Return

20(3) EXP Gained
26(3) EXP Gained
38(4) EXP Gained

All hostile entities defeated. Barrier will repopulate in five minutes.

John willed his weapon away as the experience and cleared notifications faded. He ignored the small assortment of loot and turned to Beth.

“So,” he began lamely, “how’s the leg? I could give it a go and heal it.”

Beth shot him a withering glare and marched over to him, only wincing slightly. “I’m fine. Don’t need your help.”

“Sorry,” John responded, withdrawing the Reinforced Limb from his Inventory. “But you got hurt in my Barrier and I’m not the kind of guy who’ll let even uninvited guests go while I can patch them up.”

Before Beth could raise an objection, John cast Gift of the Forest at her, a purple glow enveloping her form.

“O-oi,” she stuttered out, flustered by his action. “Don’t go casting stuff at me!”

“Talk about being ungrateful,” Aeolia’s voice sounded from above as she flew down towards them, landing on John’s shoulder, her glare fixed on Beth. “You’re lucky John’s a nice guy.”

“You got here pretty quick,” John observed, eager to shift the conversation away before the two women could start firing off insults.

“No, I was going to take my sweet time after I hear an explosion happen in the direction you went,” Aeolia remarked dryly, lightly tapping the back of her glaive on John’s head. “Let me guess, you used that gem attack?”

“No,” John replied sarcastically, unable to keep a smirk off his face. “Turns out these guys become flammable when they grow up. One hit and boom!”

Aeolia shot him a fond smile. “Idiot. Just don’t go turning into an explosion nut.”

“Can’t make any promises,” John cheekily remarked. “It’s rather fun to blow things up.”

Beth groaned. “If you wanted me out, you could have led with the flirting. I’m leaving.”

“Hold on a sec,” John interjected, gesturing to her still glowing form. “The healing’s still going on and you can’t pop out all fluorescent.”

“Fine,” Beth grumbled, leaning against a tree. “How long is this going to take?”

“About two minutes,” John estimated. “How about we try to leave on a good foot?”

“Whatever,” she replied dismissively. “Better than just standing around all awkward and silent I guess. Name’s Beth.”

“John,” John supplied, half expecting her to put two and two together and realize their academic connection, but she showed no sign of linking the John she knew of from the Academy to the one right in front of her.

‘I’m not sure if I should take that as in insult or not,’ he thought as Aeolia introduced herself, matter of factly stating her name. Beth nodded and her face contorted, obviously debating with herself over something.

“Look,” she finally said with a sigh. “Sorry for busting in on your Barrier and being a right cunt about it. I don’t really get out much.”

Before either John or Aeolia could press her for further elaboration, the purple haze faded and Beth tapped her injured leg against the ground.

“Not bad,” she muttered. “Looks like that’s my sign to jet. See ya around!”

She lifted her hand and John felt a pressure against his head not unlike the one Beth had caused during her entrance.

‘Right,’ he thought, ‘I’m in control of the Barrier. I could fight to keep her in.’

He didn’t, not wanting to ruin what small inroads they had made, and allowed Beth to leave, not before tagging her with Observe.

Quest Complete: Unexpected Visitor
Well, you didn’t totally botch things and the girl survived. And she’s slightly more friendly with you, so good job.
Rewards: Restored 50% of Durability lost to all items.

“Well, glad that’s over,” Aeolia said with a sigh, eyeing the updated sheet. “At least we gave her something to think about and your gears patched up. Let’s collect the drops and find Vi.”

“Not quite a bombastic reward, but it’s nice,” John remarked as he collected the claws. “The limb was on its last leg and now it has two more safe uses before I need to repair it. Same goes for the Fire Crystal I’ve been using.”

As he collected the one piece of new gear, he cast Observe.

“Not too bad,” John said as he put it away. “I could make stuff with this, or maybe I can use this stuff to repair my coat. Might be worth it to go a few rounds in here to farm it up. The hunter that dropped it wasn’t too much of a pain for me to deal with. All three of us should easily take it out.”

Barrier reset. New enemies populating.

“Looks like that settles things,” Aeolia said, taking to the air. “Let’s find Vi and get back to monster hunting.”

“Right,” John said, but as he turned to follow Aeolia, he noticed Beth’s weapon lying on the ground, partially obscured detritus kicked up by his explosion. He quickly willed it into his Inventory before he joined Aeolia.

---

The search for Vivian lasted only a few minutes before they found the somewhat harried redhead.

“Everything alright?” she quickly asked, her breath coming in pants.

“Things are good,” Aeolia responded. “The explosion was John blowing up the rest of the tavaren. Well, the last set. Barrier reset.”

“And our guest?” came her second question through gasps.

“Left,” John supplied. “She did apologize before she went, so there’s that.”

Vivian shook her head. “Was kind of hoping we could recruit her.”

“Why?” Aeolia asked, her previous irritation with the dark haired interloper surfacing.

“We’re only three people,” Vivian calmly explained. “Having another teammate increases our chances in a fight and gives us new avenues in problem solving.”

Aeolia bit her lip as she mulled over Vivian’s logic. “She wasn’t exactly a stellar fighter.”

“Not like I wasn’t any better,” John chimed in. “And I’m still four levels lower than she is.”

“Fine, won’t focus on that,” Aeolia remarked. “Her attitude doesn't really mesh with ours. She didn’t slip in and go, ‘sorry for intruding’. She acted like she owned the place.”

“That is a point against her,” Vivian agreed. “But much like her combat ability, that can be improved. It isn’t wise to cut off a potential ally, especially with what we’re up against.”

Aeolia groaned, “You’ve got a point. She just gets on my nerves.”

“Given what her Observe said and her reaction to being unable to make her own Barriers, I’ve got a feeling she might not be able to join up,” John pointed out. “Or even want to. Still, we’ve got to give it a go at least. And I have to return her weapon. She forgot it.”

“Alright, guess there’s no harm in trying,” Aeolia relented, before a sly grin graced her lips. “Maybe a little combat training will get her head in the right place.”

“Just don’t go overboard if she does sign on,” John cautioned. “Anyway, let’s get moving. I doubt we’re going to find the new set of tavaren grouped up and waiting for us to kill them.”

The girls nodded and the hunt began again.

---

All hostile entities defeated. Barrier will repopulate in five minutes.

John wiped some sweat from his brow as he collected the fang dropped from a level three tavaren. Beside him, Vivian checked the time on her phone while Aeolia rested on her shoulder.

“It’s been two hours since we started,” she reported. “Nearly five o’clock.”

“Can’t believe it took us that long to do two rounds,” Aeolia groused. “Little bastards are annoying when they decide to play hide and seek instead of actually hunting us.”

“Yeah,” John agreed. “Not really the best map for speed running. And the loot isn’t super great at this level.”

“What’s the count of the goods?” Aeolia asked.

“In total,” John began, slipping the fang into his pant pocket, “twenty fangs and two hides. Which puts me over my carry limit by five. Really hope those fangs can’t poke through my pants.”

“If they do, think of it as a way to level your crafting skill,” Vivian suggested with a warm smile. “Do we want to go for a third round?”

“No,” John said. “I should get home and get ready to field questions from Mom about the ‘job’ interview. Any thoughts on what I should say?”

“Keep with the tech startup idea,” Vivian replied. “Data input, code writing, even building the computers. Those sound like things your mom would buy?”

“Yeah,” John answered. “I’ve upgraded my computer before, so that’s something she’d believe. The other stuff’s a bit more out there but I think it’s close enough to my interests to convince her it’s a legit job opportunity.”

“If we’re done discussing strategy,” Aeolia cut in, jingling her veiling bracelet, “we should go. Clock’s ticking.”

“Right,” John and Vivian replied in tandem, and John lifted a hand and willed them out of the Barrier. The false woods shifted back into their real counterpart and the trio walked back to Vivian’s car, Aeolia hidden from sight on the redhead’s shoulder.

“So,” Vivian spoke up as she navigated out of the parking lot, “need to pick up anything from my place?”

John thought back to what he had left there. “No,” he replied. “I only left the metal stuff and that brain core from the boss bot. Nothing I need to pick up.”

“Alright,” Vivian said. “Where are we going?”

“Lower East Side,” John supplied. “Mind if I flick on the radio?”

Vivian shook her head and John powered it up. A few twists of the dial tuned it to a classic rock station and John smiled as Wheel In The Sky’s opening notes played.

“This okay?” John asked as the song picked up.

Vivian smiled. “I don’t really have much musical taste, but this is fine. Don’t really have a lot of experience with rock music, though.”

“Nothing beats classic rock,” John said before he turned to see Aeolia bobbing her head in time with the beat. “I take it you agree?”

“Hell yeah,” she answered. “Turn it up!”

John obliged her after getting a nod from Vivian and the guitars and drums of the 70s and 80s graced their ears as they drove, occasionally adding their own voices to the ones they knew, or almost knew, the lyrics to. Between impromptu karaoke sessions, John provided directions and too soon they were approaching his neighborhood.

Reluctantly, he turned down the radio. “Might be best for me to walk the rest of the way home. Just in case my mom looks out and sees us. Don’t want to give her any more ammo for questions.”

“Yeah, that’s probably for the best,” Vivian replied as she pulled up to the curb and parked. Before John could exit, Aeolia spoke up.

“Hey, Vi, mind if we hang out while John faces down his mom?”

“Um,” the redhead stuttered out, “I don’t mind.”

“Wow,” John said, placing his hand over his heart, “leaving me to walk into the lions’ den alone. I’m hurt.”

His smile ruined his dramatic display and Aeolia flew onto his shoulder and playfully rapped his temple.

“You’ll be fine,” she said, before shooting Vivian a glance. “But just in case…”

She leaned in and landed a quick peck on John’s cheek.

“Good luck. And leave the window open,” she cooed into his ear before she flew back to the center console, leaving a red faced John to stutter out a thanks as he exited the car, making sure to grab his bag as he did.

“John,” Vivian called after him, slipping out of the car to round it and join him on the sidewalk. Her face was drawn into a nervous frown and a blush colored her cheeks.

“Something wrong?” he quickly asked as she approached.

“N-no,” she stuttered out, before she took a deep breath, steeled her features, grasped John’s shoulders and drew him into a kiss. Surprised as he was, John remained frozen for only a second as Vivian’s warm lips pressed into his before he tried to imitate her actions. Inexperienced as they both were, they started stiff but grew more relaxed as the kiss grew longer.

John’s arms wrapped around Vivian’s waist as hers looped around his neck as they lost themselves in the moment. That moment was broken as a distant car horn honked; Vivian’s nerve failed her and she pulled away slightly, breaking the kiss but not their embrace.

“What,” John said breathily, “brought that on? Not that I’m complaining.”

Vivian’s flush grew and she averted her eyes. “Well, I figured if we’re going to do this relationship thing, we’d have to start somewhere. And Aeolia mentioned you hadn’t kissed yet so…”

John shot a look back to the car and saw Aeolia watching them, a wide smile on her face. She shot him a thumbs up, before dipping below the window.

“Yeah, she was playing wingwoman,” John remarked. “Still not complaining.”

“I think I’m with you on that,” Vivian said softly. Then her content expression dimmed and she reluctantly pulled away. “Well, um, just standing here is a bit awkward and Aeolia did want to do something with me and you’ve got to make sure things are good with your alibi. So, see you tomorrow.”

“Hold on,” John quickly said, withdrawing his phone. “We haven’t exchanged phone numbers, have we?”

Vivian blinked. “Oh, no. We haven’t.”

John chuckled. “Keep doing relationship stuff all out of order. Maybe I’m being old fashioned, but I think a kiss should probably come after getting a girl’s number.”

“No, that sounds like a good philosophy,” Vivian muttered as she touched a hand to her choker and manifested her phone. The pair traded numbers and then stowed their phones.

“Well,” John said, “guess this is it for now.”

“Yeah,” Vivian agreed.

Her car’s window rolled down and Aeolia’s voice sounded, “You two are an adorable mess!”

Vivian’s blush redoubled and heat bloomed on John’s face at Aeolia’s ribbing.

“Probably should get moving,” John muttered. “Any longer and Aeolia might start honking the horn.”

Vivian grinned and tucked a strand of hair back. “Yeah. Talk to you later?”

John shot her a smile. “Sure.”

Vivian returned his smile and retreated back to her car. John watched as his girlfriends drove away with a fond smile before turning towards his home. He took a single step before his vision was blocked by a popup.

Achievement Unlocked: You Kissed a Girl, and You Liked It.
Finally had your first kiss. Hooray for you!
Reward: +1 Libido (You’re going to need it.)

“I don’t think that song reference works with a straight dude,” John muttered as he closed the display. Gaia’s little aside in the reward portion spurred John’s imagination and he adjusted his pants as he continued on his way home.

As he turned onto his street, he spied his mother’s car in the driveway and he opened his Inventory and swapped back into his uniform. Then he took off his jacket and shoved it into his bag, joining his goggles.

Properly presentable, John opened the door and stepped into his home.

Hello, dear readers. This chapter marks my 1st anniversary as an author for The Gamer, Chyoa Edition. It’s been a pleasure to write and I always look forward to the feedback. Speaking of feedback, I’ve whipped up a small survey. If you’re so inclined, please fill it out so I can get your opinions on the story so far.

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