3 Chapter 3: Status Rings

[AKI'S POV]

My legs grew weak as I stared at the sleeping figure of my sister. I barely recognized her at first because she was wearing a different type of clothing. It was a silver mini dress embezzled with crystals on translucent sleeves. On top of that were iron plates on her breasts, waist, back, and skirt that acted as a form of armor. Her brown hair was also tied up with a shimmering silver ribbon.

Man, this outfit made her look like a completely different person!

Without a second thought, I quickly ran to meet her. "Akari! Akari!" Tears were starting to form at the sides of my eyes.

Upon reaching her, I noticed that a long bronze sword was beside her. "Akari!"

I knelt to her level and frantically screamed before shaking her wildly. "AKARI!!! Where have you been? What are you wearing? You look like a character from a video game!"

"AKARI!!! WAKE UP!!!" I was close to losing my mind at this point.

"A-KA-RIIIII!!!"

"Aki, stop shaking me. I'm sleeping."

"H-Huh?" I was taken aback by this response. I looked around me and then looked back at my sister just to make sure we were both staying in this wildly different world.

Am I missing something here?

"HUH?" I screamed and was met by my sister's frowning expression.

"Stop being noisy, Aki!" She said before sitting upright and hitting the back of my head.

I hissed at her. "How could you be so calm? Didn't you worry about me? We're in a different—" Before I could even say anything, Akari had already covered my lips with her hand.

She leaned over to my ears and whispered, "They can't know we came from another world. For now, they think we're refugees from the South Kingdom of Ignis."

I removed her hand from my mouth. "The South Kingdom of what?"

My sister rolled her eyes. "Listen, Aki. I did worry about us but we can't do anything significant here. Trust me, I tried to search for ways to go back home—I found none. We're forced to stay in this world until we find another way."

As if on cue, I remembered our encounter with destiny again. I looked at my body and still saw no sign of scars or burn marks. I felt no pain as well.

I still can't believe I died and got transported here.

"Tsk. All because of Destiny," I whispered to myself as I clenched my fists.

My attention shifted back to my sister as she tried to fix her sitting position. "You were unconscious for a week. On our second day here, a kind family saw me dragging you across the grasslands and offered to help us. If they didn't perform healing spells on your body, you would've died due to starvation and dehydration."

I looked at her with disbelief. "A WEEK?! DIED?! If I was gone that long in that condition, why don't you look happy or surprised to see me?!"

She shrugged. "Well, they told me you'll wake up after a week. That's why I'm not surprised. Plus, they placed healing spells on you. It's not like you were dying anyway so no need for me to waste more energy on you."

I gave an awkward smile because of how ruthless and straight to the point my sister could be. I was out here breaking my skull in half trying to come up with plans while she was here, peacefully sleeping.

"In return, I had to kill off all the monsters in this area and give the drop items to them," she casually added.

"W-What? Monsters? Did you just say...MONSTERS?!" I felt a pinch in my heart.

She had to go put herself in danger for me. I'm older but Akari had to be the one to protect and care for me. What a useless older sister. Tsk.

"Yeah, that's what I meant—monsters. There were a TON of monsters around this area when we first got here. That's why the townscape had towering walls. On this hill, we're forced to fend for ourselves," Akari explained.

I looked at her with confusion and guilt. I couldn't say a thing. She was doing her best for the both of us to survive—even going as far as putting life in danger.

"Don't even feel bad about it, Aki. It's not yet the monsters' breeding season. So the ones on the hill are low leveled monsters like slime and gnomes. It was an easy task."

My shoulders fell and slumped out of growing guilt. "But...still. Regardless of the monsters, I left you out here ALONE! I know I can be irresponsible sometimes but this...this just takes on a different turn. Mom asked me to take care of you."

"It's just how this world operates, okay? And you are taking care of me. I have all this willpower and strength because of you. Besides, it's normal for people to go on quests to kill monsters, gain experience, and collect drop items. People make money by completing quests and selling drop items at The Guild." Akari let out a sigh as she placed her head against the tree.

"The Guild?" I asked while trying to calm myself down.

"It's the place where adventurers gather. People can request and accept quests there. Parties can also be formed if they want. There are also tiers. At the moment, I'm a bronze adventurer." Akari sheepishly smiled before putting her face closer to mine and batting her eyelashes.

I let out an impressed whistle when I saw her eyes turn from black to brown. The transition of her eye color was akin to how black coffee becomes brown when milk or creamer is added.

"Dang, that's cool," I commented.

"I know, right? The rankings of adventurers in this world are reflected and recorded in their eyes. I'm at the bronze tier, so my eyes turn brown during quests."

I sat beside my sister and I went into deep thought. One of my main takeaways here is that Akari was alone doing all kinds of stuff while I was gone. She ventured by herself just to make sure that we could survive and fit in this world.

I hugged her. "Thank you for looking after me. I'm glad you're safe, Akari."

Akari blushed before flicking my head. "Stop buttering me up. I don't have money." I smiled at her response.

I wouldn't be surprised if Akari succeeds in killing monsters. Gaining permission to perform the ancient chant required a certain level of skill in various things. We had to undergo intense stamina training and become black belters in at least 2 martial arts. I thought it was just a pain in the ass but really, I think it was to prepare us for unexpected events like this.

My family thought things through, huh.

Though I expected that Akari would still struggle. After all, we were only trained in martial arts and I doubt our pure taekwondo or karate skills would be enough to kill monsters.

Hmm, maybe that's why Akari has a sword now.

"Here," Akari spoke and placed a thin gold ring on my right index finger. It was embedded with a small emerald stone.

Afterward, Akari held her hand up and touched the ring on her right index finger. A small transparent screen was projected like a hologram from the emerald stone. It had the status of Akari.

STATUS

NAME: Akari Montenegro

LEVEL: 4

SPIRIT: Yet to be chosen

GUILD TIER: Bronze

RACE: Lower-world Human

HP: 100/100

SP: 25/25

MP: 100/100

ABILITIES: Swordsmanship and Magic

"If you touch it once, it'll show you your status. You'll see your level, spirit, guild tier, race, health, skills, and mana points. Since I'm a level 4, my health, skill, and mana points are at level 4 too. It increases by 25 per level. When I was a level 1, my points were just 25. The maximum level that I can reach is 40. After that, I would need to go to the royal capital and get an upgrade," she explained with a smile.

"Why do you need to go to the royal capital to get an upgrade?" I asked.

She held her chin as she paused for a while before answering. "Well, upgrading is a life-threatening task entrusted to the royal capital. The royal mage needs to forcibly open your mana network and expand it so that you can continue reaching higher levels. The network is connected to your heart so if it's done incorrectly, your heart will overload and rupture."

I blinked a few times out of shock. Unlike Akari, I'm not fond of life-threatening experiences. "I'm starting to hate this world and all of its dangers," I whispered to myself.

"What's the spirit thing for?"

Akari perked up. "That's my favorite part!" She excitedly told me.

"The spirit data is the one that could decide your type or class. Once you reach level 10, you'd have to go somewhere, perform a spall, and hopefully get the blessing of a spirit. Your class will depend on the spirit that chooses you and the kind of blessing it's willing to give," She added.

"Spirits like what?

"Well, it ranges from all sorts of beings. Some could be good, some could be bad. It really depends," She shrugged.

She followed up with a small cough. "Okay, moving on. My abilities are only 2. The maximum that an adventurer can acquire is 16. We get an additional of 2 abilities in an increment of 5 levels. So for example, when I reach level 5, I'll be able to register 4 abilities. Then when I reach level 10, I'll get 6 abilities and so on." A soft breeze went past us as Akari explained things to me with pure joy.

I rolled my eyes because of Akari's sudden enthusiasm in explaining. Back in our old world, Akari would be caught dead before she'd even try and tutor me in school! This girl is unbelievable.

"I can also increase my status by leveling up, killing monsters, and training. The more my level grows, the more my status goes up too. It's basically like a video game," she added.

I was still processing everything while she was speaking. A part of my brain is telling me that this isn't real while the other part is yelling at me to get a grip already or else we'll both die this time.

"Next, touch the ring twice if you want to see the map of all the places you've been to." She double tapped her ring. This time, it showed a wide patch of land surrounding the wooden house that I was previously in. It also extends a bit into town but that place was still barely explored. I guess she only went to the royal capital to buy necessities.

"Then, here's my favorite part. Clench your fist to close it." With that, the small holographic screen on the ring faded.

"That's...pretty cool," I said as I shyly looked away. I was into anime in our old world. So being in a fantasy world like this is both a blessing and a curse for me. It kinda makes me excited to know that I could be some sort of hero-slash-adventurer. But scared I might die for real!

"Now, go try it out." Akari nudged me. I smiled and nodded at her.

I held my right hand up and touched the ring. Like with Akari, a small transparent screen popped up.

STATUS

NAME: Aki Montenegro

LEVEL: 1

SPIRIT: Yet to be chosen

GUILD TIER: No data

RACE: Lower-world Human

HP: 25/25

SP: 5/5

MP: 25/25

ABILITIES: No data

"WHAT? No skills?!" I gasped in despair. How come Akari had swordsmanship and magic?! This isn't fair!!

"Calm down, Aki! That's because you have to learn it first. When I came here, I was also in a similar place as you. But then I met Alrick Caswell and his family. They taught me everything I know about this world." Akari looked at me as if stars were in her eyes.

"Alrick? Who is this guy? And why are you acting like that because of him?" I crossed my hands and pouted. Why is my sister acting all fuzzy? I feel like I missed out on a lot!

Why did I have to be unconscious for a week?! Argh!!

"Speaking of the devil, he's here!" Akari excitedly told me.

"Alrick! Alrick!" She shouted and waved at the man going up from the hill.

As soon as he got closer, I immediately felt myself blush. His brown hair was a bit ruffled and sweat was dripping down his face. He had a clump of hair that was braided and placed gently on the side of his face. He was wearing a white undershirt paired with black pants. On top of it was leather armor. A long silver sword was equipped on his side.

His features were also...attractive. He was fair-skinned with a pointy nose, plump lips, oval eyes, and thick eyebrows. Given that he seemed tired, his cheeks were flushed with a bit of pink.

"Akari! Is that your twin sister?" He asked.

I had to hold in a squeal. His voice was deep too! No wonder my sister is acting head over heels!

"Yup! Aki finally woke up a while ago!" Alrick smiled at Akari's response.

Akari then held my hand and gripped it tightly. A sly smile formed upon my lips.

Someone has a crush and it's my time to play cupid. Bwahahaha!