Kyle stared into the fairy’s clear blue eyes “What is your purpose to this life?” Jior asked with both a serious tone and expression.

Both Kyle and Sly stared at the fairy as understanding sparked through the both of them (“Purpose? Is it really an AI?...”) Kyle thought as he hopelessly tried to answer that question “I…” only to remain speechless.

Sly furrowed his brows as he silently watched (“This is some matrix shit”) he thought to himself, the thought of sentient AI weighed heavy on humanity’s mind for generations after all.

Kyle was stumped (“Why? To enjoy a new game? I can’t say that…It wouldn’t under-Would it?”) his thoughts went astray as he continued to stare into those two small eyes full of intelligence, Jior had also continued to stare back.

“Did I hit a sore spot?” Jior blinked with curious eyes as it glanced back at Sly who was giving the fairy a shocked stare, “Wh..what?” it fumbled in it’s words as it’s cheeks began to turn red “Don’t look at me like that!” the fairy flicked it’s fingers and fluttered up into the air.

Both Kyle and Sly slumped down to the ground groaning and under the effects of nausea “How..did you-” Sly began to ask only to turn and rush back to the edge of the platform to feed the fish once more.

“Hmp! Blessings don’t remove statuses they only hide them until they run out!” Jior stated with eyes closed and blushed cheeks.

“It’s!-all-a lie!” the words could be heard fumbling out of Sly as he vomited his heart out, Jior peeked open it’s eyes and glanced at their sorry states.

“Evil fairies…evil…fairies…” Kyle whispered from his fetal position on the ground, his stomach rumbled angrily.

Jior’s eyes went wide as it panicked “No no Jior not evil!” it fluttered between them and cast it’s magic again “Remove thy ailments! Blessing of water”, the blue sparks of light showered over them once more.

Kyle turned over sighing in relief as Sly crawled away from the edge “Kyll…it’s got our lives within it’s grasp!...what shall we do?!” he whispered as he crawled by.

Kyle noticed him smirk and decided to follow his lead “We’re doomed bro, we’re puppets to an evil overlord!”.

Jior’s eyes flickered as tears formed “N-no..Jior…not evil!” the fairy glided down to the ground tears streaming down it’s eyes as it held itself, it’s cheeks reddening the further it wept. The small creature’s whole body trembled with fear “Jior…not evil…Jior…not monster….”, the two players stared at the weeping fairy in shock at it’s reaction to their joke.

Other players within the hide out had begun to collect around the scene “Damn is that some quest you guys on?” one beast-man said.

“Yo a fairy!” an Elf followed.

The players started gathering around the fairy as it glanced around itself fearfully, some getting too close to inspect it’s wings.

“Oi!..G-get away!” Kyle shouted but ended up being ignored, he inwardly cursed at the situation (“Can’t they read the damn mood?!”).

“Yo there’s a fucking dragon in the water!” Sly shouted from behind him, Kyle turned to see him purchasing a pole-blade similar to his own off a shady merchant.

“Dragon? Where?!” the players rushed away from the fairy at the prospect of the monster, they all swarmed around the edge looking around. Kyle immediately caught on as he rushed in to grab the still trembling fairy with both hands, after successfully getting Jior away from the group of eight or so players he turned to enjoy the show.

Jior who was still shaken looked up to see Kyle grinning, it followed his eyes to see the players turned away from the edge with disappointed expressions. Sly was standing right behind them with his new pole-blade held in both hands straight in front of him, a mad grin plastered on his face “Time to take out the trash, au revoir noobs”.

He rushed forth clad in a violet aura pushing the players off the edge, or at least that was his initial plan. Seven of the players got knocked off their feet and thrown off the edge but one persisted, the player was a female Elf with short black hair wearing full plate armour and a large two handed sword fastened to her back.

“You sly prick” she cursed while gripping Sly’s pole-blade with both hands, the ground beneath them began to crack as they both held their ground.

“That’ be my name Ma’am, so how’re we gonna go about this?” Sly asked with a chuckle. Kyle and Jior watched as the two pushed at the each other, neither moving an inch. Kyle inspected the Elf

Nakano [Slayer](Head Hunter) level 45

He whistled in astonishment (“Isn’t Sly level 42?”) he glanced at the sword on her back, your average low level great sword you’d find in any MMORPG.

“He’s going to lose” Jior said while wiping it’s face from the drying tears.

Kyle glanced down at the fairy “What do you mean? If he isn’t one of the best pvpers I know then he’s definitely the most creative, there’s no way-”.

Suddenly Nakano’s body was engulfed in a red aura similar to Sly’s, she pushed him back slightly as her grip on the pole-blade tightened. Kyle noticed that her currently green eyes had begun changing to red, as they both pushed cracks began to form even on the iron pole-blade. Sly let go right after the pole-blade shattered and moved to jump back but was all too slow as the Elf used her momentum to rush behind him, spinning on one leg she kicked him in the back sending him over the edge. A tear leaked off Sly’s pale face as he momentarily hovered above the fall, looking down into the pit of water and blood as grey serpents feasted on the previous players, a sight that remained engraved in his mind even as he was thrown out into the cold snow.

Kyle sighed as he walked out of the tree-bark hidden entrance with Jior in one hand and Sly’s pole-blade in the other, Kai threw Nakano into the snow as well and turned to walk back into the the hide-out. Kyle nodded apologetically at Kai as he passed him by, “Don’t let that happen again little fox, I won’t be using kiddie gloves again”.

Nakano emerged from beneath the deep snow cursing “Damn fat ape!” she glared at Kai as he closed the tree bark door behind him, she glanced at Kyle before focusing a glare on the still wide eyed Sly as he lay in the snow. Sword in hand she got up and marched over to him, standing above him she switched her sword upside down and raised it.

Kyle was about to rush forward and defend his friend but was met with her harsh words “Stay out of this, worry about the poor thing in your hands first then about this dumbass!”, he glanced down at Jior who was still mildly trembling as it gazed down at his palm.

Kyle sighed as he sat down (“Not like I can match you with that level and an actual clas- Oooh…”) understanding came over him as he realized why Sly had lost, he looked down at Jior who wore a sad expression.

“Oh..uhh…The hell?! Yo- Wait!- Shit!- St- stop!-” Sly cursed and shouted as he spun and turned on the ground while a long sharp sword plummeted down on his previous position over and over.

“Stand still dammit!” Nakano cursed as she continued to stab downwards with incredible speed.

Kyle chuckled as he watched the two aura clad warriors and their epic battle of pseudo wack-a-mole, “Hey Jior, sorry for before. We didn’t really mean all that, it was a bad joke” he apologized with an awkward tone.

Jior hiccupped and sniffled before looking up at him “R-really?” the fairy asked with an innocent voice and hopeful expression.

Kyle nodded and laid back onto the tree bark behind him “You asked me what is my purpose here? I can only sum it up to one thing really, what I want to do, what I want to see, how I want to live. I only have one answer; everyone can answer it differently but mine is... an adventure”.

Jior stood up on it’s feet “An adventure?” the fairy had a reason to ask the question, the words of Jior’s late mother echoed through it’s mind (“A being without purpose isn’t truly alive but an empty husk”) “A being without purpose isn’t truly alive but an empty husk” Jior repeated from memory “I accept your answer adventurer Kyllix”.

Nakano was crouching in front of her great sword panting, Sly laughed in between breathes as he lay on the snow “Out of breathe already? I can do this- All day!” he exclaimed.

Nakano forced herself to stand up using her sword for support, her face was the incarnation of rage “You…You!” suddenly she fell back and crashed into the snow as her sword fell straight on Sly’s gut.

“Ow..” He pushed the sword off and sat up “Guess- I win..” he glanced at Kyle who stood up with pole-blade and fairy in hand.

“Did she pass out?” Kyle asked as he walked over.

“I’m still…awake…idiots…” Nakano glared up at them.

Sly forwarded his arm to her “Need a hand?” he asked still panting, she glared resentment at him momentarily before giving in “I want a rematch” she exclaimed.

Sly pulled her up as Kyle handed him his pole-blade “Yeah when I get a damn class maybe, then it will be mildly fair” Sly chuckled.

She laughed mockingly while crouching down for her sword “Not my fault, you’re the one that initiated! Now let’s end this!” she held her sword in both hands and took a stance while Sly did the same with his pole-blade.

Kyle sighed “As much as I’d like to see a fistfight I don’t think either of you have the energy to fight again” he glanced at the both of them barely keeping themselves standing.

Kyle thought over how to break up a fight between two bloodthirsty combatants “How about this? Party up with us and once Sly gets a class you can beat each other to death, sounds like a plan to me” (“We get a strong ally to help with leveling and she gets to stay around for the fight”) he thought.

“That would increase the speed of leveling for all of us…” Sly seemed to like the idea.

They both looked at her as she furrowed her brows and thought it over (“Two DPS in a party doesn’t sound bad but what’s the other guy?”) she lowered her great sword “Fine, my guild isn’t online yet so I don’t got anything better to do anyway”.

Kyle sighed in relief “Where’s your guild from? We also got a small guild from another game”.

She holstered her sword on her back as the leather seemingly appeared out of nowhere to hold it in place “Eternium from Rune Shock” she said proudly.

Sly stared at her with wide eyes “The zerg guild? Seriously?”.

She looked at him baffled “We’re not a zerg guild! Just…a really large community!”.

Kyle held his face (“Don’t provoke her again…”).

She glanced at the both of them “What about you then? Seeing as you know about Eternium must mean you’re also from R.S, what name does your community go by?”.

Kyle shrugged “We’re not exactly a community…mostly a chatroom…”.

Nakano frowned “Oh? How many members? How many did you have at your peak?” she asked with a mischievous smile on her face.

Sly chuckled awkwardly “Currently eleven members?...Had about thirteen at our peak?...”.

She broke out into a laugh “Eleven!? That it!?”.

Sly visibly shook with annoyance “We hold high recruitment standards!” he exclaimed.

Nakano wiped a tear off her cheek “Eternium currently holds more than seven thousand members, three hundred of which are lords in R.S also of which twenty-two who are maxed” she spoke with a mocking tone “Highly doubt I’ve ever heard of your guild anyway!” she chuckled.

“No you probably haven’t” Kyle spoke out before Sly would say something that would provoke another fight, “Not being known is part of the job after all” he smiled evilly.

Nakano was now staring at them with pity “Right…What you some dark guild? Can’t be all that fun fighting skirmishes and murdering nobles, who doesn’t want to fight a guild war? Vast epic battles as a player swarm clashes with another!”.

Sly began to argue back “Hah! Fucking zergfest that’s why, looks good from a backline perspective but most players don’t even last long enough to show their skill in combat or enjoy the fight”.

They both continued to argue about the differences of Light and Dark guilds in Rune Shock, (“At least they’re not trying to kill each other…yet”) Kyle thought as he turned away from the two and opened the party menu. A notification prompted him what he had to do

{To start a party invite another player by focusing on them and on inviting them}

He focused on the both of them and two notifications followed

{Player [SlyOkami] has been invited to join your party} {Player [Nakano] has been invited to join your party}

They both jumped at the sudden invitation “You could have at least warned me before…” Nakano’s long pale ears twitched as she stared at the pop up window.

Sly scratched his head “Just be thankful it’s as easy as thinking to do anything with the UI” he said while holstering his pole-blade to his back.

{Player [SlyOkami] has joined your party} {Player [Nakano] has joined your party}

“Aight so we all set?” Sly asked the both of them,.

“Yeap, ready to grind my ass out” Kyle responded.

Sly’s right eye twitched as he looked at his friend “Don’t…ever say that out of context…”.

Both Kyle and Nakano broke out in laughter. When the both of them calmed down Nakano walked over to Kyle and stared down at Jior who had remained quiet the whole time “So is this your pet? What profession are you anyway?” she asked with curiosity.

Kyle took a step back surprised by the sudden vicinity” Uhh…working on i-…both”. Kyle looked down at Jior who’s eyes now shone with curiosity and expectation as it looked back up “So how do we do this Jior?”.

The fairy fluttered it’s wings letting blue sparks fly out as it flew up to face him with a joyful expression “There is two stages to forming a contract, the first is gaining my trust and the second is sealing it”.

Kyle nodded “So I’m guessing that I’m on stage two? How do we seal it?”.

Jior smiled “All races have their own method, for us Fae it’s a spell of differing difficulty depending on the Fae” it fluttered back a step and began chanting with eyes closed and arms outstretched “Great ancestors watching over us, be spectators to our pact. I Jior Vis Aquas, vow to follow, vow to protect, vow live for thy purpose” Jior closed the gap between them making Kyle flinch.

Jior lightly kissed him on the lips before quickly backing off “Mother…accept my vows” the fairy whispered, Jior hovered in place with eyes closed as streaks of white light rained down from the sky “So I can attain a purpose…” it opened it’s eyes to look up at the sky.

“Jior?” Kyle called out while staring at the fairy, it’s hands trembled as they held together in apparent prayer.

Jior slowly began to rise as it’s whole body began to shine a bright white light, behind the light a large pair of crystal white wings grew and began to envelop the light. Like a cocoon the wings surrounded the light not letting any escape as the sphere of crystal began to suddenly pulse, steadily pulses of blue light waved through it before exploding outwards as a blue aura repeatedly hit the three of them.

“What the hell?” Sly cursed as both him and Nakano got pushed back by the aura, although it simply passed through Kyle without moving him an inch.

Suddenly a strange feeling overcame Kyle as he felt the cocoon calling out to him, the energy within him begging to be released as it crashed within him. “I see…It’s my turn” with those words he stepped forward to stand by the bright pulsating cocoon, he raised both hands and rested his palms onto it’s surface. He felt himself being drained as his mana bar rapidly dropped, the cocoon was feeding off it.

Veins of blue glowed all over his body as the light traveled through them, the light moving to his palms. “Wha?..” he stared in awe as the cocoon’s pulsating grew quicker and brighter until it’s whole surface was of a single bright color, one final shockwave of blue energy shot forth knocking over Nakano and Sly. Kyle felt the drain stopping right as the cocoon stopped pulsating, it’s surface began to suddenly crack. He backed away as the whole thing shattered allowing the light out, a bright blue light engulfed them blind as they all covered their eyes. A series of notifications appeared for Kyle

{You have gained a spirit companion!} {Menu [Companions] unlocked!} {Title unlocked [Fae Knight]: Contract companionship with a Fae};

+ 10% Elemental resistance

+5% Illusionary effectiveness

{Companion [Fae] requires naming, please name your new companion!}

He stared as the light dissipated to reveal the Fae, it fluttered down towards him. The fairy now had a thin feminine frame with a mild bust pointing out her gender, long aqua blue hair fell down her back filled with streaks of blue-green hair. Her facial features remained mostly childlike including the chubby cheeks and too large eyes which had also retained their aqua blue color. Out of the other differences to be seen included her clothes, which changed from the previous long blue shirt and white shorts into a one-piece aquamarine dress reaching down to her bare feet, black frills decorated the whole bottom part while tiny multicolored shells lined the top.

Although all these changes were noticeable the most obvious one was probably the largest change of all, the clear blue wings Jior loved so much had not only grew three times in size but completely changed in color and design. All too large for the fist sized Fae the pair of luminous black and blue wings shadowed over her back, beautiful twirls of blue, blue-green and aquamarine filled the wings with color while surrounded with a black that sparkled like the night sky full of stars as it lined the wings’ edge.

“M-master?” the fairy spoke with Jior’s high pitched voice but had an added softness that wasn’t there before, her shy demeanor as she held herself while barely keeping eye-contact also a change from the bursting of speech Jior was.

Kyle was taken aback by her new appearance and demeanor, he stared with confusion being his only expression.

“Master?” the fairy asked again as her cheeks grew more blushed by the second, sudden movement from behind her cause her to jump and spin around.

Sly and Nakano stood right behind her with arms crossed staring at her intently, “10/10 moe” Sly said.

“100% moe” Nakano agreed.

The Fae turned tail and flew away from them in a streak of blue light, reappearing behind Kyle in a burst of black and blue sparks snapping him out of his daze. “Give her some space you two…” Kyle sighed (“Blood thirsty otakus…”) he thought while turning around to face the fairy, she fluttered in place slightly agitated, arms behind her back her fingers fidgeted with her dress. (“She’s so anxious…well I guess I am giving her a new name...”) “Now what should I call you…” Kyle asked nobody in particular as he stared at her.

Sly walked over resting his arm on Kyle’s shoulder as he also continued to stare at the fairy “Don’t ask me, you know what my answer will be…”.

Kyle gave his friend a dry smile “And that would be?” (“Pls no…”).

Sly grinned “Titania! What name could be better!” he exclaimed.

Kyle’s shoulders drooped making Sly stumble off trying to catch himself from falling “I’m guessing you’re not talking about the Fairy Queen of legend…” Kyle said losing faith in his friend “Anybody with better ideas?” he asked while glancing at Nakano who had stepped around them to join in.

“Hhhmmm…” she hummed in thought “Think female, dark and has to do with water…” she said while looking over the fairy.

Kyle nodded in agreement “Aqua…Lake…Ocean…” he began to list words. “Neptunia?” Kyle said with a hopeful tone.

Sly and Nakano glanced at the fairy “Neptunia…” Sly repeated.

“I’ll name mine Blanc” Nakano said with a thoughtful expression.

Sly looked at her rigidly “Seriously? HDN?”.

Nakano simply crossed her arms and smiled with an accomplished expression “A casual like you wouldn’t understand” she spoke mockingly.

Sly’s tail twitched frantically “I comprehend who’s the better character…” he said matter-of-factly causing her to leer at him

“Oh? And which would that be?” Nakano asked with a hiss in her voice.

Kyle placed his hand under the fairy as she momentarily looked at him in confusion “Sit” he whispered, she sat down obediently as he slowly stepped away from the two who had just begun another argument.

He sighed “So definitely not Neptunia…” he thought while staring down at the fairy as she watched him intently, “What do you think? Any requests or guidelines you’d like me to follow?” he asked her.

“Oh..uh…” she immediately got agitated again waving her arms in front of her “N-no! Master can name me whatever master wants!”, almost immediately she settled down blushing while looking away “But if…master insists…”.

Kyle nodded “I insist, if you have a request then speak up. This is a name you’ll have for the rest of your life after all, don’t mind being picky” he explained.

She looked up at him shyly “Then…this one would like…a similar name to her birth name…Jior”.

“Hhmm” Kyle closed his eyes as he thought her request over “At least I know where to start now…Jior…Jior…”, he opened his eyes and studied her new appearance “What about…Lilior? L-I-L-I-O-R” he spelled the name out as he watched for her reaction.

Her eyes gleamed as she gave him a smile of pure happiness “Yes!” she stood up and straightened her dress “Lil..Lilior Vis Aquas” she exclaimed and bobbed a curtsy “I’ll be in your care from now on, master Kyllix”.