Ghostie

After signing, there was an awkward silence between the two of them as the man didn’t reply. Ghost sighed in what she felt was defeat and frustration; she should’ve seen about getting help. she might’ve been able to ask Lessa, Koga or Oji, but she really wanted to try and do this on her own. At least they would’ve been able to actually talk to the NPC.

Before she had fully given up, however, the man began to sign back:

‘Hello, Ghost. I am Master YunXiang. You wish to learn Martial Arts, and that’s commendable. However, I will only train those that prove to me that they are ready. Come to me when you are prepared for your tasks.’

Ghost stared in between the man and his signing with wide eyes, clearly shocked. She figured that maybe if she were lucky, the game’s automatic translation would let the NPC understand her, if not her STS system. But the fact that this NPC seemed to genuinely understand and comprehend sign language, she didn’t even consider the possibility. 

“You seem to have come a long way!” Came the voice of said older man as he walked towards Ghost. He wore traditional ceremonial attire, his long grayed hair pulled tightly into a high rose ponytail, and sporting a long silvered beard that passed his core in length. “It’s nice to have a visitor! I haven’t had one in a long time.”

Ghost quickly stood up, and analyzed the man while she dusted off her clothes and slipped her sandals back onto her feet. Based on what was described in the quest, this might be the NPC designed to unlock the Martial Arts skill line for her. If that’s the case, then whatever objectives might be next, she’ll learn from him.

Bowing respectfully, the girl stood up and began to sign to him, her subtitles turned on. ‘Hello, sir. My name is Ghost, and I have climbed up your mountain in order to learn Martial Arts.’

Ghost nodded, more emotion beginning to show on her face despite her blank expressions mostly remaining the same. A very small, almost unnoticeable smile appeared on her face, her brows relaxing while they walked. She did her best to not be phased by others’ statements, but a compliment to what she could do always put a bit of warmth onto her mood.
 

She signs again but with a bit more pep: I mostly just pick up on things as I go. I’m normally  a fast learner, but the way that this game is designed is much more complex than I originally thought it would be. The past R P G games that I ever played were the Final Fantasy Series, but that’s been a few years ago. I know that a few quests I want to try and do include the familiar quest, and the boulder quest. Especially after seeing your wolf companion, having a familiar would be really enjoyable!

I might be able to manage, she signed. It’ll be a bit awkward, though. I used to train with my dad in Kyusho Jitsu. However, I haven’t had a chance to do the quest for hand combat, so I only have a dagger right now. What did you have in mind? 

Now that the STS has loaded in, it’s made it loads easier to ‘say’ what she need to. There’s no guarantee that others would know sign, so a feature like this should help with figuring everything out and getting help from others. Then again, it’s also integrated software, so with the game’s lockdown functions intending to disable access to the outside world, there could be technical difficulties…

Also, I’m not entirely sure that Kayaba intended for this to be accessible. I had to integrate a compatible software called Sign to Speech, or STS, she explained. For all that I know, the system could reject the software at any given time. At least it’s working for now.

Ghost’s head perked up, and she nodded before closing her menus and walking alongside the man and his companion. She was still fairly nervous; Normally unless it was business related in the real world, she didn’t have to communicate with people much. Still, it seemed like this Koga guy was fairly friendly.

Then, a notification popped up in her upper right, and she read it while walking.

Clapping her hands lightly but rapidly, Ghost nodded and raised her right hand in an odd position, and an all-too-familiar ding was heard. Afterwards, she faced Koga while walking, and began to sign to him. As she did, a subtitle text appeared in front of her where Koga could read.

Is this properly readable? I’m assuming the game’s auto translate function is still in effect.

It was now 1:00pm. The sun was beating down on Ghost’s face; she was more exhausted than she ever thought she could be, let alone in a game. Having passed the cloudline hours ago, she still held onto her focus and kept climbing. If she gave up now, then frankly she’d never be able to forgive herself.

‘Just one hand in front of the other..’

After a while longer, she’d felt a drop of water hit her face, and she almost lost her grip before looking up blankly. Then, she saw it… Grass. Not just mountainside grass, but real rooted grass. Smiling in reprieve, the girl regained a huge boost of energy, practically hand-sprinting up the mountain as quickly as she could while still being careful.

Reaching over the top of the cliff side, Ghost’s hands grasped at the grass and pulled herself strugglingly up and over the edge, laying on her back on the top of the mountain and panting heavily. ‘Screw that mountain, its pebble children, and its fake paths…’ After seven hours of non stop climbing, she had finally made it.

Looking over to her left, she was left in awe of the scenery. Glistening waterfalls, traditional designs for bridges and a dojo, long but cleanly laid grass, and… a very large tacky boulder, sitting next to a lake. That probably has a purpose, but her spectation was interrupted by the voice of a man walking up to her.

The girl listened to Koga, thrilled that she wasn’t the only one that had issues with the tutorial AI. After day one, she’d already wanted to throw the thing into a river. But at the mention of what she needed help with, she wasn’t exactly sure how to respond. She was certain that Koga had probably plenty of things on his plate, and it’d be selfish of her to ask too much.

Then again, he did ask… After a moment, Ghost began typing again, petting Okami again out of instinct. Something about feeling the wolf’s fur was soothing to her, almost like the familiar was empathetic to what was being felt emotionally. After a moment more, Ghost replied.
 

Quote

Sender: Ghost
Recipient: Koga

To be completely honest, I know nothing about the game apart from basic mechanics. Leveling, Quests, in depth RPG, I’m a literal noob. Apart from basic knowledge and software understanding, I’m completely clueless.

Catching her bearings, Ghost stretched again and hopped to, starting the climb once more. She knew this quest would probably be fairly difficult, but martial arts as a skill line was too tempting to pass up. Having trained for a while with her father after graduating secondary school, it would be generally right up her alley. She just wished that this mountain wasn’t such a pain.

….

Another hour had passed, and the girl was focusing on nothing else but climbing. Screw the rewards, the next objectives, the long way back down; nothing else mattered except the climb. It’d taken her too long just to get past the cloudline, she’d be damned if she didn’t at least finish the climb up this giant piece of rock.

As she thought to herself, one of the rocks she held onto crumbled away, and she slipped, only hanging on by one rock. Panicking for a moment, her fear almost instantly turned into determination as she took one of her handheld sandals and gently swiped at the holdable rocks ahead of her to make sure they weren’t loose. Feeling more confident, she slipped the sandal back on her hand and swung herself slowly, building up momentum.
 

Then after a few moments, she swung herself upward and latched onto the rocks up above her, the rock she held onto prior crumbling away from the sudden force. Breathing heavily, she eyed the mountain with more confidence than she would typically ever show.

‘I WILL best you…’

After looking and debating long and hard about her available options, Ghost nodded with conviction… and chose the hardest path. Nine times out of ten, a challenge like this that gives seemingly easier choices even in older games are usually intended as an illusion to trick the player. The easier path could become much more difficult, for instance. That, or all of the paths might just converge together. There wasn’t any sense in choosing an easier path if the probability of a false sense of hope was high.

Satisfied with her reasoning, the girl rolled up her sleeves and slipped her sandals off. Hooking the lace of the sandals to her hands to where the bottom of the sandals acted as braces for the back of her hands, she started her climb up the steep, rough terrain. 

~Much Later…~
 

’Jesus, why did I pick the hard path,’ Ghost thought to herself as she rested for a moment on a small cut-out in the mountain. Checking the player menu for the time, she sweatdropped with a sigh. She had started the climb at 6:00, and it was already 9:00. Looking down at the place where she had started at, the place where she once stood was maybe a centimeter’s comparison in distance.
 

Looking through the various available quests, Ghost found herself at the bottom of the Floor Two mountain to start the quest that she had heard others talking about. Martial Arts isn’t the most overpowered skill to learn by far, but it does seem fairly unique to have. Plus, it’d make it to where bulky weaponry wasn’t as much of a problem.

Shrugging her shoulders, Ghost stretched her legs and got ready to start the climb. ‘Once I get done with this, I should see about doing the questline for a familiar,’ she thought to herself as she eyed the various paths she could choose between for getting up the mountain.

One path to the left seemed much steeper, with plenty of rocks protruding from the cliff side which would help for climbing. The center path, however, had more of a slippery terrain, moss  growing more heavily along the holdings.

And lastly, the right path seemed to be fairly easy. There were still some climbing points, but for the most part it shouldn’t be too difficult to maintain.

Ghost dropped her hands, internally mentally facepalming herself. She should’ve figured that he wouldn’t know sign, but at least she tried. Then she saw the message pop up. Reading the message, she nodded and began typing her own, albeit longer message. After a few more moments, she sends a message back.

Quote

Sender: Ghost
Recipient: Koga

This will work for now. I’m sorry for the inconvenience; I have an EXE modular file that might be compatible with the game that will help with communicating, but it will take some time to sync with the system. I can still understand you though, so no need for you to message on my behalf.

You seem as if you’re fairly experienced at this game; I only started the game a few days ago. Would you be able to help me? I attempted the tutorial AI, but it didn’t really help me understand anything useful outside of basic actions.

The girl froze for a moment, looking at the man’s hand while still petting Okami. After a hesitant moment, she took his hand with the same one that held his sword, and accepted his help in standing up. ‘He seems nice enough.. And his familiar is friendly, too. Maybe he can help?’

Standing up straight, she kept her composure while handing Koga’s sword back, still petting Okami. Awkwardly standing there, the girl couldn’t think of how to answer his question. Thinking for a moment, she came up with an idea and opened her menu. Scrolling through the available options, she found the ‘display: other’ function and opened up her Player ID card. Editing a small subtext on the bottom of it, she then turned it on for Koga to read.

Quote

Username: Ghost
Total SP: 5 | Allocated: 0 | Remaining: 5
Level: 1 | Paragon: ?
HP: 100/100 | EN | DMG: 1 | ACC: 1 |EVA: 1 | MIT |

Equipment
-Weapon: Scrying Dagger T1 | ACC | EVA |
-Armor:NA
-Trinket:NA

Personal Description Note: Mute

While the player ID was open, Ghost bowed. Then she stood straight again, her blank expression still the same, and she tried to ask Koga using simple signs:

’Do you understand sign language?’

Having been lost in thought while trying to figure out the menu more, the girl never noticed the situation unfolding. ‘How do I do this?? Getting experience shouldn’t be too difficult.. right?’ As she thought, she came across another interesting option in the menu.

Quote

For Function Impaired:

Multiple functions have been integrated into the system deliberately for the sole use of basic sense impairment, including but not limited to—

Before she had gotten a chance to read more, the girl jumped out of her skin from Koga’s dog running up to her and the yells from his master. The girl still seemed completely calm and stoic, but internally she was in panic mode as she debated on what to do. Looking down at the wolf and the katana at her feet, she kneeled down and gently picked up the weapon, looking up at the animal softly.

Reaching up, she gently pet Okami, scratching behind his left ear. ‘So soft…’ She continued to pet him while looking up at Koga, seemingly trying to read him. High level gear, confident characteristics, appears focused but mentally drained at the same time… Most likely an experienced grinder.

The girl looked up at Hikoru, her face mostly expressionless. Closing her menu, she bowed politely and nodded. However, she wasn’t entirely sure how to proceed from that point onward; she appeared anxious. Her hands trembling slightly, she raised them both and tried to make a simple sign that she hoped the man would understand.

She pointed toward her chest, followed by holding a finger out with one hand and tapping it with a finger from her other, before bringing a hand vertically up to her mouth, pointing at her throat. Then she clapped her hands together apologetically:

‘I’m sorry, but I am unable to speak.’

She wasn’t sure if the man would understand, or if he would even know sign, but an attempt is better than none. In the meantime, she delicately picked up a menu and flipped through it, seeing what all options the store provided. After a moment, she showed the menu to Hikoru and pointed to a menu option that appeared to be a special for an extra whipped mocha double shot iced espresso with vanilla.

As Koga walked with his companion, a glimmer passed his peripheral. A woman in her early twenties, with silvered hair and crystalline eyes, was leaned against a nearby building across the way from the man. She wore simple sandals, a black long sleeved belted dress with a short skirt and a simple dagger fashioning her hip, and had a relaxed blank expression while trying to go through her inventory.

From a single glance, it was obvious that she was fresh to the game. She appeared to be studying the player menu intensely, and occasionally she would tap her left heel rapidly on the pavement as if she were getting impatient. Before long, she glanced up at Koga across the road, and she froze in her tracks as she looked at his wolf. Her expression seemed to soften slightly, then she relaxed again and continued to look through her menu. Word.

________________________________________________________
Player Name: Ghost
Total SP: 5 | Allocated: 5 | Remaining: 0
Level 1 | Paragon ?
HP: 100/100 | EN | DMG: 1 | ACC: 1 | EVA: 1 | MIT |

Equipment
-Weapon: Scrying Dagger T1 | ACC | EVA |
-Armor:NA
-Trinket:NA____________________________________________
 

As Oji and Lessa talked, another figure stood near the entrance, having only walked in moments earlier. It was a girl with white shoulder-length hair, crystalline eyes, and a relaxed expression. She wore a simple black belted dress with a short skirt and long sleeves, sandals adorning her feet. She looked blatantly inexperienced, having nothing more than a dagger fashioned to her hip as she scrolled through her player menu.

Hit Points? Player stats?? EXP??? All of these terms were seemingly foreign terms to this girl, and it showed as she focused on studying any tutorial information she could scrounge from the menu. Tucking a bang behind her ear delicately, she continued to search for any information she could, attempting to learn the game as quickly as possible.

While the other two continued to converse, the occasional confirmation noises of the girl’s menu could be faintly heard.

The sun reminds her

Of hopes beyond just her own,

And clouds, of her fears.

Quote

 

「Name」: Kó Satō

「Username:」: Ghost

「Age」: 18

「Height」: 5’1”

「Weight」: 121lb

「Gender」: F

「Sexuality」: BI

「Real Life Occupation」: Investor

 

Appearance

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COMBAT INFORMATION

「Combat Style」: Prioritizes Evasion, Damage and Strategy.

Unlocked Skills

Virtues

Flaws

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INFORMATION

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「Backstory」

「Story So Far」

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Friends List

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Resources

Player Info (Resource)