Sandra woke to her alarm. She stretched and cursed her alarm but got up, she had school to get to. A short shower later she was brushing her teeth and heading down to breakfast. Her family was there, Mother cooking the last of breakfast, Father reading a paper whilst eating his toast, her younger brother eating his cereal, and his bag packed ready for primary school. Sandra sat down and took some toast from the pile, buttering it and spreading jam over it.
“Did you sleep well, Sandra?” Her Mother asked, bringing over fried eggs and meat, adding them to the stack of available food. Her father snagged a sausage, she was never sure how he did that when the paper obscured his view of the plate, but he never missed either.
“Yeah, I think so, waking up so early should be a crime though.”
“I remember thinking the same thing when I was your age, unfortunately teenagers don’t make the rules for school. Good luck with your exams today.”
“Thanks Mum.”
“I’m sure you’ll do great Sandra.” Opined her Father.
“Thanks Dad.” Sandra grabbed a beef pattie and ate it on toast, before wiping her mouth and hands on a napkin. She got up and kissed her family goodbye, and headed to the bus stop for school. Sure dad could have driven her, but she preferred the bus, it helped her realise what things were like for less well off people.
Sandra walked out onto the floor and pressed the button for the lift. The carpet was clean and soft, the wall lighting discrete and soft. The lift arrived with a soft ‘bong’ noise, and she got in. A short and gentle ride later she exited into the ground floor lobby. The polished stone floor gleamed in the morning sun. The lobby was spacious, with couches placed in convenient locations, some hidden away by potted plants. She walked to the entrance and the doorman opened the door for her, letting her out. She stepped out onto wide clean footpaths and walked the block and a half to the bus stop for school.
The bus came and Sandra tapped on, and got a seat up the back. There weren’t a lot of other school kids on the bus this early on the route, but that would change as they wended through the suburbs. She got one of her text books out and started reading it, going over things one more time. She was pretty confident of a decent grade, she’s never gotten anything less than an A, and was sporty too.
Sandra heard a familiar voice and looked up to see one of her friends walking down the aisle to sit next to her. Hannah was a cheerful woman of African descent and bright personality. They happily chatted and compared notes for their upcoming exams. Unfortunately for Sandra, halfway through laughing at one of Hannah’s jokes, she was ripped from her world and plunged into another.
----------------------------------------
Sandra left Thomas to grind out slimes, and she went to grind out dodos. It was getting easy, but she knew that she had been very lucky to survive the wolves last time. She had to get stronger, and dodos were the best way to do that currently. She danced among them, her flaming sword leaving death and burnt feathers in its wake.
Thomas sliced great arcs of death through the blue slimes that surrounded him. He’d found auto-loot in the mana shop and was aiming for it. It was 5000 mana, which meant he had to pick up just under 4700 more mana crystal fragments from the ground. Not having it was an impediment, as after killing the slimes he had to bend down and pick up all the little drops. They got lost easily in the grass, and the slimes that remained ate them. Somehow he’d gotten a lot of mana after being nicer to Sandra. He wondered if that demonic teddy bear he’d seen had anything to do with it; it had called Sandra it’s chosen—was this really her isekai story? Thomas hoped he wasn’t the comic relief.
Sandra relaxed upon the grass as dodos milled around her. She knew they’d attack her if she appeared weak, but right now she was at full health. The fire wrapping for her sword drained mana to use, but it wasn’t too bad, and she could keep it up for a while. She checked her inventory and found she had just under 4000 of the small crystal fragments, and a lot of small bronze coins. She wondered what they would ever be good for.
Sandra checked her inventory options again on a hunch. She found a new option there: auto-fuse. Guessing that that was to do with fusing crystal fragments, she set it to true and pulled a bunch of crystal fragments into her hands to manually fuse them.
Sandra was just pushing the last of the fused crystals into her arm when she noticed a dodo looking at her, getting closer. She eyed it warily, and it made a go for her arm. Sandra dodged the clumsy attack and scrambled to her feet, kicking the dodo in the belly to get it away from her. The crystal finished fusing and the dodo made another attack, losing its head to her flaming sword. Sandra wondered what the dodo had been thinking, was it trying to get the crystal? Suddenly fusing crystals in dodo territory didn’t seem safe anymore. She got back to killing them, she only had another 41,000 to go.
Thomas sat on the grass, surrounded by slimes. He was fusing crystal fragments. It was a slow process and he wondered if there wasn’t a way to speed it up. He pushed the next crystal into his arm and browsed the Mana shop. There it was, in the same area as auto-loot, auto-fuse, a mere 10,000 Mana. Mentally he added that to his shopping list and kept fusing his crystal fragments. With that done he spent his XP.
Name: Thomas
Race: Human
Str: 146
Agi: 1
Vit: 35
Int: 1
Soul: 1
HP: full
MP: full
XP: 60
Mana: 8980
Skills: None
Spells:
Summon Sword
Inventory:
35,920 small bronze coins
Equipment: Mundane Sword
Next he spent some Mana:
New Setting Learnt
Auto-Loot
He was distinctly making progress. He set auto-loot to true and got back to killing slimes.
Thomas looked up to see Sandra returning, her breasts were gently swaying and her hips, flat belly and toned thighs were all on display. He felt himself getting erect and squatted down in the grass to help hide it, he didn’t want to encounter Sandra’s steel, or that evil teddy bear again. He noticed one of the slimes watching him. Somehow he knew it was, and it made a leap for his engorged member. Thomas backpedalled in horror, and scrambled back into the safe zone, what was going on? The slimes weren’t aggressive.
Sandra walked back to the slime area, she’d ground out the required number of dodos and auto-fuse was slowly doing its work. She noticed Thomas crouching in the safe zone. “Are you all right?” she asked.
“I think a slime just tried to attack me.”
“You didn’t attack it first?”
“No, I noticed you getting back and, well, sorry but I’ve got a boner right now, and I was trying to hide it from you as I know you don’t like that. I can’t help it though, it really does have a mind of its own.”
“OK, so you got erect from seeing me, and tried to hide it?”
“Yes, so I crouched down in the grass, and suddenly the slime was looking at me, and it lunged at me.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, are you OK?”
“Yeah, luckily I was able to get back into the safe zone safely.”
“That’s good.” She laid down in the grass facing away from Thomas so she wouldn’t flash him. “I think we may have overestimated how safe some of these monsters are.”
“Oh. Well, yes, but what makes you say that?”
“Remember the dodo that chased me back here when I was bleeding and armless?”
“Yeah."
"I was armless, so how did I aggro it?” She asked.
“I, uh, I don’t know.”
“Neither do I. I think they won’t attack you if you’re strong, but if you’re showing weakness they’ll happily try to finish you off.”
“Oh, that’s more than a little disturbing.”
“Yes, I hope we can get some clothes soon. I’m really not that comfortable walking around like this, and I imagine you’re not either. I’ve got all these coins, but where do we spend them?”
“I’ve no idea, and yes I would love some clothes. Did the tutorial booklet say nothing?”
“No, nothing about the coins or how to spend them.”
“Very strange. Are you going to be lying there for a while?”
“Yes, sorry, I’ve got a lot of crystals to process.”
“Ok, I’ll go over there for a bit and keep grinding slimes.”
“Much luck Thomas, what are you grinding for? Got anything particular in mind?”
“Auto-fuse, I just bought auto-loot and it’s helping a lot.”
“I can imagine, no more scrambling in the grass for tiny little purple things.”
“Yeah, much luck fusing crystal Sandra, maybe you should get auto-fuse too, it’s 10 thousand mana.”
“Thanks, I’ll think about it.” She didn’t feel it was fair to mention that she’d gotten it for free, or that it was rather slow.
Sandra heard Thomas walk off aways, and got on with fusing crystals. She’d noticed that her money had changed also.
Name: Sandra
Race: Wolfkin
Str: 35
Agi: 142
Vit: 35
Int: 35
Soul: 35
HP: full
MP: full
XP: 90,000
Mana: 47,300
Skills:
Claws
Spells:
Summon Sword
Fire Coating
Regenerate 2 (Passive)
Inventory:
52 small bronze coins
2,279 bronze coins
Equipment: Mundane Sword
She wondered how many different coin types there were. It seemed that 100 small bronze coins made 1 bronze coin, would silver be next? She got to spending her xp and mana.
Name: Sandra
Race: Wolfkin
Str: 125
Agi: 682
Vit: 125
Int: 125
Soul: 125
HP: full
MP: full
XP: 0
Mana: 2300
Skills:
Claws
Spells:
Summon Sword
Fire Coating
Regenerate 5 (Passive)
Inventory:
52 small bronze coins
2,279 bronze coins
Equipment: None
Sandra wondered if that would be enough, could she challenge the wolves again?
“Thomas, I’m going to try the dodos again, and probably go challenge the wolves again.”
“Are you sure? They did quite a number on you last time.”
“No, but I need to find out if I’m strong enough yet. I know their tactics now so I think I’ll do better.”
“Be careful please, and good luck Sandra.”
“Thanks Thomas, I’m off now.”
“See you.”
Thomas found grinding much more palatable now that he had auto-loot. He could just spend all day slicing up slimes, coins and crystal fragments disappeared into his inventory automatically. This was almost as good an upgrade as getting his sword had been. It wasn’t long till he found he had enough to buy auto-fuse.
Thomas went back to the safe zone and fused up his crystals. Sandra hadn’t come back yet. He wondered how she was doing.
New Setting Learnt
Auto-Fuse
Name: Thomas
Race: Human
Str: 206
Agi: 10
Vit: 70
Int: 10
Soul: 10
HP: full
MP: full
XP: 60
Mana: 0
Skills: None
Spells:
Summon Sword
Auto-Loot (Passive)
Auto-Fuse (Passive)
Inventory:
50,320 small bronze coins
Equipment: Mundane Sword
Thomas looked over his stats, and was satisfied, he’s made serious progress, and wondered how he’d go with a dodo. He went out to try.
Sandra wove her way through the dodos, they couldn’t touch her, and she slew them effortlessly. She looked at the forest, and nervously walked up to the edge. A wolf snarled at her, it seemed to be smirking. The forest was dark and foreboding. Had it seemed that way last time? She wasn’t sure. The trees were tall and looked like pine trees, but darker. The trunks grew straight and close together. It was eerily quiet. Even the slimes made more noise than the forest did. A breeze wafted the scent of rotted blood over her and she gagged slightly at the smell. Was her arm still in there? She hoped the wolves had eaten it, finding it would be interesting.
Ignoring the smirking wolf, she stepped into the forest. She made sure to keep near the edge, where the ground was clearer and the footing much easier. It kept her closer to the barrier where the wolves couldn’t go too. She glanced up and saw the 2 wolves hidden in the trees. Having their cover blown they jumped at her, but she sidestepped them easily and sliced into one. The wolf yelped in pain and backed off. It was a deep wound but not fatal, and the other wolves started swarming her now. She found it hard to concentrate on a single wolf and started taking wounds from the multiple attacks. She found that the wounds didn’t hurt that much, was her increased vitality helping?
The wolves pressed her hard even as she started slaying them. Her regeneration wasn’t enough yet, her health was slowly dipping down, and blood covered her body again, but the loss of health was much slower than before. This was something she could do, not continuously, but for now she could survive this. Then a wolf jumped on her back, and she stumbled as a wolf bumped her leg just as she tried to take a step, and she was on the ground again, wolves biting and tearing into her flesh. Sandra screamed and scrambled for the forest edge, flashes of last time crowded her mind. She felt teeth and claws digging into her flesh, parts of her being torn off, blood flowed freely again.
Pushing her terror down, Sandra shifted her hands to claws for extra grip and pulled against the last of the trees, the scent of blood and fresh dirt in her nose. With the forest’s boundary reached, the wolves slid off her as she fought her way into the open, tearing great strips from her again with their vicious claws and teeth, but she made it out of the forest. She got up on shaky legs that were full of wounds, but those were closing as she watched. She eyed an approaching dodo but it turned away before getting too close. Regeneration 5 was nothing to sneeze at, it only took several minutes before she wasn’t bleeding and her wounds continued to close Sandra stood there and breathed, letting the terror of the forest fade from her.
Sandra checked her inventory and found she had 32 extra crystals. She’d managed to kill 32 wolves. That was distinctly better than before. She wondered if it might not be time for some extra strength. Her agility seemed enough, but she was lacking in killing power. She got to fusing crystals, warily eyeing the dodos. By the end of that she had 296 xp and 148 mana. Not much really. She bought 2 points of strength, and went back to mercilessly slaughtering dodos.
Thomas approached a lone dodo. The dodo looked at Thomas warily, its head pointing sideways to get a better look. Thomas charged the dodo, and swung mightily at its neck. The dodo dodged and pecked at his arm. Thomas swore and swung again, this time aiming for the dodo’s body. The dodo dodged again and kicked at his legs. Thomas was shoved off balance and the dodo pressed the attack, drawing blood from his shoulder. Thomas scrambled to get a bit of distance between him and the dodo, but the dodo was faster and kept attacking, his shoulder flowering in pain and blood. Thomas made one last desperate swing, but the dodo dodged. It was hopeless, he couldn’t land a single hit and his wounds were increasing. Thomas turned and ran. The dodo kept pace with him and tore at his thighs and calves. Running was getting harder now and he stumbled, losing his sword and rolling on the grass, covering his face with his hands and curling up. He screamed in desperation.
Sandra heard screaming and looked up. Was that Thomas? She raced across the grasslands, surprised by the speed she now had. She found Thomas curled up and bleeding, being assaulted by a dodo. She slew it easily, and knelt down next to Thomas.
“It’s OK, it’s gone now, you’re safe now Thomas.” It took a bit for Thomas to react so she kept going “You’re safe now Thomas, the dodo is gone You’re safe now.”
Thomas uncurled a little, and looked into Sandra’s eyes. He felt terrible. He timidly looked around and the accursed dodo couldn’t be seen. He looked back at Sandra and said, “Thank you.” He honestly meant it.
“It’s fine, can you walk?”
“I’m not sure, can you help me stand please?”
“Sure.” Sandra helped Thomas stand up, his wounds were quite nasty, great gashes in his legs revealed pulsating red muscle, pallid fat and sometimes bone. She helped him back to the safe zone and helped him sit down, his back against the wall.
“I’m not sure what else I can do for you unfortunately, unless you have 1000 mana just sitting unspent you’ll have to wait for that to slowly heal.”
“What would 1000 mana get me?”
“You could buy Regeneration 1 with it, it’s not much, but it’s better than the base healing rate.”
“Thanks, 2000 slimes isn’t hard, but what do I need to hit a dodo? They just keep dodging, it’s not fair!”
Sandra sighed “Nothing is fair here. Everything will pick on you if you let it. I have over 600 agility and the wolves still managed to trip me up and pin me to the ground again. That was horrifying the first time, and it happened a second time! Nothing here is fair. But there are rules though, like the wolves will not leave the forest.”
“Oh?” Thomas looked up at her, this was new information and he eagerly listened.
“Both times I’ve crawled out of there using my arms, or arm in the first case, to pull me forwards. There seems to be this barrier just beyond the final trees, and the wolves literally cannot pass through it. I crawl through and they just slide backwards off my body. It’s incredibly painful as their claws and teeth are still clamped to my body, so they’re being dragged through my flesh.” Sandra shivered at the thought.
“Oh, that sounds horrible, but good to know, thanks. I’m sorry that happened to you.”
“What’s your build, if I may ask.” Sandra inquired.
“Strength, then Vit, and a little bit to everything else. Why?”
“That’s what I’d guessed. Your swings are slow and powerful. The dodos have more agility than you, so they can simply dodge anything you throw at them. I’m primarily agility. Mine's over 600 now, so I can hit anything just fine, but I lack the strength to kill wolves in a single hit, I’m going to need that if I’m going to progress here.”
“Over 600!” Thomas was incredulous, when had she gotten so strong?
“Yeah, I’ve had auto-loot from the beginning so I never had to scrounge in the dirt or lose drops to mobs. An agility build lets me hit everything and I hit and move fast. My strength is in the low 100’s, but with a fire coating on my sword I can one shot dodos. I need to get stronger though, so wolves die easier. They crowd you, and will jump on you from the trees, be careful in there Thomas.”
“Thanks for the warning, it sounds horrible in there.”
“Yeah, it’s not fun, but I did better than last time.” Sandra smiled
“You’re improving at a rapid rate, my agility is currently 10, that’s 9000 slimes to get it to 100, I guess I know what I’m doing once I heal.”
“Yeah, my agility wasn’t much higher than that when I started dodos, and my strength was way lower than yours is now. You should be able to handle dodos easily with that, and they pay better, so you’ll advance faster.”
“Thanks again Sandra, that’s a big help.”
“Catch up Thomas, I’m not sure I want to face the boss alone, you know.”
“There’s a boss?” Thomas quailed.
“I’m assuming so, just to be safe.”
“Yeah, assuming there is no boss only to find you’re trapped in a room with one sounds horrible.”
“Exactly.” Sandra leaned back against the wall and pondered what to buy next. 700 stat points would get her lowest stats to 300 each, she felt that that was a good place to start. That meant 70,000 xp, which would give her 35,000 mana, what to spend that on? She looked at the fire coating tree, and saw several options in there, level 4 sounded interesting, it reduced the regeneration rate of mobs she cut. That sounded like it could be a big help. It was expensive though, it would take 70,000 mana to get there. She had 2348 mana currently, only 67,652 more to go. She decided to grind dodos till she had 70,000 xp, and once she’d bought her stats up she’d try the wolves again.
Sandra stayed with Thomas whilst he slowly healed. “So what were you doing before you came here? I was on a bus to school.”
“I was in our living room playing games online with friends.”
“Oh, it wasn’t a school day for you?”
“No, it was our day off. We have school in the mornings, and Civil Defence drills in the afternoons. I don’t like those very much.”
“Civil Defence drills? Where do you live?”
“New Denver. Where do you live?”
“I’ve never heard of New Denver, I live in New York.”
“So you’re a commie then? Thomas edged away, wincing as he did, his wounds were still raw.
“What?!? No, I’m a red blooded American, we defeated the communists and they’re limited to Russia now. I take it that it isn't the same for you?”
“No, it’s not.” Thomas still looked warily at Sandra. “After the World War, the Soviets defeated Greater Germany and took all of Europe. With them owning Alyaska, and having friends in Argentina, it wasn’t long before they started making advances on the Americas. Communist societies inside the United States took control of many areas and declared loyalty to the USSR. Several states remained loyal to the United States, and after the atomic bombing of Denver, New Dever was founded, and walls were raised and all citizens were expected to be able to participate in the defence of the New United States as required.”
“Wow, so you come from a different world, that’s so trippy.”
“So you’re really not a commie?”
“No. What you call the World War we call World War 2, it being the second one after the one of 1914. We heavily fought in WW2, the entire country was given over to war production of one sort or another. The Russians beat us to Berlin but we weren’t far behind, and Europe was split down the middle, with the Western half being free, and the Eastern half being locked behind what was called the Iron Curtain. That started to fail in the mid 1980’s and now almost all of Europe is free of Russia’s influence.”
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“Wow, that sounds nice. It’s OK where I am, but bombs are still falling by the borders. We can’t shoot them all down.”
“Ouch, I’m sorry to hear that Thomas. Hopefully you’ll get out of here with the stats and abilities and can actually make a difference.”
“You mean I might be able to keep the advances I’m getting in here? That would be wicked.”
“I’m hoping so, nowhere in the pamphlet did it say we lose them if we exit via the 25th floor.”
“In that case I somehow want to get my friends into here. They could also use the powerups.”
“I pulled you in from another…instance? Dimension? I’m not really sure, but I felt you and was able to connect to you. You could try that with your friends if you want to.”
“I’ll think about it, I wonder who I’d want over here first. Thanks for keeping me company by the way. I should be up soon, so you can go and grind now if you want.”
“You sure Thomas? You’re not done healing just yet.”
“I know, but the pain’s mostly gone now, thanks for hanging around and keeping me company during that, it really did help.”
“Ok, I hope you’re up and moving soon Thomas, get strong and catch up to me.”
Thomas watched Sandra get up and leave. He wondered again about who’s isekai this was. Maybe she was his guide, showing him how to level and get strong? He thought about which of his friends he wanted to bring into this dungeon with him. With Sandra being so disinterested in him there really was only one choice. He started wishing his friend to be there, next to him.
Sandra was out grinding dodos. They really stood no chance against her and she moved quickly between them, her sword flashed leaving assured death in its wake. She wondered about Thomas’s world. It seemed horrible to her, but to him it was normal. She hoped she hadn’t disparaged his world to him, he didn’t need that, he was having enough problems as it was. She wondered if he could actually bring one of his friends over. That would be good for him, he could use the support. Sandra looked down at her own appearance. What had been white underwear was now dark red and mottled, a result of all the bleeding she’d done since she got here. Sandra hoped that she’d get to the store soon, she was sick of being in only her underwear. At least she had that, Thomas only had an increasingly tattered and bloody t-shirt.
Thomas stood up, he didn’t hurt anymore, and flexing didn’t hurt either. He walked over and picked up his sword, and got started on grinding slimes. This was much easier with auto-loot enabled and he fell into a kind of trance, swinging his sword and thinking of his friend, could he contact her? Could he get her over? Maybe this could be his isekai story again, with Sandra as his guide, and his friend as his lover.
----------------------------------------
Chisaki leaned into her rifle. Her long brilliant red hair was tied back as per regulations, she was dressed in fatigues and around her were other high school students doing their Civil Defence practice. Her group was currently practicing riflemanship whilst others did cardio drills and so on. It was a well rounded program and consistently churned out well trained soldiers. At least that’s what the propaganda said. Participation was mandatory and Chisaki had long ago decided that if she had to be here regularly, she may as well enjoy it.
It was a warm sunny day with a light wind, which made this task easier. She focused the sights on the distant target as her instructor called out “Top left, first ring.” Chisaki quickly found the part of the target the instructor wanted them to hit, breathed out, focused, and shot, willing the bullet to hit the target. Nothing in the manual for the rifle mentioned that willing the bullet to hit would help, but she found it did. Her instructor read out another 7 locations around that ring, and then one in the centre, and she took all her shots the same, breathe out, focus, shoot, and will. The exercise over, she safetied her gun and the targets were pulled back in. She’d scored well again, hitting all of her targets to within the target deviance.
Additional targets were sent out, at increasing distances, and the drill continued. Chisaki scored well in all of them, shooting for her was just easy. A pity it wasn’t so easy in games. A joystick just wasn’t the same. With the shooting task now done, she handed back her rifle and got her score updated. The instructor was pleased with her performance. Chisaki headed back to the showers to wash the sweat and grime off.
The showers weren’t co-ed. Chisaki wouldn’t have minded if they were, a couple of the boys had nice bodies. Chisaki got undressed and headed into one of the booths, relaxing in the warm water, and enjoyed the scene of naked females around her. She made sure not to stare too hard, most of the women didn’t share her proclivities. Whilst homosexuality wasn’t illegal per se, it was heavily frowned upon. Children were important for the future of the nation, the war was still going on and troop positions had to be filled. A pity. Whilst there were a few boys she liked the looks of, there were a lot more such women. Chisaki herself was medium height, and tended towards the buxom side of things. Her asian features were kinda rare and she felt it made her cute and interesting. Like everybody in this town, she was fit and trim, there wasn’t enough food for anything else.
Her shower finished, Chisaki dried herself off, got changed back into civvies, and caught the bus home. Like most people in this town, she lived in a tower block. With the war being so close, they couldn’t build up like they used to, so tower blocks went down into the ground instead. The top few floors were hardened plascrete shelters, allowing entrance and resisting anything the Commies had thrown at them so far. Further down, it was just regular plascrete, the hardened stuff wasn’t needed there.
Chisaki walked in the scarred and scuffed entrance to her tower block, the cinder grey of outside gave way to military grey. She got into the industrial lift with the rest of the kids who lived in this block, and keyed in her floor. She was in the lower 200’s group, not bad really, kinda average if she thought about it. The lift was pretty fast and it was only a few minutes of waiting till she got to her floor. There were still about ½ of the people in the lift when she got off and walked to her apartment. She opened the door and went from civilian grey to the bright colours of home. Pictures on the walls showed forests and rivers and lakes and blue sky, stuff she’d never seen for real. Neither had her parents, nor anybody alive in this area, that stuff hadn’t been seen for almost a century now. Apparently in the central areas they still had some grass, but out here near the front it was all industry and destruction. The good thing about being this far down is they barely heard the thumps of artillery landing. It didn’t reach this far in from the border too much, but sometimes the bigger guns got some munitions, those were interesting nights. She used to know people who lived closer to the surface, they’d been twitchy people, and one day the whole family moved away, she’d no idea where to. Nobody seemed to live on the first 20 floors now, nobody she ever met anyway.
Chisaki greeted and hugged her Mother, they shared the same features and brilliant red hair. They discussed her day, school then training, and Chisaki settled down on the couch to play this shooting game her friends liked. She wondered how close it was to actual combat. Her father and older brother were off fighting, still alive apparently, they sometimes got video letters. She hoped they were killing lots of commies. The game connected and she joined a game with her friends, struggling to get hits with the controller. It just wasn’t the same, a gun felt so much better. Then her world changed.
----------------------------------------
Chisaki couldn’t believe this, she had to be dreaming. She was looking up at a brilliant blue sky with a few soft fluffy white clouds drifting across it. The sun was shining so brightly she had to shade her eyes with her hand. Looking down she saw a massive copse of trees growing in the distance. Grassland, green and vibrant stretched across the ground in front of her, with a small river gently flowing through it. In the distant plains things moved around.
This couldn’t be real, she’d only ever seen this world in pictures. In school they sometimes showed the ancient newsreels of what the world could look like if they won, why they should fight, and so on.
She was standing on a small patch of dirt. In front of her was grass, green grass, full of small blue things that bobbed and moved around. Where was this? She turned around and saw a coarse cut stone wall stretching out in both directions, curving slightly, like this place was fully enclosed somehow. She sat down and just enjoyed the view. This was a really nice dream.
Chisaki eventually noticed a small booklet next to her and read it. Apparently she was in a dungeon and had to clear floor 25 to get out. She wondered if she would ever want to get out. If this somehow wasn’t a dream then she’d surely miss her mother, school friends, and would miss out on video letters from her father and older brother.
Ok, maybe she should try to clear floor 25. But how to do that? She continued reading and got answers. She could kill the monsters here, get crystal fragments, fuse those into crystals, and fuse those into her body. Doing so would allow her to get stronger. She laid back and relaxed. If this really was a dungeon, how did she get here? Then she felt a tugging, like someone wanted to talk with her, and that someone felt familiar. She accepted.
----------------------------------------
Thomas had killed his 8940 slimes, and was back on the dirt fusing them and absorbing them into his body. He saw Sandra in the distance, she seemed to be moving towards him. He tried again reaching for his friend, and this time he felt something. A young woman appeared near him, relaxing on the dirt. She had long vibrant red hair, a gorgeous body, and cute asian features that made her seem even more interesting. She was wearing a short pleat skirt and a tight fitting t-shirt, really she was made for him. He suddenly got erect again.
Chisaki blinked as this wretched looking boy came into view near her. He stunk of dried blood and was looking her over like a hungry lion contemplating a meal. His hair was a mess, he had fuzz on his face, and he wasn’t wearing anything other than a manky t-shirt. She stood up and edged away from this strange man, a sexual predator if his erect penis said anything. “Who are you, and keep away from me please!” She demanded.
“Uh, I’m Thomas.” Said the boy who stood up and edged closer to her. Chisaki easily slid into a combat stance, she’d been trained for this since she started school.
“I don’t know any Thomas.” she said.
“We play online games together, I’m uh, I’m Bigus_Dickus_52.” Thomas watched the redhead’s eyes flicker with a hint of recognition, then her eyes drifted down, and back up with a smirk on her face.
“Ahh, the git who’s always bragging that he’s a better shooter than I am, but only in games. Seems like your gamer tag isn’t all bravado. I’m Chisaki, Thomas. What happened to your clothes, or do you always wear just a manky, stinking, bloodstained t-shirt?”
“No, I normally wear clothes just like everybody else, but the, um, the slimes ate them, and this is all I have left now.”
“Those blue things ate your clothes?”
“Yeah, I was stupid and now this is all I’ve got to wear.” Suddenly this wasn’t feeling like his best idea ever, why hadn’t he considered his lack of clothes before pulling Chisaki to him?
Chisaki’s eyes flicked to the distant grasslands, someone else was moving there, approaching them. “Who’s that?” she asked.
Thomas turned and looked “Oh, that’s Sandra, she was here before me, she’s gone the furthest of us so far.”
“Sandra huh?” Chisaki studied the figure of the approaching woman who was confidently striding through the grass, but then she changed into an excited schoolgirl run. What had just happened?
----------------------------------------
Sandra had ground dodos till she had killed enough for 35,000 mana, and was now walking back to the safe zone to see how Thomas had gone. She spied 2 people there, one of whom had rather interesting red hair. She started running towards them, this was going to be interesting.
As she got closer she saw the newcomer start to walk out of the safe zone. Sandra waved her hands and started yelling at her to stop. It was obvious that the newcomer was female now, she was a little short but had a very nice body and oh that hair.
Thomas heard Sandra shouting and physically blocked Chisaki from leaving the safe zone, he knew the consequences of leaving too early far too well.
Chisaki had started to walk towards the new woman, she seemed interesting, but then Thomas had just put himself in front of her, she jumped back a little and stared at him.
“I’m sorry Chisaki, but there’s a couple of things you should do before leaving the safe zone, trust me on this please, I regret leaving too early.”
Chisaki relaxed and stepped backwards some more, then watched the woman approaching. She was close enough to get a good look and damn she was cute. Were those dog ears on her head? Was that a dog’s tail wagging behind her like a happy puppy? Why was she in a bikini? Did nobody here wear proper clothes?
Sandra pulled up before the newcomer and felt her heart skip a beat, fuck she was pretty. She noticed that Thomas was erect again, and she ignored that. She smiled at the newcomer “Hi, I’m Sandra, what’s your name?”
“Hi Sandra, I’m Chisaki, sorry for asking, but are you part dog?”
“Um, Yes, I’m officially a wolf-kin now, it has a few advantages for combat. If you haven’t left the dirt yet we can see what races you have available to you if you wish.” Sandra felt her tail wagging rapidly behind her, but couldn’t stop it somehow.
“So you were human when you got here, but gave that up for ears and a tail?” Chisaki couldn’t quite believe it, but when Sandra’s ears dropped and her tail stopped wagging she felt her mood changing “Gods you are just too cute when you do that.”
Sandra felt herself blushing, and her tail started wagging again, just what was it with her tail?
Chisaki couldn’t believe it, now Sandra was blushing and her tail was off again, how cute could this woman get? Chisaki stood up properly “Ok puppy-chan, what do you suggest I do then?”
Sandra blinked, what had Chisaki just called her? She felt herself blushing again but forced herself to speak “First up is your status. Think the word, and will yourself to know more about yourself. This world works on will a lot it seems.”
Chisaki tried that, and was surprised when a blue box appeared in front of her.
Name: Chisaki
Race: Human 🔻
Str: 1
Agi: 1
Vit: 1
Int: 1
Soul: 1
HP: full
MP: full
XP: 0
Mana: 0
Skills: None
Spells: None
Inventory: None
Equipment: None
“Wow!” she said.
“Do you see a drop down next to your race?”
“Yes, I do, should I click it?”
“Please do, and tell me what options come up.”
Chisaki mentally clicked the arrow next to her race:
Human ⭐
Bunny-kin
Bunny-kin, why did the thought of that excite Chisaki so much? Somehow it just felt right, she selected it.
Name: Chisaki
Race: Bunny-kin
Str: 1
Agi: 1
Vit: 1
Int: 1
Soul: 1
HP: full
MP: full
XP: 0
Mana: 0
Skills: Cute Attack
Enhanced Hearing
Spells: None
Inventory: None
Equipment: None
Cute Attack, what was that? She tried it out on Sandra. “[Cute Attack]” Well that was weird, her voice just went strange, a little reverb was added, why did that……
Sandra and Thomas watched as Chisaki changed, she grew a little taller, a lot cuter, and long bunny ears erupted from her head, grey with red tints to match her hair. Then she said something in a strange voice, and Sandra suddenly couldn’t help herself, Chisaki was just too cute, she had to kiss her.
Thomas watched in surprise as Sandra jumped into Chisaki’s arms and kissed her. Damn that was hot, the way their breasts just pressed into each other and squished, he wished he could be between them when they did that.
Chisaki’s thought train was disrupted by Sandra kissing her, and a tongue invading her mouth. She felt Sandra’s arms gently wrapping around her body and Sandra’s tail wrapping itself around her waist, pulling them closer together. Chisaki reciprocated, the woman was cute so why not?
The two women broke for air eventually. “Um, I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me, I’m not normally like that.” Sandra stepped back and unwound her tail from Chisaki’s waist, seriously what was it with her tail?
“Oh? Why not? That was a good kiss, want another?” Chisaki licked her lips, this was turning out to be a very good dream.
Sandra blinked, had Chisaki really said that? Her tail was wagging again damnit. Then Chisaki walked up to her and wrapped their arms around her, and they were kissing again. Sandra couldn’t have stepped backwards if she wanted to, Chisaki still had things to do before she left the safe zone.
Sandra noticed her tail had found something on Chisaki’s lower back, and Chisaki moaned when her tail brushed it. The kissing became more intense, why was she enjoying this so much? Her Father would kill her if she came home with a bunny girl.
Thomas stood around just enjoying the show. His erect member was throbbing badly and he wished for some release
Chisaki broke their kiss again, and enjoyed the embrace. She smiled at Sandra “So, was there anything else I should know before I step out into this world?” Even if this wasn’t a dream she didn’t care right now, kissing Sandra had been good.
“Um, yes, your inventory, you can bring it up by thinking about it and willing it.”
Chisaki willed her inventory to open, and a different window opened up showing a few empty slots. “I’ve got it, I think.”
“Ok, there should be a settings option, click that and turn auto-loot on, auto-fuse if you’ve got it too.”
Chisaki got the settings up easily enough, and toggled the two options to ‘On’.
“Done, next?”
“Ok, the mobs here drop crystal fragments and coins. The crystal fragments get fused into crystals, and those get absorbed into your body. That earns you XP and Mana.”
“They get absorbed into my body?” Chisaki queried.
“Yes, um, I’ll show you.” Sandra took a crystal out of her inventory and showed it to Chisaki, then let her body absorb it.
Chisaki’s eyes bugged out, Sandra had just put that purple crystal on her skin and it slid into her body! “Doesn’t that hurt?”
“No, it’s painless, it’s a bit of sensation but nothing much. Would you like to try? It’s how we grow stronger here.” She held out another crystal for Chisaki.
Chisaki eyed the crystal warily, she turned to Thomas “How about you, do you do this too?”
“Yeah.” He answered “As Sandra said, it’s how we earn XP and Mana to spend in the shops.”
“What does that let you do?” Chisaki asked.
“Oh, cool stuff like this.” Sandra smiled, stepping backwards onto the grass and summoning her sword, casting Fire Coating as she did so.
Chisaki blinked as Sandra pulled a flaming sword out of somewhere, that was seriously cool! “Wow.” escaped from her lips.
“50 Mana to summon a sword, and 5000 Mana for basic fire coating.”
“That crystal, how much is it?”
“This crystal is fragments of 10 slimes, and gives you 5 Mana.”
“5 Mana? So that’s 10,100 slimes I need to kill.” That seemed insane, who could kill that many?
“Yes, or 5,500 dodos once you’re strong enough to kill them, or 3,367 wolves. Be careful of the forest by the way, it’s a death trap if you’re not ready.”
“But still, that’s so many, how do you do that?”
“Remember that a crystal is both Mana and XP? XP lets you increase your stats, so you hit harder, move faster etc. With the right stats killing lots of these isn’t a problem.”
Chisaki wasn’t sure, and turned to Thomas again, his dick was seriously needing some release, Sandra didn’t seem to be even vaguely interested, did this mean he was all hers?
“It’s true, and there’s an added bonus: time doesn't seem to exist here.“ Thomas said, shifting under her gaze. “I’m not sure how long I’ve really been here, but I think it might be about 2 days? But I haven’t slept once, nor gotten tired, nor felt the need to eat or go to the toilet. The sun hasn’t moved an inch the whole time I’ve been here.”
“Here’s me in a world of things to kill, and no gun.” Chisaki tried willing a gun into existence. Nothing happened. ‘Hmmmmm.’ she hummed. “Sandra, could you be a dear please?”
“Hmmm?” Sandra wondered what Chisaki wanted now.
“Could you go get me 5,500 mana worth of crystals please? I don’t think killing slimes as a bunny girl will go that well. I’ll definitely make it worth your while, so please?” She used her bunny eyes, trying for maximal effect. Besides, getting Sandra gone would leave her and Thomas alone.
“Um, sure, it’ll give me a chance to check out my upgrades, I’ll be back in a bit.” Sandra could see that Chisaki was trying to manipulate her, but honestly 5,500 dodos wasn’t a lot. Besides she needed a break, being around Chisaki was doing strange things to her feelings.
Chisaki watched Sandra’s cute ass and wolf tail walk off into the distance. She turned to Thomas, took off her underwear and put them in her inventory. Thomas got the hint.
Thomas couldn’t believe what he was seeing, a girl was offering herself to him? Yes, this was his isekai fantasy! Suddenly it was like a beast took over him, he pinned her up against a wall and kissed her, feeling her breasts in his hands, and more.
----------------------------------------
Sandra walked over to the edge of the dodos, and absorbed all her crystals. She had a lot. She spent her XP and Mana.
Name: Sandra
Race: Wolfkin
Str: 408
Agi: 901
Vit: 408
Int: 408
Soul: 408
HP: full
MP: full
XP: 4
Mana: 0
Skills:
Claws
Spells:
Summon Sword
Fire Coating 4
Regenerate 5 (Passive)
Inventory:
60 small bronze coins
81 bronze coins
49 small silver coins
Equipment: None
Sandra nodded, that seemed much better balanced now, she got to grinding dodos, finding them easier than ever.
----------------------------------------
Chisaki smiled at Thomas and made appreciative noises. That had been disappointing. She wasn’t going to let him know it though, boys were fragile things and you had to be careful not to break them. Sure he was plenty big enough, but he had no idea how to use it and only thought of himself. She adjusted her bra and buttoned her shirt up and walked out onto the grass, leaving Thomas sleeping it off.
Chisaki watched the slimes. They bumbled around the grass, bumping into each other, and sometimes bumped into her. Had Thomas really lost his clothing to them? She walked in the direction she’d seen Sandra walk off in. She seemed way more interesting, her kisses were nicer. She was gentle and soft, and Chisaki really wanted to play with those ears.
After a bit, she wasn’t sure how long, Chisaki found big fat birds. She guessed these were the dodos. Amongst them blurred a familiar wolfkin, her sword trailing black flames and dodos were slaughtered in their hundreds with ease. How could anybody be that strong? Was this something she could achieve? Surely if Sandra could she could too. Suddenly the blur stopped and Sandra was in front of her. Sandra’s flaming sword flickered out of existence, and she was holding up a purple crystal.
“Hi again Chisaki, how was Thomas?”
“Urgh, don’t ask. Is that for me?”
“Yes, take it and let it rest on your hand, and allow it into your body. Again, it’s mostly a will thing.”
Chisaki took the purple crystal from Sandra, and let it rest on her hand, with a little bit of mental effort it slid into her. She gasped, and more boxes appeared.
10 XP earnt
5 mana earnt
Another box opened up:
Access to XP shop granted
Access to Mana shop granted
Chisaki accessed the XP shop, and got a explanation for what the stats did:
Str
Increases the amount of damage when a physical attack hits, increases ability to carry heavy loads
Agi
Increases the chance of a physical attack hitting, increases reaction speed
Vit
Increases the amount of damage you can take before dying
Int
Increases the maximum MP
Soul
Increases the rate MP regenerates
“See, not that hard, want the rest?”
“Um, yes please.”
Sandra handed another 9 crystals, Chisaki let those sink into her skin and was about to access the shop again when Sandra handed her yet more crystals.
“Um, what’s this? 10 crystals is 50 mana, yes?”
“Sure, but just that isn’t the best start, so I got you 11,050 mana worth of crystals, it’s quite a bit so get those absorbed please.”
Chisaki blinked, Sandra had done what? 11,000 extra mana, that’s way more than the 50 she’d asked for. “Are you sure? Isn’t that a lot?”
“Not really, not for me anyway, Thomas might find it a lot but he hasn’t been grinding the best.”
Chisaki wasn’t sure, Sandra could see it in her eyes.
“Look, if it helps you can do me a favour.”
“Sure, what?”
“I’m going into the forest to try wolves again after this. Both times I’ve tried them in the past have gone badly. First time I almost died, I got down to 2% health before I stabilised. I lost an entire arm and my other was almost useless, my legs and tail were shredded, it wasn’t good.”
“Gods that sounds horrible, how did you get better? I can’t see any sign of such wounding.”
“Oh, that’s Regeneration, it’s very handy, especially at higher levels. Thanks to that I grew everything back just fine. It’s one of the things I’m suggesting you buy with the Mana I’m giving you.”
“Oh, yeah, that sounds good, so the favour?”
“Oh, if you see me near the edge and I’m struggling to get out, reach in and pull me out? Don’t go into the forest yourself, the wolves will slaughter you. However they physically cannot leave the forest, there’s a boundary right at the first line of trees that they cannot cross. If you’re standing outside the trees reaching in I think you’ll be fine.”
“So I don’t go into the forest, but if I see you trying to crawl out and I can reach you, I grab you and pull you out?”
“Yeah, that’s it, and if you find yourself getting pulled in, let go, it’s not worth you going in there, not yet.”
“But if I let go…” Chisaki didn’t finish that sentence.
“Yeah, but it’s better than both of us dying. Besides, I’m way stronger than I was last time, I think I might possibly be fine this time, and I’ll stick by the edge just to be sure.”
“Oh, ok, then sure.”
“Thanks Chisaki, that means a lot to me.” Sandra hugged Chisaki
Chisaki felt Sandra soft warm arms embracing her and relaxed into the hug, it was nice. Then she had a thought. “You’re not wearing a red bikini are you?”
“No, this is my underwear, stained by my own blood. The rest of my clothes got torn off me in combat. That’s something I want to spare you from, so I’m powerleveling you a little.”
Chisaki grimaced, but soldiered on “Thanks Sandra, really.”
They let go of each other and separated a little, and Sandra fed Chisaki crystals till she had 11,050 mana.
“Ok, what do you suggest I buy?”
“Shopping time! First is the Mana store, buy Summon Sword, Regeneration 1 and 2, and Fire Coating.”
Chisaki accessed the Mana store, found the options, and bought them.
New Spell Learnt
Summon Sword
New Spell Learnt
Regeneration 1
New Spell Learnt
Regeneration 2
New Spell Learnt
Fire Coating
Chisaki felt the knowledge of these spells enter her mind and settle there, ready to use. “Ok, I’ve learnt those, what’s next?”
“Next is the XP store, I suggest you keep your Agi double the value of everything else, at least until you learn what you want to specialise in.”
“Ok, thanks.” Chisaki spent her XP, and examined her status:
Name: Chisaki
Race: Bunny-kin
Str: 37
Agi: 74
Vit: 37
Int: 37
Soul: 37
HP: full
MP: full
XP: 0
Mana: 0
Skills: Cute Attack
Enhanced Hearing
Spells: Summon Sword
Regeneration 2 (Passive)
Fire Coating
Inventory: None
Equipment: None
“Ok my stats are all high 30’s except Agi which is mid 70’s.”
“Good, that’s a much better start than either Thomas or myself got, and you won’t have to punch slimes to kill them. You can ask Thomas how that went if you want.”
“Urgh, don’t remind me of him, he’s a spoilt rich boy from a central zone.”
“Oh? He’s told me a little of your world, it sounds quite nasty.”
“You’re not from our world?”
“No, I’m from a world where the USSR collapsed and the USA was never conquered.”
“What, so you’re not sending your family out to fight, you don’t get shelled regularly, you don’t live in reinforced shelters deep underground, your above ground isn’t a shitshow of giant holes and shrapnel?”
“Uh, sorry, no, none of that. I’m sorry that that’s happening to you.”
Chisaki noticed Sandra’s ears dropping again. “Sorry, that was a bit harsh, just that I’ve got family members out on the front lines. I’ll be joining them in a couple of years, if they survive that long.”
“Oh God, that really sucks” Sandra hugged Chisaki softly “I’m really sorry to hear that you live in a world like that.”
Chisaki relaxed into Sandra’s soft warmth “Yeah, when I first came here I thought that this was a dream. I’m still not sure it isn’t. Just the blue sky, the grass, the forest, the river, the clouds, the sweet air. I’ve never seen anything like this except on TV.”
“That’s fine, this can be as much of a dream as you wish. Your world sounds really sucky, but right now, we’re here in this one. This is our reality for now, dream or not dream. You’re here, so enjoy it while you can.”
“Thanks for that, that does help some. Is it ok if I bitch about Thomas some?” Chisaki was finding Sandra to be a better friend already, and something about that tail wrapped around her waist was nice.
“Sure, he’s an annoying boy who keeps thinking he’s better than me somehow. He’s used violence to make me submit to him.”
“Oh gods, did he hurt you?”
“No, I’m way stronger than he is, even back then, he swung and missed, and I thwacked him in the head. He’s been less annoying since then.”
“Oh, so maybe that’s what I’ve been missing. I play online games with him, do you know what those are?”
“Yes we have those in my world too.”
“Ok, so we play combat games, and he’s a very good shooter in there, but I’m not. I’m a much better shooter in real life, joysticks just don’t do it for me. He can’t not keep ribbing me over it though.”
“That sounds horrible, it’s like somehow his gaming is more important than your battle skills. He really is a dick.”
“Yeah, funny thing is whilst it’s pretty big, he really has no idea how to use it. It was obvious that I was his first screw. He’s just a lame gamer geek, useless to the war effort, and probably crappy genetics too.”
“Sounds about right. He’s got some fantasy going that this is his isekai fantasy, and we’re going to be his harem. He’s not handling it well that I just don’t want him.”
“And after that crappy experience, I’m not sure I want him either. I mean he is the only boy in here, but you’re way cuter than I had any right to expect a woman to be. I’m enjoying being in your presence way too much to even think of going back to him.”
Sandra blushed, Chisaki thought it was cute how easily she showed her emotions, and hoped her ears weren’t as much of a giveaway as hers were. “So after your wolves attempt what should I do, go try slimes?”
“Yes, you’ll need Agi of about 100 to hit a dodo, and you want your other stats to be about 100 or more to easily kill one, it shouldn’t take you too long to get that far, not with auto-loot enabled. You know Thomas didn’t get that right?”
“What? But it’s right there at the start.”
“Yes, but only if you do it before you leave the safe zone. That’s why I was trying to keep you inside it.”
“Oh, I thought you just liked kissing me.” Chisaki teased.
Sandra found she was blushing again “I do like it, back then it was too sudden, sorry.”
“Oh no worries, I do like being a tease sometimes you know.”
“I’m learning that. Ready for me to try the wolves again?”
“Sure, just survive please, I’d hate to be here all alone with Thomas.”
“I don’t plan on dying in there.”
With one last hug Sandra walked up to the treeline. The last two times hadn’t gone so well, and she forced down thoughts of her prior times there. This time would be different.
----------------------------------------
Thomas awoke feeling good! He’d had sex, he’d taken a woman as his, he was a Man now! Finally this isekai of his was working out. Now just to make Sandra submit to him also. He stretched and strode over to the dodos, he would show her how much of a man he really is.
It didn’t take long to find dodos, they milled around like the stupid fat birds they were. He saw Chisaki standing around looking into the forest, but didn’t see Sandra. No matter, when she reappeared she’d see how far he’d come. He walked towards his woman, intending to take her again. He’d push her against a tree this time and make submit again.
Chisaki heard Thomas coming closer, her ears were helping hear him against the noise the dodo’s made. The sounds of wolves being slaughtered came from the forest also. It was quite amazing how well she could hear now. She turned to Thomas, but kept listening for Sandra in case something went wrong. “What do you want Thomas, what’s with those grabby hands of yours?”
“You’re my woman now Chisaki, get up against that tree and get ready.” Thomas lunged for Chisaki’s fine body. Chisaki tried to dodge but Thomas was faster. He grabbed her arms and pinned her to a tree.
Chisaki couldn’t believe this, she’d fucked him once. Sandra was right about him. Then he lunged for her and her rational thoughts fled. She struggled against him, but she couldn’t escape. She was trapped. She screamed for Sandra to save her.