There's a lot of stuff happening in the chapter so I was confused what to name it. So I just went with something crazy. (As you can see) xD

"Welcome back, brother." (Trichia)

Trichia appeared in front of me and gave me a welcome hug when I dived in.

Right now we were in the dungeon in the eleventh floor's safe room. Shirley was still in her tent, probably sleeping.

"Hi Trichia." (Me)

I greeted my little sister with a cuddle and a pull of her cheeks.

"It hwurts brother.." (Trichia)

"Oh yeah? Then how about this!" (Me)

I grabbed her and started tickling her.

"Hahah.. No.. Big brother... Hahaha... That's cheating...hahahaha" (Trichia)

Suddenly she disappeared from my grasp and reappeared hanging on my back.

"Hihihihihi" (Trichia)

"Oh, so you wanna go for a piggyback ride huh?" (Me)

"Un hn!" (Trichia)

She said with a big nod.

"Off. we. GO!!!!" (Me)

"Wohoooo!!!" (Trichia)

I started running around in a high speed and did some complicated maneuvers for the thrill. Trichia was shouting and laughing on my back.

"Go faster!" (Trichia)

"Hahaha... Like that Trichia?" (Me)

I asked while doing a Summersault 3 meters above the ground.

"Yeah!!" (Trichia)

I kept running around for a while without care for my SP.

.

.

But after a while something felt wrong. It had gotten too quite.

"Trichia?" (Me)

There was no reply.

I looked behind and she was gone. Suddenly I felt a cold stare from the side.

There SHE was.

"How..long have you been there?" (Me)

"Long enough." (Shirley)

I failed to realize when Shirley came out.

(Crap.)

I know how it must have looked. Knowing Trichia, she definitely would have disappeared the moment Shirley came so what she witnessed was a lone man jumping around while shouting for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

If I knew someone like that, I'd probably break all ties with such a person too, so I understand the reason behind her cold look.

"........Mama Mia?" (Me)

*zip*

She just went back into her tent.

(I'm doomed, aren't I?)

"Yes you are~" (Trichia)

Trichia reappeared hanging on my back.

"Why didn't you tell me she was out!?" (Me)

"Aww.. But you looked so cute jumping around like that!" (Trichia)

She got off my back and did a cute pout.

"Haahh.. I can't even get angry at you." (Me)

I said while pulling her cheeks and she giggled with a "hehe.." instead of a "hihi.." due to my cruel technique.

"Tell me something, you cute little devil of mine. Is there any way to bring stuff here from the real world?" (Me)

"Depends on what sort of stuff are we talking about." (Trichia)

We finally started a bit more serious discussion.

"Well, actually I was thinking of studying in here. The time difference could help me get more covered in less time." (Me)

"Hmm. So you want to bring in your study material?" (Trichia)

"Yeah...." (Me)

"While normally it is impossible, I can make some sort of an exception since it is you." (Trichia)

"What do you mean?" (Me)

"While you cannot get in anything, I can create it for you as a game item. Just tell me the names of whichever books you need and I'll download them and have the system generate it as a drop from a monster." (Trichia)

"Why take such a roundabout way? Can't you just give it to me." (Trichia)

"You see, I told you this once before: I don't control anything but define everything. What I am permitted to do is interefere with The System. I cannot dirrectly influence any player. And in fact, neither can The System, apart from banning somebody. I can only control the System and have it control your surroundings. If you want to go into a bit more technical talk, first of all know that none of this is real." (Trichia)

I nodded at that.

"Whatever you see, hear, smell or feel in this place is a brain signal created by the headgear you are currently wearing in real life. The brain signals are of limited type. Thus, you can call it a restriction." (Trichia)

I nodded again.

"So The System can't tamper with anything in your brain except producing limited sensations. Thus, there is a defined outline the System can work in. Even if something goes wrong, it just CAN NOT do anything since it does not have the means to do so in the first place." (Trichia)

I nodded a final time.

"I CAN have the system make you feel a lot of pain though. There is no way to stop you from speaking so you can log out any time. But, in the end, its a question of whether you do not go insane in the first place." (Trichia)

*gulp*

She said the last bit with a cute smile. The contrast was ghastly enough for me have cold sweat run down my back but at the same time, enticing enough to willingly bear all that pain for it.

(I have an incredible little sister, don't I?)

Trichia smiled a bit more and continued.

"Enough with the pep talk, tell me which books you need." (Trichia)

(Pep talk?)

"Its fine. I just wanted to know if it could be done. It'd be troublesome to explain to Pauli how I got those in here." (Me)

She shrugged at me as if saying 'Its your problem.'

"In that case, you should probably go look after your 'other' girl in there. Let me know if you need anything else." (Trichia)

Trichia disappeared after that.

*sigh*

I went over to the tent.

"Hey Shirley. You in there? Please forget whatever you saw earlier." (Me)

"Where's Pauli? And what took you so long?" (Shirley)

She said as she came out of the tent. She was probably just acting earlier. She does that sometimes to brighten the mood.

"...You can say that it takes a while for the crazy to die down." (Me)

As she was out of the tent and standing right in front of me, I gave her a deep kiss.

"As for Pauli, she's not coming." (Me)

I spoke again after the kiss. The contents of my speech caused her to raise an eyebrow at me.

"Which is actually the main reason I'm here. We need to talk about something important." (Me)

"Umm. Okay." (Shirley)

She stiffened up a bit noticing the serious atmosphere.

I took out Shirley's bed from my inventory to make ourselves comfortable.

"Me and Pauli won't be able to visit much during the next couple of months." (Me)

I got straight to the point instead of just beating around the bush.

"Is everything okay?" (Shirley)

She asked with concern. Seeing that inadvertently brought a smile to my face. I got closer to her and caressed her hair.

"Its nothing you would need to worry about. Its just some important stuff in our world that we have to take care off." (Me)

Probably due to the contents of my speech, she didn't look satisfied.

"We have our school exams." (Me)

I said just to clarify.

"School? Are you two by any chance, nobles?" (Shirley)

Yeah, exactly the reason why I didn't tell her originally. I kind of guessed that this world wouldn't have a great concept of schools. Now, though I don't have any problem explaining it to her, it could better be done some other time.

"In our world, there are no nobles and everyone goes to school. But its not about that. I can tell you all about it some other time, so lets discuss the more important matters for now." (Me)

Shirley seemed surprised at my first sentence and wanted to say something but had quickly shut up at my next one.

"We need to discuss what YOU are going to do? You know as well as me that there's no way for you to fight alone on this floor." (Me)

She nodded.

"Also, there's the issue of food. So, I was thinking of escorting you to the first floor and make its safe room your temporary home." (Me)

"...." (Shirley)

She probably didn't see my reasoning so I decided to explain.

"You should be able to fight on the first floor so you can level up while we're gone. Also, if you're on the first floor, you won't need to go through any boss monsters to get out of the dungeon and can easily secure some food." (Me)

"..." (Shirley)

She seemed to be thinking about something. She had been too quite during all this. This had probably come as bit of a shock for her.

She finally decided to speak.

"I think I can manage on the first floor with my summoning spell." (Shirley)

It looks like she was fine with my proposal.

"And just you wait! I'll become extremely powerful by the time you're back!" (Shirley)

She looked pumped up for some reason.

"I'll be back tomorrow." (Me)

I would be. I only said we won't be able to visit 'much'. We'd still come though.

"...." (Shirley)

AND she was glaring at me.

"What?" (Me)

"You just had to go and ruin the moment, didn't you!?" (Shirley)

"Ummm.. Oopsie?" (Me)

"Haaah.." (Shirley)

Shirley sighed and got up.

"Let's go" (Shirley)

She said and extended an arm out to me. I took it and got up too. We shared another kiss and started packing after.

I told Shirley to pack up her tent and other stuff while I took a look in the boss room.

I could still get my best item of the day, and I wasn't going to waste it on some random skeleton.

I opened the big-ass doors of the boss room and entered.

Clown of Ponte Brisko LVL 150

Was that supposed to be funny?

Ignoring the name of the monster, I got ready.

It was like a clown, just more evil looking. It had a big round nose, huge lips and merry clothes. The only difference from a normal clown was that everthing it wore was black. The only white thing on its entire body was its face which gave it a remarkable contrast due to its big round black nose and huge black lips. Even its eyes were black. Also, its weopen of choice was: a Stick.

Since I was short on time, I didn't care to see its attack patterns and went out at my fastest speed to punch it in the face. The result was: I met only air.

(Wha!?)

It was impossible to even see my attack at my top speed, much less avoid it, then how!?

I looked around and the clown was standing a distance away from me in the direction where I came from.

Grey Skeleton LVL 90

Grey Skeleton LVL 90

Grey Skeleton LVL 90

Three new monsters appeared around me.

"Lesser summon undead soldier.

Lesser summon undead soldier.

Lesser summon undead soldier.

Lesser summon undead soldier.

Lesser summon undead soldier." (Me)

I summoned 5 Lesser White Skeleton Soldiers.

(Its annoying to say the spell again and again.)

The reason I summoned these was to keep the Grey Skeletons company. I had to take out the Boss Monster first for my best item skill to work. These low-lives could be handled later.

Leaving the new monsters to my summons, I again attacked the Clown, though a bit slower this time. And thus, I saw clearly this time. The Clown didn't move an inch. My punch actually went through it and it disappeared after. It was in no way an after-image. It was an illusion!

I looked around the clown was again at my back in the direction where I came from. It was probably another illusion. I looked around again to find anything resembling its real body. The boss room was wide and large and huge and whatever word is associated with 'big'. The only place I could think of for the clown to hide was behind any of the 8 fat pillers around the room but I somehow had the feeling that he wouldn't be there. Where else could it be? Then I finally noticed. UP.

The Clown was at the ceiling, flying.

(Flying!?)

It was flying, or at least floating from what it looked like.

I looked over to the fight of my summons and the grey skeletons. 2 of my summons had been destroyed and none of the grey skeletons. I summoned another White Skeleton Warrior to join the fray. Then I picked up a skull of my summon that had yet to be destroyed(and thus disappear) and threw it at the Clown.

The skull bounced off something in front of the clown and the 'something' seemes to shine for a moment at the point of impact.

(Something like a shield or a force field?)

I got to the falling skull that I threw earlier and caught it, then threw it again with a speed much greater than before. The shield seemed to hold but the force was enough for the Clown to tumble and try to regain its balance.

That was all the information I needed. It was trying to maintain its balance. Over what? Its a clown so its not too hard to guess. It was probably standing on a string going across the ceiling.

My summon whose skull I was using was destroyed. It was evident from the fact that the skull disappeared mid-air. But I didn't need it anymore anyway.

I took out a copper dagger and threw it at the place I assumed the string should be. It was too far to even see the stupid thing. And I wasn't taking any risk jumping lest my head get stuck in the ceiling.

It would've been nearly impossible for anyone to hit the string from this distance, but I somehow managed on my first try. You can call it luck or ability. Though whichever it was, didn't prevent the clown from falling.

As the clown reached about 5 metres above the ground, a balloon started getting inflated below it and thus it landed safely, atop the large balloon. The clown would had to make its entrance at some point so this was probably how it would have done it anyway. Well, I didn't care. This fight had gone on long enough and there were people waiting for me. So I accelerated again and threw a punch at the real clown this time. My attack met its shield but it easily shattered and my fist made its way to the clown's face without losing any momentum causing its head to explode. Apparantly, the clown couldn't survive without a head unlike the skeletons as its HP bar turned completely grey after that one hit.

There was a round object remaining after the clown's body disappeared. It should have been the item drop. Though I left it there for now and left to destroy the grey skeletons first. I took out my spike shield and destroyed all the skeletons including my white summons, then got back to the item.

"Appraise."

Orb of Deception

The most prized treasure of Duke Volhard stolen by his mistress on the night of a new moon. The mistress having nowhere to run to, joined a circus and soon became famous as the 'Clown of Ponte Brisko'.

Spells:

Invisible MP 20/second

Cause the User to become invisible.

(Invisibilty is broken by physical contact with another being.)

Was that actually a woman in that clown!? I hope not!

Either way, it was a good item but for very specific scenarios such as infiltration or escape or playing pranks. I don't think there'll be much use of it in a dungeon. Still, I will use it for an experiment to test an earlier theory of mine.

As I was finally finished with the boss fight, I was preparing to get out of the room back to Shirley and I was about to put the Orb in my inventory but then I didn't.

"Invisibility." (Me)

I didn't feel any different and I could see my own hands and feet.

It should have worked but I couldn't tell.

It was time to exit, so I opened the same door I came in from. As the door opened, I could see Shirley sitting on her stuff waiting for me, suddenly look up.

Just in case I wasn't invisible, I waved at her but she didn't show any reaction but looked a bit confused a few seconds later.

Now that I had walked out completely, the door of the boss room closed automatically. Shirley looked even more confused.

"Rota?" (Shirley)

She said out loud expecting some kind of answer.

This proved that she really couldn't see me. I went and stood right in front of her to see if she could detect anything. And nothing. She was looking right through me at the door of the boss room.

I crouched down and got my head to the height of her breasts and gave her a hug, thus burying my head in her breasts and breaking the invisibility at the same time.

"Kyaaaa!" (Shirley)

In her panic, she let out a scream and punched my head with both her fists.

"Ugh." (Me)

I fell on the ground as my head felt a little wobbly.

(I probably deserved that.)

"Rota! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" (Shirley)

Finally coming back to her senses, she realised the situation and started rubbing my head where I was holding it.

"Yeah.. I'm sorry too..." (Me)

"You ought to be sorry! What the hell did you do!?" (Shirley)

She did a complete roundabout, seemed to forgo her earlier sympathy and brought out her fury.

"This.." (Me)

I showed her the orb in my hand.

"It grants invisibility." (Me)

"Confiscated!" (Shirley)

Shirley took the orb and put in in one of her bags.

"Nooooo!!!!!" (Me)

She took away my toy!

"You're not getting it back." (Shirley)

She said it in a firm tone. She was really pissed. I really shouldn't have done that.

"Huggies?" (Me)

I said with the puppy eyes asking for a hug in a childish manner.

"Don't give me that look! This is your punishment for being a bad boy. Now get you ass off the floor and get a move on." (Shirley)

"Okay.." (Me)

I got off the floor and started walking while acting depressed.

This only lasted for a while before we were flirting again and had some 'fun' on the 9th floor's safe room.

Afterwards, I safely delivered her to the first floor's safe room and took out most of her stuff from my inventory that she may be needing. It was enough that now the safe room resembled her home.

I also did my experiment that I thought of when I obtained the [Orb of Deception]. Something I found weird was that the skeletons could still attack me without their skulls and thus without their eyes. So I was let to conclude that they somehow had a way to sense their enemies. If that was indeed true, my invisibilty wouldn't work on them. But it did. They didn't attack the invisible me. They didn't even react when I threw a stone at them. This made me even more confused than before and I gave up.

In the end, I had gotten a bit late due to the boss fight, the 9th floor's 'activities' as well as my random experiment, so I quickly bid Shirley farewell and logged out.

(I hope Pauli won't to be pissed at me for being so late.)