Whistle~~!
The wind was whistling above the vast ocean which seemed to have no end. The sky was so dark that even millions of stars weren't able to diminish the darkness.
Even the white crescent moon, which looked like the scythe of the Grim Reaper in the starry dark night, looked not so bright.
It was in such a cold environment, under a spooky moon, an isle was drifting with small waves of the ocean.
On that isle, two bodies were becoming one with nature, without caring about the cold winds that were making creepy sounds.
Oh boy! I don't wanna open my eyes.
Let's listen to their conversation before seeing them act.
"Can you feel it now?" Sakura asked.
"No!" Sino answered negatively.
"Am I not good enough? It should be up. Check it again, " she insisted.
Control girl, control! What's the hurry?
"Do you know my body better than me?" Sino sounded frustrated.
Come on, buddy, man up!
"Hmm... Maybe something is wrong with your lower body, " Sakura guessed.
"If anything is wrong that must be your brain, " Sino sounded angry.
Just what's going on?
"Why are you blaming me? You were so happy with the idea of practicing dual cultivation earlier. Can't you even do this much?" Sakura refused his claim.
"Really!? If I know that dual cultivation in your world is practiced by a man and a woman, placing hands on each other's shoulders, while standing straight and looking up towards the infinite dark space, then I would have never agreed to practice it in the first place, " he said all of that in one breath with anger on his tongue.
What the fuc--!
They were really standing, facing each other, grabbing each other's shoulders with their hands, heads up towards the dark sky, like they were aliens who were asking for help from their fellow aliens and summoning their mothership, which kids called a UFO (Unidentified Flying Object).
Ha!
Sino pushed her back with a low, frustrated shout, breaking their cultivation stance. He asked Herald, who was still flying around them, "How much time is left until midnight?"
"It is 10:45 PM. So 75 minutes left, " Herald told him the current time of Eternal Erena.
Sino came here at 8:23 PM. A few moments later, Sakura fell on him, crushing his nuts.
For two hours, Sino learnt a lot about Eternal Erena and the Chakra Realm.
Chakra Realm was a giant habitable planet with 24 continents. Each continent had one country that ruled over its respective continent. Each one of them had a different lifestyle, timeline, and trends like they were miniature versions of different worlds.
Sino could guess from the long talk with Sakura that each continent was a small derivative version of the anime and comics he had read. But not all of them.
He wondered if he could really make a harem in this world without any cheat skills like hypnosis, manipulative brain, abundant money and power, and a dragon that could tame any cave.
Thud!
He jumped into the cuboid (a cube-like 3d shape that doesn't have the same height, width, and length) shape hole he dug in the center of the isle, which was surprisingly warm and dry.
It turned out that island was in shape of cone with rock-hard sides and filled with sand. Also the lower you dig, the higher the density of sand was, and dryer the layer of soil.
It looked like a hole to bury a coffin.
Sino let his bum fall on sandy ground, stretched his legs, and zipped up his hoodie up to his eyes.
His jacket's zip could go up to the level of his nose, revealing only his forehead and eyes under the glasses.
Designer of the jacket must be a fan of ninja comics.
Then he made a cross with his hands on his chest like a dead person, and closed his eyes.
Or like a vampire?
"I am sleeping. Wake me up when it is time for dungeon hunting, " he shouted from the hole.
Leaving Sakura speechless, "Are you for real? We should practice as long as possible. We don't know what dangers are waiting for us in the dungeon.
"You can take care of yourself, right? Then do that. I won't ask for your help. And you are also not obliged to risk your life for me. Not to mention that if I die, you will be transferred to another isle, " Sino said based on information Sakura told him.
According to her, VIP Players didn't live long because they either got killed by their summoned players or died during missions. The chance of the murder of a VIP Player was low but insignificant because summoned players could not become owner of isles themselves. So they turned the VIP Players into their slaves.
Fortunately, Sakura wasn't a bad girl. Though she gained enlightenment at such a young age, she wasn't satisfied with her low stats. Having speed intent would make her strong among her peers but she couldn't go against a master.
"What if I agree to be your wife?" Sakura asked while jumping into her own coffin room which was next to his.
"Aren't you a lesbian who has a lover too?" Sino asked.
"I like both men and women. Until I was 21, I had a crush on a boy. But he was too full of himself. He thinks, only his life was miserable so he had every right to vent his anger on the world. He cared about no one when he decided to do something, " Sakura began sharing her side of the story.
"Sounds like Shakespeare's Hamlet, who was driven mad with vengeance, " Sino remarked, sympathizing with her.
"Well, maybe I can't understand his pain because I am not in his shoes. I kept pestering him until one day I could no longer forgive sins. I could no longer ignore his bad side. That's when Kushina, my love, approached me and told me that he had his own path, and I have my own, which I should pursue. " Sakura ended a short tale of her life, "I am not actually in a romantic relationship with Kushina. It is like a close friendship between two girls, almost like a couple, sharing a bed, sharing clothes, living under a roof, cooking for each other, and so on."
She waited for a comment from Sino but he didn't respond.
After a long silence.
"Sino!"
"Sino!"
Sakura stood up in her coffin room, which was one foot deep, like Sino's, and looked within his coffin room, which was only some 4-6 inches away from her.
She saw that Sino had fallen asleep.
"He must be really tired. What kind of job does he have that makes him so tired?" Sakura had a faint but genuine smile on her lips this time, 'Can I really put my heart in this man's hands? He won't just put it on a desk like some flower pot?'
"Marvelous!" Herald flew closer to her left shoulder and complimented Sino.
"What is it?" Sakura asked him with a confused face.
"You are not too keen on sensing Ki, but I can see it. The essence of Eternal Erena is getting sucked into his body at an alarming speed. I wonder how much Ki his core can store before reaching the breakthrough point, " Herald's words took Sakura by surprise.
Sakura looked back at Sino again.
Her whole life, she trained her Ki and taekwondo skills along with other martial arts to get recognised as one of the best fighters on a national level.
But when she finally managed to touch her "Path", she realised that there were extraordinary geniuses like Sino too.
Suddenly, her expression became serious. She sat back in her coffin hole, ripping her qipao from the bottom in two small pieces that she used to block her ears.
Like that, she stopped the cold wind getting through her ears, giving her mind a chance to focus on the essence of the world instead of the noise.
Her martial spirit only got motivated in the face of a genius. She didn't want to be left behind by a rookie.
Herald looked at two players with deep interest and then looked upwards, "Are you guys having fun?"
I am not sure whom he was talking to but I am having fun narrating this story.
Let's go to next chapter.