Chapter 1
Alone in a VRMMO
The bell rings.
As cla.s.s was finished and school was over for the day, many students began to leave.
This was Hirasaka, a girls-only private high school. It was moderately well-known in j.a.pan.
And in one first-year cla.s.sroom of this high school, was a student who sat in a corner and gazed at the girls who were chatting around her.
(…It looked fun.)
Her name was Sena Kohinata.
In spite of it being two months since she first enrolled at this school, she was still a loner without a single friend.
Sena was the only child of a reasonably well-off family.
But as her health was rather delicate, she had been hospitalized from a severe disease before entering kindergarten. Ultimately, she had not attended kindergarten once before starting elementary school. Even then, she would often have to skip school due to her illness, which meant that she rarely had the opportunity to talk with anyone other than her parents.
And so she was unable to approach others, and because she was also unable to answer any who approached her, she did not make any friends.
She had trouble making friends in junior high school for the same reason, and she remained alone.
Once she graduated from junior high school, her parents had to relocate for job-related reasons, which resulted in her transferring to Hirasaka High School.
Of course, she was not able to make friends here either and was left alone.
And as sixteen years had pa.s.sed, she was now starting to give up.
(I can live just fine without making friends.)
She thought as she enjoyed her life as a loner.
Back to the present.
The girls around Sena had not gone home yet and continued to stay in the cla.s.sroom and talk with one another.
Curious about what they were saying, Sena perked up her ears.
(She had listened to the conversations of other like this for many years, which made her hearing rather sharp.)
She understood what they were talking about.
It was a new VR game called ‘ANOTHER DIMENSION WORLD ONLINE’ or AnoDim for short.
Ma.s.sive open fields, numerous weapons, and skills, quests that were overflowing with content, many species of monsters, the overall high production values had garnered it much attention worldwide ever since it was announced. And the release date was today.
There were many in Sena’s cla.s.s who had already decided to buy it.
While she was a loner, Sena had only a little experience with video games. Her hobby had always just been archery.
In fact, her skill was high enough that she could possibly win national compet.i.tions if she wanted to, but her social anxiety kept her away from competing even once.
However, the beauty of the AnoDim trailers had caught her eye, and though hesitant at first, she decided to buy the game. She asked her parents for permission, saying that it would help her with her anxiety.
There was no reason for her parents to be against it. Sena was in the top of her cla.s.s, and it would be good if this could help her.
And so today was the first day where Sena would start an online game.
She got up from her seat and left the cla.s.sroom behind her.
“I’m home.”
She said as she entered her house. She was greeted by her mother, Shizuru Kohinata, who was a housewife.
“h.e.l.lo, Secchan. That thing you bought recently arrived during lunch time. I took it upstairs to your room for you.”
“Thanks, mom.”
“Are you going to start playing it now?”
“Yeah. I might not come down for a while, but don’t worry.”
Try to make at least 100 friends! Her mother said jokingly as Sena left her and went up to her room.
When she entered her room, she saw that there was a large cardboard box on the floor.
Inside was the VR game console and the new game, ‘AnoDim.’
She spent a whole hour just reading the manual and calming her nerves.
(Calm down… It’s fine. Just because it is online, that doesn’t mean that I have to talk to anyone. I can just relax and play solo.)
She told herself as she put on the headset and lay down in her bed.
Her heart was beating so fast that she thought someone might hear it. She closed her eyes and tried to make her heart settle.
“Now, off to the world of AnoDim!”
Sena was in a world full of darkness.
Even when she opened her eyes, there was nothing to see and nothing to hear.
(Was this a bug?)
She panicked for a second before it began.
‘WELCOME to the world of ANOTHER DIMENSION WORLD ONLINE!’
A cheery voice echoes in her brain.
“Who is that!?”
‘I am Gaiko-chan. I will be your AI guide who will help you prepare for your travels!”
Sena was a little shocked at the awful name.
Gaiko ignored her and continued.
‘First, please tell me your name!’
Just as she heard these words, a keyboard and name field appeared in front of her eyes.
Her heart raced at this new experience. She began to type in her name.
‘Sailor.’
It was a name she always used for game protagonists.
‘Sailor it is then! Next, please select your race!’
And here a list of various races appeared before her.
Beastfolk: They boast high physical abilities but low apt.i.tude for magic.
Elves: While their physical abilities are low, they have a high apt.i.tude for magic.
Dwarves: High strength and skill. Very productive.
Dragonkin: They boast even higher physical abilities than the beastfolk and moderate apt.i.tude for magic. However, their growth is very slow.
Humans: Both physical abilities and magic apt.i.tude are standard. You can’t go wrong with this choice!
Random: There are rare races that are Random exclusive. Will you try your luck!?
Sena’s eyes stopped at the explanation for Random.
(Rare races… Would it be like vampires or ifrits!? …Maybe I’ll try this…)
Without thinking too much, her finger neared the Random b.u.t.ton.
‘Oh, you cannot change your character for a month after making it. So choose wisely.’
Gaiko’s belated warning made Sena jump a little.
(I wouldn’t want to have to wait a whole month to play… I’m not interested in production and would hate to be a dwarf… But then the winning rate for Random must be quite low… Okay!)
Sena nodded. Her finger that was hovering over the Random b.u.t.ton…
…moved over and pushed the Beastfolk b.u.t.ton.
(I should choose something I like if I can’t change it. I have good hearing, so that might be useful.)
Sena thought satisfactorily to herself as Gaiko continued.
‘Beastfolk it is! Now, please choose your fur color, starting weapons and initial stats!’
A new screen appeared in front of Sena.
(Fur color huh… Now that I think of it, the maps of AnoDim had many forests, so being green might be good for defense… I should choose the bow since I did archery… Stats…it would be easier to use the bow if I could run fast to get some distance!)
Sena distributed her 100 points like this.
STR 15
AGI 65
VIT 10
DEX 10
INT 0
‘Thank you! Now you are finished! Please enjoy the game!’
Gaiko announced. Then Sena’s body was enveloped by light and her vision became nothing but white.