maybe at night but okay, I will pass on the message.

Hiro and Kei ended up leaving the lake while Arata continued his ‘sword fishing’. Naturally the main reason that he did that was because he wanted to test out some fish dishes from Marco’s cooking book. Also swimming around was not that bad. In fact if someone could breathe underwater without any special equipment then it was actually quite pleasant experience. In diving the biggest joy was probably the ability to move in any direction you wanted, as it was not only horizontally but also up and down. In a way swimming was like flying.

Arata continued his ‘sword fishing’ for following two hours. At some point he managed to locate one more colorful toad that managed to hide so far but Arata dealt with it immediately. Apart from that there weren’t anything out of ordinary, that is if one could call fishing with sword ordinary. In the end Arata managed to stock pile quite large quantity of fish meat but then just as he was thinking of going back he heard a loud sound that came from the direction of the coast on which the party was staying. Well not exactly the coast but rather the ground in the lake where Arata once killed of many toads with ultra-water sword slash.

“What was that?”

Now however after two hours have passed, the ground in that place started to collapse and the water started to flow into the hole that appeared. While doing so it created a small whirlpool. Arata wasn’t close to that whirlpool so he was not sucked in by it still he had a good look at the situation. The ground continued to collapse although now somehow rather than falling down it somehow started to move upward and Arata soon found out the reason for that.

It turned out that the ground in that part of the lake was covering some kind of creature that was in a deep slumber since ‘god know when’. Still it turned out that the attack that Arata made earlier ended up waking this creature up. It was not something immediate as it’s been nearly two hours since then but that was probably the catalyst for the current situation.

As the creature started to move Arata realized how big that creature was although right now Arata only saw the large round shell that was still covering a lot of ground on its top.

“Why are all those creatures in the west of such ridiculous size?”

After seeing the size of the creature Arata thought like that although most of the creatures of the west so far would blank in comparison to the ‘gigantic turtle’ that appeared. The turtle as Arata classified it had a large shell that that in diameter would have at least fifteen meters. Still it was not exactly a turtle as in comparison to turtle this creature had long and thick tentacles as its legs. Still the head did look more turtle like although it had two horns on the forehead.

“Maybe it will be friendly?”

Arata hold the last hope but even if the creature was friendly the fact that Arata had already attacked it could not make that hope come true.

So far the turtle was slowly getting out but now that its head was out, it started to look around and soon it found the ‘unknown black-white creature’ that the turtle immediately recognized as an enemy. The turtle opened its mouth and few second later after gathering the energy a ‘laser of water’ shoot in Arata’s direction. The attack was gigantic and it also was getting bigger as it went forward. Even if Arata was 50 meters away from the turtle it would still be impossible to get out from the range of that attack, especially in the water. That’s why rather than avoiding it, Arata decided to reflect it.

[Sword slash]

Arata answered to fire with fire or rather to water with water. Two gigantic water attacks ended up clashing with each other and in the end both of them neglected each other. Still occurrences like that right in the middle of the lake created a gigantic wave. For the gigantic turtle it was nothing but Arata was quickly washed away by the force of that wave and there was little he could do about it.

Arata ended up being washed away all the way towards the coast but not the one on which the party was staying at but the one at the other side of the lake. He came there with the large wave that ended up crushing into the coast that was inhabited by colourful toads. The party did not bother to deal with the toads that were all the way on the opposite way of the lake as there was no meaning in it. Still Arata did not really have to bother with them now either as the big wave took them inside the lake while he was pushed away to the forest where the wave took him. He would end up being suck in back to the lake, if he did not catch the trunk of the tree. That fact that he was pushed away so far should tell how big the wave was created after the water attacks crushed with each other.

After getting back on his feet Arata looked in the direction of the lake that was still not calm. The waves were still forming but they were not as big as the one before, still right now it seemed like the turtle was fighting or rather mascaraing the toads that ended up sucked into the lake after the first wave. Arata could recognize the fact that the fight was taking place underwater as the gigantic tentacles of the turtle were sometimes coming out from the water and together with it many dead toads were floating out as well.

“Well, this is a good chance.”

Naturally Arata did not even think about fighting that creature as it was not meaningless but also impossible. That’s why he simply entered slightly deeper into the forest and started circling around the lake to where the party was which as he suspect also got away from the lake seeing the occurrence.

“Well I awaken some large underwater monster that resided in this lake but it shouldn’t be able to get out of from that lake so it’s not that bad.”

In comparison to normal turtle this gigantic creature had tentacles as its legs which sure worked much better underwater but also it would make it impossible for that creature to come out from it. Well that was at least what Arata thought but he soon realized that it was not the truth.

Arata was looking at the lake and at some point the gigantic tentacle of the turtle ended up coming out from the water and then it crushed down on the ground few meters away from where Arata was currently walking. From Arata’s perspective a wall of flesh appeared right before him. Soon enough the second tentacle ended up falling few meters behind him making it impossible for him to go either left or right. Afterwards the turtle started to slowly emerge from the lake to the ground.

“Oh, he is focused on me… well in that case.”

Arata changed the direction in where he was going so far and started running deeper to the forest away from the lake.

The turtle was slowly getting out from the lake. Even if despite Arata’s prediction it could move on land it was still really slowly. It’s base was still that of the turtle so it was slow. After getting out from the water the turtle ended up shooting at Arata some gigantic water balls but because Arata already ran away quite far he had no problems with dodging them.

Afterwards the turtle ended up slowly moving after Arata. It was moving slowly to the point where Arata had to wait for him from time to time. Still after some time the turtle ended up being about 200 meters away from the lake.

“Now then, this should be enough. Time to disappear.”

[Lighting speed]

Arata activated his skill and started running away with incredible speed. Earlier on Arata could out run the slow turtle normally and even had to wait for him from time to time. Now with lighting speed activated Arata disappeared from the turtle range in few moments.

Arata ran straight for about five minutes and afterwards he turned left and with great distance away from the turtle. He then continued through the thick forest back to where the party was staying. The turtle on the other hand continued its journey forward to where Arata theoretically ran to.

“Hopefully he won’t come back afterwards and even if he does we should be able to see that thing from the great distance. Still, I wonder how many people, would someone need to gather to take down a monster like this.”

The turtle naturally didn’t look like something that was meant to be fought alone or with ten people.

It took Arata an hour to get back to where the party was. It was partly because on his way he encountered a group of black orangutan-like creatures that ended up attacking him and he had to fight against five of them. They were mainly attacking with their hands and legs but they also sometimes picked up a rock from the ground and throw it. The most troublesome thing about them would be probably the way in which they moved on the trees. They were jumping on them so swiftly that Arata ended up taking the defensive position and simply counterattacked when they came closer. Fighting in that manner took some time but there weren’t any dangerous situations.

It was already getting dark when Arata returned and everyone was more or less gathered near the campfire. And also there were five boats already prepared waiting near the shore. In some of those boats there already were few people sleeping namely the drunken trio. Although it seemed like Flynn had ability to sing drunken song even in sleep as from time to time some strange sounds were coming from one of the boats.

-Arata, where the hell did you dig up that monster from?

The first one to welcome him was Hiro who rather than being worried about a person who was gone for few hours asked about the turtle.

-I think that rather than answering questions, it will be better if we leave this place before that turtle comes back.

-naturally we are taking off from here right away. We were just waiting for you…

Shin answered to him and it was true that they were ready to go any moment.

-anyway let’s get into the boats and move right away.

-we have five of them ready so two person per boat.

Vatras added. Although there were 11 people in the party right now, still to solve this the two sleeping drunken dwarves ended up being putted on each other in one boat.

Without wasting a time, the party ended up pushing the boats out to the water in pairs, sometimes alone. Arata ended up begin grouped up with Rin as after he walked towards one empty boat she ended up running towards it as well before anyone else. Inside the boat there were two paddles that everyone ended up using. It didn’t take long before the boats entered the river from which it was much easier to sail to the point where paddles served only to change the direction a little to avoid crushing into the rocks. Still it was not that hard and there weren’t that many things to crush into.

-Arata, are you tired after running away from that creature? If so then you can go to sleep if you want.

At some point Rin offered it to him.

-not really, it wasn’t that hard. I am not that sleepy either, so if you want you can take the first turn at sleeping.

-I see in that case I will take on that offer.

Without saying anything else, Rin ended up taking out a pillow and she fall asleep immediately few seconds later. Even though she did not say anything it seemed like she was at least worried about Arata’s disappearance. Still now that it all resolved itself, she could finally relax but when she did the mental fatigue kicked in right away.

The journey through the river was quite peaceful and surprisingly safe, so there was no occasion for Rin to wake up by herself and Arata did not try to wake up her either. In the end, Rin ended up sleeping for a really long time.

Extra note: On EOA website, I made 'character pages' that as a name suggest naturally show information about each individual character.

The information is mostly something that was already told in the story but because the story is so long people can forget some details. Like what clothing character have and stuff like that. (For example when was the last time I described Arata's strange hair.) So character page is a best place to remind yourself about facts like that without searching through the story.

Naturally there are other informations on that page as well. (I won't be listing it here as there is no point, go look at it)

Anyway currently there are the template (that explains few things like what does long hair means in those standards. Or what forehead length means)

Apart from template itself, I already made the pages for three most important characters of the second arc. (Arata, Rin, Levi)

Links to everything are here:

http://eyeofadventure.wordpress.com/characters/

(The characters that are made do have links to click on, new characters will get their pages at some point as well)

Ah right, lastly under the page with characters in comment section there is 'popularity ranking', something that I did at the end of arc 1, this time though, anyone can write there anything at any point. Give the notice to your favourite characters as they will be happy to hear that. Once again the link. (You might also tell me which for which character next you want a page for.)

Anyway once again link.

http://eyeofadventure.wordpress.com/characters/