Erika’s avatar materialized inside the Water Temple, back in Minerva’s hall. She successfully reunited with the rebellious Vivi and the escort quest continued.

“Like, how slow can you be?! We need to reach Zelin city, you know!”

“My, how impatient you are~”

To calm down the pixie’s anger, Erika fed her some Dargon Chocolate. Of course, Vivi didn’t honestly accept the sweeeet treat.

With everything in order, Erika left the temple to continue her adventure. While she passed through familiar areas, she examined the new pieces in her menu.

When she first came across [Wind] and [Water] pieces, Erika assumed that each piece had an “elemental affinity”. However, now she had strange pieces in her arsenal, like [Speed] and [Communication]. Both names belonged to starter runes and each piece was worth 1 piece, same as [Water] and [Wind].

It’s not about elemental affinity. These pieces must be fragments of actual runes.

This explained the striking similarity between [Water] pieces and the [Water] rune in Erika’s inventory.

Some pieces in her inventory had a higher worth than “1 piece”. An [Absorption] piece was equal to 2 pieces, whereas [Aura] and [Telekinesis] pieces were each worth 5 pieces.

Following the same logic, the existence of these pieces implied that [Absorption], [Aura] and [Telekinesis] were runes which existed in the game. Their increased worth was probably related to the fact they weren’t starter runes.

“Here we are again.”

Erika and Vivi reached the unpaved road outside the temple. It was the only known path leading to their destination: Zelin, the first city.

I wonder how stronger this knife makes me.

Erika opened the Dimension Vessel and picked the Silver Knife, which was gifted to her by Silveria.

【Silver Knife】

【A small knife. Easy to handle and favored by beginners.】

That was all the information provided about the knife. Erika poked every corner of the knife, but nothing made a convenient【ATK +1】message to appear. In other words: nothing clued her about the strength of the knife.

“Say, Mini. How do you check the power of weapons in this game?”

“Just swing it into some fucker’s face and you’ll know.”

I really need to research what’s going on with this game...

There were way too many vague mechanics in GoVe. Erika couldn’t tell her parameters, equipment couldn’t be analyzed and battles were dynamic. All these traits should have been alien to MMORPGs and they stumped the RPG veteran.

Erika tried swinging the knife. It fit well into her small palm and it was light enough to not slow her movements. However, she couldn’t tell whether the knife added any strength to her strikes.

“Swing it into somebody's face”, huh.

Erika’s eyes laid on the Windfloras scattered around; she already fought many of them with her bare hands. If she challenged the same foes with the Silver Knife, Erika could roughly estimate her improvement.

With that in mind, Erika dashed toward the closest Windflora. The enemy reacted right away and tried to shoot Erika down.

“Ugh...!”

She dodged the blast of wind by a hair’s breadth. Once within striking range, Erika raised her knife for a strike... but her mind turned blurry..

Do I stab...? Slash...?

Erika could hardly handle a kitchen knife, how was she to brandish a knife during combat? The Combat Aid was taken aback by her indecisiveness; it was a decision the system couldn’t make for her.

The Windflora charged up for another blow. There was no time to decide anything!

Eh, whatever! I’ll attack and see what works!

She imagined shoving the knife into the enemy’s face. There was no clear indication how to do it, but the Combat Aid made her arms react.

The knife smoothly dug into the Windflora’s face, as if cutting into a pillow. However, this stab didn’t interrupt the flower’s attack.

No good!

Her right arm immediately reacted and removed the knife from the Windflora’s face. However, she wasn’t fast enough.

“Gah!?”

Fierce wind whammed Erika and pushed her away. Despite being stabbed straight in the face, the Windflora looked energetic and prepared another attack.

Then... maybe slashing is the way to go?

Erika recovered and assaulted the Windflora anew. She had no idea how to properly slash, but her best buddy, Combat Aid, handled that part.

She scratched the Windflora across the face, leaving red cutting marks behind. These scars motivated Erika and she continued to slash her enemy.

However, her barrage came to an abrupt end.

“A-again!? GAH!?”

Her body was slammed and she nearly fell backwards.

“Can’t you just die already?!”

The battle dragged on way longer than she hoped. If she fought with her bare hands, then the Windflora would already be dead.

Is this knife really making me any stronger!?

She angrily shoved the knife through the Windflora’s face. The flower jerked and its petals wilted, then it collapsed.

【Defeated Windflora. Obtained 3 Wind pieces and 2 Windflora Seeds.】

The Windflora’s body turned into azure particles and vanished into thin air.

“Haa... darn...”

Erika sat down to recover from the tedious battle.

“Why are you so useless!?”

Erika glared at the Silver Knife and scolded it like a brat. Instead of improving her performance, the knife dropped her combat level even lower. Punching a Windflora to death was easier and required less hits overall.

“Hey, Titan. Why didn’t ya cut down that fucker? Like WOOSH and done!”

“Excuse me? I TRIED.”

“But ya hit it like a bitch! Just slice down that fucker like WHAM!”

Mina probably performed some passionate examples for Erika, none of which were visible to anybody.

“You make it sound so easy... I slashed its face so many times, but it still didn’t die.”

“Yeah, yeah! That! The face! Why did ya aim there, Titan!?”

“Hm...?”

“You should’ve chopped its dumb neck! Like CHOP CHOP!!”

“The neck...?”

Erika blinked in surprise. Windfloras had big heads, which were easy to aim at. It felt natural to attack that part when fighting against them.

But, what about the stem supporting that big head? It was relatively thick for a normal flower, but it didn’t seem all that sturdy.

Maybe I can cut it off...? It may not be that easy, though.

The stem looked more fragile than the face, but it was also thinner and more difficult to punch. However, with the Silver Knife at hand, Erika could now efficiently slash that elusive stem.

“I understand what you mean, Mini. I’ll give it a shot.”

Erika jumped on her feet and ran toward another Windflora. Her injuries were completely restored by that short rest.

Now, aim for the stem...! I’ll need to swing the knife from this distance, and then...!

Her hands didn’t wait for her careful calculations. The knife sliced through the Windflora’s stem and should have chopped the flower in two.

Not enough!?

The slash only left a red cut across the stem, without beheading the Windflora. Now, Erika left herself open to receive another wind blast in the face.

Curses! I can’t defend from this range...! Why can’t it just die!?

Prepared to receive the Windflora’s shot head on, Erika decided to strike again. Her arm leapt forth and slashed the injured stem. She just wanted it dead, even if she had to take some damage!

“Ugh...!”

Erika shut her eyes after the attack, already imagining her body being blown away by a fierce gust. However... nothing hit her.

When Erika opened her eyes, she witnessed the final moments of the beheaded Windflora.

【Defeated Windflora. Obtained 5 [Wind] pieces.】

Two slashes. That’s all it took to cut the stem and fell the Windflora. It was indeed “Like WOOSH and done!”.

“Heh... huhu.”

A devilish smirk formed on Erika’s lips. Slashing the stem was a lot easier than punching the Windflora to death. She didn’t even feel any fatigue from this short battle.

I see how it is. I take it back; you’re not so bad, Silver Knife.

Erika stroke the Silver Knife, as if praising a pet. She didn’t care for knives and she generally avoided them, but the short knife in her hand was very likeable.

I bet you want to slash some more, don’t you?

Erika smiled dangerously and let her knife have a slaughter fest. One by one, the Windfloras collapsed after being sliced in two.

Now who’s the Raid Boss? Huhu~

Finally, the Windfloras were reduced to the fodder mobs they were. They stood no chance against Erika and her legendary Silver Knife.

“Haa... phew, that was fun.”

Erika felt a hint of weariness after she took down six Windfloras in a row. Even normally attacking spent energy in GoVe.

Erika had enough battles to prove her supremacy to the flowers; she was ready to move on toward Zelin.

Now, where do I put the knife?

Erika examined her clothes from side to side. She was provided short pants and a simple shirt, there weren’t any pockets for the Silver Knife. Storing the knife in the Dimension Vessel didn’t seem comfortable either.

She tried to pull her pants away from the wait, in order to open a gap where the knife could be inserted.

“Hm...?”

Her pants didn’t separate from the waist, as if they were stitched to her skin.

【ERROR】【You cannot manually remove your main clothes with your own hands. Access the Equipment screen to change your clothes.】

So much for fully immersive VR.

Erika frowned at the message, but she sighed with understanding. Without a restrictive system like that, nothing stopped players from going nude. Sexual stunts like that weren’t appreciated in the real world, and they were unwelcome in VR as well.

After she messed around some with the knife, the system recognized her troubles and a helpful tip popped up.

【TIP】【A weapon can be equipped to many different body parts. Simply press the weapon against the body part of your choice and leave it there.】

Though the game was vague and merciless, Erika thanked GoVe for its spot-on tips. She brought the Silver Knife toward her waist and left it there.

“My...”

The knife didn’t fall down to the ground. Instead, a brown pouch magically appeared on Erika’s waist and safely contained the Silver Knife.

Interesting.

The pouch instantly vanished when Erika took out the knife. The pouch was a virtual item, which didn’t truly exist in Erika’s inventory.

I wonder where else this could go.

Erika managed to equip the knife on her back, on her legs and even on her arms. She also tried putting the knife on top of her head, but that didn’t fly.

There were various restrictions in place, but overall Erika could equip the knife to any sensible area on her body. Satisfied with this information, she equipped the knife into her waist and returned to the unpaved road.