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Valhalant, the Neutral Interaction City.

It was a residential city on an enormous island floating in the sky. The whole city consisted of five layers, with corridors that went around in full circles, which formed atriums overseeing the center of the island.

The way the various floors were stacked on top of each other like that was reminiscent of a large coliseum. And in fact, that space in the center was a duel stage that anyone could use freely, while those in the corridors could watch.

Crim arrived in the plaza just next to that dueling stage, where the transporter was located.

“Woah… there’s a bunch of players here.”

Some people were hollering invites to PvP. Others were trying to find people to create a new guild together. Then there were those displaying their wares in public, trying to sell them.

Crim had been playing alone all this time, so she had no idea there were this many active players. She just stood there stunned, watching as crowds of players walked everywhere around her.

Meanwhile, to put it simply, Crim looked like she came straight from the countryside. That made a strong contrast with everyone else there, making her stand out a lot.

“Hey, doesn’t that girl look really cute?”
“Ohh, I didn’t know you could pick that type of white when making a character.”
“She’s still wearing the starting clothes though, maybe she’s a newbie?”
“Umm… emmn… c-c-could you please join… my guild!”

Crim finally snapped back to reality hearing all the noise around her. Quite a crowd of onlookers had already formed, watching her from a distance.

“Ah… right, my hair is white.”

Looking around, she could not see any other players with pure white hair like her. Realizing why she had become the center of attention, Crim tried to conceal herself as best as she could and she ran away from that place.

After walking through the city for a bit, she found a store with an armor sign, so she assumed it was an armory, into which she rushed into to hide. Her assumption was correct, and she found herself surrounded with equipment on sale for beginners.

For now she reached out for an old coat that should be enough to shield her from sunlight. When her fingers touched it, a pop-up describing it automatically appeared.

「Weathered Cloak」
A well-worn and old coat.

It only raised her Defense stat by a little, and the name bothered her a bit, but the price was really good. Ludger had paid her for her help in the forest, and she had also been selling the drops from monsters she defeated, so her wallet was quite abundant.

“Yeah… it’s good enough for an emergency.”

She tried putting it on, then went to a nearby mirror. And then she finally realized.

“…so cute.”

She could not hold back that mutter. This was her first time seeing herself since she logged into the game.

Her snowy white hair ran all the way down to her knees, while her bangs were cut just above her eyes. Her skin was also pale, almost transparent. Though those were both things she already knew without having to look at a mirror.

But the rest, what she had not seen before… Her large round eyes with a slight slant, long eyelashes adorning her red pupils, a cutely shaped nose, and small but plump lips. All of that combined into an almost surreal but perfect beauty.

“So… that’s me?” The moment she said that, she felt something was a bit weird in her voice. “Err… is this me?”

The girl in the reflection said, her cheeks reddening in embarrassment. While embarrassing, that did sound better.

She did not want to act strangely and bring attention to herself, so she decided to soften her mannerisms from now on. Looking more closely at herself, she noticed something.

I look a bit like mom.

Crim… or rather Kou, had quite a few pent up emotions towards her mother, who was almost never around, unlike his father who he looked up to. Unable to suppress her emotions there, she found herself forming a tight fist, which she raised and…

“Look, there’s a girl who looks just like a doll here!”
“Huh? Ah, you’re right!”

The door’s bell rang as two other girls entered the store, quickly raising their voice when they noticed Crim. That shook her awake, so she quickly paid for the cloak, and then ran outside the store.

“Actually… I guess I don’t really have a reason to run away.”

Soon after, Crim realized she could have renewed the rest of her equipment in the store before she left, and regretted running away. But it would be weird if she went back there so soon, so she decided to kill time somewhere else before returning to the store.

“Hey, what should we get for lunch?”
“Hmm… I kinda want to try some Italian food today.”

Two girls passed next to Crim while talking like that. She had somehow ended in the food district of the city.

Crim turned to look at where those two were headed and saw a restaurant from a famous brand, which was sponsoring Destiny Unchain Online currently. There were many restaurants like that around there.

In the past, the demographic playing MMORPGs was largely taken up by males, but now it was a nearly half split between males and females. The main driving force for that change was the introduction of Full Dive VR technology.

To be more specific, the ability to eat anything without getting fat in virtual space.

That was not possible with the first low fidelity devices, but modern VRMMOs were equipped with the latest taste reproduction engines, which could not only replicate flavor, but also smell, texture, and warmth, with realistic detail.

Girls eating strictly diet food, and then gorging on everything they wanted in VR was starting to become a trend lately, which some believed was an unhealthy habit of modern culture.

Looking amongst those restaurants, Crim found a familiar sign with a large yellow ‘m’ on red background.

“It’s been a while since I’ve had fries… though they’re junk food.”

Crim wanted to eat the fries from that famous brand, so giving in to her impulses, she walked into the restaurant.