How the hell did I end up in the kind of hell? Did I commit some unforgivable sin? I struggle to my feet wary of the foe before me. I would be looking for a means of escape, but I gave up on that option hours ago. Instead, I shuffle my feet on the ground to make sure my footing is stable and stand ready for this monster. “Aww come on, it’s not that bad!” says the monster. I grimace as I struggle to form a coherent sentence. “Y-you aren’t the one that’s constantly been getting stabbed for the last 4 hours! How am I even alive at this point!” Dali smirks at my response “I already told you, this room is enchanted as a duel chamber. Anyone that enters here is automatically subjected to the rules of dueling. Your HP can only drop to 1 and then it automatically refills, thus signifying your loss. Speaking of which, that’s what, 138 losses now?” "Weren't you supposed to leave on a mission by now?!" Death incarnate shrugs and gives me a wave of dismissal. "Naah, they don't need me. I got all the time in the world now."

I groan as I recall how I ended up in this situation. After dragging me from the bar, I had tripped on the steps and fell on my face, but Dali took no notice and barely slowed down, only stopping long enough to grab my legs since I wasn't quick enough to stand. Thus, she dragged my face through the dirt for who knows how long. I lost track of where I was until after some time I felt myself flying through the air only to crash onto a wood floor. After a moment spent recollecting my dignity, or at least whatever scraps were left of it, I shakily stood up and got a good look at my surroundings. I appeared to be in some sort of arena/Dojo. There were small targets lined up against one wall with loads of knives embedded in the soft wood, against another wall was a few racks with an assortment of weapons of unsavoury intentions hanging from them, and of course in the middle where I was standing was a flat open area for fights and training. Looking beyond the “decorations” I take notice of an unusual feature of this dojo. All the windows in the building have very solid metal bars mounted in the frame. I slowly turn towards the only door in the structure I got thrown in through with mounting dread filling my stomach just in time to see Dali pull a key out of the keyhole of the door and hang the key around her neck.

“Hey! What kind of creepy shit is this your pulling off here! Since when is it necessary to lock the door when you’re just giving some pointers on how to fight with daggers!” The loli-nightmare frowns at me. “How am I supposed to train you properly if you can run away though. I said I was gonna train you and I meant it.” I desperately try to think of something, anything to get me out of this situation. “H-hey weren’t you drunk j-just an hour ago? Why don’t you take a nap and sober up a bit! Would hate to hurt you by accident or some...thing…” I trail off at the end as I notice her wicked smile and the needle-like teeth that fill it, shuddering instinctively at the sight. “Don’t you know what race I am? I’m a Half-Gnasher” seeing the confused look on my face she rolls her eyes and explains. “Gnashers are basically like the piranha of the forest. They basically eat anything they can get their teeth on and are absolutely deadly in larger groups. As a half-gnasher, I inherited the teeth and digestive capabilities of the species. Earlier when I said I was only drunk because I wanted to be, I meant it. Once I was done being drunk I simply cleared the alcohol from my system. So you don’t need to worry about little ol’ me, so how about we get started?” I blink when a message window appears in front of me.

“Dali Bloodteeth has challenged you to a Duel with conditional rules to victory. Victory: remove the key from Dali’s neck. Defeat: N/A”

What? I’ve never heard of conditional rules to a duel, and what does it mean when defeat is N/A? Does that mean I can’t lose? Ha! This will be easy! I just gotta grab the key and I’m outta here! I smile and accept the quest unknowingly sealing my fate leading towards eternal damnation. Dali smiles even more once I accept and tosses a knife on the floor in front of me. “Alright. Let's get training. Pick up that dagger and we’ll begin.”

Once I pick up the dagger Dali proceeds to stab the crap out of my poor body for the next few hours. Every time my health drops to zero, I collapse and my health instantly refills so my nightmare can continue. I tried running from her, but there is nowhere to escape. Every bar is solid with no give to them. The door is reinforced with an iron grate inside the wood. I even tried climbing the support pillars to get to the roof only to find them heavily greased. “What the fuck! Who puts grease on fucking support columns!” I shout in panic as Dali once again thrusts her dagger at my exposed back. She laughs at my question “ha! Well, obviously I do! I’m surprised though not many of my students think to try the columns. I like that about you! It shows you don’t give up easily!” after I leap away from another slash I finally come to a realization. There is no way I could possibly escape except to win this fucking duel! As if she is reading my mind, Dali suddenly gets more aggressive. Pushing me to retaliate, to fight back. Left with no other choice, I fully dedicate myself to getting that damnable key. The next few hours are filled with the ebb and flow of battle. At first, I only got stabbed for my trouble. After a while, I could parry a blow to try to get under her guard, but she could just step back and stab me more. Soon I was able to read the flow of the battle and block more than just a single attack. My time was filled with parries, dodges, and the clang of the dagger against dagger with the occasional thunk of steel buried into my poor flesh.

All that has now led up to this moment. I recheck my footing not taking my eyes off of Dali. Watching for the slightest movement to hint at her first attack. Muscles loose but ready to tense up in an instant. Dali’s right foot slides forwards and I ready myself for her charge. Time seems to slow as she races towards me with daggers in both hands. Her right hand swings in from the left, aiming to embed the blade straight into my side. I smack her hand upwards and duck, narrowly avoiding the blade as the momentum carries the dagger over my head as I ready my own dagger to intercept her second attack. Her left hand is angling from underneath aiming to slash my chest in a diagonal cut. I put my blade in the way to intercept the dagger and sparks fly as the two blades grind past each other from the intensity of the blow. I refocus on Dali to try and predict her next attack to see her first blade coming back for another chance at the opening I exposed at my hip while countering her second blade. I try and jump backward but the blade still cuts into my abdomen. Seeing an opportunity I initiate a plan I had been making the last few battles. I cringe and clasp my hand to the wound and bend over slightly leaving an opening for an attack to my face with one of her powerful kicks. I pause an instant then reel backward just in time to feel the wind whistling from under my chin as Dali’s foot passes by. I instantly take my chance and dart forward with my blade just underneath her rising leg, using her own body to hide my attack. Her eyes widen as she notices my ploy and arcs back in the start of a backflip to gain space. Many times before she used this and any anytime I got too close she could use her feet in the middle of the back flip to kick me away. However, during her last few backflips, I noticed one flaw that I decided to take advantage of. As she bends backwards I flip the dagger around and grasp it by the blade. Mentally crossing my fingers, I flick it towards my target. Not Dali, but the key flying above her as her backflip’s momentum flicks the key away from her body and exposing the delicate string looped around her neck. The blade cuts through the air and Dali see’s it coming but she is too late to do anything about it. She still reaches out and and grabs the key itself even as the dagger cuts through the string around her neck.

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She finishes her backflip and laughs at me. “Hahaha! That was a close one! You almost got it then! None of my students were THAT clever so you got me by surprise.” She smirks at me and ties the key back around her neck. “It won’t work again next time though so go pick up that dagger and let’s keep going.” This time it’s my turns to smirk at her as I gasp for breath from all the exertion. “I don’t think so… Th-this duel is over… I win.” She frowns in confusion. “What are you talking about? I still have the key right here.” she points to the key around her neck and I laugh. “The condition of the duel wasn’t to take the key from you… It was to remove the dagger from your neck… Which I did.” Just then, as if to prove my point, a message pops up in front of me. “Conditions for victory achieved. The winner: Ebon Darkclaw” Dali gapes at the message before she blows her top and throws a tantrum right there. “FUUUUCK! DAMNIT NO! I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE SPECIFIC! FUCKING DAMNIT!!! GRAAAGH!!!” She then grabs the nearest thing at hand to throw and hurls it across the dojo with insane force into one of the targets against the wall, blowing a 3 inch hole dead center. I gape at the damage and look back at her. Just then I notice her holding a dagger… “A” dagger. Where is her seco- oh… shit. I look back at the target as the pieces start lining up. She just blew a fucking hole in a target with a dagger. What kind of monster IS she?! I knew she was strong, but this?! She takes a deep breath and calms herself down before glaring hotly at me. “Grrrr… I guess you win… Consider your lessons over.”

QUEST COMPLETE: NO REST FOR THE WEARY

Reward: Dagger Mastery lvl. 1

Bonus: due to extreme circumstances and effort you receive extra experience towards Dagger mastery.

Dagger Mastery is now lvl. 7

Once I finish reading the message I collapse on the floor and laugh like some insane person. “Oi! Get off my floor! I don’t need slackers hanging out in here!” Dali growls at me, then smiles deviously. “Unless of course, you want to go another rou-” I am already bolting for the door, only to ram face first into it. “Idiot. The door is still locked. Geez no one ever sticks around for round 2” Dali grumbles more as she unlocks the door and I bolt outside as soon as there is space big enough to squeeze through. As I smell the fresh night air I nearly burst into tears. I collapse right there, basking in the open air after spending so many hours in that hell hole. I hear a slam and look up to see that Dali has closed the door behind me. Letting out the tension I didn’t know I still had, I Immediately decide it’s time to log the fuck out. Not even bothering to stand up, I swipe down and bring up the menu. Once I navigate to the logout option, I toggle it and wait for the timer to expire and then I am surrounded by blackness.

I reach up and push against the lid of my virtuo pod and hear the hissing sound as it unseals and opens up. I’m dazzled by lights in my room. aagh note to self: don’t forget to turn off your bedroom lights before going into immersion. Flexing my stiff muscles I slowly ease myself to my feet. I check my clock and see what time it is. 2:00 a.m. I could have stayed in longer, but I think that’s enough for my first time. I may be able to play in my sleep, but after that nightmarish quest, I think I’m gonna stick with regular sleep for at least tonight. I take a quick shower and clean the sweat off of me before getting into bed and getting ready to sleep the rest of the night in the comfort of my own bed. After toggling the light switch on my palm drive I settle in and close my eyes as I am enveloped in the sweet bliss of darkness.

 ......

As the sun peeks over the horizon, signaling a new day, Riley reluctantly wakes up to the buzzing of his alarm. “Damn college, if I had to put up with this any more I think I might go insane. Thankfully I only have one more week to put up with this shit. Even better that after today it’s the weekend, so I have the whole weekend to play Dreamscape.” After getting ready for class Riley steps out of his room just in time to see his brother also dressed for his job at construction, wearing durable denim jeans and a cotton shirt. “Hey, aren’t you a bit early for work? You usually don’t leave till after I’m gone.” Evan turns around at Riley’s voice. “Oh morning Riley. Yea I know, boss called and said he needs a little extra help today cuz he is a little short on hands. He said some of his early workers didn’t show for work today because they were playing that new game of yours that came out. Speaking of which, how is the game? I haven’t seen anyone yet to ask about it yet since it just came out last night.” The two brothers step out the door, locking it as they head towards the elevator.

“It’s pretty good. The immersion is top notch. It isn’t absolutely perfect since if you pay attention as hard as you can you could feel a few discrepancies that might pull you out of the game.” Evan turns towards Riley, clearly interested. “What kind of discrepancies? Is it bad enough to ruin your fun?” Riley shakes his head in the negative. “Hell no! I didn’t have much time to experiment because I had been… Um training, but one thing I noticed is about your own body movements. Your body moves how you want it to… Actually, let me clarify that a bit. Let us say you want to lift your arm. In order to do that, you flex the muscles in your arms and that’s what moves it, but in the game, it’s like… well it’s like your muscles don’t exist unless you think about them. When you want to move your arm, it just moves like you want.” Evan pauses a moment to think as the two of them step into the now open elevator. “That doesn’t seem like to big a problem to me.”

Riley shakes his head again. “No, it really isn’t. I noticed it when I was fighting someone for a long time. It got to the point where I tried to watch my opponent's muscles tense in order to predict their movements and I noticed that I couldn’t feel any muscle movement under my skin. Other than that though, things are really hard to notice that would break your immersion. You can only notice things about your own body. You can’t feel your own heartbeat or the expansion of your chest when you breath. Just little things like that. It’s not enough to break immersion, but it weirds you out when you pay attention to it.” The Elevator doors close and the two brothers descend, neither taking notice of the lone man working in a corner of the elevator room. Upon noticing the two enter the elevator and leave, he quickly pulls a screwdriver from his toolbelt and fastens the faceplate of the wall outlet back to the wall. After checking that no one else is looking around he quickly stands up, dusting off his jumpsuit and walks calmly down the hallway away from the elevators.