How Yukisa managed to end up in Stokbon was a mystery. Terrasphere was a great game, but one thing it sorely lacked was an in-game tutorial, something that is generally considered rather important for a game with such complex systems. And considering Yuki already had trouble comprehending the basics of video games at times, not having one of those massive green arrows to point him towards his next objective caused him to end up in a state of aimless wandering around this world unknown to him. Suffice to say, that didn’t go well.
Along the way, he came across nothing but trouble. Monsters, bandits, merchants that attempted to market useless items for an extremely high price, such as the Super Slime-smiting Gold-plated Spork of Crackling Doom™ (which Yukisa totally fell for), or hunting traps that were unfortunately enough to capture a full-grown human; you name it and the poor boy likely had to face it.
Yet despite it all, the male kept a positive attitude (perhaps so positive it was a bit eerie) and pushed on through Brisshal. He had managed to regain his excitement after meeting with Portia, a fortunate encounter considering he wouldn’t have even been able to walk right now had she not assisted him, and a few obstacles along the way weren’t going to bring him down. Not to mention, even if he did have difficulties, coming across all these new sights was riveting nonetheless.
Eventually, he found himself at the gates of Stokbon. He only waited long enough to admire the size of the city with a soft “Wow…” before hurrying inside.
With how eagerly the newbie was exploring the behemoth, nearly running into other pedestrians as he roamed about, it didn’t take him long to arrive in the city’s nobility-occupied center, even with how much of a maze it was. And as he passed by a certain mansion’s gates, a man in a black suit approached him, his face looking as though it is stuck in a permanent state of seriousness.
Excuse me, sir. You appear to be an “adventurer”, correct?
Somewhat surprised by the fact someone was speaking to him, Yukisa gave a few blinks before responding. “Uhh… yeah.” He sounded fairly uncertain. Considering he was still completely new to the game, he wasn’t sure he could call himself an adventurer… then again, perhaps this was an intentional encounter.
Wonderful. I would like to offer you a “quest”, as you “adventurers” call it. There will of course be a “reward”, should you succeed. The man made air quotes whenever he said a keyword, as though to put emphasis on it
The boy couldn’t help but grin. ‘A quest? So cool!’ he thought excitedly, eyes lighting up.
“Of course!” he responded to the NPC, effectively accepting the quest.
Very well. Please follow me into the “mansion”.
Once they were inside, Yukisa was introduced to two new individuals: Mrs. Prila, a noblewoman in desperate need of someone to search for her precious family locket, and @Kingoda Hyunivas, a fellow player who was definitely… quite the character.
The briefing for the quest passed by quickly, and before they knew it, the two were already at the ballroom where Mrs. Prila presumed she had lost her locket. Though Yukisa wasn’t one to be smitten by things that were extravagant and expensive, the place was definitely impressive.
Kingoda’s frustration with Yuki seemed to fly straight over the silver-haired male’s head as he listened to his partner for the quest babble on with his disclaimers and brilliant strategy, nodding in acknowledgement every few seconds. Even the unnecessary mentions of heterosexuality didn’t seem to change the soft smile and innocent look that was plastered to his face.
“Sounds great!” he finally spoke when King finished his explanation, beaming at his fellow adventurer. If this were an anime, Yukisa would have that pink, sparkly aura around him at that very moment. A few moments later, he blinked a few times, before continuing. “But, before we do that, and I hope you don’t mind me asking… what’s your name?”
Whether or not he received an answer, Yuki gave the blue-haired man another smile and shared his own name, before the two split up to commence their search.
Yukisa searched wherever he could. The dance floor, the kitchen, he even checked to see if it happened to fall into the punch bowl. But every location proved to be locketless… leaving only one more spot that he hadn’t gone through: the bathroom.
Conflict brewed within him as he stood outside the door to the female W.C. There was no way he should be going in there, but it was the only place he hadn’t checked for the locket. Maybe if he were quick about it… Glancing around, he made sure no one was looking, before taking a deep breath and heading straight inside.
The bathroom was as fancy as expected of somewhere so prestigious. A massive mirror hung over the marble sinks, and a row of at least 20 sizable stalls was lined up against the wall. Each mahogany stall had a silver lock and not only were the toilets themselves decorated like and the size of a throne, they were also magically operated to allow the best possible bowel voiding experience.
One by one, he opened each stall door (making 100% sure there was no one inside beforehand) and poked his head in to see if perhaps the locket was inside.
Most of the stalls were uninteresting, perfectly clean and indistinguishable from each other. But when Yuki opened the 11th stall, he found himself stepping inside a puddle. The floor of the stall was flooded with water, and as he brought his gaze up towards the toilet itself… he found that it was completely clogged by a massive blue blob that wiggled about like gelatine.
He was about to simply back away, when he noticed something glint from within the glob of azure. It looked to be… a golden necklace? Or maybe…
“A locket!” he realized, grinning. He had managed to find it! Now he just needed to take it, rendezvous with King, and they could bring it back to Mrs. Prila so King can work his manly charms… and all that.
Stepping towards the toilet, careful not to get his feet wet, he reached out in an attempt to plop the locket right on out of there.
When his hand hovered directly above the blob, it began jerking violently, and he yelped and quickly retracted his hand, expecting the thing to jump out and attack him. Once his limb was far away, it seemed to calm down and continued wiggling at its previous peaceful pace.
“Alright… the direct approach won’t work,” he muttered, eyeing the gelatine sphere. Then he snapped his fingers, recalling the object he had picked up along the way. Perfect! It was just the right item for this situation:
![[IMG]](https://cdn.drawception.com/images/panels/2017/10-30/DWBqSwT14O-14.png)
-ˋˏThe Super Slime-smiting Gold-plated Spork of Crackling Doom™!ˎˊ-
Lifting the deadly weapon above his head, he brought it down with as much force as he could muster, and with a powerful strike he-!
Gloop
The moment the spork pierced the slime, it sank inside, absorbed within moments. If the slime had been smitten by that, it showed no signs of such. Worse than that, rather than exploding in a glorious display of colorful ooze, it seemed to be… expanding, overflowing the toilet and dripping to the water-covered floor.
… Maybe it would be best to get Kingoda.
Turning on his heel, Yukisa rushed out of the bathroom, returning to the ballroom in search of King. It took a while, but eventually he spotted the loud male.
“Um-” Yuki muttered between pants, looking up at King with eyes that screamed “something went wrong”. “There might be a bit of a-”
Before he could finish his words, the sound of a high-pitched scream sounded from the direction he came from, followed by loud crashing and squishing noises. Whatever the meaning of that was, it did not sound good. “... problem,” Yukisa finished, glancing back over his shoulder.
