"Haa... Haa... Haa..."Cole jolted awake and sprang up from wherever he was lying down from. He was covered in sweat and was breathing heavily. He blinked multiple times to adjust to the light.
When he started to look around, he noticed that his surroundings also looked different than before.
Everything had a tag attached to them. It had the name of the object attached and it"s composition. The sofa he was laying on, the blanket he was covered with and even people.
To his left were Gemi and Mini staring at him. They didn"t seem particularly concerned about his sudden blackout. It made sense considering that Gemi was able to a.s.sess a person"s condition since she seemed to at least be an actual doctor.
"Is this what Steward meant by new things?"
----- Couch -----
Properties: Black, Pretty comfy. Foamed padding
Manufacture Date: 03/02/19
-------------------
--------- Gemina (Gemi) Stellan ---------
Race: Mechanica (Combat Medic)
s.e.x: Female (Heteros.e.xual)
Age: 15
State: Calm
--------------------------------------------
--------- Mavis (Mini) Stellan ---------
Race: Mechanica (Espionage)
s.e.x: Male (Heteros.e.xual)
Age: 15
State: Calm
------------------------------------------
Not only were there tags popping left and right, but there was also a skill bar with 6 empty slots and 2 ones that were filled located at the bottom center within his view. There was also a hexagon set in the center of the bar. It was filled with a blue substance which Cole a.s.sumed that it acted something like a Mana bar or something.
Lastly, on the top right corner of his vision, there was a clock and a notification bell that had 0 alerts.
〔Status Has Been Updated〕
〔Would you like to view your updated status?〕
〔Y/N ?〕
Finally, there was a white panel asking if he would like to view his updated status. Cole pressed "N" for now and decided he would view it later. He wanted to make sense of things first.
He decided to first ask the twins that were burning a hole through him.
"How long was I out for?"
"About 20 minutes."
"20 minutes? That"s shorter than I thought."
Gemi was the one who answered. Cole thought that he was asleep for a lot longer.
"It"s not as short as you think. Neurochip Adjustments usually only take a long time if the person is opposed to the idea. Some Neurochip Adjustments could cause a person to be out for days."
Mini was the one who explained. After he said what needed to be said, he pulled out a tablet and started playing a strategy game.
Gemi then asked with a mischievous smile on her face.
"So, how was sleeping on a maid"s lap like?"
"On a..."
Cole was confused a bit when he heard that sentence, he was certain that when he raised his head, it was previously on a pillow. It was at this point in time that Cole looked behind him.
"How did I not accidentally head b.u.mp you?"
"It"s because I was leaning against the sofa. Your hair is really soft by the way."
Felicia said that with not a single shred of embarra.s.sment and actually seemed satisfied instead. Even her tag said so.
--------- Felicia Aureus ---------
Race: Mechanica (Combat Support)
s.e.x: Female (Heteros.e.xual)
Status: Satisfied and Happy
------------------------------------------
"Aureus? Combat Support?"
Cole felt that the name Aureus was slightly familiar and was a bit surprised that Felicia was actually a Combat Support Mechanica. A type of Mechanica that had support capabilities but mostly excelled when giving, well, combat support/
"Anyway, can we go visit the Dragon?"
Mini lifted his head from his tablet and asked Cole. Before he did, there was a fanfare and victory sound effect that played first.
"Eh? I don"t think I told you about the Dragon I know yet?"
Cole felt confused once again. He knew that he hadn"t had the chance to tell them about Val yet. He thought that Felicia was probably the one who told them about him.
"Felicia told us in the twenty minutes you were sleeping."
Mini said while he was still playing on his tablet. He was right. Cole removed the blanket from his body and stood up. He took his black coat that was hanging off the sofa"s armrest and loosely hanged it on his shoulders.
"Let"s go visit our Dragon."
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「Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...」
"*Sigh*..."
Inside the cave that Cole had first met Val, there was a grown man crying in a fetal position. Why was a fully grown man crying like that? No one knew including the red-haired woman near the man.
Her red hair was cut short and her eyes were a mix of a pinkish and violet color. Her a.s.sets were big and her figure curvaceos. However, that was all hidden by her leather armor and her red cape. She had a troubled expression and seemed quite worn-out.
"Sir Valerion. Please stop crying. It was troublesome enough for me to have to bring Bakalandia"s Hero home after their unintended skirmish with you. I don"t want to have to do that with the King of Dragons."
「Future King of Dragons. Why haven"t you left yet? You"re just a transporter. Uwaaaaaaaaa...」
"*Sigh*..."
The woman named Mia sighed. She was a valuable person due to her unique magic〈Teleport〉which allowed her to teleport people across great distances. The mana consumption was in proportion to the total ma.s.s of the teleported and distance to be teleported over.
She was hired to teleport the Hero from Bakalandia back home and did it free of charge because of her feelings for him but she normally cost a lot.
When she had received a job from one of the famed Dragon Elders himself, she couldn"t bare to take any kind of fee. Dragons were mighty and sacred beings in the〈Fantasia Zone〉after all. Just the fact that they had actually requested her of such an important mission was good enough.
But looking back, she wished that she had taken the fee so that the trouble of getting Val back home would be worth it.
She tried force teleporting him but he would just fly back or turn into his True Dragon form so she wouldn"t even have enough Mana to teleport him.
"Please, Sir Valerion. You"re wife and child are waiting for you back at your lair!"
「...」
Mia tried to use the family card on Valerion. With his slight pause, she thought that it might have succeeded but still kept vigilant.
"Did it work?"
Valerion continued to stay silent for a few moments before he burst into tears again. It was as if he was crying in his True Dragon form where his size reached hundreds of meters tall. Mia felt like she was going to drown in the amount of salty tears he was spilling.
"Oh wait, no. This is the edge of the cave."
Yeah, Valerion didn"t want to soil any treasures he had in the back of the cave so he decided to cry at the edge of it. The pa.s.sing animals would give him a few stares of pity and concern before carrying on their merry way. It was the same for any of the monsters that pa.s.sed by.
They didn"t even notice the presence of such an inferior being like Mia right next to him.
"I don"t think I"ll ever be able to go back home at this rate..."
Just as Mia was falling into despair, a grey portal opened near them. Val noticed it and stopped crying but he didn"t put up his guard or anything becasue he sensed a familiar presence.
When Mia noticed it, she immediately fell into shock because she was the only person in recorded history of the〈Fantasia Zone〉to have the magic〈Teleport〉There were similar kinds of magic such, as〈Warp〉or〈Gate〉but they were more limited.
She hid behind a nearby bush and decided to wait and see.
Four figures came out of the portal. It was Cole, Felicia along with Gemi and Mini whose eyes started to dart around excitedly.
"So this is the〈Fantasia Zone〉..."
"We could"ve gone here before if you didn"t complain about running the distance."
"I"d pa.s.s out halfway. I"m a Medic. Not a marathoner."
"That was actually how Cole first arrived at the〈Fantasia Zone〉"
"See, Gemi? It"s not that hard!"
"Shut up."
"Val should be around here... Ah, there he is."
Everyone directed their gazes to a man at the edge of a giant cave. Black hair with a purple sheen and royal purple eyes with verticals slits serving as pupils. He had ears that were a but longer than most and were sharpened.
He had slightly curved and sharp horn emerging from his forehead that was black in color with purple and had purple glowing from between each section of his horn.
There was also a pair of purple dragon wings coming from his back.
"Hmmm? Did he let more of his Dragon characteristics show?"
Cole felt slightly surprised that Val looked more Dragon than human today and just chalked it up because Val wanted to do so or something.
"Yo! Val!"
They walked closer to the cave and that"s when Cole noticed the remnants of a flood on the cave floor. And when he looked closer at Val"s eyes, they were slightly red, like the aftermath of crying too much.
"Val, what happened here--"
"Col!"
"?!"
Val then started to cling onto Cole"s leg and started to burst into tears. Everyone present felt shocked at the outburst. They all wanted to ask why was Val crying before he said.
"I don"t deserve to face Lala anymore!"