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bffhreprise · 5 years

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Entry 283

Gaming with Raine was a wonderful way to get to know her better, and few enough were awake throughout the night that we really had interruptions, leaving me with an abundance of time to learn more about her.

She once told me that lightning seemed fairly quick in an off-hand way that made lightning sound slow next to her, but her heart was every bit as kind as her feet were swift. Playing the game of seemingly limitless possibilities, Raine chose to be a crafter, helping to make the dreams of others become a reality for them. I doubted that I was the only one who noticed how much cheaper Raine made things for her guildmates than average market price, and there was no doubt in my mind that she was very well aware of the losses she took.

During my months here, I saw time and again the incredible power of my fellow residents, but I still couldn't even guess at what Raine's limits were, mentally or physically. Raine's mind was infinitely fascinating to me. Speaking to her of crafting, not once did I find a question she could not answer immediately in enough detail to make Aaliyah proud. Her social anxiety limited the jobs she took in the real world, but she knew everything she had done in perfect detail far beyond what I could manage with my vampiric sense.

With James joining us to chase down rare meteoric materials, the enormous gap between Raine's abilities and my own would only be more obvious, considering that I couldn't come close to competing with James, who was a far cry from beating Raine on anything other than charm.

She had been playing with her kitten while waiting for James to get ready, but she started to move the moment he approached, despite not looking at her screen till he was by her side.

With all of the running around we had done in preparation, I only had a vague notion of where the meteorite would be found. Raine, who hesitated continuously when speaking with others, moved confidently as she led the way, probably having an exact spot in mind.

As we walked, she explained to James in detail the value of what we might find. There were numerous materials only to be found when they crashed to the ground, and she knew every possible use of each one. James proved to be as inquisitive as I was the first time around, asking for more examples with each material he favored. Eternite was his obviously his favorite as he expounded on how great it would be for the guild.

“Are you two ready for this?” questioned James as we neared the edge of civilization.

“Of course.” I insisted, despite feeling a little nervous. Madeleine, my character, was modeled after my features, despite being a halfling. I had made her a healer, unabashedly mimicking a vampire I freely admired, though Madeline could never match Ariadne’s skill. James was one of the best combatants in the guild, but he was our sole offensive character, heading into the most dangerous territory near our guild. Raine’s Nekopawpaw would easily outlive the Madeleine and Ignus if my healing proved insufficient. With no experience in any combat skills, she was still nearly impossible to hit and knew how to utilize her crafting skills efficiently in combat.

Raine took a deep breath, slowly letting it out as she nodded. With her assent, we pushed into the wilds, traveling carefully as we could while keeping pace with Raine's character. One of the many surprises with Nekopawpaw was her speed. I never would have guessed that a crafter could be so quick before seeing Nekopawpaw at work, blurring around her workshop.

"G-Goblins!" exclaimed Raine in a loud whisper.

Hearing her, the goblins charged. As Nekopawpaw jumped back, I moved Madeleine behind Ignus as he quickly unleashed a fire spell that incinerated them. Typically weak individually, Goblins could still swarm a strong character, wearing them down. James' attack was a good choice.

“T-that was… t-that was kinda… m-mean.” mumbled Raine.

“Huh? They were going to attack us.” stated James in confusion.

“B-but w-what if… if t-they w-wanted to… to t-talk." she argued.

“I’ve never seen goblins wanting to talk before, and we need to be careful.” he insisted.

She practically vanished into her chair, obviously disappointed.

Sighing, he said, “I’m sorry. I’ll try talking first next time.”. Catching sight of me, he looked startled for a moment.

Doing my best not to laugh at Raine's adorableness, I had replaced my mouth with skin and removed my larynx. The sight couldn't be that disturbing. James had seen worse.

Not too long later, we encountered another group of goblins. This time, James did his best to try speaking with them as he skillfully dodged their attacks. Meanwhile, Raine started speaking in a semi-guttural language that apparently required a very noisy mouth. As James and I watched, avoiding the goblins who weren't replying to Raine, she seemed to have a conversation with them.

“T-they… t-they… w-want to eat us.” she muttered in English.

“I guess we kill them first then.” replied James, moving Ignus to strike.

“N-no!” exclaimed Raine. “I-I’m g-giving them food… i-instead.”

“Oh. Sorry.” he replied, having Ignus lower his weapon.

The goblins actually did stop fighting as Raine initiated a trade with them. They took the food she offered and cautiously retreated. Well, all but one. The last lunged at Nekopawpaw, greedily wanting more. Before I could even cast a shield spell, Nekopawpaw pulled out a smithing hammer and bashed the goblin's head, which cause stars to circle it, signifying the creature was stunned. From his expression, I felt James was stunned too!

“B-bad goblin.” rebuked Raine, pointing the hammer at the goblin till the stun lifted.

Feeling curious, I asked “How did you learn to speak goblin?”

“T-the l-library. M-most languages c-can be f-found there.” she explained. “Aalilyah t-told me. H-her c-character always t-talks her way out of t-things.”

“I honestly had assumed that was just some GM ability.” admitted James.

“N-no. I-I’ll get b-better.” insisted Raine.

“I’m sure you will.” he assured her.

“Know any of the other rare languages?” I inquired, glad she could see the smile tugging at my lip.

“All t-that are in the g-guild library.” she mumbled.

The guild library was enormous thanks to Aaliyah allocating a large amount of funds toward it. I could only imagine how large the language section was.

“Whoa. You’ve been busy. Mind showing me sometime?” I asked.

“I-I’ll g-glady show you.” she replied, smiling at me. If she noticed that I was amused, she didn’t seem to care.

“Mila, how many books on languages are stored in our guild library?” questioned James.

“Three hundred and one, master. I would be happy to teach them to you.” she replied, sounding suggestive, as she always did when speaking with him.

“Not right now.” he replied, ignoring the suggestion in her voice.

“Three hundred and one!? That’s crazy!” I exclaimed. “And they’re really full languages?”

“Y-yes.” stated Raine.

At the same time, Mila said, “Of course. What else would you expect from mother? Her father is a linguist, you know. I will warn you that their use in everyday life will be slightly cumbersome, since she created no words for things that are not found within the game. Some of the languages are limited even within the game. Goblins, for example, have no word for ‘door’. They don’t use doors, make doors, or care about doors, so they never bothered with naming it.”

“Aww… I still feel we could have fun with it.” I insisted, imagining reactions from others as Raine and I conversed in goblin.

“I should also warn you that learning the language yourself doesn’t count as your character learning it.” explained Mila. “If you were to speak goblin as Raine did, your words will sound like nonsense to those around you unless your character has the skill.”

“Why did you offer to teach me then?” questioned James.

“Because you know I’m far better than a book, master.” she insisted flirtatiously.

Giggling, I said, “Who can argue with that?”

No one tried. Offending Mila would be like offending a nanny who had dedicated her life to raising you; you’d have to be a monster not to feel guilty. Instead, we ventured farther into the wilderness, letting Raine talk our way out of fights against intelligent creatures. Surprisingly, Raine didn’t complain when James killed giant frogs, though she insisted he used weapons to avoid damaging parts she could use for cooking.

Hours after our journey began, we encountered terrain distinctly different from what came before it. The vegetation here seemed to rot as it lived, creating a disgusting environment that would probably smell as foul as it looked if the game could provide olfactory stimulation.

“We should head back.” stated James. He was frowning as he watched his screen.

“We’re so close though! Can’t we just be careful?” I asked, not wanting to leave without Raine getting what excited her so much.

“We can try, but we’re goners if we encounter the creature. This might be the one that escaped last summer.” replied James with firm resolve.

“Wasn’t playing yet. How bad was it?” I asked lightly, hoping to ease his tension.

“The guild formed to fight them, and every last one of us died during the last battle, trying to fight two demons at once. We did manage to kill one of them though.”

“What!? How much of the guild was there?” I questioned in surprise. Our guild was enormous!

“Over twenty thousand members.” he stated. “Ancient Tribes of Earth somehow manages full army combat without crashing the server or causing low end PCs to freeze.”

“I kinda want to see this. That sounds so cool!” I admitted, imagining the massive army facing off against a mighty foe.

“Y-you d-didn’t have to d-do so many r-repairs for people.” muttered Raine.

“Oh. Yeah. I suppose we did make you a bit busier than normal even. Sorry!” exclaimed James, looking at her apologetically.

“I d-don’t mind.” she assured him, embarrassed by the attention.

“Let’s do this!” moving Madeleine toward the smoking crater ahead.

Raine let me stay in the lead, which wasn’t exactly comforting, but James was coming along as well. Live or die, we were having an adventure!

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