"This ceremonial hall is incredibly important to my race and this is the first time blood has been spilled in recent history which spoils this otherwise momentous day. We shall not let it ruin the rest of the ceremony, perhaps we could even cheer for the restraint certain people have shown." Her smile doesn't change, but she also avoids making eye contact with Jack as she casts her gaze over the rest of the crowd from the raised stage.

 

Quiet claps come from some few remaining participants, looking over the crowd with the corner of his eyes strangely reveals Madison is the loudest.

 

This strange applause is very awkward, but luckily it doesn't last long as the crowd quietens upon the bunny girl raising her hand, "I shall now address to each of you and personally explain what each gift does before send you on your way"

 

Her footsteps are quick as she gracefully walks to the edge of the raised stage. Jack watches her with a squinted gaze as she addresses the first person. Her mannerism is almost perfect and without flaw while her footsteps are delicate yet firm.

 

The old lady from Morocco is first up. She is being told the various usages of the pills to help her through her life and enable her to life a few hundred years. Her face has a genial smile but her nod is steady as the bunny girl asks her questions that no normal person would understand, "What is your main element qi?", "Do you understand the differences between the nether qi and actual death qi?".

 

Jack quietly curses the old lady as those are questions that interest him, he's just about to ask Xueli when he hears a bellowing of an old man's laughter drawing attention to Jack and the old man, the old man from Estonia is approaching him.

 

The old man places his hand on Jack's shoulder as he arrives before the young man proceeding into a small speech.

 

"Young man, that was a magnificent show of skill back there, but your hand was too lenient. Those little punks were a pain all day, before you arrived they had caused all sorts of trouble and I would have smacked them myself before leaving but I'm just one old man, the blood of the motherland flows through me but my body is not as spry as it once was."

 

"They had been causing me some trouble all day and I wish I could do more too but things didn't feel that simple. I can always look them up, I doubt they're very private people so I'll come across them sooner or later."

 

"Haha, true young man, there are many years ahead and many more adventures to be had, so who knows where and when you will meet again. Hmm if I were them I'd be very afraid in the future so you should watch out, the cornered and scared rat can still take down the fiercest predator." the old man has a friendly smile on but there's a particular sharp glint in his eyes. Jack adopts a slight smirk as he had already considered this factor.

 

"I welcome the challenge but I already outclass them so they'd be foolish to even try, though now that I think about it they probably are that foolish." Jack furrows his brows in thought about the stupidest plan that someone could come up with.

 

"You shouldn't worry about it too much young man, as you said, they were incredibly weak and already not worth your time dealing with. You just need some helpers that can handle these sorts of things, I've had to deal with some junior party officials in my day when they were courting my lovely malysh and between you and me, they understood a bullet much clearer than any petition would have"

 

The old man doesn't drop the particular sharp glint within his eyes as he's retelling this story.

 

"It was actually malysh that suggested the solution and my lovely granddaughter, well she certainly adopted some mannerisms from my beloved so perhaps she can help you in the future, did I tell you she's going to the olympics for sharpshooting and possibly gymnastics?"

 

The old man drops the sharp glint as he recalls and relays bits of information to Jack such as, "My granddaughter in first year high school qualified for European Championships", "She could compete with Olympic medallists in middle school" and so on.

 

"If you need to find out information on those fools, I can give it to you for a price"

 

A voice comes from a different direction, drawing attention to the two men. Jack need not turn his head to know who it is as he quietly breathes a sigh of relief, thankful for the distraction. The old man seems nice, but he has neglected mentioning the age of his granddaughter and asking questions about the granddaughter will make it seem like Jack is interested in her.

 

Madison approaches the two men talking, followed closely by the other girl.

 

Jack takes a quick moment to look around the room. The younger Asian man meets his gaze before briefly nodding at him, Jack returns the nod before moving onto the next person. The older Asian man is still strangely smirking at him while the Bunny Girl on the stage has moved onto the old man from Spain.

 

The conversation between the old Spanish man and the Bunny Girl seems to be flowing similar to the conversation with the old woman from Morocco that Jack can no longer see, he is nodding along with what the youthful woman says but breaks into pointless anecdotes now and then.

 

Scanning the rest of the room, the old Japanese woman lower her head toward Jack when their gazes meet but she doesn't from the spot, Jack has her daughter's email address so there's no reason for them to continue speaking with her low English skills. Finally, his eyes move to the bandaged-wrapped man where the bloodlust still permeates his eyes, but it has dulled considerably from earlier. The bandaged man also does not move from the spot, but Jack can feel they're not quite done yet.

 

"Oh mighty lord, if you are willing for this lowly wench to serve you as a bed warmer I will be ever so proud" Madison flutters her eyes at Jack.

 

His attention quickly turns back to Madison who is standing before him, she's cutely fluttering her eyes at him but he's left stunned at this sudden shift in attitude from her. He blinks at her several times, composing himself for a response, yet she breaks the strange tension with a sudden snort as the blonde-haired maiden laughs at her own joke.

 

Jack can't help but smile as her infectious laughter fills the ceremonial hall, scratching his neck and waiting for things to settle down before speaking.

 

"So speak your terms and I might be willing to allow it for a single night but you must work for more than, Ms bed-warming wench"

 

"Oh mysterious unnamed Lord, we are just two lowly maidens that were lured by the promise of riches and fame. Please don't dislike us for using advantages to get ahead, we overheard you speaking to the young Asian man earlier where you said some interesting things, we were wondering if that opportunity is open to us too."

 

Jack raises an eyebrow while looking over the two girls, Madison is keeping her distance with her head lowered but her eyelashes still flutter toward him while the other girl is standing behind Madison without raising her head at all, she's a tall girl with dark curly hair.

 

"Those two men were terrible, I don't believe Peter and Geoffrey were actually willing to send us anything. Geoffrey certainly didn't bother to speak to me very much, I suspect that he only wanted me to follow him because he was jealous of Peter getting the attention of... Madison. If you can provide me with funds so that my family can eat, I will do almost anything you want."

 

The tall girl doesn't look up from the ground as she's speaking. Jack thinks it over for a moment weighing up the options but it doesn't take long for him to arrive at a decision.

 

"Alright, I'll provide you with my forum information and we'll discuss things there. I will provide you with funds and a certain level of information and it's up to you what you do with it," Jack pauses as his back straightens up looking down at the people before him, "this lord is aware of things going on in this world that will shock you so do not think I'll give you help just to play with."

 

The crowd of people including the old man cannot look at him directly as their heads all involuntarily lower to the ground.

 

"Oh Mysterious Lord Sir, can you not tell us any of that information now?" her eyes change colour into a deep blue as she looks closely at him.

 

"We will tell you in time, this Lord shouldn't need to remind you about our previous interactions"

 

"Mr Lord, not even your name or where you are from?"

 

Their eyes meet as Jack peers into her deep blue eyes, he almost feels like he can fall into them but without breaking eye contact he continues to speak.

 

"No, We will not share any information about myself until We deem you to be trustworthy, there will be no shortcuts to this process. You will need to work just like anyone else to prove your value to me"

 

A silence comes over the group as Jack finishes speaking, the two girls are both looking down at the ground. Madison is moving her lips as though she's silently talking to herself while the tall girl is fiddling with her fingers.

 

"Well, young man and ladies, I should head off and leave you young people to discuss things between yourself. I trust that you will look up my granddaughter, but you do not mind if I share your forum information with her?"

 

Jack shakes his head, causing the old man to bellow with laughter again, leaving almost shouting a few "Good!" a few times for good measure as he walks toward the Japanese woman who greets him in Japanese while he does the same. On the stage, the bunny girl finishes speaking with the old Spanish man before inviting the Asian men to approach her.

 

This leaves Jack alone with the two girls, yet none of them are making any noise.

 

"Do any of you girls know much about the game world where you are? I need information on the other continents and you could even consider it the first task as we wait"

 

They both look at each other briefly before Madison speaks out first.

 

"I'm on the western continent, it's a bunch of large islands and lots of swamp area. It's pretty nasty and there's some big alligators but strangely, there are tigers that swim around and eat the giant gators. Get this, those tigers don't hurt humans either. I've even heard that they can talk but I haven't seen any myself but I did hear they are White."

 

"I'm not sure where I am, I haven't gone outside the city but it's a terrible place that is just sand dunes as far as the eye can see. I have heard there are giant scorpions, giant centipedes, giant bats. The whole city is weird, they worship some giant figure called the 'Faceless Giant' yet it's not a religious thing. No one understands it and I don’t care."

 

Jack mentally notes the information the girls just spoke, White Tigers might be a divine beast yet them swimming is rather odd while the 'Faceless Giant' can be anything. Praying in the back of his head that it's not related to his task up there, he asks some more information about their cities such as goods being sold and the player services.

 

No player has opened a store or bought land within a city as far as they're aware of, but people have opened up stalls selling food and clothing to the residents. The two types of stalls have been very successful as the residents go crazy for anything the players make but the clothing, even if most of it is poor quality, sells the best.

 

The two Asian men leave while the older people go forward, they each nod at Jack before they're called up. The bunny girl's voice is soft as she explains the various herbs, pills and medicines she has prepared for them. Madison and Roux, as he has learnt, talk slightly more but they're quickly called up as the last group.

 

"Talk online, make sure you check your messages!"

 

"After the auction, you should check it out too"

 

Jack responds to Madison while Roux just waves with a slight twitch of her facial muscle, Jack waves at her while his eyes wander to the stage. The bunny girl is looking over in his direction, but she's avoiding his gaze as her eyes dart away.

 

Smiling to himself, Jack turns away to look at the nearly empty giant ceremonial hall stopping on the last person remaining which is the bandaged person, his eyes shrouded in darkness but failing to disguise the slight bloodlust emitting from them, neither of them show signs of budging.

 

The two of them stand there in a quiet stalemate. It only lasts 30 seconds yet feels like hours. Jack can feel some sweat build up on his back as the pressure builds up, but the bunny girl calls him up. The other man is the first to turn away, relieving the pressure on Jack as he yells these words out in a rough voice.

 

"OPEN CHALLENGE, 4 WEEKS!"

 

"Where?"

 

"SOUTHRIGHT ISLE"

 

"Ok"

 

His footsteps are heavy as he turns around, an almost bloody smell fills the hall but the young woman on the stage doesn't treat him any differently while Xueli speaks over Jack being able to listen to what she is saying.

 

'Did you have a staring contest with an Asura? How do you feel? What sort of pills do you think we'll get? I think I've only heard about the Jade Palace in myth because it was lost long ago, maybe it's tied to the Dongshu family?'

 

The bandaged man has left, the bloody smell from his aura has made way for a lovely floral scent as Jack's eyes wander to the stage as it's only him and the bunny girl left, apart from the various attendants lined around the hallway motionless as statues.

 

"Follow me"

 

She turns around without giving Jack another glance. She walks through a door along the back wall of the ceremonial hall, Jack is curious about what's going on but his hand reaches into his robe and rests on the dagger, just in case without having the chance to address Xueli.

 

He walks through the doorway after being ushered in by two of the statue-like attendants, a straight long hallway gives him an eerie feeling as he's being followed by a legion of attendants. His divine sense spreads around looking for weak points or just more information but yielding nothing useful.

 

The bunny girl stops at the end of the hallway before a closed door, her natural smile is pleasant but she's blankly staring at the crowd avoiding direct eye contact with Jack then opening up the doorway.

 

The pitter-patter of footsteps proceed down the hallway as Jack and the group following him approach the doorway where Jack can get another up close view of the girl, she's still as beautiful as the first time he saw her but it's spoiled by her unnatural expression.

 

"Please enter"

 

She signals for Jack to enter, turning the corner he's met with an open air hallway with a garden on one side and a homely little meeting area with a circular table surrounded by many luxurious cushions. The sight of rabbits and herbs is everywhere as the room follows a similar decorative pattern as everywhere else.

 

Only a few attendants follow Jack and the young woman into the room, Jack cautiously surveys the room but discovers nothing to cause him concern. It's just like an intimate meeting hall, albeit with nothing on the table causing him to feel slightly let down.

 

He takes a seat across from the doorway yet facing an interior doorway, bunny girl has a few quiet words with an attendant before taking a seat a fair distance away from Jack. Coughing lightly she adopts the same airs she had when the group first entered the ceremonial hall, closing her eyes with an arrogant tone.

 

"I shall congratulate you personally for capturing the rainbow rabbit. This event was to symbolise the opening of the game world by allowing people of lower skill to participate in the final rewards. You have obtained the final reward and are offered a choice of the items from the reward list for the Easter event. You have also obtained the rainbow rabbit through skill in this short period of time while also showing the kindness required to the less fortunate, on behalf of the overseer, I can relay that he hopes that you will continue to do so..."

 

She continues on for several more lines as Jack just stares at her, looking at her facial features and body. She looks late teens if Jack would have to guess but she has a weird airs about her, like she's trying to act mature. Opening her eyes after sometime, she's greeted with the sight of Jack staring right at her causing her to stutter her words and cover her mouth with the fan.

 

"So do you have to say that or do you actually want to speak all that crap?" Jack seizes the moment to capture her attention.

 

She looks at him with a frown pointing her fan toward him but no words come out of her mouth. Her gaze is wavering slightly as she holds eye contact with him, her hand trembles but she disguises that by opening up the fan before her mouth.

 

"This princess has a prestigious position, mortals should savour her words as few will ever get the opportunity... hmmmph" She looks away for a split moment before looking at him and harrumphing again.

 

"Uhh so..." Jack scratches the back of his neck. He wants to ask about their first meeting where she was nude but can’t find the words to bring the topic up.

 

The slight lull in conversation is broken by her pointing the fan back at Jacks face and asking, "Hey why do you have such a young dragon larvling on you like that? Don't lie about having it on you, I saw it during the ceremony, because I've never seen such a young one. At training school, I heard they never let one out before their first moult and you have such a pretty white one."

 

"I'm not sure but she has been with me for a while now. She's uhh shy and likes to sleep a lot"

 

She snaps her fingers. 

 

An attendant comes forward as she whispers several things into the attendant's ear before they quickly leave. They quickly return with a tray full of strangely pleasant smelling grasses.

 

They set the tray down before Jack as he inspects the grasses, "Royal Dragon Grass", "Jade Cauldron Root", "Jasper Breath" each one described with a slight bent towards Dragons.

 

"Try to coax her out with this or save it for later, but it's for her not you, understand? Raw herbs aren't good for you and nearly all the others asked if they could eat the grasses raw."

 

"So... you said that you were in training school?"

 

"Yes, the best one in the interior upper 4 plateaus, it's for upcoming members of High Society while learning a wide variety of martial skills and arts. They placed this Princess within the top 3 placings for refining and alchemy day one. They were afraid of me ranking too highly for so long and breaking a record so they allowed me to come here"

 

"Is the training school big? It sounds pretty big, there must be a few thousand people there?"

 

"A few thousand?" She hides her face behind the fan, "Those masses wish they could enter the training school in those numbers like the other schools. Perhaps one day when you visit the centre, you'll find out but do you truly not receive any information about the interior here?"

 

"I'm not even sure what the interior is, all I know is that the planet we're on is travelling to the centre soon or something."

 

"Oh so you don't even know the basics, hmmm" her eyes narrow but her gaze wanders as Jack's does the same, her robe disheveled robe allows a Jack slight view inside but he doesn't take the bait. She repositions herself and fixes her robe up.

 

"What reward would you like? It can be any from the Easter Prize List." She produces a piece of paper from the fan and slides it to him but drops it as it flops to the ground, her hand is quick as she tries to catch it mid air narrowly missing multiple times but failing in the end.

 

Her face blushes as she hides behind the fan as an attendant comes forward and picks it up. He doesn't even bother to look at it as he only has a single option.

 

"Imperial Moon Royal Bloodline Rabbit, the most expensive one."

 

"Are you sure? That prize might come with strings attached that you're not even aware of."

 

"You mean the thing with the bunny girls, I mean rabbit-humans and their good breeding wombs? I have a village of them already, but isn’t the reward just a normal rabbit?"

 

"You have a village full of girls as cute as me and you already know about that?" her teeth chatter slightly as she finishes her sentence as she brings the fan up to hide her face.

 

"Well, you're the cutest I've met but all of them are free to do as they please. They are my subjects and I am their Lord. Nothing has happened between us."

 

"Good, good umm" She fans herself with nervous movements before standing up abruptly.

 

"Let's get you that reward then, please wait here while I prepare it."

 

She leaves the room while signaling for all the attendants to follow her out the back door, Jack is confused and wants to look for an exit but she comes back with her robe slightly down. He raises an eyebrow and sits down again, swaying her hips as she approaches Jack with a sultry look.

 

Stunned and almost unable to react to this sudden change, Jack decides to play along with the sudden shift.

 

The hairs on his arms stand on end as her finger lightly brushes his arm while she takes a seat next to him, except mid sit her face suddenly turns bright red moving over a cushion leaving a gap between them.

 

Jack inwardly laughs as he watches her unroll a scroll then placing it down on the table between them.

 

The scroll looks ancient and worn, made of some leather while crudely scratched markings could be text, but Jack cannot read it as she places a silver crystal down on the top.

 

"Place your hand on the parchment to receive the binding contract for the animal, they have a different process than other rewards"

 

Her expression is neutral, giving Jack no reason for concern so shrugging, he places a hand on the parchment, expecting something to happen.

 

She places her hand over his while smiling toward him for a moment, moving his hand over the crystal, then looking deeply at the scroll.

 

Her hand is subtly shivering as it holds Jacks in place.

 

Jack looks at her but her attention is held by the parchment, Jack turns his attention to the scroll to see what she’s looking at but she uses this split moment to use her other hand and pull out a dagger and stab down on both their hands.

 

"COMPRESSION!"

 

This is the last thing Jack hears as his vision shifts into another scene appearing before his eyes, two rabbits sitting in a field lit by moonlight.

 

A beautiful white and silver rabbit next to a dark, almost completely black rabbit sitting before a tree stump looking up at the moon.

 

The white and silver rabbit lowers its head before the stump while the black rabbit turns around and walks away.

 

Jack watches the black rabbit under the cloak of darkness, but when he turns around to look at the white and silver rabbit again, it has changed form into a beautiful rabbit-human woman wearing similar priestess clothing to the other bunny girl that just stabbed him.