I am sorry that this did not come out as soon as I hoped it could have. It was mere because it seemed a little bit... Awkward... at the time so i have 'tweaked' it a little (and by a little I mean A LOT) so it might be more.... presentable? so i hope you guys (and gals) enjoyed it as much as I had in writing and editing it (It was a lot more fun then I had anticipated it to be).
As for release dates... I plan on uploading a chapter every ten days. It all depends if I am not interrupted by the humans that associate themselves with me. But as a precaution: If nothing gets uploaded 10 days from now, then wait 4 more days. I might have had a few setbacks.
Enough with the rant and continue on with the story.
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***Hayato, Capital City Sofia, Aura***
“Well, that settles this mission.” Hayato spoke as he flicked the blood from his newly acquired [Damascus katana], splattering the red iron smelling liquid coating it onto a nearby boulder. “It’s been hectic lately…” Hayato sighed as he looked over his surroundings with his mismatched colored eyes.
Around him was a destroyed village that had been raided by a group of [Dumas] and the bodies of the [Dumas] themselves. He was grateful that there were soldiers who helped with evacuation when the monsters suddenly attacked so there weren’t many casualties other than a few that did not make it.
It was not just this village, it was happening throughout the whole continent and probably the whole world. By world: he meant [Kismet] and its continents. The monsters had gotten rather aggressive lately and the [Kingdom of Aura] has stretched its forces thin throughout the nation in order to protect the important places which had resources like the port town of [Aanze] which was their only major port.
“But still… Compared to loners like me; the [Kaen-Ryuu] must be having a lot of troubles…” Hayato mumbled as he began to harvest the [Damascus Exoskeleton] of the [Dumas]. “Must be tough being the third largest [Combat Guild]...” Hayato began to dissect the rather large mantis and stored their meat. Even if they were insects, they were still a source of food other than the normal cattle and poultry but he would never eat one… probably…
“I wonder if it’s because of my [Race] that I can’t learn the [Sword Mastery] and [Dual Mastery] even though I have been using these weapons for 2 months now…” Hayato began mumbling out his troubles. This is what he was like: whenever something troubled him, he would always bottle them up and sooner or later they just spew out from his soul. But it only seemed to happen when no one is around.
“My [Life skills] are rising up steadily… I already have [Advanced level 9] in [Advanced appraisal] so I should be able to master it once I appraise 500 more [Items] but I still can’t increase the damage I am doing with my swords…” Hayato continued his ramblings as he began to harvest more and more [Monster Materials].
Monster harvesting proficiency increased!
Proficiency: Advanced Level 9, 1%
Amount of gained monster material increased!
Obtained:
Damascus exoskeletonx7
Duma meatx54
Compound eyesx14
Insect feelersx8
Sharp Duma Bladesx14
Hayato stood up. Harvesting had taken him almost an hour which was a short amount of time compared to those who had no experience in harvesting. “I should [smelt] the exoskeletons into [Damascus]…” Hayato noted down in a small notebook before putting it back into his inventory.
That was the reason why he had went on the [Duma Subjugation] quest. He only wanted to get the materials needed for repairing his [Damascus Katana] which was apparently very hard to come by just like [Mithril] and [Platinum]. He was told by the [Blacksmith] in [Sofia] that the three aforementioned metals were considered somewhat legendary.
[Dumas], unlike the [Fledgling Dumas], has higher [Damascus] purity and so their exoskeletons were almost impenetrable if one did not have a high enough damage or skills that allowed the bypass of armor. Hayato had the later with his [Ghost Strikes] which ignored any and all armor. He was sure that without the skill he would not even be able to damage it, much less going at the monsters solo.
Yes, Hayato was roaming around alone yet again but unlike before: he would be accompanied by his students, Ame and Yuka, and his enemy-turned-rival Cairne. Currently, the three were on their own subjugation quest in the other direction he was going to so they would meet up back in the capital. He could have brought along Duuga but he was worried about the [Kaen-Ryuu] so he tasked the small [Hokkori] to stay with Katona until Roland deems that the three villages they were protecting were out of danger.
“2 months huh…” Hayato whispered. If he were to follow the ‘in-game time’ of [Kismet Online], it would only have been at least 5 days since he had been trapped in this fantasy world where he was a nine tailed fox. “I should stop...” Hayato shook his head. “They are probably trying their best in their world so I should try my best here even if I am not looking for a way back.”
Hayato left the village and began his trek back to [Sofia]. Even if the village was only a three day travel, he wanted to get back as soon as possible. There was no real reason; he just did not like the idea of having nothing to do. He busied himself simply because it was not in his nature to be stagnant.
Hayato recalled when [Kismetia] was just a game called [Kismet Online]: There were six [Continents] of varying sizes corresponding to the six [Servers] in five different coordinates. In each [server] or [continent], the [starting towns] all start with the usual [Shinzan town] which translates to [Beginner Town] in western [servers].
The six continents were: [Kingdom of Aura] the [Japanese Server], [Holy Kingdom Xironia] the [European Server], [Concord] the [American Server], [Military Doctrine Aggres-val] the [Chinese Server], [Northern Kingdom] the [Russian Server] and [Eastland Federation] the [SEA (Southeast Asian) Server].
Each [Continent] have their legends and histories as well as their own varying [Special Monsters] that were only native to that area. In [Kingdom of Aura], the [Special] monsters were called [Deity Counter] which were monsters named after the many, many different gods in Japan. The strongest one being called [Izanami] the ‘Chief of all Japanese deities’ which no one has fought yet but have been speculated to be found in an almost ‘unbeatable’ dungeon found in the skies of [Kingdom of Aura].
Each player or [Adventurer] are branded with the symbols of their [Servers] or [Continents] which he/she can review in their [Player Information] under the [Alignment] section but one thing made Hayato wonder: Unlike his students and his Enemy-turned-rival, Cairne; His alignment was the [Moon]. Not a [Continent], not a specific [Village] or [City] but the white object orbiting in space.
He had tried to find a reason to why it was set there and to his dismay, all the clues pointed to a certain voice in his head. He was certain that [The Voice] had a clue or even an answer to why he was aligned with the [Moon] but he did not want to take the risk that maybe [The Voice] was the culprit to why players from [Kismet Online] were ‘teleported’ into [Kismetia] inside their [Avatars].
Before Hayato realized it, he had met the first fork in the road which split into two paths. To his right was the path leading to a small village named [Calde Village], a small village that traded their bountiful harvests with other nearby villages and to his left was the path back to the [Capital City Sofia]. Naturally he went to the left as he wanted to get back to the capital as soon as he can.
“I wonder how the [Odyssey Table] is faring in their journey to find the way back home for everyone…” Hayato wondered to himself out loud as he made his way down the left path towards the capital. Had he gone to the right, he would have been mixed in with the [Odyssey Table] protecting the village against a group of [Raiders] and probably become a core member of said group.
“I am sure they are fine…It’s not an easy task but they are strong people.” Hayato recalled his meeting with the first four people that made up the group. They were the usual characters for situations like this: a hero with a strong will and passionate heart, a heroine with a crush on the hero as strong as her skills, a front liner/best friend of the hero and lastly: the one who took care of the other three. They were like friends going on an adventure with heavy responsibilities.
“Though the hero could be a little less hot-blooded…” Hayato criticized after gathering information on the four people. “Oh well… nothing I can do other than provide them with information regarding irregularities that I can find…” with that, Hayato ended his information delving and focused on his trek to the capital.
===========Time skip 12 hours later===============
Hayato, for the last 12 hours, have been walking non-stop towards his destination. He made the occasional 15 minute break for eating lunch and dinner and even traded with travelling caravans to sell some [Dumas Meat] he had obtained from the [Dumas] but other than that, he did not stop for anything.
Hayato continued walking down the dirt path that went across a beautiful plateau with oddly well-kept grass with the occasional critter and flowers. Above his head, a full moon reflected the rays of the sun, basking the area underneath it with a soft silver-blue glow. The wind ran freely across the area, touching any person or animal with its comforting cool breeze.
Hayato stopped and relished the comforting feeling of the wind caressing his fair and face. He did not know why but night time was the time where he would feel oddly relaxed. Especially on a night like this where the area around him was like a beautiful painting and without any [Hostile Mobs] to kill him. It was just… peaceful.
Hayato tilted his head upwards towards the starry night sky, basking in the uncountable number of shimmering stars looking down at him. Because of the almost no pollution the area around him, the sky was filled with fresh air, making him feel as if he was brought to a ‘paradise on earth’.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Faintly, he could hear the sound of snoring…
“…” Hayato blinked and strained his ears to locate the origin of the seemingly out-of-place sound but it never got louder, even with his enhanced hearing. Hayato broke from his relaxed state and began to look around his area that was devoid of any place to hide.
“Zzz…fluffy~” a childlike noise came from the back of his mind.
Hayato stopped his search after finding out that the culprit was [The Voice] inside his head. He had almost forgotten that the only reason he knew of [The Voice] was because the owner of [The Voice] was a loud female who constantly had something to say about how he reacted to the world and his actions.
“Really… I guess even they have to sleep sometimes…” Hayato whispered to himself before continuing his trek towards the [Capital]. But unlike earlier in the day: there was no [Voice] that made spontaneous and odd comments from [The Voice] but merely random words in her sleep like “Ticklish~” "Yummy~" and “Soft~”
Hayato was reminded of his little sister, Ayra, when she was asleep. The only reason why this was the case was because his younger sister had forced her way into his room, along with his other brothers, and slept next to him for a week before sleeping back in their respective rooms.
Hayato smiled at the funny memory of how he learned that his older brother still had the habit of hugging anything that was close to him in his sleep and how his youngest brother, Shinichi, would always ended up being cuddled by his two older brothers, Takamoto and Hyakuren, like a child between his parents.
Hayato’s smile slowly turns melancholic as a wave of homesickness washed over him briefly before he physically had to shake it off by shaking his head. “I’m sure they are fine. After all, they have been for the past 10 years…” Hayato flashed a knowing smile at nothing in particular and resumed his comforting and relaxing way towards the capital.
Due to recalling the food his mother made, Hayato felt a little hungry so he made a small stop an hour before a town to make a late night snack. Since he did not want to taste the food from late bars as he had a unique experience with one not too long ago.
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***Unknown Red head, Asvarre, Aura an hour ago***
In a peaceful village located at the bottom of a mountain called [Aura Peak], everything was calm and quite as it should be in the middle of the night.
“Get out of here you street-rat!” a loud gruff voice shouted from inside a wooden building. With a loud thud, a petite girl with long red hair in dirty rags fell onto her backside as she tumbled through a wooden door.
“You’re nothing but trouble! Stay out of my shop lest you scare away my paying customers.” An old man in his late fifties, slammed the door shut after spitting on the ground.
The petite girl picked herself up and dusted the dirt that clung to her already dirty rags that barely covered her private parts before shooting the door a hateful glare and walking off towards the exit of the village she was in.
From the appearance of the girl, one could make out a slim figure with dirt covered skin. Her height was average and other than her eye-catching red hair, golden irises and barely covered body: everything else was covered in dirt making the would-be beautiful girl look unattractive.
“Freaking old man… If only that drunken bastard hadn’t been so loud, I could have gotten a nice dinner but no… he just had to SHOUT that I was behind the counter…” The girl, began cursing silently towards the end.
Probably venting her anger out, the girl spotted a small rock and kicked it towards the direction of a random wooden house. Though there was no damage done to the house, the rock still made a loud noise: attracting the residents of the house.
“Shit…” Quickly realizing that she had angered the people inside the house, she scowled and quickly ran towards the exit of the village before proceeding towards her ‘hideout’ one hour from the village she was, apparently, not welcomed in.
“If I’m lucky, maybe the [Wolves] left something behind after their hunt…” The girl said to herself in a hopeful manner before scowling again. “As if… I guess it’s just grass again tonight…” her scowl deepened.
Half-way through her jog towards her ‘hideout’, the girl looked up towards the sky and he scowl attached to her face and volatile mouth were instantly replaced by a bright smile
“Tonight’s a full moon which means those [Moonlight Carp]! No grass tonight!” the redhead quickly jogged towards her ‘hideout’, which was only a single tree near a small river, in hopes of catching the [Moonlight Carp].
She quickly increased her speed. She hadn’t eaten anything the whole day so she was very excited that she would be able to eat something other than the edible grass she had for the past week.
“If I’m lucky, I can trade the bones to those caravan people for some food!” She spoke quietly yet excitedly to herself as she ran but quickly came to a halt when she realized two things.
One: She could see someone was next to the tree in front of the small river which housed her ‘hideout’ and two: She could smell the scent she had grown fond of, namely the smell of [Roasted Moonlight Carp]. “Bastard thinks he can crash in unannounced? I’ll make sure to get my ‘rent’…”
After living her whole life as a ‘street-rat’ that used speed and thievery, she had enough experience to allow herself to use a skill called [Silent Sneak] which allowed her to make herself invisible and undetectable unless someone had high perception. She mostly used it on those that kicked her out of their stores, which was a lot of people, so her skill had reached [Intermediate level 5].
Activating her skill, her whole body turned transparent and the sound of her steps on the grass were highly reduced. Crouching, she slowly made her way closer to the person who she thought was an unsuspecting.
Silent Sneak activated! You are now invisible and moving quietly! Movement speed reduced by 50%
She calculated that he was at least a meter and a half away from the roasted fish, which she planned to swipe, so she slowly and carefully made her way closer to said fish. She paused to look at the intruder sitting in front of the river, probably observing the fish swimming, to make sure she has not been noticed yet.
Seeing as the person, who oddly had a pet fox with multiple tails behind him as its tails was hiding its owner, had not noticed her: she began to be bolder and took another step closer towards the fish. Reaching out towards deliciously smelling fish, she smirked but just as she was about to touch it: a small crackle from the fire from the pit roasting the fish snapped the person from his/her trance.
Then everything went upside down… literally. She found her ankles being wrapped by something soft and fluffy before being hanged by her feet a meter and a half above her spot upside down. She froze when she saw the male’s ice cold gaze.
“If you were just passing by I would have just let you be, but you had to be bold and try to take the food…” His voice, as cold as his gaze, rang clear in her ears. She looked at the male, petrified with fear as she felt his potent killing intent. So scared was she in fact that she lost focus of her skill and accidentally deactivated it.
A brief look of surprise flashed across his face and his suffocating killing intent disappeared. She barely registered the disappearance of the killing intent before she felt herself fall towards the ground. Out of reflex the red head closed her eyes, waiting for the pain of plummeting towards the ground.
She waited and waited with her eyes closed but she could only feel the same sensation that was on her ankles, which was soft and fluffy. ‘That is not how the ground should feel like…’ taking her chance, she opened her eyes to see that she had been caught by the same thing that dangled her in the air just a moment ago.
The person did NOT have a pet fox. He WAS the fox. His hair the color of snow, as was his tail or rather: TAILS as her fall was cushioned by three tails of pure white.
“Is that.. You… yra?” he mumbled incoherently
Surprised, she quickly shot the person before her a question. “How the hell do you know that my name is Lyra!?”
-Chapter End-
Well I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it and as always the all opinions are welcomed with welcome arms. Constructive criticism are especially welcomed and WILL be given cookies (that are not poisoned or burnt don't worry) and thank you for sticking with the story so far (even if some of you don't really like it).