I'm posting the part 1 of chapter 6.5 even though there has been no proofreading involved here.
Please bear with it until Randomleech pass by so I can edit it.
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The Mask of Volesprit - Chapter 6.5 - Rin (part1)
Osaka, Japan
Rin looked at his newest acquisition with a smile. He had decided to acquire a Royal Road capsule the instant his best friend called and told him he was going to play the game in the weeks to come and not to expect any news from him as he was going to immerse himself in this new world.
Rin opened the capsule, lied down, and closed it. The world went black. Then, a phrase appeared before him in a transparent window.
DO YOU WANT TO CONNECT TO ROYAL ROAD?
YES/NO
"Yes.”
Then a low and sexy woman voice sounded around him:
"The scan on your iris and vein has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create an account?"
"Yes, thank you."
Rin answered the disincarnated voice politely.
"Ho … at last someone who has some manners. I was getting desperate. Welcome to Royal Road, sweetie. Please name your avatar."
"Hum … didn’t think much about it … Basara maybe? Or Lancelot? But Edwin would be nice too ..."
"Not a chance I will let you have such a barbaric name when you have such a cute voice. Let’s see what you look like, sweetie … wow!!! What a cutie!"
Rin felt himself blush an avatar of him appeared in front of him. At best, one would call him girly boy. At worst, a beautiful tomboy. If one was truthful, he would say he was more beautiful than any girl. He was a 1m60 tall (around 5ft) 22 years old, half-french, half-japanese boy, with a slender waist, delicate features, fair skin, round eyes as blue than the sky, short blond hair as soft as silk, and plump rose lips, Rin had a beauty comparable to that of Seoyun. The only problem was that he was 100% pure male.
“That’s not a problem. I heard that in Royal Road, a voice can be changed, the avatar can be altered. I want to be a two meter tall barbarian with battle scars and a voice as rough as possible.”
"NOT. A. CHANCE. IN. HEL!!! Don’t you have any sense of aesthetic? Destroying such beauty is a crime! Now, sweetie, let big sis show you how creating an avatar is done!"
“...”
Rin felt despair overwhelm him as he felt his life-long dream of standing as the ultimate warrior fly out of the window.
“So … appearance … keep the current one … with a beautify option … wow, so dreamy … Name … let’s see … your name is Rin? I like the sound of it … so androgynous … Sex … changing here would be a waste … such appearance with your sex has the most impact … Race … let’s see … hum … not elf, that’s so old fashioned … Nephilim hasn’t been unlocked yet, but who cares. Nephilim is great for you. City …”
"What? You won’t even let me choose my city? I have a friend to find!"
"What city did you want to start at?"
“The capital of Salassi kingdom, Migual.”
"Then everything’s cool, laddie. That’s where I wanted to send you to begin with, as it’s where my biggest church stands.”
“Your church?”
“Yes, the church of Freyja. My church. Come by when you feel like it. And don’t forget to wear the ring.”
“The ring?”
Rin’s question was left unanswered has the world vanished in a flash of color.
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Rin opened the eyes he had closed with the flash to discover he was now in a medieval city’s town square.
“No way … Is this really a game? Everything looks so real. Not only does it looks, but it feels and smells real.”
“Look at that … Is this your first VR-game newbie?”
A boy mocked Rin who was lying on his stomach on the floor. Rin looked up and answered him with a bright smile:
“Yes … sorry for the poor sight!”
Unlike Seoyun, Rin smiled easily, with a smile so bright that even those who knew his true gender couldn’t help but feel their heart beat faster. Furthermore, his avatar had been beautified beyond reason, to the point that none could resist his allure.
“Sor… Sorry for my rudeness… my lady… here… let me get you up…”
New Stat: Cuteness
Due to your Natural Disposition, Initial Cuteness = 200.
Cuteness +1.
New Skill Set: Maiden’s Set
The boy helped Rin in standing up, and felt his heart ache as Rin said with a sad smile:
“Thank you for your kindness, sir. But I’m afraid to say I am but a man . Because of some unknown reason, I was refused the right to choose or even change my appearance. What you currently see is sadly my true self beautified by an AI with twisted sense of beauty. It doesn’t understand that true beauty is strength. Manliness. All of what I cruelly lack.”
The man watched Rin with a puzzled look - trying to proceed the datas that were just given to him - in silence for a dozen of seconds and then chuckled. Chuckled. Rin went beet red in shame.
“Well, I beg to differ. You are the one with a twisted sense of beauty. Anyone would oppose a transformation from - he made a motion with his hand, showing Rin exquisite beauty - THAT to - with disgust, he showed a burly man in the assembly with horrible battle scars - that. Anyone, Rin. That’s common sense. I wish all women had your look, Rin. You’re the fairest … one - he stumbled on the world as he was going to say lady - of them all.
New Title: Fairest Maiden
Cuteness +10
Tears filled Rin eyes as he watched the new window that just appeared. That was it. He had enough.
“Delete character.”
The man watched Rin with a shocked face. He wasn’t trying to be rude, but comforting. And things didn’t go as well as expected. First, the boy cried and he himself received a message alerting him that he earned some infamy points for making the “Fairest Maiden” cry. Furthermore, the boy asked - to his horror - for his character to be deleted. And nothing happened.
Request Denied
Reason: Interference from the High Priority A.I. Freyja
“... Why? Whywhywhywhywhy???”
“Huh … what just happened?”
“I tried to delete my avatar.”
“I heard that even if I don’t understand why. What I asked is why are you still here?”
“I don’t know! I was notified that I couldn’t delete my avatar because of the interference of a high priority AI. Freyja is her name. She is the one who forced me to keep this appearance.”
“That sounds strange. Didn’t know it was even possible. But a high priority AI … with the name Freyja … in other words … doesn’t that mean one of this city main god, Freyja, the goddess of beauty?”
“Do you think so? But why would she do that?”
“That’s crystal clear, my friend … as I said, you are the fairest of them all. And she IS the goddess of beauty. It is the foundation of her being to defend beauty before everything. I am afraid you’re bound to keep this appearance forever. It is her will for you to do so.”
“I’m cursed.”
“Don’t see it like that. You are a chosen one. Among all the player in this continent, I doubt there is even another player who is watched by a god with even half as much attention as you are.”
Kai - that was the name of the man - couldn’t be more wrong. There were currently players who were getting some of the gods attention. But none who got it from even before the moment their avatar had been created. And none went as far as Freyja went. Most of them watched the players and judged if they were worthy of their attention.
“Lucky them.”
Kai had nothing to retort to that. Until now, the goddess had done nothing but mess him up.
“ … Well … it’s true that giving you pink eyes is a little overkill …”
“What? What about my eyes? Aren’t they blue? They are blue, aren’t they? They must be blue!”
Rin glared at the man with a despaired expression who gave Kai, who had been until now a ladies man, the urge to hug him.
“Hum … well, as I said … they are … pink. Sorry. But don’t worry, it’s not that but … it suits you. So much that it’s a little scary, when you think about it. As you are a man after all.”
Rin closed his eyes, breathed slowly, and said:
“Ok. There’s no use crying over spilt milk. I’m used to look like a girly boy after all!”
Kai watched Rin with a profound respect, as he admired his self-control which was, for him, at the level of a zen master. Of course, he couldn’t know the past of poor him who had been abused - not sexually, don’t worry - by his mother since his early childhood.
This young french rich girl who was a fan of old gender-bender manga, had married a japanese rich heir, and had dressed her - girly, shy - boy in dresses. If not for a strict dress code in his catholic middle school, the gentle Rin who couldn’t say no to his eccentric mother would have been forced to wear dresses until he left his house.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
In the same way, because of his gentle - and naive - heart, Rin had suffered many similar vexations along the years. Those experience had taught him a hard, but valuable lesson: there was no use of dreaming about what should be, the only thing he could do was accepting what was and work on it. This was his philosophy and along the years, acting on it had become as natural as breathing.
“But it doesn’t mean I’m giving up in becoming the strongest warrior of this land! I will work twice as hard for my strength to counter-balance my frail appearance!”
“ … That’s the spirit …”
Kai watched Rin leaving with eyes filled of pity. He had the feeling there was nothing for Rin to do when it came to becoming an ‘awesome warrior’. The goddess would have it her way. On this, he would bait his own life. In the real world.
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Rin wondered how things had turned out this way. He had gone to the warrior guild to learn the way of the sword and … well, things hadn’t turned out the way he wished. The second he entered the room, everyone’s activity stopped, the room grew silent. A second later, dozens of men shouted together things like “It’s a flower, no a princess!”, ”No you’re wrong, it’s an angel!”, “It has to be Freyja incarnated!”. Then, the guild master came to see what caused the commotion and stopped his disciple training, shouting that he would cripple whoever had caused such a ruckus. Had stopped in his track when he caught the sight of Rin, at loss of words. Then he shouted for his disciples to seek a fitting seat for their guest. Rin had protested vehemently that he was just a common freeman, and that by no way should they interrupt their activity just for him. The guild master - who tried to be as gentlemanly as possible - said with a smile that he was by no way a bother, and that he was just showing proper manner when receiving a guest.
Rin was now sitting on a throne - he had no idea how those rough men had found such a refined item so fast - and watching the men training twice as hard as usual. After a moment of awkward silence, Rin turned to the guild master and claimed - as he understood more or less why they acted this way - to avoid any misunderstanding:
“I think you are misunderstanding. I am no princess. Nor am I an angel or Freyja incarnated. I am not even a girl.”
The guild master watched him, baffled, and claimed:
“Well, I admit I misunderstood your genre the way my disciple did. But I think your highness also had a misunderstanding here.”
“Why are calling me your highness?”
“I received a report of the church of Freyja this morning. They asked for our cooperation, should the child of an angel, a Nephilim, come in our humble guild hall. They asked us to provide you protection befitting your rank.”
“What rank? What do you mean?”
The guild master watched Rin cautiously and asked:
“Didn’t you meet Freyja?”
“Well … I guess I did … but I don’t understand how it should be significant.”
“The only being in the world with which a god can interfere directly is its avatar. Didn’t you check your inventory yet?”
“No … I didn’t.”
Rin opened his inventory and frowned. A starting player should only have a canteen and ten pieces of barley bread. Yet, there was something really out of piece here. A ring. From what information the Unicorn Company disclosed, accessories were very rare, and generally for high level players. Rin took the ring out and watched it with a frown.
“Why is there a ring in my inventory? Do you happen to know what it is, sir.”
“I do, your highness. As I said, you are the avatar of Freyja in this world. This ring is there to show it.”
Rin sighed and put the ring back in the bag.
“I don’t want to be something as extraordinary as Freyja’s avatar. I want to be a warrior. That’s why I came here. To ask for your guidance.”
“I’m afraid I can’t help you, your highness. You aren’t mean to learn the way of the sword. At least not from me. You can’t learn any more skill as you reached your limits as a classless adventurer, and Freyja won’t allow you to become a ‘mere’ warrior.”
“Wait … what do you mean by can’t learn any more skill? Skill window!”
Skills Window
(Beginner level 1: 0%): Proof of your contract with Freyja. Your eyes now with the love of Freyja.
(Passive): Increases Cuteness by 100%. Light/Love related skills have a 5% chance of activating the buff at no extra cost.
(Active): Power of Light/Love Based Skill x1.2. Light/Love spells’ and skills’ mana cost -20%, lasts 2 hours.
(Special): When the buff is active, if asking for Freyja' Blessing, Power of Light/Love Based Skills x1.5 (mana cost 2500)
Wing of light (Racial Skill) (Beginner level 1: 0%): (Passive) :Activate when entering battle mode. Holiness +10. Power of holy skill +1%.
(Active): Enable Flight-type skill. Enable usage of Angel-type skill.
Holy Magic Mastery (Racial Skill) (Beginner level 1: 0%): Enables you to use holy magic, mana consumption -2%, spell power +10%.
Zen Mastery (Master Level): Crowd Control effect doesn’t work on you.
Divine Justice (Beginner level 1: 0%): To harm you goes against divine law. Doesn’t work if enemy acts on legitime defense.
A Maiden’s Smile (Beginner level 1: 0%): Cuteness +200%. Relationship with male NPC+20%.
A Maiden’s Tears (Beginner level 1: 0%): Animosity of the nearby male NPC against enemy increases.
A Maiden’s Blessing (Beginner level 1: 0%): Said to be the strongest blessing of this land. Effects varies with cuteness and holiness. Only works on males.
A Maiden’s Attack (Beginner level 1: 0%): Aim for the groin and they will be in a world of pain (stun effect, only works on male).
A Maiden in Distress (Beginner level 1: 0%): When in danger, a maiden always find a White Knight to save her.
Rin looked up and sighed:
“I guess you really won’t let me take the warrior path, won’t you, Lady Freyja?”
Shaking his hand, he muttered:
“No use trying to delete those skills … I already know that even that much won’t be allowed. Let’s see if if I have more luck with the mage path.”
The mage path was a second hand choice, but Rin didn’t have many options left. He could no longer take the cleric path: no church but Freyja would take him in, and he refused to give up on his freedom. The only problem was, did he have any chance of finding a class with Freyja’s constant interference?
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“Well … We actually have a magician class matching your profile …”
Rin jumped on the mage guild’s clerk when he heard the news:
“By any means, let me take the test … pretty please …”
“Well … there is no test … actually, there is no need for a test … of all the applicant I have seen in my life … no, I’m pretty sure that even among all the applicant in the last 800 years, you are the only one to be a match for this class. Actually, it is the first time I heard of it.”
“Then … how do you know I am a match for this class?”
“I don’t know anything. Do you think I know every requirement for every kind of magic there is in this world … I only used a magical test … and the result of this test say you are a perfect match for this class …. with a compatibility of 100%. This is also the first time I have ever seen such a score.”
Rin - who had now grinning from ears to ears - asked:
“So … how do I acquire this class?”
“Please follow me … based on the information given by this map … there.”
Rin followed the old man - who used a magical map - in the depth of the mage guild. The old man opened a small door and told him:
“I would have sweared this room didn’t even exist. I guess I’m growing too old. Now, please enter. Everything you need is in there.”
Rin entered the door, and turned back to ask the old man what class was he going to get, only to see the door being closed behind him.
“I guess I will have to find out myself.”
The small room was devoid of anything but a chest. Rin tried to open the chest when a message appeared:
Hidden Class!If you accept it, you can use exclusive skills related to the nature of the class.
Do you want to convert now?
“Yes, I do.”
The chest opened to reveal a slime-like monster and a strange staff. Rin who was had read some old manga and played some really old game muttered:
“Wait … this monster … isn’t it a Ragnarok Online’s Angeling? And this staff … it looks like a … no, it can’t be …”
Sadly it was what Rin feared. Rin had gotten a mage class he would have never thought to exist in this game.
Class Changed to Mahou Shoujou.
You have acquired new skills.
New Title: The Trap.
Maiden Skill Set changed into Trap Skill Set.