"Take this!" I shout while pointing my arms at a giant mech. Guided by my hands two black spheres crashing into the mech shield.
But mech didn't stay still, as soon as the two miniature black holes disappeared, it launched a barrage of missiles towards me. I quickly dodged to the side, while also deflecting few rockets with my psychics.
"I guess I'll have to get a bit more serious," I said to myself while gathering energy at my palms. Soon a plasma ball, almost like a miniature sun started forming at my fingertips. But my opponent wasn't so generous to wait for me so I could finish my move. It instantaneously dashed towards me, wanting to break my concentration.
Nevertheless, I stood there calmly watching as it was getting closer to me, without budging even for an inch. Just as it was going to crash into me, I smiled, and a wormhole appeared below me. It sucked me in while leaving the miniature sun behind.
I appeared several thousand kilometers away looking at an explosion caused by the mech crashing into a 'sun'. It may seem far, but on a cosmic scale, it's less than a hair's breadth. And if not for my psi barrier I'd be already roasted, by gamma radiation.
"And with that last mech, my job here is done," I said satisfied, before heading out to collect the loot dropped by the mech boss.
Although thanks to my class and race I can fight in space without any space suit, other than short bursts of speed for dodging, traveling is still painfully slow compared to other classes.
After one hour of collecting scattered loot, I finally managed to get back to my ship. I still remember the day I build it... Well technically it wasn't me who built it, but It was me who created schematics and brought all the necessary materials! Thus a new frigate was born which I later named Innuendo. It was a small multi purpose spaceship. It could do anything from mining to fighting. Though it wasn't the best at everything, it was good enough for me. Truly a jack of all trades among all starships.
"Pressurization complete, you may now enter the ship." A synthetic voice rang out.
I walked out of an airlock into a large round room with a hologram of a galaxy hovering in the middle. As you may have already guessed, it was a bridge of the ship, and that hologram is the map of the known universe.
"Sal, get us to Kepler C-132 station." I ordered the ship AI.
"Aye, ma'am." It replied.
Kepler C-132 station was a pirate den hidden in an asteroid belt around the Mu Arae star, only 50 light years away from The Solar System. They say that "The darkest place is under the candle" and C-132 was the epitome of that.
"Activating FTL drive." Sal informed.
As I watched as the stars turn blue, then violet before finally disappearing I realized that I'm already in the game for too long. What? I'm not a shut in or some sort a game addict. I still have a life. Nevertheless, I think it's an appropriate moment for me to log out. Let me just check my status first, well I can't progress with my stats any further, but still, it has become my little quirk to always check the stats before logging out.
Status. My thoughts guided the system to open a status window. A blue box popped out in front of me almost instantaneously.
Name: Rachel Luminas Nickname: Phase Title: Star Devourer Race: Nova Gender: Female Class: Psyker (Lv.99) Sub-class: Graviton (Lv.99) Health: 500/500 | 0.1/s Barrier: 9000/9000 | 30.0/s Psi: 9000/9000 | 15.0/s Stamina: 500/500 | 1.0/s Mind: 999 Body: 999 Willpower: 999 Coordination: 999
Well as expected, I didn't get anything new for defeating the boss, but it was still a great experience.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"Command: Log-out" I used a voice command this time.
Soon the image blurred and character selection menu greeted me. I only had one character. When I started playing the game I considered creating more characters, but back then I barely had enough time to play one character, so I stuck with Phase, and after finally maxing her stats out I got used to playing with Phase so much that I stopped even considering switching to a new character.
She was a unique race, a Nova. The race made up of energy held in place by their innate Psionic powers. Basically a sci-fi elementals. According to their race origin story, they do not originate from any particular region. They just spontaneously come into existence at seemingly random places. You're probably also wondering why I would play a female character in a VR game. I'd probably create a male character if not for the fact that that Novas are mono gendered species. While technically they are neither female or male, their body is similarly shaped to that of a human female. Hence the game treats them as a female only race.
The way they look varies from player to player, but some things never change. For example, they always sound like a glowing woman made out of energy, with strange markings covering the body. The hair looks like levitating strands of energy that slowly wave in a snake-like manner. Of course, that's how they look without any equipment. But most players tend to disguise themselves as a human with technology, so they don't stand out that much.
It's no different for me. Right now my character looks like a Caucasian woman in her twenties with a straight blonde hair and blue eyes. I left her body shape intact so I wouldn't have to adjust to three different forms. Why three? Well, there is also my original body in real life.
Anyways when you turned off the device responsible for transformation, my character white skin turns into a green membrane which seems almost ethereal. What's underneath the membrane looks like another world, a blue nebula with a green glow seeping out. It moves very slowly, just like syrup, giving it mysterious vibe. The strange white tattoos appear only on Phase's right side of the body. Reaching from her collarbone across the slender waist until finally stopping at her shapely feet. And let's not forget about hair swaying like a tail made of aquamarine plasma.
"It's a shame that VR allows only first person gaming," I said to myself.
I opened the menu, and just as I was about to completely quit the game, a pop up appeared. A simple question.
Do you believe in alternate
realities or worlds? Yes No
Without thinking much, I selected yes. Well usually I'd ponder a bit more, but I really wanted to quit the game, so that's why I'll answer with the first thing that comes to my mind. By the way what the hell is this question? Are devs doing research or what?
If you could explore an another world
would you prefer a fantasy or a sci-fi setting? Sci-Fi Fantasy
If you'd thought that I've selected Sci-Fi you'd be wrong because this time I chose fantasy. Why? Because I think fantasy setting would be a breath of fresh air after playing a sci-fi game for so long. After answering the question, I pressed the quit the game button, and the standard black void of disconnection surrounded me, a few seconds later it dissipated, and I woke up in a strangely similar, but also unfamiliar environment. Why am I still on my ship? Why everything looks much more detailed? And why there is a fucking hole in my ship?!