When Maria heard the Primal’s name, she couldn’t help but become interested. Since he was the opposite of Ultima, then alignment-wise, he was definitely similar to her.
“Bahamut, huh? No titles like you and Ultima? The Allfather or the Lightbringer?”
Odin chuckled and replied, “Hahaha, unfortunately, no. He relinquished his title a long, long time ago. He simply goes by Bahamut now but we secretly call him by his old title.”
“And that is?”
“The Arbiter.”
“That’s a rather nice title.”
“Yes, but even after all this time, he still feels guilty of ‘betraying’ his own sister and despite his title, he couldn’t find a way to settle the matter. The way I see it though, Bahamut just decided to walk a different path─his own path.”
“I see…”
“In the end, he’s just another sis-con who didn’t want to be separated from his sister.”
Hearing Odin making fun of another Primal caused Maria to let out a laugh though she quickly stopped herself.
“I bet you and he would get along quite easily. You’re an angel just like his sister but you both have the same alignment.”
Maria couldn’t help but think that Odin was right about that. She wanted to form a pact with any Primal since they all looked quite powerful, but picking one who was aligned and compatible with her was definitely a must. On Ultima’s part, Maria completely doubted whether the Primal would agree to form a pact with her if she brought it up. It was already a blessing that she didn’t immediately kill her since their alignments were different thus making them extremely incompatible.
Thankfully, she had met up with Odin before Ultima, or else her quest would have failed immediately since she was still alive after meeting the female Primal only thanks to Odin vouching for her. Compatibility was definitely an issue so she wanted to meet with Bahamut who definitely seemed very compatible with her.
“Hmm, I’d like to meet Bahamut when my training is over.”
Odin had a feeling she might ask him this so he started teasing her, “I know you came here to form a pact with a Primal, but you’re already ditching me for another guy, eh?”
“W-Well...I mean...I would, but isn’t there an issue of compatibility as well?”
When she had first met Odin and found out that he was a Primal, Maria had immediately wanted to ask him if he was willing to form a Summoning Pact with her but he had brought up the topic of her becoming his disciple so Maria had completely forgotten about it after she accepted Odin’s offer and began her training with him. Now, it was kind of too late since she found out about a different Primal who would seemed like a better choice.
Maria still didn’t know which alignment Odin was in and although judging by their interactions thus far, she could confidently say that they were somewhat compatible, though she couldn’t help but feel that there was a small something that was out of place. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it and after meeting up with Ultima and realizing that compatibility between Primal and Summoner was definitely an issue, she decided to put a hold on asking Odin to form a Summoning Pact with her.
She wanted to test her luck with Bahamut first and if things didn’t work out between them, she could just fall back to Odin who, judging by his words and actions, seemed willing to form a pact with her. However, Maria couldn’t help but feel a little conflicted about this, especially after Odin teased her. It made her feel like she was leaving her options open like some kind of bachelorette who was out manhunting for her potential spouses.
“Ugh…”
This thought made Maria feel a little icky inside but Odin patted her on the head and said, “I was just teasing you, little one.”
“I-I know...”
Maria replied in such a way before she unknowingly began to pout as she felt a little unamused for being teased by him but thanks to this, her previous anger at Ultima for putting her through such a horrible situation earlier had completely disappeared. Despite being a game, the Primals could see into the heart of someone and tell whether they were a good or bad person. From what the Primals said about her, she was apparently pure-hearted though her soul was slowly 'falling'.
She didn't understand what they meant by that, but she wasn't going to try and understand what the Primals were thinking. All she wanted to do right now was continue her training and meet with Bahamut. Odin could see that Maria was itching to get a move on, so he smiled gently at her underneath his helmet and said, “Alright, let’s keep moving. We still have a lot to do!”
*****
A few months inside of the Void Sea Realm had passed by as Maria continued training with Odin. Her gains during this time were tremendous while only a little bit of time outside of the realm had passed by, that included the time in the real world. There were some mishaps though as her prolonged stay in the Void Sea Realm had actually affected her brain’s sense of time whenever she logged out. It was to the point where it actually exhausted her and she began having some real-life health issues.
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The first symptoms appeared as nosebleeds followed by a constant feeling of exhaustion despite having slept well for an entire night. Before long, it led to her losing consciousness during her daytime activities. She had even fainted a few times in school.
When word of her health issues got to her father, Corinthus immediately forced her to get a full-body checkup and the doctors were able to find that her brain was being overloaded and causing her a lot of mental strain. The doctors said that if Maria was to continue doing what she was doing that caused her to become like this, it wasn't going to be healthy for her and she might end up crippling herself, but despite going through a lot of checkups and tests, the doctors weren’t able to find the root cause of her issue.
Maria was scared because she knew the likely cause of her body’s condition, but she never expected that using the Void Realm to train would have an adverse effect on her body since there were no precedent cases like hers and no information about this at all. Eventually, the truth was forced out of her mouth and when her father found out about the cause, he was exasperated and nearly forced her to stop playing the game entirely. Thankfully, her father didn’t do that after seeing how dejected she looked, but instead introduced her to the latest VR gaming equipment, the Capsule.
This new VR gear was advanced hardware for full-body virtual dive equipment that wasn’t available yet on any markets, but Corinthus had been able to secure one because he had invested in its production and it was only for the sake of his daughter who was completely immersed in playing the game. Realms that had accelerated time like the Void Sea Realm would become a bit more frequent further down the game’s storyline so in order to prevent the strain it had on a player’s brain from prolonged stays in these areas, the Universal Games Company began the development of these gaming capsules early on and had been able to finish them according to their schedule.
Unfortunately, their schedule didn't take into account Maria's situation. After all, no sane person would think about using the Void Realm as a training grounds because of the realm's harsh and unwelcoming conditions. A normal person would've tried to complete their quest in the realm as soon as possible, so they could get out of there quickly. Only Maria would think about adapting to the realm's harsh conditions to try and take advantage of the time acceleration.
The capsules would be released a few months after the International Tournament ended since the developers didn’t expect anyone to dive into the Void Realm so early like Maria. They were supposed to give an announcement regarding the realm after the realm transfer gates had been opened by the Pantheon and Celestial Order for the players to use, but Maria was a few steps ahead of the other players thanks to her connection with the planet's god, Gaia.
Since Corinthus was an investor, he was given a Capsule in advance after the company heard of Maria’s condition and wanted to settle the matter quietly which Maria was happy to oblige to. If her family blew it up, it would have some backlash from the gaming community and the regular populace which might lead to many more problems after that. The development of the game’s storyline was completely out of the gaming devs’ hands since their AI, Zeus, was what ran the algorithms to create the new scenarios and quests.
Every players' actions in the game would affect the progress of the game’s storyline, no matter how insignificant their actions seemed. Humans just wouldn’t be able to process that much data instantaneously and in real-time so because of this, it was naturally left to the AI to manage since only they would be capable of such processing speeds.
In the end, her matters were settled and she did receive a Capsule as compensation. Not only that, they would even develop a better one that was even custom-made for her. A few other such capsules were being developed and bought by those who had a lot of money but she was getting one for free. Maria was getting some preferential treatment in real life because of her father’s status and her situation, so she wasn’t going to complain because she wasn’t one to turn down free stuff and goodwill.
The capsules provided a better sense of immersion for the players and it also regulated the player’s body that was using it so problems like what Maria had experienced wouldn’t crop up anymore. It wasn't the devs fault that her health had been impacted because of the game. It was her own doing and she had no one to blame but herself. Even though Corinthus wanted to sue the gaming company, he couldn't think of a way to win the lawsuit if he were to file one because everything was his own daughter's doing.
Since he couldn't do anything about that, he decided to just punish his daughter for committing such a stupid thing and hiding it from him. Maria was his little baby and he would do anything for her, but this really had crossed the line. During this period of time, Maria was banned from playing Unitale and she even had to take a break from school to recover her health. Corinthus was worried about her, so he even admitted her to a hospital where the doctors could perform regular checkups on her and monitor her condition.
Maria thought that her father’s actions were going a bit overboard, but this was her own fault since she had recklessly tried to take advantage of such a feature in the game without knowing the effects it would have on her body. Even before her condition had visibly deteriorated, Maria did feel the strain on her brain whenever she logged out but she completely ignored it after thinking that it wasn’t anything to be too concerned about.
Thanks to her ‘genius’ decision, Maria had missed 2 entire IRL week’s time of training inside of the Void Realm which equated to around 6 months there because of the accelerated space. She could have done a lot within that time frame but this was the consequence Maria had to face for being reckless and stupid. Corinthus only allowed his daughter to start playing the game again after all of her medical checkups showed that she was back in perfect health.
“Honey, you have to take care of yourself better.”
“I know, dad…”
“If something bad happened to you...how could I face your mother in heaven?”
“...I’m sorry…”
Corinthus sighed before turning towards the Capsule installed inside of her room. They had just returned from the hospital and he could see that his daughter was eager to dive into the game again.
Since she was now alright, Corinthus patted his daughter on the head before kissing the top of her head and saying, “Don’t make me worry like this again, okay?”
“Y-Yeah…”
“Alright, off you go now. I bet you’re dying to go back adventuring inside that world rather than being here with your old man.”
“...Can I?”
“Just make sure you look after yourself better. If you feel anything wrong with yourself, be honest and tell me. I won’t get mad, okay?”
Maria nodded and hugged her father before saying, “Thanks, papa~”
“I’ll have Doctor Shu periodically come to check your health conditions from the Capsule’s health monitor while you’re playing and when you’re done playing,” Corinthus said as he hugged his daughter back.
“You don’t need to go that far…”
“Just for a few days. A week at most! I want to make sure that you’re completely fine.”
“Hmm...Alright.”
“Off you go now.”
“Okay, bye, papa!”
Corinthus left the room before Maria began taking off her clothes and wearing the skin-tight garments the gaming company had provided for her to wear while she used her new gaming capsule.
“Hmm, it’s basically just a sports bra and panties...does every capsule come with this?”
Maria got into the capsule and turned it on. She didn’t understand why she needed to wear the provided clothes but everything made sense in the next instant when some kind of gel began flooding the inside of the capsule’s space.
“I-I should have probably read the manual first…”
Maria was partially immersed in this gel and it felt cool and comforting on her skin. She started to feel a bit sleepy as her eyes began to close but in the next instant, her eyes snapped wide open as she heard the virtual space’s welcoming voice that she was all too familiar with.
Welcome to Virtual Space, Maria. You have registered a new device, would you like me to bind this device to you? Y/N
She immediately selected the [YES] option and after a few seconds, the space around her began to change as she was brought to the personalized room that she had decorated already.
Would you like to enter the game, [Universe Tales]? Y/N
“Finally, I’m going back!”
Maria tapped on the [YES] and her virtual body was pulled into the game.