Using the recreation shown on my status screen of my avatar, I can see what my new equipment looks like on me.

Oh

My

Glob

I look so Awesome!

On my body is a Gi and puffy pants that look almost Identical to Goku Black’s clothes, albeit a little baggier, and the sash is purple instead of red.

The Boots are a mixture of greaves and dress shoes. From where the pants end to a bit above the ankle are black steel plates with a slight purple tinge. And from there down they look like a vanta black, high top leather dress shoe, with no laces.

It’s all amazing, very aesthetically pleasing, comfortable, nonrestrictive, and feels much more sturdy than my prior gear.

Overall, they are definitely very distinctive, which is exactly what I wanted.

I want the people who will only be seeing glimpses of me to know it was me when I instantly kill them.

And distinctive gear goes a long way towards making that a reality.

Now that I’ve got my new gear settled, though I am noticing the lack of a promised cloak, I should meet up with the grave keeper, then try out my new boots, and see what that is all about.

Moving back through the dungeon towards the staircase I came in through, I see a light coming from the base of it, presumably from the old man’s lantern.

Getting closer, I start talking to the grave keeper.

“Hey there”

“Hello again” he says

“Did you manage to defeat that thing?” he asks inquisitively.

“Sure did, easy peasy”

I definitely in no way ever did anything like shadow boxing the air in my room after the first 8 deaths.

Never.

“That's great” The grave keeper says, drawing me out of my head

“I can’t thank you enough for being so kind as to help an old man like me with his job.”

“No, the pleasure’s all mine”

“As a reward, I’ll give you this” he says, holding out a necklace with a decoration on it that looks like a tiny stone tablet.

Quest Completed - Decrepit Crypt - Rewards: +EXP, Honorary gravekeepers amulet.

“It's an amulet that appoints you as an honorary grave keeper, I hope it can help you at some point.” He says, handing it to me.

You have reached level 33

+5 stat points

(A/N: I’m really tired of doing the <><> thing so I’m changing some of the system notification things from now on.)

Honorary Grave Keepers Amulet: +15% damage against undead types enemies, may grant access to some restricted areas.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

The levels and items are a nice bonus, but the gear is what I was after anyway since everything else is just extra.

After a bit more small talk with the old man, I quickly ascend the stairs, and leave the interior of the mountain.

Seeing the beautiful sights from standing halfway up a mountain after spending over half a day doing what feels like bashing my head into a wall made out of needles, was very therapeutic.

Standing on high, with the brisk wind blowing through my hair, with the beautiful blue sky, and large landscapes filled with curving valleys, rolling hills, and high mountains, with flora and fauna everywhere the eye can see, I am once again reminded why I love Deep Dive VR so much.

The worlds that live in the minds of men can become reality, and to some, realer than reality itself.

On the surface this game may seem like an MMORPG, but in reality, it's an adventure game, to explore this whole world with your friends must be what the creators truly intended. You might just need to kill some things along the way.

Done being philosophical, I descend the mountain to find some flatter ground.

I don't want to fall flat on my face the first time I’m trying out the skill on my boots, that would be very embarrassing.

Reaching the base of the mountain, I navigate my way back to the path I used to get here, and very quickly travel back to the forest by the town.

I want to test it out there because It is a low risk area and if I hurt myself there won't be anything that could kill me anyway.

Arriving at the forest, I search for a clearing, which I find post haste.

Making quick work of the baby easy mobs in the clearing, now even easier with my enhanced speed, I prepare myself to test my boot’s skill.

Activating my skill, and taking a step forward, I find my foot takes purchase in the air, and I fully leave the ground.

As I step into the air, my Gi lengthens, turning into long, flowing robes that look a lot like the ones Marie wears during her dungeon in Persona 4 Golden. These ones are the same colors as the Gi, so instead of being white robes with red adornments, it's black and dark gray robes with purple adornments.

Guess I found that cloak I was wondering about.

Right now, I’m standing completely still in the air, admiring my new cloak and marveling at the fact that I’m kinda technically flying.

But I should try moving, try to learn the ropes of this so-called “Intuitive movement”.

Trying to take a step forward I actually find myself moving,

Forward

Wait, really?

But it's not quite as simple as that.

What actually happened is that I didn’t take a step forward, but in the process of doing so, I pushed myself forward with the foot that was still on the ground. And when I did, I started sliding forward like the plane I am on is ice.

Kinda like roller skating, but no wheels so it's much more controllable.

Slowly coming to a stop, I push myself to the left using my right foot, and quickly go careening in that direction.

Leaning a bit to the left as I move, I find myself moving even faster in that direction.

Noticing that, I lean in the opposite direction, and slow down drastically, gradually slowing down to nothing.

Okay, It is pretty intuitive I guess.

Deciding to truly put this skill to the test, I push myself forward as fast as I can, also leaning forward to go even faster.

At this point I’m moving at insane speeds because I don't have to take steps and because I am gliding straight through the air.

You’d be surprised how much maneuvering through any kind of terrain can slow you down.

While moving like this, I imagine I’m somewhere around twice as fast, where with all my static buffs (buffs that are always active) puts my AGI at around 720.

Which is actually kind of a problem, because that is very fast, and it's starting to feel like it did before I had bullet time.

Though this time I don’t imagine there will be a timely skill upgrade, seeing as this speed isn’t only stat related, being caused by the new kind of movement.

I think as I hit various milestones in my AGI stat, the bullet time skill will evolve to compensate.

So, Obviously, I will try to use this as much as I can so that I can get used to using it in battle, but most of the time, like in regular battles or while making long trips or while hanging out with friends (when I get some), I’ll just stay in base form.

But I’m fine with that. It will give me a cool transformation when I’m on the ropes, and I can have cool cinematic fights where I use my “true power”.

“Wahahahaha-

*POW* “Oof”

…

I ran into a tree

Maybe I should be paying more attention while using this.

____________________________________________________________________________

“Woah there, seems you found that gear you were looking for” Says a familiar blue haired woman.

“Nice to see you again Iz” I say with recognition.

“You too Flak”

When I went to pick up my items from her the first time, Iz had been a little surprised that I actually could afford the items and supply her with the items she asked for.

When I asked why she was so skeptical, she told me it was because from my weapons to my armor, everything was still the base stuff you start with.

I just laughed it off, and told her the reason was that I was trying to get something I wouldn’t outlevel within the next week or two, and that I was currently doing a quest to get better stuff.

After that we talked a bit more and added each other as friends.

“What have you been up to recently?” I ask her.

“Well, I’ve been manning my shop as usual, while hanging my crafting skills”

I actually have an immense respect for people who pursue crafting skills.

They have to pretty much give up regular hunting and grinding, and spend hours crafting items for minimal level gains.

I don't think I personally would have the patience for that.

After a bit of catching up, Iz asks me a question.

“Hey, so do you think I could ask you for something?”

“Huh, What do you need?”

‘This is strange, I would never expect a merchant as shrewd as Iz to ask me for something.’

“Well, one of my regulars, a great shielder, needs some more party members to help with grinding and farming. He asked me to ask around and see if anyone would be willing to join. It doesn’t have to be permanent or anything if you don't want to.”

"Hmm, he, great shielder, regular?”

‘Is it kuromu ,or chrome, however he introduces himself’

If it is, I wouldn’t be entirely opposed to temporarily joining him in a party. It would be a good idea to build up some rep with the main cast of the show other than Iz.

“Hmm” I put my hand up to my chin and hmm.

“I wouldn’t mind meeting him to discuss things further.”

“Great! I’ll send you his contact info so you guys can set up a meeting. His name is Kuromu, by the way.”

‘So it is Kuromu, alright’

“Sounds great.”