After reaching the central igloo, the one that the chief lived into, I called out to him form the outside.
"Chief, it's me, Ethan. Do you mind if I enter?"
"Wait a minute. I'll come out in a bit."
He sounded a bit flustered but I didn't mind it as I sat down in the snow and waited for him to exit. A bit later, the chief exited the tent and said to me, a bit flustered:
"What do you want so early in the morning?"
"I'm sorry if I disturbed you chief. I wanted to practice spear fighting and I was wondering if you could help me."
"Do I look like I have nothing better to do than waste my time training you? Go to the last house on the peak side of the village and speak with old man Cunt. He is the oldest warrior in our village and might have the time to train you."
I barely managed to keep myself from laughing out loud the old man's name. 'Who would name their son like that?'
"Thank you, chief. I'll go see him now."
The chief gestured for me to leave as he entered back inside. 'It seems I really disturbed him.'
I made my way north until I reached the last igloo. Now, a now problem appeared. 'Am I supposed to just yell out his name?'
While I was pondering what to do, one of the warriors that went on the hunt before came from my back and asked me.
"Are you here to see old man Cunt? Why are you just sitting there doing nothing?"
"I thought that yelling out his name is a bit.." I let my words trailing out at the end, hoping he would get my meaning but the warrior didn't seem to care as he yelled out loud.
"Hey, old Cunt. Someone is looking for you."
A stifled laugh escaped my lips as I honestly didn't expect him to suddenly yell out his name.
The old Cunt soon came out of the hut and looked at the warrior.
"Stop yelling like an idiot. I'm not deaf."
The warrior just shrugged at the old man's words before saying "Last time I had to call out to you three times before you came out. Someone is looking for you. I'm leaving now.". After saying his piece he just turned around and left, leaving only me and the old man.
The old man turned towards me and asked "Who are you? I don't think I saw you inside the village before."
"Hello. My name is Ethan. I just arrived here a month ago."
"I think I heard something about that. What do you want from me?"
"I was hoping you could help me train with a spear. The chief sent me to look for you."
"Hmph.. That brat thinks that just because I'm old, I have nothing better to do than train all the brats in this village?"
I started feeling a bit awkward hearing the old man's words.
"So, does that mean that you will not train me?"
"What will I get if I agree to train you?" asked the old man with a weird glint in his eyes.
"But I don't really have anything to give you."
"That's nonsense. How about you do some work around here while I train you."
"What work?"
"Oh, you know, the usual stuff. Cooking, cleaning and stuff. What do you say? We have a deal?"
It didn't seem like a bad deal to me so I agreed right away.
"Good. Come back tomorrow morning so I can get some wood shafts and we can start. Also don't forget to bring me something to eat when you come."
"Thank you, old man." I thanked the old man and made my way back to Anna's place.
After I entered, Anna immediately came to me, on the verge of crying. A single thought passed through my mind… 'Here we go again.'
"Where did you go? I thought you left me."
"Sigh.. I just went to find someone to train me to fight with a spear."
"Oh.. You should have told me." Replied Anna while cleaning the tears from the corner of her eyes using her hand.
'What's wrong with this girl? She is like a fountain of tears.' I thought to myself before replying "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but you don't expect me to tell you every time I leave the bed don't you?"
"No, but you are hurt.." Said Anna with a wronged expression.
"I'm better now.. Didn't you see me walking on my own feet just now?"
She nodded but it was obvious that she was still on the verge of crying.
"Can you tell me why are you so scared of me leaving?"
"I.. I.. *sniff* my parents also left like this when I was young." Replied Anna as she hugged me and started crying her eyes out. We stayed like this for a while, waiting for her to calm down. After she was done crying I asked her while massaging her back softly.
"Would you tell me what happened to your parents?"
She nodded weekly in my arms before explaining "When I was little they left, telling me they will be back tomorrow and never came back. The others never told me what happened to them no matter how much I asked."
"Not even now? Did you ask the chief?"
"He just said they left the village to try to find another path down the mountain and never returned but I know he is lying. The night before they left, while they thought I was asleep, I heard them talk about finding a cave with something precious inside and wanted to go check it out the next day. I'm sure someone in the village found out and killed them for whatever was in that cave, but I don't know who to trust so I couldn't really ask about it. You are the only person I know for sure I can trust since you are not from the village."
'So that's why she's so attached to me.. Ai, do you have any idea?'
[…]
'Ai?'
[…]
'What is go..'
[A new quest has been created]
\\ Mysterious cave - quest \\
\\ Find the location of the cave and solve the mystery of Anna's parents disappearance\\
\\ Reward 100 points\\
[I was just busy creating a quest for you, Ethan.]
'Cool, so you can also do that, but why now?'
[There were some disturbances in the world when she was telling you the story so it must be somewhat important. That's the main reason I created a quest for it.]
With extra motivation I decided to ask Anna for more information.
"Anna, we could probably find some clues inside the cave. Do you know where it is?"
She shook her head and answered "I don't. It must quite far as they told me they will return the next day. I wanted to go look for it but women are not allowed to leave the village alone and I didn't have anyone that I could bring with me."
"I see. How about we go look for it together after I finish my training?"
She lifted her little head from my chest and looked at me with eyes full of hope "Promise?"
A smile appeared on my lips as I caressed her face gently and said "Promise. But it might take a while."
"No problem. I will wait." She then hugged me tighter and said "Thank you, Ethan."
"No need to thank me, I owe you one for saving my life." I said as I gently caressed her hair. "Can you tell me where to go to make some food?"
"You don't like my food?" her happy expression immediately turned sour again.
'Damn, this girl really is a mood swing machine. And how insecure is she?'
"No, Anna. I like your food, but I need to prepare food for the old man who will train me from tomorrow."
"Oh.. I will make an extra portion for him then."
"There's no need. I know how to cook."
"No. I want to do it."
"Fine, you win."
A victorious smile appeared on her lips again.
"I want to go to sleep now, Anna. Can you please prepare one more portion of food tomorrow morning?"
She let go of me and said a bit excited "Sure. I'll prepare it after you wake up."
"Thank you." I patted her slowly on the head before going back to my soul space to train.
Next morning, after eating my portion of food, I took the other one and made my way towards old man Cunt. Arriving at his door step I shouted out loud.
"Old man Cunt. I'm here for training."
Rushed rustling sound were heard from inside before he told me to enter.
As I made my way in, old man Cunt was sitting at a table, apparently waiting for me to bring him breakfast. As he was eating I started cleaning up his igloo. It wasn't that much work to be honest. After we were done, he took me outside the village to a small clearing and gave me a wood shaft.
"Have you used one before?"
"A bit. I went hunting once."
"Good. Come at me with everything you have. I need to get an idea of your skills before we begin."
As soon as he finished speaking, I grabbed the shaft the same way I did with a spear and thrust it towards the old man. He easily deflected my attack and used his shaft to swipe my feet of the ground, knocking me down.
"No skill whatsoever. Are you sure you aren't better off learning to cook? The food this morning was not that bad."
I stood back up and got into position to try again "Old man, I wouldn't have come here if I knew how to fight."
As I attacked the second time and the same thing as last time happened.
"Fine, your form needs to change, the way you hold the spear is a bit off, your speed it too slow and you reflexes are nonexistent. It's a lot of work kid, so get back up."
We continued practicing for the whole day, or more like he kept beating the shit our of me while explaining what I did wrong the entire time. As evening got close, I went back home and asked Anna to sent the old man some food in my place. I was too tired to even move. After I sat in bed to sleep, without my request, Ai pulled me into my soul space.
"Why did you bring me here? I'm too tired for this today."
[Are you?]
As soon as she asked I realized that she was right, I was not feeling tired anymore. As I was just about to ask about it, she said:
[Your avatar is tired and needs some time to recover, but your soul is just fine. Now is the perfect time to try what you learned today in actual combat, while the knowledge is still fresh in your mind.]
Realizing that what Ai said was right, I agreed and like this a painful training process began. During the day I will get beaten up in the real world by the old man, during the evening I will get bitten in the soul space by two wolves and during the night I will just sleep like a log. One month of this hellish training later, my vitality increased by one and I even managed to beat the two wolves once.
One day, as I was training with the old man like usual, I managed to actually avoid all of his attacks. After the training, the old man said.
"You are finally getting into shape. Tomorrow we'll start the actual training."
"Huh? Then what have we been doing until now?"
"Beating you into shape. From tomorrow onward we'll start sparring with me going all out. Rest well today."
I bowed towards the old man, thanked him and made my way home. Anna was waiting for me already with some warm food. As we were eating she suddenly asked.
"Ethan, have you thought about it?"
"Huh?"
She blushed slightly and said while fiddling with her fingers "Are you willing to be with me?"
He question caught me a bit unprepared. I was busy with the training and didn't even think about it.
"I'm sorry, Anna. I haven't had time to think about it. My mind's been busy with all the training."
"I see.." She replayed, continuing to eat her food in silence.
That evening, when Ai dragged me into the soul space I said to her.
"Not tonight, Ai. I owe that girl an answer.. Sigh.. What do you think I should do?"
[I'm not programmed with dating advice, but you should do whatever you want. You have the possibility of obtaining anything you want as long as you work a bit for it. You can even brainwash your old girlfriend and make it normal for her to share you with other girls.]
"You really suck at giving advice, you know that?"
[…]
"But what you said is not entirely wrong. This is not earth and I'm not exactly the same Ethan either. Maybe, now that I'm in Rome I should just do as the romans do..."
"Ai, what do you think about love?"
[Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure..]
"Stop with the wiki. What do you personally think about it? I didn't ask about the definition of love, I asked about your opinion as a sentient being."
Suddenly, a small ball of light exited my body before it materialized in the form of a little girl, not older than five or six years old. I was stunned silly at the sight. The little girl turned towards me and said.
"I didn't have the chance to experience love so I can't tell you my personal opinion. It's true that I was created with the potential of developing emotions, but the time I was active is less than a few months."
It took me a while to register her words as the fact that Ai took the form of a little girl had too heavy of an impact on my mental.
"Ai? Why are you a kindergarten brat?"
"I was created as a being of the soul race. My form is a reflection of my soul."
"So, the fact that your soul has been alive for such a small period of time made you take the form of a little girl?"
"Yes"
"But don't you know like, about everything?"
"That is information I have access from the Nexus."
This was all too complicated for me, but at least this revelation made her appear a bit more human to me.
"Don't you have anything you want?"
"I only need to follow the instructions left when I was created. I have no need for desires."
'This sounds bit sad to me..' I thought as I looked at the little girl in front of me.
"Why didn't you take this form before?"
"There was no need for it."
"Then why did you take it now?"
"I.." She actually froze, an expression finally appeared on her face and it was a puzzled one. I chuckled at her reaction and asked her.
"Can you materialize in the real world as well?"
"No, only in your soul space and the Nexus."
"I see." An idea popped into my mind and I asked: "Can you change my soul space to resemble a place from my memories?"
She tilted her head adorably to the side and said "I can, but why? Do you have other ideas for training?"
"Not really, change it to the place I'm thinking of right now." I said to her as I imagined the old playground near the place I used to live.
We were both soon sitting in a big playground. Seeing her confused expression, I said to her: "Hehe, I just wanted to relax a bit. You know, I always wanted a little sister when I was young. I was even a little jealous of all my friends that had siblings and didn't have to play alone as I did."
She looked at me confused, not understanding where I was getting at.
"Come" I said as I took Ai by her small hand and took her to the swing area. I picked her up, placed her in one of the seats and started pushing the swing from the back. Seeing no reaction, after a while I asked her
"What do you think?"
She once again tilted her head to the side, pondering with a confused expression.
"Don't think to hard about it. Do you like it?"
"I.. Don't know."
"Just try to enjoy it. By the way, what do you know about my life?"
"Everything."
That answer left me a bit stunned but I can't say it was unexpected. I ignored her answer and started telling her a bit about my childhood anyway. Ai didn't seem to care too much about everything I was saying but I kept going because it also felt a bit therapeutic for me. Two hour later, after I had my share of relaxation, I asked her to send me out and went straight to sleep.
Next morning, I woke up refreshed after a good night sleep and looked at Anna who was sleeping next to me. I didn't want to admit it, but I got kind of used to waking up next to her. I started slowly stroking her hair as I mumbled to myself again: "When in Rome, do as the romans do."
My mumbling actually woke her up.
"Good morning, Ethan. Did you say something?"
"Morning, Anna. Not really, I was just speaking to myself."
"Oh..okay." She stood up and started walking out "I'll go make some food for us."
After she returned, we both ate in silence. I could see that she was bothered about something and I had a pretty good idea what it was. After we were finished I surprised her by suddenly hugging her and kissing her forehead.
"I'm going to training. See you later, Anna." I release the frozen girl from the hug, picked a bowl with food and walked towards the old man's place. After I got there, he ate the food, told me to try to pay attention to his moves and try to avoid as many attacks as possible before he started beating me up.
If I thought the first time I trained with the old man was painful, this time it was at least ten time worse. No breathing time, no pause, no explanations in between. He just constantly attacked. After I could barely move anymore, he finally said to me.
"Some progress. We'll take a break tomorrow so you can heal your wounds a little. See you the day after." With that, he turned around and walked back to his igloo.
I slowly made my way back, trying to ignore the pain I kept feeling all over my body. When I entered Anna's igloo, she was sitting in a corner and lifted her face to look at me. Her face immediately turned beet red and started shyly looking back towards the ground.
I was in too much pain, so I just ignored her abnormal reaction and sat down on the bed. Anna stood up, dropped her clothes to the ground and sat on the bed near me. Used to it, I just ignored it and prepared to ask Ai to send me to the soul space when I felt a warm hand moving to undress me.
I grabbed the hand and looked at Anna in confusion "What are you doing?"
The blush extended from her face to her neck and ears as she said "Helping you get naked for mating."
"You what?"
She was obviously confused by my reaction as well as she said. "But, this morning you kissed me. Didn't you do that because you accepted me and wanted to mate?"
'What the hell is with people in this world? Not even people at a brothel moved this fast." Not that I knew anything about that.
"Anna, I am willing to give it a try but we don't have to move to mating that fast. We can take it a bit slower." Seeing that she didn't seem to understand, I continued "How about this, we will put mating on hold for now until we spend a bit more time together."
"But everyone said that once I pick someone as my mate I should start working on making an offspring. Or is there something wrong with my body?"
"Sigh.. There is nothing wrong with you body. Where I come from, people usually don't mate at the start."
"Then, what do we do?"
"How about this: tomorrow I don't have to train and I was thinking we could spend the day together. What do you think?"
"I want to, but what do you want to do?"
"Is there anything you want?"
She hang her head down and didn't answer immediately. Not even wanting to hear what will come out of her mouth next, I said:
"We should go outside the village and play around in the snow. What do you think?"
"If you want to…" She answered as she nodded, even tho she looked a bit disappointed.
After dealing with Anna, I went back inside my soul space and played around with Ai, skipping my training again.