[Power Stone (57/100) - Common]

  The HUD didn’t reveal anything more, no matter how hard April stared at the line. Power stone of what? What did it do? Did the ‘57’ mean it was half full? That seemed like a safe assumption.

  “What is a thing?”

  Emma’s question brought her back from the contemption. She shuddered, trying to forget what she had done just a moment ago – made impossible by all the ichors she was covered in. The smell, too, clung to her nostrils, persuasive and icky. She needed a bath quickly. Even just a bucket of water would do.

  “...it’s…” She turned to look at Emma, inwardly shaking her head. “It’s hard to expin.” She decided it was too soon to reveal something so sensitive as her integrated computing system or the HUD or the ‘Equipment’ tab she had. Perhaps she never would. “This thing seems to be what is giving the spider its strength.” She hoped the expnation was enough.

  “Is it?” Emma didn’t come closer, scrunching her nose while tiptoeing in a circle. She narrowed her eyes, trying to get a better look at the crystal. “Looks just like the Golem’s eyes.” She compared.

  Looking at it again, April had to agree. She wondered what kind of applications such a thing could have. It certainly looked valuable with the blue sheen and deep, reflective surface.

  “Any ideas of what we could do with it?”

  Emma tilted her head. “You are asking me?”

  With a shrug, she threw the little gem to her companion and watched Emma step away from the Power Stone. “It’s clean. I am not dirt.” She paused, realising her arm was covered in goo – especially her fists, which were glistening with the disgusting stuff. “I am not that dirty.” She whined, watching the crystal fall into a spsh of blood, rolling for a bit.

  “I refuse to be lifted by you again!” Emma’s voice had a finality to it. “Not until you get clean.”

  “And then I can?” April sighed, shuddering at the feeling of the pieces of guts sliding down her skin. She was pretty sure there were parts of the spider's blood mixed into the soup as well. Her fists had cracked the creature's skull somewhat fiercely.

  “If you get dressed.”

  “The requirements are growing?” She remarked, feeling miserable. The adrenaline was leaving her body, and the realisation of what she had done hit her. “Urp…” She felt stomach acid trying to find its way out. She swallowed. Hard.

  Emma agreed. Her apprehension showed on her face. “I can’t believe this is a real thing.” She whispered, looking everywhere but at the giant spider or April.

  “Neither can I.” She brushed her palm over her skin, trying to free herself from as much of the spider as possible. But the remains of the thing were everywhere. And she did mean everywhere. “Bath. Scrub. Shampoo. Soap. A kingdom for a towel.” She was getting nowhere.

  “If there is soap. Or a shampoo.” Emma reminded her. “We know nothing of this pce. This… this world.” She was still struggling to comprehend what was happening.

  “There must be. You saw the guy I killed. His equipment spoke of a rather advanced civilisation.”

  “He used a pointy stick and wore leather armour.” Emma recalled. “It… It doesn’t give that much hope, honestly.”

  “But he was clean and shaven,” April added. “There likely are cities and countries. There must be inns or something like that. We just… We just have to get out of here.” She searched for an exit, realising the doors were still closed.

  “Up there.” Emma pointed at the ceiling where the hole from which the spider had crawled out was still open. “Unless you can break the stone with those fists of yours.”

  April didn’t pn to find out if she could do that. She gagged again as something putrid bleached out of the spider’s mouth. The piece of metal was still stuck in the creature's head – this time ruined beyond any repairability. She looked longingly at the remains of her first weapon in this world.

  It had been only for a moment, but she had liked the halberd. “Yuck.” She gave up on retrieving the lump of deformed weapon, and after a moment of consideration, she pulled out another of the spider’s eyes. “These have to have value.”

  “And where would you put them? Between your breasts?” Emma rounded the room, patting the walls. “It doesn’t seem like there is another way out.” She reported. “Can you see what is in that hole?”

  [Power Stone (54/100) - Common]

  “Hmm…” The second Power Stone turned out to have less energy in it. She turned it in her palm while her integrated system crunched all the avaible information. There had to be a way to draw the power out of the crystal… And do what?

  “Well?”

  “Yes, yes. On it.” April finally looked up, peering into the dark hole, finding small indents on one side of it. They were perfect for someone to stick their fingers in and pull themselves up. “Well. I guess we are going up.”

  The discovery, while expected, didn’t exactly improve Emma’s mood. “I can’t reach that.” She succinctly summarised the issue. “And you are not touching me.”

  “Oh, come on. It’s… bad, yes, but we have to get out of here.” April invited the bck-haired woman with an extended hand. “Come?”

  “You stink. I can barely recognise you under the blood.” Emma compined, hesitantly stepping closer. She did her best to not touch any of the spills but failed eventually, squealing once it happened.

  Eventually, Emma was standing next to her, and April handed her the Power Stone. “Here. And up we-”

  But Emma scurried backwards, almost slipping. “D-do I have to?” She didn’t hide her disgust at all. “You are really gross right now. I can’t believe you actually killed it. And you screa-”

  April shot forward, putting her cleanest finger on Emma’s lips. “It didn’t happen.” She hissed.

  “But-”

  “It. Did. Not. Happen.” She repeated, slowly and clearly. “I didn’t scream. And I am not afraid of spiders.” There had to be no mistakes.

  “But-”

  “It was a battle cry. Yes. That’s what it was. Didn’t I fight valiantly? I attacked immediately. There were no screams involved.” She nodded along with her words to reaffirm the statement.

  “But I—”

  “You saw it, right? Of course, you did.” She considered the history rewritten.

  “...”

  “Now, come!” April offered her hand again, only for it to be spped away.

  “Don’t interrupt me that way. I saw what I saw.” Emma gred.

  “And you will tell no one. Are we clear?” She returned the gre.

  “I will do what I want.”

  “You talk big for someone smaller and weaker than me.”

  “I think we are very clear you are not going to hurt me at this point. You even galntly charged ahead to protect me, didn’t you?”

  “That didn’t happen.” April smoothly lied. There might have been a moment where she had acted on instinct upon seeing Emma’s distraught, terror-stricken face. The woman’s scream had certainly helped her clear head and act. But she would not admit that.

  “Unconvincing. Those touches were on purpose, after all.” Emma covered her privates with her hands and took another step back.

  “...Let’s just move…” She sighed. “And it’s not like you fared better. I at least did something… Ah! I didn’t mean to…”

  “I am a burden. I already know I am. I will…” Emma’s arms were now wrapped around her. She breathed in and out, calming herself. “I will…” She squeezed herself tighter.

  A part of April wanted to offer an actual hug. But her state… “It can’t be helped. We just arrived on this pnet. This is just a start. Get better. Get stronger. Make that your goal.”

  These words seemed to resonate with the woman. Emma regained some liveliness, switching moods again. “Fine. How are we going to do this?”

  “You grab my side, and I will support you with my arm. I jump, catch one of those notches, and pull us up while you hold on for your life. Simple enough.”

  Emma didn’t look convinced. “You will pull both of us up. At the same time. After carrying me for almost an hour now. And fighting three times. You can do that?”

  That was actually a good question. While she was confident in her newfound strength, she hadn’t actually explored the limits of her capability. “Yes.” She decided to radiate confidence.

  “Sure. Of course. I… I still don’t want to touch you, tho.” Despite all inhibitions, Emma took the few remaining steps to close the distance and stand beside April. She grimaced and murmured curses while leaning on the taller woman.

  April held her tongue still. The hesitant, delicate way Emma touched and pushed on her wasn’t exactly good for her heart. It had been a very long time since… She decided not to further the thought.

  Hooking her arm under Emma’s bottom, April accidentally gnced at the spider’s carcass, making her shudder. Even dead and gone, it still made her want to use a lot of firepower to end all traces of existence it ever had. But since she couldn’t do that, he leaned down and ripped out another eye, passing it to the girl clinging to her side.

  “I can’t carry more.” Emma’s arm was now around April’s neck, her face very close to the brunette's ear.

  The voice sent entirely different shivers through her body, and she coughed to mask the effect. “I know. Here goes nothing…” Kicking away one of the spider’s legs, she found herself under the hole.

  April gathered all of her strength while her artificial eyes did the same with the information. The tunnel leading straight up seemed to go on for a while, as she failed to see an end to it. There were no strange energy readings and her HUD… She checked again. Her HUD didn’t dispy any equipped women in her left arm.

  It did, however, seem to be crunching on a new problem. The glitches and the new colours were somewhat distracting, as a new line of symbols formed under her name. The blue hues slowly added incomprehensible letters, which then slowly began taking different forms.

  Judging it would take more time, April suddenly bent her knees and then unched them upwards, her left arm extended. While the jump wasn’t that high, she almost failed to reach the first notch, Emma’s weight pulling her down.

  But she managed, her fingers tching onto the indent. She huffed, exerting all of her strength to pull up. Her arm muscles hurt, and she clenched her teeth. She was halfway there when she realised she wouldn’t be able to finish the pull-up with just one arm.

  Her stubbornness made her persist. She shook and sweated, pulling out of her body and finally hitting the limit. “Hold on.”

  April unhooked her arm from Emma, who hurried to closely hug her. The girl even wrapped her legs around April’s waist. But she refused to acknowledge the intimate contact, quickly raising her other arm to grab another indent – the one just a little further up the first one.

  Now with both arms, she entered the only exit the room had, wondering how they had gotten in the mess in the first pce. She only hoped the next open pce they found would lead them to an exit. Or at least something to clean herself with.

  “You stink.”

  The remark made April wince. She really needed a bath. And something to distract herself from the way Emma was pressing against her.

  Enkiari