Chapter 37 - Practice
Meurig and Yuki continued to talk as they took a break from their latest fight with the king of the 8th stage.
"Wait, so you're saying that these swords are capable of imesreuble feets?" Meurig asked in confusion.
"That's exactly right," Yuki said as he continued to be overjoyed by the discovery of him finding out that he could muster up some of the power from his blades.
"So why can you only use a tiny pit of their power while Ourbanos was able to use a lot more of it?" Meurig asked.
"That's the problem I have with this. He should have only been around my level and even if he was an attack based monster, the gap with the swords wouldn't be this large."
"The second problem is the dual item drop. All stages except the 5th and 10th stage should only have 1 item. The only reason the halfway point as well as the end point have 2 item drops is because of the initial stage item as well as the silver," Yuki replied.
Yuki continued to think.
"Well to me it looks like you already have an idea but you're choosing to hide it," Meurig spoke.
"You read me like a book. Well I have a hypothesis that would make perfect sense but it could also be incorrect," Yuki replied.
"Just say it, what are you scared of?" Meurig mocked Yuki.
"I first got 'Fallen angel of hell' from a small equipment shop. I thought it was cool so I bought it out of curiosity. The weird part was that when I went back to the store to ask about its mysterious power, the shop was completely gone. Then now, for some reason the mechanics of this stage are broken which caused a dual item drop which is very similar to 'Fallen angel of hell'."
"In conclusion, I'm pretty sure that this world has a virus," Yuki said.
"So what are we going to do about it?" Meurig asked.
"What do you mean 'So what are we going to do about it?'. We aren't gonna do anything. The virus is helping us attain more power. We should be happy," Yuki replied.
"I guess that would make sense but I have 1 more question. Why do you want so much power?" Meurig asked.
"That's such a simple question. I want to get strong because that's what you do in a video game, what kind of stupid question is that?" Yuki replied.
Yuki had just realized that he exposed himself.
"What do you mean 'video game'? Are you okay?" Meurig started to mock Yuki once again.
"Well there's no point in hiding it from you. We have to trust each other if we're gonna be teammates," Yuki sighed.
Yuki went on to explain every event that had taken place until they had met.
"Prove it then!" Meurig demanded in disbelief.
"Who was the one who finally allowed you to leave the 6th stage?" Yuki asked rhetorically.
"Fair enough. So you're basically god?" Meurig asked.
"Not really, while the way God is described and how my true form is pretty similar, I'm not held by any moral rules and don't choose to have people worship me. I'm more of a greater being. Someone that stands at the peak of everything," Yuki began to brag.
"I think you're getting a bit distracted mr. higher being" Meurig laughed.
"Wait, so you don't fear me?" Yuki asked.
"Why should I? First of all you don't seem like you want to kill me and even if you do, there's nothing I can do about it. The only thing I can do is enjoy my time with you and be grateful that you're my ally and not my enemy," Meurig replied.
"I envy your stupidity," Yuki mocked Meurig.
"That wasn't funny," Meurig rebudled.
"By the way, do you mind that I look this? I mean my appearance isn't exactly the best," Meurig asked.
"I honestly don't. On the contrary, I find it pretty cool. Plus, I enjoy your company more than anyone else," Yuki replied.
"You can stop being cheesy now," Meurig said.
The two players had managed to learn many things about each other. It was one of the most enjoyable days Yuki had experienced. He secretly knew that he enjoyed spending time with Meurig more than his 3 other team members outside the dungeon. However, to Yuki, it wasn't a competition, as long as his new friend can get along with his other friends, that was all that mattered.
"Okay we only have 2 stages left. Let's recover our strength for now and head to the next dungeon," Yuki suggested.
Meurig nodded in agreement and began to lay down on the stage's ground as he was exhausted from the stage 8 trails. Yuki on the other hand returned "Fallen angel of hell" into his inventory and took back "Niflheim's holy treasure" from Meurig. He closed his eyes and began to slowly take deep breaths.
"Seriously? You already know that you can't bring out more of the sword's full power until you level up. The only reason you can even tap into a small amount of it is because you reached level 5. Just take a break," Meurig lectured Yuki.
"For your information, that's not what I'm trying to do. I want to draw out their power while I'm moving. Right now I can only summon their innate power if I'm fully concentrated on doing that alone. However, I want to use their power while I'm in battle," Yuki replied.
"Suit yourself, just don't make too much noise. I actually want to regain my strength for the next battle unlike a certain someone," Meurig said.
"Don't worry princess. I'll make sure I stay quiet so you can get your beauty sleep," Yuki continued to ridicule Meurig.
"Say that again and you'll be the next person disintegrating," Meurig said with frustration.
"Oh how scary." Yuki tried to stop himself from laughing.
"Don't worry, I'll be careful as to not disturb you," Yuki reassured Meurig.
All through the night, Yuki put all his attention on "Niflheim's holy treasure" and made full use of all the power he could manifest from it. Each try drained a large amount of stamina from him. Nevertheless he continued, all he wanted was to get as much strength as he possibly could. Yuki finally managed to take 20 straight steps before finally breaking concentration and passing out.
"Idiot," Meurig said before he also fell asleep.