{LOGIN NOTICE: YOU ARE BEING SENT TO CHARA STUDIO}
Elizabeth sat the next evening in her room with interest when she saw this message. The teen had rushed home from her family's Christmas activities and logged onto FROZEN HEARTS as soon as possible.
She scratched her head seeing this notification, not understanding what it meant. After what had to be a solid ten minutes of blank staring she slapped herself. She had been so excited to play she forgot to design a proper character.
The “Chara Studio” was like any other lobby of a game. You'd go in, be given the option to buy in-game items, and customize yourself. It also lets you meet up with other players who were either shopping or waiting for their game to load.
She clicked the agree button and gasped as she was thrown chest-first into the carpet of the studio. Grunting, the teenager stood up and found herself in what was to be a shopping mall.
There were players costumed as shimmering princesses, noble ladies, sexy nuns, John Wick-styled assassins, and classic squires walking about. They paid no mind to the stumbling girl who looked around in amazement.
She saw that the lobby was gigantic with it resembling a super mall more than a store or dressing room. There were what had to be twenty shops with NPCs running them, having a label atop their head showing as such.
Elizabeth wiped her skirt off and started to look for a shop that had what she needed. Each shop had a sign above their door that stated what they were for. Some were full of players while others were empty. She saw one that was labeled “Starter Salon” which piqued her interest and walked down to it. As she did, the brunette heard players talking to each other about the various activities they'd gone through.
Everything sounded so exciting with players discussing fighting SNOW LIONS and going to a fantastical bar to celebrate. Others talked about how they had met up with hundreds of players for a raid that led them to fight a pack of SNOW CHIMERAS. All of these people were playing the game and had fallen in love with it.
The girl couldn't help but feel jealous that everyone else had been playing while she was still in the tutorial. They were experiencing what the trailers had promised and that burned her a little. The teenager sighed and tried not to beat herself up, frowning.
There would be plenty of time for her to explore the entire world of Frozen Hearts. She made it to the shop which resembled a clothing outlet you'd see in a mall back in the 00s. Pushing the glass door open, the teenager was hit with cool air and bright pink lights. She walked in with a squint, everything was incredibly bright so it was hard for her to take in.
There were racks and racks of outfits built to withstand the cold weather she would embark on. Fur coats, thick leggings, rubber snow boots, you name it. There were also wooden shelves that had supplies such as climbing gear and weapons.
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The game's developers hadn't skipped out on anything it seemed to make Frozen Hearts realistic. The teenager walked to a particular knee-length brown coat and touched it. Elizabeth gasped, it felt so real. The fabric was thick and soft.
She would have spent an entire day searching through this all if she hadn't been startled by someone else being in the room just standing there with a frozen smile on their face. An NPC stood at a checkout counter. She was a redhead dressed in a red robe that covered a white dress.
The NPC noticed her come in and perked up. “Hello!” The redhead froze with her eyes glowing before she continued. “Are you Player Snow_Fox?”
“That's me but calling me Liz is fine.” Elizabeth found her username being stated in such a robotic way weird. It didn't help that the NPC stuttered.
The NPC hummed and directed her attention to the coat Elizabeth was still holding in her hand. “Would you like to purchase a WEREBEAR COAT?”
“WEREBEAR?” Elizabeth looked closer at the coat and saw that it was labeled as such. But to the teenager, it felt like a regular fake fur coat.
She looked back at the NPC and asked. “How much does it cost?” The teen hadn't seen any price tags when she came in. Since it was all starter items she figured it couldn't be very too expensive but still she wanted to check.
The NPC stood frozen with her glowing eyes again as she calculated the price. She cocked her head to the side robotically. “It will cost 50 Coins.”
Now, that made sense to Elizabeth. She had heard rumors of Frozen Hearts overpricing their basic non dlc items but she was glad that wasn't the case. She would have to check her coins though. It had been a bit since the girl played and she couldn't remember how much she had. With a wave of her hand, she brought up the blue inventory menu and clicked the open button.
{INVENTORY OPEN}
◇ 1 SNOW BUG SPRAY ◇
◇ 1 WICKER BROOM ◇
◇ 1 CRYSTAL VACUUM ◇
◇ 1 MAID OUTFIT ◇
item currently equipped
◇ 1 MAP OF FROST TOWN ◇
◇ 1 MAP OF FROST ESTATE ◇
◇ 5 SNOW LION STEAKS ◇
◇ 1 SNOW LION PELT COAT ◇
◇ 1 SNOW LION FANG DAGGER ◇
{YOU HAVE x4500 COINS}
She debated getting another coat. The SNOW LION PELT COAT was warm but the WEREBEAR COAT could come in handy. Plus, both coats would have their advantages when it came to combat. She could see that she was far behind the other players when it came to gear.
It was better to just shop cheap for now to get the basics. Once she got in the tutorial again she'd look for a merchant NPC. Then she could sell whichever coat she didn't need, get more coins, and go on her way.
“I'll take it…along with these boots.” Elizabeth pointed to a pair of knee-length dark brown boots that appeared to be made out of reptile skin.
The redhead looked at the boots and began to speak in her stuttering tone. “Those are a pair of HYDRA BOOTS.” She clapped her hands as if she were in a Broadway play and continued. “They are perfect for combat.”
“Are they a good match to the WEREBEAR or SNOW LION PELT type outfit items?” Elizabeth didn't want to get the boots if they hampered her.
This question made the redhead shake her head. “No. I would recommend that you instead indulge in getting matching boots for either coat. Sadly, the starter items shop only sells WEREBEAR boots and other set items.”
That was reasonable. “Alright. Then, I'll just take the WEREBEAR COAT. Thank you for the valuable information!” She thanked the NPC who processed her order without a second thought.
{CONGRATS 🎊 YOU'VE GAINED 1 WEREBEAR COAT}
[YOU NOW HAVE x4450 COINS]
The coat vanished into thin air and went into the teenager's inventory. She waved goodbye to the NPC who had gone back to standing blankly at the register. Her menu came back out and she saw that she had a bunch of notifications.
Once she clicked on them the brunette was flooded with what had to be fifty messages and announcements. Most of them as she scrolled were basic info dumps given by the game's team. To her surprise, she saw she already had some friend requests and tried to figure out how.
Eventually, she just closed all the messages and moved to the exit. There was a ton of stuff she wanted to do now that she had her coat. Along with her dagger, she planned on hurrying to finish the tutorial. The world of Frozen Hearts was vast as the game was built to be an open world.
This meant that you could play combat-free without missing any crucial details and events. She loved this about the game but she also wanted to dip her toe into combat when the time came. With that, she went back into the tutorial.