Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prologue:

Two nurses set about cleaning up a small room, life saving equipment strewn about. The long-term patient was in getting his weekly checkup. While the two of them cleaned they couldn't help but chat to themselves as they made sure everything was sterile and organized. The television was showing a nature show in the background. "I'm starting to fear that Keira will never get better," the blonde nurse stated sadly as she straightened up the sheets on the bed. The redhead looked over at her before sighing, "Well there is not much we can do. All the cancer has seemed to stop, it seems like he is lost the will to live. If only there was something that could raise his spirits."

Just at that moment a commercial came on, "Bored from ordinary life? Old system games getting tiresome? Well look out for new MMORPG game called Second Life. It has a 99.9% realism but will not replicate any injuries or handicaps that you have in real life. Take a second chance to have a life, a second life I mean. Soon to be in stores February 12th."

The television quieted down as the commercial ended. The nurses stood stunned before smiling at each other brilliantly. "This is got to help him. We should go buy one from the store," the blonde said giddily. The redhead shook her head before smiling brilliantly again, "I'm going to call company and ask for special gaming device for him." They both jumped around happily before leaving the clean room. "I just hope Keira finds a reason to live from this," the two murmured silently as they will stalked to the break room to call the company.

Chapter Text

Italics: dreaming or inner thoughts.

White on white...That was all I saw once I had woke up. The same old ceiling in my same old room. The beeping of the machines next to me just seemed so distant as I began my usual game of counting the dots on the ceiling, which was actually very hard seeing as they were small and almost unnoticeable. After a good thirty minutes of this I just gave up and pressed a button that raised the head of the bed so as to see the television. It was on some survival show that I frequently watched.

Sighing I began to sullenly watch the tv, despite having already seen the current episode. Glancing at the clock I noticed finally that the nurse was late with my morning pills and iv replacement. Swiftly pushing the call button I continued to watch the show, only slightly miffed that they were slacking today. A blond nurse quietly enters the room a cup of pills in one hand and a iv bag in the other as she smiles at me.

"Good morning Keira, how you feeling this morning," she asks politely as she sets up the iv before pulling a juice box from her pocket and setting it down on the food tray with the cup of pills. I mumbled a soft fine before placing the pills in my mouth. Taking a big sip of juice, I tried to flush them down only to cough as one became lodged half way down. After a brief coughing fit that made my whole body weaken, the coughing stopped and I calmed down. The nurse had been flitting around me trying to sooth the pain but failing.

"It's fine Sarah, I'm used to it," I wheezed out as a cleared my throat. My throat was still sore but I could at least talk so I was fine for the moment. Relaxing back on my bed I couldn't help but smile up at her as she gazed at me with a sad face. I knew what she was thinking, about how awful it is that I might never get better. It didn't help that my family basically disowned me, leaving the hospital only enough money to care for me here until I was expected to die, the deadline was still set for 3 months.

Glancing back to the television, I didn't notice Sarah rush out of the room. It wasn't until moments later that she came back in only with the red headed nurse Mariah. They both were giggling to themselves as they approached my bed, clearing their throats to get my attention. Turning from the tv, I looked at them slightly surprised as they were grinning at me while holding a medium sized box in their hands.

"W..what's going on," I stuttered out as I couldn't help but nervously look between them. Sarah only grinned at me and motioned for Mariah to set the box in my lap. The top of the box had the words 'Second Life Productions' in bold letters. Mariah finally spoke up as I still looked very confused. "We got you a gift, that should hopefully make your stay here easier. We hate seeing you sad and bored so think of this as an early birthday present from us, "she said with a bright smile while Sarah nodded enthusiastically and motioned for me to open the box.

With a small smile I pried the box open. Two manuals fell out along with a few advertisements and papers with codes before I had even reached in. My hand grasped something metal before I pulled out what looked like a visor. It was a metal band that would fit around ones head but had a black visor to cover ones eyes. Smiling softly I realized that they had gotten me a virtual reality game. I'd seen mentions of them on the tv but never played one before.

"Thank you girls but I doubt i'll even play it..." I began to say before tapering off, my pills were starting to kick in. I could tell because I was getting drowsy. Laying back down I set everything on my food tray and pushed it away. "The thought was very nice though. Thank you" I said softly while smiling at them. Sarah and Mariah were both frowning at me. "Well think about it hun, read over the manual. If you still don't wanna play it in a day, we'll stop pestering you.." Sarah sighed at me, trying not to be overly disappointed.

The girls began to pick up the trash before they left me alone. I started to drift off to sleep, a dream taking a hold of me all too soon.

A small boy barely 10 yrs old, stood in a barren room hooked up to some equipment. His light brown hair cropped short and seemingly fried as if someone had lit it on fire. A pair of light blue eyes watched everything frightened. He was shaking in fear as a bright light enveloped his body over and over again. Waves of Radiation being forced on himself. After several waves of the process a intercom would come on. "Keira stop moving, how else will we know if its working," the sound of an older male said over the intercom.

Shaking even more the boy, Keira, nodded before trying to hold still. His body aching from several black and blue spots. The process repeated itself only this time half way through the boy collapse, his body shaking uncontrollably as the boy being to seizure from the affects of the radiation. Two older man rushed into the room. One male had a doctor's coat and was worriedly checking the boys vitals while the other male was in a suit and scowling at the boy.

The man spit on the boy and scowled. "Hurry and fix him, we need to continue the experiments, we need the results soon so as to impress our buyer," he said to the doctor not giving the boy another glance. "f...fa..ther," the boy stuttered out before passing out.

Keira was startled awake, frightened and tears streaming down his face, jumping out of bed he tried to move away only to be caught by his iv's and the other equipment. Ripping them out he huddled into a corner of the room and proceeded to cry and rock himself. Ignoring the alarms that had begun to go off from the equipment not sensing his vitals. It wasn't even seconds later that his nurses had rushed in to check on him.

Rushing to him they began to check him over, nursing where his iv's had been and comforting him. Sadly this wasn't the only time this had happened so they knew had to deal with him. After a good amount of time he had calmed down enough that they got him back in bed. The got clean equipment before hooking him back up to the machines.

After a good hour I finally calmed down enough to watch tv again. I pushed the dream into the dark recesses of my mind, planning to forget it. Nothing good was on so I decided I might as well read the manual on the game system. Though I wouldn't confess that to the girls that I was actually a little interested in the game. Chuckling to myself, I began to read it over as it explained that the system was a game called Second Life that had a realism of 99.9%. It went over how to calibrate it and what all I would find in the game.

After reading both manuals, I finally turned my attention to all the little papers that included codes. One of them explained that these were specialty codes that I needed to input into my gaming helmet before logging in for the first time. Smiling I reached for the headband visor thingy and flipped it over, pressing a button and releasing a little keyboard that I proceeded to input the codes into. After typing in a total of 6 codes it was finally ready.

I couldn't help but chuckle to myself as I set it down happily and cleaned up the papers again. Biting my lip in thought, I was trying to decide whether I really should play it. Finally deciding I had nothing better to do I put the headset on and laid back, letting myself fall asleep and enter the game.

Darkness, that was all that I sensed even though when I looked down I could see my body, surprisingly standing up. I walked around and realized that for once in my life I didn't feel weak only free. This brought a smile to my face as I looked around again. Almost suddenly I was enveloped in a bright light before appearing in a glass room.

"I am so sorry about the wait mister special player. Hello and Welcome to Second Life."

Chapter Text

Darkness, that was all that I sensed even though when I looked down I could see my body, surprisingly standing up. I walked around and realized that for once in my life I didn't feel weak only free. This brought a smile to my face as I looked around again. Almost suddenly I was enveloped in a bright light before appearing in a glass room.

"I am so sorry about the wait mister special player. Hello and Welcome to Second Life. Although the game has not went live yet, we are giving you free reign to explore and level early," a voice said as I glanced around before noticing a floating chair in front of me with a girl sitting in it. Her avatar was a brunette with flowing pigtails to the sides. Her dazzling smile almost blinding me as she continued. "Since this is your first time playing, please give us a moment to scan your body and record your vocal frequency. That way, you will be able to immediately enter the game once you put the game helmet on"

I held still as several orbs floated over to me and began to scan me over, trying not to flinch as the lights reminded me of my dream. "Okay, since you are our special player and input your codes before playing we have free reign to grant you 5 wishes. And on that note you may begin creating you character. I must remind you that this is your only chance to create a character. Once created your race, name, and appearance cannot be changed."

All this information was so much to take in but somehow I survived as I would give her a small nod of understanding. Good thing I had read the manuals. " Would you like to begin creating your character," the girl said with a smile. "Yes please," I said and chuckled softly.

"Please select a race." The woman had barely finished speaking when the room seemingly expanded and became filled with tons of very lively characters, all posing. "We have races that range from humans, elves, dark elves, dwarves, demons, holymen, beastmen (sub-species includes wolves, birds, wildcats, etc) to spirits (With ten sub categories, including tree spirits, flower spirits, etc.)" Seeing my startled and very overwhelmed expression, the lady smiled and kindly offered to remove the uglier and inanimate object races. Agreeing with a nod, almost half the races disappeared leaving the humanoid ones.

"Now pick whichever race you like; I will explain them to you if you want and take your time since you will not get to reroll!" Looking up at her gratefully I looked at the races. "Um could you have them line up please," I asked seeing as they wouldn't stop moving and blocking the others, hoping to be picked. In a snap of her fingers all the avatars disappeared before reappear in a nice and orderly line. Looking over the races I slowly ruled them out as I asked to removed certain races. First the beastmen, then the holy men and it continued until there was only the Angel and the Demon. "hmm can I use my first wish and combine these two races for my character," I asked softly as I looked up at the girl with pleading eyes. She seemed to visibly stiffen before awwing at me.

"One moment and I will talk it over with the higher-ups," she said before suddenly freezing, after about a minute she returned. "Your first wish as been approved. The new Class is called The Fallen." With that the two characters jumped at each other and melded together before a new character appeared. This character looked very demonic, as his skin tone was a dark purple tone with blood red scars all over the body. On his back was also a set of demonic looking angel wings, only the top feathers were white that as they went down, turned red and then completely black. This gave him the sense of a fallen angel. His facial features looked elvish with pointed ears and slim eyes, only his eyes were a crimson red and he had fangs. His hair was actually ass length, the roots a pale white faded into an ash gray then into a black with red streaks and red tips.

This coupled with the fact that the character was only in a simple pair of shorts couldn't help but make the gm and me nosebleed. Tilting my head I curiously looked the male over before deciding on my second wish. "Okay I know what I want for my second wish," I said as I looked at the woman, " I want to be a female." The gm just gaped at me, "Are you sure? You won't be able to change how you look" I didn't waver, I only looked at her my resolve dead set. "I'm sure. I want an actual second life, A total do over and I want that in the form of a female body."

It took a moment before she froze again, most likely to speak to the higher ups. Only this time it was a full minute before she returned. "Although the changing of gender is usually prohibited, you are our special player. We have decided to accept you request since you will be the only one and it should not affect the game. Your request is approved." Just as she finished speaking, my character was engulfed in a white light as the body became more female, her hair lengthened all the way to the floor and her wings shrunk only a little to accommodate the new body size. Satisfied I couldn't help but keep looking her over.

"You can choose to beautify or uglify yourself up to 30%" she said to me before I automatically replied. "Beautify all the way please," I said quickly. Almost instantly her features became more defined and she had a more exotic and wild air to her. I could almost swear that she had set it to 50% instead of 30. Excited I couldn't help but giggle as my character smiled at me. "Now onto the appearance. Do you want to change your hairstyle or height?"

After about another hour or so of making small changes here and there. My character was done. I had decided to leave the hair length as it was at her feet only choosing to change all the white in her hair and wings to a nice dark red. You almost couldn't even tell that she was part angel if it wasn't that she had wings. I also made her skin tone a light ash gray, and then changed her hairstyle to that of a single high ponytail that even though it was up, the hair still brushed the ground.

Satisfied I looked for a place to relax only for the gm to wave her hand and 2 beanie bag chairs appeared. Siting down the gm came over and sat with me. "Okay since that's all finished and 2 wishes are done. We just need to decide on your last 3 wishes, a name, and a continent." she said cheerfully. Sighing happily I thought to myself. "Hmm well can I wish to gain 3 times as much skill points each level," I asked innocently, and give her puppy eyes. She chuckles and mumbles a hold on before freezing again. Coming back she says a simple done. "It will be automatic so instead of getting 3 points each level you will get 9 anything else sweetie," she asks as she scoots her bag closer and pets my hair softly. For once I didn't mind being cared for.

Thinking to myself I tried to think of what else to get. I ruled out weapons, pets and money since I could earn them easily enough. My thoughts finally drifted to what class I would want. I knew I was interested in 2 of them but could not decide on them and it didn't help that I wanted to have an animal form. "Um could I possibly make a special class? I wouldn't mind it being added to the game and eligible for anyone.." I said softly before looking up at her, ready for her to deny my request.

All the brunette gm did was blink at me before saying hold on, she froze again only for a moment before smiling at me as 2 more people appeared in the room. The 2 were some guys decked out in amazing armor, one looking like a warrior with a rapier at his side and the other an archer with a huge long bow strapped to his back. The warrior walked over and sat down on a newly appeared beanie chair. "Explain what you want the new class called and the attributes you want it to have," the warrior spoke as he seemed to hold his hands out as if typing on a keyboard, the archer nodded and stood next to him before glancing at my game character checking her out and smirking.

Ignoring the pervert, I faced the warrior before explaining what I wanted. "I want it to be called Shifter. It's abilities would be able to switch between 2 chosen classes at will and use any weapons or up two 2 weapons for each class associated with them at anytime. I want them to get a special ability that gives you one animal form that you can take on at will. I want a wolf form for this but you are welcome choose more forms for others to choose from. Feel free to add more info to the class." Happy with my speech, I took a breath and sat back as the warrior continued to type for a good 30 seconds before turning to me. Glancing over at the archer I noticed he was feeling up my characters wings to which she hissed at him making the man jump.

"Okay we should have the class up and ready within the next half hour, though you still have to find the quest so you are not assured the class. If you choose one in advance it is not our fault,' he said before standing up. "Is there anything else Lollidragon? Or are you good," he asked the gm. She shook her head and said bye to them as they disappeared before turning to me. "Okay one wish left now. Any ideas,' she asks me.

"Nope i'm good, give it to the first person that logs in to the game as a promotion please," I say before glancing at my girl, excited to finally be able to play. "Okay then just a name and then your starting continent. Do you have a name in mind or do you want some suggestions?'

"I wanna be called ShinkuNoChi," I say with a smile and standing, "Also Central continent." The girl giggles at the name. "Crimson Blood does kind of suit her. And with that your ready to play! Have fun exploring, the game goes live tomorrow night at 8 so after that feel free to pm me! Name's Lollidragon..." she says happily and waves as me and my character meld together plunging me into darkness once more.

Chapter Text

After what felt like hours to me, I finally regained consciousness. Opening my eyes I was ready to see the blinding white of my hospital room but instead I am assaulted by the light glow of the sun shining down on me. I became confused before finally remembering that I had entered the game Second Life and had been creating my character with Lolidragon. Smiling I slowly pushed myself into a sitting position as I had been lying down on my back. Looking around I could see I was in a vibrant field of red flowers enclosed in a gothic black fence. 'I must be in the demon starter area,' was all I could think before standing up.

Immediately I am hit by a wave a nausea, so I stick out my hands to balance myself. Only I hear a swift rush of wind and a pressure on my back at the same time unbalancing me even further. In less than a second my face is have a conversation with the ground. "Seriously? What is wrong with me," I say out loud as I push myself up to see what had unbalanced me only to be met by a pair of blood red and black wings. 'Oh yeah I forgot I had wings. Welp better start getting used to them and then I'll go start lvling,' was all I could think as I carefully trained myself on how to operate my new appendages.

After standing in the field for possible an hour I was finally getting the hang of how to move my wings. Such as which Muscle would affect each wing, and even going so far as attempting to flutter in place. It was slightly freaky not feeling the ground below me. Now that I was feeling more confident I made my way out of the field and into the starter village. "System! Inventory," I said in a confident tone. For once I was happy that I had read the manual so as to avoid hearing the system voice give tips.

After a moment 2 shiny hovering boxes appeared in front of me, One showing my Stats and the other showing an overview of what items I was given to start with. Deciding I wanted to see my items I focused on that box and it expanded out to give me a better view of the items which happened to only be one bag at the moment. Curious I poked the bag slot and was given a small menu. 'Beginner's Lucky Bag: Upon opening the player is given one basic starter set of armor, a random starter weapon and if lucky enough a special accessory,' was the name and description of the item and then 3 buttons to choose from, "open", "drop", and "trade".

Clicking the open button the image glows and disappears and 6 new squares appear in my inventory. At the same time a system announcement goes off. "You have gained Moderate Luck," the system says loudly making me wince. "System, Settings, Announcer Volume, Low," I mutter out slowly as menus pop up and disappear in order. 'Well now that I've lost my hearing lets see what I got,' I think before clicking on the 6 items to bring up the menus.

"Beginner Training (BT for short) Shirt, BT Pants, BT Shoes, BT gloves" are the armors I received so I quickly equip them making them disappear from my inventory to reappear on my character stats box. Looking down I see that all the clothes I got were a neutral gray. Mildly satisfied I turn back to my inventory to check out my 2 other items. "Starter Dull Katana" was the weapon I got which surprised me. It was like it knew I wanted to be in close combat, weird.

Equipping it I finally looked at the last item. "Lucien's Ring of Rage" was in dark red letters indicating its rarity. Swiftly I clicked on the description. "This ring is said to contain the wrath of Lucien one of the Seven Demon Kings. The ring is said to imbue the wearer with immense rage to further empower them. + 15x experience when worn. Item will disappear in 48 hours," the systems says to me as I follow the words. " Wow its like the system wants me to cheat," I laugh out incredulously before equipping the ring. As plain as it looked it was amazing that it held such power.

Looking to the corner of my sight I looked at the clock to see how long I had been playing. Happily when you log in it automatically sets to your local time. It was 11:00 am so I had only been playing for about 2 hours. Even though it felt more like 8 hours. Satisfied I finally looked to my System Stat screen, the inventory closing out and disappearing from sight.

Name: ShinkuNoChi | Gender: Female

Level: 1 | Race: The Fallen | Class: None | Reputation: 0 | Health: 60 | Mana: 20 | Unspent Skill Points: 0 | Strength: 9 | Physique: 9 | Agility: 9 | Intelligence: 6 | Willpower: 4 | Wisdom: 4 | Charisma: 9 | Luck: Moderate Luck

It seemed like my luck highly influenced my stats seeing as they were perfect for a starter Warrior or Bard. Scrolling down I decided to see if I had any abilities only to face-plant at the weird names.

Abilities: Kawaii Fall ~ lvl 1 ~ User falls cutely in a clumsy manner and entices players around them to help. Each enticed player grants the user + 10 health and + 20 mana for 20 mins. Cost = 5 mana (If used continuously will one day give stats permanently) / Kawaii Flex ~ lvl 3 ~ User will flex their wings to strengthen them permanently. Improves mobility aka agility when airborne, Cost = 3 mana / Felis Flutter ~ lvl 5 ~ User will flutter their wings to slowly raise from ground, improves lift off speed. (May be used when lifting people or heavy items to improve strength) Cost = 10 mana

"Seriously? Couldn't they come up with better names? At least the stats for them are decent," saying this I began to plan on using the Kawaii Fall once the game opened up, "If I save my starter items I can pretend to be new and level even more when others start playing." At this thought I could just imagine the money I could get from all the loots guys would give me. I mean I'm not a bad person but seriously after being in that hospital bed for so long it makes you rethink your virtues. The chance to be rich, have fun, and lvl as high as I can is just so tempting.

Hell with these abilities and items I know this is gonna be the single most best thing to happen to me. With that I walked through the village and into the nearby forest. Pulling up the map I highlighted the monster tab so it would show all the nearby monsters. Seeing a group not too far away I headed towards them and closed the map. Moments later I entered a small clearing with weird Green and purple blobs hopping around. 'Lovely," was all I could think in disgust before pulling out my katana.

Thinking back I remembered all the different animes I had watched on the tv, as well as on the computer when my nurses would bring in a laptop to lend me. Several I had seen often used katanas as weapons so I tried to copy the stance.

Looking down I placed my feet so that my left was slightly in front of me while my right foot slid behind. Bringing my sword to the right side I held it instinctively. My left hand holding the end of handle while my right rested against the guard. My arm braced against the back of the katana as I could feel a power surge through me. Confident I started to run at a nearby green blob, my arms began a quick slice motion that cut it in half before repeating the motion again only side ways to cut it into fourths. "You have learned Fierce Talon," the system announced as I executed my new move, "Green Blob – 10 hp, - 20 hp. Green Blob has died. ShinkuNoChi gains xxx exp, gains 50 bronze coins. Level Up!"

After killing blobs for about a half hour, I had leveled up 9 times total and decided to move onto the nearby wolves. Spending only 20 mins on the wolves I had gained another 5 levels. I would have continued but my inventory was full of useless junk. Deciding to make a trip into town I glanced at my stats on the way before allocating my skill points.

Name: ShinkuNoChi | Gender: Female

Level: 15 | Race: The Fallen | Class: none | Reputation: 0 | Health: 214 | Mana: 62 | Unspent Skill Points: 126 | Strength: 9 | Physique: 9 | Agility: 9 | Intelligence: 6 | Willpower: 4 | Wisdom: 4 | Charisma: 9 | Luck: Moderate Luck

Name: ShinkuNoChi | Gender: Female

Level: 15 | Race: The Fallen | Class: none | Reputation: 0 | Health: 200 | Mana: 62 | Unspent Skill Points: 0 | Strength: 29 | Physique: 29 | Agility: 28 | Intelligence: 23 | Willpower: 20 | Wisdom: 20 | Charisma: 27 | Luck: Moderate Luck

Satisfied with my stats I continued my trek back. Looking around I found the potions shop and sold my items there before purchasing some health and mana potions. "Always better to stay safe and have them on hand," with that I left the shop and headed to armor shop. Looking through the shop inventory I found a 5 piece armor set named, "Baura's Nature Armor", the stats for the set were + 30% Nature damage, + 50% health regeneration, + 20 strength and + 20 agility when wearing the whole set. Looking in my coin purse I checked to see if I had enough. Sadly I was short a few coin and the only things I had left to sell was my current gear.

Sighing I looked over my current gear to see which would give me more coins. Happily my gloves would give me enough to buy the set. Satisfied I sold them and purchased the new gear. I was relieved to save the rest of the starter equipment so as to still go through with my devious plan on starter day. Equipping the new armor I stepped in front of the mirror and gasped in shock. The armor was surprisingly very revealing and I loved it!

The armor was basically green vines and leaves with a few twigs weaved into the them.. They wrapped around all the intimate parts of the avatar thickly before almost as if it grew it wrapped around my belly and legs. The shoes were more like vine woven high heels. They made me seem taller more exotic as if I grew up in the wilds. Happy with my appearance I left the armorer and glanced around town before searching for the warrior trainer. After getting directions, multiple time, I finally found the npc near the gate to the village. Approaching him about the warrior class a quiet ping and a option hovered next to him. "Ask about special quest." Curious I stepped toward the male warrior. "Um sir I am looking for any special secret quests, would you know of any," I voiced politely while batting my eyes at him.

The warrior blushed before motioning to come closer. Glancing around he made sure no one was listening, which was pretty obvious since I was the only player in game. "There have been rare rumors of an ancient beast in the highest peaks of Darkwood Forest. It's said that it possesses a special skill of forms. He is said to only appear to a worthy adventurer that places 10 wolf king pelts upon his altar," he whispered to me. With a ding I received a notification, "The Wild Skin-changer quest has been acquired." Giving a quick goodbye to the man I left the town heading to the forest.

Darkwood Forest was crawling with various creatures but it's main inhabitants were wolves. It took her almost 3 hours to get all the Wolf king pelts, killing almost 50 regular wolves in the process. With her inventory a good 80% full, she began her trek into the highest mountain of the forest. Glancing at the clock she knew that she had roughly 2 hours before she needed to log out for more meds and mealtime. It wasn't long before Shin finally made it to the altar of the the beast.

Removing the pelts from her inventory she placed them upon the altar and waited. It was about a 5 minute wait before a loud cry of a wolf sounded nearby before loud crashing started towards her. Within moments a giant 7 foot tall snow white wolf stepped in front of the altar. It sniffed the pelts before turning to face her. "Why have you summoned me, the Great Wolf Skin-changer," the wolf asked in a deep growl. Shaking her wings free, she spread them out wide before kneeling in front of the wolf. "Oh Great Skin-changer, I have come to inquire if you would teach me the ways of the Shifter. I have come many miles and hunted many prey to prove myself worthy of your teachings," she said in a prideful but submissive tone.

The wolf circled her, sniffing, poking and prodding at her as he looked her over. When he got to close to her private places she growled at him defiance. Master or not she would not have her privacy invaded. He did not respond to her growls but finished his circling before coming to sit in front of her. "Your body seems well trained, adequate reflexes and relaxed posture. You may be a little hot headed, but your prideful heart and submissive nature keep you balanced. You have a true spirit of a wolf," as he spoke she slowly raised her head and tucked her wings away. "With this in mind I have no doubt you would do well under my teaching. I will train you in the ways of a Shifter. With this class you will have 2 main classes plus an animal form. What do you choose as your main class ShinkuNoChi," he asked in a prideful tone, puffing out his chest.

Smiling she stood up and spoke with a clear voice. "I wish for the Warrior Class as my main, please." With a yip a small menu box appears in front of her with warrior class listed first. "For your Warrior class, which weapon tier do you want to be trained in as your primary and secondary weapons? These are your choices," With that a menu shows up listing all types of warrior weapons. Scrolling through she tries to decide before placing Katana/double-sided Katana in the primary weapon slot and Long Swords in the secondary slot. As it is accepted the Wolf speaks again, "With your first class chosen, what is your choice for your second class?"

"I choose the Bard class, Sir," she says quickly. Bard was added below the other class on the window before a side window pops up. "Please choose you Bard weapon as well as up to two ability types." With that she selected voice as weapon. The nice thing about it is that the weapon is basically a choker that amplifies the players voice to make it capable of magic attacks. Her ability types she chose were Support and Healing. "All we need now is your animal form. Their are many types to choose from but for you I suggest the wolf as it would resemble your spirit," he said with a playful bark. "That is what I wanted sir, to be a wolf. Is there anyway to gain a special appearance for my wolf form sir," she asked in a soft voice before glancing up at him.

With a scoff her responded back, " For a common form is nothing, uncommon form would require 15 wolf pelts, and a rare wolf form for 30 wolf pelts. These forms will be randomized but will insure that you are unique. No form is used more than once." She gave him 30 of her wolf pelts for the rare form. And with that she thought she was done only for the wolf to surprise her. "Hell I think I've taken a liking to you pup, just for that I'll throw in one special ability for your wolf form."

Looking through the list of abilities highly overwhelmed her. There was abilities to help track, attack abilities and even abilities to make you invisible, but one skill caught her eye. It was one that most likely no one would choose called Sly Cloak. It gave the user the ability to hide as either a wild animal or as another players pet making them ineligible to gain a bounty. Basically makes it okay for them to break a law without getting in trouble. Choosing Sly Cloak filled the rest of her menu. With a bark the wolf places a paw on her arm and a blur glow transferred between them. "ShinkuNoChi has learned the Class Shifter! You have gained..." the announcer continued to shout out her weapons and skills.

The wolf took off into the woods leaving her alone. With a grin she walked back to town, killing anything in her way. Once in town she sold all the useless junk, ignoring a chest she had received, before logging out.

Chapter Text

By the time I had logged out for lunch my nurses had begun to set my food and pills on my tray. I yawned and rubbed my eyes after setting the game visor down. "Good afternoon Keira, we noticed you decided to play," Sarah said with a delighted smile, "So how was it? Are you gonna keep the game?" Mariah nodded and looked at me eagerly. Chuckling to myself I quickly took my pills to before sighing. "Hmm depends I'll need teammates to keep me logged in. Would either of you be willing to be a teammate and play with me," I plead with puppy eyes.

The main reason I wanted someone I knew is because heavens knows what I would encounter in game. If I have an episode that forces me to log out it could be very dangerous for my body. That and also I wanna help someone level. Mariah just shook her head as a no before stating, "I don't have the time dear, that and I'm your night on-call nurse so I don't have time to play when you are." I sighed a soft okay to her before turning to Sarah with the biggest puppy eyes I could muster.

She tried to look away, to ignore my pleading gaze. With a sigh she admitted defeat, "Fine I'll play with you. I'll get a headset tonight. What's your character name?" Happily I wrote down the name for her. "Try and get to level 15 before PMing me, gives you enough time to learn the controls and whichever class you choose," I said to her as I handed her the note. Satisfied I dived into my lunch of grilled cheese and tomato soup, yummy.

Most of the afternoon I spent relaxing and watching television, but I did take a half hour to look up rare items on the second life website. I of course borrowed Sarah's laptop for that but no matter. I did find out about a rare set of double sided katana though. The Twin Alfshards, was their name and they were located deep within a forest called Valley of the Wandering Nymphs. Sadly the website was not very descriptive of its actual location so it would take awhile to get them.

It had taken me almost 2 hours to travel to the valley, killing and leveling on the way. With the ring I surprisingly leveled very fast. Sighing I made my way to the forest entrance. It didn't take 5 minutes for my to come across a yellow robed nymph, and man was she a looker. Looking at her stats I realized I may have misread the websites info. Apparently the yellow robes were the weakest monster but they were level 45. Which it was no surprise that I was lower than that.

Name: ShinkuNoChi | Gender: Female

Level: 30 | Race: Angel | Class: Shifter | Reputation: 0 | Health: 379 | Mana: 107 | Unspent Skill Points: 0 | Strength: 54 (+20) | Physique: 49 | Agility: 46 (+20) | Intelligence: 42 | Willpower: 34 | Wisdom: 37 | Charisma: 48 | Luck: Moderate Luck

"Welp better play it safe and sneak around the mobs," with that said I crouched down and carefully maneuvered around the nymph. 'ShinkuNoChi has learned Sneak! Sneak lvl up!' Ignoring the notice I continued to make my way through the forest, keeping an eye out for an treasure horde's or caves. After about an hour or so of searching my sneak was at lvl 30 and I finally came upon a strange shimmering portal. It stood between 2 gorgeous ancient sakura trees.

Bracing myself for whatever I might find on the other side, I carefully step through the portal and then activate my sneak before looking around. I appeared to be in a castle and to say the place was beautiful would be an understatement. It was amazing, like only pure royalty would own such a place. Carefully I snuck across the room before heading down a hallway. I continuously looked behind me to make sure no one was coming before slipping into a dark room. 'If only I had some sort of light source,' I thought to myself before remembering I was a support/Healing Bard too.

Clearing my throat I activated my choker weapons and hummed a soft a light tune. Almost instantaneously a small floating light appeared next to me and a notice flashed in front of my eyes. 'You've acquired the spell Wraith Light.' Smirking I looked about the room only to see a huge pile of treasure at the other side of the room. Making my way over I began my search for the twin Alfshard katana. I finally found them, after bagging half the pile of treasure, buried at the bottom.

As I began to place them in my bag a glint of light shined into my eyes. Looking around for the source I noticed a medium sized orb placed on a pedestal nearby. Apparently my Wraith Light had reflected off of the object. I know that I shouldn't be greedy but seriously who wouldn't be enticed to take a big crystal orb. I just barely touched it to pick it up when the room seemed to fill with light and a screech of several nymphs reached my ears. Grabbing the orb I just barely missed having my arms lacerated by a nymphs nails.

"Shit this is not good," I said to myself as I realized there was 5 purple robed lvl 70 nymphs in the room. I dropped the orb into my bag and braced myself to run only for the doorway to be blocked by a big male nymph. Gods he was gorgeous but sadly that wouldn't do me any good. "Well it appears we have a thief in our midst ladies, get rid of her," the man said and raised a hand towards me. The last thing I saw was his face watching me with an uncharacteristic frown. Usually npc's are just monotone but this one for some reason seemed different.

Next thing I knew I was waking up at the rebirth point in the starter village.

Chapter Text

After my death I realized that I needed to train and lvl more before I could go after even more rare items. So I had spent several hours leveling in random forests. Now shortly after reviving I finally took the chance to look over the mysterious orb I had found in the treasure room. Turns out it was a rare item called Celestial Beacon. It possessed the power to teleport up to one person at a time to any location. Sadly it had a cool down timer of 10 minutes so I knew I wouldn't be able to use it if I was traveling with a team. Atleast it was useful to travel to all the good lvling spots. I had finally reached lvl 45.

Name: ShinkuNoChi | Gender: Female

Level: 45 | Race: Angel | Class: Shifter | Reputation: 0 | Health: 544 | Mana: 152 | Unspent Skill Points: 0 | Strength: 78 (+20) | Physique: 70 | Agility: 69 (+20) | Intelligence: 62 | Willpower: 50 | Wisdom: 50 | Charisma: 66 | Luck: Moderate Luck

With that I began to train myself with new Bard attacks and support songs as well as a few healing songs. After awhile I realized I only need to sing a little to activate the spell but learned that the more I sang the stronger it would be. Sighing I finished off another orc enemy. I sat down to rest since I had been fighting nonstop for the last hour. I glanced down at my choker and then at my new twin set of doubled-sided katana, the Alfshards. Shaped like any other katana their only difference was their blades were an icy blue and they were a growing type.

I had grown accustomed to their weight and being able to dual wield them but I still had yet to try and dual wield them with a bard song. Hopefully I would have it down pat before I joined any teams.

Over the next day I had spent the time learning more skills, spells and leveling. As the time drew closer to the the opening of the gamer server to all the players, I was actually just relaxing and watching television. Thinking it was better to wait a few hours before logging in. I had already switched back to my beginner equipment and laid down in the starter village before logging out. The perfect guise to trick newbies. Thankfully I had actually learned a skill called Glamour. When active it would hide my real stats and show fake ones lower than who was viewing them. Without it I would easily be caught.

As the hours passed I was actually watching different tv shows with music in them. To get song ideas that I could use for my Bard spells. Sighing I glanced at the clock, it read 9:30. "I guess I could log in soon," I said before paging my nurse. Within moments Mariah comes into the room. "Yes Keira? What do you need dear," she asks me sweetly. "Can you help me to the bathroom, I wanna take a bath before I log into SL for the night," I ask before pulling the sheets away.

~~

Logging in ShinkuNoChi (AN: Gonna shorten it to Shin as a nickname) slowly sits up from the ground shaking her head a little. All around players mill about as they visit shops and chat. Several people had quieted down at her entrance. Slowly standing up she pretended to stumble and loose balance, her wings unfurling and flapping randomly. Silently she mumbles Kawaii Fall before falling cutely to the ground. Dozens of players rush over to help her up, male and female alike. Every 2 players enticed lvl up her skill. Before long she is gaining stats permanently.

"T..thank you, " she says cutely to everyone as they help her up, everyone awws before begging her to team up with her to level. Nodding she tilts her head cutely before agreeing. "You've learned Charm. Charm lvl up! Charm lvl u...," the system tells her privately. For several hours she stays in groups with other players, lvling up from the side lines, learning fighting styles from watching others and getting loot. When she finally got bored she left them and put Baura's Nature Armor back on. Walking through Star City she earned lots of appraise and vows of devotion. Turning them down she made her way to the Armor-smith, The Armor shop.

She proceeds to sell the useless junk as well as her beginner clothes, no longer needing them. Looking through her money she notices a new dialogue option for the man, 'Purchase Establishment (High Intelligence + Charisma needed).' Smiling she speaks with the man, turns out she could purchase the store and get a profit for whatever he sells. She could also raise the prices to earn more since the npc's had a set amount they would receive. Two hundred Crystals later and she owned the establishment. She then proceeded to raise the prices by 20%.

As she left she noticed a dark brown skinned male elf walk past her into the shop. He had very noticeable platinum white hair to his shoulders and blood red eyes. With a grin she happily skipped down the road as a loud yell of "What?" echos out of the shop. Moments later the elf runs out of the store and shoots an arrow right in front of her to stop her. Shin stops and gazes down at the arrow, curious since it seemed hand made. "How did you come to own the shop and how dare you charge such outlandish prices for equipment," he asks and yells at her.

Shin stops and turns back to him, looking him over for a moment as well as glancing at his stats. Walking back to him she circled him, "Why do you ask? Are you lonely and want a team or do you just want a discount dearie?" She playfully leans against his shoulder waiting for a response. He visibly stiffens and clenches his teeth. Stepping away he lets her fall to the ground, chuckling a little he walks away. "Neither," he says over his shoulder.

With a irritated growl, Shin gets up from the ground dusting herself off. 'Well he seems interesting,' she couldn't help but think before returning to her stroll through the village. Going to the notice board she picked up simple quests, ones that required you to hunt down several monsters. At that she took her leave, happy to have something entertaining to do.

~~

Blood splattered across my armor as I killed my last dragon. I had finally finished all my quests and needed only to return them. Reaching into my bag I prepared to use my Beacon when I heard a pitiful scream of fright. "W...was that a girl," I say out loud trying to hold back my laughter. I quickly pocketed my beacon and ran towards the voice. I come to a small clearing, stopping at a bush and waiting. I figured it would be better to see what the fuss is before blindly running into combat. Looking around I noticed a dark skinned player hiding in a crevice on a big rock with 5 big dragons surrounding them. Pathetic crying reaches my ears and I swear it sounds like a girl. Sighing I look over the dragons stats and realize they are a lot weaker than me.

With a chuckle I step out of the bush and slowly walks towards them. My choker glowing as I begin to vocalize (as in not words just ah's) in a seductive and slow tune. The dragon's look towards me but don't approach, the song paralyzing and charming them at the same time. They sway along with the tune not noticing me pull out a katana as I get closer. Once I'm in range my blade slices through them easily and in one hit they drop their treasures for me.

I stop singing as the last dragon falls. I take my time picking up the loot as I wait for the player to get out from their hiding spot. As soon as they free themselves I hear a gasp making me look over at them. I just gape at the person, it was the elf from earlier just covered in cuts and dirt. It takes a second to process before I break into laughter. "Hehehe..you were the.. haha screaming girl," I gasp out before calming down and wiping away fake tears. He just frowns and looks at me before realizing how easily I had killed them. "How did you kill them so easily? What level are you," he asks me before picking his weapon off the ground.

Glancing over at him and notice that he uses a longbow, at this I just face-palm. "First things first, Are you an Archer and do you know how to play that class," I ask with a straight face as I approach him. He blushes and looks down at his feet before mumbling something. "Hey," I yell at him stopping right in front of him, He looks up quickly at my pissed off face. "Answer now! Your name, level, class and do you know how to play your class," I said in a strict voice while I waited for his response.

He straightens up and looks at me with a determined face. "I'm SpectralSen Ma'am. Level fifteen and Archer. I do not know how to play this class. I chose it to try something new," he says clearly. I can't help but chuckle to myself. "First off do you realize this is a lvl 20 to 30 area," I ask making the boy blush harder and stutter. "I...th..thought I co..could level faster here..," Spectral said as he fingered his long bow. Sighing I raised my hand pulling up a menu. I then proceeded to add him to my group. "Here I will help train and level you. First thing as an Archer that means you do long range damage, making it hard to fight solo," I began explaining to him.

Over the next few hours I helped him understand his class and helped him level 10 times. We ended up bonding and becoming friends. He let me practice my bard songs on him to make sure they were powerful. He just plain enjoyed the music and singing. Told me I should start a band. Hehe picture me, in a band, strapped to my real life bed. That would just be sad.

Shin lead Spectral back into town, Star City, once they had filled their bags to full capacity. She had just finished several quests that she had dragged him along to help train and level him. 'This way Spectral," she said as she lead him to her store, the armor shop. Entering the shopkeeper smiled and waved at her, "Welcome back Mistress would you like to view our newest items? We just got in a shipment of high level upgrades." Shaking her head she pulled Spectral in front of her. "Ben I'd like you to outfit Spectral here with the best Archer equipment you got, that he can of course wear," she said with a smile as Spectral began to refuse.

"Shush Spectral, just deal with it," she said before pushing him towards a changing room. After a few minutes she began to get impatient. "Hurry up in there before I dress you myself," she yelled while banging on the dressing room door. "Do I have to," he whined through the door before walking out. Spectral walks out dressed in a light green leather vest that shows his abs, with complimenting dark green leather pants with leaf designs on them. A dark red sash is wrapped about his waist, flowing freely several feet behind him. A dark green cloak is draped about his shoulders with a hood ready to be pulled up at anytime.

Shin grinned as she motioned for him to spin. Sighing he did just so only to receive a whistle from her. "Not bad Ben, how much for the gear," she said to the npc. Ben shook his head. "Don't worry boss, it's on the house. For you and your close friends only Ma'am," with that he smiled and waved goodbye. Exiting the store Shin looked at her empty inventory since she had sold all the junk while waiting. Smiling she turned to Spectral. "How bout something to eat? I know this great little tavern not far from here," she said while patting her coin purse.

Spectral begrudgingly followed her to the inn. Shin motioned to a window booth, leading him over and sitting down. Sighing she waved over a waitress. "We'll have 2 orders of dumplings and tea please," Shin says to the waitress before the lady walks off. Shin glances around before unfurling her wings taking up the rest of her side of the booth. Humming to herself she pulls a wing close and begins to smooth and groom her crimson feathers. Spectral watches her curiously, his blood red orbs sparkling with amusement. Reaching forward he strokes her other wing. "Wow their really soft," he remarks.

"Of course, unlike other angels I groom mine," she says before giggling from the ticklish sensation he gave her wing. By the time she was half way done with one wing the waitress came back with their order. With a small thank you Shin picked up her tea and sipped it before returning to her grooming. Spectral started to eat his dumplings before deciding to ask a few questions. " So, uh, what got you into playing Second Life? What else do you do with your time," Spectral said curiously to her.

Shin nervously looked at him before sighing. "Well a close friend suggested I play Second Life. I wasn't really doing anything with my life. I don't go to school, and I have no job so I really don't get out much in a way," she said softly as she seemed to zone out, " I rarely log out, only to eat and deal with necessities because of this. So I don't do anything else with my time."

"Wow so your like dedicated, that's bad ass," Spectral said in astonishment before taking a big bite of his dumplings. Shin chuckled and shook her head at him. Sighing in contentment she let go of the one wing and began to eat her dumplings. Well when I say eat, it was more like she inhaled them. There one second and gone the next. Shin cleaned her mouth and sipped her tea again before grooming her other wing all the while Spectral just gaped at her, amazed and slightly disgusted. "Well I guess you're no princess with that appetite," Spectral laughs to himself.

Shin just looked at him before saying sarcastically, "What gave you that idea?" All he could do was shake his head in disbelief as she finished grooming. Shin chuckled to herself as she folded and hid her wings again. Grabbing her tea cup she began to nurse it. "So since I've told you a bit about me why don't you tell me a bit about yourself," she said softly as she glanced about the tavern. She could see a few girls and a few boys looking their way with hearts in their eyes. 'Wow we sure attract people,' she thought.

"Well I am only 18 and still in school, senior year for me. Hmm the reason I started playing Second Life," He said before leaning on his arms in thought, "I mainly started playing because my friend, Fen, suggested it. He said it would be a good way to make friends and be someone different from my regular self. To bad for me I can't just change my personality like that. So with that I went and bought the game." Shin could only smile at him. She was about to say something when a commotion came from the tavern entrance. "Come on Sweety! Let's get a window seat! Hurry up I'm starving," A brunette girl with pig tails said as she dragging a white haired bishie through the tavern. The boy seemed to be getting irritated with her hyper personality. "Calm the heck down Lolidragon, or else you have to pay for your own," the boy said making the girl, Lolidragon stop and give him tearful eyes.

Shin tapped the table as she tried to remember where she had heard the name. 'Loli...Loli...where did I hear that..Wait didn't the gm say that name,' she asked herself before smiling and waving towards the 2. "Loli-Onee-chan! Over here! Lolidragon you remember me," She said energetically as she smiled at her. Lolidragon turned towards them and smiled as she instantly recognized Shin since she had helped create his character.