“Ok, here it is.” –said Milana, clicking on the pulsing red button floating on the upper left corner of her view.
“Finally!” –exclaimed a voice next to her ear, which she recognized immediately as Amelia’s.
“Amelia?” –asked Milana, for a confirmation.
“Parapapapa… Congratulations!” –exclaimed Amelia. –“Yesterday I tried to private talk to you all day long.”
“Sorry, I didn’t notice the button.”
When he logged off the night before, his cellphone had ten lost calls. All from Amelia.
“Are you at the inn?” –asked Amelia.
“Yeah.” –replied Milana.
“I’ll be there soon.” –said Amelia, laughing. –“Don’t dare to move!”
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Amelia, or Amy, her in-game name, entered the room panting. Unlike her leather armor from the other day, now she was wearing a V-necked top and a black miniskirt.
“Is that your armor?” –asked Milana, a little embarrassed.
“Well, it’s technically armor.” –answered Amelia, with her index on her lips. –“Level 7 Light clothes!”
“Figures…” –said Milana, realizing people in a game would dress a lot more daring than in real life.
“Do you like them?” –asked Amelia, spinning on her stilettos.
“Anyway, you were going to tell me how to get a weapon.” –said Milana, changing the topic.
“You’re no fun.” –said Amelia, frowning.
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“To get a weapon you should go to the Fighting Dojo, the Rogue Syndicate or the Mage Academy.”
“There, you pay ten platinum hearts and they will teach you how to use the weapon of your choice.”
“At the end of the class, they will gift you a level 7 basic weapon and a 2-skill module. You can buy additional modules in there too.”
“For weapons, you need to go to the Weapon Shop. They are really expensive, though.”
“The basic weapon is more than enough until your class change, so you shouldn’t worry about that yet.”
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“So it all goes back to paying.” –said Milana, no longer surprised. –“I guess I should have checked the in-game credit card charge option.”
“Hahaha. Don’t worry.” –said Amelia. –“You can get your first weapon for free if you complete the introduction letter quest.”
“But it would be a good idea to check that option in the future. You wouldn’t want to be on a date and then realize you ran out of money.” –added Amelia, laughing.
“Yeah, that would be bad.” –said Milana, with an embarrassed laugh.
Amelia’s eyes clouded for an instant, but quickly regained her usual smile.
“Let’s go!”
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The introduction letter quest consisted in helping the guys at the Information Module deliver messages around. It was designed to get new players to know the location of the most important buildings in the city.
There was a city map in front of the fountain, with the important locations marked. Amelia followed Milana around, indicating the right direction whenever she seemed lost.
“Finally, that was the last one.” –said Milana, breathing deeply.
“You didn’t need to run, you know.” –said Amelia, whose feet hurt because of the stilettos.
“Sorry.” –said Milana, grinning.
“Now you should decide if you are going for the Fighting Dojo, Rogue Syndicate or Mage Academy.” –said Amelia.
“It won’t affect your class later, but getting used to your weapon of choice is important too.”
“I see.” –said Milana. –“What would you recommend?”
“Hmm. Johnny is a sword and shield Fighter, so I guess you should go for the Mage Academy after all.” –said Amelia.
“Mina was a hybrid mage.”
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Since Milana had to take the classes alone, Amelia left her at the Mage Academy. But not before teaching her how to call for a private talk.
“Hello.” –said Milana to the guy at the counter. –“I am here to learn the combat basics.”
“Welcome to the Mage Academy. I am Marco.” –the guy introduced himself. –“Do you have an introduction letter?”
“Yes. Here it is.” –answered Milana, taking out the letter.
“Glad to meet you, Miss Milana.”
Marco stood up from his chair. The mage was wearing a blue cape over cream colored robes, which made him look even taller than he already was.
He took out a thin wooden staff from behind the counter and gave it to Milana.
“All staves and wands have a normal attack that doesn’t use mana and can be cast chantless. We call it ‘Force bolt’.” –said Marco.
“At the beginning, it will be easier if you say its name when shooting. Later, only imagining it on your head should be enough.”
“First try shooting the target on the rear wall.” –said Marco, pointing towards a line of targets. –“When you get three bull eyes, come back here.”
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Milana was doing her target practice, when she noticed the pulsing red button. She pressed it, expecting to hear Amelia’s high-pitched voice.
“Hi Milana. I wonder if you already forgot about me, nyan!” –said a voice next to her ear.
“Hello Angela.” –said Milana, smiling. –“I am currently doing the basic training at the Mage Academy.”
“That’s great.” –said Angela. –“I just finished the Rogue basic training.”
“Should I meet you after I finish here?” –asked Milana.
“Actually, I’m going out in a bit.” –said Angela. –“But I’ll be back tonight!”
“Ok. By the way, what time is it for you?” –asked Milana.
“Right now it’s 4pm.” –answered Angela.
“Really? It is 4pm here too.” –said Milana.
“What a coincidence!” –exclaimed Angela.
“I wonder if we live close to each other.” –said Milana.
“That would be nice.” –said Angela.
“Sh… I got to go. See you tonight, nyan!”
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After finishing the target practice, Milana received a basic two-spell module from Marco. It had the ‘Mana bolt’ and ‘Healing touch’ spells.
Mana bolt dealt about three times the damage of the Force bolt, but it took twenty mana per use. With her current stats, she could only use it twice. She couldn’t try Healing touch, but the description said it was a low level healing spell.
And that ended the Mage Academy basic training. She kept the thin wooden staff that she was given at the beginning.
I guess I should call Amelia.
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“So you already finished with the basic training.” –said Amelia. –“Just wait in there for a bit.”
“Are you busy?” –asked Milana.
“No, no.” –answered Amelia, flustered. –“Hmm… could we meet at the plaza instead?”
“I don’t mind.” –said Milana. –“But if you are busy…”
“I already said its ok.” –said Amelia. –“See you soon!”
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
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After waiting for ten minutes, Amelia finally arrived at the plaza.
She was wearing calf-length black pants, a strapless yellow top and ballerina shoes.
“Did you just buy that?” –asked Milana.
“It’s your fault, you know. Making a girl run in high heels.” –said Amelia, pouting.
“Hehe.”
“Don’t laugh, geez.” –said Amelia, breaking into laughter too.
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“I got the basic skills and weapon, and yesterday I bought my level 7 armor. What should I do now?” –asked Milana.
Amelia and Milana were walking while sharing a popcorn bag. The few cereal bars Milana started with were gone long time ago. They didn’t taste too good either.
“You could level a bit more, or maybe try an experience date.” –replied Amelia. –“At your level you might beat the first wave.”
“How many waves does it have?” –asked Milana.
“The Tier 0 exp date has ten waves, including a boss.” –said Amelia. –“And if you beat the boss, you get a leisure date ticket.”
“Leisure date?” –asked Milana.
“You can choose between Arcade, Karaoke or Dancing!”–exclaimed Amelia, smiling.
“The game moves you and your date to the place of your choice, where you can do individual or cooperative games for half an hour.”
“Interested?” –asked Amelia, teasingly.
“Not really.” –said Milana. –“I would have to date a guy after all.”
“Hahaha. Forgot about that!”
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Dinner time was approaching, so Milana decided to leave the date business for tomorrow.
“Could you keep me company for a bit?” –asked Milana.
“Of course, I’ll be glad.” –said Amelia, beaming.
“I want to buy a present.” –said Milana, suddenly bashful. –“Something a girl around your age would like.”
“I see.” –said Amelia, lowering her gaze.
“Where should we go?” –asked Milana.
“There’s only one place: the Accessory Shop!” –exclaimed Amelia, walking ahead.
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The Accessory Shop was a small two-store building. The first floor had several glass cases with assorted jewelry.
It had the same distribution as the Clothing Shop. Tier 0 equipment on the first floor, Tier 1 on the second, and special commissions in the basement.
“Accessories with good stats go for thousands of golden hearts.” –said Amelia. –“If you don’t care about that, you should browse among the unrestricted stuff on the back.”
“I should check those then.” –said Milana, with a nervous smile.
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Milana looked at the display on the back. There were tons of little trinkets, like bracelets, rings and medals. They looked cheap compared to the jewelry on the glass display at the front.
“Do you know about her preferences?” –asked Amelia, since Milana seemed lost.
“She likes cats.” –answered Milana.
“Look here.” –said Amelia, pointing to a white cat hairpin. –“It even gives a +1 to Speed!”
“It looks good.” –said Milana, a little worried to look at the price.
Sixty golden hearts.
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Dinner passed by silently. Minerva ate without talking and went back to her room. Amelia had tried a lot of things in the last couple of days, but Minerva wouldn’t go out of the house.
After eating, Ricardo returned to his desk carrying his credit card.
I guess I really need to do it. –though Ricardo, while checking the in-game credit card charge option in the Virtual Connection site.
He knew the damned game would keep trying to make him and his money part ways. And he didn’t want to depend on hand-me-downs from Sandro either.
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Milana kept looking around the Accessory Shop, while waiting for Angela. Prices for jewelry were really ridiculous. A +50 mana earing set cost two thousand golden hearts. Converted into platinum hearts, it amounted to more than a hundred dollars!
Finally, a quarter before 9 pm, the red button started to pulse.
“Hi Milana!” –exclaimed Angela’s voice. –“Sorry, took longer than I expected.”
“Don’t worry.” –said Milana. –“See you at the plaza?”
“Alright!” –said Angela.
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“Here!!!” –called Angela, waving her hands. She was wearing the same clothes she had last time.
Now the plaza was full of people. You could see smiling couples meeting up.
“Quite a nice atmosphere, don’t you think?” –said Angela.
“I didn’t notice before, but the game clock seems to be the same as ours.” –said Milana.
While she was having dinner in real life, the sun also set inside Virtual Connection. The city lights gave it a romantic feeling.
“Yup, Torinelo City has the same time zone as us.” –said Angela, laughing.
“That’s why I chose it, nyan!”
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“Actually, we don’t have much time.” –said Angela, while walking.
They were currently going up a boardwalk, towards a small hill inside the city. It seemed to be a popular location, since a lot of people were going in the same direction.
“Do you have to sleep early?” –asked Milana.
“Nah, I am on my winter break.” –said Angela, winking. –“But the scheduled downtime will start in an hour.”
“Ahh, what the clerk mentioned.” –said Milana, remembering that time.
“Yup, the game closes for an hour to fix bugs and do updates.” –said Angela. – It happens once a week, on Tuesday night for us.”
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On the top of the hill there was a scenic overlook. Couples were sitting on blankets, talking in low voices while looking at the stars.
“This is my favorite place in Torinelo, nyan!” –said Angela, taking out a blanket.
“Please sit down.”
“Ok.” –said Milana, blushing.
“Just before starting the weekly downtime, there is a special event of sorts.” –said Angela.
“Event?”
“But it only lasts for a minute, blink and you’ll miss it!”
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The night sky in Virtual Connection was full of bright stars. And, unlike real ones, you didn’t need to stretch too much to distinguish the shaped constellations.
“The small one at our lower left corner is called ‘The White Cat’. Isn’t it awesome?” –said Angela, with a big smile.
It was truly incredible; you could even tell where the whiskers were.
“That reminds me…” –said Milana, taking out a small pink box.
“What’s that?” –asked Angela, excited.
“Here.” –said Milana, putting the box on Angela’s hands. –“Just a little thank you for all your help.”
“Oh, a white cat!!!” –said Angela, putting it on her hair. –“And it even has a small bonus!”
“It isn’t that good.” –said Milana, getting embarrassed.
“My old headpiece has a level 30 restriction, so I’ll use this for a while, nyan!”
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Two minutes before 10 pm, the couples started to get up. Angela took Milana’s hand and made her stand.
“It will start soon.” –said Angela, putting the blanket on her backpack.
“…”
“Think of a wish, nyan!”
Suddenly the sky got brighter as stars started falling, leaving a trail of light. It was a meteor shower.
Amazing.
Milana was lost in the view.
In a minute people started to disappear one by one, as the system disconnected them.
The last thing she saw was Angela’s smiling face, surrounded by a brilliant light.