5 June 2023
Kesoko, 32nd Floor
"You said you were fast, Fuyuko-san, but it seems I'm way ahead!"
"Wait up, Rakuno-san! I can't see you!"
Only the trees were between the 2 of them as they travelled through the forest north of the village of Kesoko. Rakuno rushed pass them, with seemingly no end in sight in front of her.
It was her fourth day into the newly discovered Kesoko campaign quest, and she was already loving every single thing about it. From the tori gate entrance to the villagers who lived here, she embraced them all, though it wasn't just only the traditional Japanese vibe that reeled her in.
Her NPC companion, Fuyuko, was apparently her guide for showing her around the village, which had a circular area surrounded by forests, which in turn was bordered by tall stone walls which was wrapped around them in a circle.
That was the extent of where Rakuno could move around in what she had recognized as an instance, an area which was dedicated to the campaign quest itself. Unlike the Elf War campaign, which uses the 3rd to 10th Floors as its questing grounds, the Kesoko campaign quest was the only one of its kind to have its dedicated questing ground, where no other player other than the quest taker can be here.
Rakuno soon spotted a HP gauge moving about in the distance. Instinctively reaching for her katana at her left waist with her right arm, she drew the curved sword with a bit of the blade showing from its sheathe, while still running towards the now visible enemy monster, a demon with an appearance that was indescribable.
In such a dim environment where the trees block even the sunlight that tried to penetrate through, just assuming that the demon was big was enough for Rakuno to size it up. She only needed to find the center point of whatever body shape that the demon had in order to kill it.
Her katana glowed yellow, as she pushed herself forth in a strong step in front of the demon with concentration. The katana swung out in a flash, as she appeared behind the demon a moment later.
[Zekku], the 1-hit Katana skill. It's the most basic skill in the Katana skill tree, but due to its ease of use, it's the best skill to use against enemy monsters who are usually alone, sometimes slicing them to death in the process.
That was what happened to the demon, as it shattered into fragments as Rakuno slid her katana back into its sheathe, before resuming her run. Behind her, a figure darted through the branches of the trees, closing the gap to the swordswoman.
Light finally shone through the trees in the distance, as Rakuno made a dash for it. As she immersed herself out in sunlight, a kunai knife flew from behind, and struck at her left thigh. A burst of weight pulled at Rakuno's thigh, as she started to hobble onto her right leg, almost falling head first forward.
The figure shot out from the dark woods, revealing a girl in traditional lightweight clothes, akin to a ninja's. A long scarf was wrapped around her neck, reaching down to her knees. Her white hair reflected brightly at the sun above.
She was spinning a kunai in her hand, as she stared down at Rakuno, who was on all fours trying to deal with her left leg. The spot where the thrown kunai had hit was now covered with ice, stretching down to her knee.
Rakuno looked back at the girl, an awkward smile plastered on her face.
"Guess you would have won again, Fuyuko-san."
"This is patrol duty, not a race!" Fuyuko crossed her arms. "I already saw a bunch of demons while I was needlessly chasing you!"
For an NPC, the way that Fuyuko makes sure that Rakuno completes this quest was really creative, in a sense.
She was a Gift Wielder, a villager of Kesoko born with the innate ability of the Weapon Gift, which allows her to infuse special powers into weapons temporarily. Since the kunai knife was the only weapon that can channel and store Gift energy provided by her Weapon Gift best, she only uses them in combat.
In her case, her Weapon Gift allows her to freeze whoever she hits with her Gift-powered kunai, with the ice created from the kunai continuing to cover the target slowly. This either slows down or makes targets fall due to the sheer weight of the ice that the kunai can make on impact.
Despite this, Rakuno had noticed that Fuyuko's Weapon Gift actually never dealt damage to her targets. She just freezes them, and that's all there is to it.
Fuyuko reached for the kunai stuck in the ice, pulling it out. "It'll melt off soon, especially under the sun. Once you're back in shape again, we'll---"
"Hey Fuyuko-san, is that a shrine?" Rakuno pointed ahead.
Not far ahead was a row of tori gates, which led to a simple Japanese shrine standing at the edge of the giant circular wall.
"That's.....the Northern Shrine!" Fuyuko said. "To think you'd reach the edge of the world!"
"Um, the outside world's probably behind that." Rakuno sighed as she got up. "Didn't I tell you that there's a world way bigger than yours?"
Her pointed hat, which was what a witch would wear, shielded her face from the sun. The heat was especially sweltering at this point of time, but her clothes, which was her usual cowgirl look complete with her short skirt, was light enough for her not to start sweating buckets.
"Anyway, that's a shrine that you people have built, isn't it?"
"Yes," Fuyuko replied. "That's one of the four Great Shrines of Kesoko."
"...So you say." Rakuno mumbled, staring at the shrine.
She had expected some form of shrine to be there when she first arrived at central Kesoko, considering the vibe and culture she had experienced here. Never did she expect a shrine located at the edge of the so-called giant circular pit that made up this world.
"I was planning to take you here since we're patrolling the North Region today, but it shouldn't be this early..." Fuyuko became a little flustered.
"It's fine," Rakuno showed her cheerful smile. "Let's visit the shrine first. I'm sure you'd want to pray here as well. The demons can wait."
As Rakuno walked to the shrine, a brief scream jolted her to look back.
"EHH?!!"
Fuyuko stood with her mouth hung open. It seemed that she was more shocked than Rakuno was.
"How did you know that you have to pray here?"
It was an unprecedented development that even Rakuno hadn't noticed that she made. The idea of praying at a shrine came naturally to her, and has been an unconscious tendency for her ever since her father brought her to the Shinto shrine nearest to her home every week.
Ever since the SAO death game started, the weekly habit of visiting that shrine had since never crossed Rakuno's mind. She had entirely forgotten about it.
Until now, when she had found another shrine in front of her, albeit it being in another world.
"So you think that outsiders don't know about shrines, Fuyuko-san?" Rakuno asked.
"....."
"That was rhetorical. Of course you would think that."
Rakuno walked through the row of tori gates, as Fuyuko followed with still a bit of astonishment on her face. The katana user paused for a while, bowing lightly before continuing her stroll.
The shrine was like any other shrine in the real world, though it was simplified to the point that it only had a single building, with the rest of the area around it bordered in by walls loosely made of stone.
In front of the building was a long rope hanging down, with a rectangular-shaped box placed a few centimetres under it. The rope had a bell attached to its end, hanging so still that it wouldn't make a single ring.
Rakuno stopped in front of the box, as a system window popped out in front of her.
'Would you like to donate 100 col?'
She instinctively touched the blue circle button. The window disappeared, and in its place a single coin popped out from thin air, landing onto her palm. Placing the coin on her thumb, Rakuno aimed it at the box, which had silts wide enough to spot the bottom.
Flicking the coin, Rakuno watched as it clattered before sliding through the silts. After hearing the coin hit the bottom, she reached for the rope.
She knew exactly what to do, despite never doing it for real for the past few months. The ringing of the bell, followed by 2 bows, 2 claps, and another bow at the end. As she started the prayer, Fuyuko watched silently from behind with disbelief.
As far as she was concerned, she knew that Rakuno was starting the prayer off in exactly the same way that her people had done.
As Rakuno started to clap, Fuyuko suddenly spoke, as if she was supposed to say something but forgot to.
"If you clap during the prayer, you'll summon--"
Clap. Clap.
The sounds echoed throughout the shrine. Rakuno's hands were touched together, as she bowed her head towards them. As she turned back up, light manifested where the rope was, covering it up with its brightness.
A humanoid figure soon appeared, as if consuming the light as if revealing something from nowhere. It had the features of a fox, though it was wearing a loose kimono. 4 bushy tails, 2 on each side, were behind the figure.
Rakuno had reached for her katana by instinct when the figure appeared before her, but stopped herself right after. It didn't look like a boss that a player would fight, especially in a sacred place. Furthermore, it didn't have any HP gauges at all.
"...An Immortal Object?" Rakuno pondered as she watched in wonder.
"...Inakuri-sama, Deity of the Weapon Gift." Fuyuko finished off her cut off sentence, before putting her hands together in a prayer and bowing.
"She appears every time a prayer has been done in this shrine. It is her duty to see to a prayer's request for a gift, and fulfill it."
If not for the NPC automatically explaining who the figure was, Rakuno would have asked about it anyway. She stared at the floating figure for a while, dazed at the sudden event that took place.
"A kitsune (fox) deity, huh..."
She remembered being taught about a similar Shinto deity in the real world, which also had a similar name. Sure, it wasn't that one, but the resemblance was almost uncanny.
"You said that Inakuri-sama is the Deity of the Weapon Gift, isn't it?" Rakuno turned back at Fuyuko, who had just finished her bow.
"We believe that when one of my people is born, Inakuri-sama decides if he or she is worthy of receiving the Weapon Gift." Fuyuko explained. "That is how we Gift Wielders are created."
Rakuno then noticed that the kunai that Fuyuko was holding was enveloped with a light blue aura continuously.
"It's reacting to her, isn't it?" She pointed at it.
"This always happens whenever I am in the presence of Inakuri-sama," Fuyuko replied. "It's the same for the other Gift Wielders as well."
"I see.....so what gift will I receive from Inakuri-sama?"
"The most common ones are blessings that will help you in battle, but there are others as well."
Rakuno turned back to the fox deity, which was floating without a word. Surely this deity could be considered an Immortal Object by the system, only appearing on a certain condition. Rakuno lifted her pointed hat to get a better look at it.
The idea of deities appearing after prayers seemed like pipe wish, at least for her. This would never happen in the real world, no matter how much she would bow in front of the hanging bell.
She touched her chin as she pondered. "Well, if I were to choose a gift....."
"Inakuri-sama!" Fuyuko's sudden shout rang out, as she reached out at Rakuno.
Rakuno turned back to Inakuri, but before she could react, the deity was right at her face. A while later, the space around her twisted around unnaturally, before a flash of light blinded everywhere else.
By the time Rakuno could see again, her vision turned into something like she would see in a dream; the edges around her vision were blurred, and only the center was clear enough.
She couldn't feel any sensation in her body, but yet she felt calm about it. It was as if she was looking through the eyes of another person, as the view turned about actively.
Despite that, she couldn't pinpoint where she was. Everywhere around her was chaos; people running around, buildings ravaged to the ground. She could recognize the ninjas running past her, all of them heading for a single direction.
The view turned to where they were heading. If Rakuno could gasp, she would have done so with extreme shock and fluster.
In the distance were a bunch of demons emerging from the forest. The ninjas were engaging them in combat. In a split second, the view burst in speed, moving closer towards the demons. A shrill battle cry could be heard, as a katana appeared from the right side of the view, swung at the demon right in front.
It was Rakuno's own katana. It was definitely hers, but it was not the only thing that Rakuno had realized.
The katana was held with ONLY the right arm.
'Isn't the katana supposed to be wielded with both arms? Then what am I holding with my other arm?'
That was Rakuno's thought process, as she saw everything play out in the view. As the demon fell back, the view burst forth towards the demon again, as something blurred came from the left side, striking the demon right through.
The view blinded itself with light, as everything became white once more.
Rakuno's vision cleared up again. The view now showed an entirely different place which she had never seen before. Everywhere else was blurred out.
As the view turned about, Rakuno could make out figures around her, despite them being blurred to unrecognition. The view moved through the blurred figures, before apparently revealing the only clear figures standing ahead.
Rakuno couldn't believe what she was seeing.
'The Lightning Flash.....and The Black Swordsman...?'
Those were the only names she could think of to call them. She never knew their usernames, but knowing them by those titles were enough to find herself dumbfounded.
Especially The Black Swordsman. Especially him.
That moment was when the view was cut off, as a flash of blinding light engulfed Rakuno's vision.
"--kuno-san! Rakuno-san!"
Rakuno's eyes flipped open. The sky was all she could see, until Fuyuko's face moved into her vision, sounding worried and concerned.
She tried to rise from the ground, as Fuyuko watched. Only managing to rise enough to sit on the ground, the swordswoman stared at the building right in front of her. The fox deity was nowhere to be seen.
She was back in the shrine. Her pointed hat was sitting on her lap, revealing her greyish-white hair.
"...What happened?" Rakuno asked with a dazed expression.
"It must have been a foresight." Fuyuko replied. "Inakuri-sama possessed you to allow you to foresee events that might happen. It is her gift to you."
"Foresight? As in, to see the future?" Rakuno turned to the NPC.
She put on her hat, before trying to stand up. As she stood, she instantly drew out her katana, and held it in front of her. Both of her hands were holding its handle, neither of them not budging from their grips.
She tried to pry her left hand away from its grip, but it didn't move, let alone come loose. That was normal, since the katana was considered a two-handed weapon by the system. She can't just swing about a katana with only one arm while it is equipped.
"Um, Rakuno-san," Fuyuko asked. "Are you possessed by Inakuri-sama again?"
"W-What? No, not any more."
"You were swinging your katana around when you were possessed. I didn't know what to do, so I had to hope that Inakuri-sama was treating you right."
"Oh...how was I holding it?"
"You were holding it with your right arm."
"My right arm.......ONLY my right arm?"
Fuyuko nodded at Rakuno's dumbfounded face.
".....Impossible." Rakuno muttered, as she slid her katana back into its sheathe.
She had never held her katana like that before. The first vision she had seen before she woke up also showed that. It seemed cool to hold it that way, but the system would never allow her to.
The rest of the stuff about the vision also bothered her. Was Kesoko going to have a war? Or was it being invaded? Either way, it involved the demons, and she had seemed to caught a glimpse of that.
There was also the second vision. It didn't seem to concern her entirely, but one thing was clear; if it was also about the future, she would also meet the players she had seen in the vision. It was hard to ignore those 2 players, since they were popular, albeit in different ways.
However, she had not met them personally before. It seemed not to make any sense for her to see them in the vision if it really showed the future. Heck, even the concept of seeing the future in virtual reality was also a questionable possibility.
Rakuno shook her head for a while, trying to clear her mind. It would waste much of her time pondering about all this she had just seen minutes before. She definitely wasn't one to even make an intelligent guess about what those visions meant.
Though, from the first vision, she had just thought of an idea that would change the village of Kesoko in the times to come.
"Fuyuko-san," Rakuno turned to the shinobi girl. "You should start using swords in combat."
"Eh? Why?" Fuyuko asked, perplexed by the sudden statement.
"I just realized it myself, but....." Rakuno rested her hand on her sheathed katana. "I've always landed the last hit on the demons whenever we hunt them. You've always helped me trap the demons in place with your Weapon Gift."
"However, when I leave for the outside world, you won't be able to kill them anymore. Your Weapon Gift never hurts them, and even if you used your kunai to stab them, you wouldn't even want to get close to those things. I'm concerned about that."
"I have the other Gift Wielders with me," Fuyuko said. "It's how it's always been, even become you came."
"That won't be enough, for Inakuri-sama has warned me about what's to come soon." Rakuno crossed her arms. "You and the others need to.....um.....level up. I mean, you guys need to.....how do I phrase that.....follow the Way of the Sword, or the Way of the Katana. That'll give you some form of fighting power."
She put her arm around Fuyuko, smiling as she did so. Fuyuko's face turned skeptical, as she gave a slight frown.
"What did Inakuri-sama show you?"
Rakuno kept smiling, though on the inside she tried to keep her worries in.
"Something that concerns the whole village. When we get back, I'll convince Master Ojisei to train you and the others on following the Way of the Sword. You'll thank me sooner or later!"
As the two headed back into the forest, Rakuno looked back at the shrine. It had returned to its serene atmosphere, the bell hung from the rope already as still as the air around it.
Feeling glad about visiting a place that resembled the real world, she turned back to the forest without a word, disappearing along with Fuyuko through the shade.
As complete tranquility fell in the shrine once more, the bell, as if alive, twitched a little. A clear sound echoed through the area, as a silhouette with the shape of a fox sat by it, looking through the row of tori gates in silence.
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