Chapter 228 43.4 Branching Paths?

*crash...*

With the usual sound of a massive tree falling down onto the ground, sticks and stones got thrown up into the air as the force of the impact almost made the ground vibrate underneath our feet. The base of the trunk itself was riddled with holes, ones that know I caused as I held my smoking pistols aloft. And while it looked absolutely horrid when looking at it from that angle, the rest of the tree looked relatively unharmed.

Well, relatively was the wrong term, but I'd still count having a few pockmarks on the wood to be a win.

"So, uhh.... I guess that worked?" I let out an awkward laugh. "It doesn't look too damaged. We'll just have to somehow repeat this two more times and then we're done."

Beside me, Guidance scoffed, her hands on her hips as she shook her head at me. "That was highly inefficient, you know. I really had to heal you twice just to chop a tree. Twice!"

"Well, what else are we supposed to do other than to use these things?" I asked aloud, holding up my pistols for emphasis. "It's not like you can slap your keyboard on these things and they'd fall down."

"I don't know, maybe you can use a [Move] or two instead of just wailing on the thing for five minutes?" Guidance sarcastically shrugged.

"Hey, you're the one that told me earlier not to use any drastic [Moves] that might damage the rest of the tree," I quickly pointed out. "I was just following your advice."

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't discount the use of them in the first- Hey! I'm still talking here!"

Shaking my head at my girlfriend, I moved to take the tree into my inventory, assuming that I could even get it into the damn thing in the first place. Holstering my pistols, I then called up my handy interface, the usual stuff popping up as I then... well...

How do I even lift this thing up?

"What're you doing?" Guidance incredulously asked. "Wait, are you seriously going to try and lift that thing?"

"It's not like I have any better options," I sighed as I tried to put my hands underneath the massive trunk. "We can't drag this thing down with us, and we certainly can't process this thing down into planks right here and now."

"Yeah, but, are even strong enough to lift a small boulder?"

I glared at the bitchy dev constantly nagging me to death. I could see myself loving her, but as she was right now, she was really starting to get on my nerves.

"Look, are you gonna help me? Or are you just going to stand there and bitch about my methods?"

My words promptly shut her up, a blush forming on her face as she glared at me.

"Did you seriously just call me a bitch?" Guidance growled out in a low tone. "Maybe my ears were just deceiving me just now."

I scoffed as I shook my head. She was giving me an out, but I wasn't going to take it. "I said what I said, Guidance. You're really grating on my nerves right now, so I'm gonna say it."

And just like that, I saw the wind being taken out of her sails in real time as her mad blush receded. Instead, she sank into herself, her gloomy expression instantly making me feel guilty even as I kept my focus on moving this massive trunk.

"Sorry..." she weakly apologized, almost barely a whisper. "I'll... I'll be right here when you need me..."

Letting out a sigh, I clicked my tongue in disappointment before I got to work on the tree again. Looking at it, it was still pretty much whole, complete with the leaves and the branches and stuff. Sure, there were pocks where I kind of let lose and wanted to get a random shot in, but overall, it was still a solid piece of wood.

"How do I do this..."

Looking at the inventory window that was open right in front of me, I could only assume that I had to push this massive thing into the window to make it disappear into hammerspace. It's what I've done for crates and stuff, and I could only guess that that was the case here as well.

Still, while I could carry crates and push them into the inventory, the same couldn't be said here. As much as I tried, this thing just wouldn't budge, and I was starting to get more frustrated the more I just stared at this thing in silent fury.

Behind me, I could feel Guidance awkwardly shifting her weight as she did her best not to say anything. I wasn't really mad at her, but she still needed a time-out from constantly bugging me about the stuff I was doing. I knew she meant well, but there was just something in her tone that constantly told me that she was looking down on me somehow. Still...

"You okay over there?" I couldn't help but ask. "Look, I know I kind of exploded on you earlier, but it's just that you've been acting more and more haughty for quite some time now. I know you only mean well, but it kind of hurts if that's the only stuff you constantly say to me."

I could handle a decent amount of abuse, what with being bullied back when I was in elementary school, but there were still limits to even the most hardened of veterans. As much as I didn't want it to happen, it still all adds up the more and more she kept degrading my decisions. Sure, she wasn't the only one doing it, but unfortunately, she was the one that broke my threshold.

"...I see.." Guidance weakly muttered. "I-I'll try to be better..."

"Look, I'm not saying you should always praise me, but at least try and make it sound like it's all light-hearted and such," I chuckled, doing my best to lift up her mood. "I can take it. Hell, I've taken it from you even back when you were just a disembodied voice trying to fix the game."

"I-I guess so..."

I let out a breath as I walked across the trunk, an idea coming to me as I positioned myself near one of the thing's branches. Moving in a way that let the inventory window hit the branch, I was pleasantly surprised when my stupid idea worked, the entire thing disappearing into the void as I felt myself get heavier for some reason. Unfortunately, that also meant that the trunk I was leaning on had suddenly disappeared as well, making me fall down on the ground with a small thud.

[INVENTORY 1][INV2][INV3]

[Wolf Glove iLvL: 5]

[Room Six Key]

[Cotton Shirt iLvL:1]

[Wolf Glove iLvL:5]

[Cargo Shorts iLvL:2]

[Slippers iLvL:2]

[Wood]

"Heh, I guess I know that somehow works then," I chuckled as I picked myself back up from the ground. "That's gonna be handy someday, I feel."

Already, I could imagine some weird scenario where I could weaponize my inventory space somehow. Maybe position myself in a way that I'd be able to suck up somebody's weapon into my hammerspace, disarming them without even so much as effort being put into it.

"Well, that's gonna take care of that then," I let out another chuckle as I dusted myself off. "So, think we're ready to cut down another one of these things?"

Pulling out my pistols, I was already eyeing two nearby trees for this specific job. I'd probably just go and fire on both of them at the same time just to save some time. Maybe even use a [Blood Shot] or two just to see if Guidance was actually right. And speaking off...

"Guidance? Let's go," I called out once more. "Again, I'm not mad at you, okay? Just... I want you to tone it down a bit to manageable levels."

...

...

I let out a sigh at the lack of a response. And here I thought I was being clear to her, what with her responding to me earlier. I guess I really was going to sleep on the metaphorical couch tonight.

"Come on, Guidance," I called out once more, turning around to face her. "We don't have all day, and we still need... to...."

My face fell at that instant, my worry growing to astronomical levels as I saw nothing but leaves and dirt where I thought Guidance was supposed to be standing.

"Guidance? Are you there?"

The source of this content is no//vel//bin[./]net'

Calling out, I tensed myself up as I held my [Manifests] close to my chest. Squinting, I move closer to my girlfriend's last known location, cautious about how or why she disappeared in the first place.

"Guidance?!" I called out once more, louder this time. "Where are you?!"

Silence came back to me as I finally stood right where I last heard her speak. Except for some grass and a few trees giving her unneeded shade, there was nothing here thought would even point as to how she disappeared.

"Guidance?!"

I was worried now, my eyes scanning back and forth as I kept my guard up. It wasn't- "Oh?"

I blinked as I felt something solid hit my feet. Looking down, what seemed to be some kind of metal hatch made itself known to me.

"Huh... I guess I've got my lead then."

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