"A white blindfold?" Isah spoke with great confusion, unable to understand what this thing even was.
"It's not a blindfold. There's going to be a use of it in the future." KiRA did not expect he would get this item in a place like this.
The conditions to obtain it were pretty difficult already, but to think he got something like this outside a tower thanks to a 'blessing' from a goddess.
"Great. This will do." He smiled, and putting the simple white stripe of cloth in his inventory, he massaged his eyes.
"It wasn't easy…" In the game, it had not felt as real as this even with his maxed out sensitivity settings.
The limitations of the technology and his inability to afford the high end tech had resulted in the discrepancy in the actual sensations that he could feel in the game and in the real world.
"Well, better than a trial of eyes." He mumbled under his breath and shook his head.
It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the light in the room, but as soon as he could see again, he first hugged his girlfriend standing beside him, and greeted the rest of the people present.
The atmosphere inside the room changed again. All of them were happy to see him all fine again, especially his uncle and aunt.
"Is this going to continue? You're suffering every single day because of this…" His Aunt asked with a worried expression, the same one that his uncle had.
But he did not ask him anything.
He knew him, his stubbornness, as well as his knowledge about everything that was going on right now.
"Kai…" He wanted to show his concern like her as well, but he could not. Instead, he simply tapped on his shoulder and went back to work.
"It's fine, Aunt Su. This was the last time." He answered her in a reassuring tone while smiling at the wide back of his uncle.
That back… that reliable back that he had been seeing ever since he was a child… he could never get mad or upset at it, at the one who carried him on his shoulders when he had no one else to turn to.
"If you're fine, then go rest now. You all are going for the licence thing tomorrow, right?"
"Yes, Aunt Lia…"
Zyon, Isah, and he were going to the A2P2 office in the center of the city where the Player registrations were happening right now.
He would get rid of his curses tonight so that he could finally move on to the more important things.
Once they get their licences, they will be able to enter the Tower's first floor.
There, they will have their chance to shine as not someone that got in illegally but as someone recognised by the Law.
'I don't want to clear the first floor's main quest. My goal is the dungeon with the hidden boss.'
While he was going to send both Zyon and Isah to do the main quest, he was going to focus on gathering more information about the tower and analyse just how different it was from what he had known from the game.
Also, he will have to find someone that was capable enough to understand and calculate complex things so that he can predict how the tower was going to fundamentally affect their world in the future.
'According to the game plot, the tower existed in a ruined world that was already destroyed. However, while we have faced a great Chaos, we are still far from vanishing from this planet.'
According to his knowledge, the tower was a unique entity that appeared in different worlds and in all these words, they were called something else.
This world was going to call it the Tower of Cessation while the game called it the Tower of beginning.
'I still don't know just how much both of them are connected.'
Perhaps one was based on the other… he would have to find out the truth inside of the tower itself.
"I'll go and rest then… Please don't hesitate to wake me up if something comes up."
"No!"
"Just go to sleep!"
Both the mothers scolded him immediately and brought another smile on his face. He couldn't help it… they were the queens here.
"Fine, fine. I'll wake up early and look after things then." He would have to get the items and place them where the system wanted to finish the 'quest' and get rid of his blessings.
He would have to do it secretly, but once that's done, he would be done with everything for the day as well.
'Then the biggest problem will be solved.'
Once he can access the tower, he will first try and get rid of his Holy power stat. It was a bigger hindrance than the glutton creature that was going to bloom from that cocoon.
It would block the path he wanted to walk completely, which would put everyone around him in danger.
"Looks like there's a lot on your mind." Isah placed his head on her lap as soon as they were inside his room.
She knew how much he had suffered all these days. She did not like it… she was used to seeing him suffer in the game, but not in real life.
She couldn't see him like that. However there was little she could do to help him…
"Talk to me, Kai. I'll be fine, so tell me." she didn't force him, she just wanted him to know she was there for him.
"Is…" He wanted to go and finish his task so that he can rest a little. But, he still had some time before dawn.
"Haaa. Fine." He didn't want to worry this hamster much either. So, he brought up a simple topic instead of his various bigger worries.
"Do you remember the first floor of the tower?" Resting in her comfortable lap, he looked up at the… he just closed his eyes to not get distracted by them first.
"How could I forget that place? I had never felt so much pain in my life… when they said you'd experience almost a near death when dying, I didn't believe the others."
With her tactical skills, she got past the tutorial of the game. However, the first floor was not so good to her…
"Those tall walls, freezing cold walls all around us. That labyrinth structure filled with traps and things that'd kill you as soon as you took a wrong turn… I died to the monsters, ripped to shreds." her voice was bitter when she said those words.
"I didn't think I'd have to start all the way from the tutorial. But that wasn't even the difficult part." Looking down at the grown baby in her lap, she waited for something.
"It was seeing the other people…?" He knew her nature very well.
If Zyon was the protagonist that would do anything within his power to save the masses, Isah was someone that'd do anything in her power to keep the ones close to her safe.
He remembered how she got depressed after seeing her friends that were playing with us dying at the hands of the monsters, seeing their blood and 'detached' bodies.
She didn't play for a few days back then. And even though she was a new person now, if she sees blood and the death of her loved ones once again, he knows well what is going to happen to her.
"Let's not make any mistakes this time." She requested, asking him to be safe above everything else.
"If you die on me, I'll bring you back as a skeleton and play bowling with your skull." It wasn't a threat, she was being serious.
"And if I end up losing you in this world, I will fight the Laws and walk you out of the purgatory myself."
She knew he wasn't joking either… but saying it like that made her cringe a little.
"You… dummy." She pushed him off her lap and got up, looking at the fallen child with another upset look.
If Zyon was a Hero and she cared about those close to her, he was a dumbass who'd actually do crazy things that no one could expat.
She had seen him do unbelievable things in the game, and now that same game was their reality, she knew she was going to see the same crazy side of his in this reality as well.
"Can I get a kiss before I sneak out for some work?" His sweetly deep voice was her favourite sound.
"I knew it. You're not going to rest today either."
She couldn't deny the kiss, but she couldn't stop worrying about him either. What if some wolf swallowed him whole?
What would she do if something like that happens again?