"Fuck! I played way too long. Just how much time has passed since the last time I logged out?" Bao covered his mouth as he yawned loudly and ripped the cable from his neck.
All the joints in his body cracked the moment he jumped off the small bed, but to his big surprise, not a single muscle reminded him of the physical cost of playing VR.
"Damit!" A single glance at the clock was enough to answer his previous question, it was eight o'clock in the morning and a new day had dawned. But to his big surprise, he didn't feel tired despite having played through the night.
His thoughts were still in Nelenia with Elincia, Morell and the others before Vibrations spreading throughout his whole body, brought him back to the here and now. Back to the real life.
"Good morning lil' sis, what's up?" Cuifen was on the phone.
"Brother, you didn't forget your promise did you?"
Immediately every single brain cell started searching for what he had promised to his sister. Was it to go shopping together or maybe to go to the cinema?
Even though he was still dazed until a moment ago he was now awake. What was it, what did he promise her? His eyes wandered from left to right in search of anything that might bring back his memory. The seconds got longer as he searched for an answer, and just when he was about to apologize for forgetting his appointment, he heard loud voices echoing through a hall of some sort in the background of the call. Was Cuifen at school? On a Sunday?
"Hello, you still there? So you did indeed forget it didn't you?" Bao could hear the disappointment in her voice even through the phone.
"No..., no I would never forget your school festival. I just had to work overtime at the net cafe so I slept there. I'm coming right now, I might stink a little bit though."
"Hehe," she giggled. "You always stink. I'll wait for you at the entrance then."
"Do I?", he asked but she had already hung up. "Sigh, well then I should probably take a quick shower before going there, if I remember correctly we have one for staff members."
The empty net cafe was indeed scary, the long shadows thrown by some dim lights shining through the closed windows created the silhouettes of monsters. But he had no time getting terrified by his own imaginations. If he didn't get to his sister's school anytime soon she would definitely scold him, and who in his right mind would want to get scolded by his younger sibling.
Half running and his hair still dripping wet, Bao appeared in front of the school gates where his sister already awaited him, just in time for the opening.
"Did you stand there for the whole time?", asked Bao
"I talked with some friends so it wasn't such a long wait. But say did you become even more muscular than last time? I don't even recognize you anymore!" She touched his wet hair. "So you took a shower before coming here, take this we don't want you to get sick do we." From the small bag lying over her shoulder, she pulled out a black cap and put it on his head after binding his hair into a small ponytail. "You look way cooler now brother hopefully, you don't get overrun by girls now," she joked and poked him in the side with her elbow.
Quite a while had passed since the last time he spent some fun time together with his sister. They wandered around the campus between the stalls of all the different classes, enjoying the delicious food offered to them.
The pungent stares directed at him reminded Bao of the old school days where everyone was making fun of him and his scrawny appearance.
"Isn't that the cosplay queen Yan, over there? Impossible, how come you have her here at your school?!" Bao being the nerd he was, immediately recognized the beauty on a small pedestal who waved her snow-white hand at the masses who came to see her.
"Ah that. She is an acquaintance of one of the students in our class so we asked her to be the reward for the first to complete our attraction."
"Attraction?"
"Yes, basically she represents the maiden in distress and the participants have to complete the obstacle course in order to save her. But we obviously made the parkour impossible, at least for normal humans."
"What's the prize for completing it?"
"You get to take a picture together with her and she'll hand you a gift basket..." his sister turned to him. "Wait you're not planning on doing it? Did you even listen to what I just said?"
"You said your big brother looks cool, now I'll show you how cool he really is," Bao said with a smirk on his face.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
"Hmpf, do what you want."
"Since when has he become so confident?", whispered Cuifen to herself.
Bao called up his status board as he walked up to the line of participants, thanks to the quest he had just completed, there were some XP points left for him to invest in agility.
David Level 11 -> 15 HP 70/70 MP 0/0 Strength 14 Perception 2 Endurance 2 Charisma 6 Intelligence 3 Agility 2 ->10 Luck 2 Skills World Traveller Level 1 Scuffle Level 5 Backstab Level 3 Gathering Level 2 Sneaking Level 3 Swordsmanship Level 6 -> 7 Berserker Level 1 -> 2 Evasion Level 4 Titles Acquaintance Of The Holy Maiden Soulwalker Farmers Saviour Stampede Survivor Adventurers pupil Avenger
"Next one," a monotonous voice in front of him stated.
His steps felt light as if it took no effort to move at all. Before he even knew it, he found himself on a small yellow platform, the start of the obstacle course, underneath the blue water which still waved from the previous participant who fell into it.
Three diagonal platforms alternating between left and right, a ten-meter high rope you had to climb which drained your stamina followed by three large wooden walls over which you had to jump and then the final boss, three big, half-round platforms fixated on a single pole. Most participants failed on exactly that last obstacle.
"Get moving! We are getting old here, just jump and fall like everyone else. This is taking too much time and you won't be able to make it anyway!", someone of the spectators screamed in his direction.
He clicked with his tongue and jumped. Barely even touching the three platforms he had already reached the cord which he also mastered with flying colours. The spectators who until now had given up any hope of seeing anyone getting even close to winning, opened their mouths in awe as Bao got closer to the finishing line. After jumping over the walls as if they were small fences all that was left were the three half-round platforms where everybody had failed. The constant mumbling spectators went silent, not a single word could be heard.
"I will show you that I won't fail," he whispered to himself, remembering the words of the spectator.
With three steps of run-up, he sprinted over the obstacles, landing in the arms of a baffled Yan. Jaws dropped, no one could believe what they just witnessed. What everyone deemed impossible, he mastered perfectly.
"L... let me congratulate you brave hero for saving me from the grasp of the evil Lord. As a reward, I shall hand you this prize bucket!", announced Yan baffled, breaking the awkward silence. You could tell she was a professional at how she improvised. "Get some applause for this formidable young man."
Flustered Bao smiled and scratched the back of his head.
"Before we take a picture, could I call over my sister?", Bao asked as they went down the stairs
"Of course, if there are any other family members here, feel free to ask them too."
"Cuifen come over here!" He waved with his hand to gain her attention
With a bright red face, his little sister placed herself on the opposite side of him and smiled at the camera pointed at them
"Beautiful, can I ask for your names?", Yin asked after the professional photographer showered them with flashes until he was satisfied with his work.
"Bao and this here is my little sister Cuifen."
"I've never seen someone bend his body like that, did you perchance ..." She looked at how Bao panicked while he searched through his pockets. "Is something the matter?"
"Dammit, I forgot my phone at work, sorry, I'll be back as soon as possible."
Without another word he rushed to the net cafe, never would he have thought to leave the cosplay goddess alone just for a phone, but he wanted to write to Ning today to make up with him before it was too late.
"Let's see if I'm right it should be in the shower room," he said panting, after entering the cafe.
He walked through the long corridors of PC setups where all the customers would sit, at a later hour. The sound of rolls from an office chair being dragged over the floor echoed through the hall.
"Hello? Is anyone here? Aika, Ning?" Bao turned around but only the sunlight from outside dazzled him. "Hmm strange I was sure to have heard..." Something hard hit against his head making his consciousness fade into darkness as he felt the cold floor on his cheek.
- END OF SEASON 3 -