“Seriously? I have to travel all the way there on foot? That is at least a two week journey on horseback!”
About a week ago, Rūkasu had complained about having to travel to the forgotten caves on foot. Figuring the “almighty” Combatant Operating System could have just teleported him there or something, he had been perplexed when Kiji broke the bad news to him.
“Sorry Rū, I can’t teleport you to a place I have never been to. If you had gotten a recycled kijimuna with traveling experience I’m sure you could have. Unfortunately you are my first combatant ever so we will just have to do it the hard way.”
The sunken eyed digital girl slunk down in Rūkasu’s HUD, visibly sad. “It will be ok Kiji. It gives me a chance to get more levels under my belt in preparation for these caves. There is no such thing as being over-leveled for a new place. Cheer up! Maybe we can make a new skill along the way!”
Master Amon poked his head out of the tent and if looks could kill, Rūkasu would have died three times over. “ Why are you still here? You wasted a whole day inside that Tutorial Room to make that new skill when you could already be on the road. Get moving! I will be here if you manage to come back.”
If I manage to come back? Well that doesn’t build confidence. Frowning, Rūkasu bowed to his master. Almost shouting in his bow, Rūkasu had exclaimed “ Master, I will return! I will travel across the land searching far and wide for these relics!”
Turning on his heel, the one eyed boy took off in a sprint. Activate World Map! A map of the country had popped into his vision, his destination marked with a red “X”.
As Rūkasu ran he noticed something was “off”. He figured he had been keeping good time running along the coastal road but something had just not been sitting right with him.
Thinking to himself, I just out paced a horse in a full gallop! He had only been in a light jog. My agility may be low but it is definitely higher than an above average human.
Ching! A chime popped into his vision. It was a message from Kiji.
Message: Boss, I have a direct message feature! We can use it when you cannot talk to me outloud. You can respond with mental commands and I will get the response five seconds after you send it. I figured this could be useful. That’s all!
Sincerely, Kiji
P.S. Slow down! Don’t draw too much attention!
So I just have to “click” respond and I can send her one back while I am on the move? This feature of Kiji’s would come in handy he was sure. As long as it didn’t impede his vision during combat it would be fine. He could even save the message of hers and respond at a later time when he needed to access help quickly and quietly.
“Kiji, thanks for sending the message. That is great news to hear. For now we can still just talk out loud to each other unless people are around. It is weird seeing you in my HUD and not just talking to each other.”
That had been the first day of their travels. Nothing of importance happened while he ran the coastline. At night he would stop and set up a small camp and roast some fish he caught over a small fire. Then he practiced his Wind Elemental Link. He had really started to get a good grasp of adapting the winds into his skills. Wind caused his attacks to move double the speed that they normally would and had a “laceration” effect on enemies that would cause them to take continued damage if the cut was deep enough. On the third day, Rūkasu had been walking at a brisk pace and noticed a younger girl running toward him frantically waving her fish filled hands at him for help.
Not my problem. Just keep walking Rūkasu. The girl dropped a fish and spun around to grab it back up and twisted her ankle.
Looking past her Rūkasu saw a pack of mangy dogs with red “blips” above their heads. I guess I don’t have much of a choice now do I?
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Distinguish- Pack of Rabid Guard Dogs
Levels vary from level 5 to 8
These dogs reminded him more of any other animal than actual dogs. Their legs were too short for their bulky bodies and their feet were three stubby toes. Their teeth looked reminiscent of a woodchuck and when they barked Rūkasu couldn’t help but to laugh. They had “caw-cawed” like chickens at the girl.
“Okay! Time to let loose!” Unsheathing and manifesting his “ole reliable” Ashen Katana, he readied himself into a relaxed battle stance with the sword resting on his shoulder like normal. It had just felt comfortable to him to be ready like this. He could maneuver into any skill he chose from this position.
Activate Elemental Link- Wind
“Multiple enemies in two lines? This should work perfectly.” Building up power in his sword it started to take on a teal hue in the blade. When it shone a bright glowing teal, Rūkasu leaned forward and sprang towards the pack of guard dogs.
Staying on his toes, he rushed the first dog. Leaving a deep slash on its side, he pushed off his other foot towards the next, repeating the attack until he slid to a stop after attacking the last dog.
Ba-Da-Dum! System Message
You have defeated multiple enemies! Exp Earned!
It should be noted that the system stopped providing the total number of exp Rūkasu had gotten after he had defeated the Number Strike Golem. He really was not sure why. He knew at some point numbers would be astronomical if he leveled high enough. Maybe the system could not keep up. Maybe, it was simply too lazy to calculate the numbers and decided this was just a better way to deal with experience earned.
Rūkasu shrugged it off and swiped his sword back and forth to shake off the gore from all of the dogs. He heard the familiar “Ba-Da-Dum”, letting him know he had another system message.
Skill Fully Recognized by the C.O.S. and has been added to the Bladed Weapons Skill Tree of the Combatant known as Rūkasu Kazesuji
Skill- Shearing Wind Current
Description- A multi-slash attack capable of attacking multiple enemies at once or a singular enemy multiple times.
You flow through your enemies like the winds on the open skyline. Guiding your blade, the wind will strike true…. This is actually a pretty decent skill. Hone it and use it well Combatant! ~B
Sheathing his sword, Rūkasu had turned around and helped the girl up and noticed she had been clinging to the fish for dear life. He reached out and smiled brightly at her as she took his hand.
Sitting and talking to the young girl for a while he learned she was much like himself. A streetrat just trying to survive.
Having a soft spot for her circumstance, he had decided to catch her a few more fish and cook them for her before he had said his goodbye. “She sure seemed nice, Rū why didn’t you stay and talk longer? The only time I have seen you enjoy yourself like that was when you murdered all of those goblins.”
Grimmacing, Rūkasu looked in Kiji’s direction. “We talked about this. Under NO circumstance do we bring up those filthy goblin assholes. I can still hear them!”
Wiping the tears from her eyes from laughing so hard, Kiji had tried to compose herself and started mocking him. “Philip would cut my lawn free of charge! Well he helped my ex wife deliver her babies! If it hadn’t been for him I would have never known she was cheating on me with that cave troll.”
Rūkasu plugged his ears as Kiji got her laughs out of her system. He knew he looked awkward to passerbys but he did not care. He would rather look like a stage clown than hear about HIM.
“Okay Kiji, that is enough. You have had your fun. He is dead and is never coming back. We will never have to hear or see him again. I didn’t stay longer because we wasted enough time helping her. I don’t regret it but I can’t help but feel like I am falling behind schedule.” Finally coming down from her laughing fit, Kiji looked at the map. “Judging by your pace we should reach our destination by midday tomorrow. You could speed it up if you wanted. It would be good practice for your reaction time if you ran full speed and dodged people on the road.”
Before she could say more, Rūkasu took off like his life depended on it and began weaving between people, wagons and horses alike.
“Well now we can make it there by nightfall boss!”
Rūkasu ran for about 3 hours straight at his top speed before he had to stop to rest. His stamina had dropped to less than 20% and that had been too low for his liking.
“Any tips on what to expect in these caves Kiji? Do you know what relic is there by chance? I want to be prepared for anything that could be thrown at us.”
The sunken eyes of the small guide girl had lit up like fireworks as Kiji dug through her database to see if there was any useful information she could share.
This had taken about five minutes before she jolted back into Rūkasu’s sightline. “It looks like the caves have some sort of mutated demon bats. They are fairly strong so I recommend that you only fight one at a time. They also won’t leave the cave in the daytime as they hate the light so if things get too dicey for you then you can bail out and wait for your point pools to restore.”
“Good to know, thanks. Hey Kiji?”
She looked up into Rūkasu’s good eye. “Yeah boss?”
“I’m glad you’re here with me. This journey would be boring without someone to talk to. It makes me happy we get to adventure and experience the world together.”
Kiji turned around and covered her face to hide the fact that she had been blushing from Rūkasu opening up to her.
“Me to bos- Behind you! On your 6!”
is Rūkasu already too strong?
