《Kurosukio Linked Souls》 Chapter 0: Dev Knight A low buzz hummed through the tidy almost pitch-black bedroom as the functionally blinding six-monitor set-up illuminated the figure lying sideways on their gaming chair like a bed. The figure swayed their chair left and right as she lazily held onto their computer''s mouse and clicked it every other second. (the girl is a super short teenaged-looking pale white-skinned human; she has knee-low scruffy pink hair with white swirl-like patterns all over her hair, rose pink eyes, and ring-shaped burn marks on her wrists and ankles)(she is wearing an oversized black t-shirt [with the text ("Gamer") on the front written in comic sans and a large chibi cat head image on the back of the t-shirt], black and white striped fur thigh-high socks) Dev Girl glared between the six characters with name tags over their heads standing in a grey grid-like skybox as various info cards floated around the characters. Dev Girl groaned whilst the characters'' clothing appeared and disappeared with every mouse click of the lax Dev Girl. (Chronia is a short kid-sized adult supreme seraph aytherkati [a genetically modified version of a race of super short humanoid creatures]; she has bushy pale lime hair with glowing teal stars with four angel wings all over her hair [her hair is tied to look like DNA with the end being tied together using a black diamond-shaped hairpin with four angel wings], pale lime and teal gradient eyes, her entire body short fuzzy pale lime fur with a pale teal fur belly, chest and inner thigh section, super pointy ears, has cat hands, paws, three large fluffy tails, six extra arms coming from her shoulder blades, and thick thighs.) (Chronia is wearing eight feline-shaped pitch black dragon scale gauntlets with smooth fingertips, pitch black fuzzy fur leggings, and feline-shaped pitch black reflective fur winter boots with dragon scale soles and armouring around the bottom side of the boots.) (Lolaita is a kid-sized child demonic-pacted kitsune [anthropromothised humanoid with kitsune features]; she has fluffy ankle-low green hair with two large metalic silver upward arched hair horns, golden eyes with a right black sclera, her entire body is covered in fuzzy pale white fur, two large kitsune ears with golden ear tips, and five large poofy kitsune tails with golden tail ends.) (Lolaita is wearing a regal golden string-fibre Egyptian dress with the front leg area not being covered, a pale cyan mini dress under the Egyptian dress, a golden chain belt with three different trinkets attached to it [a bronze eagle head with ruby eyes, a silver snake head with emerald eyes, and a golden kitsune head with sapphire eyes], white and cyan striped fur leggings, and bold silver eyeliner.) (Maxikrose is a tall young adult half-demon/half-angel; he has neatly slicked back scruffy black and white hair, a white left eye with black sclera and a black right eye with a dark rose pupil, super pale skin, and two large horns on the sides of his head [a black left one and a white right one].) (Maxikrose is wearing a black fedora with a white trim filled with tiny yellow stars, a black unbuttoned knee-low business jacket with different-sized white rings on the inside of the jacket, a silver buttonless business shirt, a glowing white tie with different-sized black rings all over it, black cotton trousers, and black tap dancing shoes.) (Onixuvia is a super tall and super busty adult female half-human/half-wolf; she has a mass of super spikey waist-low pure white and Persian green fifty-fifty gradient hair, reflective silver eyes with Persian green scleras, fair skin, two large wolf ears with one having half of it torn off, fuzzy pure white fur over his forearm, back and chest area and fuzzy Persian green fur over his waist, legs and feet, and a bushy three foot long Persian green wolf tail.) (Onixuvia is wearing white jormungandr (snake) leather bracelets with silver spikes around its equator [on her wrists, ankles, and a larger one on the end of her tail], knee-low open white jormungandr leather trench coat, black sunglasses) (Yokuza is a tall teen kitsune-pacted ice demon [a humanoid being made of snow with metalic golden scar-like magic tattoos all over his body]; he has long pale cyan hair with some of it tied behind his hair into a ponytail with a dark cyan cloth, glowing crystally ocean blue eyes, compact snow for skin, six large opaque black-coloured ice wings, and two small horns made of opaque black-coloured horns.) Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.(Yokuza is wearing a dark silver knight-themed samurai left shoulder armour with dark cyan trims, a full body from the neck down black plain jumpsuit, a dark grey fur fighting gi trousers with a dark cyan fur belt, a dark silver knight-themed samurai gauntlet with dark cyan trims, dark silver fur boots with dark cyan cuffs, and a dark cyan bandana wrapped around his head to cover his eyes.) (Zalroth is a Demon God Kitsune [he takes on the appearance of a young adult male, and his race and gender match what he appears as]; he has knee-low dark silver with glowing silver gradient ends, glowing pale cyan eyes with feline-shaped pupils and black scleras with multiple faint pale silver concentric rings around his right eye, faint tanned skin, and below his shoulders his arms are covered in golden ink with glowing cyan crack-like veins.) (Zalroth is wearing a skintight darksteel (black metal) threaded full body from the head down jumpsuit, baggy dark grey fur trousers with golden rings around the ankles, golden getas, a black scarf around his mouth, an odd-shaped golden sleeveless/hooded fur mage robe [the bottom half is normal, it has a bel-like fur protrusion around the waist area, with the chest section of the robe only being a wide stripe of golden running along wear''s spine which connects to the hood with a dark silver fur trim, and on the spine fur there is a slightly big hand-sized circular golden magnet with a heart insignia, a human-skull insignia, a circular twenty-four-hour clock insignia, a cluster of stars insignia, an open book insignia, and an overlapping 4D cubes insignia inscribed into the magnet in a circular pattern].) Dev Girl glared at the naked characters before she slowly and apprehensively right-clicked the show armour button; The character''s clothing returned, and Dev Girl stared at them as everything seemed to work before all the characters'' clothing turned pitch black. Dev Girl threw her arms in the air and melted into her chair like a hot mess as she mentally let out an anguished scream. "Why did a lighting error of all things have to pop up out of nowhere? All I did was add an extra spoon design, and a day before the scheduled update, no less," Dev Girl whined as she slammed her hand on her keyboard, causing the characters to jump in response. "Whatev... I''ll just remove the spoon and fix it later...," Dev Girl uttered before a cat-meowing notification emanated from the computer. Dev Girl sat up only to see the characters'' armours were fine now. Dev Girl glanced around the screen and readjusted her headphones before opening the action log. "Hid... dragon lord?". Dev Girl scrolled moved the mouse to the character screen, and unhided the character called dragon lord, which immediately made the characters'' armour glitch out again. "Wait... ....". Dev Girl zoomed the camera out from the characters before signing pessimistically upon seeing the large dragon. "I had them clipped inside a boss... what a mess, and the game too if I don''t get a move on," Dev Girl uttered as she glanced at the mail icon on her side taskbar. Dev girl opened her mail and saw the message to Annie. "Must be from Mum then," Annie remarked as she opened the message from no sender. "Looks like I''m not the only one experiencing bugs tonight," Annie remarked cheekily as she turned her focus to the message''s contents. As she read the message, Annie raised an eyebrow and leaned closer to the screen to double-check she read it right. ''Dear, Master Annie May'' ''Congratulations for winning a once in a life-changing prize'' ''Plz press button to proceed.'' [BUTTON] "Must be that spar thing I signed up for, but why did they have to call me Master-" Annie said jokingly before she noted something off about the message. Annie repeatedly blinked and rubbed her eyes before rereading the message to see the master in the message had been replaced with miss. "That''s weird... well, I''m not risking getting a computer virus," Annie remarked cockily as she swived on her chair. However, as she swivelled in her chair, Annie felt a tug on her head, and the realization she was still wearing headphones dawned on her. "Uh-oh," Annie managed to utter before her headphone slingshotted off her head and straight for one of her many monitors. Annie instinctively swung her arm out, caught the headphones and slammed them on her desk in one motion. Annie cockily smirked as she noted her reaction speed had improved. "Phew-". Annie heard confetti sound effects. She looked at her hand to see she had hit her mouse. Annie raised her head as the brightness of her monitors increased before an even brighter blinding flash of light erupted from her monitors. The monitors shut off leaving the bedroom in complete darkness and unoccupied. Chapter 1: Starting With Her Head In The Clouds "Urg... my head... getting flash banged by my own computer definitely not one of my worst moments, though," Annie murmured as she rested one of her arms over her eyes. Annie lowered her arm but recovered her eyes as the rays of the sun hit her face. "The sun''s too bright-" Annie uttered groggily. Annie paused mid-sentence as she felt the warmth of the sun bask on her before she swung up to a sitting position. Annie looked at her surroundings or more accurately, the lack of surroundings of the cloudly sky she found herself in. "Must''ve been knocked out from that flashbang....". Annie looked at the cloudy platform she sat upon and slightly squeezed it to feel its snow-like texture. Annie sighed and plucked a piece off of the cloud before placing it against her face. "As if, if this were my dream there''d be a ton of characters like Onixuvia... heheh," Annie remarked cheekily as she faintly blushed and giggled. Annie rubbed her legs as she felt a cold breeze blow past them, making them shiver. Annie swiftly slinked her legs towards her body before burying them in her oversized t-shirt. "Which means the only explanation for me being outside my room is that... that message isekaied me," Annie uttered as she placed her chin on the back of her hands. Annie took one extra glance at her surroundings before slinking her head into her t-shirt like a turtle. "Looks like I won''t meet the deadline now...," Annie mumbled as a light object booped her on the head. Annie slowly raised her head from her shirt and glared at the object as it landed on the cloudy terrain. The object was a hand-sized reflective pink swish roll-looking handbag with a single long white fur hangle and bold white swirls on each of its circular sides. Annie glanced upwards for any signs of the handbag''s origins, but all she managed to do was briefly blind herself when she looked at the cloud-covered sun. "Ow...," Annie uttered as she rubbed her eyes. After regaining her vision, Annie picked the handbag up and heard the jostling of objects within the handbag. "Odd... this looks just like the one my character I use for beta testing has," Annie muttered mentally as she eyed the handbag; she shrugged before popping it open and taking a peek inside. Inside the handbag sat six two cm thick solid gold playing cards, an azure-coloured three by three cm crystal square, pale golden-coloured shorts and panty, and a small figurine of a kid elf [the figurine has long spikey pale purple hair, glowing pale cyan eyes, slightly reflective tanned-looking skin, pointy ears, ball bearing joints, and a small hole in each of its hands], and small azure-coloured crystal marbles. "What an odd starter kit," Annie mentioned as she took the figurine out of her handbag. Annie raised the figurine''s hand and peered through the hole in it. "I wonder.". Annie said as she poked a pinky finger through the figurine''s hand hole. Annie reached into her handbag and took out the two azure-coloured marbles. Annie inserted the crystal marbles into the figurine''s hand-hole sockets. The figurine abruptly jolted, making Annie flinch slightly as a purple maid outfit and a purple headband with small goofy horns suddenly appeared on the figurine. The figurine sat up in Annie''s hand with a deadpan expression. "System on Unit Kai-TI operational," the figurine stated coldly as it turned to Annie. "Greetings, otherworlder, this unit takes it you are the boundwraith who awakened this unit?" Kai-TI asked with a cold tone. "I guess, yeah?" Annie uttered. Kai-TI bowed her head and hummed. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. "Very well, then this unit acknowledges Lady Swishroll as their master.". Annie jolted her head slightly back at being called a swish roll. "Swish roll?". Kai-TI mindlessly stared at Annie before the two tilted their heads to the side. "Is that not your name, master?". "Well... technically... but wait a sec, how did you know that anyway; there''s no way you could''ve guessed it," Annie said sulkily as she poked Kai-TI''s cheeks. "Unit read master''s status; master can see it by thinking of it appearing," Kai-TI explained. Annie nodded before she pictured an RPG status screen. A floating holographic rose-pink RPG screen appeared before Annie, and after taking a single look at her stats Annie pouted. [Swishroll][Level:0] [HP:0] [SOUL: NA] [ATK:0] [P-DEF:0] [M-DEF:0] [SPD:0] [C.RATE:0] [C.DMG:0] "Wow... I guess my name is the name I use for my characters now, and talk about trash stats. How can I even have no HP anyway?" Swishroll whined. "That''s because of an output error, given you haven''t used a Hystal yet, Master.". "And I get one of those by?". "It''s the azure crystal square in your possession, Master," Kai-TI stated as she pointed to Swishroll''s handbag. "Oh, that thing.". Swishroll raised an eyebrow as Kai-TI pointed straight at her face. "Something on my face?". Kai-TI shook her head as a strong gust of wind blew past the two kicking up their hair. "Wyvern''s here.". Swishroll widened her eyes as a low snarl reverbed behind her. "Huh?". Swishroll swung her head back before her face went even paler as she layed her eyes upon the towering wyvern. The wyvern loomed over Swishroll before it turned its nose at her and huffed at her. "He said he hates undignified people, Master.". "Oh...," Swishroll murmured as she lowered her head. Swishroll shot her eyes open and spun around to face the wyvern. "What do you mean undignified!". "He''s referring to you having the Comando title, Master," Kai-TI explained. Swishroll went to speak but didn''t and just puffed up her cheeks before a floating menu screen appeared. [Titles] [Game Dev] A person who makes games for a living. + Increases title holder''s ability to use tech-based magic by (%?)))% + + Anything crafted by the user can be later modified in a videogame-like manner + + The user can learn new skills by observing others + - User cannot use Hystal Cores or Korveins - [Comando] One who doesn''t wear pants. - User gets cold more easily - "Why is that even a title...?" Swishroll whined while Kai-TI struggled to pull the undergarments out from the inside of Swishroll''s handbag. Chapter 2: Arrival At The City of Xylolight With her handbag by her side. Swishroll sat atop the saddle on the wyvern''s back as it soared over the sea of clouds. Kai-TI sat inside Swishroll''s swish roll handbag as she held out the hystal core to Swishroll. "Use this hystal core to gain more functions of the menu system, Master," Kai-TI stated as she waved the hystal core at Swishroll. "Kai, you''ve said that like five times without mentioning the how part," Swishroll stated unamusedly. "Ah...," Kai-TI uttered as she placed the hystal core back in the handbag before she rubbed the back of her head. Swishroll stared at Kai-TI as the mini mannequine mindlessly stared back at her. "... ... wouldn''t this be the part where you''d give me an explanation?" Swishroll said lazily. Kai-TI glanced down at her hands before back up at Swishroll and shaking her head. "Unit is currently updating and syncing, access to the interface at this time; so automated response will be used. I dunno.". Swishroll sighed as she straightened out her shorts before re-covering them with her t-shirt. "What a pain...," Swishroll muttered as she looked over the side of the wyvern and down to the land below. Through the sparse holes in the sea of clouds, Swishroll could see a ruined cityscape overrun with various-coloured foliage and building-sized crystalline pattern-covered pale gold tree roots running through the cityscape. Swishroll placed a hand on her chin as she took in the state of the city. "That seems familiar... oh yeah, I made a dungeon crawler game with a massive golden tree as the dungeon when I was in high school," Swishroll remarked mentally before she booped her nose. "... now that I think about it, Kai-TI did mention an item from KLS. Yeah, hystal was the item I made to give players permission to access the game''s functions... but why are two things from different games I made here," Swishroll wondered as she felt the wyvern begin to descend through the sea of clouds. The wyvern broke through the cloud, leaving a ray of light behind it as it soared over the towering wall of large golden tree roots which divided the ruined cityscape from the space behind the wall. Swishroll turned her head to look at her surroundings, but the wyvern quickly dived into a dome-like hanger with a glass roof. "This place seems kinda like that dragon-raising game made by... Toto, I think?" Swishroll muttered in her mind as the wyvern landed on one of the unoccupied marble tile circles. The wyvern led down on the tile, and Swishroll climbed down to the floor as an older male elf (grey eyes, grey hair, darkened pale skin) in overalls and long gloves made of scales. "So, you found another straggler on your route did you, Kazelzoth?" the guy said as he head patted the smug wyvern. The wyvern tamer crouched down to match Swishroll''s eye level, causing Swishroll to glare at the guy. "You''re on thin ice buddy; it almost seemed like you think I''m a kid," Swishroll said aggressively in a snarky manner. The wyvern tamer flinched at Swishroll''s abrupt switch to aggression. "I see. My apologies... young lady?" the tamer said nervously as he half-heartedly smiled. Swishroll stared at the guy before taking a glance at his grey hair and faint traces of wrinkles. "Young lady''s fine, given you, yourself, seem to be a dignified and accommodating old timer," Swishroll stated as her expression lightened, and Kazelzoth rolled his eyes at Swishroll''s statement. The tamer rubbed the back of his head while thinking he''d take Swishroll''s words as a compliment. "Let''s just move on from the names, shall we?" the tamer requested before he stood up and gestured for Swishroll to follow him. Swishroll thanked Kazelzoth for the lift before following after the tamer, leaving Kazelzoth to amusedly huff to himself. "So, she does have some manners," Kazelzoth mentally remarked with a snarky tone as he closed his eyes to rest. The tamer brought Swishroll to the ring-shaped desk at the centre of the dome-shaped hanger. The tamer hopped over the desk and pushed the azure-coloured cube with a gold frame on its borders and glowing black inscriptions on its faces toward Swishroll. "Please put your... oh," the tamer uttered as he noticed only the very top of Swishroll''s head poking over the side of the desk. The tamer whistled as a floating four-by-four iron square with an engraving of a demonic eye at the centre and claws around the square''s borders appeared by his head for a brief second before it disappeared again. "What was that?" Swishroll asked as she stood up on the tips of her toes to barely raise her eyes over the side of the desk. "It''s just my Monster Tamer Korvein," the tamer stated. Swishroll nodded her head as a small wyvern flew over and placed a bar stool next to Swishroll before flying off. Swisholl scaled the bar stool and sat on top of it before she stared at the cube on the desk. "Please place your hand on the kyvieno conduit.". Swishroll did as the tamer requested, and the inscriptions on the conduit bounced to life. The inscriptions ripped themselves free of the conduit and floated above it before forming into three black RPG screens. Swishroll stared at her stats and info before sulking. [Swishroll][Level:0] [HP:0] [SOUL: NA] You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.[ATK:0] [P-DEF:0] [M-DEF:0] [SPD:0] [C.RATE:0] [C.DMG:0] [Titles] [None] [Class] [Hidden from setting set by kyvieno conduit''s owner] "Man... I can''t believe I lost both titles," Swishroll murmured as she placed her chin on the desk. The tamer waved his hands apologetically as he tried to get Swishroll''s attention. "You don''t need to be so glum... oh so you already have a kyvieno card?" the tamer asked with surprise. "A what?". "It''s a metal card shaped like a playing card," the tamer stated as he took out an iron two cm thick playing from his pocket overall. "Do they come in gold?" Swishroll asked as she reached into her handbag and grabbed one of the gold playing cards. "It wouldn''t surprise me, but the highest material anyone has ever gotten is a silver grade," the tamer remarked. Swishroll instantly dropped the card, making Kai-TI jump out of the way of it as it fell; however, Kai-Ti tripped over the hystal core, with it making a musical ding as it struck one of the gold cards. "Oh... I don''t have one then.". "Did you mistake something else for one?". "Yeah," Swishroll mumbled with a disappointed tone. Swishroll glared at the desk as she rubbed her forehead. "If my many hours of isekai indulging has taught me anything, people in my position are summoned with some kind of cheat... so maybe mine is having gold ranked powers? No... that doesn''t make any sense since he said it was just an ID," Swishroll uttered mentally as the tamer waved his hand in front of her face to get her attention. "If that''s the case, why don''t we get you one?". The tamer double-tapped the conduit, and the floating RPG screens funnelled into the conduit. The conduit blinked a few times before a rose pink kyvieno card popped out the top of the conduit. Swishroll removed the metal card from the conduit. "That''s a first." the tamer remarked. "What is?". "Turn the card around.". Swishroll flipped her card over and saw it had an engraving of a smug winking chibi version of her face which is surrounded by six dots. "Now that that''s dealt with, I''m sure you''re a little confused as to what''s going on correct?". Swishroll nodded as she held onto her kyvieno card. "Well, this is a branch of the Scale Carrier Company which I, Thetho, am the branch head of," Thetho stated as he pointed to the large insignia of a parsol surrounded by dark red dragon scales on the glass roof. Swishrool made a huh. "To clarify, we have a policy where our transporters pick up any stranded individuals, especially new boundwraith, during a delivery and whatnot," Thetho explained. "Oh....". "And boundwraith is the term to refer to people who can use hystal cores or Korveins," Thetho added, "Now normally, procedures would dictate charging you for the making or replacement of a card; but given you were stranded I''ll let you off with doing a delivery for me as payment; what do you say?". "Well, it''s not like I can refuse since I don''t have any money...," Swishroll uttered. "Yeah, I get that a lot, so I figured letting fellow boundwraith take on local delivery commissions; it''s a win for everyone, I can send more wyverns on other deliveries, boundwraith get some Olune, and people get their packages," Thetho explained. "Olune? Is that currency or like exp?" Swishroll asked. "Right, you wouldn''t know... it''s the currency one and exp is a separate thing," Thetho explained as he placed his fingers on his kyvieno card, and pulled out different-sized and coloured octagonal rings before placing them on his desk. [copper rings(one with no, one with an iron, one with a silver, and one with a gold border) with a three cm radius, a bronze ring with a four cm radius, an iron ring with a three cm radius, and a silver ring with a four cm radius] "Neat shape," Swishroll remarked as Thetho lined up the Olume rings before pointing at the complete copper one. "This is a copper Olume; do you care to guess how much it''s worth?" Thetho asked. "One?". "Right, then the one with iron on it is worth ten, the silver is twenty, and the gold fifty.". "Ok.". Thetho nodded before waving his hand over the remaining Olume rings. "The full bronze is worth one hundred, the full iron is worth one thousand, and the silver is one hundred thousand," Thetho explained before he swiped his kyvieno card over the coins to store them in it. "Got it is there anything else?" Swishroll stated as the sound of Kai-TI monotonously muttering and metalic rustling in the handbag could be heard. "Other than you can store them in your kyvieno card, there are two other coins: the gold one and the platinum one.". "I take it since you didn''t show me those they must be worth a bonkers amount, right?" Swishroll asked. Thetho awkwardly chuckled at Swishroll''s remark. "Bonkers is a way to put it; they''re worth so much it''s almost impractical for the average and normal folks given things are either reasonably priced or three years'' worth of pay," Thetho remarked jovially. "So, it''s the same here too, then," Swishroll mumbled as she recalled an item in a game being sold for three million of a currency in the shape of a V with two dashes at the top of its ends. "Yeah, but it''s a little better here given the overpriced stuff isn''t something dumb like a digital token or whatever the last new boundwraith was going on about," Thetho grumbled as he rubbed the back of his head. Thetho sighed as he returned his focus to Swishroll. "Besides that, do you have any other questions before you do the delivery for me?". Swishroll placed a hand on her chin and closed her eyes as she mulled over what else to ask Thetho. Chapter 3: Escort Commission of The Non-Person Kind "Do you know how to use those hystal core things?" Swishroll asked as she sprung to her feet and stood on the bar stool. Thetho widened his eyes slightly at hearing Swishroll mention a hystal core. "Oh, so you have one?". Swishroll nodded and opened her handbag before rummaging through it. "That would explain your stats; but, how odd, normally people who are brought to this world come with it already-". Thetho was cut off mid-sentence by Swishroll''s abrupt outburst, with her head practically halfway in her handbag, along with her shout catching the surrounding bystanders'' attention for a brief moment. "What do you mean it just disappeared?!" Swishroll shouted as she stared straight at the unphased Kai-TI. "One minute it was here then the next it wasn''t," Kai-TI stated coldly as she sat atop the glowing gold playing card with a chibi kitsune engraving with an uncountable amount of large tails on it. Swishroll groaned as she pulled her head out from her handbag. "Is something wrong, Swishroll?". "It''s gone....". "Oh... well don''t fret over it. Although they''re rare, people without an active one have a higher chance of obtaining them or so I''ve heard; so, you could use not having one to your advantage to get quite a few and live quite a laid-back life given how well they sell," Thetho said while Swishroll sulked. "Can you just tell me how to use it if I come across one again?" Swishroll uttered with half her soul pitifully leaking out her mouth. Thetho''s ears drooped a little at Swishroll''s half-hearted state. "Certainly, all you need to do is place it into your kyvieno card and then you''ll be able to equip all manners of Korveins like my Monster Tamer one you saw earlier.". Swishroll nodded as she grumbled about when she could start that delivery commission. A few minutes later, Swishroll stepped out of the large dome-shaped hanger as the glass sliding door behind her closed. Swishroll sighed as she looked at the letter in her hand "At least he gave me an easy one since he felt bad for me.". Swishroll strolled over to the fence-like barrier at the end of the ring-shaped platform around the dome-hanger which sat atop a large goldish tree. Swishroll peered at the large city within the confines of the towering wall of large golden tree roots; above a large flowing river covered by a glass-looking floor, the city was a perfect blend of a rainforest and modern-esque architecture. Swishroll glanced around one last time and noticed the tree-like golden lampposts around the city spring to life with a pale yellow light. She peered up at the orange part of the sky slowly creeping over the blue parts of the sky. "I guess it''s getting late...now which way is the place anyway?". On queue, Kai-TI poked her head out from Swishroll''s handbag. "Master, my basic mapping functions have synced up so I can give directions.". "Oh... good," Swishroll said with a tinge of relief. A few minutes later, Swishroll stood by the railing of a peer-like walkway which overlooked a section of the glass material-covered river. Swishroll glanced around and even over the railing before she sighed as Kai-TI glanced around with her head poking out the top of the handbag. "Are you sure this is the right place?" Swishroll asked unamusedly as she continued to look around with a perplexed stare while the sound of a chattering crowd could be heard from below. "Unit''s navigation software states you are at the correct X and Y coordinates, Master," Kai-TI stated before she slunk back into Swishroll''s handbag. "Man...," Swishroll uttered as she rubbed the back of her head, and a set of light footsteps approached. "You lost or something?" a feminine slightly high-pitched voice asked from behind Swishroll. Swishroll turned around before locking eyes with the person who was miraculously the same height as her. (the girl is a feline oni[basically an anthro humanoid cat with one horn]; she has slightly pointy cat ears, a black cat nose and six cat whiskers, a super long cat tail, cat paws and feet, fuzzy pale purple fur all over her body, super pale elbow-low fluffy chestnut hair with pure white ends, pale violet eyes with black scleras, a thin blade-like light pink horn on her forehead, flat chest, and slightly thick thighs) Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.(She is wearing an open black fluffy hoodie with various colour-changing squares around the lower half of her hoodie, a football-sized black ball of fur on the end of her tail, and black cat-paw-shaped fur slippers) The duo silently stared at each other before taking a step towards each other and wrapping their arms around one another in a strong hug. "A fellow shorty!" the two cried out. As the two hugged, their faces started to turn slightly red; Swishroll from feeling the slightly lean muscles and toned body of the oni under her fur, and the oni from feeling how soft Swishroll''s body was and the overpoweringly sweet aroma of her hair. The two continued to awkwardly hug in silence before Kai-TI poked her head out from Swishroll''s handbag. "Is unit included in this short people hug?". Kai-TI''s words seemed to snap the duo out of their nerve-racked states and quickly broke the hug, with the abrupt movement causing Kai-TI to fall back into the bag. "Ahem... name''s Lynnzi... Sakimontio," Lynnzi murmured as she rubbed her face to remove her blush as much as possible. "Oh... I''m... Swishroll," Swishroll muttered half-heartedly. "That''s a nice name," Lynnzi said with a poker face while internally screaming about Swishroll having the name of her favourite food. Lynnzi blankly stared at Swishroll before she looked to her side and strongly exhaled from her nose hard enough to make a little blood come out. "Heh, you must have thought of something inappropriate just now didn''t you," Swishroll remarked cheekily, causing Lynnzi to flinch. "Pardon?" Lynnzi said with a stoic tone and expression, making sure not to show even a hint of her embarrassment. "Kidding, I was just trying to alleviate the awkward air with a joke," Swishroll blurted out as she waved her hands. "Oh... must be a culture difference then.". "You could say that.". "But back on to my original question, do you happen to be lost?" Lynnzi asked. "Sort of... I was looking for a shop called Golden Bear Bakery," Swishroll explained as she held the letter in her hand. Lynnzi tilted her head to the side before glancing to the railing overlooking the glass floor-covered river far below. "You mean that one?" Lynnzi asked as she pointed over the railing. Swishroll hurried over to the railing and glanced over to see the marble platform protruding from the wall. Swishroll followed Lynnzi''s hand and spotted the golden bear-themed bakery along the path below. "Oh...," Swishroll uttered as Lynnzi said she''d show her the way to the bakery. As the sun was close to setting, Swishroll walked out of the Scale Carriers Company''s Xylolight branch building. She stared at the bag of Olume rings in her hand before sighing and placing it in her swish roll handbag. Swishroll glanced up at the S.C.C. insignia above the sliding glass door. "I feel like he gave me more than the commission...," Swishroll murmured as Lynnzi balanced on the nearby railing. "Yeah, he''s a big old softy for those in need, a bit too much if you ask me," Lynnzi remarked as she hopped off the railing, "Sooo...?". "Soo?" Swishroll muttered in response. "What do you plan to do now?" Lynnzi asked cheerfully. Swishroll placed a hand on her chin before half-heartedly shrugging. Lynnzi amusedly and half-heartedly shook her head as she placed her hand on her hips. "Well, if you don''t have anything planned, why don''t you try applying for Heliodawn Academy?" Lynnzi offered. Swishroll amusedly swayed her head from side to side as she thought it was funny Lynnzi''s first suggestion was an academy of all things. "And let me guess, this academy is where people learn how to safely explore monster-infested places?" Swishroll remarked jokingly. "... I''m surprised you know that," Lynnzi remarked in surprise, leaving Swishroll to half-heartedly giggle. "It''s pretty obvious isn''t it?". "I suppose so.". As the duo continued their conversation, a sudden screeching alarm bellowed through Xylolight causing all the residents to rush into the nearest buildings. Swishroll swung her head around before she felt Lynnzi grab her wrist. "We need to get inside!" Lynnzi exclaimed frantically before a hallowing howl drummed through the air. Lynnzi rushed off, pulling Swishroll behind her towards the Scale Carriers Company branch''s entrance. "Why what''s attacking?" Swishroll blurted out. "Don''t know, don''t car-". Lynnzi abruptly crawled to a stop before a large reptile-like bone-armoured monster with winged arms landed on the wall above the S.C.C. branch building''s entrance. "A Crizeal Crawler!" Swishroll mindlessly blurted out, making Lynnzi turn her head at her. "Wait, how do you know what it is?" Lynnzi asked in astonishment before she sensed the crizeal crawler raring to attack. Lynnzi glanced to her side as the crizeal crawler lunged at the duo. Chapter 4: Of Ink And Dread A booming magical ching rippled through the air, kicking up a mini shockwave which blasted past the two short girls and knocked them on their butts. Swishroll rubbed the base of her spine and tailbone while Kai-TI was thrown about inside Swishroll''s bag. Lynnzi caressed her face in frustration as she brushed the dust and small debris off her face. "Talk about a small fry; I won''t even need to use Skill Silencer," a cocky male voice remarked as the crizeal crawler savagely clawed at the rim of the large golden ring. With each strike from the crizeal crawler, small amounts of viscous golden ink oozed from the golden ring as the glowing golden humanoid held a hand out to the ring. The silhouette vigorously clasped his raised hand, crushing the air between his grip with enough force it shot compressed air between his fingers and blasted the golden veil off his hand. The golden energy unwrapped from the silhouette''s body revealing the golding ink and glowing cyan crack-like veins perpetually covering his arms from his fingers up to just below his shoulders. As the rest of the energy flaked off his faintly tanned body, the humanoid reeled a fist back and tensed up his muscles before hurling a wind-whistling punch and clocking the crizeal crawler. With a crunchy cracking noise and the golden ring shattering, the crizeal''s crawler''s snout crumpled like soggy paper from the force of the punch. The crizeal crawler went flying across the balcony before slamming into a wall and bursting into smoke. While Lynnzi sat in a daze with her mouth agape, Swishrool watched the figure standing in front of her in existential awe, taking in the figure''s figure as he seemed freakishly familiar. The sway of his perfectly designed robes flowed with the wind, the ripple effect of his inky arms, and the cocky way he held himself created a comforting inch in the back of Swishroll''s brain as she gazed at the guy. The familiarity in her mind only exploded into a revelation as the figure turned to face her. "Z-Zalrotho?" Swishroll squeaked out, cracking her voice over every letter of the name belonging to the very Godly Guardian she had been working on moments prior to her sudden isekai incident. With the puzzled and bewildered look on Swishroll''s face, Zalrotho tilted his head to the side in a robotic manner whilst having an eerily soulless grin and blankly stared at Swishroll. "What''s with that look, Creator?" Zalrotho asked cheerfully. Swishroll moved her mouth to speak but no words came out as the speakers around the city sprung to life. "Attention citizens, an outbreak of crizeal crawlers has escaped from Xylolight''s Infinity Dungeon entrances; anyone near these areas, management requests that you remain indoors until the dungeon delvers have dealt with the outbreak," the announcer over the citywide speaker system explained. Zalrotho raised his head and inhaled deeply as he took in the faint clash of claws in the distance, filling him with a distorted sense of glee and Swishroll with embarrassed dread of what was to come. "Ahh~ this glorious sensation, the boiling of the ink of my body as my form turns from mere code to-.". "Oi, less barely hidden villain dialogue and more dealing with the outbreak," Swishroll grumbled poutfully, her tone carrying a motherly stern tune which made Zalrotho instinctually drop his head. With his grin still firmly on his face, Zalrotho gracefully offered a bow to Swishroll, deeming the task as good as done before he turned into a blur in Swishroll''s vision as he threw himself over the railing, kicking up a small gust of wind to mess up Swishroll''s already messy hair. Swishroll briefly stared at the spot previously hosting Zalrotho, sitting in place as the true impact of her situation only now hit her after being put face to face with a character of her own creation; despite that, there was only one thing on her mind. As her face turned red, Swishroll slapped her face in a vain attempt to hide her embarrassment. "Why did I have to give him all that flavour text?" Swishroll meekly uttered, her voice seeping with regret. She continued to press her hands into her face, smushing it in a vain attempt to save herself from the embarrassment-fueled death looming over her. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. "Why do the hot ones always have a few screws loose...," Lynnzi whined cheekily as she pressed her knuckles into her temples to burn the image of Zalrotho into her brain. Swishroll slumped forward, the out-of-the-blue remark from Lynnzi filling her with confliction as her mind warred between feeling proud someone found her character attractive or wanting to crawl into a hole and die for the very same reason. As the two remained lost in their respective mental worlds, the blaring alarm from the city speakers system abruptly cut out, catching the duo''s attention as the silence snapped their daydreams short. "A-attention citizens, it appears the outbreak has been quelled; although, the team responsible for felling the crizeal''s crawlers wasn''t able to be identified, so if you wish to receive the outbreak reward could one of your team members come to the Dungeon Hub?" a shaky female voice stuttered over the speaker system. "It''s going to be hard to find the team when the task wasn''t done by one," Swishroll muttered as she felt the cold touch of a metal object against her cheek. "You dropped this, Master," Kai-TI stated whilst poking Swishroll''s kyvieno card into Swishroll''s face. Swishroll sighed and received her kyvieno card from Kai-TI, her eyes widening slightly as something about her card stood out to her. She brought the card to her face, the sheen from the sun and the refraction of light off the card hitting her face, making the difference on the card a slight struggle to figure out. But despite the obstruction, Swishroll couldn''t see anything clearly but the same chibi kitsune engraving, like on one of the golden cards, but smaller had taken one of the places from the previous six dots on her card. "... I see...," Swishroll uttered as she reached into her handbag and rummaged through its contents before pulling out the golden card with the chibi kitsune engraving, now no longer glowing. Gazing at the matching engravings, Swishroll lightly pressed her thumbs against the cards while sombrely humming to herself. An extremely faint thud chimed from the railing behind the duo, followed by Lynnzi giddily clapping. "Creator, I have returned," Zalrotho announced, balancing upside down on the safety railing with a single finger. Swishroll unamusedly stared at Zalrotho''s display of strength and athleticism before burying her head in her bag. "... I can''t even be mad... you act like this, damn those late-night flavour text binges," Swishroll mentally screamed while stowing the cards back into her swish roll handbag. Wanting to show off more, Zalrotho pushed against the railing and launched himself into the air. Striking multiple dramatic poses, Zalrotho spiralled through the air before landing in front of Swishroll in a kneeling bow. "Man... I really need to get Chronia here before you do the thing," Swishroll grumbled exhaustedly. Lynnzi''s expression turned to a blank smile before slowly rotating her head towards Lynnzi. "The thing?" Lynnzi asked with a hint of interest. Swishroll deeply groaned as she swung her head back and glanced at Lynnzi. "If we don''t find one of those core things to bring this guy''s other half here, this... kitsune will turn...". "Into a giant ink kitsune monster?" Lynnzi asked as she finished Swishroll''s sentence for her. "Yeah... but how do you know that?" Swishroll asked worriedly. A sweat drop formed on her head as she feared her secret identity had been found out, although she couldn''t be too surprised since she was using her alias as her new name after all. Lynnzi''s complexion reddened at the question and rubbed the back of her head. "Oh... you know It''s hard to say... I''ve overheard otherworlders talking about a... thing called a videogame where something similar happened... and also heard something similar during history classes... so who can say," Lynnzi muttered, stumbling over her words as she meekly droned on; before too long, her words crumbled into meaningless grumbles and her cat ears wobbled around like jelly against the wind. "And I thought Onixuvia had issues," Zalrotho remarked as he watched Lynnzi rolling across the balcony and straight into the SCC branch building. "Comparing what Onixuvia has to simply issues is an insult to normal people," Swishroll uttered as she flopped to the ground and rested her head on her handbag, eliciting a strained beep from Kai-TI as she pulled herself out of the slightly smushed handbag. Zalrotho remained motionless like a statue in his bowing posture. Swishroll covered her ears and groaned in existential dread as the thought of having more of her game characters walking about filled her being with cringe. "When will the funny cat oni return, Creator?" Zalrotho asked nonchalantly, leaving Swishroll to groan again. Chapter 5: Entering The Dungeon of Infinite The following morning, Zalroth followed closely behind Swishroll as she scuttled through a small crowd of citygoers. She weaved between the people, her precise movements perfectly calculated to avoid any physical contact with anyone. As the roof of their destination crept into view, Swishroll''s heart quickened, both from her mild physical exertion and growing anticipation. But, she paused right at the Infinity Dungeon''s closest entrance, Swishroll and Zalrotho''s attentions were drawn to the multitude of plaques dotted beside all the entrances. -The Infinity Dungeon is a labyrinth made from a web of stone paths which delves infinitely downwards, so take caution and mind your step- -At the points where these paths intersect a dungeon is formed, these dungeons come in the size of an average house room and the material of the dungeon is dependent on its biome type[See guidebook for all discovered biomes and other relevant info, the guidebook can be found at reception desk]- -Every 10km there is an invisible barrier separating the levels of the dungeon; the only way to pass through is to obtain a dungeon key from the larger dungeon at the centre of the barrier known as a boss dungeon- "I can''t tell if this is supposed to be a warning or a guide," Zalrotho remarked as he gazed at one of the plaques by the many entrances to the Infinity Dungeon Entrance. Also reading the info on the plaque, Swishroll sighed and nodded to stow her still slightly frazzled nerves. "Well, these kinds of things tend to serve both purposes, for legal coverage," Swishroll mentioned. She raised her gaze, casting a worried look upon the large semi-circle-shaped marble building covered in a black silver metal X grating and overgrown with foliage. As she felt herself getting second thoughts, Zalrotho plopped a hand on her shoulder and playfully shook her. "Worry not, Creator. With me by your side, there''s nothing to fear," Zalrotho stated cheerfully, cheekily messing up his creator''s hair as she slumped her shoulders in a pout. Swishroll released a reluctant sigh, her expression solemn, but felt a hint of reassurance from Zalrotho. He retained his connection to Swishroll''s head, grinning at her like an idiot, and only removed his hand once he saw Swishroll''s frown turn upside down. Swishroll pessimistically exhaled. She knew the guy meant well, but he would never understand the tribulations of social anxiety. With one last weak murmur, Swishroll lightly tapped and smushed her cheeks, rubbing them in hopes of mentally bracing herself for her greatest trail. "Alright-alright, no use getting hung up on Lynnzi attending college classes," Swishroll uttered stoically. The distant voice of Lynnzi''s apologetic refusal was still fresh in her mind, stinging like no other given it was her first time inviting anyone to anything. The recollection still bruised her confidence, causing her to grumble under her breath. For a little more reassurance, Swishroll tapped her face one last time and heavily exhaled to expel as much worry from her body as she could. Swishroll took a shaky step into the building containing the Infinity Dungeon, her heart pounding through her chest as her foot met the floor with a quiet clop. Poking her head through, she cautiously scanned the populated room of delvers, searching for any threat of social interaction while dreading its inevitability. As she deliberated her methods of approach, Zalrotho casually sauntered past her, startling and mortifying Swishroll with his disregard for feelings. Feeling like a goof, Swishroll grabbed Zalrotho''s wrist tightly and used his momentum to drag her into the room, dragging her along like a reluctant child.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. "So... you wanna run that by me again," an unamused female receptionist asked, lazily resting her head on her station at the receptionist counter. The dishevelled man in a trenchcoat clicked his tongue at the girl''s, dragging his hands down his face as he pulled at his cheeks in frustration. "How hard is it to identify a Delver Team capable of dealing with an outbreak, let alone a crizeal crawler one, all by themselves?" the detective asked, his tone crass yet apologetic as the unamused receptionist rolled her hands. "Who knows, maybe they''re new otherworlders; Thetho did mention a girl with swish roll hair... or something like that though," the teen receptionist remarked, her mannerisms growing increasingly half-hearted as she yawned. The detective sighed in defeat, knowing the teen was functionally useless when organizing dungeon loot isn''t involved, and resigned from any further questions. "Just let me know if anyone fits the bill, Sushi," the guy ordered, blipping away in an instant before the girl could even form a retort. "Yeah-yeah," Sushi grumbled indignantly. But, at the sound of approaching footsteps, Sushi pushed off against her station with replenished vigour, ready to deal with anyone outside of a trenchcoat. She flopped onto the back of her chair, smirking faintly as she stared up at Zalrotho and then down at Swishroll. (Sushi is a rather short, humanoid Impling; she has spikey and scruffy golden hair, pale lime eyes with black scleras, pale purple skin, small pale purple drill-like horns on the side of her head, and two spikey pale purple wings on each of her thighs) "You two are the culprits I take it?" Sushi asked, raising a hand and doing finger quotes whilst saying culprits. "No-" Swishroll uttered, before being interrupted by Zalrotho beating her to the punch. "Naturally, but it was nothing to write home about," Zalrotho interjected, chuckling as he felt Swishroll glare at him. Sushi rested a hand on her chin, playfully smirking. She found Swishroll''s annoyance with Zalroth cute, especially as the reason for the girl''s anger flew right over the guy''s head. Swishroll pouted at Zalrotho, her cheeks flushed with anger at him for forgetting the plan. "What part of pretend you don''t know was so hard to understand?" Swishroll stated, her words hushed so as to not draw any attention. Sushi amusedly chortled, her smug grin serving to fuel Swishroll''s irritation even further. "I won''t tell, less work for me that way," Swishroll remarked as she gestured to the fenced-off hole at the centre of the room, "Just scan your card thingy on the scanner and you''ll be registered to the system.". Sushi rolled her free hand, listing off a condensed retelling of the messages given by the many plaques outside in a robotic manner. Swishroll felt a tsunami of whiplash hit her, finding herself befuddled at the receptionist''s retort. Sushi''s dismissal and ease in brushing off the detective guy''s request left Swishroll at a loss for words but you wouldn''t catch the gamemaker complaining on this occasion. "We''ll do that then...," Swishroll muttered, still slightly puzzled as Zalrotho scooped her off her feet, surprising her. Not giving his creator the chance to think, Zalroth booked it for the hole in the ground. Zalrotho darted past the other delvers, and swan-dived over the fence, plummeting down the hole as Swishroll screamed at him to carry her properly. With the duo''s departure into the Infinity Dungeon, Sushi glanced around, checking for any extra newcomers, and reaching under her desk. After searching for a bit, Sushi plopped a small "On Break" sign on her station before hopping off her chair and marching straight for the breakroom.