The story of the Players

Hineko and Mizuneko agreed to talk about themselves first, and there seemed like they had an exciting story to tell. They grew up at an orphanage and never got adopted until they were old enough to leave that place.

Sometimes they had to work many hours for a negligible amount of money, but they had each other. They weren't sure if they were biological brothers, and they never wanted to know.

One of the orphanage nuns who raised them found them in a basket, each at the front door after someone had knocked on it, but the nun didn't notice anyone when she got there, just the two babies who seemed to be a few weeks old. No note was left and no sign of the one who left them or their biological parents.

They were curious some days about the possibility of looking for their biological family and such, but they never got to do it.

Phoenix's eyes were full of tears at hearing their tragic story, and even Wild Tycoon seemed to feel bad for them.

But the 'sleeping' Shingi wasn't affected because he could hear something that the girls couldn't hear as he focused his PERCEPTION at the max.

The heartbeat of Hineko, who was the one who told the entire story, and by hearing it, Shingi could understand an important fact.

Hineko's story was just full of b******ts.

Nothing was true, and telling the truth impressed Shingi on how naturally he said the story and was sure it wasn't the first time he had to say it. And he understood why as he had noticed the interest he has shown against a certain female Mage.

Mizuneko didn't speak at all during his brother telling their 'story.' Still, he acted to be sad at hearing their story while considering which time was this time. They should have reached in the hundreds already.

"... and then after meeting this kind man, even if we were so old, he adopted us and since he was a man with some money, we could stop working. We didn't go to a normal school, but he got us some tutors to help us, and we had already learned quite a few things back in the orphanage. So we were lucky that he was also to gain these capsules and the game, so that's how we got here as before meeting Master. Nothing fancy happened." [Hineko]

Of course, he didn't want to tell the story of how he met Shingi and how scared of him he was back then, as it might ruin his image even if the girls knew the boy wasn't so simple.

After Hineko finished telling how they got adopted by a rich guy who found it in his heart to raise them, he ended his story.

Phoenix used some cloth to clear her eyes of tears as she took some time to calm herself.

"Well, I guess you aren't as bad as I thought you to be, Kitty boys." [Wild Tycoon]

Their story affected somewhat Wild Tycoon but not as bad as Phoenix, but she thought that since now they are in a friendly environment, why would she be sad about their past.

Hineko ignored the comment of Tycoon as if he reacted to it; it would probably ruin the moment he built with the story, and Mizuneko just followed him on that since he wasn't enjoying going against Wild Tycoon either way.

Now it was the girls' chance to share their stories, which was why this discussion started.

Tycoon seemed to be the one telling the story mainly as Phoenix was correcting her on few details.

They didn't have as complicated a story as the boys, and actually, it was pretty standard initially.

Three girls grew together and were best friends. But, of course, the two were the shy and not shy Little Phoenix and the third one was the Wild Tycoon.

They didn't go into much detail about their background. Still, their families were quite close. That had started since their great grandparents became friends, and the friendship continued with each generation. It seemed like they weren't part of a low-income family but didn't detail what their family was doing. Still, it seemed like their families had some business or company. So they spent time together and became close friends because of the family's friendship.

Hineko was interested in learning about the Phoenix's sister and why they acted that differently. After quite some persuasion, he got Tycoon to speak about it, with Phoenix allowing it.

It seemed like the two girls used to act the same. None could tell the difference between them. That's why they differed in their hairstyle as both had long hairs; one had a ponytail to rest on her left shoulder while the other was on her right.

But things changed two years ago as something tragic happened to one of the two girls and made her not want to speak to others and stay in her room doing nothing.

Wild Tycoon didn't speak of this event as she didn't know and didn't want to go too far on details either way. However, it might affect Phoenix, as the current one was the one who got into whatever that tragic event was.

That was why Tycoon didn't like to be around the other Phoenix. The event seemed to the happened because of her, or so she thought. Still, no matter what she said, she learned nothing from her about what happened. Also, the not-shy sister seemed not to care much about her sister as much as she used to be, considering that it would pass in time. However, not that she was completely ignoring her; just their bond as sisters seemed to be less robust.

The current Phoenix was in her room 24/7. Still, after some persuasion from Tycoon, she started playing the game with her.

Of course, after learning about it, the other sister wanted to play too. Since she could play only by using her sister's account, they agreed to use it now and then, but the shy one would use it most of the time, as she had little else to do.

Wild Tycoon sent them messages as she didn't want to remind her friend a lot if she got affected by hearing them, but Shingi could guess some of the things he couldn't hear.

"So the two of you are rich girls, huh?" [Mizuneko]

He wasn't interested in them like his brother, so he wasn't that worried about how he said things or what he asked unless it was utterly inappropriate to ask.

"Well, our family has some money, but I wouldn't call us rich. It isn't like we own the business or something." [Wild Tycoon]

It was clear to the two brothers that she seemed to hide something, but none could be sure of what it was, so their imagination could go wild.

"Well, at least now things are better now. Right? I mean, you met Master and us, so things got more interesting." [Hineko]

Tycoon nodded on that, mainly because things were interesting with Shingi being around and less about them. And of course, she didn't forget that unknown player who seemed to be behind the boy.

After they had some more small talk, Shingi stopped his act and 'woke up.'

He walked towards the party.

"So, how is everyone? Ready to move on?" [Shingi]

Everyone nodded, as they had fully restored their HP, MP, and SP for some time now.

And as they were ready to move on, Phoenix seemed like she wanted to ask something from Shingi.

"Excuse me. But shouldn't we get back at some point? Won't your sister get worried about that much time passed that you are away?" [Little Phoenix]

Phoenix learned from Wild Tycoon about Annoue since she wasn't the one who was in control of their character when they met her. But, unfortunately, she also didn't have the chance to meet her during the past few days.

They were here for quite a few hours, and even if they got here early in the morning, it was getting close to a few hours from dinner time.

"We are going to investigate this way, and after that, depending on what we find, we may continue or return. But we have to look at it after everything we went through. By the way, did the Spell got recognized by the Gods?" [Shingi]

Phoenix seemed confused for a second as she forgot that by the Gods, he meant the System. She then gave him a nod.

"Yes, I did, but it says that it is an unfinished spell of Base Grade." [Little Phoenix]

Shingi's eyes got wide from hearing that he hadn't checked her status, which was the first time he learned about the actual Spell.

"What is an unfinished spell? Isn't the Sys... the Gods just letting us know when the Spell can fully get used from us?" [Mizuneko]

Shingi nodded at that as he began explaining.

"It is true of it being the case in most cases. But there are times of Spells that only specific people can learn that are being allowed to be used in a lesser version of theirs and upgraded to their true power without creating a new spell. But the unfinished ones are always at least a grade lower than the final Grade of the Spell when it is complete." [Shingi]

Hearing that, silence fell in the room as everyone understood what was just said.

A Master Grade Spell. Little Phoenix had access to a Master Grade Spell.

Even if it was an unfinished Base Grade one now, it had a significant change to be a Master Grade one when she completed it. Master Grade one wasn't as rare to reach a skill to be considered Master Rank, but that didn't mean they were easy to learn either way. Even if one found one, it would take them to quite a few resources to understand it—nothing an average player could afford.

But Phoenix already knew the Spell just in its unfinished form. As long as she became familiar with it, it would get at its natural Grade. That didn't mean that it was easy, but it didn't need as many resources as it usually would need.

"Do you think you can use it at its current grade?" [Shingi]

A spell not fully recognized by the System has been entirely different, with the latter being much easier for the user to use.

Phoenix closed her eyes to focus on the Dark Mana around her, and after almost half a minute, she opened them, but no signs of her shadow form.

"It doesn't seem like I can with my current skill. I got a few levels in my MANA MANIPULATION Skill, so maybe I could do it if I raise it more. I feel like this is the problem and not my stats, but not sure why I just feel like that."

Shingi was interested in hearing that and opened her status and saw that her MANA MANIPULATION had raised to 39. So it was very close to being considered Master Rank, just two more levels.

'It seems to learn a special spell-like that while having this much INT affects your skills. Good to know for future training.' [Shingi]

So, since they had nothing more to discuss, they continued their way deeper into the dungeon and down the secret corridor.