VRMMO: World's First Glyphborne-Chapter 119: Teaching Manners
After her slightly embarrassing display, Belladonna made her way back to the Inn with the plan to actually log off and sleep this time. It was a wonderful plan, in her opinion, and much easier to carry out than her last one.
If her bag was not Bottomless, it would have been bulging with the amount of Orchids that she had bought. She didn’t feel guilty in the slightest about buying out Midas’ entire stock, nor did she feel bad in the slightest about giving him the creeps Orchids to replace that stock.
That did confuse Midas quite a bit, but when she assured him that it was for a good reason and that she didn’t want money for them, he didn’t argue with her. Nothing was better than free, after all.
Especially when it didn’t come with the strings attached that free usually had as its actual price.
Just being free of everything to do with that creep made Belladonna feel like she was walking on air all the way to the Inn, where she logged off after asking Sebbie to protect her and giving him his usual fee.
*** 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
A moment later Valerie opened her head and was greeted in the real world by an immediate dull, throbbing headache. She immediately groaned in pain and, after a few seconds of wondering if fantasy was better, reluctantly pulled off the Crown.
By habit, she reached over and grabbed a nearby can of D-fuel and chugged some of it, which only increased her headache from a dull throb to hot needles piercing into her brain.
"Ah motherf- Okay that’s it. No more of this stuff, clearly it’s not doing me any good and I’m already starting to get addicted."
Valerie huffed to herself, clutching at her head in pain as she dragged herself into her chair and wheeled herself out of the room with the can in hand. She moved over to the kitchen sink, passing the empty plate she had left out for Jinu and started to pour the D-fuel down the drain.
Once she got rid of this, she could finally get some good sleep and... Empty?
Valerie paused in her actions, frowning deeply as her mind tried to process the information through the migraine she was suffering from, but eventually she realised what she had missed. Her head slowly turned to look at the empty plate resting on the table where she had left it.
Of course when she had left it there, it was not empty. It was the food she had ’offered’ to Jinu because she made too much.
When she moved closer and inspected it, she found it had not been washed clean. There were crumbs still lingering on the plate and some of the sauce was streaked, like it had been actually eaten. Something that was impossible, unless she had some kind of infestation she was unaware of.
It couldn’t have been Jinu either, as even if his programming was terrible, even his most basic protocols were based around basic housekeeping. He wouldn’t remove the food and leave it here.
’Heh, maybe Sebbie wanted a snack here too.’
She thought to herself with a chuckle, picking up the plate and taking it over to the sink. However, as much as it was a passing and idiotic thought, it was also one that she just couldn’t get out of her head.
Valerie picked up the D-fuel, only to place it back down. Then lifted it, and back down, and again and again. Coming close to pouring it away only to get distracted by this same insane thought.
Because it was insane. Completely and utterly insane, and yet... Why couldn’t she stop thinking about it?
Letting out a scoff of disbelief, Valerie placed down the can again and rolled over to the fridge, pulling out a few left over bits of the ’Cruelty Free’ ’Beef’ that she had used in the stir fry.
She held it up in front of her with one hand and gestured to the dishes with the other,
"Sebbie, would you please wash your plate for me? It’s rude to eat and leave a mess in someone else’s house, you know."
She spoke to the apartment, holding the meat that was still cold and dripping a little blood onto her hand, and waited. But nothing happened for as long as she watched with baited breath.
’Why did I ever think that would work...’
Valerie scoffed again, closing her eyes and shaking her head as she mentally chastised herself for the idiotic thought. But when she opened her eyes, her jaw dropped.
Her hand was empty, not even a drop of blood remaining, and sitting beside the sink was a perfectly spotless plate. One that was so clean she could actually see herself reflected in the surface, something she didn’t even think was possible with those plates.
’This can’t be... no way... It has to be sleep deprivation right? There’s no way this is... it can’t be! There has to be some other explana- Aaargh!’
Valerie clutched at her head as her pleading thoughts were interrupted by the searing needles piercing into her brain. A pain she hadn’t felt since that day beside the lake. Her eyes snapped open as she thought of that and immediately looked towards the drink that was sitting beside the sink.
"Sebbie... Sebbie if you are with me I need you to answer me some questions. Tap twice for yes, once for no. Have you got that?"
Valerie licked her lips nervously and gulped, her throat suddenly feeling extremely parched as she waited for the noise. It was just long enough to make her think she had actually gone insane, when it finally came. A gentle knocking on the kitchen counter.
Tap tap
"Okay good... Hello again, nice to meet you with the real me, Haha." She laughed nervously, still not convinced she wasn’t having a psychotic episode, as she picked up the can.
"Does this drink that I am holding contain any amount of mana?"
Tap tap
"If I drink enough, will I form a mana sense in this world?"
Tap tap
Her heart skipped a beat slightly at that answer as she quickly continued her questioning,
"Are you able to refine it into a purer form of mana?"
Tap
"Dammit..." She muttered, glancing at the can in her hand and then over to the pile as part of her Beta test life time supply.
"I guess we’re gonna have to do it the hard way then."
