The Transience of Her

Downtime Filler, Part 1

I'm out on the road again.

Only that the road is not paved with concrete, but with cobblestones and dry dirt.

Wherever I go, my trusty spear will follow.

I'm a Holy Dragoon, blessed by a sacred dragon, taking to the skies, banishing evil where it counts.

But as they say, there's more to a warrior than just fighting.

The whole reason I wanted to do this whole soul-searching adventure...

...is to validate myself, assert my identity as a living, breathing human...

...even though I'm actually not.

In this wide-open field a few miles from Tulyasi, I first meditate under a tree.

Concentrate, let the sacred dragon Rapatajawi answer my calls, and he will answer with a blessed, calm roar that only my ears can hear...

...granting me protection.

I then hear a bunch of threatening clatter in the background.

As my eyes open after finishing the meditation...

“Oh, aggressive monsters.”

Hmmm... as far as I know, there are relatively rare cases where high-leveled monsters sometimes show up on fields that are frequented by low-leveled adventurers, taking them by surprise.

The developers say they implemented this as an element of surprise.

But after complaints from those adventurers, they implemented a special case where the aggressive monsters will no longer attack adventurers if the latter deliberately runs away.

As for a veteran high-leveled adventurer like me...

“This is like a party, a universe festival!”

I stare at the enemies that are trying to encroach me.

So, these aggros called Crab Rattlers are itching for a fight, huh?

Well, I'm gonna give it to them now!

I draw out my spear, and unleash my own battle cry.

“I'll send you suckers into the stratosphere!”

Hee hee, that reminds me of that last quest where he joined in and was the actual key to victory after a long string of defeats.

Never have I been so hot-blooded in my entire life as an adventurer.

But I'm not throwing out my innate femininity into the dustbin, of course.

With each swing of the Standard Bearer's Polearm, each of those Crab Rattlers are knocked down easily like bowling pins.

[1311 damage]

[1609 damage]

[1563 damage]

[1750 damage]

[1800 damage]

[1267 damage]

[1291 damage]

[1780 damage]

[1846 damage]

[1110 damage]

[1464 damage]

[1128 damage]

[1452 damage]

[1389 damage]

[1244 damage]

[1300 damage]

[1977 damage]

[1230 damage]

[1532 damage]

[1570 damage]

They all rise up, ready to retaliate, when...

“You... are already dead.”

The enemies can only react “HIDEBU?!” and “BARF!” before they realize they've been disintegrated into nothing but piles and piles of crab parts.

Phew.

Too easy.

[Acquired Crab Meat x20.]

I can cook those food items to make a satisfying lunch.

Cooking in Skypaths Online is optional. To do that, one must carry a Portable Stove, which costs 20,000 yesos and can be purchased from item shops. With combinations of several food items, one can cook up a hearty lunch that not just restores their HP, but also gives random buffs such as increased stamina while running or temporary buffs to random stat parameters.

With twenty pieces of Crab Meat, I make ten Crab Cake Skewers, which each grant +3 to attack for 15 minutes. That effect can be cumulative.

Mmm. So delicious.

So delicious... that I get... drowsy...

All the monsters did was briefly interrupt my otherwise peaceful meditation, which is and should be an integral part of my soul-searching.

Once again, I close my eyes and let myself receive the blessings of the sacred dragon.

Wednesday. 6 am.

Another school day.

Morning rituals, breakfast, school, then back home again.

I wasn't given any homework just like the previous two days, so I use my free time to take a look and then arrange all the games she once loved.

Today, I'll concentrate on the games in the first box, and then arrange the consoles that were packed in the second and third boxes.

I take a peek at each box, and I notice some notable titles there.

Emilia's Alternate History is a game about the alternative outcomes a girl can have in her lifetime. It uses the concept of what is called the butterfly effect as a major gameplay mechanic. As far as I know, the game itself was too difficult to make due to the exhaustive number of endings it promises.

Real Robot Diplomacy is a turn-based strategy RPG about real-world politics and giant robots. It emphasizes how humanity has always remained savage in spite of the technologies developed, which were often used for war.

Barista Simulator is exactly what it says on the box. The barista player character can avail all sorts of crazy rewards such as compensation and benefits for coming up with ridiculous ways to serve coffee, free experimental beverages bordering on the extremely weird, etc. I think the developers were high on caffeine when they made this.

The Platinum Fist is a 3D fighting game popular in the fighting game community, and is also a staple in high-stakes e-sports tournaments. Some say everyone (and when I mean everyone, I mean the unskilled players) picks the capoeira fighter just because it's too easy for him to combo with just random button mashes.

The Alleged Cars Racer is a racing game where one can pick one of the many bad-performing cars in history and enter it into several races, especially the endurance ones. Despite the audience-alienating premise, some racing game fans picked it up due to what is called “bile fascination”.

Shooter Girls' Duty is an FPS with cute girls as player characters. At first, the premise alone can turn off soccer moms and practically everyone else who are averse to anything lewd. To address the concern, the box proudly says “No panty shots and fanservice-y clothing damage, trust us!” It's still a fun and challenging FPS all the same.

Dog Drug Reinforcement is a popular rhythm game endorsed by a certain red-haired magical girl. It's basically an arcade-perfect port with extra added features to ensure longevity.

Living to Lead is a visual novel aimed at a female audience. The story is about a girl aspiring to lead a company, coached by several handsome guys who are her mentors. Heh, I guess she had a liking to games with dashing men. But they can't compare to me, of course!

Everyday Barbershop Talk is a point-and-click adventure game where one has to listen to customers' stories as a barber. The game is notable for using a microphone bundled with the game, where the player can respond to the stories with their voiced reactions.

Chemically Bonded is a visual novel about two female friends who are now distancing from each other, and a guy who is the key to mending their broken friendship. One time, she told me that she's not off-limits to visual novels aimed at males, with their plethora of cute girls. So, does that mean... oh, never mind.

In the Nick of Time is an on-rails shooting game where one or two players can play as secret agents who must stop terrorists from having their way, with an important mechanic being the time limit. Run out of time, and the game's over; so it's important to make the terrorists eat white-hot lead quickly.

Red-and-White Tapestry is a hybrid puzzle and adventure game where one must arrange the red and white tapestries accordingly to advance to the next portion of the adventure, hence the name. The game is noted for its simple yet stunning colors that look best on high-resolution screens.

And one thing I didn't notice until now...

It's nice that three compact and easy-to-assemble cabinets are also provided with the box containing the games, as it would cost time and money to order these myself, online or offline.

I assemble the cabinets based on my knowledge of “which goes where”, and then place them on a rather unoccupied corner of my room.

Once I check the cabinets for durability and stability, I clean all its corners using the glass cleaner that was laying around in our home.

I then start to bring out the games, wiping them first with a clean cloth before putting them on the cabinets' shelves.

My preferred order of arrangement is this: Each shelf is dedicated to a system, then the games are arranged alphabetically.

If the game is in a foreign language, I can use the official English title if that exists. If there's no such title, I can use the original-language title instead.

After an hour of assembling, cleaning, and arranging, I'm practically done.

Or maybe not.

Because I have several games of my own that due to lack of space, they are kept in boxes of their own and tucked away under my bed.

Well, why not bring them out and add them to the organized games on the cabinets?

It just takes roughly an additional 15 minutes to do this.

And I'm done... again.

Whew. I can say I'm proud of my room arranging and organizing skills.

Now, the games I own, and the games she once owned... are in one neat and organized corner of my room.

So the next time I want to play a game, I can pick one up, take it downstairs, and enjoy it. Simple as that.

Speaking of downstairs...

I head downstairs, and I see mom carrying a tray with her mittens on from a distance.

“Soren, here are some freshly-made chewy fruit cookies I just baked! Go grab them from the table if you feel hungry!”

“Yes, mom!”

I don't feel particularly hungry right now, so I proceed with organizing the consoles in the entertainment center.

The consoles that were in boxes are the first in the order of business.

After I take them out, I place the units and their respective controllers in the entertainment center's cube-shaped shelving units that are located on its side.

And as for the boxes themselves...

Dad, who comes out of nowhere, suggests something to me.

“Sonny, you can put them game console boxes in those larger boxes and then I'll put those larger boxes in the attic. Heard that consoles that retain their original boxes have more value to collectors.”

“Yes, I already know that.”

I continue organizing the consoles until all of them are placed in the entertainment center, which filled up quickly.

Now comes the hard part: Hooking all of them up to our TV.

More modern consoles have built-in HDMI connections and thus can be plugged in directly to the TV's HDMI ports, while older ones need HDMI converters.

For now, I hook up the HDMI-capable consoles to the TV, then think of the best course of action for the HDMI-less ones.

Yes, I still remember the plug-and-play HDMI solutions that are relatively affordable.

Plus, I need an HDMI switch to hook up all the consoles to the lone TV.

Note that an HDMI switch and an HDMI splitter are different. The former has multiple inputs and one output; the latter has one input and multiple outputs. Many people who are not tech-savvy are not aware of this little difference.

So, after eating some of the cookies and asking permission from dad and mom to leave, I head for the mall for a quick little trip.

At most, I will need two HDMI switches that I can plug into the two available HDMI ports on the back of the TV.

The remaining port is exclusively for the satellite TV box which we all use.

Furthermore, I need to buy five analog-to-HDMI converters that are specific to particular consoles.

I've done some online research beforehand (specifically, this morning), so I know what I'll be getting to ensure the best picture quality possible.

This entire side trip made me shell out $53.

$53 that should be well-spent.

Time to go home.

Since it's nearing nighttime, we all eat dinner first before I get back to doing the last step of arranging the consoles: The AV connections.

I need to make the cable setup as clean as possible, so I employ some zip ties to tie the cables to the entertainment center's back and hide them from sight as much as possible.

One hour later, I'm done with arranging all the consoles.

Tomorrow will be the day I get to play the console games she left behind...

...and maybe unlock a side of her that I might have never thought existed.