A complex relationship

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/Around half an hour later…/

Dale slowly opened his eyes as he awakened from his short nap.

"Urg… This bed is super hard… It's just an old hide of some monster on top of straws..."

'Is it possible to buy a decent bed in the market?...'

'I'm almost considering buying one of those sleeping bags, they seem more comfortable than this…'

"In that case... What time is it?"

Dale got up from the bed, gazing into the sun outside, upon seeing it was still up he checked the game interface for the exact time.

"It's just a bit past 4 Pm?"

'Seems my nap was really fast.'

Dale started to check his own body, he didn't feel any pain, but he felt very sore.

"Well, I wasn't expecting to be able to do any more heavy work today anyway."

'My body is still recovering, it's truly an ass to be a Hardcore player sometimes... The debuffs, the need to eat and shit...'

"Wait... Sniff... Jesus... I smell like shit..."

"Now that I think about it... Yeah, that might work."

'There was a water pump near this place, I could use it to fill a bucket and take a bath...'

"It's a relatively slow process, but it's better than smelling like shit. Everyone else may not mind that much, but I do."

'Besides taking a shower, there's still a few more things I ought to do before continuing.'

"I have yet to contact Ermin and see how that player is doing with my request."

'I could also visit Ophelia or any of the elders to learn more about their craft…'

'Or I could log out and leave my character resting, but I think that is a waste of time.'

"So first I'll send a message to Ermin…"

Dale sat down on his bed again and wrote a very 'lengthy' and 'deep' message that contained all of his worries for his friend…

The contents of this letter were:

[Hey Bro, how are you doing?]

"Hum… It says he's online but he isn't replying, whatever, he'll do it eventually."

'With this out of the way, time to continue my work.'

Dale went outside and coincidentally met with Illia who was walking around with a big pot of food.

Upon asking, she said she was making a nice and warm soup for everyone once they come back.

He also asked where he could get water to bathe, and Illia said he could do it in the bathroom on the first floor.

It seemed they had some sort of rudimentary bathroom where they had a toilet, but no shower, but the water pump was enough to fill a bucket.

She only asked him not to use too much water, and that was simple enough.

So Dale went to the bathroom, sat down near the water pump, and started to pump water...

Bored, he said:

"It looks like this will take a while... How about a quick look at my stats?…"

With a smile on his face, Dale opened his stats…

[Player: DareDevil (Dale Houston) Attainments: Body Reformation; Eclipsed;

Level:27 (21.1%)

Class: Heavy Spearman

Character Status:

Strength: 104(129); Constitution: 104(129); Dexterity: 104(129); Mental Power: 79(94); Reflexes: 79(94); Mana: 54(69)

Skills:

Slot 1-> Spear Technique 2-Star (Neutral)

Slot 2-> Close quarters Combat 0.5-Star (Neutral)

Slot 3-> Stable Emotions 2.5-Star (Passive)

Slot 4-> Spatial Awareness 0.5-Star (Passive)

Slot 5-> Fighting Spirit 2-Star (Active)

Slot 6-> Miasma Immunity 0-Star (Passive)

Temporary Skills: None

Current Effects:

Aspect of Might -> All Stats +15

Body Reformation -> Natural Healing and Stamina recovery speed have been increased

Inventory (+)

]

"Even with no gear, my stats are already so high…"

'And finally, I've doubled most of my stats, but my strength is definitely more than double of my previous one prior to entering the game.'

'It seems the power brought forward by stats follows an exponential equation rather than a linear one.'

'There are still many mysteries within this panel, especially the Attainment section.'

'While most players would be awarded Titles for accomplishing great things, I am given Attainments, and mine seems to be much harder to acquire.'

'There are hundreds of Titles already found, and it wouldn't be hard to see a player with at least 10 or so Titles, yet I only have 2 attainments…'

Dale shook his head.

"It doesn't matter, both Attainments and Titles hold no importance towards a player's strength after all."

'But accumulating more can't be too bad…'

Dale finished filling up the bucket and started to shower.

"Oh? My wound is much better than before."

He removed his bandages and saw that his shoulder was the last place with an injury, having a small gash that was in the process of healing.

He washed it carefully and bandaged the place again before continuing...

[DING]

[You've received a video-call request from…]

"Hm? Oh, it's Ermin…"

'But Video-Call?'

"What timing..."

'Well, I'm only passing a wet towel on my chest so it's fine.'

'I'll clean the rest after this call...'

[DING!]

[DING!]

[DING!]

[DING!]

"What?"

The moment he was about to accept the video call, he received several messages at once, all from Ermin.

It was as if he was trying to warn Dale of something…

Dale didn't think much of it, opening the messages as he accepted the call.

"Hey Bro? You called at a terrible time, I was taking a shower and..." Dale said as the screen changed from black to colorful…

But the moment the black faded away, Dale became dumbfounded to see who was on the other side.

A pair of beautiful girls with red hair, one with a mature look and green eyes and another one with a more naive and playful look hidden inside a beautiful pair of blue eyes.

"So it's true! Brother actually has a friend! And he's... he's..." Said the smaller and presumably younger sister

"Hot..." She said in a very low tone, but due to the call quality, Dale heard her very easily

"..."

The younger sister looked excited while the older one was pensive.

The younger one was even a little bit flushed as she looked at Dale, while the older one kept looking at him, trying to figure something out.

It was at this moment that Dale opened the messages Ermin sent him…

[HIDE YOUR FACE BRO!]

"..."

'Sigh…'

Somewhat understanding what had happened, Dale modified the configuration of the call, focusing the screen on his face as he said with a smile:

"Hello, ladies, did you see Ermin by any chance?"

The younger sister turned to the side and whispered to the older one:

"Look! He's polite on top of being handsome!"

But the older sister shook her head and said out loud:

"You know that he can hear you, right?"

"Eh?!"

The younger sister's face flushed, immediately looking at Dale, who in reply, simply smiled.

This made her very embarrassed as she crouched, disappearing from the screen's range, leaving only the older sister behind.

After that Dale heard the sounds of footsteps as she ran away...

"Sigh, I apologize for my younger sister's lack of manners and also for my transgression this time, this was truly quite the bad timing." She said with a slight nod

"No no, it's okay, I am more surprised than offended."

'They look better than I expected, both in appearance and in the way they talk…'

'Is this one of those circumstances where the two are actually rather decent people but their relationship with their brother is terrible?'

'Mine used to be like that with my brother… Until he got a girlfriend and was forced to act more in line.'

'He was tamed by his girlfriend you could say.'

Seeing that the conversation was a bit stuck, Dale said:

"Nice to meet you, I imagine you must be Ermin's older sister? I'm Dale Houston, a friend of your brother." He said with a full smile

She also smiled slightly, but she seemed to be one of those serious women as even with a smile, she seemed a bit cold.

"Eleonora Pontine, and that little girl who fled just now was Erminia, we heard a lot about you from our brother." She said with her serious expression

"Really? Ha, you're making me embarrassed, there isn't much to talk about me anyway…"

"That is not true."

"?"

She seemed pretty confident in her own words.

'How much does she know about me? Is she actually praising me?'

"Is that so? I wouldn't expect the things Ermin would say about me to be pretty hahaha…"

Noticing his embarrassment, she also realized her mistake and said:

"It wasn't my intention to embarrass you, I only came here when the opportunity arose, you see, I've been wanting to meet you."

"Really?"

'She wants to talk with me?'

"Yes, since your actions allowed us to enjoy this game very much, and aside from that, I've always been very interested in the person my brother talks about every once in a while."

"..."

'She is actually making me think that Ermin is gay…'

"I also heard that you invited him to play with you, so I felt obligated to come here and say why that won't be possible…"

"I see…"

'Jesus Ermin, is she your mom in disguise or something? Why is she apologizing on your place bro?!'

'Besides, she's too different from him!'

'Compared to them Ermin is too average… They're simply too pretty.'

"It's okay, Ermin is playing with his sisters so I can easily understand." Dale replied with a smile

'But I would've still preferred if he just came to me and not you…'

'I mean, it's rather weird, Ermin is an adult and can easily speak for himself…'

"Thank you for understanding… But there is one more thing I would like to say."

"..."

She bowed her head and said:

"Lastly... Thank you for playing with my brother."

"?!"

'Who thanks someone else for playing with their brother just like this… It's not like Ermin is deficient...'

'Is she his mother? Are they actually playing a prank on me?'

Many things passed by Dale's head, but in the end, he just kept his smile and said:

"There's no need for that, he's my friend, and in no way do I want a thank you for spending time with my friend."

'Wow, this was more embarrassing to say than I thought…'

Upon hearing his reply, she smiled gently, and that caught Dale off guard.

She seemed to have noticed her quick change of expression, but her eyes seemed to change slightly.

"Aside from that, be assured that we'll repay you all of the Gold you sent us."

"Oh?"

'It seems they found out… Poor Ermin... Or did he tell them about this?'

'Perhaps that's the reason behind this conversation.'

'I need to be very careful here as my words could very well affect the fate of my friend…'

"The money isn't very important, he asked me for a bit of support and I helped him."

"Don't feel pressed to repay me for now, money is very important at the start of the game."

"But isn't that the same for you?" She asked

"My conditions are a bit special…"

"Because you are in the South?"

"..."

'He really told them a LOT!'

'Sigh, well, I'll just roll with it.'

"Yes, I don't have that many uses for money right now."

She got into deep thought and asked:

"It seems our plans will have to be scrapped… We were planning on repaying you with money but…"

"In that case, how about we repay you with something else?" She asked as her hair flowed in the wind

The scene looked rather romantic from Dale's perspective, but he didn't let his emotions get ahold of him as he said:

"In that case, I am indeed in need of materials…" He replied with a poker face

"Materials?"

"Metals like Iron, and basic herbs… It's part of a quest but looking for these materials is hard since the fields in the South are harder, and I am only a single person…"

"Consider it done then." She said without hesitation

"Thank you." He replied

"I should be the one thanking you, the money and tips you shared with our brother helped all of us excel in the tutorial, and now we even…"

She was about to say something but stopped, seemingly thinking about something.

"In any case, we enjoyed this game thanks to you. And we value that a lot."

"Haa… Give poor Ermin a bit of recognition as well. Hahaha…" Dale said as he chuckled slightly

"Of course."

"So uh… Can I talk with Ermin?"

Erminia thought for a moment before she said:

"Sure, he's all yours now…"

[Call Ended]

"? What?"

'They cut me just like that?'

"I swear these people…"

[DING!]

[You've received a message from player Jelly…]

"..."

'Let's see what he wants...'

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Notes