CHAPTER SIX

The Adventure Begins! (Kinda) Pt.1

There were only five survivors. Six, if one included the half-dead Spicy Dragon. Nonetheless, Pale and Roari were jubilant as finishing this quest should be enough to get out of this wretched place.

While the other players did might not share the exact same goals, they all still heaved sighs of relief.

As the boss finally dissolved into a pile of ash, a dark grey mass emerged from its remains. It quivered and then burst into a shower of copper coins followed by a tattered rag made from the same material as the monster’s skin.

The small pile of coins and rag seemed a modest reward for the ordeal they had undergone, but nobody was in mind to complain. If anything, the survivors were just glad that they got anything at all.

As for the rag? Well, that turned out to be a really ugly muppet onesie. Such a costume was given to Spicy Dragon, as if could be said that he contributed the most to the downfall of the boss.

“Just wear it. It’s not my color.”

Pale refuted all attempts of Spicy Dragon trying to pass the costume off to him. A;though it had decent defensive stats, its appearance was far too disgusting for him to stomach. Not to mention, the armor that he received from Roari’s pig genocide was already good enough.

Seeing Spicy Dragon’s reluctance, Pale could only smile sheepishly as he added,

“Hey, think of it this way. Didn’t the Aztecs wear the skin of their enemies to prove their bravery or something? You’re the hero of the day. Embrace it.”

Pale prodded and the rest of the survivors also pushed Spicy Dragon to accept the reward. From the looks of it, everyone had forgotten that he was the one who had set everything on fire. And even if they did, they were apparently going to let it go.

Though the lot of them called themselves a party, none of them had actually partied up. And as the perpetrator of the sea of flames, most of the contribution actually ended up going to himself and Roari. In addition to the massive boost in experience, they also received something else.

A Goddesses Favour

Permanent Increase in Wisdom +2

Your actions have caught the attention of the Goddess of Slayers, Silva. Having participated in the extinction of two local area species in the span of the first twenty four hours, Silva praises your forethought in not leaving any root left to build resentment.

Extinguish the nine generations and your enemies shall never rise again.

‘…Extinction?’

Pale frowned, but thought nothing more of it. The bonus was nice at least.

After resting up, they were just about to leave when a high pitched voice screeched from the entrance. Having just fought a bunch of muppets to the death, the noise sent all of the survivors jumping to their feet. Their sweaty palms grasping for their weapons clumsily as they braced for another confrontation. But none of them quite expected the sight before them.

It was a little girl.

No, not some creepy goth loli clutching dolls made of human skin, but an ordinary little girl. While dressed in hot pink robes and with her hair pulled down into brown pigtails, she looked about as intimidating as a mup-… small animal. From her looks alone, Pale would put her between the ages of 6 and 8, with her cheeks still round with baby fat.

The little girl wailed in distress as she dashed into the room. Her hands pawed at the burnt remains and ashes of the muppet army.

“My babies! Charleston! Dennis! What did they do to you?!!”

The tiny girl looked up with watery eyes. Her eyes specifically locked onto Spicy Dragon who was wearing the skin of his enemies.

“A…girl?” Spicy Dragon said dumbly as his adventurer’s journal quietly updated.

Warning: Puppet Master Wendy has become hostile.

He didn’t even have time to say ‘Oh’ before a massive stone hand erupted up from the ground and firmly slapped him into the ground. Even as the ground split, the other players could not help but jump back at the sudden display of violence.

“Oh my god. She’s adorable.”

Ignoring Roari’s jibe, Pale pitied Spicy Dragon who was currently doing his best squashed bug impression. Upon seeing those barely twitching limbs, he applauded himself once more for pushing the onesie onto Spicy Dragon.

Funnily enough, despite the earthshaking blow, Spicy Dragon somehow managed to remain alive with just one health. However, from the way the little girl glowered, such a situation would probably be quickly remedied.

“Hoyt! It was Taskmaster Hoyt! He sent us here as a combat test!”

“Daddy? But the training facility should be on the other side of the compound…That Bastard!”

Wendy gnashed her teeth. Her choice of vocabulary not aligning with her appearance at all. She began to mutter incoherently, all the while with Spicy Dragon groaning pitifully on the floor.

“You! What’s your name?… Forget it, I don’t even care anymore.”

The tiny girl, Wendy snapped as she knelt beside Spicy Dragon, raising his head by the chin.

“I was wondering why some of my dolls have been ripped to shreds today. So it was that bastard father and you lot. I had even put them away for safekeeping, yet you schmucks couldn’t let it go, could you? I can’t even patch them up like this! How am I supposed to… Aaahhhh Vexing! It’s all so vexing!”

The tiny girl sighed, clasping a tiny palm against her tiny cheek.

From her reaction, Pale had to stop himself from sighing in exasperation. Why were all the NPCs in this game so demented? Was this truly the result of AI with human personalities? Or were people actually like this, and he had just been living in a sheltered bubble this entire time. Regardless of the case, he should at least try to de-escalate the situation.

Of course, after seeing how the little girl smashed Spicy Dragon into the ground, he would naturally take a more gentle approach.

“Ummm Miss? If we’ve made a mistake, I am sure the guys here would be more than happy to help you make more dolls. Right guys?”

Pale shuddered as the tiny girl’s gaze shifted to him. Somehow he suspected that the little girl fully knew that he was bullshitting.

As he braced himself to get slapped into the pavement as well, the little girl sniffed and looked away.

“Hmmph! As if your cruddy hands could do such fine work. Don’t get me wrong. If it weren’t for Daddy already wanting me to throw away these old toys, I would skin the lot of you, no matter how handsome you may be. Still, since he already sent you, I suppose I could be merciful.”

‘Handsome?’

“But!”

Wendy sniffed again as a cruel grin marred her tiny face. With but a snap of her fingers, countless new muppets began to materialize from the shadows. Aside from their coloration, which was blue instead of orange, these muppets also sported jagged claws and looked far more deadly.

“Although you were just following my stupid Dad’s request, that does not excuse the fact that you murdered my children. Oh yes, you should be punished, but in my kindness, my mercy shall extend for ten…”

Wendy paused, staring at them expectantly. The new muppets somehow appeared even more sinister as they leered at them, causing many of the survivors to quiver at the thought of another battle.

‘Ten?’ Ten what?’

Wendy smiled and continued. “Nine…”

“Oh shit! Roari! Run…?”

Pale’s eyes widened as he turned back, only to find that nobody was actually there. Actually, aside from Spicy Dragon and himself, there were no other players left in the room.

“Oh son of a…”

Without further ado, Pale fled, desperately chasing those who had unceremoniously run for their lives without him.

As for Spicy Dragon. He was still sobbing quietly even as the countdown finally timed out. He laid there, all alone and surrounded by hordes of murderous looking muppets, incapable of even resenting being left alone.

“I hate all of you.”

‘Oh god. I can’t move.’

After playing for what seemed like an ungodly amount of time, the DOMs had finally set in. The bruises aside, all of his joints were sore as well, making it nearly impossible for Rinden to extract himself from the capsule.

Hopefully in the future, such a sedentary lifestyle wouldn’t lead to health issues later down the line. Perhaps if would be prudent to start some kind of exercise regimen if Perri was serious about making the game a lifestyle.

Such thoughts, however, were pushed to the back as Perri brought in the insulated delivery package. Oddly enough, despite spending the entire day in the game, Rinden only felt a might peckish himself. However, what did surprise him was that Perri had actually waited for him, rather than tucking in straight away.

…

“So what do you think?

Perri asked slovenly while crunching down on the remains of a chicken bone.

“Fucking love it. The skin is crisp and isn’t oily. The spice mix has a strong flavor which doesn’t lose out to the super tender and juicy flesh. All around, I’d say its very tasty.”

“I was talking about the game! Do you think its something you can commit to long term?” Perri pouted, picking at the bone shards from between her teeth. Atop her plate were the rest of the bones, which were piled high into a miniature mountain.

Rinden fell silence as he contemplated. How was he supposed to answer? Was it fun? Well, it was more traumatizing than actually fun, but it was definitely a new experience.

“It…was alright. Although, I wouldn’t mind taking the rest of the week off to just relax.”

“Hell no. I ain’t playing all by myself.”

Dinner was tidily finished up and soon the two siblings immediately rushed to use the shower first. Aside from sweating inside of a pod all day, the game experience had taken its toll and both wanted nothing else but to begin relaxing.

This resulted in the two of them being sprawled slovenly over a couch, not quite tired, but alway unwilling to move. Their clothes were still damp as they both enacted their best sloth impressions.

“Hey, mom left us a text.”

Perri’s long legs rested comfortably atop Rinden’s stomach as she flipped through her backlog of messages for the day. “Apparently Cousin Randy is going through a messy divorce, so she won’t be visiting this month.”

“Sure is nice for mom to go comfort him. Though, I always did say that Randy had the worst taste in women.”

“Mmmm. I suppose this means that mom won’t be coming to cook for us this month. I’m going to miss having that home cooked meal.”

“Well… There’s nothing we can do. Obviously her hands are tied with Randy, but I’m sure she’ll be here next month.”

It was a pity. From a young age, both siblings had been completely ruined in the food department. As both their parents worked extremely strenuous jobs during their early years, they had to consistently rely on takeout of frozen dinners as there simply were not enough hours in the day for anything else.

Such poor eating habits also carried onto highschool and then university. And although Rinden had eventually learned to cook for himself, after the introduction of the living natural disaster that was Perri, any further progress quickly came to a halt. Fortunately, the two of them were still young, and such bad eating habits would not have a profound effect on their bodies just yet…but it was probably only a matter of time.

“Hey… You know what we should do?”

“Yeah no. We are not doing that.”

“C’mon. You can’t say you aren’t sick of ordering takeout from the same three places over and over again. Plus, they always say that food tastes better when its made with your own hands.”

“We can find more places. And if I buy ingredients, you’re just going to burn the house down behind my back again!”

“It was just the one time! You can’t expect a child to get it right the first time.”

“How old are you again?”

“Ahem. I am a child at heart. And let me remind you, as the elder, you are responsible for ME! That includes my diet.”

Rinden frowned at the shining gleam that emanated from Perri’s eyes. How diabolical. To be so impassioned by the idea that she would even push the matter when he was completely exhausted.

Naturally, her words did make sense as well. Even if Rinden were to forbade her from cooking now, one day, perhaps in the near future, Perri would just go behind his back and go grocery shopping anyways. If that were the case, perhaps it would be better to teach her early.

“Let’s go.”

“Go? Go where?” Perri asked in confusion.

“The grocery store.” Rinden said gruffly before throwing on a jacket.

“Yesssss! I knew you’d cave, lets…” Perri paused as the momentary euphoria was retarded by a sudden realization.

“Its the middle of the night.”

“I know, and there are no ingredients in the fridge.”

“It’s the middle of the night!”

“Yes and?”

Rinden smirked. It was always a pleasure to make his baby sister flinch. Did she perhaps think that she could laze around while he did all the work? Oh no. If he was going to have to suffer, he would be sure to drag him down with him.

“You know… I didn’t mean we had to start so soon. Or better yet, we could just order online.”

Rinden tsked. “Making excuses already. You think you can just get all the benefits without doing any of the work yourself? You leech.”

“The fuck you just call me?”

Perri kicked off from the couch before storming off in a huff. She returned in a fluffy woolen coat drawn over her pajamas as she threw a set of car keys at him.

The cold sharp points bit deeply into his skin as Rinden just barely caught the keys. His grin widened even further as Perri bulled past him and headed towards the door.

“We going or what?”

“You have gotten stronger.”

Hoyt replied jovially upon their return to the game. As the in game avatars also reflected the player’s original state in the game, the Storm siblings looked at him with expressions devoid of amusement. Their eyes were blood shot, and dark bags marred their eyelids as a result of their late night outing.

Apparently, most supermarkets did not operate past midnight, which lead to the Storm siblings driving fruitlessly around town in search for one. Eventually, the two of them could not withstand the lull of sleep any longer and passed out uncomfortably in a parking lot.

Matching their hollow stares, Hoyt could not help but wipe away the cold sweat that started beading down his nape. Unsure of their intentions, Hoyt reflected back to the events that transpired in the previous day. Not only did he get an earful from his daughter, but the players whom he had sent to their dooms also rose up to complain. As such, he was sure the two siblings were of the same mindset as they glared at him with lifeless eyes.

Despite such expressions though, their bodies had noticeably grown stronger. As the instigator of arson, the majority of the benefits yesterday had inevitably been devoured by those two.

As such, the massive increase in experience propelled them far above the others.

Roaring Storm Lv 8

HP: 370/370 (+10)

Jobless

MP: 175/175 (+5)

STR:15

DEX:18

VIT:15

INT:5

LUK:7

WIS:7

Pale Storm Lv 8 (28)

HP: 270/270 (+10)

Jobless

MP: 175/175 (+5)

STR:10

DEX:5

VIT:7

INT:5

LUK:5

WIS:7

Aside from Roari who had a preference for a warrior playstyle, Pale had not the foggiest of what he wanted to be, thus most of his points were left unused. As min/maxing was apparently an important part of all builds, he felt that it was better to be safe than sorry.

“At your level of strength, you can now begin your preparations for your combat specializations. Although normally, you would have to complete the rest of the curriculum, you have already displayed sufficient skill to be tested out early.

Currently, we have a few unique job classes within the facilities, but if the two of you are looking to leave, I would have to recommend the next closest town, Torva.”

“Oh. We’ll be going there then.” Roari agreed immediately. Not only were the two of them not that interested in the specialties of this place, but they were already sick and tired of the musty atmosphere and were just dying for a change of scenery.

“Very well then. The process should be as simple as registering with a class’s affiliated organization. Although some jobs might have more stringent requirements, all the information you need should be easily accessible once you head into the city.”

“Is it really already to go over there though?” Roari sceptically asked.

“Of course. Though Torva is apart of the White Kingdom, it can be considered a Free City that welcomes all races. Although you are man-made experiments, no one should harass you for that. Racial discrimination is also heavily frowned upon, so don’t worry and just go.”

“No…what I mean is… I thought we were supposed to be some evil army that will inevitably upend the world? Wasn’t the secrecy of this area to avoid exposing ourselves to the public?”

“What? Whatever gave you that idea. We aren’t…Who told you that?” Hoyt growled in mock annoyance and closed one of his eyelids.

“…Uhhhh.”

“Hrm Hrmph. Just know that this is a research facility under the jurisdiction of the Magicians tower. Everything done here is completely legal. We are also closely related to the Summoner’s Division and alchemical shamans.”

“Really?”

“That is whats written in the Tower registry at least.”

The Storm Siblings shared a strange look between the two of them. There was absolutely nothing about this place that seemed benign in any way. Though it would be an exciting twist if they were spawned as part of an evil faction, but logic decreed that there should be no way a game would segregate its players so readily at the beginning. Right?

“Hem Hem. What is this now?”

A voice suddenly cut in. It’s speaker, the one who filled them all with dread.

“The two of you are leaving already? But a day old and already in your rebellious phase. Such a pity.”

The Grand Mistress stepped out of the shadows. Her words, though pleasant seemed to stab deeply into their hearts, though most of her attention seemed to be directed at Hoyt.

“Mistress…” Hoyt greeted her nervously. “Is something wrong?”

“Wrong? How can anything be wrong? You’re just doing the job I assigned to you, though your penchant for kindness is… troubling.”

Although Hoyt easily towered over the old woman, there was no question who was in control here.

“Tut. Don’t speak! I know you’ve tried to spare that intruder earlier, sending her back into the cycle of reincarnation rather than capturing her for me. As a result, our entire base of operations is now compromised and we’ll have to doubly increase our protections.”

The old woman turned towards the Storm Siblings. And though her black eyes still contained an underlying iciness, her voice was magnanimous as she rose her hands.

“You two. This is an excellent opportunity! Not only will you be allowed to leave unharmed, but if you prove useful, then you will be generously rewarded.”

As the old woman began to speak, Roari quickly cut the old woman off, much to her chagrine.

“Keep your reward. We aren’t coming back.”

“And I respect your decision. Which is why you can consider this a down payment.” The old woman smiled as she apparated a gaudy silver scale plate before them.

“It’s quite simple really. Although made of flimsy material, this armor should still be worth a pretty penny. However, I have hexed it so that its completely unusable lest the quest conditions are fulfilled. Finish the mission, obtain the prize, and we can let bygones be bygones hmm?”

Roari eyed the silver plate, enamoured by the way it sparkled. Not only was it attractive, but its form seemed to suit that of a woman. Compared to her own equipment, there truly wasn’t any comparison. Of course, there was no way in hell anybody would trust the old woman, but with such a prize before her, Roari could not help but subconsciously lick her lips.

“What do you want us to do?”

The Grand Mistress smiled, though her expression was anything but benign. From the folds of her robes, she removed a tiny corked glass bottle that contained a miniature black whirlpool. The glass was cool to the touch as it was pressed into Roari’s limp, soft hands.

“Nothing difficult really. All I want is for you to send someone into Eternity.”