[May 3, 12:00 pm, in the real world]
The hype for the new player rose and fell like a tide in the sea as Danōki watched his cousin navigate around the dungeons with his Plateau airship.
People around him whispered and murmured about his cousin. Some talked about how his avatar looked handsome. Some talked about his cuteness as he tried out the mechanics with awe and fascination. Others talked about entirely different topics like the Founding Festival and its upcoming closing ceremony in the next three days, the mystery behind Junkitsu's identity and rise of a little star from the music field.
Danōki's ears leaned on that last news and scrolled down on his Holo-Slab and tapped on the trending news. It featured a woman who looked familiar to him, until her singing voice gave it away.
'Oh! It's the air hostess!'
His eyes sparkled with joy. He read the interview below the video, where she shared about her humble beginnings and her love for singing, how her family's hardships dissuaded her from pursuing in the music industry and her eventual employment and contentment at becoming a flight attendant. She also gave credit to the two men who spurred her on, and wished that she would know their names at least to thank them.
After reading the interview, Danōki smiled at the thought that a silly game between the cousins themselves have lifted someone else's life for the better, but the happiness cut short when a couple of deriding words fell on his ears.
The source of the jeering came from a pair of tall young men watching the V-Sphere, directed at his cousin and his friend. Danōki's face spiraled into confusion on looking at the clothes they're wearing. It was like they stitched punkish elements onto their ripped gakurans (school uniforms).
'Is this what they call Neo-Punk?' He sneaked a bit closer to them to eavesdrop.
"I feel pity for that noob. Too bad he's stupid to hire that worthless pigeon as his Guide!" The man with blue-haired mullet snarked at Junkitsu and Kingumo.
"Pigeon?! Open you damn eyes, fool! That bird's an overgrown turkey! He's better inside our stomachs than out there! But you're right, that fox is toast." The man with red-haired buzz cut agreed with his friend.
> "Also, you should've reminded me not to hire him for Guiding. I lost everything and got reset because of that fucker!"
>
> "Don't put this on me, asshole! It's not my fault your dumb ass forgot it!"
>
> "Still, him becoming the Gambler was the best thing that happened to all of us."
>
> "Long live the Gambler! He won't be missed, but he will always be pissed!"
>
> "Hahahahahahahahahaha!"
Danōki felt disgusted for the way those guys spoke but he was intrigued at the word 'Gambler' and that it was tied to Kingumo specifically. He scratched his head, wondering where he heard the word and why his friend was called that. But his train of thought got derailed when his ears picked on something disparaging.
> "Is this fox gay or something? See how he's spooning on that turkey!"
>
> "Woah oh! At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if he got horny and end up fucking him in that storm, hahahaha! Suspension Bridge effect🎶"
"Oi! That's my cousin you're talking about!" Danōki shouted at the mullet punk to stop him from degrading Junkitsu further. The punks turned to him and glanced at each other with devious smirks.
"Look at this chunky dickhead trying to play hero." The buzz-cut punk towered over Danōki, trying to intimidate him but, he simply stared into his neon pink eyes with a demeanor as cold as ice.
'Uuhhh... I should've looked before I leapt! I didn't think through this at all. But who would stay still after all that shit? And by some random goons at that! Still, gotta keep my cool.'
"Shark got your tongue, pal?" The mullet punk threw his arm over Danōki's shoulder, sneering at his face.
Danōki simply swatted the punk's arm away, ignoring his question. "Arm's off, pal. Word of advice, buy some roll-on for your pits."
"Oh, so we're roasting now? Say your shit before my lid blows off..." The buzz-cut punk asked in a deep voice.
"I just want you both to stop dissing my friends. It's not nice." Danōki ordered in a stern voice.
"And who the hell are you to say that? It's not like you don't own the place, do ya?" The mullet punk continued to sneer at him.
"Besides, it's none of your fucking business. We will do whatever the fuck. We. Want. Either fuck off or you'll need a nose-job." The buzz-cut punk stamped out an ultimatum.
"Ugh, even your words stink! Ever heard of hygiene, guys?" Danōki ignored the ultimatum, launching another insult at them and made a counter-ultimatum: "But I'll mind my business after you stop berating people, or else..."
Immediately, he was grabbed by the collar and got headbutted by the buzz-cut right on the nose. He fell down the floor, accidently pushing a couple of people behind him with a daze. Danōki's nose was buzzing with stinging pain and his nostrils grew warm and watery with blood. Slowly, he tried to stand up, with the help of a bystander.
"You think you can look down on me, bitch?! Huh?! Forget the nose-job, I'm gonna tear you a new---!!!"
Suddenly, the buzz-cut punk was looking at the ceiling as he was lying flat on the floor, not knowing what happened. All he could do was gasp and cough for air, rolling around in pain.
Meanwhile, the mullet punk stood in shock, questioning how a short, chubby pushover managed to slam his friend down with a throw. After all, his friend was a bit taller than Danōki.
"I don't like fights... but I do love hosting funerals! Live!" Danōki grinned at the mullet punk with his sapphire eyes staring blankly at him. The rush made him ignore his bloody nose.
This scene stabbed the punk's heart with fear, triggering his fight-or-flight response, and he wants to fly. To him, Danōki looked like a adrenaline junkie, ready to devour him on the spot.
The mullet punk simply dragged his friend away, without a word. He swore that Danōki would pay for the insult.
'Woaahhh! That was so close! I almost shat out! Jun, thanks for your wisdom, bro!' Dan rejoiced under Jun's name in his mind for he was taught under him about dealing with bullies and put him under self-defense training, which he cried like a baby in the past. The adrenaline's effect wore off when he saw blood on his fingers and his nose started to sting
Dan was helped with first-aid by the bystander, who he later thanked for.
'I bet Jun's gonna get pissed when he sees me like this. But first, I gotta get to the bottom of this whole 'Gambler' nonsense. Why would a pushover like King be involved and how?' Dan was sketching the plan when there were shouts of cheering heard from the V-Sphere.
Dan went to check there and saw the Fox zipping around the Bull, toying with him and flashing a child-like grin now and then. Dan joined the viewers along screaming with joy for Jun's anticipated victory.
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[In the game world]
[Jōbun/Junkitsu's POV]
'Hahahahaha! This. Is. The. Best!! This bull is so slow, I can nap on his back for a while.'
The Plower gripped his warhammer and swung upwards, shooting a trail of stalagmites at me, but I evaded the attack. The red bull knelt down with fatigue, his eyes dull and his horns, dimmer.
"Brother Jun, he's empty now! Quick, attack while you can!" King instructed me about the opening as he was charging his attack and I sprinted on all fours to injure Plower at the least, but the bull has other plans.
He let out a roar of frustration and started to swing around his warhammer like a crazy berserker, destroying the pillars and floors left and right. Red aura was gushing out of his body. I lost the window of time, but still our plan was going as expected.
First, I made the bull raging mad, baiting him into wasting his elemental attacks. Then, I manipulate the battle into a purely physical brawl. Afterwards, I must disarm him, snatch his warhammer and smash his horns out of his head. Simple strategy but not a piece of cake, as King said earlier.
Plower was mooing at the top of his lungs, making the aisle rumble. Truth be told, I was scared of hiding behind any pillar for cover for they'd topple and crush me dead. I slowly sneaked with caution, pulled my poison dagger out, dashed out of the pillar and cut the bull's knee-pit.
Plower knelt down paralysed and in pain, swinging his warhammer at his back. I took care in dodging and strafing away from his weapon and focused on his left hand. Immediately, an all-fours dash with a Bleed Dagger was all it took to give a stab on the Bull's left hand.
"[Vulpine Jab]!" I concentrated my Aura into the jab and drove the dagger as if it were a nail and stabbed the wound a couple of times with my poison dagger, for a good measure. I back-stepped before Plower could crush me with his warhammer. Fortunately, he smashed his own hand like a raging fool, increasing his suffering more.
With the combined power of Poison and Bleed, I managed to bypass Plower's ability to recover, weakening him and made an opening for a devastating blow.
"King! Now!!"
"Finally! [Gust Ballista]!" A turquoise-green arrow was shot at the bull, hitting right on the wound. Seconds later, his entire left arm exploded. Black, gunky fluid spewed everywhere, making a mess. Plower cried out in pain, desperately clutching his stump from bleeding out. King glided down the ground, his face pale with fatigue from that charged skill he shot.
Nevertheless, King and I took this as an opportunity and rushed at the bull. I went to the warhammer he dropped trying to lift it, while King is flying around Plower's face, distracting and attacking him tiredly.
I severely underestimated how heavy the warhammer was. I couldn't even budge it! I even poured my aura around my arms to lift it, when suddenly the hammer was off the ground. I didn't care why and how, because the bull is vulnerable now.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
'Now, onto the bull!'
I dragged the warhammer with difficulty towards where the bull was, when King saw me. He left the the bull and flew back as I reached the bull and swung the hammer across with all my might, crushing his knee. The Earth King finally fell down, flat on the ground.
'One... more... swing!'
With a warcry from my throat clashing with the death throes of the bull, I swung the hammer down on his head. The horns broke, but not before I was flung across the room due to the explosion of those horns. I was tumbling across the floor, getting bruised in the process.
"Brother Jun, you aren't supposed to hit the horns when they are glowing!" King flew down, shouting at me for my mistake.
"Oh yeah?! Well, you're supposed to give me a heads-up before I threw down the hammer onto his face!"
"Well, I was waiting for the Bulldozer to regenerate his arm. That way, his horns would be out of power and you can swing it down."
"Anyways, all's well that ends well. By the way, I checked my status and saw something strange. It said 'Sacral Pool Overdrive'."
King's eyes widened at this piece of info.
"Brother, we'll talk about this later but first, we should go check on the boss."
Green smoke filled around the vicinity, obscuring our vision. After a while, the smoke dissipated and we saw the Plower's body was covered in vines and brambles, his expression of terror and agony fixed in time. He's basically a wooden mummy. Then, I was bombarded with a number of notifications.
'I'll check it out later!'
King was screaming in celebration. He flew around me, singing praises for my victory. I joined in and broke out some dance moves.The struggle was worth it. As we were celebrating, gentle breeze blew over our backs.
A spirit rose from the boss's corpse and took the form of the Bull we fought. Compared to his looks before death, he appeared gentle and peaceful.
"Hello! My name is Oakman. Nice to meet you!" He introduced himself to us, which is pretty unusual for us. His voice was deep and mellow, akin to that of an orator. We introduced rather nervously.
"Please fret not! I'm indebted to you both for releasing me from my torment. It's a shame, acting like a marauder. Forgive me for attempting to harm you." He's so old-fashioned and really polite.
"It's all in the past Mr. Oakman but, may I ask you what happened?" I inquired.
"Hmmm... Ha! I was a farmer, visiting the humble, old chapel to dedicate my harvest as a tithe. It was a normal, peaceful day until... the altar in front exploded." Oakman's voice started to quiver with shock and fear as he was trying to recount for us.
"How?! Who would do such a thing? Were the people?!" King sounded really baffled when he heard it. "But then again, the Cathedral makes sense..."
"I appreciate your concern, my dear friend. But I don't know why or how it happened. What I do know is that my family and friends were in dire need of safety. It did not help that the church was falling apart." His final accounts were akin to a puzzle piece tied to this dungeon. Perhaps, there's a bigger picture linked with the bosses.
The more he spoke, the heavier the guilt weighed on my heart. I didn't think about finding another way to pacify him.
Oakman continued: "As one of the members largely unscathed, I partook in the rescue and we were all out, except my daughter." His heart started to sink as he tried to recount more. "She was trapped under a rubble. Despite my efforts to rescue her, it was too late. The building fell down... on us. After that, I opened my eyes... to see myself as a monster."
I was holding back my tears while King sobbed. Oakman's sorrow was his uncertainty of his daughter's fate. Our sorrow was that we couldn't give his rest a bit more peacefully. His smile of forgiveness made us realize our barbaric nature.
"Thank you for listening my story. I thank you once again for freeing me. I pray my belongings be of use to you in your endeavor, young fox. Farewell." Oakman's soul vanished as his body crumbled to dust. There was a kind of tranquility that couldn't be explained. Perhaps, as an author, his backstory touched my heart. The game's immersion quality really made him life-like.
'I hope there's a peaceful way through this...'
Jumping out from my train of thought, I knelt down to check the loot. There was a spear, four bags of Shards (in-game casual currency), a red coin and a locket. I stashed in the weapon and Shards, while keeping the red coin and the locket out.
I checked the locket's description.
[Oakman's locket: A father's treasure gifted to his precious daughter]
There's nothing more about the locket. Might be an item or a souvenir for me to collect, but I don't know if I could take it.
'Now, for this red coin...'
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[Mokkun/Kingumo's POV]
Finally, I lived through the ordeal. After dying or losing my partners a bunch of times to this boss on random, this was a nice a change of pace, but I have no heart to say that.
I got notified of Oakman's final accounts converted into a Lore Piece. Opening the Lore-book, I checked out to see the Abyss Cathedral's lore space. It said three more pieces were required to cleanse the dungeon. Finally, there was a breakthrough for this place.
"King, a little help." Jun beckoned me over. "Do you know what this coin is?"
'No. Way. It can't be!'
"Brother, did you raise your LUK stats or what? I can't believe you got this."
"Exactly, but I still don't get the hype."
"Right! This is called a Pool Token!"
"A Pool Token huh..." Jun's ears flapped back and his eyebrows furrowed down until his eyes sparkled: "Hey, about the Overdrive---"
"Ha! Now that you mentioned it, how do you feel right now?"
"I feel... sore. Aw man, I can't feel my tail. Or my hips. Is something wrong with me?" Jun's voice wavered with concern.
"No worries, brother. It just means that you have overexerted physically. The aura circulating in the Sacral Pool is associated with Earth and Physical Strength. I think you may have subconsciously forced it open. Anyways, Pool Tokens are extremely rare items that help enhance your Pools and this red token is only for Sacral Pool!"
"English, my man!" Jun sounded a bit annoyed. I should really tone down my enthusiasm for explanations.
"Sorry. Pools are nothing but energy centres lined in your body in a straight line. Starting from the bottom, which is your tail, there are 7 pools---"
"Wait, wait, wait, wait... this sounds like the 7 Chakras system, man!" Jun's eyes glowed with epiphany.
"Haha, it doesn't sound like it. It is exactly the 7 Chakras."
"Woah... this is amazing! Except for one detail. These are supposed to be wheels, my guy!" He snapped, pointing his back for that tiny detail. Man, it's funny that he's picky over something trivial as this.
"Linguistically speaking, I agree that they are wheels but, they are just... visual cues at the end of the day. These energy centres are believed to be spherical pools that exhibit a particular spin of circulation. You can't explain the harmonious influence these pools have on each other without this fact." I hope he learned something after this. I don't think I want to fight with him if he continues to be picky.
"English again, please..." Jun requested in a low voice. He means business. I don't want to end up in his stomach.
"Sorry. Again. Uhh... right, 7 balls of energy spinning in their own axes, while having a nice bond with each other. Also, the red pool is tied to Earth and Physical Strength.
"Now I see... is that so hard? Teaching in simple terms? I hope you don't dream about being a teacher, no offense."
'He did not just say that to me...'
"Excuse me? We just met today and you're talking about my future?!"
"Uhhh... yeah, can't I do that?"
"No, you can't! Respect the boundaries, man! Boundaries!"
"Easy... I just wanted to say that you need to work on your explanation tactics. You gotta dumb it down for me, you know?"
"Then, you should've led with that line, brother! My god..." I couldn't help but face-palm in frustration. How can someone as smart as him not have tact in his speech? But then again, most geniuses would be straightforward as they wish.
"Alright, forget about it! Now teach me about this coin." Jun went back to his jovial, newborn attitude.
"Ugh... stretch your palm out and channel your aura. It'll do the rest."
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[Jōbun/Junkitsu's POV]
I held out my left hand and started to channel my aura. The token started to hover out of my palm and spun around, absorbing my aura. Seconds later, it dissolved into red aura and seeped into my palm.
[Sacral Pool has been opened and slightly enhanced. Elemental Aura affix: Earth has been established. Earth-based skills are now available]
Combined with the notification and new-found vigor surging in me, my confidence was gurgling into arrogance. But King smacked some sense into me on time, pulling me back to virtual reality. Next, I opened the message log to catch up.
[Nemesis defeated! You have slain Plower, the Earth King!]
[Title:
'I don't like the sound of this title. In fact, I don't wanna read this. Next.'
[Congratulations! You have leveled up!] x12
[4 Stat points have been rewarded] x12
'Alright! From Lvl 3 to 15 now. I should be grateful to the devs for this but, I can't help but gripe about the frugality in this. I just faced a boss as a newbie, after all! Oh well...'
[Title:
'What? This is insane! 10 stat points, just like that. I take back what I said. 12 levels are enough for me. Bye-bye, Hurdle Jumper. You'll be missed.'
I saluted the title in its honor. I may be weird, but there's a reason I was able to stand toe-to-toe against Oak-- I mean Plower. If it weren't for the title, I would be dead long ago.
I opened my Stats menu to see the total points collected to be a whopping 59. Fifty. Nine! That's a huge number early in the game. This is a jackpot! King was perching on my shoulder already, witnessing what's going on.
We were bobbing our heads, infected with winner's high. After a little breakdance, King tipped me on investing stat points, which I decided to sleep on it.
Lastly, there was a message titled Dungeon Quest. King's eyes widened with surprise and went bonkers in the air.
"King, buddy! It's just a dungeon quest. What's so special about it?"
"Brother, usually you have Tasks to complete while raiding dungeons but, Dungeon Quests are on a whole another level. These are ultra-rare encounters and the players who completed them are rewarded with riches, fame and popularity! You'd be a king in this Digital Era!" He posed in the air with finesse and majesty.
"Well, I see no reason not to refuse but let me read the details first."
[You, who have noticed the mystery of this accursed place and sympathised with the denizens are now deemed worthy to pacify them. Uncover the truth of the tragedy meted out to them, liberate the souls trapped here and cleanse the grounds.
Reward: Random Scroll, ???]
"This is a jackpot, brother! Accept it!"
'Quest accepted.'
"Now, there's a portal to the next level at the end of this aisle. Come on, brother!" King led me on and we stepped into the portal.
Name: Jōbun
Lvl: 15
HP: 520/900
MP: 1685/1950
Stat Points: 59
XP: 48%
Shards: 750
[To be continued]
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[Skills used]
[Vulpine Jab: Channel a portion of aura into your fist to inflict a knife-like jab on your enemy. The longer the charge, the more powerful the jab. CD: 1s/5 MP]
[Gust Ballista: Conjure and shoot a ballistic arrow that detonates with condensed gusts of wind, inflicting explosive AoE damage. Lingering.
The longer the charge, the larger, stronger and farther the blast. MP: 50, CD: 60s]