Picking Up Girls With Game Exploits! (Yuri)

After getting to the spot… I looked up to see a towering cobblestone tower with moss and cobweb growing all around it. We didn't enter quite yet, but from the looks of it, I believe you would need 30 people to hold hands around the wall (walls?) just to cover the perimeter of the structure.

This was the spot said to have "signs of abnormal activity" the team wanted to check out, though I never asked them to elaborate on that. I turned around the ask the rest of them as they also started finding places to bucker down and sort out their gears.

"So, what are we doing here, exactly?"

I heard clanking from armor as Marc rubbed his chin to think, before answering me.

"Uh… Let's see, do you know about the dragonborn wizard NPC named Worsetingale?"

"Uh huh, one of the wizard in the lore, died around 12 years ago, in-universe wise." I nodded, "But his relevancy should only come up when we expanded to the Eastern continent, you know, the old Chinese looking one?"

Marc nodded, and looked over to Rina, who continued:

"I met a knight, and she told me that she need someone to investigate abnormal activities around this tower right here, Worsetingale tower. And the popup said… Um hum, around 5000 XP for the entire party."

"Woah…" Hailie gasped, "That'll take me straight to level 41!"

"Me too." Marc added.

"A whole 5000 XP, huh?" I muttered, glancing at my own level bar. It wasn't moving as fast as it used to. "Guess we're all eating good tonight, because it'll put me to 53."

"Assuming we survive whatever's inside." Rina chuckled.

The group began sorting their gear before deciding what to do next, it seems Hailie had picked up this positive habit of theirs, while I just stood with my arms crossed and stared. Not really having anything to do, prepping is not my thing when I'd rather do it raw.

That's what she said.

Clanking sounds from both metal and glass, rustling sounds from leather and wool. I saw many potions lined up neatly on a fallen tree trunk by Hailie, with Rina counting her arrows on the side. She had a bunch of special arrows, probably to balance out the fact that the early archer class was fundementally boring and easily countered.

"Since Pearl's not here, I guess I'll tell you guys to stay safe," Marc said, clapping his gauntleted hands, looking back and forth at everyone, "Make sure to check your gear's durability, too. We got 2 pieces of medium armor and one light armor to spare if anyone need, with two swords and a bow… Actually, I think Mei kept the bow so it's two swords."

He then turned to me.

"Cory, you sure you're fine with that chestplate? Looks a little, uh, dented."

I looked down. Sure enough, there was a warped indentation over the right side straight at my ribs, and a few smaller ones here and there, a faint souvenir from my brawl with Lady_Valerie.

"Oh this? Nah, it's fine," I said, tapping the dent like I was proud of it. "Adds a lotta character."

"It really does!" Hailie giggled, coming over and touching it with her index, "I like armors so much, especially shiny ones like Marc's, they're so cool! And the reflection, woahh…"

"What do you mean ones like Marc's? Mine's shiny, too!" I pouted, which was weird.

"Um…" Hailie paused, "No offense Cory, but… Like, your armor's dirty."

"Ouch."

She giggled, patting me on my back, which I couldn't feel at all, only hearing the metal hitting skin sound as a cue.

Rina snorted, she then picked up her arrows and broke the ice once more.

"Alright, how are we doing this? Can't say for sure how dangerous it is inside, especially on a quest that gives 5000 EXP each like this."

"Couldn't we just go straight in and bam-wam?" Hailie said curiously, hugging her staff, using weird nouns.

"Nah…" I shook my head, "I think it's best to survey the inside first, then run if there's any trouble, so half should keep watch outside, while half does that."

"Any objections?" Rina asked.

No one objected.

"Alright…" Marc thought for a second, "I think Rina and Cory should go inside and survey the interior. While Hailie and I will stay outside, monitoring for monster spawns or players passing by… This shouldn't take more than an hour."

"Good idea." Rina nodded,

"Yeah, that's fine by me." I shrugged.

With that, Rina and I approached the tower entrance. The closer we got, the colder the air felt, probably the quirks of being indoors in general.

The heavy door creaked open at a light push, revealing a dim, dust-filled interior that instantly muffled the sound of the outside world.

"The knight did say that there were five floors… If you count the rooftop overlooking the outside as a floor." Rina added.

The first floor felt like stepping into a forgotten banquet hall. There were long wooden tables, most of them rotted or half-collapsed under their own weight.

This suggested that Worsetingale wasn't alone, he had friends, at least.

"In only 12 years…?" I muttered.

"Yeah, have you seen the vines and cobwebs on the walls? This is quite out of the ordinary," Rina commented.

I glanced over at her, just to take a look at her arm for a second for no reason… She looks fashionable having both arms fully exposed like that, and my sex-driven brain probably was looking for something I shouldn't.

I checked on the tables to see that candle holders still clung to them, melted wax fossilized in layers of translucent ivory. The air smelled faintly of wet dust and iron, with a thin mist curling near the ground, the kind that made you feel like something had just been here.

To the left, a spiraling staircase wound upward, swallowed by shadow halfway through. To the right, an old fireplace stood cold, but not empty; someone had clearly tried to relight it recently.

The ashes were still gray, soft, and when I poked at them with the tip of my dagger, a faint orange ember pulsed beneath.

"Someone's been here," I said softly.

"Or something." Rina crouched beside me, her eyes narrowed.

We moved slowly across the room, checking every table, every corner.

A few bottles of wine were still intact, dusty but filled. One even had a label: Worsetingale's Grape.

"He brewed his own stuff?" I picked it up and turned it over in my hand. "Man, if this was a real vintage, it'd probably sell for like a million credits."

"Drink it," Rina teased.

"Yeah, nice try, IRS." I snarkled, putting the thing down.

"IRS? The tax department?" She tilted her head, looking down at me.

"Ah… Nevermind, ignore me, I was just masking weird internet references that doesn't relate to the conversation on the surface because the reference make sense to me after a few layers of even more references."

We kept moving, our boots crunching lightly on scattered debris. The walls were lined with bookshelves, many of them bare, though a few books remained, swollen from moisture. One disintegrated when I brushed my fingers over it, the pages crumbling like snow.

"Water?," I said. "Does this suggest it's been flooded at some point?"

"Fascinating… Probably a water spell went off in here, but the wizard wouldn't be using this floor to practice magic, wouldn't he?"

"I don't think so… No, this looks like a living room, wizards should have their own spell room that's elemental-proof."

Then, a faint sound, perhaps dripping water, echoed through the chamber, followed by the creak of the wooden staircase.

We both glanced up as my heart skipped once.

Nothing… It's nothing, just the building settling, I told myself.

"Should we turn back?" Rina asked.

"Apussysayswhat?" I said.

She looked at me, pausing for a second,

"I'm not a pussy and I'm not falling for that."

"Great, let's keep going." I smirked,

We reached the staircase and began ascending. The steps complained under our weight, each one groaning louder than the last. Rina held her bow close as I lit a torch as we were approaching darkness.

The second floor opened up, and we just observed at the stairs without really going up all the way.

The walls were covered with old, torn tapestries, faded depictions of stars, dragons, and constellations I didn't recognize.

A few beds remained intact, metal frames rusted but mattresses still faintly puffed, like they were used not long ago.

There were personal items, too: a broken mirror, a quill, a ceramic mug sitting perfectly upright on a nightstand.

"This is… cozy," Rina murmured.

"Creepy kind of cozy," I corrected. "This must be Worsetingale's living quarters."

"Who builds their bedroom on the second floor out of five, though? I would build it at the fourth floor." Rina commented,

"You're weird, too, I'd build it on the third, so that when I wake up I can access any floor within the approxiamate same amount of effort," I rebute.

"The fourth floor is way more strategically viable, because-"

She stopped talking, immediately gazing towards the dark corner of the room; opposite of the stairs we were standing on, where my torch could not reach.

I was confused, because I didn't see, hear, or feel anything.

"WHO'S THERE?" She yelled.

We stood in silence for a few seconds, both listening, as if the tower itself might exhale.

Then, a non-human sound.

"Baaaa~."

… The fuck?

I walked forward and shined my torch to that corner.

A perfectly normal, healthy-looking goat.

Its fur was clean, white with little gray patches. Its eyes glowed faintly gold in the dim light, but otherwise, it looked about as threatening as a loaf of bread.

It stared at us, head tilted slightly. Then it bleated again.

"Baaaa."

"Why…" Rina blinked. "...is there a goat?"

"I don't know, no idea…" I muttered, hand resting on my sword. "No fucking idea..."

The goat blinked back at me, innocently, before taking one step forward, with the faint sound of a bell jingled from its neck.

I exhaled, uneasy, every instinct telling me to not move.

"Rina," I whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever watched those Gravity Falls fan theory videos?"