---------LEGEND---------
PLAYER/USERNAME
Amber/Davina
Grace/Lasair
Xia/Genevieve
-------------------------------
“So… why are we returning to Lavyella? You told me we had to go back to the starter city but you didn't explain why..." Grace dared to try to start that conversation, Genevieve didn't have the right devices to codify facial expressions in the virtual world, but from the size of the step and the rigidity of her avatar was clear that Genevieve was in tension.
“Um? Oh!" In response, Genevieve put a hand on the back of her neck and rubbed her green-streaked hair vigorously, “you told me that you want to compete to become a professional LotA player, and it happened that I've met a budding player who is fresh out of registration."
"Really?? That was very kind of you!” Grace exclaimed, putting her palms together, “what Attitude did they take?? What race did they choose??” she didn't question her about how and when she met this new player since they were always together when Genevieve was online, this because it would have led to the risk of making her angry with Grace and because they had tacitly decided to avoid any topic that could lead to them having to discuss their lives outside from LotA; Grace was convinced that Genevieve realized who she was just as she realized who Genevieve was, and that she didn't mention it because she was ashamed of knowing her and as long as she pretended not to know her they could have continued playing together.
After all, who would have ever wanted to be friends with a walking failure like Grace if they could avoid it?
“From what she told me, she created a Frostbinder with a [Seeker] Attitude,” Genevieve replied with something evasive in her tone, “to me it seems like a complicated Attitude to play, with a race that dies easily if it finds itself in close combat. A terrible choice for a novice player.”
“B-but if you think about it, she's perfect for us,” Grace intervened after a moment of hesitation, “I'm a [Warrior], you're a [Guardian]... with her joining the team then we're only missing a [Hunter] and then we find ourselves with a team well balanced.”
“M-mh…” Genevieve replied with some vague affirmative nods.
Grace went back to silence. As they walked backwards towards the first city in the game – they could teleport by accessing the portal system, but doing so costs Tarant and they were saving them to upgrade their equipment, which they couldn't find of much higher quality than 'Good' – Grace couldn't help but wonder why Genevieve had this extremely reserved and suspecting nature towards someone who she had assumed was a friend of hers outside of the game, Genevieve acted as if she had been tricked into agreeing to take her in… was this new player this bad? Grace glanced at Genevieve, wanting to ask more, but she couldn't find the courage inside of her.
From where they had arrived on the map, getting back to the starter city took almost an hour of walking, luckily there was no tiredness in video games and therefore not only did they walk at a brisk pace but they also stopped to kill some monsters along the way, at the point they had arrived at, they were now in the first region and the EXP they took from each monster was the minimum possible guaranteed by the system - i.e. 1 point - and the drops were scarce for their levels, they were still something that they could transform into objects for the recovery of MP and HP or in upgrade materials for equipment though.
Close to the gates of the city of Lavyella, Genevieve stopped, “here we go… my frame rate is starting to drop,” she said with a huff, “I'll send her a message.”
A few minutes later, between the players entering Lavyella and those leaving, an elegant and fairy-like figure appeared that almost made her seem like a spirit: she had long hair as white as snow that went down almost to her bottom, where it ended in delicate curls, her forehead was covered by a fringe and two showy white triangular ears emerged on her head as did her lupine tail that swayed with every step behind her. Her bright blue eyes surveyed everything and everyone with a childish curiosity and when she saw them she beamed and started running towards Genevieve and Grace with one hand on her pointy sorceress hat.
“Genevieve! There you are! I was starting to think you weren't going to show up!” the new player giggled, covering her lips in a very ladylike and playful way, “you must be Lasair, I like your name! Do you speak Scottish??” She asked, holding out her hand, “my name... I mean, my user name, is Davina, nice to meet you!”
“I told you we'd play together and I like to keep my word,” Genevieve muttered, shrugging.
If technology had been advanced enough to allow it, Grace would have blushed at all that energetic vitality. She held out her hand and shook it gently, "N-nice to meet you, Davina, n-no, not actually..." Grace confessed, wetting her lips, "the most Scottish I can speak is something like, 'tha dà ubhal air a' bhòrd' and little else.”
“Oh, I thought given the name you chose you spoke Scottish. I speak a little bit of it too, that's why I got what your user name means", Davina winked at her, "it means 'Flame', am I right?" She relaxed her grip, her hand slipping from Grace's.
“T-that's right…”
“Yeah, great, but now we have to move. You're on level one and you have almost eight levels to go to catch up with us,” Genevieve interrupted them, raising a hand to gesture with a thumb to the road behind them
Davina puffed out her cheeks and pressed her fists into her slender hips, “you're such a party killer! Your face is even stiffer than…” the words died in her throat, she looked at Grace, then at Genevieve, “uhm… what was I saying?” she said while trying to pretend forgetfulness
“First generation NexNet,” Genevieve replied as if she hadn’t noticed what Davina was trying to say, “shall we go?”
“Okay,” Davina replied, making a neutral and stoic expression, trying to imitate and make fun of Genevieve's static expression, “anyway, how does this tail and ears move? I'm trying to move them since I logged in to no avail.”
“It seems to be something related to the use of the NexNet,” Grace started walking, staying a few steps behind Genevieve so she could discuss face to face with Davina, “our real bodies in the distant past could move their ears and had tails. By playing LotA your brain should sooner or later recover those connections and allow you to move them.”
"Sounds cool! I can't wait to be able to wag my tail!” What friends did Genevieve had in her real life?? “but your race can make a pair of wings appear, and humans never had wings…”
“Those work no differently than a parachute: if I concentrate on making the wings appear before jumping from some height, I can glide, but I have no direct control over the wings, for example I cannot close one or move them at will.”
“And have you ever tried?” Davina asked her, taking a step closer and leaning forward to look at her from bottom to top, “to glide.”
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
“N-no! It's... it's dangerous! What if… what if I did something wrong and crash?” Grace had a tremor of terror as she imagined herself diving out of control towards a ground that was getting bigger and bigger and flatter and flatter beneath her.
“It's not like you're going to die even if you lose control and crash…” Davina pointed out, “come on, let's do it!” she quickened her pace to stand next to Genevieve, “what do you do all the time when you're online??”
"What do you mean?" Genevieve asked, “we travel, we kill monsters, we complete quests… we do the things you do in a game.”
“And something to just have fun with? For example, have you ever spent a few hours just relaxing and exploring the map looking for somewhere cool to see? Or maybe for a funny glitch?”
Genevieve didn't answer right away, it was hard to tell, but Grace's presumption was that she was considering the question even though she was aware that the answer was a simple 'no', since Grace met her they did nothing but run left and right between quests to complete and monsters to kill. Grace was happy about that since it meant they were going full speed - or as fast as they can without spending real money - towards that goal she so wanted to reach, but that didn't mean that looking at it from Davina's perspective what they were doing couldn't have looked like some sort of unpaid work.
“I-I-isn't that what people do in sandbox games? You invent your own adventure..." Grace interjected, "and you? Why have you decided to play LotA?"
"I?" Davina looked at her, her eyelashes fluttering, with a confused expression on her sweet little face, “but to become an idol! Obvious!"
“An… idol?” Grace raised an eyebrow, “and what does LotA have to do with becoming an idol?” Immediately after asking that question she shook her head, waving her hand in mid-air, “let's... let's forget about it. We have arrived at the quest area.”
Davina giggled, “you'll see, you'll see.” she didn't add anything else on the subject, everything else was a mischievous smile. Genevieve dedicated herself to looking at a bright spot on the ground that both Genevieve and Grace still remembered well; in every game, the first boss is always something that gets remembered. It must be some kind of sentimental thing.
“I'll take care of it,” Genevieve announced, “since we're here it seems like an excellent opportunity to test how much I've improved not only in level, but also in swordplay.”
- - -
“Pfff… I bet you just want to look good for the new addition to your party!” Davina exclaimed, still smiling in a way that made it really difficult for Xia to continue being aloof to her, “give me a G! Give me an E! Give me… what a long name you have!”
“It's to annoy you better,” Xia replied, turning up her nose, “touch that golden light and then fall back away as quickly as you can.”
Lasair put her hands on either side of her mouth as if she were on the opposite side of a stadium, “co-come on Genevieve! You are the stro-strongest of the three of us!”
Lasair's compliment had a different effect on Xia, first of all because she knew her well enough to know that it was sincere encouragement, and secondly because she knew she was telling it even though it wasn't the truth: Lasair and her had equal levels within the game, but Lasair's swordsmanship was such that Xia never managed to beat her not even once in all the training duels they had.
Xia and Lasair were on two very different levels, there was a gap in swordsmanship between the two of them that would have never been closed without a lot of time and a lot of training.
Davina approached the source of the light and bent down to touch it while Xia drew her sword, she had set a timer in her mind: ten seconds to eliminate all the slimas, fifteen including the big one. As soon as the five slimas appeared, Xia started counting.
One… two… three… four…
[Minor Slima (Inferior)]
[Level 1 – HP: 0%]
[Minor Slima (Inferior)]
[Level 1 – HP: 0%]
It was a shame that her NexNet was severely limited in the sensory feedback it could give her, because just seeing those little monsters burst into colorful bubbles in a single shot was exhilarating. After the humiliating defeat Xia had suffered at the hands – ok, mouth – of Rock Manifestation, the realization of how weak she still was in that world had become a persecution to the point that she found herself thinking about giving up sleeping to dedicate more to game.
She luckily realized that that wasn't a bright idea.
The other three slimas tried to hit her, taking the momentum to throw themselves with their mouths open towards Xia; she took a few steps to the side while keeping a firm grip with both hands on her sword and unleashed a powerful combination of blows against her opponents.
Five… six… seven… eight…
[Minor Slima (Inferior)]
[Level 1 – HP: 0%]
[Minor Slima (Inferior)]
[Level 1 – HP: 0%]
At the moment of eliminating the fifth and last of the little slimas Xia stumbled and her strike became imprecise enough not to instantly end the fictitious existence of that basketball-shaped creature; it tried to fight back but she was quicker to recover than it.
[Minor Slima (Inferior)]
[Level 1 – HP: 0%]
“Ten”, Xia muttered after passing her sword through the monster by putting it right in its mouth. The slime bursted into colorful bubbles just like all its little brothers before it.
"Amazing! You're very strong!” Xia heard Davina scream behind her
“Great footwork!” Lasair said instead. Her compliment made Xia chuckle considering the condition of her real legs, and she found herself surprised to find an observation somehow related to her disability... somewhat funny..
“Thanks, but it's not over yet.”
The big slima Xia had been waiting for finally appeared out of nowhere and its aggro was immediately turned towards her as she was the closest target among the three of them.
Xia took one hand off the sword and moved it to trigger the spell casting mechanics, what was wrong with testing the potential of a spell in a controlled enviroment instead than when you're in a hurry? Science works this way too. Once Xia finished forming the somatic components, she activated the spell, using her voice, “[Mystical Shield]!”
A circular shield made of green light appeared between Xia and the big slima; the monster slammed against the shield and dropped down, recollecting itself for a renewed attack. The shield didn't have a countdown before disappearing, as long as Xia remained focused on it it would have remained active, but it would also have kept draining her MPs. She let it disolve and slashed the big slima with three consecutive strikes.
"fifteen."
[Minor Slima (Greater)]
[Level 3 – HP: 0%]
“To think that the first time I wouldn't have been able to take away even 10% of its HP”, Xia whispered, putting the sword back in its sheath and turning towards her two playmates, “if it suits you, I'd say we're better off to dedicate ourselves to the main quests in order to get you up to speed with us. There is a score that I need to settle with a certain mini-boss as soon as possible..." she said, turning to Davina, who was applauding her as if she had accomplished who knows what a great feat.
Lasair on the other hand was silent, she didn't comment, she was simply looking at Xia and wagging her tail.
Wagging her tail??
“Lasair! Your tail!” Xia raised a finger to point at it, “you're moving it!”
“Um?” Lasair stopped her tail and shifted her body weight onto one leg so she could lean closer to look behind her butt. She looked at her long and fluffy tail curiously, then waved it and turned the tip upwards, “I can… I can move my tail!”
“Yay! How did you do it??" Davina lost control of herself and rushed to hug Lasair, “you have to explain everything to me in detail! Teach me your ways, master!”
“…Davina? Hey?" Xia raised a hand, snapping her fingers a few times.
"Oh! Yes, of course! Whatever you want,” Davina replied to Xia, quickly returning her attention to Lasair, “now, tell me all your secrets about twitching your ears and wagging your tail!” she asked again to a Lasair who was visibly uncomfortable and embarrassed.
The team was taking shape, it was certainly not what Xia had imagined when she decided to help Lasair realize her wish, but it was still a step forward in the right direction.