A sweet, intoxicating scent drifted through the air.
"So fragrant…?" Kurose Akira wrinkled his nose slightly as he caught the alluring aroma, murmuring to himself in confusion.
"Roxia?"
He stood up and pushed the door open.But the corridor outside was empty—silent, motionless, without a trace of life.
"…That's strange."
A puzzled look crossed Akira's face. He was certain he had sensed Roxia's presence, yet there was no sign of her anywhere. That distinctive fragrance only appeared when she was nearby; from farther away, it faded into nothing more than a faint trace. And yet now, it lingered vividly in the air.
But Roxia herself was nowhere to be seen.
Instead—
On the floor just outside his door, several crystal-clear droplets of liquid remained, glistening faintly and releasing a dense, exotic scent.
Akira fixed his gaze on the droplets, his nostrils twitching lightly.
That familiar smell made him frown. There was no doubt about it—Roxia had been here.
And judging by how intense the scent was, along with the fact that Roxia could secrete cursed bodily fluids at almost any moment, it meant one thing:
Her curse was deepening.
A curse rooted in her bloodline—far more terrifying than he had initially imagined.
"Was Roxia here just now?" Natasha asked.
"Yeah."
"Then why didn't she come in?"
"Maybe she was just passing by," Akira replied calmly. "If she didn't have anything important, she probably didn't want to disturb us. If something was wrong, she definitely would've knocked."
"That makes sense. Would you like to rest a little longer, Mr. Akira?" Natasha smiled softly. "Come—lie down on my lap. I can nourish your soul with my magic~"
"Brilliant idea~"
...
When Akira and Natasha returned to the banquet, Roxia was chatting happily with her friends. He chose not to interrupt, simply asking Natasha to pass along a few words of congratulations on his behalf. After that, he quietly returned to the Adventurers' Guild with Ivsha and the others.
Back at the guild, Akira noticed something odd.
There was a smear of cream on Loserine's helmet.
"Loserine… did you eat something?" Akira asked curiously. After all, as a skeleton, she was notoriously bad at keeping food from spilling everywhere.
Even now, though her body was wrapped in a soul-construct, it still functioned like a sieve.
"Yes," Loserine replied calmly. "Roxia's hospitality was difficult to refuse."
Akira raised an eyebrow. A deep curiosity stirred within him regarding the current state of the "food" inside Loserine's body.
And as guild master, it was his responsibility to be fully aware of his members' physical conditions.
"Take off your armor. I'll check you," Akira said.
Loserine hesitated briefly, then began removing her armor piece by piece in front of him.
As the plates fell away, a dazzling set of crystalline bones was revealed, gleaming with radiant brilliance.
Tightly wrapped around the glowing skeleton was a layer of deep-sea-blue soul-matter—smooth and lustrous, just like before. It resembled a soft, translucent slime, but clearer, purer, and more refined.
Akira studied Loserine's figure carefully.
Though she was now nothing more than a skeleton, her soul-body reflected the shape she once had in life, like an image preserved in glass.
Compared to the just-of-age Roxia, Loserine's form was fuller, more mature. Though the soul-body lacked fine details, every contour exuded the quiet allure of an adult woman.
Akira also noticed that inside her soul-body, there was… an entire cream cake.
For a skeleton, digestion was obviously impossible—but the image itself was strangely amusing.
"Want me to take it out for you?" Akira asked.
"Do as you like."
Loserine's reply was indifferent, her tone casual.
Akira extended his hand.
His fingers slipped effortlessly into Loserine's soul-body, as if entering a pool of clear spring water.
At that instant, he sensed her soul-form flicker with a faint blue shimmer—as if some emotion had been triggered.
Something like…
Mm—hard to put into words.
In no time, he pulled the cream cake out of her soul-body.
It was completely intact, faintly glowing with a soft blue luminescence.
I'll eat it!
Without hesitation, Akira tossed the cake into his mouth. No food should ever go to waste.
"All right," he said while chewing. "Time to fuse the final memory fragment."
As he spoke, he took out Loserine's last remaining memory shard.
When Loserine saw it in his hand, her blue soul-body flickered again.
…Excitement?
Slightly puzzled, Akira handed her the final fragment.
The moment Loserine accepted it, her entire body was engulfed in a radiant blue light, brilliant as the stars.
[Your adventurer Loserine is absorbing the final memory fragment. Please wait…]
[Estimated time: 24 hours]
"A whole day to absorb the last fragment…" Akira sighed quietly. "That means it must contain a massive reserve of memories."
As he thought about what to do during that time, several options crossed his mind.
Gather intelligence on Blue Moon City's quests?Visit the library?
After some deliberation, he chose the library.
Loserine was the guild's strongest combatant. Without her nearby, he couldn't shake a lingering sense of unease.
The magic doll Alice was still too low-level, and relying on Ivsha alone for an E-rank difficulty quest would be risky.
Still, before heading to the library, he planned to log out and grab something to eat in the real world.
"Master~ Are you leaving already?"
As Akira prepared to log out, Alice clung tightly to him, reluctant to let go.
She wasn't short—about 162 centimeters tall—and with her slightly elevated shoes, she reached right up to his chin.
Her body was unusually soft, smooth like silk.
After all, she was filled with cotton.
"I'll be back soon," Akira said gently, patting her head and signaling her to wait obediently at the guild.
"Okay~ I'll be a good girl and wait for you here~"
Alice nuzzled against his palm, showing a sweet, girlish smile.
But inside her mind…
"When Master comes back~ I'll prepare carefully made desserts and black tea for him~ And I'll fill them with all my love~"
"..."
Akira smiled faintly as he removed the VR headset.
From the corner of his vision, he glanced at the time display in his mind. In-game, it was 2 p.m. In the real world, it was exactly 6 a.m.
The sky was still dim, but the breakfast stalls at the entrance of the residential complex were already bustling with activity.
Normally, Akira would be heading to Liu Ling's noodle shop for his part-time job at this hour. But today, the two sisters had gone to the amusement park together, leaving him with a rare stretch of free time.
He casually walked into a breakfast shop and ordered a basket of xiaolongbao, a tea egg, and a bowl of savory soy milk.
As he savored the familiar flavors, he opened the game forum on his phone.
Most threads revolved around player interactions—mutual praise, experience sharing, and plenty of challenge posts.
Things like:
"XXX Guild fought dirty during a quest and ambushed us! Get out here and accept my challenge!"
The game's martial world mirrored reality—full of schemes, rivalries, and unspoken rules.
Players clashed inevitably as they pursued their own goals.
"But…"
One post caught Akira's attention.
Its content surprised him.
The poster wrote:
"Why is an F+-rank player getting an A-rank difficulty quest? Can any kind big brother help me out~?"
Wait.
Hadn't he seen something like this before?
The same person?
The replies below were divided. Some accused it of being a scam, while others asked for the quest coordinates, wanting to verify it themselves.
The thread even attracted a few B-rank players who wanted to investigate in person.
Scrolling further, Akira saw follow-up posts—players reporting real losses suffered by their guilds.
That was more than enough to confirm the post's authenticity.
This shocked him.
In the game, quest difficulty was usually matched to player evaluation. While minor deviations existed, the gap was never supposed to be this extreme.
Yet this quest's difficulty clearly exceeded the player's current evaluation by a massive margin.
A bug?
Akira took a sip of soy milk.
Calm down first.