Minutes had passed by since the screen had appeared and I still felt unable to avert my eyes from it. The system of numbers displayed on it was something any gamer was accustomed to, but them stating my own far too weak attributes rather than those of a random side-character or mob was something I couldn’t get my head around.
It was only when a cold breeze hit my unprotected skin with the coldness of the approaching night that I remembered the desperate state I had ended up in. I immediately closed the screen by pointing my finger at the small, white ‘x’ in the upper right corner of the screen. Luckily it worked just like that.
“I need something to wear!”
If only it was a little more comfortable here, I would probably have spent a few minutes examining my new body, but the lack of both warmth and light made me toss aside this idea almost immediately. Knowing that the bratty goddess watched my every move naturally didn’t help either.
I let my gaze wander around, trying to find some kind of clothes I could use, but obviously, a ruin like this wouldn’t have pants and shirts lying around randomly. There weren’t any tools either, which robbed me of the small chance to craft something to wear - not that I would have known how to use them.
“That damn bitch! To just toss me in here like this ...”
「Kon-kon! Kon-kon!」 A series of playful yet irritating fox calls echoed through my head, attempting to seize my attention. And they did. Oh how much they did…
“Fox!” I shouted “I get it, ok!? You are a fox!”
「Missy?」
“...”
The vixen’s voice grew more and more relentless, becoming louder and even more annoying in the process. My anger had long since waned and changed into something that was neither real hatred nor real desperation. There was even a part of me that had already given up on fighting back, but naturally, the goddess didn’t even realize there was a change of mood.
「Kon-kon~?」 She ‘asked’.
“WHAT?!” I heard myself shout at her.
「It looks like you need some help, Missy! Do you?」
“I would never accept your help...”
「But Missy~」
“No!”
「But I spend so much time on preparing this~」
“So what?!”
「No tutorial?」
“Yes.”
「I knew you would say yes~!」
“What?! No! That's not what I said. I-”
Before I could even try to talk her out of it, the goddess made the green screen reappear right in front of my eyes. This time, however, there were only three words to be found written on it.
『Tutorial mode activated.』
“Did I ever have a choice?”
「I only care for your safety!」
“My safety?” I laughed bitterly. “You never did!”
「How could I let my one and only daughter run around unprotected like that?」
“WHO IS YOUR DAUGHTER?!”
「You are~」
“Let’s just get this over with, ok!? You will leave me alone then, right?”
「What are you planning on doing once you are alone~?」
“You...”
「It’s your body. Feel free to explore it~」 She went silent for half a second. 「I promise I won’t look~」
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“... n- no! I won’t do that!”
「You hesitated.」
“... can we just start the tutorial?”
「Just say tutorial. It will start immediately.」
A deep sigh slipped my lips. 『Tutorial.』
『Quest-Chain accepted: Tutorial.
Quest 1/129: Controls
Description: To move forward, please step forward.
Rewards upon completing quest-chain: ???』
“I will get you one day ...”
「You want to get me? But you are my daughter! You shouldn’t feel that way towards me! I can help you find a boyfriend! I’m sure it will be fine! Totally fine!」
“...”
It was at this moment that I finally gave up and accepted my fate. There was nothing to be won by turning myself into a fun toy for the goddess to play with. By only following her commands silently, without giving her more attention than she deserved, I could maybe make myself appear too boring for her to continue wasting time on me. Naturally, that was only a faint hope...
Grudgingly, I took a single step forward, as the quest had demanded me to. The text on the screen changed immediately.
『Good job!』 It read. 『Please now take a step backwards to move backwards.』
“...”
Within a few minutes, I took a step backwards, moved to the left, to the right and back to the left. I jumped, crouched, bent over, and did all kinds of gymnastics - everything I could think of. A never-ending flow of text scrolled down in front of my eyes. I didn’t pay them any heed as I continued skipping quest after quest.
『Good job! ...』 『Good job! ...』 『Good job! ...』 『Good job! ...』 『Good job! ...』
「You are a natural!」
“...”
It didn’t need much to reach the end of the so-called ‘tutorial’ she had given me. Only a single quest remained now. It seemed as silly and useless as all the ones I had done before.
『Quest 129/129: General commands
Use each of the commands ‘Status’ ‘Equipment’ ‘Inspect’ once.』
“I hate her so much ...”
『Status』 revealed the same lines it did before, each of them whipping away a little bit of the mood I had left.
『Equipment』was empty and 『Inspect』revealed to me that a stone was indeed a stone and not some fancy magic object in disguise.
“So useless…”
『Quest completed: General commands
~Gained Passive Skill: Vivid Dreaming
~Gained Experience-Points: 100』
“What do you mean? How is that related to Mira!?”
A white mist enveloped me before the vixen could even try to answer my question. It came with a new text-filled screen, the first one that didn’t make me feel like puking blood.
『Level Up!
Level 2: 0% EXP
+2 Vitality
+1 Spirit
+1 Intelligence』
When the mist finally dissipated, I just sat there, disillusioned. There was no Mira, no clothes, no nothing. I was alone in a foreign place with nothing to grasp onto. And the only contact I had, the only voice willing to listen to me, was some cursed goddess that did her best to bring me down.
“Where is she…” some part of me managed to ask.
「She isn’t here.」The goddess confessed after what felt like minutes of silence.「I couldn’t just steal her away from the family she loves, away from the friends she had, the-」
All strength left me. I let myself fall against the rough wall and stared at the whole in the ceiling, which was already showing the approaching night.
“I get it, okay?” I said with a sigh. “I get it…”
「I knew you would understand.」
“...” I took a deep breath before hesitatingly asking: “...why? Why dreaming of all things?” I stared at the darkening blue. “No, forget that I asked…”
The vixen went silent once and for all. She didn’t try to apologize, nor did she try to annoy me with her silly pranks. It was silent. Soothingly silent. And I couldn’t help but let my emotions take over. For once in a long time, I cried…