I combed my hand through my hair, pushing back the loose strands. The dirt and sweat were setting in slowly making my hair slightly greasy, but where do you wash your hair or body overall in such a situation? Cosmic Slicer sat firmly in my grasp with its point resting on the disgruntled concrete. The closer we got to the beginning of the second primary game, the more confusing the terrain had become. Even the area around our spot - the dental clinic - became surrounded by a combination of forestry and sand.
Then I remembered the unlooted store, maybe there were some hygiene supplies left? Although it shouldn't have been a priority, I hated being unclean. I left Khai and Ava to continue searching for and completing games as I was already ahead of them - reaching level ten and evolving the swordsmanship ability I got. Cosmic Slicer wielding became smoother with the ability especially once it evolved to advanced at level five.
"Where was it again?"
Trees and patches of sand disrupted how the street looked making it harder to find the store. It's been a couple days since then; only today and tomorrow left till the next game begins. The wooden barks continued to change shape and form, sometimes extending sometimes shortening. Vines had sprouted from the branches which I had to cut with Cosmic Slicer to venture forward and through.
"If I'm moving through this.. gahh.. there better be some supplies left."
Struggling with the vines became tremendously annoying.
"Finally!"
The thick curtain of vines fell to reveal the entrance to the convenience store and I pushed through the door after turning Cosmic Slicer back into its concealed form. Its movements were stiffened by the sand but a bit of strength is what it took. It sucked that I only gained levels but they didn't come with stats. I could've bought stats but I wanted to save my money in case there were any new items I'd like.
Most of the food from last time was taken or rummaged through but the stuff I hid remained. The medicine was guaranteed to be gone and it was, only loose pills and sachets weren't taken. My luck, or anyone else's, wasn't the best at the time so I wasn't planning on testing it with random medications.
Near the pharmacy-like, the toiletries were poorly arranged. Some bottles were flipped onto their sides while others stood up perfectly. There were only two bottles of dry shampoo, as using normal shampoo wouldn't work too well in our circumstances, so I grabbed them both and shoved one into the left pocket and the second into the right.
"My priorities are out of whack, what if I just slice off my hair right now?"
I unleashed Cosmic Slicer and brought its blade behind my neck and under my hair. The sharpness of the blade already cut through some hairs but I brought Cosmic Slicer back down in surrender. It collapsed back into a dice-sized star and I slid it into my pocket. I rathered have dirty hair over dirty and messy short hair.
A lone plastic bag remained on the ground which I picked up to gather the food supplies I kept hidden. It was mostly snacks and other types of junk food since making a home-cooked meal wasn't an option. Though, if Ava was to grow properly, she'd need some sort of nutrition. Maybe the new terrain would have some sort of fruits and vegetables growing as well?
"I doubt you're planning on growing any fruit."
My speech was directed at the tree that grew next to the door. Its fruitless branches were covered in green leaves but not a single flower in sight. This time I remembered my path and headed back to my team who were now hopefully gathered in our temporary base of operations. I entered through the door and it felt like thunder struck my body, paralysing my nervous system.
"What... did you do... to her?!"
I stared at Ava's chopped hair, did I manifest this?
"I did nothing! She did it."
"How could she do it?"
Kneeling down, I grabbed Ava's head and turned it around to see all around. The cuts were uneven and badly planned.
「 Mistress of Twilight hurts at Ava's inner pain. 」
「 Mistress of Twilight warns you of hurting Ava. 」
Don't worry Mistress, I won't harm her.
"Did you do it?"
"Yes Wyatt, please don't be mad..."
"Do you like it?"
"Yes.."
"Then I don't have to be mad."
"Ok!"
A smile quickly returned to her face, was Mistress of Twilight protecting her from what happened? If the mysterious force could protect me from things then she could surely protect Ava from the trauma of seeing her dead mother. The power she wielded definitely made it possible.
"Go search through the bag for whatever you want, I have to speak to Khai."
"Okay Wyatt."
She grabbed the plastic bag from my grasp and I gave one more look at her hair before getting up and sitting down next to Khai. He scooted away from me and we both watched Ava rummage through the bag.
"How was your progress? Did you guys get any new abilities?"
"I got a persuasion ability, you can guess what it does, and Ava got something called perfect vision, I think, but neither of us knows what that does."
"Did her aspect level up?"
"No, we didn't really get to use it in the games we came across."
"You made sure to protect her, right?"
"Who do you take me for? I saved your life."
He was right. If not for him, my back would've been cut through by Lexinus' Aether Whip.
"You also tried to take it in the mind game we played at the start."
"Fair enough... oh, right, you wanted to talk about it?"
"I did but I think you remember nothing."
"Yeah, I don't, sorry."
"Nothing we can do about that."
I played with Cosmic Slicer in its smaller form: throwing it up, spinning it on my palm, twirling it between my fingers, and rolling it across my arm. My boredom met with my tiredness and fused to make life slightly more unbearable at the moment.
"Why don't we go to the centre of the city?"
"Are you dumb Wyatt?"
"I mean, we can only stay here for so long."
"Everyone is going there."
"How do you know?"
"Divine Warrior told me."
Unfair, Astral Wanderer has been quiet about the rest of the city.
"We need more allies and this place is running out of things."
"Why don't we go outside the city?"
"Think about it Khai."
"What?"
"If there's monsters in the city then there's even more outside the city."
"I guess, so inner city it is?"
"Yeah."
"Damn, I hate that part of London."
When the new government got set up, and the monarchy was abolished, London became divided into rings. There were three rings: inner, middle, and outer. Khai and I lived in the outer ring and had jobs in the middle ring. The outer ring was the largest in area which is why barely anybody from there worked in the middle ring and why my journey to work was so peaceful. I thought about moving to the middle ring but the cost of living there is double the one in the outer ring.
The inner ring was the smallest and housed the 'elites' of society. Business owners, actors, singers, and any other people that held some sort of wealth or fame. Everyone there was duplicitous and selfish, befriending each other only to boost themselves. It was also awfully judgemental. If you didn't have the prototypes of the prototype of a new piece of tech then you'd become an outcast in an instant. If you weren't invited to every famous gathering held you'd drop down in popularity before you could even realise.
But, now that the world is in crisis, it should be different... right?
"I do too. Tomorrow will be the last day before the principles come so it'll be the best time to go and find somewhere safe to remain."
"Don't you think the capital city is where the principles will be though?"
"Hopefully."
"The $%£@ you mean hopefully? Do you want to die?"
"We can't avoid the principles so we might as well try and help fight them. The rewards are gonna be huge."
"Fine, I'll go along with your plan."
"Thanks Khai."
"You're welcome."
Ava picked out a packet of salted crisps and munched on them happily. I expected her to pick out some of the candy I brought for her but she was probably taught otherwise by her mother.
I woke up first out of our group and, because we were right next to each other, Khai woke up right after me due to my rough movement. His sleep was surprisingly weak when he wasn't exhausted from his aspect or some mental corruption. We put some chairs together with the couch to make it a somewhat bed while we let Ava sleep on the small row of leftover chairs. Khai offered to sleep on the floor since he felt bad about taking up the couch but then the smooth marble floor turned into uneven rocks.
"Morning."
"Morning."
We exchanged the two words, drank some water, and got to preparing for our journey. Khai left to look for some human-made equipment to carry all of the snacks I gathered since we weren't going to walk around with a plastic bag in hand. I woke up Ava and we got ready while waiting for Khai.
Once Khai got back, we packed the food into the two bags he found. One was large and black while the other was the size of a school bag and white. I took the white one as I'd be the one carrying Ava if she got tired; then we sorted the snacks and water. Khai took most of the water while I took most of the food.
"Let's go."
The thick gathering of trees and sand doubled over the night. Khai and I had to slice through all the low-hanging vines and branches to lead the way while Ava followed closely behind. She grieved the death of the plants that were left behind. Cosmic Slicer and Hell-Bone Sword cleanly cut through them and they dropped onto the sand. Without intention, Cosmic Slicer once again aligned with a constellation. This time, it was one called Caelum and it had drastically increased the sharpness and precision of Cosmic Slicer.
"How does this alignment thing work?"
Khai heard my mumbles and turned to face me, continuing to break through the vines with Hell-Bone Sword.
"Huh?"
"Oh, nothing. I just can't figure this weapon out."
"You swing and it cuts, simple really."
How dumb does he think I am...
"Thanks for the tip, I meant the extra part."
"Extra part?"
"Yeah. It sometimes aligns with a constellation and then it gains a buff. Like right now it's aligned with Caelum and that makes it sharper, then another time it aligned with Phoenix and got a fire enchantment."
"What? Unfair, I want a cool sword like that! You got me such a boring thing."
"So ungrateful... and this was gifted to me by a spectator."
"Hey! Spectators! Get me a weapon please!"
He looked up at the sky and, as if obeying his command, the spectators materialised a long staff of gold in front of Khai.
"What the-"
「 Divine Warrior smiles at the weapon his human was gifted. 」
「 Divine Warrior looks at his own staff and feels nostalgic. 」
"Seriously? A staff?"
「 Divine Warrior's eye twitches at Khai's rudeness. 」
「 Divine Warrior wants to scream at his human. 」
"I recommend being grateful before your aspect gets angered."
Khai grabbed the middle of the staff and spun it around. Its movement left behind a flowing trail of aether that glistened beautifully. Khai then activated Ichor Infusion and the golden substance which coated the staff blended in because the weapon itself was already made of gold - but the ichor made it shine even brighter in the faint light that broke through the canopy. The aether trail was also now combined with a small flow of ichor that didn't manage to stay on the staff while Khai spun it around.
"I guess it's alright."
Swinging it at the vines, the staff cleanly cut through the vines. Was this the power of Ichor Infusion?
"Enjoying it?"
"Yeah, what do I do with the sword you gave me though?"
"Sell it if you want."
Over time, we figured out how to use the public sections of the shopping array so Khai, with no hesitation, put the sword up for auction. Even though I knew it was a temporary piece of equipment, it still held some emotional value. With my Caelum-aligned Cosmic Slicer and Khai's golden staff, which was apparently named Sun Ray, we continued our venture through the dense forestry around us, moving towards the inner ring of the city.