Chapter 8: Chapter 8: Just Chalk It

By the time we had trekked back to Beginner Woods, my patience was at its limit. A full day had nearly gone by, and I had nothing to show for it except the bruise on my cheek. It was going to be fine, though. I had a full-proof plan that even Summer couldn’t screw up. It was perfect and didn’t require taking on over-leveled secret bosses or me getting kicked in the face.

“Ok, listen up good,” I said. “You’re going to kill the slimes around here for experience and coins. They only drop a few bronze each, but that’ll add up over time. Once you have enough to make up a gold coin, let me know. I’ll go back to town then and buy a weapon to help you out. Any questions?”

She raised her hand like we were in school. I just decided to go along with it. “Yes?”

“How do I spend these skill shard things?”

My eyebrows disappeared behind my bangs at that one. While not much else about her had surprised me, that set me over the edge. That meant that this girl, this NPC, had the full capabilities of a player. In that sense, she was no different than any of us–ignoring the fact that there was no username or level above her head, and she obviously wasn’t human. Did some of the other NPCs have the same capabilities? The merchants in town certainly never hinted at it, and I doubted those orphans did either. Somehow Summer was the only one granted unique AI, along with a player interface. I made a mental note to shoot that GM bastard a message later and ask about her. The worst he could do was not respond or be unhelpful, two things I was already very used to at this point.

“Well?” she asked, clearly growing impatient with my lack of response.

“You need to go to the skills tab.” I waited for her to do this before continuing with my explanation. “Then, you can see a huge list of all the available skills. It’s possible to come up with some of your own by mixing and matching them as well, but, for now, it might be best just to pick one or two that would be helpful in combat.”

This might actually work out in my favor. If she could cast magic she might actually prove useful in a fight and buying those robes wouldn’t have been a waste.

She nodded and tapped at a menu that was invisible to me. “What’s a good beginner spell?”

“Water’s not bad for single targets. Wind and lightning have their uses, but fire is the best for an area of effect.”

A few more taps on the menu. “Uh-huh, it’s all clear to me now.”

I sighed. “You don’t have any idea how to navigate the rest of the menu, do you?”

“Not a clue.”

“You sure talked a lot of smack for someone so clueless themselves.” I pulled up my menu to make sure I didn’t misspeak when describing the UI to her. “At the very top of everything is obviously your username, level, and how much gold you currently have.”

“Ah~, I see! So, I’m level one.”

A migraine of epic proportions was incoming. There was no shot she was confident that fighting a boss would go well without even understanding the basics. No wonder she was dispatched so easily by the monster. 

“Moving on,” I practically growled, pinching the bridge of my nose in exasperation. “There’s the skill tab as well, which you’ve started to learn about. Then, underneath that is the ‘Proficiencies’ tab. Do you see it?” When she nodded, I carried on with the explanation. “This encompasses ‘Fighting Style,’ ‘Persona,’ and ‘Vocation.’ Each one of these is given a letter grade ranging from ‘F’ to ‘D’.”

“But there are categories under each one?”

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I smiled. “Everything you do falls under one of those categories. For example, if I were to train with a dagger, my fighting style would reflect that. I would start to gain ‘Dagger Proficiency’ and move up in the grades. If I don’t train something, say magic, then I’ll remain F-ranked in it.”

“You know what?” she said. “I take back everything negative I thought about you. You’re alright.”

Like you had anything to say on the topic.

“Thanks for the shining endorsement. Now, get to work killing those slimes.”

I pointed off into the distance, about five meters ahead of us, and she swiveled around to look. The creatures I was pointing at tended to gather together in groups, likely either for protection or for social aspects. Although, whether the monsters of every color under the sun even had a brain advanced enough to have such thoughts was questionable. Actually, there wasn’t even a brain visible in those see-through bodies of theirs. 

“I can’t.”

“You don’t know how to cast?”

“No, that’s easy enough. I just thought they’d be a lot uglier when you mentioned them. I can’t kill things that are so cute.”

Summer couldn’t possibly screw up the plan. It was so easy a little kid could follow through on it. What a damn fool I was believing that. I wanted to go back in time and kick myself for not factoring in how ridiculous she was.

“Summer”–my tone of voice must have been scarier than I thought because she turned to me with a start–“give me your dagger.”

“W-what are you going to do with it?”

A crazed grin spread across my face. “Kill every little problem that stands in my way.”

She cocked her head to the side slightly. “Does that apply to me…?”

My grin got a little wider. “Dagger please.”

It was kind of difficult to blame the girl for dashing away further into the forest. I resisted the urge to pull out my hair, finding a large tree to slump against. The bark of the trunk was scratchy against my back, but I couldn't care less at the moment. I opened my menu to see if there was anything I could do to alleviate the burden of having no equipment. I had already wasted my first skill slot on <<Party Flare>> and wouldn’t unlock another slot until level three. I could try to punch a slime to death, although that would take me hours for minimal experience and a few copper coins. And new quests wouldn’t be available until tomorrow morning, leaving me with effectively no new plans and no means to make any either.

I sighed, closing my eyes and immediately finding myself relaxing more against the tree. The inane events of the day were finally catching up to me, and I could feel my exhaustion seeping in. My eyelids felt too heavy to open again, and I decided to chalk this day. Too many things ended up out of my control. Tomorrow would be a new day, and I could start again with another quest to get some gold. With that reassuring thought in mind, I drifted off into a deep sleep.