After returning from the Desert of Demise Turquoise shows Lemon and Haruka the clothing store she was talking about. Lemon was impressed with the selection Turquoise programmed.

“How did you manage to create some amazing outfits?” Lemon asked.

“Just some ideas that came to me while I was brainstorming ideas for the fashion design contest,” Turquoise replied. Turquoise told the girls that the next dungeon was in the Jagged Fjords and that it was twenty below up there. Turquoise bought a gray fox fur cloak that went over her dress while Haruka went with a kimono with fur trim which caused Turquoise to smile a little.

“Are you sure I can still fight in this? Kimonos aren't usually designed for combat.” Haruka asked.

“This one was and the fur that was sewn into these comes from the tails of the kitsune spirit that watches over the Kitsune Temple in the north so we should be safe from the weather damage,” Turquoise replied. As they were talking Lemon comes out wearing a white witches' dress with fur. “Impressive choice.

“Thank you I thought it was,” Lemon said. With their clothing now prepared for the frozen north, the girls left Fenexia and began the long Journey to the city of Glacia.

Meanwhile back in the real world, the interrogation of Vicky was still in progress with Vicky refusing to crack.

“We have been at this for over a day now, she refuses to talk, “One of the guards said.

“You are right, everything we tried yielded no results,” The other guard said.

“What else can we do?” The first guard asked.

“Turn it over to the police, hopefully they can get somewhere,” The other guard said before dialing the number. Sometime later officer Shining Armor came to the mansion along with a few other officers. The guards explained everything to them and they took Vicky into their custody.

“We will inform you of any details when we get them,” Shining armor said as he and his men took Vicky with them.

Meanwhile back in Fenos Turquoise, Lemon, and Haruka left the inn ready to take on the next temple. Before leaving Glacia they stopped by a weapon shop to buy better equipment since the starter set is not strong enough to take on the next wave of enemies they may face. Turquoise bought a broadsword with a fire gem embedded in it while Haruka bought a nodachi also with a fire gem and Lemon bought a staff with a fox motif that also had a fire gem.

“I know I mentioned this back at the water temple but the creatures all have elements. but what I neglected to mention is that you can inflict more damage if your element is superior to your enemy’s element,” Turquoise explained.

“You mean like a type advantage?” Lemon asked.

“We could not take advantage of that since our levels were not high enough to get some better gear back then,” Turquoise replied. The girls set off for the Jagged Fjords and just as they left Glacia another blizzard blows.

“Why did you program this area to have frequent blizzards?” Lemon asked.

“I wanted to make this area challenging and it's twenty below zero so naturally there will be snowstorms and blizzards,” Turquoise replied.

“In any case is it safe to cross in these conditions?” Haruka asked.

“Of course it is, do you see those poles up ahead,” Turquoise replied pointing to a silhouette of a pole.

“I do,” Haruka said.

“Those are guide markers. If we follow them we will reach the temple without falling into the frozen lake we are standing on,” Turquoise said while tying the three of them together. “This is to make sure we don't lose each other in the blizzard. The girls began following the poles while treading carefully. The last pole was in sight but just before they could reach it the ice gave way beneath Haruka and caused her to fall into the frozen lake causing her hp to drop gradually. Lemon was about to use her magic until Turquoise stopped her. “Bad idea Lemon if you use your power here you will cause the ice to break more and sink us as well.

“Well, what are we supposed to do?” Lemon asked.

“Hang on to the rope I’m going to save Haruka,” Turquoise said before jumping in to save her fiance. Turquoise swam as fast as she could to reach Haruka in time and managed to reach her in time. Both of their hp were down to half and Turquoise while carrying Haruka swam back to solid ground with only twenty hp left while Haruka had five left. After the girls made it out of the blizzard Lemon spotted a cave nearby and went ahead to check for enemies. After five minutes of fighting a pack of Snow Wolves by herself, Lemon looked just as damaged as her friends. The girls decided to set up camp inside the cave while they restored their health. Turquoise pulled out some wood and had Lemon blast it with her fire magic to start a campfire.

“Thanks for saving me love,” Haruka said, feeling a bit warmer now.

“You're always saving me so I guess it was my turn to be the rescuer,” Turquoise replied.

“You two stay here, I'm going to gather some ingredients for some food,” Lemon said before leaving the cave.

“Dare we ask what she is cooking?” Haruka said sarcastically, trying to stay awake.

“Stay with me love,” Turquoise said, also trying to stay awake. Turquoise and Haruka huddled together and wrapped Turquoise’s fox cloak around themselves to keep warm. A few minutes later Lemon comes back to see Turquoise and Haruka bundled together lovingly in front of the fire. Lemon quietly places a stew pot over the fire so as to not disturb her friends. She then tosses in a combination of an apple, Sugarcane, goat butter, and fenexian wheat then watches as the ingredients bounce around in the pot before turning into an apple pie. Lemon repeated the process several times until she made enough to get them through the next temple. Turquoise and Haruka woke up to the smell of something sweet and noticed Lemon by the fire warming herself up.

“Glad to see you lovebirds are finally awake,” Lemon said.

“What smells so good?” Haruka asked.

“While you two were sleeping I decided to whip up some food for the next temple and something to restore your health,” Lemon said while giving them each some pie.

“I see you found the skill system without me mentioning it,” Turquoise said while eating.

“When I used my share of our money to get supplies I noticed a part in the description that mentioned using some of them as ingredients for cooking so I also bought this stew pot for us to use,” Lemon said.

“Way to think ahead Lemon and very good pie,” Haruka said.

Sometime later at the Equine County Police Station, Vicky was now in a real interrogation room when suddenly two police officers came into the room.

“Ok lady, start talking, who are you working for?” The first officer asked.

“My lips are sealed,” Vicky said.

“You know by refusing to talk, your just going to make things worse for yourself,” The second officer said.

“Yeah well I will not break since I know you can’t hurt me,” Vicky said feeling invincible because of the fact she was a woman and the two officers were men. Suddenly the second officer grabbed Vicky by the throat and slammed her into the wall real hard which caused her to bleed and cough up blood.

“Ok bitch either you start talking or else we will resort to more painful methods than just physical violence,” The second officer said before his partner tried to stop him.

“What the hell Sanchez? We are supposed to be getting information from her, not rough her up like that,” the first officer said.

“You heard what she said, if we want answers then we need to show this bitch she is not safe and she can’t get away with saying something like that,” Sanchez said.

“We will get answers, but beating her up won’t accomplish that,” The first officer said.

“What exactly are you suggesting? “Sanchez asked.

“Go take a coffee break, I will handle this,” The first officer said before Sanchez left. The first officer then left to find a first aid kit since letting Vicky bleed out would kill her and letting her die would mean losing leads on the case. After he patched her up he spoke. Please forgive my partner, he can be a loose cannon most of the time.

“He should have his badge revoked for hurting me,” Vicky said. The first officer decided to change strategies to see if asking different questions might trick her into giving him the answers he needs.

“Sanchez aside, let’s talk,” The first officer said.

“I told you, I’m not talking, “Vicky said.

“I’m not talking about the case, let’s talk about you, do you have family?” The first officer asked.

“I have a brother,” Vicky said.

“And what does he do for a living?” the first officer asked.

“He is the head of Silver Corp’s Tech Division,” Vicky said not realizing that the officer just tricked her into giving him a potential suspect.

“And when was the last time you spoke to him?” The officer asked.

“About two days ago,” Vicky said.

“What did you discuss?” The officer asked.

“We caught up and mostly talked about the direction of our lives since our parents passed away,” Vicky said.

“Anything else?” The officer asked.

“That’s it, although he did complain about how he was not happy about the changes that were approaching,” Vicky said which really got the officer interested since this could lead towards a motive.

“Changes?” The officer asked.

“At his job, He was upset that once the current CEO of Silver Corp steps down, his daughter will take over and change the direction of Silver Corp,” Vicky said.

“Thank you for the chat,” The officer said before leaving.

“Wait, what about me?” Vicky asked.

“I will have Sanchez take you back to your cell when he is done with his break, you are not in the clear yet,” The officer said. As soon as he left the room, shining Armor was waiting for him.

“How is the interrogation going?” Shining asked.

“A bit dark, but thankfully I managed to get some useful info out of it,” The officer said.

“Let’s hear it, “Shining said.

“Vicky mentioned her brother who is the head of Silver Corp’s Tech Division,” The officer said.

“What does that have to do with the case?” Shining asked.

“Plenty, especially since her brother has a motive for imprisoning the CEO’s daughter and her two friends in that virtual world,” The officer said. The officer filled in Shining on his findings which meant it was back to the Silver Mansion to talk with Bullet.

Meanwhile inside the game, the girls were camping out inside the cave since it was nighttime and the temperature outside was too cold for them to continue.

“Are you sure we will be safe here?” Lemon asked.

“This cave is a sheltered area, so as long as we stay in here, the blizzard outside cannot hurt us,” Turquoise said.

“I was meaning to ask, but aside from the inns and the campfires, what other options do you have for save points?” Haruka asked.

“I do have this idea for items that allow players to construct instant rooms while traveling,” Turquoise said.

“And these rooms, are they pre furnished or do the players furnish them themselves?” Haruka asked.

“They furnish the room themselves. My goal is to create a game that provides the players with as much freedom as possible. I noticed a lot of games on the market tend to have only ready-made content and characters and not much customization.

“Right and where can we find these items for this instant room?” Lemon asked, quite intrigued.

“That has not been programmed into the game yet since I'm still in the development phase,” Turquoise said.

“What else do you intend to include?” Haruka asked.

“That is all for now,” Turquoise said. The girls decided to rest up and tackle the fourth dungeon in the morning when the blizzard has died down and the weather is more favorable. Despite how cold and hard the ground felt the girls were able to sleep peacefully thanks to the fire inside the cave.

Author's Note

hope you enjoy this chapter.