VRMMO: Passing of the Sword

“I can only tell a story in this state. I am about to demonize, and I can’t hold it back anymore. If I tried to kill myself right now, these demonic characteristics would immediately trigger and erupt. That will also happen if you come close to me,” said the man, exasperated.

Blue Maple and Blue Snow remained silent and said nothing.

“You guys are good listeners.” The man laughed when he saw that they remained quiet. “I think it’s best for you to leave at once. Do you know what I’m like when I’m demonized? I don’t think you can deal with me.” The man added emphasis when he said ‘can’, and looked at Blue Maple at the same time.

The Samurai Warlord could feel danger from Blue Maple, so how could his master, who was more powerful and mysterious, not do so?

Ding! Announcement: This quest’s difficulty has exceeded the quest’s range. The players still have a chance to abandon this quest and retreat. The quest’s final target is about to demonize, and will transform into a Rank 60 thrice-demonized Boss!

“You guys can feel that too, right? There’s still time to leave.” The man lifted his left hand as he spoke, which was already emanating black vapor from his demonization.

“Whatever.” Blue Maple’s behavior was still the same.

Blue Snow was slightly shocked when she received the notification. She wasn’t as surprised as she was when she saw the elite Samurai Warlord Boss, because she knew that Blue Maple wasn’t using his full strength when he fought the Samurai Warlord.

That was because she knew that Blue Maple wasn’t left-handed! Blue Maple had been using his left hand this entire time. Blue Maple’s quest to obtain his Hidden Class in Novice Village was as difficult as this Rank 60 thrice-demonized Boss. That quest’s series of conditions and requirements, in addition to the fact that Blue Maple was fighting his enemies in a hungry state, made that quest an impossible task for anyone.

Little gangster was using his right hand at Novice Village. Even though I don’t know why he’s using his left hand, this fellow is so lazy, so he’s definitely not willing to die and drop a level of XP. He does seem to hate training and leveling up. Blue Snow wasn’t worried… she still held a grudge against Blue Maple for being unwilling to do this quest, and for rudely hanging up on her.

Ding! Announcement: Your party has chosen to continue with this quest. The quest’s difficulty has been raised to a Rank 50 SSS-rank quest for two players. Both players have now lost the chance to escape!

Blue Maple’s quest with the Icy Snow Wolf King was an SSS-rank quest lower than Rank 40 for a single player. That wasn’t easy for a Level 29 player who hadn’t gone through his second Class Advancement yet. Blue Maple didn’t receive any notification about the quest back then, and didn’t have to guess to know that the old man had used his authority to change the game’s announcement.

Blue Maple frowned when he heard the game’s announcement. He wasn’t frowning because of his quest, but because he thought about the old man back then. The old man had screwed him back then, except Blue Maple wasn’t aware of it.

Blue Snow glanced at Blue Maple in concern when she received the announcement, and coincidentally caught his frown.

Shit, we’re screwed. Does the little gangster think this quest is too difficult? Was I wrong? Blue Snow started to worry that she was wrong. This quest wasn’t fun anymore if even Blue Maple found it difficult!

“Hahaha, I didn’t expect there to be youths who are still so young and promising. Alright, I’ll just give these things to you, so that I can avoid destroying them after demonizing.” The man laughed heartily as he threw a bunch of items to them.

They were all magical items, and there were even several special items! There were eight of them!

Blue Maple guessed that some of these things belonged to the Spirit Wolf King, and some belonged to the man himself. One of the special items had to be part of the Spirit Wolf King’s treasure cache, just like with the Icy Snow Wolf King back then.

Blue Snow’s eyes were fixed on these items with a miserly look in her eyes. If Blue Maple’s eyes were glowing because of Heavenly Fire’s blue light, then Blue Snow’s eyes were radiating green light.

“I will explode if you guys kill me after I have demonized, not like those wild monsters who are incapable of self-destructing after demonizing. Therefore, I will not leave anything behind. You don’t have any use for these things right now, and they will not trigger the demon in me. You have expressed your intentions to kill me, so if you try to run now, the demon in me will be immediately triggered.

“Now, I just hope that you’re willing to listen to a small and boring story.” The man flashed a warm smile as he spoke.

Blue Maple and Blue Snow remained silent like they were listening closely, except Blue Snow subconsciously glanced at the items on the ground from time to time.

“My name is Tovilis, and I was once an orphan in this city. The military adopted me, so I can be considered to have enlisted. Yes, this place wasn’t known as Aika, and was called Krigija.” Tovilis descended into his memories.

“I can still remember one of my holidays. The army rarely gave holidays, and I came up to this mountain for an adventure all by myself. Was that considered very brave? The reason was because I had always been by myself. The seniors in the military had all been kind to me, but I never had a single friend of the same age group.

“There weren’t many wolves here back then. People often came up the mountain to pick herbs, hunt, and whatnot. I met a girl who was picking herbs in this place, a very normal girl.” Tovilis’ face was overcome with an infatuated smile as he paused.

“I started talking to this girl, and we hit it off well. I was an orphan, while she lived an life with her sickly mother. Nothing unexpected happened as we talked to each other happily. I frequently visited her at her home, and I would follow her up the mountain to pick herbs during my holidays. I would discreetly escape from the army camp even when I didn’t have any holidays. The seniors in the military were very nice to me, and they knew that I was secretly going out, but never said anything from the beginning to the end. Instead, they were secretly encouraging me.

“Yes, we were in love. This jade mirror was the symbol of our love; we found this jade mirror in this place.” Tovilis was deep in his memories as he slowly glanced over the walls around him.

“I was secretly escaping from the army camp that time. I was here picking herbs with the girl for her sickly mother, but by some unfortunate coincidence, the originally bright and clear skies started raining cats and dogs. We hurriedly sheltered ourselves in this cave. We didn’t know the cave was so large before we came in, and we didn’t know what was inside. We were just here to hide from the rain.

“But we could feel that there was something inside this cave not long after coming in. I was the one who could detect something, because I was already a Warrior who had undergone my second Class Advancement back then. I could feel energy undulations, so we started venturing deeper into the cave to find this energy’s source, since the rain wasn’t stopping outside.

“There were only some normal bats inside the cave back then. We avoided the side caves and came here directly. We were immediately shocked by the jade mirror here, which was levitating in mid-air. This jade mirror was just so beautiful back then, and glowed gently with light that only a treasure would have.

“Heaven and earth probably naturally gave birth to this treasure, and it still hadn’t attracted a guardian beast. However, that was probably also because this treasure’s purpose was a little useless.

“I didn’t think about the treasure’s value back then; I just wanted to give this beautiful jade mirror to the girl that I loved. I told her, ‘Do you want this beautiful jade mirror? I’ll take it for you, but you have to promise to marry me.’

“Wasn’t that strange? I was using a jade mirror to propose to her, one that she could retrieve herself. However, she agreed. I was elated, and I quickly retrieved the jade mirror and gave it to her. I watched her as she took the jade mirror shyly into her hands, and I picked her up in my arms as I spun round and round. I continued spinning like that, and I didn’t know how long we were spinning, but I didn’t feel dizzy. I could only feel happiness and excitement…”

Tovilis’ face was overcome with happiness and bliss, and he didn’t care about the black demonic vapor rising increasingly thickly from him. Blue Snow couldn’t control her emotions anymore, and appeared very sad.

Blue Maple was just like he was in the beginning, like he hadn’t heard anything at all…

“And it was in this place that she gave herself to me.” Tovilis seemed to blush a little as he spoke.

“Ah?! You… here?!” Blue Snow was very surprised and completely speechless.

“That was more than one hundred years ago; this place originally belonged to the European region.” Blue Maple interrupted, which was a rare occurrence. That was probably because he had just returned from a European city, or because he wanted to end Blue Snow’s questions before she asked them, as he was too lazy to answer them one by one. Yes… the latter was probably more likely…

“Yes, is there anything strange about that?” Tovilis smiled as he asked.

“No, no. Please continue.” Blue Snow’s face was a little red as she shook her head in embarassment. She couldn’t take how liberal the European region was.

“Yes. We discovered afterwards what this jade mirror did, and I told the girl, ‘This is perfect. You don’t have to worry about picking herbs in the rain anymore with this jade mirror.’

“You don’t have to worry about the rain anymore… yes, she didn’t have to worry about the rain anymore…” The blissfulness in Tovilis’ eyes transformed into grief.

The two of them didn’t think of selling the jade mirror to help the girl’s sickly mother recover fully. Perhaps, the joyous love they shared obscured everything else…

“We heard emergency news from the border when we returned. The Demon race was about to launch a large-scale invasion, so all cities started mobilizing their soldiers to the frontlines. One of my rivals in love revealed that I had been secretly escaping from camp, and I was drafted into the reinforcements list. I was infuriated, and I almost beat that man to his death, but I still couldn’t shake my fate of going to the frontlines.

“I told her to wait for me to return with victory in our hands, and she promised. She told me that we would get married when I returned! She waved to me from the farewell party on the day that we left, and she shouted to me, ‘I’m waiting for you, Tovilis!’

“But I could never return…” Tears of pain and agony streamed down Tovilis’ face.

Blue Snow’s eyes turned red as she tried to keep her tears from bursting out.

“I arrived at the frontlines. The Demon race trapped us there as their reinforcements came again and again. My comrades fell around me, and the only motivation I had left to support by grievously wounded body was my lover waiting for me back home. I gradually became powerful, and I became a Warrior with a fourth Class Advancement, and two hundred years of life. But, so what? I just wanted to go home!

“The Demon race besieged the city that I was defending, while humans eventually saved it. Thirty years… we fought that war for thirty years, and only then did we repel the Demons. I didn’t even have the chance to celebrate the joy of our victory when I received the dreadful news that the girl had passed away from illness. She died from the same illness that her mother was suffering from.

“Her mother was treated with the compensation that I had received when I was sent to the frontlines. However, the girl was absolutely unwilling to sell the jade mirror to treat her illness, because she said, ‘I will wait for you. This is proof of our love, and everything will lose its meaning if we don’t have this jade mirror anymore. I am growing old, and even if you, who will still be young and strong, will not turn your back on me, I can’t wait for much longer. I don’t know when the war will end. Just let me take this jade mirror and pass away peacefully. I love you, Louisa.

“That was her final letter. But… why?! The war was about to end, and we could be together again. But I had lost you, Louisa…”

Tovilis sobbed uncontrollably as the demonic vapor surged from his body. The grieving man and the dark vapor around him painted such a dreary and gloomy picture…

Blue Snow couldn’t control her own tears anymore.