Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Goals

Ugh, stupid midterms. I could be playing HWO right now and instead I am forced to take these dumb tests to prove I know basic crap like how to measure the flow of water filling up a trapezoidal box. I don’t get why people think calculus is so hard. I quickly scribble another equation down as I grumble internally about not being allowed a calculator, not that I wont get an A, just that it takes longer. As I finish the test in a fraction of the time given I rush it to the professor’s desk and flee the room. Freedom! Back to heaven I go!

I run as fast as I can for the bus stop before impatiently waiting as I hop back and forth from foot to foot. Hurry the fuck up! I need to get back to Jane, even with all the protection around the cave, I don’t feel safe leaving her alone for long. Today was my last midterm so I can go back to ignoring my classes. I even convinced my biochem teacher to stop giving me homework. Why she said yes is a mystery, but I am not going to question it. Wouldn’t be the first time I got special treatment for no reason. I even got a teacher to give me As for everything in the class despite never being there back in HS. That was a really nice teacher.

My stupidly easy life aside, the bus finally arrives and I hop on and head back to my student apartment. Tapping my foot on the floor of the bus, I can’t stop thinking about the quest I was given. [Save the girl from being sold.] That is what it said. She’s safe with me now, my cave is protected and the adventurers should have gone back and told the guild about what happened… So why? Why has the quest not completed yet?

Is it possible she is still in danger? I read about all kinds of quests being given out by the game, and they were never simple affairs. Is there a deeper plot here? There are a lot of theories about these quests the game gives out personally being part of some big global storyline. It would be messed up for Jane to be caught up in that. She is a good kid and fun to hang out with. More fun than anyone from the real world at least.

I activate my BCI—Brain Computer Interface— and open the forums. Where is it? I saw it somewhere. Ah! Found the thread. It looks like there are other players in the town I am in, some of them have reported the crazy never ending storm and- What? How have I never seen this before? Large never ending storm clouds and torrential rain are often the prelude to a big disaster. First the rain starts, then the power in the clouds will build while keeping other people from getting close to the storm. Next any number of things can happen, including a stampede of monsters from The Abyss. Finally some kind of boss monster shows up.

Shit, I really can’t be leaving Jane alone right now! Ugh, the bus takes forever! Why does my dumb class have to be on the other campus? My leg shaking starts to increase in tempo as the anxiety builds. Jane is fun, and to be honest I would probably feel really shitty if I lost her. I know it is a game but… She feels more real than anyone from the real world. People of the real world are so boring. They wake up, go to work, eat, sleep, and die. So why can they all act so content as they go about their lives?

The game is fun, I am far more invested in it than shitty old reality. I feel like I am on edge 24/7, that the things I do and the talent I have actually mean something. Then, there is the secret hope I have always had, a hope that I doubt I will ever see fulfilled. I want a goal, a real one, something to do. Anything. There are no goals in the real world. Sure, you could maybe call “make money” or “become popular” goals. But I don’t consider such banal goals worthy of my time.

The friends I had in High School always said they wished they were me, that I am so smart and everything is so easy for me that it must be amazing. I hated that sentiment. Sure, everything has been so incredibly easy for me. But when everything is easy, nothing is fun. The days drag on as they darken and grey. I am bored out of my mind. HWO has felt more real, more colorful, more everything than this world has ever been.

I would probably be called crazy for wanting life to be difficult for once. I told a friend a long time ago and they just rolled their eyes at me, told me that I am just bragging about how great my life is. What is the point in living if you are not enjoying your life? I don’t get it. I just feel like I exist and nothing more. The game though, it feels like I belong there.

Ugh, where’s truck-kun when you need it?! I would sell my soul to live in the game full time.

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Finally, the bus arrives at my stop and I rush up into my room and switch on the headset. Back to a world with color.

The game connects and I find myself in my increasingly familiar lizard-like body. “Jane! I’m back!” Shouting out across the Ether in the room I look around to find the little elf sitting on the blood couch eating some fried—in the literal sense—chicken. She perks up and proceeds to choke on her food when she tries to stand up and rush over. “Cough! Cough! Hey, Vee I- Cough!! Blegh, I um… Hey.” I narrow my eyes at the girl. “Just try to breathe first.” She nods and takes a moment to center herself.

“Vee, I want to try fighting the snake again!” Her smile is blinding and yet filled with an unsettling addiction. Little battle junkie. “I actually had another idea, why don’t you fight me?” Normally one would expect such a request to scare the girl off, but nope. Her grin just widens even further. “Hell yeah!” I roll my eyes at her fist pumping as I meander over to the center of the training section. “I can always use magic to heal myself, so no holding back. I want to try a new idea I had.”

Jane moves into the ring as I spit out a pool of blood. Now her turn to narrow her eyes, Jane watches me warily. Though, the grin never leaves her face. “Whatcha doin’?”

“This!” I compress the blood into crimson steel and start shaping it into dozens of plate sized triangles. The float in the air as I effortlessly move them about like a swarm. Right now with my [Blood Magic] reaching High Rank, I can move my own blood with so little Ether expenditure that I regenerate more than I am using. It makes little tricks like this far more effective. “Try and attack me.” I start to goad Jane into battle before she can contemplate my new skill.

Taking the bait, Jane rushes forwards and slams her blade into one of the triangles tip first. The panel flies off towards me for a short distance before coming to a stop. Meanwhile the rest of the plates move to take the missing triangles place. That, and a few move like blades towards Jane to cut her off. “Tch.” She darts backwards to get away before the triangles can flank her. “Clicking your tongue is not very lady-like.”

“I don’t want to hear that from the person who built a cave of blood powered by dead chickens.”

“Fair.”

Jane moves to sweep at the panels which struggle to get out of the way as she changes her swing to match their escape. A loud clang rings out as her blade knocks all the oncoming panels away. “You’re improving. Seems like I can’t move too many in different directions at once without extreme slowdown.” Jane laughs and her smile brightens at the compliment, then she sprints towards me and throws one of the smaller blood blades on her hip at my head. “Why are you not wearing your armor?” Her question comes after I wrench a panel into place at an angle to deflect the blade and another cut off her attack.

“Honestly, the stuff has to be really thick to be more durable than my actual scales. That just makes it cumbersome and hard to move in. I saw an anime with floating swords that attack for the master and was inspired.” I layer the panels together as a geometric dome forms around me. “And, they can be used for a large shield when assembled like this. Neat right?”

Jane charges in as I explain my new and totally awesome weapon / shield. She kicks off the barrier and slashes at it while I constantly reform it. The panels are rather thin and don’t have a lot of weight to them, so she can knock them back easily. For now. “I like it, but there is a flaw with it.”

“Oh yeah?” I raise an eyebrow as I fend of her constant attacks. She throws out another blade to knock a panel away and then a follow up blade to pass through the hole in the barrier. I flinch as the knife cuts about an inch into my shoulder. Jane puffs out her chest in pride as she begins to lecture me. “Because of their size you can’t move them very fast due to the air resistance without flipping them around. If I can make an opening you don’t have time to fill it. Also, They are so thin that any strong attack can break through. Also, also, You can’t seem to move them individually without focusing on one and dropping attention on the others.”

“Yes, yes. I get it. You win.” I spread out a pair of hands made of blood and start clapping for her. An applause to which she starts bowing and waving to the imaginary crowd. “Thank you! Thank you!” After our little skit, Jane hops up and down as she excitedly looks over my blood panels. “Let’s fight again! I want to do more than land a single hit next time.”

I can’t help but smile at her enthusiasm. I will protect you from whatever is coming. Those thoughts fill my heart as I proceed to battle against the little elf again and again. Let’s hope the disaster can wait until you get your magic… though, I doubt it.