Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 36
Chapter 36: The Unavoidable Strongest
Sora thought that one of the things that really made this game feel like a fantasy game was the ability to freely turn the temperature system on and off.
The temperature system is a common feature in VR games that simulates the environment of a map according to its conditions.
For example, in a summer map, the game accurately replicates the heat of mid-summer, while in a winter map, it mirrors the cold of mid-winter.
However, if that were the case, a knight fully equipped with metal armor would be incapacitated by the heat, unable to move properly, while players with light armor would be too cold to focus on fighting monsters.
That’s why the ability to turn this feature on or off is greatly appreciated, as it helps avoid such problems.
Why am I bringing this up?
Well, because there are some games where, in the pursuit of realism, you can’t turn this feature off.
Back in the day, there was a game where I nearly lost my mind wandering through desert and jungle maps in a cursed, non-removable full metal armor because the environmental system couldn’t be turned off. Just thinking about it still makes me shiver.
No way, I never want to experience that again…
While watching Aria wipe away sweat due to the heat, Sora, who has turned off the temperature system, follows behind trembling.
Suddenly, Aria’s face lit up with realization, and she turned around abruptly to face me. “Ah, we’ll be reaching our comrades’ base soon!”
“Oh, really? That’s great.”
“…Sora, are you a little upset?”
“No, not at all. It’s a good thing we’ll arrive safely. Even I understand that much.”
Sora stopped trembling, looked off into the distance, and let out a deep sigh.
After waking up Aria and setting off with Kuro, the three of them managed to get this far rather easily, possibly because the encounter rate with monsters was low during the day.
The only monsters they fought along the way were a beetle-shaped monster called the ?Forest Beetle?, about 4 meters in length, and a mantis-shaped monster called the ?Forest Ripper?, which was about 1 meter long.
Since logging in, they hadn’t encountered a single ?Leviathan Army? monster, which they had fought first.
It’s not that they weren’t around, but whenever there was any sign of them, those monsters seemed to sense danger and fled like startled rabbits.
While it’s good for ensuring Aria’s safety, Sora couldn’t help but feel somewhat unsatisfied.
Could it be that I’m being avoided?
In other games, it’s known that once a player reaches a certain level or defeats a certain number of the same monster, they start to flee. But does the ?Leviathan Army? have that trait as well?
If that’s the case, it’s just too sad.
They’re highly rewarding monsters that give a lot of experience points, and you earn 1,000 El per kill. To only be allowed to kill 50 of them is just cruel.
To put it mildly, I’d like to kill about 1,000 more.
With these greedy thoughts in mind, they walked for another few minutes until they finally arrived at the base that the Wind Spirits had built to monitor the temple.
“Oh, so this is the base? It’s bigger than I expected.”
“It even has a lookout tower. It really feels like a base.”
“Thanks to Sora-sama and Kuro-sama, we’ve managed to arrive safely.”
A fortress surrounded by walls on a vast piece of land.
Fairies armed with the same type of bow as Aria stood on top of the walls, keeping a watchful eye, giving the place the feel of a base specifically built to protect an important temple.
Using her ?Insight? skill, Sora could tell that the strength of this barrier is equivalent to that of Sylph’s village.
With defenses like these, even if the ?Leviathan Army? attacked, they wouldn’t be able to breach the walls.
Aria led the way, waving to a female wind spirit who was standing guard.
The surprised spirit looked down and shouted something, causing a stir beyond the wall. As Sora and the others approached, a large, heavy door slowly and solemnly opened.
Waiting for them were about twenty male and female spirits, armed with one-handed swords and shields.
Seeing a handsome male spirit for the first time, Sora couldn’t help but say:
“I thought wind spirits were only female.”
“Sora-sama, the men of the village are all above level 10, so they were away helping to rescue our kin in nearby villages.”
“Ah, so that’s why the women were handling the security.”
Satisfied with this explanation, Sora watched as the spirits who had come to welcome Aria all knelt on the spot.
The leader, a strong-looking male spirit who appeared to be in his late twenties, stepped forward and spoke to Aria on behalf of everyone.
“Princess, thank you for traveling so far to this place.”
“No, thank you all for your hard work in monitoring the temple here.”
“Your words are too kind. …Princess, does your visit concern the ?Jade Ring??”
“Yes, that ring that fell from the sky has become a dangerous threat to the entire forest. We’ve decided to enlist the help of adventurers to remove it from this land.”
“So, these two must be…”
As all eyes turned towards them, Sora, with Kuro still clinging to her arm, took a step forward. Feeling a bit shy under the attention of twenty people, Sora began to speak.
“I am Sora, an adventurer, and this is Kuro, a fellow adventurer. We have come from the heavens to rid this land of its calamity.”
I quickly came up with something that sounded appropriate for the moment, but even I have to admit, it was a pretty cheesy line. Hearing it, Kuro, standing next to me, murmured something like, “Oh~wow, fantasy.”
“Oh, it’s you. And that silver hair—could it be that you have the power of Lord Lucifer…?”
“Exactly. I carry Lucifer’s power within me.”
“…If an adventurer with Lord Lucifer’s power is here to assist the princess, we couldn’t ask for a more reliable ally.”
The male spirit then stood up and extended his hand for a handshake.
Without hesitation, I reached out my small hand and shook his firmly.
“I’m Sora, the adventurer. I don’t think we’ll be staying here long, but I look forward to working with you.”
“I’m Giorl, the wind spirit in charge of this base. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
Anything, huh…?
Normally, I’d jump at the chance to ask for some rare items, but right now, there’s only one urgent matter on my mind.
“Alright, then may I ask for something right away?”
“What would that be? Weapon and armor maintenance?”
“That’s necessary too, but there’s one thing that takes priority.”
Sora selected an item from her inventory and materialized it.
What he brought out was a large chunk of meat, big enough that he could barely hold it with both hands.
The vibrant, ruby-red meat of the “Forest Wolf” gleamed like a jewel, captivating anyone who laid eyes on it.
Giorl’s eyes widened in astonishment when he saw the meat.
“Is that… ?Forest Wolf? meat? How did you manage to get such a rare and luxurious ingredient!?”
“Ah, well, I saved the lost princess… cough, cough… I mean, when I rescued her from an attack, it turned out that the attacker was a ?Forest Wolf?.”
That was close—I almost called her bait.
Giorl’s eyes flashed, and he thoughtfully placed his hand on his chin.
“I see. So, instead of selling it at the princess’s village, you’ve held onto it. Does that mean you want this prepared?”
“You catch on quick. I want this cooked into something delicious.”
“Please prepare mine as well,” Kuro said, pulling out her own “Forest Wolf” meat from her inventory.
Giorl nodded and replied, “Understood. Fortunately, we have one spirit here who is a level 10 chef capable of cooking ?Forest Wolf? meat. I’ll have them prepare it for you.”
“It’d also be great if you could repair our weapons and armor while you’re at it.”
“Hahaha! What an amusing adventurer you are, prioritizing cooking the meat and leaving weapons and armor as an afterthought!”
Finding it highly entertaining, Giorl burst into laughter, clutching his stomach.
Since it was all true, I had nothing more to say to him.
Giorl summoned a female spirit chef, and together with Kuro, I handed over the “Forest Wolf” meat, along with one specific instruction.
The chef looked surprised, but when I nodded at her with a smile, she bowed deeply and headed off to the dining hall to begin cooking.
Next, we handed our weapons and armor to a male blacksmith who had arrived, and Aria spoke up.
“I’ll go around to greet everyone and gather information about the state of the temple.”
“Alright, I’ll leave that to you.”
Aria left with Giorl and the others.
This was perfect timing.
With both Kuro and I unarmed, we decided to replenish our supplies at the tool shop before heading to the dining hall to talk about the real world.