Fortune Favors (QQ) Chapter 18 (Patreon)

A low breath leaves my lips as I look to the three small seeds in my hand. 

Blue Spider Lily Seed 

Hoo boy. 

This took a little time to find. 

Normally I'd feel pretty bad about leaving home for one week without coming back at all, but Tsukasa's been pretty preoccupied at the moment. 

Besides. I need to finish this race change potion before Sword Art Online is cleared so I can take Lisbeth into Gensokyo. 

Another question on my mind is 'what should I even make her new race'. 

Like, I'd want it to be something powerful. Not just some run of the mill tengu. 

For the crow tengu, they're fast, sure, but I don't think Lisbeth would appreciate being forced to lay eggs. 

Or was that merely a fanon thing? 

I don't really want to make her a Kuda Gitsune, even with how easy it would be to get the supply for that. She wouldn't have a second half like Tsukasa, possibly living for hundreds of years more or less alone. 

Vampires have the whole 'sun weakness' thing, basically a worse version of a Demon Slayer demon as I doubt most vampires have that level of incredible regeneration and I'd doubt I'd be able to convince either of the scarlet siblings to hand over their blood- if they even have any, being vampires. They might just not bleed if you stab them. 

In a perfect world, I would somehow convince Yukari to give up her blood. 

But there's absolutely no way I'd be able to do that. 

That's like ten high-rank speech checks in a row. 

I doubt even Tsukasa could do it. And she has bullshit talk-no-jutsu powers. 

Yuuka? 

Probably not the type to freely give out blood like that. Besides, her power is less of a racial thing as she is 'basic plant youkai' and more of a personal thing. 

Fairy? 

They are more or less immortal, but taking that into account, I don't think they really... bleed... moreso 'poof' into nothingness and reform later. Besides, I have no way of knowing if such an ability is merely fanon or if it'll transfer over and they are typically really weak... and really stupid. 

There's a bunch of gods I can pick from in Touhou lore, but I don't think any of them are actually in Gensokyo at the moment. The main issue with that, is don't the deities fucking perish if nobody believes in them anymore? I could just be signing her up to be frail and pathetic for her entire life. Plus there would bound to be youkai who would want to eat 'divinity' to grow stronger, right? 

I'm unsure as I don't really... speak with Gensokyo Youkai very often- with good reason as everyone and their fucking cat have horrifying conceptual powers. 

Eh, I can figure that out later. Anyways, on the topic of Blue Spider Lilies I got really fucking lucky. 

I walked into a nearby town after saving Tanjirou and Nezuko- I hung around a little bit to see what mr savage wind would do, and he demanded that Tanjirou shove Nezuko into the sun, at which point, he told them to 'get the fuck out of his way' then wandered off in a random direction- 

Anyways, I walked into a random town and started asking around about Blue Spider Lillies. 

It seems that I was in luck, as an older woman saw some in the mountain I had just come from. 

I then spent the next three days moving around the snow-covered mountain, eventually managing to find the location I was told about, then the next four days searching around that area, eventually finding some unbloomed wilted sprigs just barely poking up out of the snow. 

With that, I should have enough for Yuuka to give me what I need. 

I'll drop off some seeds in Sword Art, maybe rent a farm plot on floor five to grow some more, then bring the remainder to Yuuka. 

I nod slowly, a satisfied smirk crossing my lips. 

A door cracks open in the world before me as I simply walk through. 

With a loud thud, it closes behind me. 

"Yui. Rent a farm on floor five. Here's five thousand tiddly-winks." 

I can feel a new location slot into my 'travel' ability, so I simply make my way over to the newest location. 

"Grow one of these for me, if you would." 

I gesture to the seeds in my hand 

One of the miniscule seeds disappear from my hand. 

A wave of light slowly grows outwards, flowers of an ethereal blue color rest in the soil they almost seem to glow under the sunlight. 

"Damn..." I whisper. "This is pretty..." 

Thanks to my green-thumb ability, I was able to figure out a use for them... the medicine that turned Muzan into the freak that he is... technically speaking, I don't need demon blood anymore. I can just make a more purified version of it with the medicine. 

"These are Spider Lilies... Correct?" The emotionally muted Ai girl begins quietly as she appears next to me. 

"Yep. Blue spider lilies. They're said to remove a demon's weakness to sunlight back in the world they came from. It is also supposedly the origin of the demon race." I admit with a small grin. "So. Do they alter the race change potion any?" 

"Undetermined." The little girl sighs. 

"How long will these take to grow?" 

"They have a great healing aspect to them." Yui intones. "One hundred and twenty days." 

"One hundred-" I begin only to cut off. "Ugh... that makes them about sixteen times as powerful as the Zap Apples, right? I know those were placed on a higher-tier farm, but still... you said they'd normally take about seven days per apple. Yet here you are saying that each of these flowers takes one hundred days to grow?!" 

"And twenty." The Ai cuts in before moving onto explanation. "Most of this time is to take into account their strange blooming habits. Sometimes they bloom. Sometimes they don't, and, if they do, for only three days, only during the day. Thus, out of eight thousand seven hundred and sixty hours in a year, these flowers only bloom for roughly twenty four point three eight hours... thirty hours if I were being generous... and that's not even beginning to speak on the sheer difficulty of growing these flowers. You are truly pushing sword art online's capabilities here." 

I let out a small 'tsk' and slowly pull out my Iphone from my pipe and snap a picture. "Yuuka would want proof if- through some failure on her part- she cant get these to grow." 

Yui's gaze snaps to the object in my hand. "You- You have a telephone?!" 

"Uh, Yeah?" I mutter quietly. 

Her eyes seem to scan the device. "How... Primitive. The storage is two hundred and six gigabytes less than the standard P-Tech model device... and the specifications are hilariously sub-par... where did you get this?" 

My eyes stray to the phone. "It has sixty four gigabytes... that's about average." 

"Then you must come from a more primitive world than I ever imagined." The girl frowns. 

"Well, I mean, Vr is just fiction literally anywhere other than here, so perhaps it's not we who are primitive and you who are advanced. True ai's are pretty much an impossibility anywhere else as well." I shoot back. 

"I see... hm... I suppose you will want to know what has gone on in the two weeks you have been absent." Yui begins, pausing briefly to look at me as I nod once. "Firstly, your sever has advanced to floor five and thus, has been combined with another group, bringing the total amount of servers down to nineteen. This number will continue to lower until there are merely ten left. Next, you will combine with another server at floor fifteen. Then, the final servers will all combine into one at floor thirty." 

"I see. Are there any good players from the new servers? I haven't really met anyone notable yet. Did you make sure to have Npcs mention my shop? 

"I... Did not." The girl shakes her head. "I will rectify this immediately. As for Players, there are some, certainly... Player Nasugi, Player Monique, Player Sayonaise and Player Yuri is a reasonably impressive group from sever thirty nine. Then there are Bocha, and her party from server twenty eight." 

"What are their server specializations?" I question. 

"Music, Scribing, and Alternative Races have been added to your server." 

"Explain?" I mutter. 

"Firstly, for music, some people are able to improve the capabilities of entire raid groups by playing songs." The girl informs helpfully. "Next, scribes are able to inscribe books that grant a myriad of temporary boosts when read, typically improving skill experience for a short time. And finally, the demonic race has been added." 

"..." 

"I see. New race, bards, and skill books." I note as I turn back to the flowers. "That's two more unique skills when someone from those servers get their skill level to one thousand... speaking of unique skills, what about Argo and Lisbeth?" 

"Player Argo has risen her alchemical skill to one hundred. Player Lisbeth on the other hand has seen the largest increase, rising to level one hundred and sixty smithing capability. In addition, she has managed to bring a Meadow Blade up to plus twenty two. This has been her limit for now, but she is inching closer and closer to twenty three." 

Meadow Blade: +22 
A weapon made from alchemically altered copper. Its far more durable than bronze and comparable to iron.  

Durability 93/93 

Attributes:  
Base Damage 86 

Requirements: STR: 5 AGI: 14 

That's... actually not bad as far as weapons go. 

At least the ones you'd see on floor five. 

It surpasses a fully enhanced iron sword by a fair portion, being about on par with what you'd see on floor six. 

Not bad. 

"Oh, by the way, can we use this for anything? It's made of a metal called 'Nichirin. Which is metal that has been exposed to sunlight for a considerable time if I remember correctly. It's one of the only things that can kill demons by cleaving off their heads " 

I pull out a green katana from my pipe, looking over it in Intrigue. 

It looks quite nice, but I can tell it has seen conflicts, the light scratching along its side, a sole chip in the edge here and there. But, considering what it is used for, only having this much damage is fairly surprising, actually.  

Nichirin Katana: 
A weapon created for the sole purpose of slaying demons, disabling their regeneration temporarily when struck. 

Durability 83/98 

Attributes:  
Base Damage 112 

Requirements: STR: 25 AGI: 32 

"Uh... roughly when will this be used?" I question. 

"Floor ten or so." The girl beside me shrugs. "It may be enhanced to plus twelve." 

"But. Considering we don't have Nichirin..." I mutter under my breath. "Enhancement is impossible. Unless..." 

My eyes stray to the girl a small grin appearing on my face. "Yui... is there perhaps... some sort of way to create more nichirin steel?" 

"...' 

A Quiet sigh leaves the girl's lips. "Floor Eight. I'll generate a quest for you." 

"Heh... heheheh." I deviously laugh under my breath. "Noooow, I'm going to go grab the flowers and take them to Yuuka... then... a talk with my hot fox wife about how I'm feeling relatively neglected." 

I reach over and pat the top of the girl's head. "Thank you, Yui." 

With that, I turn and walk away. 

"Ah! Right. I need to plan a quest for floor five..." I mutter under my breath. "Ah. Wait. First things first. Shower. Maybe a few, in fact as I've been running around almost constantly for two weeks." 

--Linebreak--

A long cautious breath leaves my lips as I quietly march through the near endless expanse of sunflowers. "Uh... Ms. Yuuka? I'm back with some flowers I'm fairly certain you don't have." 

"Ah. I see." A voice speaks up right behind me. 

I muffle a scream as I whirl around, hand coming to my chest, my heart rapidly beating away as I watch the woman step out of the endless sea of sunflowers. 

She seems greatly amused by startling me. 

I let out a long breath to calm my beating heart, then straighten my clothing slightly. "Hello, Miss Yuuka. It is a pleasure to see you again." 

"Yes. I am quite enchanting... where are the flowers?" 

"Ah. I see. Cutting right to the chase?" 

"I do not really like people so the sooner you can get out of my garden, the better." 

"Hurtful... but okay." I mutter as I reach back behind my back. "First off, here have this. Deathbell, a poisonous flower that is typically used in alchemy." 

A blue flower comes from my pipe, the petals angled downwards, the stem causing it to hang slightly. 

The woman looks over it briefly, then with a wave of her hand a bush sprouts.  

"Hm. A little boring. Half a fruit." 

"This is a stone flower." 

A greyish flower is taken from my hand, she regards it for a moment, fingers brushing over petals. "Not made of stone. A little misleading... and with such a name I got my hopes up... half a fruit." 

"This is redwort." I continue pulling another flower from my bag. 

It is red in color, the petals bloomed in a manner slightly similar to a sunflower, but instead of a bunch of seeds, the inside of the flower looks like a secondary smaller flower. 

It sprouts from the ground, supported by a thick stem. 

"Oh? This one is actually quite nice... one fruit." The woman hums. 

"This is a Coda Flower." A blue flower leaves my pipe next, this one light blue in color and looking a bit like a little vase. "Apparently it can glow in the dark." 

"Two fruit." The woman notes after a brief moment of consideration. 

"Alright, so, this is probably one of the more impressive ones." I continue after a moment, lifting a frankly dazzling flower into view, it is blue in color with a purple stem, shaped like a little bell. It lightly glows, the insides appearing to be a bright neon blue. 

I can see the flower youkai's eyes widen briefly as she looks over the flower. She practically snatches it from my hands as she looks over it. "What is... this?" 

"Gleamblossom." I answer. 

"the color... it's texture... this is... well, frankly breathtaking... how is it grown?" The green haired youkai asks. 

"I am unsure. I picked it up at an alchemy shop... apparently, they grow underground or something?" I shrug. 

"T- They grow underground?!" She stutters. 

"Yes?" 

She quickly regains her composure, covering her mouth with a hand. "Fufufu... you have certainly brought me something interesting. Perhaps this deal of yours was worth my time after all... Ten fruit." 

The corners of my mouth turn upwards as I bring out the last item, one Blue Spider Lily seed. 

"and this... is the seed to a Blue Spider Lily. An incredibly picky flower. It supposedly only blooms three days a year, only during the day and only when conditions are right. But, in the past it was used in a medicine to turn someone into like... a 'pseudo vampire' sort of thing that made him ageless, gave him incredible regeneration, and an insatiable hunger for human flesh." 

She blinks slowly at that last little tidbit of information. "It... turned someone into a youkai?" 

"Apparently." I shrug. "Pretty much their own weakness is sun, a special sun-fused steel, and the Wisteria flower." 

With a wave of the woman's hand after planting the seed in the ground, a beautiful flower grows then blooms. It is almost ethereal in coloration, lightly gleaming in the sunlight. 

"Oh my... how pretty." The flower youkai hums. "Not at beautiful as some of the other plants you have brought, but it is quite nice on the eyes regardless... two fruit." 

So. That brings my total to sixteen! 

A large tree in the distance shudders to life, the sea of sunflowers seem to part as it twists, with a few thudding booms, the tree seems to walk closer, a long tree limb looming over Yuuka and myself. 

Fruit begins to rain downwards, but thankfully I am able to catch most of them in an illusioned basket. 

'one two three-' 

'eight nine-' 

'Yep. That's sixteen.' 

"Thank you for your patronage! I will return if I find more!" I cheer as I gently stuff the fruit into the bamboo pipe at my waist. 

My gaze strays down to the ethereal blue flower sprouted in the grass. 

"Ah... do you mind if I- uh- take this?" I cautiously ask. 

"Return four of those plums and I will allow it." She states. 

I cringe slightly, but relent with a small sigh. "Fine. A little weird that you gave me two fruits in exchange for it... then asked for four back, but whatever." 

"I do not like to give away the flowers I have grown. That is it." She huffs, tilting her head back slightly. 

I return four plums to her and gently pick the flower. 

She begins casually snacking on the fruit. 

"Wait... have you... been eating those frequently?" I whisper. 

"Almost exclusively." A slightly evil grin appears on her lips, her teeth fanged and jagged as she knows I know what that means... 

"Oh." I whisper. 

She... has been eating those fruits... a lot... 

"I will admit... after around ten thousand, It has begun to lose its effect. Not that they were that noticeable to begin with." She smirks.  

I made one of touhou's stronger beings... even stronger... 

Oh dear. 

"I-Uh- am glad that you are benefitting from our mutual arrangement!" With that, I disappear into an illusionary pipe. 

--Linebreak--

I pause just in front of a door, hand shaking briefly. 

Fuck. 

It's been a while. 

I...  

I'm not going to talk about feeling like I'm being ignored. Realistically, she just said no to sex once then I ditched her for a week. During that time, it was just my own mind annoying me that entire time. 

Nothing to do with Tsukasa. 

Alright. Let's just go in there and do this. 

"I'm back." I call out as I open the door to the first floor of Aincrad. I look over to see the blonde form of Tsukasa sat next to the small white haired girl who has wrapped herself in the fox youkai's tails. 

A bright smile appears on Tsukasa's face as she perks up. "Argo!" 

She leaps to her feet, rushing forwards and enveloping me in a hug. 

Her lips take my own as after a brief moment of Surprise I lean into the passionate kiss. 

"I... I missed you." She whispers after a moment. 

"I missed you too." I reply. 

"Why'd you stay gone for a week?!" She lowly growls into my ear, apparently not wanting the white haired girl hear us fight. 

"I honestly thought you wouldn't notice." 

"Argo... you little insecure and timid idiot!" She whispers, continuing to hold me tightly. "Just because Shiro is here doesn't mean I'll just forget about you! That's ridiculous! You had me worried sick!" 

"I'm sorry." I mumble under my breath. 

"It's all okay now." She beams, grabbing my wrists and pulling me forwards to where the silent girl is sat. "Now come here! Take a seat! Spend some time with your family!" 

"Okay." I mutely agree. 

She pulls me forwards, I kneel at the little table as she sits right beside me. 

"Ahh... here we are." She has a pleased smile on her face, her eyes closed as she seemingly basks in the homely environment. 

She either doesn't see the awkwardness the small girl and I have between us, or she just doesn't care. 

"So... what have you been doing the past week, Tsukasa?" I question quietly.  

"I have been spending time with our adorable little daughter." The woman smiles, drawing the white haired girl close and brushing a hand through her hair. 

Shiro seems to lean into her hand, a content expression on her face. 

"And what about you, dear, what made you stay away for a week's time?" She questions. 

"I was looking for a flower that blooms only three days of the year, sometimes not at all, and only during the day." 

"..." 

"Why?" 

"It's possibly the key to the race change potion I am having the other Argo create." I answer as I pull the ethereal flower from my pipe. 

"Oh my... that is... quite pretty." Tsukasa whispers. "This could be the key to a race changing potion?" 

"It could." I nod slowly. 

Bloomed Blue Spider Lily: 
A rare flower which holds great potential. A lesser alchemist could create a truly potent healing elixir out of it, but a true master might be able to extract a form of immortality from it. A bloomed flower is much rarer than one that hasn't, as this flower will only bloom for roughly thirty hours a year. 

Tsukasa's eyes slowly stray to the white haired girl, the corners of her mouth turning upwards slightly. "Yes... a race change potion would be... beneficial." 

Shiro sits in her lap, gazing over me with an unreadable expression as Tsukasa gently begins to braid her hair. 

After around a minute, Shiro finally speaks. 

"Are... Are you real... like Mother? A real... youkai... not... an NPC?" 

"I... am?" I blink. "But I like to pretend I'm an NPC." 

"Ah. Because... the bad man might be watching..." 

"He is." I nod slowly. "And if he finds out that we are tilting this world in our favor, he might just delete us." 

"Mn... then... is that why you act... strange... sometimes?" The girl questions, looking over her shoulder to Tsukasa. 

"Yes. It is." The fox woman smiles as she gently pat the girl's head. "I must pretend that I am nothing out of the ordinary... because If I don't... that bad man might try and take me away from you." 

A saddened expression appears on the small girl's face, she begins gently petting Tsukasa's tail. 

"But don't worry, Shiro! Argo and I have a plan!" Tsukasa smiles brightly. 

"Mn?" The white-haired girl hums. 

"It is still quite far away, but... would you be open to coming with us? To changing your race and becoming a youkai?" 

"Mn... maybe... But... I want to save Big Brother." The girl whispers. 

"Don't worry, Shiro." Tsukasa soothes. "We will. We'll save your big brother." 

"Then... will you adopt him too?" Shiro questions. 

"Yes!" My other half beams. 

Isn't he like... eighteen or something? 

I already feel a bit weird adopting Shiro. But adopting someone who is literally like... only two to three years younger than I am? 

"Isn't that right, Argo?" Tsukasa questions, likely sensing the gist of my thoughts through our bond. 

"of- Of course!" I smile brightly, my eyes shutting as I project the ultimate aura of 'this is fine'. 

"See, don't worry. After this, we'll take you to a world of magic, and fantasy and fun!" 

"Will there be... video games?" The small girl questions as she tilts her head. "Or... Manga?" 

"Uhhhh." Tsukasa mutters for a moment. "Sure! There's bound to be! And even if there isn't, Argo here can bring you to a world where there is!"  

"Isn't that right, Argo?" She asks. 

"Well, at the moment, no. I can't. I have no accessible modern worlds. But who knows what the answer will be in a year... maybe two." 

"See! He'll find what you desire!" 

"O-Okay! I... I want to become a youkai... like mother... and... father..." The girl decides. 

Its sort of clear that she prefers Tsukasa over me. I mean, that's a little understandable. I am basically a stranger to her. 

But...  

What's with this strange warm feeling that's in my chest...  

The bubbly and bright smile of Tsukasa, the small fragment of a smile that appears on the emotionally muted girl's face. 

This feels... nice.