Chapter 6: Blood Red

"This is fruitless," I uttered while plunging my katana into the last mob for the fourth stage of the initiation quest, which allows the player to rank up to either a Swordsman, a Thief, or a Spell user. I'm gunning for the swordsman class.

This was Loona's first time taking the quest as well. She says the Thief class is the one that attracts her most.

Brytehardt was already something called a "Warrior Monk" he said you can start another quest after finishing the initiation quest, quest this and quest that leaving question marks all over the show.

The date was May 16, 2024, 02:22 GMT +1.

Loona and I had just finished the first stage of the ques-- the task, Hardt put us on.

"Alright... what's next?" stretching my arms, I noticed my sidekick deep in thought, "Hey! Snap out of it... Earth to Loona!"

She was unresponsive to my feeble attempts. Does she spend more time in the clouds than I do? I sighed, Guess I'll have to do it.

I knelt my head in line with her belly, salvaged a slender branch from the earthy grass and proceeded to prod her belly button that was visible from the skin-tight blouse she wore.

She flinched and jumped backward with her cheeks, flushed pinkish-red, "W-What, were you doing just now!" she spoke while covering the area I poked.

"Hey, how'd it feel up there?" I had a fed-up expression and was referring to the clouds while fiddling the stick like a wand, "So... what happens next?"

Loona's face that was now flooded with red, she covered her chest and yelled something absurd "N-No, we can't! Not here!"

What in the world is she on about?

I approached, still confused; she was now covering her face with skin the color of a tomato.

"Hey!" I flicked her forehead, "What happens next, the quest?"

Why did Hardt put me in charge of you?

Loona, realizing she misunderstood the situation, let out a sigh of relief, opened the VR menu, and selected "Quest."

"It says we need to slay this last set of monsters."

"Got it, so that means we'll be swinging our blades some more!" I cheered while stretching my arms again.

After claiming our titles, we began trekking to the capital, "Kiyomihara."

"D-Damai-san?" Loona tugged the back of my shirt.

Turning around, I began walking backward to face her.

"S-So, you really didn't do anything?"

"What, no! all I did was poke your tummy with a stick," you could tell that I was offended as a man...

I began walking forwards again, my arms folded and huffed briefly. My mind began wondering.

I don't think I can ever get used to looking like a girl.

*shiver*

"Wait..." Loona let out a quick gasp when my arm shifted in front of her, "This is the safest route, right?"

We both hid behind a large, conveniently placed rock.

She nodded and covered her mouth, "Lasht I checked, dere shouldn't be any mobsh in tish area weveld hir dan 11."

What did you say?

I couldn't interpret her muffled speech but focussed on the tremendous power I sensed a few yards away.

I learned this sensing trick from Hardt since he dragged me out to the spider caves this morning while lecturing me.

"It's simple, imagine ya have a sixth sense and search for a power that ain't yers, then keep doin it till its second nature!"

I asked him why but he just said, "Tis a gamer's secret!" in his Scottish-like accent.

After a long eye-roll reminiscing about outside system techniques, the power began to take shape and grew closer.

What is it? An alpha boar? A giant lizard?

The power seemed to be holding an alloy-steel tsurugi in both hands.

Loona, still breathing quietly but heavily leaned forward, "There's an escape route just there," she whispered.

Her palm directed north-west to a large open field while still covering her mouth with the other.

"You think we can outrun that thing?" I whispered, "It's at least level 25..."

Time was running thin, we had two choices, stand our ground or run with our tail between our legs.

"Nah," I grew a snarky grin, "we're not handing the victory to the enemy, we stand our ground."

"You know, that almost looked cool, but then I remember you're a girl," Loona discreetly sniggered.

"SHUT IT!" I thundered.

Stamping my leg, I completely forgot the situation we're in, "Oh &£$%..."

A figure emerged wearing a grey robe speckled with shiny silver iron equipped with a glistening Tachi blade, swinging down to meet my collar bone.

Shifting right, I attempted a counter by drawing my katana in a reverse hold, then launching my body off the conveniently placed rock, twisting my waist and slicing across the enemy's leg.

A hit!

I was too mixed up in my first blood victory to notice where I was. *Splash!*

Loona hurried over to assist the soaked female warrior. She handed me her tantō, winked, then ran north like there was no tomorrow.

"Hey! Don't just leave me here!"

But that wasn't important right now, the issue at hand was right in front of me.

H-Hang on... A sudden feeling turned my stomach. That's a PKer!

A PKer or Player Killer/Hunter can be easy to find in a crowd, the game's system labels them with "murderer" or some other unhonourable title that covers the player's avatar name and face.

It also colors their Soul Point bar yellow to red, indicating how committed they are, yellow meaning that deliberate harm was inflicted and red showing the deed has been done.

I was dealing with a red player.

Looking more closely, they carried a ruby infused blade mounted on a wooden-leather hilt covered by a magenta patterned tsuba.

Since Asuka Empire's "I'm a jerk" system was masking the red player's identity, I was at a significant disadvantage as, believe it or not, I've kept tabs on the top-ranking players and guilds of this game.

No matter, I'll quick-step my way to victory, I'm level 18, I can get through this!

Replaying that thought made me remember something, something crucially important for progressing through Asuka Empire.

There's no time to complain about how forgetful I am as my red opponent already activated their Ground Circle Skill and began charging towards me.

During the Pker's charge, they leaped into the air performing multiple somersaults with their blade.

That's so cool!

I awed at the red player's flying sawblade technique.

Snapping out of my trance, I had five seconds to decide what to do before becoming a sliced eggplant, either take the attack head-on or dodge and counter.

I chose the latter since VIT was one of my lowest stats.

I waited until the last second then tilted my body left into a one-handed cart-wheel while quickly returning a speedy, heavy shoulder barge knocking the enemy off balance and a distance away.

It seemed time began to slow down, and I mean really slow down, but this is no opportunity to stop and smell the roses.

I put all my weight on my right leg and selected the iai-type skill "Suminagi" launched towards the enemy and knocked them back further while the system showed me their staggered status.

I continued my hit-streak, creating a variation of their incredible technique, the only difference being a katana and a tantō while lunging forward and spinning horizontally.

I named this original attack Leaping Hurricane.

"TAKE THIS, YOU TOTAL BUZZKILL!"

"Doyaahh!"

The enemy disappeared the moment I finished my attack.

It felt like my blood was burning hotter than the sun like I was breathing fire.

Countless voices of triumph raced across my head.

Then one thought canceled out all the victory cries roaring inside my brain.

"It's almost their birthday..."

My unorganized and forgetful nature finally caught up with me.

"DAMN IT ALL!" I cried, "I need to hustle out of here now!"

Making a sonic boom, I sprinted towards Asuka's capital.

"Wait... I think I'm gonna hurl," I stopped and leaned over.

The spin movement soon caught up with me, a sudden nauseous feeling came over, and a rainbow-like stream spewed out from my mouth.

After my sickening incident, I soon arrived at Kiyomihara.

It felt as though my lungs were about to burst as I rested my back on a wooden gate and flopped on the gravel-like pathway.

I was gasping for air while dragging my body forward to the quest NPC.

"Just... *huff* a little more...-!"

A familiar manly bicep curled around my waist, lifting my slim body onto a soft but rigid shoulder.

"Hardt? that you, pal?" I presumed.

"Aye, sure is," Hardt bellowed softly, "So what has ya crawlin on the gravel, eh?"

I kicked and squirmed in his arm since Hardt's bicep was slowly crushing my belly.

He let me down into a princess carry, which caused my face to redden.

"Wh-what are you doing?" I made a girly squeal, "I'm a guy, not a girl, remember?"

"What's the big deal? Does it bother you that much?"

YES!

Hardt later dumped my feminine backside on the hard, spiky gravel beneath me.

While pulling myself up, I briefed Hardt about what happened.

There was a mixture of emotions on his face that told me he was in a celebratory mood but disappointed and thrilled at the same time.

"So... ya finished the quest, but ya ran into a red when coming back, right?" He mumbled, "But Loona ditched ya halfway, and ya took on the red by yer lonesome?"

"That about summarises it."

I then explained the rest of the events of this morning, "Welp, I gotta log out," catching my breath, I let out a long sigh.

We shared our farewells, reaching out my hand swiped diagonally to my waist then hovered above the "Log out" prompt.

Time to start gathering materials, I guess.