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 83
Chapter 83: The Current Stalemate
When she ended the game and removed the headgear from her head, she found herself back in her familiar room.
Sora absentmindedly looked around the entire room, as if to confirm her surroundings slowly.
“My room is simple, with just a desk, a bookshelf, and a bed.”
The bookshelf was dedicated to game storage, divided in half between great games and awful ones.
On the upper shelf were the highly rated “god-tier” games in Sora’s eyes.
On the lower shelf were the “trash-tier” games, including titles like ?Swordmaster? and ?Mind’s Eye Ninja?, games that had forcibly improved her player skills despite herself—each one a distinguished member of that infamous lineup.
Clearing the “god-tier” games usually took about one or two weeks, depending on the genre, whereas the “trash-tier” games typically took more than twice that.
At the very least, it took over two months—that was the standard.
Incidentally, that first month was usually spent learning the bugs and quirks of the game, and only after that did Sora begin the real challenge—a routine she had established for himself.
Once, long ago, Shinji and Shiro asked why she went so far as to challenge “trash-tier” games.
Well, one reason was that the feeling of achievement and satisfaction that came from beating a game that only a handful of people in the world had cleared was unmatched.
The other reason was that she wanted to test just how far her player skills could take her.
That’s why she would ask on message boards about games said to be unbeatable, or she would visit game shops to dig for hidden gems.
As of now, though, Sora had cleared every “trash-tier” game she had attempted.
The only game that was truly unbeatable was ?Satan? from ?Sky Fantasy?.
“Satan, huh…”
Facing the lingering regret inside her, Sora lightly slapped her cheeks and forced herself to shake off the gloomy thoughts.
She stretched her arms and legs, then slowly stood up and walked toward the desk where his PC was.
On top of the desk were a large 32-inch display she had saved up her allowance to buy, along with a keyboard and mouse set.
She grabbed one of the energy drinks lined up nearby, opened it, and downed it in one go.
The fizz of the carbonation and the fruity taste quickly cleared her foggy head.
Next, she looked down at herself.
She was dressed casually in a short-sleeved T-shirt and shorts. Her hair was a bit messy, and she might have been a little sweaty.
Come to think of it, after coming home, she had gone straight to her room to play games, so she hadn’t bathed yet today.
She glanced at the clock on the wall.
The time was around 10:30 PM.
Even though it’s my own body, as a gentleman at heart, I want to avoid looking at a girl’s naked body, so I guess I’ll just blindfold myself and take a quick shower.
With the empty can in hand, Sora left her room and headed downstairs.
Just like her room, she entered a familiar, spacious living room that was connected to the dining room.
There was no sign of her younger sister, Shiori.
She was probably logged into ?Astral Online? by now, trying to figure out how to unlock the path to the next kingdom blocked by flames.
The scorching flames of the ?Deathflare Wall? were blocking the adventurers’ way, just like in the Fairy Kingdom.
Naturally, anyone who touched the flames saw their HP drop rapidly, and those players who tried to push through while relying on healers literally turned to ash and died.
Brute force wouldn’t work to break through.
That means there has to be a way to extinguish the flames somewhere, but unlike in the Fairy Kingdom, this time there were no hints.
Games like this usually have some kind of navigation system to help with progression, but ?Astral Online? didn’t have anything like that.
Which means the only way forward is by triggering some sort of quest progression flag…
In this case, “The path to the next kingdom is blocked by a wall of flames” should be the flag.
Sora thought the same and had tried several things—meeting the Fairy King after seeing the ?Deathflare Wall?, meeting Aria, and meeting the Spirit Queen Sylph—but none of them had provided any clues.
“The one person with the highest chance of helping, the king of the ?Hephaestus Kingdom?, I can’t even meet…”
It seems that lately, the activities of the “Evil Dragons”, which serves the Demon Lord, have become more active, so the castle has been placed on high alert.
Because of this, no outsiders are allowed inside the castle under any circumstances, just in case something happens.
Even if they are the ones who saved the Forest of Spirits and were given proof of identity documents and items from the Fairy King and the Spirit Queen.
“Ugh!”
Lost in thought, Sora’s stomach growled loudly.
Uh oh, now that I’m thinking about it, I feel insanely hungry.
“For now, I’ll save the bath for later and heat up that omelette rice.”
Sora took the homemade omelette rice that Shiori had wrapped and left on the dining table, put it in the microwave, and turned it on.
After preparing a spoon and waiting for a bit, the microwave beeped, and she took out the plate, sat down at the table, and started her late dinner.
After eating, she washed the plate and put the dishes away just as her sister, Shiori, came downstairs, muttering like a zombie, “Ahh… Ugh…”
Her usually sharp face was completely exhausted, with no energy left in it.
Her hair was a mess, and she wobbled left and right as she unsteadily pulled out a chair at the dining table and sat down.
“Looks like you didn’t make any progress, huh?”
Sora said as she prepared two cups, pouring cold barley tea from the fridge and handing one to her.
In a small voice, she said, “Thanks,” and quickly gulped down the tea in one go.
“Ahh! Ugh, why can’t I make any progress this time either?!”
It seemed the esteemed Lady Shiori was in another one of her frustrated moods.
Knowing this would take a while, Sora half-listened to her rant while picking up her smartphone and checking the day’s updates for ?Astral Online?.
The updates mentioned that not only were the number of users increasing, but also that a building resembling an adventurer’s guild had appeared out of nowhere, and when players got close to it, a “Closed for Preparation” sign appeared on the door.
Hmm, so they’re adding more new content.
Actually, this game doesn’t have an adventurer’s guild yet.
Players can create clans on their own, and quests can be accepted by talking to NPCs in town who have a ‘!’ icon above their heads, so to be honest, there hasn’t been any real need for a guild.
But with an adventurer’s guild, maybe they’ll be offering some unique quests from now on.
As Sora scrolled through the screen, thinking about these things and confirming there wasn’t anything else noteworthy, he refreshed the page to make a final check for new updates.
At the very top, a new article titled “Good News: VR Journalist Becomes a Target for Purging” had appeared.
Seriously, how much do people hate her?
Reading through the article, it explained that Rinne had violated the rule agreed upon by the top adventurers, especially those in the ?Sword Princess Support Group?, which prohibited “excessive contact that causes trouble for the Silver Sword Princess.”
Apparently, she’d been spotted being chased by a purging squad.
Sora was surprised that such a rule had been established without her knowing.
When she watched the attached video, it showed a blonde, blue-eyed girl running desperately for her life, followed by five fully-armored knights in perfect running form, chasing after her while shouting ?Yes to Sword Princess! No to Touching!? The whole scene was absurdly surreal.
“Rinne-chan, I was wondering why she was being chased, but I guess that explains it.”
Shiori, having vented her frustrations, leaned her chin on Sora’s shoulder from behind and commented.
Sora glanced at her and gave a wry smile.
“It’s not my fault, she’s the one who’s too obsessed.”
“See? This happens because you don’t properly set your sexual defense settings.”
“Hey, that’s not true! I’ve got it set up right. Anyone other than girls can only touch me for three seconds.”
“Hmm, so girls are okay, huh?”
Feeling the icy stare right up close, Sora broke out in a nervous sweat.
Even though she hadn’t done anything wrong, why did she feel so cornered?
Feeling more pressure than he had while fighting the ?Greater Dragon? earlier, Sora tried to change the subject.
“Uh, well… I haven’t taken a bath since I got home, so I’d like to, uh… go do that?”
“Sure, I’ll let you. I’ll listen to all the details, slowly and carefully… in the bath.”
“Uh, Shiori?”
“I wasn’t with you today because of the moving preparations, but you’re always glued to Kuro-chan in ?Astral Online?, right? As your sister, I’m really curious how far your relationship has progressed.”
This was bad. It seemed she’d flipped some weird switch.
With a full smile that sent shivers down his spine, Shiori dragged Sora along as she said, “Looks like it’ll be a long bath tonight, big brother.”
“Shiori? Kuro and I, we’re really not like that…”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll listen while I clean you up in the bath.”
Despite her desperate attempts to explain herself, it seemed Shiori wasn’t going to listen.
By the time I had explained the current situation between Kuro and me and made it clear that we weren’t in a romantic relationship, I was finally set free. Even though it was obvious, Shiori still didn’t believe in her.
But what could she do? Sora felt that no matter how hard she tried to explain, her younger sister didn’t seem to believe her.
The date for today had changed.