Me and My Best Friend Plus an Idiotic Archer in Another World

Chapter 2 - A Goddess And An Unfamiliar World

Upon entering the bright entrance, the girls open their eyes slowly to see the surrounding and find themselves in a rather greenish landscape. There are chirping of birds, the smell of flora and fauna, the soothing sound of a river set in motion and the strong sense of clean air. There was no sign of civilization and no large creature in sighting.

“Where are we? Kuro-chan, I don’t like this.” Haruna looks worried than ever and grabbed hold onto Kuro’s arm. The other girl didn’t respond, however, as she looks to what’s behind her and noticed that the door that they’ve used to get to where they are right now had disappeared.

“Guess we really are somewhere else now,” Kuro thought so, before being answered immediately.

“Yes, welcome to Neus Strela, the home of magic and various wonders that you wouldn’t find inside your own realm.” It was a voice so sudden and appears to be behind the girls, which makes Kuro turns around quickly as she’s on high alert. However, upon doing so, she couldn’t see anybody.

“Over here.” It called out to those two once girls, this time coming from the last direction they looked to. Haruna just kept her eyes shut through the whole ordeal. As Kuro turns around one more time, she set a sight upon a beautiful, tall young woman that looks like she’ in her early 20s, worn a white gown that appears to be shining in its pure color as if it’s like a pearl, got a skin so white like snow and a blonde hair that’s almost as if its glistening, or perhaps it does, upon being shone by the thick ray of sunlight. Her eyes are blue, and most importantly, she has a large, white pair of wing that’s made out of feathers behind her back, with the same halo disk on top of her. She was truly a sight to behold.

“Are you that creature that summoned us just a while ago?” asked Kuro, appearing to be slightly unwavering after swallowing her saliva once and pulling in a deep breath. Haruna opened her eyes as well, saw the creature they’re facing and close her eyes again, didn’t budge from her spot, thinking about what they had stepped into.

“Also, did she just read my mind? I’m sure I didn’t say that out loud.” She mentioned that, referring to her other bit of dialogue.

“Yes, I did. What you’re seeing here is my normal form, how I would normally look like if I were to be in the presence of someone in this world. I couldn’t use this appearance in your realm, because of the absence of magic and how impure that place was. Utterly disgusting and filled with evil. Feels as if I had arrived into the underworld myself.”

Upon hearing that, Kuro was given a reassurance and was quite perplexed by all of these since she didn’t know that all those fairy tales that she used to read and the magic produced in fiction could possibly be real. It was all a bit hard to swallow, though she realized that she’s there now in a place that one could only imagine to be, and there’s no use dabbling and questioning everything.

“I’ll just get straight to the point. There’s no use asking about meager things because that’s all just stupid exposition. Where’s the fun in being inside a different dimension when you would just ask a guide in that brand new game for everything, right?” Kuro said so, but the creature in front of her didn’t say anything. Haruna started standing straight and open her eyes again, though she’s still hiding behind her friend and didn’t intend on saying anything.

“Why did you bring us here?” Kuro asked, from which she got a quick response.
“Not for any special occasion. I was given a task and will fulfill that duty to the very end. That’s all there is to it. No need to ask more about that, because I will be denying you access to that information. Now, I’m not going to be here long. Regardless of what you just said, I’m still gonna have to explain some basic mechanics in this world that you would definitely find to be of immediate importance.” She said while combing her hair with her hand for a bit, before looking at the girls again and continuing.

“Also, call me The Goddess, not bitch, as you’ve mentioned earlier. I will not take kindly to personal insults.” She alerted them while giving out some sorts of pressure that successfully frightened Haruna as she left crouching in fear, which drove Kuro to a terrible expression as well, but she’s more or less angered if anything.

“Hey, don’t do that to Haruna! It’s my fault, all right! So calm the hell down and let’s figure this shit out! Besides, ain’t this supposed to be a comedy? The ordeal has been clearly too serious here!” She dropped her luggage and is in a defensive stance, much to The Goddess’s amusement. Her deadly aura has gone and she appears to be smiling.

“I love it how protective you are to her. It makes me feel, touched, actually, and another reason why I was particularly ecstatic about meeting you two. I didn’t appreciate that you would call me names but as you put it, let’s brought that aside, okay?” The Goddess gave off a smile, much to Kuro’s chagrin but she thought it would be better this way, rather than to face a particularly difficult opponent at the start of the whole thing.

“Haruna, it’s okay, all right? Please, stand up.”She grabs a hold of her friend’s hand and she rises from her crouching position. There was a bit of tear in her eyes and she was genuinely sobbing, presumably from intense fright and all these sequences of events that hit one after another that people would normally only experienced in dreams or fiction.

“I’m gonna continue talking with The Goddess, all right? You don’t have to worry. Just stay behind me.” Kuro clear out those tears and gave a sentence of enlightenment, from which the only response Haruna could give was a nod. Kuro decided to continue gaining information regarding Neus Strela while keeping a calm demeanor.

“All right, then. You wouldn't want to waste more time with us, right? What there is to explain about this…world we’re currently in?” asked Kuro.
 
“There’s no chance of surviving here if you aren’t informed. Gaining information is key. Once you died, you died. This isn’t an actual game, like the one that the human on the other side would commonly indulge themselves in. First of all, I must ask the two of you whether do you feel somewhat different, at the moment. As if, if there’s any sign of anomaly at all.”
“What?” Kuro inspected her body a little and noticed something strange once she gets the feel of it.
“I’m actually feeling…a lot more energetic. It’s as if I’m more revitalize than ever before. Haruna, do you feel anything?” The girl still looked shocked but she’s a lot less apprehensive now.

“Ummm…I feel like…there’s an unknown energy…circulating inside of me. It’s strangely..soothing.” Her words were disconnected but understandable. Upon hearing what the two have to say, The Goddess provides further explanation.

“Those are what the inhabitant of this world would refer to as magic. It’s a form of energy, that is available in each part of the continents. As we’re currently speaking, it is all around us, ready to be used upon those that could do it, and it would never run out. It is odorless and normally not visible to the naked eye, but the more concentrated it gets in a single point, the more chances there are that you will be able to see it. Though however, there’s a limit to how much one user could absorb, so that’s a note worth keeping. Even creature from different realm could use it here, and that’s why you girls could feel it. It’s already inside, the moment you step into that door.” As she was talking, Kuro looked utterly bewildered while Haruna would appear to be less frightened over time. Finally, someone’s curiosity in the whole matter gets the best of her.

“Ano…By mentioning all of that…does that means fighting for our lives here…is gonna be common?” Haruna actually voiced out her concerns, much to Kuro’s delight as she’s smiling for a bit.

“Yes. However, you’ll be able to defend yourself. Everything out there would get their fair share of the struggle. Kuro, you see that tree over there? Try to hit it with your fist. Based on what you told me, doing so would yield you some form of result.” The Goddess instructed so. Kuro did as told without much hesitation, approached the target, leaving Haruna behind where she stood, make a fighting stance and swing a fist at the bark.

“Haa!” She lets out a gasp upon her fist touching the tree. The target shook a little and leaves started falling down in quite some numbers. Both Haruna and Kuro was especially surprised by this, though the one that did the punching felt a little bit of pain upon doing so and caress her knuckle a little to ease the pain not a moment later.

“You’re okay, Kuro-chan?!” She comes running and grab her by the shoulder before seeing Kuro’s hand.
“Yeah, I’m good. It actually feels nice even, to punch this freaking tree here. I mean, I couldn’t believe I didn’t break my arm. I gave it to my best too. Crap, this is unbelievable.” Kuro is highly amused by the whole thing.
“Kuro-chan, your mouth is being crude again,” mentioned Haruna, as she’s massaging her friend’s knuckle.
“Who cares? This is big, you know? I can’t believe how strong I am now, just due to magic. This is much like playing Final Fantasy or any role-playing games sets in some fictional location. Come on, Haruna! Let’s see what you can do.” As she took her hands away, probably because it no longer hurts, she pushed her friend to perform her skill.
“Eh?! But I don’t know what I can do!” Haruna panicked a little before she noticed something approaching her from a side and she captured it swiftly. Upon checking what it is, revealed thus a small blue crystal.
“It’s beautiful,” Haruna said.
“That, there, is an object that you could use to create water. Try it. Simply imagine a flowing river or any bodies of water, close your eyes and focus. Who knew, maybe you can do it on the first try.” The Goddess explained. 
“Okay, I’ll try.” She did as told and concentrate the best she can, and before anybody else could blink, a lot of water comes out from the crystal, and Haruna was startled by it and accidentally dropped the item she holds. It keeps producing water for a few more seconds before it stopped.

“Sorry for dropping it!” Haruna bows, stating an apology.
“It’s okay. It isn’t easily damaged. You can use that for 10 or more so time until the magic inside the crystal vanished. By then, it’s disposable and wouldn’t hold any worth. The larger that particular crystal is, the more water it could produce, et cetera. Though, you don’t really need to worry about looking for crystals if you kept making yourself stronger. There are various crystals with other elemental properties, so be on a lookout for them. Some are rare to find and will fetch a high price at the market.” The Goddess explained all of that and she has started to realize that time isn’t being on her side.

“I don’t think I should be spending any more time here. Besides, I’ve already told these girls way too much. They should be looking out for more knowledge on their own. Some other stuff and I’ll be done. I swear God is starting to get on my nerve by giving me so many random tasks.”

“Kuro, I supposed you knew this by now but the magic inside of you makes you a lot stronger than before. Hence you’re more suitable for activities that require physical exertion. Haruna, your advantage is your impressive control in using your magical energy to produce that water earlier seamlessly. Which means you’re good with everything that’s related to that. I’ll believe it would be feasible for you to look for a book that taught various enchantment, and start learning from there, or you can go on a search for other crystal in the area. Either way is fine, but the possibilities are different.”

Haruna just nods, while Kuro didn’t say anything either and The Goddess continues.

“Next, make a gesture, as if you’re navigating through a smartphone screen. Only this time, do it on the air in front of you. It’s extremely simple.” Hearing how easy it is to do the next instruction puts up a couple of question marks but knowing that asking would probably just makes everything drags on, both girls did as told, and were surprised by the appearance of a menu, that’s acted like the sorts of thing that you would normally see in games, that tell details about HP, MP, Strength, Status, Vitality, Agility, Intelligence, Dexterity, Titles and Equipment. There was also another option to go to an item bag, which name speaks for itself.

“We’re really in some sorts of game, isn’t it?” stated Kuro, as she was overly familiar with such system that she had to stop and pandered a bit, to make sure she comes to her senses.

“No, this is all certainly real. To close the menu, simply inverted the gesture you used to open it. Everybody could use this function, and you do well not to share your stats with those that you don’t know. As for why the system bear similarity with the feature available in games that are used by your original world, please find that out for yourself. There is some basic equipment in the item bag that you two should be able to use. Make sure to handle them well. That’s all I got left to say.” Finally, the creature with wings decided to leave, but as she was about to, she felt an unsightly presence, looks out around her for a bit before disappearing into thin air.