The Anime Trope System: Stone Vs. The Viper, A LitRPG Novel. Chapter 281

Published at 13th of May 2019 07:31:25 PM Please help us improve Trinity Audio
Chapter 281

After Tessa was set in a bed, watched over by the nurse herself, Clyde and the others made their way back to the eating area .

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"So what present are we talking about?" he told Selkie as he sat down .

Selkie punched a hole into reality and pulled out a glowing green object . She carefully pa.s.sed it to the young man . It felt rather…oddly cold and warm at the touch .

A victory chime sounded off in his head .

[Congratulations! You have received a *World Star Fragment!*]

[Number of World Star fragments owned: 1 of 7 . ]

*World Objectives:

-Slay the demon lords: 3/15 . Reward: *World star fragment* .

-Receive special training . Reward: Stone magic line access .

-World side objective: learn more about this world . Current knowledge of Satovia: 1 . 8%

System opinion: you suck! Get on it, G.o.dling .

*Challenges: 2/3 .

-Challenge: Attempt to get Noona into your party .

-Challenge: win 5 cultural festival events .

[You have earned the t.i.tle Star Collector! Legend says something amazing will happen if all seven are brought together . An incredibly difficult, perhaps unreasonable task, but the reward may be worth the risk . ]

The world star fragments took a place in the MISC section of his stat page .

Misc:

-Free points: 265 .

-Wanted rep Harpy clan: 5/5 .

-Omen's spheres (some call them orbs): 7 . (2 of 5 super)

-Sato Academy Crafting Permission .

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-*Word Star Fragments*: 1/7 .

"Thanks . Seriously . You're awesome," Clyde said .

"You're welcome," Selkie said, smiling .

"Where did you find it?" Clyde said after warping the object to his inventory .

"As you've stated, long story," Dark said, "but we got super lucky . The boss fight sucked . There's no real point to us keeping it . The lord of the shadows does not condemn this world to be doomed by the Viper, he just wants to rule it . "

Clyde was legitimately impressed, but this find reminded him of something important . He could not skip the adventuring section of his journey . Well, the Watchers already decided where he'd begin . For them to deem the young man Safe and remove all restrictions…h.e.l.l yes!

The young man looked at the crowd and took notice of Sazuki and Ming waving at him from afar . They called his name .

The concerts had finally ended and people wanted to finish off the festival with the traditional games .

Needless to say, Clyde asked Yuki to not partic.i.p.ate but cheer him on and make sure Tessa doesn't try to make a run for it . The demoness was skeptical until he told her the truth, leaving out the game talk .

"I'm trying to win this so a bunch of perverts won't force themselves into Noona's home," he said . "At the same time, I don't want to see a lone human walk into that house of demons and disappear for good . It's a lose-lose for all of them . "

That didn't stop Harumi and the others from going all out, but Clyde managed to win the rest of the events, from a bean bag toss, to a fetch race, and even a pie-smas.h.i.+ng battle . He took out the pink-haired girl first to make sure the victory was secured .

Sazuki and the student council gave him a trophy and a medal, along with bragging rights . None of these victories were won with his powers, which made people go nuts . They should be thanking his evil system, not him .

After signing a few autographs, Clyde snuck away . Tear and Ruri waved at him to join them at a table .

Cultural festival main grounds…

Nuri cackled . She just wanted to jump for joy like an idiot in front of everyone . Her boss was definitely going to give a raise for the find . Woo!

Caught up in the excitement, the young woman chugged the rest of her wine . And then watched him for a bit .

She couldn't stand the suspense any longer and rapidly dialed her boss's phone number .

"Maya! Maya! I found him . " She laughed maniacally, causing the people around to give her skeptical looks . She did not give a f.u.c.k .

"Really? Where?" Maya said .

"At the cultural festival—get over here now! Hurry hurry take the helicopter . I'll have the others setup your room and cancel all of your meetings . You need this tonight . "

Nuri was so happy to hear her boss squeal in excitement . The blonde boy was surprisingly difficult to find in the city, almost as if he had friends in high places hiding his information . Nuri grinned widely . She supported interspecies relations.h.i.+ps to the fullest, being half-human, half-pixy herself . Maya was not only her boss, but her best friend—someone who gave her a purpose in life .

She flashed a smile at a handsome rich boy, gaining one in return . Dressed in an expensive, almost provocative black skirt, Nuri Fuyoko lived for the thrill . And the Seth boy gave her plenty of them . Unfortunately, there was only one fatal flaw to this ordeal . Team Stone . She glanced at her Team Stone wristband, remembered she wore Team Stone panties, socks, and even a bra .

And to think one of them would be her boss's husband . She wanted one too! But getting the leader himself was just impossible, so she'd just have to settle with watching from afar . Watching them get bigger, defend the lives of all sentient beings who just wanted to live a normal life . After all, Team Stone consisted of demons and monster girls and humans .

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"Seth, I won't let you get away," she said softly . "For Maya's sake . "

There was nothing she could do to deter his friends from interfering . Hopefully, they'd make up instead .

Cultural Festival . . .

Early evening…

A helicopter landed on the academy's landing pad for some reason, but Clyde didn't care . He and the others were just waiting for Sazuki to finally close the d.a.m.n festival so they could go home . But like everywhere else, the dean could not resist having staff members, who didn't help with the setup, give speeches . Then he forced the student council president herself to add yet another one to the pool .

Instead of sitting through anymore of that, Clyde snuck off to go check on Tessa . Being a fellow player from Earth with a level head, unlike the chuuni, he could actually discuss the game portion of this world with her . What did she know?

Satovia was home, that he would not change, but he did not want it destroyed by the Viper .

Something about what she said bugged Clyde . That look that she gave him . Almost as if she knew the young man .

Clyde knew no one by the name of Tessa . And this is what urged him to continue forward, driven by curiosity . His knowledge of Satovia sat at a p.i.s.s poor two percent . Maybe the Wind's shared knowledge would help him understand the World Map .

Clyde knocked on her door .

"Come in," the nurse said . As he did, the nurse asked Tessa the last of a series of standardize questions required for every patient . She nodded in satisfaction, putting away her clipboard and patting the green-haired elf on her knees . "Is seems like your boyfriend's here . "

"He's not—"

The nurse's phone rang, and she quickly picked up .

"Oh hey Yallsan," she said . "Oh I will keep calling you that until you stop wors.h.i.+pping that ridiculous anime . I gave you a better selection . You know what, I'll come over right now!"

The nurse motioned for Tessa and Clyde to leave her office . She locked the door and scurried off, excited .

Clyde and the green-haired girl walked in silence for a few seconds before he spoke .

"Are you okay?"

Tessa looked at him, opened her mouth then closed it . She seemed to be struggling with something . The young man was not going to let the night end without him finding out .

"Look, if you have something to say, spill it out," Clyde said .

"You really hadn't changed," Tessa said .

"Huh?" Clyde said confused . "What are you talking about?"

Clyde led her to the cafeteria, instead of outside where any one of the other girls could and would ruin his chance to find out what was going on .

"I can't believe I missed it, but it has been ten years," Tessa said . "I can't reasonably expect you to recognize me like this . "

"Why is this sounding like the childhood friend cliché," Clyde said offhandedly .

"I am your childhood friend, you idiot!" Tessa snapped . "My real name is Arisa Goya . "

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Clyde froze as the familiar name rang through the dormant sections of his memories . That name . He almost fell to the floor .

A girl and playmate who moved away during either elementary school or maybe right before middle school . Back then, they were virtually inseparable . He looked at her with widened eyes . She looked nothing like the girl he remembered—reasonable for a warp to an anime reality . He silently led her to the cafeteria and they sat . He opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't bring out the words . Ten years . The form she was in…could resemble her grown up self, just with green hair . It was hard to picture the young girl with Earth aesthetics…But he thought hard and . . . realized Tessa was undoubtably familiar . Her mannerisms from being sometimes easily frightened, to tough as steel .

"Holy d.a.m.n," he said softly before finding the girl in his arms crying .

"I really thought you were dead," she cried . He hugged back, still at a loss for words . He would've ripped on the System for forcing a childhood trope, except that it was Venus's doing . Coincidence or the G.o.ddess taking things too far? Honestly, Clyde just didn't care . He…he got to see Arisa again after all of this time . When she left, a part of him vanished too . His first love, not that he ever told her . In real life, feelings like that remaining was rare .

"We have to catch up," Clyde said softly . "Like, right now . "

The duo talked for a solid hour, reminiscing about old times, laughing about the trouble they got in and even some of the stupid things they did . While a decade of being away didn't create the same connection…Well…The young man just didn't know . And it really didn't matter .

"So you're the Stone," Arisa…no…Tessa said a few seconds after the initial conversation died down . Clyde would respect her wishes to keep her new realm name .

"Yeah and as you can see, n.o.body gets a choice in the matter," Clyde said . "Apparently I was born as the Stone . "

Tessa looked at him, as if realizing something .

"My G.o.ddess, Venus . She has done nothing but help me the entire time, saved my life from that psycho . Yet, she's preparing something for you in Messalay . I'm not sure what . The only good thing I know is that she wants to give you something called a World Star fragment, which she made me leave behind . "

"Funny that you mention that, Selkie and the edge lord gave me one after we took you to the nurse's office . The prompt didn't tell me much about them . "

"You mean aside from the generic, collect them all, something special happens thingy," Tessa said .

Clyde chuckled .

"You were a big Dragonball fan when we were little," Tessa said, then playfully jabbed him in the stomach, exactly the same way she did back then . "Maybe if you gather all seven, a dragon will pop out and grant your wish . "

The duo laughed .

"What do you plan to do?" Clyde said .

"I suppose go back to Messalay," Tessa answered .

"Are you sure?" he said . "You shouldn't be forced to serve—"

"She doesn't force anything on me," Tessa replied . "h.e.l.l, ninety-nine percent of the time, Venus is never around . Even if I have questions . She only appears when I must do something to help…the Stone . " The green-haired girl blinked . "I think she knew this would happen . "

"Really now," Clyde said . "I mean reuniting us, after Mortem dragged me into this world by death threat, sounds too generous for a deity type . "

"I think she made me leave behind the fragment, knowing that I'd want to help you," Tessa continued, nodded .

"Why doesn't she just appear now? Having an experience G.o.ddess as an ally…oh wait, she can't directly interfere . Which means she's a.s.sociated with the Watchers . "

"Yes, I think…I really don't know," Tessa said, "but I'm glad she's on your side . To be honest, the way she's setting things up in Messalay…she may appear . Although it could be some elaborate booty call . "

Clyde laughed .

"I could only dream of being that good, but I'm just some guy in a death game . "

Tessa paled .

"You will win . " She sighed . "To be honest, I don't want to go back to earth . "

"Me neither . "

They both looked at each other with widened eyes .

"Earth sucks," Clyde continued .

"It's mundane as h.e.l.l, I don't have super powers, and everyone's an a.s.shole," Tessa added, grinning .

"I tried not to weeb it, but it's cool as s.h.i.+t living in an anime world . " He raised a hand before she could continue the back and forth game they used to do as kids when they agreed upon something . "I will admit, I've had some bad experiences here too . And as cheesy and power of friends.h.i.+ppy as this sounds, if it weren't for them, I wouldn't have survived . "

"I've solo'd for most of my time here," Tessa said, "but right as a nation I liberated was about to make me queen, that psycho showed up . Venus whisked me away to Messalay, and I've made dark elf friends . It's cozy, but…you're living the school life . "

"I offer you a room at my place if you stay," Clyde said .

Tessa sighed .

"I…may have to go, but at least I know where to find you . " She pulled a metallic badge-like object the size of an orange, from midair . Her inventory . "This allows me to fast travel to any place I've ever been . I can visit every day . "

"f.u.c.k yeah," Clyde said, pulling her into a hug, whiffing her sweet perfume .

Suddenly, Tessa kissed him .

[Your relations.h.i.+p with Arisa/ Tessa has never left First love . Friend, closer level 10 . Cherished . ]

[Your link with Tessa has been reengaged . ]

"I missed you so much," Tessa said . "And look at us . We're actually back…" She fixed him with a stern look . "Now that I know it's you, what are you doing surrounded by so many girls?"

"Long story," Clyde said, attempting to shrug off the explanation, but his childhood friend refused to let him off the hook .

"Clyde, are you really apart of some anime-like harem?"

"You know what sounds good about now," Clyde said . "An ice-cream float . Alice would love…"

He cut off his slipup too late .

Tessa sighed .

"Well, you just proved that the legend of King Solomon did happen . "

Clyde shrugged .

"At first, it felt like the system pushed the tropes onto me, but overtime upon getting to know them, things…changed . This is a different world, which do not share all of the beliefs of modern-day Earth . There are even benefits for loving many…" He sighed and firmed his gaze . "I don't regret any of this . I am who I—"

"I'm not judging you—you know this," Tessa said . "Don't forget how many times we listened to my Aunt say," the duo recited simultaneously, "the heart knows what it wants . "

"Did she ever get those two to marry?" Clyde asked .

Tessa shrugged .

"I…don't know," Tessa said, blus.h.i.+ng .

Abruptly, Ruri burst through the cafeteria doors and anime-dove into Clyde .

"We have a problem . Come quick!"

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