Although it wasn't as futuristic as Planeptune, Leanbox still proved to be a very modern-looking town. Wherever he turned, Alex would see corporate buildings, warehouses, skyscrapers, and other typical urban structures.
The most noticeable aspect about this town was a colossal white structure with black streaks filled with green light in the middle of its perpendicular sides, which ended on a green circle in between. This massive structure towered over everything else, and could probably be easily seen from anywhere on Leanbox.
Another thing that caught Alex's attention was that Leanbox seemed to have two "layers" or "floors". The lower one was where all the urban structures and industrial areas were, while the upper area was composed of large roads that went all over the town and many lines of smaller structures.
Alex assumed this "upper area" was probably a series of residential districts where the richest people lived in, all connected by the roads that travelled all over town and led to the lower area. The houses didn't seem that big or luxurious though, so they were probably more affordable than he initially assumed.
"Are you impressed?" Alex then turned his head to look in front of him and see Vert, who had been guiding him around until now. She then turned around and looked at him. "This is my nation, Leanbox. It's also known as "the land of green pastures" because of its abundance of nature and grasslands pastures"
He looked around and saw that the most nature he could find was a small mountain on the distance and maybe a few plants and parks around town. "Doesn't really look that natural to me." "Oh, that's because there's been a large process of urbanization going on over the last few years, and most of the nation has developed into what you see now"
'Shouldn't that mean the name lost all meaning already?' Thought the young man while sweat dropping
"Now, let's not waste any more time! We're close to your new home!" Said Leanbox's CPU before turning around and keep walking. Alex looked at her walking calmly and sighed. These three weeks would be very long indeed.
Once they arrived to the mansion, he looked at it with a widened eyes. He had never seen a real mansion in all of his life before, at least not in person.
Unlike the other modern buildings in Leanbox, this one retained a more classical design. It was two floors high, in a spot surrounded by a small green yard and even had a great view to the Ocean.
He followed Vert into the building, where they walked through a long hallway before stopping in front of a room. She then proceeded to open the door and allow both of them to enter. Once inside, he saw many figures of what seemed to be characters from videogames or probably animes; some of them were placed over a small night table while others were inside glass shelves. There were also a few pictures of either nearly naked males or two males getting friendly with each other, although calling it "friendly" may be a bit of an understatement.
'Not sure why, but I get the feeling she's into Yaoi'
"And this is my room, where I spend most of the time. What do you think about it?" As Vert faced him and asked him for his opinion, Alex tried to keep those thoughts away from his mind and focused on finding something to say.
"It's…cozy…"
As he took another look around it, Alex noticed that, if you ignored the awfully uncomfortable feeling of seeing images of naked men all over the place, the room was actually quite nice. There was a large plasma TV With a comfortable green couch with golden trims in front of it, and on the other edge of the room, there was a pinewood desk with a powerful PC set up on it, with three flat screen monitors.
"I'm glad you think so" Said Vert with a smile, then closed her eyes and made a thoughtful expression "For some reason, the other goddesses don't seem to like my room that much"
"I wonder why?" He said with an obvious sarcasm that seemed to go unnoticed by her
"Indeed…" said Vert as thought about it for a moment, but soon brushed the issue aside and looked at Alex once more "Oh well, I guess it can't be helped"
"Big sister!"
After hearing a voice behind him, the young man turned around and saw a someone entering the room with a glee expression.
"Big sister Vert! I heard you finally returned from Planeptune" Said a young woman as she held up a game with an image of yet even more men getting it on on her hands, except that this time they were dressed as buttlers "let's play some-"
When she opened her eyes, her words stopped as the first thing she saw was Alex. "Eh?" She said while her expression went from glee to confusion
The two of them looked at each other for a moment or two in an awkward silence until Vert stood next to Alex and looked at the girl as well. "Oh, it's Chika"
Upon seeing Vert, her expression suddenly lightened up. "Big sister Vert! You're really back after all!" "Seriously now, I just left for a few hours" Said Vert as if she were dealing with a clingy daughter or younger sister. "Who is this man?" "Oh, this is Alex, The boy I told you about"
Chika looked at Alex again for a moment before speaking
"So this is the man that can summon a giant skeleton?" She muttered as her eyes analyzed him from head to toe before she turned her head and looked at Vert "Did you convince him to join Leanbox?" "Actually, it's slightly different from that"
Seeing the confusion in Chika's expression, Vert proceeded to explain the situation to her. And during said explanation, Alex took a more careful look at her.
Chika was a light skinned woman with very long mint colored curly hair worn in a high ponytail with a black and green twin-bow piece with a few bangs and long curls of hair framing her face. Her eyes were an almond-red color.
Her outfit consisted of a revealing black dress with long boots and gloves that ended at her wrist, along with a black neck piece with a white sphere in the center that had a small green x in the center and two small pieces of purple cloth. On both hips, she had black ribbon-cloth segments with longer cloth pieces dangling from both sides with green sparkled coloring inside. The skirt was practically non-existent on the dress, with a simple cloth being the only thing covering her lower area. Alex couldn't help but wonder if she even wore underwear under that revealing dress. The doubt scratched the back of his brain for a bit, but he decided not to look too much at that area. The last thing he needed was a misunderstanding.
"-and as such, Alex will be living with us for three weeks" After Vert's explanation was over, Chika nodded in agreement.
"Alright, I think I understand now" She said before turning around to face Alex with a more welcoming expression than before "My name is Chika Hakozaki, and I'm Leanbox's oracle. It might not be for long, but I hope you enjoy your stay"
"I'll try..."
Alex looked at her for a moment after replying. At first sight, Chika seemed like a nice person, or at least a polite one.
"Chika, since you're already here, could you do something for me?"
Chika turned around to face Vert with sparkling eyes in just a split second.
"Anything for you, Big sister!"
"Would you be kind enough to escort Alex to his room?"
"Of course, just leave it to me"
"What about you?" Asked Alex while looking at her
"Unfortunately, there are some important matters at hand for me to deal with at the moment, so we'll have to postpone your tour around Leanbox until tomorrow"
"Oh, okay…"
"Come on, now... I'll take you to your room"
Kenji nodded and followed Chika out of the room and through the hallways. During the walk, Chika seemed somewhat bothered. She probably hoped to spend time with Vert rather than having to escort Alex around, but Leanbox's CPU probably had large amounts of work to do, and judging by the way she spoke about it, it was probably something very important as well.
'…I guess being a goddess isn't that easy.'
After a few minutes, they finally stopped in front of a door. Chika then turned around and looked at Alex
"Here it is"
Once the oracle opened the door, both of them walked into the room and looked around it. It was a spacious, elegant looking room with a dresser, a bookshelf, a wide double bed with white blankets and a small night table on the side with a white limestone top and a golden trim. There was also a wooden desk with an already set up desktop computer on it. Even from a distance, Alex could tell it was a high specs PC.
"If you excuse me, I have to go back to work" Said Chika as she headed towards the door, but not before looking at him one more time "But If there's anything you need, feel free to call for one of the maids"
After she left, Alex turned around and looked at the now closed door for a moment or two before turning around again and looking at his room. He then walked around it for a bit to get more used to what would be his personal space for the next two weeks.
"It's still early…" He said to himself while looking out the window and seeing it was still early in the afternoon "…Guess I'll try killing some time. After all, since I won't tour Leanbox until tomorrow, I'll use today to hunt down the emeralds."
Not knowing anything about the streets of Leanbox yet, Alex simply chose to stay inside and relax. He then took out his mobile device and played some games on it while lying on the bed for the rest of the day.
Later That Night
Alex opened his eyes and saw he was in a dark room. As he slowly sat up and looked around him, he was able to discern the space around him as his room in Leanbox.
'A dream...Must have dozed off at some point.' Thought Alex while lowering his head and placing his left hand over his face.
As he regained a better grasp of his consciousnes, he sat on the edge of the bed, got up from it and walked towards the window to look through it. Judging by the moon and the stars, It wa most likely past midnight, perhaps somewhere around 1:00 to 2:00 AM
It was a curious thing, really. Despite this being another world, things such as the moon and constellations were incredibly similar, if not exactly the same. His mind almost got lost in the that starry sight before snapped out of it, turned around and picked up his portable device from the bed to look at the exact hour. It was 1:47 AM.
Alex didn't really feel like going to sleep again, so he left his room and went for a walk around the mansion. There probably wasn't anything to do at this hour, but Alex simply wanted to move around and clear up his mind a bit. As he walked around the mansion's hallways with the sound of his footsteps as the only thing he could her, Alex's mind began to wander. Until.
"Focus on the enemy ahead of you!"
Alex's train of thought was suddenly cut short by a loud voice. By turning his head around, he noticed the voice was coming from a room just a few feet head. And from that slightly opened door, he also noticed a light coming from within.
"Hold on for as long as you can, reinforcements are on their way!"
After hearing the voice again, he realized it was Vert's voice. And it sure didn't sound like she was doing paperwork.
'What is she doing awake at this time of the night?'
Out of curiosity, Alex approached the door and slowly opened it to peek inside. He then saw Vert sitting in front of her PC. She was wearing headphones and was completely focused on the three monitors in front of her. At first it was hard to discern due to the brightness, but after his eyes got used to it, he saw the images showing on the monitors were a videogame.
"Cover the left flank! They're focusing on the left!"
Wanting to take a closer look, he entered the room and got a little closer to her.
"Erm…hey..."
Vert didn't seem to hear him at first. She was completely focused on the game, pressing the buttons of her controller at frenetical speeds that only real pros could handle and only stopping to take a quick sip from a cup every few minutes or so. Alex assumed it was coffee, since she seemed completely awake despite the hour.
"Hey!"
"Eh?"
This time, Vert managed to notice his voice as she turned her head around and looked at Alex. She seemed slightly surprised by his sudden presence at first, but quickly took a more relaxed stance as she used one of her hands to cover the microphone to avoid her voice from being heard by the other players.
"Oh, Alex...Good afternoon"
"Actually, it's 2:00 AM"
"Oh my, is it still that early?"
"Early?"
"I thought I played all night and morning long, but I guess things have been going slow due to the raid" She said while looking down and seeming to be thoughtful about it
"A-anyway...What are you doing?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Asked Leanbox's CPU while loking at him again "I'm playing a game"
"I see..." He said while turning to look at the screen
It would be a lie to say Alex wasn't surprised about this. He didn't expect MMOs to exist in this world too. But then again, so far he had seen that many things from his world also existed on this one too.
"By the way, it's called Goddesses Online 2 and it's a very popular MMO that's was released just recently."
"Okay..."
Vert's explanation aside, though. There was one thing that kept scratching on the back of his brain. When did she start playing exactly?
She did say something about a raid just now, and from what he knew, things like those usually took hours or even an entire day.
"Wait...How long have you been playing?"
"Since Chika took you to your room"
"Wait, what about work?"
"Work? What are you talking about?"
"Didn't you tell me you had some work to do before sending me off with your oracle?"
"I never said I had work to do, just that I had important matters to attend to"
Alex looked at her and sweat dropped. On hindsight, she was right. Vert never said the word "work".
Vert suddenly turned her head to look at the game and panicked.
"Oh no! I forgot about healing!" She said while looking at the monitor and quickly picking up the controller with both hands.
Seeing she had gotten absorbed into the game once again, Alex simply walked out of Vert's room and headed back to his own but, before he did, Vert had called him out. "Alex, I'm sorry for asking you this out the blue, but I need your help with something."
Later
'So far, no Ancient Dragon. Vert did say it would appear so what's the hold on?' Alex had a pair of binoculars as he was spectating an open field in the middle of a large Leanbox forest.
The fact that Vert remembered this shocked Alex. Alex knew he had to accept since he needed to get on the CPU's good side so he wouldn't be a national menace again like before.
As he slowly got bored and drowsy, he heard a screech high in the sky as the wind started to blow heavier. He looked up and saw the Ancient Dragon come done from above. As it landed, it sent shockwaves through the forest as Alex exited his hiding spot.
He rushed at the dragon before immediately backing up as the dragon sliced Alex's arm as three bloody cuts were formed. He backed away and weaved hand signs. "Fire Style: Fire Style Jutsu!"
Alex blew the fireball at the dragon as it simply used it's wings to blow the flames away. "Dragon's smarter than I thought." He said to himself.
He then noticed something, odd. 'Are those, glowing green eyes?' Yes indeed, the dragon's eyes were glowing green. Alex had a idea on why.
"Chidori Senbon!" Alex had his left hand covered in electricity as he swiped in front of him as multiple needles went at the dragon.
The dragon dodged most of them but took hits to it's wings as the dragon fell down.
(Chidori Senbon is a lighting style technique that allows Alex to send multiple tiny needles at an enemy and wherever the needles hit, whether it be wings, head, legs, or arms, it paralyzes it's enemy targeted body part.)
"Now's my chance! Now wings means no defense you overgrown beast!" Alex shouted as he weaved hand signs again. "Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" Alex blew another Fire Ball at the dragon as it got it head on.
The dragon roared in pain as Alex had his set up. He charged at the dragon, hand covered in electricity again. "Chidori Sharp Spear!"
The electricity grew into a large lighting sized blade as Alex sliced the ancient dragon in two as it laid down defeated.
As Alex looked back at where the dragon laid dead, he noticed a green glow from the remains. As he looked closer, Alex gained a face of shock and relief.
It was the Green Chaos Emerald
Alex picked up and inspected it before sending it to Kamui's pocket dimension where he knew it be safe. 'One down. Six to go. My job here is done so might as well go back and inform Vert.' Alex turned to walk away.
Finally, he had collected an emerald.
Next Time: Calamity At The Performance(Leanbox II)