Chapter 56: Qilian City

"We may not be able to change reality, but we can change the eyes in which we see it."

*****

The story so far…

My name is Igarashi Kaze. By some wicked twist of fate, I ended up trapped in a video game by the name of 'Ascension: Online'. However, there, I soon learned that what we humans see with our eyes isn't always the truth.

The 'video' game I was in was actually a vast reality realm among many, controlled by an omnipotent supercomputer by the name of A.R.X.A. - Artificial Reality Xenobiotic Apparatus. She informed me that in order to return to my old world, I had to beat this reality plane.

I had to 'Ascend'.

And so, that is exactly what I will do.

*****

Soon after, we arrived at the gates of the city we had spotted from a distance earlier. The gates were massive, just like the city itself. It was made of pure concrete, clearly of much higher quality than the stone walls of Tianyin. Written on a large sign above the gates was a string of text.

"Qilian City, huh?" I muttered.

The City of Myths, according to the sign. Xiyang had been called the Village of Memories, so I assumed this was something similar.

"Halt. Do you have proper identification?" the guards wearing a full knight-like armor set at the gates asked, stopping us from entering.

"Uh, we actually just came down from Tianyin City on Mount Valgan," I said, pointing at the mountain we had just descended from. "They didn't issue us any kind of 'identification' or anything."

"What?! Tianyin City…?"

The guards exchanged glances. "Didn't they say a Monster had appeared in a forest on that mountain, so no one was to go up there…?"

"I believe so… and I heard the Monster already exercised Venomization as well…"

"Then how the hell are they here…?"

"Oh, that Monster? We killed it," Ichigo chuckled triumphantly with a smug grin.

Hearing this, they turned back to us in surprise. "… You should know the consequences of lying to us. This is no small matter."

"We aren't lying," Horiya added. "You can go check yourself. The armadillo, right? It's gone. We defeated it just earlier today. No big deal."

I sent him an unamused glance. 'No big deal' my ass… we almost got killed by it.

"This… we will need evidence. Do you have the Monster Crystal belonging to it?"

Ichigo frowned. "Monster Crystal? What's tha-"

"I have it," I interjected, then opened up my System before quickly taking out the Monster Crystal I had obtained earlier and presenting it to the guards. "Here."

One of the guards took the still-bloody crystal and inspected it. "This… it's the real thing. Venomized, too."

"I agree. I am not an expert at this, but this seems to be around tier three or four. The Monster in those mountains was gauged to be around that level as well," the other guard added, then turned back to me. "Alright… you can pass."

The first guard handed me back the Monster Crystal, which I stored within my System once more. The six of us walked into Qilian City without any problems. A hologram appeared in front of us the moment we did - it read:

[Primary Quest Complete: The Beginning]

[Claim your rewards in the 'Quests' tab of your System.]

Then, right after:

[New Primary Quest]

[Qilian City]

[Attend the annual tournament happening in Qilian City. Time remaining: 14:12:15:07.]

I was a bit curious about this, but as the '07' in the timer went down to a '06', the pop-up faded away on its own. I would have to check it out later in the 'Quests' tab.

"Oi, Igarashi, where did you get the Monster Crystal from?" Ichigo questioned, deciding to not mention the new primary quest we just received. Obviously, he would be curious after seeing that exchange just now.

"I obtained it after killing the Monster," I explained truthfully. "I still don't really know what it does, but I guess it did serve to let us in this city."

"Kaze-kun, next time something like this happens, you have to tell Hina-nee first, got it?" Hina-nee looked at me while pouting.

"Yes, yes, Hina-nee…" I gave in and sighed.

"Alright, before we do anythin' else, let's get somethin' to eat," Jim proposed. "I'm bloody starvin'."

As if on cue, his stomach growled. "Oh, my bad. 'Scuse me."

"Uh…" I opened up my System once more and looked at the 'Minimap' tab. "There's a restaurant right up ahead, at the fountain. Let's go there."

*****

We were all pretty rich, so while the food here at this restaurant was expensive, it wasn't as if we couldn't afford it. It was pretty nice to eat luxurious food in a different world, not going to lie.

"This city is awesome," Ichigo said as we waited for our food to arrive. "Did you see that fountain outside? Sheesh, that was one nice piece of art."

The fountain he was referring to was a beautiful one located in the center of the city. While we were walking to this restaurant, I spotted several places I was interested in, the fountain being one of them. It was one of a Qilin - a mythical Chinese creature of legends, said to resemble a Western unicorn. It seemed that not only did the language of this reality plane overlap with Earth's, but also certain cultures.

As everyone else engaged in conversation - minus Furuwa - I decided to see how close I was to the next level, 16. My eyes widened a bit. I was only a tiny bit away, according to the progress bar in the 'Profile' tab.

It seemed that killing Monsters was, just like the database entry had said, an extremely efficient way of farming XP. I would need to find more Monsters to kill to get stronger quickly. However, it seemed that only the one who dealt the killing blow would receive XP - assists didn't count. That was pretty troublesome. I wanted Hina-nee to level up with me, after all. The only solution was to have us take turns dealing the final blow.

I sighed and closed out of my System as the food had arrived.

*****

After eating, our group decided to just find an inn and sleep early, since we were all tired. After setting their spawn points, Ichigo, Horiya, Furuwa, and Jim all logged out, saying that they would play tomorrow. Of course, since tomorrow was Monday, Furuwa would have school. Ichigo and Horiya normally would too, but they had a two-week suspension to worry about.

That said… how long could I hide my secret from these guys? Once their suspension was over, they would have to return to school. Then, they would realize that I wasn't there and be confused. After school, they would then hop on Ascension: Online and ask me about it.

At that time, what would I respond with?

Moreover, I had no doubt news about Hina-nee and I being trapped inside the game were spreading like wildfire on my old reality plane at the moment. Auntie and uncle definitely reported it, especially since uncle was a news reporter himself.

I sighed as I lay in my bed, Hina-nee beside me. We weren't in the same bed this time because I strongly denied that idea, but she still insisted on sleeping in the same room as me.

Sooner or later, the truth about Hina-nee and I would get out. When that happens, what will happen to us?

I thought about this as I slowly drifted off to sleep.