6: Making Friends

I woke in the morning with a desperate need for water, which manifested itself with a mouth made of fur, and a headache. Thank god I had a perpetual waterskin in my inventory. I took several long swigs from it, then lay back against the pillow and closed my eyes. I should probably go downstairs and find something to eat, but the idea had me less than enthused.

Eventually, however, I was forced to pull myself out of my bedroll. My intention was to put my clothes back on and head downstairs, but it was as I was standing with just my underwear on that I froze.

Slowly, my eyes tracked downwards. I was still wearing the simple black bra and panties I had spawned with. First, I saw my boobs, and when I checked my inventory for the description on my underwear, I saw that I was a 26C. Whatever the hell that meant. I knew enough about bra sizes to realise that it was way more complicated than pervy dudes made it out to be.

Beyond the boobs, I got a view down my stomach, which wasn’t entirely flat. Instead, it had muscle lurking under the surface, fit and ready to help me cut up shit with a blade. That theme was replicated all throughout the rest of my body. I was soft, but strength lurked beneath. Weirdly enough, it was that strength that helped my brain sort of readjust. This really was my body.

Again, a smile was pulled kicking and screaming onto my face, but this time, I really enjoyed it. I twisted and turned, moving my body around and watching as it shifted and bent to my will. God damn, I was beautiful.

I mean, holy crap, the way everything moved! It was like a… a gorgeous song being played by an experienced orchestra. Everything moved and flowed in perfect harmony, and on a whim, I began to move slowly through some of the more gentle, flowing forms I had learned. Feeling and watching my body effortlessly move through each, I suddenly wished I had a big floor to ceiling mirror.

With a happy sigh, I finally put my clothing on and stepped outside. This character was amazing, and I was actually pretty happy that I was getting a chance to play it.

When I got downstairs, I approached the bar and asked for breakfast, then turned to look for a place to sit. Surprisingly, I found Manorexic and Elena sitting at a table, the former of which waved at me. Interesting…

I wandered over, guarded but also curious to see them still hanging out. “Hi, uh… why are you both hanging out?”

“I educated him after you left,” Elena said with a smile. I’d say that she was smiling up at me from her seated position, but I was so short that our eyes were level.

“Okay, so what do we call him, then?” I asked, turning to look at the guy. “I mean, since your name is sort of shitty.”

“Oh, I got a name change,” he said, shrugging in helpless embarrassment. “It’s Doug’o’war now. Or just, like, Doug.”

“I see,” I murmured, watching for a moment before I moved to pull a chair out. Doug beat me to it, carefully twisting the chair so I could easily place myself at the table. I blinked, surprised by his actions. “Oh, uh… thank you.”

“Anything for a beautiful girl,” he replied, as though it was perfectly normal to say. I felt a blush coming on, so I sought solace with Elena. She was rolling her eyes, so I copied her. It seemed like that’s what I should do.

“No more goblins over the night?” I asked, rather than address Doug’s weirdness.

Elena shook her head. “No, not really. I mean, I slept in, so I don’t really know. The town is still here, though?”

“The inn is safe no matter what,” I told her, shifting to allow the barkeep to place a bowl of stew and some bread in front of me. “So until we go outside…”

“Right, okay,” she replied. “You two are clearly not new to the game.”

“Oh definitely not,” Doug said, his chest puffing out. “I’ve actually done the Coral Pits. It’s a really difficult endgame dungeon.”

I almost burst into laughter at how proud he looked. It had been endgame like six months ago. I had since solo cleared it, just for fun, and to flex my skills. Carefully schooling my expression, I made a sound that could be interpreted whichever way he wished, then turned back to Elena, waiting for her to continue.

“I’m just starting, but I played CORA before this,” she explained, not at all reacting to Doug’s bragging. "I started back before the sentient AI and digitized humans got their legal personhood and stuff. Back before the AI protests even."

“That’s honestly pretty impressive,” I said quietly. “I tried to play that game, but the pain threshold was way too high for me, and like… god, it’s just brutal.”

“Yeah,” she chuckled, shrugging one shoulder. “That, and the whole bitter war between the Joret Republic and the Pagutum Empire made me quit. Ended up on the same battlefield as the Witch of Chains, got punched by Lady Tami, then helped her stop a conspiracy. It was way too much for me. I had a good time playing as a caster, but god, it was brutal. I had to stop, it just wasn't for me.”

“That's pretty amazing, but also… yeah, totally understandable,” I smiled, and then suddenly I found myself unsure of what to say next.

“So what about you?” Elena asked after a moment.

“I’m a solo runner,” I said, tracing a pattern on the table with my finger. “I cleared a hidden area in a solo dungeon and got this sword.”

I carefully unsheathed my sword to demonstrate, placing it on the table so they could see. An etching of a flower on the blade near the guard flashing as it settled. It was so damned shiny. The metal of the blade itself had been pattern welded into little petal shapes, but there hadn’t been an acid etching done. The two types of metal used to make the sword differed in colour enough that it hadn’t been necessary.

“It unlocked a new base class for me, so I figured I’d create a new character to try it out,” I explained, caressing the steel of the blade with the tip of my index finger.

Elena’s eyes shone with interest. “Wow, that’s so cool!”

“Wow, that’s pretty lucky,” Doug said. Something about his tone had me side eyeing him. “How do you even know the class will be good though?”

There it was. Jealousy.

“So, what are you going to do next, Keiko?” Elena asked, breaking in before Doug could be even more weird. “I have no idea what to do in the game.”

“I want to get to the capital of Porin,” I said, then gave her a lopsided, sheepish smile. “I have no idea after that. Practice my class, level up, get an apartment? I’m in long term storage for medical reasons so, this is sort of my life.”

Biting her lip, the other girl  gave me a pair of hopeful puppy dog eyes. “Do you mind if I tag along?”

Ugh. I couldn’t say no when cute girls looked at me like that. She was cute too, with her strawberry blonde hair and wide grey eyes. Beside me, Doug stirred, but I ignored him, focusing on her instead. Did I want to travel with her? I guessed so, but on the other hand, if I said yes, Doug would want to come too.

“Okay, you can come,” I said. I picked up my sword and placed it back in my sheath so I could continue to eat my breakfast. “I’m going to head out once I’m done eating.”

“I’ll come too,” Doug said, rather predictably inviting himself along. Then he surprised me, and cleared his throat anxiously. “Assuming that’s okay, I mean.”

I stared at him for almost twenty seconds before I finally shrugged. “Okay.”

When Elena gave me a funny look, I shrugged. “It’s only like five day’s walk, and safety in numbers. This game might be more chill than your previous game, but bandits are still a thing.”

She looked like she had reservations, but only for a moment. “Sounds good. Hopefully something will come along and snag my interest by the time we get there. Starting a new game is always so hard, I never know what to do.”

“I have inside information on that, actually,” Doug said conspiratorially. Elena and I both turned to give him our attention, but soon irritation flared as we both realised he was going to milk our attention for everything he could get.

“My cousin’s boyfriend is on the human side of the dev team for the game, and she says he’s been working extra long hours recently. Sounds like they’re gearing up for a big event or expansion,” he told us, his head about to explode from the sheer smugness he was exuding. “Maybe you should both stick with me, huh? I might even give you a little more info… for a finder’s fee.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“You’re a bit of a dick, you know that?” Elena groaned, shaking her head at him. “I mean, the intel is pretty impressive, but… dude, just stop being a creep.”

His smirk grew wider. I, however, was thinking. Glorious purpose had blossomed in my mind, and with it, an excitement.

“Okay, here’s the plan,” I said, putting my spoon down. “We’re going to journey to the capital, then we’ll rent a place to stay. Together, because just like in the real world, it’s best to split rent between as many people as possible. Using that as a base, we’re going to bust our asses training and gearing up. That way, we’ll be able to participate in whatever is coming. Assuming Dick’o’war’s intel is correct, and he isn’t just full of shit.”

“Hey, my intel is correct, and you are not going to call me that,” Dick protested, his cheeks reddening.

“If you stop thinking with it, I'll stop calling you it,” Elena laughed, offering me a high five that I hesitantly and bemusedly accepted. The skin of her palm was soft in mine as they brushed together in a much more mild high five than two guys would have exchanged. I tried to push it out of my mind, especially because a good half of the softness in that touch had come from me.

“I like this idea, though,” Elena said, smiling at me. “I’m keen. Plus, if Dick here continues to live up to his name, we can always just get a double apartment.”

“H-hey,” the dick in question frowned, huffing loudly. “Okay, okay, jeez. Stop being bullies. I’ll come along for your plan, but only if you stop being shitty.”

“Only if you stop hitting on us. You don't have game, so stop trying. That is, if you can stop?” Elena chuckled, crossing her arms and throwing him a look of amused challenge. Oh dear, at least this wasn’t going to be a boring experience.