~Edited for Grammar by agentXshadow~

  Chapter 6: Dark Gods Seal

  Artemis was ejected from the game. The pod automatically opened, and the researchers in the room who saw the event from start to finish rushed over to her to see if she was okay. Apparently, the pain limiter was removed when the God struck her.... she felt 200% more pain than it would normally inflict at 100% pain rather than the paltry 20% its normally set to.

  Crystal attempted to go towards Artemis, who was huddled as far back into the pod as she could be, shivering, scared, feeling lingering pain, as well as anger towards the God that had attacked her.

  Crystal: "A-Artemis are you o-okay?" Slightly stuttering, Crystal managed to force out the words.

  She neared Artemis to attempt to pick her up, but Artemis hissed as her. Crystal backed up, and they left her alone without attempting to get near her. But, Crystal stayed nearby to keep an eye on her. they called Anya, her owner, in to see if she could comfort her.

  When Anya finally arrived, she asked what had happened. They explained the situation, and showed her the video, as well as the pod feed of when Crystal attempted to pick her up earlier. Anya was in tears, because she'd never seen Artemis in such pain before.

  Anya went up to Artemis, and picked her up. However, Artemis still wasn't back to her old self and ended up biting her hand. Anya, however, didn't let her down, nor did she cry. She just hugged her cat, who then finally stopped trembling. She then spent the rest of the 24 hour lockout time with her beloved Artemis, until it was time for her to re-login. However, at that point, Artemis was back to normal and perfectly fine.

  Artemis goes to check the skill notifications that she somehow turned off during combat. She vaguely remembers something from the staff that is a part of the project that they may disable skill learn/info windows during combat, so she attributed it to that.

  Artemis: "Show newly modified skills and recently obtained skills!"

  Artemis: "Well.....fuck. I guess that I should check the damage..."

  Artemis: "Show Stats!"

  "FUCKING XiX!!!!" Artemis secretly cursed in her mind. The second thought she had was that she can finally meet up with her beloved Anya in-game, but she decides not to for now, because she didn't want that XiX bastard to harm her.... hurting herself she can forgive ....but if he were to hurt her owner, she would make sure to find a way to kill him over, and over, and over until the end of time.

  Artemis vowed to herself on that day, that she would protect Anya from that bastard, and anyone else that might want to harm her. So, even though it hurt her more than it did Anya to be away, she felt it was for the best.

  Artemis: "Well, guess since I can finally talk to people and use human form, all I need to do is find a way to remove this curse.... or at least weaken it. Else I can't gear myself past weapons.... however, since I was cursed by a God I doubt the churches can help.... seems I'll need to search for something....anything that will help. Welp, might as well ask around to see if I can find any info on items or relics that might help!"

  After a few hours of walking around, asking if anyone knew of something that could help, she stumbles onto a wandering minstrel, who just exited a pub, and, honestly at this point, she was ready to call it quits and just adventure aimlessly. But, the minstrel actually knew of something that fit what she was asking! After listening to a few songs of hers, she introduced herself as Erica.

  Erica: "Are you sure you don't want to reconsider? That ruin is dangerous..."

  Artemis: "I'm sure. It's something I need to do to get stronger."

  Erica: "Why do you want to get stronger so fast?"

  Artemis: "To ensure I can protect those who I love." she answered honestly, which seemed to touch the minstrel deeply.

  Erica: "Then I'll join you! I couldn't allow someone as kind as you to risk your life alone. It would haunt me for the rest of my life."

  Artemis thought on it for a short while, but ended up giving up. She couldn't give any excuse to deter the young woman she was talking to.

  Artemis: "Okay. BUT, if things get bad abandon me without a second thought. I wouldn't want you to die due to my folly."

  Erica: "I can't promise, but I can give you my word that I will never do anything I will regret."

  Artemis: "....that's good enough"

  Artemis: "Onward to Crypt of the Damned!"

  To Be Continued