"UUUUOOOO AAAAHHHH!!! S-S-SAVE ME!"

               

                       

Shouted a bandit, as he ran for his life away from a Fire Mane Tusked Boar.

             

"Keep it up, Jeremy!" Rin shouted enthusiastically at her bandit cohort. "You're doing great!" She encouraged him like a mother would her child at a sports game; watching his progress as he ran away from the giant boar, luring it away to be ambushed by another group of bandits.

                                     

"Umm... If I may be so bold to a-ask you, miss: w-why are we hunting the m-monsters here in the forest?"

               

Rin turned and looked at Sneed, Seeing a black and green screen overlay on the right side of her vision.

                    

                    

                          

               

Rin smiled as the read through some of his stats; growing curious on who this Arvania was. Why he hated King Helios.

        

And why the fuck is his occupation so weird?

                

               

But Rin really didn't care about any of this.

She was more focused on the thing in his traits.

                                     

           

This had caught her eye immedietly.

Not because of what it meant; it was all to clear to her what it meant.

                

Rin then looked back over towards the bandits she had lead onto this field training day, to look over all of their character sheets from a distances.

                         

And as she did, she found another.

                        

                                    

And another.

                                

                            

...And another.

                             

                                         

From what Rin could tell by the people that Ava had surrounded herself with; was that Ava has somehow found and gathered everyone of them that had the same traits to be some sort of exceptional character in and of themselves.

             

Then?... Why were these bandits in this cave just written as throwaway villains?...

               

As Rin pondered on this; Considering the situation and conditions of things within the hideout, and how the men acted; when they weren't cowering in fear of Ava herself.

And while exceptional and gifted. Rin realized this bandit group was extremely-

                  

                

"...Lazy..."

                                      

                                    

"H-Huh?" Sneed stammers in confusion as he hears Ava murmur something.

                        

               

Rin looked back at Sneed with a scowl.

"I'm saying; that we're doing this to get off our lazy asses!" Rin informed Sneed while looking back towards the group of bandits.

    

Sneed flinched as if he had been struck.

"L-Lazy?!"

Rin nodded without looking back at him.

"...Yeah..." She reaffirmed. "We've gotten to soft recently." She suggested. "And I think, especially after that last encounter with, Conrad. That you weaklings are relying on me too much!" She bluffed arrogantly. Not really knowing if that was the truth or not, since she hadn't taken over Ava's body until recently.

But if everything I've seen is only an indication and a fraction of what was going on around here. Then they were definitely abusing the fact that, Ava was such a berserker, that they were living it up in complacency, all while riding on her laurels to carry them.

Which is probably why Ava even dies in those scenes; because she also gets lazy and doesn't do anything to level up before the MC's boi-toys show up.

Talent is wasted on the unmotivated. Rin thought to herself.

              

"Which is why we're here: I am going to get you boys and myself fit and tone, before we go and take on Krokg while taking Westbrook for ourselves." Rin informs him.

                       

               

                 

                          

...........................

                    

                        

                        

After a long moment of silence from Sneed, Rin looks back over towards him. She sees him standing there gaping at her in disbelief.

                  

"M-My lady!" Sneed says in a worried tone disbelieving tone. "Y-You can't be serious?!"

Rin threw her head back in laughter at his reply before answering him.

"When have you ever known me to not be serious about the things I set out to do?" She questioned him. Rin decided she needed more information about the relationship between Ave and her subordinates.

         

Namely Sneed. She thought. Who ever heard of a Bandit Lord's Butler. She thought critical skepticism.

                               

Rin watched as Sneed opened his mouth to speak, but closed to just as quickly. This repeated four or five times before he finally let out a sigh and defeat.

"I-... I suppose you're correct on that... nor will I be able to dissuade you from this coarse of action.

Rin scoffed at his words with a chuckle.

"Of course not." She told him flippantly. "If I thought this didn't have a snowball's chance in hell. I wouldn't even be doing this." Rin assured Sneed.

Sneed then gave a solemn nod, before turning to look back at the men that Ava was leading; as they charged out from the trees with ropes and spears and large log like spears, much like battering-rams.

He watched impressed as the mottle crew that Ava had taken over and been in charge of for over five years. Began to use coordinated efforts and tactics that Ava had shown and suggested to them.

And they're effective as well.

Sneed watched as within a few strikes and carefully planned hits in certain areas. The boar was more or less defeated before it even knew what had happened to it.

                  

"......Where did you learn such advanced hunting skills?..." Sneed more or less murmured his question to himself. Not expecting Ava to respond.

Rin thought about his question. Not really knowing how to answer him without really coming off as suspicious or ludicrous.

But she decided to throw caution to the wind, and see what would happen.

If nothing else. I can at least gauge Sneed's loyalty to Ava; or get some insightful information about how much he might believe her if I say this.

"Honestly? I don't know..." She lied. "I just woke up the other day; which started off with a terrible headache. Then all these new thoughts and ideas came into my head: So I decided to see if I could make them a reality." Rin told him honestly.

She watched out the corner of her Third-Eye, as he nodded his head in satisfaction of her answer.

                 

"Welp!" Rin stretched her hands over her head and then reached down to crack her neck. "Guess it's time for us to do some training as well."

Sneed did a double take towards Ava.

"Us?!" He questioned what he just heard.

Rin scoffed at his reply.

"Of course us!" She affirmed. "I have to get in shape too; and I know you're better than you look: So I expect you to at least take down half as many as me." Rin goaded him with a wicked grin.

"B-But I-... EEP!-"

              

Sneed felt as his feet left the ground. As Ava grabbed him by the back of his jerkin and lift him into the air. He pulled his legs up and had his arm tucked in, as he tried to curl up after being lifted two feet off of the ground by his large muscular boss.

"I know for a fact," Rin smirked as she lifted him towards her face. "That you're pretty agile." She hefted and reared back as she prepared to throw him.

"So get ready! And hold on to your butt! Because I'm tossing you onto the next boar I see!"

           

Sneed's face turns pale as he listens to his lady's craziness.

             

"P-P-P-P-PL-PLEASE M-M-MISS!" Sneed begged.

"Can't we talk about!-"

                  

*FWOOSH!*

                    

"TTTHHHHHIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSS!- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"                        

                                           

                                        

                                                                                 

                            

 

---

               

                              

                                           

Rin moves to the section of the cave that are her living quarters. Where she has a full-length mirror set up there.

   

That... Is about a foot and a half to short...... fucking annoying.

          

She pushes it back, so that it is tilted and that she can see her face.

Rin stares at her new appearance; the appearance of Ava. Admiring the new way she looks.

I am glad that I'm no longer who I was in a way. Rin thinks to herself. I hated my old appearance; I hated myself.

              

As she stares and admires her new features. Which lean more towards the masculine than it did the feminine.

Very androgynous... I don't dislike it. But I do miss my more female face of my old body; but there is an appeal to this, I suppose. Rin thinks as she inspects the muscles of Ava's, her, body.

I do like them!... I love not being fat anymore... But it feels like I traded being round, for being wide... Wish I could have been more girly... But being built like a tank has its advantages. Rin mulls over, as she thinks back on the hunt this afternoon.

When the boar at least twice her size came rushing at her. She felt no fear as she grabbed the charging beast by the tusks, then twisted its head in a way, that both threw it sideways and simultaneously snapping its neck.

             

That had been the first time I killed something. Rin thought as she stared down at her hands.

I thought it would have been harder than that. Or that I would have had some sort of gut-retching unease for taking a life.

Rin began worrying if that being inside Ava, wasn't effecting her in someway.

Maybe I'm slowly becoming her?... Or maybe it's because of how strong I am now. That I just find it easier to be more cold or callous about this...... Maybe it's the fact that I'm in this situation all together; that it just hasn't hit me of my reality yet...

                 

I just..........

                    

"...*SIGH*... I just hope it's that. And that I'm not actually this cruel of a person; that I'm just the kinda person that finds it easy to take a life.......... I don't want to be that kinda monster....." Rin murmurs to herself in anxiety.

                 

But Rin decides to shake off her melancholy and focus on why she was looking at herself in the mirror.

Besides the fact that I, ironically turned into my ideal girlfriend material... guess I got to get a femme girl to go with the new me now... and... I don't hate that idea!

She shakes her head again. Trying to rid herself of distractions.

           

Focus you!

              

She stares at herself intently.

              

                                             

                       

                      

                   

 

              

               

 

Focusing.

                   

                               

                   

                 

                  

                

 

                            

                                      

                                

                         

                     

                      

 

Unblinkingly determined.

                    

                     

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

               

                

                 

                  

                 

                  

                  

                 

                    

                           

                      

                         

                           

                             

                             

                             

                            

                  

                 

                 

Nothing....

                      

                 

             

Rin realized that after 20 minutes of no sort of information popping up. That the Third-Eye could not determine or show her own status page.

"*SIGH*...Guess that means I've got to go into town early after all... I was hoping to do this later... But I guess this needs to happen, before I go into my first big fight against another person." Rin mumbles to herself.

                                                      

After getting changed and grabbing the sword that basically came with the body she woke up in. She left her living quarters to go find her second in command.

           

After going through the winding corridors and ending up at the makeshift rec-hall. Rin found Sneed in the company of the men, enjoying the boar they had hunted this afternoon; enjoying drinks and other luxuries that they had lying around.

They were all laughing at a red faced and embarrassed Sneed. Who was listening to Ackrin, as he retold the events about how Sneed had sailed through the air to land on the back of a boar being lead towards the group.

                   

Rin decided not to interrupt this comradery. She just leaned against the edge of the entrance, smirking as she listened in.

                    

           

"OH MAN! You guys should have been there! Hahaha! Sneed was hanging on for dear life! the boar just ran and bucked and tried so hard to knock Sneed's shit to the ground! Hahahaha!" Ackrin wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes as he focused back on retelling the event. "And then he did something amazing! He got launched back into the air, after a particularly large thrust from the boar. Then he came back down with his rapier drawn, decapitating it cleanly! It was the thing of legends! Hahahaha!"

"HMPH!" Sneed harrumphed as he listened to the drones prattle on about his exploits and simultaneously praise and mock him. "If you want, a thing of legends! You lot should have seen the boss!" He informed the group.

"Oh yeah!" Ackrin chimed in. "She-"

"Uup puup uup!" Sneed cut him off. "You had your chance! Now it is my turn to tell the tale of Ava's exploits!" He announced proudly.

"Ahem! So! There she was, our boss and leader. As Ava stood there, glaring at the on coming charging boar-  HRMPH?!-"

          

A large hand quickly clamped over Sneed's face, and pulled him up from his seat.

          

"If you guys will excuse us." Rin said with a narrowed eye and a wicked smile and redden cheeks. "Sneed and I have business we need to attend to." She then turned away, pulling and dragging Sneed along with her.

"Ackrin... Finish the tale after we leave... No need to spoil the fun..." Rin lamented as she realized she may have just spoiled the mood, and sought to restore the atmosphere.

"R-Right, boss!" Ackrin replied.       

                      

After carrying Sneed through to the front entrance of the cave, Rin finally releases him from her grip. Letting him fall to the floor to stumble on his feet.

Once he was released, Sneed takes the all to need breath of fresh air.

"W-W-What was that for, miss?" He questions Ava intentions.

*FWAP*

"BWAH!-" Sneed cries out in surprise, as a large cloth hits his face.

He pulls it down to notice its a large hooded cloak. He looks up at Ava with an even more confused look on his face.

Rin just rolls her eye at her supposed second in command.

           

"Just suit up and shut up, Sneed." Rin tells him. "We're heading to town."

        

Sneed's eyes go wide upon hearing this.

     

"T-T-T-To!- *GULP* T-To- TO TOWN?!"

         

Rin slips a cloak of her own over her head and broad shoulders; which actually hinder her from hiding her full figure. As her midriff was still showing, along with her muscular arms.

                 

........................ Even after getting in shape and getting healthy and fit... clothes still don't fit right......

                 

Rin turns to smirk at the distraught Sneed behind her.

"Yeah," She affirms to him. "We have some errands to run; We need to get a hold of a crystal reader, So I can see how my-.... AAAAaaand! Everyone else's levels are progressing!" Rin twisted the truth to not reveal or hint that she already knew how people were progressing.

                  

......................

                      

Rin stared at Sneed, looking at his current level and stats

          

                 

                                 

                                          

Rin was pretty happy with the overall growth he had obtained today. Along with all the rest of the bandits. But Rin was also not a fool to think that this was the factor that was going to save her, nor was this actually the thing that mattered in the long run.

                             

The stats in the game were mostly a placeholder anyways. She thought to herself in retrospect. It's not like there was actual combat within the game. There were encounter that happened. But those "Encounters" and "Fights," Were either won or lost based on a hidden value of the stats your character, or the character going through the encounter currently had.

So if you had a low Charisma stat, you would do more poorly and end up with losing hands, or lose in chess, or whatever the game or event may have been.

Same went with Strength or Magic, or any other stat; if your stat value was low, the lower your odds were to succeed at winning the challenge. The same went for any of the other stats: The percentage only improved when the required stat, or stats, were at either at a minimum required stat point requirement.

......Or if you were determined to just restart your save a billion times to get the correct outcome. Rin thought with frustration.

Because that was also an option: But there was a reward to those who did things the hard way to pass with lower than required stats. This is how people found new ways, paths, and dialog options within the game.

...Because for some bloody reason! Let's say that Prince Eric need you to be at a Charisma stat of 34, but you succeeded at 20. Then you might be low enough to succeed and progress; but fail a check with him anyways; thus unlocking a new, and unexplored route.

         

So... for me to succeed with winning against a fight with the S-Rank adventurer from the adventurer's guild... I'm going to need to get super strong and swole. Rin determined internally.

              

And as Rin thought of her chances of this happening. She thought better of it.

"Yeah... And!" Rin lifted her hand to raise her forefinger. "We're going to go blackmail, Marquises Douglas."

Sneed gaped at Ava in disbelief.

"......B-B-B-BLA-*WHEEZE*-ACK MAIL?!" Sneed whispered.

Rin nodded in confirmation.

"Yeah!" She affirmed. "I've got to get my bounty reduced somehow. Or at least get a status change on my occupation and get a pardon."

                

                     

*THUD*

                   *THUD*

             

"Sneed?"

Rin turned back to see that Sneed was on the ground passed out.

                

               

"God!" Rin rolled her eye. "What a baby..." She reached down and hefted him up over her shoulder.

                                             

"Coriolis City, here we come!" Rin cheered as she strode forwards.