Chereads / Artificial Awakening / Chapter 13 - Familiarizing

Chapter 13 - Familiarizing

Cynthia looked up at the tall woman in front of her. The fox ear on her head and the tail behind her showed that she was a beastwoman. The beastwoman was a player like her, denoted by her green name above her head. She was level 11, 9 levels higher than herself. Standing at almost 6 feet tall, she towered over Cynthia who was only 5 feet tall. Her figure as well was also much more pronounced than Cynthia's, who was starting to think how unfair the world was. Masterless Sword had dark hair and bright blue eyes, and a somewhat cold looking demeanor. Her gear looked fairly advanced, though not as much as some other players around. She had on a tight fitting dark green tank top and black shorts with a light plate carrier on top. On her thighs were 2 holsters containing an unknown pistol design.

As she was in the midst of observing Masterless Sword, the beastwoman suddenly leaned down and waved her hand in front of Cynthia's face.

"Helloooo? You've been staring at me for quite a while now. You're cute though, so I'll let it slide. The name's Masterless Sword." The woman introduced herself again, and reached out to shake Cynthia's hand.

Cynthia's face exploded into a huge blush. It almost looked like steam would come out of her head from embarrassment.

"[You did stare at her for about a full minute without saying anything. She seems like a nice person at least]" Dags laughed in his dark space, amused by Cynthia's actions. He had to admit though, the woman was quite the looker. He couldn't blame her for staring.

"Ah! U-Um sorry. You're just really pretty and I couldn't help it…" Cynthia apologized and her voice seemed to get quieter with every word towards the end. She looked away and shook Masterless Sword's hand.

"I'm Formless Mist, nice to meet you. Are you ok with protecting a low level player like me?" Cynthia asked with worry. If the person protecting her was peeved at being tasked with such a job, they might just let her die by 'accident'.

"Eh, I've done worse jobs. At least it should be easy pay. Don't worry, I'll do my job properly." Masterless Sword reassured her. Her hand moved up a little, like she was going to pat her head, but she thought against it and put her hand back down.

Dags noticed the small movement, and lightly smiled.

"This woman must have a weakness for cute things. She looks so cold on the outside, but maybe it's just a facade?" He shook his head. This girl is just putting up a front as a cool character.

"Let's take a seat and discuss how we'll act together." Masterless sword waved to a table that was still open to the side. Cynthia nodded and followed her over. As she sat down, the woman began to explain what weapons she uses and how she'll protect Cynthia.

"As far as protection duty goes, this should be fairly simple. I'll take the lead as we go through the sewer system tunnels since I have far more health and defense than you. Once we enter combat, you can set up somewhere in the back and I'll stay near you to keep away any stragglers that get through the others." After explaining the basic plan, she took out her two pistols out of their holsters.

"For now, I'm just the basic [Soldier] class. I use a pair of .50 caliber pistols as my main weapons. While not as quick firing as an assault rifle, they pack a punch and are easy to carry around." She said, showing off her weapons. As a soldier class, which was typically a mid-line DPS class. With just a pair of pistols though, it seemed like she liked to fight up close.

"[I'd like to see her in action dual wielding those pistols. She must have a radically different stats build than the typical soldier because of her preferences.]" Dags chimed in. He wondered if she went for more of a tanky build or a speed build. In his mind, it was likely the latter. Her current gear loadout was too light to be made for a tank.

"Is that so?" Cynthia responded with a whisper, checking out the beastwoman again.

"Hm, what was that?" Masterless Sword asked, not catching what she said.

"Ah, nothing, nothing. Anyway, I'm a [Marksman], as I'm sure you can see. My weapon is a sniper rifle. I'm not sure how useful it will be in the sewers, but at least at those ranges I shouldn't miss my targets." Cynthia shrugged at the practicality of having a marksman in the sewers, but the guild master had personally invited her.

Masterless Sword nodded in appreciation when inspecting the sniper. It definitely seemed like it would do plenty of damage to keep up, even taking the level difference into consideration.

"The N200 right? That's an expensive one for a beginner. I'm surprised you managed to get so much money this fast. I've only seen one other person use it, but it definitely hits hard. It was able to one shot even some of the more powerful enemies in a dungeon." Apparently Masterless Sword had partied with a group that had a marksman before.

"[Looks like you made a good choice before then.]" Knowing that even at higher levels it would work wonders, this reassured Dags. Even though it was limited in fire rate, the one-shot damage potential was tremendous.

Cynthia smiled and answered Masterless Sword.

"It's the N200, yes. I managed to get enough money from accidentally completing a hidden quest. I turned in the information on the [Giant Rat] hoard that we are dealing with today."

Just as the beastwoman was about to ask more about how it happened, Cynthia flinched a little and turned around. Dags' [Detect Hostility] had alerted her of someone directing hostility her way. There was a man across the room who was staring daggers at the two. Looking at him, Cynthia had no idea who it was.