Boy Meets Ai

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

A few days passed. Seiko sat quietly with Shinobu. They were perched on a thick tree branch that was nearly thirty feet in the air. It was a perfect vantage point to survey the Io Valley below. They had been up there for hours, maintaining their distance to stay out of the range of the savages' tracking ability. Shinobu rocked back and forth on the branch impatiently.

"Stop that. You'll fall." Seiko muttered, looking intently through his binoculars. She had insisted on coming along on recon, even though he had warned her there wouldn't be any action. Still, she could never anticipated the sheer level of boredom facing her now. With all of the stories they had heard, there was an expectation to see at least one adventurer get jumped by the ambushers. However, the valley was desolate. Wind swept through the branches of the insanely tall pines around them as snow had begun to fall. The blanket of white absorbed the ambient sound, creating an eerie quiet. Luckily, the two assassins had the foresight to dress in white cloaks to conceal themselves from sight. Shinobu sighed heavily, pushing a cloud of fog from her mouth. A silent prayer played in her mind as she hoped they just might get to fight today. After seeing the twins in action, there was a palpable excitement that had taken root in her chest. Seiko lowered the binoculars, marking notes down on the notebook in his lap. There was likely a lack of activity since the video of the purple eagles went up. No one was looking to get party wiped.

Seiko admired the savages' strategic use of the land to their benefit. The Io Valley was the most trafficked route to the city of Io, but also a bottleneck with no easy way to escape. The slopes of the two peaks were incredibly steep and icy. People often passed through to Io when they were low to mid-level, so the savages had an even greater advantage against the inexperienced prey. Seiko lifted his binoculars back to his eyes, looking past the valley towards Io, he spotted the Needle. An impossibly tall spire that twisted into the clouds. Ironically, the eternally cold, snow swept settlement was a place where players could start the Fire King Trials quest. Completing different floors within the Needle afforded different awards and if all tiers were cleared, you would get a chance to fight the Fire King himself. That was how Gearhardt had gained his prized great sword. Seiko imagined what kind of traps and crazy monsters the creators had put at the top of the spire. He had only seen streams of the lower levels being cleared. Few people could rise to the challenges of the Needle and even fewer still ever got a chance to fight the Fire King. Despite how tall the tower was though, it didn't even compare to Mt. Io. The giant peak stood over everything in the valley. Some even estimated it to be the tallest point in the Ether.

"This tournament. Do you think we can win?" Shinobu whispered.

"It's possible. I'd say you have the best chance out of all of us. If you got an Ai, you'd probably win for sure." Seiko believed what he said wholeheartedly. When it came to combat, Shinobu was a genius in her own right.

She shrugged. "Eh, I don't know, I really like Oaklee and Marquis but having an Ai would take away the challenge. It wouldn't be as fun for me."

"Hmm." The ranger responded.

Fun.

The Ether had stopped being fun for a long time. Until he met his friends, it had been mostly stressful, disappointing and frustrating. It was nice to actually enjoy the game again.

"What would you do? With the money I mean?" She asked him.

Seiko thought about it for a moment. Ideally, he'd like to make sure his mother's treatment was taken care of for the foreseeable future. Outside of that, he wasn't too sure what he would spend that kind of money on. "Maybe move into a nice house." He shrugged. That's what people do when they have tons of money, right?