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It was four days since Crim became unable to leave the game.

As she woke up and she opened her eyes, she saw a ceiling that still felt unfamiliar to her.

“Hngh…hahh… Right, I’m still in Destiny Unchain Online.”

After rubbing her sleepy eyes in the dim light of dawn, she got up from her bed.

Usually if someone fell asleep playing a VR game. the system would kick them out automatically after a set time of inactivity.

Because of that waking up inside a game felt really odd, and Crim was still not used to it.

“Also, a vampire that’s also a morning person sounds a bit strange to think about…”

The sun had barely risen across the curtain, and as soon as it fell on her body she began to feel uncomfortable, so after rubbing her skin a bit she squirmed out of bed.

“Pretending to be human isn’t so easy either…”

Even though the refreshing light of the early sun was shining through the window, Crim felt relief and comfort in the darkness of a corner, where she took a deep breath.

“Ah, good morning Crim.”

She was outside doing her usual morning workout when a voice came from above her.

She looked up to the source of the voice, a window on the second floor of Ludger’s house. A girl younger than George was waving her hand at Crim there while still wearing her nightclothes.

The girl had reddish brown hair just like Ludger, which looked really soft, and her brimming smile made anyone who looked at her also want to smile. But her limbs looked frail and thin, making her appear weak.

She was Juna, Ludger’s daughter, and since her body constitution was not the best she rarely ventured outside her home. But as she energetically waved her hand while greeting Crim, she also smiled and waved back.

“Good morning Juna. Are you feeling well today?”
“Yeah! Good luck helping daddy with everything today!”

Yup, she’s as cute as always.

Crim was quickly growing attached to her, making her almost wish she had a little sister like Juna herself.

A warm and fuzzy feeling took root in Crim’s heart hearing Juna cheer her on like that, and she ended her morning workout.

Since Juna almost never went outside, she was really curious about Crim the moment she arrived. She was always around Crim asking all sorts of questions, and ever since, Crim had felt a strong attachment to her.

After waving one last time to Juna, Crim went to meet up with Ludger, who was ready to go to the forest.

This was the fourth day since Crim arrived at Nebel, and she had been staying with Ludger there.

She felt bad borrowing a room from him without giving anything in return, so while she gathered information and grinded out skill points working out, she also helped Ludger with his morning job, which was gathering medicinal herbs.

Lately Crim was starting to get worried though, as sometimes she would forget that they were only NPCs of this world.

“Pihii-”

The pebble of darkness Crim threw landed squarely on the rabbit’s head.

It did not have much power, but as it hit the rabbit squarely on the head, it knocked the rodent unconscious. Then Crim ran up to it and sliced its throat with her dagger.

“..?!”

The rabbit could not even utter a cry being stabbed like that, and quickly vanished in particles of light.

“Huff…huff… Now…it’s only you..!”

She readjusted her stance after a long continuous fight and tried to catch her breath. Now her sight was on a Grizzly Bear, the same monster she encountered her first day.

So far she had defeated monsters like rabbits with horns, enormous beetles, and plants with moving vines. The only one remaining was that bear.

She started dashing really close to the ground while holding her left hand forward to aim at her target, while the right hand held her dagger in a backhand grip, which she slowly pulled back as if drawing a bow.

That made the system assist for weapon arts kick in, which made Crim feel like her body was moving on its own. Instead of resisting the sensation, she leaned on it, stepping forth with more force and leaping forward.

“…Divine Strike!!”

The ground caved in slightly from the force of her feet, her long white hair fluttering like a trail behind her as she dashed like a bullet.

Her body was almost grazing the ground as she ran, and once she was in reach of her opponent’s throat, she lifted her body and slashed widely.

That resulted in a magnificent Critical Hit.

Crim’s hunting strategy revolved around that. Her shadow dagger deals a lot of damage thanks to her high Magic stat, and her high speed that she combined to hit her mark.

Half of the bear’s neck was sliced through before it could react, its body going limp and falling with a heavy thud before vanishing in particles of light.

That was the dagger weapon art Divine Strike, a running attack.

Crim obtained that skill when she reached 20 mastery points with daggers. It was a pretty simple one aimed for beginners, but it was a really good gap closer.

“Phew… Ludger, it’s safe now.”

She wiped the realistic sweat that formed on her brow as she spoke to Ludger, who was hiding a distance back.

At least she felt like she was getting the hang of fights in this game.

She also was understanding how to properly use weapon arts. Fighting those monsters gave her decent practice.

“A-alright…. No matter how many times I watch you I’m still impressed by how strong you are. Especially today, I never saw you move like that before…”
“My Master was just really good.”

The Master was an AI, but Crim would keep that a secret.

That AI had beaten Kou up so many times that now most enemies were ‘easier than the Master’.

There was a meaning to everything he had to endure fighting the Master.