Steel

Eh, eh!?! When did I raise this flag!?! Steel couldn't help but think to himself as his blush came back. Is she aware of what she just said? Was it a mistake because of the language barrier? She couldn't have possibly meant that me holding her hand felt nice! Steel didn't feel like girls would find him attractive at all due to both modesty and some self depreciation so he was thinking of reasons she said that. Though he couldn't hide his flustered expression.

"Yeah, this really is good. I can see why you wanted to try this. Steel agreed with Reinka's sentiment. To make her more comfortable, he was eating at relatively the same pace as her. This was so she wouldn't feel uncomfortable from making him wait for her if he ate faster or from waiting on him to finish if he was slower. "It seems like you're getting the hang of using chopsticks at least."

"I'm sure they got worried about you regardless when they found out about your current condition. I don't know your family situation fully but from what you've told me thus far, I'm sure that would be the case." Steel said with a small smile. If his memory was right, her parents wanted her to get a high paying job like being a doctor in order to live a good life. While they sounded constraining, Steel could at least tell that they were at least a little worried about her future welfare. "Once we get out of here, how about you take some time to try and reconnect with them? I can go with you if you want. I'm sure that the people who raised a lovely lady like you are good people at heart. Though I hope your father isn't the overprotective type." To him at least, he felt there was something behind those words that sounded like they were from a different person but he'd rather her open up to him about it on her own rather than forced out of her.

You could just feel the tension caused by the awkwardness between the two. Now both of them were red in the face despite their best attempts to keep a calm look on their face. There were some other customers nearby who could feel the awkwardness in the air as well. What is this, their first date? Many of them thought to themselves. "We should probably eat the food before it gets cold." Though food didn't get cold just like that in this virtual world, Steel had forgotten that fact as he was too flustered. "Looks like I made things a bit too awkward. Sorry about that. I didn't mean to do anything bad." He ended up apologizing again.

"Were you hoping it was somebody else?" Steel said, noticing her facial expressions which went from hope, disappointed, to slightly depressed acceptance. He wondered if she hoping that somebody related to her was supporting her life.

Steel was confused at Reinka's reaction to him feeding her. Though once he figured it out, he too became a little embarrassed but still held the food out for her until she had taken the bite. Now instead of feeding her, she wanted him to teach her how to use chopsticks. Steel took Reinka's hand in his and positioned her fingers to the proper position before placing the chopsticks back in her grasp. He decided to show her by guiding her hand/fingers through the movement, moving her hand to grab a piece of food. "Do you get it now? I'm not exactly the best teacher since using chopsticks is like second nature to me though." He then realized he was still holding her hand and he pulled his hands back out of embarrassment. "Sorry.." He apologized.

"I probably wouldn't have been able to last for long on that diet. I kinda need the calories for all of my training. And though Japanese food is considered simple, having some miso or soy sauce in a dish really brings out the flavor." Steel said in response. 

"Honestly, I think the government is the one keeping us hooked up to our machines or at least paying for most of it." Steel said in response. "With how things are, this has become an international incident caused by one person. And the equipment and power needed to maintain the level of life support we probably need for the long period of time we'll probably be stuck here would require way more than the average household can maintain. On top of that, from what I've seen, there are some people from outside Japan like you so that makes it more likely."

"A good man eh? I'm just your average guy who's obsessed with samurai." Steel said with a wry smile. "But I'm glad I can make you feel safe."

Steel noticed Reinka blush but decided not to comment on it as he noticed that she had trouble with chopsticks. Why are there chopsticks in this European fantasy world in the first place? Steel couldn't help but question. Reinka asked him for some help regarding them so he decided to comply. He shifted his own chopsticks to his left hand and took Reinka's chopsticks. He grabbed a bite of food for her and held it out for her to eat. "Say ahh." 

"Looks like you won't be going into any haunted houses soon. I hear there are some quests that involves some haunted stuff, need me to hold your hand through those?" He said with a teasing smirk. "Yeah, gore can get boring after you've seen it a bunch of times, whether that be movies or anime."

"You haven't even let yourself drink hot cocoa? Ah right, something about needing to keep a diet. I'm hoping you didn't half starve yourself in the real world... Our bodies are probably barely getting by in the real world." Steel said with a worried expression on his face. "Well, let's take our time and slowly get used to the food and drink."

"I wasn't planning on going out any more today. I did say that we'd eat then go home right? It's getting late after all, the sun's setting. Didn't I promise you? To try and be home at a reasonable time." Steel said with a small smile. "Besides, it'd be very ungentlemanly of me to push a lady who's already been exhausted."

It was at this time that the food had arrived. "Sorry for the wait, here's the food for the lovely couple!" The waitress said excitedly as she set down a decent amount of food on the table. "Now dig in!" She said before taking her leave.

"I wonder if that's an automatic response if the Couple's Meal is ordered." Steel said out of curiosity from the NPC calling them a couple. "Well, let's eat."

"Well, you're a princess to me." Steel said with a bit of a laugh when she got a bit too loud. "Well, it's your choice in the end. Just go with what you want. Let's go out searching in some random area sometime and see if a monster comes to you."

"There was no need to stop there, it was getting interesting." Steel said in response to her getting embarrassed and stopping. "So you like horror movies or the occult?" He asked out of curiosity as she was really starting to get into it. Looks like I've seen a new side of her. It's kinda cute. He thought to himself.

"Let me try." Steel had gotten a different drink so he didn't know what she was talking about until he tried it himself. He took a small sip. "I guess it is a little bitter. How about we add some sugar then." He added some to her drink. "Perhaps you're just getting used to tasting things again. It should go back to normal soon."

"I'll be counting on you then. And just to remind you, this isn't one way. Feel free to rely on me as well. I've got your back." He said with a grin.

"And knowing her, I'd probably get dragged along to carry you two's bags." Steel said with a light sigh. She always managed to roped him into it one way or another. "Well, it might be worth it to see her making a friend. Just don't go too hard on me." He said with a bit of a laugh. "So do you have a style or overall look you go for in regards to fashion?"

"Where would you find a Ghost Krakken anyway..." Steel said in response as he pictured a krakken to be a giant sea monster. "I personally think going for the cute fluffy animals would suit you better. Though now I'm wondering whether you have some of identity crisis trying to be a princess, a pirate and a witch at the same time. Now you're a Witch Princess Pirate!" He said this jokingly.

"I was hoping you'd come along with me. I'll be counting on you then partner." Steel said with a smile. "I was thinking of doing that quest a little over a week from now. That gives us some time to level up and be prepared. With the two of us together, there's no way it'll beat us!"

"Efficiency." Steel replied simply to her query. It looked like she wasn't satisfied with that so he had to explain further. "Right now, using skills from either set uses up the same amount of energy. However, unlike you, I don't have gauntlets so I'd have to rely on forming combos to deal more damage. There are less hits in a martial arts strike at the moment than with a sword so I deal more damage using a sword."

At this point, the drinks had arrived, the waitress saying the food would be there shortly. "Go on then, take your first sip of something with flavor." Steel encouraged her on.

"Well, I've narrowed it down to Performer, Cooking and Blacksmith but I'm being rather indecisive after that." Steel said with a nervous smile. "I chose each of them because they were related to some aspect of my life. Blacksmith because of swords, Performer because of my background in music, and cooking because of how me and my sister had to take turns cooking at home." Steel gave his reasons. Reina then talked about how cooking was more difficult here due to different ingredients. "Well, the basic things like milk and eggs still tastes the same and if you happen to get meat as a monster drop, like the boars we fought earlier, it'd taste like pork. So it's not like there's no basis." She then asked about his favorite foods. "This is probably due to how I was raised but I've always been partial to traditional Japanese dishes like tempura and teriyaki. And I hope I can find some miso soup or soy sauce here."

"You two seem like you'd make good friends. She's always wanted to have a friend she could look up to as an older sister type. Most of her friends are around her age or younger. When we get out of here, come on over to my place and I'll introduce you two or I'll bring her over to you." Steel said with a smile though in the back of his mind, he was sure that his sister would drag him along on the shopping spree to hold their bags. "As for a match up, I'm sure I would lose. While my body in the real world is stuck on a bed, growing weaker by the day, she'll still be training. It's no question as to how the match would turn out,  even after recuperating."

"I believe you are already a fine enough lady." Steel said with a grin. "Sure, it would be my pleasure to escort the lovely pirate princess on her next treasure hunt." He said this with a smirk as he added back in the princess thing jokingly. "Somebody's gotta be there to tank that thing for you like today. It'll be stronger when we face that thing next anyway. I'm pretty sure we leveled up and it's stronger the higher the level we get." 

"Planning to get a familiar eh? Sounds fun. As for your familiar, let's look at the stats. If you chose a familiar with a protection skill, at max, you'd get an extra 27 mitigation. For healing at max level, it'd heal you by 135 HP but only once every 5 turns. If I had to choose between those two, I'd go with the Healer one. You have an evasive build and if you've got a tank like me with you, you're less likely to be the one taking damage. So the few times you do get hurt can probably be healed with this skill and perhaps battle healing. Want me to go with you by the way?"

"I also heard of a quest about fighting a level 10 Minotaur. That could be a good challenge." He sort of had a plan involving it but that could wait.

"If I end up choosing the cooking skill, I'm sure I'd be able to figure out how to make some form of Japanese sweets. While the dishes are for the most part predetermined by the system, there are still many ways to make it your own. Mixing certain ingredients together or adding something to the dish, including the amounts you put in, all make the flavor a bit more unique to you. It's just a matter of experimenting with the ingredients." Steel had noticed her depression and guessed it was because he said there were no Japanese sweets in this world. "Should be the same for the other crafting skills. They can add their own thing to a predetermined set from the game."

"She's like 5-6 years younger than me, our ages aren't too far apart. And as for your second question, I'd say both." Steel said in response. "She's really girly, being into the latest trends and loving sweets and fashion as well as being able to cook though that's more due to our family situation. She's also rather popular it seems if the amount of love letters she brought home one day were any indication. Normally, this would set off any older brother's overprotective mode but that's not the case with her. While she has yet to beat me in a sword fight, she's the ace of the female kendo team for a reason. Combine that with all the lessons grandpa drilled into us about being proper and you've got a girl who will take down anybody who tries anything improper to her." Steel said with a nervous laugh as he remembered some of her victims. "She'll probably be way stronger than me when we get back."

"But of course, it is the duty of the man to act as a gentleman to the women he is with." Steel said with a small smile. 

"Sure, go ahead. I'm pretty sure that was on the menu." Steel said in response to her query on the hot cocoa, ordering it with the waitress. "Unfortunately, a lot of Japanese sweets aren't available in this world due to it taking on a more European setting. And that's sadly the case here too so we can't really order the ones I grew up with. How about I order a few desserts that I've taken a liking to here?" He suggested before choosing a few to order. "I guess my little sister rubbed off on me with the sweet tooth thing. Not that I can even begin to compare to her. It's like she has a second stomach for sweets..." Cake buffets and the like feared Takeshi's sister for that monster level ability.

"Hmm, sounds like a savory crepe. Not exactly Japanese as crepes are from Greece actually." Steel said with a bit of a laugh. "And don't worry about gorging, at least for tonight. This is kinda like a celebration for your first taste of food and for us getting through today." He said this with a cheerful grin.

Steel and Reinka had just finished one of the beginner quests which basically entailed fighting baby boars. Somehow they ended up fighting a really strong mimic monster so that made pushed them behind schedule with all the breaks they needed to restore their stamina but they still managed to complete the quest by the end of the day and now they were going to unwind for the rest of the night. Steel was taking Reinka to a restaurant he frequented so she could get her first taste of food in this world.

"Welcome, will it just be the two of you dining tonight?" An NPC waitress greeted the two of them as they entered to which Steel nodded. The NPC led them to a seat near the window. Trying to be a gentleman, he pulled out the chair for Reinka and pushed her in when she was seated before sitting in his own seat across from her. "Would you like to order anything or should I come back after giving you some time to decide?"

"We'd like to order the couple's meal." Steel said in response, remembering that Reinka wanted to try it. "Hmm, anything else you want to try Reinka?" He asked the woman in front of him after ordering his drink.

"I guess I'll have to be thankful that it is impossible to break your bones in this world as they are virtual so that wouldn't apply regardless." Steel couldn't help but comment with a small smile as he kinda joked in response to her 'break a leg' comment.

"Unfortunately, both my armor and my sword are already at the same level as the gear you're giving us and I aim to get some stronger gear in the near future." Steel said in response. "But this level of gear definitely isn't a bad one. It's kept me alive all this time. Keep doing what you're doing." He gave the man some words of assurance.

"Thank you lad. And now I'd like you to deliver a package to a woman named Hannah though I suppose that can wait another day." Lyle said. "I hope you have a good night's sleep. You've worked hard." 

"Sure, good night Lyle!" He said as they left. "Okay then, let's go get something to eat." He said to Reinka with a grin.

Quest Summary:

Steel and Reinka get

6 skill points (4 from 4 pages of RP, 2 from quest)

825 col each

2 Materials Each

potion of safeguard

1 uncommon consumable each

Steel got an uncommon curved sword

Reinka got armor

What Reinka was saying both made sense and didn't make sense at the same time. He got the part where luck was a trick to the brain or how luck worked in different ways but most everything else kinda flew over him. He got the gist though. "So basically, be positive and notice how the situation could have been worse and that the brain's interpretation can play a part in this luck." He said, summarizing what she said. "I'll try and stay positive, like Makoto from Danganronpa. Wasn't that what he was like basically? Something bad happens to him but it leads to something good or it kept him out of harm's way."

Eventually, the two of them had reached the workshop and they entered in. "Lyle, we got what you needed, some baby boar tusks."

"Ah, thank you you two. In return, I'd like to give you this potion of safeguard for your next quest as well as an uncommon level weapon or armor." Lyle said with a smile.

"I'll take a curved sword. I already have a normal sword of the same rank so what the heck." Steel said nonchalantly. "How about you Reinka?"

"Gotcha, I'll trust in myself a little. I'll believe in the you that believes in me and I'll believe in the me that believes in myself." Steel said with a small smile as he made another anime reference. "I'm not going to even try looking for a treasure chest this time." Steel said with a bit of a laugh as he didn't want to deal with a mimic possibly coming out. "Yeah, let's go back to town. After we turn in the stuff to Lyle and finish the quest, we can go eat that couple's meal you wanted to eat and then go to our inn room for the night. We need to let loose a little after all those fights."

"How on earth would I work on my luck exactly?" He couldn't help but bring up the question since she seemed to think that it was something you could improve. True, he could improve his chance of success through gear enhancements but that was a different matter. Luckily the two hadn't gone too far so it didn't take them long to get back to town which now had an orange tint to it due to the sunset. "Remember where Lyle's workshop was from here?"

He didn't have much experience with girls, no thanks to his grandpa having him do a bunch of training growing up, so Steel couldn't help but blush a little when Reinka all of a sudden kissed him on the cheek. She then gave him a bit of a pep talk about luck and told him to believe in himself more. After being pushed back into the ring, Steel got into a fighting stance, one similar to a one handed kendo stance. I'm not too sure on that working since whatever's controlling RNG seems to hate me but I owe it to her to try! He thought to himself as the boar began to charge at him. "Snake Bite." He calmly said as he let loose three slashes onto the boar and made it turn into blue polygons. He also received the notification that he had gotten the last boar tusk he needed. "I honestly didn't expect that to work." He said as he turned to face Reinka with a slightly bashful look on his face. "Um, thanks for that."

ID# 97534

BD: 9 | LD: 12

Steel:
HP: 220
Energy: 17/22

Enemy:

Boar: 0/5 (Dead)

"I've got you now!" Steel said as he charged at the boar pup with another attack at the ready. The boar pup seemed to recognize the incoming danger and decided to stand and fight rather than run, charging back in return. This would have normally resulted in an epic clash of strength in which he would have come out on top. However, this didn't happen. He ended up tripping over once again as he swung and missed the boar. The boar in turn also ended up tripping over itself again for some reason, thus recreating the early comedy scene. The two of them kept at it for a while, continuously missing each other and sometimes tripping. "Curse my E rank luck..." He said as he was getting irritated. Despite the cheering from Reinka, he kept missing all the time. I must look so uncool Steel couldn't help but think to himself about lame he must have looked.

ID# 97527

BD: 1 | MD: 1

Steel:
HP: 220
Energy: 19/22

Enemy:

Boar: 5/5 

"Looks like you won our little game. Nice work." Steel said as Reinka got the last boar pup tusk she needed and he was still at 2, needing one more. "Let's see if I can get myself the last one shortly." He then noticed a lone pig. "I should be fine fighting a pig on my own. But thanks for the concern. If things get hairy, I'll be counting on ya." He said with a grin before he charged at the lone boar, only to trip over a stub on the road and fall over. Now he actually was embarrassed. On the bright side, the boar had missed him too, having somehow tripped over something itself. The scene itself was almost comical. "Now that definitely was embarrassing." Steel said as he got up but didn't really bother to dust himself off as there was no dust in the first place.

ID# 97524

BD: 1 | MD: 5

Steel:
HP: 220
Energy: 19/22

Enemy:

Boar: 5/5 

Perhaps Reinka is leaning a bit towards the sadistic side? Steel couldn't help but think this as she let out an evil smile while she crushed the pig into polygons. "Well, it's all on luck, getting item drops and such. That's how rpgs are." Steel was brought out of this line of thought when Reinka came back to him. "We just have to find more piggies to kill. In this case, it's really more quantity over quality and hope you get lucky. Come on, onto the next set of piggies. There's a pair right over there. he spotted a pair. He rushed over and swung at the piggies, only causing them to dodge out of the way before trying to attack back which also ended up missing. "Huh, I missed, how embarrassing." Though he said that, he didn't appear to be embarrassed  at all. "Your turn Reinka." He called out to his partner to take her turn at fighting the piggies.

ID# 97517

BD: 4 | MD: 2

Party:

Reinka
HP: 120
Energy: 10/12

Steel:
HP: 220
Energy: 19/22

Enemy:

Boar 1: 5/5 

Boar 2: 5/5 

"It dodged twice." Steel said in a rather monotone voice though he did show some surprise on his face at to how he missed so badly. The boar just kinda kept jumping all over the place. It wasn't as though he wasn't trying, the baby boar was just that fast for some reason and looked as though it was high on caffiene. Though he did find it funny that he missed right after Reinka said that the boar wouldn't dodge twice. "Huh, this has become an odd turn of events. Though it certainly is a nice change of pace from that long fight with the firewood with teeth." He said, feeling somewhat relaxed. He walked over to Reinka who was dusting herself off. "You okay there? Want to see if it will dodge a third time now?" He said with a joking tone in his voice. "Well, just do it at your own pace. No need to rush."

ID# 97513

BD: 1

"I'll be counting on you then partner. Just don't push yourself too hard. You don't seem to want me to do that so I shall do the same for you." Steel said in response as he got up as well now that the two of them were all rested. She then asked about what Kayaba meant by beating the game. "I'm sure that once the 100th floor boss is beaten, we'll all get out. I remember Kayaba saying as much. And if you want a logical reason why I think this, it's not like floor bosses respawn right? Once that boss is defeated, it won't come back so from there, we'll be all done." He said with a confident grin.

He then noticed 3 boars in the distance. "Let's see how I do this time." He charged at all of them and activated the sword skill Rage Spike and struck at all of them. He managed to kill 2 of them and missed the last one. He managed to get 1 material. "I got one left now as well!" He called out to Reinka as he dodged the surviving Boar's attack.

ID# 97507

BD: 8

ID# 97510

BD: 10

ID# 97509

BD: 5 MD: 4

Party:

Reinka
HP: 120
Energy: 12/12

Steel:
HP: 220
Energy: 19/22

Enemy:

Boar 1: 0/5 Dead

Boar 2: 0/5 Dead

Boar 3: 5/5

"That's one way to look at it I suppose." Steel was almost surprised at this much more positive outlook. He definitely would have been pissed off if they got nothing from the battle. It was a pretty difficult one after all. But Reinka saw it as a learning experience for something they should have obtained or be more likely to get killed out there. Steel had the years he spent training his mental fortitude to help with him on the battlefield so he had forgotten that it was necessary. "Well, I'm glad to have been the one to ease you into fighting in this world." He said with a small smile. "I look forward to you catching up with me. It'd make the fights easier. But I don't plan on easing up on my leveling either so you've got your work cut out for ya." He said with a grin.

"I still need to get two of those boar tusks. And that's if I manage to get lucky enough to gather the materials," Steel said with a sigh. "Well, we just need to move at our own pace. Don't be in too much of a rush."

"I'm okay. I just did what was expected of me as a tank. It's my job to take the hits for my comrades." Steel said with a grin. "I'm just glad I was able to keep you safe." He was visibly less tired than Reinka was despite having taken all of the damage throughout this fight. This was due to both his higher stats in general as well as his mental fortitude from martial arts training. "Though I took all the damage, you look more drained than me. Hahaha"

"Well, getting two materials is better than nothing. That would have been worse, getting nothing for all that effort." He said in response, trying to stay positive as he sat down next to the exhausted Reinka who had taken a prone position on the ground. "Well, the pain is more likely your brain messing with you. But there is such a thing as exhaustion in this world. It's not like we can keep going on endlessly. I guess it's a lesson to control damage output in regards to skills."

"Now I'm wondering how the material algorithm works. Is there a limit to the amount of materials out there or do they respawn? If they do respawn, how often do they do so?" These questions popped up in his mind as a way for his brain to relieve himself from boredom temporarily. He hadn't found anything for a while so he was once again tired of it all and decided to rest under a tree again to take a break. "Man what a bore. I wish I didn't have to do this. But I really don't want to see Reinka cry or face her wrath. Putting the crying part aside, from his experience in the real world, women were scary creatures when angry and Takeshi learned not to enrage them if at all possible. Either way, he just felt like taking a break and not spend so much energy on this search for the time being. He would get back to it eventually.

ID# 97482

LD: 2 (+1) = 3

Materials Found: 6

"Here's the finisher!" Steel said as he slashed at the mimic with one last sword skill. He loose a battle cry as if he were in an intense kendo match with a strong opponent as he slashed it down with three more slashes. When the skill has finished, the mimic had glowed a little before bursting into little data fragments. Out of habit, he let out a victory shout. Despite the easy quest, they had just finished a tough battle that came out of nowhere.

ID# 97479

BD: 9

Mimic:
HP: 0/110 (Dead)
DMG 33

Reinka
HP: 120
Energy: 1/12 

Steel:
HP: 172/220 
Energy: 13/22

Steel noticed that Reinka was looking a little shaky due to expending most of her stamina and he rushed over and caught her, easing her burden slightly by helping  her stand. "You okay?" He asked out of concern as he helped her back to that spot they were sitting at earlier. It was then he got a notification about the rewards they got in the battle. "Two crafting materials huh? Almost doesn't feel worth it with how tough that was." He said with a bit of a laugh. But he was more than fine with just the fact that they were alive. And now the two were back sitting where they were before to again recover their energy.

ID# 97483

LD: 14 CD: 1

2 Crafting Materials Obtained

"Oh lovely, another material. That's one down and then like 9 more to go or something?" Steel had found one as he searched a bush. After picking it up, he got up and stretched before putting it back in his inventory. "But seriously, where are all of them. It's not like they're visible to the naked eye like in video games. Then again, for video games, it's on a small screen and here it's a whole world..." He remembered the big difference between this and a normal console game. They were in a VR space where they had to pay attention to their surroundings, very much like one would in the real world. So of course they'd be harder to find since you didn't have a bird's eye or third person's view of your surroundings. "Well, I guess that adds to the real life feel to this world. Though I find it cool though, it has resulted in something rather annoying..."

ID# 97476

LD: 16 (+ 1) = 17

Material Acquired!

Materials Found: 6