This chapter has been proof-read by: AnthonyL
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The sky was covered in menacing thunderclouds and the buildings had this creepy Gothic feeling to them, but other than this, the demon capital of Nakubar had nothing really 'hellish' to it. The grass was green, trees covered the parks and streets and there were even flowers growing around.
“What kind of shitty demon capital is this... Where are the impaled corpses and bloodied roads?” Needless to say, Kneeko was a bit perplexed. Even more disturbing was how the players were dressed. Usually in these kinds of games, people wear mage robes or armours, but most of the players around him were wearing normal everyday clothes.
Some of them even wore goddamned sandals and flip-flops! The street were littered with street merchants among which many were players. The fact that many players became merchants was obviously due to the fact that the in game currency could be converted and withdrawn as real world money.
But as Kneeko slowly walked down the main street, he became puzzled by what these merchants were selling. Homemade alcohol, suspicious potions, food, clothes, perfumes, pets, even laundry detergent for fuck sake. No weapons, no useful potions, no monster cores, no scrolls or potion ingredients. These merchants seemed to only be selling useless crap.
How could they make money by selling these useless things anyway? Then looking around a bit more, Kneeko realized that most players didn't have any weapons, and that those who did were mostly NPCs. He had done some quick research about exodus on the internet before playing and had seen many articles saying that since Alterlife's fiasco, players didn't want to play those scary types of VR games.
The VR were now too realistic for people to seek life or death situations in them. If you didn't want to see a giant spider in the real world, then you wouldn't want to see that in a virtual one either. Even after decreasing the pain ratio to 15% of that of the real world, players still weren't interested.
They then made it so players would have to walk to each teleportation point first in order to unlock it, but smart people quickly saw this as an opportunity to make money and immediately organized highly protected convoys, going through roads which are being kept safe by regular hired NPC patrols.
So after making some money in town, the players would hire these organized convoy and be safely transported to the various TP points located around the world, effortlessly unlocking them for the future. In fact, 90% of the players would play this game for months or even years without seeing a monster.
You could see various monsters very safely in various zoos located in the biggest cities, but the closest thing to a monster these people would ever touch, were these ugly fluffy pets looking like furbies sold in the pet shops. The players would still go 'kya!' when faced with a giant snake held in a cage, so it was obvious these people would never go out into the wild.
They even went as far as making the 'in game' currency worth real money to motivate the players into treasure and monster hunting, which had worked to a certain extend, but only people desperate for money ended up taking the risks. People desperate for money were also the most susceptible to becoming brigands, more commonly referred to as 'red players'. These people had formed small communities, living in isolated areas to avoid bounty hunters and royal guards.
Other than that, this game had slowly become a touristic attraction, a place where people went to relax and disconnect from real life. Since it was a man made world, all the landscapes and sceneries were simply breathtaking and unrealistically beautiful. Many people enjoyed having picnics on grassy fields with their friends or loved ones.
'Modern humans are such wimps. This game stinks...' Boringly thought Kneeko to himself. Luckily, they had taken this into consideration for their own game UnivR, in which there would be a lot more to do than simple monster subjugation. It still made the challenge of ruining the gaming experience in this game more difficult for him since most players never left the safety of their fortified cities.
Players had the option of buying small plots of lands and build their own shops or vacation houses in safe areas. If things continued like that, it wouldn't be surprising to see the game company getting rid of monsters altogether. The VR scene was slowly but surely changing, evolving based on what the customers want.
After only a few minutes in the game and strolling around town, it had already been made obvious to Kneeko that what made this game popular was its aestheticism. If the demon capital looked so pretty and lively, then he knew that the human capital was probably a disgustingly glistening white city filled with flowers and other stupid stuff like that.
Kneeko's first priorities were to find a way to gather as many mana potions as fast as possible and do it as cheaply as he could. From the coordinates he had memorized, the hole in which his precious fungus grew was no more than a kilometre away outside the city. There was no use in going there right now, not as long as he didn't have potions to feed it and a weapon to protect himself.
With that in mind, Kneeko decided to logout for now and do so more research on the internet. Going on fan based exodus forums and looking at the most popular threads. Doing that would allow him to understand what kept the players passionately coming back for more. After all, research was the most important thing before starting out in a new game.
After pressing the logout button, Kneeko suddenly found himself back in his room. After taking the headset off, he then went to his computer and and quickly began to gather information about everything he could find. After only a few minutes of work, someone came knocking energetically at his bedroom door, forcing him to take his attention away from his screens. Knock* Knock* Knock*
“What is it?” Coldly asked Kneeko. “Hmm nii-chan, big trouble! Can I come in?” Asked his sister from the other side of the door. 'Big trouble? Lucy never said she was in trouble unless it was very important.' Worried, Kneeko quickly invited her in and waited for her to say what was going on.
“So?... What's the problem?” Asked her worried brother. Lucy was fiddling and seemed on the verge of crying which worried Kneeko even more. “My b-body... I think I broke it... sniff sniff*” She said barely able to remain collected. “What? What is the problem? What's the problem with your body?” Worryingly asked her brother.
“I-it's leaking bodily fluids. B-blood is coming out of this body's ass. Cry* What am I gonna do? Am I dying?” Said Lucy before breaking down in tears and seeking her brother's help. Hearing his sister, Kneeko couldn't help but rub his forehead in annoyance. Well it was not his sister's fault in the end. After all, she never had a real biological body before so she had never experienced what periods were.
Standing up, Kneeko then grabbed his sister's hand and dragged her out of his room, then headed toward their father's office. With a sense of urgency, Kneeko then knocked the door opened and ran to his father while still dragging his sister behind. “It's an emergency Father! Lucy's body is hemorrhaging and at this rate, she will bleed to death in a few minutes!!” Said Kneeko with panic in his voice.
“Kyaaaaa! Save me! I just became mortal, I don't want to die after only a few days! Cry*!” Said the now panicking Lucy. Seeing her brother so worries had made her highly emotional and fearful of something she had never felt before, death. Seeing his children panicking like that, Lorenzo knew that the situation was dire.
Stolen novel; please report.
“What? These bodies should be perfect! Top of the line! Comparing normal human bodies to ours should be like comparing a Ford Pinto to a Ferrari, they shouldn't break down without warning like that! Tell me, what's the problem? What's wrong with your body?” Worriedly inquired their panicking father.
“Sniff sniff* Blood is gushing out of my ass, my panties are stained with it Cry*.” Hearing his daughter's words, Lorenzo was stomped. Seeing Kneeko snicker beside her only confirmed his suspicions. “NICO! Why would you scare your sister like that? That was a very mean thing to do. She might be old, but this is still her first period. How cruel.”
Growled Kneeko's father as he held his crying daughter in his arms. “P-periods?” Hearing that word, Lucy immediately understood. She had never had that happen to her before, but she at least knew what periods were and also knew that it was a normal biological function.
Realizing that her brother had toyed with her and scared her on purpose, Lucy angrily punched her brother in the stomach as revenge. Punch!* “You're MEAN nii-san!! These bodies suck! There's always something leaking from every orifice!” She added with her face boiling with anger and humiliation. “Khukhuguhuhuhu* Welcome, to the real world.” Mischievously answered her brother.
“I can't believe you Nico, doing this to your own sister. As punishment, you will be going out to buy some pads with her. She need to know these things and you will teach her. Now out of my office!!” Angrily ordered their father. “What??? We have maids and domestics who can do that for us! What the fuck Dad!”Angrily said Kneeko. For a man, going to the convenient store to buy these kinds of things was the ultimate embarrassment.
“Of course it's their jobs, but it wouldn't be a punishment if you didn't go with your sister yourself would it? Or is it that you don't have the courage to do so?” Lorenzo knew that Nico had a massive ego and wouldn't refuse a challenge if his pride was put on the line.
“What? Tss do you think I don't know what you're doing right now? Sigh, whatever, I'll go. Come on Lucy.” Kneeko grabbed his sister by the hand and dragged her out of their father's office and headed toward the main door. Seeing the two young masters heading to the door, the head butler Ivan immediately intercepted them.
“Young masters, will you be heading out?” Inquired the serious looking man with a tone filled with professionalism worthy of a first class head butler. “Yes, my sister needs some TAMPONS since she just got her first PERIOD.” Mischievously answered Kneeko while making emphasis on the most embarrassing words.
Punch!* With her cheeks as red as tomatoes, Lucy was too embarrassed to even yell at her brother who definitely deserved the punch to the guts he had just received. Without flinching, Ivan then reacted in a remarkably professional manner. “If you don't mind waiting for a few minutes, I will have a driver bring the car for you.” Said Ivan before heading to the staff quarters.
Alone again, Lucy finally regained her composure. “URRRgggg I hate you Brother!” She then said while trying to hide her flustered expression. 'Hmm, no nii-chan this time eh.. Khukhukhu*' Thought Kneeko to himself. The both of them then exited the house and waited for the car to arrive.
What eventually stopped in front of them, was a black Rolls Royce Phantom with the windows tinted so dark that you couldn't see the inside of the car. “Whistle* Not too shabby...” The driver walked out of the car and opened the doors for them.
Since Kneeko had always lived as a billionaire's son, an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia came back to him as he looked at the driver doing his job. “Look Lucy, leather seats, how convenient. That way we don't have to worry about you 'PERIODING!' all over the seats- Punch!* Urg..”
Only a few minutes later, the local convenience store was already in sight and Kneeko asked the driver to stop one block away from their destination. Such a car would only bring unwanted attention and for obvious reasons, Kneeko wanted to avoid it. Their objective was already embarrassing enough without having a crowd spectating as they purchased the items.
In front of the convenience store were what appeared to be three teenage boys, who looked more like delinquents than respectable students. The three of them were smoking cigarettes which was an obvious indicator of them being the worst scums on the face of this earth.
“I'm tellin' ya, he'z a buddy o' mine. If ya bring me 60k yens, he'll upgrade yo 'exo' account to adult spec so ya can fuck em NPC bitches! Guiwahahahahahah* Mmm' tellin' ya, it's worth it. Them bitches in da red light district are worth every penny Guiwahahaha*” Said one of the three boys with one of those evil cigarettes hanging at the tip of his filthy delinquent lips.
“Alright, it took me a while to gather this cash, so I'm counting on you. How long before the change is made?” Asked one of the boy with a flustered expression as he gave him an envelope filled with cash. “It'll be done under 48 hours, chillax buddy. Guiwahaha*” Simply answered the mean delinquent. The three boys were so busy doing their deal, that they failed to noticed the presence of two twin teenagers, staring and silently listening to them with their usual boringly stoic faces.
After the transaction was completed, the group separated but as the one running the deal turned around, the sight of the two indescribably beautiful teenagers staring at him caught his attention. The young boy's name was Koyama Tomokazu, a smoking delinquent who was doing illegal deals in the exodus VR game with the help of an admin accomplice.
This important details didn't fail to get noticed by Kneeko who found a sudden interest in this young delinquent. Koyama's first reaction was to glare at the two, but after making eye contact with the two beautiful foreigners for more than a few seconds, he instinctively understood that he was outmatched.
Foreigners were more used to sustain eye contact than the shy and polite Japanese people after all, and that also applied to a delinquent such as Koyama. His second reaction then was to initiate a fight.. He wasn't smart, he was not very tall and neither was he handsome, but the one thing he was good at was fighting. But then again, the sight of the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life made his legs lazy and shaky.
There was no heterosexual man who wouldn't have found Lucy deadly attractive, and the same could have been said for Kneeko as well. Feeling flustered, the super mean delinquent Koyama then decided to ignore them and quietly leave the area. As he turned around and prepared to leave, a voice filled with a sense of superiority and authority suddenly called out to him.
“Hey you, the smoking anti-establishment rebel. I'll give you 100k yens if you put me in contact with this admin friend of yours.” Said Kneeko to the young delinquent as a grin that couldn't be perceived as anything other than devilish began to form on his face. Koyama was perplexed and confused, but before he could say anything, Kneeko had already given him his card, and nonchalantly walked into the convenience store with his sister.
Kneeko was happy, he had already found something interesting to mess with. “Guhuhuhu*, this has been a very good day! Now! Let's get back to the active mission shall we, where are the TAMPO- punch* urgg”