[Virtual World] Cyber Abyss Volume 2: A Guild Called Trinity

Chapter 6 - Cyber Mission

2.6.1---------------------------------------------

The wind was blowing through the horizon when Yosuke Masuda's group finally stepped outside the walls of new Tokyo. Though they were only in the outskirts, they felt they were truly far from the urban scenery of their country.

The four Trinity Alpha members passed by a town just net to the metallic gates of kingdom. The area seemed to be residential as there was several houses along the way.

The site still had interconnected roads for vehicles to travel, though the road was more like a forest road only created by walkers' trails. But no matter where Yosuke looked at, there were grasses and trees everywhere.

"It smells really fresh here..."

The supposed to be sidewalk paths in the city were mainly grasses in this town. Flowering plants and bushes were mainly used as home decorations. Surprisingly, there were no expensive-looking cars in the place. Yosuke could only see tractors and horses as people's transportation.

"By the way, Masuda-kun, Conway-san and Laura-san, are this your first time on the outskirts?"

"Yeah, Vincent-senpai."

"You guys must be wondering why there were no vehicles in this place, right? It's because the primary reason why people visit this place is to leave or enter the kingdom."

"So, the outskirts aren't that developed?"

"There are no roads outside the outskirts of new Tokyo. Even if someone build one, it would only be destroyed by wild beasts, unless they build an entire city or town."

"That's how it works, eh..."

Continuing their journey, the crew also noticed children playing lightheartedly on a small, cold river where few women were washing their own clothes. They also saw few old, wooden windmills alongside the road and a small shrine just in the middle of the town.

Yosuke could tell that life here in the outskirts was quite modest when compared to the city. Although not all he needed and wanted could be found here, there was that peaceful and relaxing ambience that were quite unique from this town.

As the party strolled their way out of the town, little by little, they noticed that the suburban houses were slowly decreasing. The place was seemed to be more quiet compared to the sites they had passed by earlier.

And it didn't take too long until the whole crew found themselves in the middle of a grassland.

"!"

Coincidentally, it was also the perfect day to travel outside new Tokyo. Dense clouds mostly covered the sky from the intense heat of the sun and the breeze of cool air gently blew their skin.

But although the group was already kilometers away from the large metallic gates of new Tokyo, they could still catch a glimpse of the kingdom just because of the small towns surrounding it.

Though surprisingly, the land they came across was quite peaceful in contrast to what their Guild Master had said.

They could only spot few scattered trees from their sight. And within the skies, a small number of sky dwellers were soaring with the clouds. They also passed by few people, probably travelers or merchants, who were accompanied by horses carrying huge brown sacks.

However, Frederyk Conway had a question for their captain.

"Senpai, why aren't we using Sky Trains in this mission? It would be much faster to travel using those trains."

"Unfortunately for us, it's much faster if we traveled on this route rather than ride a Sky Train and start traveling from the nearest station on Soul Town. We can ride horses but unfortunately, we really have a tight budget..."

"Tight budget?!" Frederyk began to rage. "I don't really know about you guys, but I'm from the heir of the Wind Slash Clan! Money is not a problem to me! If you only..."

"Conway-san..." Vincent crossed his arms on his chest. "Perhaps, you guys still haven't noticed it yet...?"

Hearing that question, the three rookies paused from walking as they wondered about those words from their captain.

"All of this circumstances were setup by Trinity itself. Our target's location being isolated, our budget, the date and time of our mission, those are obviously calculated by Trinity to test the rookies, especially those who are already in Trinity Alpha from the start."

"Really? I heard that Trinity is one of the richest guilds in the kingdom. So this small budget thing is also part of the test, huh?"

"Yup, Masuda-kun. Trinity will also evaluate all of the resources and money we used in this mission. But you guys don't have to worry about that anymore. I've already calculated everything that we need from our food and shelter, as well as the estimated time of our mission's completion."

"Wow! You're really something, Vincent-senpai!"

As Vincent gently pushed up his eye-glasses, he then thought of something.

With this, I'll surely look cool in front of Laura-san, hehehe!

But when Vincent reverted his eyes to Laura Lancaster, he just noticed that she was just reading on her floating screen menu.

---------------------------------------------

Continuing their journey along the grassland, the group finally reached an area full of trees and dense grasses which was more like a tropical forest.

But before stepping in within the boundaries of the said forest, Vincent immediately threw some words for his kohais.

"The start of your lives as an adventurer will begin in this forest. Within this forest, we will probably encounter different wild beasts with abilities most likely we had never seen before. Some of them might be familiar to you as they were being taught in school. But being 100% alert and prepared for the worst scenario would greatly raise our survival rate. Just remember our strategies and formation and everything will be alright. Got it?"

"Yeah!" answered Yosuke.

"Hehehe! I'll let this forest taste the power of my Wind Slash!..."

The three boys in that group were just standing in front of the jungle, observing the forest thoroughly before Vincent noticed the blonde girl, staring steadily on her screen menu.

"What are you reading, Laura-san?"

"Oh, Vincent-senpai. I'm just collecting few information about the place that we'll explore for offline use. I have learned that mobile signals are hard to find outside of new Tokyo. I think it would be best if we gather some data first about the forest before we enter."

"Good work, Laura-san!"

"Oh. And according to my encyclopedia, this forest is called the Saru Forest. Although there are several animals in this jungle, it's the home for hundreds of monkey species as well as thousands of herbal plants. Beasts with elemental abilities in this forests are ultra-rare."

"That's useful info, Laura-san. Hmmm... I think we will able to practice our formations in this forest."

It didn't take long until Laura finished gathering information the group needed. After that, each of them drew their weapon of choice in their preparation for their exploration.

And with that, the whole party quickly moved out and headed to the tropical forest known as the Saru Forest.

———————————-

Please don't forget to vote and comment if you like my story. It really motivates me to write more. And if you find some errors and plot holes, don't hesitate to leave a comment. ^_^