Booting Up…

Memories rose up like bubbles rising from the depths of the sea, painting a picture of a surreal and fantastical realm different from the mundane scenery of concrete buildings kissing the skyline and hybrid Toyota cars cruising up and down the avenues. Takeo could not believe it if he had not experienced it for himself – thanks to the device called the Augma, real and artificial beauty overlapped through his eyes as the normal, day-to-day bus commute from his family’s mansion to the Kazuhara Group headquarters in Sugamihara became filled with reality-defying constructs of such superior quality that one would think that they were designed to inspire awe and wonder. The login screen itself was already top-notch even by movie standards; the actual game itself probably much more.

Despite being presented with the razor’s edge in technological progress, being overly serious and without any concept of ‘fun’ as of yet, the young CEO of Kanagawa’s leading medical manufacturer, Takeo Kazuhara of the eponymous Kazuhara Group, simply took the new experience in apathy. He did the motions and registered himself, opting to identify himself as ‘Yuichi Ichinose’ as a pun on his own circumstance and the place where he lived; clever by his own standards of naming. Once that was done, he picked the most mundane race of all and, unwilling to apply himself into the creation of a tool to make it unique, just tapped ‘Randomize’ and let the game decide his physical appearance for him. Seconds later, the once black-haired, sharp-eyed businessman became a cheerful, bubbly-eyed pretty boy with bark-brown hair and default set of a white cotton shirt, brown pants, and brown slip-on shoes.

The design itself was nothing Takeo did not approve of, but something about it did not sit right with the young CEO. Being a child of privilege, he was unused to seeing such plain clothes beyond what he saw hospital patients wear. In fact, even the homeless people he had been donating to had more fashion sense than the character he was presented with. Thus, as his first act as an official registered player of TerraSphere, he tapped the Cash Shop tab and began to shop for attire that would fit his avatar. While shopping for default clothing did not benefit him in the least, the aesthetics paid for itself as the once drab pretty boy transformed into a handsome young man who looked like an avid runner and Parkour practitioner, reflecting its player’s real-life interest.

“A bit better,” admitted Takeo before hovering over the ‘Play Game’ button and clicked it, transporting ‘Yuichi’ into a brand new world of endless possibilities. A virtual one, of course, but still one with limitless potential. He was counting on it – his position within his company was on the line.

Inside the Game…

The transition between the log-in area and the actual game happened smoothly, so much that Takeo – now Yuichi Ichinose – felt like he was actually being dropped off by the metro bus at some place in another world. He looked around in repressed awe, the details and the textures far surpassing any high definition movie to the point that it was almost realistic. Yuchi then examined himself, his virtual skin and clothes almost fooling the CEO into thinking that he was no longer in his black Armani business suit and polished black leather oxfords. If not for the hovering display that told him his in-game health, mana, and experience points, he could swear that it was all real. Nevertheless, he still had to go to work, and off to work he went, both as Takeo Kazuhara, CEO, and Yuichi Ichinose, TerraSphere newbie.

 

It has been just three days since Sylpha started the game. However, she felt drawn back into the starting area. Mainly because NPC humans didn't take too kindly to her elven ears. Granted, it seemed like the majority used a completely passive approach, but someone like a short "elf" that wasn't Faerin would attract gazes regardless of how they felt about Yladians.

She did not have enough equipment that she felt confident in going to any of the more dangerous areas, either. From what she's read, dying in a VR game was not something she was willing to experience so soon. Hell, she hasn't even tried cooking yet due to the necessity of buying the tools to do it with.

Sitting on a tree root, Sylpha pondered her options: how was she going to get to the more magical environments and how long would it take for her to reach them?

This game had potential when relating to her interests, but it would likely take a long time for it to pay off.

Now she was just waiting for her rest meter to rise... or for something to happen. Hopefully both.

 

Takeo reached his office at the third floor of the Kazuhara Group’s three-story building at the heart of Sagamihara City, but inside the game, Yuichi reached the top of a hill where he overlooked the vast tracts of woodland before him. There was a ring of jagged mountains in the distance, a valley thick with cedars, and a barely ribbon of silver – a river that fed into a sparkling lake in the distance. From there, he could see plumes of light-gray smoke and lots of it; a sign – or so he thought – of a village nearby. Once there, maybe he could try to make sense on how to play this game through application rather than just reading the grimoire of a guidebook TerraSphere had.

With that thought in mind, the young man zipped up his character’s sleeveless dragon-print jacket, doubled back down the hill, and began running to traverse the general direction where he saw the smoke stacks. Relentlessly, Yuichi marched through the woods for almost two hours until he heard the gurgling of a stream close by – a good three kilometers from where he stood high above the forest canopy. He got close enough to see the direction of the flow, drank the virtual water, then headed back into the forest for precautionary measures. He had heard rumors that the world of TerraSphere was notoriously full of malicious players called ‘PKers’ and he had no intention to meet one should one be stalking the woods for fresh meat.

Walking back to the relative safety of the cedar forest, he passed by a seated Yladian player-character beneath one of the larger cedars with exposed roots. She was a sight to behold – her azure hair flowed down the subtle contours of her lean, toned body; her sea-green eyes shimmering in the rays of artificial sunlight that peeked through the canopy with a bored expression behind her strangely hypnotic gaze. The nymph was dressed in virgin white with light shades of blue, an apt choice which – either wittingly or unwittingly – served to enhance her beatific allure by leaps and bounds. The largest – quite literally – feature about her though was her incredible breasts which seemed like they were struggling to fit inside the small dress-corset the character wore beneath her white with stripes of aquamarine, the former providing ample cleavage for an already lust-inducing character.

In Yuichi’s eyes, however, she was nothing more than an artificial construct made of ones and zeroes to cater to the primal desires of lesser men. She was a picture of beauty, sure, but Yuichi’s player knew better than to be fooled by digitized images no matter how high their quality was. Besides, for all he knew, the ‘maiden’ playing was, in actuality, a man simply role-playing as the opposite sex – a common occurrence in massively popular online games, or so he had read prior to entering TerraSphere. Information was power, after all; and he needed all the power he could get if he wanted to succeed in his long-term plans. However, just ignoring the seated player would have been a waste of an opportunity to practice his social skills; so with that thought in mind, Yuichi decided to try his luck – for the first time – in interacting with a complete stranger.

Not wanting to startle the Yladian from her peaceful reverie, Yuichi made his presence known by raising his voice so that the elfin could hear him. “Hey… there,” he exclaimed coming out from a blueberry bush with both hands raised, the anxiety and inexperience in his voice apparent in every stuttering syllable and near-perfect American accent with only hints of the tonal distinction present in the voice of a Japanese-speaker. “I… apologize if I startled… you, ma’am,” said the avatar. “Would there be… any chance… that you are alone…?” he asked. “D-do not worry… I mean no harm… I just thought that maybe… you would like to party up… since this place is replete with PKers, or so I was told… safer. I am on my way to what I think is a town near the lake. If you… w-want to come, that would be… good. If you want, that is.”

Waiting for the Yladian’s reply to his logical suggestion, Yuichi maintained his hands raised and level to his chest, hoping that somehow the player of the female elf would see the advantage of such a partnership if only until they reached the presumed village where he had seen the smoke come from. He hoped she would accept his simple offer. There was strength in numbers, after all; and even if they were a party of two, they would be much safer together.

 

Naturally, as Sylpha had much to think about but nothing to really do, she let the newcomer speak his piece. What she heard brought much confusion.

PKers? Here? This was Brisshal, and if what Sylpha was told was correct, this was the place new players come to. Thus, if players who liked to kill other players came here, all they had to kill was new players. Therefore, unless a bunch of people were out to kill new players, whatever this man heard was likely bogus.

As for a town near the lake, that one was easily checked.

"You know you could... just check the map if you're looking for a town, right?"

As he was talking about Player Killing, he must be a player. If that is so, then not knowing about the map was likely just a beginner's mistake.

"Search the Menu, it's there."

 

Yuichi felt stupid in front of the Yladian player-character when she just blurted out the simple solution to his directional woes. It was probably because he was completely unfamiliar with the concept of a ‘FullDive Game’ or was just that ignorant of anything outside stock market prices and business trends. Either way, keeping his shame down and only to himself, the human avatar raised two fingers and swiped down to access the ‘Map’ as instructed by the other. True enough, the option to view the area in topographical scale was there in bold, semi-transparent print, but as soon as he tapped onto the button a message box in red letters notified him of an ongoing version change that temporarily prevented players from accessing some minor functions of the game.

“Well, that is that then,” he commented, the previous frill in his voice dropped and gone as soon as the elf’s helpful advice failed. In its place, a hard, no-nonsense tenor that seemed to belong to a person whose heart was as hard and arctic as his own. Any pretense of amicability had likewise been suspended, save for a professional duty to at least give his thanks to the other player-character for trying to help him. Nevertheless, her response was clear – in suggesting to instead check the map instead of accepting his party request, Yuichi knew that she wanted to be left alone. She had her reasons, of that he was sure; and the pretty-boy himself was more than happy to comply knowing that he wouldn’t force himself to deal with another person so soon into his first foray into TerraSphere.

With a sigh, Yuichi swiped up and closed the Menu screen then returned his gaze back towards the female Yladian. His visage now sported a relaxed expression of what seemed to look like apathy and anger rolled into one; an arctic stare squarely placed upon the only other sentient being in that virtual forest, almost as if he was ready and willing to skin her and gut her alive like a freshly-caught rabbit. Evil radiated from him, and as he opened his mouth, Yuichi instead let out something else other than a curse.

“My thanks,” he said. “I shall be off then.”

The moment came and it went without further incident as the human who invaded the privacy of the elfin female turned on his heel in an almost military fashion and made his way back into the green forest to eke out his own fortune. While it may have looked like that he left empty-handed, from the tone of voice the Yladian used and the casual nature of her reply, it seemed that rumors of PKers in Brisshal were nothing more than gobbledygook spread by other players who wanted to scare newbies for a good laugh. Even so, that did not mean that Yuichi now had nothing to worry about and so he proceeded on his own to figure out how he could spend his time wisely while waiting for the patching process to end.

4 Hours Later…

“Hyah!” a silhouetted figure shouted in the shade of the forest as it swung its weapon – a pair of finely-honed hands balled into iron fists – from side to side, then thrusting and retracting, practicing the basic forms it taught its player to know. The clouds parted slowly until the artificial sun’s gaze cast his attention down at the phantom in the shade, illuminating Yuichi just as he returned to a relaxed state, panting heavily while beads of sweat trickled down his cheeks. The familiar fists now lay before him at ready, the virtual knuckles white from the time spent tensed up.

It had already been a good few hours since the avatar had started his training regimen for the meantime, all on his own, in the hopes of mastering the basic movements of Body Combat the mini-tutorial afforded to his class. It was a strange skill which he had only learned to use fairly recently, but since then he had been training non-stop for the last thirty minutes just to perfect it. He had yet to see its true capabilities for himself, but even so, Yuichi was more than satisfied with the results.

 

The new player who received her advice promptly went to the menu, but Sylpha wasn't very intent on staring at him hard enough to tell what exactly he was looking at, or looking for. All she saw was him shooting back an expression that looked like she had just insulted his mother instead of his intelligence. Before she could ask what was wrong or clear up any misconceptions, he left as quickly as he came.

With the only thing to do having left, Sylpha just went back to staring off into the fabrics of time and space... Not that she could actually perceive any of it.

It wouldn't be until a few hours later, while Sylpha was thinking about how she was going to get an actual kitchen to work in when she noticed her energy meter and rest meter had recovered. Standing up, she got ready to move on when something happened.

Kobolds started to emerge in small numbers. The ones here were particularly weak, enough for new players to fight. They even approached slowly to allow ranged attackers to back up to their optimal distance. This didn't stop them from being a threat, though - trying to take on multiple or letting one's guard down still meant injury or even death.

Sylpha opened her spell list, brandished some trash-tier beginner's magic tool and started to chant basic Arcane attacks. It wasn't like Sylpha didn't see this coming - sitting around for a few hours unmolested out in a game's area where monsters and critters spawned was a miracle.

 

Yuichi Ichinose

83 HP

MAX HP

86 EN

MAX EN

A staccato of small, but audible explosions reached Yuichi’s ears in the middle of his repetitions. He craned his head towards their source and sighed, an annoying grunt escaping the pretty-boy’s pursed lips. Although he had no idea what was causing all the ruckus in the distance, he had no intention to go there since he personally believed that it did not have anything to do with him. He was just minding his own business, after all, and from what he could assume the disturbance was probably caused by some newbie who had chewed off more than he could handle and was now in trouble. “It serves him right,” he said to himself, “if these people are that stupid to take on something more than they could handle, they deserve to feel the full brunt of their stupidity. Besides, it is not like—”

He stopped speaking, his train of thought having touched upon a subject that Yuichi did not even regard with much worth until that moment. In the direction where the supposed situation was, there were people fighting. If he were to go there and play his cards right, there was a good chance that he could make use of his Body Combat and Rogue skill with a proportionally less risk than if he would alone. He certainly had no reason to be there or even come to the aid of one or a few strangers who have reaped what they sowed, but the prospect of free Mastery Points convinced him otherwise. Besides, what he did in real life was no different – to cash in and make a living out of the misfortunes of others.

With that thought clearly jotted down, the aspiring martial artist pushed off into a full run towards the place where the sounds of battle were the loudest.

Moments later…

Being a new character fresh off the creation screen, Yuichi’s skill set was expectedly lacking in all aspects. His only repose is that, in this area of beginners, the monsters were likewise dialed down to allow new players to test their skills off without putting themselves in too much danger. Even so, from the how things were when Yuichi arrived on the scene, the one who was unfortunate enough to be in the onslaught of the monster attack was in for some fair amount of trouble.

Kobolds, they were called; one of TerraSphere’s most basic monsters one could fight. In the monster hierarchy chart, they were little more than cannon fodder – horrible defense coupled with horrible attack rates, making them nearly harmless in individual engagements. They stood a meter tall and wore ramshackle armor made from whatever they could find from sticks to leaves. They reminded Yuichi of bipedal dogs, not only in appearance, but because their speech – even with the game’s translation software – noting the odd combination of high-pitched squeaks, guttural barks, and growls as simply ‘*indiscernible language*’. There was, however, a small trick programmed within their artificial intelligence that many newbies fall prey for.

While the Kobolds were about as smart as dogs, what they lacked in brainpower, they more than made up for in sheer tenacity. With every explosive spell let loose by the unknown defender, Yuichi had seen them hurl themselves towards a common direction until the ground was piled high with their burnt and mutilated corpses, and their supposed target with probably a nearly depleted energy bar. Such was the danger posed by these weak monsters in droves – an almost inexhaustible supply of suicidal berserkers more than ready and able to rush an enemy position and overrun it through sheer numbers. While not as many as to pose a serious threat to more experienced players, it only took a scant few seconds for Yuichi himself to be met by one of these creatures as their small, but wide spread inevitably reached the young man’s hiding spot.

He frowned and cursed his luck.

Near Sylpha’s Position

The air around the elfin sorceress buzzed with magical energies, coupled with the pungent smell of burning ozone and the pungent and unmistakable stench akin to that of a dead dog. While she busied herself by firing set after set of her potent magics, a figure leapt out from the bushes near her position with two Kobolds right on his heels. She would recognize the young man as the same Human who broke her peace earlier, who was now the one in danger of being broken himself by a makeshift bludgeon fashioned from a rock secured to a stick by some sturdy vines. He dodged and weaved as best as his virtual body could, but his avatar’s reflexes could not handle the rate by which the fit Takeo could process the situation and act, frustrating its player.

Takeo felt like a boxer in an old man’s body. “Damnation!” he cursed, himself already covered in scratches and bruises that tore off a chunk of his health. He had already killed five Kobolds so far, but with every one he beat up, two more replaced it. Yuichi’s abilities were slow and laggy, unable to match the runner’s lightning-quick reflexes and stamina Takeo had. If this was a trial by fire, then Yuichi was already in the process of being burned to a crisp. What had originally started out as a plan to make the best out of someone’s misfortune had become a mire where he was slowly sinking into.

“What is wrong with this game?! THIS WORLD IS OUT OF BALANCE!” he shouted, fending off and countering another Kobold’s attack with a swift punch to the throat, crushing the beast’s larynx and drowning it in its own blood.

 

Since this was an area meant for beginners, it meant that it would be something aimed at beginners. Yes, it's still a forest harsh enough to kill someone with their guard down, so the general idea was for a newbie to run away. For Sylpha who had accumulated a small amount of experience with using magic, she could just barely cope with such an event facing it head-on.

One could say it was the entire reason she was sitting around regenerating her energy bar to begin with. She didn't intend to sit for as long as she actually did, but topping off her energy proved to be advantageous as it gave her enough to hold on without risking getting too close to empty.

Speaking of the aforementioned newbies running away, here came one now. It was the same person who approached her earlier. According to expectations, he was having trouble with the encounter rate of these things as evidenced. Sylpha didn't think he would show up, though, as she thought he had went off to find civilization.

Rather than voicing out expletives or any form of curse, Sylpha kept on firing bolts of purple while she moved about the field. Since the system was moving her finger for her, she had more attention to divide to making sure she did not trip over anything or put herself into a disadvantageous position. That, and she just needed to make sure her aim was not off. Sylpha did not bother to aim for the head, but rather the chest or pelvic area.

Once those on her side were gone, the lack of newcomers signalled the end of the encounter. So, instead of looting corpses or going back to sitting around, Sylpha cast one more spell.

A final bolt of purple hurtled through the air and blasted away the final kobold threatening the newbie's life. She would not call out to him and ask if he was okay with some concerned expression in her sea-green eyes. Not while he was still angry at... whatever. Perhaps with that, he would actually come to hate her a little less.

Or maybe a little more for stealing his kill. There's always that.

 

Yuichi Ichinose

31 HP

MAX HP

67 EN

MAX EN

Like the rabid canine monsters that swarmed him with apparent bloodlust, Yuichi adopted a similar wild demeanor that made it seem that he had become as feral as the ones he was trying to kill. He flailed his arms wildly and without a care, his primal instincts only hoping that he would land a serious hit against his attackers that came in wave after wave like an unending tide of hair and bodies. He no longer counted how much he had put down, although by his own account, the young man could count around six or seven, give or take a few. It was not much compared to how many the Yladian put down with a single wave of her hand, but considering he was unarmed and without any of the arcane knowledge available to the elfin, he did a decent job.

Just when he had finished up with one Kobold attacker, a fist-sized stone whizzed past his ear that came from one of the slain monster’s kin who was armed with a crude sling made of innards. Yuichi ducked reflexively, a curse under his breath. The sharp stone bounced off a tree bark and harmlessly fell to the ground, but not before gouging out a portion of the trunk on impact – that could have been him, he thought, had the Kobold’s aim been truer, as it almost had been. Unwilling to risk that the same happen to him, Yuichi found the nearest tree wide enough to cover his body and scanned the area to determine where the shot originated from. Luckily, the monsters in the training area were not as coordinated as their higher-leveled counterparts so it did not take long for Yuichi to pinpoint the location of his aggressor and bound at it with a clumsy predatory stride.

As soon as he reached the spot he figured the Kobold would be hiding in, the martial artist screamed like a maniac before descending upon his intended target with the wild ferocity and reckless fearlessness of an amateur fighter. He was an awkward sight to behold as he pounded upon the poor humanoid creature beneath him, his fists and feet already reddened by the amount of blood that had stained him. Even when the creature’s battered body had rolled over to reveal its death by pummeling, the now-animalistic youth continued to express his bloody rage without fail. It was in this thoughtless exercise of rage did one Kobold warrior capitalize on the opportunity to catch Yuichi off-guard, punishing the budding martial artist with a well-placed swipe of its makeshift axe.

A sharp pain on the side of his head pulled the pretty-boy back from his trance-like rage, his vision on the right side now partially obstructed by a deep crimson color from the blood that seeped out from the gash over his right brow. He examined himself and saw his own blood in his hands, incredulous at the amount of red on him before confusion itself turned to anger. Swiftly craning his head towards the assailant, Yuichi leapt for it only to be caught by yet another sling-wielding Kobold that managed to find its mark when its crude projectile bury itself into the human’s side. The fighter felt a few ribs crack from the impact which stopped Yuichi in his tracks, but through sheer willpower alone, the brown-haired brawler forced himself up on all fours and pounced on the Kobold that had bloodied him, forcing his weight upon the creature to help the young man strangle it to death.

While Yuichi busied himself in suffocating his enemy, the Kobold that was armed with a slingshot loaded another stone into his weapon and geared up to cause yet another critical hit against the human killing its kin. Just when it was about to let loose its deadly stone bullet, a flash of purple energy blasted away any attempt at the pretty-boy’s life, leaving behind only a mutilated corpse of the Kobold from before, thus allowing the fighter to deliver an agonizing death to the creature who wronged him with his own bare hands.

Upon making sure that the dead Kobold he had snuffed out was truly dead, the brown-haired player-character stood up and wiped the virtual sweat and grime off his head. Breathing a sigh of relief, he turned his head towards the smell of ozone and trailed it back to the Yladian who had saved his life. He shook his head free of unnecessary thoughts; she probably only did what she did so that she could obtain more experience points for herself, or that was what he had thought for himself. Nevertheless, the fact still remained that she saved him from taking another hit – that deserved a form of thanks, or whatever it was that normal people did to show their appreciation for an act that benefited another despite the lack of a clear reward for it.

Shirking away from his previous style of approach, Yuichi tried to shoot a smile towards the elfin, only for it to inadvertently show his awkwardness. Best described as a mixture of a pained wince and an expression of disbelief, that was the best genuine smile a socially inept individual like Yuichi could do.

“Much appreciated... ma’am…,” thanked Yuichi, “I… could have died without your assistant. So… yeah… that…” He kicked the dirt, slightly frustrated. “Sorry… this is not… really my style. I am not… what you call a… people person, you see; I apologize for… my brashness earlier. I should have been more… respectful. Or something.”

He bowed his head and extended his hand in the hopes of her taking it. “Y-Yuichi is my in-game name. I think that is what you… do for introductions around here? I think…?”

And then silence – awkward silence.

“Uhm… no need to take my hand… if you are not used to this. Yeah…”

 

With the last kobold's life was reaped, the azure-haired elf heaved a sigh of relief. Sylpha seemed quite prone to doing that nowadays, but a baker isn't used to playing with lives or playing with her life on the line, virtual or otherwise. Nor should she be expected to.

As she thought, not approaching him after saving his virtual rear end paid off as he tried to display gratitude... riddled with awkwardness stemming from his admitted introversion. Still, he overcame that and even added apologies and introductions after his gratitude. Even extended his hand, but it was stained with kobold blood from all the punching he just did earlier, so Sylpha would not take it.

"It's not that I don't want to take your hand, but you should probably not offer handshakes when it's not clean."

Instead, she returned his bow. "I'm Sylpha Astarte, by the way. People here don't call themselves players because even non player characters go around adventuring and they don't understand what a player is. Just tell everyone you're Yuichi and you'll be fine."...I think.

Sylpha omitted the last part. She didn't need the newbie's anxiousness to get worse. Instead, she decided it was best to distract him with things to do. Pointing to the dead Kobolds she said: "Here, I'll give you a little job" Accessing the menu, she created a contract between herself and Yuichi by speaking, which would pop up on his side:

Hidden

Pressing the confirm button with her finger, the contract physically manifested into a parchment which she handed out towards him. "This is how important jobs with Non player characters typically go. You make a contract between you and the person verbally with the contract button and turn it into something even they can see and read. Unlike contracts between two players, they are legally obliged to fulfil it. No point using it for simple things like finding a cat or gathering herbs from a forest but great for shady deals."

Sylpha coughed. "If you're the type for shady deals, that is."

 

Yuichi listened intently on every word that left the Yladian’s lips as if her every utterance was a biblical truth. He mentally noted each and every point she made, her advice practical and simple to understand which had succeeded in calming the neophyte player’s nerves. He could almost laugh at himself for being so awkward in the face of such an easy-going and casual player like the azure-haired elfin. Where he was clunkily holding out his dirty hand for a handshake, she politely declined in a way that would not hurt his feelings as if she had ample experience shooting men down. Hopefully he would be able to improve upon it as time went by to keep up with people like her; in fact, social rehabilitation was exactly the reason why Takeo had purchased this game in the first place.

Although TerraSphere itself was as shady as they came, the open secret game was more than just a passing trend to amuse himself with during his stay in New York; it was his lifeline and practice area where he could fix, or at least develop a convincing act, to hide his shortcomings. Of course, by logging into the game itself, it would risk a portion of his personal peace in playing a game that the American government had expressly banned, but if the man he had purchased the software and consoles from was to be trusted, it was the most immersive social experience the CEO would get, akin to the Sword Art Online game, but without the fatal repercussions of in-game death.

“Oh… s-sorry…,” apologized the fighter before taking back his hand to wipe the blood-smeared digits off his training jacket. It was still dirty despite having done so, so Yuichi had completely abandoned any intention to offer it to the other player-character for a second time – not when he had already made a fool of himself once; admittedly, one time too many for the young man’s preference. “I forgot… this is a game world, right? So… ugh… yeah…”

The words he said and the manner by which he said them spoke volumes about the depth of the player’s ineptitude in social interactions. He struggled to find the words, but every time he looked at the radiant goddess in white, he felt dumbstruck by her presence when he could hardly hold his own against the monsters that attacked them. Yuchi felt ashamed, and more than that, he felt threatened and anxious about the whole meeting. This was not one of the hundreds of face-to-face confrontations he was used to, or the clandestine meetings in some secret club that knew how to keep their lips sealed for a price.

It was ridiculous to think that a boardroom master like Takeo could be so caught off-guard by a series of ones and zeroes animated by a faceless player, one of the thousands who populated TerraSphere on a daily basis. Yet there he was, rendered a mere statue soaked in blood, guts, and grime; unable to utter any casual remark unlike the Yladian who, by that time, had already finished explaining to him the basics of the game mechanics and even offered him a small contract to help her collect valuables from the fallen Kobolds. He could almost smack his forehead out of shame, humbled by his lack of knowledge of these FullDive games beyond operational guides afforded by a careful reading of the in-game rules. He cursed himself silently and swallowed his pride.

“I… accept your contract…,” Yuichi declared, tapping the contract to forge a meeting of the minds between two persons wherein one accepts to do something for consideration. He had no idea such a function existed within the game’s already complex system, but at the other player had already explained, it was something that could prove to be useful in the future in terms of secret and unrecorded transactions. He doubted if he would be able to use the same to do the things the elfin imputed to Yuichi, but he prayed that he would not be able to – not in this game. He had already done so one too many times in the real world and he would be damned if he would take in that trait into TerraSphere where he could have a fresh start.

He would be proven wrong in this notion in the coming days of his immersion, but that was a tale for another time. For now, his objective was to gather everything that seemed to be of value from the corpses of the slain dog-warriors, braving the suffocating stench of death and wet fur to put effect his contract with the woman with good faith and candor. With the best smile he could have made at that point in time, Yuichi nodded in affirmation of his role and turned around to make good on his obligation he had agreed to do for the other.

Dutifully and without complaint, the new player carefully scoured through the remains of the dead creatures, starting out from the farthest corpses and closing in, routinely returning to the spot of land near the azure-haired Yladian to deposit whatever valuables he had found from little trinkets to small gold pieces the primitive Kobolds had fashioned into studs, buttons, and other kinds of decorative accessories. In his labor, Yuichi felt his stomach rumble and his mouth dry, telling him that his Hunger and Thirst were already at their limit. He needed something to satiate his needs, but being so far from civilization, there was nothing there but trees, shrubs, and—

—Then it hit him. The Kobolds, the most immediate and most abundant source of protein and carbohydrates. He had read it somewhere in the guide that he could eat pretty much anything to restore his Hunger and Thirst, and with a lake and river only nearby, meat was the only thing he had to acquire. With that notion in mind, Yuichi procured a nearby stone knife from a fallen Kobold and found the nearest cadaver he could find. Then, with fumbling, shaky hands of a Beginner in Slash, the would-be huntsman dug his crude cutting tool into the flesh of the beast as he started sawing the creature open. It was a hard and messy task which only managed to stain the fighter more in crimson liquid. Nevertheless, after several minutes of repeated motions, Yuichi had finally cut open his prey, exposing its guts and, more importantly, pieces of meat.

Maybe I should try one just to make sure it would be safe? thought the fighter before he brought up his knife to the exposed muscle of the dead Kobold and cut off a morsel small enough to force down his throat if it was too hard to savor. Then, with an almost reckless sense of gastronomic adventure, plopped the cut Kobold meat into his mouth and began to chew. The look of introspection on his face said everything that one needed to know with respect to his food preference—

—He had none.

"The meat is too tough and rubbery; a gamey taste that could be sated with some herbs and spices. All in all, not as bad as I thought it would."

 

Without much difficulty (except for... his speech), he accepted the contract. The azure haired Yladian heaved a small sigh of relief. Yes, he didn't need to fulfil or even accept it to begin with since they were both players, but there was a little part of her that hoped he would accept the job. Yes, since these kobolds could die so easily, there was no way their "valuables" even from a hundred corpses be worth very much. Since the number around them did not even number close to half that, it was at most "beginner funds".

Comparing the two players in the area, it was quite obvious who would need it more. Sylpha sat down as the human set about his work. She didn't really need more thinking time, but she did require to rest and restore her energy meter which had been half-expended from firing so many spells in succession. Arcanamancy really had a problem with it's cost efficiency, but Sylpha did not know this and concluded that the root of her poor energy efficiency was due to her lack of mastery. A cause that could only be solved... by using that cost inefficient method of constantly using the same mastery. That, or praying she procures some magical equipment that would help her with her energy regeneration.

As she thought this over, he brought his harvests and placed them in a pile in front of her. She would bend over once in a while to separate the growing pile into two parts: one for her and one for her worker called Yuichi Ichinose. She would make sure that the monetary values of the piles were roughly equal. Of course, she kept a larger portion of the things that were more easily exchangeable to coins on one side, but left the other with some just to appear more impartial.

This process would continue on for a while.

When the azure-haired Yladian finally decided to stop thinking about potential recipes she could execute in a medieval environment and actually look at her environment, she caught sight of something that was best described as... quite unsavory. Her tired human employee had, in a bid to sate his building hunger, attempted to have a go at raw kobold. Sylpha internally applauded the idea, because she certainly hasn't tried it herself, sticking to critters like rabbits for her choice of game. However, eating meats like that raw was just... not something she could bear to watch. Not when she had an easy method of remedying the situation.

So Sylpha did not suppress her reaction. "Hey! That's not something to eat raw." She called out. Sighing, she found a new empty spot and withdrew some kindling and a fire striker. "Carve up a few choice cuts you want, take off the fur and get over here." She would say as she started a small fire. Sylpha possessed the cooking skill, so a little extra experience would help. She didn't really want to expend any seasonings, but since meat eaten bland or otherwise still restored the same amount of meter, it was treated as a normal thing to do.

"I'll cook it for you. Free of charge... if you don't count doing the carving yourself."

 

Yuichi’s eyes widened in astonishment, unable to believe that there was such a thing as a cooking system within TerraSphere. While it indeed boasted a superb degree of realism, that the programmers of the game actually had time to incorporate such a complex system blew his mind altogether. “Seriously?! You mean to tell me that you can actually cook in this game?! Unbelievable!!” he exclaimed incredulously, nearly choking on the morsel of Kobold meat he had inside his mouth until the fighter grit his teeth and forced the raw scrap down his throat to save himself from being suffocated, similar to how a boa constrictor would look like as it devoured its prey whole.

It would have been an ignominious death indeed if the brown-haired brawler were to meet his end by choking on raw meat, but the human’s will to survive proved stronger than monster flesh. After all, if he had died by choking on uncooked meat, Yuichi reckoned that he would not be able to live with himself in-game, and by his assumptions, so would any other player-character who would come to know about such an embarrassing incident. Swallowing the meat whole might have burned his lungs with pain, but at the very least his pride was still intact – a small price to pay for saving face.

After he had regained himself from the incident, Yuichi craned his head towards the Yladian secretly hoping she did not notice his near-fatal gaffe. To hide his anxiety, he simply listened to the elfin’s words until the matter of cooking for him at the personal expense of the other player-character came up. Immediately, the young man’s face turned into a frown. “No, I will not accept that kind of deal,” he stated, his voice now stern and filled with a professional sense of confidence, “I will not let you work without just compensation, miss. It is against my principles to do so. Hence, I personally renege my right to be paid in our contract in favor of the obligee-debtor, Astarte, Sylpha; this is in exchange for you cooking lunch for us.”

The way by which he had uttered his vehement opposition to what Yuichi considered as a one-sided and unjust agreement painted him as if he were an entirely different person who had shed social anxiety and nervous caution in favor of a cool and confident manner of a seasoned veteran of countless boardroom confrontations. It was like Yuichi had become an entirely different person to the point where he even used the azure-haired Yladian’s full name without having even obtained the permission to do so; a matter which Yuichi had only just noticed after the fact, given the obviously beet-red face his face had become after realizing his disrespect.

“Ah! AH! WAIT! Ah, uhmmm… sorry, ma’am; I mean m-m-Miss As-start-te; I mean ma’am! I used your n-nn-ame without your per-permission! Please forgive m-me!” apologized Yuichi in a loud voice, with a noticeably thicker accent than before, then bowed his head down as low as he could in the typical Japanese fashion. Unbeknown to Yuichi in his panicked state, he was already speaking in Japanese, with the game system automatically translating the words he uttered in the English language, just as it was designed to do. It was quite a strange sight for a supposed Westerner to subject himself to such a practice, for sure, but it was nevertheless strangely amusing.

Once Yuichi had overcome his overactive imagination and imaginary guilt, the young man simply hung his head out of shame and sauntered off to do what he was asked, working on the Kobold corpse once more while trying to make his Beginner Slash Mastery work with him to at least clean and gut the dead creature properly. Takeo cursed Yuichi’s virtual body which he considered an unresponsive mess that was a far cry from his real body’s natural capabilities. If he had the power to imbue the virtual avatar with his actual strength, it would have only taken minutes for Yuichi to execute his task with near-peerless proficiency. However, he had to abide by the laws of this new world, even if it meant re-learning things he already knew to do.

Almost an hour had passed since he had started his endeavor, but eventually, Yuichi had gathered all the juiciest cuts he had managed to coerce out of the tough meat Kobolds possessed. By his rough estimation of his work, the pack of meat he had lying beside him were enough for a hearty meal for him and the Yladian. After gathering up the meat in the skinned hide of the dead monster, the human walked over to the nearby river and washed the blood, grime, and other unsavory parts to leave only the pure Kobold meat intact. Once satisfied with the cleanliness of the Kobold cuts, he finally returned to his gracious host with a very unique request.

“M-miss…,” he started, “would it be too much to ask… if we had Put-Together Hotpot (yosenabe) for lunch…? I mean, if you know how to cook it, that is. If not… I will be more than happy to help you prepare it and even collect the additional ingredients myself.”

 

Sylpha wasn't sure why Yuichi was so excited cooking existed in the game. From what little she had studied from online search engines, many other VR games and programs also allowed people to cook if they chose to do so. He even choked on whatever had been going down his throat earlier.

The human decided that the female Yladian could not go without compensation for her cooking skills and thus chose to "go back" on the words written in the contract made earlier. Nothing would really happen, of course, since contracts made between players did not have to be kept and nothing would even happen if they weren't. What was notable was how he had placed her last name first. Since this was an English game, it felt out of place to do so in informal environments. Even non player characters would refer to the player by their first name in all non formal events (unless the player did not have a last name to begin with).

It appeared he had understood how awkward it sounded in English, because his face turned red before Sylpha could even question the wording of his statements. Then he launched into some bumbling, messy apology. It was now that Sylpha was very sure the person she was speaking to was Japanese on the other side. She hadn't been sure before because several people in the game had Japanese names or names that sounded Japanese... though she never asked if they really were. After all, it was basic virtual reality (and internet) etiquette to not question people's real life identities.

"It's fine, it's not my real name and I'm not important enough for Non Player Characters to address me with just my last name."

Sylpha didn't comment at all about the contract breaking, but still left the loot in two piles just in case she found some need or excuse to shove it onto him. Instead, she just went back to setting up the fire.

When he finally came back, he asked if she had the knowledge to make a certain dish. A Japanese one, clearly cementing his identity as a Japanese person. It was easy enough to make that even Sylpha, whose vast capacity for cooking was mostly spent on baking and confectioneries, knew how to do it. Even if she didn't, it was intuitive enough as long as she knew what it really was. She didn't mind doing the task, but a few limitations were imposed on her right now, causing her to raise her hands and shake her head in defeat.

"I do, but I don't even have a pot to do it with, so you're out of luck even if you could find sufficient vegetables." She explained. However, all hope was not lost. "Though, if you really have time to kill, you could take the loot I promised you here..." She pointed down at the pile she made for Yuichi to direct his attention "...and it'll be more than enough to get one from the nearest town. I think it might be Honeyhome, but I'm not sure. Check your map."

Sylpha seemed to lack the capability of remembering the names of towns and villages, though she was okay with general regions and the names of kingdoms like Falderen and Astorea.

"So, how far are you willing to go for a hotpot made of a protein you're not even familiar with? If you're going to do it, I'll keep the fire up until you get back. If not, we can just cook those cuts right now."

Just walking to town (it was deemed unlikely in Sylpha's mind that he possessed sufficient spare energy to run there and back) would take thirty to forty minutes for the round trip. If he was willing to hold his hunger for that long, then Sylpha wouldn't mind giving him the entire pot of food when it was done.

Well, maybe not. Just half of a hotpot would theoretically be enough to fill one's bar to the maximum. It would not taste as bland when cooked that way, so it was unlikely for the chef to just give away the entire dish. But, he could certainly convince her to if he tried!

 

Slack-jawed and tongue-tied from the sudden generosity from the azure-haired goddess of cooking, Yuichi could only nod in silent affirmation of Sylpha’s plan of action since it meant that he would be able to eat a sumptuous virtual meal prepared by someone whom he assumed to be a skilled female chef.

“Yes, of course!” the young fighter immediately replied with readily apparent zeal. He looked forward to this meal more than usual, partly because he was extremely curious as to how virtual food fared against real food, and partly because his avatar’s untrained metabolism told Takeo that Yuichi needed to ingest vast amounts of calories as soon as possible. The player shifted his attention to his energy meter – sixty seven percent – and frowned.

After the tumultuous affray between the two players and the band of Kobolds, his energy had decreased significantly as did his health points which teetered dangerously close to the last quarter of his available life. A hiss escaped his lips, frustration in his brief expression of disappointment at his virtual body’s inability to keep up with his own real-life movements. Had he only been given proper scaling in physical capacity, he was sure that taking care of those monsters would have been easier and he could have been of much more help to his Yladian companion. Still, that encounter did manage to allow the human a glimpse of the power of magic and how even a new player – or whom he assumed to be new, being in Brisshal as well – could be able to wipe out monsters by the score.

Snapped out of his reverie by the thought of eating Yosenabe in a game world, Yuichi eagerly took the partitioned share of Kobold effects into his Inventory to sell, but made one thing absolutely clear. “M-ma’am, I already gave my share to you in exchange for your culinary services. As such, I will use what used to be my share to buy a pot you could work your magic in,” he said with a nod. “If you are as good in cooking as you are in spellcasting, then I extremely look forward to discovering as to whether your virtual cooking would be as good as the Yosenabe my family’s personal chef makes!”

With that said, with another courteous nod, the young fighter turned on his heel and pushed off into a mad dash towards the nearest village he could find. There was just one problem—

—he forgot to check his map.

Three Hours Later…

It was already in the middle of the afternoon when Yuichi had come back, the fighter’s brown eyes glazed and dry, cracked lips whispering curses to the wind. His dirty and disheveled look had gone from bad to worse as parts of his outfit had become tattered and torn from whatever it was that he had encountered in the woods. The only thing that had remained pristinely clean on his person was a large white box secured by several strands of rope, along with a small sack filled with various ingredients, herbs, and spices he was given along with his purchase as a store bonus.

The energy meter on his display screen blinked red to notify him of his dangerously low energy, as well as his other gauges that already told him that he was thirsty, starving, and dog-tired. He was starting to feel like he was doing too much just for the sake of curiosity, but the thought itself went away as quickly as he had thought of it once he had returned to where Sylpha waited.

Once he had settled down face-to-face on the adjacent end of the makeshift fire pit the elfin had made, he gave the Yladian a simple glare that implied her not to ask anything related to his obviously harrowing journey to sell his wares. She did not need to know about the Mushroom Men, the Giant Mantises, the Hell Fish, and most especially the Wild Bears that had him running around Brisshal like a drunk chicken on steroids. It was his own fault for being too zealous anyway, only realizing that he had forgotten to check his map only after he had traversed five miles of woodland in the opposite way.

Correcting his mistake was the biggest gaffe he had committed on that day. Had he simply swallowed his pride and returned to where Sylpha was, he did not have to go through that entire ordeal. Even so, despite the rough time, the fatigue, and the soul-crushing despair he currently felt, there was still a silver lining – literally.

“Here you go, Miss Astarte…,” he said and presented the box and sack to her. “That is the best cooking tool I managed to buy with all the money I managed to get from selling half your treasure. It might have cost every gold I had gained, but the store owner said that it was as durable as a shield and could make whole lot of good meals before even showing its first crack. I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but he did say that he had a fifty percent money-back policy if it broke within six months. I only eat food; I have no idea how to cook them.”

Once Sylpha would decide to open the box meant for her, she would be greeted by something entirely different than what Yuichi had told her. Instead of a cooking pot meant for boiling and poaching, what was instead given to him was professional-quality bakeware made of high quality cast iron, all spotless and clean; ready to be put to use even if fresh out of the box. In the other sack would be filled with flour, sugar, a pear-shaped clear glass bottle filled with an opaque liquid labeled as 'emptin', and other ingredients for baking. Yes, baking – in Yuichi’s tired daze, he had simply went to the nearest shop after selling his wares; not knowing that the shop he had entered was actually a strange one that sold strange fluffy food and cooking tools that required a different kind of method to use other than in an open fire.

Yes. He had come into the earliest known version of what would one day be known as a bakeshop.