Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 28: Team Bonding
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- Arthas -
I got inside the tent with Rose while Kuroka offered to stay up for the first shift of the night as guard.
The forests were dangerous even near Llyne let alone something like this near Greenfrost which was a relatively high level area.
I did notice that the average level of enemies in this area wasn't that high, at least on the outskirts. But then again, we had spent most of our time hunting just that boss so we might not have encountered actually dangerous enemies.
Sir Ralph did say that there were actually T6 Bosses deeper in the jungle. It's just that we didn't have the intention of pushing our luck so far.
We could have tried our luck if the whole team was here but without that… no. I wasn't suicidal yet.
I looked at Rose who had set up a bed, basically a tanned leather sheet with a thick mattress made from the fur of the T5 Tiger Boss we had hunted.
Yes… I was very particular about my bedding. Sure I had adjusted in the first few months but… what's the point of adjusting when I had another option? Even my teammates knew of this and they just rolled their eyes but didn't deny that. The tiger was big enough to provide us all with mattresses. We even had two blankets for us.
Another strange thing I noticed was that… there were no sleeping bags in this world… or we hadn't encountered them yet. Not to mention the fact that I just couldn't sleep in a sleeping bag. I had tried it while camping with my parents but never got used to it.
I didn't want to test out if my virtual body was the same as my real body in regards to my dislike for sleeping bags.
Adventurers used leather tents as a roof, thick fur hides as beddings and blankets when on long trips.
Other than that, they prefer to travel light while hunting because unlike Players who had the convenience of an Inventory, they had to bring the loot back to the city on their own. And wasn't that a pain in the neck?
Just travelling through the forests can be exhausting so doing so while lugging a load of hundreds of kilograms… yeah, I didn't envy the NPCs.
Once more I realised how valuable the Swamp Swamp Fruit had been as it could store both living and non-living beings inside the user's body and that was on top of making the user invulnerable to physical attacks completely. No wonder the guy was so friendly to us and for the kingdom to offer a Noble Position for something like that.
Seriously, I will have to arrange a trip to Loguetown as soon as I can. There were just too many good opportunities left in One Piece areas.
The years I had spent after reincarnation had made many of my memories of my previous life hazy. I am pretty sure I have missed many opportunities for making references due to not remembering everything.
I don't know if it was my raised intelligence stats which had improved my memory to help me recall things or just me spending every moment of my free time trying to remember them.
Still, I had plenty of references from the more… famous anime and manga, One Piece being one of them.
I am just holding the trip off for now. I am just a bit hesitant because we don't know when the next World Quest might arrive and being anywhere away from the main team during such a time could be risky… extremely risky.
Rose and Bina's case was a terrifying memory reminding us to not be too overconfident.
I laid down on the bed and looked at Rose who was looking at me, looking slightly embarrassed again.
Ah… she must have remembered things from last night.
Understanding her embarrassment, I offered her my hand.
Her eyes widened as her face was dyed in red once more but she still took my hand and sat down beside me on the bed.
Next I just pulled at her hand slowly and she fell on top of me, letting out a yelp of surprise at the sudden move.
I however knew she was very nervous so I didn't make any more moves or push her to do anything either.
Veena was right to stop us from going all the way yesterday and while I won't say that I wasn't a little bit miffed at that time last night, later on, after thinking about it more, I came to understand her reasoning.
That's why I just took her in my arms, letting her head rest on my arm as I hugged her.
"You don't have to be nervous. I will never… ever do anything you don't want to." I whispered as I softly kissed her forehead.
After that, I just closed my eyes and laid there, trying to get some hours of sleep before our turn to guard.
Minutes later, I felt Rose relaxing in my arms and actually snuggled more into my chest, wrapping her arms around me.
The nights in the forests can be quite chilly but I wasn't feeling any of that right now.
…It must be the tiger fur.
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I was awakened by Kuroka's voice from outside the tent. Opening my eyes, I saw a head of white hair in front of me.
Rose was still wrapped around me just like the previous night.
I moved lightly so as to not disturb her sleep. Yesterday was a lot for her too. Let her sleep for an hour or two more.
And at that time I wanted to talk to Kuroka alone. I had asked her to wake me an hour before it was her shift's end to guard.
She was going to be joining our team and knowing more about her beyond just mere lines from a fictional book of my previous life was necessary.
I had come to realise that people in this world were quite different from the simple two dimensional characters I had known in the previous life. And it's not like the novels did a good job of concentrating on anything other than breasts.
Sure there were some similarities between them, but there were so many of their nuances that one can know only after knowing them more closely. Their likes, their dislikes, little details which truly differentiated someone from an acquaintance to a true friend or maybe even greater.
I quickly equipped my equipment and walked out of the tent.
Kuroka was just outside the tent and she raised an eye at the sight of Rose sleeping inside and then smirked at me, giving me a look of teasing.
Unfortunately for her… I have been dealing with Veena's Plus Ultra level teasing to fall for her adept level teasing.
So I just gave her my perfected eye roll and walked out, taking a seat near the fire.
"Let her sleep for a bit longer." I said as I brought out a mug and some water.
It was chilly outside and while I didn't feel uncomfortable due to my high level, I would never say no to some hot tea now.
"How much sugar do you like in your tea?" I asked as I added water to the mug and put it on top of the fire to boil.
Kuroka was quite smart and understood what I meant and sat down in front of me.
"This is quite a unique way of asking a girl out for tea… and that too with your girlfriend sleeping inside. My my, how naughty." She purred.
"Yes yes, very nice. Now… can we get real?" I asked, as I stroked the fire.
"Oho wanna get real so quick? Not even a proper date or tea first?" She purred, not giving up.
I just gave her a bland look. "Do you really want to keep up this act the whole time? That will not get us anywhere, you know?"
She became quiet, almost tense at this. It was as if she was ready to fight… no. no. She wasn't ready to fight. She was getting ready to flee.
I let out a sigh, bringing out two cups and pouring the tea in the cups. "Don't worry. I have no intention of fighting or harming you. I am just asking you to drop this… bad girl… hmm, that's not right. That one is more natural… ah, yes… this mean girl act of yours. It doesn't really work on everyone and only gets annoying for those who can identify it as such. Unfortunately Rose was actually fooled by that act… hah! And she was looking forward to having a friend too."
Rose really didn't have any friends her own age before meeting us and even then there was only Elaine… which wasn't that much.
She was actually quite expecting to have a friend of her own age like Kuroka.
I took a sip of the tea. "Hmm, a bit more sugar will do, I guess. How many for you?" I asked, looking at the dumbfounded girl who was staring back at me.
"What?"
"How much sugar?" I asked.
"Eh… two… two spoons of sugar." She replied, making me raise an eyebrow. "What? I like my drinks sweet." She protested.
I shrugged, adding two spoons of sugar in that cup.
…That's just sugar syrup at this point.
She took the tea in her hand and then let out a smirk. "So, what's this you want to talk about… this real me?"
"You are going to be a member of our team from now on and I would like to know more about you. What's it called?… Ah, yes, Team Bonding."
"Oh, then what do you want to ask me? My type, three sizes, favourite kind of food?"
"Hmm, let's start with a basic introduction, our likes, dislikes, dreams for the future and hobbies, I guess." I shrugged.
She just looked at me and then actually leaned on the rock behind her too and then spoke. "Umm, then why don't you start with an example."
I stared at the girl and nodded "I'm Kakashi Hatake. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes… My dreams for the future… Hmm… As for my hobbies… I have lots of hobbies…"
Congratulations Traveller.
You have discovered another secret!
Traveller.
A Special Title given to those who complete the Hidden Quests, Man of Culture.
+25 to all stats.
+50% to Exp Gained.
Note: The Effect of the Title can be enhanced the more secrets the Traveller discovers in the world.
Reward: Skill: Thousand Years of Death
"...what?"
I burst out laughing both at the reward and Kuroka's reaction. "I am sorry I couldn't help but mess around. Now you understand how it feels being on the wrong side of insincere conversation partners. So, let's avoid that in future, alright?"
Fucking Hell!
Thousand Years of Death!
What the hell?
I checked the description of the list and my face blanched.
Thousand Years of Death [Level 1/50][Exp.: 0/1000]
A Skill used by famous ninjas including the Sixth and Seventh Hokages, the Thousand Years of Death ignores the defence of the enemy and knocks them away a great distance from the shock of the attack, stunning them.
Damage: 500% Attack Damage. 5 metres knockback distance. 5 Seconds of Stun Time.
Increases the Damage by 10%, knockback distance by .1m every level and Stun Time by 1 Second every 5 levels.
That's… fucking broken.
Especially that freaking Stun Time.
At max level, wouldn't that keep someone stunned for 15 Seconds?
There is a freaking Defence Ignore for the Skill too.
But… ughh… I wouldn't be able to show my face in public if I used that skill in front of anyone. It was basically a one way ticket to Social Death.
How was that a reward, dammit? It was a blatant trap.