Battle Maiden

Book 1 : Into the Gates of Hell

Chapter 3 : Into the Gates of Hell

*****

“I did it.”

“What did you do?”

“I finished the training and got the sword.”

“That’s all you did?”

“It’s not as easy as it sound. What sauce should we get for the pasta?” Scott tries to change the topic.

It’s a weekly routine for Scott and Steve to go out every weekend to do grocery. It was their mother’s idea of teaching them responsibility, how to handle money and how to manage it. They were given a fixed amount of money every month to spend on the family’s grocery. As long as the food is satisfactory, they get to keep the balance. They soon become experts on shopping for cheap stuff.

“During my first week, I was already level 5. By the second week, I discovered new dungeons.”

Steve wanted to brag to his twin. Other than his physical ability, he is always behind his brother. His brother did well in his studies, while he fared better in sports. Some people say they are the different sides of a coin. One is more reserved, the other outgoing.

“I learned an attack skill before getting any class” Scott responded.

While it may not be wrong to say that they’re a different side of a coin, one should never forget, it is still one same coin.

“I’ll give you credit for that. I heard that it is possible, but never really did meet someone who did.”

“Now that I passed, I’m not sure what to do.”

“Get a class and go adventuring, what else to do? Once you reach lvl 50, I’ll get you in my guild.”

“Might take some time though. I guess I’ll take the warrior class. Don’t want to waste the sword training.”

“It’s our guild’s rule to only take minimum lvl 50. You can go knight or paladin. But your actions will be limited. Knights must have honor point, and paladins require faith.”

“First thing I’ll do later is eat something other than rye bread. Class can wait.”

Ever since Scott started playing Royal Road, their house no longer stocked bread. He now knows the reason why his brother was against on buying bread before. He would not be surprised if Unicorn Corporation gets sued by bread shops.

They went home directly after shopping. Scott waste no time and logged on Royal Road.

*****

Spoon logged on and appears just outside the training hall. He remembered that he logged off in frustration when the instructor refused to talk about the girl he met before.

‘Why won’t he tell me? For her privacy? My friendship level did drop when I mention her.'

The way an NPC interact with the player changes based on their relationship point. From his experience with the instructor, Spoon notices the way he responds differs immediately after he passed the training. Passing the training gives a huge boost to their friendship point. While it did drop a bit when the girl (who shall not be named) is mentioned, they’re still considered in a good relationship.

‘Anyway, food is priority. From today on, I hereby vow, will never eat rye bread again. Even at the cost of my life.’

He asked around for a good and cheap, most importantly cheap, restaurant. There are not many restaurants in the city, even if you include inns and small establishment. He was immediately directed to go to the restaurant named Salty Rose, the oldest restaurant in town. It caters mostly low leveled player, mainly because of the cheap price. Since the ingredients used are of low quality, the stat boost is minimal. The taste is good enough that some high leveled player still returns there despite being able to afford the better alternatives.

‘Salty Rose, what a weird name for an eatery. Can’t be choosy, it’s not like I have the money.’

It’s a short walk for Spoon to reach the Salty Rose. It is not hard to find, the building is packed with people. The only place you can see such crowd in the city is in the market place and eatery. A good restaurant in Royal Road is always crowded, as in virtual reality one can truly eat to their heart’s content.

Stomach content will not be filled though.

‘Who really cares, live to eat and eat to live is the same thing in here. Good food gives better reward.’

As Spoon fantasizes about the food that he is going to eat, he felt a tug on his shirt from behind. Even the mild mannered Spoon can lose his temper when interrupted from his day dreaming. But Spoon kept his calm. Being angry will spoil his appetite. He calmed himself first before slowly turning around to see what is interrupting him.

All manner of muscles on his face went stiff. His limbs fail to responds to his brain. Not that the brain sent any signals, Spoon’s brain is currently in shock as if looking at a ghost. Like a person having a stage fright, his mind went blank, not knowing what to do.

As Spoon gave no response, the other party started to talk instead.

“Will you go through the very gate of hell with me?”

Spoon’s jaw dropped.

*****

A few moments before, Sera was tasked with a quest to retrieve a ring. It involves going down a waste chute, grabbing the ring, and going back up to return it. Simple enough.

If you ignore the fact that down below is infested with mutant rats.

Still considering the fact that the ring is visible from the top means it is just straight down below. It is possible to avoid any encounter with the rats if done quickly enough. Sera begin rigging a rope for her to descend the chute. This will also be her only way out, so she took extra care. The end of the rope was fastened to solid and sturdy pillar nearby. She gives the rope a couple of tugs to tests it’s strength. Once satisfied, she lowers the rest of the rope down the chute.

A real life skill will give you advantage in a virtual reality game. Knowledge, such as to how to tie a rope properly, might help you as well. While Sera do have the knowledge to tie a bowline, and enough strength to support her own weight in descent, she does not know how to do so. Her descent was awkward as she struggle lowering herself using a rope in the tight chute. It took longer time and much more stamina to reach the bottom, where the ring is supposed to be.

The ring is not there.

She hurriedly equipped her sword. She took out the torch, still not lighted, on the other hand. She wanted to light the torch much earlier, but it would mean she had to lower herself down with the rope with only one hand. She laid the torch to light a match. The small flame then transferred to the bigger torch, illuminating the area around her.

With proper light, she was finally able to see clearly. The ring was nowhere to be found. The ground of was littered with bones. Not human bones, but bones from food like rabbits and fishes. The stench was awful, but Sera ignore them. She knows that the nose will stop registering the smell after a while, provided that the game works like real life.

Sera have yet to take a single step. She took her time looking around to assess the situation. The place she is in is directly below the chute. It’s a cavern about 2.5 meter in height, around the size of a tennis court. There are a few openings on the wall, possibly connecting to the other part of the caves. There is no sign of any rats besides the food littered around the floor.

‘According to Mrs Graham, this was once used as a storage place. It could mean that it is a series of chambers connected to each other by those tunnels.’

‘It looks safe for now, the only problem is the ring was no longer here.’

Sera stepped forward to inspect the openings. It might lead to other chambers, where the ring might be. The ground is hard to walk on, the bones and rotten food made her footing unsteady. At one place, her foot sinks into a rotten pile of food.

As she arrives at the opening, she found out that it leads to a tunnel. This confirms her assumption before.

*ttring*

It’s the noise that comes out every time system notices were given. Only the person it was intended for is able to hear them.

Wrote: You are the first to discover the Rat Cavern

Double experience and Drops for 7 day duration.

The first monster you fell will give the best possible drop.

Fame + 50.

A bonus is always given to people who discover a new place. It gives motivation to players to risk themselves and venture out into the land unknown. In this case, Sera are the first one to walk this place ever since it turns from simple pest infested underground food storage to a fully fledged rat dungeon.

‘First monster drops the best loot. But there is nothing around. Maybe they’re deeper inside.’

‘Best loot from rats, what would a rat drop anyway?’

Sera always ponder about things in her head. She asks herself questions, and tries to work out the best answers.

‘None of the books in the library ever mention about mutant rat.’

‘None that I remember anyways.’

Most people think Sera, or Sarah the Genius, have photographic memory. She does not. She understood things, and remembers thing that she understood. She does have good memory, but not photographic memory.

Sera walked through the tunnel slowly, wary of any sign of hostility. Soon she finds herself in another chamber similar to the one before. Except this one is smaller, about three quarter the size. The room too, seems empty. There is another tunnel on the opposite site. She took her time scanning the ground, she did not want to miss the ring. While searching, her attention is diverted by a squeak.

*Squeek!*

‘A rat! Just one. Been wondering where they are.’

It’s a rat, around 2 feet tall. Not as big as she imagine. Sera do have the habit of over thinking and exaggerating things.

They are 5 meter apart. A safe distance, she thought. Sera try to size up the rat which is staring at her. As she focused her gaze towards the rat, she was surprised that numbers are popping out of no where.

-The skill Judge a Book by its Cover is activated-

The numbers that popped up was the stats of the rat. There are also texts, noting some information about the enemy.

Wrote: Mutant Rat (Lvl 6)

About as strong as a common fox

Made dangerous due to poisonous bite thanks to its diet

Cutting the tail will greatly impair its mobility.

‘So that’s how the skill works. Nothing particularly useful though. Cutting the tail seems more troublesome then bashing its head. With a sword. Sharp side first.’

‘The skill description did say that the information may not be accurate.’

‘The skill name is tacky. Maybe I’ll rename it as Scouter.’

Sera were absorbed in her thought that she was late in realizing that the rat is wearing something. The rat is standing on its hind leg. It is also holding a big fork in one hand(?). Probably the kind that you use to skewer big piece of meat. What is more surprising, the rat is wearing a ring on its head like a crown!

‘The Ring!’

‘This is going to be easy.’

She readies her sword and lunges forward with the blade extended. Her quick stab was evaded easily by the rat. Sera, having only hit a scarecrow in the game, were not familiar with hitting moving, living things.

Sera however are quick to adapt. A stab might be quick, but more easily evaded. Now that the distance between her and the rat was reduced, she changes her attack pattern to slashes. A wide horizontal slash will reduce the probability of being evaded.

The sword made noise as it cuts through air. The sound reverberates throughout the chamber. Slashes after slashes, it was the only noise made besides the squeak of a rat and the sound of her gasping for air. The sound of a sword hitting its mark was yet to be heard. The rat simply jumped back to evade her attack, making no effort attacking her.

‘This rat is mocking me!’

Sera stopped her attack. She needs a breather, and observes the rat. The rat did not attack her, just squeaking while standing in one place. Sera kept her eye focused on the rat while thinking of a strategy to beat the rat. That was until she comes to a realization.

‘It’s buying time!’

If the rat wanted to run away, it’s clearly fast enough to do so. If it wanted to attack her, it would do so already. Sera lack of fighting experience leaves her full of opening. The rat never did took advantage of all the openings. Instead it just squeaks.

Her eyes darted toward the two tunnels the chamber is connected with. She could see the reflection of many pairs of eyes. The glimmers, red, reflecting light from her torch, keep on increasing on both sides. She was surrounded.

“Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek?”

The rat squeak gave a hint as if asking a question. Sera does not speak rat. But her overactive imagination is translating the squeak into few possible translations. None of them is good for her. She needs to escape.

‘If I waited longer, they will only increase in number.’

With wild abandon, she ran as fast as she could toward the exit. Both the sword and the torch in each of her hands swung wildly in front of her. The rats behind her swarms after her, while the rats in front scatters trying to avoid the blade and the flame. Hundreds of rats squeaking, a high pitched scream of a girl and their echoes filled the caves. It was so loud that the people above surface could hear the faint cry of the girl in distress.

It was this very night, that rumors spread saying the city of Greyhold is hounted.

Sera did manage to escape. Not before getting poisoned by rat bites. She lost a considerable amount of life too. It’s a good thing that just above is a restaurant, allowing her to restore some life by eating food. They do not have a cure for poison, so she had to look outside for help.

She tries to get help, but people seemed to be avoiding her. She did not realize the fact that she reeks of rotten food, her nose already stopped functioning properly. She was at death door before a female cleric sympathizes with her and cured her of poison. She did not stay long enough for Sera to thank her, she ran away as fast as she could after healing her.

‘I greatly underestimate this quest.’

‘I can’t do this alone, but who can I ask? The quest will expire in two days in game. There is no time.’

Sera know what she is capable off. This quest is not one of them. Not alone. She know she was lucky to escape, being surrounded in such place alone means death even to those of a much higher level. She also recognize he weakness in real combat. She sucked.

Still, Sera is not the type that gives up mid way. She did not become the smartest person in her school by giving up. She studied hard to get perfect scores. Yet people assume that she is inherently smart. No one is born a genius. Yes, there are talented people. However talent is just a stronger foundation. It will never amount to anything without effort.

Another thing that people often misunderstood about her is her ego. She never asks questions in class. She never spoke to people unless talked to first. But it’s not ego, she is just shy. Very shy.

People might notice her shyness, but due to her reputation as a genius, she was thought to be arrogant. The fact that a lot of people was jealous of her does not help her reputation. But why do people hate a person who never speaks to them? Never insults people, just minding her own business.

It is mostly due to the fact that she is way out of their reach. A person who seems to be able to achieve what they want easily. It makes the people around her feel small. They lost their confidence. In order for them to feel normal and regain their confidence, people around her start to see her as a different entity.

It’s her, it is to be expected that she can do that.

She was born a genius. It’s in her blood.

She can do that because she is special.

She is different from us.

She is not normal.

We are normal.

Slowly, she was alienated and removed entirely from their world.

Through Royal Road, Sera did try to control her shyness. She started to practice smiling. Start talking to others. However, it was only towards NPC. She felt less tense interacting with AI.

This time she needed to ask help, to players. Human being. An NPC can’t get a quest.

‘I need to get help.’

‘There is always a first time to everything.’ She re-convinced herself.

*****

Sera scans around to find adventurers who look strong enough to aid her. There is never a shortage of strong players in the city, but all of them look very imposing. To put it simply, she was afraid to even ask. There are some that was intrigue by her behavior and try to approach her, but they turned around as soon as they can smell her.

Minutes soon turn into hours, her effort to get help was to no avail. She considered going down alone, but she dismissed the thought. It’s a last resort, though foolish. She then spotted a familiar shade of blue.

‘It’s the blue haired weird guy from the training hall.’

She used her skill, which she renamed scout (the skill window will still show original name), to scan him. He seems to be reliable, not really ‘over nine thousand’ level, but good enough. She was convinced that he should be strong, as he is carrying the same sword she was given when passing the basic training.

‘If it’s him, maybe I can do it. I already talked to him before. It would be a good place to start.’

With quick steps, she went after the blue haired man. He was walking absent mindedly. As Sera reached him, she quickly grabs his shirt from behind.

‘If it’s like this, he won’t run away because of my smell.’

The man in questions reaction was slow. Moments pass he still did not turn around.

‘Oh god, it’s my smell isn’t it? He refused to even look at me.’

When the man finally turns around, he has a weird expression on his face. His movement was stiff and awkward. There is no words or any sign of response coming from him.

‘Do I smell that bad? Did I do something wrong? This is awkward.’

The man lies still as a statue.

‘Why won’t he give any response?’

‘I am not sure what to do now.’

‘I need to speak up.’

‘Something short, easy to understand, straight to the point.’

‘It must have a good impact.’

'Something that will convince him to go into that stinking hell.'

‘Sink or Swim.’

“Will you go through the very gate of hell with me?”

‘Oh my god, what did I just said? That is just stupid!!’

‘Can I just go and die now?’

*****

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Wrote: First, credits to Nobody8 again for this spending time finding grammar mistakes for this chapter. Also, I'm thinking of using quote instead of tables, just because it's waay easier.

Chapter Bonus