"What an eventful two days it's been," Sydney muttered as she y down on the mattress after she bathed. Looking at the bed, Aiko was covered by the pin white duvet and had her headset on. "I got taken hostage, my apartment and job blew up, I nearly started a fistfight with the Police Chief and I moved in with Aiko. Forget it, I'll just enter Kill Zone."

  "Please acknowledge that you are ready to py."

  "Yes."

  "What an eventful two days you had. Meanwhile, I had to sit here and watch your sleeping body for fifteen days." Mumei said as she rubbed her sore ass. "Thankfully, I remembered that I did a pretty shit job at expining things during the 'tutorial', so I wrote everything we missed into a book. Also, the devs did a quick hotfix and removed the Precision stat. They also removed all stat requirements other than strength."

  #That's the only useful thing in the hotfix?#

  "Yup." Mumei pushed a book with a leather covering into Ataraxia's chest.

  In the corner of Ataraxia's eyes, a red warning box with a [Caution] heading grabbed her attention. [Body in the real world has changed, so your avatar will undergo change as well.]

  #Great... But what is this warning? "Body outside has changed... so your avatar will undergo change as well"?#

  "Hmmm... You got shot in the eye, right?"

  #Yes.#

  "Then the system recognised this and wants to change your avatar to fit synchronise with the injury taken in the outside world."

  #Thing is... there is only "Yes" and "Yes". There's no "No" option.#

  [Change will occur in 10 seconds.]

  'What the fuck?' Ataraxia thought as she quickly jotted down #How do I stop this? I only have 10 seconds before it forces the change to happen?'

  "Wha?" Mumei recoiled in surprise. 'The system shouldn't be able to force any changes onto your avatar?'

  [Change will occur in 5... 3... 2.. 1.]

  'Oh shit...' Ataraxia braced herself for whatever 'change' the system was referring to.

  [Change identified... Person's left eye is missing in the real world. Removing left eye from avatar. Brace for pain in 3... 2.. 1. Changes occurring now.]

  'Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Why the fuck is the game trying to kill me!?!' Ataraxia felt her left eye slowly dissolve into a red liquid. Despite her eyelids trying to seal themselves airtight, the red liquid still managed to flow out of them.

  "Ataraxia? What's happening? You seem to be in a lot of pain?" Mumei asked worryingly, the knowledge of her muteness leaving her brain due to the surprise.

  Quivering due to the pain, Ataraxia roughly scribbled down a few words. #system eye melting painful pa s ng o t#

  'Right. She's mute.' Shaking the thought out of her mind, she quickly caught the unconscious female beside her before she hit the ground.

  In the spawning park in X07...

  "I'm d-!" A pyer, wearing a white mask and suit with a bck tie shouted with glee before immediately running to a nearby bush to puke. His brown Oxford shoes ccking with every move he makes. Fortunately, he managed to unhook the mask strap from his ear before his valve was unsealed. "Blerg. Teleportation is rough. Anyway, as I was saying before, I'm done with the tutorial!"

  "Well done, boss. Please head to the guard in front and talk to him." A woman with messy brown hair and hazel eyes, wearing a bck and white suit said. The woman looked as if she were Mumei's twin. The woman pointed at the guard in front.

  "Sure. Follow me, Sally." The pyer said with a gentle, but commanding tone before striding towards one of the many guards on patrol.

  "Hello there. Welcome to X07, contractor." The guard said. "Here's a phone. Your assistant should know the way to the General Sector's Head. I recommend going there before leaving."

  "Ok. Thanks for the help, Sir!" The pyer walked away, following his assistant. "So is this how I can add someone as a friend?"

  "Indeed it is. Just go on the contacts app and search for your friend's name.

  "Great. Just gotta search her up and we can head to the General Sector's Head."

  Turning the phone on, he tapped on the contacts app and typed into the search bar "Ataraxia".

  [One pyer named Ataraxia found.]

  "And send."

  *DING*

  Stirring awake at the sound of a notification, Ataraxia willed her hand to look for her phone. Searching around she found some wood and something squishy.

  "EEK" A blushing Mumei was jolted awake by the searching hand.

  Finally waking up fully, she realised that her hand had found the wood of the bench she fainted on and the mountains on her companion's chest, rather than her phone.

  #My apologies.# Ataraxia wrote as her cheeks turned faintly pink. 'Huh, my field of view has decreased again. Oh shit, my field of view has decreased again!'

  #Is my eye gone?#

  Mumei looked at where her left eye should be before answering, "It's gone. Sorry for your loss."

  'Great. Oh well. No use crying over spilt milk.' Ataraxia thought, trying to convince herself that her lost eye didn't matter. Despite her thought process, Ataraxia's breathing quickened and her fists clenched until the knuckles were white. Willing her mind away from her eye, she remembered that it was a notification that woke her up. 'Right, I put my phone into my trouser pockets.'

  #It's fine.# She wrote as she opened her phone. 'New friend request: Orion? Who the fuck is Orion? Unless... Sydney. No way is this Sydney. Right? Fuck it, I'll add them anyways.'

  [Friend Request from Orion accepted.]

  [Ataraxia: Who are you?]

  [Orion: Sydney Hunt, and you?]

  [Ataraxia: Before that, what happened to me two days ago?]

  [Orion: You intervened in a hostage situation at my pce (Kick Out) and shot 8 of the criminals, while I shot 2. You then got shot in the left eye and fainted. Before they bombed the pce, the police went in and extracted all the hostages, including you. You were then unconscious for the rest of the day.]

  [Ataraxia: It's Aiko Hartford. Good to see you Sydney.]

  "Is this the dy who helped in the firefight you were talking about?" Mumei asked as she read the messages exchanged between the two.

  #Yep, although she likes to py as a male in games. This is an Immersive Virtual Reality game though, so I never thought she would py as a male.#

  *DING*

  [Orion: Where are you? I'm on X07, heading towards the General Head's Sector.]

  #Where are we?#

  "They should be able to see us when they come out of the General Sector." Mumei said, "I didn't carry you far after you left after all."

  [Ataraxia: You should be able to see us after you leave the General Sector. Take your time.]

  [Orion: Ok]

  Looking down at her watch, Ataraxia saw that an hour and ten minutes had passed. In the past hour and ten minutes, Ataraxia had slotted her extra magazines into

  "They should be out now," Mumei said.

  "Ataraxia?" Orion waved as he neared the duo.

  #Orion?#

  "Yup." Orion said as he sat down next to her.

  "Hello there, ID:04" Sally greeted Mumei as she sent an imaginary arrow at her, however, the arrow seemed to bounce off.

  "I have a name now. It's Mumei, ID:05" Mumei greeted her back as she sent an arrow back.

  "Likewise." The arrow also failed to penetrate the equally imaginary shield around Sally.

  "Girls, girls, let's not fight." Orion said as Ataraxia nodded in agreement. Seeing that nothing needed her attention, she decided to study the book that Mumei gave her.

  Strength:

  A stat that affects how much you can carry and what weapons you can lift. You can increase strength through exercise. The total strength stat requirement of the weapons you are carrying cannot surpass your strength stat. The remainder of this stat determines how much you can carry. Each stat point in strength adds 5 kg to your base carrying weight (100kg).

  Precision (Before Removal):

  A stat that determined how stable you could hold your gun. The base precision stat is different for everyone. Only sniper rifles have a minimum precision requirement.

  Agility (Before Removal):

  A stat that determines how fast your avatar can move. The base agility stat is different for everyone. SMGs and Shotguns have a base minimum requirement.

  Stamina:

  A stat that affects how long you can run and do other stamina-consuming activities. Carrying too much over your carry capacity will temporarily reduce your max stamina. Increase the stat by doing exercises.

  Carrying Capacity:

  How much you can carry in your inventory. Going 20% over reduces stamina. Going 50% over will take 5% of your health every step. Carrying Capacity can be increased through increasing the strength stat.

  Drawback:

  Firing a weapon too many times in a row will damage you. After exceeding the limit, you will take 5% damage per shot. After firing 25% over the threshold, you will take 10% damage per shot (e.g. If the threshold is 25 shots, after shooting 31 times, each subsequently fired bullet will take 10% of your health). To reset, you must wait 5 minutes before firing again. You cannot increase the threshold.

  Death Penalty:

  Dying incurs a 10-minute login ban, loss of 1/4 of any ammunition in the pyer's inventory, a 10% chance to drop any equipment that isn't insured and 25% of the total amount of credits in the pyer's inventory before insurance fees.

  Insurance:

  A feature that prevents the dropping of the affected weapon or armour. Insurance requires a monthly deposit and a further fee upon death. The fee depends on the rarity of the item. Melee weapons, cosmetics, Legend-Grade equipment and Unique Items are freely insured. Insurance can be activated on an item in a bank.

  "Oi Ataraxia!" Orion shouted to catch Ataraxia's attention.

  #What is it?#

  "Which sector are you going to take a contract from first?" Orion asked.

  #Either General or Assassination. They're the only two sectors I know of.#

  "You can only accept contracts from the General Sector at the moment. Once you finish at least one, you can start taking contracts from other sectors." Mumei suggested, gring at Sally.

  #I see. What weapons did you choose?#

  Orion puffed his chest and announced, "I chose an MP5 and Deagle."

  #Let me guess. You were infatuated with Agent 99 and the SAS from the 1990s?#

  "No... maybe." Orion sheepishly admitted, "That's beside the point. Don't you think a guy in a suit sweeping the floor with bad guys is cool? Besides, this is the best I've ever felt."

  Muttering the st part so that Ataraxia wouldn't hear him, Orion looked towards the General Sector. "Are you going to grab a contract now?"

  #Are you not heading to the training grounds first?#

  "Oh yeah. Forgot about that." Orion said as he remembered. "Guess that's our next destination."