Intro

The other cards on the table had faded to opaque to be less distracting. She glanced over really quickly. She saw a few faces full of fur and immediately lost interest. Su Ting turned back to the one in her hand, barely daring to take her eyes off it. She felt as if it might fly away if she didn't hold on tightly.

She turned it over. On the back, she read that it was the Fae race. She thought once again of her mother's complex title. Then she scanned the basic avatar information. The avatar's size, special characteristics, potential, innate talents, and so on.

This fae was a fairy. It was exactly one meter tall, weighing 20 kilograms. Because it was a creature that was mostly magic, its density was much higher. This didn't stop it from flying agilely as if it only weighed a feather.

As she looked at the card, a hologram of the avatar floated in front of the table. It wasn't smiling, so it was easier to assess its face properly. Su Ting felt that it looked less like her this way. No, it couldn't be said like this. The aura was unmistakably similar to hers, but the avatar itself was very different.

The fae was no taller than a young child, but it did not give off the feeling of a kid. This was unlike the other choices on the table. Although Su Ting did not know this. A fae's body is flat, without many of the feminine or masculine curves around the torso. The limbs were long and thin without any imperfections. This figure gave off an awkward feeling. The creature did not seem to have any hip bone jutting out despite its small frame or any joints at the fingers, elbow, and knees. This made the entire arm look like a straight piece of jade. Until the limb was bent, one couldn't tell where the elbow or knee was. Paired with its faultless appearance and gentle, steady posture, it looked more like a carved statue than a moving, living creature.

The hologram was realistic. Other than being slightly opaque, the fae's wings flapped slowly behind it and it blinked or shifted from time to time. When it moved, it was hard not to stare at it. Because it looks so much like a statue one can't help but think it was a figment of their imagination and wait for it to move to know if it's real. Once it moves again, there is an odd shock and unease that flows through the mind. This disappears the moment it stops moving again and one once again finds oneself staring at it to wait for it to move. The cycle repeated over and over without one even noticing.

Su Ting was lost in this cycle for a long time. It was the same as when she saw the card. She couldn't help but stare.

The set-up process was in Dependent Mode, so it was relatively simple. It had been made for a child in the first place so they didn't make it too long or difficult for her. She didn't know how much this mode saved her. Without it, she would be lost in all the unfamiliar techy terms. Most of the questions asked at this time were about settings and gameplay. But for a child, there are limited options, and settings can also be opened and changed by the guardian once they enter the game. So there wasn't any need to make it difficult.

Keeping it short was necessary for the attention span of a child as well. Along with extra holograms and pictures and fewer words. Su Ting had no idea that the regular setup didn't even have a room, let alone cards to show and a hologram for viewing. Instead, it was a dark space talking back and forth and long windows of texts.

Without Dependent Mode, she would have had to study an entire book of information and contracts, most of which she wouldn't understand in the first place because she didn't grow up familiar with technology.

The last order of business was to get used to her avatar. There was an activity area in the space where she could play on a playground, with NPC children playing ball, pet animals, and doing crafts. Su Ting knew this was to practice hand-eye coordination and get used to her new body.

The pods already have this to some extent. However, this is still a big phycological hurdle to get over. When VR first opened up, it caused many people to go crazy. Most of the beta testers either never played again or lost their grip on reality and entered the world completely. Only emerging when they needed to eat or take care of bodily functions. A bonafide bacalao. Because this is harsh on the body, and many current measures to avoid mental breakdowns were not in place at this time, exceptions were made to allow some of these beta testers to become natives.

Officially, they were labeled as sick and unable to live in the world for over 7 years. Which was likely as their main body would break down under the strain they were putting them under. So it was the companies who paid for their surgery and such. It was part of the contract that the company would take any and all responsibility that wasn't the beta user's fault.

It was erring on the side of the beta tester. The contract wasn't fair at all. However, because of this, the beta test into VR was deemed a failure but it pushed forward the immortality project. These were the first natives of the VR world. Using this experience allowed them to get a lot of information and push their project forward by leaps and bounds. So all in all, it was a win for the companies.

Some people suggested the companies made the contract lean in the beta tester's favor for this reason, that the companies had foreseen such reactions. It was a very controversial subject.

Su Ting went to the activity center. She got a lesson on playing an instrument, tried out calligraphy, embroidered a handkerchief, and played with the animals. She was unsettled as she played. After only a couple of hours of running here and there, she left to meet up in-game with Quan Zihao.

When she decided to leave the space, the system transported her avatar to her guardian's side. She made sure it was to Quan Zihao's side, and not her mother's.

What she didn't expect was that the face she would look up to would be just as unreal as her own avatar.