Author’s corner: HELLO HELLO! BACK TO INSANIA FOR SOME MORE INSANITY!
ANYWAY, after ten days, another update. Today would be Beepy, but to tell the truth, I just wasn’t in the mood to write beepy at all. Heck, Beepy has been incredibly difficult to write these last days. I’m not sure why, but it’s not as fun as it’s writing Insania or my other work. That said, even if the next update take some time, this does not means that I’m abandoning beepy, mind you.
ALSO, speaking of other work, I plan on posting it soon. It’s quite different from the usual because: 1, it have to genders I’ve never worked with before, 2, the way I’m writing it is a bit different then the usual. For now, I plan to start posting it once I get to 15 chapters done, then post one at a day or something like that. Who knows?
ALSO(2), there was more I wanted to say here, but basically it means: I’m NOT abandoning beepy. I might be taking some time, but I will get back to it. (Heck, I could upload it tomorrow for all I know),. I’m NOT abandoning Insania, which should be obvious. The new series is mostly an idea dump because I’ve been reading too much LN recently, and had to get it off my head, but now it ended up becoming fun to write, so it led to a brand new story. (VRDraco approves by the way.)
ALSO(3), FOR THE THREE OR SO WHO WILL GET THIS: SQUFFY!
Have a good read!
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Music started playing while I felt the ultimate bliss that was known as fluffiness, moving around I found out that I was laying on some kind of bed of ultimate fluffiness. Burying my head into the soft fur that was slightly cold I felt a smile creeping up my face as I rubbed my head against it. The cold wasn’t the uncomfortable cold you get on winter days, but the pleasant under-side of the pillow type of cold.
When I moved, I felt as the large furry bed moved around a bit, and soon enough a fluffy blanket covered my body, spreading the comfortable temperature all around my body. I could easily spend the rest of my day simply laying there lazily, sleeping, but the music started to get a bit more excited, and soon enough was far from a rhythm suitable for sleeping, so I finally opened my eyes while grumbling annoyed.
What met my eyes was a sea of soft blue fur, with the occasional whiter parts here and there. Being far bigger than me, what I laid against was a large foxlike animal who was laying lazily on the ground while curling itself up. The familiar shape made me sneak up a smile as I raised myself from the fur.
“Morning…” I said groggily while gently petting Aura’s head. Her ears twitched slightly before her eyes finally opened and she let out a loud yawn.
Being back into her boss form from when we had a battle, Aura was laying on the ground while letting me sleep against her fur.
But with a quick glance around I quickly noticed that I wasn’t within Insania anymore. We were inside a large blank room around the size of my apartment. Looking around confused, it took me a few seconds to remember what had happened yesterday after logging out.
Aura kept giving me those awfully desperate puppy eyes the moment I reached the character creation screen, which left me feeling like one of those evil guys from comedy movies. While I was feeling confused on what I could do, Cyg finally recommended that we used the D-lute’s virtual room App.
It took me a whole ten seconds to understand what she meant about that. Basically, it was an App that came with the D-lute itself and allowed one to create a virtual room to use. However, different from Insania, the virtual room did not have faster time-rate, nor did completely blocked out outside senses, so I would still be able to answer to hear, smell and feel things from the outside, besides allowing me to leave the console much quicker than if I were to use Insania.
This way, I could not only enjoy a good night of sleep without the side effects of the time extension, but could also spend the time with Aura. Also, since both the D-lute and my computer were on the same Wi-Fi connection, I found out that I could access my computer straight through the app.
Well, since it did not have any connection to Insania, Cyg couldn’t come over… Or rather, she decided not to come over. I’m pretty sure that’s not a limitation to that overpowered goddess.
And since we were out from the game, Cyg also gave Aura access to all of her three forms, as it would have absolutely no effect on the game. I did not need to think twice before making her take the large boss form and use her as a bed.
IT’S THE ULTIMATE FLUFFYNESS!
BEST!
BED!
EVER!
Nuff said.
“I guess…” I yawned while waking myself up. “I’ll get going.” I said before giving her one last petting. She nodded a bit sadly, but didn’t complain. I could get a slight feeling of guilt in her eyes.
At least it seem that this made up for the months she spent with Cyg.
Calling up the menu, I quickly chose the log out button and left the app. I quickly felt myself getting back the control of my body and quickly took out the device from my head and put it on the side-table at the same time I took my cellphone and turned off the annoying alarm.
Seriously? Who the hell put an alarm for seven o’clock during a Sunday? That’s a bloody barbarity!
…
Oh, right. It was me.
After going through my usual routine of self-depreciation I quickly got up and went towards my bathroom where I washed my face and quickly brushed my teeth. After that I went to the kitchen to check if there was anything worthwhile of being considered a breakfast here.
Sadly, such a luck I had not.
Weird master Yoda-ish phrasing aside, I saw nothing that could get my attention on the fridge, so clicking my tongue, I quickly went to my bedroom and started to put on my outside clothing, readying myself for having to eat on the street once again.
But an idea popped up in my mind the moment I left my house, and instead of going towards the elevator, I changed my way towards the girl’s apartment and knocked on the door, for a moment wondering whether it was too early in the morning for this.
Luckily, it didn’t take long for someone to come and open the door.
What greeted me was a Yuu wearing a simple white yukata and with her slightly messy hair let out. She looked at me surprised for a moment, and just when I expected her to somehow blush due to her slightly messy appearance, she instead smiled lightly.
“Good morning, Shishou.” She said to me.
I looked at her surprised for a moment before nodding.
“Good morning, dear apprentice.” I said after clearing my throat. “Today I came here in the most shameless way possible with the intention of saying that you have a surprise test to see whether your morning meals are up to the levels I find acceptable.” Of course, I tried to say it in the most complex and meaninglessly dragged out way possible.
This seemed to work out just fine, because Yuu looked confused for a moment while processing the words.
“Then, Shishou came here to have breakfast?”
“That’s an incredible simplistic and not entirely precise way of putting it.” I said while trying to put an important tone. “But yes.”
“That’s great!” Yuu said cheerfully. “I wanted to call Shishou, but didn’t know when you would wake up!” As she said that she quickly stepped aside to give me passage. I nodded a bit shocked before gallantly walking in.
Inside, I immediately walked towards the living room, where a fairly large table was set. Well, large for the size of the house, but any more than four people and we would have to start squeezing ourselves in.
Taking a seat into the closest chair, I saw as Yuu waltzed away into the kitchen, coming back after a few moments while being followed by Maya, who wore the usual black blouse and pants. She eyed me and clicked her tongue in annoyance. Not that I can complain much, because I did the same at her. Yuu stared at the two of us in confusion, so we turned to her and said.
““I wanted to see him/her with a messy look so that I could mock him/her.””
If it wasn’t for the difference in gender, we would have spoken in perfect synchro. Noticing this, the two of us exchanged glances once again and raised an eyebrow at each other.
“Well, great minds think alike.” I said.
“Is that a self compliment, or are you degrading me?” She asked.
“Why not both?” She widened her eyes before nodding with a smile.
“Good play.” Maya said with a nod.
“I try my best.”
“Hmm… I can never understand if you are friends or enemies…” Yuu said with a wry smile while watching our bickering. I raised an eyebrow at her words and quickly said.
“Isn’t our relationship obvious?” I asked her.
“We are long lost twins.” Maya quickly followed.
“Can’t you see the resemblance?” I asked as I stood besides the maid. Yuu stared at us in shock and confusion.
“You two are siblings? I would never know!” She said in sincere shock while me and Maya nodded together. It took her a whole ten seconds of us looking at her for Yuu to finally blink and pout. “You… Are fooling with me, aren’t you?”
““What makes you think that?””
“Mou! Shishou to Maya no Baka!” Yuu complained while putting some dishes on the table.
Me and Maya quickly exchanged glances and told each other “good job”. Not that we said it out loud, of course. Professional tricksters like the two of us have no need for such things like words when it came to pranks!
Anyway, with Yuu spreading the food on the table in front of us, I immediately saw one of the main differences from how they have their breakfast. Different from what I was used, the simple glass of coffee and milk plus bread, what she and Maya brought to the table was something that could easily pass up as a lunch for me.
Rice, fish, salad and even some other side-dishes. Although much more substantial than what I was used to myself, they were still fairly light food.
From the looks of it, Yuu and Maya noticed my feelings, because both looked at me with slightly confused gazes.
“Oh! Does shishou not know how to use the chopsticks?” Yuu asked me, and for the first time I noticed that there were chopsticks instead of cutlery on the table.
“Hah! Do you think the might Wargon would be defeated by a pair of sticks like these? Blasphemy!” I said while taking the chopsticks and raising them high with a pride as.
“You do know you are holding then wrong, right?” Maya said in a cold tone.
“Eh… Details!” I said brushing her off. “Details were made to be ignored!” I said proudly before stopping and looking around. “Speaking of details, where’s Mary?” I asked while looking around and noticing the lack of the blonde cheerful girl.
“Did you just call milady a detail?” Maya asked with an annoyed tone, but soon replied. “Midetail… Milady is not very good during the mornings, thus she is sleeping right now. I shall go wake her up.”
Geez, she complains about me but still follow up on the joke, I wonder what’s stronger, her sense of duty, or her sense of prank.
Is that even a thing? Sense of prank?
Ignoring the stray thought that entered my mind, Maya quickly left the table and walked towards the larger bedroom. Meanwhile I waited on the table while Yuu quickly worked on bringing the rest of whatever was on the kitchen.
By the time she finished and sat down on the table, Maya came back from the bedroom while bringing a sleepy looking Mary with her. I widened my eyes in shock for a moment at how she looked.
Her blonde hair was a complete mess, having double the usual volume and sticking out to every side possible while her eyes had a large pair of bags beneath them. Not only that, but what she wore was a cute looking dress/nightgown with lots of kitties drawn on it. All of that, combined with the fact that she already was fairly childish looking made her look like a kid who just woke up and is looking for her mother.
As soon as she saw me, Mary froze for a moment while staring me for some time. I gave a smile and made a quick greeting with my hand. I saw her look down towards herself for a moment and then towards Maya with an angry look.
While the maid kept the perfect looking angelic smile, Mary turned back and darted to her room as I laughed loudly.
It took her around ten minutes to come back, this time wearing a plain dress and having her hair tied in a pony tail, probably due to the lack of time to comb it.
“You did that on purpose.” She said while sitting besides me and in front of Maya.
“I have no idea what you are talking about, milady.” The maid said while picking the chopsticks.
“And Yuu, won’t you at least fix your appearance?” She asked while looking towards her Yukata-wearing friend.
“What’s wrong with how I look?” Yuu asked confused.
Yeah, what’s wrong with this more relaxed and homely looking Yuu? I fail to see the problem with how she looks! She’s adorable right now!
After sighing loudly Mary finally gave up on trying to convince Yuu to fix her appearance. From the looks of it, Yuu didn’t actually care all that much for her appearance when she’s at home, which actually surprised me since it kind of went against my image of her as being a princess.
Well, an imperfect Yuu is also nice…
While thinking that with a slightly silly smile, I quickly put myself to enjoy a perfectly Japanese breakfast. For me who already liked rice to begin with, it was a very good breakfast. I didn’t really recognize the fish, though.
Sadly, it was a simple cooked fish, so it meant that it wasn’t a sushi or something like that. But then, from what I know, even in japan it seems that even in Japan sushi is an expensive commodity, so maybe I shouldn’t expect that they would have it every other day.
But then, this is Yuu that we are talking about…
I wouldn’t be surprised if she were to tell me that she actually have sushi every day.
“So, what are we doing today?” Mary asked after some time.
“Well…” I said after managing to cut the fish with the chopsticks, which was surprisingly easy thanks to the fact that it was so soft. “I personally plan on going to Insania before Red comes to annoy me with talk about leaving home.”
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
“… Why am I not surprised?” Mary asked with a deadpan look.
“Maybe because you thought something similar?”
“Touché.” She said with a wry smile. “Then, what exactly do you plan on doing in Insania this time?”
“Well, I need to prepare myself before I start traveling.” I said with a shrug, but these words got the attention of Yuu.
“Where are you going, Shishou?” She asked me curious.
“Well, I’m about to go on a long voyage that will take me to the very end of the known habitable territory as I vanquish evildoers and search around for valuable treasures long forgotten by golemkind!” I said in a triumphal tone.
“You heard about a strong monster and rare minerals.” Mary said briefly.
“Don’t say it like that! It sounds too generic!” I complained, but she simply ignored my words.
“Heeh…” Yuu stopped to think for a moment. “And will this take time?” She asked me, and I nodded.
“Yeah, I plan on going to the farthest capital from Eldor.” I assaulted another piece of the fish. “Hmm, Lieutenant would like this… Anyway, it seems that I will even need to cross an ocean or something of the kind.”
“I see…” Yuu lowered her head for a moment. “So, can we go with you?” She asked. I blinked surprised for a moment, but before I could even reply.
“Yup. I made sure to get some supplies for you too.” Cyg said suddenly from my cellphone. I blinked surprised and quickly took it out from my pocket. “Morning Gon, morning Yuu, Morning Han. Morning Maya.” She greeted us.
“Took your time today. Overslept?” I asked her teasingly, making the AI stick her tongue out.
“Was making a hotfix. Some minor bugs like skill combos that shouldn’t happen and so on.” She said shrugging. “Anyway, I already worked on getting everything you needed to go with Gon.”
Oh! That’s why she asked for all those rings back then! I see…
“Really? Thank you, Cygnas-san!” Yuu said cheerfully while Mary nodded in accordance.
Afterwards, the three of them started to discuss what they were going to do while traveling, with Mary and Yuu wanting to know about destination, stops and so on. I left them talking between themselves and quickly finished my breakfast. Feeling a lot more satisfied than the usual for a morning, I quickly took out my dishes and took them to the kitchen.
Afterwards I quickly made my way back to the table, told the girls that after abusing their hospitality I would then retreat towards my cave called bedroom, and spend the rest of my time preparing some supplies of myself for the travels.
And it was exactly what I did. After logging in and being received by an Aura that was much calmer compared to the previous day, I quickly logged in.
Waiting for the flash of light to die down, I soon found myself in front of Sol’s shop. A quick look on the map and I saw that both Lieutenant and Rio were roaming around the streets. Seeing that there wasn’t any real need to go and seek them out right then, I made my way towards the main elevator while being followed by Crys and Aura, who was already back into her pet form.
It didn’t take much longer for me to reach the elevator and go down towards the forges sector. A few zig-zags around and I soon was at Torg’s house. Taking some of the ores and crystals that Crys had been gathering for me, and yes, she does have a mining skill, I spoke about it some time ago, I started to work on making some extra throwing knives and flash-bombs.
Sadly I still didn’t have access to higher tier elemental crystals, so the knives were slowly becoming obsolete as the level of my enemies grew. I spent around one or two hours working on it, soon the over-sized dwarf appeared on his forge and seemed surprise into seeing me.
“My! If it isn’t little Gon!” He said with a loud laugh and giving me a slap on the back that almost made my face hit the anvil in front of me. “So, I heard you will leave for a long time?” He asked me while going to his own forge. I smiled a bit as I felt my back aching and that my health dropped a good ten points.
“Yeah… I’ll be leaving for Sandroze.” I said while straightening my back once again and going back to work. “What, are you planning on giving me some kind of farewell gift?” I asked jokingly.
“Yah. Here.” As he said that he took a hammer from the shelf and extended it to me.
I looked at it like an idiot for a good ten seconds or so while trying to understand what he was talking about.
“Huh?” I asked.
“Didn’t you ask if I’m giving you a present?” He asked me confused. “Here, this is a hammer I made for you. Take it.”
I nodded a bit idiotically while extending my hand and getting the hammer. When I said the present thingy, I was only joking, I didn’t really expect him to go and give me an actual present.
The giant half-dwarf gave me an wide smile while motioning for me to take a look at the hammer. It was around the size of my arm with the head being a bit bigger than a wallet. It was a bit heavier than the one I was used to, but it did feel nice in my hand. There wasn’t much of a fancy setting around it, being a simple and practical hammer.
The HammerAttack:10-11Extra:(none)Quality:ExcellentDurability:InfiniteDescription
A simple hammer made with the only focus of being a blacksmithing hammer. It’s simplicity and weight makes it an excellent forging tool for novices and experienced smithies alike.
Increase forged items durability by 10%
Increase forged items quality by 10%
20% chance of recovering some materials should the forging fail
Weapon skill: [Field repair: Metal]
The weapon does not need to be equipped through the inventory to get access to the bonuses.
I read the description with wide shocked eyes, but this made Torg laugh loudly at me.
“What with the shock? This is something all masters give their apprentice once they leave!” He told me with a proud tone, giving me another slap on the back. “Although I did add a small extra there for you, since you always seem to be travelling.”
I nodded while giving a quick look at the skill description. Basically, it allowed me to make some quick repairs to my gear even if I were deep into the middle of a jungle. It added some bonus point to the durability of the item without needing to spend materials on it, in exchange, the price was that I would need to fully repair the item in the conventional way at a decent anvil to use the bonus again.
It’s kind of like patching up a hole with some duct tape. It works, but not perfectly.
While I thanked Torg over and over for the gift, I received a message warning me that Yuu and Hanbei had logged in. I immediately invited them to a party and left the forge, already having stocked myself with a few dozens of each knife I could make right now.
Once again I thanked Torg before leaving the forging sector.
I met them on the commercial sector. Yuu was still wearing the kimono-like robe she made for herself some time ago, but Hanbei had something different.
What started as a joke but ended up with me and Yuu working together. A full leather set made with the aggressive doggy leather. Having a dark grey fur with light blue highlights, the whole set had a wild look to it.
A sleeveless blouse that went up to her waist and fingerless gloves, the leg armor was a skirt-like part with long pants underneath and a hole in the back so that she could pass her tail through. But, as a gimmick, me and Yuu added a tail-like accessory that fit around Hanbei’s thin cat-tail. That, together with dog-eared headband that fit around her ears, we successfully transformed Han-chan from a cat-girl into a wolf girl!
As I said, it started as a joke after I made the headband, but ended up becoming a full-fledged set for our swords-girl. It even gave a nifty set skill that allowed her to use sword skills straight from the sheath while giving these attacks some extra damage!
If I had to guess, this would be something it took from the charged slash that doggy did. The one where it would land its claw on the pillars and add strength to it until it burst out. It kind of resembles the whole idea of how iai works…
But I digress.
“Yo!” I said while approaching the two. “Long time no see girls!” I said jokingly, and the two smiled awkwardly at the overused joke.
“Hello Shishou!” Yuu said cheerfully.
“Hmm. I really am more used to this Gon…” Han-chan said with a wry smile. “So, what exactly do we need to do?”
“Well…” I said while thinking for a moment. “Firstly, we need to go and find Argento. He’s the one paying for the travel. And afterwards I plan on going around telling people I know I’m leaving.” Which these included Sol, Goulder and the guild, and finally Melinda.
“I see.” Hanbei said with a nod. “Let’s get going then? I don’t think I have much to do anyway.” I nodded at her words and started walking towards the guild, but before I took my first step I turned back to the girls with a confused expression. “Actually, before that… There’s a new skill I want to test out.”
“Oh, new skill?” Hanbei asked curious. “Which one?”
I smiled awkwardly while turning to Yuu and making a signal for her to approach me. She looked confused for a moment but didn’t ask anything.
Putting my hand on her head, I started petting her just like I always did.
“Does this feel any different?” I asked curious.
“Hmmm… Soo good….” Yuu said in a dreamy voice while letting out a happy hum. “It… Feels even better…”
“You… Got a petting skill?” Hanbei asked with a voice that left clear that she didn’t believe in her own words.
“Err… Yes?” I said in an awkward tone as I noticed Aura putting her head against the palm of my free hand. I also started petting her, and soon enough her tails started wagging happily.
“Seriously…?” She asked me in shock, and I nodded once again.
But, the skill had two parts, a passive one and an active one… I wonder what would happen if I…
As soon as I said that, I activated the skill on Yuu.
“Munyaa?” She suddenly let out a weird voice while widening her eyes, soon after she close her eyes once again while closing her eyes, an expression of pure bliss appearing on her face. “Muu… Nyaaa… Hmmm…” She kept making these weird voices while I petted her.
Feeling that there was something wrong with her, I immediately removed my hand from her head and looked at her worried.
“Yuu…? Are you fine?” I asked her. However she didn’t answer me, simply looking in sheer shock and anguish towards me. Before I could even ask her again, she snatched my hand and forcibly put it back on her head. “Yuu…?”
However, the kitsune completely ignored my words and simply kept pressing my hand against her head and looking at me with teary eyes. This scene was dangerous on so many levels that I had no idea where to begin with. Gulping loudly, I tried to take my hand away, but she made a pained face that completely teared my heart apart.
In the end, I gave up and started petting her again. This time even Aura looked a bit shocked with the results and didn’t bug me to do that with her, being content with the normal petting.
“Gon…” Hanbei said in a low and wary tone. “Promise me to never use that skill again.”
I nodded slowly as I vouched to never again use this skill. It was too dangerous for my heart.
It took Yuu a whole ten minutes to recover from the skill and become normal once again. She blushed slightly once she remembered what she did, but didn’t seem all that angry with me.
“I must admit that I am curious about how that feels…” Crys said besides me with a wry tone.
“What? Want me to use on you?” I asked surprised, but she shook her head.
“Maybe later…” She said with a slightly dry laugh. After a moment she blinked as she remembered something. “I’ve been meaning to ask, but what will Maya be doing you two are online?” She asked turning to the girls.
“That’s…” Hanbei started, but stopped after a moment. “I actually… Don’t know.” She said while tilting her head.
Now that they said it…
“Hey, Hanbei… Could you help me with a quick experiment?” I asked after a brief time thinking. She looked at me warily. “No, it’s nothing to do with the skill.” I said with a wry laugh.
I gave her some quick instructions on what she had to do. She looked at me confused for a moment before suddenly changing into a look of disbelief. I urged her to try it quickly, so she sighed for a moment before nodding.
After a quick look around, she took a deep breath and said out loud, her voice clearly sounding constrained and forced.
“Aah… I am so jealous of Yuu! I wanted someone to come and pet me!” She said it out loud enough for it to be heard at quite a distance. Turning to me, she gave a quick ‘I told you’ look. But…
“I shall appease your need, milady!” A familiar voice suddenly sounded nearby as a puff of smoke appeared behind Hanbei, startling her.
When the smoke settled down, what we saw was a black slime. Or rather, a black slime in the shape of a girl with long hair who wore some sleeveless robe and martial arts pant with fishnet beneath it. A serious look in her face but with a small hint of mischief deep down. She looked like a ninja who was bowing before her lord as she stood with one of her knees on the ground.
Even if the appearance was different, the air around her was the same as the one I had grow used yesterday.
Putting my hand on Hanbei’s shoulder, smiled happily at the two and said.
“Congratulations, Han-chan. You have a stalker, and it’s a ninja slime-girl.” I said in a proud tone.
While Hanbei started to shake her head and face palming herself, Maya looked defeated, as if saying: ‘I can’t believe I fell for that.’