PART 3

The Grand Duke of Fenix, Alice Blodeuwodd Duke Fenix.

Month 11, day 16, ADB 1706 [15:02] || Month 02, day 14 UT 8992 [00:02]

Inside the Windorn Palace, Master’s Bedroom.

Alice was sitting in the capsule, clad in a white nightgown, as she fiddled with her fingers. Her red eyes moved relentlessly, scanning the holographic display in front of her. As she did, the ceiling lights faded out, and a soft lighting wedge remained within the contours of the room. The warm air created an impression of a solitary yet reassuring atmosphere.

The clock had passed 2 minutes since the Yggdrasil game opened their server, and Alice was doing a last skim reading on important obligations she needed to do. Aside from Alice, a female maid quietly stood beside the capsule, patiently waiting for Alice.

No less than a minute later when Alice waved her hands, the maid, lowering her head, inquired, “Your Grace, do you find any discomfort?”

"Thanks to your efforts, Lady Dianna, I find no such thing," Alice answered, pleased.

It was rare for a member of the royal family to serve another household. However, when it came to the Divine family, even the most revered individuals would humbly lower themselves and beg to become their servants. As a result, most servants of the Divine Family hailed from prominent backgrounds, with strong connections to influential individuals or high-ranking positions within their nation.

Although there was a difference in their status, no servants dared to flaunt their positions within the household. Regardless of whether the servants from other nations were currently in conflict with others, they were carefully selected to be of service to the Fenix Family. Not to mention, the servants were educated enough to know that going into conflict with others within the Fenix household would not bring any benefits, even if they sabotaged others to compete for the Head's favor. Therefore, almost every servant would rather wait for the grace of the Divine Beast.

Dianna Shimaka Zoe Aether is a member of the Royal family of the Aetherian Empire. She is renowned for her beauty, and a model famous across the empire. She became a lady-in-waiting and instructor for etiquettes for the Grand Duchess.

Alice laid down, adjusting her position on the capsule's cushion, and Dianna promptly arranged it for her comfort and leaned forward to reach the cushion lower than her waist. While Dianna did so, Alice noticed a subtle change in her dignified expression.

"You seem to be... happy?" Alice wondered, gazing at Dianna in a muse.

She was confident of the change in Dianna's expression but unable discern what expression she wore. Upon hearing Alice's words, Dianna instinctively touched her face as if trying to confirm her emotions: The corners of her lips slightly curved upward, and her long eyebrows appeared more relaxed and gentle than usual.

Dianna sighed, her voice laced with contentedness, "Did my expression give it away? Was it strange?"

Dianna fixed her stance, straightening her posture. As she did so, a strand of silver hair escaped and gently fell across her face. With grace, she carefully tucked it back into place while ensuring her Tigris horns remained stable.

"Definitely." Alice replies as she nods in agreement, "Tell me, what made you so happy that even the strict-faced lady's expression changed."

Alice had known Dianna for years and considered her an excellent companion. Not only Dianna assisted Alice in refining her etiquette but also introduced her to various nobles and prominent figures in the Aetherian empire. However, Alice couldn't help but notice that Dianna rarely displayed any variations in her expression - so rare, in fact, that she could count those instances on her fingers.

"It is of little significance..." Dianna respectfully remarks, "Yet it brings me immense joy to witness my Master indulging in a simulation game rather than burying herself in work."

A rare occurrence, perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime event, a smile appeared on Dianna's expression as she continued, "Indeed, Your Grace, we utmost welcome your engagement in such leisurely pursuits for a prolonged period."

"Throw that thought away. Since I rather refrain from doing any of those," Alice replied in a troubled manner, "I still have a mountain of paperwork, inspections, decisions, and countless other duties awaiting my attention. I simply cannot keep my people waiting any longer for my orders."

Although Alice had gone through so many documents, several remained

in her office, with more yet to come in the following days. It was only thanks to the stamina expected from a Phoenix that allowed her to remain active for several days without rest, and she managed to finish most of the deskwork to attend Vanessa's Birthday.

As Alice shared her thoughts, Dianna's gaze came into focus in front of her. It was as if she received a message from someone. Seeing such a cue, Alice paused, patiently waiting for Dianna.

Then, A holographic window appeared in front of Alice, displaying a Wampus chat window with Hernese Cortez. She read the contents inside the chat window and quickly understood.

Dianna let out a soft chuckle as she spoke, "Hernese informed me that Lady Vanessa had logged into the game and forgotten to mention important information."

"This? Oh, I knew this earlier." Alice commented as she looked at the window in front of her.

The window displayed the developers of the Yggdrasil. The Frontline and Development studio is the company that created the game, which they were popular for creating massive world simulations.

Alice exclaimed, "I found it quite unexpected that a frontier research enterprise and a government-owned military collaborated on this game."

"That being said..." Alice continued, "People always say I should take time to customize my digital exploration. I should suggest they see yours, it's much worse!"

Dianna laughs in a monotone as she averts her eyes, "Oldies are goodies. There's a difference between default and vintage, Your Grace."

"You're using an outdated version of Xpore. Don't people shame you about that?" Alice mentioned, concerned.

"Oh, I do. Quite a lot."

"So, how come you never updated it?"

Dianna shrugged in uncertainty, replying, "Good question. I don't know either?"

Despite not receiving an adequate response, Alice somewhat understood what Dianna felt. Xpore provided everything Alice needed for her day-to-day life, and she has never felt the need to change anything. Alice waved away the holographic window before her.

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Down she lay within the comforts of the bedding when she realized something and a soft mutter escaped from her lips as she lifted her body, "Ah, right."

She continued, staring at Dianna's crimson crystallized eyes, "Speaking of which, how come I never heard of Vanessa's streaming activities?"

"Oh, we had assumed you already knew of Lady Vanessa's activities online, and we determined it was unnecessary."

Hearing Dianna's response, Alice averts her gaze to an empty space in which a holographic window appeared moments after. It displayed a site called HoloStream, and a profile of a certain streamer.

"Oh, I thought she would be streaming by now? Had I misremembered?" Words escaped from Alice's mouth, and she placed her hand on her chin.

'Entering acceleration mode 10.'

A mechanical voice entered Alice's mind and, as if the universe was obeying its words, everything slowed down: Alice's soft breathing, Dianna's blinking eyes, everything decelerated - everything except for Alice's mind.

Several windows appeared, showcasing Vanessa's video on her Social Net. Alice watched the video and confirmed Vanessa did not mention any details regarding her stream but rather a farewell regards and hopes of meeting in the game. Alice sighed inwardly and turned off acceleration mode stimulated by the LeGlass.

'Acceleration mode deactivated.'

"If she ever streams later on, sponsor Vanessa with 200K ISD," Alice ordered, returning a gaze to Dianna.

"Certainly, Your Grace. However..."

As Dianna paused, countless windows filled Alice's vision, each pertaining several details regarding banking accounts and wallets. Dianna continued, "Vanessa's HoloStream wallet is directly going to the public clan's wallet, specifically to Charity."

"Then..." Alice wondered, "Then, for the time being, hold on to that until I make my decisions."

"Certainly."

When all the holographic windows fade away, Alice rests her body again, adjusting her position until she was comfortable while Dianna straightens the lady's clothing. Afterward, Dianna found herself fiddling with a console at the head side of the capsule. Silence fused within the room until Dianna opened her mouth.

"Your Grace, I have a question to ask if you mind?" Dianna said as her eyes focused on the console.

"Go ahead, Lady Dianna."

"Will you be choosing a Ghost race for your initial play?" Dianna sneakily glances at Alice's face as if confirming her lady's expression.

"You knew that? Of course, you know. Why would you not? Did you hear from my sister?" Alice frowned, staring at the ceiling.

"Yes. Lady Vanessa recommended to me the game you previously played, and that, the lady shared your positive regards about the game."

"What a surprise, you play simulation games?" asked Alice.

She turned her body to the side, swiveling her head towards Dianna.

"Just a few. But I think 'playing' is rather a strong word since I am more interested in exploring different worlds; fantasy, modern, primitive, and the endfield-themed worlds."

"What do you think of The Last Ark?"

"It was not bad, but Last Ark is not something I would normally play," Dianna explained, sneaking another glance. "It was quite unfortunate that the Desa'lh fell. My deepest condolence."

"Don't worry about it. The United States of Desa'lh was already crumbling within, and without the cooperation of the natives and the players, it was destined to fall. "

"Does it bother you, Your Grace?"

"It does not. "

A soft murmur escaped from Dianna's lips as she nodded, "Mhm."

"I hope the Yggdrasil game does not have a permanent closure due to some catastrophic event." Alice hoped, "Are you planning to play the game, Lady Dianna?"

"I am not sure, but the concept of floating islands certainly piques my interest, so I might."

"You should have told me earlier, and I could have bought two Dive consoles."

"Buying me a Dive console would make Vanessa's gift insignificant," Dianna replied. "Your Grace, we have gone tangent from my question."

Realizing it, Alice turned her body face down to the soft bedding. She placed her chin on her cross arms. She replied, "My bad. I will check how similar Yggdrasil's Ghost Race is to Last Ark. I am still undecided until I see the details."

Nodding multiple times, Dianna replied, "I understand. Then, one last question, Your Grace."

"Go on." Alice looked up at Dianna's face, bouncing her legs up and down.

"In Yggdrasil's avatar creation, there are several unique mechanics the game developers made. Have you heard of 'Inherit real world race' and Racial synchronization'?" Dianna asked and moved closer to Alice

"Nyrar briefly mentioned it on stream but none of the details were discussed. What about it?"

Several windows filled Alice's face, covering her sight of Dianna's beauty. Inside the holographic window, it displayed certain details regarding 'Inherit real world race' and Racial synchronization'. Alice quickly read through it.

To summarize, Inherit real-world race allowed players to use their real-world race, while Racial synchronization allowed players to choose the levels of simulation on the races they take. Usually, Racial synchronization was an uncommon function in the simulation games genre as there were countless digital laws the developers had to abide by, and it had much more trouble than it was worth.

Alice analyzed the details and came to the conclusion as to why Dianna brought this up. However, she felt something was missing and was unable to think of an answer.

With a simple thought, the windows spread to the side allowed Alice to see Dianna's face, and she said, "Go on."

"In the recent video they posted, I noticed there are no proper procedures when creating an avatar. I suggest that you should take a ghost race as the initial base race, set your Racial synchronization to its limit, then inherit real-world race to evolve."

As Dianna suggested, additional windows materialized in Alice's vision, each containing specific details. Alice observed a video preview of a developer creating an avatar using the steps Dianna mentioned. It resulted in evolution after finishing the avatar creation. Alice was surprised by the result since having an evolved race for an initial start may have a significant impact later on. As the video concluded, the window transitioned to another, and no evolution happened as the developers used a different method.

"This is wonderful information, Lady Dianna. I will use this ." Alice said as she lay down on the bedding.

Seeing that, Dianna fixed the bedding and Alice's clothing once again. "I have finished checking the Dive console. It is working as intended. Additionally, I have entered your account to the Dive, so you should log in to Yggdrasil."

"Excellent work, Lady Dianna."

As Alice complimented, the panel slid across the capsule, confining Alice from the outside world.

"I should not hold you back further from your leisure. Have a joyful time in Yggdrasil, your Grace."

"If something happens, feel free to call me inside the game," Alice stated as she closed the glass pane from the inside.

"Yes, your Grace," Dianna replied.

Suddenly, a window appeared on the glass pane and displayed a confirmation message.

「 - Detecting login requests from user AR…

Detecting login requests from user consciousness…

Please confirm manual authentication.

Would you like to log in to the game?

> Yes < or > No < 」

Alice pressed 「yes」with her fingers and relaxed her body once more.

「- Login request validated…

Initiating Full Dive protocol… Please enter a state of relaxation

Detecting body relaxation state. Initiating Full Dive Protocol…

Please close your eyes to login… 」

Following its instructions, Alice closed her eyes and fell into slumber immediately.

「- Login Successful 」