15 Vol 1. pt. 15 Patch 4.0: Rocks are a Mans Best Friend (1/2)
Ryouta recalls his conversation with Serra from last night. They've been talking almost all day long via Fiscord, but he can't stop thinking about last night's revelation. She lives in the same city that he does. With several million people living within the city's limits and new buildings being constructed constantly, she could be anywhere. His apartment's balcony got its first use earlier today when he decided to stand out on it and just look over the city. Thousands of people passed by through the streets below. Was Serra one of them?
It also got him thinking about how many other people he's met online before. As low as the odds may be, he doubts that she's the only one who lives near him that he's come across. How many others have there been? With how popular Fantasy Tales Online is, there is most likely several thousand people playing it who live in this city. It's weird to remember just how small the world truly is and that somebody he meets online could be his neighbor.
Now, with the sun having set and lying on his bed, it's been twenty-four hours since he killed himself as Fenrir. Time to immerse.
A single light is left on in the corner of his room this time. The last thing he needs to do is trip in the dark and break something after waking.
”Processing memories,” Saya's voice says. A floating progress bar quickly fills up with green. ”All done! Welcome back, Onii-chan! Woah, Serra really was talkative. How come you didn't tell her you lived in the same city as her?”
Ryouta looks down at his hands. They're large and masculine once more. He's Fenrir again.
”I thought it'd be weird if I said anything. What if she worries I'm going to stalk her now that I know her name, what she looks like, and live in the same city as her?” Fenrir replies.
”We both know that's not why you really didn't say anything, stubborn Onii-chan.”
”You're in my head, so I'm sure you can figure out whatever the real reason might be. Hey, what happens to you when I'm not synched up to the headset?”
Saya pouts before moving on to answer his question. ”I'm dead! Just kidding, but I'm only really active whenever you're synched up. Part of me is stored in your brain, the other part is stored in the headset's hardware, and the software installed on the headset is what brings the two parts together to work!”
Fenrir leans forward to poke her nose. She makes a shy yelp before quickly covering her nose with one hand and batting his hand away with the other. ”Wha-what was that for?!” she shouts, stomping her feet.
”I never tried touching you before, so I wanted to see if I could,” he explains. At least he learned that she feels every bit as realistic as a real human does. He was able to feel the warmth of her nose, the little bump in the tip of it, and her soft skin.
”Would you like to enter Gaia if you're done harassing me, baka Onii-chan?”
”The cringe is reaching new levels if you say both of those things together.”
”But you still like it.”
”In the word's of Serra, you have no proof, no evidence, and I deny everything.”
”Hmph. Do you want to play or not?”
Fenrir gives his tsundere-imouto-assistant a thumbs-up. She sends him through the same process of swirling colors and shapes as the first time he entered the world of Gaia, and now he finds himself standing atop the exact same patch of grass that he was when he started. A breeze carrying fresh air brushes against him and makes his ears twitch.
It's only been a few seconds and he's already a hundred times happier than he was in reality.
Serra was able to find a picture of the game world's map online, zoomed in on the region where they started, and tried circling the area where she believes that her and Bonekraka are in. Fenrir remembers seeing the picture she sent him, but he can't actually remember any of its details. It's all a blur to him now. ”This memory blocking thing is a pain sometimes. Guess I'll just follow the coast until I can find that village again,” he explains his plans out loud to nobody in particular. The walk is going to be boring without the rest of his party. Serra said she'd log in to keep a look out for him, but Bonekraka and Oleander aren't available for the night.
”Wait, how come I can remember what Serra said about meeting me, but not the map she showed me? Shouldn't I not remember anything at all about plans made outside of the game?” Fenrir asks.
”Only stuff that would give you an unfair advantage over other players, Onii-chan! Like I said before, it's all up to my discretion. I don't believe that knowing what she said about waiting for you gives you an unfair advantage over other players, but remembering the details of an out-of-game map would!” Saya explains.
Fenrir can only imagine how annoyed some players must be by this. There are plenty of players who need to know the exact mechanics and workings of the games they play, yet they don't get any such thing here. They likely believe that it's bullshit and unfair to not have a complete understanding of every mechanic. How is damage calculated? What decides if a player instantly dies or not? How much experience do players gain from various tasks and enemies? It is pretty confusing to play a character that the player barely knows anything about. All they know is what they can see and feel.
But isn't that the point? In a way, stats and skills exist in reality and humans have no way of knowing what they have unless they learn it themselves. Some might have bonuses to music and art, others might have naturally higher strength and speed stats, some get special perks like insane flexibility, and so on. Humans can learn skills and improve them through practice, but no stat window is ever going to pop up and tell them about it.
This game truly is the most realistic one of all time. At least it's fairer than reality since everybody starts off equally.