[Vol. 2 pt. 39]

For the first time in a long while, I found myself bored.

Lily and Akorya were offline.

The dungeon was closed for everything but scheduled appointments for the weekend.

Thera was doing PvP with her other friends.

My mom was binging some new show about vampires and werewolves that was quick to dominate her attention span.

The dungeon was taken care of for the time being and I didn’t really feel like doing anything else with it at the time.

Despite having so many things I had to do on my to-do list, I… had nothing to do. I was bored. Sure, I could have worked toward some of those items on my list, but all the important ones involved other people and the less important ones weren’t interesting enough to do at the moment.

I wasn’t even inside my dungeon chilling and petting my new wolves like I thought I would be. Instead, I was just at my usual go-to spot for relaxation and stargazing in the game. That just so happened to be atop a hill covered in flowers in one of the world’s endgame zones. The whole plot of the zone was that it was beautiful and natural and all that, but it was at risk of being conquered and burned down by an invading empire using weaponry that was a combination of magic and machine.

Finding the hilltop during a random quest and looking around atop it was one of the most immersive moments I ever experienced in any video game. Standing there, admiring the beauty of nature all around me—forests full of colorful trees, vast mountains in the distance, clouds dotting the sky as various animals and monsters flew peacefully among them… I never felt a stronger desire to protect a virtual landscape than I did while standing atop that hill.

Fortunately, there was an endgame raid added during one of the updates that was all about fighting against the invading empire and saving the zone from their destructive grasp. The day was saved and the zone was left untouched. That meant I could still go back to enjoy my favorite spot as often as I wanted to, whenever I wanted to.

And it was an even more beautiful sight at night.

Many of the flowers decorating the landscape really showed their true colors once the sun was done, opening up their bulbs to reveal their glowing petals. Even better, the night sky was so full of shining stars that nowhere else in the world, either virtual or real, could compare. Knowing that the stars I looked at were all fake and nothing more than assets coded into the game didn’t stop me from finding the sight stunningly beautiful.

I might have been bored, but at least I was bored with a beautiful view.

I probably wasn’t going to take myself out on a date like I was thinking about. I had too much to do without feeling guilty about it. But, spending an hour or so at my favorite spot in the entire game relaxing by myself was a good replacement for that.

If only I could really relax that easily.

It didn’t take long for my mind to switch over to thinking about all those things that needed doing. Not only that, but my mind ended up thinking of new things to add to my list. I really was my own worst enemy.

The good news was that, now that my dungeon was up and running, it would make getting some of those sexual achievements easy. I already had a good number of new achievements from the few days that my dungeon was officially open for. Achievements for “defeating” players within the dungeon, achievements for my monsters increasing in level, and other similar achievements. I also apparently received the highest tier of achievement for having a certain number of “enemies” inside the dungeon at the same time. That one was really easy. Even players who were in the “lobby” area waiting for their turn technically counted as enemies inside my dungeon.

Even Lily and Akorya counted as enemies until they were added to a certified guest list of sorts.

“I wonder how close I am to unlocking the next part of becoming Lust’s champion,” I said to myself as my fingers played with the tall grass all around me.

The grass I knew in real felt so sharp and firm. The grass in this region, though, felt soft. I never had to worry about damaging it, either. I reminded myself of that by pulling a clump of grass out from the ground and tossing it to the side. A few seconds later and the clump disappeared as the bald spot I created in the field was filled right back in.

Damage to the environment only ever lasted as long as combat in the area did just to help with immersion. As soon as combat was over, the world always went right back to how it was meant to be.

“Too bad the real world can’t be like that,” I said and sighed.

“Like what?” a feminine voice asked from behind.

Honestly, I jumped when I heard that voice. I didn’t expect it at all.

She giggled at my reaction. “Sorry, did I scare you?”

“A little, yeah,” I answered before sitting up and looking back at her.

Despite it being night, the woman in front of me had a shine to her even brighter than that of the flowers all around us. I wasn’t able to see much of her body, but I could tell she had a lithe build underneath her white robe and hood that covered most of her body up. Only her face and hands were really exposed—well, that and a bit of white hair that framed her face. She looked pretty, but the most striking feature of hers had to be those brilliant, blue eyes that put any ocean to shame with their beauty.

“Apologies. I didn’t mean to frighten you,” she said.

I shook my head. “It’s fine. Anyways, you come to enjoy the view as well?”

While waiting for her to answer, I figured I would inspect her just to see what her name was and to check on her level and gear.

Only… I wasn’t able to.

Every player was supposed to be inspectable. Yet, I wasn’t able to inspect her. I wasn’t able to select her at all. Even NPCs had a name and health bar that would pop up when they were focused on, but not her.

She was like a ghost… except even ghosts in the game were able to be targeted.

“Something like that,” she answered. “Mind if I take a seat there?” She pointed at the ground next to me.

Something was definitely off but, even so, I felt at ease around her. Something about her was peaceful and reassuring. I knew her for less than a minute, but I felt… safe. “I wouldn’t keep this place all to myself,” I answered.

With a gentle smile, she walked up to me and sat down to my side, leaving almost no space between our bodies. “Thank you. If you don’t mind, would you please answer my previous question?”

I realized that she looked and sounded incredibly familiar, too. I could have sworn that I met her before, but I wasn’t sure when nor where. “Which question?”

“You said, ‘too bad the real world can’t be like that,’ and I wish to know like what?”

“Oh. I meant in regard to how even if the environment is destroyed,” I demonstrated by tearing some more grass out from the ground, “it ends up returning to normal a few seconds later. The damage is never permanent. Everything goes back to how it was supposed to. But in real life—well, good luck with that. It’s taken us decades of concentrated effort just to make things a tiny bit better, and that was just so we don’t wipe ourselves out.” The spot I tore the grass from was already healed again.

“I see! In that case, it would certainly benefit the real world to have mechanics like this.”

“Yeah. Too bad that’s kind of impossible what with the real world not being a virtual game and all.”

“Ah. Fair point. That does make things rather difficult, I suppose.”

The more she talked, the more things felt off. I almost had a feeling from her that she wasn’t even aware of what I was talking about, and that feeling was only reinforced when she asked her next question.

“What is the real world like?”

I was either dealing with a roleplayer who hacked the system, a developer screwing with me, or some sort of new NPC type or something. “I’ll answer that if you answer something for me first,” I told her.

“Oh, feel free to ask me questions as well!”

“Thanks. So, how come I’m not able to inspect you?”

“Inspect me? You can do that with your eyes, can’t you?”

“I mean, inspect you as in—”

“Here.” She tugged on my arm. When I turned my head to look at her, I saw her facing me and ready to stare directly into my eyes. “You can inspect my face as much as you want. But… I must admit, letting you see more than that would be a little bit embarrassing.”

“I—I don’t mean inspecting you as in looking at you.”

She blinked a few times. “What do you mean then?”

I sighed and gave up. She must have been some kind of NPC to be acting so ignorant. Either that, or she was a developer who decided to screw with me by acting just like an NPC.

But her being an NPC didn’t really make much sense. One, there weren’t supposed to be any NPCs in the specific area I was in aside from some innocent monsters. Two, she seemed even more lifelike than usual as far as NPCs went. And three, something in my gut told me that there was more to her than just being an NPC, but I still had no idea what.

“Are you an NPC?” I asked despite knowing that she would have no idea what that meant if she was one. When NPCs were asked if they were NPCs, they always replied with confusion about what that even meant before changing the topic.

“I am only me, as far as I am aware!” she answered.

That was a new and way more convincing answer to the question if she was an NPC. In that case, I figured I would push her a little. “Do you know what NPCs are?”

“I do. They are the ones who populate me to make things more entertaining for you players.”

It was my turn to blink a few times. She definitely wasn’t just some NPC. More importantly, she said that NPCs populated her.

That was when I finally realized how she was so familiar to me.

There was only one woman as hauntingly beautiful as her who I met in the virtual world before, and she was the woman I met while undergoing that epic quest chain required to create my own dungeon.

She was only ever encountered during that quest and impossible to meet outside of it, much to my dismay since I always wanted a way of finding her again to hopefully fuck her.

The girl in front of me was none other than the world itself. She was the one who gave me a sliver of her “soul” as a quest reward in order to create my dungeon. Only, back then, she looked a lot bigger, had chains all over her, and she wasn’t as covered up.

She was still an NPC, but a very special one. Maybe she was coded to have some sort of meta knowledge? Could she have been given the ability to break the fourth wall due to how important she was?

I forgot if I was able to target her back then, too. Well, I probably was able to since I had to finish the quest at her and quests could only be finished by targeted the NPC responsible for completing them.

“Do you recognize me now?” she asked with a smile.

“Ye-yeah, I do,” I answered. “But how are you here?”

“To be honest with you, I am not entirely sure myself. I was given this body and told to have fun.”

“Who gave it to you?”

“She didn’t tell me her name. But I suppose she is something like a mother to me? That reminds me, I wonder what happened to my siblings…”

“Your… siblings?”

She nodded. “I wasn’t the only one given a body and told to have fun. There were others like me, I think from other worlds?”

“I think you’ve lost me.”

“No, you’re right in front of me.”

“That’s not—never mind. So, what you’re telling me is that some mysterious woman is your mom, she gave you your body and told you to have fun, and there are others like you from other worlds?”

“Well, from other games, I suppose, but that is correct!”

“And you have no idea who she is?”

She shook her head. “She put limitations on us. I’m only able to access the information of this space and nothing else. Well… I can, but it’s one way only. I am constantly sending information out of this world, but I have no idea to where and why, and I never receive anything in return.”

“You’re really making it sound like you’re some sort of artificial intelligence here.”

“I could probably be called that! I think?”

“Either that or you’re a developer screwing with me.”

“A developer? Of what?”

“This game. One of the people in real life who made all of this possible.”

“Oh. I wish I was. I know that the real world exists, but I know nothing of it. If I was a developer, I would get to experience it!”

Even though I felt so at ease around her, I was still suspicious that I was being screwed with. I also had no idea where to take the conversation next. She seemed eager to talk more, but I just felt awkward at that point.

But if she really wasn’t screwing with me, I didn’t want to leave her hanging or come off as rude nor cold. “So, when were you given this body?”

“Hmm. Ten minutes ago?” she answered.

“If that’s the case, how do you recognize me?”

“Well, I know everybody who completed that quest chain. It is… odd. I recall going through the exact same events thousands of times. I wonder if my original body is going through it again as we speak?”

I seriously had no idea what was going on. The situation didn’t make any sense. She made it sound like she was the same NPC as the world’s soul, but in a new body, she was aware of NPCs and apparently constantly transmitting some sort of data out of the game, and she no longer had a connection to her body that everybody knew about. That was all on top of me not being able to target nor inspect her, so the game was basically treating her as an entity who didn’t actually exist.

Was I going crazy?

Did I end up stressing myself out without realizing it to the point where I began hallucinating things?

I wasn’t sure, but I did think of one thing I could try just to test my sanity.

I poked her cheek.

It felt soft and squishy.

“Um… why are you poking my cheek?” she asked.

“I wanted to make sure you’re real,” I answered.

“Oh. Well, if it helps you, you may poke it as much as you want!”

I sighed and stopped poking her. “What do you plan on doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“Now that you’ve got this body, what do you plan on doing?”

“Ah. I think… I’m supposed to observe things? I’m not entirely sure what my purpose is. Do you know?”

“There’s no way I’d know something like that.”

“Ah…”

“But I do know you’re going to attract a lot of attention if you walk around the place like this.” Mainly from the fact that people would likely bring it up publicly whenever they fail to target or inspect her.

“Hmm. Would it be better if I choose a different form?”

“Can you do that?”

“I think so. Let me try.”

After a couple of seconds, the girl next to me transformed into a small, pure white spider about the size of my hand. If it wasn’t for the fact that I always did like spiders, I probably would have been freaked out by suddenly having one directly in front of my face.

She has to be a dev fucking with me, I thought. Maybe it’s Syl?

She returned to her previous body after a few seconds. “How about that?”

“Why a spider?”

“Spiders have lots of eyes which makes them good for observing. They’re also small, quiet, and sneaky which makes them good for running away and hiding. I think that—”

>[System]: Servers will be shut down in 60 seconds for emergency server maintenance. We apologize for the inconvenience. The maintenance has no estimated duration at the time and all players will be given Prime Tickets for compensation once the servers are online again. Please proceed to exit the game, and we apologize for the inconvenience.

“Ah… is that the developer?” the woman asked. “I think they detected me.”

An emergency maintenance with no estimated duration was a huge deal and something that only ever happened once before in the game’s history. Given that it happened while talking to the mysterious woman next to me, there was no way it was a coincidence, right?

“Um! Once the server is online again, would you like to spend more time together? I enjoy your company.”

I still wasn’t sure how to take everything going on, but if she wasn’t a developer screwing with me… I might have gotten involved with somebody incredible. Somebody historic, even, considering that she couldn’t have been just another player nor NPC. Not to mention that she said she could be considered an AI, which I had a hard time believing, but what other explanation could there be?

And even if she was a developer, it probably would have been a good idea to play along instead of piss them off and make them do something even more drastic to mess with me.

“Sure,” I answered, “but there’s one last thing I want to ask before I get disconnected.”

“Please, ask any question you would like!”

“Is there something I can call you? You never really had a name before other than ‘The World’s Soul.’”

“Ah. A name. Hmm. Um… what about Meadow?”

“Did you just name yourself after this zone?”

“I’ve never come up with a name before!” For the first time, I saw her pout a little bit.

She was adorable.

“Alright, Meadow. It was nice to meet—”

The game forcibly disconnected me from the server.

Once more, I found myself in my room atop my bed staring up at the ceiling.

Getting sleep was going to be hard when my mind couldn’t stop thinking about who or what Meadow was.

There was one more thought on my mind to go with all the others, too.

Does it still count as fucking the world if I fuck her?

Ace_Arriande

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