Achievement

“What happened here??”

I crouched down beside the injured fox and touched it, feeling its pulse.

Sakura was crying so hard it was difficult to comprehend what she was trying to convey. But it was clear that she had encountered this poor creature while out for a walk.

“It appears to be alive!”

Above the fox’s head, my eyes spotted a ‘male symbol’ next to the species identification labeled simply as ‘dog fox’. The other one had a ‘female symbol’ and was identified as ‘vixen’.

Time was slipping away, and I needed to act quickly. Though I didn't know how to save the fox, I knew I had to try.

As I had impulsively touched the wounded animal, my hand became soiled with its blood.

My eyes’ pupils shrank and I was strained to vomit.

[Damage: -10 HP.]

The system AI announced in its usual robotic voice.

Huh…? My HP… it’s now only at ninety percent. What’s that supposed to mean…?

[Damage: -10 HP.]

Again, the damage occurred, and I struggled to contain my fear of blood. I'd always been uneasy around it and often fainted at the sight.

The image of my bloody hand blurred, and my consciousness started to fade as I blinked.

[Damage: -10 HP.]

“Please, let’s save him!”

Sakura called out to me, touching my hand with both of hers, not minding the blood.

Thank you, Sakura. That was what I needed. The damage count stopped and my HP was left at seventy percent.

Perhaps I was being dealt… emotional damage? Does that count, too?

Nevertheless, thanks to Sakura’s support, I pulled myself together and got an idea.

The potion!

I accessed my inventory and when I activated the Fresh Potion, it materialized in my left hand. I poured the contents of the bottle to the fox’s mouth and hoped for the best.

The sight of the slowly disappearing blood and the dog fox opening its eyes slowly has reminded me that this was a strange world full of in-game miracles.

“It… worked!!” Sakura delightedly exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with a sense of relief.

The male fox happily jumped to its feet, and it appeared as though the female ‘kissed’ him with her nose.

A red heart has formed above them as they disappeared in the forest. Out of the left corner of my eye, a blue bar indicating my experience point growth appeared.

I gathered enough experience to reach level 2, which the system AI announced properly.

It seemed that even helping animals like this could earn us experience points and help us level up.

“That… was incredible! I hadn’t realized the potion could be used on NPCs!”

“Oh, no… I just did what I had to.”

“Don’t you realize? Potions are quite rare to find, we all received one in our rooms as a part of our beginner package, but… there will not be many in this game. This was one of your only chances to heal your HP!”

I hadn’t realized it at all. Probably one of those things that Bohyňa could have told me. But would I have acted differently if I knew that bottle was so rare?

I didn’t think so.

“I’m just glad the fox survived.”

“I’m sorry I’m so sensitive… the fox was nothing but a soulless NPC… but when I saw it, I couldn’t help but feel sad…”

That’s exactly who my girlfriend was. A compassionate person who would always feel bad for others, even if they were complete strangers. Laska hadn’t changed one bit.

“I don’t think the NPC’s are just lifeless creatures. They do appear like that when we look at them through the scope of the real world, but right now, this is our real world. If we live here, then we’re no different from any other beings here.”

Sakura watched me blabber nonsense without a word but the shine of her eyes spoke volumes about how I impressed her.

“You’re… a very kind person. I think you’re right. The NPC’s have feelings, too. Just lookhow desperate the vixen was to help her partner…”

“Sakura, I-“

She finally chuckled.

“Sakura? Why do you keep calling me Sakura? My name’s Laska. Sakura is such a funny name, I wouldn’t want to be named like that, hehe.”

“Oh, right, sorry… Laska.”

I had a feeling I shouldn’t involve myself with Sakura in this game too much, but I couldn’t explain why I felt that way.

In fact, it wasn’t a rational thing to do. Maybe if we form a party or something, we might be able to achieve higher levels more easily.

But my heart ached inside.

It hurt me to know that my precious love wasn’t recognizing me at all.

She was standing right in front of me and yet I couldn’t touch her the way I could back in our real world.

Looking at her pink lips, I longed to taste them.

It hadn’t even been a full day and yet I was already missing her.

How was I supposed to endure this for another one hundred and eighty days?

And so, I cowardly turned my back on her and decided to walk away. I thought that putting distance between us would help me process this childish pain.

I knew it was temporary. I knew there was nothing I could do about it.

But I didn’t want to feel it anyway. Perhaps, it would even distract me from studying and clearing the game. That would be a real catastrophe for our relationship.

So I walked away… further from her… until her angelic voice reached my ears.

“Hey! I… I may not be as strong as you, but… would you please be my friend?” She bowed her head deeply.

Her… friend? Am I being friendzoned here?!

No, calm down, Ren. That’s not what this is about.

“W-what do you mean, Laska?” I turned my whole body back to face her again.

“This!” She made that heart hand sign, probably opening her menu.

And I was right. Suddenly, an application, or rather, a friend request appeared in front of me.

[Player Laska would love to be your friend!]

There were only two options. ‘Accept’ or ‘Decline’.

With everything I had in my mind just a couple of moments prior, I hesitated, but ultimately chose to decline her friend request.

“H-hey…! Why would you do that?” The tone in Sakura’s voice hinted at her disappointment.

“Please… don’t… don’t do this to me…” Her eyes were fixated at the ground as she sent another friend request.

“Why do you want to be my friend so much?”

“Because… I… kinda feel like… uhm… I don’t know… I feel like I am missing something. Like there’s something I am not recalling. Something is making me very, very sad…”

My mind drifted to this morning when I first gazed at her face that appeared incredibly troubled after our transportation.

That’s why I felt something was different about her. She gained this sense of sadness, seemingly out of nowhere. She’d been probably missing me deep inside very much…

“I’m sorry to be so selfish… but please… be my friend. I can feel your warm aura that puts me at ease…”

She put me in a dilemma. I was torn.

It was either my pain from being close to her… or her subconscious pain from me being apart from her.

Damn it.

If you do this, of course I’ll always choose the option where you don’t suffer.

I accepted her friend request and from the looks of it, we both got the same system message.

[Achievement: First friend acquired!]

CHAPTER 4: END