<Thank you for participating in Fantasia’s first laser tag tournament!>

<Final match count: 10 wins, 0 losses>

<Blade’s team’s final rank (level 45-49 bracket): 557 (top 3%)>

<Your team has won the following titles:

Undefeated: Win 10/10 matches. +500 fame, +10 intimidation
Knockout: Win all 10 matches by knockout: +500 fame, +3% to all stun skills
Swift Shooting: Finish all matches under 20 minutes. +250 fame, +5 agility
Perfect Aim: Finish the tournament with 100% accuracy. +500 fame, +3% to all ranged skills (Mimi only)
Dodgy: Finish the tournament without losing a life. +500 fame, +10 agility (Mimi, Sirena only)>

<For placing in the top 3%, your team wins the following prizes:
400 greater healing potions
4 Grade A large diamonds
400,000g
Mithril tower shield
Enchanted manawood staff
Mithril bladed leg armour
Enchanted composite compound crossbow>

<Thank you for participating! Unfortunately, you did not advance to the second round of the tournament.>

 

“Man, I thought we’d definitely make it into the finals,” Blade remarked in a disappointed tone.

Fey snorted and replied, “With Mimi dragging our dead weight? No way. The teams that moved on all have four Mimis.” As she talked, her eyes were focused on the prize she really cared about: the mithril bladed leg armour. She reached for the exquisitely crafted item with the eagerness of a five-year-old seeing a shiny new toy for the first time. Rather than waste time on complicated buckles and hidden clasps, she used Ex-quip to don the armour-weapon.

“Ehehehe…” Fey began to laugh, a distinctly nefarious undertone to the sound.

 

Seeing that Fey’s attention would not return to the (virtual) world for some time, the other team members took the opportunity to examine their own respective equipment prizes.

 

Blade’s tower shield was easily the largest of the four items. A simple rectangle of metal that was curved in the horizontal plane, it was approximately four-fifths of Blade’s height and had a square cut-out at eye level that was filled with woven mesh rather than solid metal to allow him to see. While mithril was stronger and lighter than real-life metals such as steel and titanium, the shield was still considerably heavier than a typical wooden shield, with only someone of Blade’s strength-heavy build able to carry it for even the length of a short fight. He examined the blue-tinged metal with appreciation, then Ex-quipped to his much smaller buckler so that he could travel more easily.

 

Sirena’s staff was a simple length of gleaming red-brown wood carved into an elegant corkscrew pattern. Compared to other materials, manawood was the only one able to reduce mana consumption when casting spells and improve mana regeneration. While other materials could amplify the power of certain types of spells more effectively, manawood was highly coveted for its mana-sparing properties as well as extreme rarity (due to the fact that manawood trees only grew in elven forests and to attempt to harm one would get you swiftly assassinated by a ranger).

 

Mimi glanced briefly at the compound crossbow. With multiple strings and pulleys, it was bulkier and more complicated than her current recurve, making it look more powerful. She put the weapon away in her pack with a mildly dissatisfied air, making no moves to remove her current crossbow from its holster on her hip.

 

“What’s up?” Fey asked, attention drawn back to the present at Mimi’s lack of excitement.

“It’s not as good as this one,” said Mimi, indicating her recurve crossbow.

“Really?” Fey asked, surprised. The other three pieces of equipment were epic-quality items. “That sucks.”

Mimi shrugged. “I can probably sell it for five, six hundred thousand, so it’s not bad.”

“…How much is your bow worth?”

“About two million market value for materials. I paid the craftsman five hundred thousand to build it and the enchanter another five hundred thousand. It took about two weeks to build, so it’s probably worth four to five million on the market.”

Fey looked back and forth between the plain-looking crossbow Mimi used and Mimi’s calm expression, which gradually grew more amused as Fey gaped.

“Your… it’s… is the rest of your equipment worth that much?” Fey stammered.

“No, this is the only custom build. The rest is ready-made out of the shop.”

 

“Mimi’s rich,” Sirena remarked. It was a new revelation for the mermaid, as neither she nor Blade were aware of the strength elixir incident. (See Chapter 57 if you don’t remember.)

 

Well, she was rich, Fey thought with a guilty pang. It would take her a long time to repay the four million gold she owed the sniper.

 

Mimi made no move to confirm or deny the statement. Instead, she tilted her head to gesture that they should leave.

 

“Go where?” Fey asked.

 

Mimi said the magic word. “Avariel quest.” (Only the world ‘avariel’ is the magic word, for anyone annoyed at the author’s use of singular.)

 

A jolt of excitement ran through Fey’s blood. “Ohmygodlet’sgo,” she said in a rush, then grabbed Mimi’s hand and ran off in the direction of the deep forest.

 

Sirena complained over party chat.

<Sirena: Hey! What about us?>

<Fey: Whatever. Go catch up to level 50.>

 

Sirena sighed dramatically. “Let’s go level up, then.” She held up her shiny new staff. “I wanna see what this thing can do.”

Blade was just as eager to see what effect Shield Bash would have on monsters with his new tower shield. The pair agreed that slow monsters with high health would be the best target for their respective strengths and headed off to find suitable test subjects.

 

***

 

Leandriel deflected a barrage of arrow-like projectiles with a powerful gust of wind from his wings. It had taken much painful trial and error before he had perfected the technique, but now he could effectively defend himself from ranged weapons so long as they came at him from the front.

He swooped down to attack his opponents, monsters that appeared similar to beavers but with launchable spikes growing profusely from their broad tails. He managed to behead one but did not escape the close quarters completely unscathed, hissing in pain as his unarmoured wings were pierced. The damage was not debilitating, and he continued his pass, flying out of range before gaining altitude for another attack.

 

Leandriel was currently working on advanced solo aerial maneuvers. After a week of zero progress, the department had set Allia on basic flying exercises in hopes that it would strengthen her foundational skills for more advanced flying. They had also pulled another beta tester into Fantasia and were pushing his avatar through the same accelerated growth Allia had gone through. Leandriel was to pair up with whichever one of them mastered basic flying first. Leandriel was rooting for the new guy.

 

Now would be a good time to break away from his work and go see Fey. And she was about to log on.

 

It occurred to Leandriel that he had not actually planned what he was going to say to her.

How did one ask a woman if she would like to enter into a long-term relationship? He believed that the term was ‘going steady’, but that was usually after a period of dating, he believed.

So he should ask her on dates first. Was he supposed to ask her on a single formal date first, or ask her ‘to date’?

 

Fey’s name flashed green on his friend list. A spike pierced his wing with an annoying twinge of pain.

He did not have time for the monsters’ nonsense. “Magic, take care of these creatures for me, please.”

“Okay!” Magic answered cheerfully. The mushroom released a large cloud of Drain Spores that would turn the beavers into desiccated husks within a matter of minutes. The monsters left off attacking Leandriel in a futile effort to escape the vampiric fungi.

 

Leandriel landed, thoughts racing and nerves strung with tension. He was going to…

 

Magic hopped impatiently on his owner’s shoulder, wondering why the angel was just standing around, looking tense. “What?” he asked in his high, cute voice.

 

Leandriel patted the mushroom absently. “A moment, Magic. I am going to talk to Fey.”

Magic looked doubtful. “You don’t look very happy.”

Leandriel pinched the bridge of his nose. Explaining his turbulent emotions to an artificially sentient fungus when he had less than three minutes to figure out the words to convince the woman of his dreams to enter a romantic relationship with him was simply not happening. “Magic, please be quiet.”

 

The mushroom immediately subsided, hopping off his shoulder to hide between his folded wings.

 

Leandriel let out a sharp sigh of frustration. Now he had guilt to deal with on top of everything else. “Magic…” He sighed again. “I apologize.”

“Hm?” Magic hopped back onto Leandriel’s shoulder, nothing but his usual good humour in evidence.  “For what?”

“…Never mind.” His pet still managed to surprise him on a regular basis, no doubt because of the traits gained from his original owner.

“Okay!” Magic said cheerfully. He hopped back into hiding.

 

Right. Leandriel really had no way to plan what he was going to say, since it depended on where Fey would steer the conversation, and that was something he had no hope of predicting.

 

It was time. He was just going to talk to her with the aim of spending more time together.

 

<Leandriel: Hello.>

<Fey: Hi!!>

 

Two exclamation marks. That was unusual.

 

<Leandriel: You seem excited.>

<Fey: I am!! The tournament’s over and now I get to go on my quest to get wings!!>

 

Leandriel was not surprised at the fact Fey’s team had not advanced to the next round, given that Kevin had taken to keeping him updated on ‘his girlfriend’s’ ranking. He was glad she did not seem very disappointed at the result.

 

<Leandriel: Are you heading for the Mana Tree already?>

<Fey: Yup! We’re running.>

 

‘We.’ It took Leandriel only a second to figure out that Fey must be referring to Mimi, who was also a level 50 elf. He really was jealous of the amount of time the sniper was able to spend with Fey.

He pushed the feeling to the side, where it would not taint the happy mood of the conversation.

 

<Leandriel: Haha, very eager, I see. I’m excited for you.>

<Fey: I’m so excited. Would you mind giving me some pointers when I get my wings?>

 

An opportunity. Not quite what he was expecting, but he seized it.

 

<Leandriel: I would be happy to teach you in person.>

<Fey: Really? Aren’t you busy?>

<Leandriel: Not at the moment. In fact, I have been meaning to ask if you would like to spend more time together.>

 

Leandriel went tense in anticipation, nerves making the few seconds until Fey’s reply seem to stretch into infinity.

 

<Fey: That would be great! Thanks so much!>

 

Leandriel had no idea whether Fey’s “great” was referring to the flying lessons or spending more time together. Based on the thank-you that followed, he was afraid the former was more likely. He sighed and did not further pursue the matter for this conversation.

 

<Leandriel: You are very welcome. I am looking forward to it as well.>

<Fey: I’ll let you know when I finish my quest. Thanks again! You’re the best.>

<Leandriel: I will wait with anticipation. Good luck on the quest.>

<Fey: Thanks! Talk to you later.>

<Leandriel: Goodbye.>

 

Leandriel closed the conversation window with mixed feelings. He had secured what could be construed as a ‘date’ with Fey, but he doubted that it would count as ‘asking her out’ by Lacey’s standards.

“Baby steps,” he muttered to himself. All of this was new to him, and there was no need to rush into things. He would make his interest clearer during the course of the flying lessons.

 

“Hmm?” Magic hopped back onto Leandriel’s shoulders. “Are you talking to Fey-Fey?”

“I just finished.”

“What did you talk about?”

“She is about to attain her winged form, so I offered to give her flying lessons.”

“Ooh! Flying is fun!” Magic exclaimed.

“It is,” Leandriel agreed.

“We’re going flying with Fey-Fey?”

“We are.”

The mushroom sighed in contentment. “Fun-fun.”

 

Smiling in agreement, Leandriel stretched his wings and launched himself into the air, looking for more monsters. He had to travel farther than expected; Magic had been rather enthusiastic with the Drain Spore and the immediate area was crowded with little blue-capped mushrooms eager for more food.