~12 years ago, after the beta launch of LOWG, character creation screen~
“Hmm…” Chloe mused as she looked at the wide array of customization.
Chloe Ashfield, born January 23, 2016. Born to a normal family, with a little brother that was born 5 years later. Chloe was a smart child, and would score at the top of the class in school. However, kids being kids, she wasn’t praised or accepted by her classmates, slowly isolating her. During her time in middle school, she found VR games and got into them. In one game, she was a renowned player at the top of the leader boards due to her ability to make the best decisions on the battlefield. In fact, some rumors even said that she was a highly advanced AI far beyond human capabilities. But she was once again isolated, but this time due to her fame that forced her into a subject of admiration.
She continued this lifestyle, unable to find any friends for a long time. Her younger brother was extremely popular in his school. Though it was only third grade, he was already attracting girls due to his good looks. In fact, it could even be considered the foundation for a future harem novel with many childhood friends. By this time, Chloe was in 8th grade, and had made a few friends. Her group had met over games, and eventually met up in real life. Sharing a similar passion, they were fast friends, and even had multiple group meetings outside of school and games. It was the golden age of Chloe’s life.
However, once Chloe got into high school, one of her friends moved away to China. Another’s parents divorced and he chose to go with the parent that left. With two friends gone, she was left with two others to rely on. But once again, a friend separated with her. This time, it was because of bullying. He had told her that he was bullied due to his friendship with her. From then on, they distanced from each other, but still met up over video games. Eventually, even that ended.
Her final friend left her as well. Her last friend got a boyfriend, and spent so much time with him that she rarely hung out with anyone else. In fact, she even gave up her hobby of video games for him. Chloe was left with friends that she could only talk to over games. She never again met a game friend in person. However, she wasn’t sad about it. She had many games, and a good amount of friends as well. Though she wasn’t a part of a large and known group, they were still friends. But… All good things come to an end. Due to the lack of personal contact, they slowly separated over time, occasionally meeting once or twice a month.
When Chloe became a junior in high school (11th grade), she discovered LOWG. After accessing the beta, she found it fascinating. She quickly became obsessed with it. The first thing that got her curiosity to turn into obsession was the character creation.
“Oh? I can change my gender?” Chloe wondered aloud.
She was rather interested in this function, as this was unavailable in other VR games. Because she didn’t really mind changing gender -as it was only temporary- she chose to be a male. The customization after that shocked her greatly. Though she had heard that the LOWG beta was top-tier, she had never expected this. She got wrapped up in creating her character, that she had no time to play the actual game.
The next day, she realized that a bug had happened and she was unable to access any tutorial guides and was unable to open the menu as well. Chloe was no stranger to bugs and glitches, but never had she encountered one as extreme as this. Due to her lack of information, she was defeated by the tutorial monsters with ease. Anyone else would give up at this point and create a new character, but Chloe had spent 10 hours creating her character, even cutting into her sleep time just to make it perfect. She was unwilling to give up, and thus, honed her skills.
She had chosen the [Swordsman] class from the five basic starting classes. She had excellent talent in the sword, and with sword in hand, after many deaths, she cleared the tutorial without using skills, a first. Chloe had thought that this bug would continue after the tutorial, but it had turned out that everything was resolved by the gamemaster after he noticed her startling performance in the tutorial. Because the gamemaster was impressed with her skill, he gave her a mastercrafted-class weapon for free. With her weapon and skill, she became well-known throughout the game. However, she was not the only person with extraordinary talent. Other players could be considered to have reached her level and even higher in skill only. There were five in total, and they were called… the Five Masters of The Gate.
The title itself was based off of the name and main storyline plot, without any actual relation to The Worlds Gate itself. The title holders of the Five Masters often changed, but Chloe had always been considered on of the Masters. She had expected this to isolate her once again, but it had not turned out that way. The people who were a part of the Five Masters for at least some time considered her to be their friend. Chloe was very delighted, and was joyful at this. But even then, she did not reveal her true identity as a woman. Not because of fear of being isolate, but for fear of her reputation being stained with the word “pervert.” She was fine becoming a man here because she though she would be alone the entire time, one of the masses that nobody would be able to point out if asked for.
However, even then, she did not ever expect the world of LOWG would turn to what it was now.
~Chloe’s house, present time~
“Chloe, how are you feeling?” The chief asked, after giving her some time to compose herself.
Chloe was still in shock over recent events, but managed to answer. “I need… to use… the bathroom… so… could… you please… remove these… cords…?”
“A-ah, no problem, they were just there to make sure you’re alive.” The chief explained.
Some of the men, who were now dressed in lab coats, came over and carefully removed the cords that had been in her body. Free of restrictions, Chloe unsteadily walked into the bathroom and closed the door. Many things had ran through her head by this time. She was unsure of what connection her real body had to her game body, and how she could exploit it. So she used the excuse that she had to use the bathroom to test things out, even though she really did need to use the bathroom. First, she tried to use skills.
“[Fortification]… [Slash]… [Mana Wave]...” Chloe tried three different skills, one from each Branch.
None of the skills had worked. Not even a hint of activation could be felt from her body. Frowning, she thought more. She scratched out many hypotheses, and made new ones. However, none of them could be proven without further testing.
“[Sins]...” Chloe said uncertainly.
To her surprise, blue flames ignited on her body. She felt her strength rise greatly. In fact, the feeling that she got from activating [Sins] was no different from when she activated it during her time as Neo. Nodding repeatedly, she ended the skill and the flames on her body vanished. However, a frown was crossing her face once more. She held out her palm and stared at it intensely.
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“Mm… Fire…” Chloe muttered.
A flame wisp flickered to life in her opened palm. However, it left as quick as it appeared, leaving Chloe feeling drowsy and light-headed. In contrast to this, some joy could be found on her near expressionless face.
“Mana… deprivation…” Chloe mumbled to herself. “So… it still… works here...”
Feeling satisfied, Chloe moved to the toilet and did her business. After washing and drying her hands, she opened the door to see the people from before standing outside. The one in front gave a friendly wave, to which Chloe glared at him.
“Perverts...” Chloe told them.
“Geh!” The man in front gave a violent reaction. “That’s a bit harsh you know? We just had some questions. We weren’t watching you pee or anything.”
“Are… you… sure you… didn’t get… turned on…?”
“Yes, yes, absolutely certain!”
“Then… what is that… bulge in… your pants…?”
“Huh?”
The man in front looked down at his pants. Seeing this, Chloe mockingly smiled at him. The man In front looked up at her in confusion.
“It means… it’s too small...” Chloe explained.
The men behind the leader laughed uproariously. The leader looked at his men, slightly embarrassed as he shouted at them. Chloe enjoyed this little bit of human interaction, then walked to her room, saying she would get changed and then meet with them. She changed quickly, seeing as she had not changed out the clothes she was wearing in 10 years. While she was changing, she caught a glance of herself in the mirror. Surprisingly, she had not changed one bit, aside from the stiffness of her facial expression. She had been 18 when she was transferred into LOWG, so by all means, she should be 28 now. However, instead of an adult woman, she still looked 18 instead. Chloe was absolutely baffled by this turn of events. Although her body had not been under her own control for 10 years, she still expected some growth. What absolutely stunned her was something she had never though possible.
“Did my… chest grow…?” Chloe wondered aloud.
If a body does not take in the required amount of energy (food), then it would not be able to grow. However, she had noticed that none of the tubes that disabled patients needed were connected to her body when she woke up. That meant that she had not had any food or water for 10 years. While that was impossible in it’s own rights, the fact that her chest grew was even more impossible. Her body had not grown one bit because of the lack of nutrients, but somehow, her chest had grown. At this point, Chloe started to doubt whether or not everything she had learned in school was true.
After she finished dressing, Chloe left her room and went into the dining room, where the scientists -as she was now calling them- were. Sitting down at the table, a scientist with a white t-shirt served her a plate filled with food. Just looking at it made her stomach rumble. Without waiting for anyone, she dug in. Be it experience from the game or just natural talent, she devoured the meal in front of her at breakneck speeds. Clearing his throat, the chief sat down at the other side of the table.
“Now Chloe, we need to ask you some questions. Is that okay?” The chief asked.
“You say… we, but… won’t it… just be… you…?” Chloe asked, still eating.
“Well, that is true, but there still are some questions that need to be answered. Is that alright with you?”
“Sure...”
“Then, first one. What did you experience in the ten years you were in the game.”
“It… wasn’t… a game...”
“Huh?”
“It was… reality… I discovered that… when I woke up…”
“What do you mean?”
“I… came here… before… waking up...”
“I still don’t understand what you’re trying to say, could you please elaborate?”
“Before… can I… get… some water…?”
“Ah, sure.”
The same person who gave her food brought her a tall glass of water, which she quickly chugged down. She cleared her throat and spoke in a much nicer voice than before.
“Thanks.”
“Your voice sounds better now.”
“Mm. It’s because I drank something.”
“Anyway, could you please explain what you meant by you came here before waking?”
“Yeah. I could tell that the game was reality because I arrived here with my game body. Right now, it should be somewhere near here.”
“… You mean to say that you found a way to come back to reality from the game while bringing your game body here as well?”
“Yes, that is exactly what I mean.”
“… Inconceivable...”
“Yeah, I didn’t really believe it either. Not until I came here.”
“Well then… How did you get here?”
“A certain someone helped me out.”
“Would it be too much to pry deeper?”
“Yes, I’d prefer to keep the person who helped me unknown. *Yawn*”
“Are you getting tired?”
“Yes… can I please sleep some before we go onto more questions?”
“Alright. Even though we only got a little bit answered, it is nighttime after all. Well, see you in the morning.”
“Yeah...”
Chloe left the table, heading to the bathroom first. She took a shower, brushed her teeth and then changed into pajamas. She went into her room and saw that all of the machines that were moved in by the scientists had been removed. ‘What nice guys,’ she thought for a moment. However, the fact that her VR console had removed did not escape her. She quickly changed her opinion of them. Sighing, she flopped onto her bed and closed her eyes. Suddenly, she thought of something she had been neglecting.
Her sword had the [Soul-Bound] enchantment on it. Chloe had theorized that her soul was what had been transported and anything that happened to it in Ionis had not been changed by returning to her real body. The fact that she could use [Sins] supported this. Concentrating on the tether that connected her soul and her sword, she tried to summon the sword. She felt a reaction from the other end, and the distance between them closed. Moments later, a tapping at her window drew her attention. Outside, she saw her sword floating in midair, and behind it two people she recognized and a limp body that seemed to be a corpse on the back of one of them. It was Fate and Lilia, along with the body known as Neo.
When Chloe met eyes with Lilia and Fate, shocked expressions appeared on the two of them. Giving them a wry smile, she opened the window and grabbed her sword. Still stunned, Fate and Lilia stood outside the window, only moving in when Chloe forced them in. At nearly the same time, Fate and Lilia returned to reality. Fate leapt forward and grabbed her shoulders, staring deep into her eyes.
“You were a girl?!” Fate demanded incredulously.
“No way!” Lilia added her thoughts.
“Y-yes, I’m a girl...” Chloe confirmed. “Now can you keep it down, there’s people in my house.”
“S-sorry” Fate apologized quietly.
“You should be, I’m getting a headache just from your voice. It’s best that you kept it down.”
“So you really are Neo, huh…”
“Is there a problem?”
“N-no, not at all.”
Fate felt as though a terrifying monster had locked onto him. Lilia sighed in amazement and looked at the sword that was in Girl-Neo’s hand. Soul-Bound weapons could only be used by their owners. Although it was surprising that Neo’s true form was Girl-Neo, she was Neo all the same. Looking down, Lilia detected the movement of people below, most likely woken from the commotion she and Fate made when Neo’s true identity was revealed.
“I have to admit,” Fate muttered dazedly. “I never expected you to be a girl. Or your chest to be so big either. Or for you to be so young. I thought you were older.”
“Well, I’m 28 this year.” Chloe told Fate.
“Bullshit! You’re too young!”
“Shut the fuck up. You’re too loud.”
“Sorry, sorry. But it’s bullshit. There’s no way you’re 28 with that body.”
“Come bite then, I was 18 when I went into LOWG and apparently I haven’t aged a bit. By the way Lilia, you know anything about that?”
“Two people are coming up the stairs right now. We need to move.” Lilia didn’t answer her question.
“Geh,” Fate groaned. “Well, fine. Let’s go.”
“Wait a moment.” Chloe told him.
“We don’t have time.” Fate tried to deny her.
“Tell me Fate, do you want a foot so far up your ass, you’ll be unable to shit?”
“… Message understood.”
Chloe grabbed a paper and pen and quickly scribbled something down. She finished quickly, and went with Fate and Lilia, closing the window behind her. Following the two, they leapt onto the roof of the house next door. Back inside Chloe’s house, two men dressed in black sleepwear opened the door to her room. Seeing the Chloe was missing, one of the men flicked the light on. The other man -now with the help of the light- noticed a piece of paper sitting on the bed. He picked it up and read it aloud.
“‘Hey, so I’m leaving with some friends, have fun. I really don’t trust you guys, so I’m going to do what I came to do and go back. Have fun~. Signed, Chloe Ashfield.’ What the fuck?”