I'm sitting in my room after the Family Meet I have mixed feelings for.
On one hand, I got beaten to a pulp because I exercised restraint.
But on the other hand, I got another teammate who'll join us.
But the teammate in question can be quite difficult to handle, I'm not even sure everyone will get along.
Worst case scenario, I'll have to force them to get along.
With optimistic thoughts on my mind, I go to bed.
The dream I had in the car gets shown once again.
But after that,
I dream of hot ladies,
Hell yeah!
...
The school-day proceeds as usual, a bit of
"Hey, Kentarou. Could ya lend us some money?"
and
"Get out of my sight, you're ugly."
but other than that, the day passes relatively quickly.
On the way home, Ai asks the same question she had asked the previous day
"How was school today, bro?"
I suddenly get flashbacks to yesterday and Ai's sad face.
I should probably take it easier with my answer this time. After running a couple of simulations in my head, I decide to answer
"Better than yesterday."
Ai gets a suspicious face as she asks
"In what way?"
AAAH! This didn't pop up in my ultra-reliable simulation!
Damn you, socially unexperienced brain!
But I shan't worry, because I just need to Improvise, Adapt and Overcome.
After thinking for a bit, I shout my response with pride.
Pride that I'd outsmarted my sister
"I only lost 800 yen today, in contrast to the 1000 I lost yesterday."
"eh?" My sister says with a confused face
"eh?" I respond with an equally confused face.
Did my plan fail? But, how is that possible!?
"How is that better in any way!?" My sister yells and hits my head.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch" I mumble to myself while covering the impact area with my hand.
My pain disappears immediately when I look over at my sister.
She shows the same despairing face as yesterday.
There's no reason for her to feel my pain over my situation.
Inside my head, All I scream is:
'SCREEEEEEEEW IIIIT AAAAAAAAAALL'
...
After some quite delicious food, I run up to my room.
The first thing I do when I get in is locking the door, then I finish the cup of water that's standing on my desk.
I then put on the good ol' The Dreamer.
While putting on the thing, I look at the "non-disturb"-switch.
The switch allows one to turn on or off outside noises, I usually keep the switch off because I need to hear if anyone calls for me.
"Dream Away!"
After shouting that, my vision gets filled with the portal looking thing.
I get sucked into it with a terrifying velocity.
I close my eyes in an attempt to avoid nausea.
Everything stabilized again, and I can feel the wind blow against me.
Upon opening my eyes, I'm greeted by the beautiful view once again.
When I look to my right, I receive an actual greeting
"Yo, Flaming hand!" OctopusesAC yells out while waving his hand
"Hey AC, You came!" I answered while walking towards him. Behind OctopusesAC, I notice another person standing, namely a red-haired woman.
"Of course I would come. I'm not a guy to go back on my promises." OctopusesAC declares proudly. Even though he has on numerous occasions gone back on his promises. At least he seems serious about this one.
"Hey, KeyboardWarrior92! How's it going?" I shout to the woman leaning against a rock.
Whilst blushing, she responds
"I'm doing pretty good. It's a nice day for adventuring, isn't it?"
OctopusesAC's jaw drops to the ground and he says
"What!? Why are you so warm and nice to Flaming Hand but so cold to me!?"
Obviously angry, KeyboardWarrior straightens herself and yells
"At least he isn't some creep that writes down everything he knows about a girl!"
OctopusesAC lets out a long
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?"
I laugh for a bit before telling them
"You guys, We have a member joining us today!"
OctopusesAC once again lets out a long
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?"
KeyboardWarrior92 simply responds
"No way!"
"Yes way, let me just send a TelePortation-Offer to her."
" 'Her'!?" OctopusesAC immediately reacts.
He pulls out his notebook and pencil and sits down in anticipation
"You're disgusting" KeyboardWarrior92 makes a remark of.
After a couple of minutes in suspense, a glimmering white portal opens up next to me and out comes a girl
...
Upon seeing the girl, OctopusesAC gets crazy with his piece of paper.
The girl has drill-hair, is blonde and is well-figured.
Keyboardwarrior92 gets a feeling of envy as she looks down at herself.
The girl's username is 'No,IGotTheJokerCard!' or 'JokerCard' for short
"Hello, there" JokerCard says
"You came, Yu--- I-I mean No,IGotTheJokerCard!" Flaming Hand says in panic
" 'No,IGotTheJokerCard!' What's with that stupid name?" KeyboardWarrior92 says in a mocking tone
" 'KeyboardWarrior92' isn't much of a better name, now is it?" JokerCard retorts.
"Huh? It's much better than yours!"
"Wha—" Is all that JokerCard gets out before OctopusesAC interrupts and says
"Good evening, Mrs. JokerCard. My name is OctopusesAreCool. How are you doing this evening, beautiful?"
JokerCard turns to OctopusesAC with an intrigued look and leans closer to him.
When she gets close enough, she whispers
"Well, aren't you a fine gentleman?"
OctopusesAC's eyes instantly turn into hearts. OctopusesAC opens his mouth but Flaming Hand interrupts him and says
"AC, I wouldn't say what you're about to say if I were you. You can't really trust JokerCard when it comes to things like love."
OctopusesAC immediately looks at Flaming Hand with a ticked off face. OctopusesAC says
"What, Flaming Hand!? Are you jealous that I have something going on with JokerCard and not you?"
Flaming Hand sighs at OctopusesAC's predictable response.
JokerCard moves away from OctopusesAC and runs up to Flaming Hand's arm and holds it. JokerCard says
"I actually like Kent--- I mean Flaming Hand more than I like you."
OctopusesAC's heart breaks into a million pieces as he falls to the ground.
On the ground, he shouts with all his might
"Curse you and your descendants, Flaming Hand!"
A bit shocked, Flaming Hand responds
"I don't think you need to take it that far! She doesn't even like me for real."
KeyboardWarrior, who's standing by a rock, is staring at Flaming Hand with longing eyes.
Noticing this, JokerCard holds onto Flaming Hand's arm even harder.
KeyboardWarrior92 almost pops a vein and yells
"Stop holding his arm!"
With a smug smile on her face, JokerCard asks
"Why should I? If I like him, I should be able to be close to him, right?"
KeyboardWarrior92 let's out a "Keh" before saying
"It's not appropriate for teammates to do stuff like that!"
Flaming Hand suddenly yells
"Can you all calm down a bit!? We need to dispatch!"
...
"So have you all taken it down a notch now?" I ask.
Everyone's sitting down in front of me, they say in a row
"Yes, boss!"
"Yes..."
"Yeah."
"Good, I'll now reveal our travel plan."
I say with a satisfied grin.
"First, we'll walk to Mandra. We'll gather some information and food there and we can also get a horse and carriage to travel further." I say
"Walk!? I can't walk that long!" JokerCard complains in a brat-ish way.
"Shut up and just do it." I say in a commanding tone
"Fine." JokerCard says and pouts.
"Well, Let's go then!"
I yell out and start running
...
"My legs hurt, I don't wanna walk anymore!"
JokerCard complains around half-way there.
We're currently walking in a forest and we're at a relatively high place right now. I don't dare to look down.
The warmth and humidity are really spirit-breaking, and we're running out of water. My extreme enthusiasm died after just 15 minutes of walking.
OctopusesAC says
"The warmth is really killing me. Flaming Hand, was this really our only option to Mandra!?"
"Yes, it was the only option. Now shut up and save your energy for walking!" I say as a response
In the back, OctopusesAC and KeyboardWarrior92 discusses something
"What happened to Flaming Hand? He's been super irritated ever since we dispatched." OctopusesAC whispers to KeyboardWarrior92.
"I know, right? I don't know what happened to him, he seems super annoyed right now." KeyboardWarrior92 whispers in a concerned tone
Suddenly, JokerCard shouts
"I CAN'T WALK ANYMORE! You're gonna have to carry me, Flaming Hand~~~~"
JokerCard suddenly runs at me and jumps.
In my head, I can already imagine what's going to happen if she does.
So, in an attempt to stop her, I yell
"Wait, JokerCard. Stoooop!"
But it's useless, she jumps at me and I fall down.
OctopusesAC manages to save JokerCard from the fall, but I'm left flying down a 75 m drop
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH"
I yell as I fly down at a ridiculous speed.
Crap, Crap, this isn't good!
I knew I should've upgraded the fall damage skill.
I just never really thought that I would fall from any significant height.
Guess this'll be strike one for me, won't it?
As I see the ground, I make prayers in my head.
Before hitting the ground I think
'Dear God, will I really be able to take the Zeus title if I can't even survive this?'
I get no answer from God.
But instead, I get some sort of miracle.
For some reason, I just fall through the ground. Like there's nothing there.
I land on some really soft stuff that really makes me relax. The wave of relief I get is something I've never felt before. But the feeling disappears quickly as I realize where I landed.
The place is completely dark, with an unlit torch to my left.
I don't really trust that torch so I use my skill 'Flaming Body' to light up my right hand.
Ever since I was a child, I've had a fascination with fire powers ever since I was a little kid so a lot of my skills are of fire-related.
When I light my right hand, I notice a person standing in the distance.
Immediately intrigued, I run towards the person.
The person is an old man with a martial arts uniform on.
"Finally, someone has come!" The old man says.
I run up to him and ask
"Are you also stuck here?"
The old man explains
"No, I'm here waiting for someone to inherit my martial art."
A bit confused, I ask
"Martial art?"
He continues
"Yes, the martial art of 'The Fury Of A Teenager'. It's a Martial art of legendary status, and I'm looking for someone to pass it on too. Most disciples who know it has died and the ones that remain despise it and anything it's related to."
So he's an AI, huh?
Still, Global Theorizers, the developers, must have had a blast with naming stuff in the game.
This is a golden opportunity for me to gain strength, from a legendary Martial Art nonetheless.
"If you don't mind, I could inherit it."
I say with an enthusiastic voice.
The old man lights up upon hearing this, he asks
"Are you sure? Most people who learned the thing get extremely bad luck. A lot of people say there's a curse attached to it."
After debating the issue in my head a minute, I reach a final answer
"Yes, I am sure. It would be an honor for me to be given it."
Ding!
---------------------------------------------------------
NOTICE! |
You have unlocked: |
'The Fury Of A Teenager' |
(Martial Art level: Legendary) |
---------------------------------------------------------
Sweet!
I even got a notification for it.
Wait, when I look at the skill tree, it says that "a master has to teach you".
Guess I'll get a sixth member now
"Old man, do you want to follow me on my adventure? I need someone to actually teach me the style."
The old man laughs for a bit before answering
"There's no way I could follow you in this body. I'm way too old for that."
"Wha---. Then how am I supposed to learn it?" I say
The old man says
"I know a person you could ask to join you. He's called Yohia, ask him to teach you.
I need to search for another person!? Come on now, that's a bit annoying. I thought this Martial Art would be some kind of cheat for me. But, I'm not giving it up either. I ask
"Where can I find this guy then?"
The old man responds
"I'm not quite sure, he usually travels around the country..."
Oh, that's just great...
"But there's one place he spends a lot of his time at..."
The line grabbed my full attention faster than I would've thought
"Namely Mandra!"
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!
...